i07 - Thoughts, impressions, comments, etc.?
May 3 2007 10:47
So, for the people here who went to i07 - the anarcho-syndicalist conference in Paris - what did you think? How do you think it went, etc?
I'll post my thoughts in a bit.
May 3 2007 10:59
#2
BTW dave you don't have to click the URL button if you're just adding a plain URL, only needed for hyperlinked text.
Yeah quickly it was very nice meeting Felix Frost, kc, robot, smush, heartskat, dublin dave and I'm sure some other people on libcom I can't remember right now, and all the lurkers (you should post something!)
May 3 2007 12:28
#3
Some more photos from the Mayday rally here:
May 3 2007 16:40
#4
Below are my initial points about I07.
# Total respect to the CNT-France comrades for doing such an excellent job organising the event. My guess is that approximately 300 people attended the conference. We were fed good food, provided with accomodation and generally looked after. They also paid the travel and visa costs for delegates travelling from the global south. This allowed many comrades from Africa and Latin America to attend.
# Discussions were translated into French, Spanish and English. This allowed genuine international discussion and communication to take place though sometimes it meant that the subleties of contributions were lost.
# I attended the discussion on Anarcho Syndicalism and Revolutionary Syndicalism. It was interesting to see that a range of opinions exist within the CGT-Espana about the problems and benifits of participating in workplace elections. This subject would be enough for a conference in it's own right.
# The discussion on education brought together approximately 70 delegates. It was agreed to organise a global day of action around education issues to take place in approximately 18 months time. A proposal is being translated into French, Spanish and English and will be circulated soon. A discussion forum is being set up to facilitate discussion about the organisation of this event.
# CGT-Espana is planning on hosting a Mediteranean zone conference to build links and joint struggles in this region.
# Other points of note was the participation of a large number of women and black african delegates in the conference. The conference was very clearly not your usual meeting of white males.
May 3 2007 19:14
#5
While my more detailed analysis will take a couple of days, I agree with at least the first and the last point of dublin daves comment. In addition as always with those conferences one of the most important things was to meet and to talk to comrades from all over the world, including at least 10 libcommers. Not to forget the huge demonstration on May 1rst. I guess the i07 forum will be kept running and even extended, so the outcome of i07 will at least be another means of coordination, information and action.
May 4 2007 12:33
#6
The photos that people have been posting on libcom look impressive in terms of their numbers.
I now look forward to hearing about the substance of the various meeting discussions.
I'd be most curious as to your impression of the "southern" delegates (Africa, Maroc, Latin America).
May 4 2007 13:24
#7
I just noticed I07 is the top feature on the global indymedia site
http://www.indymedia.org/en/index.shtml
May 6 2007 15:57
#8
I still had no time to write an article but here are some pictures from the i07 / 1. of May demonstration in Paris, mostly from the first demo.
http://www.fau.org/artikel/i07.html
KC
May 8 2007 17:21
#9
CNT vans - a harking-back to old spanish revolution times perhaps? 
May 9 2007 11:18
#10
Felix Frost wrote:
Some more photos from the Mayday rally here:
Is there a humorous comment to go with this? My swedish isn't that good.
May 9 2007 19:19
#11
here i wasn't there.
What happened?
Who was there?
How did the meetings go?
Did people learn anything?
Did people change their minds about anything or anyone/anygroup?
May 9 2007 19:24
#12
ive been seeing some very exciting internal IWW emails but I cant talk about them yet...I'm still waiting to hear about some things our delegation was supposed to cover.....will post more info when I can.
May 10 2007 07:42
#13
x357997 wrote:
ive been seeing some very exciting internal IWW emails but I cant talk about them yet...I'm still waiting to hear about some things our delegation was supposed to cover.....will post more info when I can.
Arg I haven't heard anything myself. Then again our GMB hasn't been up on union goings on aside from the B'more GMB(who have managed a successful organizing campaign while renovating Red Emma's new 2600 sq ft. location, they're fucking animals for the class war). Guess we've been too busy setting up the east coast organizing conference.
May 10 2007 08:37
#14
Catch 22 wrote:
x357997 wrote:
ive been seeing some very exciting internal IWW emails but I cant talk about them yet...I'm still waiting to hear about some things our delegation was supposed to cover.....will post more info when I can.Arg I haven't heard anything myself. Then again our GMB hasn't been up on union goings on aside from the B'more GMB(who have managed a successful organizing campaign while renovating Red Emma's new 2600 sq ft. location, they're fucking animals for the class war). Guess we've been too busy setting up the east coast organizing conference.
you should get somone in yer branch on the international solidarity list...
May 10 2007 11:37
#15
I'm not best placed to comment on much of the content of the conference, since I didn't go to any of the meetings. Some of them I thought looked a bit abstract and I didn't see an industrial one for my sector.
So my impressions are based on hanging round the Vignoles offices mostly, chatting to people and drinking. From that perspective at least, things seemed pretty well organised. Lots of people, quite vibrant, good food and drink provided at least twice a day for everyone at low cost, not vegan shite either.
