Actions for Popular Control of Public Housing and in the Memory of Jolanta Brzeska

Today was an action called for popular control of public housing. We had announced that we do not recognize the local government and we are taking matters into our own hands. We revealed to the press that we are telling people who cannot get public housing where empty flats are that can be squatted and are helping in this process. Today was supposed to be also a public squatting action however, due to the tragic death of our colleague, Jolanta Brzeska, the atmosphere was quite different.

We spoke of Jolanta's tragedy and the deadly politics of the city. We condemned the inaction of the politicians, speculation and capitalism and reiterated our postulates. After the rally, people made their way to a meeting with public housing administrators, taking it over with harsh speeches and then declaring that there is nothing left to talk about with those people. Despite her very hard time, Jola's daughter came and made a particularly strong speech. People left and then went to Jola's house to light candles and leave a little memorial.

Photos and links to mainstream media coverage below.

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Housing Activist found dead in Warsaw

On March 7 we learned that one of the most active members of the tenants' movement, Jolanta Brzeska, was found dead in the woods.

Her body had been burnt beyond recognition and it is unclear whether she was alive or dead when it happened.

Jola was 64 years old. She was one of the founders of the Warsaw Tenants' Association, a good speaker and committed activist who went to all demonstrations, who blocked evictions and advised other tenants. She herself was involved in a battle with Warsaw's most notorious slumlord, Marek Mossokowski, and was the last tenant left in a valuable piece of real estate at the time of her death.

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Women and Labour in the Realm of Capital

The Position of Labour in Poland in the Prism of Neoliberal Ideology

The relation of workers to capital is crystal clear: their goal is to produce surplus (profit) for those investing money, to improve the quality of those people's lives and to increase their power to own, invest and control. The neoliberal dogma instilled in people convince them that this is a natural relation. Moreover, workers are led to believe that the capitalists are doing them a favour by „creating jobs”. We are taught that we must beg and compete with others for work then comply with all the demands or whims of the bosses to remain in employment. Our very material existence depends on our willingness and ability to satisfy the needs of our employers. Our own needs are usually put on hold or forsaken.

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ZSP Statement on Popular Control of Public Housing

On March 9, ZSP sections in Warsaw and Wroclaw, along with tenants groups, will tell politicians and public administrators to get lost!

PUBLIC HOUSING IN THE HANDS OF THE PEOPLE!

DOWN WITH THE POLITICIANS AND BUREAUCRATS!

POPULAR CONTROL IMMEDIATELY!

Związek Syndykalistów Polski declares that the public housing authorities, in acting against the interest of tenants for the benefit of the corrupt bureaucratic apparatus, for the benefit of landlords and property speculators, are enemy entities which need to be abolished. The answer is not in replacing them with a new set of bureaucrats as the system of unchecked power is bound to always produce more or less the same results.

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We Will not Forget, We Will Not Forgive

On March 7 we learned of the murder of a 64-year old tenant activist from Warsaw. (On photo during anti-eviction action.) The local ZSP issued the following statement:

The burnt body of tenant activist Jolanta Brzeska was found in the woods in Warsaw. 

Jola fought for passionately for the rights of all tenants. She herself lived in a building which wound up in the hands of the notorious slumlord and speculator Mossakowski, known for his inhuman treatment of tenants. He raised her rent very high but she fought back. Her case was still in the courts but she already was over 20,000 euros in debt. But she was the only one left, the only one still fighting back, the only tenant left in that building.

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Public Meeting on Reprivatization

Over 150 people came to a public meeting in the North Praga neighbourhood about privatization. We spoke about the problems people faced, what could be done about it and the need to be active in the tenants movement. Many spoke out about the bad politics of the city and expressed interest in further action.

This meeting is part of a series we are organizing around the city.

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FAU and ZSP Organize International Day of Action at OBI Stores in Poland and Germany

On February 25-26, pickets took place in nearly 20 cities in Poland and Germany, protesting against bad working conditions and union repression in OBI.

The action campaign was started by ZSP in Poland at the beginning of the year at the request of a couple of comrades from OBI and some workers from several cities who started to network on the internet. The main reason the campaign was started were incidents of union repression in the store in Krakow. So far OBI has fired a unionist there, threatened another with dismissal and refused to renew the contract of a third. In Walbrzych a worker who spoke out against bad working conditions received a disciplinary warning. The news about the formation of a union in OBI, which had no unions since the pioneer union in the chain was repressed in 2001, got employees around the country talking about working conditions in the stores and what they could do about them.

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Action at OTTO Office in Warsaw

Activists from the ZSP and a comrade from PA again visited the Warsaw office of OTTO Workforce. We went in with a list of complaints and demands to the company, listing some of the concrete abused OTTO committed against a list of workers and demanding they are paid what they were owed. We brought radio journalists and people from one of the main TV stations with us, to record the reaction of the company.

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Campaign for Workers' Rights in OTTO Begins with Actions in Holland, Poland and Slovakia

Some workers cheated by the OTTO temp agency are fighting back!

