CORPORATE OLYMPIC MONEY SPINNER.

         A recent headline really shows the arrogance of the millionaires in the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, it states “Politicians condemn Olympic strike threat”. This is all about the leader of Unite Union, Len McCluskey, stating that there could be industrial action during the Olympics. His statement "I believe the unions, and the general community, have got every right to be out protesting. – If the Olympics provide us with an opportunity, then that's exactly one that we should be looking at." seemed to have hurt their sensitivities.

       Our elected politicians never miss an opportunity to “condemn” any protest, demonstration or industrial action taken by the ordinary people to try to defend themselves against the savage attack being hurtled at them by the said elected politicians.

      Why should we listen to them, the pay themselves excellent salaries and generous expenses, secure for themselves wonderful pensions, get all sorts of perks and not content with that, lots of them fiddle the system. While wallowing in their unearned grandeur they state that there is no alternative to “austerity”. Then they have have the audacity and arrogance to tell us to take what they throw at us and accept our poverty with humility.

       Because the corporate world wants to hold a mainly public funded extravaganza in the hope of making even more money, and remembering the most cities that hold the Olympics are bankrupted after the event, why should we see it as some sacred festival, and restrain ourselves from defending ourselves against facing a generation or more of poverty? When it comes to defending ourselves the last people we should listen to are the politicians. The last thing that will benefit the ordinary people is a world wide corporate event that will make millions for broadcasters like Sky and Virgin etc. make millions for sponsors, and cost us the public, millions. We need a National Health Service, we need an decent education system, we need pensions that give dignity to our elderly, we need nurseries, we need libraries and we need a host of social services, we do not need an Olympic corporate money spinner.

ann arky's home. 

THE FOUNDATIONS ARE CRUMBLING.

      No matter where we look, the system is in crisis, but we are told by the illusion creators, that growth and prosperity is just around the corner, if only would would accept "austerity" in the mean time. Of course "austerity" translates in different ways, for some it means utter deprivation and for others, grinding poverty and for others it means just hanging on with their finger tips. However none of these "austerity" measures will in any way affect those administrating the policies. NO the "austerity" is for the ordinary people. No matter what magic mathematics the use, the ordinary people of Europe are in for a long spell of poverty where the very fabric of their social structures have been torn apart. 

     We either accept this debt serfdom and deprivation to allow the financial barons of this corporate fascism to re-capitalise their coffers, or we seize the moment, the opportunity, to take control of our own lives. We can organise across the continent of Europe refusing to be plunged into penury, and setting about creating a society that is based on the needs of all our people. The system is splitting at the foundations, it can't survive without our acceptance of poverty and deprivation, why should we? We are being offered, either accept poverty and deprivation, or everything will collapse and we will be faced with poverty and deprivation. If we accept their method, then it is poverty and deprivation for us and unimaginable wealth for them, the choice is ours.

     Once again an excellent article from Occupied London.

       We now see a need to grow, to become even more relevant, to move beyond the usual political subdivisions and beyond reacting to capital and state violence and grasp seriously this moment of rupture. Our contribution in this direction is this call to effectively share analysis and coordinate action across Europe.

       Information coming from the mainstream media intends to divide us: it seeks to put the blame for the crisis first on the laziness of one People, then on the greed of another. In the mainstream media, people are seen as isolated victims or as a mass of protesters, but never as thinking, desiring and acting people who can take control of their own futures in common. This is a new battlefield where our conditions of living, producing and reproducing will be set for generations to come. 

CONTINUE READING:

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DEFEND THE RIGHT TO PROTEST.

From "Defend the Right to Protest". 

 

 

       We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for taking the time to sign our petition in support of Alfie Meadows and the right to protest. Over 2000 of you have now signed, a brilliant start but we need more signatories. Please help us reach more people about Alfie's case by sharing the petition in work places, universities, colleges, with family, friends and on twitter and facebook. The petition can be found online: http://t.co/4daHLlp1 but we also attach a printable copy.
     There is now just under one month until Alfie Meadows court date, there are a range of other ways in which you can help the campaign demanding that charges be dropped against Alfie Meadows. Download a variety of campaign materials at: http://www.defendtherighttoprotest.org/justice-for-alfie-meadows/

