The EU Coup Over Greece Proves Who Rules.

       We should not underestimate what has happened in Greece, it is crystal clear proof that national governments have no say in how their country is run. Democracy in capitalism, is, as anarchists have been saying for centuries, an illusion, those with the greatest wealth have the greatest power, and they will use that to defend and further their position of wealth and power. 

     The people of Greece are suffering the worst poverty seen in Europe since the end of the second world war. Did that brotherhood of nations, the EU rush forward to help the suffering people? A resounding NO, the rushed forward to try to save their debt ridden banks. As far as the plutocrats that control Europe are concerned, the people of Greece can go to hell in a handcart. This is capitalism functioning as intended, brutal, ruthless and exploitative, a system without compassion. 

       To imagine that there is a milder, more people friendly and compassionate capitalism, is naivety in the extreme. If we the people want justice and fairness for all our people, then we have to start in earnest, to demolish this blot on the face of humanity. We have to relegate capitalism to the bin of distant history, to the fog of the past, and start, in the here and now, to create that better society. To organise in our communities and workplaces, to take control, to shape things the way we want them to be.

      Take Greece as your last warning, it is writ large who controls your life, who controls the direction you will be driven. As a people we can be the slaves of the financial Mafia, or the masters of our own destiny.

An interesting article from A World To Win:

      The eurozone, along with the rest of the capitalist world, is weighed down by debt and economic growth rates have failed to return to their pre-crash levels by some margin. Germany, France and the others are not interested in democracy and not open to pressure or protest, as Syriza have found out. Merkel and co are themselves locked into overriding economic and financial forces.
      Appeals by Tsipras and former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis to European solidarity and democracy were therefore bound to fall on stony ground. Their failure to attack capitalism as a system was noticeable and was a weakness. Yet there can’t be a regulated, “softer” form of capitalism, where some countries do austerity and others don’t as a matter of choice, especially within the eurozone where the ECB controls every country’s banks.

Read the full article HERE: 

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

The eurozone, along with the rest of the capitalist world, is weighed down by debt and economic growth rates have failed to return to their pre-crash levels by some margin. Germany, France and the others are not interested in democracy and not open to pressure or protest, as Syriza have found out. Merkel and co are themselves locked into overriding economic and financial forces.
Appeals by Tsipras and former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis to European solidarity and democracy were therefore bound to fall on stony ground. Their failure to attack capitalism as a system was noticeable and was a weakness. Yet there can’t be a regulated, “softer” form of capitalism, where some countries do austerity and others don’t as a matter of choice, especially within the eurozone where the ECB controls every country’s banks.
- See more at: http://www.aworldtowin.net/blog/a-very-capitalist-coup.html#sthash.1RcuvMjj.dpuf

National Security And Child Abuse.

 

       Though most of us find the Crooks and Liars competition, (the general election) similar to an avalanche of bullshit, our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, are covering us in shovelfuls of the crap. This of course knocks a lot of other stuff off the front page, and keeps the smoke and mirrors functioning well.

       On of the subjects that our lords and master are very keen to keep of the front page is the long running saga of paedophiles in high places. The whole sorry mess of Savile and his closest friends and acquaintances, all shuffling their vile way of life through the corridors of power, is something that they will do anything to keep in the locked cupboard. When anything surfaces connecting our "good and great" to this deep dark secret, it is dismissed as groundless or worse. Then when they die, we find, oh well, there might have been something in his life, that was slightly "askew", Leon Brittan comes to mind, then we find that Lord Jenner, might have "blotted his copy book", but alas, he is too sick to testify, how very convenient. Most sane and rational people will accept that there has been far, far too many instances of leaks and cover-ups in this vile secret of our "betters" for there to have been "no case to answer". Let's raise the roof on this matter, after all it was working class kids that were being brutally abused by those so called "upper class" and wealthy.

This from A World To Win:

      -------The broadcaster then drove the question home, and asked if there had been a “big political cover-up”. Tebbit was vaguely forthcoming: “I think there may well have been. But it was almost unconscious. It was the thing that people did at that time.”

