www.afed.org.uk Organise! No.67 - Autumn 2006 | £1.50 - €2.50 | Free to prisoners F O R R E V O L U T I O N A R Y A N A R C H I S M The anniversary issue Features on the Anarchist Federation, in its 20th year, the Hungarian revolution and the British general strike Plus... interview with a Belarusian anarchist, decroissance, anarchist lives and more Organise! Anarchist Federation local groups and contacts Organise is the magazine of the Hereford Leicester, LE1 1WB Surrey, GU21 2XL Anarchist Federation (AF). It is AF-IAF Hereford, c/o BM [email protected] [email protected] published in order to develop ANARFED, London, WC1N www.geocities.com/leicester_af anarchist communist ideas. It 3XX Scotland/Alba aims is provide a clear anarchist [email protected] Nottingham [email protected] viewpoint on contemporary AF-IAF Nottingham, c/o The issues and to initiate debate on International of Anarchist Sumac Centre, 245 Gladstone Sheffield ideas not normally covered in Federations, contact for the Street, Nottingham, NG7 6HX [email protected] agitational papers. AF-IAF London, BM [email protected] We aim to produce Organise! ANARFED, London, WC1N West Yorkshire twice a year. To meet this target, 3XX Manchester [email protected] we positively solicit contribu- [email protected] AF-IAF Manchester, c/o 96 tions from our readers. We aim Bold Street, Liverpool, L1 Woking to print any article that furthers Ireland/Eire [email protected] AF-IAF Woking, PO Box 375, the objectives of anarchist AF-IAF Ireland are a part of the www.af-north.org Knaphill, Woking, Surrey, communism. If you’d like to Organise! anarchist organisation GU21 2XL write something for us, but are Organise!, PO Box 505, Belfast, Merseyside unsure whether to do so, why BT12 6BQ AF-IAF Liverpool, c/o 96 Bold Tyneside not get in touch first? Even [email protected] Street, Liverpool, L1 AF-IAF Tyneside, PO Box 1TA, articles that are 100% in www.organiseireland.org [email protected] Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE99 agreement with our aims and 1TA8, [email protected] principles can leave much open London (and all other areas) Organise! editors to debate. AF-IAF London, BM Organise, AF-IAF London, BM Wales/Cymru As always, the articles in this ANARFED, London, WC1N ANARFED, London, WC1N c/o BM ANARFED, London, issue do not necessarily repre- 3XX 3XX WC1N 3XX sent the collective viewpoint of [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] the AF. We hope that their publication will produce Leicester Resistance editors The Anarchist Federation is a responces from readers and spur AF-IAF Leicester, c/o Frontline Resistance, AF-IAF South East, member of the International of the debate on. Books, 73 Humberstone Gate, PO Box 375, Knaphill, Woking, Anarchist Federations iaf-ifa.org The deadline for the next issue of Organise! will be 15th March 2007. Please send all contributions to the address on the left. It would help if all articles could be either typed or on disk (PC or MAC format). Alternatively, articles can be emailed to the editors directly at [email protected]. What goes in contents Organise! Organise! hopes to open up 03 - Editorial 17 - The politics of the Anarchist debate in many areas of life. As we have stated before, unless 04 - Growth and degrowth Federation signed by the Anarchist Federa- 06 - Swaziland 19 - The general strike tion as a whole or by a local AF group, articles in Organise! 07 - The ‘vast machine’ 20 - Charles H. Kerr, radical reflect the views of the person 07 - Interview with Belarusian publishers who has written the articles and anarchist 22 - Armand Guerra nobody else. If the contents of one of the 10 - 1956: The Hungarian revolu- 22 - Reviews and obituaries articles in this issue provokes tion 26 - Revolutionary portraits: thought, makes you angry, compels a response then let us 13 - Anarchist Federation open Erich Muehsam know. Revolutionary ideas letter 28 - Aims and principles of the develop from debate, they do 14 - Organise! - the second decade Anarchist Federation not merely drop out of the air! editorial 3 Welcome to the 20th anniversary issue of Respect and has even stood candidates in and anti-capitalist movement to take a Organise!, for revolutionary anarchism as council elections. Next year, will it yet serious look at organisation. Will real always. again ask us to 'vote Labour without change come from the acts of small direct After we covered the celebration of 70 illusions' to 'keep the Tories out', because action groups or from the effect of our years since the height of the Spanish Labour is still closer to the workers? Any communicating more effectively with revolution in 1936 within the pages of our remaining illusions, including the worth of working class and disaffected middle class previous issue, Organise! now brings you voting for politicians, have surely been people, so we can 'do it' together? As the the other promised anniversary articles on dashed over the last decade of Labour rule. State increases its powers through repres- the 1926 General Strike in Britain and the As anarchists always say, voting changes sive laws and surveillance we can expect Hungarian revolution of 1956. Mass revolt nothing. Supporting or lobbying politicians the police to come down hard on clandes- against governments has happened before, only encourages them, to the detriment of tine direct actions of any kind. And in the and it can happen again if we can continue self-activity. The Anarchist Federation does future, the mainstream