Anarchoblogs

On 31st August 2006, Merseyside Fire Brigades Union began strike action over cuts of £3.5 million proposed by Merseyside Fire Authority. Despite a sustained anti-FBU campaign by the Daily Post and Liverpool Echo, the untion succeeded in moving the cuts away from frontline services. The dispute first got mainstream media attention in June, when Merseyside FBU representatives began meeting Fire

Picture the scene. The setting sun is glinting off the visors of the police lined up in front of me. It's the second or third day of the week-long Camp for Climate Action - already I've lost count - and for the second or third time since I last slept it looks as if the cops are about to invade. I've just bolted from the opposite end of the site, where I've helped dig a defensive trench at another

(Angela Belcher Is An Absolute Badass)

"We haven't ruled out cars." I mean seriously. That's how it's done.

(On The Right Of Kings To Rule Undisturbed)

There's been a lot of talk on Republican blogs about how activist plans to blockade the Excel Energy Center during the Republican National Convention constitute a deliberate violation of delegates' Free Speech.

But the RNC (like the DNC) isn't a political assembly in the same manner as any protest, rally or town hall meeting. They are assemblies, yes, but certainly not of regular folks petitioning for rights, airing grievances or some such. ...The RNC and DNC are assemblies not of citizens, but of our rulers.

Those who participate in statist politics are not neutral actors, they are the active benefactors of power and privilege founded on force.

On The Right Of Kings To Rule Undisturbed

Murderers are meeting to conspire. Generals are meeting to plan our defeat.

But first they mean to stage a photo-op.

This summer an entire army of politicians and sycophants will descend on two American cities. There they will laugh, boast and parade their troops before the entire world. In one city they will fly a red banner, in the other a blue one. What unites both as a single army is their complicity.

Every member of the political class, from bloggers to politicians, is an active participant in the terror and destruction that is state power. Every urge to vote one way or another is a call for violence. Because every action the government takes ultimately happens at the end of a policeman's baton. Every call for sanction, taxation or military action is an assertion of authority over the lives of millions never met.

To most Americans Freedom of Speech is an end all, an absolute line in the sand. And rightfully so. In a society of dying ideals, our defensive entitlement to such a basic liberty is both refreshing and commendable. But like all ethical ideals, individual instances cannot be examined in a vacuum. Context matters.

In the broader picture an attack upon the generals' planning session is not a violation of their right to freely assemble, but ultimately a defense of those they would subjugate.

In the face of those who--as a matter of course--default on coercion and violence to implement their every wish we cannot be expected to simply stand back and craft persuasive arguments. Their operations must be countered, their social mechanisms directly impeded. We must disrupt their ability to wage war on our freedoms.

The RNC and DNC are not even planning sessions. The planning has long been finished. At best they're press conferences. Twin spectacles announcing the further intent of our politicians to deprive us of liberty. Spectacles paid for by wealth ripped out of our pockets at gun point and attended by those who openly desire to rule us.

The question is not whether throwing a pie at their photo op is a violation of their rights, but whether abstaining from disruptive action would leave us complicit in their violations.

After 5 years of war, Iraqis desperate for water

Protestors from New York to San Francisco are hailing this afternoon’s actions at Funk the War and Reclaim the Streets an inspirational success. After marching through the streets in an un-permitted breakaway snake march, Anarchists and Anti-Authoritarians have revitalized feelings of pride and possibility in protest in the streets.

The breakaway snake march lasted approximately two-and-a-half hours. Demonstrators and police had three tense stand-offs. After police demanded protesters disperse, they did. And then they reconvened and continued the occupation of public space, several times.

Approximately 20 demonstrators surrounded by police escaped into a multi-story parking lot, ran up the building, and chanted enthusiastically from the roof to the delight of the crowds below.

The classic Whose Streets Our Streets chant gained real meaning for the protesters as they reclaimed the parking lot, the streets, and a sense of possibility that hints at the transforming power of a public in rage at the war and fueled with a tremendous sense of joy and liberation.

Reports indicate that the police acted violently, shooting some sort of weaponry into the crowd and arresting a protesting youth. Police used horses to attack demonstrators.

Despite police violence, the victory in the streets was had by these non-permitted demonstrators who proved that public explosions of joy and liberation are still possible indeed.

[link]

Gatineau Wal-Mart goes union as UFCW Canada wins first contract

GATINEAU, QC - August 15,2008 - UFCW Canada members at a Wal-Mart location in Gatineau, Quebec have made history by becoming the only Wal-Mart workers in North America to have a union contract, after a Quebec arbitrator imposed a collective agreement on Friday.

The contract raises average wages of the Gatineau Wal-Mart members by more than 30%. Improved vacation provisions are also part of the three-year agreement. The terms of the collective agreement are effective immediately.

"Wal-Mart should now act as a good Canadian corporate citizen," said UFCW Canada National President Wayne Hanley," and live up to the terms of the contract."

The UFCW Canada Local 486 bargaining unit at the Wal-Mart Tire and Lube Express was certified in 2005. The collective agreement was the result of binding arbitration, following almost three years of legal delays and stalled negotiations with the company.

"We believe the arbitrator did a good job and that it is a fair contract, in line with similar workplaces in Quebec," said Hanley.

"It shows that even after three years, workers at Wal-Mart, like all Canadian workers, can exercise their Freedom of Association rights and get a decent collective agreement."

Two more Wal-Mart collective agreements are expected in Quebec before the end of the year, when binding arbitration is complete for bargaining units at a Wal-Mart in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec.

"US-led coalition forces killed 76 Afghan civilians in western Afghanistan yesterday, most of them children, the country's Interior Ministry said." (link)

The Art of the Possible blogger Mona will be hosting a chat with eminent civil libertarian Glen Greenwald this Wednesday, 6:30-7:30 p.m. EDT.

The last few weeks have been busy. I wanted to blog about the second Alexander Berkman Social Club right after it happened but missed the chance before other things came up. Things more important the riling up the locals. They are trying something new and if I were 20 years younger or didn't feel incredibly uncomfortable around the hosts (or their allies) of the event perhaps I would enjoy myself...

But then I got the call that my mother died.

Dear Mum


Kind of makes all of the rest of this kind-of political nonsense pale in comparison when you are left holding the bag on a womans life. A woman you barely knew and whose live smelled a lot like 30 years of ground in smoking. Who cares which approach to impossible questions that will probably never be truly answered in my lifetime other people take? Who cares which approach I take?

I miss casual friends. Going to events and it being just... casual. Those days are gone and I am laregely to blame. Well, perhaps not entirely to blame, per se, but definately I could have made choices that would not have resulted in this. In me in the middle of the boring, boring sectarian shit.

Anyways, the Alexander Berkman Social Club was less interesting this time around. The discussion was on sexuality but, as you can imagine, a lecture on the history of anarchists and sexuality isn't particularly sexy and, while interesting, a bit dry. Check out their site for more information about the presenters.

Keep it real.