INTERNATIONAL LABOUR SWEDEN:

SAC CLEANERS APPEAL FOR SOLIDARITY:





The following appeal for online solidarity comes from cleaners at the Lund University Hospital in Sweden, members of the Swedish anarcho-syndicalist SAC. Here's their appeal...
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SAC union cleaners need solidarity
November 22, 2010, 04:32:00 PM
Hello comrades!

We ask for the solidarity with fellow workers, in the USIL section of the
SAC, who are cleaning the prestigious university hospital of Lund. The
workers have for 5 years denounced the ISS international company for the
workload they are subjected to. The workers have only 36 seconds to clean
a toilet, thus exposing the health of patients and risking their own
health.

During these last years we have required the control of these abuses,
however ISS manipulates the information. Swedish press reports the abuses
but the ISS has remained firm in their position to exploit shamelessly,
supported by the local politicians. ISS sells the service to the government of the
region.

We call on international solidarity, to send protests to the office of
your country, and send a copy to the section USIL, and t
peter.ljungbro@iss-fs.se
info@iss-fs.se, to the hospital director, bent.christensen@skane.se and to
barbro.halensjoberg@skane.se and also to the boss who mistreats the workers
maria.andersson@iss-ss.se

Amalia Alvarez
International SAC

Sample letter:

Our colleagues in the section USIL, cleaners working for ISS international
company, in the prestigious hospital in Lund, are on strike to denounce
the work load they are exposed to every day. One example is that the
workers have 36 seconds to clean a bathroom, this is a constant risk to
the health of patients attending the hospital in Lund and the workers
themselves and their families. Faced with this physical burden, and bad
conscience of failing to do the job for not having adequate time, USIL
section remains on strike until:

1. ISS lift the transfer of our fellow union representative Asdren K

2. that the workload is set down by 40%
3. that the boss Maria Andersson is removed from her headquarters for being
a factor influencing the health of personnel in the work environment, and
for being rude and having inappropriate attitudes to the resolution of
disputes with the staff.

We also hope that the company acts, in order to ensure the safety of their
customers and employees. We will be attentive to the development of this
conflict and do not exclude actions to correct this injustice committed against
the USIL section.

Carefully

Send the protest to the contact in your country. (Seek contact in your
country here. ISS WORLD CONTACT) and Please send a copy of your message
of protest to the comrades of the section usil@sac.se and to
peter.ljungbro@iss-fs.se , info@iss-fs.se , bent.christensen@skane.se ,
barbro.halensjoberg@skane.se , and also to the boss who mistreats the
workers maria.andersson@iss-ss.se

thanks for the solidarity!
No pasarán!

ISS WORLD CONTACT:

ARGENTINA: http://www.ar.issworld.com/Pages/contact.aspx

BELGIUM: http://www.be.issworld.com/pages/contact.aspx

BRASIL: http://www.br.issworld.com/sobre_a_iss_brasil/pages/escritorios.aspx

CHILE: info@cl.issworld.com o en la siguiente dirección:Av. Las Torres
1385, el Rosal, Huechuraba Santiago de Chile, Tel.: +56 2 726 6500 - Fax:
+56 2 726 6507 e-mail: info@cl.issworld.com

DENMARK: Adresse & Tlf ISS Facility Services A/S Møntmestervej 31 DK-2400
Copenhagen NV Tel.: +45 38 17 17 17 CVR: 14 40 60 42
http://www.dk.issworld.com/om_iss_dk/pages/kontakt2.aspx

GRECE: iss@gr.issworld.com
http://www.gr.issworld.com/Pages/contact.aspx

ITALY: e-mail: info@issfacilityservices.it
ISS Facility Services S.r.l.
Via Ettore Bugatti, 12 I-20142 MILANO ITALIA Tel: +39 02 8268191 Fax:
+39 02 82681990
http://www.it.issworld.com/Pages/contact.aspx

MEXICO: info@mx.issworld.com
http://www.mx.issworld.com/Pages/contact.aspx

POLSKA: iss@issworld.pl
http://www.pl.issworld.com/Pages/contact.aspx

ESPAÑA: Tel. 902 266 366 - info@es.issworld.com
http://www.es.issworld.com/Pages/contact.aspx

SWEDEN: peter.ljungbro@iss-fs.se
info@iss-fs.se

UNITED KINGDOM info@uk.issworld.com
http://www.uk.issworld.com/Pages/contact.aspx

Uruguay: info@uy.issworld.com
http://www.uy.issworld.com/Pages/Frontpage.aspx

Francia: grh@fr.issworld.com
http://www.fr.issworld.com/Pages/contact.aspx

Deutschland: frank.born@de.issworld.com

http://www.de.issworld.com/presse_und_aktuelles/News_Deutschland/Pages/ISSweitetMarktpositionaus.aspx

ISS WORLD CONTACT:
http://www.issworld.com/our_services/issworldcontact/pages/iss_world_contacts.aspx

INTERNATIONAL POLITICS:
SWEDEN TURNS RIGHT:


Last week's national elections in Sweden returned the present right wing government to power and, most disturbingly, the extreme right made unprecedented gains. The following report from the Swedish anarchosyndicalist website Anarkisterna says it all, and it raises some important points.


Molly would add her two cents worth by noting the following. Despite the antique Marxist fantasy followed by all too many anarchists and non-Marxist socialists the advent of 'hard times' seems to have not led to any resurgence of left wing class based movements that fundamentally challenge the present social order anywhere in at least the developed world. If anything the right seems to be 'on the march' worldwide. Where left wing social movements opposed to further tightening of the screws have arisen the main thrust seems to have been an attempt to hold on to what little the lower classes already have, and a more or less implicit (sometimes quite explicit) endorsement of social democratic policies and parties. This despite the fact that in many countries, Spain and Greece come to mind, it is actually "socialist" parties that are doing the dirty work.


