INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-AUSTRALIA:

CALLOUT FOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO MUTINY MAGAZINE:

Well, here's one to prove that Molly doesn't always keep her nose to the grindstone in her cold and inhospitable country. Here's an item from the antipodes, Australia to be exact. The anarchist magazine 'Mutiny Magazine' from Sydney Australia is once more issuing a call for articles and other contributions to their efforts. This one will be issue # 46. Congrats to the comrades for such a sustained effort. Here's the callout.

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Callout for contributions to Mutiny Zine May #46‏:
This one's going to be a little late so bear with us comrades :)

**Deadline is FRIDAY 8th January 2010** (deadline may be extended)Contact us if you can't make the deadline but can still commit to writing us something for an extension.

Send us:

* 350 words of news, actions, resistances, occupations, updates on political situations, etc.

* 1500 words worth of articles

* 350 words worth of reviews on recordings/screenings/gigs/films/books/'graphic novels'/etc

Please send your submissions to mutineers@graffiti.net

Links to the latest issue #45:

http://www.jura.org.au/files/jura/Mutiny45_WEB.pdf

http://www.jura.org.au/files/jura/Mutiny45_A4PRINT.pdf

and several back issues can be found at http://www.jura.org.au/mutiny

(Email us for any that haven't been uploaded yet, and we'll see what we can do).

xoxo

Mutiny Zine Collective

ANARCHIST MAGAZINES:

WORKERS' SOLIDARITY 107 NOW ONLINE:

Here's a potpourri of announcements and other matters from the wide world of anarchist magazines. First of all from Ireland comes the announcement of the 107th edition of the Irish 'Workers' Solidarity', now online.

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Ireland's anarchist paper Workers Solidarity 107 online:
Workers Solidarity 107, the Jan/Feb edition of the Irish anarchist paper is now online for you to read or download. This is the online version of the paper, 10,000 printed copies of each edition are also distributed for free in Ireland, if your interested in helping with distribution contact us.

Click on one of the links below for a PDF version of the northern or southern edition of Workers Solidarity 107.
Workers Solidarity 107 Southern Web Edition 0.91 Mb
Workers Solidarity 107 Northern Web Edition 0.92 Mb
Anarchism and the WSM
November saw WSM public meetings about anarchism in Cork and Dublin, with 40 people at one and about 60 at the other. With the crisis and a growing employers’ offensive on wages there is a greater openness to radical ideas, and we will be holding more meetings around the country over the next couple of months.




November also saw big numbers turn out for demonstrations against the education cuts. A leaflet by WSM education workers asked “why do we keep inviting Fine Gael and Labour TDs to speak at our rallies. When they were in government, they were every bit as mean as Fianna Fáil, every bit as good at cutting services in order to keep down the tax bill of the rich. When in opposition they make promises, when in government they stick the boot in.




“Surely we should be looking to others in the same situation as ourselves. Surely we should be looking to join up with other working people who face the same attack on their jobs and services.” The government’s cuts strategy is an attack on the standard of living of all working people, a united resistance where “an injury to one is the concern of all” is the best response.




December saw 15 year old Alexandros Grigoropoulos shot and killed by police in Athens in December. WSM spokesperson Siobhan Rattigan said that “While Greece was preparing for the December 10th general strike against making working people pay for the economic crisis, Alexandros was killed in cold blood. That is how a ‘special forces’ police officer answered anti-police slogans that a small group of school students were chanting.




Far from frightening people it sparked off riots throughout the country. A General Strike was called for the following day, and 10,000 marched on the Greek parliament. Schools all over Greece were occupied by their students, and a 3-day strike declared by the High School Teachers’ Union.




In Dublin WSM members helped to organise a protest outside the Greek embassy. A Greek anarchist addressed the crowd and explained that “the special forces are trained by the old guard, the military who were in power. They are not respected by the people, and neither is the government which mirrors our own with its corruption and ineptitude. That is why Greece is in the grip of its greatest social upheaval in decades.




We were on the streets again that month, joining protests against the Israeli slaughter in Gaza. A joint statement from our sister organisations in Palestine/Israel, South Africa, Italy and Canada summed up our rulers' attitude:




"Hundreds of dead and thousands of injured, sacrificed on the altar of Zionist expansionism and fundamentalism. In Europe, the foreign ministers of every EU country talk about an "exaggerated", though "legitimate", reaction on the part of Israel, reversing the true situation with an operation that would make the most cynical illusionist feel proud by making the aggressor, the State of Israel, appear to be the victim."




