A-Infos (en) Summit of the Americas: NEFAC propaganda

["Groupe anarchiste Émile-Henry" <emile.henry@sympatico.ca>]

 ________________________________________________
      A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
            http://www.ainfos.ca/
 ________________________________________________

[Here's the texts of the 4 pages tabloid NEFAC is
currently distributing in Quebe-city]

" Anarchists
you only see them when you fear them "

Apparently it's because of us that  a fence will be
built in the middle of the city, with 6500 cops around
it. We are anarchists from the North East. You will
understand that, in this context, we have one or two
things to tell you.

Even though we have not collectively decided on a
common tactical line (believe it or not, not all
anarchists are only dreaming of a black bloc), the
television and newspapers have been warning you
against us for months. Some, not knowing who we are
--we are masking up well-- and probably believing that
all anarchists must have crasy eyes and frothing
mouths, warned us against ourselves.

On the struggle against the Summit and FTAA

For us, the struggle against globalisation is
inseparable from the struggle against the economic
system that is the basis for it: capitalism. We are
radically against capitalism, and we oppose
globalisation because it worsens the situation. For
us, capitalist enterprises are private tyranny,
dictatorships, in which waged workers only have those
rights they have gained from hard struggles.
Capitalism creates an unbelievable wealth and it keeps
the economic ball rolling, that's true, but it's at
the price of an incredible concentration of said
wealth and an extreme exploitation of natural and
human resources. As capitalism has not eliminated
misery, (quite the contrary, it feeds it), and leads
us to our death because of the search for profit that
is done at the expense of any other consideration
(including ecological ones), we don't see any reason
to back this system.

At the same time, we don't believe states are victims
of globalisation. They are leading the way. The proof
is that the FTAA is not only a strong arm approach by
the bosses and corporations but a project that has
been prepared in the offices of foreign relations
ministries of the 34 members of the Organisation of
American States (OAS, the group organising this
summit). We go further that this: we say that the
state, which rests on authority and the power of
elites, is not part of the solution. There's no reason
to back a system of governement that systematically
goes against the interest of the vast majority of the
population and, what's more, takes the right to impose
on all the decisions of the rich and powerful. The
state is a cold monster. If democracy still means
something, it can only be built outside and against
the state.

We are for a radical struggle, one that  goes to the
roots of the problems, and that is uncompromising. We
refuse the rules of the game and, so, refuse to trap
ourselves in the limits of the 'possible,' and small
reforms without concequences. We are not against every
reform per se, some are indeed good and can go against
the logic of the system, but we are against reformism.
We are revolutionnaries: if on the road we can get
some important concession from the powers that be,
fine, but you'll never see us beg for crumbs. Our
alternative is libertarian socialism, which is an
economy based on self management, the satisfaction of
the needs of the people and direct democracy. In the
face of the Summit of the Americas and FTAA, we adopt
an attitude of categorical opposition and
confrontation.

Let's unite in one big anarchist contingent on A21

Are we violent? No. In general we are not violent, and
beating up people at demos is not part of our
practice. While we don't plan on attacking people in
the street or setting Quebec City on fire, however, we
reserve for ourselves an absolute right to
selfdefense, and we refuse pacifism. We believe this
to be reasonable. If we are physically attacked, we
will respond in kind. The truly violent are those who
prepare for the summit by accumulating tear gas,
plastic bullets and pepper spray.  Those who enact
laws and measures that will put hundreds of thousands
of poors in the street, those who let pharmaceutical
corporations make bilions on sickness causing the
death of millions of people, those who are
copyrighting life and creating dependance and hunger.
In a word, those who put their profits before our
lives. These are the ones we should fear, not the
anarchists.

If you share these few ideas, we invite you to march
with us Saturday under the red and black anarchist
banner. During the day of the 21st, our idea is not to
divide the movement nor provoke it, but rather that
all anarchist tendencies deploy and become as visible
as possible. Not visible for the mass-media that
always recuperates to their advantage that which
attacks the basis of the capitalist system, but
directly visible for folx out there in the street,
with us. However, our discourse will not be
compromised and we will not let reformist forces
recuperate our mobilisation in any way. We therefore
hope for a large and loud anarchist contingent in the
image of the diversity of our movement.

See you at noon
On the Marché du Vieux Port, near the CLAC-CASA
contingent.

Capitalism is a jail !
Let's break the walls !

=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=


International Anarchist Communist Anti-FTAA
Declaration, Québec 2001

AGAINST CAPITALIST GLOBALIZATION ! 
FOR FREEDOM, SELF-MANAGEMENT AND SOCIALISM !

