But Americans take simple freedoms like moving from home to work unhindered for granted. They expect it. This is all about privilege. Though in the U.S. right now some of this privilege is connected to one's class--can you afford the gasoline for your car? Or can you access public transportation? And always it is about white privilege. Driving while Black (and I would add Brown) means that you cannot travel freely even between home and work because when you get in your car you are likely to be pulled over, searched, and perhaps arrested. Muslims have been experiencing this phenomenon at airports increasingly since 9/11. African Americans have known this to be a part of their lives for decades. Being Black or Brown in American means being branded criminal. This is similar to the ways that Americans and Israelis alike brand Palestinians terrorists. This idea is embedded into the culture and psyche of Americans and Israelis alike. (Just check out this latest piece showing that leading Israeli terrorists made a campaign video for Obama.)

But what happens when you're a white guy from Chicago and you get branded by Sarah Palin as a terrorist? This was a story a few months ago. And actually I know Bill Ayers as a colleague. Last year we spoke together on a panel at DePaul University. He was one of the only other people speaking there who could be considered a comrade in terms of his political positions about Palestine. I respect him and I respect his work. At first when I saw the reports on Al Jazeera of Palin talking about this so-called "terrorist" I couldn't figure out who it was. Then I sat down to read the newspapers and I first saw this New York Times blog that related the narrative:

“There is a lot of interest, I guess, in what I read and what I’ve read lately. Well, I was reading my copy of today’s New York Times and I was interested to read about Barack’s friends from Chicago.

“I get to bring this up not to pick a fight, but it was there in the New York Times, so we are gonna talk about it. Turns out one of Barack’s earliest supporters is a man who, according to the New York Times, and they are hardly ever wrong, was a domestic terrorist and part of a group that quote launched a campaign of bombings that would target the Pentagon and US Capitol. Wow. These are the same guys who think patriotism is paying higher taxes.

“This is not a man who sees America as you see it and how I see America. We see America as the greatest force for good in this world. If we can be that beacon of light and hope for others who seek freedom and democracy and can live in a country that would allow intolerance in the equal rights that again our military men and women fight for and die for for all of us. Our opponent though, is someone who sees America it seems as being so imperfect that he’s palling around with terrorists who would target their own country?”

First, let's get one thing straight: Palin does not read The New York Times. I would be shocked if the woman knew how to read at all. But she makes a point to emphasize this at the beginning because of the Katie Couric interview in which Palin could not name one newspaper or news source that she reads. Her outrage in the above quote about this is laughable--as is her notion that the New York Times "hardly ever gets it wrong." Really? Interesting. Come to think of it maybe she does read once in a while--maybe that is why she's so clueless about the Middle East. Or, I take that back--I think maybe someone reads to her. (Then yesterday on Fox News she stated that she was just too "annoyed" at those questions to be able to answer. She was outraged that she was not allowed to just read from her talking points. That a journalist actually was doing her job. Oh, yeah, that's why she had that deer in the headlights look on her face.) And, actually, if you read the original New York Times article that Palin was referring to, you'll see that it is really pointless. It makes it clear that although their political work may have overlapped over the years, Bill Ayers and Obama are hardly friends. And I haven't asked Bill, but I suspect it's mutual given Obama's selling Palestinians down the river and a whole lot of other progressive issues.

it's this insidious demonization of people--always already Brown, Black, poor, politically radical--that is so disturbing. As is the silence surrounding the presidential campaign of Cynthia McKinney and her running mate Rosa Clemente. With all this talk about the way in which somehow race and gender are no longer factors I find it compelling that this Green Party team featuring two of the most progressive candidates in a long time are shut out of the process. That's the good ol' American democracy Palin is fighting for. No, it's not, actually. But McKinney and Clemente are. Here is what they say about racial profiling:

5. We Want to Stop the War at Home Now!

The decision by Democratic Attorney General Jerry Brown to prosecute the San Francisco 8 is chilling in the message it sends about impunity in the face of clear police wrongdoing. The San Francisco 8 (several of whom were members of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense), are being prosecuted and investigated by the very same police officers that committed torture against them decades ago. Obviously not satisfied with the 32 Black Panthers killed by law enforcement by 1973, a decision has been made to continue targeting Black Panther members in another way.

We want the hundreds of political activists falsely imprisoned by COINTELPRO and similar programs from the 1960's to the present to be released from prison immediately. We want full disclosure on all the government's spying and destabilization programs and for restitution to be provided to victims of these governmental abuses and their families for the suffering they have long endured.

