100 YEARS AGO AUPE WAS FORGED IN THE FIRE OF THE 1919 GENERAL STRIKE!

                                            WILL HISTORY REPEAT ITSELF 

AUPE's Centennial Program

Alberta's largest union with more than 95,000 members, is celebrating 100 years of standing together in solidarity for workers' rights. In 1919, the Civil Service Union of Alberta....

AUPE - Alberta Union of Provincial Employees FACEBOOK PAGE

alberta-made web comic series showcases 100 years of ... - AUPE

https://www.aupe.org/.../alberta-made-web-comic-series-showcases-100-years-of-labo...

Feb 1, 2019 - EDMONTON – Today, the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees is launching a made-in-Alberta web comic series, "Illustrating AUPE," to ...

Cheers to 100 Years! - AUPE

https://www.aupe.org/direct-impact/cheers-100-years/

Cheers to 100 Years! AUPE is celebrating 100 years of solidarity, and our past is inspiring members to fight for the future. One hundred years ago, on Wednesday, March 26, 1919, a small group of workers made their way towards Edmonton's First Presbyterian Church.

One of the founding members of the CSUA aka AUPE was 

Alf Farmilo, Sec. Treasurer of the newly founded Alberta Federation of Labour (1912) as well as Recording Secretary of the Edmonton District Trades and Labour Council (1906) aka today as the EDLC Edmonton District Labour Council.

Brother Farmilo was Samuel Gompers man (AFL) in Alberta and as such was more conservatively inclined, which came to a head during the General Strike between him and Socialist Party Leader, Fellow Worker and Comrade Carl Berg, one of the executives of the EDTLC and representative of the One Big Union OBU on the council, and leader of the 1919 General Strike. He was recognized by the Edmonton Journal Edmonton Centennial as Labour's representative in their 100 Great Edmontonians. 

Organized labour’s role in municipal politics

The Edmonton General Strike of 1919 - Eugene Plawiuk - Libcom.org

https://libcom.org/library/edmonton-general-strike-1919-eugene-plawiuk

Sep 21, 2007 - Eugene Plawiuk's account of the Edmonton general strike of 1919 which was sparked off in solidarity with the general strike in Winnipeg,.

Calgary 1919: The Birth of the OBU and the General Strike - 

https://libcom.org/library/calgary-1919-birth-obu-general-strike-eugene-plawiuk

Sep 21, 2007 - Eugene Plawiuk's history of the Calgary general strike of 1919, which started off as a sympathy strike for the Winnipeg general strike and soon ...

List of riots and civil unrest in Calgary - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_riots_and_civil_unrest_in_Calgary

The following is a timeline of riots and civil unrest in Calgary, Alberta. Since its incorporation as ... May 1919, Labour unrest, After the formation of the One Big Union in Calgary in March 1919, the Calgary General Strike was held in solidarity .... "Calgary 1919: The Birth of the OBU and the General Strike - Eugene Plawiuk".

THE FIGHT BACK AGAINST KLEIN
ALBERTA 1995

Wildcat 1995

Ten Days That Shook Alberta 1995

The Fight Back Against Contracting Out 1995

100 YEARS OLD AND STILL TRUE TODAY 

The General Strike by Ralph Chaplin

... class-conscious workers in years past have looked to the General Strike for deliverance from wage slavery. Today their hopes are stronger than ...

SEE

• CLASS WAR IN ALBERTA NO JUSTICE NO PEACE HSAA - Health Sciences Association...

CLASS WAR IN ALBERTA AUPE FIGHTS BACK

Have you ever thought bosses need even more power over workers? No? Well, our UCP government seems to think so. 🤔

They want to get rid of overtime banking for non-union workers, bring back scabs for public sector labour disputes, and more! 👎🏾 What do you think of the government's Better for Bosses Act?

