For about four or so years now I've been indulging in a rather strange hobby, I like making PDFs. My father got me an e-reader as a present but unlike Kindles and Ipads the company that made it went broke before I got mine, so it had no online service to get books from. You could however manually add texts to it either through usb or a cameras memory card. So I got into the habit of doing that, and reading on the go.
Unfortunately free e-books can be hard to find if you don't want to be limited to pre 1923 English language texts. Sites get taken down or ask you to download dodgy addons etc. Fortunately online texts are more plentiful and stable (though not always a lot of these sites were hosted on platforms like geocities) and after a little practise you can make them into pdfs/epubs fairly easily.
Depending on the websites formatting it can be as simple as highlighting, and then copy and pasting into a text document, and then exporting them into (pdf is the standard) a e-format and then you can transfer into all the others using software like Calibre.
I then decided to share them and a few people thanked me and it just escalated from there. I now have over 400 made and I keep making them now and then. So I'm making this blog as an archive of sorts for the pdfs I've made. Feel free to download and share if you like them.
Most of these use text hosted on libcom.org and can be found attached to their articles or in this thread,
Youtube educational channel CGP Grey made a video about the Royal Family five years ago, and its below average compared to their usually educational trivia. The poor quality is clearly a result of the presenters bias in favour of the Royal Family, a bias that jumps out of their tone and subject choices.
The first part of the video dealing with the economics of the Royal Family and relations to the rest of the UK (Parliament) is correct though it skips other some interesting and important incidents in that relationship, like the time in 1795 when the Prince of Wales married the Princess of Brunswick and Parliament raised an £65,000 per year to pay off her debts. This was at a time when food riots were common, and starvation threatened thousands of commoners.
But the real issues begin after the video moves beyond this into other areas. Tourism for one, he talks about American tourism and states that it is simply because of the Royal family, and so the Royal Family are responsible for the GDP share that tourism brings in.
This is a common argument trotted out by Monarchists in the rare occasions that the Royal Family is publicly challenged, and as per usual nothing is given to substantiate it.
Because there simply isn't, first US tourists aren't the most common tourists to the UK in 2014 they were in third place behind France (1,980,000) and Germany (1,460,000) with a total of 1,280,000. That's quite a high number but it isn't what is being argued here. And as for why those Americans visit we're given the answer "the Queen". So language and family connections don't factor into this at all hey?
Interestingly in that same year 24 million Americans went to Mexico, and 12 million to Canada, so if governmental systems are the main attractions for tourism and tourist revenue a good reason to keep or change that system, I guess the UK should turn itself into a Federal Republic. Oh and the only thing given as evidence for the importance of the Queen to the Yankee tourist dollar was France. Now according to the statistics I could find, boring Republican Paris is a close second to London, oh and France is global number one travel destination for tourism, having 84 million visitors in 2014. And the UK was beaten by the republican USA, China, Italy, Turkey, and Germany. But Monarchist Spain was third with 65 million tourists so its not all doom and gloom for the Crown.
But enough about tourism, the video gets much worse. At 3:30 the video talks about Royal prerogatives in a dismissive way. Showing a rather simplistic view, yes the Royal Prerogatives are really used by the actual Royal, but they've been used by most governments ever since. A Prerogative is
The Royal Prerogatives are a series of historic powers formally
exercised by the monarch acting alone, but which in reality are
exercised by government ministers. They enable government ministers to
rule virtually by decree, without the backing of or consultation with
Parliament, in many areas not covered by statute. A.V Dicey has
described the Royal Prerogative as: “the residue of discretionary or
arbitrary authority which at any given time is legally left in the hands
of the crown”.
In relation to foreign affairs, the powers cover:
the recognition of foreign states;
the declaration of war;
the making of treaties;
the accreditation of diplomats; and
the deployment of armed forces in the UK and abroad.
In relation to domestic matters, the powers include:
the appointment and dismissal of ministers;
the issuing and withdrawal of passports;
the appointment of Queen’s Counsel;
the dissolution of Parliament;
the granting of honours;
appointments to, and employment conditions of, the civil service;
the commissioning and regulation of the armed forces; and
the calling of elections.*
There is also the prerogative of ‘mercy’, which affects the judicial
system. It means that ‘pardons’ can be granted in relation to a criminal
conviction (i.e. it used to allow the withdrawal of the death penalty),
or legal proceedings can be halted against an individual.
Now these powers are used by the Prime Minister, but that doesn't mean the Monarchy is sqeuky clean, the government is still using autocratic powers to subvert the principle of democracy, and given they do require the public consent of the Monarch of the day, that means the Queen/King is still complicit in these acts.
Thanks to the Royal prerogative the UK government can declare war on a whim, and control the civil service. These are very serious parts of the UK governmental system and they stem directly from the Crown. The video alleges that abolishing the Monarchy wouldn't change much and they may be right Republican movement have sometimes deposed one family simply to build another form of tyranny. But sometimes they have succeeded in granting at least limited freedoms. The fact that Royal Prerogatives come from the Royal family would suggest that an attack on the Royals legitimacy would also attack the legitimacy of its powers.
