WINNIPEG:

FUN TIMES DOWN AT THE DRAG:

UPCOMING EVENTS AT THE MONDRAGON BOOKSTORE:

The leaves are falling. The weather is getting cooler. But things are still hot down at Mondragon, Winnipeg's anarchist coffeehouse and bookstore at 91 Albert St. Here's a few of the upcoming events for the autumn season:

MONDRAGON BOOK CLUB:

The Radical Reading Group meets the last Sunday of every month at 7:00 pm down at the Drag. This month's book is 'Wasasa' by Taiaiake Alfred. Next meeting is September 30th. To join the mailing list send an email to radical-reading-group-request@mondragon.ca

OPEN STAGE NIGHT:

On Wednesday, September 25th,7pm to 9pm, Mondragon will be hosting its first "open Stage Night'. Hopefully to become a monthly event. Comedy, Poetry, Acoustic (or practice amp), theatre, dance, whatever. For more details or to register contact Brock at mondragon@mondragon.ca

BEHIND 'TWO WORLDS COLLIDING':

On Thursday, September 27th, 7pm join the crowd down at the drag for a public discussion with filmmaker Tasha Hubbard about issues raised by her award-winning film 'Two Worlds Colliding'. This is the story of Saskatoon's "freezing deaths". The "starlight tours" of that city's police force involved driving young native men outside of the city in winter and leaving them to make their way back in the cold. Or sometimes not to get back. One man, Darrell Night, was dumped at -20 C temperatures in January, 2000. He survived, but is stunned to hear that the body of another native man was discovered in the same area. Only days later yet another corpse, also native is found. Night comes forth with his story and sets in motion a chain of events leading to the conviction of two Saskatoon police officers. These, however, only serve four months for "unlawful confinement". A judicial inquiry follows, and the wounds of the case are still open.

ONE COUNTRY: A BOLD PROPOSAL TO END THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN IMPASSE:

As previously reported on Molly's Blog the Palestinian-American author Ali Abunimah will be giving a lecture as part of his tour to promote his new book of the above name. The event will be held upstairs at the Rudolf Rocker Cultural Centre at 7pm. Book signing and mingling will happen downstairs at Mondragon after the event.

JAMMING THE DRAG:

On Thursday, October 11, from 7pm to 9pm Mondragon will host an ongoing series of electronic and experimental music by Professor Gordon Fitzell of the University of Manitoba. Gordon teaches music theory and composition and leads the 'Experimental Improv Ensemble (XIE). He has received many national and international awards including first place in the CBC Radio National Competition for Young Composers.

Stay tuned to Molly's Blog for more announcements as they come in.

EQUINOXES:

At the time of the Spring (Vernal) Equinox this year Molly posted on matters concerning equinoxes in general. To read this before the upcoming event go to http://mollymew.blogspot.com/2007/03/welcome-to-spring-today-at-0007.utc.html .

As I said, more later.

FALL EQUINOX:

WELCOME TO AUTUMN:

The Fall Equinox will arrive this Sunday, September 23rd at 4:51 am. The Equinox is the exact time when daylight and nighttime are exactly equal or rather when the Sun is directly overhead at the equator.The "day" of closest equality of night and day is actually something quite different-the "equilux". This day is about three days later than the equinox in the fall and three days earlier than the spring equinox.The autumn equinox is a time for celebration and a "gathering-in". Stay tuned to Molly's Blog for more on this event.

BRITISH COLUMBIA:

SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGN:CANADIAN WOOD WORKERS ON STRIKE FOR HEALTH AND SAFETY:

ACT NOW:

After a strike in late 2003 that ended after only three weeks due to a contract legislated by the BC provincial government workers in BC's forest industry have been saddled with a contract that gives employers the unilateral right to impose longer hours and bizarre shift times without consulting the Union (United Steel Workers) or giving little or no notice to the affected workers. the result has been predictable. Since January 2005 over 65 forest workers have been killed because of the longer shifts. Hundreds more have been seriously injured. Many studies show that injuries increase with longer shifts. despite the obvious companies cling to their "right" to impose workdays that may be as long as 16 hours when travel and loading time is factored in. Coastal communities have also been impacted been impacted by low bid contracting out, raw log exports, sawmill closures and the conversion of Coastal timberlands into real estate, all of this without a by-your-leave from the people affected.

British Columbia forest workers have fought back and have been on strike since July 21st. Now the Building and Wood Workers' International, to which the United Steel Workers in this sector are affiliated, are asking for international solidarity with the BC lumber workers. To read more and join this campaign go to http://www.bwint.org/default.asp?Index=1074&Language=EN

GERMANY:

BICYCLE PLANT UNDER WORKERS' CONTROL:

Since the 10th of July workers at the Bike Systems GmbH factory in have been on strike and occupying the Company's factory in the Thuringian Nordhausen area of Germany. The Company applied for bankruptcy protection on August 10th, a possibly very planned move as the factory was "stripped" of productive assets before the strike actually began. Yes...you can indeed make good money out of being bankrupt, especially if you plan ahead. Production at the plant had actually stopped as of June 30th. Various plotters have been operating to acquire the facility and restart operations under what can only be described as a "weapon of mass destruction of workers' rights" (see http://www.bike-eu.com/news/2484/bikes-systems-possible-re-start-after-insolvency.html ). The workers who have been occupying the plant, however, have their own ideas. They have now decided to resume bike production under a self-managed system. The German anarcho-syndicalist union, the FAU (Freie Arbeiterinnen und Arbeiter Union) has joined them in solidarity and is arranging to build a solidarity marketing campaign for the bikes that will be produced by the new self managed factory. Molly reproduces below an article from the Libcom site that provides a translation from the German. Molly has slightly edited this article for reasons of proper English usage. Molly's comments follow.