You can also join the Justice for Alfie Meadows facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Justice-for-Alfie-Meadows-Drop-All-Charges-Now/176407952467757

        The Defend the Right to Protest Campaign demands JUSTICE for Alfie Meadows and all victims of police violence, join us at our public forum 'Stand Up For Justice!' on Monday 5th March, 7PM at Friends Meeting House, 173 Euston Road, London, NW1 2BJ. (Opposite Euston Station).
Speakers include: John McDonnell (MP), Imran Khan (Campaigning Lawyer and Solicitor for Stephen Lawrence's family), Alfie Meadows (Student Defendant), Frank Fernie (Imprisoned Protester, now free!), Liam Burns (NUS President), Maggie Mitchell (Parent of imprisoned student), Marcia Rigg (Sean Rigg Justice & Change campaign), Rob Evans (Guardian journalist) & More

For more information: http://www.defendtherighttoprotest.org/stand-up-for-justice-dtrtp-public-forum/
Join the facebook event and invite friends: http://www.facebook.com/#!/events/242723812474501/

        We will be holding a rally and demonstration on the first day of Alfie Meadows trial. Tariq Ali is amongst speakers confirmed to speak on the day.
Join us at Kingston Crown Court, 6-8 Penrhyn Road, Kingston Upon Thames, Surrey KT1 2BB on Monday 26th March, 9AM.
Join the facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/#!/events/270548723014910/

        For regular updates about Alfie Meadows' Campaign and how you get involved with the wider campaign, visit: www.defendtherighttoprotest.org

Yours in Support,
Defend the Right to Protest

Email: info@defendtherighttoprotest.org
Facebook Page: defendtherighttoprotest / friend: Right to Protest
Twitter: @righttoprotest www.defendtherighttoprotest.org

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VICTORY FOR THE PEOPLE.

       It seems that the Kremlin in George Square have yielded to pressure from you. After a strong campaign by the people of Glasgow they have decided to ease their money grabbing ways and Let Glasgow Flourish. Unite and organise and we can win battles. 

 ORGANISE.

        Thanks to over 14,000 signatures (including you!) Glasgow City Council announced last week that they will scrap the proposed fees for public events which are temporary or free of charge.

      But Edinburgh and other councils across Scotland are yet to decide their plans for the legislation and there is suggestion that some still intend to implement the fees.

Kris Haddow, a playwright who started the petition on Change.org, wants all Scottish councils to follow Glasgow's lead, so he's asking everyone to keep the pressure up by sharing the petition with your friends on Facebook, Twitter or via email. Every signature will help show local councils across Scotland that the public do not support this ‘tax on the arts’.

         Kris said "this is great news for the campaign in Glasgow but we still need to keep up the pressure and ensure that Edinburgh and other councils across Scotland follow suit and scrap the public entertainment licence fees. I urge you to continue sharing the petition until such time as we have achieved success in all areas. Thank you for signing and supporting this petition."

Thanks for being part of this,
- Brie and the Change.org team

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HORIZONTALISM IN THE WORKPLACE.

Horizontal Organisation In The Workplace.  

A Talk by A.Rice

A Public Event for Radical Glasgow by Martin O'Neil

Tuesday 6th March 7pm-9pm

The Electron Club
CCA
350 Sauchiehall Street
Glasgow G2 3JD

        As managerialism kicks in and workplace pressures increase, creating a strong united voice is vital to protecting ourselves as workers. Our Union branch divided the single Rep’s role into 7 jobs,so sharing the power. We found that evolving union structures from a hierarchy to a shared power model was crucial to maintaining a presence in these brutal times. 

Facebook Event Page:
http://www.facebook.com/events/326646870716144/?context=create#!/events/326646870716144/

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BOYCOTT WORK-FARE.

