Archive for category Translations
AFA [antifa] Gothenburg: Wide and popular anti-fascism stopped the Nazis
Posted by b9AcE in antifa, Gothenburg, Sweden, Translations on 2017-10-03
The Nordic Resistance Movement (NMR) had mobilized vigorously for the demonstration in Gothenburg on their web page and on social media. The hope was that the demonstration would become the largest that NMR had organized, with a hope for over 1000 demonstration participants. In spite of heavy mobilization from the Nazis it became a failure with about 300-400 participants. The Nazis’ demonstration could be stopped thanks to a wide anti-fascism.
Under the slogan “Stop the Nazis 30/9” the city’s anti-fascists have mobilized and distributed propaganda – a result that was seen Saturday, September 30.
Before noon 10000 people gathered at [the large public space] Heden to demonstrate against the Nazis in NMR. The counter-protesters at Heden were characterized by a wide anti-fascism and popular militancy. After the manifestation at Heden ended the police barriers were bypassed – not just by organized anti-fascists – but by a wide crowd of people that did not accept Nazis on the streets of Gothenburg.
NMR started their pre-gathering at [the supermarket] ICA Maxi, bordering to Mölndal locality. From there they took the back route to the Gårda district and at [the supermarket] ICA Focus NMR attempted to break out. The Nazis were kettled by the police, at the same time as thousands of counter-protesters arrived at the location. At the same time as thousands of people surrounded the Nazis at ICA Focus, anti-fascists enacted several successful blockades around Gårda. NMR were surrounded by thousands of people, and after several hours standing at the same spot they went back the same back route they arrived. During the day anti-fascists also performed several successful confrontations against Nazis that had chosen to demonstrate.
The demonstration never reached its planned start- or ending-point. Through a diversity of tactics, community and solidarity thousands of anti-fascists successfully stopped the Nazis from carrying out their demonstration – that is our victory!
We in AFA [antifa] Gothenburg also want to take this opportunity to send a greeting to all anti-fascists that tirelessly worked with the mobilization ahead of the demonstration as well as to all that chose to assemble against the Nazis.
Through community and solidarity we showed our strength.
/Anti-Fascist Action Gothenburg
Translated by b9AcE (https://soc.ialis.me/@b9AcE and https://twitter.com/b9AcE) to the best of my ability, from the original text in Swedish. Any errors are to be presumed mine, not antifa’s.
AFA (antifa) Malmö: Organized Nazi attacked demonstrators
Posted by b9AcE in antifa, Refugees, Translations on 2017-06-15
Since about a month back there has been a demo in Jägersro in Malmö for Iraqi right to asylum in Sweden. The demonstration has been attacked by right-wing extremists several times, that among other things have sicced dogs on the demonstrators and punctured car tires. Night to Monday the demonstration was attacked by a Nazi active within the Nordic Resistance Movement (NMR).
During the night between Sunday and Monday the demonstrators in Jägersro, which hold a demonstration outside the Migration Agency, were attacked by a car driver that intentionally tried to run over the demonstration participants and destroy their signs and banners. After having hit a wooden pole that functioned as a flagpole the car driver started skidding and drove into a tree. The demonstrators have described how the driver remained sitting in the car a long time, knife armed, and later stepped out and attacked them with pepper spray. The man eventually was detained on the scene by the police which arrived later. The car, which was adorned with a Nazi eagle and a swastika, was towed away.
It soon turned out that it was a from earlier known, active Nazi, which during periods has had as a habit to perform similar crazy acts in the area around Malmö – a person that has been identified as Alex Jönsson (950122-9471). The history of Alex actually begins several months before the violent attack against the asylum rights demonstrators.
The swastika car in Rosengård
Early in the month of February several media in Malmö reported how a car was seen driving through and around Rosengård. The attention this got was due to that the tailgate of the car was covered by a big swastika-banner. A sticker from the rugby team Pingvin Rugby Club was documented to be on the car at the time, which made the Trelleborg based team distance themselves and in media clarify that they distance themselves from Nazism and racism:
”Rugby is open to everyone and shall always be so. We have absolutely nothing to do with these insane things”
Reader contributed picture that was sent to media after the event in Rosengård.
Spectators described to media how they were shocked to see the car – with a smiling driver – drove past them on the way out of Rosengård. The case with the swastika-car on the Amiralsgatan street however remained unsolved for yet some months, until one day in April when the car was seen once again in Malmö – this time in the Möllevången neighborhood and without swastika banner.
The Nazi at Möllan
[short form of the neighborhood Möllevången]
Late on the Saturday April 22 a lone individual was seen walking on the Kristanstadsgatan street in central Malmö, one of several streets in the area that end near the Möllevång square. He was reported to be dressed in an unbuttoned jacket and under this was seen a shirt with a print from NMR – one of the most violent Nazi groups in Sweden. He had just posted a couple of Nazi stickers along the street when he was discovered, in the middle of his short walk along the People’s Square. The anti-fascists that were informed about his presence immediately located the man in question to confront him, but before they caught up with him he had returned to his car and disappeared.
