Alas, a Blog | Feminist, anti-racist, pro-fat, plus whatever else we feel like talking about.

Hal Duncan's Open Letter To John C. Wright

Posted on August 17, 2009 by Ampersand

A couple of days ago, I left a comment in response to this post by John Wright. I also posted my comment on “Alas.”

I’m very glad I saved a copy on “Alas,” since Wright later deleted all the comments on his post, and later still simply deleted his entire post. (He’s also closed his livejournal to comments from anyone but those he has friended.) That’s all fine with me (although I hate to see someone delete comments he has not himself written) — everyone has a right to set the terms of discussion on their own livejournal or blog, up to and including deleting posts you’d rather not have Wikipedia link to. ((On the other hand, since the post was posted in public, I think others have a fair use right to quote it in order to facilitate discussion of the issues John brought up. For that reason, I’ve quoted John’s post here.))

I admit, I’m miffed that John wrote this in a follow-up post:

Those of you who tried to draw the distinction between incest and homosexuality, you either limited your comments to a certain type of incest (as with children) or described it as illicit due to genetic defects produced, but in no case that I saw did anyone actually answer the question asked

John appears to have forgotten my comment — even though he answered it with a three-point response (which was deleted before I could respond, alas). I answered the question asked, did it in detail, and did so in an extremely respectful manner (even though I don’t think John had behaved in a respectful manner towards others). And I didn’t limit my answer to children, or even mention genetic defects.

Anyhow, writer Hal Duncan has posted an “open letter” responding to John Wright’s anti-gay post. Hal is working in a similar over-the-top prose style to John’s post, although I think Hal’s prose is better. I particularly liked this passage:

Well, let’s start with the assumptions that will likely lead many to not respond with anything remotely resembling the rational answers you claim you want. If you want your questions to be taken seriously then you would do well to start by asking them without the arrant nonsense of paranoid fantasies in which the SyFy Channel has “recoiled in craven fear and trembling” before the intimidatory might of GLAAD’s “homosex activists” (aka the Elders of Sodom, Media Division.) You would do well to start with the premise that the head of the SyFy Channel’s public commitment to not simply presenting more homosexuality but to presenting it as a non-issue might actually be born of a genuine belief that this is an ethical thing to do.

We’re sure you’re aware that other people can and do have different opinions. You may reject the validity of those opinions, but it would hardly seem rational to reject their existence. Actually, come to think of it, you don’t actually seem that rational, so maybe our conviction is unwarranted. Let us assure you then: we, the Elders of Sodom do have those opinions, trust me, and many within our ranks hold such opinions not because they are themselves homosexual, (we are open to all and sundry, welcoming even to the Brethren of Breeders,) but simply because they have a trait we refer to as “empathy.” The ethics we hold to among the Elders of Sodom is, generally speaking, based primarily on this “empathy,” and therefore rejects homophobia for the same reasons it rejects racism, misogyny, and all other forms of prejudice.

This is how it actually is, Mr Wright. People do actually disagree with you. Not just the actual sodomites like myself, but the Sapphic Sisterhood, the Hamite Alliance, the League of Heathens and Infidels, Atheists Anonymous, a whole panoply of progressive thinkers, aligned and unaligned, to whom your rant reads as the ethically repugnant ravings of a sociopath, given that it has so little concern for aforesaid “empathy”. Let me repeat that, Mr Wright. People do actually disagree with you. Not because they’re faggots who like the homosex. Not because they’ve been cowed into submission by the faggots who like the homosex. But because they see the faggots who like the homosex as human beings deserving of empathy, see the abjection of them as profoundly unethical — stupid and cruel to the point of socially dysfunctional.

Posted in Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans and Queer issues | 4 Comments

When I Held That Gun in My Hand I Felt a Surge of Power — Like God Must Feel When He's Holding a Gun

Posted on August 17, 2009 by Jeff Fecke

We have a whole bunch of rights in this country, and by and large, that’s a good thing. But just because you have a right, that doesn’t mean you should always choose to exercise it. You shouldn’t go up to random passersby on the street and insult them, for example, even though you have the right to free speech. With rights come the responsibility to use those rights in a sane and sensible manner.

