MOUVEMENT ANARCHISTE INTERNATIONAL -FRANCE/INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-FRANCE:
CONTRE LA RÉPRESSION D'ÉTAT À POITIERS/AGAINST STATE REPRESSION IN POITIERS:

L'histoire et attrait qui suit est de CNT-F anarcho-syndicaliste./The story and solidarity appeal that follows is from the anarcho-syndicalist CNT-F.
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Contre la répression d'État à Poitiers:

Contre la répression d'État à PoitiersLa Fédération CNT des travailleurs de l'éducation s'élève contre la répression féroce qui s'abat sur des camarades à Poitiers depuis le 10 octobre.





Suite à la manifestation contre l'enfermement et la construction de la prison privée de Vivonne, dix-huit personnes, dont certains militants, ont été arrêtées et placées en garde à vue. Certaines ont même été arrêtées alors qu'elles n'avaient pas participé à la manifestation ! Jugées en comparution immédiate – nom juridique de la justice expéditive – trois d'entre elles ont été condamnées à de la prison ferme.





Pour faire taire le mouvement social, l'État a choisi arbitrairement trois boucs émissaires innocents et utilise ce prétexte pour ficher tous les militants locaux. Hortefeux réactive la peur de l'ennemi intérieur et en profite pour faire passer des nouvelles lois liberticides : « inventaire des lieux de vie communautaire où se regroupent des mouvances anarchistes potentiellement violentes », « identification très précise des groupuscules qui organisent ces incidents », dissolution de ces groupes.





La Fédération CNT des travailleurs de l'éducation invite à créer des comités de soutien aux inculpé-e-s ou à rejoindre ceux qui existent déjà. Nous dénonçons un État qui utilise les violences policières, les lois scélérates et une « justice » d'exception pour détruire toute contestation sociale. Nous continuerons à lutter contre l'enfermement, nous continuerons à participer à des manifestations contre toutes les violences économiques, sociales et politiques. Nous serons toujours dans les luttes et y développerons l'autogestion et la solidarité contre la peur et l'injustice.

CNT FTE

Toulouse, le 17 octobre 2009

Contacts de la CNT FTE : http://www.cnt-f.org/fte/ (site), fede-educ@cnt-f.org (mail), 06 26 50 01 36 (téléphone).
Précisions sur les condamnés :

- Patrick, quatre mois fermes, quatre mois avec sursis et 800 € d'amende pour violence sur commissaire ; Sam (trésorier de la CNT éducation 86), un mois ferme, cinq mois avec sursis pour violence sur commissaire ; Jean-Salvy, un mois ferme, cinq mois avec sursis pour violence sur officier de police ; Nathalie et Charles, deux mois avec sursis pour détention de feux d'artifices ; Serge, six mois avec sursis, deux ans de mise à l'épreuve et 2 850 € d'amende pour dégradations volontaires de biens privés ; Léo, six mois avec sursis pour dégradations volontaires par incendie et jets de pierres ; Candice, six mois avec sursis et 950 € d'amende pour dégradations volontaires sur un bien d'utilité publique. Par ailleurs, le parquet a fait appel pour quatre d'entre eux.



- Procès à venir : le 5 janvier 2010, une mineure (14 ans) pour rébellion et refus de prélèvement ADN à Limoges ; le 23 février 2010, Angel (CNT éducation 86) et Sarah pour refus de prélèvement ADN (et refus de prise de photos et d'empreintes pour Angel).

Renseignements :

- Le comité poitevin contre la répression des mouvements sociaux ( http://antirepression.unblog.fr/ ) appelle à un rassemblement lundi 19 octobre à 17h30, place d'Armes, Poitiers.




- Un blog de soutien pour Sam et Jean-Salvy : http://soutiensametjeansalvy.over-blog.org/Pour signer l'appel à leur libération : http://5237.lapetition.be/ <http://5237.lapetition.be/

Pour contacter le comité de soutien : soutiensametjeansalvy@gmail.com

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And in English.

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Against state repression in Poitiers:

Against state repression in Poitiers

The CNT Federation of Education Workers protests the harsh punishment that has fallen on comrades in Poitiers since October 10.





Following the demonstration against the closure and the construction of the private prison in Vivonne, eighteen people, including certain militants, have been arrested and placed in custody. Some have even been arrested when they did not attend the demonstration! Judged at first appearance - legal name 'expeditious justice' - three of them were sentenced to prison.





