A Need For A Declartion Of War.

      For the ordinary people of the world to bring about justice and freedom for all, they will have to wake up and accept the fact that we are at war, the war that will end all wars, the class war. Without accepting that fact, we will continue to be mired in the wars, misery, poverty and injustice, which for us, are the only fruits of the capitalist system. 

     The following written by my friend and comrade, John, states the case very clearly:

DECLARATION OF WAR.

      There is a ferocious war being waged in our Society today, but it is not a War fought with guns and bullets or tanks and aeroplanes, and the enemy is not some invading army or outside threat.
    The weapons used in this war are the policies and actions of Government departments and civil servants, and the victims in this war are working class people.
     And although there are no guns or bullets, the War is just as deadly in terms of casualties. But these casualties aren’t on both sides; the casualties are all from the ranks of the working class.
     This is a CLASS WAR. The ruling elite through the medium of the Capitalist system controls and exploits the working class.
     The Government wages this one – sided War against working class people in a number of ways. It attacks and destroys the lives of disabled and unemployed people by depriving them of their benefits through the criminal actions of the DWP and their hired mercenaries Atos and Maximus, and attacks those in work with anti Union legislation to ensure a compliant, unresisting and underpaid workforce.

     Do you doubt this? Do you doubt that a Class War exists and is taking place in our society? Well the rich and privileged have no such doubts. This is what Warren Buffett investor, billionaire and one of the ten richest people in the World said in 2005, “The rich class - is waging class warfare on the rest of Society.” And again in 2006 “There’s class warfare alright, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and were winning.”
     So even if ordinary people do not know of the Class War or doubt if it even exists, the rich are perfectly clear about it.
     The reason this is a one sided war is that many working class people have not yet begun to fight back. Many had supposed that by voting against the Tories this would be enough. They had assumed that their jobs and rights at work were being protected by their Trade Unions. And the reality is that this is not the case. The Labour Party and the Trade Unions have proven to be no defence in this war

Who are the people waging this war?

     This Class War is a war waged by the rich and privileged against the poor and powerless; it is a war between the “Haves” and the “Have Nots”
     This war was not started by working class people, but by the ruling elite; big business, multi-national companies, the Arms trade and so on. Their aims are carried out by privileged Tory MP’s who receive (earn would be the wrong word) £74,000 per year and about the same in expenses - plus all they can steal on top of that!
     So while ordinary men, women and children struggle to make ends meet, these pillars of the Establishment - the majority of them privately educated at elite Universities, these honourable Gentlemen and Ladies, these crooks, thieves and liars in the Houses of Parliament, use the farce of “democracy” to scheme and dictate how we should be governed and controlled in the interests of Global Capitalism.
     Anyone who participates in this charade of Parliamentary Democracy is an enemy of working class people. Not only does it perpetuate the myth that everyone is equal and that by voting every four years or so we are part of this great democratic structure, it is also the means by which violence is perpetrated on working class people. While big businesses and corporations receive any amount of public money and are virtually allowed to pay whatever amount of tax they choose – if any, - working class people are subjected to the violence of homelessness, the bedroom tax, benefit cuts and sanctions, foodbanks, inadequate wages and poor living conditions, which make it almost impossible to survive.
     And many don’t survive. Statistics released by the DWP state that during the period between December 2011 and February 2014 2,380 people died after being denied benefits through being found “fit for work.” Figures released by the Office for National Statistics show that suicides have reached a ten year high and are linked with welfare “reforms.”
     The situation is so bad that DWP staff have been given “guidance” on how to deal with suicidal benefit claimants! The Sunday Herald reported on the 25th of August 2015 that workers had been issued with a six point plan on how to deal with people denied benefits who appear to be suicidal. Staff at call centres have been instructed to allow rejected claimants to talk about their intention to kill themselves.
    All the laws relating to the above are passed by our so - called elected representatives, and enforced with all the might of the State through the Police and if necessary the Military. If the working class organise to fight back against these injustices, we are the ones who are labelled violent and criminal.

