By Any Means.

           The current situation in states across the world is that they are moving further to the right. In turn that means that any form of opposition to the existing order will be seen as something that must be stamped out, by any means available. Their specially sculptured judicial system will keep introducing laws that can clamp down on dissent of any form, by financial or custodial means, or both. Our very few freedoms are are risk, unless we show solidarity and organisation across borders. The following report is from Spain, but just as easily could have been from Greece, Itally, Uk, U$A or any of the other variations of  protectors of the status-quo.

         The following report is from Anarchists News, translation is not perfect but good enough to let you know what is going on.

       “They ask the union for almost 600,000 euros and jail sentences for the complainant worker and union members, a total of 8 people,”

Prison sentences for unionism

          It all started with different labor irregularities and an alleged sexual harassment at work, a complaint currently filed. A worker went to the union at the beginning of 2017 to comment on what was happening to her at Pastelerías La Suiza, in Gijón. ” ..The union requested additional information to support the version of the worker, after which, it met with the company to discuss the issue, unsuccessfully which led to the beginning of a union mobilization campaign and several concentrations of complaint were held, “nothing that is not usual in union action,” the unionists declare. 

       However, “the attacked women became aggressors from one day to the next, when denounced by the businessman on numerous occasions,” the CNT denounces. “They ask the union for almost 600,000 euros and jail sentences for the complainant worker and union members, a total of 8 people,” they detail from the anarcho-syndicalist central, “some penalties that are beyond all logic.”
       Behind the claim that asks for years in jail for unionism allegedly could be the Gijón hotel trade union, people with a clear conservative orientation, who “have accused the CNT of extorting, of being ETA, and have tried to outlaw the union for a crime of illicit association ”.
       In fact, they have hired, as a lawyer to exercise the private accusation against the union, the former magistrate of the National Court, Mr. Javier Gómez Bermúdez, “star judge and now Jaime Botín’s lawyer”, highlights the anarcho-syndicalist organization. 

       “This case is another step in the outlawing of trade unionism, either directly or by putting trade unionists in jail and financially condemning them,” denounces the CNT. For this reason, they appeal to class solidarity and the fraternal support of all the trade union centrals, in order to try to stop this aggression and to disseminate as much as possible what is going to be judged as of Monday 18.

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Barcelona 1936-37.

       After Franco stuck is vicious teeth into Spain in 1939, his regime went all out to portray what had been happening in Spain from 1936-39 as an era of brutal violence, of murderous gunmen roaming uncontrolled, terrorising all decent people. Attempting to make sure that the real story should never be told. Though real history tells a different story than that of the Franco regime's distorted version. And now more evidence of the true nature of what was actually going on, especially in Barcelona has emerged.

This from Anarchist News:

From Roar Magazine
     Re-discovered after 80 years, the photographic legacy of the CNT which brings the libertarian revolution in Barcelona back to life, is now exhibited for the first time. This post was originally published by eldiario.es. Text by Pol Pareja. Translation from Spanish by Andrew Hakes.
      It was a Barcelona where taxis were prohibited, waiters and shoe shiners did not accept tips, hats were frowned upon, and the notes of The International rang out from every corner. A city where approximately 70 percent of the businesses were collectivized, with their offices occupied by workers and militiamen. Anarchist Barcelona, a unique libertarian experiment in Europe which had its decisive moment between July 1936 and May 1937, has been the subject of various studies and textbooks. However, the studies and textbooks of this exceptional period have been lacking the graphic history which had been presumed lost.

 Headquarters of the CNT-FAI regional committee, located on the current Via Laietana (then known as Via Durruti). Author unknown

 Posterists of the CNT-FAI in Barcelona. Pérez de Rozas

       The exposition Gràfíca anarquista, fotografia i revolució social (1936-1939) puts to rest this anomaly and offers an interesting testimonial to this period where Barcelona was transformed into the first large city where workers assumed total control of a good part of business and industry.
          The exhibition offers a journey through the photographic collection of the Office of Information and Propaganda, created by the CNT-FAI in Barcelona during the Civil War with the intent of spreading revolutionary ideology in the face of fascism’s advance in Europe. One can see in the exhibition dozens of images of well-known photographers, such as Katy Horna, Pérez de Rozas, Antoni Campañá and David Marco, among others. Also on display are anarchist publications of the era, postcards, credentials and CNT documents like the Militant Manual (Manual del militante).
       Coming from a propaganda office, the images lend to a benevolent vision of the city during those months. In contrast to the wretched image that Francoism tried to establish of to the libertarian revolution — placing emphasis on the burning of churches, summary executions and the existence of gunman roaming the city at their leisure — the exposition shows a more favorable side of anarchism.

