Places of Revolt: Geographical References in the Slovak Anarchist Press Around the Turn of the Millennium

W leafing through the different activist journals from a period of heightened discussions about globalisation1 around the turn of the millennium, the sheer number of geographical references in these do-it-yourself (DIY) media outlets is astonishing. The anti-globalisation movement of the late 1990s and early 2000s can be considered a truly global social movement,2 active not only in the core capitalist countries but also in more peripheral locations.3 The references to the global nature of the issue made in these journals connected local actors

from different geographical contexts. This played a large role in the mobilisation against what those involved perceived as neoliberal globalisation. 4 Furthermore, the topics of radical geography and cartography were regarded by many as synergic to the main quests of the anti-or alter-globalisation movement, hijacking globalisation for its own purposes. 5 This paper emerges at the end of the decade following the 2008 crisis, at a time when the global conservative right have managed to successfully incorporate the struggle against globalisation into their nationalist agendas. The primary research goal here is to classify and analyse the geographical terms used in the anarchist press in the context of the heightened globalisation debate of the early 2000s. The aim is thus to open up the discussion based on qualitative research in order to examine the interconnectedness of different struggles at a local level. This is made possible due to the selection of a relatively small sample of two journals published in the early 2000s in Slovakia. When analysing the sample, semantic analysis was employed in order to provide pertinent answers to the central research question. The aim of this study is to provide a classification of geographical categories based on how they operate in the anti-globalisation activist press. A hypothesis may be formulated that geographical references play several crucial roles in this movement, where the dichotomy between the global and the local is of central importance. I have chosen Slovakia as an illustrative example due to the expected fragmentary results.
In terms of (fan)zines and the DIY press, readers should be made aware of the specificities of how such an activist press operates. 6 It should further be noted that the anti-globalisation movement also involved other types of actors from political currents that cannot easily be labelled as anarchist. In the anti-globalisation camp, one could also easily find (post)autonomists, certain mouthpieces of the syndicalist movement, sympathisers of the radical left and third-worldists. This "multitude" partly adopted the "alter-globalist" credo of "another world is possible". 7 4 AYRES, Jeffrey. Framing Collective Action Against Neoliberalism: The Case of the "Anti-Globalization" Movement. In Journal of World-systems Research, 2004, Vol. 10 With the far right's history of anti-globalisation positions already in the early 2000s, nationalists and right-wing populists have been successfully critiquing globalisation since 2008, namely by harnessing the mobilising potential of the economic crisis. 8 Other fringes of the anti-globalisation movement experienced a revival in the early 2010s during times of austerity, with Greece serving as the most striking example. 9 The position of Slovakia at the turn of the millennium was neither at the core nor at the periphery of the capitalist world-system. Based in the successor country of former Czechoslovakia, Slovak anarchists naturally saw themselves as a part of the above-mentioned global movement, though they maintained particularly strong ties to activists from the Czech territory. 10 Some articles in the activist press published in Slovakia were edited in the Czech language and the relatively freely interchangeable language strategies were also observed among Czech activists. 11 The other perceived idiosyncrasies can be attributed to the post-socialist context. The first decade after the fall of the bureaucratic socialist regime also heralded an unprecedented geographical openness for both successor countries of former Czechoslovakia, and it was the youngest activist generation in particular which benefited from this openness. On the other hand, the post-socialist context spurred fervent anticommunism among many activists who would likely have identified with the left elsewhere in the world. For many young activists, the difficulty of coping with the legacy of communism meant the organic embracement of anarchism, which served as a libertarian but still anti-capitalist antidote to Marxism-Leninism. 12 Another key element pertaining to the post-socialist context of Central Eastern Europe and the rise in racist violence was antifascism.

