INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-GREECE:

TENSIONS RISE ONCE MORE IN GREECE:

The new socialist (PASOK) government of Greece is giving early signs of following in the footsteps of its conservative predecessor in terms of its repressive actions towards various social movements. Coming to power upon a cloud of vague generalities about a better deal for the Greek working class PASOK has had to face several militant strikes, each of which makes to more apparent than the last that the new government has few fiscal resources with which to grant any great concessions. As to immigrants and the extra-parliamentary left (of which anarchists make up a large proportion) there is even less likelihood of anything but feel good words. The following story from the LibCom website tells the story of an event that sparked the most recent clashes, the police raid on a book launch of all things.

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POLICE RAIDS BOOK PRESENTATION IN ATHENS WITH SCORES DETAINED:
Police forces invade Exarcheia and raid a book presentation in Athens, leading to scores of detentions, amongst which was a leading historical figure of the anti-dictatorship struggle.

The police raid on Exarcheia in the evening of Wed. 21/10 came as a total surprise. Government sources are claiming it was a result of an attack with rocks against a foot patrol in the outskirt of the area. This claim remains unverified and disputable.

The occupation army, as the locals call the riot police, entered by any possible route with menacing intentions. For reasons still unclear 50 plain-clothed policemen wearing helmets invaded Floral, a newly re-opened historical cafe of the area, where a book presentation was being held with the presence of prominent writers, journalists and the leader of the Radical Left Coalition, Mr Tsipras. The cops proceeded to arbitrarily and indiscriminately arrest customers, amongst which was a well known left-wing journalist. According to eye witnesses the cops exited the building howling and posing with the victory finger-sign.

Just outside the cafe, on Exarcheia Square, the police also arrested Mr Papachristou, a symbol of the resistance to the Junta of the Colonels and the radio-voice of the Polytechnic Uprising in 1973 against the dictatorship. A State TV journalist who tried to film the arrest with his mobile phone has been also arrested.

As a first response to the unprecedented police attack, the arrest of Papachristou is estimated to be either a gross symbolic mistake on part of the Socialist, or the signal for a turn of the clock back to the darkest days of greek history.

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Well, something that appears to be concessionary has developed from the events in Exarcheia, as the following story also from LibCom details. But, as the story hints, the reason for the dismissal of the Greek chief of Police may have more to do with freeing up a perk for a supporter of PASOK rather than any sincere desire to control the often brutal Greek police.

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Chief of police resigns over book presentation raid in Athens:
The Chief of Police of Greece, Mr Tsiatouras, has resigned after the demand of the Minister of Public Order over the book presentation police raid in Athens, while thousands marched against the police-state imposed in the last 15 days in Exarcheia.

On Thursday 22/10 morning the Minister of Public Order Mr Chrisochoidis has demanded and got the resignation of the Chief of Police of Greece, Mr Tsiatouras, over the police raid of a book presentation the previous night that led to scores of detentions of unsuspecting citizens, amongst which Mitsos Papachristou, a leading figure of the resistance against the Colonels' Junta and the 1973 Uprising. Mr Chrisochoidis has apologised once more about the incident but his attitude has been received with mixed feelings as many see it as just a chance for him to get rid of a high ranking officer of the last government, and not a sincere move against police arbitrariness which if anything has skyrocketed since the new, Socialist, government was placed in charge of the country 15 days ago.

Mr Chrisochoidis is widely considered to be in a personal battle with the revolutionary and social antagonistic movement that has swept the country since the December Uprising in 2008. Having gone public in the last week claiming, on the one hand, that he is friends with anarchists (well yeah, I can see this. I don't chose my personal friends by politics either, but...politics are agreat way of predicting how people will act in certain situations-Molly ) and shares many of their ideas, and on the other hand that anarchists are simply "economic criminals hiding behind a quasi-ideological veil", his reliability is in serious doubt. His latest delusional statement is that "the police will remain in Exarcheia till the last hooligan is routed", the word hooligan referring to anarchists, leftists and other radical groups which have made the particular city quarter a most vibrant center of cultural, political and social creativity and critique in the last half century.

At the same time that the government is parading in TV channels trying to keep its propaganda machine oiled, thousands of protesters have taken to the streets of Athens against the police-state. The dynamic march which started from Exarcheia square made the circle of the historical centre of the capital past the Parliament and ended at Propylaea in front of the occupied University's Rector Headquarters. During the march police presence was particularly discreet.

Lawyers of the Legal Support Association have strongly condemned the government of installing a police-state in Exarcheia, bringing back not just memories but concrete practices of collective punishment of the 1960s dictatorship. The Association has publicly called for the resignation of the Minister who, it claimed, was out-of-the-law. Mr Mavridis, lawyer and anti-dictatorship veteran, has gone public saying that "if this situation continues, the government will be facing not just the youth but an older generation, ready for war and with a good knowledge of it".

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As far as I can determine the present socialist government of Greece has decided (wisely) to back down over these matters. They certainly have much more serious challenges, both economic and social, and a much more serious potential opposition should they be unable to mollify the Greek working class. Greece may be unique in the modern world in that, while the majority of Greek anarchists do not agree with insurrectionist ideology (which is far too often merely bastardized Maoism), that there has been a decades long tradition of petty terrorism that has never destabilized the Greek state (nor in reality can it ever do such a thing ) nor led to enough of a repressive response that would end it. Greece has learned to live with this petty terrorism, and the Greek anarchist movement has been continually growing and exploring alternatives to this 'anarcho-Maoism'. These alternatives have often been quite successful, as I can attest to from my own visit to Greece some years ago.

The last conservative government lost power for a number of different reasons. Its overwhleming corruption, a characteristic it shares with most "defenders of traditional morality" conservatives across the world, is only one reason. The other is that large numbers of ordinary Greeks believed that PASOK could actually protect them from the effects of the economic downturn- and were actually willing to do such a thing. As an ex-social democrat, however, Molly can testify that social democracy in power is the Mr. Hyde to social democracy in opposition's Dr. Jekyll. There are structural reasons why this will always be the same. The final article below, once more from LibCom gives at least an outline of the disgraceful history of PASOK in Greece. It's good reading, and all that I can say is that it should have included a much longer section on PASOK's betrayal of the aspirations of ordinary people and not just their repressive actions towards those who are to the left of their party.

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Change in khaki: a very Socialist repression looms in Greece:
Continuing waves of mass police operations in down town Athens set the pace for new era of repression in Greece.

Everyone thought it was just a show of power - but it proved to be the Socialist government's plan for "change" after 5 years of brutal right wing rule.