He did however not immediately leave the Möllevången neighborhood, rather shortly returned in his car, with which he tried to tried to run over the people that then were at the Kristianstadsgatan street. The car had shortly earlier been identified as belonging to a middle aged woman living outside Trelleborg. Later, during the next week, there was a struggle-report published at Nordfront (NMR’s home page and news portal) about the evening in question, where the events were described as ”propaganda distribution”.
Screenshot of the published post at Nordfront.
After the insane drive at Möllevången the pieces of the puzzle quickly fell into place, and it soon turned out that it wasn’t the first time that the car’s driver had been roaming in Malmö with malevolent intentions. The car turned out to be the same dark gray Jeep Grand Cherokee that in February had been driving through Rosengård with a swastika-banner over the tailgate – and the person that drove was identified as Alex Jönsson, a 22 year old truck driver from Klagstorp.
Far-reaching Nazi engagement
Alex Jönsson is 22 years old and resides at the the family house in Klagstorp outside Trelleborg, together with his parents. He has in his youth played rugby in the team Pingvin Rugby Club, with whom he in his teens travelled to among other places London to play rugby. He is called Dino by his friends – a name he uses extensively on the Internet, for examples in comments sections of Nordfront and on the anti-Semitic Facebook-copy Oopih. His route into the Nazi organization NMR was supported by Tobias Malvå – with whom he often socializes and posts stickers – and he has figured on NMR’s home page in connection to struggle-reports about propaganda distribution and study circles.
Photo uploaded to Nordfront by NMR. Alex visible in the middle of the picture (encircled), in green long-sleeved sweater, sitting next to Kenneth Malmqvist (second from the left in picture).
Alex has been seen at several arrangements orchestrated by NMR, such as the action that was performed during the People’s Demonstration in Trelleborg March 4 2017, when activists from NMR dropped a banner, from the parking garage above the manifestation, with the text ”National Socialist zone”. Alex was then on the roof and held the banner together with other NMR activists, like Danny Jönsson and Kenneth Malmqvist.
Alex was also identified on location in Falun, in NMR’s May Day-march 2017. He had then taken his mothers dark gray Jeep up to the Dalarna province to participate in the march, within which he socialized among others with Jarl Herlitz.
Alex Jönsson on location in Trelleborg on March 4.
Alex in the demo in Falun on May 1.
Alex’ car, documented on location in Falun May 1.
Alex has in various Nazi contexts been spotted using two different vehicles – both belonging to the family, which has several vehicles registered to it. The Jeep that he has used on several occasions is registered to the mother, whilst the swastika-adorned Volvo that was used during the latest violent attack in Jägersro is his own, bought during the spring.
XEK 729 – Jeep Grand Cherokee, dark gray
NGM 167 – Volvo 944-811, gray
Violent and unstable personality
Alex Jönsson is a documented erratic individual, which on several occasions has made himself guilty of potentially lethal attacks on people of opposing opinions and – according to him – undesirables. His propensity to not only resort to threats but also physically assault and try to harm other people was confirmed once again through the attack on the demonstration in Jägersro, when he tried to kill people by running them over with a car.
Screenshot of Alex’ own Facebook-account, from an instance when he stole and burned a so-called Pride-flag.
His violent predisposition and volatile personality is highlighted ideologically by the sides of himself that he has displayed on the Internet, and not the least of all by his well documented Nazi involvement and the fact that he at repeat occurences has tried to run over the demonstrators at Jägersro, destroy their belongings and sought to harm them. Apart from open racism he has previously expressed militant homophobe opinions, through flag burning and participation in Nazi, homophobe contexts.
As of today Alex is formally suspect of several crimes connected to the mentioned attack on the demonstrators in Jägersro – as well as a similar attack the day before the indicated occasion – among others: assault and battery, causing danger to another person, agitation against an ethnic or national group and violating the Knife Act.
Alex Jönsson
19950122-9471
Brunsbovägen 234-10
231 98 Klagstorp
Trelleborg municipality
Do you feel hit by our article – or want to avoid our future attention? Then please contact us via e-mail or through our encrypted contact form. Our comrades in Helsingborg have written a good summary of what our stance is towards contact from defectors: Regarding defection from the nationalist movement.
Do you know Alex personally, meet him in daily life, at work or in the village? Then please contact us with tips and information! Do you have other information about Fascists in Scania, or do you want to become active in the struggle against Fascism? Then don’t hesitate contacting us! Mail:
afa-malmo@riseup.net
Translated by b9AcE (https://soc.ialis.me/@b9AcE and https://twitter.com/b9AcE) to the best of my ability, from the original text in Swedish. Any errors are to be presumed mine, not antifa’s.