On a happier note, December also saw the first of the WSM’s monthly radio shows on Dublin community radio station NEAR 90.3FM. If you miss the live programme you can download it from http://www.archive.org/details/RadioSolidarityShow1FromTheWorkersSolidarityMovementIreland
In this issue.
..Make Them Redundant
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett commented on the US financial crisis that “it’s only when the tide goes out that you learn who’s been swimming naked, and Wall Street now looks like a nudist beach.” Well when it comes to Ireland, the receding tide of the global economy has revealed that not only were our business and political elites swimming naked, they were engaged in a great big orgy as well.
Moving From Protest to Success
The Education Cuts announced in October’s Budget have unleashed a wave of protest across the country. During the months of November and December approximately 120,000 people took to the streets of Dublin, Galway, Tullamore, Cork and Donegal to register their anger at the government’s attempts to make schoolchildren pay for the financial crisis. Cowen, Lenihan and O’Keefe have been left in no doubt about the level of popular opposition to these cutbacks. In addition thousands of 3rd level students have also taken to the streets and participated in marches, pickets and blockades to protest at the proposed re-introduction of fees.
Lower Pay, Less Jobs - Whose National Interest?
WSM member Joe King, a clerical officer in the public sector, responds to the calls for pay cuts and redundancies.
A Quick Guide to Social Welfare for the Newly Jobless
Workers Solidarity’s Vincent O’Malley spoke to his local Citizens Information Centre about some of the obstacles facing people who have lost their jobs.
You Can't Eat a Flag
A recent report produced by ‘Belfast Healthy Cities’ into the direct link between wealth and class confirms what most of us already know - class pervades every aspect of our lives from the cradle to grave.
Loansharks Prey on 40,000 Across the North
A major financial company with 40,000 customers in the North has admitted that it charges 183.2% interest. This is no backstreet loanshark operation, Provident Financial is a completely legal and government regulated firm.
Organising in Challenging Times
The Grassroots Gathering is a twice-yearly coming together of anarchists and libertarian socialists who are active in political groups and campaigns up and down the island of Ireland. The second of 2008's Gatherings was held in Cork on 14th-16th November. The 90 or so attending, combined with the quality of the discussions, left its organisers very pleased with the weekend. It showed that there's a lot of life left in the Grassroots Gathering as a show-case for trends and thinking among Ireland's libertarian left.
What the hell is a social centre?
Mark Malone spoke to Workers Solidarity about Dublin’s social centre. He is a member of the WSM and also of the Seomra Spraoi Collective.
Thinking About Anarchism - The Selfish Gene?
Anarchists want to change the world. Instead of the present order – capitalism – with its focus on inequality and profits for a few, we want to build a new society based around the principles of participatory democracy, freedom and production for need not profit. For anarchists the type of society we want to build is best summed up by the slogan: ‘To each according to their needs, from each according to their ability’.
That's Capitalism!
One child in eight in less developed countries gets no primary schooling, according to UNESCO. Of the approximately 75 million children who receive no primary schooling, about 55% are girls. In sub-Saharan Africa one-third of all children receive no schooling.
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And then from the antipodes, a particularly interesting excerpt from the Australian Mutiny magazine- also online.

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Australia, Sydney, anarchist zine Mutiny #34
- 20 theses against green capitalism:
No to false solutions!
Climate Justice Now!
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1. The current world economic crisis marks the end of the neoliberal phase of capitalism. `Business as usual' (financialisation, deregulation, privatisation...) is thus no longer an option: new spaces of accumulation and types of political regulation will need to be found by governments and corporations to keep capitalism going.
2. Alongside the economic and political as well as energy crises, there is another crisis rocking the world: the biocrisis, the result of a suicidal mismatch between the ecological life support system that guarantees our collective human survival and capital's need for constant growth.
3. This biocrisis is an immense danger to our collective survival, but like all crises it also presents us, social movements, with a historic opportunity: to really go for capitalism's exposed jugular, its need for unceasing, destructive, insane growth.
4. Of the proposals that have emerged from global elites, the only one that promises to address all these crises is the `Green New Deal'. This is not the cuddly green capitalism 1.0 of organic agriculture and D.I.Y. windmills, but a proposal for a new `green' phase of capitalism that seeks to generate profits from the piecemeal ecological modernisation of certain key areas of production (cars, energy, etc.)
5. Green capitalism 2.0 cannot solve the biocrisis (climate change and other ecological problems such as the dangerous reduction of biodiversity), but rather tries to profit from it. It therefore does not fundamentally alter the collision course on which any market-driven economy sets humanity with the biosphere.
6. This isn't the 1930s. Then, under the pressure of powerful social movements, the old `New Deal' redistributed power and wealth downwards. The`New New' and `Green New Deal' discussed by Obama, green parties all around the world, and even some multinationals is more about welfare for corporations than for people
7. Green Capitalism won't challenge the power of those who actually produce most greenhouse gases: the energy companies, airlines and carmakers, industrial agriculture, but will simply shower them with more money to help maintain their profit rates by making small ecological changes that will be too little, too late
8. Because globally, working people have lost their power to bargain and demand rights and decent wages, in a green capitalist setup, wages will probably stagnate or even decline to offset the rising costs of `ecological modernisation'
9. The `green capitalist state' will be an authoritarian one. Justified by the threat of ecological crisis it will `manage' the social unrest that will necessarily grow from the impoverishment that lies in the wake of rising cost of living (food, energy, etc.) and falling wages
10. In green capitalism, the poor will have to be excluded from consumption, pushed to the margins, while the wealthy will get to `offset' their continued environmentally destructive behaviour, shopping and saving the planet at the same time
11. An authoritarian state, massive class inequalities, welfare given to corporations: from the point of view of social and ecological emancipation, green capitalism will be a disaster that we can never recover from. Today, we have a chance to get beyond the suicidal madness of constant growth. Tomorrow, by the time we've all gotten used to the new green regime, that chance may be gone
12. In green capitalism, there is a danger that established, mainstream environmental groups will come to play the role that trade unions played in the Fordist era: acting as safety valves to make sure that demands for social change, that our collective rage remain within the boundaries set by the needs of capital and governments
13. Albert Einstein defined `insanity' as "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." In the past decade, in spite of Kyoto, not only has the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere increased -so, too, has the rate of increase. Do we simply want more of the same? Wouldn't that be insane?
14. International climate agreements promote false solutions that are often more about energy security than climate change. Far from solving the crisis, emissions trading, CMD, joint implementation, offsets and so on, all provide a political shield for the continued production of greenhouse gases with impunity
15. For many communities in the global South,these false solutions (agrofuels, `green deserts',CDM-projects) are by now often a greater threat than climate change itself
16. Real solutions to the climate crisis won't be dreamt up by governments or corporations.They can only emerge from below, from globally networked social movements for climate justice
17. Such solutions include: no to free trade, no to privatisation, no to flexible mechanisms. Yes to food sovereignty, yes to degrowth, yes to radical democracy and to leaving the resources in the ground
18. As an emerging global climate justice movement, we must fight two enemies: on one hand climate change and the fossilistic capitalism that causes it, and on the other, an emergent green capitalism that won't stop it, but will limit our ability to do so
19. Of course, climate change and free trade aren't the same thing, but: the Copenhagen-protocol will be a central regulatory instance of green capitalism just as the WTO was central to neoliberal capitalism. So how to relate to it? The Danish group KlimaX argues: A good deal is better than no deal - but no deal is way better than a bad one.
20. The chance that governments will come up with a `good deal' in Copenhagen is slim to none. Our aim must therefore be to demand agreement on real solutions. Failing that: to forget Kyoto,and shut down Copenhagen! (whatever the tactic)




