Anarchist Initiative Ljubljana (APL-FAO) on the current Corona crisis – Na virus odgovorimo s solidarnostjo, ne pa z vojsko in nasiljem!

Original article posted 20 March 2020. We should respond to the virus with solidarity and not with military and violence! Full English translation below.

http://komunal.org/teksti/543-na-virus-odgovorimo-s-solidarnostjo-ne-pa-z-vojsko-in-nasiljem

Ko je varnostni red Trdnjave Evropa jeseni leta 2015 zaradi tega, ker so ljudje množično zavrnili ukaze naj ostanejo “doma” v vojni, nasilju in revščini, začasno razpokal, so to upravitelji sistema kapitalistične bede razumeli kot signal za vpeljavo novih mehanizmov nadzora nad gibanjem in življenjem vseh, ne samo tistih z ‘napačnimi’ dokumenti. Tedaj je vlada ekstremnega centra vneto ustvarjala ozračje izrednih razmer, nato pa za rešitev t.i. ‘migrantske krize’ sprejela niz ukrepov, ki so ostali še dolgo potem, ko so bile izredne razmere tudi za vlado že dolgo mimo. Eden od teh ukrepov je bilo tudi sprejetje zdaj že zloglasnega 37.a člena Zakona o obrambi, ki pravi, da lahko državni zbor na predlog vlade vojski za potrebe opravljanja nalog varovanja državne meje podeli policijska pooblastila: opozarjanje, napotovanje, začasno omejevanje gibanja oseb in obvladovanje skupin in množic.

Takrat se je velik del javnosti po svojih možnostih načrtu ekstremnega centra uprl, toda žal je bil avtoritarni valjar premočan. Sprememba zakona je bila sprejeta, pod hudimi pritiski združenih centralnih in desničarskih ekstremistov je klonilo tudi Ustavno sodišče, ki je prepovedalo referendum. Takrat smo številni opozarjali, da gre pri spremembi zakona za uvedbo možnosti, da bi vojska v Sloveniji po novem lahko izvajala nadzorne in represivne naloge nad civilnim prebivalstvom, denimo v primeru novih družbenih kriz in posledičnim odporom prebivalstva zoper krizne ukrepe. Le nekaj let kasneje se je nova esktremno desna vlada odločila uporabiti omenjeni člen, ki ji ga je tako prikladno pripravila ekstremno sredinska večina dve vladi nazaj.

Kaj lahko iz tega razvoja dogodkov povlečemo za lažje razumevanje sveta okoli nas?

1. Epidemija je realna. Dejstvo je, da zaradi koronavirusa ljudje umirajo, in da so nekateri med nami še posebej ranljivi. Vsi si zaslužimo primerno zdravstveno oskrbo, zaslužimo pa si tudi socialno varnost in zaščito pred prisilnim delom v zdravje ogrožujočih pogojih. V tem trenutku na tisoče ljudi opravlja izjemno pomembna dela. Danes je vsem jasno, da brez zdravstvenega osebja enostavno ne gre, pa tudi ne brez trgovcev, šoferk, električark, kuharjev, komunalnih delavcev in še in še. Toda onkraj zelo pomembnih specializiranih poklicev in dejavnosti smo za uspeh vseh naporov ključni pravzaprav čisto vsi, ki smo zmožni odkrivati oblike vzajemne pomoči, bodisi drobne in spontane, bodisi dolgotrajne in bolj organizirane. V kolikor bomo v prihodnjih dneh, ko bo prvi šok kriznih razmer minil, uspeli svoje moči usmeriti v razvoj solidarnostnih praks tudi izven najožjih družinskega kroga, bomo lahko enkrat kasneje rekli, da smo tudi pod bremenom za vse nove krize ostali ljudje, ki pazimo drug na drugega. Pri tem naj velja načelo, da fizična distanca ne sme postati najprej socialna distanca in nato socialna izolacija. Ne nasedimo pomenljivemu lapsusu oblasti in se tam, kjer je to možno, organizirajmo sami, seveda odgovorno do sebe in vseh ostalih.

2. Vojska boju proti epidemiji ne prispeva ničesar! Boj z epidemijo koronavirusa v prevladujoči meri pade na javno zdravstvo in predvsem na njegovo zmožnost, da pravočasno zazna vse, ki potrebujejo oskrbo in jo nato tudi absolutno nudi. Tu za vojsko, ki bo polno oborožena paradirala po ulicah, zbujala občutek tesnobe in nadlegovala sprehajalce psov ter mladino, ni prostora. Z vsemi silami se je potrebno upreti ideji, da socialne in zdravstvene težave lahko reši represija. Virus bomo ustavili s solidarnostjo in skrbjo za soljudi, ne pa s puškami in globami!

