Anarkismo (en)

Allegations against 'blade runner' Oscar Pistorius have highlighted concerns in South Africa about domestic abuse
Oscar Pistorius was the perfect South African sporting hero because victory over his disability made him a universally admired figure in a still-divided society. The profoundly macho culture he grew up in spans racial groups and provides some explanation for the country's shocking rates of domestic violence. [http://www.anarkismo.net/article/24952]

The first installation in the Zabalaza's new series on Black Stars of Anarchism:

The son of a Wesleyan minister, Thibedi William Thibedi was one of the most important black African revolutionary syndicalists in South African history. Thibedi was a leading figure in the International Socialist League (ISL) and in the Industrial Workers of Africa syndicalist union. Later he played an important role in the early Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), particularly its union work. He was active in all of the key black unions from the 1910s to the 1940s.

Last Sunday, January 21, several political activists were arrested after the riots provoked by
the police in front of the Alexandria court of justice. Among them are four members of the
Libertarian Socialist Movement, a member of the Revolutionary Socialist organization
(Trotskyist) and 16 other unaffiliated. All are activists who fight against the reactionary regime
of the Muslim Brotherhood. After January 21, the defendants were wrongfully imprisoned for
twenty days. Today, they are released on bail, except the Trotskyist militant, and are all still
awaiting trial. [http://www.anarkismo.net/article/24928]

This is a major speaking tour in Britain about prisoners in Belarus by a visiting activist - a rare chance to find out about what is going on and to see how you can support them. There are 13 dates so far.

An Anarchist/Syndicalist Analysis of the ANC, the Post-Apartheid Elite Pact and the Political Implications
2012 is the centenary of the African National Congress (ANC). The party that started out as a small coterie of black businessmen, lawyers and chiefs is today the dominant political formation in South Africa. It was founded by the black elite who were marginalised by the united South Africa formed in 1910, and who appeared at its Bloemfontein inauguration “formally dressed in suits, frock coats, top hats and carrying umbrellas”.[1] Today it is allied via the Tripartite Alliance to the SA Communist Party (SACP) and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu).

Can the ANC be a vehicle for fundamental, progressive, social change in the interests of the black, Coloured and Indian working classes (proletariat), still mired in the legacy of apartheid and racial domination? This is what Cosatu (and the SACP) suggest.

7th Annual New York Anarchist Book Fair
The 7th Annual NYC Anarchist Book Fair will happen April 5-7, at the Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center on the Lower East Side.

Palestine-Israel
The tactic of tent(s) building direct actions continues with international,s but with Israelis only as media and support. The harsh escalation of suppression is expressed more in house demolitions than in direct action clashes, but even in the Friday demos we experienced an escalation of harassment by the state forces. Both in the Israeli media and the public arena the mounting international pressure and the stubborn refusal of the ruling elite to yield is bringing the aura of imminent disaster. The cracks within the ruling elite are expanding and threatening efforts to invest an increasing part of the national product in the settler colonialist project while recruiting the support of the organized orthodox Jewish parties by increasing benefits to their communities. [http://www.anarkismo.net/article/24923]

A South African anarchist reports on the 10th annual Latin American Encounter of Popular Autonomous Organisations (ELAOPA)
From 25th to 27th January 2013, ELAOPA returned to the city of its birth to commemorate ten years of the difficult but necessary journey to building people’s power in Latin America. It seeks to “maintain its independence in the face of political parties, the state and its governments, NGOs, companies and all those that, with authoritarian structures distant from our realities, come to tell us what we have to do.”

Issue number 13 of the ZACF's organ, Zabalaza: A Journal of Southern African Revolutionary Anarchism now available online.

Change is imminent - stagnation already disrupted
Though the imperial powers tolerance for the Israeli repression and transfer diminish, Israel mainly respond with uneasy disregard. The world as large and even us within are waiting to see if there really was a shift in the blanc of power within the Israeli ruling elite and if the political turbulence in the region will contribute to any improvement in the Palestine-Israeli struggle. It is not clear if the intensification of Israeli transfer and repression efforts are just the last spasm of a dead end or a more desperate line of disregard of reality. In a month or two the picture may clear and till then, the old Tsumud (persistence) will continue. The intensification of the activities of the higher comity of grass root popular comities - mainly in the weekly "tent villages projects" started in Bab Al-Shams may be more than just an expression of optimism. [http://www.anarkismo.net/article/24900]

“The looters are the politicians, who rob the workers of their dignity”
The undersigned organisations support the February 5th international day of solidarity with the five political prisoners from the 1st of May Cooperative and Social Movement (M.S.C. 1º de Mayo) in Bariloche, Rio Negro (Argentina) – agreed to at the final plenary of the 10th annual Latin American Encounter of Popular Autonomous Organisations (ELAOPA) – and the call for their immediate release and return to their homes and families. We denounce the violent manner with which the gendarmeria, under order of the Federal Justice, dispersed the families of the political prisoners demonstrating in demand of their release on 21st January. Similarly, we stand firmly in solidarity with the Federation of Grassroots Organisations (FOB), which has suffered aggressions and accusations in certain media sources of being “looters and delinquents” for defending their rights and actively demonstrating their solidarity and support for the persecuted comrades of Bariloche. [http://www.anarkismo.net/article/24865] [http://www.anarkismo.net/article/24868]

Solidarity Statement with "Freedom"

In the pic below our tortured comrades.

Ireland's parliamentry Left in crisis
Clare Daly’s was elected to the Dáil in 2011. A founder member of the Socialist Party, Daly was initially hailed as a bright new voice for Ireland’s parliamentary Left. But in strange and controversial circumstances, Daly left the Socialist Party in 2012 on foot of her defence of fellow TD and tax fraud, Mick Wallace. In this first post from the Anarchist Lens, Daly’s about turn is examined from an anarchist point of view.

The 11th Congress of AL was held in Toulouse from 2-4 November 2012 with around 100 people attending. A quick look back on these three days sees a succession of plenary discussions, exchanges in workshops and committee meetings, but also parties and concerts. [http://www.anarkismo.net/article/24810]

It was not just the coming Israeli elections that Israeli settler colonialism intensified. It is part of the trend of last years in which the efforts to expand the settler colonialist project increase - as if to exploit the last opportunity. It is done within the 1948 borders - mainly with transfer of the Bedouins of the south. It is done within the occupied east Jerusalem. It occur in the C areas mainly near colonialist settlements and more so in areas intended to be annexed to Israel. In response, the third Intifada collect momentum and the anarchists against the wall are invited more and more to locations of joint struggles. The general election revealed that a substantial section of the capitalist elite start to distance itself from the costly settler colonialist project... But, it seems more international pressure is needed for a significant change. [http://www.anarkismo.net/article/24836]