By Tadzio Mueller and Alexis Passadakis(12/2008). Alexis is a member of attac Germany's coordinating council, Tadzio a part of the Turbulence editorial collective. They are both active in the emerging climate justice movement,and can be reached at againstgreencapitalism (at)googlemail (dot) com




The Copenhagen COP15 conference is a big summit in December 2009, to negotiate a new international treaty on climate change. It won't offer any real solutions to the world's ecological crisis; a mass blockade and direct actions to stop it are being planned...The Mutiny Zine Collective does not necessarily agree with all the above points, however we do think that solutions to climate change can only come with a revolutionary rejection of capitalism.
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Returning once more from Botany bay to the Auld Sod the Irish Workers' Solidarity Movement is also relaunching their theoretical publication 'Red and Black Revolution' as 'Ideas and Action'. This, of course, was the title of a US publication, put out by the American Workers' Solidarity Alliance from 1981 to 1997. Here's the announcement from Ireland.
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Ideas & Action - A new movement magazine:
In the world today there is no body of revolutionary theory that provides a fully convincing picture of where we are or a program for the future. The left is trapped in a cycle of state ideology and reactions to state ideology.





Our old publication - one more to come





For the past 14 years Ireland's Workers Solidarity Movement has published 14 issues of our theoretical journal Red and Black Revolution as an attempt to break this cycle and develop a contemporary anarchist understanding of the world we are in. It was sold at anarchist bookfairs in London and Dublin but otherwise faced the same problems as many other non-commercial publications, notably the closure of independent bookstores and an increased use of online media. This has meant that sales of the magazine shrunk while online readership of the articles soared. As we publish in order to be read rather than to be sold we embraced rather than shrunk from online distribution even though it cut further into sales.




The WSM Autumn conference concluded that the production for sale model of our magazine was over. We also wanted to make significant changes in the look and feel of what we produced and to explore new methods of getting contributions. So we have 'killed' Red & Black Revolution and will be producing a new printed publication, 'Ideas and Action', which will be distributed for free at all major 'hubs' of movement activity and discussion in Ireland and Britain. We are also currently looking at methods of distribution both online and in printed form elsewhere in the world with a particular focus on countries where English is the main language.




Our initial print run will be 5,000 and we'd expect online access to be at least as successful as that for Red & Black Revolution, some of whose articles have been downloaded by more than 100,000 people.




This new magazine aims to document contemporary struggles that will have bearing on how future movements take shape. We also want to engage with the best impulses of traditions other than our own in order to develop a coherent contemporary anarchist analysis that builds on the best the movement has to offer. With this in mind the editorial staff is keen to solicit articles from people other than our members in order to develop our anarchist politics through engagement with fellow travellers in the struggle against capitalism.




So, if you have any suggestions for articles or if you have unpublished book reviews lying around please email ideasandaction AT gmail.com
DISTRIBUTORS WANTED
The impact of good political literature is greatest when people get to talk and share their reaction to what they read. One of the chief aims of Ideas and Action is to generate discussion and action within both the wider working class and the existing social movement networks. Free distribution will help with this but we need your help.




The editorial staff of the journal is looking for organizations, institutions and individuals to contact us if they are interested in distributing this journal. Can you leave copies at your local social centre or union hall? Are you and your friends interested in distributing it at movement events in your locality? Do you and your friends read and discuss political material together?




While we are some time off our first issue, it will appear Summer 2009, we are also calling on potential distributers at home and abroad to organise launch events and discussions as each new issue comes. In this way we hope each issue will be a tool of collective political development not only for the editorial group but for a large network of individuals and organizations.




If you are interested in becoming a distributor of our new journal please contact us at ideasandaction AT gmail.com





Related Link: http://www.wsm.ie/rbr

CONSUMER PROTECTION:

MELAMINE IN MILK SCANDAL GROWS-USA AND CANADA STILL DELAY BAN:

As more and more countries worldwide institute total bans on any products containing milk byproducts from China the Canadian and American governments continue to "hold the line" by only calling for recalls on a limited range of products. As Molly has mentioned before on this blog, this is very reminiscent of the actions of the Chinese government in delaying action on the scandal because of the Olympics. In Canada and the USA the reasons are very much elections rather than Olympics. This is especially true in Canada where there is already an ongoing food contamination problem in the listeriosis outbreak, where there are plans afoot to further decrease food inspection and where the Minister in charge has been essentially gagged so that he cannot put his foot in his mouth in the coming two weeks. Sneaky Stevie Harper is nothing if not a master of the idea of "staying on message".

