Bi lahko praksa zadnjih protestov v Bolgariji služila kot navdih za druge protestnike po svetu?

Balkan, prebudi se!

Prvi val privatizacij v Bolgariji se je odvijal med leti 1992 in 1994 pod stranko ZDS (Združenje demokratičnih sil). Zemlja in industrija so bile privatizirane preko izdaje delnic državnih podjetij vsem državljanom, vendar je to spremljala množična brezposelnost, ko so nekonkurenčna podjetja propadla.

Negativna reakcija na gospodarske reforme je omogočila BSS (Bolgarska socialistična stranka) prevzem oblasti leta 1995. Že v letih 1996-1997 so se začeli množični protesti proti vladi BSS, ki je državo pripeljala da hiperinflacije in splošne krize.

Leta 1997 je vlada BSS padla in na oblast je prišla UDF, ki je prva preživela celoten 4-letni mandat od časov komunizma. S pomočjo IMF (Mednarodni denarni sklad) so bile izvedene gospodarske reforme, vključno z množično privatizacijo podjetij v državni lasti. Država je začela pristopna pogajanja za sprejem v EU (ki se ji je Bolgarija priključila 1. januarja 2007).

UDF je bila obtožena korupcije, nepotizma in nelegane privatizacije. Večina obtožb je letela na prodajo podjetij s t.i. “Videnovega seznama za likvidacijo in izolacijo” po najnižji ceni.

Privatizacija se nadaljuje do dandanes. Leta 2004 je Republika Bolgarija prodala 67% delež svojih treh podjetij za distibucijo elektrike nemškemu podjetju E.ON Energie AG, avstrijskemu EVN AG in češkemu CEZ a.s..

Gospodarske težave in val korupcije so povzročila, da se je 800.000 Bolgarov, vključno s številnimi usposobljenimi strokovnjaki, moralo izseliti. Reforma, ki so jo začeli leta 1997, je privedla do naraščajočih socialnih neenakosti. Politični sistem od leta 1989 praktično ni bil sposoben zvišati življenjski standard državljanov. Ravno nasprotno, glede na izsledke raziskave Pew Global Attitudes Project iz leta 2009, je 76% Bolgarov izjavilo, da so nezadovoljni s sistemom demokracije, 63% je menilo, da prosti trg ni izboljšal življenja in samo 11% Bolgarov se je strinjalo, da so navadni ljudje nekaj pridobili s spremebami iz leta 1989.

Protest v Bolgariji se je začel v Blagoevgradu pozno v januarju, potem ko so porabniki prejeli račun za elektriko, ki je bil dvakrat višji od prejšnjega meseca. Protestniki so simbolično zažgali račune.

Motivacijski video protestov v Bolgariji

10. februarja so se dogajali protesti v številnih krajih – Sofija, Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas, Ruse, Veliko Tarnovo, Šumen, Blagoevgrad, Sandaski, Silistra, Jambol, Goce Delčev, Belene, Montana, Dobrič in Kardžali. Isti dan sta bili zažgani delovni vozili EVN (EVN Bolgarija, del avstrijske EVN AG za elektro-distribucijo) v Plovdivu. Demostranti v Sofiji so se zbrali pred Ministrstvom za gospodarstvo, energetiko in turizem in s snežnimi kepami obmetavali ministra Deljana Dobreva. En protestnik je bil zaboden v Varni 13. februarja.

Do srede februarja je bilo na cestah na deset tisoče ljudi, ki so med drugim zahtevali nacionalizacijo privatnih regionalnih monopolov, odstranitev podjemnih izvajalcev, dodelitev elektrodistibucije in prometa NEK EAD (državnemu podjetju za elektrodistribucijo), razveljavitev vseh pogodb med državo in energetskimi družbami in bolj liberalno uporabo zakonov o uporabi elektike in ogrevanja.

17. februarja je državna demonstracija proti monopolom zbrala 10.000 ljudi v Plovdivu, 8.000 (do 30.000 po drugih ocenah) v Varni, in manjše število v drugih mestih. Skupno je protestirako 150.000 ljudi po celi državi v 35 mestih. Glavne avtoceste in regionalne ceste po državi so bile zaprte; v glavnem mestu je na žandarje, zgradbo Ministrstva za gospodarstvo in Državni zbor letelo kamenje, steklenice in jajca. Ljudje so vzklikali “mafija” in “odstop” in nosili napise kot “To ni potest, to je proces – boj za novo Bolgarijo”, “dol z GERB” in “Janičarji, konec se bliža”. Vladi so dali en teden, da odgovori na njihove zahteve. Spopadi so se zgodili v bližini sedeža ČEZ (Češke distribucijske družbe) v Sofiji.

18. februarja so se demonstracije nadaljevale po celi državi. V Sofiji so prerasle v državljansko nepokorščino in protestniki so poskušali zasesti Državni zbor. Množico so porinili nazaj na Orlov most (začetno točko protesta) in ko niso dobili odgovora na zahteve, da se takoj začnejo pogovori s predstavniki vlade, so se pomaknili proti Državnemu kulturnemu domu. V spopadih s policijo in žandarmerijo sta bila poškodovana dva policista in šest policijskih vozil. Enajst ljudi so aretirali.

19. februarja, ki je obeleževal 140-letnico usmrtitve narodnega heroja Vasila Levskega, so se v Sofiji zgodili nasilni spopadi med protestniki in policijo. Več kot 20 ljudi je bilo ranjenih med policijskom naskokom na protestnike na Orlovem mostu. V Varni je bilo okoli 8.000 protesnikov.

Kronologija protestov v Bolgariji 19.02.2013

20. februarja je Boris Bojkov oznanil, da bo njegova vlada odstopila. O odstopu so naslednji dan zjutraj glasovali v parlamentu. 209 poslancev je bilo za in 5 proti. Borisov je rekel: ” Mandat za vladanje so nam podelili ljudje, danes jim ga vračamo, saj država potrebuje vodstvo, ki ima novo kredibilnost.”

Po Borisovem odstopu so se po celi državi osnovali odbori za državljansko pobudo.

21. februarja je okoli 500 članov združenja za boj proti mafiji izrazilo svoje nazadovoljstvo s sodstvom. Protestniki so pozvali k odvzemu imunitete in odstranitvi sodnikov, ki so sodelovali v goljufijah z zemljišči. Predsednika so pozvali, naj določi vlado strokovnjakov do sklica Velikega državnega zbora za spremembo ustave in celotnega političnega in sodnega sistema.

23. februarja so se koordinatorji demostracij zbrali v Slivenu, da bi predebatirali nadaljnje akcije po odstopu vlade. Številne člane različnih političnih strank, ki so bili prisotni, so odstranili. Zahteve po spremembi političnega sistema, prepoved vladajočih političnih strank, ukinitev DDVja na električno proizvodnjo in državno lastništvo naravnih virov so bile dodane uvodnemu pozivu za nacionalizacijo elektro podjetij. TIM, pollegalna družba, naj bi preprečila organizacijo srečanja odbora za državljansko inciativo v Varni. “Legija Rakovski”, organizacija, ki vključuje vojaške častnike in podpornike bolgarske vojske, se je pridružila protestom.

Na okrogli mizi, ki jo je organizirala Narodna organizacija svobodnih “Svobodna izbira”, je okoli 100 državljanov in NVO zahtevalo spremembo ustave, posebej 12. člena, po katerem združenja državljanov, vključno s sindikati, ne morejo imeti političnih ciljev in izvajati političnih dejavnosti. Zahtevali so tudi državljansko kvoto povsod – na ministrstvih, agencijah, vključno s sodstvom in tožilstvom, zato da lahko državljani izvajajo neke vrste nadzor nad političnim sistemom. Deklaracija, ki so jo sprejeli na okrogli mizi in tista, ki so jo sprejeli v Slivenu, sta skoraj enaki.

Zahtevo protesnikov po ustavnih spremembah so prevzeli nekateri poslanci in stranke. 22. februarja so neodvisni bolgarski poslanci začeli peticijo za sklic Velikega državnega zbora z nalogo, da sestavi novo ustavo. Tako pobudo lahko da polovica od 240 poslancev, predsednik ali državljani na referendumu. Ustava zagotavlja dva meseca za pripravo na volitve, med katerimi bi lahko vsaka politična stranka ali družbena skupina izrazila svoje mnenje glede ustave, potem pa bi jo Veliki državni zbor pripravil v kratkem času.

Konec iluzij! Samoupravljanje. Družbena dejavnost vsak dan!

