A short clip from the BBC documentary "Lefties", interviewing members of the International Marxist Group, British Section of the Fourth International.

I think that Trotskyist notions of transitional demands is an interesting and helpful concept. I hate Trotsky too much to worship the butcher of Kronstadt and describe myself as a trotskyite, but still, it's an neat idea that should be explored.

Anarchism has historically gained the most support and influence in Spain, especially in the seventy or so years before Francisco Franco's victory in the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939. Here is the history of the Spanish anarchist movement from the words of those who where involved.

The Russian Revolution and Civil War were major watersheds of the 20th Century. Now, for the first time, the story of this bloodsoaked time is being told in full color. New footage from the battlefields, expert testimonies, and exciting colorized archives help to unfold the dramatic story of the Communist rise and seizure of power in 1917.

This powerful two-part series argues that the Russian Revolution was not so much perverted by Stalin, as it was rotten from the start. This was no idealistic uprising of the masses, but a brutal coup d’etat carried out by a handful of megalomaniacs. Almost overnight an entire society was destroyed and replaced with one of the biggest and most radical social experiments ever seen. Within a generation, millions would be killed and almost 1/3 of the world’s population would be living in the shadow of communism.

The film focuses on the sailors from the island naval base of Kronstadt, who took up the revolutionary cause with bloody enthusiasm in 1917 only to have their dreams shattered when Lenin creates a brutal police state. The sailors denounce their former ally and face the Red Army in a final desperate battle. Much of the history relating to the role of these sailors has been recently unearthed and is told here on film for the first time.

The National Film Board of Canada (well, what's left of it anyway)
has started a new website, nfb.ca that showcases its back catalog of films in the you tube format.

The following film is among many to be found on the site.

Titled "Bethune" it covers the life of the famous lung surgeon and communist. It is a Donald Brittain film, from 1964 and has a run time of 58min 38 sec.

The Ten Point Program was as follows:

1. We want power to determine the destiny of our black and oppressed communities' education that teaches us our true history and our role in the present day society.
2. We want completely free health care for all black and oppressed people.
3. We want an immediate end to police brutality and murder of black people, other people of color, and all oppressed people inside the United States.
4. We want an immediate end to all wars of aggression.
5. We want full employment for our people.
6. We want an end to the robbery by the capitalists of our Black Community.
7. We want decent housing, fit for the shelter of human beings.
8. We want decent education for our people that exposes the true nature of this decadent American society.
9. We want freedom for all black and oppressed people now held in U. S. Federal, state, county, city and military prisons and jails. We want trials by a jury of peers for all persons charged with so-called crimes under the laws of this country.
10. We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice, peace and people's community control of modern technology.

The beginning of this video, is an audio narrative by Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, with images of her, as well as a quote of hers about women in the I.W.W. This Narrative is commonly used on recordings to introduce the song "The Rebel Girl" in which Joe Hill dedicated to Elezabeth Guley Flynn. The second part, is the song "The Rebel Girl" Writen by Joe Hill, and performed by Hazel Dickens. I have used images of women who were (or are) members of the IWW. Only two were "supporters" and not members of the I.W.W. (Emma Goldman and Charlotte Anita Whitney).

Joshua Key is an American war resister who fought in Iraq and who sought refuge in Canada because of his war experiences. Author of "The Deserter's Tale," Joshua told the story of his recruitment into the U.S. Army, the carnage he witnessed in Iraq and his subsequent flight to Canada to an audience in Winnipeg, the first stop on a 13-city tour of western Canada.

For more information on how you can help American war resisters in Canada: http://resisters.ca.

Think Peace. Join with others to oppose the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The Canadian Peace Alliance has a good list of groups you can join: http://www.acp-cpa.ca.

Here is an interesting piece of anarchist media history:

Lucifer the Lightbearer was an individualist-anarchist journal published by Moses Harman in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Originally produced by a local branch of the National Liberal League as the Valley Falls Liberal (1880-1883), Harman changed the title after he assumed sole editorship in 1883.

The mission of Lucifer was, according to Harman, "to help woman to break the chains that for ages have bound her to the rack of man-made law, spiritual, economic, industrial, social and especially sexual, believing that until woman is roused to a sense of her own responsibility on all lines of human endeavor, and especially on lines of her special field, that of reproduction of the race, there will be little if any real advancement toward a higher and truer civilization." The name was chosen because "Lucifer, the ancient name of the Morning Star, now called Venus, seems to us unsurpassed as a cognomen for a journal whose mission is to bring light to the dwellers in darkness."

Lucifer the Light Bearer Archive

"Sun City" is a 1985 protest song written by Steven Van Zandt and recorded by Artists United Against Apartheid to convey opposition to the South African policy of apartheid.

"Sun City" only reached #38 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in December 1985. Only about half of American radio stations played "Sun City", with some objecting to the lyrics' explicit criticism of President Ronald Reagan's policy of "constructive engagement." The song was banned in South Africa itself.

The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara (2003), directed by Errol Morris, is an American documentary film about the life and times of former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara. The original score is by Philip Glass.

