Blogs | libcom.org

Dauvé versus Marx
▻http://libcom.org/blog/dauve-versus-marx-31072018

In critiquing Silvia Federici’s Caliban and the Witch Gilles Dauvé highlights limitations in his own conception of the creation of the proletariat internationally, and his understanding of Marx’s work on slavery. These limitations are not unique to Dauvé, but as someone libcom cites as an influence, especially due to his insistence on the proletariat as a negative rather than positive category, and who has been influential on the communisation tendency generally, we should expect better.

#communisme #théorie #esclavage #histoire

Not just a ’loner’: the Jo Cox murder and fascist terrorism
▻http://libcom.org/blog/not-just-loner-jo-cox-shooting-fascist-terrorism-17062016

Mair was a dedicated supporter of the National Alliance (NA), the once premier neo-Nazi organization in the United States, for decades. Mair purchased a manual from the NA in 1999 that included instructions on how to build a pistol.
...
Compare the reaction to when Lee Rigby was murdered. Both Jo Cox and Lee Rigby’s murders were apparently cases of lone wolf attacks by perpetrators with mental health issues who also subscribed to terrorist ideologies, which were expressed in the course of the attack. With the Lee Rigby murder, the ideology was immediately seen as the cause: there was no uncertainty, no discussion of the mental health aspect, or that they did the weekly shopping for their mum or liked to do gardening for the neighbours. Moreover, and perhaps most importantly, the attack was also portrayed as characteristic for the group they belonged to, Theresa May saying there were “thousands” more Muslims being radicalised and that surveillance of Muslims needed to be extended.

With Jo Cox, there is no similar emphasis on Tommy Mair’s ideology, it’s only mentioned as part of his “history” of mental health problems. He is not called what he is: a fascist terrorist. His attack doesn’t tell us anything about the group he belongs to (i.e. white British people) but rather is in conflict with how the media/politicians like to present it and so needs to be portrayed as an aberration. No one is speculating on whether there could be loads of white British blokes quietly sympathising, no one is worrying about internet radicalisation (despite Britain First having almost 1.5 million Facebook ‘Likes’). Finally, no one is demanding that Farage and other Brexit leaders condemn political violence; indeed, the idea that they (and white British people in general) should have to account for Tommy Mair’s act is hilarious in its ridiculousness. The same cannot be said when similar calls are made upon the Muslim community.

#terrorisme #extrême_droite

Some cursory thoughts on the imminent bombing of Syria / ISIS
▻http://libcom.org/blog/some-cursory-thoughts-imminent-bombing-syria-isis-17112015

La guerre des riches, le sang des pauvres

http://libcom.org/files/imagecache/article/images/blog/Capture_1.PNG

An immediate and unthinking call to bomb a country following a terrorist outrage committed by individuals is the gruesome manifestation of the worst aspects of nationalism, patriotism, and revenge, from faux-strongmen who dress up their dick-swinging and reactionary positions to give the impression that they are the only people prepared to defend national security….

It is a ‘Dubya’ Bush level of analysis from back-slapping and self-righteous ‘Hawks’ who would have you believe that rubbing infectious materials into an open wound will somehow lead to its healing.

Anyone who doesn’t share that lumpen position is deemed to be weak on defence, indulging in pacifism, siding with the ‘enemy’, or even worse, accused of not caring about 120 dead Parisians - and a whole host of other quite ridiculous strawman arguments…..

In the medium to long-term the bombing will prove to have been completely ineffective. Worse than that, it will increase recruitment to ISIS and to the type of activity that the bombing missions were supposed to prevent.

None of this will bother the political class or their Oxbridge shite-hawk shills in the media. As long as the average Daily Mail & Sun reader get a tingle in their underwear at the sight of bombed-out buildings and dead bodies, then their bloodthirsty desire for vengeance has been achieved and the political and media classes can revel in their Bonapartist posturing in anticipation that it boosts their media careers and increased majorities at the next election.

Furthermore, it gives the pro-Trident and Pro-Snoopers Charter brigade another bogey man to hang their hats on. Last week we needed Trident to deal with the escalating threat posed by Russia. Yet this week they are our new best friends in the fight against ISIS. What a difference a week makes…. The ‘Snoopers Charter’ legislation is obviously now guaranteed to be passed without hindrance…

Don’t worry though, if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about (apparently) – and the next time a terrorist organisation plans a major attack on the UK, they won’t be able to do it via WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook, of Gmail.

