CANADIAN LABOUR-SUDBURY:

HUNDREDS RALLY IN SUPPORT OF STEELWORKERS' STRIKE AGAINST VALE INCO:

The following item from the Sudbury Star came to Molly's attention via the strike support blog Fair Deal Now set up by the USWs who are on strike in Ontario against Vale Inco. The only disturbing part of this event is how Jack Layton managed to make it a partisan political event. It has to be expected I guess. The chances of an NDP federal government in Canada are, of course, remote beyond imagining, but should such an unlikely event ever occur there is little doubt that labour would find a NDP in power far less of a friend than they might imagine now.

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Feds must 'stand up for North's resources':
RALLY: Jack Layton's message for Sudbury
Posted By CAROL MULLIGAN, THE SUDBURY STAR
It started out as a rally for laid-off Xstrata Nickel workers and striking Steelworkers, but it turned into a get Tony Clement event attended by more than 500 people.

Many in the crowd hoisted signs bearing the Industry minister's face crossed out with a large red X and bearing slogans deriding him for his remarks about Sudbury and Vale Inco last week.

The rally was planned before Clement told The Sudbury Star that Sudbury faced becoming the Valley of Death if Companhia Vale do Rio Doce had not purchased Inco Ltd. in 2006. (Ahh, those loose Conservative lips. One imagines that Clements will have to spend at least three days in Sneaky Stevie's Chamber of Torture for accidentally saying what all the Conservatives actually think. Apparently, after the thumbscrews were applied Clements admitted that his comments were "boneheaded"- See the Fair Deal Now website. Poor Sneaky Stevie; just when he convinced one troglodyte in his party to say nothing another pops up)

Friday, members of Mine Mill Local 598/CAW, among the almost 700 who lost their jobs with Xstrata in February, marched alongside USW Local 6500 members who took to the picket line July 13.

The labour event began with rousing speeches from New Democratic Party Leader Jack Layton and USW international president Leo Gerard at Copper Cliff's McClelland Arena and moved over to the picket line at Vale Inco's Copper Cliff smelter.

One theme was solidarity, regardless of one's sex, race, age or union affiliation. The other was how the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper has let Sudburians down by allowing resources to be sold to foreign companies and not making them keep their promises.
Layton warned Canadians to pay attention to what is happening in Sudbury.

"We see time and time again, and all too often, these foreign multinationals come in and with the permission of the government, buy up Canadian companies and then begin to throw people out of work. They did it with softwood industry," said Layton.

He took aim at Clement for his comments about Sudbury.

"When you have a representative of the Government of Canada insulting the people of the North, it's not a good day. We say it's time for him to take it back and say he is sorry to the people of Northern Ontario."

Layton called on Harper to get rid of Clement, "and put someone in who will stand up" for Canada.

"But I've got to tell you," said Layton. "I'm not holding my breath." He urged the crowd to vote against the Conservatives and "throw the bums out" in the next federal election.

Layton told the crowd how Clement is "now saying that it (was) a boneheaded remark. That's the first time I've agreed with him in months," said Layton.

"I'll tell you what was boneheaded. It was that ... (these) bone-headed Conservatives signed an agreement that allowed companies to come in and do damage to this part of the country and do damage to this community. That, as far as I'm concerned, is against the law."

Gerard said what Vale Inco is doing by seeking concessions from more than 3,000 maintenance and production workers is "really gutting the standard of living of our community."

The future of Sudbury "rests on our making sure our government stands up for our resources. These resources and the wealth they create should not be flying from here to Switzerland and Brazil. They ought to be spent in this community."

Gerard welcomed members of USW Local 1005 in Hamilton to the rally, as well as members of other unions and Sudburians not associated with the labour movement.

Local 598 president Richard Paquin said the rally was an important one.

Xstrata Nickel, which promised the federal government there would be no layoffs for three years when it purchased Falconbridge, laid off 55% of its workforce in February.

Saturday is the third anniversary of Xstrata's agreement with Investment Canada.

Paquin told the crowd how his union chartered eight buses to visit Clement's constituency office in Huntsville and later met with him on Parliament Hill.

"Unfortunately for us, we weren't able to get what we were looking for. But you know what we did? We opened the door for other companies," said Paquin, referring to the federal government taking U. S. Steel to court.

"Why didn't (Clement) do that for us in Sudbury? Is that because we're here in Northern Ontario? I sure hope not. Everybody should be treated the same."

Patricia Christopher, a teacher at Cyril Varney Public School and a member of the Elementary Teachers' Federation, attended the rally, waving her union flag.

"We think it is important to be supportive of our brothers and sisters in the union cause. Personally I think it's just immoral what's happening here with Vale Inco workers. They certainly have been given a raw deal."

Susan Thornton attended the rally with her brother, Kenny Rouse of Sudbury, and sister Marlene Seymour of Elliot Lake.

Thornton's husband, Glen, was among those laid off at Xstrata in February. Thornton was laid off years ago in Elliot Lake and the family moved to Oshawa, where he was laid off two years ago. They returned to Sudbury and he began working for Xstrata "in the mines because everything was going good two years ago."

Her husband has been called back to work at Xstrata temporarily, said Thornton. "He might be good 'til November, he might not. It's always up in the air, day by day."

Brouse, an underground development miner on strike from Vale Inco's Frood-Stobie Mine, said this strike is different from others he has been on in 20 years with the company.

"There's a lot of greedy people in this world. How much is enough?"

He said he thought his union was in for a long strike. "I think we're both pigheaded, but I'm more pigheaded."

When asked what he thought about Clement and his comments about Vale Inco, Brouse said: "It makes me feel like this guy should be out of a job, not me."

At the Copper Cliff smelter picket line, Paquin president Local 6500 with a cheque for $5,000 from Mine Mill Local 598/CAW. He also warned that his union's contract expires in February and it is likely to follow the same path as Steelworkers.

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Molly Postscript:

Rumours that Jack Layton had to be revived after his speech by an emergency medical shipment of white wine and quiche are, of course, just that- rumours.

