CANADA:

CUPE LOCAL 4823 WORKERS NEED YOUR SUPPORT:

About 120 early childhood educators and assistants at Kids and Company- members of CUPE 4823- are fighting for a first collective agreement. They have a strike deadline of 12:01 am, Thursday, November 29th.

Kids and Company is one of Canada's largest private child care providers, catering to corporate clients who want to provide workplace child care. Kids and Company is expanding rapidly, while claiming not to have the financial means to pay their employees a fair wage and provide them with WSIB coverage.

You can help the members of CUPE 4823 win a fair collective agreement by sending a message to their employer through

http://www.4823.cupe.ca/action/quality

Messages will be sent to President Victoria Sopick and Chief Financial Officer Jennifer Nashmi.

MOLLY NOTE:

When the union claims that this company is "expanding rapidly" they aren't kidding. The company website lists a large number of locations in Ontario and Alberta already operating, two more "under construction" and 5 "coming soon". They already operate in numerous cities across Ontario, and their plans include expansion to six other Canadian cities in four more Canadian provinces. Looks like they are trying to become a conglomerate. An outfit like this can hardly cry the poverty blues as they are in their negotiations with their workers. For those interested in more background to this dispute see http://cupe.ca/bargaining/CUPE_4823_takes_on_K

CANADIAN ANARCHISM:

A TALE OF TWO BOOKSTORES:

Few things could be more indicative of the growth of anarchism in Canada, and across the world for that matter, than the proliferation of anarchist bookstores, or "infoshops" as they are sometimes fashionably called, though the term "bookstore" is still much indicative of what they really are, in the past few years. When Molly was a tiny little baby anarchist kitten there were exactly three in Canada. Molly visited them all way back then. Erewhon Books in Edmonton, long a hotbed of anarchism, is long since dead, and is deeply lamented in my opinion.From what I saw it was the best,especially in regards to its selection of children's books. Librarie Alernatif in Montreal, perhaps the oldest of the lot, is now L'Insoumise after some particularly bitter internal battles a few years ago. Spartacus Books in Vancouver ended up burning down, but it has been resurrected near to its old location, an unfortunate choice if you ask me. More on this later, but it depends on who you want to reach. Perhaps it may be good to locate a bookstore downtown but not if you have to run a gauntlet of sleaze to reach it. Vancouver's lower east side has the distinction of being the poorest neighbourhood in Canada, slightly edging out Winnipeg's downtown on this "distinction". Molly can remember the comment of one fellow on a list serve that she belongs to about how he, being from New York, was never afraid to be in any neighbourhood until he walked through Vancouver's east side. It's very true. One of the privileges of travelling outside of Winnipeg is that I will rarely be in any place where you have to keep your guard up as much as you do in some neighbourhoods in this city. Aside, of course, from my annual Christmas pilgrimage to Regina to meet with family in Canada's most violent province. Nothing like a crowd of about 400 junkies around an abandoned city hall-Vancouver- to give you the willies. Seems like I never left Winnipeg, except that it is worse. Molly can walk through this nonsense with her usual "violate my personal space and I'll knife you" attitude, but I can't see how this is productive of reaching the "average person" that anarchism should be trying to reach. Yeah, rents are cheap down in such places, but not that much cheaper than in a more welcoming part of town. I don't ask that anarchists deliberately try to set up shop in some sort of "trendy town", nor that they try to set up shop with deliberation on a major thoroughfare in an ordinary middle working class neighbourhood-which is what I would like to see in the future but not now. I do, however, suspect that there is some sort of perverse "pride" in setting up in places where close to 90% of the population wouldn't want to go.

Anarchist bookstores came and went in the years intervening. Here in Winnipeg there was more than one that flourished and died, until Mondragon settled the matter with what may be the most inviting internal setup in the whole continent. I certainly felt more "at home" drinking wine in the CGT cafeteria way up overlooking downtown Barcelona being as a)the view was much better-beyond belief much better- and b)there was nothing about fashion anarchism about the place. Not a vegan dish to be seen. Merely good food at a cheap price. But Mondragon beats that cafeteria for "ambiance" ten thousand times over.

Nowadays there are anarchist bookstores/infoshops springing up all over the place. Even in the most inhospitable places, Calgary for instance. Saskatoon has one. Toronto has new ones. All of this is part of what may be an often unconscious impulse to give a practical form to the new anarchism, despite the lingering influence of some ideologies in the milieu that deride practicality for one reason or another. This is part of the "institutionalization" of the movement which has gotten over its juvenile phase of believing that there is some sort of revolution around the corner and now knows that there is still huge amounts of educational work to be done. It is realism, and a practical way to put anarchist ideas into reality, a reality that may often be "messy" (ala the dispute over Alternatif/Insoumise) but is still at least "on this planet" as compared to fantasizing about ending civilization, supporting baby terrorists who quickly go rat when caught, or losing fights against the police at various summits. Any "mess" in a bookstore/infoshop is light years less "messy" than the nonsense generated by these lingering failures.

This summer and fall Molly had the privilege of visiting two of the anarchist bookstores in Canada. One, Exile Books in Ottawa, is fairly new. It did, however, have the privilege of national publicity as one of its members hit the news when he got outed for releasing so-called privileged information that he obtained via his position as a minor internet reader for the federal government. As my faulty memory serves me the whole matter was about some environmental position of the Harper government. Full stop here. Molly might be wrong on this, but she won't look it up. Unlike 95% of the population Molly actually paid some attention to the matter. Unlike 99.99% of the population she still has some vague memory of what it was all about. The whole point, at least the political point, of the thing was whether whistleblowers were justified or not, and whether this particular whistleblower was justified. Ask the average person today about this affair, and in the vast,vast majority of cases you will get a puzzled stare. Few would remember as little as Molly does. This is sad but true, and things such as these should give pause to those who have a overblown sense of the importance of any particular moment,event or issue. The best they can be is publicity, and the publicity will be temporary at best. That's the nature of the world that we live in today.