I certainly don’t have all the answers to the situation but that does not prevent me from pointing out what I believe to be a fundamentally wrong approach.❞

Land grabs in contemporary China
▻http://libcom.org/blog/china-land-grabs

Translation of article summarizing original research about land grabs in China since the 1990s, concluding that this ongoing expropriation of peasants is more severe and violent than the peak of Britain’s #enclosures in the early 19th century.

#Chine #terres

The poetry and brief life of a Foxconn worker : Xu Lizhi (1990-2014)

▻http://libcom.org/blog/xulizhi-foxconn-suicide-poetry

via Isabelle Saint-Saëns bientôt de retour sur ces pages (si j’ai bien compris)

Translations of poems by Xu Lizhi (许立志), the Foxconn worker who committed suicide on 30 September 2014, at the age of 24, in Shenzhen, China. Also includes an obituary with some explanatory notes.

http://libcom.org/files/imagecache/article/images/blog/xu%20lizhi.jpg

Note: Below are translations by friends of the Nao project, starting with Xu’s departing poem and an obituary, followed by other poems from 2011 to 2014. By translating these poems, we aim to memorialize Xu, share some of his excellent literary work, and spread awareness that the harsh conditions, struggles and aspirations of Chinese migrant workers (including but not limited to Foxconn) have not diminished since the more widely-publicized spate of 18 attempted Foxconn suicides in 2010, resulting in 14 deaths. Insiders report that thereafter, although the frequency of suicides decreased (mainly due to Foxconn’s installation of nets making it more difficult for workers to jump from their dormitories, along with the development of workers’ collective resistance), such suicides have continued to the present. Including Xu Lizhi, at least 8 cases have been reported in the media since 2010, but insiders say that many other cases go unreported. We hope that in the future, workers in Foxconn and elsewhere manage to find ways around such companies’ military-style discipline and surveillance, come together, and forge collective paths out of this capitalist world of death, into a world worth living in. Don’t give up!

Feel free to repost these translations anywhere.

#foxconn #chine

Rhythms
▻http://libcom.org/blog/rhythms-13042014

In waiting at the bus stop nothing matters but the practices and performances of waiting for the bus. It doesn’t matter who or what you are, your singularity being of absolutely no relevance, indeed it being something of which you seek to rid yourself, and as such you, me, and everyone else at the bus stop become completely interchangeable. This is obviously an example of capitalism on the small scale.

[…]

If seriality is a kind of making isolated that is a drawing together that preserves isolation then it is a kind of negative community, a community based on practices of distancing between self and other that ultimately draws out the disappearance of singularity in that mode of relation: I distance myself from you in a shared context that neither of us really manages to share and in which neither of us feels like “myself”.

Hello, Stranger
▻http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/26/opinion/sunday/hello-stranger.html

If you’ve ever been on a subway or public bus, you know the rules. Don’t make eye contact, stay as far away from other people as the space allows, and for the love of God, don’t talk to anyone. But what if the rules are wrong?

#rythmes #sérialité #capitalisme #urbanité #transports #interactions

Affrontements entre manifestants et policiers autour de l’expulsion du centre social Rote Flora à Hambourg

▻https://tours.mediaslibres.org/affrontements-entre-manifestants.html

Le 21 décembre 2013, plus de 8 000 manifestants ont affronté la police anti-émeute alors qu’ils protestaient contre l’expulsion d’un centre social populaire occupé par des squatters et contre l’expulsion de centaines de personnes de leurs domiciles. La manifestation, essentiellement pacifique, a dégénéré suite à une charge de matraques et à l’utilisation de gaz lacrymogène et de canons à eau par la police. Les manifestants ont répondu en construisant des barricades et en lançant des pierres, des feux d’artifices et des bouteilles. 500 personnes auraient été blessées, et la police aurait arrêté 150 manifestants.

(...)

Avant le départ de la manifestation, la police avait déclaré la ville « zone dangereuse », ce qui leur conférait des droits étendus pour effectuer des contrôles et à des fouilles, et leur permettait de procéder à des arrestations préventives. [A la date de publication de cet article sur La Rotative, certains quartiers de la ville sont toujours sous le statut de « zone dangereuse ».]

Article en version originale à lire ici : ▻http://libcom.org/blog/protesters-clash-police-rote-flora-social-centre-eviction-hamburg-22122013

Left for dead
▻http://libcom.org/blog/left-dead-07102013

We are approaching true dystopia. As the last remnants of the welfare state burn to warm the bourgeoisie, people freeze to death on streets of empty houses. Work is given for free, education for a fee and tax breaks for a kitchen supper. And should the people take to the streets? Well the ambush is well set. The batons that beat them down will be the same ones their taxes provided, the poison pens that libel them the same they paid with the morning paper. In fact, the ambush has already been sprung. They won’t let you find a place to work or a place to sleep. They will shake the trust you put in those you organise with, live with, love. You are no longer a subversive, you are a domestic extremist.