The police invasion of Exarcheia, the Athens alternative-radical hub, on the early hours of Friday 9 October was evaluated by most journalists, activists and veteran politicians as a power-show of the new government, in response to a limited solidarity attack against banks in the area just out of Exarcheia earlier the same day. Minister of Public Order Mr Chrisochoidis, the notorious anti-terrorist mastermind of the last Pasok administration, appeared to many as just typically determined to show who is the new boss. But the continuing waves of police invasion (3 by Friday 19:00 pm) into an area which is commonly acknowledged as the most vibrant intellectual, student and political hub of the country, with hundreds of people stopped and checked, many manifold times in the same day, shops stormed, and locals humiliated by being made to kneel on the pavement and body-searched, has come to prove the new government's self-professed "antiauthoritarianism" a bitter joke.

Pasok, the Panhellenic Socialist Movement, now in power has a long record of police brutality. In its first 8 years of rule, the "democratisation of the police" was revealed as a sham with the execution of 15 year old anarchist Michalis Kaltezas in November 17 1985 during the usual protest marches commemorating the 1973 Polytechnic uprising. The identification of Pasok with police rule at the time was reflected in a popular slogan about the chief of the Athens police: "Change cannot happen without Arkoudeas; he is not a man, he is an idea!". In the second round of Pasok rule from 1993 to 2004, the Socialists gave away any remaining scruples by ordering the evacuation of the Polytechnic on November 17 1995, breaking for the first time the academic asylumtime since the student massacre of 1973, with 500 people arrested. Also under the 1990s Pasok administration the Golden Dawn, the infamous neo-nazi organisation of thugs, was allowed to form a paramilitary unit and participate in the Serbian sacking of Srebrenica, and the consequent massacre of thousands of muslims.

The new Pasok administration under Papandreou the third (son of Andreas Papandreou, founder of Pasok, and grandson of George Papandreou, the PM who led the British tanks against the people of Athens in December 1944) has assumed an antiauthoritarian gloss of postmodern proportions. The PM has called his government "antiauthoritarians in power" whereas Mr Chrisochoidis has gone public today saying that he is good friend with many anarchists and agrees on many things with them - pointing out that he is against vandals not political groups. Mr Chrisochoidis also claimed that from now on no police violence will be tolerated and any cop who brutalises citizens or has connections with the Golden Dawn will be immediately sacked. These official announcements have received great media coverage but also the scorn of people whose memory is not too short to remember Mr Chrisochoidis's 2002 chemical torture of Savas Xiros, the first arrested member of the urban guerrilla group November 17.

INTERNATIONAL POLITICS-HONDURAS:

MERCS IN HONDURAS:

The following exposé comes from the pages of the Axis of Logic website. This site is a quite interesting left wing news service. Even if I am less sanguine than the author is about the moral virtues of leftist regimes in power in Latin America there is no doubt that the 'other side' is brutal beyond measure. Here's the story.

P*P*P*P*P*P*P*P*
Honduran Coup Regime and Landowning Elites Enlist the Support of Foreign Paramilitaries:

By Reed M. Kurtz
NACLA
Saturday, Oct 24, 2009
Even more evidence has come to light regarding the desperation and disregard for human rights of the Honduran coup regime and its elite backers. On Friday, October 9 a United Nations human rights panel issued a warning concerning the presence of contracted foreign paramilitary forces operating inside the troubled country. According to the UN Working Group on the use of mercenaries, an estimated 40 members of the infamous United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) have been hired by wealthy Honduran landowners to defend themselves "from further violence between supporters of the de facto government and those of the deposed President Manuel Zelaya."

As Zelaya's Foreign Minister Patricia Rodas notes, it is widely believed that these mercenaries are being used to "do the dirty jobs that the armed forces refuse to do." In addition, the panel established direct links between President Roberto Micheletti's coup-installed government and foreign paramilitaries, stating that an additional group of 120 hired soldiers from several countries throughout the region had been created to provide support for the coup regime. This report confirms allegations made by the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo back in September.

Noting that Honduras is a signatory to the international convention against the use of mercenaries, the panel, comprised of a diverse array of security and human rights experts, expressed its deep concern and called upon the Honduran golpistas to take action against the use of paramilitaries inside Honduran territory. In response, Micheletti rejected the allegations, denying any recruitment of paramilitaries for protection.

This report represents yet another condemnation from the international community of the de facto Honduran government and offers further evidence of the degree to which Micheletti's regime and its supporters have undermined democracy and human rights in the region. The AUC, essentially an umbrella organization of various right-wing death squads, many of which also collaborate with Colombian drug traffickers, is one of the region's most notorious paramilitary organizations and is classified as a terrorist group by the U.S. State Department. Supposedly "demobilized" in 2006, the AUC has largely continued to carry out its drug-dealing activities and campaign of violence and intimidation against campesinos, indigenous peoples, stigmatized social groups such as homosexuals and prostitutes, labor organizers, critical journalists, and human rights advocates.

The AUC has also been directly and indirectly linked to numerous powerful elites and business interests in Colombia, including many close to President Álvaro Uribe's administration, and is said to operate "parallel" to the Colombian military. (See "Country Summary: Colombia." Human Rights Watch. January 2008.) The AUC usually presents itself as an alternative to the leftist guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). It targets many left-leaning groups, which it generally refers to as "FARC sympathizers," a characterization often repeated by Uribe himself and by members of his government, in order to discredit those groups and justify the brutal activities of the AUC. Above all, however, most of those targeted by the AUC are chosen precisely because their efforts on behalf of social justice and their resistance to neoliberal policies are in direct opposition to the interests of the AUC's elite backers.

Accordingly, the linkages connecting the Honduran military regime, powerful members of the country's landed elite, and right-wing Colombian paramilitaries are extremely troubling but not altogether surprising. Back on July 4, before any evidence of direct collaboration with Colombian narco-terrorists had emerged, journalist Al Giordano noted that the Honduran regime was in the process of making itself into a "rogue narco-state," shutting itself off from the international community while allying with the most shadowy and reactionary sectors of the Latin American right. Among its prominent supporters have been Rafael Hernández Nodarse, a millionaire arms trafficker with ties to Cuban terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, and Otto Reich, a Washington super-hawk who played a prominent role in Iran-Contra affair. All these parties share an agenda of preserving unjust wealth and resource distributions while waging total war against social democracy using any means necessary. Honduras merely represents the most recent arena in which this war is being waged.

