What in the hell …

A better question would be “what is your May Day?” I’m not sure how to pose that properly. In lieu, a handful of pebbles gathered elsewhere, cast for the sake of a few ripples.

Of course, Euromayday, and a roundup in the lead up to this year’s festivities.

Not to be missed, Peter Linebaugh’s most recent take, and an old classic.

For those wanting more history, extensive archive of texts on May Day, including the words of the Haymarket martyrs.

For those who haven’t been, a bit on the cemetary where those folks are buried, alongside Emma Goldmann and others, with a monument inscribed “The day will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you are throttling today.” (I used to housecall in the towns near this cemetary, I stopped there a few times, at first out of historical curiousity/tourism, and later largely because it was a nice greenspace. I had a few heartfelt and bittersweet organizing conversations by cell phone while parked near the monument while my co-workers and I were unionizing.)

Finally, a statement, another roundup, and a few more flyers:

http://www.xanga.com/tzuchien/477572753/dont-work-on-monday.html
http://deletetheborder.org/node/932
http://www.crimethinc.com/downloads/mayday.html

I’m a nervous sort. Partly excess energy in need of burning off, I think. As part of this I sometimes get a little hung up on certain things that might go wrong. When I used to go housecalling w/ the organizer job I was always very nervous that I would step backward on the front porch steps right at the moment that the person opened the door. “Hi, I’m with - ” *CRASH* There would be no way that person would ever think of me as someone to trust, especially as in a conflict with their boss or landlord. This was not a big fear, just a nervous scenario that flashed through my head pretty regularly, and one which, view from a third person perspective with the right soundtrack would actually be kinda funny. (more…)

This came over the wire on Aut-op-sy recently. Someone asked after a quote. (more…)

A momentary break writing notes on the run apropos of some recent discussions, trying to start getting my thoughts in order a bit, in order to think about this stuff more when I get home and have more downtime. Will insert hyperlinks to the conversations I’m talking about soon, they’re at Steve’s and Jodi’s. (more…)

A reminder, via this quote posted at Mike’s in a post you should read in its entirety, why I like Harry Cleaver so much.

In Reading Capital Politically Cleaver contends that: “The alternative to ideological critique, whether of the political economy or the philosophical variety, is to begin from a strategic analysis of the pattern of development of working-class power as the only possible ground for answering the question of how that power can be increased. Such an analysis requires starting from an examination of workers’ actual struggles: their content, how they have developed, and where they are headed. By this I mean the struggles of the workers themselves, not of their “official” organizations (trade unions, parties, etc.). The actions of these organizations may accurately express the struggles of the workers themselves, or they may not. They are often completely at odds with them. It is because of this that we must begin with the unmediated struggles themselves. Since the class is not monolithic but is divided — capital rules by division — the examination of such struggles necessitates an analysis of the different sectors of the class and their interrelations, especially how the struggles of one sector are, or are not, circulating to other sectors. It is only through a circulation of struggles, in which those of various sectors of the class interlink to become complementary, that real unity against capital is achieved. Without such complementarity, “class consciousness” is only an ideological gloss; with it, “class consciousness” is superfluous. Therefore, it is essential for an assessment of present working-class power to clearly perceive both the divisions within the class — which must be understood as basically hierarchical divisions of power vis-a-vis capital — and the degree to which those divisions are being overcome. It is only within this framework that we can correctly situate the role of the “official” organizations of the class.” (2nd edition, p. 58)]

It’s like the dullest march you ever went to - no puppets, no tear gas, no blockades, and certainly no cobblestones. Actually it’s like most marches I’ve been to, except there were usually drums and stuff. Anyway, the UK Trades Union Congress put together a march video game to drum up support to a mobilization on May Day. Check it out - notice how everyone marches in step, and how the ideal position to occupy is the head of the march. It’s still surprisingly fun and, I think, only available till Monday.

You can play the game online now at http://www.tuc.org.uk/leftfoot

No crystal ball here, of course, but one can hope. Lots of interesting stuff happening across the union. Best I’ve heard is folks starting to set up legal and other defense measures (pickets, press releases) for when people get retaliated against for not going to work. Because there will be retaliation. (The bosses are evil, after all. Even the dead are not safe from them when they win.) Other FWs are preparing work stoppages in their shops, doing some leafletting. I’m getting on a plane, hoping to hear reports of a trembling ruling class taking a step back on its racist political agenda. (more…)

Dictionariat? Definitionariat?

All of these puns suck. I apologize. Please excuse my ailing sense of humor, exacerbated by the fact that I have so much fucking stupid work to do. Damn it. (more…)