March Keelie.

 

          Read all about it, read all about it, The Glasgow Keelie has it all, news, views, info and the dirt on our Kremlin in George Square. All things that matter to the citizens of our fair city and beyond. The March issue of the Glasgow Keelie is now out, and can be had on the street at demos, protests, street corners, cafes and pubs. It can also be downloaded from here; https://glasgowkeelie.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/keelie-28-final-keelie-28-final.pdf also freely available at the Ruchill Community Centre this Sat. 5th Mar.

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info  

Hit The Needy.

        It is a strange and unjust society that when savings and cuts have to be made, it is always the most vulnerable and those in need that have to take the hit. Glasgow City Council are proposing saving money by closing all but two of the city's Citizens Advice Bureaus and cutting support to rape crisis centres among other things that the ordinary people sometimes have to rely on. Now you don't get any prizes for guessing who is most likely to visit these places. You wont find Jim Ratcliffe, Scottish billionaire, waiting, or any of his clique hanging around in the queue. They will always have their team of expensive expert lawyers to sort out any problems they may encounter.

       It always appears beyond Councillors and MP's imagination to find ways of getting those savings and administering cuts from that upper echelons of the wealthy bunch that sit very comfortably with no need for such common things as Citizens Advice Bureaus. 

       Today, Wednesday 2nd. of September, there was a small group outside Glasgow City Chambers protesting these unfair and unnecessary attacks on the most vulnerable in our society. It was a day of torrential rain and I admire their dedication and sincerity for holding this protest in such appalling weather. However, I feel that it was the wrong place and the wrong time. The City Chambers was empty and locked up, the meeting regarding these cuts will be held via virtual conferencing, with the participants unaware of any protest. No doubt the virtual meeting will make it extremely difficult or impossible to hear what is being said, nor will the public be able to contribute to the debate. Perhaps I'm wrong on that and they will send out the link to the virtual meeting to ever citizen of Glasgow. I'm sure Billy Connolly could turn these city chambers actions into a joke, well basically that's what it is, a sick and cruel joke at that.

Some photos of those intrepid protestors:

 

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

The People's Palace Winter Gardens Is Ours.

        The battle to save the Glasgow People's Palace Winter Gardens is just beginning. It is up to the citizens of Glasgow to get behind this protest and save what has been a pleasure, an education and a sanctuary, for the people of Glasgow and visitors alike, for for generations. It is part of Glasgow's Common Goods, it is ours, and it must be preserved as it is, has always been, and should be for generations to come. The councilors sitting in George Square should get it into their head that we, the people of Glasgow pay their wages, to look after our Common Goods, for the benefit of the people. They therefore must listen to those people and drag their business fixated minds away from the idea that everything must make a profit or it is a burden.  

      A wee video to remind people that this protest must go on and gain in strength until we get what we want. Thanks Bob. The video is also available to view on Spirit of Revolt's Audio/Video section. (https://spiritofrevolt.info/audio-video/ )

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

Glasgow City Council Promotes Death And Destruction.

 

       You search for some sane reason behind the decision of the Glasgow City Council to allow an arms fair to take place in our city, but you can't find any. Nobody in this city wants an arms fair, a euphemism for a market place for state's instruments of control and death. A money making exercise for promoters of wars and purveyors of death and destruction. When I think of their decision I'm reminded of that song,  "Send in the clowns,--- don't bother---they're here.", but these are dangerous clowns. Behind this decision there is the foul stench of money from death.

Winter.

Dark malefic clouds crowd the sky

winds carry the stench of carrion to every nostril,

the crazy ape has followed the faculty of hawks.

All around stand crows, magpies, jackdaws, vultures,

edacious eyes anticipating their putrid feast.

a weary Cassandra laments;

doves, hearts weeping for a better yesterday

forsake their olive branches.