When Molly visited Exile Books (256 Banks St, Ottawa, ON) this summer she had a little difficulty finding it. It sits on a rather depressed street some blocks north of the Parliament Buildings, well away from the trendy area of town. "Depressed" is a relative term, especially from a western Canadian point of view. Molly could hardly spot a boarded up shop in the whole neighbourhood. The area supports a number of Irish pubs, a great distraction to Molly for sure, and it is hard for her to imagine a "depressed" neighbourhood with an Irish pub, though they seem as common as fleas on a dog in Ottawa. The whole area seems like a battleground for how the university crowd is trying to push out some sort of an imitation of a skid row, a skid row that was never "serious" as compared to what we see out here. Molly missed the place on her first pass by. She stopped at one of the pubs, had a couple and came back and found it. The first thing that she saw, besides the fact that Exile Books shared the second floor with some sort of fuck-book shop, was the intimidating set of stairs. No granny ladies with three preschool grandkids is ever going to come up here. The climb was well worth the effort despite the fact that Molly complained to the staffer upon reaching the shop way up the stairs. Molly sometimes likes to bitch. Her comment that the place needed to be on ground level on a corner with doors open on two sides was met with the obvious rejoinder about rent. Very true, and Molly can hardly argue against reality.

The Ottawa comrades have done very well to open this place at all. Every city in Canada, no matter how small, should have one. Their hours of operation were actually more convenient than most such places. Their selection of books was small, though this is understandable given the youth of the place. Their selection of zines was even smaller, though I am sure this will be remedied in future. I was at the shop for almost three hours. Some of this was taken up by the fact that Exile Books, unlike many (almost all ???) such places actually has a public computer available ie it tries to be an "Infoshop" in reality rather than in just name. Not just books, but also other "info" in other media. Something I would recommend highly for other places. Molly got distracted for a considerable amount of time by showing off Molly's Blog to the staffer until another customer finally wandered in. The staff person was very pleasant once we got past the fact that Molly doesn't fit the stereotype of the modern anarchist and how I wasn't (son-of-a-bitch) allowed to take photographs for this blog. Actually we hit it off great. The young woman recovered from the shock of an old fart puffing up their stairs very well, and I can say that if there is one thing that should be a requirement for anybody manning such a place it would be that they could recover from a shock of something unusual as well as she did. There is an important point contained here. Not everyone is as willing as Molly is, especially after she has had a couple of beers, to cross subcultural barriers to make connections. Shake paw, shake paw,shake paw. I enjoy it beyond measure. The general public will be far more reticent. Maybe there can't be "personality tests" for those who work at such public outlets, but that is a shame. The whole point !!!! is to reach others not yet convinced, and very few will approach the matter with as little trepidation as Molly does. Most will be more than slightly nervous and stand-offish. The woman on staff did very well in recovering her balance, and many kudos to her. She is one of the people whom I hope sticks around as she will undoubtedly become a very valuable militant in years to come. I wonder if the other staffers are as good as she was. Exile Books also seems to want to be a lending library and a meeting place. For the life of her Molly couldn't see how you could jam more than 20 people (with crowding) into the facilities available. As for the lending library aspect it may be more an ambition than a realistic project. Too much ambition, and it is no wonder that the larger anarchist events in Ottawa are held elsewhere. Still, a beautiful and apparently good start. Four stars out of five. A very shitty location, but a good book selection and an intelligent staffer.

This fall(October/November) I also visited L'insoumise in Montreal. I have visited this bookstore twice before when it was Librarie Alternatif, and I have to say that this was the first time that I have encountered a truly friendly staffer there. This is despite the fact that we struggled to make ourselves understood across a language barrier, with my bad French and her slightly less bad English. One of the results of the great fights over the ownership/control of Librarie Alternatif was that the bookstore is now much more oriented to a francophone population. This seems to have improved their public presence as at least this staffer actually tried to be really helpful to this hapless anglophone.The conversation shifted back and forth from French to English and back again. Unlike Exile Books L'insoumise is a "specifically" anarchist bookstore, the sort of thing that could only exist today in a place like Montreal with a metropolitan population of close to 3 and 1/2 million. Not that there weren't "general lefty" books available, but the selection was far more specifically anarchist than Exile Books (or anything I have seen in North America for that matter). There was also a far better selection of books in Spanish as compared to anywhere else in Canada. I won't comment on the USA because it has been so many years since I have been there. The selection was hardly "colourful". It seemed rather drab on the shelves. But you don't come into such a bookstore to get grabbed by cover art. The selection was also far better, from an anarchist point of view, that anything that you can see elsewhere in Canada. The neighbourhood (2033 Boulevard St. Laurent) requires that you pass by a tiny,tiny,tiny itsy bit of sleaze that most of us out here in western Canada would hardly recognize as such. The greatest inhibition to reaching the place (0n a ground floor by the way) is a little climb up a rising street. Something a granny lady could do. There is a subway station very close to the bookstore, and Montreal has perhaps the best subway system in North America, or at least in Canada. My major complaint, which also applies to Exile Books by the way, is the almost total absence of books for children. Something that should be considered. Unlike steers anarchists do reproduce, and I think that future bookstores should be both more "child friendly" ie no steep stairs and also carry more material for an increasing number of anarchist parents (or grandparents in my case). Ground floors. Play structures. It's all something to consider for the future. Still...both Exile Books and L'insoumise are great places that I encourage anyone to visit.In both places I was priveged to meet welcoming people despite the fact that I don't pass muster as to my external appearance. This may be the most important point.That's it for Molly's latest travelogue.

