Porcupine blog

On The United Front - Mariategui

2012-01-24T14:29:00.000-08:00

The united front does not annul the personality. It does not signify confusing or amalgamating all the doctrines into a single doctrine. It is a contingent, concrete practical action... [and] only considers the immediate reality outside of any abstraction and any utopia... everyone should keep his own affiliation and his own ideology... But all should feel united by class solidarity... the struggle against the common adversary, tied by the same revolutionary will and the same renovating passion... The variety of tendencies and precise defined groups is not something bad, on the contrary, it is the sign of an advanced period in the revolutionary process. What is important is that these groups know how to understand each other before the concrete reality of the day. They are not mired in byzantine reciprocal confessions and excommunications... They do not use their weapons or squander their time in wounding one and other, but rather combat the social order, its institutions, its injustices and its crimes.

It is up to us... to be the cause of class consciousness. This task belongs equally to socialists, syndicalists/trade unions, to communists and anarchists...

Jose Carlos Mariategui

From "May Day and the United Front" in Jose Carlos Mariategui - an Anthology - eds Harry E. Vanden, Marc Becker, MR Press 2011

Mariategui was the founder of the Peruvian Communist Party, was very much influenced by anarchism and syndicalism. His writings were an influence on Che Guevara. (See Motorcycle Diaries )

For more info see

http://www.marxists.org/archive/mariateg/

Looking Forward to 2012 - Global Economic Crisis Chapter Two

2012-01-15T11:00:00.000-08:00

Even the most optimistic view of 2012 gives us a continuation of 2011. Europe remains in crisis, the US staggers along, China continues to skirt crisis. But things could get much more interesting. As Europe follows its suicidal path of austerity, the economy continues its decline. Some countries such as Italy, Spain and Portugal could follow Greece into defacto default. The virtual collapse of Europe will send a shock wave across the Atlantic, furthering the wrecking of the US economy. With a lower demand from the US and Europe, China and India will go into crisis. Brazil, one of the global powerhouses in 2010 is already having a downturn, which will be exacerbated by these events. Russia. So dependent on the oil and gas exports, the demand for which will be cut back will face serious problems. This will be Global Crisis Chapter Two.

Smug, self-satisfied Canada will not be immune. Demand for petroleum and minerals has kept the Canadian economy afloat. With global demand down, Canada will feel the economic crisis. Over the past two years, oil has ranged between 80 and 100 dollars a barrel. It takes at least $70 a barrel to make tar sand oil profitable. (If you ignore both the billions in government subsidies and the cost to the environment) The onset of the 2008 crisis saw oil at less than $60 and there were long faces in the tar pits. Furthermore, Canada has a housing bubble. Dwellings are overpriced by at least 30%, prices are already falling. Pull the plug on the economy and the real estate ponzi scheme collapses like a house of cards.

Then there are the political ramifications. We have not heard the last from the Greeks. The working class of Southern Europe is combative. Occupy, the Arab Spring, the Indignados of 2011, may well be only the first wave of revolt that will actually challenge the system at its roots. Political unrest will further undermine the European economy. The establishment political parties – and this includes the ostensibly left wing parties – are intellectually and morally bankrupt. They have no answers or solutions.

While the majority of the population oppose austerity and the bankster bailouts, the opposition still has no coherent direction or program. This is to be expected as the people are on their own and are have their own learning curve. However, should the people unite around a program that challenges neoliberalism and the corporate state – and this may well not be in the cards for 2012 – revolutionary changes may be in the offing in Southern Europe.

The Middle East will also be crucial in 2012. Though Islamist parties seem to have profited from the revolutions in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, they have no answers to the problems afflicting these countries. The working class is organizing and revolutionary socialist and anarchist ideas are spreading. We have not heard the last from the Arab Spring. Should the Americans prove foolish enough to attack Iran this year, this could flatten the world economy. While "cheap oil" is a problem for the producer countries, overpriced oil is a disaster for the rest. Close the Gulf of Hormuz and hello $300 a barrel oil and good bye global economy. And one must never underestimate the arrogance and racist-based stupidity of the US ruling class.

There are a host of other questions. What will happen in Iraq? Will the country implode and Iraqi oil production – already low compared to pre-US invasion – drop? Pakistan? Don't even go there! Russia? The left is rebuilding after the virtually genocidal restoration of capitalism and strongman Putin is beginning to look weak. Mexico? Will the people finally have enough of their US-backed narco-terrorist regime and rise up?

A Happy New Year to all!

Venezuelan Anarchists Form New Group

2012-01-10T10:14:00.000-08:00

Manifesto of the Federación Anarquista Revolucionaria de Venezuela (FARV)

1) The Federación Anarquista Revolucionaria de Venezuela -

http://farvespecifistas.blogspot.com/

is a collective that adopts the ideology of Libertarian Communism, a system where both capitalism and the bourgeois State that supports it are abolished, where the people as the producers of goods and services have control of what is produced in the form of collective ownership, where such production is distributed according to the principle "from each according to their ability, to each according to their needs".

2) We operate under the principles of horizontalism, self-management, mutual aid, collectivism, the class struggle, anti-imperialism, and solidarity between peoples and the peoples' struggles.

3) We firmly believe in anarchist organization as the only form of struggle within libertarian communism, as only by working to certain principles and programmes, respecting individual work but having nothing to do with capitalist egoism and neoliberal trends, can we build the necessary platform where militants accept their collective responsibility.

4) We act politically as anarchists and work within the popular struggles, building collectively from the daily routine, walking the same path as the communities in order to promote increasingly libertarian principles. As methods and fields of struggle, we support direct action, revolutionary syndicalism, libertarian educational methods, alternative personal and communal communications, and popular participation, amongst other things. We believe that bourgeois democracy restricts the people's right of choice, so we advocate instead direct, popular democracy and communal self-government.

5) We support the Bolivarian process critically as radical militants of the Social revolution. That is to say, we are in favour of the creation of greater political, social, economic and cultural spaces within the process, but nevertheless we must fight against reformism, bureaucracy and other vices embedded in the national government, which we know are intrinsic to the State and any form of government other than self-government.

6) We are neither anti-Bolivarian nor anti-Chavez. These are expressions of the bourgeois opposition in the country; therefore, as a libertarian communist organization we oppose any area that plays into the hands of imperial factors, including a supposedly anarchist sector that rejects the class struggle and whose "anarchism" serves to hide their neoliberal intentions. We remain distant from these ideas and attitudes, and identify with the Bolivarian and Chavist popular struggles, as they are currently the hope for any future social and class-struggle revolutionary change in the country.

7) The anarchism we profess is that of the Bakuninists in the First International, of the Makhnovist Revolutionaries, of the anarcho-syndicalists in the Spanish Revolution, the proletarians of the FORA, the guerrillas of the Federación Anarquista Uruguaya, the Chicago Martyrs, Flores Magón and the Partido Liberal Mexicano, the pedagogy and mutual aid of Peter Kropotkin, and Proudhon's self-management. These struggles were framed within the class struggle between the dispossessed and their exploiters, between the workers and their bosses, between the peasants and the landowners.

8) We identify with the historical struggles of the Venezuelan people: the aboriginal resistance, the revolts of those of African descent and the Maroons, the libertarian ideas of toparchy and emancipation of Simón Rodriguez, the class war represented by the popular rebellion of 1814 with the pardos, blacks and amerindians of Boves, the struggle for the independence of the people by Simón Bolívar, the 1846 popular insurrection, the Federal War and Ezequiel Zamora, the advanced idealism of Pío Tamayo, the coup d'état of 23rd January 1958, the Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN), the investigation into the disappearances and torture of FALN guerrillas, the 1989 Caracazo protests, the insurrection of 4 February 1992, the Bolivarian process, the events of April 2002, among many other struggles which have involved the people of Venezuela.

9) This is why our struggle must always be framed in the social, political, economic and cultural context of Venezuela, expanding this framework to the Latin American and global level, but always starting from the local and regional level.

10) Our humble contribution must be, on the one hand to try to ensure that the socialist process follows libertarian paths as far as possible, while on the other hand, to ensure that anarchist and libertarian communist ideology is known for what it is, genuinely socialist and revolutionary, and not to be confused with false positions that mask the purest anti-popular, anti-class struggle neoliberalism.

11) To conclude, we wish to make it clear that the FARV is politically active in the central and central west of the country (Caracas, Barquisimeto and Valencia) and that it hopes to connect up with other anarchist individuals and collectives on a national level, either organically or through direct support. We consider it extremely important to create a true anarchist federation in Venezuela with branches in every state or city, as we believe that in this way our action is more serious and forceful and thus leave behind us the situation we have today where many comrades (clearly anarchist or not) do not have a serious organization with which to fight and where each simply makes his or her own individual contribution. Naturally, we respect those already-existing groups that do not wish to join us as a branch and invite them to join us as collectives and contribute everything they wish to contribute to the struggle; all this will help to create true, honest and selfless unity, with which we can head towards the social revolution throughout the country and, even with the differences that do exist which are understandable in these types of organizations, seek the path that leads to libertarian communism. And this is nothing other than the path of life. We conclude by adding the words of comrade Errico Malatesta: "In an anarchist organisation the individual members can express any opinion and use any tactic which is not in contradiction with accepted principles and does not harm the activities of the others. In every case a given organisation lasts for as long as the reasons for union remain greater than the reasons for dissent. When they are no longer so, then the organisation is dissolved and makes way for other, more homogeneous groups".

For the construction of a Venezuelan Libertarian Movement!

For Libertarian Socialism and towards the Federation of Communes!

For the worldwide Libertarian Communist Revolution!

FARV - Federación Anarquista Revolucionaria de Venezuela

The Problem With Occupy

2011-11-29T15:55:00.000-08:00

I see Occupy's situation today as analogous to that of the Civil Rights Movement. As long as they stayed in the South Northern liberals loved them. But when the movement went North and started confronting racism there, it became "Dr. King, you are going too far!" Perhaps without intending to, the Civil Rights Movement exposed the limits of liberalism and of the socio-economic system of the United States.

Occupy has gotten a lot of back patting and verbal support from political moderates. However, now that the time has come to turn those kind words into taking a real stand with the Occupy Movement, the story becomes, "No, we can't do that, and you have been here too long anyway. Please pack up your tents and go!" There has to be more to this rejection than just fear of slobbering rightwingers.

One of the most appealing aspects for the public – when they know about it – has been Occupy's list of demands. So moderate, so reasonable, probably three quarters of Canadians would agree. Yet, I think these sorts of demands are the very thing that upsets our corporate masters and their ideologues the most. If Occupy was demanding the implementation of anarchist communism next week, the movement could be laughed off, but demands that the average person can get behind are dangerous to the greedy and powerful.

Occupys sweet little list of demands is slam-bang up against the dominant ideology – corporatism, also known as neo-liberalism. To paraphrase the Godfather of corporatism, one Benito Mussolini, corporatism is best seen as "Everything by the corporation, everything for the corporation, nothing against the corporation." A contemporary corporatist, Margaret Thatcher, now dying of brain rot (karma) put it rather cold bloodedly, TINA - There Is No Alternative (to corporate domination)

The age of reforms was supposed to be over. Through their control of the state apparatus, the corporatist ideologues began eliminating the reforms thousands of working people had died struggling for. The neoliberal utopia was one without trade unions, minimum wage laws, laws regulating work hours and even child labour laws. Heaven for the wealthy and powerful, hell for the rest of us.

They beat the drum of corporatist ideology so long and so loud, that it became virtually economic "common sense." (This is known as hegemony) The mainstream left adopted the ideology but in a smiley face form. They are like someone who says beating you with a broom handle is an improvement over beating you with a chunk of two by four, yet dismisses not being beaten as utopian foolishness that you must outgrow.

Occupy, thus to adapt a quaint phrase of Lyndon Johnson's, is guilty of pissing on the corporatist barbecue. Millions of people now want to reverse the neoliberal depredations and push for new reforms. This was not supposed to be in the script!

Getting back to the otherwise friendly politicians – for them to take a concerted stand with Occupy would brand them as enemies in the eyes of our corporate masters and their hacks and ideologues. I wouldn't be too judgmental if I were you. Few of us are heroic, and often those who are, have nothing to lose anyway. Ultimately, Occupy has exposed the limits of conventional politics.

Report from Occupy Nelson

2011-11-21T16:59:00.000-08:00

Having spoken with the camping protesters in front of
city hall last night,they told me the city has ordered them
to strike down their tipi tentunder the claim it is a fire
hazard. They have until 6pm tonight to do so,
right when most of Nelson is eating supper and/or
going to vote in ourcivic election. 

I spoke with one young fellow who is part native who
says he will do his utmost to not allow the tipi to be
taken down. We live in a place that
continues to deny the Sinixt Nation full Indian Status. 

I say all power to these folks who are standing up
for us at city hall.They need our continued support.  

Many people think The Occupy Movement is a diffuse
unorganized effort.It is crystal clear to me that the
corporate state collusion in this country
has undermined our Canadian Charter of Rights and
Freedoms as well asUnited Nations Charters. The
corporate state collusion has grown to such
a point as to become an oligarchic kleptocracy.
They have made the ordinary citizen's methods of
referendum, petitioning and voting useless
tools against the rising tides of problems associated
with corporatehegemony which obviously include:
environmental genocide, wars, poverty and racist tactics
against First Nations.The citizenry has little
options left to affect change but civil disobedience
and direct action.     

The protesters worldwide are amazingly organized.
In fact, when has any worldwide event occurred with
so many countries involved for this
long? No sporting event, no Olympic hoorah has
captured the involvementof so many nations for
this amount of time. Who could organize such
a thing? Collective effort can do so, has done so,
and will continue to do so.  

The demands are obvious. Change the laws for
equitable economic, environmental, voting, and
judiciary practices. Of course, these things are
difficult for a nation to evolve into and will be a
hard war to fight. However, the people have won
round one and have a lot of fight left in them. 

Josh Wapp   (Clenched fist in the air!)

Website Occupy Nanaimo

2011-10-25T08:24:00.000-07:00

There is a second Occupy Nanaimo web site and I think this is the "official" one, see

http://www.occupynanaimo.ca/

www.occupynanaimo.weebly.com

One Week into Occupy Nanaimo

2011-10-22T15:16:00.000-07:00

The weather has turned wet and cool, but it has not dampened the ardor of the people of Occupy Nanaimo. There must be about thirty tents, all of which are occupied, as well as a food area, library and covered area for making placards and posters. A number of homeless have joined this little community.

Today at noon there was a round table discussion which I joined. Occupiers and supporters like myself stood in a circle and took turns voicing our thoughts as how to distill down the vast number of demands into a smaller package and to voice any other opinions that people wished. One man said how student loans had become a kind of debt peonage (my words not his) and how we ought to have free university tuition (like in France or Cuba.) and how a university education ought not be the privilege of a few. A woman said how Occupy Nanaimo was building a community and this sense of community is what we need to develop further. These two sentiments were re-iterated by other speakers. One man recalled how successful direct action was in saving the trees at Cathedral Grove and another of how the 911 coverup had opened his eyes leading him to support actions such as Occupy. Several spoke of the need to support local businesses since the money circulates in the community, whereas with the big box stores, the money is siphoned out.

When my turn came I spoke of the need for democracy, real democracy, not our present elective dictatorship, a democracy of neighborhood assemblies and of the workplace as well. I pointed out how the biggest obstacle to democracy was the corporation and how this institution was a creation of government and thus could be eliminated by government. I spoke of the “four corporate privileges” that ought to be eliminated – corporate personhood, limited liability, patent law and banking law.

More people joined in and were still discussing when I left to get a coffee.

The following is Ken H's comment

Occupy Nanaimo is ongoing. i live more than 20 kilometres away and I drop in only occasionally. Occupy Nanaimo quickly became a gathering place for homeless people, First Nations people well represented among them. On Friday evening i counted 32 tents and at the meeting they were planning to buy more. A woman interviewed today on CHLY was enthusiastic about the impact on homeless people. For the moment they have a place to maintain a tent with sleeping bags and access to regular meals. Homelessness is very much an issue in Nanaimo right now as there is a campaign against the opening of "low-barrier" housing in the north end of Nanaimo. Many of the homeless people do not yet participate in the general assemblies. I would speculate that many of them are not used to having a voice in anything. I am inspired by the success of Occupy Nanaimo and look forward to dropping in on them again

Best Article on Occupy Movement

2011-10-16T16:21:00.000-07:00

Check this out at

http://www.bopsecrets.org/recent/awakening.htm

Occupy Nanaimo

2011-10-15T14:13:00.000-07:00

Occupy Nanaimo was a total success, as far as I could see. About 400 people came out, which is about double the number we usually get. Keep in mind this is not a big city. There was an opportunity for anyone who wished to speak to do so and many did. Everyone spoke well and informatively. We had several people from the Labour Movement, a First Nations woman,, several city council candidate our MLA Leonard Krog as well as many others. But the best speech of al, in my opinion was given by Illan of the Thirsty Camel Resto who laid out a fine critique of capitalism and the whole cult of growth. The weather was perfect, everyone was in a great mood. There were lots of imaginative signs, music and a choir. Afterward there was a march through town.

I will update if necessary.

Occupy Wall Street and the Punditti

2011-10-10T10:13:00.000-07:00

The “nattering nabobs of negativity” have been having their day with OWS. First “why don't they dress differently?” And of course, “they are a bunch of spoiled college kids.” Then, “they have no program, its all a mass of different demands.” and “it will easily be co-opted.” The first two brilliant responses are from the right. They said the same about us 45 years ago, but imagination was never the strong point with right-whiners anyway. Less easy to dismiss, as it comes from left as well as right, is the supposed profusion of demands. For shame, you lefties, if any group should know better it is you! (Ever heard the word dialectics ?) The right views the world in a disconnected, atomistic fashion. Thus, the various demands seem unconnected to them. But in the real world, environmental destruction, imperialism, job-outsourcing, privatization, war, corporate welfare, financial crimes, tax dodging etc., are all part of the same corporate state system. To anyone outside the right-whiner sects, this fact is as obvious as a mules ass at noon! It is brilliant on the part of the organizers not to posit a set of demands and to let the people decide themselves. If at the beginning you posit a narrow set of demands you limit the field of potential support.

As for cooptation, please do! The people have had their Obummer moment, any attempt at cooptation that lacks substance, will be jeered at. Minimally, labour and mainstream social movements will have to demand the re-institution of Glass-Segal, a Tobin tax and a tax on the uber-greed creeps. But capitalism has moved beyond the possibility of allowing even these simple demands. It will take a virtual revolution to impose elements of social democracy again. There will be so much resistance by the parasitic classes to even minor social reforms like these, that it will push the population in a revolutionary direction. We see this in Greece, as but one example. The mass demands are not for socialism, but to stop the cut-backs, to achieve the status quo ante. As Abbie Hoffman once said “the pigs are our leaders.” The state and the criminals it pimps for, are fighting tooth and nail to impose austerity on the workers, and as they do, the popular response becomes ever more militant and ever more radical.

Free Will...Again

2011-10-07T12:19:00.001-07:00

No posting of mine has had as many negative comments as Free Will Proven a Myth During the years since, I have attempted to understand this reaction. Here are some tentative explanations.

Could it be that the upholders of the free will superstition think an attack upon free will is an attack upon freedom in general? If so, they are making the same mistake the Church made when rejecting the Copernican system in favor of the Ptolemaic. The teachings of Jesus, never rose or fell on whether the earth went around the sun or vice versa. What the Copernican reality negated was the institutional ideology of the Church which dogmatically declared for the Ptolemaic system.

What institutional ideology does the dismissal of the free will fable harm?

In the real world, most people's freedoms and choices are highly restricted. The less wealth we have, the less educated we are, the less self-aware we are, the less choices we have and the more our lives are determined for us. “Aimless” people who seemingly “do whatever they want”, in reality, have their lives largely chosen for them by their emotional problems. Yet, these emotionally and mentally messed up people are the very ones the free will types finger wag, “You chose to live this way!” as though their situation was a simple matter like which brand of cereal to buy or not. Funny though, the very people whose wealth, power and easy access to therapists, would allow them to act with a level of free will (and yet who chose to treat the rest of us as prey) don't come in for this hectoring.

I suspect that most of the rabid free will advocates fear the exposing of their superstition because they can no longer have the pleasure of feeling superior to the “outcasts”. They can no longer play the blame game. Social problems minus free will become just that, social problems. They are rooted in the system under which we live and not the fault of individuals who just didn't try hard enough.

Free will thus plays the role of prop or mask to disguise the true nature of any system of domination. Making everything the fault of the individual deflects criticism away from the reality that most people have little control over their lives because those lives are controlled by a powerful and exploitative minority.

Free will plays a role in abetting another vicious superstition, that of original sin. Humans are deemed innately wicked and the only way for us to behave decently is to repress those evil urges. Those who do not repress their base aspects do so out of weakness, indeed, given free will, have chosen to be sinners. The way to get people to freely chose to do good instead of evil is to threaten them with punishment and reek vengeance upon them when they fail to abide by our strictures.

Thus free will plays a role in propping up a judicial system which is based on punishment and revenge. Without the free will dogma, we must not seek punishment of the perps, but compensation for victims of crime. We must seek the root causes of violent crimes and institutionalize the dangerous, not as punishment, but merely to protect the populous.

