CANADIAN POLITICS:

ACTIVISTS DISRUPT "HAPPY TIME" CRUISE AT VANCOUVER PNWER SUMMIT:

Last Wednesday, July 23, a coalition of activist groups succeeded in preventing a "fun time" cruise on the part of delegates to a PNWER summit in the city of Vancouver. PNWER, for those who might be unaware of what it is-as Molly was until this news item- is a coordinating group comprising both large corporations and governments in the Pacific North West area. See the following article for more details.

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Canada, Vancouver, Action Blocks PNWER Summit Boat Tour!*

No Smooth Sailing for PNWER Elites:

Marina Entrance Blocked by Activists

A group of activists blocked access to the Westin Bayshore marina on Wednesday July 23 to protest the Pacific NorthWest Economic Region (PNWER) summit. In doing so, they prevented PNWER delegates from boarding a 190-person luxury boat tour of the Vancouver harbour. Approximately 10 people stood with a banner reading People Not Profit! and prevented access to the luxury yacht though the public boardwalk.

---- Police arrived - surprisingly a bit late although the Westin Bayshore already had a relatively strong police and security presence - and threatened arrests, however given the tight time frame that the PNWER delegates were on, the luxury boat tour was cancelled and the PNWER delegates were forced to retreat after about 20 minutes!

The delegates who were forced to wait during that time on the boardwalk grew increasingly aggressive, with several assaults including shoving,punching, pulling, and grabbing of those blockading the door. One person even lunged a knife through the banner- supposedly to cut through the banner- but aimed into and through the banner towards those behind it. When being challenged about perpetuating systemic violence on poor,marginalized, and oppressed peoples, some delegates were unabashed with three of them joking about how "yes, indeed we quite enjoy having the power to screw people over".

Given the visible presence of a majority of racialized activists, many delegates commented and questioned "Where are you from? Were you born here? You're not Canadian. Go back home" etc, overtly revealing the deep racism and ignorance of the PNWER delegates and also of the ways in which people of colour are readily cast as threatening Outsiders especially during moments of defiance and resistance.

Most of the passerby's, however, were quite supportive of the action. Although PNWER delegates were trying to dissuade those passing by from listening to or getting information about the action by making classist jokes about "professional protesters without jobs", an overwhelming number of those walking by stayed to talk to and hear about opposition to PNWER, especially given the veil of secrecy surrounding PNWER decision making in light of the significant policy impacts it has from the 2010 Olympics to oil and gas mining. When PNWER delegates attempted to lie to police about assaults on them, two witnesses immediately corrected this information by telling police that it was in fact the PNWER delegates who were dangerously threatening the blockaders.

Although not a major victory, the action was definitely a small and significant victory in creating inconvenience, distress, and powerlessness for those government and corporate elite who have kept their doors closed to us. It is time we close some doors on them.

This action was second in a series of actions targeting the PNWER Summit: on Sunday July 20th a boisterous rally of 40-60 people gathered at the Westin Bayshore Hotel to protest and effectively disrupt the opening reception of the PNWER Summit. Despite heavy police and security presence around the front perimeter of the hotel, the march moved around the hotel's east side. Although separated by the hotel metal fence and dozens of police officers, the cozy corporate outdoor dinner reception was completely disrupted with chanting and the banging of pots and pans.Within one hour, the entire outdoor poolside reception was vacated and pizza deliveries were seen arriving by the end of the rally!

The past four days have seen incredibly effective resistance in not only raising public awareness about PNWER but also inconveniencing and disrupting the PNWER agenda. The PNWER summit is an example of a classic pattern, allowing corporate and political elites to talk about border security, oil and gas mining, natural resource extraction, and the 2010 Olympics in an incredibly secretive manner with absolutely no public input especially from those who will be most affected by these policies.

Agreements like PNWER have real and profound impacts on our society: furthering an agenda of corporate free trade, border militarization,privatization of indigenous land and resources, ecological destruction,repression in the name of national security, impoverishment, and sanctioning occupations.

In the face of such devastating violence, it becomes impossible to remain silent or polite. These few days of action were simply one manifestation of a larger ongoing movement and we continue to be inspired by actions locally and globally that raise awareness about, reject, protest,creatively resist and disrupt this system of colonial and capitalist pillage.

* Text of the Leaflet "Why We Oppose the PNWER Summit" is below and also at:http://noii-van.resist.ca/?p=822*

The march on Sunday was organized and supported by No One Is Illegal, La Surda Latin American Collective, Council of Canadians BC/Yukon Office,Anti Poverty Committee, Olympics Resistance Network, Komagatamaru Heritage Foundation, Canadian Arab Federation, Siraat Collective, Latin America Connexions Collective, Building Bridges Human Rights Project- Vancouver,Stopwar.ca, International Iranian Federation of Refugees, Siraat Collective, Cafe Rebelde Coordinating Committee, Bolivia Solidarity Committee, Vancouver Socialist Forum, Vancouver and District LabourCouncil (VDLC), CUPE Local 1004, Grassroots Women.

* Mainstream Media Coverage of both actions:

1) Canadian Press:http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jdOCaGR9cfsAF27_Py7qB9TCTY1A

2) Vancouver Sun:http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=5fce2c96-cc45-4b90-8a2f-3fc9b5c413fe

3) CKNW:http://www.cknw.com/Channels/Reg/NewsLocal/Story.aspx?ID=1018123

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Text of the Leaflet:

Why We Oppose the Pacific Northwest Economic Region Summit

Members of the Pacific North West Economic Region (PNWER) are meeting at their annual summit in Vancouver. This cross-border trade and security organization brings together large corporations with North West states, provinces, territories in U.S. and Canada. PNWER describes itself as “a statutory public/private partnership..” In the words of Minister Stockwell Day, “[PNWER] has had a profound impact on policy making.” According to PNWER, it serves as a “cross-border forum for unfiltered dialogue that capitalizes upon the synergies between business leaders and elected officials.”

Despite the importance of PNWER, few people even now about this organization as it has quietly escaped significant public scrutiny. Increasingly agreements such as PNWER, Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), and Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement (TILMA) are being discussed and negotiated in a veil of secrecy despite having real and profound impacts on our society: furthering an agenda of corporate free trade, border militarization, privatization of indigenous land and resources, ecological destruction, repression in the name of national security, impoverishment, and cooperation in war.

Not everyone is left out of these cozy meetings- corporate participation in PNWER is strong. High level sponsors include BP, Teck Cominco, Conoco Philips, Terasen Gas, Merk Frosst, ExxonMobil, Plutonic Power, the Business Council of BC, and Trans Canada Pipelines. In fact, the ongoing governance of PNWER is overseen by a “Private Sector Board” of major corporations.

PNWER, Security and Prosperity Partnership, Alberta Tar Sands, and Olympics: What is the connection?

