With the local government, if not the British general election around the corner, this is as good a time as any to address the important issue of electoral fraud. It's an unfortunate fact that most people are ill-informed about what electoral fraud really represents. It stands for those who push the idea that ordinary people cannot organise themselves and their own destinies and that they need others to do it for them. Whether those others are councillors, Stormont MLAs, or parliamentary representatives, they are still out to deprive everyone else of making decisions about things that effect us in our everyday lives. As if that wasn't enough, they also want us then to pay them for taking power out of our hands. Once elected, all the decisions are made by them and the greatest fraud of all is that few if any are in the interests of working class people. No matter whether these politicians are republicans, unionists, nationalists, loyalists, Labour, tory, liberal, Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, Progressive Democrats, greens, socialists or independents, they are all out to further the aims of themselves and their party rather than advance liberty and equality for everyone else. The two cannot go into the one, because as they ascend to power in any capacity they ascend away from the rest of us &endash; a separate caste almost &endash; because power over other people by a minority (which all politicians are), represents the establishment of a political/ruling class who think and feel that they know better than us what is best for us. Some people seem to think this is democracy and that electoral fraud is really all about cheating with votes. It is also easy to give over the reins of society to someone who you think is better trained and experienced to deal with it than us, quite apart from all the pressures of time and responsiblity many people already face. It's possible however, to have accountable and mandated collective decisions. Indeed, all around us there are a myriad number of small groups who make decisions and carry out actions on a collective basis &endash; and they do a far better job of it than Derry City Council, Stormont, Westminster, Leinster House, Brussels or the UN. The formation of federated communes and syndicates from the bottom up where ordinary working class people thrash out ideas, formulate solutions and act upon them is not only a more equitable system which allows for everyone voice's to be heard, it's also logical and it works. Politicians masquerading as representing our interests have had a long time to get it right. They've been well-fed, well-paid and strongly supported and yet their system has continually failed to get anything more than the barest crumbs of capitalist waste product for the mass of working class people. But more and more of us are seeing through it and recognising electoral fraud for what it really is and this is being reflected in the turnouts at elections. As the old saying goes, if voting changed anything they'd make it illegal. In the coming contests vote for yourself and stay at home. In fact, don't even register.
The crowd down at Giro's in Belfast have ambitious plans to celebrate this year's May Day, including film shows, staging a play, and workshops on anarchism. They will also prepare a banner to be carried on the Trades Council-organised parade in the city. Maybe something similar could be attempted in Derry, or failing that a delegation could take part in the Belfast activities. Either way, it's a good opportunity to raise the profile of anarchism here in the north and give a new alternative to the staid and boring format May Day has had now for a number of years. The Syndicalist Solidarity Network are the main force behind the Reclaim May Day events and their website is at - http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/ssn/
In the common perceptions of most people anarchism and organisation are not words that immediately go together. Anarchism has always been presented as synonymous with chaos and disorder, often quite deliberately by many who know rightly that it is actually a highly-developed form of social organisation that rejects authority.
Anarchist groups themselves can be broken down into two main categories of differing organisation. There are firstly, what are known as synthesis-federalist anarchist groups, such as the producers of the London-based 'Freedom' paper, the Anarchist Federation, and these federations are composed of many types of anarchists, be they green anarchists, anarcho-pacifists, or anarcho-syndicalists united by a few basic anarchist principles. Alternatively, the other main type of anarchist group &endash; the platformist anarchists &endash; have a range of stated positions on different subjects and require theoretical and tactical unity from all their members. The Workers Solidarity Movement in Dublin are platformists. There are, of course, also simple groups of like-minded anarchists of one tendency, for example, anarchist-communists or anarcha-feminists.
The anti-incinerator campaign in Derry is now up and running and has the support of numerous groups and individuals all committed to making sure this profit-saving, quick-fix, death-inducing pollution nightmare does not even get off the ground. Needless to say, it deserves the support of everyone concerned about the many dangers an incinerator would pose to the inhabitants and wildlife of this entire region. The only note of caution to be sounded from the Pen would be about reports that an electoral venture on behalf of the campaign is being considered. Our first page highlights the insanity and ineffectual nature of playing the voting game, and choosing a single crusader to send into the oak-panelled madhouse that is the Guildhall is not the way forward. A strong campaign, use of direct action and promotion of sustainable energy is a far better way to proceed than selecting a leader.
The textile industry in the North-West is, as we all know, increasingly on the decline and neither the unions nor the politicians are managing to counter the slide into oblivion. The manufacturing firms who come into the area are all learning that they can exploit the local pool of labour until, as inevitably occurs in the capitalist market, they head into a slump, start losing profits, and pull out of the locality without giving anything more than an apology and a redundancy notice. Workers in these threatened sectors can only begin to redress this balance by ignoring the fatalist advice of highly-paid union officials and the cynical 'support' of political parties who are only after votes and members, and move in to take control of the workplace collectively.
The 15th of March has been designated international day against police brutality and we would encourage all comrades to bear in mind that anarchists oppose all forms of policing whether organised by the state or by political groupings and their supporters. Policing is fundamentally about control of society, containing rebellion and crushing dissent. It is inimical to freedom and the creation of a free society and it thrives on violence and the threat of violence. It brutalises both its victims and those who carry out policing activities. There are the alternatives of communal boycott of offenders and presenting them with the effects of their actions by the community (and not by self-appointed representatives of that community), once their culpability has been addressed by that community. However, all of this would have to take place in the context of a serious discussion about what is considered 'criminal' or 'anti-social' behaviour, e.g. the use of stimulants by people, acts of vandalism against public or government property, or robbery of the middle and upper classes. The debate is long overdue.
Anyone wishing to learn more about anarchism and/or get involved in forming a collective in this city should contact Máirtín on 07759329785 or e-mail m_o_cathain@hotmail.com