Week Of Action Against Workfare.

      ATOS continues its march of murder across the vulnerable in our society. I recently posted about the the tragic affair of Jacqueline Harris, who took her own life after being deemed fit to work by ATOS and having her disability allowance removed. Well their brutal actions are still bringing misery and death to our people. It was recently reported that Victor Cuff, aged59, who suffered from depression, took his own life, after having his benefits cut when those box ticking bureaucrats at ATOS, assessed him fit for work. How long will we sit back and allow this brutality against the sick and vulnerable people in our community?

       Because that babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, doesn't report the full extent of the onslaught against the ordinary people in our communities, lots people are unaware of the full horror of this “austerity” plan. We have workfare, forcing thousands to work for free, for corporate greed merchants, we have people facing the threat of eviction and /or reduced benefits, because of certain circumstances, they find they now have a “spare room” . We have ATOS declaring the sick and vulnerable, fit for work, then there are stagnant wages, while food and energy bills go through the roof. Then let's not forget those thousands, 70,000, at the last estimate, who face hunger and deprivation because of “sanctions”. When one of the growth areas is food banks, you know that society has failed its people. These are all a deliberate attack on the living standards of our people, an attempt to get the UK on course to be part of the new sweatshop Europe. The low wage, low welfare economy, is the corporate world's plan to boost their competitiveness with the Eastern sweatshop empire.

       With a concerted well organised effort we can stop this juggernaut of corporatism and start to build a society we want, one that sees to the needs of all our people. After all we the people make everything on this planet, we distribute everything on this planet, but the system dictates what we make and where we distribute it, and it is all for the benefit of the leeches on our backs, our unnecessary burden of parasites. There are the resources, we have the ability, and we know there is a need, all that is missing is our will to take control and create that better world for all.

      This coming week there is planned week of action against workfare, get involved, employed, unemployed, retired, disabled, homeless, it affects us all, by lowering the standard of living across the board. If we shout loud enough, others will hear and realise that they are not alone. We can change this society.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

The Clutha And John McGarrigle.

       By now everybody will have heard the tragic news of the police helicopter crashing onto the roof of the Clutha pub in Glasgow. All our thoughts, for some considerable time, will stay with all those friends and relatives of the injured and the dead. The Clutha along with the Scotia, just across the road, were much more than places for a drink, together they formed an institution, an oasis of poetry, music, debate, banter and laughter. Those who visited either of them once, usually became life members of both, you could slip seamlessly from one to the other, perhaps even several times in a night. I was a great fan of the Scotia poetry nights, and it was there that I met John McGarrigle. John didn't have an easy life, but he lived it with energy. I always thought that in his poetry, he could capture the full spectrum of human emotions, he could come up with the witty, ridiculously funny, stupidly funny and the profoundly moving. Sadly he will write no more, as John was one of those who died in that dreadful event. 

Old Young Man.

Unemployment. Rising prices

Never bothered me before

Now, struggling for subsistance

I slowly realised my wasted years

steeped in ignorance

The brashness of youth has gone

Leaving behind an emptiness

not easy to define

Old before my time

I yearn for contentment

Where has the young lad gone

That angry young man

That shook his fist in careless anger

At any unfair society?

Shall we ever see him again

Write Nice Things.

last night

as I sat by my typewriter

a junkie 

climbed in my window,

I was writing a poem

a very interesting little poem

about a flower that I'd seen

that day,

the junkie battered my wife

stole all of our money

and when he left

took with him

my television set

and my hi fi unit,

this unfortunate little incident

rather disturbed me

it really put me off writing

my little poem

about the birds and bees

and the flower that I'd seen

so, I wrote about the wind and the trees

instead

Two of John's poems from his little book, Glasgow's McGarrigle. Fat Cat Publications, ISBN 187 1009 014

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Boycott Workfare.

     We all know that the real reason for "workfare" is to drive up corporate profits and drive down wages. All the crap about helping the unemployed, and training them for a job, is just an attempt to put a badge of respectability on what is  plain and simple, slave labour. The corporate greed merchants have nothing but praise for their millionaire friends in the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, for coming up with such a lucrative scheme. They probably thought that they would never again get free workers legally in this country, but here we are, in the 21st century UK and the government is handing them thousands of free slaves to fatten their shareholders bank accounts.