In April 2001, the thirty-four heads of state from the
countries of the Americas, with the exception of Cuba,
will meet in Quebec for the third Summit of the
Americas. Negotiations at the summit will raise the
stakes for the creation of a Free Trade Area of the
Americas (FTAA) by 2005. This free trade agreement
extends accords that have already been adopted (FTA
and NAFTA) from the extreme North of Canada to Tierra
del Fuego. NAFTA has had deadly consequences for
Mexico, not to mention the wounds it inflicted on
workers in Canada and the United States. So we can
already see by this example several of the disastrous
effects FTAA will have on Latin America.

Free trade accords are the masterpieces of
globalization. In effect, they permit the deregulation
and opening of markets by eliminating "barriers to
trade" such as environmental protection and worker
rights. Moreover, these accords contribute to the
privatization and commodification of all things, even
essential services like health care and education. The
phenomenon of globalization clearly doesn't take the
interests of the vast majority of humans into account,
it aims to enrich the handful of new "masters of the
world," namely the financiers and big capitalists.
This globalization of exploitation and pillage is as
ecological as it is economical.  Unemployment,
precarious working conditions, poverty and injustice
are all being globalized!   

And they want us to believe that all this is
inevitable! Well, we refuse to accept the fatality of
capitalist logic. In Seattle, Prague and Nice we
refused to accept it. In Quebec, in April 2001, we
will again refuse to accept it.

We fight for an egalitarian society without borders,
without classes, without sexism, without racism--a
self-managed society where people contribute according
to their abilities and receive according to their
needs. This stateless society will be free and rooted
in solidarity, it will be built on a foundation of
direct democracy. Freedom, justice and dignity are
possible!

FOR AN ANARCHIST-COMMUNIST SOCIETY!

signed; 

Northeastern Federation of Anarcho-Communists /
Federation des Anarcho-Communistes du Nord-Est (United
States, Canada);  
Al Badil alchooii al Taharouri (Lebanon); 
Alternative Libertaire (France);
Ceskoslovenska Anarchisticka Federace (Czech Republic,
Slovakia); 
Workers Solidarity Movement (Ireland); 
Congreso de Unificación Anarco-Comunista (Chile); 
Francophone Anarchist Federation (France, Belgium); 
Federacja Anarchistyczna Bialystok (Poland); 
Priamej Akcie - Anarchokomunistickej Organizácie Práce
(Slovakia); 
Bikisha Media Collective & Zabalaza Books (South
Africa); 
Solidarita - Organization of Revolutionary Anarchists
(Czech Republic); 
Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchichi (Italy);
Organisation Communiste Libertaire (France); 
Autonomist Action (Russia);
Federation of Social Anarchists - IWA (Czech
Republic); 
Siberian Confederation of Labor (Russia); 
Organizacion Socialista Libertaria (Argentina); 
Rézo Maloka (France); 
Anarchist Federation (Britain)

=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=


WHAT'S THE USE OF REFORMS?

When we're talking about reformist activists and
groups, we're speaking of a political current that
wishes to make changes within the current political
structures, in opposition to revolutionary activists
and groups who advocate purely and simply the
annihilation of these strucutres in order to build an
egalitarian society on the ruins of the crushed old
world.

The coming of the globalisation phenomenon has as a
direct political consequence to make of one of the
reformists' most cherished institutions, the
parliament, totally submitted to the many caprices of
multinational capital. But, since Seattle, these
reformists are trying to retake the initiative. Last
january, reformists from all over the world gathered
in Porto Alegre, Brazil, for a "Social Forum", whose
goal is the creation of a new reformist international.
In Quebec, the "People's Summit" follows the same
route.

As long as the people don't give a damn about
globalization, governments don't give a damn either
about reformists. But, once people start to agitate
and the streets start to boil, governments then call
them to the rescue. Effectively, who's in a better
position than a union bureaucrat to speak on the
behalf of the workers in order to defuse an imminent
social explosion? Surely not a pretentious yuppie like
Peter Pettigrew! 

But what do reformists want (apart from subsidized
jobs)? While some of them categorically oppose
globalization, the major reformist current limits its
ambitions to putting a human face on it. Concretely,
reformists are pressuring for the inclusion of "social
clauses" inside free-trade deals.

But what will this change, apart from moving the
battleground from the streets to lawyers' offices?
Nowadays, putting all your bets on legalism is like
throwing away your last shirt (if your chest isn't
already bare...). What can we gain from having an
article on the rights of the exploited in the FTAA
when we already see Ottawa wiping its ass with ITS
Canadian Charter of Rights and Liberties to chat about
democracy "in security" with 34 crooks from the
Americas??? 

But the real desires of reformist leaders is to have
the power to represent "civil society" along side the
big bosses. The joke is that nobody seems to be able
to tell who exactly is part of their "civil society":
are businessmen included? and rioters?? and policemen,
are they part of "civil society"??? 