Using archival footage, United States Cabinet conversation recordings, and an interview of the eighty-five-year-old Robert McNamara, The Fog of War depicts his life, from his birth during the First World War remembering the time American troops returned from Europe, to working as a WWII Whiz Kid military officer, to being the Ford Motor Company's president, to his being employed as Secretary of Defense and the Cuban Missile Crisis, to managing the American Vietnam War, as defense secretary for presidents Kennedy and Johnson — emphasizing the war's brutality under their regimes, and how he was hired as secretary of defense, despite limited military experience.

Lessons from the Spanish Civil War. Anarchism is the only hope that the working class have to improve their life and stop the exploitation. We, the Anarchists, follow this Bakinin statement: "The power pervert the man!" During the Spanish Civil War I witnessed how well organized the Anarchist Unions (Sindicados) were in Catalunya and Aragon. It's not a myth anymore. I am in close contact with the Spanish "companeros" and I see how the working class is protected against the exploitation. We need to restore the workers pride and dignity, they should join us, the Anarchists, because the capitalists will never give them a chance to improve their lives; on the contrary, they use the cheaper workers overseas. We the Anarchists are the only hope of the proletariat and day by day we are growing and become important in our class struggle. George Sossenko is an 88-year old veteran of the Spanish Civil War. At the age of 16, he left his home in France to fight against Franco's fascists with the anarchists of the Durruti column. A dedicated, life-long anarchist, George is still an active organizer as he traveels and gives lectures on this important period in revolutionary history. Filmed at the New York City Anarchist Bookfair in May 2008 by David Buccola

Hey folks,

I don't know how many people are out there reading this, but I just would like to inform those who are that I will not be posting any new videos this week. I need to take a brief step back due to a crazy schedule and some personal issues that have arisen this last week or so.

First, I get back to my university life on the 9th. As well, I am interning at UNICEF, practically running by myself a campign they will be doing this October.

As to personal happenings in my life: My Oma (grandma for the non-germans) is currently in the hospital, which looks like an extended visit. On top of that, our family kitten, Bili (pronounced BeeLee) is really sick. The strength of his back legs and his balance is really off, and he is really lethargic. There is allot to worry about, although the worst that has been suggested (Feline Leukemia and Feline version of HIV) have been ruled out.

Between those issues, schedules and work, the blog might get put on the back burner. I'm really worried about my Oma and my Bili, and looming school doesn't help the nerves. But in the mean time, I will try and find new and exicting videos to post to make up for intermission.

Romance! Prostitutes! Anarchists!

Love and Anarchy (Italian: Film d'amore e d'anarchia) is a 1973 film directed by Lina Wertmüller and starring Giancarlo Giannini and Mariangela Melato. The story, set in Fascist Italy before the outbreak of World War II, centers on Giannini's character, an anarchist who stays in a brothel while preparing to kill Benito Mussolini. Giannini's character, while preparing to assassinate Mussolini, falls in love with one of the whores working in the brothel. This film explores the depths of his emotions concerning love, his hate for fascism, and his fears of being killed while assassinating Mussolini.

This organic grocery store in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada is a thriving business with no bosses at all! Find out what they like about being a worker co-op and how the joys and sacrifices make every day worthwhile.

Thanks to Heather H for this.

Here's some more from David Rovics, wobbly bard of the new workers movement.

Thanks to Brian L for sending me this.

Here's a classic radical song as song by David Rovics.

For those who are not in the know, David Rovics is an indie singer/songwriter and grassroots political protestor from the United States. His music is most accurately described as protest-folk and concerns topical subjects such as the 2003 Iraq war, anti-globalization and other social justice issues.

One thing you need to do is know who your enemy is. For that, Here’s an excellent History Channel documentary titled “Nazi America: A Secret History,” in its entirety. Lots of information on the underground hate culture and the development of the white supremacist and neo-Nazi movement in America.

U. Utah Philips is the entire reason I a member of the North American anarcho-syndicalist union the Industrial Workers of the World. He is a great influence in my life and an inspiration.

Amy Goodman interviews Utah Phillips for Democracy Now! in 2004. Utah explains how he got the name "U. Utah", the history of war resistance, and the Wobblies.

This film, shot by 100 amateur camera operators, tells the story of the enormous street protests in Seattle, Washington in November 1999, against the World Trade Organization summit being held there. Vowing to oppose, among other faults, the WTO's power to arbitrally overrule nations' environmental, social and labour policies in favour of unbridled corporate greed, protestors from all around came out in force to make their views known and stop the summit. Against them is a brutal police force and a hostile media as well as the stain of a minority of destructively overzealous comrades. Against all odds, the protesters bravely faced fierce opposition to take back the rightful democratic power that the political and corporate elite of the world is determined to deny the little people.

Hat-tip to Roig i Negre Videos for this.

I don't usually like to post slideshows as music videos, but I'm going to make an exception. Yesterday was the 82nd anniversary of Sacco and Vanzetti's execution. For those who don't know, Ferdinando Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were two Italian-born laborers and anarchists who were tried, convicted and executed via electrocution on August 23, 1927 in Massachusetts in what is considered one of the most famous miscarriages of justice in American history.

Night of the Living Dead is a groundbreaking film in the history of the horror genre. Zombies where not from the Haiti, but Pennsylvania — this was Middle America at war, and the zombie carnage seemed a grotesque echo of the conflict then raging in Vietnam. I don't know what would have been more frightening for the times: zombie hordes, or a black male lead.