AFA (antifa) Stockholm: Nazis assault peaceful manifestation
Posted by b9AcE in antifa, Stockholm, Sweden, Translations on 2017-05-08
Around 4 p.m. yesterday there was an assault on a manifestation that was held on Mynttorget [translator’s note: a square between the Swedish Parliament and the Royal Palace] in Stockholm in support of unaccompanied youth’s right to asylum. It was about twenty Nazis organized in Nordic Youth [Nordisk Ungdom] (NU) that went to joint attack with smoke bomb, banner and slogans. The Nazis tried to abort an ongoing speech by shouting among other things “Incarcerate – Deport!”, “Out with the rabble” and “Muhammed, Abdullah – Go away!”. The police that arrived to the location made the decision to not turn away the Nazis, but referred them to a place a little bit away at Mynttorget where they could continue to disturb the manifestation.
Yesterday’s attack has certain similarities to the attack that Nazis from the Nordic Resistance Movement [Nordiska Motståndsrörelsen] (NMR) performed on an anti-racist demo in Kärrtorp 2013. Then as now it was organized Nazis that chose to go to physical attack against an anti-racist manifestation and then as now the police chose to use the soft gloves instead of the rough gloves against the organized Nazis. The anti-racists present chose to stick together and keep the initiative, which lead to the Nazis not being able to do anything but shove and shout. That nobody was injured during yesterday’s attack is largely due to the group NU consisting of a bunch of thrill-seeking Internet-warriors that mostly perform actions to be able to snap spectacular pictures for their homepage.
This occurred on the same day as it in media emerged information that Falun municipality had chosen to evacuate 50 people from a refugee housing for two days due to the threat model against the housing in connection to NMR marching through the city on May 1. Time after time society’s respresentatives choose to take a clear stance for the Nazis’ right to take room on our streets, even when that means that other people are threatened. In the name of free speech one defends the Nazis’ interests and thereby infringe on large groups of society’s right to move safely within their own city, or as in Falun to remain residing in one’s residence.
Nazi organizations constantly try to get their adherents to take the step away from the keyboard and onto the street. We that for decades have fought the Nazi movement know from experience that it is a fatal mistake to give these groups free access to our cities. The only principle that in practice prevents Nazi groups from recruiting and growing is to never leave them in peace. It must be difficult, scary and associated with great discomfort to claim the street for spreading of Nazi hate and directly or indirectly threatening the life of individuals from large groups of society.
That is why we always hit back, that is why we will never let the Nazis gain ground, that is why we claim that anti-fascism is self-defense.
/AFA Stockholm [antifa Stockholm]
Translated by b9AcE (https://soc.ialis.me/@b9AcE and https://twitter.com/b9AcE) to the best of my ability, from the original text in Swedish. Any errors are to be presumed mine, not antifa’s.
AFA (antifa) Scandinavia – Shut down capitalism – everyone to Hamburg
Posted by b9AcE in antifa, G20, Hamburg, Translations on 2017-04-30
July 7-8 2017 there is a G20-meeting in Hamburg. The leaders of the 19 richest and most powerful States in the world as well as the EU will meet together with 6000 delegation members. Previous similar top summits have been met by massive protests and this meeting will therefore be protected by an army of 10000 police and security service agents.
At the G20 meeting among others Erdoğan from Turkey, Putin from Russia and Donald Trump from USA will converge.
The main agenda for the G20 summit is to create an illusion that the political elite in the global capitalism has everything under control. That they and their political system in some way can provide security, peace and sustentation for the people of the world.
They will also talk of nations in crisis and say that it is because the working class is living beyond its means and that the West must be protected from refugees with walls and strengthened border controls.
But we know that the crisis they talk about is neo-liberalism and capital’s crisis. Capital’s crisis is caused by the banks and the rich, those living off our labor. It is not bus drivers in Greece, the undocumented immigrants in USA, industrial workers in Germany, nurses in Sweden or warehouse workers in Spain that is to blame for the crisis.
The culpable are instead financial speculators, labor buyers that push for our wages to be lower and those rulers that constructed and maintains the global capitalism. The government debt in many countries is a result of the crisis, rather than a cause of it. The crisis-politics pushed by G20, the International Monetary Fund and the world’s most powerful will not solve the crisis. It is a continuation of a neo-liberal project that has as a goal to weaken the working class’s position and strengthen that of capital.
The capitalist world order is a brutal class society built from inequality, structural sexism, homo/bi/transphobia and racism. A society where what we own together own as commons becomes privatized and where we see how a small global upper class becomes richer at our cost. Millions worldwide are forced to flee while whilst the richest countries close their borders to protect their privileges. The States of Europe would rather have people suffer drowning deaths in the Mediterranean than to open the borders.
However, there is resistance worldwide. People take power over their own lives. Hospitals are squatted, asylum activists tear down fences and hide refugees, racists and sexists get confronted and we take control of the areas where we live.
The world’s most powerful gather to set the agenda for capitalism and secure the propertied class’ interests. We will go to Hamburg to throw a spanner in the works of capitalism and send a clear signal to the world’s leaders.
Capitalism is stumbling – let’s make sure it falls. Shut down capitalism!
Everybody to Hamburg July 7-8
Antifascistisk aktion Sverige
Antifascistisk aktion Danmark
Antifascistisk aksjon Norge
Translated by @b9AcE, from the texts in both Swedish and Danish (sent to me by someone that doesn’t boycott Facebook), to the best of my ability.
