Street Art Exmouth Style

STREET ART EXMOUTH STYLE (Part 21)

Looks like I'll be dining out tonight then...

Sabate Guerilla Extraordinary - Antonio Tellez

SABATE -

GUERILLA EXTRAORDINARY -

 ANTONIO TELLEZ

When the dream is over, what to do? When the music's over, do you turn off the light? When the rave has ended, must the dancing stop? When the war is lost, do you give up the battle?

Following the victory of Franco in the Spanish Civil War a wave of repression was unleashed against the Republicans; with anarchists, socialists and communists alike being rounded up and thrown into jails or simply handed the death penalty, put up against the wall and shot. Neighbouring countries (not least of all, England) turned a blind eye and continued to declare that it was an internal affair to Spain even as thousands of refugees fled into France to escape the persecution.

Whilst some chose to remain to act clandestinely against the Franco regime, a large number of the anarchist trade union, CNT, went into exile also as Spain buckled beneath the Fascists. For many, the fight had been knocked out of them by the experience of the Civil War and all they wanted was to be left in peace not only by Franco and his Fascist dictatorship but by former Republican comrades. An exception to this, however, was people like Francisco Sabate.

Antonio Tellez's book, Sabate Guerilla Extraordinary, as translated by Stewart Christie tells the tale of Sabate's life and ultimate demise under a hail of bullets. It's the story of an anarchist fighter who refused to capitulate to the forces of oppression; who chose not to run away from his enemies but rather to run at them – always suitably armed it should be said, with a Thompson submachine gun, a pistol and a couple of hand grenades.

In Spain to this day, the exploits of Sabate are the stuff of legend and his name has come to symbolise unrelenting resistance and never giving up. La lotta continua, as they say. And talking of the stuff of legend, as the reporter in John Ford's western The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance said: 'When the legend becomes fact, print the legend', and this is exactly for good or bad what Antonio Tellez's book does.

It's a double-edged sword, however. On the one hand, much respect is given to Sabate who was undoubtedly a very brave man but at the same time there's not a shred of criticism offered about anything Sabate ever did and unfortunately some of his exploits deserve very much to be criticised, particularly regarding the bank robberies he committed and the terror inflicted upon innocent bystanders during these heists.

There is also the question of the knock-on effect of some of his actions and the way that all they did was to prompt the further ramping up of oppression by Franco and the harassing and jailing of known anarchist sympathisers within Spain.

Antonio Tellez's book is incredibly well researched though there's obviously a large amount of fiction in with it also, as well as stretches of the imagination accentuated in such lines as 'It would be no exaggeration to say that between 1945 and 1946 Sabate got to know almost every tree in every village and mountain in Catalonia.' No exaggeration? Really?

More pertinent than this, however, the two main points the book raises are interesting ones. Firstly, the question of what to do when the dream is over? In Sabate's case, of course, meaning the dream of freedom. Secondly, the question of truth over legend or legend over truth?

Sabate Guerilla Extraordinary, for all its enthusiasm and cheer-leading, unfortunately fails to really answer either of them...

John Serpico

Exmouth Bound Soundtrack (Part 9)

EXMOUTH BOUND SOUNDTRACK (Part 9)

Up and down the Avocet rail line, in and out of Exmouth, day in day out. And sometimes when we finish late at work our reward on our way home is the sight of the sun going down in what can only be described as a brilliantly beautiful blaze of glory...

And though we might realize it's not actually the sun "going down" but rather an illusion caused by the world spinning round, it doesn't detract any from the wonder of it all...

Malatesta - Life & Ideas

MALATESTA – LIFE & IDEAS – 
EDITED BY VERNON RICHARDS

According to writer George Woodcock, Errico Malatesta was 'the most realistic of all anarchists' and on reading Vernon Richard's Malatesta – Life & Ideas, I would tend to agree. I wonder, however, if being realistic is actually a virtue particularly when it comes to changing the world? Was John F Kennedy being realistic, for example, when he declared 'We choose to go to the moon'? Probably not but to the moon America went. 'Be realistic – demand the impossible' said the words of the prophets as written on Parisian walls in '68. There is no guilt in dreaming.

One of the main differences between Malatesta and Kropotkin was in their espousal of different methods and processes to attain anarchy. Kropotkin, forever the optimist, believed anarchy would eventually and naturally happen, aided and abetted by anarchist propaganda of the spoken and written word. Malatesta, on the other hand, whilst not dismissing the importance of propaganda accentuated the need for revolutionary violence particularly in regard to the inevitable backlash from forces on the side of and in defence of the status quo.

Malatesta understood that governments would not just whither away or relinquish any of their powers and riches without a fight and it was this fight that Malatesta insisted we need to be aware of. There would be a backlash and a violent one at that, and refusing to acknowledge this sounded the death knell for any revolution from the start. Those who only make half a revolution dig their own graves, as the Situationists of '68 advised.

Organising in preparation for that backlash was just as important as the steps needed to be taken to instigate a revolutionary situation in the first place. The importance of anarchist propaganda, said Malatesta, was in determining the revolution and influencing the direction it might take so as to ensure its success. The insurrection determines the revolution. Everything depends on what people are capable of wanting, meaning that if they want very little then they will obtain very little. And if people aren't prepared to fight and be prepared to continue fighting, then all will be lost and will remain to be so.

This is all well and good, you might say, but a revolution is never going to happen and anyone believing one might is simply deluding themselves. Which is where Malatesta comes in again. Is the world as it is all that we can hope for? Are we really unable to think beyond present conditions? Must man always remain as he is today?

'The main plank of anarchism is the removal of violence from human relations,' as Malatesta put it. Is that really too much to ask for? No, it's not – of course it's not. The problem being (for some) is that Malatesta also meant the removal of the violence of exploitation, of oppression, injustice, inequality, of religion, government and police.

'What we want is the complete destruction of the domination and exploitation of men by men,' said Malatesta 'We want bread, freedom, love and science – for everybody.' Is that really too much to ask for? Of course it's not. So why then don't we have it? Is it perhaps, as Malatesta suggested, because we are simply unwilling to actually fight for it? And until the time comes when we are willing to fight it will indeed remain an elusive dream or at best a dream that is easily quashed.

Errico Malatesta, alongside the likes of Bakunin, Proudhon, Kropotkin and Emma Goldman was one of the anarchist greats, being an exponent of anarchism in its purist form. Not for him any watering down of ideas in a bid to make them more 'acceptable', 'palatable' or 'achievable'. Not for him the rejection of revolutionary violence for being 'counter-productive' but then also not for him the embracing of violence to the exclusion of any other means. For Malatesta, both violence and peacefulness had equal roles to play. For Malatesta, the most important thing was action, and continuous action at that.

If Malatesta were alive today he would say it's actually the watering down and diluting of anarchist ideas that has led to anarchy still not coming to fruition. He would say it's moderation, the pursuit of concessions and the lack of will to act that is the cause of the blockage. And if Malatesta were alive today he would most certainly not be voting for Jeremy Corbyn...

John Serpico