This is a must-see. There's nothing else that needs saying.

The S.U.F. is Swedish Anarcho-syndicalist Youth Federation, (in Swedish, Syndikalistiska Ungdomsförbundet) is a youth-based group in Sweden that supports anarcho-syndicalism.

Inspiration also came from the anarcho-syndicalist union Central Organisation of the Workers of Sweden (or the S.A.C.). From just three groups in 1993 it grew rapidly and today it is a nation-wide federation made up of around 25 local groups throughout the entire country, and several committees active within the federation. They publish a magazine called Direkt Aktion and a monthly internal paper called Storm.

Here is a video of the S.U.F. from Mayday 2009.

Here's another interview, with Bruce, an IWW delegate to the curbside workers union.
Bruce describes duties as IWW delegate to curbside, and makes some brief comments on the labor movement in general.

this is kind of entertaining. Participatory economics gets a Simpsons remix.

This video created by The Pittsburgh G-20 Resistance Project. G-20 Resistance is a space where folks can come together and collaborate on ways to resist the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh, PA. Visit there site at resistg20.org.

From June to Augest, the people of Iran rattled the chains of oppression that bind them. While the movement was anything but revolutionary, I think that any movement that challenges the anti-Semites Islamic fascists and reactionary Mullahs in favor of greater freedom is one worth supporting.

This is an old Italian anti-fascist song, with a slide show of those involved in the insurrection and lyrics.

My Oma came straight from post-war Germany. She is a very traditional German woman. When I was a child, she would read a German children book about a boy who would suck his thumb getting them cut off with giant scissors. The illustrations in the book had this little boy bleeding with no thumbs. Why this stands out was, as a child I DID suck my thumb.

I recently found out the name of this traditional German childrens book: Struwwelpeter. Here is an animated interpenetration of the story that still haunts me, The Story of Little Suck-a-Thumb.

On a July day in 1990, a confrontation propelled Native issues in Kanehsatake and the village of Oka, Quebec, into the international spotlight. Director Alanis Obomsawin spent 78 nerve-wracking days and nights filming the armed stand-off between the Mohawks, the Quebec police and the Canadian army. This powerful documentary takes you right into the action of an age-old Aboriginal struggle. The result is a portrait of the people behind the barricades.

Here is an interview with a member of the IWW from the San Fransisco branch, taken at the SanFran Anarchist Bookfair.

I think Marilyn Mansons second album, Antichrist Superstar, is one of the greatest albums ever. That album is a beautiful, hard rock explosion of nihilism that shows the destructive urge is a creative urge. I never listen to Manson when the album came out, and I don't think any of his subsequent outings are particularly good, but Antichrist Superstar stands out as one of my favorite albums.

The Beautiful People is a exploration into "the culture of beauty", and that culture's connection to Friedrich Nietzsche's theory of master-slave morality — the song's "weak ones", who are "always wrong", are oppressed by and exist solely to "justify [the existence of] the strong".

A Place Called Chiapas is a Canadian documentary of first-hand accounts of the Ejercito Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (EZLN or the Zapatista Army of National Liberation or Zapatistas) and the lives of its soldiers and the people for whom they fight. Director Nettie Wild takes the viewer to rebel territory in the south west Mexican state of Chiapas, where the EZLN live and evade the Mexican Army.

You ain't been doin' nothin' 'till you been called a red!

This is an old anti-IWW cartoon from the 1920s.

The Freie Arbeiterinnen- und Arbeiter-Union (Free Worker's Union;abbreviated FAU) is an anarcho-syndicalist labor union initiative in Germany. It is the German section of the International Workers Association (IWA-AIT).

The FAU was then founded in 1977 and has grown consistently all through the 1990s. Now, the FAU consists of just under 40 groups, organized locally and by branch of trade. The federal organization exists in order to coordinate campaigns and actions and for communication purposes. There are 250 to 300 members organized in the various groups.

Here is a video from FAU Berlin during Mayday 2009.

This documentary examines the battle strategies of citizens, scientists, loggers, environmentalists and First Nations people who are fighting over the liquidation of public forests and, with it, a way of life

Last night, it was 11:30 at night, and my wife was sound asleep. I was flipping though the channels, tiered and board, but not sleepy. I flipped to PBS, Detroit public broadcasting, and they had a program celebrating the 90th birthday of Pete Seeger. I was a marvelous program. On that program, Bruce Springsteen sang a duet with Tom Morello, of the classic "The Ghost of Tom Joad".

Enjoy!

This is a great film. I've been somewhat hesitant to post it, as it's not political, and I was worried that some folks would think it "ableist". I would argue that it is the opposite. It does not demonize those with deformities, rather celebrates there differences. The physically deformed "freaks" are inherently trusting and honorable people, while the real monsters are two of the "normal" members of the circus who conspire to murder one of the performers to obtain his large inheritance.

Freaks is a 1932 United States horror film about sideshow performers, directed and produced by Tod Browning and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, with a cast mostly composed of actual carnival performers. Director Browning took the exceptional step of casting real people with deformities as the eponymous sideshow "freaks," rather than using costumes and makeup. Browning had been a member of a traveling circus in his early years, and much of the film was drawn from his personal experiences.