      Concurrent with this informal admission is a video clip that is equally casual in its admittance of cover-ups and impunity for high-up paedophiles. A short extract from the Michael Cockerell documentary Westminster's Secret Service broadcast by the BBC in 1995 is available on YouTube. The clip shows an interview with Tim Fortescue, a Whip under Edward Heath between 1970 and 1973. In it, he revealed that MPs came to him if they were:

 “in trouble … it might be debt or it might be small boys. They would come and ask if we could help. If we could, we did, and we would do everything we can because we would store up brownie points … If we can get a chap out of trouble, he will do as we ask for ever more.”

       Fortescue is referring to the practice known as the little black “dirt book” which contained information about MPs, and which was used as a method of political control. One could almost call the MPs who “got into trouble with small boys” state-sponsored paedophiles.-----

Read the full article HERE:

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

Paedophiles And The Corridors Of Power.

         When will we get to the bottom of this paedophilia cesspit, frequented by the high and the mighty? When will we demand an end to the cover-up of those in high places, protected by the all covering blanket of "national security", that is thrown around their vile abusive actions? As they say, there is no smoke without fire, time and time again these accusations come up, and time and time again, political and security services waffle, shunts it into the long grass. This story of paedophiles walking the corridors of power with impunity, has lingered for decades. Now and again some brave soul rises to point the finger, and then disappears into obscurity, stories float around figures in high places, nothing is cleared up, they go on their merry way, but the stories gain in number and longevity, and we are more or less lead to believe it is all the work of a few trouble makers. For these stories to have persisted for so long, against the highest and most powerful in the land, without it being cleared up thoroughly, points to a total ineptitude of our political class, and/or a cover-up of massive proportions. Perhaps this interesting article from A World To Win might help you make up your mind on which option to believe. I'm sure, that if enough of us got behind this abuse of people and power, we could destroy this cancer at the heart of the political charlatans, we could blow it wide open and force the naming and shaming of these brutal abusers, hiding behind the shield of a corrupt establishment.

      -----So for children and survivors the risks of telling the truth are overwhelming. Whistle-blowers face the same risks. One example goes back to the 1980s again. Journalist Don Hale tried to report a case of institutional child abuse in 1984. He was greeted with police harassment and a D-notice which invokes “national security” to block publication. Interestingly for a care home located in Bury, it was not the local police who swooped on Hale’s office. It was Special Branch. This indicates what is loosely termed “national security” was at stake. In the name of “national security” the gloves come off. What is emerging even in mainstream media is the involvement of Special Branch in the cover-up of Establishment paedophile rings. Police detectives have repeatedly revealed to Exaro website that for the past 30 years Special Branch has been warning individual officers off cases that might uncover Establishment paedophiles. Their careers were at stake, they were told. For civilians, their lives are at stake.  -------

Read the full article HERE:

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

Beyond Capitalism.

 This from A World To Win:

      This People’s Inquiry offers a chance to share ideas and information about the related crises facing humanity. It is open to individuals, campaign groups, trade unions, academics and students. Working together, we can deepen our knowledge and work on solutions.

       Climate change has passed a tipping point and extreme weather is just one of the results. The global economic and financial system has entered a renewed, deeper crisis. Anger at the way political systems are corrupted by corporations and lobbyists is at boiling point.

      There is worldwide opposition and resistance, but as yet no shared strategy for getting beyond capitalism. Reaching the point where we achieve such a strategy is the main purpose of the inquiry.

We have suggested six areas for the inquiry together with some questions that will help focus our work:

• The ecosystem, including climate change and species loss
• Global economy and finance, where the 1% rule over the 99%
• The state, democracy and social rights (like health and housing)
• Ideology and philosophy – dialectics of liberation   
• Culture, education and sport – how they can help set us free
• Networks/organisations/strategies for revolutionary change

A World to Win is proposing a three-stage process:

1. Gathering evidence through papers, web references and contributions from individuals and groups. People can bear witness about their own situation or campaign, through text or by sending video or audio files.
2. Face-to-face meetings in different locations, and on-line meetings, to assess and discuss the evidence, draw conclusions and make proposals.
3. A working group, which contributors will be invited to join, will discuss the results and collaborate on the contents of a draft final report that maps out a way forward.

