ANARCHIST THEORY:

DIFFERENT SORTS OF FREEDOM:

My dear mother, God rest her soul, used to regale me with stories of the most stupid family in the patch of geography where she grew up. She was born near Simferopal Crimea and grew up in northwest Saskatchewan where you could go 200 miles to anything that resembled a city. From my point of view a great place to grow up but also a great place to leave at the time of puberty. I was blessed.

Anyways, amongst the tales of the "stupid family" shooting their horses while duck hunting and also shooting themselves in the foot (accidentally believe it or not) there were truly magnificent tales of low brain function. The family usually managed to live just long enough to contaminate the next generation with their genes despite classic acts of idiocy like using a match to see if a gas tank was full (yeah it really happened).

I can remember my own examples of stupidity from the 'Battey' family when I grew up in south central Saskatchewan. Fuck were this clan pests, driving their cattle through the town and refusing to feed their kids rights. There was also their dog "Nipper" who was the meanest dog in the RM. If old man Batty didn't feed his family even on the rare occasions that he was sober you can understand the attitude of the semi-wolf Nipper who mostly lived on what he could kill. One of the kids of this overly productive (in a generative sense), Dale Battey, used to bring the dog to town to bite other kids. Amusement is hard to find in rural Saskatchewan.

Being a kind hearted little kid I took to stealing (or saving) meat from my family to feed to the dog. I'd rather be a little bit hungry than see the dog starve. He sometimes wandered into town without his owners. The dog and I became great friends. One day Battey brought Nipper into town to bite me. Stupid move, speaking of stupidity. Sic em he said while pointing to the only person in the world who had ever shown the dog the tiniest piece of kindness. You could practically see the sparks flying off the dog's head as he weighed his pack loyalty to the animal who feeds him against his fear of his so-called owners. He did nothing and evil Dale booted his ass back all the way to home.

There was a conclusion to this example of stupidity. I owned two cats when I was growing up, Midnight and Bumpy. They were particularly bizarre examples of feline behavior (or rather instructive examples0 as Bumpy kept nursing off her mother Midnight even when she had kittens herself who were nursing off her. Quite normal behavior amongst Felis domesticus actually as is the formation of cooperative groups amongst related cats. Here's to inclusive fitness.

In any case the cats were a team. After his dog refused to bite me Dale Battey was really pissed off, and he figured he could get his revenge by bringing his semi-wolf to town to fight my cats. At that time my cats had a rep. They'd beat any dog in the RM. The older one Midnight would distract the dog by slowly surrendering space while lashing out at his face and making noise big time. At the same time Bumpy would silently sneak up beside the dog, leap on his back and skitter up to the head where she could bite at his throat. It would usually ended with the dog screaming across a field as one cat rode him and chewed on his neck while the other lashed out at his asshole.

Well Battey brought his dog to town, and the cats knew when they were outmatched (the fucker couldn't feel pain in a kill frenzy). One quick look and they did what they had never done before. They ran. They ran up to Battey who was standing by the low back "porch" (kitchen actually) of our house, ran up his body leaving bloody scratch marks behind. They turned around and spit fury at the dog from a safe perch while Battey stood there stunned with blood dripping down his body.. Probably telling him they'd get him by surprise. The poor dog continued to run back and forth frantically barking all the time. By the time my brother and I got up off the ground from where we had been rolling over and over with laughing evil Battey was already booting the dog back to the Battey farm (so-called).

OK, all that being said and indeed it was a lot to be said I prefaced this with the extensive personal story so that the reader cannot imagine that I am unacquainted with "stupidity". In the actual real sense where there are immediate consequences. The trouble with 'political stupidity' is that them punishment for the idiocy is not immediate, and thus its ability to teach is severely reduced.

Recently I have received a "reply" that says I should consider a "general tax cut" as more consistent with libertarianISM than my libertarian socialist view. I cannot agree with that, and, of course, here in Canada we can argue out what "libertarian" means. The stupidity in this debate is the ignorance about what "libertarian" means to the 95% of the world's population who live outside of the USA. The stupidity here is in the arrogant assumption that ones views translate across the world.

TODAY IN HISTORY:

CUBAN REVOLUTIONARY JOSE MARTI BORN:

On this day in 1853 Cuban revolutionary José Marti was born. An early advocate of both independence from Spain and resistance to the imperialist designs of the USA, Marti advocated a socialism that while still statist was considerably more libertarian than what "socialism" generally stood for in the 20th century and especially more libertarian than the present dictatorship in Cuba.

Notification from the anarcvhist timeline The Daily Bleed (which gets a serious Molly endorsement).

