The Legislative Framework

To become a union an entity applies to the Fair Work Commission to be registered as an organisation under the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act 2009 (Cth) ('the RO Act').^[4] For an association to be eligible to register, certain criteria that are laid out in the RO ACT must be met. There are various "benefits" for being registered which will not be discussed at length but some to note are that registration allows a union to represent members in front of the Fair Work Commission and allows for application for entry permits to an employer's premises. ^[5] Further, while it will not be discussed in depth, a registered organisation is also required to have a set of rules, with certain rules being required under the RO Act.^[6]

Relevantly, for an employee association to register they must be either an association of employees (i.e. a union) or an enterprise association (in short, a union operating within a single workplace or business).^[7] Such an organisation must be:

•   a constitutional organisation or have members who are federal system employee (essentially, this covers most people in Australia who are employed, while there are some exceptions, for the purpose of this article, such discussion will be dispensed with);^[8]

•   be an association for the furthering or protecting the interests of its members;

•   be free from control or influence by an association or organisation of employers; and

•   have at least 50 members who are employees (or 20 for an enterprise association).^[9]

Importantly, with any application of an organisation to the Commission, a copy of proposed rules, must be attached as well as various other documents and pieces of information in order for proper vetting to take place.^[10] Once your application is made it must then be accepted and the details of the application made public so any interested party may object to the organisations application.^[11]

As part of the vetting of the application the Commission will consider, along with many of the points noted above, if there is a more convenient association for the employee to belong.^[12] Essentially, these subsections allow for a monopoly on representation in an area. If there is already an organisation which may represent the employee, which, in the opinion of the Commission, it is more convenient for them to belong and who may more effectively represent them, then the application may be rejected. This means that any organisation which may have eligibility rules which overlap with another union is prevented from registering. The Bill will now allow, at least in Victoria, Consumer Affairs to prevent any organisation, even if not registered with the Commission, from existing as a legal entity. This will place additional road blocks in the way of any community organisation, ASF-IWA included, which may assist workers in workplace issues but may not be registered as a union.

One key benefit of a registered union which is unavailable to other organisations is the ability of officers of a union to acquire a right of entry permit.^[13] This allows for an official of a registered organisation to receive an entry permit upon application to the commission by the organisation.^[14] This means that is not possible for representative from a non-registered organisation, such as the ASF-IWA (or for another example, RAFFWU), to have any form of right of entry to a workplace. While this does not stop such organisations from being effective, it is an example of the way some tools, which assist labour organisations in being effective, are restricted from organisations not aligning themselves with or cooperating with the political class and thus, helps ensure no actual risk to the power of capital is present.^[15] These restrictions on non-registered organisations alongside the legislative framework protecting mainstream unions and their control by the Australian Council of Trade Unions (“ACTU”) will now be provided additional support by the executive by way of further restrictions of the activities of worker led organisations.

The Bill

The stated purpose of the Bill is to provide the power to the executive to refuse an application for registration to an industrial relations organisation and to order that such organisation be wound up.^[16] This power encompasses any association whose purpose is the furthering, protecting or representing of the industrial interests of the members of the association.^[17] Further, organisations applying for registration or any incorporated organisation, may be required to provide information so that their purpose may be determined by the state.^[18] Essentially this means the state can refuse registration to any organisation with an industrial relations purpose and further, order the winding up of any organisation, whether seeking registration or otherwise, with an industrial relations purpose. This means that now, not only are organisations operating as unions prevented from operating or registering, but now that they be wound up.

While the target of the Bill is the group “Red Unions,” the reach of the Bill can extend far beyond them. While there is no doubt that the Red Unions group is questionable and likely sympathising with the capital owning class, this is not an unthinkable situation for a union as many mainstream unions, such as the SDA and AWU, are known for aligning with capital over workers.^[19] It was suggested by the Minister, Tim Richardson, that the goals of the Bill was to protect workers from being scammed by “fake unions” who are unable to protect workers and falsely present themselves as unions.^[20] However, each of the above points cannot be supported by the evidence when one looks at the actions of any of the relevant parties. For example, despite their questionable nature, even Red Unions notes their lack of registration to members or prospective members, such transparency is contradictory to the claims of workers being scammed.^[21] Further, in considering the actions of some “real unions” such as the SDA mentioned above, and the acts of other “fake unions”, such as RAFFWU, the reasoning that such community organisations cannot assist works also lacks any merit.^[22] Really, what the Bill does do, is provide reinforcement to the legislated monopoly of trade unions alongside allowing direct government support by allowing any organisation acting as a trade union to be wound up.

The ASF-IWA

The ASF has never registered with the State as a union since our founding in 1986 and has continued to maintain a policy that the only “real unions” are those with workers revolution as their ultimate aim. Reformist unions typically maintain a role of controlled opposition and cooperation between labour and state to allow crumbs to fall to the workers, just enough to prevent actual systemic change. While the ASF has accepted members from reformist unions, this has been as an acknowledgement of the specific situation in Australia in which the ACTU has complete control over unions. Similar bodies are not found in other jurisdictions such as France, Italy or Spain. But what this does mean is that the powers found in the Bill could be readily targeted against the ASF. However, unique to the ASF, in comparison to organisations such as RAFFWU or Red Unions, is affiliation to and support from the International Workers Association.

Conclusion

The ASF-IWA, as part of our core beliefs, will not participate in the process of registration, and  in any event, due to reasons outlined above, is not able to. While the Bill may not directly impact the ASF-IWA, at least at this stage, what it will do is potentially place further road blocks in the way of us assisting our fellow workers. The ASF-IWA, and other sections of the IWA, have operated with such restrictions in the past and been able to work around them. Regardless, the Bill is an affront to the respect and dignity that should be awarded to workers in addition to their right to freely associate. It is an explicit limit placed on the ability to organise. Whether such organisation operates within the legislative framework or otherwise, the ASF-IWA always support our fellow workers and their ability to self-organise. The Bill does nothing but further reinforce the ACTU and political class controlled monopoly on trade unions and further limit workers ability to organise.

^[1] Victoria State Government, 'Stopping Workers Being Scammed and Stamping Out Hate' (Media Release 260812, 12 August 2026) <https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2026-08/260812-Stopping-Workers-Being-Scammed-And-Stamping-Out-Hate-.pdf> (‘Media Release 260812’).

^[2] Associations Incorporation Reform Act 2012 (Vic).

^[3] Associations Incorporation Reform Amendment Bill 2026 (Vic).

^[4] Fair Work Commission 'Becoming a registered organisation' (Guidance Note, GN 058, 26 August 2025) <https://www.fwc.gov.au/documents/organisations/resources/gn058-becoming-a-registered-organisation.pdf> ('GN 058').

^[5] Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), see Div 6 regarding entry permits and s 596 which requires permission for certain parties to represent someone in front of the commission ('the FW Act').

^[6] Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act 2009 (Cth), ss 141, 143, 144, 145 and 149 ('the RO Act').

^[7] Ibid, s 18.

^[8] The FW Act (n 5), ss 13 and 14.

^[9] The RO Act (n 5), ss 18B and 19 for unions and ss 18C and 20 for enterprise associations.

^[10] Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Regulations 2009 (Cth), r 21 ('the RO Regulations').

^[11] GN 058 (n 4), 7.

^[12] Ibid, 8; the RO Act (n 6), ss 19(1)(j), 19(2) and 19(3).

^[13] See the FW Act (n 5), ss 481-521D.

^[14] Ibid, s 512.

^[15] For success of the ASF-IWA see their action against Dominos in which $590,000 was recovered < https://iwa-ait.org/content/victory-dominos-pizza-drivers>.

^[16] Explanatory Memorandum, Associations Incorporation Reform Amendment Bill 2026 (Vic), 1; the Bill (n 3), cl 1; see also the winding up power found at cl 11.

^[17] The Bill (n 3), cl 4.

^[18] Ibid, cls 8 and 10.

^[19] See for example the article at <https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-06/coles-employee-takes-legal-action-over-union-deal/6830818>.

^[20] Media Release 260812 (n 1).

^[21] See the following page from the Red Unions website < https://www.redunion.com.au/en/knowledge/are-you-a-union>.

^[22] See the following article noting the preferable outcome following action by RAFFWU as opposed to SDA < https://www.theage.com.au/business/workplace/huge-pay-rise-for-coles-workers-after-scrapping-of-cosy-union-deal-20180811-p4zwwo.html>.

Source: ASF Australie

Article original sur RévLibertaire - Infos Libertaires : STOPPING WORKERS FROM ORGANISING

L’article STOPPING WORKERS FROM ORGANISING est apparu en premier sur RévLibertaire.

'Hero Warrior' was founded in 2022 in response to the coup by the Myanmar military (Tatmadaw) against the elected government of Myanmar. The spontaneously organised civil disobedience movement in Yangon was brutally repressed and many people fled the city for their lives.

The 'Hero Warrior' LPDF has not only engaged in resistance against the Tatmadaw, they have also resisted attempts by ethnic-based militias and the exiled National Unity Government (NUG) military Peoples Defence Force to bring them under their command and control.

In the last few months, 'Hero Warrior' LPDF have been subjected to air strikes with increasing frequency and more recently, the Tatmadaw have been using drones to attack them and local communities not yet under the control of the Tatmadaw. As a consequence, 'Hero Warrior' have suspended all military operations to focus on supporting local communities with a food distribution programs and mobile medical clinics.

Currently, ASF-IWA are raising funds for urgently needed food supplies. Please consider making a donation however small.

https://www.paypal.com/pools/c/9rj1pYd5Iy

Source: ASF Australie

Article original sur RévLibertaire - Infos Libertaires : ASF-IWA fundraiser for 'Hero Warrior' LPDF

L’article ASF-IWA fundraiser for 'Hero Warrior' LPDF est apparu en premier sur RévLibertaire.

The Anarcho-Syndicalist Federation (ASF) seeks to replace all trade, craft and industrial unions who have no greater goal than to seek the best possible wages and conditions of work within the confines of a capitalist economy, with a class union, a union that organises all workers, future (students) or former (retirees), employed or not. A class union that seeks to organise those people who have no other choice but to sell their labour to live – working people. A class union that rejects the phony distinction that divides people into producers (workers) and consumers (community). The workers are the community are the workers. A class union that will not be satisfied with just a few extra crumbs from the tables of the ruling classes but aims to replace the government of people with the administration of things – a workers revolution made by the working people of the world.

The ASF seeks to build unions by a methodology that reflects and determines the kind of society that it has as its ultimate goal; a free and equal society. A society completely transformed from death cult capitalism to a society that acknowledges that everyone is entitled to all that the earth has to offer by right of birth alone. This methodology we call anarcho-syndicalism.

The ASF opposes the affiliation of unions, even those who reject revolution in favour of reform, to political parties. The nexus of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) and the Australian Labor Party (ALP) have rendered all unions in Australia as nothing more than labour brokerage firms that act as launching pad for careers in politics. There is no such thing as a 'workers government'. Any working person who becomes part of the government ceases to be a worker to become a politician. Even if a union has no aim to rid the world of capitalism and wants no more than to get the best deal it can, it should be, at least, independent from the aims of political parties.

While ASF opposes the organisation of labour of Australia into ACTU-affiliated unions in favour of whole-of-class revolutionary unions, it has built a record of supporting workers in struggle, be they unionised into reformist unions or not, wherever it can to the best of its capacity. Even if the leadership of such unions, even the most militant, are ideologically opposed to anarcho-syndicalism, the ASF will support workers in struggle regardless.

On 1 March 1986, veteran BLF organiser, Dave Kerin, attended the meeting of ASF Melbourne North. He reported on the plans by the State and Federal governments to deregister the BLF forcing their members to join either the Building Worker Industrial Union (BWIU) or the Federated Engine Drivers' and Fireman's Association (FEDFA). The BLF had been deregistered before in New South Wales in 1974 as a consequence of over 40 'green bans' that was the bane of property developers intent on making quick profits. The union was eventually re-registered in 1976 after other unions and the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) had campaigned for them but this time the ACTU had abandoned them and no other unions were prepared to help them. The BLF had committed the sin of refusing to sign on to the Hawke government's Prices and Incomes Accord ('the Accord'). The Accord was a deal brokered by the Federal Labor governments deal with unions who would agree to limit wage demands in exchange for increased social wage benefits, such as Medicare, superannuation, and tax cuts.

Having been abandoned by the reformist union movement, some in the BLF were looking for support elsewhere just as community organisations that were battling against property developers to protect parks and heritage sites had looked to the BLF for support. But, unfortunately for the BLF, very little support was forthcoming.

ASF Melbourne North had decided that they would support the right of the rank and file members of the BLF to join the union of their choice as this was consistent with the anarchist principle of voluntary association. ASF Melbourne North were in favour of breaking down the phony division between the workers union and the workers community. A division that was always emphasised by mainstream media whenever there was a strike or any kind of industrial action. This is consistent with the anarcho-syndicalist concept of union being comprised of the whole of the working class and that workers organisations should be concerned with workers struggles beyond the factory gate including those social issues that affect working people. As Pierre Monatte once wrote; "There is only one working class so there should be only one union".

ASF Melbourne North resolved to 'twin' with two BLF pickets; one at Queen Street and another at Banana Alley. Between April, when the Federal legislation deregistering the BLF was passed by Parliament and October, when the Victoria Police raided the BLF union office with 150 police and the site pickets were abandoned, the ASF Melbourne North stood with BLF members in defense of their rights. ASF Melbourne North not only provided the extra bodies to form the picket, fundraisers were organised to provide food and firewood to sustain the picket. It was this campaign of support by ASF Melbourne North that provided the template for future community support organisations such as Union Solidarity and future campaigns such at the Patricks dispute of 1998.