Two more countries that have banned all products containing Chinese milk byproducts in recent days include the Democratic Republic of the Congo and, most importantly, yesterday Russia according to a report by the Russian Novosti News Agency. This should be seen as significant as the country of my mother's birth is hardly famed for decisive action for protection of its citizens in the case of consumer goods. If nothing else the Canadian and American governments should be shamed into action by the fact that even Russia takes the matter more seriously than they do.

Meanwhile the list of high profile "western" brands implicated in the scandal grows by the day. In addition to the Starbucks, Nestlé, and Heinz companies Pizza Hut in Taiwan (in relation to its cheese) , Oreo cookies from Kraft Foods and M&Ms and Snickers from Mars in Indonesia have now come under a cloud of suspicion, according to an article in the Asian News. The reaction of Kraft and Mars has been less than sterling as they disputed the Indonesian findings, claiming that the products in question are "counterfeit". We'll see. We'll see. Denial was an early feature of many companies eventually implicated in the contaminated pet food scandal last year.

The same article also mentions that the British Cadbury Company has withdrawn 11 of its products produced in China and distributed in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Australia. The article also notes the massive size of imports to both the EU and the USA of sweets ,in the case of the EU, and the milk "protein" (maybe) in the case of the USA in the past year. In the EU, according to an article in the VOA News melamine has been found in cookies marketed under the Koala brand. This article also mentions that melamine was found in Ritz Crackers manufactured by the Nabisco Company in South Korea.

According to yet another article in the Christian Science Monitor Lipton's milk tea has had to be pulled from shelves across Asia. Add Lipton's to the list. The article also notes a couple of interesting facts. One is "strong laws" cannot solve the continuing problem of food adulteration in China (or in many other countries such as the USA and Canada) because the "policing" aspect of such laws is missing. China is actually very "strict" in terms of its laws, and execution would be a probable fate of any arrested executive found implicated in this most recent scandal. Yet stern penalties hardly deter opportunists when the chance of "getting caught" are minimal given the state of inspections in that country, a situation that conservatives in both the USA and Canada see as an admirable situation. The second point is that the company most deeply implicated in the problem in China, Sanlu, is actually a joint venture with the New Zealand Fonterra (mentioned before on this blog) and the Chinese state itself. Yup, this problem developed in a situation where the government itself was the major stakeholder. Interesting ! According to an article in the New York Times over 200,000 children have been brought in for examination in the Chinese province of Hubei alone. the Chinese government has not issued any updates about the number actually affected since last week.

Meanwhile back in the USA the Department of Health has responded by finally promising to press for more stringent 'country of origin" labelling , according to an article at the ABS-CNN News. this comes in the wake of the American ban on milk imports from China (a basically nonexistent item) while not addressing the much more prevalent problem of "milk byproducts".Wait a minute here, for those with a memory. Weren't such "requirements" part of the "lessons learned" to be implemented from last year's pet food scandal ???? Love those promises ! Let's see what happens with the latest vows.

If you want to follow this story as it develops Molly can recommend the following blogs:

1)From a scientific point of view the Science Base blog.

2)For the political and "scandal" aspects (and practical recommendations) the Daily Kos blog.

The material on this matter is starting to accumulate in a pile beside Molly's desk. Last year during the pet food scandal the pile of printouts reached about 1.5 foot high in a box . Molly suspects that this matter may exceed that amount when all is said and done.

Meanwhile, here is yet another view from the IUF website, properly referenced this time for those with touchy feelings, on the role of New Zealand's Fonterra Group in these events.

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Fonterra and the China milk scandal - too many unanswered questions:

Share this article.

State media in China first began reporting about babies falling ill from milk formula on September 11, after one baby had died from kidney stones in Gansu province. The first reports spoke of "an unknown number of infants in at least seven provinces and regions suffering from kidney stones after drinking milk formula marked San Lu".

San Lu is the joint venture partner of New-Zealand-based dairy giant Fonterra Co-operative Group.

The following day, as Chinese authorities revealed that the chemical compound melamine had been found in samples of baby milk powders, Chinese media reported that the San Lu Group had issued an immediate recall of milk formula made before August 6. The only comment that could be drawn from Fonterra was, "We understand that the product involved is only sold in China."

On September 15, as the Chinese media reported a second death from melamine-laced milk powder, the New Zealand Prime Minister announced that it was her government that had blown the whistle on the tainted milk scandal and set off the recall following the failed attempt by Fonterra to have its joint venture partner's products removed from sale.

That same day, Fonterra issued a statement which was stunningly ambiguous and evasive. They revealed that they had been advised of the contamination of baby formula at a San Lu Board meeting which had taken place on August 2! The statement goes on to say that they "pushed hard" for San Lu to recall the formula and that San Lu "immediately implemented a trade recall of infant formula" followed by "a full public recall of all infant formula". However, this "immediate recall" didn't happen until September 12 - 5 days after the New Zealand government alerted the Chinese government after having been alerted by Fonterra 3 days before.

What was Fonterra doing between August 2 and September 5, when it took the step to inform the New Zealand government?

