Showing posts with label Germany. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Germany. Show all posts

Sunday 14 February 2016

Capitalism Has No Human Side.

        During this recent "refugee crisis", in Europe, (it should really be named a "Western imperialist war crisis"), Germany is seen as the good mother hen, welcoming more refugees than other countries, it would have us believe it is showing the human face of the capitalist system. However, Germany needs lots of young workers, as it is facing a fast shrinking working age population. According to recent statistics, Berlin estimates its working age population will shrink by 6 million people by 2030 as the number of deaths outstrips births, making it hard to keep the economy growing.
 Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel speaking recently in the German parliament:
"If we manage to quickly train those that come to us and to get them into work, then we will solve one of our biggest problems for the economic future of our country: the skills shortage,"
        So, not so much humanitarian as economics of the corporate world. Germany is set to spend $10 billion on the refugee situation in Germany, but more or less refuses to spend on helping the "refugee crisis" that is swamping Greece. No, the refugees have to make the miserable and dangerous journey across Europe on their own, with cases of young and old dying in the process. Not so much the face of humanity in that situation.
      Another incident that shows the true face of the German state, is how it treats those of its own citizenship that choose to live their lives different from the desired government state of subservience, those who choose not to be hypnotised by consumerism.

This from Act For Freedom Now:

      Following an attack of a police officer nearby, a 500-strong anti-riot team backed up by special forces, dogs and helicopters stormed into the so-called “occupied house” at 94, Rigaer Strasse (or “R94”) on Wednesday night. Police raided the two houses next door the following day and kept up a heavy stop-and-search presence till now.
      Taking place at one of Berlin’s best-known anarchist project, the raid has sent shockwaves through the city, sparking a heated debate on whether it was a case of necessary public safety or unlawful police overreach. For the police and their defenders, the raid was an inevitable consequence of continuing disorder and antagonism coming from the squat. For their critics, the assault on the officer was an excuse used by the police to launch an only quasi-lawful attack on people who they disliked.
       The incident nonetheless has more resonance than as a local street battle alone. While they’ve been in retreat for years, Berlin’s squats were long a high-profile part of the city’s fabric, forming a cornerstone of the city’s alternative mythos. The raid on Rigaer 94 suggests that the city’s authorities are no longer prepared to to let their pigs eat stones in this area, as it happened many times.
        Berlin police say that the four assailants that attacked their colleague were seen escaping into Rigaer 94. When backup officers arrived and entered the building, they found the courtyard and basement massed with potential weapons including metal rods, fire extinguishers, gas cylinders, and a shopping cart filled with cobblestones—a horde they immediately shared via photographs on Twitter. In the interests of public safety, the police returned in greater numbers five hours later, clearing the building and making arrests of supporters outside.
Read the full article HERE:
Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk
 









Sunday 6 September 2015

Scumbags In A Human Skin.


      It is, and has been for centuries, a common tool of the state, the embedded spy. The strange low life breed of human, who lives a lie for years, a form of scum that lies through their teeth, to worm their way into the confidence of people, so that they can betray them to the state. No act is too low, no lie to big, no trick too dirty, in their attempt to ensnare and condemn those who believe they have a friend. They are the obedient lapdogs of the state apparatus, the vilest of creatures with no mind of their own, just a script handed to them by their masters.
This is far from being a first … We learn in a statement of August 26, 2015, that a police agent infiltrated the autonomous area and ‘Rote Flora’ between 2009 and 2012. The undercover cop Maria Böhmichen rubbed shoulders with anti-capitalist activists / anarchists during this period and embedded herself in their private spaces. Under the name of “Maria Block”, she has participated in several international mobilizations over recent years, such as during the protests against the UN climate conference in Copenhagen (Denmark) in 2009, during the ‘No Border’ camps on the island of Lesbos (Greece) in 2009 and in Brussels (Belgium) in 2010.
 Besides having created bonds of “friendship” and having had at least one sexual relationship within the community, she was able to gain access to private areas of activists and infiltrate the organization and execution of direct actions (not penalised). She also participated actively in meetings, demonstrations and events concerning anti-fascism and anti-racism, as well as in anti-nuclear and environmentalist struggles.
 This new case of an undercover cop comes less than a year after comrades exposed the infiltration of cop Iris Plate into the autonomous milieu in Hamburg in December 2014. This one had been embedded for six years, between 2000 and 2006, under the name of Iris Schneider. So this is the second case of spookery under the leadership of Senator of the Interior Neumann of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).
Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Sunday 22 March 2015