The right's problem with Zelaya has never been that he tried to reform his country's deeply flawed constitution ("the worst in the world," according to Costa Rican President Óscar Arias), but because, according to Micheletti himself, he "became friends with Daniel Ortega, Chávez, Correa, Evo Morales. ... He went to the left." In other words, Micheletti is using the same tactics of "guilt by association" that his AUC allies use to justify their violence, only this time the "guilt" consists of association with other popular, democratically elected heads of state in the region. Nevertheless, the message and the effect are still the same: If you oppose us, and what we stand for, we will take you down with force.

But whereas the reactionary elites in the region are disposed to using violence, intimidation, and the contracting of paramilitaries to impose their will, those on the Latin American left, the people for whom Morales, Chávez, and Zelaya are merely elected representatives, have increasingly turned to strategies of nonviolence, popular organization, and civil resistance in their struggles for justice and democracy. The degree to which the popular left—and its leaders—continue to adhere to the values of peace, justice, and solidarity will ultimately decide whether or not the popular movement achieves its goals, not only here and now in Honduras, but in all of Latin America.
North American Congress on Latin America

INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-POLAND:

PROTEST AGAINST US VP VISIT TO POLAND:

Ah, the joys of 'Imperialism-Lite'. The new Democratic Administration in the USA is gradually creeping up to its first year in power, and very little has changed in terms of US policy towards the rest of the world. Yeah, President Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize despite the fact of having accomplished nothing. America's two foreign wars continue and will do so for the foreseeable future. The immovable object of Israeli/Palestinian peace remains just as unachievable as it has been for decades. No doubt others have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for empty words, but this may be most glaringly empty award in history. Meanwhile the one substantial change in US policy ie backing down from an anti-missile system in eastern Europe may not be as substantial as its appears, as the following story hints at.

The following came to Molly's attention via the A-Infos website. It is originally from the Polish anarchist news site Centrum Informacji Anarchistycznej.

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Poland, NO TO PATRIOTS! Anarchist Antimilitarist Action During Biden's Visit to Warsaw:

On Oct. 21, US Vice-President Joe Biden visited Poland as part of a four-day visit to Central Europe and the Balkans meant to seal various sorts of military deals in the region. The Campaign Against Militarism protested during his visit with the Prime Minister.

---- Before the protest, one activist accidentally met Biden on the way to an announced trip to the monument of the Heros of the Warsaw Ghetto and came within arms reach of the VP with a banner reading "No Patriot Missiles". Poland is trying desperately to obtain Patriot Missiles. Previously the US had offered its ass-licking ally only training versions of the missiles, without any real warheads.

---- Upon arrival at the Prime Minister's Office, the police, secret service, etc. etc., tried to detain the first protester and claim that there could be no protest.

The person naturally refused to be led to the police wagon and journalists became interested in this action. When more people arrived, the police tried parking police vans in front of the protesters, which, although a decidedly modest group of people, were apparently not to be shown to the US Vice President or the media. The police also tried to block the banner, but one person jumped out around them with another banner. All the time the police were harassing and trying to block the protesters, which pissed one journalist off so much that he called the police headquarters complaining. Journalists also had reasons to be pissed off: the government announced that yes, they can go to a "press conference" with Mr. Biden - but nobody would be allowed to ask any questions.

And there are lots of questions to be asked. Nobody knows much about the SM3 IB, the version of anti-ballistic missile which Poland may receive sometime after 2018 since it is still in testing. Nobody knows about the warheads on the ten Patriot missiles Poland is supposed to get (at a cost of 300 million dollars for just the missiles) or what exactly the US soldiers at the military base scheduled to open next year in Poland really will be doing. And nobody knows for sure what America's missile defense plans in the region really are.

Eventually the cops had to leave the protesters alone.

In the meanwhile, the case of some people arrested in Slupsk in March 2008 after a demonstration against the planned missile shield is finally in court. So far, people are only denied the charges; witnesses will be heard next week.

Leaflet: No to Patriots!

The Campaign Against Militarism strongly protests against the location of Patriot and SM3 IB rockets in Poland. All of these rockets, regardless of their kind, are instruments of war and imperialist politics. War is killing in the interest of governments, power elites and business. In wars the ruling classes always win, and normal people always lose.

The military policy of the USA has for a long time rested on the promotion of the arms industry, to profit corporations. Wars are conducted ensure corporate profit, foreign governments are overthrown for the same reasons. The Polish government, supporting the military adventures of the ISA like the wars in Afghanistan or Iraq often says outright that they are in it for the profit (for example for contracts in Iraq), or for strengthening their relations with the USA. We oppose Poland's participation in these criminal campaigns,

No to Polish and American Imperialism!

No to Pro-War Manipulation!

No War for Profit!

No More Hate Wars!

Campaign Against Militarism

http://cia.bzzz.net/no_to_patriots_antimilitarist_action_during_bidens_visit_to_warsaw

LOCAL EVENTS-WINNIPEG:

START YOUR OWN COPWATCH:

The following is from the Winnipeg Copwatch group. The group is hoping that others here in Winnipeg will imitate their initiative, and thus they are offering what is basically a DIY workshop on watching the conduct of the police. Here's the announcement.

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Start Your Own Copwatch - Workshop

As Part of Indigenous Sovereignty Week:
Host:
Winnipeg Copwatch - est. 2006
Date:
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Time:
5:00pm - 7:00pm
Location:
MERC
Street:
430 Langside
City/Town:
Winnipeg, MB
Description
5PM: Winnipeg Copwatch will be hosting "Start your own Copwatch" Magnus Eliason Recreation Centre, 430 Langside

Police Brutality and systemic/Institutional racism are a daily reality for Indigenous and non-indigenous peoples in Winnipeg and around the world. Police forces exist as forces of occupation of land stolen or misappropriated by governments for the benefit of the elite settler population.

Copwatching as a response to police brutality, racism and colonization can be a useful tool and skill to have when searching for self-determination of your reserve, neighbourhood or community.

Copwatch is offering this workshop on starting your own copwatch as non-indigenous supporters of Indigenous sovereignty week.

CANADIAN LABOUR/CANADIAN POLITICS:
NORTEL PENSIONERS DEMONSTRATE IN OTTAWA:
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The Golden Boy of Canadian business, Nortel, is all washed up. The vultures are circling, and it's all down to who actually gets some money off the deadbeat. As per usual it is workers and former workers who will get the short end of the stick as the benefits for which they traded the cold hard cash of wage increases are as worthless now as a politician's promise. Last Wednesday, October 21, retirees from Nortel and their labour supporters demonstrated in Ottawa because the pension obligations of companies that go bankrupt are, by law, well behind the payouts to other creditors. This hardly seems just as the workers of such companies are definitely the least able of all creditors to absorb the loss. In a climate where business bankruptcies are becoming increasingly common the question of pension guarantees has become an increasingly important one for labour. Here's a story from the CEP Union website about the demonstration.

