May Week in Redmonton

What is the May Week Labour Arts Festival?

The Edmonton May Week Labour Arts Festival brings together the labour movement, workers and artists to celebrate the achievements of people’s struggles for social and economic justice through visual arts, music, film, poetry and theatre. Through the many artistic disciplines of the festival, May Week provides people with the information, education and inspiration to make positive change in our local and global communities.

The May Week festival is built around May Day (May 1st), which is recognized as the International Workers’ Holiday, chosen over 100 years ago to commemorate the struggles and gains of workers and the Labour Movement. May 1st is also a significant date in the fight for the eight-hour workday, and is tied to the infamous Haymarket Tragedy. May Day is important not only for its historical significance, but also as a time to organize and speak out around issues that are impacting working-class people today.

Monday, April 30, 2007

Global Visions Film Festival

Time: 7:00 pm
May Week teams up with the Global Visions Film Festival to bring you an evening of short labour films, featuring the Canadian release of “Mother Jones: Americas Most Dangerous Woman”. Directed by Laura Vasquez and Rosemary Feurer, this short documentary celebrates the life and times of this revolutionary labour organizer and activist.

Also showing by the same directors is Lockout 484, which profiles the 2005 struggle of workers in Meredosia, Illinois, against a global conglomerate, the Celanese Corporation. Workers were locked out when they refused to take 33% wage cuts and eliminate whole divisions. The film illustrates their belief in and commitment to the union, and the effect of the lockout on their community.

Sponsored by Chivers Carpenter Lawyers.

Event Location: Metro Theater, Zeidler Hall - main floor of the Citadel Theatre Complex (9828-101A Avenue)

Event Admission: $10

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

May Day March

Time: 5:30 pm
May 1st is a day chosen by workers to acknowledge the struggles and celebrate the gains workers have made throughout history. Each year, workers around the world take to the streets to let the bosses, corporations and governments know that workers will continue to fight for fairness, justice and respect in the workplace as well as celebrate our well-fought gains. Join us!

Gather at 5:30pm at Tipton Park (108 St. and 81 Ave), march via Whyte Avenue to End of Steel park (look for caboose near Saskatchewan Drive and 87 Avenue).

Rally at End of Steel Park to follow the march, featuring the performances of Guy Smith, Notre Dame des Bananes, Lex and the People's Poets!

Event Location: Gather at 5:30pm at Tipton Park (108 St. and 81 Ave). Rally at End of Steel Park at 6:30pm.

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

IWW Panel and Pub Night

Time: 6:30 pm

Solidarity Unionism: Theory and Practice. A Tale from a New York Barista.

Join the Industrial Workers of the World for an evening of drinks and dialogue. This discussion will feature a short film on the IWW Starbucks Barista Union, highlighting the history of their New York drive, as well as a Starbucks Organizer from the Big Apple. Along with this presentation there will be a question and answer session, discussing solidarity unionism and other non-traditional organizing methods. Anyone interested in the current state of labour organizing is encouraged to attend.

Event Location: The Underdog (The basement of the Black Dog), 10425 - 82 Ave.
More Information: Edmonton IWW

Thursday, May 03, 2007

Accessing Justice Panel

Time: 6:30 pm
Do you know your rights?

Panelists from various organizations will speak on the resources and services they provide:

Edmonton Centre for Equal Justice - Offers free legal information, advice and representation for people living with low income in the Edmonton area.
Alberta Union of Provincial Employees - You can take an important step toward protecting your job security and enhancing your dignity on the job through workplace organizing.
Action for Healthy Communities - Fostering citizenship participation to improve community health and well being in central Edmonton.

Event Location: Edmonton Mennonite Centre for Newcomers, #101, 10010 - 107 A Avenue

Friday, May 04, 2007

Anarchist Bookfair Collective Panel and Discussion - the Radical History of May Day

Time: 6:30 pm
From the anarchist-organized events surrounding May 1st, 1886, such as the Haymarket Massacre, to the Worker's Revolt of 1919, to the May Day celebrations and marches of today, anarchists and the radical working class have played a vital role in May Day.

Join the Edmonton Anarchist Bookfair Collective for a discussion of the radical history of May Day.

You can also visit their blog.

Event Location: Remedy Cafe, 8631-109 Street, upstairs

SEE:

MayDay

Day of Mourning

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anarchy, anarchism, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, historyworkers, injuries, assault, crime, work, labour, labor, May Week Labour Arts Festival, Redmonton, service workers, Canada, May Day, MayDay, May Week, Edmonton, unions, Alberta

Day of Mourning

Today is the International Day of Mourning for workers injured or killed on the job.


There are around a million
workplace injuries a year in Canada
— a compensable injury occurs
every seven seconds each
working day.

■ Deaths from workplace injury
average nearly a thousand a year. In
Canada, one worker is killed every
two hours of each working day.

■ Deaths from workplace diseases go
largely unrecorded and
uncompensated; they likely exceed
deaths from workplace injuries.

■ Despite this, many governments are
weakening health and safety rules
and their enforcement.

The Day of Mourning was declared by the Canadian Labour Congress in 1984. Steve Mahoney, chairman of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, said yesterday's occasion was especially sad with the death of a worker in Mississauga on Thursday and the TTC maintenance driver killed Monday. "Sadly it is a normal week. We lose two workers every week.

