Hey all, the Pizza Time strike 5 year anniversary is coming up Feb. 12.
Come out to remember workers struggling for better working conditions in
Olympia.
Meet Friday Feb. 12 at noon at 4th and Jefferson in downtown Olympia to
show support for local workers.
Libcom.org Jan 26 2010
Farmers have decided to block the "dialogue on farming" inaugurated at the
Presidential Mansion in Athens by the government, and intensify their
struggle.
The government was hoping that at the last minute the farmers would desert
their blockades and seek refuge from the snow to the warm hug of the
Presidential Mansion (Zappeio) in Athens where the Ministry of Agriculture
has set up a "circus of dialogue" (in the words of the farmers). Yet, at
the time that only a handful of PASOK controlled syndicalists were
engaging in humiliating negotiations in Athens, the farmers, having
disavowed their official reps as "irrelevant", performed an exhibition of
their strength, by staging what they called "a general rehearsal" of total
blockade.
The "rehearsal" included bringing all national traffic north of Athens to
a standstill, while also cutting off the politically sensitive Bulgarian
border crossings, and even the international railway from Salonica to
Sofia. At several blockades the farmers distributed free products engaging
in dialogue with the immobilised drivers, explaining to them the
difference between the price they get for a liter of milk and the price
the drivers pay for it in the supermarket, an amazing 1200% (a thousand
and two hundred percent ) difference. During the "rehearsal", farmers
blocked not only the main south-north and east-west national highways but
also the majority of side-streets thus causing a near complete standstill.
Nevertheless the government seems reluctant to repress the mobilisations,
with the otherwise hawkish Minister of Public Order declaring that "the
government insists on dialogue". A repression of the late 1990s kind
(tearing the tractor tires and sabotaging of machinery by the special
forces) is almost certain to create long and violent reaction on the
farmers side; a symbolically harmful occasion due to the 100 years
anniversary of the Kileler Uprising which abolished serfdom in Thessaly.
The Uprising is officially celebrated by PASOK (its actually a symbol of
its socialism), and the absence of the PM at the 100th celebrtation in
early March would mark an very visible defeat of PASOK on the front of the
"farming issue".
The next moves of the farmers are expected with interest, as the "circus
of a dialogue" enters its second day on Tuesday. It is expected that today
the farmers will move their tractors on the railway lines connecting
Athens with the North, as well as re-engage in extensive blocking of the
national highway system. The blockade of the port of Igoumenitsa
continues, while farmers from the Messinia made their first move to join
the struggle by driving their tractors to the main square of Kalamata,
blockading the main Agricultural Bank premises of the province. It is
estimated that the farmers' mobilisation is costing the greek state 200
million Euros this far.
Jan 26 2010
Update: The second and final day of the boycotted government talks on
agriculture came to a close with no conclusion. At the moment an estimated
5,000 tractors are blocking the highways of greece north of Athens, while
intercity bus drivers protesting over the Tembi landslide have lined their
buses outside the police headquarters of Salonica and at the entrances of
the city of Larissa, warning of escalating their protest into blockades
too.
On other updates, bourgeois media (Ethnos newspaper) have revealed that
the two British arrested over the burning of the Chania Synagogue are in
fact British soldiers stationed in the near-by NATO base. The two wanted
Americans are marines of the US base in Souda and have sought refuge
there. The US Army has refused to hand them in to the greek authorities.
Regarding the arrested fascists of last weekend, 13 of the total 45 (not
44 as initially believed) have been released. All of them are underage
individuals who claim to be just passing by the place, although their
victims have a different opinion regarding their involvement. The Deport
Racism Movement has decried the political cover offered to the arrested by
LAOS the extreme-right party in parliament. An effort of a LAOS MP (son of
Kostas Plevris, Greece's most notorious Holocaust denier and attache of
the Greek junta to Italy in close cooperation with the failed 1970s coup
and the Piazza Fontana bombing) to hold a public assembly against
immigration in Heraklion Crete yesterday was cancelled due to the large
numbers of demonstrators blocking the entrance to the venue. Tonight there
are calls for antiracist protest marches in all major cities of Greece.
Three thousand members of South Africa's Food and Allied Workers' Union (FAWU) have been on strike since December 22 at SAB Miller's soft drinks division ABI.
They are demanding better wages and scheduling and an end to the spread of precarious work.
Their global union federation, the IUF, has just launched an online campaign to support them.