Bolgarski Veliki državni zbor (Велико народно събрание, Veliko narodno sabranie), je edino državno telo, ki lahko osnuje ustavo, sprejema novo ustavo ali spreminja ureditev države. Do sedaj je bilo v Bolgariji sedem Velikih državnih zborov, zadnji od 10.7.1990 do 12.7.1991, ki je sprejel trenutno ustavo.

Peticijo za referendum za sklic bolgarskega Velikega državnega zbora za sprejem nove ustave je pred tem leta 2010 že organizirala stranka Red, zakon, pravičnost (RZS), kontroverzna marginalna konservativna stranka.

Glede na pregled bolgarskih statističnih inštitucij je bilo zbranih 389.705 avtentičnih podpisov v podporo RZSjevi peticiji za referendum za novo ustavo. Po bolgarski zakonodaji more biti peticija, ki zbere več kot 200.000 podpisov, dana v razpravo v parlamentu, če pa sprejme več kot 500.000 podpisov je zavezujoča.

Stranka RZS je 26. februarja predlagala v parlamentu referendum na to temo.

24. februarja se je predsednik Plevenliev srečal s protestnki, ki so bili zbrani pred Ministrstvom za gospodarstvo, energetiko in turizem, pred uradnim začetkom demonstracij in sprejel njihovo odprto pismo z zahtevami, ki ga je podpisalo 35 odborov za državljansko pobudo. Protestniki so predsedniku določili rok 7 dni, po izteku katerega bodo zahtevali tudi odstop predsednika, če do takrat ne bo nobenih rezultatov.

Celotno odprto pismo z zahtevami protesnikov si lahko preberete v angleščini tukaj: http://sofiaglobe.com/2013/02/25/bulgarian-political-crisis-protesters-demands-in-english/

Če na kratko povzamemo, protestniki v pismu zahtevajo:
– da se državni zbor ne razpusti (torej nobenih predčasnih volitev)
– ustanovitev strokovnega sveta z obvezno kvoto za predstavnike civilne družbe za izvedbo zahtev državljanov
– programsko vlado
– prehod od proporcionalnega na večinski volilni sistem
– možnost odpoklica poslancev
– pravno in kazensko odgovornost za poslance in ministre
– 50% kvoto predstavnikov civilne družbe v vseh državnih regulativnih organih
– zaustavitev tožb proti državljanov zaradi neplačil elektike ali vode do ugotovitve legitimnosti le-teh
– prenos elektrodistibucije v državne roke
– preklic škodljivih pogodb, raziskovanje odgovornosti
– preklic vseh koncesij za vodo in prevzem teh funkcij s strani države

Tisoči Bolgarov, ki živijo v tujini, so podprli proteste v domovini s shodi in demonstracijami v številnih mestih po Evropi. Demonstracija je bila organizirana pred ambasado na Dunaju. Udeleženci so podprli odprto pismo 35ih odborov državljancke iniciative. Mnogi Bolgari so protestirali po ulicah Londona v znak solidarnosti s protestniki v Sofiji. Bolgarske skupnosti v Valencii, Madridu, Atenah in Münchnu so se tudi zbrale v podporo rojakov protesnikov v Bolgariji. Številni bolgarski študenti so se zbrali pred občinsko zgradbo v Manchestru in dejali, da je treba politični model v Bolgariji spremeniti.

Ker so vse stranke zavrnile oblikovanje vlade v sklopu tekočega, 41. državnega zbora, ki bi se moral zaključiti julija, je predsednik Rosen Plevenliev določil datum za predčasne volitve – 12. maj 2013. Dejal je, da “morajo biti ključne spremembe odločene v novem parlamentu.” Spremeniti vse, zato da se ne spremeni nič? Bodo protestniki in poslanci “pozabili” na svoje zahteve po spremembi ustave? Stranke so s svojo zavrnitvijo naredile ravno to, česar protestniki niso hoteli – dosegle so predčasne volitve in onemogočile razpis referenduma o Velikem državnem zboru, ki bi spremenil določene člene ustave. Cene elektrike naj bi se znižale za 8% (potem ko so se v enem letu povišale tudi za 100%). . Nek protestnik je dejal, da njegova položnica znaša 310 levov (150 evrov). Povprečna plača v Bolgariji znaša 400 evrov. Druga protestnica, upokojenka, je dejala, da ima pokojnino 80 evrov, 90 evrov pa znaša njen račun za elektriko.

V Bolgariji so se v desetih dneh zažgali trije ljudje. V Velikem Tarnovu se je moški zažgal in umrl v bolnišnici. 36-letnik iz Varne je zaradi samosežiga v komi. Nek drugi moški je bil hospitaliziran z opeklinami po 71% površine telesa. V Sofiji je moški začel gladovno stavkati in bil pridržan s strani policije.

Čeprav so bolgarski protesti dosegli odstop vlade, simbolično znižanje cen elektrike in mogoče še kaj, so problemi protestnikov po celem svetu podobni. Politika, strankarska (predstavniška) demokracija vedno najde način, da vodo spelje na svoj mlin, da se izogne bistvenim spremembam, da se ne zavzame za “navadne” ljudi. Tej odgovornosti se vztrajno izmika, dela samo simbolične korake, se pretvarja, da se spreminja z zamenjavo obrazov, kupuje čas. Toda kmalu bo tudi njen čas potekel. Če se ne zmore prilagoditi novim razmeram, je to neizogibno. Kaj k temu pripomore ustanavljanje novih strank, ki (čeprav mogoče z najboljšimi nameni) igrajo isto igro, ki so (ali sčasoma postanejo) distancirane od civilne družbe, od “navadnih” ljudi, od povprečnega državljana? Nič. (Skrajni) čas je za nove načine, ne za nove obraze.

Kot pravijo bolgarski protestniki: “Mi nismo protest, mi smo proces.” V vsakem primeru se lahko protestniki (oziroma trenutno relativno “nemočna” civilna družba) drug od drugega učimo in drug drugega dopolnjujemo, da dosežemo tisto, kar želimo – dostojno in pravično življenje VSEH državljanov in nedržavljanov VSEH držav.

PrisotnostŠteje-15o-OccupyLjubljana

Could the practice of the latest Bulgarian protests be an inspiration to other protesters across the world?

Balkans wake up!

The first wave of privatization in Bulgaria took place between 1992 and 1994 under UDF (Union of Democratic Forces). Land and industry was privatized through the issue of shares in government enterprises to all citizens, but accompanied by massive unemployment as uncompetitive industries failed.

The negative reaction against economic reform allowed BSP (Bulgarian Socialist Party) to take office in 1995. In late 1996 and early 1997, mass protests took place against BPS’s government which had led the country to hyperinflation and a complete crisis.

In 1997 the BSP government collapsed and the UDF came to power, the first government to serve its full 4-year term since communism. Economic reforms were carried out under the guidance of IMF, including privatization of state-owned enterprises on a large scale. The country started accession talks with the European Union (which Bulgaria joined on January 1, 2007). UDF was accused of corruption, nepotism and illegal privatizations. The majority of the charges were aimed at selling at minimum value the enterprises from the so called “Videnov list for liquidation and isolation”.

The privatization has continued up to now. In 2004 The Republic of Bulgaria sold a 67% stake in its three electricity distribution companies to E.ON Energie AG of Germany, EVN AG of Austria and CEZ a.s. of Czech Republic.

Economic difficulties and a tide of corruption have led over 800,000 Bulgarians, including many qualified professionals, to emigrate. The reform package introduced in 1997 led to rising social inequality. The political and economic system after 1989 virtually failed to improve the living standard. On the contrary, according to a 2009 Pew Global Attitudes Project survey, 76% of Bulgarians said they were dissatisfied with the system of democracy, 63% thought that free markets did not make people better off and only 11% of Bulgarians agreed that ordinary people had benefited from the changes in 1989.

The protest in Bulgaria began in Blagoevgrad in late January after consumers received electricity bills that were two times higher than those for the previous month. Protesters symbolically burned their bills.

Motivation video of protests in Bulgaria

On 10 February, demonstration took place in Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas, Ruse, Veliko Tarnovo, Shumen, Blagoevgrad, Sandanski, Silistra, Yambol, Gotse Delchev, Belene, Montana, Dobrich and Kardzhali. The same day, two EVN (EVN Bulgaria, part of EVN AG – Austrian power company) utility vehicles were set ablaze in Plovdiv. Demonstrators in Sofia gathered in front of the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism and threw snowballs at minister Delyan Dobrev. One protester was stabbed in Varna on 13 February 2013.

By mid-February tens of thousands of people were on the streets, demanding nationalisation of the private regional monopolies, removal of subcontractors, assigning traffic and distribution to NEK EAD (the state-owned power distribution company), declassifying all contracts between the state and energy companies and more liberal combined heat and power usage laws, among others.