      Slavery has been with us from time immemorial and reasonable people have always, on principle, fought against the idea of slavery. One of the first records of slavery being forbidden was in 550 BC in Achaemenid Persia where it was generally banned, their religion Zoroastrianism explicitly forbid slavery. As we move through history, over time we see scores of places introducing laws to forbid slavery or the slave trade. In 960 the Doge of Venice approved a law prohibiting slavery. Even on these islands in 1102 the Council of London made the trade in slaves illegal and in 1569 the English Court ruled that English law could not recognise slavery and again here in 1701, Lord Chief Justice ruled that a slave became free as soon as he arrived in England. Now here we are in the 21st. century and we have a government of millionaires trying their damnedest to reintroduce slavery in this country. They have tried to dress it up in more modern language and have given it a nice sounding name, they call it "Work-fare". The idea is that if you are unemployed and are receiving the princely sum of £67 a week job seekers allowance, to survive on, then you are obliged to accept being sent to some extremely rich company and work there for "NOTHING" failing to do so could see you lose your £67 benefit money. They say it is voluntary, voluntary slavery, but those who have been unfortunate enough to be put in this position make it quite clear that you are under pressure to go to your newly prescribed master and do his bidding, for nothing. The big businesses would love to grab this opportunity to have an army of unpaid young people scurrying around with the sweat dripping off their forehead, filling their selves or what ever they demand. However some are drawing back from the scheme, not out of compassion for the young slaves, but for the bad publicity that is coming their way when they do participate. People are objecting to this humiliating way of treating our young people, groups are demonstrating outside and in their premises and they public is beginning to see through the tinsel dressing and fancy words that they have dressed up this degrading scheme of modern slavery.

Saturday 3rd March
Protest against Work fare - Protest against slave labour

MEET TOP SHOP BUCHANAN STREET (OUTSIDE BUCHANAN GALLERIES) 1PM

        In solidarity with Liverpool Uncut’s action against workfare on Saturday 3rd March, Boycott Workfare has called a national day of action against workfare. There will be a Boycott Workfare action in Central London on this day and people all over the UK are to take action on their high streets.
         So many high street stores are involved in taking on forced unpaid labour that there is plenty of choice –Asda, Holland & Barrett, Primark, HMV, TK Maxx and Topshop to name but a few. Get a group together, make a plan, and head to the streets. Workfare means that those on benefits are forced into unpaid work for multi-million pound companies. Instead of the living wage – they receive £2.25 an hour in benefits for 30 hours of work.
       Workfare means those in paid positions may see their jobs replaced by this unpaid labour. Why would a company pay for people to do these jobs when they can get free labour from the Job Centre?
       We can put a stop to this forced unpaid labour – Waterstones and Sainsburys recently announced that they would no longer take unpaid placements – the other companies just need a bit more encouragement to stop this exploitation. We demand an end to this exploitation and call for welfare rights and living wages for all!

If you continue to exploit us, we WILL shut you down!
http://www.facebook.com/events/163269033789710/

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OCCUPY AIPAC.

An open letter from Chris Hedges: 

I invite you to join me at the Occupy AIPAC Summit in Washington this weekend.

       I spent seven years in the Middle East. I lived for two of those seven years in Jerusalem. I was the Middle East Bureau Chief for the New York Times. AIPAC does not speak for Jews or for Israel. It speaks for right-wing ideologues who believe that because they have capacity to wage war, they have a right to wage war.
And just as these elites were too blind and too enamored of their own rhetoric to see what invading Iraq would trigger, so too are they unable to comprehend the regional conflagration that would be unleashed by attacking Iran.
      The uprisings from Tunisia to Egypt to Greece to Occupy Wall Street to our gathering outside AIPAC's doors in Washington are all the same primal struggle for justice. The battle for justice in Middle East is our battle. It is part of the vast, global battle against the 1 percent. It is a battle against the fossil fuel industry, the weapons manufacturers, the security and surveillance state, the misuse of public funds that wastes $ 4 trillion on wars that never had to be fought, the trillions more in looted taxpayer money to prop up insolvent banks and swell bloated military budgets, the battle to protect working men and women who are left struggling in the name of "austerity" to save their homes and find work.
       Join us at Occupy AIPAC this weekend. Help us make the voices of the 99 percent—the voices of mothers, fathers and children in the squalid refugee camps in Gaza, in the suburbs of Tehran and in the bleak industrial wastelands in Ohio—heard. Yours,
Chris Hedges.

Read 10 Reasons Why the Israel Lobby is So Dangerous

Sign the petition

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LOCK-OUTS, PAY-OFFS, THEY'RE ALL AT IT.

An appeal for solidarity from Labour Start:

       Workers locked out by a French-owned company in Canada need our help today. It's now been three months since Acadian Coach Lines, a subsidiary of French multinational Keolis, locked out their employees because of a labour dispute. This has resulted in no intercity bus service in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, leaving many who rely on buses to get to and from cities in these provinces stranded.