     TIMES - 26 June - SEC Glasgow 8am - People will be arriving to "welcome" the arms dealers to Glasgow with noise and colour. Bring flags, banners and anything noisy. The UDT event officially begins at 9am. 10am-12pm - Official rally organised by the Sink the Arms Fair coalition. Groups include Scottish CND, Scotland Against Militarism, CAAT, Scottish PSC, Food Not Bombs amongst others. Speakers and music. 12pm onwards - We will be sticking around to oppose the fair and make sure the warmongers inside know they are not wanted in Glasgow. Music, noise and protest. Food as well. -------------------- The arms industry is coming to Glasgow, a city with a proud history of standing up against war and militarism. UDT will be promoting Trident, the Israeli military and companies that sell to human rights abusing regimes in Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Scotland must say no to this festival of death. -------------------- Please attend and share this event: https://www.facebook.com/events/167835827222318/

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

Trees Or Tarmac, Which Is Best For Our Kids?

        The battle to save North Kelvin Meadow, is one that we have got to win, this is a beautiful green public space within our city, a place used by kids and adults alike. A place where kids can safely run wild and have fun, a place where they can learn about nature, a healthy family space, open to the public to enjoy and nurture. We have very few of such places left in "that dear green place", Glasgow, one by one they have been disappearing under the concrete and tarmac of the private corporate world. We have to call a halt to this plunder of our public spaces by the corporate developer. Please throw your support behind this public campaign by signing the petition, and show solidarity in what ever way you can.

Hi all,

*Update: *

        As many of you will know Glasgow City Council Planning Committee approved New City Vision (NCV) Ltd planning application to build 90 flats. They also approved The Children Wood Group planning application to keep the land as a wild greenspace and for the community. Our emphasis has now changed. Its now all about lobby the Scottish Government so as they do what they said they would consider back in 2013 and "call in" the NCV Ltd application and throw it out.
        Therefore please sign the petition below and if possible try to get 5 others you know to as well. If you can visit any MSPs at their surgeries that would be even better. Our local MSP Sandra White is key to us in getting this called in - so feel free to contact or visit her. Plus paper petitions can also be created and signed if that is easier.

*Petition*

        Help us to persuade the Scottish Government to ‘call in’ and reject the plans to build 90 residences on North Kelvin Meadow and The Children’s Wood by signing our petition:

http://bit.ly/callinmeadow


     *Thunderclap *(a modern way to get noticed outside your usual group!)

        If your on Twitter, Facebook or Tumblr then click on link below so we all put out a one off message at the same time i.e. a thunderclap, and so get the petition noticed and hopefully a few more signatories. The message goes out on 29th February at 10am so obviously you need you to register before then.

http://thndr.me/wIBqUx

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

Glorification Of War, Or Peace And Beauty?

          I feel very strongly about what I can only call the desecration of the beautiful public space, Pollok Estate, by the digging of WWI trenches.  So I'm asking friends and followers of this blog to sign the petition and spread it around as many of their friends and followers on Facebook, twitter and any other means possible. Public spaces such as Pollok Estate are places of beauty, owned by the people for the pleasure of the people, and an escape from the city within easy reach of the city. They are not there for the glorification of war, nor to swell the egos of academics and councillors with grandiose ideas.

Please sign the petition.

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

To Save Pollok Park, Time Is Of The Essence.

        Where is the wrath, where is the righteous anger, where are the angry crowds? At the end of July, I posted a short piece about the plans by Glasgow University and Glasgow City Council, backed by almost £100,000 of lottery funding, (money collected from you and I.) to dig up Pollok Park, and re-create WWI trenches. Not only is it a grotesque intention, but it is the most inappropriate place for such a monstrosity. The work is scheduled to start this August, is it too late to show our disgust, or can we get the message across, that Pollok Park is not  a area for war games. They claim that people will be able to see what it was like in the trenches during that totally unnecessary blood bath. Utter nonsense, it will be a sanitised misrepresentation, where will the rats be, where will the mud and the blood be, where will the stench be, where will the agony and the barbarity be? This is just another way of glorifying war, of tidying it up, it will not bring home the truth of the utter barbarity and agony of war.