"Hamburg/Nordhausen, 19th of September in 2007:

Staff of occupied bicycle factory in the Thuringian Nordhausen take up production in self-management again:

The 135 colleagues of the bicycle factory Bike Systems GmbH in the Thuringian Nordhausen who have occupied the factory since the 10th of July, 2007 decided to resume the production of bicycles under self-management. To achieve this aim 1,800 binding orders on bicycles must be received before October 2nd. So the colleagues are working together with the anarcho-syndicalist union FAU (Freie Arbeterinnen und Arbeiter Union-Free Workers' Union) which has formed for this campaign the internet page www.strike-bike.de .

For more than two months the staff have kept the factory in the south of the Harz Mountains occupied in a triple shift. They want to prevent the definite dismantling and sale of the factory. The filing for bankruptcy as of August 10th faces long odds: The factory is exploited and run down. The hall was emptied except for the coating line. the staff receives unemployment compensation and hopes for a new concept and a new investor.

THE "STRIKE BIKE- SOLIDARITY BIKES FROM NORDHAUSEN:

During the occupation and in the wake of discussions during the visits of solidarity people the colleagues of the factory developed the idea to initially take up production under self-management for a short time. Because it is not only the point to only prevent the removal of the last machines and to wait for a new investor, the idea of a "Strike-Bike" met with more and more response. Now the opportunity arises to show the ability for the workers to develop their own concepts and to self-manage production and distribution.

If all goes well and 1,800 advance orders are collected for the bicycles produced under self-management, we will spread the idea of solidarity and bolster colleagues in similar situations to not let themselves be restructured to zero. By whomsoever !

The staff receives assistance in solidarity from the member of the anarcho-syndicalist union Freie Arbeiterrinnen und Arbeiter Union (Free Workers' Union) which will become active in the whole of Germany to spread the knowledge of the striking bicycle workers and to support the sale of the 'Strike-Bike'.

For more information go to http://www.strike-bike.de

For background information and the history of the occupation see http://www.labournet.de/branchen/sonstige/fahrzeug/bikesystems.html

To get in contact with the staff and to take orders see:

Bikes in Nordhausen e.V.

c/o Andre Kegel

Bruno-Kunze-Str 39- 99734 Nordhausen

Telefon 03631-622-124 and 03631-403-591

Fax 03631-622-170

email fahrradwerk@gmx.de

For further information about the FAU-Strike Bike solidarity Group see spokesperson

Folkert Mohrhof

-mobile 0179-4863252 and:

from Monday to Friday 10:00 am to 3:00 pm

+49- 40- 20906896

The original unedited communique can be seen at the Libcom link given above

MOLLY COMMENTS:

THIS is the sort of thing that all rational anarchists should celebrate, encourage, support and publicize as widely as possible. With all its limitations this is about 2,000 light years closer to the anarchist idea of "direct action" than dozens upon dozens of set piece theatrical confrontations with police at various "summits". NONE of these little spectacular (in the situationalist sense) acts of theatre ever accomplish more than building an illusion of a movement while at the same time demonstrating to those outside of the charmed circle that anarchists are more than slightly demented because they like to lose battle after battle after battle. The workers at this plant do actual real direct action. It is actions that actually accomplishes something, that has at least a reasonable chance of success. It is not symbolic play acting.

Yes... there are problems with this action by the German workers. In the present configuration of forces it can only be temporary. It is a delaying action while waiting for the "new investor". Its great success will be that it will show that workplaces can be managed without bosses, and it will show this to a particularly "conservative" audience in Germany. The "legend" will live on after the reality has died.

Molly wants to call attention to a certain aspect of this dispute. The workers at the plant receive unemployment payments". This means that they can hold out much longer and "take the chance" of trying to restart production under self-management. This advantage is the result of the German state having a long tradition of a "tamed social democracy". This is not necessarily the case in other countries. Here in Canada the workers would have been cut off long ago, assuming that they could ever have collected EI. In a country such as Venezuela, ruled by a pseudo-populist demagogue the workers would have had the choice of one of three options: 1)integration into a nationalized system at much lower wages ,2)simply being ignored just like Canada or 3) being subjected to the full force of a much more violent repression if the owners of the factory were "bum buddies" of Chavez (part of the 'BoliBourgeoisie' as it is called down there). Molly thinks that this is further proof of her contention that a mild and tamed social democracy is the best environment in which to build libertarian socialism. NO...no demands for nationalization, but many demands that make peoples' lives easier whether they are in struggle or not.

