Iraqi Unions Under Attack

Trade unions are under attack in Iraq, this time not from Islamic extremists but the neocon variety. Unions bank accounts are being frozen by the Iraqi puppet government. One reason for this is union opposition to so-called privatization, which is of course really, “corporatization.” It is of the utmost importance that Western progressives and libertarians support the Iraqi trade unions. Not just out of trade union solidarity either, but also the fact that the trade union militants are the main secular and progressive force in Iraq. For more info see:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/7/8/22129/40706

Envy

Apologists for capitalism claim that behind popular hostility toward the capitalist system and the ruling elite lies that lowly sentiment, envy. They never offer any proof of their claim but boldly announce, “Here lies the underlying cause of socialism, anarchism, populism, and the trade unions” . Undoubtedly, if they thought about it they would add the popularity of Dilbert and The Simpsons to their list as well.

Problem is, I feel no envy toward the greed heads, neither do any of my friends. And if you peruse socialist or anarchist literature you won't find envy there either. We don't want to be like them. We don't want their mansions and private jets. We just want them off our backs. We don't want our lives directed and controlled by these pathetic creatures. Does a man with a tape worm envy his parasite or does he merely hate it for robbing him of sustenance and simply wish to get rid of it?

I describe our masters as pathetic. Sorry, I am trying to be kind. The basic understanding of the way we operate emotionally has sunk in overtime to a very large number of people. An associate who needs to show off, be right all the time, dominate everyone around them is soon shunned, written off as an egomaniac or woefully insecure. Someone who has no feeling for other people and abuses and exploits them is classified as a border-line sociopath. He too, (and it usually is a he,) also has no friends. But are these not the attitudes of the ruling class? What is wrong with Bill Gates, to sight but one example, that he thought it necessary to build a 45,000 square foot house costing $62 million? Who is he trying to fool? To me, this just screams insecurity. Then there is the arrogance of Lord Black of Crossbar Hotel and the reptile-like criminality of the late and unlamented Ken Lay. Would you want this in any of your friends?

Envy as a cause of anti-capitalist sentiment is a straw man explanation. It is an attempt to cover the real reasons with a false reason that makes us look like we are the ones at fault. In reality, what does motivate us? Above all, a sense of injustice, for it is unjust that multi-billionaires exist while millions starve. We are motivated by a desire for freedom, for these are the bosses that dominate our lives at work and in the community through the government bureaucracies they control. We seek dignity. We are human beings and don't wish to be treated like inanimate things. The apologists cannot admit the real causes of our hostility are alienation and a desire for liberty and justice. To do so would expose the weak, shallow underpinning of their ideology.

Where you do find envy is not among the radicals but among the conservative lower middle class. These are the people who envy the unionized worker for getting a dollar an hour more than they do. These are the people seething with envy at the teacher getting 2 months off a year, the immigrant with a better job than they might have, the Aboriginals who can fish “out of season” , or the single mother collecting welfare. One group they don't envy however, are the rich, whom they admire, spending hours drooling over “Houses Of The Rich And Famous” and scrabbling for every bit of gossip about the “celebs” from supermarket tabs and “Entertainment Tonight.” And this is why they are called the “Sheeple.”

Iran Is A Flash Point

That Iran is a flash point is obvious from following the news. The neocons would dearly love to start a war there. But war isn't the only Iranian flash point. Revolution is another. It is now 27 years since the mullahs stole the 1979 revolution that toppled the Shah. Today as in 1979, there is a great deal of worker and student unrest and a feeling the regime is getting old and tired. What is different is the dissidents use of the Internet and satellite TV. No longer limited to smuggled or clandestine newspapers, exiled revolutionary groups have an access to the mass of Iranians. The Americans would dearly love to pull off one of their so-called Orange Revolutions, basically a coup from the top to establish a pro-US government, but have not been able to do so. War threats haven't helped them in this regard, but, given the nature of Iranian radicalism, there is no guarantee that an Orange Revolution wouldn't become a Red Revolution. This realization might be one reason the neocons have pushed the war option. If, like the Iraqi's, the Iranians are “bombed back to the Stone Age”, they won't have much chance of a successful left-wing revolution.

