anarchists – DISACCORDS

Yogyakarta: Repression against anarchists following the May Day anti-feudal demonstration

3 May – Yesterday, 44 of our comrades were arrested accused of property destruction, provocation, and fighting with the police. Night legal team tried to reached them but still cant make it, as they have been isolated (02.05.18)
– One of the Legal Aid was arrested and beaten.
– Until now our 12 comrades are still imprisoned and the police continuing the witch hunt.

International solidarity for arrested comrades by whatever means necessary!

Communique

Although this is an exclusive communique towards Yogyakarta or Indonesians in general, we call for international pressure and solidarity against this rotten feudal system that still exist in this century!

Greetings to the beloved people of Yogyakarta, those who vilify our demonstration which was intentionally intended to censure the institution of Kraton in Yogyakarta.

Believe us when we say that we already knew, even since before we carried out our demonstration, that there would be an antipathy from the public towards our demonstration. It is very understandable. Feudalism creates this belief that kings and the royals are like half-divine beings; their authority is sacred and self-justified. Someone becomes a ruler in a feudal system because they happened to be born in the right family: the royal family. The whole feudal territory is the property of the king and his royal family, and the people are just occupants who can be evicted any time at the king’s will.

The system is perpetuated by, among other things, this irrational belief towards the feudal rule. In Yogyakarta, feudalism is what makes Yogyakarta “special”. Politically, this special status means Yogyakarta is not governed by an elected governor like other provinces in Indonesia. Instead, the region is governed by a governor who is also a Sultan. Socio-culturally, this special status has another meaning; it gives a false sense of pride to the people of Yogyakarta. Yogyakarta is special because it is ruled by a Sultan, and the people are proud about it.

How is being ruled by someone with an unchecked power something that you can take pride of? What is so proudful from being a subordinate of another human being, solely because they were born in the royal family?

Our demonstration was not meant to draw sympathy. If drawing sympathy was what we were aiming, we wouldn’t have done a demonstration that disturbed the reproduction of social values like what we did. No, our demonstration was not intended for that. We are not a political party, a“leftist” organization, an NGO, or the proponents of the incumbent rulers or their oppositions, who need people’s endorsement and sympathy.

WE ARE ALSO NOT PART OF PMII; FAIZI ZAIN AND HIS CRONIES WHO EXPECTED A RIOT TO LIFT THEIR AGENDA OF OVERTHROWING JOKOWI FOR THE BENEFITS OF THEIR POLITICAL MASTERS! THEY ARE POWER BROKERS! WE ARE NOT!

Our demonstration was meant to disturb the circulation of capital in Yogyakarta. We intentionally want to create a non-condusive situation for capital investment, be it national or foreign, that will intensify the development and gentrification that disenfranchise the middle and lower class people in Yogyakarta.

We had guessed that the public would be infuriated by our vandalism and provocative calls.

The destruction of one police post and the call to “murder the Sultan!” have massively angered the people of Yogyakarta. The anger is absent when the police repeatedly, with violence, is at the front line of conflicts between people’s interests and the rulers’, on the side of the rulers’ of course, like the one in Temon, Kulonprogo, where there is an on-going process of land-grabbing by the Sultan through the legitimization of Sultan Ground/Pakualaman Ground, a feudal land ownership system, on behalf of the expansion of tourism industry capital. The anger is also absent when the inhabitants of the urban kampungs (informal settlements, slums) have to deal with water shortage, caused by the usage of ground water by hotels and apartments, which construction is being intensified, under the blessing of the Sultan of course.

That call to “murder the Sultan!” that have angered some people of Yogyakarta, whether we wrote down the call or not, whether the call was literal or symbolic, has its own importance in rattling the authority of the Sultan in Yogyakarta, which is seemingly sacred and unquestionable; a power with no control mechanism because it is protected by “faith” towards the Sultan’s self-justified authority. This “faith” is responsible for the disenfranchisement of the people. Soon er or later, you who are reading this will probably be disenfranchised by the “development” in Yogyakarta too. A “development” for the interests of the Sultan and his cronies; local and national corporations; domestic and foreign invetors.

