Comments Off on Announcing “Coronavirus & Anarchism, pandemic’s anthology”
We are proud to announce our up and coming compendium of corona criticism! You can find the forward below in which we summarize and prepare you for a plethora of anarchist analysis.
The following collection attempts to gather as many pieces regarding Anarchist takes on Corona as possible. It is a collaboration that was not intended as such. Each piece presented was independently published and only now are they meant to be read as a whole. For this reason there will be many, many topics and opinions presented throughout and it is important that you keep an open and critical mind. Within you will find testimonies of people suffering and actively working to support others during Covid, a plethora of criticism against Capitalism, geopolitical overviews of a multitude of continents and countries both in how they are impacted as well as how they failed to prepare themselves against a worldwide pandemic. An emphasis in some texts will be on the need to prevent future pandemics as well as the lack of preparation to the one we are all living through, or on how our rights are being reserved as future privileges that many had never had access to in the first place, or how even when this is ‘over’ we should still ask the question ‘are we going back to normal?’ to which our definition of what should BE normal needs to be thought through thoroughly and radically. With so many lives jeopardized by the current state of the world, the most important, overarching message in these texts, is to maintain solidarity. So as these eclectic texts join together in a unified voice to renounce Capitalism and State Control we too should read and share, spread the word and seek out our own forms of solidarity! We hope you enjoy these texts, it may often make you feel sick to your stomach but within these texts and your own critical mind lies the remedy, so please come join us in creating the cure!
Comments Off on 28th of November | Benefit documentary screening at Dokhuis for the arrested people at the Woonprotest in Amsterdam!
AGA is organizing a round of movies and documentaries screening during autumn in order to fund raise money for those repressed by the police during the Woonprotest demo on the 12th of September.
On the 28th of November at 16:00, “The monopoly on violence” movie will be screened at the anarchist book fair. The documentary is in French with English subtitles. Our time slot is limited so please be on time. Suggested donation is 3€.
The monopoly on violence An absolutely shocking movie about police tyranny in France and the legitimacy of the use of violence by the state. This film consists of harrowing footage of police violence and a set of dialogues between state officials, sympathisers, police officers, activists and victims of police tyrnarry. The individuals participating in the dialogues discuss various instances of police violence, the legitimacy of the use violence by state and the politicisation of police violence. In the end the various topics and footage discussed truly result in an eye opening experience that gives incredible insight on the deranged mindset of state officials, sympathisers and henchmen.
TRIGGER WARNING, this film contains extremely graphic images of police violence!
We will also have a stand in both days of the anarchist book fair. Where: Plantage Doklaan 8, Amsterdam When: 16h
Comments Off on 12th of November | Benefit movie night at Vondelbunker for the arrested people at the Woonprotest in Amsterdam!
AGA is organizing a round of movies and documentaries screening during autumn in order to fund raise money for those repressed by the police during the Woonprotest demo on the 12th of September.
On the 12th of November at 19.30, the “In een tank jij kan niet wonen” documentary will be screened at Vondelbunker (Vondelpark 8a). The documentary is Dutch spoken with English subtitles. Door opens at 19:30 Docu starts at 20:00. Afterwards the Soli Bar is open. Suggested donation is 3€.
In een tank kan je niet wonen: is een documentaire over de eerste maanden van kraakjaar 1980 in Amsterdam. Met de gewelddadige ontruiming in de Kinkerbuurt, de kraak van de Grote Keizer en de slag om de Vondelstraat. Net als nu kiest de overheid niet voor de honderdduizenden woningenzoekend maar de kant van groot kapitaal en speculanten belangen, met de smeris als gewillige knokploeg. De huidige wooncrisis is niet toevallig plotsklaps uit de lucht komen vallen, maar een bewuste beleid van politiek en bedrijfsleven van deafgelopen 50 jaar. Daarom een blik terug naar de woonstrijd die er altijd al is geweest.
Comments Off on 31st of October | Benefit movie night for the arrested people at the Woonprotest!
AGA is organizing a round of movies and documentaries screening during autumn in order to fund raise money for those repressed by the police during the Woonprotest demo on the 12th of September.
On the night of the 31st of October, the Precaristas documentary will be screened at Munganga (Schinkelhavenstraat 27-HS). The documentary is Spanish spoken with English subtitles.
Door opens at 19:00 Docu starts at 20:00. Afterwards the Soli Bar is open. Suggested donation is 3€.
This documentary tells the story of the Anarchist Federation of Gran Canaria and their hard work of fighting homelessness, Precarization and exploitation by the rich of the working class on the Island Gran Canaria. Mass tourism and speculation ripped the Island to pieces and with the squatting of hundreds of houses the people, the anarchists, the tenants, the workers and the unemployed made a powerful local movement to fight the rich and take back their life, dignity and build a community based on Solidarity, Mutual Aid and Direct Action.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnST0LIeMDA About FAGC: https://organisemagazine.org.uk/2021/08/06/the-history-of-the-fagc-theory-and-analysis/ Interview with Ruyman: https://autonomies.org/2021/10/ruyman-rodriguez-and-the-federacion-anarquista-de-gran-canaria-an-interview/ FAGC website: https://anarquistasgc.noblogs.org
Comments Off on 20 October | Anti-authoritarian meeting with the Zapatistas. It’s time for the people!
Anti-authoritarian meeting with the Zapatistas. It’s time for the people!
On Wednesday a meeting between the Zapatista delegation and several anti-authoritarian collectives of Amsterdam will take place. This event will provide a space where stories of resistance will be shared. How do we, in Europe, fight the system? How do we succeed? What repression do we face? After a short presentation of the different struggles faced by the collectives, an exchange with the Zapatistas and everyone present will follow. Everyone is invited to join.