Meanwhile the general electorate remains quite cynical, perhaps rightfully so, and opts to vote in many cases for parties whose desire to shift wealth from the lower classes is explicit rather than implicit. This goes hand in hand with an increase in what may best described as the "political superstition" that somehow "immigrants" are responsible for the difficulties that ordinary people face in these hard times. How this can possibly be true is best left to the fevered imaginations of conspiracy theorists. Even if minorities are not "blamed" it may at least feel satisfying to work up a hate for something that can be so easily identified. The left, in general, offers no such easy fantasy. Its social democratic wing has long since abandoned any pretence to having so crude a thing as "enemies". Its orthodox communist wing has not only been disgraced by its history of being worse than the old order. Its idea of the enemy as the 'top-hatted capitalists' ( excluding government bureaucrats of course ) rings hollow in the modern world.


Too much of the rest of the left beyond the social democrats and commies spends its time tilting at the windmills of "isms" having abandoned all hope of a rational road to a better society. It takes a developed taste for either masochism or the 'one downmanship' of identity politics to find this sort of "politics" satisfying...especially as "the enemy" can easily be defined as something approaching 98% of the population. This is not politics. It is psychology gone cancerous.


The Swedish comrades end their article with some questions rather than with assertions. This is undoubtedly the best way to proceed. As an anarchist I am convinced that the anarchist tradition contains many of the ideas that are necessary to oppose the rightward drift of most of the developed world. I am not, however, so unrealistic as to suppose that either I or any wing of the anarchist movement today have a magic pocketful of 'solutions". What is sure is that the main opposition to the right has no practical plan. For anarchists the balancing act is an age old one, one of walking the fine line between collaboration (leftism under an anarchist name) and irrelevancy( either 'purism' or defining away the concerns of ordinary people to focus on 'psychoboo' ). Where the tightrope is depends upon both time and place. Let's hope there are enough political acrobats in our ranks.


Here's the article from Sweden.
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Where do we go from here?
On how to challenge rightwing racist class politics
Lördag 25 September

The elections of September 19th in many ways mark a sad turning point in Swedish history. Since of that date, Sweden joins the growing number of EU member states run by rightwing governments with the participation of the extreme right.

For the first time, a rightwing government was re-elected in Sweden. For the first time, a populist racist party, Sverigedemokraterna (Sweden Democrats) – with roots in the extreme right scene – entered the Parliament. And for the first time a Nazi party gained entrance into a municipality. The leader of Svenskarnas Parti (Party of the Swedes) – formerly Nationalsocialistisk Front – got a chair in the small town of Grästorp.



The reaction to the election was swift: demonstrations in Malmö, Gothenburg and Stockholm the following day gathered thousands of people, in Stockholm up to ten thousand. Numerous demonstrations have since taken place in different places and many more actions are planned for the coming weeks and especially for the grand opening of the Parliament.

Many people are appalled and outraged at the results of the elections. Bit by bit, the right wing government has been dismantling the welfare state, labour laws and social security systems, replacing them with the freedom of the individual consumer – thereby paving the way for the extreme right. But so have the Social Democrats, the Left and the Greens: By not challenging the politics of the government and putting forward a concrete red and green vision, the stage was set for the racists, posing as the sole alternative to the status quo.

The Sweden Democrats have rather successfully spread the myth of immigration as the one political issue none but them dares to address. This being far from true (quite the opposite, by being tough on immigration any politician comes across as determined and energetic), it nevertheless gained them a lot of attention. And even though being false, it still was a simple answer to a number of important questions: Why is society not as solidaristic as it used to be? Why are so many – especially young – people unemployed? Why is all this downsizing occurring?

Everything was played out to be the fault of “mass immigration”.

These questions are relevant to a lot of people in everyday life today, and so is addressing them. The anxiety is real, it is the result of precarious labour, money that is never enough, climate change that is being neglected, insecurity, frustration, violence and welfare cuts – in other words the results of political decisions. The question radical social movements have to ask themselves is how to address these issues and challenge these politics?

How do we turn protests against the Sweden Democrats into resistance against the racist class politics of the right wing government? And how do we transform our resistance into a constructive force – self organizing local communities and building strong popular movements?

Where do we go from here? Share your experiences with us!

INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-SWEDEN:

EMBRYOZINE LOOKING FOR CONTRIBUTIONS:

Embryozine is a project of the Swedish anarchist group Anarkisterna, and they are looking for articles for their next issue. Despair not, this zine is bilingual in Swedish and English, so the average reader of this blog might actually be able to write something for them. Here's their appeal.

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Wanted: Contributions for Embryozine #5‏
http://anarkisterna.com/blog/2010/03/04/wanted-contributions-for-embryozine-5/

Now it’s time to start working on the fifth Embryo zine! And we want you to contribute texts, illustrations or anything else you see fit. This time we start from a different point than we’ve done previously. Taking on Embryo #5 begins with three themes we want to explore. These are questions we’ve pondered for some time and which we believe to be rather vital to answer. We hope you feel the same way.

Theme One: In it for life

The first theme deals with how to manage being active in a scene that –for as long as we’ve been part of it – rather than a movement resembles a phase you go through (like adolescence). Some have become disillusioned or abject during their time in the extra-parliamentary Left – the revolution might not happen in our lifetime after all. On the other hand, many have learnt new skills and enhanced self-confidence here – the habit of leading meetings, planning and organizing actions, writing pamphlets, speaking in front of a lot of people and organizing workshops.

But if we don’t want to leave this phase, even though we might not be considered young adults anymore, having children and permanent jobs? How can we create a scene that enables you to remain active even when your life and circumstances change? And how do we take care of each other and create a sustainable activism? An activism based not on individual enthusiasts carrying through until they burn out just to be superseded by the next generation of enthusiasts? How have you dealt with it? What are your experiences? What has worked for you? Theme Two: Structures for movement

The second theme takes up the thread where the first one left off. How can our structures (collective spaces, archives, resources, experiences) help to create a continuous movement or a sustainable activism? What significance does an autonomous space as Utkanten have for activists in Malmö? What traces has the burnt down Cyclops left in Kulturkampanjen?