One of those things that we used to agree on was that you shouldn’t bring a loaded gun to a political debate. Oh, perhaps you have the legal right to — you may have all the proper permits to carry a concealed weapon, or you may have the right under your state’s law to openly carry a weapon. But like standing outside a funeral and telling people their loved ones are burning in Hell, it’s an irresponsible use of your rights.

Or, if you’re Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga., it’s a perfectly cromulent thing to do.

Now, just as we can’t arrest Fred Phelps and the Pips for preaching anti-gay, anti-military, anti-human hatred, nor can we arrest those people who are blinkered enough to think it’s a good idea to carry a gun to an anti-government protest. But that doesn’t mean we should embrace it. That doesn’t mean we should encourage it. That doesn’t mean we should say that rights are rights, and any exercise of those rights is a good thing. Because sometimes exercising those rights is the wrong thing to do.

Look, I’m a radical civil libertarian, and even with regards to guns, I’m mostly agnostic. But carrying a gun to a town hall meeting or an anti-government protest is, if not illegal, then deeply immoral. And it’s not anti-liberty to say so, any more than it’s anti-liberty to condemn Fred Phelps. Indeed, there was a time when conservatives could be counted on to defend social order and the responsible use of rights. But of course, modern conservatives are radicals in all but name; they bear as much relationship to the party of Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt as they do to the Socialist Workers Party.

Posted in Conservative zaniness, right-wingers, etc. | 76 Comments

Link Farm and Open Thread, Factory Wall edition

Posted on August 17, 2009 by Ampersand

Awesome wall art, from the Fame Festival website. They have a lot of photos of “upgraded” walls, and also this speeded-up video of a wall being painted.

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Post whatever you like! Feel free to publicize your own blog, too, or someone else’s. Just dance and be free, hippies!

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And here are some links for you, my lovlies:

Is it now a crime to be poor? Barbara Ehrenreich runs down some of the many ways cities are criminalizing poverty.
Gay men are being systematically tortured and murdered in Iraq
An in-depth interview with the word “racism.”
Why it’s never okay to say “so-and-so looks like a tranny.”
Burqa Tourism at its Finest: How to Become an Expert on Muslim Women in Just One Week
Painting dolls brown is not enough.
NASA unlikely to put people on the moon by 2020.
It turns out white people do see race… when mistaking people of color for service employees.
Trans women in male prisons: Cruel and unusual punishment
It’s always been the case that cops push around people for no good reason.
The DOJ has filed another motion in a Defense of Marriage Act case — but this time, they’re trying a lot harder not to offend the LGBT community.
Some good news: The HIV Travel Ban seems likely to be ended soon. Long overdue, imo.
Delaware’s new statute makes it possible for children to have three legally recognized parents.
Stargate:Universe’s casting call for an actress to play a disabled character is full of fail. “Do you have any idea how much most disabled people hate the oh-so-familiar story where a disabled character (always in a wheelchair) gets to *drum roll* WALK AGAIN?”
Why the word “lame” hurts
Kevin Moore draws The Continuum of Misplaced Skepticism. Nice one!
Hillary Clinton has a moment of perfectly reasonable umbrage, and is roasted for it. Gosh, I hate our media.
The important thing about the “death panels” nonsense is that it’s going to mean that more people won’t live any longer, but will die more painful, uncomfortable deaths.
Health care reform goal posts have moved a lot over the years. The health care reform we’ll be disappointed to get this year, would have been amazing four years ago.
A Tale of Masks and Mobile Consciousness
US planning to shoot Afghan drug dealers without trial.
And one more street painting, this time by Greek artist B. Check out B.’s gallery here (not safe for work, possibly.) (Via.)