Then at 4:00 the video takes its final most absurd step by coming up with a hypothetical Queen Elizabeth II as global despot. This suggests that the maker of the video genuinely doesn't understand the institution of Monarchy at all really. The Monarchical system is more than the actual Monarch, human beings do not live for ever and so do not rule forever (Unless your name is Kim). Even if the current Monarch is amazing, that's no guarantee that the rest of them in the future will be.
After all King Edward VIII whom actually appears in the video at 02:04 was a Nazi sympathiser and an agent for the Axis powers.
"The active supporters of the Duke of Windsor within England are those
elements known to have inclinations towards Fascist dictatorships, and
the recent tour of Germany by the Duke of Windsor and his ostentatious
reception by Hitler and his regime can only be construed as a
willingness on the part of the Duke of Windsor to lend himself to these
tendencies."
"The American understood he was being asked to carry a message to the
President, but he was unsure of the exact terms. As he was leaving the
governor general's residence, the duke's aide-de-camp spelt it out. He
instructed Oursler to tell the President that if he would make an offer
for intervention for peace, before anyone in England could oppose it,
the duke would instantly issue a statement supporting the move. It would
start a revolution in England and, the duke hoped, lead to peace."
Although funnily enough this absurd hypothetical isn't nearly as absurd or hypothetical as the video maker thinks. The House of Windsor is actually very comfortable with the idea of coups and brutal Monarchies. To take one example the Queen is married to Prince Philip, who as most tabloid readers will know is Greek. Greek royalty to be precise, the Greek Royal Family remains close to the British family despite the embarrassment of being kicked off the throne in 1973. Constantine II was on the guest list for the Queen's diamond Jubilee before protests by the Greek government got him dropped.
“Constantine is not allowed to go,” a courtier tells me. “If the Queen
could invite whom she liked, of course he would be there.” Constantine
attended the Duke of Cambridge’s wedding and is a regular guest at the
most important royal events. His sister, Queen Sofia of Spain, has been
invited to the luncheon.
Why so much hostility, well Constantine II wasn't happy being a constitutional monarch and decided on a little restoration, in 1967 there was a coup by right wing officers, mostly of the rank of Colonel hence the nickname "Colonel's Coup". The King decided to support them, (many generals and the Navy and Air force were loyal to the royal family). Unfortunately by December the relationship between the King and the Junta broke down, so the King decided to run his own coup using the officers and units loyal to him. The counter coup failed miserable merely strengthening the Junta's position so the King and his family fled to Rome. In 1974 the people of Greece would show their appreciation for the King's politicking and the regime it helped create by voting for a republic.
But that was Greece and decades ago, well at the time The Queen with the rest of the government backed the Junta even after the hapless Constantine had fled. Also on the Jubilee guest list were the King's of Romania and Bulgaria. Two houses that supported brutal genocide and oppression in the 20th century.
Between 1941 and 1944, Romania was responsible for exterminating
approximately 300,000 Jews, giving it the sinister distinction of
ranking second only to Germany in terms of the number of Jews murdered
during the Second World War.
The
new legal policy, dictated by the governments of King Carol II and
Marshall Ion Antonescu, discriminated against the Jews of Transylvania
and Banat, among other groups, on the basis of citizenship. Moreover, it
confirmed the intention to apply a "detailed plan" of deportation of
the Jews from the above-mentioned areas (The Archive of the Jewish
Communities of Timisoara, Doc. 76-78, 1943). Negotiations for these
deportations began in November 1941 and were resumed in the spring and
summer of 1942. All attempts to persuade the authorities to change this
policy failed. An existing prejudice towards Jews as an ethnic group -
according to which the Jews of Southern Transylvania could become spies
or betray the Romanian interests as speakers of Hungarian and German -
played an important role in the hostility against them. - See more at:
https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/236-between-hungary-and-romania-the-case-the-southern-transylvanias-jews-during-the#sthash.ulNcVCMV.dpuf
The
new legal policy, dictated by the governments of King Carol II and
Marshall Ion Antonescu, discriminated against the Jews of Transylvania
and Banat, among other groups, on the basis of citizenship. Moreover, it
confirmed the intention to apply a "detailed plan" of deportation of
the Jews from the above-mentioned areas (The Archive of the Jewish
Communities of Timisoara, Doc. 76-78, 1943). Negotiations for these
deportations began in November 1941 and were resumed in the spring and
summer of 1942. All attempts to persuade the authorities to change this
policy failed. An existing prejudice towards Jews as an ethnic group -
according to which the Jews of Southern Transylvania could become spies
or betray the Romanian interests as speakers of Hungarian and German -
played an important role in the hostility against them. - See more at:
https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/236-between-hungary-and-romania-the-case-the-southern-transylvanias-jews-during-the#sthash.ulNcVCMV.dpuf
The
new legal policy, dictated by the governments of King Carol II and
Marshall Ion Antonescu, discriminated against the Jews of Transylvania
and Banat, among other groups, on the basis of citizenship. Moreover, it
confirmed the intention to apply a "detailed plan" of deportation of
the Jews from the above-mentioned areas (The Archive of the Jewish
Communities of Timisoara, Doc. 76-78, 1943). Negotiations for these
deportations began in November 1941 and were resumed in the spring and
summer of 1942. All attempts to persuade the authorities to change this
policy failed. An existing prejudice towards Jews as an ethnic group -
according to which the Jews of Southern Transylvania could become spies
or betray the Romanian interests as speakers of Hungarian and German -
played an important role in the hostility against them. - See more at:
https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/236-between-hungary-and-romania-the-case-the-southern-transylvanias-jews-during-the#sthash.ulNcVCMV.dpuf
Oh and there was a time when a commonwealth government was overthrown by the military in 1975 that had no protests or condemnation. That nation was the little known Australia, and the reasons for the coup involved the royal relationship.
