Anarchy: a journal of desire armed. #38; Fall 1993 ON GOGOL BOULEVARD @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ On Gogol Boulevard (OGB) is the bulletin of New York City Neither East Nor West, networking East and West alternative oppositions and printing news and documents unavailable in the corporate or `left' media. We also bring Third and Fourth World activists into these efforts. This regular OGB section in Anarchy will serve the same function. We encourage all those involved in "Neither East Nor West" type activity to regularly contribute to this section. Please address letters, reports, documents, debates, graphics, photos, etc. directly to OGB. This is not a section for anarchists only. We are interested in all things promoting freedom, such as workers', women's, minority, and gay rights, environmental and anti- militarist issues, and anything pursuing paths other than the capitalist and state bureaucratic models. By the way, Gogol Boulevard is a noted hang-out for Moscow's counter-culture - see you there! On Gogol Boulevard/Neither East Nor West 528 Fifth Street, Brooklyn, NY. 11215 (718) 499-7720 VICTORIES In Anarchy, Spring '93, OGB reported on repressed Moldavian anarchists Tamara Burdenko and Igor Hergenreorder. She had been fired and they were having many troubles. We received word that their case has been resolved. Imprisoned Polish military resister Roman Galuszko has been unconditionally freed (Anarchy, OGB, Summer '93). Simple letter writing campaigns, like for the above, do often work. MACEDONIAN ANARCHISTS ORGANIZING The first issue of Naradna Volia newspaper, representative of the Macedonian anarchists, was published in Blagoevgrad. The newspaper continues the same named magazine edited in London, UK. Its 8 pages include articles on the Macedonian question, the situation on the Balkan peninsula nowadays, and the war in ex-Yugoslavia. Four of its pages are occupied by an article dedicated to the life and activities of the Bulgarian revolutionary Nary Gotze Delchev. =20 For a copy write: J.K. "Oktomvry," Bl. 36, Ap. 17, Blagoevgrad 2700, Bulgaria, Tel: 359-73-2-63-36 (Thanks to Action #4, English zine of the Bulgarian Federation of Anarchist Youth) CUBAN DISSIDENTS REJECT WASHINGTON/MIAMI CONTROL By Bill Weinberg Rolando Prats Paez of the Havana-based dissident group Corienta Socialista Democratica (Democratic Socialist Current) recently scored a media coup with a New York Times op-ed piece calling for lifting the US embargo of Cuba - a view which is heresy for the monolithic Miami-based right-wing exile establishment dominated by Jorge Mas Canosa's Cuban American National Foundation. But Prats says what his group stands for is "ni Castrismo ni MasCanismo" - they reject the autocracies of both Fidel Castro and his rightist arch-rival. The Democratic Socialist Current finds harsh challenges to this iconoclastic position from both sides. Their literature is produced and copied entirely by typewriter, and distributed by a hand-to-hand network, as samizdat was in Eastern Europe. Yet the group sees accepting support from foreign governments or outside interests as a threat to its basic principles. In 1991, members of the Democratic Socialist Current launched the General Cuban Workers' Union (UGTC by its Spanish acronym) to provide legal and political support for employees in dispute with state managers. Among the founders was Vladimiro Roca, a Cuban Air Force fighter pilot and economist who is also the son of Blas Roca - longtime head of Cuba's Communist Party and a titanic figure in the nation's history. Vladimiro's 1991 press conference announcing that he was joining Democratic Socialist Current sent shockwaves throughout Cuba's political establishment.=20 Within a year, the UGTC leadership had been hijacked by a group working in cooperation with both the Cuban American National Foundation and the American Institute for Free Labor Development, the AFL-CIO's international wing which has already gained control over worker and peasant movements in El Salvador, elsewhere in Latin America, and now ex-Communist countries. But Roca and others who remained loyal to the Democratic Socialist Current would have none of it. They split and formed the UGTC-I. The "I" stands for "Independiente". Independent from what? "The United States government," chuckles Rolando Prats. Democratic Socialist Current founder Elizardo Sanchez is also president of the unofficial Comision Cubana de Derechos Humanos y Reconcilacion Nacional (Cuban Commission for Human Rights & National Reconciliation). His human rights activities landed him a two-year prison term in 1990 - and won him recognition as a "prisoner