Any errors are to be presumed mine, not antifa’s.
Now the real coup in Turkey is under way (Common statement: Bakur Committees, Swedish Committee for Rojava and NCDK Sweden)
Yesterday night the party leaders of HDP (Peoples’ Democratic Party) were arrested in Turkey together with at least ten parliamentarians. At the same time AKP-led police forces attacked the party headquarters in Ankara. We do not accept these arrests as a legal process but as a fascist coup against democracy and human rights.
HDP is with its 6 million votes in the previous election the third largest party in Turkey. Those jailed tonight are elected politicians that represent hundreds of thousands of people around Turkey. To attack HDP is the equivalent of attacking the last living piece of the Turkish democracy. In his pursuit of authoritarianism Erdoğan is now closing the door on a peace process in Turkey.
At the same time as the nights raids against HDP they have also attacked the free canton Afrin in Northern Syria. These attacks do not occur in a vacuum. The Afrin canton is a part of the new Rojava federation that has developed into a real alternative for stability and peace in a country that has suffered from civil war for over five years!
Rojava today is a project initiated by the Kurdish peace movement and extends across the borders of several countries. The same movement that in Syria has distinguished itself in its resistance to Daesh and in West is called freedom fighters, the same movement is in Turkey called terrorists. HDP are the only ones in Turkey that have pointed out this absurdity and is the only party in the Turkish parliament that really worked for the resumption of the peace process aborted by Erdoğan. To jail the party’s elected leaders is also a strong signal that Erdoğan does not want to see a resumed peace process. Sweden’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Margot Wallström at taking office launched a feminist foreign policy. Words that are hollow today when Turkey’s only feminist and democratic party is under attack!
If one is serious about being for a democratic development in Turkey one must today also condemn the attacks during the night upon the democratic forces that still exist in Turkey.
It is time for all democratic forces to act against Turkey’s attacks on the Kurdish movement in Syria, Turkey and Iraq!
We demand that Sweden clearly distances itself and condemns the arrest of HDP’s parliamentarians!
We also demand that Sweden clearly distances itself and strongly condemns Turkey’s attacks on the Rojava federation in Northern Syria!
NCDK Sweden
Swedish Committee for Rojava
Bakur Committees
2016-11-04
This was translated by me from the Swedish language original.
Any errors should be presumed to have been introduced by me.
Turkish fascism in Sweden – Grey Wolves
The Grey Wolves is the youth wing to the nationalist party MHP in Turkey that in the election 2015 passed the 10% electoral threshold with 11.90%. The Grey Wolves employ violent methods and aim especially at Kurds, Armenians and various leftist activists.
According to the Turkish State Security the Grey Wolves have murdered 694 people between 1974 and 1980.
In connection with the Turkish State terminating peace negotiations with PKK’s leader Abdullah Öcalan, MHP made a statement that – if the State and Security Service didn’t solve the “situation” with PKK they would take things into their own hands. This has pushed into existence the siege campaign against the Kurdish cities in Bakur (Northern Kurdistan and South-east Turkey) that is taking place right now.
During the 2015 election 120 HDP-offices were attacked (Kurdish parliamentary party) by Grey Wolves.
Exist also in Europe
This fascist organization is not only organized in Turkey but also in large parts of Europe. In Germany they have up to 10,000 members and also in Sweden they have shown up several times, including 1999 when they attacked the Communist Party of Sweden during a leafleting where they called for boycott of Turkey.
Kurdish activists were threatened several times during the election campaign when they were campaigning for HDP and in September 2015 one of their association’s premises were subject to a bombing attack and yesterday (February 13 2016) a Kurdish activist was seriously wounded during a shooting in Fittja.
This is a translation by @b9AcE of the text originally published by the Swedish Rojava Committees in Swedish here.
As always, the main aim was to remain as close as possible to the original text.
Fires at Swedish refugee housings (20 December 2015)
Posted by b9AcE in Refugees, Sweden, Translations on 2015-12-20
The entire text that follows is as direct a translation from Swedish as I was capable of from the original two fact-boxes here at Swedish Public Service TV, as last updated by them on 20 December 2015, 12:22.
Nothing except these two lines in italic was intentionally added in any way at all, nothing was removed and even what may be considered as poor writing was preserved through translation as far as possible.
Eight fires in December
Since 1 July the police has 43 preliminary investigations about suspected arsons at refugee housings throughout Sweden. This is their distribution per month:
- July: 2 fires.
- August: 2 fires.
- September: 7 fires.
- October: 15 fires.
- November: 9 fires.
- December: 8 fires.
Source: The operational department of Sweden’s national force (NOA).
Fires at Swedish refugee housings
Notable fires at existing and intended refugee housings, as well as attempted arson and other attacks, during 2015:
16 December: An intended residential care home for unaccompanied children in Scanian Ekeby, outside Helsingborg, is ravaged by fire. Police suspect arson.
14 December: An intended asylum housing for unaccompanied children in Södertälje is completely destroyed. Police suspect the fire is an arson.
