Dave Douglass In Glasgow, On The Miners Strike.

       On the 24th. September, 2014, in Glasgow, to mark the 30 anniversary of the 1984/85 miners strike, Dave Douglass was invited to give a talk on that momentous class struggle. The event was co-sponsored by Clydeside IWW, Spirit of Revolt, Glasgow Anarchist Collective, Radical Independent Bookfair, and Glasgow Anarchist Federation. The event proved to be very interesting, informative, and well attended. For those who missed it, they can now see the event on video, thanks to Bob at City Strolls.

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

Dave Douglass And The Miners Strike.

    I doubt if there is anyone, with even a passing interest in UK politics, who hasn't heard or read about the 1984/85 miner's strike. An event that lasted approximately a year, during which time the British state threw its full force of repression against the striking miners. It tried every tactic in its arsenal, short of tanks in the mining villages and towns, to crush the resistance of the miners. This epic working class struggle should not be forgotten, to this end several groups are organising and co-sponsoring a talk and discussion by Dave Douglass, a miner who was there.

     There will be an event to mark this struggle, organised by the Clydeside General Members Branch of the International Workers of the World and co-sponsored by Glasgow Anarchist Collective, Glasgow Anarchist Federation, Radical Independent Bookfair, and Spirit of Revolt. It will be held on Wednesday, September 24th. 7pm to 9pm, in the Fred Paton Centre, 19 Carrington Street Glasgow, and is a free event. Carrington Street is between Great Western Road and West Princes Street, not far from St George's Cross. There will also be stalls and displays, an event not to be missed

       Come along, hear about your history, and add your stories and opinions.

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

A Glasgow Date For Your Diary.

     If you are in or around Glasgow on Wednesday evening, 18th June, here is a date for your diary. A must if you are looking for a better world for all. 

Book Launch & Talk: 

New Forms of Worker Organisation (w. Immanuel Ness)

Wednesday 18 June at 18:45 – 21:00

Fred Paton Centre, 19 Carrington Street, G4 9AJ

Book Launch and Talk, co-hosted by

Clydeside IWW, 

Spirit of Revolt,

Glasgow AnarchistFederation,

 

RIB Project.

      Immanuel Ness, editor of 'New Forms of Worker Organisation', will present a compelling case that labour unions are at a turning point that will change the character of worker representation that was crafted in the U.S. and imperialist states in the mid-20th century.

For more on the book see: http://www.workerorganization.org/

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

1st. May, Glasgow, May Day, 2014.

 

    

      Glasgow's May 1st. May Day event in the city centre, held by a variety of groups, including Clydeside IWW, Glasgow Anarchist Federation, Glasgow Anarchist Collective, Faslane Peace Camp, all armed with a plentiful supply of books, leaflets, pamphlets, badges, t-shirts, etc. was well received by the general public, comments made, questions asked, and leaflets, pamphlets and booklets, t-shirts and badges, all going to interested individuals as they lingered in their passing. As usual, friends and comrades not seen for a while met up and exchanged chat. All in all, very cold for the 1st. of May, but a great day.

 

 

 

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

Anarchism, Marxism,

       In spite of my pocking a little fun, a night worth marking in your diary, I'm sure it will be both informative and interesting, as well as lively. 

       Friday 10^th May, with Ben Franks: 'Between Anarchism and Marxism: The beginnings and ends of the schism?'Discussion 6.30-8.30pm. Social 8.30pm onwards at Kinning Park Complex, 40 Cornwall St, Glasgow G41 1AQ

https://www.facebook.com/events/558999170798205/?ref=ts&fref=ts

      Benjamin Franks will introduce his recent work, 'Between Anarchism and Marxism: The beginnings and ends of the schism? (2012), which will be followed by group discussion of the questions posed. 
     "The standard approach, endorsed by orthodox Marxists and many anarchists, is to see an irreconcilable difference between anarchism and Marxism. However, the historical record shows that whilst Marx opposed – and was opposed by - leading anarchists prior to 1917 there was considerable positive interaction between diverse Marxist and anarchist groups. The division between the two, viewed as fundamental, I argue, is in fact the product of a particular form of political structure that dominated the revolutionary-left in the last century. Now that these hierarchical forms of organisation have been discredited, rediscovered and revised forms of Marxism have arisen that, once again, actively engage with anarchism."

     Hosted by The Strickland Distribution, with the support of Glasgow Anarchist Federation, Radical Independent Bookfair, Clydeside IWW.
All welcome!
(Refreshments available. BYOB.)
Kinning Park Complex, 40 Cornwall St., Glasgow G41 1AQ
http://www.kinningparkcomplex.org

ann arky's home. 