At a media conference on September 24 to announce its 2007/08 results and cash distribution to farmer-shareholders, Fonterra management offered an answer to explain its scandalous omission: "We firmly felt the most effective way to get the product off the shelves and away from consumers was to work within the Chinese system".

But did it take one month for Fonterra to realize that working within the Chinese system wasn't working? The long history of official complicity and complacency in the face of food contamination scandals in China should have been taken as a call to immediate action.

Amazingly, company management continues to contend they had done all they possibly could during this period, and are now trying to relativize their responsibility by calling San Lu's handling of the melamine scandal "appalling" and accusing them of having attempted to cover up the contamination since December 2007.

Fonterra's own handling of the crisis can only be called a cover up - not only of the contamination scandal, but of its own negligence. Why was Fonterra not aware that San Lu had been receiving complaints about contaminated milk powder since December 2007? The answer might be found in the company's own admission that only one of its 3 directors on the Board of San Lu is a Mandarin speaker. Unofficial websites had been asking questions about tainted milk powder from San Lu for months. Why was Fonterra not monitoring these blogs about food safety? Why did Fonterra fail to put people and systems in place to ensure standards and product safety? Why did it fail to put any efforts into securing the safety of the supply chain?

It is clear that working within the Chinese system has not brought the hoped-for results. Four babies have died and some 50,000 more are ill from adulterated milk powder; Fonterra has taken an impairment charge of the equivalent of USD 95 million to cover the cost of the product recall and loss in San Lu's brand value; and Fonterra's own goodwill has been damaged as the public continues to ask how the company could possibly have let this scandal for so long without publicly sounding the alarm.

Fonterra have talked about the tragedy of the deaths and the thousands seriously ill. They have talked about damage to the brand and loss to their investment. What they have not talked about is that their negligence in China and damage to their reputation puts jobs and livelihoods at risk, including in New Zealand where their products represent 25% of export revenue.

AUSTRALIA:

REPORT ON THE ANARCHIST CONFERENCE IN MELBOURNE:

The following is from a report published at the A-Infos site. It describes an anarchist conference held last Easter weekend in Melbourne Australia with a view to establishing an anarchist federation in that country. The report is from the perspective of the Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group, an apparently platformist organization, and reflects their views.

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Australia, Report on the Anarchist Conference in Melbourne
During the Easter weekend there was an Anarchist Conference in Melbourne. About 60 people attended, with a maximum count of 55 people being in the room at any time. About 43% were women. ---- One of the main aims of this Conference was the forming of an Anarchist Federation (of a synthesis type) after the relevant proposal by the Mutiny Collective from Sydney, supported by Melbourne Anarchist Club (MAC) and others since last November-December. ---- But in the Conference has been discovered that there are a lot more questions of shared politics to be worked out, as well as ideas of what the structure & purpose of an Anarchist Federation would be.

Participants have reacted to that in a mature way by deciding to find what common agreements are possible now, including one to explore the potential for a Federation. So, a Federation has not been formed. Instead, the Conference decided to form a network with the purpose of working towards a Federation and seeing whether one is possible.

The delegate of the Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group (MACG) carried the thoughts and proposals by the group:

The MACG’s position on the proposed Anarchist Federation was that, firstly it welcome the discussion about a possible Anarchist Federation as a sign that the Anarchist movement in Australia is developing and becoming more serious. MACG has no objection in principle to a Federation. It is the correct way to operate in a single organisation, but the key is to know what we are doing and do it correctly.

The biggest problem is that the current Anarchist groups in Australia have little experience of working with each other and there is little understanding of common politics and therefore what we had to work out at the Conference was only the beginning of what it is necessary to know. Thus, MACG consider that an Anarchist Federation in Australia at the moment is premature and the best outcome that could come of the Conference was the formation of a formal network of groups who make a commitment to working with each other with a view to deciding over the course of a year or two, whether a federation is possible.

MACG also noted that any Anarchist Federation must be a Federation of groups, not of groups and individuals together. The latter would create major problems in decision-making and be a haven for cranks and destructive personalities. The groups would have to be real ones, with common principles and acting in their own names. Phantom groups for the purpose of admitting scattered individuals would not count. At the most, individuals would be able to participate in the Federation as observers. Any Anarchist Federation must be based on a clear set of shared principles so that its members can be able to come to agreement on how to act. Without a strong set of shared politics, every practical proposal will be the subject of endless argument. This is a recipe for bitterness, division and ineffectiveness.

Also something that MACG considers extremely important is that any Anarchist Federation must be based on a clear class analysis. Class is not an “issue” to be put alongside other issues, but a fundamental dynamic of how the world works. The new world will be created by a revolution of the working class, or not at all. Problems such as the oppression of women, racism, homophobia and the destruction of the environment can only be eliminated by the overthrow of capitalism. This does not mean that all non-class oppressions have to wait till “after the revolution”, but rather that it is the duty of the entire working class to fight them here and now. Just as there will be no women's liberation without workers' revolution, there will be no workers' revolution without women's liberation. An injury to one is an injury to all.

A class analysis means a recognition that the power of the working class is based on our ability to stop capitalist production and the flow of profits. The strategic orientation of the Anarchist movement needs to be towards building workplace organisation, for that is where our power is. All other activities should be seen in the light of their contribution to that strategy.

