A Longshore workers response to a new automated terminal in Brisbane.

An eerie picture of an automated port with computer driven semi tractors. What is missing? The workers.

This post is in response to this article about a new automated container terminal in Brisbane.

------------------

When our daily toil is replaced by robots and human hands no longer drip with blood and sweat the capitalists will have won. Never be fooled into thinking this benefits anybody other than the boss. The great multitudes of working people, chasing the carrot on the stick for a meager portion of the wealth they produce will never reap the rewards of labor saving technology. If the bosses have a monopoly on production, and workers have been rendered obsolete with the implementation of new technology, there will be no point from which to leverage our frustrations... unless of course we chop off the employers heads and rest from them the means to secure our futures.

We can not stop automation. It is here. But the cargo still has to get to the docks. WE as dockers have to lead the charge and follow the cargo back through the supply chain and organize workers every where we go. We need an alliance of all transportation workers. Teamsters, Longshore. WE NEED TO ORGANIZE THE OVER THE ROAD TRUCKERS. We need to be reminded that the W in ILWU has a rich and vibrant history with one of the most intense, successful organizing efforts in American Labor history and that it represents union activity away from the docks. They can replace us all with robots on the docks but it will be a moot point if we control the ability to move cargo in and out of the terminals.

The world needs tried and true old school unionism. Organize the unorganized. Build strong alliances. Give dignity back to working people and challenge the rich and powerful who claim dominion over us all. It's time for a new militancy from all working people, more reflective of the roots of American Labor.

How many years til these terminals are up and running in every corner of the globe? We know they are tracking data from crane operators movements. We know in other parts of the world they twin pick 40 ft containers. We know they have developed equipment to remove cones. On log ships they have implemented labor saving quick release technology. This is nothing new, but we as longshore workers have to be ten steps ahead and not just wait for another blow.

All power to the workers who produce all wealth. Fuck your boss.

SHORE - record release shows

Shore - Little Deaths 7" is out now! Come get one at one of these shows.

Listen to the album here:

http://paintermanrecords.bandcamp.com/

12/8 DJ Setlist from BAD VIBES no. 1

Started a new monthly event @ a Tacoma bar called 1022 South in the hilltop neighborhood. Vinyl only. Here is my playlist from last night. My dude Fuzz crushed it too. Playin all kinds of whacky stuff.



Ceremony - Hysteria
Grown-Ups - We're Not Friends
Against Me - The Disco Before the Breakdown
Big Crux - Nature's Cruise
The Ballantynes - Misery
Self Defense Family - I'm Going Through Some Shit
Inca Babies - The Judge
Dead Moon - Parchment Farm
Cat Party - Black And Red
Kicks - The Secret
Grinderman - No Pussy Blues
Human Sexual Response - What Does Sex Mean To Me?
Naomi Punk - Linoleum Tryst
31 Knots - You Talk Like Blood
Hot Snakes - Paid In Cigarettes
Victims Family - Maybe If I
Helmet - Primitive
Walls - Hands + Knees
Mudhoney - Bush Pusherman
Superchunk - Basement Life
Milk Music - Fertile Ground
Archers Of Loaf - Harnessed In Slums
The Damned - Fan Club
Jesus Lizard - Pop Song
Slices - Still Cruising / Trying To Make A Living
Negative Press - Plain Song
Murder City Devils - Idle Hands
Seaweed - Losing Skin
Naomi Punk - Voodoo Trust
Cherubs - Pink Party Dessert
Lubricated Goat - MEating My Head

Happy Holidays

s.e.s. presents ILL INTENT, POWER, GAG, CLAIRTY, CROOKS TO KINGS, DEAD WEIGHT - 12/12 @ Vera Project

ANSWERING THE CALL: Colombian Dockworkers Reach Out to the ILWU

Many of us had the opportunity to meet Jhon Jairo Castro over the last few weeks. Jhon Jairo is an Afro-Colombian longshoreman, labor activist and the President of the Port Workers Union in Buenaventura, Colombia. His recent visit to the West Coast to meet with unionists, students and activists was the beginning of a brave new journey for Colombian dockworkers. Witness For Peace has been organizing his speaking tour.

Witness for Peace is a non-profit watchdog group that keeps tabs on US trade agreements and foreign policy legislation in Central and South America. The organization formed in 1983 during the Nicaraguan Civil War to oppose and highlight war crimes committed by the Reagan backed Contras and have remained in the area to keep tabs on US foreign policy and the long list of human rights abuses our country has been implicit in. They have activists in many countries and film and document violence and abuses in order to put direct pressure on the US government. Colombia remains the most dangerous place in the world to be a trade unionist and Jhon Jairo and Witness For Peace set out to organize grassroots awareness of their plight. Jhon Jairo and WFP organizers spoke with longshore workers in San Francisco, Vancouver, Portland, Tacoma, Seattle and spoke at colleges, community centers and union halls in Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon.

