ANARCHIST WEBSITES:

OVER AT THE CARNIVAL:

Hey, it's memory lane over at the Carnival of Anarchy. The latest carnival entails the participants posting what they thought was their best blog of 2007. Ah, the year that was. On the top of the pile the last time that Molly looked was 'A Proposal for an Aotearoa Anarchist Communist Federation' by Asher of the Anarchia blog down New Zealand way. More on this later. Why not drop over, sign up and show off your own personal best.

OVER AT THE CARNIVAL...

Just a little reminder that over at the Carnival of Anarchy there's now a round robin of blogs on the subject of 'Anarchism and Sexuality' and 'Anarchism and Personal Psychology'. Why not drop over to see some of the best writing on the anarchist blogosphere. Join up and have your say.

ANARCHIST INTERNET:

COMING SOON AT THE CARNIVAL OF ANARCHY:

A suggestion has been floated (and it seems to keep on floating) over at the Carnival of Anarchy that the nest carnival be on the subject of "Anarchism and Sexuaility/Gender Issues". A "carnival" is a collection of blog postings from a number of different individuals with different points of view and interests, revolving like a ferris wheel around a certain subject hub. Think you have something to say on this subject or would you just like to see what others are thinking ? Drop on over to the Carnival, join up and say your piece. The person who suggested the subject has the following possible subjects for you to consider:

*Talk about the relationship between anarchism and feminism.

*Is monogamy or polyamory more consistant with the anarchist ideal ? Does it really matter ? Is jealosy innate, and does that undercut notions of "free love" ? Is polygamy or polyandry compatible with anarchism ?

*Does the existence of patriarchy provide the ideological basis for the existence of the state ? Does matriarchy also do so ? If not, why not ?

*What can anarchist philosophy help us understand in the area of gender and gender roles ?

Of course the field is wide open, and contributers are hardly restricted to these suggestions. The tentaive date for the beginning of this round is February 29.

BLOGGING:

TOPICS AT THE CARNIVAL OF ANARCHY:

Over at the Carnival of Anarchy a blog aggregator for the best of anarchist blogging the subject matter keeps on changing. Like any good carnival you can't present the same show time after time. To the end of this month the subject is "best anarchist videos". In November it will be "The Security State". Coming up in December, "anarchist humour, joke collections, taking the mickey out of security cameras" and just general fun for the holidays. Drop on over to the Carnival. No cotton candy there, nor any junk food but real solid opinion. Read the best and join if you like. See Molly dressed up as a clown now and then.

COMING UP AT THE CARNIVAL OF ANARCHY:

The upcoming long weekend (Sept 1 to Sept 3) will feature yet another round robin at the Carnival of Anarchy. The subject this go around will be 'Anarchism and Labour' or 'Anarchism and Work'. Go on over to the Carnival site to see what all the fuss is about on the best site for anarchist debate on the internet. Join up and contribute. See you there. PS BYOCF - bring your own candy floss.

THE BEST OF THE BLOGS:

FROM B TO F:

Here's another selection of interesting recent blog posts from Molly's blogroll. This time the selection goes from the letter "b" to the letter "f".

A: Capitalism Bad;Tree Pretty, a New Zealand feminist blogger has an interesting recent post complaining about fashion designers who donate their wares to "worthy causes" for fundraising events but at the same time make their living off sweatshop labour. She also has another post where she throws a well deserved temper tantrum at one aspect of the "natural medicine" cult. The title is 'Shut Up You Self Involved Twit'

B: The Carnival of Anarchy will be holding its next carnival on the weekend of June 22nd to June 24th. The subject will be 'Anarchism and Ecology'. Drop on over to the liveliest anarchist discussion spot on the internet. Read what the previous acts under the big top have been and sign up now so you don't miss the fun.

C: The Australian blogger Contradiction has an interesting report on resistance in Indonesia. The title is 'Laughing At the Enemy', and it pays homage to the creativity of our Indonesian comrades.

More later as Molly scrabbles towards the end of the alphabet. eat your heart out Sesame Street.

THE CARNIVAL OF ANARCHY:

THE SPIRIT OF ANARCHISM:

Pickings seem rather slim at this weekend,s Carnival of Anarchy blog carnival. So far only three submissions. Hey you, yung' feller, why don't you step right up here and try your hand at the carnival game. Look here, I give you a free throw... what do you have to lose ?