CLASS WAR IN ALBERTA - UPDATED

Leaked letter reveals Alberta is eyeing legislation, if necessary, to override public sector wage talks | The Star

Alberta’s finance minister says the government will pass legislation if necessary to override collective bargaining agreements with unions and delay contractually mandated wage talks

ALL CLASS WAR IN ALBERTA STORIES

'Straight pride' parade organizer has held and attended far-right events

Rallies and protests organized by Mark Sahady have often been small, with attendees vastly outnumbered by opposing groups


Jason Wilson
@jason_a_w
Sat 8 Jun 2019

 

At the annual Pride Parade in San Francisco, a man 

wears a hat that parodies Donald Trump’s campaign slogan. 

Photograph: Elijah Nouvelage/Reuters


Far-right figures associated with a “straight pride” parade in Boston have celebrated the story going “viral” in news media, but with no fixed date and no city permit granted the likely size of the event and chances of it going ahead remain unclear.

'Straight pride' group removes Brad Pitt as mascot after backlash

Mark Sahady is the principal organizer, under the moniker Super Happy Fun America. He has previously organized and attended events, some of which have turned violent, as the leader of the Boston chapter of a group called Resist Marxism. The Daily Beast described the new organization as a “front for [the] far-right group”.

Events organized by Sahady in Boston have often been small, with attendees vastly outnumbered by opposing groups. In the immediate aftermath of the Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017, during which a counter-protester was killed, a Free Speech Rally in Boston saw attendees outnumbered by tens of thousands of opponents. A Rally for the Republic was similarly small-scale, as was a counter-protest to a pro-gun control March for Our Lives event.


In 2018, Think Progress reported that Resist Marxism had links with white nationalist groups, and that members had expressed antisemitic sentiments in leaked chats.

Among the events Sahady has traveled to nationwide in recent years was a June 2018 event in Portland, Oregon, that was organized by Patriot Prayer leader Joey Gibson and which degenerated into extreme violence, declared a riot by Portland police.

Resist Marxism was founded by Kyle Chapman, better known as “Based Stickman” since footage of him brawling with antifascists in Berkeley – complete with armor and a club – made him a cause célèbre on the far right in 2017. A convicted felon, Chapman is awaiting trial on charges of carrying a leaded stick into a pro-Trump rally in March. He also faces felony assaultcharges in Texas.

Chapman has been celebrating media attention to the straight pride parade on his account on Telegram, an instant messaging platform which has become popular among rightwing figures such as Gavin McInnes, Milo Yiannopoulos and the Proud Boys who have been banned from more mainstream social media.

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Linking to a New York Times story, Chapman wrote to his 600 followers: “The New York Times has picked up this story as well. Thanks for the free advertising NYT!”

Later, linking to a T-shirt for sale on a Proud Boys-linked online store featuring the slogan “It’s great to be straight”, Chapman wrote: “Do I hear triggered leftists? Order now and watch them melt down! #StraightPrideParade.”

Chapman has also inflated several white nationalist talking points, claiming “white genocide is in full swing in South Africa” and decrying Florida laws against antisemitic discrimination, writing: “Antisemitism laws are cropping up all over the country. Most of you cucks are afraid of saying anything for fear of being called antisemitic.”

Boston’s mayor, Marty Walsh, said no permit had yet been issued for the Straight Pride Parade but wrote on Twitter: “Permits to host a public event are granted based on operational feasibility, not based on values or endorsements of beliefs.”

Walsh added: “The city of Boston cannot deny a permit based on an organization’s values.”

Parade organizers announced that Yiannopoulos would act as the “mascot and Grand Marshall”. Yiannopoulos – exiled from US conservative circles after comments about pedophilia, widely banned from social media and revealed last year by the Guardian to be in deep debt – has begun promoting the event on his own Telegram channel.

Yiannopoulos, who is gay, wrote: “Can’t wait to see you Boston, it’s great to be straight.”

Organizers of the straight pride parade did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

David Neiwert, author of Alt America and a longtime observer of the US far right, believes the march is primarily opportunistic. For the Daily Kos, he described Sahady as a “street brawler” with “a history … of organizing violent events”.


Neiwert told the Guardian: “What we know about these street-fighting gangs is that they latch on to whatever they can in order to go out and fight with the left.”

He added: “In this case it’s so utterly juvenile that it’s like a sixth-grade taunt.”