It would be interesting to compare and contrast these sort of things in Germany with the "recuperated workplaces" in Argentina. Germany is not Argentina. Argentina today is not Spain circa 1936. The terrain for the struggle for liberty changes. Both the Argentinian examples and the German one as well depend far too much on the benevolence of the state. THIS is where Mutualism supplements syndicalism. There will be no more "sudden overturns". Just a long and grinding struggle. The "Revolution" today is not Blitzkrieg. It is trench warfare. Initiatives such as those of the German bike workers are a great advance. What is needed is the financial muscle to support such initiatives. This can only be provided by Mutualist credit organizations. Only such things can offer the financial muscle to make self-management not just a holding action until a new boss is found but rather a viable alternative to the cloying arms of the state. Can our present Credit Unions be reformed so that they can provide such support ? Are other institutions needed ? What will they be ? All these are open questions. How do we escape dependence on the state ?

MONTREAL:

MINISTER RECEIVES "BAPTISM OF FIRE" BY ANTI-WAR PROTESTERS IN MONTREAL:

Last Wednesday evening newly appointed Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier showed up at the downtown Montreal Omni Hotel to deliver a speech supporting Canada's military role in Afghanistan. This was to be delivered at a dinner meeting opening the 'International Conference on Canada's Mission in Afghanistan', sponsored by a consortium of academic think tanks, governmental agencies and war material suppliers such as Bell Helicopter, General Dynamics and Oerlikon. The speaker had barely begun his keynote address when he was interrupted by protesters from the Bloc the Empire/Bloquez l' empire group who had infiltrated the dinner. Over the course of the next 15 minutes he was interrupted more than 12 times. The police removed protesters from the hall, handcuffing several and ending up by charging only two individuals. The Bloc the Empire/Bloquez l'empire group is a coalition of Montreal anti-imperialist, anti-war individuals. The full story of this action, coverage of their past actions and references to mainstream media accounts of what happened can be seen a A STORY that the group published to A-Infos yesterday. There is also the text of the leaflet the group passed out protesting Canada's role in Afghanistan. Go on over and have a look.

RENEWING THE ANARCHIST TRADITION:

REGISTRATION FOR 8TH CONFERENCE NOW OPEN:

The 8th 'Renewing the Anarchist Tradition' conference will be held in Montpellier, Vermont this upcoming November 2-4. Sponsored by the Institute for Anarchist Studies these conferences aim to "bring together anarchists, anti-authoritarians and libertarians who want to critically engage both the tradition itself and the world in which we live. Participants and presenters at the conference thereby contribute to developing a more rigorous theoretical framework for anarchism as well as a stronger basis from which anti-authoritarian movements can organize and resist. ...We believe that the contemporary context makes it more important than ever to foster a space to collectively and honestly appraise the strengths as well as the weaknesses of different anarchist practices, platforms, convictions, dogmas, truisms and theories to help us to understand and ultimately transform the layered systems of domination and oppression that structure it."

The RAT is a "scholarly" venue in reference to the quality of the presentations, not to formal academic positions. As the organizing board says, "You do not have to be an academic to attend or present at RAT. Registration for this conference is limited to 150 people and will be open until October 12th at the latest. To get more information or to register see the link above or see HERE.

COMING SOON AT THE RUDOLF ROCKER CULTURAL CENTRE:

A number of events are coming up soon here in Winnipeg at the Rudolf Rocker Cultural Centre, on the third floor of 91 Albert St.. The RRCC opened up this summer as part of the Old Market Autonomous Zone, a collection of projects such as Mondragon Books (the first floor) that run out of this building. The Centre is an open space for lectures, art exhibits, cultural events and, yes, party time too. See the above link for more details. Anyways...

Friday, September 28th:

'Ali Abunimah: One Country: A Bold proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse'

The Palestinian-American author Ali Abunimah is on a cross Canada tour during the month of September to promote his new book of the same title. A graduate of Princeton University and the University of Chicago he is a frequent media commentator in such newspapers as the Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times and the Israeli daily Ha'aretz. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, cofounder of the Electronic Intifada website in 2001 and more recently the Electronic Iraq and Electronic Lebanon sites. See more details on the Rudolf Rocker Cultural Centre site above.

Thursday, November 15th, 2007

7:00 PM

'Honore Joseph Jaxon: Prairie Visionary, Lifelong Defender of Indiginous &Metis People, Labour Agitator, Anarchist and All-round Trickster'

Honore Jaxon was Louis Riel's secretary and fellow participant in the North West Rebellion of 1885. The author of a new book on his life, Donald B. Smith, of the University of Calgary, will be present to speak about the subject of his work, from his participation in rebellion in what is now Saskatchewan to his involvement as labour leader and anarchist in Haymarket Chicago and his association with anarchists such as Voltairine de Cleyre and Rudolf Rocker. There will be a visual presentation of 75 photos to accompany the talk, a performance of James Keelaghan's song 'Honore', followed by a book signing, drinks and snacks downstairs at Mondragon. Once more further details at the RRCC site linked above.

Stay tuned to the Rudolf Rocker Cultural Centre Site for more events as they develop.

STICKS AND STONES MAY BREAK MY BONES...