Food and drinks will be served on the location!
When: Wednesday 20th of october at 7pm. Where: Munganga, Schinkelhavenstraat 27H, Amsterdam. Considerations: for safety reasons, the Zapatista delegation have requested a not to have alcohol at the event and to not take photos nor videos. Collectives that want to be added to the speakers list, please send a line to aga@agamsterdam.org or anarchafemsterdam@riseup.net. Face mask usage is required. Organized by: AFGA & AGA.
Comments Off on Justice for Sammy demonstration- Murdered by the Amsterdam Police
(Nederlands volgt Engels)
Justice for Sammy – Murdered by the Amsterdam Police
On the 13th of August 2020 the 23 year old German tourist Sammy Baker was murdered by the Amsterdam police. Sammy was in Amsterdam to celebrate his birthday with friends but disappeared. His mother reported him missing and came to Amsterdam to look for her son. She found him in a confused state of mind and asked a police officer for help. The officer called in his colleagues. What followed was not help, but three bullets that killed Sammy. During the police action there were no bystanders nearby. Sammy was only a threat to himself.
In May the state prosecutor, Anne Marie Ruijs, decided that the cops who murdered Sammy will face no consequences. Ruijs ruled that there will not be any legal procedure against them. Once again, cops get away with murder in the Netherlands. Despite all the lies of the Amsterdam police there is overwhelming evidence that Sammy was murdered (including a video clearly showing what happened). Sammy was a person of colour who was having a psychosis. Even while there was psychological help and his mother at the scene the police refused Sammy the help he was asking. Instead, they launched an attack on Sammy, without any reason, and shot at him 4 times.
The police are getting away with excessive violence more and more frequently. Instead of tackling this trend their power is increased with more weapons and instructions to use brute force more quickly.
Walk with us for justice!
On friday 13th of august 2021 at 7.30 pm, a demonstration march will take place from the starting point of Dam square in Amsterdam. We want to draw attention to the police violence in the Netherlands, but also to the injustice that has unfortunately happened to Sammy. The demonstration is expected to end in the Honselerdijikstraat. There will also be press present.
Gerechtigheid voor Sammy – Vermoord door de Amsterdamse Politie
Op 13 augustus 2020 is de 23 jarige Duitse toerist Sammy Baker door de Amsterdamse politie vermoord. Sammy was in Amsterdam om met vrienden zijn 23ste verjaardag te vieren maar verdween. Zijn moeder gaf hem op als vermist en kwam naar Amsterdam om haar zoon te zoeken. Ze vond hem in verwarde toestand en schakelde hulp in van een voorbijlopende agent, die zijn collega’s opriep. Wat er volgde was geen hulp, maar drie kogels die Sammy om het leven brachten. Tijdens de actie van de politie waren er geen omstanders in de buurt. Sammy was alleen voor zichzelf een bedreiging.
In mei 2021 besloot Officier van Justitie Anne Marie Ruijs dat de agenten die Sammy hebben doodgeschoten niet gestraft zullen worden. En weer komen agenten in Nederland weg met moord. Dit ondanks het overweldigendende bewijs dat Sammy is vermoord (inclusief een video die duidelijk laat zien wat er is gebeurd). Sammy was een persoon van kleur die een psychose had. Hij riep om een dokter en ondanks het feit dat zowel psychologische hulp als zijn moeder ter plaatse waren, liet de politie deze hulp niet toe, ging zelf zonder enige reden en dreiging in de aanval, en schoot 4 keer gericht.
De politie komt steeds vaker weg met excessieve geweldpleging. In plaats van deze trend aan te pakken worden bevoegdheden juist uitgebreid met meer wapens en ruimere geweldsinstructie.
Loop met ons mee om gerechtigheid te eisen!
Op vrijdag 13 augustus 2021 vindt om 19.30 uur een demonstratie mars plaats vanaf de Dam in Amsterdam. Wij willen niet alleen de aandacht vestigen op het politiegeweld in Nederland, maar ook tegen het onrecht dat Sammy Baker helaas is overkomen. De demo zal naar verwachting eindigen in het Honselerdijikstraat. Er zal ook pers ter plaatse zijn.
Comments Off on Anarchist Film Night with CrimethInc @OCCII
We are now
Post Chile
On the 23rd July, at 20.00 Crimethinc & AGA will organize a screening night at OCCII.
Two short documentaries will be screened:
WE ARE NOW (20 min. 2021. English with English subtitles)
In the middle of the George Floyd rebellion, Atlanta police kill yet another black man minding his business. Demonstrators–angry, mournful,and hyped–burn it down in his memory and establish a peace center.
POST CHILE (30 min. 2019-2020. English with Spanish language content)
Persecuted and ridiculed, a high-school student movement starts an insurrection that wins a new constitution for Chile, but what was lost for a new constitution was a high price to pay.Donations will be received for political prisoners!
COVID considerations: doors will open at 20.00 and there’s a limited forum of 25 people. First showing up, first in. Face mask usage is advised.