     We can stop this abuse of our people with solidarity, if together we boycott and picket all those whose greedy hands grasp at this inhumanity. They don't want anything that might hurt their pockets. We must realise it is not just a problem for the unemployed, it is also a problem for the employed. This slave labour scheme depresses incomes of those in employment and also hinders those looking for work. Why give a job to a person looking for a wage, when you can get one to work for free?

This from Boycott Workfare: 

 

12.30-1.30pm, Monday 2nd December, outside the ERSA workfare industry conference, Senate House, Malet Street, London (nearest tubes: Russell Square, Warren Street, Euston), 

facebook event here

     (Can’t make it to London? Take part in the week of action where you are.)

     On 2nd December, those driving forced labour for unemployed people on the government’s workfares schemes are getting together in one place for their annual conference. Be there too to show them that their days of vast profits for abusing the poorest people in the UK are numbered.

     The workfare industry is already on the backfoot. The government’s flagship ‘Work Programme’ which promised to hand £5 billion to this sector – whose profits are wholly subsidised by public funds – has failed. The industry failed to meet even the minimum targets and tens of thousands have returned to the Jobcentre as the two year stint comes to an end.

Read the full article HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Glasgow St Andrew's Day March Cancelled.

Saturday 30 November

STUC cancels St Andrew's Day march as mark of respect

      As a mark of respect to all those affected by the tragedy at the Clutha Vaults last night and in view of the pressure which has been placed on the resources of Scottish emergency services, STUC has decided to cancel its annual St Andrew's Day anti-racism march. The march which had been due to leave from Glasgow Green at 11am will now NOT take place, but participants are invited to attend a short rally at the Glasgow Film Festival at 12 noon as planned

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Glasgow Games Monitor Film Show.

GLASGOW (1982) FILM SCREENING

THURSDAY 12 DECEMBER, 6.30 FOR 7PM START

Kinning Park Complex (next to Kinning Park subway) 

 

      A rare screening of episodes from a series of films about Glasgow originally aired on the BBC in 1982. The series constitutes an amazing document of Glasgow, and the East End in particular, and provides a crucial historical context for understanding present-day social and environmental problems in the city.

     Episodes focus on the blight left behind from the mass demolitions of the 1960s and 1970s – the era of Comprehensive Development Areas; the closure of Beardmore’s Forge at Parkhead and with it the end of large industry in the East End; and a portrayal of the infamous Barrowfield Scheme next to Parkhead.

     For those interested in current ‘regeneration’ plans associated with the Commonwealth Games 2014 and Clyde Gateway, it is unmissable. Margaret Jaconelli, who was evicted by CPO on the site of the Commonwealth Games Village, and Neil Gray from Glasgow Games Monitor 2014, will talk about the films in relation to the present era. Followed by open discussion. Donations on door welcome.

     Organised by Glasgow Games Monitor 2014 and Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism!

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

There Is No Compassionate Corporatism.

 

     An appeal for solidarity from Labour Start:

What kind of employer locks out 150 of its workers three days before Thanksgiving? 
      FirstEnergy Corp., one of the largest energy companies in the USA, did just that to 150 of its workers in Pennsylvania. Their union, working together with their global union federations, has today issued a call for a massive online protest campaign.
      Please take a moment to send off your message:

http://www.labourstartcampaigns.net/show_campaign.cgi?c=2070&src=lsmm

Thanks very much -- and please spread the word.



Eric Lee

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Free Film Show Glasgow CCA.

Films and discussion

      Part of the Electron Open Day - Centre for Contemporary Art Cinema:

350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow.

Sunday December 1st. 2pm.  FREE.

Spirit of Revolt

      Watch a short film about one of the most important developments around working class history in the city for a long time. The Spirit of Revolt, a new archive of the struggles and achievements of ordinary people, at the Mitchell library. Watch a wee film of an SOR exhibition and how the project is developing. And after chat to SOR volunteers about the future hopes for the project.

Glasgow to Detroit

      Glasgow to Detroit is a shorter version of a longer film shot in Detroit, talking to activists involved in growing and food security. The purpose of this screening is to look at the organisational structures particularly around the city farms of Detroit, and what we can learn from our sister city, around solidarity and protecting the longevity of our exciting and expanding growing community.