press may well to build the anarchist movement in Britain not claim to have all the answers, but the choose to ignore the reporting of what and internationally. anarchist tradition has been influential in governments will increasingly term In the more recent past, much has happened many past revolutions and in contemporary 'terrorist' activities, further starving such that the Anarchist Federation has engaged struggles. Anarchist communism has spectacular events of the publicity they with practically and theoretically. We won’t endured, and it is growing internationally. seem to depend on. dwell on the details in the editorial. Just Now is the time for those who are identify- What is the difference between small scale look inside and read our open letter where ing with anarchism in the environmental insurrectionary activism and mass revolu- we summarise some of what we do as the tion? This question is an important one that AF and ask some questions - we hope you the anarchist movement in Britain will need will consider answering them. We also look to answer in the next decade. The approach back over the second decade of Organise!, has got to be about gaining wider support amounting to some 25 issues since we for anarchist principles and aims amongst published our first ten year review. 'ordinary’ people who we know are being As we approach next year's local elections attacked and stand to gain so much by the in Britain we know we have to endure the ending, not reforming, of the capitalist mainstream media bombarding us until we system. We will certainly need more are sick with endless trivia about the two generalised support to defend social centres party race between Labour and Conserva- from future victimisation, which is bound to tive. While this is happening, the warmon- come. Propaganda is part of this, as is the gering and increasing repression of the radicalising work we can do in our work- State will no doubt continue unabated. The places and local communities. Anarchist authoritarian marxist-leninist Left have no organisations also help provide memory of answers. The Socialist Party is in disarray gains and losses from the choice of certain once again, emanating from splits in the tactics and strategies. We know what we Scottish SP. The trotskyist Socialist want – the destruction of capitalism and a Workers Party, supposedly anti-parliamen- better world. But we are small in numbers tary (and with its claws firmly in the Stop and we will remain small unless we reach The War Coalition), has cynically put itself out. The AF believes that all this is done behind the electioneering campaigns of most effectively in anarchist organisations. Subscribe Name to Organise! Address (Tick as appropriate): I enclose £4 for a two issue sub or £8 for a two-issue supporting sub (add 25% for overseas or institutions). Please return to Organise!, I enclose £4 to pay for a prisoner's subscription. Anarchist Federation, BM ANARFED, London, WC1N 3XX I enclose £8 for a joint subscription to Organise! and Resistance. decroissance 4 “It is a disquieting reality that even though there has been increased economic growth for many years now in the Western world, a serious proportion of the population is worse off, few are actually benefiting while a tiny number are seriously better off.” This statement was made in 1997 by Green economist Richard Douthwaite and led off his article Good Growth and Bad Growth, which distills points he made in a book The Growth Illusion. But does anything exist that can be described as good growth? This article investigates the idea of growth and in particular looks at the spread of interest amongst both reformists and revolutionaries in France (including the French Anarchist Federation) in the idea of Décroissance that can be translated alternately as ‘degrowth’, ‘ungrowth’, or ‘retreat’. Economic growth is central to the ideology of modern capitalism. In capitalist econo- mies, growth is usually related to a mea- growth and degrowth Revolutionary approaches to saving the planet and making a happier future surement known as Gross Domestic Money spent on destroying the environment consume at the same rate as the US, we’d Product, GDP, defined as the value of all (like cutting down trees for profit), and need several Earths just to grow enough goods and services purchased in a country even money spent cleaning up oil-spills, all food, never mind the energy required and over a specified period. Growth is said to contribute to this insane measure of the effect of energy use on global warming. occur if this value increases, and most monetary value since it all makes profit for Put another way, the ‘ecological footprint’ nation states are obsessed that this happens, someone. For the technologically ‘ad- of most developed countries, and especially year by year. But this says nothing about vanced’ nation states, making war abroad is the cities within them, is much much bigger whether spending was necessary, or who especially good for growth because it that the size of the land mass of those did the spending. Consumption of any involves spending huge amounts money on countries. It is only by poorer countries goods or services, whether needed or not, weapons that quickly become obsolete if producing food and through irreversible contributes to growth. they are not used, and especially if they damage to the environment that average It has never been clearer that growth is at ensure their corporations get the contracts consumption per person