EYFA Youth Gathering at Anti-Nuclear Camp
Against Nuclear Energy – For Energy Democracy
Lubiatowo, Poland
July 23 – 29
Call-out for Participants
Application Deadline: June 1, 2012
This summer EYFA will be organising an international youth gathering
aspart of a wider Anti-Nuclear Camp in Poland. The camp will take place
from July 23-29, 2012 in the village of Lubiatowo on the Polish Baltic
Coast. Okumaya devam et
– 20 years of fake democracy and false freedom
On 4 June 1989 there were the first “democratic” elections in Poland after the fall of the
PRL. Politicians celebrated the destruction of fake communism and the introduction of fake
freedom. —- One camp of right-wing conservative politicians celebrated in Gdansk with a
mass. Another group celebrated in Krakow with heads of states who came to show how good
life without “communism” is. Anarchists went there to protest against the fake freedom of
voting and against the government’s neo-liberal policies. —- PM Tusk was afraid to go to
Gdansk shipyard, which his government helped to liquidate. Civic Platform, the biggest
enemy of the workers, sent in the police against shipyard workers two months ago in
Warsaw, and workers don’t want to see Tusk in his hometown.
Wawel Castle is very safe for politicians, built to protect against invaders and protected
by a legendary dragon, so nobody can get in there. Krakow was like a fortress, but
anarchists managed a demonstration down the main streets anyway. The anarchist
demonstration was joined by the tenants’ group that has been protesting in Krakow for
their rights.
The demonstrators criticized this false democracy. The Anarchist Federation had a banner
saying “Without us there is no democracy”, which means that the democracy of politicians
is a false democracy, only direct democracy is real. The Union of Syndicalists had a
banner saying “Enough compromises! The class war continues”. In 1989 Solidarity leaders
made a deal to get into power and put the workers’ aspirations in the dustbin. And the
unions are still trying to make compromises, not class war. Tenants also had their banner,
“In defending tenants’ rights” and a poster about the 19th postulate of Solidarity, never
fulfilled, the “right to shorter waiting times for flats”.
The Union of Syndicalists had another banner saying “Our dreams don’t fit in your ballot
boxes” and gave out boycott the election leaflets. The Anarchist Federation from Krakow
had a newspaper about democracy and anarchism. People from Left Alternative made speeches
during the demonstration.
There were a lot of police and many undercover police at the demonstration, but it was
quiet. Police tried to take one person from the demo, but he was released. Today there is
a lecture in Krakow by anarchists.
In Gdansk there was only a small action. Anarchists went with a banner saying “Against all
parties” to the demonstration of the Law and Justice party. Solidarity activists who
support this conservative party made an attack on anarchists and in doing this disrupted
their own event.
In Warsaw, the Union of Syndicalists distributed leaflets against voting and held a banner
during a concert of bands, many of them punk, which were anti-establishment in 1989 and
were celebrating the petit bourgeois idea of “freedom”. Also the group was in Katowice at
a trade union demonstration by Solidarity, those of them who didn’t support the political
and church event in Gdansk.
The other article about this demonstration is here with links to photos and videos.
http://cia.bzzz.net/anarchist_demonstrate_in_krakow_on_…tions
Related Link: http://www.cia.bzzz.net/english
20 years ago in a cafe named “Surprise” on Constitution Sq. in Warsaw the Solidarity
Campaign Office was located. June 4 marks the 20th anniversary of the first “free”
elections in Poland after the fall of the PRL and all around Poland, events are being held
to commemorate this date. On Constitution Sq. in Warsaw, the city, together with some
organizations, opened up a mock cafe “Surprise” with photographs from this period. They
are also gathering material now for an anti-communist “Museum of Communism”. Today was the
opening celebration which was to be ceremonially opened by the President of Warsaw, Hanna
Gronkiewicz-Waltz. —- Waltz, who is one of the leaders of the ultra-liberal Civic
Platform and who is responsible for introducing rent hikes and speeding up reprivatization
processes while doing nothing to improve the city’s housing policies, has been called
“Queen of the Slums” by the Tenants’ Defense Committee. There have been a number of
protests in front of City Hall, but the “Queen” does not want to meet with tenants. So
tenants will have to follow her public appearances and meet her.
Members of the Tenants’ Defense Committee and the Warsaw Tenants’ Association went to
protest at the event. Gronkiewicz-Waltz cancelled her appearance, afraid to be met by the
protest.
Members of the tenants groups pointed out that in 1989, one of the postulates of
Solidarity was to cut down the time people had to wait to get an apartment. The situation
in housing has not improved since then and has only gotten worse, with buildings being
sold with tenants, illegal evictions and forcing people to live in substandard and
dangerous housing. Besides speaking about this situation, there were some reminders to the
guests of the event, which included many prominent Solidarity activists, about what the
values of the original Solidarity were and how much Poland has departed from them. People
were told that social struggles are still alive, that they didn’t go away with the fall of
communism, as some would like to think, and they do not belong in a museum. (A reference
to the attitude of some former activists.)
The demo being a surprise, it was not legalized and there were a few “discussions” with
the police and a few of the museum activists who found protesting to be scandalous.
Luckily, this attitude was only held by a few people, mainly former hippies, who still had
long hair and proved to be the most uncool pricks going: probably they were only students
or artists then, fighting for the right to get more rock concerts, not for the social
rights of the workers. Some of the legends of Solidarity on the other hand came and spoke
to the tenants.
Some anarchist and left activists from Union of Syndicalists and Left Alternative are
active in the two tenants groups and take active part in these demonstrations.
Some photos are here:
http://cia.bzzz.net/niespodzianka_dla_hanny_gronkiewicz_waltz_protest_lokator
ow
KARAKÖK AUTONOME tr/ch 