#histoire #analyse

Juste pour le plaisir, de bien belles images...
Le 27 mai à Bologne les étudiants veulent tenir une Assemblée sur une place de la ville, les flics les empêchant, quand soudain...

▻http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3b8PZRrMbg

Texte sur l’abolition du #travail :
►http://libcom.org/blog/wrong-work-two-perspectives-abolition-work-03012013

This kind of techno-utopianism promises a quantitative abolition of work, down to Lafargue’s maximum three hours a day and beyond. Just think how much labour-intensive work - like call centre cold-calling - is basically pointless except from the point of view of private profit. Abolishing capitalism - private ownership of the means of production, with consumption rationed by the market - promises to harness productivity improvements to reduce toil for everyone in a context of unprecedented abundance.

#communisme #théorie

La #gentrification olympique au #Brésil :
►http://libcom.org/blog/olympic-gentrification-brazil-06122012

This year has seen similar stories come to light in Brazil during preparations for the next world cup in 2014 and also the Olympics in 2016. In the last few months 19,000 families have been forcibly evicted from their homes by the police and armed forces. The housing minister claims that the families are not being forced out because of the world cup, but because the families chose to build their slum towns in inappropriate areas in the first place.

#JO #urbanisme

The far-right continues to grow in Greece but so to does the antifascist response. The last few weeks alone have seen antifascist actions across the country:

►http://libcom.org/blog/greecethe-antifascist-response-22112012

#Greece #antifa #neonazism

Update from the Greek hospital under workers’ control | libcom.org
►http://libcom.org/blog/greek-hospital-under-workers-control-update-28022012

Hello all,
Thank you so much for your interest and support.
The occupation of our hospital in Kilkis by its workers started on Monday, February 20th, 8:30 local time.

This occupation is not only about us, the physicians and the workers at the Kilkis Hospital. Neither is it only about the Greek National Health System, which is collapsing, indeed. We are in this fight because what is in real danger now is the human rights and our lives. And this threat is not against just a nation, or against a few countries, or a few social groups, but against the low and middle classes in Europe, America, Asia, Africa, in the whole world.

Today’s Greece, is tomorrow’s picture of Portugal, Spain, Italy and the rest of the countries worldwide.

The workers at the Kilkis Hospital and at most of the hospitals and health centers in Greece are not paid on time and some of them see their salaries being cut down to practically zero. A fellow-worker of mine was transferred to our cardiological clinic almost in shock, when he realized that instead of receiving the usual check of 800 euros (yes, that is his monthly salary) from the state, he received a note saying that not only he will be paid nothing for this month, but he is also has the obligation to return 170 euros! Other workers were paid only 9 (nine) or 4 euros and even less for this month! Those of us who still receive some kind of a salary will support them in any way we can.

Comment trouvez-vous notre utilisation des réseaux sociaux ?
►http://libcom.org/blog/how-do-you-find-our-use-social-networking-15022012
Libcom.org, l’un des sites d’infos les plus visités de la toile anarchiste (et souvent précieux), lance une discussion sur son usage (récent) des réseaux sociaux, notamment Facebook et Twitter.

Greek hospital now under workers’ control | libcom.org
►http://libcom.org/blog/greek-hospital-now-under-workers-control-05022012

Health workers in Kilkis, Greece, have occupied their local hospital and have issued a statement saying it is now fully under workers control.

The general hospital of Kilkis in Greece is now under workers control. The workers at the hospital have declared that the long-lasting problems of the National Health System (ESY) cannot be resolved.

The workers have responded to the regime’s acceleration of unpopular austerity measures by occupying the hospital and outing it under direct and complete control by the workers. All decisions will be made by a ‘workers general assembly’.

Greek hospital now under workers’ control | libcom.org
►http://libcom.org/blog/greek-hospital-now-under-workers-control-05022012

Health workers in Kilkis, Greece, have occupied their local hospital and have issued a statement saying it is now fully under workers control.

The general hospital of Kilkis in Greece is now under workers control. The workers at the hospital have declared that the long-lasting problems of the National Health System (ESY) cannot be resolved.

The workers have responded to the regime’s acceleration of fascism by occupying the hospital and outing it under direct and complete control by the workers. All decisions will be made by a ‘workers general assembly’.

The hospital has stated that. “The government is not acquitted of its financial responsibilities, and if their demands are not met, they will turn to the local and wider community for support in every possible way to save the hospital defend free public healthcare, to overthrow the government and every neo-liberal policy.”

