CANADIAN LABOUR:

A UNION FOR FREELANCERS:

As the following article from the online newsmagazine Straight Goods says, "income and working conditions for independent writers, photographers and editors have declines dramatically over the past 30 years". In response such workers are beginning to organize into the Canadian Freelance Union, Local 2040 of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada. The founding convention is being held as we speak, all via the internet. Check out the union's website for more details. Here's the story from Straight Goods.

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Freelancers of Canada, unite!:
Canadian Freelance Union holds inaugural meeting online across the country.
from the Canadian Freelance Union
OTTAWA, ON, September 30, 2009 — ­ The Canadian Freelance Union's inaugural meeting of members will take place October 3, 2009. Charter Members from across the country will come together via webcast and online forums to take part in this historic event. The CFU is a new union for all independent communications professionals, be they freelance journalists, photographers, editors, online writers and web designers.





"The CFU is a new kind of union for the digital age," says Michael O'Reilly, CFU interim President. "We're harnessing online tools to organize our members, and to deliver the services they need."





Income and working conditions for independent writers, photographers and editors have declined dramatically over the past 30 years.





As a member of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, the CFU (CEP Local 2040) is organizing independent communications professionals into North America's first trade union for freelancers. The CEP is committed to building a strong collective voice for media freelancers and other independent communication professionals.





"The CEP is using our collective strength to help improve the working environment of all independent communications workers," says Peter Murdoch, CEP Vice-President (Media). "All workers, be they freelancers or staff, deserve to be treated with dignity and to receive fair compensation for their efforts. This is what the CFU is all about."





Income and working conditions for independent writers, photographers and editors have declined dramatically over the past 30 years. When factored for inflation, the typical freelancer now makes 35 percent of what they did three decades ago.





"It's like living on a fixed income for thirty years. Imagine living on the same amount you were getting paid in 1979. That's the reality of today's working freelancer," says O'Reilly. "The CFU is working to bring balance back to the negotiating table. We simply want what all workers want: a living wage and reasonable working conditions."





The Canadian Freelance Union is working to bring basic benefits and services to its members.




Over time it will build solidarity so we can begin demanding better rates and improved contracts for all independent communications workers.





Background
In 1979 the average annual income for a freelance writer in Canada was around $25,000. In 1996 the Professional Writers Association of Canada (PWAC) conducted a survey on rates. They found the average annual income was about $26,000. In 2006 PWAC released its latest survey results, showing a full 61 percent of freelancers making under $25,000, with nearly 40 percent making less than $10,000. The average income had dropped to $24,000.





But these numbers only show half the picture. Between 1979 to 2009 inflation increased the cost of living by about 185 percent. What cost $1 in 1979 today costs about $2.85. Put another way, the actual buying power of today's freelancer is 65 percent less than what it was thirty years ago.





While rates have dropped, rights demands from publishers have gone way up. Today, a major newspaper chain is demanding that freelancers sign away the worldwide rights their works, "in all media now known or hereafter devised". They demand virtually all print, digital and broadcast rights, all for the paltry sum of a few pennies per word.





Most large publishers use similar contracts. From Rogers, Torstar, and Quebecor, to Canwest, Transcontinental and CTVglobemedia; they demand their contract workers sign over virtually all rights to the work they produce. There is no negotiation. It is 'take it, or leave it.'





Media companies are repackaging, reselling, and repurposing the "content" produced by independent media workers. They are finding new ways to profit from the work freelancers produce, and are ensuring that all the money stays in their own pockets.
Related addresses:
URL 1: http://www.cfunion.ca/

CANADIAN ANARCHIST MOVEMENT:

OLYMPIC RESISTANCE NETWORK NEWS:

Here's more news from the Olympic Resistance Network about opposition to the upcoming Vancouver/Whistler 2010 Winter Olympics.

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Important ORN Annoucements and Events!:‏
*** Upcoming ORN meetings

Sunday Oct 11, ORN General Meeting 6pm @ Spartacus Books, 684 E. Hastings

*** Upcoming Events:

1) Anti Olympic Torch Relay kickoff - Victoria Oct 30th

2) Call for Cross Canada Mobilizing: Extinguish the Torch!

3) UBC free speaker series on the Olympics from Sep - Dec

4) ORN at Edmonton anarchist bookfair: Oct 2-4

5) ORN at Seattle anarchist bookfair: Oct 17-18

6) VIDEO: Right to the City - Civil Liberties and 2010

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ANTI OLYMPIC TORCH RELAY KICKOFF

*** For travel details includes times of departure and arrival from Vancouver to Victoria, check out the transportation information below.

The Canada-wide Olympic Torch Relay officially begins in Victoria, Lekwungen and WSANEC Territories, on October 30th and the Anti-Olympic Festival will be there to greet it.

Join us in the spirit of creative resistance to ongoing colonization, cut-backs in social services, environmental destruction, the privatization of public space, the quashing of free speech, and the corporate spectacle.

==> PROGRAM INFORMATION FOR FRI OCT 30TH <==

1. Early: The exact location, route and time of the torch kickoff is still a mystery, but officals have said that the torch will be lit in downtown Victoria and paraded around Victoria until later in the day. Exact details will be released closer to the date.

2. 2:00pm, Anti-Olympics festival of resistance in "Spirit Square" (formerly known as Centennial Square) downtown Victoria on Pandora between Government and Blanshard.

3. 4:30pm: "Zombie March" In memoriam of Olympics past, hosted by the Anti-Olympics festival. Depature from Spirit/Centennial Square. People are encouraged to bring scary costumes, or just costumes!

4. 5:30pm: The Torch will be blessed during an officially planned ceremony at the Legislature buildings. Does your group want to get a message to the world on October 30th? Over a thousand media people can't be wrong. Get in on the fun! Organize a friendly competition, step up to the soapbox, take over a ring of the Five Ring Circus! Music, art and theatre especially welcome. Join us, don't sit thisone out! For updates as the become available keep your eyes on:http://no2010victoria.net/ and http://olympicresistance.net/

==> TRANSPORTATION INFORMATION FOR FRI OCT 30TH <==

People are encouraged to arrive in Victoria as early as they can on Oct 30. If you can go the night before and have somewhere to stay you are encouraged to do this.

