World Wide State Repression.

       Today with the every increasing crises in the capitalist system, raising anger and discontent among the ordinary people, anarchist ideas are coming more to the fore in people's minds and discussions. However this also means that the various states, that are mandated by the financial Mafia, to control the civil populations, are coming down harder on anarchist individuals and groups. Arrests of anarchists in France, Czech Republic, Italy, Spain, Greece, Azerbaijan, and many other countries across the globe, is on the increase. Obviously, anarchist ideas are seen by the wealthy and powerful as the greatest threat to their exploitative ponzi scheme. These arrests in countries across the world demands our solidarity, solidarity knows no borders, nor should our world.

This from Radio Berlin, in English:

      In the context of the International Week of Solidarity with Anarchist Prisoners (23.-30th of August 2016), we had the opportunity of talking to a comrade from Anarchist Black Cross (ABC) in Czech Republic. The interview gives a short summary of the repression that started in 2015 and explains the singular cases and their current development, but deals also with the problems the movement had in the beginning to show solidarity. Last but not least, you get very good advice on the topic of solidarity and what to do yourselves.
Since the interview, another comrade is in prison. Lukáš Borl, who had been living underground, has been arrested by the police on September 4.

Please send feedback and comments at: aradio-berlin/at/riseup(.)net

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Another Death In Police Custody.

        I haven’t seen much of this on our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media. They seem to report on “terrorist” attacks and the Tour de France, and that’s probably because there is a UK citizen leading. However the citizens of France are not sitting idly at road side cafés sipping their lattes. There are thousands still on the streets protesting, and the riot police are in full swing, doing what they do best, beating the shit out of people. 

       Fresh clashes have erupted between French police and protesters in the suburbs of Paris for a third night amid simmering anger over the death of a young man in police custody.
      On Thursday night, a group of furious protesters set fire to 15 vehicles in the town of Beaumont-sur-Oise, north of Paris, two days after Adama Traore, 24, was reported to have died following his arrest by police.
      Traore’s family and friends say he was healthy, and was “beaten to death” after being taken into custody on charges of interfering in the arrest of his brother in an extortion case.
      Authorities, however, said Traore was suffering from a serious infection at the time of his death, citing an autopsy report that they said showed little signs of violence on his body.
      Local prosecutor Yves Jannier said Traore “fainted during the ride” to a police station, adding that the paramedics summoned to attend to him were unable to revive him.

Read the full article HERE:

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Solidarity Across The Planet.

        Those in struggle in Greece send their thoughts and support to those in struggle in France. Ever more communication and solidarity between those divide by the phoney "borders", created by brutal imperialism, is necessary, as we all struggle to free ourselves from the harness of capitalism. The struggle in Greece, in France, in Rio, in Spain, and all across the planet, is our struggle, nobody should fight this battle alone, one world, one people, one goal, the death of capitalism.  

     From Mpalothia: 

 

Greece: Short message to the proletarians of France

        We watch your struggle against the neo-liberal labor reform, from March 9th 2016 (and maybe your reaction was late because of the blind attacks of islamofascists AND the French State). We know that French State trying for years to do its bosses (the bourgeoisie of the country) the favor and transform you into slaves. This is an attack against working class in global scale and your big (financial-capitalist) State plays a dominant role in this attack. If these measures be implemented there (on your country) it will be the most glaring example for the other governments to follow same models.

         We see the courage and dynamics you show in the streets, in workplaces and squares against state oppression and repression. We see how you are braking in practice the state of emergency which has been imposed from November of 2015. These we don’t know are the processes leading up to these glorious protests of resistance. We don’t know what the syndicates say all these years. But we know that today they (syndicates) are fighting to repress you revolt. We have seen it in “our” country with lots of occasions these years, last of them was the appeal of GSEE (General Confederation of Greek Workers) to greek government to cancel the referendum!

