Autonomous Actiondays 29.7.-2.8. 2008 Helsinki

Squatters of Helsinki invite you to Helsinki for five days lasting
actiondays for autonomous freespaces, culture and freedom.
Althrough the whole last year the city has been shaked with an unseen
chain of occupations of empty spaces to build an autonomous social
centre, there is still no permanent autonomous freespace in Helsinki.
The city has tried to convince us that they are looking for proper space
before the short-term lease-contract for Social centre Rajatila expires
in august. Still, it seems that the city has none or is not willing to
offer anything.
The situation from the squatters point of view is very clear: either the
city gives us the space or we will take it.

*We invite you to take the struggle back to the streets with us!*

during the five days we are going to bring forth different sides of
autonomous activity. These days will be filled with concerts, workshops,
discussions and also
demonstrations and direct action. It is time for the city of helsinki to
understand that the struggle for autonomous spaces is not going to end.

Year 2008 has brought great victories for the movement for freespaces,
when the ungeren in Copenhagen finally got new spaces after Ungdomshuset
was evicted and demolished, and the struggle for Köpi in Berlin achieved
30 more years for the house. We want to give our own add for the
international struggle for autonomous spaces. We wish for your help and
potential in this battle that we want to bring forth during the actiondays.

The passed year has shown that united we are unbeatable! No more
evictions! For radical autonomous freespaces!

If youre coming to Helsinki for the actiondays, please inform us how
many people are coming. We are able to accommodate people in the
Autonomous Social Center Rajatila and we attempt to offer at least one
warm meal in a day. We are also going to arrange a conversation between
foreign and finnish squatters, so if you want to brief about your own
experiences, we would really appreciate that and be happy if you could
contact us beforehand. You can announce yourself by sending an email to
actiondays@riseup.

*Introductive schedule for actiondays:*

28.7.General Info @ Rajatila
29.7. Autonomous Actiondays begin!
Streetparty for autonomous cultural activity, concert.
30.7. Workshops: Banderoll-painting, law-support, police tactics, street
medic, conversation occasion with the visitors
31.7 Demostration for Radical freespaces - Social center NOW! Concert at
the evening.
1.8. Workshops: police tactics, conversation occasion with the visitors
2.8. The end of actiondays: Reclaim the city, party in the evening

There will also be surprises for every day. We hope that you are able to
join the info at 28.7.
More info will be found from our websites www.valtaus.org
as the actiondays approach.

The struggle continues!

____________________

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark

Hello comrades,

This is a translation of the document publicly distributed here in Greece
by members and ex-members of the athens IMC plenum. Despite the fact that
the distribution of the proclamation has only just started, it has already
aroused a large, wide and public dialog in the political community of
Athens.

This dialog as you might imagine, concerns the current state of the athens
imc collective
We are sending you this proclamation in order to inform the wider IMC
community about the events that took place within the athens imc
administration team and led to the publication of this text. We strongly
feel that everyone should be informed on what is going on inside the
collective for the last 2 years and why people have left or were forced to
leave the athens imc collective as these are problems that perhaps other
indymedia centers around the globe have already faced, or will face in the
future.

We think that it�s not just an internal conflict but something much more
political and important as the current administration team of the Athens
IMC strongly promotes censorship and political discrimination on the
published material at the site of athens imc, thus endangering the very
existence of the indymedia center.

In brief, Athens indymedia collective has turned into a really small group
of persons who have very little to do with the indymedia culture. For
example just this small group has managed to throw out of the assembly the
majority of the collective using petty methods and violence (physical and
psychological). The so called open assembly of the Athens indymedia
collective has ceased to function following the golden rule of the
consensus in the decision making process and is gradually turning into a
small Stalinist group that doesn't follow the Principles of Unity of the
indymedia network. So under these circumstances it was easy for some
persons to discard more than the half of the Athens indymedia collective.

Nevertheless we won't give up. We have already made a first big step with
the publication of the following reclamation and solutions and
propositions have already begun to emerge, with the support of the
Athenian political community. For the first time in quite a few years now
the subject of IMC is reentering the political agenda and a lot of people
are expressing their opinions on what is happening here.

We will keep you posted.
The text that follows is the reclamation that is distributed in Athens.

�The exiled part of the Athens IMC plenum�

=============================================


What is Athens Indymedia? Τhis may be a wrong question to begin
with. Without it being able to be defined clearly, since each one can
have his own point of view on it and since it's not something static,
but it changes like the movement itself does, we could say that Athens
Indymedia is not a specific thing which purposes to a specific goal.
It grants our need for information in a totally different way than how
the mass media do. It is an electronic tool, open to everybody and not
only to �specialists�. Communication and information becomes
bidirectional, not one-way, and every post is open to further
commenting. Surely, besides its informing complexion, Athens Indymedia
is also a space for exchanging ideas and experiences, since many times
on the occasion of an article, long debates have began, in which
everyone can participate.

