Stop Bandit Privatization!

Today a large group of local residents, members of the Tenants' Defense Committee and ZSP protested in the local council in defense of our neighbours from Targowa St. whose house has been privatized.

There is not much information about the basis of the privatization. Tenants were, in the style typical of the heartless and callous Warsaw bureaucracy, informed in the first days of August that as of August 1, they were no longer municipal tenants and their rents would be raised. The city still owns part of the building, but, as in other cases, it does not want to say which flats are owned by the private owners and which by the city. It is thus forcing all tenants to pay the private rent, although the city is not allowed to charge more than a much lower legal rate for rent. It refuses to explain whether it is keeping the difference or allowing the private owner to pay it at the lower rate. In either case, the tenants are screwed.

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Six Months after Death of Jola, Tenants Protest against Legal System

September 1 marks six months since the murder of Jolanta Brzeska, tenant activist burned in the Kabaty forest. Six months later and her family still cannot bury her remains and organize the funeral they wanted, since the authorities refuse to release the body, even claiming that it is "unidentified".  Since months later and the property speculator and his band of thugs who tried to break into her apartment once and who threatened her have not even been brought in for questioning. This is how the legal system turns a blind eye to the situation and insensitively increases the pain that the murder victim's family is suffering.

People held a picket to remind the world of this situation and point out how the case is being handled. Even though it took the state a long time to do a DNA test and definitely identify the body of Jolanta Brzeska, it seems to not recognize that she is dead. Her social security is still being paid, as if she was living. Only the debt collector now takes this money each month to pay the real estate speculators who had raised her rent, harassed her and tried to drive her away from her home. Conveniently for the speculators, until the state recognize Jola as dead, they can now collect the money they say she owed them, something that she was fighting against when she was alive. And the bill is being paid by us all, since the money is coming from the public social security system.

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Soldarity with CNT in Visteon Cadiz

Today comrades in Warsaw and elsewhere took part in the International Day of Struggle against Ford-Visteon called for by the CNT in Spain and the IWA. The multinational is outsourcing work, creating a network of companies and doing all sorts of machinations to avoid tax liabilities and their responsibilities towards workers. Using front companies such as Visteon, Ford divides up and sends out work, opening factories, shutting them down, moving money around to hide their wealth and even to cheat the workers. 450 workers in Cadiz face the elimination of their workplaces due to corporate greed. The CNT union section in Visteon is fighting against the closure.

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Picket at the Sejm

On August 18th, tenants organizations picketed at the Polish parliament against the possible reintroduction of eviction without any rights to replacement housing. Currently, people can be evicted not to replacement (social) housing, but to temporary housing as well. This temporary housing has no legal definition, which means that families are being sent to overcrowded homeless shelters which meet no standards at all. The Constitutional Tribunal has condemned this as being a violation of rights and ordered the government to adopt an appropriate standard and definition of temporary housing by this fall. However, it has failed to do so and, the absurd consequence of this is that the politicians are interpreting the lack of any binding definition of temporary housing to mean that they have no obligations at all.

All the political parties, which are rushing through dozens of amendments before the upcoming elections, have decided to ignore this, since, in reality, they all want to avoid the obligation to find housing for evicted people and probably all find this a convenient way to do this.

ZSP is considering different actions in response to this matter. We have already declared that we could help people squat people, but probably an action at the Parliament is long overdue!

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How to for Freeriders

Next week the prices increase on public transport in Warsaw. The local ZSP has started up the NIEKASUJ (don't validate your ticket) campaign, which the comrades in Wroclaw started some time ago in that city. Part of the protests now include street theatre showing different ways to act if you meet a ticket controller. The aim of this is to show creative ways of getting away without paying your fare or how other passengers can help people who are caught. We are starting to make videos and inviting other people to submit their own creations. Also we ask people to send us information through a form on the internet so we get ideas about which places are more controlled than others. (We already know that the poorer areas and places where foreign workers ride are the worst.) We are also working on the creation of insurance for fare dodgers.