You can support their struggle - to send a message to the company, click here. And to learn more about the issues, click here.
Thanks very much.
Eric Lee
36 days on the picket line - South African workers need your help now
Three thousand members of South Africa's Food and Allied Workers'
Union (FAWU) have been on strike since December 22 at SAB Miller's
soft drinks division ABI.
They are demanding better wages and scheduling and an end to the
spread of precarious work.
Their global union federation, the IUF, has just launched an online
campaign to support them.
You can support their struggle - to send a message to the company,
click here
<http://www.iuf.org/cgi-bin/campaigns/show_campaign.cgi?c=479>
. And to learn more about the issues, click here
<http://cms.iuf.org/?q=node/206>
.
Thanks very much.
Eric Lee
Libcom.org Jan 25, 2010
In an encouraging shift from militancy in the community to militancy in
the factory precarious shack dweller workers in Pinetown (near Durban),
South Africa have launched a wildcat strike.
25 January 2009
150 contract workers at National Print, in Westmead, Pinetown, have walked
off the job. The night shift workers will also refuse to work tonight.
The contract workers have decided to go on strike in protest at the
attempt by the CEO to suddenly reduce their working hours and, therefore,
their income. January is the month when poor families struggle to pay
school fees and to buy school uniforms, books and stationery. This is a
very bad time for people to suddenly lose most of their income.
About 70% of the contact workers at National Print are shack dwellers,
most from the Abahlali baseMjondolo strongholds of Motala Heights,New Maus
and Mpola. We have successfully resisted eviction from our settlements and
we will also resist eviction from our workplaces.
The economy is in crisis due to the extreme greed of the rich. We have
worked hard and done our work well. We are not to blame for the crisis. It
is common sense that no one should take more than they need for themselves
and their family. It is also common sense that no one should be able to
take less than they need for themselves and their family. Everyone in this
world has a right to a decent income.
For comment from the scene of the strike contact Lindo (AbM Youth League
and National Printer Worker) on 074 460 5806.
Libcom.org Jan 19 2010
Tenants are occupying the housing authority in downtown Warsaw.
A group of tenants stormed the local housing authority in Warsaw this
morning and have been occupying it ever since. The tenants, many of which
are members of the Tenants Defence Committee, are demanding that the city
resign from plans to turn off their gas.
107 families have been being harrassed by the city for some time now. The
city is using slumlord tactics to try and get rid of the tenants who
happen to live in public housing in an attractive and expensive area of
Warsaw. They claim that the gas is not safe and already tried to turn it
off twice. During the first intervention of the Committee, the gas
inspectors said that there were only minor problems which could be easily
fixed and a housing official promised to do so. The city authorities in
charge of gas also claim everything is OK.
The borough president claims otherwise and came down on the housing
authorities and gas inspector. The Committee has been keeping watch and
trying to block turning off gas.
Throughout Warsaw this winter, hundreds and hundreds of families have been
suffering without gas, electricity and sometimes without running water or
toilets due to slumlords or the city who are trying to harrass people out
of their homes. The Committee is trying to take action to stop this and to
get the gas back on in some apartment buildings. More and more tenants are
trying to take action, but are being frustrated by city authorities.
Desperate tenants have begun to take action. The housing authority is
occupied and people have vowed to keep up the occupation for as long as it
takes. Many people took part in the action today and some people are
barricaded in overnight. There are also about 20 people on hunger strike.
More tenants are expected to come and support the protests tomorrow. The
Committee will make direct actions at other offices during the week.
More on this case: http://cia.bzzz.net/tenants_occupy_housing_adminstration
Photos and TV report (in Polish):
http://lokatorzy.info.pl/kategoria/nasze-dzialania/
| Hi All! Some of you I have been in recent contact with others I have not. I am doing well, living in Portland OR and working at Sisters Of The Road (www.sistersoftheroad.org). I would like to invite all of you to sign this petition: http://www.change.org/western_regional_advocacy_project/actions/view/tell_politicians_that_homelessness_ends_with_a_home For the past 6 months I have been helping to organize a Western Regional coalition (www.wraphome.org) to demand more funding for affordable housing and an end to civil rights violations against people experiencing homelessness and extreme poverty in our communities. Sisters Of The Road is happy to be sending over 50 members of our community to represent Portland at this action in San Francisco. Not only can you sign this petition, you can also follow the whole trip and the action by following the links below: http://www.change.org/western_regional_advocacy_project/actions/view/tell_politicians_that_homelessness_ends_with_a_home http://homelessness.change.org/blog/view/join_the_fight_for_change_in_sf_on_january_20 I hope all of you are doing well! Brendan Phillips Community Organizer Sisters Of The Road Portland OR (503) 222-5694 Ext. 13 brendan@sistersoftheroad.org |
Hi All!