In addition, members of the general public have become targets for police repression, including Blacks, Latinos, Muslims, and other easily identifiable minorities. By 2004, Cincinnati had seen 18 young people murdered at the hands of brutal cops. Louisville, Kentucky saw seven young Black males killed in four years. In New York City, three unarmed Black men were killed within a period of 13 months. In fact, the book Stolen Lives lists the names of over 2000 people killed by police during the 1990s. Unfortunately, it is clear that the poor and people of color are disproportionately affected by the disproportionate application of force by law enforcement. Adding insult to injury, offending police officers are rarely if ever punished.

We believe that disparities in sentencing and in the criminal justice system as a whole can be overcome with political will to change the policies and punish those guilty of the racial profiling that often result in disparate treatment at each step of an encounter with the criminal justice system.

In study after study, the dismal performance of the criminal justice system against people of color has been documented. Policies designed to close the disparities in sentencing and treatment at the hands of the criminal justice system must be implemented with more than deliberate speed.

And here is their position on the prison industrial complex:

7. We Want to End Prisons for Profit Now!

We want an end to privatization of prisons and prison health services. We want an end to the racism that serves as an engine of growth for a profit-driven prison system. We want an end to prison labor schemes that are little more than corporate subsidies that provide little training or rehabilitation for inmates. We want reconciliation, transformation, preparation, rather than incarceration based on retribution and vengeance. We do not want race and class to serve as the primary determinants of punishment. And we want an end to the death penalty.

We believe that the prison-industrial, criminal injustice complex of today still operates in many respects as a vestige of slavery. And just as punishment was meted out disparately for Blacks and whites during slavery, these conditions persist today. For example, in the state of Virginia, a white person could only be sentenced to death for murder, but slaves could be sentenced to death for 71 offenses. Today, according to "Minding the Gap," despite higher drug use by White Illinois teens, African American youth who make up 15.3% of Illinois's youth population, are 59% of youth arrested for drug crimes, 85.5% of youth automatically transferred to adult court, 88% of youth imprisoned for drug crimes, and 91% of youth admitted to state prison. Disparities permeate the system from the laws enacted, to those who enact the laws, to those who enforce and interpret them.

Paul Street reports in Black Agenda Report, "one in three Black males will be sent to state or federal prison at some point in their lives compared to one in six Latino males and one in seventeen white males." Writer Tim Wise writes, "According to FBI data, the percentage of crimes committed by African Americans has remained steady over the past 18 years, while the number of Blacks in prison has tripled and their rates of incarceration have skyrocketed."

Clearly, it is time to rethink prison policy and the criminal justice system upon which it rests. Just as prisons for profit underscored profit-maximizing strategies, we need to explore new terrains for justice-maximizing policies, including prison abolition. We need public policy solutions that focus on reconciliation and restorative justice. Racism should not be rewarded with profits.

Notice that their statement makes it clear that the prison system in the U.S. is basically an extension of slavery. And it is. Instead of reparations for slavery, African Americans and people of color more generally have found themselves basically performing slave labor in prisons. There was never any 40 acres and a mule. There was a movement from the plantation to the prison. Which is why one of my favorite parts of their platform is reparations for slavery--something you definitely won't hear McCain or Obama talk about. Here is their position on reparations:

3. We Want Reparations Now!

African Americans are now sustaining the worst loss of wealth in U.S. history due to the sub-prime mortgage crisis, an estimated $71 billion to $92 billion, according to United for a Fair Economy.

We believe that the U.S. government never kept its promise to former slaves of the overdue debt of forty acres and two mules. Forty acres and two mules were promised as restitution for slave labor and the mass murder of Black people. Enduring racial disparities reflect the U.S. government's failure to address the reality and the vestiges of Black poverty in this country. Hurricane Katrina is but a manifestation of the generations of previous neglect combined with current neglect.