       We are so perverted by an education which from infancy seeks to kill in us the SPIRIT OF REVOLT, and to develop that of submission to authority; we are so perverted by this existence under the ferrule of a law, which regulates every event in life — our birth, our education, our development, our love, our friendship —that, if this state of things continues, we shall lose all initiative, all habit of thinking for ourselves.

Peter Alexeievich Kropotkin

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Homeless In The Midst Of Wealth.

       Recent figures reveal that the UK has approximately 380,000 people who have no home and live in B&B's or sleep on friends floors and sofas. It is estimated that if this figure was added to those found living on the streets, the figure would reach the criminal figure of over 1 million homeless across the UK. The homeless figure has jumped by 15% since 2007, obviously government policies are pushing these figures up. Of course no matter how horrifying these figures may be, they are not the full picture. Experts agree that it is impossible to accurately assess the true number of homeless in this country as many of them live of the official radar. In London alone it has been assessed that last year 4,672 people slept on its streets, up from 4,077 in the previous year. It is easy to see how the figure would rapidly rise as we take in cities, towns and villages across the land. 

        One of the richest nations on the planet and more than 1 million homeless, what does that tell you about the social structures of this society? Where are our lords and masters priorities? They are intent on subsidising the corporate world to the tune of billions of pounds of tax payers money in the form of a high-speed rail link between London and a couple of cities in the north of England but can't get their head around affordable housing for all. They are throwing billions of pounds of our money at a multination corporate body to build a nuclear power station, but haven't noticed the need to rid our country of the curse of homelessness. The corporate greed machine must take priority, we the people are not on their list. That's capitalism.

      Homelessness, again the word doesn't really convey its true meaning, the word doesn't reveal the misery of the reality of homelessness. Homelessness, is more than no roof. Think of what a home is, to you, to your family and friends, to your social life, to your mental health and ability to support yourself, to the self respect of you and your kids. 

This from Crisis.org:

        Homelessness is about more than rooflessness. A home is not just a physical space, it also has a legal and social dimension. A home provides roots, identity, a sense of belonging and a place of emotional wellbeing. Homelessness is about the loss of all of these. It is an isolating and destructive experience and homeless people are some of the most vulnerable and socially excluded in our society.

     After years of declining trends, 2010 marked the turning point when all forms of homelessness began to rise. However, it is likely that homelessness will increase yet further, as the delayed effects of the economic downturn, cuts to housing benefit and other reforms all start to bite.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

A Wee Story About Debt.

      The fastest ever run through the economic system, a system that has the basic rule that for a rich man to get poor he has to be real stupid, and for a poor man to get rich he has to be real smart. Humorous, but with some truth.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

The Need For Direct Action And Mass Involvement.

      John Cooper, friend, comrade, life long activist, campaigner, speaks at the Maryhill Anti Cuts Conference, talks about early struggles in Castlemilk, which was at one time the largest housing scheme in Europe, which had absolutely no facilities, just houses and the only way to get a pint was join the Labour Party - Claimants Unions - School Closures.
Video first appeared on City Strolls.

Maryhill Anti Cuts Conference

      A group of residents in North west Glasgow have got together to fight the cuts and defend services locally. 

     The first event was an anti cuts conference which attracted 30 folks. There were talks from activists from many different spheres, from those locally who'd occupied a primary school a few years back, to NHS campaigners, to a speaker from the ongoing anti cuts student occupation at Glasgow University. Most importantly we had many small table discussions. 

      We are now having regular organising meetings and have begun mapping the area to get a clear picture of how the cuts will affect our local area and what we can do both to defend local services, but also fight all the cuts to public services and the welfare state.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Turkish Miners Underground Protest.

    My father was a miner all his life, and he had a venomous hatred of mine owners. In his early days we lived in a room and kitchen in Garngad, a slum in the north side of Glasgow, he would come home covered in coal dust and mud. He would come home to no running hot water and no bath, my mother would have prepared a zinc bath in in front of the fire having boiled pots of water on the fire, to fill the bath. Each one of his fingers had a bend at the top, all caused at different times with being crushed by rock falls, he was buried twice and came out alive. Just before he retired he was hit by a fall that hit his head crushed his teeth and knocked him unconscious. A few weeks after he retired there was a fire in the local mine, Auchengeich, and 47 of his friends and former workmates died. I understand the miners plight.

    Photo from Healey Hero.