Posted in Link farms | 43 Comments

The American Way or What’s Really Going To Destroy America…

Posted on August 17, 2009 by karnythia

the-american-way-or-whats-really-going-to-destroy-america

Racism, Right-Wing Rage and the Politics of White Nostalgia. Tim Wise is trying to give America a history lesson. I don’t expect that to end well. Not because his facts are bad (they are excellent) but because America seems committed to pretending that various major events and policies over the last 200 years didn’t happen whenever it looks like the bill might be coming due. Until of course something horrible happens and there is no way to avoid reality. You know what I’m expecting to shake loose the health care debate? Swine flu. Right now it’s not a pandemic, but all that scrambling for a vaccine isn’t for shits and giggles. And if it’s not swine flu it’ll be some other pandemic like the one in 1918 that highlights very quickly what can go wrong when most of your population doesn’t have access to long term quality medical care. Oh sure, there will be people in the hospitals getting treatment after it all goes to hell. But before the point when we know that it’s Killer Infection X? It’s going to get a whole lot of time to spread as people ignore symptoms and keep going to work or to school or wherever without treatment because they can’t afford it. And we’re going to see a lot of “those people” rhetoric and blaming of the victims because of course the poor will be the scapegoats instead of the real culprits.

After a good sized chunk of the population has taken ill/died and we’re struggling to keep America running? You’ll see the same people that are screaming now about death panels, and not paying for any health care for the lazy, and whatever other trigger phrases that are currently in vogue (phrases that amount to “There’s only enough for me and people like me. We’re not sharing with you.”) screaming about how the government failed them. About how “those people” ruined America with their selfish insistence on going to work and school instead of staying at home. They’ll ignore every bit of context that points to the uncomfortable parts of reality in favor of playing the blame game as long as it keeps attention off of their role. It’ll go on for weeks with pundits happily engaging in the demonization of everyone that didn’t beat them upside the head with reality enough times, and refusing to consider that all their scare mongering tactics to prevent the public option from being viable in 2009 are why things are falling apart in 2012 or 2020. The sad part is that we’ve actually already had this lesson several times, but for some reason America can’t seem to remember what happens when you let greed trump common sense, much less what happens when you let racism poison every decision.

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The American Way or What’s Really Going To Destroy America…

Posted in Syndicated feeds | 10 Comments

Mindblowing Science Fiction by POC

Posted on August 16, 2009 by the angry black woman

mindblowing-science-fiction-by-poc

The conversation around the Mammoth Book of Mindblowing SF is tapering off, but one aspect of it I’d always meant to keep better track of is the lists of authors and stories that readers suggested as being examples of great and mindblowing SF. I thought such a thing might make a nice list for the Carl Brandon Society blog. And maybe for other things… ;)

In comments, please list authors or stories or novels you would include in a list of mindblowing science fiction. If you’d like to include a bit on why you feel these choices are mindblowing, feel free. There is no restriction on time period, both modern and decades long past authors and fiction are desired. If someone has already mentioned an author, story, or book you were going to, co-sign.

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Mindblowing Science Fiction by POC

Posted in Syndicated feeds | 23 Comments

The people and their cultures: POC and the movies

Posted on August 15, 2009 by unusualmusic

The Examiner’s Ed Moy inquires Does Hollywood ‘white-wash’ the casting of Asian characters in movies? Then he proves it…

After doing some research, I discovered that “The Last Airbender” wasn’t the only recent movie that cast white actors in roles that were originally created as Asian characters.

For example, the character of Kyo Kusanagi will be played by Sean Farris in an upcoming live-action feature based on the video game “King of Fighters”.

There’s also the casting of Jake Gyllenhaal as Prince Dastan in “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time” along with a British actress Gemma Arterton playing his love-interest Tamina. The movie was also based on a popular video game.

And then there’s the recent announcement that Leonardo DiCaprio and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are starring in a live-action version of the Japanese anime “Akira.”

And finally, there’s the casting of Keanu Reeves as Spike Spiegel in the live-action adaptation of “Cowboy Bebop.” (Although, I do admit that I think Keanu Reeves looks similar to the character.)

This all of course pales in comparison to the fact that last year, the producers of the movie “21″ took poetic license in rewriting actual Asian American card playing MIT students as white characters.