BUT RUMOURS ONLY AMUSE ME:

Molly had a surreal experience today, and it wasn't because she had been overindulging in the catnip once more. People began to drop by this blog under the assumption that Molly was a "policy development adviser" for an unnamed "left of centre party", presumably the NDP. I managed to track down two of the references, and they have been corrected. It's doubtful that this was done with any ill intent, but I made the following plain:

I was once a member of the NDP, even writing for one of their papers, The Commonwealth, but I left the party in 1971. I never have been, am not, and will never be a "policy developer" to any political party. Some may see the sort of things reported here as often "overlapping" with the concerns of left wing social democrats. This is true, but it is also true that they often overlap with concerns shared by the likes of Libertarian Party supporters. It is also true that the sort of anarchism that I advocate is both gradualist and peaceable, and that I am very happy when social democrats steal the ideas of the libertarian left without acknowledging their source. If they did give credit where credit was due it would be less likely that they could corrupt these ideas as much as they usually do. I am less happy when Marxist-Leninist thugs steal these ideas and present them as their own. Over a century of history has shown that social democracy is not the way to anything resembling a real socialism. On the other hand it has also shown that Marxist-Leninism in power creates tyranny and class rule that is far worse the the ruling class they replace. Presently it is unlikely that Communist Party thugs in the classical Stalinist sense will ever come to power again anywhere on Earth. Good and great. The social democrats corrupt the libertarian ideas of socialism. The Communists turn them into their precise opposite.

I am not, and will unlikely ever be, a supporter of any political party, no matter how radical, let alone a "policy developer". As a realist I recognize that legal changes may make the road to a libertarian socialism either easier or more difficult. But the necessary pressure to make beneficial changes can only be created by a movement independent of partisan politics. Slavishly join a party to try and "influence" it and you become nothing more than a "core supporter" that the conniving leadership of the Party has to make no concessions towards- nor steal any ideas from for that matter. Here in Canada the NDP and the CCF before it has often been justified,even though it has never had any realistic shot at federal power, because it acted to force the Liberal Party to steal its ideas. A vibrant, sensible and organized libertarian left could perhaps serve the same function as a pressure on both left and right. Food for thought.

BUT ON THE OTHER HAND:

Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad gig to be a "policy developer". Molly is always open to spread her incredible erudition, wit and wisdom to all comers, whether the advise is solicited or not. Perhaps it is about time to open my own little consulting business. I intend to charge on a "means test" basis. I remember the case of one NDP MLA who conned the Party to buy him a house under the guise of it being a "constituency office". Given the inflation in property values since that time and being as I don't want my assets tied up in real estate at a time when the property bubble may burst I am more than happy to go for a cash settlement of $250,000. That'll keep me in cat food for life. Should the Conservative or Liberal Parties, however, wish to retain my invaluable services the going price would be the total corporate donations (both visible and hidden) that such a Party receives in a year. If the American Republicans or Democrats want me to save their hides the price would be two or three countries controlled by the American Empire, with all the revenues accruing therefrom for life. Hey...the bigger the job the higher the bill.

My sensible anarchist comrades get the advise for free, whether they want it or not. The idiots who disgrace the name anarchist, whether by mindless violence,fantasy weaving about "abolishing civilization", arrogant goofiness and fashion following or any other silly distraction from the real ideas of anarchism, also get advise for free, but the advise is a simple "fuck off".

So step right up folks. The line up is long, but the wait is well worthwhile. Molly will solve all your problems. Rates are negotiable. Advise on winning lottery numbers is taken on a percentage basis depending on the size of the jackpot.

Winston Churchill once said, "A lie can run around the world before the truth can get his pants on". Molly thinks that she has caught up with this rumour with nothing worse than her underwear showing. We'll see...

CHIAPAS:

LATEST ZAPATISTA COMMUNIQUE:

FROM CHIAPAS INDYMEDIA:

NEW ZAPATISTA COMMUNIQUE: NEXT STAGE OF THE OTHER CAMPAIGN:

The following is taken from a recent press release on Chiapas Indymedia. The original is in Spanish, but for those of Molly's readers who can't read Spanish the Chiapas site has a translator built into it.

The text follows:

"Communique from the Indigenous Revolutionary Clandestine Committee-General Command of the Zapatista Army for National Liberation, Mexico:

September 16,2007

To the People of Mexico:

To the Adherents of the Sixth declaration and the Other Campaign:

Brothers and Sisters:

Companeros and Companeras:

On this new anniversary of the struggle for the first independence of Mexico (Molly Note: While the 5th of May is Mexico's National Day, September 16th is the day when Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla launched the Mexican War of Independence in 1810), the EZLN communicates the following:

About the Encounter of the Indigenous Peoples of America:

First: A delegation of the Zapatista leadership, composed of three commandantas, three commandantes and one subcommandante, will attend the Encounter of the Indigenous Peoples of America, to be held October 11,12,13 and 14 of 2007.

Second: This and other delegations of the Zapatista leadership will attend, when possible, the preparatory meetings for the encounter, to be held in the following places:

Oaxaca,Oaxaca, Mexico, October 4-5,2007.

San Pedro, Atapulco, Mexican State, October 6-7,2007.

Nurio, Purepecha Terrirory, Michoacan, Mexico, October 7-8,2007.

Rancho el Penasco, Territory of the Tohono Od'ham Nation, Magadalena de Kino, Sonoro, Mexico, October 8-9, 2007.

Third: We remind all of the adherents of the Sixth Declaration, both nationally and internationally, that you are invited to the Encounter and, if you plan to attend, to register on the webpage of the EZLN's Sixth Commission. We ask the same of those who have been invited by the Organizing Commission.