While it can be understood why reformist unions seek to be registered with the relevant government agencies, any union that is militant and effective will always be subject to the threat of deregistration as a means of the government controlling them. Workers organisations are only as strong as the community that is prepared to support them when needed.

Anarcho-syndicalism rejects any voluntary collaboration with the State as it does with employers. Anarcho-syndicalism advocates for complete independence of workers organisations from political parties who will always put the interests of the Party above those of union.

Real unions are not satisfied with the crumbs that fall from the bosses table, real unions must have the abolition of capitalism as its ultimate aim. Reformist unions are not much more than labour brokerage firms for the ruling classes. Real union are revolutionary.

Source: ASF Australie

Article original sur RévLibertaire - Infos Libertaires : Solidarity with Workers in Struggle

L’article Solidarity with Workers in Struggle est apparu en premier sur RévLibertaire.

The genesis of the ASF can be traced back to the founding of the 'Sydney Anarchist Group' in 1956 by anarchist exiles from Bulgaria, former members of the Bulgarian Section of the IWA, CNT-B along with others in Sydney sympathetic to anarchism. Two of those involved, Georg Hristov and Alex Boneff, would be founding members of the ASF in 1986. Members of the Sydney Anarchist Group distributed a leaflet at the 1959 May Day march organised by the NSW Trades and Labour Council called 'Anarcho-Syndicalism'. An official of the NSWTLC gave a copy of the leaflet to the NSW Police and told them there were 'anarchists among the crowd".

Members of the Sydney Anarchist Group became involved with the 'Sydney Push' that grew out of the Freethought Society at Sydney University attracted by the interest in libertarian ideas. But there was not much about anarcho-syndicalism that interested the orbit of the Sydney Push that today would be recognised as an early form of radical Liberalism.

In December 1965, exiled members of the CNT-AIT established themselves in Melbourne as 'Grupo Cultural Estudios Sociales de Melbourne'. They took a different approach to the anarcho-syndicalists of the Sydney Anarchist Group who were focused on raising the awareness of anarcho-syndicalism among working people. The main focus of the CNT-AIT exiles in Melbourne was support and solidarity work for imprisoned anarchists founding the first Anarchist Black Cross (Cruz Negra Anarquista) in Australia in 1966 and the publication of texts in Spanish (later in English). But the CNT-AIT exiles were involved in the creation of what they regarded as working class defence infrastructure by which anarcho-syndicalism distinguishes itself consistent with its conception of unions as 'whole-of-class' and goes beyond the narrow definition of worker promulgated by reformist trade unions.

To this end, the CNT-AIT exiles in Melbourne were the initiators and among the founders of the Tenants Union of Victoria and the Fitzroy Legal Service. The view that the workers themselves were responsible for their own defence not only against the employers of labour, but also landlords and the police. This was entirely consistent with the anarcho-syndicalist practice of whole-of-working-class unions as opposed to the narrow confines of reformist craft, trade or even industrial unions.

Some of the CNT-AIT exiles were active in the 1973 Ford Broadmeadows strike. Over 1,500 predominantly migrant workers at the Ford plant in Melbourne engaged in a militant 10-week strike against unsafe, degrading, and high-pressure production line conditions. The revolt included a violent confrontation on June 13, 1973, where workers defied police and union leadership, resulting in smashed windows, pushing over a 30-meter section of the boundary wall, using hoses on offices, and fighting police with factory debris and food. The action succeeded in winning improved pay, better safety standards, and reduced production speed.

The 1970s saw an increased interest in anarchism among young people in Australia, particularly university students, and momentum built towards the foundation of an anarchist federation in Australia. The Federation of Australian Anarchists (FAA) was founded in January 1975, but with little input from the exiles. There was a current in the anarchist scene in Australia at the time that was deeply suspicious of collectivism as a potential threat to individual liberty and accompanied by a belief that any kind of organisation is inherently authoritarian. To assuage these concerns the FAA included individuals as equal in status to groups. This error contained the seeds of its demise. After the collapse of the FAA in July 1976, there appeared to be a split in the anarchist milieu in Australia; a current that was more concerned with questions of individual freedom and alternative lifestyles and a current that wanted to return anarchism to its working class origins. The advocates of anarchism as an alternative lifestyle were far more numerous.

In 1983, the Sydney IWW disbanded and reformed as the Rebel Worker Group (RWG) as a precursor to applying to the International Workers Association (IWA) as the Australian Section of the IWA. In 1983, a reading group called 'Melbourne Anarcho-Syndicalist Group' was founded. After the application of the RWG was rejected at the 1984 IWA Congress on the basis that they were only a single group, Antonio Jimenez, a stalwart of Jura Books, called for a Conference to be held to found an anarcho-syndicalist federation.

The ASF was founded on the basis of a provisional federation that was confirmed 1st ASF Congress held in Melbourne in January 1987.

At the 18th IWA Congress held in Bordeaux, France in April 1988, the ASF was admitted as the Australian Section of the IWA.

Through 2026, we will be publishing articles about the history of the ASF having completed its 40th year in existence. These articles will go into much greater detail and will draw on the archives of the ASF.

Source: ASF Australie

Article original sur RévLibertaire - Infos Libertaires : Anarcho-Syndicalist Federation 40th Anniversary

L’article Anarcho-Syndicalist Federation 40th Anniversary est apparu en premier sur RévLibertaire.

If I remember correctly, it was April 1966 when my father informed me that he had received a letter from a certain Antonio Jiménez Cubillo, who lived in Sydney.

This was the young man Jack Grancharoff, also a Sydney resident, had referred to, whom we met when we participated in a meeting of Italian anarchists in Melbourne during February of that same year.

And so began the contacts with the groups of Spanish anarchists in both cities. We received at least one letter a week from Antonio, and once the “Spanish Democratic Center” was established and the publication of the magazine “El Demócrata” began, the correspondence received increased, and each month, the small packet with the magazines arrived for distribution.

I met Antonio personally in September 1968 when I had to attend a conference held in Sydney. This meeting was the beginning of a friendship and propaganda collaboration that lasted until his death.

Vicente Ruiz (son)

July 19, 2025

The son of a Republican imprisoned under Franco, Antonio Jiménez Cubillo—Tony, as his Australian comrades called him—was born in Madrid on June 13, 1935. He began working at the age of 12, first in the hotel industry and then in a mechanic's workshop repairing trucks.

After completing his military service in Spanish Morocco, he emigrated to Australia in June 1960, traveling through two of the eastern states where he held various jobs. In Queensland, he worked as a sugarcane cutter and a miner. Shortly after, he decided to move to New South Wales, taking a job at a foundry in the city of Wollongong, which he held for only a few months. It was in this city that he learned they were looking for workers for the Snowy Mountains project and decided to leave at the end of 1960 for what was then the small town of Cooma, finding employment on the project until the beginning of 1966.(1)

During this period he met several veteran Spanish anarchist militants who had come from France during the 1950s. Through frequent nighttime conversations with these individuals, and particularly with José Cuevas, who regularly gave him the newspaper and magazine "Tierra y Libertad" (from Mexico), Antonio declared himself an anarchist in 1961, beginning a life of struggle against all forms of injustice.

When he had several consecutive days off, he took the opportunity to spend them in Sydney, making contact with other Spanish emigrants and initiating contact with the “Sydney Anarchist Group”.(2) He developed a friendship with several of these activists, including Alex Boneff, George Christoff, and Jack Grancharoff, the latter being the editor of the anarchist magazine 'Red and Black'. It was in this basement that he also made contact with various university anarchist groups and the unforgettable Colin Pollard.(3)

His personality made it easy for him to befriend various groups of Republican exiles who arrived in Australia after passing through France and countless Spanish families who emigrated seeking economic improvement and freedom of expression.

At the beginning of 1966, several of these Spanish groups exiled in Sydney proposed establishing "The Spanish Democratic Center" in that city. This was made possible through a very fragile alliance between Republicans, Socialists-UGT members, and CNT-FAI members. This delicate work was carried out by Antonio Jiménez Cubillo. After several meetings, an agreement was reached in August 1966, formalizing the center in Sydney, and in 1968 a sub-delegation was created in Melbourne.

I take this opportunity to give due recognition to the educational and promotional work carried out by this group of Spaniards on the other side of the world. It is well known that many professors, sociological research groups, political parties, and even some labour unions are currently interested in investigating the cultural work carried out by Spaniards who were forced to emigrate from 1939 until the restoration of the monarchy in Spain following the death of the dictator Franco.

Most of these investigations are based on the activities carried out in the countries with the highest concentration of political exiles and economic migrants, and rightly so. These countries were primarily France, Switzerland, Germany, England, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United States, Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela, and all the other countries of South America where the Spanish people found refuge and economic relief.

In all these countries, a wave of publications and cultural centers emerged, keeping alive a tradition of social development. And of course, this was achieved through the personal sacrifice of the individuals themselves. These centers were not the "House of Spain" or the entertainment club funded by the Spanish government through the Embassy or the Spanish Consul.

These organisations, cultural centres, or groups of people opposed the popular Spanish image of clapping, bullfighting, and football—an image that the Spanish authorities wished to project in order to attract foreign tourism to the Peninsula while the people starved and had no choice but to emigrate.

This cultural and literary explosion also occurred in Australia, through the Spanish Democratic Centre of Sydney.

In mid-1967, a monthly bulletin entitled “El Demócrata” (The Democrat) began publication with a print run of 1,000 copies, distributed free of charge throughout Australia. It also became known in many other countries with Spanish immigrant communities. The typesetting was done using typewriters owned by the families of Enriqueta Rodríguez, Juan García, and Antonio Jiménez, and then printed on a small Gastetner press owned by Antonio. Antonio contributed regularly to the publication with articles and poems.

In 1967, he was responsible for the English publication of Peter Kropotkin’s pamphlet “For Young People,” a booklet distributed throughout the continent and to various universities. At the beginning of 1970, Antonio published in English the pamphlet “Looking Back After 20 Years in Jail,” a compilation of the pamphlet published in England by the “Black Flag” group. It included an interview with Miguel García, author of the book “Prisoner of Franco.” On the occasion of the May Day celebrations in 1970, the Spanish Democratic Center, promoted by Antonio and Juan García, published in English the pamphlet “This Man Is in Jail for Defending Your Freedom.” A 14-page booklet, distributed in all the capital cities of the Australian continent during the May Day demonstrations.

On December 30, 1970, in response to the Burgos Trial, several demonstrations were organized in various Australian cities, with leaflets distributed in the streets of Sydney, Melbourne, and Canberra. In Sydney, approximately 100 protesters gathered at the Spanish Consulate. Antonio was one of 20 protesters allowed to enter the Consul's office to submit a petition condemning the trial.

In the 1970s he was also a frequent contributor to the anarchist magazines published in Melbourne, 'Nosotros (1972-1975) and 'Acracia' (1972-1992), the latter being the bilingual organ of the Anarchist Black Cross from 1973 to 1975.

During these years he was very active in protests against the Vietnam War, against the Greek dictatorship, against South African Apartheid, and against nuclear energy, participating in the unforgettable anti-nuclear demonstration in Sydney in 1984. And naturally, his presence was indispensable at all May Day demonstrations.

He was one of the driving forces behind and helped publish the bulletin 'Anarchy', which was published (in English) in Sydney (14 issues, 1970-1972).

In 1974, Antonio spearheaded the publication of 'Militando' magazine, an anarchist publication in Spanish that, although short-lived (2 issues), represented collaboration between the various Spanish and South American anarchist groups based in Sydney and Melbourne. The two published issues were printed at the workshops of the anarchist printing collective Slash/Asterisk* in Melbourne.

A contributor to all the libertarian press of the Spanish exile community, he also developed and maintained contact with Cuban libertarians in exile and was the Australian correspondent for the magazine 'Guángara Libertaria', published in Miami, Florida, United States. He corresponded with countless exiled comrades, including Campio Carpio and Germinal Gracia Ibars, better known by his pseudonym Víctor García. He also served as the Australian correspondent for the magazine 'Ruta', published in Venezuela.

Antonio initiated the 'La Semilla' Collection of publications. Under this collection, three pamphlets were produced: In 1975, 'The Anarchists and the Social Revolution', a report—prepared through correspondence in the early 1950s—from Comrade Campio Carpio to Comrade Salvador Torrent, who resided in Innisfail, Australia. This report was previously published in issue number 11, November 1951, of the magazine 'Cenit', published in Toulouse, France. The publication of this pamphlet was made possible through the cooperation of the Spanish-speaking groups Militando of Sydney and Ravachol of Melbourne, and it was printed at the Ravachol Press collective's workshops in Melbourne.

In 1978, 'Interludio Ibérico', a work by Campio Carpio, Silvia Mistral, Bartoli Molins, and Fabraga, recounted the experiences of the exodus and the concentration camps suffered by Spanish refugees. This publication was produced with the layout work done by Antonio and the support of the small group of Spanish anarchists in Sydney.

In 1984, Antonio published the pamphlet 'The Reivindicative Art of Castelao', written by Campio Carpio. This pamphlet also includes 14 sketches drawn by the artist Castelao, reflecting the atrocities committed in Galicia by fascist forces. All the typographical work was done by Antonio and then printed by the Monty Miller Press collective in Sydney.