9 December: Someone tries to set fire to a future asylum housing in Ängelholm by mashing glass and throwing in newsprint paper, that has been lit. But it never became a fully developed fire.
9 December: A residential care home for unaccompanied refugee minors in Långharpan outside Uppsala is completely destroyed in a fire. A boy under the age of 18 is currently held in custody on remand for aggravated arson.
3 December: Apartments completely destroyed when there is a fire in an intended housing for unaccompanied refugee minors in Götene. Motor gasoline is found and the police believes the fire is arson.
15 November: An hand grenade os thrown at the window of a planned refugee housing in Kalmar. Police believes it is very likely it was intended at the planned housing. The hand grenade explodes down at the street, but nobody is hurt.
10 November: A building where there were thoughts of a migrant housing burns to the ground in Forshaga. Police suspects the fire is arson.
7 November: A intended asylum housing in Floda is ravaged by fire.
7 November: Window panes are smashed at a asylum housing in Tranås municipality. A man in his twenties is suspected of vandalism and for placing a placard with racist overtones outside the housing.
28 October: A residential care home in Tjörnarp in Höör municipality, where a number of unaccompanied refugee minors live, was subject to a fire attack. Someone has poured flammable liquid through a window and lit it.
27 October: There is a fire by the door to a housing for unaccompanied refugee minors in Lund and the police label it attempted arson. The same day several small fires start by a planned refugee housing at the Kikebo school in Oskarshamn, which is labeled a vandalism by the police.
27 October: A school in Färingtofta in Scania that is being prepared for unaccompanied refugee minors is ravaged by fire. When the fire department arrives to the building someone had thrown in a large rock and something burnable.
24 October: A building in Eskilstuna municipality, intended to become refugee housing, ravaged by fire. A report of arson is made.
22 October: An intended hosing in Oderljunga in Perstorp municipality burns and the police suspect aggravated arson.
21 October: An intended refugee housing in Upplands Väsby north of Stockholm is subjected to vandalism and attempted arson.
20 October: An asylum housing in Munkedal gets extensive fire damage.
18 October: An old school building in Onsala in Kungsbacka, that was intended to be asylum housing, burns to the ground.
17 October: A school in Kånna outside Ljungby, prepared as refugee housing, burns to the ground.
13 October: Fire starts in a barrack in Arlöv in Scania. The premises were going to begin use as housing for unaccompanied refugee minors the next day.
15 September: Fire at an asylum housing for unaccompanied youth in Boden.
16 August: All living at a refugee center in Arboga, where the so called IKEA-murderer lived, are moved to other housings after two trash bag similar objects with flammable liquid is found near the housing.
16 August: Someone places a burning cross outside an asylum housing in Malung. The event is labeled harassment by the police.
14 August: Fire starts at a housing for unaccompanied refugee minors in Värnamo. The event is labeled arson.
17 July: A fire starts in an asylum housing in Bengtsfors.
19 June: Two fire bombs are thrown into a future asylum housing in Filipstad. A smaller fire starts.
17 June: A balcony at an asylum housing in Vilhelmina is ravaged by fire and the housing’s bus gets its tires cut. Forensic examination has been performed and investigation is ongoing. The event is labeled arson and vandalism.
1 May: 130 people are evacuated from an asylum housing in Filipstad after a fire started in one of the housing’s premises.
Schedule for Stockholm Anarchist Bookfair
Posted by b9AcE in Anarchism, Anarchist Bookfair, General, Stockholm, Sweden, Translations on 2015-08-13
This is the schedule for Stockholm Anarchist Bookfair 2015, held 22 August at Solidaritetshuset.
Translated to English by b9AcE
THE LIBRARY
10:30 – 11:30: Data-protection and the right to self-determination
Tracking and gathering of information about you happens all the time – often without you being aware, and often by companies that you don’t even know about. Learn about how you are tracked, how your life is mapped and what you can do to avoid it – or why it can be impossible to avoid without political change. We talk about data-protection and why it can be both a common responsibility and for the public good.
SPEAKER: Amelia Andersdotter (Dataskydd.net) and Anders Jensen-Urstad (Dataskydd.net, The World Library)
13:00 – 14:00: Commons from a feminist perspective
Within Allt åt Alla (All for All) Stockholm’s feminist struggle group we have started working with commons as a feminist strategy. In our work we have started largely from the autonomous feminist Silvia Federici’s thoughts and it is also on these our talk will be based. A commons is a resource, any, that is managed by a collective based on rules made together. How commons and feminism belongs together you will hear in the seminar.
14:40 – 15:30: How can the women that are exposed to religious oppression be supported – at the same time as racism is fought?
A fundamentalist religious oppression of women is growing in some suburbs. At the same time SD (the “Sweden Democrat” party” is baiting against Muslims as a part of their racist agenda. How can we fight the religious fundamentalism, at the same time as we are implacable against the racists?