 Anarchist militia in Barcelona. Antoni Campañà

There are photos of children playing in the Palace of Pedralbes’ pool, which was converted into a children’s school in 1936. There are also photos of the popular university established in the modernist Casa Golferichs and images of collectivized businesses functioning at full capacity. In many snapshots the primary focus is humble workers posing in the very same offices where only months ago their bosses sat. Portraits of militants and snapshots of bullet-ridden churches and church bells prepared for smelting round-out the exhibition.
      “The exposition tries to dismantle the image of anarchism constructed by the bourgeoisie over the years,” says Andrés Antebi, one of the commissioners of the exposition. “The propaganda office of the CNT focused on dismantling the stigma of anarchism being roaming bandits and irrational violence.” The exhibition, which can be seen in the Arxiu Fotográfic de Barcelona, also offers an interesting vision over the agrarian collectivizations outside of the Catalan capital, photographed by Carlos Pérez de Rozas and his son for the weekly periodical ¡¡Campo!!, demonstrating that the illustrious dynasty of photographers worked for all sides in spite of their conservative ideology.

 Two militia reading the anarchist newspaper “Solidaridad Obrera.” Author unknown

The photos’ long journey through Europe

        The delay in presenting such an exposition in Barcelona was created by — among various factors — the long journey the CNT’s photographic exposition took around Europe. In January 1939, before the eminent arrival of Francoist troops in Barcelona, those in charge of the CNT-FIA’s propaganda placed their section’s graphics in 43 wood boxes designed to transport Mauser rifles. The revolutionaries had signed an accord with the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam that had the Institute promise to preserve the memory of the union. The images were loaded onto a train and sent to the Dutch capital.

 It is estimated that between 70 and 80 percent of the companies in Barcelona were collectivized. Pérez de Rozas

On the way to Amsterdam, the transport halted in Paris. With the threat of a German invasion looming over the Netherlands, the boxes changed course and finally arrived in the United Kingdom. They were first in London (where some archives were lost during the bombings) and later located in Oxford. When the conflict ended, they were finally transferred to Amsterdam. When the collection arrived there, a legal battle erupted between the representatives of the now exiled-CNT and the International Institute of Social History, who did not acknowledge the anarchist union’s representatives outside of Spain.

 The exhibition also shows agricultural collectivizations in other parts of Catalonia. Pérez de Rozas

       The exhibition also shows agricultural collectivizations in other parts of Catalonia. Pérez de Rozas After 80 years, an agreement was reached between the two parties which recognized the CNT as owners of the collection, with the exception that the collection stays in the Netherlands at the International Institute of Social History, given its great importance as the most important institute of workers’ history in the world. The process of cataloging and organizing a large part of the archives started without the lost office of propaganda’s photographic collection. Thirty more years would have to pass before the photos were discovered in 2016. “Until this date they were sealed, they couldn’t be examined and virtually no one knew they existed,” the commissioner said. After a journey of more than 80 years, the photographs have returned to Barcelona.

  Anarchist militia in the Catalan capital. Antoni Campaña

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France, May-June 1968.

      To mark the 50th anniversary of the  1968 May-June events that shook France and reverberated throughout Europe, the Kate Sharpley Library have brought out a excellent pamphlet, written by a participating eyewitness at the time,  Flûtiste Le (the flute player). How have we moved forward in 50 years?

 Flûtiste Le:  The Anarchists in Paris, May-June 1968

       An anarchist eyewitness to the revolt of May-June 1968, Le Flûtiste ("the flute player") looks back on the highs and lows of Paris' student-worker rebellion. Topics covered include, student life before the revolt, the barricades of the Latin Quarter, the student and worker occupations and strikes and the part played by the anarchists in the upheaval.
      "Having been hit by a grenade and come under gas attack, I had made up my mind to join the demonstration at Denfert-Rochereau. ... First I watched as the head of the demo paraded past, made up of trade union bigwigs and their henchmen; then came heaps of more or less unknowns such as the Situationist Guy Debord whom I spotted on his own, just him and a friend. Then, all of a sudden, my eyes were treated to the unbelievable spectacle of a forest of black-and -red flags, with a sprinkling of black flags! ... The public's curiosity about and interest in anarchist ideas was born right there and then. Anarchy, which the Stalinists and socialists generally - not to mention the bourgeois - had declared a dead duck in the land of Utopia, was rising like the phoenix from the ashes! Its burial licence had expired, to the great annoyance of all those respectable folk."