To see the bookstores reviewed above on the web go to:

http://www.exilebooks.org/

and

http://linsoumise.entretoise.org/

USA:
TELL LOYOLA CHICAGO TO KICK COKE OFF CAMPUS TODAY:
The following may be far from Molly's personal life. I've never been a cola drinker, and this aversion has gotten more profound in the last few decades. I doubt that I've drank more than three colas in the last 20 years. From memory i can retrieve some sort of puckering, drying effect in the mouth and a certain spoiling of the effect of the pure sugar taste by the "bitterish" and foul, to my mind, taste of the artificial coco beans. If this is the real taste all that I can say is how much I pity people in South America. Recently the wife discovered the undrunken cans of Pepsi in the back seat of the car. She threw them into my daily lunch from time to time and, from time to time, I promptly tossed them in the back seat to gather mold. Of course she denies all responsibility. Recently I've gotten away from my traditional caffeine fix. The result of advancing age I guess, as my mornings have become even more hassled than usual- at least in my mind. For years my idea of caffeine was two heaping tablespoons(NOT teaspoons) of instant coffee sweetened with three heaping tablespoons of sugar. None of this wimpy new class health food faddism for Molly- good totally processed white sugar for me. One teaspoon of real sugar equals about two of brown sugar, three of honey and about 10 of whatever bizarre fashionable sweetener may be available for those who desperately want to eat by fashion rather than taste.
Well, I got old, and the morning hit in the head became too much for me. I rarely drink coffee today except when on vacation. Don't even get me started on artificial sweeteners. If I wanted to drink something that tasted like iron filings I'd drink the real iron filings for Christ's sake. That crap tastes even worse than health food, if that is possible. At least so-called "health food" has the merit of generally having no taste. You trade the pleasure of life for a false (Molly emphasizes false,false,false,false!!!!!) promise of living a few more deprived years. But you also get the "pleasure" of feeling snotty and superior, and that may compensate for the loss of real physical pleasure. NOT in Molly's view of the world, but in the view of those who don't think about fads anyways.
Anyways, maybe this is close to Molly's personal life, as she is a very vile little pussycat who is always happy to do damage to things she hates. So read on about the latest efforts of Students Against Sweatshops and Union Voice to ban the Coca Cola Company from yet another campus. Molly supports this effort fully, and not just because she hates Coke. In this case Molly's personal taste coincides with an worldwide effort to limit the damage done by one of the most unethical corporations in the world. Consider that every Coke you drink may have been reduced in price by murder in Columbia.


"Students at Loyola Chicago have been urging their administration to end its relationship with Coke, and they are close to winning their campaign. Students no longer want their university to be connected to a company that has been linked to the murder of union leaders in Columbia, environmental devastation in India and union busting throughout its supply chain. The university will be making its decision regarding the future of their Coke contract on Monday, and your support is crucial. Call and email President Garanzini today and urge him to kick Coke off campus for good !


Loyola Campus is a Jesuit institution, and the Jesuits presume a certain commitment to social justice in their theology. to help make them live up to this join the campaign at http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/lccoke .

LANGUAGE:

MOLLY LAMENTS AND MOURNS FOR A WORD:

While writing the previous post Molly caught herself before she used the word "analysis" when referring to some of the posts. Now Molly has spent decades being disgusted by and trying to avoid "leftoid language", and the use of "analysis" in leftist writings is one of the things that irks her. "Analysis" may not be the worst of the linguistic baubles that leftists use to make their opinions seem more erudite than they actually are, but it definitely belongs in the same linguistic toy box. 999,999 times out of a million the use of this term could be replaced with words or phrases such as "description", "criticism of" or even "repeating", and the meaning would be much more accurate if considerably less pretentious. While being several orders of magnitude less pseudo-intellectual than that grand classic "dialectic" the term "analysis" still obscures meaning and sense rather than illuminating them.

"Analysis" actually has meaning in some fields of human endeavor where it illuminates rather than disguises. Molly became familiar with one when she was young- "chemical analysis"-, and there are surely others in the descriptive sciences where it is useful to break down an undifferentiated mess into its constituents. Molly has to take it on faith that the use of this terms in semantics is also useful. There are, however, words in the private language that I will describe as "left-speak" that are not at all useful, and "analysis" is definitely one of these. At its worst in the curriculum-vitaes of post modernists it is even more mendacious that its use in left speak. There it means basically taking any part of a piece of writing at random and constructing whatever fantasies you want from this starting point. In such cases "stream of consciousness bullshit" would be a better term to describe what is happening.

If you deliberately try and eliminate jargon that is not useful from what you say and write your thought will be a lot clearer for the effort. There are times when jargon is indeed useful as a shorthand for things that would take a lot longer to spell out. I will, however, venture the following opinion. There is NO- exactly none-private leftist word that is useful, and the vast majority of them are harmful to rational thought. I challenge anyone to give me a counter-example. Also please rap me over the knuckles if I ever use "analysis" in this blog.

BLOGS:

THE BEST OF THE BLOGS: THE LETTER "B":

Once more Molly goes down her blogroll looking for the gems that lie on the surface of the internet stream. Today we do the letter 'B':

*The Balkan Anarchist blog has an extensive discussion about the Serbo-Croat language and its dialects. Great for anybody with an interest in languages and the Slavic ones in particular. Entitled 'Divanimo naski' (Don't ask me to translate-but the article is in English). Much of this was way over Molly's head as the only Slavic language that she has a "travelling acquaintance" with is Czech, with a smattering of Russian and Ukrainian. Still, a very informed presentation.

*Balkan Baby has an article entitled (take a deep breath) 'I Wanted Freedom. Bound and Restricted, I Tried to Give You Up, But I'm Addicted'. Whatever it may sound like it's all about the situation in Kosovo and well worth reading.

*Janet Biehl's blog continues the presentation of her graphic novel about the life of Murray Bookchin with an aside into the politics of the 1930s ala Stalin's machinations.

*Bill Bumpus continues to present the latest news about the IWW, along with an ever fresh selection of general labour news. Great site to help you keep up with things wobbly.

*The Blork Blog has an interesting piece about the new Airbus A380 airplane and its overstated claims to "green credentials". A great piece of myth-busting.

*The Blue Voice has an useful links reference to Joschka Fisher's (the ex-leader of the German Greens) more recent writings.

*Bob From Brockley reprints a piece from Venezuelan anarchists critical of the Chavez regime. The title is 'Hallucinating the Bolivarian Revolution'.

*Butt Darling has a report from the recent No-Borders camp on the US-Mexico border entitled 'Lost Patrol'. Find out what went down down there.

That's it for now. See you at the C.