ABOUT THE SECOND PHASE OF THE OTHER CAMPAIGN IN THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN ZONES OF MEXICO:

First: In order to carry out the work of the EZLN's Sixth Commission in this second phase in the central and southern zones of our country, a delegation of 24 commandantes and commandantas of the Zapatista leadership will leave from the city of San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, on the 26th of September, 2007 en route to Mexico City.

There the delegation will be organized into 8 groups which will visit adherants in the states of Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima, Michoacan, Morelos, Guanajuato, Queretaro, Hidalgo, La Huasteca, Puebla, Tiaxcala, Veracruz, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Quintana Roo, Yucatan, Campeche, Mexico State and the Federal District. The visits will be held in the months of October, November and December of 2007 according to a detailed calender which will be released shortly.

Second: As you will recall, the objective of this second phase is to create an initial outline of a National Program of Struggle. For this reason the groups of the Sixth Commission of the EZLN will concentrate in particular on meetings with adherents of the distinct geographical points of the centre and south of our country.

Third: If, in the first phase, the objective was to get to know each other, and thus "this is what I am and here I am" were the most important words to be spoken, now the principal points are how we see the world and this country, and what are the demands (what do we want ?) that we have or that we have detected at national regional and local events.

Fourth: For this reason, we respectfully request of the different organizational entities of the Other in their states, regions, subregions and localities, that the organization of the visit of the Sixth Commission to their locales be focused exclusively on the meetings necessary to listen to the demands brought by adherents and sympathizers.

Fifth: With the goal of advancing the outline of the National Plan of struggle, a support team will accompany each delegation of the Sixth Commission and will be in charge of recording and keeping minutes of each meeting.

Sixth: We also respectfully request of adherents their support in providing food and lodging for the group and the support team that visits them, as well as help with the gasoline for the vehicles in which they will travel.

Seventh: As is public knowledge, our communities are currently suffering a new attack by the federal and state governments (by PANistas and PRDistas, respectively), for which reason it is possible we would have to cancel this trip and take other measures.

Liberty and Justice for Atenco !

Liberty and Justice for Oaxaca !

From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast,

Subcommandante Insurgente Marcos.

Mexico, September, 2007.

Molly want to remind her readers of the source of this statement, Chiapas Indymedia. In addition to translation from Spanish to English the site offers translation into other languages as well.

ARGENTINA: SELF MANAGEMENT FACES SOCIAL DEMOCRACY:

WORKERS' POWER IN ARGENTINA: REINVENTING WORKING CULTURE:

The Autonomy and Solidarity site has an excellent article on recent developments in Argentina and the struggle to maintain self management in the face of repression from the supposed "leftists" of the Argentinian government. The article is by Marie Trigona and was originally published in Monthy Review. The article gives a broad overview of the self management organizations that Argentinian workers have formed with special emphasis on subway workers, the Class Struggle Coalition (MIC), the Union of Seamstress Workers (UTC), the Zanon ceramics factory, now run by the Factory Without a Boss (FaSinPat) cooperative and the collectivized Bauen Hotel in Buenos Aires. She also goes into detail about the violence used by the Argentinian state (good buddies of the Venezuelan demagogue Chavez) against strikers and other protesting workers. All this is situated in terms of a "Road Ahead" for the challenges that face the self managing workers and the Argentinian workers in general. As the author says...

"Even in the face of attacks many of Argentina's labour organizations like the subway workers, public-health workers and several worker-run enterprises have fostered a broad mutual solidarity network to defend workers' rights. Subway workers have pledged their willingness to use striking as a direct action against state repression of labour conflicts. In Neuquen, Zanon has formed a broad mutual solidarity network among local community groups, workers in struggle, and recuperated enterprises nationally and internationally. While doing so the FaSinPat collective has turned into a major mobilizing factor in the Neuquen province.

"Argentina's social organizations, just as in Chile, Uruguay and Brazil, have faced new challenges due to the resurgence of the "progressive pink tide" of social democratic governments. Increasing police brutality, political arrests, and criminalization of social protest are just some of the challenges along the "pink road" ahead. How to continue to build a broad coalition movement is the biggest obstacle for Argentina's working class organization in the face of the government's attempt to co-opt organizations and implement pro-business policies, while cutting back public spending, Despite political challenges, Argentina's independent union organizing initiatives and recuperated enterprises represent the development of one of the most advanced strategies in defense of the working class and resistance against capitalism and neoliberalism."

A- INFOS

HAPPY TWELFTH BIRTHDAY A-INFOS:

In February of 1990 anarchists convened in the Dutch town on Venlo to examine the state of international cooperation. They found far too little of it. The groups present agreed on a loose network of information exchange and thus was born the A-Infos network. Originally an European network the web of connections soon spread to other continents as well. They began by publishing print versions of the A-Infos Bulletin. On Septmember 6th, 1995 activists in Canada and England decided to make the leap to the internet, and this was born the A-Infos of today. A-Infos is now a multilingual (13 languages in total) invaluable resource for the international anarchist movement. It has deliberately eschewed the bells and whistles of other anarchist websites, and delivers its messages in plain text only. Yet...it is the most timely, readable and mercifully crank free source of immediate information available to anarchists today. It is certainly the most multinational of them all. In sum it serves the international anarchist movement in much the same way that other news agencies serve the popular media, and it is unparalleled in this function.