         “Unionists”, together with the cops, are trying to impose order (of bosses) against the proletariat. This is the time to drop the masks. Immediate confrontation of class traitors. Workers of France spit them and take the road for the new society. For the society which produce self-organized (without hierarchy and mediations) for all the people. For the society which demands less work and more wealth (material or not). For the society which will not be (as it is not in) need of leaders, borders, fences. For the society which will not be in need of the States and capitalists who are turning all the world in war fields for their profits.

         Forward to the Anarchist (as political organization) and Communist (as financial organization) society.

P.S Don’t forget them: Immediate release of prisoners of the revolt!

Read the full article and comments HERE:

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An Eye For An Eye!!!!

         Not a lot in that babbling brook of bullshit, our mainstream media, about what is happening in France. The protests continue, the police's violent repression continues, and the bullshit bunch look for some royal happening or anti-Semitism in the Labour party, to spew across your TV screens or to fill their sheets of toilet paper. However what is happening in France is real anger on the streets, by real people, and the violence against them is real and brutal, spearheaded by a so called socialist President. Despite the state repression, Nuit Debout is still alive and thriving. Can it grow, can it spread?

This from Contra Info:

 Rennes, France: A demonstrator loses an eye

         On Thursday [April 28th] a student of our university lost an eye, simply for having demonstrated. Whilst retreating with all the demonstrators following a CRS charge [riot cops], he was taken freely as a target and hit in the face by a flashball shot. Given that this government has nothing but police violence to bring to the youth as a response, will it take a death for it to cease?

        It could of been any one of us. So no, we won’t forget, we won’t forgive, and most of all we won’t give in.
Neither fear nor violence will stop us and Sunday we’ll return to the streets.

We’re all thinking of you Jean-François! Strength.

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Nuit Debout.

       Workers rights are being shredded across Europe, no matter the particular colour of the cabal in power, the legislation is much the same. Easier to be fired, more casual and part-time jobs, longer hours, less attention to health and safety, and much more. It's called reforming working conditions, according to the corporate bosses it will boost efficiency and profitability, though nothing there to improve the living standards of the ordinary people, on the contrary, we pay for the so called boost in efficiency and profitability by deteriorating living standards.
       Not everybody is taking this lying down, protests are growing across the continent and further afield. At the moment French people have taken to the streets in their thousands, and this has been going on since the end of March. However, you'll not find much about this anger of the people in our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media. According to that putrid sewer of propaganda, everything is fine.
        From LINKS, International Journal Of Socialist Renewal, here is an update on the French uprising, "Nuit Debout" 

 UPDATE:

France: 

Nuit Debout’s call to action; Reflections on 'Nuit Debout'

 April 21, 2016 -- Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal reposted from CADTM -- Since 31 March, we are settled on Republic square (in Paris) and on many other places everywhere throughout France.

Our mobilisation was initially aimed at protesting against the French Labour Law. This reform is not an isolated case, since it comes as a new piece in the austerity measures which already affected our European neighbours and which will have the same effects as the Italian Job Acts or the Reforma Laboral in Spain. This concretely means more layoffs, more precarity, growing inequalities and the shaping of private interests. We refuse to suffer this shock strategy, notably imposed in the context of an authoritarian state of emergency.
The debates taking place in the assemblies on Republic square prove that the general exasperation goes way beyond the Labour Law and opens a more global issue: the reconsideration of a social and political system stuck into a deep crisis and on its way out. We will not be the ones crying because of its end.
This movement was not born and will not die in Paris. From the Arab Spring to the 15M Movement, from Tahrir Square to Gezi park, Republic square and the plenty of other places occupied tonight in France are depicting the same angers, the same hopes and the same conviction: the need for a new society, where Democracy, Dignity and Liberty would not be hollow shells.
Supporting testimonies received from abroad warm us and strengthen our commitment. This movement is yours too. It has no limit, no border and it belongs to all of those who wish to be part of it. We are thousands, but we can be millions. Together, standing, awake. Let’s rise up together.
The #40mars (9 of april), organise your #Nuitdebout
Press contact: nuitdeboutpresse@riseup.net)
@NuitDebout
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NuitDebout/
Tumblr: https://nuitdebout.tumblr.com/

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Enough Is Enough.