of conscience" by Amnesty International. Released three months before his term expired, Sanchez was recently allowed to leave Cuba for a speaking tour in Europe and the Americas=FEa move which can be credited to international pressure. However, since his release, Sanchez has been targeted for violent harassment in Havana by the pro-government "spontaneous" street mobs known as the Rapid Reaction Brigades. More radical anarchist and anti-militarist groups linked to the semi-taboo punk youth culture also exist in Cuba - such as Movimiento Pacifista Solidaridad y Paz (Solidarity & Peace Pacifist Movement), several of whose members were sentenced to prison after a protest at the Department of State Security in 1991. However, the absence of a scene in which young people can meet and network in a free atmosphere has prevented such small and marginal groupings from developing into a real movement. With Cuba's deep economic crisis - the result of both the US embargo and the collapse of the Soviet bloc - even bars, clubs and restaurants have been shut down. Virtually the only ones which continue to function are those which cater to the tourist trade -=20 which only take foreign currency and are effectively off-limits to Cubans. Meetings in people's homes are promptly reported to the authorities by the state-controlled neighborhood watch groups, the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDRs). UGTC and UGTC-I continue to exist as rival alternatives to the official state- controlled workers' organizations in Cuba. Both remain small and marginalized. Prats calls UGTC-I an "auxiliary force for groups trying to open a political space in Cuba." Unfortunately, the US left is as blind as the elites of Havana and Miami to the existence of Cuban political forces outside of the two ossified opposing blocs. This blindness is likely to play into the hands of Mas Canosa and his ilk when cracks finally start to emerge in Fidel's grip in power. Elements such as UGTC-I and the Democratic Socialist Current which insist on charting an autonomous course deserve the solidarity of like-minded stateside activists. Democratic Socialist Current can best be reached through their Miami contact: Tony Santiago, 1040 SW 27th Ave., Miami, FL. 33135.=20 ANARCHISTS IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC: TWO REPORTS (Both edited for clarity. Both groups are also at odds with one another and we chose to edit out the various charges of which we know nothing. -OGB) A-KONTRA: ZINE OF THE CZECHOSLOVAK ANARCHIST UNION A-Kontra is a monthly anarchist zine published by people from CAS (Czechoslovak Anarchist Union). A-Kontra has published for nearly 2 years. Since then we are trying to set up an anarchistic information distribution site, involving everything from politics to culture.=20 A-Kontra has changed several times. The first numbers were published "on our knees" with neither a financial nor material basis. Only a typewriter and the will to do something after the revolution in 1989. (Which actually changed nothing. The power has remained intact, only the people who used to be the dissidents have become dangerous - they are drunk with fame and power. The underground has become the establishment.) Alternativists from before the revolution published an underground magazine, Vokno [Windows - very famed -OGB], going back 12 years. As a newsletter they published irregularly a newspaper called Voknoviny. After the revolution it changed into Kontra. In a years time A-Kontra was born at the beginning of 1991. So we grew. We had to move for the first time because of our political opinions. Too many activities were organized to list (from demos to concerts, book publishing, and political activities with the Left Alternative group). People came together, the movement grew, and we became dangerous. We had to move again and ended in a squat (which is now near closure). During 1992 the police started tracing us, listening into and cutting phone calls, and cutting electricity. At the end of 1992 big changes approached. The squatted house which we use for publishing the mag was assaulted and cleared by the police and skinheads working hand in hand. Nearly all the people left the house after this assault (the biggest of many). Strangely, on the same day one of our editors, P.W., was accused of assaulting the chairperson of the Communist Party. It became clear that this was a build up process against the anarchist movement. But due to solidarity and the support of many people, PW had to be released after more than 2 weeks in prison. The trial continues. But we are alive!!! Since then we managed 20 issues, which makes over 50 for A-Kontra. Please