     It is not us who are violent; the violence is inherent in the system that is used to control us. Every act of institutionalised violence directed at working class people is backed up by the Law. The Law is not there to serve working class people: it is a weapon, an instrument of control to be used against us; it is there to maintain and increase the power of the State.
     Labour MP’s or any other “left” MP’s – even if they voted against certain laws are still participating in this violence against the working class – as are any of the agencies and individuals who carry out their policies.
    Some ordinary workers can also wittingly or otherwise act against the interests of their class. Often, out of economic necessity they have taken on jobs that act against the interest of their fellow workers. Capitalism relishes this; it divides working class people and so furthers the interest of the Capitalist system.
     In 1886, a financier and railroad developer called Jay Gould said “I can hire one half of the working class to kill the other half.”
     Workers, trade unionists in G4S, in Jobcentres or in any potentially repressive occupation really need to re-assess their position. On no account should they impose hardship on members of their class. The Trade Unions should be very specific on this: they need to educate and instruct their members to refuse to participate in carrying out actions which have a detrimental effect on our class.
    How likely is it that Trade Union leaders will jeopardise their well paid positions by leading any kind of revolt? How likely is it that “left wing” MP’s are going to risk losing their cushy numbers to support a fight against unjust laws? The answer has to be – not bloody likely! These MP’s and Trade Union leaders have more in common with the bosses than they do with the workers.
    Working class people need to become aware of this Class War being waged against us. We have to understand that we have nothing in common with the ruling class. They have not the slightest concern for working class people. The poor, disabled and homeless are an inconvenience to them; they would be happy if the poor in society went away to die quietly and uncomplainingly in some secluded dark corner.
     They see the unemployed and poor as a burden, and their laws and sanctions are used as a form of social cleansing.
     They want a society based purely on the pursuit of profit; the concept of fairness and equality has no place in their thinking.
    This is why they wage a Class War against us. This is why they seek to eliminate anyone who does not have the capacity to be a wage slave.

     The interests of the Working Class and the Ruling Class are diametrically opposed. They want a world controlled by a few for their own selfish ends, - we want a world where the needs of all are met equally. They want a world of oppression and fear, - we want a world without fear, hunger, homelessness, and one in which everyone has the opportunity to lead a happy and fulfilled life.

 Don’t be a willing victim in their Class War, -

 join us and fight back.

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

DPAC Wants Revenge.

       Since the Oxbridge millionaire gang of Cameron/Osbourne seized control of the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, people with disabilities have come in for some very rough treatment. First there was the Cameron/Osbourne mob's well paid hit-men, ATOS, who carried out a brutal reign of terror against anybody claiming disability allowance. However, due to a continuous and courageous campaign waged by those on disability allowance and their supporters, ATOS was forced to withdraw from its lucrative bullying job. Of course the brutal intimidation and terrorising didn't go away, a new mob of corrupt hit-men, Maximus, were given the contract, and so the terrorising continues. Undaunted, those of Disabled People Against Cuts, and their supporters, who campaigned and kicked ATOS out of the park, are still fighting back and are looking for "REVENGE", we should give them all the support we can muster. Solidarity wins battles, when it comes to these struggles for justice, as far as the ordinary people are concerned, we are all in this together.

From DPAC: 

     A fortnight of Fight Back and telling politicians throughout the UK what we think of them and what they MUST do if they want our votes.

    Everywhere from April 18th – May3rd. Select your favourite politician or issue to campaign on.

      Some funding is available for travel bursaries with priority given to members.

      April 23rd (Thursday) National DPAC will be going to Wirral West constituency to visit Esther McVey. Meet noon at the Job Centre, Market Road, Hoylake.

      Actual address is Town Hall Chambers, 1 The Quadrant, CH47 2EE just off Market Street.

      Esther’s constituency is very marginal and at the moment she looks set to lose her seat. We want to help facilitate that.