The inquiry is hosted on A World to Win’s network platform. Please register to post material,  make comments and get the inquiry under way!

Paul Feldman
Communications editor

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

Show Your Anger By A Stroll Through Town!!.

     He marched them up to the top of the hill and then marched them down again!! The British people are seeing their living standards being decimated, and the TUC wants us to show our anger by going for a walk on a Saturday afternoon in 8 months time. That'll teach the ConDem coalition buggers not to mess with us!!

I enjoyed this article from A World To Win:

 

      Yes, in eight months’ time we are being invited to march through London to a rally in Hyde Park.  Not on a weekday because that might involve people going on strike (God forbid) to take part. No, as usual, we will all walk calmly through the centre of the city on a Saturday afternoon.

     There, if you care to stay for the rally, you will hear speeches from TUC luminaries and probably Labour leader Ed Miliband. They will be standing under the banner of “Britain Needs a Pay Rise”. Not workers, you notice, but “Britain”.

Read the full article HERE:

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

Yes, in eight months’ time we are being invited to march through London to a rally in Hyde Park.  Not on a weekday because that might involve people going on strike (God forbid) to take part. No, as usual, we will all walk calmly through the centre of the city on a Saturday afternoon.
There, if you care to stay for the rally, you will hear speeches from TUC luminaries and probably Labour leader Ed Miliband. They will be standing under the banner of “Britain Needs a Pay Rise”. Not workers, you notice, but “Britain”.
- See more at: http://www.aworldtowin.net/blog/in-case-you-missed-it-heres-hot-news.html#sthash.Hf12jLQP.dpuf

Yes, in eight months’ time we are being invited to march through London to a rally in Hyde Park.  Not on a weekday because that might involve people going on strike (God forbid) to take part. No, as usual, we will all walk calmly through the centre of the city on a Saturday afternoon.
There, if you care to stay for the rally, you will hear speeches from TUC luminaries and probably Labour leader Ed Miliband. They will be standing under the banner of “Britain Needs a Pay Rise”. Not workers, you notice, but “Britain”.
- See more at: http://www.aworldtowin.net/blog/in-case-you-missed-it-heres-hot-news.html#sthash.Hf12jLQP.dpuf

See Through The Smoke And Mirrors.

        Do you not get really pissed-off listening to those pretty butterfly people who live in the rarified atmosphere of the political machine, spouting how the economy is growing faster than expected? All their meaningless phrases of dropping unemployment, economic growth, and falling inflation, seem like you are watching a fantasy movie, something far removed from the real world that you and I inhabit.

      Of those individuals who have come off the unemployment register, how many are in workfare schemes working for nothing? How many are on zero hours contracts getting four hours today, nothing tomorrow, and perhaps twelve hours next week? The truth is that in this country there are now more people in poverty and working, than in poverty and not working. While those pretty butterfly people in expensive suits, go on about the steady growth, they preside over a country that has more than 3.5 million children living in poverty, that's 27% of all children in the UK. Of course poverty isn't spread equally across the country, in some local wards the child poverty rate varies from 50% to 70%. Your post code will dictate the quality of your children's lives, no matter what illusions the political parasites spout. According to new research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the number of (childless) adults of working-age in poverty is predicted to rise by over 40% by 2020. It also shows that the 2020 child poverty targets will be missed and the number of children in poverty will increase unless drastic action is taken now.

      There is a kind of whoopin' and haulrin' from our political illusion weavers of the good times just around the corner, when in fact the whole global economy is tettering to a grinding halt, with all the attendant misery that this holds for you and I the ordinary people. Capitalism has succeeded in doing what it was set up to do, make a few people very, very rich, at the expense of the vast majority. It was never intended, nor could it possibly, see to the needs of all the people, they need to be exploited for that wealth to accumulate in the hands of the parasite class.

      The world is very rich in resources and skills, yet it is awash with poverty, this is no accident, nor unavoidable, it is the result of the economic system that is foisted on us by those who stand to gain the most from that system. Until we get rid of that exploitative system of greed, we are heading deeper into a world of deprivation, wars and misery.

