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2nd best was when First-Generation Romanian-American contact showed up with his long-flowing tresses and sharp, Slavic* features, looking like an elf, with a home-made red flag.
Speaking of "Vive le Galt!", today turns out to be Robespierre's birthday.
[Clenched fist salute]
---
*Ignorant American footnote: are Romanians Slavs?
The Romanian language is, as the name implies, part of the Latin-descended Romance family. The people are probably a mix of Dacians, Vlachs (Latin-speakers), Bulgars*, Hungarians, and indeed, Slavs.
*These days, most Bulgarians are slavs, but when they arrived in present-day Bulgaria they were a Turkic people.
Eastern european ethnicity tracing kinda makes the Schleswig-Holstein question seem straightforward.
March for a raise and moral economy!)...
The Fight For $15 Comes To Concord
"Several members of the Concord Police Department met up with us at Burger King, where they explained the rules regarding trespass and disorderly conduct to labor organizers who no doubt were already familiar with the law. "
I don't know why, but I found that sentence funny.
Also, is that you on the right in the last photo? If so, you are pretty tall for a goblin...
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It is and I am. Even sez so on my profile.
Also,
Happy Birthday, Comrade Longears! May all your attempts to seize the means of productions be successful this year!
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Thankyou, Comrade! I shall ever strive to honour the sacred oath that binds together we stalwart Red Messes Masses of Proletarian Paizo.com in our joint struggle against the bloody-mawed ogres of Capital!
Cup of tea first, though, I think.
Red, Black and Queer: A Presentation by Gerry Scoppettuolo from Workers World Party
Even though I know it's been "taken back," I still experience a frisson of guilt when I type out the word "queer." Reminds me too much of my homophobic pre-pubescence in the suburban'80s.
Should be in the Good Books thread, but I opted for here:
Synergistic weirdiosity had me at the office looking at my lending library the day after the Ken Livingstone brouhaha broke out, so I started re-reading Zionism in the Age of the Dictators: A Reappraisal by Lenni Brenner.
I had the pleasure, back in the nineties, of seeing the author ejected from a public debate between Ernest Mandel of the United Secretariat of the Fourth International and Joseph Seymour of the International Communist League (Fourth Internationalist). IIRC, Lenni wouldn't stop heckling Ernie so the Sparts kicked him out.
2014 article by Brenner in CounterPunch that I haven't read yet
Showing Norma Rae tonight, which, I am ashamed to admit, I've never seen.
"You like me! You really like me!" (Which apparently, she never said and what she did say was an allusion to dialog from the film. Stupid internet and its fact-checking.)
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Not to do with revolution or politics at all, but I kinda think some of the people in this thread would be interested in Paul Cornell's comic book This Damned Band which is out now.
(Rock'n'roll warning for scenes of debauchery.)
Looks intriguing.
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Was at work yesterday and saw a leaflet on the floor announcing that our brothers and sisters at ABC Supply were on strike (great way to spread the word, guys!) and me and Mr. Comrade went down there today.
Got home and discovered an article about one the fast food strikers I've been rabble-rousing with.
Comrades of Mine in the News
Interview with the head of the slate running for office in La Principessa's union caucus on American Cliffite website:
Campaigning for social justice in the UFT
La Principessa's on the slate, too, I forget the exact office she's running for. Something about middle schools.
The Nigerian Princess graduated from her master's program at UMass Lowell today (Huzzah!) and the university also awarded an honorary doctorate to Chris Cooper, who starred in Matewan, which we watched last week.
Synergistic weirdiosity.
Was gonna bother him for a pic, but lost him in the crowd. :(
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I caucused this year for the first time. Now I'm on the standing committee for the state senate district. I didn't take a leadership role, cause I'm going to be moving soon, but I could have very easily.
It's an interesting learning experience though.
Where are you moving to?
Comrades of Mine in the News
Three of my Lowellian comrades and the yogic monk from NH went out to Albany this weekend. One of them apparently "delayed an oil train coming from North Dakota into the Port of Albany by rappelling off a railroad bridge that crosses the reservoir."