The Port Workers Union in Colombia is only a recent development within the last ten or so years. It is a merger of the more progressive unionists from older and less effective unions. In the early 1990s the ports began to organize to curb the tide of anti-worker legislation coming from a new conservative government. When we hear about Colombia in this country, it is often about the “drug war” and cocaine. It is never about companies like Coca-Cola, Monsanto, and Chiquita lobbying for legislation to send US dollars to arm paramilitary groups to pave the way for US capital. It is certainly never about the targeted assassinations of trade union leaders, community activists and organizers. These armed groups that the US are aiding receive bonuses on a “per kill” basis, which has led to the killing of average civilians who are then dressed up in rebel, “guerilla” clothing. Entire executive union boards have been massacred all at the same time.

These truths are all but hidden from the world, which is why groups like Witness for Peace are so important and should be supported by all unions worth their salt. The talk now is of course about the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which the Obama Administration has been negotiating behind closed doors. These are just some of the realities of US Free Trade Agreements and like one of the WFP activists said at the meeting I attended, “these countries where we have a presence are testing grounds for future US trade policies.”

Hearing Jhon Jairo speak was like reading pages straight out of the ILWU’s pre-history. Company unions are set up in every trade. Independent contractors join these unions and work side by side with the Port Workers Union who are continually undermined which sounds a little bit like the current state of the Gulf Coast ports. But more so than that, the employers keep a massive pool of surplus labor, only giving work a couple times a month to each worker to keep them hungry and willing to work for low wages. Sounds like the shape up. Jhon Jairo said the wages we make on the docks in 2 hours, are what the average Colombian dockworker makes in a month. The skilled jobs, like crane operators are some of the few that have direct working contracts with the employers. The Port Workers Union is about 2000 strong. Jhon Jairo is the local president in Buenaventura, the largest port in Colombia controlling roughly two-thirds of all imports and exports.

The companies that own the ports are part of an organization called the Port Society, but they set up shell companies to deal with the workers so they are unable to bargain directly with the employer group. All of this sounds eerily reminiscent of the West Coast docks 80 years ago. Now factor in the UN statistics that close to 4000 trade unionists have been murdered in Colombia since 1986! That is not even including the thousands of other activists and community leaders slain as a direct result of US business interests and foreign policy. Jhon Jairo spoke intimately about what it means to be a trade unionist in Colombia. To the audience I participated in it almost seemed nonchalant the way he spoke about it, which made it all the more chilling. This is his daily life. He has to wear a bulletproof vest. Officers of his union have had to send their children away to the countryside as they continually receive threats against their lives and their families.

It is difficult to find much information about the Port Workers Union. They don’t have a website and it is difficult to track them down outside of human rights groups addressing the violence they endure. Part of this trip really brought to light the importance of getting their struggle out to the world. The internet, something we all take for granted is very expensive in Colombia. It does exist but it doesn’t have the same relevance to their social fabric like it does to us. Because of this, The Port Workers Union had never heard of the ILWU until very recently. They had no idea that just next door in Panama, this militant maritime union from the United States was organizing the canal pilots to keep the power of the shipping companies in check.

Cargo may change but the ships stay the same. We have strong alliances and coalitions with dockers around the world because we know that solidarity is the only thing that will keep the employers cargo from moving and when the cargo doesn’t move the employers are forced to play ball. Maritime unions around the world have a long history supporting one another and the ILWU has always been among the most shining examples. The Port Workers Union in Colombia is going up against brutal, violent repression, a weak government that can’t enforce its own labor laws, and rogue employers pitting worker against worker and using the constant threat of murder to intimidate unions from organizing.

The ILWU has a chance to strengthen our “rank-and-file, bottom-up brand” of industrial unionism in the region. How can we build this discussion in our locals? How do we get it to the international and our allies in the maritime unions and help to organize these workers? How could our direct support of these workers change the social dynamics of Columbia and the entire region? How about the implications to the worldwide union movement? How could a strong union presence in Colombia reinforce the new ILWU jurisdiction in Panama? They have reached out to us with an urgent desperation. They are looking for support and guidance. Will we answer the call?

www.witnessforpeace.org

P.S. The Dispatcher is printed in Spanish now, yes? And FedEx delivers to Colombia, right? Just an idea.

In Solidarity,

Brian Skiffington
ID Casual – Local 23

LIFE AND DEATH IN THE RHIZOSPHERE

Drawing shallow acrid breaths, I bounce through this terrible scene at approximately 70 Miles per an hour. So this is God’s country? Asphalt and Fluorescent haze tumbling over the horizon.  Blight, precipitated by the industrious spirit of “Post War” America? A species thrust ever forward by the haunting specter of self-preservation.

We are not so different from the ants, colonizing the forest floors, paving avenues to devour the sick and dying. But as I wrestle with the maddening futility of all that has been done in the name of our continued existence I find solace in one simple fact: that I am going to die. As per our species customs I am going to be placed in the earth, or perhaps burnt and sent down a winding river. Either way my comfort and joy comes from this irrefutable fact. I will die.