This extract/review from Freedom Press:

        First of all, on the outbreak of the fighting in Paris, between 300-400 anarchists were attending the gala of the Federation Anarchiste that evening in central Paris on May 10th. Members of other groups were present on that evening, including the Union of Anarchist Communist Groups, the Anarcho-Syndicalist Union and the anarcho-syndicalist union the CNT.These were on hand to reinforce the barricades that were set up that evening in the Latin Quarter, a culmination of weeks of unrest in the universities. To his credit Dany Cohn-Bendit of the March 22nd student movement used his megaphone to call for the taking over of the area. The writer describes this then anarchist as “hard to stick” as a person(more on that later).

       “Get this: what few leftwing or “leftist” students there were on hand tried to talk them of digging up the streets or building barricades and berated the barricade builders as “provocateurs”. They were promptly seen off…”

      The writer describes the lightning spread of barricades through the neighbourhood.”The clashes were violent in the extreme; many young people refused to give ground (to the police) and like out-and-out kamikazes, threw themselves into the hand-to-hand fighting”. He also notes that “local residents, outraged by the sight of the police brutality, sided with the students, tossing down buckets of water to dampen the effects of tear gas grenades and taking demonstrators into their homes”.As a result of the fighting and the vicious brutality the trade unions and left wing organisations were forced into calling a demonstration for May 13th. Over the coming days strikes broke out spontaneously around France.

         The leftists now attempted to hijack the movement, setting up literature stalls in the courtyard of Sorbonne university and token committees that they controlled.

The demonstration on May 13th brought out between 500,000 to one million people. The writer notes the “forest of red-and-black flags with a sprinkling of black flags”.

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Workers Know Your History, Spanish Civil War.

 

         It is always important that our history is recorded for future reference and learning, and also made easily accessible to the public at large, so it is great news I have just received from Anarchist Studies Network, (ASN)

Dear comrades,

      The last newsletter of the International Institute of Social History that a significant part of the CNT-FAI Archive (1934-1939) will be digitised, thanks to a grant given by the Dutch organisation Metamorfoze. That means that the digitised part in due time will be open to everyone in the world interested in the CNT during the Civil War.

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There Is a Gap In the Wall- It Has To be Filled.

        Just heard from Loam of arrezafe, of the death of a Spanish comrade, like all those hardy loyal fighters for a free society, they must not be forgotten, their lives and their stories must be recorded, to inspire the next generation of fighters. Their passing always leaves a gap, a hole in our wall, we can only hope that some younger fighter, will step up and fill that hole. Now more than ever, we need those characters of steel and honest resolve.

A Comrade has left us

         We are sorry to hear of the death of long-time anarchist militant and member of the CNT Spain, Jose Luis Garcia Rua. Garcia Rua passed peacefully on Friday morning, January 6 at the age of 93. Rua was born in 1923 in Asturias, Spain. His father had been a member of the CNT who perished on the Oveido front during the Civil War. In 1939, he was forced into exile in France, eventually winding up in a concentration camp of Argelers and Barcarès, however he was able to return later than year.
      Garcia Rua began a career as an academic, but worked in construction, metal and mines. He was involved in anti-Francoist activity and ultimately repressed for his role in a miners' strike. He lost his job in academia for some time but ultimately became a professor of philosophy in the University of Granada in the mid-70s. In 1977, after the death of Franco, he was chosen Secretary of the Andalucian region of the CNT, a position he held twice. Between 1986-1990, he served as the General Secretary of the CNT and from 1997-2000, as the General Secretary of the IWA.
        He is the author of numerous articles and books, both related to anarchosyndicalism as well as his academic interests. On May Day 2015, he made an impassioned speech about the International Workers Assocation, calling on comrades to continue the tradition of militant anarchosyndicalism. This was the last speech that he made in public.

We send our condolences to his family.

IWA Secretariat

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Take Them On At Every Opportunity.

 

        It is always satisfying when workers come together and give a section of the capitalist Mafia a bloody nose. This is what happened in Spain recently, when organised workers took on three companies, through the system's own corrupt judicial system, and managed to cut the syphon tube that was being used to plunder the public purse. Not the end of capitalism, but a good boot in the right place, their bank account.