* For those leaving on Fri Oct 30, there is a planned meeting point at the Granville Canada Line Station, outside - at the South West corner of Granville and Georgia at 5:10am leaving by 5:20am. This is to encourage group travel on public transit (please note ORN is not providing financial assistance for transit).

* Transit from Vancouver to Victoria: http://tripplanning.translink.ca/ Take the Canada Line southbound to Bridgeport Station (25 min) Transfer to the bus "620 Tsawwassen ferry terminal" (to make 1st ferry board at5:55 am) Buy a walk on ticket for the ferry going to Swartz Bay. Go to http://www.bcferries.com/ for schedules and fares. The 1st ferry is 7:00am. After arriving in Swartz Bay, there is a bus stop right in front of the ferry terminal, where you’ll catch the "No. 70 Downtown/Airport" bus. The cost is $2.75. If you catch the first ferry you will arrive at 9:30am. Check the Victoria Transit website for schedules:http://www.bctransit.com/regions/vic/schedules/schedule.cfm?p=dir.text&route=70:1&day=1&

==> CAN YOU HELP? <==

1) No2010 Victoria is working on providing billeting and people are encouraged to go over the night before (Thurs Oct 29th) but room is limited.

* If you know folks that can provide sleeping spaces in Victoria please contact no2010victoria@gmail.com

2) Olympic Resistance Network - Vancouver, Coast Salish Territories is working to coordinate some transportation pooling (for those with special equipment needs) on the night of Thurs October 29th and the morning of October 30th.

* Anyone who can give a ride on the night of the 29th or very early in the morning of the 30th please contact Marla at: marlarenn@gmail.com

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Hosted by: No2010 Victoria

This invitation brought to you by the Olympic Resistance Network

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CALL FOR CROSS-CANADA MOBILIZING:EXTINGUISH THE OLYMPIC TORCH!

* Route details below *

From October 31 2009 - February 12 2010, the Olympic Torch Relay “A Path of Northern Lights” will be traveling across Canada. The Olympic Resistance Network, based in Vancouver Unceded Coast Salish Territories,is calling on and encouraging our allies to coordinate efforts in over 2000 communities to oppose and resist the Torch Relay.

The origins of the Torch Relay lie in the dark history of the 1936 Games in Berlin, where it was devised as a means to spread Nazi fascism and to promote the Third Reich. The Royal Bank of Canada and Coca Cola are the main sponsors of the 2010 Torch relay. RBC is the top financier of the environmentally devastating Alberta Tar Sands, while Coca Cola has been responsible for health degradation as part of the junk food industry, massive depletion of groundwater and toxic waste pollution in India, and involved in hiring paramilitary groups to violently repress union organizers in Colombia. It is becoming increasingly evident that far from being simply about sport, the 2010 Olympics is rooted in displacement, corporate greed, militarization, and repression. While Olympic corporate sponsors are getting bailed out, Indigenous lands are being stolen, more people are becoming homeless, thousands are losing their jobs and access to public services, the environment is being destroyed, and civil liberties arebeing eroded as over a billion dollars are being sunk into security and surveillance measures.

This Torch Relay will be the longest in-country relay in Olympic history, giving us the chance to make some anti-Olympic history! No Olympics on Stolen Native Land!

==> If you are organizing an event or action in your city, town, or community please email us the details at olympicresistance@riseup.net so we can compile the information and build strength and unity in our efforts by having this information available on our website. Basic route details (see links below for full information) are as follows:

Oct 30 - Nov 5, 2009: through BC, Yukon, and Northwest Territories:Victoria, Duncan, Nanaimo, Port Alberni, Snuneymuxw, Esquimalt FirstNations, Tla-o-qui-aht, Qualicum, Courtney, Campbell River, Whitehorse,Taku River Tlingit, Dawson City, Kugluktuk, Yellowknife, and others.

Nov 6 - Nov 15, 2009: through Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Nunavut,Quebec, and Newfoundland: Fort McMurray, Cold Lake, La Ronge, Thompson, Qausuittuq, Iqaluit, Kuujjuaq, Gaspé, Labrador, Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Sheshatshiu, St. John’s, St. Anthony, Grand Falls-Windsor, and others.

Nov 16 - Nov 28, 2009: through Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Islands, and New Brunswick: Sydney, Whycocomagh, Port Hawkesbury, Truro, Paq’tnkek, Antigonish, Halifax, Bear River FN, Lunenburg, Charlottetown, Moncton, Sussex, Saint John, Fredericton, Esgenoôpetitj, Grand Falls, and others.

Nov 29 - Dec 11, 2009: through Quebec: Rimouski, Baie-Comeau, Les Escoumins, Saguenay, Lévis, Saint-Georges, Black Lake, Victoriaville, Sherbrooke, Drummondville, Trois-Rivières, Longueuil, Kahnawá:ke, Beaconsfield, Mont-Tremblant, Montréal, Laval, Gatineau, and others. Dec 12, 2009 - Jan 4, 2010: through Ontario: Ottawa, Pikwàkanagàn, Akwesasne, Kingston, Tyendinaga, Peterborough, Toronto, Hamilton, St. Catharines, Six Nations, Brantford, Oneida, Leamington, Windsor, Sarnia, London, Stratford, Kitchener, Waterloo, Guelph, Barrie, Huntsville, Temiskaming, Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, Red Rock FN, Kenora, and others.

Jan 5 - Jan 20, 2010: through Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta: Winnipeg, Sioux Valley Dakota, Regina, Moose Jaw, Swift Current, Saskatoon, Prince Albert, Moosomin FN, Edmonton, Wetaskiwin, Red Deer, Medicine Hat, Lethbridge, Calgary, Canada Olympic Park, Stoney Nation, and more.

Jan 21 - Feb 11, 2010: through BC: Golden, Cranbrook, Nelson, Trail, Osoyoos FN, Penticton, Kelowna, Vernon, Revelstoke, Salmon Arm, Kamloops, 100 Mile House, Williams Lake, Prince George, Smithers, Gitanmaax, Fort St. John, Terrace, Bella Bella, Powell River, Sechelt, Squamish, Whistler, Lil’wat, Merritt, Fraser Valley, Lower Mainland and others.