in richer countries the expense of the well-being of most for rebuilding the damage (as is the case for can be so great. If the rich and middle people on earth and the planet itself. Most UK and US companies in Iraq). Perceived classes of the rest of the world start to of us do not have a say in what is produced insecurity at home from the ‘war on terror’ consume at this rate, the damage would from the Earth’s resources, because the land is also a boon for the economy, as this helps only increase (this is the often quoted fear and means of production are owned by a companies sell surveillance technologies, of Chinese and Indian industrial develop- minority of individuals. Shareholders of fingerprinting machines, ID databases and ment). companies do not usually care and are the like. The idea that if countries get richer by certainly not encouraged to think about the The great lie of the free market is that increasing GDP everyone will benefit to consequences of ‘getting a good return’ on everyone benefits from growth due to the some degree has been challenged by some their investments. The idea of the consumer so-called ‘trickle-down’ effect. In fact there economists over the last few decades and in developed countries also depends on is a growing rate of consumption by the some have come up with alternative spending being good, whatever it is on, rich and middle classes in the developed measures to GDP. Measures such as the without a care about waste of energy or raw countries, whilst the rest of us, whether we Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare materials, or the working conditions of the are the workers (or unemployed) in those (ISEW) attempt to capture the effects of people who provide the items or service. countries or part of the poor majority in the disregard for people and the environment in Consumer goods pushed by marketing and ‘developing’ world actually have access to the endless search for increased profits that advertising campaigns all contribute to very little of the world’s wealth. Ecologists contribute to growth. They attempt to GDP whether or not they are really needed. are fond of telling us that for everyone to include the effects of unemployment caused decroissance 5 social-democrats and marxists who argue that growth is only bad in the wrong hands, that people are only starving and disease- ridden because of unfair distribution. All it needs is a restructuring of society and the problem is solved! On the other hand, the idea of Décroissance seems to side with a much more negative and even catastrophist outlook about the world, supported by other contemporary theories like ‘Peak Oil’ which predicts that a slow down in the rate of global oil production is inevitable in the next couple of decades which will have a huge effect on the world economy. James Lovelock, the somewhat crazed British scientist of ‘Gaia’ fame, also sees the need for ‘sustainable retreat’ but warns that its already gone so bad that ‘civilisation’ will have to plan to defend itself against the disasters and scarcity created by global meltdown, which he thinks will result in ‘tribal’ warfare. The logic of this is we’d by companies automating production, for economies are not the only wealth; quality better get ready to deny entry to flooded-out example. What these newer measures show of life (joie de vivre), social relations, Bangladeshi refugees unless they have is that whilst globalisation has helped equality and justice are other kinds of something useful to offer ‘our’ European increase growth in the rich economies as wealth. democracies, because that will be the only indicated by higher and higher GDPs, other 4. Companies do not take into account the hope of maintaining stability in the face of measures like the ISEW have gone down poverty of consumer products related to environmental collapse. very sharply since the 1970s (even in quality of life. It all seems a bit gloomy. So why are social Australia, Germany and the UK) and gaps Décroissance then is about moving from anarchists in France interested in this kind in average wealth between rich and poor unsustainable economic growth to a of theory now? In Britain, ecological ideas people, and between rich and poor coun- reduction of growth in money terms, whilst and environmental activism have been tries, are getting greater. increasing quality of life and other kinds of around for long time on the radical agenda In France, Décroissance (degrowth) is an ‘wealth’. It is about simple living and and crossed over significantly into anarchist idea that has raised considerable interest in localisation of production and consumption, circles in the 1990s before predictions of the French Anarchist Federation recently. It in opposition to a globalised economy. It global catastrophe really hit the mainstream has its origins in a 1979 book by Nicholas also fits well with the anti-development (at least, wildlife TV presenter David Georgescu-Roegen “La Décroissance” views of many greens like Edward Golding, Attenborough admitted he was only which is related to his ‘bioeconomic’ founder of the Ecologist magazine, who recently convinced that global warming was theory. On the more popularist side, there is argues that economic development of the a real phenomenon). It is probably true to a bi-monthly paper Décroissance published third world countries actually creates say that environmentalism has influenced by Casseurs de Pub which has an anti- poverty for most of the people who live in