In an entirely different vein:
Part 7: An UPSurge at the package kingPart 5: Unrest at Big Brown
Part 6: Changing shape or shaping change?
And, not part of the series, but recent news about the killings in Alabama:
Hollaback!: Letter to Our Supporters on the Recent Street Harassment Video
In which they apologize for their racist video.
Turns out they issued a statement last Thursday in which, although they didn't quite apologize, they did "regret the unintended racial bias in the editing of the video that over represents men of color." (Kinda wish somebody, anybody, would've pointed this out sooner.)
Anyway, apparently, they are taking all of the money raised by that yuppie gentrifier's video and using it to make a series of vids highlighting sexual harassment of black women and LGBT folks.
I am semi-mollified.
Was gossiping with the 'rades on Facebook and somebody threw up an article written by another dude who used to be in the organization that I used to be in but is currently in the organization that I am currently in. And the article was co-signed by one Dean Wareham. The same dude who was in Galaxie 500 and Luna?!? I go over to wikipedia, and yup, Dean Wareham, indie rock royalty, went to Harvard around the same time.
Makes Six Degrees of Separation a lot easier...
Which is kinda funny, because the one time I saw the Japanese band Ghost perform live at Boston's hipster mecca, The Middle East, I was standing next to Damon and Naomi, the rhythm section from G500 who later went on to be, um, Damon and Naomi. I was having a grand old time, until the singer gave a Free Tibet speech. Me and the Black Goblin started booing and heckling and yelling out Maoist slogans and Damon and Naomi very quickly removed themselves from our presence.
Remember, Remember the fifth of November...
>:)
Comrade Anklebiter has many differences with Citizen Fawkes, but we do sympathize with any who might want to blow up the House of Lords.
Vive le Galt!
Peace to the cottages, war to the chateaux!
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Tales from the Shop Floor
I didn't get a chance to mention it in the Street Harassment thread, alas, but today at work, I decided to ask my union sister, Female Teamster, what she thought about that Hollaback! video. She's a still blonde grandmother from hardscrabble Chelsea, Massachusetts, working class, good on race and and gay issues, a lifelong Democrat, unfortunately, but anyway, I thought she might have some unique insights into catcalling.
So I approached her outside the office.
"Hey, Renee, did you see that internet video about sexual harassment?"
Female Teamster, without missing a beat, smiled lasciviously and, I shiznit you not, waggled her eyebrows before replying, "What, you gonna ask me out?"
Then she laughed as I blushed.
What's your opinion of Eduard Bernstein and Jean Jaurès?
Not as high as my opinion of Female Teamster.
But srly,
Earlier this year (or maybe it was last year) we made the younger comrades read Rosa Luxemburg's anti-Bernstein polemic, Reform or Revolution. At the end of the discussion, I tried to be fair and pointed out that, ironically, Bernstein split to the left of the SPD with Kautsky and co. to form the USPD. Not that we Bolsheviks have ever had anything nice to say about them, either...
Jaures I don't know a lot about except that he was the leader of the reformist wing of the French Socialist Party and Guesde was the leader of the Marxist wing, and then WWI came along and Guesde became a social-chauvinist and Jaures was assassinated for his opposition to French entry into the war and became an internationalist martyr.
[Clenched fist salute]
Vive le Galt!
Jean Jaures: The Musical Interlude
Vive le Galt!!!
Online English translation for monolinguists like moi
They neared the end right from the start
It was December all the year round
What a life our grandparents had
Between absinthe and high mass!
They were old before being born
Bodies on a leash fifteen hours a day
Turned their faces ashen grey
Yes our Lordship, yes our good Master
Why did they kill Jaurès?
Why did they kill Jaurès?
If it can’t be said they were slaves
That’s no reason to claim they had a life
When you start up already defeated
It’s hard to get out of your patch
And yet hope flourished
In the dreams that came to the eyes
Of the few who refused
To grovel until old age
Yes our good Master, yes our Lordship
Why did they kill Jaurès?
Why did they kill Jaurès?
If, God forbid, they survived
It was to go off to the war
It was to snuff it in the war
Under orders from some swashbucklers
Who grudgingly demanded
That they go and gamble their stillborn youth
In the battlefield of horror
And they died in full terror
All destitute, yes, our good Master
With priests’ blessings, yes, our Lordship
Ask yourselves, you bright young things
Just long enough for a fleeting memory
Just long enough to let out a sigh
Why did they kill Jaurès?
Why did they kill Jaurès?
Shapin' up to be a good month for class struggle:
Tomorrow in Maine: For Fairness at FairPoint!