      April 25th (Saturday) National DPAC will be going to Chingford to visit Iain Duncan Smith. Meet 2pm outside Chingford Rail station. Trains from Liverpool Street.

       Please get in touch with us at mail@dpac.uk.net to let us know if you want to go to one or more of these events or would like help with travel costs.

       Please also arrange your own events and send us details.

Facebook event – https://www.facebook.com/events/726806607436136/

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

Maximarse Marches Into Town.

     Blood drenched ATOS moves out, thanks to the dedicated protesters who kept up a constant direct action and publicity campaign, and a constant presence outside their offices of death. However the same scheme is still in place, the Work Capability Assessment, a process of humiliating and harassing the sick and the vulnerable of our society, in an attempt to deprive them of their benefits. This inhumane scheme will now be administered my Maximus, A company with a “chilling” record of incompetence, discrimination and alleged fraud is in prime position to take over the new “fitness for work” contract from Atos Healthcare, Disability News Service (DNS) can reveal. It is this scheme that is flawed, changing the compassion-less suits at the desks will do nothing for our sick and vulnerable. They will still be humiliated and harassed, the will still be forced to jump through hoops, and in some cases pushed to the limit, that they can't take any more.

        Well, ATOS pulled out of this lucrative tax funded cash machine, because of those dedicated individuals and groups who shouted out the abuse, and put their feet on the ground where it mattered. Maximus, whose website states: "We help governments, businesses and individuals achieve their goals by providing essential services to the communities we serve." the usual bland bullshit rhetoric  that we expect from the looting corporate world, can be stopped by the same methods that got ATOS to pack its bags and leave. Maximus is there to do the same job as ATOS, save the government paying out our tax money to the sick and vulnerable, some of the most needy in our communities, and they intend to make a fortune from this tax funded cash machine.

This from DPAC, (Disabled People Against Cuts):

      Planning for the Day of Action to Welcome Maximarse to their new role as assessors for the cruel and hateful WCA is taking shape, and we now have actions planned or in planning for:
Aberdeen, Balham, Bournemouth, Bradford, Brighton, Cardiff, Croydon, Dundee, Ealing, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Hull, Inverness, Ipswich, Leeds, Leicester,  Lincoln,  Manchester,  Norwich, Portsmouth, Plymouth, Reading, Sheffield, Sunderland, Toronto, Truro, Wrexham and Maximus HQ in central London.
If you can get to one of these protests – great ! You can see details of each event list below. If you would like to contact the organisers of any of the actions beforehand – mail us on mail@dpac.uk.net and we will be able to put you in contact with them.

Get the full details HERE:

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

Culpable Homicide.

      Culpable homicide  is a specific offence in various jurisdictions within the Commonwealth of Nations which involves the illegal killing of a person either with or without an intention to kill depending upon how a particular jurisdiction has defined the offence. Unusually for those legal systems which have originated or been influenced during rule by the United Kingdom, the name of the offence associates with Scots law rather than English law.

    Involuntary manslaughter: Involuntary manslaughter is the unlawful killing of a human being without malice aforethought, either express or implied. It is distinguished from voluntary manslaughter by the absence of intention. It is normally divided into two categories; constructive manslaughter and criminally negligent manslaughter, both of which involve criminal liability.

      By their actions people have died, which of the categories applies to our government?

From the Mirror:

      A grandad who had just found out his benefits were being stopped shot himself dead – after telling friends he was “unable to cope”.
Shaun Pilkington, 58, was sent a letter saying he was to lose his ­Employment and Support ­Allowance, which he got after a long-term illness.
He was told he would have to be reassessed and needed to prove he was eligible. But as the hearing approached, friends said Shaun, a licensed gamekeeper, became discouraged.
Days later he called police and said he was about to kill himself. They found him dead at his flat.-----

      -------Shaun’s estranged family was too upset to talk. He joins a growing list of people who have taken their lives since the Tory-led Coalition employed private firm Atos to reassess thousands of people on long-term benefits.
Blind Tim Salter, 53, of Kinver, Staffordshire, died after being deemed fit to work. A coroner ruled the move to axe his benefit had contributed to his suicide.
Edward Jacques, 47, of Sneinton, Nottingham, took a fatal overdose after his benefit payments were stopped.
Jobless Richard ­Sanderson, 44, of ­Southfields, south-west London, stabbed himself in the heart. Unemployed electrician Lee Robinson, 39, of Crawley, Sussex, also took his own life.