Every year on April 28th, the national Day of Mourning is observed to commemorate those killed or hurt by workplace injuries or disease. Last year, 101 people died in Ontario because of traumatic workplace injuries; and more died due to occupational disease.

The numbers are staggering. In Canada, some 855 employees die from work-related incidents each year, averaging more than 2 deaths every day. In fact, in 2005 the average increased to 3 fatalities a day. From 1993 to 2005, more than 11,123 people lost their lives due to workplace incidents. Another 900,000 per year are injured or become ill.

"In 1984,  there were 744 workplace fatalities recognized by compensation boards across
Canada," Moist said. "In 2005 there were 1,097 recognized fatalities. As
horrendous as these statistics are, the real picture is even worse because
compensation boards do not recognize a number of occupational illnesses."
   Since 1984 more than 19,000 Canadian workers have been killed on the job
and more than 20,000,000 have been injured. The Centre for the Study of Living
Standards reported that in 2005 the incidence of workplace fatalities in
Canada was 6.8 per 100,000 workers, up from 5.9 per 100,000 workers in 1993.
   "This workplace carnage has to stop and it can stop if governments put
their efforts into prevention programs and enforcing legislation," said Claude
Généreux, CUPE national secretary-treasurer.

In 2005 1,097* workplace deaths were recorded in Canada - up from 928
deaths the previous year. This 18% increase was driven mostly by the
rise in fatality rate from occupational disease, which accounted for
50.8% of all fatalities. Asbestos-related deaths make up more than half
of this number - as well as almost a third of all workplace fatalities.

SFL Lending Voice to Mourning Day Protest

100-thousand people a year die from exposure to Asbestos. That's according to the World Health Organization.

Canada exports over 200-thousand metric tonnes of Asbestos, mined in Quebec, to poor Asian countries that have few regulatory systems in place to deal with protecting those who work with the product.

The Saskatchewan Federation of Labour is supporting an American protest at the Canadian Embassy in Washington Saturday against the use of asbestos in third world countries.

Today is the International Day of Mourning for workers killed in their workplaces.

Day of mourning for workers hits home in Trail, BC

TRAIL, B.C. -- This year's day of mourning for workers killed or injured on the job will be particularly emotional given Monday's railway tragedy, say local organizers.

It is a really sad situation any time you have someone die on the job or any other place," said Al Graham, president of the West Kootenay Labour Council. "To have it happen only days before makes (the event) all the more sad and poignant."

The death of Lonnie Plasko in Monday's CP Rail accident in Trail will be noted at Saturday's ceremony, but the focus will remain on the safety of all workers, added Graham, a Teck Cominco plant worker and Trail city councillor.

"There are no accidents on the job site, only mistakes . . . Lonnie rode the train to the end to prevent others from being injured. Only time will tell what caused the problem. Our condolences go out to his family, and to all the families."

The international day has been marked for 25 years, "and the message is always the same: mourn for the dead and fight for the living," Graham said.

In B.C. last year, 160 workers died on the job or from occupational diseases, including four people who were asphyxiated in May at Teck's closed Sullivan Mine in Kimberley. There were 188 deaths in 2005 and a 10-year average of 150.

Two-and-a-half Workers a Week - The Price of Prosperity?

"Alberta has little to boast about in the area of workplace safety," says
AFL President Gil McGowan. "Workplace accidents are on the rise, despite - or
maybe because of - the boom."
 "Alberta workplaces kill 2 1/2 workers each week. Is that the price of
prosperity?" McGowan asks. "If so, it is too high for me."
    In 2006, 124 workers were killed due to work, and an additional 20
farmworker fatalities, who are not included in official figures. "There were
over 181,000 reported accidents last year in Alberta," observes McGowan. "An
increase of 7.4% in one year."
    "Why do so many workers die, year after year, with apparently little
progress? The answer I come up with is because none of us make occupational
health and safety the priority it needs to be."
    "The government is in denial, and employers are too interested in their
growing profit margins to take safety seriously," notes McGowan. "To hear
government spin doctors' talk, you would think we have the safest workplaces
in the world. However, their rhetoric is made up of misleading statistics and
hollow promises."
    McGowan argues accidents are on the rise because workplaces are too busy
and corners are being cut on safety. "Employers have the money right now to
ensure safety equipment and procedures are in place. By not doing it, they are
failing in their legal and moral responsibility."

   Alberta Workplace Fatalities

    -  In 2006, 124 workers were killed, plus 20 farmworkers
    -  In 2005, 144 workers were killed, plus 14 farmworkers
    -  This is the 10th straight year with more than 100 fatalities
    -  613 workers have been killed in the last five years
    -  Since 1905, 9,466 workers have been killed due to work (not including
       farmworkers)
    -  According to Statistics Canada, Alberta has the fourth highest
       fatality rate in Canada (deaths per 100,000 workers):
       -  Territories: 27.4
       -  Newfoundland: 11.7
       -  B.C.: 8.9
       -  Alberta: 8.0
       -  Ontario 6.5
       -  Quebec: 6.0
       -  PEI: 1.5 (lowest in Canada)

    Alberta Safety Statistics

    -  Number of reported workplace accidents, 2006: 181,159
       -  An increase of 7.4% from 2005
       -  Up 23.8% since 2000
    -  Number of person/days lost to injury, 2006: 1,477,000 (up 9.7% from
       2005)
    -  Percentage drop in WCB Premiums 2005 to 2006: 9.0%
  

Here are my posts on this;

Danger At Work

In Canada Work Kills

Work Sucks

Psycho Bosses Depressed Workers

Which Is True

Outlaw Working Alone

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Why Managers Need Unions

COMPENSATION

Managers' overtime victory short-lived

Manitoba quickly closes loophole that handed supervisor a win

VIRGINIA GALT

WORKPLACE REPORTER

The hopes of overworked managers everywhere were briefly raised yesterday when a scrappy former store supervisor from Winnipeg won a victory at the Supreme Court of Canada in her fight for overtime pay.