THIS SATURDAY, NOV 8, NOON
PORTLAND, MAINE
RALLY AGAINST FAIRPOINT GREED
On October 17th, nearly 2,000 FairPoint workers in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont went ON STRIKE because the North Carolina-based company that’s largely owned by Wall Street hedge funds wants to dramatically increase our health care costs, freeze our pensions, end retiree health care, and turn our good middle-class jobs into temporary jobs with poverty wages.
Join Us As We STAND UP and FIGHT BACK!
Who: Members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the Communications Workers of America and our supporters
When: November 8, 12 noon
Where: Monument Square, corner of Congress St and Monument Way, Portland, Maine
Wear your RED and prepare to make some noise!
Parking Options Nearby
Elm Street Parking Garage
21 Elm Street
Temple Street Parking Garage
11 Temple Street
Monument Square Parking Garage
53 Brown Street
Next week in Boston (among other places): Postal Unions Prepare for National Day of Action - November 14, 2014
Week after that (or maybe it's the week after that): Stand Up, Live Better!
For class war!
Vive le Galt!!!
Voting Is Still for Ninnies!
A round-up of post-Nov. 4 articles that caught my eye (that aren't by communists):
New York Times article by a red diaper baby: Election 2014: President Obama Is Not a Happy Warrior
Boston Globe: Vote all you want. The secret government won’t change.
Okay, that last one was by a commie.
And, finally,
Did you see this? The Socialist Subtext of ‘Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory’
EDIT: There's not actually a whole lot of argument in the article, but I saw 'socialist subtext' and thought "Comrade Anklebiter needs to see this."
Nationalize Willy Wonka!
Huh, weird article. Thank you, Citizen Bodhranist.
On strike/Shut it down!
Portland is a union town!
Striking FairPoint workers rally in Portland
What doesn't come across in the article, I don't think, was how angry they were.
Rally started off pretty high energy and festive ("One day longer/One day stronger!") but by the time we had marched to FP's offices and they discovered private security filming them, they surged into the streets and became a cacophanous mass of middle aged working class white folk screaming "F*!& you!" and chanting "Scabs go home! Scabs go home!" Made me get all weepy, I tell you.
Anyway, police wagon shows up, cops usher everyone out of the streets, union starts deploying it's funny guys to lighten up the mood, crowd settles down.
But, for a moment there, I swear, they could have flipped a car.
Vive le Galt!!!
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And what day is it today, comrades?
If your answer is 'Today's the Day the Teddy Bears Have Their Picnic', yes, you're right. Have a f***ing lollipop.
I should have tried to get them to flip a car...
I think The Man has borked your link, cde...
I should have tried to get them to flip a car...
Woopsie. It was a vid of the Russian working class marching about, handing out leaflets, singing songs and Diane Keaton finally succumbing to Warren Beatty's advances.
Socialism will get everybody laid!
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Or at least Warren Beatty. Although from what I understand, he's rarely needed the help...
Made a new commie friend at the FairPoint rally, a kid on the coast who is a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, who split from Workers World after Comrade Marcy died. Try as I may, I can't find any substantive political differences between the comrades of WW and PSL, except for who was going to succeed Comrade Marcy after he died.
Anyway, he recently graduated from Syracuse University and he tipped me off to this story: SU students occupy administration building for 3rd day
And I've only ever seen this case in commie articles, so I might as well link the PSL story:
‘It’s my life, I have a right to talk about the things that happened to me!’—Rasmea Odeh
An injury to one is an injury to all!
Drop the charges!
Vive le Galt!!!
Also ran into two members of the Socialist Workers Party who I've been running into for the past 20 years. They were peddling their collection, Thomas Sankara Speaks for $10 but I'm afraid I'm wicked poor these days and the PSL kid got it.
Anyway, turns out Comrade Sankara was a pretty interesting dude:
The great Thomas Sankara was murdered on this day 27 years ago
Comrade Brand is reading Trotsky; so should you!
Made a new commie friend at the FairPoint rally, a kid on the coast who is a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation,
...who writes articles about his irl politrolling for his newspaper, rather than posts on a fantasy role-playing game website.
[Shrugs]
Different strokes, I guess.
Fairpoint workers and supporters rally to defend jobs, benefits
Scabs go home!/Scabs go home!/Scabs go home!
College Athletes of the World Unite
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in Jacobin?
It won't be long now, comrades!
Down with the NCAA Plantation!
Organize the Unorganized!
Finish the Civil War: For Black Liberation through Socialist Revolution!
Vive le Galt!!!