Albany protest: 5 arrested after oil train delayed
Hundreds oppose oil trains at the Port of Albany
Tomorrow, a little bit of North Carolina comes to Lowell.
Support Transgender Rights In Lowell!
Today, go stand in front of the Wendy's with the Granite State Organizing Project peeps and the Fight for $15 strikers. I wonder if the Ugandan Princess will be there?
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For International Day Against Transphobia and Homophobia, the Lowell City Council entertained a motion to ask Massachusetts not to include transgendered people among the categories of people it is illegal to discriminate against.
CAJE helped turn out 50-75 peeps to voice their displeasure and the resolution was shut down. Then a resolution endorsing the Massachusetts decision to include etc., passed 8-to-1, including the councilwoman who seconded the original resolution.
Best of all, the Lowell City Council rounded up all the politically minded gay people in town so we can invite them to our Pride screening on Thursday or "Red, Black, and Queer" on Friday.
To stay on theme, I think I'll got a Chelsea Manning demo on Saturday.
Comrade of Mine in the News
For International Day Against Transphobia and Homophobia, the Lowell City Council entertained a motion to ask Massachusetts not to include transgendered people among the categories of people it is illegal to discriminate against.
CAJE helped turn out 50-75 peeps to voice their displeasure and the resolution was shut down. Then a resolution endorsing the Massachusetts decision to include etc., passed 8-to-1, including the councilwoman who seconded the original resolution.
Bookmarking to mine for discussion after Pride showing tomorrow evening:
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Activist Friends of Mine in the News, well, Counterpunch
So, a couple of months ago we met this couple, Alex and Alex. He is from El Salvador; she is f$$+ing gorgeous. We ran into each other a couple of times, they came to one of our events, etc., etc. Then, back on April 14th, we ran into her down in Boston at the $15 rally in front of the state house. She found out about our bus back to Lowell, hopped on, and we got to chatting.
Turns out, she works with something called the Chelsea Collaborative and their contingent was bringing attention to sexual harassment at some shop downtown (I forget which right now). It further turned out that she is second-generation celebrity labor leftie royalty. Her dad is Steve Early, who, among other things, was a CWA legend, an architect of the 1997 UPS strike, and the author of a book that was making the rounds in the last five years, Save Our Unions, a Counterpunch preview of which I remember cribbing heavily from for a branch meeting once.
Anyway, I friended her a while ago on Facebook, but I never got around to friending the other Alex until I ran into him at the transgender rights demo last night. When he accepted my request, I discovered that she is too modest to promote her own articles via Facebook, and she's written quite a few, but here's the latest:
Hillary Lost My Vote in Honduras by ALEXANDRA EARLY (I'm guessing this is rhetorical and Hillary never had her vote)
Her pops had one published yesterday that looks pretty intriguing to me:
Left Cover for Hoffa? The Rise and Fall of a Model Teamsters Local by STEVE EARLY
Where are you moving to?
Not far. I really liked the neighborhood, but my precinct is only like 10 blocks by 10 blocks. Once I'm in a different precinct, I'd need to get nominated for an open seat in that precinct. Most likely, I won't even be in the same senate district.
Oddly enough, if I move to another senate district, I'm more likely to find a vacant seat.
Also, I'm going back to school on my GI bill, so I'm going to look for a place close to school. Planning on a degree in history, then getting certified for teaching. Social Studies will be a little harder to break into, but it's the subject I love the most. Ideally, I'll want to get a masters/doctorate eventually in my subject and I don't think I could do math/physics/chemistry that far.
Was a little amused when I noticed that Google's pick of the day honored Yuri Kochiyama's birthday.
It's also Malcolm X's and Ho Chi Minh's b-days.
[VG,AoB]Vive le Bachuan![/VG,AoB]
Pride showing.
We have discovered that we rake in more cash if we put a donation cup next to a bunch of alcohol. I'm surprised we haven't gotten a cease and desist order from Hollywood yet.
