A CALL AGAINST ARMS

SYSTEMIC DRIVERS OF THE WAR(S)
AND AN AUTONOMOUS, ANTICAPITALIST ANTI-WAR POSITION

 1. PRELIMINARY NOTES

 

  1. The Houthis attacks on cargo ships, the USA/UK strikes against Yemen, the USA/EU naval fleet deployed in the Red Sea, the ISIS-K Crocus City Hall attack[1], the Iran/Israel missile attacks[2] constitute new expressions of the emerging global reality: competing groups/blocks of capitalists have chosen the route of war, in order to establish themselves in a better position within the hierarchies of a globalised economy that is in stagnation, and is also dealing with the exhaustion of natural resources. This new multipolar world in formation became obvious after the Russian invasion in Ukraine, but the signs had been there since the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation (February 2014), the proxy war in Syria (September 2015 – …) and the new scramble for Africa (wars in Sudan, C.A.R., Mali).
  2. As the world economy is steadily sinking deeper and deeper into crisis, war is becoming capitalism’s final solution to clear the way for growth. So, if we understand the atrocities committed by the IDF in Gaza as a mere continuation of the 75 years of occupation, if we understand Hamas’s attacks as a mere continuation of the Palestinian Resistance, we will fail to realise their connection to the current downward spiral of global capitalism towards war.
  3. In the first weeks of the military campaign in Gaza, people protested massively on the streets demanding a ceasefire, especially when the brutality of IDF attacks became known. Empathy is important, spontaneous opposition to war and militarist horror is crucial. But if people fail to connect this death politics to the conditions of capitalism as a global system (and only speak about “colonialist and murderous Israel”), they cannot understand the necessity to fight against capitalist wars for their own interest. The romanticized representation of Palestinian struggle and the mainstream dehumanisation of Palestinians are two sides of the same coin. And as long as reactions are based on sentimentalism, they can lead to a mass banalisation of death: As people are over-exposed to violence and the ongoing massacre, they get used to it without ever realising causes and function of war. Neither do they see the necessity to fight war, not wars.
  4. Whoever wins or loses here or there, war is necessary for capitalism as a global system. Besides the benefits for the arms industry, it unblocks profits and allows the creation of surplus value through destruction, it disciplines societies in the capitalist centres, and manages surplus populations that cannot be profitably exploited by capital.
  5. War is the final solution for the contradictions of capitalism as a global system. But a new society will not emerge from this bundle of contradictions. Only the anti-capitalist social movement can achieve that. As long as we remain passive or take positions in favour of one or the other belligerent side, we are digging our graves with our own hands.
  6. So, it is more urgent than ever to form some clear positions and work collectively for the creation of a global social movement against the capitalist machine of death and despair.

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Treći broj Antipolitike na našem jeziku je dostupan!

Trenutno ga možete naći na ovim mestima:

u Beogradu: Beopolis, Oktobar i Okretnica;
u Zagrebu: Što čitaš?;
u Novom Sadu: Crna kuća 13;
u Rijeci: Podrum;
u Zadru: Nigdjezemska.

Tema broja je nacionalizam i sadrži tekstove koje su pisali anarhisti i anarhistkinje iz Zagreba, Soluna, Beograda, Atine, Ljubljane, Pariza i Los Anđelesa. Neke od pokrivenih tema su: kritika anti-imperijalizma, kritike nacionalističkih politika grupa poput Mlade Bosne i Komunističke partije Jugoslavije; anti-nacionalističke ideje Roberta Musila, i druge.
Časopis će uskoro biti dostupan i u Beču, Splitu…

100 years of Interpol: Why there’s no reason to celebrate

The general assembly of the “International Criminal Police Organization” (Interpol) with 195 member states is supposed to take place in Vienna at the end of November/beginning of December on the occasion of its 100th Anniversary. The event is rumoured to happen from the 28th of November until the 3rd of December. The guest list includes hundreds of police chiefs and heads of governments. The goal of the conference is the improvement of the efficiency in fighting international crime and terrorism, as well as universal global quality standards.

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100 godina Interpola: Zašto nemamo razloga za slavlje

Generalna skupština “Međunarodne kriminalističko-policijske organizacije” (Interpol) će sa svojih 195 država članica zasjesti u Beču krajem Novembra, početkom Decembra ove godine prilikom stogodišnjice svojeg osnivanja. Nagađa se da će zasjedanje trajati od 28. Novembra do 3. Decembra. Na listi se uzvanika nalaze stotine šefova policije i predstavnika vlada. Cilj konferencije jest rad na poboljšanju efikasnosti borbe protiv međunarodnog kriminala i terorizma, te poboljšanju općih globalnih standarda kvalitete.

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Antipolitika #3 in the English language is out!

 

The new issue of the Balkan anarchist journal Antipoltika in English is out, and available at different distros across Europe. Soon it will be available in North America as well.

The topic of issue #3 is nationalism and it contains texts written by anarchists from Zagreb, Thessaloniki, Belgrade, Athens, Ljubljana, Paris and Los Angeles. Some of the topics covered are: critiques of anti-imperialism, critiques of nationalist policies of groups such as Young Bosnia (famous because of an incident in 1914) and the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, the anti-nationalist ideas of Robert Musil, and others.

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Izjava o S-u, drugu u životnoj opasnosti nakon demonstracije u Sainte-Solineu

U subotu 25. marta u Sainte Solineu, našega je druga S-a tijekom demontracije protiv izgradnje vodenih rezervoara („mega-bazeni”) u blizini Sainte-Solinea, u glavu pogodila eksplozivna granata. Iako je njegovo stanje zahtjevalo brzu intervenciju, policija je prvo namjerno spriječila dolazak službe hitne pomoći, a zatim njegov prijevoz do mjesta gdje bi mu bila pružena odgovarajuću skrb. S se trenutno nalazi na neurokirurškoj intenzivnoj njezi, bez izvjesnih ishoda njegove borbe za život.

Sudeći po brojnim izvještajima, val nasilja koji je pogodio demonstrante ostavio je na stotine ozlijeđenih, uključujući nekoliko teških ugroza tjelesnog integriteta. 30 000 demonstranata okupilo se kako bi spriječilo izgradnju Sainte-Soline „mega-bazena”, projekta otimanja vode od strane manjine za dobrobit kapitalističkoga modela od kojega nije preostalo ništa osim smrti. Tome najbolje svjedoći nasilje oružanih snaga demokratske države.

U tijeku akcija koje je pokret poduzeo protiv mirovinske reforme, policija je sakačenjima i pokušajima ubojstava nastojala spriječiti pobune s ciljem obrane buržoazije i njenoga sistema. Ipak, ništa neće ugušiti našu odlučnost da stanemo na kraj njihovoj vlasti. Hajdemo u utorak 28. marta i nadolazeće dane ojačati štrajkove i blokade, preuzeti ulice – za S-a i sve ranjene i uhapšene iz našega pokreta.

Živjela revolucija!

S-ovi drugovi

PS: Ako imate bilo kakve informacije o okolnostima S-ovog ranjavanja, molimo vas javite nam se na: s.informations@proton.me

Željeli bismo da ova izjava bude proširena i prevedena na što više moguće jezika.

9 points – First reactions to the war in Ukraine

 

Clandestina, Thessaloniki

“If you cannot have both reason and strength, always choose reason, and leave strength to the enemy (…) we can always draw strength from our reason”

1. There are many ways to speak about capitalist wars: interstate military conflicts, means for capitalist expansion, looting and possession through dispossession, methods for violent destruction of productive forces and devaluation of existing wealth, means to obtain social discipline and conformity, etc. On the other hand, it is counterproductive to speak about the capitalist war machine by using the term “imperialism”.

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9 točaka – Prva reakcija na rat u Ukrajini

Clandestina, Solun

“Ako ne možete imati i razuma i snage, uvijek odaberite razum, a snagu ostavite neprijatelju (…) snagu uvijek možemo vući iz svojega razuma”

1. O kapitalističkim ratovima možemo govoriti na mnogo načina: kao o međudržavnim vojnim sukobima, načinu kapitalističke ekspanzije, pljačke i namicanja vlasništva kroz razvlašćivanje, kao o metodi nasilnoga uništavanja proizvodnih snaga i devaluacije postojećega bogatstva, načinu ostvarivanja društvene discipline i pristajanja, itd. S druge strane, korištenje pojma „imperijalizam” je kontraproduktivan način da govorimo o kapitalističkoj ratnoj mašineriji.

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WR: Mysteries of the Organism – Beyond the Liberation of Desire

Today we publish this text written by our friends from CrimethInc. on the occasion of the birthday of Dušan Makavejev (1932-2019). With this we finally published on this website the last article from the second issue of Antipolitika, while we continue our work on the third issue (dedicated to the topic of nationalism)

The article is simultaneously published on the CrimethInc. website where you can also read the new, just written, introduction for it.

CrimethInc.

Anarchism, crushed throughout most of the world by the middle of the 20th century, sprang back to life in a variety of different settings. In the US, it reappeared among activists like the Yippies; in Britain, it reemerged in the punk counterculture; in Yugoslavia, where an ersatz form of “self-management” in the workplace was the official program of the communist party, it appeared in a rebel filmmaking movement, the Black Wave. As historians of anarchism, we concern ourselves not only with conferences and riots but also with cinema.

Of all the works of the Black Wave, Dušan Makavejev’s WR: Mysteries of the Organism stands out as an exemplary anarchist film. Rather than advertising anarchism as one more product in the supermarket of ideology, it demonstrates a method that undermines all ideologies, all received wisdom. It still challenges us today.

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WR: Misterije organizma – S one strane oslobođenja želje

Ovaj tekst koji su napisali naši prijatelji iz CrimethInc.-a objavljujemo danas povodom rođendana Dušana Makaveja (1932-2019). Time smo konačno na ovom sajtu objavili i poslednji tekst iz drugog broja Antipolitike, dok nastavljamo rad na trećem broju (koji je posvećen temi nacionalizma).

Tekst će se danas objaviti i na sajtu CrimethInca, gde ćete moći pročitati i novi, upravo napisani, uvod za tekst.

CrimethInc.

Anarhizam, koji je do sredine 20. veka bio slomljen u najvećem delu sveta, vratio se u život u najrazličitijim sredinama. U SAD-u se ponovo pojavio među aktivistima poput jipija; u Britaniji je ponovo iskrsnuo u pankerskoj potkulturi; u Jugoslaviji, gde je tobožnje „samoupravljanje“ na radnom mestu bilo zvanični program komunističke partije, pojavio se u buntovnom filmskom pokretu, Crnom talasu. Kao povesničari anarhizma, mi se ne bavimo samo konferencijama i neredima, već i filmom.

Od svih ostvarenja Crnog talasa, WR: Misterije organizma Dušana Makavejeva se ističu kao egzemplarni anarhistički film. Umesto da reklamira anarhizam poput još jednog proizvoda u supermarketu ideologija, on demonstrira metod koji potkopava sve ideologije, sve usvojene mudrosti. On nas i danas tera na razmišljanje.

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POEM UNDERGROUND THE TRIBUNE OF YOUTH NOVI SAD

Slavko Bogdanovic was sentenced to eight months in jail by the Novi Sad District Court (Case no. 77/72, 12 May 1972) for violating Article 292a of the Criminal Code and article 116. of the Law on press and other forms of information. Both the District Court and the Supreme Court of AP Vojvodina had found that Slavko Bogdanovic, in his text Poem Underground Tribune of Youth Novi Sad, published in the Student, had presented false news and false claims regarding many events and issues.

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PESMA UNDERGROUND TRIBINA MLADIH NOVI SAD

Slavko Bogdanović je osudjen na kaznu od osam meseci zatvora po presudi Okružnog suda u Novom Sadu br. K. 77/72 zbog kršenja člana 292. Krivičnog zakonika i člana 116. Zakona o Štampi i drugim vidovima informisanja. Presuda je izrečena 12. maja 1972.god. U obrazloženju presude se tumači da je Slavko Bogdanović tekstom ’PESMA UNDERGROUND TRIBINA MLADIH NOVI SAD’, objavljenog u časopisu Student, izneo ’… lažne vesti, a isto tako i tvrdnje u pogledu raznih pitanja i dogadjaja’. Paradoks ove presude bio je u tome što je Bogdanović osudjen zbog objavljivanja teksta koji nije ušao u javnu distribuciju.

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Mladen Stilinović, anarhist

o jeziku → o boli→ ja volim prljavo→ o crvenoj → mladen stilinović anarhist

O jeziku

 Ja želim koristiti taj jezik politike i [vidjeti] kako on utječe na mene… a opet, ja nisam više nevin, jer ga koristim… pa i danas, mi nismo nevini. Ne možemo biti. Kada progovoriš ti nisi nevin.“

Umjetnost Mladena Stilinovića nije kritika jugoslavenskog društva. Njegova kritika je kritika reprezentacije koja je istovremeno politička i epistemološka. Time što je kritika reprezentacije, ona obuhvaća i kritiku jezika. Međutim, ona ne zapada u dualizme razdvajanja označitelja i označenog, razdvajanja riječi od neke realnosti koju one ne uspijevaju adekvatno predstaviti, pa da onda afirmira i vraća moć tom označenom, toj autentičnoj realnosti nad kojom je preko jezika izvršena dominacija. Ona prepoznaje da je jezik sam po sebi dominacija, ali i da se vlast mora osloniti na govornike, slušatelje, institucije, zajednice i pojedinke kako bi otjelovila svoj jezik i osigurala odazivanje (slike 1, 2, 3, 4).[1]

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Mladen Stilinović, an anarchist

on language → on pain → I like dirty → on the colour red → mladen stilinović anarchist

On language

I want to have this language of politics and how it influences me.. and then, I am not innocent anymore because I use this … and today also, we are not innocent. We cannot be. When you talk you are not innocent.”