As my flesh is ripped from my bones and my spirit wilts into the stones, and my very being is torn apart by the worms of the earth, I will break down; back to the building blocks in a beautiful dance of energy, that all former living things must endure. Solidarity with the dead and dying.  For soon, just beneath the surface our resurrection begins. Tiny bacteria and microscopic fungi begin to fix our broken down nutrients to the root bases of plants in symbiotic harmony. The lowliest forms of life on this planet go to work digging through our fetid remains, rifling through the landfills, the oil spills, the rubber tires and refuse of our 3000 year war against the earth. The nutrients and compounds that once formed our vibrant and dynamic lives are now food for the flower that blooms, the tree that gives food, the gentle grass beneath the lovers tryst.

All our efforts to be remembered, to preserve our legacies in monuments, in broad avenues, in temples and towers… why can’t we just be ok with this knowledge? As the grains of our lives become fodder for worms, and plants, and the beautiful cycle of life continues, maybe, just maybe… those who eat of our recycled flesh will be nourished by the passion and energy that guided our lives while we had our turn to walk on this earth. 

Fill my lungs with dirt.

CLASS WAR RAGING: Un-docmented Workers Struggle to Organize in the Strawberry Fields of Washington State

HAAGEN DAZS STRAWBERRY ICE CREAM & DRISCOLL BERRIES CURRENTLY SUBJECT TO A CONSUMER BOYCOTT. NATIONWIDE.

If these are items you purchase or the restaurants / bars you work for use them, please consider cancelling your orders and finding an alternative. The workers are currently tracking down the other companies their berries are repackaged as. Charley’s produce delivers the berries but many of them are repackaged and labeled as “grown in the usa”

Sakuma Bros farm workers are currently trying to organize amidst retaliatory firing and a media smear campaign bought and paid for by the company. Most of these workers are undocumented and therefore extremely vulnerable to abuse, threats and firings by the parent company Sakuma Bros who operate 1500+ acres of berry fields in Skagit County near Mount Vernon and Burlington, Washington. Today we heard workers talk about their struggle at a panel hosted by the UW Tacoma Labor Studies Department. We heard workers talk about the deplorable living conditions, the child labor, the wage theft, the firings at wim, the racist caste system that benefits only those workers who are able to communicate more effectively and defend themselves. The indigenous workers who have traveled from rural small villages in Mexico and speak their native dialects are given the lowest wages and most difficult tasks. Oh and there are 12 year olds picking berries for less then the legal wage required for child agricultural workers in this state.

They are currently trying to organize and have an organization called Familias Unidas por la Justicia. They have struck 6 times this season and have a list of demands that the company is refusing to agree to in writing. I will post some links below but want to paraphrase some of the things these workers said that really moved me.

A sister named Angelica was speaking about the way indigenous people of color are stereotyped and looked down upon in their communities as ignorant and lazy. She said, “They say our problems are cultural, but this has nothing to do with culture, these are social problems.” Which a brother named Ramon echoed when he said, “How is this a cultural problem? What does a child making $4 an hour have to do with their culture back home in Mexico?” Another member of the panel, a man named Edgar drew connections between all social struggles and activist communities by saying that the food system is broken, just like the immigration system. The problems that workers face are connected to struggles in the LGBT community and other activist communities when we live in a world with a broken economic system of which these issues are all symptoms.

Wendell Berry famously said, “Eating food is an agricultural act.” Michael Pollan one of his protégés took it a step further and said “Eating food is a political act.” One of the women on the panel closed the meeting with a plea for us to draw lines in the sand. “Do you eat? Are you eaters,” she asked? “Then you need to support farm workers!”

Please like their page on Facebook here:

https://www.facebook.com/FamiliasUnidas

And check out these other links too!

http://foodjustice.org/

https://www.facebook.com/Community2Community

s.e.s. presents - SPRING / SUMMER show calendar

s.e.s. presents

APRIL

4/5 @ New Frontier Lounge in Tacoma, WA
ROWHOUSE, SECRET SOCIETY OF THE SONIC SIX (la), SHOGUN BARBIE, DJ Brian Skiffington
9pm // 21+ // $5

4/14 @ The Redroom in Tacoma, WA
EARTH CONTROL, THE WRATH (ca), FUNERAL CONE (ma), BLOODHUNGER, EARTH MOTHER
8pm // AA // $8

4/16 @ The Josephine in Ballard, WA
LOMA PRIETA (ca), MERCY TIES, CASCABEL, INTO THE STORM
8pm // AA // $8

4/18 @ The Josephine in Ballard, WA
POWER (tour kick off), MALICE, GROWING STRONGER, OLDE GHOST, SAFE & SOUND
8PM // AA // $6

4/19 @ The Redroom in Tacoma, WA
TRANSIENT, SIDETRACKED, SAME SEX DICTATOR, MAHNHAMMER, HIRSUTE CORPSE, CARRION CATHARTID
7pm // AA // $8

