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BRUTAL ATTACK ON EVERY WORKER
- By a Spanish member of the
Anarchist
Federation living in London.
I can see the picture on the
internet of a maimed corpse lying at a spot
where I used to go for a walk
with my dog. One of the train stations
where the explosions took place is
down the road where I used to live. I
took the train there every morning and
travel to uni at about the same
time when the attacks happened. That was a
few years ago. My friend is
still working in the botanical garden, across the
road from the main
station, where most of the carnage took place. I couldn´t
speak with him
until late at night. He´s all right but very shocked. The
local meeting
place of the CNT (anarchist union) is nearby and we used to go
to bars
in this area for a drink after the meetings. Well, all these are
painful
memories now.
All this zone is the main working class area in
Madrid, some of the most
conscious and militant workers in Spain. It is
obvious that those who
did this have no regard for life, at all. Whether they
were muslim
extremists or Marxist Basquian separat ists they have shown
the
conception of the human being that underlies their ideologies.
They
despise people, they simply don´t care about suffering as
they
considered themselves devoted to a superior cause or abstract
being.
Something that transcends real persons, individuals, who can then
be
sacrificed by the dozen. For the muslim extremist, what counts is
his
selfish will of salvation, self-salvation, carried ahead in despite
of
the others, who are the instruments and victims of his holy
war.
Religion and carnage, that’s pure fascism. For the Marxist
nationalist
the individual must be submitted to ideology and the hierarchy,
so as to
achieve a supposed better world. Only that this is again carried
ahead
against the will of the individual members of that society, that
are
tools in the hands of the bureaucrat.
That is why I am an
anarchist, as probably also were more than a few of
those who died today. The
difference is that we privilege the individual
whose freedom and happiness
are our real goals. We don’t care about gods
or heavens, as we believe only
in this real world, that of people who
work and laugh, suffer and struggle
with courage. Real people, that’s
all we need, not superstitions and myths
that justify death and hatred.
We don’t care either about economic
abstractions according to which
increased production means increased
happiness. The real persons,
individuals, are what we care about, people like
those who died that
day. That each one of these normal people is happy, or
that at least has
all the means to be, is our goal. And this must begin,
obviously, for
absolute respect to life.
There’s been a lot of speculation
about who did this, and we’ve seen the
shameful show of politicians trying to
take advantage of it, making this
and th at declaration. They don’t care
either about normal people, but
we knew this already. Same as banks, big
companies and corporations,
none of which interests have been attacked now,
but which have been
consistently opposed by the very conscious working class
population of
the area affected by the blasts.
To all my CNT and anarchist
comrades living in the area: Rodri, Juani,
Hector, Quicar…I still don’t know,
at the time of writing this, if you
are all right. Keep up the struggle for
freedom and justice.
---
In Madrid, this 11 of March, we are
killed again. We, the workers, the
people, are again the victims, this time
maimed and shattered in the
most brutal way. We, the workers, the people, are
always the victims of
all terrorism. Those that are called so, and those
other that are in
disguise. We are the victims of unemployment, bad housing,
misery,
manipulation, exploitation, causalisation…we are used in every war,
in
every power struggle, by every fanatic, by every power. We are
the
victims of their decisions, of interests and wants of groups that use
us
to hide behind and bargain over.
In Madrid, in Iraq, in Palestine, in
Afghanistan, in New York, in
Chicago, in Bilbao, in Russia, in Chechnya…every
where we are killed for
causes that are not ours.
We must state clearly
and loudly, that only we, the workers, those of us
who don´t have bodyguards
or armoured cars, who don´t decide on any one
else´s lives and futures, can
mourn really our death. We can say clearly
and loudly, with real pain, that
we are one with the victims and their
families, because they are us.
A
wordless hug, from the heart, to all those affected. Their world
destroys us,
lets build up our one.
National Committee, CNT
---
ON THE
FRONTLINE
We’re pleased to report another aggro packed month in UK
workplaces
Wildcats in the post office
About 100 postal workers
walked out of the West Derby sorting office on
the 25th Feb. They were
protesting at the behaviour of a manager. Royal
Mail described the strike as
“unofficial and illegal” (which means the
strikers might win!).
