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Ri-Maflow wants to exist!

Thursday 16 October 2014

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This appeal in support of the self-managed factory Ri-Maflow in Milan, Italy has already received international support. Collective and individual support can be sent to : rimaflowvuolevivere@gmail.com. All donations to help the factory continue are almot most welcome.

The economic crisis has led to deep social transformations and job losses all over the world, destroying the plans and expectations of millions of men and women. The answers given so far have been completely negligible from a social point of view and favourable only to the profits of the financ capital, with no positive repercussions on the real economy.

Many have opposed these policies so far: from the Occupy mobilizations in the US, to the struggles of workers in Southeast Asia, peasants in Africa and Latin America, students in Quebec, from the movements in defence of migrant rights, to those against the debt, to women’s movements, to the movements of people who are denied every right. The experience of Ri-Maflow in Italy stands in full solidarity with this international movement that, in spite of its efforts, has not managed to challenge the capitalist management of the crisis.

Ri-Maflow is a workers’ cooperative in Trezzano sul Naviglio (Milan). Until 2012 it has been the seat of the company Maflow, which made profits, fulfilled orders and ran factories all over the world. When the company shut down, the workers did not give up and decided to occupy the plant, beginning a completely new experience, based on self-management and democracy. They looked at the experiences of the Argentinian fabricas recuperadas and the Sem terra movements in Brasil. “Occupy, resist and produce” has become their motto, too.

Much has been done in just one year and a half: the disused workshops have started operating again, a "Town of another economy" has been realized, an alternative marketplace has been created, together with cultural and performing art classes and a place for “outside the market” distribution in collaboration with the association SoS Rosarno, created in Calabria (a southern region of Italy) to free migrants from the exploitation in orange plantations.

In the very same place that the owners of Maflow decided to shut down, the workers, together with young precarious workers, have created moments and spaces for a new sociality.

But this experience today wants to take a step forward and must do so, accomplishing the goal of operating the factory, in order to obtain a full wage for all the workers during 2015. For this purpose, Ri-Maflow is promoting a solidarity campaign with the minimum, but fundamental goal of buying a plant for the production and distribution of compressed air, which is necessary to activate all the machinery.

Achieving this goal would be an important step not only for Ri-Maflow workers, but for all those who want to work on a project of self-management, of opposition to austerity, and of defence of labour rights. For this reason, we believe that it is important to support this campaign. As academics, artists, social and political activists, media and communication workers, simple citizens, we want to say out loud that RI-MAFLOW WANTS TO EXIST.