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Protests Continue Against Price Increases

Protests have been taking place continuously against price increases. Mostly we have been riding the trams, buses and metro and giving out leaflets, calling for direct action. Today we gathered at the Centrum metro station. There people told about the different methods of direct action and called on people to act in solidarity with those not paying their fare in order to discourage the work of the ticket controllers. People spoke about social protests in other countries, including protests against transport fare increases which recently took place in Portugal. There was also an interesting discussion about the history of recent social movements in Poland, how the leaders of movements like Solidarity came into power and sold out and what lessons we can learn about the nature of politics and political power.

A couple of days ago, boxes with more than 151,000 signatures demanding a referendum on the price increases and the privatization of a utility were delivered to the City Hall. But their lawyers are now claiming that citizens cannot change anything that has already been decided by the City Council - although nothing in the Act on Local Referenda would suggest this. It is clear that they will try everything possible to block this initiative because most people would vote against the increases. For us this just shows the limitations of trying to act through the system to change anything, so ZSP calls for more social opposition and direct action.

Besides calling for direct action in the transport, we also called on a boycott of elections and more participation in social protest and self-organization instead.

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In Defense of Free Speech and Tenants' Rights

Today the lawsuit against the Tenants' Defense Committee started. A couple of members of ZSP who are also in the Committee are being sued for making a film where tenants describe their problems with their landlady.


A small picket was held outside the court. The corridors were filled with tenants and journalists who filmed the people, who were all telling stories of their difficult and even desperate living situation. There was no place at all in the courtroom and the judge was a little consternated when a group of elderly women just decided to sit on the floor of the courtroom. The landlady was not present, but was represented by her lawyer, who had been involved in a very famous case related to slander on TV in the past. The TV stations were denied permission to film and some people wanted to speak out to the judge. After some minutes, things calmed down and the Committee, which was defending itself, submitted its arguments to the court, as well as evidence. The documents submitted were mostly related to what was said in the film. Among other things, the landlady claims that the tenant is not telling the truth, but most of what was said can be confirmed in one way or another.
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Actions in Mass Transport

On July 9, ZSP members started to make actions in Warsaw´s public transport against the raising of fares. Leaflets are being handed out calling for action, information is stuck in the transport. ZSP supports free and collectivized transportation as a goal but, besides from propagating such ideas, it would like to encourage people to mobilize against the fare increases in an active way. This includes  protests and different types of direct actions such as not paying, mutual insurance schemes against ticket controls and, for those who do have a ticket, the passing of tickets to other passengers. We have noticed that people have actually started to practice the last one a little more recently.

We do not agree with the fare increase which hits the working poor the most and will make Warsaw´s public transport more expensive than in many cities in Europe. Besides this, we will continue to point out the various labour problems which exist, especially for bus drivers who are often forced to work too much for miserable pay, impacting on their health and safety and the safety of the passengers as well. Read more!

OTTO Actions Bring Results

The OTTO campaign is still going on. In Wroclaw a couple of women were able to get their full salary by standing up to the company. They were contracted to work in the Wago Elwag factory, which produces electonic components. When they received their first pay check, they noticed it was short.  During a protest in Wroclaw, a manager from OTTO came to speak to ZSP and claimed this was because workers were only paid for production, however the contract was not for piece work, but a regular hourly wage. Confronted with the evidence and the ongoing campaign, they had to pay.

Again this shows that if you are being cheated, it is best to take direct action and fight back! It is also much better to organize yourself BEFORE you are cheated! We have been trying to speak to the rest of the workers in Wago Elwag about this situation. Read more!

Lawsuit is the Latest Tactic of Attempted Intimidation in Struggle for Tenants' Rights

Some members of the ZSP from Warsaw are being sued for a film they made and put on the internet. Other members of the Tenants' Defense Committee are also being sued because the film was on their website. The video documents the problems of two families who have been having problems with their landlady, who wants to evict them, for years.