Detroit police chief faces backlash over neo-Nazi protest at Pride event

James Craig was criticized after officers escorted National Socialist Movement members who carried weapons at Motor City Pride

Tom Perkins in Detroit
Fri 14 Jun 2019
 

Members of the National Socialist Movement demonstrate against the Motor City Pride festival in Detroit, Michigan, on 8 June. Photograph: Jim Urquhart/Reuters

Detroit’s black police chief is under fire over his department’s handling of a neo-Nazi group’s protest of a LGBTQ Pride festival, and comments he made in the days after the event that equated counter-protesters with the neo-Nazis.

Chief James Craig told reporters at a press conference this week that “both sides were wrong” and repeated a similar claim to the Detroit city council, which outraged some members of the public and counter-protesters, many of whom are black.

Craig told reporters: “Both groups were taunting our officers with racial epithets” and counter-protesters were “masked-up and referring to our African American officers inappropriately”.

However, Meeko Williams, a black counter-protester, said Craig’s claims were untrue.


“We don’t tolerate racism, and we told [officers]: ‘You’re black. The Nazis will kill you, too. They don’t have any respect for African American police officers,’” Williams said. “They were threatening to shoot cops, calling [officers] monkeys and N-words, and my comrades were trying to get officers to break rank and turn them back against the Nazis.”

Craig’s comments appeared to echo Donald Trump’s remarks after the 2017 Charlottesville Unite the Right rally in which a far-right protester was convicted of murdering a counter-protester and injuring eight others by driving a car into a crowd. Trump said there were “very fine people” on both sides.

The Motor City Pride festival took place in downtown Detroit’s Hart Plaza last weekend. About 15 members of the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement marched at the event. They openly carried three rifles, two handguns and other weapons, according to police.

The group tore up a rainbow Pride flag and shouted racist and homophobic abuse. The neo-Nazis also made chimpanzee noises toward black people and police officers, according to multiple witnesses, while photos show one member of the group appearing to urinate on an Israeli flag.

FacebookTwitterPinterest Members of the National Socialist Movement tear apart a Pride flag at in Detroit, Michigan, on 8 June. Photograph: Jim Urquhart/Reuters

About 15 Detroit police officers formed a human barrier around the neo-Nazis and escorted them as they marched. Video shows police, some of whom were wearing rainbow Pride pins, pushing counter-protesters. In one video of the incident, a counter-protester appears to be asking officers: “How come they get protected, but we’re not?”


The police strategy prompted accusations that they were protecting neo-Nazis instead of those attending the event and the public. When asked by reporters on Monday about the department’s strategy, Craig replied: “Everyone has a right to freedom of speech, but you don’t have a right to engage in unlawful conduct.”

He later added: “We kept the distance between both groups, and there was no violence … It could have been a bad situation had it erupted into violence. It did not.”

Craig also told the Detroit city council at its regular Tuesday meeting that officers surrounded the marching neo-Nazis and created a “buffer” to avoid a confrontation between the two sides, adding: “Our strategy worked.”

FacebookTwitterPinterest

However, bodycam footage that appears to have come from one of the neo-Nazis shows one of them assaulting a woman. The woman, Jessica Prozinski, posted the video to social media. It shows the neo-Nazi knocking her to the ground as she walks in front of them. She said police witnessed the encounter but took no action.

“They saw what happened, but they weren’t protecting us. They did nothing,” Prozinski said. “It was disgraceful. They provided Nazis with an armed escort up to the gate of Pride where people were in line. I have bruises on my arms, but they’re from the police.”

Police also received criticism for not informing the public that the neo-Nazis would be protesting at the festival. Craig said his department was aware of the plans a week ahead of time, but didn’t inform the public or city council in an effort to prevent large clashes.


“They didn’t just want to do what they did in Charlottesville; they wanted an enhanced version of Charlottesville,” Craig told city council.

Though there’s currently no evidence that Detroit police worked with the neo-Nazis, police in California, Oregon and other states have coordinated or maintained friendly relationships with far-right groups ahead of similar protests. Police at Michigan State University in early 2018 took a much more passive approach when hundreds of protesters blocked neo-Nazis from entering a Richard Spencer event. That broke out in violence that resulted in injured neo-Nazis fleeing campus.