No place for war games.

      For those who would like a nice refreshment, in pleasant surroundings, while voicing their anger at this destruction of a beautiful park that belongs to the people of Glasgow, they can take themselves down to the Scotia Bar, at the bottom of Stockwell Street, where they can sign a petition against this insanity.

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

Stop Them Digging Up Pollok Estate

       Once again our public spaces are under attack. Once again Pollok Estate is being targeted. There was the motorway, then "Go Ape" theme park, now it is to be dug up with replicas of WWI trenches. Why a beautiful public space such as Pollok Estate should even be suggested for this lottery funded love affair with war is incomprehensible. Are those involve blind, stupid or just bribed? Look around, if you want such a hideous theme as war trenches stick them in somebody's private land, not our beautiful country space in our city. This has to be stopped as we will see another public space place of beauty an tranquillity disappear to the glorification of war.

This is not the site for war trenches.

     Pollok Estate is not a commercial theme park, it is not a site for developing crazy war linked projects, it is a wonderful country space in the city owned by the people of Glasgow. This has to be stopped before the diggers move in and destroy another slice of our commons. We stopped GO Ape, surely we can stop this destructive, brainchild of the city council and academia.  

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

The Internet Of Things.

      I recently posted on Glasgow's new experimental surveillance system, where CCTV cameras in Glasgow City Centre are now linked to a central operations room, where ‘emotional recognition’ software identifies the name and mood of pedestrians, including demonstrators, and can then link the person on the camera with social media postings, phone calls, emails, police records, and more. All this without any consultation with the people being snooped upon that the council is "supposed" to serve. Another giant step towards the totally observed population. It has become the norm in this country and elsewhere, to go about your daily business and be photographed thousands of time in a few days. Where you go, what you get up to, all on record for those and such as those, whither you like it or not.

       This new "Big Brother" era is much worse than the what Orwell envisaged, his was simply state control. In this new era of "Big Brother" they want more, it will be a two pronged attack. The state concentrating on control of the population, while the corporate cabal will concentrate on personal information to to shape and mould your consumerism. All your personal data will be up for grabs and sold around "The Market" to those with a vested interest in turning you into a consuming unit to suit their balance sheets.

      More and more of our appliances will be linked, more and more of our personal data will flow in to the office of the security services, and the offices of the corporate greed machine. You will have no say in how it is gathered and how it is used. Welcome to the "Big Brother" that Orwell couldn't have envisaged.

 Photo by Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

This from Politics in the Zeros:

     The Internet of Things is a NSA paradise / Orwellian nightmare, coming real soon to your house, and Silicon Valley wants it to happen as much as NSA does.

      Huge invasions of privacy and loss of freedom are happening now.  Our government pretends to make us safer. Silicon Valley pretends to be helpful. Their real object is to collect as much data about us as they can, and to do that they need to watch and record everything about our online lives. They are two facets of the same data-slurping entity that cares little about personal privacy and freedoms. It’s all about grabbing the data, then exploiting and selling it. You are the product.

Samsung TVs record what we say, then sends it to an anonymous company which converts it to text, so it can process voice commands. They promise to erase the data when done with it. Right. I certainly believe them – just as much as I believe Google reading my email and Siri listening to me will never be abused, intercepted, and exploited by marketeers, criminals, or the government.

     It’s only a matter of time until Samsung gets a court order to turn over voice data files. I bet iPhone’s Siri already has.

     All of this is poisonous for democracy, freedom, and privacy. We have a right to not be snooped on constantly. However, we will need to fight for it. First though, we need to know just how much surveillance is happening now, who is doing it, and where the data goes. I suspect the answer will appall most of us (while government and tech apologists scurry to explain why it actually is good for us.)

Read the full article HERE:

Workers, Know your History: We Don't Need A Carpark.