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Nortel pension rally draws 4,000:

OTTAWA (October 21, 2009) – CEP members were among the 4,000 workers and retirees who converged on Parliament Hill today to send the federal government a message that it needs to act now to change the legislation that sets out who gets paid when companies file for bankruptcy protection.










Thousands of CEP members are worried about their pension plans following bankruptcy filings by AbitibiBowater, Fraser Papers and Canwest. As it stands now, when an employer files for protection under the CCAA, workers go to the back of the line, behind other creditors, like banks and suppliers.










The demonstration was organized by Nortel retirees and former employees, who were joined by members of CEP, the CAW, Teamsters Canada and the Congress of Union Retirees.










“It’s important that the government understands that Nortel workers do not stand alone on this issue,” President Coles told the crowd. “Everyone who gets or is expecting a pension should be concerned…. And we are not just complaining,” he said. “We have been trying for months to get decision makers in the federal government to sit down with us and listen to our solutions, but they have refused.”For more information on Labour’s pension campaign and CEP’s proposal for a Pension and Investment Fund, click here.

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And here's another story, this time from CTV Toronto, about the demonstration.

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Nortel pensioners protest bankruptcy laws in Ottawa:
CTV.ca News Staff
Former Nortel employees gathered on Parliament Hill to ask for government help to ensure they continue receiving pension and disability payments - regardless of what happens to the beleaguered telecommunications firm.










Organizers said ex-Nortel employees were bussed in from Montreal and Belleville to attend the demonstration, which took place at noon on Wednesday. They were accompanied by Canadian Auto Workers union members and leaders from several federal opposition parties.










The protesters are seeking amendments to national bankruptcy laws. Their goal is "to give pensioners and people affected by the Nortel insolvency a higher priority ranking in the bankruptcy courts," Don Sproule, chairman of the national committee for Nortel pension plan members, told CTV News Channel on Wednesday.










Nortel filed for bankruptcy protection in January. Since then it's been selling off assets. And in June, the company's shares were delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange.










Former employees say their pensions are less than 70 per cent covered because the company is in bankruptcy proceedings.










Pensions are a provincial responsibility in Canada. But bankruptcy laws are federal, and the protesters say their pension and disability payments are not protected under the current legislation.










"Right now, unsecured bond holders are treated the same as Canadian seniors who have pensions from their employers," said Diane Urquhart, a financial adviser who has been working with ex-Nortel workers.










Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe, NDP leader Jack Layton and Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff were expected to join the protest.










Speaking earlier on Wednesday, Ignatieff said he wanted to thank the Nortel pensioners "for stepping up and making the question of pension security, particularly the question of pension security in the case of bankruptcy, the national issue that it's become."










Ignatieff pledged to work with the group to change federal bankruptcy laws to "make sure this kind of thing never happens again to another Canadian."










Sproule said Nortel is paying out around an average of $12,000 per year for unionized former employees. Former white-collar employees receive approximately $22,000 a year.










"So you take a 30 per cent haircut off that, and it's going to leave people in real hardship, in possible poverty and having to sell their house," he said.










Nearly 20,000 workers have been affected by Nortel's financial troubles, according to Sproule. About 17,500 are pensioners. Another 2,000 were let go without severance, and 450 remain on long-term disability from the company.










"The feds like to talk about how sound our financial system is and how we weathered the financial crisis today because of sound legislation," Sproule said.










"I don't think anyone was watching the store in terms of what was happening to pension plans. This dirty little secret's been going on for a long time. It's only the high-profile cases like Nortel that are causing the issue to percolate to the top again."

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All of the opposition parties claimed sympathy with the demands of the pensioners, though, from Molly's point of view, this "sympathy" is to taken with a grain of salt.neither the Bloc nor the NDP have any expectations of forming a government and actually having to pay the costs of their promises. As for the Liberals their "sincerity" is best estimated by the fact that they have been in power more often than not in the past half century, and when they were in power this sort of issue was always a non-starter.









Pension reform in Canada is long overdue, and there is much more to it than changing the preferences of creditors in the event of bankruptcy, important as that may be. There is a group called the Congress of Union Retirees of Canada that has been organized to look at the larger picture and pressure for a more thorough going reform of our pension system than simply safeguarding pensions in bankruptcy situations. I reproduce a brief excerpt from their position paper below to give a flavour of what they are asking. To read much more about their positions go to their website.

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CONGRESS OF UNION RETIREES DEMANDS:

The Congress of Union Retirees of Canada commits to play a leading role not only in defending what we have gained for ourselves but as important to build on that base in a way that future generations will be able to retire in dignity. To that end, we will lobby governments at the national and provincial level:
1. To hold a national summit on pensions with the full participation of all stakeholders including pensioners.
2. To increase CPP and QPP from 25% to 50% of the average industrial wage
3. To oppose changes in CPP and QPP that would increase the penalty for early retirement.
4. To amend legislation so that pension funds can build up surpluses greater than 110% of expected needs and thereby be better able to deal with market fluctuations, inflation and increased life expectancy.
5. To set up pension guarantee fund(s) nationally and or provincially to cover up to at least $2,500 per month in event of bankruptcy or workplace closure.
6. To raise the GIS by 15% to increase the incomes of the poorest seniors by up to $110 per month.
7. To pass legislation to require participation of retirees in the governance of their pensions.

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An interesting set of proposals, some of them more praiseworthy than others and some more practical than others. The idea of the federal Liberals actually agreeing to such things when in power is, of course almost as absurd as the idea of the present Conservative government ding the same thing. I personally find the last proposal the most interesting and the most in line with a transition to a more libertarian society, though I am at a loss as to the details of what forms such "participation" would take. The proposals are, at least, something concrete, and it is too my sadness that we anarchists have paid little (none???) attention to such issues, beyond referring all solutions to the never-never land of "after the revolution". Hopefully this will be different in the future as the anarchist movement continues to mature.

AMERICAN POLITICS:

TREAT IMMIGRANTS FAIRLY:

The following item from the Jobs With Justice Coalition is for our American readers as it is an appeal to the US Congress that those of us out here in the colonies cannot participate in. If the quality of a society can be judged by how it treats its most vulnerable members then American society has had a failing grade for some time now, and there are, unfortunately, those who want to perpetuate this state of affairs. There are, however, other Americans who see justice and compassion as part of their national heritage, and the following appeal is from one such group.

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Tell Congress: Treat Immigrants Fairly in Health Reform:‏
First our political leaders said health care reform would cover everyone. Now we hear that Congress is considering barring legal immigrants from health reforms that would enable low and moderate income families to secure affordable coverage.