Comments Off on Nieuwe boeken in de bibliotheek – New books in the library
Beste kameraden, We hebben onze bibliotheek uitgebreid met een aantal mooie nieuwe boeken. We zijn gewoon open dus kom vooral langs op een zaterdag tussen 14:00 en 18:00. Restaurant MKZ is ook open voor afhaal eten voor €5 per maaltijd. Normaal steunt de MKZ anderen maar nu kunnen ze jullie steun goed gebruiken! Reserveren kan bij de bibliotheek of door te bellen naar 020-6790712
Dear comrades, We added a few nice books to out library. We are open as usual so do come and visit on a Saturday between 14:00 en 18:00. Also open is restaurant MKZ, for take-out meals for only €5. Normally it is the MKZ who support others, but right now they can use your support! Reservations can be made at the library or by calling to 020-6790712
Onze nieuwe boeken/Our new books:
[ARAD] Anti-racisme en dekoloniale strijd Wit huiswerk Withuiswerk.nl 20-11-2020 Burn Down the American Plantation the Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement 2017 Anarcho-blackness : notes toward a black anarchism Marquis Bey 2020 [RRV] Russische revolutie / Makhnovistas Nestor Makhno and Rural Anarchism in Ukraine, 1917-1921 Colin Darch 2020 [PRSN] Politie / Inlichtengdienst / Bajes / Repressie My Life as a Political Prisoner: The Rebel Girl Becomes “No. 11710” Elizabeth Gurley Flynn 2019 [ALGBL] Anti-globalism / economy / history / divers Anarchy and Christianity Jacques Ellul 2011 In defense of looting : a riotous history of uncivil action Vicky Osterweil 2020 [ECO] Eco anarchisme / green anarquism / primitivism / animal liberation Renewing destruction : wind energy development, conflict and resistance in a Latin American context Alexander Dunlap 2019 [ANRUK] Anarchism in the UK A British anarchist tradition : Herbert Read, Alex Comfort and Colin Ward Carissa Honeywell 2011 [AONW] Anarchism other non-western A living revolution : anarchism in the kibbutz movement James Horrox 2009 [ANTF] Anfifascisme Nieuwe kruisvaarders Sander Rietveld 2021 [ANRCH] Anarchisme Changing anarchism : anarchist theory and practice in a global age Jon Purkis 2004 [KRK] Kraken / Squatting Housing : an anarchist approach Colin Ward 1976
Comments Off on Demonstratie: Corona is het virus, kapitalisme de crisis, solidariteit de oplossing
The virus has been going around the world now for more than a year. Entire sectors of public life have been put to a standstill. The capacity of the Dutch healthcare system is pushed to its limits. While public money is being used to bailout big corporations, the health care system is underfunded and increasingly more privatied. Health care insurance is expensive and health care is not accessible for those who cannot pay. People in marginalised and vulnerable groups cannot be treated properly or are not treated at all. Hundreds of thousands of people have lost their jobs, their homes, and their livelihoods. Many lives have been lost because of the pandemic and the state’s mismanagement of it, but it does not and it did not have to be like this. Let’s not believe their lies, we are not “all in this together”. The rich get even richer because of this crisis from the safety of their beautiful homes, while the (frontline)workers, the poor and the marginalised carry the biggest burden and are forced to risk their lives.
It’s not just the pandemic, there are systemic problems with capitalism and the state. Here we will try to tackle some of them:
Systemic Racism / Police Violence Lockdown policies and the pandemic in general, does not affect all people in the same way. The curfew only applies to the poor as the rich can afford to pay the fine. People with gardens can still go outside. If you don’t have a home you can not self-isolate. Those of us who live in working class and historically immigrant neighbourhoods, have to deal with more police presence and aggressive policing then those in middle class and rich neighbourhoods. As proven, amongst other things, by the ‘toeslagen affaire’ (benefit scandal) this country is institutionally racist. Now the state is using this crisis to further extend police powers and crackdown on our rights to protest and exist in public. Giving more power to cops will only increase racist police violence. Ethnic profiling, mass surveillance, and predictive policing are posing a threat to our communities.
The police do not protect us, we protect each other. Stop institutional racism and the Dutch Police / Surveillance state. They are not here to help us but they are here to protect the rich.
Housing In one of the most expensive cities in Europe, the housing situation has worsened during the pandemic. The privatisation of the housing market has reached the point that social houses are being sold to the private sector. Housing prices are expected to rise again this year, big businesses are getting rent cuts while we struggle to pay rent. Even the suburbs we have been pushed into are being gentrified and are becoming unaffordable. At the same time houses everywhere in the city are intentionally left empty for the rich to speculate with. People without homes have no certainty and shelters are getting closed down. Social places that offer spaces for people affected are facing serious financial problems, are getting evicted and solidarity is being criminalised. Because of the lockdown, domestic violence is increasing as well as serious mental health concerns. We want proper housing for everyone.
Environment We might think that because many people have stopped travelling that C02 emissions are decreasing and that at least this is a positive development for the environment. However, individual lifestyle consumption choices are not to blame for the climate crisis. The crisis is capitalism. Capitalism is incredibly inefficient. For example, Airplanes continue flying empty, because it’s cheaper to do this than to leave them standing at the hangars. Sounds ridiculous? – it is! The capitalist system will continue to drain the planet’s resources, pandemic or not. Everything must give way in order to maximise profit. Government regulation will not stop this. Large multinationals are working together with states. In this way, there cannot be an effective response to the climate crisis. We have to get rid of this idea of infinite growth. We have to get rid of states and capitalism. There can be no infinite growth on a finite planet.
European Borders After the overcrowded Moria camp on the Greek island of Lesbos burned down last year, the EU continues to intentionally ignore the fact that humans are dying at its borders every day. Push backs by the EU coastguards of FRONTEX, inhumane conditions in camps during a pandemic, drowning of people whilst sea rescue and solidarity at the borders is criminalized, and the racist EU cooperates with states such as Turkey and Libya to stop people at the borders by any means. Since the beginning of the corona pandemic the situation has only worsened. The EU will not change, we need to rise up to make change happen.
Conspiracies and Nazis The far-right tries to make use of this uncertainty to mobilise people for their gains. Conspiracy theories fail to show the real systematic issue. Capitalism is not a conspiracy it is very real and observable and can be abolished. Nazis mobilizing? – not with us!