The movie “21″ was based on the best-selling book “Bringing Down the House”, about a real-life team of mostly Asian American students led by an Asian American professor John Chang and his teaching cohorts. (To read about the real “21″ students and their professor click here.) MORE

21. Oh 21. See, 21 was when I first became aware that Hollywood was full of thieving, cultural appropriating assholes. This is a case where the fuckup is as bad as Avatar. It was Racialicious that brought this to my attention:Trans-Racialization in ‘21′

Six MIT students band together to hoodwink Las Vegas casinos for millions. It sounds like the plot of a Hollywood movie — and it is. But before Jim Sturgess (Across the Universe), Kate Bosworth, Kevin Spacey and Laurence Fishbourne were cast in 21, Ben Mezrich wrote a non-fiction book called Bringing Down the House, upon which the film is based. In that book, Mezrich documents the infamous MIT Blackjack team, which was led by Asian American — not White — students.

Huh. Let me make that a standalone link:By the time Senor Kevin Spacey was done, the only Asian Americans were playing supporting roles, one being the goddamn girlfriend! (Pics at link) And as it turns out when you read that link, they fucked up the story too. For one thing, there was no romance in real life. For another:

Was an MIT professor really the leader of the Blackjack Team?

No. In the movie 21, an unorthodox math professor named Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey) leads the team. The 21 true story reveals that the real MIT Blackjack Team was led by three individuals, none of whom were professors. Arguably, the most notable is Bill Kaplan, a Harvard Business school graduate who had also done his undergraduate studies at Harvard. John Chang and J.P. Massar were also very much the basis for 21’s Micky Rosa. “While [author] Ben Mezrich has been quoted as saying that Micky Rosa was a composite of myself, J.P. Massar, and John Chang, the fact is there is little, if anything, that resembles either of us except that he started and ran the team and was focused on running the team as a business,” says Bill Kaplan. John Chang graduated from MIT in 1985 with a degree in electrical engineering. An influential member of the original team, Chang would later re-team with Bill Kaplan as a co-manager in the early 1990s. J.P. Massar (”Mr. M” in the History Channel documentary Breaking Vegas) was an MIT alum who had helped Kaplan manage the original team in the early 1980s, shortly after the first casinos opened in Atlantic City. -Bill KaplanMOAR things they got wrong

Basically, Kevin Spacey decided that he wanted a star vehicle, and decided to completely erase the people whose story it is in the first fucking place!

Oh and the response to the concerns raised about this?

Several organizations such as Media Action Network for Asian Americans (MANAA) protested the movie and “Boycott 21″ and other anti-”21″ websites sprang up on the Internet.

According to MANAA, after the “white-washing” issue was raised on Entertainment Weekly’s website, movie producer Dana Brunetti wrote: “Believe me, I would have loved to cast Asians in the lead roles, but the truth is, we didn’t have access to any bankable Asian American actors that we wanted… If I had known how upset the Asian American community would be about this, I would have picked a different story to film.”MORE

No bankable Asian stars. And dammit, the Asian American population didn’t just sit down and take it, they protested!! Shock!horror! And instead of fixing the problem, I’m just not going to film anymore of their stories. See how they like that!!!! The article goes on to list the many bankable Asian stars. And to point out the fact that Jim Sturgess was not exactly a big name Hollywood actor. They have no trouble making films off unknown or not too well known white actors either.

(By the way. Please don’t read the comments. There be idjits bringing in Asian anime and claiming that the characters thereof all look like white people. Nobody needs head exploding at 9:20 in the morning.)

In the meantime, we go to Avatar:

glockgal makes a profound statement: Over the course of this protest, I really have underestimated how insular a LOT of Americans are, especially when you get into towns that don’t have a lot of multiculturalism, like. It’s just plain ignorance.
For people who’ve never learned/seen/been exposed to anything Asian beyond fortune cookies and sweet-and-sour chicken balls, I suddenly understand that when they watched the cartoon, all they see is ‘fantasy’. All the architecture, clothing, food, writing, names, movements – EVERYTHING that is so plainly and clearly Asian to us? Is just to them….a fantasy. It’s all made-up. They don’t know that so much of the world is based on real cultures, they don’t get how much attention to detail and research the creators put into the cartoon, because they’ve NEVER SEEN THESE CULTURES, IRL.
They simply don’t know. And they’ve never HAD to learn. Gyah, it’s so crazy and sad to realize that people have lived such insular lives.

