Murray Bookchin's libertarian technics
Submitted by Out of the Woods on Mar 11 2014 20:22
The first in a series of critical introductions to thinkers and concepts that inform discussion of the climate crisis, looking at Murray Bookchin's ideas about technology.
Murray Bookchin (1921-2006) was a pioneer of radical ecological thought and working class autodidact. Bookchin's political trajectory took him from Stalinism (as a 9 year-old, he was soon expelled), to Trotskyism, to anarchism, to eventually breaking with anarchism and founding libertarian municipalism/communalism in an attempt to engage with the local state.
Union truckers join strike at Port Metro Vancouver
Submitted by Empire Logistics on Mar 11 2014 04:13
Both unionized and non-unionized truckers are now on strike at Port Metro Vancouver in Canada. 1,400 non-union drivers in the United Truckers Association went out on February 26, 2014. Up to 400 drivers from the Unifor-Vancouver Container Truckers’ Association went out today, March 10, 2014.
Truckers went out on strike at Port Metro Vancouver this morning, after having voted last Saturday to reject a mediated back-to-work plan. They are joining non-union truckers who have been on strike since the end of February.
Hunger strikes in corporate immigrant prisons in the United States
Submitted by libera-te-tuternet on Mar 10 2014 20:18
Detainees at the privately-owned Northwest Detention Center in the United States are on a hunger strike against bad treatment and deportations.
Here is an expected result of the cruelty that is immigrant detention. Hundreds out of 1,300 immigrants currently being detained in the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma began protesting on Friday. They began a hunger strike against deportations as well as better conditions in the facility such as higher wages, better food and better treatment.
Scab bus blocked at Port of Vancouver
Submitted by Empire Logistics on Mar 10 2014 20:12
On February 26th, 2014, 30 community members and Union supporters confronted and temporarily stalled a bus transporting a scab workforce to the Port of Vancouver. This action came one day before the 1 year anniversary of the International Longshoremen and Warehouse Union (ILWU) being locked out by United Grain in Vancouver, Washington. By Lataya Dailey, Dustin Hawks, and Shane Burley.
An Injury to One is A Concern For All
United Grain justified the lockout, citing a video their private investigator claimed showed sabotage of machinery by a Longshore worker. Upon reviewing the video, the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney’s office declined to file charges against the Longshoreman. Despite the lack of evidence, the lockout continues.
The strike at Neupack and the question of strike solidarity
Submitted by AngryWorkersWorld on Mar 9 2014 20:01
Translation of article from wildcat collective on strike at packaging manufacturer in Germany in 2013 and the question of strike support.
The strike at Neupack and the question of strike solidarity
Bologna activists banished from the city
Submitted by StrugglesInItaly on Mar 9 2014 10:40
It sounds like news from a distant time, way back in Italian history, but it actually happened in 2014. On 6 March, 12 activists were forced to leave Bologna – their own city, where they live and have jobs and partners – as a “precautionary measure“ during investigations into an event more than 9 months ago.
This is possible under Law 1423 (27 December 1956) which lays out prevention measures against persons threatening security and public morality, and Article 283 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Workers' struggles in East Asia (February 2014)
Submitted by Spartacus on Mar 8 2014 05:00
Summary and links to news stories of workers' struggles around East Asia during February 2014 and related resources. The most important stories appear on my Twitter feed as soon as I find them: http://twitter.com/spartacusnews.
This month there has been news from Burma/Myanmar, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Mongolia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
The most important stories:
Portland dockers honor Honduran pickets
Submitted by Empire Logistics on Mar 6 2014 05:10
On Tuesday, March 4, Central American port workers from the labor union Sindicato Gremial de Trabajadores del Muelle (SGTM) from Puerto Cortés in Honduras established a picket line in front of ICTSI’s Oregon’s operation at Terminal 6 in Portland.
SGTM workers held picket signs that read, “S.G.T.M. LOCKED OUT ICTSI” and stated that they are facing murder, military repression, death threats, and anti-union attacks. ILWU workers honored the picket line in accordance with their collective bargaining agreement.
Italy does not tolerate organised protest: students prosecuted
Submitted by StrugglesInItaly on Mar 5 2014 20:13
An update on on changes to higher education and student protests in Italy as well as the government's legal repression of them.
At the end of 2010, there was widespread protest by students and university precarious workers against the reform of the university system in Italy. This reform took place during Silvio Berlusconi’s government, and was drafted by minister Mariastella Gelmini.
On Institutional Mindfulness
Submitted by sometimes explode on Mar 5 2014 19:05
A short critical article on CBT and mindfulness proposing that we understand how the other side of responsibilisation is a kind of meditative detachment on the part of public institutions. This text is a brief look at what Institutional Mindfulness does.