From Athens To Frankfurt, We Are Pissed-Off.

      No, not Athens, this is Frankfurt in European capitalist success story, Germany. No matter the state of "the economy" from powerhouse of Europe or failing economies of Greece, Italy, Spain, or wherever, the formula is the same, austerity for the people and riches for the parasites. And the people of Germany are just as pissed off by the misery of austerity as the rest of us. Capitalist success does not translate into riches for the ordinary people. Across the continent, austerity is driving down living standards, irrespective of Osborne's "Walking Tall" crap. It is not likely to change because the powers that be decide to spread the wealth a little bit more evenly. Our standard of living will only reach its full potential when we finally get rid of the capitalist system, and the insanity of kneeling before the Gods of profit and market forces. 


This from Rabble:
     On Wednesday (18 March) a rabble some 20,000 strong crashed the opening party of the new European Central Bank (ECB) building in Frankfurt. The area around the building, which was hosting a celebratory shindig of politicians and other creeps, was sealed off with steel and razor wire barriers and several thousand of Germany’s riot police. But the crowd managed to give them a run for their money with burning barricades, smashed banks, torched police cars, and much rebel spirit.
     On the downside, up to 400 people were reported arrested by the end of the day.
      This was the biggest “counter-summit” demo seen in Europe for some years. There have been similar “Blockupy” events against the ECB the last two years, but they were more easily controlled, with fewer people, less confrontation and little damage.
This year call-outs for the day came from two different groupings: not only the more mainstream “Blockupy”, but also the more confrontational “Destroika“.
     We haven’t yet seen a first hand report in English to repost. Until then, here are some pictures: 
 More Photos HERE:
Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Friday 6 February 2015

The Financial Mafia Rules.


    A rare scene took place in Greece yesterday, February 5th. thousands of people gathered in Syntagma Square in front of the Greek parliament to voice their support for the new government's anti-austerity policies. When have we seen people gather in their thousands to support the Greek government?
The People.
     Greece's new finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, has returned from his European tour with not much to show for his efforts. He got rumblings of support from those countries who, like his country, are circling the drain-hole in this world of financially controlled madness, but short shrift from the one that holds the purse strings, Germany. Meanwhile, the Greek banks are re-assuring the public that the Greek banks are safe. That may come back to haunt them if there is no agreement by February 28.
    All these brute force tactics by the financial Mafia, fighting to protect is precious bond market bubble, goes on while the people of Greece and other European countries suffer ever increasing poverty and deprivation. In the world of the financial Mafia, the people count for nothing. This battle between the Greek government and the Western Financial Mafia makes clear who controls the show, it is certainly not the elected government of any European country.
 Rulers of the World.
      What we are witnessing is the true picture, the financial Mafia attempting to keep its control over the economies of European countries intact, in a bid to protect itself. The elected governments are expected to follow the dictate of the financial moguls, irrespective of the wishes of the people. Failing this the financial leeches will heap greater misery and deprivation on the people. Suffering of the people is not on their balance sheets. Our so called democracy is an illusion and it is wearing ever thinner.
Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Tuesday 11 November 2014

A War Painted In Pastel Shades Of Lies.

 

       The babbling brook of bullshit, mainstream media, backs the establishment in painting WW1 in glorious pastel shades of lies, here is an extract from an excellent article stating some of the truths of WW1 From Stop The War:

     Dominic Alexander debunks ten myths being used by politicians and historians to rebrand World War I in the centenary of its outbreak.