To silence the social movement, the state has arbitrarily chosen three innocent scapegoats and uses this pretext to implicate all local activists. Hortefeux (Molly note=I just can't translate this. My Larousse and two online translation services gave me no help. I assume it means something like "quickly" ie "pants on fire" because of the "feux" part or perhaps something like "slyly" or perhaps something totally different. Perhaps a francophone could help me out here )reactive fear of the internal enemy and used it to push through new 'libericidal' laws ie "an inventory of places of community life that bring together the potentially violent anarchist mileau", "a very precise identification of the small groups that organized these events," and the "dissolution of these groups".





The CNT Federation of Education Workers calls for the creation of support committees for those charged or joining existing ones. We denounce a state that uses police violence, the wicked laws and a biased "justice" which aims to destroy all social protest. We will continue to fight against the closure, we will continue to participate in demonstrations against all violence, economic, social and political. We will continue to struggle and develop self management and solidarity against fear and injustice.


CNT FTE


Toulouse, October 17, 2009


Contacts of the CNT FTE: http://www.cnt-f.org/fte/ (site), fede-educ@cnt-f.org (mail), 06 26 50 01 36 (phone).


Details of the prisoners:


- Patrick, sentenced to four months, four months suspended sentence and a fine of 800 € for assault on a police officer, Sam (treasurer of the CNT education 86) a month in prison, five-months suspended sentence for assault on a police officer, Jean-Salvy, a month in prison, five-month suspended sentence for assault on a police officer; Nathalie and Charles, two-month suspended sentence for possession of fireworks, Serge, six months suspended sentence, two years probation and € 2 850 d fine for malicious damage to private property, Leo, six months suspended sentence for deliberate damage by fire and throwing stones, Candice, six months suspended sentence and 950 € fine for deliberate damage to public property of . Moreover, the prosecution has filed an appeal for four of them.


- Upcoming trials: January 5, 2010, a minor (14 years) for rebellion and rejection of DNA sampling in Limoges, February 23, 2010, Angel (CNT education 86) and Sarah for refusing DNA collection (and refusing photos and fingerprints for Angel).


Information:


- The committee Poitevin against repression of social movements (http://antirepression.unblog.fr/ ) calls for a rally Monday, October 19 at 17:30 Place d'Armes, Poitiers. - A support blog for Sam and Jean-Salvy: http://soutiensametjeansalvy.over-blog.org/ To sign the call for their release: http://5237.lapetition.be/


To contact the support committee: soutiensametjeansalvy@gmail.com

WINNIPEG LOCAL NEWS:

PARKING, PRISONS AND PASHTUNS:

Ok, here's our quiz section. What do the above 3Ps have in common ? Full marks and a Molly No-Prize to those who guessed that they are indeed a P3, public private partnership, in the guise of the City of Winnipeg's latest decision to award its parking bylaw enforcement to the Anglo-Dutch G4S company. Who exactly are these people ? They claim to employ over 500,000 people worldwide in over 100 countries- just a tad shy of Winnipeg's total population. As the article below makes clear they have made a mess of managing prisons and other services in the UK. They have also been involved in many scandals involving labour rights. For an overview see the Wikipedia article on them as well as an article in the business section of the London Times. They are also, of course, involved in providing services to the occupation forces in Iraq and Afghanistan(can we say mercenaries?). So watch out for the helicopter gunships if you don't pay your ticket on time, and never, never, never plan a wedding party unless you are fully paid up (the bride wore napalm ???). According to the Wikipedia article the anarcho-punk band Crass once wrote a song about these people- though Molly was unable to verify this from the Wiki.

Anyways, here's an article on this takeover here in Winnipeg from Policy Alternatives via the Public Values website. Gotta hand it to Slick Sammy, our beloved comrade leader mayor, his belief in the free market is almost as religiously pure as that of Sneaky Stevie, our beloved comrade leader Prime Minister.

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From British prisons to Winnipeg parking police:
What the 'Peg could learn from Keystone Capers of other governments who rushed out to privatize.
by Pete Hudson, CCPA Manitoba
November 20, 2008 — Last week it was reported that the Winnipeg Parking Authority has contracted with a company called G4S to hand out parking tickets to meter violators. This tiny portion of the total city budget is worth bothering with because it is illustrative of some serious flaws in the contracting ideology.

Two issues to be considered in relation to contracting out of services traditionally performed by city staff are why and with whom. In relation to the first question, many governments which rushed to contract out public services as part of a more general program of privatization are having second thoughts.