In Sweden, during the last ten years, Solidaritetsgrupper (anti repression groups) and Aktivist Trauma Support have lined up with the Anarchist Black Cross. What functions do these solidarity structures fill? Or for that matter, our other infrastructure – permanent people’s kitchens, joint farming projects, infoshops and distros?

Previous years’ internal discussions took place in forums that are not available for many of those who are active today. How can we create a continuous exchange of experience? People should not have to reinvent the wheel but rather fall back on the experiences others have collected before them, while at the same time no truths may be too sacred to be questioned and discussed.

Theme Three: How to go about actual change

The third theme, finally, focuses on our perspectives. Why do we do what we do? We are anarchists (or autonomous activists) and strive for an entirely different society that we often have a clearer notion of than we have of the way to get there. With Embryo # 5 we want to strike a blow for the need of long term activism.

We could easily spend all waking time on urgent responses or actions only centered on the here and now – but to actually begin advancing our positions in the conflicts at hand, something more is needed. We must ask ourselves where we want to get and how our actions today take us towards that aim.

Like Timbro (a Swedish neoliberal think tank) in the early 80s copied the language and ways of the left, we can take over a mode of operation from the established organizations and businesses:

A target document.

We call for strategic thinking, evaluation and development of tactics. Your participation if you were not discouraged by the mass of text above, but rather inspired by the idea of contributing to #5, please contact us: You do not have to have a finished article – an opening idea is a good start. Similarly, if you have an article that you think does not bear all the way or that needs to be proof-read – send it to us, we’ll comment on it or suggest changes and send it back, you send it back again and so forth until everyone is content with it.

We are also happy for any photos, comics, or collages. All submitted material may not be included in the zine, though. The time frame is tight, we want the final versions of all contributions at the end of March, since our goal is to have Embryo #5 translated, designed and printed on time for the anarchist bookfair in Stockholm in June.

This zine will not be the end of these discussions, but it can be a part of an ongoing process, hopefully taking us further.

Love & struggle!/Embryo Collective

INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-SWEDEN:

REMEMBER BJORN SODERBERG:

The following reminder of the death of a good comrade at the hands of the fascists just came into Molly's email today from the Swedish Anarkisterna website/group. Looking at the photo, and reading the article Molly is impressed with the tremendous waste of life of this young comrade. Here in Canada the general appearance of comrade Soderberg is such that, especially here in Winnipeg where we are mostly squat, dark and Slavic looking (except for Molly who is a dead ringer for an Iranian Ayatollah), the guy would have had to hold raffles for the girls to meet him. No doubt his personality was as winning as his looks. So sad, and the fascists who killed him are more to blame for it. In Sweden the pride of place of syndicalism is held by the SAC, and comrade Soderberg was an ethical young worker with an internationalist perspective. Here's to the memory of this young hero. Also remember what the essence of fascism is, however it may try to throw the cloak of 'moderation' over itself.

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Ten years later: Remember Björn Söderberg!:

Show moral courage

On the 12th October it has been ten years since the Syndicalist Björn Söderberg was attacked in his home and killed by Nazis in a suburb of Stockholm. We solemnize his memory with a dignified manifestation on Monday the 12th. For those of you who are in Stockholm that day, we gather on Medborgarplatsen at 6 pm and march to La Mano on Katarinavägen at 7 pm. There the manifestation will end at 8.30 pm.

The context in which the murder took place, was that Björn acted openly and consequently against racism and Nazism at his workplace. For a while after the murder, protests kept coming in to Stockholms LS, the Stockholm chapter of the Syndicalist union. Tens of thousands gathered all over the country to express their disgust with the deed. Representatives of all the parties in the parliament participated in the manifestation on Medborgarplatsen.

Almost 70% of the Swedish population wanted Nazi organisations to be prohibited after the murder. But today, in our increasingly harsher class society, we witness a slowly growing support for a sneaking racism. The divisiveness of the solidarity between workers takes on such expressions.

At the same time the daily struggle against racism continues at schools and workplaces all around the country, a struggle seldom or never noticed by the media. Many people show their moral courage every day in an open stand against racism and fascism.

We will never back down - No Pasaran!/Stockholms LS, the Stockholm chapter of the Syndicalist union SAC

Nazi activity then and now

The summer of 1999 saw Nazi violence culminating in Sweden — in May two police officers were executed when stopping a car after a bank robbery performed by Nazis, and in June a car bomb severely injured a journalist living under constant death threats for writing exposing articles on Nazi organisations. That summer Björn worked as a stockroom worker when he learned that Robert Vesterlund, a leading Nazi, had gained a commission of trust in the union Handels at his workplace. Björn was determined to act despite of his own worries of becoming a target. He approached the staff management, the union and the Syndicalist weekly Arbetaren. As a result, Handels relieved Robert Vesterlund of his commission of trust and, later on, the company fired him. A month later, two armed Nazis rang on his door bell and after a heated argument shot him dead.

One of the Nazis who participated in the killing of Björn Söderberg was Hampus Hellekant, notorious in surveying leftist activists, journalists and others that he perceived as his opponents. Since his release from prison he has changed his name and, according to himself also his politics. But, as the Research Group reveals in this weeks’ issue of Arbetaren, he has never stopped his activities, he has never stopped his monitoring.

The results of which, as we’ve seen, can be severe.