  
      It is a fact that thousands people have died after being assessed and told they are fit for work, some put the figure at 32 a week. I consider it reasonable to say that in a very high proportion of these deaths, pressure from the government was the prime cause of death. When do we hold them accountable, when will those responsible be brought to justice? Rich pampered parasites sitting at there desks, making decisions that will at best cause distress, at worst death, and continue this over a long period of time, well aware of what is happening to thousands of vulnerable people. They don't belong in our world, but they make the decisions that shatter the lives of our friends and neighbours. Cocooned in their marble halls, they feed and grow fat on the blood of the people. The cesspool of unfeeling parasites has to be destroyed.

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

 

A Society Of Lies, More Lies, And Damned Lies.

      Most informed people in this society know it is a society of lies, more lies, and damned lies. That's how the system works, sleight of hand, fiddled figures, smoke and mirrors and wild propaganda. If the truth were told, the whole pack of cards would come crumbling down, people just would not accept the fact that  all the wealth we produce is shovelled into the coffers of the corporations and their merry band of pampered parasitic managers. 

       There are those who say the system is broken, far from it, it is doing what it is meant to do, syphon wealth upwards. One reason this robbing, plundering system survives, is the fact that the majority seem to accept the illusion that it can do the opposite.

Our Lords And Masters. (apologies to the hogs)

This from The Void:

      The body established to lie on behalf of the fraud ridden welfare-to-work industry have launched a new campaign on the back of a report so breath-takingly dishonest it would make Iain Duncan Smith blush.
     According to the Employment Related Services Association (ERSA), the floundering Work Programme has been a huge success and is set to add £18 billion to the economy.  This is based on a report which ERSA commisioned from a consultancy company called Europe Economics who have mangled the figures in an attempt to hoodwink the DWP into giving Work Programme providers like A4e and G4S even more tax payer’s cash.

Read the full article HERE:

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

Anti-ATOS Protester Arrested At Queen's Baton Parade..

Games Monitor · in Actions, ATOS

 http://gamesmonitor2014.org

      Police accompanying the Queen’s Baton near Barrhead, East Renfrewshire arrest protesting disability activists, pinning one to the ground. The group, Glasgow Against Atos, has staged a series of increasingly high-profile direct actions demanding the removal of IT giant Atos as a sponsor.

      The firm has sought to boost its public profile by sponsoring database software for international sporting events, but campaigners have fought to expose its role in deadly cuts to disability benefits.

       The firm has seen a string of scandals and wrongful sanctions arising from its contracts quizzing sickness benefit claimants with “work capability assessments” for the Department of Work and Pensions.

      The affair has even seen silent protest from Paralympic athletes who hid their branded lanyards from cameras at London’s 2012 opening ceremony, while Sport Disability Scotland told MSPs in April of athletes who could no longer afford to continue their sporting careers after losing out to a work capability assessment.

      Games organisers insist they are “very proud” of Atos’ involvement, while press officers have refused to comment on whether they are contractually obliged to offer public shows of support. 

      This is the latest in a series of protests and occupations from the Glasgow Against ATOS group including two occupations of the Commonwealth Games Gift shop in Central Station and an occupation of the main CG store in George Square.

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

A Scam That Causes Death.