     Mining has always been a very dangerous job and what ever concessions the miners won over the years from the mine owners, was hard fought for, and no where near their worth. It may never be made a completely safe job, but there are ways and means of safeguarding the life and wellbeing of the miners, but sadly that costs money, and mine owners like all capitalists, (state or otherwise) find human life cheaper than implementing a safe environment.

     My heart and solidarity goes out to the Turkish miners who in desperate protest at their unnecessary dangerous conditions, have locked themselves underground. Their cause is our cause, nobody should have to face such conditions just to earn their bread. Please support them, and spread the word of the their fight.

This from libcom:

    300 miners across two shifts at a mine in the Black Sea area of Zonguldak have barricaded themselves underground in protest at atrocious health and safety. Turkey has the worst mine safety record across all of Europe, with 2,554 miners losing their lives since 1991. They have vowed to continue their protest until the demands have been met.

Read the full article HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk 

Government Paid Mercenaries!

      When a state carries out policies that kill people in another state, they usually call it war. However, what do you call it when a state carries out policies that kill its own people? Well here in the UK the policies pushed through by the state are killing people. One of them is called “Work Capability Assessment” and the weapon is in the hands of ATOS. I suppose that ATOS being a French company, we should call them mercenaries.

      The number of people who have died after being assessed by ATOS, as fit to work, is well over 100,000. In any war situation these figures would be a national disaster, why does our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, not splash them across banner headlines? Simply because they are on the other side, the side of the murdering state. The latest tragedy in this brutal assault on the disabled and vulnerable, was 53 year old, partially sighted Jacqueline Harris, as well as her problem with her sight she had restricted mobility and was on constant pain relief. However the compassionless bureaucrats, sitting comfortable in their cocooned world of “ticky-boxes” considered her fit to look for work and stripped her of her benefits. It was a pain to far, and sadly Jaqueline Harris took her own life.

    This war against its own people continues on many fronts, the freezing/cutting of wages in the midst of rising energy and food prices, the bedroom tax, putting extra strain on already stretched finances, are just two attacks which are pushing more people into fuel poverty, food banks, deprivation and in turn malnutrition, with the resultant health problems. In truth, these actions are a slow death sentence and are directly responsible for health problems and an early death in thousands of cases. The state by its deliberate policies is killing its own people, all in the name of the economics of the banksters, it is sacrificing the lives of its citizens to bolster and increases the wealth of the already obscenely wealthy. We live in a sacrificial society, where the people are offered up to the god Mammon. 

This from The Void:

     A woman stripped of benefits after being found ‘fit for work’ by Atos has taken her own life the Bristol Post have reported today.

According to the newspaper: 

     “PARTIALLY-sighted and only able to walk with the aid of a stick, Jacqueline Harris suffered crippling pain due to slipped discs in her back and neck. Her mobility was reduced further when a dog savaged one of her wrists. “Despite being in agony which strong pain relief could not ease, the 53-year-old was deemed to be fit for work following a government health assessment and told to find a job.

      “Her sister claims the verdict that she was ineligible for disability benefits drove her to take her own life earlier this month.”

Read the full article HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Don't Let Isa Fly!

      Day and daily, no matter where we live, we see the state's inhumanity. In most cases our own babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, don't report that inhumanity in its own back yard, but is quick to point the finger at foreign regimes. It is usually up to the general public to hold their particular state to account.

      This is one such case of the state's inhumanity and it is up to us to call them to account. An appeal from Unity:

Don’t let Isa fly!
      Isa Muazu (Home Office Reference A1464395) came to the UK in 2007 on a visitor’s visa. He was detained and put on the Fast Track process in Harmondsworth Detention Centre on July 25th 2013, when he applied for asylum. Isa cannot return to his native Nigeria: hard-line Islamist group Boko Haram have already killed several members of his family and he fears that if he returns his life too would be in danger.
      Isa has been on hunger strike in protest at his treatment whilst in detention for almost three months. He is now dangerously ill. Last week a judge refused to release him from detention because the Home Office had issued him removal directions even though Isa is too sick to move from his mattress on the floor. The Home Office plan to forcibly remove Isa on Wednesday 27th November at 22.20 on Virgin Atlantic flight VS651.
    The Home Office are refusing to release Isa because they believe he is deliberately starving himself for trivial reasons. Last week they drew up an “End-of Life” plan with Isa including helping him to write his will. The Home Office have hardened their stance towards hunger strikers in detention since releasing four men on medical grounds earlier this year.
      Isa has been clear- he started his protest because the food he was being given in the detention centre exacerbated several related medical conditions he suffers from. Since then he has widened his protest to include the way he has been treated within the detention centre since beginning the strike. Members of Unity have been supporting Isa since before he started his hunger strike. The Home Office have now issued Isa removal directions to return him to Nigeria before he dies in the detention centre.
       Isa is not fit enough to survive being returned to Nigeria. He is extremely weak from not eating. He is finding it hard to see or to walk. If he is returned to Nigeria there is a strong possibility that he may die. The Home Office have acknowledged this fact by stating they will deport him with a medical team if necessary.

