Those of you thinking of coming to Ed Afed’s Resistance Film Festival tomorrow / Saturday should take note that the start time has moved to 12:30.
So now you don’t have to feel guilty about skipping a bit because you don’t like to go to the pub before lunch 
Edinburgh AFed are curating a one-day, free, film festival on Saturday 20th March at the Banshee Labyrinth on Niddrie Street (formerly Nicholl Edwards). Celebrating “cultures of resistance” across the world, the diverse films share the theme of collective action against political or economic injustice.
A conscious shift away from the documentary-heavy format of most activist film festivals sees the screening of new and old class-conscious classics.
They include John Sayles’ Matewan, featuring the screen debut of indie singer Will Oldham as a teenage preacher in a mining town standing together in the teeth of state and capitalist siege.
And last year’s Army of Crime, which makes Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds look like a cartoon. The Group Manouchian, refugees and Jews, actively resisted the Nazi occupation of France, a country which despised them as terrorists and “aliens”. In its uncompromising politics and refusal to gloss over difficult moral choices, this 2009 film could prove to be a 21st century “Battle of Algiers” and is sure to provoke debate.
If Spanish anarchist feminists and Serbian anarchosyndicalism sound like too much, there will be the opportunity to relax with Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Bagpuss’s wildcat strike. As well as rock karaoke, beer, books and friendly chat. All welcome.
A call for support in the long-running council manual workers’ dispute (see Edinburgh Muckraker for background).
SUPPORT EDINBURGH REFUSE WORKERS’ PICKET OF SCAB DEPOT
6am Saturday 13th March
Craigmillar Community Recycling Centre,
Old Dalkeith Road (See below for directions)Join Edinburgh refuse workers in picketting the workplace used by private contractors providing cover for the their ongoing industrial action. Edinburgh’s refuse workers, along with street cleaners, grave diggers, toilet attendents and other manual workers have been fighting against cuts to their pay of up to £6,000. By working to health and safety rules and banning overtime they have kept up the fight to defend their wages for over 8 months.
The Council is cynically using Single Status (equalising pay between men and women) as an excuse to slash pay for its lowest paid workers. Workers now face cuts to their pay and conditions being imposed after the Council failed to reach agreement with unions.
Private companies have been providing scab labour thoughout the dispute and the Council has ignored Freedom of Information requests seeking to find out just how much this has cost the City but many have estimated the cost to be several million pounds.
If this dispute is lost the average wage for Council workers will fall from around £19,000 to around £13,000 which will be disatrous for hundreds of workers.Directions to picket;
Head out of City Centre on Dalkeith Road (A7) to Cameron Toll roundabout. Take the second exit on roundabout onto Old Dalkeith Road. Continue for 500 yards until you see sign for ‘Recycling Centre’ to the left.Lothian Buses nos 21, 24, 38, 33, 38, 48, 49.
The first 33 on a Sunday leaves Haymarket at 5.46am and North Bridge at 5.53am arriving at Cameron Toll at 6.03am
Some additional info about who works in that depot (hey, it’s the Council, it can’t be simple)
Just a few points re the ‘SUPPORT EDINBURGH REFUSE WORKERS’ PICKET OF SCAB DEPOT’ below.
- The scabs working overtime out of Craigmillar Depot on a Saturday and Sunday are not ‘private contractors’. A few of the scabs are fulltime City of Edinburgh Council employees who are Unite the Union members; some of the other scabs are fulltime City of Edinburgh Council employees who have attempted to justify scabbing by either coming out off or not being members of any trade union, most of the scabs are City of Edinburgh Council employees on temporary contracts who have refused to join a trade union or support the work to rule.
- The majority of staff that will be going into Craigmillar Depot over the weekend work on the Task Force (Street Cleansing) side of things, on a 4on 4off shift pattern (this is a normal working day for these employees and is not overtime). With the exception of the Task Force Managers; Unison members & Unite members from the Red & Blue Street Cleansing Shifts have fully adhered to and supported the work to rule within CEC Waste Management and will continue to do so. There has also been a few allegations/investigations into street cleansing staff giving the scabs (refuse & task force managers) a hard time, however, nothing has progressed to the CEC disciplinary process thus far.
Quick-quiz: How many of you out there think that “non-executive” means the same as “doesn’t do anything”? As in “non-executive director”?
I thought that being a NED meant to turn up to the meeting, eat the biscuits, read the minutes, send texts to your mistress and nod through pay rises. Their performance at scrutinising RBS, among others, says I’m right.
But maybe I’m wrong. They must be working awfy hard, because according to this story, they’ve been given a payrise of more than 5% across big companies. Meanwhile, workers are seeing pay freezes (always a cut in real-terms, remember) if they’ve not been put on short hours to “save” their jobs.
What happened to “fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay?” Seems like that was only ever meant to work one way. Fuck the wages system.