CANADIAN LABOUR-LANARK COUNTY ONTARIO:

LANARK COUNTY ACL WORKERS RALLY:

The strike at the Lanark County Association for Community Living continues, and this Wednesday the workers involved plan a rally at the offices of Ontario Social Services Minister Madelaine Meilleur. Here's the callout from the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).

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Ottawa Rally for Lanark ACL workers:‏
We're holding a rally in Ottawa at the office of Ontario social services minister Madeleine Meilleur:
When
Wednesday, July 29, 12 noon
Where
237 Montreal Road, Ottawa [Google Map]
Why?
Ms. Meilleur is responsible for ACL funding in Ontario. She can fix the issues which underlie the CUPE 1521.02 strike.
If you're in Ottawa or near Ottawa, please come.

ANARCHIST MAGAZINES:

NORTHEASTERN ANARCHIST NUMBER #14:

The Northeastern Anarchist number 14 is now out and about, according to the following notice from the Anarkismo site. Funny thing, as is has actually be out for some time now, as I received a copy in the mail weeks ago. In any case, check out the journal of the Northeastern Federation of Anarchist Communists. Here's the notice.

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The Northeastern Anarchist #14 is out now!:
NEFAC is proud to announce the relsease of issue #14 of the Northeastern Anarchist; a magazine of class struggle theory and practice.

The Northeastern Anarchist is a journal of anarchist communist theory and practice. It is edited by the Northeastern Federation of Anarchist Communists (NEFAC). The magazine keeps growing in size and is still available to you for $4. There are 44 pages of new reading inside this issue's shiny cover. Check out ordering info and a list of articles below.Get in touch to get a copy in person. Otherwise, ordering info is below.

www.nefac.net/nea
ORDERING INFO

VIA Paypal

payable to: lady (at) nefac.net

Note all subscription info, as indicated below*, at the time of your paypal transaction.

VIA check or money order

payable to: "Northeastern Anarchist" send to:

The Northeastern Anarchist

PO Box 230685, Boston, MA 02123, USA

northeastern_anarchist (at) nefac.net

Subscription (4 issues) ................. $15

Solidarity Subscription..................$25

support free subs for prisoners

Single back issues $2 each

Entire set of back issues (#1-8, 10-13) ......$22
DISTRIBUTION

Bundle orders for distribution $3 per copy for five or more copies

$2.50 per copy for ten or more

International orders ......please add $4<
CONTENTS:

1. Change We Need, an Anarchist Perspective on the 2008 Election

by NEFAC

2. Journal of a Long Struggle, the 2007-2008 student strike in Quebec

by Julie Des

3. Sex Workers are Doing it for Themselves, Why the Radical Left Should Care about Sex Workers Rights

by Susan Rohwer

4. Another Approach for Radicals, the Anti-Capitalist Bloc @ the RNC, an I.W.W.Report

by Kieran

5. Class Struggle Anarchist Conference, New York City, May 31-June1, 2008

by Mitch

6. Must the Molecules Fear as the Engine Dies? Notes on the Wall Street "Meltdown"

by Silvia Federici and George Caffentzis

7. Solidarity With the Bolivian People

by FAG, FAO and FAU

8. Strengthening Anarchism's Gender Analysis, lessons from the trans-feminist movement

by Rogue

9. Towards an Anarchist History of the Chinese Revolution

by Andrew Flood

10. Students and Revolutionary Organization, an Interview with Alternative Libertaire

BOOK REVIEWS:

1. Dancing in the Streets, A History of Collective Joy, written by Barbara Ehrenreich

2. Free Comrades, Anarchism and Homosexuality in the United States, 1895-1917, written by Terrance Kissack
Related Link: http://www.nefac.net/nea

CANADIAN LABOUR-THOMPSON MANITOBA:

THOMPSON STEELWORKERS MOBILIZE SUPPORT FOR VALE INCO STRIKERS:

While members of the United Steel Workers at the Vale Inco operations in Thompson, Manitoba have a contract with the company that is in effect until September 2011 that doesn't mean that they haven't been active in rallying support for their striking brothers and sisters. The following article from the Thompson Citizen tells how the Steelworkers in Thompson are working to rally public support behind their fellow workers. The following came to Molly's attention via the strike support site Fair Deal Now set up by the strikers. Drop by that site to get the latest updates on what is happening in Sudbury, Port Colborne and elsewhere.

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Nychyporuk: USW Local 6166 backs Ontario union brothers and sisters at Vale Inco in Sudbury and Port Colborne:
John Barker
By John Barker editor@thompsoncitizen.net

July 22, 2009
Thompson – Murray Nychyporuk, the recently elected president of United Steelworkers Local 6166 representing unionized labour at Vale Inco in Thompson, was at City Centre Mall July 18 to send out a strong message of solidarity with their unionized brothers and sisters on strike at the Brazilian mining giant’s Sudbury and Port Colborne operations in Ontario.

Steelworkers at Vale Inco in Ontario went on strike July 13 (see related story Pages 3 and 9). Workers at Vale Inco’s Voisey’s Bay operations in Labrador are set to strike in 12 days on Aug. 1. In the late 1970s, the Steelworkers waged a lengthy nine-month strike against Inco in Sudbury from Sept. 15, 1978 until June 7, 1979.

More than 4,900 grievances were filed between 2006 and 2009 by Steelworkers in Ontario against Vale Inco under the three-year collective bargaining agreement that recently expired. More than 1,700 of the grievances – 34 per cent – were about contracting out.

USW Local 6166 in Thompson, however, has a binding collective agreement with Vale Inco, signed last September, through Sept. 15, 2011.

The major issues of contention in both Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador surround company-proposed changes to the nickel bonus and a proposal for new hires to be put in a contribution-based pension benefit plan, which would result in two-tiered pensions.

The striking workers in Sudbury and Port Colborne receive $200 per week from the Steelworkers in strike pay.

