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Instead of sliding towards a mandatory 60+ hour week, we should be fighting for the 35 or 30 hour week! If you love your boss more than you love sex, then this might not be for you, but otherwise, check out the IWW.

How about a shameless plug for the IWW.

We're working for toppling the power of both the government and the corporate bosses, be it Clinton, Bill Gates, or Castro. We don't get into political elections, because that's a trap -- the moment a Libertarian Party politicians gets in power is the moment they abandon their principles.

Instead we are for the 95+% that write code, build bridges, flip burgers, and make everything else go, getting together and telling the politicians and the bosses to step aside. We are already keeping everything running -- it's time we have a say in how it's run, and that means self-management, at work and in our community. Would-be new bosses need not apply.

(even the dumb ones...)

What many people see as either a failure to see what's going on or "apathy" (not caring about what they see) is often not seeing a viable way to change things.

Sure, they don't know all the details of how fucked up things are, and they might not care about all of it, but in general most Americans think things are basically stacked against us, but they don't see it as something that is possible to change. It's like going outside in the winter time and not particularly liking the fact that it's cold and dark out. Imagine someone walking up to you and saying "Wake up! Don't you see that it is cold and dark out?!?! Do you like shivering and getting all wet from stepping slush?!? We need to change it!"

They'd rightly think you were crazy, and that is what most people think when you talk about how both the democrats and republicans are paid off by corporations and will do anything they can to screw you if it means they can hold onto their power. Or when you talk about the FBI spying on them. They'll say "Well I don't have anything to hide" just as they would say "I've got a warm coat on" -- they've adapted to a society they they don't consider changeable.

And the truth is that is difficult to change things and it can be risky. Fortunately it is still possible.

Personally, I think the IWW is the most promising force for the bottom 95% to effectively change things in our best interests -- freedom, democracy, privacy, dignity, all those good things.

Not only does the IWW still exist, but we're growing fast and organizing high-tech workers.

Not only does the IWW still exist, but we're growing fast and organizing high-tech workers.

On the other hand, if you think that your life and your family are important, then why not do what it takes to get more for yourself? And in this system we live in, that means getting organized. Yes, you can get decent pay, at the moment, because you are in high-demand, at the moment, but the industry is being restructured so that any perks we get now are temporary. The moment we are not in high-demand, expect to see the high salaries go away, the stock-options to be worthless, etc.

If we used the power we have now to get together and redefine basic working conditions (35 hour work week, anyone? Hell, 40 hour work week! Honest deadlines, whatever we see as important) then we can have those even when our bosses are no longer forced by temporary market conditions to pay us well and hold onto us.

If you're interested, WashTech is a new union based on democratic principles and bottom-up control. Yes, I know, a lot of high-tech workers are libertarian and inherently distrust unions, with their history of corruption and top-down control. Well, I'm an anarchist, myself (also a Wobbly), and I've been a member since the beginning. Not only is WashTech based on strict democratic principles, but we're also giving Bill Gates a good fight...

This is very sad, yet nothing compared to stuff going on with multinational corporations and oil companies. So people will say, "you must be a communist, that will never work." I agree it will not work, and state controlled communism is a very scarey thing. There is however another political theory that barely gets any recognition at all from the mainstream media, except using it's name to be synonymous with chaos, violence, and psychos. I am not talking about libertarian capitalism (which only seems to be something that exists in america anyway), but true libertarianism, aka libertarian socialism, aka anarchy.


I know this is very slightly off topic, although it's the underlying problems which exist with MS and about every major corporation, and corporation to be. They tend (or seem to) start out as under dogs and nice, but next thing you knmow they're running everyone out of business and using third world countries for cheap labor.


For more information on the theory, I suggest you first read Noam Chomsky books as he points out modern day problems, mainly with capitalism...that way you'll be aware there are actually problems. You may think everything in the world is perfectly all right sitting in your nice house or apartment with a nice expensive computer, telling yourself you fairly earned it and ANYONE can easily do the same if they just try.


