NEWS AND VIEWS #5, OCT. 1996

FROM THE EDITOR

It's that time again to get news from the former Soviet Union. My comrades in America it seems are stuck with the same ol' president, and it seems, so are we, so now that we know the status quo, it's time to go. I'm glad to report that following our pre-election doldrums, actually there has been a considerable amount of activity. In September I ventured to the dread ADA conference to have a look at my fellow anarchists. For those of you who aren't up on our Russian groups and federations, ADA is the Association of the Anarchist Movement, a federation whose history is rather odd. Let's just say that one could find there such wonders as anarcho-monarchists, capitalists and, the ever-popular and once numerous anarcho-democrats. Whereas last year there was just a handful of wierdos, this year there were quite a number of people from different cities present, so I lucked out. Of course I did get rather odd literture - like leaflets on constitutional anarchism - but it was rather interesting to hear about whats going on around the X and it was a good sign to see that there were people interested in making contacts and doing something. What did I find out during this conference? First, that in many cities there is nothing much happening. The anarchists there are quite isolated as you can imagine. Well, what we need to do is buy (or get) a bus, make an anarchy bus, and tour the country spreading goodwill and mischief. Really, we are quite lucky in Moscow that we have some people around us to do things with and we have more access to information than in places like Kustanai. (That's a city in Kazakhstan, where comrade Vasily is from. Of course he's taken refuge in the squat here in Moscow and maybe he'll never go back.) So, what I'd like for my dear comrades to keep in mind is that wed like it if they occasionally had contact with these poor lonely souls because what winds up happening is that we get all the info here in Moscow and although we have no real problems passing it along, Moscow has always been seen as the center of everything in Soviet life and it's time to think regionally and decentralize. There are some really good people out there and there are good opportunities for them to organize something.

It was interesting to find out that in Alma-Ata there are three anarchist groups, but they don't have much to do with each other. In fact, they didn't seem to have a lot to do except sabotage ski slopes. The same could be said of a number of groups - they don't quite know what to do or are rather small. The places that seemed the most active were Moscow, Petersburg and Donetsk. More about what we're doing later. Another place where there was quite a lot of activity was Kaliningrad. This is exclusively ecological activity and I wanted to say a few words on this topic.

Perhaps the main type of activity that people seem to be involved in now is the ecological protest movement. I must say that some of the recent actions that have been organized have been quite well done. Our ecological comrades, that is Rainbow Keepers and the Social Ecology Union as well as a few others, are quite energetic and are constantly doing something. A lot of young people are attracted to their actions. There are two publications, "Trety Put" and "Rainbow Keepers" (the last issue of which is about the nicest looking zine I've ever seen in Russia). To be honest, I don't know much about the other groups outside Moscow, Nizhny and Kaliningrad, but what I do know is that there are lots of these ecological groups throughout Russia. To a large extent, many of these groups exist because they get grants from the US government to carry out their activity. I saw a list once of these grant-receiving groups, (in a USAID publication) and I was amazed. Well, our friends would be fools to turn down the opportunity to finance themselves, especially when self-financing is so difficult given the general poverty here. That hardly bothers me. What does bother me is that too many of our people pay too much attention to these problems, to the exclusion of all else. And I'm sure that's what USAID people want and had in mind when they gave out these grants.

Don't get me wrong - I have nothing against this sort of activism. I hate industrial consumer society. I was at Seabrook, was an animal liberationist, am a vegetarian for more than 20 years, have never smoked, protested the fur expo on Red Square, lobbied for the bottle bill, praticed recycling before the city of NY took care of it, collected signatures for clean water, don't drive, ride a bike, have done some direct actions... This is all great. (Although I'd rather that they stop smoking at the meetings and try to start a recycling movement in Moscow than hugging trees, but OK.) But ecological issues are only part of the problem. As a matter of fact, one can argue that much of the ecological problems in the world, particularly here, are part of larger problems, like poverty. It's a shame that someone can concentrate all their political efforts on shutting down nuclear reactors and spiking trees when there is civil war, when people are starving... I understand why, because, as Max (our RK guy) said, people have to feel like there's something that they can win. And we're not exactly in a good position to organize say, a general strike.

So you will read a lot about these ecological actions this time. Also, I'll tell you about what the Donetsk group is up to, about our fabulous international brigade, what one of our old comrades is up to in Karelia, about the KRAS conference and the return of the Wobblies. In addition, an article about corruption in the government and the problems of the workers' movement.