From Tarcoteca: (not the easiest of translation, but you get the drift)

       These 3 companies, whose anti-worker and abusive practices are widely known in the tecnology industry, and allied with the political mafia, have spent years looting the Public Coffers. Once again it shows that State and Employers go hand in hand with the aim to enrich at the expense of the Worker.

And:

       Now they loose the cushy contracts. At least for 3 years these parasites will not get rich from the public money and we have been able to demonstrate the profound contempt we feel for all of them. We've made a deep wound and we still dream to completely finish them.

No Pity for this Merciless capitalist! 

To know more
*El Corte Inglés is one of the 3 most important Comercial Center corporation in Spain with deep links with fascism, the PP Far Right party on Government and Media. Policial and Militar supplier, also in deals with the ISIS, with 150.000 uniforms. Is an IBEX mafia member and part of his capital comes from the throatcutter Al-Thani Qatar monarchy.

Read the full article HERE:

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My Barcelona Holiday Snaps.

     I recently had a short break in Barcelona, and found it a fascinating place. We walked everywhere and covered a fair bit of the city, and saw the usual contrasts we are accustomed to in capitalist cities. There are places of beauty and tranquility,

of course that doesn't mean that all is well and everybody is happy. As a matter of fact there seemed to be some people who had a distinct dislike for banks!!

    We also went to a large squat, but alas, it had been evicted some time earlier. The front of the building was covered in a magnificent mural, what a shame it was boarded up, the usual state repression on self expression.

    Another notable sign of state repression was watching the African migrants selling their wares on the busy streets of the city. They had developed a wonderful strategy for making a quick get-away when ever a police presence appeared. All their wares were spread out on a sheet, the corners of the sheet had thin ropes tied to them and the seller held the ropes, which were tied together, were held in one hand, as soon as the state enforcers appeared they simply pulled the ropes and slung the sheet over their shoulder and scampered off in different directions. While sitting sipping coffee at a pavement cafe, I saw them quickly melt into the crowd on two occasions as a police van came slowly round a corner. I always marvel at human ingenuity.

   We also visited the CNT library, and found it full of very interesting "things" and people, though language was a problem.

 

     However, the highlight of the visit was to the "Local" a wonderful anarchist centre, which has been there for 27 years. It was an Aladdin's cave of books, t-shirts, badges, CDs, history and wonderful friendly people. There were rooms for meetings and other resources for helping them with their campaigns, both local and national. I left feeling a bit envious, as we here in Glasgow have nothing remotely like their "Local". Sadly when I got home I discovered I hadn't taken a photo of that wonderful centre, so all I have is the memory.

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AN ANNIVERSARY, MARCH 10th.

        Through out their history anarchists have been despised and persecuted by the state and employers alike. We could fill a very large telephone directory of those who have suffered at the hands of this particular authoritarian duo. From blacklisted to beaten, executed and assassinated the anarchists have had it all flung at them. It is not difficult to understand why this brutal onslaught should be thrown at this particular group of individuals. The last thing that the state or employers want is for people to think for themselves and take control of the society in which they live. In order to protect their wealth and power both these organisations need a subservient populace, anarchism would be the demise of such exploitation. Anarchists are about the complete restructuring of society, the abolition of exploitation, an end to power over anyone, and the creation of a society that sees to the needs of all our people. It is no wonder that the powers that be in the state and the corporate world will do everything in their power to dirty the image of, and destroy anything associated with, the words anarchist and anarchism.  

       However, we anarchist still have a lot to celebrate, in spite of the phony propaganda and the violence against us, we are still here, but we should always remember those events that have tried to prevent that being the case.

March 10th, From Wikipedia:

Salvador Segui.(centre)

 

Salvador Seguí (Tornabous, Lleida Province 1886 – Barcelona, 1923), known as El noi del sucre ("the sugar boy") for his habit of eating the sugar cubes served him with his coffee, was a Catalan anarcho-syndicalist in the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT), a Spanish confederation of anarcho-syndicalist labor unions active in Catalonia. Together with Ángel Pestaña, Seguí opposed the paramilitary actions advocated and carried out by other members of the CNT.^[1] On March 10, 1923, while completing preparations to promote the idea of emancipation as a form of social empowerment among workers, he was assassinated by gunshot on Carrer de la Cadena, in Barcelona's Raval District, at the hands of gunmen working for the Catalan employers' organisation under protection of Catalonia's Civil Governor, Martínez Anido.^[2][3] At this same shooting, another anarcho-syndicalist, Francesc Comes, known as Perones, was wounded and was to die several days later.