        More and more the system is struggling with "civil disobedience", which really translates into trying to cope with people's anger at being screwed. From Canada to Greece, from Spain to France, from Turkey to Germany, people are standing up and saying, "enough is enough".

The latest from SubMedia TV:

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The Strangling Grip Of The State.

 

        Across the globe, states are moving towards the right, albeit at different paces, but the direction doesn't alter. The bogey man is always held up as the need for tighter legislation. That bogey man could be, war on drugs, a clamp down on the violent criminal element, the big global bogey man at the moment, is the war on terrorism. This particular big bogey man has fringe aspects such as, undeserving refugees endangering our wonderful way of life, and that other one, "radicalising", these engender an atmosphere of fear and anger, which helps keep the populace in quiet acquiescence of the state's ever tightening grip, a grip that if unchallenged, will eventually strangle any semblance of civil rights we may still have.

 Spain:

      The so-called Ley Mordaza, or Gag Law, imposes heavy fines for “administrative infractions” and maintains a registry of the citizens who commit those infractions.
      Though the expansive legislation threatens a variety of uses of public space and legalises prohibited border control practices such as summary expulsions, it is its aggressive attack on the right of citizens to protest that has attracted the most attention from media and human rights organisations.
    The legislation especially targets the types of protest and disobedience favoured by the indignados movement, such as unauthorised protests, blocking evictions or surrounding high institutions of the state.
     It also affects trade union protest by essentially prohibiting picketing and any disruption of services. Maria José Saura of the leading CCOO trade union told Equal Times that “the Gag Law turns conflicts over labour into an issue of public order. With no room for unauthorised actions, what we’re left with is protest as a farce.”
       The Gag Law also works in tandem with a new reform of Spain’s penal code, which classifies transgressive actions in public space as administrative sanctions, thus leaving them to the discretion of police officers through the application of fines on the spot.

Mexico and Costa Rica:

        President Peña Nieto of Mexico brags about his neoliberal policies to privatize public resources, cut social services, and force anti-union education “reforms.” His government has also been exposed for its ties to drug cartels and the killing and jailing of political activists. There’s a connection. Increasingly, Peña Nieto’s economic plans hinge on crushing all opposition — by effectively making protest illegal.
          To the south, Costa Rica does the same. Both countries are part of an international campaign to repress dissidents. They are backed by the USA, which launches offensives to hound its own movement leaders.
        Among the most militant opponents of this strategy is Heriberto Magariño Lopez, a leader of the teachers union in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. He is also a national leader of the Partido Obrero Socialista (POS), which has been active in defending and uniting all those fighting the regime’s attacks.

France:

      In the wake of the deadly attacks in Paris earlier this month, France declared a state of emergency and implemented sweeping anti-terrorism measures.
      When lawmakers extended that state of emergency (and its security provisions) for three months, some eyebrows arched over the potential cost to French civil liberties. In an interview with NPR, Jean-Pierre Dubois, the president of France’s Human Rights League, raised the issue of how French authorities could overreach into matters beyond terrorism.

But when you come to the articles of the bill, it’s not at all terrorism. It’s everything about security and public order. That means the exceptional extension of the police powers and the exceptional restraints of civil liberties is not at all only for the purposes of fighting terrorism but for anything during three months. And we don’t understand that because it’s not really very fair to tell people it’s about terrorism and to extend so much the exceptional law field in a way.

        On Sunday, demonstrators gathering in Paris to protest the global climate conference learned firsthand about France’s new security measures when they encountered riot police with pepper spray and stun grenades. According to reports, the vast majority of the roughly 200 people arrested after clashing with security forces were held in detention.