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* Full route information: Complete listing by day:http://www.vancouver2010.com/dl/00/68/42/-/68420/prop=data/119u8t6/68420.pdf Interactive Map:http://www.vancouver2010.com/en/torch-relays/olympic-torch-relay/the-route/interactive-map/-/58040/17ckajb/index.html

Provincial and Territorial Routes:http://www.vancouver2010.com/en/torch-relays/olympic-torch-relay/the-route/provincial-and-territorial-routes/-/58046/wk4d42/index.html

* About the Olympic Resistance Network:http://web.resist.ca/~orn/blog/?page_id=2

Why we Oppose the 2010 Games:http://web.resist.ca/~orn/blog/?page_id=6

Video at: http://no2010.com/node/1003

Contact us at olympicresistance@riseup.net

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"THE OLYMPIC GAMES IN MYTH AND REALITY"

FREE speakers series of Olympic critics and organisers ongoing most Mondays, 5pm, from Sept. 14 - Dec. 7. Hosted by UBC's Green College.

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=133767310558&ref=ts

The speakers begin at 5pm with time for questions (FREE, open to all, no reservations). Optional dinner with speaker at Green College starts at6:30pm ($12 for students and $16 for non-students; reserve a spot by noon Sundays at 604-822-0912).

Located in the Green College Coach House at 6201 Cecil Green Park Road (north of NW Marine Drive). MAP at www.maps.ubc.ca/?412.

For more info email alissawt@shaw.ca

- Monday, Oct. 5: "The hidden 4th pillar of the Olympic Games: privatized profit, socialized debt.” Prof. Chris Shaw (UBC). Prof. Shaw is the author of ‘Five Ring Circus: Myths and Realities of the Olympic Games’ and is along time Games critic.

- Monday, Oct. 19: “Olympics on unceded Indigenous land.” Gord Hill. Hillis an Indigenous activist, webmaster of no2010.com and a member of the Olympic Resistance Network

- Monday, Oct.26: "How the Olympics impact the poor and homeless." Laura Track. Track is a lawyer with Pivot Legal Society specializing in housing issues.

- Monday, Nov. 2: "Olympic security and civil liberties: A lasting legacy." David Eby. Eby is the Acting Executive Director of the BC Civil Liberties Association.

- Monday, Nov. 16: "The myth of the Green Games." Harjap Grewal and Dustin Johnson. Grewal, Council of Canadians, is a member of No One is Illegal, and the Olympic Resistance Network. Johnson is an Indigenous activist.

- Monday, Nov. 30: "Understanding the Olympics as part of corporate culture.” Garth Mullins. Mullins is a Vancouver-based social justice activist and member of the Olympic Resistance Network.

- Dec. 7: “IOC Corruption: Would you take these people home to meet your loved ones?" Andrew Jennings. Mr. Jennings is the author of three books on the IOC.

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ORN @ Edmonton Anarchist Bookfair

This year's Anarchist Bookfair will be taking place Fri October 2- Sun Oct 4, 2009 at the Edmonton Ukranian Center (11018-97st). ORN will be tabling on Sat Oct 3rd and Sun Oct 4th and presenting a workshop. Since 2002 the Edmonton Anarchist Bookfair has provided the public with the opportunity to share ideas and connect with others over a free three-day event. Each year upwards of 1000 people are able to access radical books, see independent documentaries and participate in skill-share workshops. The event attracts vendors, speakers and participants from all over Western Canada and USA. We received very positive full-page articles in both of Edmonton's mainstream newspapers, reviews of our feature film presentation in both arts weekly magazines,and multiple interviews on independent radio stations. http://edmontonanarchistbookfair.ca/

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ORN @ Seattle Anarchist Bookfair

Seattle Anarchist Book Fair

October 17-18 2009 Underground Events Center

2407 1st Ave (between Battery St & Wall St)

Seattle, WA 98121

http://www.seattleanarchist.org/

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Help keep Olympic security honest - become a legal observer!

Upcoming Legal Training Dates are October 11, November 22 and December 6,all at 2:30 p.m. All workshops should be held at the Britannia Community Centre on Commercial Drive (Canucks Family Education Centre). You can register by emailing info@bccla.org . For more information check out http://www.pivotlegal.org/ Taking the training does not require you to become a formal BCCLA/Pivot observer. Legal Training Manual available at:http://www.bccla.org/othercontent/09Olympics_legal_observer_trainiing_manual.pdf

Pivot Legal Society and the BC Civil Liberties Association have teamed up to train legal observers for the 2010 Olympic Games, and we hope you will get involved! Like many of you, Pivot and the BCCLA are concerned that when the more than 7,000 police officers, 5,000 private security guards and 4,500 members of the Canadian armed forces arrive in Vancouver this February, their presence may get in the way of citizens’ constitutional rights to freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. Bylaws recently passed by the City of Vancouver suggest that we have good reason to be worried. We plan to be ready, with dozens of people prepared to act as eyes and ears on the streets. Legal observers will be trained to watch for violations and to document and report them. As a legal observer, you will help ensure accountability of law enforcement during the Olympic Games. You don’t need to have any legal background to get involved. We encourage you to sign up for a training session and find out more about what’s involved in being a legal observer. Thank-you, as always, for your ongoing support! The Pivot team

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VIDEO - The Right to the City: Civil Liberties and the 2010 Olympics http://www.workingtv.com/olympic-civilliberties.html

As the 2010 Olympics approach, the possibility of civil liberties violations have been cited by a number of community organizations in Vancouver as a major concern. This is despite assurances from VANOC, government partners and the Integrated Security Unit that rights would be protected. This panel with David Eby, Matt Hern, Stefanie Ratjen, Harsha Walia, Alissa Westergard-Thorpe, Jeff Derksen, David Dennis and moderated by Am Johal examines these issues.

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Olympic Resistance Network:

contact - olympicresistance@riseup.net

http://olympicresistance.net/ http://www.no2010.com/

ABOUT THE OLYMPIC RESISTANCE NETWORK

The Olympic Resistance Network is primarily based in Vancouver, Coast Salish Territories and exists as a space to coordinate anti-2010 Olympics efforts. In doing so, we act in solidarity with other communities across 'BC' - particularly indigenous communities who have been defending their land against the onslaught of the Olympics since the bid itself. Our organizing is largely being done under the slogan of "No Olympics on Stolen Native Land," while creating an opportunity for all anti-capitalist, indigenous, anti-poverty, labour, migrant justice, environmental justice, anti-war, and anti-colonial activists to come together to confront this two-week circus and the oppression it represents.

