Speech by BMC member at Paris May Day 2000 mass meeting, Le Autre Futur / “For Another Future through Social Resistance”, anarchist/ syndicalist summit, 1 May 2000. Le Autre Futur was an international anarchist/ syndicalist summit in Paris, 2000, organised by the National Confederation of Labour (CNT)-Vignolles, then the largest syndicalist union in France. It was attended by a substantial number of international groups, among them 4 members of the (south African) anarchist Bikisha Media Collective. The talk below is a typed-up version of the speech notes given by a BMC representative at a large mass meeting of participants, prior to the 5,000-strong anarchist/syndicalist bloc joining the main May Day march. The notes may not be entirely complete.
SPEECH NOTES
We live in a period of class war. Not a class war we started. It is a class war from above, it is a class war waged on our class, the working class, it is a class war from above by corporations and states. [PAUSE]
Capitalist globalisation, the neo-liberal offensive, these open up the abyss before us. Now, more than ever before, we face a single enemy. Now, more than ever, working class solidarity, internationalism, direct action, free agreement … These are our VITAL weapons against capitalism. [PAUSE]
It does not matter if you are Asian, African. European, American. We are one class of people, with one class interest. We musty get together, unite, as workers. [PAUSE]
Internationalism, solidarity, these are not just SLOGANS, they are weapons, tools for struggle, tools for survival. Internationalism, solidarity, these are not just NECESSITIES … more and more we are making this [these?] REALITY. [PAUSE]
The capitalist offensive must be met with a workers’ offensive. We must not turn a sharp blade into an instrument of dull wood [SAASHA note: this is a quote from Mexican anarchist Práxedis G. Guerrero ]. We must not leave anarcho-syndicalism to gather dust. We must use it as a vital key to unlock another future [“Le Autre Futur”], another future through social resistance [SAASHA: the conference slogan]. [PAUSE]
Anarcho-syndicalism is the answer to the capitalist new world order!
Anarcho-syndicalism is the answer to the capitalist new world order!
[NOTES END]
SAASHA 