         With that babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, spewing out its usual distractions and illusions, warped by smoke and mirrors, we must not lose sight of what is happening on the ground. We have had Wimbledon, Tour de France, World Cup, and the Commonwealth Games coming up, circuses for the peasants, all thrown at you as proof of our wonderful world, all fun and spectacle, with the message, "you also could be famous, if you would only work hard enough." but you and I know different. All that razzmatazz, flag waving jamboree, is nothing more than a syphoning machine, sucking public money into the coffers of the corporate world, meanwhile, behind the subterfuge, here in reality world-----ATOS may be leaving that particular field, but the scam goes on.

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

ATOS Still At It.

        Well well, would you believe it, ATOS told fibs, this and the government's idiotic blindness to their failings, allowed ATOS to make millions from tax payers money, as it humiliated, harassed and stressed, our most sick and vulnerable. 

             ATOS made millions from their brutal treatment of the disabled as they carried out the government's Work Capability Assessment scheme. Eventually they had to pull out this lucrative adventure, because of all the bad publicity highlighted by such bodies as Glasgow Against ATOS, and others. Of course undaunted they set about getting their hands on another bundle of tax payers money, knowing that their buddies in The Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, would overlook the brutal chaos they left in their wake, with the last contract. Just shove in a phoney tender and hey presto, another contact, in the form of Personal Independence Payments, PIPs, and another stash of tax payers money pops into your bank account.

   "Atos stated in its tender document that it had 'contractual agreements' in place with a national network of 56 NHS hospitals, 25 private hospitals and over 650 physiotherapy practices to provide assessments. This turned out not to be true.

         Will there be fraud charges to follow? I doubt it very much. The bunch of thugs in the Cameron millionaire cabal go into an apoplectic fit, when they even think of someone who may have cheated on their benefit claim, but it is just a finger wagging when corporate bodies plunder the public purse for millions.

          All this back scratching between our governing body of Oxbridge millionaires, and their buddies, corporate CEO's, at no time benefits the ordinary people, it is just a scheme for transferring public money to corporate bank accounts. Cutting benefits, traumatising the disabled, closing Remploy, getting people to work without a wage, will do nothing to improve the social fabric of our society, but it does make a lot of money for the private bodies paid by tax payers money, to carry out these policies. Isn't time we asked, “what's in it for us?”

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

Class Warriors See Off ATOS.

 More photos on Glasgow Against ATOS.
 

       Friday, 30th. May, saw the last picket held by Glasgow Against ATOS, and though I couldn't make it, I think I can safely say, from all accounts, it was a large, colourful, noisy, cheerful picket, that can claim success. All of us must take our hats off to this ever growing army of class warriors, that saw injustice, got together, and stood on the line. For almost two years, month after month, in wind, rain, hail and frost, there they were, outside the ATOS offices at Corruna House in Cadogan Street in Glasgow. 

 

      The dogged determined campaign to highlight the traumatizing, intimidation, and humiliation heaped on our most vulnerable, by the profit junkies ATOS at the direction of the Cameron millionaire cabal, spread nation wide. Through the continued bad publicity being brought to the public's notice by this army of class warriors, ATOS decided to pull the plug on its despicable operation. The campaign succeeded in doing what it set out to do, getting ATOS off the backs of our disabled. 

 

    ATOS may have gone, but the millionaire vermin that sits in the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, has in no way changed its policies. They still want to remove benefits from our disabled. Their first hatchet man has gone, we can rest assured that they are already looking at what vampire squid to hand the lucrative contract to next. Will it be the ruthless, bungling G4S, or perhaps the mighty  Serco, the company that has been dogged by scandals from overcharging for prisoner tagging to allegations of sexual assault at an immigration detention centre. The choice our parasitical millionaire government has to do its dirty work, is wide and vile.

 

     So Glasgow Against ATOS, well done, you are class war heroes, but, keep your powder dry, the enemy is re-arming.

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

On The Road To A Sweatshop Economy.

