440 lines
23 KiB
Plaintext
440 lines
23 KiB
Plaintext
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We've got an attitude! -Bad Brains
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=================================================================
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NEWS & VIEWS FROM (THE FORMER) SOVIETSKY SOYUZ
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No.3 February 1995
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=================================================================
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Jahrbucher fur Psychoanalitik und Psychopatalogik
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der Russischer Radikalbewegungs
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*****************************************************************
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GENERAL COMPLAINTS
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Greetings from the weak link of the worldwide revolutionary
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resistance!
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In spite of the word 'news' in the name of this bulletin it has
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always been views that dominated it. Just as any other
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publication from the former USSR, ours is very opinionated, not
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to say sectarian (we haven't got a sect). Since, due to our
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irregularity, we fail to deliver news that doesn't stink, we
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always make reviewing some tendencies in the anarchist scene here
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our main preoccupation. This time too, we offer you the following
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general complaints. (Well, there will be some news and events.)
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The period since the previous issue of 'News & Views' (August
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1993) was characterized by the more and more evident withering
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away of the ideological federations (that is the Confederation of
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Anarcho-Syndicalists (KAS) and the Federation of Revolutionary
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Anarchists (FRAN).A third federation,the Association of Anarchist
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Movements (ADA) never was an ideological federation and due to
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its very informal character just can't die, because it was never
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actually so much alive). This fact however shouldn't bother you
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so much, since in places where there's enough will to continue
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anarchist activities, they are still carried on - on a more
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humane and non-sectarian basis. Unfortunately not everywhere it
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is so and anarchist groups that actually do something can be
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counted by numbers, plus, information exchange between different
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groups is in fact falling apart due to the fact that almost all
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the anarchist info-bulletins collapsed -the Petersburg-based "An-
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Press" which was published by libertarian capitalists is now
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defunct while its publishers finally did what they should have
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done long ago - joined some liberal party. "KAS-Contact" that was
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moved from Moscow to Tomsk 2 or 3 years ago finally collapsed,
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too, and was moved to Irkutsk where it was being published very
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irregularly due to lack of actual information and activities and
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technical problems. The only bulletin that carried some
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occasional news that was buried under heaps of gossip was Moscow
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IREAN's "Novy Nestor", that many people were forced to read since
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there was nothing else. (When I say the bulletin was filled with
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gossip and not news, I present not my personal point of view, but
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the position of the editors of the bulletin, who from the very
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beginning looked at it as a joke. It's very ironic that they were
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delivering crap ahead of schedule (about 30 or 40 issues were
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published since the beginning of the last year), while they
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failed to publish their paper with the same regularity - although
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the latter only served the interests of anarchism in Russia since
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the paper was filled with RAF communiques and salivating about
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how IREAN loves them.)
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UKRANIAN ANARCHISTS RE-GROUP (WHAT ELSE CAN THEY DO?)
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In September-October last year some Ukranian anarchists, tired of
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sectarian fights between KAS and FRAN and the absence of any
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workable anarchist network in Ukraine itself, decided to launch
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some kind of an all-Ukranian federation. Although not all the
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Ukranian anarchist groups participated in the gathering, the
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organizers (the Donetsk KAS group) got positive responses from
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various groups and activists from Lvov, Dnepropetrovsk, Kharkov,
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Nikolayev and some smaller towns. As a result of discussion at
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the conference they decided to put an end to sectarian debates
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(that were mainly 'imported' from Russia anyway) and quit all
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the federations they were part of - KAS, FRAN and ADA - and form
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the Confederation of Revolutionary Anarcho-Syndicalists (KRAS).