After the Success of Saturday’s AntiNazi Demos there will be a Fundraiser for ACE in the upstairs of the Forest Cafe on Wed 24th From 10pm featuring :-
Also before that from 9pm “Talk to Frank” will be on Downstairs in the Cafe with the Fantastic Fabulous Freeloadin Frank and the Bucking Fastards.
With Contributions from Wise L Leathermonk and The Weather Underground.
Message fae Old Hat Books Collective:
Hello all!
Please come along to our Femstruation Week reading party this Wednesday!
The theme is “What Your Mother Never Told You!”
Decide for yourself what this means and come along and read us some things that made you think!
Short passages, haikus, poems, slogans, whole books, plays or jokes, please come and share!
There will be tea, but please bring cakes to share too!
The parties are always fun and good places to see what the library is about and to meet new people and hear lovely words!
Wear an old hat if you’d like too!
5pm – 7pm!
Please tell all your friends and make this event of Femstruation Week fully rad!
Over and out,
Old Hat Books. xxx
Oh, you can bring pictures too, to show and tell. We like pictures.
Our friends at the Edinburgh Anarchafeminist Kollectiv have released the programme for the previously-trailed Femstruation Week, taking place from 13th-20th February.
Events include “Bloody Valentine” on the 14th, “What Your Mother Never Told You”-themed open reading event courtesy of Old Hat Books, and more,
Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine is shaping up to be a key text for making sense of the 21st century. This excerpt from the book may be prophetic. The positive thing is that knowing what’s going on can be part of preventing it – protests have led to £100M from the IMF being converted into a grant instead of a loan.
In terms of what’s going on on the ground, there’s some pointed criticism of the behaviour of some journalists, consciously or otherwise desperate for footage of a “savage” black mob “looting”. Former Radio 1 DJ Andy Kershaw (white) has been to the island plenty times and calls out, among others, the BBC’s Matt Frei:
Over the weekend we saw him anticipating an outbreak of unrest, standing before a crowd of thousands of hungry, humiliated Haitians as they waited, patiently and quietly, to be given rations by UN soldiers. Their dignity and stoicism seemed to escape Frei who was, in any case, looking away from them while ranting about the inevitability of looming bloodshed – conspicuously unlikely, judging from the evidence of his own report.
And:
This self-imposed blockade by bureaucracy is a scandal but could be easily overcome. The NGOs and the military should recognise the hysteria over “security” for what it is and make use of Haiti’s best resource and its most efficient distribution network: the Haitians themselves. Stop treating them as children. Or worse. Hand over to them immediately what they need at the airport. They will find the means to collect it. Fill up their trucks and cars with free fuel. Any further restriction on, and control of, the supply of aid is not only patronising but it is in that control and restriction where any “security issues” will really lurk. And it is the Haitians who best know where the aid is needed.
I’ll leave the last word to (some of) the Haitians themselves. Batay Ouvriye (it means Workers’ Struggle) have put out a message indicating just how big a struggle they face to rebuild. Give them some money.
CALL FOR SOLIDARITY AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE
12 JANUARY 2010 IN HAITI
On January 12th, 2010, an earthquake hit us, we, the Haitian people, terribly.
Besides the public buildings, for sure, it was the popular neighborhoods that were most destroyed. No surprise there, since they are the most fragile, the most unstable structures; they are the ones who never received any services, nor consolidation, nothing; quite the opposite, the ruling classes were always set on getting us out, displacing us, which is why we were never able to even try to consolidate ourselves by our own means.
As some capitalists try to force the workers to return to work in factories that are still damaged; while the store owners clutch their merchandises, not to speak of those who’ve decided to sell at exorbitant prices; while the state is showing (again) its complete nonexistence, a characteristic incapacity and incompetence (all they know is stealing, corruption and serving the big landowners, the bourgeois and the multinationals); while the “protect and serve” police force never showed up to assist the population faced with the gangs (which is normal, since all they know is repression); while the imperialist forces are taking advantage of the help they’re giving to establish a protectorate they hope to be definitive… the workers and working class, the popular masses in general are undergoing a catastrophic situation in which they are left alone and helpless.
Some press agencies developed their progressive aspect in allowing for a minimum of coordination in the field, some individuals helped in this too, consistent popular organizations are working without respite to do all they can, but: there are no means! Truly, beyond having utterly massacred us, the earthquake was completely beyond us.
As much as we can, we refuse to go through the dominant circuit. But the situation is beyond belief! That is why, today, we’re launching a SOLIDARITY APPEAL, to all workers, working class, all consequential progressives all over the world, to help us try to emerge from this terrible moment we are in.
