Wolf in Sheep's Clothing - the Last Post

 

I've been working my way through lists of war and anti-war films, I stumbled upon this Argentine short film about the Falklands conflict and was intrigued, can't think of many films that tackle it outside of films about the UK in the 80s which use it as a sort of footnote.

Its 16 minutes including credits and can be viewed on the directors youtube channel Santanna Brothers Films,

The Falklands War, 1982. In the heat of battle, a young British soldier, Mark, deserts his post, only to be captured by an injured Argentinean, Jose Francisco. Gradually the two men form an understanding of friendship and trust, until the arrival of a unit of British Paras, who force Mark to choose between his patriotic duty and his conscience. BAFTA Nominated film starring Gael Garcia Bernal and Kevin Knapman

The few reviews and snippets I've seen are of a similar vein and talk about its bleak message for example this off IMDB

This film tells us that there is no sides that are all good and all bad in a war.

 To put it bluntly its all nonsense. It doesn't tell us this at all, I don't even believe the Last Post qualifies as an anti-war or even war sceptical film. Its pretty blatant in showing who it thinks are the bad in that war. 

In outline its quite similar to many other stories about conflict, including some that are openly opposing conflict as an endeavour, two soldiers from opposite sides find themselves in close contact with each other and both isolated from their sides. There's tension as they try and navigate this frightening environment and eventually try to reach some common ground with language barriers being just one of the obstacles. Its similar to the film about the break up of Yugoslavia No Man's Land (also from 2001) about two Bosniaks and a Serb in a trench in between the lines.

But the issue is in the framing, the ugliness of war is all put on one side, the British who are clearly shown as the aggressors, Knapman and his unit are introduced night marching towards Argentine positions, the post where the surviving Gael Garcia Bernal is sheltering has already been neutralised with the rest of the Argentines already dead. The brief shots of Argentina depict it as a perfectly nice and ordinary nation, not the turbulent, brutal and crumbling dictatorship it was. And there isn't really much tension at all, Bernal surrenders quickly the two don't really bond beyond sharing a cigarette so there's not much in the tragedy of Knapman's decision at the climax when Bernal is murdered and his body used as a cruel and pointless insult to his loved ones, and that's it. Brits attack, Brits torment, Brits murder, Brits desecrate a corpse. 

My disquiet isn't that I don't find this believable, the really nasty Brit soldiers are Paras to make it even more believable that they would do such a thing. Its that this film seems to have been made to feed into Argentine myths of victimhood. Ever since losing the conflict many Argentine governments and cultural luminaries have put a lot of time and effort into constructing a myth of victimisation from British Imperialism, totally erasing the century or more of collaboration with the British government, the brutal military dictatorship that was in the middle of a bloody civil war against its own population and the invasion and occupation of the islands and the oppression of its civilian population. The only thing the Argentine government and military is shown to be at fault for is being out of its depth.

The Last Post, an Argentine film supposedly about the ill effects of war and uses this conflict as its platform fails to address or even acknowledge any of this and that's frankly cowardly if the intent wasn't deliberately made to appeal to this revanchist spirit. 

A Brief History of the IWW outside the US (1905 - 1999)

An attempt to curb the American centric focus of the IWW by giving a brief chronology of significant events made possible by Wobblies outside of the United States.

By F.N. Brill - January 1999
Special Thanks to: Gary Jewell (Canada), Alexis Buss, Tim Acott, Jon Bekken, Fred Chase, Gwion, Steve Kellerman and Robert Rush (US), Kevin Brandstatter (UK).

F.N. Brill's Introduction:
The International aspects of the IWW is something that has escaped most labor historians. While widely acknowledged as an important labor movement, it in many ways has been relegated to either an infantile expression of the proletariat or the inspiration for the "successful" unions of the 1930s.
For those hostile to it, the liberals and Stalinists, it was more convenient to proclaim it dead in 1919 and sweep the possibilities of the IWW under the carpet. Even though Lenin greatly respected the IWW, the Stalinist labor historians have needed to erase the differences between the IWW and the Communist's organizing practices of the 1920s and 30s. While superficially similar in style and rhetoric, the IWW and Stalinists differ in the IWW's insistence of a rotation of leadership from the rank and file. The communists, with the hopes they would be the leaders, helped build the entrenched labour bureaucracies we see today.
But even IWW historians have ignored the ramifications of the IWW's organizing on an international basis.
Sadly, even Fred Thompson, author of the IWW's wonderful official history, The IWW: Its First 50 Years only glosses over the tremendous impact the IWW had internationally and focuses only on the US. To be fair, the IWW's resources were tremendously limited at the time of the First 50 Years leading to a much more condensed book.
The IWW was a major movement in a number of countries and upon the high seas. It had probably more lasting importantance in Australia and Chile than it was in the US and Canada. At points the IWW's Marine Transport Workers Industrial Union stood poised to control much of the world's shipping, while in Australia the IWW effectively halted the Dominion's World War I military efforts.
While not organized, or only briefly, the IWW also held a significant influence upon the development of the workers movements in Ireland, South Africa, Scandinavia and China.
This (page) is a broad overview of all the information I could gather, thanks to IWWs from around the world. I was unable to get much information on the IWW in Sweden, and the Central European nations. Future editions should fill in those missing histories.
I hope this overview is a start to a new appreciation of what the IWW has accomplished. I also hope it is a provocation to rebuild the IWW internationally and win what our Fellow Workers weren't able to accomplish.
History of the IWW