Last December a Syndicalist couple and their two year old daughter were the victims of a Nazi arson in a suburb of Stockholm. The family escaped the flames by climbing down the balcony to the floor underneath. Some months earlier Hampus Hellekant had published pictures and addresses of the couple on a Nazi web page, displaying them as antifascists.
The challenge we face

We are experiencing an increasing level of Nazi violence very similar to the situation of the nineties, we wrote in Refuse to let history repeat itself. The social setting of today, with a financial crisis, increased marginalization and bigger divides between classes and a growing sense of insecurity among people is also very similar to then. However, some things differ. Today the Nazi movement is stronger than it was in 1999. And the kind of united anti-racist response we saw after the murder of Björn Söderberg was lacking after the attempted murder last year.

The same-same-but-different-card is habitually played every time anti-racists protest against marching Nazis and should, once and for all, be unveiled as the false play it certainly is. If one claims that the twenty or so murders committed by Nazis since the 80’s in Sweden alone, as well as the severe hate crimes, arsons, bombings and assaults they have carried out, is equal to the rock-throwing and street fighting of anti-racists, one lacks a sense of proportions.

Looking back at the repressed anti-racist mobilization against the Nazi march in Salem, the establishment does lack a sense of proportions. The extra-parliamentary left stood alone and five hundred people were rounded up and taken into “preventive custody” as soon as they arrived at the train station. The rest of the demonstration were cattled ( I think this means "penned"-Molly ) and never allowed to leave the rallying point.

The challenge for antifascist activists, as stated in From Salem to Stolberg: Right-Wing Martyrs and Right-Wing Violence, lies in finding effective means of resistance. The Swedish example confirms the difficulty to establish the right balance between two necessities: broad public support against the activities of the extreme right on the one hand; and retaining a critical voice against structural discrimination and (party) political hypocrisy on the other.

One of the reasons why the Salem March can continue derives from an early split within its opponents. While mainstream leftists and liberals now hold an anti-racist rally in Stockholm, far from the actual march, militant antifascists attempt to confront the march directly. This renders the Stockholm rally merely symbolic, while politicians and police commanders can portray the confrontations in Salem as yet another case of “extremist clashes”.

So the challenge remains for each and everyone of us to unite and manifest:
- That we are always many more than the fascists are ever going to be!

- That we are stronger than they will ever be!

- That we will never forget Björn Söderberg!

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-SWEDEN:

WILDCAT STRIKE AT THE SWEDISH LIQUOR MONOPOLY:

My God, from the Molly point of view this comes close to being a strike at an "essential service" ie booze. The following is a report from the new 'Notes From the Swedish Workers' Movement' blog(in general agreement with the anarchosyndicalist Swedish union federation, the SAC). See our Links section under 'Other Anarchosyndicalist Links' for both the 'Notes' and the SAC. As in too many other cases the official unions in Sweden have failed to give their members proper protection. In Sweden at least there is an organized alternative,the SAC.

The following was posted yesterday. If there are any new developments Molly will try to inform her readers in a timely fashion.

ASASASASASAS

WILDCAT STRIKE IN STOCKHOLM:

Workers in the warehouse for the Swedish state’s alcohol monopoly have started a wildcat strike in response to management attempts to replace the workforce with short term workers. Management has been trying for a long time to replace the workers with casualised workers on short term contracts, but now they are using the recession as an excuse for laying off workers, while they continue to hire agency staff. The workers have received little help or interest from their trade union; after a demonstration outside the LO (mainstream trade union federation) headquarters they were promised a meeting with LO representatives, but this was never fulfilled. The workers have refused to return to work and have been joined in their strike by supporters from the local branch of the SAC and individuals from the extra-parliamentary left.

A blockade of the warehouse was successful between five this morning until two in the afternoon when police helped the management to sneak scabs in the back door. Police have taken the unusually hostile step of classifying the action as a demonstration rather than a workplace conflict, which gives them increased powers to harass the strikers. This is a tactic that is often used against strikers from the syndicalist union SAC but is not typically used against workers from the LO (mainstream) trade unions. The strike continues tomorrow when there will be a national day of action. The strikers are expected to be supported by SAC members working in the stores of the state’s alcohol monopoly.
thanks to Altemark(a Swedish anarchosyndicalist blogger to my knowledge-Molly) for the info.

INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-SWEDEN:

PROTESTING VATTENFALL:

The following communique is from the Anarckisterna group in Sweden, and their creative protest vehicle, the "Yellow Army Faction" (GAF). It's report of how they invaded the press conference of the Vattenfall (Waterfall in Swedish) company that was held after the annual corporate general meeting. According to the Wikipedia entry on Vattenfall, this company, wholly owned by the Swedish government is becoming one of the primary energy companies in northern Europe. To do this it has invested heavily in "brown coal" plants (46% of its generation) and nuclear power (28%). the charge that they are involved in "greenwashing" made by the GAF is more than backed up by the facts. Read the following comminiqué, and go to the link provided for video of the action and further information on the Vattenfall company and its actions.

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Yellow Army Faction invading press conference of Vattenfall:‏

Yellow Army Faction invading press conference of Vattenfall http://anarkisterna.com/blog/2009/04/30/yellow-army-faction-invading-press-conference-of-vattenfall/

Yesterday the Yellow Army Faction, GAF, invaded the press conference of Vattenfall after their annual general meeting. GAF issued this statement:

Today the Yellow Army Faction invaded the press conference of Vattenfall greenwashing Lars G Josefsson and Co, who were bullshitting the media at their annual general meeting, to raise awareness of how they are portraying themselves as holding the solution to the climate crisis, while in fact they are the problem. We refuse to stand silently by while they are pushing us further towards destruction.