Australia briefly became an independent state during the Whitlam years,
1972-75. An American commentator wrote that no country had “reversed its
posture in international affairs so totally without going through a
domestic revolution”. Whitlam ended his nation’s colonial servility. He
abolished royal patronage, moved Australia towards the Non-Aligned
Movement, supported “zones of peace” and opposed nuclear weapons
testing.
Sir John Kerr, the Governor General (the crown's representative to Australia) with the support of MI6 and the CIA deposed the elected Prime Minister Gough Whitlam using the powers of the Crown.
The democratic process destroyed using the powers of the Monarch. Every Monarchist should ask themselves, if the Queen is happy to hobknob with brutal autocrats, and have her powers used to topple elected governments, would she really be opposed to the same happening here?
Of course the greatest fault of the video is that the whole thing is a massive strawman. The objections to the continuation of the Monarchical system are not those presented in the video. Here's what Republic the largest and most prominent Republican group in Britain has to say on the matter.
It's
simple: Hereditary public office goes against every democratic principle.
And
because we can’t hold the Queen and her family to account at the ballot box,
there’s nothing to stop them abusing their privilege, misusing their influence
or simply wasting our money.
Meanwhile,
the monarchy gives vast arbitrary power to the government, shutting voters out
from major decisions affecting the national interest. The Queen can only
ever act in the interests of the government of the day and does not represent
ordinary voters.
The
monarchy is a broken institution. A head of state that’s chosen by us could
really represent our hopes and aspirations – and help us keep politicians in
check.
It's simple: Hereditary public office goes against every democratic principle.
And because we can’t hold the Queen and her family to account at the
ballot box, there’s nothing to stop them abusing their privilege,
misusing their influence or simply wasting our money.
Meanwhile, the monarchy gives vast arbitrary power to the government,
shutting voters out from major decisions affecting the national
interest. The Queen can only ever act in the interests of the
government of the day and does not represent ordinary voters.
The monarchy is a broken institution. A head of state that’s chosen
by us could really represent our hopes and aspirations – and help us
keep politicians in check.
- See more at: https://republic.org.uk/what-we-want#sthash.sJ6Vh5Jy.dpuf
And in not one second of this video are these costs of the monarchy responded too.
*We now have fixed terms of five years, however there are two exceptions for an earlier election and they both require the consent of the ruling Monarch.
With a 2:1 dislike to like ratio its clear the Real News audience doesn't like this video.Its not hard to see why, Social Democratic reformers seem to be in vogue again all over the world. Jeremy Corbyn has made waves with supporters and opponents falling over themselves to trot out absurd accusations and comments. And the reception SYRIZA in Greece received when it first formed a government in Leftist circles in Europe was so enthusiastic you'd think they'd formed the Athenian Soviet.
Hell I can remember people getting worked up over Francois Hollande's Presidential victory, (that seems so long ago now doesn't it.) The problem is that this all stems from a lack of understanding of how political systems work. Even in Presidential systems the individual personality isn't as important as its media coverage would suggest. The video makes some good points about the role of political party leaderships in determining the `candidate/leader`and I know from my own personal experience that much of what he says is accurate.
A few years ago I and some friends went to Liverpool for the Labour Party conference, it was a sham. If you've watched news coverage of a party conference (there really all the same once you look past the placards and colour schemes) you'll have seen enthusiastic applause, and a lot of people fighting over the chance to ask a question or make a suggestion to the leadership. I saw the delegates in the front rows jumping up and down, waving their arms and walking sticks, it was all very dramatic and it was all a farce. The conference staffers had already selected who would be picked and called out ahead of time. That was just a show to make it look open and fair. The side meetings as well weren't much better. They were generally interesting but nothing of importance went on, you just turned up to listen to a bunch of experts and media personalities give some speeches and lectures on a topic. They aren't even effective canvassers for support. All that decision making stuff was done behind closed doors and by networking.