The art of Mladen Stilinović is not a critique of the Yugoslav society. It is rather a critique of representation which is at the same time political and epistemological. By being a critique of representation, it also encompasses a critique of language. However, it does not fall into dualisms of dividing between the signifier and signified, of dividing between words and a reality that they fail to represent adequately – a signified, an authentic reality over which power has been exerted through language which would then be affirmed and give back her power. It recognises that language itself is domination, but that authority must rely on speakers, listeners, institutions, communities, individuals in order to embody its language and ensure a response (illustrations 1, 2, 3, 4).[1]

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Savremena istorija Kosova

Damjan Pavlica

Ovo istraživanje se usredsređuje na 20. vek, na period jugoslovenske istorije Kosova, sa posebnim osvrtom na srpsko-albanski sukob. Hteo sam da saznam kako je Kosovo ušlo u Jugoslaviju i kako je iz nje izašlo. Nastojao sam da se upoznam sa gledištima srpskih/jugoslovenskih, albanskih, zapadnih i ostalih autora. Otkrio sam da, kao što to obično biva sa etničkim sukobima, istina nikada nije na jednoj strani. Dominacija na Kosovu se nekoliko puta smenjivala, a nasilje dominantne etničke grupe povlačilo je još nasilja, koje je često nasumično pogađalo dati etnos nakon gubitka dominacije.

Cilj ovog rada je da doprinese većem razumevanju kosovskog problema u Srbiji i da osvetli neke manje poznate aspekte njegove istorije.

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Contemporary History Of Kosovo

Damjan Pavlica

This research focuses on the Yugoslav history of Kosovo in the 20th century, especially on the Serbian-Albanian conflict. I wanted to find out how Kosovo entered Yugoslavia and how it left. I endeavored to acquaint myself with the views of Serbian/Yugoslav, Albanian, Western and other authors and discovered that, as is usual with ethnic conflicts, the truth is never one sided. Dominion over Kosovo changed hands a few times, and the violence of the dominant group always bred more violence, often against the group that had lost its dominant position.

The goal of this work is to contribute to a greater understanding of the Kosovo problem in Serbia and shed light on certain lesser known aspects of its history.

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O odlasku u partizane

Vlado Kristl

Ja sam u podzemlju živel dugo dok sam vezu dobil, sam se moral skrivat, lako nije bilo, svaki čas se uhvatilo nekoga… Na zadnjoj gimnaziji kaj sam bil su ustaše napravili nekakvu proslavu, bila je godišnjica ili oslobođenje, svaki svoje zove oslobođenje. Onda su svi morali gimnazijalci stati u redu, a kak je bila zima, bio je već mrak, onda sam ja sve ziherunge isključil, tak da je sve bilo u kmici, sve su morali otkazat. Zato bi me streljali da su me uhvatili. I takve stvari sam delal, kakti prgavo malo, neozbiljno, ali kad je čovjek mlad, onda se uvredi. I mala deca veliju onda ne. A mojega prijatelja su onda ustrelili, na stubištu, i to je bil za mene znak da nema više, sad se sakrij i gledaj kak se dobi ta veza. Moralo se stajat protiv, i jedan drugoga malo poznavat, i tak. Tak da sam se onda skrival i jednog dana je došlo, sad se ide, sutra ili prekosutra, znak je taj i taj, i onda se išlo.

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On going to the Partisans

Vlado Kristl

I lived underground for a long period of time before I got a connection to go, I had to hide, it was not easy, someone would get caught every now and then… In the last high school I was in, Ustashas were organising some celebration, it was some anniversary or liberation, they all call their thing liberation. All high school students had to stand in line, it was winter already, it was getting dark early, I took out all electricity fuses, so all was in complete darkness, they had to cancel all their events. They would shoot me if I got caught. So, that’s the kind of thing I was doing, a bit cocky, not very careful, but when you are young, it’s easy to get angry. And then small kids say no. And then my friend was shot on the stairway, so for me that was a sign not to do anything, but to hide and try to get a connection to go to the Partisans. You had to be against things, you had to know each other, and stuff like that. So I was hiding, and one day we were told we are going, tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, signal will be that and that, and then we went.

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Jeretička priča (1950)

Branko Ćopić

Ova satira čuvenog jugoslovenskog pisca Branka Ćopića (1915-1984), koji je bio partizan i komunista, za svoju metu uzela je formiranje nove vladajuće klase u Jugoslaviji, to jest, onoga što će kasnije biti nazvano “crvena buržoazija”. Objavljena je 1950. i izazvala je skandal, kao i veoma oštru verbalnu osudu Ćopića koja je došla direktno od Tita. Posle ovoga, Ćopić je do kraja života trpeo pritiske jugoslovenskih policijskih i političkih struktura, zbog čega je na kraju i izvršio samoubistvo.

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A Heretical Tale (1950)

Branko Ćopić

This satire written by a famous Yugoslav writer Branko Ćopić (1915-1984), who was a partisan and a Communist, took for its target the formation of a new ruling class in Yugoslavia, which would later be called “red bourgeoisie “. Published in 1950, it caused a scandal, as well as a very harsh verbal condemnation of Ćopić, that came directly from Tito. After this, Ćopić was under pressure from Yugoslav police and political structures until the end of his life – in the end he committed suicide for this reason.

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Antisemitizam u SFRJ

Dragoš Kalajić and Aleksandar Lončar

Laslo Sekelj

U nacionalnom šarenilu nekadašnje Jugoslavije, Jevreji su predstavljali jedan sasvim mali kamenčić. Nakon tri talasa iseljavanja za Izrael 1948-1951, koje obuhvata, zajedno sa kasnijim individualnim iseljava­njima, oko 8 000 osoba, broj Jevreja koji su ostali procenjuje se između pet i sedam hiljada. Broj članova jevrejskih opština procenjuje se na manje od 5 000 (od kojih oko 15% čine nejevrejski članovi uže porodice). (Perić, 1972; Demographic…1986) Kada je reč o fenomenu antisemi­tizma u periodu 1945-1991, od komunističkog osvajanja vlasti do raspada države, postoje tri perioda: (1) 1945-1967: period bez javnih manifestacija antisemitizma; (2) 1967-1988: antisemitizam pod krinkom anticionizma; (3) Od 1988. do danas, “republikanizacija” i funkcionalizacija Jevreja;

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Antisemitism in SFRY

Dragoš Kalajić i Aleksandar Lončar

Laslo Sekelj

Jews make up a tiny segment of the former Yugoslavia’s ethnic mosaic. Ac­cording to the estimates, there are between 5,000 and 7,000 Jews in (former) Yugoslavia. These are the figures following three waves of communal emigra­tion to Israel in the period 1948-51 (around 8,000 left, including individual migrants). Local communities, members of the Union of the Jewish Commu­nities of Yugoslavia (until 1991), have altogether less than 5,000 members of which 15 per cent are closely related to Jews (mixed marriages) but were not born as Jews.[1]

From the time the Communists came to power until the final disinte­gration of the Yugoslav state (1945-89), three different stages of antisemitism can be distinguished: (1) 1945-67, a period characterized by its lack of any public display of antisemitism; (2) 1967-88, a period of antisemitism disguised as anti-Zionism; (3) 1988 to date, a period of ‘republicanization’ and the ma­nipulation of Jews.

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Kako (ne) kritizirati: Demistificiranje anti-imperijalističkog narativa o raspadu Jugoslavije

Our baba doesn’t say fairy tales – Atina

Facilis descensus Averni: Noctes atque dies patet atri ianua Ditis; Same revocation gradius superasque escape ad auras, Hoc opus, hic labor est [1]

Tekst koji slijedi predstavlja pokušaj promišljanja događaja vezanih uz raspad Jugoslavije. Cilj i sadržaj vezani su uz probleme za koje primjećujemo da opterećuju javnu sferu grčkog pokreta. Namjera nije da se izloži nekakva “istina”. Ona je kamen spoticanja od kojeg se odavno odustalo. Namjera je radije iznijeti specifičnu verziju nečega za što smatramo da predstavlja ulog u oblikovanje primjera i problema, koji bi nam u ovom trenutku mogli biti od koristi. Kada tvrdimo da imamo za cilj biti od koristi u sadašnjici, govorimo o ulogu u komunizam kao teorijskom istraživanju i praktičnom procesu, koji teži potpunom ukidanju vrijednosti kao društvenog odnosa,1 njegovu homogenizirajuću i disciplinirajuću funkciju, te ukidanju kapitalističke države. Također, iz iste perspektive i s istim ciljem, postavljaju se i pitanja historiografije, povijesti i logike. Koncept povijesti direktno je vezan uz značenje i formu subjekta koji tu povijest čita, te zauzvrat, s društvenim silama koje oblikuju sam subjekt: sile kapitalističkog društva i njegovih kontradikcija.

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How [not] to do a critique: Demystifying the anti-imperialist narrative of the collapse of Yugoslavia

Our baba doesn’t say fairy tales – Athens

Facilis descensus Averni: Noctes atque dies patet atri ianua Ditis; Same revocation gradius superasque escape ad auras, Hoc opus, hic labor est [1]

The following text is an attempt to evaluate the events of the Yugoslav dissolution. Its scope and content are related to issues that we have seen occupy the Greek public sphere. It does not claim to deliver the “truth” – a long-lost stumbling block – but a specific version of what we think is more lucrative in drawing up examples or questions that may be useful to us today. When claim to be meaningful today, we are talking about the stakes of communism as a theoretical exploration and practical process, that is, the total abolition of value as a social relationship[1], its social homogenizing and dominating function and the capitalist state. Also, from the same point of view and with the same aim are the questions of historiography, history and logic. The concept of history is directly related to the meaning and form of the subject who reads this history, and in turn, with the social forces that shape the subject itself: the forces of capitalist society and its contradictions.

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Feministički pokret u Jugoslaviji 1978-1989

Marijana Stojčić

Proleteri svih zemalja – ko vam pere čarape? Od partizanke do Drug-ce Žene[*]

Prekretnica za razvoj feminističkog pokreta u bivšoj Jugoslaviji bila je međunarodna konferencija “DRUG-CA ŽENA. Žensko pitanje. Novi pristup?” u Studentskom kulturnom centru (SKC) u Beogradu 1978. godine, koje su organizovale žene iz Beograda, Zagreba, Sarajeva i Ljubljane. To je prvi feministički događaj feminizma drugog talasa u Istočnoj Evropi.

Prodor drugog talasa feminizma sedamdesetih godina 20. veka na prostore onoga što danas imenujemo kao prostor bivše Jugoslavije vremenski koincidira sa s jedne strane, ozbiljnom krizom političke legitimacije jugoslovenskog socijalističkog projekta i konstituisanjem specifične scene koju u bazičnoj klasnoj liniji možemo locirati kao nove srednje klase/slojeve[1]. S druge, vrhuncem države blagostanja na Zapadu, krizom stare levice i radničkog pokreta u klasičnom smislu, kao i usponom novih društvenih pokreta okupljenih oko kritike etatizma, autoritarnosti i paternalizma države blagostanja i zahteva za fleksibilizacijom društvenih odnosa, slobodom životnih stilova i ličnom samorealizacijom.  Uopšteno govoreći, iako se može raspravljati o tome da li su novi društveni pokreti doneli nove forme politike, ili je u pitanju promena akcenta – kako u pogledu orijentacije, tako i u smislu organizacije i aktivnosti[2], ono što jeste bilo novo je socijalni kontekst u kome su pokreti nastali s obzirom na “sve manje izraženu identifikaciju oslonjenu na klase, izostalu podršku političkih partija organizovanih u cilju zastupanja klasnih interesa i politizaciju identiteta kao što su pol, seksualno opredeljenje, etnička pripadnost i nacionalnost koji su ranije marginalizovani u konvencionalnoj politici”[3]. Uspesi države blagostanja na Zapadu su već bili normalizovani, a tamošnji model se smatrao uspešnijim i po pitanju obezbeđivanja materijalnih dobara i socijalne sigurnosti, uz bitno veći stepen političkih sloboda u odnosu na zemlje real-socijalizma. Stara levica je identifikovana sa uskim ekonomističkim zahtevima koji su u velikoj meri bili ostvareni ili na putu da budu ostvareni. Okvir klasne borbe činio se suviše ograničenim za kritiku nejednakosti, neslobode i isključenosti koje su i dalje postojale. U prvi plan dolaze drugi oblici društvene represije – prvenstveno rodna i rasna koje je istorijski radnički pokret često stavljao u drugi plan

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The Feminist Movement in Yugoslavia 1978-1989

Marijana Stojčić

Proletarians of the world – who washes your socks? From female Partisans to Comrade Woman[*]

A key milestone in the development of feminist movements in former Yugoslavia was the international conference “Comrade Woman: The Women’s Question. New Approach?” in the Student Cultural Centre (SKC) in Belgrade in 1978, organized by women from Belgrade, Zagreb, Sarajevo and Ljubljana. This was the first feminist event of the second wave of feminism in Eastern Europe.

The impact of second wave feminism in the 1970s in the space which we now call former Yugoslavia coincides, on the one hand, with a serious crisis of political legitimation of the Yugoslav socialist project and the constitution of a specific group which in basic class terms we can locate as a new middle-class[1]. On the other hand, at the height of the welfare state in the West, the crisis of the old left and the workers’ movement in the classical sense, as well as the rise of new social movements gathered around a critique of the statism, authoritarianism and paternalism of the welfare state, led to demands for more flexible social relations, freedom of life-styles, and personal self-realisation. In general terms, one can easily discuss whether the new social movements introduced new forms of politics, or whether the change was more subtle, in terms of orientation, organization, and activities[2], in the new social context in which the movements found themselves, considering “the ever decreasing extent of explicit class-based identification, the lack of support of political parties organized to represent class interests, and the politicization of identities such as gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity and nationality previously marginalized in conventional politics[3]”. The success of welfare states in the West had already become normalized, with that model judged successful in terms of the provision of material goods and social security, together with a significantly higher level of political freedom in comparison with the countries of real-socialism. The old left had identified itself with wide-ranging economic demands which had more or less been achieved or were on the road to being achieved. The framework of class struggle had seemed to be too limited in terms of a critique of the inequalities, lack of freedoms, and exclusions which still persisted. To the forefront came other forms of societal repression – primarily gender and race which, historically, workers’ movements had routinely relegated to second place.