In 1976, he was one of the founders and driving forces behind the Federation of Australian Anarchists (FAA) until its dissolution in 1978. He was one of the instigators of the anarchist bookstore Jura Books Collective, which opened in August 1977 at 417 King Street, Newtown, Sydney. He participated in preparing the shelves, painting the premises, and maintaining its cleanliness, dedicating many weekends to these tasks. From 1982 onward, he contributed countless hours ensuring the bookstore was open to the public.

Throughout these years, Antonio was an important figure within the Australian anarchist movement, promoting the ideas of anarcho-syndicalism, the International Workers' Association, and the need to establish an anarcho-syndicalist organization on the continent. As one of the participants in the conference held at Jura Books on January 27, 1986, the Anarcho-Syndicalist Federation (ASF) was formally established. At the end of this conference, all those present recalled Antonio's words: "I have waited 25 years for this day." And naturally, at the conclusion of this conference, Antonio was elected to one of the positions on the ASF's Intercontinental Secretariat.

From May 1 to 4, 1986, he participated with Mariano Sussiac and Vicente Ruiz Gutiérrez in the commemorations dedicated to the "Centenary of Anarchism in Australia," held in Melbourne. Events in which a good number of local and international anarchists participated, including Marianna Enckell from Switzerland, Miura Seiichi from Japan, Ha Ki Rak from Korea, Phillipe Pellitier from France and Diego Camacho from Spain (better known by his pseudonym Abel Paz).

In 1987, Antonio proposed the publication in English of Frank Fernández's work, "Cuba: The Anarchists and Freedom," originally published in Spanish by Guángara Libertaria. The first English edition was printed by the anarchist collective Monty Miller Press in Sydney. Antonio Jiménez Cubillo died suddenly in Sydney of a heart attack on July 14, 1990.

(1) The Snowy Mountains Project refers to a hydroelectric and irrigation system located in Kosciuszko National Park in southeastern New South Wales, built between 1949 and 1974. It included 16 main reservoirs, seven power stations, and 225 kilometers of tunnels, pipes, and aqueducts. The project employed over 100,000 workers, most of them European immigrants. The construction of these tunnels was a particularly dangerous and difficult task, carried out in harsh conditions, battling cold and rain, with risks including roof collapses and explosions, resulting in the deaths of 121 workers due to industrial accidents.

(2) The Sydney Anarchist Group was established in 1956 by a group of militant exiles from the Bulgarian National Confederation of Labor (CNT). This group founded the famous “Anarchist Cellar” in the early 1960s in the basement of a tailor's shop located on the corner of Glenmore Road and Darlinghurst Road, in the Paddington neighborhood.

(3) Colin Pollard was one of the main promoters of Esperanto within the Australian anarchist movement. During the May Day demonstration in Barcelona in 1979, he and Miguel García distributed the pamphlet "Esperanto and the CNT."

Source: ASF Australie

Article original sur RévLibertaire - Infos Libertaires : Antonio Jimenez Cubillo

L’article Antonio Jimenez Cubillo est apparu en premier sur RévLibertaire.

Former Amazon Flex driver Mohammad Shereen lost his livelihood and means of supporting his family because Amazon claimed he ‘mishandled package deliveries’

Other drivers have complained that packages can be damaged before the driver even receives them

Mohammad had been working as an ‘Amazon Flex’ delivery driver for about 9 months before he was told his account would be terminated immediately, stopping him from receiving any further work through the company.

He was devastated, having grown to rely on Amazon as his sole source of income to support himself, his wife and his 6 children. In some weeks he had earned up to $2,000 but he said his shifts had been reduced over the past 5 months or so:

“When you first start they give you shifts all the time, so that you are working pretty much full-time and have to give up any other sources of income you might have. Then, once you are dependent on them and desperate to take whichever shifts they offer you, they cut it back to 3-4 shifts per week on average. This has happened to friends of mine who are Amazon Flex drivers as well.”

In a response to the Small Business Ombudsman, Amazon stated it had terminated Mohammad’s contract because of 4 complaints -two about throwing packages, one about throwing a package at a front door causing a loud bang, and one about leaving a package in the rain. Amazon said it had offered Mohammad an opportunity to appeal each violation, but he had chosen not to until after the termination.

However, the emails sent to Mohammad around the times of these incidents all consisted of almost identical generic statements that he ‘tossed or mishandled a package’, with no further details.

Furthermore, after being notified he had ‘tossed or mishandled a package on 24th November, Mohammad messaged Amazon asking what address they were talking about, what evidence they had, whether the item was broken and stating he did not remember throwing any package. Without answering any of his questions, Amazon replied stating ‘We see that the situation was outside of your control. This instance will not be reflected in your delivery history.’

But Amazon did reflect the incident for 24th November 2024 in Mohammad’s delivery history, and used that incident to justify their termination of his contract. In an added twist, Amazon’s response to the Small Business Ombudsman stated this incident was one where the ‘package was left out in the rain when delivered causing the box to rip’ -information that had never previously been communicated to Mohammad who recalls that it was not raining on the package when he left it that day.

Mohammad also asked questions and disputed the other alleged incidents at the time of them occurring, asking what customers and addresses the complaints related to, only to be refused on grounds of privacy.

After being given notice of his termination on 17 December 2024, Mohammad replied explaining with regard to two other alleged incidents dated 10 October that he thought it could have been one customer and an incident where he tripped on a stone, with the customer able to verify that using video footage.

Amazon’s responses to Mohammad’s four appeals after his termination were completely lacking in any detail or attempt to address his concerns, consisting of pro forma text along the lines that Amazon had reviewed Mohammad’s information and re-confirmed their original decision.

Mohammad’s responses to Amazon became increasingly desperate. On 5th January 2025 Mohammad explained to Amazon that he had 6 children to support, had paid $49,000 for a van for his Amazon Flex deliveries (he bought the van earlier in December before the notice of termination), and he remembered some boxes being wet inside the bag (in other words before he had delivered the boxes and through no fault of his own, as some customers order deliveries of liquid products that may not always be tightly sealed).

One thread on social media site Reddit, showed Amazon’s ‘mishandled packages metric’ was viewed as unfair by many other delivery drivers, who pointed out packages could be roughly handled inside the warehouse before the driver even took possession of the package.

Mohammad begged Amazon to allow him to undertake training and have his contract reinstated, only to receive another pro forma response stating Amazon re-affirmed its decision to terminate.

“Mohammad told me he’d delivered approximately 10,000 packages for Amazon during his time working for them, and that since his termination he has struggled to make ends meet. This kind of treatment, by a multinational company earning billions of dollars and paying next to no tax on their profit in Australia, should shock the conscience of anyone who cares about workers, and our members won’t stand for it.

Mohammad’s treatment throughout this entire process lacked any semblance of procedural fairness because he was denied details of the supposed allegations and Amazon refused to respond meaningfully to any of his explanations. Regarding the alleged ‘loud bang’ incident that Mohammad was informed of through the Small Business Ombudsman after exhausting all his appeals with Amazon, Mohammad points out that if true this only means a customer heard a loud noise which could have been anything including his diesel vehicle as he was driving away.”

Said Caspar Cumming, member of ASF Melbourne South.

Amazon has until 24 March 2025 to tell Mohammad his account is reinstated or we will escalate this matter publicly amongst Amazon’s workers, customers, and the broader community.

caspar.cumming@gmail.com

0421 755 688

https://asf-iwa.org.au/

Source: ASF Australie

Article original sur RévLibertaire - Infos Libertaires : Amazon Flex driver unfairly terminated

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1.  Initiation at the Local Level

The journey of a decision begins within the local group or assembly. Here, members gather to discuss issues, generate ideas, and propose solutions. This inclusive environment ensures that every participant has the opportunity to contribute to the dialogue, ensuring a rich diversity of perspectives.

Discussion and Deliberation: Members freely express their views, share insights, and raise concerns, aiming to reach a common understanding.

Decision: Through consensus or democratic voting, the local assembly decides on a proposal to address the issue at hand.

2.  Delegate Representation

If the decision has implications beyond the local scope or requires broader coordination, the assembly selects delegates. These individuals are tasked with conveying the local group's proposal to a wider assembly, comprised of delegates from various groups within the federation.

Mandate and Accountability: Delegates carry a clear mandate from their local assembly, detailing the proposal and the extent of their representation. They are accountable to their assembly and must act within the parameters set by their mandate.

3.  Discussion at Higher Federative Levels

At regional, national, and international levels, decision-making takes place through periodic congresses attended by mandated delegates. These delegates present and discuss proposals from their respective local groups

Delegate Mandate: Delegates carry binding instructions from their local assemblies and can be instantly recalled if they fail to represent their mandate.

Congress Deliberation: At these congresses, delegates engage in discussions to synthesize positions and develop collective decisions that reflect the will of participating organizations.

Administrative Support: While congresses may select specific syndicates to handle information processing and coordination, these bodies have no executive powers and rotate regularly to prevent bureaucracy.

4.  Ratification by Local Groups

Before a decision becomes binding, it must be ratified by the constituent local groups. This stage is critical for maintaining the democratic integrity of the federated system.

Communication of Decision: The agreed-upon decision is communicated back to each local group, along with explanations and any implications.

Local Review and Ratification: Each local assembly reviews the decision in detail, discussing its alignment with local interests and the broader objectives of the federation.

Feedback Loop: If amendments are proposed, they are sent back up the federative structure for consideration. This iterative process ensures that the final decision is as representative and inclusive as possible.

Final Ratification: The decision is ratified if it meets the predetermined threshold of approval from local groups, thereby becoming binding across the federation.

5.  Implementation and Feedback

With the decision ratified, implementation plans are developed. This phase emphasizes coordination across the federation while respecting the autonomy of local groups.

Coordinated Action: Local groups work collaboratively to implement the decision, ensuring that actions are synchronized across the federation.

Evaluation and Adaptation: The implementation is monitored, and feedback is collected. This ongoing evaluation allows the federation to adapt and refine its strategies, ensuring responsiveness to the needs and realities of its members.

The Essence of Federated Decision-Making

The federated decision-making process is a manifestation of the anarcho-syndicalist commitment to democracy, autonomy, and collective empowerment. By involving all members in the decision-making journey—from proposal generation to ratification and implementation—federations cultivate a culture of active participation, mutual respect, and shared responsibility. This process not only strengthens the federation's unity and effectiveness but also serves as a powerful model for the egalitarian and democratic society that anarcho-syndicalism envisions.

Source: ASF Australie

Article original sur RévLibertaire - Infos Libertaires : The Heart of Democracy: Understanding the Federated Decision-Making Process

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Also arrested were WSF comrades Sindhu, Zahra, Nasir, Jami and her daughter along with about 600 activists despite it being a lawful protest.

WSF Karachi has attracted the ire of 'zombie Islamists' for their protests against the killing Mahsa Amini by religious police of Iran in 2022 and the public demonstrations in Karachi in support of transgender rights last year.

Now the Peoples Party government of Sindh province have ordered the Karachi Police to suppress the protests against the murderous religious extremists.

ASF-IWA stands in solidarity with our comrades in Pakistan. Wherever and whenever it happens in the world, an attack on one IWA affiliate is an attack on all.

Source: ASF Australie

Article original sur RévLibertaire - Infos Libertaires : Release Comrade William Sadiq Now!

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18 delegates from across the country were in attendance. The Aims, Principles and Statutes of the WSF were re-affirmed.

WSF was founded as Workers Solidarity Initiative in May 2020 initially by anarchist comrades from Peshawar, Karachi and Lahore and quickly grew with small branches established in other cities. The WSF were admitted to the IWA as a the Pakistan affiliate at the 28th Congress held in Alcoy, Spain in December 2022.

Here is a brief report;

*Congress started with a revolutionary song sung by our beloved anarchist poet Nadeem Sibtain.

*Gul Muhammad Mangi presented two years performance report regarding activities carried out by Workers Solidarity Federation (WSF) Pakistan @ Karachi. He told to the delagates that WSF is the friend member of International Workers Association (IWA) since 2022, started it's activities from 2021 and held a protest demonstration in the support of Indian peasants. He told that another significant event was to celeberate the death anniversary of Bhagat Singh and Hemon Kalani @ Karachi Press Club. WSF celeberated the "Paris Commune" first time in Karachi. Also death anniversary of late Zubair Rahman was held at Chotta gate and YMCA hall, Karachi.

*William Sadiq made a presentation regarding the philosophy of "Anarchism" and he briefly spoke on "May Day" and recounted the anarchist struggle in 1886 in Anerica and told that Hay Market incident much influenced on the history of labor movement.

*Veteran Anarchist Mohammad Mazahir briefly stated the Anarchist movement and told that whole funding of the War of Independet of 1857 was borne by the women who were allegedly called "prostitutes". He told the delagates that without women folk there will be no Anarchy and he is happy to see the participation of women.in the congress.

*Nuzhat Ara told that she is Ph.D in scientic communism from state University, Balgharia but left Marxism when she felt that it is a Utopia and a shape of Capitalism.

*The only message for the congress received from Momin Khan Momin a veteran Anarchist was read out by Gul Muhammad Mangi in which he showed solidarity with the Anarcho Syndicalists and hoped it will prove a great footstep towards the Anarchist current. He said that it is success for the cause of Anarchism and he also have had congratulaions to the participants and all Anarchists affiliated with WSF.

*Naeem.Shaikh, Nadeem Sibtain and other delagates also spoke on the occasion, made their contribution and submmitted their suggestions.