Participants: Leila Qaraee, Kvinnors nätverk (Women’s network) and Helin Gül, Varken hora eller kuvad (Neither whore nor subdued). Discussion leader Jens-Hugo Nyberg, Arbetarmakt (Workers Power)
16:00 – 17:30: Realm of Freedom – wikipedians about their practice, their production methods and Capitalism
Is “peer production” a complement or an alternative to Capitalism? Arwid Lund will try to answer the question ny studying swedish wikipedians’ view on it.
SPEAKER: Arwid Lund postgraduate at the ABM institution, University of Uppsala)
18:00 – 19:00: The Swedish State’s violence against women, LGBTQ-persons and the working class
The Swedish State performed forcible sterilizations, lobotomies, castrations and institutionalizations against women, LGBTQ-persons and the lower stratas of the working class during the years 1934-1974. A seminar about the mentality and the broad political support that these laws had and how the Swedish State and our politicians try to silence and sweep all this under the rug.
OUTDOORS SEMINARS IN THE PAVILION
10:00 – 11:00: About anti-fascist strategies to a broader public with foundation in how anti-fascism was seen and handled by the nationalist right-wing of the 2000s.
Kim Fredriksson will speak about his own time in the radical right movement and give examples on how the radical right has developed through the years. He will also give his view on how future activism can be carried out while the right wing swing of society becomes more and more substantial.
Lecturer: Kim Fredriksson, former organizer and strategist within the radical right movement. Today he is an outspoken anti-fascist and sees himself as a democratic socialist
13:30 – 14:30: Presentation of Firefund
Firefund is a newly established crowdfunding site that targets protests and social movements around the world. The site has recently launched with the Kobane reconstruction board’s project for rebuilding Kobane. Through a presentation of Firefund, the ideas behind and thoughts on the Kobane campaign, the presentation will include a debate of international solidarity anno 2015 and a discussion on the tools and methods we, as activists, use to support each others protests around the world.
15:00 – 16:30: Antifenix – ‘Operation Fénix’ Police Repressions in Czech Republic
A presentation about the police repressions against Czech anarchists that broke out on 28th April this year and continues since then. The police used infiltrators to provoke consent to a fabricated plan and they forged evidence that lead to the arrest of several people. The police raided flats and a social center and confiscated personal material as well as a server that hosted several important Czech anarchist websites, among them ABC and Green Action.
Four anarchists are now imprisoned and awaiting their trials for crimes that actually never even happened. They are accused of “terrorist activity”. The surveillance and targeting of anti-authoritarians is not unique in Czech Republic, we have seen it recently in Spain, US and through history. It is important that we realize this so that the police can’t frighten us with these tactics!
From the presentation you will learn some about the anarchist movement and situation in Czech Republic, information about the police operation ‘Fénix’ and what is going on currently. We would also like to open for a discussion and questions about security culture, surveillance and how to react on such events described, for example building stronger and safer networks. Solidarity is our weapon so if people are interested we would also like to talk about some ideas on how to help the victims of the state.
17:00 – 18:00: To be announced.
18:30 – 19:30: To be announced.
THE SMALL COURTYARD
10:45 – 11:45: Arbetarmakt: Anarchism during the Spanish Civil War – a critical review
The stalinists and and reformists intentionally stabbed the Spanish Revolution in the back and thereby contributed to fascism’s victory. How could this have been prevented? Did the anarchists show a path that could have led to victory, and in that case: which anarchists? The difference between CNT’s ministers and Durutti’s friends was big. What can we learn from the experience?
14:45 – 13:45: Activist law with focus on evidence
How do you that is prosecuted for crimes in connection with political actions to get the prosecutor’s evidence to be considered of low value as well as bring your own counter-evidence? Workshop-like seminar based in practical experiences from both the lecturer and the participants.
Organizer: A member of Vänsterjuristerna (Leftist Lawyers) Stockholm
14:15 – 15:15: International Solidarity Movement Sweden – Palestine
Have you ever thought about going to Palestine? International Solidarity Movement Sweden will have review of history and tell about the situation on the West Bank and in Gaza. How do they work on location with non-violence and direct action? What is their goal? How will they ensure that Israel’s illegal occupation of the Palestinian areas ceases? Welcome to the seminar!
WORKSHOPS IN THE OTHER INNER COURTYARD
11:30: RASA: Anti-sexist internal work and consent (3 hours. Limited participants: 15)
We live in a society that says it is up to us to not get subjected to abuse, forces us to fight for out corporal integrity and puts no responsibility with the assailant. The workshop wants to change this. We want the rape culture to get changed into a consent culture, where all except a continuing yes means no. During the workshop we will discuss and write about consent, what it means for us as participants and how we can practice it in our every day lives. We want to have a safer room for everyone. After the workshop the room will be open for continued talk or discussion. We also want to be clear with that we lack knowledge in how to handle traumas. The workshop has its focus on how we together can build a consent culture.
Note! If the workshop feels troublesome, or a part of it, there is the a possibility to abstain from some exercises or leave the workshop. We also ask you to respect if someone is uncomfortable with your presence, which means that you must find other places to work with consent.