CANADIAN LABOUR BRITISH COLUMBIA:
MORE ON SLAVE LABOUR IN BC:




A couple of days ago Molly blogged on the recently discovered conditions of virtual slave labour at the Khaira tree planting camp in BC. The following sort of connects with the previous post on XL Beef about dependence on leftist parties and their good graces, but it has an additional fillip. Regular readers of this blog may notice my general 'pro-union' biases, just as they may notice my biases to rational and organized anarchism (as opposed to so much of the nuttiness of North American anarchism). At the same time I am very happy to be independent of any organization as this allows me to criticize when criticism is due. i say this because of a recent post from the National Union of Public and General Employees Union (NUPGE) blaming the recently uncovered events in BC on cutbacks in the civil service in that province. Here's a reprint from Molly's first blog on this subject:



One reason the government may be hesitant about a full inquiry is that Khaira Enterprises has been a long standing supplier of labour to the province. According to the Power Profiles site they have been in business for 10-20 years with total sales of $2,000,000. As far back as 1999 they were listed as being paid $219,288 by the province. Even more astoundingly in March 2009 they were certified as 'Safe Certified' by BC Forest Safety. The latter is a quanga set up of mainly industry and government representatives but also with a nominal union representation.

Note the following. Khaira Enterprises were getting government contracts as far back as 1999. The NDP was in power in BC until 2001, and the presumed "cuts" were far in the future. Khaira Enterprises "passed inspection" way back in the "glory days" of social democracy. Also note that in 2009 Khaira Entperprises was "safe certified" which seems to say that a civil serpent did indeed inspect said business under the authority of the board of Worksafe BC which has union representation (the USW to be exact). The so-called 'Worksafe BC' was a renaming of the old BC 'Workers' Compensation Board' in 2005, continuing the trend of trying to remove responsibility for unsafe work conditions from the enterprises onto individual workers. This is a trend that has been followed in political jurisdictions governed by left wing parties as well.

What Jacques Ellul called the "political illusion" is nowhere as bluntly visible as in situations such as this. If a system is set up such that various workers are considered to have "fewer rights" than others, and if this system is governed by a political process that allows one side (the employers) to have undue influence on its process then naturally abuses will become common. One can only wonder about how many other Khaira Enterprises there are across the country, and one is not surprised about how these things occur under social democratic governments with a maximum of government employees. Simply multiplying 'inspectors' does nothing if the inspection process is biased to begin with. That's where I, as a libertarian socialist, part company with statist socialists and why I think there is a better way to ensure workers' rights than government decree.

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR:

THE WAR AGAINST WORKERS:

Another Workers' Memorial Day has come and gone, and still the carnage continues. The death toll from workplace accidents worldwide is actually on the level of 6,000 per day or about 2.2 million per year. As such this particular "war against workers" is actually far more deadly than any actual war waged in recent memory, and it shows no sign of stopping. See this report from the International Labour Organization (ILO) for a full view of the grim statistics. The cause is simple. When humanity is divided into order givers (the bosses) and order takers (the workers) then those who direct the work do not put the highest priority on the interests of those they use in production. This applies to government enterprise just as much as it does to private business.

The solution is also just as simple...economic democracy where the conditions and goals of workplaces are controlled cooperatively by all who work in them. Some might argue that at least some workplace deaths and injuries are inevitable. Maybe so, but it hinges on what you mean by "some". Even in our pseudo-democratic societies the rate of such tragedies varies tremendously from country to country (and from region to region in federal states). In the EU, for instance, the number of fatalities per 100,000 workers varies from a low of 1.1 in the UK to a high of 7.6 in Portugal. This variation is not just a function of general economic development. Prosperous Austria has a higher rate (4.8) than Greece (3.0) or Spain (3.7). See here for the details. What these figures show is that the rate of such incidents is very much a function of the prevailing industrial culture in a given jurisdiction.

Deaths at the workplace and work related illnesses are not the inevitable result of simple chance. The differences in the figures above show that even with the minimal effort that business serving governments can put in that at least 85% of these deaths are preventable. What i am saying is that, if workers run the workplaces themselves that the percentage that can be prevented is an unknown number far greater than 85%.

This war on the workers is not one that can end with a peace treaty and not just because it is an undeclared war. The very nature of a society divided into those who work and those who direct means that the directors will inevitably cut corners when the welfare of the employees interferes with the goals of the bosses. This war can only end when workplaces are owned and run cooperatively. That is what is called libertarian socialism.

CANADIAN POLITICS- BRITISH COLUMBIA:

ANTI-HST CAMPAIGN IN BC:

Who would ever have thought that the Moll and the Zalm could agree on anything ? It's true. Ex-Premier Bill Vander Zalm of BC has launched a campaign to repeal that province's Harmonized Sales Tax (HST), and I have to say that I'm in full agreement, though undoubtedly for different reasons than Bill may have. Here's the story from the Straight Goods website. See the end of this article for my own opinions as to why I support such a campaign.

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"Fight HST" campaign launches

Group has 90 days to collect signatures for repeal.

by Bill Tieleman

Former BC Premier Bill Vander Zalm will launch the Fight HST citizens Initiative petition campaign to stop the Harmonized Sales Tax in BC Premier Gordon Campbell's own riding of Vancouver-Point Grey on Tuesday April 6.

The public rally April 6 marks the beginning of the 90 days that "Fight HST" has to collect the signatures of 10 percent of registered BC voters in each of the province's 85 constituencies for the Initiative petition to be accepted by Elections BC, says Fight HST Lead Organizer Chris Delaney.