A 2003 Harvard University study found that Black infant and maternal mortality rates are 2 and 3.5 times higher than for whites. The New York Times wrote that by 2003 nearly one half of all Black men between the ages of 16 and 64, living in New York City, were unemployed. Dr. David Satcher found in 2005 that 83,750 Black people died from premature deaths for no other reason than that they were Black. And in its 2005 report, United for a Fair Economy told us that it would take 1,664 years to close the home-ownership gap and that on some indices the racial disparities are worse now than at the time of the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

In its 2006 report, United for a Fair Economy told us that Blacks and Latinos lost ground, and that in order to close the racial wealth divide in our country, it would take the equivalent of a "G.I. Bill for Everyone" that would include comprehensive federal investment in low-income families and communities, with an emphasis on people of color. In its 2007 report, United for a Fair Economy concluded that, while Blacks overwhelmingly vote Democratic, they had little to show for such party loyalty according to the statistics reflecting the State of Black America and the policy initiatives of the Democratic Party in its first 100 hours as a Congressional majority. In 2008, United for a Fair economy concluded that it would take 440 years to close the racial disparity on per capita income.

That one million Black votes were not counted in the 2000 Presidential election is symptomatic of a host of broken promises, the denial of self-determination, and a refusal of both major parties to deal with the vestiges of slavery, racism, and discrimination with which too many families are forced to live today.

We urgently need policies enacted on the federal and local levels that will address the enduring disparities in education, health care, imprisonment, family income, wealth, home ownership, that reflect purposeful malign neglect of communities of color in this country. Further, these public policies must also specifically recover economic losses sustained during the current sub-prime mortgage crisis.

Can you imagine Gwen Ifill asking Palin and Biden a question about reparations in a debate? Will never happen. All of their positions are amazing, by the way, and you can read the rest of them on their campaign website.

There is one person who has been making these connections between slavery and the prison industrial complex for years. Angela Davis, who actually ran for Vice President herself on the Communist Party ticket, pioneered this political and historical work as an academic and an activist. She not only makes these connections, but also focuses on issues of privatization of the prison system which has made it profitable to house people of color because Americans view them as a surplus population. The companies who profit from this are numerous, but here is a sample of some Davis identified in 1998:

Many corporations whose products we consume on a daily basis have learned that prison labor power can be as profitable as third world labor power exploited by U.S.-based global corporations. Both relegate formerly unionized workers to joblessness and many even wind up in prison. Some of the companies that use prison labor are IBM, Motorola, Compaq, Texas Instruments, Honeywell, Microsoft, and Boeing. But it is not only the hi-tech industries that reap the profits of prison labor. Nordstrom department stores sell jeans that are marketed as “Prison Blues,” as well as t-shirts and jackets made in Oregon prisons. The advertising slogan for these clothes is “made on the inside to be worn on the outside.” Maryland prisoners inspect glass bottles and jars used by Revlon and Pierre Cardin, and schools throughout the world buy graduation caps and gowns made by South Carolina prisoners.

Notice that companies like Motorola, which are tremendously invested in the Israeli Terrorist infrastructure are on this list. These issues are connected economically and politically: who Americans and Israelis lock up and how they profit off of this wholesale imprisonment of people of color in the U.S. and Palestinians here.

These are not issues you'll see on American television. But if you watch Al Jazeera you can hear discussion of these issues. One of my new favorite programs is Avi Lewis' "Inside Story." This is the same program that I posted something about last week when he did a show on American imperialism in Hawai'i. This week he devotes the half hour (why isn't it an hour?!) to an interview with Angela Davis. She talks about the relationship between slavery and the prison industrial complex and the solution to this, which in many ways resembles McKinney and Clemente's platform for reparations for slavery. I encourage people to watch this program below. It is definitely not something you'd ever see on mainstream American television.

And just to seal these ties between American prisons and its criminalization of people of color I will close with a couple of stanzas from my favorite Suheir Hammad poem, "letter to anthony (critical resistance)," which shows how Palestinians are criminalized in very similar ways:

II

i have always loved criminals
i tell people who try to shame
me into silence

with words like television conjugal
college libraries they say
can you imagine a library in a nigerian a chinese a
colombian prison do you know what happens in the world americans are spoiled no idea
how lucky we are here

even you often write how
your time has offered reflection
meditation deepened your faith
but you 27 and have 10
years to go nowhere how much deeper
you going to get until a system based
on money deems you rehabilitated

i have always loved criminals
and the way you bomb my tag
butterphoenix all across your letters
reminds me our affirmation is
considered vandalism

i have always loved
criminals and not only the thugged
out bravado of rap videos and champagne
popping hustlers but my father
born an arab baby boy
on the forced way out
of his homeland his mother exiled
and pregnant gave birth in a camp

the world pointed and said
palestinians do not exist palestinians
are roaches palestinians are two legged dogs
and israel built jails and weapons and
a history based on the absence of a people
israel made itself holy and chosen
and my existence a crime