In the next few years, BC will be at centre of a commercial and resource boom, with unprecedented expansion in: the tourist, real estate, and recreational sector leading to the 2010 Olympics; pilot projects for border surveillance and US-Canadian military training cooperation under the SPP; mineral and gas mining in the interior and North; resource extraction and privatization including water and forestry products; and infrastructure development for resource transportation including BC-Alberta tarsands pipelines.

PNWER is closely linked with the Security and Prosperity Partnership – the NAFTA plus Homeland Security model- being pushed by the government and corporate leaders of Canada, Mexico and USA.

The SPP combines the destructive neo-liberal policies of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) of resource extraction, corporate tax breaks, privatization measures, and weakening of labour standards with the fear and paranoia of post 9-11 “Homeland Security” policies that has resulted in immigrant raids, border militarization, foreign troop occupations, and repression of civil liberties.

In brief, the SPP calls for maximization of North American economic competitiveness in the face of growing exports from India and China; expedited means of resource (oil, natural gas, water, forest products) extraction; secure borders against “organized crime, international terrorism, and illegal migration”; standardized regulatory regimes for health, food safety, and the environment; integrated energy supply through a comprehensive resource and energy security pact (primarily about ensuring that the US receives guaranteed flows of oil particularly from the Alberta tar sands in; and coordination amongst defence forces.

The 2008 PNWER Summit agenda focuses on three critical issues:

• The 2010 Winter Olympics which is already having devastating impacts: expansion of sport tourism on indigenous lands; corporate subsidies from tax-payer money; unbridled real estate speculation; homelessness and gentrification of poor neighbourhoods; increasing privatization of public services; union-busting through imposed contracts; exploitative conditions for workers especially temporary migrant labour; the fortification of a security apparatus estimated at $175 million; and destruction of mountains, old growth forests, streams, hunting and fishing grounds, and delicate ecosystems.

• Planning for fundamental energy issues like the tar sands, private electricity, ocean energy, and biofuels. The Alberta tar sands (“oil sands”) are already the largest contributor to Canada’s increase in greenhouse gas emissions and environmental organizations are calling for a moratorium on growth of the mines. Yet PNWER and the SPP aim to increase tar sands production by five-fold to 3 million barrels a day by 2015. Companies exploiting the tar sands are calling for the expansion of the temporary foreign worker program to secure exploitable labour that will ensure higher profits, while surrounding indigenous communities have documented incredibly high cancer rates and irreversible damage to the land.

• Under the heading of “homeland security,” PNWER will review cross-border information sharing, border security, and cross-border trade. PNWER aims to ease travel for business, while making the border more difficult for most people, particularly increasing border harassment against migrants and refugees. Despite the rhetoric of making ‘us more safe’, the expansion of security initiatives and infrastructure comes with little security for our society; instead creating greater insecurity for immigrants, refugees, and people of colour, while reaping great profits for the private sector.

Within this context PNWER will reinforce the idea of “Fortress North America”, whereby the rich and privileged live in gated, gentrified, and militarized communities with easy movement for capital between borders. For the rest, there are border fences, reserves, ghettos, low-wage work, surveillance, and empty rhetoric about democracy and human rights.

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* NOII-van is an antiauthoritarian anticapitalist initiative

Molly Note: activists from this coalition are continuing educational work, and this coming Thursday, July 31, they will be holding an informational at the McGill Branch- Burnaby Public Library (4595 Albert St, Burnaby BC) on the subject of the tar sands and its connection to BC. For more details see tarsandsfreebc@gmail.ocm or call 778-522-2099.

INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-RUSSIA:

APPEAL FOR THE KROPOTKIN MUSEUM:

The following appeal is taken from the Centrum Informacji Anarchistycznej, a Polish anarchist news site. The following has been slightly edited for reasons of English grammar.

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An appeal for Kropotkin museum in Dmitrov, Russia

Dear friends and comrades!

Currently a number of anarchists are attempting to win the opening of a house-museum of Kropotkin in city of Dmitrov in the Moscow region of Russia.

This is where Pyotr Alekseevich Kropotkin lived the last years of his life and died in 1921. A museum existed here until the year 1942. At the time of Perestroika the authorities of Dmitrov promised to open the museum again, and in 1992, on the event of the 150th jubilee of Kropotkin, authorities freed up the house where Kropotkin lived. Between 2004 and 2007 it was widely announced that museum would soon open, and a memorial statue was set up in Dmitrov. Local (now deceased) amateur geographer R.F.Khohlov collected exhibits for the museum.

Right now another enthusiast and researcher is working on museum, Jan L'vovich Prusskiy, but he has limited opportunities to push forward.Already for 15 years the opening of the museum has again and again been delayed. Now we believe that local authorities are consciously slowing down the process, as they are considering Kropotkin as a politically dubious figure.

The original house of Kropotkin was dilapidated and got torn down. A project to reconstruct it was launched, and a new identical house is already partially built, but as construction is not finished it is now dilapidating.

Unfortunately, we may not found museum on our own - for this we would need a huge treasury. Also, the exhibition collected by Khohlov is state property. This is why we are attempting to put some pressure on local authorities to have them to finish the construction. We are ready for a political protest campaign, but we decided to start with a letter writing campaign, in order to show that there is a big interest in Kropotkin all around the world.

On the 4th of September 2008 the Museum and nature protection area "Kremlin of Dmitrov" (part of which is the house-museum of Kropotkin) is having a jubilee. P.A. Kropotkin was among founders of the museum in 1918, and we want to draw attention that in this time of jubilee it is even more unjust to delay opening of the house-museum of this outstanding person.

We ask you to send letters addressed to the administration of Dmitrov, where you show interest as to the fate of the museum and when it will be opened. Letters are likely to have more effect the more formal they look - so if you have an opportunity to use a letterhead of some official institution, where you may work as a researcher, journalist, activist etc., do it. Note your profession in the letter.
We are happy to answer to any additional questions you may have.
Thank you for your support!
In solidarity,

Olga in behalf of the initiative group.
E-mail for questions: taoom at riseup dot net taoom@riseup.net

An example letter (better to write in your own words, and also to add what is your relation to Kropotkin, about research you may be conducting etc.).
To head of Dmitrov region

Valeri Vasil'evich Gavrilov
Dear Valeri Vasil'evich!

The name of Pyotr Alekseevich Kropotkin - scholar, outstanding revolutionary, great humanist, one of the main theorists of anarchism and remarkable traveler, is widely known all around the world. Researcher of the ice age, discoverer of many areas, historian who wrote one of the best books on the French revolution, thinker who formulated the famous sociobiological law on mutual aid as a factor of evolution and literary researcher - Kropotkin is enjoying deserved attention and respect in many countries.

The huge and stable interest in the personality, life and ideas of Kropotkin is proven by the fact that many books of his are still regularly republished in many countries of the world, historians and philosophers are still studying his heritage and works. International scientific seminars, dedicated to P.A. Kropotkin are regularly organized.