"The HST takes money out of people's pockets but doesn't put a dime into healthcare, education or important services," said Vander Zalm



Vander Zalm says it was important to launch the campaign right in Premier Gordon Campbell's own riding, to send a clear message to the BC Liberal government.

"British Columbians don't want Premier Campbell's HST — not even in his own riding," said Vander Zalm. "If Premier Campbell and the BC Liberal MLAs don't listen to the people and drop the HST, he and his party are finished."

Vander Zalm says he is confident British Columbians will make the Initiative a smashing success after drawing huge crowds as he toured across the province over the past two weeks.

"British Columbians are fed up with the HST and fed up with the undemocratic way Premier Campbell and Finance Minister Colin Hansen are imposing a tax after promising they wouldn't do it," said Vander Zalm. "This citizens Initiative petition is the people's chance to tell Premier Gordon Campbell they want him to drop the HST — and demand that he drop it."

"The HST is the most hated tax ever because it is a cruel tax that takes money out of people's pockets but doesn't put a dime into healthcare, education or important services," said Vander Zalm.

In addition to Vander Zalm, speakers at the rally will include Delaney and "Fight HST" Strategist Bill Tieleman, founder of the NO BC HST Facebook protest group, which has more than 131,000 members.


Bill Tieleman, president of West Star Communications, is one of BC's best known political commentators and communicators. Read political commentary from Bill every Tuesday in 24 hours, Vancouver's free weekday newspaper (also online). Listen to Bill on Mondays at 10am on CKNW AM 980's Bill Good Show, in Vancouver, BC. Bill's email address is below.

Email: weststar@telus.net . Website: http://billtieleman.blogspot.com/ .

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Here's a report from the CBC on what happened at last night's rally.

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Vander Zalm's anti-HST rally draws hundreds in Vancouver
Several hundred concerned taxpayers turned out to hear former B.C. premier Bill Vander Zalm launch his anti-HST petition Tuesday night in Vancouver.

Vander Zalm's supporters filled the auditorium of Kitsilano Secondary School to hear him criticize Premier Gordon Campbell's surprise introduction of the harmonized sales tax just weeks after the provincial election last May.

The 12 per cent tax goes into effect July 1, replacing the seven per cent PST and five per cent GST.

"If you want to make something bad look good, you have to lie, and you have to lie over and over, and that's what's been happening," Vander Zalm told the crowd.

But not everyone who turned out Tuesday night agreed the tax would be bad for taxpayers. One man said his mother's benefits would actually increase under the HST.

But Vander Zalm challenged him, saying vulnerable people will still be hurt by the new tax.

The former premier also criticized the timing of the introduction of a harmonized tax that will apply to many good and services that were previously exempt from the PST, such as restaurant food, hair cuts and sports club memberships.

"We're in a recession folks," he said. "We were hoping to come out of it. We were hoping to come out of it soon, but these people in Victoria are only digging us deeper down.

"We're going to suffer. Industry and our businesses and all of us will suffer with it. It's a bad tax at a bad time for the wrong reasons."

Recent university graduate Katherine Chan agreed with that sentiment.

"I'm planning to get married, you know, buy a house, build a family, and, seriously, I can't even feed myself now. How am I going to, like, you know, support my own kids?" she said.

Thousands of volunteers collecting signatures
Vander Zalm is aiming to get rid of the tax by forcing the province to hold an initiative vote on the issue, but first, he needs to collect thousands of signatures on a petition supporting his draft bill.

So far, the veteran campaigner has signed up nearly 2,000 volunteers from ridings across B.C. to help him collect the estimated 300,000 voter signatures required to trigger an initiative vote, which is similar to a referendum.

Speaking before the rally, he said told CBC News he has seen a lot of hectic days in his 25-plus years in politics, "but I've never ever experienced anything like this."

"I have faxes coming in and going out till my fax machine is heating up. My telephone has never stopped ringing. And the e-mails? I hate to look at the computer," he said.

About 300 people signed the petition at the rally on Tuesday night, but volunteers have already begun collecting signatures across B.C.

Those organizing the petition have 90 days to collect signatures from 10 per cent of registered voters in every riding. Then Elections BC has to verify the signatures.

Once that is done, a legislative committee would then decide whether it will send a draft bill directly to the legislature for a vote or put the issue to a province-wide vote first.

But the provincial government has already said the HST is a federal tax, and an initiative vote wouldn't affect it.


Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/04/07/bc-anti-hst-rally-vander-zalm-vancouver.html?ref=rss#ixzz0kTxDjz2e

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WHY MOLLY LIKES THIS IDEA:

Here are a few reasons why I think the anti-HST campaign is a good idea. Some of these reasons, I'm sure, are shared by the traditional leftists over at Straight Goods. Others are unique to a libertarian socialist perspective.

