75 lines
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Plaintext
75 lines
4.0 KiB
Plaintext
Hi Everyone,
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Here`s a very quick report back of the Northern
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anarchist Network conference, held in Leeds last weekend. Please note
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this is a subjective viewpoint.
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The conference started off with a short plenary which set the tone of
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the conference as decided at the last get together, i.e. it would be based
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more on skill sharing and practical work than on theory, although the two
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are relatively inseperable.
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The first workshop was on everday struggles and was introduced by
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Albert Meltzer. The workshop covered the idea of solidarity centres which
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anarchists should set up, where the community could have a place to
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organise and get advice about their everday struggles in the workplace
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and the community. The workshop then moved on to how to spread the
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message of anarchism in the wider community. The need to link up single
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issue struggles together to try and offer a more universal outlook was
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covered as was the need to spread the anarchists message more widely and
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to attempt to escape from the political ghetto.
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The second workshop was based around Anarchist Black Cross, and
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supporting political prisoners. This took the form of addressing the
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practicalities for supporting prisoners for people who may not have
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written before i.e. what to say to break the ice, how not to jeprodise a
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prisoners liberty, and basically a reminder to put the prisoner first and
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to ask for what _they_ want. The workshop then moved on to what could be
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acheived by the network in terms of joint protests in the region of
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Northern England. The workshop also looked at the possibility of
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organising coaches and mobilizing for national demonstrations.
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This workshop was then folowed by a short video of the women in the
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EZLN, which provided a useful insight as to how political upheaval and
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armed struggle has affected the women involved in the EZLN in Chiapas.
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The women explained that if they had not joined the movement they would be
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a lot less free, and would have much less equality to the amount they
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have in the EZLN.
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The video was followed by a short discussion introduced by a Workers
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Solidarity Movment member from Dublin. The debate touched on the politcs
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and organisation of the EZLN and recent developments in the struggle. It
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also covered how this relates to anarchism, and whether people support the
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EZLN or not.
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In the evening there was a social and an excellent quiz organised by
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people from Leeds Anarchist Group. This was really good in my opinion,
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as it had an imaginitive presentation, including an electronic
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scoreboard, name that tune, question categories, silly costumes and even
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dancing at the end!!
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The second day began with a discussion on developing the network. This
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involved sorting out the details of future work, and discussed methods
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that different anarchist groups in NAN could work together on. It was
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also decided that the next conference would be held in January.
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After lunch there was a speaker from a local solicitors who have been
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involved in a number of defence campaigns, as well as suing the police
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etc. This covered legal rights (or lack of them) on demonstrations, what
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tricks the cops like to pull and how to operate in custody. It then
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covered examples of when it is possible to sue the police and the
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likliehood of winning the case.
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The final session was a contraversial debate on Sexuality. Which looked
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at sexuality and the role it plays in society, how the state restricts
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and opresses it the state of sexual politics and the lack of rights that
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stil exsist for a large number of people in society.
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The role of the issue within the anarchist movement was then covered,
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with a wide range of opinions.
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Althought the turn out was lower than expected, the people that did come
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were serious class struggle activists and a lot of concrete plans and
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suggestions came form the weekend. It would appear that the network is
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truly beginning to take shape, with this conference hopefully being a new
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start for anarchists up North to work together, aiming higher for bigger and
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better actions.
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Doug.
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