Argentina
November 1919. The Marine Transport Workers had established a branch in Buenos Aries with its own paper.
Within a month the IWW had ended impressment of seamen at the Port through direct actions.
Australia
"Nobody has exercised a more profound influence on the whole outlook of labor in Australia (than the IWW)"
--Gordon Childe
"It's 1000 times better to be a traitor to your country than a traitor to your class"
Australian IWW "clubs" formed in 1907
July 1907 Coal Miner Strike in NSW and Victoria led by IWW
1908 IWW leads Sydney transport strike
1909 strike at Broken Hill, workers locked out for a year and IWW leaders tried for sedition.
31 January, 1914 Direct Action newspaper first appears.
1915
Brisbane -- Prime Minister Hughes' speech is drowned out by crowd led by IWWs. IWW's decide to 'count him down' and the audience joins in, by the number ten Hughes is speechless.
Victoria region -- Fruit pickers get wage increase when IWWs post signs in orchards "Please don't drive copper nails into fruit trees as it will destroy them."
1916 IWW leads New South Wales Railway workshop slowdown
1916 Broken Hill Miners take Saturday afternoons off, giving themselves a 44 hour week. Then strike for 8 hour day. Miners strike spreads to 11,500 miners demanding "bank-to-bank" 8 hour day, virtually shutting down coal mining nationally for 2 months.
Aug. 13, 1916 IWWs speak to 80-100,000 on Sydney Domain against war effort.
Sept. 30, 1916 Raids on IWW headquarters and arrests of key members.
Dec. 3, 1916 7 IWWs sentenced to 15 years in prison for anti-war efforts. Others sentenced to 5 and 10? years.
"A group of aggressive newsboys informed employers that they had joined the IWW and intended in the future to do as little as possible."
Aug. 27, 1917 IWW made illegal and membership rolls made available to employers.
Despite widespread repression, the IWW helps lead the General Strike of 1917.
1924 Melbourne IWW reformed.
1927 Sydney IWW reformed.
1928 May, Adeldale IWW forms Australian Administration, starts publishing Direct Action newspaper. In August, Direct Action is banned.
IWW agitates during the '30s for "Not a minute on the day, not a penny off the pay, Fight against 48 hours and Wage cuts".
IWW protests World War II and is made illegal
1946 Australian IWW reformed in Sydney
1964-65 IWW Pat Mackie leads major mining lock-out/strike at Mt. Isa
Two IWW Regional Organizing Committees exist today, in Australia proper and Tasmania.