Williams said Detroit police should have been “escorting the Nazis out of downtown, up I-75 … and out of the city.

“The image of black police officers protecting white Nazis in a majority African American city is a bad image,” he said. “This is horrible for Detroit.”

A police spokesperson said Craig was not immediately available for comment.

15 Neo-Nazi protesters disrupt LGBT+ pride march and 'rip up rainbow flags'

SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=LGBTQ

15 Neo-Nazi protesters disrupt LGBT+ pride march and 'rip up rainbow flags'

LGBT+ pride marches in US interrupted by neo-Nazis and stampede

Posted by Andy Gregory in news

Jim Urquhart/Reuters/Twitter

An armed group of neo-Nazis marched on Detroit’s Motor City Pride festival on Saturday, “escorted” by police who allegedly "bruised those that tried to intervene".

Around 10 supporters of the National Socialist Movement (NSM) made Nazi salutes while holding large shields emblazoned with their logo and waved swastika-adorned flags at the family-friendly LGBT+ celebration.

The white nationalists reportedly yelled “white power” and "sieg heil", ripped up rainbow flags and appeared to urinate on an Israeli flag, with some carrying rifles.

As reported by PinkNews, the hate group’s “commander” wrote on the Russian networking site VK, on which he has eight followers:

“NSM will be armed and counter-protesting the freaks. NSM, lets [sic] put some boots on the ground!!

"I don’t really give a damn about op-sec or Antifa in this situation.

We go in with Swastikas blazing and if people don’t like it, tough shit...

Those there to celebrate Pride could be heard chanting at police: "Who do you protect?"

People were understandably furious.

In the UK, Pride month opened with two homophobic attacks dominating the headlines.

Read more: Homophobe gets taken down for comparing Pride Month to Nazi Germany


LGBT+ pride marches in US interrupted by neo-Nazis and stampede

'Literally f****** Nazis are at Motor City Pride right now, please be safe out there'

Tom Embury-Dennis @tomemburyd
The Independent US

Separate LGBT+ pride marches in the US were disrupted on Saturday, one by a stampede triggered over fears of a shooting and another by one of America’s biggest neo-Nazi groups.

In Washington DC, seven people were taken to hospital after fears of a potential gunman at the pride event sparked panic.

Hundreds of people were gathered at the Dupont Circle for the parade when people started running after hearing what they thought was a gunshot. 

"As the officers were going to the scene, there was a crowd of people going away from it and some of the individuals in the crowd said there was a man with a gun and that someone had fired a shot," said Guillermo Rivera, a commander with the Metropolitan Police Department.

A man was taken into custody and is facing a gun possession charge, he said.

Best photos from Pride 2019 across the world
Show all 32 











Mayor Muriel Bowser tweeted that she had been briefed by police and there were "no shots fired".

Elizabeth Hernandez, 19, was among those celebrating in the city when she said she heard "pop, pop" and suddenly barricades were being thrown over and a crowd of people starting running frantically from the area.



People gather to watch the DC Pride Parade in Washington, DC (EPA)

"Everything fell and everyone said 'Run!"' said Ms Hernandez, of Falls Church, Virginia.

In Detroit, an armed white supremacist group called the National Socialist Movement (NSM) descended on the annual Motor City Pride Festival, where they held placards, gave Nazi salutes and displayed armbands with swastikas.




National Socialist Movement members demonstrate against the LGBT 
event Motor City Pride (REUTERS)
Photos from the event, which was attended by thousands of LGBT+ supporters, showed a group of around 10 neo-Nazis marching surrounded by police officers. 

Dressed in black with a number carrying firearms and shields, the NSM marchers tore apart pride flags and pushed over at least one counter-demonstrator.



National Socialist Movement member stands on Israeli flag (REUTERS)

HE IS URINATING ON THE FLAG!!!! EP
“Literally f****** Nazis are at Motor City Pride right now, please be safe out there y’all,” one user tweeted on Saturday afternoon. “Even if they deserve it, do not engage. Our safety at our Pride is the most important thing.”