Sorry that this is a day late. I have a super busy day yesterday, with work and school dominating my time.

Baristas at the Mall of America Starbucks joined the Starbucks Workers Union in July 2008. Starbucks fired Barista Erik Forman in an effort to quash the union drive. Through a campaign of direct action, legal pressure, and media advocacy, we won Erik's job back. On August 31st, the IWW held a rally to celebrate the union victory. After the rally, union supporters accompanied Erik Forman to his first shift back at the Mall of America. I've met Fellow Worker Erik Forman, he's a super nice guy.

Things did not go as planned.

This is my 50th post on the blog. Let's celebrate with some mind blowing psychedelics!

I really don't know what to say. It sort of reminds me of a statement in the french magazine La Revolution surrealiste: "Let us swim in our own bodies, leave our souls within our souls; we have no need of your knife-blade of enlightenment."

Hattip to geekologie.

I'm not really that big of a fan of rap music, but one of the few bands that I have listen to in the past was Dead Prez.

Dead Prez is an American underground political hip hop duo composed of stic.man and M-1. They are known for their confrontational style combined with socialist and pan-Africanist lyrics. These lyrics tend to focus on revolution, veganism, institutional racism, critical pedagogy, police, capitalism, education, prison systems, religion, activism against governmental repression, and corporate control over the media, especially hip-hop record labels. Dead Prez made their stance clear on their first album, declaring on the lead song, "I'm a African" that the group is "somewhere between N.W.A. and P.E."

This documentary-drama tells the story of Ethel MacDonald, a remarkable young woman whose name hit the world headlines during the Spanish Civil War. She was hailed as the Scarlet Pimpernel of the workers revolution but has since become something of a forgotten legend.

Ethel MacDonald (24 February 1909—1 December 1960) was a Glasgow-based Scottish anarchist and activist and, in 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, a propagandist on Barcelona Anarchist radio.

When workers at Starbucks Coffee in New York decided to unionize with the Industrial Workers of the World, baristas in other cities took notice. From Chicago, to the Twin Cities, and now, here in Canada, Baristas in a Quebec city Starbucks have joined with I.W.W. Starbucks Workers Union to fight for better conditions in there work place.

In this episode of Labor Beat, food service workers at Chicago's Logan Square location of Starbucks are interviewed about the high-volume conditions at their store and what they decided to do about it. Labor Beat is a public access TV show in Chicago.

To order DVDs of this or any past Labor Beat title, visit www.laborbeat.org.

This song was submitted to the CBC's Hockey Anthem Challange, but it was not posted to their website for voting. Which is a shame, 'cause it's a pretty catchy jingle that could have won!

Thanks to Brian for sending me the link.

Andrew Nellis is an anarcho-syndicalist activist from Ontario. He is one of the lead organizers for the Ottawa Panhandlers Union. Denis Rancourt was a professor of Physics at the University of Ottawa, known for his radical pedagogy. This is a very good interview for Denis Rancourt's radio show The Five O'clock Train. Listen and enjoy!

Andrew Nellis Interviewed by Denis Rancourt for The Five O'clock Train.

I just wanted to a prevue of Coming attractions to The Insurrectionary People's Picture Show Theater. I am slowing going to show some old, non-political films mixed in with very political films. Here's what to expect in the next couple of weeks:

Nineteen Eighty-Four : Released in 1984, based upon George Orwell’s novel of the same name, following the life of Winston Smith in Oceania, a country run by a totalitarian government. The film was directed by Micheal Radford, and stars John Hurt, Suzanna Hamilton, and Richard Burton in his last film role.

Freaks: a 1932 horror film about murder at a sideshow. Directed and produced by Tod Browning (who had been a member of a traveling circus in his early years) the film was based on a Tod Robbins’ short story “Spurs”. Director Browning took the exceptional step of casting real people with deformities as the eponymous sideshow "freaks," rather than using costumes and makeup.

Reefer Madness (aka Tell Your Children): 1936 exploitation film revolving around the tragic events that ensue when high school students are lured by pushers to try "marihuana": a hit and run accident, manslaughter, suicide, rape, and descent into madness all ensue. It was originally financed by a church group and made under the title Tell Your Children.

The Grapes of Wrath: 1940 American drama directed by Academy Award Winner John Ford. Based on the Pulitzer Prize novel written by John Steinbeck, the film follows tells the story of the Joads, an Oklahoma family, who, after losing their farm during the Great Depression in the 1930s, become migrant workers and end up in California. Stars Henry Fonda as Tom Joad.

A Place Called Chiapas: Canadian documentary of first-hand accounts of the Ejercito Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (EZLN, or the Zapatistas) and the lives of its soldiers and the people for whom they fight. Director Nettie Wild takes the viewer to rebel territory in the south west Mexican state of Chiapas, where the EZLN live and evade the Mexican Army.

Salt of the Earth was produced, written and directed by victims of the Hollywood blacklist. Unable to make films in Hollywood, they looked for worthy social issues to put on the screen independently. This film never would have been made in Hollywood at the time, so it is ironic that it was the anti-communist backlash that brought about the conditions for it to be made. In many ways it was a film ahead of its time. Mainstream culture did not pick up on its civil rights and feminist themes for at least a decade. This film entered the public domain in 1982 and was selected for the National Film Registry in 1992.