Being locked out of work is always bad. For an employer to do this in mid-winter is positively cruel.

Please show your support for these workers today -

click here. It will take you less than one minute to send a strong message to Keolis demanding that they return to negotiations.

And to see what recent campaigns you may have missed,

click here.

Thanks very much!

Eric Lee

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SCOTLAND'S LAST LIVING LINK!!

       Thomas Watters, the last surviving Scot who volunteered to fight in the Spanish Civil War, 1936/39 has died aged 99. Thomas had settled in Hertfordshire but was originally from Glasgow. In 1936 he was driving a Glasgow Corporation bus for a living when he decided along with approximately 500 other Scots to join the International Brigade to fight the fascist Franco's army. While in Spain he was a member of Scottish Ambulance Unit. In June 2009 at a ceremony in the Spanish Embassy in London he was honoured with an honorary Spanish citizenship. In 2010 he returned to Glasgow to give a speech at the rededication ceremony of the newly restored statue “Pasionaria” which stands on the north side of the River Clyde in Glasgow's city centre to commemorate the Spanish Civil War and the part played by the citizens of Glasgow.

       It is always sad to lose the last living link with any courageous working class event, and the volunteers from Scotland, and other parts of the world, who went to fight fascism in Spain were taking part in what can only be described as a courageous sacrifice for freedom for others, not just for themselves. We, the working class, should always remember our history, or we become a people without a history and without a culture.

ann arky's home.

WORKERS KNOW YOUR HISTORY - GLASGOW WEAVERS STRIKE.

         We should never forget that in any industrial struggle you are not only fighting your employer, but the powers that be. The authorities will always throw the full extent of their power in support of the employer and against the workers. You elect them and they support your employer, that's how the system works. That power can be police intimidation/brutality/provocation, to bringing the troops onto the streets to crush the resistance of the group in dispute. Britain is no different in that respect, we have had the troops on the streets on numerous occasions. Troops were put on the streets in Liverpool during the 1911 dockers strike, resulting in two strikers being shot dead on the street. Later in Glasgow 1919 during the 40 hour week struggle, once again the state brought troops on to the streets. That event in Glasgow became known as Bloody Friday. We can go away back to what was probably the first organised strike in the country and the then authorities ran true to form and brought the troops out against the strikers, that was the 1787 Glasgow weavers strike. Don't ever expect "YOUR" elected representatives to support you in any workers dispute, they support the system, which is one of exploitation and business orientated, your are just the replaceable wee cogs in their greed machine.

Memorial at The Weavers Cemetery Calton Glasgow.

  

GLASGOW’S WEAVERS’ STRIKE, 1787

BACKGROUND.

Glasgow’s population at this period was around 60,000. Weaving was the main occupation in Glasgow and surrounding districts after the collapse of the tobacco trade due to the American War of Independence. The movement for parliamentary reform was still a seed in people’s hearts. It took the French Revolution to cause it to shoot and grow. Attempts by workers to unite in defence of their living standards were deemed an offence under common law. The weavers’ strike of 1787 was the first recorded strike in Glasgow’s history.

Around June 1787 the Glasgow weavers and those of surrounding areas learned that the payments for weaving muslin were to be cut. This would be the second cut to the weavers income in eight months. Many meetings were held around the districts and on June the 30th 1787 seven thousand attended a meeting on Glasgow Green. On the 4th of July terms of a unanimous resolution from the meeting appeared in a letter printed in the Glasgow Mercury. The letter was sent by James Mirrie on behalf of the committee appointed by the weavers. The letter pointed out that the cut suggested by the manufacturers would bring weavers income down by one-fourth while other trades had been rightfully rising in face of an increase in house rents and other means of subsistence. It also stated that they would not 'offer violence to any man or his work'.

STRIKE.

The strike started in June and lasted through July, August, September in to October. Calton was a district then just outside Glasgow’s boundary. Most of the population of the district were weavers. Around mid-day on Monday 3rd September, the authorities of Glasgow learned that a large crowd of weavers had formed at Calton near the city boundary at Gallowgate. The Lord Provost and Magistrates arrived to disperse the crowd but were driven back by stones thrown by the weavers. Later in the day the authorities were informed that the weavers were again assembling and proposed to march to Glasgow Cathedral.