In
Peterborough more than 100 Royal Mail staff took part in the
unofficial
strike action at the city’s sorting office in a dispute over
working
practices. The action began at when 70 staff dealing with seven
postcodes
walked out. They were joined by postal delivery staff.
Nursery Nurses
strike in Scotland
On the 2nd March nursery nurses embarked on the first
day of an all-out
strike. Doors were closed to all but vulnerable children on
at-risk
registers. Pickets appeared at hundreds of schools and day centres
as
about 4,000 staff took action in pursuit of a claim which would
give
them higher pay and three months’ paid holiday.
Strike hits bin
rounds
300 dustmen in Brighton and Hove downed tools in support of a
senior
union rep who was marched off-site. Rounds were delayed across the
city
as workers took part in a wildcat strike after shop steward
Richard
Warren was suddenly suspended. Some staff have also been unhappy
with
the introduction of new methods of rubbish collection including
wheelie
and communal bins.
Driving Standards Agency
strike
Staff working in Driving Standards Agency offices took part in
selective
strike action on 27th February. The strike action involved over
thirty
support staff in the agency’s offices disrupting the deployment
of
driving examiner cover and the processing of driving tests. The
action
follows an ongoing work to rule campaign and a national strike last
week
by driving examiners and support staff, which saw the failure to
deliver
5,000 tests at estimated cost to the agency of
£500,000.
Housing Corporation strike
Unions claimed that only 140
of the agency’s 600 staff showed up for
work on the 1st of March, in the
corporation’s first strike for 25
years. The one-day strike was held in
protest at a pay increase last
year of 4%. Further action is still being
planned for the last week in
March.
---
METRO
STRIKERS
Around 450 drivers working on the Tyne and Wear Metro train
system have
revealed a good level of militancy in recent months, in a
long-running
dispute over pay and conditions that shows no sign of ending.
The
dispute is over the workers’ claim for an increase in pay linked to
a
reduction in the working week. Nexus, the company running the
Metro,
most recently offered a 2.5% pay rise and a reduction in the
working
week from 37 to 36 hours worth, they reckon, a total of 5.2%. The
unions
are seeking a pay rise above the rate of inflation and a 35-hour
week
and rejected Nexus’ latest offer because of the conditions attached
that
would erode working conditions. These negotiations came after a
one-day
stoppage in January. Before that, two 24-hour strikes in the run-up
to
Christmas were only averted at the last minute.
The worker’s rejection
of the Nexus offer led, in early March, to a
weekend of strike action that
caused more major disruption. There w ere
two 24-hour strikes over the
weekend, the first starting at 7p.m. on
Friday 5 March and the second at 7
p.m. on the Sunday. Businesses
expressed worries that the action would affect
their profits (shame):
the dispute has definitely affected the profits of
Nexus. So far, the
three 24 hour strikes this year have cost the company an
estimated
£300,000. Worse for Nexus, there is at present no sign of a
settlement
on the horizon. Instead, the threat of further strike action is
looming
as the workers seek to tighten the screws on the bosses.
Contact
Tyneside AF at Anarchist Federation, PO Box ITA, Newcastle Upon
Tyne NE99
1TA
---
TORFAEN RESIDENTS TAKING CARE OF COUNCIL
Residents
of the Tower (Cwmbran, Wales) at a recent meeting told
representatives of
Torfaen Council Housing department exactly where to
stick their proposed
caretaker charge of £4.44 per week per tenant.
The Council’s “Caretaker
Review” caused distress to residents by
implying in a survey that the
caretaker would be removed if this charge
was not paid. So not wishing to be
intimidated the majority voted to
keep the caretaker service and not pay the
charge! It was pointed out to
the council officials that the rent for living
in a 60’s style tower
block is in fact higher by an average of £5 per week
than comparable
properties in more sought after areas of the town!
Also,
it seems incredible that the council cannot find the £18,000 cost
of the
caretaker service from the rent money collected (over £150,000
per
year).