On 17 February, a national demonstration against monopolies gathered 10,000 people in Plovdiv, 8,000 (up to 30,000 by other estimates) in Varna and a smaller number in other cities. In total, 150,000 people protested all over the country in 35 cities and towns. Key motorways and transport routes in the country were blocked; rocks, bottles and eggs were thrown against Gendarmerie units, the Ministry of Economy and the National Assembly in the capital. People chanted “mafia” and “resignation”, and carried slogans such as “This is not a protest, it’s a process – the struggle for a new Bulgaria”, “Down with GERB” and “Janissaries, the end is coming”. They gave the government one more week to respond to their demands. Clashes occurred near CEZ’ headquarters (Czech power company) in Sofia.

On 18 February mass demonstrations continued all over the country. In Sofia, they escalated into civil resistance and protesters attempted to attack the National Assembly. The crowds were pushed back to Eagles’ Bridge (the starting point of the protest), and after their demands to begin immediate talks with government representatives remained unanswered, they moved towards the National Palace of Culture. Clashes with police and Gendarmerie units left two police officers injured and six patrol vehicles were damaged. Eleven people were arrested.

The same day Boyko Borisov dismissed finance minister Simeon Dyankov, unpopular among the population because of his abrupt manners and strong insistence on austerity, but this did not reduce public tensions.

On 19 February, which marked 140 years of national hero Vasil Levski’s execution, violent clashes between protesters and police occurred in Sofia. Two dozen people, including Gendarmerie officers, were injured during a police charge on protesters at Eagles’ Bridge. President Rosen Plevneliev was booed at during his speech at the Levski Monument. The number of demonstrators in Varna was around 8,000.

Protests in Bulgaria 19.02.2013 Sofia – chronology

On 20 February, Boyko Borisov announced that his cabinet would resign. The resignation was voted in Parliament next morning, with 209 MPs voting “for” and 5 “against”. Borisov said: “Our power was handed to us by the people, today we are handing it back to them” as the state “needs leadership that has new credibility.”

After Borisov’s resignation initiative committees by citizens formed around the country.

On 21 february around 500 members of the Anti-mafia civic associacion voiced their discontent with the judiciary. Posters called for stripping magistrates of immunity and of ousting magistrates involved in fraud schemes with real estate. The protesters called on the President to appoint an expert government until the convocation of a Grand National Assembly to amend the Constitution and the entire political and judicial systems.

On 23 February coordinators of demonstrations gathered in Sliven to discuss further actions after the resignation of the government. Several members of different political parties who were present at the gathering were expelled. Demands for a change of the political system, a ban on all political parties in power, abolishment of value added tax on electricity production and state ownership of natural resources and strategic sectors were added to the original calls for nationalisation of the power companies. TIM, a semi-legal company, was reported to have organised a crackdown on an initiative committee gathering in Varna. The “Rakovski Legion”, an organisation of military officers and supporters of the Bulgarian Army, have joined the protests.

At a roundtable discussion, which was organized by the National Association of the Free “Free Choice” about 100 citizens and NGOs demanded constitutional change, especially of article 12, according to which citizens’ associations, including trade unions, cannot have political goals and carry out political activity. They also demanded a civil quota everywhere – ministries, agencies, including the judiciary and prosecutor’s office so that citizens can exercise some kind of control over the political system. The declaration adopted at the roundtable discussion and the one adopted at another roundtable discussion in the southern city of Sliven were almost one and the same.

The protesters’ demand for a constitutional change was adopted by some MPs and parties. On 22 February Bulgarian independent MPs launched a petition calling for the convocation of a Grand Assembly tasked with drafting a new Constitution. Such a decision can be initiated by half of the total of 240 MPs, the President or by a referendum. The Constitution provides for a two-month long procedure before elections could be held, during which each political party and social group could state its ideas on the Constitution, after which the Grand Assembly would prepare it within a short term.

End the illusions! Self-government. Civil activity every day!

The far-right party Ataka also expressed support for the convocation of the Grand Assembly. Ataka also wanted a revision of the privatization deals, cancellation of the contracts with the power distribution companies and bringing all people who were to blame for the privatization to justice.

Bulgaria’s Grand National Assembly (Велико народно събрание, Veliko narodno sabranie) is the only body entitled to draft and adopt new constitutions and to change the organization of the state. A total of seven Grand National Assemblies have been in operation in Bulgaria, the last one from 10 July 1990 to 12 July 1991 adopting the current constitution.

A petition for a referendum on the summing of Bulgaria’s Grand National Assembly for the adoption a new constitution had been organized in 2010 by the “Order, Law, Justice” (RZS), a controversial marginal Bulgarian conservative party.

According to the inspection of the Bulgarian census authorities, there were a total of 389 705 authentic signatures backing RZS’s petition for a referendum for a new constitution. Under Bulgarian legislation, any petition backed by more than 200,000 people has to be considered by the Parliament, and any one backed by more than 500,000 signatures is binding.

The party tabled to the Bulgarian Parliament a motion for the holding of a referendum on this topic on 26 February.

On 24 February president Plevenliev met the protesters gathered in front of the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism ahead of the official start of the before the announced protest and received an open letter, signed by 35 initiative committees, with their demands. The protesters set a deadline of one week after which the resignation of the president would also be demanded if there were no results.

The demands of the protesters can be viewed here:
http://sofiaglobe.com/2013/02/25/bulgarian-political-crisis-protesters-demands-in-english/

Thousands of Bulgarians living abroad supported the national protest with demonstrations and rallies held in a number of cities across Europe.

A demonstration was held in front of the Bulgarian embassy in Vienna. The participants pledged support to the open letter of the 35 initiative committees. Many Bulgarians marched the streets in London showing their solidarity with the protesters in Sofia. The Bulgarian communities in Valencia, Madrid, Manchester, Athens and Munich also rallied in support of their protesting compatriots across Bulgaria. A number of Bulgarian students gathered in front of the city hall in Manchester. They said that the political model in Bulgaria had to be changed.

The left-wing Coalition for Bulgaria Parliamentary Group declined the exploratory mandate to form a government in the framework of the 41st National Assembly, as they had stated earlier. Under the constitutional procedure President Rosen Plevneliev handed the mandate to the second largest parliamentary group on Wednesday, after GERB declined to form a cabinet on Monday. On Friday the mandate will go the third largest group in Parliament – the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF). The MRF have also said that they will not accept a mandate to form a government under the incumbent Parliament. If all three attempts fail, the President must appoint a caretaker cabinet, dissolve the National Assembly and, by the same decree, schedule new parliamentary elections within two months.

In less than 10 days there have been three self-immolations in Bulgaria. In Veliko Tarnovo a man set himself on fire and later died in a hospital. A 36-year-old from Varna is in a coma due to severe burns and another man has been hospitalized with burns over 71% of his body. A man who began a hunger strike in Sofia was detained by police.

Management of corrupt politicians and the alienation of people from making decisions affecting directly their economic and social prosperity inevitably leads to similar acts of civil unrest. Of course, the more important question is what happens after that. Whether it leads to phase transition into a whole new state of the system, or just as a discharge valve of social stress and the replacement of some people in a return to a power system which creates the same problems.

Tuesday, 26 February 2013 the first open meeting among citizens and protesters from all the country was held in Sofia. The next meeting will be organized on Friday, 1 March. One of the protesters said, “For now we are dissscusing the short term demands, for example minimising the price of electricity and majority vote for parliament elections. There are no debates about a new system we want to live in. But I hope we start soon.”

As the protesters stated in one of their slogans, “We are not a protest, but a process.”

PresenceCounts-15o-OccupyLjubljana

#NoTroika #2M #Portugal: Screw the Troika! Power to the People! #qslt2M #Queselixeatroika

Screw the Troika! Power to the People!

In September, October and November we filled the streets of Portugal showing clearly that the people are against the austerity and destructive policies imposed by the government and its allies, the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission and the European Central Bank – the troika. Once we defeated amendments to Sole Social Taxe, new measures soon appeared and even more serious. The Budget for 2013 and the new proposals of the IMF, prepared with the government, unerringly fire against labor rights, against public services, against the public school system and the National Health Service, against culture, against all that is ours by and hit right in the heart of each and every one of us. Everywhere, growing unemployment and precariousness, emigration, wild privatizations, selling the balance of public enterprises, while reducing labor costs.

We can not take more theft and aggression.