Before they could even think about collecting countless hours of back pay, however, it became apparent to even the most sleep-deprived manager that the window of opportunity opened by the ruling is about to slam shut.

Effective April 30, the Manitoba government will fall in line with all other Canadian jurisdictions and exempt management employees from overtime-pay provisions in their labour laws.

Sharon Michalowski will bank more than $10,000 in overtime pay she has been battling to get from Nygard International Ltd. since 2003. She says her protracted fight has made her the "the poster girl" for other managers who hoped her case would set a precedent.

Even before the Nygard case had worked its way through the courts, employers in Manitoba -- alarmed by the possible implications -- persuaded the provincial government that managers are generally paid better than other employees, have more power to set their own working conditions and, therefore, should not qualify for overtime pay.

Yeah right they are as exploited as the rest of the employees. Managers need to be unionized with the rest of the workers in a shop. The NDP government should be ashamed of itself for being sucked into this claptrap from the bosses. The difference between a Manager and the rest of the workers in most shops is the colour of their shirts, or that they have to wear a tie. Power to set their own working conditions, yeah right....which means that instead of being paid for Overtime they are owed they can flex their work hours, but of course that never really happens at all, instead they just accrue and accrue more unpaid OT. And if they get time off its at straight time, and at the bosses convenience.

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Canada, workers, work, employees, labour, labor, unions, Manitoba, over time, managers, Labour laws,

M&A in the Labour Movement

M&A is Mergers and Acquisitions. Today this is the case between three of the worlds largest unions. This M&A in labour reflects the growing oligopolies in the Steel industry as I wrote here last year; Mittal Plays Monopoly

Also see: Time For A Canadian Steel Workers Union

And as I wrote in my paper Global Labour in the Age of Empire

Let us look at the impact of capitalism on the union movement. Unions are a business, they look at gaining large numbers of members in order to bargain with the bosses. To effectively bargain they need a steady work force, in many cases their disconnect from their members is this servicing model, the membership see a bureaucracy of union reps and leaders, who bargain for them, who service them, who do not challenge capitalism, but maintain business as usual. .

I will not go into examples of specific unions, but overall, their purpose is to maintain themselves in power, not to mobilize for workers power. As a result union membership in North America is on a serious decline. Where unions have spent their energy in the past decade has not been organizing the unorganized, or the poorest workers, or even the growing part time or contracted out workers, but in raiding each other. That’s right, gangsterism has replaced revolutionary struggle. Competing unions want each other’s membership, or as the old industries collapse the unions move into non traditional areas, such as the public sector to compete with existing public sector unions for a decreasing membership base.

In a real tribute to Wall Street, a number of unions have adopted the methods of big business; merger and acquisitions. The Brotherhood of Railway workers is talking about merging with the Teamsters. Talks are under way for Steel and other Metal workers unions to merge with Coal and Transportation unions, nationally and internationally.

Unlike the One Big Union of the last century, that believed all working people, regardless of their jobs, should be in a union to overthrow capitalism, these mergers will create new capitalist enterprises that guarantee the union bosses their jobs, in a declining growth market.

---

And while some might consider my assessment harsh let us not forget that the General Transportation Workers Union in the UK sold out the Mersey Side Dockworkers ten years ago. They surrendered the battle against globalization without firing a shot. Today they join with the Steelworkers and Amicus to become the negotiators of a gentler kinder globalization of capitalism. As I predicted; Will Canadian Labour Accept Free Trade?

Steelworkers and Amicus take first steps towards global super-union

    Merger exploration group to create 3.4 million member Trans-Atlantic
union

OTTAWA, April 18 /CNW/ - The United Steelworkers (USW), together with
Amicus and the Transportation & General Workers Union (T&GWU) of the United
Kingdom, today announced a formal process to prepare the ground for the
creation of the first Trans-Atlantic trade union.
At a ceremony held in Ottawa at the USW's Canadian National Policy
Congress, representatives of the three unions signed an accord to set up a
merger exploration committee which will be tasked with laying down a
foundation for a legal merger within one year.
The new union would represent more than 3.4 million members in the US,
Canada, UK and Ireland. It would be the world's biggest union and would be
expected to attract other union organizations throughout the world into
membership.
During the exploration process, the unions will engage in coordinated
campaigning and common approaches to collective bargaining with multinational
companies.
This agreement follows a strategic alliance signed between Amicus and the
USW two years ago. Amicus and the T&GWU will join together as one union with
two million members after May 1, 2007. The new union, based in London, will be
called "Unite".
Statements were issued after a press call and signing of the 'Ottawa
Accord' by USW President Leo W. Gerard and Derek Simpson, General Secretary
for Amicus, as follows:

Amicus, General Secretary, Derek Simpson said,

"One of the main reasons for the merger between Amicus and the T&GWU was
our desire to create an international trade union that would be able to deal
with multinational companies on an equal footing. Coming as it does hot on the
heels of our mergers, today's announcement demonstrates the resonance that the
idea of a global super union has. "Multinational companies are pushing down
wages and conditions for workers the world over by playing one national
workforce off against another. The only beneficiaries of globalization are the
exploiters of working people and the only way working people can resist this
is to band together.
"I hope today's announcements marks the beginning of the creation of a
formidable international trade union organization."

