Saturday, January 29, 2005

UPS is not UP-you

On January 24, CUPW (Canadian Union of Postal Workers) and the Council of Canadians began the legal fight against corporate rule over national law. It took a few years to prepare the arguments, but the case rests on actions taken in 2000 by United Parcel Service against the Canadian government. UPS feels that a publically funded postal system discourages the company from making more money than it currently receives doing business in this country. To repair this business impasse, UPS is seeking $160 million from Canada under Chapter 11 of NAFTA, a provision which allows corporations to sue governments who maintain legislation which allegedly limits their return on investments made in a country.

What that amounts to is UPS suing every Canadian for about $5 for not using UPS to deliver parcels, and instead choosing Canada Post to provide the service more cheaply. The Federal government would likely respond by halting Canada Post’s courier service in order to avoid incurring further financial penalties, thus leaving UPS and FedEx as the default couriers for the country.

CUPW and the Council of Canadians premise their defence on the fact that Chapter 11 of NAFTA not only violates the jurisdiction of Canadian legal practise, but also violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the UN Charter, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The legal defence against UPS rests on the fact that the postal service was mandated to the government as it was deemed an essential national service. This law was put in place when Canada Post was incorporated in 1981 to ensure universal postal coverage and full accessibility by the public. Our tax dollars built the infrastructure required to send mail around the country, and that this infrastructure is still owned by the public ensures cheaper rates than the private sector can provide. Profits, which from 1990 to 2001 were about $300 million, were paid to its shareholder, the Government of Canada, and used for the post as well as other social initiatives.

UPS feels that this subsidy limits their investment, or, in other words, their ability to make even more money than they are currently making from the many Canadian individuals and businesses who currently utilize their services. Again: because we decided that it was in everyone’s interest to keep our delivery services cheap and use the profits to build other elements of our society, UPS is suing every Canadian for a collective $160 million – part of the $300 million of profits which helped fund education, health care, and in general our society as a whole. There is little question as to whether UPS would be so generous with its capital. UPS cannot compete with Canada Post because the private sector does not want to do things “for free”, but must provide dividends to share holders who get to spend the money in their own interests.

From this one case, we can see that corporations are in fact finding it difficult to compete against the public sector. Public sector institutions such as the postal service, social security, education, health care, law and policing, and (ostensibly) power and water are intended to monopolize or otherwise dominate their respective markets, keeping profits internal to ensure technological development and a low price for consumers. This allowable hegemony ensures the most universal application of the service by reaching as many individuals as it can, mostly regardless of geographical or socioeconomic situation. Furthermore, while certainly not impervious to scandal, the public sector provides a degree of economic and ethical accountability which the once-a-decade Enron scandals cannot match.

And maybe this is a bit of a hypothetical aside, but if profits from every important sector of our industries were tied to general governmental revenues, then all kinds of social programs could be realized as the fruits of our productivity. Maybe the big Canadian banks could use their $7 billion in profits from just one year to fund the construction of subsidized housing for poor Canadians, and that would just be asking the Banks for a one-time investment. Some of the profits from Nike, Coke, and McDonalds could be used to improve recycling programs, for example.

Corporations are seeking their own monopolies against the monopoly which is owned by the public and representing the well-being of the public. This is in fact the most emerging market in corporate ideology today. All sectors of government are currently being privatized in America, from payment of residential bills and tickets to water service, and from the military to the voting process itself. The sense of market legitimacy which has indeed allowed a great deal of business expansion is being imposed on the last remaining non-corporate revenue streams.

The most recent wave of this attack on the public purse in the US is the Bush government’s desire to release the vast monetary holdings of the country’s social security as marketplace investments. Financial hawks in Washington believe this to be the only manner in which the pool of money representing social security will grow to meet the current and future demands of the nation’s population. This is not to say that the current pool of wealth in social security is just sitting there doing nothing; in fact, Social Security is invested in the US treasury, which ensures a slow and steady growth. The working people of the country, apparently, are not paying enough into the system to keep it afloat, and thus gaps in the bottom line will be filled by rising stock prices. This assumes of course that the market will continue to rise steadily and not burst like it has done many times over the past few decades.