4/20 @ The Redroom in Tacoma, WA
EARTH CONTROL, BONE SICKNESS, THACO, THOMNAK, OOPS I STEPPED IN SOME CHRIST, BURN PILE
7pm // AA // $5

4/21 @ The Fifth Dimension
TWEAK BIRD, LOZEN, TACOS
8PM // AA // $5

4/27 @ TBA in Tacoma, WA
BLIGHTER (co), DOWN ON MY KNEES IM WEAK (germany), CRON + one more tba

MAY

5/9 @ TBA in Tacoma, WA
ANHEDONIST, OLD SKIN, PLEASURE CROSS + one more tba
8pm // AA // $5

5/29 @ The Dwell Hole in Tacoma, WA
USNEA + more tba

8pm // AA // $5

JUNE

6/22 @ The Fifth Dimension in Tacoma, WA
RUBY PINS (ca), FELL TO LOW (ca), PORCELAIN GOD + one more tba
8pm // AA // $5

6/24 @ the Josephine in Ballard, WA
THE HELM, GRIEVER (ca), PLAGUES (ca), + one more tba
8PM // AA / $8

JULY

7/7 @ TBA in Seattle, WA
SELF INFLICTED (ca), SIDETRACKED + more tba

7/18 @ The Dwell Hole in Tacoma, WA
EARTH CONTROL, WHITE WIDOWS (ny) + more tba
7PM // AA // $5

7/19 @ TBA in Seattle, WA

EARTH CONTROL, WHITE WIDOWS (ny), ACxDC + more tba

8PM // AA // $8

Flags Of Convenience

Many of us know that multi national corporations evade paying taxes by headquartering themselves in tax havens like Barbados and the Cayman Islands. These same global corporations shuffle their debts around the world, through secondary companies, to tax jurisdictions with higher or lower interest rates to suit whatever profit making agenda they have that week. Effectively, they are not paying taxes to the jurisdictions where their workforces reside, basically using a region for it's labor and giving nothing back to the communities that earn profits for them.

The International Transport workers Federation has been at the forefront of a global campaign to raise awareness of a similar system in the shipping, transport and now aviation sectors. Historically, if a German vessel came to port, it was built by Germans, owned by Germans and crewed by Germans. Anybody that works along the shore can tell you that this is not the case these days. Starting in the 1920's vessel's started being registered in various impoverished nation states around the world. This was done to cut costs and cut corners and is done today for the exact same reasons. Panama, Monrovia & The Marshall Islands are the most common FOC ship registrars. A ship registered under a Flag of Convenience, regardless of who owns it, or where it was built, is now registered with a third world country happy to receive much needed funds. That ship and it's crew, who are mostly from the Philippines or China these days, are now subject to the laws & regulations of the country it is registered in. This includes taxes, safety, environmental laws and things like the well being and payment of the crew in many cases being a gross modern version of indentured servitude.

Last year a vessel named the "Sider Pink" birthed up the river in Sacramento, CA. The crew was emaciated and starving and hadn't been paid for months. The vessel hadn't been re-supplied and the crew told the Coast Guard they had been pulling up seaweed for food. The Greek owner had registered the vessel under a flag of convenience in the West African, Liberian capitol of Monrovia. Luckily, Longshore workers spotted the crew and called in the ITF and Coast Guard who immediately stopped the ship from leaving until the crew was taken care of and legal retribution hashed out . The Greek ship owner amazingly had concealed his whole shipping operation under a series of small bogus, side companies.

Don't worry, here in the United States there is a piece of legislation known as the Jones Act. The Jones Act requires any vessel built in the United States to be registered here and crewed by U.S. citizens. It lays out the laws for the US Merchant Marine Fleet and even goes as far as requiring that 75% of the crew be born on US soil. This is because the United States Merchant Marines are an auxiliary force in time of war to move troops and cargo. Well that sounds good doesn't it? The United States is actually responsible and has our countries interest and our countries workers at heart? Well, right off the bat, the capitalists fucking hate it, because they can't stay competitive with a global fleet of ships whose owners are driving wages to the bottom and paying the bare minimum in taxes and fees to continue their conquest and enslavement of humankind. And all that imported shit we wear, drive and buy for our kids? Every dollar spent in this global economy makes us implicit in an unending list of crimes against humanity.

So anyways, what this rant is really about, is yesterday, the ITF began engaging the International Civil Aviation Organization at their annual conference in regards to the spread of Flags Of Convenience into the aviation sector.

Since we all fly much more frequently, then say, travel the high seas on a freighter, I figured this might be a bit more relevant and of interest to some of you. Cheers and have a nice day.

http://www.itfglobal.org/news-online/index.cfm/newsdetail/8661

MARCH ON MITSUI - ILWU Local 4 Locked Out!