Torfaen Council’s “Caretaker Review” is just a sneaky attempt to
extort
more cash from tenants for the rent. If the council want to save
money
they should get rid of those officers who thought up this underhand
scam.
Tower residents are not hopeful as to whether the council will take
any
notice of their wishes as the councils motto “Putting People
First”
usually means the opposite! Watch this space.
Contact Wales AF at
PO Box 7
Pontypool, Gwent, NP4 8YB
Cymru/Wales
---
MET PIGGY
BANK FILLED AGAIN
Every year is a rollover for the Met police when it
comes to their
financial budget.
This years expenses comes in at a
whopping £2.3 billion. We are left
wondering if such a huge sum of our hard
earned, forced from our pockets
by the State, is being well spent, especially
given the complete failure
of the Met to actually make London a safe place to
live.
This amount represents a six percent (£135.5m) increase on last
years
budget. Of this £66.7m is put down to inflation, which still leaves
a
real increase of £68.8m. Of the £2.9 billion expenditure, 78% or
£2.2
billion goes on pay and overtime. The amount of overtime dished out
to
the capitals Police and Traffic Wardens totals £131m, or 6%. Not a
bad
little earner.
As anarchists we see crime and the apparent need for a
police force as a
result of inequalities in wealth and power created by
capitalism. Lets
tackle the problem of anti-social crime at the root by
getting rid of
the system that creates it. Then the mon ey hungry coppers can
all go
too, and find something more productive and beneficial to society to
do
with their time.
---
BLAIR'S NATIONALIST
PARTY
There’s been a lot of noise recently on the immigration issue.
Blunkett
and Blair (B&B) like to make heated comments on it every time
some other
issue is threatening them, presumably to draw our attention away
from
more pressing issues. B & B like to pose tough on immigration,
voicing
aloud what they read every morning in The Sun. B & B are very
concerned
about the pitiful state that British borders are in, as if we were
about
to get flooded with immigrants. But on the other hand B & B are
very
happy to send death and misery abroad by many means. By guns and
bombs
or by invading and occupying the land of the Iraqi people and
many
others. By the action of multinationals effectively enslaving
millions
of workers in sweatshops around the world or ruining farmers who
cannot
compete against agri-business methods or poisonous GM technologies.
Why
on earth are B & B so surprised about these people trying to get
a
living in another country? No one l eaves his/her home, country,
family
and friends for no reason. We would do the same if we had to,
wouldn’t
we? But this seems to be the logic of globalisation, and B & B
are very
happy to implement it: open borders for goods and business, closed
for
people. Of course it is all for the benefit of corporations
and
multinationals that use politicians to carry their agendas ahead. And
in
fact it all sounds as if it had been planned beforehand, as exactly
the
same policies are being applied all over the western countries.
In
America they have reached the point of paranoia and in the EU
the
pattern is the same all over.
They argue the need to make cuts in
essential social services (housing,
health, etc.) while creating
opportunities in which big business can
thrive, through low taxation. This
done, it’s easier to blame some
minority than admit their own guilt. Easier
to blame asylum seekers for
bad housing instead of saying that councils and
the government in
Britain stopped building new houses more than 15 years ago.
It’s an old
trick, the Nazis did that already. And then B & B get the
chance to make
some tough remark against foreigners, that The Sun will be
eager to
repeat. But it is simply not true. And it conceals a racist
implicit
idea of “outsiders” as carriers of all evil.
Anywhere in the
world workers are facing the same problems every day,
only that it is worse
in poor countries. And equally, bosses and
politicians are enjoying the same
privileges that, no matter how British
they feel, don’t want to share with
us. Today, more than never, we de
fine ourselves as anarchists and
internationalists, as we understand
that borders are only means to carry
ahead the policies of the big
companies by their tool, the state. So if you
want to help us oppose
this racist agenda we could start by bringing down the
borders, or force
them open. Why not? We only need to cut the strings of B
& B, the
puppets of the big corporations, and make our society open to
every one,
black, white, asian... All are welcome.