so i have always loved criminals
it is a love of self
and i will not cut off any part of
me and place it behind fences and bars
and the fake ass belief
that there is a difference between
the inside and the outside

there is no outside anywhere
anymore just where we are and
what we do while we are here

and there
are people anthony who make a connection
between you puerto rican rhyme slayer beautiful man and
young girls twisted into sex work and these
people nazim they are working to stop prisons
from being economically beneficial to depressed
communities and these people
bronx bomber they imagine a world
where money can't be made off the hurt
of the young the poor the colored the
sexualized the different and these people
nymflow they never heard you
spit lyrics and they won't
see the brillians from these mere words
but these people
42851-054 5812
they believe human
beings can never be reduced
to numbers not in concentration
camps or reservations not in
refugee camps not in schools
and not in jails

Entrando in metro, incontro uno dei confratelli, Isaac, 21enne studente di scienze politiche internazionali, facciamo due chiacchere, lo vedo molto timido quando non e' con i suoi fellows, mi chiede opinioni sulla casa, cerco di restare sul vago, almeno per questa settimana.
"Just in case" mi chiede il numero di telefono ed io prendo il suo, mi faranno gli scherzi cretini?

Arrivato a casa svuoto la borsa delle cose inutili e ci metto i miei due libri di Naomi Klein, Shock Doctrine (Inglese) e Shock Economy (Italiano).

Ho fissato con Theresa alle 6pm davanti al cinema, e' acora presto e mi avvio con calma, in fondo e' a 10-15 minuti a piedi da casa. Senza fretta mi faccio un giro anche in libreria, non sapendo che il mio essere in anticipo cronico mi salvera' di li' a poco. Trovo infatti la mia amica davanti allingresso, alla sua destra una lunga fila di persone in coda per l'acquisto, i piu' fortunati, del biglietto all'ultima ora, a sinistra un'altra coda altrettanto lunga (che raddoppiera') per i ticket holders chi, come me, si era munito di biglietto in anticipo. Ci accodiamo e stiamo fermi sul posto piu' di un'ora, con vari personaggi, alcuni dei quali ritroveremo sul palco, pronti a fornirci di tutti i volantini che (non) desideriamo, siamo sotto elezioni e quando spiego che, sfiga, non posso aiutarli a cacciare il conservatore Harper, divento meno interessante.

Le file sono davvero piene di gente e siamo curiosi di conoscere il numero sui biglietti degli altri, alle nostre vicine, che stanno mangiando il Sushi in scatola, cadono i biglietti, numero 432, io ho il 92-93, direi che sono stato uno dei primi a prenderli quasi un mese fa. Da questo punto di vista, al contrario di altri italiani che ho conosciuto qua, non mi sta venendo troppo difficile abituarmi ai loro ritmi ed alla loro puntualita'.

Dopo un'ora entriamo, ci sono altri tizi che conosciamo ma non ci vedono, siamo fortunati (ah, la puntualita' cronica!) e cerchiamo dei posti nelle prime file, in quarta ci sediamo.
Di li' a poco la sala si riempira'.

L'ambiente e' strano per un cinema vero, almeno per quello che ho visto finora, ma siamo in The Annex.
L'atmosfera, le pareti, i banchini, odorano di CPA di Viale Giannotti, piu' serio e piu' pulito, l'odore di attivismo politico non si nasconde e non si fa attendere.

Naomi e' ai piedi del palco, le due ragazze che hanno organizzato la serata (che iniziera' alle 7.20 anziche' alle 6.30pm) cominciano a parlare, sono attiviste di due organizzazioni diverse, ringraziano tutti per esser venuti ed avvertono che entro le 9pm, causa small budget, tutti fuori, cosa che ovviamente si rivelera' impossibile, e non laciate niente nel cinema (qui solitamente lasciano pacchi di pop corn e lattine a gogo').
La seconda ragazza e' attivista per gli Indiani d'America che stanno pian piano scomparendo tra riserve e arresti vari, e' visibilmente provata, piange, quasi.

Finalmente e' il turno della Klein, un'oretta di monologo interrotta dagli applausi e da sue battute sarcastiche (che di rado comprendo), sa parlare, sa muoversi, in piedi dietro al parlatoio. Non molto da dire in realta'.