The video was intended to give tenants a voice in a system which is extremely one-sided, ignoring their rights and not even ensuring they are protected by the rights they have under the law.

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Protest against Price Increases

On July 1, near the stage of the city's gala concert to mark Poland's taking over the EU presidency, we held a protest against the price increases adopted by the city. The price of public transport is going up an average of 70%, day care almost 600%, water and sewage 30%. In addition, the city plans the privatization of the company that provides heat.

ZSP is campaigning against the increases and calls for direct action, including not paying transport fares and organizing alternative day care instead of paying the outrageous prices. ZSP also calls for transport to come under control of the workers and community. Signatures were  gathered at the protest for a referendum which would overturn these decisions and block the privatization.

In general the public was supportive and people stopped to talk, despite the terrible weather. More actions are planned over the next month, including actions in public transport.

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On June 30, the mainstream union Solidarity held a large demonstration in Warsaw. Members of ZSP, plus guests from the IWW and WSA from the US, went to the demo to hand out leaflets and agitate for rank-and-file unionism and for a general strike.

We pointed out that while working people were rebelling in many parts of Europe, here the unions have moderated struggles and often avoid methods such as strikes. The whole idea of a general strike is avoided.

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Campaign Against Price Increases

Last month the ZSP protested against price increases at the City Council. Despite hours of controversial debate, the neoliberal majority had already decided to do what they had done in many cities throughout Poland: raise the prices of different public services in a way that average working people would have to bear more costs.

The price raises are quite significant: public transport costs on average 70% higher (with some tickets raised even more), water and sewage 30% higher and, worst of all, the price of public nursery schools raised almost 600% for most people. It is true that the prices for the nursery schools will be lower for people earning minimum wage, but the highest rates are already imposed on anybody making just 60% of the average wage and will cost almost 300 euros a month (!!!) This is completely unaffordable and will hit working class mothers, especially single mothers the most. It is simply impossible for the average working mother to afford this price!

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OTTO Workforce sends thugs against activists; ZSP launches new picket campaign

There is still the situation of injured worker Maciej, who does not know if he will receive further sick pay due to the inappropriate actions of OTTO, and now some people working in Wroclaw were also cheated and not paid for all the hours they worked. Due to the continued revelations of problems with OTTO Workforce, including more incidents brought to light by Dutch investigative journalists, ZSP announced that it would picket OTTO every day starting June 20, for at least the next two weeks, and maybe longer.

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Real Democracy Now

On June 19, an action entitled "Real Democracy Now", called by some Spanish students and local activists, was held in Warsaw. There were some open discussions on the Copernicus Sq. about the nature of democracy, problems in society, etc. etc. The local ZSP participated, along with some international comrades, from CNT-AIT, SP-AIT and KRAS. Since we had a slightly different idea about what "real democracy" means, we handed out leaflets (in different languages) explaining ideas of self-management and why we are against all forms of government. There were many discussions with passersby, although few took part in the action. Poland is still a long way from Spain or other countries were such mass public meetings have recently taken place.

ZSP called on people to be more active in public life and to take action against the anti-social decisions of the government. As an example, it mentioned the recent increases in the price of public transport, nursery schools and utilities such as water. This decision was highly unpopular among people, but there were no protest movements to stop it (ZSP and the tenants movement were literally the only ones to mobilize). Now there is a chance to overturn the decision by referendum. It is much harder to do, but still possible. It would have probably required less effort to protest beforehand than try to change it later. Nonetheless, we think this decision should be fought, not accepted - and all depends on if people mobilize. ZSP will be active in this campaign in the next two months.

We also stated that this year, as always, we will be boycotting the elections and we call on people to become more active in grassroots movements and try to build forms of self-organization. During the summer we will be moving around the neighbourhoods, again trying to make local assemblies. It is a long and difficult task but we hope that in the future such initiatives will inspire people's imagination and bear fruit.

Some photos from today's action are below. The text of the leaflet in Polish is here.

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