"The Take"

A couple years ago, Avi Lewis, Naomi Klein and a small film crew traveled to Argentina. They were there in the days after Argentina had declared bankruptcy; the factories were shutting down; unemployment skyrocketed. People routinely experience not months of unemployment, but years.

This documentary follows the occupation of the Forja San Martin, a forge and auto parts factory near Buenos Aires. They themselves are but one of hundreds of factories taken over by the workers, and turned into worker controlled co-operatives. Through out the film, as these workers are interviewed in their factories, we see and hear what true democracy could look like. "I don't know why accounting was so hard for the bosses" one garment worker says, "how to pay the bills, buy materials and pay wages. It's addition and subtraction. Maybe I am getting ahead of myself, but I think we could run the country this way".

The amazing thing about this revolution, is that it is not ideological. There is no grand van-guard leading this. There is no centralized philosophy. There is only common sense-which leads these people to the conclusion that they have no need of managers or executives. The amazing thing about "Marxism" is that it is really common sense. Marx was not the leader of some van-guard political party. He was an analyst of capitalism. His conclusions, that wealth stolen from the many to enrich the few, would leave the world, over time, destroyed-and the People arisen in revolution.

And here it is. No central authority...just the belief that we the Workers know what's up. That we ourselves have no need of the managers' bullshit nor the executive's priviledge. I don't believe they are getting ahead of themselves, I believe that is how we should lead the counry. Our courts, our Congress and legislatures, our executives-all as corrupt as corrupt can be. Perhaps a year or two from now, when we in the "First World" feel the boot of the IMF on our necks, when we too are now going on three years of unemployment, then we too may join the ranks of workers around the world, reclaiming it for ourselves.

Already in the US, a mass movement is under way. Lead for the most part by the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, they are leading sit-ins in foreclosed homes. They are moving homeless people and families into abandoned homes, and are breathing new life into squatters' rights.

It is easy for us to feel no progress has been made here in America-but we have the most finely polished propogand machine and Politburo ever! If the corporate news showed us what we have accomplished and what we are doing, we would feel so empowered we'd take the world back overnight. Until then, let's continue supporting the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, the Industrial Workers of the World, and all our groups that are helping us organize our oncoming direct democracy.

God Bless the Chicago Strikers

I am overjoyed to see the news that 200 laid off employees are sitting in. The continued war against the working People of America is slowly coming to a head. As the strikers said to CNN, Bank of America made the decision not to extend financing to this facility-which means no pay for the employees, no sick time, no owed vacation time and no severance. It is amazing that Bank of America can now play such a heavy hand in determining the direction of American businesses.

At the same time, the People of Iceland have led some intense actions against the Central Bank and the Police Department. After a protester was arrested in Reykjavik, thousand of Icelanders stormed the Police Station, demanding the release of the protester (who's bail was posted anonymously). A few days after surrounding the Police Station, the People of Iceland stormed the Central Bank, demanding greater accountability in the financial sector and an end to American privatization practices.

The American Way is moving too far, too fast. The push to hand all services to private corporations is wreaking havoc across Canada, the EU and well...the rest of the world. The needs of the restless many are being buried further and further by the needs of already overly wealthy aristocrats. It is not our "freedom" that we are exporting-it is our dedication to tyranny, greed and the profit of the few at the expense of the many.

It was such recklessness and greed to inspired the People of 18th century France to design and build the guillotine (and put it to use). The aims of men like Bush, and the CEO's of Wall Street and Detroit may not be evil by intent-but they are evil by design. When the needs of one's bank account and stock portfolio take precedence over the needs of one's labor force, one has indeed become part of the problem. Bush shows the same air-headed, "let them eat cake" attitude that brought down the foolhardy monarchs of Europe. His consistent lack of understanding the needs of the American People can only be considered ill informed for so long before he is seen as cold, callous and, well...evil.

The current economic crisis will be used mercilessly to union bust. Right now the Big Three are blaming Union labor for the ruin of Detroit. Somehow, agreeing to raises, health care and vacation and sick time (about 10% of the cost of a new car) is killing the automakers. Nowhere do these crooks mention their own multi-million dollar yearly bonuses, nor their own compensation costs in terms of benefits, private jets, etc. They simply point to the labor, those that produce their wealth for them, as the problem. The "great cost" of Union labor will used to justify shutting down more auto manufacturing sites, and sending them to Canada (national health care) or Mexico and points further afield (no healthcare...no regulations).

I support and admire my brothers and sisters in Chicago, Detroit, and Reykjavik. The strength of these men and women in the face of oncoming economic ruin is a soul tonic. As we descend further into the hole, I believe more and more of us will be galvanized into such actions. As the famous Industrial Workers of the World slogan goes: "An injury to one is an injury to all".

In solidarity-