"Ten things I hate about you I've been asked to write down,
But I don't know if I can write that much,
Here's a warning from old friends,
to stay away from that girl, from that girl..."
Starrats 'Warning from old friends'
I could write about Fiona, but this seems more important.
PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY, POST TO LISTS AND DISCUSSIONS, AND LINK TO WEBSITES
***EMERGENCY APPEAL FROM NAOMI KLEIN TO SUPPORT THE ZANON WORKERS IN
PATAGONIA***
(Para versión en español ver abajo)
(La traduzione in italiana si trova giù)
Dear Friends,
We’re writing to ask your help in defending an inspiring and courageous workers’
struggle in Argentina.
The Zanon ceramic tile factory, a democratic, worker-run factory in Patagonia,
is facing a serious threat of eviction, and the workers have asked us to gather
international support for their struggle.
To sign the petition, please click here:
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/zanon/petition.html
And for more information, read on...
For those of you who have seen our documentary, The Take, the Zanon factory, and
Argentina’s wider movement of worker-run companies will be very familiar.
For those of you who haven’t, this new movement of some 15,000 workers in almost
200 democratic workplaces is building hope and a concrete economic alternative
in the rubble of Argentina’s disastrous experiment with orthodox neoliberalism
in the 1990s.
Recovered companies are run by assembly: one worker, one vote. In most of them,
workers have decided that everyone should receive the same salary. They are
proving the viability of an economy run on an entirely different value system,
and they are growing.
In the past year, Zanon has increased its workforce from 300 to 450: a 50%
increase. What multinational corporation or national government could boast of
such a dramatic rise in decent-paying employment in the middle of an economic
crisis?
And Zanon has cultivated a deep and mutual relationship with the surrounding
community. For 20 years, the poor neighbourhood of Nueva España, across the
highway from the factory, has been asking the provincial government for a health
clinic. Zanon workers took a vote earlier this year, and in 3 months built and
opened a brand new community health facility.
But now the provincial government is threatening to send in the Gendarmeria to
remove Zanon’s precious machines. This is an illegal order, since this force is
Federal, intended to police Argentina’s borders. On a second front, the Federal
judge presiding over the bankruptcy of the former owner is refusing to recognize
the Zanon workers’ co-operative (called FaSinPat – short for ‘Fabricas Sin
Patrones’, Factories Without Bosses.)
The former owner received millions in public subsidies, and still amassed a huge
debt and bankruptcy: he has since been removed from his own board of directors
for “accounting irregularities”. The workers’ co-operative, on the other hand,
is a major success: it is now producing 380,000 square meters of ceramic tiles a
month – a level of production higher than when the former owner closed the
factory - and the workers do it without the huge public subsidies (300,000 pesos
per month) that he used to receive.
The Zanon workers have told us that a massive international petition in support
of their struggle could make a key difference with the various levels of courts
and governments.
Zanon’s highly successful combination of direct action and direct democracy is a
precious example of that other world that is possible, that is growing before
our very eyes.
We urge you to sign the petition
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/zanon/petition.html
and do everything you can to encourage others to do the same.
Thank you for your time and support!
Avi Lewis and Naomi Klein
Still feeling pretty bummed so I'm not doing any work today. Just chilling then we're going out to a rock club later to rock out. Then Dragonmeet tommorrow which will be very cool I hope and I'll probably end up spending a lot of money.
Peat.