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(In fact the Donetsk KAS group proposed to create the
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Confederation of Revolutionary Anarcho-Syndicalists with a more
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traditional, IWA-type program at the last KAS gathering in
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Moscow, but this proposal was declined partly because of the lack
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of substantial reasoning behind it and some rather bureaucratic
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proposals for how this new federation should be run.) The new
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all-Ukranian federation adopted a traditional anarcho-syndicalist
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program modelled on the one of the IWA. The latter seems to
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arouse a lot of comradely interest for KRAS, although their
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position on the possibilities of affiliation with the IWA is
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different from that of the "Friends of the IWA" in Moscow - KRAS
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feels that the question of affiliation is still not on the agenda
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and it won't be in 1996 (the planned date of the next IWA
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Congress) due to the obvious weakness of anarcho-syndicalists in
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the former USSR and the absence of the "critical mass" for a
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syndicalist union. And it's true - none of the syndicalist groups
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in this country can be called a union, because of their miniscule
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size.
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Although the anarchists of Donetsk region who were the motor
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behind the creation of KRAS are rather optimistic about the
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future of this organization, they obviously will face some
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serious problems - like the one they had last year when the
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officials warned them that they can't be an "anarchist
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federation" and publish a paper of this "federation" since it is
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not legally registered with the state. In case they will try to
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violate this, they were promised to be charged several hundred
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dollars worth of fines. This was one of the reasons why the
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second issue of their "Anarchy" paper wasn't published (the other
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reason was the primitive stage of capitalism in Ukraine and
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virtual inavalability of accessible printing places). Anyway,
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Ukranian anarchists didn't abandon their desire to continue their
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publication. So far they launched a small internal discussion
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bulletin that aims at creating a discussion about the activities
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and principles of their organization.
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REVOLUTION OF THE SPECTACLE IN THE SOCIETY OF EVERYDAY LIFE
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The lack of appeal of 'radical' ideas and actions to the general
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population forces 'radicals' to think of new ways to seek popular
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support. The latest frenzy in the anarchist, communist and proto-
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fascist circles is the concept of being 'cool' and presenting
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your ideas and activities in the most spectacular way. The first
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to dive into this marketing strategy was Edward Limonov, a
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scandally-famous Russian writer, founder of the spectacular-
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extremist National-Bolshevik Party. That Limonov, this re-
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incarnation of Malcolm MacLaren, decided to gain some popularity
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and money on the scandals surrounding his 'political' activities
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was quite predictable. What was hard to predict was the recent
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obsession of pretty traditional Young Communists (RKSM) with
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creating a new image of communism, which is to be marketed to the
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youth.
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I doubt that they would ever have arrived at such a 'modern'
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concept, had they not been surrounded by some 'anarchists', who
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were in fact the main orchestrants of this frenzy. Already a
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while ago some people from IREAN headed to the Stalinist-lead
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"Student Defence" "trade union", where some monarchists and other
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miserable creatures were also involved. Anarchists wrote some
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'cool' articles for the Young Communists' paper giving these
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bores some brand new ideas and images - some class war, some
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poorly-digested feminism, etc. "Student Defence" managed to
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organize some 'cool' protest in April last year with some
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occasional 'anti-capitalist actions', which were afterwards
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disproportionally blown up in their papers. After that the
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concept of 'spectacular revolution' was given final shape with
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statements like "to make a revolution today... it is enough to
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film the moment of rebellion and make a videoclip".
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On January 17, 1995 Young Communists organized a "theoretico-
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practical conference on "New Revolutionary Communism", where they
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talked a lot about the need for a new ideology. Also they spoke a
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lot about the 'similarity' between the new left and new right and
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the necessity of acting together on some concrete issues. The
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reason for that was found in the 'numerous historical examples of
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Communists acting together with {left} fascists'. However, the
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reasons for such activities and their possible outcomes were not
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analyzed at all - it seemed that analysis of any kind is out of
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their reach. These tendencies were rather well articulated in the
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papers of IREAN, RKSM and the National-Bolshevik Party recently
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and thus it became possible for the Russian Section of the Last
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International and the Clandestine Committee for the Eradication
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of Professional Revolutionaries, Militants and their Sympathizers
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to go to considerable lengths denouncing all these stupidities of
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these self-proclaimed 'radicals'. The communique of these
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organisations called "A Good Cure for Obsolete Communism: An
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Appeal to the Victims of the Theoretico-practical Conference..."