Quote:
These specialists seek to persuade us that our troubles stem, not from the world in which we live, but from our lack of insight into ourselves and from our failure to take responsibility for what we think, feel, and do.
- Paul Moloney, The Therapy Industry (2013, p.1),
Site maintenance under way
Submitted by libcom on Mar 5 2014 10:35
Just to let you know that we are running some upgrades on the site, so for the next couple of days some features may not work properly and we may have some intermittent downtime. Apologies for any inconvenience, but please bear with us as this work is vital for the ongoing functioning of the website.
Portland Solidarity Network: Things Are Heating Up at Fubonn
Submitted by Eviction Free Zone on Mar 5 2014 04:45
Here is a brief look at the Portland Solidarity Network and their Don't Shop Fubonn campaign.
Rush hour is being colored with the fury of workers scorned. The Portland Solidarity Network and the Portland IWW have now announced the Fridays of Fury at Fubonn, a weekly picket and rally to target the abuses and repressions taking place at the Fubonn Shopping Center.
Let them eat growth
Submitted by Out of the Woods on Mar 2 2014 22:33
Radicals are right to point out capitalism's need for growth at all costs is the road to ruin, but does runaway climate change wreck the prospect of a communist society too?
A tale of two charts
Ancona’s centre-left city council evicts housing occupation
Submitted by StrugglesInItaly on Feb 28 2014 16:59
On 5 February 2014 Ancona’s centre-left city council evicted refugees and homeless people from the Casa de Nialtri housing occupation. The Casa was a former infant school (disused for three years) which had been occupied on 22 December by people from a large network of grassroots groups and associations, together with a number of Italian and migrant homeless people.
The Casa – the first housing occupation in Ancona for more than two decades – provided a home to around 60 people.
Unity for what and with whom? A polemic against left unity
Submitted by s.nappalos on Feb 28 2014 15:47
An analysis of the contemporary situation in the United States, the conditions of the left, and a critique of promotion of activity unifying the left. It ends looking to another form of political action in today's environment.
The absence of any organized popular force acting on the political landscape is the defining feature of the previous decades in the United States.
Forged by Pride: Cursory notes on digital propaganda and Russian queers
Submitted by spitzenprodukte on Feb 27 2014 17:03
Does digital propaganda produced by Western LGBT communities in solidarity with Russian queers expose an exploitative relationship?
“FORGED BY PRIDE” reads the slogan, embazoned in a mock-Cyrillic typeface across the foot of the poster, produced by Western activists to raise awareness of anti-gay laws in Russia . A URL directs the viewer to a website, pridepropaganda.com, and a readymade hashtag for social network use, #pridepropaganda.
Just say no
Submitted by Chilli Sauce on Feb 27 2014 14:52
A short of account of a low-level direct action - a collective refusal to undertake a certain aspect of work - that occurred at a small language school.
Like every child of the Reagan era, my teachers taught me how to steer clear of drugs: “Just Say No”.
Having spent all my working life in an economy largely defined by Reagan's neoliberal restructuring, I've come to appreciate the power of “Just Say No” - although perhaps not in the way old Ronnie intended.
Lessons from a social service worker’s strike
Submitted by s.nappalos on Feb 27 2014 13:51
This piece was written in 2004-2005 in the wake of a strike at a behavioral health facility. Through the immediate eyes of those experiences it grapples with a number of forces in working life we find ourselves up against today.
[i]This piece was written in 2004-2005 in the wake of a strike at a behavioral health facility. Through the immediate eyes of those experiences it grapples with a number of forces in working life we find ourselves up against today.
Emergence is a revolution in human thinking
Submitted by s.nappalos on Feb 27 2014 13:45
Exploration of emergence as a tool for revolutionaries, it's use by capitalist management theory, and the tensions within that create opportunities for counterpower.
A theme keeps popping up in the news of technologies, ideas, and predictions all based around theories of complex adaptive systems.[1] We hear about things like self-organizing and self-learning computer programs, hive models of military organization, cloud networks, and decentralized intelligence.
Lever points: complex systems and potentialities for liberation
Submitted by s.nappalos on Feb 27 2014 13:39
Discussion of the concept of lever points from emergence theory as a tool for understanding and acting as revolutionaries in different moments.
“Give me a long enough lever and a place to stand, and I will move the earth.” Archimedes
They rose above their status as prisoners, and became, for a few days in April 1993, what rebels in Attica had demanded a generation before them: men. As such, they did not betray each other; they did not dishonor each other; they reached beyond their prison 'tribes' to reach commonality."
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