This extract from an interesting article on A World To Win:

       With demand from emerging economies slowing, prices on the global commodities exchanges are dropping. The price of an ounce of gold – the universal measure of the value of commodities – dropped last year from $1,900 to $1,200.

      Deflation has another damaging result. The real value and cost of debt actually increases. Highly indebted countries, corporations and individuals around the world had better take note. Talk of a “recovery” is not only premature but entirely ignores what’s really happening in the global economy.

Read the full article HERE:

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

The Leader Has Spoken.

     So the fire breathing dragon Len McCluskey, turned out to be a pantomime version. This is the man who bellowed fire about united strike action, general strike, a determined fight against the attack on wages and conditions, and when the first real battle looms, we find that his flame is really a hand held sparkler. So the workers of Grangmouth are handed on a plate to the greed driven, ruthless corporate entity Ineos. We all know there were alternatives, but the careerist McCluskey, didn't want to rock the boat too much, he is part of that club that puts "the economy" first and believes the workers must be lead and controlled.

This from A World To Win:

SNP claims that a capitalist Scotland would be in some way better for Scottish workers have been exploded. Ineos, like all Scotland's key industries from oil to whisky, is not "Scottish". They are run by freebooting global capitalist transnationals with no care for local conditions, except where they impact on profits.
The adjacent oil refinery, whose waste product is processed at the threatened plant, is owned by Petroineos, a refining and trading joint venture between Ineos and the Chinese government-owned PetroChina. Its other refinery is at Lavera, near Marseilles.
As the recession continues and fracking throws more cheap US coal and gas on to the world market, who knows what will happen to the offshore oil refining business. There is no such thing as security for workers, whatever the status of their country's governance.
- See more at: http://www.aworldtowin.net/blog/grangemouth-workers-hung-out-to-dry.html#sthash.YBtw0dTe.dpuf

 

      SNP claims that a capitalist Scotland would be in some way better for Scottish workers have been exploded. Ineos, like all Scotland's key industries from oil to whisky, is not "Scottish". They are run by freebooting global capitalist transnationals with no care for local conditions, except where they impact on profits.

      The adjacent oil refinery, whose waste product is processed at the threatened plant, is owned by Petroineos, a refining and trading joint venture between Ineos and the Chinese government-owned PetroChina. Its other refinery is at Lavera, near Marseilles.

     As the recession continues and fracking throws more cheap US coal and gas on to the world market, who knows what will happen to the offshore oil refining business. There is no such thing as security for workers, whatever the status of their country's governance.

Read the full article here:

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

SNP claims that a capitalist Scotland would be in some way better for Scottish workers have been exploded. Ineos, like all Scotland's key industries from oil to whisky, is not "Scottish". They are run by freebooting global capitalist transnationals with no care for local conditions, except where they impact on profits.
The adjacent oil refinery, whose waste product is processed at the threatened plant, is owned by Petroineos, a refining and trading joint venture between Ineos and the Chinese government-owned PetroChina. Its other refinery is at Lavera, near Marseilles.
As the recession continues and fracking throws more cheap US coal and gas on to the world market, who knows what will happen to the offshore oil refining business. There is no such thing as security for workers, whatever the status of their country's governance.
- See more at: http://www.aworldtowin.net/blog/grangemouth-workers-hung-out-to-dry.html#sthash.YBtw0dTe.dpuf

Silencing Dissent.

      Under our present system, lobbying is seen as a way the big boys can buy politicians and shape  government policy. People complain and the government sees this as a way of silencing dissent, so introduces a bill that will silence critical opposition. There are many roads to fascism, and the state knows them all.

This from A World To Win. 

How the state plans to shut down dissent

  

        Later this month, the Trades Union Congress is backing a march and rally in Manchester against the ConDems’ carve-up of the NHS. Next year, a repeat campaign could be deemed illegal under legislation due for debate in parliament today.

       The TUC is not exactly a scaremongering organisation. So when general secretary Frances O’Grady warns that the Transparency of Lobbying, non-Party Campaigning, and Trade Union Administration Bill is an “attack on free speech worthy of an authoritarian dictatorship” there is just cause for alarm.

