Common Cause is an Ontario anarchist organization that wants to see anarchists active in every town, neighborhood and workplace across Ontario. We have just published the fifth issue (August / Sept 2008) of our paper, Linchpin, online at http://linchpin.ca.

In the wee hours of the morning of August 4 anarchist settlers used a ketchup bottle to apply red metal paint to a statue of John Galt in front of City Hall. August 4 was Guelph’s first ever John Galt Day. The town was awash in festivities and celebrations honouring John Galt and the plan he developed for the founding of the city of Guelph back in 1827. But who is this John Galt character?

Calling all radicals, anarchists and community organizers! We are in the early stages of organizing a conference and community forum to be held in Ottawa this fall. The tentative date for the conference is Oct 24-26, 2008. The conference will feature workshops, panel discussions, and tables by community groups. It will be an opportunity for community members and those active in social justice and radical movements to network and learn from one another.

This conference represents the next step following the three Anarchist Assemblies held in 2007. We are hoping to build on the momentum and the successes of the Assemblies while becoming more inclusive in bringing in others involved in community development and organizing.

May 1 has a special significance for the labour and anarchist movements. In almost every country of the world, except for Canada and the U.S., it is observed as International Workers' Day. Ironically, the observance of May 1 has its origins in the struggle for the eight-hour day in Canada and the US.

On May 1, 1886 there was a general strike in support of workers' demand for an eight-hour day. Most factory workers of the day were immigrants who faced discrimination both on and off the job. It was normal for them to work fourteen-hour days seven days a week. The strike was organized by the major radical labor organization of the time, an anarchist group called the International Working Peoples Association. Prominent organizers with this group were Albert Parsons, Lucy Parsons, and August Spies.

The actions of those in the anti-CANSEC march were completed with the smashing of the windows of the Army Recruitment Centre on Slater St.

While others showed their solidarity with "Alex", arrested arbitrarily by the police, by making a presence at the police station, we chose to show ours in the night by attacking the system itself. In an act of opposition to this heavyhandedness of the state, the windows of the Army Recruitment Centre on Slater St. and the Scotiabank on Elgin St. were smashed on the night of Thursday April 10th.

Source: http://ottawa.indymedia.org/en/2008/04/7352.shtml

The morning of Thursday April 10th, a black bloc was called together to "shut down" CANSEC (secrity and weapons fair) and attack the system it expands. From the beginning of the demonstration an overwhelming police presence was mobilized to intimidate our small bloc.

Source: http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=2008041...94961

Source: http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=2008020...33286

Linamar Plants and Re/Max Office targets of Anarchist Solidarity!

On Sunday February 3rd in Guelph Ontario the offices of Eston Mfg, LPP Mfg, and Comtech Mfg were graffitied, postered and had their locks glued shut. A Re-Max office nearby was also the target of graffiti, glued locks, and had windows smashed.

These actions are a continuation of a fight against Linamar's involvement in the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP). The SPP is a free trade agreement that deals with militarizing and unifying the borders of North America to enable capitalist exploitation and stranglehold reprerssion on levels never before seen.