98 lines
4.5 KiB
Plaintext
98 lines
4.5 KiB
Plaintext
IWW DELEGATE ATTENDS EUROPEAN SYNDICALIST CONFERENCE
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Article (slightly edited) from Nov.-Dec.1994 _Industrial Worker_
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European syndicalists were to carry out a series of actions Nov.4
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to protest attacks on the working class throughout Europe. A
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joint leaflet and poster on the theme *Solidarity Against Social
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Exclusion* were distributed across Europe, with space for local
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organizations to add local info.
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The Nov.4 action was decided at a European syndicalist conference
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at Osstersund hosted by SAC (Swedish Workers
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Central-organization). Conferees agreed that our movement must
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define what we want and don't want, and represent our visions as
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an alternative to the compromises of the gutless mainstream
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unions.
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The conference was held along with SAC's 25TH Congress.
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Independent unions participating were Russia's KAS
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(Anarcho-Syndicalist Fed.); Regional Trade Union Assoc. of
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Lithuania; Spain's CGT (Gen. Confed. of Workers); LAB-Basque;
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France's CGT-Corr; Portugal's A Bathalia; Norway's Lonnsslaven;
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Italy's UNI-COBAS; and SAT (esperantistas).
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I was able to travel to Sweden to attend Anarkistisk Massa and the
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SAC Congress. The 3- day Anarchist Fair outside Gothenburg was a
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marvel of organization. A soccer field was turned into a small
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village through volunteer labor. A huge circus tent provided
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space for tables, including a bar and music stage. Smaller tents
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housed debates, speeches, eating and meetings.
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Numerous reports covered the broad range of political and cultural
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concerns. Discussions on workplace organizing, developing
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alternative economy and culture, anti-nuke work, feminism,
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anti-fascist organizing, along with lots of music were going on
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from 10 a.m. to midnight. My talk on the IWW drew about 60
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people.
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Participants addressed questions: how do we deal with the crisis
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presented by capitalists; how do we reach a range of people; what
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does outrage, vision and culture have to do with media. One
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participant, a leftist journalist, burned his leftist bridges by
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publishing an attack on anarchists in the national daily he works
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for. Taking note of the controversies around feminism and
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separate space for women, this journalist sought to portray the
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diverse group of Swedish anarchists as anti-free thinking,
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anti-free speech and dogmatic.
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Evert Ljusberg, an anarchist singer and story teller who is
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popular in Sweden, performed on the last day. Evert is Sweden's
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Utah Phillips, and the crowd loved him. Saturday night about
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1 a.m., Stockholm's Mollys took the stage and cranked everyone up
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with their unique Icelandic-Irish-Swedish-Ska rock. This band
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named for the Molly Macquires is irresistably danceable.
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An anarchist from Texas joined me for the pilgimage to the boyhood
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home of Joel Haaglund, better known as Joe Hill. The building is
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now maintained by SAC as a museum with Hill memorabilia. Most of
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the space is used as SAC offices while a garden provides open air
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meeting space.
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The talk on the condition of unions in America was attended by
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students and workers. I demonstrated the foolish American
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rightwing metaphor, that individuals should "pull themselves up by
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their bootstraps." Doing that meant I had to fall on my ass,
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folks laughed and a reporter with camera requested an instant
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replay.
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The SAC Congress was held in Osstersund, a town in the center of
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the country with 3 military bases, a university and a large lake
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with a legendary Loch Ness type monster. On Saturday we marched
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to the town square; black and red flags and boisterous singing
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syndicalists took over the sunny summer streets.
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I was honored to be the international guest invited by SAC to
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address the public meeting, which opened and closed with music by
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Billy Shamrock. Mattias Gardell of the SAC International Dept.
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spoke on the historic important role of international solidarity
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from IWW and other unions in launching the Swedish syndicalist
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union.
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Many delegates from several countries praised the _Industrial
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Worker_ newspaper, saying they reprint articles from it. The
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_Wage Slave World News_ didn't always make sense to Swedes and
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Russians, but they praised the IWW for using humor.
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We have sisters and brothers who appreciate the IWW, in Sweden and
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elsewhere. Folks who want to build a libertarian socialist world
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where working folks, not capitalists, are in charge. Small steps
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of informal solidarity help along the road to revolution in our
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life times.
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---Jeff Ditz
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>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> newspaper subscription
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$15/yr. to:
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_Industrial Worker_ P.O. Box 2056, Ann Arbor MI 48106
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>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
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