According to the inventory we have made up to now, here are our most immediate needs:
Destroyed homes US $ 50,000.00
Destroyed belongings 20,000.00
Hurt, crippled 10,000,00
Daily existence 30,000.00
Dealing with deaths 10,000.00Total US $ 120,000.00
We need to add 40% to this calculation because the various prices keep skyrocketing and will continue to do so. So, the real TOTAL of this section is about: $US 170,000.00.
Furthermore, there are the various contacts we had begun to develop in the struggle for the 200 gourdes salary adjustment. They are many and in various neighborhoods. We have to help them too, in our own way, but actively. This demands an additional accounting, to be added to the first one. Also, in the areas where our militants and members live or function, several community actions are taking place. We’re active amongst them. To impulse our energy amongst them, to mark the necessary orientation. Immediately, too, we have to take the initiative to launch our own actions, in the context of the reconstruction, in which we can’t just accept that it’s the dominant classes who are giving it the form they want it to take. All this requires funds.
Taking into account all these forms of action and solidarity, we can say the grand total we need presently, for this first period, is roughly: US$ 300,000.00.
This is the necessary to help us survive, to help many workers hold on and resolve in the the minimum of their own lives, and, too, to mark a political direction in the struggle for our lives presently, so as to be able to develop more force in the face of the next catastrophe facing us: that which the imperialists, the dominant classes and their reactionary state are preparing.
We thank in advance all contributors. These times demand such forms of SOLIDARITY, which should all direct towards bridging together, an advance in our shared battles.
For those who wish to send help in kind (medicine, clothes, food, sheets, chairs…), the address is that of our central base: Batay Ouvriye, Delmas 16, #13 bis, Port-au-Prince.
For those who can send cash, our account information is as follows:
Bank Name: City National Bank of New Jersey
Bank Address: 900 Broad Street, Newark, NJ 07102
ABA Number: 0212-0163-9 City of NJ Newark
For further credit to:
Account Number: 01 000 9845
Account Name: Batay Ouvriye
Account Address: Ave. Jean Paul II, # 7
Certainly, we will inform publicly all contributors (individuals and organizations) of that which was received at all times and the use of these funds.BATAY OUVRIYE
Port-au-Prince, January 20th 2010
Want to do something for the victims of the Haiti earthquake but worried that your money might get used on 4×4s to escort journalists around Port-au-Prince?
A group in Miami is organising fundraising on behalf of Batay Ourviye, one of few groups to have fought for and won union recognition in Haiti’s “free trade zones”.
Here’s the link: http://tinyurl.com/BatayOurviye
And here’s what they say:
A natural disaster has descended upon Haiti whose scope we only are seeing the surface of at this time.
Right now we can have the deepest impact by committing ourselves to act in solidarity with the autonomous social movements of Haiti directly. They present the best possible option for the Haitian people, and are in the greatest need.
Our act of solidarity should, in no shape or form, be solely an act of humanitarian aid. It should not be an apolitical act, and we shouldn’t give the green light to those that wish to capitalize on the suffering of others. Click here for a statement on solidarity with the Haitian people.
Support Solidarity and Grassroots Relief
Give now to Batay Ourviye. Your money will go to directly support workers impacted by the earthquake by providing food, water, and health care. Your dontaion will also support the purchasing of minutes on cell phones so survivors can contact loved ones, and coordinate a grassroots relief effort.
Batay Ourviye – a grassroots Haitian Organization
As a movement, Batay Ouvriye strives to organize workers, peasants, working people in general, and the oppressed masses in general around their specific demands, in an autonomous and democratic manner. Click here for more information about Batay Ourviye.Miami Workers Center is supporting Batay Ourviye by facilitating online and credit card donations.
Anyone on the average salary (that’s £25,000, more than most people globally could dream of) knows that buying a home to live in has become virtually impossible. This isn’t the story usually told in newspapers (who have very profitable property supplements), where rises in house prices are prayed for as fervently as visions of the Madonna in Ireland, with just as much basis in reality.
If you had a house before prices went crazy, you have a huge amount of pretend money. If you didn’t, you won’t. Ever. A house no longer costs 3-4 times your salary, it’s 7 or 8.
Now some minor government functionary says: fugged abaht it. You ain’t getting one. Rent forever. Raise kids in a place where you can be turfed out at the whim of one of the Propertied Classes. Don’t decorate. Don’t even put posters up. No you can’t insulate better, pay the ever-increasing heating bill instead.
Which we knew anyway. What’s the solution?
Here’s one. Since there’s a drought of nice, secure council / social housing since the introduction of the Right to Buy in the 1980s, why don’t we level the playing field a bit?
Let’s not abandon the Right to Buy, let’s extend it to privately-owned homes. If I’ve lived in a place for a certain number of years, it is mine, treat it the same as if it were a mortgage. Landlord’s got their money back several times over.
It takes the sound principle of ownership by use, the proven popularity of right-to-buy and it’s a win in terms of increasing equality.
What do you think?