*A 12 point resolution was presented before the participants/delegates of Congress for approval demanding;

1) All the workers/labores may be paid at least 50,000 rupees per month but sadly they are not being paid even the payment announced officially i.e Rs.35000 which is a condemnable act and a criminal offence on the part of capitalists and owners.

2) Trans genders be treated as human being and same rights may be allowed/granted to them.

3) Forced conversion of minor girls of other religions may be abandoned/stopped and safe release/recovery of 7 year old hindu girl Pria Kumari may be ensured and kinapees may be taken on the task.

4) The people must be provided all basic rights including health, education and freedom of expression.

5) Defamation Law may be eliminated and objective resolution may be exluded from the constitution.

6) All missing persons may be released without further delay state opperession may be stoped.

7) The Peasants and growers may be paid as announced by the state i.e Rs.3900 per 40 KG of their wheat and do not be left on the state of sorrow upon the private sector and looters.

8) All wars including Russia-Ukerain and Israel-Hamas war may be stopped so that the people live in peaceful atmosohere.

9) The role of Establishment and Army in Pakistan may be ended in the formation of rulers/ruling class. Even we don' think that there is much need of law enforcement agencies.

10) Global warming which is a production of Capitalist Class may overcome for the sake of humanity and provision of better environment may be dclared basic right of all human beings and mother earth.

11) Equal basic needs including health and education must be insured every where including cities and villages.

12) To develop the agriculture and industrialization all steps may be taken and the control to be given to the peasants and workers.

At last the slogans of Viva La Revolution and Viva La Commune were raised.

by Comrade Lewan

Source: ASF Australie

Article original sur RévLibertaire - Infos Libertaires : WSF-IWA hold 1st Congress in Karachi

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We have recorded labor movements in different regions and industries through statistics of labor movement data over the past ten years. It presents a social, political and economic situation beyond the official narrative, and also foreshadows future changes in the labor movement.

First, China's economic composition and development model have undergone significant changes – from relying on low-cost export-oriented manufacturing for more than three decades to the rise of service industries such as online shopping and food delivery based on Internet platforms. As a result, more and more labor disputes have emerged in service industries ranging from health care and catering to banking and finance, as well as related transportation industries such as freight drivers.

On January 25, 2021, hundreds of nursing staff at Yan'an University Affiliated Hospital in Shaanxi Province launched a sit-in demonstration, demanding that the hospital increase wages and pay pension and medical insurance for employees. That month, couriers at Best Company in Hebei Province went on strike because their bosses had not paid wages, resulting in tens of thousands of undelivered packages piling up outside the warehouse without anyone delivering them.

It can be seen that while labor disputes in traditional manufacturing industries are still mired in quagmire, labor conflicts in emerging industries are also expanding in the form of new wine in an old bottle.

Second, since the 1990s, urbanization and economic development in China's inland areas such as Sichuan and Henan have accelerated, providing a large number of labor forces for the more developed coastal areas. As companies expand to inland areas, labor disputes in these areas also surge.

Once upon a time, Shenzhen was the epicenter of worker protests in China, but that has changed. In 2015, 75 manufacturing worker protests were recorded in Shenzhen, accounting for 75% of the total collective actions of workers in the city that year. But just two years later, in 2017, this number dropped to 22, accounting for half of the collective actions of workers in the city that year.

Finally, traditional social structures related to labor are eroded, and people are increasingly isolated and fragmented in society. Plus the first generation of migrant workers is gradually getting older, and the instability of labor is increasing day by day. Social welfare systems such as pensions are facing unprecedented challenges. Since 2000, factories have replaced the “kinship and regional connections” that workers once relied on, providing workers with a natural place for mutual solidarity and connection.

Once they arrive in Shenzhen and other places, these workers from Sichuan, Henan or other inland areas will find that differences such as region and ethnicity are no longer important, because in the face of long working hours, low wages, and poor treatment, labor disputes have become their common concern.

The ultimate question faced.

This has become increasingly evident over the past decade. With the rise of social media such as Weibo, WeChat, Douyin, and Kuaishou, social media has built a new level of relationships, which is more prevalent than traditional face-to-face connections between people. Social media has reshaped the dynamics of labor protests in China, as demonstrated by the 2018 protests at Shenzhen Jasic Technology Co., Ltd. During that protest, protesters "effectively used digital media to express the solidarity of workers and students," despite Chinese authorities removing and blocking content.

However, truly effective collective action requires concerted action both offline and online. Convenient and fast communication online can also make people ignore the actual face-to-face actions offline. Eventually, social media may in turn become a tool used by employers and authorities to monitor and suppress workers. Looking back at the data over the past ten years, we will find that manufacturing protests have declined significantly as a proportion of China’s total labor protests. In 2013, factory worker protests accounted for 46.5% of the total; by 2020, this number only accounted for 11% of the total.

In the decade between 2011 and 2020, the service and transportation industries gradually replaced manufacturing and dominated protests. This has been one of the most obvious trends in worker protests. The main body of Chinese workers' protests have always been construction workers, and their proportion of the total number of collective actions has remained stable at around 40%. At the beginning of 2020, this proportion increased significantly as a large number of construction companies encountered severe impacts on cash flow and economic uncertainty, with almost every case involving unpaid wages.

Labor disputes in the service industry intensify

Data shows that at the start of the 2010s, worker protests occurred more often among people in big cities with less specialized jobs, such as sanitation workers, cleaners, and shop and restaurant employees. But by the mid-2010s, protests were spreading across the country in a variety of industries, including hotels, bars and karaoke rooms, gyms, technology companies, banks and financial companies, medical institutions, kindergartens and other private educational institutions. There have been employee protests at cram schools and driving schools; even at golf courses and amusement parks, professional football teams, television stations and local media outlets.

In June 2014, high school teachers at Chenzhong Middle School in Chongqing went on strike to protest, demanding that the school pay back wages and safeguard their “fair and equal treatment.” In the same month, employees of China Mobile demonstrated at Shandong Heze Mobile Company and the municipal government to protest against unfair layoffs. In December of the same year, employees of China Resources Vanguard Supermarket in Tangshan, Hebei Province held a protest outside the store, demanding that the company give them the same layoff compensation as employees of another branch. The workers' banner read: "China Resources Vanguard, give me equal treatment!"

Before 2017, protests in the transportation industry tended to be dominated by taxi drivers, with few couriers or food delivery people protesting. But in the past few years, things have changed dramatically. The rapid development of e-commerce has promoted the large-scale development of the gig economy in food delivery and other express delivery service industries, and the number of employment in this emerging industry has increased dramatically.

However, because its labor relations are more uncertain than in traditional industries, labor disputes have also spread with the expansion of the industry. In the late 2010s, e-commerce developed significantly in China. In 2019, China's e-commerce sales totaled US$1.9 trillion, more than three times that of the United States, the world's second largest e-commerce market. In 2020, China accounted for nearly 55% of the global e-commerce market share. More and more people are starting to shop online, and logistics companies' demand for drivers is growing steadily, even during the global spread of the coronavirus in 2020. In addition, the government has encouraged the construction of community express delivery stations and increased so-called flexible employment.

A temporary "gig economy" to address social concerns about rising unemployment

In the first half of 2020 alone, Meituan, China's largest online food delivery platform, added 1.4 million employees. A survey of these gig workers found that 30% joined the platform after losing their jobs in other industries, and a significant number of them had at least a bachelor's degree, accounting for nearly 25% of Meituan's 2.95 million gig workers.

Since 2015, the number of taxi driver protests has declined. However, the COVID-19 epidemic in 2020 caused taxi revenue to plummet, but the company collected a lot of fees, leading to a significant surge in driver protests. 2020, middle 116 taxi driver protests were recorded, double the 54 recorded in 2019. This trend is even more pronounced when we look at taxi drivers within the context of labor protests as a whole. In 2013, taxi driver protests accounted for about 15% of the total, which dropped to 8.2% in 2016 and only 3.9% in 2019, but by 2020, this number rose back to 14.5%. Since 2017, strikes and protests by Chinese app platform transport workers have become mainstream. In the face of fierce industry competition, platforms continue to cut costs to seize market advantages. Unstable income and harsh fine systems have led to frequent worker protests occurring frequently.

From January 2017 to December 2020, 220 collective protests initiated by takeaways and couriers were recorded, accounting for approximately one-third of all transport industry protests during that period. Food delivery drivers on app platforms such as Meituan and Ele.me have long faced ubiquitous labor rights traps, including 18-hour shifts and penalties for late deliveries. Under the control of the algorithm, workers have no bargaining power, and even after a work-related injury occurs, the platform does not recognize the labor relationship at all, making workers miserable on the road to safeguarding their rights.

In the next ten years, China's economic structure will continue to undergo further changes, especially the shift of the focus of the industrial structure to the service industry and e-commerce. More labor disputes may focus on new types of flexible employment positions. This will bring a series of new challenges to China's labor relations and labor rights.

Regional changes in the labor movement

In the early 2010s, most of China's labor disputes were concentrated in the southeastern coastal provinces, especially the economic powerhouse Guangdong. However, as low-cost export-oriented industries gradually shift abroad and urbanization develops inland, the overall proportion of worker protests in Guangdong continues to decline.

The changing nature of workers’ organizing and resistance

After 2015, the service industry gradually replaced manufacturing as the industry that contributes the most to China's GDP. This was followed by an increase in the instability and discreteness of the labor force, which led to significant changes in the way workers organized and acted collectively.

In the past, manufacturing, mining and other industrial sectors often employed large numbers of workers in fixed locations; one of the most obvious trends now is a marked reduction in the number of large-scale protests.

The most recent large-scale factory worker protest was the strike at Dongguan Yue Yuen Shoe Factory in April 2014. At that time, 40,000 workers went on strike for two weeks to protest against low wages and the company's unpaid social security contributions. Since 2015, many large factories have closed or laid off most of their workers. The remaining factories are mostly more stable and more profitable because they can provide relatively reasonable wages and have fewer problems with worker protests.

The decline in the number of protest events involving a thousand or more workers in the data may be partly due to the fact that in the first few years of the 2010s, large-scale strikes and demonstrations were easier to find on social media than smaller protests. However, the more important reason is that in the second half of the 2010s, the government became more forceful in curbing any collective actions that threatened social stability and damaged the image of the Communist Party.

The most prominent setback for the government on labor issues occurred on March 11, 2016, in Shuangyashan City, Heilongjiang Province. At that time, the governor of Heilongjiang Province, Lu Hao, was attending the National People's Congress in Beijing, and thousands of angry coal miners marched on the streets of Shuangyashan to petition, demanding that Heilongjiang Longmei Group pay wages that had been overdue for more than two months. Longmei Group is a state-owned enterprise that was heavily in debt due to overcapacity in coal production. What made the workers even more angry was that provincial governor Lu Hao publicly stated at the two sessions that Longmei Group "does not owe underground workers a penny." Longmei workers protested angrily. This protest was the largest protest against a state-owned enterprise in many years. This move forced the local government to ask Longmei Group to pay all workers' wages.

But authorities have also made it clear that this type of protest will not be tolerated. On March 13, the police stormed into workers' residences, arrested many miners participating in the demonstration, and released photos of at least 75 wanted persons. The logic of the central government's zero-tolerance strategy is to maintain the government's stance of harshly punishing "troublemakers" so as to intimidate other potential labor leaders and prevent other regions from imitating collective protests.

After the Shuangyashan incident, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council introduced new public security measures, and all responsibilities for large-scale mass incidents fell to local governments. In other words, the government has zero tolerance for mass incidents, and top local officials may be removed from office if these incidents occur. In the late 2010s, labor non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Guangdong Province also continued to be suppressed. Over the past decade, these NGOs have ample experience in providing local factory workers with the specific skills they need for collective action. In several well-known cases of workers' rights protection, these NGOs successfully brought employers to the bargaining table, creating a new model of collective bargaining in practice and highlighting the absence of official trade unions in defending workers' rights.

The government's suppression of traditional labor NGOs has left workers without the guidance and reliable support of professional protest knowledge. Therefore, more and more workers are turning to online organizing and using various communication software to fight. For example, in 2016, Walmart employees staged several strikes to protest against the company’s changes to its working hour system. The actual number of people participating in the protests in person is limited, but it is estimated that about 100,000 Walmart employees have entered the newly established online support group, which helps to alleviate the loneliness of protesting employees when dealing with powerful employers.

With online organizing, everyone, even colleagues thousands of miles away, seems to share a common identity, face the same difficulties, and find common solutions. Later, in the summer of 2018, crane operators and truck drivers adopted similar tactics, organizing nationwide protests against falling wages and deteriorating working conditions. That same year, workers at Shenzhen Jasic Technology Co., Ltd. took a step further to use social media to connect with student groups and supporters. However, there are risks associated with online organizing, and Jasic workers and their supporters have been arrested and detained in large numbers.

The subsequent arrests of ‘delivery boy’ leader Chen Guojiang in 2019 and February 2021 also proved this. Chen Guojiang is also known as the leader of the Riders Alliance. He once established a huge mutual aid network for delivery riders, the "Delivery Knights Alliance", connecting more than 14,000 riders. Chen Guojiang has released many videos calling on everyone to pay attention to the rights of riders. He exposed the platform’s suppression of workers and criticized the platform.

Blatantly violating labor laws, fining workers for late delivery of takeaways and other inappropriate behaviors.