There was an example of this in Britain not long ago. During the Labour party conference they were due to discuss Trident and Nuclear weapons in general, the party leader Jeremy Corbyn is against them but quite a few polls suggested a majority of the membership is for them. This meant that if there was a discussion then it was likely that the leader would be on the losing side, so the party heads panicked and killed the discussion.
But the real issue goes beyond parties, it involves the entire political and economic system. In Britain for the past few decades much of the discussion surrounding the Labour party has been about the infestation of the Blairites, a group of pro market, pro war, types who've helped shift Britain into a right wing political climate.
But here's the problem, even when we had left wing Labour governments they were also quite willing to chuck principal out the window in the name of the "national interest". Labour governments have actively opposed strikes (like the 1966 Seamen's strike), and gone to war (the war in Malaya in 1948 to keep control of a British colony. And of course the Korean War 1950, and Harold Wilson's government deployed the British Army in Northern Ireland in 1969), and generally did their utmost to maintain control of the Empire. Ramsay Macdonald's second Labour government 1929-35 once tried to get the Indian National Congress to accept limited autonomy in exchange for renouncing the desire for independence. In WWI Labour party politicians like their comrades in the German Social Democractic Party and the French Section of the Workers International (AKA The French Socialist Party) turned their collective backs on decades of hard work supporting each other and trying to prevent war, by joining National Unity Governments, taking positions in those governments and helping to slaughter millions of working men, all in the name of the national interest.
SYRIZA also went through this process, they were elected on an anti-austerity platform and opposition to the EU troika and ended up capitulating because it couldn't stomach any of the alternatives. Just like how European Social Democrats in the era of Empire had no alternative but to keep business as usual in the few times they rose to power and influence. They couldn't stop war and colonies because the system they lived and operated in depended upon them both. This is why the Imperial system had to wait until after WWII to collapse. Europe was devastated and exhausted and could no longer suppress the nationalist aspirations of its colonised peoples, and so had to make concessions and bit by bit let go, or risk losing everything. The European powers didn't like this which is why they tried to cling onto as much as they could salvage, hence Britain's conflict in Malaya, Frances war in Algeria, and Britain and Frances war on Egypt to maintain control of the Suez, or the Belgians intervention in the Congo. It didn't make much difference whether the party in control of Presidencies and parliaments were left wing or right wing.
Bernie even if he does get the nomination and does win the subsequent election(both big if's) will be no different, he'll talk a good game but will not alter the United States in any fundamental way. Maybe he'll expand welfare programs and strengthen environmental regulation, and maybe he'll resist the temptation to intervene in one regional conflict or another, but fundamentally it'll be the same.
When we think of Fascism the image that usually comes to mind a bunch of thugs in matching shirts pushing around an elderly Rabbi. That or a bunch of middle aged wasters hanging around WWII re-enactments.
Sadly both stereotypes the historical artefact or the dregs of society are in danger of becoming obsolete. In Europe racial populist parties whose members and leaders have a lengthy history of rubbing shoulders with explicit Neo-Nazi's have managed to get a boost in poll numbers by focusing on Immigrants and since 2001 Muslims. Now we add Austerity to the mix and the appeal to national brotherhood has become more appealing to some of those left idle by the economic stagnation.
In Greece as I'm sure you're aware the overtly Fascist Golden Dawn is currently the third largest party and becoming more active. But its not just a Greek problem, throughout the whole of Europe there are worrying pockets of Fascists and not quite fascist movements bubbling up to the surface.
Italy has a long history of large coalitions of far right groups gaining influence in many electoral coalitions. Such as the Italian Social Movement the successors to Mussolini's Fascist party. ISM merged into the National Alliance which was then merged with a number of other parties including Berlusconi's Forza Italia into the "People for Freedom Party". To put that in British terms, imagine the BNP and the other Far Right splinters merge into a new Nationalist Front, and then merges with the Conservative Party giving some of its members access to state institutions and a say in national policy.
For example take this golden boy, he is Manfredi Alemanno the son of the Mayor of Rome Gianni Alemanno a current member of the People for Freedom and former member of the Italian Social Movement. Now not only has this coalition let a lot of Fascists in through the back door but it appears the Alemanno's haven't renounced their past and are still up to dirty tricks.
The story goes back to 2009. It’s June 2nd, the day on which Italy
celebrates the anniversary of the 1946 referendum that brought an end to
the monarchy and the beginning of the Republic. Manfredi Alemanno, who
is then 14 years old, goes to a party with some friends in a posh area
of Rome. Once there, they start singing fascist songs and doing the
fascist salute. This is not surprising: Manfredi Alemanno, who was later
photographed on a holiday in Greece in 2012 in the same pose, comes
from an all-fascist family (more on this below).
One of the teenagers who had organised the party confronted them and
told them to leave. At this stage the situation quickly escalates: one
of Manfredi’s friends threatens the organisers and declares his
membership of Blocco Studentesco – Casapound‘s youth wing (of which, by
the way, Manfredi Alemanno became representative in his college in
2011). The same guy then starts making calls to dozens of people. Their
girlfriends are told to get away because “something is about to happen”.