Molly

ANNOUNCING THE LATEST "ULTIMATE BLOGGING MATCH" AT THE CARNIVAL OF ANARCHY:

The nest carnival at the Carnival of Anarchy will be held on the weekend of May 25th to 27th. The subject will be "Anarchy and Spirit" and it will include religion, spirituality(such as liberation theology), anti-religion, paganism, gnosticism,etc.. Drop on over to the Carnival- entrance is free- to see what the past greatest shows on Earth have been all about, to join and to participate. The Carnival is a family friendly spot where everyone tries to relive the innocence of childhood once more under the ferris wheel of liberty.

Which puts Molly in mind of one of her old man's jokes. This is from my late father:

"Sean and Pat and Mike were on a fishing ship that went down in the middle of the ocean. The three of them sat in a tiny lifeboat under the blazing sun with no food and no water. On the western horizon black clouds signalled the coming of a great storm.

Sean said to the others, "shoor and it seems now that we should be offering a prayer to the almighty, but I left the bosum of Holy Mother Church many years ago, and I canna remember the words of a single prayer". Aye, me too said Pat. Da sam' ting' said Mike.

They fell silent. Then a smile crossed the face of Pat, Shur if we canna pray then maybe we can sen' a holy song that may tich the heart of a merciful heaven. But ye lads will havva help me out for I be fergettin' all the hymns that I larned at the knees o' me sainted mether. But then Sean and Mike looked at him and said, sure an' we be forgettin' too. It seems that our sinful ways have cot up ta us.

So all three much more fell into silence and gloom. Suddenly Mike took off his hat. He turned in upside down and put it under the face of Sean. Sean looked puzzled. He then slowly passed the hat until it sat in front of Pat. Time seemed to stand still.

The Sean and Pat spoke up at once. Sur an has ta sun been getting ta ye Mike ? Have ye gone daft.

Nay, said Mike, but seean as we canna pray an we canna sing it only seems right that we be doin somethin' religious.

Told in a good Irish brogue by my father Tom. Favourite time of the telling- when my sister the nun was visiting. Good clean family entertainment.

Molly

THE DEBATE RAGES:

Over at the Carnival of Anarchy blogspot the debate is raging this weekend over the subject of 'Anarchism and Violence', a long standing touchy subject that provokes much heated opinion. Drop on over to the Carnival to see what the fuss is all about. Molly will hopefully post her own opinions later there with all the hissing and spitting that she is capable of.

THE BEST OF THE BLOGS:

This is another entry is Molly's regular feature from her endless blog surfing amongst the blogs listed in our Links board. Pride of place this week goes to Eugene Plawiuk who has accidentally posted early on the Carnival of Anarchy roundtable on violence and anarchism. His post which includes references to his previous writings on the subject thoroughly discredit the ideological construction that anarchists who want to justify senseless violence wrap themselves in. Their whole reason for being is more adolescent acting out than political action. Go on over to see this post along with some others that are beginning to trickle in. Also on his other blog Le Revue Gauche, Eugene has a number of interesting new posts. One continues the references he made to Benjamin Tucker in his post at the Carnival of Anarchy, and is titled 'Are Anarchists Thugs'. Another is titled 'Jamestown:The Birth of Capitalism' and is a far ranging survey of the origins of the Jamestown colony, slavery and indentured labour, black history, the campaign against slavery and British imperial interests. Then there's another article entitled 'Why Managers Need Unions' that examines the recent court decision against Peter Nygard of Winnipeg. Not that Molly agrees with Eugene's desire to subsume "managers" under a "working class" heading, but Nygard is a "special case"- to say the least. Molly has been gathering material on him since he closed down one of his factories here in Winnipeg, and the character of the man is truly astounding. To my understanding his employee was awarded only $11,000 in unpaid overtime (I'll try and find court costs) while Nygard's legal expenses in dragging this matter all the way up to the 'servants' entrance' of the Supreme Court were undoubtably several multiples of this amount. Totally amazing ! Hopefully Molly's little article on Nygard will eventually see the light of day. Anyways, drop over to Le Revue Gauche to see megablogger Eugene in action.