As the House of Representatives moves to finalize its health reform legislation this week, immigrants continue to be left out. As it stands now, most recent legal immigrants are forced to wait 5 years to use Medicaid, Medicare, and CHIP, even though they pay the same taxes as citizens to support these programs.

Your voice is needed to urge the House of Representatives to act right now to give immigrants a fair opportunity for affordable health insurance. You can take action on this alert via the web at:

http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/immigranthealth/wukd7sd927eiw5ij?

Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this.

http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/immigranthealth/forward/wukd7sd927eiw5ij?

We encourage you to take action by November 30, 2009

Tell Congress: Treat Immigrants Fairly in Health Reform

INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPOND VIA THE WEB:

If you have access to a web browser, you can take action on this alert by going to the following URL:

http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/immigranthealth/wukd7sd927eiw5ij?

Your letter will be addressed and sent to:Your Congressperson

----THIS LETTER WILL BE SENT IN YOUR NAME----

Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],

Legal immigrants and citizens should be treated equally under health reform. End the five year waiting period for legal immigrants in Medicaid, Medicare, and CHIP.

----END OF LETTER TO BE SENT----

BLOGGING:

HERE AT MOLLY'S BLOG:

It is about time for one of my 'interum reports'. Molly is very pleased that her readership has increased by about 50% in the last few months, for no reason that I can particularly identify. It says to me that my efforts are at least a little bit worthwhile, even if I know that about 160 people a day dropping by to read these examples of great literature is not exactly a "great public influence". All that being said here are a few comments and announcements.

First of all I'd like the readers to be aware of 'Molly's Suggestions Box' (see our link on the main page). This is your forum to comment on Molly's Blog ie what we should cover, what we are missing and what you would like to see in the future. Please feel free to put your general comments there. I am also trying to revive 'Molly's Polls', though I am often at a loss as to what questions to ask. Once more feel free to give your suggestions in Molly's Suggestion Box.

Molly's Blog has always tried to have a "balance" of items, both in terms of geography (local-Winnipeg/Manitoba, Canadian, American and generally international) and in terms of subject matter (labour, community, specifically anarchist, scientific, personal freedom, humour, etc). There have undoubtedly been times when I have "strayed" into concentration on one or the other of these areas. I don't think there is any general solution to this problem, though I feel that the lack of recent scientific posts is a problem. To a large degree I give priority to those who communicate directly with me by email, and I also give priority to solidarity appeals. Within these priorities there is far more that I miss than I can cover. This is no reflection on the importance of a given item; it is merely the way that certain things "come up" on a given day.

This "priority" extends to the occasional items that I translate from (usually) French or (occasionally) Spanish. I receive items from the French CNT-F regularily and the Spanish CGT sporadically. Translations take me a hell of a lot of time as I am usually consulting both online translation services and my own Larousses. This means that I end up doing far less than I would like to or that the subjects deserves. This is especially important here in Canada where my translations of matters from Québec have been far less than I would like. Unfortunately nobody else is stepping up to the plate, aside from the unfortunately limited situation where francophones translate their matters into English. That's life in Canada I guess.

Perhaps the subject matter of this blog is often a bit too varied. I am not, however, likely to narrow it in the near future. This blog is not only a method political argument. It is also meant to be fun, at least for me, and I'll be damned if I'm going to sacrifice that. Here's hoping for a good fourth year of Molly's Blog.

CANADIAN LABOUR-AIR CANADA:

AIR CANADA PENSION DEAL REACHED:

This country's perpetually floundering air carrier, Air Canada, has reached an tentative deal with the five unions that represent its employees (CAW, CUPE, IAMAW, the Air Canada Pilots Association and the Canadian Airline Dispatchers Association) over the long festering matter of the airline's pension obligations. Air Canada, of course, should stand as the eternal poster child for the reality that ideologues of both the right and the left can never admit ie that some outfits will be woefully mismanaged no matter whether they in private or public hands.

The matter of the pensions was merely another of a seemingly endless string of near death experiences that have threatened to throw Air Canada into bankruptcy over the years. The deal agreed to by the unions has all the odour of a "making due with a bad situation". See Molly's comments at the end of this article. For now, here's the story from the CBC.

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Air Canada workers to be shareholders after pension deal:
The Canadian Press
Unionized employees at Air Canada are about to become shareholders with a 15 per cent stake in the airline, for agreeing to a year-and-a-half pension moratorium.

The Montreal-based airline plans to issue more than 17.6 million class B shares next week to a new trust, on behalf of its Canadian-based unions.

The issued shares are part of an agreement struck in June, in which workers accepted a 21-month moratorium on past service contributions to their pension plans, and $550 million in payments due between 2011 and 2013.

Air Canada said the class B shares won't "materially affect control" of the airline.

As part of the deal, the airline's unions will have the right to designate one member of Air Canada's board of directors ,as long as the trust holds at least two per cent of the outstanding class A and B shares.

That appointee cannot be a member or officer of any of the unions.

Air Canada's class B shares were unchanged at $1.44 in trading Monday on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

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MOLLY NOTES

On the surface of it the above may seem like just the sort of thing that anarchists like Molly and other libertarian socialists advocate ie that ownership of enterprises should be transferred to those who work in them. In actual fact it is the furthest thing from such, and is likely to be a bad deal in general in addition. Let's look at a few of the points raised by the article above.

First of all it has to be admitted that the unions involved have been bargaining "under the gun", as the political climate nowadays is such that our present government seems more than willing to let an enterprise such as Air Canada go into bankruptcy. From the perspective of national interest such enterprises as Nortel (especially) and much of the auto industry in Ontario are much more important than Air Canada, but the Conservative Harperites have been more than willing to see them go under or be seriously pared. There is also no doubt that Air Canada which has been teetering on the verge on insolvency for many years now is actually in danger of having to really bite the bullet at the present time. All that being said is this the best deal that could have been obtained ? Will the full implications of this deal be presented to the memberships of the unions who negotiated the agreement ? Will the members actually get to vote on the deal just as if it was an ordinary collective agreement ? I have serious doubts about all three questions.

What are these "class B" shares that are being talked about ? Class A shares, often referred to as "common shares" have voting rights at stockholders' meetings. Class B (there are other classes, but let's leave that complication aside for now) may have different voting rights. They may have more weight than common shares, but quite often these "preferred shares" (a misnomer if there ever was one) have no voting rights. That seems to be the case in the context of this deal, if one is to believe the statement of Air Canada management as to how these shares won't "materially affect control of the airline". It seems that, just to make sure this is the case, that the deal contains two extra provisos. One is that the shares will be held "in trust" so that their disposition will be out of the control of the unions involved, let alone the membership of said unions. The second proviso is that the lone board member to be appointed by the unions (dollars to dimes this will be from the Pilots' Association) cannot have any formal connection with the unions involved. This assures that only the friendliest (to management) director possible will eventually be appointed, especially as the wheeling and dealing amongst the five unions assures the maximum possible disorder on the part of labour.