Under the contract that just expired for Local 6500 in Sudbury and Local 6200 in Port Colborne, the triggering mechanism for the nickel price bonus is tied to Vale Inco’s profitability at the operation, providing nickel is trading above $2.25 per pound. The company has not paid nickel bonuses in 2009, claiming operations in Canada have not been profitable. The average hourly wage in Sudbury is $29 per hour, the Steelworkers say.

The old nickel price bonus did not have a maximum limit. With the proposed contract, the trigger would have been doubled to $5 per pound, and there would be a limit on money earned through the nickel bonus, capping at 75 percent of a total possible 20 per cent bonus of worker's hourly wages. The other 25 per cent of the possible maximum 20 per cent bonus would be made up by an Annual Incentive Plan, which would be measured by how profitable Vale Inco is at the time.

“The company proposal,” Nychyporuk said, for a two- component bonus plan, “is dramatically inferior to the current plan and would strip the workers (in Ontario and Labrador) from the benefits they deserve in good times.”

With a current average wage of $29 per hour, a 20 per cent cap would mean a maximum nickel price bonus payout of an additional $5.80 per hour. Currently there is no cap.

“What impact does this labour dispute (in Ontario) have on us in Northern Manitoba, when we have a binding contract until September 2011?” Nychyporuk asks. “The dark twisting path Vale Inco chose to seek, in the pursuit of concessions in Ontario, puts our workers in a state of troubled unrest. Make no mistake, we too may find ourselves in the very same position. A labour dispute in any community places undue stress and strain on its whole and directly affects the shopkeeper, banker, car salesman and ‘you.’”

Nychyporuk also challenges the notion Val Inco’s Canadian operations have not been profitable. While the company consistently refuses to break out financial figures for operations in Canada by region or any other way, the union said earlier this year Vale Inco claims to have lost $102 million in Thompson during the third and fourth quarters of 2008 – hence no nickel bonus.

“Vale Inco’s Canadian operations are extremely profitable,” Nychyporuk said. “The Ontario operations alone collected $4.1 billion from 2006 to 2008. Vale Inco is persistent on increasing these profits at the expense of their workers. Concessions in pensions, nickel bonus, cost of living allowance (COLA) and seniority rights are just some of the key issues in this labour dispute.”

Labour costs “account for less one-tenth of Vale’s cost,” Nychyporuk said, “and they have already clawed back nickel bonus earnings in Thompson, without releasing a clear explanation to our membership on the floor of their accounting practices versus profitability, which has left our members confused over whether or not they will ever obtain another nickel bonus payment.”

As for Sudbury and Port Colborne, Nychyporuk said, “These concessions (being sought by the company) are an outright attack on the workforce.”

CANADIAN ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-VANCOUVER:

INVINCIBLE IN VANCOUVER:

Coming this August 7, Detroit emcee and activist 'Invincible' with videos against gentrification and colonization. Here's the notice from Vancouver No One Is Illegal.

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Organizing Against Displacement, Colonization and Gentrification:
August 7, 2009
5:30 pm
w/Detroit based emcee & activist ** INVINCIBLE ***

Fri Aug 7th. FREE!. Doors: 5:30 pm @ W2 (157 W Hastings).

Bus tickets and snacks provided. Child-friendly/childcare on site

Invincible will screen and discuss the hybrid docu-music-videos “People Not Places” featuring Abeer and Suhell Nafar (DAM) and “Locusts” featuring Finale, both directed by Iqaa the Olivetone. These films will show the relationship between gentrification and colonization and ways that people are not only resisting but also developing visionary alternative and sustainable solutions. She will also lead a participatory workshop about local organizing strategies and generating ideas to bring new people and energy into the local anti-displacement projects in Vancouver and surrounding areas.

Please join us in a rare opportunity with acclaimed and award-winning artist Invincible, you won’t want to miss it! Includes traditional Coast Salish welcome and presentations by local organizers from Boycott Israeli Apartheid Campaign, DTES Power to Women Group, and No One Is Illegal.

Presented by No One Is Illegal with the support of W2, Under the Volcano Festival of Art & Social Change, EMERGENCE Music, Downtown Eastside Power of Women Group, Boycott Israeli Apartheid Campaign.

For more information call 778 885 0040 or email noii-van@resist.ca . Visit: www.nooneisillegal.org
* About Invincible:
It is truly rare to find an artist like Invincible. Talib Kweli has called her one of the most talented emcees he’s ever heard. Her spitfire wordplay has gotten her acclaim from fans all across the world, while her active involvement in community organizing through Detroit Summer’s Live Arts Media Project and US Palestine Youth Solidarity Network has taken her music beyond entertainment. Invincible’s latest evolution, and long awaited solo debut “Shapeshifters” is even more rebelliously appealing.
Listen here: www.myspace.com/invincilana
* About the films:
People Not Places is a journey through a “birthright” tour of Israel where the buried Palestinian significance of each location comes to light. Intertwined between verses are interviews from various perspectives exposing the myth of a “Jewish birthright” to a land Palestinians are denied the Right of Return to. These insightful voices also show the importance of Right of Return, how it can be actualized, and how it connects to the resistance of occupied and displaced communities from Turtle Island to Puerto Rico and beyond. Directed by Iqaa The Olivetone. Produced by EMERGENCE Media and PEP

Locusts presents groundbreaking music, lyrics, and interviews with youth and community activists about profit-driven urban development schemes that displace inner-city neighbourhoods. Directed by Iqaa the Olivetone. Produced by EMERGENCE Media
* About Iqaa The Olivetone, film director
Iqaa The Olivetone is a music video director, artist and musician. Based in Detroit and New York, his work focuses on documenting and catalyzing social change and cultural representation.

CANADIAN LABOUR-WINDSOR:

WINDSOR CIVIC WORKERS STRIKE ENDS:

Workers employed by the city of Windsor Ontario have voted to accept an agreement, ending a 101 day long strike. While much was gained, especially as compared to the City's initial offer the union conceded on their demand that new workers hired be covered by a defined benefits retirement plan. The plan that will be accepted is "self-financed". While this provision obviously doesn't apply to the present city workers it is, unfortunately, a serious concession on a matter of principle. Here's what the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) has to say about the settlement.