Dead soldier in barbed wire


  1. The war was fought in defence of democracy
          This is contradicted by the basic facts. Germany had universal manhood suffrage while in Britain, including Ireland, some 40% of men still did not qualify for the vote. In Germany also, there were attempts to justify the war on the grounds that it was being fought to defend civilised values against a repressive, militaristic state, in the form of Russian autocracy.
  2. Britain went to war due to a treaty obligation to defend the neutrality of Belgium
        
    There was no clear and accepted obligation on Britain to do this, and, in fact, before the Belgian issue appeared, the war party in the cabinet was already pushing for British intervention on the entirely different ground that there were naval obligations to France. These obligations had been developed in secret arrangements between the military of both countries, and were never subject to any kind of democratic accountability. The Germans even offered guarantees over Belgian integrity, which the British government refused to consider at all.
  3. German aggression was the driving force for war
        
    However aggressive the German leadership may have been in 1914, the British establishment was at least as determined to
Read the full article HERE:
Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Sunday 6 April 2014

How Much Deeper, How Much Longer?






           It is strange that the majority of people in the West seem to tolerate a system that increases wealth, but in tandem with the increase in poverty for the majority. The number of millionaires increases, millionaires become billionaires, corporate bodies see their coffers bursting at the seams, and yet more and more ordinary people slip further down the slippery slope of poverty. In recent years poverty has galloped at an ever increasing pace across Europe, which is a large slice of the so called affluent West. We have seen Greece descend to the realms of a third world country, Spain, Italy and Portugal are skidding along a few paces behind. It is not just the southern European countries that are seeing their populations being pushed back to the poverty of Victorian times. Ireland is hot on the heels of our southern neighbours, and here in the UK we have seen an explosion of food banks as people struggle to survive. Countries that somehow are not usually associated with poverty, have seen their people slide into the mire and stress of deprivation. Germany, the richest nation in Europe, and one of the richest in the world, has seen poverty spread its tentacles further afield, dragging more of its people into that state of misery and blighted future. The Netherlands, seen as an affluent part of “affluent” Europe, in 2012 saw its biggest increase in poverty since 2008, figures from the national agency Statistics Netherland, show that with a population of less than 17 million, the Netherlands has approximately 1.2 million of its people considered to be living in poverty. The Netherlands has also seen a particularly sharp increase in the number of children living in poverty, while in parallel to this there has been a rise in those affected by longterm poverty. And so it goes on, wealth spewing from this society, straight into the pockets of the already very rich. We continue to create wealth at an astonishing rate, but we continue to see poverty spread further and deeper among the general population. 
        How much longer will we accept this injustice, this blatant exploitation? How much deeper in the mire of poverty will we let ourselves be pushed? How much longer will we tolerate the future of our kids and grandkids being blighted by unnecessary and avoidable poverty? The answer is in our hands, if we want to stop the plundering of the wealth that we produce, if we want to see it spread with more justice and equality, we have to do the changing. We can't expect those rich parasites who gain immense wealth and power from the existing system, to do anything to change it for our benefit. We surely have the imagination and ability to create a society of fairness, all that seems to be lacking is the desire. 
Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Friday 4 April 2014

Capitalist Success Doesn't Look At Poverty.



     In capitalist Europe, Germany is seen as the shining example of capitalist success. It is meant to be what the rest of Europe should try to aspire to, prosperity for all. Of course like all the tales of capitalist success, as far as the ordinary people are concerned it is all an illusion. The German Joint Welfare Association report on poverty for 2013 shows a very definite pattern of increasing poverty for Germany as a whole. It also states that from 2006 to 2012 the growth of poverty was steady going from 14% to 15.2%. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), approximately 10% of German children live in families whose income is below the poverty line. A UNICEF study finds that 8.6% of children in Germany have long term experiences of poverty that seriously affect their entire future. It also finds that more than 1 million adolescents have spent more than one third of their childhood and youth living in poverty. 