One final word on free will. Like Gandhi once said about Christianity - “It would be a good idea.” But in order to have free will, we must be completely self-aware and have the ability to act upon that self-awareness. Few people have achieved that level of enlightenment, for that is what it really is. The vast majority of people are ultimately only reflections of their neuroses and psychoses. As an ideal, free will is sublime. But please don't take an ideal for reality. And most of all don't use it as a club to beat people you are prejudiced against. One day when oppression and exploitation are but vague memories – should we survive that long as a species – we will no longer be encumbered by these burdens, and actually possess a free will.

The Way Things Were, 1950 to 1980

2011-09-19T20:53:00.000-07:00

The “remember when...” stories that circulate on the Internet always seem to have a reactionary bent. It's as though the authors miss the days when women, children and minorities “knew their place.” I have rectified this problem by listing the truly good things of life that existed before greed, corruption and megalomania came to predominate in the 1980s.

Remember when:

It was normal to get a good paying union job just out of high school.

That same job would last until you got your pension.

It was normal for working people to expect a higher living standard each decade.

Mail was delivered to your door, the post office was open on Saturday and it cost four cents to mail a letter.

Most shops were down town and were owned by local people who you knew as friends and neighbors.

Manpower Canada actually found you a job.

Rent was only 20% of your income and that was at minimum wage.

You could camp in provincial camp sites for free.

Museums and art galleries were free.

The government provided hundreds of maps and publications for dirt cheap or free.

Sales tax was only three percent and it went to pay for our hospitals.

Most consumer goods came from Canada and were well made,

Most common food items were grown in your region.

Children walked to school.

Obesity in children was very unusual.

Children would be away all afternoon, who knows where, and no parents worried because there was still a community.

Corporations and the privileged minority paid their share in taxes.

Governments still believed in service.

Raven Coal Mine Podcast

2011-09-14T12:37:00.000-07:00

Here is a podcast from Radio CHLY - an interview with Ron Sakolsky and Sheila Nopper about the current state of the proposed Raven Coal mine at Fanny Bay on Vancouver Island. If this mine goes through it will have a devastating effect upon the surrounding waters and communities. Click on http://chly.dailysplice.com/bethemedia/

Updates - Residential schools MMissing Children

2011-09-09T11:34:00.000-07:00

Here is the most recent news on the struggle to find the bodies of the Residential Schools missing children. See

http://blip.tv/thatchannel/real-health-2011-09s-06-kevin-annett-5533270

Greed

2011-09-09T09:50:00.000-07:00

I guess by now you heard of the Ohio guy whose work “buddies” won $99 million and refused to share it with him because he was too sick to make the payment. There were 23 employees in the pool, a total of $4.304,343 each. Minus the sick guy, their winnings would be $4.500,000. Even though each one of these greed heads would have $4.3 million they would screw their co-worker for the sake of $195,000! Before you might dismiss this as typical of the USA, something even worse occurred in Canada about 20 years ago. A man in Quebec and his daughter won $7 million. Yet the daughter forgot to put her dollar in that week and Dear Old Dad denied her a share of the winnings. Hey, your own daughter, mon ostie calisse de tabarnac!

The excuse given to such a CEO or Ayn Randish-level of selfishness is a literal interpretation of the situation. You can just hear them whining, “but you didn't pay that week!” Such people have no ethics, only a legalistic conception of reality. Very much like our legal system, in fact, which works “to the letter of the law”, and in most cases, morality and intent be damned. Such literal-mindedness is a form of insanity. But we see this insanity all the time with judges who treat civil disobedience cases like common crimes and refuse to allow the ethical reasons behind these actions to be voiced. (The late Merv Wilkinson, was arrested for CD at Clayoquot Sound in 1995 and the judge called him “unrepentant”. Now just what in hell was Merv to repent? Sick SOBs on the benches) But when those at the top are crazy and greedy, who can blame those at the bottom – like our imbecile lottery winners – for imitating them?

One thing should be understood about greed – it isn't really about money. $4 million and you are set up for life, who really needs more? And if you had $100 million you could live like a potentate. Why want ever more money, when in the real world of goods and services you have more than you could ever want? I suspect the greedy are weak, insecure people who need to bolster themselves with the symbols of power and “making it” that money can buy. But money can't buy you love, and even less can it buy you respect, which is what these poor fools really want. A million dollar house makes you look like a somebody, and a five million dollar house even more of a somebody, or so their thinking goes. Don't all those vinyl-sided, four car garage, 4000 square foot, cul-de-sac, (1) McMansions that seemingly every “middle-class” person” desires just scream, “I have arrived, I am somebody!” Even though that “somebody” is kitchy, tacky, shallow and weak, and with a little luck will die at an early age of arteriosclerosis. Of course the problem arises that in an entire suburb of these bulimic monstrosities it is hard to play that game for long, but they can always beat on the poor, I suppose.

1. Which in French means “arse end of a bag” which says it all.

1983 General Strike in British Columbia

2011-08-31T22:06:00.000-07:00

A radio program has been done on Kootenay Coop Radio about the 1983 BC General Strike, its history and the ramifications of it. I also am interviewed as well as Tom Wayman and 4 other people who were involved at the time. Here is the link - http://kootenaycoopradio.com/index.php?%2Fradio-show%2Fshow%2Fhedge_school_of_the_air%2F

Revolt in Chile

2011-08-15T14:19:00.000-07:00

For a good article on the student revolt in Chile see

http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/48526

The London Riots

2011-08-08T16:50:00.000-07:00

The chickens are coming home to roost. 30 years of reactionary,criminal, anti-people policies are being effectively trashed by rioters in London, and now I just got a report that it is spreading to another city. The police state tactics of the past no longer seem to be working, for as the Guardian has reported The Met's preferred tactic in recent years has been the controversial "kettle", in which large numbers of police are drafted in to contain protesters, sometimes for hours on end. But roaming groups of youths cannot be effectively kettled. Get that kiddies? Not that I think rioting is the best way to bring about social change, but the ever-moving tactic employed by these youth ought to be applied in non-violent mass protests. Perhaps there is no need to be kettled, illegally arrested and brutalized like in Toronto?

Update - Rioting has spread to Liverpool and Birmingham. It seems that everything in sight is a target for these youths, so there is little overt political content to this riot. It is an inchoate reaction, but one based upon years of government policies that have destroyed community and social linkages. No doubt all the usual suspects will blame the youth, but the real blame goes to the system that created the potential for this devastation.

Update - best article I have read so far -

http://www.marxist.com/riots-london-britain.htm

Update - Excellent on the spot blog report. Just this one quote alone is worth pages of coprolite press garbage - Riots are about power, and they are about catharsis. They are not about poor parenting, or youth services being cut, or any of the other snap explanations that media pundits have been trotting out: structural inequalities, as a friend of mine remarked today, are not solved by a few pool tables. People riot because it makes them feel powerful, even if only for a night. People riot because they have spent their whole lives being told that they are good for nothing, and they realise that together they can do anything – literally, anything at all. See - http://pennyred.blogspot.com/2011/08/panic-on-streets-of-london.html

Anders Breivik and the Consequences of Far Right Propaganda

2011-07-24T13:42:00.000-07:00

“Ideas have consequences” is a favorite mantra of the far-right. It's usually sprung on some mildly pink college professor who happens to refer favorably to Marx in a lecture. “The ultimate result of the Marxist ideology you spout is the Gulag and Pol Pot”, bellows the right-wing pundit. Funny though, this same pundit would never suggest that Jesus is responsible for the Inquisition or Martin Luther for the Holocaust. But then consistency was never part of the right wing mind set.

However this very week, instead of a spurious, fabricated causal chain, with the Norwegian Massacre we have a real example of how ideas have consequences.. Over the last three decades there has been an endless right-wing propaganda barrage attacking liberals, leftists, socialists, immigrants, the poor and a host of other groups too numerous to mention. (1) This is not just a matter of saying “We disagree with leftists etc...” The right wing propagandists make out that the people they oppose are the enemy of God and man, are absolutely evil and subhuman, hardly better than child molesters.

Must we be surprised that as a result of this hate propaganda and demonization, that someone on the fringes of the far right picks up a gun and starts killing a bunch of those immigrant-loving leftist devils?

Now comes the right-wing response to the murders. “Not our fault”, “Don't make political capital out of this tragedy.”, “Oh, he was crazy, doesn't have anything to do with us.” We see that the people who bellow about ideas having consequences don't really believe it after all. The slogan is only a stick to beat the left with. No surprise there though. I already mentioned that if they were consistent, they would claim Jesus responsible for the Inquisition. (2)

For a GUARDIAN take on this click

here

Guardian article on his hatred of women

here

Add feminists, pro-choice people, trade unionists, intellectuals, government employees, anarchists, neopagans and non-Christians, atheists and freethinkers, radical or liberal Christians, environmentalists, bicycle riders, and science in general to their hate list,
Before some nitwit accuses me of thinking Jesus caused the Inquisition, I am only saying that it makes as much sense to claim Marx responsible for the gulag as it would to claim Jesus responsible for the Inquisition.

Not Much Love Here – a review of Lawrence Aronsen's "City of Love and Revolution – Vancouver in the Sixties"

2011-07-03T12:37:00.000-07:00

This review appeared in Oystercatcher (oystercatcher@uniserve.com )

If you are looking for a history of the Vancouver counter culture, this is definitely not the book. "City of Love and Revolution" is little more than a compendium of glaring omissions, factual errors, mass media cliches with a belittling and condescending tone throughout. While there is much talk of love, the author seems to have little of that sentiment for his subject.

Let's start off with the omissions. Aronsen ignores the Simon Fraser University student movement, the most militant and well organized in the country. The administration occupation and student strike were all over the TV and newspapers, but he is not aware of this. Ignoring SFU is like writing about Black Power and not mentioning the Black Panthers. He says he lived in New Westminster in the late 1960's but does not once mention the New West Student Coop, the well known centre of counter cultural and student radicalism in that city.

The Point Grey Peace House is omitted from the discussion of Peace Movement as well as the Advance Mattress Coffee House where politicos and culturals met. Both of these institutions were key elements in the formation of the city's counter culture.

There is a groaning burden of factual errors.

Aronsen claims the Vancouver counter culture began with the first Easter Be-in of 1967, but it was around in 1965 and had roots going back to the 1950's. There is a ridiculous attempt at classifying “hippies” in four different categories - “fierce-looking” angries, heads who preferred LSD and speed, “cynical” beats and “the largest group” the "love hippies." Who ever used that latter term? Supposedly up to 1967 the counter culture and the peace movement “moved in separate circles.” This was untrue, at least in Vancouver, where "beats" were peace activists and peace activists helped form the counter-culture. He states there were only “several” Vietnam War demos in the late 60's, but they were an annual event from 1966 to 1972, making a total of seven, somewhat more than several.

He contends that the sixties counter culture was the first to try freeing itself of bourgeois morality, but in reality this something all previous bohemias and anarchist movements attempted with varying degrees of success. Has he not heard about Greenwich Village and "The Masses"?

A gap supposedly existed between "libertarianism and collectivism” and the Yippies sought to bridge this, but for anarchists this split has never existed. The Vancouver Yippies became increasingly influenced by anarchist theory. This gap only exists in the author's mind, as the real division is between the libertarian and the authoritarian.

The Blaine invaders were not driven out of the town in retreat by citizen violence as the author states. No one intended to occupy Blaine, since a part of the action was to bring war resistors across the border hidden in the marchers. The acts of violence within Blaine were few. The real brawl commenced after the invaders were back in Canada. Led by an ex-biker, they beat the crap out of some American neonazis.

“Yippie leaders failed to understand that soft drug usage was now common among the middle class” - who smoked up without joining the Yippies. We knew this and were pleased by it. We were honest in wanting to change these laws which effected everyone. Demonstrating against the drug laws was not a ploy to get members.

After Yippie broke up, “many [Yippies] simply began working at regular jobs...” implying they disappeared from the movement. What is truly of interest is that virtually everyone in this group remained involved in progressive causes.

Most of the Yippies became anarchists, those that didn't, got involved in the women's, environmental or trade union movements. Some others worked in the alternative press.

The peace movement of the early 60's was supposedly split between "moderates" and Communists. Actually, there was a three way split. To the left of the CP stood the direct actionist Student Union for Peace Action and the anarchist-inspired League for Total Disarmament. Furtheremore, SUPA was formed in 1964 not 1965.

The growing opposition to the Viet Nam War and the formation of the Vancouver Viet Nam Day Committee did not represent a victory of the “moderates” over the Communist Party. The most active people in the VVDC, and its successor the Vancouver Coordinating Committee, were members of the trotskyist League For Socialist Action and its youth group, the Young Socialists. They were politically to the left of the CP. (I was associated with them for about 6 months in 1967, but not a member.) Aronsen does not understand that the LSA was committed to building a broad front campaign around the war and this meant involving liberals as well as radicals.

There is the photo of an alleged “strident and Anti-American” Yippie demonstration on page 146. The placards are of the Maoist CPC-ML, not Yippie. We hated CPC-ML and we were standing in the midst of them mocking their ludicrous slogans.

As for the Feb. 1969 meeting of VCC, (to which I was a delegate from SFU) the split was the result of SDU and the Progressive Workers Movement not SDU and the CPC-ML, which was not formed until more than a year later. The split was not between “moderates” and radicals, but between Trotskyists and Maoist/anarchist-leaning New Leftists. Aronsen claims the Young Socialists were “infiltrating” the presumably "moderate" VCC. They were always there, one might say they were the VCC.

Aronsen just can't resist a mass media cliche or stereotype. Take the term “hippie.” We only used it ironically, instead calling ourselves heads, freaks or revolutionaries. "Hippie", like the earlier "peacenik" and "beatnik", was a mass media creation – no one other than rubes used such terms seriously. He then claims there was “an expiration date” for the alternative lifestyle. The mass media will tell you it ended at Altamont in 1970, or at the latest, sputtered out two years later. Sorry, but we are still here.

What really happened to the 60's counter culture is the hangers-on jumped off, leaving a core of serious, capable people who went on to start organic farms, Coop Radio,Spartacus Books, Pulp Press, Press Gang Publishers, housing coops, food coops, the CEC credit union and many other projects. Some people moved to Commercial Drive and others to the Kootenays, the Gulf Islands, and the Sunshine Coast. And activism? The Anarchist Movement, Feminist Groups, Gay Liberation, Latin American solidarity groups, and the Green Party - all are outgrowths of this period. Many of our ideas went so mainstream their origin is almost forgotten, such as the act of protest itself, feminism, environmentalism, anti-consumerism, opposition to war and nuclear power, cooperative living, organic food, libertarian parenting and pedagogy. These are the ideas of the general progressive-minded public and no longer the "intellectual property" of a few thousand so-called "hippies" and "student radicals".

Must we be subjected again after 43 years, to the straw man argument that we tossed aside reason, went by feeling alone, and rejected “serious employment.” (ie were lazy) and what was “really meaningful” for the counter culture was the media image of sex, drugs and rock and roll? Must we endure the tabloid caricaturing of the beats as "cynical"?

Aronsen gives a hint of his underlying politics with his MacArthyite attack upon the Communist Party, which he claims was “calculatedly using innocent untutored children” in their peace protests and were not really for peace but “devoted to advancing the Soviet Union's strategic interest.” Then there is his characterization of the Communist Party as extreme, which for any 60's radical is a real knee slapper.

The 60's counter culture is accused of creating a situation that opened up the general population to the use of drugs, resulting in the present crack-meth horror. This is an element of right-wing propaganda – they still at war with the 1960's – the only problem is the counter culture was never in favour of dangerous drugs. We looked with despair upon junkies and speed freaks, wanting as little as possible to do with them. The dangerous drug epidemic only occurred in the late 1980's as a result of the CIA flying tons of cocaine into the US and creating the crack problem. Up till then, there was no real drug problem other than the one that had always existed since opiates were made illegal in 1914.

According to Aronsen, the sixties produced a "cult of youth" leading to "a decline in parental authority" and "a loss of respect for the wisdom of the elders", all familiar conservative cliches, some of which have been with us since the time of Socrates. It is not clear whether he is trying to blame the counter-culture for these, but I suspect so. If there was a "cult of youth" it was a creation of the media not us. Indeed, the counter culture would not have existed without the "wisdom of the elders", for it did not drop out of the sky, but came about through the influence of older people like Aldous Huxley, Allan Watts, Paul Goodman and Herbert Marcuse, not to mention the Beat Generation writers.

Most annoyingly of all, is his characterization throughout, that we were "anti-American". We, who received the Vietnam War resistors with open arms and revered Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Martin Luther King and a host of others, were anti-American? Absolutely insane. But perhaps not so. This is an example of the Big Lie Technique in action. In order to hide our criticisms of US foreign policy and corporatism, reactionaries like Aronsen deceitfully claim we hate the American people.

The author tends to minimize the effects of some actions and events as well as having a belittling and condescending manner.

In claiming that the mainstream media was “ambivalent” toward "hippies", he minimizes the impact of the Vancouver Sun's hate campaign against youthful dissidents dating back to at least 1965. The Yippies compared the “occasional acts of measured discrimination against longhairs” by Hudson Bay to that of Black People in the USA. In fact, the Bay's discrimination was only the symbol of the years of harrassment and vilification, and while we did make a comparison with African Americans, we did not think it was the same experience. Terms like "white niggers" are not to be taken literally, anymore than Mario Savio's "don't trust anyone over 30" or Jerry Rubin's "kill your parents." They were metaphors.

Canadian Yippies, it seems, were “not terribly original.” We certainly were for Vancouver. No one had seen or used those tactics before. What is really original anyway? Then again, how original are Aronsen's cliches?

After mentioning how the NDP and the BC Federation of Labour backed the anti-war movement, Aronsen then claims the “opposition to anti-war demonstrations was tainted with working class hostility.” His evidence? A dozen counter demonstrators of which one was a member of the Teamsters. This is of no surprise as the union was run by Nixon-loving gangsters. One Teamster vs organizations that represented hundreds of thousands of workers!

High school students participated en mass in the Amchitka Demonstration October 1971. The author sneers at these youth as, “students wishing to establish their own distinct boomer identity... realized that an anti-nuke stance was an easy way to seize the moral high ground.” What condescension! Did it ever occur to Aronsen that students might have a genuine concern, just like their older brothers and sisters? Anyone who has spent any time with young demonstrators knows they are earnest to the point that it is almost painful, rather than having some underhanded motivation.

“In retrospect it is not clear what the peace movement accomplished.” Does he know anything about the subject? In the early 1960's you might get a hundred people out on a demo. By 1970 you were getting several thousand. In 1982, 115,000 demonstrated against the Cruise Missile. Today, opposition to war is a “motherhood issue.” Without the intervening stage of the late 60's -early 70's movement, this would not have happened.

The real history of Vancouver's counter culture waits to be written. If anything good comes out of this travesty of a book, it will be that it has inspired someone who actually understands the period to get to work.

The Hegemony of Authoritarian Ideology and the Vancouver Hockey Riot

2011-06-30T07:43:00.000-07:00

The immediate response of both the authorities and most of the public was to find a subject to blame for the riot and demand swift vengeance. The riot was the work of “anarchists”, or “thugs” and at the most analytical level, dragged out the old and dog-eared, “society is too permissive” bromide.

We expect the authorities – as group forever mired in a LaBrea Tar Pit state of denial, to do this. But for all the ordinary people who engaged in this blame fest, it only goes to show the hegemony of authoritarian ideology. Such hegemony means that most people are incapable of a structural or systemic analysis of an event. All they can do is conjure up demons, scapegoats and conspiracy theories. Thus, the causes of an unpleasant event, like the hockey riot, are shoved onto individuals or despised minorities.

The inability to think in structural terms is an immense help to the dominator class, by taking the heat off the system of domination, which in this era is corporate capitalism. Furthermore, analyzing an event systemically or structurally leads one to seek rectification of the problem in structural and systemic changes, ie, social change not vigilantism. Of course, it is easier to yell for revenge than get up off your lazy butt and eliminate the root causes of a problem. That requires action and thought, not to mention it automatically leads one to a critical evaluation of the status quo.

Socialists and anarchists have struggled for almost two centuries to acquaint the masses with systemic thinking. That we still have to do this shows the immense strength that authoritarian ideology has. Blaming, vengeance and punishment all have their roots in religion. Authoritarian religions claim that humans are innately evil and that when they do bad things it is because they chose to do so – the doctrine of free will - being too weak or vicious to restrain themselves. People need to be terrorized into obedience and punished severely if they fall by the way side. But terror is not enough to maintain a system, it is much better when the masses sincerely believe this clap trap and engage in a virtual knee jerk reaction, applying it to all situations. Truly a wonderful tool for protecting the system of domination.

It comes as no surprise that such doctrines have their origins in a slave-based society. Hunting and gathering and pre-dominator class agricultural societies sought harmony among their members not punishment, nor did they believe in humanity's supposedly innate evil nature.

That a supposed progressive mayor would seek to scape goat anarchists only goes to show how deeply ingrained this ideology is. Part of the problem lies with social democracy which ceased its educational role back in the 1950's when they adopted the foolish belief that class struggle was over. The only “education” most people get is from the schools and the mass media which naturally indoctrinate them in dominator ideology.

