Monday, June 29, 2009

Workers Unite!

As previously stated, I am keeping people updated on the CBC documentary, The Take. As a recap, the doc is about the worker's uprising in Argentina. In Argentina, jobs are scarce due to the collapse of the industrial sector which was brought about by contracts and agreements with the IMF.

Now, the labourers of these foreclosed factories are creating workers' assemblies to re-open the buildings and ensure their right to work. The workers refer to these assemblies as co-operatives: everybody has a say and everybody gets to work.



However, since the State and the Corporation are intrinsically linked, the workers are finding it very difficult to escape the bureaucratic process of making the factories 'legitimate'. This obstacle brings up the fundamental difference between the formal and informal markets.



Formal markets are deemed legitimate by the State because they have completed and paid-off an authorized legal process. Informal markets are seen as illegitimate because of, what? Although safety and human rights regulations are benefits to the legitimization process, small businesses and entrepreneurs are failing in the market because they cannot afford legitimacy.

Secondly, those that can afford it are big businesses, major corporations, that also get tax relief and subsidies.

What about this legitimization process is fair?

Legitimacy should come from ownership of one's work and product as long as it does not impede or hurt another person's life.

Well, that is not really worth buying into, is it? How else would the rich get richer?

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Tuesdays with Mitso: Why People Are Lazy

It is another Wednesday which means another long shift of banter has passed with my passionate comrade, Mitso. The topic of last night (or rather this morning) was cynicism and civic responsibility.

He, the cynic, outlined for me that the state is the lesser of all evil when getting people to do the right thing. I, the realist optimist, believe that people have the inherent ability to do the right thing when they are not being watched by Big Brother.

A perfect example of this occurred last night at the establishment where my comrade and I work. Shit was just not done. Chaos laid amidst the anarchy of drunks and half-smoked cigarette butts. It was a long night of cleaning, mopping, scrubbing, emptying, re-stocking and side-line gin&soda-ing, my little drop of poison.

To end the night, my comrade and I sat at the conference table to count money that we collected from patrons of the establishment. The green was tallied and locked away for the big boss to collect the next day. Cha-ching.

My dearest comrade is an impossible motor-mouth. He loves pushing buttons and the sound of his voice. Sometimes, my other comrades and I don't know where he gets his energy. Believe you me, it's not cocaine. Nevertheless, he could tell by my melancholic, pastry-puff face that I was not impressed with the way the evening had gone. Exhaustion had lowered itself as quickly as the gin had traveled up to my head. There were 6 of us to begin the night and only two left to clean and re-organize the place. Not only was this a long and tedious task, but there were additional, unforeseen obstacles (like umbrellas and empty cases just thrown exactly in front of where I needed to get to). It infuriated me: If one person does not do his/her job correctly, then no one can do his/her job correctly. Not only did I have pre-existing responsibilities to perform, I suddenly had the additional task of doing others' jobs properly. It was at this moment that the importance of civic responsibility dawned on me.

I mentioned this epiphany to my dear comrade, Mitso, and he so ever cleverly dropped the S-bomb. He described the Hobbesian state of nature and how, as a result, the people need a strong Leviathan to tell them how to act right.

Hm. Maybe my comrade had a point. Yes, pour me another gin&soda. Extra lime.

This five minute interlude allowed me to slap myself a couple of times in the face and gather my thoughts.

No, my dear Mitso, as he returned, It is because of the state that shit wasn't done. In our little microcosm of proto-capitalism, the state is our 'big boss'. He sits there, shows face, drinks a beer and converses with the staff. He's got charisma. He knows everyone's name. He forks over money to buy us products that we, in turn, sell to others. At the end of the day, he goes to his cushy home while his civilians make him a butt-load of money. Vacations come easy.

For these reasons, sometimes our comrades don't want to do everything perfectly and to the best of their abilities. Sometimes, they are so exhausted from being overrun with stress, hierarchical demands and the fact that they are constantly running, literally. If the state served its people as opposed to dictate to them, our human actions would alter. My fellow comrades would know that this place is their place. They would have a vested interest in the well-being of the establishment, its patrons and staff. Shit would get done.