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CUPE ratifies Windsor agreement:
Members of CUPE 82 and 543 voted Jul. 24 to ratify an agreement with the City of Windsor and end the 2nd longest strike in the city's history.

Jim Wood, President of CUPE 82, said: "Wrongly blaming workers for the recession, Mayor Francis and Council tried to cut real wages and benefits and impose a double standard with retirement benefits for themselves but not workers. That's what forced this strike."

Wood and CUPE 543 President Jean Fox both said: "We're proud of our CUPE members who stood up for fairness and equality and resisted unjustified concessions."

The new contract includes a $2,000 lump sum payment up front, wage adjustments of 1%, 1.5%, 1.8% and 2% over four years and improvements in job security.

If CUPE had given in to the Mayor last April, there would now be reduced real incomes, reduced benefits, worse job security, and the complete elimination of any program of Post Retirement Benefits for all future new hires at the city. Instead current city workers and their families are permanently protected with retiree benefits and at the same time, new hires will enjoy employer paid benefits to age 65 and then, after 65, a new Post Retirement Benefit program will be in place and administered by the city.

Jean Fox, president of CUPE local 543, was looking forward: "The strike is over and we need to rebuild the spirit of this community that was hurt by the Mayor and Council's attack on workers. We hope the return to work will be smooth but some wounds take time to heal."

CUPE local 82, representing outside workers, were on strike for 101 days, starting April 15th. Local 543, the inside workers, joined the picket line on April 18th.

PEOPLE:

RAFE MAIR:

In the last post I reacted to a statement by the author, Rafe Mair, about the origin of the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand which precipitated WW I. What I assumed was that his absurd statement about the "anarchist" origin of this attentat derived from some sort of Marxist sympathies. I was wrong. Not, of course, about the historical reality of the forces behind the assassination- Serbian nationalists- but rather about the possible motives of Mr. Mair. I have little doubt that some commies have, somewhere and sometime, listed this nationalist attentat as an example of the faults of anarchism, without any factual justification whatsoever. But the majority of Marxist sources, when they are trying to be convincing, make no such mistake.

Mr Mair, an ex-Social Credit MLA in BC ,is hardly your typical "leftist", and I am drawn to the explanation that it is simple ignorance rather than communist influence that led him to assume that "any" assassination at that time and place must have been by an anarchist. That's OK, we all make mistakes because of our presuppositions. It is, however, very obvious that Mr Mair knows next to nothing about anarchist. that would be fine amongst a general member of the public. Mr. Mair, however, has travelled a rather unique political career. While there are numerous examples of ex-lefties who use their contrition to build a subsequent literary career (most prominently in the USA and France) there are very few representatives of ex-rightists who follow the path from the opposite direction. Mr Mair is a perhaps unique representative of this change of opinion. I urge my readers to look him up. British Colombian politics has always been sort of "weird", and Mr Mair is an outstanding example of how this great tradition hasn't been obliterated in recent times.

I still fault Mr Mair because, given his years-long association with the "greenies" of BC, that he should have come to an understanding of anarchism that was, if not profound, sufficient to prevent him from assuming the anarchism=terrorism connection could apply to all situations. ALSO he should have looked up the facts before he wrote. The greenies, after all, are full of vague anarchist sympathies that I cannot imagine he would have not come in contact with. These vague sympathies are, of course, not anarchism "in full bloom". It would be absurd to assume any anarchist consistency from any supporter of a political party. but the general "atmosphere" of the 'anarcho-simps' that he would have inevitably met should have given him pause before he made such a statement.

All that being said look this guy up. he's quite the interesting fellow.

CANADIAN POLITICS-VANCOUVER:

SECURITY GAMES:

Molly has expressed her opinion on the upcoming Vancouver/Whistler Winter Olympics many times before on this blog. It is first and foremost nothing but an open invitation to corruption, as huge wads of government money are thrown at construction, organization and security, with the inevitable consequence that certain private interests benefit while the taxpayer is left holding the bill. It is very rare, perhaps nonexistent, that a city that hosts an Olympic event actually benefits from it in the long term. The greatest Canadian example is Montréal where the debt was finally paid off decades after the event- just in time for pieces to start falling off the Olympic venue. Love those "honest contractors". A little more sand in that concrete please. It's cheaper than lime after all. Vancouver, of course, hardly needs recognition on the world scene, and the fillip to the city's tourist industry will be brief and ephemeral. It's not like Vancouver is Moose Jaw, Sudbury, Prince George. Hosting an Olympics will make little difference to Vancouver's long term tourist draw. It will give a temporary fillip to hotels and restaurants, but the major beneficiaries of the Games will be the construction industry with its "meeting in the can of the local club" way of doing business with politicians. Such is life.

I have also commented previously on exactly how much the "security" precautions" of these games have been concentrated on suppressing public dissent rather than on trying to intercept the truly horrendous possibility of the 'Abdul Al Hazred Brigade'( H.P. Lovecraft fans know what I mean) pulling a dramatic stunt at the Games. Perhaps this is a longshot, but if it does happen there will be the egg of 10 million chickens on the faces of those who thought that public protesters were the actual "threat". Here is more about how the runup to the Games has provoked suppression of civil liberties out there on the "Rainshine Coast". The following came to Molly's attention via the No2010 website. It was originally published in the BC online newsjournal The Tyee.

CPCPCPCPCPCPCP

2010 Security Overkill: Why so Afraid of Protest?:
The 2010 Plan to Crush Our Freedoms

Olympics security overkill: Why so afraid of protest?
By Rafe Mair, July 20, 2009, TheTyee.ca

http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2009/07/20/2010Freedoms/
Less than two weeks ago, Bud Mercer, head of the Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit looking after security for the 2010 Olympics, raised with Vancouver City Council the specter of the violent clashes that rocked World Trade Organization meetings in Seattle and Quebec City.

