Institutions exist to do the exact opposite of their stated aims. The police force doesn’t exist to protect you and stop crime, but instead to keep you in line and to facilitate a unilateral class war.
Schools don’t exist to educate people and teach them how to think independently, but rather to indoctrinate and create obedient workers.
Governments don’t exist to enact the political will of the people but to frustrate it.
The same is true of student unions. A few months back, there was a wave of student activism, with hundreds of students across the country occupying in solidarity with academics whose pensions were being obliterated. These actions, and many others like them, are great. They lead to the... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) The UK has one of the most unequal distributions of land in the world!
Around 0.6% of the population owns over 70% of the land. Over a third of this is in the hands of the aristocracy – a legacy of the Norman Conquest.
When people refer to ‘land’ most think of the countryside. Land rights movements have focused on gaining access to land for recreation purposes, eg the mass trespass of Kinder Scout, and calling for community buy-outs of the large estates in places such as the Highlands of Scotland. Rural areas are also faced with companies taking control of land for fracking. However, in the city, underneath the buildings and tarmac, there is also land and the struggles for access and community ownership are ... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) In the 1970s the Sandinista movement in Nicaragua was a cause celebre of the left and extreme left, in the same way the Zapatistas in Mexico were at the beginning of the 21st century, and the YPG in Rojava are now.
The Sandinistas developed out of the student radical circles in Nicaragua in the late 1950s and early 1960s. They were influenced by the nationalist example of the FLN in Algeria and later by the Cuban revolution. They engaged in a guerrilla war with the corrupt and murderous dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza, and eventually following a general strike and urban insurrection, overthrew the reptilian Somoza in 1979.
The Sandinistas inherited a country stripped of its financial resources by the fleeing Somoza, 30-50,000... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) A.W. Zurbrugg (ed). Anarchist Encounters: Russia In Revolution. 160 pages. Anarres Editions. £17.99
“The Bolshevik State has proved itself a crushing conspiracy against the Russian Revolution” Emma Goldman
This book gathers together eyewitness accounts of the unfolding Russian Revolution by celebrated activists like Emma Goldman, Armando Borghi, Angel Pestana and Gaston Leval and the more obscure Vilkens. Tony Zurbrugg has translated the texts of Borghi, Leval, Pestana and Vilkens for the first time into English and indeed these invaluable insights into what was happening in Russia are long overdue.
Leval in particular further undermines the reputation of the Franco-Russian Victor Serge, once individua... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) Save our NHS?
Healthcare in the UK is by no means “socialized”, as critics in the US claim. Though healthcare in the UK is undoubtedly better than healthcare in the US – just as other countries have better healthcare than the UK – it is still subject to the pressures and dynamics of capitalism, existing as it does in a capitalist society. It has also been increasingly marketised over recent decades, with attacks on both social provision and NHS workers coming under the cover of “privatization” – the introduction of payment by results has introduced a market in health services, many non-frontline services have been privatized or contracted to companies like DHL, the introduction of wholly priv... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) “The ACF remains a comparatively small organization. Its desire to create or be the component of a large revolutionary organization and movement has failed to happen. Many are put off joining a group where a strong commitment and a lot of determination are required. Many libertarian revolutionaries are as yet unconvinced of the need to create a specific libertarian communist organization. They remain tied to the ideas of local groups, or at best regional federations loosely linked, being adequate for the very difficult tasks of introducing libertarian revolutionary ideas and practices to the mass of the population. They remain unconvinced of the need for a unified strategy and practice, for ideological and tactical unity and collectiv... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) Posties wildcat strike in Alloa
Postal workers in Alloa, Clackmannanshire took direct action against unsafe working conditions, a lack of suitable protective equipment and having to deliver junk mail, with a wildcat walkout on Monday morning (March 30th). The workers have had to continue to deliver bullshit advertising throughout the Coronavirus crisis, which adds significantly to the workload and is an extra stress.
So, out they went. Management whined that they hadn’t had a ballot! When workers are resolute and united behind direct action then they have the power to make their bosses move. The Postal workers of Alloa have set a fine example.