There were a few delegates from African groups there, entirely paid for by the CNT. They seemed to all be from Stalinist-type organisations, though one I spoke to at least seemed to be from a sort of single issue students/education campaign group.
Otherwise I met people from USI-AIT (i.e. expelled from IWA-linked USI) who seemed nice enough but very bitter. They claimed to have about 2,000 members, their groups' materials seemed quite amateurish though. Also met a couple of SAC people, who had a bunch of free posters, newpapers, lighters, badges and carrier bags (!) they were giving away.
A bunch of FAU people, who spoke very good English, a guy from the Greek syndicalist group... ESE or something maybe? Who stated that they have about 50 members and the situation is very similar to the UK. There are loads of "anarchist" rioter types but they have nothing to do with serious organisation.
Some Solfed people, a couple of US Wobblies...
Didn't really change my opinion of anyone, I didn't have that much of an opinion on many of the groups. I saw that CNT-V don't participate in the comites d'entreprise, which surprised me as I figured that's why they were expelled from the IWA. But apparently the expulsion was due entirely to their friendly relations with extra-IWA groups like SAC. Which if true is fucking stupid. A few of them seemed to have a rosy view of national liberation struggles though...
May 10 2007 11:47
#16
John. wrote:
I saw that CNT-V don't participate in the comites d'entreprise, which surprised me as I figured that's why they were expelled from the IWA. But apparently the expulsion was due entirely to their friendly relations with extra-IWA groups like SAC. Which if true is fucking stupid.
You have wrong informations comrade. Vignoles was expeled for participation in union parliaments. The decision about the relations to SAC was made on 1996 congreso, the same one on which Vignoles was kicked out, after they were kicked out, so what you are saying doesen't make sence. Somebody has feed you with wrong informations.
May 10 2007 13:21
#17
rata wrote:
Vignoles was expeled for participation in union parliaments. Somebody has feed you with wrong informations.
Were they? Not much before 2000 both splits of the CNT-F participated in union elections. As far as I remember this was the reason, why the later CNT-F/IWA did not stress the "elections professionels" topic quite much. The decision making process prior to the conference was less about who took part in what, but about the mere fact, that there was a split in France and that one group urged us to decide which split is allowed to rest inside the IWA and which one must leave. At that time there could have been two sections per country, if they would have both agreed. This was changed shortly after to that there can only be one section under any circumstances. Obviously only a small portion of the sections wanted to decide about that question, as the CNT-F/IWA was chosen to be the one with only two against one vote, with 8 or 9 abstentions.
May 10 2007 13:33
#18
eh this is well strange, when I met with the CNT Vignole I had some conversations about works councils and it was never claimed they hadn't participated in them, infact the person I spoke to said personally she was opposed to thembut thought the IWA handled the issue badly.
May 10 2007 13:44
#19
revol68 wrote:
eh this is well strange, when I met with the CNT Vignole I had some conversations about works councils and it was never claimed they hadn't participated in them, infact the person I spoke to said personally she was opposed to thembut thought the IWA handled the issue badly.
Hmmm, heartskat I'm pretty sure told me they didn't participate in them. It may have been a language misunderstanding, but I don't think so because we spoke about it for a while...
May 10 2007 13:46
#20
John. wrote:
revol68 wrote:
eh this is well strange, when I met with the CNT Vignole I had some conversations about works councils and it was never claimed they hadn't participated in them, infact the person I spoke to said personally she was opposed to thembut thought the IWA handled the issue badly.Hmmm, heartskat I'm pretty sure told me they didn't participate in them. It may have been a language misunderstanding, but I don't think so because we spoke about it for a while...
they don't participate in them anymore or they never participated in them?
May 10 2007 13:50
#21
Yes she was a shop steward and was informed by her company that they'd block her from getting onto a works council. She says here that the CNT do not participate in works councils. There was some debate on it and I think that the period she refers to is about 2 years ago so it may have been undecided at that point.
May 10 2007 13:57
#22
I only could attend to the revolutionary syndicalism/anarcho-syndicalism meeting. In that meeting i think CNT-F members told they only participate in comites d'entreprise in the private sector, where they think it is useful to be. In the public sector they don't participate.
The guy from Burkina Fasso told he was there to learn. He was involved in a students movt. and the popular movs. in that country are strong enough to stop government repression. However, these social movements are thinking about creating the Communist Party 
I hope someone had a few words with him.
May 10 2007 13:58
#23
revol68 wrote:
they don't participate in them anymore or they never participated in them?
That they don't - as outlined in the comment on jef's blog (wow someone actually reads that! 
). I don't know if they once did though.
May 10 2007 14:07
#24
John. wrote:
revol68 wrote:
they don't participate in them anymore or they never participated in them?That they don't - as outlined in the comment on jef's blog (wow someone actually reads that!
well i can't comment on whether they don't anymore but they did and it was central to their expulsion from the IWA.
May 10 2007 16:57
#25
My understanding from talking to CNT-F comrades is that they participate in company elections in the private sector because it gives their activists some degree of protection against victimisation. They don't participate in the public sector. I'm guessing that most CNT-F members work in the public sector (I think that their education syndicate has about 1000 members) and that there fore most do not participate in these elections. However I do think that this is a tactical and not principled question. Perhaps a comrade from CNT-F could clarify things on this question. heartskat are you out there?