Today was a good day. Hundreds of Longshore workers from up and down the west coast descended upon Vancouver, WA. Folks from IBU, ITF, IBT, UFCW, IWW, and all sorts of union, labor, solidarity organizations showed up to rally in support of ILWU Local 4 who have been locked out of their grain facility for over a week now.

The lockout comes, just as all the other regional grain facilities have jointly agreed to contracts with the ILWU with relatively little drama. Today we marched on the Mitsui headquarters building, the owners of the Vancouver grain facility. At first we blocked the street en masse. Then we took over a water fountain plaza blocked off by large signs regarding trespassing on private property. Somebody joked that, "had they hired a union company to install the signs, they wouldn't have come down so easily." This place was a skyscraper fortress of glass built on a large parking garage complex. For how formidable the building appeared, the sun was out, spirits were high and literally nobody gave two shits about the lines of cops up and down the street. Our crowd was solid. Numbering somewhere around 300 I would estimate. Big Bob our international union president (who is a member of Local 4, Vancouver) was up front trying to hand a copy of the regional contract inside to somebody from the company. This company, Mitsui has locked out their local 4 work force and scab labor has been working the facility. An American security company comprised of ex US military personnel has been ferrying the scab work force safely in and out of the facility.

After about 45 minutes of occupying the street and plaza, Big Bob was able to hand a copy of the contract to somebody inside. This was more symbolic than anything. It's not like Mitsui was served a subpoena to come back to the bargaining table or anything. For all I know the packet of papers just said, "go fuck yourself."

I have to change my narrative here and frame this in reality though. All of this was well and good and a real show of solidarity today, but none of it changes the fact that scabs are loading grain in Vancouver, WA. As long as this continues, every day that goes by, undermines the power of the ILWU's jurisdiction over that facility.

What happens, when all of the focus and energy built up around this lock out is funneled into an unfair labor practice charge that will be bound up in the NLRB for who knows how long? Every day that goes by, scabs get better at their new jobs, and while the company maintains that "there have been no replacement workers at this point," management are performing longshore duties and are most definitely scabs. Fuck scabs.

There were a lot of speeches today about the company... "not knowing who they have picked a fight with." I completely agree that today was just a glimpse, of the power, solidarity and militancy of the ILWU and all the unions, federations and organizations that support them. I am just getting a supremely "douchey chill" that is reminiscent of the EGT struggle that paved the way for the current lock out in Vancouver. I would hate for this to be prophetic. The prevailing trend seems to be to save legitimate labor beefs for contract expiration time in that magic hour when unions are legally permitted to strike, and relegate all other grievances to a legal arbitration proceeding in the NLRB. They say this promotes labor peace but I assure you there is no such thing. Only labor passivity. There has to be a more urgent attitude, a reinvigorated class analyses and a DIRECT approach to solving labor disputes like this. Otherwise this company Mitsui is just sitting in their glass fortress laughing at locked out workers, who are allowing themselves to be trampled under the false weight of Taft Hartley.

Solidarity to the Longshore workers in Vancouver, WA... LOCKED OUT by Mitsui.
Mitsui are throwing away 80 years of good-faith grain bargaining in the Pacific NW.

ALL POWER TO THE WORKERS.

BAPTIZED IN THE HUMAN SPIRIT: Solidarity & Self Empowerment

There is something that happens to an individual when they spend time on a picket line or marching or any other action born out of concerted activity by ordinary people. Whether it be workers organizing, or any sort of community cause activism. There is a spirit that infects you like a crazed fever. It is more potent then any drug, or religion. A spirit that baptizes anyone that dares to act... to be… to do…to engage… to show up. The spirit is called self-empowerment. It finds everyday ordinary people when they stand together in solidarity. It can only be attained through action. It isn’t something you can just observe or theorize or read in a book. Empowerment requires action just as solidarity requires that you show up.

I first experienced this in 2005 as a brand new Casual Longshoreman, when thousands of people filled the streets of downtown Seattle marching against the North American Free Trade Agreement. I was 21 years old and got on a charter bus to Seattle with a belligerent pack of old Longshoremen, none of whom I knew at this time. I remember the energy and tension coursing through my veins walking by Niketown surrounded by mounted police on horseback, hearing someone on a bullhorn yell “Power” and hearing the booming roar of thousands of people respond with “POWER” and feeling the ground shake as it echoed off the buildings and sky bridges. “Power to the workers” “POWER TO THE WORKERS” came the singing refrain.