In other words, we try for Athens Indymedia to be a space with
anti-hierarchical and direct-democratic structure, with an anti-regime
role and in its fields (information, discussion) to materialize these
characteristics, premising the principle of consensus. For these
characteristics to be safeguarded, an editorial guideline is being
used as the common minimum political agreement, whereby the published
material is being �rated� from the administration team and the users,
and the basic principles of every IMC worldwide are being adopted.

There must be an administration team (A.T.) which cares for this
project's good functionality and its evolution, so that it stays
alive. Obviously, for these characteristics to be preserved, the A.T.
must function according to these and each individual who participates
in the A.T. must uphold such structures and purposes.
But, our experience from our participation in the administration team of
Athens Indymedia, showed us a completely different situation. Specific
people systematically manipulate the team's meetings and they attain this
by any way could serve their purposes, which we will hereby mention.

At first, as an external consequence of these people's behaviour over
the medium, the Athens IMC is getting further and further from what it
claims to be: a medium for non-mediating information, a weapon of the
people who fight and form the radical, revolutionary, antagonistic (or
name it as you wish) movement. How could it be something like that,
when the administration of the posts is prejudiced? When personal
sympathies are of higher priority than the editorial guideline? When
the site users are treated as people who don't need any answer or
discussion and not as political individuals. When criteria for editing
and posting features are based on "what we like"? When discussions are
being administrated in favor of one or another aspect, without any
compunction, because some of the administrators support one or another
side? How can a tool like Athens Indymedia be anti-hierarchical, when
administrators and users have been constantly separated? And finally,
how can it be any of what it claims, when terror, slander, physical
and psychological violence prevail within the A.T.? After all, how are
we going to reclaim the media, if its administration is being more and
more condensed, ideologically closed, detached from us?

Results of all these things mentioned above, happening in Athens IMC,
are obvious to a lot of people, affected by those. They are not just a
consequence of random occasions or natural large-scale changes within
the movement; instead, they come as a result of very specific
manipulations by very specific people, in the administration team, who
have been committed in expropriating the administration of the medium
at any cost.

At second we would focus on the internal consequences of some people's
behaviour towards the plenary of the Athens IMC. We saw, that because
of these people and because of the ones who didn't react to the
authoritative behaviour of the former, the plenary cannot bear the
principles mentioned above (anti-hierarchy, direct-democracy,
consensus), since it has to deal with personal attacks, threats,
violence and expulsions. There is an unofficial central committee
which doesn't report to anybody (not even to the ones who react) while
requiring from the "workers" to obey their decisions; blocking with a
veto new people that they don't like; mercilessly insulting,
threatening, provoking and defaming members of the group; even making
fractionising efforts, in order to exclude the arguers, the "annoying"
ones. We would need plenty of pages to even summarize what has
happened and been spoken in and beyond the plenary of the AT; and
there is definitely, no space for the documents that we have in prove.

Some cases are indicative:

*

4 incidents of violence against members of the Administration Team
by the same person (while the plenary was taking place, even once
against a young female comrade)
*

Expulsion of people from the collective
*

Unjustified disqualification of A.T. members from internal digital
tools (removing access, dropping accounts etc).
*

Members of the A.T. (some of them were forced to leave) have been
defamed for being dangerous, traitors, unreliable, indy.gr* agents,
agent provocators sent by political organisations, non-political,
tech-freaks, sexists etc...
*

Personal threats like "I will find you and I will ..."
*

Blocking the return of an ex-member with a veto, and turning the
plenary into a trial including a full bill of indictment.
*

Dispersing the Technical Team of Athens IMC.
*

Putting limitations on the operation of a radical website hosted on
athens imc server, maintained by another collective
*

Re-occurring deletion of internal discussion posts and widespread
censorship on the opinions of the A.T. members.


Of course, the text you have been reading is not the first reaction
against what has been happening beyond the Athens IMC operation. We
have found ourselves in a dead end, facing such practices, and the
alternatives we had to choose from, either led to no results, or we
didn't follow them for preserving our political principles. The tactic
of trying to give small battles, based on argumentation and a right
attitude according to what Indymedia is supposed to represent, was
meant to fail: the arguments were unfortunately weaker than the
expulsions, the vetos and the politician tricks. The option of
applying the "talion law" required us to be immoral, which is not
allowed by our political culture. Fascism cannot be fought with
fascism, nor can hierarchy be fought with applying authoritarianism.
The end does not justify the means. Staying inactive and distant,
would lead us into being guilty due to our silence. Quitting would not
be a solution either; not after so much contribution to the medium and
since we have both personal and collective opinion for what should
function in another way.