On another note comrades from the SAC told me that the SAC no longer administers the unemployment benifit fund. All these funds are now administered by independent bodies. The comrades I spoke to seemed to think that this was a good thing. They say that the SAC is growing and going through a period of renewal. So now that the reason for SAC's expulsion from the IWA is history (and they don't participate in company council elections, because they don't have them in Sweden) can we expect the welcoming of SAC back into the IWA?
May 10 2007 17:01
#26
Salvoechea wrote:
The guy from Burkina Fasso told he was there to learn. He was involved in a students movt. and the popular movs. in that country are strong enough to stop government repression. However, these social movements are thinking about creating the Communist Party
A big feature of the conference was the number of black African delegates. They seemed to come from a range of marxist traditions and some of them were from student union type organisations. It seems to me to be a good thing that there is now an opening for the spread of anarcho syndicalist type ideas into francaphone Africa. Hopefully over time the legacy of the Soviet Union/marxism will weaken and these comrades will be open to libertarian forms of organisation.
May 11 2007 02:22
#27
Call me a "centerist" but both Robot and Rata are corresct to an extent. I've got to go to our records, but I remember ream after ream after ream of documents in French by both sides in the split. Some about participation in private sector committeee electons as being an issue. There were other things at play as well. It was hot and both faction's were very strong in their views.
Robot is right about the failure of the IWA 1996 to have a majority of Sections voting in favor of expulsion. I believe only the NSF, CNT-Spain the "Bourdeaux" faction of the CNT-France voted for explusion. The majority abstained. Even though other sections voted in favor to ratify the big 3 section vote (as opposed to 8-9 abstentions) the message should've been clear: a majority came to the congress with no position at all.There was still doubts about the need to expel at that time. Perhaps there was still a need to clarify in peoples minds. Anyway, we've dicussed this elsewhere at length.
Ah, gotta run...I really wanted to get to the I-07 stuff...more later....
May 11 2007 02:30
#28
One last thing. Read closely this interview. Comments/thoughts/observations
Interview with the CNT's International Relations Secretary during the recent I07
by Diario Rojo y Negro - CGT Thursday, May 10 2007, 10:25am
An interview with Jérémie, International Relations Secretary of the French CNT, during the recent I07 in Paris. This interview was made by CGT comrade Ronny Stansert for the Swedish SAC's magazine, Arbetaren.
http://www.anarkismo.net/newswire.php?story_id=5576&condense_comments=false#comment4715
May 11 2007 06:43
#29
dublin dave wrote:
A big feature of the conference was the number of black African delegates. They seemed to come from a range of marxist traditions and some of them were from student union type organisations. It seems to me to be a good thing that there is now an opening for the spread of anarcho syndicalist type ideas into francaphone Africa. Hopefully over time the legacy of the Soviet Union/marxism will weaken and these comrades will be open to libertarian forms of organisation.
To a large degree anarchism is virtually unheard of in Africa . The term anarchy mostly being used to describe situations of conflict and civil war such as those in Somailia and DRC. So it would seem people with left inclinations are inevitably attracted to marxist/ authoritarian socialist tendencies, as this is all they are exposed to. But, of course, African Socialism has failed and, as you said, with time hopefully people will begin to look for alternatives and become open to libertarian organisation. I think it is crucial for anarchists to establish and maintain contact with these leftist groupings and try to promote a libertarian alternative. As an alternative to the statist model is clearly what Africa needs, when people become disillusioned and start looking around for alternatives, we need to be able to step in and fill the vacuum of ideas.
May 11 2007 07:35
#30
I am just wondering what kind of people the CNT-F invited from outside Europe.
John wrote:
There were a few delegates from African groups there, entirely paid for by the CNT. They seemed to all be from Stalinist-type organisations, though one I spoke to at least seemed to be from a sort of single issue students/education campaign group
Salvoechea wrote:
The guy from Burkina Fasso told he was there to learn. He was involved in a students movt. and the popular movs. in that country are strong enough to stop government repression. However, these social movements are thinking about creating the Communist Party sad I hope someone had a few words with him.
dublin dave wrote:
A big feature of the conference was the number of black African delegates. They seemed to come from a range of marxist traditions and some of them were from student union type organisations. It seems to me to be a good thing that there is now an opening for the spread of anarcho syndicalist type ideas into francaphone Africa. Hopefully over time the legacy of the Soviet Union/marxism will weaken and these comrades will be open to libertarian forms of organisation.
and of course the picture of the PKK man does make one wonder.
I sort of get the feeling that these people were invited because the CNT-F wanted to have a big impressive event. What was the point in inviting these groups apart from the show. Joe Black at least makes a good point on this, but it seems to me that organisations were invited which people would be a lot more wary about if they were Europeans.
Devrim
I'll post my impressions and opinions in a while but for the time being here is a link to some photos of the libertarian block led by the CNT-France on the Mayday demo.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8163962@N08/