The Vancouver Hockey Riot of 2011

2011-06-16T09:34:00.000-07:00

The riot pointed out, one more time, the incompetence and stupidity of both our leaders and the media. Oh, such moaning! “The riot was totally unexpected.” What dolts, you put a hundred thousand adrenaline charged, boozed up people in one spot and at least some of them will think it funny to flip over a car or toss a bottle through a window. And that's how it starts. The riot was virtually inevitable, and the civic leaders don't want to take responsibility for it.

The CBC hit a new low. They tried to smear the Black Bloc as somehow initiating the riot, since a number of the rioters wisely hid their faces from the cameras. But blockers smash windows to make a political statement and not for the thrill of doing so. Videos show rioters as ordinary suburban working class youth and not counter culturals or the “goons and thugs” so beloved of the media as rationalizations. (I am pleased that a number of commentators in the CBC comments section noted how mildly the cops treated the rioters compared with the G20 brutality against non-violent demonstrators.)

Nor did the rioters seem a “tiny minority”. Though the active smashers may well have been, they were surrounded by a crowd of laughing, smiling youth egging them on, posing for pictures against the flames, sharing looted goods, more of a carnival atmosphere than a war zone.

The riot was not in the least political in terms of the consciousness of the participants. None of them had a political idea in their heads. Yet in one sense it was political. These youth have no future and somehow know that. Future means working in Walmart. Future means never being able to afford a dwelling in the Vancouver area even if they scored a half-way decent job. .Even if they go to university, they end up $50,000 in debt and the right to work part-time at Starbucks. Those with the slightest grain of consciousness know we are about to be royally screwed by climate change and the corporatist policies of the government.

These kids come from the suburbs, that ultimate anti-community. They belong to no community and have nothing to defend, so they feel detached enough to smash up what does exist.

They hate the police. This is understandable as youth are targeted by them, due to the fact that the majority of crimes are committed by males under age 30 and the police are used to enforce a morality that youth constantly challenge. Part of being young is loud music, beer and pot all of which brings the heat.

Now as they go about smashing and looting, they are not thinking these thoughts, seeing themselves as just having some wild fun. But their alienation lies beneath the surface as a hidden impetus. People who are happy with their lot in life do not smash things up.

One point cannot be stressed enough. Don't be surprised that given an opportunity to riot, youth will take it. What ought to surprise you is they don't riot all the time.

This riot should be a lesson for the criminals who rule over us. Working class youth have done vastly more damage than conscious militant activists. If the inchoate anger of the masses becomes conscious and politicized the bosses are in deep trouble.

Canadian Labour Martyrs Booklet

2011-06-04T18:11:00.001-07:00

Hot off the press! THEY DIED FOR YOU – A Brief History of Canadian Labour Martyrs, by D.J. Alperovitz and Larry Gambone. When we started this project we thought we would have maybe 8 or 9 martyrs and a 10 page pamphlet. Doing research we found twenty-five of them. Read their stories in this 37 page booklet. Full of illustrations. Available from iwwvi@telus.net for $4.00 per copy plus postage.

Explaining Conservative Support Among “Ordinary People”.

2011-05-24T19:48:00.000-07:00

Only 39.7% of voters, or 24% of the Canadian population supported the right wing Conservative Party in the last Canadian general election. The base for this party consists of religious extremists, but these make up only about 10% of the population. Then there are the five percent of the wealthy and near-wealthy who naturally vote Conservative, since their policies allow them to skim-off ever more of societies riches. Ideologically-rooted haters and greed creeps are the natural basis for far right parties. But how does one explain the support the remaining 9% of the population, neither cultists nor rich, give to the Conservatives? How to explain the support given by people who will be directly harmed by much right-wing legislation?

In order to explain this seeming contradiction we have to examine four factors:

education and culture
alienation
social psychology
age, gender and ethnic factors

Education and Culture

Regardless of the formal level of education, this is a group that is not well educated nor has a particularly high level of culture. Our schools do not teach people to think critically and to argue rationally. Thus, the uneducated do not discuss and debate, but mutually reinforce their prejudices. Anyone who steps out of line is either shouted down or ignored. They do not recognize a rational argument and thus are easily bamboozled by the strings of fallacies spouted by right-wing politicians. This is made doubly easy since these politicians pander to their prejudices.

Their culture consists of kitsch, corporate mass culture, or at best a philistine adoration of the “classics.” Anything beyond that is deemed “highbrow”. “modern”, or “intellectual” and thus not worthy of consideration. Attempts to raise the general cultural level or to introduce critical ideas are seen as a threat, and thus right-wing politicians who seek to cut back on government support for the arts get the backing of the culturally unsophisticated.

Alienation

Right-wing voters tend to be suburbanites. They do not live in communities, but are isolated in the suburbs, and even when connections are made, they tend to be with people similar to themselves. Isolated, with their only window of the world being the TV, they are subject to the fears and prejudices whipped up by the mass media. They don't encounter the people thus demonized, so only have the media stereotypes to go on. This situation, combined with prejudices they have inherited from their parents, leads to the creation of an unconscious “hate list”. We all know their list - tree huggers, anarchists, trade unionists, protesters, feminists, leftists, hippies, intellectuals etc. If a right-wing politician can tar his opponents as such or promise to harm the individuals on this list, he has the vote of the alienated suburbanite in his pocket. A certain amount of the right wing vote is simply a desire for revenge against other citizens deemed unworthy or a threat.

Social Psychology

Most of these people will have been brought up in an authoritarian manner. They react to this in two ways: They identify with the dominators, desire a “strong leader” and hence are open to someone as anti-democratic as Harper. Their attitude toward people deemed “beneath them” (remember the hate list) is that of the bully. (The idea that “these people ought to be suppressed.”)

One important result of an authoritarian upbringing is denial as a life-long procedure when faced with an unpleasant reality. Generally, their personal lives are ruled by denial, not just the political realm. Hence, when disasters result from right-wing policies, these are denied outright, or they latch on to a conspiracy theory to get them off the hook.

It seems that denial is not only a function of a repressive upbringing, but is inherent in the way we think. Neuroscientists have come up with a “theory of motivated reasoning” which helps explain the persistence of irrational beliefs. Our reasoning process is overlaid with emotional content. These emotions are what arise first, in advance of the reasoning process, when someone is confronted with an idea or situation. Our emotions bias us in advance. This works for everyone, progressive or reactionary. Since right-wingers have such a long and bitter catalogue of biases, I suggest that “motivated reasoning” leading to denial plays a much greater part in their decision making process than with left-wingers. (1)

Since the 1960's, old-fashioned authoritarianism has been augmented by narcissism. Old fashioned authoritarianism had the benefit of encouraging modesty and projecting an air of solidity and decency – even though those at the top were free to build their pretentious mansions and engage in their orgies. Today, modesty, solidity and decency fly out the door. Suburbanites simply must have their tacky McMansions and all the consumer goods that go with them. And they must have it all now, not ten years down the road like their parent's generation.

People who are insecure about themselves, something which authoritarian parenting mass produces - tend to substitute things to make up for that lost sense of worth. They will buy houses and cars that are more expensive than they can afford in order to project to the outside world that they are “somebody”.

All these obese houses and expensive toys mean a massive debt, which in turn creates a great deal of financial insecurity which right-wing demagogues freely prey upon.

Those of us who oppose this narcissistic consumer lifestyle are seen as a threat. Building houses for the less-fortunate or encouraging public transit are seen as “lowering property values” and “raising taxes.” Once again, the demagogues can read off their hate list of “cyclists, urban elitists, environmentalists” etc. and the narcissists gobble it up like Pablum.

Age, Gender and Ethnic Factors.

Polls taken during the election showed that youth aged 18-25 overwhelmingly rejected the Conservatives. Women too, though not to the same extent. Nor was there any of the much-touted “breakthrough” among “ethnic” groups. The real basis of Conservative support consists of white men over age 50, Micheal Moore's “Stupid White Men.” There is much sense to this rejection by youth, women and minorities. When these Stupid White Men are rotting in their graves, today's youth will be suffering the dire consequences of all the cut-backs and piratizations, not to mention climate change and peak oil. Women are generally raised to have empathy and are thus not so attracted to the sociopathic concept that only corporations matter and people don't. People of colour would be fools to support the party that contains most of Canada's racists, even though they pretend not to be.

A Couple of Fallacies to Clear Up

The Conservative support from the over-fifties seems to clash with the vision of the “radical Sixties Generation.” Some pundits will trot this fact out as an example of how people supposedly become conservative in their old age. But this is not the case at all, since the counter-culture and New Left radicals were only a minority of their generation. The vast majority of 60s rads are still there in the social movements or at least support them. Since the radicals got all the attention (and had all the fun) the conservative wing of the Sixties Generation has never forgiven its left-wing cohorts. Part of the present attack can be seen as a kind of revenge of the losers.

We will undoubtedly be told that today's NDP-supporting, anti-Conservative youth will go right when they get older. This ignores the fact that politics are based upon deeply-held values. These values, such as empathy or the lack of it, tend, in the case of the former, to direct one to a progressive stance, and the latter to reactionary politics. Furthermore, your moral compass is usually permanently aligned by about age 18 or 20. Thus, if you have empathy at 18, you are most likely to have empathy at age 50. If as a youth, you regard selfishness as a virtue, you are likely to do so in old age as well.

1. Cynics and reactionary apologists will claim that leftists are full of biases as well. But there are biases and biases. It is rational for a leftist to be biased toward Nazis – they are violent, racist, antisemitic brutes. It is not rational for a rightist to hate anti-war pacifists, people who wouldn't hurt a flea. Right wing hate lists are the result of the systematic demonizing of groups and individuals, and are not the result of rational analysis.

End of the World? It's Still Here, Sickos!

2011-05-21T17:54:00.000-07:00

The Rupture, er Rapture, I mean, never came off. Must be a lot of weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth among the Christofascist set. Imagine being upset because the World didn't end. Upset because billions of “non-believers”, plus all those innocent plants and animals, weren't destroyed by earthquake and fire. Has there ever been a more depraved and evil belief system than this? Even vicious dictators don't want to kill everyone and everything.

This belief system, rooted in hate, revenge and the most appalling sin of pride (I am saved, you aren't!) is nothing short of criminal insanity and ought to be treated as such.

Election 2011 - The Failure of Canadian Politics

2011-05-09T10:38:00.000-07:00

None of the major parties talked about the real issues facing us. Yes, the NDP and the Greens said good things about climate change and the need for sustainability, but neither were willing to stand up and shout the whole truth.

The truth is, Peak Oil is happening. We only have a few years left before the era of Happy Motoring is a thing of the past. Right now we should be planning for a future with a lot less automobiles, planes, imported food, cheap junk from China, etc. Couple this with Climate Change. The level of planning, organization and mobilization to deal with these twin crises ought to be about the same level as that of fighting the Second World War.

The second truth has to do with the global economy. No one really knows what might happen with it. Peak oil makes any sustained recovery very unlikely. Patting yourself on the back, that Canada is somehow disconnected from this crisis, is insanity. Not talking turkey about the crisis is foolish in the extreme. We should be preparing people for economic stagnation (or worse) and proposing ways of dealing with it that cause the least suffering for the populace.

The third truth has to do with our neighbour, the USA. Their empire is in rapid decline and they are descending into a possible collapse situation like that of the former USSR. To chain ourselves politically and economically to this Titanic of a country is suicidal. Furthermore, if collapse does come about there may well be civil unrest in the US and Americans will come pouring across our borders.

The fourth truth has to do with the Canadian military. The fact is, we have no enemies, nor are there even any potential enemies looming on the horizon. Armies are also useless for fighting terrorists. No one is willing to ask “Why do we need it ?” – or at least “why do we need it in its present form?” We do need search and rescue, we do need a force to help out in disasters and we need our coasts patrolled. In terms of fire power, a genuine truly defensive force would be a Swiss-style citizen guerrilla army. All of these functions combined would be vastly less expensive than our present military and would have the advantage that it would be impossible for our armed forces to be embroiled in US imperial adventures such as in Afghanistan. But there was not so much as a whisper about this in the campaign.

The failure to talk about the real issues, and the bleak outlook that any politician in the future is willing to discuss these problems, leaves me with one conclusion. - the system is so set up that cannot respond to in a rational way to disasters looming on the horizon. If a system can no longer respond rationally to the problems it creates it has become decadent.

Canadian Election 2011 - our "1933 Moment"

2011-05-02T20:18:00.000-07:00

So the psychopaths got their majority. Now they can start dismantling all those remaining hated social democratic aspects of our society and turn us into a Third World country - now we can be just like the USA, the Harpercrits long term dream. Now they can freely terrorize cannabis smokers, impose crack pot religious ideas upon us, glory in war and corporate welfare, destroy the CBC, slowly privatize health care and so forth. But at the same time one must remember that only 40% of the population supported this wrecking crew, and most of that group are old, alienated and ignorant. The young do not support the far right, period. A sad commentary on our pseudo-democracy that 40% can bully the other 60%. What a sad commentary on our pseudo-democracy that all the major papers but one backed the Cons.

At the same time, this election marks a sharp turn to the left with the NDP making huge gains and the Greens apparently electing their first MP. Furthermore, much of this left comes from Quebec and while the rest of the country are candy- asses, the Quebecois will fight back and then some. We are in for a rough ride boys and girls. There are going to be some real brawls ahead. Judging by what our Fuehrer did at the G20 we can count on violence being done to us.

There is one other positive aspect to this otherwise nightmare scenario. When the global economy does its double dip, when the Canadian real estate bubble pops, the Harpercrits will be the ones holding the bag. The country will then become ungovernable.

Be The Media Discussion

2011-04-15T23:57:00.000-07:00

I am part of a non-fiction writers discussion on the CHLY program Be The Media, April 14th session. To hear this click on:

http://chly.dailysplice.com/bethemedia/

A Critique of Anarchism? – Not Really!

2011-04-12T17:25:00.000-07:00

Usually the International Marxist Tendency produces high quality articles, but “Marxist and Anarchist Theory” (1) is not one of them. The author, Daniel Morley wants to critique anarchism, and to put it mildly, does not succeed. To criticize something you have to understand it and refrain from fallacious arguments. Morley cannot restrain himself from engaging in straw man tactics and confusing some anarchists with anarchism in general.

Anarchism, like Trotskyism, has many tendencies. Do we make a valid criticism of Trotskyism by implying that it is identical to the craziness of the Posadist flying saucer folk or the sectarianism of the Start-a-cyst League? Not at all, but this is the tactic our would-be critic uses.

It seems that anarchism paradoxically rejects theory. Yes, there are some people waving the black flag who seem to think that only action matters, but they are a minority, criticized by the majority of anarchists. The fact – please note my choice of words – that material conditions determine consciousness is trotted out as thought it were something previously unknown. But very few anarchists would disagree.

Yes, some anarchists do believe that the State came first, and that classes are an epiphenomenon. But once again, most of us do not share that view, seeing state and class arising simultaneously. All anarchists take a materialist stance in this instance. As but one example of an alternative to the Marxist position, the state as a result of conquest, this is about as materialist an act as you can get. No anarchist I know of regards the origin in an idealistic way, ie, seeing the state arising from an idea or some supposed will to dominate.

The vast majority of anarchists and not most, see the need to defend a revolution from reaction. The vast majority of these same anarchists see the need for an armed militia to accomplish this defence. The author does not fully comprehend the notion of coercion, when accusing revolutionary anarchists of being two-faced about the need for this armed defence. Is the woman who fights off her would-be rapist engaging in coercion? Hardly. Coercion involves an individual or group forcefully imposing their will on others, not defending yourself against those who would do this to you.

We are condemned as hypocrites since in revolutionary situations we have suppressed reaction, and thus supposedly instituted a state. But anarchists and orthodox Marxists have different views as to what constitutes a state. Marxists have an ontological (essentialist) analysis of the state. The state is essentially one class suppressing another. The anarchist analysis is a phenomenological (descriptive) analysis, i.e., the really existing state consists of an armed group separate from the workers, officials separate from the people, a bureaucracy etc. Thus, for anarchists, when power is not separate from the working population – through the use of worker assemblies, delegates and worker militias – the state no longer exists, or a most, exists in a vestigial or potential form.

No anarchist thinks that all representatives at all times will abuse their power. What we do believe is that with representation it is easy to abuse power. The anarchist way of overcoming the abuse of power is to replace representatives with recallable delegates. It is taking economic determinism to absurd lengths to claim that a form of governance has no important influence on what happens after a revolution. In contradistinction to the author's vulgar Marxism, anarchists see both class and organizational form as important factors in whether a revolution succeeds or degenerates.

No anarchist makes a fetish of right-wing trade union leaders, though we do criticize them. (And who doesn't?) This fetish is a left-social democratic or Communist Party attribute, not ours. The whole point of class struggle anarchism is to encourage rank and file activism, not ignore it, as the author claims.

Few anarchists, and certainly no class struggle anarchists, reject collectivism. Indeed, Bakunin's economy was called collectivist anarchism. What all anarchists do reject is top-down centralization. This was what Kropotkin was attacking, not the idea of a collective social and economic order. (He was an anarchist communist!) Few anarchists, and certainly no class struggle anarchists, are opposed to unity and co-ordination, but this is best done through delegation and a level of local control that makes functional sense, not top-down centralization.

Saying that Kropotkin favoured a simple economy is totally false. As a scientist, he was well aware of the technological advances of his era and how these could be applied in a future communist society. He showed that with the advent of AC current, the electric and petrol motor and intensive horticulture, most (but not all – be careful!) production could be done on a smaller, local scale without a loss in efficiency and productivity. Rather than a simple economy where people work long hours, he envisaged a complex, technologically advanced society that freed people from much of the burden of labour. (3)

The author gives an example from Russia of a worker-run factory where workers treated the work place and the machinery as their own private property. This is far removed from anarchism. Even Proudhon envisaged the abolition of private property and a kind of wheels within wheels system of industrial and agricultural federations.

The claim is made that Nestor Makhno opposed the working class, favoring peasants only, even going so far as to say they didn't need railways. This is untrue, and the supposed evidence for this is taken from Russian Civil War propaganda, hardly an objective source. (2) Furthermore, anarchists have never been peasant chauvinists, and have always sought to unite the two exploited classes in economic and political struggle.

It is correct that anarchists have tended to muddy the waters when criticizing leadership. But certainly for class struggle anarchists, leadership per se is not the problem, but bossism or coercive leadership. We are against the sort of leadership that manipulates and bullies the class and not the sort of leadership that leads by example, leads through honest discussion and debate, leads through the promotion of ideas and practice. Indeed, these are the aspects of true leadership.

It is also correct that the syndicalist union and the general strike proved incapable of completing the revolutionary process. Workers on a number of occasions, have brought themselves to the brink of revolution through their syndicalist movement, but have not succeeded in toppling the state and replacing it with popular power. What is needed is a political revolutionary force to encourage the workers to make that final step. Today, many syndicalists are aware of this need and we see the growth of Platformist and Especifist tendencies in working class anarchism. These tendencies do see the need for leadership and a revolutionary political movement.

A couple of final thoughts. Why was this written? Certainly not as a means to convince anarchists of the falsity of our views. If you want to convert us, shoddy polemics are not the way. I suspect it was written to bolster the troops, to keep the members from getting too cuddly with the anarchos. And by the way, it's not like we have all the answers or are right all the time. But if you want to critique us, do so with intelligence and refrain from fallacies. And if you want to know what our real problems are, feel free to write and I will tell you all about them.

http://www.marxist.com/marxist-and-anarchist-theory.htm

For an example of their usual quality of analysis click here

2. When the Makhnovists took over Alexandrovsk they form[ed] a Commission of Initiative composed of delegates of several active trade unions... Several members of the railwaymen's and shoemakers union declared they were ready to organize this Commission... The Commission went eagerly to work. Soon the railway workers got the trains running again, several factories opened their doors, several trade unions re-established, etc. (This was normal procedure for the Makhnovist Army) Volin, “The Unknown Revolution”, page 633.

3. The idea that the bulk of production must be large scale and centralized is a relic of the Age of Steam. Those who followed in Kropotkin's footsteps such as Ralph Borsodi, Murray Bookchin and Kevin Carson have advanced his concepts even further.

Iceland Rejects Banksters in April 9 Referendum

2011-04-09T20:00:00.000-07:00

Way to go Iceland! Voters in Iceland rejected a decision to ruin the population for the next twenty years to pay off the bank fraudsters by a vote of 58 percent to 42. Hopefully next step will be default and the Icelanders refusal to have their pockets picked will cause the Greeks, Portuguese and Spanish to seriously consider the Argentine option.

This vote shows the value of democracy and why the corporate stooges in Greece, Portugal, Ireland etc are afraid to put the bailout to a referendum. The people aren't a stupid as their masters would like them to be.

Several disturbing trends in this poll, however. The first is that the Green Party backed paying the crooks, just like their sister party did in Ireland. Such a major betrayal in such a short time. It took the social democrats about 40 years to degenerate this much. The second thing is, the previous referendum rejected the con-job by 93 to 7. Somehow 35% of the Icelandic population got soft in the head in the course of 14 months. Part of this is undoubtedly due to authoritarian conditioning as the example of the university administrator who voted yes because he thought the politicians “knew more than he did.” Yes, there's a sucker born every day!