Due to the vain authoritarianism of some people, the current state of
the Athens IMC administration is described by a totalitarianism, an
increasing distance from the spaces and the movement ideas and by a
widespread sense of decay. All these make us believe that there is a
movement's need to re-define from scratch the role, the character and
mainly the organisational structure of Athens Indymedia.

We don't quit, we denounce. We won't remain silent in front of the
authoritative practices we face. Time has come for a wider discussion
to be opened, among the medium's users, on how to reclaim it.

The exiled part of the Athens IMC plenum

Animix - DevNull - dpdt1 - fourier - LA - matafanas -

mathousalix - T@kis - tespa - vevek � giorgos - Thodoris M.

Turning reality on its head

Financier, philanthropist and would-be philosopher George Soros puts the global financial crisis down to policy mistakes and wrong thinking. Gerry Gold thinks he is wrong.

George Soros is a complex and contradictory individual. His character, attitude to life and motivation have been shaped by direct experience – surviving the Nazi occupation of Hungary, escaping the Stalinist occupation, studying in England, and in 1956, moving to the US to become one of the world’s most successful speculative investors, setting up and running one of the first hedge funds. In 1970, in order to bypass regulations, he and a partner set up the private investment company that evolved into the Quantum Fund. In the following ten years its value enlarged by more than 40% every year, more than 3000% in ten years.

But if, like me, you open Soros’ latest book expecting to find a deep and detailed analysis of the causes and consequences of the global financial and economic crisis, and a well-developed and mature programme for solving it, you will be disappointed. The New Paradigm for Financial Markets: The Credit Crisis of 2008 and What It Means is, however, fascinating in other ways. So persevere.

Soros traces his own struggle for a way of thinking and acting in the search for a better understanding of reality which will enable us to improve the human condition. Over the years his operations in the world’s financial markets have made billions for Soros and for those who have worked with him. He attributes his success, at least in part to “reflexivity” – an analysis of the relationship between thinking and reality, which he began to develop whilst a student of philosopher Karl Popper at the London School of Economics in the 1950s.

In the post-war 1950s, the search was on for an economic and political philosophy to oppose to the fascist dictatorship and Stalinist bureaucratic despotism which had dominated the previous period. Many of those who falsely equated Stalinism with Marxism flocked to Popper. He claimed that his insistence on “falsifiability” as the basis for scientific method invalidated Marx’s claim to have provided a scientific analysis of law-governed social development.

In searching for an explanation of the behaviour of markets, Soros found himself pushing Popper’s Enlightenment-suffused method for the acquisition of knowledge to its limits and beyond. Soros rejects Popper’s insistence on the unity of scientific method. Where Popper argued that, in the search for ultimately unattainable truth, the same methods and criteria must apply to the study of social affairs as to the study of natural phenomena, Soros argues that the participants in social affairs act on the basis of fallible understanding. This fallibility introduces an element of uncertainty, and hence unpredictability into social affairs which is not present in the natural sciences.

Soros’ account picks apart his struggle to break from the limits of Popper’s one-sided view of scientists as observers. Soros explains how his theory of “reflexivity” introduces a two-way relation between people, the subjective part of reality, and the objective part which the human mind seeks to comprehend and change. Soros, however, limits his view of reality to financial markets. The narrowness of this view gives rise to a fatal weakness in his explanation of the current crisis, and a mistaken confidence that financial authorities can take effective measures to avert a disaster.

Soros is clear – and correct – that the crisis arising from the bursting of the US sub-prime mortgage bubble “is not like the others which have occurred in recent history” but was the trigger which pushed “a much larger boom-bust sequence” beyond its “inflection, or crossover, point.” He writes: “We are in the midst of a financial crisis the likes of which has not been since the Great Depression of the 1930s.”

But he assures us that “the banking system will not be allowed to collapse as it did in 1932 exactly because its collapse caused the Great Depression.” This confidence appears to be based on the belief that the credit genie can be put back in the bottle. “Ever since the Great Depression, the authorities have been remarkably successful in avoiding any major breakdown in the international financial system.” It is almost as if he is using the inductive logic – because the sun has risen everyday, it will always do so – that his mentor Popper rejected.

Soros identifies three trends which are combined within the super-bubble: the long-term trend towards credit expansion, the globalisation of financial markets, and the progressive removal of financial regulations together with the accelerating pace of financial innovations. The first of these, credit expansion, “is the result of the counter-cyclical policies developed in response to the Great Depression. Every time the banking system is endangered, or a recession looms, the financial authorities intervene, bailing out the endangered institutions and stimulating the economy.” This is as far as Soros goes in looking beyond the financial sector to the world of production. And that is the source of the weakness of his analysis.

