Founding Meeting of Oxford Autonomous Forum

Wednesday 4th February 2009 – 7:00pm
Contact: danarchy_guillery@hotmail.co.uk or victor.petrov@merton.ox.ac.uk

We would like to bring together anybody in Oxford who wants to find an alternative to capitlism, without recourse to authoritarianism, whether communist or otherwise. It is just an attempt to gather like-minded people to discuss possibilities and hopefully coordinate action – working together being the only way to work towards any real change.

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London Coalition Against Poverty

More about LCAP

LCAP was formed in Autumn 2007. We were inspired by reports of an organisation based in Canada, Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, and a film about an OCAP campaign called Raise the Rates.  We began to discuss the use that a similar organisation could have in London: one which was organised to show solidarity with individuals and families affected by the regressive and hostile attitude of government and employers to poor and working class people.

 We set out to identify areas in which we could start to take ‘direct action casework’ with the help of members who work as professional advisors.  We settled on the practice of ‘gatekeeping’ at homeless persons units – that is, denying homelessness applications to families and individuals in need.  We begun outreach in Hackney, well known for prodigious ‘gatekeeping’.  Two quick wins showed us that the model had potential.

LCAP was formed as a different sort of organisation from others in Britain.  We are not a political party or organisation, and we are not a single issue campaign. We are neither an advice agency, nor a lobby group.  We are devoted to supporting the solidarity and activity of disadvantaged people who want to do something to right the wrongs they suffer.  We do not take action for people, we take action with them.  Sometimes, we are them.

Apart from OCAP there are several similar organisations in various parts of the globe which work on the same basic assumptions.  These include Seattle Solidarity Network, Portland Coalition Against Poverty, Edinburgh Coalition Against Poverty, Vancouver Anti-Poverty Committee, the Solidarity Collective in Paris, and Kensington Welfare Rights Union in Philadelphia.  We are in contact with some of these organisations.

Through work at the homeless persons unit, LCAP met residents at the Alexandra Court hostel in Hackney, who were disatisfied with the unsafe, unhealthy and expensive conditions in which they were forced to live, through no fault of their own.  Residents decided to demonstrate, and LCAP marched with them to Hackney Town Hall.  An LCAP member has made a short film about the campaign.  Many of the residents’ demands were met: some repairs were made, cleaning was slightly improved, a security door was added, and a few families were moved into better housing.  Residents are still organising with LCAP to improve conditions at Alexandra Court, and we have made contact with residents at other hostels.

Wins like this seem small.  In fact, they are small, and insufficient, and temporary.  But if any broader change is to take place it must be based on the confidence of ordinary people to organise effective action for themselves, confrontational when necessary, to challenge oppressive and unfair institutions.  Frequently, it is also the only way to achieve any improvement in immediate conditions.

In late 2008, we adopted a working group structure, allowing us to work on multiple issues at once.  We had already been active in supporting striking cleaners on the London underground; and had become involved in the job centre through residents at Alexandra Court.  So these were the natural additions to temporary accomodation and homelessnes as objects for our campaigning.

 
LCAP is still predominantly based in East London, but we hope in time to be active through groups based in other areas of the city.  LCAP is still young, but has proven to be an effective organisation for winning change through solidarity and direct action.  If you’d like to get involved, get in touch.  Fight to win!

 

http://www.lcap.org.uk/

 

Also see Edinburgh Coalition Against Poverty

 

http://www.edinburghagainstpoverty.org.uk/

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Jewsish Anarchist Song

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Bella Ciao

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Israel: Stop Unlawful Use of White Phosphorus in Gaza

From Human Rights Watch

Chemical ‘Obscurant’ Poses Serious Risk to Civilians

January 10, 2009

(Jerusalem, January 10, 2009) – Israel should stop using white phosphorus in military operations in densely populated areas of Gaza, Human Rights Watch said today. On January 9 and 10, 2009, Human Rights Watch researchers in Israel observed multiple air-bursts of artillery-fired white phosphorus over what appeared to be the Gaza City/Jabaliya area.

Israel appeared to be using white phosphorus as an “obscurant” (a chemical used to hide military operations), a permissible use in principle under international humanitarian law (the laws of war). However, white phosphorus has a significant, incidental, incendiary effect that can severely burn people and set structures, fields, and other civilian objects in the vicinity on fire. The potential for harm to civilians is magnified by Gaza’s high population density, among the highest in the world.

“White phosphorous can burn down houses and cause horrific burns when it touches the skin,” said Marc Garlasco, senior military analyst at Human Rights Watch. “Israel should not use it in Gaza’s densely populated areas.”