General strike in northern Italy over health concerns
On Wednesday 2... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) The so-called ‘battle of the bean field’ lives long in the memories of the traveler community. The modern ‘war’ on ‘new age travelers’ was declared on the 1st of June 1985. Around 1,400 police from six counties and the Ministry of Defense were in Wiltshire to “decommission” the convoy, which consisted of around 500 new age travelers, free festival-goers and environmental activists. The police were thwarted in their efforts to arrest the majority of the convoy via a roadblock and the travelers then occupied a pasture field and an adjacent bean field, establishing a stand-off that was only broken late in the afternoon, when, under instructions from on high, the police invaded the fields en masse... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) After ongoing negotiations with Universities UK (UUK), the leadership of the University and College Union (UCU) went into full backslide mode and attempted to get the membership to accept a capitulation deal. The reaction from branches was understandably one of anger with 52 branches voting to reject and none accepting the dodgy offer.
So staff in 61 universities continue with their strike, now in its third week. Morale has been high on picket lines across the UK, with considerable support from students and lots of energy, creativity and fighting spirit among academic and professional workers.
The nature of the attack upon the University Superannuation Scheme (USS) is so particularly brutal and provocative, with some staff loo... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) October 13th will see a national conference ‘Resisting the Market’ hosted by the London Region University and College Union (UCU) involving a number of networks and groups in the UCU including the UCU Transformed, the Branch Solidarity Network and the UCU Left group. Other than the latter, which is a long- standing leftist caucus, these grassroots networks are a product of the fight against changes to the University Superannuation Scheme (USS) which took place earlier this year. This fight, which the UCU leadership did everything to contain, saw an outpouring of activity at a Branch level unseen for many years as academic and professional UCU members took initiatives and linked up through unofficial networks, generally bypassing... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) DWP Secretary Amber Rudd is determined to be Boris Johnson’s running mate in the imminent Tory leadership campaign. Her fragile 346 vote majority in Hastings is one problem. Her other problem is her responsibility for Universal Credit and its disastrous impact on working-class households. This in turn is attracting a stream of bad press stories, even in the Mail and the Sun. Not a good look for an ambitious One Nation Tory.
Solution? Suddenly, after years of denial, refusal to release information or allowing journalists to speak to JobCentre staff, the DWP is launching a public relations campaign to persuade the public that Universal Credit is a wondrous and beautiful thing.
A leaked internal memo picked up by DPAC, the ... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) There are now 870,000 claimants for Universal Credit, the Government’s new flagship welfare scheme. By the end of 2018 the plan is for every area of England to be covered by this digitally based welfare service that rolls six different job-related benefits into one. It’s expected that 5.7 million households will be claiming Universal Credit by 2023. This includes the transfer of more than 2 million recipients of Employment Support Allowance (ESA), so there’s a very long way to go.
Yet even at this early stage of the program, and after six years of trials and pilots with relatively simple claims, the badly-designed scheme is creaking and swaying. It’s working class households, the poor, the disabled and the low... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) Born into a rich family in Panama, Juan Carlos Varela is an entrepreneur who is fiercely in favor of the free market. He led his conservative Panamenista Party into the elections in 2009, but was then bought off by his rival Ricardo Martinelli, who offered him the vise-presidency if he stopped running against him. In 2014 he won the presidential election, coming in on promises to develop the economic infrastructure of Panama and to proceed with urban renovation in the free trade zone city of Colon.
There has been some economic growth in Panama in recent years, double the average for central America. However almost 27% of the population lives in poverty and almost 16% in extreme poverty. This is worse in the countryside.
In Mar... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) Fully Automated Luxury Communism (FALC) has been much in vogue lately, especially with the publication of Aaron Bastani’s book of the same name by Verso this year. It was originally a slogan/meme developed by people around the group Plan C. They began using the expression “Luxury for All” and this was backed up by a Tumblr called Luxury Communism. Plan C members spotted the slogan “Luxury For All” on a demonstration in Berlin, and at first adopted it as a tongue in cheek joke but they then started taking it seriously. They believe it had its origins in the science fiction Red Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson, where a socialist utopia is established on Mars, and in A Pattern Language written by three archite... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) The government gave local councils 48 hours to house all rough sleepers in England in emergency accommodation on Friday March 27th. However, this was a request rather than a straight order, and there was no clarification on who would fund this. It comes as one of the Johnson regime’s coronavirus measures.