Economy We have every reason to be angry: While the upper class is able to stay home, we still have to work under dangerous conditions for a low wage – we are the ones that work illegally, the industrial workers, the craftspeople, the retail workers, delivery people, the taxi drivers, the nurses. We are the ones who make sure that we are all healthy, that there is still food to get at the supermarkets – the social workers, the educators, the cleaning staff and the sex workers. But we are also the people who are not native Dutch, who are not taken care of because we do not have the same rights to work or access to social services. The ones who do not have enough, or any money to afford a flat in this ridiculous housing market. We are the ones without citizenship and therefore, without any rights. We are the students that struggle to pay high tuition fees. We are the now unemployed workers struggling to get by. We did not create the crisis, and yet should we now bear the consequences? We should “tighten our belts” because we are now “all in the same boat”? Yes, now we are all in the same boat – but the capitalists, bosses, landlords, politicians, and managers are in another.
Corona Crisis? Not on our backs!
Come in action – let’s make the rich pay for Covid 19!
Another World is Possible!
20.02.2021 Amsterdam (Wear facemasks and try to keep to social distancing)
Our Conclusion:
Proper housing for everyone Squat the rich, renters keep your rent!
Change your locks, resist evictions, community resistance now
Stop the surveillance state and stop police violence. Let’s defend ourselves and protect each other.
Antisemitic conspiracy theorists and QANON-ers are dangerous and do not represent an answer to the crisis. Racists, antisemites, cops and Nazis off our streets!
Comments Off on In the memory of Stanislav Markelov and Anastasia Baburova
Twelve years ago, Russian human rights advocate and journalist Stanislav Markelov, and journalist Anastasia Baburova, were shot and killed by a Russian ultra-nationalists.
On 30th November 2008 Stas made a speech at the meeting against political terror in Moscow. It describes perfectly Stas himself and the overall situation in Russia at that time.
I’m tired of coming across the names of people I know on the crime pages. I’m tired because a week before what happened I was at Mikhail Beketov’s house. And he complained to me that he was alone against the world.
And that turned to be true.
I’m tired of opening up a criminal case and seeing that the first point in the list of charges is that the accused is a member of the antifa movement. People not only have charges filed against them for this, they are arrested and put in jail, just like [Alexei] Osinov right now.
I’m tired of reading the crime pages and scanning lists of victims. This is how I found out about [Fyodor] Filatov, who was recently murdered outside his home. This is no longer a job, but a question of survival. Whereas Mikhail Beketov needs blood right now, all of us need protection. We need protection from Nazis. We need protection from the mafia-like authorities. We even need protection from the law enforcement agencies, who often simply wait on them hand and foot. We all need protection.
And we know perfectly well that, besides ourselves, no one is ever going to give us this protection. Not God, not the Tsar, not the law, no one. Only we ourselves. And only when we manage to march shoulder to shoulder will we be able to protect each other, only then we will make a breakthrough. I hope that this will happen. Otherwise we’ve gathered here in vain.
Speech by Stanislav Markelov. Rally against Political Terror. Moscow, November 30, 2008.
Only two month after this speech, on 19 January, Stas was murdered. It’s hard to make a list of all the things that he did for the left movement in Russia.
He took part in human rights conferences and social forums, trying to unite the ideas of human rights and social justice.
He defended leftist and anti-fascist activists throughout Russia.
He defended environmentalists, whose protest camps were attacked by local administrations, law enforcement officials, and legal and illegal armed units.
He defended trade union activists.
He defended members of the Belorussian opposition.
He was practically the only Russian lawyer who worked on controversial cases in Chechnya.
He represented victims of the Nord-Ost and Blagoveshchensk terrorist attacks.
He and Anastasia Baburova were killed in the middle of the day in the very center of Moscow.
Someone might say that Nastya was just a random victim, but we would not agree on that. Her ideals and her choices led her to that place in that time. She was a brave person who combined activism with journalism. That day, after she heard the shots targeting Markelov, she could have run and save herself, but she decided to try to stop the attacker. She was killed.
Stanislav Markelov as a lawyer was involved in so many hot cases that at first it was hard to say exactly who might have pulled the trigger, but at the end he was killed by Nazis.
Stas and Nastya were killed by a neo-nazi organization called BORN. This organization was formed by people who had the desire to kill, and they made it real. As a result, BORN murdered multiple enemies of their imaginary happy white pride future.
It’s obvious that such a right-wing radicals do not come from nothing. They need the basis to grow from. And this basis is social injustice. As long as we have rich and poor, people will be angry. Those in power try to turn our anger against refugees and immigrants as an easy target. But it will never solve anything, it only bring more problems and pain.
We need to turn our anger on people in power, on those who start wars and destroy out planet for profits. To stop racist killings, we need to put an end to capitalism.
Stas and Nastya both knew that. Everything they did was for that. And eventually they gave their lives for that. Now it’s up to us to make the rest of the world see the bigger picture, to give people the knowledge so they can fight for themselves everyday.
Comments Off on Interview with the team behind antijob.net
We have to work most of our lives. Our efforts, time, ideas, successes and failures are compressed into rubles, dollars and euros – impersonal banknotes, which are constantly lacking to fulfill our desires and needs. Typically, work is fraught with wage delays, employers’ machinations, nervousness and humiliation from idiotic rules and bosses fooling around.
https://antijob.net/manifest
That’s how antijob.net, the most successful anarchist project from Russia, starts it’s manifest. It’s a website where workers can leave a review on their (ex-)bosses, helping each other in finding the job that sucks less. AGA took an interview with the team behind it.
