In June 2009, one of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet’s most renowned accusers, Judge Juan Salvador Guzmán Tapia, visited South Africa on a speaking tour. Dean of the Law School at the Universidad Central de Chile in Santiago, and also a lecturer in human rights at the School of Journalism at the Universidad de la República, Guzmán was originally a Pinochet supporter, but turned against him after being selected by judicial lottery in 1998 to hear the 186 criminal charges against the man who, until his death in 2006, cast such long shadows over Chilean political life.

For those Chileans who took to the streets of their poblaciones in the early 1970s and mid-1980s to demand the release from Robben Island of Nelson Mandela and for an end to the apartheid regime in South Africa, the rightward shift of the African National Congress (ANC) with its embrace of anti-working-class neoliberalism is likely to be confusing. How did the world’s most celebrated new democracy come to be marred by ongoing violent protests by the poor against “their” government, faced down by police as bloody-minded as before, by continued housing evictions and mass forced removals so evocative of the depths of apartheid (1)? This analysis shall attempt to explain the trajectory of South African “democracy” and the failure of the “South African Revolution” by comparison to the Chilean experience of the popular overwhelming of Pinochetist reaction – in which the Left found itself fundamentally defeated, even as it attained its cherished victory.

* This article was written by Michael Schmidt, Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front, South Africa, especially for the journal Hombre y Sociedad, which was established in Santiago, Chile, in 1985. It was kindly proof-read by José Antonio Gutierrez Dantón, Hombre y Sociedad editor 1997-2003, and co-founder of the Frente de Estudiantes Libertarios (FEL) and in 1999 of the Congreso de Unificación Anarco-Comunista (CUAC) which led to the establishment of today’s Organización Comunista Libertaria (OCL), Chile. read full story / add a comment

“No es suficiente que el pueblo despierte y que se dé cuenta de su miseria y de las causas de la misma. Es cierto que posee una gran cantidad de poder básico, más que el gobierno, con todas las clases dirigentes; pero un poder elemental, no organizado, no constituye un poder real. El Estado se apoya precisamente en esa indiscutible ventaja de la fuerza organizada sobre la fuerza elemental del pueblo.
Por consiguiente, el problema no estriba en si [el pueblo] tiene o no la capacidad de rebelarse, sino en si puede crear una organización que le permita alcanzar la victoria con su rebeldía -y no sólo una victoria casual, sino un triunfo prolongado y definitivo.
En eso, y solamente en eso, estriba todo este acuciante problema. Por tanto, la primera condición para conseguir la victoria del pueblo es alcanzar un acuerdo entre el pueblo o la organización de sus fuerzas. (Mijaíl Bakunin, 1870.)
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On September, 4th 2009 District Court in Belgrade decided that arrested members of ASI will be held for thirty days in detention. Our comrades are accused of an act of international terrorism. [Ελληνικά] [Italiano] [Srpski] [Castellano] [Deutsch] [Polski] [Slovenčina][Français] [Türkçe] [العربية] read full story / add a comment

Il meeting anticlericale si è svolto a Fano per 15 anni, diventando allora un punto di riferimento nella battaglia italiana per il rispetto della diversità culturale e della libertà di pensiero, in un Paese tuttora per molti aspetti fortemente arretrato rispetto al riconoscimento di libertà individuali e di diritti civili invece ritenuti scontati e da tempo attivi in altri paesi d'Europa: dal diritto al testamento biologico alla fecondazione assistita, ai diritti civili delle coppie di fatto. [English] read full story / add a comment

Transfeminism developed out of a critique of the mainstream and radical feminist movements. The feminist movement has a history of internal hierarchies. There are many examples of women of color, working class women, lesbians and others speaking out against the tendency of the white, affluent- dominated women’s movement to silence them and overlook their needs. Instead of honoring these marginalized voices, the mainstream feminist movement has prioritized struggling for rights primarily in the interests of white affluent women. While the feminist movement as a whole has not resolved these hierarchal tendencies, various groups have continued to speak up regarding their own marginalization – in particular, transgendered women. The process of developing a broader understanding of systems of oppression and how they interact has advanced feminism and is key to building on the theory of anarchist feminism. read full story / add a comment

In any country with a half way critical media, the last few months would have been disastrous for Shell in Ireland. In a crucial period in Shell’s imposition of an experimental gas pipeline on the people of Erris it emerges that Michael Dwyer, one of the security guards on this project, was part of an attempt to trigger a civil war in Bolivia. Soon after that it became clear that at least three others who had worked as security guards at the Shell compound had travelled to Bolivia with Dwyer and were wanted there for questioning. Some, it emerged, had links to fascist organizations in Eastern Europe. read full story / add a comment

En mai 2009, à l'occasion du Salon du livre anarchiste, la toute nouvelle Union communiste libertaire (UCL) a sorti un numéro hors-série de la revue Ruptures. Ce numéro est dorénavant intégralement en ligne sur Anarkismo! [Italiano] [English] [Ελληνικά] [Türkçe] read full story / add a comment

An article which discusses the anarchist programme from a revolutionary anarchist perspective. In it, the author analyses the need to make a qualitative shift from an anarchism which is restricted to propaganda circles, to an anarchism with the possibility of social transformation, putting forward a few basic considerations for the necessity of the development of revolutionary programmes in order to facilitate this shift. [Castellano] [Português] read full story / add a comment