1) Value added taxes (sales taxes) are regressive. They impact people at the lower end of income distribution more than they affect those with higher incomes. If we have to have taxes they should be progressive, affecting those with higher income more or at least equally distributed. Not only is a greater percentage of upper class income devoted to savings and investment, and therefore exempt from a consumption tax, but a higher percentage of their consumption is also exempt from same. Think tax shelters, consumption in foreign countries, "benefits" as opposed to salary/wages etc..

2) Value added taxes are invariably favoured by corporations and opposed by small business. This is especially the case with the Harmonized Sales Tax where it has been introduced in various Canadian provinces. This is because such taxes favours the large, just as it does with individuals, and reduces the income of small business. Think of the hairdresser who now has to charge 12% on their labour. Small business has no legal way of escaping this sudden increase in their prices and extra accounting costs- and resulting lower sales- while corporations, especially those producing for export have a multitude of such escape hatches, let alone the ability to simply pass on extra accounting costs to the customer.

3) In connection with this the introduction of the HST in various provinces has actually been a sly way of introducing extra categories of taxable items, most particularly making labour provincially taxable. This increases the general tax burden for the consumer, especially those in lower income brackets. Put truthfully this legislation that taxes things previously exempt from at least provincial tax (the major effect of harmonization) reduces personal consumption and adversely affects the major generator of new employment in most developed societies - small business. Such taxes thus have a depressing effect on the economy that is greater than that of another initiative such as simply increasing income tax.

4) While I don't think that the introduction of a referendum process in Canadian politics is a major democratic reform it is at least a minor step to making our society more democratic. Real democracy would involve a much more radical decentralization (and "de-statization"). BC actually has a referendum process in legislation, but any attempt to put it into practice has been stillborn in every case. This protest has the potential to actually make the process a reality rather than empty rhetoric. That would be nice to see. From the final sentence of the last article above the government of BC is already thinking of ways to weasel out of this law. What they say is, of course, an outrageous lie. The decision to sign up for the HST is very much a provincial matter.

5) Far too much of our politics has been "spectacularized" into image versus substance. This particular campaign is all about substance. It is also heartening that it seems to be gathering support from both the right and the left. One of the worst aspects of "politics as spectacle" is the creation of both a right and a left that rarely articulate policy but do spend their time in petty sniping and in creating fantastical images of each other. Campaigns such as this move beyond this artificial divide.

6) As a libertarian socialist, as opposed to the statist form of socialism that is the image of socialism in most people's minds, I know that socialism cannot be created through government but only by gradually reducing the role of government and increasing the role of cooperative and local institutions. Sooner or later this has to involve the shrinking of the fiscal resources available to government. The big question is in what order you pare away the functions of the state, not whether you prune them or not. There will be no miraculous revolution that suddenly turns government organizations into cooperative ones controlled by the people affected. It will be a long and slow slog. It might as well start with resistance to increases in the fiscal power of government. that's what this campaign is.

CANADIAN POLITICS:

A NEW REGINA MANIFESTO:

The Regina Manifesto which was the founding document of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (the CCF, later to be the NDP) is mostly of antiquarian interest today. Social democracy in Canada has strayed far from its idealistic roots, becoming both more reformist, in the bad sense, and also much more statist than it once was. Today even the statist parts of socialism, let alone the idea that the cooperative way is a legitimate alternative to government direction, are basically a thing of the past. Cooperativism has found its major home outside the party. Not that there aren't those, however, in the present NDP who would like to see a revival of these ideals. One of these is Pierre Ducasse, a once candidate for leadership of the federal party. The following is a recent article published at his Ecodema blog. M. Ducasse is, for sure, not an anarchist in any sense, but he represents the better part of social democracy, the part that preserves at least some of the ideals of socialism.

CPCPCPCPCPCPCP

The New Regina Manifesto?:

A Work in Progress
I'm at it again. Can't leave the CCF alone. I've been reworking the Regina Manifesto, reframing it in largely non-statist terms, as if guild socialists had written the Regina Manifesto rather than Fabians. It is also framed in term of an actual cooperative rather than as a political party per se. Historically cooperatives have played both roles concurrently. I invite others to join in the fun. What I've whipped up so far is in the extended entry.

The Cooperative Commonwealth Federation of North America will not rest until it has brought the values of life, liberty and happiness into every enterprise in America and has put into full operation a cooperative and collaborative platform for an open economy throughout the whole of America.

CCF is a free association of individuals, organizations and communities whose purpose is the establishment of a cooperative commonwealth in which production, distribution and exchange are openly arranged for social purposes and the defense of our common cultural heritage.

The CCF aims to replace the closed corporate system that has been used by the privileged corporate interests of Wall Street mercantilists and their K-Street hirelings to enclose Main Street America's credit, investment, productive capacity and access of each and every American in Mexico, Canada, USA and elsewhere to a free and participative marketplace. This corporate enclosure has limited the progress of communities, entrepreneurs and companies alike. An open economy of enterprise formation and shared capital accumulation will supersede the closed corporate framework and replace it with an open framework in which enterprise is freed to participate in a self-governing, decentralized and federated economic democracy.