To combat these forecasted dangers, the taxpayer is spending one billion dollars, at last count, and using 16,000 police and armed forces personnel!

To support this gross overkill, Mercer said, "I can assure council as I stand before you here today, that locally, provincially, nationally and internationally, there are groups that are considering or planning to engage in criminal protests during the 2010 Games. North America and Canada are not strangers to criminal protests during major events -- the 1999 Seattle WTO, 2001 in Quebec City or the Stanley Cup riot. There are things that will happen during a major event that we have a responsibility to plan and prepare for..."

Mercer added that such precautions include more than 900 cameras to guard the perimeters of Olympic venues, the creation of "free speech" zones where protesters can legally demonstrate, and a 2010 security force of 7,000 police, 5,000 private security officers and 4,500 members of the Canadian Armed Forces.

Mercer didn't define just what a "criminal protest" was but one suspects it is much different than my definition and that of many readers.
Urge to protest isn't intent to kill
Mercer and authorities ought to know, but evidently don't know, that protesters waving banners and shouting insults don't assassinate people. They annoy the hell out of the establishment, which some might say is an excellent reason for encouraging them, but they don't assassinate. (I'm not talking here of the huge riots we've seen, alas, in other lands. But Mr. Mercer clearly isn't thinking of them either.)

The Americans have had four presidential assassinations: Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley and Kennedy. All these men were killed by a single fanatic. Indeed, Lincoln, in the midst of a civil war, moved easily in large crowds, as did Kennedy in his day at the height of the Cold War.

Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King were killed by individual assassins and not by picketers. Robert Kennedy was assassinated by a single mad man, and Archduke Ferdinand, whose assassination in July 1914 triggered the First World War, was killed by an anarchist(FULL STOP HERE-The assassin of the Archduke was a Serbian nationalist- the furthest thing imaginable from an anarchist. This sounds like "commie history"-there is nothing so remote from truth as communist statements-, as I have never seen this claim made in any objective history book of any persuasion that I have ever read-Molly) .

Mohandas Gandhi, and the unrelated sharers on his surname, Indira and Raj,were killed not by protesters but by individual terrorists; in the case of Mohandas and Raj Gandhi, by Hindu fanatics; and in Mrs. Gandhi's case, it was two of her bodyguards.

Lord Louis Mountbatten died when IRA members planted a bomb on his yacht. There have been at least three unsuccessful attempts on the lives of U.S. presidents: Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Ronald Reagan. None were by protesters.
Democracy needs dissent
Mr. Mercer and others of his persuasion would do well to read the law which both here and in the United States is in clear, unadorned English.

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms states in section two,

"Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms: (b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication; (c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and (d) freedom of association."

Article three of the U.S. Bill of Rights states

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ; or abridging the freedom of speech,or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Thomas Jefferson said, "Those who would sacrifice liberty for security are deserving of neither."
Pepper spray or Tasers?
Yes, these are perilous times but the truth remains. Large crowds waving banners and shouting slogans unto the obscene do not kill people. What they do is make it embarrassing because, in the words of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, they offend "those set in authority over us."

It's interesting to note that policeman Mercer talks about special places for protesters just as they have third amendment sites for free speech in America. What the hell point is there in making people protest in places where the objects of their attention are out of ear shot and thus invisible to the media?

Does it take 16,500 cops and soldiers to ferret out potential assassins and locate them? That, plus denying honest citizens their right to associate and protest?

Of course not.

This is 1997 APEC revisited, where one radical youth was put in jail several days before the parade and only released if he promised not to go to the scene; where a young law school student was jailed for carrying a cloth banner saying "Democracy" and "Free Speech" and where protesters were hit with pepper spray for no greater sin than saying nasty things about the nasty heads of state and heads of government that our authorities didn't want embarrassed.

It was pepper spray then. Will it be Taser guns this time?
Modern day Potemkin villages
This billion dollar extravagance has, I suspect, a lot less to do with perceived terror than giving off to the international media the image of sweetness and light in a place where never is heard a discouraging word. This is akin to the Potemkin villages, which were shacks with beautiful façades created so that the visiting Tsarina, Catherine II, would believe that this village she was visiting was a prosperous with loyal and happy subjects.(This invention of my mother's countrymen was taken to astronomical heights under the Communist dictatorships that used to occupy a third of the world and now are restricted to Cuba and North Korea. Not villages but whole countries had their reality disguised, as it is today in Cuba and North Korea-Molly)

VANOC, under considerable pressure from governments, doesn't want the image of Canada, Vancouver or Whistler tarnished with evidence that not everyone wanted the Olympics and that a great many people see them as bad for society for one reason or another.

The classic reason to protest is to ask others, especially those in charge, to see and hear the messages portrayed. Whether these protests are against a war in Vietnam, against separate facilities for blacks, or against heads of countries whose stated commitment to freedom is not matched by reality, they are perfectly legal and, in fact, the quintessential expression of the freedom which connotes a free society.

If, God forbid, there is an attack on anyone, you can be sure that it would have happened with or without demonstrations.

VANOC's position is untenable in a free society, expensive out of all proportion to the risk of serious harm and a huge waste of our money to boot.

CANADIAN ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-LONDON ONTARIO:

FOOD NOT BOMBS-LONDON:

Here's a notice via the London Commons about what the local chapter of Food Not Bombs is planning down there that way come Sunday.

CACACACACACACA

FOOD NOT BOMBS:
Start: Jul 26 2009 - 5:00pm
End: Jul 26 2009 - 7:00pm
Location:
Campbell memorial Park
Hi everyone,
This Sunday we're planning on doing another Last-Sunday-Of-The-Month FOOD NOT BOMBS meal, and just want to put the word out as always for any of you that would like to join us this weekend.

We'll be cooking out of the kitchen at the Empowerment Centre (636 Queens Ave.) starting at 2:00pm, then heading over to Campbell memorial Park (on Dundas between Colbourn and Waterloo) to serve the meal from 5:00-7:00pm. Whatever amount of time you can offer would be a big help...people are playing with the idea of whipping-up some neighbourhood-picked mulberry pancakes to cook right on site..should be fun..