We stand indignant with the theft of the retirement pensions, with the threat of firings and lay offs, with each job destroyed. We stand indignant with the closure of the grocery stores, the restaurants, the shops and cafes of our neighborhoods. We stand indignant with the town government that disappears, with the health center that closes, with the closing of maternitiy hospitals, with schools increasingly more poor and degraded. We stand indignant with the appearance of new taxes disguised as fees, tolls, etc. We stand indignant with those who managed poorly what is ours and then decide to privatize what belongs to all- water, oceans, beaches, territory – everything that we built over the years – the electricity network, airports, hospitals, post offices. We stand indignant with the daily degradation of our quality of life. We stand indignant with increases of bread and milk, water, electricity and gas, public transport. We are revolted to know of another friend who is forced to leave Portugal, of another family who lost their home, of another hungry child. We rebel against increased discrimination and racism. We are revolted to know that another citizen gave up on life.

All this is the troika: an unelected government that decides on our present conditioning our future. The troika condemns dreams to death, the future to fear, life to survival. Its aims are clear: to increase our debt, impoverishing the majority and enriching a minority, to annihilate the economy, to reduce wages and rights, to destroy the social state and Portuguese sovereignty. The success of its objectives depends on our misery. If the destruction of the welfare state ensures the troika’s debt financing and therefore their profits, with the destruction of the economy ensures a continuously dependent and indebted country.

On February 25, the leaders of the troika, in cahoots with the government, will begin a new evaluation period of our country. For this they need our cooperation and that is what we are not going to give them. Because we do not believe in the false argument that if we “just bear it” markets will be generous. We refuse to collaborate with the troika, the IMF, with a government that serves only the interests of those who came to pay less for labor, with banks and bankers, with the dictatorship of the financial markets. And resist. We resist because this is the only way to preserve dignity and life. We resist because we know that there are alternatives and because we know what we have as inevitable is in fact unworkable and therefore unacceptable. We resist because we believe in building a more just society.

To this wave that destroys everything we oppose the tidal wave of our indignation and on March 2nd we will fill the streets again. We demand the resignation of the government and that the people to be called to decide their lives.

United like never before, we shall say enough.

To all citizens, with and without a political party, with and without employment, and without hope, we urge you to join us. All political and military organizations, civic movements, trade unions, political parties, institutions, informal groups, we urge you to join us. From north to south, the islands, abroad, take to the streets!

SCREW THE TROIKA! POWER TO THE PEOPLE!

PresenceCounts-15o-OccupyLjubljana

Call for Action: Blockupy Frankfurt! Resistance in the Heart of the European Crisis Regime May 31 and June 1, 2013

Again we * call for European days of protest in Frankfurt on the Main against the crisis regime of the European Union. On May 31 and June 1, 2013, we want to carry the resistance against the policies of impoverishment of government and Troika- EZB, EU-Comission and IMF-into one of the centers of the European crisis regime: to the domicile of the European Central Bank (ECB) and of many German banks and corporations- the profiteers of these policies.

The programs of impoverishment and privatizations, which already decades ago have been imposed on the countries of the Global South, now have arrived in Europe. The German Agenda 2010 was just an archetype for what now in even more dramatic extent is enforced especially in Southern Europe. This pauperization will aggravate further – also here- if we do not defend ourseleves: the ongoing cutback of social and democratic rights. Thereby the capacity to pay for the expectations on yeald return of large fortunes are to be sustained, the „economic competitiveness“ of Germany and (Central)Europe in the capitalist world market is to be enhanced through the price-reduction and precarization of waged labor.

Together with people in Southern Europe we say: „Don’t owe, don‘t pay!“ and resist the restructuring of capitalism in Europe on the backs of empoyees and unemployed, retirees, migrants and youth. We defy the complicity with the German crisis policies, which not ony have catastrophic consequences for people in Southern Europe, but also in this country even further deepen the social divide. Therefore we also fight against the deterioration of living and working conditions, already implemented here and imminent to an even larger extent. Its effects are also gender-specifically unequally distributed and thus aggravate gender injustice. Initiatives against rising rents, municipal impoverishment and harrasment of unemployed persons, against deportations, isolation camps and mandatory residence are part of us.

Consistently it is tried to divide us, e.g. by saying that „enough has been paid for the Greek“. No Greek person has been saved, in fact the yeald return of banks and corporations has been assured. We defy the intent to incite employees, unemployed and precarious in Germany and Greece, in Italy, Portugal, France or other countries against each other with such nationalist slogans. Especially we fight against all (neo)fascist tendencies, marches and events. We also oppose any form of reactionary or racist crisis interpreation- no matter if from „below or above“, no matter if anti-Semitic, antiMuslim or antiziganistic.

We are part of the international movements who for years have been resisting the attacks on our life and our future, fight for social rights and alternatives, develop new forms of organization and solidarian economy. We oppose the authoritarian imposition of packages of austerity and reforms, which are in blatant contraditction to democratic principles, and stand up for the democratization of all aspects of life. We defy the assertion of economic interests through war and exports of weapons. We defy the capitalist economic model which is based on global exploitation, necessarily produces poverty and social injustice and systematically destroys nature.

We carry our protest, our civil disobedience and resistance to the domicile of the profiteers of the European crisis regime to Frankfurt on the Main. We will not let ourselves be intimidated by police and judicial repression which globally affects movements on many places including ourselves, but react with border-crossing solidarity.

Let´s show our solidarity against the politics of austerity dictates! Let us make clear: We will not permit that the crsis is continuously loaded on the backs of wage earners, unemployed, retirees, precarious, students, refugees and many others, neither here nor anywhere else. The Frankfurt days of protest thereby join last year´s global protests, the protests in spring in Brussels and other places and the movements for an Alter Summit in Athens.

We will demonstrate against the policies of the federal governemnt and the really grand 4-party-coalition, against the policies of ECB, EU-Comission and IMF. We will block the ECB. We will occupy public squares in the economic and financial metropolis Frankfurt – we are Blockupy!

*Blockupy is a federal coalition in which numerous groups, organizations and individual activists collaborate. We are active in different social and political collectives or currents. So far take part: Attac-activists, unions, antiracist networks, parties like Die Linke, Occupy-activists, unemployed initiatives, student groups, North-South, peace and environmental initiatives, the leftyouth [‘solid], the green youth, as well as radical left associations like Interventionist Left and Ums-Ganze-Alliance German

Against the criminalization, aestheticization and nationalization of Uprising!

What has been most evident during the ferment of the uprising, defined by multiplicity, heterogeneity, and non-hierarchical structure, are the attempts of instrumentalizing, taking control of and directing the uprising, which are all interrelated. On the one hand, there have been several patronising appeals for “nonviolent protests”, for “peaceful and dignified demonstrations” and for a “cultivated uprising”. On the other hand, we are witnessing calls for an early unification of the uprisers’ demands, in some cases even for a formation of a party and an incursion into the parliament. Besides this the uprising is all too often reduced to the question of Slovenia and of the Slovenian nation and thus its emancipatory potential is numbed. These tendencies come from some intellectuals, cultural workers, artists, representatives of the civil society and the media, who consider themselves supporters of the uprising, yet they typically want to define it, direct it and channel its course. With such supporters, who have completely internalized the prohibition against any kind of real, radical, political resistance, we essentially need no opponents. There are at least three things that need to be clarified at this point.

Firstly, with each call for non-violence we should be aware that non-violence does not exist. Violence is the integral part of society’s antagonism. The state is founded on violence – systemic, structural, objective violence – which it needs to unify this variety, multiplicity, heterogeneity of voices, identities, relations into a homogenic, citizenly, national – constructed and thus imaginary! – community. Systemic, structural, objective violence is thus an attribute of the social conditions of global capitalism and manifests itself in the automatic violent creation of the excluded and dispensable individuals, from the homeless, the immigrants, the homosexuals, the minorities, the women, the physically and mentally disabled, the minors, the representatives of subcultures, the poor, the unemployed, the structurally unemployable or precarious workers. The dominant system supports the creation, preservation and reproduction of a global dominion, in which people are valued only as cheap labour force – i.e. commodities. It does that through a structural production and preservation of inequality, exploitation and control and is therefore maintained by violence.

Subjective violence, usually manifested in some kind of “outburst”, “excess”, “deviation” from the “normal state”, is merely a consequence of the state violence (systemic, structural, objective violence), which invisibly maintains this “normal” state (through ideological and repressive apparatuses). Actually, only subjective violence makes the state violence visible, exposes it in all its brutality. In both cases we are dealing with violence though, yet state violence is completely normalized and legalized, while any form of subjective violence or any more radical gesture of response is criminalized and brutally sanctioned.

