Sunday, May 27, 2012

CANADIAN ANARCHIST MOVEMENT:
THE VICTORIA ANARCHIST BOOKFAIR:
     Fall rolls around once more, and, as the leaves are turning colour the colourful Victoria Anarchist Bookfair will be blowing into town out there on the west coast. Here's the details:
Victoria Anarchist Bookfair
Call for Participation
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1. Victoria Anarchist Bookfair Dates & Contacts
September 8th and 9th, 2012
Fernwood NRG Community Hall
1240 Gladstone Ave, Victoria, BC, Lekwungen Territory
We are pleased to announce the seventh annual Victoria Anarchist Bookfair, located on unceded Lekwungen Territory in Victoria, British Columbia. The Bookfair is for anarchists and non-anarchists, with participants from all over North America and beyond. The Bookfair always includes workshops on a wide range of topics. We seek to challenge colonial attitudes, introduce anarchism to the public, foster dialogue between various political traditions, and create radical, inclusive, anti-oppressive spaces. Participants with different visions, practices, and traditions are welcome. Events include book and information tables, workshops, readings, films, presentations, and much more!
We are particularly seeking workshops that engage with our theme of anti-colonialism and the mobilization to stop proposed pipeline projects in B.C.. This can include presentations on radical theory, Indigeneity, historical issues, participatory demonstrations, panel talks, facilitated discussions, and everything in between—if you have an idea for a workshop, we want to hear about it! We’re also keen on workshops that address, challenge, and connect gender, sexuality, ‘race’, colonialism, ability, capitalism, environmental destruction, workers’ struggles, and other issues affecting our communities.
Please consult our Statement of Principles before sending your proposal. It can be found on our website: http://victoriaanarchistbookfair.ca
This year's deadline is July 15th, 2012.
We are proud to have received Monday Magazine's 'M Award' for Victoria's best literary event in 2009.
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Contacts:
TABLES: tables@victoriaanarchistbookfair.ca This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
WORKSHOPS: workshops@victoriaanarchistbookfair.ca This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
FESTIVAL: festival@victoriaanarchistbookfair.ca This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
VOLUNTEER: volunteer@victoriaanarchistbookfair.ca This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
GENERAL INQUIRIES: info@victoriaanarchistbookfair.ca This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
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2. How to Request a Table for Sept 8 & 9
The heart of the Bookfair is the main room including booksellers, distributors, independent presses and activist groups from all over BC, North America, and abroad. If you’d like to table this year, please provide a short description of your group and the materials you intend to distribute at the Bookfair.
There is no fee for tabling at the Bookfair, but we will be requesting 10% of sales after expenses in order to help us cover costs.
The deadline to request a table is July 15, 2012 (we cannot guarantee inclusion on the poster or in our program-zine for late submissions).
EMAIL: tables@victoriaanarchistbookfair.ca This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
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3. Workshop & Presentation Proposals: for Sept 8 & 9
The Bookfair organizing collective is currently seeking workshop and presentation proposals.
As stated above this Bookfair we are looking to convene in order to challenge the ongoing colonization of our communities and our minds. We are looking for workshops that discuss Indigenous perspectives, de-colonialisation, social struggles, and environmental issues. We also aim to foster a growing movement in resistance to colonialism through the sharing of practical skills. Together we can acknowledge our past and move forward with meaningful solidarity.
Workshops may be aimed at people who are curious about, or new to, anarchist ideas and radical practices; alternatively they might address a topic in depth for people who are already familiar with the subject.
Standard Bookfair workshops last for 50 minutes with a 10-minute break in between. While we are open to a variety of workshop formats, we recommend that facilitators leave at least 20 minutes for discussion at the end of their presentations. Each year we get a lot of submissions, but if we don’t have space at the Bookfair, we still want to help make your workshop happen!
Please provide a title and short description of the workshop's content in your submission. If your workshop is accepted, this information will be reprinted in the program zine.
NOTE: The deadline for all workshop and presentation proposals is July 15, 2012 (after that date we cannot guarantee a timeslot at the Bookfair or inclusion in our program-zine for late submissions).
EMAIL: workshops@victoriaanarchistbookfair.ca This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
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4. Festival of Anarchy Events: Sept 1– 7 (various locations TBA)
In addition to the Bookfair, a "Festival of Anarchy" will take place during the preceding week with diverse anarchist-themed events occurring at different venues in Victoria. You can propose any type of event or activity: the only limit is your imagination. Also this year the Urban Interventionists are looking to coordinate artists to intervene in spaces around the city. Installations, flash mobs, bike races, dance parties, punk shows under bridges, guerilla art, graffiti, performances… and beyond.
Festival of Anarchy events as well as the Urban Interventionists are organized autonomously from the Bookfair and, as such, venues are the responsibility of Event Organizers—that’s you! The Bookfair Collective acts as a hub to promote and coordinate these events. We’re committed to helping promote autonomous festival events to the best of our ability through the program zine and the website.
If you’re interested in having us promote your event, please provide a title and short description of your program by July 15, 2012 so that we can include it in our zine and on our website.
We strongly recommend Festival Events are NOT scheduled during the Bookfair's operating hours. In general, contacting the Bookfair Collective about scheduling dates before our proposal deadline is a useful way to ensure the least number of event conflicts.
EMAIL: festival@victoriaanarchistbookfair.ca This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
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5. Volunteers
We need your help! The Victoria Anarchist Bookfair & Festival of Anarchy Collectives are always looking for new people to assist behind the scenes. We’re looking for help in all kinds of areas such as postering, welcoming & information tabling, room set-up, kids activities, counselling and safe-space support, cleanup and more. The Bookfair is entirely volunteer-run and helping out is a great way to get involved and meet new people. If you’re interested, please read the volunteer descriptions, our collective principles and accessibility statements on our website, and let us know how you’d like to help out!
EMAIL: volunteer@victoriaanarchistbookfair.ca This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
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6. Listserve Subscription Options
We do not send very many messages for most of the year, except as the bookfair dates draw near, so if you want to hear about what’s coming up, subscribe to our listserve by sending a message to vicanarcbookfair -subscribe@lists.riseup.net This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
150 Years of Colonialism: 150 Years of Resista