This 1979 award-winning film airs a provocative look at the forgotten American history of this most radical of unions, screening the unforgettable and still-fiery voices of Wobbly members--lumberjacks, migratory workers, and silk weavers--in their 70s, 80s, and 90s. Eerily echoing current times, THE WOBBLIES boldly investigates a nation torn by naked corporate greed and the red-hot rift between the industrial masters and the rabble-rousing workers in the field and factory. Replete with gorgeous archival footage, the film pays tribute to American workers who took the ideals of equality and free speech seriously enough to die for them. Directed by Stewart Bird and Deborah Shaffer, THE WOBBLIES is a rare and challenging invitation to rethink both past and present through the eyes of an organization largely omitted from memory.

I remember this as a kid. It was one of my favorite songs, along with The Cat Came Back by Fred Penner and The black fly song. The common line between these songs are they where all made into short, animated films by the National Film Board of Canada.

So, for your viewing pleasure, a little slice of my childhood and a classic piece of Canadiana, The Log Drivers Waltz.

Super Board on a Monday night, so here's Eastern Europe's favorite cat and mouse team!

According to the Wikipedia entry, "This song chronicles the Easter Uprising of 1916, and encourages Irishmen to fight for the cause of Ireland, rather than for the British, as so many young men were doing in World War I." The wiki entry also very helpfully links many of this historical and geographical references in the song, so check it out.

Sinéad O'Connor is best known in North America for the hit Nothing Compares 2 U. After she tore up a picture of the pope on SNL, she fell off the North American map. Few people here would know that she went on to have a very successful reggae career, as well as continuing anti-catholic activism.

The Free Voice of Labor: The Jewish Anarchists is a 1980 documentary by Steve Fischler and Joel Sucher of Pacific Street Films. It memorializes the story of the Yiddish anarchist newspaper Fraye Arbeter Shtime, and the Jewish anarchist movement of the early 20th century. The movie contained a short interview with a very young Joe Conason. Paul Avrich was a consultant on the film.

As of 2006, AK Press has begun distributing it as part of a double DVD release with Anarchism in America, named after the latter.

The Grand Rapids Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) held a May Day press conference outside the East Grand Rapids branch of Starbucks. The Press Conference was part of an ongoing campaign to get Starbucks to recognize the union's legal right to organize their workers. The Grand Rapids chapter of the IWW is part of a legal case along with another union in New York that has been challenging Starbucks' anti-union practices.

This film was on one of the specialty channels I am currently receiving for free. I'm kind of disappointed I didn't watch it. It is a hip-hop reinterperation of the racialist D.W. Griffith film Birth of a Nation. Birth presented a vision of the Civil War and reconstruction-era KKK in a sympathetic light.

Rebirth of a Nation turning the tables on the 1915 D.W. Griffith film that simultaneously launched the modern film industry and gave the Ku Klux Klan a foothold in the 20th Century. Dj Spooky applies DJ techniques to cinema in a way that parallels, deconstructs and remixes the original.

Ryan Harvey is a Baltimore-area musicians and activist apart of the Riot Folk Collective. There's allot of his music floating around on torrent. The Riot Folk site used to have all his songs for free download, but it's down at the moment.

Prisons: A Social Crime and Failure
is an essay written by Emma Goldman published in 1910.

One of the idea I really thought should be explored more is how prison labor should no be seen as scab labor or against the established labor market, and that unions should try and create solidarity with our brothers and sisters in jail being used as essentially slaves.


Listen to Prisons: A Social Crime and Failure at Audio Anarchy

Breaking the Spell is a 1999 anarchist documentary, directed by Tim Lewis, Tim Ream, and Sir Chuck A. Rock.

Using amateur camera footage recorded by protesters at the scene of the 1999 WTO protests, it documents the events from the perspective of the anarchists, their opinions of fellow protesters, local politicians, and includes footage which aired nationally on 60 Minutes.

The film is currently distributed by CrimethInc. on the CrimethInc. Guerilla Film Series, Volume One DVD.

The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) IU 460/640 marches on HWH Trading, a new shop where workers have joined the union. At HWH some workers work as much as 110-117 hours per week with no overtime pay.

Bruce "Utah" Phillips was a labor organizer, folk singer, storyteller, poet and the "Golden Voice of the Great Southwest". He is a great inspiration to my life. I saw Utah Phillips at the 2004 Winnipeg Folk Festival. I went to every workshop and show he played at. If it weren't for that Festival, I wouldn't have never seeked out the I.W.W. and, as such, would have never been introduced to anarchism.

Miner's Lullaby is one of my many favorite songs by Utah. I remember crying once while listening to this song, thinking about what it would be like if my wife was put into that kind of situation.

A trailer for a video of a play about Emma Goldman by Howard Zinn. In this play, historian and playwright Howard Zinn dramatizes the life of Emma Goldman, the anarchist, feminist and free-spirited thinker who was exiled from the united states because of her outspoken views, including her opposition to World War One.

The Take is a Canadian documentary film released in 2004 by the wife and husband team of Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis. It tells the story of workers in Buenos Aires, Argentina who reclaim control of a closed Forja auto plant where they once worked and turn it into a worker cooperative, or as could be argued, a working model of anarcho-syndicalism.