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Mit o radničkim savetima kod Tita

Paul Zorkine (1959)

Uvod

Mađarska revolucija 1956, Berlinski ustanak, dešavanja u Poljskoj i generalno govoreći, pat pozicija staljinizma kako u Zapadnoj tako i Istočnoj Evropi, postavili su problem radničkih saveta u prvi plan revolucionarnih zbivanja.

Nije nam namera da pratimo istoriju radničkih saveta, koje je već moguće naći u Francuskoj revoluciji pri komunalnim savetima, u raznim revolucionarnim pokretima tokom 1848, zatim u Komuni sve do prvih sovjeta u fabrikama Poutilov u Petrogradu 1905, na prvom zasedanju sovjeta juna 1917, u Kronštatskim sovjetima suprotstavljenim boljševičkoj diktaturi 1921, “Republikama saveta” krajem Prvog svetskog rata u Mađarskoj, Nemačkoj, Austriji, kao i na dva kraja Jadrana: u Puli i Kotoru, u Španiji kao i Kini, koji su kumovali poslednjem pokušaju 1956. godine u Budimpešti.

Vredi primetiti kako smo u ovom popisu preskočili jugoslovenske radničke savete.

Nije u pitanju to da smo ih potpuno zaboravili: za nas, stvaranje radničkih saveta od strane jugoslovenske vlade predstavlja jednu novu mistifikaciju radničke klase od strane buržoazije.

To je opasno:

 – Za jugoslovenske radnike kojima se kompromituje revolucionarna institucija, jedina – bar do sada – “ispravna” (ideju radničkih saveta je moguće suprostaviti Partiji)

– Za neke evropske levičare koji se povode za jugoslovenskim primerom i slogane Titove vladavine: „Sve fabrike radnicima!“ kao još jedininim preostalim rešenjem između kapitalizma i staljinizma

Iz ovih razloga je važno ispitati stvarni sadržaj jugoslovenskog iskustva i njegovih posledica.

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The myth of workers councils under Tito

Paul Zorkine (1959)

Introduction

The Hungarian revolution of 1956, the Berlin uprising, the Polish events and, in general, the failures of stalinism in Eastern as well as in Western Europe, have brought back the question of workers councils back to the forefront of revolutionary activity.

It is not our intention to relate the history of workers councils, which already exist during the French revolution as “Conseils des communes”, during various revolutionary movements in 1848, then, during the Commune, up until the first soviet of the Putilov factory in St Petersburg in 1905, the first soviet congress in June 1917, the Kronstadt soviet against the bolshevik dictature in 1921, the “Republic of Councils” at the end of WW1 in Hungary, in Germany, in Austria, at both ends of the Adriatic: in Pola and in Cattaro, in Spain and in China, to witness a last fit, in 1956, in Budapest.

One will point out that we forget in that list the Yugoslavian workers councils.

It is not, let’s confess it right away, an oversight: for us, the creation of “workers councils” by the Yugoslavian government only represent a new mystification of the working class by the bureaucracy. Dangerous:

– for the Yugoslavian workers, for whom it compromises a revolutionary institution which had remained – until then – “clean” (one could oppose to the Party the idea of workers councils)

– for “a certain European left” that clings to the “Yugoslavian example” and the slogan of Tito’s government: “Transfer of the factories to the workers!” as the only solution still possible between capitalism and stalinism.

Which is why it is important to scrutinise the real content of the “Yugoslavian experience” and its consequences.

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Paul Zorkine (Pavle Vrbica, 1921-1962)

Guillaume Lenormant

Rođen 8. aprila 1921. na Cetinju (Crna Gora), umro 22. jula 1962. u Buraženefu (Bourganeuf); pravnik; anarhistički komunista.

Sin Pera Vrbice, direktora banke i Zorke Petrović, Pavle Vrbica potiče iz politički svesne porodice – njegov deda je prevodio Marksa na srpskohrvatski jezik.

Započeo je svoje političke aktivnosti još kao student prava na zagrebačkom univerzitetu. Kao militant Komunističke omladine, borio se protiv staljinističkog kursa i bio isključen na zahtev čoveka koji će, mnogo kasnije, postati jedan od nosioca titoističkog režima, teoretičar samoupravljanja i konačno disident istog tog režima: Milovana Đilasa.

Pavle Vrbica se zatim posvetio antifašističkoj borbi. Dobrovoljno se uključio u odbranu Čehoslovačke 1939. protiv hitlerovske invazije. Po povratku na zagrebački univerzitet, učestvovao je u antifašističkoj studentskoj mreži. Godine 1942., intezivno sarađuje u časopisu Dinamit, objavljivanom u Crnoj Gori, bez puno uspeha, usled munjevitog hapšenja glavnog urednika.

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Paul Zorkine (Pavle Vrbica, 1921-1962)

Guillaume Lenormant

Born on 8 April 1921 in Cetinje (Montenegro), died 22 July 1962 in Bourganeuf (Creuse), lawyer, libertarian communist.

Son of Pero Vrbica, bank director and of Zorka Petrovitch, Pavle Vrbica was from a quite politicized family (his grandfather had translated Marx into Serbo-Croat),
He became politically active when he was studying law at Zagreb university. Militant with the Communist Youth, he fought against its Stalinist trend and was excluded from the organization by request of a man who would, many years later, become one of the leaders of the Tito regime, theoretician of self-management, then dissident from that same regime: Milovan Djilas.

Pavle Vrbica then dedicated himself to the antifascist struggle. In 1939, he volunteered to defend Czechoslovakia against the Hitlerian invasion. Back at the university of Zagreb, he joined a student antifascist resistance network. In 1942, contributed, among other activities, to Dynamit, a periodical published in Montenegro and scarcely distributed, its main editor having been arrested early.

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Jezik i politika u bivšoj Jugoslaviji

Will Firth

Novoformiranim državama u poslijeratnoj situaciji pitanja jezika i lingvistike često su manje važna od konsolidacije vojske i administracije, osiguranja granica, omogućavanja komunikacije, proizvodnje neophodnih sirovina i energenata kao što su žito, ugljen, čelik, struja i slično. To je bio slučaj i sa Federativnom Narodnom Republikom Jugoslavijom, formiranom 1946. godine. Parlamentarni izbori, na kojima je Narodni front predvođen komunistima osvojio sva mjesta u parlamentu, održani su u novembru 1945., a vlada Komunističke partije Jugoslavije uspostavljena je 1946. Nakon reformi u 1953., Jugoslavija je eksperimentirala s idejom ekonomske decentralizacije i samoupravljanja, gdje su radnici mogli donositi odluke o vođenju tvornica u kojima su radili te su sudjelovali u dijeljenju viška prihoda. Uloga Partije u društvu promijenila se iz monopolizatora moći u ideološkog vođu. Rezultat toga je bila promjena imena Partije u Savez komunista Jugoslavije. 1963. država je preimenovana u Socijalističku Federativnu Republiku Jugoslaviju.

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Language and Politics in Ex-Yugoslavia

Will Firth

For a newly formed state in a turbulent postwar situation, questions of language and linguistics are often less important than consolidating an army and administration, securing the borders, ensuring communications, producing essentials such as grain, coal, steel, electricity, and so on. This was the case when the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia was formed in 1946. Parliamentary elections had been held in November 1945, at which the communist-led National Front secured all the seats, and a government of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia was established in 1946. After reforms in 1953, Yugoslavia experimented with ideas of economic decentralisation and self-management, where workers had input into the policies of their factories and shared a portion of any surplus revenue. The Party’s role in society shifted from holding a monopoly of power to being an ideological leader. As a result, the name of the Party was changed to the League of Communists of Yugoslavia. In 1963, the country itself was renamed the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

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Disidenti i zatvor

Izricanje presude 1972, Jelka Kljajič, Pavluško Imširović, Milan Nikolić

U ovom političkom autobiografskom tekstu autorka piše o svom viđenju šezdesetosmaškog studentsko-disidenstkog miljea u Beogradu u periodu posle pubune iz ’68, i opisuje državnu represiju kroz koju je prošla zbog pripadnosti ovom miljeu. Tekst je originalno objavljen u časopisu Republika, a ovde ga prenosimo u skraćenoj verziji.

Jelka Kljajić-Imširović

Disidenti

Zaoštravanje represije odlučujuće je uticalo, po mom mišljenju, da se unutar studentskog pokreta pojave i ideje, bolje reći razmišljanja, o mogućnostima i strategijama otpora na “duže staze”. U krugu ljudi u kojem sam se kretala (družila), uglavnom studenata, ali ne samo studenata, smatrali smo da su revolucionarna teorija društva i revolucionarna radnička partija dve bitne pretpostavke i istovremeno činioci transformacije savremenog represivnog klasnog društva u istinsko socijalističko društvo. O kolikom broju ljudi je reč? Po mom sećanju, a dopuštam da ono nije sasvim pouzdano, u tom krugu – koristim namerno ovaj termin, a ne, recimo, pojam grupa – nije bilo više od 20-ak ljudi.

Naša idejno-teorijska stanovišta temeljila su se na Marksovom delu i marksizmu, stvaralačkom marksizmu, kako se tada govorilo, tj. marksizmu bitno različitom od sovjetskog, dijamatskog “marksizma”. Razume se, postojale su i značajne razlike u shvatanjima, i oko nekih bitnih marksističkih sadržinskih pretpostavki, i oko pojedinih marksističkih teoretičara i revolucionara. Na primer, za mene su dela Roze Luksemburg bila relevantnija za razumevanje i vremena u kojem je ona živela i naše savremenosti nego dela Lava Trockog. Za Pavluška Imširovića ona je bila veoma značajna ličnost kao revolucionarka, ali ne i kao teoretičarka revolucije. U skladu sa onom Lenjinovom ocenom da je Roza “i pored svih svojih zabluda bila orao revolucije”.1

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Dissidents and Prison

Sentencing 1972, Jelka Kljajič, Pavluško Imširović, Milan Nikolić

In this autobiographical political text, the author writes about her experiences in the ’68 student dissent milieu in Belgrade in the period after the ’68 rebellions, and details the state repression through which she lives due to her affiliation with the milieu. The text was originally published in the newspaper Republika, while here we publish an abridged version.

Jelka Kljajić-Imširović

Dissidents

The worsening of repression decisively influenced, in my opinion, within the student movement a rise of ideas, better said as thinking about the possibilities and strategies of resistance in the “long term.” In the circles I was moving in, primarily those of students, but not only students, we thought of revolutionary social theory and the revolutionary workers party as two important assumptions and, at the same time, factors of transformation from the contemporary repressive class society into a true socialist society. What number of people are we talking about? By my recollection, and I admit that it may not be completely reliable, in that circle – I use this term deliberately, and not, for example, the term “group” – there were no more than about 20 people. Our ideological and theoretical standpoints were based on Marx’s works and Marxism, creative Marxism, as it was called at the time, and also Marxism separate from Soviet, hardline “Marxism.” It is understood that there were significant differences in perceptions, and around some important Marxian conceptual assumptions, between some Marxist theorists and revolutionaries. For example, I thought the works of Rosa Luxemburg were more relevant to understand and that the time in which she lived were more applicable to our contemporary life than the works of Leon Trotsky. For Pavluško Imširović, she was important as a revolutionary, but not as a revolutionary theorist. He was in line with Lenin’s assessment that Rosa was “despite all her misconceptions, the eagle of the revolution.”[1]

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Dolje crvena buržoazija Jugoslavije – Analiza lipanjske studentske pobune u Beogradu (1968)

Dopisnici časopisa Black & Red (Novembar, 1968)

Pažljiviji čitatelji zapadnog tiska vjerojatno su primjetili kratke napise o “studentskoj pobuni” tijekom prve polovice lipnja u Beogradu. Osim par novinarskih iskaza divljenja Titovim rješavanjem studentskog pitanja, tisak se uglavnom oglušio na ostale događaje. Uostalom, netko bi očekivao studentsku pobunu u Poljskoj ili Čehoslovačkoj, ali ne u liberalnoj Jugoslaviji. Tako da u ovom trenutku ne postoje analize lipanjskih zbivanja, niti njihovog utjecaja na jugoslavensko društvo. Kako bi dali upravo takvu analizu, započnimo s pregledom onoga što se zapravo dogodilo u Beogradu.

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Down with the Red Bourgeoisie of Yugoslavia – An Analysis of the June Students’ Insurrection in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (1968)

Black & Red correspondents (November, 1968)

Alert readers of the Western press may have noted short accounts of a “student rebellion” during the first half of the month of June in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Beyond a few journalistic expressions of admiration for Tito’s handling of students, the press has been left dumb by the events; after all, one might expect a student revolt in Poland or Czechoslovakia, but in liberal Yugoslavia? As yet there exists no analysis of the events of June nor of their impact on Yugoslav society. In order to provide precisely such an analysis, let us begin by recounting what actually happened in Belgrade.

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Tri godine u Jugoslaviji

Lorraine Perlman

Fredy Perlman, Velimir Morača i nepoznata prijateljica, Beograd, 1964. ili 1965.