Finally some annoucements. First of all, I'd like to congratulate Petr Ryabov with the completion of his dissertation on "The Problem of the Individual in Anarchist Philosophy". It's a giant two-volume work, hopefully which will sometime see the light of day, by my fellow graphomaniac and comrade. I'd also like to congratulate him for making it out of Belarus in one piece after serving a stint in a lovely barren cell this October. We'd like to thank all the comrades who bombarded the Belarussian government with telegrams and phone calls. It worked. Second, we are planning some interesting things for the summer and invite foreign guests. Actually, since we invite you, we feel obliged that these things be interesting, so, unfortunately, we haven't made any definite decisions yet as to whether to drag people to a collective farm, or Bakunin's house or to a nuclear reactor, but if you want to visit Russia, we can guarantee you neon green wheatgrass drink and lots of drunken songs in languages that you don't understand. And last, but not least, please copy and distribute this bulletin as you see fit. Absolutely no copyright. As a matter of fact, I should mention that all opinions in this bulletin are the opinions of Com. Akai, unless otherwise stated and that, in the spirit of the ANC (absolutely no copyright) I have comandeered the publication of this rag from Com. Tsovma, who may ultimately protest that I've stolen his idea for the name, but he's stolen lots of ideas from me, so no matter.

News and Views comes out sporadically, and if you would like to receive the next issue, please make an effort to bribe or impress the editor. Apologies to those who have requested it and havent gotten a reply from me - life is chaotic.

Send comments to:
Laure Akai at cube@glasnet.ru
or P.O. Box 500, Moscow 107061
Please note that delivery time is up to one month - each way.-

DOWN WITH LUKASHENKO!

Why we hate him and risked life and limb to go to Minsk.
Don't make me to all the work!
All you have to do is read the paper to understand why we hate Luka.

Lukashenko is a return of the cult of personality, of lies, censorship, the party, political hegemony, the absence of opposition. To watch Luka on TV during his Congress (and it was impossible to do otherwise as the Russian channels were cut), was like stepping back into the Soviet Union of the Brezhnev era. The man wants to be dictator for life, and to achieve this aim, he's decided to play good Luka and play up his public image while harassing and arrested opposition, banning journalists, ignoring the parliament, etc. The CIA wants to overthrow the guy, but their plot was discovered and people fled the country. Luka got paranoid about this and of course understood that the world was watching when they brutally beat demonstrators last spring, so he needed to do something, and, as hes pretty smart, decided that he likes this referendum idea, because he can falsify it but look like a democrat at the same time. He got into a bit of a standoff with the parliament, and we got wind of coup rumours so we decided to help out our comrades in Belarus and go to Minsk so that they wouldn't have to be stuck with the BNF (Belarussian National Front). We went in the middle of October.

Us Moscow adventurists were pleased to find that others had also organized themselves to help out - namely the Ukrainians had also formed a brigade, ironically, with the same name. We met anarchists from Gomel and Grodno, who similarly understood the need to go to Minsk and, unfortunately, some nazis from Brest, who don't know the difference between Hitler and Makhno. (I have a theory that the Soviets were secretly testing chemical weapons near the Polish borders and that these morons are an unfortunate side effect.) Well, as you've figured out, there was no coup, and, try as we did, we didn't manage to overthrow the government, so instead we sang revolutionary songs and planned further action. I must say our brothers from Minsk and Kiev have great voices and I'd especially like to urge our Minsk comrades to give up politics and become singers so that they can support us financially and be of better use. There was sort of a story here, about the trip. See, Luka is smooth and he had the cops carry out arrests before and after this big demo, but not during. So, while miners were going to Minsk, he had them arrested. Some people got busted on their way into the city. Others, like our comrades, got busted afterwards, near the house where we were going to meet. (There was to be a meeting of the FAB - Belarussian Anarchist Federation (which has a hymn and everything), at that place because the place it was originally supposed to be at was raided the day before.) I saw a number of people get busted, but it's not clear how many because it was done in such a way that nobody saw the arrests and nobody heard about them. In April they also arrested people in such a way, but it was a massive sweep and the word got out. In any case, they tried to make it difficult for us - they wouldn't tell us were they were being held, where the trial would be, etc., but our comrades were great and the General Attorney was bombarded with phone calls from journalists, the parliament got telegrams, and in the end our friends got off easy. Still, we're far from happy. We know that the political activists out there are getting harrassed, and if Luka has his way, their days are numbered. So we're continuing our campaign against the creep and are waiting to see what develops.