In September 2020, Chen Guojiang once said that he hoped that the authorities could set up a trade union-like organization specifically for food delivery riders. He hoped that this organization could represent workers and platforms to negotiate worker treatment issues, and that the local government would take the lead in regulating labor standards in the food delivery industry.

Rather than allowing private companies such as Meituan and Ele.me to exploit food delivery riders at will. He was eventually arrested by officials in 2021. His arrest is certainly a warning for collective action online. The official message could not be clearer. No matter how inactive, closed-minded, or out of touch with the demands of workers, the official trade union organization cannot tolerate influential opinion leaders outside the official organization speaking out for the workers.

In fact, most current worker protests are poorly organized. Struggles tend to be small (fewer than a hundred participants) and short-lived, and focused on resolving the specific dispute at hand. Protests usually seek to draw social attention to the plight of workers and for government intervention, rather than direct dialogue and collective consultation with employers or local governments. Many workers are no longer even holding physical protests, but are simply posting calls for help online, actions that often do little to resolve the incident.

Government Facing Labor Conflict

Perhaps to avoid a repeat of the Shuangyashan incident, the central government went to great lengths in the late 2010s to ensure that laid-off workers, especially coal miners and steelworkers, were fully paid, and also provided workers with financial aid during the subsequent shutdown or curtailment of large state-owned enterprises with adequate compensation. Since 2019, as economic uncertainty continues to intensify, the Communist Party of China has continued to emphasize the "six stability" and prioritized "maintaining stable employment". President Xi Jinping has repeatedly emphasized the importance of "six stability" and emphasized that "employment issues should be given top priority." Chen Qiqing, a professor at the Central Party School, interpreted the "Six Stabilities" in an interview with the "Study Times" in May 2020, and made it clear that "if employment cannot be maintained, everything may be lost, even the bottom line of social stability."

–       Pro IWA China Group

Source: ASF Australie

Article original sur RévLibertaire - Infos Libertaires : Report on the Chinese Labour Movement

L’article Report on the Chinese Labour Movement est apparu en premier sur RévLibertaire.

Meanwhile, the turmoil situation becomes a sweet spot for criminal organisations to run their cyber-scams, drugs, and human trafficking businesses. The organised
crimes are committed publicly, mainly in the northern part of Shan state, near the China border. Historically, those areas are a haven for drug lords and organised crimes since most of those areas are under the autonomy of warlords handpicked by the Tatmadaw (Burmese military). The organised crime ring is run by the Chinese Mafias as well as the state-sponsored militias (pyi-thu sit), the Border Guard Force leaders (BGF, separatists of ethnic armed organisations who operate as a division under the junta), and the administration officials of the Self-administered zones in the Northern Shan state. Those criminal syndicates must make their tribunal to respective military commanding officers in those areas in return for protection. The activity of those organisations has significant impacts on China as the cyber scam organisations have been siphoning millions out of them, and many of their nationals are being kidnapped and scammed and forced to work for the scamming activities. The rising unemployment rate in China and its fragile economy became an opportunity for crime syndicates. Beijing also expressed it as a national threat to stop further grievances, which has the potential to cause instability back home.

In October 2023, “The Three Brotherhood Alliance”, the alliance between the
Arakan Army, Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and Ta’ang National
Liberation Army launched Operation 1027, with Mandalay People’s Defense Force,
People’s Liberation Army, Bamar People’s Liberation Army fighting alongside them. The alliance manifested not only to topple the military regime but also to eradicate cyber scam organisations. The message regarding the cyber scam clearly intended that their interests aligned with Beijing’s. Junta was placed in a very sticky situation, as it can be observed that they are not able to tackle the cyber scam issue for multiple reasons: its military officers in those regions are corrupted by providing custody, and if they handed over the BGF leaders, militia leaders, and administration officials, their status-quo in those regions will be challenged. The Three Brotherhood Alliance seized this opportunity while the junta was hesitant and impotent.

It is crucial for the Three Brotherhood Alliance to show that they have common
interests with Beijing because there are scenarios where they need to rely on China to be able to launch a full-scale war. The Three Brotherhood Alliance and other revolution forces in Northern Burma have been using China-made Type-81 assault rifles. If China imposed tighter border trade measures, the availability of arms, ammunition, food, and medical supplies would be minimal. Compared to the revolution forces of Chinland, along the border of India, the supplies are limited since India’s border force, Assam Rifles has been restricting what goes through its borders. It can also be seen that they are still relying on bolt action rifles due to limited supplies. Therefore, there are differences in the nature of the revolution between China's and India's borders.

Despite the nationwide war, both parties left the Chinese state-owned projects
unharmed. Beijing hedging its bets in both parties also protects its China-Myanmar Economic Corridor project. China’s spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wang Wenbin, stated, “…China will continue its effort in helping to stop the fighting and promote talks in northern Myanmar and jointly work for a soft landing of the situation in northern Burma. We also hope that parties concerned in Myanmar will keep the China-Burma border area peaceful and stable and protect the safety and security of Chinese projects and personnel in Myanmar.” during a regular press conference on December 21, 2023. Beijing had brokered ceasefire negotiations between the junta and The Three Brotherhood Alliance in Kunming and a ceasefire agreement has been made in Northern Shan state. Moreover, on January 1, 2024, the diaspora government – the National Unity Government which was formed after the coup with elected legislators, activists and some of the ministers from the NLD-led quasi-democratic government showed its allegiance to Beijing in its statement by declaring its support for the One China policy and assuring that China’s economic investments will be safeguarded.

As anarchists, we align with the resistance against the fascist regime, advocating
for genuine liberation, self-determination, and autonomy for the region. We caution against statist organisations cloaked in a 'national liberation' agenda, as they may only reconstitute the ruling class without achieving true liberation for the oppressed masses. It is imperative to recognize the presence of various local defence forces (LDFs), rooted in various regions and communities in Burma, bravely resisting the fascist regime without reliance on support from imperialist powers. To realize a revolution that fully emancipates the oppressed working class in the region, fostering cross-border solidarity among the working class and embracing internationalism becomes paramount. Rather than safeguarding Beijing's economic and geopolitical interests in exchange for support, expressing solidarity with the oppressed working class under the CCP regime, supporting the Uyghurs, and advocating for the liberation of Hong Kong are crucial.

Comrade Kay

Source: ASF Australie

Article original sur RévLibertaire - Infos Libertaires : Burma’s revolution and the role of Beijing’s imperialism

L’article Burma’s revolution and the role of Beijing’s imperialism est apparu en premier sur RévLibertaire.

The total amount recovered was around $11k and was made possible by the solidarity of workers who supported the campaign including members of ASF Melbourne North and supporters including rank and file UWU members. Thanks to all involved.

Wage theft is widespread and rampant despite recent legislation to address the issue and the ASF will continue to support workers standing up for the rights to be paid for work down and importantly, for their time.

The ASF, through its campaigns against wage theft, has recovered in excess of $600k for more than 3,000 workers since 2012. The ASF continues to support not only its own members but all workers, members of registered unions or not,  in dispute to recover stolen wages.

Do You have Problems with your Boss?

Contact: asfiwasec@gmail.com

Source: ASF Australie

Article original sur RévLibertaire - Infos Libertaires : Victory! Successful recovery of stolen wages

L’article Victory! Successful recovery of stolen wages est apparu en premier sur RévLibertaire.

In October 2013, 11 members of the IndustriALL affiliated Free Trade Zone and General Services Employee Union (FTZGSEU) were sacked unjustly for organising their workplace at the Ansell factory in Sri Lanka. Ansell is an Australia -based multinational specialisng in rubber products.

FTZGSEU union officials pursued Ansell through the courts in Sri Lanka without success. On 8 October 2015, Australian union officials from TCFUA, AMWU and CFMEU spoke at the Ansell shareholders meeting but to no avail. About 50 trade union activists in Melbourne demonstrated in suppport at the Ansell global HQ in Richmond, Victoria.

Although the courts in Sri Lanka found in the favour of the 11 sacked workers, the Ansell company appealed the decision and the issue continued to drag on. The 11 sacked workers resolved to continue fighting and having been abandoned by the union on whose behalf they were trying to organise, they sought help wherever they could find it. They reached out to numerous trade unions and workers organisations around the world.

In February 2021, the General Secretary of the Asia Pacific Sub-Secretariat of the International Workers Association (IWA) received communication from the 11 sacked workers expalining their situation. The General Secretary forwarded the information to ASF affiliate Melbourne North. Direct communication was opened between the 11 sacked workers and ASF Melbourne North who resolved to support the 11 sacked workers in their endeavours to achieve justice.

ASF Melbourne North organised a campaign of pickets at the global HQ of Ansell in Melbourne. IWA affiliates around the world sent protest emails to Ansell many times. ASF Melbourne North co-operated with Australia Asia Worker Links in protest actions against Ansell. The ASF  Melbourne North received support from Workers Solidarity Alliance, US affiliate of the IWA and CNT-AIT France with research and reconnaissance in prepartaion for an international expansion of the solidarity campaign.

In December 2022, as a direct consequence of this campaign, Ansell management contacted officials of FTZGSEU seeking a resolution who put them in touch with the 11 sacked workers. The workers reiterated their demands as outlined in the industrial court. Ansell was able to delay court proceedings by appealing decisions and Ansell indicated that they were willing to expedite the issue.

In May 2023, an agreement was reached  between Ansell and the 11 sacked workers. The sacked workers abandoned their demand for re-instatement and Ansell agreed to pay the 11 sacked workers LKR 32,948,972 (approx. AUD 161,200) in compensation for lost wages. The 11 sacked workers expressed their satisfaction at the outcome.

In an increasingly globalised world, workers are set against workers by the artifice of nation-State jurisdictions. If workers in one country refuse to accept cuts in wage and reduction of conditions, the global bosses threaten to take their jobs offshore to where labour is cheaper and unions are weak. The billionaire owned media fuel resentment against 'foreign' workers. Under these circumstances, the international solidarity of workers everywhere that knows no borders is our greatest strength.

The IWA is distinguished by its conviction that capitalism cannot be reformed and the only solution to poverty, war, disease and destruction is to end capitalism forever and replace the government of people with the administration of things. The great potential of technology will be realised to abolish work and live in accordance of the principle; from each according to their ability to each according to their need.

The IWA is seeks to go beyond mere craft, trade or even industrial unionism as it is no longer fit for purpose to build global whole-of-class union to defend our interests as working-people, to advance our conditions of work in the present and build the society of the future now.

The Anarcho-Syndicalist Federation (ASF) is the Australian affiliate of the IWA. Join us. Send an email today.

Source: ASF Australie

Article original sur RévLibertaire - Infos Libertaires : Victory! Sacked workers receive compensation at last

L’article Victory! Sacked workers receive compensation at last est apparu en premier sur RévLibertaire.

Mo worked hard at their job and was very popular with customers. When Mo asked her employer about the tips jar, Mo was told it was 'company policy' to retain the tips on account of difficult 'business conditions'. Soon shifts were reduced before Mo was cut adrift.

ASF Melbourne North have presented D.G. Expresso with a letter of demand; return all stolen wages and tips, reinstatement with a guarantee of no retribution. The four-page response on the part of D.G.Expresso failed to address directly the issues raised in the letter of demand. Consequently, D.G.Expresso and ASF Melbourne North are in dispute. ASF Melbourne North remains resolved to acheive wage justice for its members.

ASF Melbourne North is calling on those who affirm the human right to be properly paid for labour provided to email D.G.Expresso directly with their concerns. A suggested template can be found below.

To: D.G.Expresso@localista.com.au <D.G.Expresso@localista.com.au>

Subject: Wage theft is immoral and a crime!

"Dear Sir/Madam, It has come to our attention that D.G. Expresso has engaged in a pattern of worker wage theft by paying below the award rate scale. We stand in solidarity with Mo in their efforts to regain their $ 8,367.40 in stolen wages. And an estimated $ 875.25 in stolen tips which management refuse to distribute to the staff for whom customers intended them. Additionally, we protest D.G. Expresso's history of hiring vulnerable young people through a government-run, tax- payer-funded subsidized-wage program, and then displacing those employees after the 6-month wage subsidy period has ended, arbitrarily cutting their shifts and bullying them into leaving, so that it can hire new employees through the same program, despite this practice violating the terms of the wage subsidy contract.
Do the right thing: Wage theft is immoral and a crime!
Rehire and pay Mo! Pay the workers their due pay and tips!"

The solidarity of the working people with each other is the way to achieve wage justice and the foundation upon which the new unions of the future will be built. ASF Melbourne North acknowledges the support of rank and file UWU members who joined the protest action.

Source: ASF Australie

Article original sur RévLibertaire - Infos Libertaires : D.G.Expresso – justice is the recovery of stolen wages and tips

L’article D.G.Expresso – justice is the recovery of stolen wages and tips est apparu en premier sur RévLibertaire.

Quite a number of the Spanish immigrants I knew worked at either Ford or Holden and some of the stories they would relate about their working conditions were quite horrendous. In summer extreme heat and in winter the complete opposite. They would also tell me that their remuneration was calculated under the model of “piece work” which they use to pronounce as “piss wick”, when prompted to explain what they meant they would tell me that they would get paid by piece or task they had to constantly repeat day in, day out. This method of operating a production line meant that if any worker was slower than the person next to him, that other persons earning capacity would be affected, causing on many occasions confrontations amongst the workers. Many of the workers suffering severe injuries in their endeavours to maintain the required momentum, injuries that would eventually lead to the loss of their employment because they could not keep up with the pace the company wanted the production line to operate at.
And although there was a history of strikes at both Ford and Holden the union bureaucracies always managed to convince the workers to accept the offers put forward by the employers which always was the minimum increase in wages and diluted conditions of employment with the underlying threat of “you do not want to create a situation where you could lose your
employment”.