What Soros sees as policy mistakes – the victory of the neo-conservative, free-market liberals – are seen as the source of the now inevitable recession. Blinded both by the narrowness of his view, and by his own success in exploiting market movements, he tries to persuade us that the situation can and will be remedied by correcting the errors and returning to regulation.

But this explanation turns reality on its head. As we have shown in A House of Cards, credit expansion, eradication of regulation, and the globalisation of financial markets were necessary consequences of the inner drive for the expansion of capital – in a word growth. It was the objective necessity for the growth of capitalist commodity production taking the form of transnational corporations that found its reflection and subjective expression in the rise of neo-liberals led by Milton Friedman, not the other way round. Of course the neo-liberals became the primary formulators of policy worldwide. But they were the spokespeople of capital. And today, no matter how loudly the proponents of Keynesian re-regulation shout, the logic and the practice is for the destruction of surplus productive capacity, as can be seen in industry after industry.

Soros has spent part of the profits from his speculative investments on a broad spectrum of philanthropic and political campaigns. His interventions here too are guided by his theory. His Open Society Institute works in a wide range of areas to advance human rights. It provides or at least attempted to provide support for the victims of the cyclone in Burma, gives grant aid to Reliance, an NGO campaigning on violence against women in Chechnya and the surrounding regions and has recently launched a global drugs policy program to focus on improving the rights of drug users. A collaborative campaign launched in April this year will advance human rights for people with disabilities. These and many more are commendable in their own right.

These interventions take their direction from Soros’s critique of Popper’s concept of open society and the subsequent experience of America influenced by post-modern philosophies. As an antidote to the totalitarianism of fascism and what he termed ‘communism’ Popper proposed that democratic society can provide freedom of thought and expression for the citizen who engages in critical thinking, and the cultural and legal institutions that can facilitate this.

However, in recent years, reality has blown Popper’s concepts apart. Since 2004 in particular, Soros has found himself at odds with post-modernism and its expression in the Bush administration, particularly in Bush’s senior adviser, Karl Rove. The US administration uses a method which openly seeks not to seek the truth, but to manipulate it. The “War on Terror” is the consequence of this. Soros quotes an interview with a presidential aide believed to be Rove, published in the New York Times to illustrate the point:

The aide said that guys like me were ''in what we call the reality-based community,'' which he defined as people who ''believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.'' I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. ''That's not the way the world really works anymore,'' he continued. ''We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality -- judiciously, as you will -- we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.''

In the introduction to his 1998 book The Crisis of Global Capitalism. Soros told us about the motivation, which then lay behind his life’s work: "I want to make it clear that I do not want to abolish capitalism. In spite of its shortcomings, it is better than the alternatives. Instead, I want to prevent the global capitalist system from destroying itself.”

In reworking his theory of “reflexivity” at the end of what he has described as a 60-year credit-induced boom, Soros may be hoping that, like Popper before him, he too will be recognised as a saviour of the capitalist way of life. The theory takes up around a third of the 160-page book, and Soros says in conclusion: ‘My main purpose in writing this book is to demonstrate the validity and importance of reflexivity. The moment is auspicious. Not only has the prevailing paradigm – equilibrium theory, and its political derivative, market fundamentalism – proven itself incapable of explaining the current state of affairs, it can be held responsible for landing us in the mess we are in. We badly need a new paradigm.”

He is right about that.

But the policy proposals he puts forward are all directed towards restoring capitalism to health, bringing speculative activity under control as part of the regulatory framework needed to prevent the crises he sees as the inevitable consequence of the operation of free market. His latest philanthropic intervention is in the housing market. His foundation is co-ordinating a package of measures to “increase and co-ordinate foreclosure prevention advocacy, including counselling and referral services, legal assistance, loan remediation, and preventive outreach and education. Its primary mission is to keep borrowers in their homes.”

Admirable. Or is it? Dig a little deeper and you discover that the real intent is to attempt to prevent the collapse of the property market, to keep people tied to making interest payments, and where they can’t, to throw them onto the streets and replace them with someone who can. “Even with sweeping reforms,” he says “many homeowners will be unable to afford to stay in their homes.” What should be done? With local governments facing “the daunting prospect of huge inventories of distressed properties being dumped on the market … the trick here will be to ensure that those properties do not fall vacant or into the hands of absent owners, but rather are quickly transferred to responsible buyers who occupy and maintain their properties.”