USW International President Leo W. Gerard said,

"Workers in this new century need a trans-Atlantic union to tame the
exploitation of global corporations, international banks and world trade
organizations.
"The time for global unionism has arrived. We need cross-border
organizing strategies to protect workers against the mobility of capital that
knows no borders. Workers want their unions to develop labor contracts that
encompass global employers. We must meet the challenge and defend human rights
standards for all.
"USW members in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean Basin know the
benefits of international unionism and are ready to commit support to today's
announcement for exploring the first trans-Atlantic union for workers in two
continents."

T&GWU General Secretary, Tony Woodley, said:

"This is an historic step for global trade unionism, and will help
working people to look even the biggest employer in the eye. Closer working
and agreement with North American trade unionists forms a crucial part of our
global organizing agenda, designed to stop bosses playing off workers in one
country against those in another."

Ken Neumann, USW National Director for Canada, said the document signed
at the National Policy Conference was a historic moment for the 600 delegates
representing USW members across Canada.
"It is important for our members to be able to participate in the signing
of a document that will affect their future as workers in a global economy.
"Our union has never been satisfied with limiting our reach exclusively
to Canada. And we are more than an international union. We are a global
network of workers and their organizations."

The 'Ottawa Accord' signed by the three unions was titled: "Exploring a
Global Union for the 21st Century."

The Accord stated: "Amicus-T&G and the USW firmly believe that over the
coming years only through greater international solidarity and cooperation can
we as a trade union movement, effectively represent the interests of our
members against the threats posed by global capital."

It committed the North American and UK unions to:
<<    -   Creation of a Merger Exploration Committee of five principals from        each union to study the legal framework, constitutions, rules and        structures of the current unions during the next 12 months to suggest       a framework for a formal merger.   -  A regular exchange between senior officers to take place every        quarter to monitor and develop areas of joint work and to find ways        of integrating common programs to enhance the understanding and        culture of the unions.  -   Provide materials and financial resources for joint international       solidarity projects that might include support of Columbia's trade       union movement in the face of continued attacks on labour and human       rights; capacity building projects with partner unions in Africa;        solidarity work with the ship breakers of India and joint exploration        of transnational corporations in China.   -   Development of common approaches to collective bargaining in sectors        and multinational companies where our joint membership work.    -   Engage in regular participation in each union's educational and       political conferences and activities.    >>

The full 'Ottawa Accord' signed by the USW, Amicus and the T&GWU, plus
details of the announcement creating a formal Merger Exploration Committee are
available by accessing www.usw.org or www.amicustheunion.org.






                  
 United Steelworkers and Independent Steelworkers Unions Merge             
                     
In the Bible, Jeremiah 29, verse 11 offers a message of optimism: “For I
know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm
you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Members of the former Independent Steelworkers Union say the message reflects
how they feel now that they are members of the United Steelworkers.
Leaders from the unions met Friday in Pittsburgh to sign a merger agreement.
The ISU and its 1,150 members at Arcelor-Mittal’s Weirton, W.Va., mill
 are now USW Local 2911, named for the Bible verse.
“When you read it, it’s hope for the future,” said Mark Glyptis,
former president of the 56-year-old ISU and now president of the new
USW local. “We certainly believe this gives (our members) hope.”
Glyptis said he and his members were elated about the merger,
approved 913-89 by ISU members last month. It means workers can speak
with one voice in bargaining with Mittal, the world’s largest steel
company.
“It’s a historic day,” said USW International President Leo W.
Gerard, who noted the Weirton union’s strong record of battling for its
members and the industry. “We’re proud of the history, the
tenaciousness, the respect that people have for the ISU.”
Glyptis said members will benefit from greater financial, legal,
mobilizing and lobbying strength, a message echoed by USW District 1
Director Dave McCall.
Joining forces “gives us more power, more energy,” McCall said.
U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a Democrat from West Virginia, spoke to
the gathering by telephone from Washington, D.C., saying he believes
the merger is good news for Weirton workers.
“They’re joining a very strong force in the labor movement,”
 Rockefeller said, promising his support.
“If I’m not in a fight for people producing steel, I feel like I’m
neglecting life _ I’m part of you, you’re part of me,” he said to loud
applause. 
The decision to merge the ISU with the larger USW followed profound
changes in the management of Weirton, which has gone from an
employee-owned corporation to part of Arcelor-Mittal.
Gerard and Glyptis vowed to work hard on several issues, including
having a say in the sale of Arcelor Mittal’s Sparrows Point, Md., plant
where the USW represents some 2,100 production workers.
The ISU and the USW have worked together on the Stand Up for Steel Campaign,
retiree health care and pension issues.
Hoisting their joined hands in the air after signing the merger
agreement, Gerard and Glyptis promised to build on those efforts.
“We’re going to fight together,” Gerard said.
“Absolutely,” Glyptis said. “And we’re going to win.”
Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Leo Gerard, Steelworkers, Untied Steelworkers Union, Amicus, 
General Transportation Workers Union, Mittal, Mergers, Canada, UK, US, 
Free Trade, job cuts, layoffs,