If my memory does not betray me it would have been either at the end of March or maybe early April 1973, there was an attempt for a substantial increase in wages but most of all, the 17.5 % loading on annual leave that already existed in many other industries. After innumerable goings and comings by the union bureaucracy a meeting held in May saw the Ford workers walk off the job. Some weeks later the union came back to the striking workers calling a mass meeting at the Broadmeadows Town Hall and strongly advised that the striking workers accept a $3 a week pay raise. A number of the Spanish immigrants and in particular Luis Costanza, a libertarian militant, conveyed to me what was the course of events that transpired from this moment on. A vote was taken, and the workers rejected the offer put forward by the company, however the union secretary declared that the vote went in favour of accepting the offer from Ford and he ordered the workers to return to the shop floor. As Luis explained to me the secretary had just dug his own grave, and he was very lucky to get out of the town hall alive.

It was two days thereafter that the factory at Broadmeadows was attacked. Luis pointed out that the frustration of the striking workers could be seen, however their desire to take control of their destiny was stronger, without the support of the union they produced numerous leaflets, they organised picket lines, as well as quite a number of meetings where decisions were made by the striking workers on the picket line as well as informing all present of the events happening.
Luis Costanza who had been distributing anarcho-syndicalist journals and magazines for quite some time, grabbed the opportunity to organise a meeting of the striking workers to explain how they could organize themselves in a non-bureaucratic way, where they could control their own decision making process and take the necessary direct action when required. Three of us were invited as speakers at this meeting, we spoke to those gathered in English, Italian, Greek and Spanish, explaining the organisational process of anarcho-syndicalism. We spoke for almost 1 hour and then answered questions for approximately half an hour. A lot of interest was shown by those present in having a better understanding of organising in an anarcho-syndicalist way, but in particular how decisions were made and how votes on issues at hand were taken. When we explained that it would be the shop floor that would each and every time make the final decision, and that there would never be the influence of union bureaucrats, all those gathered erupted in applause.

By what Luis indicated, the Geelong factory also went out in solidarity.
Unfortunately the union leadership had already put into process the betrayal of the striking workers. A number of the Spanish workers from Holden informed Luis that the workers at Holden had collected money to help out the striking workers at Ford. When the Ford strikers asked the union bureaucrats where the funds collected were, they expressed no knowledge of such fund.

By the end of July a lot of the families on strike were having financial difficulties, the arbitration commission ordered a return to work, even Bob Hawke the president of the ACTU strongly suggested that the workers return to work. The strike regrettably capitulated under the false promises that the workers issues and concerns would be looked at.

Vicente Ruiz (hijo)

Source: ASF Australie

Article original sur RévLibertaire - Infos Libertaires : CNT exiles in Melbourne and the 1973 strike at Ford Broadmeadows

L’article CNT exiles in Melbourne and the 1973 strike at Ford Broadmeadows est apparu en premier sur RévLibertaire.

We remember the repression of the Anarchists of Chicago who were campaigning for the 8-hour day and commemorate them for the efforts for which they paid with their lives. Gone but never forgotten.

Chicago, May 1886. In a city divided by bitter labour disputes and the
agitation for the eight hour day, police disperse a peaceful street meeting. A
bomb is thrown, killing one officer – other policemen and many workers die
as the police open fire at random.
This incident was used as a pretext for a sweeping crackdown on unions
and anarchists. Eight anarchists were accused, not of direct involvement,
but of the catch-all of conspiracy. They were accused and convicted on the
basis of their ideas alone: no credible evidence was produced to link them to
the bomb. Four of the eight (George Engel, Adolf Fischer, Albert Parsons
and August Spies) were judicially murdered on the 11th of November 1887.
One, Louis Lingg, cheated the gallows with the aid of dynamite. The three
remaining Haymarket accused (Samuel Fielden, Michael Schwab and Oscar
Neebe) were given sentences of life and fifteen years. They were released in
1893 when Governor John P. Altgeld, in a moved which finished his
political career, exposed the state conspiracy which framed them.
The Haymarket tragedy was only one incident in the class war in
America, but it was adopted as a symbol by the working class movement:
anarchists, socialists, trade unionists. It gave rise to the international
celebration of the First of May, always a celebration of resistance for
anarchists and other working class rebels. For others it was a working-class
holiday, or worse: a celebration of either the Communist Party bureaucracy
after the rise of ‘Red Tsarism’ in Russia or the leadership of reformists who
made a nice living out of demanding ‘bigger cages, longer chains!’
Talk about ‘reclaiming Mayday’ is not new. It does not arise from
nostalgia for the 1880s, nor purely from a desire to remember our fallen
comrades. Mayday shows us that if we want to win meaningful reforms –
let alone a free society – we must fight the power of both state and capital;
we cannot expect them to fight fair, and we cannot trust leaders to win our
freedom for us. Mayday has a proud heritage of propaganda, protest and
revolt. This pamphlet shows a small part of that heritage. Looking at how
Mayday has been marked will not solve tactical questions in the here and
now. But we hope that looking at how and why it has been marked will also
inspire you to look forwards. – Kate Sharpley Library

"Friends, – The speakers of the evening not having arrived I shall entertain
you a few minutes. I am told that a number of patrol wagons, carrying
policemen, were sent to Desplaines street station, and I understand that the
militia have been called under arms. There seems to prevail the opinion in
certainquarters thatthis meetinghas been calledfor the purpose of
inaugurating a riot, hence these warlike preparations on the part of the so-
called ‘law and order.’ However, let me tell you at the beginning that this
meeting has not been called for any such purpose. The object of this
meeting is to explain the general situation of the eight-hour Movement, and
to throw light upon various incidents in connection with it.
For more than twenty years have the wage workers of this country
begged and prayed their masters, the factory lords, to reduce their burdens.
It has been in vain. They have pointed out the fact that over a million of
willing and strong hands were in a state of enforced idleness and starvation,
that to help them to obtain employment it would not only be advisable, nay,
it was necessary to reduce the hours of daily toil of those who were
fortunate enough in having found a buyer for their muscles, their bones, and
their brain. The masters of this earth have treated them with contempt, have
condemned them to vagabondage whenever they insisted. The legislatures
have been called upon, one petition has succeeded the other, but with no
avail.
Atlasttheconditionofthedisinheritedproducershasbecome
unbearable. Seeing that neither ‘boss’ nor law would concede anything to
them, they have organized for the purpose of helping themselves – a wise
and prudent resolution.
All over the land we behold vast armies of producers, no longer begging,
butdemandingthateighthoursshallhenceforthconstituteanormal
working day. And what say the extortionists to this? They demand their
pound of flesh, like Shylock. They will not yield one iota. They have grown
rich and powerful on your labor. They amass stupendous fortunes, while
you, who bring them into existence, are suffering from want. In answer to
your pleadings they ask for the bodies of your little children, to utilize them
in their gold mints, to make dollars out of them! Look at the slaves of
McCormick! When they tried to remonstrate with their master he simply
called upon ‘the protectors of these free and glorious institutions’ – the
3police – to silence them.
You have no doubt heard of the killing and wounding of a number of
your brothers at McCormick’s yesterday. Mr. McCormick told aTimes
reporter that Spies was responsible for that massacre committed by the most
noble Chicago police. I reply to this that McCormick is an infamous liar.
(Cries of ‘Hang him.’) No, make no idle threats. There will be a time, and
we are rapidly approaching it, when such men as McCormick will be
hanged; there will be a time when monsters who destroy the lives and
happiness of the citizens (for their own aggrandizement) will be dealt with
like wild beasts. But that time has not yet come. When it has come you will
no longer make threats, but you will go and ‘do it.’
Thecapitalistic press,likethe ‘respectablegentleman’ McCormick,
howls that the Anarchists are responsible for the deeds of violence now
committed all over this country. If that were true one would have to
conclude that the country was full of Anarchists, yet the same press informs
us that the Anarchists are very few in number. Were the ‘unlawful’ acts in
the Southwestern strike committed by Anarchists? No, they were committed
by Knights of Labor, men who never fail to declare, whenever there is an
opportunity, that they are law-and-order-abiding citizens. The attack upon
McCormick’s yesterday – Was it made by Anarchists? Let us see. I had been
invited by the Central Labor Union to address a meeting of lumberyard
laborers on the Black road. I went out there yesterday at the appointed time,
about three o’clock in the afternoon. There were at least ten thousand
persons assembled. When I was introduced to address them a few Poles or
Bohemians in the crowd cried out: ‘He’s a Socialist.’ These cries were
followed by a general commotion and derision – ‘We want no Socialist;
down with him.’ These and other exclamations I was treated to. Of course, I
spoke anyway. The crowd became quiet and calm, and fifteen minutes later,
elected me unanimously a delegate to see their bosses. Nevertheless, you
can see that these people are not Socialists or Anarchists, but ‘good, honest,
law-abiding, church-going Christians and citizens.’ Such were the persons
wholeftthe meeting, as I afterwards learned, to ‘make the scabs at
McCormick’s quit work.’ In my speech I never mentioned McCormick.
Now you may judge for yourselves whether the Anarchists were responsible
for the bloodshed yesterday or not.
Who is responsible of these many ‘lawless’ acts, you ask me? I have told
you that they are generally committed by the most lawful and Christian
4citizens. In other words, the people are by necessity driven to violence, they
can’t carry the burden heaped upon them any longer. They try to cast it off,
and in so doing break the laws. The law says they must not cast it off, for
such an act would alter, yea, revolutionize the existing order of society!
These acts of violence are the natural outgrowth of the present industrial
system, and every one is responsible for them who supports and upholds
that system.
What does it mean when the police of this city, on this evening, rattle
along in their patrol wagons?
What does it mean when the militia stands warlike and ready for bloody
work at our armories?
What are the gatling guns and cannons for?
Is this military display of barbarism arranged for your entertainment?
All these preparations, my friends, ARE made in your behalf.
Your masters have perceived your discontent.
They do not like discontented slaves.
They want to make you contented at all hazards, and if you are stubborn
they will force or kill you.
Look at the killing of your brothers at McCormick’s yesterday. What did
they do? The police tell you that they were a most dangerous crowd, armed
to their teeth. The fact is, they, like ignorant children, indulged in the
harmless sport of bombarding McCormick’s slaughter house with stones.
They paid the penalty of this folly with their blood.
The lesson I draw from this occurrence is, that working men must arm
themselvesfordefense,sothattheymaybeabletocopewiththe
government hirelings of their masters."

– Speech by August Spies, one of the Haymarket Martyrs, 4 May 1886.

Source: ASF Australie

Article original sur RévLibertaire - Infos Libertaires : 1 May is May Day

L’article 1 May is May Day est apparu en premier sur RévLibertaire.

Schism; division. Sometimes it is actually quite a good thing. Isn't it true?

Perhaps sometimes we should think like a doctor: shouldn't diseases and infections be cast out from the body? And, in a diagnostic spirit, surely we can also say that we will, first, do no harm?

And, if being 'smaller, but correct', instead of 'large, and ineffective' is similarly more virtuous, why can't we apply this thinking to our politics? I am not the least afraid of being accused of being a sectarian or an ultra-leftist!

Should I direct this discussion into a more personal vein? When have I ever failed to advocate for ideological or propagandistic clarity? I have perhaps wavered on the question of the form in which communism is to be delivered, but never on the necessity for social revolution!

In any case, have your wits about you. Cast out those from your lives who spread toxic hate and needless division.

Be intolerant of the intolerant!

Source: ASF Australie

Article original sur RévLibertaire - Infos Libertaires : Schism; division.

L’article Schism; division. est apparu en premier sur RévLibertaire.

These spontaneous actions do not drive by one command body or systemic resistance; to be precise, it is not led by the electoral winning party NLD (National League for Democracy), CRPH (Committee Representative of Parliament) or its supporter, or lead by social justice warrior of particular activist,  when the time of need, the society come in handy, various class with different ideology background come together and corporate each other for the common goal in beauty and harmony of diversity.

We have seen what Statists might have called Utopian in the first six months of the coup. Technically, both couped militaries failed to establish their rule, and the electoral winner didn’t have the chance to rule. Due to the CDM movement, the government‘s healthcare and education services have stopped, and brave volunteers have come forward to fill the blank the society needs while they warranted; while police were busy confronting the demonstration, vigilant volunteers formed a security team and pratol day and night in their ward and district, while public transportation system is shut down, there are volunteer taxi drivers and car owner who lift around the protest camp and home for free of charge, and free food and drink are very common in everywhere near the protest site and camp. Where there is no crime and solidarity is strong in society, and mutual aid is a natural response to society's needs, from street vendors to small shopkeepers, their contribution to society from individual to mass and to its need. But such a realistic utopia of no government is destroyed by the overuse of force by the Military and police. The brutal crackdown, mass killing, and use of lethal weapons over unarmed protest have forced people to flee the city and fight back, and the revolution has dramatically changed into arm struggle.

Today I had a chance to interview my old comrade who is currently active and involved in a local militia group or LPD (Local People Defense). From this interview, we can reflect, rewind and review the libertarian movement from one aspect through her personal view and own experience of the revolution.

Obi-Y: How did you get involved in the armed resistance revolution?

