This July I managed to visit two big anarchist festivals – Balkan Anarchist Bookfair and Anarchy 2023 in St.Imier. The first event attracted hundreds of activists mostly from the Balkans and Western Europe, while the Swiss festival had more people from outside the EU.
Tag: Anarchism
How “antifa” from Belarus evicted and captured anarchist squat “Sirena” in Warsaw
A couple of days ago, former antifascist prisoner from Belarus Dmitriy Zvanko with a mob attacked anarchist squat Sirena in the center of Warsaw. The gang used bottles, peper spray, bricks and other things to throw out residents of the occupied building.
Israel? Let’s better not talk about it.
Although for most of the German anarchists the anti-germans are not something to talk about, the agenda that was presented by the pro-Israelian movement took roots in anarchist and leftist circles deep. It goes as far as attempts to pass agreements within the anarchist syndicate FAU to put an equal sign between antizionism and antisemitism. And although the push within FAU so far has failed, the anarchist movement is still getting more and more pressure from the pro-Israelian and clearly statist left to distance itself from work with the Palestinian Diaspora. With that happening inside the country, the complicated issue with the topic of Israel is also pouring outside of it. There were troubles within the international syndicalist groups because of member’s support of the BDS movement which is seen by many german leftists as antisemitic.
For the world without fascism!
This is a transcript of speech given on 8 May rally in Dresden, Germany.
Anarchists are not always welcome in left-wing social centers, and this is not news to us
Political and social movements need spaces. In liberal countries there are many open spaces where activists can hold debates, workshops, and concerts. Germany is no exception. In authoritarian countries the situation is more complicated. But sometimes it is only one step from an authoritarian regime from the former Soviet Union to German leftists.
In 2018, libertarian days took place in Dresden, a week of various presentations, workshops, and actions on the topic of anarchism and libertarian communism. Among other things, I had the idea of bringing comrades who could talk a bit about the situation in Israel. Despite the strong antigerman movement, local leftists and anarchists know relatively little about the situation in Israel, and most of the knowledge is direct propaganda from the right-wing government. This is partly the basis of the antigerman’s success in some regions: they simply repeat the already existing propaganda of Netanyahu and Co.
What the fuck is happening in Ukraine with Belarusian anarchists?
Today Ukrainian secret police tried to deport several Belarusian anarchists who left Belarus several years go in fear of political prosecution. Luckily information traveled fast and while the flat was still raided people started gathering in front of the houses of activists. After some struggle with local police, lawyers managed to get to the activists and stop the whole process. Deportation papers were not sanctioned by any court rather directly signed by SBU (Security Service of Ukraine). After the information storm SBU gave up on deporting the activists to Belarus, however it seems like they will have to leave the country in the next 24 hours.
Understanding what “BUR” is
In texts coming from Eastern Europe the term “BUR” is used from time to time. For some people it might be confusing to understand what it means as it is used mostly by the anarchist activists. This is a text to understand a bit the term and context of it’s appearance in the Eastern Europe.
Please stop talking about left unity
It is quite interesting how depending on the country, the anarchists and many authoritarian and antiauthoritarian left treat the question of cooperation. Quite often the situation does not develop based on the common political arguments. The further away geographically/socially anarchists are from the spots where cooperation between us and authoritarian left didn’t work, the more comes this question of uniting together in one happy family to fight the devil in the form of capitalism and oppression of the working people. I wanted to share a bit of my own experience on this phenomena of left unity.
To ACAB or not to ACAB – on the question of violence and punishment within the anarchist movement
Anarchist movement is full of violence. And I’m not talking about rioting on the streets and burning cop cars. There is enough information to prove that the anarchist movement is not about it.
Почему я не советую товарищам из Беларуси переезжать в Германию?
Сейчас, к сожалению, очень многие анархисты и антифашисты из Беларуси уже выехали из страны либо планируют миграцию из-за репрессий. Понятное дело, что людей интересуют условия проживания в различных странах. Но помимо зарплат и хорошей жизни многих интересуют вопросы политики. Насколько человек может быть активен в той или иной стране со своим опытом беларуского активизма. После нескольких лет в Германии я перестал рекомендовать эту страну товарищам для политической миграции.