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Kate Beckinsale on growing up in a WRP household
If you can work the phrase 'Crack the bum-willy-fanny code' into an otherwise normal conversation this weekend, one billion points to you.
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Stole it for Facebook, comrade, thank you.
Pride and "Red, Black and Queer" were successes, especially the latter, with over a dozen attendees in a sweltering room listening to a septuagenarian gay communist give a slideshow presentation about organizing trade unions and hanging out with the Sandinistas.
I was a bit disappointed that we didn't get swarms of gay and trans kids who wanted to collect money for the phone workers, but me and Mr. Comrade compared notes and noticed that, of all the people we gave flyers to at the transgender rights thingy, we got a cis het Latino immigrant male to each event.
[Shrugs]
We'll take 'em.
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Verizon Strike:
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I'm not sure if this is new or if I just missed it before:
Dungeons and Dragons and Philosophers: The Battle of the Five Philosophies
Featuring Marx and Stirner (amongst others).
[J-PS,IT]Including my lady love.[/J-PS,IT]
I'm not sure if this is new or if I just missed it before:
Dungeons and Dragons and Philosophers: The Battle of the Five Philosophies
Featuring Marx and Stirner (amongst others).
[J-PS,IT]Including my lady love.[/J-PS,IT]
And now we've all seen Marx in a loincloth. Goodie
Am also strangely attracted to cartoon sexy sorceress Ayn Rand. Help me.
I don't believe the author is saying she was CG; merely that she is playing a CG 11th-level wizard.
For example, I often play LG paladins. I am NOT Lawful Good.
First Capital reader's circle went off like gangbusters. Had three more people than I thought we were going to have.
Talked about mudpies and Starship Troopers, diamonds and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.
Afterwards, I asked Mr. Comrade if this is how the Bolsheviks did it. His reply:
"Hand out leaflets to striking workers? Check. Champion the cause of all the oppressed? Check. Organize workingman's reader circles of Das Kapital? Check."
Sweet.
Went trawling through the Occupy Wall Street thread to find Comrade Hawkshaw's links to David Harvey lectures on Capital:
NH and Boston fast food strikers in Chicago for the annual march on McDonald's headquarters setting up their tents for Jeffrey Pendleton.
Noticed last night that someone signed out Isaac Deutscher's Marxism, Wars and Revolutions: Essays from Four Decades from my leftie lending library.
I consider this a personal victory.
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Striking Verizon Workers Win Big Gains
Haven't looked into it yet. Hope it's true, but I'm a bit cynical. As I recall, the Fairpoint strike (phone workers in NH, VT and ME) was called a victory, too, despite huge losses. We'll see.
Haven't said much (anything) about France in here lately.
Vive le Galt!
Red, Black and Queer: A Presentation by Gerry Scoppettuolo from Workers World Party
Mr. Comrade went to a family shindig and discovered that Gerry's husband is his Mr. Comrade's second cousin.
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Striking Verizon Workers Win Big Gains
Haven't looked into it yet. Hope it's true, but I'm a bit cynical. As I recall, the Fairpoint strike (phone workers in NH, VT and ME) was called a victory, too, despite huge losses. We'll see.
Looks good on first perusal:
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The Return of Comrade Omar and His Anti-D&D Ways
Comrade Omar moved back to Philadelphia under a cloud of ill will and terrible behavior. My last text to him, as I recall, read "F#&% you!" and his satisfied reply was "Have a good night."
That was months and months ago and apparently he is feeling guilty, or, more likely, enough time has passed, and he started getting back in touch. He didn't apologize or nothing, but I would log onto Facebook and discover that he had tagged me in a site for nominating people to attend a North Korean prison camp, or sending me screenshots of his anti-D&D conversations, or putting memes on my page about the release from jail of his favorite rapper, Gucci Mane.
Anyway, he got involved in an anti-D&D conversation with the Nigerian Princess, Mr. Comrade and Lebanese-American Woman Who Is Always Inebriated that I thought was amusing enough to post here.