Something as important to a society’s future as a reliable social security program should not be invested in the whims of the marketplace, an area of virtual economics where the slightest flutter of absurd gossip about a company can affect actual material wealth. Slow growth is reasonable growth, just like your RRSP salesman will tell you. It seems more reasonable to assume that the financial hawks in Washington want access to the pool of wealth in social security in order to keep other companies afloat by injecting outside cash into them, thus focussing the governments interests on the needs of those other companies rather than the needs of the social security process itself. Microsoft, IBM, Standard Oil, Halliburton, et al will surely be the largest recipients of these investments, and tying the future welfare of a country’s workers to corporate concerns is a good way to sway a population’s ideologies closer towards those of corporations.

The public purse in Canada is the next logical step for many in Washington who see the billions in yearly expenditures on health care, postal service, and education, as a vast untapped market ready for expansion. The Missile Defence project can be interpreted as a means to divert taxpayer money into the coffers of American defence contractors. And yet, this market of “untapped public money” is indeed being fully utilized, since it is controlled by the government representing the people and using such funds to ensure fundamental rights are enjoyed by all who utilize the service. The legal process defending Canadian citizens from the legal team of UPS is one step among many required to ensure that corporations do not get to foster their agendas against the interests of the population. The money which they are after is owned and controlled by the public and invested in the public, and we should interpret this case, like most others involving the use of Chapter 11, as the imposition of an extra-national taxation upon a national citizenry.

Privatization transfers funds from the public coffers to companies which are legally obligated to make money without regard for any other consideration. In the case of Canada Post, you can be guaranteed that if UPS takes over services in Canada then Canadians will pay the company more for service equal to what is currently legally mandated for all Canadians. More important than higher prices for postal service and a $160 million hit to the national economy, a win for UPS will mean that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms – which ensures things like health care, education, and personal security – will have less legal standing than a corporation’s ability to make a buck in whichever manner it is able.

Saturday, January 22, 2005

winter is




finally a decent snowfall.

i haven't really felt at home during this time of year ever since i left thunder bay to come to southern ontario. i was smaller than i am now, but i remember drifts that were higher than my head after two days of snow.

i miss the toboggan runs, cascades of ice and childhood spilling far onto Lake Superior.

Monday, January 17, 2005

milkin' it

soymilk_ad

I would hope that conscientious objectors to factory farming practises have tried to spread the word to their immediate circles. I mean, food as a ritual as well as a commodity is perhaps the most immediately normalized behaviour. Many people quite rightly find it difficult to change their eating habits to be either more healthy, more environmentally or ethically conscious, or otherwise.

The fact of the matter is that any research done into where and how supermarket products come into being will demonstrate that our eating habits need to change. It's unlikely that this can be done through legislation, although I would like to see the adoption of a code of ethics and rights in regard to how we treat all sentient life. Frankly, it's a tough sell to a world which does not as of yet fully recognize the universality of human rights.

Dspite some appeals to a sense of Nietschean moral relativism about the consumption and/or exploitation of animals, I cannot fathom a code of conduct in regard to human and animal rights-to-life that is not fundamentally a gesture of empathy. While this sense of compassion and sensitivity extended beyond our own bodies is indeed subjective, it is not irrational and represents a complication to traditional Darwinian evolutionary models.

And yet that is precisely what seems allowable in the human experience. This is most immediately suggested by the negative consequences of modernization. Humanity must recognize the danger that some of its actions pose to the biosphere by many of our insutrial practises. This will change, either by our progression toward sustainability, or our increasing inability to cope with the environmental degredation that we have imposed on the planet. The comsumption of animal products can contribute to this effect, especially when animals are involved in industrialized farming practises which do not consider them sentient organisms.

Environmental questions will increasingly test our ability for a functional morality. The most pressing concern in my mind regarding this fate is how we learn to live with the lifeforms on this planet in a sustainable and non-deleterious manner.

Monday, January 03, 2005

best music of 2004, reductionist stylz

View Magazine picked this up...

My Favourite albums released in 2004, in no particular order.

OREN AMBARCHI
Grapes From the Estate (Touch)



Ambarchi’s latest features four astoundingly pretty suites
which would serve as interludes on CDs not composed
by Brian Eno. I have not heard a more beautiful or
precise arrangement for percussion than in “Remedios
the Beauty,” in which one cymbal is as expressive as
Coltrane. A good set of headphones and an ear for
detail is recommended.