Canada
Steel
Dofasco
Mittal
ThyssenKrupp
Arcelor
Monopoly Capitalism

Commodity Fetish a Definition

I like to find short sharp clear (humorous) definitions of Marx's ideas to share with my readers. This is another one: Commodity Fetish. LOL this ones got that JimBobbySez kinda of style....

One of the most charming witticisms of Marx is the term "commodity fetishism". "Fetishism" spoofed Hegel, who had concocted a famous lengthy, crackpot, faux-learned justification for racialised subjection, imperialism and slavery in the Philosophy of History founded on the infantile, primitive nature of neeeegrows as evidenced by their relations to fetishes. Fetish=degradation. To Hegel's mystical ecstasy of yerupeen triumph over fetishes and fetishists, Marx replied; And who are you, my fine fellow, to sneer at fetishes? At least those guys utilise their fetishes and create them in moderation. Your fetishes proliferate like fungus, lord it over you like gods; you grovel before them in every minute of life.

I came across it after coming across a critique of Hegel's view of Africa showing the author knew where of he spoke.

Hegel’s Europe (Spirit) Hegel’s Africa (Nature)

For Hegel, Africans fail at achieving substantial notions of the universal. Hegel
says that, “in Negro life the characteristic point is the fact that consciousness has not yet
attained to the realization of any substantial objective existence—as for example, God, or
Law—in which the interest of man’s volition is involved and in which he realizes his
own being.”xxiv African religion is, for Hegel, actually magic and fetishism. Law is
nothing but unruly despotic control. African social organization is the slavery of Africans
by each other, resulting in cannibalism, violence, and chaos in the interior of Africa.
Specifically, in Africa, Hegel finds “the most reckless inhumanity and disgusting
barbarism” be displayed by the people of the continent.

In reference to the African, according to Hegel, “we must put aside all thought of
reverence and morality—all that we call feeling—if we would rightly comprehend him;
there is nothing harmonious with humanity to be found in this type of character.”xxvi For
Hegel, a sense of humanity, as cultivated from a conception of the universal, is lacking in
Africans. The African lacks the ability to see beyond himself, in the humanity of another,
or in the necessity of the community. The African tries to organize socially, but fails.
Hegel says, “the political bond can therefore not possess such a character as that free laws
should unite the community.”xxvii They try to express themselves religiously, but exist in
fetishism. Hegel refers to Africans as believers in “sorcery” in which they have no “idea
of a God, or a moral faith.”

For Hegel, it is impossible for the African to actualize concepts of religion, law,
or society due to their own sensuousness. Hegel manipulates the ways in which the text
displays the manner in which the African character expresses itself in terms of religion,
law, and social organization.”xxix For Bernasconi, “An examination of Hegel’s sources
shows that they were more accurate than he was and that he cannot be so readily excused
for using them as he did.”xxx Myth creation and African esoticization occur in Hegel.
Hegel is constructing an archetype of what and where the unhistorical would be in Space
and History. As the archetype of the unhistorical, Bernasconi says that in Hegel, “Africa
served as a null-point or base-point.”

Why would Hegel proceed to have these declarative statements about a people
that he claims he does not understand? Hegel says that Africa is unknown only to proceed
in explaining the intricacies of its identity. Is this a problem of inherent duplicity? Hegel
makes the African an incomprehensible element to compliment the comprehensible. In
Hegel, “awakening consciousness takes its rise surrounded by natural influences alone,
and every development of it is the reflection of Spirit back upon itself in opposition to the
immediate, unreflected character of mere nature. Nature is therefore one element in this
antithetic abstracting process.”

The development of Spirit out of Nature requires Nature to antithetically reflect
Spirit’s identity and see this reflection, and movement away, as an antithesis in all aspects
to its stagnated self. For this reason, Hegel must construct Africa as an incomprehensible,
irrational, unreasoned, and unhistorical entity. Hence, Europe blossoms historically out of
Africa as an opposite posed specifically for Europe’s ascension. This incomprehensibility
forces Africa to remain outside the realm of logical, historical development. The African
has no hopes of cohabiting the same conceptual space as the rest of humanity. They fail
to rise out of Nature for they lack the mechanism of the threshold and antithesis that they
exist as for Europe, against which this rising can occur. Rising above the threshold is
impossible when a culture is that threshold. Africa does not have the capability of rising
because this rising has to occur over and against Africa.

And here are a couple of more definitions of Commodity Fetish

A commodity, for Marx, is an object which is
1.) the product of human, creative labor, that is, human labor manifested in an object and 2.) an object of human labor which is put in relation to other objects of human labor, that is, it is an object which is circulated.