The opinion of anarchists, libertarian socialists, those who believe in a "cooperative" form of socialism and those socialists who have finally (after so much historical failure) been weaned from their statism and belief in government owned enterprise about such things is that both formal ownership but especially real control should be transferred from management to democratic bodies of people who actually work in an enterprise. Political differences amongst this group of people revolve around the "speed" of this transfer and the "completeness" of same. Anarchists are at one extreme pole is saying the speed should be 'as fast as possible" and the extent should be "complete".

This deal doesn't even give the union bureaucrats involved any control (aside from haggling over which friend of theirs will receive the perk of a directorship), let alone the ordinary worker. That might be tolerated if the unions involved had been honest about what they were doing. If you want to give Air Canada a loan then honestly admit that is what you are doing- giving Air Canada a loan- and haggle about the best terms of the loan. Unions have done such things before for business, and they have often negotiated better deals than this.

Let's go back to the terms of the shares. Because the shares involved have no voting rights they have no control over future decisions on the part of management to "dilute" their value by issuing further shares. In other words each and every issue of further shares on the part of Air Canada will reduce the value of said shares by a corresponding ratio of the old number divided by the new number. These class B shares have no voting rights about whether such offerings will be put forward. It gets worse. Most class B shares have "back end loads" as opposed to the "front end loads" of class A shares. This means that all the fees of purchasing and selling such shares will happen when one attempts to sell such shares rather than when one purchases them. In other words the actual value of such shares is less than their real value by an uncertain number, depending upon future market conditions. The actual value of the shares in Air Canada is actually less than the book value that appears in the deal. Have these complications been explained to the membership of the unions involved ? I doubt it. Then there is the question of 'transferability'. Suppose that you are 40 years old and that you get laid off by Air Canada tomorrow in the name of 'efficiency'. Your pension benefits are being held "in trust" in an uncertain agreement (that may be changed at management's whim) for your former union with a corporation with an uncertain future. Does this say that the whole thing is "uncertain" to you ? What you have given up is a defined pension, with whatever uncertainty it may contain over transferability, for something that has two or three extra levels of uncertainty about it. If you are laid off do you still have any rights to the benefits, large or small as they may be, of the class B shares 20 years from now when you retire ? Who the hell knows. In the majority of cases probably not.

For purposes of comparison let's compare this Air Canada offer (and its acceptance on the part of the unions) to the West Jet Employee Ownership program. I do not intend to glorify the West jet program as an example of libertarian socialism in action. Its structure, along with its profit sharing plans, also solidify management control of the corporation, as surely (but with less hypocrisy) as the Air Canada/union agreement. Its greatest benefit to the ordinary worker, that his or her common (class A) shares are individually held and may be sold at any time after one year of holding, is also a guarantee of eternal management control in that the employee shares are dispersed and lack any mechanism of collective power to influence corporate policy. As a "gamble" it is, however, a better gamble as the employee is free to invest up to 20% of his or her salary in the 'stock option' to buy West jet stock, a sum that the company will match dollar for dollar in terms of real investment. Compare this to the Air Canada deal where employees are asked to give up benefits that they "thought" were their property for an uncertain return that they have no control of (they cannot sell out individually) and that they may not receive at all.

There are undoubtedly many other reasons why West Jet continues to make a profit, even in times of increased fuel prices and in times of recession. while Air Canada continues to lose money year after year. Their profit sharing agreement and their share options for employees are only two of these reasons, but they are important ones. Managerial caution in terms of expansion may be another very important factor. For most of us, Molly included, our acquaintance with airlines is only as customers. All that I can say from my flying experience is that the rather informal and non-hierarchical atmosphere os West Jet is a much more pleasant experience than flying via Air Canada. Christ on the Cross, they actually have humour. I know very well that simply giving employees latitude and a certain amount of freedom on the job is not the same as real workers' control. It still, however, is an advance. I would much rather fly West Jet, given a choice, than Air Canada, and the generally lower price is only one factor.

So what would I say in conclusion ? It would be my preference that ant such loan !!!!! to Air Canada would have been made under conditions of collective control by the membership of the unions involved ie that the shares would have been ordinary common shares vested in unions who had democratic voting procedures over their disposition. Barring that it would have been better that the loan granting procedure have been explicit and that better guarantees for the rights of the individual members would have been in place.

CANADIAN POLITICS-TORONTO:

OCAP'S FALL FIGHT BACK:
The following event notices are from the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP).
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[ocap] Fall Fight Back - October 23rd and November 5th:
JOIN US!‏:
Fall Fight Back
1) October 23rd: Mass OW/ODSP case action
2) November 5th Meal and March on the Financial District.
All Details are below.
GET INVOLVED!
OCAP Meets every other Monday - contact the office to meet up and get involved for these two important actions and beyond.
________________
1) Mass Case Action:
Come out and defend people on social assistance. Friday, October 23rd
From Downtown:
11:45 Meeting at Kipling Station
*Tokens Available through the Office
Atwell:
12.30 PM
North East Corner of Atwell and Dixon
Coming from downtown: meet inside Kipling Station at 11:45am (tokens provided)
Wilson:
Get on the bus at 2pm at:
- Jane and Finch
- Jane and Sheppard
- Falstaff
or, the corner of Jane & Wilson at 2:30pm




As a lead up to the November 5th Campaign for a Poverty Free Ontario Province-Wide Day of Action, OCAP, Jane Finch Action Against Poverty and a number of people on social assistance will be conducting 2 mass case actions on October 23rd at two of the most notoriously bad welfare offices in Toronto: Atwell and Wilson.




Today, more people than ever are being forced to live on welfare in Ontario. They face two major problems. First of all, the income they receive does not let them pay their rent and feed their families properly. Secondly, welfare offices like Atwell and Wilson do all they can to deny even the small benefits people are supposed to get. When they apply for Special Diet, Community Start Up and other benefits, they are denied their rights.
This must stop.
To the Government, we say "Raise Welfare Rates by 40% Right Now!"
To Toronto Social Services and its Atwell and Wilson Offices, we say, "Give people all they are entitled to and treat us with dignity and respect".
Come out and help us deliver this message and build an organization in our community that can force the Atwell and Wilson offices to stop the abuses it presently gets away with.
For more info contact the Ocap office: 416-925-6939
__________________
2) No More Band-Aids or Bail-Outs for the Rich
OCAP Meal and March on Financial District As part of the Campaign for a Poverty Free Ontario
Province-Wide Day of Action
___________________
Thursday, November 5th, 2009
1:30 pm
St. James Park (King St. East and Jarvis St.)
__________________
For years, they have been telling us no money exists for decent wages, proper housing, childcare, education or health care and, certainly, no money to ensure that poor people on assistance can pay the rent and eat properly. Yet when the banks and corporations ask for help, public money suddenly becomes available to them. Money that lines the pockets of CEO's while thousands are laid off, forced in to precarious work,or living in total poverty.




