133 lines
4.6 KiB
Plaintext
133 lines
4.6 KiB
Plaintext
The information in this file was recently published in FREEDOM -
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the fortnightly anarchist journal published by FREEDOM PRESS:
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FREEDOM PRESS (IN ANGEL ALLEY) 84B WHITECHAPEL HIGH STREET,
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LONDON E1 7QX GREAT BRITAIN
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Do write for a sample copy or for a copy of our booklist of
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publications. We will be putting more of this information out so
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watch this spot...
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ITALY
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Italy has recently seen much debate within the anarchist movement
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about the question of self-management. Here we bring you a
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contribution to this debate. We feel sure that the Milan group
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would be interested in hearing from readers of Freedom interested
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in and/or involved in this area...
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The experiences of the last few years have allowed us to conclude
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that the established or institutionalised left is totally
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incapable (on either a theoretical or practical level) of
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responding concretely to the needs and demands of the people. The
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rugged debate around the themes of federalism and use of language
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by groups who have nothing to do with such concepts and the
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continual attempt to present oneself as 'new' in order to cover
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up past skeletons provide us with the general framework within
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which has fermented the experiences and movements which, over the
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years, have started to redefine, in practice and with a self-
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managed development, new ways to face up to the demands of daily
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life. In this way people began to turn to craft, agricultural and
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entertainment activities which either used modern technology or
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reproduced more traditional modes of production, but always had
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as their final objective the effective control of people's work
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and their lives. Social centres, alternative banks, self-managed
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schools, squats, producer or consumer co-operatives, self-managed
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musical productions... such are some of the phenomena which have
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been adopted by the self-management method.
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In the 80s, such practices were recognised by a denial of the
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"projectual' and political dimension to which was opposed a kind
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of minimalism which can be summed up in the small is beautiful
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slogan. Over the following years these groups began to realise
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that shutting yourself off in your own cocoon was pointless; in
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fact it ran the risk of bringing with it a progressive implosion
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that would wipe out or denaturalise the experience, giving ground
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to market forces and those of profit (or quite simple
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extinction). In addition a long and painful process was begun
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(still today in its early stages) of confronting and opposing to
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similar groupings which had usurped the self-management label. It
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was in this way that the first exchanges began, the first
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contacts: we were painfully seeking to escape from the margins, a
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kind of ghettoisation to which the dominant society would send
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these ideas which in the long run could put the organisational
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terms and conditions of the state in jeopardy, which in itself
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reveals a fragility and more and more clearly an incapacity to
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answer to, in an acceptable fashion, the demands of ordinary
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people.
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Thus, after a meeting which took place in Bologna, over the last
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few months we sought to verify in a concrete fashion the
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potential for a movement both divided and contradictory but also
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full of energy and potential. That is to say that we thought the
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value of this exchange, of concrete experiences as abstract
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elaborations, would be that it could provide a new springboard
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for expansion and bring about the opportunity for further
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exchanges and the spreading of the movement. Moreover, if the
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economic crisis (and above all the question of employment) brings
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to light the inability of capitalism to answer to the primary
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needs of a large part of the planet... then it seems to us that
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the moment has arrived for us to begin to set up the
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opportunities for dialogue between the different tendencies which
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exist amongst those concerned with self-management.
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In essence, our ambition is to develop an atmosphere in which
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the different groupings concerned can be put in contact with one
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another so that opportunities for dialogue can be brought into
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being and nurtured concerning the fascinating if difficult area
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of concrete utopias. This is a necessary first step for those who
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wish to escape from the marginality of the ghettos into which
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those with power would condemn us, contributing towards the
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opening up of new political and social spaces of co-operation and
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exchange outside of the market.
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LE MONDE LIBERTAIRE October 94
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