If you sat down and build a bird-house for yourself, you have produced an object, but not a commodity. If you sit down and build a bird-house and sell it to someone else, you have produced both an object and a commodity. Marx's central argument here is that the world of commodities, of objects which circulate in an economy, takes on a life of its own. When you go to the store and see a bird-house for sale on a shelf, you see only the object, not the labor that went into it.

The commodity seems to you to have magically appeared on the shelf for you consumption. That sense that commodities have a life of their own, that they magically appear for people to purchase or exchange, is what Marx means by the fetishism of commodities.

The Reality behind Commodity Fetishism

After having clarified Marx’s methodological point of departure I shall now carefully discuss his laying out of what the "mystical character", the "metaphysical subtleties", "the sensory supernatural character” and the "theological manners" of the commodity specifically consist in.

The term fetish or to fetishize which originally derives from religious discourse means to invest something with powers it does not intrinsically possess. But while the religious fetish, if my picture of the world is not totally mistaken, does not through an act of being thought about or believed in acquire powers which previously were foreign to it, the situation is different in the case of the kind of fetish Marx is concerned with. ( The commodity fetish is being realized, not created by the minds of the individual actors and thus needs to be sharply distinguished from allusions to hallucinations, false illusions and the like. The kind of fetishism Marx is describing, can neither be understood as a mere individual misrepresentation nor as an abstract phenomenon of social consciousness. It has to be seen in light of the society as a whole. Fetishism is not merely an ideological category. While ideology in Marx understanding of it as "necessary false consciousness" is not confined to capitalist societies, but is closely linked to all societies that are divided into classes, the notion of commodity fetishism is a historical distinct phenomenon of capitalism. Marx goes as far as claiming that commodity fetishism is inseparably linked to Capitalist modes of production. He writes:

[In capitalist societies] it is o­nly the definite social relationships of men themselves, which in their eyes takes o­n the phantasmagorial form of a relation between things. In order, therefore, to find an analogy, we must have recourse to the mist-enveloped regions of the religious world. In that world, the products of the human mind appear as independent beings endowed with life, as entering into independent relations both with o­ne another and the human race. The same way are in the world of commodities the products of men’s hands. This I call the fetishism which is attached to the products of labor, as soon as they are produced as commodities, and which therefore is inseparable from the production of commodities.

And a more sinister meaning of it as an aspect of Gothic Capitalism.

The Ends of the Body--Commodity Fetishism and the Global Traffic in Organs
SAIS Review - Volume 22, Number 1, Winter-Spring 2002, pp. 61-80

Amidst the neoliberal readjustments of the new global economy, there has been a rapid growth of "medical tourism" for transplant surgery and other advanced biomedical and surgical procedures. A grotesque niche market for sold organs, tissues, and other body parts has exacerbated older divisions between North and South, haves and have-nots, organ donors and organ recipients. Indeed, a kind of medical apartheid has also emerged that has separated the world into two populations--organ givers and organ receivers. Over the past 30 years, organ transplantation--especially kidney transplantation--has become a common procedure in hospitals and clinics throughout the world. The spread of transplant technologies has created a global scarcity of viable organs. At the same time the spirit of a triumphant global and "democratic" capitalism has released a voracious appetite for "fresh" bodies from which organs can be procured. The confluence in the flows of immigrant workers and itinerant kidney sellers who fall prey to sophisticated but unscrupulous transnational organ brokers is a subtext in the recent history of globalization. Today's organ procurement transactions are a blend of altruism and commerce; of science and superstition; of gifting, barter, and theft; and of voluntarism and coercion. International Organ Markets, Bioethics, and Social Justice The problem with markets is that they reduce everything--including human beings, their labor, and their reproductive capacity--to the status of commodities that can be bought, sold, traded, and stolen.

But not to anticipate, we will content ourselves with yet another
example relating to the commodity-form. Could commodities themselves
speak, they would say: Our use-value may be a thing that interests men.
It is no part of us as objects. What, however, does belong to us as
objects, is our value. Our natural intercourse as commodities proves it.
In the eyes of each other we are nothing but exchange-values. Now listen
how those commodities speak through the mouth of the economist. "Value"
(i.e., exchange-value) "is a property of things, riches" (i.e., use-
value) "of man. Value, in this sense, necessarily implies exchanges,
riches do not."(35) "Riches" (use-value) "are the attribute of men,
value is the attribute of commodities. A man or a community is rich, a
pearl or a diamond is valuable... A pearl or a diamond is valuable" as a
pearl or a diamond.(36) So far no chemist has ever discovered
exchange-value either in a pearl or a diamond. The economic discoverers
of this chemical element, who by-the-by lay special claim to critical
acumen, find however that the use-value of objects belongs to them
independently of their material properties, while their value, on the
other hand, forms a part of them as objects. What confirms them in this
view, is the peculiar circumstance that the use-value of objects is
realised without exchange, by means of a direct relation between the
objects and man, while, on the other hand, their value is realised only
by exchange, that is, by means of a social process. Who fails here to
call to mind our good friend, Dogberry, who informs neighbour Seacoal,
that, "To be a well-favoured man is the gift of fortune; but reading and
writing comes by Nature."