La stessa Klein passa poi la parola ad un amico attivista locale, ne seguiranno altri 5-6, da loro molto spazio, una mezzora tutta, da una parte ho apprezzato cio' che ha fatto, dando voce all'attivismo reale e locale, a quello che anche nei suoi libri apprezza e promuove, si e' rivelata una bella persona, per quel poco che ho potuto capire. Ai due lati del cinema c'erano un banchetto con i suoi libri (Toronto Women’s Bookstore, dove ho preso i biglietti) e uno per il popolo Palestinese, all'ingresso del cinema invece materiale informativo sulle elezioni delle prossime settimane.
Dicevo, ho apprezzato questo suo comportamento da una parte, dall'altra alcune delle persone che parlavano non avevano idea del significato del termine "amplificazione" da quanto urlavano al microfono e dal tempo che sono state a parlare, vi ricorda nessuno? :)
Qui i biglietti costavano 8$ a NYC 48$, magari due situazioni diverse, la' probabilmente gli attivisti saranno supporter di Obama che la stessa Klein critica pesantemente (Scuola di Chicago)

Finita la serata ha iniziato a firmare i libri, una massa di gente ma non troppa, io fra questi con le mie due edizioni.
Per fortuna hanno passato dei post-it, che se dovevo fare lo spelling del mio nome in quella calca ero ancora li'.

For [mio nome],
Be Brave!

Quando vede le due edizioni del libro mi chiede di dove sono, glielo dico e fa una battuta del tipo "Che titolo stupido hanno scelto per l'edizione italiana" (Shock Economy anziche' quello originale Shock Doctrine), ed in effetti ha ragione.

Esco e vado a recuperare il metropass di ottobre, lo pago 9$ meno grazie ad alcuni sgami di una tipa di CouchSurfing.
La stessa tipa, Gail, il pomeriggio mi aveva detto di aver visto, tempo fa, il marito di Naomi, Avi Lewis, uscire da una lavanderia della zona.
Anvedi che c'ho la Klein come vicina di casa!

Torno a casa, nella stanza comune gli agenti segreti in giacca e cravatta stanno ancora parlando, studiano  un nuovo tipo di birra che ti fa sbronzare in mezzo bicchiere? Segreto industriale.
Scusate.

Peter deve aver percepito che ce lo odio, se non fosse cosi' dovrebbe mettersi un paio di buoni occhiali.

Anche oggi ho scritto questo post in piedi, dove ho trovato connessione.
Ieri, che poi la connessione e' sparita. Merda.

A volte posso dare l'impressione (ok, e' vero, non e' solo un'impressione!) di scrivere molto, troppo, quello che faccio pero' non e' solo scrivere per voi che mi leggete ma anche per me stesso, per i tempi bui di dicembre...

nota: Parlando del piu' e del meno Theresa mi ha chiesto se penso di trasferirmi qui. Ho risposto di si.

Sinopsis:

Trabajar. Resistir. Producir. Durante la crisis económica de 2001, en los suburbios de Buenos Aires, treinta desempleados de una fábrica de piezas de coches entran en su fábrica inactiva, sacan sacos de dormir y se niegan a abandonarla. Todo lo que quieren es reiniciar las máquinas que ahora permanecen en silencio.

Este simple hecho "La Toma" tiene el poder de centrar el debate de la globalización sobre sus cabezas. Armados sólo con hondas y una perseverante fe en la democracia del taller, los trabajadores se rebelan contra jefes, banqueros, y un sistema que ve a su amada fábrica simplemente como un pedazo de metal para vender.

Con La Toma, el director/productor Avi Lewis y la escritora/productora Naomi Klein, autora del best seller "No Logo", lideran un radical manifiesto económico para el siglo XXI, acercando a los espectadores las vidas de gente común, que reclaman su trabajo, su dignidad y su democracia.

[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6939956197822128063&ei=PNDBSLSoEIG2rQLz9YG3BQ&q=la+toma]

A communist, clearly. But Lewis is quite right about the government's motive in axing PromArt, which is to single out a few left-wing types "to obscure what it is really doing." And he may also be right that what it's "really doing" is "mounting a fundamental attack on arts funding in Canada." I, on the other hand, suspect what the government is "really doing" is nothing more complicated than throwing a few foxes to the braying hounds that it thinks make up its base, so that they can chase them around some blog comment threads for a few days, barking and drooling contentedly. But in either case, with all due respect to Lewis, there's nothing remotely "Machiavellian" going on here. Indeed, the clumsiness of it all is why I find it so depressingly hilarious that Gwynne Dyer and Tal Bachman turned out to have been on government business—Conservative government business, in Dyer's case—when PromArt picked up their tabs. It suggests that among all its other failings, the PMO can't even pander very well.