Italy:

      Torture is not currently a crime under Italian law. The legal shortfall is blamed for the acquittal of the most serious charges against baton-wielding policemen involved in the night time raid on the Armando Diaz school in Genoa.
      In 2012, 25 officers were found guilty of falsifying evidence concerning the raid, in which some 200 masked anti-riot police swooped down on sleeping activists, breaking bones, chasing those trying to flee and beating many senseless.
       The police planted two Molotov cocktails in the building to justify the raid and repeatedly lied about what happened.
       The more serious charges of grievous bodily harm and libel fell by the wayside because the statute of limitations expired, and none of the convicted served time behind bars.

 And elsewhere:

       In a number of recent front lines of popular protest, state capacities have been reconfigured to meet the challenge. In some instances, as in Greece, this has meant periods of emergency government. In Chicago, in Quebec and now in Spain, it has meant the expansion of anti-protest laws. The Spanish government’s punitive anti-protest draft laws are, critics say, an attack on democracy.
       Another example emerged in 2011, when Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel, requested that the city council pass “temporary” anti-protest measures in response to the planned protests around the Nato and G8 summits. By early 2012, the legislation had been made permanent. Later that same year, tumultuous uprising of students against increased tuition fees led to emergency legislation named Bill 78. With the support of the state’s employers, it imposed severe restrictions on the ability to protest. The “public safety” legislation proposed in Spain has an essentially similar basis. Demonstrating near parliament without permission will result in steep fines, while participation in “violent” protests can result in a minimum two-year jail sentence. In each case, the logic is to put a chill on protest. It is not just that it is a protest deterrent; it has a domesticating effect on such protests as do occur. To understand why this is happening, it is necessary to grasp the relationship between neoliberal austerity and popular democracy.

 

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To Get Beyond Two Shitty Choices.

       Without losing sympathy for the victims of violence or condoning violence, one should never forget that France is an imperialist power. It is in other lands with modern fire power defending its assets, the "collateral damage", is the deaths of innocent men, women and children, creating trauma and misery for families and friends on a greater scale than what happened in France the other night. Violence be-gets violence, war breeds war, and so the circle is perpetuated.

     Until now the fight has always been, from first to last, between existing and aspiring world powers; it has always been a struggle between a power that already oppresses us and one that will soon do so; the point, however, is to finally get beyond this stale tale of two shitty choices----

The First and Last Word on a Rotten Civilisation.  

       -------Unlike the citizens of early Mesopotamian city-states, who assembled to govern their own affairs directly and whose active consent was needed even by a demi-god ruler like Gilgamesh before he could wage war, the voters of France assemble only to labour as servants for their bosses or consume the bread and circuses they are thrown as distraction and compensation for their servitude. The rulers of European or Middle-Eastern states wage war through the passive resignation of modern plebeans, who can do no more than reap the grave consequences of decisions they neither understand nor command. A civilisation that began as a democracy of slave-holders who elected their representatives has reached perfection in a democracy of slaves who elect their masters. From this botched experiment (which has produced nothing but irresponsibility, insanity, and impotence – transmuted by the lies of history, art and political-economy into fictions with pretty names like duty, reasonableness, and maturity) there's nothing worth defending or saving.

The ferocious muslims who, unlike the era of the crusaders, now have the ability to retaliate, are right to despise it. If only they did so consistently! The first and final paragraphs from the entry for Ebla on Wikipedia read:

Ebla was one of the earliest kingdoms in Syria. Its remains constitute a tell located about 55 km southwest of Aleppo near the village of Mardikh. Ebla was an important center throughout the third millennium BC and in the first half of the second millennium BC. Its discovery proved the Levant was a center of ancient, centralized civilization equal to Egypt and Mesopotamia, and ruled out the view that the latter two were the only important centers in the Near East during the early Bronze Age. Karl Moore described the first Eblaite kingdom as the first recorded world power.
As a result of the Syrian Civil War, excavations of Ebla stopped in March 2011, and large-scale looting occurred after the site came under the control of an opposition armed group. Many tunnels were dug and a crypt full of human remains was discovered; the remains were scattered and discarded by the robbers, who hoped to find jewelry and other precious artifacts. Digging all around the mound was conducted by nearby villagers with the aim of finding artifacts; some villagers removed carloads of soil suitable for making ceramic liners for bread-baking ovens from the tunnels."

