Za 1. maj solidarnosti!

(english below)

Za 1. maj solidarnosti, ne pa krize in ustrahovanja!
 
V petek v spomin na okrutno umorjene anarhosindikaliste v Chicagu konec 19. stoletja praznujemo 1. maj, simbolno točko globalnega delavskega upora. Letošnji prvi maj označuje začetek novega vala ekonomske in socialne krize, ki je nastopila kot posledica boja proti globalni pandemiji koronavirusa. Odgovor te, pa tudi vseh prejšnjih in prihodnjih vlad na krizo je predvidljiv: proračunski rezi, zategovanje pasu, ropanje ljudi na račun preživetja bank, represija, populizem, zatiranje vseh drugačemislečih in kratenje svobode.
Oblast in kapitalizem nam ponujata družbo individualizacije, izkoriščanja, zatiranja. Torej recept, kako čim prej kapitalizem vrniti na točko nič. Ta zanje pomeni kopičenje resursov v rokah peščice bogatih na račun vseh ostalih, ki ostajajo izven varnostnih mrež socialne države, enakega in pravičnega plačila ter univerzalno dostopnega zdravstva.
Ne glede na to, kako zelo se nas bodo trudili, tako s korenčkom kot s palico, v naslednjih tednih prepričati, da je zgornji recept edini možen za izhod iz krize, ne smemo pozabiti, da obstaja tudi možnost mišljenja drugačnega sveta. Na nas je, da si prihajajoče obdobje vzamemo za temeljni razmislek, v kakšni družbi želimo zares živeti. V scenariju, ki nam ga piše oblast, ali v scenariju, ki ga bomo samoorganizirano napisali od spodaj. Na nas je, da v globalni besednjak vrnemo besede, kot so vzajemna pomoč, solidarnost in antiavtoritarnost. Pri tem ne moremo računati na nikogar drugega, kot na sebe, svoje prijatelje, sosede in tovariše, ki jih bomo v boju šele spoznali.
Od nas je odvisno, na katero stran zgodovine se bomo postavili. In začnemo lahko že danes.
***
Medtem ko s(m)o v preteklih tednih nekateri ostajali doma, je kapitalistična elita v delo predvsem v industriji in ostali proizvodnji ter storitvenem sektorju brez ustrezne zaščite silila tiste, ki si ostati doma niso mogli privoščiti. Za enako mizerno plačilo in brez upanja, da se bo to kadarkoli spremenilo.
 
Medtem ko s(m)o nekateri imeli privilegij ostati doma, so številni brezdomni tavali po mestu brez ustreznega dostopa do strehe nad glavo, sanitarij in celo pitne vode. Kazali so nam podobo prihodnosti, ki bo, zaradi oderuških najemnin in prihajajoče krize, postala vsakdan vse večih ljudi.
 
Medtem ko s(m)o nekateri lahko ostali doma na račun naših prihrankov, teh že dolgo ni več v žepih številnih, ki v teh dneh izgubljajo službe, tako prekarne kot redne. Njim se bo v prihodnjih mesecih pridružila množica brezposelnih, ki bodo izgubljali službe na mnogih področjih - vse od kulture do industrije. Zdi se, da tokrat kriza ne bo izbirala zmagovalcev v sektorjih, temveč kot po navadi zgolj zmagovalce med elitami.
 
Kot družba smo se na krizo odzvali solidarno: poskrbeli smo, da zdravstvo ni kolapsiralo, in da so tisti najranljivejši med nami ostali varni. Ne, ker nam je tako ukazala vlada, temveč zato, ker želimo živeti v solidarni in vzajemni družbi.
 
Trenutna oblast je na drugi strani uspela v dobrem mesecu, odkar vlada, izvesti skoraj vse trike, ki jih premorejo vsakokratne vlade v času kakršnekoli krize: korupcijske afere, uničevanje okolja v katerem živimo za voljo okoriščanja peščice, strašenje z napovedanimi rezi v proračun, sprejemanje ukrepov, ki v revščino čez noč pahne najbolj prekarizirane dele populacije, nekaj populističnih puhlic in potez metanja denarja v kombinaciji z rožljanjem s silo na mejah proti migrantom, sprejemanje restriktivnih ukrepov, politik in zakonov, ki pod krinko boja proti virusu hkrati obračunajo še s civilno družbo in samoorganiziranim gibanjem od spodaj.
 