The A-Infos project has been deliberately restrictive in its editorial policy, and quite openly so. Because of this it has escaped what can only be described as the frank insanity that has overwhelmed so many other projects such as various Indymedias. As they say in their Vision statement...

"The A-Infos Project is coordinated by an international collective of revolutionary, anti-authoritarian, anti-capitalist activists, involved with class struggle and who regard it as a total social struggle.These are people who conceive of themselves as revolutionary class struggle social anarchists, anarcho-communists, libertarian communists, syndicalist and others who hold similar opinions but use other labels. ...

"The specific kind of anarchism we talk about and promote is the anarchism of the Haymarket martyrs and those expelled by Karl Marx from the First International for criticizing his authoritarianism and the elitist, vanguardist degradation of the masses of the working class. We do not support the kind of anarchism proposed by some pseudo-modernists and pseudo-"revolutionaries" who regard symbolic activity as a substitute for mass struggle, or the kind of anarchism of "humanists" who hold other tasks as equal or more important than the revolutionary struggle for abolishing the capitalist system. A-Infos work is not inspired by egoistic and egocentric individualism, primitivism, "free capitalism without a state" or even a state without free capitalism- who oppose the present capitalist order but do not offer instead a viable model of modern social order of freedom, equality and solidarity. It is not enough for individuals and groups to use an anarchist label for their texts to be distributed by A-Infos....

"A-Infos has a role to play in the world anarchist movement. Information is strength. A-Infos helps to build a sense of an international movement. A-Infos is, to a certain extent, one of the few international organizational tools of the movement. But to keep this role it must stay a tool in the service of the international movement and not a free-for-all information service. ..."

The full vision statement can be read on the A-Infos website. For more on the history of A-Infos see http://www.ainfos.ca/org/history-en.html . Information on syndicating A-Infos (which Molly has been trying and failing to do) is available at http://www.ainfos.ca/syndication/Syndication_Of_A_Infos.html. The people at A-Infos have announced their 12th birthday with a renewed call for people interested in participating in the project. They are looking for collaborators who can

-contribute posts

-translate posts already distributed on A-Infos in other languages into English

-translate posts already distributed in English into other languages

If you are interested send an email to a-infos-en@ainfos.ca

RESOURCES FOR WORK AND LIFE:

ONLINE EDUCATION FROM THE IUF:

The IUF is an international union federation that covers food, farm and hotel workers worldwide. As part of their services they provide a wealth of information on various topics that affect both workers and consumers. Here are a few of the resources they provide:

INTERNATIONAL CALL FOR STRONG REGULATION OF NANOTECHNOLOGY:

The IUF along with 44 national and international public health and policy, environmental and trade union organizations have launched a call for strong, comprehensive regulatory oversight at all levels of nanotechnology and its products. A wide range of products containing engineered nanoparticles are already commercially available, and more are scheduled for commercial release as corporations invest massively in the technology, despite the well documented risks to human health and the environment. There is no way to measure the presence of nanoparticles in the workplace, let alone test for exposure. The technology, says the coalition, poses specific risks with specific regulatory oversight. The coalition presents 8 fundamental principles that they believe should be observed for the necessary oversight of this technology. To access the introduction to this report, 'Principles for the Oversight of Nanotechnologies and Nanomaterials' click HERE.

BIRD FLU AND YOU:

H5N1 OUTBREAK IN INDIA HIGHLIGHTS PERSISTENCE OF GLOBAL THREAT:

The H5N1 virus, popularly known as "avian flu" or "bird flu" is a persistent lurking threat that could yet break out into a worldwide pandemic. The first people likely to be affected by such a pandemic are agricultural and food workers, and the IUF has prepared a position paper on this issue under the heading of workplace safety. This paper, 'Avian Influenza (H5N1) and Agricultural and Food Workers:Rights,Risks, Public Policy Issues' can be seen by clicking HERE and following the links.

"LEVERAGED BUYOUTS" AND HOW THEY AFFECT YOU:

THE HARSH WORLD OF LEVERAGED BUYOUTS HAS SUDDENLY GOTTEN HARSHER:

Leveraged buyout is a term whereby easy credit is used to buy public companies in what are called "private equity" deals whereby quick profits are made via fast financial transactions that create no new productive forces and often damage the object of the takeover. Why should anybody care about this unless they are a stockholder ? Because the pressure on the credit market and the results of the takeovers mean increased cost cutting-hence layoffs, speedups,etc.- that affects the work life of the workers employed by target companies. Also the drain on credit produced by these takeovers is a contributing factor to such things as the "subprime mortgage debacle" in the USA. The IUF has produced a primer for those who want to learn more about this matter and how it may affect them. To see the introduction and access 'A Worker's Guide to Private Equity Buyouts' click HERE.

