WHEN TELLING THE TRUTH IS AN OFFENSE:

Molly has recently come upon an interesting item on the Saskatchewan blog Shagya's Blog about a high school student in Wayota, Saskatchewan, who was suspended from school for the simple fact of countering the propaganda doled out by the teachers in the school about marijuana. Molly has heard reports about this on the radio and being as she was unlucky enough to grow up in Saskatchewan eventually intended to blog about this herself. But Shagya has said it all. The student involved is an honours student who has now gone to China to study there (no..he's not Chinese; he's just smart). The social control as opposed to education function of the school system could not be more plainly expressed than it is here. No place for intelligence in school. Go to Shagya's blog for the full story. Brings back bad memories of Molly's own ancient high school experiences with the Jesuits. Some of those black coated bastards could punch real good.

ROSTOCK AND THE (HOPEFUL) FUTURE OF ANARCHISM:

This item has been inspired by an item on Shagya's Blog that mentions the protests against the G8 in Rostock, Germany. The item mentions the actions of the "rent-a-riot brigade", a minority sect within anarchism that goes to every protest with the intent of pretending that their actions in provoking the cops are "direct action". Nobody, outside of an ideologically convinced supporter of the state doubts that the police will attack innocent protesters. However, nobody outside of a subset of anarchism, doubts that certain anarchists travel to these protests with the intention of provoking fights with the police and that they don't give a flying fuck if their actions result in police violence towards others who don't share their views. The whole world view of those who want to prove how much balls they have by facing off over and over and losing the street fight over and over has to be called into question, particularly as they are attempting to gain the "ideological high ground" with an ideological appeal to a "diversity of tactics" that says that nobody can criticise their actions "after the fact". The next stage in this new Stalinism is that nobody can say their tactics are wrong "before the fact". These people will campaign for this, and real anarchists, rather than those entranced by a Maoist version of anarchism will oppose this idea. Some will be more truthful than others.

Molly has little doubt that the "followers" of this trend in modern anarchism are getting more than a little "twitchy" about the ineffectiveness of their tactics, no matter how much egoboo they may gather in the mass media about their illuisionary "effectiveness". The leaders who make both money and status,however, from promoting such nonsense will continue on and on until they are totally ignored and the dollars stop rolling in. Anarchism has to demonstrate its practical everyday application or it will be judged by the silliness of a very,very,very, very tiny minority willing to riot for no good purpose at a German port. If this is all that anarchism means this ideology deserves an early burial. Molly has another view of anarchism that she feels is more realistic, a gradualist view that doesn't depend upon myth and obvious lies.

Molly wishes to "struggle for the soul of modern anarchism". She can see things there that support her view and others that don't. Molly is merely one tiny little person in a movement to make anarchism relevant for the modern world without making it a cult , which has more than enough "market opportunities" in developed industrial societies. Molly would feel very sad if the meaning of "anarchism" became nothing more than an excuse for juvenile set piece battles with the cops, under the illusion that these riots accomplish something and that the sad and pathetic "left" won't eventually evolve methods to deal with what are essentially "provocateurs" in a swift and effective manner- no matter how much guilt the "anarchists" lay on them. The sooner the better in Molly's mind because she sees little difference between the anarchist provocateurs of today and the same Maoist thugs who drew violence on people in her youth.

The summary of this is- go and play act at international gatherings and PRETEND that this is something connected to the traditional anarchist idea of "direct action", even if it is the furthest thing from it.How do your silly riots accomplish anything at all beyond proving how much "balls" you have ? Do they ever have any real effect- the true definition of "direct action" ? All that I ask is that you consider the real ideas of anarchism. No apology required.Apologies don't belong in politics. Recognize that you have been misled. Recognize that you are led period, and act in your own self interest. Maybe then you will join the rest of anarchism that actually tries to build something rather than to show off.

THE BEST OF THE BLOGS: SATURDAY, APRIL 14TH 2007:

This is this weeks selection on Molly's "best of the blogs" feature. As I have already mentioned Shagya's Blog and Eugene Plawiuk's Le Revue Gauche blogs have been following the pet food recall scandal as I have, though with more attention to the corporate connections. These sites have also been following other matters. A particularly interesting comment is Plawiuk's piece on writer Kurt Vonnegut published in commemoration of his death last Thursday, April 12th. Vonnegut was one of the greatest anti-war writers and a cult figure to many. Also Plawiuk has something to say about 'The Pauline Origins of Social Conservatism' . Shagya also has something to say about conspiracy theory in 'They're Coming to Take Me away...Ha, Ha' and about surveillance cameras in the growing totalitarian state in Britain.

