11-11-2013 Remember with a Black Poppy

With a black poppy we remember all soldiers and sailors internationally who rebelled and mutinied against the First World War.


For all the shirkers, skulkers, deserters, malingerers, fraternisers, mutineers, troublemakers, voluntary POWs, so-called cowards and those executed for having the only sane response to the horror of war between competing capitalists.

"That ordinary men and women might have their own goals is conveniently ignored by historians whose vision is restricted to the ambitions and strategies of those in power or seeking to achieve it. This, to a certain extent, is understandable since the historian is very much at the mercy of his sources (press reports, autobiographies, and institutional minutes are usually the expression of the point of view of those who have made them). It is easy to deal with the memoirs of a Haig, a Petain or a Ludendorff. Conversely, it is 'uninteresting' and difficult to record the aspirations of those millions of Russians who collectively destroyed centuries of Tsardom because of their decision to return home, and their willingness to disobey and even kill their officers in the process." 

From Mutinies by Dave Lamb.

A piece of graffiti from Richmond Castle, where 16 conscientious objectors were held, circa 1916.
Thanks to the Free Communist and the CWO.



For a fascinating article on mutinies and general resistance to World War One,  take a look at Why Black Adder Goes Forth Could Have Been A Lot Funnier from the Libcom site.

A Leicester Anarchist's Story

Tom Barclay

This new publication from the Leicester group of the Anarchist Federation is Nick Heath's short biography of Tom Barclay, 19th century local anarchist and founder of the Socialist League in Leicester.

Published by Chizzit Press

Price £1.50

Available from:

Tin Drum Books

68 Narborough Road

Leicester

LE3 0BR

Axe the Bedroom Tax

Anti-eviction army - practice run!

Leicester AF is pleased to publicise the following event which aims to organise in readiness for potential Bedroom Tax eviction attempts:

Protest at threatened Bedroom Tax evictionsTuesday 5th November
Meet 11amOutside the BRITE CENTREBraunstone Avenue LE3 

Thousands of people in Leicestershire are under threat of eviction because they are struggling to pay their rent as a result of housing benefit cuts.  We want to peacefully resist any attempt at eviction by blockading threatened homes. 

This action is a practice run.  We are not yet aware of impending evictions locally due to the Bedroom Tax, but we are still appealing for people to come along in solidarity. 

Call the Anti-Bedroom Tax Federation on 0773 797 8057

Event co-organised by Leicestershire Anti-Bedroom Tax Federation & Unite Community Leicestershire.

Anarchist Bookfair, Saturday 19th October

10am - 7pm, Queen Mary University

Mile End Road

London E1 4NS

The London Anarchist Bookfair has now been going for 30 years!  

With loads of stalls and tons of meetings, make sure you get yourself down to London for the UK anarchist scene's big annual shindig.

Here are some of the meetings being organised by the Anarchist Federation (or related).

• At 11.00am in room 320: the International of Anarchist Federations is hosting 'Spreading Organised Anarchism'.  Much of the focus will be on the Mediterranean and one of the speakers will be an Egyptian anarchist delegate.
• At 1pm in room 241: Anarchist Federation meeting on The Idea of The Commune, the Idea of Organisation. Why we need to resurrect the idea of the Commune as an inclusive model for the WHOLE working class.
• At 3pm in room 326: Anarchist Federation meeting on Solidarity Networks, How and Why. 
• At 4pm in room 326: meeting hosted by the Anarchist Federation to discuss launching an Annual Anarcha-Feminist Conference. We urge anyone serious about feminism within the anarchist movement to attend.
• At 5pm room G07: Anarchist Federation meeting, Sexual Consent Workshop. 

For copies of the Bookfair pdf flyer, click HERE.

For more info, directions and the full programme of events, visit the Anarchist Bookfair's website.

Expelled for Anarchism!

An Asinine Bigot

“Just now I can tell you that neither your political boss nor your employer, neither the capitalist nor the policeman will speak to you honestly about anarchism.  Most of them know nothing about it, and all of them hate it.”

Alexander Berkman, What is Anarchism?

In honouring vested traditions of reactionary maltreatment, the voice of 19 year old blogger Kinnan Zaloom has been effectively curtailed by an asinine bigot.  Kinnan, a now ex-student of Hampstead School in London, came under fire from headteacher Jacques Szemalikowski who felt, undoubtedly, threatened by the disparaging opinions propagated by Zaloom's blog: The Hampstead Trash.

Under the online pseudonym 'Sludge', Zaloom highlighted and criticised the apparent failures of the school, such as inadequate educational standards, inappropriate use of funds and the bankruptcy of care and respect in accounting for the points of view of other students.  Szemalikowski defended his course of action by citing the student's 'enchantment by anarchism' and his fear of Zaloom 'developing into an anarchist'.

Naturally, such disgraceful ideas only warrant the harshest of retributions; so, along with permanent exclusion from the school, Szemalikowski also reported the thought-crime to the local police and personally contacted Glasgow university, forewarning them of 'what sort of person they were dealing with', should they ever consider him as an applicant.  A charming fellow indeed!

The Hampstead Trash blog was subsequently blocked on school computers, but continues to be updated by an anonymous student.

See http://hampsteadtrash.blogspot.co.uk/

Also: https://www.facebook.com/TheHampsteadTrash

Statement by the Egyptian Libertarian Socialist Movement (19th August)

Authoritarian methods, used today by [General Abdel Fattah] al-Sisi, are an example of state terrorism against the people. Claiming that this excessive violence is directed against a certain segment because of its ideology is intellectual nonsense. This terrorism was practiced by the military and police forces not only against the [Muslim] Brotherhood, but days before military forces attacked workers in Suez, and charged them with incitement to strike, as if the right to strike has become a punishable offence. We are now back to the same emergency law [as before].

The Army and the police now give the pretext for the party of parties to exercise violence against the various segments of society, including also the state and its agencies in the game, working in collaboration with the media to create an image for the people that there is a monster to destroy, so to kill him becomes a community’s mission.

But the parties involved in the massacre of today seek only their own advantage. The conflict, since its inception, between the two parties was for seats and positions in the state, and both parties do not care about the blood, both parties play the poor against the poor in the skit of distraction and claim their rights from the remnants of the businessmen and statesmen. That polarization does not only serve the owners of capital and owners of high-level positions in the state.

THERE IS NO WAR BUT CLASS WAR! DOWN WITH THE STATE! DOWN WITH THE MILITARY! DOWN WITH THE POLITICAL SYSTEM! DOWN WITH CAPITALISM!

Egyptian Libertarian Socialists on Facebook
Tahrir-ICN (Middle Eastern Anarchists)
Solidarity with Workers in the Middle East