The villagers of Syria know how to treat the ruins of a despicable past with the disrespect it deserves. Only people able to perform this task coherently can create anything useful, beautiful and happy out of the rubble of a miserable history. Until now the fight has always been, from first to last, between existing and aspiring world powers; it has always been a struggle between a power that already oppresses us and one that will soon do so; the point, however, is to finally get beyond this stale tale of two shitty choices. Humanity will never be happy until the last Quran is used as tinder for setting fire to the presidential palace of the last democratic republic!

Read the full article HERE: 

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Blek Le Rat.

         Another interesting episode from Circled A Radio:

       Blek Le Rat is a French street Artist known as the father of stencil graffiti. He has earned this title through years of spray painting unforgettable figures on walls across the globe. In the early 80’s he became one of the first street Artists in Paris, known for his iconic rat stencils. His stencil technique has since been adopted by some of the biggest names in graffiti and street art today.

Listen HERE:

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The Coming Insurrection.

     Once again we see the extent the state will go to in its attempt to stifle, repress, and tarnish, any idea that challenges the power structure of the wealthy, the worshippers of the profit motive, the power mongers.

      In 2008, nine people were arrested in the village of Tarnac in France, it was a high profile military style arrest, they were charged with various terrorist charges. Now seven years later, 2015, a judge throws out any terrorist connection. Seven years of questioning under the label of terrorist, only to have it revealed as police fabrication. This happened in France, but that state is no different from any of the others, they are the terrorists, they are the enemy of freedom, they are the purveyors of violence.

This from Undercover Info:

 Police raid in Tarnac.

 
     The dead hand of notorious UK spycop Mark Kennedy has reached out once again – this time in France, where a major trial involving a so-called ‘metaphysical anarchist’ cell saw the most serious charge – terrorism – dismissed. In a statement afterwards one of the defendants accused the prosecution of having based its case on false statements made by the police – in other words, fabricated (or exaggerated) evidence. Here is what happened…
     On 11 November 2008, twenty French men and women were arrested simultaneously in Paris, Rouen, and in the small village of Tarnac (located in the district of Corrèze, Massif Central). Those in Tarnac were living in a small farmhouse – and in the village they had reorganised the local grocery store as a cooperative and taken up a number of civic activities, from the running of a film club to the delivery of food to the elderly.
     The police operation was dramatic: it involved helicopters, one hundred and fifty balaclava-clad anti-terrorist police and massive media coverage. The arrests sparked huge protests in Paris and in other French cities and towns, as well as the village of Tarnac, which describes itself as communist and where those arrested were seen as highly-respected members of the community.

Read the full article HERE:

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And In France, Also Infected By Paranoia.

    Another little snippet on the paranoid state getting us to spy and snitch on each other, and how children are a threat. It is not just the UK, it is universal.
This from Lenin's Tomb:

Eight year old boy arrested for glorification of terrorism posted by Richard Seymour

      That 'free speech' again.  French press brings us news of a little boy named Ahmed who 'glorified terrorism', and was duly shopped to the police by the teacher and head of school.

     Apparently, when asked in class, on 8th January, if he was 'Charlie', he replied that he was not.  He didn't like Charlie Hebdo's cartoons, and that his feelings were with the terrorists.  "I am the terrorists, because I am against the cartoonists of the Prophet."

     The head of the school later apprehended Ahmed while he played in a sandpit, saying "stop digging in the sand, you will not find a machine gun there to kill us all with".  Subsequently, the boy's father accompanied him to school on a couple of occasions, Ahmed being rather distressed and out of sorts by the treatment he was subjected to.

    Then on 21st January, the head of the school decided to press charges against the little boy and his father.  The boy was reported to police for 'glorification of terrorism', and the father for 'trespassing' when he accompanied the boy to the school.   Both father and son were forced to report to the police station in Nice St Augustine, to answer these charges.