USA:

DON'T LET NEW ERA LAY OFF 20 MORE WORKERS:

Last Spring, in response to glaring problems of low wages, racial discrimination and forces overtime workers at the New Era Cap plant in Mobile Alabama turned to Local 991 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters to organize an union. New Era responded with a vicious ant-union campaign and fired 20 workers whom they suspected of being union sympathizers. As the dispute continues New Era has once more proven to be heartless by planning to lay off 35 more employees tomorrow, just before the Christmas season. Only 15 will be called back later. For the rest it will be permanent termination. To join the email campaign to protest this action go to http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/newera . The workers are also calling for you to phone the Global Vice-President of Human Resources, Chris Koch, at 1-716-604-9000 to lodge a protest. There is also an emergency holiday fund for the laid-off workers. To learn about how you can donate email Jim Gookins, Secretary Treasurer of Teamsters Local 991 at gookins33@hotmail.com

BLOGGING:

HERE AT MOLLY'S BLOG:

It wasn't too long ago that Molly celebrated the 10,000 hit at Molly's Blog. There are still milestones to come. Presently there are 960 posts on this blog, and Molly is looking forward to her 1,000th. Big party that day. As to hits Molly's next ambition is 25,000. Stay tuned. An even bigger party that day.

I've been sllloooowly going through the previous posts on this blog to add tags to them all as I was unfamiliar with this function of blogger when I first began this project. Also running the spell check on them all. Molly is very productive of typos. To say the least this is a tedious task, but I hope to have it done at about the same time as I hit the 1,000th post. There are also changes planned to the Links section. Stay tuned for these.

Til then as Mollymew chases the mouse across the screen.

USA

18,000 PEOPLE GATHER TO CLOSE DOWN THE SCHOOL OF THE AMERICAS:

The School of the Americas is a long running military academy now centred on Fort Benning, a "school" that has become infamous as a "torture academy" as it trains Latin American soldiers in the techniques necessary to serve the American Empire to the best of their ability. This morning 18,000 people gathered and filled up Fort Benning Drive, the main entrance to Fort Benning, to express their outrage over what this "school" teaches and to demand that it be closed down. The crowd was addressed by American coordinators of the campaign, prisoners of conscience who had been arrested at previous actions against the SOA, victims of torture and several Latin American union activists and workers for indigenous rights. A festive atmosphere prevailed despite repeated buzzing of the crowd by Army helicopters. Music and dance were made possible by the likes of Charlie King, Emma's Revolution, Rising Appalacahia, Holly Near and many others. the event was coordinated with other smaller gatherings elsewhere in Canada and the USA. The closing for today was a Puppet Pageant held as a tribute to Rufina Amaya, the only survivor of the El Mozote massacre in El Salvador who passed away earlier this year of heart failure.

The events will continue tomorrow, November 18th. To follow what is happening go the the School of the Americas Watch site.

USA/CANADA:

US MILITARY DESERTION RATE HIGHEST SINCE 1980:

After six years of the war in Iraq, with no end in sight, US soldiers are deserting at a rate not seen since 1980. Since the invasion in 2003 US Army desertions have increased 80%. Since last year the rate has jumped 42%. This is still lower than during Vietnam years when a draft was in effect, but the rate has steadily increased over the past fours years. In the fiscal year ending September 30th 2007 4,698 US Army soldiers deserted as compared to 3,301 last year. The Army bears the brunt of the war in Iraq, enduring increasingly long tours of duty in a war that is becoming more and more unpopular as 'victory", however that might be defined, receded further into an indefinite future. In addition to outright desertion soldiers can get out of the Army in other ways ie

*being unable to meet physical fitness requirements (the old "shoot yourself in the foot" tactic)

*being found unable to adapt to the military (this may be the most painful of all as prison is a more likely result)

*declaring that they are gay, and being discharged under the "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

Other branches of the US military, the Navy, Marine Corps and Airforce, have either seen the numbers of deserters decline or remain steady. When soldiers do desert from the Army there is little effort to search them down, and if they are caught some are allowed to return to their units while others are given dishonourable discharges. Actual prosecutions are rare.

Unlike during the Vietnam War US soldiers who desert may not find refuge in Canada. This week the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Army deserters Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughes were not entitled to refugee status in Canada despite their argument that the US invasion of Iraq was illegal. The full text of the decision can be seen at http://scc.lexum.umontreal.ca/index.html . Despite this setback Canadian supporters of deserters from the American forces continue their efforts to provide help. Demonstrations were held in numerous cities in Ontario and BC yesterday to protest the ruling. The War Resisters' Support Campaign intends to continue their efforts to change the official policy. Their website gives details of their effort as well as general information on the issue. They have also initiated a petition to the federal government asking that deserters be allowed to stay in Canada. You can access and sign this petition at http://www.PetitionOnline.com/resister/petition.html . In these efforts they may have the support of the average Canadian citizen. I recent poll found that 64% of people in Ontario want the government to allow war resisters to stay in Canada.

In the USA there are also a number of organizations devoted to helping soldiers who desert from the military. The most prominent is the G.I. Rights Hotline that offers advice for people caught in the situation of not wanting to participate in the present illegal war. More information about the struggle for soldiers to follow their consciences can also be found at sites such as the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors, Counter-Recruitment.Org and the Iraq Veterans Against the War.

USA/UFW:

TELL WHOLE FOODS TO CUT THE BULL :

For some time now the United Farm Workers of America have been organizing at the Beef Northwest feedlots to improve workers' labour conditions. As part of this effort they have put pressure on the employer by releasing information concerning the use of illegal drugs in the beef marketed as "natural". In particular they have asked people to put pressure on Whole Foods, an American organic food chain-store, to stop stocking beef from this supplier. For more on the situation at Beef Northwest go to http://www.ufw.org/bnw . In response to a previous appeal Whole Foods has replied with a email claiming that their store has strict quality controls to ensure standards. Molly received one such reply in response to her letter to Whole Foods. What the email failed to mention is any actual testing procedures that may assure that this claim is true. What follows is the UFW's second appeal in which they ask members of the public to put further pressure on Whole Foods.