Leisa: I started to be involved in the Urban Resistance movement with some UG groups. When it failed, and we were forced to flee from the cities, some of my comrades went to EAO (Ethnic Armed Organizations) control areas to get basic combatant training. I was left alone in the city to continue supporting those doing CDM (Civil Disobedience Movement). There are 20 CDM government workers to whom I have been doing mutual aid support.

Every month, I provided each CDM officer with one sack of rice and 50,000 Kyats (25 USD). All the way, I had to sell all my properties, and only when I could not afford to do so I started asking for donations from other people online. Since the revolution started, I have sold all my belongings, including my home and car, let alone my other personal items.  And then, my comrades returned from training in the jungle. At first, we could not decide which resistance force to join, and finally, we decided to join an LPDF (Local People Defense) in the region, which SBDF, and we enlisted in their base- 2 camps. At that time, we did not have public trust and people's support either. We had to eat and survive only with what we could find in the jungle, such as bamboo shoots and fish paste. Even so, we try to produce highly explosive material, hand-made rifles, and bombs with limited skills and knowledge, which we learned from short course training. I have to take the role of transport and logistics to support only. Whether it is rainy or sunny and day or night.

I smuggled the materials and weapons that were made in hidden places in the city by motorbike to our resistance camp. Not to mention, there were many incidents where I nearly got arrested. To be honest, I am scared to die, and by fighting and striving not to die, I became a strong woman.

People like us who don’t have faith in eternal life are more afraid of death because once we die, it's over. As much as our resistance force needs tremendous support, it is highly effective and performs many operations with great resolution. And, of course, we can’t do it by ourselves without solidarity, support, and mutual aid from the people.  We also have a treasurer whose alias name is Mr. Yar Zar. Through his connections abroad, we received much support from overseas migrant workers. On the other hand, we suffered a lot of casualties and hardship in the struggle. We started with twenty comrades who EAO trained, but now we only have three while half are KIA (Kill in Action), and the rest are wounded and do not fit for a fight anymore. Despite our losses, victory is in our grasp everywhere we roll; we managed to operate and accomplish tons of missions within two years. We have data and statistics that we will reveal to the public after the revolution.

Obi-Y: Could you elaborate on how your resistance group of the SBDF branch transformed into the current Buffalo Soldier?

Leisa: In our SBDF branch two camps, we only had thirty members, and we didn’t have enough food and materials for producing arms. There is no electricity either. We had to run the generator to manufacture the arms, costing 50,000 Kyats (24 USD) per day for fuel. So, we discussed our survival and decided to boost our public relations role and reveal some missions to the public to attract funding. Regarding the arms and ammunition, we might get it from the NUG (National Unity Government) if we enter their COC (Chain of Command). After making that decision, we asked permission from Commander Than Ma Ni of SBDF and formed a new local defense group called (Yan Bilu) “Dynamite,” and permission was granted.

The fame of the new militia group has spread among the region, and we gained support from the locals, and we could even buy an assault rifle. New recruits are arriving day by day to join us, not only from the region but also from the neighbours. In this way, our group started to complete the features of a battalion by men's power. With the help of a former NLD (National League for Democracy) party member and youth coordinator from the village, we applied to become an official battalion recognized by NUG’s MOD (Ministry of Defense). And he was appointed as the commander of our battalion. As we know, the organizational structure of the battalion is a very top-down hierarchy. Personally, I didn’t like it, but I was just in the minority, so I had to follow their decision according to majoritarian democracy. And then later things came up to split -up again, me and the other half comrades separated from the battalion and became buffalo soldiers.

We agreed to leave the belongings, arms, and ammunition we got from donation funding while we were in the Dynamite group for the battalion, and here we go again, starting from scratch. But now, there is no top-down authority structure in Buffalo Soldiers. Everyone is assigned their own role and responsibility. I am officially in charge of accounting and delegation to speak with the Public and other groups.

Obi-Y: As a woman who is practically fighting in the arm revolution, have you encountered patriarchal stigma and gender discrimination?

Leisa: Definitely, I have faced many obstacles, from gender discrimination to religious influence. Mostly, monks saved us. They provided shelter and food from the monasteries. In one case, we, the women, were not allowed to go to the second floor of the monastery, which is the only place to get internet access. When the monks came, we had to pay respect and put our palms together in front of our chests. We were mocked for having tattoos, wearing trousers, and putting makeup on by some village folks. However, for now, everything is settled, and we managed to build trust and mutual respect with the head monk to a point where we could equally have an argument. As I show my respect for their religion, they have to show their respect for my freedom and my values. In general speaking, there are some powermonger monks in this Buddhist Community; they believe they are morally superior to their devotees. Besides, they are arrogant and enjoy power over their believers. In this way, they associate with politicians, and religion and politics have always meddled with each other ever since.

In the past, the rural villagers dared not even step into the shadows of the monks who called themselves Sangha, Buddha’s sons, and put on the religious robe as power uniform just to gain wealth and power. But now, they are swearing at those monks who stand for injustice. They ignore them for donations. They start to doubt and question Kan's consequences (Karama). I am quite satisfied to see those actions. In addition, I believe only monks who are progressive can critically examine the religious beliefs and values that have been passed down and influenced them from generation to generation, and only they can demolish the religious wall they had built. That’s why I think we have made some improvement as we progress, people now have disbelief in the power that religion has built, and the religious stigmas are now disappearing.

Obi-Y: Do you also think there is some improvement in women’s rights and feminism?

Leisa: As I am not a female Nazi, I don’t have many one-sided opinions on that matter. I want to share one incident I had in my battalion days as an example. A girl took a video of a guy when he unknowingly exposed his butt while playing the marbles game, and she spread the video to the whole group just for fun. The guy got embarrassed, and he almost started the fight. I stood up for that guy and blamed those girls at that time. “Did you girls think that was a joke? Everyone has face and dignity, either girls or boys; you have to respect that; now that the victim is the boy, you think you are not to be blamed. But, if he were you, you would start pulling it out as sexual harassment and play the victim card, right? That is because you see the boy not as a human but as the man should be and accept society’s values of gender.

Young people are getting fooled by Facebook posts about being a smart woman! (Wokeness).  If you cannot see people as they are and distinguish them as men and women as a gender, that is not equality. We must treat people how we like to be treated, regardless of gender. When one female cannot change herself and have mutual respect. Seeing us, and then is neither solidarity nor equality and demands lady-first for everything, she is not qualified to say gender equality. In general, although rural people have started to accept that women can have tattoos and wear shorts, and men and women can equally work, sex and sexuality are still taboo.

Obi-Y: As an anarchist, to what extent do you expect to achieve liberty and equality from this spring revolution as of now?

Leisa: In my own opinions and belief, I wish to achieve till we reach a point where no one can rule anyone, where the government is no longer needed. In reality, however, we are fighting a representative democratic system from a military dictatorship. I already knew that but deliberately this is just the two governments or ruling class war, but the situation that I am in has forced me to fight, and I have no privilege option to choose not to fight but to fight and survive, so I decided to fight in this revolution because of one sincere hope that together with the revolution, we will be able to extinguish the long forgotten, oppressed rights, class struggle, religious extremism, gender discrimination to some degree day by day with the new hope.

Obi-Y: Finally, do you have anything to add?

Leisa: To be honest, those who are actively fighting in the revolution are mostly from lower-class mass and rural peasant families. There is no shallow soul in sight. The progressive or liberal educated people of the middle (petty bourgeoisie) are less involved; we are in a society where some privileged claim rights by extending and knowing what freedom is only by price.  I, myself, am fighting this for my own belief or self-interest that I might be able to change something a little; I do not expect much. Even my small contribution will spontaneously change in one day. And I will continue to fight day by day, each by each, with new and new hope.

According to the statement of AAPP (The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners), 2200 protesters and bystanders have died since the coup until now. The death toll in conflict areas and the challenges of documenting human rights abuses in an increasingly closed country make exact tallies of people killed difficult. In many villages and towns, the junta's attacks drove out tens of thousands of people. UNOCHA (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) predicted that as of early September 2022, 974,000 people had been internally displaced since the coup. Between the coup and June 2022, over 40,000 people fled to neighboring countries, and the Junta has called for re-election to lighten the pressure of international legitimacy for their rule, but the people's resistance is built on hope.

By Obi-Y Kanochi

May the Force Be With You !

English Translation by Michi.

Source: Asia Pacific Sub-Secretariat of the IWA

Source: ASF Australie

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~vidak
vidak@germination.systems

Statecraft and Totalitarianism

I recently had the chance to discuss more concrete and prefigurative politics with the ASF-Perth.

We decided the evidence supports the devolution of society into units of no more than around 200 people–around several hundred, in, perhaps exceptional circumstances.

This gave me pause for thought: the totalitarian aspect of the statecraft of the Federal Commonwealth of Australia was immediately cast into deep relief for me. Gone would be the days of largely sedentary, state-bank-backed mortgagee life.

Indeed parts of ASF-Perth have had some further opportunity to reflect on the nature and history of totalitarianism. One comrade recently expressed a definition of totalitarianism that was met with a great degree of approval from members and those in affinity to us.

This was that totalitarianism is the organisation along mass lines for the coercive use of violence–usually State sanctioned or motivated violence for the protection of a hierarchy which privileges some class of people over everybody else.

I think the Libertarians (i.e. anarchists) have it right when they attempt to broaden and deepen the definition and analysis of totalitarianism. I think it would be fair to say anarchism counts virtually all nation states as totalitarian in some way or another.

Statecraft and Empiricism

Something else I have been reflecting on is the frequently cited but just as frequently misunderstood nature of much of the Western Enlightenment philosophical tradition.

I recently had the opportunity to read some discussion between international and nationally-based comrades about anarchism would regard "Law", or the "Rule of Law".

The bourgeois character of much of Enlightenment, Kantianism, and Cartesian Rationalism has always been something I have always been aware, but I have had the time to revisit Locke a little lately–the famous English Empiricist who, among other claims, asserted conscious identity was merely intuitively demonstrable, and distinguished between primary and secondary qualities–something to be ruthlessly
and rigorously pushed to its maximum logical absurdity by Hume.

I maintain much of these still-popularly studied philosophies are idle trivialities. Perhaps we could applaud Locke for his political writings, which were to go on to inspire the bourgeois American (1775) and French (1789) Revolutions.

My point is–why do we still popularly focus on the individual as a perceiver, instead of some radically less relativist explanation for Truth? The intersection between classical liberalism and, shall we also similarly say the 'classical' empiricists is not without its own ironies.

There is, for instance, something of the beginnings of socialism–or what we could more specifically say the original meaning behind the label 'social democracy'–within Locke.

Locke did indeed consider the then counter-factual possibility of the enclosure of all the world's land into private property:

As much land as a man tills, plants, improves, cultivates, and can
use the product of, so much is his property. He by his labour does,
as it were, inclose it from the common. Nor will it invalidate his
right, to say every body else has an equal title to it; and
therefore he cannot appropriate, he cannot inclose, without the
consent of all his fellow-commoners, all mankind.[^1]

And much of the moral economic argument for syndicalism/unionism probably finds much approval, if not its original genetic parenthood in Locke:

The labour of his body, and the work of his hands, we may say, are
properly his. Whatsoever then he removes out of the state that
nature hath provided, and left it in, he hath mixed his labour with,
and joined to it something that is his own, and thereby makes it his
property.[^2]

Practice; Action.

So what I am suggesting when I say we should part ways with epistemological individualism?

First, I say we should adopt a practical view with respect to how we treat the empirical data from our senses. That is not to say ears could not comprehend a beautiful sonata; what I am saying is that the metholodigcal individualism of much of what poasses for serious philosophy on epistemology today is overly theoretical.

When I was a member of Socialist Alternative, I was surely ready to be ejeccted when I asserted that Practice came before Theory. The context of the dicussion was the social regurgitation session among the SAlt members about the history of the lead-up to the Leninist ascession to power in October 1917.

We were asked–why were the others besides the Bolsheviks wrong about how to conduct a revolution?

My response–that perhaps the others had poor practical skills–was summarily rejected and repeatedly condemned.

Perhaps the concept of Theory-Before-Practice is able to be comphrehended popularly. In this case I will not elaborate on that point. But what I do mean when I say that the knowings of humans are fundamentally and exclusively originally Practical?

There is already a term in philosophy which embodies some other meaning but shares the same label for what I am about to name this epistemology.

Pragmatism; Voluntarism.

Put simply, the orthodox meaning of pragmatism in English-speaking philosophy is a metaphysical thesis about Truth that whatever is True is what is useful to one's own current logical activity. This is obviously true of the Pragmatism I want to develop, but it is not sufficient for my own term. Perhaps I could better name my
competitor epistemology to empiricism something even more arcane: 'Voluntaristic Materialism'.

I would characterise much epistemology as quite adequate at elaborating soundly on how people can "know that" but most classical empiricisms I would deem as having failed at explaining how conscious creatures can also "know how".

That is, epistemologies that focus on the passivity of knowing or sensing cannot explain how these knowers are spurred to activity. Perhaps they could describe, albeit purely passively, the logic embodied in some empirically proved activity. But the rational process also observable in human actions would remain sundered from it.

You have another pathway which you can take. And this is non-passive epistemology. Indeed I would characterise this philosophy as a kind of "voluntarism". This is not to create a philosophy of maximum absurdity. I am not trying to say that you can merely know or naturally perceive anything you wish.