The lack of a class analysis leads Anarchists, like it does others, into dead-end strategies. Some of them include parliamentary reformism, lifestylism or insurrectionism. A criticism of lifestylism does not mean that we should not try to live our lives as Anarchists as much as possible in the here and now, but rather that making personal efforts in that direction is not a substitute for a workers' revolution. Insurrectionism derives, in part, from using class as a badge of identification rather than a strategic orientation for action. The revolution will not be made by making riots against the police, however despicable they are, but through workers taking over their workplaces and defending them against all comers.

If, despite MACG’s objection, an Anarchist Federation was to be formed at the Conference, the MACG would not join. Instead, MACG would establish close relations with its constituent groups with a subjective class struggle orientation for the purpose of having co-operation on shared priorities and helping them deal with the issues that arise. Our attitude to the Federation will be supportive and not hostile. We will not rule out joining the Federation at a later date should it evolve into a form we support.

An excellent discussion on class occurred on the third day. A lot of people had criticised class analysis on the second day, but when we got down to the actual discussion the next day, a lot of ideas were clarified. Several others from a range of different groups were putting forward arguments that seemed to be based on a genuine working class position.

During the Conference, became known that in Sydney that there is a small group of Anarchist Communists there who are interested in setting up a group like MACG) in Sydney. There is also another group in Sydney called Alarm which is still in forming by young anarchists and which is moving along anarchist communist lines.

Though the Conference demonstrated that general level of consciousness and maturity in the Anarchist movement in Australia is still very uneven, but there are a number of serious groups and individuals and the balance is shifted gradually and strongly towards a higher level than we have seen before.

AUSTRALIA:

SUPPORT QANTAS VALET WORKERS:

The jobs of about 70 workers at Melbourne, Australia's 'Qantas Valet Parking' are in jeopardy as a new contractor is due to take over this coming Saturday, March 1. The workers have been given a deadline as of that date to accept major cuts to their wages and work conditions as well as to each sign an 'Australian Work Agreement'. The latter is a devise under Australian law whereby collective agreements with the union of the workers' choice can be subverted by forcing employees to individually sign contracts of employment. The workers involved have called for support, both local and international. You can read more about this issue and join an email campaign at the Union Solidarity website.

AUSTRALIA:

STRUGGLE CONTINUES AT FOSTER'S YATALA BREWERY:

As reported way back when here at Molly's Blog workers at the Australian brewer Foster's Yatala plant just south of Brisbane have been struggling for union rights since last July. Management at the plant stubbornly refuses to recognize or engage in negotiations with the union despite the fact that on September 3 workers voted overwhelmingly to reject management's proposed non-union contract. The workers at this brewery have begun a series of rotating 4 hour work stoppages to press their point home. management has retaliated by offers bribes (sign-on bonuses) to those who will sign the non-union contract and by hiring new employees in an attempt to dilute the union support. The Foster's workers have asked for international email support before, and they are doing it again. Tell Foster's to respect the Yatala workers' choice for a union agreement and start good faith collective bargaining negotiations with their union representatives. To join this campaign go to http://www.iuf.org/cgi-bin/campaigns/show_campaign.cgi?c=303 or http://www.iuf.org/den4647

AUSTRALIAN BREWERY WORKERS NEED SOLIDARITY:

AUSTRALIA:FOSTER'S MUST RESPECT YATALA WORKERS' RIGHT TO A UNION AGREEMENT:

Since July management of the Australian brewer Foster's has refused to recognize or engage in negotiations with the unions representing workers at its Yatala brewery near Brisbane. Local Human resources manager John Saliba told workers, "Even if there was 200 percent support of a union collective agreement there would never be a union collective agreement on the Yatala site." Foster's called for a vote on its proposed non-union contract, and on September 3 workers voted overwhelmingly to reject it. The Yatala workers want union representation and a union agreement !

Tell Foster's to respect the Yatala workers' vote for a union agreement ! Send a message to the Foster's corporate and plant management urging them to recognize the unions and enter into good faith collective bargaining negotiations at the Yatala brewery !

To join this campaign go to http://www.iuf.org/cgi-bin/campaigns/show_campaign.cgi?c=303

IT'S LABOUR/LABOR DAY...MAYBE:

Today is Labour Day in Canada and the USA...but nowhere else. Why ? The reason is hidden in the history of the Canadian and American labour movements.Through most of the world 'Labour Day' is the traditional May 1st festival- Mayday. In Australia and New Zealand today totally different dates are celebrated as "Labour Day". The day to celebrate the accomplishments and needs of working people is set for the fourth Monday in October in New Zealand. There its origin dates back to the eight hours a day struggle, as does May Day in the civilized world and Labour Day in Canada and Australia and Labor Day in the USA. In New Zealand the struggle for the eight hour day dates back to the 1840s when it was initiated by the carpenter Samuel Parnell. On October 28th, 1890 the 50th anniversary of the struggle for an eight hour day was commemorated by a parade. This began to be celebrated each year as either Labour Day or Eight-Hour Demonstration Day. In 1899 the New Zealand government legislated that this day would be a public holiday beginning in 1900. The holiday was "Mondayized" in 1910 due to the complaints of shipowners that seamen were taking more than one day of holidays as the event varied from province to province in NZ. This is sort of the "archetype" for Labour Day in the anglosphere as it was very much a government and business alternative to the more radical Mayday.