I didn't see this press release on their website, just on Facebook--
For Immediate Release: Wednesday, Nov. 12
FairPoint Strikers Escalate Campaign with NYC Action Against Hedge Fund Angelo, Gordon
- Protest highlights hypocrisy of the Wall Street hedge fund, which manages billions in public pension funds even as FairPoint tries to gut worker pensions
NEW YORK—The FairPoint strike in northern New England spilled over onto the streets of New York City today. Dozens of union activists descended on a conference attended by officials of Angelo, Gordon, the Wall Street hedge fund that owns the biggest stake in FairPoint, the troubled telecom company.
“The hypocrisy of Angelo, Gordon is appalling,” said Chris Shelton, Vice President of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) for District 1, which includes New England and New York. “They want to make huge profits by investing public employees' pensions, and then they stand by while FairPoint tries to gut workers' pensions and end retiree health care. This is a betrayal of their investors and the public and we will expose it at every opportunity."
The union activists rallied in front of the Union League Club at 37th Street and Park Avenue in Manhattan as the 2014 CIO Leaders in Alternative Investing Summit got under way on Wednesday morning.
Angelo, Gordon owns nearly 20 percent of FairPoint’s shares and has a nominee on the company’s board of directors. The Wall Street hedge fund also manages a portion of the New York State Common Retirement Fund (CRF), the nation’s third largest public pension fund.
In September, New York State Comptroller and CRF Trustee Thomas P. DiNapoli sent a letter to Angelo, Gordon expressing his concerns about the hedge fund's behavior. DiNapoli urged the firm to “take all actions appropriate to your role as a substantial shareholder in FairPoint to assure the CRF and other Angelo, Gordon investors that FairPoint is treating its workers fairly and in compliance with the law.”
Angelo, Gordon and other prominent Wall Street hedge funds — which collectively own nearly 50 percent of FairPoint stock — secured their substantial shares in the company after it went bankrupt in 2009. Money managers from several of the other hedge funds invested in FairPoint also attended Wednesday's day-long meeting.
“FairPoint and its Wall Street investors want to turn good middle-class jobs into low-wage jobs with meager benefits," said Peter McLaughlin, Chairman of System Council T9 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which represents nearly 1,700 striking FairPoint workers in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. "Angelo, Gordon and other hedge funds invested heavily in FairPoint as it came out of bankruptcy. Their model is buy low, sell high, and they don't care about the consequences for New England's working families or customers."
FairPoint workers believe Angelo, Gordon has the power to help bring a resolution to this dispute, but so far, it has refused to publicly intervene. The workers and their allies are calling on the firm to reconsider its position and stop FairPoint’s attack on the working families of northern New England.
"We are here today to send a message to FairPoint's Wall Street investors," said Dennis Trainor, Assistant to the Vice President of District 1 of the CWA. "We will continue to support our sisters and brothers in northern New England as long as this struggle for good jobs and quality service continues. Their fight is our fight against these wolves of Wall Street."
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) System Council T-9 includes local unions in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont and represents nearly 1,700 employees at FairPoint Communications. The Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 1400 represents nearly 300 FairPoint employees in the three states. For more information, visit www.FairnessAtFairpoint.com.
Part 8: What made the "tightest ship"?Part 7: An UPSurge at the package kingPart 5: Unrest at Big Brown
Part 6: Changing shape or shaping change?
And, not part of the series, but recent news about the killings in Alabama:
Part 9: UPS's war on worker safety
The new hires are all coming along fine, comrades will be glad to hear. One kid was a student in New York and spent a lot of time at Zucotti Park before dropping out to pursue his dreams of rock'n'roll stardom. Another one is a Britishiznoid national newly married to a Yankee woman who claims (I'm not sure I believe him) that he has neither university education nor trade union experience, but knows about a little concept called "the class struggle" (yes, I ask all new hires if they know about the class struggle). ("Go get that pallet jack" I sez to him on the second day; he just looks at me blankly and I realize, like in that episode of The Office [well, the American version anyway], that he had no idea what a pallet was.) (I was also surprised when he told me that, thus far, he found New Englanders to be much friendlier than Ye Olde Englanders; my self-image is ruined!)
Another one got yelled at by the supervisor because the supervisor didn't have the stones to confront surly Italian Teamster, so he took it out on the new hire. New hire mentions it to to Puerto Rican Teamster. Puerto Rican Teamster sez: "He can't talk to you like that; let's go talk to the union!" Steward yells at supervisor; later that day, supervisor had to apologize to new hire. New hire is now very enthusiastic about the union.
Vive le Galt!
Woman taken to 'wrong' hospital faces bankruptcy
Down with Obamacare!
For communism!
Mexico protesters torch state assembly
Huzzah! Burn it down!