Not for an instant do we believe that the same dirty company causing climate changes, or the political system backing it up, can solve the climate crisis. An industrialised capitalist economy cannot get by without fossil fuels. It is built on the access to cheap energy that is easily taken from the ground. All economic growth is directly linked to the growing consumption of oil and coal. Lars G Josefsson, vice of Vattenfall, clearly expresses this logic: “Developing renewable energy sources is expensive”, he says. “To afford doing so, Vattenfall has to invest largely into the profitable coal energy.” (It seems that this is some variant of the old' "I'll stop doing 'X', but I've got to keep doing it some more so I can afford to stop. This excuse is in wide circulation for a variety of behaviors-Molly)

To be able to continue with its lucrative coal energy, Vattenfall tries to hoax us by saying new technology will solve the problem. With the so called “Carbon Capture and Storage” technique coal carbon dioxide is to be captured and“decontaminated”.

But if one believes that new technology can solve the problem, one hasn’t understood what technology is. Technology is but a part of a whole society, in this case western industrial society, relying on cheap energy. A need for energy that won’t be satisfied before nature, humans and our life-supporting system has been exploited to the brink of extinction. Solving this problem is not included in the time frame that Vattenfall's quarterly economics allows.

The real solutions to the problems of energy and climate crises come from below. They are small scale, locally controlled and aimed at supplying our basic needs. To the people of Sweden! Vattenfall is owned by you. Lars G Josefsson is employed by you. It is time to revolt and take the power back!

The Yellow Army Faction consists of the 240 480 yellow plastic figurines that Vattenfall has created in their filthy “green washing” campaign. But we have fought loose and sworn to fight to the last figurine against Vattenfall and capitalism driving our Earth towards destruction!

INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-SWEDEN:

CLIMATE CHANGE ACTION AT VATTENFALL:

The following is a communiqué from the 'Gula Armé Fractionen' , a Swedish direct action ecology group. It comes via the Swedish anarchist site Autonoma Rötter. Molly loves the playful and humorous way that these Swedish comrades are approaching their actions. We could learn from them.

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GAF: Liberation action at Vattenfall‏:
Around lunchtime on Wednesday the 4th of March, a group of activists entered the headquarters of Swedish state-run energy giant Vattenfall in downtown Stockholm. They left again with 44 of the yellow plastic figurines that Vattenfall uses in their PR-campaign about climate change.

The activists were a commando of the Yellow Army Faction. They write in their manifesto:

"We are the Yellow Army Faction. We are the 237944 yellow plastic figurines created by Vattenfall. For months we have been forced to silently support its dirty policies. Now, we fight back!

We will not support the continued expansion of the fossil-fuel society. We will not support the mining of more brown coal, the construction of more coal-fired power plants, or billions of Crowns of support for new coal technology.

We do not believe in Vattenfall’s lies about so-called ‘clean’ coal. We also do not have time to wait for 20 years for a technology that merely might work. We have to stop burning coal now!

The Yellow Army Faction will fight Vattenfall, and the capitalist system that is driving the earth towards its collapse.

The Yellow Army Faction demands:

* The release of all of our yellow comrades!
* The immediate shutdown of all coal-fired power plants!
* That all construction of new coal-fired power plants cease
immediately!
* An immediate stop to all mining of brown coal!
* No more billions in research support for new coal technology: all
resources should go to renewable energies!

Today we released 44 of our imprisoned comrades. The fight has only just begun!

Images and video

shttp://autonomarotter.net/

http://autonomarotter.net/blogg/38-aktioner/78-gula-armefraktionen-i-fritagningsaktion-

A film about the figurines on Vattenfall’s webpage

http://klimatsignatur.vattenfall.se/event.php?theFigure=

PERSONAL:

MOLLY GETS MAIL-PART II:

Here's another of the cards I have received, this time from the Anarkisterna site in Sweden. the image here may be familiar to readers of this blog as I have used it before, but it deserves to enter the classics anyways. In Sweden, by the way the traditional Christmas figure, Tomte the Christmas elf/gnome, is gradually being replaced by the American Empire Santa Claus. Too bloody bad. May they never cease serving the traditional Swedish drink "glogg" (I shit you not), a sort of mulled wine. What an appropriate name.

In any case here is the greeting from Sweden, along with a repeat of their request for solidarity. Molly is off on the highway tomorrow morning so I wish you the best for the next few days. Keep it clean and don't let the ruling class bite, and, if they do, call the exterminator. Til later......

............................

Seasons' greetings from Athens:‏
From:
embryo@anarkisterna.com
Just to get you all in the right spirit - from all of us to all of you:

http://anarkisterna.com/blog/2008/12/24/from-all-of-us-to-all-of-you/

And while we're at it, a reminder of the people needing our support:

The “December Collection” (Decemberinsamlingen) serves as emergency help for the family that has lost almost all of their belongings in the attack on their apartment:

Re: Decemberinsamlingen

Addressee: SAC

IBAN: SE24 9500 0099 6034 0809 9236

BIC/Swift: NDEASESS

The Cyklopen activists are determined to rebuild their center – financial help can be sent here:

Re: Cyklopen

Addressee: Kulturkampanjen

IBAN: SE09 9500 0099 6034 1607 5525

BIC/Swift: NDEASESS

http://anarkisterna.com/blog/2008/12/20/support-the-victims-of-neo-nazi-arsons/

In solidarity!

/embryo collective

Molly wishes the "embryo" a happy birth and a prosperous life.

INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-SWEDEN:

HOLIDAY APPEAL FOR VICTIMS OF NEO-NAZI ARSONS:

Molly has mentioned at least one of the following incidents on this blog before. On December 1 a family of Swedish syndicalists, affiliated to the anarchosyndicalist SAC, were almost killed by an arson attempt on their apartment. Also, however, on the 29th of November, the Swedish autonomous cultural centre Cyklopen was also burnt down by fascist arsonists. Both the family and the Centre need your support, the family to rebuild their lives and the Centre to open once more. Here's the appeal from the Swedish website Anarkisterna.

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Support the victims of Neo-Nazi arsons:‏
Please help us spread this call for solidarity on lists, blogs and pages.Support is needed, both for the family that has lost almost all of their belongings in the attack on their apartment and for financing the rebuilding of the Cyclops.