The Porkupine Blog weights In with 'Anarchist Advances in Uruguay and Brazil', a survey of the growth of anarchism in part of SA's southern cone. The Mutualist Blog of Kevin Carson has an article about the statism of copyright law in 'Scott Adams' Cognitive Dissonance', and 'After All' has a theoretical article defending anarcho-capitalism entitled 'The Anti-Authoritarian Anarcho-Capitalist'.not that Molly agrees with it. Then the Amor y Resistencia site has a notice that Oscar Santa Maria Caro has been released by the Mexican government. There's also an article called 'Queensland Sucks' by the New Zealand blogger at Anarchia. these people also publish the zine 'Anarchia Zine'. Finally from the Anarcho Cyclist in BC comes an amusing phone conversation with an outsourced company. Good reason to have a second language or 5.

More on the blogs later,

Molly

POISONED PET FOOD: NEW NEWS AND RESOURCES:

To date the Pet Connection site has registered 4,133 suspicious deaths on the reporting site in their website. Look to this website for a developing debate on the 'Country of Origin' labelling requirement that has been proposed. For what it is worth Molly believes in a more stringent idea ie a "locally produced" label that would refer to either the classic idea of the '100 mile Diet' or a more expansive idea that all ingredients should be produced within a state or province. This would go more than a few steps forward to an ideal situation, where any problems that develop would be localized rather than continent wide. A "made in USA(or Canada)" label is worthless. Components of the food may come from all across the globe. As an anarchist Molly believes that this sort of thing should be the product of action from local groups such as Humane Societies, Farmers' Unions, etc., and that the labelling should be voluntary. The "wake-up call" from this latest scandal should be enough to shift consumer behavior to purchasing pet food that can't be damaging other than possible problems that can be corrected locally much more simply than the process of tracing components from foreign countries has proven to be. The whole 'Eat Locally' movement has become more prominent in recent years(prominent enough to be featured in Time magazine) and Molly has reported it before on this blog. Molly thinks that this would be an opportunity to both expand local self reliance, a cornerstone of a sensible anarchism, and provide an opportunity for the creation of local business and jobs that has been drained from the community by the multinationals. think about it.

Blogs in the political sector that Molly belongs to such as Shagya's Blog and Le Revue Gauche have also paid attention to this issue recently, especially concerning the corporate and state connections surrounding this event. On the (far!) conservative side of the American political spectrum Daniel Sargis has published a post on the Etherzone website (a conservative blog aggregator) that more than slightly questions the abilities and priorities of the US government.

Anyways, to keep up to date regularly on the pet food recall go to the Pet Connection website mentioned above. The Wikipedia website now has an entry about this recall by John Wambaugh. Here's a few more references that people might want to look at (in no particular order):

1) A statement from Dr. Elizabeth Hodkins, an America veterinarian, who testified before the recent Senate hearings on this matter. The reference includes some of her other writings on the subject of pet food.

2)More statements on the affair and pet foods by Dr. Jean Hofve.

3)An extensive report (49 pages) called 'Deconstructing the Regulatory Facade' by lawyer Justine S. Patrick of the Harvard Law School. Molly hopes to report more fully on this document in the future.

4) Dr. Michael W. Fox who has written many books for pet owners has weighed in on this matter. Not that Molly endorses all of his opinions, but I urge people to check his website for some rational recipes for home made diets for pets.

5)Finally there is the website of Robert J. Russell that is coming out with new insights on this matter.

Molly

THE BEST OF THE BLOGS: A MOLLYMEW WEEKLY SURVEY:

Molly has looked over a number of her links this week for significant articles, and she has chosen the following for highlighting. This doesn't imply that Molly agrees with the opinions expressed, just that the entries are interesting.