anarchism less quickly in France, and it has consumerist ‘more is not better’ theme that them. Capitalists see poverty reduction emerged at a time when global warming rails against packaging of vegetables, 5- coming from increased spending power, but and fuel crises are becoming discussed blade Gillette razors, advertising brands in this says nothing about who in developing more widely. More generally, anti- schools and cars (including Formula 1 countries gets to do the spending of money globalisation sentiment in France is in part racing), similar to the Adbusters approach. made by the brokers of deals with multina- a response to threats to the domestic The central idea of Décroissance, similar to tionals, IMF loans, or bilateral trade economy such as pressure by the World the one that gives rise to the need for agreements with rich nations like the US, Trade Organisation to remove farming sustainability indices, is that perpetual which always come with heavy strings subsidies that support local production of increase in economic indicators like GDP attached. Even the notion of ‘sustainable food (WTO talks failed to reach agreement are not sustainable by the ecosystem of the development’ is debunked by ecologists, because neither US nor France want to Earth. It has four principles: especially as this has become so twisted by remove there own). It is therefore no 1. The current economic system depends on governments and multinational companies, surprise that José Bové, the farmer who limited resources; but raw material and who want us to believe they can solve the became a media icon over his anti- energy are fundamentally constrained by world’s environmental problems by McDonalds and WTO activism, is also a scientific principles (second law of thermo- developing ‘greener’ technologies like supporter of Décroissance. dynamics) hybrid cars, or by increasing use of nuclear On the other hand, much of the British 2. Economic growth and ecological impacts power instead of fossil fuels, without environmental movement has not yet are tightly coupled. affecting economic growth. realised the need for non-statist solutions 3. The goods and services produced by Anti-growth views are challenging to and can be quite individualist and moralis- decroissance & swaziland 6 tic. One important aspect of French hands of experts. We also want to show amounts of land, plus food and water for anarchist views on Décroissance is that how cities and transportation have arisen to the animals. And we have no desire for living ‘lightly’ does not have to equate to support capitalist economies based on workers to self-manage mobile phone austerity and overpowering morality and industry and trade, and how a future factories if we don’t need mobile phones. libertarians “do not want to see totalitarian anarchist society could be so much better. Taking all these ideas together, the logic of management of décroissance driven by new These are good reasons to be against revolutionary Décroissance, if such exists, Green Khmers”, a reference to overbearing complex technological so-called solutions is not about a slow retreat, but about communist control in Cambodia. From the to global warming. It is also clear that a destruction of both work and economies as “habit of a nun we could make a hell of a move away from intensive animal rearing is we know them, including industrial lot of g-strings”, they say! They also make the only way that food can be produced factories and agri-business. In this sense the point that although individuals taking sustainably, since meat-eating requires huge there really isn’t anything that could be the initiative to live a greener lifestyle is described as ‘good’ growth. Class struggle laudable e.g. buying goods that don’t have must be central to revolutionary to travel so far (French wine springs to Décroissance because without it, we might mind!), this is not a solution to over- forget to see that we have common interests consumption and energy waste because so with workers and peasants in developing much of this comes directly as a result of countries like India and China, and instead government policies on military spending, be taken in by bogus arguments about over- transportation and agriculture which are all population or perhaps feel threatened or materials and energy intensive. Govern- even morally outraged by the effects of ments who create public campaigns to get their rapid industrialisation. Instead we us to save electricity and water are com- need to concentrate on forcing degrowth at plete hypocrites, and the middle class desire home, by refusal of work and attacking the for a more eco-friendly and ethical, but still basis of capitalism – ownership of land and market-led, economic system is a dead-end. resources, and the powers that result from The French anarchists are also fiercely anti- this – and create solidarity with workers work - work being not only the driver for who are struggling for better lives abroad. much of the wasteful consumption in our society, but also part and parcel of our class-divided society. Anarchist commu- nists, although we are not anti-technology, Read the AF’s pamphlet on ecology and are in favour of creating simpler devices class struggle: Where there’s Brass, there’s and tools that do not leave power in the Muck, available from our usual address. swaziland Like previous years in Swaziland, 21st January 2005 marked Youth Day, a day of protest against the absolute monarchy in Swaziland. And also like