Finally, on a somewhat different note:

WHERE TO SPEND YOUR VACATION:

THE GLOBAL HOTEL MONITOR:

Most of us consider little more than cost and convenience when choosing a hotel when we go on vacation. There is, however, another factor to consider-how does the hotel treat its employees. A hotel that is stingy with its workforce will probably be stingy with its guests as well. Also, nobody likes the simple injustice. The Global Hotel Monitor is a website that gives the consumer alerts as to which hotels worldwide have either actual or potential labour disputes at a given time. Best to check this site before booking a vacation. You don't want to contribute to anti-union management, and you don't want to be unpleasantly surprised by getting out of a taxi in front of a picket line. Contribute to global justice and do yourself a good turn at the same time. Sounds good.

FREEDOM OF SPEECH UNDER ATTACK:

LABOUR START FIGHTS BACK:

As reported last September 8th here at Molly's Blog (see'Labour Start Under Attack') the online labour solidarity site Labour Start has been the subject of threats on the part of the management of the Fremantle company. Labour Start initiated a campaign of support for the home care workers employed by Fremantle, and the bosses didn't take kindly to this intrusion on their domain. They won a Pyrrhic victory, forcing Labour Start to remove the campaign from their main site, but Labour Start retaliated by opening the campaign again within hours at a new site in a different country. This site, 'We Will Not Be Silenced', has continued the campaign, and now the management of Fremantle has over 12,000 letters in their email box supporting their workers and Labour Start. Labour Start has also launched a Google ad campaign of support for the workers.

Molly reproduces the latest press release from Labour Start below:

"A little more than a week ago the Fremantle Trust tried to close down Labour Start by threatening our internet service provider (ISP), claiming that it was hosting "potentially libellous" material. We're pleased to report that after thinking about it for three or four days, our ISP realized that our online campaign was not libellous and informed us that it could be back on line. This was picked up by the media and labelled a "web campaign victory".

In the meantime we didn't sit around waiting---we moved the whole campaign over to a web server in Australia (at a considerable expense of time and money), and that is where it is staying. And we've turned up the heat on Fremantle. If you search on Google for the term 'Fremantle' you're likely to see our ad in the upper right corner of the page. (or not---Google won't show it every time). Our ad has been shown nearly 152,000 times---that's tens of thousands of people who have seen a loud and clear message which reads, "Fremantle-Stop Bullying,start talking. Barnet care workers deserve more".

In the last week since Fremantle tried to silence us, another 4,000 of you have sent off messages to its chief executive, Carole Sawyers. With over 12,000 messages now in her inbox, we've broken all records for a Labour Start campaign. Sawyers has written some of you presenting Fremantle's case, and had this to say about our online campaign: "I can honestly say that we have not bullied or intimidated Labour Start into removing the content about Fremantle. I sent a polite email request to Mr. Lee asking that he remove it, informing him that the information was inaccurate, misleading and potentially libellous. I copied this information to Labour Start's ISP, who requested them to remove the information pending further investigation".

Think about that for a minute. She "copied this information" (which was untrue) to our ISP, knowing what English libel laws are like, knowing full well that the ISP would almost certainly order us to take down the campaign rather than risk facing legal action. This was not an attempt to persuade Labour Start, politely or otherwise. It was a blatant attempt to stifle dissent , to shut down criticism of an employer so used to bullying its workers that it doesn't realize what it is up against here.

This week the workers at Fremantle are going on strike once again, and will be coming to the company headquarters to protest. They are not alone. They go there knowing that they have the backing not only of their union, Unison, and of the British trade union movement, but of tens of thousands of organized workers around the world. They have asked me to convey their thanks to all of you.

Eric Lee

Molly urges her readers to go to the Labour Start site and to the We Will Not Be Silenced site and give support to this campaign.

STILL MORE ON THE VIRTUAL STRIKE AGAINST IBM:

It seems to be a day of "mores" here at Molly's Blog. As previously reported on this blog (see 'The World's First Virtual Strike', August 28 and 'More on the Virtual Strike Against IBM-Italia', September 8) the workers employed at IBM in Italy plan to conduct the first "online strike" at the company's virtual presence on the cyberworld 'Second Life'. So far over 500 people have signed up their avatars for participation. They come from across the globe from more than 18 countries. The strike is now set for September 25th to 30th. It was going to be held this week, but the high level of interest as well as the need for more planning to involve other Second Life groups necessitated a delay. Also a large national meeting for the workers in IBM-Italia will be held on September 24th to make official declarations. The news of the strike has spread across the world, and coverage has been given in both TV radio and print across Europe, Asia and Canada.

To learn more and participate go to http://www.uniglobalunion.org/SecondLife

MORE ON THE RUSSIAN ANARCHISTS:

As previously reported on Molly's blag last Saturday (See Russian Comrades Freed- Saturday, September 15) Andrei Kalyonov and Denis Zelenin, two Russian anarchists unjustly accused of having carried out a train bombing are now free. Both the A-Infos site and the Russian Avtonom site(English section) have a much longer article on this case as of yesterday. The article goes into more detail about the case, including some rather smile producing news such as the fact that the Shamil Basayev group which claimed responsibility for the action "has a practice of claiming any natural disaster and accident in Russia". Also the fact that many people in Russia doubt that there was a bomb attack at all. It was possible that the train simply derailed because of poor track maintenance and that the story of a bomb was concocted to divert attention from Russia's poorly maintained infrastructure.

