Gary Kinsman gives us the (uncritical) low-down on Autonomous Marxism. Some of you may be familiar with the work of Antonio Negri, entitled “Empire”. Negri is also an autonomist Marxist. So is Harry Cleaver (”Reading Capital Politically”), Hardt, etc. It’s a revisionist trend that is (unfortunately) becoming ever more popular. Here’s a sample: “Autonomy in autonomist Marxism can be seen as autonomy from both capital and the official leaderships of the trade unions and political parties and the capacity and necessity of groups of workers who experience different oppressions to act autonomously from others (blacks from whites, women from men, queers from straights).” For a classical Marxist, this is a sham(e)! Have a read!

–General (well… more of a national) Strike in India today.

–Some basic analysis on the CBC Lockout coming from the Socialist Worker of the International Socialists in Canada. Support the CBC workers. Demand that the government intervene and give the CBC more money and more control of that money to its workers.

–The WSWS continues it analysis of the attack on science and evolution in the US.

–If you think that we have a “free” public healthcare system then think again. Our public health insurance system has been under attack for so long and at such a slow and steady pace that we have not realized that the services that we one had have been replaced with for profit ones that exclude the poor and the working class of this country. This trend must be reversed if we are going to keep healthcare for all.

–For profit child care. Yes, there is nothing like the continued attack on the poor to make people angry. They should be angry. The service we have been asking for is a publicly funded childcare system. Not a money grubbing for profit babysitting system.

–This is a Trotskyist analysis of the one-day general strike in India. An interesting read of the situation in India.

–Have a read of a Marxist analysis of the current “peace processes” in Ireland. The state has once again manufactured its own version of reality. The conflict is continuing regardless of how many time the politicians say that it isn’t.

–Dear Kitty relates a story of Turkish women standing up to empire.

–This is global warming. Don’t let the silly people on the right-wing try to give you religious derived excuses about how little we know about things… We are having an effect on the planet and it is going to make our lives very difficult.

–Ramzy Baroud talks about the different picture the West gets of war compared to the realities and the media in the Middle East.

–The DRC is a mess… and no one seems to notice.

–Jim Stanford (the economist at the Canadian Auto Workers union) writes about the new contracts with the big three. He also points out the capitali markets and how they are not going to help Canadian workers.

–It is not so much that it is the US that Canada must abandon subservience to… it is captial that Canadians must abandon subservience to. The economic elite must be brought under control of the people.

–The National Union of Public and General Employees is calling for the government to take steps towards securing permanent employment for Canadians. The question is what are they going to do when the Liberal government says NO?

–There is constant attacks on the rights of people from the right-wing in Canada. The attack on the age of consent is one such attack that just barely got defeated.

–The Venezuelan government continues its take over of idle industries. This is great to see. The workers are getting to run their own industries with the help of the government. More power to the local communities and workers!

–If there was any question over the role of the military in capitalist states then have a look at this. Workers tried to take over the ship that was going to be privatized but were taken on by armed soldiers. A classic case of the army being used against the people.

–The leadership of Neo Labour in Britain do not seem to be able to deal with critical comments from their own side. Have a read on the heavy handed tactics of Blair and Co.

–Support the locked out workers at CBC. Stop and have a chat and make sure that you slow down and honk your horn when you pass by them.

–Is this some life coming from the trade unions within the Labour Party?!? The NHS is an old and decrepit system because of the cutbacks brought in by the Neo Labour. The system needs more money not less. This is way the Canadian system will look like in a few years if the Liberals and Conservatives have their way.

–The amount of money that it takes to run a railway puts it out of the profit system. This is especially true for Canada. The only way it is going to work is if it is nationalized and run for the people.