We are worried, that already for many years opening of house-museum of this thinker, who is known worldwide, is delayed, although the staff of Dmitrov museum has gathered a substantial exhibition. On the 4th of September 2008 the museum "Kremlin of Dmitrov" is celebrating its 90th birthday. As we know, P.A. Kropotkin was one of the founders of the museum, so this is yet another reason not to further delay opening of the house-museum of this great person.

From our part, we are ready to cooperate and to do everything which depends on us, to make the opening as soon as possible. We are writing to you with a request to inform us about the state of affairs regarding to preparation of the opening of the museum.

Date Signature (with profession and status)

Return address for answer

If you like to, you may address another letter to director of museum and nature protection area "Kremlin of Dmitrov" Anna Sadovoy.

Please send letters to P.O. Box 13 109028 Moscow Russia, and we will pass them forward to the aforementioned authorities.
In case you do not speak Russian, we will attempt to translate your letters. In case you do, below is an example letter in Russian which you may use (in case you got letters in unreadable encoding, write to contact e-mail above).
Главе Дмитровского районаГаврилову Валерию Васильевичу
Уважаемый Валерий Васильевич!Имя Петра Алексеевича Кропоткина - ученого-энциклопедиста, выдающегосяреволюционера, великого гуманиста, одного из главных теоретиков анархизма, замечательного путешественника - широко известно во всеммире. Исследователь ледникового периода, первооткрыватель многих земель, историк, написавший одну из лучших книг о Великой Французской революции, мыслитель, сформулировавший знаменитый биосоциологический закон взаимопомощи как фактора эволюции, этик, литературовед - Кропоткин пользуется заслуженным вниманием и уважением во многих странах.Об огромном интересе к личности, жизни и идеям Кропоткина говорят такие факты как то, что его книги до сих пор регулярно переиздаются во многих странах мира, историки и философы продолжают изучать его наследие и также печатают свои труды. Регулярно проходят международные научные конференции, посвященные П.А.Кропоткину.Мы обеспокоены, что уже много лет не происходит открытие дома-музея всемирно известного мыслителя Петра Алексеевича Кропоткина, несмотря на то, что сотрудниками Дмитровского музея собрана значительная экспозиция. 4 сентября 2008 года музей «Дмировский кремль» отмечает свое 90-летие.
Как известно, П.А.Кропоткин был одним из основателей этого музея, и тем более несправедливо далее откладывать открытие дома-музея этого выдающегося человека.Мы готовы, со своей стороны, оказать содействие и сделать все, зависящее от нас, чтобы это событие произошло как можно скорее. Обращаемся к Вам с просьбой сообщить о состоянии дел с подготовкой музея к открытию.Адрес для ответа: …
Дата …
Подпись с указанием должности или статуса…

PERSONAL:

MOLLY CELEBRATES THE GREAT 50,000:

As I have promised before, I stop and think at the 50,000 page views at Molly's Blog. The "visits" are now approaching 29,000, while the page views are now much more than the requisite 50,000. What does this mean ? It means that I have at least been doing a little bit right on this blog. People actually drop by here to the tune of tens of thousands. I see little reason to change the major "set-up" of this blog. Molly's Blog has always been a conglomeration of many things. It is a "news source" for anarchist events in Canada, something that no other anarchist site in Canada has undertaken. Too bad ,because I am sure that a concentration on this one thing could produce better results than I can, especially in terms of translation between French and English. Molly has done such translations before and will continue to do such things in the future. But,as I have said before on this blog, I am not the greatest bilingual person in the world. My translations from the French may contain serious errors, let alone my translations from Spanish. But these are Molly's languages for better or worse.

My links now include both "Liens en Français"and also Enlaces en Español. This folows my own knowledge of other languages ie French and Spanish. This leads into what I have to do in the near future.The French and Spanish sections of this blog have been establised. In the future I will go beyond this classification and subdivide some of the links sections that are getting too large and unwieldy.

Since I went to a (more or less) digest formula starting from the New Year of 2008 the visits to this blog have increased considerably, even if they can't match the visits of last August when there was both the Perseid meteor shower and an eclipse of the Moon. This is very much a pattern. Most of the people who drop by here at Molly's Blog drop by for reasons unconnected to anarchism. This is not wrong but it should serve as a "notice" to the anarchist comrades who are entranced by the idea of "revolution". A meteor shower is much more interesting to the average person than "social evolution/revolution" is. That is the reality of life.

All that being said I am extremely glad to be closing in on my 30,000 visit and my 51,000 page view. I guess, as a small and tiny blog situated in the far corners of the universe-Winnipeg- that I haven't done too bad. This is my party for now. The next one will be at the 50,000 visit mark.

Does Molly's Blog have an effect ? I actually don't know. If it has had no effect over the years that it has existed then maybe it is time to shut it down, or revert the blog to making statements about astronomy and evolutionary biology. Not too bad from my point of view. BUT I still believe that this format can have an effect because of the great "sign-up" of the internet today. Life and experience will prove me right or wrong. Such is the internet;

Molly in her uncertainty.-July 2008.

PEOPLE/CANADIAN LABOUR:

HE CARED FOR EVERYONE:

Here's another news story about the death of Andrew James of Stony Mountain, buried beneath a load of asphalt. The open question of the employment of underage workers at such dangerous sites is still an "open question", despite the obvious violation of Manitoba's labour laws. Most workers who are killed in Canada are young workers who are unaware of the dangers at their workplace. There are child labour laws for a reason, even if they are not enforced enough.

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He cared for everyone
Young worker mourned:
By ROB NAY, SUN MEDIA
Tributes began flowing yesterday for a 15-year-old boy who died in Stony Mountain after being buried under hot asphalt while at work Friday morning.

Early yesterday evening, approximately 125 people had joined a tribute page dedicated to Andrew James on Facebook, a social networking website(I've been trying to findthe site, and I'll post it as soon as possibler-Molly).

"I love you baby brother. I will see you again one day," wrote his sister, Sabrina Ellison.
Firefighters, RCMP and bystanders raced to free James after he was buried in asphalt. Crews shovelled frantically to try to free the Stony Mountain teen, with some suffering burns from the asphalt, but James died at the scene.

"He cared for everyone and was always there to lend a hand for anyone," wrote Brittany Sulyma on the Facebook group.

Elsewhere, people wrote of the teen's strong work ethic and his ability to make people laugh. The page mentioned how James "loved the outdoors, especially camping with his papa."
"You touched many lives, worked hard, and were a friend to many," wrote aunt Kim Ellison. "We love you Andrew, and will miss you."

Many expressed their sympathy for James' family, left to mourn after the sudden passing of the teen.

"To all of those who were closest to Andrew, hold tight to your memories, the good and the bad. It is the best way to honour his short life," wrote Michelle Rossnagel.

Family and friends shared their memories of the teen on the website, while photos showed him playing soccer and snowmobiling.

"I can still picture him on his first day of kindergarten on his bike that he was already very awesome at riding," wrote Tina Campbell.

James had been working for a paving company doing road repairs before his death on Friday, said RCMP.

Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health and RCMP are investigating the incident.

According to provincial guidelines, employees younger than 16 are not allowed to work at construction sites.

INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-BRAZIL:

SOLIDARITY WITH THE MST:

The 'Movimento Sem Terra' (SEM/MST), longer title 'Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra', has recently been "outlawed" in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, the same state that holds the social democratic perversion of "participatory exploitation" in the city of Porto Allegre. One may justly blame a conservative state government for the prosecution that led to this ban, but the federal government of the Partido Dos Trabalhadores (PT- the 'Workers' -Party') did little (nothing ?) to block this move on the part of one Brazilian state. Can one suggest that this inaction is because the direct action tactics of the MST are in direct contrast and often conflict with the goals of the ruling social democratic elite in Brazil ? The government headed by "Lula" was once heralded as a "great hope" by various leftists, including, unfortunately far too many "anarchists", across the world as great and shining hope. Over the past few years this government has had ample time to show its true colours, and indeed it has. What response do the leftists have ? Forgetfulness, as they move on to the latest shining city over the hill. Presently this is Venezuela, where the possession of great amounts of oil gives a latitude to leftism in power that other countries such as Brazil don't have. Despite this advantage the leftists in power in Venezuela piss it all away on grand rhetoric while simultaneously destroying grassroots projects by infiltrating them so as to convert them into organs of the state-and the new bureaucratic ruling class.

The same has has happened in Brazil in the past few years, but without the benefit of the "funny money" accorded by massive petroleum deposits. Brazil is an economic powerhouse, occupying half of South America (the fifth largest country in the world) and more than half of its population. But, despite its many resources, it lacks the oil that allows clowning around on the part of somebody like Chavez in Venezuela. The movements of the lower classes in Brazil, such as the MST, are much more created at the base than the often Potemkin Village efforts in Venezuela, and they are also more powerful because of that very fact. The Brazilian social movements are much more powerful than those in other Latin American countries simply and plainly because they haven't been converted into state organs- despite the influence of statist parties within them.

The following is an article from the A-Infos werbsite, coming originally from the Federaçao Anarquista Gaucha, a Brazilian "especifista"(somewhat but not totally equivalent to platformist groups elsewhere in the world) group . Molly has refrained fom making her usual editing changes in the article below because she cannot refer to the Portuguese original for direction.

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Brazil, Federação Anarquista Gaúcha (FAG) - Libertarian Solidarity with the MST:

Below is a statement by the Federação Anarquista Gaúcha in Brazil, in which it says that a ruling was made declaring the MST must be dissolved.

---- The report divulged in the last days, approved by the advice of the State Public Ministry made a sentence of the ruling class: the MST must be dissolved. The Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST - Movement of the Landless Agricultural Workers) was made target of a policy of criminalisation of poverty and of the social movements that is being led in the state of the Rio Grande do Sul. It is a policy of the police State, where executive government, devices of justice, media groups, transnational and latifundium corporations, concur with the police force fulfilling and make the law of the commander of the military brigade.

The association of transnational capital with the latifundia made the aggressive formula of the agro-business that concentrates, in the national scenario, the lands that are expropriated from the agrarian reform. The bio-combustibles, genetically modified soy and cellulose are the shop window of the monoculture that pulls the workers out of the fields and sends them to urban misery. Agro-business is able to be deeply articulated with politics, is a financier of electoral campaigns without partisan discrimination, is mounted in the expedients of the Lula government together with the oligarchies and the financial system, and is the privileged place to which the credits of the Bank of Development (BNDES) go. The neoliberal doctrine of the central administration of the Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT - Workers' Party) is surely a factor of the “economic growth”. In the state of RS, for the cellulose corporations, this power made donations to the adversary candidates Yeda Crusius of the PSDB and Olívio Dutra of the PT. With the resolved election campaign, it knocked down controls for the culture of exotic plants and finished eliminating, in the course of this year, with the environmental zoning to have pumps and to drink the guarana water.

As an organised expression of the peasants expelled from the land, the MST sought to change the profile of class struggle in the fields. The latifundium strengthened itself with transnational capital, planted eucalyptus, pinus and other species for cellulose production. It took the discourse of development where it only had idle property, masqueraded social function for extensive production that causes environmental damage and does not give anything to the people to eat or to be empowered with the great modes of communication. The resistance to these new formations of the dominant power was stronger, as it could not leave it to be. The tactics of working class struggle had made more of an offensive, leading to scenes where the enemies of agrarian reform play with more force and new techniques.

Elements of politics and ideology for the left also weigh in the arena where the MST acts: the project of reformist intention that polarized the social forces of change for the PT, when taken for the government of the republic revealed itself a tremendous failure. Integrated as the leading elite in the neoliberal guidelines of the power structure, it dragged the syndical movement organized in the CUT and all its social camp to bureaucratization and class collaboration. The MST saw itself isolated as method of direct action of the masses, as a combative proposal for social struggle, and lost to the dominant system its referring of the political project.

The state of Rio Grande Do Sul passed through a special conjuncture. It has a government corrupt until the highest level, directed by a weak party that accommodates the political groups of the oligarchy dividing state agencies as it orders the modus operanti of bourgeois politics in a liberal democratic regime. An economic policy line in the World Bank to make fiscal adjustment with privatizations, dismantling of the public services and to pay the expansion of the transnationals. An ultraconservative discourse circulating in the society by the force of the media groups and the emergence of the police forces in the social-political scene as normative institution. As regional institution of the power it has the character of a police State.

It is a state that diminishes the spaces of public freedom, inside of its crisis of representation and makes more ostensive violence as recourse of politics on the behavior of the poverty excluded from the government agenda. As discourse it has social reproduction for the always eminent figure of delinquency, the disturbance and the violation of property.

The MST, as the social movement most expressive of the struggles of the working class in this state, is the target of a plot of the institutional and economic powers to break the popular resistance to the oppressive model that is imposed by the Gaúcha elites and the transnationals. Police infiltrations, violence on encampments and mobilisations for agrarian reform, judicial actions that criminalise the movement, according to the report published in the press, are the concretions of a confessed proposal to taint it in illegality in order dissolve it. To destroy this that has been a brave organisation in the defense of the interests of the working class, that has made the path of social justice, skinned with their own hands the dignity of the poor expelled from the field.

Our modest militant force is solidary. The MST and the struggle without truces for agrarian reform is a cause of all that fight for a new world without asking for it. To reorganise classist unionism from the base, to give expression to the struggle of the poor people of the city and to empower the voice of the communities without asking for license are the tasks of the hour, of these difficult times, where the best solidarity is made fighting.

NO SOCIAL STRUGGLE WITHOUT SOLIDARITY!

AWAY WITH YEDA/FEIJÓ AND THE WORLD BANK!

STRUGGLE AND CREATE POPULAR POWER!

