Blogs

As a commentator, educator, public intellectual, and one of the best-known anarchist voices in the U.S., Noam Chomsky has become a defining perspective as social movements develop. His analysis of the shift in global capitalism, and our own role in its flux, has seen a recharge of importance as we entered the “new normal” of the post-2008 economy.

To coincide with World Earth Day on Sunday 21 April 2013, the national forum “Salviamo il Paesaggio” (Save the Countryside) is organising national demonstrations about the protection of unoccupied land and fertile ground. So far, demonstrations have been arranged in Piedmont, Liguria, Lazio, Veneto, Puglia, Sicily, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, and Lombardy.

If the first week of work at Artistry Bakery and Cafe was any indication, there was no way this four-month experience should ever have resulted in two of the strongest friendships in my life. I was introduced on the first day to a group of men and women, mostly about University age, who were also going to be working with me at the restaurant.

The notice bans Milani from the city of Piacenza for three years, and came just three days before the national strike of logistics workers, which involved thousands of workers in Northern Italy, particularly in Piacenza province, where many important warehouses are located.

There are days in Greece when a number of 'small' incidents happen at the same time and together paint a picture of life in the crisis. The 24 hours between late Monday 8th to Tuesday 9th of April was one of these times. If you looked through Greek media sites on this day a number of small news items would have caught your attention.

Today, along with up to 55,000 other workers in HM Revenue & Customs, I was taking part in a half day's strike. It was just before one when literally hundreds of us were gathered outside work for a mass walk-in, and a member of the public ran past excitedly. “Maggie Thatcher's dead!” He yelled.

From The Organizer:

It’s no secret that depression is common in the class struggle community. Coming out of a libcom discussion thread, we realized there was a need for a simple text to which those who are suffering from depression could be directed.

After hearing the stories of several tenants affected by the tax and a brief overview of the campaign so far, the room heard what legal avenues are open to tenants in fighting the bedroom tax.

We’ve been here before. At the end of 2011, Balfour Beatty threatened to get an injunction against Unite the Union to stop the industrial action it had called for its members in construction. Unite responded by instantly capitulating.

Members of the far-right party Golden Dawn(GD) were forced to leave a small village on the island of Thasos at the weekend. GD representatives had come to the village of Potamia on Sunday with the aim of handing out food exclusively to Greeks.

I've got a personal grudge against a colleague of mine. I know this is bad for workplace solidarity. A month ago I sat in the office filling out a service user's DLA1

• 1. Disability Living Allowance – a non-means-tested benefit intended to cover the additional costs of having long term care or mobility needs.

For more news from China (in Chinese) see JTTP.cn and Jasmine Revolution. For news found from other regions, see here.

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

Around 10,000 people demonstrated on March 30 in Niscemi near Caltanissetta in Sicily against the proposed creation of the M.U.O.S. (Mobile User Objective System), a ultra-high-frequency satellite network to serve the US Navy.

The Guardian reported this week that Birmingham council is to provide crisis welfare in the form of prepaid store-cards, which will be redeemable only in Asda stores as part of the government’s welfare reforms starting in April.

Many people, perhaps as many as 40,000, took part in the day of protest. This has been the case for several years now – since the term “NoTAV” changed from meaning “protest against the new high-speed railways between Lyons and Turin” to “developing a new model of managing the common good”.

The Italian minority police union COISP (Coordinamento per l’Indipendenza Sindacale delle Forze di Polizia) staged a sit-in in solidarity with the four agents found guilty of excessive force leading to the death of Federico Aldrovandi, an 18 year-old young man from Ferrara who was murdered on 25 September 2005, when he was returning home after a night out with friends.

The Articolo 33 committee was set up in 2011 and includes associations, “grassroots” unions, part of the CGIL (the main Italian left-wing union), social and political movements, parents’ committees, and education workers. They are all focused on a common goal: the application of constitutional law number 33.

After last year’s stolid washout, we want to make this a May Day to remember for everyone so bring yourself, your comrades and your banners and lets send a message to the bosses and politicians who would exploit us – there’s more of us than there is of you and we’re coming…

Details to be announced shortly.

Facebook event: www.facebook.com/events/233146183476992/

On one side are the bankers, shop keepers, butchers, politicians, and all the enemies who want to dominate the city with their bulldozers and their money, including Darth Vader with his troops and a Sauron-Mayor yelling to catch the ring.