       She points out that the Bill has been drawn so widely that it will “shut down dissent for the year before an election”, adding: “No organisation that criticises a government policy will be able to overdraw their limited ration of dissent without fearing a visit from the police.”

Read the full article HERE:

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

How the state plans to shut down dissent

Later this month, the Trades Union Congress is backing a march and rally in Manchester against the ConDems’ carve-up of the NHS. Next year, a repeat campaign could be deemed illegal under legislation due for debate in parliament today.
The TUC is not exactly a scaremongering organisation. So when general secretary Frances O’Grady warns that the Transparency of Lobbying, non-Party Campaigning, and Trade Union Administration Bill is an “attack on free speech worthy of an authoritarian dictatorship” there is just cause for alarm.
She points out that the Bill has been drawn so widely that it will “shut down dissent for the year before an election”, adding: “No organisation that criticises a government policy will be able to overdraw their limited ration of dissent without fearing a visit from the police.”
- See more at: http://www.aworldtowin.net/blog/how-state-plans-to-shut-down-dissent.html#sthash.0K5yduAp.dpuf

The March Of The Right.

      We have had the rise of fascism in Greece, we have had the removal of an elected government in Italy and had it replaced by a "technocrat" from the Troika. So it goes on, country after country moves further to the right. We in the UK, are facing the same lunge to the right, though our mob are a little more subtle. They slide legislation through under the guise of efficiency and give it innocent sounding names, this latest one is "reforming the legal aid legislation", it should read, "destroying the legal aid legislation".

This from A World To Win:

     Since April 1, legal aid has no longer been available for cases involving divorce, child custody, clinical negligence, welfare, employment, immigration, housing, debt, benefit and education. A number of advice centres have closed as a result. An estimated 600,000 people will lose access to advice and legal representation.

Read the full article HERE:

ann arky's home.

That Elusive Growth Thingy.

      Austerity isn't working for that elusive "growth", across the globe the "experts" keep cutting the expectations of economic growth. So what's their answer? More "structural reforms", in other words, more of the failed austerity. The policies that are devastating the living standards across the world, according to those "experts" have to be re-doubled. Corporate growth means more than the wellbeing of people, screw a generation or two, as long as our failed and unjust economic system survives. Wage increases in the UK for the last year were running at an average of 0.8%, while inflation is steady at 2.8%, in real terms, that's a massive wage cut. Wage cuts are only part of the question, thousands of working people are paid so low that they have to rely on benefits of one kind or another, and with benefit cuts coming into play, poverty's cruel hand is grabbing the coattails of more and more individuals and families.

       Falling wages, slashed benefit cuts and rising unemployment, all, so we are told, necessary, for what? Necessary for the survival of an economic system that will never see to the needs of the ordinary people. Necessary for the survival of a system that pampers parasites. The world is not short of resources, we have enough to see to the needs of all on this planet. Warehouses are full of food and other necessities of live. We don't, not because we don't know how to go about it, nor is it because we don't want to see to the needs of all. No, its because the rich and wealth, through their political puppets, forbid such actions to take place without there being a profit in it for them. In the corporate world, life is cheap, but commodities are expensive.

From A World To Win:

 "--------Summarising the latest set of global data, leading economics professor Eswar Prasad says: “The global economic recovery remains stuck below takeoff speed, unable to achieve liftoff and facing the risk of stalling.”          

        Prasad’s warning that “politicians around the world continue to avoid tough structural reforms, instead relying on central banks to continue propping up growth”, implies a redoubling of the assault on living standards that has produced 60% unemployment among young people in Greece and Spain."

Read the full article HERE:

ann arky's home.

 

WHO DO YOU WANT TO SHAPE YOUR WORLD?