Thanks /embryo collective

http://anarkisterna.com/blog/2008/12/20/support-the-victims-of-neo-nazi-arsons/

The “Salem March” is the biggest annual Neo-Nazi gathering in Scandinavia.It is an alleged “commemoration” event for a Swedish youth with contacts to the country’s extreme right who died during a late-evening confrontation with migrant youths in the year 2000 in Salem, a suburb of Stockholm. In the weeks leading up to this year’s march, neofascists engaged in a series of attacks against antifascist activists.

On the 29th of November, the autonomous cultural center Cyklopen was burned to the ground. The fire coincided with a planned meeting of the Network Against Racism that organizes protests against the Salem March every year. Luckily, the meeting did not take place that night, so no one got injured in the blaze. According to authorities, the fire was a certain case of arson and the perpetrators are suspected in the neofascist scene. Cyklopen had been threatened various times before. The neofascists know that autonomous left-wing spaces are a cornerstone of effective antifascist work.

On the 1st of December, there was an arson attack on the apartment of two members of Sweden’s anarchosyndicalist union SAC and their three-year old child. One of them explained: “I saw how someone poured some clear fluid into the hallway through the mail-slot. I could smell that it was gasoline. I screamed as loud as I could, ‘We have a child here!’ It is impossible that they did not hear me. Next thing I know, they set the gasoline on fire.” While the child was handed down from the apartment’s third-storey balcony to neighbors below, the two adults were able to climb to safety. The police treats the attack as politically motivated. They strongly suspect the perpetrators to be the same as in the Cyclopen attack. Half a year ago, the names and pictures of SAC members had been published on Info-14, an internet portal of the Swedish extreme right that is closely connected to the organizers of the Salem March.

There exist solidarity accounts for the victims of the attacks:

The “December Collection” (Decemberinsamlingen) serves as emergency help for the family that has lost almost all of their belongings in the attack on their apartment:

Re: Decemberinsamlingen

Addressee: SAC

IBAN: SE24 9500 0099 6034 0809 9236

BIC/Swift: NDEASESS

The Cyklopen activists are determined to rebuild their center – financial help can be sent here:

Re: Cyklopen

Addressee: Kulturkampanjen

IBAN: SE09 9500 0099 6034 1607 5525

BIC/Swift: NDEASESS

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR/ANARCHOSYNDICALISM-SWEDEN:

NEO-NAZIS ATTEMPT TO MURDER SYNDICALIST FAMILY IN SWEDEN:

The following is from the Swedish Anarchisterna website, though Molly first read about it on the website of the Romania Indymedia. At the Anarkisterna site anarchist from across the world are sending messages of solidarity with the Swedish comrades.

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Nazis tried to kill union activists and their child:

In 1999 Nazis killed the Syndicalist Björn Söderberg. Now they have tried again. Two Syndicalists from Stockholm – one of them the former chair of the Stockholm chapter of the Syndicalist union - and their two year old daughter were forced to climb down from the balcony of their third floor apartment when Nazis sat fire to their flat.

Half a year ago, our union members were exposed on the Nazi webpage Info-14. The Nazis behind Info-14 are the same people who arrange the annual Nazimarch in Salem.

Just before nine p.m. on Monday night, 1st December 2008, our members heard a splashing sound from the hallway. “I saw someone pour a clear fluid through the mail slot and understood from the scent that it was gasoline”, one of them said. “I shouted so loud that they can’t have missed it: We have children in here! Only seconds later they lit the fire.”

In the hall hung the family’s winter clothes and in a couple of seconds the fire had spread to the kitchen and the living room. To exit through the front door was impossible.

“We had to lower our daughter down to the neighbours’ balcony one floor below”, our member explains. “We live on the top floor. Had she slipped out of our hands, she would have died.” The couple then climbed down the same way. Behind them the fire ravaged all their belongings, memories and future plans.

Our members and their daughter miraculously remained unharmed, but it doesn’t change the fact that one, or several, people deliberately and in cold blood tried to take their lives. Six months ago the openly National socialist homepage info14 published names and pictures of our members. The police work from the theory that the deed was politically motivated, performed by the same offenders who two days earlier burnt down the libertarian socialist cultural centre The Cyclops in Högdalen. The case is classified as arson.

Our targeted members’ union work focused on antiracism and diminishing class divides. Because of this they were to be punished by death according to the Nazis.

The Nazis behind Info-14 are the same people who run the organisation Salemfonden, that every year on the first Saturday in December arrange the biggest Nazi march in Northern Europe. “The people arranging the Salemmarch are not harmless individuals with a slightly dissenting opinion. They are ideologically convinced Nazis, evidently capable of murder in the pursuit of their cause”, Ola Brunnström from SAC’s working committee states.

This Saturday the people who tried to kill our members arrange a march in Salem, a suburb of Stockholm. SAC, the Syndicalists, urges everyone to join in the counter demonstration by the Network Against Racism at 12 o’ clock in Salem Centre.

If we let the Nazis stand unchallenged we never now who they’ll attack next.
SAC’s working committee

http://www.sac.se

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-SWEDEN"

SWEDISH 'SAC' ORGANIZES FOR PAKISTANI SEAMEN IN STOCKHOLM:

The SAC is a venerable anarchosyndicalist organization in Sweden. despite the temptations and repression of both social democratic and conservative regimes in that country they have survived and continued to press an apolitical class organization method. Lately they have taken up the cause of immigrant labour. This is one of their efforts. The following is taken from the A-Infos website.