MP3: Oren Ambarchi - Remedios the Beauty

ANIMAL COLLECTIVE
Sung Tongs (Fat Cat)



When ancient cultures were sick with the plague, groups
of travelling ecstatics would attempt absolution through
trance music, chanting, sexual excess, and religious
martyrdom. These carnivalesque monstrosities would
dance and sing their way through every nearby village,
bringing hope to the terrified masses in times of great
turmoil. With joyful abandon and deconstructionist glee,
Animal Collective is the post-9/11 answer to the
Children’s Crusade.

MP3: Animal Collective - Who Could Win A Rabbit

DEVENDRA BANHART
Rejoicing In the Hands (Young God)



Banhart is the kind of musician your great grandfather
mythologizes at the dinner table. He sings little parables
of almost religious mystery with the legitimacy of
depression-era gospel and blues artists. His guitar
playing evokes the entire canon of american folk song,
but DB is too witty for simple mimicry. This is not a new
tradition for folk, but rather its alternate history.

MP3: Devendra Banhart - The Body Breaks

FENNESZ
Venice (Touch)



This is not the best album Fennesz has released. That
being said, it’s about time that North Americans tuned in
to the capabilities of one musician and their laptop. This
glorious release from Vienna’s posterboy for post-
everything is about as challenging a record as any you’ll
hear this year. And yet under the many layers of noise
and granular frequencies, a haunting melodicism can be
heard.

MP3: Fennesz - Château Rouge

MADVILLAIN
Madvillainy
(Stones Throw)



MF Doom and Madlib are two of the most respected
names in hip hop. When the duo met earlier this year,
the world learned of the most dastardly evil musical
project it has ever known. Rhymes flow as smooth as
always with Doom, who is backed by cartoon samples
proclaiming his sheer evilness as well as Madlib’s
typically jazzy production and herb-smoked beats.

MP3: Madvillain - Raid (feat. M.E.D. aka Medaphoar)

PAN SONIC
Kesto (EMI)



This release is probably the most decadent major label
debut in music history. EMI packaged four CDs rather
sparsely, thankfully leaving the music to speak for itself.
Those unaware of this Finnish duo’s sound should
picture the mathematical beats that their appliances
would dance to while malfunctioning. Fans of typically
obscure European techno should rejoice in the
knowledge that some mainstream ears are beginning to
pay attention and support the scene without
compromising the music.

MP3: Pan Sonic - Rähinä II (Mayhem II)

RE
Alms (Constellation)



Noisy, brash, deviant, and sometimes self-serving, this
piece of aural constructionism from Montreal’s
prodigious musical community somehow manages to
evoke both the chaos of technological dependence and
the apathetic uncertainty of our learning to cope with an
increasing amount of political violence in 2004. Rock
freakout meets electronic production and news
soundbyte collage.

MP3: Re: - Radio Free Ramadi

TRAPIST
Ballroom (Thrill Jockey)



When electronic and acoustic instruments get processed
in the digital realm, good things can happen as new
sounds and textures are created which physical
instruments cannot reproduce. Trapist are a trio of
improvisers who render a discussion of the implications
of this ‘virtuality’ in a real time form. While seemingly
academic, in practice Ballroom rocks like few records of
2004, as aggressive drumming and incessantly rhythmic
bass patterns keep the listener’s head moving.

MP3: Trapist - Time Axis Manipulation (part 1)

XIU XIU
Fabulous Muscles (5RC)



Sad songs can be easily sentimentalized to the point of
being overdone. Xiu Xiu is pretentiously and hopelessly
romantic, and like the best of The Smiths or Magnetic
Fields
, this spirit can be used to critique much of the
human condition. The band’s experimental-pop nature
might turn off some ears, but hopefully they can
understand that truly memorable pop requires a bit of
work to achieve.

MP3: Xiu Xiu - Fabulous Muscles

YELLOW SWANS
Bring The Neon War Home (Narnack)



War is a messy affair. Yellow Swans convert the media
remnants of the mess of conflict into the opposite of a
CNN headline. The beats harken back to industrial
angst; the sound generating guitars refer to technology
out of control. Voices are shredded and distorted until
lyrical information become washes of noise and only
subjective impressions remain. Noise is the new punk.

MP3: Yellow Swans - Neon War