ESF: Join the anticapitalist Block!
Northerneuropean Anticapitalist Network (NEAN) | 13.10.2004 12:53 | European Social Forum | Globalisation | Social Struggles | London
1. Call out for an Anticapitalist Block in the international Demonstration at The ESF
2. Interesting workshops and seminars in London.
2. Interesting workshops and seminars in London.
Smash capitalism - against precarity – reclaim flexibility
Thousands of people come together at the European Social Forum in London to discuss how another, better world can look like and what steps are to be taken to achieve this change. As many others we are concerned and outraged about the obvious lack of democracy, equality and justice in Europe and in the world.
The European governments are constantly militarising their foreign policy. Together with the USA they go more and more often to war, in order to enforce economic and strategic interests. European armies are highly involved in the occupation of Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq.
At the borders of Europe an undeclared war against immigrants is taking place that has already killed well over 5.000 immigrants. However this new border regime is challenged everyday, and often successfully, by thousands of women and men, who succeed in crossing the borders. Migration is a powerful, autonomous social movement of people building better lives, deserting oppression and the poverty of their home countries.
On the other hand we have to see the social and economic function of the European border regime. Rather than really sealing the borders it is a selective mechanism of inclusion of the migrants (and of migrant labor) through their illegalization.
The situation of the paperless immigrants is an extreme example of what we call precarity. Precarious life is defined by unsteady income and forms of non regulated and highly exploited labour. As the neoliberal transformation of society is proceeding, precarity of work and life becomes a widespread general phenomenon that affects millions of people. Social security and social rights are replaced by the build-up of police forces, public surveillance and more prisons.
We are convinced that there is no way back in the lost world of permanent work with nine-to-five working days. The hopeless attempt to preserve the last remains of the social democratic welfare model can’t open up new perspectives as it was designed for old way of working. Flexibility is exactly what we struggle for - but not in the sense of the neoliberal project, where flexibility means the complete submission of individuals under the needs of capital. We want to reclaim flexibility, we want to be in control of our time, our work and our lives – and at the same time to break the rule of capital.
Protests and appeals are not enough to change the world - we need to connect and organize the struggles of our everyday lives, in order to create the counter-power that can overcome and abolish capitalism. We do not need new or old centralized parties, but the resistance has to be built up both locally and globally and must be under full democratic control by the people themselves. In the face of capitalist globalisation we need a globalisation from below: an international network of anti-capitalist resistance.
That is what we want to discuss on the various events we attend and that is, why we call you to participate in the
ANTICAPITALIST BLOCK
in the International Demonstration, Oct 17th, 1 p.m., Russell Square
Northeuropean Anticapitalist Network.
Interesting workshops and seminars in London:
Inside the official ESF:
1. Reclaim the commons
Workshop arranged by the Northeuropean Anticapitalist Network, ACT! (Berlin), Chainworkers (Milano) and others.
Saturday, 11.30 a.m. - 1.30 p.m., ULU 3 A, Malet Street
2. The demagogic use of anti-globalisation phrases by the far right
Seminar with AVANTI, United and others
Saturday 11.30 a.m. - 1.30 p.m., NATFHE, 27 Britannia Street
3. Anti-dystopia and Euroradical identities
Workshop with Michael Hardt arranged by chainworkers (Italy), Global Roots (Copenhagen), Globalisation from below (Stockholm) and others
Saturday 7.00 - 9.00 p.m., ULU Upper Hall, Malet Street
Inside the "autonomous spaces":
1. Life despite capitalism
Event on ‘Commons and Communities’. Several NEAN-groups will participate in the workshops.
Saturday 9.30 a.m. - 6.30 p.m., London School of Economics, Clement House, Aldwych
2. Creating Free Public Transports
Workshop with Globalisation from below, planka.nu (Sweden) and pummit.org (Finland)
Thursday, 1.30 - 3.00 at BEYOND ESF, Middlesex University, White Hart Lane Campus
3. Social Centre Project
Workshop arranged by Wombles (UK), Globalisation from below (Stockholm) and Siperia (Finland)
Friday, 11.00 a.m. - 12.30 p.m. at BEYOND ESF, Middlesex University, White Hart Lane Campus
4. First Assembly of Europe's Precariat
at BEYOND ESF, Middlesex University,
Saturday, 4.00 - 6.00 p.m.