EMAIL: tables@victoriaanarchistbookfair.ca This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
******************************
3. Workshop & Presentation Proposals: for Sept 8 & 9
The Bookfair organizing collective is currently seeking workshop and presentation proposals.
As stated above this Bookfair we are looking to convene in order to challenge the ongoing colonization of our communities and our minds. We are looking for workshops that discuss Indigenous perspectives, de-colonialisation, social struggles, and environmental issues. We also aim to foster a growing movement in resistance to colonialism through the sharing of practical skills. Together we can acknowledge our past and move forward with meaningful solidarity.
Workshops may be aimed at people who are curious about, or new to, anarchist ideas and radical practices; alternatively they might address a topic in depth for people who are already familiar with the subject.
Standard Bookfair workshops last for 50 minutes with a 10-minute break in between. While we are open to a variety of workshop formats, we recommend that facilitators leave at least 20 minutes for discussion at the end of their presentations. Each year we get a lot of submissions, but if we don’t have space at the Bookfair, we still want to help make your workshop happen!
Please provide a title and short description of the workshop's content in your submission. If your workshop is accepted, this information will be reprinted in the program zine.
NOTE: The deadline for all workshop and presentation proposals is July 15, 2012 (after that date we cannot guarantee a timeslot at the Bookfair or inclusion in our program-zine for late submissions).
EMAIL: workshops@victoriaanarchistbookfair.ca This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
******************************
4. Festival of Anarchy Events: Sept 1– 7 (various locations TBA)
In addition to the Bookfair, a "Festival of Anarchy" will take place during the preceding week with diverse anarchist-themed events occurring at different venues in Victoria. You can propose any type of event or activity: the only limit is your imagination. Also this year the Urban Interventionists are looking to coordinate artists to intervene in spaces around the city. Installations, flash mobs, bike races, dance parties, punk shows under bridges, guerilla art, graffiti, performances… and beyond.
Festival of Anarchy events as well as the Urban Interventionists are organized autonomously from the Bookfair and, as such, venues are the responsibility of Event Organizers—that’s you! The Bookfair Collective acts as a hub to promote and coordinate these events. We’re committed to helping promote autonomous festival events to the best of our ability through the program zine and the website.
If you’re interested in having us promote your event, please provide a title and short description of your program by July 15, 2012 so that we can include it in our zine and on our website.
We strongly recommend Festival Events are NOT scheduled during the Bookfair's operating hours. In general, contacting the Bookfair Collective about scheduling dates before our proposal deadline is a useful way to ensure the least number of event conflicts.
EMAIL: festival@victoriaanarchistbookfair.ca This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
******************************
5. Volunteers
We need your help! The Victoria Anarchist Bookfair & Festival of Anarchy Collectives are always looking for new people to assist behind the scenes. We’re looking for help in all kinds of areas such as postering, welcoming & information tabling, room set-up, kids activities, counselling and safe-space support, cleanup and more. The Bookfair is entirely volunteer-run and helping out is a great way to get involved and meet new people. If you’re interested, please read the volunteer descriptions, our collective principles and accessibility statements on our website, and let us know how you’d like to help out!
EMAIL: volunteer@victoriaanarchistbookfair.ca This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
******************************
6. Listserve Subscription Options
We do not send very many messages for most of the year, except as the bookfair dates draw near, so if you want to hear about what’s coming up, subscribe to our listserve by sending a message to vicanarcbookfair -subscribe@lists.riseup.net This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .


        

Saturday, May 26, 2012

DRIVIN' AROUND WINNIPEG:
I HOPE THEY NEVER COME BACK TO LIFE PART TWO:
     It's over the Slaw Rebchuk bridge travelling north I go, a bridge named after a socialist by a government that is the furthest from such views as may be possible. Come over Slaw Rebchuk travelling north, and the first thing you see (more or less) is the roof of Nepon Motors. The roof proclaiming "Welcome To The North End".Nice and welcoming I may say, but since last Fall the roof has been missing its decades' long coda: "People Before Profit". The Winnipeg Free Press has conducted a poll, and 60% of respondants want the coda restored. The response of the management of Nepon Motors has been rather confused. On the one hand they claim that the decades long. "People Before Profit" sign on their roof was the work of "vandals" On the second hand they promise to restore in after driving this route for over 25 years all that I can say is that, if it would be vandalism, that it took more than a quarter century to recognize it as such. Sounds like new (idiotic) management to me, abandoning a great customer draw May the results be on the bosses'  heads..
DRIVIN' ROUND WINNIPEG:
I HOPE THEY NEVER COME BACK TO LIFE:
      A lot of my work days are consumed with driving across Winnipeg. After 28 years of doing this job I think that I know more about the City than the average cab driver. Interesting stuff some times. Today I had another attempted car jacking when a perp attempted to open the passenger side door. Locked, ha ha ! Perp travels to the drivers side and tries to beg money. The perp responded to the proper English of  "NO, go the fuck away" without any graphic details about how I would carve up their intestines. Bye bye. OK, I was sitting in a convenience store parking lot at Arlington and Selkirk reading the local newspaper trash, the Winnipeg Sun, and eating junk food---almost an invitation to street demons. Still I got to admire the common sense of the demon. Quite unlike one demon who attempted to open the driver's door when I was parked at Notre Dame and Arlington many years ago. Once againb the door was locked, but it DID open as I slammed the fucker as hard as I could with the door. OUCH !!!Which all goes to show- exercise caution no matter what you are doing.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

CANADIAN LABOUR:
RIO TINTO OFF THE PODIUM:
     Over in London England the international mining company Rio Tinto has been awarded the position of  the metals necessary to make the award medals. Yet back here in Canada workers at Rio Tinto's aluminum smelter in Alma Québec have been locked out for months. Rio Tinto wants to replace union members with unorganized temporary workers who are to be paid 50% less and will have no pension. The 780 locked out workers have been on the picket line for far too long.

     The United Steel Workers Canada and the labour solidarity site Labour Start have initiated a compaign to demand that the International Olympic Committee drop Rio Tinto as being incompatible with Olympic ideals. The IOC will be meeting in Canada next week. Please go to this link to sign the petition to the IOC.                                                                                                      

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

ANARCHIST THEORY:
BUT WILL THE TRAINS RUN ON TIME ?