This is exactly what we are witnessing during the process of the uprising where the uprisers (some even under age), who have been deprived of their future and dignity by the exploitative policy of “belt tightening”, end up in prison, are the subjected of criminal charges, tapping, are being followed and intimidated, while the criminals, the tycoons and speculators, as well as professional politicians suspected of criminal acts of corruption, nepotism and abuse of office are not merely at large, but are also in charge of high positions with which they buy their social reputation. This is why we have to understand that subjective and state violence are two variants of violence which differ in quality, the former aiming at a (radical) change of the existing state, and the latter at preserving the status quo. Dreams of a revolution without violence are dreams of a “revolution without revolution” (Robespierre). On the other hand, the role of state violence is exactly the opposite: violence, whose aim is to prevent real change – something spectacular should happen all the time so that nothing happens really (Žižek). Non-violence, which is supposed to be the empty ideal of the “democratic” civilization, therefore does not exist. Let us not forget this as we arise against excessive violence in its multiple forms. This means that each smashed window of the parliament, each thrown granite cube and each attempt of moving the police fence should make us wonder first and foremost about the reasons for these actions, instead of moralizing about vandalism. By criminalizing such actions a priori, the attention shifts away dangerously from the real problems: the aggressive disintegration of the common good, the total devastation of the welfare state and the insistent trampling on the values of solidarity. The fact that people in the streets are angry, enraged and furious is therefore not the cause, but exactly the consequence of completely misunderstanding the process of governance where all the forms of real political participation have failed completely.

Secondly, with each new call for a unification of the uprisers into a political party, it must be repeated time and time again that the most emphasized message of the uprisers is: “Nobody represents us!” This does not only represent a demand for the resignation of the whole political elite – both “right” and “left”! -, but it also means a radical problematization of the question of representation and a demand for new, truly inclusive forms of political participation. And it is not surprising that this is what neither the “right” nor the “left” want to hear. The appeals for the formation of a political party represent a banal attempt to use the uprising as an instrument in the direction of undermining the “right” and reducing the uprising potential to the promotion of the interests of the “left”, which is disrespectful to the uprising and its truly political potential. So long as there is an (apparent) battle between parliamentary “left” and “right”, the political elite feels strong and safe, so it opposes united and unconditionally the emancipatory potential of the uprising with its call for radical structural political changes beyond the “left” and the “right”. The uprising poses the question about the crisis of the dominant understanding of the concept of democracy as parliamentary, representative, delegational politics. “Democraticness” as the opposition of “totalitarianism” has become some kind of universal marker of a successful functioning of the state. The triumph of democracy is presented as the triumph of the system of (state, trans-state and parastate) institutions which materialize the sovereignty of the people, and as a practice of the political that ensures the political form of justice and the economic form of production of wealth. Yet this democracy is not conceived as the rule of the demos, that is the people, or exactly as an absence of any kind of governance. On the contrary, this democracy is understood as a form of the state, as a condition of the society and appears under several names: as liberal, parliamentary, representative democracy. The model of democracy understood in such terms exposes the fundamental problem. In such a constellation, political plurality and multiplicity are perceived as many “left-wing” and “right-wing” political parties which are supposed to “represent” the various interests of the people, political participation is reduced to the elections as the “feast of democracy” (that enacts the rule of counting), political equality is supposed to be guaranteed by the jurisprudence, while the combination of all this is supposed to be run by economic interests and competitivity. What we are really dealing with is the phenomenon of capitalo-parliamentarism or the “all-too-objectivist suture of market economy and election ritual” (Badiou), where there is no essential difference between “left-wing” and “right-wing” political parties, which are as such the delegates of the capital and not of the people or of basic equality. In this parliamentary fetishism that substitutes democracy, plural opinions are homogenized, any kind of multiplicity is unified and classified in a pragmatic and utilitarian manner, while the well-being of the common is subjected to the lucrative and technocratic interests of the political elites. What disappears in such a situation of matching without remainders between the forms of state and the state of social relations is precisely the demos; the phenomenon of the people as the basis of democracy, as the principle of ruling in the name of the people, only without them, is dissolved. This actually means the disappearance of politics itself, where people are reduced to voters or in other words buyers of a party’s programme, and it means further distancing from the emancipatory process of the uprising in which people have begun to take their own wishes and needs seriously and destroyed the chains of alienation which is the very basis of capitalist (re)production. By stressing the principles of self-organization, non-representation and non-hierarchicalness and exposing their bodies in the streets and squares, the uprisers remind us that the basis of each politics must be the well-being of the people and not the interests of capital. So the demand of the uprisers is not a political party “of their own” but a radical change in the understanding of political participation. The attempt to aestheticize the truly political demands of the uprisers represents a banal attempt to usurp its emancipatory potential and reduce this potential to the antipolitical interests of partitocracy, where politics is intended merely as a means towards achieving certain pragmatic goals and is preserved through the constant creation and reproduction of inequality.

Thirdly, the all-Slovenian uprising has never been the Slovenian uprising. Those who interpret the uprising in an exclusively national context, as a desire to preserve the Slovenian national identity, as a question of patriotism or statehood, have missed its essence due to their conservatism. The demands of the uprising are universal political demands: radical equality, good living and obedient governance. Such demands go far beyond the national – and any particular, identitary, communitary – frame, since they apply to everybody or rather whoever, they touch upon virtually anybody. The multiple and various singular demands of the uprising are crossed by the very universal, emancipatory demand for equality, which envelopes everybody or rather whoever and does not refer to any (individual or group) more in particular than to anybody else, or rather contains the ability to be referred to everybody without exception, without remainder. The uprisers know that Slovenia is not an isolated island and that under the conditions of global capitalism – privatization of the commons, people reduced to commodities i.e. workforce, disintegration of everything that doesn’t make profit – uprisings have been happening all over Europe and all over the world from Tunisia, Egypt and Lybia… through Greece, Spain, Portugal, Italy… to the USA, Mexico and South America… All these uprisings (including the all-Slovene one) go beyond the national; they are distinguished by exceptionally evident transnationality, transversality and solidarity.

This is a global struggle between those who are violently excluded from the political space and those who have violently usurped this space. If anything, then this is an uprising against capitalism as a way of forming a society and against the political elites which enable and perform it. The attempts at nationalizing the uprising demonstrated through (apparently harmless) cultural, artistic, civil society events and addresses that wish to consolidate Slovenian culture, history and tradition, represent dangerous tendencies which may lead into identity exclusion and populism. The reduction of its universality and its political character to the context of nation, culture and statehood – which is always based on the constitution of a closed identity, formed by the exclusion of the Other (non-citizen, foreigner, migrant) –, is a favour to those who wish to use the uprising for their needs, to control it and to limit it. The increasing influence of fascist, neo-nazi and nationalist (patriotic) parties, movements and initiatives in Europe and across the world, which strengthen their position precisely through populist proclamations of the importance of one specific identity – nation, language, culture – distinctly shows this. The normalization of the perception of fascist, neo-nazi and nationalist (patriotic) tendencies has become frightening during the last years. The uprising represents a struggle against such tendencies, yet it does not reduce this struggle to humanitarian problems of intolerance, discrimination, disrespect of the state of law, but structures it as a fight against the inexistence of the true politics, that is equality. So the all-Slovenian uprising is not about the struggle of a nation and of a culture, it’s a class struggle, the anti-capitalist and anti-fascist struggle of each or any nation and each or any culture. The emancipatory struggle does not bring together nations and cultures in their identity; the repressed, the exploited, the suffering part of every nation and every culture come together in the shared struggle (Žižek).

Let us stop pretending. People are in the streets because they are angry, robbed and indignant, not because they are Slovene or because they want to become professional politicians or vote for a new political party or because they want to cram around a centralized stage in freezing cold to listen to the messages that come from it in the form of one-way monologue.

Besides, they understand very well that their well-being is not being threatened by foreigners, the others or those different, but by the ideology of global capitalism represented by the political elite, the “left” as well as the “right”. They participate in the uprisings because they have discovered their power, the power of political thinking and acting. Since they have understood that in its essence politics can not be represented – it can only be realized, checked and practiced, since true politics as a living idea of radical equality is in its essence non-representative –, they demand a radical transformation of the understanding of politics. Since they perceive politics as the building of the power of those who are no more entitled to govern than to be governed; their belief in the power of everybody leads them in the active creation of new, inclusive, beyond-parliamentary forms of political participation, which are beyond the concept of governance and division of power. The uprising has revealed the scandalous side of politics demonstrated in the absence of any kind of governance, as a creation of an an arche situation. And the scandalous side of democracy, where people have taken seriously their role (the people’s rule). This is what all those who only wish to rule fear the most. Both, professional politicians (“left” and “right”), as well as professional revolutionaries or representatives of the civil society who understand the protests just as an ascent to power. The attempts to depoliticize the uprising and deny it of its emancipatory potential, which is demonstrated in the constant discovery of the possibility of the impossible, in the constant moving of the boundaries of the possible or not yet possible, will always be seen as problematic. The declaration of the possibility of emancipatory politics and radical equality thus remains the main objective and purpose of the uprising, especially in view of the fact that, historically speaking, all rights were attained and not granted.