The Anarchist
Federation is an active member of IFA, International of
Anarchist
Federations, with sections in many countries and campaigns for
solidarity
between workers of every nation and race.
---
DISCUSS WITH
US
The London AF and Freedom Press have recently starting holding
joint
discussion meetings on the last Thursday of every month.
The venue
is the Autonomie Club, upstairs at Freedom Bookshop,
Whitechapel (contact
details on back page) and the meetings start at
7.30pm We recently had a well
attended and interesting debate about the
nature of fascism and how to combat
it. By the time this paper is out we
will have had a discussion on anarchism
and religion. Feel free to join
us with your questions, arguments and ideas.
All participants are
invited to suggest the next meetings subject
matter.
You can also share your thoughts with us on out internet
discussion
board at www.enrager.net/forums/viewforum.php?f=62
<http://www.enrager.net/forums/viewforum.php?f=62>
---
TIME
BOMB
Lions lead by Donkeys.
The 1984/5 Miners’ Strike
The miners’
strike of 1984/5 was the most furious and prolonged episode
of class war in
the post-war period. Despite the defeat that was imposed
on the mining
communities of the UK, the strikers fought hard and well.
In fact, it took
the capitalist state many months to subdue the strike
and this involved the
mobilisation of tens of thousands of violent
police officers, the
manipulation of the legal system, illegal
eavesdropping and a united mass
media spreading misinformation about the
strike.
Thanks largely to Arthur
Scargill, who like many generals was fighting
the previous battle (that of
the 1974 strike), the miners suffered from
trusting a leaders poor tactics.
By over-relying on mass picketing,
which the police wised up to quickly, the
miners were outmanoeuvred.
One of the messages, despite the defeat suffered
is that solidarity of
workers can be very powerful. Despite desperate
shortages of mon ey,
food, fuel etc the miners and their families held on
against the state
for what must have felt like a lifetime. The high levels of
combativity
and solidarity of the miners were, and still are, an
inspiration.
The problem was that the strike was a defensive operation and
that some
more secure sectors of the miners (especially Nottingham) did not
join in.
But now, 20 years on, we must learn from our mistakes. Our reliance
on
egotistical leaders is a disaster. Locally worked out methods of
attack
need to be developed to suit local circumstances and overall there
needs
to be an aggressive use of class war troops to severely thrash
the
enemy. Finally, rather than restricting the fight to one industry,
there
is a need to widen action into a whole class
offensive.
---
INSIDE INFORMATION
Former Black Panther
needs help
Robert Seth Hayes, a former Black Panther, has collapsed in prison
ten
times over the past few months due to lack of treatment for diabetes.
He
fears that unless he receives a transfer to another prison where
they
take his illness seriously, he may die.
Write to the Correctional
Services Commissioner to demand his transfer:
Glenn S. Goord, Commissioner,
NYS Department of Correctional Services,
Building 2, 1220 Washington Avenue,
Albany, NY, 12226-2050, USA.
Letters of support to:
Robert “Seth” Hayes
#74A-2280, Clinton Correctional Facility, PO Box
2001, Dannemora, NY, 12929,
USA.
For more info on prisoners see www.anarchistps.org
<http://www.anarchistps.org/>
Help
with letter campaign
The following is a letter campaign appeal on behalf of
John Bowden, an
anarchist and long time prison resister.
The Governor
recently put a taped message on the front of prisoners
phone calls warning
whoever they called that the person making the call
is an inmate in a maximum
security prison. Her alleged reason for this
is that she claims she has a
duty to “protect the public”. Their calls
are already closely monitored and
recorded, and all phone numbers are
vetted and checked by the security
department.
The imposition of the phone message would have a seriously
detrimental
effect on prisoners contact with their family and friends because
they
would now be reluctant to phone their wives and girlfriends, etc,
at
work or their children if they were in foster homes.
Please send your
letters of complaint to:
Governor Kate Donegan, HMP Glenochil, Tullibody,
Clackmannanshire,
FK10 3AD
Concerning th e phone message as John says that
“It will at least make
her aware that her actions are being monitored by
people on the outside,
which they really hate.”