Sources
The primary materials for this study were retrieved with the help of Lidiap (List of digitised anarchist periodicals), 14 an internet-based repository of freely accessible digitised anarchist journals/newspapers administered by the Berlin-based Bibliothek der Freien. 15 The two journals can be considered as representing different ideologies. While both can be described as anarchist, there are perceptible differences between the two. The first, Zdola ("From the Bottom"), was published by the Slovak section of the Czechoslovak Anarchist Federation (ČSAF) 16 and can be described by its relatively unproblematic acceptance of the anti-globalisation movement. Although it represented a much larger and arguably more important territory, the Slovak section was presented by the ČSAF as being at the same level as that of Moravia, Central, Eastern or Southwestern Bohemia. 17 Eight regular and three special issues from the period August 2000 -January 2004 were retrieved and analysed for this paper. ČSAF has been a member of the International of Anarchist Federations (known as "IAF") since 2003. Politics were prioritised over lifestyle, which was first reflected in Zdola (6/2003) in critiques of the undignified behaviour of "Alco-punks" at manifestations and other mobilisations. Furthermore, the signatures or acronyms of the authors started to appear with increasing frequency, something which had been virtually unseen in the past. There was also notable overlap with the positions of the radical left, in particular in the reprint of a Slovak translation of an article written by Le monde diplomatique editor-in-chief Ignacio Ramonet by the leftist web journal Nové slovo. 18 The trend of the leftist internationalisation of the Slovak section of ČSAF was, however, already reversed in the following edition of Zdola (7/2003  The second journal, Žerme bohatých (ŽB, "Let's eat the rich") was published by the organisation Priama akcia ("Direct action"), which labelled itself as the Slovak section of the International Workers' Association. Following the division of the anarchist movement, as identified by Murray Bookchin, 20 ŽB promoted social anarchism, or more accurately anarcho-syndicalism, with a deeper focus on local struggles, such as Slovak strikes in the railway and education sectors. However, ŽB also reported on strikes and syndicalist struggles from around the world. The sample used in this study includes three regular and three special issues from the period December 2002 -August 2003, i.e. from the period following the zenith of the anti-globalisation movement. Distant echoes of the movement can be observed by the use of the motto "Think locally, act globally", reprinted in the special issue of ŽB dedicated to the 2003 railway strike in Slovakia. 21 It is also worth noting that the ŽB special issue "Strike in the education sector" of June 2003 provided no geographical references whatsoever.
For the sake of this study, I propose the following classification of geographical references gleaned from the two journals: 1. Action! 2. Strike 3. Empire 4. South

Roots
Of course, most of these categories are fluid and some of the obtained information could be allocated to more than one category. In addition, there are several geographical references which did not fit in with any of the classifications. Hyperboles and similes are examples of such outliers, such as "In Prague there was Kosovo", 22 referring to the violence in the streets during the protests of September 2000. Furthermore, the denomination of the "Soviet Union" was not employed in geographical terms, but rather referred to the  Reports from Prague and Genoa often discussed the issue of police violence. The primary problem in Prague was the mistreatment by police of those arrested during the violent portion of the manifestations. 28 As of July 2001, police violence and the violent repression of the demonstrations in Genoa became a widely discussed topic. Genoa became a symbol of state repression against a variety of forms and strands of the anti-globalisation movement. 29 Zdola had a honed focus on covering the protests in Genoa. 30  It is evident that anti-globalisation protesters were not always peaceful, as some took to the streets well prepared for clashes with the police. I have argued elsewhere that such a spectacular police presence with an electrifying atmosphere, reminiscent of "states of emergency", carefully documented and diffused with "riot porn", was a key element in fuelling the violent ecstasies of such fringes of protesters. 33 Furthermore, the repressive state apparatus often failed in differentiating violent and non-violent protesters and, given the bitter experiences with police violence, it was with a certain satisfaction that ŽB published a report on the repression of the police strike in Madrid with the headline "When cops beat cops". 34