Vladi naš solidarni odgovor na krizo seveda ustreza, saj pričakuje, da bomo v imenu boja proti virusu prezrli kako kradejo, omejujejo, hujskajo in obračunavajo. Prihajamo v fazo, ko bo vladi vse težje vzdrževati videz izjemnih razmer. Grožnjo virusa bodo zamenjali migranti, ki naj bi čakali za prvim ovinkom, pa veseli izletniki, da seveda sploh ne omenjamo vseh, ki se pogumno in kreativno podajajo na ulice ter oblasti kažejo, da tu ni prostora za nacionalizem, kapitalizem, izkoriščanje, represijo, militarizacijo, uničevanje okolja in varčevalne ukrepe. Medtem, ko se predsednik države in obrambni minister s celotnim vojaškim vrhom veselo sprehajajo okoli meje in iščejo svoje fantomske sovražnike, nas poskušajo prepričati, da je protest in zavzemanje za solidarno družbo najbolj neodgovorno zlo na svetu. Ne bomo jim nasedli in ne bodo nas prestrašili. Za razliko od njih znamo skrbeti drug za drugega, tudi v času korone.
 
To navsezadnje dokazujejo nešteti primeri samoorganiziranih dejavnosti zadnjih tednov: od prehrambene oskrbe, do pomoči starejšim, bolnim, premišljevanje zadrug, kolektivnega življenja, izobraževanja in dela, in nenazadnje do gest posameznikov, ki med samoizolacijo niso pozabili poklicati svojih prijateljev, paziti na njihove otroke, medtem ko so ti garali v službah, ali pa prinesti komu hrano na dom. Vse to so geste upora, ki štejejo.
 
V naslednjih mesecih moramo upor graditi tam kjer delamo, se zdravimo, izobražujemo, živimo. Boriti se moramo za vsem dostopno zdravstvo, proti rezom v socialo, za enakopravno plačilo in enake pravice, solidarnost, delavsko samoorganiziranje. Boriti se moramo proti zatiranju in šikaniranju ter razčlovečenju s strani trga. Rešitev ne bo prišla na volitvah, kjer bodo stari ali novi obrazi ponudili iste recepte, ki nas vsakih nekaj let pahnejo v krizo in revščino. Če hočemo spremeniti cilj, moramo spremeniti tudi metodo. Nočemo nazaj v normalizacijo, ker ta za nas ne deluje. Dovolj nam je.
 
Prvi maj letos ne bo praznik ustrahovanja, krize, avtoritarnih prijemov po vzoru Madžarske, pokroviteljstva oblasti do prebivalstva in napovedi novih krčenj naših pravic. 1. maj bo letos praznik boja, solidarnosti, iskanja novih načinov vzajemnosti in kolektivnosti. 1. maj bo naš.
 
Švignimo v petek ob 19h s kolesom po središčih svojih mest in vasi. Če ne na pedalih, bodimo glasni z oken ali balkonov. Pazimo drug na drugega, tako v kontekstu virusa kot policije, poiščimo v sebi strast do upora in bodimo neulovljivi!
 
Vsi na kolesa in z njimi na ulice!
Živel 1. maj!
 
Anarhistična pobuda Ljubljana / Federacija za anarhistično organiziranje (APL / FAO)
Ljubljana, 28. april 2020

+++ENG+++

For 1st May of Solidarity - not of Crisis and Intimidation!

This Friday on 1st May we celebrate and remember the workers, anarchists and syndicalists who were brutally assassinated in Chicago in the late 19th century and who to this day remain a symbol of global workers' resistance to capitalism. This year 1st May marks a beginning of a new wave of economic and social crisis unleashed as a consequence of the struggle against the coronavirus pandemic. The response of the current and of the future governments to this crisis can already be easily predicted: budget cuts, austerity, state sanctioned robbery of people as a means to ensure the survival of the banks, repression, populism, supression of those that think differently and the significant limitation of our freedoms.

The authorities and the capitalism both offer us a society of individualization, exploitation and repression and in this what they offer us is nothing else but a plan to return capitalism back to the point zero. For them this means an ongoing concentration of resources in the hands of the wealthy few at the cost of the rest of us that stay outside of safety nets of the welfare state, without equal and just payment and with no health system that would be universally accessible .

No matter how much they will try to convince us in the comingweeks - employing both the carrot and the stick - that the plan that is outlined above represents the only possible way out from the crisis, we must not forget that another world is possible to be not only imagined but realized as well. It is up to us to take this moment as an opportunity for a fundamental reflection on what kind of society we want to live in. Do we want to live according to the script that the authorities have written for us or do we want to write the script by ourselves and through a self-organized and grass-roots effort? It is up to us to re-inscribe to the global dictionary the words such as mutual aid, solidarity and anti-authoritarianism. We cannot count on anyone else, except on ourselves, our friends, our neighbours and on all those comrades that we are yet to encounter through the struggle itself.