Lana Zdravković

PresenceCounts-15o-OccupyLjubljana

PresenceCounts-15o-OccupyLjubljana Solidarity with Spain

#23F 2013 Spanish Revolution

THIS IS THEIR MANIFESTO

“For Freedom, for Democracy and for our Social and Environmental rights.

The pressure of the financial markets, the illegitimate debt created by the speculative financial system and the die-hard policies aimed at the social majority, along with corruption and the lack of legitimacy of our institutions have together caused the biggest democratic crisis of the last decades.

The increasing unemployment, attacks on public services, on labor and social rights, the environment and so on have gathered together all colors of our “citizen tides”: green, red, white, orange, yellow, black, blue, purple.
A fair and viable society will only be possible if citizens join to protect their social rights, above financial markets and to ensure that honest politics and social justice above the interests of the financial elites prevails.

The reform of Article 135 of the Spanish Constitution, without asking the citizenry, makes payment of the debt at the expense of cutbacks in all public services while also giving away the wealth of the state. This reform was a financial coup d´état, as the Government is handcuffed giving priority to the payment of the debt over rather the State’s own responsibilities towards its citizens.

In 1981, after the coup d´état, citizens protested en mass for the defense of Freedom and Democracy. Now, 32 years after that, we call to all citizens, waves, organizations and all groups to join us in Madrid the next 23rd of February for the defense of a real democracy, for the defense of freedom and for the defense of social rights.

We say NO to the financial coup d´état.
We don´t owe, we won´t pay.
There are alternatives, there are solutions:
– For Social and Environmental Justice
– For transparency and a particapative democracy
– For the defense of universal public services
– Against the illegitimate debt. For a popular audit of the debt.”

AND THEY HAVE ACTIONS PLANNED ALL OVER THE COUNTRY:

here is a map of ALL PLANNED ACTIONS

http://mareaciudadana.blogspot.com.es/p/mumble.html

Full media platform dashboard for #SpanishRevolution #15M #23F Action Events @OtC: https://occupythecomms.cc/g/mareaciudadana …#23FYoVoy

Promo Video:

PresenceCounts-15o-OccupyLjubljana

Proti kriminalizaciji, estetizaciji in nacionalizaciji vstaje!

Zahteva vstajnikov ni nova politična stranka, ampak radikalno predrugačenje razumevanja politične participacije.

V procesu vstajniškega vrenja, ki ga zaznamujejo mnogoterost, heterogenost in nehierarhičnost, so še posebej opazni poskusi instrumentalizacije, prilaščanja in upravljanja vstaje, ki so med sabo notranje prepleteni. Po eni strani se vrstijo pokroviteljski apeli po »nenasilnih protestih«, po »mirnih in dostojanstvenih demonstracijah« in po »kulturni vstaji«. Na drugi strani smo priča pozivom k čimprejšnjem poenotenju vstajniških zahtev, v nekaterih primerih pa celo k oblikovanju stranke in naskoku na parlament. Ob tem se vstaja prepogosto poskuša zreducirati na vprašanje Slovenije in slovenskega naroda in s tem omrtvičiti njen emancipatorni potencial. Te tendence prihajajo s strani nekaterih intelektualcev, kulturnikov, umetnikov, predstavnikov civilne družbe in medijev, ki se sicer imajo za podpornike vstaje, a je za njih značilno, da bi radi določali, usmerjali, kanalizirali njen potek. Ob takšnih podpornikih, ki so popolnoma ponotranjili prepoved kakršnega koli resničnega, radikalnega, političnega upora, nasprotnikov v bistvu niti ne potrebujemo. Ob tem je treba pojasniti najmanj troje.

Prvič, ob vsakem pozivanju k nenasilju se je treba zavedati, da nenasilje ne obstaja. Nasilje je sestavni del antagonizma družbe. Država je utemeljena na nasilju – sistemskem, strukturnem, objektivnem nasilju -, ki ga potrebuje, da bi raznolikost, mnogoterost, heterogenost glasov, identitet, odnosov poenotila v eno homogeno, državljansko, nacionalno – zamišljeno, torej imaginarno! – skupnost. Sistemsko, strukturno, objektivno nasilje je tako lastno družbenim pogojem globalnega kapitalizma in se kaže v avtomatični nasilni kreaciji izključenih in pogrešljivih posameznikov, od brezdomcev, tujcev, istospolnih, manjšin, fizično in mentalno hendikepiranih, žensk, mladoletnih, predstavnikov subkultur, revnih, do brezposelnih, strukturno nezaposljivih oziroma prekernih delavcev. Dominantni sistem, ki s strukturnim produciranjem in vzdrževanjem neenakosti, izkoriščanja in nadzora, kjer imajo ljudje vrednost le še kot poceni delovna sila – to je kot blago -, podpira ustvarjanje, ohranjanje in reprodukcijo globalnega gospostva, se torej vzdržuje z nasiljem.

Subjektivno nasilje, ki se nam običajno predstavlja kot nek »izbruh«, »eksces«, »odklon« od tega »normalnega stanja«, pa je le posledica in ne vzrok državnega (sistemskega, strukturnega, objektivnega) nasilja, ki nevidno (s pomočjo ideoloških in represivnih aparatov) vzdržuje to »normalno« stanje. V resnici šele subjektivno nasilje naredi državno nasilje za vidno, ga razkrije v vsej njegovi brutalnosti. V obeh primerih torej gre za nasilje, le da je državno nasilje popolnoma normalizirano in legalizirano, medtem ko je vsako subjektivno nasilje oziroma vsaka radikalnejša gesta, ki nanj odgovarja, kriminalizirana in brutalno sankcionirana.

Natanko to se kaže tudi v procesu vstaje, kjer vstajniki (nekateri tudi mladoletni), ki jim je izkoriščevalska politika »zategovanja pasov« ukradla prihodnost in dostojanstvo, pristajajo v zaporu, so subjekti kazenskih ovadb, prisluškovanj, zasledovanj in zastraševanj, medtem ko so kriminalci, tajkuni in špekulanti ter politiki s sumom kaznivih dejanj korupcije, nepotizma in zlorabe položaja ne le na prostosti, ampak tudi na visokih položajih, s katerimi si kupujejo družbeni ugled. Zato je treba razumeti, da gre pri državnem in subjektivnem nasilju za kvalitativno različni različici nasilja, od katerih ima ena za cilj (radikalno) spremembo obstoječega stanja, druga pa ravno ohranjanje statusa quo. Sanje o revoluciji brez nasilja so natanko sanje o »revoluciji brez revolucije« (Robespierre). Po drugi strani pa je vloga državnega nasilja ravno nasprotna: gre za nasilje, katerega namen je preprečiti resnično spremembo – ves čas se mora dogajati nekaj spektakularnega, in sicer natanko zato, da se nič ne bi zares zgodilo (Žižek). Nenasilje, ki naj bi bilo nek prazni ideal »demokratične« civilizacije, tako ne obstaja. Tega ne smemo pozabiti, ko se dvigamo proti ekscesu nasilja v njegovih različnih oblikah. Pomeni, da se je ob vsaki razbiti šipi na oknu parlamenta, vsaki vrženi granitni kocki in vsakem poskusu premikanja policijske ograje treba spraševati predvsem o vzrokih za takšna dejanja, ne pa moralizirati o vandalizmu. Z nepremišljeno apriorno kriminalizacijo tovrstnih početij se pozornost nevarno preusmerja z resničnih problemov: agresivne razgradnje skupnega dobra, popolnega opustošenja socialne države in vztrajnega teptanja vrednot solidarnosti. To da so ljudje na ulicah jezni, ogorčeni in besni, torej ni vzrok, ampak posledica popolnoma zgrešenega razumevanja procesa vladanja, kjer so popolnoma odpovedale vse oblike resnične politične participacije.