What you can do:

1. Lobby Virgin Atlantic.
We need to put pressure on Virgin Atlantic not to fly Isa. Please politely ask Virgin not to co-operate with the Home Office’s plans to remove Isa to his potential death in Nigeria.
Virgin Atlantic, The Office, Manor Royal, Crawley, West Sussex,RH10 9NU.
Email: special_assistance@fly.virgin.com
Tel: 0844 811 0000
https://www.facebook.com/virginatlantic
Comment on their Blog at
http://blog.virgin-atlantic.com/t5/Blog-Home-Page/ct-p/Cat1#.UpOb4cSGp-g
To leave a comment you’ll need to sign into the blog using Facebook Connect.

2. Contact Theresa May, Home Secretary.
Ask her to exercise her discretionary powers to stop Isa Muazu’s flight. You can write a polite letter please add your address, and do please remember to include Isa Muazu’s Home Office Ref A1464395, and the Virgin Atlantic flight number VS651 from Heathrow and the flight’s date and time- Wednesday 27th November 22.20hrs.
     Teresa May is already under pressure from MPs and members of the House of Lords for the new hard-line stance being taken by her department.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/theresa-may-could-face-mps-over-failed-nigerian-asylum-seeker-isa-muazus-hunger-strike-8962102.html
http://politics.co.uk/news/2013/11/23/hunger-strike-theresa-may-ignores-appeals-for-mercy-from-mps

Tel: 020 7219 5206
Fax: 020 7219 1145
By Email:
mayt@parliament.uk Or: public.enquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
Privateoffice.external@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk - UKBApublicenquiries@UKBA.gsi.gov.uk

3. Contact your own MP and ask them to do something Please contact your   MP to ask them to contact Teresa May and the Home Office on behalf of Isa.
http://us4.campaign-archive2.com/?u=fd4245447a04e2631f21f7786&id=00982b3c5e

4. Join the protests
    On Wednesday afternoon at 3pm supporters of Isa will gather outside the Home Office Reporting Centre in Glasgow to protest at Isa’s treatment.
https://www.facebook.com/events/1415794365321522/?notif_t=plan_user_joined
      Over the weekend there were protests outside the Harmondsworth detention centre near Heathrow where Isa is being kept in the medical centre.

UNITY!
Unity Centre Glasgow
30 Ibrox Street
G51 1AQ
0141 427 79 92
info@unitycentreglasgow.org

http://www.unitycentreglasgow.org

Practical support and solidarity to all asylum seekers and migrants in
Scotland.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Yes, It Is Class War.

     The on-going financial "crisis" in Europe has laid bare the illusion of democracy, the smoke and mirrors have been exposed, with policies being shoved down the throats of the people, it is obvious that Europe functions as a financial entity, run by banksters, in the interest of capital. This is a policy that will continue and will be defended by a further move to the right by the political class. As the resistance of the people stiffens, so the powers that be will shred what is left of that illusion of "representative democracy". To expect the financial and political class, through compassion, to surrender the massive gains they have made in wealth and power over the last few years, is rather naive. They are on a winning streak, and we the people, are taking a beating. They are organised, and brutal in the administering of their policies, and ruthless in the defence of their gains. If we the people wish to defend ourselves from further deprivation at the hands of this financial Mafia onslaught, we have to be better organised, more brutal, and attack with greater ruthlessness. No matter how you look at it, how you phrase it, what we are involved in, is a savage period in the long running class war. Justice and equality for the people will only come when we finally win that class war, by eliminating this system of profit, greed and exploitation.

A short film from SubmediaTV:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Austerity Is Death By Another Name.