17:00 – 18:00: Sober Coven: Temperance
The alcohol norm is constant present in our lives and is something often overlooked, even though it can not be avoided. Meanwhile the many negative sides are affecting “Our Movement” and exposed people to a very large degree. We want to highlight yhis, we want to go other directions, see other possibilities to find each other in the every day instead of drowning our sorrows. We want to give us tools and weapons to create something else, without fuzzy edges. Come to our workshop to participate in a discussion about how we can struggle and find alternative paths.
ANARCHIST MOVIE SCREENING IN THE PROJECTOR ROOM
11:00 – 12:00: Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years 1954 – 1965 (60 min)
A documentary about the American Civil Rights Movement in the United States. The first season, Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years 1954–1964, chronicles the time period between the United States Supreme Court ruling on Brown v. Board of Education (1954) to the Selma to Montgomery marches of 1965.
14:00 – 16:00: Joe Hill (114 min)
Joe Hill is a 1971 biopic about Swedish-American labor activist Joe Hill, born Joel Emanuel Hägglund in Gävle, Sweden. The film depicts Hill’s involvement with the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) union, and his trial for murder during which he defends himself. It won the Jury Prize at the 1971 Cannes Film Festival.
18:00 – 20:30: Reds (195 min)
A radical American journalist becomes involved with the Communist revolution in Russia and hopes to bring its spirit and idealism to the United States. The film covers the life of John Reed and Louise Bryant from their first meeting to Reed’s final days in 1920 Russia. Interspersed throughout the narrative, several surviving witnesses from the time period give their recollections of Reed, Bryant, their colleagues and friends, and the era itself.
Anti Fascist Action Stockholm: Travel Report From Rojava
Posted by b9AcE in General, Kurds, Rojava, Translations on 2015-02-13
Anti Fascist Action Stockholm [translation: b9AcE] | 2015-02-10
When we write this it is a little over a week since the Kobanê Canton’s defense forces, YPG and YPJ, declared victory in Kobanê.
The victory means a lot for the Kurds. The city’s resistance has become a symbol in the resistance against ISIS, whom the Kurds call Daesh. Daesh is an abbreviation of ISIS but is similar to the Arabic ”daes” which means to trample or crush. It is used in this context derogatorily of ISIS and removes ISIS’ right to name themselves. The fascists of ISIS have banned the word in the areas they control and they take it so seriously that those that use it are threatened with having their tongues cut out.
Many have asked themselves how the Kurds have been able to beat back Daesh. The fight against Daesh has been undertaken with substandard military equipment. Many quickly point out that YPG/YPJ have had assistance from an international coalition that has been performing airstrikes against Daesh. That is in itself not a reasonable explanation to how the victory was achieved in Kobanê as the bombing did not live up to the expectations. When the bombing began in October many thought the victory was close but it took another near four months before victory could be declared. The answer for the question how the Kurds could beat Daesh in Kobanê must be sought elsewhere.
Anti Fascist Action Stockholm (AFA Stockholm) sent a delegation before New Year to Suruç that lies on the border to Kobanê. Partly to show our solidarity by being able to on location help with practical work and partly to also tie contacts for the future. Then Cantons’ struggle is a part of the same anti-capitalist struggle that is undertaken all over the world that now has been forced into a defensive war against the fascist Daesh. We also tried to understand the key to the resistance’s success. On location we met one of the Kobanê Canton’s female leaders. We undertook solidarity work and talked with the people that had been forced to flee from Daesh. One of those we met is Ape Nemir. An old man that has become a symbol of the resistance in Kobanê. He told of how three of his four sons are in Kobanê and fight in YPG. Ape Nemir had a month earlier been sent to the hospital in Suruç when the for the fourth time had been shot. He and his wife as well as his fourth son lived in a refugee camp outside Suruç when we met him. Ape Nemir’s wife was deeply involved in the Canton’s work before the war. When we meet Ape Nemir he stands in a little village four kilometers from Kobanê and stares towards the city. “I just want to go back and fight. What am I doing here? I am of not useful here. Kobanê is ours and we refuse to move!”
Ape Nemir stands in the middle of the picture.
Three years ago a power vacuum was created in Northern Syria when al-Assad’s regime, due to the civil war, no longer could control the areas. The Kurds in the region with PKK’s sister party in Syria, PYD, at the forefront could replace the regime with their own structures and take over the power. This lead to that the Kurds three years ago, at a large conference, proclaimed three autonomous regions. The regions are called Cantons. The Cantons have mutually agreed to signing a new social contract. It is an ideologically conscious designation as they reject traditional state building and do not call it a common constitution. At the same conference the need for the Cantons to be able to defend themselves was also seen. PYD that has a strong tie to the revolutionary PKK, has embraced PKK’s view on shared leadership between the genders, this also lead to the creation of two branches within the defense forces. One female, YPJ, and one male, YPG. An internal security organ was also created for the Cantons that is named Asayish. It is not a police service as the police is formed to protect the state and Asayish exists to protect the people. What is unusual is the force’s training that consists of both military and police training but to a large part is a gender equality education that aims to uplift the women’s role in the work. People we talk to in Suruç that have interviewed people in the Jazira Canton tell us that the long term goal within Asayish is to on the long term disband itself through broader education of the population. Also within Asayish there is an equally divided strength of women and men.