previous years, it was marked by savage police repression. S waziland has lived under a state of emergency since 1973. The ZACF has demanded a general amnesty of all political All political parties and associations are banned; arrests of prisoners and stated that militants had to go beyond their habitual opponents to the regime are frequent, as is torture. Several demands for “the total destruction of the State, and its replacement people have died in custody under suspicious circumstances. by decentralized popular assemblies of the working class, the poor On that day, petrol bombs had been thrown at court houses and the and the peasantry”. homes of members of the regime. At first, the Swazi regime Whilst the Swazi Royal Family lives in conspicuous abundance, an accused the only revolutionary organisation in southern Africa, the average Swazi family lives on less than $1 a day. Most people have Zabalaza Anarchist-Communist Federation (ZACF). The ZACF no access to water and nearly 42% of the population are victims of responded by recalling that they “unanimously rejected terrorism AIDS with no preventive programme in place. There is no free as a method of popular mass mobilization” and that a few people primary education. acting alone were not enough to change the system. The PUDEMO called for the right to education and healthcare, Following this, 16 members of the youth wing of the People’s access to medicines to counter the effects of AIDS, and a guaran- United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), a Swazi oppositional teed right to food for all. group, were accused of high treason and attempted murder over the The PUDEMO activists are now out on bail. However, when they petrol bomb attacks. come to trial they may face the death penalty. Pressure has to be There is a distinct lack of evidence in this case and the regime is put on the Swazi regime for the dropping of charges. Both South using the arrests to further repress opposition. Africa and Britain are active supporters of the corrupt regime. vast machine & belarusian interview 7 the ‘vast machine’ or anarchist communism? “Air travel was dangerous so she took a ists. They assumed that they were still train to Paris and got on the daily charter anonymous when they walked down the bus to England. When the bus reached the street. Only a few people understood the English Channel everyone got out and power of the new facial-scanning programs. wandered around the enormous ferryboat. The moment your face was photographed Maya watched British tourists buy duty-free by a surveillance camera, it could be liquor, pump coins into slot machines, and transformed into a consistent size, contrast stare at a comedy on the television screen. and brightness that could be matched Life was normal - almost boring - when you against a driver’s license or passport were a citizen. They didn’t seem to care or photograph. realise that they were monitored by the Vast The scanner programs identified individual Machine. faces, but the government could also use There were four million closed-circuit the cameras to detect unusual behaviour. television cameras in Britain, about one These so-called Shadow programmes were camera for every fifteen people. Thorn once already being used in London, Las Vegas told her that an average person working in and Chicago. The computer analyzed one- London would be photographed by three second images taken by the cameras and hundred different surveillance cameras alerted the police if someone left a package sent to the police.” (Taken from The during the day. When the cameras first in front of a public building or parked a car Traveller by John Twelve Hawks, Bantam appeared, the government put up posters on the shoulder of a highway. Shadow Press, July 2005) telling everyone that there were ‘SECURE noticed anyone who strolled through the BENEATH WATCHFUL EYES’. Under the city instead of trudging to work. The The above passage about a fictitious future shield of the new anti-terrorism laws, every French had a name for these curious society, taken from a ‘bestseller’, does not industrial country was following the British people- flaneurs- but as far as the Vast seem that far off from today’s Britain. example. Machine was concerned, any pedestrian Recent articles in Organise! and in our Maya wondered if citizens made a deliber- who lingered on street corners or paused at pamphlet on ID cards have already high- ate attempt to ignore the intrusion. Most of construction sites was instantly suspicious. lighted the kinds of technology that are them truly believed that the cameras Within a few seconds, images of these available and being implemented to various protected them from criminals and terror- people would be highlighted in color and Continued on page 8 Interview with a Belarusian anarchist, living in Britain since the crack- down over election protests. How easy is it for you to organise meetings? Can you ment? Can you publish material that is critical? book rooms to have meetings and advertise them? No. The new criminal code introduced last year criminalises a It is possible to organise meetings via closed communication whole range of activities - see the survey document on the web at channels (mostly mailing lists and personal contacts). Booking http://belarus.indymedia.org/1713 rooms is more difficult: from time to time, activists gather in each other’s apartments, but regular meetings in a same location would Can you organise public protests? draw attention of