UPDATE - the final tally is about 60-40 rejection and in the comments section of the CBC story on the vote, comments in favor of the rejection are running 80 to 3 negatives.

Ayn Rand Exposed

2011-03-24T17:29:00.000-07:00

The Lover of Hierarchy

The notion of hierarchy is integral to all forms of authoritarianism, yet this "libertarian" guru revels in it.

The man at the top of the intellectual pyramid contributes the most to all those below him, but gets nothing except his material payment, receiving no intellectual bonus from others to add to the value of his time. The man at the bottom who, left to himself, would starve in his hopeless ineptitude, contributes nothing to those above him, but receives the bonus of all of their brains. Such is the nature of the “competition” between the strong and the weak of the intellect. Such is the pattern of “exploitation” for which you have damned the strong

http://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/pyramid_of_ability.html

The Homophobe

[T]o proclaim spiritual sisterhood with lesbians... is so repulsive a set of premises from so loathsome a sense of life that an accurate commentary would require the kind of language I do not like to see in print."

The Philistine

Her hatred of "modern art" never rises above the cartoonish and is mirrored in every dictator and despot of the era.

Early in the twentieth century, for the first time in history, works purporting to be art were created that were not, in fact, art at all--bearing little or no resemblance to the painting, sculpture, literature, music, or dance that had come before. Whereas art had always integrated and made sense of human experience, this new work was invariably fragmented, disorienting, and unintelligible, often intentionally so. In many respects, it was more akin to madness, or to fraud, than to art.

http://www.aristos.org/editors/intro.htm

The Liar

She takes the most spun-out hippie world view and tries to make out like this was the philosophy of the New Left. She had to know she was lying.

Intellectually, the activists of the New Left are the most docile conformists. They have accepted as dogma all the philosophical beliefs of their elders for generations: the notions that faith and feeling are superior to reason, that material concerns are evil, that love is the solution to all problems, that the merging of one’s self with a tribe or a community is the noblest way to live. There is not a single basic principle of today’s Establishment which they do not share. Far from being rebels, they embody the philosophic trend of the past 200 years (or longer): the mysticism-altruism-collectivism axis, which has dominated Western philosophy from Kant to Hegel to James and on down http://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/new_left.html

Her Serial Killer Heart Throb

http://exiledonline.com/atlas-shrieked-why-ayn-rands-right-wing-followers-are-scarier-than-the-manson-family-and-the-gruesome-story-of-the-serial-killer-who-stole-ayn-rands-heart/

And finally, some compassion for this fifth-rate Nietzsche of the mini-malls.

http://www.slate.com/id/2233966/

The Right Wing and Culture

2011-03-10T17:37:00.000-08:00

The right both promotes and despises corporate culture. They promote it for obvious reasons – profitability and social control, but their more literate members despise it because they think they are above it. They idolize a “high culture”, but have little understanding of it.

I will use culture with a capital “C” to separate what could be called “high culture”, “serious culture” or “folk culture” from the mass of corporatist mind control twaddle.

To be a consistent reactionary, one must reject the whole of Modernity, for Culture after the late 19^th Century is hostile to bourgeois society in both its traditional and managerial forms. The writers and artists are all rebels in one manner or another, even if they espouse no overt politics. How unfortunate for the racists that jazz is Black music!

How can any winger honestly claim to love Neruda, Picasso, Bob Dylan, or Miles Davis?

Ayn Rand (1) and Adolph Hitler were consistent cultural reactionaries. Both rejected 20^th Century Culture in its entirety and saw it as some kind of nefarious plot to undermine white capitalist society.)

The right winger is forced to be a philistine or live in a state of denial. For if you examine the great cultural figures too closely, they were all opposed to the reactionaries of their day. Rightists who claim to appreciate contemporary Culture, love what they ought to hate and do so by pretending it isn't what it is. Or they live in complete and unrecognized contradiction like Eva Braun dancing to swing music.

Thus to be a reactionary is to be tormented by Culture. One's self-image is one of superiority over the bohemians, leftists, and people of color, but these are the very people who made that Culture. If the philistine option is chosen, one cannot help but feel culturally inferior, no matter how much the “intelektuls” and “crazy artists” are sneered at.

Artists are both the shamans and mine canaries of our society. Creating something new means going beyond the old, means breaking barriers. Creation is thus an act of rebellion and thus in its very essence is in stark contradiction to the reactionary who wishes to turn the clock back. Artists are society's mine canaries in that they warn, often decades in advance, of serious problems within the system.

1. Early in the twentieth century... works purporting to be art were created that were not, in fact, art at all... In many respects, it was more akin to madness, or to fraud, than to art.

http://www.aristos.org/editors/intro.htm

Paid to Troll - I Though So

2011-02-23T09:25:00.000-08:00

I have long thought that much of the trolling that goes on in progressive blogs was part of an organized campaign. For the simple reason, it would be easy enough to do. Just hire a bunch of people to write disruptive comments in blog comment sections. It seems there is even a term to describe it “internet astroturfing” See George Monbiot's article on this:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/georgemonbiot/2011/feb/23/need-to-protect-internet-from-astroturfing

New Libertarian Socialist Blog

2011-02-21T11:57:00.000-08:00

New libertarian socialist blog from BC.

Check it out at http://coyotetimesca.blogspot.com/

The Origins of War in Child Abuse

2011-02-09T10:27:00.001-08:00

Here is a reading of a chapter from Lloyd DeMause's book “The Origins of War in Child Abuse”. Not for the squeamish, as it lays out in great detail the insane cruelty toward children that predominated in Europe and the settler societies up till a generation ago. (Thanks to Y. A. Duck for making me aware of this.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sjcq0Ce93NA

Riane Eisler and Anarchism

2011-01-26T08:14:00.000-08:00

Riane Eisler is not an anarchist, but she is part of an increasingly numerous group of thinkers and activists who do not fit within the old paradigms. Such people as Naomi Klein, Sub Com Marcos, and the 21 st Century Socialists, who cannot be easily pigeon-holed as social democrats, Marxists or anarchists, yet seem to share all of those traits.

She does not fit in the old paradigms, in large measure, because she has invented a new paradigm, that of “dominator society vs partnership society.” The usual anarchist concepts include statism/anti-statism, and authoritarian/anti-authoritarian. I would suggest that her new conception is more encompassing than the older concepts. But not for a moment do I believe that these should be scrapped, but merely used where they apply most directly.

One does not have to think for very long to find areas of life where the concepts of statism and authoritarianism give rise to problems in analyzing certain ideologies and situations. For example, anyone can see that neo-liberals, Stalinists and Fascists are both statist and authoritarian. So too, any group or individual who seeks to further dis-empower the populace, centralize economic and political power and create greater inequality in income. The old concepts fit like a glove.

The problem comes when you encounter people who strive for greater equality, empowerment of the populace, more decentralized and direct democracy, yet at the same claim that such a system has the need for some sort of a state. Calling such people “statist” or “authoritarian” seems like the “one drop concept” of race and politics. (1) When a democratic socialist who desires worker and neighborhood council democracy and workplace self-management gets stuck on the same list as Hitler and Mussolini, you have to wonder about your theory. When it comes to complex, contradictory situations, applying the old paradigms is like trying to crack a nut with a nine pound sledge hammer.

But this isn't the only problem. Many societies that lack a state can be extremely oppressive – especially to women and children. Nor does a weaker state necessarily lead to greater freedom and equality. The state is much smaller in Chile than in Sweden, yet no one in their right mind could claim Chileans are freer and more equal than the Swedes.

These two sets of problems are overcome by using the dominator/partnership concept. A dominator society is one in which there is a high rate of inequality of wealth and power and these inequalities are rationalized through ideology and religion. There will be gender and sexual oppression. War and conquest is celebrated. A partnership society is one in which there is a low rate of inequality of wealth and power and gender and sexual oppression. Ideology and religion will reflect this. There will be no glorification of conquest

It is possible for the state and coercive authority to exist in both systems, but with partnership societies these will be muted. Domination and partnership exist on a continuum and there are no complete dominator or partnership systems. All societies are a mix of both and one or the other tendency may be more general.

Now we have a way of judging societies not with abstractions, but how they actually effect the people who inhabit them.

The paradoxical situation where one party states like Cuba or Tito's Yugoslavia are better for their citizens than many a multiparty “democracy” are also clarified. While authoritarian in many ways, these societies nonetheless have or had many partnership aspects, greater indeed than societies, which on paper at least, were less authoritarian. Nor do we need write off these positive social aspects as so much propaganda (as though the citizens of these countries were too stupid to see if they were conned or not.) That such regimes might have some real benefit for their people exists as a possibility with the dominator-partnership model.

Nor do we anarchists, when confronted by right-wing “libertarians” have to apologize or feel sheepish about preferring social democracy to US-style “liberty.” The US, for all its alleged dislike of government and endless talk of freedom, is compared with say, Norway, far more on the dominator end of the scale. Consider the US and its inability to develop a health care system or other social measures, its militarism and belligerence, its extremist religions.

1. In the Jim Crow Southern USA, having “one drop” of African blood, whether you looked “white” or not, meant you were Black and thus discriminated against. The contemporary political version of this is that any amount of social reform is too much “socialism.”

What's Missing With the Media and the Arizona Massacre

2011-01-14T11:19:00.000-08:00

Something important is missing from the obvious criticisms of the right wing's campaign of hate and lies. Of course, this sort of propaganda does set the stage for some homicidal nut. There is nothing remarkable about pointing this out, since everything is interconnected and nothing exists in isolation. But all these calls for reasonable discourse will fall on the deaf ears of the reactionary spouters. It is also somewhat hypocritical for liberals to wax indignant against the right-wing hate propaganda – but more on that later.

The reality is, the right can no more cease to lie and calumny than a great white shark can turn vegan. It comes with the beast. All the way back to the struggle to end slavery, reactionaries have lied and demonized about their progressive opponents. Indeed, the basic method of attack was written about 200 years ago and only improved on since.

The right must lie and demonize because its positions do not stand up to rational evaluation, what they uphold is factually untrue. (1) Furthermore, it is very difficult to demand inequality, suppression of freedom and victimization of minorities in a society that claims to be democratic and pluralistic. Underlying all of this are the repressive child rearing practices that spawned these reactionaries. (The US has the most abusive child rearing and pedagogy in the developed world) These child rearing practices give rise to a character structure that perpetuates denial as a life strategy.

As for liberals, can the smugness and tone down the outrage. From the Palmer Raids – where the IWW were branded Bolsheviks and terrorists to the present day demonization of Hugo Chavez in the US liberal media, liberals have engaged in their share of lies and calumny. Mild progressiveness is fine, but get a little too radical and libs could teach Goebbels a thing or two!

1. Examples - that the US health system is the best, that “permissive” child rearing causes delinquency, that religion is needed to make an ethical society, that problems can be solved through repression.

Any Time Now - online anarchist zine

2011-01-07T12:35:00.000-08:00

My apologies to Dick for taking so long to mention the new format ANY TIME NOW ZINE. Check it out, Lots of good information See

http://atnzine.net/

The Phases of Anarchist History

2011-01-07T12:06:00.000-08:00

In order to understand the degeneration of the Socialist (Second) International, Karl Korsch in 1920 applied an historical materialist analysis to Marxism. He related Marxist praxis to the level and nature of class struggle. He posited three periods of Marxist activity. The first period ended about 1850, involved the revolutions of 1848 and the Chartist Movement. This revolutionary period gave rise to the “original” and revolutionary Marxism of Marx and Engels. The second period lasted until the 1917 Russian Revolution, and was characterized by the defeat of the Paris Commune and a partial absorption of the working class into simple trade unionism. Marxism, in its turn, became reformist during this period. The Third Period began with the Russian Revolution and revolutionary Marxism was restored with revolutionary thinkers like Lenin and Rosa Luxemburg.

This is not the place to debate the merits of Korsch's three stages, but only to consider applying historical materialist analysis to the anarchist movement in an attempt to understand its ideological Odyssey. Can the anarchist movement be placed in periods related to the level of class struggle in those countries where it had some prominence?

Like Marxism, anarchism developed just prior to and during the Revolution of 1848. This early anarchism was based mainly on the writings of Pierre Proudhon. But unlike Marxism, “Proudhonism” was not a fully developed revolutionary anarchism. In many aspects it was gradualist and reduced class struggle to the formation of worker mutualist societies. (Proudhon was opposed to strikes) Most workers at this time were artisans and mutualism was natural to them. Anarchism's First Period would be roughly 1840 until the late 1860's. During this time, Proudhon influenced the nascent workers movement in France, Southern Europe and part of Latin America.

By the late 1860's, however, a growing class struggle in those countries where Proudhon's thought had influence, began to move anarchism in a more militant direction. (1) Bakunin is the chief anarchist theoretician of this period which lasts until the defeat of the Paris Commune and the crushing of the Spanish and Italian revolts. Thus anarchism's Second Period lasts from about 1868 to 1874.

Post-1874 sees a period of reaction, as well as the “Long Depression” which effects many of the advanced economies up until the mid-1890's. Class struggle wanes, or is severally repressed in the countries where anarchism has any presence. But rather than heading in a reformist direction, an important section of the movement goes the opposite way, into ultra leftism. Two crucial aspects of revolutionary anarchism are ignored, seemingly pushed aside as irrelevant, these are the need to be directly involved in the people's struggles and the need for organization, rejected for “propaganda of the deed” and small autonomous action groups. This Third Period lasts until the late 1890's.

Propaganda of the deed proves an abject failure. Anarchists are marginalized and the social democratic parties get the upper hand, except for Southern Europe and Latin America. At the same time, the 1880's and 90's see a process of industrialization occurring, almost world-wide. Former peasants and artisans are converted into wage workers and the class struggle heats up. Anarchists return to the working class and involve themselves in the formation of revolutionary labour unions, (syndicalism). We can date anarchism's Fourth Period from the late 1890's. Syndicalism develops into a mass movement comprising millions of workers. Anarcho-syndicalists are involved in the Mexican and Russian revolutions, as well as risings in other countries such as Argentina and Brazil.

But Fourth Period anarchism had a flaw. While involved in the people's struggles and the creation of mass organizations, most syndicalists fell into a kind of economic determinism and also underestimated the need for a distinct revolutionary organization. For most Third Period syndicalists, revolution meant the workers occupying and running the work places and the need to deal politically with the state was ignored. The defeat of the Spanish Revolution in 1938 brings the Third Period to a close. At the same time, with few exceptions, workers become integrated into communist, social democratic or even worse, business unions and the parties supported by these tendencies. Autonomous class struggle, which found its theoretical and practical expression in syndicalism, for all intents and purposes, ends at this time, With the defeat of syndicalism, anarchism once more becomes separated from the working class. Essentially, the end of autonomous struggle is the end of anarchism as a proletarian movement.

The Fifth Period begins in 1939 and goes until 1968. This time, unlike the propaganda of the deed period, anarchists do two things – they immerse themselves in theory and attempt to develop a reformist anarchism, a “practical” anarchism that can be applied in a time when mass working class revolt, let alone revolution seems a hopeless fantasy. A major concern is why the working class failed to bring about the libertarian socialist revolution. Sexuality, child rearing practices, pedagogy, and culture are all examined and it is shown how these have an effect upon the workers consciousness and practice. A Gramcian struggle for hegemony ensues as anarchists strive to bring liberatory practice into daily life and overcome those factors which create a subservient population. (The one area where anarchism does have some input into the working class is the promotion of workers control and these ideas begin to resurface in the mid-1960s.) The Post 1939 “movement” allows anarchism to survive. Its ideas have an influence far beyond the small numbers of adherents. Liberatory practices begin to permeate society and the most obvious example of this is the formation of early New Left and the counter-cultures of the 1960s.

1968 signals that anarchism has entered a new phase, the Sixth Period. Autonomous class struggle is back again. Non-syndicalist unions start talking about workers control. Syndicalist unions begin recruiting again, though they remain very much a minority tendency within anarchism. Anarchism at this time is overwhelmingly counter-cultural, except for countries where it has deep roots like France, Italy and Spain. Permanent anarchist organization begins in countries that had not seen such in 40 years. The far-left is largely Marxist Leninist during this period, but anarchism is now a contender, something it wasn't in the Fourth Period.

The Seventh Period begins in 1980 and sees the complete defeat/capitulation of the orthodox left everywhere. The working class, at first combative, is beaten down and defeated. Anarchism suffers as well. While not eliminated, numbers are down and some organizations fragment. But the collapse of the Eastern Bloc, and the re-establishment of “democracy” in Latin America leads to a proliferation of anarchist groups. Anarchists are now found almost everywhere, but the movement is “a mile wide and an inch deep” and is still largely counter-cultural. (Counter-culture seems to be the way that anarchism enters new areas and attracts youth.)

The Eighth (and present) Period is signaled by the Battle of Seattle in 1999 and the Argentine Revolt of 2000. Seattle makes vast numbers of people aware of anarchism. The rebirth of class struggle in France, Spain and Mexico 1994-5 gave rise to the invigorated syndicalism of the French CNT, the Spanish CGT and the libertarian communalism of the Zapatistas, and laid the base for this period. The far left is now basically “the anarchists,” . More than a decade into the Sixth Period, the growing, if not dominant tendency in anarchism is working class oriented, and organizational. Furthermore, the influence of anarchist ideas goes far beyond the actual number of anarchists. Today, it is a rare socialist who is not in favor of worker-management, worker coops and popular power exercised through neighborhood councils. Even if, as some cynical anarchists claim, these socialists are not sincere, it still shows the influence of these ideas that they have to raise them in the first place.

Looking at anarchism in relation to the actual level of class struggle and how this struggle is reflected in anarchist praxis enables us to have a deeper understanding and appreciation of our movement. Western society has an underlying notion of free will and thus we have a culture of finger-pointing and blame. (You freely chose to do this, you vile creature!) Unconsciously, the left shares this culture. People who deviate from what is considered correct in terms of theory and practice are deemed to have done so for negative motives. While “selling-out”, ignorance and stupidity are factors, they don't explain everything. By examining anarchist praxis in the manner above, we realize that most of what happens, including those aspects we disagree with, are the natural responses to a given set of conditions rather than malfeasance and stupidity. The worst we can say about our past errors is that they were short-sighted.

Realizing the almost cyclic nature of the movement and the different periods that it can be divided into, can help us overcome any future errors made as a short-sighted reaction to changed conditions. For example, no period of reaction is so all-encompassing that we have to resort to propaganda of the deed to keep anarchism alive. While anarchism lost its proletarian base in the 1950's, this did not mean this was permanent and that militant, class struggle anarchism was gone forever.

At the same time, aside from the disastrous propaganda of the deed, much has been gained from anarchism's various phases, in spite of the errors committed. An incredible amount was learned from the Fourth or syndicalist phase. Indeed, this period really put anarchism on the map as a serious tendency in the workers movement. The Fifth Period developed anarchist understanding of society to a remarkable degree, making much of the earlier anarchism seem crude by comparison. Without the counter-culturalism of the Sixth and Seventh Periods, it is unlikely that so many youth would have become attracted to anarchism.

1. Many of these Proudhonist associations began to take on a more militant stance.

For All The People – Cooperatives in America

2010-12-13T18:22:00.000-08:00

John Curl's book is an exhaustive study of cooperatives, mutual aid and intentional communities from the First Nations to the present. Scores of obscure and forgotten groups can be discovered here. What Curl shows is the record of struggle by ordinary people to construct a humane and democratic way of life in the face of opposition and adversity.

You find that there is no division between class struggle or organization at the point of production and the formation of coops. Nor is there a real split between political movements and alternative building. For the Knights of Labor and the Populist Party alternative building went hand in hand with union organizing or political action. Socialism, from its very inception as a tendency, right up to, and including the foundation of the Socialist Party, meant cooperative production, or as it was expressed as the “cooperative commonwealth.”

While parties and unions built alternatives, the people involved with them sometimes did so at different periods. When a union was broken or a workplace struggle defeated, the members would turn to community building or forming a coop. If these failed, they would then return to union organizing or party-building.

It turns out that all left wing organizations built cooperatives and mutual aid societies, including the Communist Party. Even the left wing New Dealers got in the act, encouraging the formation of consumer and farmers coops, as well as surprisingly, cooperative communities. While Curl's study is limited to the USA, one must also remember that in the early-mid 20^th Century, the European Social Democrats built an entire counter-culture of cooperatives, mutual aid societies, schools, and associations. While this development was most prevalent in Austria and Germany, Northern Italy and the Scandinavian counties were not far behind.

This unanimity around cooperation leads me to question the accuracy of the notion of “state socialism.” While some people such as anarchists, cooperative socialists and syndicalists were “pure cooperators”, the rest of the left preferred a mixed economy of coops, municipal and nationalized industries. State socialism must then be a matter of degree and the term ought only be applied where the economy would be fully dominated by the state sector. Since everyone likes coops, anarchists and cooperative socialists ought to be able to approach “state socialists” in a positive, rather than negative manner. The following questions ought to be asked; “You support coops in this area, why not elsewhere? Don't you think cooperative principles could be applied to the industries you seek to nationalize? Couldn't there be a form of national ownership that is not statist?”

