PROTEST! SHIRTS! FUNDRAISER! TOTALITOILETARIANISM!

I've got... I've got an idea, I mean, something pretty far-out we could get into. I'm thinking: You, and me, and an


IRON RAIL NEWSLETTER

*****
The 2009 New Orleans BookFair was a roaring success, and the Rail is re-equipped with books-as-commodity plus sufficient smackeroos to get our telephone turned back on. The health meter's recharged, some dents are out of the armor, and we're ready to re-enter battle against the status quo. Our shelves bristle with a sharp new titles from Kersplebedeb, Microcosm, AK and PM Presses. Our 'zine table glitters, heaped high with local prose gemstonez. Come check out the new stock; you'll plotz.


GET A BRAIN, MORANS
Have you guys heard about this? The Tony Moran protests? Yeah? No? Real briefly, among the French Quarter's many dens of foodservice worker-abuse a particularly egregious restaurant (Tony Moran's) and its scumbag boss (Jobert Salem) have been mistreating and robbing employees, requiring them to do prep off the clock, stealing their credit card tips, and in some cases just plain not paying people for banquet & catering jobs. Jobert & co. did this to a couple members of a firebreathing worker's center, the Restaurant Opportunities Center, and now ROC and its allies, including the Iron Rail Bookstore and New Orleans anarchists at large, are going to war.

There's a lot to this story-- a lawsuit against Tony Moran's is in progress, among other things-- but on the streets where some of us like to get things done, there have been a surprisingly successful and fun series of pickets & leafletting sessions in front of Tony Moran's the past few weeks. Believe me, crooked bosses are taking notice. The workers of the French Quarter's hospitality industry are making their voices heard, and it's a thrill to be a part of it. The pigs busted us up the first week, but we adjusted our tactics and haven't had any trouble since.

We need you. We need to send a strong message, and numbers is how we send that message. It's not just about one fake-eyetalian tourist-trap eatery... it's about the way restaurant workers are treated in New Orleans. Wage theft has to end, and it's going to end now. !Ya Basta!

This Friday the 13th will be the biggest protest yet. There oughta be media coverage, which will focus additional pressure. Tony Moran's is losing business. We need to crack them. In the words of one of the ROC-NOLA organizers, isn't it about time New Orleans had a social justice victory?

It's early evening, and will be over by nine. Please turn out FRIDAY at 7:30 PM sharp-ish outside TIRAMISU 55, a little bar at 123 CARONDELET (just off Canal St.). There we will work out our plans and march to Tony Moran's on Bourbon St. Bring as many people as you can, tell as many people as you can. Get a piece of real street-level struggle... You'll feel good.


THE SHIRT OFF YOUR BACK
Got T-shirts? Want to donate T-shirts? Please? Alternatively, anything else that could benefit from a bad-ass Iron Rail logo silkscreened onto it? Confirmed actual super-being and longtime collective member Phant is down to do a big, big batch of shirts. She silkscreens 'em, they look superb, we hawk 'em, people wear 'em, government collapses. All that's required to set this happy Rube Goldberg process in motion is for you to swing by the Rail's front desk with as many T-shirts as you can muster, perhaps even some shirts in sizes, styles and conditions attractive to those outside the "peed themselves today" demographic. Bring us shirts! Please! A batch from a thrift store, from your closet, from Michael's, from wherever! Steal them if you want; we won't tell.


RAISE LETTUCE
That's what we used to call money back in the day. Lettuce. A collective member was carjacked Saturday, and among the losses were hundreds of dollars of new Iron Rail books. New Orleans is a tough town to run an anarchist library/bookstore in; the pinch never quits. Have YOU got an idea for an IRON RAIL Fundraiser? Something simple, or something innovative? Got the wherewithal to make it happen or at least help organize it? Please get in touch! It is you, your enthusiasm, your time, your creativity and your participation that allow the Iron Rail to continue existing. Drop us an e-mail, or far better yet, show up in cheerful person some Wednesday at 8 pm, and let's get the ball rollllllling.


LET'S ALL SUPPORT LOUISIANA BOOKS 2 PRISONERS
Finally, here's a wonderful way you can help an important radical organization without even getting out from in front of your computer. Ah, the convenience of the digital age! No more tedious leaving home and going places; we so-called activists can just sit eating Chee-Weez in our underwear and doing crap on the internet. I foresee a wave of outsourcing actions: people need money, and I'm just so busy with my marriage, my kids, my band, my schoolwork, my career. Why not pay a poor person forty bucks to do it instead? Now, with MyDirectAction.com you can browse available 3rd-world freelancers who will march, sit-in, or throw a rock FOR you! ...But okay none of that has anything to do with Books2Prisoners, a New Orleans nonprofit that sends free books to the incarcerated. B2P is a former ARC roomie in line for a big payday through some do-gooder feel-good something-or-other. You can vote for b2p and they'll hopefully get money they really need. Worknights are booming, postage costs are stratospheric and Books2Prisoners is steady sending packages. Click HERE --> http://bit.ly/3STiFd to vote for them! For more information on Books to Prisoners, including how you can volunteer, check 'em out at
http://lab2p.wordpress.com


IN ADDITION
Spanish-language movie nights roll on, Ladies' Nite rolls on, and open-to-everybody collective meetings are every Wednesday at 8 pm. Find details on the gradually improving Iron Rail website. Come get involved... we need ya!

FURTHERMORE
Y'all ever had "Peanut Butter Jelly Grits" ? jesus, so delicious. Vegan, too!

Topple the teetering tautologies of totalitoiletarianism!

For hilarious updates like this one, sign up for our e-mail list. Follow the instructions on the fron page of our website.