state enforcers: warranted and unwarranted Yes and no. We can organise public protests, but any protest that searches, confiscation of equipment, in some cases even planting isn’t sanctioned by the state is illegal, and state officials only incriminating evidence such as drugs. Advertising meetings in sanction actions that are innocent and located at far ends of the public is quite dangerous. The last safe publicly advertised city. Nevertheless, illegal protests are organised - exemplified by gathering happened last autumn, during the Belarusian Social the protests that took place in March and April in Minsk. Forum and the “No Culture without Subculture” festival. Since then, the state uses all legitimate means to stop publicly an- What controls exist on people who may be questioning nounced meetings from happening. The most widespread practice the system? How intrusive are the police or any other is to use fire department inspection as an excuse for closing down authority? the site. With the latest criminal law changes, the state has all the tools necessary to threaten and punish people without breaking its own Can you be openly anarchist or against the govern- laws. Even without it, police routinely fake detention protocols, vast machine & belarusian interview 8 degrees. The arguments for this increased surface, it doesn’t seem to impinge on our who attempted to go to St. Petersburg, as surveillance are the same - it is necessary to lives. Even those active in anarchist and they had gone to other venues for other protect the public from terrorism. Many other social movements that challenge the protests, had a very different experience. people have accepted this dangerous logic. current power structures, are not usually The protests were banned outright and Anarchists have always argued against the conscious of the likely surveillance that is hundreds of known activists were arrested argument that we need to give up our going on. Our phones are most likely in advance. People were stopped at the freedom in order to be ‘safe’. For example, tapped, undercover officers will have been border and bureaucratic and financial Malatesta provides an eloquent denuncia- used to identify ‘who’s’ who’ and our impediments made practical organisation tion back in the late 19th century in activities will be monitored. It is only almost impossible. Yet, despite these his book ‘At the Café: Conversa- in certain circumstances, recently difficulties, anarchist movements exist and tions with Anarchists’: in the build-up to G8 protests, that are continuing to grow and develop. “Gino (a worker): Is it true that you individuals have overtly felt the There is no doubt that the tendency anarchists want to remove the weight of surveillance and police throughout the world is for those in power police force? I am not their friend, control of activity. Nevertheless, the to increase their control over every aspect and you know it. But I’m also not the protests have largely gone ahead in of our lives. Capitalism is a system that is friend of murderers and thieves and I would some form. In Scotland last year, despite unpredictable and impossible to control. like my goods and my life to be guarded as certain individuals being targeted by the Marx’s economic predictions have proved well. ‘FIT team’, the heavy police presence to be only too true: that capitalism is Giorgio (Malatesta): And who guards you around the ‘eco-camp’ in Stirling, and some inherently prone to lurch from crisis to from the guardians? Do you think that the actions seemingly known to the police in crisis. As a result, those in power desper- best way to provide for one’s security is by advance, meetings, demonstrations and ately struggle to control what they can, in offering up one’s neck to a gang of people other actions went ahead, sometimes taking order to ensure the stability and survival of who, with the excuse of defending us, the police by surprise. Instead, the focus of the system that is the basis of their domi- oppress us and practice extortion, and do a the State is largely on Islamic activists. nance. They cannot control capital itself: thousand times more damage than the Anarchists have not shown too much financial movements around the world, thieves and murderers?” concern about this, seeing Islam as an rising and falling prices of commodities, Events since September 11th and the advent enemy of anarchism. However, we maybe fluctuating demand for products. Therefore, of the ‘war on terrorism’ in earnest, have should rethink our silence. Anarchists could they aim to control the people - as workers given us many reasons to see the truth in easily become the next target. The State and consumers. Every aspect of society is Malatesta’s words. Just think how ‘secure’ may choose not to see the difference geared to ensuring that people consume and the Brazilian worker felt when he was shot between an Islamic ‘training camp’ and one work, according to routines and schedules. by the police seeking to ‘protect’ the public. set up by Earth First. They need our lives to be predictable and Yet, for the most part we continue living In Russia this year, anarchists were the our minds to be busy with seeking indi- our lives oblivious to this repressive target. In Russia and many other countries vidual ‘happiness’ that is brought about surveillance, increased police powers and of the former Soviet Union, anarchists are through ‘success’, money, and entertain- the vast quantities of information that exist struggling