     Yesterday saw the launch of Iain Duncan Smith's, ( I. D. S. Idiot Dickhead Smith.) Help To Work scheme. The idea is to help 2.3 million unemployed into approximately 500,000 vacancies, that works out at approximately 5 people chasing every job, of course it varies from area to area. In high unemployment areas the figure is much worse. How is IDS going to shove those 2.3 million into those 500,000 vacancies? Well by forcing people to work for six months doing community work, for no wages, if they refuse, stop their jobseekers allowance for 4 weeks, and if the refuse again, then stop their allowance for 13 weeks, so it's deprivation, or work for nothing. Another of I D S's ideas is to get longterm unemployed to sign on every day, can you imagine the queues at job centres, or will he employ extra staff at the centres, that might help bring done unemployment.

     If you are sentenced by a court for an offence, say assault, the maximum community service you would do, would be 300 hours, but those unemployed will be forced to do more than twice this, 780 hours. Obviously in this society, to be unemployed is worse than assaulting somebody.

        Whichever measure is used, there are nowhere near enough vacancies to enable everyone currently looking for a job to find one. Of course that doesn't matter, the idea is to get people used to working for nothing, then they might be extremely grateful when they are offered a crap job with crap wages. It is all part of the plan to create a sweatshop UK. The UK corporate bosses love Idiot Dickhead Smith.

        The fact that they have launched their “Flagship” policy, doesn't mean that it will work, as usual it will be ill thought out, ill prepared, under funded, under manned, and result in chaos, as well as heaping stress on enormous numbers of people. From ATOS, to Workfare, to the bedroom tax, to Help To Work, it is all about co-ercing people to accept the unacceptable, a low wage economy, and big bucks for employers.

        It seems that the lauch has, as predicted, has seen chaos on its first day. This from The Void: 

       Despite wildly optimistic claims from the DWP, today’s launch of mass workfare seems to be in chaos behind the scenes.  With barely any information yet available on the scheme it appears that the flagship Help To Work programme has no-one actually running it, no guidance for companies involved and no real plan to deal with the huge influx of claimants to Jobcentres from daily signing.

Read the full article HERE:

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

Important Diary Dates.

    A couple of dates for next week, the first is on Tuesday, April 22 and is hosted by Glasgow Games Monitor 2014. The subject matter, "housing", focusing on Glasgow's East End, though not exclusively. The East End of Glasgow has seen approximately 3,000 resident shunted out to make way for "The Games". A spectacle to feed the corporate greed machine with an estimated £524 million. Of course we all know what happens to the "estimates" in all these types of affairs, they are just the starting point of the rip-off. What would £524 million do if spent on simple improving the housing and social conditions of the East End?

From Glasgow Games Monitor:

Hi all,

     Two new posts online:

(1) 'THE MEETING THEY TRIED TO BAN! HOUSING IS IN CRISIS: WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT?'

     Public Meeting, Speakers and Discussion, 7-9pm, Tuesday 22nd April, St.Mungo's Academy, 235 Crownpoint Road, Bridgeton, Glasgow, G40 2RA. All Welcome!

http://gamesmonitor2014.org/2014/04/15/public-housing-meeting-tuesday-22nd-april/

    (2) 'Games Monitor on Newsnight

Scotland':http://gamesmonitor2014.org/2014/04/15/games-monitor-on-newsnight-scotland/

     Please circulate news of the housing meeting widely if possible. We want to engage with local people's experience in particular, but housing for the games and clyde gateway is a citywide issue and we welcome all those with an interest in housing issues.

Cheers,http://gamesmonitor2014.org/

       The other date is Friday, April 25, the monthly picket outside the ATOS offices in Cadogan street Glasgow. It is important that this picket continues and gains in strength. ATOS may have decided to withdraw early from its contract with the government, mainly due to the unpleasant publicity created by such pickets up and down the country. However, that doesn't mean that the government will abandon its attack on the sick and disabled. The millionaire cabal at the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, have a bucketful of leeches ready and waiting to be unleashed on the vulnerable, when ATOS leaves by the back door, having made millions at the expense of the sick and disabled. 
This from Glasgow Against ATOS:

Friday April 25, 12:30 - 15:00

ATOS Assessment Centre

Carunna House

29 Cadogan Street

Glasgow.