Within a few minutes a group of 4 or 5 young men enter the scene –
nobody sees how they get in, but they are probably let in by their
friends – who then start beating up, even using a motorbike helmet, the
teenager who had stopped the fascist singing.
And calling from Deutschland we have worrying news of a plethora Neo-Nazi splinters flaring up from Wessen to Ost. The most well known of these is probably the National Democratic Party of Germany (NDP) which in addition to being around since the 60's (in West Germany) has managed to gain a few seats in regional parliaments, and has survived several banning attempts.
But its not all doom and gloom, Fascist groups have had surges in support before, and were often put into severe decline. In Britain the height of openly Fascist support was in 1977 with the National Front, but by the 80's the NF had fractured and overall the Far Right started losing members and support. You saw less and less paper sellers and fewer marches and rallies, which where the main activites for the British Far right from Moseley's crew upto the early nineties. It wasn't until the "Defence League's" got started that Far Right Nazi Fetishists started to come back onto the streets
and we can all see how well that turned out.
Today the NF numbers at best 200 and most of those are paper/keyboard members. And in France a similar phenomenon occurred, Fascistic groups to the right of the Front Nacionale (FN) were a common sight on the streets of Paris. In fact racist attacks of black and Asian citizens got so bad in some areas that it became impossible for "foreign looking" people to take certain trains through several Metro stations.
But again much like in Britain that changed, street by street France's far right gangs disappeared with only the FN which had a very rocky relationship with them is still around causing trouble. So what happened in Britain and France, did the skin heads just get bored and go home? Not quite, they went home all right but not because they wanted to. In both nations a large and diverse coalition of groups clubbed together to then club (often literally) the Fascists in the streets.
In Britain the group was called Anti Fascist Action (AFA) and it was a coalition of Red Action a Communist group formed from a split with the Socialist Workers Party (whom ran the Anti Nazi League) and are now known as the "Independent Working Class Association" and have some local council representation. The Anarchist Direct Action Movement (DAM) and to a lesser degree Workers Power, Class War and a few other groups, as well as a large group of independents i.e. people who didn't belong to any other group.
AFA was originally set up in 1985 as a broad front anti-fascist
organisation. The main fascist organisation at this time, following the
demise of the National Front after Thatcher took power in 1979, was
the British National Party (BNP), a more extreme split from the NF.
Militant physical force anti-fascism has a long tradition in Britain -
going back to the 1930's, the 'Battle of Cable Street' and the 43 Group
in London's East End, and it was in this tradition that AFA was formed.
Fighting Talk
Writing these words I am acutely aware of my small contribution to
the history of anti-fascism. I’m sure I have forgotten many incidents,
but even so this little booklet of anti-fascist activity must look very
slim compared to the volumes certain people I know could fill with their
experiences. Nevertheless, I think it can be useful for the ‘small
fish’ such as myself to chronicle these events, warts and all, in case
nobody does it and then the history would be lost, or distorted by
right-wingers or liberals.
By crushing the fascists at an early stage I think it is reasonable
to assume that Anti-Fascist Action (AFA) has prevented numerous racist
attacks and even saved lives. For if the fascists were given the chance
to freely march, sell their papers, and appear as a respectable
political force they would just grow and grow. Fascists’ number one aim
while they are growing is to appear to be respectable and rational, but,
to quote Matty Blagg ‘fascism does not start with gas chambers, but it
ends with them’.
Now some Liberals have been hard at work downplaying the importance of the AFA, and obviously AFA members have an interest in presenting themselves and their actions in the best light possible. But I find it rather telling that while the AFA were around the Far Right including the BNP eventually dropped street mobilisations all together to focus on contesting local councils. And it wasn't until after the AFA wound up its operations in 2001 that we started seeing Far Right clowns making a nuisance of themselves on the high street.
An immediate focus for the new organisation was the annual NF
Remembrance Day parade. The NF at the time were the main fascist party
and Remembrance Day was the highlight in the fascist calendar. An
estimated 2,000 fascists took part in 1986 and in successive years AFA
led similar numbers of anti-fascists into the area. This focus led the
BNP to withdraw entirely from the event, complaining that the area was
‘full of reds’. And by 1990 the NF itself had been whittled down to 200.
By now, BNP activities were being confronted by AFA the length and
breadth of the country. In Scotland where, prior to 1990, the BNP had
been allowed a free run, the AFA launch saw the tables turned
figuratively and literally. On one notable occasion, BNP leader John
Tyndall was forced to escape an AFA siege through a sewer. This was
swiftly followed by a series of devastating setbacks for the BNP both in
Manchester and the satellite towns surrounding it. A method of
operation soon taken up by the AFA Midlands region. By 1994 the BNP were
now losing ‘the battle for control of the streets’ not just in London
but nationally. A fact they publicly acknowledged in April that year
when announcing that there would be “no more marches, meetings,
punch-ups”. It was a decisive moment.