Human Rights Watch believes that the use of white phosphorus in densely populated areas of Gaza violates the requirement under international humanitarian law to take all feasible precautions to avoid civilian injury and loss of life. This concern is amplified given the technique evidenced in media photographs of air-bursting white phosphorus projectiles. Air bursting of white phosphorus artillery spreads 116 burning wafers over an area between 125 and 250 meters in diameter, depending on the altitude of the burst, thereby exposing more civilians and civilian infrastructure to potential harm than a localized ground burst.

Since the beginning of Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza on January 3, 2009, there have been numerous media reports about the possible use of white phosphorous by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The IDF told both Human Rights Watch and news reporters that it is not using white phosphorus in Gaza. On January 7, an IDF spokesman told CNN, “I can tell you with certainty that white phosphorus is absolutely not being used.”

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Israelis Soldiers refuse to serve in Gaza

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Paths Through Utopias

Paths Through Utopias is the 4th experiment of the Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination. The Lab is a shifting network, gathering artists, activists and others merging resistance and creativity, culture and politics, art and life. It was founded in 2004 by 3 people with various yet convergent backgrounds: James, John and Isa.

For Paths Through Utopias, John and Isa will be on the road, whilst James will stay at home, ensuring that the website that he himself set up works so that we can keep in touch.

http://www.utopias.eu/

“Utopia is on the horizon: When I walk two steps, it takes two steps back.  I walk ten steps, and it is ten steps further away. What is Utopia for? It is for this, for walking.” 
Eduardo Galeano

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THE PARIS DECLARATION – APRIL FINANCIAL FOOLS DAY 2009

The Paris Declaration
We won’t pay for your crises?
It is time for change!

 More than 150 representatives of trade unions, farmers’ movements, global justice groups, environmental groups, development groups, migrants’ groups, faith-based groups, women’s groups, the have-not movements, student and youth groups, and anti-poverty groups from all over Europe gathered on the 10th and 11th of January 2009 in Paris to analyse collectively the current crises, to develop joint strategies and to discuss joint demands and alternatives in response to these crises.
 
As the financial and the economic crises intensify, millions of women and men are losing their jobs, houses and livelihoods. Tens of millions more are forecast to join the 1.4 billion people already living in extreme poverty. The crises worsen the social, ecological, cultural and political situation of the majority of people on our planet.
 
Despite the evident and foreseeable failure of the current economic model, world leaders are responding by trying to preserve the system that is responsible for the crises. Governments have been quick to bail out bankers, corporate share holders and their financial backers with hundreds of billions in public money. To solve the problem, they put into place bankers and heads of corporations: the same actors that created the crises. The workers, the jobless, the poor ? all those affected have received no help in their daily struggle to make ends meet, and to cap it all, they are now supposed to pay the bill.
 
Governments’ proposals to deal with the unfolding economic crisis do not address the other dimensions of the crisis we face today ? global justice, food, climate and energy ? and with it the need to transform the economic system towards one that allows us to satisfy the basic needs of all people, to implement all human rights and to restore and preserve the ecological basis of life on our planet.

It is time for change!
 
We can build a system that works for people and the environment, a system to serve the needs of the many, a system based on the principles of public benefit, global equity, justice, environmental sustainability and democratic control.
 
As a first step, immediate measures must be implemented to
address the social impacts on people, whilst supporting the
ecological conversion of the economy.
 
We call upon all social movements in Europe to engage in a process of change. To start with, we call upon movements
 
– to engage in the mass mobilisation for the central demonstration in London on the 28th of March 2009 ahead of the G20 meeting, or to take to the streets in their own countries that same day to make their voices heard. 20 governments cannot decide on the future of the global financial system and economy.
 
– to undertake a day of action in the week of the G20 meeting, preferably on the 1st of April (Financial Fools’ Day) all across the world, exposing unaccountable financial power and promoting democratic control of finance.
 
This meeting is a further step in a long? term process of building spaces for European networks to meet. Recognising and drawing on previous and future mobilisations of social movements and civil society organizations in Europe and all over the world, it builds on ongoing efforts developed at the European Social Forum and elsewhere, aimed at realising a democratic and socially and environmentally sustainable Europe. We commit to intensify cooperation and communication among our networks and organisations with the aim of building capacity for sustained mobilisation and the development of joint alternatives. We are committed to supporting and encouraging all people to have their voices heard in reshaping their societies.
 
We will meet again on the 18th and 19th of April 2009 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, in order to develop the next steps of mobilisation and strategies towards change. We call upon all social movements and social organisations to join this process.
 

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