to organise under heavy surveil- ment. Any thoughts of the ‘bigger’ ques- about us in various data banks. On the lance and police repression. Those activists tions on the meaning of life are safely writing things like “public disorder” and “attacking police concert hall of a military base a couple of blocks from my house. officers” when no such thing took place. For example, one How do people feel repression in everyday life? activist was arrested again immediately after being released from In a lot of different, mostly subtle ways: prison; two undercover officers came up to him and fell to the - The abundance of police and military on the streets, sometimes ground, as if he attacked them. carrying Kalashnikovs State authority is being propagandized in all state institutions, - State red-and-green flags (nicknamed “sunset over swamp”) in starting with kindergartens. Concerts of musicians known to be all appropriate and inappropriate places, often accompanied by critical of the state are not allowed. Carrying non-state flags is portraits of Lukashenko illegal. During the protests in March-April, it was usual for police - Endless stream of Stalin-era propaganda on TV and in state to subject people on the streets to searches and to confiscate newspapers (and there’s only one non-state newspaper left, and innocent things such as warm clothes and food. The activist scene they only sell it under-the-counter or in some European embas- is also widely penetrated by police and KGB provocateurs, sies) instilling the atmosphere of fear and distrust. - Praising of state and Lukashenko in kindergartens (this one really pissed me off), not to mention schools and universities What about neo-Nazi groups? Do they threaten what - the general atmosphere of fear, as people who believe propa- people try and do? ganda think Belarus is surrounded by enemies and internal They exist around Belarus, but luckily, the situation is not as bad traitors, and those who don’t think that they’ll get in trouble if as in Russia. In many towns and cities, there are strong anti- they speak up fascist movements that keep neo-Nazis in check. Still, Nazis - No job safety at all, as people get fired at will (speaking benefit from the silent support of the state. For example, just Belarusian can be enough), and as new taxes and legislations before I left Minsk, a Nazi concert was announced and held in a bring down whole sectors of local economy vast machine & belarusian interview 9 controlled and managed, for example, other people, ordinary people who were still Brother future is not inevitable. But our through organised religion. part of the system, in order to mount any success depends on a two-prong strategy: However, all through history, many people, effective resistance. The same goes for the creation of autonomous networks and to varying degrees, have proved impossible anarchists. Creating alternative, off-the structures within which we can live more to control and manage in this way. In grid, micro-societies may be important for freely and experiment with new ways of today’s world, anarchists are some of these survival, for making life more bearable for living, and the building up of a mass people, refusing the legitimacy of the State some individuals, and/or for creating new movement that will cause the ‘Vast Ma- and the need for authority, rejecting the ways of doing things, but the goal is to chine’ to disintegrate in the face of its force work ethic, the drive for money and status transform all of society. A few individuals and vitality. and the diversion of consumerism, and heroically fighting back will not accomplish ignoring the existence of borders. In the this. Therefore, we have to have a strategy ‘Traveller’ the heroes and heroines re- that also involves resistance and transfor- semble anarchists. They have chosen to live mation in the ‘heart of the Machine’, where ‘off the grid’. This is the only way they can the vast majority of people are. History has survive as free human beings and resist the shown that although individual action is ‘Vast Machine’. The novel is based on the important, it is only when people in great struggle of these exceptional individuals, number say ‘no’ or ‘we want this’, that cut-off from the rest of society, against the change takes place. The campaign against The interview running concurrently with Machine. Many anarchists also attempt to the Poll Tax was an example of this. this article is with a comrade from Belarus, have as little to do with society as possible - Individuals may have found ways of now living in England which, though of not engaged in official ‘work’, living in avoiding the Poll Tax but this did not bring interest in its own right, illustrates many of squats or camps and travelling to different an end to it. But when masses of people the points made in this article. They show countries to help with struggles. As the refused to pay, the government caved in. the constraints on political activity that State becomes even more intrusive and The same could happen with ID cards. It is make it very difficult to organise. Though in repressive, some individuals are forced into not enough for anarchists and a few others Britain anarchists do not experience such ‘disappearing’, living under assumed to find ways of avoiding its imposition, we repression, we must not become compla- identities, leaving their homes and coun- need to build a mass movement against ID cent; the British State is moving in the tries. Therefore, having