A-infos has been active terrestrially for several years now. This list
is intended to give it another dimension.
A-infos was originally set up by anarchist
**
groups and individuals
(members of an organisation or not) who would produce summaries of
information in their locality - in brief, translatable form - for
circulation to other groups so as to help make contacts easier and
spread information better.
This information was meant for publication in anarchist papers,
magazines...
History of A-Infos
In February 1990 German anarchists invited to a European conference on
the requirements and perspectives of international co-operation in the
Netherland town of Venlo. During the meeting it was ascertained that
there had been no continues co-operation between the anarchist movements
of the various countries during the past years. Everyone involved agreed
that one of the main causes for this striking lack of international
co-operation and mutual help between anarchists was the desolate state
of the single movements.
This was further amplified by the fact that
most anarchists had to mainly rely on media under private or state
control as a source of international information. This often resulted in
an enormous informational deficit and a distorted view of the cultural,
economical, political and social conditions in other countries.
It was
also agreed that in the face of common problems and threats such as
strengthening nationalism and the internationalisation of capital power
is more important than ever. Therefore the present groups agreed on a
lose but reliable co-operation for the future to help establish and
support anarchist contacts and co-operation internationally and help
improve the flow of information between the different anarchist
movements - the A-Infos Network.
While this network was originally a
co-operation of European groups, positive international responses
quickly helped expand it to a network of anarchist individuals and
groups world-wide, whose members meet every year to discuss the
development of their work and make decisions that concern the whole
network. Meanwhile groups and individuals from Canada, England, France,
Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Sweden, Spain
and Uruguay participate in the A-Infos network. Members of the network
are glad for any groups or individuals wanting to join the network and
support it with donations, translations, by distributing information or
publishing bulletins from their country. In the end, we want to stretch
the web of information widely and at the same time improve access to it!
The A-Infos Bulletins
One of the first tasks the participating groups decided to realise, was
to regularly publish information-Bulletins. These A-Infos -Bulletins
are meant to contain factual and unfalsified news items on current
events in order to present an authentic picture of cultural, economic,
political and social conditions in each country. Interested people
should have the possibility to inform themselves about world-wide events
independent from state or media censorship and manipulation. A-Infos
Bulletins are usually published in the language of the country they
originate from as well as in English issues and can be obtained directly
from the groups that publish them.
A-Infos goes Internet
In September 1995 the efforts to support contacts, co-operation and
information between anarchists of different countries made another leap
forward as people in Canada and England decided to enhance the A-Infos
concept by the dimension of electronic communication. Two lists were
installed - one for discussion on the A-Infos Network and single events
or subjects and one in which news on current events as well as bulletins
summarising information from different regions and countries can be
published (at the moment, not all A-Infos Bulletins are being published
on this list). Both lists can be subscribed via E-Mail. Furthermore an
A-Infos page was installed on the Internets WorldWideWeb in which all
mails are regularly archived and sorted by language and subject. There
are also plans to open A-Infos newsgroups on the Usenet in the near
future.
Meanwhile, the Spanish A-Infos group has set up its own site on the
Internet containing an archive of their bulletins. A growing number of
A-Infos groups can also be reached via E-Mail.
About the German A-Infos
As one of the founding groups of the A-Infos Network we have been trying
to regularly inform about events in Germany through our German and
English bulletins and to continuously improve the graphic and
journalistic quality of these bulletins since 1990. Our concept is based
on the principles of free and factual information. Free information
meaning a free, easily accessible flow of information in which everyone
can participate as consumer and producer. Therefore we see our editorial
task not so much in producing a magazine for a particular readership but
in summarising and publishing all informations on important events in
Germany. Free information also means, that information should be
available to everyone free of charge. That is why we publish and mail
our bulletins without charge - however, we do expect that those who can
afford it will make donations to cover our costs.
Since August 1995 we have also begun publishing A-Infos Extras in
German and English irregularly in order to improve the topicality of
printed news from Germany, and make people more aware of the need and
advantages of international co-operation. Those A-Infos Extras which are
aimed at an international audience, contain news from Germany while
those distributed mainly within the German anarchist spectre contain
important news mainly from the anarchist movements world-wide.
Certainly this concept can not yet be realised ideally. We had hoped
that the donations of those who can afford it would cover the costs of
those who subscribe A-Infos Bulletins free of charge. Sadly we rarely
receive donations and regularly have to come up for the production and
mailing costs ourselves. Also our coverage is still very much orientated
on publications in the established and alternative press. We are often
asked to include more reports on the leftist and anarchist spectre in
Germany.