3. Ne zaupaj nobeni vladi!
Trenutna ekstremnodesna vlada misli korak naprej. Jasno je, da bodo ljudje po prvem valu tesnobe začeli premišljevati, kateri ukrepi so bili med pandemijo smiselni in kateri so zgolj slepilni manever za siromašenje ljudi, finančno nagrajevanje že itak bogatih in vpeljavo avtoritarnih mehanizmov vladanja. Zato preventivno sprejemajo tudi ukrepe in kratijo svoboščine, ki nimajo veze s preprečevanjem širjenja virusa. Medtem, ko virus in skrb za soljudi jemljemo resno, oblastem ne smemo pustiti dihati, ko bo skušala po hitrem postopku uveljaviti ukrepe, ki bodo najbolj prizadeli najbolj ranljive med nami!

4. Organizirajmo se!
Čeprav na prvi pogled izredne razmere dajejo občutek, da je nasprotovanje zloglasnim novi ukrepom nemogoče, se ne smemo predati temu občutku nemoči. Postavljveni smo pred nujen izziv novega premišljanja načinov, kako skupaj na varen način po eni strani ne damo dihati virusu, po drugi pa niti ne enoumju ohole države. Slednja bi nas vse rada prepričala, da smo v vojni, to pa zato da nas potem lahko mirno žrtvuje v imenu višjega nacionalnega poslanstva. Merilo za uspeh slehernega ukrepa je zato, koliko prispeva k socialni, ekonomski in zdravstveni zaščiti najbolj ranljivih med nami. Pandemija bo povzročila veliko trpljenja, ampak na neki točki bo minila, toda diktatura bo ostala. Trenutni kapitalistični režim še enkrat več kaže, da veliki večini nima česa ponuditi, vsako krizo – pogosto jo tudi sam producira – preživi tako, da ljudi ljudi kot lahko pogrešljivo blago vrže v bedo. Tako ne gre več naprej. Ne moremo se odpovedati vsemu samo zato, da bo potem isto!

Premislimo, kaj lahko delamo v manjših skupinah, kako si lahko med seboj pomagamo izven državnih struktur, in predvsem, kako lahko izražamo nepristajanje na izredno stanje. Premislimo ali bomo ta mesec res plačali račune (itak jih marsikdo nima s čim) in naredimo iz tega politično gibanje! V časih, ko v Ljubljani končno ni več turistov, je čas, da se ponovno vprašamo, zakaj živimo v luknjah po ceni luksuza evropskih prestolnic. Ali si morda lahko po zgledih od drugod po svetu zamislimo in organiziramo za najemniško stavko?

Če v dolgove zapadamo sami, smo že sedaj sredi spirale obupa, strahu, negotovosti, sramu pred revščino. Če si to priznamo skupaj in o tem javno govorimo, smo že stopili na pot iskanja načinov za širjenje razpok v sistem, v katerem profitira le peščica in si vzamemo dostojanstvo nazaj.

Več nas je kot pet!
Proti strahu in izrednim razmeram, za solidarnost!
Korona je kapitalizem spravila na kolena, vrnitev v prejšnjo normalnost ni opcija!

Anarhistična pobuda Ljubljana, iz kmalu ponovno okupirane Ljubljane
19. marec 2020

—ENG—

We should respond to coronavirus with solidarity and not with military and violence!

When in 2015 the people who were fleeing the war, violence and poverty massively rejected the order to stay “at home” this caused the security regime of Fortress Europe to temporarily broke down.The managers of the system of capitalist misery understood this as a signal to push for the introduction of new tools of surveillance of movement and life of all, not only of those with ‘false documents’. At the time, in Slovenia, the government of extreme centre made a big effort to create an atmosphere of the state of emergency that was quickly filled by whole range of new measures aimed towards the resolution of the so called ‘migrant crisis.’ Even long after the government itself declared the crisis to be over, those measures were still in place. One of those was the ichange to the Law on Defense (Zakon o obrambi) and the insertion of new article 37a which states that the parliament can on the proposal of the government and for the purpose of securing the state border give to the military the powers that are otherwise reserved solely for the police: issuing of legal warnings to civilians, giving orders to civilians, temporary limitation the movement of civilian individuals and crowd control.