U.S Anti-Fascist
jailed
Two years ago neo-nazi and white supremacist groups assembled in
York,
PA. Claiming to support the Mayor of York, a cop from the 1970s who
was
accused of being linked to the racist murder of a black woman,
these
groups attempted to use York as a recruiting ground for their
fascist
agenda.
Anti-racists in the hundreds came out to protest and
disrupt their plan.
Physically confronting the white supremacists,
anti-racists have
generally marked York as a substantial victory in the fight
against
organised fascist white supremacy.
One protester, however, of many
arrested that day is now in jail. Tim
Fasnacht, member of the Industrial
Workers of the World and the
Anarchist Black Cross Federation, started
serving a 90 day jail sentence
on the 9th Feb 2004 for a simple misdemeanours
disorderly conduct charge.
Write to Tim at:
Tim Fasnacht #81647, York
County Prison, 3400 Concord Road, York, PA
17402-9007,
USA
---
Subvert and resist
Take precautions when going on
demonstrations and don’t take cameras,
booze or drugs. If you’re nicked give
your name and address then say ‘no
comment’ to any other
questions.
APRIL – 6-7: Demonstration against the NATO security
conference in
Munich, Germany. For more info Email:
con_action@no-nato.de
<mailto:con_action@no-nato.de>
9-12:
Peace Walk to Faslane from Glasgow. Leaving George Square at 1pm
Friday and
arriving at Faslane, 1pm, Easter Monday. Stopping in
Clydebank, Dumbarton and
Helensburgh with street events at each place.
12: March & Rally at
Faslane - home of Trident nuclear submarines.
Assemble 1pm at Faslane Peace
Camp. Tel: 0141 423 1222
15: BP Annual General Meeting. Join the
demonstrations organized by
Rising Tide. Email:
london@risingtide.org.uk
<mailto:london@risingtide.org.uk>
www.burningplanet.net
<http://www.burningplanet.net/>
22:
London AF/Freedom public meeting - Freedom Books, Angel Alley,
84b
Whitechapel High St. London (Nearest tube Aldgate East).
MAY – 1:
Mayday in Dublin. Join the anti-EU festivities on the streets
of Dublin,
Ireland. RT S parties, street blockades and forging links
with Ireland based
activists. For info on getting to and staying in
Dublin, go to
www.geocities.com/eufortress
<http://www.geocities.com/eufortress>
or www.wombles.org.uk
<http://www.wombles.org.uk/>
1:
Mayday Join the Libertarian bloc for the TUC march on International
Workers
Day. Provisional meet up 12noon, Clerkenwell Green.
---
Join
the resistance
The Anarchist Federation is an organisation of class
struggle anarchists
aiming to
abolish capitalism and all oppression
to
create a free and equal society. This is
Anarchist Communism.
We see
today’s society as being divided into two main opposing classes:
the ruling
class which controls all the power and wealth, and the
working class which
the rulers exploit to maintain this. By racism,
sexism and other forms of
oppression, as well as war and environmental
destruction the rulers weaken
and divide us. Only the direct action of
working class people can defeat
these attacks and ultimately overthrow
capitalism.
As the capitalist
system rules the whole world, its destruction must be
complete and world
wide. We reject attempts to reform it, such as
working through parliament
and
national liberation movements, as they fail to challenge
capitalism
itself. Unions also work as a part of the capitalist system, so
although
workers struggle within them t hey will be unable to bring
about
capitalism’s destruction unless they go beyond these
limits.
Organisation is vital if we’re to beat
the bosses, so we work for
a united
anarchist movement and are affiliated to the International of
Anarchist
Federations.
The Anarchist Federation has members across Britain
and Ireland fighting
for the kind of world outlined above. Contact us
at:
Anarchist Federation,
84B, Whitechapel High Street,
London, E1
7QX. Tel: 07946 214 590
Visit: www.afed.org.uk <http://www.afed.org.uk/>
Email:
info@afed.org.uk <mailto:info@afed.org.uk
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