Spunk Library

WS47 International anarchist News

    from Workers Solidarity No 47

    paper of the Irish anarchist
    Workers Solidarity Movement

South African Anarchists Organise

In 1989 one of the first anarchist organisations in modern
African history came into existence.  This was the
Awareness League of Nigeria.  The AL had a membership
of over 1000 people at the time of its formation and,
despite the severe repression in that country, it has
continued to function as one of the organisations fighting
the military dictatorship there.
Now a further organisation has begun to work for the
objective of anarchism in Africa - this is the Workers
Solidarity Federation (WSF) of South Africa.  The WSF
was formed in 1994 and it publishes a newspaper called
Workers Solidarity.

APARTHEID
The first issue of this paper contains major articles on
Anarchism, the Student Struggles in South Africa, the
current situation in Nigeria and the recent local elections
in South Africa.  In a short article on the 1994 General
Election the WSF note that the election - and the formal
ending of apartheid - was a massive advance for the
struggle in South Africa allowing for freedom of
association and speech for the right to strike and protest.
Further on, however, they warn that the legacy of
apartheid is still with us.  2.3 million South Africans
suffer from malnutrition.  Only 45% live in houses.  Only
2 out of every 10 Africans finish school At the same time,
5% of the population own 80% of the wealth.  The WSF
notes that the ANC government has set itself very
limited goals to redress this.
The WSF is, at this stage, a very young organisation.  Yet,
its very existence at this time in South Africa is proof
positive that anarchist ideas are growing again as an
important force on the left.  Anarchists and socialists
everywhere will wish them the very best.  The WSF can
be contacted at PO Box 1717, Rosettenville, Joburg 2130,
South Africa.  Please send a donation if you want a copy
of their paper, Workers Solidarity.

Anarchist students win in Australian NUS election

Reports from Australia indicate that an anarchist influenced
student initiative called the Non-Aligned-Left has been
elected to almost all the regional National Union of
Students officer ships and is the largest faction on the
national officer ships.  The NUS represents some 450,000
students.  It is the first time the Australian Labour Party has
lost control of any state NUS branch and the first time non-
Labour factions have had a majority on the national
executive.

According to NAL activist Marcus Westbury "The NAL has
existed for only 2 years. They have grown from a handful of
delegates to the second largest NUS faction primarily
because of their commitment to participatory decision
making, a non hierachial structure, and their non binding
nature."

Czech anarchists mobilise against fascists

According to a local correspondent, there was a day of
action against "racism, fascism and police terror" in
Brno in the Czech Republic on December 9th 1995
organised by the Czech Anarchist Federation and Czech
Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice (SHARP).  There
has been a rise in both paramilitary fascist groups and
'respectable' parliamentary ones in recent years
growing out of both anti-Gypsy and anti-immigration
racism.  Some 60% of Czechs, according to polls, are
hostile to Gypsies.

A number of people have been killed in recent years by
fascists but the police ignored the fact that these killings
have been carried out by fascists.  A previous but
smaller anti-fascist march in 1992 was attacked by a big
group of fascists but this time the larger march spotted,
attacked and drove off a gang of fascists despite the
police attempting to protect the fascists.  Three people,
all anti-fascists,  were arrested after this incident.

513 anarchists arrested in Greece

On November 18th this year after an overnight battle
with police and fascist gangs on one side and Greek
anarchists on the other riot police stormed Athens
Polytechnic and arrested 513 of the 2000 mostly
anarchist occupiers.

The occupation of the polytechnic is an annual
demonstration to commemorate the massacre of
students carried out there in 1973 by the brutal military
junta which then ruled the country.  The media
attempted to portray the occupation as the work of a
handful of teenage hooligans and went as far as using
'live' footage which was actually from riots last year.  In
actual fact of those arrested only 40 were under 18.

One eyewitness reported how "one man was caught by
the police in the evening. He was brutally beaten up by
25 police officers. He was taken behind a police car and
kicked on the  head by high-rank police officers, he was
already unconscious. He was then delivered to the
hospital. Reporters' videos' of that scene were taken
away by the police. Other reporters helped wipe the
blood of the street."

In the course of the attack and defence of the building
some 2.5 million dollars of damage was done to the
building.  Not surprisingly the anarchists were charged
not only for this damage but also with 'invading the
Polytechnic', and 'destroying a national symbol' by
burning Greek flags.  Over 100 have now been
sentenced to jail terms of between 4 and 40 months.
This is the latest of an apparent wave of repression
directed at Greek anarchists which has included bizarre
accusations like blaming them for the forest fire that
swept a suburb of Athens this year.
**************
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  RBR