Racebending links to the first in a series about how and why POC are placed in advertising: why and how People of color are included in advertising:Including people of color so as to associate the product with the racial stereotype.Part1

They also pose the question Is racebending legal?

The costumes have been whitefied Roman and Greek armour. Roman and motherfucking Greek armour. With a bit of samurai on the side. Lovely. JUUSSSST LOVELY. More carrying through of teh myth that only goddamn Europeans had any innovations.

In the same vein:Chinese calligraphy cut from movie, replaced by gibberish language Perfectly interchangeable, gibberish and the CHINESE LANGUAGE.

Choabunny’s Guide to Casting Failis in Hyphen Magazine Blog. Which also has the headline of the day in And you shall know us by the trail of whitewash Goddamn! I cannot believe that I have been missing this mag! *heads off to subscribe and link website to blog*

And I just saw a review… GI JOE? The good ninja is actually…white? And is a street rat in Tokyo? And somehow gets taken in and treated as a favorite over his Japanese classmate? ANd said Japanese classmate then murders master in retaliation? Really?

As an aside: District 9 needs to go up in the hottest fire known to man. And I am freaking done with Peter Jackson. In the meantime, I noticed one blog call it “progressive.” Alien cockroaches in the slums of Johannesburg are freaking PROGRESSIVE. Also, note the treatment of the actual people of color in the movie. Here, have a Cluex4. To wit…[IBARW] It’s not murder, it’s a metaphor.Abstract: If you’re going to argue about a text’s metaphorical or allegorical representations of race, you may want to take a look at how it treats actual people of color before forming your conclusions about the subversion of racial stereotypes.

Everyone should find some time to watch this. Reel Bad Arabs Documentary

via: Racialicious

If you want some new blogs, you could do much worse than these, by the way: Fiqah at Possum Stew rolls out an essay for the ages:

Jihadis”*, Skinheads and Film Representation In which Arabs are relentlessly evil, but white superemacists are not only 3 dimensional, they are shown as sexy and misunderstood, too.

Muslim Reverie. is the new blog of Jehanzeb, a Pakistani Muslim American who writes kickass essays, beautiful poetry and features astonishing art on his wordpress.

I had read his takedown of that vile, racist, waste of film, 300, when it first came out. He has updated the piece since then:

Frank Miller’s “300? and the Persistence of Accepted Racism

In the following essays, he focuses on the Hollywood penchant for whitewashing; this is…stealing our stories and retelling them with white people. Dressed in what our cultures. Which are then considered exotic.

What’s Wrong With This Picture? takes on Prince of Persia, a Disney movie based on a video game. The guy behind this one is Jerry Bruckheimer. You remember him. He did the The Pirates of The Caribbean. Which featured a rather…”interesting” portrayal of a lady named Tia Dalma who was supposed to be a Jamaican “obeah” woman. Except that according to Wikipedia she was originally the nymph Calypso from Greek mythology???? Sooooo, the character aint really black, just a white woman impersonating real Jamaican obeah women? What the … And then of course, there were the Caribs. Who were portrayed as savage Cannibals out to eat Jack Sparrow. Except that, well, they weren’t savages, and the cannibalism thing? Is something of a dispute. Naturally, Disney thoroughly ignored the Modern-day Caribs demands for accurate representation. Who gives a fuck about the movie’s reinforcing of stereotypes on Carib children? There are white people to give adventures to! And the trope is easy and familiar enough, escaping the primitive and savage POC for a laugh! *sigh*

Seeking Avalon saw the above link, and offers her own thoughts on the whitewashing of Sinbad. Like her, I find it astonishingly disturbing that I too, completely missed said whitewashing. Ai yi yi. They get you coming and going.

From IBARW comes:A night at the movies Which for a POC, is fraught with BS at practically every turn

and IBARW: On stereotypes and the use of racist terms.

and ibarw: visibility of indoctrination, particularly this comment

finally Digital Femme asks a simple question

No. Not finally. Not finally at ALL: Because tablesaw breaks down the main conceit of Warehouse 13 and does it with STYLE. Aztec bloodstones?!?!!?!? Oh Hollywood, how I hate you so!!!!

