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 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!

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......

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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.