Tell us about the project, its history and its mission. Why did you choose this format?
The project started in the early 2000s. More than 20 years have passed since the first version of the site. It was created in a radical anarchist environment and was designed for young people who had recently graduated from universities, but instead of respect for the profession, they found exploitation and deception in the labor market. These were the main users of the Internet in Russia at that time.
The aesthetics of the site, name and approach are a joke on the Job.ru portal, at that time the largest job search service. It created the illusion of a stable future, everything as usual – happy people in office clothes who are pursuing their career aspirations and strive for some form of American-Russian middle-class dream. In practice, for most of those looking for work in Russia, there are no bright prospects and career aspirations. And if there is, then reality quickly puts them in place.
Reality can be changed, but only the workers themselves can do this, if they understand their position and will fight for better working conditions. The mission of our collective is to promote “direct action” in solving labor conflicts and create a place for coordination of forces in the class struggle, as opposed to the judicial-bureaucratic system, which in fact acts in the interests of our class enemies. To do this, we collect and distribute feedback, which is the voice of the workers themselves. From these we form a database – the “black list of employers”, and the Internet indexing mechanisms help to spread it.
Tell us about the team behind the project.
The team has changed almost completely over the years, but the spirit of anarchism, self-organization, revolutionary spirit and, to some extent, epatage, have been preserved. Although less so than before. Today we are not promoting “radical laziness” as a concept and theft of an employer’s property as a method. But now we are talking more about the trade union struggle and direct, acute, conflicts between workers and employers.
For the most part, we all come from an anarchist environment, various political projects or radical political music scenes. Some of the participants are over thirty, some already have children, we are sedate, somewhat cynical, but we still believe in the values of freedom, solidarity, in the fact that people can organize themselves, draw conclusions from experience and create better kinds of interaction and economy. Well, that one day we will be able to defeat capitalism, the state, hierarchies and all this retrograde nonsense =)
Tell us about the specifics of the situation of workers in Russia and the ex-USSR. What are the laws and practice of their application?
The specifics of Russia is that a rather large layer of laws and norms of the times of the USSR remains, which the state selectively uses. Some laws look more progressive on paper than in many countries, but they still work on the basis of political will – as and when the powers that be. If the current policy is to promote business, then employees will lose the courts, and they will turn a blind eye to violations of the labor law, but if it is necessary to grease the “broad masses”, then employers will be screwed. In general, the levers of influence are somewhere in the heavens.
There are trade unions in Russia, but mostly yellow ones. The largest of them is the FPNR. This trade union is politically engaged with the current government and acts as a labor regulator at the request of the top. It has significant resources of property and political influence, which allows at the level of “service”, such as gifts and vouchers, to achieve some success and sometimes even carry out some generally useful, albeit microscopic in scale, legislative initiatives. As with all yellow organizations, this association cannot even be called “reformist”, because it has no reform goal.
Alternative trade unions are represented mainly by Novoprofs and KTR, these are more workers’ organizations that have influence. The cells carry out a social agenda and in general they have a strong leftist connotation. They are not that radical and use a wide range of methods from strikes to participation in a tripartite commission (employers, trade unions, government officials) that agree on legislative labor amendments. The trade unions we work with often belong to these associations.
There are almost no radical trade unions, to some extent such can be called the recently appeared Courier, whose organizational composition is from the left and close to libertarian environment. Now they are also in the KTR, and using the topic of platform capitalism and Coronavirus, they manage to catch media attention.
Labor issues in Russia are acute, the latest reform of the retirement age has mobilized thousands of people in hundreds of cities for mass actions, caused a wave of indignation, but did not lead to anything. We put forward the slogan of a general strike, which was clearly supported “from below”, but was pessimistically assessed by the trade unions. As a result, the law was adopted with minimal amendments. There is no culture of radical labor protest in Russia at the moment, but we can not exclude that sooner or later this will result in something much more radical than a series of rallies.
Tell us about the impact of the project on society and how it helps in the fight against capital.
For those who write reviews, we help punish the employer – the review greatly affects the reputation of the bosses. It is a very common situation that a former employer pays debts to an employee, having seen a review about himself on AntiJob, if only the employee cancels it. For those who read reviews, we help to avoid cheating, non-payment of wages, etc. In short – the site has a large database of “black employers”, which is well indexed by searches with our help. Anyone who got into our black list finds himself in the first results of a search engine when typing in the name of the company. Thus, new employees and even customers of the fraudulent company begin to bypass it, because the reviews are shown above the information about the company itself.
We also highlight the underside of hired labor. We have rules – only negative reviews get to the site and the employer is wrong by default. We call this the employer’s presumption of guilt. This is how we sift out the countless number of self-praisers that splurge and prevent us from seeing existing problems.
This is useful not only for system critics. For the same employers and politicians, this is an invaluable storehouse of refined information and feedback that they apparently do not know how to use or do not want. We have more than one hundred thousand reviews from several countries about various areas and companies with direct speeches from employees, which allows us to make a good picture of the specifics of work in various areas. And this picture is not very beautiful.
Reviews are not written by activists or politicians, it is easy to find common problems on which left-wing activists and anarchists should build and adjust their optics and rhetoric, these are not only problems with non-payment of wages, but also an acute sense of disrespect, attitude as a thing, frustration – everything that is easily described theoretically by alienation and class contradictions.
We plan to work with this and our end goal is to bring people from the level of presenting the problem to its politicization, and then to action.
Tell us about offline activity around your project.
One of the important offline channels is stickers. We send dozens of envelopes with stickers by regular mail to everyone for free. So those who wish can tag a black employer or simply decorate the streets of their city.