Moving on to comics turned movies: On the Green Lantern Movie casting

ANNNDDDD then we come to the problem of Non Native Americans being cast in movies. Seems lots of people wanna claim various fractions of Native heritage so that they can play Native characters on the silver screen. Friday, Tonto, Jacob Black, et al. The additional links there are pretty good. Meantime :Tinsel Korey, Ben Kingsley (my my my, he DOES seem to get around, doesn’t he? First Iranian father, now Half Native American), Johnny Depp (yeah, I didn’t know he had Native ancestry either.Funny that.) That Twilight annoyance are some of the non-Natives whom Hollywood has decided are better at playing Native than real Natives are. Speaking of Twilight both book, and by extension movie got it rather wrong about the Quileute tribe. Then again that’s not surprising. She admits to knowing nothing about the Quileute Tribe before she wrote the things. *eyeroll*

Hipanics in the movies:More roles, but more of the same

At the beginning of this article we promised some bad news, and here it is: With the exception of a handful of actors and actresses, Latinos and Latinas are rarely offered principal roles. And the roles they get typically portray the same fatigued and fatiguing stereotypes: Latinas as exotic, sexually hot, passionate “spitfires,” for example, or language-mangling comic relief. Beltrán says that, for the most part, Latinos seldom play fully realized characters. Although there may be more jobs available, they are basically the same roles that Latinos have assumed for the last 80 years.

“Look at Salma Hayek in ‘Fools Rush In’ (1997) or John Leguizamo in ‘Empire’ (2002),” Beltrán says. “Hayek plays the sultry girlfriend of Matthew Perry — she’s an ultra-sexed Latina like we’ve seen in Hollywood films for decades. And Leguizamo’s role as a drug lord hearkens back to bandito characters that first appeared in early silent films in the 1910s.”

MORE

Latinos Work To Change Stereotypes In Hollywood

This despite the fact that In 2007, Nielsen EDI estimated that Hispanics accounted for 33% of all moviegoers. That is more than double what Hispanics represent to the national population.

To understand the scale of this, Hispanics purchased 297 million movie tickets in 2007 compared to 150 million for African Americans. Hispanics also go to the movies more often purchasing 10.8 tickets per person vs. 7.9 for the general population.

In fact, here’s a Nielsen article breaking down the Latino movie habit

Is Zoe Saldaña The Mainsteam Latina Star We’ve Always Hoped For? Related: Yes Virginia, Black Latinos exist. In fact:Black, Latino and Gifted in Hollywood

So Zoë Saldaña Wasn’t the Only Latino Actor in the Star Trek Movie

Finally, Mixed Hispanic and Native American Actors & Actresses

Have a good weekend!

*Collapses in exhaustion*

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The people and their cultures: POC and the movies

Posted in Site and Admin Stuff, Syndicated feeds | 47 Comments

FASINPAT: Worker-Occupied and Democratically Run Factory in Argentina

Posted on August 14, 2009 by Ampersand

I’ve been reading about FASINPAT, a worker-owned, democratically run ceramics factory in Argentina. From Marie Trigona:

The workers at Argentina’s occupied ceramics factory FASINPAT won a major victory this week, the factory now definitively belongs to the people in legal terms. The provincial legislature voted in favor of expropriating the ceramics factory and handing it over to the workers cooperative to manage legally and indefinitely. […] Hundreds of workers from the FASINPAT factory, factory without a boss, waited anxiously until the late hours of the night for the legislature’s decision. The expropriation law passed 26 votes in favor and 9 votes against the bill. […]

FASINPAT has operated under worker control since 2001 when Zanon’s owners decided to close its doors and fire the workers without paying months of back pay or severance pay. Leading up to the massive layoffs and plant’s closure, workers went on strike in 2000. The owner, Luis Zanon, with over 75 million dollars in debt to public and private creditors (including the World Bank for over 20 million dollars), fired en masse most of the workers and closed the factory in 2001-a bosses’ lockout. In October 2001, workers declared the plant under worker control. […] Since the occupation, the workers renamed the factory FASINPAT (Factory without a Boss).