    Another episode in which The Glasgow City Council decided what the people needed, without consulting the people, and the people, by direct action and solidarity, made them change their minds and listen to the people.

     This successful campaign took place in Castlemilk, what was at one time the largest housing estate in Britain. 

Taken from Strugglepedia:

Community Action – Housing; regentrification, greens into car parks, loss of safe play spaces. Injustice/ normal channels closed / bureaucracy /desperation /solidarity with experienced anarchist strategies/ planning direct actions/ increasing the agitation/ use the demolition workers in the struggle, to bring the bureaucrats to the site/ impact on people as activists

John Cooper, John Cooper - taped and scribed by A Rice 17.7.12

I tell it all as if it was a day but it was actually maybe 6 months or a year of struggle.

    Campaign in Castlemilk, A group of tenants had been told that the Council are going to build a car park in their back greens. The back greens being the area in which they hung out their washing and where the kids played in safety. The people in the area were all against it and they had actually got a petition together, taken it up to the Labour club, and handed it into the Labour Club and low and behold the Labour Club lost the petition they said later, or they claimed they lost it. And therefore the peoples’ thing could not be taken any further. So by luck one of the tenants bumped into one of us and he told us about the situation.

      The work was about to begin in the back greens. They had knocked down a couple of the gable ends to allow bull dozers to get through into the backs. And they were going to start digging up the drying greens and the kids play areas to build this car park.

And basically the people says to us ‘do you think there’s anything we can do about this. Nobody in the area wants this. Everybody is absolutely against the idea. We have petitioned the Labour Party through the Labour Club – they lost the petition that we handed in – and can it be stopped? ’.

     I gave the answer that I always give people that ask me that question and I answered ‘How determined are you?’ And they said they were absolutely determined about it so I asked them to get a couple of the families together, we went up and saw them, and we talked to them. We being a group of local community activists in Castlemilk, myself and a couple of the others were anarchists, some of the others had no political affiliation, there might have been one or two people in the Labour party, or some kinda left wing groups or whatever but generally I would describe the whole feeling of the thing as kinda anarchistic.

We went up and seen the people. We suggested to them that they get another petition together – no because there any value in getting a petition - but jist to give us an opportunity to go back round everybody again , talk to them on their doorstep, and ask them if they were still prepared to do something about it. We did that the next day , it was only a quad , a really small area, everybody agreed that they were against it. So we went up to the Labour Club, we said that we had another petition, but we weren’t giving it them in or whatever, and we wanted something done about it. We asked to see somebody – they refused to let us see anybody, so we went back down the road and we made our plans for the next day.

      The next day the bulldozers came and we decided just to block the whole entrance to the back greens, refused to allow the bulldozers through. And I went up and I spoke to the guy that was driving the bulldozer and explained the situation to him and as usual when you speak to other working class people they generally see the point, I will have to phone my gaffer, well that’s exactly what we want you to do, and he phoned his gaffer and he phoned his gaffer and he phoned his gaffer and before too long we had all the relevant people down at the site and that ultimately they sent for the council. When the councillors arrived ( I don’t know if it was that day) but some point in the thing, the councillors arrived in a limo, and so it went from a situation where the councillors refused to see the people but because of the direct action that we took they had to eventually come to us to see us in person. And within a very short space of time they saw that we weren’t going to allow them to build a car park in the back green and they had to cancel the whole thing.

So it was an outright victory for the people.

Stasia; and these are publicity photos?

     This is a wee exhibition that the tenants done at the time. After the victory we done these sheets and people put in their comments and pictures, newspaper cuttings, explaining how we halted the car park and we actually used these in other struggles by putting these up and we explained to people that this is how you can take things on and win the situation.