 The short answer is "yes". In fact, given the lower "neighbourhood costs" of rail versus road traffic they will run even more frequently.This article is the first of what I hope will be a series on how things might be organized in an anarchist society. What follows is not some sort of program that is closed to change and learning from experience. It is merely musing and a demonstration that things can be organized quite diffrently than they way that they are.

     To begin with...what is a railroad.? It is an enterprise with fixed capital consisting of lines, rolling stock and facilities. It is also, however, a social enterprise wherein people cooperate in the doing of useful work. In other words it is a social system. Today it is assumed that a seperate caste of "managers" is necessaryfor the smooth functioning of this network. The idea that centralized control is "necessary" runs up against the reality that there are many different rail companies, all of which have agreed without central direction to use the lines cooperatively in many cases.

     Such cooperation is a mere shadow of the .cooperation that would be required to run the rails in a lbertarian fashion. It does, howevev show that such a thing is possible.In actual fact the role of management is quite minimal in the day to day operation of a railroad. To a large extent they are merely the "harassment team" whose goal is supposedly the direction of a system that basically runs itself by routine.

     All that is quite fine you may say, but what sort of structure could substitute for what little use management actually has ? Delving back in anarchist history we submit the union structure of the Spanish CNT as proof, a strucure that during the first years of the Spanish Civil War actually worked and, in fact increased production and efficiency in many enterprises.The CNT had a basic dual unionism.  On the one hand it favoured "industrial unions" that would represent all of the workers in a certain workplace and, beyond that, in the whole of an industry. This was balanced by the "geographic union" of all workers in a given community. This structure was not only useful for the day to day fight against the bosses. It also was capable of running production on its own in the abscence of  said bosses.

     What would a modern equivalent look like ? Well one thing is for sure. It would involve a lot of bargaining. The difference between this self management and the present managerial system would be that workers organized in a libertarian fashion would have every incentive to improve the overall functioning of the enterprise, as opposed to the present adversarial system of workers versus management. There would remain only the "personal" conflicts present in all human groups. There would not  be a zero sum game as it is today where the gain of one is the automatic loss of the other.

      What would be the best way to organize so that the libertarian way ends up better than our own class based system ?  Some might say that the traditional industrial/geograpic organization of the CNT is totally sufficient. Here in North America the most popular concept is the traditional IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) model whereby industrial unionism is sufficient in itself. Personaslly I favour a triad of organization: industrial/craft and geographic. I think that the geographic locals are the best body to make final decisions about such things as investment, compensation, etc. and to negotiate with other organizations in a libertarian society.

     I see the need for craft organization in order to identify specific "small" problems. The safety of a system is very much dpendant on the individual identification of problems by certain occupations. Improvements to a system are likewise most likely first noticed and put forward by the "specialists" in a given activity. Once a problem is identified it would first be presented to either the trade association or to the geographical union. Unless the problem was one that is necessarily wide in geographic scale there would hardly be any need to involve the larger industrial union at this point. The industrial union would, however, be able to consult to see if the problem was widespread, and it would make suggestions to other geographic or trade unions based on the one union's presentation.


      The industrial union, along with the parallel geographic general assembly of workers on the railroad would have to be involved if the correction of a situation required resources that would be held by either the local assembly or the industrial union. Sometimes the resources needed would be beyond those of either the local assembly(s) or even the industrial union. In this case it would require the assistance of larger federations of local citizens' groups. Depending upon the size of such organis of local democracy there would be either informal ties with cross membership of the workers and the citizens' assembly or more formal cross representation. This, of course, would also depend upon the occupational strucure of the organs of neighbourhood self management.


     In any case there would have to be bargaining involved amongst the various groups as to the best way to use available resources. This would be utterly different from the present labour/management bargaining for the simple reason that it would not be a zero sum game. There would be not be a situation where the gain of one was the loss of the other. This bargaining would be carried on amongst people looking for a cooperative solution that would benefit all. Not that there wouldn't be disagreements. Far from it. Neither would there cease to be self interest and the conflicts that arise from such. It is quite likely that people in one town would feel that resources should be used in completely different ways.