"Since we put out our alert on Wednesday, November 14, thousands have contacted Whole Foods to express their concern about the use of illegal drugs on cows fattened at the Beef Northwest feedlots. Whole Foods sells Country natural Beef. Country Natural Beef's cows are fattened exclusively at the Beef Northwest feedlots. In addition, the owner of Beef Northwest, John Wilson, is also a member of the Country natural Beef co-op. The FDA recently warned Beef Northwest about the use of illegal drugs on cows. In their letter the FDA calls the meat treated with these drugs "adulterated" and "unsafe".

Whole Foods responded to concerned citizens who sent them an email, by claiming that they "have controls in place to ensure that the meat sold in our stores meet our strict quality standards". Whole Foods, however, makes no mention on either their website or in their emails regarding any testing protocols in place to ensure that the meat they sell does not contain unsafe levels of these drugs.

This is not the first time that Whole Foods has overstated their position. Whole Foods used to advertise Country natural Beef (CNB) as "grass fed". In August we pointed out to Whole Foods that there is not a blade of grass to be seen at the feedlots. Country Natural Beef cows were fed grain, cooked potatoes and dark, used vegetable oil during the approximately three months they were at Beef Northwest's feedlot prior to slaughter.

By coming forth and sharing this information, beef Northwest workers are risking their jobs. Please stand up for these workers and make sure that Beef Northwest does not retaliate against them for speaking the truth. Tell Whole Foods to cut the bull. Demand that Whole Foods test all the meat it sells to ensure that it doesn't contain unsafe levels of illegal drugs. "

To join this campaign go to http://www.ufaction.org/campaign/wholefoods

or the site on the situation at Beef Northwest at http://www.ufw.org/bnw

ONTARIO:

COMMON CAUSE ONTARIO: A WEBSITE AND A REPORT:

The new anarchist communist organization 'Common Cause' in Ontario seems to have a website now. Linchpin may not be the "official" site, but a casual glance seems to indicate that this is pretty much what it is. Common Cause was founded at the end of September to give some sort of organizational pole to efforts to have a more class struggle/ordinary person/ organized anarchist presence in the province of Ontario. So far so good. Molly has added Linchpin to her links section under the 'Platformist' section. This may or may may not be totally fair. I think it is, but I'm open to other opinions. The website is great. It serves as a minor news aggregator , an introduction to the the politics of Common Cause, and a contact point for those interested in the organization. One of the best features is their blogs section where individual members post their news and opinions. Very worthwhile. The layout is simple and clear and the site is easy to navigate.

Being as Molly is an inveterate nitpicker here are the nits that I chose to pick:

*The existence of this website was hardly announced in a wide fashion in the general 'anarcho-net" let alone on other Canadian sites that people interested in anarchism might access. Molly stumbled across Linchpin purely by accident. Perhaps this low-key approach is a deliberate decision. I hope so. If not, it doesn't bode well for the idea of making anarchism "popular".

*The contact is purely an internet contact. This is understandable for a new organization, but it is a situation that eventually has to be improved if the organization wishes to be truly popular. Actual physical addresses, beginning with a PO Box if necessary are almost mandatory, and phone number contacts should follow soon afterwards. The website should contain a 'contact list" for various locations across their province rather than just one email response box. True legitimacy will be conferred by actually being present in the real world. If nothing else give an address of another organization where you can talk to a real person about the group and make a request to meet with them. There are a lot of such places in Ontario.

Aside from these quibbles, which are something that nobody should expect an organization 1 and 1/2 months old to live up to the website is great, and Molly recommends it highly.

The anarchist Common Cause: Report on Hamilton Oct 27 anti-Afghanistan Occupation Demonstration:

Even if they haven't publicized the existence of their website to the degree that they should have, Common Cause has, at least, sent out a report on their first public appearance at a demonstration. what follows is that report:

"The Common cause Hamilton members took part in the demonstration against the occupation of Afghanistan. Around 150 people gathered to listen to speeches and then march through downtown Hamilton. It was the first outing for the Hamilton Common Cause Local's new banner. There were also flags there from the Local 548 Postal workers, Elementary Teachers' Union and Local 1005 AFL-CIO-CLC Steelworkers. Organizations whose speakers addressed the rally included the New Democratic Party (NDP) whose speaker said that they were for immediate withdrawal of Canadian troops. Don Frazer, speaking for the Hamilton and district labour Council expressed full support for the demonstration. The Raging Grannies treated the crowd to a number of anti-war songs.

The speaker for McMasters University Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights said Afghani people need us to leave. , our obligation in doing so is to give them back the resources that were destroyed in the war, but rebuilding is a task for the people of Afghanistan and not an occupying military. The speaker for the McMasters Muslims for Peace and Justice said that it was a war against Islam and in particular against countries that are rising Islamically.

The President of 1005 Steelworkers said the US was preparing to attack Iran and reminded the audience that US Steel which had recently taken over Stelco in Hamilton was the first billion dollar global corporation, having reached that status in 1901. he raised the slogan a number of other speakers had mentioned, a demand for an anti-war government.

Pretty much the only idea put forward by any of the speakers on how we could actually concretely oppose the occupation was this demand for an 'anti-war government'. But this just feeds into the passivity of the anti-war movement globally, a passivity reflected in the low number who demonstrated on the day despite the quite high levels of support from passing motorists tooting their horns, etc.. In February 2003 on the eve of the invasion of Iraq millions of people took part in demonstrations across the globe. the failure of that mass movement to act when the western governments went ahead with the war despite mass opposition has resulted in demonstrations today that are tiny and largely composed of activists.

The challenge for anarchists, and all anti-war activists, is to answer the question of how a meaningful anti-war movement can be built. one that can answer the fact that the western governments really don't care whether the people are for or against the war providing they can be sure of a small number willing to fight in their armies and the passivity of the rest.