Which side of history we will choose, is up to us. We can begin making this choice already today.

***
While many (of us) stayed at home in these past few weeks, the capitalist elite forced many workers in industry, production and in many services to work without adequate protection equipment, meaning that many of us could simply not stay at home. In exchange for our work we can expect only the same miserably wage and no hope that our situation might ever change.

While many (of us) had the privilege to stay at home, many of the homeless in our towns have been left without the adequate access to shelter, public toilets and even to drinking water. Their tragic plight drew the image of the future that due to the inflated rents and coming crisis will become the everyday reality of an increasing number of people.

While many (of us) could stay home because we had some savings at our disposal to rely on there are also many who for a long time now don't have any savings and are now losing their jobs, be they of more precarious or more stable type. In the coming months they will be joined by masses of newly unemployed from many sectors of the society - from culture to industry - will be made reduntant. It seems that this time the crisis will allow no particular sector to come out of it as a winner as the only winners will come - as we are well accustomed - from the ranks of the elite.

As a society we confronted the crisis with solidarity: we took care that the health system did not collapse and that the most vulnerable among us stayed as safe as possible. We did not do this because the government oredered us so, but because we want to live in a society where solidarity and mutuality reign.

On the other hand, in only one month since it was installed the present government managed to employ almost all the dirty tricks that practically any government does in any kind of crisis: corruption, destruction of our living environment to enable enrichment of the few, intimidation of people by announcement of budget cuts, implementation of measures the effect of which will be that the most precarized parts of the population will be thrown into poverty, usage of populist catch-phrases, symbolic and over-hyped giving away of money, threats of violence against migrants at the borders and devision of extremely restrictive measures, policies and laws that under the cover of fight against the virus target both the civil society and the self-organized grass-roots movement.

Our response to the crisis was and remains rooted in solidarity and was of course welcomed by the government as it expects that in the name of the fight against the virus we will look away when they steal, spread hatred and repress. But now we enter into the news phase when the government will find it more and more difficult to maintain the image of emergency. This is why the threat of the virus will give way to the threat of 'the migrants' who supposedly wait at the first curve, to the threat that is posed by the irresponsible hikers and of course by all those that are showing and will continue to show the courage and creativity as they take to the streets and make the authorities aware that there is no space for nationalism, capitalism, exploitation, repression, militarisation, destruction of environemnt and austerity in our society. When the president of the state and the minister of defense together with the entire military leadership merily promenade around the border and search for their phantomic enemies they try to convince us that protesting against their measures and making a stand for society built on solidarity is the most irresponsible evil imaginable. We will not fall for their trick and we will not be scared. Unlike them we know how to take care of each other, even in times of the coronavirus.

We have proved that by numerous examples of self-organised activities in the last few weeks: through food distribution, care for the elderly and the sick; through continuous reflection on cooperatives, collective living, education and work; and through all the innumerable individual gestures when we did not forget to call upon our friends, babysit their children while they were working jobs, or bring some food to people's homes. All these are gestures of resistance that matter too.

In the coming months we need to build the resistance where we work, receive medical treatment and live. We need to fight for the health system that would be accessible to all. We need to fight against welfare cuts and for fair pay and equal rights and against dehumanization of the free market. The solution for our problems will not come through the elections where either old or new faces will again offer the same remedies that every few years push us into crisis and poverty. If we want to change the outcome, then we need to change the method. We do not want to go back to normal because it already did not offer us much anyway. We have enough!

This year's 1st May must not be a celebration of intimidation, crisis, further Hungary-like authoritarian measures, patronizing attitude of the authorities towards the population and of the announcements of new suspension of our rights. This 1st May will be a celebration of struggle, solidarity, search for new ways of mutuality and collectivity. This 1st May will be ours.

Let's hop on our bikes this Friday at 19h and go for a ride through the centers of our towns and villages. If we won't push the pedals let's be loud from our windows and balconies. Let's take care of each other, both against the virus and against the police, let's open ourselves to the passion for resistance and be uncatchable!

All to the bikes and with them to the streets!
Long live 1st May!

Anarchist initiative Ljubljana // Federation for anarchist organising (APL / FAO)

Ljubljana 28th April 2020

• APL
• Anarhizem
• Federacije za anarhistično organiziranje
• mayday
• 1.maj
• kriza