Avi Lewis in conjunction with Naomi Klein of The Take  have put together an illustrative video series, this one on Haiti's rice-crisis,  that really sheds further light on the additional far-reaching impact of food riots/shortages/pricing/climate change/politics  -  all the "stuff" it seems we take for granted as we gripe about gas prices (and it's a gripe worth having, but also worth digging deeper into discussing vs digging into the protected zones of Alaska, but I digress...).

The vid is somewhere around 22+ minutes long, but worth the time to reflect on this topic and it's continued reverb worldwide (my food bill has shot up considerably, but I can still afford a bag of Basmati). 

Stay awake my friends-

In the world of academia Noam Chomsky is the most cited author alive. He talks to Inside USA about politics in the United States and this Presidential election.

In suburban Buenos Aires, thirty unemployed auto-parts workers walk into their idle factory, roll out sleeping mats and refuse to leave. All they want is to re-start the silent machines. But this simple act - The Take - has the power to turn the globalization debate on its head.

Another great work by Naomi Klein and her husban Avi Lewis.

Watch the documentary online or use the links below to download it.

[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.556851&w=425&h=350&fv=docId%3D-6939956197822128063%26playerMode%3Dsimple%26hl%3Den]

Download the documentary [700MB] (spanish version can be downloaded here [700MB]) (torrent)

"The Take" @ IMDb

"The Take" @ Wikipedia

The official homepage

Part 1

Part 2

Récemment, on apprenait la création de la Coopérative Filspec, à Sherbrooke, qui en est à sa quatrième année d’opération. Une centaine d’ex-employés syndiqués ont décidé d’acheter la compagnie qui fermait ses portes en raison de la compétitivité internationale et de la diriger par eux-mêmes avec le soutient financier de la Centrale des Syndicats Démocratiques (CSD) et des Caisses Desjardins qui participent au projet.

La coopérative avec un chiffre d’affaire de 30 millions de dollars exporte ses produits spécialisés aux États-unis, en Europe ainsi qu’en Australie. Elle opère malgré vents et marrées dans le domaine du textile qui ne cesse de décliner au Québec et a dû se soumettre à de difficiles sacrifices après que le privé ait décidé de se désengager : baisse des salaires de 12% en 2006 et contribution de 5% sur le taux horaire des coopérants dans un plan d’investissement de la nouvelle « compagnie ». Mais, sur le long terme, l’entreprise est rentable, malgré quelques difficultés héritées de la concurrence mondiale, particulièrement de la Chine, et devient de plus en plus un exemple pour d’autres entreprises en eaux troubles.

Le sentiment d’appartenance a eu un effet positif sur le rythme de production car les travailleurs-entrepreneurs ont la sensation de travailler pour eux-mêmes.

Par ailleurs, différentes expériences du même genre ont éclos dans d’autres pays, spécialement en Argentine qui a frôlé la banqueroute avec la crise financière et économique de 2001. C’est ce que met en lumière le documentaire « The Take » de Naomi Klein et Avi Lewis.

La plus connue est l’ancienne compagnie de céramique Zanon rebaptisée FaSinPat (pour Fabrique Sans Patron en espagnol). Suite au lock-out de l’usine ordonné par Luigi Zanon, le propriétaire, en raison des demandes d’amélioration des conditions de travail de la part du syndicat, les ouvriers ont investi les lieux et pris en charge le redémarrage de la production. Et le pire est que cela a fonctionné! La nouvelle entité commerciale fait des profits retournant directement à ses travailleurs!

Les insurgés ont justifié leurs actions de mutinerie en alléguant que la compagnie privée n’avait pas payé aux ex-employés les redevances de salaires qu’elle leurs devait. De plus, la compagnie localisée sur des terres publiques aurait bénéficié de prêts gouvernementaux dans les années 90 sans jamais rendre quoi que ce soit à l’État.

Croyant que cette manœuvre se résulterait par un échec lamentable, l’ancien détenteur de Zanon n’aurait pas réagi immédiatement à l’intrusion des travailleurs jusqu’en 2002, année où le gouvernement abandonna la parité du peso argentin avec le dollar américain. Dans ce nouveau contexte, l’entreprise recouvra son potentiel de profitabilité capitaliste et des démarches légales ont été initiées par la suite contre la coopérative de travailleurs. Depuis ce jour, elle a été victime de menaces et l’une des travailleuses de FaSinPat a même été kidnappée et torturée en 2005.