Many cooperatives failed, and most intentional communities collapsed in short time. Curl gives the reasons for these failures. One was external problems. The capitalists did everything in their power, from economic warfare to terrorism, to crush alternatives. Governments, in the pay of their corporate masters, were hostile and used the Sherman Anti-Trust Act to prevent the formation of the cooperative federations which could have been of assistance to fledgling coops. Later governments enacted doubled-edged coop legislation which was used to control, de-radicalize and steer the cooperative movement in a more capitalistic direction. There were also funding problems. Banks refused to lend money and the government wouldn't help either. New coops were saddled with heavy debt-loads or were grossly underfunded.

Then there were the internal problems. Ideological differences fractured groups. There were organizational problems, especially a lack of experienced personnel for the “nuts and bolts” daily coop activities. Naive idealism ruined many an intentional community, unworkable ideas like large-scale communal living and a lack of practical members. (Lots of philosophers, fewer carpenters and farmers.) Coops often over-extended themselves in good times, which lead to collapse and bankruptcy in bad times.

See http://www.pmpress.org/content/article.php?story=johncurl

Three Stories, Three Children: On the Requiem Road

2010-12-02T10:43:00.000-08:00

The elderly native man stares at the white woman across the table of the greasy spoon in Kamloops, British Columbia, where they both wait for a bus. It is November 25, 2010.

His name is George.

“I lived my whole life on our reserve, just south of Calgary. As a young boy, I got taken to the Catholic residential school north of us. That’s where I got all these.”

The man lifts his shirt and reveals deep scars on his chest and arms. Another deep furrow runs across his head.

“But that wasn’t the worst. It happened one night in winter. Cold as hell, and blowing hard. These three little girls from our reserve had all been raped by the head priest. The oldest girl was only seven. The others must have been five or six. The eldest one said to the others they had to run away. They was just in little cotton nightgowns, no shoes or nothing. But they escaped and ran off into that blizzard.”

The man looks down and shakes his head.

“They didn’t get more’n a mile. I was on the search team that found ’em. All three of ‘em were still holding each other’s little hands, lying face down in the snow. When we reached ‘em, the priest, the guy who’d raped them, got all mad and started cursing, like he was mad at them.

“That’s when I saw the oldest girl start moving. She weren’t dead. But when the priest saw her move she told me to just leave her there. He turned away from her and left her there, dying in the snow.”

The man is about to continue when his bus arrives.

“I couldn’t leave her there …” he begins. He turns to his wife, who has sat next to him the entire time, nodding sadly.

“We gotta go” he says to the white woman.

2. Far to the west, a day later, William Combes shuffles into the Ovaltine café on Vancouver’s hastings street skid row with his few belongings stuffed in a backpack. He nods and smiles at me, for we haven’t seen each other in weeks.

“I been drinking again, really bad” he begins apologetically, for he knows how much I rely on him, and how he relies on that reliance.

“The memories again?” I ask.

“Yeah, but it’s like now, I ain’t got nowhere to talk about it. Not now, with your radio show gone. That was the way I got by, talking on the show …”.

I nod, remembering with more than anger how his lifeline was severed so brutally. I say quickly,

“I’ve got a new show, a blog radio program. You have to come on it.”

He looks at me wearily, then reaches into his bag and extracts a nearly-empty bottle and swigs from it. We let the minutes tick by, hoping for something.

Finally William says,

“Remember when the Queen came to our school? How she took away those ten kids?”

“Yeah, I checked on that. She was definitely in B.C. in the fall of ’64.”

“I remembered their names. Some of ‘em. The boys.”

I pull out my notepad.

“There was Harvey and Ralph Parker – Metis boys from Lytton. They were in the group taken away by the Queen and Philip, after the picnic at dead Man’s Creek. Five other boys went, and three girls. They were all in the smart group in school.”

The ten children were never seen again.

“Are you remembering anything else William?” I asked.

He nods sadly.

“George Adolph and Ralph Arnuse, they were with me that day, they saw the kids taken away. And how she made ‘em all kiss her foot.”

“What?”

“The Queen had on these white gloves, and she put out her foot and told all those ten kids they had to kiss it. They all did.”

William shuddered and started coughing.

“I started talking about it the next day in school, said it wasn’t right. Then the nun told me if I said anything against the Queen I’d get killed for it.”

I stopped jotting notes and looked at him carefully.

“There’s more, isn’t there?”

The man nodded.

“I seen Brother Murphy throw that epileptic boy off the fire escape, three stories up. Murphy did that to a bunch of kids.”

“How many?”

William screws up his eyes and stutters,

“Happened all the time. I’d say fifteen. Twenty.”

“He killed that many kids?”

“Sure. Nobody survives that kinda fall. Murphy burned a few of them in the school furnace. I saw him do it once.”

William wouldn’t eat anything that day. I managed to get some oatmeal into him but he quickly threw it up into a urinal.

3. That night, waiting for a bus on Hastings street and sheltering from the rain, I encountered Josephine, an aboriginal prostitute I’ve known for years. Somehow, she’s still alive, although tonight she was bleeding from a new wound to her forehead.

“Eduardo did it. I still owe him.”

She sat next to me in the bus cubicle, watching warily for the Guatemalan pimp and drug dealer who rules a two block stretch of Hastings as his personal fief. The cops don’t go near him. Rumor has it that he used to be a political activist in his homeland. Now he murders people.

“Killed Francine by jumping on her head, over at the Patricia” recounted Jo to me once, years ago.

“She owed him fifty bucks. Made the mistake of telling him off.”

Jo was cold that night, and I offered her my coat. She smiled shyly and declined.

“Are you safe?” I asked.

She just tilted her head at the stupidity of the question, but being native, said nothing.

The elderly native man stares at the white woman across the table of the greasy spoon in Kamloops, British Columbia, where they both wait for a bus. It is November 25, 2010.

By Kevin D. Annett - www.hiddenfromhistory.org

Interview on Anarchism

2010-11-22T10:55:00.000-08:00

Our good friend from Argenta, Dick Martin, is part of an interview on anarchism in an article in the Victoria University's paper THE MARTLET See

http://martlet.ca/martlet/article/anarchy-society/

Radio Interview on "View From Anarchist Mountain"

2010-11-15T09:27:00.000-08:00

I was interviewed on Radio CHLY last Wednesday. Topics being my two last books, "View From Anarchist Mountain" and "The Impossibilists." . Click on link to hear the program - http://www.archive.org/details/UnboughtAndUnbossed196Nov102010

Revolt Spreads to Britain and Germany.

2010-11-11T11:39:00.001-08:00

While the Greeks, Spanish and French have been battling their respective sociopath dominators now the Germans and the British have gotten into the spirit of the day.

50,000 British students hit back at the greed creeps wish to increase tuition fees. In Germany tens of thousands of citizens force 17,000 riot cops to surrender in a massive anti-nuclear blockade.

Now when will us Canucks get a little backbone?

Walmart Beaten In Mexico

2010-11-02T11:17:00.000-07:00

Here is an excellent story from Narco News on how movements in Mexico have beaten back the evil Walmart Empire. See

http://www.narconews.com/Issue67/article4245.html

Also check out Al Norman's (Walmarts Number One Enemy) organization Sprawlbusters See

http://www.sprawl-busters.com/aboutsb.html

Neoclassical Economics, Good Bye and Good Riddance!

2010-10-31T12:13:00.000-07:00

The following was written by economics students at Berkeley CA

a week ago with the intention of launching an international

student movement in oppositionto neoclassical domination.

Kick It Over Manifesto

We, the undersigned, make this accusation: that you, the teachers of neoclassical economics and the students that you graduate, have perpetuated a gigantic fraud upon the world.

You claim to work in a pure science of formula and law, but yours is a social science, with all the fragility and uncertainty that this entails. We accuse you of pretending to be what you are not.

You hide in your offices, protected by your mathematical jargon, while in the real world, forests vanish, species perish and human lives are callously destroyed. We accuse you of gross negligence in the management of our planetary household.

You have known since its inception that one of your measures of economic progress, the Gross Domestic Product, is fundamentally flawed and incomplete, and yet you have allowed it to become a global standard, reported day in, day out in every form of media. We accuse you of recklessly projecting an illusion of progress.

You have done great harm, but your time is coming to a close. Your systems are crumbling, your flaws increasingly laid bare. An economic revolution has begun, as hopeful and determined as any in history. We will have our clash of economic paradigms, we will have our moment of truth, and out of each will come a new economics – open, holistic, human scale.

On campus after campus, we will chase you old goats out of power. Then, in the months and years that follow, we will begin the work of reprogramming your doomsday machine.

Sign the manifesto at
www.kickitover.org

Sabotage of Public Transit?

2010-10-16T18:57:00.001-07:00

I once lived in a suburb outside of Montreal and worked downtown. My shift ended at 11:30 PM The metro arrived at the same time as the main bus to the suburbs left, and by the time you got up the stairs the bus was pulling away. This meant a 30-40 minute wait, and in winter this meant 30 below. All the bus system had to do was have the bus leave a mere 2 minutes later and we could make the connection.

The bus from the ferry to down town Nanaimo arrives at the same time as the boat from the Mainland. Of course, it takes about 10 minutes to disembark, so no bus and a 40 minute wait till the next one. Adjusting the bus schedule 10 minutes would mean ferry passengers could take public transit to their homes.

The bus connecting Vancouver Airport to the Tsawaasen ferry to Vancouver Island arrives three minutes after the cut-off time for purchasing ferry tickets. Since the ride from the airport already takes an hour and the next ferry leaves in an hours time, you will take 2 hours to be able to take the ferry. Simply moving the bus arrival time back five minutes and you could make the ferry!

A passenger train runs up Vancouver Island connecting the city of Victoria to other smaller cities and villages. The natural traffic flow is from the smaller cities to the large population centre of Victoria. There are also the suburbs outside of Victoria which could be well served by a morning rail connection. Guess which direction the train runs and at what time? It leaves Victoria at 11AM, arrives at its northernmost city, Courtenay, at 2 PM, then leaves back to Victoria at 3 PM, arriving at 6PM. Totally useless for anyone living in the smaller cities or suburbs.

Why? I suspect the Montreal example is one of bureaucratic indifference. For the other bus systems, it looks as though they are trying to benefit the taxi companies. As for the rail road, it seems deliberate sabotage to help the petroleum/auto complex, since thousands of auto rides would not be taken with a rational schedule.

A rational, people-oriented transit system is not possible as long as it is run by bureaucrats tied to the corporate system.

"What's it to you?": Canada Admits its Crime, Again

2010-10-06T13:22:00.000-07:00

by Kevin D. Annett

Thousands of children died in the (residential) schools and their families were not informed of the deaths or the burial sites.

- Murray Sinclair, chair, ”Truth and Reconciliation Commission” (TRC), to Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples, September 29, 2010

The lingering remnant of my home-bred naivety and trust in authority – even a murderous one – did a leap for joy today when I read these words by Murray “Tonto” Sinclair. In my dreams, I suddenly envisaged the police raiding the offices of the Catholic and Anglican and United Church and hauling away records and fuming church officers, now that mass murder by these august bodies has been admitted.

But only for a moment.

My Dad once observed that studying a problem is a typically Canadian way to avoid doing anything about it. And we won the war against the Indians, after all. Winners don’t arrest themselves for their crimes: even when they finally are forced to look at all the dried blood on their hands. What they do is absolve themselves of everything and wash the blood away, just like Pontius Pilate did: with the help of their paid stooges among their victims.

It’s more than comical that a genocidal mortality first cited in The Ottawa Journal as early as November, 1907 is suddenly being “discovered” by the latest batch of overpaid federal Commissioners. Or that the same folks are pretending that their “discovery” will mean anything at all, when the churches and government responsible for the slaughter have already legally indemnified themselves for the crime.

I was nevertheless pleased by Sinclair’s words, because it’s good to be vindicated. All the late-night research and public protests and head-banging and unanswered media releases over nearly twenty years has done something. Old Joe Hendsbee, a blacklisted communist and soul brother, called it the “piss on them enough” factor: You piss on anyone long enough and they’ll have to respond.

In the spring of 1997, when I first released to the Canadian press my collection of testimonies and documents demonstrating the enormous residential schools death rate now “officially” recognized by the ones who did it, nobody in the media responded. I repeat: nobody.

This non-response continued down through the years, even after a United Nations affiliated Tribunal confirmed my evidence in 1998, and two books and a documentary film of mine elaborated in detail the facts of a church-sponsored Canadian genocide to the world.

As I describe in my latest book, Unrepentant: Disrobing the Emperor,

Without exception, the media meekly continued their policy of the previous five years. With canine curiosity, they had initially sniffed around the edges of what they perceived as an opportunity to improve circulation, but with the more recent sound of a commanding corporate voice, they contented themselves with lifting a collective hind leg over the residential schools issue, and then trotting off in pursuit of their normal coverage of worldwide oddities and community trivia. (p. 138)

My favorite example of media indifference (read censorship) happened in October, 1998, when I gathered five survivors of sexual sterilization programs at the Nanaimo Indian Hospital who all wanted to tell their story to the press. A national Globe and Mail reporter in Vancouver hemmed and hawed when I called him up with the news, and he finally asked if I could transport the five of them to his office, rather than him go to them. Then he added quickly,

“On the other hand, don’t bother. No-one would believe this stuff anyway.”

Almost as hilarious was the reaction of a CBC TV reporter at our first Aboriginal Holocaust Day rally in April, 2005, who challenged me by declaring,

“But what proof do you have that children were actually murdered in residential schools?”

I turned and pointed to Harriett Nahanee, an aging woman who had seen teenager Maisie Shaw kicked to her death by United Church minister Alfred Caldwell at the Alberni residential school, and I said to the reporter,

“Talk to Harriett. She’s an eyewitness to a killing.”

The CBC woman turned pale, frowned, and actually hurried off in the opposite direction.

But that’s all behind us now, so it seems. It’s in vogue to talk about dead Indian kids in Canada – at least, from a distance, and without, perish the thought, any talk of who is responsible or bringing them to trial.

My friend Peter Yellow Quill of the Long Plains tribe in Manitoba said it best, at a protest we held against the TRC last June in Winnipeg.

“Imagine somebody steals your car. Then he knocks on your door and apologizes for doing it; but then he drives away again in the stolen car. That’s what Canadians like to call Healing and Reconciliation towards Indians: lots of nice words and apologies are said, but nothing ever changes.”

Being under our boot his entire life, Peter Yellow Quill is a total realist, and bears the truth that isn't fit to print. But I have been accused of being a cynic.

So let’s give ourselves the benefit of the doubt, as we are so good at doing. Let’s imagine, for a moment, that all the lawyers and confidentiality agreements suddenly die, and church and state become willing to tell the whole truth, put themselves in the dock, and actually do justice according to the victims, rather than themselves. What would we see?

We’d witness precisely what would happen if 50,000 and more white children had have been done to death in aboriginal-run “Caucasian residential schools”:

A massive criminal investigation. Arrests of church and government officers, and their prosecution. The canceling of tax exemptions to churches that killed children. Public memorial sites and museums. History books that reflected the real history. And a nation-wide repatriation program that would finally give all the murdered children a proper burial.

That’s what would satisfy a white traitor like me. But it’s still only my view. To Peter Yellow Quill, and Harry Wilson, who is dying on the streets of Vancouver, nothing short of the return of everything that was stolen from them will suffice: starting with the land itself.

Of course, the world doesn’t listen to Indians like Peter and Harry: only to the bought and paid for ones, like Murray Sinclair of the TRC. Which is why we’ll continue to hear a lot about healing and reconciliation - and why 50,000 little corpses will vanish.

Would you have it any other way?

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Kevin Annett is a community minister, author and award-winning film maker who works with the London-based International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State. His latest book Unrepentant: Disrobing the Emperor (O Books, UK, 2010) can be ordered on Amazon Books.

Kevin's New Radio Show is at - http://www.blogtalkradio.com/hiddenfromhistory/2010/10/16/resurrection-kevin-annett-is-back-on-the-air

Ecuador - Attempted Right-wing Coup Defeated

2010-10-01T19:49:00.000-07:00

Today there was an attempt by the police and parts of the military to overthrow the reformist government of Rafael Correa. It was defeated by popular mobilization and the refusal of the lower ranks of the military and a top general to support the plotters. The American corporate state and the Ecuadorian oligarchy must be scared if they are willing to attempt something like this. Mind you, they were successful in Honduras, but this time it looks like the psychopaths bit off more than they can chew. Correa promises to kick fascist ass (not in those words exactly, but he seems to be serious) lets hope he is and doesn't wimp out like Chavez did with his would-be killers. For more info see;

Update

http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefield/4149/statement-ecuadors-most-important-social-movements

http://www.counterpunch.org/hallinan10082010.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/07/ecuador-police-suspects-held-uprising

http://mostlywater.org/more_washingtons_failed_ecuadorean_coup_attempt

http://mostlywater.org/node/96960

http://www.zcommunications.org/ecuadors-correa-haunted-by-honduras-by-mark-weisbrot

http://mostlywater.org/failed_washingtonsponsored_ecuadorean_coup_attempt

http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefield/4138/coup-attempt-ecuador-result-sec-clintons-cowardice-honduras

http://www.marxist.com/ecuador-mass-insurrection-defeats-coup-detat.htm

The Spectre of Barbarism and its Alternative

2010-09-22T18:20:00.000-07:00

The spectre of barbarism and its alternative, by Michael A. Lebowitz

Thesis One. The capitalist economic crisis is not over
Although the immediate financial crisis appears to have been resolved, all of the underlying factors (which are the result of the overaccumulation to which capitalism is prone and which made fictitious capital so vulnerable) are still present. The incredible trade imbalance of the U.S. economy has not been addressed; the unprecedented deficit of the U.S. federal budget is rising; the over-extension of consumer credit hangs over the economy; unemployment is rising and thus consumer confidence and spending is not likely to return to previous heights; and, the general picture is one in which the U.S. economy, the dominant economy in the world, will continue to lose hegemony. When commentators stress signs of recovery, it is essential to remember that this pattern differs not at all from that of 1929 to 1933 – in other words, the period between the stock market crash and the bank failures – a period before much of the depression of the 1930s. At best, although capitalism itself may recover, the prospect is one of a significant geographical restructuring of capital on an international basis, which will require a painful adjustment for the U.S. economy – one which involves acceptance of continued stagnation or decline of incomes for the mass of people.

Thesis Two. The resource/food/water/climate/environment crisis is deepening.

All these elements are connected. There is a food crisis which reflects, among other things, drought as the result of climate change and the diversion of food for the production of biofuels. Despite the ability to produce sufficient food at this time for the world, unequal distribution has meant starvation for many and has been reflected in food riots over the price of staple products like rice. There is a process of land grab occurring in which countries such as China, India, South Korea and Saudi Arabia are in the process of leasing land in Africa, Pakistan, and the Philippines among other places for the purpose of securing food (especially grain) and fuels. For example, Daewoo of South Korea took a 99 year lease on 3,000,000 acres of land in Madagascar (half of all arable land in the country) for the purpose of producing corn and palm oil. Similarly, Pakistan offered a half million hectares of land and promised Gulf investors that if they signed up it would hire a security force of 100,000 to protect the assets. A significant aspect of these contracts which secure arable land for foreign investors is that it is a way of dealing with the impending crisis of water shortage. And, this problem is becoming increasingly serious with the melting of glaciers for example in Tibet and the Andes – which will affect the availability of water not only for consumption and agriculture but also for hydroelectric power. This problem, the problem of over-expansion of economic activity in relation to existing resources under capitalism, will only get worse as India and China in particular attempt to emulate the consumption standards of the developed North.

Thesis Three. The current internal political correlation of forces in the United States and other advanced capitalist countries is not favourable to the advance of progressive forces.

Here we can simply note the recent rightwing victories in elections in Germany, Italy and France, in the European Union, as well as the current prospect of a smashing defeat of the Labour government in England. Of course, it is stretching matters to think of these defeats for social democracy as defeats of progressive forces; however, what is evident is the failure of the left, of trade union organizations and social movements to make significant gains in this time of capitalist crisis. To this, it is important to add the very successful mobilization of forces in the United States against healthcare reform. What is striking is the composition of that mass opposition: the so-called “tea party” movement has been attacking not only Obama, not only big government and socialism but also Wall Street and corporations – and so many of those who have marched describe themselves as working class. There is no comparable mobilization of the working class from the left in the United States.

Thesis Four. In the context of resource shortages, the struggle to control resource supplies will become intense. That struggle is not likely to take the form of market and financial domination; rather, force will decide. This is one aspect of the spectre of barbarism.

Thesis Five. In the absence of strong political movements on the left, the response in the United States in particular and in other advanced capitalist countries is likely to be one best analyzed by psychologists.

For example, in the United States (where it is a matter of faith that ‘this is the greatest country in the world’), the reaction to the changing world capitalist economy will be a tendency toward protectionism, xenophobia (manifested in particular against Muslims), quick military solutions, racism and attacks upon immigrants who are seen as stealing good jobs. In short, the likely response will be the search for scapegoats – those responsible for stealing the birthrights of true Americans. As we can see already in Europe (for example, in the fascist attacks upon the Roma people in Hungary), this is another aspect of the spectre of barbarism.