Canada
Five Branches were formed in BC in 1906, including a Lumber Handlers Job Branch composed of Indigenous Canadians.
By 1911, the IWW claimed 10,000 members in Canada, notably in mining, logging, Alberta agriculture, longshoring and the textile industry.
In 1912 the IWW fought a fierce free speech fight in Vancouver, forcing the city to rescind a ban on public street meetings.
Organizing began in 1911 among construction workers building the Canadian Northern Railway in BC. In September a quick strike of 900 workers halted 100 miles of construction.
February 1912, IWW membership on the CN stood at 8,000.
March 27, unable to further tolerate the unbearable living conditions in the work camps, the 8,000 "dynos and dirthands" walked out. The strike extended over 400 miles of territory, but the IWW established a "1,000-mile picket line" as Wobs picketed employment offices in Vancouver, Seattle, Tacoma, San Francisco, and Minneapolis to halt recruitment of scabs.
August, 1912 they were joined by 3,000 construction workers on the Grand Trunk Pacific in BC and Alberta.
(According to legend) CN strike also spawned the nickname Wobbly. A Chinese restaurant keeper who fed strikers reputedly mispronounced "IWW" in asking customers "Are you eye wobble wobble?" and the name stuck.
"Scab on the job" tactic created, by sending convert Wobs into scab camps to bring the workers out on strike.
The IWW established an Edmonton Unemployed League, demanding that the city furnish work to everybody regardless of race, colour or nationality, at a rate of 30 cents an hour, and further, that the city distribute three 25-cent meal tickets to each man daily, tickets redeemable at any restaurant in town. On January 28, 1914 The city council agreed to provide a large hall for the homeless, passed out three 25-cent meal tickets to each man daily, and employed 400 people on a public project.
On September 24, 1918, a federal order in council declared that while Canada was engaged in war, 14 organizations were to be considered unlawful, including the IWW. Penalty for membership was set at 5 years in prison.
In 1916, virtually extinct in the rest of the country, the IWW had moved from the Minnesota iron fields in the Mesaba Range northward into Ontario and had gained a large following in the northern woods.
In 1919 the Ontario lumber workers joined the OBU, but Wobbly delegates continued to bootleg union supplies to the minority who wanted to keep their IWW membership books as well, as well as did OBU-IWW delegates in B.C.
April 2, 1919 the ban on the IWW was lifted. Two branches were formed in Toronto and Kitchener.
By 1923 IWW had three branches with job control in Canada: Lumberworkers IU 120 and Marine Transport Workers IU 510 in Vancouver and an LWIU branch in Cranbrook BC for a total of 5,600 members.
1924 marked a peak year for the IWW in Canada. 8,000 in Northern Ontario, the Canadian Lumber Workers vote to join the IWW.
On January 1, 1924, IWW Lumber Workers IU120 struck the British Columbia lumber owners, calling for an 8 hour day with blankets supplied, minimum wage of $4 per day, release of all class war prisoners, no discrimination against IWW members and no censuring of IWW literature.
Fighting a mandatory dues check off to the United Mine Workers, Alberta Coal miners joined the IWW in 1924. The mine company unsuccessfully offered a 10% wage increase if they agreed to accept the UMWA.
Canadian delegates met in Port Arthur September 20, 1931, and voted to form a Canadian administration to coordinate specifically Canadian industrial activity.
IWW unemployment ag -itation generated a number of arrests. Ritchie's Dairy in Toronto was unionized IWW for a time, and a fisher's branch formed in McDiarmid, Ontario.
Organizing was undertaken in the Maritimes but did not sustain itself. In 1935 the IWW had 12 branches in Canada with 4,200 members.
IWW agitation continued strong in Canada until 1939, especially in northern Ontario. Wobbly units in Sudbury and Port Arthur were mixed membership branches of scattered lumbermen, miners and labourers.
During the Spanish Civil War 1936-39, the IWW in Ontario actively recruited for the revolutionary union militias in Spain.
In 1949 membership in Canada stood at 2,100 grouped in six branches; two in Port Arthur and one each in Vancouver, Sault Ste. Marie, Calgary and Toronto.
IN 1968 it was decided to sign up students alongside teachers and campus workers into Education Workers IU620. There followed a wild and erratic campus upsurge, two notables being Waterloo U in Ontario and New Westminster BC.
1974 In Vancouver a construction crew in Gastown was signed IWW -- but certification was denied, the IWW declared not a "trade union under the meaning of the Act."
1988 Student newspaper at Simon Frazier university organizes IWW.
1998 IWW organizes at Harvest Foods in Winnipeg, first legal Canadian IWW union in decades.
1999 IWW organizes series of shops along Whyte Avenue in Edmonton.

Chile
The founding congress of the Chilean IWW took place in Santiago, in 1919. Upholding the principles and tactics of the international IWW, the Chileans were able to regroup radical teachers and longshoremen, along with most of the scattered Chilean anarcho-syndicalist movement.
During the 1920s, the IWW published 10 different newspapers in five cities in Chile. The central newspaper, Accion Directa, appeared from 1920-26. During times of repression, the Chilean papers were printed at the Chicago IWW printing plant and smuggled into Chile by wobbly sailors.
Through the summer of 1920 the Chilean union conducted a three month strike to prevent the export of grains from the country at a time when this export was producing famine and famine prices and profits.
On July 22, 1920 police conducted a raid on the Santiago headquarters. In Valparaiso, the police planted dynamite in the wobble hall and arrested most of the IWW organizers for terrorism. The reasons for these raid was the successful strikes against the exportation of grains during the famine.
1924 4000 Santiago IWW bookbinders win strike for 44 hour week.
The Chilean administration of the IWW remained united until 1925 when the unions representing Port, printing and bakeries split to form the anarcho-syndicalist Federation Obrerra Regionale Chile (FORCh). Objecting to the IWW's industrial unionism, these unions opted for regional/federalist organization according to craft.
The IWW was the only labor group to openly oppose the military coup of 1927. In contrast, the Communist Party 'was at first evasive, but then listed certain demands of the new regime...' Only when the CP's demands weren't met, did they decide to oppose the military dictatorship.
Both unions were silenced in 1927 by the Ibez dictatorship. In 1931, the Ibez government fell and former IWW and FORCh members formed a new anarcho-syndicalist union, the CGT.
After the military coup of 1973, an American IWW, Frank Terrugi, was shot to death by a Chilean death squad. Terrugi, in Chile studying workers movements, had been detained in a soccer stadium during the coup with hundreds of other radicals and unionists. He was found dead soon after he had been 'released" from the soccer stadium/prison. Turrugi is the sidekick to the missing American being sought by his father in the Oscar winning Costa Gavras film, "Missing".