From the 6th February, hospital workers will only deal with emergencies until their wages, and monies owed have been paid. They are also demanding a return to wage levels prior to the implementation of austerity measures.

The next general assembly will take place on the 13th, and a related press conference will be given on the 15th.

The following statement has been issued by the workers:

1. We recognize that the current and enduring problems of Ε.Σ.Υ (the national health system) and related organizations cannot be solved with specific and isolated demands or demands serving our special interests, since these problems are a product of a more general anti-popular governmental policy and of the bold global neoliberalism.

Is the Monarchy a relevant enemy or a symbolic irrelevance? | libcom.org

I have often been criticised for spending too much time attacking the Monarchy. So I ask the question, Is the Monarchy a relevant enemy or a symbolic irrelevance? Feedback would be gratefully received.

(..)

1) The Royal family own all of the sea bed that is underneath British waters. Whilst these millions of acre’s may seem irrelevant. The Royals are charging extortionate ground rent for offshore wind farms, which is in turn leading to the need for massive subsidies for the renewable energy industry.
2) The Royal family are given £38.5 million a year. However, much like an MP and his or her expenses, with all the added extra’s, the real amount is well over £100 million each year.
3) When we had the Royal wedding earlier this year we received an extra bank holiday, which cost the economy £20 billion, which is slightly more than the government’s estimate of £500 million that the recent strikes cost.
4) Prince Charles has legal powers to prevent parliamentary legislation that directly or indirectly affects anything on his land. He has used these powers to overturn legislation on several occasions.
5) The Queen has a personal fortune of £500 million, which includes cash, jewellery, stamps, art etc.
6) They Royal family own over £10 billion worth of property.
7) The Queen owns 120,000 hectares of land. (not including the seabed).
8) Prince Charles owns 133,000 acres of land worth £700 million.
9) The Royal family do not need planning permission to build anything.
10) They have enough rooms in their castles and palaces to house all the homeless people in London.
11) We allegedly have a shortage of land to build affordable homes on, yet these bastards are the biggest land owners on earth.
12) The Queen is the head of the Church of England. Another organisation that controls and brainwashes elements of the working class.
13) The Royal family are part of a wide aristocracy and ruling class that sinks it poison into the house commons, lords, the judiciary, and the church.
14) Whilst supposedly politically neutral, what influence does the monarchy have on crack pot MP’s like Jacob Reece Mogg, or individuals high up in the armed forces? Didn’t the Queen mother have something to do with a plot against Harold Wilson?
15) The Queen has the ‘right’ to be consulted by governments. She has a veto that means she can refuse to dissolve parliament and sanction a general election. She has the Royal Prerogative, which confers governments to pass legislation or declare war without consulting parliament. She last granted this power to Margaret Thatcher during the Falklands war.

►http://libcom.org/blog/monarchy-relevant-enemy-or-symbolic-irrelevance-05122011

‘Anarchists are like Tories’ and other fairy tales | libcom.org
►http://libcom.org/blog/%E2%80%98anarchists-are-tories%E2%80%99-other-fairy-tales-01082011

#Anarchism has been getting a lot of attention lately, including some oft-peddled but easily refuted #myths.

The cops have been urging people to report anarchists to the anti-terrorist police. Various Trotskyist groups like the Socialist Workers Party and AWL have been running prolifically ill-informed articles on why anarchism is bad and wrong and you definitely shouldn’t investigate it for yourself. Numerous members of the Twitter commentariat have also weighed in. Obviously each of these groups has their motives, from cops building up bogeymen to justify their budgets to Trots with one eye on the party coffers worried about the appeal of anarchist ideas to potential young recruits. But the result has been a torrent of disinformation ranging from the spectacularly dishonest to the tragically ill-informed. I’ll correct some of the more common motifs here (consciously leaving aside the interminable reduction of anarchism to the black bloc that accompanies the mourning of every broken window).

Justice: Different for right and left | libcom.org
►http://libcom.org/blog/justice-different-right-left-25072011

A notable thing about the start of this week, other than the Norway shooting, has been the sheer obviousness of double standards in the British justice system which just gone on show.

District Judge Carolyn Mellanby told Lennon: “I am entirely satisfied you were at the front of this group of angry Luton supporters looking for trouble when you were confronted by the group of Newport supporters who were also angry and fired up looking for trouble.”

Pretty nasty stuff. For this, he got a 12 month rehabilitation order, community work and a ban on going to the footie.

And while on the comparisons, lets also compare it to the sentence handed down to Francis Fearne, jailed for 12 months for throwing two sticks at police.

❞
#UK #oslo #EDL #anarchist