Malgré tout, la Fabrique Sans Patron tient bon. Depuis le début de l’aventure, elle a crée 170 emplois, pour un total de 410 employés actifs en 2005. De plus, elle a financé des centres communautaires et des cliniques médicales dans la région qui lui a permis d’obtenir le support des habitants locaux.

En octobre 2007, un ordre de la cour réduisit la durée de la gérance de la coopérative sur l’usine. Elle devra céder le bâtiment à l’ancien propriétaire d’ici octobre 2008 et elle promet de faire appel. Ceci se révèle encore comme une tentative de saborder un projet ouvrier prometteur par les forces capitalistes qui y voient une menace à leur domination. Un dossier à suivre.

L’anarcho-syndicalisme et l’autogestion par les employés gagnent du terrain et deviennent une voie de rechange en réponse aux fermetures d’entreprises par les investisseurs privés lorsqu’elles ne rentrent plus dans leurs barèmes de rentabilité.

Et ça se comprend. Pour l’entrepreneur privé, le seuil de viabilité doit se définir après avoir soustrait les salaires élevés des cadres et surtout la marge des bénéfices. Cependant, ces « charges » n’existent plus sous un régime d’entreprise optant pour la propriété commune de la compagnie par ses propres travailleurs. Ces « frais inhérents » sont transformés en ristournes dirigées vers les poches des salariés car on élimine le parasitage des gains par des intérêts particuliers.

Plusieurs avantages sont reliés à l’anarcho-syndicalisme : les travailleurs se sentent impliquer dans les activités de l’entreprise et donc mettent plus de cœur à l’ouvrage, ce qui se résulte par un accroissement de la productivité; la compétitivité de l’entreprise coopérative s’en trouve accrue car on élimine les intermédiaires dans la gestion (personnel cadre et actionnaires) ainsi que les coûts qui y sont associés; les profits reviennent à l’ensemble des travailleurs et de la communauté locale (comme je le citais plus haut dans le cas de FaSinPat avec ses investissements sociaux).

Il s’agirait du meilleur des deux mondes. En fait, une économie de marché composée d’entreprises coopératives et démocratiques soumises à la loi de l’offre et de la demande. On préserverait ainsi le meilleur du capitalisme tout en y incluant le meilleur du socialisme.

Ce serait sûrement une voie à explorer pour les tenants de la nouvelle gauche qui espèrent conjuguer une meilleure redistribution des richesses avec prospérité économique.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 1

Part 2

Words above and video below posted by http://www.youtube.com/user/AlJazeeraEnglish

Part 1

Part 2

He has an “ask a cabby” segment – which is kind of lame and American journalistically speaking - while he’s doing a segment in NOLA. Why not ask a NOLA cabby instead of a cabby in Ghana? Seems more appropriate no? And his limo forum thing was just really, really badly edited. Seems like a step down dude, Avi get yer ass back to the CBC, do it now.

Frontline USA - Politics of Race - 22 Feb 08 - Pt 1

Frontline USA - Politics of Race - 22 Feb 08 - Pt 2

Previously Mapped:

• Where On The Map is Avi Lewis? - Avi Lewis Has Been Found...
• Where On The Map is Avi Lewis? - He May Have Been Found.
• Where On The Map is Avi Lewis?

Politics of Race

Hurricane Katrina brought disaster to the front rooms of the western world. However, it was not the hurricane which caused the greatest human damage on America's Gulf coast, but the overwhelmed public services.

The inability of the richest nation in the world to evacuate the poorest in the affected communities was highlighted to the world. What were also on display were the US's inequalities, racism and broken political system.

Hosted by Avi Lewis, this week's Frontline Focus: New Orleans looks at how these issues are playing out in the swing state of Louisiana in the middle of a dramatic presidential campaign.

Frontline USA is a new weekly programme taking an in-depth look at the real issues at stake in the US presidential election. Lewis will strip away the spin, and highlight real issues such as poverty, violence, race, health, and immigration.

The series will study the potential implications the US election will have for billions worldwide, getting the reactions from Baghdad to Beijing.

Lewis is one of Canada's most controversial and eloquent media personalities, previously working as a documentary film-maker and hosting programmes on Canada's CBC.