For poor people in Ontario, this economic crisis has rubbed salt in our wounds. We've been living with too little for far too long. This downturn is unfolding in a context where social supports have already been cut back and devastated. All three levels of government have made clear they will not put resources into social programs crucial to our survival. In fact, as the downturn cuts into revenues, governments will likely try to cut vital programs in order to balance their books. As this system moves into crisis, those in power move to profit once again at our expense.




This is capitalism's crisis - they broke it, and we’re not paying to fix it!




For the needs of poor and working class people, nothing will be provided unless we fight together. We should not wait for a corrupt and brutal system to fix itself, we should organize and fight to win real and just demands.




Join us on Thursday, November 5th!
We demand:
-Affordable and Accessible Housing: immediate increase to social housing and access to proper shelter supports
-Decent Income: immediate increase to Social Assistance by 40%, immediate increase to (Un)Employment Insurance and Minimum Wage
-Status for all immigrants and refugees: access to services without fear
-Justice For First Nations: stop economic warfare and recognize sovereignty
-Affordable and Accessible Education
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Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP)
416-925-6939
www.ocap.ca
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INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-MEXICO:
SUPPORT MEXICAN ELECTRICAL WORKERS:
In the middle of the night of Saturday, October 10, Mexican President Felipe Calderon send six thousand soldiers and paramilitary police to take over the state power company Luz y Fuerza. In the process it struck a blow against the independent and democratic union (most unions in Mexico are no such thing), the Mexican Electrical Workers' Union. Protests over this repressive move have been mounting both in Mexico where one demonstration drew over 150,000 people and in the rest of the world. Here is an appeal from the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) for a protest against this government action.
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Support Mexican electrical workers:
Please take a moment to write to the president of Mexico in support of 40,000 electrical workers at Luz y Fuerza del Centro.





The government of Felipe Calderon sent in federal police to occupy the company's facilities and issued a decree saying it planned to liquidate the company and fire its 40,000 workers, members of the Electrical Workers’ Union, one of Mexico’s oldest and most respected democratic unions.





For background, see: Mexican Government Seizes Power Plants, Liquidates Company, Fires Workers, Union in Jeopardy (Monthly Review)





The Maquila Solidarity Network is running an online action in support of the Mexican electrical workers.





Please take half a minute to fill in their online action and support freedom of association and economic rights for workers in Mexico.
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THE LETTER:

The link above directs you to THIS LINK from the Maquila Solidarity Network. Go there to send the following letter to the Mexican authorities. It should also be noted that this appeal was published earlier on the Winnipeg Wobbly Blog.

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Estimado President Felipe Calderon Hinojosa:
On behalf of [NAME OF YOUR ORGANIZATION]

I am writing to express our alarm and serious concern about your government’s decision to send in Federal Police to occupy the Luz y Fuerza del Centro facilities and to subsequently issue a decree expressing your government’s intent to liquidate the company and to dismiss its 40,000 unionized workers.





We are extremely concerned that your actions will result in the elimination of the Electrical Workers’ Union members' collective bargaining agreement which also represents 15,000 retirees. These actions are a clear indication that your government is determined to eliminate one of Mexico’s oldest and most respected democratic unions, and is prepared to violate recognized international labour standards in order to do so.





We would therefore strongly urge that your government do the following:
• Revoke the decree liquidating Luz y Fuerza del Centro;
• Respect the workers’ employment and labour rights;
• Respect the Mexican Electrical Workers’ Union’s collective agreement; and
• Unconditionally recognize the SME’s democratically elected union leadership and respect for the union’s autonomy.





Our organization and other organizations around the world will be closely monitoring your government’s actions in the coming period, and we urge you to fully respect the rights of the members of the Mexican Electrical Workers’ Union and negotiate in good faith with the elected leadership of the union for a just resolution to this dispute.
Respectfully,
[NAME/ORGANIZATION]
Copies to:
B. Fernando Gómez Mont, Home Secretary
B. Francisco Javier Lozano Alarcón, Labor Secretary
B. Francisco Ramírez Acuña, President of the Deputies’ Chamber Board
B. Carlos Navarrete Ruiz, President of the Senators’ Chamber Board Ministro Guillermo
I. Ortiz Mayagoitia, President Minister of the Supreme Court
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MORE BACKGROUND:
The online labour solidarity site Labour Start is covering reports about this story as then happen. Please go their for updates. In addition to the source that LS mentions above here is another, fuller description of the situation from the Axis of Logic site.
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Military and Federal Police Bust Mexican Electrical Workers Union:
By Kristin Bricker
My Word Is My Weapon
Thursday, Oct 15, 2009
Calderon Uses 6,000 Federal Agents to Fire Over 44,000 Luz y Fuerza Workers
In the middle of the night last Saturday, President Felipe Calderon sent six thousand soldiers and militarized Federal Police to take over state power company Luz y Fuerza installations in Mexico City and the states of Mexico, Puebla, Morelos, and Hidalgo. Immediately following the takeover, Calderon issued an executive order closing Luz y Fuerza. Because no law or decree can go into effect until it is published in the federal government's Official Diary of the Federation, the government published the executive order in a special edition of the Official Diary of the Federation to coincide with the military and police raids that closed Luz y Fuerza.





Mexican legal experts have criticized Calderon's action as illegal, unconstitutional, and "an excessive and abusive use of power" because he by-passed Congress when he decided to close Luz y Fuerza and deploy the military and police against workers.





The government's official justification for closing Luz y Fuerza is that the company's operating expenses exceed those of other state-owned companies. It claims its use of the military and militarized federal police was a pre-emptive strike: it wanted to prevent workers from striking, taking control of the facilities, and cutting off power in protest of the closing of Luz y Fuerza. However, a week prior to the police and military takeover, the union specifically stated in a press release that it had no intentions of striking nor cutting off power to electricity customers. However, Mexican Labor News & Analysis' Dan La Botz has a different perspective on the government's intentions:





This current threat is the latest in a series of attacks on the union by the government of Felipe Calderón.The Felipe Calderón administration, having spent three years trying to destroy the Mexican Miners and Metal Workers Union (SNTMMRM), has now opened a new front in its war on the working class. In September the government launched a multifaceted attack intended to destroy the Mexican Electrical Workers Union (SME) which has been at the center of resistance to its neoliberal programs.