    This follows a series of arrests and the recent suspension of a teacher who was also referred for judicial investigation for resisting the 'moment's silence' for Charlie Hebdo.  The school rector launched a rally for "republican" values after noting the "unacceptable" failure of some teachers to comply with the moment's silence, and having launched an immediate investigation.

    Ahmed now has a lawyer, who said: "We are facing a collective hysteria. My client is 8 years old! He does not realize the scope of his words. It's insane."

     Yes, it's insane.  Thankfully, the pup-eyed Charlies who were recently beseeching hashtagged international solidarity, and rallying to the defence of free speech, will not have abandoned the fight so soon.  They, surely - and there are so many of them - will not let the Ahmeds down.  They will spring into action with the swift, passionate alacrity that we have already seen they are capable of.  Won't they?

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Workfare, A Capitalist Epidemic.

       Here in the UK we protest against the government about workfare, a scheme whereby the unemployed work for businesses, but get no salary. We behave as if this was just our problem, the result of us having a nasty government. However, like I keep saying, these greed driven capitalist ideas are not a UK phenomenon, the capitalist disease is world wide. Take Greece for example:

 GreekReporter notes the solution to Greece's problems...

     Centre of planning and Economic Research in Greece has proposed a controversial measure in order to deal with the problem of increasing unemployment in the country.  The measure includes unpaid work for the young and unemployed up to 24 years old, so that companies would have a strong motive to hire young employees. Practically, what is proposed is the abolition of the basic salary for a year. At the same time the “export” of young unemployed persons was also proposed to other countries abroad, as Greek businesses do not appear able to hire new personnel.

     Then of course there is that country at the other end of the world in what lots of people see as a benign but pleasant land, Canada, where the Bank of Canada Governor stated:

   ------that the employment situation is so bad that young people should consider working for free. As The Globe & Mail reports, Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz said 'Adult children stuck in their parents’ basements because they can’t find adequate employment should take unpaid work to bolster résumés as they wait for the recovery to take hold'.

 

      Similar schemes are in place or are being considered in other countries, including France, and of course Bill Clinton set the ball rolling in that direction in America as far back as the 90's. Our problem is not British workfare schemes, it is the capitalist system. I have no doubt that if we were successful in getting rid of the various workfare schemes, the system, no matter the colour of the government, would come up with other similar means of cutting labour costs and increasing company profits. Until we finally demolish the system of capitalism, we will be plagued by exploitation by various variations of workfare schemes, and poverty will be our domain.

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

Protester Killed In France.

       According to a report on Contra Info, a protester was killed by the authorities in France, at a protest against a new dam being built on wetlands.

This From Contra Info:

     According to a statement from squatters in the ZAD of Notre-Dame-des-Landes, during the night between Saturday and Sunday the 26th of October 2014 a protester named Remi was killed in clashes that broke out after a rally against the construction of a dam along the Sivens forest in the wetland of Testet in the Tarn department (southern France).
      Around 7000 people gathered in the ZAD (zone to be defended) of Testet, after months of police attacks and destruction of the wetland and habitations of those who defend the area. In the late evening and overnight, dozens of people attacked the forces of order that were protecting the dam construction site. Activists expressed their anger trying to delay the resumption of works, originally scheduled for Monday the 27th of October.
      The cops fired rubber bullets (known as flash-balls), distraction devices such as stun hand grenades and fragmentation grenades, and tear gases. According to testimonies of protesters from the Testet wetland area, Remi must have collapsed after being hit with a grenade; then his body was reportedly taken by the repressive forces.
Prefectural authorities stated they did not want to comment on the matter before the official autopsy was made public on Monday. The government has already begun to stigmatize the protesters, in addition to trying to divide them in order to cover up what happened. But they know very well that, whatever they do, this death will have explosive consequences.

        Calls against state violence and updates on planned actions in Nantes and elsewhere at: zad.nadir.org & nantes.indymedia.org

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Workers, Remeber Your History, Jules Gustave Durand.