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attacked the superficial claims about putting the spectacle to
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the service of revolution, the discovery of the similarity
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between the new left and the new right that we should somehow
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'use' and the general stupidity of the above-mentioned
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tendencies.
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=================================================================
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CHRONICLE
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=================================================================
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On December 7, 1994 about a dozen anarchists picketed the
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Indonesian embassy in Moscow, protesting against the continuing
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occupation of East Timor and the genocide of its population. A
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couple of articles about the tragedy of East Timor was published
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in some (almost mainstream) paper, thus putting an end to the 20-
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year-old silence of Russian propaganda on this topic. Protesters
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handed a letter to the ambassador. Unfortunately this time the
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Moscow office of the BHP (a company extracting oil from East
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Timor in spite of occupation and genocide there) wasn't
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spraypainted and thrashed, but we'll sure do it next time.
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Protests against the war in Chechnya sparked some life into the
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anarchist scene in Moscow. Anarchists participated in most of the
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demonstrations and pickets against the war. On December 12, which
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saw the biggest demonstration against the war (several thousand
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people, ranging from Communists to liberals and the Chechen
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community of Moscow), they tried to organize a small 'radical'
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march on the Defence Ministry together with some young
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Communists, Trots and radical liberals, but were stopped by the
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police. Several people were arrested later in the evening. On
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December 19 five activists of radical Democratic Union and
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anarchists painted the Defence Ministry with anti-war slogans and
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even 'bombed' it with fireworks. Some of them were reported to
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the police and arrested, but the court set them free without any
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fines. There was also some leafleting in Moscow metro (which is
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now filled with policemen and military, looking for "Chechen
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terrorists"), with a couple of people arrested and fined, and
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some spraypainting around the city. On January 30 some Moscow
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anarchists and radical liberals from the Democratic Union (DS)
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spraypainted 13 military call-up stations with anti-war and anti-
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imperialist slogans. They are also planning an active campaign
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against the military call-up this spring.
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In Nizhny Novgorod (former Gorky) the local Anarchist Club,
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Rainbow Keepers and the local Green Party launched a campaign
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against the military institutions and the war in Chechnya. Local
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call-up stations were spraypainted with slogans like "Russia
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shouldn't be a gendarme!", "Turn your arms against those who send
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you to kill!" and "Here are the headquarters of the fascist
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army". This happened after the local authorities remained deaf to
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the demands of protesters who were organizing pickets. Well, if
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they still will be deaf, anarchists promised to go further than
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words.
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Khabarovsk in the Far East is also bubbling - some anarchists
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make a radio show "While Mommy Watches Santa-Barbara", bringing
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some music and attitude to a young audience. Khabarovsk
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anarchists also launched a campaign against bus controllers,
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agitating for going without paying, collective obstructing of
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controllers and damaging some bus equipment. This campaign is an
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answer to another increase in the cost of public transport. Among
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the other activities of these joyful Far Easterners are
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continuing attempts to organize a rock club and a 'free
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university' (regular seminars and discussions on different
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topics).
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In Tver, a city located in the middle of the road between Moscow
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and St.Petersburg, anarchists participate in a campaign against
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the construction of a superhighway between the two capitals.
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Construction of the superhighway, that will have a deep base is
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likely to destroy the natural underground water system of the
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region.
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On February 11 activists from various anarchist, ecological and
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radical liberal groups held a discussion in Moscow. Originally,
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the topic of the discussion was rather broad - from the
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traditional ways of organizing in this country (and why they
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can't help us achieve anything) to the role of family in
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undermining broader communities to what we can do this spring.
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However, people who have gathered for the discussion preferred to
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discuss how it happened that radicalism lost even the tiny
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grounds that it had in the emerging social movements of the
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perestroika era (this discussion has been around for several
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years already), but didn't pay attention to what was really wrong
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with the existing forms of organizing (i.e. ideological groups).
