Rosu Jene

ロスジェネ
"rosu jene" - a Japanese gairaigo ("borrowed word"), phonetic approximation of the english "lost generation"


-a Japanese meme tagging the waste of talent of the generation that came of age in Japan's "lost decade," the Japanese economic slump between the early 90s and the mid 2000s.

also

-a self-proclaimed "ultra leftist" magazine in Japan

EPI's argument that there is a lost generation in the USA.

Businessweek agrees (with sound). The "scarring" meme is odd...

It's obviously always a challenge for a new generation to find it's distinctive voice (or voices). It seems horribly canned for a union-oriented person to "hope it goes our way" ie into concerted political action of a type our unions can already relate to.

The Obama victory certainly seemed a positive indicator, but we'll have to see how unions can pull their weight in the coming mid-term elections. Halter's loss was both a blow and an inspiration.

More reading on Rosu Jene:

https://www.adbusters.org/magazine/81/big_in_japan.html

The Revival of Kobayashi Takiji's The Cannery Ship, article in JapanFocus. Quote: "It is not that we are exploited, but why and how, and what we must do"

very interesting article on organizing in Japan 2008-2009:
http://www.japanfocus.org/articles/print_article/3113

In Japan, the week or so from the end of December through the first days of the New Year constitute the longest and most solemn holiday of the year. Mainstream newspapers and TV news programs during this week are typically filled with mundane reports of the events of the season. But the week bridging 2008 to 2009 was distinctively different. Each day, the newspapers, TV news programs, and even websites such as Yahoo carried reports—often as the top story with frequent updates—of a unique camp supplying food, beds, health checks, and even spiritual support to jobless and homeless people gathered in the center of downtown Tokyo. This news drew an unexpectedly wide range of attention and generated unprecedented reactions, and its drama symbolized the recent suffering of Japanese workers and their families, especially “the working poor.” The entire episode suggests there has been a turning of the tide in Japanese labor politics.

Reminds me of a person described in Philip Foner's "History of the Labor Movement in the U.S." (vol 9, I think) recounting the exploits of a "Mr Zero" in the deep recession of 1921-1923. He would hold "unemployed auctions" in the major cities, gathering up those ready and willing to work and auctioning them off, in the style of slave auctions, to potential employers. He was arrested numerous times, only adding to his fame and notoriety.

Very effective symbol, eh?

Former House Dem leader Gephardt hired as lobbyist by firm battling SEIU - TheHill.com

Former House Dem leader Gephardt hired as lobbyist by firm battling SEIU - TheHill.com

Following Sylvis

There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
-William Shakespeare

Pushing out the life-raft...

I must admit my mistakes. For the first 30 years of my life, give or take a few, I harbored a grave delusion. It is difficult for me to name exactly (that is what this blog is for), but at a good first approximation it was a serious over-statement of the power of the individual.

About six years ago- shortly after July 4, 2003- I started my own (very small) business here in NYC. I worked at it very hard (and so did my wife and even my parents- give credit where credit is due), and I (we) made it somewhat of a success. This experience in the "real world" of the consumer marketplace, and also of the real world of the City, greatly changed my estimation of what was possible, the effect people can have on each other, and the meaning and extent of one person's work.

In a word, it changed everything.

And yet, two years later, this change has not been completed. The scales, as it were, have still not entirely fallen from my eyes.

I am still "bound in shallows and in miseries."

To quote an earlier, (and yes I know) very strident piece of writing I did "The days pass without number, we are nameless, and the desert grows..."

Growth is a positive work. Time doesn't heal all wounds. Unconscious endeavor is cold comfort to the conscious mind.

The scales don't seem to be falling- let me try to scrape them off!

In 1994, I turned seventeen, started coming into an awareness of the world, looked at my future wife from afar (we wouldn't start dating until '95, when we had both graduated high school).

Since that time, we have seen the rise, maturation, and closure of some kind of historical or cultural cycle in the life of America. As far as I'm concerned, it didn't go too well. For most of it, I was just trying to keep up, but now I want to put my queer shoulder to the wheel.

"All that is real is National." - Pinky Paine

The "conservative revolutionaries" fighting the kulturkampf had that much right. Liberals do seem to want to escape or feel above their countries- certainly the baby boomers posed as "internationalists."

Can't be done without reference to a national identity. "Multi-cultie" is not enough. Gingrich and company were stronger and more influential in this last turn of the screw because they were more firmly rooted in America and her traditions.

Here, then- if I can finally get around to saying it- I want to dig for the roots of another American history. I have chosen as my starting point William H. Sylvis (1828-1869), founder of the first national trade union, the National Labor Union.

Why Sylvis? Because he was the first to comprehensively tackle the problems and politics of industrial (as opposed to agricultural) America- his legacy is still unfulfilled.

We must show them that when a just monetary system has
been established, there will no longer exist a necessity
for Trades Unions. -Wm. H. Sylvis

Without the concepts of political association that unions represent, there can be no real American democracy. It is to this legacy that I address my inquiry.

May providence guide me!

NUHW's "30 days of craziness"

30 days of craziness begin as the first Kaiser workers vote to dis-affiliate with UHW and join NUHW, which they are allowed to do now that they have entered the "open period" on their contracts.

This is the decisive time for NUHW, and unless SEIU can pull something out of their hat, NUHW should be able to get its feet under it, dues-wise. Not a minute too soon, either, because word is that Unite Here - which has been supporting NUHW to the tune of over a million a month plus office space in U-H Local 2 and who knows what else - is moving to settle with SEIU.

False dichotomy between "bottom-up" and "top-down" unionism

Ok, ok. I’m being a total military strategy nerd, but this Sun Tzu couplet seemed to sum up the false choice between “bottom-up” and “top-down” unionism perfectly:

Note to Labor Notes/TDU/AUD: "Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory."

Note to SEIU/AFL-CIO hacks: "Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat."

Cal Winslow's "Labor's Civil War in California"

link to amazon page

First reactions: I like a short book! Reasonable summary of events.

Underlying the narrative, however, are pervasive errors in analysis indicative of a "rank-and-file fundamentalism" which is as profoundly misguided as it is initially sympathetic.

After laying out Stephen Lerner's critique of Sal Rosseli's leadership of UHW (Lerner is cited as SEIU's main ideological critic of UHW) (p 29), basically that UHW was involved in "Just Us" unionism benefitting its members while ignoring the unorganized, Winslow writes:

Strong words. We'd all like to change the world. But I hope we can be forgiving for taking Lerner with a grain ot salt. It seems plain here that he was simply raising the stakes (rhetorically) as high as possible, thus making reconciliation even theoretically impossible.

Winslow then spends the rest of the book frenetically raising the rhetorical stakes of the conflict to the level of apocalyptic war over the "soul of the labor movement," culminating in the predictable challenge to the reader: "Which Side Are You On?"

I guess he feels like SEIU started it, but it hardly recommends his thinking that he is apparently unaware of the irony.

more to follow...

TUSG.org

There is no more important project than developing a coherent position on trade unions and trade union issue. Me and a few other people are beginning to chip away at the massive task of recompiling union strategy and tactics. Please please come help us!

TUSG.org - Tactics and Strategy for Organizers

To quote Sun Tzu: "The general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple ere the battle is fought."

Quoting Sun Tzu makes me sound like a jackass, but I've loved military history since I was like 10 years old! Please don't let it turn you off of the TUSG project.