CANADIAN ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-HAMILTON/TORONTO:

CLASSES ON ANARCHIST THEORY:

The following came Molly's way via the 'Ontario' section of the Anarchist Black Cat discussion board. It's originally from the Hamilton Free Skool. Those who are really hep to go about this sort of thing may be disappointed because of a)the strange restriction of the 'classes' to a maximum of 15 people and b)the fact that they have missed the first sessions. As to Molly's point of view I don't think you have missed much if you have missed "the perspective of decolonizing and addressing hierarchies and privilege in our own positions". I do admit that, reading onwards, that this seems to have some sort of special reference to academia. Fine, great. I can think of worse things that academics could do. All that I would ask is that such self-mortification be confined to the leprosia of academia. It hasn't been in the past.

I know, I know, I know. The lure of asceticism is both immortal and inevitable, no matter how much I may personally dislike it. I will die and it will still go on and on, just like the Roman Catholic Church. For myself I am a great believer in "personal discipline", but I am an equally great believer in the futility of self abnegation as both a path to a better personal life and, especially , as some sort of "politics". Personally I find it aesthetically disgusting. The general trend of "the left", anarchist and otherwise, over its history has been 'hedonistic' in that it has said that pleasure is a human right and that its enjoyment should be as general as possible. There have, of course, been deviations from this general trend. The most notable has been the cult of the "professional revolutionary", formulated by Nechaev but best exemplified in Leninism. More recently the cult of the "guilty radical" has spread from its epicentre in the US academy across the world, along with other culture industry industrial waste from the USA. The former deviation makes more sense in the end than the latter as the latter contains the myth that by such confession of sins that one is actually somehow, by some means of sympathetic magic, contributing to some presumed end goal. The former aimed at seizing power and changing things. Of course I disagree with both their means and their ends, but they are above the latter because the "ends" of the latter are nothing but the feeling of self justification, and the means are, to say the least, repulsive.

Every time I read any such thing like "privilege in our own position" a vast number of images come flooding into my mind. St. Anthony of the Desert up on his pillar. Flagellants during the Black Death. Christian pilgrims walking barefoot up a stony mountain in Ireland for the doctrine that was taught them by a paedophilic clergy. Shia pilgrims whipping themselves in a "Holy" city in Iraq for the doctrine taught them by a clergy who do their best to avoid the risks and discomforts that they say others should take. People crucifying themselves in the Philippines for the sake of a set of images manipulated by a clergy that has robbed them for half a century. The images could be endless.

Personally I cannot !!!! see how a left can be a left while it advocates useless psychological gamesmanship that says one section of those it appeals to (unfortunately the greatest section of those it appeals to) should engage in endless public confessions of guilt and try and become "less privileged"(without, of course, ever actually giving away its money-that deserves endless repetition) while, at the same time, saying that others that it hopes to appeal to (but rarely does today) are entitled to all possible gratification and are under no moral rules at to both what they want and how they intend to obtain it. I know. I know. I know. This nonsense is a cover for a great hypocrisy, and the desire for power can be fulfilled in many different ways, and our present leftist crew is no better in that regard than the idiot Maoists of the Weather Underground (some actually hold them as heroes to this day) who were willing to undergo all sorts of debasement as long as they could build a prison state in the USA ala Maoist China. In the time of the Weathermen, like today, the great unwashed have a very common sense attitude of scepticism towards such saviors, no matter how much they may mortify themselves. As a matter of fact another facet of common sense says that..."anyone who is willing to voluntarily and without necessity make themselves suffer will probably/certainly make others suffer ten times as much if they have the opportunity". Those who advocate such things obviously have no comprehension of the distrust that their actions generate, let alone how weird they look.

Here's the long awaited report on the classes.

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Freeskool class on anarchist theory !!!:
Weekly discussion group,year long salon style (alternating between Toronto and Hamilton--you're welcome to either or both, but be sure to rsvp mailto:rsvpdinnerandtheory@gmail.com)

Anarchist food for your minds and tummies. We'll start from the perspective of decolonizing and addressing hierarchies and privilege in our own positions, move on to a discussion of the evolution of anarchist political thought, and from there go about the business of changing the world.

We'll make the meals, & you're invited to bring sides, desserts, wines, if you like. At the very least, bring your thoughts.

Beginning:

Tuesday Sept 22, Hamilton

Tuesday Sept 29, Toronto

Enrollment is limited to 15 to facilitate more productive discussion, and also to so that the food making is easier. RSVP to dinnerandtheory@gmail.com

Also, if you're interested in just a few specific classes, also don't hesitate to contact us and we'll do our best to make space

Dinner and Theory Syllabus

(facilitated by Tammy & Niki)

…anarchism presents the appearance, not of a swelling stream flowing on to its sea of destiny…but rather of water percolating through porous grounds-here forming for a time a strong underground current, there gathering into a swirling pool, trickling through crevices, disappearing from sight, and then re-emerging where the cracks in the social structure may offer it a course to run”.

~ George Woodcock

Addressing Hierarchy in Research and Academia: Privilege, Patriarchy and Colonialism

Part 1: (Sept 22 Hamilton; Sept 29 Toronto)

Peter Gelderloos- ‘What We Mean by Oppression’

David Graeber- ‘Turning Modes of Production Inside Out: Or, Why Capitalism is a Transformation of Slavery’ (chapter from ‘Possibilities: Essays on Hierarchy Rebellion and Desire’)

Ashar Latif and Sandra Jeppesen- ‘Toward an Anti-Authoritarian Anti-Racist Pedagogy’ (chapter from ‘Constituent Imagination: Militant Investigations, Collective Theorization’)

Part 2: (Oct 6 Hamilton; Oct 13 Toronto)

Linda Tuhiwai Smith- “Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples” (excerpts)

Practical Engagements:

(Oct 20 Hamilton; Oct 27 Toronto)

Andrej Grubacic & David Graeber- ‘Anarchism, or The Revolutionary Movement of the 21th Century’

Colectivo Situaciones- ‘On the Researcher-Militant’ (chapter from ‘Utopian Pedagogy: Radical Experiments against Neoliberal Globalization’)

Uri Gordon- ‘Practicing Anarchist Theory: Toward a Participatory Political Philosophy’ (chapter from ‘Constituent Imagination: Militant Investigations, Collective Theorization’)

Suggested Further Reading:

Starhawk- ‘Webs of Power: Notes from Global Uprising’

Benjamin Franks- 'Rebel Alliances: The means and ends of contemporary British anarchisms'

Why Anarchism, why now? :

(Nov 3 Hamilton; Nov 10 Toronto)

Ron Sakolsky- ‘Teaching Anarchy’ (chapter from ‘Creating Anarchy’)

Uri Gordon- ‘Anarchism Reloaded’

Brian Martin- ‘Anarchist Theory: What Should Be Done?’ (article from ‘Anarchist Studies’ , Volume 15-2, 2007).