The Fetish Speaks — 
Fredy Perlman's graphic rendition of Karl Marx's "Commodity Fetishism"

Rather, fetishism or animism is a set of ritual practices, stances, and attunements to the world, constituting the way we participate in capitalist existence. Commodities actually are alive: more alive, perhaps, than we ourselves are. They “appear,” or stand forth, or “shine” (the word Marx uses is scheinen) as autonomous beings. Commodities don’t just “believe” for us; much more, they usurp our day-to-day lives, and act pragmatically in our place. The “naive” consumer, who sees commodities as animate beings, endowed with magical properties, is therefore not mystified or deluded. He or she is accurately perceiving the way that capitalism works, how it endows material things with an inner life. Under the reign of commodities, we live — as William Burroughs said we did — in a “magical universe.”

And so, our encounter with commodities and brands is an affective experience, before it is a cognitive one. It’s not belief that is at stake here, but attraction and revulsion, euphoria and disgust, a warm sense of belonging, nostalgia, panic, and loss….

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CEO Profits From Ford Failure

Once again a CEO makes off with filthy lucre while the company collapses. Though some speculate that he may have been rewarded for saving Bush.
Since he did nothing that saved jobs at Ford.

Ford CEO: $28M for 4 months work
Struggling Ford Motor Co., which posted a record $12.7 billion net loss in 2006, gave its new CEO Alan Mulally $28 million for four months on the job, according to the company's proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday.The Ford (Charts) pay package for Mulally comes on top of the $7.4 million that aerospace company Boeing (Charts) had previously reported paying him for his eight months running that company's commercial aircraft unit before he made the move to Ford at the beginning of September. Mulally's pay package at Ford included a $7.5 million hiring bonus, as well as $11 million that Ford described as an offset for forfeited performance and stock option awards at Boeing. In addition he received $55,469 for relocation costs and temporary housing. The details of the compensation packages and costs come as Ford moves ahead with plans to close plants and cut more than 30,000 hourly positions from the company in an effort to stem losses.

The company had disclosed in a footnote buried on page 228 of an earlier filing with SEC that Mulally saw the value of his stock bonuses increase to $6 million from the originally agreed upon $5 million "after reviewing the company's 2006 performance results and Mr. Mulally's leadership role in progressing his key priorities."

Ford announced in March that all full-time staff would receive some form of modest bonus for 2006, as it attempted to improve morale in the middle of a downsizing. Most salaried workers and supervisors received between $300 to $800, depending on their location and rank in the company. Most union members received about $500. The company did not detail the overall cost of the bonus program, but the widespread bonuses cost the company at least $62 million, based on the 125,000 employees who were eligible for the payment.

See

Zero Sum Gain

Ford

CEO

Stock Options

Corporate Crime

White Collar Crime

Criminal Capitalism

Productivity

Wealth


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Inflation In Alberta

As reported in a couple of the Edmonton Sun columns by their token Left Winger (wink, wink) Neil Waugh, inflation in Alberta was up again.

The sharp jump in wages was almost matched with a 4.5% increase in consumer prices.

But it was not due to wages increasing nope, it was due to the over heated housing market, which keeps going up.

The continued strength of Alberta's energy-based economy resulted in Edmonton's housing market outperforming expectations, making it the hottest market in Canada in the quarter. During the first quarter, the price for a standard two-story house rose 54.4 percent in Edmonton and 27.4 percent in Calgary, Alberta, while the average national rise was 11.8 percent.

And considering the price of the mythical single-family dwelling has increased 16.5% in the first three months of 2007 - and now stands at $398,476 - that's either good news or bad news, depending on what side of the deal you're on.

If you'd bought or sold a year ago, the price you would have to pay has increased by an incredible 55.6% since then. Needless to say, it's a year-to-year record, as are all the other March stats the EREB keeps.

So far in 2007, board realtors have cleared $2.14 billion in sales, which is 80% higher than last year's pace. And that was hardly a recession year either.

In fact the "threat" of another huge spike in house prices has "sparked an early rush for new and resale houses," the ComFree monthly report cautioned.

Earlier this week the Calgary Real Estate Board revealed 3,939 combined residential sales in March (a new record) and the average sales price inched up 5.6% from February.

But that's a 27% year-to-year increase from last March. CREB president Ed Jensen called it an "interesting" month. No kidding, Ed.

But he also reported a 32% jump in listings over last year, which may mean that folks are trying to cash in on their windfall equity before it disappears like campfire smoke.

ComFree reports its average house price also bumped up 8% in March to $350,300.

And of course inflation is caused by those who exploit this hot housing market. Now usually when inflation increases workers wages are blamed and you can expect interest rates to climb or bosses to fight for claw backs. But when it comes to inflation caused by housing costs, well no one yet has implemented the solution; Rent controls.

But even down at the legislature last week the Alberta Tories were beginning to feel the heat over inflation.

Especially when Alberta NDP leader Brian Mason grilled Premier Ed Stelmach over when the PCs' affordable housing report will finally be released. It contains recommendations to put a clamp on soaring rental rates.

One of the province's biggest landlords, Boardwalk Real Estate Income Trust, recently gave the opposition more ammo when CEO Sam Kolias revealed in his year-end report to unit holders how he "maximized return" by responding to what he called "exceptionally strong market fundamentals.

"As occupancy tracked upward due to positive supply and demand forces," Kolias beamed, "rental rates followed suit, resulting in strong revenue growth."

And with 52% of his property portfolio right here in Boom-berta, he predicted his "proactive operating policies" would result in even greater revenue growth in 2007.