China
During the period 1910-1916 Australian IWW helps get IWW materials translated into Chinese and distributed into China. These were published by Liu Szu-fu ("Shih-fu") and IWW ideals became influential in Canton and Shanghai.

Ecuador
Administration chartered 1922.
Fiji
1916 IWW fishers strike.

Germany
1924 Marine Transport Workers Union Branch formed in Settin, Hamburg and other ports. Over 10,000 members at founding. The IWW continues a open organizing until Hitler and continued underground.

High Seas
1924 IWW calls International Marine Transport Workers Conference in New Orleans. Delegates from Argentina, Canada, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico and US.
1925 IWW controls all Scandinavian/US shipping through job actions and quick strikes.
November 1925 East coast IWWs strike in support of UK, Scandinavian, New Zealand and Australian sailors in first international maritime strike.
Second International conference help in Montevideo, Uruguay.
April 9, 1930 IWW organizes 1700 member crew on the Leviathan, then the world's largest vessel.

Ireland
1913 IWWs James Connolly and Jim Larkin found the Transport and General Workers Union as the basis of an Irish IWW.
During 1917-23 civil war period Ireland experienced outright insurrection, collectivization of transport in Cork, uprising of landless labourers, the establishment of Soviets and dual power situations in many cities...
Recession and a state clampdown knocked the union off course in 1923. A split movement still carried on a local variant of revolutionary unionism in the Workers Union of Ireland but was numerically weak.
Japan
1924 Marine Transport Workers Branch formed in Yokohama.
Mexico
Ties with Mexican revolutionaries date to ?the founding of the IWW.
Riccardo Flores Magon was an IWW and used the IWW press and organization to build support for revlutionary movement in Mexico.
In 1911 the Mexican Liberal party (PLM), a anarchist formation, invaded Baja California in an effort to set up a workers' republic. The campaign was run out of an IWW hall in Holtville, CA. 100 IWWs, including Joe Hill and Frank Little, were part of the insurrectionary force.
July, 1912 several trade unions unite under IWW preamble.
In 1917, when many of the wells closed down as a protest of the American owners against a tax imposed on oil and the wage demands of the workers, the leadership of the movement was almost entirely in the hands of the IWW."
During the later phase of the Mexican revolutionary process, IWW locals in Arizona endorsed the Zapata movement.
Dec. 1919, Mexican IWW Administration is chartered
On June 2, 1921 the IWW hall at Tampico, Mexico, was raided, and the IWW called a general strike in the area which won them the right to have their hall.
3000 IWW miners strike and win in Santa Eulalia.
Mexican Administration of the IWW continues until early 1960s.

New Zealand
IWW administration organized 1912
IWW organizer Tom Barker arrested for sedition during great Strikes of 1912-13, subsequently escapes to Australia to organize there.
Nicaragua
While in exile in Mexico during early 1920s, Sandino participates in strikes led by the IWW. Inspired by them he returns to foment revolution in Nicaragua. He adopts the IWW's black and red colours.
Peru
In 1923 the IWW led a strike on the Peruvian Central lines when a railwayman with 20 years good service was sacked. Within 24 hours the entire railway system...had struck in accordance with the IWW motto "an injury to one is an injury to all." The workman was reinstated, having first rejected a $50,000 bribe from the company to accept dismissal.
Russia
1919 16,000 Miners in Siberia form a union and adopt the IWW preamble.
Sweden
1971 Branch formed at Malm. shipyards.
Sierra Leone
1996 Diamond and Gold miners organize into IWW.

