Industrial Workers of the World

Irony greetings on this day that John Howard gets his Freedom Medal or is that Feardom Metal from nearly ex-Prez Bush ? Did anyone see the Chicago 10 doco on SBS la

http://www.sbs.com.au/blogarticle/108968/Chicago-10/blog/Documentaries-SBS

"All the World's Watching" yes saw the Chicago 10 animated drama doco, it was marvellous seeing the actual defendants and film footage from 1968. The title is drawn from a quote by Rubin, who said, "Anyone who calls us the Chicago Seven is a racist. Because you're discrediting Bobby Seale. You can call us the Chicago Eight, but really we're the Chicago Ten, because our two lawyers went down with us." Recognised some street scenes from Haskell Wexler's actual footage used also in his film Medium Cool which is a classic about role media as much as street protests. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064652/

Out-takes from Medium Cool are used in the Brett Morgen film. There is a doco about the making of Medium Cool which I am yet to see but sounds interesting: http://www.thestickingplace.com/film/look-out-haskell/

Yippies pushed it with humour. They "carried on" with Free Store, new music, greased up Pigasus candidate for the Convention; all in in the face of miserable serious control freak New Left still reproducing their elders of Old Left authoritarian Stalinism & Maoism strategy alienating more than they converted to "Marxist-Leninism".

The earlier "older Left" of the International Working People's Association Haymarket Martyrs of May Day 8 hour day struggle 1886 eg Albert Parsons or the IWW Convention founded in Chicago in 1905 eg. Lucy Parsons are "too distant" echoes that do not get shown as the focus of film is on Vietnam War era. Perhaps on the DVD version there will be some "special features" resources link to the her-his- ourstory of the Chicago protest and labour movement.

There are other Chicago Conspiracy films and on Yippies eg Greenwald's Steal This Movie for background see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Democratic_National_Convention

Chicago 10 soundtrack was curious some music of the times eg MC5 (Kick out the Jams) but no sound of Fugs (kill for Peace) or Phil Ochs (I ain't marching anymore, where were you in Chicago ?) for example ? These are clips of Phil Ochs from the "Conventions: The Land Around Us" documentary film on the protests of the DNC Convention in Chicago 1968. ...

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3077305241438405731

Look for draft-cards burning a public event which was always fun for the crowds..."

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQNYGj5q4Qk

More contemporary to these times rappers & Rage Against Machine etc instead to bring audience up to date with war on Iraq etc I guess. Predictably media turned events into "protesters riot" when it was clearly the Police who used thuggery, backed up by soldiers in jeeps with barbed wire fence fronts, advancing with bayonets fixed and machine guns.

The Chicago IWWs at the time joined in the protests of course and some recorded their experiences but so far not on film as far as I know from here on the periphery of the US empire. see the Chicago Branch paper Rebel Worker edited by Franklin & Penelope Rosemont

We had the same here during the protests outside the Crown Casino at the World Economic Forum capos festival of exploiters. People I worked with believed the media that protesters rioted as they did not want to actually see for themselves.

"If only" the unions had gone on strike in Chicago 1968 or Melbourne 2000 or Athens 2008 but the mis-Leaders of labour movement hope politicians will be benevolent or better still they will get to be politicians themselves one day !

Irony of US situation was Nixon got into power, with advisors like Peace Prize winner Henry (Chile Sept 11 1973 coup & setting up sacking of Whitlam regime here in Oz etc) Kissinger (since called to account as a war criminal) and other crooks. Nixon was caught supervising the "illegal" attacks into Cambodia, Watergate break-in etc and resigned.

Saw a film of the play Frost Nixon which was interesting for what it left out as much as what made it into the edited version. Almost no swearing considering what a homophobic, racist jerk Nixon was...nor any presence of Cuban and Italian mafia "dudes "who Nixon was linked up with like Bebe Rebozzo. Nor after the Quakers disowned Nixon as a war criminal, Nixon's confessor Reverend Billy Graham who blessed his "crimes". Still the final session where Nixon states if the Prez does it is not criminal is great...but a lot is just showing the hassles Frost had getting special made eg financing. Once it was made and of interest then the finances shifted he even got his Oz TV syndication back. The great satirists who were on the early Frost TV shows in 1960s like Tom Lehrer dropped out alas only to reappear in 2000s.

The soundtrack to the film could have used more of those great tracks instead of the Corporate pop blandness and then disco "hits". anyway

Melbourne weather is heating up already so gotta end this before melt down of my brain and computer etc.

SHAC The Student Housing Action Collective (SHAC) moved into the Faraday Street houses in August as part of a campaign to pressure the University into providing more affordable housing for students. Last week the Supreme Court ruled that the university had the right to recover the properties and gave it permission to ask the Sheriff's office to enforce the order. Peter, who has been sleeping at the houses for about two-and-a-half months says the students were evicted early this morning. "We were woken up by about 30 police officers and sheriff's officers and they were here with search and rescue team," he said. "They managed to force a back door to the house at about 6.30am (AEDT) this morning, and we woke up to the police inside the house telling us we had to leave."

later agitator V