Questo articolo risponde alle critiche rivolte alla grande tradizione anarchica contenute in "International Socialism", un giornale della International Socialist Tendency (IST). Mi soffermerò su temi quali l'uso delle fonti, la difesa della rivoluzione e della libertà, gli anarchici spagnoli, l'anarchismo e la democrazia, il ruolo storico del marxismo, la rivoluzione russa. [English] read full story / add a comment

This article responds to criticisms of the broad anarchist tradition in International Socialism, an International Socialist Tendency (IST) journal. I will discuss topics such as the use of sources, defending revolutions and freedom, the Spanish anarchists, anarchism and democracy, the historical role of Marxism, and the Russian Revolution. [Italiano] read full story / add a comment

I sindacati sud-africani, confederati nel COSATU (Congress of South African Trade Unions), forte di 2 milioni di iscritti, hanno messo a punto una visione politica coerente che rompe con il neoliberismo. Il fatto è notevole - ma è sufficiente? Quanto vitale e desiderabile è questa visione proprio mentre l'era neoliberista barcolla? E c'è un'alternativa? [English] read full story / add a comment

South African unions, centred on the 2 million-strong Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), have consistently articulated a policy vision that breaks with crude neo-liberalism. This is remarkable – but is it enough? Just how viable and desirable is this vision, particularly as the neo-liberal era lurches into a serious slump? And is there an alternative? [Italiano] read full story / add a comment

This blog has been updated again, collecting materials on strikes, union education, a recent "anarchist survey," the Spanish and Russian Revolutions, and race/ class in South Africa. The overall aim of the page is to collect my my writings on political economy, policy, unions and class struggles. These are are written from a red-and-black anarchist/ syndicalist perspective, and go back to the 1990s.
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Narratives of anarchist and syndicalist history during the era of the first globalization and imperialism (1870-1930) have overwhelmingly been constructed around a Western European tradition centered on discrete national cases. This parochial perspective typically ignores transnational connections and the contemporaneous existence of large and influential libertarian movements in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. Yet anarchism and syndicalism, from their very inception at the First International, were conceived and developed as international movements. By focusing on the neglected cases of the colonial and postcolonial world, this volume underscores the worldwide dimension of these movements and their centrality in anti-colonial and anti-imperialist struggles. Drawing on in-depth historical analyses of the ideology, structure, and praxis of anarchism/syndicalism, it also provides fresh perspectives and lessons for those interested in understanding their resurgence today. read full story / add a comment

The August-September 2010 mass strike in the South African state sector demonstrated remarkable working class unity across racial and ideological lines, as 1.3 million workers of all colours stopped work for four weeks despite severe economic recession. The strikers' determination reflected growing frustration with low wages and at the glaring political corruption and enrichment of the elite, plus the drive - by African, coloured and Indian workers specifically - to attain living conditions breaking decisively with the oppression and immiseration of the apartheid past. Yet the strikers' partial victory was tarnished by tactics that divided strikers from the larger working class - notably, hospital disruptions - and a failure to raise demands that linked union and community struggles against both neo-liberalism and the apartheid legacy. The top-down manner whereby the strike was ended makes workers cynical about their own unions, demonstrating the alarming bureaucratisation and centralisation that has arisen, in large part, due to union leaders being enmeshed in the African National Congress (the neo-liberal governing party) and state industrial relations machinery. Unions should re-orientate towards other working class movements, outside and against the state, to fight for a libertarian and socialist transformation, from below. The ideas of anarcho-syndicalism - raised at the 2009 COSATU Congress - provide a useful starting point.
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Αναδημοσιεύεται από την αναρχική εφημερίδα "Νυκτεγερσία". Μετάφραση Δημήτρης Κωνσταντίνου. read full story / add a comment

Nel 2009 è uscito il primo dei due volumi del lavoro monumentale "Black Flame: the revolutionary class politics of anarchism and syndicalism" di Lucien van der Walt e Michael Schmidt (militanti comunisti anarchici sudafricani). Qui sotto una pedagogica polemica tra Lucien van del Walt e Spencer Sunshine, recensore del loro libro sulla rivista americana "Anarchist Studies". [English] read full story / add a comment