Glasgow May Day.

 May Day, Glasgow Buchanan Street, 2013.

        Today, May 1st., May Day, has been celebrated across the planet, and rightly so. It is probably the most important day in the calendar of the ordinary people.  In some cities it was a massive display of workers solidarity, in others it was a more quiet affair, but there would be few cities that didn't have some sort of show. Though it should be held on May 1st. and is in lots of cities and towns, in others, Glasgow for example, it will be on the first weekend after May 1st.. That said, Glasgow had a small but colourful stall in Buchanan Street, put on by the Clydeside IWW and the Glasgow Anarchist Federation. The stalls attracted considerable interest from passers-by, and a lot of literature was handed out. There was of course, lots of old faces reappeared, just to be there and show solidarity, even if it was just for a few minutes and a few words with old comrades.

May Day, Glasgow Buchanan Street, 2013.

This report from Labour Start:

 

 

As I write these words, it's still morning in London -- and already LabourStart's front page is full of coverage of May Day 2013, the international workers' holiday.

• In Istanbul, police have used tear gas to try to block trade unionists from gathering in the city's central Taksim square, scene of an infamous massacre in 1977.

• In Jakarta, a massive workers' rally with more than 135,000 participants has shut down the Indonesian capital.

• In Greece, a general strike by workers protesting against the highest unemployment levels in Europe has shut down much of the country's transport system.

Your local newspaper or television station may be reporting all these stories -- but I doubt it. That's why we created LabourStart 15 years ago -- precisely for moments like this when we need to know what is happening in the labour movement all over the world.

Please make sure to visit LabourStart today and spread the word to your friends, family, co-workers and fellow union members.

Thank you -- and happy May Day!

Eric Lee

ann arky's home.

 

CHOICES, WORKFARE OR WORKHOUSE.

      This from The Crutch Collective on Saturday's Glasgow day of action against the governments slave labour scheme which goes under the pseudonym of "workfare".

Anti-Workfare Pickets Glasgow Report

      On Saturday 8th December as part of the Boycott Workfare Week Of Action a couple of dozen people from Clydeside Industrial Workers Of The World, the Crutch Collective, Glasgow Anarchist Federation, Glasgow Solidarity Federation, the Right To Work Campaign and other individuals leafleted a branch of Superdrug in one of the city centre's busiest streets. The one thousand leaflets given out highlighted Superdrug taking on even more people on the Government's 'Work Experience' workfare scheme for the Christmas period. The extra people on workfare means less holiday pay for the regular staff. There was a lot of police about and Superdrug had hired extra security for the day. However the combination of the picket, the leaflet saying, 'Don't Shop At Superdrug' and the added security costs meant we succeeded in our objective of costing Superdrug money for using Workfare. Thanks to everyone who took part. Apparently someone also left placards saying 'Superdrug + Unpaid Work = Superdrudgery' outside their other city centre branch.

    The picket also attracted some media attention from local journalists. The Sunday Mail, with a reported readership of around one million, mentioned the Edinburgh, Dundee and Glasgow protests, and their article, 'Big Businesses Taking On Jobless Young People To Work Unpaid Over Christmas', helped get our general message across to a larger audience. It appears to contains some useful information on the extent of Workfare involvement of a number of companies, but it also includes some of the distortions of the reality of Workfare by these companies and the Department for Work and Pensions. We would have to question if the newspaper verified any of the information in the statements of the the Workfare companies and the D.W.P.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/revealed-big-businesses-taking-on-jobless-1480979

     The Superdrug distortions - 'Work Experience' is not voluntary in practice. Job Centre Plus and third party workfare profiteers like A4E bully benefit claimants on to the scheme. Benefit claimants can have their benefits cut if they do not not continue to 'volunteer' to stay on the scheme, after they have been on the scheme for a week. Only a tiny number of people on workfare get jobs afterwards. For example it is 3.5% for the 'Work Programme' and that includes participants getting jobs with other companies and very short-term jobs. Stacking shelves for Superdrug is not learning a skill. Argos state that 'Work Experience' people work alongside paid colleagues, but don't replace them, but the permanent staff lose out on holiday pay. Why aren't all of their temporary staff paid? Of the 25% Poundland say left their 'work experience' early, because they received a job offer elsewhere, how many were going to get offered a job anyhow? Poundland also put a positive spin on 10% going on to get jobs with them, but that means 90% do not, while Poundland continue to make profits from all the unpaid labour.