Molly also dropped in on a very enlightening post about "schooling" at the Aucklands Burning blog from New Zealand. Part of it is a reprint from the Stanselen blog, but it also contains some interesting material and references about compulsory schooling. Meanwhile over at Kevin Carson's Mutualist Blog the author weighs in heavily (28 pages when I printed it out) on 'The Ethics of Labour Struggle: A Free Market Perspective'. The title is deceptive as most of the essay revolves around working class tactics and their effectiveness (or lack thereof). Carson takes on some of the pro-business apologists in American libertarianism, but a lot of his essay revolves around documenting the effectiveness of "network" means of struggle for workers. The post describes lessons from the IWW that show how workers can win the real value of their labour by various tactics that are totally ignored amongst the official union movement.

But there are a few more items to round off this tour. The Slackbastard blog from Australia has a wide selection of anti-fascist posts recently. Seems to be something SB is concentrating on. Larry Gambone's Porkupine Blog has an interesting entry titled 'Anarchists and the Ultra-Left:the Mine Canaries of the Revolution' arguing that the desirability of a revolutionary change can be gauged by its actions towards those "on the left" of the winning party. He also argues that not all revolutions "devour their children". Over at Social Design Notes there are a couple of interesting resources. One is a link to a collection of maps, essays and statistics on the number, significance and scope of US military bases around the world. The other is an examination of the US budget in 2006 and an expose of how much of American tax money is spent on military ventures. Rounding off this little tour the Solidarity Across Borders blogspot from Montreal has an interesting essay titled 'Why Do Ordinary People Commit Evil Deeds'. it is basically an update on the famous 'Stanford Prison Experiment' and shows how the desire to conform resonates to today with the atrocities in various US run prisons across the world, from Iraq to Guantanamo.

All of the blogs mentioned above, and many more, can be found in the Blogs section of our Links list.

Molly

UPCOMING AT THE CARNIVAL OF ANARCHY:

On the weekend of April 27th-29th the Carnival of Anarchy will feature a round table on the topic of "anarchism and violence". The Carnival is a blog forum where anyone may join and post an opinion. Sort of like a blog aggregator but centred around themes for a given time period. Drop on over to have a look about what it is all about.

Molly

COMING SOON AT THE CARNIVAL OF ANARCHY:

Coming up at The Carnival of Anarchy, where the best anarchists meet to talk: The weekend of March 23rd to 25th will feature round robin blogging on the subject of "Science and the Spirit of Anarchism". anything goes: "software, electronics, climatology, biology, medicine, or what have go..." Come on over and join the carnival.

Molly

NEW SHOW COMING SOON AT THE CARNIVAL OF ANARCHY:

The Carnival of Anarchy will host another roundtable this coming weekend, Friday, Feb 23rd to Sunday, Feb 25th. This time the theme will be 'Anarchism in your area', and the field is wide open for descriptions of how anarchism plays out in your area of the world. New members of the Carnival are always welcome. To see what it's all about or to join up go to the Carnival of anarchy at http://carnival-of-anarchy.blogspot.com .
Molly

NOW ON AT THE CARNIVAL OF ANARCHY:
This weekend at the Carnival of Anarchy site features the subject of "socialism and anarchism". Come on over to see the sparks fly. The COA is a site of 'anarchism without adjectives' where anarchists of various persuasions post and play. A meeting place for left anarchists and libertarians, for all those who value freedom above all. Have a look.

WHOOP!!!. Almost forgot the ticket:
Whoa Sonny, you can't get into the Carnival without a ticket. The ticket office is listed under the Blogs section of this site, but if you want to avoid the line for the Carnival of Anarchy go to http://carnival-of-anarchy.blogspot.com . Sorry about the omission.
Also I notice that the Links section of this blog is now back on the left of the page, through no efforts of mine. We'll see how long this pleasant state of affairs lasts this time.
Molly

THE CARNIVAL OF ANARCY !!!!!!!
Eugene Plawiuk has just launched a new blog site entitled 'The Carnival of Anarchy'. This will be a "blog aggregator" site with contributions from many different people. It will come out as an on-line magazine, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly or who knows. The first edition will be on Dec. 29th, but already the site has posts. Bugs Bunny, one of my favourites !!! (Molly aside: In my younger days as an outside cat I found rabbit to be an excellent aperitif). The old Warner Brothers cartoons were entertaining in a multi-level fashion that modern cartoons often fail to achieve. Anyways, the first post goes through a number of references and asides that make it plain why good ol' Bugs is interesting to anarchists in many different ways.
The first edition will focus on "Anarchist Blogs and anarchist blogging"
Step right up ! See it all ! Just this way folks ! All for free ! The wonders of the world, and not even a quarter !
Molly