       It is important for us to realise this, "economic downturn" that we are experiencing is not a national problem, it is an international problem. The powers that be, the corporate world, realise this, and organise accordingly, drawing on international resources to shape the outcome to their desires. We have to do likewise, we have to join hands across borders and co-ordinate our struggle, drawing on the limitless energy, imagination and ingenuity of the world's ordinary people. This is the force that must shape the world's economic systems so fulfilling the desires of the ordinary people. We cannot leave it to the greed merchants of the corporate world to create further inequalities in their drive to increase their wealth and power. We have had their capitalist world for centuries now, and the result is poverty and starvation on a scale never known before, wars across the globe on a scale of brutality and ferociousness never witnessed before. We have a range of inequality that has never existed before, with individuals possessing enough wealth to destroy the social fabric of a country. Such a system governed by the unimaginably wealthy can never be in the interests of of the majority of the people. It is not designed for that purpose, its primary function is to create greater wealth in the hands of those with the most wealth. It will strive to protect and increase that wealth at the expense of the environment and the people. So far, as far as the economic system is concerned, it has been functioning well, with fewer and fewer people controlling more and more of the earth's wealth and resources. Is that what we want to continue for our children and our grandchildren? Or do we envisage an alternative of justice, equality, co-operation, mutual aid and sustainability? 

      This from A World to Win:

Davos elites warn of "perfect global storm" threat

      Listening to the ConDems lecturing the low-waged and unemployed about “fairness” as they cut their state benefits when measured against inflation, reinforces the view of a government at war with ordinary people while protecting the rich and powerful.

     The policy adds weight to the contents of the latest edition of Global Risks, which the World Economic Forum produces each year before the world’s ruling elites gather at Davos to try and reshape the world in their image.

      At the centre of its concerns are the prospects of loss of confidence in government leadership and the threat of increasing unrest as inequality widens. With the ConDems held in contempt by large sections in society, and Labour presenting itself as Coalition Lite, the WEF is right to be concerned.

   The report was published on the day that European Union joblessness reached a new record high. Youth unemployment in Spain has passed 56%. No wonder Global Risks says that a eurozone meltdown cannot be ruled out.

    The report is a 80-page crystallisation of responses from “1,000 experts from industry, government, academia and civil society who were asked to review a landscape of 50 global risks”. Presented in the language of systems theory, the results are sobering:

     "Continued stress on the global economic system is positioned to absorb the attention of leaders for the foreseeable future. Meanwhile, the Earth’s environmental system is simultaneously coming under increasing stress. Future simultaneous shocks to both systems could trigger the ‘perfect global storm’, with potentially insurmountable consequences."

Read the full article HERE:

ann arky's home.

       I am a keen cyclist, yes even at my age, and as such I admire Bradley Wiggins, the man and what he has achieved. However I was disappointed and saddened at the thought of him becoming one of those kneeling and touching forelock individuals that think that Sir, in front of your name makes you a better person. So it is with that in mind and the hope that this message may reach him, that I post this article. So if you know him, pass it on. From A World to Win:

Me, not Wiggo.

Don't do it, Wiggo!

       Bradley Wiggins, heroic winner of the Tour de France, Olympic gold medallist and BBC sports personality of the year, with sideburns that help mark him out from the crowd, is reported to have accepted a knighthood. My message to him is simple: don’t do it Wiggo!

     Don’t let us see a picture of you kneeling before the Queen to become Sir Bradley. Do what Olympic opening ceremony creator Danny Boyle has done and say “No”.

       You were brought up by your mum in a small flat in Kilburn, north London. Your absent father’s passion for cycling rubbed off on you and the legendary Herne Hill velodrome in south London, was where you started out.

      You became popular through your common touch, your rapport with ordinary people. So much so that the French took you to their hearts, especially when you made jokes in their language.

       So why join the establishment? Why join the elite? Why help out the ConDem government, which is recommending you to Buckingham Palace? As US baseball fans might respond, “say it ain’t so, Wiggo”.

Read the full article HERE:

ann arky's home.

PIRATES OF THE PUBLIC PURSE.

       I have always said that the "austerity" (I love that word, it makes it sound so efficient and harmless), cuts to date are nothing, compared to what is still to come. 2013 will be crunch time, that's when the boot goes in with a vengeance. Homeless set to soar, workfare propping up the corporate profits as people are "obliged" to work for nothing more than their job seekers benefits, disability allowances disappearing, condemning thousand of vulnerable people to isolation and worse, and the only jobs on offer will be low paid part-time. Meanwhile the grand plan of transferring all the public purse to the millionaires' old boys club goes on unabated and all public assets become corporate assets. On top of all the already legislated cuts that have been in the pipeline, we are faced with massive increases in energy prices and increase rail fares. Plus Osborne has stated that all government departments will have to find extra efficiency savings, (cuts), on top of what has already been passed. However, we have to be careful when we talk about "austerity", it is not quite universal. While you and I struggle to pay our way, there are those in this twisted Alice-in-Wonderland system that are doing just fine, mostly, those who do nothing, Company directors, traders in the financial Mafia, and of course, those millionaires who pass all this "austerity" legislation. 