     We are Glasgow Against Atos, a dynamic campaign group, defending the sick and disabled. We have been picketing the Atos, Glasgow assessment centre since early 2012.
     Please come and join us in fighting Atos, the DWP and the government cuts against disabled people, their families and carers.
        The weather is getting better – so no excuses, and we’ll see you all outside the assessment centre. All welcome!

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

The State And Its Tool,-- Death.

       There seems to be disbelief at the Egypt court passing the mass death sentences on 528 protesters, with another mass trial of 682 due to start. To put that in perspective, that is more people sentenced to death in one fell swoop, than the total number of UK troops killed in Afghanistan in 13 years of war since 2001. We can accept that it is horrific, barbarous, outrageous, and makes a mockery of justice. However we should not be surprised, for that's what the states do best.

 They kill with impunity, they do it in several ways, they do it by sending ordinary people to foreign countries to kill other ordinary people, to enhance the state's wealth and power. They kill their own citizens by legislation, (ATOS), for example. Slow death by deliberate polices that increase poverty and deprivation, During WW1 the British state executed, (murdered), at dawn by firing squad, 306 young British soldiers, labeling them cowards. It's a state thing, killing citizens is just collateral damage in their role of power monger. The state always holds the death card to use in the event of any threat to its power, and when the state kills, it is supposed to put the stamp of legitimacy on that barbaric action. 528 death sentences, what state has not killed far more than that to hold onto and cement its power over the people?

 

This from AVAAZ:

    A kangaroo court in Egypt just sentenced 528 people to death. This is likely the biggest mass execution ruling this century, but one man can stop the killings.
      Egypt’s most important religious figure, Grand Mufti Allam has 10 days to reject the decision. Religious leaders are already condemning the ruling, and as the first Mufti to be elected by his peers, he has a legitimate mandate to be the nation’s moral leader. Let’s create a global plea from people of all religions to provide clemency and block this barbarous ruling.
      This was a political show trial -- the military regime is using the firing squad to wipe out the opposition. If the world does not speak up, the consequences for Egypt and the world are beyond dangerous. Sign now to save these lives and stop a spiral of violence -- when one million of us have joined, religious leaders in Egypt will deliver our call for compassion directly to the Mufti:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/stop_mass_execution_loc/?bwqhjab&v=37959
      After the hope of Tahrir Square, where hundreds of thousands took to the streets to overthrow decades of dictatorship, the Egyptian people democratically elected a Muslim Brotherhood government. But last summer the military staged a populist coup, Brotherhood supporters rioted, and then the military declared the party a terrorist organisation and violently cracked down -- 16,000 democracy activists, journalists, and even teenage school girls have been arrested!
     The trial was a joke -- on top of charges of rioting and destruction of property, the 528 are all accused of killing one police officer, and defense lawyers were barred from the sentencing session, which lasted less than an hour! But this is not a one off -- the judiciary is repeatedly being used to crackdown on political dissent, while security forces accused of killing hundreds of protesters are rarely held to account. There are real security threats, but as the military authorities' iron fist and intimidation grows, extremism is fuelled.
      This is the harshest mass conviction in modern Egyptian history, but what happens next in this case could have repercussions way beyond Egypt. Sign the urgent petition now asking the Grand Mufti not to rubber stamp state-sponsored murder and to provide the ethical leadership Egypt desperately needs:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/stop_mass_execution_loc/?bwqhjab&v=37959
      The world has kept silent as this regime has launched an all out attack against an imperfect but elected government and brought democracy in Egypt to its knees. Global leaders trumpet democracy at every opportunity and strongly condemn anti-democratic plots from Crimea to Caracas. But not in Egypt. Now if the world looks away and allows this cruel mass execution to happen, a dangerous message will resonate across the globe that the world will stand by democracy, except for political Islam. That wil l empower one small but very dangerous group that can hurt us all: the extremists.
     Time and again the Avaaz community has forcefully advocated against brutal injustice and for peaceful, meaningful reconciliation between embittered communities. Right now Egypt’s future hangs in the balance, and a wildly unjust and provocative ruling like the one handed down in Minya could push it over the edge. Let’s bring the people’s voice to this precarious situation and ensure that these 528 lives are saved