International Demonstration:
SUNDAY, 1.00 p.m.
Come to the Anticapitalist Block: SMASH CAPITALISM - against precarity - reclaim flexibilty
Thousands of people come together at the European Social Forum in London to discuss how another, better world can look like and what steps are to be taken to achieve this change. As many others we are concerned and outraged about the obvious lack of democracy, equality and justice in Europe and in the world.
The European governments are constantly militarising their foreign policy. Together with the USA they go more and more often to war, in order to enforce economic and strategic interests. European armies are highly involved in the occupation of Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq.
At the borders of Europe an undeclared war against immigrants is taking place that has already killed well over 5.000 immigrants. However this new border regime is challenged everyday, and often successfully, by thousands of women and men, who succeed in crossing the borders. Migration is a powerful, autonomous social movement of people building better lives, deserting oppression and the poverty of their home countries.
On the other hand we have to see the social and economic function of the European border regime. Rather than really sealing the borders it is a selective mechanism of inclusion of the migrants (and of migrant labor) through their illegalization.
The situation of the paperless immigrants is an extreme example of what we call precarity. Precarious life is defined by unsteady income and forms of non regulated and highly exploited labour. As the neoliberal transformation of society is proceeding, precarity of work and life becomes a widespread general phenomenon that affects millions of people. Social security and social rights are replaced by the build-up of police forces, public surveillance and more prisons.
We are convinced that there is no way back in the lost world of permanent work with nine-to-five working days. The hopeless attempt to preserve the last remains of the social democratic welfare model can’t open up new perspectives as it was designed for old way of working. Flexibility is exactly what we struggle for - but not in the sense of the neoliberal project, where flexibility means the complete submission of individuals under the needs of capital. We want to reclaim flexibility, we want to be in control of our time, our work and our lives – and at the same time to break the rule of capital.
Protests and appeals are not enough to change the world - we need to connect and organize the struggles of our everyday lives, in order to create the counter-power that can overcome and abolish capitalism. We do not need new or old centralized parties, but the resistance has to be built up both locally and globally and must be under full democratic control by the people themselves. In the face of capitalist globalisation we need a globalisation from below: an international network of anti-capitalist resistance.
That is what we want to discuss on the various events we attend and that is, why we call you to participate in the
ANTICAPITALIST BLOCK
in the International Demonstration, Oct 17th, 1 p.m., Russell Square
Northeuropean Anticapitalist Network.
Interesting workshops and seminars in London:
Inside the official ESF:
1. Reclaim the commons
Workshop arranged by the Northeuropean Anticapitalist Network, ACT! (Berlin), Chainworkers (Milano) and others.
Saturday, 11.30 a.m. - 1.30 p.m., ULU 3 A, Malet Street
2. The demagogic use of anti-globalisation phrases by the far right
Seminar with AVANTI, United and others
Saturday 11.30 a.m. - 1.30 p.m., NATFHE, 27 Britannia Street
3. Anti-dystopia and Euroradical identities
Workshop with Michael Hardt arranged by chainworkers (Italy), Global Roots (Copenhagen), Globalisation from below (Stockholm) and others
Saturday 7.00 - 9.00 p.m., ULU Upper Hall, Malet Street
Inside the "autonomous spaces":
1. Life despite capitalism
Event on ‘Commons and Communities’. Several NEAN-groups will participate in the workshops.
Saturday 9.30 a.m. - 6.30 p.m., London School of Economics, Clement House, Aldwych
2. Creating Free Public Transports
Workshop with Globalisation from below, planka.nu (Sweden) and pummit.org (Finland)
Thursday, 1.30 - 3.00 at BEYOND ESF, Middlesex University, White Hart Lane Campus
3. Social Centre Project
Workshop arranged by Wombles (UK), Globalisation from below (Stockholm) and Siperia (Finland)
Friday, 11.00 a.m. - 12.30 p.m. at BEYOND ESF, Middlesex University, White Hart Lane Campus
4. First Assembly of Europe's Precariat
at BEYOND ESF, Middlesex University,
Saturday, 4.00 - 6.00 p.m.