RIOT ACT.

The 39th Regiment of Foot, under the command of Colonel Kellet was sent. With them went the Lord Provost, the Sheriff-Substitute, a Magistrate and others intent on dispersing the weavers. The groups met at a spot near Drygate Bridge. The soldiers were ordered to open fire, 3 weavers were killed outright and three were mortally wounded. A considerable number were wounded. How many can only be guessed at.

It is now accepted that the Riot Act was not read, it is claimed that the Sheriff-Substitute was preparing to read the Riot Act when the soldiers opened fire in self defence. After the riot Magistrates offered rewards for information leading to the arrest of activists. As well as James Granger, one of the main organisers of the strike, others were arrested but not brought to trial. On the 4th September the Magistrates brought in another regiment from Beith.

Towards the end of September Colonel Kellet and Major Powlet were presented with the freedom of the city. At the Tontine Tavern a dinner was given for the officers. Each soldier stationed in Glasgow was given a new pair of shoes and stockings.

TRIAL AND SENTENCE.

James Granger’s trial, he was then aged 38, married and had six children, took place in Edinburgh in the year 1788. It was the first case of “forming illegal combinations” in Scotland. He was found guilty on Tuesday 22nd July and sentenced on Friday 25th The sentence was that he be carried to the Tollbooth, to remain there until the 13th August, on which day he would be publicly whipped through the streets of the city at the hands of the Common Executioner; that he should then be set at liberty and allowed till the 15th October to settle his affairs, after which he is to banish himself from Scotland for seven years, under the usual certifications, in case of his again returning during that term. A severe price to pay for trying to prevent a wage cut. James Granger returned and took part in the 1811-1812 strike and lived to the age of 75.

      This was the scene at Glasgow Trongate 1919 after the events of the 40 hour week strike which resulted in what became know as "Bloody Friday", look closely and you will see the troops have "fixed bayonets".

More on Glasgow's working class history can be found HERE.

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THE EDGE OF THE PRECIPICE.

         As lots of folk in the UK look at Greece and say that it won't happen here, perhaps a closer look at some of the figures for the UK might make them think again. We as a country are just holding on with our finger tips, it will not take much to push us over the edge and have us in the same scenario as the Greek people are living through. These figures may be a month or so behind the times but nothing that has happened in the interim makes them less alarming. This from the right-wing pro-business class newspaper The Telegraph, January 4:

One million people take out emergency loans to pay mortgage

       Almost one million Britons have taken out an emergency 'payday' loan to help pay their rent or mortgage in the last year, according to Shelter, the housing charity. The high degree of borrowing highlights the 'spiral of debt' that people are falling into to keep a roof over their head, Shelter said. The charity also found that seven million Britons are relying on some form of credit to help pay their housing costs. Campbell Robb, Shelter’s chief executive, said: 'These shocking findings show the extent to which millions of households across the country are desperately struggling to keep their home.'

      Taking out a loan-shark Payday loan to pay your mortgage/rent, is pretty desperate stuff. This conceals a major problem in our economy just one blip and homelessness will rocket, and with unemployment rising fast that blip can't be too far off.

Another quote from The Telegraph on January 9:

Six million households have only five days' savings

     Around six million households would be unable to survive for more than five days if they stopped being paid, such are the low levels of savings among Britons, new research shows. A new report from First Direct, the bank, warns that one in three UK households have less than £250 in accessible savings. A fifth of all households have no savings at all. The bank said that £250 is the equivalent of three days’average monthly household take-home pay. With average monthly outgoing currently at £1,536, these savings would last just five days.

        So as our cabal of coalition millionaires keep telling us the we are on the right track, you can accept that they are lying through their teeth, are extremely devious, for what ever reason, or they are just plain stupid. We are as far as economics are concerned wavering on the edge of the financial precipice.

        The system is bust, normally capitalism brings extreme wealth to a few, some reasonable living for quite a few, and poverty and struggle for the many. Now as we move deeper into corporate fascism with the financial Mafia in complete control, the system produces unbelievable stratospheric wealth for even fewer, a reasonable living for the managers of the system and grinding deprivation for the vast majority. The unelected corporate fascists rule the world. Those who produce all that wealth never get a smell of it, the system is set up to syphon the wealth up the way. So forget changing the government, the party, the President or what ever, it is the system that we have to change.