Since 1985 AFA has diligently and successfully repulsed a whole series
of initiatives by the far-right. Demonstrating in that process not only
how, but as importantly why, fascism must be ruthlessly confronted at
the earliest possible stage. An obvious result being that despite having
one of the highest race attack rates in Europe (a figure that has
quadrupled in a decade) the British far-right, unlike their political
counterparts in mainland Europe (the far-right recently topping the poll
in Austria) have thus far been firmly confined to the margins. That
said, it is a situation the BNP, by standing in all regions and
distributing over 10 million recruitment leaflets for the European
elections in June, are clearly determined to change. As they openly
admit if AFA can be outflanked: ‘if AFA can be stopped, that is all we
need to win’.
And in France a similar mobilisation took place to oppose and eventually stop and reverse the growth of jack booted thugs in the streets harassing elderly immigrants.
ANTIFA Chasseurs de skins
Documentary about the rise of neo-nazi skinhead culture in 1980s Paris
and how they were countered by a militant, multicultural underground
movement. Contains interviews with participants recounting the
subcultures and the street fights which made up their lives at the time.
In conclusion, the growth of extreme right wing movements shouldn't be taken lightly, but it also shouldn't be the cause of despair. History has shown clearly that it is possible and quite likely to break them up.
"Only one thing could have stopped our movement, if our adversaries
had understood its principle and from the first day has smashed with the
utmost brutality the nucleus of our new movement" Adolph Hitler
Forgive the lateness but I had to gather the materials. May 1st is of course May Day, or to give it its proper name International Labour Day, around the world the day is used by many groups within or attached to the Labour Movement to celebrate victories, and regroup and continue to fight to reverse defeats. We do this because we want to build a better world for all of us.
Unsurprisingly many events held on this Day are often attacked and undermined by governments and companies. In fact in some countries like America (where it was founded) the day itself was under attack with the "official" Labor Day being moved to September in an attempt to break its links with the Haymarket meeting and its Martyrs.
Fortunately as you can see they haven't succeeded, a group assembled at the statue to the Haymarket Martyrs in Haymarket Square in Chicago on May Day.
The main group are RAD (Radicals Against Discrimination)
And elsewhere in America there were demonstrations, though mainly by the Labour Movements "Radical Reds" as the mainstream unions back the official day in September. In particular the Industrial Workers of the World
Viva Las Vegas!
In New York
Protests and demonstrations took place across the country and the world today for International Workers Day. In Bangladesh, thousands filled the streets of Dhaka to demand labor protections after last week's deadly garment factory building collapse which killed more than 400 people. Garment workers also rallied in Cambodia's Phnom Penh. Tens of thousands of workers in Jakarta, Indonesia demanded better wages and conditions, including transgender activists who held signs calling for labor and LGBT rights. In a moment, we'll go to Seattle, Washington, then hear a report from Istanbul, but first we go to New York, where activists are calling attention to rights for immigrants. We're joined by Mariano Muñoz-ElÃas. He's one of the organizers of the Immigrant Worker Tour and one of the founders of Occupy Wall Street's Immigrant Worker Justice Group. Earlier today, he joined us from Bryant Park where actions were getting under way.
In Seattle
Protesters in Seattle are also marking May Day today with several marches and an anti-capitalist rally this evening. One of the closely watched issues in Seattle is how authorities respond to the actions. Last year on May Day, the mayor authorized an emergency proclamation after clashes erupted during the protests. An independent review of the police response found a lack of proper training and direction and police use of plainclothes officers to infiltrate protesters. It also came to light that the FBI had tracked and tailed activists from Portland who came to Seattle for the rally, according to statements from FBI agents filed at the US District Court in Seattle. For more on today's events we're joined by reporter Mark Taylor-Canfield in Seattle.
Elsewhere around the globe there were large mobilisations on May Day. In Bangladesh anger over the recent tragedy ensured a big push for workers rights, unionisation and a commitment to tougher safety regulation.
And in Jakarta in addition to usual Labour groups May Day was noted for the active participation of LGBT groups campaigning for rights and recognition.
And in Istanbul workers were not happy with the governments attempts to shut down the day and deny access to Taksim square the main site for Labour events ever since 1977 when a number of protesters were gunned down there by unknown gunmen
Istanbul
In Turkey, officials banned an annual May Day gathering in downtown Istanbul. But labor unions and workers defied the order, and were met by riot police who fired tear gas and used water cannons in an attempt to disperse thousands of demonstrators. FSRN's Jacob Resneck reports.
And due the governing AK parties Islamic Conservatism women's groups have more active resisting laws and practices that are restrictive of women's liberties. As such a number of feminist groups were in attendance on the march to Taksim square. And female activists(not necessarily part of those feminist groups) were in the thick of the fighting with the riot police.
And in neighbouring Greece there was a mass march through Athens and a 24 hour General Strike.
In Britain our official May Day is the first Monday in May which this year will be the 6th so most of the big Trade Union demonstrations will be then. Sadly in Britain the actual day is dominated by the Morris Dancers prancing around a pole in a field. We should really look into changing that.