Some of you I have been in recent contact with others I have not. I am
doing well, living in Portland OR and working at Sisters Of The Road
(www.sistersoftheroad.org). I would like to invite all of you to sign
this petition:
For the past 6 months I have been helping to organize a Western Regional
coalition (www.wraphome.org) to demand more funding for affordable housing
and an end to civil rights violations against people experiencing
homelessness and extreme poverty in our communities. Sisters Of The Road
is happy to be sending over 50 members of our community to represent
Portland at this action in San Francisco. Not only can you sign this
petition, you can also follow the whole trip and the action by following
the links below:
http://homelessness.change.org/blog/view/join_the_fight_for_change_in_sf_on_january_20
I hope all of you are doing well!
Brendan Phillips
Community Organizer
Sisters Of The Road
Portland OR
(503) 222-5694 Ext. 13
brendan@sistersoftheroad.org
Libcom.org Jan 14 2010
Miami Autonomy & Solidarity (MAS) and Batay Ouvriye Haiti Solidarity
Network seek help and solidarity funds to aid Haitian working class.
01/14/09- A natural disaster has descended upon Haiti whose scope we only
are seeing the surface of at this time. The Haitian people will be
struggling to rebuild their lives and their home possibly for decades in
light of unprecedented collapse, both physical and social. Yet despite the
unpredictability of earthquakes, this disaster is unnatural, a monstrosity
of our time. The extent of the damage of the earthquake is part of the
cost of unrestrained exploitation which at every step put profit above the
health, safety, and well being of the Haitian people. While the world
watches on ready to help, power is being dealt an opportunity. The Haitian
workers and peasants have been fighting for their rights to even the most
basic level of existence for decades, while the UN-occupying force, the
state, and the ruling elites maintain the social misery without relenting.
Now as Port-Au-Prince is in rubble, new opportunities arise for rulers to
rebuild Haiti in their own interests, and likewise for the Haitian workers
and peasants to assert their right to their own Haiti, one where they will
be not be forced to live in dangerous buildings, and work merely to fill
the pockets of elites, foreign or domestic.
As we move from watching in horror to taking decisive action, progressives
can offer an alternative. There is a strong and beautiful desire to do
something, to help others in this time of need. Our actions are strongest
when we organize ourselves, and make a concerted effort in unity. Right
now we can have the deepest impact by committing ourselves to act in
solidarity with the autonomous social movements of Haiti directly. They
present the best possible option for the Haitian people, and are in the
greatest need. At the same time, we are in the best position to help them
out our common interest as people engaged in struggling against a system
that works to exploit us all. We are calling for solidarity
people-to-people engaged in common struggle. It is not only a question of
money for AID but also an autonomous and independent act of international
solidarity that illuminates the bankruptcy of the occupying forces,
multinational corporations, and Haitian elites that are primarily
responsible for the decayed state of Haiti. There will be aid flowing and
money given as a form of charity until the next disaster. Our act of
solidarity should, in no shape or form, be solely an act of humanitarian
aid. It should not be an apolitical act, and we shouldn't give the green
light to those that wish to capitalize on the suffering of others. It
should be an act of solidarity to the struggling people of Haiti and their
organizations while at the same time rejecting the totally inept Haitian
elites and their state apparatus for bankrupting Haiti. The earthquake is
a natural disaster, but the state of Haiti, the abject poverty of the
masses and the vile injustice of the social order, are unnatural.
We have a relationship with one organization, Batay Ouvriye, and are
putting our resources and time into helping Batay Ouvriye to help rebuild
from the catastrophe and maintain the struggle for a better Haiti and a
better world. Batay Ouvriye is a combative grassroots worker and peasant's
organization in Haiti with workers organized all over Haiti, especially in
the Industrial sweatshops and Free Trade Zones.
We have set up a means to send money to Batay Ourviye. If others wish to
send money to Batay Ouvriye, please email
miamiautonomyandsolidarity@yahoo.com.
Miami Autonomy & Solidarity and Batay Ouvriye Haiti Solidarity Network