       When that babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, report on the Greek “crisis”, it is always about bailouts, debt, and need for greater “austerity”. What, seldom if ever, gets a mention is the death factor in all this financial Mafia economic gobble-gook. Hidden behind the unemployment figures and falling wages, rising taxes and prices, is the death factor. Accelerated deaths from malnutrition, stress, drug and alcohol addiction are all linked to the “austerity” plan. There is another toll the people of Greece are paying to satisfy the financial mafia and banksters, suicide. During the first 4 years of Greece's “financial crisis”, 2007-2011, the suicide rate increased by a staggering 43%. In fact 2011 marked the highest number of suicides in Greece, for 50 years. According to some authorities the last two years are showing indications that there will a further very large rise.

        The group Klimaka, based in Athens, stated that reported suicides rose dramatically, but we cannot take these figures as accurate, as there are a considerable number of unreported suicides, the figures are in all probability, much higher. Greece is a relatively small country population wise, with a population of just 11.28 million, (2012 figures), but with the direct impact of the financial Mafia's dictate, creating 27% unemployment, 60%+ among the young and a stratospheric minimum 43% increase in suicides, you begin to get the true meaning of “austerity”. This is a small country, a member of one of the largest and richest developed economic blocks on the planet, yet we can't see to it that the people of a small country of 11.28 million, can have a reasonable standard of living. Capitalism isn't working for the benefit of the majority, capitalism will never work for the benefit of the majority, capitalism can't work for the benefit of the majority. It isn't made that way, it is simply a system of exploitation, where the few live in luxury off the backs of the many, who struggle to survive, as all the wealth they create is siphoned up to that few, the parasites, the leeches of society. Capitalism is the enemy of the people.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Nuclear Energy, Environmental Vandalism.

      Are we insane or just subservient to the insane? Our lords and masters, at the behest of the corporate world, are pushing ahead with more nuclear power stations, against the wishes of most of the public. We are still in the dark as to how long it will take to clean up, and how much it will cost to clean up, our existing nuclear centres. With our past nuclear program we have left the coming generations a heritage of a series of radioactive wastelands and an incalculable debt burden.

        It's not as if we didn't know the horrendous longterm problems with nuclear power, the disasters are well and clearly documented. The problems spread far beyond the confines of the nuclear plant when there is an accident. We see an increase in cancers, birth deformities and other avoidable human disasters. However the powers that be, still continue to contaminate tomorrow's world, our children's world. Could the reason be that there are millions to be made by the corporate greed machine getting behind this environmental nightmare.

Here are just some of the earlier disasters cataloged, you can get a full list from:

atomicarchive.com

December 12, 1952 A partial meltdown of a reactor's uranium core at the Chalk River plant near Ottawa, Canada, resulted after the accidental removal of four control rods. Although millions of gallons of radioactive water poured into the reactor, there were no injuries.

October 1957  Fire destroyed the core of a plutonium-producing reactor at Britain's Windscale nuclear complex - since renamed Sellafield - sending clouds of radioactivity into the atmosphere. An official report said the leaked radiation could have caused dozens of cancer deaths in the vicinity of Liverpool.

Winter 1957-'58 A serious accident occurred during the winter of 1957-58 near the town of Kyshtym in the Urals. A Russian scientist who first reported the disaster estimated that hundreds died from radiation sickness.

January 3, 1961 Three technicians died at a U.S. plant in Idaho Falls in an accident at an experimental reactor.

July 4, 1961 The captain and seven crew members died when radiation spread through the Soviet Union's first nuclear-powered submarine. A pipe in the control system of one of the two reactors had ruptured.

October 5, 1966 The core of an experimental reactor near Detroit, Mich., melted partially when a sodium cooling system failed.

       Then we come to Fukushima, this is not a problem for Japan, this is a world problem. Nobody knows the extent of the damage already done to the environment, nobody knows for how long it will continue and get worse, and nobody knows how to clear it up. We are talking about radioactive Pacific Ocean, contaminated Japan and a world legacy of unthinkable cancers and deformities. Despite the mounting evidence and the fact that other countries are shutting down their nuclear plants, we in the UK are going hell bent on creating more ticking time-bombs. Each nuclear power plant is a criminal act of environmental vandalism.