Tis always a fine day on the 1st of May For it is and shall always be International Labour Day From mechanics to pen pushers To farmhands and court ushers We march and sing and cheer Loud and proud for our time draws near
Over the last few years, Europe has experienced a severe financial
crisis, with countries like Greece and Spain facing skyrocketing debt
and unemployment. More than a decade ago, a similar situation was
unfolding in Argentina. In 2001, the country suffered a debilitating
economic crisis and, as a result, defaulted on its foreign debt and
stopped pegging the Argentine peso to the U.S. dollar. When the peso to
dollar conversion jumped suddenly to three to one, many Argentines lost
two-thirds of their savings overnight.
Banks closed. Companies went out of business. And fully one-quarter
of the population was left without work. Tens of thousands of those
people, in desperation, started to make their living from garbage.
Working as “cartoneros,” which means “cardboard people” they sorted
through trash to find recyclable materials to sell. Thus was born
Buenos Aires’ informal recycling system, which still exists today.
EilÃs O’Neill has more on how the cartoneros, who originally
struggled to exist on what they could make on their own, eventually
organized into cooperatives in order to help each other and to demand
that the government support their efforts.
This documentary was produced by EilÃs O’Neill in Buenos Aires.
Documentary editor is Shannon Young. Technical production by Jeannine
Etter. La Plataforma provided music for this documentary.
In 2001 Argentina suffered one of the worst economic depressions since the 1930's, surprisingly this traumatic period went unnoticed by most as 9/11 and the Invasion of Afghanistan diverted attention. I'm also certain that the fact this occurred in South America a region that at the time (late 80's through the 90's) was prone to economic collapse and street protests. Venezuela had food riots in Caracas, the old Dictatorships failures to secure living standards saw all of them chucked out the Presidential palaces etc.
Which as the above documentary demonstrates is quite shameful. Not only was it a case of ignoring a whole nation in severe difficulty, it also means that the rest of the world may have missed out on a very important example of the people power and the tenacity of ordinary people to Organise in the face of extreme adversity and societal collapse. 2001-02 saw ordinary shop floor staff occupying and reopening abandoned factories (for those who haven't already seen it I recommend The Take a documentary about factory occupations) and others still became Cartoneros "Cardboard people" they would and still do sort through rubbish for recyclable material to sell.
You may be wondering, isn't that what the homeless do all over the world? And the answer is sadly yes, but what makes the Cartoneros different is that they began to organise themselves into Cooperatives and establish routines and preferred buyers for certain materials, which enabled individual Cartoneros to work fewer hours, take days off and improve their health and housing.
In fact several have become so large and well established that a number of them like El Ceibo now own their own sorting areas and factories.
They went from this
To this
But beyond the specific example of sorting recyclables the Cartoneros show the world the power of organisation, by hard work and solidarity the unemployed living on the very fringe of formal society have managed to improve their own conditions and become important institutions in Urban Centres.
In particular the Documentary makers think the Argentine experience will be of use to the Greeks (probably should of recorded it in Greek then) as not only do the two nations share similar triggers for their woes (the Argentine Peso was pegged to the US dollar for years) but the severity of both financial meltdowns means both nations faced a breakdown in formal society.
"After the immigrants, you're next." That's what was written on
flyers that appeared this week in the gay clubbing district of Athens.
As violence against immigrants and ethnic minorities escalates across
Greece, supporters of the ultra-right Golden Dawn party have also begun
to promote hate attacks on homosexuals and people with disabilities.
These fascists march with black shirts and flares through Athens,
terrorising ethnic and sexual minorities, waving an insignia which looks
like nothing but an unravelled swastika, and declaring disdain for the
political process. And yet, across Europe, they continue to be treated
as a mere symptom of Greece's economic crisis.
Once, right-wing thugs only came out to attack immigrants at night.
Now they do so in daylight, unafraid of the consequences because there
rarely are any. In recent weeks, the number and severity of the attacks
have increased – on 12 August, a 19-year-old Iraqi asylum seeker was
fatally stabbed by a gang on motorcycles just streets away from the
Greek parliament – and if migrants report attacks to police, they risk
being arrested.
Not only are crimes against immigrants in Greece
considered low priority, much of Golden Dawn's support base comes from
police ranks. Exit polls in the May 2012 elections suggested that in
some urban districts up to 50 per cent of Greek police voted for the
racist group, which now holds 7 per cent of the seats in parliament.
Behold the guardians of Grecian Democracy
The
stabbings, beatings and motorbike attacks have become so routine that
in many parts of the capital, immigrants are afraid to go out alone.
While Greece has long had a large migrant population – 80 per cent of
refugees to the European Union arrive in Greek ports – families who came
to the country seeking safety are now afraid for their children. A
recent Human Rights Watch report, Hate on the Streets, found that
"national authorities – as well as the EU and the international
community at large – have largely turned a blind eye" to xenophobic
violence in Greece.