South Africa
South African Administration founded in 1911.
IWW campaigns to convince white workers "that their real enemy is not the coloured labourer, and that it is only by combining and co-operating irrespective of colour that the standard of life of the whites can be maintained and improved."
1912 IWW leads strike of tram-drivers in Johannesburg, the first multi-racial strike in that country's history.
United Kingdom
The IWW in Britain has been around in one form or another since 1906. It started with small groups of seafarers in particular bringing the message of industrial unionism to these shores from the USA.
In 1908 the union split along the same lines as in the USA. The IWW members who followed Daniel De Leon formed the British Advocates for Industrial Unionism and organized some major strikes, particularly in the industrial belt in Central Scotland. The strike at the Singer Sewing Machine Factory in 1908 was the most famous. The IWWs who stuck with the non-De Leon faction formed the Industrial League.
IWW involvement in a 1909 strike at Ruskin College, Oxford, which led to the creation of the revolutionary education movement "The Plebs League" and the marxist "Central Labour College". IWW members were also involved in the establishment of the "Daily Herald", the first working class controlled newspaper, which carried much labour news.
In 1910 Bill Haywood toured the country and in South Wales he spoke at a very large meeting of striking coal miners in one pit and urged them to spread their strike across the entire industry and occupy the pits. His influence is credited with an explosion of militancy in the area and was one reason why former IWW members in the mines produced and circulated "The Miners Next Step", a pamphlet aimed at turning the South Wales Miners Federation into a single region-wide industrial union. It is regarded as the most important piece of Industrial Unionist literature of the period.
In 1913 the Union granted a charter to a British Administration of the I.W.W. which ran as an essentially independent body. The union had strong branches in major cities, although there is no evidence of an IWW strike as such.
Prominent supporters of the IWW such as Peter Larkin and James Connolly were active in dockers and other transport workers strikes during the period.
The union was involved the years of unrest leading to the first world war through organisations such as the Industrial Syndicalist Education League (ISEL), the Industrial Democracy League and the League of Revolutionary Unionists. The ISEL was prominent in efforts to build industrial unions through mergers of existing trade unions and was at the forefront of the creation the National Union of Railwaymen and the Transport and General Workers Union.
The National Conferences of Trades Councils in 1919 and 1920 endorsed the principle of the One Big Union as a means of uniting the working class and establishing Industrial Unions. Shop Steward movement's cards were made interchangeable with IWW cards.
The Union stayed barely alive in the 20s and 30s having retreated to the cities of Liverpool, Birmingham and London with very little influence elsewhere.
In 1946 fortunes turned up and a new British Administration was chartered which played an active part in the dock strike of 1947.
In the mid 1970s a Workers Centre was set up in Oldham and a British Section remained active until the early 1980s. The IWW was particularly involved in efforts to spread the idea of rank and file control of the unions and IWW organsers were at the forefront of the National Rank and File Movement.
A new period for the I.W.W. started in 1993 when a small group met in London to re-establish the union. Membership has grown towards the hundred mark and branches have been established in a dozen or more cities.
In 1995 the union established its first "job branch" at Stevenson College in Edinburgh, which has played a significant role in fighting redundancies and exposing the crass nature of sectional unionism in education.
In 1995 members agreed to establish the first Regional Organising Committee and this came into being in 1997, shortly after the union launched its new quarterly magazine "Bread and Roses".
1998 IWW organizing Grocery and Pharmicutical workers in Devon and Dorset.
This pamphlet is dedicated to the memory of Fellow Worker Tom Barker, who organized for the IWW in New Zealand, Australia, Chile, Argentina, the US, the UK, Russia, Germany and upon the High Seas. For the One Big Union!
From Libcom.org
PDF Version

The Pope: Same Message, Different Presentation

Pope Francis has been making a stir with the secular liberals, for no reason that I can gather. I've come to the conclusion that the fuss has little to do with the new Pope and is mainly fuelled by secular liberals lack of knowledge of Catholicism and what it actually says.

What prompted this post is the apparent shock Francis's recent interview were he said some (apparently) shocking things about homosexuals, but has been on my mind for awhile as the new Pope seems to have made a habit of shocking certain people, by well saying what every other Pope has said on the same issues.

The particular quote thats making the rounds in the liberal blogosphere?

'If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?

'If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?' - See more at: http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/pope-francis-who-am-i-judge-gay-people290713#sthash.fOFAPDa7.dpuf

As someone from a Catholic background I don't really see why this is surprising. There's more then one reason why this is standard Catholic practice. Officially the only one who can judge your moral worth i.e. will you be getting into Heaven or not is God. When you go to confession your not asking the priest in the other booth for forgiveness your asking his advice on how best to show God you seek to make amends for your behaviour. Now I understand things like confession aren't things non Catholics will have much experience of but there is a certain phrase that I'm certain most Westerners at least should know regarding religious judgement "Love the sinner, hate the sin" your not technically supposed to hate the gays but the gay acts (as in sex acts not being effeminate/butch).