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Anyway, since recently we witnessed the creation of some down-to-
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earth groups oriented on specific issues (mainly ecological), the
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radical movement is moving in the right direction. It's a pity
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that this is done in some unconscious fashion. As the discussion
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proceeded, issues of cooperation between different groups were
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discussed, namely around the anti-war and anti-draft campaign. It
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was more or less agreed to hold regular meetings and stop inter-
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personal and inter-group infights that were going on for several
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years. The groups that decided to participate in the future
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meetings included the Confederation of Anarcho-syndicalists, the
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Group of Radical Anarcho-syndicalists (GRAS), Rainbow Keepers
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(anarcho-ecological group), "A" Cultural Centre, "Cherepovets-95"
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ecological group,the Democratic Union (radical liberals), The
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Emma Goldman Dancing Brigade and some other activists that are
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active in other groups. (All of these groups are rather or very
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tiny.)
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DON'T EAT YOUR REVOLUTION! MAKE IT!
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On November 7 all the Stalinists gathered on Oktyabrskaya Square
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in Moscow under the still-standing huge Lenin. Later they headed
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to Red Square, followed by some small groups of Trotskyists and
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even some anarchists who successfully created an illusion that
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"young people" were with them. While the latters' red-n-black
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banners and dull papers were surely unable to destroy the
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traditional way of celebrating the October revolution day, the
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assault came from where nobody expected it. As the demonstrators
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were going down their route they inevitably confronted a small
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group of some vocal revolutionaries who were standing on the side
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of the road under the banner of 'primitive communism' (made of
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fake red fur) who were fearlessly banging their big drum. As the
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crowd passed by them and tried to find out what they wanted to
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say, the atmosphere was getting more and more tense. "The Blind"
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(that is the name of an artistic group) announced that people who
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gathered at the demo had nothing to do with revolution, that they
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'ate' their revolution and shitted it out, that the only thing
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they can do is ask the government for more money. Their poster
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announced "Proletarians of all lands, enough eating!" Instead of
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asking the government for money, The Blind announced, we should
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make another revolution and realise the real - primitive -
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communism. We should care less about material things and instead
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turn our attention to people around us. After the demo passed and
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the shouts "They are Jews, Zionists! Go back to Israel!"
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addressed to The Blind finally dissolved in the air, the
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'primitive communists' headed back home and were stopped by
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police, who asked for their IDs. In spite of that, the affair
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ended peacefully.
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STRANGE FRUIT
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On September 5 some Moscow anarchists and punks were trying to
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defend their 'property rights' to a basement that was for some
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time used as a non-commercial club named first after the infamous
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sell-out Jerry Rubin and later after Ho Chi Min (due to the fact
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that the club was situated not far from a square named after him
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and a surreal monument to Ho). On New Year's Eve anarchists had
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a rather nice party there after which the club finally moved out
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- into nowhere. Since both the Jerry Rubin/Ho Chi Min Club and
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the "A" Club which was run by anarchists were homeless, they
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decided to join their forces. There are some reasons to believe
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that this union will bring about not only a cheap club where kids
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can hang out, but some constant place for radical meetings and
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activities. So far we found a basement that was given to us and
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now we are looking forward to cleaning it up and using it for
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meetings and some kind of infoshop and anarchist library.
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THE ABC OF LIBERTARIAN LENINISM
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(this will be a comix)
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Characters:
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Male announcer - a hero of some
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comix, more or less like a Superman
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Comrade Lenin - the leader of
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proletarian revolution, founder
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of Leninism
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Male announcer: Contrary to what is usually believed, Leninism
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too has strong libertarian potential. Unfortunately anarchists
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tend to disregard it while they point out that only on one
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occasion Lenin supposedly 'stole' their ideas when he wrote
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"State and Revolution". If we dig a little deeper, we will
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discover the unknown terrain of Leninism which is highlighted by
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aphorisms, not less poetic than those of Bakunin, Marx and the
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situationists. Please, comrade Lenin, give us just one example.