Following Hong Kong unrest, rally set for Saturday in Vancouver

Protest to demand authorities scrap a proposed extradition bill with China, in Hong KongThomas Peter / Reuters

The Chinese Embassy in Canada issued a statement Thursday saying: "People from the Canadian government made irresponsible and erroneous comments."

After days of unrest in Hong Kong, representatives of the Canadian and Chinese governments exchanged sharp words this week, while Vancouver community groups planned a rally to show solidarity with protesters in Asian port city.

Organizers said the rally, set for 11 a.m. Saturday outside Vancouver’s Chinese consulate at 3380 Granville St., has been planned to “condemn the violence” inflicted by Hong Kong police on protesters earlier this week during protests over a proposed law to allow China to demand extradition of suspects from Hong Kong. Saturday’s rally in Vancouver is being organized by the Canadian Friends of Hong Kong, the Vancouver Hong Kong Forum, and the Vancouver Society in Support of Democratic Movement.

Mabel Tung, chair of the Vancouver Society In Support of Democratic Movement, said citizens of both Canada and Hong Kong strongly value human rights, and it has been painful to watch coverage of the violent clashes unfolding in the streets of Hong Kong, which is a special administrative region of China.

“As Canadians, we have our universal values. We understand what human rights really mean,” said Tung, who emigrated from Hong Kong to Vancouver in 1979. “Our Canadian values I really treasure, and also I really treasure the place where I was born. So that’s why I have to speak up and do something about it.”

A rally outside Vancouver’s Chinese consulate last Sunday reportedly drew a crowd of hundreds. Tung expects this Saturday’s rally could draw more than 1,000 people, she said, because “people are very angry.”

Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, issued a statement Wednesday saying Canada has been “closely following” Hong Kong’s proposed extradition bill, adding: “Canada remains concerned about the potential effect these proposals may have on the large number of Canadian citizens in Hong Kong, on business confidence, and on Hong Kong’s international reputation.”

The day after Freeland’s statement, the Chinese Embassy in Canada issued its own message, saying: “Hong Kong affairs are purely China’s internal affairs. No other country, organization or individual has the right to interfere. … Recently, some people from the Canadian government made irresponsible and erroneous comments on the Hong Kong SAR government’s amendment to the ordinance and other Hong Kong affairs. We deplore and firmly oppose this.”

Jenny Kwan, the NDP Member of Parliament for Vancouver East who emigrated from Hong Kong to Canada as a child, issued a statement Thursday condemning both the extradition bill and the Hong Kong police’s response to the protesters.

“The government’s disregard of the protesters’ point of view and its unilateral decision making process has led to the escalation of the demonstrations and the violent confrontations that are now happening on the streets. There is no justification for a government to use such excessive force — tear gas and rubber bullets — against unarmed civilians in a peaceful demonstration,” Kwan said in the written statement. “It breaks my heart to watch so many young people, passionate about the fate of their birthplace, confront fully armoured riot police, and get beaten down and injured.

“It is my hope that the government of Hong Kong will restore peace and political stability to Hong Kong by respecting the wishes of the people and immediately withdraw the extradition bill.”

Hong Kong has deep ties with Canada and particularly Vancouver, said Fenella Sung, convener of the Canadian Friends of Hong Kong society. Immigration from Hong Kong, which ramped up in the 1980s and 1990s, has significantly altered the real estate, culture and business climates in Vancouver, Sung said.

“There is an old joke that Hong Kong is the 16th largest Canadian city,” Sung said, noting an estimated 300,000 Canadian citizens live in Hong Kong, a number that exceeds the population of cities like Burnaby, Saskatoon, and Kitchener, Ont.

“The exodus of the Hong Kong people because of political instability in Hong Kong and China, really, is very much a part of Canadian history,” Sung said.

MORE HONG KONG STORIES

The Pentagon emits more greenhouse gases than Portugal, study finds

• "The Pentagon’s emissions were “in any one year … greater than many smaller countries’ greenhouse gas emissions.

  If it were a country, its emissions would make it the world’s 55th largest contributor.

  Global temperatures are on course for a 3C to 5C (5.4F to 9.0F) rise this century, far overshooting a global target of limiting the increase to 2C or less, the UN World Meteorological Organization said in November."

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