Molly Notes: The comrades of Common Cause have to be commended for identifying a real problem in demonstrations such as these. If you would take the total "membership" of the sponsoring organizations in a city the size of Hamilton it would total in the 10s of thousands. As it a fraction of those who have captured bureaucratic positions in same have chosen to show up. A fraction of the leadership. Of course these "organizations" do little or nothing to actually build support amongst their own membership, preferring to treat the whole matter as a "church observance" sort of affair. Perhaps this may be wise from their point of view. Actually "asking" their membership about demonstrations such as this would involve them in arguing with the passive membership upon which their captured positions depend, and it would involve the risk of activating opposition to them. It would be hard enough for them to argue the classical social-democratic position of "vote for the NDP so we withdraw from a useless and unethical war" with many of their members, though they could probably win a majority to their side if they were really interested-which would result in a much better turnout for events such as this (beyond the 0.001% level anyways). What you could never ask such people to do is to cut their own throats by appearing to side with organizations that think "rising Islamically" is a good thing.

All of this comes down to why Molly thinks that one aspect of "platformism" is an extremely bad idea in the situation of Canada (and pretty well all industrialized countries) today. The whole idea of "ideological unity" is a recipe for disaster". It isn't as if we have decades of history of well implanted popular agitation and thereby a well developed cadre of large numbers of people who can read the popular mood at the drop of a hat. Really bad ideas can become gospel just because they are accepted in a tiny milieu that most of the recruits come from. The demand for "collective responsibility" says that members of a platformist organization are "required" to defend the opinion of the organization no matter how absurd it is or how absurd they recognize it to be. Sensible people can easily recognize how different this is from the requirements placed on the ordinary member of a political party in our society or any other political pressure group. For what it is worth Molly believes that membership in anarchist organization should resemble membership in a normal political organization in our society and not that of a conspiratorial sect.

Much of this can be seen here. It isn't just the obvious, that, no matter how leftists feel, great distance should be put between any organization that hopes to be "popular" and those who think "rising Islamically" is a good idea. Let those who advocate such stew in their own juices, and don't let leftist guilt substitute for politics. What is much more important is the idea that 'triumphalism" can substitute for politics. Yes, the social-democratic advocacy of an "anti-war" government is a dead end, but simply pointing this out is not the presentation of an alternative. This obvious truism can far too easily be lost when members of an organization are required to defend rather than think.

To sum up, the whole idea of a "collective responsibility" is at least premature in a situation where the presumed popular anarchist organization has neither the experience, the numbers, nor the connection to ordinary people to have anything but the most general idea of what is both "right" and "expedient". Even organizations with much greater numbers and experience have made grievous mistakes. In conditions of immaturity there is a 100% guarantee that large chunks of the agreed ideology will have minimal connection to reality. Is it wise to demand unwavering defense of such things ? In the present context the criticism of the lefty speakers is obviously correct. This, however, begs the question- has a realistic alternative really been developed ?

USA:

APPEALS FOR THE DSP:

What is the 'DSP' ? The Designated Suppliers Program is a project of the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC), non-profit organization created by college and university administrations, students and labour rights experts in cooperation with various American unions. Their purpose is to assist in the enforcement of manufacturing Codes of Conduct adopted by colleges and universities. These Codes are designed to ensure that factories producing clothing and other goods bearing college and university names respect the basic rights of workers. There are many colleges and universities already affiliated with the WRC.

The WRC works with labour rights experts in the United States and around the world to investigate factory conditions. We report our findings to colleges and universities and the general public. Where violations are uncovered the WRC works with colleges and universities, US based retail corporations and organizations to correct the problem and improve conditions.

The WRC's Mission is to:

*keep our affiliates colleges and universities informed about conditions in the factories producing the goods that bear their names and logos.

*work with our affiliates to end violations of workers' rights wherever they are identified.

*raise public awareness about workplace conditions in apparel and other industries.

*educate workers about their rights under college and university Codes of Conduct.

*through all of these efforts, help workers gain greater respect for their rights and real improvements in their conditions of work.

That is the theory, and you can learn more by going to the WRC's website. The practice is the campaigns waged by organizations such as the Union Voice and the United Students Against Sweatshops. What follows are two recent email solidarity campaigns launched by these organizations to pressure two universities to join the DSP. You can access these campaigns from the USAS website or from the links provided after the appeals.

Tell USC to Stop Stalling and Adopt the DSP !:

In April students at USC held a sit-in to demand that their University adopt the DSP. At that time students were promised a meaningful dialogue with the president of their university, Steven sample, about this issue. Throughout the entire school year, however, the administration has not only refused to meet with students but has not even responded to their requests for a meeting.meanwhile USC apparel is still made in sweatshops. Please email and call today to demand that USC listen to students and become the 39th university to adopt the DSP.

To join this campaign go to http://unionvoice.org/campaign/uscdsp1

Tell Penn State to Adopt the DSP !:

Despite overwhelming support from students, faculty and the general university community, Penn State has refused to sign on to the DSP. During the two years that President Spanier has refused to take a stand on the issue, a number of union factories producing Penn state apparel have been shut down. Call, email and fax president Spanier today and demand that he listen to the voices of students and workers and make Penn State sweatshop free !

To join this campaign go to http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/psudsp

try and do your little bit for workers' rights by signing on to these campaigns. When Molly had a look at the list of institutions signed on already she could see two unfortunate facts. One is that they are exclusively American. It's too bad this sort of thing isn't going on up here in Canada. this is one instance where our neighbours are ahead of us. The other unfortunate fact is that even in the USA the institutions that are willing to examine the ethics of their purchases are very much a tiny minority out of the total number. No doubt many/most of these institutions presume to offer classes in ethics while at the same time refusing to see their own dirty laundry.