At the beginning of the project, our stickers were spread by dozens of anarcho-groups throughout Russia. By the way, this was a good promotion – in those cities where the biggest spreading happened, we still have the highest visitors count. The secret of success – the stickers were not politicized and simply offered to add their employer to the blacklist. And since there are a lot of dumb employers, the stickers almost were not removed and hung for years at stops and in public transport.
Formally, the site’s team does not conduct other offline activities due to anonymity, but for some time we have actively promoted not only the idea of organizing trade unions (rather as a concept), but also the organization of “Solidarity Networks” cells – groups that dealt with labor conflicts on the ground.
Such existed at different times in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Voronezh, Nizhny Novgorod, Irkutsk, Barnaul.
Some of the actions were successful, they managed to apply pressure in a super-direct format. This was unexpected for employers and atypical even for the police, who rarely intervened. Similar projects periodically flare up again. Recently, a group in the same format, “Moscow Syndicate”, appeared in Moscow, that operates as a Solidarity Network. We did not participate in its organization, but we are always happy to support them with information. We are monitoring this activity and will promote it whenever possible.
Does your team has security risks? There is a constant repressions against activists in Russia. Do you feel pressure from the bosses?
We keep the team anonymous. This is directly related to safety, but equally from the state and employers. There is no great interest from state structures in us. So far there is no experience for someone to be arrested or tracked down for involvement in the project, even despite some politicization. But we are ready for such a turn.
It’s more difficult with bosses. They are directly interested in a conflict with us. We do not delete reviews, sometimes we were offered thousands of euros for “cleaning up reputation”. Of course, for this money, they can find ways to pressure us in different ways, physically or legally. There was a precedent when information was leaked on one of the foreign comrades, who was considered the “owner of the antijob” (including clearly personal and clearly related to police data) and they tried to shake us. But in the end they failed.
We are periodically attacked, DDOSed, and sometimes even hacked. Because of this, we had to pump up security a lot and switch to a new project engine. In general, considering the circumstances, we are constantly scared, that somewhere in the site we have security holes and we can be hacked. If among those who read the text there are comrades who are fond of penetrate testing, we are always grateful for information on vulnerabilities and possible fixes on our website.
We are being sued, in the databases of the courts you can find countless claims against the site for “harm to business reputation”, “disclosure of personal data”, “libel” and so on. Courts go on without us and sometimes even make decisions. Those who threaten to block the site reach us. But not all. For example, we were blocked without notification in Belarus and Kazakhstan. There have been no precedents of police prosecution based on court decisions yet. But if we had some kind of official form of organization, undoubtedly, we would have to leave a lot of nerves and money for legal nuances.
Anonymity greatly hinders further promotion and basic collection of resources. We can even make permanent donations to the site only if we find or create a legal entity. But if we create it, then we will get a lot of problems – [such is the fork].
What about your future plans. You recently started crowdfunding campaign, what do you want to do next?
Our minimum plan is to drive all “competitive” commercial feedback websites into a hole from which they will not get out. There is a lot of them. The demand for reputation cleansing creates supply. Sometimes it gets to the point of absurdity and someone copies all the available information from our site, making a similar domain. Sometimes they even buy ads to push us to lower positions in the search. This is done because there is a problem with working in Russia, and traffic can be monetized. Also, if you do not have a political position, you can also take money for removing reviews.
We have a brand and a reputation, but we strive for convenience and usefulness. Now we are developing a new version of the site, which will be more complex and more difficult to copy, but at the same time much more useful and user-friendly than crude fakes. To do this, we carried out crowdfunding, some of which still goes on the firefund.
We also plan to create a full-fledged platform that will help to collect important information about labor issues, and then help deceived workers to coordinate. Plus is may involve trade unions and other projects that operate in the field of labour. This will undoubtedly require a lot of time and resources in the future, but it can potentially give an opportunity to operate not only in Russia. Now, in this regard, we are building cooperation with the local trade union of workers in the technological sphere, where there are IT engineers who are also interested in such a project.
We have a strong suspicion that there are labor problems in almost all countries, as well as the desire of people to share them. Especially if this can affect the employer’s reputation. Our project cannot go global simply by adding a translation to the site. To be useful to users abroad, you need knowledge of the language for moderation, understanding of local legislation, the nuances of requests and local problems. However, we urge to create similar web projects of comrades from other countries, contact us, exchange experience, assess problems and then look for integration opportunities for joint development and saving resources (including development labor resources). We would like to take advantage of the platform effect that today gives a lot of power to corporations, but change it, make it a local initiative, while maintaining the advantages of “scale” and economy on resources.
Comments Off on Pre-presentation for Precaristas documentary
(English below)
Na enkele weken werken zijn we verheugd de beschikbaarheid van de documentaire “Precaristas” met (Engelse ondertiteling) aan te kondigen. Deze documentaire uit 2018 en opgenomen door “Inercia Docs” verkent de huisvestingsstrijd op de Canarische Eilanden. Onze verwachting is om op dit moment weer een info-avond voor deze documentaire te regelen. Zoiets lijkt op dit moment niet mogelijk vanwege de huidige coronasituatie. Dus, voorlopig, geven we dit materiaal vrij in de hoop dat het zinvol tegencultureel materiaal biedt om naar te kijken en over na te denken, terwijl deze lock-down ons thuis in de val houdt.