A boy shows victory signs in support of Rojava. He lives in one of the many refugee camps that are outside Suruç.
The organizing of society has also been done differently. The Cantons are characterized by a system called ”Democratic Confederalism” with strong Anarchist influences and rejects state building. The idea comes from PKK’s leader Abdullah Öcalan. Instead of, as in Capitalist countries, have the market that dictates the conditions for society, the society in the Cantons is based on grass-roots participation and self-determination. The power in the Cantons derive from councils that are organized from street-, block-, town- and canton-level. The work in the Cantons are partially organized in cooperatives where the bosses are replaced with chosen representatives. The Rojava Cantons work daily to bring the power down to the people and give humans back the power over their own lives.
The Rojava experiment that has been working for three years must be seen as one of the root causes of the victory. The people are not fighting against Daesh only because of fear and survival instinct but they are fighting for something. Something they see as their own. The Rojava Cantons have in a very short amount of time let the people feel their own power. They are involved in the decisions, they are part of shaping their own conditions, they have taken back the power over their own lives. It is one of the keys of the resistance, they have created a society that they view as their own and it is this that they fight for. When it comes to the women that also are a key of the resistance. In Rojava they have fought to gain freedoms and rights that women in the rest of the world lack. Women’s position in Rojava is unique and one of the driving forces of the revolution. Their fight is double, they fight for gender equality in Rojava at the same time as they fight the fascists in Daesh that want to enslave them. The women in Rojava perform the work efficiently and very successfully. In the civil society they have shared leadership on all posts. In the military struggle they also work efficiently. The military struggle strengthens the civilian struggle. The stereotypical arguments such as that some works are women’s work or that the male is the natural warrior becomes empty phrases when one studies the Rojava experiment. Daesh is not the greatest threat to the Cantons. The Capitalist interests threaten Rojava and so far the Cantons have not given influence to the advocates of neo-liberalism. The rebuilding of Kobanê will be an incitement for neo-liberal actors to gain influence over the Cantons. One of the greatest challenges face the Cantons after the war.
In a village outside Suruç lies the warriors that have fallen in defense of Kobanê
The rebuilding of Kobanê needs concrete and the only manufacturer of cement in the region is Turkey. The country with Erdoğan’s reactionary party, AKP, at the forefront views the Kurds as the greatest threat to the Turkish national-state. Erdoğan has recently said that Turkey will help with the rebuilding. The question is on which conditions? Rojava is today subject to an embargo that is maintained by Turkey. The embargo means that no goods are allowed into the Cantons but must be smuggled across the Turkish border. Turkey’s resistance towards Rojava has been shown in several ways, but the country has also played a dangerous game as there is information that Turkish military has been assisting Daesh around Kobanê. Either by being permissive towards them or in other cases by more directly assisting them by giving them weapons or letting Daesh-fighters over the Turkish border. They have also sought out wounded YPG/YPJ-warriors in Suruç when they were receiving medical care and put them in jail.
When we talk to a representative from Kobanê she underlines how important the solidarity from the whole world is. “-We welcome all people that support our project, because it is not really just ours. The struggle that takes place here takes place all over the world in various forms. We are grateful for all solidarity that people from all over the world show through supporting us both in various ways here on location and at home. We especially welcome female activists as it is especially important that women exchange experiences and support each other in the struggle. It is also important that female activists come here because in Rojava we have made such progress that has not been made anywhere else in the world.”
More and more progressive forces in the world have seen what happens in Rojava and many have in solidarity sent activists to support the struggle in Rojava. Now there has also been a callout to create an international brigade in Rojava. There is room for the brigade to assist in combat as well as in the rebuilding of Kobanê. The fight in Rojava has many faces and there is a lot to help out with, not the least of which to bring forth the revolution.
We in AFA Stockholm see that the struggle in Rojava is part of a global struggle. It is just one of several front lines in the Capitalist world but it is important as in Rojava a space has been created that actually has created the foundations to build a society liberated from Capitalism. Rojava is an example of how people can take the power over their own lives through autonomous zones that are characterized by Real Democracy.
We in AFA Stockholm call on all progressive forces to support the struggle of Rojava. Rojava shows that freedom from the state and capital’s conditions gives possibilities to create a new society that is characterized by equality. This society is not possible to create within the framework of Capitalism. Therefore we see the necessity in creating the new society where were stand today. Wherever you are we call on you to get organized and join the struggle!
BIJI BIJI ROJAVA! THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES!
/AFA Stockholm
Translated from Swedish to English by b9AcE on 2015-02-12.
While translating highest priority was given to preserving the original phrasing and punctuation as far as possible.
The original publication was at the official website of Anti Fascist Action Sweden (AFA Sverige).
I am not affiliated, but considered the information important and therefore decided to translate it to enable global reach.
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