Strike
Other types of actions and activities stemmed from the syndicalist tradition and received ample attention in ŽB in particular. Zdola also presented information about the struggles of workers, such as the workers' blockade of a shutdown cable-manufacturing plant in Ozarów (Poland). 35 ŽB merged the aesthetics of "riot porn" with the agenda of workers' struggles by publishing a picture of protesting miners of the Solidarity 80 trade union attacking the police. The journal also covered protests against the closure of the ironworks in Laziska near the Silesian town of Tychy (Poland). 36 The same issue of ŽB also covered the workers' struggles in the Rydygiera hospital in Wroclaw and the Szczecin shipyards. In addition to Poland, a country geographically close to Slovakia but with a radically different tradition of workers' struggles, ŽB reported closely on the general strike in Italy. 37 In this context, the journal largely sympathised with the grassroots unions  Similarly, the activities of the Group of Seven (G7) were chided for intensifying global inequality, securing the power of rich countries and exploiting the poor. Both journals were also similarly critical of certain prominent G7 membersthe USA and to a certain extent also the European Union (EU). 41 Zdola covered the protests against the EU summit in Gothenburg, summarising the message as one of "against Europe of corporations, against Europe stepping on human rights and closing itself vis-à-vis the refugees." 42 It also saw EU economic policies as protecting the interests of large corporations. 43 Certain EU and G7 member states, such as Germany and France, were also criticised for merchandising military equipment. 44 Another negative geographical reference in Zdola was that of the Vatican. 45 In an issue focusing primarily on John Paul II's visit to Slovakia, the policies of the papal state were linked to the spread of AIDS in Africa due to Catholic restrictions on contraception.
One of the geographical references that was often described as being antagonistic to anti-globalisation positions was that of NATO. Slovakia did not become a NATO member until 2004, five years later than Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. The neighbouring country of Austria remained neutral. In the early 2000s, the Slovak public debate surrounding NATO was a relatively heated one, with anarchist journals taking a firm anti-NA-TO stance. This was also evidenced in Zdola, which published a feature on NATO for its issue in August 2001. 46 In January 2002 it also mobilised readers to rally against the NATO summit in Munich that was held the following month. 47 Critiques of NATO were often made in connection with references to international conflicts.
These were undoubtedly conceived of as imperialist wars, and the critique of militarism can be seen as a critique of the Empire. A special issue of Zdola titled "Against war" understood "imperialist wars" as sine qua non: "There is no capitalism without wars." 48 One of the international conflicts criticised in the anarchist press 42 -vg-, Jana. Správy zo zahraničia. In   was the USA's involvement in Afghanistan. 49 Zdola would later go on to criticise the Afghanistan mission for securing the interests of the US petrol corporation Unocal. 50 A similar reference was made regarding Iraq, where a controversial USA-led coalition invaded the country in March 2003. 51 ŽB, in its special issue titled "Let's eat the rich and their wars" reported on the "new maps of the world" that these missions were drawing. 52 ŽB also cited examples of the resistance against "imperialist wars", such as the blockade of the Darby military camp near Pisa (Italy). In Ireland, anti-war protesters blocked access to Shannon Airport. 53