They don't get the conditions promised to them in their contracts and job interviews and the company makes money off a system of fines used at the workers' "hotels". The end result - people work and don't get paid, or they wind up paying too much money for substandard housing which does not meet the standards of the collective labour agreement OTTO is supposed to be following.

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Revolution for Egypt

Speech for Demo at Egyptian Embassy in Warsaw:

The human urge for freedom and dignity burns intensely in Egypt. We support this urge for change, for greater freedom and a chance to shape ones own life. Only we ask the question: what next?

Will the Egyptian people exchange one authoritarian, unaccountable leader for another with a shorter term in office? Or just transfer power from a narrow group of rulers to a wider one? Or will the people take, for themselves, more direct control over their lives, creating community and workplace decision-making practices?

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Problems with the Otto Temp Agency

Over the last few years, there have been tons of complaints about the practices of the Otto Workforce temp agency, in particular from Poles being sent to work abroad in Holland. It has found itself on at least one internet blacklist as an agency which cheats workers. Some people who work there or worked there in the past, have contacted AGA and ZSP about various problems, asking what they can do. At the very least, they ask us to warn people and inform them of their rights and what can be done if they are cheated.

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Call Center Action

On February 1 ZSP-IWA started an information active about  illegal temporary work contractds at the Call Center of Bank Millennium in Warsaw. According to the labour law, the work done by the employees at the Call Center should entitle them to permanent contracts but the bank keeps signing temporary ones.

One worker who demanded a permanent contract was fired but went to court to establish his employment relation. This is how we know of the situation. The worker asked for solidarity. ZSP thought that it would be good to phone the 24-hour Call Center using its free line and to talk to the workers. We have started a campaign. Those who call the line can encouarge the people to organize, explain the differences between forms of contracts, what the worker loses without a fixed contract or explain how they can  get a permanent one.  Everything depends on how long they can speak. The participants can also give them contact info to ZSP or give the address of the website  pracownik.net where there is practical information on the isubjects of contracts, the legal process and the direct organization of the workers.

 

The action is also directed at others who will receive leaflets or can read about the action on the Internet and learn something about their workers' rights.

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"Polishness", Regional Identity and Patriotism – always on the side of Capital

Statement on the so-called "March of Polishness" in Katowice January 22 and the counterdemonstration planned on that day

The far-right imbeciles of NOP are again organizing a demonstration. This time they claim they are doing so "at the request of the citizens of Silesia". The inspiration for the nationalists are the demonstrations of the Silesian autonomists, trying to build a Silesian identity. This is not to the liking of the Polish nationalists, who aim to demonstrate their "Polishness".

The Silesian autonomists, in turn, try to build support for their project using arguments about benefits citizens will get from regional autonomy. However, for the working class, there is no difference between regional, Polish or international authorities, bosses and exploiters. Capitalism has only one goal: to enrich the owners at the expense of others. The national colours or country of origin of the capitalism doesn't have the slightest meaning. Neither regionalism, nor nationalism nor patriotism will ever be the basis of a movement aiming to overthrow the rule of capital. On the contrary, they can only strengthen it.

We are opposed to the constant manipulation of the nationalists who try to convince us that under their "national" leadership, exploitation won't be exploitation and repression won't be repression. We are against all attempts to channel energy aimed against power and capital into identity projects based on regionalisms or nationalisms. Our struggle is international, just like our interests: to take the means of production from the bosses and owners, to take back control over the workplaces and community and to overthrow all governments, regional, national or international, once and for all.

We don't agree with the attempts by some antifascists, anarchists and other activists who are trying to "reclaim" the idea of patriotism, suggesting that nationalists are not "real patriots", and that the idea of patriotism itself can be defended. Patriotism does not deserve to be rehabilitated. It is only a tool in the hands of cynic political operators who use the principle of "divide and conquer" trying to pit workers against each other.

Building political identity based on national and the state instead of on the grassroots class struggle is the force that drives nationalism, wars carried out in the interest of capital and the false consciousness of workers. Let's break with these superstitions and instead let's declare that workers have no countries, and the arena for our struggle is the entire world.

No war between nations, no peace between classes!

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Citizens Confront Local Government, Conflict Heats Up

Today a group of more than 60 people went to the local council of the Praga district in Warsaw to confront politicians and try to force politicians to resume the session of the local council, which is being run by a group appointed by the President after the chairwoman of the last session (in November) called a break and never resumed it. A council session was opened but soon turned into pandamonium.

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Statement of ZSP Against the Farce of Local Government: Politicians Hide, We Tell them Not to Come Back

In an unprecendented breach of democratic procedures, the ruling party and the left refuse to show up to the City Council. Tenant activists and members of ZSP took over the hall and ZSP announced that we would be happy if the politicians never showed up to work again. Both groups promised to raise hell and start procedures to recall politicians. ZSP also will try to hold organize a popular movement against the politicians.

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