Unless, of course, the PCs implement their own report and slap on rent controls.

Meanwhile the average Albertan even with a good paying job cannot afford to buy a home,

Most Albertans think this is a bad time to buy a house -- but a good time to buy major household items. Leger Marketing surveyed 900 Alberta consumers for PricewaterhouseCoopers, in February, asking about the economy.Leger's report noted "the relatively pessimistic sentiment regarding interest rates, combined with the fact that the housing market in Alberta has boomed over the last two years."

So who is doing all the buying? Why speculators of course hoping to flip the house in the market to make money.

See:

Condos The Problem

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TILMA Made In Alberta NAFTA

Accidental Deliberations points out that the NDP Government in Saskatchewan will be holding public hearings on the Alberta/B.C. TILMA pact, which is an agreement to homogenize provincial standards with NAFTA.

TILMA is being is being promoted Canada wide as the model for bilateral and multilateral agreements to end trade restrictions between provinves across the country.

The fact that like NAFTA and other international corporate government accords, this one was conducted in secret, with no public input.

Saskatchewan will allow the first public hearings on TILMA. This will allow a full discussion and disclosure of this internal NAFTA style pact. And thus it will allow labour, community, and others concerned with the pact to challenge it.

Like the MAI accord and other such multilateral and bilateral corporatist state trade agreements, public exposure will show that once again those who decry the State and call for less government really mean that they oppose transparency and responsibility to the citizens, preferring to do business with business behind close doors.

TILMA is a perfect example of the Alberta democratic deficit, which is the real politiks of the the Republicanadian right when they speak of wanting smaller or less government. It really means less political responsibility to the citizens.

See:

TILMA


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Labour Boom = Falling Rate Of Profit

Go figure. Under capitalism an increase in labour, that is real productivity, means a real reduction in profit levels, a decline in surplus value, thus a falling rate of profit.

In other words more workers available means the economy is less productive than if you laid off workers and replaced them through technology or outsourcing. Go figure.

This is of course an analysis that is not based on the labour theory of value, but rather 20th Century Macroeconomics. And yet the mainstream economist outlines the essential truth of the Marxist critique of capitalism.

Last year's freakish growth disguised our falling productivity, said professor Ted Chambers of the Western Centre for Economic Research, University of Alberta. "Full-time employment rose by 7.6 per cent -- 114,000 jobs," he said.

If employment rose even faster than total output, then output-per-worker must have declined, Chambers explained.

"Provincial productivity numbers, released by Statistics Canada not long ago, showed Alberta at the bottom."

Productivity -- not GDP -- drives profits, incomes, and competitiveness.

The reason for the decline in 'productivity', is the decline in profits due to the increase in wages earned by the growing workforce.

Economy churns out 55,000 new jobs in March; unemployment holds at 6.1%

In the first quarter of the year, the agency estimated that employment grew by 158,000, the strongest first-quarter growth since 2002.

The booming job market has also resulted in Canadians earning more. Hourly wages rose 2.4 per cent during the first three months of this year, compared with last year, well in excess of the 1.6 per cent inflation rate.

Alberta's booming economy was mostly responsible for higher wages, rising 5.4 per cent in the first quarter of this year, from the same period in 2006.

The rise in March employment was led by women aged 25 years and older as adult women reached a new high in workforce participation at 59 per cent. In March, women in this age group captured over 39,000 of the new jobs created.

Over the past 12 months, adult women more than doubled their male counterparts in finding new jobs. Women over 55 also reached record levels of participation in the workforce, at 25.8 per cent.

By sector, employment growth in the services sector grew by 66,000 jobs in March, more than making up for the continuing weakness in Canada's beleaguered manufacturing.

Employment in trade grew by 27,000, with Alberta registering almost half the gains. The agency said the strength in this sector in March reflects gains in wholesale trade as a result of increased activity following February's CN strike.

Canada's labour force participation, the proportion of adult Canadians that have jobs or are actively looking for one, has jumped 0.6 per cent since last October and now stands at 67.7 per cent.

See:

Productivity Myth

Canadian Workers Poorer Today Than Yesterday

Variable Capital


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No Joke

The Alberta B.C. Free Trade agreement; TILMA came into effect today! It is modeled on NAFTA.

The Council of Canadians has denounced the pact as an intrusion on provincial political rights. It warns, for example, that it could stymie B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell's ambitious new environmental plan.

The agreement gives businesses and individuals the right to sue either province if they find that any regulation or government policy "restricts or impairs" investment.

Governments in the two provinces see the deal as a blueprint for other provinces wanting to remove interprovincial trade barriers.

The council is also warning that a trade, investment and labour agreement between B.C. and Alberta could negatively affect municipalities.

It says school boards and health and social service agencies could also be stripped of protection by private investors wanting to put profit before regulations.

Pickard, the council's regional organizer for B.C., says that unfortunately, TILMA is not an April fool's joke.

The B.C. and Alberta governments are selling the agreement as a way to erase trade barriers.

But Pickard says it was signed without public consultation or legislative debate.

"TILMA has very powerful provisions that will allow companies to challenge and overturn important municipal bylaws," Pickard said in a statement.

See

Labour

Unions

Temporary Workers

NAFTA

AFL





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