Drugič, ob vsakem pozivu k poenotenju vstajnikov v politično stranko, je treba vedno na novo opozoriti, da je najbolj izpostavljeno sporočilo vstajnikov: »Nihče nas ne predstavlja!«. Kar ne pomeni le zahteve po odstopu celotne politične elite – tako »desne« kot »leve«! -, ampak predvsem radikalno problematiziranje vprašanja predstavništva in zahtevo po novih, resnično vključujočih oblikah politične participacije. In nič kaj presenetljivo ni, da tega ne samo »desni«, ampak tudi »levi« nočejo slišati. Pozivi k oblikovanju politične stranke predstavljajo poskus banalne intrumentalizacije vstaje v smeri rušenja »desnice« in redukcije vstajniškega potenciala na promoviranje interesov »levice«, ki je nespoštljiv do vstaje in njenega resnično političnega potenciala. Dokler gre za (navidezni) boj med parlamentarno »levico« in »desnico«, se politična elita počuti močno in varno, zato se združeno in brezpogojno upira emancipatornem potencialu vstaje, ki kliče po radikalnih strukturnih političnih spremembah onkraj »levice« in »desnice«. Vstaja odpira vprašanje krize dominantnega razumevanja pojma demokracije kot parlamentarne, predstavniške, zastopniške politike. »Demokratičnost« kot opozicija »totalitarizmu« je postala nek univerzalni označevalec uspešnega funkcioniranja države. Zmagoslavje demokracije se predstavlja kot zmagoslavje sistema (državnih, naddržavnih in paradržavnih) institucij, ki materializirajo suverenost ljudstva, in kot praksa političnega, ki zagotavlja politično formo pravičnosti in ekonomsko formo produkcije bogastva. Vendar ta demokracija ni razumljena kot vladavina demosa, to je ljudstva, oziroma kot odsotnost vsake vladavine. Ta demokracija je, prav nasprotno, razumljena kot forma države, kot stanje družbe in se pojavlja pod različnimi imeni: kot liberalna, parlamentarna, predstavniška demokracija. Model tako razumljene demokracije razkriva temeljni problem. Politična pluralnost in mnogoterost sta v takšni konstelaciji dojeti kot kopica »levih« in »desnih« političnih strank, ki naj bi v parlamentu »zastopale« različne interese ljudstva, politična participacija je omejena na volitve kot »praznik demokracije« (ki uzakoni vladavino preštevanja), politično enakost naj bi garantiralo pravo, vse skupaj pa naj bi poganjali ekonomski interesi in konkurenčnost. V resnici pa gre tukaj za fenomen kapitalo-parlamentarizma oziroma »preveč objektivističnega sparjenja tržne ekonomije in volilnega rituala« (Badiou), kjer se »leve« in »desne« politične stranke med sabo v bistvu ne razlikujejo, saj so kot takšne zastopnice kapitala in ne ljudi oziroma temeljne enakosti. V tem parlamentarnem fetišizmu, ki nadomešča demokracijo, so pluralna mnenja homogenizirana, vsakovrstna mnogoterost je pragmatično in utilitarno unificirana in klasificirana, dobrobit skupnega pa je podvržena dobičkonosnim in tehnokratskim interesom političnih elit. V takšni situaciji ujemanja brez ostanka med formami države in stanjem družbenih razmerij pride ravno do izginotja demosa, do ukinitve pojava ljudstva kot osnove demokracije, kot nekega principa vladavine v imenu ljudstva, a brez njega. To pa pravzaprav pomeni izginotje politike kot take, kjer so ljudje zreducirani na volivce oziroma kupce strankarskega programa, in pomeni oddaljenost od emancipatoričnega procesa vstaje, v katerem so ljudje začeli jemati svoje želje in potrebe zares in uničevati spone odtujenosti, na kateri ravno temelji kapitalistična (re)produkcija. S poudarjanjem principov samoorganizacije, nepredstavništva in nehierarhičnosti ter z izpostavljanjem svojih teles na ulicah in trgih vstajniki opominjajo, da mora biti dobrobit ljudi, in ne interesi kapitala, osnova vsake politike. Zahteva vstajnikov tako ni nova politična stranka, ki bo »naša«, ampak radikalno predrugačenje razumevanja politične participacije. Poskus estetizacije vstajniških resnično političnih zahtev predstavlja banalni poskus uzurpacije njenega emancipatoričnega potenciala in redukcije le tega na partitokratske, torej antipolitične interese, kjer je politika razumljena zgolj kot sredstvo za doseganje določenih pragmatičnih ciljev in se vzdržuje s konstantnim ustvarjanjem in reproduciranjem neenakosti.

Tretjič, vseslovenska vstaja ni in nikoli ni bila slovenska vstaja. Tisti, ki vstajo interpretirajo v izključno nacionalnem kontekstu, kot željo po ohranjanju nacionalne identitete, kot vprašanje domoljubja ali kot izraz državotvornosti, so v svoji konservativnosti zgrešili njeno bistvo. Vstajniške zahteve so univerzalne politične zahteve: radikalna enakost, dobro življenje in ubogljivo vladanje. Takšne zahteve gredo daleč onkraj nacionalnega – in vsakršnega partikularnega, identitarnega, komunitarnega – okvirja, saj se nanašajo na vsakogar oziroma na kogar koli, zadevajo virtualno vse. Mnogotere in raznolike singularne zahteve vstaje preči ravno univerzalna, emancipatorna zahteva po enakosti, ki zajema vse oziroma kogar koli in se na nobenega (posameznika, skupino) ne nanaša nič več kot na kogar koli drugega oziroma vsebuje zmožnost, da se nanaša na vse brez izjeme, brez ostanka. Vstajnikom je jasno, da Slovenija ni osamljen otok in da se v pogojih globalnega kapitalizma vstaje iz enakih razlogov – privatizacija skupnega, redukcija ljudi na blago oz. delovno silo, razgradnja vsega kar ne prinaša dobiček – dogajajo po vsej Evropi in svetu od Tunizije, Egipta in Libije … preko Grčije, Španije, Portugalske, Italije … do ZDA, Mehike in Južne Amerike … Vse te vstaje (vključujoč vseslovensko) so onkraj-nacionalne, odlikuje jih izrazita transnacionalnost, transverzalnost in solidarnost.

Gre za globalni boj med tistimi, ki so nasilno izključeni iz prostora politike, in tistimi, ki so si ta prostor nasilno uzurpirali. Če že kaj, je ta vstaja antikapitalistična, usmerjena proti kapitalizmu kot načinu oblikovanja družbe in političnim elitam, ki ga omogočajo in izvajajo. Poskusi nacionalizacije vstaje, ki se kažejo tudi skozi (navidez neškodljive) kulturne, umetniške, civilnodružbene dogodke in nagovore, ki želijo utrjevati slovensko kulturo, zgodovino in tradicijo, predstavljajo nevarne tendence, ki lahko vodijo v identitetno izključevanje in populizem. Redukcija univerzalnosti in političnosti vstaje na nacionalni, kulturni ali državotvorni kontekst – ki vedno temelji na konstituciji zaprte identitete, ki se oblikuje z izključevanjem Drugega (nedržavljana, tujca, migranta) -, je usluga tistim, ki bi vstajo radi zlorabili, kontrolirali in omejevali. Porast vpliva fašističnih, neonacističnih in nacionalističnih (domoljubnih) strank, gibanj in iniciativ v Evropi in po svetu, ki utrjujejo svoj položaj ravno na populističnem razglašanju pomembnosti ene določene identitete – nacije, jezika, kulture – to jasno pokaže. Normalizacija dojemanja fašističnih, neonacističnih in nacionalističnih (domoljubnih) tendenc je v zadnjih letih postala srhljiva. Vstaja predstavlja boj proti takšnim tendencam, vendar, ta boj ne reducira na humanitarne probleme netolerance, diskriminacije, nespoštovanja pravne države in človekovih pravic, ampak ga strukturira kot boj proti neobstoju resnične politike, to je enakosti. V vseslovenski vstaji tako ne gre za boj nekega naroda in neke kulture, ampak za razredni, antikapitalistični in antifašistični boj vsakega oziroma katerega koli naroda in vsake oziroma katere koli kulture. V emancipatornem boju ne stopijo skupaj narodi in kulture v svoji identiteti; v skupnem boju stopijo skupaj potlačeni, izkoriščani, trpeči deli vsakega naroda in vsake kulture (Žižek).

Nehajmo se sprenevedati. Ljudje so na ulicah ker so jezni, oropani in ogorčeni, ne pa zato ker so Slovenci, ker bi radi postali profesionalni politiki ali volili novo politično stranko ali zato ker bi se radi na mrazu gnetli okoli centraliziranega odra, iz katerega v obliki enosmernega monologa prihajajo različna sporočila.