      We live under the yoke of a system that is not only unjust and exploitative, but it is also cruel, vicious and brutal. Through the years those who have fought that exploitation and injustice have felt the full force of that cruel, vicious brutality, and in some cases the fee paid for that challenge has been their liberty, their sanity, or their life. The history of the ordinary people is written in the blood and suffering of those who saw the injustice and stood up to that injustice, and who felt the full bare-knuckle force of this man made savage creation, the capitalist state. It is our duty to remember them, honour them, and pick up the challenge in their place.

     Jules Gustave Durand, Born September 6, 1880, in Le Harve. French anarchist, secretary of Le Harve Coalmen's Union and revolutionary trade unionist. Durand was an initiator of the French general strike of 1910, and was wrongly charged with the murder of a “blackleg” in a brawl. On the back of a series of corrupt witnesses and a hate campaign by the press he was sentenced to death on November 25, 1910. In a tremendous show of solidarity against this injustice protests and strikes closed the docks at Le Harve and spread across the channel to English ports and to some American ports. After further protests spearheaded by the League of Human Rights, he was released on February 15, 1911. Sadly, due to his inhumane treatment and spending 40 days restrained in a straightjacket he suffered a complete mental breakdown and spent the rest of his days in an asylum where he died in 1926. His case was re-opened and his name was cleared and on June 15, 1918, it was stated that he had been completely innocent of the charge.

     One of a legion who have paid dearly for daring to seek justice for all, and an end to exploitation.

Not A Hope In Hell.

       Europe is a rich capitalist continent, it is a big slice of the developed world, and yet visit any country in that continent and poverty is rife and growing. If capitalism can't eradicate poverty in its richest and most developed areas, what chance is there of poverty being tackled in the poorer areas. No matter which country you pick, take Germany, Europe's biggest economy, held up as an example to the rest of Europe. In this paragon of capitalist efficiency, 15.5% live below the poverty line and would be nearer 25% if it was not for public assistance, (2010 figures but have increased since then), while child poverty has doubled since 2004.
 

        France, Europe's second biggest economy, sets another fine example of capitalist efficiency with youth unemployment at 26% and rising, and 23% of 18 to 24 year olds living in poverty, on top of that, there are approximately 11 million people in France living in poverty. In that second biggest economy there are 2 million people living on less than €640 a month.
 

       Here in the UK we have 3.6 million children living in poverty, that's 27% of all children. In some local council areas the figure is in Third World realms with 50% to 70%. My own local area of Springburn in Glasgow has 52% of children living in poverty. Poverty in the UK has seen the number of people seeking help at food banks soar by 170% from 2010 to 2013, the number is put at over 500,000 people needing a hand out with their food. 28% of adults state that they scrimp on food to feed others in the family.

 

      Italy, has millions too poor to heat their homes and almost 2 million children living in poverty, the highest child poverty % in the 25 European nations. In May, Italy's National Statistics Institute, (ISTAT) stated that 25% of Italians were heading towards deprivation, while the number already living in poverty has doubled in the last two years. The ISTAT report also found that 14.3% of the population was seriously deprived in 2012 up from 6.9% in 2010. It also stated that 14.9% were heading towards poverty.
 

        Spain, 27% unemployment, those under 25 and not studying the figure for unemployment is 57%. If you move south in Spain the unemployment reaches 40% in some areas. 1.9 million households have no breadwinner, 10% of the population have had no work for two years or more and 3 million live in extreme poverty with less than €3,650 a year, and a further 3 million get by on less than €7,300 a year.

 

        All of these figures are dwarfed when we visit Greece which has taken a full frontal attack from the financial Mafia that rule the European capitalist world.

       For the whole of Europe the unemployment rate is a little over 17%, that is approximately 84 million people can't find work in Europe. If the rich developed heart of capitalism carries so much poverty, and the misery that goes along with that poverty, only an idiot would believe capitalism can solve the problems of the ordinary people. There is not a hope in hell that capitalism can eradicate poverty in any country, it was not intended to, it was a system devised to make the business class rich and that is what it will do until we the people dismantle this exploitative and repressive system of injustice and greed.

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