The reason for this, my dear comrades, is: when power is equal, competition is removed. When competition is annihilated, people don't have to pretend to look good, they just do good. Imagine what a beautiful place we could have!

But, Briz. Life is cruel, nasty, brutish and short.

Only if you keep thinking like that.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

"Bubbling Up From Below"

The Take - CBC documentary about how those in Argentina are rising from the rubble of capitalism and reclaiming their rights to work.




Take that corporate slime!



Just an example of how people can work without the corporation or state over-influencing everything. Not a perfect solution, but it just goes to show how humans are incredible creatures of motivation and perseverance.



Part 1, 2 & 3 of 9. Keep following it on your own or through the Informal Press.

Briz Wevera begins...

The other night, I had an erratically intense conversation about the relationship between politics and human rights. A comrade and I got into a discussion about freedom of speech which quickly led to fist-to-cuffs about state authoritarianism.

Although his thoughts were expressed with conviction, he did not persuade me to rethink my position on what kinds of "rights" the state has over the people: None.

Whether it is freedom of speech or property ownership, the government has no right to impose its authoritative standards upon any person.

Whose standards are these anyways? Obviously not those that are derived from the poor or middle class. They are generated by the rich through an uncomplicated process of bureaucracy. The result is an impossible guideline for those who run mom-and-pop shops, make and sell papads in Dharavi, or single-mother street vendors in Mexico City to adhere to.

What does a federal state know about the lives of the people who live in the slums of Rio or 'gang' members in Compton? Did growing up with money and networking one's way into office provide an insightful look into the needs of the people?

The only purpose of the state is to serve and protect its people. Workers of the government are civil servants whose job it is to cater to the people. They have no right to waste our time, money, or freedom, all of which are exhausted by 'economic crises' or 'swine flues'.

That long night of drinking, bantering and barraging has shown me that we are not there yet.

However, we are getting there. It requires the youth, perseverance and, of course, freedom of speech.

One day, the revolutionaries will rise again.

Rise.

(Fishy tip: H1N1 outbreak in Manitoba is disproportionately higher in the First Nations community. They blame it on lower health standards, I blame it on a guilty conscience that wants to have a tabla rasa)

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Informal Lit

Big tip: Microcosm Publishing.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

FADBUSTERS

Most eco-friendly, self-aware, free thinkers are generously acquainted with the ultra-left, anti-consumerist magazine based out of Vancouver.

Adbusters is a collection of thoughts, stories, one-liners, bad design and infamous mock-ads that advocate contemporary, 'revolutionary' ideals. Its articles range from Pro-Palestinian tirades to royal proclamations of BNDs (Buy-Nothing-Days). Essentially it is the Reader's Digest for those who have even the slightest inquiring itch of what goes down in our proto-Capitalist machine.

However, as we have seen in the past, a lot of great ideas are destroyed by fanaticism. (Aphorisms, verses, Dan Brown, ... whatever your poison). The masses consume these ideas and pervert them beyond reparation. Instead of discussing and thinking about the issues we have read, we accept the opinions as our own. The ideas in the magazine go with our outfit of forward thinking and damning the man. Having a years subscription of Adbusters has become the new accessory that sits right next to our all-natural, organic roll of toilet paper.

How did I deduce this? The other night I decided to read the issue called "A New Aesthetic", [#83]. What I found were articles that looked, smelled, tasted, and read the same as the controversial stuff of yester-year. It's boring and irrelevant because it's one-sided and extremist.

Not only does it drone on about information that has already been figured out, Adbusters is becoming just another 24K-brick in the wall. Although it is supposed to bust advertisers' balls, it has spreads selling their uber-edgey Red-Dot Sneakers, (Chuck Ts). Personally, Adbusters has become no different than the 'healthy options' provided by the McDonald's around the corner from my apartment.

Instead of consuming the image of being globally conscious and agreeing with everything the magazine spits out, we should question it. Don't take what the zine recommends as a personal proverb.

Open your eyes, open your mind, and your gut will follow.