Topla dobrodošlica koju smo dobili od brojnih Jugoslovena septembra 1963, doprinela je da naše preseljenje u Beograd bude konačno. U roku od nekoliko dana smo pronašli sobu u kući vozača autobusa i njegove porodice na periferiji Zemuna, velikog predgrađa koje se nastavlja na Beograd sa druge strane reke Save. Fredi se privremeno zaposlio kao spiker u medijskoj kući koja se bavila produkcijom dokumentarnih filmova o turističkim atrakcijama u Jugoslaviji. Snimao je glas za tekstove koji su opisivali predele predstavljene u filmovima: parkove i posleratne skulpture, manastire i priobalna sela. Za samo nekoliko radnih sati, primio je platu jednaku trostrukoj američkoj plati i taj je novac rešio naše tadašnje finansijske probleme.

Upisali smo se u institut za jezike i svako jutro provodili pohađajući časove i slušajući trake srpsko-hrvatskog jezika. Naše kolege bile su poreklom iz centralne Afrike, zapadne Evrope i SSSR-a. Bila je to druželjubiva grupa i ponekad bismo se sastajali mimo časova. Jedan od dvojice sovjetskih kolega bio je željan sastanaka sa ciljem diskutovanja, ali bilo je jasno da drugi nije odobravao takve van-nastavne kontakte. Bili smo šokirani Viktorovom sumnjičavom rezervisanošću i možda nismo dovoljno cenili hrabrost sa kojom nam je Dimitri sam dolazio u posete.

Jugoslovenska inovacija radničkog samoupravljanja bila je visoko cenjena na Zapadu i želeli smo da se upoznamo sa njenim principima i načinom funkcionisanja. U Zemunu se nalazilo nekoliko fabrika i nije bilo teško pronaći informisane ljude koji bi nam dali odgovore na neka pitanja. Brzo smo saznali da jugosloveni nisu delili zapadnjački entuzijazam po pitanju radničkog samoupravljanja, smatrajući ga markentiškim trikom koji je služio da se zamaskiraju konvencionalni odnosi radnik – rukovodstvo. Iznenadili smo se kada smo saznali da su štrajkovi česti. Iako se o njima nikada nije izveštavalo u štampi, pojava tih autentičnih radničkih aktivnosti bila je opšte poznata. Sindikati su oruđe vlasti (“šefa”) i iz tog razloga se svaki štrajk u Jugoslaviji odvijao izvan institucionalnog okvira.

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Three Years in Yugoslavia

Lorraine Perlman

Fredy Perlman, Velimir Morača and an unknown friend, Belgrade, 1964. or 1965.

The warm welcome we received from numerous Yugoslavs in September 1963 made our move to Belgrade definitive. Within a few days we had found a room in the home of a bus driver and family on the outskirts of Zemun, a large suburb and extension of Belgrade on the other side of the Sava River. Fredy was hired for a temporary job as “speaker” by a media enterprise which made documentary films about tourist attractions in Yugoslavia. Fredy recorded the texts describing the sites depicted in the films: parks featuring post-war sculpture, monasteries, or coastal villages. For a few hours’ work, he received the equivalent of U.S. wages and this money solved our immediate financial problems.

We enrolled at a language institute and spent every morning attending classes and listening to tapes of Serbo-Croatian. Our fellow students were from central Africa, Western Europe and the U.S.S.R. It was a friendly group and sometimes we got together outside of class. One of the two Soviet students was eager to meet for discussions but it was clear that the other disapproved of this extracurricular contact. We were shocked by Viktor’s suspicious reserve and perhaps did not sufficiently appreciate Dimitri’s courage in coming to visit us on his own.

The Yugoslav innovation of worker self-management was highly regarded in the West and we wanted to get acquainted with its principles and operation. Zemun had a number of factories and we had no trouble finding informed people to answer our questions. We quickly learned that Yugoslavs did not share the Western enthusiasm for worker self-management, considering it largely a public relations gimmick to camouflage conventional worker-vs.-management relations. We were surprised to learn that strikes were frequent. Although never reported in the press, the occurrence of this authentic worker-managed activity was common knowledge. Unions are an arm of the government (the “boss”) so any strike in Yugoslavia necessarily occurs outside an institutional framework.

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Radničko samoupravljanje u Jugoslaviji: emancipacija radništva ili kapitalistička podela rada?

Lila

Verovatno sam se za Jugoslaviju i njene države-naslednice posebno zainteresovala zbog sistema samoupravljanja. Budući da dolazim iz zapadne zemlje, radničko samoupravljanje koje je karakterisalo jugoslovensku ekonomsku reprodukciju mi je delovalo zapanjujuće. Trebalo je da radnici budu ti koji imaju najviše moći u fabrikama, i čitava ekonomija, kao i lokalna uprava, bile su tako organizovane. Direktna demokratija u praksi, radnici koji odlučuju o svojoj sudbini – impresivno. Nekoliko godina života u bivšoj Jugoslaviji, bolje upoznavanje sa literaturom o samoupravljanju i razgovori sa (bivšim) radnicima o njihovim iskustvima svakako su promenili sliku koju sam imala. Bez sumnje, samoupravljanje nije ispunilo očekivanja.

U tekstu koji sledi, želim da prikažem ideju i razvoj jugoslovenskog samoupravljanja tokom perioda „realnog socijalizma“ i da tome pridodam perspektivu radnika, do koje sam došla razgovarajući sa njima na ovu temu. Verujem da su radnici u Jugoslaviji imali bolje radne uslove i, barem zvanično, veći uticaj na donošenje odluka u fabrici u odnosu na radnike u zapadnim kapitalističkim i istočnim „komunističkim“ zemljama tog perioda; i da su, u poređenju sa današnjim stanjem u bivšim jugoslovenskim republikama, svakako bili u mnogo boljoj situaciji. Ipak, sistem radničkog samoupravljanja je i dalje bio sistem koji je reprodukovao hijerarhijske i klasne odnose, slično onima u kapitalističkim državama ili u socijalizmu. Kada govorimo o jugoslovenskom sistemu samoupravljanja, mora se naglasiti da se on nalazio u stanju neprestane promene i razvoja tokom četiri decenije svog postojanja. Njegova arhitektura unutar fabrika i njegova ugrađenost u ekonomski sistem prolazile su kroz neprestane transformacije. Pored toga, ideološka osnova Jugoslavije, uticaj Države – u fabrikama i izvan njih – kao i uticaj postepenog liberalizovanja ekonomije, od suštinskog su značaja za razumevanje radničkog samoupravljanja.

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Yugoslav workers’ self-management: emancipation of workers or capitalist division of labor?

Lila

It was probably because of the system of self-management why I became particularly interested in Yugoslavia and its successor states. Coming from a western country, workers self-management which characterized the Yugoslav economic reproduction seemed amazing to me. Workers should have had most of the power in every factory and the whole economy, as well as the local administration, was organized like this. Direct democracy in practice, workers decide about their fate – impressive. Living for several years in Ex-Yugoslavia, reading more about self-management and talking with (former) workers about their experience certainly changed my picture. Without a doubt, self-management did not live up to its expectations.

In the following text, I want to trace the idea and the development of Yugoslav self-management during the time of the “real existing socialism” and add a perspective of workers, which I got through discussing the topic with them. I believe that workers had better working conditions and officially more rights to influence the decision making in the factory in comparison to the situation of workers in western capitalist and eastern “communist” countries during that time; or, if we compare, it was certainly much better than their situation today in the Ex-Yugoslavian countries. Nevertheless, the system of workers’ self-management was still a system that reproduced hierarchical and class-relations, similar to the ones in capitalist states or in socialism. When we talk about the Yugoslav system of workers’ self-management, it has to be remarked that it was in constant change and development during its four decades of existence. Its’ architecture inside factories and its embedment into the economic system underwent perpetual transformations. Beyond that, the ideological foundation of Yugoslavia, the influence of the State, in and outside of the factories, as well as the impact of a gradual liberalizing economy, are essential to understanding workers self-management.

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Rađanje revolucionarnog pokreta u Jugoslaviji

Fredy Perlman

„Jeretici su uvek opasniji od neprijatelja“, zaključio je jugoslovenski filozof nakon analiziranja represije marksističkih intelektualaca od strane marksističkog režima u Poljskoj. (S. Stojanović, Student, Beograd, 9. april 1968, str. 7[*])

U Jugoslaviji, u kojoj je „radničko samoupravljanje“ postalo zvanična ideologija, nova borba za javnu kontrolu je razotkrila jaz između zvanične ideologije i društvenih odnosa koje ona navodno opisuje. Jeretici koji su razotkrili ovaj jaz bili su privremeno izolovani; njihova borba je bila momentalno suzbijena. Ideologija „samoupravljanja“ nastavlja da služi kao maska za trgovinsko-tehnokratsku birokratiju koja je u svojim rukama uspešno skoncentrisala bogatstvo i moć koje je stvorilo jugoslovensko radno stanovništvo. Ipak, čak i samo jedno, delimično uklanjanje maske kvari njenu efikasnost: vladajuća „elita“ Jugoslavije je ogoljena; njeni „marksistički“ proglasi su razotkriveni kao mitovi koji, jednom razotkriveni, više ne mogu da služe opravdavanju njene vladavine.

U junu 1968. je jaz između teorije i prakse, između zvaničnih proglasa i društvenih odnosa, ogoljen kroz praksu, kroz društvenu aktivnost: studenti su sami počeli da se organizuju na demonstracijama i opštim zborovima, a režim koji je proglasio samoupravljanje reaguje na ovaj redak primer društvenog samoorganizovanja tako što ga okončava putem policijske i novinske represije.

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Birth of a Revolutionary Movement in Yugoslavia

Fredy Perlman

“Heretics are always more dangerous than enemies,” concluded a Yugoslav philosopher after analyzing the repression of Marxist intellectuals by the Marxist regime of Poland. (S. Stojanovic, in Student, Belgrade, April 9, 1968, p. 7.)

In Yugoslavia, where “workers’ self-management” has become the official ideology, a new struggle for popular control has exposed the gap between the official ideology and the social relations which it claims to describe. The heretics who exposed this gap have been temporarily isolated; their struggle has been momentarily suppressed. The ideology of “self-management” continues to serve as a mask for a commercial-technocratic bureaucracy which has successfully concentrated the wealth and power created by the Yugoslav working population. However, even a single and partial removal of the mask spoils its efficacy: the ruling “elite” of Yugoslavia has been exposed; its “Marxist” proclamations have been unveiled as myths which, once unveiled, no longer serve to justify its rule.

In June 1968, the gap between theory and practice, between official proclamations and social relations, was exposed through practice, through social activity: students began to organize themselves in demonstrations and general assemblies, and the regime which proclaims self-management reacted to this rare example of popular self-organization by putting an end to it through police and press repression.

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„Nisu to bajke, nego istina“: kritički pregled romske politike u ’zlatno doba’ SFRJ

Učesnici prvog Svetskog romskog kongresa, koji je održan u Londonu 1971. godine, pevaju himnu “Đelem,đelem” (autor Žarko Jovanović, u belom kaputu).
Žarko Jovanović (1925-1985)– tokom Drugog svetskog rata zatvaran u tri logora. Posle toga se priključio jugoslovenskim partizanima. Tokom rata je izgubio veći deo porodice. Preselio se u Pariz 1964. godine.

Nisu to bajke, nego istina“1: kritički pregled romske politike u ’zlatno doba’ SFRJ

Ferdi

Da li je ’zlatno doba’ jugoslovenskog socijalizma takođe bilo i zlatno doba romskog političkog života? Na neki način verovatno jeste, ali uz znatne ograde. Istina je da je došlo do određenih pomaka, koliko god problematičnih, u domenu romskog nacionalizma, etničkih prava i pravne zaštite, koji su bili podsticani pod režimom Komunističke partije. No, ipak ne možemo sebi dozvoliti da budemo saučesnici u nečemu što je u suštini liberalno shvatanje istorije.. Pre svega treba shvatiti da su se ljudi unutar pokreta za prava Roma, svojim političkim radom izborili za ova dostignuća i da ona nisu bila posledica darežljivosti države. Druga stvar, položaj Roma u Jugoslaviji je bio zaista zastrašujući bez obzira na njegov relativno bolji položaj u odnosu na apsolutnu deprivaciju i masovno nasilje nad Romima u susednim državama. Naposletku, moguće je ući u trag mnogim nevoljama koje trenutno trpe Romi nekadašnje Jugoslavije usled pogrešno usmeravanih napora iz ’socijalističkog’ perioda. Da pojasnim, moja namera nije demonizacija SFRJ u kojoj su mnogi ljudi živeli znatno bolje nego što žive u trenutnim post-socijalističkim režimima, već da potvrdim da Država, socijalistička ili ma koja druga, ne može da ne reprodukuje hijerarhijske odnose eksploatacije spram svoje populacije. U slučaju jugoslovenskih Roma, ovo je bio rasistički odnos, kakav je i ostao do današnjeg dana.

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“Nisu to bajke, nego istina”: a critical appraisal of Roma politics in SFRY’s ‘golden era’

Participants at the first World Romani Congress, held in London 1971, singing the anthem “Gelem, gelem” (authored by Žarko Jovanović, white coat)
Žarko Jovanović (1925-1985). During World War II he was imprisoned in three camps. After that he joined the Yugoslav Partisans. Jovanović lost most of his family during the war. He moved to Paris in 1964.

“Nisu to bajke, nego istina”[1]: a critical appraisal of Roma politics in SFRY’s ‘golden era’

Ferdi

Was the ‘golden era’ of Yugoslav socialism also the golden era of Roma political life? In some ways, perhaps, though with some very substantial caveats. It is true enough that that certain achievements, however problematic, in the fields of Roma nationalism, ethnic rights, and legal protections were all fostered under the Communist Party’s regime, we cannot allow ourselves to be complacent with what is essentially a liberal appraisal of history. Firstly, we should recognize that these gains were fought for and won due to the political labor of people in the Roma rights movement, not gifts from the State, and secondly, the condition of the Roma in Yugoslavia was truly abysmal regardless of its relative superiority to the absolute deprivation and mass violence suffered by the Roma in neighboring countries. Finally, it is possible to trace many of the troubles currently endured by the Roma of the former Yugoslavia to the misguided efforts of the ‘socialist’ period. To be clear, it is not my intention to demonize the SFRY under which many people lived markedly better lives than they would have under the current post-socialist regimes, but to establish that the State, socialist or otherwise, cannot but reproduce exploitative hierarchical relations with its subject populations; in the case of the Yugoslav Roma, this relation was one of racism just as it remains today.