Trick indeed. The capitalist leopard hasn’t changed his spots after all!

poster about nationalism and the macedonian issue

We made a poster against nationalism concerning more specifically the
macedonian issue. This poster has been printed in a large 70*100 format
and is being placed in Thessaloniki these days.

anarchist occupied factory FABRIKA YFANET in Thessaloniki

In this city
That in 1920 lost its muslims
That in 1940 lost its jews

That thereafter the greek patriots eliminated the lost’s traces and made out of it a rampart of greek nationalism, conservatism and populism
That was flooded by people in 1992 in the rallies for the construction
of national consent under the irreconcilable nationalistic motto « macedonia is greek»

That today observes a rational management of the issue in a style of
streamlined nationalism that is based on “economic infiltration” and the ideal of a “powerful Greece ”

In this country

That sobs at the opening ceremony of the olympic games That becomes emotional when the national music hit wins a respective contest

That Greek sports fans lynch the one that will never become Greek That anti-imperialism and anti-americanism of the left goes hand in hand with the nationalistic rhetorics

That the veto in national organizations is celebrated as an act of might and a political step up to the club of the powerful

That the name Macedonia has been identified with the symbolical structure of the powerful Greece to such an extent that recognition of the historical inhomogeneity of the greek population constitutes fear of a crack in the national core

In this region

That the primary objective of the national states has been to annex by arms and propaganda a bastard population par excellence

That the composition of powerful nation states is the lever to unhindered capitalist development

That the liberalization of the market bestows on the capital a homeland, the population of which it pauperizes

That offers to every willing Greek cheap sex and affluent delights at privileged prices, affirming with brutality and cynicism his national superiority

There are some people that are bastards with a memory Because the dilemmas concerning the naming are without meaning Because we do not feel macedonian since we do not fit any national identity, greek or macedonian

Because our enemies are not the national ones

Because we are inspired by examples such as the history of Federacionin Thessaloniki , the Bulgarian anarchists, the thousands of Slav deserters, the defenders of a multinational Sarajevo , which transcend the national identity Βecause if a society without states and homelands seems far away today, then our only duty is to fight so that it becomes a reality tomorrow

Nomadic AntiWarCafé this Friday in Berlin

this friday the nomadic antiwarcafe will take place for the first time.
it starts at 12 am at the mariannenplatz. come around for a coffee, to
chill out and to get the newest information about anti-war-initiatives.
at dawn, we will probably show the film "sir! no sir!".

WHAT IS THE ANTIWARCAFÉ ALL ABOUT?

The idea is copied from the early movement against the Vietnam War. As
knowledge
alone will not drive anyone to get active against war projects, we want to
open
up an open space to meet, to exchange, to collectively think and discuss
what we
can contribute to end concrete warfare and militarist thinking. We not want
to comfort our conscience with a little critique here and there, but want
to do
our share to stop war as a means to push through an order that leads to ever
more social inequality, exploitation and misery.

Breathtaking! Impossible? If at all, we will only be successful if we join
our
forces, experiences, traditions of resistance, if we bring together our
knowledge
and backgrounds at this one point ...

The Nomadic AntiWarCafé is meant to be a place for discussion and to get in
touch with one another - people who had to experience life in conflict
zones and
those, who allegedly live far away from wars - a space for small info
events and
films, to enjoy a cold drink and relaxed coffee-community, a
sharing-spot for
news and a visible expression of activities against war. It is also meant
to be a meeting place for activists from all over the world.

By "nomadic" we mean that we will pitch up our tent regularly in public
places
for the day, and pack up in the evening again. One week later we will come
back
to the same spot or build up elsewhere.

We are also looking for people willing to support the idea in various
ways: to help
organizing, to get the tent up and down, make coffee, actualize the info
board,
be our d-jane for a while, start discussions, translate, contribute
positions
and creative ideas (of resistance), invite others...

The Nomadic AntiWarCafé will start every Friday noon somwhere in Berlin
You will find the exact place www.stressfaktor.squat.net under the tab
„Termine“

Lets create one, two, many AntiWarCafés!

Anarchy in Bulgaria: An Interview

A Bulgarian organizer and ‘zine publisher describes current anarchist projects in his country, discussing how Really Really Free Markets work in an eastern European context and addressing the local relevance of CrimethInc. texts from the United States. Contacts are included for those hoping to connect with anarchists between Sofia and the Black Sea.

Describe your group: how many people are involved, how long have you been active, how do you make decisions together? What projects have you been involved in?

I am part of 2 groups. The one is called “Anarchosaprotiva” (AnarchoResistance). It is based in Sofia and now we are something like 6-10 people. The group has been active since 2001. I joined this in 2004. We have a meeting every week. We don’t have any particular scheme to talk and make decisions.