Suggested Further Reading:

Uri Gordon- ‘Anarchy Alive! Anti-Authoritarian Politics from Practice to Theory’

Crimethinc- 'Days of War, Nights of Love: Crimethinc For Beginners'

** For those interested Uri Gordon will be in both Toronto and Hamilton promoting this new book. October 10th in Toronto hosted by Upping the Anti, location still to be announced, and October 11th in Hamilton at the Skydragon, 7pm.

Visions of Anarchism: The Classics

Part 1: (Nov 17 Hamilton; Nov 24 Toronto)

Mikhail Bakunin- ‘God and the State’ (excerpts)

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon- ‘What is Property’ (excerpts)

[December Break]

Part 2: (Jan 5 Hamilton; Jan 12 Toronto)

Emma Goldman- ‘Anarchism: What it Really Stands for?’

Errico Malatesta- ‘Anarchy’ (excerpts)

Suggested Further Reading:

Max Stirner- ‘The Ego and His Own’

Voltairine de Cleyre- ‘Direct Action’

Mutual Aid: From Theory to Practice

(Jan 19 Hamilton; Jan 26 Toronto)

Peter Kropotkin- ‘Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution’ (experts)

Rebecca Solnit- ‘A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities that Arise in Disaster’ (excerpts)

Under the paving stones, the beach: The Situationists

(Feb 2 Hamilton; Feb 9 Toronto)

Raoul Vaneigem- ‘The Revolution of Everyday Life’ (excerpts)

Suggested Further Reading:

Guy Debord- ‘The Society of the Spectacle’

Ken Knabb eds.- ‘Situationist International Anthology’

Green Anarchy: Social Ecology

(Feb 16 Hamilton; Feb 23 Toronto)

Giorel Curran- ‘Greening Anarchy: Social Ecology’ (chapter from ‘21st Century Dissent: Anarchism, Anti-Globalization and Environmentalism’)

Suggested Further Reading:

Murray Bookchin- ‘The Ecology of Freedom: The Emergence and Dissolution of Hierarchy’

Down With Civilization!- Anarcho-primitivism/ Anti-civ anarchism

(March 2 Hamilton; March 9 Toronto)

John Zerzan- Running on Emptiness- ‘The Pathology of Civilization’(excerpts)

Derrick Jensen- ‘Endgame Volume 1: The Problem of Civilization’ (excerpts)

Suggested Further Reading:

Jesus Sepulveda- ‘The Garden of Peculiarities’

Down with the State, Down with Patriarchy: Anarcha-feminism

(March 16 Hamilton; March 23 Toronto)

Peggy Kornegger- ‘Anarchism: The Feminist Connection’ (chapter from Reinventing Anarchy, Again ed. Howard J. Ehrlich)

Dark Star Collective- ‘Quiet Rumors: An Anarcha-Feminist Reader’ (excerpts)

Suggested Further Reading:

Susan Brown- ‘. The Politics of Individualism: Liberalism, Liberal Feminism and Anarchy’

Poststructural Anarchism:

Part 1:

(March 20 Hamilton; April 6 Toronto)

Todd May- ‘The Political Philosophy of Poststructuralist Anarchism’(excerpts)

Gabriel Kuhn- ‘Anarchism, postmodernity, and poststructuralism’ (chapter from ‘Contemporary Anarchist Studies- An Introductory Anthology of Anarchy in the Academy’)

Part 2:

(April 13 Hamilton; April 20 Toronto)

Dave Morland- ‘Anti-capitalism and poststructuralist anarchism’ (chapter from ‘Changing Anarchism: Anarchist theory and practice in a global age’ eds. Jonathan Purkis and James Bowen)

Benjamin Franks- ‘Postanarchism: A critical assessment’ (Journal of Political Ideologies, June 2007, 12(2), 127-145)

Suggested Further Reading:

Saul Newman- ‘From Bakunin to Lacan: Anti-Authoritarianism and the Dislocation of Power’

Hakim Bay- ‘The Temporary Autonomous Zone’

Autonomist Marxism:

(April 27 Hamilton; May 4 Toronto)

John Holloway- ‘Change the World Without Taking Power: The Meaning of Revolution Today’ (excerpts)

Suggested Further Reading:

International Institute for Research and Education (eds.) ‘Change the world without taking power?…or take power to change the world?: A debate on strategies to build another world’

Further Suggested Reading:

Sylvere Lotringer and Christian Marazzi eds.- ‘Autonomia: Post-Political Politics’

Hegemonic or post-hegemonic Politics: Is Gramsci Dead?

(May 11 Hamilton; May 18 Toronto)

Richard J.F. Day- ‘Gramsci is Dead: Anarchist Currents in the Newest Social Movements’ (excerpts)

Kate Crehan- ‘Gramsci, Culture and Anthropology’ (excerpts)

Further Suggested Reading:

Antonio Gramsci- ‘The Prison Notebooks’

On the Question of Violence:

(May 25 Hamilton; June 1 Toronto)

Peter Gelderloos- ‘How Nonviolence Protects the State’ (excerpts)

Ward Churchill- ‘Pacifism as Pathology’ (excerpts)

(Gotta interupt here. Seems like there is a considerable deficit of any argument from the other side in these readings or even any cautionary tales that violence is not always desireable- Molly )

Further Suggested Reading:

Craig Rossebraugh- 'The Logic of Political Violence: Lessons in Reform and Revolution'

Animals and Anarchy:

(June 8 Hamilton; June 15 Toronto)

Steven Best- ‘Rethinking Revolution: Total Liberation, alliance politics,and a prolegomenon to resistance movements in the twenty-first century’ (chapter from ‘Contemporary Anarchist Studies- An Introductory Anthology of Anarchy in the Academy’)

Bob Torres- ‘Making a Killing: The Political Economy of Animal Rights’

Further Suggested Readings:

Steven Best and Anthony J. Nocella- ‘Terrorists or Freedom Fighters?’