This is also not a relativistic philosophy. What I mean when I say we should embrace voluntarism aout how we perceive the world is that we should assert that, in addition to Practice trumping Theory in terms of foundational for human perception, conscious creature are primarily DOERS instead of mere KNOWERS.

It is as if we have broadened the set of what counts as knowable. In addition to mere passive perception–which is also an activity–we also include active activity.

Locke might have dreamed that pirvate–in its proper sense, as singly-exclusively private–property could be conferred along with the mixing of consciously-directed manual or intellectual labour.

I would reverse the terms to give a more accurate appraisal of our currently advanced-age capitalism: PRIVATE PROPERTY CONFERS LABOUR.

And, as I have said above. I feel free to reverse te terms of traditional empiricist philosophy: KNOWLEDGE IS AN ACTIVITY.

Anarchy is order, but what is 'law'?

If we ground the concept of political obligation in 'rule-following', then we have to specify exactly what constitutes understanding a 'rule'. Any representationalist explanatio for how people come to internalise rules follows after Hobbes into 'absolutist' totalitarianism.

Why? Because we should be sceptical about social contract theories of the State. The only moral relationship their imagined social individual unit had to political obligations sanctified by a state is a Macchiavellian one.

It leads one to stand the concept of social obligations, as it were, on its head. There is a famous Stalinist joke that during an election, perhaps "it is the people who are wrong", and that an election serves to "dissolve them and elect another". This is the essential meaning when I say I agree that Australia is not actually a 'democracy'–it is in fact, a totalitarian state.

So, revisiting the concept of rule following with which we originally started, I say that is best thought of as "dispositions" or "rational habits". It should not be associated with any particular mental content. In fact the whole concept of mental content (NB. Paolo Freire's "banking theory" of education) has been thoroughly debunked, at its time is up.

There is an empiricist core to this non-deterministic and non-reductionist form of behaviourism. When we set out to 'find out what one is thinking', you do not actually consult another's 'ghost in their machine', with your own internal 'ghost'.

This is the origin of the modern popularity of the term. The idea that there is mental content is erroneous for the reason that is is a category error about the 'stuff' of ideas. It is as if each of us were a homunculus behind our retinas.

I suppose the big cultural upshot of what I am proposing to replace individualist philosophies of mind with, is that I suggest we purge much of our language and models of consciousness and replace them with this non-reductionist behaviourist model.

Indeed the story I have been telling is not just my own. I derived much of the inspiration for wht I call voluntaristic materialism from Wittgenstein through Gilbert Ryle.

The ability of Wittgenstein's slab movers in his Philosophical Investigations to communicate and cooperate through sheer immersion in a learned activity that had shaped their "dispositions" both.

Indeed I sat in on some instant-message discussion between comrades about the relationship of anarchism to the concept of the "rule of law".

In much the same was as I advocate for the purging of our language and culture of certain individualist philosophies–I would similarly purge the current conception of the "rule of law" of everything but the meaning that law is anything but a complex rational habit.

I think it could perhaps be argued–not by me–that there is a distinction between orderly cooperation through explicit rules, and "law", but I think the distinction has by that point become so fine-grained, I am not sure if disenchanting our language that far is necessary. That's (law) perfectly fine not to purge from our culture.

Perhaps the association of law with retributive justice–ie., law enforced with punishment–could inded be purged. Again, perhaps, revisiting an earlier theme of 'statecraft and totalitarianism' is a fruitful one.

Law, Anarchism, and Justice

Justice is perhaps also the more perfect term for a discussion of the concept of "law" and its relationship to the practice of anarchism.

For the consideration given above about the sized of associations under anarchism that we have earlier adduced could only really be several hundred in population at the very, very most–law under these units would look far, far different than the law that is currently exacted here in Australia, for instance.

Gone would be the totalitarian character of justice, I predict, under these sorts of conditions. But, still present would, or should be (I should say) the concept of explicit formal codified procedures for cooperation, under well-understood circumstances. it is also my understanding, and my hope, that these associations would be perfectly individually voluntary.

I will finish on the bizarre nature of the name I have given my metaphysics: voluntaristic materialism. I claim my insistence on the empirical observability of 'ideas' as 'dispositions' or perhaps channelling a little Aristotle–'rational habits' entitles me to count my philosophy as a materialist one. Why go further at mystification of social relations when they can easily said be empirically
observable.

As I may have already explained, the key element of the anti-representationalist nature of the philosophy of mind is that the 'mind'–if we should refer to it at all here–is an activity, and is future-orientated, and is intentional, relational, if not always goal orientated.

But the term voluntarism I chose because of my old tradition of Western Marxism. I was, after all, a Libertarian Marxist before I became an anarcho-communist. If we return to the individualism of the British Empiricists of Locke, Hume, Bacon, etc., the Western Marxists almost universally associate this with the bourgeois cultural millieu of classical Enlightnment philosophy.

And I agree with them. The Western Marxists took after Lukacs in discovering that bourgeois philosophy was riddled with contradictions. The deepest and most fundamental illogical flaw that the Western Marxists accused Bourgeois philosophy was the "antinomy" of contemplation and voluntarism.

Thus Kant’s ethical analysis leads us back to the unsolved methodological problem of the thing-in-itself. We have already defined the philosophically significant side of this problem, its methodological aspect, as the relation between form and content, as the problem of the irreducibility of the factual, and the irrationality of matter. …

It is well known that Kant did not go beyond the critical interpretation of ethical facts in the individual consciousness. This had a number of consequences. In the first place, these facts were thereby transformed into something merely there and could not be conceived of as having been ‘created’.

Secondly, this intensifies the ‘intelligible contingency’ of an ‘external world’ > subject to the laws of nature. In the absence of a
real, concrete solution the dilemma of freedom and necessity, of
voluntarism and fatalism is simply shunted into a siding. That is to
say, in nature and in the ‘external world’ laws still operate with
inexorable necessity [22], while freedom and the autonomy that is
supposed to result from the discovery of the ethical world are
reduced to a mere point of view from which to judge internal
events. These events, however, are seen as being subject in all their
motives and effects and even in their psychological elements to a
fatalistically regarded objective necessity.[^3]

Empiricism was passive and conservative, and voluntarism was to be indentified with rationalism. Kant embodied the antinomy most perfectly in one persons's whole philosophy.

The Western Marxists may have been very conservative about the results and achievements of 'voluntaristic' philosophies. I say if we re-orientated our understanding of how our senses actually work-ie. are always engaged in practical activity–then I feel we must embrace the idea that we are not mere passive observers of nature, but are always already immersed in complex social relations that are themselves also active.

Western Marxists also typically replaced the concept of the individual as a historical subject of agencies with more mass-oriented class analyses which were sometimes antiquated and quite rigidly totalitarian.

But I, after dwelling on the Western Marxists over the years, saw that they had not meditated at all on the concept of authority of hierarchy. Indeed Lukacs was to pen a serious philosophical tract in support of Leninism.

Georg Lukacs (1924) Lenin: A Study on the Unity of his Thought.

I take Gilbert Rule and the Later Wittgensteinians to really be onto something with their materialist philosophy of anti-representationalism.

Conclusion

Statecraft and Totalitarianism

We see that statecraft is more or less always an attempt at totalitarianism–the, perhaps, homogenisation of society through retributive-only models of justice: ie., coercion and violence.

Anarchism and Political Obligations

I argue that the anarchist should not shy away from practicing the 'rule of law', but this understanding or practice of 'law' must be informed by voluntaristic materialism. For example: law does not need to be based on bourgeois principles–States versus the individual perceiver as the generalisable model upon which political systems are constructed.

Anti-Representationalism

The 'mind' we each sentient creatures possess is a "doer" rather than merely a "knower". We had to understand experience ecologically, and understand intentionality as a complex, open, system.

Source: ASF Australie

Article original sur RévLibertaire - Infos Libertaires : Knowing 'That', But Knowing 'How'

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By Blair Vidak.

Plato is normally regarded as an enemy of the anarchists. I suppose my own trajectory into anarchism has been highly unorthodox (having never been a trotskyist, I have duly been a member of a few trotskyist organisations, before finally shedding Libertarian Marxism altogether) so I was surprised to hear negative recollections of Plato reading from comrades.

If there is anything worth reading in Plato, it is actually within the much maligned Republic. It is true that Plato's text is primarily concerned with the quasi-theological deduction of an imagined perfect political State. However I would like to draw your attention to the very first book of the Republic. In it I think there is not very much Socrates is saying that would draw disagreement from my comrades:

Socrates Well; and has not the soul an end which nothing else can fulfil? for example, to superintend and command and deliberate and the like. Are not these functions proper to the soul, and can they rightly be assigned to any other?

Thrasymachus To no other.

And is not life to be reckoned among the ends of the soul?

Assuredly, he said.

And has not the soul an excellence also?

Yes.

And can she or can she not fulfil her own ends when deprived of that excellence?

She cannot.

Then an evil soul must necessarily be an evil ruler and superintendent, and the good soul a good ruler?

Yes, necessarily.

And we have admitted that justice is the excellence of the soul, and injustice the defect of the soul?

That has been admitted.

Then the just soul and the just man will live well, and the unjust man will live ill?

That is what your argument proves.

And he who lives well is blessed and happy, and he who lives ill the reverse of happy?

Certainly.

Then the just is happy, and the unjust miserable?

So be it.

But happiness and not misery is profitable.

Of course.

Then, my blessed Thrasymachus, injustice can never be more profitable than justice.

Indeed! I think Socrates and by implication Plato, have an attractive formal argument for the objectivity, or perhaps better rendered necessity that we should love just as against injustice–evil, badness–what-have-you.

Deep within the heart of every anarchist, I see much that is in accordance with this aspect of Platonist thought: its moral realism. That is, a Platonist would defend a worldview in which some moral facts are true. Put another way: Platonists would agree that there is a good life, and that that good life was able to be known by humans.

I see, perhaps, some among you who may shrink from what I am saying–classically, isn't the substance of Plato's imagined perfect political state completely tyrannical and autocratic?

I would respond like this–I feel like Plato asks the right question, but gets the answer completely wrong. Do not confuse what I am saying for a defence of autocratic, and really, Paternalistic city-states.

Marx versus Bakunin

I did decide to read some of the dialogue between Bakunin and Marx and Engels, in order to settle this question for myself, or, perhaps, just shed the light of accountability of own weakenesses as an anarchist. I decided, first of all, not to read Engels's provocative tract On Authority (Oct, 1872).

It is not the strongest argument against anarchism. I find the allegation that factory or machine-directed production is intrinsically authoritarian to be something of a dubious straw man argument against anarchism. For if we cannot develop machinery within the context of massive amounts of leisure, the problem is with the machine, not the "species-beings" of humans!

No–I looked at Marx's margin-comments on Bakunin's Statehood and Anarchy (1873).

I think at some level the Marxists are guilty of helping themselves to a deduction not unknown to the Platonists.

The argument of the Marxists goes as follows–the state must be taken over in order to subordinate the bourgeoisie to the dictatorship of the proletariat. Ordinarily the story here becomes well-known, but it is worth mentioning even if in passing, that there are important gradations of Statists, each with their apologies and quixotic fumblings.

Isn't the argument of Socrates and Thrasymachus replicated in Marx? How can he help himself to agreeing with Socrates up until a point, and then in the end siding with Thrasymachus?

I once used to have an old anarchist addage repeated to me–you cannot disassemble the Master's house with the Master's tools. The irony would be that the Master's tools are the State, and its instruments of torture. I suppose that is the lesson.

However I feel the need to repeat maxims tiring sometimes. The problem in the Marxist argument is that (a) while yes, there is a wage-labour–capital relationship of class; (b) Marx is still not allowed, logically, to switch from evaluating to describing, and helping himself to concepts that were previously unavailable in the former line of argument.

I.e.:

1. There is an oppressed class.
2. It is the proletariat.
3. It is oppressed because X, Y, Z.

but now!

4. This oppressed class will take over the State.

This is perhaps why I always detested the mechanistic or deterministic flavours of communism. Perhaps the same goes for Economism, the deterministic bent of Marxism which Georg Lukacs was so careful to guard against, with the voluntaristic brand of Hegelian Marxism of his youth. I think there is much to commend in more voluntaristic brands of Marxism.

Their focus on the revolutionary class as a subject for change within society allows one to imagine the principles of anarchism, I feel. I think this is so because voluntaristic Marxism 'Hegelianises' Marx. Gone are the Thrasymachean elements of Leninism, for instance. Most importantly, what I call 'voluntaristic Marxism' comes down on the side of Agency, on the Structure–Agency conundrum. That is to say again that gone are the deterministic, and therefore authoritarian aspects of traditional Marxism, as it has been 'received' by the Marxist-Leninists.

But, as far as I can recall, no-one has ever criticised this brand of Marxism for being 'deterministic'. But, these Marxists–say, Lukacs, Sartre, Gramsci, Marcuse, Walter Benjamin–have been criticised for their commitment to a more subjective brand of Marxism. Better they should have become anarchists! Their kind would be well welcomed amongst the anarcho-communists, so long as their swore off Leninism and Statism.

Otherwise known as the 'Western Marxists', this philosophical legacy is concerned primarily with the themes of freedom and expressions of human flourishing. The doctrinaire mechanistic, and, really, Thrasymachean Leninism of most Marxisms does not apply here. I definitely feel that this Marxism is adaptable to the famous anarchist maxim–the social revolution must the act of the proletariat itself.

Source: ASF Australie

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