Iranian radicalism is unique. One of the most important groups, the Worker-Communist Party, http://www.wpiran.org/English/english.htm is not Marxist-Leninist, but influenced by Left Communism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left_communism

and Council Communism.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_communism The workers' council is at the core of their ideology. They reject the “one and only” vanguard party, as well as nationalization. Unlike historical left communists, they are not sectarian, favoring a broad front of progressive movements, support for trade unions, and while rejecting nationalism, favor minority struggles. A major focus of their activities, once again unlike the historical tendency, is battling misogyny

http://www.medusa2000.com/englishindex.htm and child abuse. http://www.childrenfirstnow.com/ The Worker-Communists are involved in student and labor protests in Iran and have an audience “of millions” for their satellite TV programs.

http://www.anternasional.tv/english

If a revolution were to occur in Iran, a direct-democratic form of socialism may arise. One can imagine the impact this would have in furthering self-management in Bolivia, Argentina, Venezuela and Chiapas, not to mention the European social movements. What's more, Islamic extremism would have been dealt a heavy blow, both materially and psychologically. Middle Eastern progressives, their heads down for two decades, would be inspired to action. The imperialists would be caught in a dilemma. They would need to suppress the Iranian people, however, Iran would no longer be isolated, but admired the world over.

Italian Coop Movement

Frances Moore Lappe visited the coop movement in Emilia Romagna recently. For her interesting article on the extent of this movement see:

http://alternet.org/story/37920/

More Nanaimo Info

Yesterday I went to Miners Heritage Day in my local park. Must have been several hundred people there, lots of young and old, both Euro-Canadians and and Native People. This event is put on by the South End Neighborhood Association, which I am going to join at their next meeting. As well as putting on the Miners Day, they are also a watch-dog group when it comes to development of the neighborhood. Exactly the sort of local, decentralized, grass roots group an anarchist should be involved with, methinks. Part of the celebration involved a walk around the neighborhood led by a women born here and whose grandfather had been a coal miner. She pointed out individual houses and buildings and gave their history and function. During here childhood in the 1940's and extending well past the 1950's South Nanaimo was a strong community. During this period this neighborhood, comprising an area roughly six blocks long and four block wide had:

a dry goods shop

green grocer

convenience store

grocery

butcher shop

garage

laundry

2 general stores

ice cream parlor

fish and chips joint

bakery

2 hotels

3 bars

school

All the businesses on this list were owned and run by local people.

What's left in South Nanaimo in this glorious era of suburban shopping centers and multinational corporations ? Two convenience stores, one sleazy hotel, two bars. But we do have several crack houses and a Hells Angels Club House, so not all is lost...

Nanaimo 1892 and Today

Nanaimo 1892 - Population less than 5000, Had a shoe factory, tannery, cigar factory, 5 breweries, 2 soda water bottlers, a foundry, carriage builder, a steam carriage works, door and window factory, and 2 bakeries. All of these were local industries owned by Nanaimo residents. The 1892 foundry, which operated in one guise or another until the 1980's was by the early 1900's, building locomotives for logging railways!

Nanaimo 2006 - population 76,000. Has no shoe factory, no tannery, no cigar factory, no breweries, no soda water bottlers, no foundry, but it does have half a dozen bakeries. All the missing industries products are imported from afar and/or are produced by foreign multinational corporations.

Twenty Thousand Anarchists

The CGT- (Spain) just held a demo with 20,000 of its supporters. If you want to know what 20,000 anarchists look like and get an insight into anarchism as a peoples movement check out the following:

Photos of the demo:
http://www.rojoynegro.info/2004/10j-reforma-laboral-3
http://www.rojoynegro.info/2004/10j-reforma-laboral-7
http://www.rojoynegro.info/2004/100606-reforma-laboral-concierto
http://www.rojoynegro.info/2004/100606-reforma-laboral-zaragoza
http://www.rojoynegro.info/2004/100606-reforma-laboral-varios