GAÚCHA ANARCHIST FEDERATION - FAG

FORUM OF ORGANISED ANARCHISM - FAO

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And here is the appeal for solidarity from the English language site Friends of the MST. This sort of thing makes Molly regret that her familiarity with "world languages" is restricted to French and Spanish. Portuguese is very much a world language if you look at the population of Brazil.

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TAKE ACTION NOW!!

- Send Letters Decrying Public Ministry Plans to “dissolve” the MST
The MST needs your support to stop a campaign to criminalize all social movement activity in Rio Grande do Sul.

In late June, the MST presented a document to the public that proves a strategy on the part of the Rio Grande do Sul State Public Ministry to “dissolve” the MST. The document outlines a meeting, on December 3, 2007, during which the State Public Ministry decided to outlaw any mobilization of landless workers, including marches and walks, to intervene in settlement schools, to criminalize leaders and members and to “deactivate” all the encampments in Rio Grande do Sul.

Please read below for additional details and instructions for the letter writing campaign to prevent action by the State Public Ministry of Rio Grande do Sul.

The decisions of the State Public Ministry are already being put into practice. Recently two encampments, located in areas that had been ceded, were evicted and the Nueva Santa Rita encampment in a settlement area was surrounded, with the families legally prevented from entering or leaving the encampment. The position of the Public Ministry agrees with increasing the use of violence by the Military Police against mobilizations of any social movement, such as that on June 11, when dozens of people were hit by rubber bullets and clubs. A farmer suffered an internal hemorrhage as a result of the attacks and remained hospitalized for a week.

According to the lawyer Leandro Scalabrin, who made the accusation, the decision of the Public Ministry violates the International Treaty on Civil and Political Rights, in particular article 22, item 1. This treaty was recognized by the Brazilian government through Decree nº 592, on July 6, 1992. It also violates the Federal Constitution, article 5, paragraph XVII, which says “freedom of association for legal purposes is total, that of a paramilitary character is forbidden.”

The report itself contradicts the statements of the Prosecutors: an investigation of the Federal Police, carried out between January and August last year, verified that there is “no connection between the FARC in that location” and concludes that “no crime against state security exists”.

The discovery of the contents of this document verifies that Rio Grande do Sul is today the scene of a strategy by the executive and judicial powers to threaten and eradicate the freedoms that were won when the military dictatorship ended. The content of the documents and the practice of these institutions represents a return to authoritarianism, to disrespect for civil society political and social plurality.

These powers are financed by those who constitute real threats to national security: businesses such as Stora Enso (Swedish-Finnish), a donor to the electoral campaign of the governor, which acquires lands illegally in the border area, violating Brazilian law with the consent of the executive and judicial powers.
State Coordination – MST-RS

Please send the following message, with a copy to dhmst@uol.com.br, info@mstbrazil.org, and imprensa@mst.org.br

Send to:

Señora Yeda Crusius, M.D. Governor of the State of Rio Grande do Sul

governadora@gg.rs.gov.br
C/C General Solicitor Dr. Mauro Renner

pgj@mp.rs.gov.br

THE LETTER:
We condemn the initiative of the Superior Council of Public Ministry of the State of Rio Grande do Sul

[Name of organization or Individual Name], asks you to firmly condemn the initiative of the General Staff of the Military Brigade of Rio Grande do Sul and the initiative of the Superior Council of the Public Ministry of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, and the initiative of the Federal Public Ministry.

On September 20, 2007 while acting as General Subcommander of the Military Brigade Cel. . QOEM – Paulo Roberto Mendes Rodrigues, sent report no. 1124-100-PM2-2007 to the General Commander of the Military Brigade suggesting that all possible actions be taken to impede the three columns of the MST that were walking toward Coqueiros do Sul, if they were found.The report contained a secret investigation about the MST, its leaders, the number of members and its activities in Rio Grande do Sul. The report was sent to the Public Ministry of the State of Rio Grande do Sul and to the Federal Public Ministry.

In the report, the military force of Rio Grande do Sul characterizes the MST and La Via Campesina as movements that were no longer carrying out actions to highlight their social demands but were organizing actions that could be characterized as criminal.

The conclusion of the report condemns “the view that holds that actions carried out for social movements should not be condemned as crimes but rather as a legitimate means of protesting.”The report was also directed to the regional deputies, mayors, members of INCRA and certain other agencies.

As a result of this action by the Military Brigade, the State Public Ministry intervened with an action preventing the MST marches from entering the four towns of the district of Carazinho in Rio Grande do Sul and various legal motions were passed to try to remove the children from the families who were demonstrating.

The initiatives of the Military Brigade were unprecedented in Brazil since the end of the military dictatorship because they are contrary to the Federal Constitution of 1988 that forbids the military police from acting in legal investigations of social movements and political parties. Article 144 of the Federal Constitution establishes that military police are responsible for the preservation of public order. The Military Brigade assumed the role of the civil police and the Federal police.On December 3, 2007, the Superior Council of the Public Ministry approved the report that was elaborated by the prosecutor Gilberto Thums (process nº 16315-09-00/07-9) referring to the administrative process applied by Decree 01/2007.

The group of investigators had a goal of seeking information about the MST.

The final report of the group of investigators needs to be rejected by all of society. One of the decisions made by the Public Ministry was along the lines of “(...) designating a team of Prosecutors to promote a public civil action with a view toward the dissolution of the MST and the declaration of its illegality(...)”.

As if the intention of declaring the MST illegal were not enough, the Public Ministry decided “(...) to intervene in the MST schools with a goal of taking measures that will be necessary for retraining in legality, in reference to the pedagogic aspect and the structure of the external influence of the MST”.

The decision of the Public Ministry violates the International Treaty on Civil and Political Rights, especially article 22, nº 1. This treat was recognized by the Brazilian Government through Decree nº 592 of July 6, 1992.

On March 11, 2008, the Federal Public Ministry denounced eight supposed members of the MST for “joining groups that had as an objective the change of the effective order in Brazil”, the practice of crimes by political nonconformity, crimes spelled in the Law of National Security of the former Brazilian dictatorship, in making reference in its accusations of the MST encampments constituting a “parallel state” and that the actions against national security would be receiving support from foreign organizations such as La Via Campesina and the FARC, besides the foreigners would be in charge of military training.

The theses that constantly appear in the accusations were formulated by the owner of the Guerra Ranch, a member of the ranchers’ organization FARSUL in 2005, and ratified by the Colonel of the Military Brigade Valdir Cerutti Reis, a member of the Brazilian military dictatorship who infiltrated the Natalino encampment for a period of two years, using the alias Toninho. His work was to try to convince the families in the encampment to leave the movement and accept parcels of land offered by the military dictatorship in Lucas do Rio Verde, in Mato Grosso.

The action of the Federal Public Ministry is contrary to the conclusions of the legal investigation carried out by the Federal Police, which investigated the MST for the entire year of 2007 and concluded that there are no ties between the MST and the FARC nor are there any foreigners who are carrying out guerilla training in the movement’s encampments, nor have there been any crimes committed that threaten national security.