You can give Matt a call at the house (519-601-2547) if you got any questions.

ANARCHIST FILM:

NOW PLAYING AT THE IPPST:

The Insurrectionary People's Picture Show Theater, a Winnipeg based initiative featuring anarchist film and video is now presenting 'An Anarchist's Story-Ethel MacDonald'. Here's the promo. Drop on by to view the film.

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Friday Film: Ethel MacDonald: An Anarchist's Story
This documentary-drama tells the story of Ethel MacDonald, a remarkable young woman whose name hit the world headlines during the Spanish Civil War. She was hailed as the Scarlet Pimpernel of the workers revolution but has since become something of a forgotten legend.

Ethel MacDonald (24 February 1909—1 December 1960) was a Glasgow-based Scottish anarchist and activist and, in 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, a propagandist on Barcelona Anarchist radio.

CANADIAN/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS:

WRITERS OF DIFFERENCE:

Here's an announcement from Agitate Ottawa about an upcoming event down there in government land. If you're in the area drop on by. It might be interesting, and you'd be supporting a good cause.

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Queer/Trans Writers of Colour and Indigenous Writers Converge!:
Agitate! presents a night of performances and discussion. We’ll begin the night with an impressive line up of performers and finish with an engaging panel of writers and poets, showcasing artists of colour and indigenous artists in celebration of Pride! Often writers of marginalized identities face challenges in representing and publishing their own points of view coupled with the threat of their voices being tokenized(?) and co-opted in the process. Featuring both emerging and established writers from Ottawa and elsewhere, we will be discussing issues of representation, intersectionality(?) and how identity and experience are expressed in their craft.

Confirmed so far are Rob Friday and Kalyani Pandya from Ottawa, Nalo Hopkinson from Toronto, and Trish Salah from Montreal.

August 20th
Doors at 6:30, Performances at 7pm, Panel from 9-10pm.
Montgomery Legion Hall (top floor) 330 Kent St.
$10 – $20 sliding scale (all proceeds go to Migrant Trade Union in South Korea)

This event will also be a fundraising effort for the Migrant Trade Union (MTU) in South Korea. MTU is a union of documented and undocumented migrant workers in South Korea, the only union of its kind in the world today. The MTU has joined in the struggle of GLBT people in South Korea, including defending the needs of its own GLBT members. Agitate feels it is important to connect our work with the struggle of other racialized(?) people in the world, especially as the rights of migrant and undocumented workers in Canada continue to be largely ignored.

CANADIAN POLITICS/CANADIAN MEDIA:

THE SASQUATCH STOMPS IN SASKATCHEWAN:

The ever spreading influence of new models of media, internet based, are threatening the older mass media, newspapers, television and even radio with irrelevance. There are many responses, and some on the left see this as an opportunity for a progressive media to gain influence. Out in Molly's old stomping grounds, Saskatchewan, there is one such project, the Sasquatch, which aims to be both a print and internet effort. In their ambitions, if not their politics, they resemble the more libertarian and successful Z Communications (see our Links section).

I do, of course, wish them well, but I do have to say that a quick glance at their August issue shows it to be not quite my cup of tea. Some of the articles are quite good, but the plunge into "opinion" revolves around the 60 year old question of whether a)the NDP is perfect in every way or b)how much better it is than its one perennial opponent and what minor adjustments could be made or c)has serious deficiencies that could, of course, be remedied by capturing the party and moving it to the left. Some of the revelations were new to me. The Saskatchewan NDP's new leader Lingenfelter is, apparently, an ex-oil executive. And silly me- all these years of thinking that they couldn't find a leader any more right wing than Roy Romanow. Well, I still think that they will never find one who was equally 'assholeish' and so given to low cunning. I await my disillusionment.

Another revelation added to my long standing opinion that Saskatchewan politics are trapped in an eternal time loop that they will never exit. One of the pro-NDP writers added as evidence for optimism that the same conference that had elected the oil executive as leader passed resolutions demanding the end of the nuclear industry in Saskatchewan. Speaking of time loops lets jump into Molly's Magical Time Machine and transport back about 30 years to a barroom in Regina Saskatchewan. This was shortly after yet another anti-nuclear resolution had been passed by an NDP Convention (ie not the first and hardly the last over the past three decades). By this time Molly has quit the NDP, and it hard to tell whom she is more pissed off with- the fools who keep valiantly soldiering on to pass resolutions that never have any effect or the political bosses in the NDP who cynically let the rhetoric spouting lefties blow off steam with such noneffective busywork. My drinking buddy for the night just so happens to have been the Premier's chief flack runner. He is all ice to my fire, all control to my moral outrage. You don't, of course, achieve such a position without having shed any vestige of principle to the last thread.

There is, of course, no disagreement with the central idea- that the lefties are fools, wasting their time by passing resolutions at party conventions that will never translate into policy. Nor is there any disagreement with the secondary idea, that the party brass knows this very well and uses it intelligently. Nor is there, finally, any disagreement with the tertiary idea, that the lefties would be of far more use to their ideals if they were to come down off their academic high horses and actually go to the people rather than try to imitate Sisyphus by rolling a rock up an eternal hill. My drinking buddy, however, has no interest whatsoever in the goals of the lefties. To say the least he "won the argument" by summing up the attitude of the party brass very well. He looks at me like the total idiot he must have thought I was and answered, ""It's not a world for babies". That sums it up pretty well. The lefties in the NDP were (and even more so are now) childish for imagining that their eternal plotting could change the course of the party. I was childish for imagining that morality (such things as honesty and principle) had anything whatsoever to do with the political process. So...more beer and let's change the subject. Nowadays I know very well that the lefties could never "go to the people" because of the simple fact that the lefties represent a class whose interests are only sometimes in agreement with those of the majority, and I also know that the term "lefty" contains at least some cynical manipulators who are worse than the bosses of parties such as the NDP. That doesn't mean that I accept the point of view of my booze buddy that night. Yes, "it is not a world for babies", but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't keep trying to make it such a world.