Brian A. Dominick- ‘Animal Liberation and Social Revolution’

Anarchy and Utopia: Alternative Societal Visions

(June 22 Hamilton; June 29 Toronto)

Chris Spannos (eds.)- ‘Real Utopia: Participatory Society for the 21st Century (excerpts)

Werner Bonefeld (eds.)- ‘Subverting the Present, Imagining the Future’(excerpts)

Further Suggested Readings:

Micheal Albert- ‘Parecon’

Ursual le Guin- ‘The Dispossessed’

(For more awesome free courses, everything from french to exploratory movement and beyond see http://www.hamiltonfreeskool.org/)

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MOLLY NOTES

I came into this item in an argumentative mood, and it seems I will go out of it as well. The first and most obvious thing, perhaps the only thing, that impressed me about this collection of classes is just how incredibly, astronomically, cosmically detached it is from subjects that might actually concern the average person. The only dip into a certain segment of public opinion is over "animal liberation". A lot of people whom are outside of the leftist subculture care about this issue, but I seriously doubt that this is some sort of platfrom to build a free society. As for the rest...where is the traditional concern of anarchism with the majority of the people ? Nowhere to be seen. Union organization. Community organization. The role of an anarchist organization. Even individual liberties.

INTERNATIONAL CIVIL LIBERTIES:

BOOK BANNING:

Molly found this choice opinion piece while browsing through the Care2 site. The following is written by an American, and, of course, deals with the situation in the USA. Lest us Canadians think, however, that we are so high-falutin' pure and tolerant I urge the reader to consult the Freedom to Read 's website HERE for a list of frequently challenged books up here in the frozen North. There is also an, admittedly very incomplete list of banned books worldwide HERE at Wikipedia. The graphic, by the way, is of author J.K. Rawling, one of the most frequent targets of the book burners because of her Harry Potter series.

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Banned Books Week 2009 - Books Too Gay or Too Dangerous for the Public:
posted by: Steve W.

It's Banned Books Week, an annual that, according to the American Library Association (ALA), celebrates "the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment". It aims to highlight the dangers of censorship and attempts to draw attention to any calls to ban books within the USA.

What do we mean by banning a book? The ALA categorizes it as the following:

A ban placed on a book completely removes it from the shelves of the bookstore/district library/school library where the challenge was made and in some rare occasions this can have state wide impact.

A challenge in this instance refers to not one complaint, or even just a few, but a formal protest made by a group against a specific title filed with the library or store.

No book has had a federal ban placed on it for decades now (I believe the last book to be banned in America was Fanny Hill which was banned on its release in 1821, re-released under the name of John Cleland’s Memoirs of A Woman of Pleasure and banned once again for obscenity in 1963, only for that ban to be overthrown by the Supreme Court in 1966), but challenges on certain titles persist throughout America in individual towns and school districts year after year.

So Which Books Face Calls for a Ban or Restrictions?

As you might imagine, literature featuring gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) themes is often the source of controversy.

And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Henry Cole is often one such book that is challenged. It is the story of two male penguins who raise a chick in the Central Park Zoo.

The book, aimed at children, is based on true events and, whilst not featuring any explicit affirmations of sexuality, it is often labeled as "indoctrination" and accused of "promoting a homosexual agenda". It is the ALA's most challenged book of 2006, 2007 and 2008.

Baby Be Bop by Francesca Lia Block was one of fifty-five books that were challenged by parents in Fayetteville, Arkansas. They formed a group called the Parents Protecting the Minds of Children who wanted the book removed from shelves for what they called its "graphic language" and for "promoting a homosexual agenda".

Baby Be Bop was also challenged in Wisconsin by group called the West Bend Citizens for Safe Libraries who wanted all LGBT interest books moved to the adult section, regardless of the nature of the book, claiming that such material filed anywhere else in the library could be harmful, and that restricting access to the books was necessary "to protect children from accessing them without their parents' knowledge and supervision".

Groups don't ask for books to be banned just for the sake of children either. The Christian Civil Liberties Union (CCLU) filed a legal suit against West Bend earlier this year claiming that elderly library goers were "damaged mentally and emotionally" by Baby Be Bop's presence. They sort financial damages and the right to hold a public book burning.

Speaking on the lawsuit a spokesperson for the CCLU said, "We don't want it put in a section for adults. We're saying it's inappropriate to have it in the library, and we want it out or destroyed".

For a list of LGBT themed books that are frequently protested against or have received local bans, please click here.

It's not just LGBT themed books that are targeted. Often books that are considered classics by most are also challenged. The organization Focus on the Family and others like it have, in the past, wanted to restrict access to books they deem " too liberal", "satanic" (concern was raised that The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter promoted sorcery) and books that do not "represent traditional values". The traditional values they stand for include campaigning against abortion, and the perceived homosexual agenda.

"Every year, the ALA and other liberal groups use this trumped-up event to intimidate and basically silence concerned parents... the truth is, parents have every right and responsibility to object to their kids receiving sexually explicit and pro-gay literature without their permission, especially in a school setting." – Candi Cushman, education analyst for Focus on the Family.

So what kind of books are often objected against? Here's just a small selection:
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger.
The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.
The Color Purple by Alice Walker.
Animal Farm by George Orwell.
Beloved by Toni Morrison.
Lord of the Flies by William Golding.
Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman.

For a more comprehensive list, here is a link to the ALA's website.

I have to say, having read all of the books above, and having done so at a relatively young age, I was enriched, not harmed, by the material I found there. Was some of it disturbing? Yes. Did it scar me for life. No. I'd even go as far to say that books like The Color Purple and Beloved changed me for the better.

My parents never restricted what material I was allowed to read. They were of the mind that if I was old enough to understand a book, then I should be allowed to read it. Interestingly, the only book I can ever remember my parents censoring to any degree (and even then we only skipped certain pages) was the Bible.

Both my parents were very religious (my mother was a devout Christian and my father is now a lapsed Methodist) but felt that certain passages within the Bible were not suitable for children.