It’s more like a friendly conversation and when we have ideas to do some action all of us should agree and get consensus about the thing, but everyone is free to do whatever he/she wants outside of the group. The group used to publish a monthly leaflet called “Anarchosaprotiva” as part of the Bulgarian anarchist newspaper “Svobodna Misal” (Free Thought). Now there are a lot of changes in the newspaper which is published by FAB (federation of the anarchists in Bulgaria) and this supplement is stopped being publish in the newspaper. The group has done a lot small protests actions against the militarization and the war in Afghanistan and Iraq. We and our Greek friends from Anti-Authoritarian Movement Thessaloníki organized a No Border Camp in Bulgaria and No Border Actions in Greece to support the freedom of movement and the illegal immigrants jailed in a illegal detention center in Venna (Greece). Some of us also have been part of the Food Not Bombs group here in Sofia which lasted for 6 months but now is dead. We have also done some creative anti-elections actions and took part in a lot of ecological protests. We put out some anarchist leaflets and distribute them during protests, concerts and at some video screenings that we organize.This year we also organized 2 times a Free Festival (Really Really Free Market).

I am also part of another group based in Razgrad. It’s not an official group. We are just a bunch of friends that do some small local actions. We are 5-6 people. The best thing is that we have started organizing this Free Festival since last year. Now a lot of people are enthusiastic by this idea of free sharing. We are very happy that we opened an Infocenter in Razgrad. It is open once a week for a couple of hours. We are a little dependent on the owners of the building. It is some school center project but the people running this place are very nice and gave us 1 big room to put literature and movies and we organize video screenings, presentation and music concerts there. My other side project is this Katarzis zine. I started doing it 2 years ago inspired by CrimethInc. I translated some texts and then got the idea to put them together, so this is how everything started. Now some people have started to help me. we write news about actions in Bulgaria, interview anarchist bands and write some our texts.

Which anarchist communities outside Bulgaria do you have the most interactions with and influence from? Greece, the US, Turkey, other places?

Maybe the most interactions we had with Anti-Authoritarian Movement from Thessaloníki (Greece), but we also have connections with a lot of anarchist groups around Europe. Now we get in touch with People’s Global Action network and will try to organize local Balkan network amongst the activist communities to share information, ideas, to support each other and to do some international action together. We have been influenced by the anarchist communities all around the world, but for most of us the biggest influenced is the CrimethInc. Collective.

How many of the projects you carry out in Bulgaria are based on formats (such as the Really Really Free Market) that you have imported from other contexts, and how have you adjusted them to fit the context in Bulgaria?

We have started with 2 projects based on such “formats” and one is now dead. Some of us were part of a Food Not Bombs group in Sofia. The idea fitted for the context in Sofia, because it is big and developed city following the western pattern. Bulgaria is also part of NATO and spent a lot of money on military actions and support the war in Iraq and Afghanistan so it was good idea to do such kind of actions. There are also a lot of homeless people in Sofia and we decided to help them in someway and to distribute antimilitaristic and vegetarian propaganda at the same time. We were collecting food from 2 big markets and from a couple of restaurants and bakeries. We managed to build good infrastructure and we did actions every Sunday for near six months, but then the summer came and most of the people hit the road and when the autumn came we were very few left, organized 3 more actions and then everything died. The other project based on such a “format” is this Free Festival we have started doing since last autumn. We have heard about this initiative in the USA and thought this was great idea and could be started here in Bulgaria. I think this is a universal model and could be put into action everywhere all around the world. In some countries there is this consuming way of life and the people could share the things they don’t need instead of throwing them; in other countries which are undeveloped there isn’t an excess of such kinds of goods, but the people could share other things like food, skills, songs, any kind of art, etc.… I think this is one of the best examples of what anarchy in practice is.

In what ways is it different to hold a Really Really Free Market in Razgrad or Sofia than it is to hold one in the USA?

I think there isn’t a big difference. Maybe the only difference is the living standard of the people. So while you could find a stereo system or a computer at a USA Really Really Free Market, this is almost impossible at a Bulgarian Really Really Free Market. The people here share mostly old clothes, shoes, books, music CDs, and toys. We try not to limit the event to be only a free market for products, but as a free zone where everyone is stimulated to take part, to play, to dance, to live a free life. And the good of this event is that everyone contributes to it. We only give the idea and set the date about it and the people come and do it.

Do you feel the public response to Really Really Free Markets is different in countries that used to have a “communist” government than it is in countries that have always been openly capitalist? Or is the relation to property the same?

I don’t think that there is big difference in the public response. Bulgaria was under “communist” government 40 years and the last 17 years of “democracy” have opened the door to unrestrained capitalism. So most of the people in Bulgaria have started to behave like the others in the Western world.

You mentioned taking some influence from CrimethInc. In the United States, some people criticize CrimethInc. by saying that the ideas associated with it are only relevant to middle class people in wealthy countries, that poor people outside the USA can have no use for them. Looking at this question from Bulgaria, what is your perspective on this critique? What have the responses been to the texts you’ve translated? What have people found useful and what has not been useful? How have you changed things to make them more useful, or decided which things to focus on when picking things to translate?