In Australia the day of Labour Day is set by state and territorial governments. It is the first Monday in October in the Australian Federal Territory, New South Wales and South Australia. In Victoria and Tasmania it is the second Monday in March. In Western Australia it is the first first Monday in March. In Queensland and the Northern Territory it is the first Monday in May, close to the day when it is celebrated in the rest of the world. In Australia Labour Day was also connected to the eight-hour day struggle. Australian stonemasons and building workers were the first to achieve an eight hour day with no loss of pay when they downed tools on April 21st, 1856 and marched from the University of Melbourne to Parliament House. This inspired the fight for the 8 hour day across the world.

Labour leaders in Canada like to claim Labour Day as a Canadian invention. This may be "mathematically true" as Labour day was declared an official holiday in Canada in 1894, five years before it was so declared in New Zealand. It also became an official holiday in 1894 in the USA. Quite frankly from examining the history Molly cannot see the Canadian priority. Besides...it is nothing to be proud of as it was a move to preempt the regular Labour Day that most workers across the world wanted ie May 1st, May Day.

In Canada the origins of Labour Day date back to April 15th, 1872 when the Toronto Trades Assembly organized the first significant Canadian workers' demonstration. at the time unions in Canada were illegal under laws about "criminal conspiracy". One of the prime reasons fro organizing the demonstration was to demand the release of 24 members of the Toronto Typographical Union who has been imprisoned because of the "crime" of going on strike to demand a 9 hour day. This demonstration too place in the Spring, close to may day, and upwards of 10,000 people marched in the streets of Toronto that day. On Sept 3rd, 1872 seven unions in the Ottawa area organized a parade that stretched for over a mile long. This parade passed the home of the then Prime Minister Sir John A. McDonald, and being drunk as usual he couldn't help but join in. it might have helped that the parade was headed by the Garrison Artillery Band. The parade went on to the Ottawa City Hall where John A., in a fit of drunken generosity, promised to abolish the anti-conspiracy laws. This was actually done before the year was out. Standing proof that it better to have a drunken fool at the head of government rather than a nasty sober fool. Labour Day was declared an official holiday on July 23rd, 1894, under the government of Sir John Thompson and the date was moved to the fall. The first Labour day parade in Winnipeg in 1894 was two miles long!

One of the speakers who was asked to address the first annual Toronto demonstration of 1872 was Peter J. McGuire, Secretary of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters which had been organized just the year before. In 1872 McGuire proposed to the New York Central Labor Union the idea of a festive day set aside to be a celebration of labour.McGuire had originally proposed his idea to the CLU on may 18th, 1882. The first Labor day was celebrated in the USA on September 5th, 1882. Peter McGuire(see left) organized the first Labour Day Parade in 1882 along with the Knights of Labour in New York.Over 10,000 workers marched in the parade despite the opposition of their employers. The next parade was held in 1884, and the Knights of Labor passed a resolution calling for a Labor Day in early September. This was opposed by the affiliates of the International Workingman's' Association (Molly Note- Molly will NOT agree with the 'politically correct' fashion or renaming historical organizations to fit our present politics. This WAS the name of the organization at the time. NOT "The International Workers' Association' nor, more clumsily and more trendy, 'The International Working Peoples Association'. Telling the truth is ONE of the requisites of any real politics, and renaming things is simply...a lie) who argued for May 1st as per the day desired by international labour. The move for a Labor day holiday spread across the USA. The first Labor Day celebration in Detroit was on august 16th, 1884, and it attracted 50,000 people to a rally in Recreation Park.

The origins of Labour Day in the USA also date back to the Pullman strike of 1893. This began in the company town of Pullman in 1893. The Pullman railroad car company laid off hundreds of employees in that year and also cut wages for the remaining employees. The American Railway Union, led by Eugene Debs of later Socialist party fame, came to the aid of the striking workers, and railway workers across the country began to boycott cars manufactured by the Pullman Company. President Grover Cleveland responded by declaring the strike illegal and deploying federal troops as strike breakers. The strike was declared over on August 3rd, 1894, and Eugene Debs was sent to jail for his role in it. Debs went to prison on other occasions afterwards, something that it is hard to imagine most of the "leaders of labour" doing today.

In 1892 workers in NYC held a wildcat strike and marched around Union Square in support of an official Labor Day holiday. Cleveland saw his political opportunity, and just six days after he had broken the Pullman Strike in 1894 he signed a bill passed unanimously by both Houses of Congress declaring an official Labor Day in early September. The bill was a sop to the labour movement that he had violently repressed during the Pullman Strike. 1894 was, after all, an election year, and Grover saw his opportunity to play both sides.

Since its inception Labour Day has indeed served its purpose as a diversion from the radical demands of labour. The efforts of labour activists in Canada and the USA to recover May 1st as the "real labour day" have yet to be successful. For a story of the REAL labour day, My 1st see previous posts on this blog on April 30th, 2007 and may 1st, 2007(see our archives for those months). Don't forget to check out mega-blogger Eugene Plawiuk site, Le Revue Gauche, for information on May Day. For other anarchist takes on "the real labour day" see:

May Day:The Real Labor Day

http://flag.blackened.net/daver/anarchism/mayday.html

May Day: The Labor Day:

http://www.powertech.no/anarchy/mayday.html

The IWW 'Brief Origins of May Day':

http://www.iww.org/projects/mayday/origins.shtml

AUSTRALIA: SUPPORT COCHLEAR WORKERS:

The Labour Start organization, an online labour solidarity group, has an item on the struggle of the workers at the Australian hearing implant manufacturer 'Cochlear' for union recognition. Molly reproduces this appeal below. To join this campaign to support the workers go to the article at Labour Start.

