A-Infos (en) News from France

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There are a number of *hot* issues in France at the moment. Here are
some translations of a few bits i've seen this week about
unemployment, the problems facing immigrants and an appeal for the
release of an Italian anarchist.

Work! If it's needed...

Now that the majority of the media show no interest in the struggles
of the unemployed - and all indications are that this will continue in
spite of the fact that new life has been breathed into the movement -
and instead focus their attentions on the Papal soap opera and the
shinanegans of the north american president, perhaps we can take the
opportunity to take stock of the infamous 'social minimums' that we
have been lectured on. Behind these two words various realities are
hidden which, I feel, cover up a more general malaise which affects
work and the triple lie which is behind the drive to full employment.

The economic lie...

The problem is not so much to to get to a position of full employment
but rather to reach a position of fair distribution of those goods and
products that could be made available today without creating new jobs.

... the technological lie...

Given that we are currently producing too much (and too badly) and
even taking into account a possible and massive decrease in labour
time (let's say every able-bodied person could do five hours
productive work a week) nothing in the curren climate leads us to
believe that there still would not be too much available labour and
unemployment would still persist.

... finally, the ethical lie.

Because behind this race for employment is hidden - badly - the old
nannyish and oppressive dogma of the 'value of labour'. Perhaps now is
the time to say that work in itself is of no value and it is only the
pleasure and feeling of well-being that individuals can gain from the
produce of labour which are of value and that how sad it is when in
addition to the institutional gods we feel a need to add another:
work.

So where is the truth in all this?

There is truth in all views if we restrict ourselves to short term
solutions given the sense of urgency which surrounds us.

Martine Aubry, with her two speed minimum wage policy, the CNPF (the
bosses union) who cries out that we are castrating enterprise, the
unemployed who wish to live with dignity and find work, those who have
a job and fear losing it, the job centres who are pleased with their
21.5% productivity improvement (source : Union nationale des
Entreprises de Travail Temporaire), the 41% who say they believe 'the
causes of unemployment in France are due to too much assistance given
to the unemployed' (BVA opinion poll carried out 9th to 10th January
for BFM and Paris-Match) and even those who say nothing; they are all
right... and they are all wrong!

Towards another way of organising life.

Rather than demand a raise in the minimum benefits (and, logically,
minimum wages, taxes, prices... the old inflationnary formula) we
demand instead an immediate end to paid employment in all its forms.
We want an immediate divorce between work and income. Let's get rid of
coins, bank notes, cheque books, credit cards and all the other
idiotic tools of this submission to a system of exchange which chokes
us.

Let's sit down and discuss our needs and what we must do to fulfill
them. If some of us are 'supernumary' and are not lucky enough to be
needed in the production of those goods and services we actually need,
so what? They will retain their right to consume all the same!

Alain L'Huissier (Fédération anarchiste - Groupe de la Villette)
email : alain@minitelorama.com

Joint escape from detention centre for foreigners in Versaiiles

Versailles (AFP) Monday 2nd Feb 18.44 local time.

Five people awaiting expulsion escaped, Friday, from the
administrative detention centre in Versailles although four were
rearrested shortly after the escape.

The retention centre, on the first floor of the police headquarters in
Versailles, is made up of two cells with six beds in each and each
measuring 20 square metres with no other facilities. 339 'foreigners
of unofficial status' passed through in 1997, according to the police
in Yvelines.

The escape occured in the night of Friday/Saturday when 6 men whose
nationalities have not been announced were placed in one of the cells.

A seventh inmatte allegedly a supporter of GIA was isolated for
security reaons in the other cell normally reserved for women.

After having dismantelled the bars at one of the windosw and scaled
the wall adjoining the garden of the Chamber of Commerce, the five
escapees found theselves on the Avenue de Paris.

Three of them were recaptured a few hours later by a police patrol
whilst a forth was picked up on a platform at the
Versailles-Rive-Gauche railway station. The fifth, a Tunisian of some
30 years of age, was still on the run Monday morning.

The sixth occupant of the cell, a young Sri-Lankan, slept throughout
the escape. He was to be expelled earlier this week.

Italy.
Repression continues against Italian anarchists.

Soliddarity with Patrizia Cadeddu

Fellow anarchist and media activist, Patrizia Cadeddu, (along with
others from the "Laboratorio anarchico" squat in Milan) was arrested
and incarcerated in Milan on June 20th 1997 and was accused of posting
a claim to have carried out an attack on the Palazo Marion on 25th
April in Milan even though no evidence has been presented. She
proclaims her innocence.

After her arrest the police seized the opportunity to raid the squat,
expelling occupants before sealing it up. However tthe squat was
successfully reoccupied several times. Once again the Italian state is
trying to criminalise the anarchist movement (especially those outside
the Italian Federation) in the eyes of the public. The stuggle
continues with a call for international solidarity.

Solidarité Internationale Anarchiste
CDA c/o El Paso
via Passo Buole 47
10127 Torino (Italie)
Tel: 0039 11 3174107
http://www.ecn.org/zero/anarchy.htm
e-mail Pour le CDA/El Paso est:
elpaso@ecn.org

Freedom for Patrizia

For more than seven months, Patrizia Cadeddu, an anarchist militant
has been incarcerated in Milan. Accused of having claimed
responsibility for an attack even though no firm evidence against her
has been given by the magistrate. Her lawyer has made three demands
for her release and all have been refused. Once again the Italian
state is trying to criminalise the anarchist movement in the eyes of
the public. . The nagistrates and the state have latched onto
Patrizzia to make her pay for her activities as an anarchist (activist
in the squat "laboratorio anarchico" in Milan.

1/ Write to Patrizia
Patrizia Cadeddu
Carcere di San Vittore
Piazza Filangeri 2
20123 Milano
Italie

2/ Solidarity Committee (financial support by international money
order) Michèle Pagano Via Aristotele 67 20128 Milano Italie.






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