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I'm too light for heavy work and too heavy for light work.
WOBBLY WISECRACK
CONCEPTS
Direct Action | General Strike | Strike
Against
the Corpse Machine: Defining A Post-Leftist Anarchist Critique of Violence
Sometimes anarchists are slow learners. Disregarding the famous, definitive and prognostic Marx-Bakunin split in the
First International near the end of the 19th century, anarchists overall have continued to cling to the obsolete notion
that anarchy is best situated within the otherwise statist Leftist milieu, despite the bourgeois democratic origins of the
Left-Right spectrum. Since then communists and Marxists, liberals and conservatives alike have had us right where they
want us - and it's shown in our history. In continuing to view ourselves as Leftists, despite the glaring contradictions in
such a stance, we have naturally relegated ourselves to the role of critic within larger movements, and often found
ourselves either marching towards goals which stand in direct opposition to our own interests or suckered by
counter-revolutionary appeals to anti-fascist or anti-capitalist unity.
An
Anarchist Program For Labor
Today there is a general unrest and anger among working people, even though most workers continue to hold usual
"American" views (support of capitalism, the two parties, racism at some level, patriotism, etc.). This unorganized
discontent has resulted in a change in the heirarachy of the unions, a move toward a more liberal, more active group of bureaucrats,
under John Sweeney. The new leaders are worried about their loss of membership (bureaucrats who cannot even keep their dues base
are pretty pathetic). They have managed to link up with college activists (especially on the more affluent campuses) to oppose sweatshop
labor, in the U.S. and abroad, and to include environmentalism.
Fair
Trade for Sale
Coffee is among the most exploitative products traded on the international market today. This
luxury beverage is attended in its regions of production with every conceivable form of
oppression, environmental destruction, and economic exploitation. While companies like
Starbucks reap massive profits, coffee farmers and plantation workers live on starvation
wages. Sometimes not even that much.
Temporary
Insanity
Recently I was trying to determine my official employment status. Colloquially, I'm a temp. Or rather, "temp" is the nominal
designation assigned to my current circumstances—just graduated, and affiliated with sundry temporary job-placement
agencies in hopes of finding work. I have spent inordinate amounts of time filling out tax forms and taking skills tests to
assess my knowledge of Microsoft Word, mail merges and spreadsheet proficiency. Doing so has resulted in two
one-day assignments in the last four weeks and one lingering question: "Am I employed or not?" I suppose I should
have realized earlier that job security in temporary work is a contradiction in terms.
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