      This is a small extract from a very interesting and informative article on Fukushima from Readers Supported News:

Meanwhile, at nearby Units 1, 2, and 3 – all of which melted down – the status of the molten cores has remained uncertain since 2011. Talking about this on Art Bell’s Dark Matter program in October, Beyond Nuclear’s Paul Gunter said:

“We’ve got 3 reactors, the cores have left the vessel. They’ve burned through the bottom of the vessel. We don’t really know where they are, because the radioactive environment even fries robots that TEPCO’s been trying to send in there. They have been sending very innovative robotic machinery and sensors in there to get a picture, to get a reading, and these things don’t return. We have opened a door to hell that cannot be easily closed – if ever. We’ve got those 3 cores that are melting, they could be somewhere in the concrete base mat burning their way through, they could have already burned through and entered into the ground. They hopefully have formed a huge solid ‘elephant’s foot’ of highly radioactive material.”

Read the full article HERE;

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

We Need More Utopians.

      I have always believed that revolutionaries, activists, dreamers, pursuers of that better world, strivers for Utopia, are the stepping stones to social justice, they carry that better world in their hearts, with the burning desire that we should all enjoy its fruits. Today the world is a harsh and cruel place, not by nature, but by this man made system of global capitalism. The free market, neo-liberal, financial dictatorship, that dominates all aspects of our life, binds us to exploitation, inequality and injustice, and like a cancer, is destroying the planet.  Now, more than ever in our history, we need the dreamers, the seekers of Utopia, those who still refuse to accept that the corporate free market is the only game in town. Those who still believe that there is a better way and a better tomorrow, if we will only grasp at the dream. 

      Sometimes when you read something, there is a passage that with clarity and accuracy seems to say all that you are trying, to say. I find this short paragraph from the Introduction: Open Utopia falls into that category.

      Yet we need Utopia more than ever. We live in a time without alternatives, at “the end of history” as Frances Fukuyama would have it, when neoliberal capitalism reins triumphant and uncontested. There are still aberrations: radical Islam in the East, neo-fascist xenophobia in the West, and a smattering of socialist societies struggling around the globe, but by and large the only game in town is the global free market. In itself this might not be so bad, except for the increasingly obvious fact that the system is not working, not for most people and not most of the time. Income inequality has increased dramatically both between and within nations. National autonomy has become subservient to the imperatives of global economic institutions, and federal, state, and local governance are undermined by the protected power of money. Profit-driven industrialization and the headlong rush toward universal consumerism is hastening the ecological destruction of the planet. In short: the world is a mess. Opinion polls, street protests, and volatile voting patterns demonstrate widespread dissatisfaction with the current system, but the popular response so far has largely been limited to the angry outcry of No! No to dictators, No to corruption, No to finance capital, No to the one percent who control everything. But negation, by itself, affects nothing. The dominant system dominates not because people agree with it; it rules because we are convinced there is no alternative.

Read the full article HERE:

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Pensioners Demand Their Stolen Money Back.

     Yesterday, Thursday 21 November saw the usual Thursday night demonstration against the Bankia bank in Madrid. This is the case where the Bankia bank in its eagerness to re-capitalise got thousands of mainly elderly to invest their life's savings in special preferred shares, stating that they would be a good return and they were as safe as houses!! Well we all know what happened to houses in Spain. They bank went bust and the administration took the lot. Elderly pensioners lost their life's savings and are demanding their money back. Individual cases are taking years to go through the courts and they are being offered a fraction of their original money, if anything at all. Some however are in no position to wait years as they are mainly elderly people. This is the usual inhuman, unjust, compassionless treatment that we would expect from an exploitative system run by the financial Mafia.

    The demonstrators, armed with a colourful array of banners, placards and posters, closed the main Gran Via street with their numbers. This has been a regular protest for some time now, but sadly the government and the courts know that this is an elderly group, and if they drag their heels on this one, the numbers will thin down. The scum can wait, the pensioners can't. 

Photos from Demotix.

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Urban Freethinker.

    A reader of my post "Work For Nothing To Feed The Greedy Rich", sent me this, I hope you enjoy.

Published on Nov 8, 2013

      A three chords and a rant style song I wrote, perhaps slightly over the top in places, you'll get the general sentiment though.
Words and Music ©2013 Unban Freethinker.

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The Next One Is The Best.

       The next one is always the best, that's how consumerism works, if you're foolish enough to fall for it in the first place. Saw this on Not Buying Anything:

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