The principles of economic democracy at the heart of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation of North America has the power to lift communities, families and working people from poverty into prosperity, rewards achievement for work and entrepreneurship and eliminates the means for the anti-social formation of privileged wealth. The Cooperative Commonwealth of North America contends in marketplaces and marketspaces against the closed corporate system and its fruits: in an age of plenty it condemns working people and whole communities to poverty and insecurity. Closed Corporate Power has become more and more concentrated into the hands of a small irresponsible minority of investment bankers, asset-strippers and hedge fund speculators and to their predatory interests the majority are habitually sacrificed.

Under the rule of these latter-day merchantilists the drive for a monopoly on credit and access to capital leaves the productive world high and dry and working Americans tossed to-and-fro between periods of manic and wasteful activity in which the main benefits go to Wall Street speculators, investment bankers and the industrial-military-financial complex of war profiteers, and then to yet another round of catastrophic depression, in which the already precarious situation of insecurity and hardship of people alienated from their birthright is compounded. We believe that these evils can be removed by free people committed to building a free and open economy together where the means of production, distribution and credit creation are socially-held within the partnership-based framework of open enterprise models.

The new social, political and economic order can not be achieved by partisan political means, nor can it be achieved by redistributive taxation nor by the nationalization of businesses. The aim of the Cooperative Commonwealth of North America will be achieved by creating an economic democracy that shares a common operating system with that of the political republic. The CCF knows that no political republic can long guarantee liberty to individuals and to society as a whole without the presence of a strong civil, participatory and democratic marketplace.
This social and economic transformation can be brought about by the action of a social movement inspired by the ideal of a Co-operative Commonwealth and dedicated to the practical application of USA's founding values of life, liberty and reward for honest achievement. We believe in change effected by Main Street's working people, entrepreneurs and companies as they work collaboratively and in solidarity toward their social and economic agenda in the marketplace on a daily basis.

We consider a purely partisan framework for the transformation we seek for our communities and companies to be wholly inadequate. While the activist base of North America's political parties of left, right and center hold many values in common with the Cooperative Commonwealth of North America there are a number of reasons why political parties in North America have often failed to serve as agents of social, political and economic transformation.

Despite the differences voiced in the heat of political campaigning there is often little difference in the measures taken by parties once forming their governments. It is the tendency of parties of government and opposition both to carry on government affairs in accordance with the aims of those interests, mostly closed corporate interests, that finance them while marginalizing the social capital that exists in their activist base. Seeking to effect a revolutionary social and economic transformation in such an environment is much like trying to steer a ship from the bow. The power of the closed corporate mercantilists that we challenge is exercised by their having control of the economic rudder.

The Cooperative Commonwealth Federation of North America aims to guide the political ship of state by empowering the people to grab a hold on the economic rudder that directs the political ship. Consequently the CCF of North America is a democratic social movement that organizes farmers, workers, entrepreneurs and communities to act on its social and economic agenda in the marketplace as well as advocate its doctrine and principles in the course of governance. Therefore the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation of North America is financed by its own members and by investors who support its social and economic programs. It conducts its affairs solely by constitutional means in accordance with the constitutions of Canada, USA and Mexico. It appeals to all the liberty-loving people of North America who believe that the time has come now for a far-reaching restructuring of our economic, social and political relationships, and that the field of liberty is white and ready for the harvest of prosperity to those who are willing to roll up their sleeves and work while it is yet day, put their shoulder to the wheel and thrust in their sickles with all their might to the end of carrying out the following projects and programs:
1. Establishing a General System for Open Corporate Enterprise Models
2. Reestablishing the Credit Commons

The Cooperative Commonwealth Federation of North America advocates a decoupling of its affiliated enterprises from speculative financial arrangements and draws upon the concepts of Social Credit, The Theory of Monetary Emissions and Open Capital to fashion a creditary system that has the power to sustain a free and open economy. A creditary system in conformance with our objectives
(I) issues credit not as debt but as 'equity carried forward' as Chris Cook (http://www.opencapital.net ) and Thom Greco advocates.
(II)separates banking into 3 distinct departments namely an issuing (monetary department), financial department and capital department to prevent asset-price bubbles that arise from an over supply of fixed capital that in turn results in an excess of production over consumption. This departmentalization of banking is advocated in Bernard Schmitt's Theory of Monetary Emissions (http://www.csbancari.ch/istituti/RMElab/bibliography.htm ).
(III)The formation of a beneficially-held pool of productive capacity and capability in the form of a Capital Account constituting the 'Real Credit' of society from which credit may be issued debt free to all consumers and households on a statistically controlled basis to effect non-inflationary and non-deflationary market clearing. This is the course of action advised by advocates of Social Credit.