The government's attack has several elements. First, the government is supporting a small dissident faction within the union, using that as an opportunity to meddle in the union's internal life with the goal of breaking its militant leadership. Second, the government, which is also the employer, has reduced the budget for the state-owned Central Light and Power Company (LFC). Third, the government is also calling for a change in company management and for the complete restructuring of the company.





La Botz also notes that the Mexican government officially refused to recognize the union's president, Martin Esparza Flores, following his recent re-election. According to La Botz,





In practice, these administrative procedures (which are nowhere found in Mexican labor law) are used against independent or democratic unions or against unions opposing government policies, and almost never against government backed, employer controlled or gangster-run unions. Without government approved and recognized officers, the union officials cannot engage in collective bargaining or other union activities, leaving the union officially leaderless.





With Luz y Fuerza officially non-existant, the governmental Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) has announced that it is sending thousands of its employees to run Luz y Fuerza until CFE can absorb Luz y Fuerza's operations entirely. Prior to the takeover, Luz y Fuerza ran electricity operations in central Mexico: in Mexico City and the states of Mexico, Puebla, Morelos, and Hidalgo. The CFE provided electricity to the rest of the country.





La Botz argues that the CFE takeover means that the independent and democratic 44,000-worker SME will be replaced by the government-controlled Sole Union of Mexican Electrical Workers (SUTERM), which represents CFE workers. In Mexico, government-controlled unions are the norm, and independent democratic unions are a rarity.




In an article written just before the military and police takeover of Luz y Fuerza, La Botz wrote:
Calderón's administration has two motives in its attack on the SME. First, it wants to break the SME because it has been the center of so many movements resisting the Calderón government, its neoliberal policies, and particularly its plans to privatize the petroleum and electric power industries. Second, Calderón wants specifically to privatize the electrical industry, including the Central Light and Power Company, and to do so it must break the power of the SME.





NAFTA Armed
While government officials have promised that they won't take advantage of the Luz y Fuerza takeover to privatize the electricity sector, the Calderon administration's political trajectory states otherwise.




The Calderon administration participated whole-heartedly in the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), a private sector strategy to expand and "arm" the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) without having to obtain domestic legislatures' approval. As of this past summer, the SPP is no longer an active initiative; however, several of the SPP's working groups, comprised of private sector industry leaders, will continue to meet. The North American Energy Working Group (NAEWG), for example, pre-dated the SPP by four years. It met within the SPP framework to develop and advance SPP energy policy and procedures. The NAEWG is likely to continue to operate in some form despite the SPP's official and indefinite "inactivity."




Indeed, despite the tabling of the SPP initiative, North American energy interests met over the summer to develop regional energy corridors that would increase the flow of energy from neighboring countries into the United States.




The SPP's view of energy management is clear. According to the SPP's "Prosperity Agenda," in order to "facilitate business," Canada, Mexico, and the United States must "strengthen North America's energy markets by working together, according to our respective legal frameworks, to increase reliable energy supplies for the region's needs and development." Energy, according to the SPP, rather can being used for human development (providing every citizen with electricity in their homes, for example), must increase the business sector's prosperity. Energy is a market, not a national resource.




The North American Competitiveness Council (NACC), which coordinated the SPP's working groups, stated one of its principle energy concerns in its initial recommendations. The NACC, which was comprised of equal numbers of private sector representatives from Mexico, Canada, and the US, wrote, "The prosperity of the United States relies heavily on a secure supply of imported energy."




What does the North American energy agenda mean for Mexico? In Mexico, a significant sector of the population does not have electricity and other basic utilities in their homes. Entire communities lack electric service. Some of Mexico's poorest indigenous communities pay some of the highest electricity rates on the North American continent.




Even though Mexico's electricity sector has not reached a basic level of functionality at the domestic level (electricity for every citizen), Mexican leaders have decided to enter into regional agreements such as Plan Puebla Panama (now the Mesoamerican Project) and the SPP, which aim to increase energy flows into the United States, not vice-versa.




Mexico's energy sector, as it is currently structured, runs entirely counter to the SPP's Prosperity Agenda. Mexico's energy companies are state-owned. Some energy sector unions, such as the Pemex oil workers union and the SME, have actively opposed the further privatization of the nation's energy resources, which is commonly considered to be an SPP goal in Mexico. La Botz notes that the SME formed the National Front Against Privatization. Pemex, on the other hand, recently (more or less) survived a Calderon initiative to privatize the Mexican oil sector.
Militarizing Mexican Life
Calderon's Saturday night invasion of Luz y Fuerza's facilities in the capital and four states is reminiscent of other recent joint police-military operations against drug cartels. Since Calderon deployed 40,000 soldiers and thousands of militarized Federal Police, one of the campaign's hallmark operations has been the sudden takeover of police stations in towns and cities where drug trafficking organizations are believed to have corrupted entire police forces. In these operations, soldiers and federal police surround a police station, relieve the local police officers of their duties, and occupy the building. When 6,000 soldiers and federal police suddenly invaded Luz y Fuerza's buildings and then occupied them to prevent the workers from retaking the facilities, one would have thought that Luz y Fuerza was a drug cartel's base of operations. But it wasn't.




Mexico is becoming increasingly militarized under the pretext provided by the war on drugs. Mexican citizens are becoming correspondingly desensitized to such blatant displays of state military power in the civilian realm. Mexico's Constitution expressly prohibits the military's use in times of peace; however, this was not Mexicans' principle criticism of the operation against Luz y Fuerza. Mexicans consulted by this reporter complained that the operation was a blow to the country's democratic unions, as well as a step towards privatization of the energy sector. When this reporter commented on the barbarity of deploying the military and riot police against a civilian union--one that wasn't even on strike, as if that were to justify such represion--the response was, "Tienes razon. You're right. I hadn't even considered that."




The use of the military and the Federal Police--who receive military training--against unions is fairly common in Mexico. The military and the Federal Police (formerly known as the Federal Preventive Police or PFP) have been deployed against striking miners and teachers. Likewise, in 2006 federal police violently put down social conflicts in Oaxaca and Atenco, both of which had their roots in labor disputes.




Both the Mexican Military and the Federal Police receive training, equipment, and armament from the United States government under the Merida Initative. The Merida Initiative is designed in part to carry out the Security and Prosperity Partnership's "Security Agenda."
My Word is My Weapon