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THE PLUNDER OF A PEOPLE..

 

   

          The general public across Europe are not being made fully aware of what is really happening in Greece, the powers that be don't want you to know, as it is a brutal and vicious crime, and the public anger would rightly explode if the full extent of this crime was known. This is a European country that is being turned into a third world country and it is happening with such rapidity that it amounts to a crime against humanity. Hospitals are running out of their very basic needs, schools are devoid of materials for the education of the kids, homeless numbers have gone stratospheric, suicides are rocketing and mental health problems are soaring beyond belief. That is the stage they are at at this moment in time, yet the Troika, (European Union, European Central bank and the IMF) are determined to push further cuts to social spending, increase unemployment, decimate pensions and plunder Greece's public assets. It is rapid asset stripping of a nation for the benefit of the financial Mafia. We would be naive to think that it can't happen to us, it can and in all probability it will. This can't be allowed to continue, what has already been inflicted on the ordinary Greek people is plain and simple, a brutal robbery by a very rich small army of parasites to gratify their unending greed. It is of course class war, the very rich sending in their mercenaries to plunder the assets of the ordinary people. We have to spread the word, let everybody know exactly what is happening to the ordinary people of Greece, every day sees more misery inflicted on the old, the young and the sick, there is no relief in sight for them, unless we change the system.

         This from The International Journal of Socialist Renewal.

          February 13, 2012 -- Coalition of Resistance -- The people of Greece face an unprecedented economic and political crisis. They are being driven to poverty and mass unemployment by the demands of the so-called Troika – the European Union, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund, which has imposed Lucas Papademos, former vice-president of the ECB, as prime minister.

        Hospitals in Greece are running out of basic medicines, nearly half of all young people are unemployed, workers in some sectors have not been paid for months, and many are forced to resort to soup kitchens or scavenge from rubbish dumps.

Now the Troika demands a cut of 23% to the minimum wage, the sacking of tens of thousands of public sector workers and the decimation of pensions which have already lost nearly 50% of their value. International capital is asset stripping an entire country and ripping apart its social fabric.

Greece is at the cutting edge of the austerity measures that are being introduced across Europe. All the evidence shows that while these measures may protect the interests of the rich, they just make matters worse for the majority of the population. What happens in Greece today we will see in Portugal tomorrow and in Ireland the day after. In Britain, the Coalition government is pursuing similar measures which will see workers earnings cut, working longer for a smaller pension, and the dismantling of the NHS along with other public services.

       Mikis Theodorakis, famous Greek composer of Zorba’s Dance, and Manolis Glezos, veteran resistance fighter against the Nazi occupation, have issued a statement calling for a European Front to defend the people of Greece and all those facing austerity.

The Coalition of Resistance and the People’s Charter have decided to support this call and agreed to work with trades unions, campaigns and parties across Europe to establish a European Solidarity Campaign to defend the people of Greece. The campaign aims to organise solidarity and raise practical support for the people of Greece; they cannot be made to pay for a crisis for which they are not responsible.

       We are writing to you to ask you to endorse this campaign and to publicise it to others.
Below is a list of initial signatories. We will be calling an organising meeting for the campaign in the next week.

• Greek translation of the statement.
• German translation of the statement.
• French translation of the statement.
• Swedish translation of the statement.
• Portuguese translation of the statement
• To sign the statement or see a full list of signatories, go to http://www.coalitionofresistance.org.uk/2012/02/sign-the-appeal-for-soli...

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MUTUAL AID - AN ANSWER TO OUR PROBLEMS.

          Mutual aid is the basis of any decent society, it takes us away from the capitalist consumer juggernaut, and breaks our dependency on the profit system that bleeds us and keeps us in perpetual struggle for survival. There is no avenue of our lives that we could not enrich by mutual aid. It can be introduced in education, home maintenance, making and repairing things for the community, growing our own food, book sharing schemes, toy swap schemes for the kids, the list is endless. As our involvement grows the list grows and we become more empowered and less dependent on selling ourselves to the highest bidder in an effort to support our families. The dire situation in Greece has forced the Greek people to look for alternatives to try to hold on to their dignity and try to enhance their lives, one of the latest schemes to develop is #tutorpool, a mutual aid scheme of education. The Greek education system, because of "austerity" cuts, has been decimated and is practically defunct, this scheme shows the way we can organise our society outside the state and corporate strangle hold. An extract from Occupied London.