Now I'm sure you can think of a few cases where the Catholic absolutely did judge others and acted towards sinners in a manner that clearly wasn't loving. Perhaps the most infamous are the Inquisition and the counter reformations, thing is the Catholic church like most authoritarian institutions is quite willing to ditch its ideals as long as it feels threatened (forget brotherhood, bring out the thumbscrews) or sees an opportunity to profit, collusion with oppressive regimes, and the establishment of a banking powerhouse after centuries of calling greed a sin.

Oh and while we're on the subject let me just clarify what the actual sin of homosexuality is in Catholic doctrine. The sin is based on the concept Sodomy, but sodomy does not mean man and man or woman on woman. Sodomy means anal and oral sex, which you don't have to be Gay to enjoy. Because that sex won't result in procreation of a baby. Using sodomy as a starting point official Cathlic doctrine views any and all sexual acts as sinful if its not for unity (marriage relations) and reproduction. Its basically the same objection they have to contraceptives and why the last Pope finally caved and said if your Gay and or a prostitute you might as well be save and rubber up* to paraphrase Benedict.

And since the Catholic already has a forgive and forget practice with contraceptive users, then why not the same for those who have Gay sex?  In fact in the interview Francis himself explicitly states that the Catholic church has officially held this view for a long time "The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains this very well. It says they should not be marginalized because of this, but that they must be integrated into society,' ". The Catholic solution to the "Gay problem" isn't supposed to be punishment or exclusion but a form of brotherhood with the aim of "helping" gays resist the urge to practice their "sin". 

Also in the interview was a reassertion of his intentions to oppose LGBT rights like when he urged France to repeal its gay marriage law.

'The problem is not having this orientation. We must be brothers. The problem is lobbying by this orientation, or lobbies of greedy people, political lobbies, Masonic lobbies, so many lobbies. This is the worse problem.'

There is nothing that Pope Francis has said here that is remotely pro Gay or different from current church practice. I suspect those wishing otherwise do so out of a desire to see progress, but it just isn't the case.

Money

Leaving aside the queer folk for a moment about a month ago Francis made another public statement about money that caught a few off guard even though yet again his statement didn't really differ at all from what the other Popes have said from the very beginning of the Catholic church.

Pope Francis has hit out at unbridled capitalism and the "cult of money", calling for ethical reform of the financial system to create a more humane society.
In an impassioned appeal, the Argentinian pontiff said politicians needed to be bold in tackling the root causes of the economic crisis, which he said lay in an acceptance of money's "power over ourselves and our society".
"We have created new idols," he said in a speech in the Vatican. "The worship of the golden calf of old has found a new and heartless image in the cult of money and the dictatorship of an economy which is faceless and lacking any truly humane goal."

 Now that sounds pretty good and I'm sure quoting Francis will help win a few internet arguments over the money is moral crowd but again aside from rhetorical flourish this isn't anything new. In fact wagging the bony finger at the money lenders is as old as the Catholic Church itself. For example charging interest on a loan Usury was a very serious breach of Catholic morality, so much so that it indirectly allowed the Jews of Italy and Spain to carve out a niche for themselves in financial banking and market trade. This is why the stereotype of Jews being wealthy or dominant in the financial sector despite being a heavily oppressed and maligned minority became so prevalent virtually every serious loan came from a Jew.

Greed is actually one of the big Seven Sins in Catholicism, so it shouldn't surprise anyone that the Supreme Catholic has a few words to say on global capital. And again this area is where the Catholic hierarchy shows themselves to be the most hypocritical. Despite supposedly hating wealth accumulation the Vatican is not only hoarding an absolutely fortune in expensive artwork and golden furnishings but it has its own banking arm with links to the Mafia.

Investigators want to know more about vast sums of money that are said to have passed through his account to establish if they were money laundering operations by on the run Mafia Godfather, Matteo Messina Denaro.

 And in addition to its own banking operations the Vatican Bank has been itself a major shareholder in a number of other financial institutions not exactly known for there good works and ethical practices, like Banco Ambrosiano a bank built by the Mafia and whose deals involved arms smuggling including Exocet missiles to Argentina during the Falklands conflict.

So don't believe the hype, if Francis is really serious about tackling the cult of money it'll take more then riding around in a bus to sort out. And even if he is serious about it I very much doubt he'll be able to do much about it since the Catholic church is run by senior Bishops, -thats how the past Pope's have survived the numerous scandals- some of whom have powerful connections within and without the church and are up to their necks in all sorts of dodgy stuff.