An example of the heroic defence of Greece
Turning a blind eye would be bad enough. But
now the Minister for Public Order, Nikos Dendias, has pledged to crack
down on immigration, which he described as an "invasion" and "a bomb at
the foundations of society". Tellingly, Dendias also described the
presence of foreigners in Greece as a more significant threat than the
economic crisis – a message he would no doubt plaster across the walls
of Athens if he could.
Whipping up racism has become a strategy
for diverting an embittered nation's attention away from the government
and public spending crisis. Like many flagging centre-right
administrations, the New Democracy coalition is mimicking the language
of far-right extremists, pandering to rather than pacifying public
xenophobia. With Dendias's support, the police are rounding up
immigrants, arresting and deporting thousands in raids across Athens and
nearby cities – a programme named, with no apparent irony, after Zeus
Xenios, the Greek God of hospitality.
Golden Dawn's surge in
popularity and confidence did not come from nowhere. The party has been
active for decades, but four years ago, before the first wave of
austerity cuts in Greece, it was regarded as something of a joke. This
summer, with its party at the table in parliament, members of Golden
Dawn are setting up "Greeks only" supermarkets and distributing food
parcels to the unemployed in Syntagma Square – but only for "real
Greeks".
Trivia time: Free lunch was a flagship program of the Black Panther Party
The left does not need to point to the historic
correlation between imposed economic austerity and the rise of fascism:
Golden Dawn is making that link explicit, celebrating it. But simple
willingness to capitalise on public anger will never, in any nation,
make racist thugs the voice of the people.
Germany the past
Greece the future
As with many fascist
groups, Golden Dawn claims to represent the marginalised working class.
Like far-right groups across Europe – including the English Defence
League and the new British Freedom Party – Golden Dawn declares itself
the enemy of a bankrupt democratic system, exploiting for its own ends
popular anger against neoliberal economic mismanagement. However,
although it professes to stand against austerity, it has no economic
project: its tactics are simply violent, divisive and nauseatingly
racist. And the governments of Greece and Europe seem willing to
tolerate this as the social cost of an ongoing austerity consensus.
Behold our continents guardians of stability and prosperity (stop laughing)
The
European Union was established after the Second World War to ensure
socio-economic unity on a continent ripped apart by fascism. In the
Greece of today, Golden Dawn is being treated as a serious political
party, despite its members' eschewal of democratic process and tendency
to assault rival politicians on television.
Long after the Nazi
party took power in Germany in 1933, after the Reichstag had been burned
and anti-semitic violence became official state policy, European
governments remained more worried about the possibility of a socialist
Germany than a fascist one. Almost until the Second World War, it
remained more important to many world leaders that Germany pay down its
debts. Drawing historical parallels with Nazism is a weary rhetorical
technique that commentators on left and right have cheapened by tossing
the simile into discussions of food labelling and over-enthusiastic
traffic control. In this case, however, it's not rhetoric.
And we thought Nick Griffins Question Time appearance was bad
Actual
fascists in actual black shirts are actually marching around Athens
waving swastikas and burning torches, and maiming and murdering ethnic
minorities, and world governments appear frighteningly relaxed about it
as long as the Greek people continue to pay off the debts of the
European elite. When the lessons of history are taught by rote, they can
be easy to miss when most needed. This time, Europe must remember that
the price of fostering fascism is crueller and costlier by far than any
national debt.
A well thought out article and from the Indy no less, Golden Dawn received 6.9% of the vote, hardly a landslide but historically Fascist parties have been very good at seizing power without achieving majority support, for example the Nazi's highest vote share in a relatively free and fair election was 37.4% in July 1932, however by November that had dropped to 33.1%. In January 33 Hitler was made Chancellor and his party accelerated the repression of rival parties like the Communists and SPD making the results of elections after that date suspect.
In Italy the National Fascist Party managed a meagre 2 seats in the 1921 elections and yet was able to seize control of Italy a year later with its march on Rome. In Spain Franco and the Falange had to rely on an alliance of Conservatives, Political Catholics and the support of Italy and Germany (the infighting on the Republican side didn't hurt) to establish his vision of a united Spain.
Hell in the 60's Greece was controlled by a small group of Fascist military officers and an inept king managed to place tanks on the streets of Athens and cobble together a 7 year junta.
Fortunately there is still hope, Greeks themselves at least are taking the threat of Golden Dawn seriously, and opposition to them is fierce, determined and often violent. We must also not be dismissive of Golden Dawn as an isolated anomaly or a purely Greek phenomena. Far right fringe groups have been networking for years all over Europe.
When Fascism first made a big splash in Europe Red terrorism, Jewish Diaspora and stagnant economies were filling seats in the beer halls and arm bands on angry thugs. Coupled with a divided Left (in Germany the KPD focussed on fighting the SPD as late as 1933) and a naive Conservative business class willing to gamble on the jackboots to stave off the Red flag revolutionaries. Today we have Al-Qaeda terrorism, immigration and the economic downturn have all combined to give these new generations of skinheads openings to exploit. We can't really do much about that but we can keep the threat these groups really represent and unite accordingly.
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