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Srbija: najnoviji front u COVID 19 nemirima – anarhistička perspektiva iz Beograda

Na samoj granici Evropske unije, Srbija je najnovija zemlja u eri COVID-19 u kojoj su  nemiri prerasli u otvorenu pobunu. U ovim nemirima, kao i na početku pokreta Žutih prsluka u Francuskoj, demonstranti svih ubeđenja – od fašista i fudbalskih huligana, do liberala, levičara, i anarhista – se takmiče za određenje smera budućih protestnih pokreta. U tekstu koji sledi, anarhistkinje i anarhisti iz Beograda opisuju nedelju sukoba u glavnom gradu, analizirajući zašto je važno preduprediti dominaciju fašista u sukobima sa vlastima i liberalsku delegitimizaciju takvih sukoba kao „nasilnih“ ili suštinski fašističkih.

Kako su prizori građanskih nemira i policijskog nasilja u Srbiji obilazili svet, mnogi od nas ovde u Srbiji su dobili poruke od drugova i drugarica koji su se raspitivali o prirodi nemira, naročito s obzirom na to koliko su ti prizori bili konfuzni i često protivrečni. Nekoliko nas koji smo bili na ulicama svake večeri otkad su protesti u Beogradu počeli želimo da ponudimo naše viđenje i analizu. Govorićemo samo o Beogradu, pošto je situacija u Novom Sadu i drugim gradovima bila dosta drugačija.

Mada su nedavni neredi izazvani odlukom vlade da ponovo uvede policijski čas i druge restriktivne mere kao odgovor na novi skok broja slučajeva COVID-19, pravi uzrok leži u dugotrajnom i široko rasprostranjenom nezadovoljstvu izazvanom sve represivnijim režimom Aleksandra Vučića i Srpske napredne stranke. Na samom početku epidemije, režim je na konferenciju za novinare doveo nadridoktora koji se bukvalno smejao virusu, uz tvrdnje kako je u pitanju „najsmešniji virus na svetu“ i seksističke komentare o tome kako bi žene trebalo da iskoriste pandemiju kao priliku za šoping u Italiji. Kako se virus proširio, vlada je ubrzo promenila ploču i Srbija je uvela neke od najstrožih mera u Evropi. Vučić i premijerka Brnabić su poricali da su ikad potcenjivali virus i okrivili obične ljude, dajući karantinskim merama kazneni karakter. Početkom maja, čim su brojevi počeli da opadaju, vlada je brzo napustila većinu mera predostrožnosti i dozvolila povratak života u normalu. U manje od nedelju dana, stanovnici Srbije su od instrukcija da ne napuštaju stanove došli do obaveštenja da slobodno mogu da posećuju kafiće.

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Praxis: an attempt at ruthless criticism

The first public appearance of the entire editorial board of Praxis (Student Centre, Zagreb, end of 1964). From left to right: Rudi Supek, behind him (obscured from view), Branko Bošnjak, Gajo Petrović (editor-in-chief), Danilo Pejović (editor-in-chief), Predrag Vranicki, Milan Kangrga, Danko Grlić; far right (with back turned): the director of the Student Centre, M. Heremić, next to him, Antun Žvan.

Juraj Katalenac

Yugoslav socialism was a unique political experiment, not just because it said ‘no’ to Stalin in 1948 and implemented a system of workers’ self-management, but because of the uniqueness of the ‘left opposition’ and the critique of the political elite that emerged there. Unlike countries behind the ‘Iron Curtain’ Yugoslavia had a higher level of tolerance for political criticism – especially when it came from intellectual circles or opposition within the League of Communists.[1] When Aleksandar Ranković, head of state security service and prominent unitarist retired the space for free expression expanded, allowing cultural movements such as Yugoslav Black Wave cinema[2], and the new wave and underground music scenes to flourish[3]. There were obviously limits to this tolerance though. The League did not tolerate movements and initiatives that emerged in response to the realities of work life, such as workplace and other class-based struggles.

The emergence of the philosophical journal Praxis (1964-1974) and the Korčula Summer School (1963-1974) was an important political development as it was effectively the ‘left opposition’ within Yugoslavia. It was seen by some in ‘the west’ as exotic because few of its essays were translated and published in English. For this reason, a lot of ‘mist’ surrounds it. For example, Wikipedia and Marxist Internet Archive contain a lot of misinformation. The Memory of the World archive[4] tried to rectify this by uploading most issues of Praxis and other miscellaneous material. However, the language barrier remains as their ‘international editions’ did not include the vast bulk of the content produced and published by them.

In this essay I will present their story and explain why they were and remain an important development in history of Yugoslavia and their successor states.

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Praxis: pokušaj nepoštedne kritike

Prvo javno pojavljivanje celokupnog uredničkog odbora Praxisa (Studentski centar, Zagreb, krajem 1964). S leva na desno, Rudi Supek, iza njega (zaklonjen) Branko Bošnjak, Gajo Petrović (glavni urednik), Danilo Pejović (glavni urednik), Predrag Vranicki, Milan Kangrga, Danko Grlić; s kraja desno (okrenut leđima): direktor Studentskog centra, M. Heremić, pored njega Antun Žvan.

Juraj Katalenac

Jugoslovenski socijalizam je bio jedinstveni politički eksperiment, ne samo zato što je 1948. rekao Staljinu ’ne’ i uveo sistem radničkog samoupravljanja, već i zbog jedinstvenosti ’leve opozicije’ i kritike političke elite koja se tamo pojavila. Za razliku od zemalja iza ’gvozdene zavese’, Jugoslavija je imala viši prag tolerancije za političku kritiku – naročito kada je dolazila od intelektualnih krugova ili opozicije unutar Saveza komunista.[1] Kada se Aleksandar Ranković, načelnik državne bezbednosne službe i istaknuti unitarista povukao, prostor za slobodno izražavanje se proširio, dopuštajući kulturnim pokretima poput crnog talasa,[2] i novog vala i underground muzičke scene da procvetaju.[3] Međutim, jasno je da su postojale granice te tolerancije. Savez nije tolerisao pokrete i inicijative koje su nastale kao reakcija na realnost radnog života, poput borbi na radnom mestu i drugih klasno zasnovanih borbi.

Pojavljivanje filozofskog časopisa Praxis (1964–1974) i Korčulanske ljetne škole (1963–1974) predstavljalo je važan politički razvoj pošto su oni faktički predstavljali ’levu opoziciju’ unutar Jugoslavije. Neki ’na Zapadu’ su ga smatrali egzotičnim, jer je nekoliko eseja prevedeno i objavljeno na engleskom. Iz tog razloga, Praxis okružuje mnogo nejasnoća. Na primer, Wikipedia i Marxist Internet Archive sadrže mnogo pogrešnih informacija. Digitalni arhiv Memory of the World[4] je pokušao da to ispravi postavljanjem većine brojeva Praxisa i drugog raznovrsnog materijala na Internet. Uprkos tome, ostaje jezička barijera, jer njegova ’internacionalna izdanja’ nisu obuhvatila ogroman deo sadržaja koji je napisan i objavljen.

U ovom eseju ću izneti Praxisovu priču i objasniti zašto je bio i ostao važan događaj u istoriji Jugoslavije i njenih država-naslednica.

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Against Every Yugoslavia: On the ideology of the transition from capitalism to capitalism, through capitalism

Nina Simonović

1.

In the not-so-inspiring imagination of the post-Yugoslav Yugonostalgic left, a specific style of writing about “socialist” Yugoslavia persists, one that entails the use of a specific vocabulary. This vocabulary is dominated by ideological constructs that always emphasize the supposedly “contradictory” character of the Yugoslav society, such as: “complex class logics that collided and confronted each other”; “contradictory political and economic phenomena”; “social dynamic that was simultaneously centripetal and centrifugal” and so on.

In this sense, the publication “Gradove smo vam podigli” (“We Raised Cities for You”) is characteristic (the subtitle is “On the Contradictions of Yugoslav Socialism”), recently published in Belgrade, as supplementary material for an exhibition of the same name. In fact, all of the above-mentioned ideological phrases are taken out of the introductory text from this publication. Along with this text, I will also briefly take into account the text “Contradictory Reproduction of Socialist Yugoslavia” from the same publication. This exhibition and publication gathered a number of leftists from the Yugoslav area and represent a very good and fresh example of the ideological articulation of this type.

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Protiv svake Jugoslavije: O ideologiji prelaska iz kapitalizma u kapitalizam, kroz kapitalizam

Nina Simonović

1.

U ne baš inspirativnoj  imaginaciji post-jugoslovenskih jugonostalgičnih levičara opstaje poseban način pisanja o „socijalističkoj“ Jugoslaviji koji podrazumeva i upotrebu specifičnog vokabulara. U tom vokabularu dominiraju ideološke konstrukcije koje uvek ističu navodno „protivrečan“ karakter jugoslovenskog društva, kao što su: „kompleksne klasne logike koje su se međusobno sudarale i sukobljavale“; „protivrečne političko-ekonomske pojave“; „društvena dinamika koja je istovremeno centripetalna i centrifugalna“ itd.

U tom smislu je karakteristična publikacija „Gradove smo vam podigli“ (čiji je podnaslov „O protivrečnostima jugoslovenskog socijalizma“) nedavno objavljenja u Beogradu, kao propratni materijal za istoimenu izložbu. U stvari, sve gore navedene ideološke floskule izvučene su iz uvodnog teksta ove publikacije. Osim na ovaj tekst, ovde ću se ukratko osvrnuti još i na tekst „Protivrečna reprodukcija socijalističke Jugoslavije“ iz iste publikacije. Ova izložba i publikacija, okupila je veći broj levičara sa jugoslovenskog prostora i predstavlja vrlo dobar  i svež primer ideološke artikulacije ovog tipa.

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On the terrain of capital – labour and gender regimes in Yugoslavia

1. A note on the Yugoslav gender regime

Picture 1. Stjepan Lahovski; Demonstration (Self-portrait as a female comrade in a procession), 1947.

In 1947, painter Stjepan Lahovski painted a self-portrait in gouache under the title Demonstration – Self-portrait as a comrade in a procession (Ilustration 1). He said, “That’s me, an old woman (baba)1 in an overcoat, a headscarf and military boots.” The author, who throughout his opus was involved in making self-portraits painted in different styles and techniques, taking over “the vesture of a certain historical style”, thought of himself as not being courageous and not having a sense for struggles and wars. Thus, in various self-portraits he sought to compensate for some qualities he did not have, such as youth and courage. Why then he portrays himself like an old woman in a scarf? Although his statement accompanying the picture can be understood as a mocking of old women participants of demonstrations, the painting still tells a lot about the models of depicting courage in that period. In addition to the famous heroic depictions of female Partisan as some kind of Amazons with guns in their hands, the depictions of women during the period of the People’s Liberation Struggle, as well as in the postwar period, included also images of old women with headscarves depicted as they learn to write, as they participate in elections and perform hard physical work, as we can see in the numerous illustrations in the Woman in the Struggle magazine2 (Ilustations 2, 3, 4). In its editorials, this magazine explicitly expressed the goal of creating and disseminating new models of femininity, which is in line with the very reason for the emergence of this “organ of the struggle”.

After the war, the position of women was more drastically changed than that of men, creating the need for a more precise creation of the character(s) of “new” women in order to consolidate them to the right place in the new society. The Partisan is not only an Amazon or a Spartan, but bent and stiff. However, persistent, hard working and brave. The figures of heroes and heroines aimed to be associated with an ethic of hard work, and gradually the heroism of work became the most prominent social value that replaced the heroism of the struggle. In the imagery of that time, women appear as heroes of socialist work, women in peasant cooperatives, women cutting the woods or working on afforestation. Although the organizers of the Anti-Fascist Front of Women (AFŽ) were mostly educated urban women, and among the “ordinary” fighters were women from the towns, the heroines represented were almost always as villagers, often shepherds. Besides the fact that this contrast (nescient villager oppressed by rural patriarchal relations→strong, emancipated fighter dedicated to the building of a new society) more explicitly emphasizes the transformative effect of the participation in the People’s Liberation Struggle, the character of an illiterate shepherd or an old woman makes the woman a kind of tabula rasa in which it is easier to incribe any desirable meaning. On the other hand, the urban intellectual differs much more from the traditional ideal of womanhood, and it can also bear associations of bourgeois habits, values ​​and lifestyles typical of the urban middle class from which she probably originates. By using the figure of a female comrade in a military overcoat and a headscarf for a self-portrait, Lahovski does two things: 1) he clears himself of his “negative” attributes – bourgeois lifestyle, cowardice, inadequate masculinity, “homosexuality” and the decadence and laziness associated with it3; and 2) shows that certain characters of the new woman – Partisans and heroines of labour – have in some way become iconic – symbols of certain values for the depiction of which certain recognizable models were always used. The fact that Lahovski somewhat ironically appropriates such a representation of women for the exploration of his own identity, already in 1947 suggests that the figure of the heroin of labour would quickly become emptied of its content.

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Na terenu kapitala – režimi rada i roda u Jugoslaviji

1. Natuknica o jugoslavenskom rodnom režimu

Slika 1. Stjepan Lahovski: Demonstracija (Autoportret kao drugarica u povorci), 1947.