alternative net- cards where thousands and thousands of direction of increased surveillance and works and ways of living that are indepen- people are refusing to have anything to do repression of opposition movements. As dent of the State and capitalism are crucial with them. The protests against the G8 in mentioned above, Islamic groups are to both our resistance and survival. How- Petersburg could not have been repressed if feeling the brunt of surveillance and ever, we want to do more than resist; we the small anarchist and alternative move- repression. The point to be taken from this want to transform. These alternative ments in Russia and Europe had been interview is that despite the repression, they networks, structures and cultures will form joined by thousands of ordinary Russians. not only manage to fight back, but stress the the basis of the creation of a new society. We can not only turn back the tide of importance of having a public presence and But this is not enough. As the characters in repression and surveillance, but create an are aware of the need to win over others to ‘The Traveller’ discovered, they needed alternative society. The descent into a Big anarchism. What do you do or can you do to resist and fight back is far more successful than its counterpart in Russia. It is quite against all of this? well-organised, although you can’t also discount the fact that First of all, we spread information: news outlets with anarchist fascists in Belarus are not as dangerous as in Russia: they have viewpoint, propaganda of self-organisation, informational support less criminal background, there are many disorganised bonehead of grass-roots initiatives, and critique of the establishment (both groups with no direct backing from state or church, and there is the state and the opposition parties). The recent creation of Indy strong anti-fascist sentiment in the general public, caused both by Media (IMC) in Belarus has certainly increased the amount of World War II memories and the traditional Belarusian mentality activity in this area. of tolerance. Somewhat related is the (sub)cultural activity, such as organiza- One area that begs for further exploration is the labour movement, tion of expositions, concerts, satirical movies (“Navinki” group which was thoroughly destroyed in the late 90s. Belarusian has grown to be very good at the latter), etc. workers are disorganized (“official” trade unions obviously serve Now and then, anarchists start or get involved with other indepen- entirely different purposes), and there’s also a divide between dent initiatives. For example, we managed to form a strong workers and intellectuals, with most anarchists being intellectuals anarchist core within the Minsk Linux User Group, our example and having huge difficulty (if they are at all trying) finding of self-organization has led many MLUG activists to form better contact with workers. Even worse, there is another divide: opinion of anarchism, some of them have become anarchists between the city and the village. themselves. The Critical Mass movement in Minsk was started by This divide is illustrated by the make up of the Spring 2006 anarchists from Belarusian Anarchist Federation group. The IMC demonstrations: 99% of the participants were young intellectuals, Belarus was initiated by anarchists and to this day remains mostly students of humanitarian and IT colleges and universities. strongly pro-anarchist. No attempts have yet been made to get working class people Then there’s also an anti-fascist movement across Belarus, which involved. hungarian revolution 10 1956: the hungarian revolution Organise! remembers the fiftieth anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. The Soviet army advanced into Eastern Europe in 1944. If certain people believed that this would lead to liberation, they were soon to be proved wrong. Not only was capitalism not abolished but the old fascist regimes, like those in Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, which had operated as willing junior partners of the Nazis, were maintained in a sense in that the old political structures were maintained. The personnel of the regimes were for the most part, kept in place. The Soviet leader Molotov remarked that above all “law and order had to be maintained to prevent the rise of anarchy”! The new Hungarian government had at its head Bela Danolki-Miklos, a general decorated by Hitler and who had acted as go-between linking the Nazi regime and the fascist government of Admiral Horthy, who in 1919 had launched an horrendous White Terror against the first Hungarian Revolution. Horthy, because of his Magyar nationalism, had proved to be an unsteady ally of Hitler, who had sent in a German occupying army. Many Hungarians were stunned when Danolki-Miklos, a Nazi dignitary who still recognized Horthy as the legitimate leader of the country, was put in place at the head of a government, with the window dressing of a few socialists and Communists. The Soviet regime had an objective of controlling the country through setting up a Hungarian Communist Party divested of any elements who still dreamed of any real form of communism. The Party gained control of the Ministry of the Interior and its secret police, the AVO. In 1948 it got control of the Ministry of Defence. It chopped up the opposition by allying with one current against another. It used torture and murder and repres- sion. The forces of repression were a curious mixture of the old scum of the Horthy