Maybe it’s true that most of the CrimethInc. tactics are not relevant for poor countries. For example, dropping out in a way of quitting your job and make a living by dumpster diving is extremely hard and almost impossible in Bulgaria. I agree with the idea of not supporting the capitalist system at all but sometimes and especially if you are alone it’s almost impossible to be out of this system and you need to work in order to survive. But I still think that if you live collectively with close-minded friends you could arrange your life in an alternative way. Most of the Roman (Gypsy) people in Bulgaria are kind of drop outs and they are still alive and exist somehow. This critique on such kind of CrimethInc. tactics exists here, too. Even some anarchists from FAB (Federation of the Anarchists in Bulgaria) blame us that we are fake and pseudo anarchists following the “modern” Western anarchism, that we are some kind of hippies and distract the attention from the main enemy which is “the state and the capital.” So we are also being criticized and have some conflicts even in the anarchist circles. But on the other hand I see that a lot of young people are interested in the projects we do. Most of the people like the zine we do and I think that the most inspiring thing is this romantic anarchism. In the beginning the zine was only consisted of translations from Days of War, Nights of Love and Recipes for Disaster. Some of them were not useful for the situation in Bulgaria, but it’s always nice to get some new ideas. We try to put these ideas into action and to change them to suit for the situation in Bulgaria.

Food Not Bombs was one of these projects. It’s possible to do it in Sofia because it’s a big city, but sometimes we were not able to collect enough food so we had to buy some stuff. We wanted to organize a Food Not Bombs group in Razgrad too, but it didn’t happen. It’s kind of impossible. We were looking for leftover food at the market but it’s almost nothing for us. So we decided to try this Really, Really Free Market and it has suited perfectly for this small town. First—the idea is great and the people are likely to share, second—nothing interesting happens in Ragzrad and event of this kind attracts a lot of attention, even the local media was interested and supported us. We were also looking for a place to squat and do an infoshop, but there are very few abandoned houses, which in most of the cases are almost destroyed. So we got in touch we some institutional organization (a school center) and asked for a place. They liked the idea for an alternative infocenter and gave us a hand. So we have this infocenter now, we are a little dependent on the building owners and could not do whatever we want in there but for now this is the best project we have done.

What are the best ways anarchists in North America can support the projects of anarchists in the Balkans?

Sometimes even an encouraging word is enough to make you feel better and continue the fight. When we are desperate the only thing that help us to not give up is to know that we are not alone, that there are other people like us around the world fighting for a better life. I am not sure what are the best ways anarchists in North America could support the anarchist projects in the Balkans. Maybe first we have to get in touch and get to know each other, to exchange information and ideas about the projects we do, to share books and other propaganda materials.

Please give a list of projects and groups in Bulgaria that could be useful to anarchists in the rest of the world, with contact information for each one.

Infocenter “Ecotopia” – this is an alternative information center based in Razgrad. It has a reading space and library with various anarchistic, environmental, anarchafeminist, animal rights, subcultural etc. materials. The place is open for video screenings, discussions, concerts, exhibitions, etc.… so anyone who is passing nearby get in touch: infocenter.ecotopia@gmail.com


Autonomous anti-authoritarian group “AnarhoSaprotiva” – this is an anarchist group based in Sofia. www.aresistance.net; aresistance@riseup.net

Katarzis zine – this is a zine with news from the local anarchist scene, some texts about everyday anarchism, environmentalism, animal rights, anarchafeminism, practical tips and interviews with music bands: katarzis@riseup.net

www.music.a-bg.net – this is an online zine focused on the DIY scene with a lot of information about actions, music, animal rights, practical tips, etc. . . sfti.diy@gmail.com

www.a-bg.net – this is an anarchist portal of FAB (Federation of the Anarchists in Bulgaria): fab@a-bg.org

Thanks so much!
Thank you, too!
In solidarity,
xITSOx

PGA POSTER

5th Peoples' Global Action Gathering in Europe – North Greece / Thrace 18th / 25th of August

5th Peoples' Global Action Gathering in Europe – North Greece / Thrace 18th / 25th of August

PGA - People's Global Action - started in 1998, it has been a tool and a diffuse structure coordinating groups and people sharing common struggles and practices, in accordance with various anticapitalist and anti-authoritarian principles (see the hallmarks). PGA initiated the Intercontinental caravan in 1999, as well as international action days of actions against the G8, the WTO, the World Bank, the IMF... In Seattle, Genoa, Prague, and in a number of less popular events, PGA was a driving force behind numerous actions and reflections. At the convergence of
international initiatives and local struggles, groups close to the PGA are now looking for new drives to challenge stagnation.