And now for something completely different:
I'm not quite sure if it's a legitimate newssource, but the title caught my eye.
Decriminalize drug use and prostitution!
The new hires are all coming along fine, comrades will be glad to hear. One kid was a student in New York and spent a lot of time at Zucotti Park before dropping out to pursue his dreams of rock'n'roll stardom. Another one is a Britishiznoid national newly married to a Yankee woman who claims (I'm not sure I believe him) that he has neither university education nor trade union experience, but knows about a little concept called "the class struggle" (yes, I ask all new hires if they know about the class struggle). ("Go get that pallet jack" I sez to him on the second day; he just looks at me blankly and I realize, like in that episode of The Office [well, the American version anyway], that he had no idea what a pallet was.) (I was also surprised when he told me that, thus far, he found New Englanders to be much friendlier than Ye Olde Englanders; my self-image is ruined!)
I forgot the best part! Both of them asked me, for some weird reason, if I had ever seen The Big Lebowski.
College Athletes of the World Unite
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in Jacobin?
It won't be long now, comrades!
Down with the NCAA Plantation!
Organize the Unorganized!
Finish the Civil War: For Black Liberation through Socialist Revolution!Vive le Galt!!!
While you're at it, could you please educate some American sports writers about the differences between oligopoly (how the MLS is structured financially) and socialism (what they keep describing it as).
Heja heja Blåvitt!
Alas, I only know of sports what I read in commie newspapers. Which isn't much.
Commie watchers: Dave Zirin over at The Nation is a filthy state-cap Cliffite.
Soooooo.....
Tip any cars over outside the local post office?
How did it go?
No, it was rather boring. And cold. We decided to save on gas and go to the one in New Hampshire instead of driving down to Boston. Might've been why it was boring...
Class war goin' on in Italy, I hear, but no chance to look for articles before I go to work, alas.
As a half-paisano, it makes me very happy.
Vive le Galt!!!
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A moment of silence please, comrades, as one of the comrades from Workers World shuffles off this mortal coil:
Leslie Feinberg, Stone Butch Blues author and transgender campaigner, dies at 65
"According to the family obituary, Feinberg’s last words were: 'Remember me as a revolutionary communist.'"
[Clenched fist salute]
Vive le Galt!!!
And while I'm on the Guardian's page, already talked about this in the Paizo International Film Festival thread, but it bears repeating:
The real-life triumphs of the gay communist behind hit movie Pride
Vive le Galt!!!
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Events in other threads made me nostalgic and dust off a vid of my old comrades at their height of glory. Although, there's a lot of awkward chanting for 5,000 black people.
Communists vs KKK / Cops ! Battle in Washington (1982, IIRC)
We stopped the Klan! We stopped the Klan! We stopped the Klan!
Finish the Civil War!
Some commie tunez I heard recently:
Bambu--"Rent Money"
Killer Mike--"Reagan"
Evan Greer--"Picket Line Song"
Bobby Joe Ebola and the Children MacNuggits--"All You Fascists"
Class struggle weekend is planned to run thusly:
Thursday--drive out to the coast and give Introduction to Socialism 101 class to UNH students (well, Mr. Comrade's gonna give it), see if any of them want to do FairPoint solidarity work;
Friday--do paper sale at UMass Lowell to get people to come to our Wal-Mart Black Friday protest in Chelmsford;
Saturday--be bad comrades and skip the Regional Branch meeting to instead go to a meeting of Comrade Longears's American co-thinkers who will be featuring a speaker reporting back on their recent visit to the People's Republic of Bachuan; followed directly, if what I've heard is correct, by protests in front of the Boston Police Department after they release the Ferguson verdict.
Sunday--back to work
For international proletarian socialist revolution!
Vive le Galt!!!
Alright, so scanning the Facebook, I'm seein':
--Ferguson Klansmen threatening to shoot people in Guy Fawkes masks (thank you, Alan Moore)
--Comrade Kshama being arrested for demonstrating against Alaska Airlines's stinginess
--FairPoint basically said "f~@& you" to the union at mediation meetings in Boston this week
--Something about a Mexican general strike?
--Another dead banker
Vive le Galt!
Bobby Joe Ebola and the Children MacNuggits--"All You Fascists"
You thought the fascists lost/You thought you could relax
Now you're just another stick bound to the eagle's axeWell, the fascists are all dyin' off/But we got somethin' new
They're Yankee Doodle hegemons/We call them Hankies (???) too!
"Yankee Doodle hegemons," hee hee!, that's pretty good, Dan. I'm glad those summers arguing over Spart newspapers in your father's basement paid off.