Yes, the Sultan is one of the main orchestrators of many problems in Yogyakarta; eviction, land-grabbing, gentrification, and the development that disenfranchise middle and lower class people. The Sultan and his royal family, and also his cronies, are the ones who dominate every economic aspect in Yogyakarta.

Yogyakarta is one of the most economically unequal provinces in Indonesia. The development in Yogyakarta is not carried out for the interests of the people, but for the interests of the ruling class: the capitalists and the feudals. In Yogyakarta, the two vile sytems are having an affair, while crushing the people under; those who aren’t the royals and are the middle and lower class.

Mothers, aren’t you tired of having to visit your children at prisons, twice a week, who probably had to steal or rob people just to survive? And the reason why they are in these overpopulated prisons in Yogyarta is the deeply rooted poverty that is prevalent in Yogyakarta. Does your Sultan care?

And then, are we gonna keep fooling ourselves, thinking to ourselves that everything is fine? Or even, “special”?

We have no interest in being admired. We are not a political party who need people’s votes on elections.

We are just people who are sick. Sick of everything that is going on around us and how the people are lulled by this false consciousness, telling them that everything is fine.

We’re calling to the middle and lower class people, intellectuals, artists, academics, those who claim to be liberals and moderates, and others who choose to be “neutral”. Do you remember the historical event that gave birth to the concept of modern nation-state? The period that you call the Enlightenment Period, where the kings, queens, and the royals were guillotined at the Place de la Révolution. Didn’t it create what you call as democracy?

We don’t mean to repeat or glorify history. The democracy that you uphold and sell out is not bringing us anywhere other than to poverty, ecological degradation, and disfranchisement.

We are the libertarians. We are what you call as anarchists. We dream of a world where people cooperate with each other, work together, rule over themselves, in a horizontal way, without rulers, the royals, political contract, social contract, or the capitalists. We want a life in its truest form, where human’s natural desires are in tune with nature; a life without class, racial, ethnic, religious, and other false divides.

We are what you call utopists.

We want a free society without oppressors. We want a society where people can have any beliefs, sexual orientations, or anything without fearing being persecuted.
Total freedom!

– The Anarchists

NSW: Solidarity with la ZAD

13 April – Solidarity with la ZAD from Wiradjuri country, in so-called NSW.

For almost a decade la ZAD in Notre Dame Des Landes has been an autonomous zone, liberated from the French republic. The zone is currently being attacked by a massive police operation intent on the complete destruction of this seed of another possible world, a world free from the logic of capital.

ZAD Partout!

Brisbane: Arson Attack on the Commonwealth Games Clock

13 April – Yesterday in Meanjin (Brisbane, so called Australia) we watched on social media as the police brutalised and arrested peaceful Stolenwealth Games protestors on the Gold Coast. They used excessive force on young people, people with disabilities, and elders.

The police also tried to claim one young person self harmed while in their custody. Allies are urgently needed at Camp Freedom on the last two days of the Commonwealth Games, to join peaceful protests and protect the camp, which over the last two weeks, has been threatened by Neo Nazis, racists, and the Queensland Police force. Our action is in no way endorsed by Stolenwealth Games organisers and protestors (who have no knowledge of it), but they have our solidarity through this and more practical acts.

This surfboard clock was launched in 2015 on this fake beach to count down 1000 days until the Commonwealth Games. Time is now up for the Commonwealth, the State, and the weapons of the state — the police. If Queensland wants to slip back so easily to the days of the opppressive and violent Joh Bjelke-Petersen dictatorship, then more resistance can be expected. Fuck the Police. Fuck the Commonwealth. This isn’t the Queen’s Land. The time to decolonise is now, for healing the land and healing the people of the land.