FRANCE:

THE STRIKE WAVE IN FRANCE:

As of yesterday transport and power workers in France have been on a nationwide strike to protest the Sarkozy government's plans to "reform" a portion of the pension plans governing public employees in that country. This is, of course, the thin edge of the wedge as Sarkozy's ambitions are far broader than a mere retooling of a small portion of France's social service budget. Only about 6% of the pensions in France's system fall under the "special regime" that the present government wishes to "reform" (read "abolish"). These regulations allow workers who fall under their purview to retire after 37.5 years worked as opposed to the 40 years for other employees both public and private. The special regime covers people such as employees of the SNCF national railway, EDF electricity producer and miners. The government has plans to tighten the entire pension system, and they have deliberately picked this issue as the 'first bite". Judging from most polls this tactic seems to have worked, as about 60% of the French population feels that the strikes are not justified. The scale of worker participation also seems to be lower than that of the last one day strike on this issue, last October 18th. Rail workers report a 61.5% observance rate, transit workers about 40% and power company employees only 37%. Demonstrations held in support of the strike in Paris are also considerably smaller than those of last October, down to 24,000 to 53,000 from estimated figures of 150,000 to 300,000 on October 18th. Should the unions back down on this matter in the face of poor public support the government will have created momentum for its further cuts in the future. One of the central plans of Sarkozy's schemes is to index pensions to a consumer price index rather than to wage deals won by unions. This is not just a money-saving plan. It is also a plan to take some of the militant steam out of strikes and labour bargaining, removing a considerable power of workers to bargain for their future living conditions and putting such matters in the hands of a technocratic bureaucracy that can more easily be made to see things "realistically".

There are other plans that the French government has that will go much more smoothly if they win this round. There are plans to merge the French national employment agency ANPE and UNEDIC, the agency that pays out France's unemployment benefits. From their perspective of denying unemployed workers their benefits the advantages of such a merger are obvious. The government also plans to increase the cost of health care borne by the individual citizen rather than the medical insurance system. There is also a new law, due to come into effect next year that will guarantee minimal service during strikes. Finally, there is a plan to eliminate nearly 23,000 civil service jobs beginning next year. The paring of the civil service will accelerate after that.

It is the latter plan that gives urgency to the government's efforts to beat the present strike as quickly as possible and gives hope to the idea that the strike may yet win its objectives, despite adverse public opinion, if it can at least hold on. The present strike is taking place against a background of continued student unrest as students have been protesting against so-called 'reforms" of the French university system (The 'LRU Reforms') that offer universities a false "autonomy" as a prologue to their privatisation. Many universities are presently under occupation, and a national coordination of students has called for a general university occupation and solidarity actions with the striking transport and power workers. More importantly, as pointed out by the French CNT, an anarcho-syndicalist union federation, the Fonction Publique 2012 plan of the Sarkozy government proposes to eliminate close to 200,000 jobs in the public sector over the next five years (see the article 'Etendons et intensifions la luttle' at the website of the CNT- article in French). Public sector workers (hospitals, post office,teachers,etc.) have called for a general strike in their sectors on November 20th, next Tuesday. The CNT has called for the strike movements in transport,energy, the universities, and the public sectors to merge into a larger and more powerful movement that would make the government's divide and rule tactics both transparent and ineffective. Should this happen there is a chance that public opinion will swing against the government as the politics of solidarity replaces the politics of resentment. "We're in this together" versus "his pension is better than mine".

The CNT's website carries regular news of the ongoing conflict as does the English language LibCom site. The online solidarity site Labour Start also has a news aggregator section devoted to these events, mostly using sources from the mass media. What follows below is the international press release from the French CNT giving their view of the situation and what they think should be done:

"Since the national strikes on October 18th 2007 the wider situation seems to be towards radicalization. The transport unions have realized that the Sarkozy government has no intention whatsoever about negotiating over the 'special regimes' for pensions. They are now making unified calls (which was not the case for the 18th of October) for a strike to begin on November 14th with the possibility of renewing the strike (MOLLY NOTE- This means that although the strike doesn't have the character of a strike of unlimited duration it can be renewed each day by general assemblies of the workers or by their delegates. The two largest and most reformist unions, the CFDT and the CGT, have expressed "interest" in sitting down with the government for discussions despite the government's firm statement that the matter of the pensions is not open to bargaining. More radical unions such as the CNT would like to see the strike continue until it has the possibility of merging into the larger strike movement due to begin on the 20th). Tomorrow the transport system will be almost entirely closed at a national and local level (trains, TGV, autobus). The Sarkozy government thinks that it is a position of strength to impose the "break" that it wants and its reforms.

According to opinion polls over 60% of the population seems to be in agreement with these reforms, and especially those aimed at the 'special regime' for rail-workers' pensions. It is in the context of a confrontation between two different tendencies in public opinion that those involved in the struggle are organizing.

Students are still mobilizing against the LRU reforms which will give "autonomy" to universities in order to privatize them. More than 14 universities are being blockaded by striking students. In many there have been violent clashes between striking students and non-strikers (in particular with the right-wing UNI student union) and attacks on pickets by police with many students injured or arrested. This weekend a national coordination meeting was held at Rennes by students. It called for all universities to be occupied and for students to act in concert with the rail workers on the 14th and blockade railways. The student sections of the CNT and the FAU are actively participating in the movement. The President of the University of Nanterre went so far as to denounce "a student movement manipulated by radicals from the CNT and the JCR (a Trotskyist group)."

The energy workers (gas and electricity) will be on strike from the 15th of November. public sector workers (hospitals, postal service,teachers) will strike from the 20th. The CNT is calling for all those struggles to converge, for the public and private sectors to unite to form a general strike.

We all remember November-December 1995. Twelve years ago we won against the Chirac government, defeating their social security reforms. this time victory depends on our ability to continue and extend the movement of resistance.

-Jeremie Berthuin, International Secretary of the French CNT.

CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS:

TRUCE TOY GUIDE NOW AVAILABLE:

Oh horrors, oh horrors, oh horrors ! I heard the first Christmas carol of the radio today while driving about. Come on guys. It's not even Advent yet (Catholic in-joke). As you stare at all the dreck on the store shelves you might want to come armed with the 'Teachers Resisting Unhealthy Children's Entertainment' (TRUCE)recently released 'Toy Action Guide'. You can download a pdf of this at http://www.truceteachers.org/toyguides/T_Guide_web_07.pdf . More than the usual wimpy social worker hand wringing about "violent toys", though that is contained as well. In this guide you will find a list of toys that "promote positive play", TRUCE's 2007-2008 recommendations for "toys for healthy and creative play" and a list of "toys to avoid" such as those "that lead children to spend more time with TV or other media and/or let the screen take control of their play". Full stop here. Molly cannot express how much she thinks that children should be free to be the little savages that they are. I had the advantage of growing up out in the boondocks where parental supervision (let along that of other busybodies) was minimal to non-existent. Yeah, I fell through the ice a few times and gave myself the usual set of concussions and lacerations. Better that than being an animal in a cage that is too small. If I could sum up present day childhood in one word, the word that would come to my mind would be "prison". No wonder the little buggers blow up occasionally. The use of the television in childhood is very much like the use of television in prison. It is a safety valve for the benefit of the caretakers/guards and little else. Any sane parent should discourage the habit of viewing the TV as much as possible- but not, at the same time, becoming a clinging,cloying,needy parasite looking to have their children as an exploited source of "family time" that some external source has convinced them is a duty and a benefit. Fun with the parents come naturally if you act natural. It doesn't come with stress and strain and over-supervising the young'uns.

