Blogs

Atlantide is a social centre in the Santo Stefano neighbourhood in the heart of Bologna’s old town. More precisely, it is situated in the cassero, an historic building which forms part of the city’s medieval gates. Atlantide was occupied in 1997 and for over 15 years it has been home to a number of LGBT, feminist and punk music collectives.

I was as shocked as many at the untimely death of Bob Crow at the age of 52 a few weeks ago. That is a very young age and will be a big loss to his family. Crow was very much a “character” who relished his role as RMT General Secretary and was happy to play up to media stereotypes.

The 'carbon bubble' and path dependency

Go and read Plan C's We are all very anxious.

This post could have just said that.

But once I start writing I have problems stopping.

I'm an anxious man. Even when I write.

In his inaugeral lecture at the Collège de France, published as How to live together, Roland Barthes goes into great detail on the subject of rhythms in order to answer the question of community.

As the Greek government prepares to re-enter the financial markets on Thursday a bomb exploded in central Athens in the early morning. Security forces have closed off the area but photos show significant damage to the exterior of the building with the façade and windows broken.

AngryWorkersWorld - Wandering Spring/Summer 2014

Dear Friends and Comrades,

We've got itchy feet and we'd like to spend a weekend in your town/city sometime this spring/summer!

The idea would be to link up with other like-minded groups and individuals so that we can:

[i]We received a number of replies and great discussion from the piece by S Nappalos on the IWW’s locality versus industrial structures. E.A. Martinez has sent a lengthy response raising points of criticism and agreement that is worth engaging. While the discussion centers around structures of the IWW, bigger issues are at hand.

This month there has been news from Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Myanmar, North Korea, Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The most important stories:

There are two standard answers on the left: apathy and the lack of leadership. Either people are too engrossed in their own little world of X Factor, I'm a Celebrity and 'I'm alright Jack,' or they just don't have the right hero to lead them into battle. The left wing rabble rousers of the past are dead and gone and we need people to replace them and rally the workers.

The IPCC - background and history

The recent announcement by the government of a pay freeze pay for NHS workers in England and Wales earning below the top of their pay band was the latest attempt to ‘get tough’ on public sector workers.

On the 26 March, when the National Union of Teachers was taking strike action, members of the GMB were also out on strike. The reason that this action received less attention, particularly from trade union sources, is that it represented a rather unusual situation.

News story from March 27, 2014

Australia will be quite different in a few years’ time…
-Tony Abbott(2013)

The tendency is a general schema that takes as its starting point an analysis of the elements that make up a given historical situations. On the basis of that analysis, it defines a method, an orientation, a direction for mass political action (Negri, 2005, p. 27)

Tensions are running high in the Greek prison system at the moment after the death of a prison guard and the prisoner who killed him.

In Italy the cooperative system is one of the main forces – together with Confindustria representing employers – pushing for even more deregulation of jobs.

The Hong Kong dockworkers, suffering years of frozen wages and inhumane conditions, divided by a subcontracting system meant to deflect labor unity, with no legal access to collective bargaining, in heart of the global capital's leading city...

The most important change to hit the workers movement was when governments around the world began integrating union negotiation into their institutions. Before the National Labor Relations Act and creation of the National Labor Relations Board in the US, most labor disputes were settled with bullets and clubs by the police and occasionally armed forces.

Political concepts are supposed to give us tools to figure out how to bring about the society we want. Theory constructs frameworks of political concepts to understand the past, carve out answers for our present, and project into the future. As agents of political change the ability to think and act in real time is critical.