       Officially, homelessness doesn't exist in Germany, there are no official figures held by the state. So we have to rely on estimates made by independent groups that offer social assistance to such people. One institution that offers assistance to homeless, Bundesarbeitgemeinschhaft Wohnungslosenhilfe (BAG) states that their figures suggest that there are approximately 591,000 homeless in Germany, however if you add the homeless immigrants, the total looks more like 860,000, roughly the same size as the population of one of Germany's largest cities, Cologne. This figure breaks down as, approximately one third are women, almost the same number are young people and children, men making up 39%. BAG also estimates that approximately another million are under threat of homelessness, or living in sub-standard housing. It also estimates that some homeless with families can get some temporary accommodation with friends and relatives, but approximately 35,000 single people face living on the streets. A further figure from BAG states that in the winter of 1996/97, a staggering 27 people froze to death on the streets of Germany, one of the worst figures among the world's most prosperous nations.

      That is the irony, one of the most prosperous nations on the planet and poverty, homelessness and freezing to death on the streets is accepted. It is the economist apologists for the capitalist system that can only see one side of the equation and spout German as a success story. Germany is growing rapidly in wealth, according to Manager Magazin, October issue, the assets of the richest 100 have increased during the last twelve months by 5.2% to a staggering €336.6 billion and there are 135 billionaires living in Germany and according to a recent study by Credit Suisse, there are approximately 1.7 million, “dollar millionaires” living in Germany.

       In this insane capitalist world, success means rich getting richer, and the rest can go to hell in handcart.

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

Sunday 3 November 2013

Workers, Remember Your History,--Kurt Gustav Wilckens.

      An anniversary we should celebrate, November 3 1886, saw the birth of Kurt Gustav Wilckens, warrior of the working class who dedicated his life to the struggle for freedom and justice for all people. Our history is written in the blood of such people, ordinary people who become giants. Our's is not the history of kings and empires, of greed for power, but a struggle for justice for all.
This from FlagBlackened:
     KURT GUSTAV WILCKENS was born 3 November 1886 at Bad Bramstedt in Schleswig-Holstein, close to the Danish border in Germany, one of the five sons of August Wilckens and Johanna Harms. Of average height with red hair and light blue eyes, he loved nature and hated cities. Starting work as a miner in Silesia, he emigrated at the age of 24 to the United States where he got work in the Arizona mines.
     In Arizona he became involved in the agitation of the revolutionary workers’ organisation, the Industrial Workers of the World (popularly known as the Wobblies). Wilckens took part in strikes and became an orator in the miners’ mass meetings, The IWW organised successfully among Mexicans and South Europeans, the lowest paid of the miners. As a result of the growing might of the miners in the Bisbee area, the local businessmen and scab miners organised into Loyalty Leagues. Early on 12 July 1916, 2000 Loyalty Leaguers commenced a round-up of miners. One miner shot dead a Loyalty leaguer in self-defence and was gunned down. There were robberies, vandalism, and beatings and abuse of women carried out by the Leaguers during the round-up. 1,186 men, including 104 Wobblies, among them Wilckens, were herded into cattle trucks and dumped across the border in the New Mexico desert. Wilckens, by now an anarchist as well as an IWW member, was interned in a camp for German prisoners. He escaped from there, was recaptured and deported to Germany in 1920 from where he departed to Argentina, arriving there in late September.
---
Read the full article HERE:

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






 

Saturday 28 September 2013

Our Cities Need Clean Streets!!