With hope,

Alice, Nick, Oli, Wissam, Bissan, Mais, Emily, Ari, Ricken and the whole Avaaz team

MORE INFORMATION
Hundreds of Egyptians Sentenced to Death in Killing of a Police Officer (New York Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/25/world/middleeast/529-egyptians-sentenced-to-death-in-killing-of-a-police-officer.html
Egypt Opens Another Mass Trial of Islamists (AP)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/eg ypt-sentences-529-death-police-attack-23036881

‘Fast’ death penalty for 529 Brotherhood supporters will be appealed: Defence (Ahram)
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/97456/Egypt/Politics-/Fast-and-bizarre-death-penalty-for--Brotherhood-su.aspx
Egyptian court sentences 529 people to death (Washington Post)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/egypt-sentences-529-to-death/2014/03/24/a4f95692-6992-461e-aaf1-9bc84908a429_story.html< /span>

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

Grandama Is On The Picket.

       In this country there is a tendency for people of different groups to think of their problems are the problems of that particular group. pensions and raising the pension age, is the problem of the older people, unemployment among the young is a problem for the young, the disabled being crucified by ATOS is a problem for that group, and workfare is a problem for those on jobseekers allowance, and so it goes on. However, in reality all these problems are all our problems, in this society employed can quickly become unemployed, able-bodied can quickly become disabled, and we all grow old. Pensioners should stand in line with young unemployed, employed should support those on the abusive workfare programs, pensioners and unemployed should be on the anti-ATOS pickets. After all, parents struggled hard to give their kids a decent life, workers paid dearly for a system that would take good care of those unable to work, for whatever reason, pensions and the pension age, were fought and paid for by ordinary workers. All of the meager benefits that we get in this society were paid in full, and more, by the ordinary people of this country. Having paid for them with blood, sweat and tears, the financial Mafia have decided to strip them all away. For nothing more than an ideology of greed and exploitation.

     The problem is not ATOS, it is not workfare, it is not unemployment, it is not working until you drop, nor is it carp pensions. The real and only problem is the system itself, capitalism.

      It is encouraging to see in Spain that the pensioners are getting the big picture and realise that the entire benefits of a working life to help secure your kids future, is now going down the tubes, for no other reason than greed. and they are joining the fight with the young.

Another interesting article from Xpressed:

 

        “We are the generation that has fought to achieve a better life for our children. Right now, they are toying with the futures of our children and grandchildren… We stand by them in spirit, at the local assemblies and at all their activities. If they condescendingly call these people “Perroflautas” (hobos) to diminish their audacity, then let them call us “Iaioflautas” (from the spanish yayo, which means grandpa)”.
       The Iaioflautas support the young in their fight for democracy and social justice, “against the bankers and their accomplices the politicians”. They combat the rampant speculation, the cut-backs, the privatisation, and the mutualising of the losses, like saving banks with public money. They also support the PAH and all those who have been thrown out of their homes for mortgage debts. They are to be found in 11 cities, 4 of them in Catalonia, and are active on both facebook and twitter.
      On October 27, 2011, the Iaioflautas occupied their first bank, Banco Santander in Barcelona.
 This particular bank was picked as a starting point for the day of actions against banks because its director, Mr. Botin, denoted that the banks are the doubtless winners of the economical crisis. This man has a personal fortune of about 1,7 Billion Euro. This was just the beginning of a campaign to occupy banks (i.e. La Caixa in Badalona), through which they still protest against the bankers and the financial oligarchy, who “ruin the lives of 99% of people”.

Read the full article HERE:

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