#BurnAustraliaToTheGround #EyesonQLDpolice #Toomanycoppersnotenoughjustice

Melbourne: Banner Action in Solidarity with the Hunger Strikers in Sofia Prison, Bulgaria

31 January, 2018 – On Tuesday, January 30th, a small group of anarchists and antifascists gathered in Narrm / Melbourne, so-called Australia to express their solidarity with the ongoing hunger strike by the prisoners in Sofia Prison, Bulgaria. 30 prisoners have been on hunger strike since January 27th in response to the policies of the corrupt prison director Peter Krestev who is trying to stamp out symbolic protests for basic human rights.

VICTORY TO THE HUNGER STRIKERS!
VICTORY TO THE BULGARIAN PRISONERS’ ASSOCIATION!
SOLIDARITY WITH ANTIFASCIST PRISONER COMRADE JOCK PALFREEMAN!

Melbourne: Banner Action in Solidarity with Anarchist Prisoner Lisa

January 18, 2018 – On 15 January 2018, a group of anarchists in Narrm (so-called Melbourne, Australia), undertook a solidarity statement effort in support of our anarchist comrade, “Aachen Lisa”, who is serving seven and a half years imprisonment in Germany for a bank expropriation in the city of Aachen. At a prominent tourist attraction, St. Patrick’s Cathoholic Cathedral (the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne, and seat of its archbishop, Denis Harta), we displayed a banner reading “Seditious solidarity with ‘Aachen Lisa’. Uncompromising resistance to patriarchy, church, capital, and state!”. We then hung the banner in a predominant and highly visible position on the gates of the State Parliament House.

Although we extend solidarity to all of our incarcerated anarchist comrades; women anarchists who dare to undertake illegalist / insurrectionist direct actions, hold a special place in our hearts. We send our strongest love, respect, and solidarity to our jailed sister women anarchists- your praxis inspires our imaginations and feeds our strength and inspiration to undermine and sabotage existing oppressive State structures.

Forever FTP (Fight The Patriarchy, Fuck The Police, Free The Prisoners, Fire To Prisons)!!

Melbourne: Serco Compound Attacked in Solidarity with Refugees in Detention

serco November 20, 2017: Last night, a group of people in Naarm / Melbourne, responding to the call out for 8 Days of Solidarity for Refugees, undertook an action targeting Serco.

Serco is a multinational corporation which is directly responsible for the inhumane incarceration conditions faced by refugees, asylum seekers, and detainees, in so-called Australia. Serco is also a major player in the international privatised prison complex.

The group gained access to a central Naarm / Melbourne, Serco compound and immobilised 7 vehicles. The group also left spray-painted messages on Serco compound property, including vehicles, reading “Serco Psycho Scum”, “Serco, profiting from refugee detention- this is war”, and “Serco profits from misery, we hold YOU responsible”.

Deaths in Detention Vengeance and Accountability Crew

Sydney: Vandalism of Liberal & Labor Offices in Solidarity with Manus Refugees

Untitled

December 1, 2017 – In the early hours of the 29th of November the electoral offices of Malcolm Turnbull, Tony Abbott and Anthony Albanese were decorated with stencils that said:

Evacuate Manus. Your Inaction Is Blood On Your Hands. Refugees Welcome.

These actions were undertaken in solidarity with the refugee men on Manus, who for years now have fought against the brutal ‘refugee policy’ of the Australian and PNG States.

Salatiga, Indonesia: Demo in Solidarity with West Papua Struggle

INDONESIA

15 November, 2017 – Solidarity between various alliances including Libertarian Student Federation (FML), Papuan Student Alliance (AMP) in the small town of Salatiga, at the Satya Wacana Christian University. This solidarity is a nationwide call from the KNPB (National Committee of West Papua) in order to give pressure to the Indonesian government to give rights to West Papuan independence and autonomy. In this case, anarchists and libertarians limited their solidarity for the full autonomy and freedom of West Papua from Indonesian state and not supporting the creation of West Papua as a nation-state.