Godine 1947. slikar Stjepan Lahovski naslikao je autoportret u gvašu pod nazivom Demonstracija – Autoportret kao drugarica u povorci (slika 1). O slici je sam rekao: “To sam ja, baba u šinjelu i rupcu i vojničkim čizmama.” Autor koji je kroz cijeli svoj opus bio zaokupljen autoportretima slikanim u različitim stilovima i tehnikama, preuzimajući “ruho određenog povijesnog stila”, bliskim je osobama priznavao da nije bio hrabar te da nije imao smisla za borbu i ratove. Tako je u raznim svojim autoportretima nastojao nadoknaditi neke kvalitete koje nije posjedovao, poput mladosti i hrabrosti. Zašto se onda u ovom autoportretu prikazuje kao “baba”? Iako se slika popraćena njegovom izjavom može shvatiti donekle kao ismijavanje “baba” sudionica demonstracija, ona ipak mnogo govori o modelima prikaza hrabrosti u tom razdoblju. Osim poznatih herojskih prikaza partizanki kao svojevrsnih amazonki s puškama u rukama, u prikazima žena u periodu Narodno oslobodilačke borbe kao i u poslijeratnom periodu javljaju se prikazi starih žena s maramama oko glave kako uče pisati, sudjeluju u izborima te obavljaju teške fizičke poslove, kao što možemo vidjeti na brojnim ilustracijama iz časopisa Žena u borbi1 (slike 2, 3, 4). U tom je časopisu eksplicitno izražen cilj sukreiranja i širenja novih modela ženstvenosti, što je u skladu sa samim razlogom nastanka tog „borbenog glasila“.

Nakon rata položaj žene drastičnije je promijenjen nego onaj muškarca, što je stvorilo potrebu za preciznijim kreiranjem lika/likova „nove“ žene kako bi se one fiksirale na pravo mjesto u novonastajućem društvu. Partizanka ovdje nije samo amazonka i spartanka, već pognuta i zgrčena, ali ipak ustrajna, radišna i hrabra. Figura heroja i heroina nastoji se povezati s radnom etikom, pa postepeno heroizam rada postaje najistaknutija društvena vrijednost koja zamjenjuje heroizam borbe. Javljaju se slike žena kao heroja socijalističkog rada, žena u seljačkim zadrugama, žena koje sijeku šumu i koje pošumljavaju. Iako su organizatorice Antifašističkog fronta žena uglavnom bile visokoobrazovane urbane žene, a i među „običnim“ borkinjama je bilo žena iz gradova, predstavljene junakinje su gotovo uvijek seljanke, često pastirice. Osim što je pomoću tog kontrasta jasnije naglašen transformativni efekt sudjelovanja u Narodno-oslobodilaĉkoj borbi, lik nepismene pastirice ili starice čini od žene svojevrsnu tabulu rasu u koju je moguće lakše upisati bilo koje poželjno značenje, dok s druge strane, urbana intelektualka, osim što snažnije odudara od tradicionalnog poimanja žene, može nositi i asocijacije buržujskih navika, vrijednosti i stila života karakterističnih za urbanu građansku klasu iz koje ona vjerojatno potječe. Posezanjem za likom drugarice u šinjelu i rupcu za autoportret, Lahovski radi dvije stvari: 1) čisti sebe od svojih “negativnih” atributa – Buržoaskog stila života, kukavičluka, neadekvatne maskulinosti, “homoseksualnosti” i s njom asocirane dekadencije i lijenosti2; i 2) pokazuje kako su već tada `određeni likovi nove žene – partizanke, udarnice itd, postali na neki način ikonografski – simboli određenih vrijednosti za čiji se prikaz uvijek koriste određeni prepoznatljivi modeli. Činjenica da Lahovski donekle ironično apropriira takav prikaz žene u funkciji propitivanja vlastitog identiteta, već 1947. nagovještava da će ti prikazi heroina i udarnica ubrzo postati ispražnjeni od svojeg sadržaja.

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Yugoslavia: a State or a Revolutionary Community?

In an attempt to review the project of socialist Yugoslavia from an anarchist perspective, it would perhaps be enough to say that it was a state and in such a very simple way reduce the whole analysis to one short sentence. Of course, this would be an oversimplified understanding of the project that lasted more than 45 years and created a series of myths nurtured both by the left and the right which still today represents a part of the basis for their actions. We often hear that it is necessary to turn our backs to the past and concentrate on the future, but it is exactly the relation towards the past that determines what will the present and future be like. In the post-Yugoslav context, myths have a strong echo and influence on current happenings, whether they refer to real or imagined events.

The starting point and the motivation for this issue of Antipolitika wasn’t a search for the causes of the breakup of Yugoslavia or any kind of justification for that or any other regime. Yugoslavia was, as I said in the beginning, simply a state. It kept the continuity of statehood and institutions, whether we speak of Austro-Hungary, Kingdom of Serbia, Ottoman Empire, Kingdom of Montenegro, Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and in the end, socialist Yugoslavia – the topic of this issue. When we take a look at the chronology of institutions of statehood in this region, we can see that everything continued, despite the wars, regime breakups, and occupations; the continuity of the State was ensured in every moment, and, of key importance for our antiauthoritarian position, not once was it put in question on a mass level. Everything that exists today has its starting point – legislative, institutional and even in terms of the cadre – in all previous regimes. In some way, we always speak of the continuation of the project of the State (and of Capital, without which it cannot survive); what exact name it has, and which ideological pattern it adopts, are more questions of the current strategy of the reproduction of existing relations of power, rather than of a more essential difference.

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Jugoslavija: država ili revolucionarna zajednica?

U pokušaju da sagledamo projekt socijalističke Jugoslavije iz anarhističke perspektive, možda bi bilo dovoljno reći da je bila riječ o državi i takvim posve jednostavnim odgovorom svedemo cijelu analizu na jednu kratku rečenicu. Naravno, to bi bilo pojednostavljeno shvaćanje projekta koji je trajao nešto više od 45 godina i koji je stvorio niz mitova koje njeguju ljevica i desnica, i koji danas predstavljaju dio osnove za njihovo djelovanje. Često čujemo da se treba ostaviti prošlosti i okrenuti se budućnosti, no upravo taj odnos prema prošlosti određuje kakva će biti sadašnjost pa onda i budućnost. U postjugoslavenskom kontekstu mitovi imaju snažan odjek i utjecaj na aktualna zbivanja, bez obzira odnose li se na stvarne ili zamišljene događaje.

Polazište i motivacija ovog broja Antipolitike nije traženje uzroka raspada Jugoslavije ili pak bilo koja vrsta traženja opravdanja za taj ili bilo koji drugi režim. Jugoslavija je, kao što sam rekao na početku, bila jednostavno država, koja je zadržala kontinuitet državnosti i institucija, bilo da je riječ o Austro-Ugarskoj monarhiji, kraljevini Srbiji, Otomanskom carstvu, kraljevini Crnoj Gori, kraljevini SHS, kraljevini Jugoslaviji pa onda na kraju i socijalističkoj Jugoslaviji, o kojoj je ovdje riječ. Kada gledamo kronologiju institucije državnosti na ovom području, sve se nastavilo, unatoč ratovima, raspadima režima i okupacijama, kontinuitet države je osiguran u svakom trenutku i ono što je ključno za našu antiautoritarnu poziciju, niti jednom nije masovno doveden u pitanje. Sve ovo što postoji danas ima svoje polazište, zakonsko, institucionalno pa čak i kadrovsko u svim prijašnjim režimima. Na neki način, uvijek samo govorimo o nastavku projekta države (i kapitala bez kojeg niti ne može opstati), a to kako se zove i koji ideološki obrazac uzima, više su pitanja trenutne strategije opstanka postojećih odnosa moći, nego suštinske razlike.

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Solidarity with the Minneapolis uprising from Belgrade / Solidarnost iz Beograda sa ustankom u Mineapolisu

Bunjevački ispod.

We write as an informal group of comrades from Belgrade in solidarity with the Minneapolis uprising and the ongoing revolt radiating throughout the so-called “United States” and around the world.

We underscore that the institution of policing is, and always was since its inception for the protection of capital.

In the so-called “United States,” those who suffer most and die at the hands of this white supremacist institution are black and indigenous people. In Europe, whose people like to point across the Atlantic in bemusement and “horror,” it is Romani people, immigrants and refugees who face the brunt of this systematic violence while the majority population ignores the inherent and historically-rooted anti-tziganism of policing.

To all, we say, fuck white supremacy, fuck capital, fuck the police!

***

Pišemo kao neformalna grupa drugarica/drugova iz Beograda u solidarnosti sa ustankom u Mineapolisu i tekućom pobunom širom takozvanih  „Sjedinjenih država“ i širom sveta.

Naglašavamo da  policijska institucija služi zaštiti kapitala i da tome služi od svog nastanka.

U takozvanim “Sjedinjenim državama” oni koji najviše pate i bivaju ubijani od strane ove institucije bele nadmoći jesu crni ljudi i urođenici. U Evropi, gde ljudi vole da svoju začuđenost i užas upućuju na drugu stranu Atlantika, Romi, imigranti i izbeglice su ti koji se suočavaju sa najvećim udarom ovog sistematskog nasilja dok većina stanovništvo ignoriše inherentni i istorijski ukorenjeni anti-ciganizam policijskog posla.

Svemu tome kažemo, jebeš belačku nadmoć, jebeš kapital, jebeš pandure!

Antipolitika na sajmu Ispod mosta… Plaža! u Beogradu

Ispod mosta… Plaža!

Sajam nezavisnog izdavaštva i autonomne domaće radinosti.

Subota, 22. februar, AKAB Okretnica, Beograd.

15-22h sajam

23h svirka:

Abergaz, Zagreb
abergaz.bandcamp.com

Skreč majstor Ljuban i Videc + gosti, Beograd
soundcloud.com/ljuban

Anarhija, pank, (anti)umetnost…

Knjige, pamfleti, časopisi, fanzini, kasete, ploče, keramika, plakati, hekleraj…

Autonomija, uradi sam etika, revolucionarnost svakodnevnog života i drugarstvo.

To su osnove na kojima započinjemo novi projekat, sajam nezavisnog izdavaštva i autonomne domaće radinosti “Ispod mosta… Plaža!”.

Ujedno, to su i potrebe koje ćemo pokušati da zadovoljimo. Plaža! je stoga zamišljena kao mesto susreta i drugarstva. Događaj u kojem će druženje biti centralno, onaj predah u kome se prijatelji/ce sretnu i rode nove ideje.

Nekada, Sous les pavés… la plage! (Ispod kaldrme… plaža!) a sada, bukvalno ispod mosta, između okretnice GSP-a i železničke stanice, u nizu različitih kafana i grilova, okruženi autobusima i zagađenjem… mi iskopavamo plažu, to jest, u našoj Okretnici, radimo ovakav sajam – uprkos zdravom razumu, sa kojim se i onako nikada ništa dobro i neočekivano ne može postići.

Vidimo se na Plaži!

Štandovi:

Active Publishing
www.activedistribution.org

anarhija / blok 45 i Bubašvaba pres, Beograd
anarhija-blok45.net

Utopia, Beograd
www.utopia.co.rs

Burevesnik, Beograd
antipolitika.noblogs.org

Što čitaš?, Zagreb
www.stocitas.org

Matrijaršija, Beograd
www.matrijarsija.com

DAF, Zagreb
www.daf.hr

Doomtown Records, Zagreb
doomtownrecords.bandcamp.com

Good Night Macho Pride, Zagreb
www.facebook.com/goodnightmachopride

Tonovi Zemlje, Beograd
www.instagram.com/tonovizemlje

KK USIUSK, Babušnica
kkusiusk.noblogs.org

Anarho-Kvir Info Centar, Novi Sad

Bu Print, Novi Sad

Neuromangler, Novi Sad
www.facebook.com/neuromangler

Ica Heklica, Novi Sad
ica.hotglue.me

Trans Mreža Balkan
www.transbalkan.org

Samoobrazovni univerzitet “Svetozar Marković”, Beograd
www.facebook.com/samoobrazovni/

PMK Records, Boljevac
pmkrecords.bandcamp.com

Morbus Gravis, Beograd
https://instagram.com/morbusgravis_ceramix

Lavirint Art, Novi Sad
www.facebook.com/lavirint.art

Confusion Specialist Records, Beograd
https://confusionspecialistrecords.bandcamp.com/

Antipolitika Issue 2 – Greek language edition is out!

Since recently a Greek language edition of the second issue of Antipolitika is available. Below you can see the dates of the first presentations as well as the cover page and contents.