Starts when Mr. Comrade links the following article from The Washington Post and tags the Nigerian Princess and I:
An illustrated guide to why grown-ups are playing Dungeons & Dragons again
The Nigerian Princess: I love playing D&D and I'm not ashamed to say it. What's not to love. We (I) get drunk and pretend I'm a badass Black wood elf with insane archery skills. #danddisbae #gladihavepeoppetoplayitwithfinally
Lebanese-American Woman: Is there shame in playing?? I guess it depends on your DM ;)
NP: Yes DM and other more conservative players
Comrade Omar: Yes, there is much shame in it but sadly players themselves do not recognize it and admitting you have a problem is the first step in getting help.
LAW: Admittedly, I myself have little to no shame..
Mr. Comrade: Bwahahaha
NP: Omar with your hating ass.the only problem I have is that I don't get to play it regularly enough
CO: I'm fighting the good fight here, a lone voice of reason in the wilderness. You are in my thoughts and prayers that you may someday see the light. [Mr. Comrade] too but less so as I suspect he may have corrupted you and introduced you to this sick world in which you are now seemingly trapped. Just remember there is a lifeline if you ever want to grab it and escape from the shameful mire of D&Ddom.
LAW: I don't know you Omar, so it would be bold of me to guess you were, say, a video game or comic book nerd who shames other nerds for their nerd thing..
MC: No. Omar thinks he's cool. Most of thr time i saw him when i was playing d&d somewhere he lived, he would be wearinf sunglasses indoors. He would be holding a drink. Listening to gucci mane, talking shit about d&d.
CO: Ur both wrong. I'm here to help society by fighting the iniquity of D&D. Stop stereotyping me, bigots.
MC: Omar? Whats your profile pic?
CO: An explicit endorsement of Guwop [Gucci Mane] for President...what's your point?
LAW: [Mr. Comrade], wearing shades indoors AND gucci mane? Now the whole visual reeks with this hyperbole...and I have betrayed my cool exterior by confessing I have no idea who gucci mane is, but for this man's profile pic.
CO: And track suits.
And matching hats and shoes.
And a union bureaucrat. Lol
LAW: You're killing me, clearly if he believes he is helping society by revealing inequities of d & d this costume is a ruse. Not an undercover? All this from me, aka, no dress sense
CO: Okay I like to dress sharp and the sunglasses are prescription so f@~@in sue me but we're really getting off topic here which is that D&D sucks
Later in thread:
MC: Im going to DM a game this summer 5th edition Ravenloft. It will be Very heavy on role playing, not so much on combat and rules. Just the way this adventure is, and i want that. Im sick of killing goblin tribes. I want real mystery and intrigue!
MC: And im going all out. Voices, costumes, music, lighting. Yeah. You will feel the gothic horror. Lol
CO: [Mr. Comrade], just remember there are people here ready to help you when you're ready to accept it. Unfortunately I think you have too many enablers in ur life :'(
Muhammad Ali just died. :(
American Cliffite sportswriter in The Nation:
‘I Just Wanted to Be Free’: The Radical Reverberations of Muhammad Ali
[Clenched fist salute]
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“Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
CO: And track suits.
And matching hats and shoes.
And a union bureaucrat. Lol
Transcription error. That should be MC talking, not CO.
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At my table, it's all D&D. "We're playing D&D this weekend," we'd say, even if we had been playing Pathfinder for years.
Of course, now we're actually playing D&D again.
Had a good time at the Granite State Organizing Project's 2016 Micah Awards Dinner. Thought I was just going to be hanging out with church folks (and the Ugandan Princess) but we ran into the NH immigrant activist crowd, the Nashua Labor Coalition and an organizer for Fight for $15 and planted the seeds for another demo to welcome the Donald to New Hampshire.
This afternoon, immigrant rights demo that we mobilized comrades for other branches for, although a) it's raining; and b) I have to go to work. :(
Immigrants United for Respect & Dignity: An Interfaith Blessing
Can't keep away from the church folk.