Make no mistake, Barrack Obama's victory in the United States does not mean black liberation any more than Margaret Thatcher's government was a victory for women's liberation.  Neither does it herald a new dawn for the world.

by The Nottingham Sparrow, 2^nd November, 2008.

In Leicester, tenants are rightly up in arms about being tied into domestic heating scheme whose prices are poised to almost double during this month, an increase that was announced last month by the city council.

Roma people in Italy are currently facing the worst persecution since the Fascist era of the 1930s and 40s. The AF has called a demonstration with No Borders in solidarity, in Manchester on September 19th. Find out more at http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/08/407058.html 

The state is encouraging Italians to view Roma as illegal immigrants, as part of a generalised right-wing response to migration into Italy from other EU countries. Anarchists and No Borders activists believe anyone should be able to settle wherever they want, but nonetheless this is deliberate misinformation by the Italian government. Roma are not are not recent arrivals. Many have been settled in Italy for 40 years and are Italian citizens. Those who have recently arrived have done so as part of the wider process of perfectly legal and natural economic migration within the EU. Some wish to travel, others wish to settle. They should have the same legal protection as other EU citizens. 

Read on for more about attacks on Roma people in Italy and two statements from the traveller community at Dale Farm in Essex about their fight with Basildon council to live on land they actually own.

A leaflet based on this article is here: http://www.afed.org.uk/pdfs/anarchist_roma_solidarity_leaflet_2008.pdf (web quality) http://www.afed.org.uk/pdfs/anarchist_roma_solidarity_leaflet_2008_print.pdf (print quality [large file: 3MB]).

<---UK  <---Italy

The following is an analysis of contemporary Russian society and politics by the Confederation of Revolutionary Anarcho-Syndicalists (KRAS). They are the Russian section of the Anarcho-Syndicalist International of Workers’ Associations (IWA). Although the AF is not an anarcho-syndicalist organisation, we have an informal, critical relationship with them as well as with the ex-USSR anarchist federation Autonomous Action.  

The following interview was done with KRAS in the Spring by French anarchists. It certainly helps us to understand the aggressive stance that the Russian state is taking towards in the current period, predicting some of what has taken place recently, including the state pandering to neo-imperialist tendencies through its activity in the northern Caucasus. Similarly we gain a very important insight into the political and economic situation in Russia and realise that like ours it is a state in crisis.  This has positive but also frightening implications for working class communities. 

Read on for the interview with KRAS (translated from Russian). Spring 2008.

The following statement comes from the Russian section of the Anarcho-Syndicalist International of Workers’ Associations (IWA), the Confederation of Revolutionary Anarcho-Syndicalists (KRAS). Along with the ex-USSR anarchist federation Autonomous Action, who have also signed up to the statement, they have the best anti-nationalist analysis coming out of Russia in the current period. 

What is clear is the hypocrisy coming from all sides in this conflict. It is not necessary to point out the crimes of the Russian state against the people of Georgia. They are all too obvious and despicable and, unfortunately, predictable when you look at what is being under in the name of Russian nationalism in the region at the moment. Russia has been provoking the Georgians since 2004. But the US and states around the world are choosing to side with the underdog for bogus reasons, not because the Georgian state is innocent, or maybe got a little carried away. They declare Georgia a democratic sovereign state, but this democracy bombed the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali, at 4.00am in the morning on 8th. This was clearly an attempt to terrorize Russian-identified people in its population, not to restore a balance in military power that might have been going Russia’s way.  

Furthermore, the US is refusing to recognize that there is no way Russia will realistically adhere to a ceasefire without taking some Georgian territory around South Ossetia as a buffer zone to prevent another bombardment of Russians living there. Gori is being attacked as part of this, to neutralise Georgian military operations. This is appalling, of course, but to portray it as an apparent ‘invasion’ by Russia is to introduce language and an escalation of fear that could justify ‘humanitarian intervention’ going beyond the US current control of Georgian airports and Black Sea ports.  

Anarchists recognise this war as part of a wider struggle for influence in the Caucasian region. It borders Iran as well as Russia, and vast oil pipelines cross it. We refuse to take sides in wars between states and extend support and solidarity only to the ordinary people who suffer. No War but the Class War!

The Anarchist Federation, August 2008

Read on for the KRAS Statement ...