New Issue of Divergences

Submitted by MalFunction on May 30, 2007

Editorial

With each new electoral campaign a ray of sunlight seems to break
through. Perhaps there’s finally hope for resolving our social
conflicts. The President-elect, hand on his heart, solemnly pledges
himself to be at the service of all the people.

But the voters never win at this game of poker. Instead, everything goes on
just as before. Some get to build castles in Spain or palaces in Morocco,
while others just return to the cares of everyday life, which are made even more
dreary by the burden of shattered hopes.

This issue of Divergences reflects only too well the turmoil of the planet:
its social, economic and political struggles. The History of Nations is
always tragic, quite contrary to the rosy picture presented in chauvinistic
textbooks. But our rejection of such escapism endows History with a certain
heroic quality. Yes, this History becomes our Odyssey.

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INTERNATIONAL

Anarchism, syndicalism & worker¹s struggles in Iraq.

http://divergences.be/article.php3?id_article=446

In August 1977, 50 000 poor slum-dwellers successfully resisted their forced removal by police,
then in December, police massacred 40 religious protestors and the
resentment boiled over into open anger. Strikes and sabotage were on the
rise while wages dropped due to an economic downturn. The shah imposed
martial law and on "Black Friday", September 8, 1978, troops gunned down
thousands of protestors. In response, infuriated workers launched a
strike-wave that spread across the country like wildfire. Read more online

Turkey Conscientious Objection

http://divergences.be/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=165

Platform Conscientious objection, which means the individuals rejection to doing military service
for moral choice, religious belief or political ideas, appeared first in
18th century England among the Quakers, who rejected resorting to violence
due to their religious beliefs. Turkey was introduced to conscientious objection
in 1990, when Vedat Zencir ve Tayfun Gönül announced that they were
conscientious objectors. Read more online

The trial of the conscientious objector Halil Savda was put off until 12
April. In the hearing yesterday (29 March 2007), Halil¹s lawyer Suna Coskun,
by indicating the right to conscientious objection, which rxists within
international conventions, stated that “the courts have a duty to
regulate the national laws while taking into account these conventions.”.
However, her claim was refused and their final defenses were asked by the
Court and for this reason the trial was put off for 12 April. Halil Savda
is being tried according to the 88. Article of the Military Penal Code, and could
get a penalty of imprisonment for up to 5 years. Read more online

USA: Remembering Helen Hill.!

http://divergences.be/article.php3?id_article=425

On February 24, I joined a large crowd to march in a jazz funeral celebrating the life of our
friend, the filmmaker and community activist, Helen Hill. Helen was
murdered at her home on January 4 by an intruder whose motives remain a
mystery. Hundreds of people gathered in the Mid-City neighborhood at the
home that she once shared with her husband, Paul Gailiunas, a doctor,
musician, and fellow community activist, and their small child, Francis
Pop. Their neighborhood and home were badly flooded after Hurricane
Katrina. Read more online

India is Colonising Itself

http://divergences.be/article.php3?id_article=483

There is an atmosphere of growing violence across the country. How do you read the signs? Do you
think it will grow more in the days to come? What are its causes? In what
context should all this be read ?You don’t have to be a genius to read the
signs. We have a growing middle class, being reared on a diet of radical
consumerism and aggressive greed..

Against the celebration of May Day. The utopia of communism finds all the
historic strength for a new world to build in the words Manual Gonzales
Prada delivered at May Day, 1908 while describing it as the day where
"proletarians, scattered throughout the world, no longer see May Day as
the irony of commemorating Labor Day but as the symbolic day where oppressed
and exploited gather to show their numbers, unify their aspirations and get
ready for destructive and definitive action" against the state and
capital.. . Read more online

France : Les élections. Un citoyen républicain, c’est quelqu¹un debout,
dans l¹isoloir et qui fixe son regard le plus fort qu¹il peut, sur un
bulletin de vote - cette image, si nous la regardons un moment, nous aidera
peut-être à ne pas nous égarer. Un citoyen électeur debout devant quelques
noms imprimés et qui essaye de comprendre ce qu¹on lui propose. Quel est
son objet, son but, son modèle ? Lire la suite en ligne

Dans chaque rubrique d¹autres articles sont présents

(Source: posting on the Research on anarchism list)

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