SOLIDARITY.

      #tutorpool is an education solidarity network created by ordinary citizens living in an unordinary country in very unordinary times. Summer protests at Syntagma Square and other squares throughout the country fostered more than a profound sense of community and solidarity among citizens in Greece; friendships forged in the “square” gave way to solidarity initiatives.
#tutorpool began spontaneously in twitter after a discussion between few people and took less than a few hours to spread. That explains the use of the hash tag (#) before the name, to remind everyone that internet offers people the tools to meet, organize and work together. In less than a week, #tutorpool begun to take the form of a volunteer network, offering educational support to students whose families could not afford “coaching”. A group of volunteers managed to pull each of their skills together under the www.tutorpool.gr website and begun offering online and actual courses to students all over Greece, reaching as far as the isolated islands. At this point, less than two months later than the very first tweet, #tutorpool has more than 300 volunteer teachers, 102 students, and 205 courses offered throughout the country.
CONTINUE READING:

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THE BRAIN DEAD'S DAMP SQUIB.

        Saturday 25 February the fascist Scottish Defence League held their “static” demo in the centre of Glasgow. No marching waving their banners and giving their Nazi salutes, the bunch of pathetic brain dead morons were herded like a little bunch of sheep and contained at the bottom of St Enoch Square. Standing there in the rain making silly childish gestures with no audience, as the public were going about their business as usual along nearby Argyle Street and Buchanan Street. As well as a multicultural demonstration and rally in George Square, there was a considerable anti-fascist presence on the city centre streets. They were there in case some of the scum came along with their school playground bullying tactics of trying to intimidate the various political stalls in the city centre. They never appeared as they presence of any number of Glasgow anti-fascists would have them running to the nearest toilet.

I want a mirror, so I can do my nazi salute.

         This foul smelling bunch of scum have no place on the Glasgow's streets, the people of Glasgow have a proud history of working class solidarity and struggle and are well capable of flushing this shit down the sewer. Hopefully this particular bucket of sludge has slopped back down the sewer from which it leaked. However we must be eternally vigilant as this type of scum will always rise at times of economic turmoil, trying to find scapegoats to pin the problem on, we cannot let them distract us from the real root of all our problems, the capitalist system. We have to continually organise to bring an end to this unjust exploitative system of corporate capitalism that dominates our lives.

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DON'T MISS THE BUS!!

         I say it at bus stops, in shops, in the pub, I say it to friends, to acquaintances, to strangers, I say it in the morning, in the afternoon and in the evening, I say it on the bus, on the train, so I'll say it here again. This is not a national problem, we are living under corporate fascism, this is an international problem. The policies being implemented across the developed world are the policies of a group that have never been elected, have no mandate from the people they are affecting and are working simply in the best interests of their own little group of parasites. Across the developed world the Heinz 57 varieties of political governments from so called socialists, labour, social democrats, to conservative, republican and far right parties are all carrying out the same polices, namely “austerity”. They are merely the managers of the IMF (International Mankind Fuckers) polices, policies that are bringing deprivation to millions and dividends and bonuses to the parasites. Who elected the IMF?

From ANONARCHIST NEWS;

            It was George Orwell, author of 1984, who said that, “In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”

        What is the situation now? Is peaceful dissent accepted? Or is it frowned upon and discriminated against? What are our world ‘leaders’ up to? Are they helping us, the masses of working people? Or are they actually perpetuating the existence of an outdated economic system, no matter what the cost?

        What if there was another option. An alternative to all this. What if we didn’t have to live like this? If human beings on a large scale could cooperate with each other for the common good of themselves and their community – does that really sound crazy? Or is it even crazier to believe that they expect us to remain docile and apathetic as they destroy our Earth.

        Is it impossible to have individuals acting selflessly if they understand that this is the better option, or would one rather live under a system where war is good for the economy. Where poverty is rampant on a world-scale and police-state measures are accepted without question.

        It seems to me like the choice is yours. For if we do not act now – it’ll be too late late.

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