Last year when Occupy Wall Street started I followed it on the news and social media intently from the get go. I remember my buddy Zack had just moved back a week or so before. He was also a casual longshoreman who had been studying in Denver and upon returning immediately fell in with the Occupy Seattle camp. I would get regular first hand updates about the crazy marches and police resistance they were experiencing. A touring band was in town that I had booked at a local venue the night before and they were staying at my house. We were having a discussion about Occupy and I remembered that Tacoma of all places had formed an Occupy Movement and was having a big march in downtown that day. The band and I had a few hours to kill so we parked up in hilltop and just followed the sound until we met up with the march. You could hear it from a mile away. Just this ambiguous, indiscriminate wall of noise coming from everywhere. We rounded the corner onto Pacific Avenue somewhere around 11^th street and this swarming mass of energetic people had surrounded a downtown bank. A Veteran soldier in full army uniform waving an American flag, had climbed to the top of a wall as five or 600 voices consumed the plaza. Banners, flags, chanting filled the air. The march continued through downtown and rallied at various points near the museums and University of Washington campus. Ending in a large plaza where the more radical nucleus of the bunch declared, that following the rally they would begin the occupation of an unnamed downtown park as home base for Occupy Tacoma and hoped to see people down there. About a week went by before I borrowed a tent and went and joined that strange society.

Something happened there that can never be taken away from any of the participants. People who had never had a voice were empowered. People whose position was never considered were suddenly participants in the shaping of provisional codes of respect and tolerance. True, Direct Democracy existed, somewhat tediously as the camp grew, but all participants found their voice. More importantly, a really cool tactic called the human microphone was used where the group repeats the speaker’s words in unison, completely eliminating the power dynamic of somebody on a podium speaking through an amplified device. “who ever speaks the loudest gets heard” didn’t apply here. Every bodies voice was heard with equal and deliberate power and clarity.

Today, I went to a solidarity action in Federal Way for Walmart “associates” who have walked off the job. They are trying to organize within a union advocacy group called Our Walmart. Over the last month, workers all over the country have walked out of Walmart warehouses and stores. Including a large mobilization of “associates” to the Walmart Headquarters in Arkansas just weeks ago. In California, warehouse workers marched for 6 days straight with signs bearing their grievances. They marched from the Inland Empire to Los Angeles. Workers at stores all over the country have walked off the job, went on strike, sought union representation and have been met with retaliation, firings, cut backs and the usual corporate bullshit that has been suppressing worker organization in this country since the civil war.

Our Walmart has called for a nationwide strike next week on Thanksgiving and Black Friday in response to the firings and retaliations against workers over the last few weeks. What was really inspiring about this solidarity rally was that the workers themselves, voted and called for this solidarity action a week before the planned action. It wasn’t a parent organization guiding the workers. It was empowered workers calling for the community to support them in a solidarity action they orchestrated themselves. There was a really powerful moment, in the middle of this street that the rally had blocked off in front of a Walmart store, where all the striking workers came forward and said their name and what store they were from. From the sideline I saw a Walmart worker who was hesitant to join her fellow workers, probably out of fear of reprisal, and another worker held her hand and they went up together. The workers called for us to march on the Walmart to provide information and leaflets to customers. We surrounded the entrance, easily 100 of us with flyers and leaflets about the Black Friday action. I saw customers turn away from the store after the picket was explained to them with expressions of solidarity. I saw ordinary Walmart workers leading the march. Leading chants. Energizing the crowd. I saw the striking Walmart workers enter their own store and chant in the front lobby while being repressed by security and management. They later shared on a microphone that they were forbidden to enter their own store unless they had their worker badges. So all the customers have worker badges too? All of this energy came with a soundtrack… The Anti Fascist Marching Band comprised of a Dixieland style ensemble with trombone, clarinet, a booming bass drum and various other percussion. They just added to the absurdity and fun energy of the day.

A worker named Mary got up to speak and said she had worked there for 13 years. She hit the nail right on the head when she said, “this is about human rights. It’s about dignity and respect.” I don’t know how conscious she is of the broader context that her and her comrade’s struggle is framed in… but when worker’s rights are uplifted, especially through their own empowerment and demand to be recognized… human rights are proportionately uplifted. Say it out loud with me… “WORKER’S RIGHTS… ARE…HUMAN RIGHTS.” Feels good doesn’t it? So if we believe this… when we see these kinds of struggles and movements, we should support them, even if it’s as simple as spreading the word not to shop at a place that is being picketed. This doesn’t just have to be framed in the union context. Workers are workers the world over, whether they are union or not. It should be the fundamental core mission of all workers to empower one another…monetarily, through fighting together for good, living wages and benefits or the right to organize or seek union representation (one of the few rights the NLRA actually grants us, even though the rest of that bullshit legislation is weighted against us.) When ordinary people become empowered they do big things. Even after all the news cameras packed up and left and all the different supporters and organizations had dissipated, the actual striking workers carpooled and marched to a second Federal Way store down the street. An action they decided on right then and there in the moment. When ordinary people become empowered… they do big things.