Yes Avi Lewis has gone to the Dark Side. No wait that would Fox News who are we kidding. Al-Jazeera does better journalism that most US News. I poked him on his Facebook, sent him a message asking him about on the map. Got no response. It's because he's gone off the reservation. I wonder if it's because he wasn't satisfied with the CBC or because the CBC canned him or both or because the Harpies wanted him out because he was throwing to much shit at the Americans on his show.

Inquiring minds want to know.

Come on Avi what's the scoop?

Previously Mapped:

• Where On The Map is Avi Lewis - He May Have Been Found.
• Where On The Map is Avi Lewis?

Funny thing is five minutes before the email binged with the news from St. Thomas Law Review, i got off the phone with Jeremy Young who told me he and Avi Lewis (Canadian documentarian and political reporter) saw the article on the internet (thanks expressO), liked it, and wanted to talk to me for a segment they are putting together for the new news magazine show, "Frontline-USA" for the Al-Jazeera network (yep). Freaked steph and me out, must say.

Even though I have seen and read about the independent and high level political reporting of Al-Jazeera over the years (I taught about al-jazeera for an international communications class), tough to deny the emotional response coming from America's post-911 corporate media culture. Sure had a funny feeling hearing that al-jazeera wants to talk to me.

At first i thought th initial email from jeremy young could have been spam; i emailed it to steph at her office and she wrote back "what da *;^*"

but we decided I should do it because their story idea about Blackwater and privatization of the border is important and coincides with my own research on the privatization of immigration control. So we figured that millions of people around the planet might see it (yikes, but at least our friends in Hungary and London could see it), except everyone in the US, of course, where it al-jazeera is nowhere to be found on cable.

come on first amendment people, time to get on this!

To see the segment, you'll have to go to the al-jazeera-english web site. the show airs, beginning this Friday at 8pm (i think).

Next, we did some digging on Avi Lewis, who anchors the show. Avi is a celebrated left-documentarian, reporter and producer from Canada, having done some fantastic work, including a documentary "The Take" on the recovered factory movement in Argentina, with his wife, Naomi Klein (a book hero of mine since No Logo).

Quickly, trepidation turned to excitement. "Avi gonna be in da house." what a kick.

Avi's grandfather, Moshe Lewis (Losz), was a leading member of the Jewish Bund, who left Poland for Montreal in the early 1920s. So hey, my granfather fled the pogroms in Russia, went to Paris to paint and then NYC. close enough. If Avi could do Al-Jazeera, so could I.

(more later...)
PS although i ended up on the cutting room floor for this piece it was still a grand experience. More important, the frontline usa segment on the border (3/16) turned out to be a strong piece on privatization of border control. check it out on You-Tube.

Buy this book. Steal this book. Somehow get this book. Do whatever you have to do, but Read This Book.

It just might save the world.

This has to be a joke, and I'm sure it is, but do the libs who go to Crooks and Liars know that?

Let's take a look at a deconstruction of Naomi Klein's position:

From Copious Dissent:

Here's part 2: On Meta-ThinkTanks

Here's part 3

And I've got to post the classic, part 4 (ft. Keith Olbermann):

Now, just for kicks, watch Ayaan Hirsi Ali take Naomi Klein's husband to school:

This guy is a disgrace, Hirsi Ali didn't even break a sweat!

:lol:

I think it's pretty clear what Klein is trying to do (very similar to her namesake, Naomi Wolf). When will these moonbats learn, you can't build an argument on falsehoods.

By the way, for those interested, here are two links to the work that Hirsi Ali mentions:

• Tocqueville, Alexis de. Democracy in America, volume 1
• Tocqueville, Alexis de. Democracy in America, volume 2

Media for Social Change - CITIZENShift » Avi Lewis: On The Map

Avi Lewis, from the Rebels With A Cause section of CITIZENShift and who I remember as the host of Too Much For Much of MuchMusic, has just launched a new daily international news analysis show on CBC Newsworld called On The Map with Avi Lewis. On The Map started in June and is set to resume in early 2008. You can find every segment in the online archive.

I don't know how reliable this information is but it is from the NFB, so I will give it some credibility. It appears that Avi Lewis will return in Early 2008 instead of the now almost over November 2007.

Previously Mapped:

• Where On The Map is Avi Lewis

So put out an APB on Avi Lewis. I'm almost done with his wife, Naomi Klein's book, The Shock Doctrine: the Rise of Disaster Capitalism and I'm going to need some more intellectual left-leaning knife throwing and I'm gonna need it STAT! So what's going on? Avi, dude, whats up?