The Wikipedia page about FASINPAT gives a nutshell history of the worker takeover. An earlier article, also by Trigona, provides more detail about how the factory runs. Trigona definitely writes as a booster, without attempting to be objective; still, I think it’s very interesting stuff. There’s far too much to quote, but here’s a sample.

At Zanon every worker is paid the same wage, with the exception of a small pay difference based on seniority, but seniority based on who withstood the old boss, firings, stand-off, and occupation.

The workers at Zanon have had the most political approach to hiring workers. Today, the plant employs 473 workers, more than 230 of whom were hired after the plant came under worker control. When Zanon began to produce under worker control they hired former Zanon workers who had been fired. Later they began to divide the job openings for grass roots activists working with the unemployed (piquetero) worker organizations.

Workers at Zanon have developed a coordinator system to organize production and basic functioning. Each production line forms a commission. Each commission votes on a coordinator that rotates regularly. The coordinator of the sector informs on issues, news, and conflicts within his or her sector to an assembly of coordinators. The coordinator then reports back to his or her commission news from other sectors. The workers hold weekly assemblies per shift. The factory also holds a general assembly, during which production is halted, each month.

Every month the bookkeeping coordinator gives an extensive report on the income and expenditures at the plant. During the assemblies workers decide how profits should be used. One month, the assembly voted on a pay bonus for workers as the production quota goal for June, 2006 went above expectations. Workers also voted in favor of hiring 15 new workers. Who will get the job is decided on criteria based on family needs, political commitment to the struggle, and technical experience. One participant also brought up the possibility of workers rotating to explore other areas of worker management.

While the factory has adapted democratic practices, many workers have found that smaller meetings have been more effective for workers to address specific concerns or volunteer ideas.

Gender Relations

Women at Zanon created a Women’s Commission (Comision de Mujeres de Zanon ) in 2004 after a national congress on gender and equality in the Coastal city of Mar del Plata. They have begun to print a newsletter, which is distributed to all 470 workers. […] One issue the workers’ assembly has still to resolve is the need for day care for children, not only for mothers but the majority of workers who are fathers as well. The Women’s Commission has organized specific activities like giving away decorative ceramic calendars in the city center, meeting with other women from social movements, and coordinating activities like a talk on domestic violence in the factory for November 25: International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

Re-learning Production

Under worker control, no management or professional stayed at the factory. The workers not only had to re-learn the process of production but also other traditionally administrative areas like sales, book keeping, and production planning. Workers at Zanon regularly work with lawyers, accountants, and other professionals whom they trust, but the professionals don’t make decisions. The worker assembly votes on technical decisions. Professionals have provided specific skills training for workers at Zanon. However, for many of the recuperated enterprises there is a deficit of trustworthy professionals.

FASINPAT doesn’t stand alone; it’s part of a Latin American movement for worker-owned, “bossless” factories that has been going on for nearly a decade.

De Geografías e Historias quotes an article about FASINPAT, which can be read in English here via Google’s translator.

Posted in Economics and the like | 11 Comments

Help Raise Money for Strange Horizons, Online Magazine with a Focus on Diversity

Posted on August 14, 2009 by Mandolin

Strange Horizons is an online magazine that publishes short stories, poetry, art, and articles. Part of their mission is to increase diversity in the publishing sphere, which includes getting work out there by women, people of color, and people on the LGBTQQI spectrum.

They’ve published The Angry Black Woman and they’ve published Nojojojo. They publish other kick-ass people who you should read, too.

Strange Horizons is in the middle of its annual fund drive so that it can continue offering excellent free fiction to the public. They’re struggling a bit this year — they’ve just reached $1,500 of their $7,000 goal. John Scalzi has stepped into the ring to offer matching donations up to $500 if you donate before midnight today.

I’ve thrown in $20. I hope you’ll consider donating, too, if you have the means. And whether or not you donate, I hope you enjoy the excellent, mind-bending fiction in their archives.

Link to the Strange Horizons fund drive.

Posted in Whatever | Comments Off