     We brought forward the time of the picket so that people could take part in he UK UnCut Starbucks demo in Glasgow. UK UnCut have been making the links between tax avoidance, cuts to public services and their impact on women. The Starbucks PR machine has gone into overdrive saying that they will pay a few more peanuts in tax in the next couple of years based on their own estimates while they don't mention all the unpaid tax from the past in their media releases. It has been revealed that the tax payments will be paid for by cuts to the terms and conditions of the Starbucks staff. The IWW Starbucks Workers Union is looking for volunteer organisers to help them organise Starbucks staff to fight these cuts c/o -

PO Box 7593, Glasgow G42 2EX
communications@iww.org.uk
www.iww.org.uk

     One person did manage to get inside the Sauchiehall Street coffee shop with leaflets, but there was too many police for a Refuge from the Cuts to be set up in this branch of Starbucks. The demo moved on to create a noisy presence with cake outside the Starbucks on Buchanan Street, another one of the main shopping streets in Glasgow.

       From there a few people went on to picket the city centre furniture store of the British Heart Foundation. The manager of the store aggressively told us we needed a permit to hand out leaflets. This is another fake claim from BHF. When we told him we didn't need one he told us he was then going to ring the police and he stropped off phone in hand. Of course the police never arrived. A customer said that the manager said we were talking 'shit', but at the same time the manager had confirmed that that they do use Workfare in that store. BHF have had 1500 placements on 'Mandatory Work Activity' and the 'Work Programme'. Despite BHF claims, the schemes are not voluntary. BHF must know the meaning of the word, 'mandatory'. All workfare companies have to sign a contract saying that they will report anyone who does not show up for the schemes, which automatically results in benefit claimants having their benefits cut. BHF have vaguely stated that are 'moving away' from workfare at some unspecified point in the future, but hopefully this picket and others will bring their use of workfare to a halt sooner rather than later. They have been pressurised in to making another public statement, which could be a sign that they are about to cave in.

     We are already making plans for a bigger Anti-Workfare campaign in the new year.

Claimants Resisting Unfair Treatment Cuts and Harassment
A group of benefit claimants and supporters in Glasgow
Hopefully we will have photos of the picket here soon:
www.thecrutchcollective.blogspot.co.uk
www.facebook.com/pages/The-Crutch-Collective/132893236781931?ref=hl
thecrutchcollective@gmail.com

ann arky's home.

THE COUNTRY, LIKE THE STREETS, BELONGS TO US.

 

      Saturday 20th October the STUC, has called for a massive march and rally in Glasgow, to protest against the coalition government's policy of cuts. There will be on in London on the same day. Let's be clear on this, this is not a trade union protest. It is a national protest of trade unionists, unemployed, pensioners, disabled, students, teenagers, unpaid carers and housewives. This is not a battle of trade unionists against the government, it is a people's protest against the cabal of millionaires who are shoving their ideology down the throats of the ordinary people. Nothing in this ideology was ever in their manifesto, they don't have a mandate to impoverish the people of this country for the benefit of the banksters. They don't have a mandate to build corporate fascism in this country at the behest of the financial Mafia, nor do they have a mandate to sell off the people's assets to their millionaire friends in the corporate world. No where in their manifesto did it say we will privatise the National Health Service, we will decimate your education system, we will close libraries and nurseries. The election and their much publicised manifestos were,  no more than a sham, a con-trick, what they say before the election and what they do after, have no relation to each other.

 

 

 

      So let's make this people's protest against this dictatorial elite of pampered millionaire parasites, this cabal of privileged leeches, the biggest and noisiest this country has seen in many a year. We will not accept poverty imposed on us by millionaires who know nothing of our problems, who are products of plundered wealth, tax dodges and privileged upbring.

      While they stand in expensive suits, and preach to the general public that sacrifices have to be made, tough decisions have to be made, knowing full well that such tough decisions and sacrifices, will in no way impinge on their lavish, unearned lifestyle. They can never see the decimation they are deliberately heaping on the ordinary people, as they always have one eye on their shareholdings and another on their bank accounts.

     This protest must shout loud and clear, we the people are the country, we will decide how this country will be run, and it will be run for the benefit of all our people, we will see to the needs of all our people, we will not starve our children nor sacrifice their future to fatten banksters and bond market gurus.

     October 20th. Take to the streets, fill Glasgow to overflow, with noise, and determination. Don't wait for the STUC to contact you or inform you, form your own group, contact other local groups, Clydeside IWW, Glasgow Anarchist Federation, but turn up, be part of this. Let this be the start of complete solidarity between employed, unemployed, pensioners, students, disabled, teenagers, unpaid carers and housewives. It is your world or it is their world, they are not prepared to compromise, under no circumstances should we, we have the the lives of our pensioners and the vulnerable of society and the future of our children and grandchildren, in our hands.

 

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