1) From Le Revue Gauche comes 'Passover Song', a pagan analysis and diatribe about both the Song of Songs in the Bible and various other historical connections. Eugene's contribution to Easter. Also at that site is a more "orthodox" leftist offering on '"Criminal Capitalist Gets Honourary Degree', well worth reading for the concept of "honour" current in our society.

2) From the Porcupine Blog comes a translation of 'Proudhon's Ghost Stalks Venezuela' from an anarcho-communist group in Venezuela that is more (but not entirely- Molly) sympathetic to the government in that country than the majority of anarchist there are. An interesting comment showing the diversity olf anarchist opinion within a "revolutionary" process, though Molly disagrees with it.

3)From Shagyas Blog comes 'What Happened to Dunkirk', a lament on how the British have surrendered their freedom to a new "surveillance society".

4) From Kevin Carson's Mutualist Blog comes 'Economic Calculation in the Corporate Commonwealth', a "market anarchist" analysis of how communist societies continued to exist despite the lack of proper economic information.

5)From the local scene Ecology and Participatory Democracy has an article on "collapsing bee colonies", something that has become an item of interest for various people interested in agriculture in the last few months. Also the Vindicated Anarchist has an article entitled ' Blocked Up Like a Festering Boil' on internet censorship (MOLLY NOTE: GO TO INFOSHOP FOR THE ULTIMATE OUTSIDE OF CHINA) . Hopefully the author will eventually see how similar (and undesirable) Maoism is to the "fashion anarchism" that aims to build a little religious cult.

6)Finally, from Social Design Notes comes the 'Food Bill' that lays out the connection between food prices and sustainability. If the authors imagine that they have escaped "economics" they are deluded, but their critique is well worth reading.

Molly

MATTERS BLOGISH:

Molly has seen a few items in the last little while that deserve her old title "Best of the Blogs". All of these can be accessed from her Links section to the left. These include Kevin Carson's latest offering at the Mutualist Blogspot ie 'Economic Calculation in the Cooperative Commonwealth', a rather heavy going study on an alternative form of economics, Larry Gambone's offering on the Porkupine Blog from anarchists who are more "pro-Chavez" than El Libertario (it should be noted that this site, in Spanish, has more than a few items from the struggle of indigenous people against Chavezista "progress" and these anarchists will be as likely to be crushed as the native peoples will be in the "socialist march to progress" of the developing Chavez dictatorship if the present trend continues. Molly has considerably less faith in South American populism than Larry does) and also a report on the anti-election campaign in Quebec from Shagya's Blog. this is a campaign carried out by the Quebec section of NEFAC and the Student Community Anarchist Network(SCAN) against next Monday's (March 26th) Quebec provincial election. Finally, from the Solidarity Across Borders site from Montreal is a news report about how the provincial government in Quebec is requiring Muslim women voters to "show their face" while voting in the election. More insulting than a fingerprint !

Molly has also added The Liberator Reloaded to her list of Blogs in her links section along with 'Agorist Class Theory' , by the same author, under the texts section. Not that I agree with everything he says, but the important point is that there are many alternatives to the "class analysis" taught in "Stalinism 101 for Dummies" by so many ageing New Left professors in so many universities in North America. May they all achieve retirement soon so new ideas can come in.

Finally, a little comment on blog layout. When Molly goes blog-surfing she often comes across blogs that are laid on with white writing on a black background. With rare excepts these are usually totally unreadable unless you highlight the text. Perhaps some people should consider the readability of what they present. It doesn't come up in other places like it does when you type it.

Molly

PLUGGING IN TO STILL MORE LINKS:
Yet more from the Links front. I've added a few more items to the links on this blog. Under the general Links section are two items from anarchists in Israel ie 'Anarchists Against the Wall' (http://awalls.org ) and Ilan Shalif's home page (http://ilan.shalif.com/anarchy ). I've also added the home page of the Bratislava Infoshop featured in the last blog, and I'm pleased to say that it appears to be working: http://www.infoapolice.sk .
I've added two more items to the Blogs section, the Vancouver No One Is Illegal Blog (http://noiivan.blogspot.com ) and Shagya's Blog (http://shagya-blog.blogspot.com ). Finally, under the 'Other Interesting Links' section I've added the Buy Nothing Christmas site featured in a previous item on this blog: http://www.butnothingchristmas.org .
Molly keeps on linking