     That's all well and fine you may say, but how would the railway workers "earn a living" ? Vewry pointed question ! The traditional anarchocommunist view is that "social solidarity" would be strong enough in a stateless society so that one could depend on the "good will" (enforced by social pressure such a shaming) of members of society to volunteer their work in exchange for free access to community goods. Whjatever they may be...food, housing, recreation, health services, etc..


      Myself I am a little more doubtful. Maybe the anarchocommunist vision is viable, but I for one worry that there will be too many "freeloaders" in the abscence of punishment. Dependence on "social shaming" for such punishment would assume a rather particularist community to a degree that I would find unacceptable.Not that anarchism doesn't involve a recreation of community, but should such community be inward looking and omnipotent ? I personally don't think so. This tension between community and individual initiative has been simulataneously discussed and ignored in the anarchist tradition (depending on who you read). It is the central point in Ursula LeGuin's. 'The Dispossed'.


      On the other hands there are those such as the American individualists/mutualists/left libertarians who believe that all (or the vast majority) of economic transactions should be governed by a "free market". I will not go deeply into their beliefs here except to note that they run up against multiple examples of "natural monopoly" such as the railroads discussed in this post.


     Personally I am wary of "absolute solutions". In the world of the ecomomy I think it is best to hold to a pluralism of systems or, putting it another way, a "mixed economy". In an anarchist society all of the present "socialized" ie free and "communistic" services and goods would remain free. In addition I think that other matters available only in the market economy should also become free ie "communistic". There is, however, a big gap between saying that the essentials of life should be free and available to all and saying that each person can take what he wants from common stores. Everybody should have shelter and beyond "shelter" a home.  Yet the demand for mansions cannot be accomodated by any foreseeable society. This is even including the general realization that they are an infinite amount of work in the abscence of paid labour.


      Similarily everyone in a society should have the right to season appropriate footware. This doesn't mean, however, that each and any demand for unique shoes such as green elf slippers with bells or the felt lined winter version of same should be a matter of "ask and get". Personally I think there should be a subsidiary market economy where such "luxuries" could be purchased in units of whatever "alternate currency" that might replace the present currency of states.Who knows what these alternative curriencies might be ? They may be "labour certificates" issued by the syndicates. They might be "local currency" of the community. They might be credit union backed transferable  (from place to place and industry to industry) funds. The important thing is that they would not be open for monetary speculation.


     So back to the railways and their everyday operation in the abscence of management. The first thing to note is that the railway workers would have equal access to any and all free services provided by the local community. Doubtless, however, this would not satisfy the railway workers' sense of justice. However they might like to pay themselves (equally, by family size, by difficulty of job, by seniority and so on) should be their choice alone. I'd suggest that a credit union of each railway centre organizeed in a federation of credit unions would be the best way for railway workers to approach negotiations with the wider community about the worth of their labour and the subsequent compensation. I can see the credit unions engaging in almost endless negotiations to not only determine what "luxuries" railway workers are entitles to locally but also how to make such credits transferable from locality to locality. Movement and vacations should, after all, continue to exist.

      Summing up it can be seen that a viable anarchist society at least in the case of this one public aminity is the furthest thing from the "chaos" that anarchism is often described as, and which is too often imitated and praised by fringe elements in anarchism. An anarchist society is actually a far more organized society than they we "enjoy" now. Yes, it would require more time devoted to decision making than is presently the case for most (all ?) workers, but one might hope that this would be balanced by a decrease in "busy work" mandated by management and compensated by the feeling of "real power"  and meaning of advancing ones' own interest under self management.


      God knows there is more than enough of specifics I have left out of this post. I am not wedded to the exact schemata presented here. The wisdom of crowds after all.... No doubt an anarchist society would be different in many points than what I have sketched above. I would hope that others might find organizational forms that were more democratic, more efficient and more productive of humam liberty.My whole pont, however, is that "YES" the trains will run on time under anarchism. The way  they will be organized will be far different from today, but each change will be an improvement on the present situation.