The articles go on to tell of the various solidarity actions that the Russian anarchists organized while their comrades were in prison. They also talk of the treatment of the two men while they were incarcerated. The A-Infos article has links posted for photos of some of the solidarity actions. The Russian anarchists are still in need of financial help to cover the legal costs that they had to pay to help the two innocent accused while they were in prison.

MORE FROM THE HARPER INDEX:

There's a couple of new and interesting articles over at the Harper Index, a site devoted to keeping a close eye on the ever devious actions of the federal Harper government. Coming up first on bat is...

CUTS "DISHEARTENING" AS PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH SHIFTS QUIETLY INTO PRIVATE HANDS:

SCIENCE ROLE OF FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DIMINISHING-SOMETHING BREWING AT ENVIRONMENT CANADA:

As part of its long standing initiative to "save money" by government cuts and spend more money by handing out freebies to the private sector that the Conservatives hope to bribe into supporting them the Harper government has quietly been cutting back and planning to transfer science based government initiatives into private hands. From layoffs at the National Research Council, through cuts to 17 federal departments and agencies to possible closure of five federal labs the writing is on the wall as the Harpercrats bundle up their gifts for their friends in the corporate world. Some excerpts from the article...

"The federal government may be quietly privatizing and out-sourcing basic research needed for public policy and safety. Federal science staff have been laid off as a result of last March's federal budget, and 17 federal departments and agencies have been told to slice five percent of expenditures, according to the association that represents federal professionals....

"Along with the research council layoff, she(the association spokeswoman-MM) said she is hearing rumours that something is brewing at Environment Canada. With the bad press the government is having on environmental issue, you'd think that would be the last place for a bunch of cuts. She says public servants are being asked to do more with less and be more efficient, but we have no more room to maneuver other than cutting programs or doing half-assed jobs....

"Five federal labs have been identified by the panel for possible closure, says Demers. Is this just the tip of the iceberg? She asks. There is a lot of concern and worry about where this government is going in terms of increasing cash flow for other priorities. You do not need to be a rocket scientists to figure out where their other priorities are, she said, indicating she meant the military."

READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE AT THE HARPER INDEX

KYOTO UNDERMINED BY RHETORIC AT APEC-GREENPEACE:

Meanwhile Harper got his chance to "shine" at the recent APEC summit in Sydney Australia. Too bad it was such a dim light, much outshone by the television comedy team that snuck a member disguised as Uncle Osama Bin Ladin past most of the summit's security in a motorcade disguised by Canadian flags. Harper's main contributions to the summit were his fawning echoes of Bush's calls to abandon the Kyoto Protocol in favour of the American President's "aspirational goals" (yes, Molly "aspires" to win the lottery as well), and his similar support for Bush's proposal to "repatriate" nuclear waste to the countries where it was mined. Not where it was used. This sets Canada up to be the nuclear dumping ground for the American nuclear industry.

Some excerpts from the article...

"Rather than cleaning up Canada's and the world's environment, this week's APEC summit may have been carefully crafted to move Canada away from Kyoto commitments and closer to importing massive amounts of radioactive waste from abroad....

"Martin says Bush, Howard and Harper have agreed on an approach intended to undermine the Kyoto protocol by moving away from hard targets to what they call 'aspirational goals', which typically mean intensity based target. Looking at the example of Alberta, which adopted intensity based target in 2002, he says,"It's very clear that you can have a reduction in intensity while still having dramatic absolute increases in emissions". The efforts to undermine Kyoto coincide with pushes for so-called 'clean coal' technology and nuclear energy by the leading producers and users of these technologies, including Australia, Canada and the US."

READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE AT THE HARPER INDEX

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:

GOVERNMENT...SELECT QUOTATIONS:

*Administration covers the surface of society with a network of small complicated rules, minute and uniform, through which the most original minds and the most energetic characters cannot penetrate to rise above the crowd. The will of man is not shattered, but softened,bent, guided;men are seldom restrained from acting,such a power does not destroy, but it prevents existence; it does not tyrannize, but it compresses, extinguishes and stupefies a people, till each nation is reduced to nother better than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which government is the shepherd.

-Alexis de Tocqueville in 'Democracy In America' (1835)

*Their question hit home, and I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today- my own government.

-Martin Luther King Jr. Speech at Riverside Church in New York City (http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/058.html )

*People should not be afraid of their government. Governments should be afraid of their people.

-V in 'V for Vendetta' (2006)

*Civil government, insofar as it is instituted for the security of property, is in reality instituted for the defense of the rich against the poor, of those who have some property against those who have none at all.

-Adam Smith

*Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.

-P.J. O'Rourke

*Government is a disease masquerading as its own cure.

-L. Neil Smith

*I heartily accept the motto "That government is best which governs least", and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out it finally amounts to this, which I also believe, :That government is best which governs not at all", and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have.

-Henry David Thoreau

*It is just as difficult and dangerous to try and free a people which wants to remain servile as it is to enslave a people that wants to remain free.

-Machiavelli

*No government, of its own motion, will increase its own weakness, for that would mean to acquiesce in its own destruction...governments, whatever their pretensions otherwise, try to preserve themselves by holding the individual down...Government itself, indeed, may be reasonably defined as a conspiracy against him. Its one permanent aim, whatever its form, is to hobble him sufficiently to maintain itself.

-H.L Menchen

TO BE CONTINUED...