Anarkis/FML

Videos Links (click on the links below):

some anarchists students make their way out of campus

Demonstration outside of University

(via Agitasi)

Melb: Report on the Melbourne Cup Disruptions for Manus Refugees

8 Nov – RISE: Refugee Survivors and ex-Detainees called for a Day of Action on November 7 in solidarity with over 600 refugee men who are currently blockaded inside the former Australian-government run detention centre on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea. The Australian government imprisoned the men on Manus as part of their despicable policy of mandatory detention for all refugees who tried to enter Australian territories by boat.

The detention centre has been officially closed by the Australian government and all essential services have been cut including water and electricity. Papua New Guinea police and military have been preventing food and other essential items from entering the detention centre. The Australian government are refusing to take any responsibility or duty of care for the refugees and have been actively blocking other countries from accepting them, insisting that the men must move to a new centre that have been built on Manus. This centre is not safe nor is it equipped to meet the needs of the refugees who are justifiably fearful of being attacked by angry locals who do not want the refugees in their communities. As a result of this situation the 600 men are refusing to leave the Australian detention centre and have been calling on the international community to intervene and help them. Conditions inside the detention centre are grim – no food, no water, no sewage, no electricity and no medical facilities.

The Day of Action was called for November 7th to coincide with the annual Melbourne Cup, a high profile international horse racing event in order to generate maximum publicity. In Narrm / Melbourne, activists responded to the call with a diverse series of actions…

#SanctionAustralia banner drops by the RISE Team and volunteers in front of Flemington Racecourse (where the Melbourne Cup is held) as well as East Link and City Link toll roads. (source)

On the outskirts of Narrm / Melbourne, a banner reading ‘SAFETY 4 MANUS MEN’ was dropped from a bridge along the highway to provincial city Geelong. (source)

In the north-eastern suburbs of Narrm / Melbourne, a banner reading ‘MANUS = CRIME’ was displayed alongside a busy highway. (sent anonymously)

At Flemington Racecourse where the Melbourne Cup was being held, two women activists from the group WACA (Whistleblowers, Activists & Citizens Alliance) entered a construction site on the racecourse grounds and scaled a crane that overlooked the middle of the stadium where they unfurled a banner that read ‘SOS: EVACUATE MANUS NOW!’ The women were able to successfully negotiate with the police and agreed to climb down from the crane under the condition that they would not be arrested and that the banner would stay on the crane. WACA later released a statement regarding the action, here is an excerpt from it:

“We are joining with others across Australia to demand that the government evacuate the men on Manus immediately and bring them to safety for processing.

This is an emergency. This is an humanitarian crisis. We refuse to sit by whilst the Government, with the complicity of the Labor Party, puts over 600 men’s lives at risk.”

Also at the Flemington Racecourse, members of WACA ran out onto the racecourse itself and unfurled a large banner that read ‘FREE THE REFUGEES!” before being evicted by security.

In Ascot Vale, a group of anarchists caused major disruption to trains transporting people to the Melbourne Cup by blocking the railway tracks with a car. The car was covered in slogans in solidarity with the men on Manus and against the Australian government’s barbaric policies towards refugees. A woman padlocked herself inside the car and the car’s tires were punctured to make its removal from the train tracks more difficult. Signs and a banner were displayed prominently highlighting both Australia’s cruel treatment of refugees and also Australia’s celebration of the Melbourne Cup, an event that glorifies cruelty to animals. Police attended the scene and began the time-consuming task of unlocking the woman from the car and removing the car from the train tracks, resulting in lengthy delays in trains services to and from the Melbourne Cup. Unfortunately 4 comrades were arrested, it is not known yet what charges they are facing however all 4 were released later that day.

Melbourne: Statement on the Queer Anarchist Disruption of the Coalition For Marriage Campaign Launch

On Saturday 23 September 2017, a group of 15 queer anarchists (including sex workers, drug users, disabled people, people living with blood borne viruses and survivors of child abuse & spiritual abuse perpetrated by fundamentalist christians & churches) disrupted and intervened in the launch of the national Coalition For Marriage campaign. The Coalition For Marriage is a front group for the fundamentalist religious organisation, the Australian Christian Lobby.