International Demonstration:
SUNDAY, 1.00 p.m.
Come to the Anticapitalist Block: SMASH CAPITALISM - against precarity - reclaim flexibilty
Northerneuropean Anticapitalist Network (NEAN)
e-mail:
info@avanti-projekt.de
Homepage:
http://www.avanti-projekt.de
Comments
Hide the following 5 comments
Question
13.10.2004 14:35
H
Sh.. That's Precarity not pecarity
13.10.2004 15:17
..
Precarity
13.10.2004 15:23
Precarity defined in the above article ^^^
F
Precarity and flexibility
13.10.2004 16:56
Also, I like the idea of "Reclaim Flexibility!".
I remember seeing a group of protesters on a demo with a banner that said "Stop co-opting freedom". The neo-cons and neo-libs have tried to claim freedom as their own. Witness George Bush's "freedom loving people". America is fighting a war on terror to defend "freedom". "Freedom Fries". "Free Trade". The "Free market". All these forms of freedom are not really about freedom at all, it's all just bullshit. So we have to "reclaim freedom" from those who have turned it into an Orwelian euphemism for anti-freedom.
And now we've got people banging on about "Reclaim Flexibility" which sounds to me like a good idea.
Witness Tony Blair and his emphasis (particularly when addressing the 'business community') on the importance of a "flexible labour market".
Flexible sounds like a good thing. Let's make everything a bit flexible. Better than keeping everything stiff and rigid. So it's playing around with language like that trying to sound nice and progressive and reasonable and happy and fluffy and friendly. But what does it actually mean for labour to be flexible?
Well what it means for our opponents is that they want to make it easier to sack people, pay them less, refuse to recognise union rights, cut down on holidays and pension rights and generally cut the costs of employing people. Which sounds considerably less benign. Hence the euphemism "flexible".
But real flexibility could be a good thing. It could mean that rather than the worker having to be flexible towards their employer's needs, it could mean that the employer has to be flexible with the workforce. It could mean that people are free to choose how much work they want to do each week, what hours they want to do, whether they want to do most of their work at their workplace or (if practical) at home, how much holiday they want to take, opportunities to have employer-sponsored training (which would benefit both sides) and so on. Or even free to work for a number of people on a free-lance basis and pick and choose what work you want to do for who and when.
So here, the emphasis is on flexibility as a form of *workers' rights* as opposed to Tony Blair's warped and twisted form of flexibility which is all about reducing the responsibility of employers to their staff.
When Tony Blair, with his weasel words, talks about Britain having "the most flexible" labour market in Europe, he's essentially talking (euphemistically) about deregulation. When Tony Blair talks about "flexibility" what he really means is precarity.
We're all against precarity. But potentially, real flexibility could be positive thing. So I like the slogan "Reclaim Flexibliity" because it suggests that instead of condemning the neo-liberals' proposal of more flexibility, we should tell them to stop abusing the english language and reclaim words and ideas that should be ours.
They've taken our "freedom" and our "flexibility" and turned them into the opposite of what those words should mean.
Of course all this semantics may seem largely symbolic and of no practical consequence, but what they're really saying is we need smash neo-liberalism and maybe capitalism too.
So let's get on with it :-)
Ozymandias
Down With Precarity - we want Flexicurity
14.10.2004 05:40
the right have really capitalised on the desires of workers for a flexible life
but against wot is hapening, we demand FLEX-CURITY
the posibility to take time to do family.care and love work
and not be reduced to being paupers
there is a life woth living and winning
so lets go for it
this revolution will not be terrorised
and will be actualised
@samba qween
e-mail:
info at rhythmsofresistance.co.uk
Homepage:
http://www.rhythmsofresistance.co.uk