For example, the UK government has recently rescinded the compulsory contracting legislation of its predecessor. It has halted, and pledged to reverse, contracting out of cleaning, laundry and food services in hospitals because of the alarming rise in infections. Closer to home, Toronto has just taken back its garbage collection from private contractors, Port Moody its recycling and solid waste disposal, and Hamilton its water system maintenance because these jurisdictions found it more cost-effective to deliver these in-house, as well as easier to control quality.

A recent study of 100 so-called P3's (a way to contract out financing of public capital projects) found huge cost overruns, failures to meet deadlines, lengthy legal battles, contractors walking away from half finished projects, and outright fraud. Several Canadian jurisdictions, earlier embracing P3's, are now backing away from them; most recently Saskatchewan. Generally speaking the evidence is piling up that the claims of greater efficiencies and better quality are not justified.

So why would the City of Winnipeg persist in its present course of contracting out? Why deny the evidence? The reason seems to be that Mayor Katz and his inner circle, have heard the mantras of "privatization is good", "government is the problem and the market is the solution" so repeatedly deafeningly, that it simply has become a self-evident truth.

This mantra continues to be chanted by the Chamber of Commerce and surfaces in such C of C inspired documents as the Report of the Economic Opportunities Commission, which recommended yet more contracting out for the City, claiming cost savings based on nothing more than faith. In the case of parking meter surveillance, for many years the contract had been awarded to the non-profit Canadian Corps of Commissionaires. This was terminated sometime this year, apparently because of some compliance issues.

This would have been a golden opportunity to ask if it would be more cost-effective to contract in the service to City hired staff. How many workers would be needed to perform the service in-house? What would a union wage and benefits for these workers cost? How might that compare with the contract awarded to G4S costing $2.03m? I don't know the answer to these questions. The point is they were never asked. It is simply taken for granted that contracting out is the way to go.

In regard to the second issue, G4S is a UK-based multinational claiming nearly 500,000 employees worldwide. In 1994, the Home Office contracted out construction, maintenance, and daily running of several prisons to G4S. Among other difficulties, there were almost daily episodes of inmates hopping over the walls. Later there were several incidents of cash-carrying vans operated by G4S going missing. A locked facility to detain asylum seekers experienced a disastrous fire in 2002.

G4S claims that it has learned some lessons since, but the saga has continued. A series of thefts of computers in Nashville and the more astonishing theft of transit buses in Miami Dade County in 2008 has been attributed to lax security provided by G4S. There have been instances of fraud, mostly involving billing for shifts which never occurred, but also other corner cutting practices, as evidenced by complaints about poor food and diet, health care and sanitation, in addition to alleged punitive and undignified treatment of the residents in locked facilities.

Contracting out has usually resulted in much reduced remuneration for workers even when there has been no cost saving to taxpayers — and G4S appears to be yet another case in point. In 2005 representatives of G4S workers from four continents staged a massive protest at the G4S annual general meeting, accusing it of driving down wages and conditions and denying workers basic rights in the countries in which it operates.

G4S had vigorously opposed attempts at unionization of many of its workplaces, and was currently at that time embroiled in dozens of claims of violations of US labour laws. Enforced month-to-month contracts which denied workers access to benefits was said to be commonplace. Regardless of geography and regardless of the presence or absence of a union (organizing efforts have been successful in some G4S workplaces), G4S has experienced, and continues to experience, an unusually high incidence of labour-management strife.

Right from the start of the contracting out craze, critics were questioning the logic behind it. Now that the theory has been empirically tested and found wanting in so many cases, it is difficult to see how the contract between the WPA and G4S will deliver a less costly and better quality service than if delivered by WPA staff. It is, of course, possible. The point is, we will never know, because the questions that need to be asked are so rarely asked at the current Winnipeg City Hall. When they are asked, the questioners are faced with attacks upon their intelligence and their credentials.

We all still hope that if G4S is found wanting, or when the contract expires, whichever comes first, any evaluation would include the possibility of the alternative of contracting in — as should be the case with all such contracts. In the meantime, when I see the new parking police in their "customer friendly" uniforms, handing out tickets one minute and being "ambassadors" for the City the next, I will find it difficult not to think of a good portion of the UK prison population enjoying the delights of the English countryside from the other side of the wall. If you get a ticket, check it twice.

Pete Hudson is Professor Emeritus at the University of Manitoba and a Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Manitoba research associate.

Links and sources: From Prisons to Parking: The Story of G4S by Pete Hudson. First published in Policy Alternatives, November 20 2008