help us. We will try to help you too. PS: Late news. Somebody (probably nazis) broke into our squat. They took all of our tapes (incl. DOWNCAST original!), most floppy disks and a cassette- recorder. Please! Spread this ! Help us... A-Kontra, POB 552, 170 00 Praha 7, Czech Republic, Tel/Fax: 02-43-58-945 AUTONOMIE: ZINE IN ANARCHIST FEDERATION Autonomie publishes anarchist classics of the 19th century and concentrates mainly on theory. In the Czech Republic more than 10 anarchist fanzines are published. Under the last regime there were no anarchist publications so now there is an effort to fill in the gap. Here's a list of important anarchist actions: 1/5/90 - MAY DAY "under black flags" 5/90 - Concert against racialism and fascism 6/90 - Night procession with lit candles to China's embassy on the anniversary of the massacre. 1000 participants. 6/10/90 - Occupation of a train protesting a price increase 17/11/90 - For 45 minutes 200 anarchists stopped a column of cars carrying presidents Bush and Havel who were to talk to an open air gathering. We wanted to read our speech and weren't successful. [This was a protest against the Gulf War. -OGB] 15,30/6/91 - Two demonstrations against the "Ceskoslovenske Vseobecne Vystave" (Little Czech Expo - a capitalist fair). This was the first great conflict with nazi-skinheads. 7/90 - Demonstration against racialism and fascism - 1,200 participants 1/5/91 - MAY DAY "under black flags - 600 participants 1/9/91 - Demonstration against military service - 300 participants 10/9/91 - Demonstration (700 participants) and concert (2000 participants) against the army 3/92 - Founding of the Anarchist Federation 1/92 - Demonstration and attack on upper class ball - 2000 participants 13/3/92 - Demonstration against racialism and fascism - 500 participants 1/5/92 - MAY DAY "under black flags" demonstration against manipulations by political parties - 700 participants (our greatest conflict with nazi-skinheads) 3/10/92 - 60-70 anarchists stopped for 30 minutes a festive march commemorating America's 500 year anniversary with banners saying "500 Years of Ethnocide is Enough," and "Racialism - An Inseparable Part of America" 4/10/92 - 5 anarchists got into the "American Ball." They displayed a banner over the US flag saying "A Disgraceful Celebration of Genocide" and distributed leaflets. 9,10/10/92 - 2 days of lectures on Indian culture and ethnocide organized for the public. A silent, candlelit procession took place to the Spanish and US embassies after the lecture. 20/10/92 - A demonstration was held in support of a squat (the only political squat in Prague) - 200 participants 2/93 - Demonstration against new anti-squatter laws 13/3/93 - Demonstration against racialism and fascism - 1000 participants=20 Autonomie, POB 223, 111 21 Praha 1, Czech Republic, Tel/Fax: 02-43-58-945. "THE ZITZER SPIRITUAL REPUBLIC" SERB VILLAGE REBELS AGAINST THE MILITARY =20 By Henrik Farkas Oromhegyes (Serbian name: Tresnjevac) is a little village in Vojvodina, Serbia, with about 2000 inhabitants. Even a year ago, it was a peaceful, prosperous, calm place. In May '92, 200 men of the villagers got their call-up papers. This started a protest movement against recruitment and against the war. On May 10th, women organized a demonstration. About 700 participants demanded: the withdrawal of the call-up orders; the return of soldiers from the front lines; and the free return of people who had left their homeland to escape recruitment. They also declared that they would not disperse until their demands were met. During the demonstration tanks surrounded the village, but there was no attempt to use force to disperse the demonstration. The participants stayed together for a month, day and night, in the Zitzer Club. They received visitors and support from other parts of Serbia. The international press and some foreign peace organizations also gave them moral support. On June 26th, some of the participants of the protest established the "Zitzer Spiritual Republic." This republic has citizens, a president, a constitution, a hymn (Ravel's Bolero), and a coat of arms (a symbolic pizza between 3 billiard balls), but of course, it does not possess territory. Since then, a few hundred people from several countries joined the Zitzer Spiritual Republic, which is actually an international peace organization. The protest was successful in one respect: the planned recruitment of the reservists was not carried out until this January. However, on January 30th the police searched for 40 men who had formerly made a formal declaration: They - as reservists - refused to join the armed forces. Instead they chose alternative (civil) service. Serbian laws allow the choice of civil service. The police captured 5 men: Bela Bicskei, Rudolf Utasi, Attila Magossy, Karoly Feher, and Pal David. They were transferred to the army and forced to take the military uniform. Some of them were beaten. "Headquarters" of the "Republic": Zitzer Club, Oromhegyes, Horvath Janos u. 10., Vojvodina, Yugoslavia, Tel: 38-24-883-016 Info thanks to: Alba Kor - Non-Violent Movement for Peace, H-1461, Budapest PF. 225, Hungary: Fax: +36-1-180-45-46: Email: H6551FAR@huella.bitnet. Neither East Nor West-NYC has offered to be the "American Embassy" of the "Republic." If any other any Americanos wanna join our "Embassy" send your official request to: NENW-NYC, 528 5th St., Brooklyn, NY 11215=20 ASIAN STUDENTS REASSESS SOCIALISM The following is an excerpt from the article "Critical Reflections" by C.W. Hang in Asian Student Association News September '92. The article was culled from a summer '92 Asian Students Association Executive Council meeting in Ketari, Malaysia. Participants included students from India, the Philippines, Nepal, Pales- tine, Hong Kong, Australia, Pakistan, Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, plus "Trotsky," a participants dog, "who joined us whenever the issue of Marxism was raised." SOCIALIST CONFUSION In the '70s, students dreamt of socialism as an alternative to the capitalist and imperialist systems. In Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, millions of people died under the hands of Uncle Sam's troops. Agent Orange was sprayed all over the country, killing plants, deforming babies. This genocide was to force the Vietnamese people to accept US imperialism. The US failed, and students in Asia celebrated - Long live socialism! To the north of Vietnam, Mao Zedong of China inspired millions of young people - not only in China but all over Asia with such slogans as; "It Is A Right To Revolt," "Down With Bureaucracy," "Struggle With The Masses, The Workers And Peasants And Learn From=20Them!" No wonder, his pictures were seen and his books were read not only in China, but also in Thailand, India, Japan, and the Philippines, because his calls for anti- authoritarianism and anti-imperialism had a ring of truth in them. In a world which faced the sheer violence of imperialism, both in the form of imperial wars against liberation struggles and in the form of support of military regimes in Asia, Mao was inspiring. However, at the turn of the '80s, confusion over socialism set in. People witnessed the ruthlessness of the Khmer Rouge on televisions, and condemned it as communist terror. The victory of Vietnam over an imperialist power was followed by its own invasion of Cambodia. And added to this was a war fought between two Asian countries: China and Vietnam. In China, leaders of the Cultural Revolution - the "Gang of Four" - were arrested and denounced as traitors. Mao was criticized. The new Chinese communist leaders adopted an "open door policy" to entice western investments. What was supposedly the better alternative turned out to be not without its own problems. Meanwhile, capitalist forces adopted more subtle forms of oppression. In the '80s, rather than launching large scale wars against the Third World, imperialist forces relied more on direct control: economic imperialism. This tactic included the economic blockade of socialist states and supporting client states in the Third World - often military regimes, and collaborating with local elites to implement pro-western policies, protecting and enhancing the powers of multinational corporations. In response to these changes, many leftist and progressive student activists in Asia shifted the focus of their struggle which was internationalist in nature, to one of a more national-centered in character. Despite the problems of existing socialist states, students generally concluded that these problems came from a misguided practice rather than from socialist theory itself. Therefore, they tend not to go into deeper discussions of the causes of these problems but retreated to fighting at the local front, against the ruling class. The priority was thus the removal of the local repressive regimes rather than the destruction of the global capitalist system.