(second in a series of texts on Konstantina that are distributed in the streets of Athens these days – the first one is here)
When, in hearing Konstantina Kuneva’s name, we bring in mind “slave-trade” and the new work conditions’ “Middle Ages” we immediately forget that the model of subcontracting workers via agencies is not a set-back of the capitalist system to archaic models of work management that should be somehow “reviewed”. It is one of the most extreme contemporary forms of exploitation.
We forget that, from the continuous intensification and flexibility of work conditions to insurance, job lay-offs and work accidents, the attack of the bosses concerns the repressed in their entirety – and in this sense one and all can feel close to them the case of Konstantina.
So-called “employer lawlessness” does not concern individual bosses and specialised exploitation methods. The maximization-of-profit-by-all-means is the only issue that concerns each and every boss, who “risk their capital” over our own heads. The terrorism of the bosses concerns conditions of exception as much as the bullets of the cops do. Although, in the case of the attack against Konstantina what shocked was the upgraded form of violence against her, her case managed to spontaneously reveal to one and all that the bosses drink our blood by all means possible every-single-day.
Solidarity is not humanism of any sort. Solidarity means to take a stance: to connect the events with their true causes, the dismissal of life with the real face of its executioners. The increasingly conscious polarisation is the only radical and feasible answer to the war waged from the bosses and organised apathy. In the face of the coming revolt, compiling our negations is half of our common task.
In the struggle against this world Konstantina is not alone.
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Hello!
Here’s a short report from the solidarity demo in Sofia (Bulgaria’s capital) today (8th of March):
Sofia: 08.03.09 Protest in solidarity with Kouneva
This morning there was a small action in solidarity with Kouneva – the woman migrant syndicalist, who had been brutally attacked by her bosses with sulfur acid, because of her syndicalist activism. About 50 people gathered in front of Sofia University around 11.00 am. We stayed there for about an hour carrying banners and chanting slogans. At 12:00 we marched to the greek embassy. We stayed in front of the embassy for about one more hour, where everyone had the chance to share their feelings and thoughs on an open mic. 50 people is not that few for the bulgarian context. In this highly conservative, individualistic and patriarchical society, any progressive event like that is actually very promising. The bulgarian neo-fascists published attack threats on internet against the protest, but in the end they did not attempt any open provocation.
The action was organized by the leftist student group “Priziv”(Call-out for Education). http://www.priziv.org
The slogans and the signs on the banners included ones such as
(roughly translated):
“Solidarity with Kostadina”
“Solidarity with the working women in their struggle”
“Solidarity amongst the people is our weapon against authority”
“Down with patriarchy”
“No to violence against women”
“Every day is 8th of March”
“8th of March is not a holiday, but a day for struggle”
“Emancipation, not exploitation”
The particular focus of the demo was to express solidarity with Kouneva, but, as it is clear from the slogans, the aim was also to solidarize with the worker’s movement in Greece and the rest of the world, as well as to make a statement against the oppression of women and migrants in the world. Another main aim of the action is to make a step towards the de-commodification of 8th of March. In Bulgaria during state socialism the day was de-politicized and converted to a celebration of the liberation of women, assuming that it had already happened somehow and somewhere in the past. That is not to completely dismiss certain level of progress that had been achieved, as women were allowed within the public sphere and were given certain rights compared to the previous regime. Nevertheless this was no way near to any real emancipation, as patriarchal relations continued to be normative.
Since 1989 (the fall of state socialism) capitalist society has completely commodified the 8th of March as the already depoliticized empty symbol of women’s emancipation did not pose any constraint whatsoever to capitalist appropriation of the day as a formal occasion for giving women presents for the sole reason of capital accumulation. The loss of meaning of 8th of March is the natural result of the “emancipation’ being given by the elites and not fought for by grassroots society. Therefore, we cannot rely on authority to give us rights because when that happen, those rights are not stable and prone to self-destruction.
This action was part of a whole campaigh: we are planning on doing discussions and film screenings on the issue.
In solidarity,
“Anarcho-resistance” collective, Sofia
Pictures:
http://bulgaria.indymedia.org/article/34845
Short video from a news agency:
http://www.ekipnews.com/?v=8034
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