Ob tem zelo dobro razumejo, da njihovo blaginjo ne ogrožajo tujci, drugi in drugačni, ampak ideologija globalnega kapitalizma, ki jo zastopa politična elita, tako »leva« kot »desna«. Na vstajah so, ker so odkrili svojo moč, moč političnega mišljenja in delovanja. Ker so razumeli, da politika v svojem bistvu ne more biti reprezentirana – lahko se le udejanja, preverja in prakticira, resnična politika kot živa ideja radikalne enakosti je po svojem bistvu nepredstavniška -, zahtevajo radikalno predrugačenje razumevanja politike. Ker politiko razumejo kot grajenje moči tistih, ki niso nič bolj upravičeni da vladajo, kot da so vladani, in kot vero v moč vsakogar oziroma kogar koli, aktivno snujejo nove, vključujoče, onkraj-parlamentarne oblike politične participacije, ki so onkraj konceptov vladanja in delitve oblasti. Vstaja je odprla tisto škandalozno plat politike, ki se kaže kot odsotnost vsake vladavine, kot ustvarjanje an arche situacije. In škandalozno plat demokracije, kjer so ljudje svojo vlogo (vladavina ljudstva) vzeli zares. In tega se najbolj bojijo vsi tisti ki bi hoteli le vladati. Tako profesionalni politiki (»levi« in »desni«) kot profesionalni revolucionarji ali predstavniki civilne družbe, ki proteste razumejo kot naskok na oblast. Vendar je glas vstaje mnogoter, heterogen in vedno močnejši. Poskusi njene depolitizacije in odrekanje njenega emancipatornega potenciala, ki se kaže kot nenehno odkrivanje možnosti nemožnega, kot večno premikanje mej možnega oziroma še ne možnega bodo vedno razumljeni kot problematični. Razglašanje možnosti emancipacijske politike in radikalne enakosti tako ostaja poglavitni cilj in smoter vstaje še posebej ob dejstvu, da so zgodovinsko gledano vse pravice bile priborjene in ne dodeljene.

Lana Zdravković

PrisotnostSteje-15o-OccupyLjubljana, 18. februar 2013

Vzpostavljanje odprtih prostorov in samoorganizirane krajevne in četrtne skupnosti

O pomenu in vrstah grass-roots praks znotraj globalnih gibanj od Arabske pomladi do Indignados pa do Occupy smo večkrat govorili v kontaktnih oddajah na livestream kanalu, prav tako pa o tem govorili v svojih zapisih na socialnih omrežjih, kot realni alternativi vse bolj prodirajoči neoliberalni paradigmi, ki dobiva vse bolj vidne obrise tudi v Sloveniji.

Po vzoru španskih Indignados in Occupy so se mariborski aktivisti odločili, da bodo pričeli za vzpostavljanje alternativnih življenjskih svetov in uveljavljanje grass-roots praks, samoorganizirati krajevne in četrtne skupnosti v Mariboru.

Spletna stran: http://www.imz-maribor.org/

Brošura: http://www.scribd.com/doc/126702249/Brosura-Samoorganizirane-Krajevne-in-Cetrtne-Skupnosti

Že nekaj časa se podobni „zbori” oziroma „skupščine” odvijajo v dveh slovenskih mestih in zagotavljajo tkanje medsebojnih vezi z namenom artikuliranja realnih problemov in modelov reševanja v teh okoljih.

Na osnovi modela delovanja in artikulacije pogleda na organizacijo življenja v lokalnih skupnostih, bomo lahko prišli tudi do državnega nivoja, kjer bomo okrepili in vzpostavili civilno družbo, ki bo postala učinkovita politična oblika nadzora oblasti in artikulacije družbenih zahtev, ki jih oblast ne bo mogla več ignorirati oziroma zanemarjati.

Z uvajanjem teh ustvarjalnih in dolgoročnih korakov razvoja, bomo ljudje spreminjali naše ulice, četrti, krajevne skupnosti, mesta, državo in navsezadnje tudi svet.

PrisotnostŠteje-15o-OccupyLjubljana

Voda in komunalna ureditev sta človekova pravica! Voda je javna dobrina in ne blago!

Pobuda prebivalcev Evropske unije: Voda in komunalna ureditev sta človekova pravica! Voda je javna dobrina in ne blago!

Predmet: Evropsko komisijo pozivamo, da predlaga zakonodajo, ki bo izvrševala človekovo pravico do vode in komunalne ureditve, kot jo priznavajo Združeni narodi, ter bo spodbujala zagotavljanje vode in komunalne ureditve kot osnovne javne storitve za vse.

Glavni cilj: Zakonodaja EU naj od vlad zahteva, da zagotovijo in priskrbijo vsem državljanom zadostno količino čiste pitne vode in komunalne storitve. Zahtevamo: 1. naj bodo institucije EU in države članice obvezane zagotoviti, da vsi prebivalci uživajo pravico do vode in komunalnih storitev; 2. naj oskrba z vodo in upravljanje vodnih virov ne bosta predmet “pravil o notranjem trgu” in naj bodo storitve za rabo vode izključene iz liberalizacije; 3. naj EU poveča svoja prizadevanja za doseganje splošnega dostopa do vode in komunalnih storitev.

Uradna stran, kjer se nahaja evropska pobuda: http://ec.europa.eu/citizens-initiative/public/initiatives/ongoing/details/2012/000003/sl

WDR, nemška javna TV je decembra 2012 predvajala 8 minutni posnetek, kot del programa „Monitor”, v katerem razkriva pritisk EU Komisije skozi Troiko, da bi dosegli privatizacijo vode v Grčiji in na Portugalskem.

***** POMAGAJTE ŠIRITI SPOROČILO ******
Nujno je potrebno zbrati več podpisov iz različnih držav!!!!

Potrebno je narediti to iniciativo čimbolj znano v večih državah, vsaj 7 držav mora zbrati dovolj podpisov, da se izpolni zakonsko predpisana kvota, saj v nasprotnem primeru EU Komisija ne bo obravnavala pobude. Do sedaj je bilo zbranih dovolj podpisov v 3 državah EU; Nemčija, Avstrija, Belgija, zato je potrebno zbrati dovolj podpisov še najmanj v 4 državah. Hvala vsem, ki boste pri tem pomagali. To je pobuda, ki bi morala imeti svoje mesto v osrednjih televizijskih terminih tudi v Sloveniji in po celi Evropi!!!

Tukaj lahko vidite po posameznih državah EU, koliko podpisov je že zbranih in koliko jih še manjka, da bi bi bila kvota izpolnjena.

Da bi v Sloveniji izpolnili potrebno kvoto podpisov, je potrebno, da iniciativo podpiše še 1.731 ljudi.

Iniciativo podpišite tukaj: https://signature.right2water.eu/oct-web-public/index.do?initiativeLang=sl

PrisotnostŠteje-150-OccupyLjubljana

Trg Puerta del Sol nasilno izseljen, Rayoj še ni odstopil

Izselitev protestnikov na trgu Purta del Sol v Madridu danes zjutraj

11. februar 2012

Po velikih protestih v soboto, so ljudje v Murcii zavzeli trg iz solidarnosti s protestniki na trgu Puerta del Sol v Madridu. Danes zjutraj, ko je večji delež španskega prebivalstva soglasen v zahtevi, da ta vlada odstopi in da se sprejme zakonodaja, ki preprečuje nasilne izselitve, je policija  oba tabora nasilno izselila.

Nasilna izselitev je bila izvedena po hladni in deževni noči. Protestniki, ki so preživeli osmo noč na trgu, so preko Twitterja zaprosili za dodatne odeje, platna in nekaj tople hrane. Trajalo je kratek čas, preden so se ljudje odzvali klicu. “Začenjam z zbiranjem nekaj skodelic,”je nekdo sporočil preko Tweeterja, “na trgu bom s posodo juhe čez 15 minut.”

Od jutranje prisilne izselitve, policija ni dovolila niti tega, da bi protestniki  odložili nahrbtnike na tla. Z znaki in napisi so na trgu  protestirali ves dan. Pozivali so k zavzetju trga na tak ali drugačen način. Nocoj bodo protesti na trgu Puerta del Sol in drugod po vsej Španiji.

Cilj je odstop vlade. Ker  vlada, ki ne upošteva zahtev državljanov, ali ki se odzove na proteste z nasiljem, nima  legitimnosti. Še posebej pa, če je vpletena v korupcijske afere, ki prežema celotno vladajoči strankarski aparat.

Obstaja še trg, ki so ga zavzeli protestniki, in ki bo verjetno nasilno izseljen vsak čas. Moncloa

Nadaljevanje upora na trgu Puerta del Sol v Madridu

PrisotnostŠteje-15o-OccupyLjubljana