Therefore we would like to ask you to help us by sending in short
reports on actions and events, announcements etc. that the national
press covers only distortedly or even excludes. We are also glad about
any friends and comrades who have time to sight and maybe translate
material from other languages or regularly correspond with anarchists
from other countries. Stamp- material- and financial donations are of
course always welcome!
A-Infos Addresses:
To obtain a single issue of or subscribe to A-Infos bulletins of one
country, contact the group publishing that specific bulletin. If you
want to join the network and publish bulletins from your country, let
the other groups know.
- A-Infos Canada: c/o TAO, 320 1 / 2 Bloor St. W, Toronto Ont. M5S
1W5, Canada E-Mail: tao@lglobal.com Do not publish their own bulletin at
the moment (active in organising the A-Infos Internet Project)
- A-Infos England: c/o Freedom Press, 84B, WHITECHAPEL HIGH ST
LONDON E1 7QX UK E-Mail: lingvoj@lds.co.uk Do not publish their own
bulletin at the moment (active in organizing the A-Infos Internet
Project)
- A-Infos France: The french group is currently reorganising Do
not publish their own bulletin at the moment
- A-Infos Germany: c/o Barrikade, Bismarckstr 41a, 47443 Moers,
Germany, Fax.: 49-2151-951806 E-Mail: 101607.2566@compuserve.com Publish
bulletins in german and english
- A-Infos Greece: c/o pob. 11251, 54110 Thessaloniki,Greece
Publish bulletins in english
- A-Infos Italy: c/o Int. Sec. FAI, Via le monza 255, 20216
Milano, Italy Publish bulletins in italian
- A-Infos Netherlands: c/o pb 61523, 2506 AM Den Haag, Netherlands
Publish bulletins in english
- A-Infos Portugal: c/o Maldicao, Apdo. 21447, 1134 Lisboa, Portugal
Publish bulletins in portugese
- A-Infos Spain: Ateneo Libertario de Zaragoza, Apdo. 3141, 50080
Zaragoza, Spain E-Mail: cual@maser.unizar.es WWW: Click here
Publish bulletins in spanish and english
- A-Infos Sweden: Box 15015, 10465 Stockholm, Sweden Publish
bulletins in english
- A-Infos Uruguay: cp. 6730, Montevideo, Uruguay Publish bulletins
in spanish
The A-INFOS mailing list wishes to develop this idea further but also
now using an electronic dimension for communication.
We welcome news, reports, analysis on any subject of interest to
individuals and movements active in the struggle for human liberation.
Anything sent to the list should be considered to be in the public
domain - free for other subscribers to use in any way they wish - a kind
of international anarchist news service. How it will be developped can
be discussed on the parallel list (see below).
Apart from English language postings we welcome, and encourage you to
send, information in langauges other than English. For this reason
please observe the following conventions in your subject line:
. Indicate the language/s your message is written in by a prefix
eg (en), (fr), (ca), (it), etc.
. Indicate if further translations are to be posted/available with a
suffix eg (Fr) Message title (Eng)
(NB This means the message is in French with an English translation
available/to be posted)
This list is a 'mailing' list as opposed to a 'discussion' list. That is
to say should you wish to discuss the content of a message you should
contact the mailer directly. [Now you can also send a post to a-infos-d@tao.ca]
Another list has also been set up to discuss the organisation of this
list:
A-infos-D@lglobal.com [Now it changed to a-infos-ord@tao.ca]
[In the past]
To subscribe to A-infos send a message to majordomo@lglobal.com with
the following in the body: subscribe a-infos To unsubscribe to
A-infos send a message to majordomo@lglobal.com with the following in
the body: unsubscribe a-infos.
[Now, send the post to lists@tao.ca - or click on
to subscribe to one of a-infos lists]
The Quick A-Infos FAQ:
Q. When I reply to a message on a-infos my reply never comes back.
Why?
A. replies goto the relevant a-infos editor and you will probably get a reply.
Q. When I post to a-infos my message seems to come back from a-infos-xx
Why?
A. the mysteries of the universe and the imperialism of mailman...
Q. Can I get the information you are producing in just one language?
A. look into http://ainfos.ca/options.html
Q. I have trouble unsubscribing. What should I do?
A. send an email to postmaster@ainfos.ca saying so
Q. How can I read past messages?
A. http://www.ainfos.ca
Q. Can I forward the articles on a-infos elsewhere?
A. yes, but please keep the footer attached.
Q. When's the revolution?
A. today