"Successful Australian hearing implant manufacturer Cochlear continues to ignore the wishes of its workforce to be represented by their union, locking the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union out of wage negotiations. In two secret ballots conducted by the AMWU workers overwhelmingly called upon Cochlear to negotiate with the union. Cochlear workers have also twice rejected the company's attempts to force them into a non-union agreement. Cochlear is deaf to their wishes. Cochlear workers have now been denied their annual pay raise because of their demand for union representation. Australia's unfair industrial relations legislation doesn't give workers who want a union agreement any bargaining rights. Cochlear workers have commenced a campaign to restore their rights to a fair deal negotiated by their union.

SOLIDARITY APPEALS: IRAN, AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND:

Molly is still getting back on track from her vacation. Today she has noticed a few recent solidarity appeals from various countries via the on line labour solidarity site Labour Start. Once more Molly urges her readers to sign up for their online appeals.

The first appeal is from Iran where the labour activist Mansour Osanloo, mentioned a couple of times previously on these pages, has been kidnapped and is once more in prison . On July 10th this man, President of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company union, was kidnapped and beaten severely as he was boarding a bus. He was later found to be imprisoned. For more information and to join the international campaign for his release go to http://www.itfglobal.org/solidarity/osanloo2.cfm . Molly especially urges her readers to join this campaign as she has recently been reading the usual right wing newspaper columns which mention Mr. Osanloo as an "example" of how the left is "soft on Islamism" and doesn't act to help people fighting Islamist regimes- as if the right wing buggers do anything themselves. Help to prove these people wrong.

Also from the Labour Start people is a campaign entitled 'Hearing Implant Company Needs to Listen' about the actions of the Australian company Cochlear in locking out their employees, refusing to negotiate with their union and stonewalling on pay raises. To learn more and to join the campaign in support of these workers go to http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=272 . Also, in New Zealand, 800 members of the Service and Food Workers Union have been locked out of their jobs in ten major hospitals. The contractor 'Spotless' is attempting to force them to bargain outside of a national framework for other public hospital workers. To learn more and to support these workers go to http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=273

AUSTRALIA: SYDNEY HOTEL WORKERS SEEK RESPECT:

More than 30 workers at the 443 room Rydges Hotel at World Square in Sydney, Australia are demanding that the new owners, the Schwartz family, show a little respect to their workforce. The Schwartzes have indicated, without consulting their present employees, many of whom have been working at the hotel for longer than 8 years, that they intend to contract out housekeeping servives. The Schwatrz family prides itself on its "charitable work", but in this case they fail to understand the old adage that charity- and justice too- begins at home.

The photo above shows some of the hotel workers demonstrating outside the hotel. The workers are asking for the public to show solidarity by phoning and emailing the Schwartz family in regard to their actions. To learn more and participate go to http://www.lhmu.org/lhmu/news/2007/1181010129_23695.html

POISONED PET FOOD AND TAINTED TOOTHPASTE TOO:

A report in today's Canada.com online news service reports that Menu Foods' stock has dipped over 25% after one of its biggest customers (unnamed) had bailed out from the sinking ship. The details of the story, however, say that the unnamed customer will continue to purchase "loaf" ie solid canned food. Have a look at the article for further details. All that Molly can say is "tsk,tsk,tsk; how much my heart bleeds" . The article mentions "the difficulty of shifting production elsewhere". Does this mean that Menu will eventually recover to continue its ways in the future ? Time will tell.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world an article in today's The Australian says that the Australian government has finally got around to recalling two brands of Chinese produced toothpaste previously found to contain antifreeze in the USA and Central America. The brands implicated are Mr. Cool and Excel. Besides being evidence that the Australian government is pulling ahead in the race with the USA as to which is the slowest to respond the article contains the bizarre statement that the Australian government says that "all consumers (should) check the ingredients labelling on their imported toothpaste and...dispose of any with diethylene glycol listed as an ingredient". Too many martinis on the 4 hour lunch favoured by upper government bureaucrats. As if it was ever listed !!!!!! Molly loves items like this as they give her confidence that insanity is not restricted to the left.

THREE MORE ONLINE CAMPAIGNS FROM LABOUR START:
The Labour Start site has launched three more online solidarity campaigns recently. The first, here in Canada, is over a strike of 70 women who are employees at the First Ontario Credit Union in Hamilton, Ontario. They have been on strike for 4 months now. The credit union was originally set up to protect union members from the banks, but management now runs it as their private fiefdom. The annual general meeting of the CU was recently cancelled to avoid members expressing their solidarity with the workers. The management has demanded such clawbacks as the giving up of sick days, retirement benefits and job security, and they claim this is "necessary" even though they recently boasted of record profits. To put your name to this campaign go to:
http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=190
Meanwhile down in Australia the French multinational Thales has taken advantage of recent anti-union legislation to try and destroy the rights of its employees to collective bargaining. Thales has told some of its 2,700 workers that it will no longer negotiate collective agreement, only "individual contracts". At other workplaces the company is trying to stall negotiations or otherwise weak on collective bargaining. This is despite the fact that Thales has signed the United Nation's Global Compact that includes a commitment to the right to collective bargaining.The Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union has called for international solidarity in their fight against these plans. To join this campaign go to:
http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=189
Finally, in Britain a private member's bill has been introduced to require essential protections for temporary agency workers, protections such as sick time, overtime and holiday pay. A wide coalition of British unions is urging people in the UK to join in online solidarity to support the passage of this bill. To join this campaign go to:
http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=188
Molly