Those expecting substantial reform from Frankie No.1 are going to be disappointed, at best he's making some nice sounding noise to improve the Catholic churches image.

*Because they already break the rules it doesn't matter that you break another of equal importance.

From Crisis to Co-operatives

From FSRN

Over the last few years, Europe has experienced a severe financial crisis, with countries like Greece and Spain facing skyrocketing debt and unemployment. More than a decade ago, a similar situation was unfolding in Argentina. In 2001, the country suffered a debilitating economic crisis and, as a result, defaulted on its foreign debt and stopped pegging the Argentine peso to the U.S. dollar.  When the peso to dollar conversion jumped suddenly to three to one, many Argentines lost two-thirds of their savings overnight.

Banks closed.  Companies went out of business.  And fully one-quarter of the population was left without work.  Tens of thousands of those people, in desperation, started to make their living from garbage.  Working as “cartoneros,” which means “cardboard people” they sorted through trash to find recyclable materials to sell.  Thus was born Buenos Aires’ informal recycling system, which still exists today.

Eilís O’Neill has more on how the cartoneros, who originally struggled to exist on what they could make on their own, eventually organized into cooperatives in order to help each other and to demand that the government support their efforts.

This documentary was produced by Eilís O’Neill  in Buenos Aires. Documentary editor is Shannon Young. Technical production by Jeannine Etter. La Plataforma provided music for this documentary.

In 2001 Argentina suffered one of the worst economic depressions since the 1930's, surprisingly this traumatic period went unnoticed by most as 9/11 and the Invasion of Afghanistan diverted attention. I'm also certain that the fact this occurred in South America a region that at the time (late 80's through the 90's) was prone to economic collapse and street protests. Venezuela had food riots in Caracas, the old Dictatorships failures to secure living standards saw all of them chucked out the Presidential palaces etc.

Which as the above documentary demonstrates is quite shameful. Not only was it a case of ignoring a whole nation in severe difficulty, it also means that the rest of the world may have missed out on a very important example of the people power and the tenacity of ordinary people to Organise in the face of extreme adversity and societal collapse. 2001-02 saw ordinary shop floor staff occupying and reopening abandoned factories (for those who haven't already seen it I recommend The Take a documentary about factory occupations) and others still became Cartoneros "Cardboard people" they would and still do sort through rubbish for recyclable material to sell.

You may be wondering, isn't that what the homeless do all over the world? And the answer is sadly yes, but what makes the Cartoneros different is that they began to organise themselves into Cooperatives and establish routines and preferred buyers for certain materials, which enabled individual Cartoneros to work fewer hours, take days off and  improve their health and housing.

In fact several have become so large and well established that a number of them like El Ceibo now own their own sorting areas and factories.

They went from this

To this

But beyond the specific example of sorting recyclables the Cartoneros show the world the power of organisation, by hard work and solidarity the unemployed living on the very fringe of formal society have managed to improve their own conditions and become important institutions in Urban Centres.

In particular the Documentary makers think the Argentine experience will be of use to the Greeks (probably should of recorded it in Greek then) as not only do the two nations share similar triggers for their woes (the Argentine Peso was pegged to the US dollar for years) but the severity of both financial meltdowns means both nations faced a breakdown in formal society.

Trying to make Sense of the Falklands

I was reading the English section of Granma when I came across an article by Fidel on the curious state of affairs in Canada you know that old question about is Canada an actual independent nation or still a colony. I personally have little interest in that debate, instead I was more interested in Fidel's comments about the Falklands/Malvinas Islands.

"Likewise, the Honorable Foreign Minister of Canada does not dare to say whether or not he supports Argentina on the thorny issue of the Malvinas Islands."

Well it isn't really an issue for Ottawa, and even if Canada took a side regardless of what side I sincerely doubt either the UK or Argentina would care to do anything more then release a gloating press release or blustering denial depending on who it sided with. I've never really understood this practice Nation states have of demanding every other nation recognise them in a territorial dispute. Why should the opinions of a government with no clear interests in the dispute matter? its not like there are any consequences of choosing sides, countries that side with Britain still have diplomatic relations and trade links with Argentina and vice versa. Its not like say Palestine or Western Sahara, where the issue is about a territory wishing for independence, and the stance other nations take will have ramifications for international law and global trade.

"He has only expressed beatific wishes for peace to prevail between the two countries. But Great Britain has there its largest military base outside its territory in violation of Argentina´s sovereignty."