      Recently we have heard a lot about the fascists on the streets of Greece, but that is not the only place that the scum appear. It is right across Europe that they are raising their ugly head. There has been  lurch to the right in Norwegian politics, and recent events in Turkey prove that fascism is alive and growing in that neck of the woods. They appear in their various guises of political parties, as well as their street thugs. However the death of Pavlos Fyssas in Piraeus has marked a turning point in the fight against the festering cancer of fascism. Actions of solidarity are taking place all over Europe and the fascist are on the receiving end of some of their own medicine. They have raised their vile head enough, it is time to push it back down.
      On Saturday, September 21st, neo-Nazi Kimonas Potsis—a minion of Christos Pappas, notorious MP of the Golden Dawn party—was spotted alongside two other right-wing fuckers in a café at the centre of Ioannina where many anti-authoritarians hang out. After a short verbal scuffle with antifascists who were on the spot, he got beaten up and kicked out of the store. Shortly afterwards, he and another one of his gang got trashed again on Anexartisias street and had to be transferred to the nearest hospital.
 
Listen up, you fascist scumbags:
we’ll throw you straight into the Lake of Ali Pasha.
And from Germany: 
      In memory of Pavlos Fyssas there is a banner at the autonomous center (AJZ) in Bielefeld, which reads: “Athens: Antifascist Pavlos Fyssas murdered by fascists. Another dead! Another reason to fight!”
Also posters appeared in the streets of Bielefeld. The text on it explains how Pavlos Fyssas (Piraeus) and Clément Méric (Paris) were murdered by fascists, and how Ahmet Atakan (Antakya) was killed by a teargas grenade from cops in Turkey. It reads:
      “What do these dead have in common? They are only three of the many who died; the many who remain nameless, but whom we do not want to forget. Victims of racist and fascist attacks. Victims of state terror, or both at once.
      All three—Pavlos, Clément and Ahmet—were politically active and  were killed for that reason.
     We don’t want to be scared off by their death. But we want to confer dignity on their death by continuing the struggle against oppression.”
 
Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Saturday 8 June 2013

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.

ann arky's home.

Thursday 29 November 2012

CREATING MYTHS.


    And so the myth is spread, the lazy Greeks are responsible for the state of their country, it has nothing to do with the financial mafia and the corporate greed machine.

Supporters of Greek trade unionists 
charged with assaulting German official await verdict

      German CDU MP, Hans Joachim Fuchtel caused uproar during a visit to Greece when he claimed that 1000 Germans could do the work of 3000 Greeks. The remarks sparked off fierce protests by Greek trade unionists already angered by the latest round of public sector job cuts.
      During a joint German - Greek conference local government tempers flared and a German official was briefly attacked by angry public sector employees. The police arrested three in connection with the assault but all three were found not guilty yesterday.

ann arky's home.

Saturday 25 August 2012

POLITICS = NEPOTISM AND GREED.


        While the Greek people bleed from the wounds inflicted by the European financial Mafia, the Greek political class, like their counterparts in the rest of Europe, continue to shovel the loot into their bank accounts by the usual means. Those being fat salaries, mouth watering pensions, perks and nepotism. No matter how difficult things become, it is not for the political class to suffer. They will make the deals that savagely destroy the social fabric of society, while living in a parallel world of luxury. They are immune to this thing they call "austerity", that world is for the ordinary people. It is now so blatantly obvious that that all the decisions made by those political parasites, will be of no benefit to the ordinary people, it is all about getting as much of the public purse into the accounts of the billionaire class, the class that has bought the political apparatus of every country in the world.

 We need more austerity to get us through these difficult times.


     Antonis Samaras is currently doing the rounds in Europe, attempting to persuade fellow EU leaders that Greece needs two more years to fulfil the obligations required to receive the country's next installment of cash to avoid bankruptcy. Samaras has even personally guaranteed that Germany will be repaid in full, though how intends to do this is another matter, unless there is a secret coda in Steve Job's will that no one has been aware of till now.

       On the other hand The PM's attempt to prove the Greece has changed and become a more fiscally responsible country have been undermined by even high ranking members of his own government, who upon being elected to parliament seemingly appointed to state jobs just about every member of their extended family not in jail or the grave. Case in point being New Democracy heavy weight, Vyron Polydoras, who secured a government job for his daughter after Greece's first national elections in May. Polydoras was also involved in a scandal during the Karamanlis administration after he used his position as minister for public order to have them transferred to his own offices.
Continue READING:

ann arky's home.