De samenvatting van de documentaire: “Een documentaire over de strijd van de Anarchistische Federatie en de Huurdersvereniging van Gran Canaria. Een van de baanbrekende ervaringen van de staat. De eerste van de vele zelfgeorganiseerde vakbonden die van onderuit worden geboren, in wijken en steden door de hele staat, van de strijd om toegang tot huisvesting, het stoppen van huisuitzettingen, met massale kraakpanden, verhuizing van gezinnen of op boerderijen verworven via overdrachten semi-informeel met eigendom (vandaar de term precair), maar altijd verdedigd met de buurtvakbondsactie. Anarchistische huisvestingsexperimenten die hebben gereageerd op de beperkte rol van eilandbesturen, die proberen een volksbeweging te verenigen en uit te breiden door te voorzien in basisbehoeften. Met een hybride audiovisuele taal, tussen de journalistieke, documentaire en experimentele genres, wordt het centrale verhaal geconstrueerd door een intieme benadering van gezinnen en wordt het aangevuld met stemmen van verschillende politieke, zakelijke, academische en juridische actoren op het eiland. In het verhaal is er ook ruimte voor een inval in de toeristische dimensie van Gran Canaria (34% van het BBP), waarbij de impact en relatie van deze economische monocultuur op huisvesting wordt onderzocht. Een documentaire in eigen beheer die de medewerking heeft gehad van communicatiecollectieven zoals La Directa of Bauma en met een soundtrack van artiesten als Silvia Tomas Trio, de rapgroep Resiliencia en de DJ’s Mash Masters ”
After some weeks of work, we are happy to announce the availability of the documentary “Precaristas” with (English subtitles). This documentary from 2018 and recorded by “Inercia Docs” explores the housing struggle in the Canary Islands. Our expectations is to arrange an info night for this documentary at the moment is possible again. Such thing does not seem possible at this moment due to the current corona situation. So, for the time being, we are releasing this material in the hope of providing some meaningful counter-cultural material to watch and think about while this lock-down keeps us trapped at home.
The synopsis of the documentary: “A documentary about the struggle of the Anarchist Federation and the Tenant Union of Gran Canaria. One of the pioneering experiences of the state. The first of the many self-organized unions that are born from below, in neighborhoods and towns throughout the state, from the struggle for access to housing, stopping evictions, with massive squats, relocation of families or on farms acquired through cessions semi-informal with property (hence the term precarious). But always defended with the neighborhood union action. Anarchist housing experiments that have responded to the limited role of island administrations, trying to unite and expand a popular movement through the coverage of basic needs. With a hybrid audiovisual language, between the journalistic, documentary and experimental genres, the central story is constructed through an intimate approach to families and is complemented by voices from different political, business, academic and legal actors on the island. In the narrative there is also room for an incursion into the tourist dimension of Gran Canaria (34% of GDP), exploring the impact and relationship that this economic monoculture has on housing. A self-managed documentary that has had the collaboration of communication collectives such as La Directa or Bauma and with a soundtrack by artists such as Silvia Tomas Trio, the rap group Resiliencia and the DJs Mash Masters”
On Tuesday the 8th of September at 14:00 we gathered outside the IND office on the Pieter Callandlaan 1 in Amsterdam. We were there with pamphlets, banners and protest signs and some black / red flags. At that moment we were there with more than 10 people. After several minutes two bastard cops arrive on bikes, 1 of them is the neighborhood cop from police station Postjesweg and he immediately makes it clear that the protest was not registered and that it is illegal and that everyone will get a 250 euro fine. We managed to gain some time by stating that we would discuss amongst ourselves what we would do. The cop left but stayed in the area. We used this moment to continue handing out pamphlets and by continuing the protest. It was discussed that the Bastard cop probably meant what he said and that problems would be very likely.
After 15 minutes the cop returned and we told him that we would break up the protest and that everyone would be on their way. The bastard seemed to have a different opinion, a security guard from the IND building spoke to the cop and was pointing out some people from our group, it was not clear what it was about. People were getting ready to leave but then the cops started harassing people in the group. It was not clear why. In the meantime more people arrived and we were with about 20 people. The harassment of comrades was of course not appreciated and there was some pulling and pushing back and forth with the cops. After this ended and more people were leaving the cop jumped on his bike and together with a cop on a motorbike they sped away. Because we didn’t trust it we followed them, and around the corner, 150 meters away the bastards have thrown two people to the ground and are in the process of arresting them. Quickly more cops arrive and also several neighbors start intervening and criticize the heavy handed arrests. Also now scuffles break out and things get pretty out of hand, a third person is arrested. At this point there are 8 cops and more are on their way, it is unclear if a call for assistance has been made. The remaining group gets pushed out of the street and decides to disperse. it is unclear if a call for assistance has been made. The remaining group gets pushed out of the street and decides to disperse. it is unclear if a call for assistance has been made. The remaining group gets pushed out of the street and decides to disperse. Around 7pm the first arrestee is released and the hours following the other two also get released. The arestees did not receive a fine or a summons on their release. It was stated (not in writing) that the charge was for insulting a police officer. All 3 were identified, the last one was kept in foreign detention for a short while but they managed to find out her identity anyway and released her shortly after.
We, the Anarchist Group Amsterdam, purposely decided not to notify the municipality of Amsterdam of this protest. We assumed we would never have been given permission to have a demo outside of the IND office anyway. We also strongly disagree with registering protests, demonstrations etc, and with this to ask permission from the state if we can protest or not and how we are supposed to do it. We also did not expect this many people to show up, because on a weekday at 2pm people often have other things to do (work / study) and we predicted that we would be able to get away with it in a small group. Unfortunately not. Something we did consider (are considering) is that there is a lot of police in Amsterdam and there is quite some overcapacity because the bastards don’t have much to do in times of Covid-19 and are mostly busy giving out fines to young people throwing house parties. This while during this pandemic the shopping streets, shops, companies and distribution centers are overcrowded. Because of the large numbers of cops in Amsterdam they can act quickly and aggressively. In a very short time a large number of cops can be brought together and they can act outside of the law.