Remind me again weren't you supporting dozens of rebel groups throughout South America, and even Africa. Hell your best friend Ernesto (more commonly known as Che) was busy trying to set up a mutually supporting continental network of Guerrilla's to build a continent wide Revolution. I seem to remember Bolivia had quite a few armed Cubans running around in violation of that governments sovereignty.




"It did not apologize for having sunk the General Belgrano cruiser which was sailing outside the jurisdictional waters that they themselves established which led to the futile sacrifice of hundreds of youths who were doing their military service."

Well first the sinking of the Belgrano wasn't futile, its loss humiliated the Argentine Navy and caused fractures along service lines within the military Junta ruling Argentina making it less able to deal with internal enemies. Had it not been for the invasion and the subsequent conflict many of those innocent youths would have spent there military service either firing at protesters or making people "disappear" it really does astonish me how many South American Leftists seem to forget about the Military Junta and there dirty war when talking about this period, especially when some of the older ones at the time where that governments most harsh critics and provided material support to its opponents.




I will say this much, the decision by the Argentine Dictatorship to invade the Malvinas and break with the UK whom had been a close ally, especially in the war against communism carried out by the governments of South America, was an act of desperation to stave of full blown insurrection by diverting attention and igniting Argentine Patriotism by concentrating on an external enemy and its injustice to the whole Argentine nation. The conflict that followed showed not only the powerful military to be incompetent but the costs of the fighting physically weakened it snapping the stick it used to keep its people in line. As a result of this the downfall of the regime quickly followed and the full extent of its crimes where brought to light at a time when many Latin American nations still had intact Junta's shooting up opponents.



"We should ask Obama and Harper what stand they will take in the face of the just claim by Argentina to be returned sovereignty over the islands so that it is no longer deprived of the energy and fishing resources it so much needs to develop the country."

Ouch, that actually hurt to read, what he is advocating is economy over people, see what most supporters of Argentina's claim often fail to acknowledge is that the majority of the Islands current population like Gibraltar's prefer the current system over the alternatives. Unlike in other cases of disputed islands like the Kuril Islands between Japan and Russia, where there was an already existing population (in this case Japanese) whom where relocated (kicked out) for the next lot, the Argentine claim is based on the gulf of distance between Britain and the Islands compared to Argentina. That and history, but here's the problem with regards to "closeness" that's absurd, by that logic Ireland should still be part of Britain because where right next door and there's more Brits then Irish therefore are say counts more, also they do have resources that would enable the British economy to develop if exploited by British investment. In fact stating territory is yours because your bigger especially if the locals don't wish to join the fold is called annexation, and is often a product of colonialism.

And the history angle just doesn't work, virtually every nation older then a century has experienced some form of border shift, usually at there expensive. I've seen an old map that had Mongolia as part of China and Russia owning Finland and Poland, or Mexico losing most of its Northern territories. What makes these Islands in the South Atlantic special? nothing, if the historical claim holds weight in international affairs then you should brace yourself for a lot more conflict in the future.



So why then do all this Left wing politicians and thinkers suddenly so vocal about Argentina's rights? well you might think this is because Argentina has a left wing government headed by the lovely Christina Kirchner, but there's more to it then that. Certainly the knowledge that they're no longer advancing the interests of brutal right wing Generals has emboldened them certainly, but the core of the reason is simple, its good politics, just as there are no consequences for Canada choosing a side here, there is absolutely nothing to lose wagging the finger at the Queen or P.M. but they gain a little. The Malvinas for the people of South America represent a reminder of the old Colonial past when Europe (mostly Spain and Portugal) used to dominate there lands from afar. It is also thanks to the conflict a clear symbol of outside forces interfering in South American affairs. So by condemning the Brits they are reaffirming there zeal for liberation risk free. Condemning the US on the other hand despite its more prominent interference does carry some risk so its best (even for Cuba) to cool your heels and think about it first.

Also currently the second most popular trend in Latin America after Liberacion is Pan Latin American Unity, so by sticking there necks out for Kirchner Chavez and Castro and others are reaffirming there stated view that they are all the same people and are all facing the same problems and striving for the same end.
To be fair to Castro after moving on from the Falklands he does go on to criticise Canada's appalling Mining operations in the region, which have lead to environmental destruction, theft and embezzlement and even murder. Its just that business contracts are shady while a big military presence sticks out like a sore thumb. Politicians in Latin America will continue to prod the Falklands issue until the Falklanders themselves wish to accept Argentina in some form. There is a minority who wouldn't mind joining Argentina so a careful handling of the situation by Buenos Aires could in a few years build a majority, in the mean time it might be worth looking into something along the lines of an Anglo-Irish agreement over the territory to ease the process along and prevent people from getting too worked up about it.