In Europe, groups who identify with the PGA principles meet about once every two years, through the initiative of a "convenor" collective. Since 1998, these conferences have been the opportunity for several days of exchanging practices and knowledge, and of establishing bonds, which allow us to be better organized in common actions.

The 5th gathering of Peoples Global Action in Europe this time will take place in Greece.

A responsibility of organizing and coordinating the discussion that opened in the last meetings of PGA europe has taken by a decentralized network of activists and collectives in Balkans. Thats exactly and the essential advantage of this initiative. The convenor is not a local collective like other conferences in the past but a vital balkan decentralized network.
On the preparation all of these months several questions , problems as well as ideas for taking action are allready mentioned by all of us who involve with a conference here!!! Again in the Balkan region!

We would like to open a long discussion about local activism in combination with a global perspective. In other words we want to discuss about the future of the PGA network and its process as well as the various projects , topics and ideas for action.

As a reference example : the following topics that we are allready working or we want to invite people to open meeting spaces during the PGA conference.

Autonomous spaces and squating , patriarchy , gender , radical feminism , anti repression , anti militarism , biotechnology , environmental struggles , indigenous spaces , antiglobalization , G8 , DIY activities and sharing skills , fanzines , infoshops , PGA infopoints , land and autonomy , eco communities , digital struggles and autonomous servers , indymedia tools , precarity and flexibility , radical theory , productive networking , local alternatives , activism , other , be continued

if you wanna take part on the meeting we need the following information from you !! please send us as soon as possible at con2008@no-log.org .. have it in mind that our dynamic is not the best one and we need a lot of international support and definitely to know how many people are planning to join the meeting .. you need also sleeping bags and probably a tent ..

info that we need from you

name of your collective (if you belong in a collective)

number of people

workshop or topic who you want to organise (name of your workshop , what do you need for it , for ex do you need a projector?)

if you wanna participate In the kitchen (we definitely need it as well)

THE LOCATION OF THE GATHERING

after long discussions we felt that the best place in Thrace for the PGA gathering to take place is the Pedagogical Department of the Alexandroupoli University in the suburb of Hili.

The reasons are the following:

1. Alexandroupolis is near the border and accessible by road and railroad and has a harbor and an airport that connects to athens, so it's the easiest to reach for most people.

2. The University buildings there are relatively new , have easily accessible bathrooms, and are relatively cool (at least for Greek standards).

3. The suburb of Hili is 5-10 minutes by bus to the center of Alexandroupoli ,but far enough to ensure privacy.

4. Alexandroupoli is the destination of at least two pipelines (one for oil, one for gas) and therefore we felt important to have the PGA right at ground zero of one of the major issues we want to discuss. It is also near Venna refugee concentration camp which opens the possibility of No Border actions.

YOU MUST TAKE CARE ABOUT THE FOLLOWING

Of course not everything is peachy: The university dean is a right wing asshole with a grudge against anything remotely libertarian or anarchist. As long as we don't commit a felony in campus grounds he can't kick us out legally but he might show up with bouncers to try to provoke a fight and generaly mess things up. Please keep your heads cool, as much as i'd like it, any violent response to the asshole is gonna give him the excuse to involve police and mess the whole thing. And since we mantioned police, police in alexandroupoli are a bunch of fucking bullies and might stop and harass people they don't like the look of, so please keep your ID's or Passports with you when leaving campus and please, please ,please DONT CARRY ANY ILLEGAL SUBSTANCES. Because of the harbor and the alternative/hippy/raver tourist wave to Samothraki the police are always on the prowl for anything they can get their hands on, drug sniffing dogs Are plenty etc etc.

This is the situation folks , please ask anything because WE don't know what else to mention. Oh, there are no showers but we can easily rig a couple of outdoors showers so no problem.

PGA Hallmarks

1. A very clear rejection of capitalism, imperialism and feudalism; all trade agreements, institutions and governments that promote destructive globalisation.

2. We reject all forms and systems of domination and discrimination including, but not limited to, patriarchy, racism and religious fundamentalism of all creeds. We embrace the full dignity of all human beings.

3. A confrontational attitude, since we do not think that lobbying can have a major impact in such biased and undemocratic organisations, in which transnational capital is the only real policy-maker.

4. A call to direct action and civil disobedience, support for social movements' struggles, advocating forms of resistance which maximize respect for life and oppressed peoples' rights, as well as the construction of local alternatives to global capitalism.

5. An organisational philosophy based on decentralisation and autonomy. PGA is a tool for coordination, not an organization. PGA has no members and does not have and will not have a juridical personnality. Nor organisation or person represents PGA

in solidarity

international working group of the 5th PGA conference