Also, I suggest reading Anarchism: From Theory to Practice by Daniel Guerin, who explains it pretty clearly for the average person. If you want to read material from the sources of the theory, I suggest The Essential Kropotkin by Peter Kropotkin (he didn't name the book that himself, it was named that later by the author who put the book together); God and State by Michael Bakunin; Statism and Anarchy by Michael Bakunin; Anarcho-Syndicalism by Rudolf Rocker; Bakunin on Anarchy by Sam Dolgoff; and even the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx (although he has been linked to be pro-state communism which has been proven to be "bad" as the original Russian philosophers during his time predicted). Karl Marx is one of the most popular socialist philosophers mainly because the Soviet Union massed produced his work, and obviously didn't promote the other philosophers because they opposed the state. There is an interesting (and brief) summary of the Russian revolution that many people might not actually be aware of (what really happened that is) here. There was also a Spanish anarchist revolution in the 1930s that was eventually defeated. I suggest reading The Spanish Anarchists: The Heroic Years 1868-1936 by Murray Bookchin if you're interested in that.


There are some good libertarian socialist websites as well. liberty for the people, anarchy library, and spunk library.


You may be interested to know the House has passed an amendment to make flag burning illegal. The only free rights we are semi guaranteed are those in the constitution, and yet we STILL have to fight for those rights as well as those not pointed out in it. Of course corporations don't have to obey the constitution and they can censor whatever they wish...unless you have millions of dollars to fight them in a legal case...and if you are working for them consider yourself fired.


We can really not be free in a world when freedom and knowledge conflict with the best interests of the massively wealthy (and corporations themselves) and the states that promote and spread their existence (such as the US military and CIA promoting right wing and fascist militaries/political parties so US corporations can use the countries natural resources and citizens for cheap labor).


I am remaining anonymous because I do not doubt that some proud patriot or some sort of jerk will flame or stuff my (e)mailbox.


Anyway, before you go attacking political theories you know little or nothing about, I suggest reading these materials. I wish everyone would/could.

This is very sad, yet nothing compared to stuff going on with multinational corporations and oil companies. So people will say, "you must be a communist, that will never work." I agree it will not work, and state controlled communism is a very scarey thing. There is however another political theory that barely gets any recognition at all from the mainstream media, except using it's name to be synonymous with chaos, violence, and psychos. I am not talking about libertarian capitalism (which only seems to be something that exists in america anyway), but true libertarianism, aka libertarian socialism, aka anarchy.

I know this is very slightly off topic, although it's the underlying problems which exist with MS and about every major corporation, and corporation to be. They tend (or seem to) start out as under dogs and nice, but next thing you knmow they're running everyone out of business and using third world countries for cheap labor.

For more information on the theory, I suggest you first read Noam Chomsky books as he points out modern day problems, mainly with capitalism...that way you'll be aware there are actually problems. You may think everything in the world is perfectly all right sitting in your nice house or apartment with a nice expensive computer, telling yourself you fairly earned it and ANYONE can easily do the same if they just try.

Also, I suggest reading Anarchism: From Theory to Practice by Daniel Guerin, who explains it pretty clearly for the average person. If you want to read material from the sources of the theory, I suggest The Essential Kropotkin by Peter Kropotkin (he didn't name the book that himself, it was named that later by the author who put the book together); God and State by Michael Bakunin; Statism and Anarchy by Michael Bakunin; Anarcho-Syndicalism by Rudolf Rocker; Bakunin on Anarchy by Sam Dolgoff; and even the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx (although he has been linked to be pro-state communism which has been proven to be "bad" as the original Russian philosophers during his time predicted). Karl Marx is one of the most popular socialist philosophers mainly because the Soviet Union massed produced his work, and obviously didn't promote the other philosophers because they opposed the state. There is an interesting (and brief) summary of the Russian revolution that many people might not actually be aware of (what really happened that is) here. There was also a Spanish anarchist revolution in the 1930s that was eventually defeated. I suggest reading The Spanish Anarchists: The Heroic Years 1868-1936 by Murray Bookchin if you're interested in that.

There are some good libertarian socialist websites as well. liberty for the people, anarchy library, and spunk library.

Anyway, before you go attacking political theories you know little or nothing about, I suggest reading these materials. I wish everyone would/could.

This is called a general strike. Probably the most powerful non-violent form of expression there is. Try iww.org, they have been advocating the general strike for a long, long time.
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Four years in jail
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*** FREE KEVIN ***