Press release

For the official press releases from organizations or individuals

Common Cause London's Statement on the EMC Lockout

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Common Cause supports the locked out workers of CAW Local 27 in their struggle for a living wage. The year of 2012 has begun with a blatant attack on the working class. Electromotive Canada (EMC), owned by Caterpillar, has demanded a 50 per cent wage cut and major pension and benefit concessions. When the workers refused to accept that offer the company locked them out at the start of the year. This shows that the capitalist class, aka the 1%, is only interested in their own profits and will stop at nothing to meet this goal.

The events at EMC will set the tone for the struggle against exploitation in London, Canada, and beyond. Whether this ends in victory or defeat, this struggle is important for all working people, but we must do everything we can to win. If mobilized, the power of the labour movement can stop the bosses in their tracks.

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Ryan Rainville's Statement to the Courts

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Following the June 2010 G20 summit in Toronto, a wave of repression came down on anarchists and anti-authoritarians in Southern Ontario. Ryan Rainville was one of those arrested and held in jail for three months before being released into house arrest at a Native men's residence in Toronto called Sagatay.

Throughout his court proceedings, Ryan proudly proclaimed his anarchist values and defended the use of property destruction during anti-capitalist protests that weekend to disrupt the economy.

Ryan eventually plead guilty to three counts of Mischief Over $5000 and Breach of Peace. On October 31st, 2011 with at least a dozen supporters present, Ryan made the following statement to the court.

- Guelph Anarchist Black Cross (http://guelphprisonersolidarity.wordpress.com)

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Statement of Solidarity with the G20 Defendants

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Common Cause wishes to extend our solidarity to the six defendants of the so-called “G20 Main Conspiracy Group” who made the difficult decision to plead guilty to trumped up counseling charges in an effort to see the charges of eleven of their co-defendants dropped, and in order to help bring their shared year and a half-long judicial farce to a close. These eleven community organizers now join the ranks of the dozens of individuals who have already seen their bogus G20 conspiracy charges dropped. They will once again be able to associate with one another, and will once again be granted the right to plan and attend public demonstrations. This is a welcome and long over-due occasion for celebration – though their exoneration has come at a heavy price.

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International Libertarian Statement of Solidarity with the Egyptian popular Struggle

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On the weekend 19-20th a new wave of mass protest all over Egypt broke out because of the systematic violence of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) against the Egyptian masses. People are tired of its dictatorial behaviour, the use of extreme force against protesters, the military trials that in 10 months have ended up with 12,000 comrades rotting in jail, their censorship, the torture, kidnappings and selective murder of activists. People are tired of the military council hijacking the banners of our revolution to continue the same old dictatorship through other means. People are tired of the sectarianism they promote to divert us from our real fight for justice, equality and freedom.

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CLASS WAR ON THE WORKFLOOR SPEAKING TOUR

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On strike, locked out, and legislated back to work, postal workers have experienced first hand the bosses’ agenda of taking away rights workers fought for decades ago. Because postal workers are not alone in facing cutbacks, exploitation, greedy bosses, and the like, we have a lot in common with other workers, and we stand to learn a lot from each others’ struggles. The rules of the game are changing, and workers will have to start taking matters into our own hands instead of relying on elected officials in our unions or governments to make wise decisions for us.

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Common Cause supports the 8,000 OPSEU CAAT strikers!

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September 3, 2011

Common Cause, an Ontario organization of working-class anarchists, would like to commend you as you embark on your historic strike against your employers.

Many of us are current or former college students and workers in the education sector and some have been on strike ourselves as unionized workers at Ontario universities.

We know that your fight is just and support you 100% as you fight for better wages and working conditions from the wealth that as workers you helped produce.

We are walking the same picket lines that you are at colleges across Ontario because while we may not be part of your bargaining unit we are all part of the same class – the working class.

We will stand with you no matter what your employers or the government try to do to break your strike and bust your union.

This summer we stood with the striking workers at Air Canada and Canada Post as the federal government forced them back to work with legislation.

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Common Cause stands with striking postal workers

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June 3, 2011

Denis Lemelin
National President
Canadian Union of Postal Workers
377 Bank St.
Ottawa, ON K2P 1Y3

Brother Lemelin,

We wish to send all of the 48,000 members of CUPW our solidarity in your struggle against Canada Post's attack on CUPW member's working conditions and wages.

We are with you in your fight to prevent a two-tiered workforce where new hires are only paid 75% of what other workers make for doing the same work. Equal pay for equal work is a corner-stone of the labour movement and must never be compromised.

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Genuine change can only come from ourselves

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"Genuine change can only come from ourselves", a joint initiative of Common Cause and Union Communiste Libertaire

Every election time comes with its load of promises. They say that this time is the right time for change. Again. All parties, and even the one that's been governing since the last election, assure us that they'll make it all better.

Opposite of other electoral websites, we don't have anything for sale. We're not aiming at convincing you to trust us. We don't want your vote.

Here, we'd like to offer a different perspective of elections and politics in general, starting by asking the question "Voting, what's the point?"

Read more: http://www.genuinechange.info/

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International Anarchist Statement in Solidarity with Zimbabwe's Treason Trialists

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When Mohammed Bouazizi set himself alight he unwittingly ignited a wave of popular uprisings and rebellions that have spread like wildfire across North Africa and the Middle East, the heat of which can be felt as far afield as Zimbabwe where, on Saturday 19th February, 46 pro-democracy activists including students, workers and trade unionists were arrested in Harare. According to police documents they were arrested for plotting an Egypt-style revolt to overthrow Robert Mugabe, who has been in power since 1980, at a meeting to discuss the fall of Hosni Mubarak and events in North Africa and the Middle East. The arrested, who represent the Zimbabwean Federation of Trade Unions (ZCTU), Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZNSU) and the International Socialist Organisation (ISO), had just watched documentary news footage on the uprising in Egypt and, according to state prosecutors, were there to "organise, strategise and implement the removal of the constitutional government of Zimbabwe ...

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Community Open Letter Denouncing the Jewish Defense League’s Rally in Support of the English Defense League

On Tuesday, January 11, 2011, the Jewish Defense League of Canada (JDL) will be hosting a rally in support of the Islamophobic English Defense League (EDL) in Toronto. The JDL is hosting an online address from Tommy Robinson, the leader of the EDL. Both groups have a history of violence aimed at Arab and Muslim people. We are community groups that work daily to fight racism. We have come together to condemn the Jewish Defense League for their Islamophobia and for their support for the racist English Defense League.

Who is the English Defence League (EDL)?

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