The Boeing Machinists presented a check for $2000 today to the Our Walmart Strike Fund. Walmart workers are just like you and me. They have families and houses and they are taking a huge brave step in the midst of corporate retaliation to inspire their fellow workers to act and to organize. All of us that belong to unions, credit unions or community organizations should enquire about generating funds for these folks. You can donate money to their strike fund here to provide monetary support for food and necessities while these workers are off the job.

https://www.wepay.com/donations/108462

You can tell everyone you know and spread the word with social media using these links about Direct Actions taking place at Walmart stores around the country on Thanksgiving and Black Friday.

http://forrespect.org/

http://money.cnn.com/2012/11/15/news/companies/walmart-black-friday/

You can and should choose other places besides Walmart to INVEST your money. Or, you can show up and be empowered by the raw human energy of a picket line. Real working people are putting it on the line right now so that next Thursday evening starting at 8pm and all day Black Friday, the corporate robber barons will hear their voices loud and clear. Friday morning I urge you to bring a thermos, wear a coat, drive to Walmart with your friends, co workers or family and get baptized in the human spirit.

Solidarity.

Workers of the world unite!

From the Left to the Right.

There was a time in this country that to receive the love, blessings and saving grace of Jesus Christ it had to be through a clergy member. People were hung in the town square after repeatedly being ostracized from society for refuting this claim, and preaching that ALL people are vessel's to receive Christ and teach Christ's word. "Progressive" Quaker women and men died for teaching this, and eventually people's views and interpretation of biblical canon changed and this is commonplace now in Christian practice and thought. There are pastors and clergy members of all different genders, nationalities, ages and in some instances even sexual preferences.

I am only mentioning this because recently, I have read so many arguments where people that are proponents of Marriage Equality and Ref 74 use examples like the civil rights movement and women's right to vote, as epochs in this countries history, where milestones for equality were laid down, and go on to use Marriage Equality as the next fight in the battle for equality and justice. People completely opposed to same sex marriage keep saying the same thing over and over… "this isn't about equality… this is about the sanctity of the word marriage as an institution of the church."

I am not going to cite examples of polytheistic writings that predate Christ's time on this earth or the myriad of human histories, folklores & mythologies passed down from Indigenous peoples, ancient civilizations and pagan societies that all speak explicitly of marriage. I would just like to juxtapose the Christian institution of clergy being historically dominated by misogynistic anglo saxon males as they interpreted the scriptures, and the subsequent transition to a "no clergy required" interpretation of the bible WITH… the institution of marriage being governed by the church and it's inevitable erosion to a secular institution that joins partners together with equal treatment and protection under the law. The only word that will describe this will be marriage. 

The only morality is equality. It is not Sodom and Gomorrah hell on earth because come Wednesday morning same sex marriages will continue to be protected under the law. If this were the case, we should see a study of divorce rates of "Marriage = Man + Woman" marriages whose vows were declared in churches before God and their congregations. We should look at infidelity and incest that take place in married families. Because I am sure the grounds for fire bombing whole communities already exist.

The same freedom's that protect you and your family. Your right to worship, to marry who you choose, to believe what you want are only strengthened when this country becomes more equal for everybody. 

How many people were beaten, slain, kicked out, disowned, excommunicated, shamed, stoned, burned, ostracized, beheaded or tortured in our human history, for Referendum 74 to be on a Ballot in the United States of America, where we can vote our conscious on the issue of Marriage Equality? I don't care if you vote for all fictitious write-ins on your ballot, if nothing else, Approving referendum 74 not only strengthens the rights and freedoms we all take for granted, but it honors the people who have been sacrificed in the struggle for equality and justice.

That's all.

The Rebirth of a Friend

                                                                                                                                                                                        (photo circa 2003)

                  Trent was killed. People that ran to the scene of the accident were with him in his last moments on the side of the road by the upended truck and the bloody bike tire that the news story displayed. The dust and the chaos of his random and violent death has only begun to settle, giving way to the raw, gritty feelings that come with losing an old friend. I can’t pretend that we were really close at the time of his death. But there were many people that were, and this really became evident as the days moved on. Seeing his mother on the internet begging Trent to call home and let her know that he was ok, because she had seen a news story about a bicyclist wrenches the very seat of my soul. I could not imagine that feeling. I am not attempting to dig this back up, because many have found peace through this whole experience, but my purpose in writing this is to find peace myself and reflect on some humorous unimportant moments in Trent and I’s life. Many people that have not seen each other for years sat down together and broke bread, shared a pint, made plans to hang out because Trent, even in passing, brought us back together. That is beautiful.

                  Trent joined the band awhile after me. I had been driving up by myself to band practices in Seattle and when it came time for a new bass player, it just made sense to ask Trent. He lived at the 1227 house. Our band and a number of others were part of a little scene of bands and friends that had spawned out of that house. Trent had been friends with many of those folks for years before that, but that house brought many different groups of people together and we all revolved around it. I used to drive an 87' Volkswagen Fox. This would have been close to nine years ago now. Trent and I used to drive this tiny little car to band practice in Seattle every week. Trent would always make a mix cd for the ride up. For all of us that played music with Trent or knew him through the band… we all might have thought we were into some extreme stuff, like really obscure underground out there music, but Trent just lived to go beyond that and we were constantly being reminded of this. He would make these mix cds of the most cerebral, mathematical, psychedelic music you could find. It was always interesting driving to practice. He would talk these bands up so intensely and just wait to see my reaction to some crazy part of the music and laugh out loud when my brain exploded.