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Comrade Lenin (sitting on a chair, his arms on his knees, seems a
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little depressed, announces in mechanic voice): You can't live in
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society and be free from society.
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Male announcer: Brilliant, don't you think? For years and years
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philisters exploited just one of the numerous creative methods
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appropriated by Marx from Hegel, namely Marxist dialectical
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double-speak. Here we find another creative tool for building a
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critical social theory, the one that can be called critical
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reductionism. Let us now take the same phrase, but this time
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without the last word. Please, comrade Lenin!
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Comrade Lenin: You can't live in society and be free...
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Male announcer: Terrific! But we still haven't seen the rest of
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the method. Let's take out some more words. Please, comrade
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Lenin!
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Comrade Lenin: You can't live in society and be...
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Male announcer: Fantastic! Do you understand now what a great
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potential libertarians missed when they claimed Leninism to be
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inherently authoritarian? Contrary to this narrow opinion it is
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as critical as, say, young Marx... Let's see, what will happen if
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we take out some more.
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Comrade Lenin: You can't live in society... You can't live...
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(Clenching his fists, angrily.) You can't, you can't, you
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can't!!!
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Male announcer: Assistant, please! Can you take comrade Lenin and
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provide him with another dose of morphine? His authoritarian
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syndrome is back, we need to calm him down!..
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=================================================================
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some @narchist e-mail contacts in the former USSR:
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cube@glas.apc.org :
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a little cell of cyberspace occupied by Laure Akai and Mikhail
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Tsovma. The name comes from Cube Press, a project that they hope
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to lift off the ground sometime. So far one pamphlet was
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published - on Bakunin's philosophy and social ideas. The plan
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for 1995 includes Daniel Guerin's "Anarchism", George Bradford's
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"Triumph of Capital", Fredy Perlman's "The Continuing Appeal of
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Nationalism" and probably a small anthology which we so far plan
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to name "Mickey Mouse, Fuck Off! An introduction to critical
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theory" (it will contain some articles from "Anarchy: A Journal
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of Desire Armed", some Bob Black, Fredy Perlman, etc.)
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tretyput@glas.apc.org :
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"Trety Put" (Third Way) anarcho-ecological magazine edited by
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Sergei Fomichov, part of the rather loose network called Rainbow
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Keepers that is organizing some ecological campaigns every year
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since late 80's
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ecodefense@glas.apc.org :
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Vladimir Slivyak in Kaliningrad/Konigsberg on Baltic Sea, also an
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anarcho-ecologist
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nadia@glas.apc.org :
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Nadezhda Shevchenko from Kiev, Ukraine, anarcho-ecologist
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volga@glas.apc.org :
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Olga Pitsunova, anarcho-ecologist in Saratov
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rk@glas.apc.org :
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Moscow group of Rainbow Keepers, still in the process of building
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their technical base, that's why you might not get response if
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you write to them
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Also available for GlasNet (Russian APC network) is a conference
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glas.radical. We intend to keep it mainly Russian-language and
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thus it is not networked to other APC networks (there's also a
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problem with transfering/decoding cyrillic letters.
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=================================================================
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COMING SOON:
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In the next issue of News&Views I hope to give some materials
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about:
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- anarcho-ecological groups in Russia and their activities, both
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in the recent years and the ones that they plan for the next
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summer
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- the activities and the current state of syndicalists groups in
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projects
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- "the wonderful world of ZAIBI", THE most interesting
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(anti)music (anti)group and some of its ideas
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=================================================================
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Contact us:
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via e-mail: cube@glas.apc.org
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via regular mail: POB 500, 107061 Moscow, Russia
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Compiled by Mikhail Tsovma.
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Long live the ANC (Absolutely No Copyright)!
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Materials published above reflect only the personal opinion(s) of
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the author(s), but this doesn't mean they should be treated
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differently from the positions of the so-called federations.
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If I can't be a graphomaniac once a year, I'm not part of your
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revolution! (Sorry for all the non-existent English words that I
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put into this bulletin.)
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