To talk about "civil society" without mentioning
social classes is like giving a speech on
globalization without uttering the "C" word
(CAPITALISM!). Beyond this, we still live in a society
where the overwhelming majority are dispossessed of
all real power over our future to the advantage of a
priviligied minority.

As millions of our brothers and sisters still put
their hopes in reformism's empty promises, it is more
necessary than ever to reaffirm that the only way to
put an end to this infamous absurdity is to build the
proletarian camp, the only social force with the power
to derail the crazy train that's driving us into a
bottomless abyss. 

Finally, to answer the question that makes up the
title of this text:

REFORMS ARE LIKE CHLOROFORM, THEY PUT US ASLEEP! 

=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=


A WELL PREPARED MADNESS

Accusing the cops and the government to have lost thei
minds with their security measures is already giving
them too much of an alibi: madness. Now, the highest
ranks officers of our democratic police-state know
exactly what they're doing. They've been working on it
since one and half year. They've been elsewhere, in
Seattle, Prague, etc. to compare.  

To be mad, is to lose control. Now, that's exaclty the
opposite what is NOT happening. The Summit of the
Americas' ultrasecurity operation is well planned,
they they didn't left any room for improvising.

By it's dimensions, the security measures go largely
well beyond it's original purpose. Quebec 2001 is in
some way a laboratory of antiglobalization repression,
if we only consider the fact that including part of a
residential neighborhood inside the security perimeter
is a precedent never seen before on worldwide level.

As part of their experimentation, the democratic
police-state can measure the level of tolerance from
Quebec's population regarding such a draconian show of
force. They want to know the limit of where they can
push their thing.

Many others aspects of this ultrasecurity operation
will still be useful for the repressive apparatus once
the Summit is over. The crowd control formations given
to hundreds of cops, the apprentiship of coordinating
different law enforcement agencies on the ground of
operations, the re-equiping in repressive
technologies, etc. 

This, without forgetting that the mass gathering of
intelligence on groups and individual involved in the
mobilization, from the most moderates to the most
radicals elements, will enables to refresh their
political database which could be very helping for the
next upcoming years...

Some activists publicly lamented over mediatization of
the security measures has been made to the detriment
of FTTA's stakes. Nevertheless, the growth of the
repressive force that we can observe as much on a
daily basis than at the occasion of events as the
Summit, is entirely part of the globalization
pehnomenon. How could they privatize a whole continent
without the support on an army of cops?

Trying to ignore this link would would be a great
mistake, because it's only when confronted to
repression that we can evaluate the real force of a
movement. And it's the attitude of this movement
toward repression that will determine the future of
the struggle.

Against the increasing repression, our most powerful
weapon remains solidarity!

=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=

Who we are

The Northeastern Federation of Anarcho-Communists is
an organization of revolutionaries coming from
different movements of resistance who identify with
the communist tradition within anarchism. The
federation's activities are organized around
theoretical development, anarchist propaganda, and
intervention in the struggle of our class, be it
autonomously or by direct involvement in social
movements. 
 As anarcho-communists we struggle for a classless and
non-hierarchical society. We envision an international
confederation of radically democratic, self-managed
communities and workplaces. To achieve this society,
our class will abolish the wage system and socialize
all industries, means of production and distribution.
We reject the division of labor that condemns an
individual to a life of restricted activity for the
sake of the commodity economy. The abolition of
markets and exchange value will allow for the
satisfaction of human needs, adhering to the communist
principle, "From each according to ability, to each
according to need."
	To know more: www.nefac.org

English Language Contact:

Roundhouse Collective
C/O Black Planet Books
1621 Fleet St.
Baltimore, MD 
21231 
roundhouse@mobtown.org

French Language Contact 

Groupe Anarchiste Emile-Henry
C.P. 55051, 138 St. Valliers O. 
Quebec (QC)
G1K 1J0 
emile.henry@sympatico.ca


=====
| Groupe Anarchiste Émile-Henry (à Québec)  :  |
| http://www3.sympatico.ca/emile.henry/eh.htm  |
| Membre de la NEFAC - http://www.nefac.org    |
|----------------------------------------------|
| --> A-INFOS, l'agence de presse anarchiste : |
| http://www.ainfos.ca           (multilingue) |
| http://www.ainfos.ca/fr           (français) |


                       ********
               The A-Infos News Service
      News about and of interest to anarchists
                       ********
               COMMANDS: lists@ainfos.ca
               REPLIES: a-infos-d@ainfos.ca
               HELP: a-infos-org@ainfos.ca
               WWW: http://www.ainfos.ca
               INFO: http://www.ainfos.ca/org

 To receive a-infos in one language only mail lists@ainfos.ca the message
                unsubscribe a-infos
                subscribe a-infos-X
 where X = en, ca, de, fr, etc. (i.e. the language code)