Support Net Neutrality

WWIII Propaganda: Support Net Neutrality, originally uploaded by Brian Lane Winfield Moore.

Day of Action for Iran – Demonstration at Iranian Embassy in Ottawa

Canadian unionists and human rights activists will protest outside the Iranian Embassy in Ottawa on June 26th as part of the Global Day of Action called to support the rights of workers and against the persecution of labour activists. Members of CUPE, CUPW, CTF, NUPGE, PSAC and CAW will be there as well as Amnesty International and Paul Dewar, NDP Foreign Affairs Critic. Activists from the Iranian-Canadian community including the non-partisan Solidarity Campaign with the Workers’ Struggles in Iran will gather to demand the respect for human rights and workers rights in Iran.

Speakers include:

Alex Neve, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada
Denis Lemelin, National President, Canadian Union of Postal Workers
Paul Dewar, MP Ottawa Centre, NDP Foreign Affairs Critic
Rhonda Spence, International Officer, Canadian Union of Public Employees

Demonstrators will call on the Iranian government to:

• Free all arrested workers, students and political prisoners
• Justice for people who have been killed or injured by security forces during recent protests in Iran
• For the right to organize independent organizations and for the right to free speech, protest and freedom of assembly
• Free bus workers’ union leaders, Mansour Osanloo, and Ebrahim Madadi, and Farzad Kamangar, a teacher on death row
• Drop all charges and prison sentences against labour, social and political activists in Iran, including May Day detainees and those arrested during recent protests.


Where: The Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran – 245 Metcalfe St. Ottawa
Time: 12:00 to 2:00 PM
Date: Friday June 26, 2009


For more information, please contact:

415-835-8296/ info@workers-iran.org or alliance@workers-iran.org
www.workers-iran.org

Iranian Workers: Friday is the Global Day of Action

Friday is the Global Day of Action for Iranian Workers, planned, believe it or not, long before the current protests started. Iranian trade unions suffer tremendous repression. Leaders are routinely fired for organizing at work and are often imprisoned or physically attacked.

Attendance at union events can lead to punishments like flogging.

Amnesty International and the global labour movement are organizing solidarity for Iran's unions. Send a message of solidarity in 30 seconds HERE.

And while you're there, in a couple of clicks you can find out about events taking place in your region.

Child Labour Vid on YouTube

Great new child labour campaign video from the ITUC HERE.

Tips For Bargaining in a Recession

As opposed to recession bargaining.

A bit of useful (I hope) fluff to be found HERE.

New Uses for Thumbtacks

Eric Lee at LabourStart.org has discovered a new use for the Thumbtack. Read his blog entry HERE.

I'm thinking of starting a Thumbtack Fan Club.

Iran's 'Twitter Revolution'

Hardly. But you wouldn't know it to read the nerd, and much mainstream, press.

First, it all gets translated into meatspace, real action by real people, and that is, or should be the story.

Second, if there's a tech story in there somewhere it's in the use of much more mundane stuff like SMS.

Here's a first: I'm pointing you (all three of you, Hi Sis!) to a Business Week article HERE.

Better source-wise is this piece from LabourList.org (thanks to John Wood for the reference). It's also a little more general, useful. You can read it HERE.

Seize the Means of Transmission! Broadband to the People!

TVO Search Engine's segment on the net neutrality forum last week used my presence and Olivia Chow's as evidence that the neutrality movement is dominated by the "the left, maybe the far left".

She can't be the 'far' bit, so it must be me.

Mmmm...I am feeling kinda Bolshie today, but I thought was just because I'm not drinking decafe this morning.

You can subscribe to the excellent Search Engine pod off iTunes or HERE.

Windsor Strike Rally Audio and Photos

I attended the Windsor muni strike rally yesterday. Two locals out for two months over a demand for an end to retiree benefits - by a city council that gives itself lifetime benefits.

I used my cute little Thumbtack to record some march noises and a few speeches. They're available off the FILES section on my UnionBook page HERE.

Stills of the march and rally are on Flickr HERE.

Reviews of the Net Neutrality Town Hall Meeting in Toronto

The Good: HERE

The Bad: HERE

The Ugly: HERE or read just the bit about me below.

"you know the guy sitting in the middle was a staff representative for CUPE (Canadian Union of Public Employees) DOESN’T have a website (if you don’t have one today you are pretty much irrelevant in my books) and i bet you a hundred bucks you can’t remember (w/o listening to the podcast) one goddamn thing he said - i sure as hell can’t. why was that dude even there again? what? nobody knows? even less relevant than sass and i? yeah, fuck yourselves and you’re welcome."

Thanks for not saying anything about my double chin or shirt Raymi. Whew! :-)

Oh! What a Throttled Web We Weave

Final details on the net neutrality event in Toronto on Monday HERE.