He has received many tributes since his death, and a foundation has been launched in his memory, the Fundación Salvador Seguí, based in Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia.

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CORPORATE STRIKE BREAKERS.

PICKET ADECCO EMPLOYMENT AGENCY
STOP THEM SUPPLYING STRIKE BREAKERS
15A-17A BLYTHSWOOD SQUARE GLASGOW G2 4AD

FRIDAY 20TH JANUARY  4PM-5PM

Facebook event page:
http://www.facebook.com/events/322789271099265/?context=create#!/events/322789271099265/

ADECCO: Casualised Strikebreaking at its Finest

       ADECCO: Stop Supplying Strikebreakers to Asea Brown Boveri factory in Cordoba, Spain. Employment agencies have long been criticised for profiting from  casualisation, precarious emploment and for creating an increasing insecure job market. However, ADECCO, the largest employment agency in the world, has now taken this to a whole new level. Not content to simply lower wages and job security through inferior short term contracts, ADECCO has now gotten into the business of strikebreaking. Workers at a Asea Boveri Brown (ABB) factory in Cordoba Spain have been on indefinite strike since 28th November, camped out all day and night in front of the factory. The strike was called in protest at ABB plans to make workers employed by subcontractors EULEN at the factory redundant and replace them with EUROCEN non-union labour with no experience or qualifications. EUROCEN is the logistics division of  the ADECCO Group of companies.

       Their union the National Conferation of Labour (CNT) points out that the problems related to the work in ABB are also related to outsourcing in general. The workers who were employed through EULEN in fact worked for ABB and took orders from them, but they have a much lower salary and worse working conditions than regular ABB workers and ABB took no responsibility for them as an employer. There were serious breaches of health and safety and inadequate equipment provided. There is also the fact that the relevant collective agreements for the work they actually perform were not applied. Management's refusal to address these issues also led to the strike. First management responded by hiring scab labour from ADECCO. Then they fired all the strikers. By continuing to provide strikebreakers, ADECCO is Complicit in ABB's continued union repression at the factory where there have been a number of union victories over the last 2 years. The workers of the Cordoba factory in Spain are demanding what all workers deserve: fair pay, respect on the job, and a safe working environment. Austerity is providing employers in the public and private sectors alike with the excuse to attack our pay and working conditions. We must stand together—across borders, industries and trade unions—and fight back. Employment agencies have exploited us long enough. A win for workers at ABB, a giant multinational that operates in over 100 countries, will not only improve working conditions for Spanish workers, it will let employment agencies like ADECCO know that workers are willing to fight back against their unscrupulous practices. We demand that sacked strikers are re-instated, management talks with the workforce, and that ADECCO stop providing scab labour .

　

Want to help?
Send a message to ADECCO demanding they cease this disgusting behaviour -
Demand for contracted workers at the ABB factory:

1. Equal Pay to other workers at the factory.
2. Respect on the job.
3. A safe working environment.
4. That management talk to the striking workers.
5. That Adecco stop providing scabs for strikebreaking.
6. That the sacked workers are re-instated.
7. Collective bargaining agreements.
8. Job Security.

A model message to send to ADECCO-EUROCEN in Spanish can be found here and below:
http://www.solfed.org.uk/?q=adecco-casualised-strikebreaking-at-its-finest
　

Model message to be sent to ADECCO-EUROCEN via their website contact page -

Cut and paste the following:

ADECCO: Para de traer esquiroles a la fabrica ABB de Cordoba. Eurocen-Adecco promueven el esquirolaje en la fabrica ABB.

Exijimos por los trabajadores contratados en la fabrica ABB:

1. Que se terminen con la arbritrariedad en el pago de los salarios.
2. Respeto en el trabajo.
3. Un entorno seguro en el trabajo.
4. Que la empresa abra negociaciones con los trabajadores en huelga.
5. Que Adecco deje de traer rompehuelgas.
6. Readmision de los trabajadores despedidos.
7. Convenios colectivos.
8.Estabilidad en el trabajo.

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WORKERS KNOW YOUR HISTORY.

The beginnings of CNT in Spain, a time of extreme poverty and brutal repression. Don't ever believe that the present system can't return you to those conditions. Cheap labour is the dream and life blood of the corporate system and the present austerity cuts is a step in that direction. Workers, know your history and learn from that history. The answer is there, we don't need to re-invent the wheel.
        Read some of Glasgow's working class history HERE.

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