=20 Asian Students Association, 353 Shanghai St. 4F, Kawloon, Hong Kong, Tel: 852- 388-0515, Fax: 852-787-5535 FREE CHINESE PRISONERS (Readers: Little to no info comes our way regarding China, whose Communist Party remains quite intact and in control. Please send us any info and grafix that comes your way.) Lin Gang was a postgraduate student and a leader when the democratic protests broke out in Beijing in 1989. He has been incarcerated for more than three years and has been tortured. Lin Gang was one of the 21 most wanted student leaders. He was arrested in June 1989 in Baolding, in Hebei province. From there he was taken to Beijing and then to jail in Qinching where it was reported that he was mistreated. In February 1991 he was found guilty of "conspiracy to overthrow the government" and sentenced to six years in prison. He was given a reduced sentence because he "displayed a desire to reform himself." In April 1991 Lin Gang was transferred to a prison in the Liaoning province. There he was beaten and tortured by electrical shock. In November 1991 he went on hunger strike in protest. This act brought him a new round of torture. He was last seen by political prisoners in April 1992 and hasn't been heard from since. Please sent letters of protest to Li Peng asking for the immediate release of Lin Gang and an investigation into the charges of torture. Premier Li Peng, Quowuyuan 9 Xihnang Schenggbeijiel, Beijing 10032, Peoples Republic of China SOUTH AFRICA: APARTHEID, COMMUNISTS AND ANARCHISTS Dear Comrades, Greetings from South Africa. Recently we set in motion actions which will hopefully result in the formation of the Anarchist Revolutionary Movement which, to our knowledge, will be South Africa's first anarchist organization to operate in the open. Due to our severe lack of experience, we are sending out a plea for any form of aid we can receive. We urgently need advice, literature, and if possible, funds. We hope that you will be able to assist us or to put us in contact with someone who can. We apologize for the impersonality of this letter, yet we feel that in order to obtain a reasonable response, it is best for us to contact as many groups as possible. Thanking you in advance, yours in solidarity, Renato and Elli, POB 51465, Raedenem 2124, Johannesburg, SA Following are our thoughts on South Africa: Perhaps the most influential of these developments has been the unbanning of certain political parties, among whom can be found movements as infamous as the African National Congress (A.N.C.). Essentially the concept of free speech is relatively new in South Africa. The last 40 years have been dictated to us by the National Party. Everything from their Christian National Education policy to their secret police has been designed to suppress and oppress. It is only recently the cracks have begun to appear in their Armor. In all honesty they have at most another three or four years of power before disappearing like so many of their enemies mysteriously did. As Anarchists they pose us little threat as we should in fact be looking ahead to the inevitable dictatorship which is to be constructed by the African National Congress. Right from the beginning the A.N.C. has made it crystal clear they will sell out both their ideals and supporters to obtain power. When the A.N.C. first re- entered the political arena they openly allied themselves with the South African Communist Party. Once threatened with losing the support of big business they quickly embraced capitalist ideals. Today, while Mandela sits inside his $250,000 house and reminisces over his daughters recent $10,000 wedding, his "brothers" sleep in tin shacks. While they catch busses or walk 25 miles to work, he rides in one of his two Mercedes Benz's...but that's politicians for you. And that is truly who the A.N.C. is there for, money-grabbing megalomaniacs like Mandela. Oddly enough recent revelations of A.N.C. torture camps have done little to tarnish their image. In all honesty they are the lesser of two evils but surely we deserve better. So now the question arises, who else is there to represent the South African people in this farce some would call a democracy? Surely not the ineffective stagnant liberal Democratic Party who represent the free market ideals of the rich. If shove comes to shooting let's hope we don't have to turn to the extreme right Afrikaaner Weerstand Beweeging or their black counterparts the Azanian Peoples' Liberation Army. If ever there has been a need for an anarchist solution it is here in South Africa. However, massive problems face our movement. How do we break through to people of color who tend to distrust us? The National Party has ensured that this will be no easy task. Unfortunately in the current political climate it is not possible for us to take our message onto the streets without facing prison terms on charges as ridiculous as treason. And then of course there are the problems of funding and our lack of knowledge. Even with all this against us we are hopeful that we will overcome in the long-run. If not, South Africa