Our action was undertaken by 8 undercover anarchist/ activists in our most conservative clothes, who infiltrated the event. In an attempt to deprive the religious fundamentalists of a platform, and to make their event as uncomfortable as possible, we engaged in a series of constant disruptions, beginning with two people unfurling a banner reading “Burn Churches, Not Queers” as the 1000 strong supporters of Christian fundamentalist ideology entered the venue.

The second disruption involved an activist running on stage during the opening speech by the repulsive maggot Lyle Sheldon (the CEO of the Australian Christian Lobby) and attempting to unfurl a banner reading “Love not Hate”. The activist was set upon by overenthusiastic security who violently detained her and removed her from the venue.
15 minutes later, 3 activists in the audience disrupted the homophobic whining of Cella White, a “concerned mother”, who claims her son was encouraged to “wear a dress to school” in lieu of “traditional boys’ school uniform”. One activist began yelling “Death to Christian fascists”, and “God raped Mary, she didn’t consent and should have aborted”, whilst 2 women enthusiastically tongue kissed.

As security removed the 3 people, who were yelling “Crucify Christian fundamentalists”, “Christian fascists” and “Death to homophobes”, 2 more activists took the opportunity to occupy the stage. One of the activists took over the podium and yelled into the microphones, “This isn’t about free speech, would you have given the Nazis a platform?”, before the 2 women activists began kissing. The 2 women were also removed by security guards. The Christian audience booed us, we heard people yelling, “Satan is behind thee”, and “Rot in Hell”.

As we were escorted from the venue, a woman attempted to destroy the Marriage Coalition’s merchandise table. As several people were evicted from the venue, they warned members of the Coalition For Marriage, “This is War!”, and “We know who your leaders are and where they live!”. In addition to the disruptions, 6 of us also stood at the entrance/ exit to the venue with queer Antifa flags.

We undertook this action, not because we necessarily believe in marriage, or the power of voting for constitutional reforms to improve our lives, rather, we believe the Australian Christian Lobby to be a fascist group, whose vile and hateful rhetoric and polices have the ability to influence public discourse and policy and to further persecute and criminalise the already highly marginalised and stigmatised communities we belong to.

Similarly, members of the Australian Christian Lobby have worked with racist and fascist right-wing groups who are active in the persecution and vilification of the Muslim community.

The anarchists who engaged in this action believe that anti-fascist action should not be solely about attending counter-rallies, or promoting social media posts. We believe that we need to counteract manifestations of fascism using a diversity of tactics, and that we should deprive religious fundamentalists and fascists of a platform by restricting their ability to propagate their ideas and to mobilise the community. We also believe that it is essential to send a message to fascists of all ilks that we are monitoring them, and will use whatever means are at our disposal to make their spaces as uncomfortable as possible.

Since undertaking this action we have predictably been condemned in the mainstream media by conservative commentators as “bullies” and “domestic terrorists”. However, other anarchists have also condemned us. In response we say: These people would prefer that we didn’t exist. This is having a very real impact on our community, and we’re fucking angry. We don’t play the respectability game, we don’t all think alike, and we don’t require or seek consensus or approval from liberals, outraged LGBTIQA+ people, the media, or assimilationist “anarchists”. As queer anarchists, we’re not some kind of conglomerate mass or hive mind- we’re individuals, and this is our own autonomous freely chosen expression.

We wanted to upset Christian fundamentalists and to create as big of a scene as possible to push the fuck back. We did, and it was fucking great. We found joy, laughter, comradery and strengthened friendships and connections. We took back a little bit of what they take from us when they do what they do. There is no “what works” when it comes to these people- they have their minds made up, they’re not fence sitters, they’re killing us. This is war. Playing “nice”? Friendly debate, hugs and petitions or invoking Ghandi? Keep it. Fucking keep it. Play your own chosen way, but you don’t get to tell us how to think. This is our rage, this is our expression. We’re pushing the fuck back and we’re going to continue to do so.