South
Many anti-globalisation activists understood the centres of the global Empire to be synonymous with the wealthy North and the powerful West. Their "spaces of hope", on the other hand, were often located in the global South. 54 In this regard, the region of Zapatist Chiapas was the most referenced by the anti-globalisation activists. This was perceived by many to be a social experiment deserving of attention. The Slovak activist press often mentioned two Czech books about Chiapas. 55 Zdola also presented picturesque visuals of masked Zapatistas in traditional clothing. 56 In addition to Chiapas, several other struggles in the global South were highlighted, such as the movement of the landless MST (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra) in Brazil, 57 the strikes in San Salvador and Bolivia and other social struggles. 58 It is up for debate as to whether or not the accounts of Saudi Arabia and Turkey can be assessed in tandem with the South. However, given the active involvement of these two countries in the practices of the Empire, the image they evoked was predominantly a negative one. 59 This was primarily due to the negligence of human rights as well as the Kurdish movement, which attracted a number of sympathisers from anti-globalist camps.
A notable portion of the information on the struggles in the global South referred to Argentina, where local social movements organised a grassroots resistance against the budget cuts ordered by IMF after the country had gone bankrupt. 60 The general issue of the countries indebted to the IMF as well as the possible of the Millennium remission of debt fed sentiments of global injustice along with the mobilisation strategies of the anti-globalisation movement. Anti-globalization activists empowered their comrades from the global South to take a more active stance in global economic relations. They also considered the South to be a passive subject of the North-based Empire, and events such as the Kontrasummit in Prague 61 or the 2001 World Social Forums 62 were meant to balance this dependency.
The Slovak activist press also shed light on the interests and questionable practices of multinational corporations in countries of the global South, such as Shell in Nigeria or Oxy in Ecuador. Their activities were admonished for having a direct impact on ecological devastation and for suppressing workers' rights campaigns. 63 As has been mentioned, Unocal was accused of establishing geopolitical interests in Afghanistan in order to secure an oil pipeline. 64 In addition to the Southern references of the Nile Delta, Bangladesh and the rainforest, Zdola also highlighted the incidence of ecological devastation in the form of biotech and GMO contamination of the Danube and the Black Sea. The journal mentioned these pollutants in addition to the heavy metals and oil that polluted the river running from the north-west to the south-east, as well as the sea. 65 The final set of references of this sort pertained to migration and refugee advocacy. Zdola understood state borders predominantly as separating the rich North from the poor South. 66 Particular attention was paid to the history of the Schengen Area. 67 It was also noted that territory agreements could be nullified from one day to the next, as exemplified by the efforts to repress the trans-frontier movement of anti-globalisation protesters to Genoa. 68 The same Zdola issue also presented a report from an anti-racist festival in Athens supported by immigrant communities, published with a DIY computer image of the slogan "Crash fortress Europe". In regard to pro-migrant and pro-refugee activities, Zdola also covered the militant camp (called the "bordercamp") in Ustrzyki Górne, in the far south-east of Poland, close to the border with Ukraine and Slovakia. 69 It also promoted the "No Border" network with its different "bordercamps" in Tarifa (southern Spain), Petišovci (southern Slovenia), Białystok/Krynki (eastern Poland) and Frankfurt am Oder (eastern Germany). 70 Lastly, Zdola also published information about Australia's discriminatory migration policies and the migrant revolts in the country's detention centres. 71

Roots
Another set of geographical references alluded to international sister organisations and the places of origin of different activists as well as places important for anti-globalisation social movements. Zdola thus identified activists from the Slovak towns of Trnava, Košice and Prešov among the participants of the street party in Bratislava on 10. June 2000. 72 One year later, however, the journal expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of activities outside of Bratislava. 73 When reporting on the anti-WB and anti-IMF activities and the demonstrations that took place in Prague in September 2000, activists from Italy, Greece, Turkey, Brazil, India and Nicaragua were identified. 74 Historical places that played a significant role in the anarchist movement, such as France in 1968, were also referred to. 75 It is important to note that Zdola did not limit its focus to the Latin Quarter in Paris as the crux of the student movement but also reported on occupied workplaces elsewhere in France, such as Sud Aviation in Nantes, Renault in Cléon and Flins, and the Peugeot factory in Sochaux. 76 The historical experiences of anarchist Ukraine and Spain in the interwar period are further examples of those on the margins of history and geography. 77 A rather specific mention in Zdola referred to an eco-anarchist experiment in Saskatoon (Canada). 78 Other such references were made to squats as centres of anti-globalisation activities. Squatting in Bratislava took the shape of two significant but rather short-lived examples, one in Lodná, another in Podtatranská Street. 79 Beyond the Slovak capital, important refe-rences to places central to the anti-globalisation movement were made to the nearby city of Vienna, where Ernst Kirchweger-Haus (so-called "EKH") 80 as well as several other infoshops and bookstores, such as Anarchistische Buchhandlung in Hahngasse Street, were located. 81 Vienna, due to its geographic proximity and myriad of active social movements, was an important reference in the Slovak anarchist press. Another example was that of Rosa Antifa Wien, an activist strand focused on anti-sexism, which was a rather new discovery for Slovak activists. 82 From other neighbouring countries, squats in Prague, Krakow and Wroclaw were also mentioned. 83