Thesis Six. The old concepts of socialism, the characteristics of socialism of the 20th century, will never challenge the mass psychology which prevails in advanced capitalist countries.

If there is anything clear in the reaction of masses in developed capitalist countries to the initial appearance of this crisis within capitalism, it is that the concept of a big state, of verticalism, of interference by distant entities (not only big government but also big companies) is precisely what people do not want. For them, that is the enemy. (My emphasis LG)

Thesis Seven. The concept of socialism for the 21st century, with its emphasis upon communal councils and workers councils, is the only way to make inroads on the working class of advanced capitalist countries at this point.

What people do respond to favourably is the idea of local decision-making and the ability to make the decisions that affect their lives – precisely because that option has been removed in advanced capitalist countries. Those are precisely the elements needed for the battle of ideas in order to struggle against barbarism.

Thesis Eight. At this time, only Venezuela offers the vision that can arm militants around the world in the battle of ideas in the struggle against barbarism. For that reason, a special responsibility falls upon Venezuela. It not only must struggle against state domination and verticalism and for development of those protagonistic institutions which alone can transform people. This struggle is essential for the health of the Venezuelan revolution; however, the success of this struggle also is needed to provide an example internationally in order to defeat the spectre of barbarism.

Mike Lebowitz was my economics professor back in 1967-68. He was right on then and is plainly right on now!

The Spectre of Barbarism and its Alternative: Eight Theses’) was presented at a conference of Venezuelan intellectuals organized by Centro Internacional Miranda (CIM) in Caracas on ‘The New International Situation and Construction of Socialism in the 21st Century’ on 1 October 2009

Thanks to Poumista http://poumista.wordpress.com/ and The Bullet http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/414.php for this article

Van Isle IWW

2010-09-21T09:37:00.000-07:00

Vancouver Island has an IWW branch, the first in who knows how many years. There is also a blog to keep folks informed of branch activities and other stuff of interest to working people. See

http://vanislewobs.wordpress.com/

The View From Anarchist Mountain

2010-09-09T21:48:00.000-07:00

It has been a busy year for me, publishing wise. First The Impossibilists, with my own Red Lion Press, then Nature of Human Brainwork was brought out by PM Press. Now I have two more to offer.

The View From Anarchist Mountain, 199 pages, $16.00 is a collection of my writings over the past 20 years on anarchism, society and history. It is available from AK Press. (For Canadians, order from me at redlionpress@hotmail.com )

Bill Pritchard – Revolutionary Socialist is a 36 page pamphlet that goes for $4.00. Pritchard is best known for being jailed under a bogus conspiracy charge in the aftermath of the Winnipeg General Strike. He was also a militant of the Socialist Party of Canada, the editor of its newspaper, The Western Clarion, and a founder of the OBU. After the demise of the SPC, he was an early member of the CCF and was Reeve of Burnaby for a number of years. Later in life, he returned to the “Impossibilist” socialism of his roots.

“Bill Pritchard – Revolutionary Socialist” - was taken from a talk he gave in 1973. It describes his adventures - and often hilarious misadventures – as a pioneer Socialist on speaking tours of Western Canada more than 90 years ago. He reminisces about a host of fascinating characters and also gives crucial eye-witness evidence about the murder of Ginger Goodwin. It is available so far, only from me.

Authority and Sociopathic Behaviour.

2010-08-28T20:13:00.000-07:00

Not only does coercive power attract sociopathic individuals, but according to the latest studies it helps create that kind of outlook. See Kevin Carson's, "The Cognitive Basis of Hierarchy"

http://c4ss.org/content/3649

Dark Days Ahead

2010-08-03T22:24:00.000-07:00

Molly's Blog very correctly shows the limitations faced by any country or bloc of countries that tries to escape the totalitarian hold of corporatism. (see Aug 1 “Greek Truckers” – comments) Europe, the example in question, is highly dependent upon foreign supplies of petroleum and natural gas. Hostile nations need only interfere with this supply to bring any genuinely reformist or revolutionary government to its knees.

Molly says we must give up the fantasy of The Revolution and be prepared for the long haul, which involves organization and education as well as trying to overcome energy dependence. I agree with this and always have... except for one thing. We don't have time. If we had a hundred years ahead of us, I am certain that libertarian socialism would replace the corporate state. But we don't have a hundred years. Maybe we have 30 years before global warming becomes unstoppable (the Tipping Point), the ocean dies, the methane in the permafrost is released and the climate becomes unbearable for most life forms. Putting forward the need for organization and education - as much as I agree with this – at this point is like pulling out the driving manual when you are about to go over a cliff.

This matter of urgency does not mean I think radical reform or revolution is at hand or likely to be so. Revolutionaries are a small minority of the population and their organizations are measured in the hundreds when they ought to be – given the seriousness of our situation - in the hundreds of thousands. The complete capitulation of the social democratic parties to the ideology of neoliberalism has reduced the reformist milieu to the small parties of the anti-capitalist left – at best 15% of the vote. No one in any position of power in any developed country is willing to take either the issue of climate change or peak oil seriously. All is denial and deception. The system is decadent to the core. Furthermore, corporate capitalism by eliminating the possibility of reforms within the system, (unlike the period immediately after WW2) has boxed itself in. By deliberately destroying much of our gains during the last century of struggle and reform, it would take nothing less than a revolution to restore us to a 1970's level of social democracy. But no one other than a small minority is for revolution.

The corporate state hell bent for destruction, but no reforms, and no revolution. What can we do?

1. Concentrate on slowing the destruction and delaying the coming of the Tipping Point. If we could delay it to 50 years we might just have time enough to make the changes necessary, for not only our survival, but also toward a more humane and democratic social system. Long before the Tipping Point, petroleum will become too expensive and the corporatist system will go into an even deeper crisis than it is now (like the collapse of the USSR universalized) This must be our opportunity, but at the same time we must prevent the use of even more CO2 producing energy sources like coal.

2. Continue to build community, solidarity and alternatives to the corporatist system. As it slides ever further into barbarism, with the stresses of economic crisis, peak oil and climate change, the organizations formed by socialists, greens and anarchists will be like the monasteries during the Dark Ages. Not only guarding culture and learning, but also keeping alive mutual aid, the social, the communal. By any means necessary, we must survive. The satanic concept that it is right to dominate and exploit must be damned for all eternity in the consciousness of the descendants of the survivors.

This is the darkest vision I have ever had. But I am often wrong. Hopefully I will be this time.

Tuli and Harvey Are Gone!

2010-07-14T10:03:00.000-07:00

Tuli Kupferberg, beat poet, singer-songwriter and member of the legendary Fugs died July 12 at 86. Harvey Pekar, author of American Splendor and many other works, left us at age 70 today.

What a loss. See:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/13/arts/music/13kupferberg.html

http://mollymew.blogspot.com /

Pure Evil! - More G8-20 Horrors

2010-07-07T22:54:00.000-07:00

John Pruyn, a 57 year old amputee was brutally attacked by police while watching the demonstration. Of all the attacks, this is the most cowardly and cruel. Anyone that would do this is evil, through and through.

In came a line of armoured police, into an area the city had promised would be safe for peaceful demonstrations during the summit. They closed right in on John and his daughter and the two others and ordered them to move. Pruyn tried getting up and he fell, and it was all too slow for the police.

As Sarah began pleading with them to give her father a little time and space to get up because he is an amputee, they began kicking and hitting him. One of the police officers used his knee to press Pruyn’s head down so hard on the ground, said Pruyn in an interview this July 4 with Niagara At Large, that his head was still hurting a week later.

Accusing him of resisting arrest, they pulled his walking sticks away from him, tied his hands behind his back and ripped off his prosthetic leg. Then they told him to get up and hop, and when he said he couldn’t, they dragged him across the pavement, tearing skin off his elbows , with his hands still tied behind his back. His glasses were knocked off as they continued to accuse him of resisting arrest and of being a “spitter,” something he said he did not do. They took him to a warehouse and locked him in a steel-mesh cage where his nightmare continued for another 27 hours.

See this account for further information

Thanks to Dr Dawg for this story

Vancouver Statement of Support for Toronto G8/G20 Arrestees

2010-07-02T08:55:00.000-07:00

Background

We, a broad-based network of Vancouver civil society organizations and individuals, call for the immediate release of all those currently being held as part of the G8/G20 Summit police operations, and for all charges against community organizers to be dropped.

Long-time organizers, many of whom were pre-emptively arrested before the protests even began, are being particularly targeted; all must be freed immediately.

The government wants to have the power to crack down on dissent because the G8/G20 policies are going to create it.

While G8/G20 leaders met behind a steel cage and an unprecedented 1-billion dollar police state operation, on Saturday June 26th and Sunday June 27th, we witnessed police violence in the city of Toronto on a scale never before experienced. Pre-emptive arrests and mass roundups led to a total of nearly 1000 people arrested, the largest number in any protest in Canadian history. This weekend revealed to us all the daily violence of police and prisons as they are experienced every day for Indigenous communities, people of colour, low income neighbourhoods, street-involved youth, queer and trans people.

According to news reports, video, and firsthand accounts, protest participants, journalists, and random passersby experienced indiscriminate arrests, police beatings that led to broken bones and hospitalizations, illegal searches and seizures, threats of gang rape, physically invasive body cavity “searches” conducted on young women by male officers, lack of food, water, adequate heating or medical care for serious injuries, denial of access to legal council, and extended random detentions. Several community organizers were pre-emptively arrested while asleep in their beds and were nowhere near the protests.

Pre-emptive arrests and mass roundups are indicative of a heightened Orwellian police state seeking to justify a bloated security budget. In addition to freeing those currently detained and dropping all charges, an impartial public inquiry into the conduct of the police is essential.

Tens of thousands of labour, anti war, feminist, migrant justice, Indigenous rights, anarchist, environmental justice, anti-oppression, anti capitalist, socialist, student, and community-based activists took to the streets to stand up to the criminal policies of the G8/G20. The reasons they did so – Indigenous self determination; environmental justice; a world free of militarization; income equity and community control over resources; migrant justice; gender, queer, disability, and reproductive rights – are just as relevant today and tomorrow as they were this past weekend.

The Harper government knows that the new G8/G20 austerity measures are bound to cause unrest, and seeks to quell public dissent in advance by increasing draconian state powers.

This was the largest security operation in Canadian history, and the largest bill for summit security yet. To put the security costs in context: The Pittsburgh G20 Summit security budget was 30 million dollars in 2009. In Toronto, 1 billion was spent to keep the people of Canada under tight police control as world leaders decided to let banks off scot-free and steal from the public instead.

As the lessons of history show us, dissent is expected given the goals and outcomes of G8/G20 meetings: further erosion of basic rights, and increased divide between rich and poor via austerity measures. Police PR and media attempt to distract us from the real violence: cutting deficits in half while letting banks off the hook.

Naomi Klein writes, “How else can we interpret the G20’s final communiqué, which includes not even a measly tax on banks or financial transactions, yet instructs governments to slash their deficits in half by 2013. This is a huge and shocking cut, and we should be very clear who will pay the price: students who will see their public educations further deteriorate as their fees go up; pensioners who will lose hard-earned benefits; public-sector workers whose jobs will be eliminated. And the list goes on. These types of cuts have already begun in many G20 countries including Canada, and they are about to get a lot worse.”
The G8/G20 countries and their criminal corporations manufacture most of the weapons on the planet, profit from war, subsidize oil corporations such as BP, and are responsible for displacing millions from their homes and lands into poverty each year.
The government is being heavily criticized from all sides both for the violent policies of the G8/G20 and for this unprecedented security budget that turned Toronto into a rights-free zone. The government wants to deflect blame onto those who stood up to protect communities from the daily violence of G8/G20 policies. We stand in support of all of the brave people who protested the G8/G20 in Toronto, including the organizers being targeted via pre-emptive and targeted arrests, who are our allies and friends.
As we saw in the streets of Toronto, in preventative arrests of respected long-time organizers, and in mass roundups and police violence, the state wants to expand its power against the people. The government is targeting community organizers, including several people of colour. These targeted arrests and politically motivated, malicious charges are intended to make us afraid to speak up, and to silence the dissent the state knows will follow from the undemocratic decisions and austerity measures passed at the G20 meetings that will affect us all.

VANCOUVER STATEMENT OF SUPPORT FOR TORONTO G8/G20 ARRESTEES
· We call for the immediate release of all those being held, most notably of the much-loved and nationally respected community organizers who are being targeted by politically motivated, pre-emptive, and malicious arrests.

· We call for all these politically motivated charges against long-time organizers to be dropped immediately.

· Police state tactics such as pre-emptive arrests, targeted arrests, and mass roundups, seek to quash dissent against G8/G20 policies that affect us all; Vancouver stands in support with all those being held in Toronto.
Statements of Support:
Ian Angus, Professor of Humanities, former Director of Canadian Studies at Simon Fraser University, author of books on Canadian political culture A Border Within (1997) and Identity and Justice (2009):
“Canada is unravelling. The social and economic security net that was constructed by the struggles of working people and community organizations is being dismantled by the neo-liberal global economy that the G8/G20 represents. Homelessness, unemployment and marginalization are on the increase. Canadian society wants to be able to debate these matters, to have full information available to them, and to be able to present their views to the wider public. Without such a national and international debate, citizens are held captive by the private interests of wealthy corporations. The role of the police in this situation is significant. Recent events in Toronto suggest that the police are acting solely to protect the agenda of the wealthy few and the Harper government that is their tool. Canadians must stand together with their international allies to oppose the use of police repression to silence the exploration of alternative socio-economic forms and policies.”

Rita Wong, Writer and Associate Professor, Emily Carr University:
“These arbitrary mass arrests are unconstitutional. Furthermore, mass roundups and pre-emptive arrests serve a very unethical political purpose: to deflect attention from the systematic and widespread violence caused by the G20 policy decisions, which aim to slash public, social, educational, and health infrastructure around the world instead of holding the private financial sector responsible for its own errors and corruption. Those being held should be immediately released, and the focus of our attention should be to refuse the damage that the G20 attempts to inflict on democratic public spaces and networks.”

Dr. Stephen Collis, Professor, Simon Fraser University:
“The pattern post economic crisis is becoming clear—not a move away from a failing neoliberalism, but an unprecedented extension of its policies: privatization and cuts; meet any dissent with billy clubs, pre-emptive arrests and mass roundups. What we must do is just as clear: resist with all our might; stand together in solidarity. Free all Toronto G20 arrestees now!”

Charles Demers, Author of Vancouver Special and Comedian:
“The same government that pleads powerlessness and poverty when it comes to saving our environment, looking after retirees or ensuring that our health and education needs are met seems to discover new virility and incredibly deep pockets when it comes to cracking heads in defense of the most powerful people in the world. It's a shame.”

Dr. Dave Diewert, Streams of Justice (a faith-based social justice group in Vancouver), former Graduate Professor of Theology:
"The death of democracy is upon us. The brutal criminalization of dissent and the vicious police assault on protestors at the G8/20 reveals how state-sanctioned violence is employed to protect the ruling elite from hearing the legitimate concerns of people whose lives are deeply impacted by decisions made behind the steel fence. When a massive security apparatus aggressively shields the leaders from the people, and punishes them for attempting to make their voices heard, we have an untenable political system.”

Endorsed by: Brad Cran, poet laureate of Vancouver; Council of Canadians (Delta/Richmond chapter); Vancouver Status of Women; Ian Angus, Professor of Humanities, former Director of Canadian Studies at Simon Fraser University, author of books on Canadian political culture A Border Within (1997) and Identity and Justice (2009); Jerry Zaslove, Professor and founding faculty member of Simon Fraser University, Meredith Quartermain, award-winning BC poet; Gillian Jerome, Professor at University of British Columbia and award-winning author; Samir Gandesha, Professor and Graduate Chair of Humanities at SFU; Anthony Fenton, Independent Journalist and member, Canadian Freelance Union; Larissa Lai, Professor at the University of British Columbia and award-winning author, Stephen Collis, SFU Professor and award-winning poet, Dave Diewert, Streams of Justice organizer and former Graduate Professor of Theology; , Jeff Derksen, SFU Professor, critic, and award-winning poet, Simon Fraser University Teaching Support Staff Union(TSSU) Social Justice Committee; Rita Wong, Professor at Emily Carr University of Art and Design and award-winning poet,Mark Leier, Professor of History at SFU, Charles Demers, Author and Comedian, Sid Shniad of Independent Jewish Voices BC, Clint Burnham, Professor at Simon Fraser University, Peter Quartermain, Emeritus Professor of English, University of British Columbia

None of us is free until all of us are free!
For more info, email: vansolidarity@gmail.com
How you can help: Support the Toronto 1000: Till every last one is free and all charges are dropped.
Please send individual and group endorsements and short statements of support to: vansolidarity@gmail.com
Please include titles or institutional affiliations, and indicate group or individual endorsement where appropriate

You can send bail/legal support funds via paypal by clicking on the 'support us!' link at the bottom right of this page: http://g20.torontomobilize.org/

A Response to State Terrorism in Toronto

2010-06-28T12:56:00.000-07:00

Six hundred arrests and half a dozen journalists have been assaulted. The excuse given for this brutality being the actions of a handful of Black Blockers. If the BB was the issue why the arrests and beatings of peaceful demonstrators? Why the assault on the media? There are two possible answers. One is that the Harpocrit wants to rationalize his squandering a billion on "security", especially at a time when he is demanding cut-backs. The other is an attempt to show to the populace what the state can really do if the people step out of line, that the velvet glove is off and Canada is as thuggish as any other country. (Of course, the First Nations knew that all along!)

A lot of effort and money will have to be spent defending the 600, even though the vast majority of charges are bogus. This is another tactic favoured by a repressive state – keep 'em tied up in court, whether the charges stick or not.

But the result will not be to drive people into passivity. The 600, their family members and friends, and all the people who will learn the truth through the alternative and social media, will be radicalized. And when you are first radicalized you become very angry at the cruelty and lies of the authorities. The mass media with their whorishness towards the state will further this radicalization. (The CBC has been little more than a propaganda outfit for the terrorists. Email them and give them hell. They should at least try to be a bit objective, after all, we are taxpayers too.).

The question naturally arises after this repression. "where should we go from here?" Now I don't claim to have any answers and could be way off base, but there is one thing I do know. The cops may love beating on skinny students and community activists, but they are scared shitless of the organized working class. I have been on big worker demos in both Vancouver and Montreal and the police are like little mice. Initially, it made sense to break off from the trade union marches and directly confront the authorities. Indeed, that tactic was what made Seattle a success. But it has become less successful as the authorities have figured out ways to combat demonstrators. I think Toronto shows such tactics to be almost suicidal.

Maybe we need to exchange minority militant actions for numbers but less militance? Let's face it, 300,000 people marching against the G8-20 would be far more meaningful than 300 fighting the cops. The latter can be written of as a fringe and "criminals", but the great mass of "ordinary folks" are harder to ignore. At the same time, activists from the various organizations could dialogue with the rank and file. There is a lot of latent anger out there and when the so-called recovery fails to materialize and more cut-backs are demanded, it could manifest openly.

For Toronto coverage see http://toronto.mediacoop.ca/

UPDATE

It appears that the arrests totaled 900 - which is about double during the October Crisis in Quebec, 1970! And according to the Civil Liberties Assn. the Black Bloc consisted of about 50 to 100 people. See mollymew.blogspot.com/2010/06/canadian-politics-toronto-amnesty.html

FURTHUR UPDATE – It appears that at least some of the Black Blockers were cops – like in Montebello. see:

http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=19928

June 20th - Anniversary of Iranian Islamic Republic's Massacre

2010-06-20T18:17:00.000-07:00

Radio International: The common perception is that the Islamic Republic is a result of the 1979 revolution. You have stated, however, that like most revolutions, the 1979 Iranian revolution was ultimately defeated by brutal suppression. Explain this.

Mansoor Hekmat: Any independent observer who examines that history will see that the people rose against a dictatorial Monarchy and its secret police, prisons and torture. (Those who have not experienced that period first hand should seriously review that history.) In that society, there was no freedom of expression, press and organisation. Trade union and Socialist activities were non-existent. There was no freedom of political activity. It was a despotic one-man rule, reliant on the police, army and intelligence service. There was staggering economic inequality, with widespread poverty alongside enormous wealth. People rose against these and for equality and freedom from political suppression and economic exploitation. This is known as the 1979 (1357) revolution.

When it became evident that the Shah's regime was incapable of suppressing this revolutionary movement, the Islamic movement begins to rear its head. This reactionary movement, which belonged to the past and existed in a corner of Iranian society, was against civilisation, social modernisation, women's right and development. One of this movement's personalities, Khomeini, who was in exile in Iraq, was taken to Paris and placed under the spotlight. From then on, Western governments and media widely promoted this Islamic movement as the alternative that could and should replace the Shah's government. Finally, General Robert Huyser, the United States government's Special Envoy went to Iran, spoke with the army and secured their allegiance to Khomeini. A large segment of the traditional and national opposition of the time, such as the National Front, the Tudeh Party, etc. declared their allegiance to the Islamic movement. As a result, the Islamic current was pushed to the forefront of the anti-Monarchy movement. Contrary to the wishes of the Islamic current, the people rose up (known as the uprising of 22 Bahman, 11 February 1979) and eventually defeat the Shah's army in a military confrontation. This process resulted in the formation of a government under the leadership and control of the Islamic current.