First initiated by Johnson’s homelessness czar, Louise Casey, it was then followed up by Luke Hall, the junior housing minister. In addition to housing all rough sleepers, councils should find alternative housing for people in night shelters and hostels, seen as danger points for the spread of the disease. He instructed councils to set up coronavirus coordination cells. In addition he underlined that it was imperative th... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) Why would people work in an anarchist society? If there was no link between work and reward, why work?
The only way to answer this question is with another question. Why do we accept money as payment for goods and services? Why can I go into a shop and exchange paper, or some electronic numbers, for food, or water, or use it to pay my rent?
The simple reason is because we all agree that it does. A shop allows me to buy food off them because they know that they will be able to replace the food and purchase the things that they want.
So why, in an anarchist society, would a builder build a house if they already had one? Because the builder needs to eat food, so needs farmers to go out and grow food, even if they have enou... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) Thanks to Windrush, Amber Rudd has fallen. She became the necessary sacrifice to save the Theresa May government. She has been replaced as Home Secretary by Sajid Javid, the first Black, Asian Minority Ethnic member to sit in one of the three most important positions within the State.
Rudd was forced to resign because she was caught lying about targets for deportation and to save Theresa May herself, the previous Home Secretary.
In 2016 almost 40,000 people were removed from the United Kingdom or left “voluntarily” after receiving threatening letters. Many others have been detained at ferry terminals and airports and sent to another country under the “deport first, appeal later” process. In addition, at... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) The working class has borne the brunt of the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic (see article on class inequality). However, within the working class, the gender division of labor has created particular problems for women. Though men are more likely to die from the virus, women are finding that the kind of work they do both inside and outside the home is causing immense physical and mental hardship.
Exposure to the virus at work
A study by the think tank Autonomy has highlighted the “deep inequalities at the heart of our economy”. “Frontline key workers are part of the foundations that make our society tick: we rely on them to go to work, to keep basic services running and to care for us. This study has show... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) We welcome any moves towards gender equality as witness the recent decision to allow Iranian women to attend football matches and Saudi women to drive cars. However, to regard Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the autocratic Saudi leader, as some sort of champion of feminism would be a big mistake.
Those activists who campaigned against the driving ban – Loujain al-Hathloul, Eman al-Nafjan, and Aziza al-Yousef- are still in prison whilst a further 17 women’s rights activists were arrested this month on suspicion of undermining security and are still detained.
Secondly, the move to grant women the right to drive was driven by economic reasons, not progressive ones. Up to $390 billion could be added to the Gross Dome... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) The Gilets Jaunes (Yellow Vests) movement emerged in France in November. It got its name from the high visibility tabards that those who take part in the actions wear. It is a movement mobilizing around rising taxation, in particular the tax on diesel. It was able to undertake actions in rural areas like the Aveyron department where 2,000 took part in blockades in villages, in small towns like Villefranche de Lauragais where 300 demonstrated and Montgiscard, where 200 came out on the streets. On November 17th more than 300,000 took part in blockades of roundabouts, supermarkets and petrol stations. This action continued on the following two days. However, the demonstrations have seen large scale brandishings of the tricolor, the French nati... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) The wealthy steal from the working class and we are not allowed to talk about it. One of the functions of the media is to limit debate to very narrow discussions that do not contradict corporate or capitalist interests. As such it wasn’t surprising that when Class War protested outside Jacob Rees-Mogg’s house because he didn’t pay his nanny the living wage, the media tried to find something else to talk about.
It was entirely unremarkable that journalists, commentators and politicians maintained complete and total discipline in ignoring the facts and creating a false narrative. Let’s not forget it was the MP that brought his children to the protest and kept them there. It’s also unremarkable that the pre... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)