List of the material

Sheets that you can put up on walls hand made posters (John Cooper Snr Handwriting)

A wee folder of all the newspaper coverage at the time

People writing poems about it

Pictures taken at the time by Charlie Fisher non resident photographer (who helped with the community newspaper Castlemilk Today)

Dept of housing official papers

Minutes of the council meetings

MP letters from Westminster Teddy Taylor

And letters from Glasgow District council

Copy of petition 2 not handed in because previous one lost.

     Initially the people went to the Labour Councillors which is the obvious way to deal with the situation. They went to them, handed in a petition to the Labour Club who basically ignored them and said they lost the petition so the Labour Councillors basically refused to take up their issue for them and they were quite happy to allow it to go ahead. And because they were able to come to us the people that lived there, we advised them on how to deal with the situation and we were there with them and we managed to stop it completely and the backs were all reinstated.

Impact

      Some of the people in the campaign for the most were delighted at the victory, it was something that they thought they could not achieve in view of the fact that they had already started the work so not only did they stop the thing but they actually retrieved the thing from the ashes so to speak. I think a lot of people felt a great sense of empowerment, and certainly some were involved in other campaigns after that.

 

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

Glasgow Needs More Public Spaces.

       The Glasgow City Council are elected on the principle that they work for the people of Glasgow, however, they seem to get the idea that they are the overlords of the people, and keep coming up with ideas that the people don't want. The only way to stop this is for the people to tell they council what they want and what they don't want. The latest grandiose idea from the Council is to take what is a well used public space, and turn it into another private commercial area. We need more public spaces in the city, not less, the Buchanan steps at the top of Buchanan Street is a well used meeting place, chatting place, rallying place, meditating place, sitting people watching place, and whatever. It may not have been intended for any of these purposes when it was built, but it has filled the bill in all of them and more, the people have made it so. Let's keep that space public, open and accessible to all. 

This from 38 Degrees:

      The iconic steps up to the Royal Concert Hall are under threat - a private company wants to demolish them. [1] The steps are well loved, and used by people across the city, from workers on their lunch breaks to political protesters during the referendum.
      Glasgow City Council could make a decision any day now - so we need to act fast. Together, we need to pressure our local councillors. If they hear from thousands of local people who want the steps to stay, they could be forced to leave them well alone.
       Can you email your local councillors now, telling them to save the steps?
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/steps-speak
       Already over 12,000 of us have signed the petition to save the steps. [2] Many Glaswegians are outraged about the idea to remove such a well-used and well-loved landmark. [3] A huge people-powered petition, as well as hearing directly from thousands of us, could be enough to save them.
       Together 38 Degrees members are protecting our public spaces - just last week a petition signed by over 5,000 of us pushed Glasgow Council to hold off on their plan to sell off Barrowland Park. [4] Let’s keep standing up for our community spaces.
       Can you email your local councillors now, telling them to save the steps?
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/steps-speak

Thanks for being involved,
Jen, Amy, Elizabeth, Robin & the 38 Degrees team

      PS: Ben and Stephen, 38 Degrees members in Glasgow, are holding a rally on Saturday 6th December, 2pm at the Steps (top of Buchanan Street), with a line-up of musicians and speakers. Will you come along and show your support?
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/glasgow-steps-event

      PPS: If there’s another issue in Glasgow you care about, you can start your own campaign here:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/scotland-cby

NOTES:
[1]Evening Times: Land to be snapped up for expanded Buchanan Galleries:
http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/land-to-be-snapped-up-for-expanded-galleries-175657n.24989503
[2] Campaigns By You: ‘Save the Steps’ Petition:
https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/save-the-steps
[3] STV Glasgow: Glasgwegians hit out over plans to scrap concert hall steps:
http://glasgow.stv.tv/articles/297738-call-to-save-iconic-glasgow-royal-concert-hall-steps/
[4] STV Glasgow: The Barrowland Park and Album Pathway will not move in 2015, say Glasgow City Council:
http://glasgow.stv.tv/articles/301160-glasgows-barrowland-park-and-album-pathway-wont-be-moved-in-2015/

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

It Is Our City, It's Not For Sale.

