Not without a reason, the birth of modern anarchist movement in Poland is said to be on 1st May 1983, when the group of the Movement for the Alternative Society took an active part in turbulent workers demonstrations. From the moment of appearing, after an almost 40-year break caused by the repression of communist regime, the anarchist was always connected with the workers' movement, on the one hand, and on the other and with counter-culture, that was heading to anti-militarism and ecology. At the turn of the 1980's and the 1990's, it caused an engagement of anarchists in movement of building trade unions, on the basis of objectors (in 1988 the regime, under pressure of protests, introduced the law of substitute national service). In that turbulent period of time (1989-1993) the anarchists were supporting and taking part in numerous workers' protests. However, those actions did not cause a creation of anarchosydicalist movement. After a several years' break - in the face of changed social and political reality - anarchist groups had to face the necessity of participating in the workers' movement which had weakened a lot in that period. In 1998 Anarchosydicalist Agreement was created, and three years later Workers' Initiative.

The Anarchist Federation aims at abolishing all social structures and laws that restrict personal freedom in any way - the power that comes from appropriating the means of compulsion, production and indoctrination. We judge necessary: identifying work as the property, the law of protection of life (and health of every living creature), freedom (deciding about your body and mind by yourself) or work (and its effects). Anything else shouldn't be neither ordered nor banned, and decisions about actions should be made only by people involved and interested in the action, not by some people from the outside, especially from institutions. Organizing life on social scale shouldn't be based on authority from above but on solidarity and workers', local councils etc. people have the right to make mistakes on their own account.

Since the beginning of the 1990's groups of Poznan freedom movement wanted to have their own premises. During that very active period, the freedom movement took part in many initiatives which aim was to socialise goods. Successes of groups in other towns were encouraging them to act.In the summer of 1994, not minding the consent of authorities or owners, activists decisively started to look for premises. Several buildings were found, but the most appropriate one was the barrack of the bankrupted warehouse. It was situated in an deserted area that used to be a warehouse-industrial complex.

8 squatters from Poznan were arrested today morning during an eviction of a new squat in Poznan city centre (the building was squatted for 2 months). The people arrested were not only the squatters from this squat but also people from Poznan's oldest squat Rozbrat (www.rozbrat.org), who came to support them. There is a picket in front of the cop station taking place right now. The eviction of the squat was announced by cops few days ago, but it was also illegal, they had no warrant to come into the building. Media were called and they filmed everything.

The University held a meeting during which some Polish citizens were supposed to be awarded for their aid to Jewish people during WWII. When the Israeli ambassador started his speech anarchists unfurled a banner saying "Stop the slaughter in Gaza" and started to shout anti-war slogans. Then one man from the audience attacked the protesters, the people gathered in the hall started to pull the fighting people apart. The cops who were outside of the university walked 6 anarchists out of the hall, three of them were arrested and charged with an assault on Israeli journalist (he was taken to the hospital).

Today morning a bailiff together with locksmiths, assessor and cops came to Rozbrat squat. After negotiations with a group of squatters the assessor was let in and took photos of the ground but was not allowed into any of the buildings. It turned out the proce estimation made a year ago had to be done again. We found out that the previous price of the ground is 6 million zlotys (1,5 million euro) and the new one is supposed to be higher. Also, we were told that the auction of the ground can take place within 3 months.We keep our eyes open and will let you know when the mobilization moment comes.

You can download the video "Rozbrat. Episode 1" (length: 30 minutes), together with English subtitles. The video was made in 2004 and describes the situation of the squat at that time and also tells the history of the squat and shows the activities we're ivolved in. We encourage you to download the video and to show it anywhere you can. If you want to, you can also contribute and translate the subtitles to your languages and send it to us (Ten adres pocztowy jest chroniony przed spamowaniem. Aby go zobaczyć, konieczne jest włączenie w przeglądarce obsługi JavaScript.).

ABC POZNAN REPORTThe arrest and charges against the participants of the demonstration against U.S. missile base in Poland. Słupsk, 29-30 March 2008The DemonstrationOn the 29th March a demo against U.S. missile base in Poland took place in Slupsk (northern Poland). More about the demo: www.tarcza.org and www.m29.bzzz.net.Huge police forces were mobilized before the demo. Few days before the demonstration, policemen intruded the demonstration organizers asking about the details of the protest and were trying to intimidate them.During the demo itself, where from 500 to 800 people took part, the police was not offensive. The police units were not visible, that's why the demonstration was peaceful. At the square where the hydepark took place, there was a big police car with video cameras.

The lawyer of Rozbrat squat has obtained an information that the bailiff/debt collector has just sent the records and complete documentation to the court in order to set the date of the auction. This date may appear soon. The ground where Rozbrat is situated may be sold. The campaign "Rozbrat stays!" was not very loud in the last months but it does not mean that the situation of Rozbrat has stabilized. We ask you to keep your eyes open and support us when necessary. Our stand is unchanged: we won't give up without fight!Rozbrat Collective

Article written for the ESF in Malmo - September 2008Rozbrat squat is situated in Western city of Poland - Poznan. The city is one of the richest ones in Poland, it's close to the German borders, the unemployment rate is much lower than in the other parts of Poland, there is an International Trade Center plus a lot of hotels for its guests, there's a football stadium that will be one of the stadiums for Euro 2012, there's one the best awarded shopping malls owned by one of the richest people in Poland. And yeah, the richest guy in Poland is from Poznan, him and his wife were given a ground for their shopping mall by the neoliberal president of Poznan on very doubtful grounds, now he's legally sentenced for this. He's also sentenced for banning several demonstrations in the city, at one of them - the infamous gay pride in 2005, 60 people were illegally arrested, finally, no one - apart from the president - was charged. Poznan is also a city where F-16 aircrafts have their base, it's located within the borders of the city, being very dangerous and burdensome for its neighbors and all inhabitants of the city. Poznan is an expensive city, what is troublesome for masses of working class people and for around 100 thousand students living there. In the last years, the costs of living rise rapidly, from the prices of food, rent, tram tickets, almost everything gets more and more expensive every year.