Friday Jan. 31, Thessaloniki
Antipolitika presentation: 19:00, Ÿfanet squat,
Soli-live, Viologiko, 23:00

Saturday, Feb. 1, Giannina
Antipolitika presentation: 19:00, libertarian lab. Fahrenheit 451
Soli-live: Antiviosi squat, 22:30

Sunday Feb. 2, Larissa
Antipolitika presentation: 19:00, social space ‘Paratodos’

Monday Feb. 3, Athens
Antipolitika presentation: 19:00 ASOEE university (School of Economics, city center)

Tuesday Feb. 4, Athens
Antipolitika presentation: 20:00 Movie projection (Men don”t cry) and discussion at ‘Perasma” self-organised ‘steki”, Exarchia

Antipolitika Issue 2 – greek

Γιουγκοσλαβία: κράτος ή επαναστατική κοινότητα;
Will Firth: Γλώσσα και Πολιτική στην πρώην Γιουγκοσλαβία
CrimethInc: WR: Μυστήρια του οργα(νι)σµού – Πέρα από την απελευθέρωση της επιθυµίας
Στο γήπεδο του κεφάλαιου: Εργασία και Φύλο στη Γιουγκοσλαβία
Marijana Stojčić: Προλετάριοι όλου του κόσµου, ποιος πλένει τις κάλτσες σας; Από τις γυναίκες Αντάρτισσες στη συντρόφισσα Γυναίκα.
Το Φεµινιστικό Κίνηµα στη Γιουγκοσλαβία, 1978-1989
Lila: Γιουγκοσλάβικη αυτοδιαχείριση – Χειραφέτηση των εργαζοµένων 
ή καπιταλιστικός καταµερισµός της εργασίας;
Guillaume Lenormant: Paul Zorkine (Pavle Vrbica)
Paul Zorkine: Ο µύθος των εργατικών συµβουλίων επί Τίτο
Fredy Perlman: Η γέννηση ενός Επαναστατικού Κινήµατος στη Γιουγκοσλαβία
Μαυροκόκκινοι ανταποκριτές: Κάτω η κόκκινη µπουρζουαζία 
της Γιουγκοσλαβίας – Μια ανάλυση της φοιτητικής εξέγερσης του Ιούνη στο Βελιγράδι, Γιουγκοσλαβία (1968)
Jelka Kljajić-Imširović: Αντιφρονούντες και φυλακή
Lorraine Perlman: Τρία χρόνια στη Γιουγκοσλαβία
Juraj Katalenac: Praxis: µια απόπειρα ανελέητης κριτικής
Our baba doesn’t say fairy tales: Κάνοντας [µη] κριτική. Αποδοµώντας την αντι-ιµπεριαλιστική αφήγηση για την κατάρρευση της Γιουγκοσλαβίας
Ferdi: «Δεν είναι παραµύθια, αλλά η αλήθεια» – Kριτική αποτίµηση της πολιτικής για τους Ροµά στη ‘χρυσή εποχή’ της Γιουγκοσλαβίας
Damjan Pavlica: Σύγχρονη Ιστορία του Κοσόβου
Vlado Kristl: Όταν πήγα στους παρτιζάνους
Nina Simonović: Ενάντια σε κάθε Γιουγκοσλαβία – Η ιδεολογία της µετάβασης από τον καπιταλισµό στον καπιταλισµό, διαµέσου του καπιταλισµού
Laslo Sekelj: Αντισηµιτισµός στη Σοσιαλιστική Γιουγκοσλαβία
Mladen Stilinović, αναρχικός
Branko Ćopić: Μια αιρετική ιστορία
Slavko Bogdanović: Underground ποίηµα Το Βήµα της Νεολαίας του Νόβι Σαντ
Marko Paunović: Μεταξύ πολιτικής και ποιητικής

Objavljen je drugi broj! / The second issue is out!

Tema broja: Jugoslavija. Broj stranica: 194.

English below.

Objavljen je drugi broj Antipolitike. Tema broja je Jugoslavija. Kao i u slučaju prvog broja štampali smo dve verzije, na engleskom i na našem jeziku. Ovaj broj će imati i verziju na grčkom jeziku koja će biti objavljena do kraja godine. Javite nam se ukoliko želite kopiju ili da pomognete sa distribucijom. Trenutno je dostupan na sledećim mestima: Beograd: Okretnica, Utopia, Beopolis; Babušnica: KKUSIUSK, Novi Sad: Rizom; Zagreb: Što čitaš?; Zadar: Nigdjezemska.

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Over the Walls of Nationalisms and Wars

[Statement of participants of 8th Balkan Anarchist Bookfair]

It is clear that nationalism is a tool used against the exploited classes. In the Balkans, (especially in the region of ex-Yugoslavia) the rise of nationalist ideology in the 1990’s helped enable the brutal capitalist attack against society. It further atomized the population and destroyed established networks of cooperation and solidarity.

The need to confront nationalist ideology from a radical and anti-authoritarian perspective gathered us in Mostar on the 5th and 6th of September 2014, for the 8th Balkan Anarchist Bookfair. We came from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Albania, Romania, Greece and other countries outside the Balkan area.

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Preko zidova nacionalizama i rata

[Izjava sudionika/ica 8. Balkanskog anarhističkog sajma knjiga]

8. Balkanski anarhistički sajam knjiga održan je 05. i 06. 08. 2104 u Mostaru. Sam sajam se ove godine održavao pod nazivom “Preko zidova nacionalizma”, a u duhu naziva učesnice i učesnici su napisali izjavu koju prenosimo u cijelosti.

Jasno je da je nacionalizam sredstvo koje je upotrebljeno protiv eksploatisanih klasa. Na Balkanu, (posebno u regionu bivše Jugoslavije) uspon nacionalističke ideologije 1990-ih pomogao je omogućavanje brutalnog kapitalističkog napada na društvo. To je dodatno atomizovalo stanovništvo i uništilo ustanovljene mreže saradnje i solidarnosti.

Potreba da se suprotstavimo nacionalističkoj ideologiji iz radikalne i antiautoritarne perspektive okupila nas je u Mostaru 5. i 6. septembra 2014, na 8. balkanskom anarhističkom sajmu knjiga. Došli smo iz Bosne i Hercegovine, Hrvatske, Srbije, Slovenije, Albanije, Rumunije, Grčke i drugih zemalja izvan područja Balkana.

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Preparedness, the Road to Universal Slaughter

Emma Goldman

Ever since the beginning of the European conflagration, the whole human race almost has fallen into the deathly grip of the war anesthesis, overcome by the mad teaming fumes of a blood soaked chloroform, which has obscured its vision and paralyzed its heart. Indeed, with the exception of some savage tribes, who know nothing of Christian religion or of brotherly love, and who also know nothing of dreadnaughts, submarines, munition manufacture and war loans, the rest of the race is under this terrible narcosis. The human mind seems to be conscious of but one thing, murderous speculation. Our whole civilization, our entire culture is concentrated in the mad demand for the most perfected weapons of slaughter.

Ammunition! Ammunition! O, Lord, thou who rulest heaven and earth, thou God of love, of mercy and of justice, provide us with enough ammunition to destroy our enemy. Such is the prayer which is ascending daily to the Christian heaven. Just like cattle, panic-stricken in the face of fire, throw themselves into the very flames, so all of the European people have fallen over each other into the devouring flames of the furies of war, and America, pushed to the very brink by unscrupulous politicians, by ranting demagogues, and by military sharks, is preparing for the same terrible feat.

In the face of this approaching disaster, it behooves men and women not yet overcome by the war madness to raise their voice of protest, to call the attention of the people to the crime and outrage which are about to be perpetrated upon them.

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Anti-militarism in Serbia in the 1990s – Interview with Igor Seke

Drafted soldier Vladimir Živković deserted from the Vukovar front and parked his armored vehicle in front of the Parliament building in Belgrade, protesting the war. September, 1991.

Igor Seke is a peace activist from Serbia, currently living in Mexico. From year 2001-2004 he was coordinating the Conscientious Objection campaign in Serbia, together with other Campaign members, mainly coming from the punk and underground music and art scene. Currently, he’s participating in various initiatives in favor of the rights of the indigenous communities in Mexico. He’s a council member of War Resisters’ International (WRI) and also an active member of the Antimilitrist Network of the Latin America and the Caribbean (RAMALC).

Antipolitika: Tell us something about the general characteristics of the anti-war movement of the 90s in Serbia.

Igor Seke: The anti-war movement had many forms. For example, the Civil Alliance of Serbia was a political party that participated in the elections and had clear anti-nationalist and anti-war characteristics, and many intellectuals of the left and social-democratic orientation were members or sympathizers of that movement. In addition to that, in the beginning of the war, a group of rock musicians gathered and made the song  “Slušaj ‘vamo” (“Listen here”) that called for people to boycott the war and calls for mobilization. Women in Black Against the War was also founded, and they openly helped the deserters and conscientious objectors, and they were—in the literal sense—the cradle of the conscientious objection movement in Serbia. Women in Black became members of the global anti-militarist network War Resister’s International (WRI) and through an international network made contact with conscientious objectors movement from Spain (MOC) from which we learned a lot. YUCOM, the committee of lawyers for human rights also joined the struggle for the recognition of the right to conscientious objection, and in cooperation with them a campaign for the collection of 30.000 signatures for a citizens initiative for the recognition of the right to conscientious objection was started. The initiative was rejected by the parliament, but it was the first indicator that things would change.

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Antimilitarizam u Srbiji devedesetih godina – Intervju sa Igorom Sekeom

Mobilizirani vojnik Vladimir Živković dezertirao je s vukovarskog fronta i parkirao oklopno vozilo ispred skupštine Jugoslavije u Beogradu u znak protesta protive rata (1991).

Igor Seke je mirnovni aktivista iz Srbije koji trenutno živi u Meksiku. U periodu 2001-2004 bio je koordinator kampanje prigovora savesti u Srbiji, zajedno sa drugim učesnicima ove kampanje, koji su uglavnom dolazili iz pank i andergraund muzičke i art scene. Trenutno učestvuje u različitim inicijativama u korist prava urođeničkih zajednica u Meksiku. Član je saveta organizacije War Resisters’ International (WRI) i aktivni član Antimiliarističke mreže Latinske Amerike i Kariba (RAMALC).


Antipolitika: Kaži nam nešto o generalnim karakteristikama anti-ratnog pokreta devedesetih godina u Srbiji.

Antiratni pokret je imao mnogo oblika. Na primer Građanski savez Srbije je bio politička stranka koja je učestvovala na izborima i koja je imala jasni anti-nacionalistički i anti-ratni karakter, i mnogo intelektualaca leve i social-demokratske orijentacije su bili članovi ili simpatizeri tog pokreta. Osim toga, s početkom rata su se okupila i grupa rok muzičara koji su napravili pesmu “Slušaj ‘vamo”, koja je pozivala ljude da bojkotuju rat i pozive za mobilizaciju. Osnovane su i Žene u crnom protiv rata (ŽuC) , koje su otvoreno pomagale dezertere i prigovarače savesti, i one su u bukvalnom smislu bila kolevka pokreta za prigovor savesti u Srbiji. ŽuC su postale članice globalne antimilitarističke mreže War Resister’s International (WRI) , i kroz međunarodnu mrežu Žena u Crnom stupile su u kontakt sa pokretom za prigovor savesti (MOC) iz Španije od kojih smo mnogo naučili. Borbi za priznavanje prava na prigovor savesti se priključio i tadašnji YUCOM, komitet pravnika za ljudska prava i u saradnji sa njima se pokrenuta kampanja za prikupljanje 30.000 potpisa za građansku inicijativu za priznavanje prava na prigovor savesti. Inicijativa nije prošla u skupštini, ali je bila prvi indikator da će se stvari promeniti.

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Greek Militarism in the age of SYRIZA

20.20.2014. Future PM in the Ministry of Defense

Barefoot Battalion, Presented as part of the Mediterranean/ Balkan Anarchist Meeting, Athens-Thessaloniki-Chania, 9-18/10/205

 

This paper was presented for the first time at the 5th Antimilitarist Gathering organised by the Barefoot Battalion on 4-5th September 2015, in Ioannina, Greece. It was then enhanced to include the period shortly after the elections of 20th September 2015.

 

***

The continuation of the State

It is a fact, that the issue of anti-militarism is not always a central issue on the agenda  of the anti-authoritarian movement and its structures. This has been the case in Greece for many years, and is especially true today. The total number of social and class struggles has clearly decreased. Despite the valuable legacy of recent struggles, they have not managed to overcome internal and external limitations in order to halt the increasingly intensified undermining of our class. Capitalist restructuring continues to rampage our lives, worsening our position within the fields of social struggle and decreasing the possibilities of collective action and thought.

Arguably, it is precisely during such a critical period, when inter-capitalistic competition makes war an increasingly less remote reality, which can be simply ‘shoved under the carpet’, that anti-militarism should preoccupy us in a much more serious and targeted way. The sweeping statements traditionally adopted by the Left that imply an antimilitarist approach (ie. opposing NATO or US foreign policy), have succeeded in attributing a certain ‘anti-imperialist’, confrontational character to their own agents and have masked the true nature of militarism and the way it has weaved itself into our everyday lives, into our neighbourhoods, in the structures of ‘our own’ state. There is a general tendency to view fascism, nationalism and racism as exaggerated deviations (from the otherwise ‘democratic’ European norm) and as socio-historic elements of only specific eras or states, as in the case of Germany during WWII. Similarly, militarism seems to be perceived as a phenomenon that is only apparent in remote dictatorial regimes (where leaders wear military uniforms and tanks roam the streets) or in the ‘exceptional’ chapters of contemporary greek history (such as the military junta between 1967-1964). In any case, an analysis of militarism which focuses neither on N.Korea nor on the military junta of 1967, but instead, focuses its’ attention on Greece in 2015 under the rule of SY.RIZ.A, is not the ‘hottest’ of subjects. Even though Rosa Luxemburg taught us almost 100 years ago that “militarism in both its’ forms – as war and as armed peace – is a legitimate child, a logical result of capitalism”. However, we hope that through efforts such as this one, the genetic relationship between militarism and the state will become clear.

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Grčki militarizam u eri Sirize

20.10.2014. Budući premijer u Ministarstvu odbrane

Bosonogi bataljon, izlaganje sa Mediteranskog/Balkanskog anarhističkog okupljanja, Atina-Solun-Hanija, 9-18.10.2015

Ovaj rad je prvi put predstavljen na Petom Antimilitarističkom skupu, organizovanom od strane Bosonogog bataljona 4-5. septembra 2015. u Janjini, u Grčkoj. Naknadno je dopunjen i osvrtom na period neposredno nakon izbora od 20. septembra 2015.

***

Nastavak Države

Činjenica je da pitanje antimilitarizma nije uvek glavna stavka u programu antiautoritarnog pokreta i njegovih struktura. U Grčkoj je tako godinama, a pogotovo danas. Ukupan broj društvenih i klasnih borbi u očitom je padu. Bez obzira na dragoceno nasleđe koje su nam ostavile skorašnje borbe, one nisu uspele da prevaziđu unutrašnja i spoljašnja ograničenja i tako zaustave sve žustrije urušavanje naše klase. Kapitalističko restrukturiranje nastavlja da divlja našim životima, slabeći našu poziciju na polju društvene borbe i smanjujući prostor za zajedničku akciju i stav.