The plant closed as a result of the economic policies of the Carlos Menem government under the watchful eye of the International Monetary Fund.

While in bankruptcy protection, the company appeared to be selling off property and inventory to pay creditors – a move which further reduced the chances of the facility returning to production. In an effort to establish their own control, the workers occupied the factory and began a long battle to win the right to operate it themselves, as a cooperative.

For two weeks in late-April and early-May four members of the Industrial Workers of the World traveled to Haiti to meet with labor leaders and document the plight of the Haitian working class.

The I.W.W. delegation met with members of The Confederation of Haitian Workers (CTH) to learn about their fight against "le plan neoliberal" and recruit help in the form of material aid and solidarity. Haiti's Tourniquet is the film that came out of that delegation.

Check out the International Solidarity Commission of the IWW for more on Haiti and other international campigns.

It had to be flashin’ like the daily double
It had to be playin’ on TV
It had to be loud mouthed on the comedy hour
It had to be announced over loud speakers

The CIA and the Mafia are in cahoots

It had to be said in old ladies’ language
It had to be said in American headlines
Kennedy stretched and smiled and got double crossed by lowlife goons and agents
Rich bankers with criminal connections
Dope pushers in CIA working with dope pushers from Cuba working with a
big time syndicate from Tampa, Florida
And it had to be said with a big mouth

It had to be moaned over factory foghorns
It had to be chattered on car radio news broadcasts
It had to be screamed in the kitchen
It had to be yelled in the basement where uncles were fighting

It had to be howled on the streets by newsboys to bus conductors
It had to be foghorned into New York harbor
It had to echo onto hard hats
It had to turn up the volume in university ballrooms

It had to be written in library books, footnoted
It had to be in the headlines of the Times and Le Monde
It had to be barked on TV
It had to be heard in alleys through ballroom doors

It had to be played on wire services
It had to be bells ringing
Comedians stopped dead in the middle of a joke in Las Vegas

It had to be FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover and Frank Costello syndicate
mouthpiece meeting in Central Park, New York weekends,
reported Time magazine

It had to be the Mafia and the CIA together starting war on Cuba,
Bay of Pigs and poison assassination headlines

It had to be dope cops in the Mafia
Who sold all their heroin in America

It had to be the FBI and organized crime working together
in cahoots against the commies

It had to be ringing on multinational cash registers
A world-wide laundry for organized criminal money

It had to be the CIA and the Mafia and the FBI together
They were bigger than Nixon
And they were bigger than war

It had to be a large room full of murder
It had to be a mounted ass- a solid mass of rage
A red hot head
A scream in the back of the throat

It had to be in Kissinger’s brain
It had to be in Rockefellers’ mouth
It had to be central intelligence, the family, all of this, the agency Mafia
It had to be organized crime

One big set of gangs working together in cahoots

Hitmen
Murderers everywhere

The secret
The drunk
The brutal
The dirty and rich

On top of a slag heap of prisons
Industrial cancer
Plutonium smog
Garbage cities

Grandmas’ bedsores, fathers’ resentment

It had to be the rulers
They wanted law and order
And they got rich on wanting protection for the status quo

They wanted junkies
They wanted Attica
They wanted Kent State
They wanted war in Indochina

yeah

It had to be the CIA and the Mafia and the FBI

Multinational capitalists
Strong armed squads
Private detective agencies for the oh so very rich
And their armies and navies and their air force bombing planes

It had to be capitalism
The vortex of this rage
This competition
Man to man

The horses head in a capitalists’ bed
The Cuban turf
It rumbles in hitmen
And gang wars across oceans

Bombing Cambodia settled the score when Soviet pilots
manned Egyptian fighter planes

Chiles’ red democracy
Bumped off with White House pots and pans

A warning to Mediterranean governments

The secret police have been embraced for decades

The NKPD and CIA keep each other’s secrets
The OGBU and DIA never hit their own
The KGB and the FBI are one mind

Brute force and full of money
Brute force, world-wide, and full of money
Brute force, world-wide, and full of money
Brute force, world-wide, and full of money
Brute force, world-wide, and full of money

It had to be rich and it had to be powerful
They had to murder in Indonesia 500,000
They had to murder in Indochina 2,000,000
They had to murder in Czechoslovakia
They had to murder in Chile
They had to murder in Russia

And they had to murder in America.

You couldn't be politically conscious person in the 90s without listening to Rage against the machine. They summed up musically the anger of youth growing up in the era after the collapse of the soviet union, the development globalization, and the hypocrisies of the Clinton presidency.

"People of the Sun" is the second single from their 1996 album Evil Empire. The song is about the Zapatista revolution.

Hey folks. I just wanted to throw a quick post out there. I have to apologize, I'm not up to my regular schedule. Missed posting a movie on Friday, probably won't post any Emma Goldman this weekend. Grandparents are in town, along with the anarchist book fair, and works hell, so I've had little time to blog. Promise that everything will be back in schedule by next week.

In the mean time, here's Alan Moore talking about his conception of anarchism. Moore's comics like V for Vendetta and The Watchman explore political and anarchist themes. He is definitely one of my favorite comic book writers out there.