The MST is one of the most important social movements in our history, exactly because of its policy of non-violent struggle. Please accept our firm condemnation of the decision taken by the Superior Council of the Public Ministry, by the General Staff of the Military Brigade and by the decision of the Federal Public Ministry.

We state our strong support for the struggle of the MST.

AMATEUR ASTRONOMY:

THE PERSEIDS ARE COMING:

While often not the "best" meteor shower of the year the Perseids occur at a time of year-early August- that is comfortable (mosquitoes excluded) for viewing in Canada. This year the Perseids will peak on August 12th in the constellation Perseus, even though the rate of meteors has been increasing since July 17th. Stay tuned to Molly's Blog for more news about this astronomical event.

CANADIAN ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-OTTAWA:

ORGANIZING FOR JUSTICE:

The following is a call out for a fall conference in the Ottawa area.

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Canada, ORGANIZING FOR JUSTICE conference callout:

Common Cause issued a call-out for volunteers, organizers and participation in the process of making this Fall 2008 conference happen.

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Planning Meeting Wed Aug 6 at 7:00pm at Exile Infoshop.

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Print off the poster and display in a friendly location!

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Conference Callout Poster - 81K

http://ottawa.indymedia.org/media/2008/07//8090.pdf

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ORGANIZING FOR JUSTICE conference

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Social Justice, Economic Justice, Environmental Justice, and Healthy Communities.

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Organizing Meeting

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Wednesday August 6th, 7:00pm

Exile Infoshop,

256 Bank St. (2nd floor)

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Calling all radicals, anarchists and community organizers!

We are in the early stages of organizing a conference and community forum to be held in Ottawa this fall. The tentative date for the conference is Oct 24-26, 2008. The conference will feature workshops, panel discussions, and tables by community groups. It will be an opportunity for community members and those active in social justice and radical movements to network and learn from one another.

This conference represents the next step following the three Anarchist Assemblies held in 2007. We are hoping to build on the momentum and the successes of the Assemblies while becoming more inclusive in bringing in others involved in community development and organizing.

The aim of the conference is to:

- stimulate meaningful and effective involvement

- foster relationships

- raise consciousness

- create strategy and vision

- build stronger communities working for positive change

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Organizing a conference is hard work and we can't do it by ourselves! We are looking for organizers and volunteers to be involved in the following capacities:

- direction and coordination- fundraising

- venue booking

- outreach to groups / organizations

- outreach to speakers / presenters

- website development

- creation of promotional materials

- distribution of promotional materials

- online promotions

- media relations

We are also looking for people to help out at the time of the conference with:

- setup and support

- facilitation of discussions / workshops

- note-taking / reporting

- child care

- food provision

- materials

- billeting

And, we are looking for:

- support from organizations / groups

- ideas for workshop topics and presenters

Basis of Unity

The ORGANIZING FOR JUSTICE conference is a gathering of anti-authoritarian, anti-capitalist groups and individuals in the Ottawa-Gatineau area. The purpose of the conference is to build stronger anarchist and radical movements for justice by providing a forum for communication and networking.

We advocate mutual aid, direct democracy, autonomy, solidarity and decentralized grass-roots forms of organization.

We struggle against all forms of domination and oppression including, but not limited to racism, classism, ableism, heterosexism, ageism, sexism, transphobia, and religious intolerance. We reiterate our opposition to capitalism, corporatization, patriarchy, ecocide, imperialism and colonialism.

We support direct action and other forms of resistance in people's struggles against oppression.

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If you would like to help make this event a success, please come out to our next meeting:

Wednesday August 6th, 7:00pm, at Exile Infoshop, 256 Bank St. (2nd floor)

Or contact us directly: (613) 656-5498 / a_ottawa@mutualaid.org

Sincerely,

Common Cause Ottawa

- e-mail:: a_ottawa@mutualaid.org

CANADIAN ANARCHIST MOVEMENT:

INFILTRATION AND OTHER SINS:

The following is from the membership blogs section of Linchpin, the publication of the Ontario Common Cause group. See the end of this story for Molly's comments. This one should probably go into an article on the 'Why Anarchist Projects Fail' series.

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Youth and Supporters of Indigenous:

Beware of Cops in Sheep's Clothing:
Mohawk Nation News
MNN. July 20, 2008. Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Julian Fantino’s fascistic actions against Indigenous people are not new. His illegal dirty tricks to trap Mohawks and Shawn Brant in particular have been developed and practiced in cop training school. He’s following an old pattern. Really old. Cops are basically well-paid thugs. We’ve seen some of the police training videos. Police are trained to instigate violence.

Way back in the Winnipeg Workers(General-Molly) Strike in 1917 (1919-Molly)the police were found to be responsible for the violence. In relations with the Ongwehonwe, it is once again armed state forces, police or military that have caused violence and deaths time and time again. Remember the Mohawk Oka Crisis in Kanehsatake in 1990, Gustafsen Lake in B.C. in 1995, the killing of Dudley George at Ipperwash, and all of the recent confrontations at Six Nations and Tyendinaga! The violence on all occasions was started by the cops and their instigators.

We’re not the only ones targeted for abuse. The 1970 Quebec nationalist movement that wanted to create an independent socialist state was almost completely taken over by the RCMP. Many of the people in the movement were young idealistic students and professors. The police turned their movement into a violent crisis. British Trade Commissioner James Cross was kidnapped and Quebec Labor Minister Pierre Laporte was kidnapped and murdered.

Bombings were threatened. The FLQ was used to provide all the justification that war mongering individuals in the Canadian government needed to launch an All-out offensive. Pierre Trudeau, that sneaky “rat fink” who sold out integrity, instituted the War Measures Act authorizing extraordinary actions by the RCMP. Rule of law was suspended. The armed forces were deployed. Thousands of innocent youth and students were arrested and held without charges for weeks and months. The same kind of tactics are being used against Indigenous today.

Trudeau claimed this use of state force was necessary to protect Canada from the “scourge of terrorism”. There was no terrorism except the terrorism from within that was planned and orchestrated by the RCMP.

The MacDonald Commission of Inquiry into Certain Acts of the RCMP revealed that the FLQ was completely infiltrated by police agents from the very beginning. The 1981 report found police agents were responsible for planning and carrying out terrorist activities within the FLQ. The RCMP used paid agents and other Canadian and Quebec groups to spy on and discredit the youth and student movement. It is very likely that they are doing the same again.

The students who support the Ongwehonwe and human rights, freedom of speech, decency and fair play, are all extremely vulnerable. The so-called forces of law and order have a long history of infiltrating student and popular movements in order to create violence that will enhance the power of the police and military forces.

During the October Crisis the Commission described 11 different types of dubious or outright illegal operations that were carried out by the RCMP. These included:

RCMP agents made secret allegations against tens of thousands of Canadians and shared them with police in other countries including the U.S., India, Pakistan, Israel, Lebanon, Iran, Britain and Ireland. They’re still doing that. Remember Arar who was sent on an “extraordinary rendition” flight to be tortured.