The two and a half years during 11 February 1979 (22 Bahman 1357) and 20 June 1981 (30 Khordad 1360) was still not strictly speaking, however, an Islamic rule. It was a period of relative open political activity, which the state was incapable of suppressing on a widespread scale, despite the existence of thugs and Islamicism. At that time, Khalkhali [infamous as the hanging judge] was the regime's executioner but even so, the regime did not have the power to completely suppress and neutralise the increasing people's movement. Political parties were flourishing; books of Marx and Lenin were sold everywhere; Communist organisations published papers; labour councils were established; various women's organisations were formed and the wave of protests continued to escalate, until an Islamic, counter-revolutionary coup d'état took place on 20 June 1981 (30 Khordad 1360). They attacked and executed 300 to 500 people a day in Evin prison and all over the country; they closed down newspapers and crushed the opposition. This was what enabled the Islamic Republic to exist today. The point of the Islamic Republic's establishment was 20 June 1981 (30 Khordad), not 11 February 1979 (22 Bahman). 11 February (22 Bahman) was the people's revolution. During 8 September 1978 (17 Shahrivar 1357, the day that the Shah's army massacred demonstrators at Jaleh Square in Tehran) until 20 June 1981, Right wing forces and governments attempted to obstruct the people's revolution. 20 June 1981 is the eventual juncture that the suppression took place.

The Islamic government's execution list was basically taken from the list of those who had been imprisoned during the Monarchy. A person who had been sentenced to two-month's imprisonment by the Shah's government was executed by the Islamic regime. They attacked and killed the very same people the Shah's regime wanted to but couldn't.

Radio International: The Islamic Republic suppressed the revolution that the Shah's regime failed to do; in fact, it took revenge from the people who had revolted against the Shah. How could it do this? Before 20 June 1981, there were Left-wing newspapers; demonstrations took place and despite arrests and street fighting with thugs, there was freedom. What was it about 20 June (30 Khordad) that established the Islamic government and defeated the revolutionary movement?

Mansoor Hekmat: It was a violent coup d'état that succeeded as a result of widespread executions and murders. It was not like today where they shut down 16 newspapers run by their friends ('insiders') and the accused go to court and are still called Mr so and so. They poured onto the streets and arrested anyone who did not look like a Muslim. If someone had salt and pepper in his/her pockets, they accused him/her of planning to throw it in the eyes of the Revolutionary Guards. They arrested anyone who had recited a poem, who was known to be a Socialist or supporter of women's rights, anyone who was not veiled and anyone who looked Left wing and executed them that same night. Statistics, documents and witnesses proving these atrocities are ample. There will come a day when the people of Iran and the world will observe the trials of those who committed these crimes. On that day, the world will weep for the hundreds of thousands of victims of 20 June (30 Khordad 1360) and after and particularly 1988 (1367).

This was one of the greatest crimes of the 20th Century, comparable to Nazi Germany, the genocide in Indonesia and Rwanda, and much more brutal than what took place in Chile. It is one of the most important catastrophes and human tragedies of the 20th Century. They attacked, suppressed, killed and buried in unmarked graves, innumerable people. They massacred many of the best, the most passionate and progressive people in order to remain in power.

Radio International: The Islamic Republic's leaders who are now in rival factions, namely the Right and 2nd Khordad [also known as the Reformists] factions were at the time responsible for this suppression. To name a few 2nd Khordad personalities, for example, Behzad Nabavi was the government's spokesman, Hajarian was one of the architects of the terrifying intelligence service and Khatami himself was in government at that time. How did they emerge unified after the 20 June (30 Khordad) suppression but are now fighting amongst themselves?

Mansoor Hekmat: Factions were present in the Islamic Republic then, but they were not the same factions we see today. For example, the Mojahedin-e- Enghelab-e- Eslami, the Islamic Republic Party and Khat-e- Imam's (Imam's Line) grouping were at the forefront of the government. The Freedom Movement, which is now part of the 2nd Khordad, was one of the victims of the Khat-e- Imam grouping, which also in part now belong to the 2nd Khordad. At the time, the government was in the hands of the Khat-e- Imam grouping - I mean the cabinet. This phenomenon of 2nd Khordad, which was created later, comprises many who were leaders of the suppression at the time. Many of those who are now students of Voltaire, have become democrats and call themselves journalists, were Revolutionary Guards, interrogators, torturers and were responsible for people's executions. Consequently, 30 Khordad (20 June) is a common experience for both factions. 2nd Khordad are as responsible for the 30 Khordad (20 June) suppression as Lajvardi, Gilani, Khomeini and Khamenei. This was their government. Khomeini, whose name should be recorded in history as a reactionary executioner and criminal against humanity, headed this effort, following by the lot of them.

I think that it is extremely important for the people of Iran to review that history and these people over the past twenty plus years and be aware, in particular, of the nature of the differences between them today.

At the time of 30 Khordad 1360 (20 June 1981), they had no differences on the issue of maintaining the Islamic regime by mass killing and murder. That is what they did. Now, also, they are trying to do the same under different circumstances. They want to maintain the Islamic state vis-à-vis the people.

Radio International: Could it, therefore, be said that the 2nd Khordad regrets its 30 Khordad (20 June) policy and thinks that it should have acted differently?

Mansoor Hekmat: Not at all. The 2nd Khordad personalities will proudly tell you that they are the very same 30th Khordad (20th June) personalities. They do not regret 30 Khordad (20 June). Of course, later on, during their trials they will do so - but not now. Right now, they will not do anything to undermine their 'insider' status. 30 Khordad (20 June) is the ultimate criterion that separates the 'insiders' from everyone else. 'Insiders' are those who defended the 'system' vis-à-vis its opponents. 30 Khordad (20 June) is a most defining moment; it is the Islamic Republic's birth date. Any of them who opposes 30 Khordad (20 June) will be stepping out of the circle of 'insiders.'

Sooner or later - and much sooner than they think - free public trials to investigate their crimes against humanity will begin. They are not the sorts of people who can take their money and go to Los Angeles. Many of them will face people's courts. One of the areas to be dealt with will be 30 Khordad (20 June), what any of them know about that period and their role during it, as well as public exposure to help reduce society's suffering from that period.

Radio International: The Worker-communist Party of Iran has launched a campaign on 30 Khordad 1360 (20 June) to expose its realities and in commemoration of those whose lives were lost. What are the WPI's aims in this campaign?

Mansoor Hekmat: 60-70% of the population does not remember 30 Khordad 1360 (20 June 1981), but it is an important moment in the formation of the Islamic Republic. We want to remind today's generation in Iran and the world that the Islamic Republic, which is in power today, is the result of a massive crime against humanity. This must firstly be remembered, recorded, stated, exposed and not forgotten.

Secondly, these people are still on the scene. The same people who organised the murders and killings of 30 Khordad 1360 (20 June 1981) onwards are still the politicians of this country. They are still members of parliament, they are in the cabinet, and they are leaders and heads of the judiciary, army and Revolutionary Guards. The struggle against them continues. Their criminal charges are still unsettled, including the charges surrounding the crimes of 30 Khordad (20 June). This is one of the arenas of struggle against the Islamic government, its foundations, its personalities from Khomeini, Beheshti to Khatami, Khamenei, Rafsanjani, Gilani and all those who played a role in this process. It is part of our battle against the Islamic Republic.

* The above is a translation of an interview in Persian with Mansoor Hekmat on Radio International. It was first published in Persian in International Haftegi Number 8 dated June 23, 2000 and entitled: 30 Khordad 1360 (June 20, 1981).

Thanks to Abbas Goya Taken from the the Mansoor Hekmat Appreciation Society

Truth And Reconciliation Hoopla and the Canadian Genocide of Aboriginal People

2010-06-17T14:34:00.000-07:00

Rewarding the Killers with "Healing and Reconciliation":

The Crime Continues
by Kevin D. Annett

A group of child rapists and serial killers recently issued a public apology to their victims, who responded this past week by gathering in their thousands in Ottawa to proclaim a "Statement of Forgiveness" to their torturers.

Only in Canada.

The fact that the "apologetic" criminal is the government and mainstream churches, and the victims are aboriginal, should make this scenario no less absurd.

What is it with us Canadians, anyway? Are we really the most self-duplicitous nation on earth? Do we actually believe that 50,000 little corpses can vanish that easily, and generations of slaughter somehow erased, with a few lawyer-crafted phrases followed by orchestrated hosannas by clusters of government paid Indian flunkies?

I'm speaking, of course, about the latest fiasco in the horribly embarrassing and shameful thing we like to call the "Truth and Reconciliation" process regarding the Indian residential schools.

You'll be reading and hearing lots about it this week through the controlled corporate press: about how "healing has arrived", as images of smiling and satisfied Indians dance before your white guilt and assuage it, as they are meant to do. You're supposed to feel happy and relieved, for those images are meant for you, the white taxpayer. They are meant to put you to sleep again and make you forget about the blood on your hands.

The church-engineered "Forgiveness Charter" issued at the Parliament Hill rally on June 13 was a new low, even for Christians. Without returning the remains of the children who died at their hands, or facing criminal prosecution or even a subpoena for their torture and killing of the innocent, the Catholic, Anglican and United Church of Canada that ran the residential schools have now been publicly "forgiven" by native people - or the ones on their payroll, at least.

You have to admit it, but they are good, these churches: total masters of deception and guile. Not only do they get away with the mass murder of children, but they come out smelling like roses in the process.

They've been able to do so, of course, only because of the collusion of their aboriginal victims: broken and brainwashed souls, by and large, who have been trained to bark appreciatively at any crumbs tossed to them by their white masters.

There are occasional exceptions, naturally, but native people in Canada generally have yet to escape from the mental and spiritual slavery foisted on them by us: something I've learned the hard way over twenty years of counseling, protesting and fighting alongside them.

Frederick Douglass, the black American who overcame his slavery, said once,

"Make a man a slave and he loses all moral accountability."

For there is no such accountability at any level of the official native world, whose manicured and lobotomized "leaders" have all faithfully accepted the government's fake "apology" and "forgiven" them for a genocide that is continuing.

"Our leaders are our biggest problem" describes a non-enslaved native woman, Carol Martin of the Nishgaa nation, who works in Vancouver's downtown eastside.

"They've never dealt with their own abuse so they're easy to manipulate. Half of them are rapists themselves. Look at this whole apology bullshit.

"Steven Harper's apology to us sounded just like when my ex husband tried making up with me after he raped and beat me. He'd do anything to get back on my good side, so he could do it all over again. Once you forgive a rapist, it's just a green light for them."

The green light was issued again on June 16 at the first of the government's $60 million Truth and Reconciliation Commission" (TRC) hearings in downtown Winnipeg: an orchestrated and heavily censored "forum for residential school survivors".

The "hearing" was anything but that: an enormous hoopla and distraction featuring such establishment redskins as singer Buffy Saint Marie, and "healing tents" run by the child-raping churches themselves, the event gave survivors a few hours each day to "share" their story of torture after attending a mandatory "training course" in how to do so, with the same kind of sensitivity and purpose as when mafia goons help to "instruct" Teamster members on how to vote at union meetings.

Fortunately, a few genuine indigenous people were there to tell the truth and oppose the whitewash.

Chief Peter Yellow Quill of Long Plains Anishinabe Nation in Manitoba led a counter-TRC protest that day that drew national media attention. In the face of screaming opponents and harassment by security guards, Peter stood with a sign outside the TRC proclaiming : "All the Children Need a Proper Burial: Stop the TRC Cover Up."

"They won't let us name names or tell about the children who were killed in this TRC" said Peter to reporters.

"But we won't be gagged anymore, including by our own people. We need our own inquiry to tell the whole story of residential schools to the world. Then maybe the world will take us seriously."

Peter has a good chance of being heard, despite the presence of the TRC, since European politicians have answered the call of our network to investigate Canada and its churches for genocide. But as long as the rapists and serial killers remain in power in Canada, and dictate reality and "healing" to the rest of us, the duplicitous bullshit of the TRC can only continue.

...........................................................................................................................
Kevin Annett is a community minister who lives and works in the downtown eastside of Vancouver. He is a founder of a new, seven-nation coalition called The International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State. See: www.hiddenfromhistory.org

Joseph Dietzgen's “Brain Work” Republished

2010-05-26T14:44:00.001-07:00

Out of print since I did an edition in 1984, Joseph Dietzgen's pioneering introduction to dialectics, THE NATURE OF HUMAN BRAIN WORK has just been re-issued. PM Press did a fine job of it and this new edition contains an essay that I wrote explaining Dietzgen's libertarian philosophy. BRAINWORK is one of the finest introduction to dialectics I have ever read and should be in every socialist and anarchist library. It is available for $20 US from PM Press. See https://secure.pmpress.org/index.php?l=product_detail&p=167

The Big Anarchist Survey

2010-05-14T11:04:00.000-07:00

Calling all anarchos! Do the Big Anarchist Survey. Takes about 15 minutes only and the results will be announced when done. Thank you Miroslav, for sending this. See

http://www.anarchistsurvey.com/

The Vatican's Dark Crows Come Home to Roost

2010-05-08T18:02:00.000-07:00

The Vatican's Dark Crows Come Home to Roost by Kevin Annett

Whoever would harm one of these little ones, it would be better if a millstone was tied around his neck and he was cast into the sea.

- Jesus Christ, quoted in Luke

There's a joke circulating in Rome these days, that Pope Benedict is considering having his title changed to "Innocent" in anticipation of his upcoming trial for aiding and abetting child rapists in the Catholic church.

It's no joke, really. When I and a handful of people tried to hold a memorial service for children who died in Catholic Indian schools outside the Vatican this past Easter, we were swarmed by fifteen state police and halted from our witness. The church, and its accomplices in government, know very well that they are on the verge of facing criminal charges that could bring down the church.

That's the optimistic scenario. What's more likely, according to Vatican sources, is that the church will swing a deal and have the Pope retire for "health reasons" and take the fall for what the international media are calling the worst scandal to hit the Vatican since its diplomatic concordat with Adolf Hitler in 1933.

The Pope, Joseph Ratzinger, is not a popular guy, even in Catholic circles. A German, former Hitler Youth member, and arch reactionary who led the church's Inquisition against liberals in Catholic ranks for decades, Ratzinger was fondly known as "Joe the Rat" among his fellow Cardinals. But he has a lot of power, and authored the policy, still in place, that compels clergy to suppress evidence when children are raped by priests: a criminal act which has lawyers for rape victims smacking their lips.

"The man should be on trial" stated one American jurist last month.

"The Pope not only ordered priests to silence rape victims, but he moved rapists around within the church, and he protected them. That much we know. Doing that in one country is one thing, but Ratinzinger ordered it done in other countries, which is known as international obstruction of justice. That's a crime against humanity under international law."

The image of Interpol or local police arresting the Pope when he touches down in other countries is more than compelling, but Vatican lawyers insist that as a "head of state", Ratzinger has diplomatic immunity from any kind of prosecution. The Vatican, it seems, has never heard of the Nuremburg Trials.

"That's not going to stop me from arresting him" declared Paddy Doyle to me last month, at a protest outside the Irish Parliament in Dublin. Doyle is a survivor of church torture who has become an international spokesman for victims.

"I'm going to be there in the front row when the Pope does his mass in London this September. I'll drive my wheelchair right into him and arrest him, and let them try to stop me!" declared Doyle to TV cameras and cheering supporters, prior to his meeting with Irish government officials and demanding legal sanctions against the Catholic church.

People like Paddy Doyle are stepping forward in greater numbers these days, for their time has clearly come. I had the honor of meeting many of them in my recent tour to Europe, where I began to rally them into an international campaign to bring charges against the Roman catholic church in international courts.

The murder and torture of generations of children in church run facilities happened across the world, according to the same type of church-government collusion that characterized Indian residential schools here in Canada. Indeed, in 2004, the Canadian government actually sent officials to Ireland to give politicians there advice about how to contain and co-opt the growing movement of church victims in Ireland.

"You Canadians are very good at excusing yourselves for your mass murder of Indians. Clearly our government has a lot to learn from you, and as a result, it's been very successful at avoiding prosecution for how it helped the church kidnap and exploit little children" described Mary McKinney, a human rights activist, to me during my sojourn in Dublin.

For generations, Catholic orphanages in Ireland, England and other nations ran sweat shops where children as young as four worked as slave labor producing rosary beads and other religious artifacts: just like in Canadian Indian residential schools. And the death rate in these facilities was remarkably constant, hovering between one third and one half of all the little inmates.

"The church must pay back what they stole from these children and their forced labor. They must point out where the dead are buried, too" declared Sean Hennessey, an Irish lawyer for victims, last year.

"What the church made off these children exceeds a billion dollars, just in our country alone. We demand real reparations, and jail terms for the church officers, not merely token

gestures."

How to make the Vatican accountable under the law is another matter. As in Canada, the church has so far evaded any criminal charges for the death and torture of children under its care.

And yet this issue will not go away, any more than a government and church-appointed "Truth and Reconciliation Commission" (TRC) in Canada will shove under the rug a century of crimes in Indian residential schools. For the scale of the crime is enormous.

According to Ojibway Chief Louis Daniels in Winnipeg, who will be protesting outside the first official TRC forum in that city on June 15, the time for lies is over.

"I was tortured in a United Church residential school and saw my friends murdered there, and now I'm supposed to not name the names of their murderers in front of the TRC. And I can't sue the church, or bring charges against it. It all proves that we'll never get justice in the white man's system. We need the UN or someone to come in here and charge Canada with genocide. Just like what happened in other countries."

Chief Daniels will be part of a delegation of native elders who will travel with me back to Europe in September to link with other survivors of church crimes in Ireland, England, Germany and Italy. And he'll stand outside the Vatican with me to help exorcise a spirit of lies and murder from the oldest institution in history.

Says Chief Daniels,

"The church is a wolf in sheep's clothing. But we're all waking up to that now. Their time is over."

Greek Worker Struggle - Anarchist Statement

2010-05-06T15:26:00.000-07:00

Greece is a test case for the social dismantling that awaits us all. This policy is being enacted by all the institutional parties, by every government and by all of globalised capitalism's institutions. There is only one way to hold back this policy of barbaric capitalism: popular direct action, to widen the strike movement and increase the number of demonstrations all across Europe. ---- SOLIDARITY WITH THE GREEK WORKERS' STRUGGLE! The Greek working class is angry, and with good reason, with the attempt to load responsibility for the bankruptcy of the Greek State onto their shoulders. We maintain instead that it is the international financial institutions and the European Union who are responsible. The financial institutions have plunged the world, and Greece in particular, into an economic and social crisis of historical proportions, forcing countries into debt, and now these same institutions are complaining that certain States risk not being able to repay their debts.

We denounce this hypocrisy and say that even if Greece - and all the other countries - can repay the debt, they should not do so: it is up to those responsible for the crisis - the financial institutions, not the - to pay for the damage caused by this crisis. The Greek workers are right to refuse to pay back their country's debt. We refuse to pay for their crisis!

Instead, let us shift the capitalists into the firing line: Greek capital generates some of the biggest profit margins in Europe due to its investments in the poorer Balkan countries, the absence of social protections, collective guarantees and a minimum wage for Greek workers, not to mention the country's gigantic black economy in labour and an even greater exploitation of immigrant work. Greek capital is also very lightly taxed, due to the weakness of the State (with regard to the rich) and major corruption which permits fraud and tax evasion on a massive scale. So it is equally up to Greek capitalists to pay for this crisis.

We also denounce the attitude of the European Union. The EU was presented to us as a supposed guarantee of peace and solidarity between the peoples, but now it is showing its true face - that of acting as an unconditional prop for neoliberalism, in a complete denial of the notion of democracy. As soon as an economy becomes mired in difficulties, all pretence of solidarity evaporates. So we see Greece being scolded and accused of laxity, with insulting language bordering on racism. The "Europe which protects us" that liberals and social-democrats extolled at the time of the scandalous forced adoption of the Lisbon Treaty (particularly in France and Ireland) now seems a long way away.

As far as actual protection goes, the EU and the financial institutions have combined their efforts to frog-march Greece towards the forced dismantling of public services, through austerity plans that recall the "Stuctural Adjustment Plans" of the IMF: the non-replacement of staff, wage freezes, privatisations and VAT increases. Today the EU is demanding that the retirement age be moved back to 67, not only in Greece but also in other countries, and is also threatening to dismantle the social welfare system. In this way they are opening new markets for investors, while guaranteeing the assets of rich investors, to the detriment of the basic interests of the working class. It is a Europe of the ruling class, and one which we must all work together to oppose.

This is why we call for participation throughout Europe in solidarity initiatives with the Greek working class and with future victims of the onslaught of the banks.

Against the values of greed and rapacity that the European Union is based on, let us respond with class solidarity! Greece is a test case for the social dismantling that awaits us all. This policy is being enacted by all the institutional parties, from out-and-out bourgeois to liberals and social democrats, by every government and by all of globalised capitalism's institutions. There is only one way to hold back this policy of barbaric capitalism: popular direct action, to widen the strike movement and increase the number of demonstrations all across Europe.
Solidarity with the Greek workers' struggle!