       An interesting article from A World to Win:

Unions should resist rail and fuel price rises with civil disobedience

      Millions of people who commute to work are a just a few weeks away from a massive cut in incomes that will intensify the dramatic fall in living standards that the recession and austerity measures have already created.
       As people struggle back to work after the Christmas holidays, they will be hit by a double whammy of steep rail fare increases and the bills for electricity and gas that in some cases will show rises of nearly 11%. his amounts to a huge transfer of wealth to the train operators and energy companies like E.On which yesterday announced increases averaging 8.7%. These will naturally impact harder on poorer households, adding to five million already in fuel poverty.
     So too will the rail fare rises. Passengers on many routes face fare increases of up to 10% next month. Season tickets and peak fares are regulated and will rise by an average 4.2%. Many commuters pay huge amounts already. For example, an annual season ticket from St Albans to London is around £3,000. That will go up by over £120 in January.
Off-peak and anytime tickets in England and Wales are set to soar, according to the watchdog Passenger Focus because they are not regulated. An anytime return from London to Norwich will now be 9.2% dearer at £107.70. A day return from Holyhead-Llandudno will be 6.5% more expensive.
      The ConDem coalition is pushing ahead with plans to reduce the £3 billion plus subsidy to the rail industry, a process that began under New Labour. That will result in ticket office closures and other “efficiency” savings.
      The rail unions have launched a campaign to bring the railways back into public ownership. Today they were holding protests in Swansea and Cardiff. More actions are planned before Christmas.
They handed out Christmas cards with a "seasonal message" from the train companies, which promised commuters will have a 2013 "packed full of cancelled trains, staff cuts and ticket office closures" while the train companies are "making huge profits".
Rob Jenks, of transport and travel union TSSA, said:

     We want to point out the dramatic rise in rail fares, a 30% increase in rail fares, compared to the average increase in people's wages of 11.9%.  So you can see there's a huge gap between what people can afford to pay and what people are having to pay.
      It's about fares, it's also about all the cuts the industry is facing as the government tries to allegedly balance the books but without taking the opportunity to actually look at what public ownership would bring and all the savings that would make by cutting out profit and various other things.

     The Action for Rail campaign says that since privatisation, more than £11 billion of public funds has been “misspent” on debt write-offs, dividend payments to private investors,  and higher interest payments in order to keep Network Rail’s debts off the government balance sheet.

     At the same time, privatisation has failed to deliver on its promises. Genuine private investment makes an insignificant contribution to the railways, representing about one per cent of the total money that goes into the railway each year.  Our fares are among the highest in Europe, many of our services are overcrowded and rely on obsolete rolling stock.

       Obviously, there is no way the Coalition is going to contemplate public ownership as an option. And nor is Labour. Shadow transport secretary Maria Eagle has only pledged to make sure that the limit on fare rises is applied more strictly. That’s really worth waiting for!
       The savage reduction in living standards that will greet millions on January 1 is unprecedented. Rail unions ought to step up their action. RMT general secretary Bob Crow has in the past talked of a campaign of civil disobedience to fight the government. There couldn’t be a better time to put his words into action than right now.
Paul Feldman
Communications editor
11 December 2012

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THE ILLUSION THAT CAPITALISM IS FAIR.

       Most of the debate on the present capitalist system and its current problems, that we get on that babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, is about how to modify the anomalies and glitches in the system. What is never on there radar is the fact that the system is inherently corrupt and beyond correction. All their debate and arguments seem to flow from the illusionary point of view that there was a time when capitalism was a fair and just system, and all we have to do is get back to those good old days and everything will be just fine. It never was a fair and just system, it never can be, it is based on someone useing others to get richer than them. It has nothing to do with providing a service, that may be, but not necessarily so, a bye product, but it is not the aim.