                  I remember we were coming out of the practice space one time and him being like "dude, somebody broke into your car." Sure enough. They had smashed out the front window so we had to clean it up and tape the window closed to get home. The worst part is we had been on this big Rush kick. All my Rush cd's had been in the front seat and they all got stolen. Bust!

                  Our band did one tour. We went all through California and Nevada. I remember driving through Death Valley in this miserable July summer heat. Our guitar player Chris was a complete freak and was driving like a mad man through the canyons of tumbleweed and sand. For some reason he was naked and decided to inform us all that he was going to masturbate right then and there. Our tour van wasn't a passenger van. It was a large conversion van with a tall roof and we had removed the seats so you could walk around and stand up straight. Timm and I were trying to vibe him out since he was naked and masturbating in front of us. So naturally, we got naked and started dancing for him and squirting sun screen on his crotch from behind saying "yeah daddy you like that". This would be quite the spectacle to anyone driving by our van. Trent… the entire time was sitting in the passenger seat reading Get In The Van by Henry Rollins and I swear to you he did not even flinch or acknowledge that any of this was going on.

                  On that tour the band was getting in some heated post apocalyptic discussion about some future world after society crumbles or whatever we usually argued about and Trent got so worked up and intense that mid sentence he just laid down in the door well of the van and pooped his pants. It was the funniest and weirdest thing. If I recall he just wiped up and threw his underwear out on the freeway during rush hour traffic.

                  Our band had a song that to this day is referred to as "Trent's song". He composed and constructed it himself and it was very perplexing to learn. It is probably the best song our band ever created. Trent defied convention in everything he did. He was drawn to people, places, musicians, substances, and perspectives that did the same. What we perceive to be reality, he refused to believe that it was the only perception of it. His music exemplified this. What he played and wrote on his bass made no sense to any of us. It defied the constructs of cords and scales. Trent had to challenge himself and everybody else to play, see or do something different. This is what I will take from Trent. I don't know if his mind was initially set free by his obsession with fantasy novels and this led to everything else he put his time and energy into, but Trent wouldn't look for face value. He would turn face value upside down and see it completely different. He was off somewhere else in his imagination. Also I really have to make mention, that for all the mind bending intelligent music he listened to and created, he really and completely, enjoyed the emotive pop punk band Saves The Day. There was no appropriate way to work this in but I needed to mention it because it serves to only confuse my memories of Trent further.

                  Trent went at everything deliberately and intently, well the things he wanted to do anyways :) Trent made beer for my band's album release party. He bottled it and we sold it out of the van. It was made with coca leaves as in COCAINE LEAVES! It tasted like a porter made out of lavender and gun powder! But the fact that he would invest weeks into creating and preparing something to support his friends really shows how driven he was when he found his motivation. I still have a few bottles somewhere. Trent won awards in Tacoma for his beers. I would have loved to see him take this further.

                  It was foreign to hear some of his new friends and co-workers talk at the memorial service about how he had impacted their lives because when he left Tacoma he had hit a dead end. Trent left hard feelings and hard times in Tacoma. Bad break ups and friendships turned to resentment. A lot of people have to live with this; that they weren't able to mend these kinds of things in the months after he moved to Everett. And while that is a hard thing to swallow I want to offer some perspectives I have on Trent's life after leaving Tacoma.

                  I only got to watch Trent's life from a distance during his last ten months. Through the things he typed on the internet and the pictures he posted. The life he was living in those ten months was a part of Trent I had only caught glimpses of in the 11 or 12 years I knew him. He was visibly full of creativity and joy. Seeing him post about his job; about riding his bike; about his experiences at Burning Man, about his art and his constant energy to produce it. What amazed me attending his memorial service was how many people got to experience Trent in these months and moments where he had completely let go and became all the pieces of Trent all at once. His co-workers, friends and his family who got to experience the radiant, passionate, unbridled creative side of Trent. During this time Trent had made an effort in many people's lives to patch things up and I know it would have been his next order of business to let his transformation and rebirth be a part of his Tacoma friend's lives.

                  The last time I saw Trent was in Tacoma right before he moved back to Everett. It was a nice day out and we went for a bike ride around Tacoma. I want to close with Trent's own words because they move me and give me the sense that Trent was not only happy but at peace. These words were Trent’s and they resound deep inside of me.

"Getting a chance to display my art to thousands of people. Though I wasn't entirely satisfied with how it turned out other folks seemed to enjoy it, and that's what it's about."

"FINALLY LETTING GO of my hang-ups about my personal appearance. "

"Getting dressed up by my camp-mates and dancing (for the first time in all of my life)..."

"Developing this incredibly powerful wanderlust that now consumes my every waking moment."

"Leaving baggage from previous relationships in poem form on the temple, was a tear inducing catharsis that I've needed for the past couple of years."

R.I.P. Trentalicious