All of these measures may be undertaken by non-governmental bodies affiliated with the Cooperative Commonwealth of North America and in collaboration with government jurisdictions.
3. Co-Operative Institutions and Open Capital Partnerships
4. Farming, Ecology and Economy
5. Inter-regional Trade and Development Compacts

CANADIAN LABOUR-ONTARIO:

TORONTO RALLY IN SUPPORT OF STRIKING STEELWORKERS:

The strike in Ontario and Newfoundland against the international mining giant Vale Inco has been ongoing since last August (over 7 months now), and there is no end in sight. This struggle will probably go down in Canadian history as one of the most hard fought labour disputes ever. Molly has mentioned this strike multiple times at this blog.

As negotiations seem to go nowhere and the company seems intend on reopening their facilities using scab labour the United Steel Workers and their supporters rallied last weekend in Toronto to keep the fight in the public eye. Here's a report from the Toronto Examiner.

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U.S.W. rally in Toronto to support 3,500 workers on strike
Andrew Moran

As mediators for the United Steelworkers and multinational giant Valeco Inc. negotiate in Toronto over the weekend, USW members rallied in the downtown core to show support for the workers in Sudbury, Port Colborne and Voisey's Bay who are on strike.




Toronto, Canada - On Saturday, hundreds of members and supporters of the United Steelworkers rallied together in Toronto at the Metro Convention Center to show support of those 3,500 workers in Sudbury, Port Colborne in Ontario who have been on strike since May of last year and also for those in Voisey’s Bay in northern Labrador who launched a strike on Aug. 1.




Vale Inco, which is a Brazil-based mining corporation, sponsored a conference at the MTC to negotiate with USW representatives over the company’s rollback in pension plans, seniority rights and nickel bonuses. However, more than 3,500 miners and smelter workers are not satisfied with the company's latest cutback measures.




OFL President Sid Ryan said this battle does not only belong to the strikers in the three towns but to Canadians across the country, as Ryan called upon trade unionists and members of the public to stand up against the multinational giant Vale Inco, according to a Marketwire press release.




“We need to raise a loud and united voice to tell Vale Inco to bargain a fair contract for these workers. This strike has exacted an enormous price on these workers, their families, and their communities, and they need and deserve to see it end with a fair contract.”




There have been no formal talks between the two sides until it was announced last week that they were going to negotiate over the Mar. 6 and Mar. 7 weekend, notes the Hamilton Spectator.




CBC News reports that those at the Voisey’s Bay nickel mine have protested the company’s demands in freezing wages and rolling back on many bonuses. The two sides will meet with a conciliator between Mar. 15 and Mar. 16. Vale Inco workers, catering staff and security personnel have been on strike since the summer.




In one leaflet handed out at the rally, the Communist Party of Canada listed several demands for the workers at Vale Inco. The CPC called for the federal and provincial governments to intervene in the situation, while also calling for federal and provincial bans on “scab labor”. The Communists also want a nation-wide labor campaign to transfer natural resources and important manufacturing sectors to the public sector.




"We salute the Vale Inco workers for their courage in walking away from the bargaining table and resisting huge concessions," said the CPC in a brochure and added, "We call on all Canadian unions and working class organizations to rally around the struggle of the Vale Inco workers."
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Molly Note:
The last part of the above article caught my eye. It wasn't too long ago that the communists actually held positions of power within the unions, and the "beloved" CPC would move heaven and earth to prevent their minor Trotskyist and Maoist competitors from doing what they are reduced to doing themselves in the 21st century. How the mighty have fallen. The CPC, of course, is in precisely the same position today as supporters of the Bourbons were at the turn of the 20th century. Massive nationalization today is a non-starter because it has been proven over and over to not only be inefficient but also to lead to yet another form of class domination. This sort of thing is not what libertarian socialists would advocate.

CANADIAN LABOUR-KITIMAT/TERRACE BC:

SELF MANAGEMENT IN THE MOUNTAINS ?

Now here's an encouraging piece of news, fresh in from the Terrace Standard out BC way. The Eurocan West Fraser pulp and paper mill out there was due to close down at the end of the month/year. Rather than meekly accept the result the workers involved, represented by the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP Union) held a vote, and 91% of the workers involved in one local supported the idea of buying out the plant and operating it as a producers' cooperative. According to the article they have the enthusiastic support of local municipal councillors and at least the half-hearted approval of the provincial government. The CEP union is one Canadian union that is quite supportive of such initiatives, and their buyout of the CHEK TV station in Victoria BC has recently been approved by the CRTC (November 9). That purchase was, admittedly, a rather mixed affair, involving not just the station employees but an unnamed "consortium" of local investors. One can hope that the people in Kitimat/Terrance will see fit to go with either a "pure" producers' co-op or some sort of mixed worker/community ownership. Not that private investment should be totally disavowed, but any such input should purchase either non-voting shares or bonds ie managerial control should not reside in people outside of the workers and the community. The CEP union is quite the creative outfit. besides the official website mentioned above interested people can also follow the actions of the union via the (quite) unofficial CEP Union Blog. See also the website of CEP Union Local 298.

Actions such as these are to be highly commended, with due deference to the financial difficulties that are often involved. They are actually a much more practical way to respond to not just the present economic difficulties but also to the desire of ordinary workers to live a better life in sunnier times. It is actions such as these, not demands for nationalization nor government bailouts, that build the sort of democratic and local (libertarian) socialism that Molly believes in. It is only sad that this sort of thing is usually only undertaken at the worst possible time-one where the firm in question has buggered up its finances up to or beyond the point of no return.