Lisa Barlott-Cardenas from the Industrial Workers of the World speaks at the Boom for Whom? Affordable Housing Rally on August 18, 2007 at the Alberta Legislature.

The early 20th century saw influx of immigration. One of the largest section of new Americans where Jews, often forced off there historical lands in Russia and the low countries by Czarist progroms. These experiences radicalized these Jewish immigrants. Some, like Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman, embraced anarchism. These Jewish anarchists started there own Yiddish publications, like Freie Arbeiter Stimme {The Free Voice of Labor) the longest-running anarchist periodical in the Yiddish language, and the American counterpart to Rudolf Rocker's London-based Arbeter Fraynd (Workers' Friend).

Here is a Jewish anarchist song from that time. I don't really know it's name, so if anyone does know, don't be afarid to drop me a line and give me the heads up.

Actress Sandra Oh reads the speech given by anarchist Emma Goldman in San Francisco before the United States entered WWI. Part of a reading from Voices of a People's History of the United States given October 5, 2005 in Los Angeles, California.

Here's another one I would love with some English subtitles.

Lucio is a spanish documentary about famed anarchist Lucio Urtubia. Lucico carried out bank robberies and forgeries throughout the 1960s and 1970s, his most famous forgery being the forgery of Citibank travellers' checks in 1977. This criminal undertaking included 8,000 copies of 25 checks worth 100 dollars each and damaged the bank so severely that its stock price fell. The stolen money was used, as always, in the aid of guerrilla movements in Latin America (Tupamaros, Montoneros, etc) and Europe. In spite of the specularity of the forgery, Urtubia was only sentenced to 6 months in jail thanks to an extra-judicial agreement with Citibank, which dropped the charges in exchange for Urtubia's printing plates. All the time working as a bricklayer in France.

here are two videos from the recent contract negotiations between IWW curbside recycle workers at Ecology Center / Berkeley Curbside Recycling and there management. Without the pressure on the shop floor, our Fellow Workers would have not gotten anything.

In the end, faced with a possible strike, the EC backed down and agreed to the $1.00 raise across the board, along with the other improvements. This is still a long way away from what is really needed, and the EC continues with the same game that any employer plays - that "the money isn't there" - while refusing to document this. Nevertheless, IWW members should be proud that ours is not a union that accepts management's word for what is "affordable" and what isn't. While this raise (along with the 401k improvement) is not as much as the workers deserve, I do think it's probably more than lots of other unions contracts are winning nowadays. This is because we start from the position of the workers' needs, not those of the bosses.

there is a local case here in Winnipeg where these white nationalists drew swastikas all over their kids and the child and family services took them away. Now there is this big custody case, where the nazi parents are saying that there human rights to teach their children their “religion” or some stupid shit. This case really hit home a week ago, when my partner found out that the nazi father was the security guard at her work, and that some of her non-white co-workers where noticing that he was staring them down.

Nazi Pop Twins is a 2007 British documentary that investigates Prussian Blue, a white supremist pop duo comprised of twin sisters Lynx and Lamb Gaede. It stresses tension between the twins and their mother, April—manager and nazi stage mom from hell—and the stress the white nationalist ideology has put on grandparents Bill and Dianne's relationship to the point where Dianne threatens to leave Bill during the making of the program. It also touches on the fact that this ideology seems to have been a factor in the breakup of mother April's marriage, which also happens concurrently to the making of the program. The girls are also shown trying to distance themselves from the “white pride” movement, expressing doubt that it is what they really believe in.

This is Tom Gabel of Against Me! playing at the Nimbus Dam, the site Eric McDavid was allegedly plotting to blow up with Zachary Jenson and Lauren Weiner. An FBI informant named “Anna” provided the group with bomb-making recipes; at times financed their transportation, food and housing; strung along McDavid, who had the hopes of a romantic relationship; and poked and prodded the group into action.

In what is a clear-cut example of entrapment, Eric was sentenced nearly 20 years in prison.

Check out Eric's support site and for more information on the green scare and arrests arising from them at Green is the New Red.

Yesterday, I picked up Vision on Fire: Emma Goldman on the Spanish Revolution. I also downloaded the Emma Goldman papers from Audio Anarchy, so it's been an all Emma Goldman weekend. Vision on Fire is a real great book so far, and there is nothing better then listening to anarcha-feminist spoken word while wage slaving my day away.

So, in the spirit of this Emma Weekend, here is a short interview from 1934. Still fiery in her later years, Emma was 64 years old, having been in exile for 14 years, and only granted a permit to say in New York for 90 days.

To kick off the 2009 Winnipeg D.I.Y Fest and Anarchist Book Fair, the Manitoba Craft Council is having a screening of the documentary Handmade Nation. Handmade Nation documents a movement of artists, crafters and designers that recognize a marriage between historical techniques, punk and DIY (do it yourself) ethos wile being influenced by traditional handiwork, Modern aesthetics, politics, feminism and art. Fueled by the common thread of creating, Handmade Nation explores a burgeoning art community that is based on creativity, determination and networking.

Here's the event info and a trailer:

When: June 19th @ 7:30 pm
Where: Ellice Theatre, 585 Ellice Ave, Wpg
Cost: $5 @ the Door
DIY Craft Salve @ 7 pm

The insurrection that followed the police shooting and death of Alexandros Grigoropoulos is one of the most inspiring turn of events in this decade. That tragedy ripped open the lid of a widespread feeling of frustration in the younger generation festering under the gloss of a failing tourist economy.