WEEK OF ANTI-NUKE PROTESTS: Chernobyl week in the Ukraine

Last year, on April 12, 1995, the Ukrainian government secretly adopted decree # 267 on the development of nuclear energy. At the same time, all unofficial commerations of the Chernobyl disaster were oulawed. This year even the publication of anti-nuke literature was forbidden. Lots of troops were called in. Rainbow Keepers held an action on April 23, 1996. About 40 people from Russia, Ukraine and Belorussia, as well as a couple of people from other countries took part in it.

The participants in the action, as well as a few people from the streets, marched onto the Cabinet of Ministers. They demanded that Chernobyl and other nuclear power stations be shut down and that alternative forms of energy be developed. The OMON (riot police) started to beat the demonstrators and arrested 19 people.

Ukrainian Greenpeace refused to get involved with the whole affair. Too radical for them. As the 26th drew near, people were getting ready for some action. On the 25th the police arrested some activists right in the metro. And on the 26th, it was all too surreal as the city held a party for its citizens. Wagner blasted through the loudspeakers and then pop stars gave concerts. And in the meanwhile, a fire burned for the fourth striaght day in a row in the zone. A third leak was found at Chernobyl and the level of readioactivity increased significantly.

How's that for learning a lesson from the past?

WHERE THE HELL IS VOLGODONSK? That's where the action was!

The Rainbow Keepers held yet another summer camp-protest action, this time at the Rostov Nuclear Power Plant. The center of their protest was at Volgodonsk, a city of 200,000 inhabitants, situated 13 kilometers from the plant. The plant was built very poorly and the inhabitants of the city, especially those who live in cheap Soviet hi-rises, are being steadily contaminated. In 1990 there was a large local movement to shut down the reactor and the local authorities voted to close it, only to be turned down by the central authorities in Moscow. Then this year, the regional government got a letter from the Ministry of Atomic Energy saying that the reactor would be put into use. Ironically this letter was written on April 26, 1996, the tenth anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster!

The Rainbow Keepers were thus invited by "Nuclear Free Don" and "The Green Wave" to do an action in that city. The camp started on August 10 and ended on the 28th. More than 40 people from Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Tadzhikistan took part in the action. On the 21st the camp was attacked by some guys with machine guns and clubs. Luckily nobody was killed, although a number of people were hurt. All the banners were burned and photo and video cameras stolen. Three of the attackers were recognized as guards at the plant. They threatened to shoot everybody if they hadn't left by the morning. The press and police later showed up and nothing happened. In general the people of the city were very supportive of the action. Little old ladies came by to feed the camp. And quite a lot of contacts were made and a bit of activism sparked the city. The Keepers are even considering going back next year to keep up the struggle.

HUG A TREE and have a nice day!

In May RK went to the Akhunsky Forest (near Penza - if that means anything to you) to spike some trees. Although its forbidden to cut down trees in the area, a lot of it has been going on. They repeated this type of action in June in the Bolshoi Tkhatch mountains, near Krasnodar.

All this follows last years' actions to save some trees in Moscow where they were cut down so that the city could waste money on a Galina Vishveskaya opera school. (Like, we need this. There's no money to pay workers, mind you. Besides, Galina is a foul bitch and her husband is a daffy-ducklike, dick-brained, semi-fascist, elitist moron.) Such neighbourhood initiatives, as well as other anti- construction demos are popping up in Moscow left and right. (Of course, there is a great housing shortage, so not everyone symapthizes with these actions. The city is a monster.) Directions on how to sabotage lumberjacks were printed in this issue of "Rainbow Keepers".

ANTI-ANTI FASCISM?

My "second-favourite" Trotskyist sect, the Militant, (only outdone by the Sparts), is up to organizing youth again. The unsinkable Robert Jones (probably a pseudonym), who is the local rep of Youth Against Racism in Europe, organized an anti-fascist month in Moscow. Well, I didn't go to anything, so I can't say much about what happened, but I know that I smell a two-headed (Moscow River) fish.
First of all, why are many of the favourite local participants of this group fascists? Or if not outright fascists, then just lovers of totalitarianism? Mr. Svetkov, for example, the national bolshevik. Or Mr. Kostenko, who joined the RKRP, and well, is just a major asshole provacateur. An advocator for Stalinist terror and Kim il-Sun. And the artist Osmolosky, whose exhibition "Anti-fascism and Anti-anti-fascism" was the centerpiece of the conference. We already experienced the "pluralism" of this sect and understand it all to be just more entrism, but unfortunately, some of our stupider comrades do not. A number of anarchists were invited to Moscow, all expenses paid, to take part in this conference but I didn't see them at the so-called anti-fascist rally. It was rather sad - in all 6 or 7 people standing on Soviet Sq. (well, actually it's not Soviet square anymore, but I can never remember what they renamed it). They didn't say anything, but there were at least 7 or 8 foreign journalists there filming, presumably French and other Trots who want to show their comrades what they organized to keep their allowances coming. Well, militants, since we generally gather three times as many people at our anti-fa shit, I'd suggest you send us the money and send Robert packing.