Alternative Libertaire (France)
Workers Solidarity Movement (Ireland)
Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici (Italy)
Organisation Socialiste Libertaire (Switzerland)
Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front (South Africa)

6 May 2010

Related Link: http://www.anarkismo.net

Michel Chartrand 1916-2010

2010-04-14T10:42:00.000-07:00

Michel Chartrand is no longer with us. He died this Monday at the age of 93. Long-time labour militant and member of the CSN, Chartrand was one of the union leaders arrested in 1972 which inspired the General Strike of that year. I remember when he spoke to a packed crowd of about 1200 in Vancouver, must have been shortly after the Quebec General Strike and he said that he was an anarchist. Now, I don't know if he really was or not, but that got a lot of cheers and true enough, at that time, the CSN was promoting workers control. He will be missed! Thanks to Dawg's Blog for making me aware of Chartrand's death.

http://drdawgsblawg.blogspot.com/2010/04/michel-chartrand-december-1916-april.html

15,000 Demonstrate Against Neo-liberalism in Montreal

2010-04-01T20:05:00.000-07:00

Ninety five different popular organizations comprising some 15,000 people demonstrated April 1 against the Charest Government's neo-liberal budget. For pictures see

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10060289@N05/sets/72157623625976023/show/

Thanks to the UCL -

http://voixdefaits.blogspot.com/

Survivors of Catholic Abuse to Confront Pope

2010-03-22T08:32:00.000-07:00

In the wake of a growing child abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic church, and last October's historic rally outside the Vatican to remember the victims of church crimes, members of The Friends and Relatives of the Disappeared (FRD) will return to Europe next week to help convene an international Tribunal into crimes against humanity in which Pope Joseph Ratzinger is personally implicated.

Rev. Kevin Annett, who has spear headed a movement to bring to justice the churches that caused the death of thousands of aboriginal children in Christian residential schools in Canada, will lead a delegation of the FRD to Italy on March 29 that will include Cree nation elder Lillian Shirt and Ojibway nation elder Charles Cook, both of whom survived incarceration and torture in Catholic residential schools.

The FRD delegation will make a formal presentation to a human rights committee of the Italian parliament and will seek its endorsement for an international inquiry into the death of more than 50,000 children in the predominantly Catholic-run Indian residential school system in Canada.

The delegation will also conduct a sacred ceremony and memorial service for all victims of the Roman Catholic church outside the Vatican in St. Peter's Square on Easter Sunday, April 4, at 11 am

After speaking to audiences in a half dozen Italian cities between March 29 and April 8, the FRD delegation will travel to England and Ireland to unite with other survivors of Catholic church abuse, and hold public protests and rallies at government and church facilities in both countries.

In England, the delegation will hold memorial rallies outside Westminster (Catholic) Cathedral and Westminster (Anglican) Abbey on Sunday, April 11 between 10 AM and 12 noon, to remember children who died in residential schools run by these two churches.

That same evening, Rev. Annett will speak at a public meeting at 7 pm at Passing Clouds Centre in Dalston, London, 1 Richmond Road, E 8, concerning the genocide of native people in Canada, and the complicity of the Queen of England in this crime.

On Monday, April 12 at 12 noon, Annett and the delegation will hold a protest rally and press conference outside the Canadian Embassy, Canada House, at 5 Trafalgar Square, to indict the government and churches of Canada with charges of crimes against humanity.

In Ireland, on Thursday, April 15, Rev. Annett and the delegation will unite with survivors of Catholic Church abuse at a protest rally outside the Irish Dail (Parliament) in downtown Dublin at 12 noon.

The next day, on Friday, April 16, Rev. Annett will speak at a public meeting at the Happy Pear in Greystones, Co. Wicklow at 7.30 pm.

For more information on the details of these events, or to arrange media interviews with Rev. Annett and the aboriginal delegation, contact Annett through this email, or:

In Italy: Camilla - cnovelli@alice.it

In England: Penelope - penelope.pullen@sky.com

In ireland: Judy - judyrussell2@gmail.com

For background information, and to view the award-winning documentary of the FRD on genocide in Canada, Unrepentant, which will be screened at all the venues of the delegation see: www.hiddenfromhistory.org .

Call For Support From Chilean Comrades

2010-03-14T20:30:00.000-07:00

Dear comrades,

The situation in this region called Chile is already known, thus we believe more details about the recent earthquake are not necessary, as the Internet offers a lot of information about what took place.

The group of individuals that make up the Productora de Comunicación Social* escaped physical damage, even though during the earthquake a couple of comrades from our organization were in Concepción, one of the most devastated regions - leaving the site where they were pretty much uninhabitable and losing some equipment used for the work of the organization.

In Santiago, our main workplace and where meetings were held, also home to a couple of our comrades - the Casa Volnitza - was partially destroyed. Currently, we are looking into repairing the site, since neither the Productora nor the Sociedad de Resistencia Santiago**, with whom we share the space, have another place to go to. Fortunately, we had no other substantial material losses, but the structural collapse that occurred in the Casa Volnitza was indeed major.

We have had constant contact with some organizations in southern Chile. The comrades that were near the epicenter were able to communicate directly with us about the help they need. There are social center and sister organizations in poblaciones, or working class neighborhoods, that were heavily damaged by the earthquake and also by actions taken by the police, the army, mass media and the government.

Given the circumstances, we are asking for help from our comrades from different parts of the world. Here in Santiago, businesses are up and running, so one can even buy food and basic items that are not reaching us via the government. We have already sent some help to the southern region with what we have here in Santiago, even though we too have been affected.

In our space, the Sociedad de Resistancia Santiago is helping to collect items to send to the most affected area where there are still no basic services, or wherever organizations are requesting help.

As the Productora we would like to request monetary support from all organizations that know our work and trust us. These contributions will be used to recover lost material and equipment, possible restorations or an alternative space and to send aid to the Southern organizations. Obviously no institutional channels work to help the direct work of anti-authoritarian organizations, so we reach out to you.

All persons or organizations interested in providing some sort of collaboration, contact us as quickly as possible at our e-mail: productoradecomunicacionsocial@gmail.com

See you soon.

Reconstructing the social movement,

Health, bread and freedom!

Productora de Comunicación Social.

Videorevista – Sin(a)psis***"

comunicando acción en la construcción del movimiento social"

Valparaíso - Santiago - Valdivia - Temuco - Antofagasta - Concepción – and beyond

Translator Note:

*The Productora de Comunicación Social, or Social Communication Production, are the production collectives that publish the Chilean video-magazine Sin(a)psis***, an independent publication in DVD format covering the praxis of anarchist organizing in that region and beyond. More info at: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=196759735730&index=1#!/pages/Chile/SINAPSIS-la-video-revista/161436684301

**The Sociedad de Resistencia Santiago groups the working, the unemployed and students into anti-authoritarian initiatives to generate collective solutions for immediate needs, be they economic, social and/or cultural without leaving behind the purpose of collective liberation. More info at: http://sociedadresistencia.blogspot.com/

You can also donate to other autonomous, anarchist and radical community based organizations by emailing or clicking on the links below.

Fondo Alquimia

for the Comunidad Lésbica La Teta Insurgente (lesbian anarcho-feminists in Concepción)http://www.fondoalquimia.org/Earthquake-in-Chile-Women-....html

http://www.darcontarjeta.cl/interior_institucion.asp?ll...atego...

Solo el Pueblo Ayuda al Pueblo- Campana de Solidaridad Popular

Only the People can help the People- Popular Solidarity Campaign

(a coalition of various organizations and individuals, including anti-authoritarians)http://soloelpuebloayudaaelpueblo.blogspot.com/

soloelpuebloayudaaelpueblo@yahoo.cl

For news and updates in Spanish check out:

http://santiago.indymedia.org/

http://chilesur.indymedia.org/

The Impossibilists – the SPC and One Big Union

2010-03-03T21:28:00.000-08:00

Hot off the press, THE IMPOSSIBILISTS is a collection of writings from the Socialist Party of Canada and the One Big Union from 1906 to 1938. There is also an introductory essay which describes the growth of the party in Western Canada and how the OBU developed out of it. Articles were chosen both for contemporary relevance and historical interest. Of interest today is their insistance that socialism be of a libertarian nature and not statism and the holistic philosophy that underlay this view. Of historical interest are the origins of the OBU, the debates on the Russian Revolution and the descriptions of the working conditions and struggles of that period. Included as well are the writings of labour martyr, Ginger Goodwin, back in print after 93 years.

This is a revised and updated version of the 1995 ms., with new material added. 90 pages, $10.00. (add $2.00 postage for US orders.) Will take Pay Pal. Cheques made out to L. Gambone. Available from Red Lion Press, Box 297, Stn A, Nanaimo, BC, V9R 4W7 or redlionpress@hotmail.com

The Chilean Earthquake and the Rightie Moonbats

2010-02-28T09:22:00.000-08:00

Disasters like these seem to bring out all the haters and bigots. I got these choice comments (and this is only a small sample) from the CBC comments section, which supposedly has a more liberal audience. One can only wonder what is being emailed in the right wing media.

What is a 'Chilean-Canadian' and how do I sign up to receive benefits from two countries, but only pay taxes to one? I'm being ripped off.

Classic right winger, full of envy. God help anyone who gets a little more than they do, but billionaires, no problem!

I wonder if Hugo Chavez will help out his South American friends......ya, right.

Just can't let an event like this go by without slandering their favorite American propaganda created bete noir. (Who in fact is sending aid.)

* It's all because of Global warming!!!!!!We're all gonna DIE!!!!!! Al Gore and Suzuki better save us

* Global warming is causing this.

There were many like these. Infantile attempts at sarcasm as a way of denying global climate change.

I think your commie buddies take care of this one. The lefties has been pretty useless up to now....

Any stick with which to beat the left

And Canada won't care because Chile isn't French.

Why let an opportunity pass and not attack Quebec? Classic Anglo-Canadian anti-French racism.

Chile's government has expressed nothing but contempt for America, yet America is one of the first nations to offer aid.

Cow like ignorance combined with a boot-licking attitude toward the Empire.

* Another international tragedy so by protocol let's open the refugee floodgates to anyone and everyone across Chile. In fact lets pass out Canadian passports worldwide to citizens of the developing world just in case an event happens again

* Oh here we go "again" with the "Aid Agencies" milking our wallets, lathering on lots of "developed world" guilt to get us to support the victims of Chile "

* Okay Haiti, put your begging bowl away, it's Chile's turn.

Xenophobia combined with selfishness and a total lack of understanding of the nature and causes of underdevelopment.

For a comparison of the earthquakes in Chile and Haiti and some important information missing from the corporate media see this article by Jose Antonio Gutierrez D.

http://www.anarkismo.net/article/15978

Harriett Nahanee

2010-02-27T13:30:00.000-08:00

Why Canonize People We Never Noticed?
Thoughts on the Harriett Nahanee Cult

by Kevin Annett, www.hiddenfromhistory.org

Harriett Nahanee of the Pacheedaht Nation died three years ago this week.

You can't listen to a youthful "activist" in Canadian radical - indigenous circles these days without hearing at some point an obligatory reference made to "warrior and elder" Harriett Nahanee, who, although largely ignored by the same activists while she was alive, has suddenly gained a quasi-mystical status in their minds.

Idolizing a stranger is usually the most handy way to dismiss who they actually were and what they were fighting for, and that certainly fits Harriett and her treatment by trendy activists.

I knew Harriett Nahanee for over a decade until her judicial murder, and together we made public the first eyewitness account - hers - of a murder of a child in a United Church Indian residential school: little Maisie Shaw, who was kicked to her death by Rev. Alfred Caldwell in 1946, right in front of ten year old Harriett.

Harriett's post-humous fans never mention this little fact in all their hosannas to her, but to expose Maisie's murder and similar killings of countless children in Christian Indian residential schools was Harriett's purpose in life: something she kept saying, time and again, to the handful of people who would come to our rallies and public meetings from 1995 to January of 2007, just weeks before her death, when I last met her outside the church we were picketing.

The real Harriett Nahanee was ornery, filled with rage, and apt to turn on you if you disagreed with her. She often said that she hated whites and wouldn't work with them, since she didn't trust them. She loathed sharing the spotlight with anyone, because she was consumed with her purpose, like a prophet. And over and over, she spoke out about Maisie's murder and called for the United Church of Canada to be brought to justice.

For years, nobody listened to us, including all the activist groups who claim to own her now. And even today, when it's safer to talk about massive deaths in residential schools now that the Globe and Mail has given official sanction to the issue, the same activists will never mention Maisie Shaw and Harriett Nahanee in the same breath. Indeed, the residential school murders, like Harriett, now seem to be history.

To dismiss the real Harriett and what she was fighting for in this manner is to defame and dishonor her. And the fact that a cloak of misinformation has been imposed on Harriett and her efforts to expose residential school murders is not accidental, since she was killed just a month before the opening of the campaign by our network that would eventually force an "apology" and national exposure regarding the residential schools genocide.

Harriett Nahanee, being aboriginal and an eyewitness to a residential school murder, was not intended to survive to give credence to that campaign. And her relationship with me, which caused the first Tribunal into Canadian residential schools in 1998 and the eventual success of our work, has also faced a deliberate misinformation campaign by the very churches and state that stood to lose by our exposure of their crimes.

The undercover operative who destroyed our 1998 tribunal, Jim Craven, likes to speak on the internet about how I "dishonored" Harriett, including by not attending her funeral, not mentioning, of course, that I was out of the country when it happened. What he's also not mentioning is the letter that Harriett gave me that last time I saw her, that describes the smear campaign started against me by Craven, and how he asked her to be part of it.

So the present falsified image of Harriett Nahanee so espoused by her erstwhile acolytes, as an aboriginal warrior who blockaded roads but whose witness to murder and hatred of the churches is censored out of her activism, is something generated by the very government and churches that killed her. Once again, the capacity of the state to guide and control supposed radical movements with its own version of reality has blinded a new generation of militants to the truth.

Harriett would mourn the fact that, last Sunday, only eight of us stood outside a downtown church with a banner "All the Children Need a Proper Burial", after we had emailed over five hundred people about our action. It's the same place, Christ Church Anglican, where I saw her for the last time. I remember she smiled at me that day, and said how I was the only white man she'd met who cared enough about dead Indian children to protest about them, year after after.

"That will never change" she said sadly. Then she smiled again and said,

"So fuck them all".

I agree with Harriett, and I'll be outside Christ Church cathedral again this Sunday, with a few others. And Harriett Nahanee.

Food Sovereignty in Europe

2010-02-22T19:45:00.000-08:00

A good article on the movement toward food sovereignty in Europe

The growing impossibility of a dignified livelihood in the European countryside has provoked a widespread and active social response on the part of Europeans unwilling to sacrifice their society and environment to corporate greed. Farmers’ unions, environmental organizations, consumers’ groups, fair trade organizations, and economic solidarity networks, among many others, have begun to work throughout Europe to denounce the impact of the EU’s agricultural policies and call for alternatives.

Article continues at http://www.internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article1825

Colin Ward 1924 – 2010

2010-02-21T09:37:00.000-08:00

Robert Anton Wilson, Murray Bookchin have left us, now Colin Ward has gone too. Colin was one of the great popularizers of anarchism in the English speaking work. His review, "Anarchy", which he published from 1961 to 1970, brought anarchist thinking out of its ghetto, applying anarchist ideas in a whole range of areas like education, urbanism, culture. And in doing so many people became acquainted with anarchism, who otherwise would not have.

He sought the "anarchism of daily life", showing how in so many instances we act freely and with mutual aid, being anarchists without even knowing it. Colin also showed us "the path not taken" by social democracy when it instituted state-run social services. According to him, the existing self-managed systems of mutual aid should have been extended rather than replaced by state bureaucratic institutions.

The following is an article taken from A-Infos about Colin Ward

Ward was the most practical radical I've ever read: Rather than sketching out utopian blueprints of a society without a state, he searched for empirical examples of everyday people organizing to solve their own problems. Once he started looking, he found that voluntary, non-authoritarian cooperation was everywhere. Utopia, he wrote in his 1973 book Anarchy in Action, is "already here, apart from a few little, local difficulties like exploitation, war, dictatorship and starvation." ---- Because he took his ideals seriously, Ward butted heads regularly with both the conventional left and the conventional right. In the '80s and early '90s, his column for New Statesman & Society was peppered with examples of the Tory government failing to live up to its rhetoric of liberty and decentralized power. At the same time, he was harshly critical of the social democratic left. In one of his most famous passages, he pointed out that

When we compare the Victorian antecedents of our public institutions with the organs of working-class mutual aid in the same period the very names speak volumes. On the one side the Workhouse, the Poor Law Infirmary, the National Society for the Education of the Poor in Accordance with the Principles of the Established Church; and, on the other, the Friendly Society, the Sick Club, the Cooperative Society, the Trade Union. One represents the tradition of fraternal and autonomous association springing up from below, the other that of authoritarian institutions directed from above.

As Stuart White notes in his tribute to Ward, the writer was

a formidable and dedicated opponent of what is often understood as the Fabian tradition. This comes across very clearly in his work on housing where he was always highly critical of state-heavy efforts, led by middle-class housing professionals, to provide housing for the working-classes. In this context, he argued for the alternative left tradition of cooperative self-help in the form of tenant cooperatives, self-build projects and squatting. He pointed repeatedly to the illogicality of local governments - often Labour-controlled - who would rather destroy unused council housing stock than allow it to be occupied by squatters.

These squatters, to be clear, were not self-righteous trustafarians seizing a private home while the owner took a holiday. They were ordinary families finding uses for resources the state had left fallow. Such self-organization was a longtime theme in Ward's work. Quoting White again: "Much to the consternation of the [postwar] Labour government, many thousands of working-class people responded to acute housing shortage by taking over and adapting disused military bases. While his comrades in the anarchist movement struggled to see the point, Colin saw this as an example of what he would later call 'anarchy in action': direct and cooperative self-help." Ward's interest in the institutions that people build from below took him to areas that radical writers rarely touched: He wrote appreciative histories and sociologies of holiday camps, allotment gardens, amateur music-making, even the street culture of urban children.

Ward had an eye for the creativity of ordinary people and the ways we use that inventive energy to transform our environments. He didn't have trouble imagining a society immersed in liberty and spontaneous order, because he knew that liberty and spontaneous order were what sustained society in the first place, even if they sometimes had to take a stunted form.

The Anti-Olympics Demonstration and the Black Bloc.

2010-02-16T19:07:00.000-08:00

I have never cared much for the Black Bloc, but the amount of hypocrisy about the "violence" of breaking a couple of bank windows this Saturday in the demonstration against the Olympics corporate welfare fest has almost made me sympathetic.

Tactical differences and criticism are legitimate. There are ethical and utilitarian aspects to any tactical choice and the BB's can be questioned about these. However, the bulk of hostility wafting their way has little to do with arguments about tactics. Many of the red-faced and bellowing crowd (1) simply hate "protesters" period and use the BB as an excuse to spout venom at any public critic of the system.

Those who rant about violence would be comical in the extremity of their hypocrisy if it wasn't just plain sad that people could be so blind and so deluded. A newspaper box was thrown through a bank window – you would think it the atrocity of the decade. Thirty million children die each year from malnutrition and bad water. If a few broken windows makes these folks apoplectic, how do they deal with this violence? How about the trillion dollars a year squandered on military foolishness while those same kids drop dead? Shouldn't that peeve these clowns enough to heat up the comments sections of the on-line forums?

So far I have seen accusations of cowardice against the BB's and at the same time calls for vigilante action against them (and also generic "protesters.") 20 unarmed, unprotected people take on hundreds of armed, body armoured riot cops. They may be nuts but cowards they ain't! The accusation of cowardice is actually psychological projection on the part of the right-wingers. What is a right-winger but someone filled with a host of irrational fears – of protesters, trade unions, feminists, environmentalists, peace activists, socialists, communists etc., all raised into towering bogey-men causing the poor little right-winger to practically piss himself in terror? A fair fight to a right-winger is a thousand to one – the lynch mob so let's drop all talk of cowardice.

I have actually heard it all before. Back in the 1960's we student radicals were attacked in similar terms. "Public opinion" turned apoplectic when the Yippies arrived on the scene and went off the Hate Mongers Richter Scale when a bunch of street kids destroyed a train load of brand new automobiles during the Blaine Invasion. (And you morons get your shorts in a knot over a couple of windows?)

The BB made me think of other violence that I witnessed during that time. I was in Berkeley in May of 1970 when Nixon invaded Cambodia. The students held a night demo and molotov cocktails were hurled at the ROTC building setting it on fire. Around the same time students in Santa Barbara burned the local Bank of America to the ground.

Now let's move away from the right-wing moonbat element and turn to one aspect of the tactical criticism of the BB. The notion that their actions will "turn people against the movement." No one other than right-wing fanatics reduces the movements of the 1960-70s to the most extreme or violent aspect of those movements. People are actually a lot smarter than that. Debate on the BB will have to move to other areas other than this, but that would have to be another time...

1. I got this image from living in Quebec. This is how most Quebecois see Anglo Canadians.