I wonder if "traditional values" proponents such as Focus on the Family, who have campaigned so heavily to restrict access to certain books, had also thought of applying the same measures to the Bible as well? After all, the Bible clearly mentions incest, rape, hellish views of what awaits some in the afterlife, infanticide, genocide and supernatural phenomena – all of which are reasons that groups have given for restrictions being placed on books in the past.

Personally, I am against censorship and am pro religious freedom, I just wonder how evenly the standard of "traditional values" should be applied?

What are your views on Book Banning Week and censoring books in schools and libraries?

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR:

WORLD DAY FOR DECENT WORK:

Next Wednesday, October 7, is World Day for Decent Work. On this day unions and their supporters will be mobilizing to demand decent conditions for all workers. Check out their website to see what it is all about. Here's what the international union federation, the IUF, has to say about this day.

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World Day for Decent Work - October 7:

Unions around the world are mobilizing on October 7, each in their own way, to highlight the global struggle for decent work in the context of the worst economic contraction since the 1930's. Mass unemployment threatens the lives, health, jobs and communities of working people. Social security systems built up over decades are gutted to appease financial investors. There are now over a billion people whose basic nutritional needs go unmet. Employers respond to the downturn by capitalizing on it to further squeeze already degraded working conditions. For workers everywhere, work becomes still more precarious through outsourcing, casualization and the destruction of direct, permanent employment.

On the World Day for Decent Work, the IUF draws attention to
***Ongoing struggles at Nestlé and Unilever, the world's largest and third largest global food companies, corporations which continue to funnel tens of billions of dollars annually to shareholders while denying workers basic rights. In Khanewal, Pakistan, the factory which makes Lipton's immensely profitable Lipton tea employs only 22 workers on direct employment contracts. The five hundred and more other workers are casual, disposable and forced to live on poverty wages - but with IUF support they're fighting back.
www.casualtea.org
***Nestlé celebrated crisis year 2008 by spending nearly USD 8 billion buying back its own shares on the stock market. That's over half of what the company spent on global wages and salaries. In Panjang, Indonesia, Nescafé workers have been struggling for well over two-and-a-half years to include wages in collective bargaining. Nestlé says wages are a "commercial secret" and refuses workers the right to negotiate their pay!
Stop Nespressure - www.nespressure.org
***Global food riots in response to huge increases in the prices of staple foods in 2007 2008 led governments and policymakers to rediscover the global hunger which was supposed to be on the wane. Official UN estimates now put the number of mal- and undernourished people at over one billion. Large numbers of agricultural workers - those who help to feed the world - account for a growing number of the global hungry, and they are hungry because their rights as workers are systematically repressed. The IUF, through its intervention at the ILO and at the UN intrangency High Level Task Force on the Food Crisis, has put workers rights as a key element on the food crisis agenda of the UN. Yet the UN's "Comprehensive Framework for Action" currently contains only one reference to wages in relation to hunger - ands warns against raising them.

Agricultural workers need a living wage to feed themselves and their families. The IUF will be demanding that the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization FAO support and incorporate our call for a living wage for all agricultural workers as part of any and all global efforts to roll back hunger. And we will be organizing together with our affiliates around this theme in the months and years to come.

Also on October 7, the IUF will be publishing two reports which highlight the huge decent work deficit at Dole, the world's largest producer of fresh fruit, and in the fast-growing cut flowers sector. The reports will kick off targeted organizing and campaigns.

***At a conservative estimate, there are over 100 million domestic workers employed around the world, those whose tasks involve every variety of work in the home from day care to child and health care. They are ruthlessly exploited, trafficked, abused, excluded from social security systems and frequently denied elementary citizenship rights. They are not recognized as wage earners, and enjoy no legal rights or protection as workers. But domestic workers are organizing! In 2010 the ILO will begin to draft an International Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers, to be ready in 2011. The Convention will set out, for the first time in international law, the rights of domestic workers as wage workers; their right to form unions, to bargain collectively, their right to social security, inclusion in occupational health and safety schemes and legal protection. Countries which ratify the Convention are obliged to incorporate its provisions into national law. The IUF has been actively involved in preparing the groundwork for this initiative, and has helped to establish the International Domestic Workers Network, IDWN, made up of regional and national domestic workers organizations worldwide. For more information, contact the IUF - click here to download the campaign brochure (in pdf format).
www.wddw.org

AMERICAN LABOUR:

JOBS NOT GREED:

This one is for our American readers. The following appeal to petition the US Congress comes from the American Jobs With Justice Coalition. I must say that the overwhelming 'inclusiveness' of what the petitioners ask for makes it more a statement of a general mood than an actual demand. It still, however, may be useful.

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Tell Congress: Jobs, Homes, Health Care - NOW!:
Near record unemployment levels mean that 25 million Americans are out of work or forced to scrape by on part-time jobs.

This year alone, about 2 million families will be evicted due to the foreclosure crisis.

The 'bailout bandit' banks plan to pay $75 Billion in executive bonuses this year, while pushing people from homes and jobs, charging obscene fees and eliminating jobs. They are also spending million of dollars lobbying against a recovery for the rest of us.

The health insurance industry makes massive profits by denying care and spends millions fighting any reform.

Yet, many pundits and some in Congress say everything is OK. It's back to "business as usual."

We must tell Congress that the crisis is very real, that there is no such thing as a "jobless recovery" and that we need bold action to create jobs and make the economy work for everyone.

Across the country, JwJ coalitions held more than 30 actions this week, at banks and other 'corporate criminals,' saying that "enough is enough!"

Show your support by sending a message to congress today!

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THE LETTER

If you live in the USA please go to THIS LINK to send the following message to the US Congress.

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Official unemployment is its highest is 26 years. Counting underemployed and discouraged workers, about 25 million Americans need jobs, right now. Two million families will be evicted from their homes this year due to foreclosure, while the "bailout bandit" banks pay obscene bonuses, charge unfair fees and block a recovery for the rest of America.

There is no such thing as a jobless recovery. Don't let the scare tactics and corporate lobbyists choke off a real recovery.