Možda bi upravo u takvim kritičnim trenucima, kada se usled globalnog kapitalističkog nadmetanja rat čini sve bližom stvarnošću koja se jednostavno ne može ‘strpati pod tepih’, antimilitarizmom trebalo da se pozabavimo na mnogo ozbiljniji i artikulisaniji način. Uopštene izjave kojima se levica tradicionalno služi na temu antimilitarizma (npr. protivljenje NATO-u ili američkoj spoljnoj politici) uspele su da daju izvestan ‘antiimperijalistički’, borbeni karakter njihovim zagovornicima i prikrile pravu prirodu militarizma i načina na koji se on utkao u našu svakodnevnicu, u našu stambenu četvrt, u strukture ‘naše vlastite’ države. Postoji opšta tendencija da se na fašizam, nacionalizam i rasizam gleda kao na preterana odstupanja (od inače ‘demokratske’ evropske norme) i društveno-istorijske elemente isključivo određenih istorijskih perioda ili država, kao što je slučaj sa Nemačkom iz doba Drugog svetskog rata. Takođe, militarizam kao da se uzima za fenomen koji se javlja samo pod dalekim diktatorskim režimima (gde se vođe odevaju u vojne uniforme, a ulicama gaze tenkovi) ili u ‘nesvakidašnjim’ poglavljima savremene grčke istorije (npr. vojna hunta 1967-1974). U svakom slučaju, analiza militarizma koja se ne bavi ni Severnom Korejom ni vojnom huntom iz 1967, već svoju pažnju usmerava na Grčku iz 2015. pod vlašću Sirize nije ‘najvrelija’ tema, iako nas je Roza Luksemburg pre gotovo sto godina učila kako ‘militarizam u oba svoja oblika – i kao rat i kao mir pod oružjem – predstavlja zakonito čeljade, logičan ishod kapitalizma’. Opet, nadamo se da ćemo putem pokušaja kao što je ovaj razotkriti genetsku vezu između militarizma i države.

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the mars barcode: 12 illustrated shorts and a post-scriptum on capitalist war

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Bonaparte visitant les pestiférés de Jaffa (Bonaparte visits the plague stricken in Jaffa, oil on canvas, 1804, Louvre, by Antoine-Jean Gros) is a propaganda painting idealizing Napoleon’s disastrous Egyptian campaign. It shows his (alleged?) visit to his sick soldiers in March 1799 in his attempt to reverse the negative rumors about him ordering plague victims to be “mercy-killed” by poisoning. The outbreak of the bubonic plague had followed the violent “sack of Jaffa” by the French army. This romantic oil-painting, with several neoclassicist elements, was exhibited in the months between Napoleon’s proclamation as emperor and his coronation. It portrays the emperor as god-sent healer offering the traditional “royal touch”, as he thaumaturgically lays his hand on the armpit of one of the sick.

Clandestina, November 2015

1. war as spectacle within the bourgeois subject

The battlefield had become a mass spectacle decades before the discovery of photography. With the Napoleonic wars, the boundary between exercising lethal violence and observing it became blurred. Napoleon realized that in war, succeeding in propaganda is more important than winning a real military confrontation. Napoleon’s operations had to be celebrated as victorious, even if if they could not be won on a technical military level. They had to be described in detail and these glorious narratives of fighting battles had to be distributed as widely as possible. He was the first leader to make “live war reporting” as definitive as it still is for the subject formation of the Western citizen “in the peaceful world”.

Military operations in war had long become mass industrial affairs and could no longer be represented in their entirety by simple observers, such as painters or writers. Now that armies had technologies of mass destruction to their disposal, a whole variety of accounts, comments and descriptions, as well as knowledge of the stages of tactical and practical preparations were necessary for “a whole battle” to be recomposed in the Press for the news-hungry public.

Over the course of the 19th century, war itself started adapting to the requirements of the remote-controlled imagination of its consumers. Everyone could now have an opinion about how an operation would be best carried out, how its tactics should be interpreted, how a battle should be evaluated or repeated avoiding past failures. Soon, war had found a comfortable place in the everyday life of consumers in bourgeois States.

As a natural law of the global balance of power, real war would soon appear even banal.

This sense of a split between “peace at home” and “war abroad” (or “war elsewhere”) is expressed in most binary oppositions of meaning in the spectacular industries of the 20th century. The opposite genres of “news” and “entertainment” are emblematic of this dialectics – their merging in today’s “infotainment” carries their complementarity to its logical conclusion.

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marsov barkod: 12 ilustrovanih crtica i post scriptum o kapitalističkom ratu

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Bonaparte visitant les pestiférés de Jaffa (Bonaparta obilazi zaražene kugom u Jafi, Antoan-Žan Gro (Antoine-Jean Gros), ulje na platnu, 1804, Luvr) je propagandna slika koja idealizuje Napoleonovu katastrofalnu Egipatsku ekspediciju. Ona prikazuje njegovu (navodnu?) posetu bolesnim vojnicima u martu 1799, u pokušaju da zaustavi zlonamerne glasine kako je naredio da žrtve kuge budu trovanjem „ubijene iz samilosti“. Izbijanje bubonske kuge je usledilo za nasilnim „pustošenjem Jafe“ od strane francuske vojske. Ova romantičarska uljana slika, sa nekoliko neoklasičnih elemenata, je bila izložena u mesecima između Napoleonovog proglašenja za cara i njegovog krunisanja. Ona prikazuje cara kao od boga poslatog iscelitelja koji nudi tradicionalni „kraljevski dodir“, dok poput čudotvorca polaže ruku na pazuh jednog bolesnika.

Clandestina, novembar 2015, Solun.

1. rat kao spektakl unutar buržoaskog subjekta

Bojno polje je postalo masovni spektakl decenijama pre otkrića fotografije. Sa Napoleonovim ratovima, granica između činjenja smrtonosnog nasilja i njegovog posmatranja je postala maglovita. Napoleon je shvatio da je u ratu propagandni uspeh važniji od pobede u pravom vojnom sukobu. Napoleonove operacije su morale da se slave kao pobedonosne, čak i ako nisu mogle da budu dobijene na tehničkom vojnom nivou. Morale su da budu opisane do detalja, a ti veličanstveni narativi o vođenju bitaka su morali da se razglase što je više moguće. On je bio prvi vođa koji je „izveštavanje iz rata uživo“ učinio presudnim za formiranje subjekta Zapadnog građanina „u mirnom svetu“, u onoj meri u kojoj ono to još uvek jeste.

Ratne vojne operacije su odavno postale predmet masovne industrije i obični posmatrači, poput slikara ili pisaca, ih ne mogu predstaviti u potpunosti. Sada kada su armije na raspolaganju imale tehnologije masovnog uništenja bila je neophodna čitava paleta izveštaja, komentara i opisa, kao i znanje o fazama taktičkih i praktičnih priprema, kako bi javnost gladna vesti dobila prikaz „čitave bitke“ u Novinama.
Tokom 19. veka je sam rat počeo da se prilagođava zahtevima daljinski kontrolisane mašte svojih potrošača. Sada je svako mogao da ima mišljenje o tome kako bi bilo najbolje izvesti operaciju, kako bi trebalo tumačiti njenu taktiku, kako bi bitku trebalo proceniti ili ponoviti uz izbegavanje ranijih neuspeha. Rat se ubrzo udobno smestio u svakodnevni život potrošača u buržoaskim Državama.

Kao prirodni zakon globalne ravnoteže moći, pravi rat će uskoro čak početi da deluje banalno.

Ovaj osećaj odvojenosti „mira kod kuće“ od „rata u tuđini“ (ili „rata negde drugde“) je izražen u najbinarnijim suprotstavljenostima značenja u spektakularnim industrijama 20. veka. Oprečni žanrovi „vesti“ i „zabave“ su simbolični za ovu dijalektiku – njihovo stapanje u današnju „infozabavu“ (infotainment) izvodi njihovu komplementarnost do njenog logičnog zaključka.

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Pripremljenost, put ka sveopćem pokolju

 

Emma Goldman

Još od samog početka požara koji je zavladao Europom, gotovo cijeli ljudski rod je upao u smrtonosni zagrljaj ratne anestezije, otupljenosti na bol.

Prevladan je od strane ludog kolektivnog bijesa uzrokovanog krvlju natopljenim kloroformom, koji mu je poremetio vid i paralizirao srce. Zaista, sa izuzetkom nekih divljih plemena, koja ne znaju ništa o kršćanstvu ili o ljubavi prema bližnjemu i koja također ne znaju ništa o bojnim brodovima, podmornicama, tvornicama municije i ratnim kreditima, ostatak ljudske rase se trenutno nalazi pod tom užasnom narkozom. Čini se da je ljudski um svjestan svega osim jedne stvari — ubojite špekulacije. Naša cijela civilizacija, naša cjelokupna kultura je koncentrirana u ludoj potražnji za što savršenijim oruđima za pokolj.

Municije, municije! O, Gospode, ti koji vladaš na nebu i na zemlji, ti Bože ljubavi, milostivosti i pravde, daj nam dovoljno municije kako bi uništili svoje neprijatelje. Takve molitve se svakodnevno upućuju u smjeru kršćanskog raja. Baš kao što se stoka, prestravljena kada se suoči sa vatrom, baca u plamen, tako su svi stanovnici Europe jedni preko drugih popadali u pobjesnjeli požar zahuktalog rata, a Amerika, dovedena na sam rub od strane beskrupuloznih političara, brbljavih demagoga i vojnih službenika, priprema se na isti užasan čin.
Potrebno je da muškarci i žene, koji još uvijek nisu podlegli ovom ratnom ludilu, podignu svoj glas protesta, kako bi usmjerili pažnju ljudi na zločin i užas koji će se svaki čas provesti nad njima.

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Anarchist solidarity and anti-war initiatives in post-Yugoslav countries

Z.A.P.O Anti-War Demo, 19.06.1991.

(personal recollection from Croatia)

A few important notes: I am writing from my own personal perspective, meaning that I lived at the time in Croatia and that all of this is my point of view. I will note if something is a quote or reference.

Also, it’s important to note that this is not a historical text. There’s no such thing as objective history. This is a personal overview of activities and events that were organized to oppose war, nationalism, militarization and to show and practice solidarity with all those suffering directly from war or its (side)effects.

Most of all, this is not an analysis of the war(s) in former Yugoslavia, neither an attempt to discover why they happened. It was never really a question – as any war in the past it was all about power, wealth and control over territory and people, no matter which side in the war you look at.

For a better understanding of the context in which the events that I’m writing about take place, it is important to note that in the years before the war(s) in former Yugoslavia there was no anarchist movement, just few individuals and initial groups being formed at the very end of 1980’s and the beginning of the 1990’s. So, the time of war(s) was also a new beginning (after almost 60 years) for organized resistance coming from anarchists.

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Anarhistička solidarnost i antiratne aktivnosti u Hrvatskoj

 

Z.A.P.O. antiratni protest 19. lipanj, 1991. godine

(osobno prisjećanje)

 

Za početak, par važnih napomena: ovo što pišem je moj osobni stav i sjećanje, što zapravo samo znači da sam u vrijeme događaja o kojima govorim živio u Hrvatskoj. Sve što pišem je moj stav, a ukoliko je riječ o citatu ili drugom izvoru, to ću posebno napomenuti.

Također, važno je napomenuti da ovo nije povijesni tekst. Objektivna povijest, kako nam to obično prezentiraju, ne postoji. Ovo je samo osobni pregled aktivnosti i događaja koji su organizirani protiv rata, nacionalizma i militarizma kako bi se pokazala i prakticirala solidarnost sa svima koji su patili zbog rata i njegovih posljedica.

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Militarizacija svakodnevnog života

Živimo u militariziranom svijetu. Za državu i kapital nikad nije pitanje da li je to potrebno, već je samo pitanje razine. Koliko militarizacije? Balkan je uvijek bio snažno militariziran, čak su i razdoblja “mira” bila obilježena stalnim prisustvom vojske u svakodnevnom životu. Govoreći s teritorija koji se jedno vrijeme zvao Jugoslavija, a sada ima neka druga imena, posve je jasno da mitologija i opća militarizacija uvijek priprema društvo za nove ratove, a nikad ne služi tome da očuva “mir”, u šta nas uvijek uvjeravaju oni na pozicijama moći.

Povijest posljednih ratova nas uči mnoge stvari: pokazuje, još jednom, pravo lice države i kapitala, koje postaje lice zvijeri, čim sve maske padnu i otvoreno se upuste u rat. U vrijeme rata, nema potrebe za sofisticiranim marketinškim trikovima, širenje straha i razaranja je posve dovoljno. Rat ima svoju logiku, koja je već duboko ukorijenjena u društvu jer je godinama pripremano za novi pokolj. Dovoljno je reći: “novi neprijatelj je tu i oni su prava prijetnja tvom životu, tradiciji i, iznad svega, nacionalnim interesima”! Koliko puta smo to već čuli?

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Antipolitika Broj 1/Issue 1

Tema broja: Antimilitarizam. Broj strana: 60

Sadržaj:

Militarizacija svakodnevnog života

Anarhistička solidarnost i antiratne aktivnosti u Hrvatskoj u devedesetima

Emma Goldman: Pripremljenost, put kao sveopćem pokolju

clandestina: marsov barkod: 12 ilustrovanih crtica i post scriptum o kapitalističkom ratu

Bosonogi bataljon: Grčki militarizam u eri Sirize

Intervju sa Igorom Sekeom: Antimilitarizam u Srbiji devedesetih godina

Preko zidova nacionalizma i rata