First signatures

 Joao Pedro Stedile, Movimento Sem Terra, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
 Ken Loach, film-maker, London, Britain
 Frei Betto, liberation theologist, São Paolo, Brazil
 Themba Chauke, Landless People Movement - Via Campesina, South Africa
 Andrés Ruggeri, Open faculty programme, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina
 Plácido Peñarrieta, CHILAVERT Artes Gráficas y Red Gráfica Cooperativa, Buenos Aires, Argentina
 Gladis and María del Valle, Hotel BAUEN, Buenos Aires, Argentina
 Silvia Díaz, Cooperativa LA CACEROLA y FACTA, Buenos Aires, Argentina
 Juan Martín Pereyra, Cooperativa Restaurant LOS CHANCHITOS, Buenos Aires, Argentina
 Daniel Zakuski, Universidad de los Trabajadores, IMPA, Buenos Aires Argentina
 Patricia Acha, coop. LA YUMBA, Buenos Aires, Argentina
 Pedro Sánchez and Fernando Rodriguez, Coop.TEXTILES PIGUE’ Buenos Aires, Argentina
 Enrique Iriarte, Coop. 19 DE DICIEMBRE, Buenos Aires, Argentina
 Osvaldo da Costa Neto, Fábrica FLASKO’, San Paolo, Brazil
 FRALIB, ex Unilever, occupied factory, Marseilles, France
 Mondeggi Bene Comune, farms without owners, Florence, Italy
 OZ-Officine Zero, fabbrica recuperata, Rome, Italy
 Socrate, migrants homes Associazione Solidaria-Netzanet, Bari, Italy
 S.O.S Rosarno, produttori and braccianti Piana di Gioia Tauro, Italy
 VIO.ME <http://VIO.ME> , occupied factory, Salonika, Greece
 Assemblea generale ‘Encuentro Sudamericano La Economía de los Trabajadores’ c/o Textiles Pigué, Buenos Aires, Argentina
 Gilbert Achcar, SOAS, University of London, Britain
 Giso Amendola, University of Salerno, Italy
 Bruno Arpaia, writer, Milan, Italy
 Cinzia Arruzza, The New School, New York, USA
 Dario Azzellini, Workerscontrol.net and University of Linz, Austria
 Walden Bello, Focus on the Global South, Bangkok, Thailand
 Johanna Brenner, University of Portland, USA
 Pino Cacucci, writer, Bologna, Italy
 Salvatore Cannavò, journalist, Rome, Italy
 Vivek Chibber, New York University, New York, USA
 Simon Chritcley, New School for Social Research, New York, USA
 Antonio Conti, Rete ONU-operatori nazionali USAto, Rome, Italy
 Elvira Corona, journalist, author of ‘Lavorare senza padroni’, Cagliari, Italy
 Edenise Da Silva Antas, University of Serra dos Orgaos, Brasil
 Erri De Luca, writer, Rome, Italy
 Nicoletta Dosio, Movimento No Tav, ValsUSA, Italy
 Valerio Evangelisti, writer, Bologna, Italy
 Sara Farris, Goldsmiths, University of London, Britain
 Angelo Ferracuti, writer, Fermo, Italy
 Nancy Fraser, New School for Social Research, New York, USA
 Andrea Fumagalli, University of Pavia, Italy
 Mabel Grimberg, Directora Instituto Ciencias Antropologicas, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina
 Nancy Holmstrom, Rutgers University, Newark N.J., USA
 Statis Kouvelakis, Kings College, London, Britain
 Michael Lowy, author, University of Paris V and CNRS, Paris, France
 Aldo Marchetti, sociologist and author of ‘Fabbriche aperte’, Milano, Italy
 Ana Marssani, University of the Republic, Uruguay
 Sandro Mezzadra, University of Bologna, Italy
 Antonio Montefusco, University Heinrich-Heine, Düsseldorf, Germania
 Toni Negri, giàUniversity of Padua, Italy
 Florencia Partenio, Carrera de Relaciones del Trabajo, Univ. Naz. A.Jauretche, Argentina
 Charles Post, professor CUNY, New York, USA
 Alberto Prunetti, writer, Piombino, Italy
 Gabriele Polo, journalist, Rome, Italy
 Re:Common, sottrarre risorse naturali a finanza and mercato, Rome, Italy
 Anabel Rieiro, Universitàdella Repubblica, Uruguay
 Pierre Rousset, Europe solidaire sans frontières, Paris, France
 Sally Rousset, Babaylan-Femmes philippines en France, Paris, France
 Catherine Samary, economist and global justice activist, Paris, France
 Heike Schaumberg, University of Manchester, Britain
 Marina Sitrin, City University, New York, USA
 Richard Smith, essayist, New York, USA
 Cecilia Strada, presidente di Emergency, Milano, Italy
 Peter D. Thomas, Senior Lecturer in Political Philosophy, Brunel University London, Britain
 Massimiliano Tomba, University of Padua, Italy
 Alberto Toscano, Goldsmiths, University of London, Britain
 Eric Toussaint, presidente CADTM, Lièges, Belgium
 Massimo Vaggi, lawyer and writer, Bologna, Italy
 Eleni Varikas, University Paris VIII and CNRS, Paris, France
 Guido Viale, journalist and essayist, Milano, Italy
 Gabriel Videla, geographer, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina
 Wu Ming, writers’ collective, Bologna,Italy
 Alex Zanotelli, missionary comboniano, Naples, Italy