Here's the story.

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UNION FAVOURS PULP MILL PURCHASE:
UNIONIZED WORKERS workers at West Fraser’s Eurocan pulp and kraft paper mill are supporting the idea of buying the operation the company wants to close down the end of next month.

First results from voting earlier this week indicate 91 per cent of the members of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada Local 298 support of the idea, according to a union spokesperson. At press time, results were not yet available for the decision of Local 1127.

Forest minister Pat Bell, in Kitimat Tuesday, said he’s a “big fan of employee-owned business models.”

“The power of employees with their own money invested in an operation is significant,” he said. “I’d never want to bet against someone who, not only is their job on the line, but their house is on the line because they just mortgaged it to invest in the facility.”

“If there’s a future for West Fraser, it is likely under an employee ownership model of some kind.”

Kitimat mayor Joanne Monaghan said that a group was formed in-camera at the Nov. 30 council committee of the whole meeting. The group’s members, from both the union and council, will work together to decide the feasibility of a union buyout of Eurocan.

Councillors Richard McLaren, Randy Halyk as well as district manager Trafford Hall volunteered to be part of the team.

“It is an avenue that needs to be pursued,” said Monaghan.

Kitimat councillors were informed of the idea of a union purchase at their Nov. 23 council meeting by Local 298 president Mary Murphy.

“On November 30th, I’ll be requesting direction and support from my membership for a buyout strategy,” she said. “Both locals will need a huge amount of support in order to make this venture a success.”

Her presentation was followed with applause from the council gallery.

“The closure of Eurocan will have a direct effect on Kitimat, Terrace and everyone in BC,” she said. “CEP National and our local union are continually looking for opportunities in having the mill viable and running. I believe that the mill can be successful, and I’m not the only one.”

Her announcement came on the heels of news that an unnamed Chinese company had expressed interest in the mill.

Provincial forest minister Pat Bell has also told reporters that a company with “fairly large interests in China” is looking at the mill’s financial records.

INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-DENMARK:

SOMETHING FRESH IN THE STATE OF DENMARK:

The following pleasing little piece of news about a new anarchist organization in the country of Denmark comes from the Anarkismo anarchist news website.

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Libertære Socialister/Libertarian Socialists formed in Denmark!:

The 8th of November witnessed the founding conference of the Danish group Libertære Socialister (literally: Libertarian Socialists). It's over ten years since Denmark last had a specifically socialist anarchist group, so this happy event was long overdue. Over two days, 18 representatives from local groups in Aalborg, Århus, Copenhagen and Svendborg, as well as members of the sister organizations SUF (Sweden) and Motmakt (Norway) met in good spirits to discuss and vote in a constitution, political platform and an action plan for 2010.

Politically, Libertære Socialister has oriented itself towards syndicalist, anarcho-communist and collectivist anarchist currents, as well as council communists and other strains of libertarian socialism. In practice, it will be organised on the basis of local groups organized together by way of direct democracy in a federal structure. These local groups will be supplemented by working groups that will deal with specific political or practical issues.

Libertære Socialister expects to start with approximately 25 members nationwide, and welcomes contact with like-minded groups abroad - they can be contacted at lskontakt@gmail.com
Related Link: http://www.libsoc.dk

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MOLLY NOTES:

To say the least Molly approves, particularly in terms of the name choice. Throughout most of the world, including here in Canada, the word "socialist" hardly has the mountainous difficulty in public acceptance that such words as "anarchist" or especially "communist" do. The only country in the world where this label would present difficulties and endless wasted hours in trying to redefine preconceptions would be the USA. It has to be said, however, that as to the average American who thinks this is a dirty word that they wouldn't know a socialist if he came up behind them and nationalized their asshole (with excessive compensation of course). Similarly the word "libertarian" hardly leads to confusion outside of the USA where there is the world's one and only influential "libertarian" culture and party on the right.

It is also commendable that the comrades have seen the need to focus on the socialist heart of what anarchism is. Far too often this is more than slightly obscured by a frenzied issue hopping and the illusion that sheer activism equals some sort of progress. Anarchism has grown tremendously in the last few decades, but until it pays attention to the often "boring" ( to some who have romantic illusions ) everyday details of economics and people's ordinary lives it will be doomed to remain the property of a closed sect. Similarly anarchism cannot progress beyond the possession of an incestuous subculture or academic fad until it recognizes the crying need for organization, no matter how small to begin with.

Good luck to the new Danish organization, and may all their herrings be well pickled and the Mermaid always smile on them.