At the time a large part of the public made its best to resist the plan drafted by the extreme centrist government, but the authoritarian steamroller was too strong. The law was amended and the constitutional court who was under strong pressure from both the centristic and the rightwing extremists forbade the referendum who was called for by civil society. Many justified their opposition with a warning that the proposed change of the law would for the first time in history of Slovenian state create a possibility for the military to legally conduct surveillance and repression of civilian population, for an example in an event of a new social crisis and popular resistance to the government’s response to it that would inevitably follow. Only couple of years later the new extreme right government decided to invoke the article that was so nicely set for it in the law by the extreme centrists two governments ago.

What can we draw from this and other developments in order to better understand the world in time of coronavirus pandemic?

1. Pandemic is real. The fact is that people are dying and that some of us are particularly vulnerable. All of us therefore deserve appropriate health care, social security and protection from forced labour in healt-threatening conditions. In this very moment thousands of people are carrying out extremely important tasks. Today it is finally clear to all that this society cannot function properly not only without health professionals, but also without cashiers in the supermarkets, drivers, electricians, cooks, waste-disposal workers and many others. But beyond the very important specific professions and activities in order for all the efforts to bring about a meaningful success in the fight against the virus the key is also in all of us who can build forms of mutual aid, be it small and spontaneous, or long-term and more organised. If in few days from now, when the first shock of the crisis conditions will be behind us, we will be able to direct our efforts towards the development of solidarity practices beyond the immediate family circle, then we will be able to say at some point the far future that under the immense and for everybody new burden of the crisis we managed to stay humans and take care od each other. Among our guiding principles should be that physical distance must not develop first into a social distance and then into social isolation. Let us not implement the quite revealing Freudian slip of the authorities and wherever possible organise by ourselves, at all times acting responsibly towards others and ourselves.

2. The military does not contribute anything to the fight against the pandemic. Most of the latter falls on the workers in public health system and especially on their capability to identify as soon as possible those that are in need of care and to then provide it absolutely. There is no space here for military that would march fully armed through the streets, causing anxiety and harassing dog walkers and the youth. We need to totally reject the idea that social and health problems can be solved by repression. Virus will be stopped by solidarity and care, not by guns and fines!

3. No government deserves your trust! The extreme right government of the moment plans well ahead. It is clear that after the first wave of anxiety people will start to reflect about which measures introduced to fight the pandemic made sense and which were just there to cover up the others whose purpose was to further impoverish the people, hand financial awards to those who are already rich and to introduce new authoritarian mechanisms of governance. In the name of prevention they adopt measures that have nothing to do with blocking the spread of the virus and narrow the space where freedom can exist. Taking the virus and the care for fellow humans seriously we should not allow any breathing space to the government that will try to fast track the implementation of measures that will hurt the most vulnerable among us!

4. Let’s organize! Despite the fact that the state of emergency encourages the feeling that any opposition to the new and eery measures is impossible, we should not fall in the trap of powerlessness. We are faced with a new challenge which we have to take on the chin and come up with new ways to think about how on the one hand we don’t allow the virus to breathe, while on the other hand also we don’t allow the state to pursue its arrogant narrowminded agenda – all while staying safe and responsible. The reason why the latter wants to convince us that we are at war is that then it can justifiably sacrifice us in the name of a higher national calling. Therefore every measure needs to be evaluated by how much it contributes to the social, economic and health security of the most vulnerable among us. Pandemic will cause a lot of harm, but at some point it will be over, but the dictatorship will stay. Capitalist regime is once more making clear that it has nothing to offer to a large majority of the society. Every crisis that it encounters – often even produces – it survives by treating the people as easily replaceable commmodities that are routinely thrown into misery. It cannot go on like this. We cannot suffer so much only for everything to return back to the same!

Let’s think about what we can do in smaller groups, how we can help each other outside of state structures and above all how we can express our noncompliance with the state of emergency. Let’s think if this month we will pay the bills (many don’t even have the money to do so) and build a political movement out of this! Now, when Ljubljana is finally tourist-free, is the time to ask ourselves, why do we live in holes and still pay the rents as if we inhabit the luxury mansions of one of European capitals. Maybe, just maybe, we can learn from others from elsewhere and envision and then organize a rent strike?

If we are in debt and or if we are are already in the spiral of desperation, fear, insecurity, shame of our poverty, we should admit these feelings and situations to each other and then speak publicly about them. In this way we can open a path towards solutions that could widen the cracks in the system in which only the few profit. In this way we can and must rediscover what dignity means.

We are more than five!
Against fear and state of emergency, for solidarity!
Corona pushed capitalism to its knees, return to previous normality is not an option!

Anarchist initiative Ljubljana
APL – FAO – IFA,
from soon to be occupied again Ljubljana
19th March 2020