Black Flag 218 index
Letter
Reply to Article - A Visit to the Paris CNT
ASG-M Letter
Greetings Black Flag,
My name is Georgios Alexandrou, and I am the current secretary of the Anarcho Syndicalist Group of Melbourne. You published an article in BF #216 titled 'A Visit to the Paris CNT'. I wish to reply to the article as an individual.
The author of the article, Ben Debney, is neither a current paid member of an IWA section nor has he ever been one to my knowledge.
In his article, Ben Debney states "There would appear to be no shortage of cases in the IWA's recent history where ideological witchhunting was used as a cheap substitute for constructive criticism." I am not a member of the IWA, but merely a supporter, as Australia currently (in 1999) has no official IWA section. Thus, I consider myself (as an outside supporter) not in a position to analyse the expulsion of the Vignoles CNT except to say that expelling a section (Vignoles CNT) from an international organisation (IWA) for apparently contravening of statutes is not necessarily an 'an ideological witchhunt'. If Ben felt there was an ideological witchhunt, then why did he not mention names, dates, instances, and documentation as to how, when, and where such an event occurred.
Ben also has the following to say in the article. "Perhaps the reason is simply that, because an organisation is growing, and if founded by anarchists is not longer purely anarchist, it becomes a threat to the ideological purists who want to keep things nice and secure, if a little uneventful." Again, where is the documentation of IWA sections being controlled by 'ideological purists'. Where is the documentation that the IWA remains uneventful in the name of 'ideological purity'. I have read the IWA statutes, and nowhere have I seen it as a precondition to joining the IWA that one has to succumb to ideological purity!
Ben's article began as an interesting article about the activities of the expelled section, but deteroriated into an opinionated slur. I am not interested in 'perhaps' or 'there would appear' lines of thought when it is not backed up by facts. Leave that for the Murdoch press.