This page collects some of my writings on political economy, policy, unions and class struggles. These are are written from a red-and-black anarchist/ syndicalist perspective, and go back to the late 1990s.
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July 19 marks the anniversary of the start of the Spanish Revolution (136-1939), one of the most profound popular struggles of the twentieth century - and arguably the greatest of the anarchist revolutions. read full story / add a comment

This study of recent anti-imperialist resistance in Kurdistan, looking back to the anarchist resistance in the Ottoman heartland in the period before the formation of the Turkish state, consists of extracts – kindly proof-read in part by Will Firth – from the forthcoming book by Schmidt & van der Walt, Global Fire: 150 Fighting Years of International Anarchism & Syndicalism, Counter-power Vol.2, AK Press, USA, scheduled for release in about 2011. read full story / add a comment

"Η ελευθεριακή κοινωνική επανάσταση υποφέρει από ένα δίλημμα· είτε θα πραγματοποιηθεί άμεσα και ολοκληρωτικά σε κάθε πτυχή της κοινωνικής δομής είτε θα πνιγεί από την εξουσία του κράτους, τους γραφειοκράτες και αστούς υποστηρικτές του… η ελευθεριακή εξουσία της κοινωνίας πρέπει να αντικαταστήσει και να καταστρέψει το εκμεταλλευτικό και καταπιεστικό κράτος". read full story / add a comment

* Το κείμενο αυτό γράφτηκε από τους Lucien Van Der Walt και Michael Schmidt, μελών του νοτιοαφρικάνικου Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front (ZACF – Αναρχικό Κομμουνιστικό Μέτωπο Zabalaza) και συγγραφέων του βιβλίου “Black Flame – The Revolutionary Class Politics of Anarchism and Syndicalism” (Volume I) AK Press 2009. Δημοσιεύτηκε στο ομώνυμο περιοδικό Zabalaza. Ελληνική μετάφραση “Ούτε Θεός-Ούτε Αφέντης”, Ιούνης 2009.
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The renewed Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) support for the ruling nationalist African National Congress (ANC) has seen the unions dedicate organisers over the last few weeks to ensuring an “overwhelming” ANC victory in the national elections on the 22 April 2009.

How valid is such an approach, and what are the tasks of the working class in the current period? read full story / add a comment

One of the great weaknesses of SA unions - or at least their leaders - is the notion that unions should actively aim at restructuring the economy through policy engagement. This idea is often labelled 'strategic unionism' or 'radical reform', and centres on a politics of cooperating with capital and the state to effectively restructure "South African" industry for global competition. This is summed up in the phrase that "business is too important to leave to management". read full story / add a comment

Εισαγωγή των συγγραφέων του βιβλίου “Black Flame: The Revolutionary Class Politics of Anarchism and Syndicalism”. read full story / add a comment

ο βιβλίο “Black Flame: The Revolutionary Class Politics of Anarchism and Syndicalism” (“Μαύρη Φλόγα: Η Επαναστατική Ταξική Πολιτική του Αναρχισμού και του Συνδικαλισμού”) αναμένεται προς διάθεση από τις αμερικανικέ ελευθεριακές εκδόσειςAK Press από τα μέσα του επόμενου μήνα. read full story / add a comment

The following selection is from 'Debates in South African Labour History', an undated booklet published by SACHED in Durban that collected a series of articles written by the LACOM labour service organisation for the 'Learning Nation'. The latter was a supplement to the now-defunct radical anti-apartheid 'New Nation' newspaper. Edited by Zwelakhe Sisulu, and Catholic-financed, 'New Nation' was a weekly tabloid primarily aimed at black readers. read full story / add a comment

L'augmentation des frais d'inscription et la privatisation planifiée du logement étudiant ont suscité des protestations importantes à l'université du Witwatersrand à Johannesburg, début octobre. read full story / add a comment