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Sweden, SAC* takes conflict for Pakistani seamen in Stockholm

There is a campaign home page regarding an ongoing conflict with seamen in Stockholm local of SAC vs Ånedinlinjen that is also in english! This conflict is really nasty because the seamen are sacked and when their contracts end they will not only loose their jobs but also their legal status. There are 18 pakistanis in the Stockholm local on the ship and they have lived in Sweden between 7 - 23 years. The shipping company will ruin their plans for the future, their social life in Sweden (many have lived here longer than some posters on this forum-(A-Inf0s-Molly)) and their economic situation, if we can't stop them.

>>> Read more about it here:

http://www.birgerjarl.info/

ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-SWEDEN:

ANARCHOPRIDE GATHERING IN STOCKHOLM:

The AnarchoPride group is composed of Swedish gay anarchists, and this summer they hope to hold an alternative festival to contrast with the official gay Europride festival in Stockholm. Here is their announcement from the A-Infos website.

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Sweden, Stockholm, Anarchopride 31/7-3/8:

We want anarchists to gather during Europride in Stockholm, Sweden. Camp with us, do discussions, workshops and actions. Join us in the parade and go to our party. We welcome everyone to anarchopride at Cyklopen and Kaf? 44.Anarchopride wants to be an alternative to the commercial europride and the superficial gay culture. Norms about sexuality and gender is one of several structures in the society that oppress people. We struggle not just against homophobia or heterosexism, we struggle against all oppressions and against capitalism and the state. We believe that the arranging of people in small heterosexual families helps the state to maintain control.

During anarchopride we will discuss and act. We will fill these days with a lot of inspiration and DIY-culture.

No one is free until we're all free! Smash capitalism! Reclaim pride!

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CAMP

31/7-3/8 at Cyklopen. You can stay with us for free in the house of culture, Cyklopen, in a suburb of Stockholm.

WORKSHOPS

1/8 at Cyklopen. A day full of inspiration, action and DIY-culture.

PARADE

2/8. Join us behind the banner "Anarchists breaking borders".

PARTY

31/7 at Kaf? 44. Punk and other live music and performances at Kaf? 44, in the city centre of Stockholm.

Organizers: Stockholms anarchafeminists

More information: http://www.anarchopride.kamplust.se/

Contact us: anarchopride08@gmail.com

At the same time, there will be held "Autonomous Action Days" (29/7-2/8) in Helsinki. Its easy to take a ferry between Helsinki and Stockholm.

http://www.valtaus.org/

And if you want to come to Sweden earlier... from Stockholm you can take another cheep boat to the island Gotland and the medieval city Visby, there the Alternative Week - like a summer camp for radical movements - is going to take place 6-12 july. Meet syndicalists, greens, autonomists, anarchists... its gonna take place in an art school. Unfortunately they haven't translated any information to English, but normally it's an interesting week. People from the ESF Action network will also be there.

http://www.alternativveckan.se/

At the same time the official "Politician week"(?????-Molly-perhaps akin to "poisonous snake week") is held in Visby, with all the big names from the establishment, company bosses and politicians... so there is also a lot of possibilities for actions (or just going to their seminars and finding out their next big plans that gonna be launched... this is the lobbyist paradise in Sweden...and also fun for trubblemakers like us).

/ mathias.motkraft.net

SWEDISH LABOUR:

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS WIN UNPAID WAGES IN STOCKHOLM:

As Molly has remarked many times before the world anarcho-syndicalist movement is gradually being rebuilt, and is nowadays acting as real unions in many countries. One of these is Sweden, where the venerable SAC already had a strong base before the renewed interest in anarchism of the last few decades. One of the major problems of labour today is the situation of migrant workers, many of them often undocumented. Anarcho-syndicalist and syndicalist unions across the world have applied themselves to organizing these workers. Here is the story of one such effort and its successes.

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Illegal immigrants win unpaid wages in Stockholm



The syndicalist SAC union in Sweden has been campaigning for fair wages for illegal immigrants in the last few months, resulting in thousands of dollars in unpaid wages being paid to migrant workers.

The increasing organisation of illegal immigrants within the syndicalist union SAC have lead to more and more blockades to force the payment of unpaid wages, mainly from employment agencies in the restaurant, cleaning, hotel and building industry. Millions Kronor in unpaid wages have been have been won by the SAC. That these companies and their customers don't want to attract attention to their exploitation of illegal immigrants, in most cases the mere threat of a union blockade has been enough to get the wages paid.

Parallel to this defensive work, the SAC have started organising a list of workplaces where the employer is only allowed to employ members from the syndicalist register, working as a closed shop for illegal immigrant workers, setting wages, six-hour-workdays and democratically electing bosses on the workplaces. At the moment these workplaces are paying untaxed wages for illegal immigrants, exchange students and asylum seekers but the aim is to organise this amongst all forms of precarious labour.

The register has been dominated by illegal Latin American workers, but after these 2 victories the SAC hopes for a breakthrough with organising the growing number of illegal Indian/Pakistani workers in Sweden.

But at the Pakistani restaurant Lilla Karachi in Stockholm, the employers tried to set their foot down. The restaurant rejected demands on 80,000 Kronor (£6,150) untaxed wage for a union member and a longer blockade was begun. Since the restaurant is in the same neighbourhood as the Swedish right wing government parties Moderaterna and Centerpartiet, it was soon filled daily with "solidarity eaters" specifically eating there to break the blockade. Leading right wing politicians, led by the daily paper Svenska Dagbladets editorial Maria Abrahansson, were ranting on blogs and in media, calling the blockade an 'mafia tactic' and comparing the SAC with Hell's Angels and Bandits. They have also demanded that police should arrest all the union activists involved and that union rights allowing blockades to be launched be repealed.

After 2 months off daily blockades and the SAC paper Arbetarens explaining that Lilla Karachi owners have threatened the SAC member's family in Pakistan, don't pay the minimum wage in their deal with the social democratic union and have used a fake book-keeper as a witness of innocence in the media, the opinion shifted and a lot of the right wing politicians officially regretted their solidarity eating. After a couple of weeks with hardly any evening customers, the Lilla Karachi restaurant agreed to pay out the wage.