O coletivo Pró-Federação Anarquista de São Paulo convida a todas/os para participar do II Encontro Pró-Federação Anarquista de São Paulo, nos dias 18 e 19 de julho de 2009, na cidade de São Paulo. [English] [Ελληνικά] [Italiano] read full story / add a comment

Fondée en 1977, l’Association révolutionnaire des femmes afghanes (RAWA) est la plus vieille organisation politique active en Afghanistan. Sa « priorité est l’établissement d’un régime démocratique et laïc », fondé sur l’autodétermination du peuple afghan et où les droits des femmes seraient reconnus. read full story / add a comment

Análisis sobre los sucesos de Honduras y el dilema que un golpe de Estado insostenible presenta a la oligarquía de Honduras: o se aferra a la estrategia de los gorilas o utiliza la coyuntura para desgartar al reformista Zelaya, a fin de reconquistar la hegemonía absoluta en el espacio político. De igual manera, planteamos el dilema que enfrentan las fuerzas que hoy se oponen al Golpe: o se permite que la crisis se solucione por arriba, a nivel institucional, lo que deja intactas las raíces del problema, o se derrota al Golpe mediante la movilización popular de masas que no solamente heriría de muerte a la oligarquía, sino que fortalecería al pueblo de Honduras como un actor político de peso. read full story / add a comment

Publicado em Portugal o livro Minha Pátria é o Mundo Inteiro, de Alexandre Samis, retrata com profundidade e seriedade a biografia de Neno Vasco, importante anarquista luso-brasileiro que teve relevante participação no movimento sindical de sua época. Por meio da vida do militante, o leitor conhecerá, além do contexto histórico de Brasil e Portugal, significativa parte das discussões que permearam o universo libertário no período. O livro é uma obra obrigatória para aqueles que se interessam pela história do anarquismo e das próprias mobilizações populares do início do século XX. Aqui, apresentamos uma pequena resenha escrita para o periódico A Batalha, de Portugal, e depois uma apresentação do livro, inédita, escrita pelo autor.
Felipe Corrêa
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There are two main trends in anarchism, which agree on antistatism and anticapitalism and opposition to all oppression, but disagree on revolution, democracy, prefigurative politics, and class struggle. [Italiano] [Türkçe] read full story / add a comment

La siguiente entrevista, por ALB-Noticias con apoyo de José Antonio Gutiérrez (colaborador de anarkismo.net), fue realizada a Payman Piedar, militante anarquista exiliado iraní, quien ha participado en numerosas iniciativas libertarias tanto en los EEUU como en el Perú. Además, ha sido editor de la revista anarquista Nakhdar, editada en inglés y en farsi (puede consultarse más sobre su trayectoria política y su análisis general sobre la situación iraní en la siguiente entrevista realizada por los compañeros de NEFAC http://www.ainfos.ca/05/oct/ainfos00384.html). En la siguiente entrevista, intentamos dilucidar, en medio de las distorsiones de los medios occidentales y de la censura de los medios iraníes, las claves para comprender lo que realmente está pasando en estos días en Irán. Si bien no estamos ante una sublevación de carácter revolucionario, al calor de la agitación social siempre crecen las probabilidades de subversión popular. read full story / add a comment

Convocamos a los compañeros libertarios a organizar movilizaciones y mítines frente a las embajadas del Perú en cada país, en coordinación con otros sectores afines y en lucha, para denunciar las acciones del Estado y las transnacionales en nuestro país. [English] [Italiano] [Français] [Ελληνικά] read full story / add a comment

Anarchist Communists: a Question of Class is a theoretical position paper of the FdCA of Italy and a key contemporary exposition of the principles of anarchist communism – the principles of, among other organisations, the FdCA and southern Africa's ZACF. This critical review of Question of Class appeared in abridged form (for space reasons) in Zabalaza #10 (April 2009). The review is now published in full. Question of Class can be read online at http://www.fdca.it/fdcaen/index.htm. [Italiano] read full story / add a comment

From June 4th to 7th, European voters are called to the polls to choose who will "represent" them in the European Parliament. read full story / add a comment

Wederzijdse hulp is een belangrijk en relevant anarchistisch concept. Het laat zien hoe aspecten van een betere wereld al overal bestaan, waaronder in Zuid Afrika, en hoe we deze wereld kunnen bereiken, waarbij we voortbouwen op bestaande culturele praktijken, en die uitbreiden. read full story / add a comment

A review of the discussion of the relation of anarchism to the Palestinian/Israeli struggle iby Uri Gordon, an Israeli anarchist, in his book, Anarchy Alive! Including a response to his attack on my views. [Castellano] read full story / add a comment

Reproducimos artículos e informes de actividades realizadas por los anarquistas colombianos en conmemoración del cuarto aniversario del cobarde y bestial asesinato del compañero Nicolás Neira en Bogotá. "Nico", como le llamaban sus compañeros, fue un muchacho de tan sólo 15 años, asesinado a palos durante la marcha del 1o de Mayo del 2005 por la policía anti-disturbios colombiana, la temida ESMAD. Su asesinato ocurrió a plena luz del día, en pleno centro de Bogotá. Este crimen se suma los miles cometidos bajo las "bondades" de la "Seguridad Democrática" de Álvaro Uribe Vélez, quien preside un régimen que asesina a los muchachos antes de que logren convertirse en hombres o mujeres... como nos recuerdan las fosas comunes del paramilitarismo, plagados de cuerpos mutilados de niños. Pero este crimen ocurrió a plena luz del día, en pleno centro de Bogotá, a palos, por uniformados bien identificados... y sigue en la impunidad. read full story / add a comment