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Don’t Vote for Them

Download the bilingual “Don’t Vote for Them” leaflet here.

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Make Every Day May Day Mtg July 10

Our next meeting is Tuesday, July 10, 6:00 p.m., at P&L Press Infoshop, 2727 W. 27th Ave., Unit C, Denver.

We will discuss “Making Every Day May Day,” building on the ideas we came up with at our June meeting. All are welcome to meet with us.

Protected: 6/12 Committee Meeting Minutes

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Meeting Tuesday, June 12

Our next meeting is Tuesday, June 12, 6:00 p.m., at P&L Press Infoshop, 2727 W. 27th Ave., Unit C, Denver.

We will discuss “Making Every Day May Day.”

Protected: 5/8 Committee Meeting Minutes

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Occupy Denver Website “On Strike”

Occupy Denver Website screenshot image

Occupy Denver's website is "on strike" with Twitter feeds, livestream locations, and Civic Center May Day schedule. Click above to visit the site.

May Day Musings: Wobblies, Žižek, and Burnt Bookmobile

Wildcat Strike leaflet image

Leaflet from March 2011, Burnt Bookmobile, concerning the U.S. Postal Service strike of 1970.

Juan Conatz, an IWW member from Minneapolis, contributed an article to the May Day issue of the IWW’s newspaper, International Worker. In “Some Objections To Occupy May 1st,” Conatz confronts what are perhaps the most common quibbles about the wisdom of a general strike this May Day, from “Organized labor was not/is not being consulted” to “What about May 2nd?”

Yesterday, Conatz posted his interview with Burnt Bookmobile, a Milwaukee blog,

run by some people influenced by various anti-authoritarian tendencies, including insurrectionary anarchism, left communism, and nihilism, among others. During the spring of 2011, when the ‘Wisconsin Uprising’ or ‘#wiunion movement’ was in full swing, they put out a number of flyers, leaflets and posters that pushed the occupation or general strike concept forward and contributed to the more militant atmosphere that Madison saw traces of.

Earlier this week, in The Guardian, Slavoj Žižek asked, “Occupy Wall Street: What Is To Be Done… Next?” He points out the fallacy of attacking greed without attacking capitalism, and of protests that “express a spirit of revolt without revolution,” i.e., creating that which will fill the shell of the old world (to quote from the preamble to the IWW Constitution).

Occupy and MoveOn.org: The Leaders Being Led

Earlier this month, one of our number attended a session of the 99% Spring direct-action training ostensibly sponsored by a coalition of 40+ organizations, but spearheaded by MoveOn.org. During that training attendees were eager to hear about May Day 2012 activities. You can even view training segments online.

The training spurred reflections, such as “How Occupy Co-Opted MoveOn.org,” published in Mother Jones by Josh Harkinson. Yes! magazine featured “Occupy, the 99% Spring, and the New Age of Direct Action,” by Mark Engler. Both articles raise the issue of co-optation, but as another of our number framed it, “I prefer to think of this as the leaders being led.”

More from Montreal

Ultimatum cover image

Click to see newspaper from CLASSE (Coalition large de l’Association pour une Solidarité Syndicale Étudiante)

Here are some additional resources regarding the student strike in Montreal, which may be moving in the direction of being more than a one-issue movement.

  • Rouge Squad: “We provide bilingual resources against the tuition hikes and for the student strike”; this site also has several links to other websites
  • Facebook: News from the 2012 Quebec student general strike

Northern CA Workers Consider Bridge Action; “Occupy the Farm”

Occupy the Bridge poster image

Golden Gate Bridge, Bus, and Ferry Workers Prepare for Possible May Day Strike to Protect Good Jobs and Healthcare

North Bay Labor Council Grants Strike Sanction to Golden Gate Labor Coalition

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, April 23, 2012 – The North Bay Labor Council granted strike sanction to the Golden Gate Labor Coalition this weekend as Golden Gate bridge, bus, and ferry workers gear up for a major May Day action at the bridge. The Golden Gate Labor Coalition received strike sanctions earlier this month from the San Francisco Labor Council and the San Francisco Building Trades Council. …

Workers have been in negotiations with Golden Gate Bridge District management since April 2011. There have been over 45 bargaining sessions to date and the current contract expired in July 2011. The Labor Coalition has offered concessions worth an estimated $2 million each year. Although Golden Gate Bridge District management has acknowledged that the financial needs of the district have been met, they are still seeking to push the cost of healthcare onto workers and their families. Read the complete press release here…

Hundreds of Farmers Occupy UC Berkeley’s Gill Tract in Albany

(Albany, Calif.), April 22, 2012 – Occupy the Farm, a coalition of local residents, farmers, students, researchers, and activists are planting over 15,000 seedlings at the Gill Tract, the last remaining 10 acres of Class I agricultural soil in the urbanized East Bay area. The Gill Tract is public land administered by the University of California, which plans to sell it to private developers.

For decades the UC has thwarted attempts by community members to transform the site for urban sustainable agriculture and hands-on education. With deliberate disregard for public interest, the University administrators plan to pave over this prime agricultural soil for commercial retail space, a Whole Foods Market, and a parking lot.

“For ten years people in Albany have tried to turn the Gill Tract into an Urban Farm and a more open space for the community. The people in the Bay Area deserve to use this treasure of land for an urban farm to help secure the future of our children,” explains Jackie Hermes-Fletcher, an Albany resident and public school teacher for 38 years. Read more here… And access photos here…

Tilling the Soil photo image

Once cleared of the mustard ground cover, it was time to till the soil into rows for planting.