Enough of my trips down memory lane. Here's the Sasquatch announcement from the Act Up in Saskatchewan website. Think about subscribing.

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Feed the Sasquatch

This is a time of great upheaval in Canadian media. While corporate-owned, ad-heavy, top-down media are stumbling, slashing newsroom staff and local coverage, new and exciting media forms are rushing in, finding cracks in the system and spreading deep roots from which to grow.

That's where The Sasquatch comes in. And you can play a leading role in helping it thrive!

The Sasquatch – a new, independent print and online publication – focuses on stories that affect you and that reflect discussions in kitchens(you have to have come from a Saskatchewan CCF/NDP background as I did to appreciate the significance of "kitchen meetings"-Molly) and living rooms across the province and around the country. The Sasquatch tells stories that get swept under the rug by mainstream media but that desperately need to see the light of day.

But to succeed, The Sasquatch needs more subscribers. Please take a moment to subscribe today at our discount, introductory rate.

This is your chance to show your support for local, non-profit, independent news. For only $20, you'll receive 8 biting issues of The Sasquatch featuring thoughtful political analysis and important stories on Saskatchewan life and politics that aren't being told elsewhere.

Here are 3 simple ways you can get involved:

1. Go to our online webstore at http://www.sasquatchnews.com/store or call 1-866-431-5777 (525-2949 in Regina) right now to subscribe. Use the coupon code "promoSasquatch" to receive our special introductory rate.

2. "Attend" the Facebook event for this subscription drive. Invite your friends to attend, too.

3. Spread the word to your email networks, prefaced by a personal message encouraging them to subscribe.

We need 250 new subscribers by the end of the summer in order to meet our targets. Please take a moment to subscribe and spread the word right now.

By subscribing to The Sasquatch, you are contributing to healthy democratic debate, supporting the work of local freelance writers and ensuring that underreported stories and marginalized voices(this term is definitely not CCF nostalgia-Molly) are heard.

Buying a subscription gets you a hard copy of The Sasquatch delivered to your door every six weeks. Or buy a combo package and get Briarpatch Magazine (http://www.briarpatchmagazine.com) along with it. Or, if you'd prefer, just make a donation -- because, as much as we wish it were otherwise, good media costs money.

Even if you can't subscribe right now, or if you're already a subscriber, please spread the word, tell your friends, browse our website and email an article to your friends (or enemies!). Let them know that they can choose media that gives priority to local news and that's hard-hitting and meaningful to them.

Participating in our subscription drive gives you the chance to give something back. Again, we need 250 new subscribers by the end of the summer or we may have to scale back. Every little bit helps, and we appreciate any and all of the support we receive from our readers.

Check out what you'll be getting here: http://sasquatchnews.com/the-august-2009-issue/ and join us as we embark on this exciting independent media project!

Signed,

Shayna Stock, Publisher

The Sasquatch

p.s. Important new initiatives like The Sasquatch sometimes fail in the early stages because supportive, sympathetic people are slow to rally to them. Please don't let that happen. Subscribe right now, and encourage your friends to do the same.

p.p.s. Remember, use the coupon code "promoSasquatch" to claim your introductory rate of $20 ($45 for a combo subscription).

DON'T WAIT -- SUBSCRIBE RIGHT NOW!

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All politics aside I think that the people at the Sasquatch are going about this in a backasswards way. To my mind it would be better to begin as simply an internet publication, with minimal costs, with an ambition to produce occasional printed specials. Concentrating on this would allow the website to be much more topical. Sooner or later someone is going to ask about whether an every six weeks edition of the Sasquatch is any worthwhile addition to a monthly edition of Briarpatch. I'll get a bit "political" here and point out that what I say is obvious to anyone who has had to operate in the 'real economy', but it is far less obvious to those who have come to depend upon grants (usually from government) that prop up projects that couldn't succeed on their own. This is one of the bad habits that has been inculcated by the sort of leftism that I dislike, and if I cannot convince those who hope for such grants of the immorality of what they do I may, at least, be able to convince others of its impracticality and unintended consequences. Too much ambition guarantees failure. Good luck to them anyways.

AMERICAN POLITICS/ECONOMICS:

THE MANAGERS GAIN;THE WORKERS PAY:

America is a land of myth, and one of its most enduring myths is that of equal opportunity, of rags to riches. Even in the distant past this was true only in an infinitesimal number of cases, as America had no less a class system than other countries. Today it is even less true as the vast majority of the GDP of the US is channeled through either government or corporations with dispersed stock ownership. Ah, but there are other ways to class power other than the antique image of the top hatted capitalist. The 'way of the manager' has come to replace that of the private owner throughout most of the world, and the USA is no exception. As the following item from the AFL-CIO Blog shows the managers have been quite successful during the past decade in advancing their position- at the expense of ordinary workers.

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CEOs Get One-Third of All Pay;

Bank of America Uses Taxpayer $$ for Lobbying

Two news items out today highlight how far the nation needs to go in re-balancing the economy toward working people.

First, Think Progress points to a Wall Street Journal analysis that shows more than one-third of all pay in the U.S. now goes to executives and other highly-paid employees.

Highly paid employees received nearly $2.1 trillion of the $6.4 trillion in total U.S. pay in 2007, the latest figures available. The compensation numbers don’t include incentive stock options, unexercised stock options, unvested restricted stock units and certain benefits(which would show even more dramatic inequality-Molly).

The Wall Street Journal based its analysis on Social Security Administration data, which doesn’t count billions of dollars more in pay that remain off federal radar screens that measure wages and salaries.

Next, it turns out that Bank of America, which received $45 billion in taxpayer-funded bailout support, has spent more than $1.5 million lobbying on Capitol Hill.

The Charlotte, N.C., company wants flexibility on spending the bailout funds and also wants to fend off restrictions on executive compensation, home mortgage lending and credit card fees. The bank also is lobbying on a consumer rights bill, on student lending issues, on a bill that would’ve allowed bankruptcy judges to alter mortgages and on a proposed federal regulatory oversight agency.