Our country needs bold action from Congress to make the economy work for everyone.
- Pass a jobs and economic recovery program that will create millions of good jobs and build the infrastructure for a sustainable recovery. The jobs program must directly create jobs through a WPA-type program, invest in public services like education and transit and retool private sector manufacturing.
- Don't let the banks evict people facing foreclosure. If they can't renegotiate mortgages, let the families stay on paying fair rent. This costs taxpayers nothing, prevents homelessness and stabilizes communities.
- Fix health care, with a robust 'public option' and further cost controls
- Break up and regulate the finance sector, including a Consumer Finance Protection Agency with real enforcement power and other regulations
- Tax financial transactions, to limit rampant speculation and generate needed revenue from the sector that largely caused the meltdown.

CANADIAN LABOUR MANITOBA:

MANITOBA HYDRO STRIKE NOTICE:

The following news item from the CBC comes Molly's way via the Winnipeg Wobbly Blog, the blog of our local branch of the IWW. Keep your eyes trained on said blog for notice of any upcoming solidarity actions. Also look over at the website of IBEW Local 2034 for more on the union point of view on this strike.

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Local: Union hits Manitoba Hydro with strike notice:
This is one we will be watching. We'll post info if the branch do any solidarity support.-----
Union hits Manitoba Hydro with strike notice
Nearly 3,000 unionized workers have given a 48-hour strike notice to Manitoba Hydro.
After counting the votes on the latest contract offer from the Crown corporation, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) declared Wednesday evening that its workers rejected the offer.

The main issues of dispute in the negotiations have been salaries and length of the contract, said Lauris Kleven, business manager with the IBEW.

Conciliation meetings are scheduled for Thursday but the workers could be on the picket lines as early as Friday. If they do go on strike, it would be the first one to hit the utility in its 48-year history.

Another 1,300 workers, represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees, as well as 300 more who belong to the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, are also in negotiations with Hydro. (Seems to me that all three unions should have arranged to go out at once- Molly )

Contracts between Hydro and all three unions have expired, with the IBEW agreement expiring in April.

Hydro spokesperson Glenn Schneider previously told CBC News that the corporation is not prepared to discuss details about the negotiations.

"We are making plans to do what we can to maintain service if a strike were to occur," he said at the time.

Electrical workers, truck drivers, transmission techs, clerical and customer service workers, would be included in a strike.

CANADIAN LABOUR-TORONTO/OTTAWA:

SUPPORT NORTEL WORKERS AND PENSIONERS:

The following call for two upcoming demonstrations is from the website of the Canadian Auto Workers. As in most bankruptcies in our society it is the workers who get the short end of the stick. Molly urges her readers to go to the CAW website where there is wealth of information about what is happening around the closing down of Nortel. As that website says, "Bankruptcy law is designed to protect the banking and money lending system; it is not designed to protect those who have given their lives to the service of a company. Those few changes that have been made to better protect working people and those that have retired from work, have come at the insistance of unions, including the CAW."

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Support the Nortel Workers and Pensioners Rallies:
Nortel Networks initiated financial restructuring in Canada under the Companies Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) earlier this year. As a result, the company stopped paying severance, transition allowances and deferred wages to all former employees and retirees.

The CAW is joining with the Nortel Retirees and former employee Protection Canada (NRPC) to demand that both the federal and provincial government ensure that Nortel workers get the benefits they were promised and not to allow a wind-up of the Nortel pension fund.

CAW members, Nortel retirees and supporters will be gathering for two rallies, demanding that both levels of government guarantee pensions and other promised benefits:

Wednesday, October 7 at 12 noon at Queen's Park in Toronto and Wednesday, October 21 at 12 noon on Parliament Hill.

"Governments in the U.S. and U.K. have acted on behalf of the Nortel workers in their countries, why is the Canadian government ignoring this potential tragedy," says CAW President Ken Lewenza.

Check the CAW website at www.caw.ca/en/5511 for more information or contact CAW Retired Workers Director Jenny Ahn at: 1-800-268-5763

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-MEXICO/CANADA:

MEXICAN LABOUR LEADER MAY FACE EXTRADITION:


The following comes from the Canwest News Service and was published in the Vancouver province. While not wishing to presume about the guilt or innocence of Mr. Urrutia one has to note that there are more likely places to flee to than Vancouver if one has snapped up $61 million. the other thing is that it is in serious doubt if the Mexican judicial system is an honest and capable judge of any case, let alone one with political overtones.

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Interpol wants Mexican unionist living in Vancouver:
By Andy Ivens, Vancouver Province


October 1, 2009
VANCOUVER — Interpol has issued an arrest warrant for Mexico union leader Napoleon Gomez Urrutia, who is living in Vancouver.





The Mexican government wants Gomez, the leader of the huge Los Mineros union, to face charges of embezzling $55 million.







Gomez’ Vancouver lawyer, David Martin, said Interpol’s “red notice” for his client is a red herring, since it’s doubtful the Canadian government would agree to extradite him.






“There are conflicting reports about whether . . . Mexico has made a request for (his) extradition to Canada,” Martin told Canwest News Service on Wednesday.







“The Canadian Department of Justice, properly, in my view, has not authorized the commencement of extradition proceedings in Canada in relation to Mr. Gomez.”







Martin said Canada’s justice minister should have “serious concerns” about agreeing to start the extradition process.







“Many Mexican courts have already found that there is no basis to the charges that have been laid against Mr. Gomez,” said Martin.







Despite Interpol’s involvement, Gomez is safe until the RCMP are asked by Canadian authorities to arrest him.







The Mexican government maintains it has asked Canada to extradite Gomez.







Gomez ran afoul of the powerful Grupo Mexico mining company in 2006 after an explosion at one of its mines killed 65 miners. Gomez, head of the 280,000-strong miners’ union, demanded an investigation.







A few months later, prosecutors charged him with embezzling $55 million in union dues, something his supporters deny. He fled to Canada with his wife to avoid arrest.







Gomez has widespread international support from union leaders. His opponents and supporters have conducted audits on the issue, which produced conflicting conclusions.







Steve Hunt, Western Canada director of the Steelworkers union, charged the conservative government of President Felipe Calderon with “more harassment, more persecution” of Gomez.







“Politically, he’s a leader that people are fastening to,” said Hunt, who said Grupo Mexico has great influence with Calderon’s government.







Hunt fears Gomez could be thrown in jail in Mexico without being charged, and could languish there for years without bail. (A very common course of "justice" in Mexico-Molly )