Interview and action : Congress of CNT anarchist union

After the Congress of CNT, interview with Secretary General.. from ainfos with thanks.. en castellano abajo

From 4 to 8 December the latest Congress of CNT took place in Zaragoza. Given its relevance to the libertarian movement (in all aspects) and given the expectation that accompanies such events, we wanted to interview someone in the permanent secretariat of the confederal committee to explain to us firsthand his opinion on what he has seen these days and the practical effects of these decisions.

Aquest matí han estat detinguts dos companys de la CNT-AIT de Barcelona, els quals també són militants d’Acció Llibertària de Sants, per la seva participació a la campanya de boicot a El Corte Inglés que ambdues organitzacions hem promogut. Aquestes detencions estan emmarcades en un procés més ampli, donat que s’han produït, precisament quan les companyes es disposaven a donar suport a un grup de persones imputades al llarg del cap de setmana, per la mateixa causa. — 2 comrades of the CNT-AIT of Barcelona who are also militants Acció Llibertària of Sants barrio, have been arrested at the behest of management for their participation in the boicott campaign supporting strikers at the El Corte Inglés right wing chain stores . Black Friday began a series of pickets, sabotage and road blocking.

First I want to thank the colleagues from Alasbarricadas for their interest in the CNT and the celebration of our XI Congress and its important work in spreading anarchist initiatives,and their contribution to the theoretical debate.

Now that you’ve finished, how do you see the Congress in general terms ?

In general, we can speak of a particularly productive congress in several ways.

First, the quantity and quality of the papers that were submitted for debate and approval of the unions. Keep in mind that the CNT has its own rhythms and that Congress is only the end point of a long process of internal debate that began a year ago. In this congress unions have presented papers covering very serious fields of action and strategies of the CNT but we will discuss them later. Secondly, we have seen the internal cohesion of the CNT the maturity of the organization. No one is unaware that the CNT came to this conference in a very delicate and difficult internal moment, after the last de-federaciones of several inoperative small groups and the problems with the previous Secretary General. However, there has been a unity and determination to make strides. The debate in the plenary has been respectful and fluid, which has not happened in previous congresses which were more tense, and reached a depth and much higher level of analysis.

Also in the commissions the level of consensus has been very wide . This does not mean that there have been tensions and disagreements, but that resolution has not been problematic.

What points approved in Congress, do you think are the most important?

For starters, the CNT has now been defined not only as a class organization, autonomous, self-managed, federalist and internationalist but also as a feminist organization, understanding that the struggle against patriarchy is inseparable from the struggle against capitalism and against any form of domination, and indeed union action that has defined the Congress for the coming years has been impregnated with this view. Continue reading “Interview and action : Congress of CNT anarchist union”

Iranians warm up winter with ‘Kindness Walls’ free shops

A new movement in Iran is making sure the nation’s homeless stay cozy as frigid winter temperatures set in

Tara Kangarlou @tarakangarlou

Iranians may not observe Christmas, but as much of the West celebrates this year’s holiday season many in Iran are also embracing the spirit of giving, one wall at a time.

The “Kindness Wall” movement — in which ordinary citizens hang clothes on walls as donations for the homeless during Iran’s cold winter — is picking up across the country, which has long struggled under the weight of economic sanctions imposed by the West over Tehran’s nuclear program.

It’s not clear how or where the movement started, but Iranian newspaper Hamshahri said it likely sprang from one man’s goodwill gesture in a neighborhood in the northwestern city of Mashhad. Continue reading “Iranians warm up winter with ‘Kindness Walls’ free shops”

Colombia’s City of Women: The War Goes On

How a group of female victims of violence displaced by Colombia’s conflict united to build their own city.

by Maya Thomas-Davis, Julia Zulver from AJE with thanks

Dayanera and her daughter at the stand where they sell food to neighbours; opportunities to make money are limited, and often confined to the community itself. [Julia Zulver/Al Jazeera]

“We made little cardboard houses and put them in a big box, and you reached your hand in and pulled one out … ‘What number are you in? … Aiyee! you’re my neighbour!'” says Lubis proudly. “It was an amazing experience. From that moment forward, we thought as a collective.”

Lubis, one of the leaders of the League who helped to build the City of Women [Julia Zulver/Al Jazeera]

Lubis is the owner of one of the 98 life-size, concrete realisations of those little cardboard houses and one of the leaders of the Liga de Mujeres Desplazadas (League of Displaced Women), the Colombian women’s group. The organisation’s efforts have built a community known as the City of Women, to restore the right to housing to some of its most vulnerable members and their families.

Based in the northern region of Bolivar, the Liga is a grassroots group run by and for women who are victims of the conflict between the government, right-wing paramilitaries, crime syndicates and leftist armed rebel groups, such as FARC, a battle that is still ongoing despite a peace process which began in 2012. The six-decade long conflict in Colombia has displaced more than six million people, hitting indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities in particular.

While most of the combatants in this war’s armed factions are men, more than 50 percent of those forcibly displaced by it are women. It is estimated that half of these have experienced sexual violence: perpetrated systematically mainly by paramilitary groups, but also by state forces and rebel groups. Continue reading “Colombia’s City of Women: The War Goes On”

São Paulo 136 Occupied Schools fight on: Student Victory March

update 12th Dec. VICTORY!. The ‘school decimation’ has been suspended for a year and the Education Minister Voorwald has resigned. Many occupied schools have decided in assembly to CONTINUE OCCUPYING, calling for total cancellation of government plans and solutions for many other issues.

update thurs 10 Dec.. 136 schools are still occupied!!!

BY ERIN GALLAGHER REVOLUTION NEWS Students and teachers in São Paulo continue to protest against conservative Governor Alckmin’s attempts to “reorganize” the educational system in São Paulo which will involve closing almost 100 schools.

The student movement is fully autonomous and self-organized with protesters mostly between the ages of 13 to 18 occupying high schools around the city.

As of the time of this publication, the website keeping track listed a total of 219 occupied schools. Plans for the reorganization have been temporarily suspended so occupation numbers may be dropping. The student movement has gained such support that some students in Italy have now occupied a school in Rome inspired by the student occupations in Brazil.