And none of its positions on any of these bills would help working families.

As we noted in April when we released the AFL-CIO Executive PayWatch data, the Bank of America lost nearly $2.4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008 due to deeper than expected trading and loan losses. Even after receiving billions of dollars in taxpayer money, the bank plans to eliminate up to 35,000 jobs over the next three years—but CEO Kenneth Lewis collected nearly $10 million in 2008, more than 400 times the average amount a bank teller is paid each year. Since becoming CEO in April 2001, Lewis received $134 million in pay, bonuses, stock awards and pension accruals.

As Think Progress notes, between 1979 and 2006, the inflation-adjusted after-tax income of the richest 1 percent of households increased by 256 percent, compared with 21 percent for families in the middle income quintile.

While U.S. worker productivity has skyrocketed over the past 30 years, wages have not kept pace.

America’s working middle class made it clear last November that they wanted change—and reshaping the nation’s economic framework to strengthen the middle class and close the wage disparity between the very top and the rest of us, is fundamental to that change.

HUMOUR/INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-NEW ZEALAND:

RONNIE COLLECTS CORPORATE WELFARE:

There's one thing about getting older that seems strange to me, and that is the bizarre assumption of many people that each year of sucking oxygen leads one to the conclusion that "there is nothing new under the sun". Personally I think this is due to a gradual sclerosis of the mind that goes along with increasingly poor eyesight and hearing, but is nowhere near as inevitable. For myself, as I approach the Geritol Generation, I continue to be amazed on an almost daily basis by the weirdness of the world. I don't know who said it, but the quote runs something like this, "the world is not only stranger than we imagine; it is actually stranger than we can possibly imagine".

Thus comes the following item from New Zealand via the Anarkismo website. The author is a "Barrie" who is a member of the New Zealand platformist group the Aotearoa Workers' solidarity Movement. The subject, you guessed it, McDonald's has managed to cash in on the present economic crisis by leeching "stimulus funding" from the New Zealand government in terms of subsidizing its hiring of workers at minimum wage. The whole idea is breathtaking in its stupidity from the point of view of everyone but McDonalds. One would be really hard put to try and imagine a greater waste of government money in terms of "value added". It actually goes beyond the image of digging holes and filling them in again because the expenditure is not "new money" but rather shifting disbursements from individual welfare or EI to the McDonald's corporation. It makes no sense from a Keynesian perspective, and it makes no sense from the perspective promotion of industry that has any multiplier effect or potential for innovation. Quite frankly the only thing I could compare it to in terms of sheer silliness would be the ranting that we anarchists all too often hear out of the USA by some down there who think that "civilization should be abolished". No doubt there is a certain amount of financial profit to be made out of that as well, but it pales beside the spectacle of Ronnie collecting welfare.

Here's the item from Anarkismo which approaches the matter in the only way that it could possibly be approached- by humour.

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Burgers & Circuses:
The New Zealand Government has announced that it will subsidise the Mc Donalds fast food chain for taking on young unemployed workers. In effect therefore the company is receiving corporate welfare, with the government acting as its Human Resources Dept. Below is a satirical response.

BURGERS & CIRCUSES

(Note: This is the script of a movie due to be played in your town in the near future.)

Scene: Clown in a loud suit stands outside a windswept and much repaired tent. The tent has a broken sign on it labeled ‘Job Circus’.

Promoter: “Roll up folks, roll up! Are you young and unemployed?”

Unemployed Youth: “Um yeah, I guess that would be me”

Promoter: “Looking for an exciting career with a stable and dynamic employer? Need some help getting started?”

Unemployed Youth:” Stable and dynamic eh? That sounds good. The help thing would be great too.”

Promoter: “Step this way. Enter the tent and wonders await you”

Scene: The unemployed youth enters the tent. The promoter smiles as a government car pulls up.

Promoter: [laughing]: “Pulled in another sucker”

Government Minister: “Great! Here’s your $16,000. You’re doing a great job there Ronald…keep it up mate”

Scene: Inside the tent. The youth is given a uniform, name badge and mop.

Promoter: “Ok kid, get pushing on the mop, it’s your new friend so use it well. Anybody out front sees you, don’t forget to smile, this is show business remember! If you do well, we’ll have you out on the counter selling cheap nutritious circus food in colourful packages in no time.”

Scene: Next day at a Parliamentary media conference.

Government Minister: “In these difficult times the government appreciates the need to maintain productivity and has a commitment to investing in the future. We want a well trained and highly skilled workforce that can compete with the rest of the world. We have therefore entered into a partnership with a great circus promoter. We will give them money, they will employ new staff and the economy will get a boost. Everybody wins!”

Skeptical Voice: “But do we really need more circuses? Wouldn’t we be better off with new schools, hospitals, roads and stuff? Why does the circus need our money to do it anyway? They aren’t exactly poor!”

Minister: “We’re all in this together and you can’t get circus monkeys without paying for peanuts you know! Anyway, moving on…”

Scene: 89 days later inside the tent.

Promoter: “What do you mean you want a living wage, the work is repetitive and unrewarding, you are rostered to work at odd times and the food is crap anyway? You’re not a team player are you? How can we keep this place stable and dynamic with your negative attitude?!”

Youth: “Well, um, this circus stuff isn’t exactly what you made out it would be”

Promoter: “Yeah, unhappy eh? Hit the road. You’re outta here! And don’t steal the mop or touch the cycling monkeys on the way out!”

Scene: Outside the tent it’s cold and windy. A governmental car speeds by with its occupants in good spirits.

Government Minister: ”Nice one Ronald. Would you like to upsize your champagne? Need more money? Need more suckers?”

Promoter: “Don’t mind if I do. Anything to help the economy you know!”

Window winds down as the car speeds past newly unemployed youth. Minister pulls out megaphone.

Minister: “Hi! Don’t forget, we’re working for you, so remember to vote next election!”

Mud splashes upwards into youths face.

Screen fades to black.

END