The Potentiality of Storming Heaven is a 28 minutes short movie presenting the insurrection of December 2008 in Greece through the words and actions of people that took part in it.

Organoponicos are a wonderful surprise in the heartland of Castro's Cuba. They are community built, community operated and arose from the below by people taking over urban sprawl wastelands.

Organoponicos where a community response to lack of food security after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Now, of course, they are heavily subsidized and supported by the Cuban government. One wonders if such a community response to a food crisis can transition into a more liberal society. After watching this video, what do you think?

This is a short video out of New York, taken at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade in 2007. The Mermaid Parade takes place every year by the sea in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City, usually in mid-to-late June.

This is the kind of things I would like all Wobs to get involved in. The IWW is historically a lively, singing union. Instead of tiered old protest marches or walking the picket that seem more like funeral processions then anything that could effectively challenge authority, wobs should bring some life back into the radical movement. Strikes become street party, joyous events where we are taking back a peice of our life and fighting back!

Enjoy!

Today I'm going to post something special. Here is a short art film called De la Menthe et des Pantomimes (or, Of Mint and Mimes), made by a friend for the Winnipeg Film Group's 48h film contest.

To quote Le Manifeste du Surréalisme, "Surrealism is the "invisible ray" which will one day enable us to win out over our opponents." I think that, as an art form, surrealism is the most dangerous and insurrectionary style, as it denies accepted reality and places all hope in total imagination, thus freeing us from the restrictions of capitalist mind-cogs.

Here is the Italian language version of Fury Over Spain. Produced by the CNT in order to raise western support for the anti-fascist struggle. Directed by American anarchist Louis Frank, who also directed another documentary on the Spanish Revolution called The Will of the People.

This film is a dramatic showing of the reality of the Spanish Civil War and revolution. I would love to post the English language version, so if anyone has it on file, don't be afraid of sending me an email.

I don't know how many folks are out there reading this, but if there is anyone out there reading, I'm asking for a little help.

I am looking for an English language version of Fury Over Spain, directed by an American anarchist named Luis Frank. I can liberate from the internet an Italian language version, but I would prefer to post an English version as well.

If anyone would have a digital copy of an English Fury Over Spain, please send me an email at: transconaslim@hotmail.com.

Here's another video from the Starbucks Workers Union. Partners? is an exposé on Starbucks' purchasing practices in Ethiopia. This video uncovers the reality behind Starbucks' relationship with the Fero cooperative. The Fero cooperative in Sidamo, Ethiopia grew and processed "Shirkina Sun-Dried Sidamo," a black apron exclusive coffee that retailed for $26.00 per pound, for Starbucks. Yet Starbucks paid only $1.32 per pound to the Cooperative, of which at most only $.57 went to the coffee farmers themselves. The farmers of the Fero Cooperative are struggling to rise out of poverty - they deserve a fair price from Starbucks.

Tom Morello, Guitarist of Rage Against the Machine and Audiosalve, launched his solo carreer under the name "The Nightwatchman" in 2003 as an outlet for his political views while playing non-political music with Audioslave. Morello describes The Nightwatchman as "the black Robin Hood of 21st century music".

"Road I Must Travel" is from The Nightwatchman's first album, One Man Revolution. He has a second one out called The Fabled City. I own both, and I would definitely recommend them to anyone looking for radical left analysis in there folk/rock music.

Sometimes I am glad that I live in Canada and I don't have to deal with the religious right pushing backwards creationism/"intelligent design" into public schools. But, dear viewers, don't think everything is alright in our home on native land. Minister of State for Science and Technology Gary Goodyear recently declined to answer wither or not he believes in evolution because he's "a Christian" and he doesn't "think anybody asking a question about my religion is appropriate".

Luckily for our brothers in the south, attempts to introduce creationism into schools have been mostly blocked by smart science and educated judges. Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial is an award-winning NOVA documentary on the case of Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, a landmark case that showed once and for all the phony science and religious connotation of so called “intelligent design”. It features interviews with the judge, witnesses, and lawyers as well as re-enacted scenes using the official transcript of the trial.

Enjoy!

I am a paid up and proud member of the anarcho-syndicalist union the Industrial Workers of the World (also known as the Wobblies). Around the world, the IWW is working hard, organizing the unorganized and ignored, and within established, conservative unions in hopes of creating a broad, revolutionary workers movement.

One of the most inspiring campaigns put on by the IWW is the struggle to organize Barristas in starbucks stores across the U.S. With over 300 members nationwide, the IWW Starbucks Workers Union is a grassroots organization of and for baristas coming together for change.

One of the biggest strengths of the SWU is its use of the media and the internet to publicize their actions. Together We Win: The Fight to Organize Starbucks is a documentary by the SWU documenting the struggles and victories in the two year campaign in NYC.

This is one of my most favorite anarchist music videos. I have no idea what the name of the song is, but the band is Sin Dios.

Sin Dios (English: Godless, or No God) was a hardcore/anarcho-punk band from Spain that formed in 1988 in Madrid. While not currently producing music, they still continue too fight on.