is destined to remain a puppet of the first world as conditions steadily deteriorate. LETTER: IREAN RESPONDS TO CRITICISM (Perhaps we shouldn't have printed what IREAN is responding to. But we did and so are now obligated to print a rebuttal. We'd rather not be printing back and forth infighting. In the future if our collaborators would like to send in text critical of other anarchists please consider whether it's really necessary to make charges, and if so, please back it up with even-handed fact from all sides. In fact, if Moscow's IREAN and KAS could sit down together and write out their differences than this would be a more helpful type of thing to print. OGB will invite both groups to do this.)=20 Dear friends, Laure Akai's accusations against us in "Report From Moscow" (Anarchy Spring '93) are completely tendentious and false. The real facts are the following:=20 1. The Initiative of Revolutionary Anarchists (IREAN) doesn't make any political blocs or unity, and doesn't have any programmatic or organized agreements with non-anarchist, authoritarian or pro-state groups (including Trotskyists). But we aren't afraid of public polemics and discussions (also during street actions), because we are conscious of the force and superiority of anarchist ideas and our possibility to show the justness of those ideas. In our oppositional direct actions (against governmental actions, human rights violations, ecological pollution, fascism, etc.) it is of course possible to hit on not only us, but also other diverse leftists - we are for workers unity from below on a non-party basis. 2. It's not true that IREAN hasn't syndicalists. Although IREAN is not an exclusively anarcho-syndicalist organization, within us exists a group of the friends of the International Workers Association (IWA). We make anarcho-syndicalist propaganda in our papers and leaflets and publish in common with the IWA AS- Info bulletin for East and Central Europe. Comparatively, the majority of Con- federation of Anarcho-Syndicalist (KAS) groups don't want to join the IWA and don't organize anarcho-syndicalist unions. Those groups (especially in Moscow) support the concept of "market socialism" or "syndical capitalism" and work jointly with the old official trade union bosses. The pro-KAS news agency "KAS- KOR" - whose foreign representative is a French Trotskyist - has contacts with the AFL-CIO and Voice of America and supports police repression against us. 3. On Nov. 7th (anniversary of the Russian Revolution) we didn't join the Stalinist and nationalist demonstrations, but made an alternative action. Like May 1st actions it is a general left-wing demonstration, in which the anarchists make a special bloc. There we distributed our leaflets and papers explaining that we don't celebrate the Bolsheviks seizing power, but celebrate a larger peoples movement with strong anarchist participation, that led in Nov. (Oct.) 1917 to the temporary extinction of the state and the sweeping away of the foundation of the capitalist economy, "but was enveloped by the new Bolshevik state power." (G. Maximoff)=20 4. The action with the Brezhnev portrait wasn't organized by IREAN but by another group of people (including one former IREAN member) as an "Orange action" - i.e., as a satire against political norms and customs (the term comes from Polish anarchists). Brezhnev was and is an object of many wits and anecdotes and nobody takes him as a serious political figure. His portraits today mock the nostalgic or pro-Yeltsin idolatry of leaders. 5. The action on Oct. 24th was organized parallel to anti-racist demonstrations in West Europe but was against fascism and racism in the ex-USSR. It is clear that Laura Akai doesn't sufficiently understand Russia and the situation in our country. She has close personal contacts with KAS. This group in Moscow is very small and the members do nothing, except write articles in official papers, have nostalgic parties, and defame anarchist/libertarian organizations (IWA, IREAN, etc.). SALUTE and ANARCHY, For IREAN, Vadim Damier, 107285 Moscow, Per. Alymova 13, Kv. 24. Russia (Both Laure Akai and the representative of KAS have written and objected to the points made by IREAN. NENW has decided that those and any further letters we receive on this particular squabble will be handed over to the Anarchy letters section.)=20 STUPID SOVIET JOKES The teacher was saying that communism is already on the horizon. He was asked: "What's the Horizon?" "It's an imaginary line over which the sun goes down which keeps getting farther away from us as we try to get closer to it." What's a Soviet string trio? A string quartet returning from tour abroad.