Militant workers' meeting in Alicante, Spain

“To work together for the development of the class struggle”

Our comrades in the Alicante Encounter and Solidarity Network (Red de Encuentro y Solidaridad) and in the L'Escletxa collective organised a meeting to discuss and support the workers' struggle on 11th and 12th February. They examined the experience of the struggles in France and Barcelona. The declared aim of this meeting was: “To work together for the development of the class struggle”.

Below we are publishing the Appeal from this meeting because it reflects the efforts of our class to create places of revolutionary debate and is a living proof of the need for the exploited to build strong bonds of solidarity in the struggle.

 

The Encounter and Solidarity Network Appeal

JOIN US AND LET'S SHARE our experiences of unity, self-organisation and solidarity.

LET'S SHARE OUR EXPERIENCES AND CONTINUE THE FIGHT

Not long ago, we began one of our leaflets with: “We want to meet workers (people) who support the same concerns as us.” We are continuing the search because because we know we are not alone in this. We know that a movement exists (still currently a weak and dispersed one) and that it is growing all around the world and has appeared at other moments in history with great force. We can describe it in various ways: proletarian internationalism, workers' autonomy or the self-organised movement of workers. These movements have expressed and still do express the best that humankind can offer:

·        Unity: coming together in a fraternal manner to agree what we have in common and being able to act on this, understanding that we have a common interest, one that transcends artificial barriers of race, nation, profession...

·      Taking our self-organisation in hand, by ourselves, without depending on intermediaries, creating real ASSEMBLIES which are the best expression of our struggle for a better life.

·       Solidarity and cooperation, based on a clear understanding that without these, we would just be solitary beings incapable of defending ourselves.

In the present state of things, it is not easy to see ourselves in the collective sense, when the bosses constantly set out to isolate us from each other so they can rain down attacks on us with the crisis, unemployment, evictions, unpaid wages, in circumstances where we are left with little more to do than complain that “we can't make ends meet at the end of the month”, or that “the future holds nothing for our children”...

It's very easy to understand when you are actually in such situations, when they affect us in flesh and bone. Have you never stood pondering over your bank account, wondering how long you can survive on the last few Euros in your pocket until you can get a new loan or a deferral of the repayments? Did you ever feel your heart sink when you heard that a mother or a grandfather have realised that they are heading into financial difficulties because they had to divide their pension money between the family's unemployment problems and being in debt up to the hilt...?

Once again we are calling you, we call on ourselves, everyone, workers, unemployed, evicted, students, who are fully aware of the bleak future ahead, the retired with their pensions further eroded, housewives who are forced to manage without wages,... on the PROLETARIANS, on all those for whom this system offers nothing but anxiety, hidden or obvious poverty, the fear of not knowing what will happen from one day to the next, of being powerless spectators, with our own survival resting in the hands of others.

Because, despite everything, LIFE does go on, and the struggle goes on too,   for everyone; starting from immediate needs which all of us share, uniting our efforts, striving to build a movement that can change everything. The experiences scattered around the world are small scale, some virtually unknown but they are OUR experiences and we know that sharing them together will make us stronger.

Red de Encuentro y Solidaridad de Trabajadores (Alicante)[email protected]

Ateneo Libertario “La Escletxa”

escletxa.org

Sharing their experiences in this meeting will be comrades from:

-        The neighbourhood committees from the Barcelona Assembly. It's an “assemblyist” experiment that hit the headlines in the media because of the occupation of the former credit bank and the incidents provoked by the police during the evictions (this was on the day of the recent general strike). However, this assembly has carried out a profound work of self-organisation and struggle that didn’t succeed in gaining media attention because they didn't consider this newsworthy enough.

-        The workers' assemblies in Toulouse that reflect the determination of workers in France today to wage a struggle that they organise themselves. These assemblies are trying to stand up to attacks on workers' living conditions, and to the unions' demobilisation and manipulation.

-        the Rupture group, in Madrid. They are comrades who have been active for some time in supporting self-organised workers' struggles and contribute towards this by stimulating debate in their publication.

-        The Valencia Workers' Assembly which presents itself as a space for meetings, debates and intervention by the working class and for the working class.

-         The Alicante Workers' Encounter and Solidarity Network. This initiative arises from the Platform of the Health Workers in Social Services, evolving from the struggle of its general assemblies, and is based on the certainty that only the unity and extension of the struggles can open up a perspective for us.

What brings us all together is the effort of self-organisation and unity, the principle of solidarity between us and the practice of the general, inter-professional, and open assemblies.

We hope and wish that other people, groups or assemblies, who are able to receive this appeal by whatever means, will join us and participate in our meeting.

From this invitation, you should consider your presence to be essential.

We are waiting for you.

Alicante Encounter and Solidarity Network (Red de Encuentro y Solidaridad) 12/2/11