Ok, enough rant. This guide also contains tips for making toys more environmentally friendly, resources for people concerned about the never-ending series of toy recalls and-most importantly in Molly's opinion- suggestions for "shoe-box gifts", ways to have fun with common objects around the home rather than overpriced commodity fetishes from the mall. One of Molly's favourite "toys" when she was young was a collection of pop-bottle caps with which she used to wage wars. It was always interesting to see what coalition of forces could defeat the mass Coke army. Firecrackers were also very neat,and, yes, I burned my fingers a few times. Better a few burned fingers than our present world where such things are verboten to children who are forced to endure almost constant supervision and organization by both parents and a bureaucracy that would make the Prussian Army seem pale in comparison.

It probably won't happen, but Molly would like to be able to live long enough to see the present set of do-gooders and controllers made to answer for their crimes in the same way that the child-devouring priests, nuns and ministers who administered residential schools have been made to do. Is there a reason why childhood suicide is increasing ? The concept of "iatrogenic disease"-doctor (or medical system) caused disease is well known in real medicine. The primitive state of the minds of those who believe that they have a right to "correct" behavioral rather than physical "problems" is more than evident in the delusion that they share that their efforts can never do any harm. The thuggish Christian missionaries of days past have been replaced by a new set of equally self-righteous and ignorant controllers today, at least, or more so, convinced of their essential good and inability to do harm.

Molly doesn't doubt that some of the "alternatives" proposed by seemingly well meaning people to the "commercial invasion of childhood" are at least equally malevolent as the mind control exercised by the media. Still, that doesn't negate the fact that allowing children to be trained in passive consumption is not a good idea. The real goal is to find a way between two equally undesirable alternatives. If you want an historical analogy, in the 30 years war it was entirely possible that neither the Catholics nor the Protestants were right, decent and all-over clean. Both sides were pretty well filthy bastards in an all around way. That is easy to see 400 years later. Today the same sort of scepticism should be applied to not just a "problem" but also to the proposed ways to correct it.

HOLIDAYS:

BUY NOTHING CHRISTMAS:

For a few years running now there has been a group that has organized a 'Buy Nothing Christmas'. Buy Nothing Christmas. Org was originally started as a project of local Mennonites, publishers of the "street Christian' magazine 'Geez', here in Winnipeg who were disturbed by the commercialism and consumerism of the Christmas season today. Their site contains great rants about the consumerism of this season and links to alternatives for those who want to avoid the annual pillage and celebrate a more wholesome holiday season. Last year the group went from mall to mall here in town singing "anti-Christmas carols" calling for a non-consumption Christmas. So far their website hasn't announced their plans for this year, but stay tuned as Molly will report them s they come up. The site gives the words to a number of alternative versions for traditional carols. Go there to see the full list. Here's one from the menu:

God rest Ye Merry Gentlemen:

Slow down ye frantic shoppers for there's something we must say

If you would spare a moment all the stores would go away

Big business has been telling us what Christmas means today.

Now it's time we decided for ourselves, for ourselves

Yes it's time we decided for ourselves.

To some folks Christmas means a time for gathering with friends

And enemies might take it as a time to make amends

But TV says its time for pricey gifts and selfish ends.

Now it's time we decided for ourselves, for ourselves

Yes it's time we decided for ourselves.

Some people feel that Christmas is when Jesus makes a call

For others it's a time to stress good will and peace to all

But advertisers tell us it means that Santa's at the mall.

Now it's time we decided for ourselves, for ourselves

Yes its time we decided for ourselves.

TORONTO/OCAP

OCAP MASS PANHANDLE OF 'THE PATH':

Christmas is coming round once again, and the merry tunes of cash registers is heard in the land. This once a year celebration of false generosity has too little effect on the 365 days a year life of people who live in poverty in our society. The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) is preparing to make a vivid demonstration of the reality of this poverty and the government assaults against the poor. On Wednesday, December 12th they are organizing a "mass panhandle" in the underground Toronto shopping temple (I mean "mall") called 'The Path'. This is their statement:

The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) is preparing to mobilize homeless people and their supporters to come down into the showpiece underground PATH system for a mass panhandle. We want to make clear why we are carrying out this action and what users of the PATH can expect from us.

Huge cuts to social programs and a desperate lack of affordable housing have fueled a crisis of homelessness in Toronto. Instead of meeting the needs of the homeless, those ion power are looking to drive them out. Hostels have been closed and people forced into the streets to beg. Then police are used to harass and criminalize people trying to survive.

It is the developers, the major merchants and suchlike who press for a policy of sweeping homeless people under the rug. They don't want their money-making to be interrupted by desperate people seeking the basic necessities of life. OCAP is organizing to stand up to this process of harassment. We are bringing homeless people and those who support them to panhandle in the very heart of the commercial showpiece they seek to drive people from.

No doubt, attempts will be made to portray our mass panhandle as something people should feel threatened by. We want to make it clear that our anger at the injustice homeless people face is not directed at ordinary people eating or shopping in the PATH. We will ask you for some change if you wish to give it and we will ask for your support and understanding of the situation facing the homeless.

Our mass panhandle is about people under attack demanding their rights. We hope that you will agree with the stand we are taking and that we will have your support and solidarity when we visit the PATH.

If you or your group want to participate in this action please contact OCAP at 416-925-6939. Check our website frequently for updates including information on finding your way around the PATH system and more ways to get involved.