Because of the events that took place on Tuesday December the 8th we are even more convinced of the necessity and importance of taking direct action. In solidarity with those that resist the state and Capital, everywhere and always! Anarchist Group Amsterdam / Free Bond
Comments Off on Arrestaties en politie repressie op picket bij de IND Amsterdam in solidariteit met Abtin.
Dit protest was georganiseerd in solidariteit met Abtin Pasra, een anarchist uit Iran die vervolgd word door de Griekse en Iraanse staat , zie hier de oproep: https://www.agamsterdam.org/open-call-for-the-protest-gathering-in-solidarity-with-the-persecuted-anarchist-abtin-parsa-in-front-of-ind-office/
Op dinsdag 8 december werd er om 14 uur verzameld bij het IND kantoor op de Pieter Callandlaan 1 te Amsterdam. We stonden daar met pamfletten, spandoeken en protestborden en een enkele zwart/rode vlag. We waren omdat moment met dik 10 personen aanwezig. Na enkel minuten komen er 2 smeris op de fiets aan, 1 is de buurt smeris van politiebureau Postjesweg en maakt eigenlijk meteen duidelijk dat het protest niet is aangemeld en dat het verboden is en dat iedereen een boete kan krijgen van 250 euro. We konden het rekken door te melden dat we het zouden overleggen met elkaar wat we zouden gaan doen. De smeris vertrok maar bleef in de buurt. Van dat moment hebben we gebruik gemaakt om verder pamfletten uit te delen en door te gaan met met protest. Wel werd er tegen elkaar gezegd dat de smeris het meent en dat er zeer waarschijnlijk problemen gaan komen.
Na 15 minuten was de smeris terug en melde wij aan hen dat we zouden opbreken als protest en ieder zijn weg zou gaan. Daar dacht de smeris toch anders over, een bewaker van het IND gebouw had de smeris aangesproken en was aan het wijzen naar enkele in onze groep, waar het over ging was onduidelijk. Mensen maakte aanstalten om weg te gaan maar de smeris begon mensen in de groep lastige te vallen. Waarom was onduidelijk. Ondertussen waren er meer mensen gearriveerd en waren we met een kleine 20 mensen.
Het lastig vallen van kameraden werd natuurlijk niet op prijs gesteld en er was wat heen en weer geduw en getrek. Nadat het was gestopt en meerdere mensen weg aan het gaan waren sprong de smeris op de fiets en samen met een motor smeris gingen ze er snel vandoor. Omdat wij het niet vertrouwende gingen we achter ze aan, en om de hoek, 150 meter verder heeft de smeris 2 mensen teen de grond gegooid en is bezig ze te arresteren. Al snel is er nog meer smeris en ook meerdere buurtbewoners beginnen zich er mee te bemoeien en hebben kritiek op de hardhandige arrestatie. Ook nu zijn er weer duw en trek partijen en loopt het aardig uit de hand, en word er nog een 3de persoon opgepakt. Op dit moment zijn er een 8 tal politie agenten en meer zijn onderweg, het is onduidelijk of er een “assistentie collega” is uitgeroepen.
De overgebleven groep word de straat uit geduwd en besluit dan ook zelf om ieder zijn weg te gaan.
s’Avonds rond 7 uur word de eerste arrestant vrijgelaten en de uren daarop de andere 2. Er is geen boete gegeven, of een dagvaarding mee gegeven. De aanklacht werd mondeling gemeld dat ze waren opgepakt voor belediging. Alle 3 zijn geïdentificeerd, de laatste is kort in vreemdelingen detentie geweest maar wisten haar indentiteit toch te achterhalen en werd daarna vrij gelaten.
We, de Anarchistische Groep Amsterdam, hadden bewust niet dit protest aangemeld bij de gemeente Amsterdam. Wij gingen er van uit dat er sowieso nooit toestemming gegevens ging worden om voor het IND kantoor een protest te houden. Ook zint het ons totaal niet om protesten, demonstraties e.d aan te vragen en zo toestemming te krijgen van de staat of je wel of niet mag protesteren en hoe je dat dan moet doen. Ook hadden we verwacht dat er minder mensen zouden komen, want doordeweeks om 2 uur hebben mensen vaak andere dingen te doen (werk / studeren) en was de inschatting dat we met een kleinere groep er wel mee zouden wegkomen. Helaas niet dus. waar we wel rekening mee (ge)houden hebben is dat er veel politie is in Amsterdam er is een flinke overcapaciteit omdat de smeris in corona tijd amper iets te doen heeft en vooral druk is met het beboeten van jongeren die een feestje thuis houden. Dit terwijl de winkelstraten, winkels, bedrijven en distributie centra overvol zijn ten tijde van deze pandemie. Door de grote hoeveelheid smeris in Amsterdam kan er snel en agressief gehandeld worden en kunnen er in een zeer korte tijd veel politie bij elkaar worden gebracht en zijn wij vogelvrij.
We hebben al eerder geschreven over het organiseren van protesten in een corona pandemie en wat de mogelijkheden zijn is een proces van vallen en opstaan en door collectieve actie moeten we uiteindelijk een praktijk zien te vinden. https://www.agamsterdam.org/verslag-van-protest-in-solidariteit-met-de-anarchist-abtin-parsa/
Door de gebeurtenissen van dinsdag 8 december zijn we alleen meer overtuigd van het nut en belang van Directe Acties. In solidariteit met hen die zich verzetten tegen staat en kapitaal, overal en altijd !
Anarchistische Groep Amsterdam / Vrije Bond
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