The SAC has also started a conflict against McDonalds who have used an employment agency with illegal immigrants for an hourly pay-rate of 33 Kronor (£2.50) when the union deal is 90 Kronor (£6.90). The same right wing politicians called it mafia behaviour, but McDonald's paid the salaries after only a week off conflict.

So far, the syndicalist register has been dominated by illegal Latin American workers, however, its hoped that these two victories will be a breakthrough for the SAC in organising illegal south Asian workers in Sweden.

MORE SOLIDARITY APPEALS:

A number of appeals for solidarity from union groups and social activists have crossed Molly's desk in the last few days. Here are a few:

A. The Swedish syndicalist union, the SAC, is planning a campaign against the international furniture company IKEA because their section in the city of Jonkoping is engaged in an industrial dispute with IKEA. If you have an IKEA outlet in your city the SAC would be happy to hear from you at ikea-sektionen.jkpg@sac.se as to what you can do to help. To check if you have such an outlet go to the IKEA website.

B. The online labour solidarity group Labour Start has launched a campaign to protest the murder by Chilean police of forestry worker Rodrigo Alexis Cisternas on May 3rd. More than 7,000 subcontracted forestry workers have been on strike in Concepcion since early May demanding a monthly raise of $38 US. Most of the workers make less than US$100 per month. The shooting of Cisternas took place during a battle between police and striking workers during a road blockade on the night of May 3rd. To learn more and to participate go to http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=247 .

C. The Jobs With Justice organization began a campaign on Mothers' Day in solidarity with workers at flower plantations in the country of Columbia. Mothers' Day, the biggest flower buying day of the year was an appropriate time to begin the campaign, but it is still ongoing. The management of the Dole Company who run the Splendor-El Rosal and Splendor-El Corzo flower plantations refuse to negotiate in good faith with the workers of the independent union Sintrasplendor. The El-Corzo farm was shut down last October, as a company response to unionization, and the workers' demands include salary increases, job security and employment for the 10% of workers who still remain at the El-Corzo farm at the El-Rosal location. To learn more about this campaign and to participate go to http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/dole_mothersday/wukd7sdrhbxbexw?

More appeals later,

Molly

THE GENERAL STRIKE IN SWEDEN: THE MISSING REPORTS:
Molly has previously reported on the attempted general strike that the Swedish syndicalist union SAC (see AnarchoSyndicalist Links in the contact section of this blog) called for Nov. 15th. This call was, of course, widely publicized in the press and electronic sites of the world's anarchist movement. Numerous messages of solidarity were sent to our Swedish comrades. The strike, of course, has come and gone, and what is missing from the public face of anarchism is any analysis of what the strike call actually achieved. The SAC may have reported on the results, but little or none of this of this has been published in languages other than Swedish. The exception is an article published in Royo Y Negro, a journal of the Spanish CGT. Published on Nov. 17th, two days after the strike, it was entitled, 'La Huelga de la SAC asusta a patronal y sindicatos mayoritarios en Suecia' (Molly trans: The SAC's strike frightens management (or the bosses' organization) and the majority unions in Sweden).
Royo y Negro made no estimates of the total number of people who heeded the call of the SAC, but they made three observations about the benefits of the strike call. The first was that many affiliates of the majority union, the LO, were so disgusted by the manoeuvres of their union bosses that they joined the SAC demonstrations on their own initiatives. The second benefit was that the strike call reawakened public interest in the existence of the SAC in Sweden. The third is that the call reinvigorated the activity of the locals and industrial sections of the SAC.
All of this is undoubtedly true and to the good, but actual numbers would be much more to the point. Without them one relies on factors that are more than a little subjective. When and how to issue a strike call is an important question as international anarchosyndicalism competes with bureaucratic unions across the world. Success should be judged by objective criteria so that lessons can actually be learned. subjective criteria should be followed over time to see if initial impressions were indeed true.
Still waiting for same...
Molly
PS:The graphic above is the logo of the SAC.

SWEDISH SYNDICALISTS CALL FOR GENERAL STRIKE
The Swedish anarcho-syndicalist organization Sveriges Arbetares Centralorganisation (Central Organization of the Workers of Sweden- the SAC) have called for a general strike against planned government legislation for tomorrow, Nov. 15th. The government will introduce a bill on Nov. 16th on unemployment that will reduce unemployment benefits. The SAC's call has gone out to 2.5 million private sector employees as political strikes in the public sector are banned. The SAC only represents 7,000 of these people, but they are hoping that their call will "catch fire" with other workers represented by the 'official' unions in the LO. Anyone interested in this strike can follow developments on the SAC website at http://www.sac.se . See also the links section in this blog. The site has summaries in English and Spanish, but the "meat" of the matter is only in Swedish. Developments will also be followed on the Anarchismo site (also see the links on this page) in various languages.
The efforts of the Swedish comrades will be supported by a number of the unions affiliated with International Libertarian Solidarity such as the CGT of Spain, the CNT-f of France, the ESE of Greece, the ACI of Portugal and the CKL and AIP of Poland. These unions plan solidarity actions on the 15th in support of the SAC. Various platformist groups have also expressed solidarity with the SAC.
Swedish law permits political strikes in the private sector, but these are generally prohibited by the collective agreements that the major labour federation, the LO, enters into with employers. The bosses of the LO have even threatened to sue their own members if they participate in the SAC call. Quick spelling-bee question. How do you spell "t..r..a..i..t..o..r" in Swedish ? But what more can one expect from union bosses, with their good "socialist" careers at stake ?
Molly wishes the SAC well, but she is doubtful about the effectiveness of the call given the opposition of the major union bosses. Hopefully enough Swedish workers are disgusted enough by the actions of their "leaders" that they will desert the LO for the SAC in the near future.