Local Elections and Other Atrocities:
Winnipeg, along with the rest of Manitoba, will be holding its municipal elections this October 25th. Me...I will be out of town, and I can't say that I'm weeping big tears about the matter. The field for mayor of Winnipeg holds four candidates, all equally unappealing. The front runner and likely victor is the incumbent Sam Katz. He stands as the "right wing" candidate though his record as either a tax-cutter or a spending-reducer is marginal to non-existent. What he excels at is glad handing in the fine old political tradition and conspiracy in same. When the recent affair of turning part of Winnipeg's Forks historic location over to be part of the parking space for his ballpark he had the grace to step out of council chambers for the vote. But when it was suggested that there was a certain amount of "influence" that he had on other council members to sway their vote there was "great shock and indignation" that such a thing could even be suggested. Perish the thought !!! This from a man who does his damnedest to get his "friends" elected to other council seats, forming an "unnamed Party" over and against the "unnamed Party" of the NDP oriented councillors. The Green Party who are also running candidates in some wards have the best take on this. Part of their platform is that candidates should be free to declare their Party orientation. It would be a considerable step forward from the present wink-wink, nudge-nudge system where everybody is quite determined to lie about an obvious reality.
Actually Sam Katz would make a truly magnificent Mayor if he would apply 1/10th of the sort of business acumen to running the city as he has in running his own financial affairs. In the last civic election which Katz won against a full slate of about 9 (I think) candidates. One radio station took it upon themselves to look up the legal records of the various candidates. Katz totalled more lawsuits than all the other candidates combined. He had been a regular for many years in sueing others and being sued in turn in a wide variety of different matters. A lawyer could make a decent living by only representing Sam Katz.
I had a recent conversation with a couple who are active members of the Conservative Party here in Winnipeg, people who might be assumed to have some sympathy for the mayor. They do, insofar as they dislike the other candidates more. But the three of us came to an agreement about two matters. One is that Katz is definitely!!! the most intelligent candidate in the race, and the proof is......he'll never get caught. The second is that Katz is standing proof that a person can never become rich by investing their money wisely. You only become rich by investing other peoples' money wisely .....and then never paying them back.
The other candidates in the race deserve little mention. One, Ron Pollack, is a joke candidate, and the only person who can't get the punch line is himself. Another, Chris Hasselriis, is the ultimate "fashion lefty". He oozes "slick" from the top of his fashionable haircut to the soles of his fashionable shoes. He actually has a "platform" of sorts which is to promise as much as he can to everybody that he thinks of as fast as he can. An occasional idea of his such as abolishing the business tax might seem "appealing", but what would replace the lost revenue of $60 million dollars is a matter of great silence. Should the waters of the sea part and Hasselriis gets elected it would be likely that this cut would go the way of Sam Katz's similar promise 4 years ago. In sum Hasselriis seems like the sort of person who has never heard of a way of spending money that he couldn't love.
Hasselriis has been labelled a "libertarian socialist" by some of the local media. Cough !, Gack !, Choke !. Such a label robs the term of all possible meaning. He is actually too much even for the local leftists, and one has to say that their taste buds are pretty jaded. So another more traditional leftist candidate, Marianne Cerilli, has entered the race. If Hasselriis has never met an expenditure that he couldn't love Cerilli has never met a tax that didn't spark romantic interest on her part. Once more, some of her platform may be superficially appealing. Putting an extra tax on big box stores certainly gets my "spite vote", though the surrounding RMs will undoubtedly take up the slack. Opposing the new hog processing plant in St. Boniface is also a winner in my books, though getting this reprieve through the process of electing a Mayor hardly solves the problem of the availability of city coffers to private interests in a structural sense.
This can be seen from a deadly silence about a certain question that follows from another one of her promises...that city funds won't be available for Winnipeg's professional football team. Fine and dandy from my point of view. Let all sports teams rise and fall on their own ability to generate income from fans. OK, but she justifies this by stating that the interest in the football team is only an interest of a "minority". Maybe, but she has made no noises whatsoever about city support for "high culture" and the not-so-high culture of the local arts scene. Minorities ???
Could it be be that Cerilli's regard for certain "white-wine socialists", to use an old cliche, is so strong that she thinks that one of these is equal to 20 "football boors" ? Even Katz won't touch this one with a ten foot pole.
Enough of the other candidates. On to the atrocity. Despite being the obvious front runner Katz has been searching around for an "issue" that makes his campaign look less like the shuffling of a herd of zombies. He has found it in a proposal to ban the sale of spray paint to anyone under 18 years of age. This would presumably cut down on the amount of graffiti around the city. He also wants to make it an offense for anyone under 18 to even possess a can of spray paint. A law prohibiting sale of spray paint to minors would likely survive a constitutional challenge, but one prohibiting possession would not. The mind boggles. "Sheriff Wyatt Katz" determined to clean up the crime of downtown Dodge City- I mean Winnipeg- by barring the dangerous weapons of spray cans from the hands of the young hoodlums. "All right kid, this is the police. Drop that can and come up with your hands up or we'll start shooting".
The sad part is that this lead weight will likely float. Mercifully it will attract only those who would have voted for Katz anyhow, even if he was proven to be the AntiChrist. About the same number of people who would believe that the city should drop support for the football teams but keep support for artists, real and pseudo. The majorities lay elsewhere.