RCMP stole membership lists from the Parti Quebecois and looked for people who could be recruited to be their agents.

RCMP burned barns in Quebec as part of training sessions for terrorist activities; they gave weapons, explosives and cash to members of the FLQ and trained them to use them.

Did the public learn anything? The cops have become more secretive. That’s when the Canadian Security Intelligence Service CSIS was formed. They have an “Indigenous sector” and they have classed Mohawks as terrorists and insurgents. This means that our rights have been taken away from us without trial or due process or even notice. Or maybe they have secretly declared war on us without the knowledge or consent of the Canadian people. We must always keep in mind how far these state funded “power freaks” will go to achieve their nefarious ends.

Molly Notes:

The use of agents provocateurs has a long and dishonourable history . The frequency with which they are used and the methods they employ vary from country to country and time to time. It should be noted that the author is obviously quite young and also much more concerned with indigenous rights than with anarchism- the article was first published, after all, in the Mohawk Nation news. That doesn't mean that it is wrong; it is generally correct. What it does mean is that the author both overstates his case and fails to report some of the more egregious examples. The police infiltration and attempts to provoke violence at the recent protests in Montebello for instance. Or perhaps the most prominent example, the Air India case, where numerous people have suspected the involvement of Indian security in setting up the tragedy. This pattern traces way back. Molly's favourite is the Ohkrana arranging the assassination of a government minister (no doubt a personal enemy of the person in charge of the Ohkrana at the time) in Tsarist Russia to help discredit the narodniks. Her second favourite is the shady relationship between Stalin, when he was an up and coming revolutionary, and the same Ohkrana . Was he an agent ? Yes and no. He wasn't paid by the government, but he was totally happy to arrange the arrest of his competitors within the Bolshevik Party who might be obstacles to his rise.

The latter case leads into the "overstating the case" part of this. There is little doubt that every radical movement will be infiltrated by the police at some point. They'd hardly be doing their job if they didn't. The statement that there was "no terrorism" during the FLQ crisis except that instigated by the RCMP is a gross overstatement. The RCMP were, indeed, complicit in some of the terrorist acts of that era, but they were innocent of most of them. It's quite simple actually. The acts were done to "establish credibility" amongst an already existing group of people who thought that terrorist tactics were a fine and good thing. I think that the balance of evidence suggests that the Canadian government did not want the turn to terrorism in the early 70s, but that they were simply following the sort of bureaucratic procedure that the above author alludes to. No doubt!!!!! the government of the day was very happy to use the ill advised acts of the FLQ of the time to advance its own interests, but it ascribes a superhuman capacity for planning, execution and subsequent cover-up to the RCMP of the day that simply isn't credible to say that they were the authors of the act.


Whether they "knew about it and let it go ahead anyways" is a totally separate matter. Radical groups in general (especially the deluded radicals of the early 70s) and anarchist groups in particular have more than enough nuts and aggressive people in their ranks to make it a waste of time for the agents of the state to try and build terrorist groups from the ground up. At best the agents often merely catch up to the nuts in their race to martyrdom. Just make sure that your "ears" are connected to such formations so you can keep track of them, and then let (human) nature take its course. Arrest them early if it is a simple police matter. Arrest them late if other goals can be achieved via their actions, whatever these others goals may be, police work or political. Establish your "cred" if it is necessary, but don't make potential disasters for your bosses. THIS accounts for the great 99% of police activity within radical organizations. One should also note that simple "disruption" os a radical movement is often the goal rather than discredidation. You don't have to break the law to spread rumours (more often true than not) about the leadership of a group that you think should be destroyed. Why bother to plot and plant a bomb when simply telling the truth will suffice ?


I have only hinted at the complexity of such situations above. In countries such as the USA (especially with its multiple secret police agencies) and Canada (with the RCMP and CSIS, along with the laughable "military intelligence" centred in Ottawa) an extra layer of bureaucratic rivalry interposes itself. Agencies not only don't cooperate. They often have quite different goals, and what they both encourage and simply permit may be at total variance. The goals of some sort of semi-mythical "ruling class" may have nothing whatsoever to do with the goals of people in a certain bureaucracy, especially as it relates to another. The Air India case is the primary Canadian example of such cross- purposes.


That's all well and good, but what does it mean in terms of practical proposals ? For some time now Molly has been proposing the following:
1)That any anarchist organization worthy of the name should make its opposition to violence quite explicit in its founding principles. This is common sense. You are exposed to arrest and harassment simply for being what you are. Why, on God's Green Earth, do you want to give the prosecution a freebie in eventual trials ? Violence will happen. Mass violence. So-called "revolutionaries" can neither anticipate nor provoke such incidents. All the bullshit about being so smart as to be a "revolutionary" is just that-bullshit. Revolutions happen. They are not created by revolutionaries !!!!! Talking about a revolution never lays the ground for such a thing. Tiny little terrorist acts which usually approach the term of "juvenile violence" are even less likely to do anything practical.
2)Quit demonizing the enemy !!!! The police are neither "pigs" nor "thugs". In a radical sense they are opponents who are both bigger and smarter (because of their wide base of recruitment) than you are. Treat them as the opponents they are. Respect for the opponent is one of the cardinal rules of military strategy. Those who believe their own propaganda are often doomed to fail. In a more class-based view of society today they are "necessary" in our present time. YES I mean that. The role of the police is not just to protect class rule, though they do that often enough. They are also the agents of enforcing what we, the great majority of the people, consider to be "acceptable behavior" . Hopefully in an "anarchist society" we would have no police, but until that great millennium one can say that far too many "revolutionaries" would institute a police force that would be far more brutal and effective than what we have today. As to "demonization" I will guarantee that the people entrusted to enforce social norms in an anarchist society will be exactly the same as our present police. The difference would be that there would be fewer rules to enforce and that the general population would be enforcing much of what is presently "police functions".
3)Molly has a "simple solution" to this conundrum. Molly believes that anarchism should be organized, and she also believes that such anarchist organizations (in the plural) should have the maturity to denounce anarchist "deviations" in no uncertain terms, as well as to both denounce violence carried out by non-anarchists and to point out the greater violence of the state. THIS is not "taking the other side" as ideologues would claim. It is simply the mark of a mature movement that actually thinks rather than just acts.

CANADIAN LABOUR-MANITOBA/LOCAL NEWS:
FIFTEEN YEAR OLD WORKER KILLED IN CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENT IN STONY MOUNTAIN:




Stony Mountain Manitoba is a bedroom community just north of Winnipeg. Its only industry is Stony Mountain Penitentiary. The other day, Friday July 25, a 15 year old boy who was working for Interlake Asphalt was killed when he was buried beneath a load of hot asphalt unloaded from a truck working on road repair at the site of an old Manitoba Hydro substation. Manitoba law states that people under the age of 16 cannot be employed at construction sites. Here are a few stories relating to this death. Stay tuned to Mollys Blog for further details as the story develops.