RKAS ACTIVE IN MINERS'STRIKE

The Revolutionary Confederation of Anarcho-Syndicalists were very busy this summer as the miners in the Donbass region went on strike and the government repressed Mikhail Krylov, a trade union leader. The A-Ses published quite a number of anarchist papers, put up posters, talked with workers and participated in many meetings and actions.The Donetsk group is actively continuing their work with the workers and continue propogating anarchist ideas of self-organization, self-management and so on.

KRAS CONFERENCE GOES OVER POLITELY

The Confederation of Radical Anarcho-Syndicalists, not to be confused with the renegade Radical Confederation of Anarcho- Syndicalist (furthermore not to be confused with the more modest Group of Radical Anarcho-Syndicalist, or the living dead, not-so-radical, Confederation of Anarcho-Syndicalists) held its conference at the end of August in Gomel, Belarus. A whole bunch of resolutions were adopted, nobody was killed. The group wants to represent the CIS in the IWA but some other anarcho-syndicalists, namely the Radicals, are not in favour of such representation. The KRAS ministry of information was set in Moscow. (What did you expect?)

WHAT INTERNATIONAL TO JOIN? THE WOBBLIES RISE UP FROM THE DEAD.

For those who don't want to join the International, there's always the IWW. Organizing efforts are under way here to start a wobbly group, but the project isn't on its feet yet. However, as the situation here is quite unsteady, we're hoping that some people will stop hobbling about, rocking forth between different authoritarian groups and take their first baby steps on the road to the great general strike and self-organization.

WHAT TO DO IN KARELIA

Well, if you've tried all the flavours at the Petrozavodsk Ben and Jerry's, you might as well try to force a referendum. The story of how a small group made big news in Karelia is downright inspirational for all who want to start up grassroots movements.

It all started on Feb. 15 when two women went to a consultant to get advice on alternative service for their loved ones. Who wants to send a son or husband off to Chechnya? To fight a war that even Lebed didn't want to fight? They decided that they wanted to do something to end the war in Chechnya, so they figured that Karelia should hold a referendum. Not that my anarchistic soul cares much for voting, but such things are preferable to the rule of the Kremlin, especially considering that the people, by and large, are not only against the war, but definitely against compulsory military service. On Feb. 20 they formed a small group of 5 people and on the 27th they already went to the government with the idea and started phoning people en masse. By March 5 a big media campaign was started and they had started collecting signatures but there were some problems because the group wasn't registered, and without the almighty registration in Russia, nothing works. On the 12 of March, the government said that it couldn't consider a referendum because this was a matter of national defense, but the group argued, successfully, that it couldn't be a matter of defense because first of all, Russia hadn't been invaded, and secondly, Russia doesn't recognize the independence of Ichkeria, so it's a matter of internal politics, a matter of the governing of the Russian Federation. On the 14th they refused to register the group, but the Mayor of Petrozavodsk (who definitely has tried all the B&J flavours), intervined and they were registered by the 23rd. They then needed to just collect 25,000 signatures to force the referendum and set up info stands in the city. Unfortunately the bureaucrats sabotaged the group, saying that they were incorrectly registeres, so they had to go back to GO. Still, our friends there are still working hard and we hope that the experience they're getting in organizing will do them some good.

MORE ECO-NEWS

What - more eco-news? O.K., I'll spare you. Just be aware that they were protesting aginst this and that, here and there. People were arrested, nobody was killed.

WE HELD A CONFERENCE AND NO ONE CAME

Yeah, we held a Stirner Conference, but the guy whose idea it was backed out at the last minute so it was poorly organized and no one came but Ryabov and I did some kick-ass lectures and we dont care that nobody came, because we like talking to ourselves anyway. So there.

ANNOUNCEMENT: Any workers group that feels unrepresented in the Russian Federation, please send us an essay, 50 words or less about why your group is better than our groups, along with a cheque for 25,000USD to The Radical Confederation of Radical Anarcho-Cynicalists, Moscow Group, P.O. Box 34, Moscow 117485 or to the Friends of the IWW, IWA and IWOK International, c/o Friends of Friends, P.O. Box 500, Moscow 107061. Or vice-versa.

That's all for now. Please forgive me for any gross omissions. More to follow.