        In our city, Glasgow, it is not unusual to see right of way paths, public access and public spaces disappear. For some years now, there has been a campaign to open up access in the city centre, along the south bank of the river Clyde to public access. It is at present a lovely path, running along the side of the river but closed as it runs in front of private property.

 

       This sort of thing is nothing new, it goes away back, as the following extract from an old Glasgow Herald of 100 years ago states: 

    The Glasgow Right of Way Defence Committee have secured  the co-operation of the Govan Parish Council in their efforts to conserve the rights of way along the south bank of the Clyde. The Glasgow Corporation in their General Provision Order are applying for confirmation of the sale of the rights of way at Fairfields and Middleton Shipyards, and also for power to sell the right of way at Linthouse Shipyard.

       Of course those guilty of disposing of public spaces and rights of way, etc. are those elected for the express purpose of protecting those same public spaces, Glasgow City Council. They always seem eager to sell off our public assets to the highest bidder, part of Pollok Park went for a motorway. At the moment in Glasgow, there are campaigns to stop the council selling of part of Victoria Park, getting rid of Sighthill Park, and a constant vigilance by the public to prevent the sell of of part of Kelvingrove Park and parts of the Glasgow Green. 
      It would appear to all intent and purposes, our City Council is no more than a branch of the corporate greed machine. Left to their own devices they will denude our city of all public spaces and public assets, flogging everything off the their business buddies.

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

Springburn, Left To Rot!!

 Springburn Public Halls, left to rot before being knocked down.

       Well, well, poor old Springburn and the North of Glasgow. It seems that our city fathers, at Kremlin in George Square, don't know that our fair city has a North End. In their gigantic tax funded, corporate extravaganza, The Corporatewealth Games, they stated that it was for all the city. I have just received their latest glossy Glasgow Magazine, and being a Springburn man, I had a wee look to see how it would impact on my part of the city, but it seems the city fathers don't know where Springburn is, or perhaps they think it is outside our city, hence the lack of interest.

 Springburn Park winter gardens, yep, left to rot.

      The East End has a time trial running through it to the city centre. The Southside, has a marathon running through it to the city centre. The West End has a road race running through it to the city centre. There are games venues in the East End, the Southside, and the West End, and "live zones" in the East, the city centre, the Southside and the West End. Their wee map is festoon with little symbols indicating Glasgow Landmarks, but nothing in the North side of the city. as far as this piece of corporate plunder is concerned, Springburn is a wasteland, not worth pilfering. Our call to fame in Springburn is our poverty and deprivation, we have the country's worst child poverty and the highest number of request for child care orders. Having "cleansed" the East End of peasants, perhaps they thought that the cost of doing likewise in the North was a cost too far. At least the transport should run as normal in the North of the city. You could visit Springburn every day and not even know there was such a "Greatest Show on Earth" corporate extravaganza going on in our fair soon to be bankrupted city.

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

One Day All The Lies Will Collapse----.

        Another interesting and informative article from Glasgow Games Monitor 2014. This one is on, the pie-in-the-sky, "legacy" of the games. The magic phrase that is supposed to make you think that, all that public money being handed over to the corporate world, is actually for your benefit. After the "greatest show on earth" moves on, we will have a wonderful "Legacy". As Joseph Goebbels, Nazi propaganda master said, "The bigger the lie, the more it will be believed". However, even he knew it must all come crashing down.

   From the Games Monitor article:

     However, we argue that ‘legacy’ claims are one of the primary means to legitimise, and deflect attention from, massive public expenditure on Games events. This expenditure on urban spectacle is almost always for the benefit of business; the bread and circuses of the spectacle is a great way of alienating people from the exploitative realities of land-grabbing, displacement, and gentrification. Glasgow City Council Leader, Gordon Matheson, intends to sell “two weeks of magic” to an increasingly suspicious public.

Read the full article HERE:

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