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From Live Link .Com

Worker fully buried in hot asphalt:

STONY MOUNTAIN, Manitoba, Canada



A 15-year-old boy, working construction at a Stony Mountain site, died after he was buried in hot asphalt late this morning.



RCMP say the youth was working for a paving company which was doing road repairs at the time. Still early in the investigation, it appears he was helping unload a truck when he was buried beneath a large amount of asphalt.


His name is being withheld at the request of his family.



Officials with Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health are also investigating.



Stony Mountain/Rockwood fire chief Wallace Drysdale said emergency crews arrived at the old Manitoba Hydro substation at 66 Vincent Rd. minutes after being notified of the accident, at around 10:55 a.m.



"There was a young man buried completely up to his hair in hot asphalt," he said.



"Drysdale said a construction company, Interlake Asphalt, had been dumping a trailer full of asphalt into a massive pile to use for various projects around town.


"He'd been standing behind the truck, from what we gather, and the load dumped on him. It knocked him over,” he said of the victim. "You could just see some of his hair sticking out of the asphalt. Some tried to dig by hand too, so they were burning their hands trying to do it."



Drysdale said crews knew the man was dead immediately after arriving, and had to dig to extricate his body.



"In a case like this, when you're buried that deep, whether it's asphalt or not, you’re usually deceased," he said, adding it's impossible to breath with so much pressure.



"It's horrible,” he said. "Especially this guy. He s pretty young.”



Two other workers suffered burns to their hands while trying to dig the man out.




Richard Hill of Stony Mountain said he was in his driveway loading up his truck "when I heard screaming 'Help, help.'"



I ran through the backyard and saw one guy running with a shovel saying 'he's buried.' I looked around for a shovel and ran over and began shovelling."We got down to his hair. It was salt and pepper, but there was just no movement. No movement at all.



"It was so hot my boots were burning because of the asphalt and I burned my hand. It's burning a bit, but it's nothing major.



Two other men were with Hill, including one who phoned 911.


Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health has sent an investigator.
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AND ANOTHER STORY FROM THE GLOBE AND MAIL:

Teen dies in Manitoba after buried in hot asphalt
STONY MOUNTAIN, Man.

— A 15-year-old boy died in a horrific construction accident Friday when he was buried under a mountain of searing-hot asphalt.





The boy, too young to work on construction jobs under Manitoba labour laws, was part of a paving crew working on a parking lot in the Winnipeg bedroom community of Stony Mountain.
“I believe [the truck] dumped off way too much asphalt unexpectedly,” said Stony Mountain fire Chief Wallace Drysdale.




“I was one of the first members on scene and we just saw the hair sticking out of this individual. It was extremely hot asphalt. Our crews, when we were digging out, had to shuttle different members in and out in about four- or five-minute intervals because our feet were burning.”





Police and labour officials were investigating.





Richard Hill, who lives less than 100 metres from the accident scene, heard the boy screaming and ran over.





“I guess it was the truck driver that said, ‘There's a guy buried in here' and I ... found a shovel, and me and another guy tried digging him out,” Mr. Hill said.





It took about 15 minutes to get the boy out. He was pronounced dead at the scene.





“We got to the back of his head and there was no movement,” Mr. Hill said. “We pretty much knew there wouldn't be any hope because of the heat and the weight of that [asphalt].
“There's no way a person can breathe with asphalt.”





Manitoba workplace health and safety officials were trying to figure out how the accident occurred and would not comment.





Having teenagers work such jobs is not uncommon, according to Chief Drysdale.





“It's usually a good summer job for them.”





However, Manitoba's Employment Standards Code bars young people under 16 from working on construction sites, as well as other industrial locations where there are drilling rigs and scaffolding. RCMP didn't say whether charges would be laid.





RCMP said they were not releasing the boy's name immediately at the request of his family, but the Winnipeg Free Press identified him as Andrew James.





Katie Coburn, a friend of the boy's older sister, told the Free Press he “was a good kid” who was preparing to enter Grade 10. She said it was the second summer he had worked for Interlake Asphalt Paving(Oh, so he worked for them when he was 14 !!!! Love those labour laws-Molly.)





“He was a normal guy and he was a hard worker,” she said. “He would cut grass and do other jobs around here. He worked throughout the year.”




Brian Yeadon, a family friend, told CTV Winnipeg that the boy had worked since he was seven years old(!!!!!-Molly).





“He was a good kid. The family is all devastated.”




Mr. Yeadon said the owner of the local paving company was also distraught and suffered bad burns in his efforts to extricate the teen.




“It's a fluke accident,” said Mr. Yeadon. “The load – whether it let go, I don't know. But I'm devastated because they were both friends of mine.”





The death has touched everyone in Stony Mountain, Chief Drysdale said.




“Our [fire department] members knew this person, 'cause it's a small town,” he said. “It's very hard.”
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And yet another story from the CBC:

Buried in asphalt, 15-year-old Manitoba boy dies:

A 15-year-old Manitoba boy died after being buried in hot asphalt at a workplace in Stony Mountain, Man., on Friday morning.



Andrew James was working for a paving company that was doing repairs near an old Manitoba Hydro substation on Quarry Road, RCMP said.



It appears the boy was helping to unload asphalt from a truck when he somehow was buried under its contents.



"We arrived on scene and there was an individual buried by asphalt. Only his hair was sticking out," said Stony Mountain fire Chief Wallace Drysdale.



"Individuals buried in that much fill or asphalt or anything, he is dead. He's deceased. Because your body cannot survive that."



Drysdale said he believed the truck unexpectedly dumped too much asphalt, overwhelming James in the process.



Two workers on the site suffered burns to their hands trying to dig the boy out, Drysdale said.



Firefighters eventually freed him from the asphalt. The material was so hot, the rescuers' toes were burning inside their boots, Drysdale said.



"There was just tons and tons of material," he said. "It took us about 14 minutes to get him out."



Accident under investigation
Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health and Stonewall RCMP are investigating the accident. Police said they did not know yet if charges would be laid.



People under the age of 16 are allowed to work in Manitoba, but they must have a permit from the provincial employment standards branch.



Employees under the age of 16 are not allowed to work between the hours of 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. or on construction sites, in industrial or manufacturing processes, drilling or servicing rigs, on scaffolding or doing tree maintenance.



The teen's death is the second construction-related fatality in the past three weeks in the province.



Earlier this month, a 21-year-old man fell under the wheels of a skid steer loader at a home construction site in south Winnipeg.



Thirteen other people have died in workplace accidents so far in 2008, said officials with the province's Workers Compensation Board.


As I said before, Molly will report on this story and comment further later. For now I can say that this is evidence of how little laws can affect the actual practice on work sites, and how much such laws have to reinforced by a good and strong union willing to enforce the "paper" prohibitions against unsafe work practices- including the use of child labour. I would also like to emphasize the number of deaths and injuries that occur at work, a great issue that is often ignored by the mass media until some spectacular event- such as this- occurs. More later...Molly