This from A World to Win:

The biggest loophole is capitalism itself

      As austerity deepens, with spending cuts stretching into the far horizon, there is a renewed focus on the tax that corporations pay, or rather don’t pay. Some argue that if they paid their “fair share”, cuts in services like health and care would not be so severe.
    Others like Richard Murphy of Tax Research UK, go further, claiming that "if only more had been done to tackle rampant tax evasion, Europe would not be facing a crisis today." It’s an attractive – but ultimately misleading – theory that would seem to solve the problem of public finances and the economic crisis at a stroke.
     Tax avoidance by the major corporations is an obvious target, so much so that MPs last week called names like Starbucks and Amazon to explain themselves before the Commons public accounts committee.
Chancellor George Osborne has even dedicated some funding to allow Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs to chase the worst abusers and close loopholes. He even described tax evasion as “morally repugnant”. But it’s making no impact.
       While individuals and small firms are hounded by HMRC with some success, the major transnational corporations continue to run rings around the government, as the PAC found out.

Read the full article HERE:

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ZOMBIE CAPITALISM.

      I keep going on about the worst is yet to come, and keep pointing to Greece stating that it is not the exception, it is the pattern of the future. All the crap from our millionaire suits in the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, about reducing the deficit and increasing growth, is an attempt at a feel-good factor, it is an illusion. After two years of Millionaire Osborne's master plan of screw the poor and reduce the debt, it is obvious that it is now in complete disarray. The latest figures have shattered even the economic "experts" by the size of the increase in government borrowing. The only growth is in the number of firms going bust and the number just holding for the meantime. That babbling brook of bullshit, our mainstream media, still keep up the fantasy that Greece is the problem, if only we could sort that lot out, everything would be just right. Well, their stock and trade is bullshit, so what do you expect from them? Believe me, the worst is yet to come.

This from A World to Win:

'Zombie capitalism' more dead than alive

     You don’t have to listen too closely to hear the sound of factory gates slamming for the last time, and shutters rolling down over retail outlets. Consumer electrical chain Comet is just one amongst the many household names facing up to the consequences of the accelerating global contraction.
    Closing down sales are in progress across the country and thousands upon thousands of jobs are disappearing. Close to 2,000 of its former employees will be on the streets by the end of November.  
    Workers for iconic brands in every sector are under attack. Alongside Comet comes Hovis. Premier foods, owner of Hovis which it acquired in 2007 with the purchase of Rank Hovis McDougall is struggling with £1 billion of debt. The debt burden was much bigger until it was forced to sell Branston Pickle to the Japanese Mizkan group and Hartley’s jam to the marvellously-named US-based Hain Celestial.
     This summer’s extreme weather around the world devastated crops, driving wheat prices towards the stars, and pushing the cost of Premier’s bread beyond the reach of the Co-op which then cancelled its contract. 

Read the full article HERE:

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BEYOND RESISTANCE.

           I know that I harp on and on about Greece, but I see what is happening in that country as a tide that is coming our way. It is not that Greece is doing something different from the rest of us, it isn't even a self-inflicted wound. What is happening in Greece is being directed by the financial mafia, better known as the "Troika", which as we all know doesn't even sit in Greece. We also know that these policies are the very same policies that are being forced, at the dictate of that same "Troika", on every nation in Europe. We would be naive to believe that somehow these policies will have a different effect on us, than other countries, that somehow the "Troika" will look more favourably on us than it would the Greeks. We are fortunate in so much as by looking closely at what is happening in Greece, we can see the road that the "Troika" is driving the people down. 

    To be forewarned is to be forearmed. Shall we wait for the decimation of our society, shall we wait for the deprivation and then try to pull ourselves out of the chaos and misery. Shall we wait until our children's' futures are destroyed completely, and hope that the financial markets will look more kindly on us? Or perhaps we could do a George W. Bush and go for a pre-emptive strike? Self defence is not a crime.

Another interesting article from A World to Win:

How we can move beyond resistance

     Everyone joining tomorrow’s anti-austerity march in London called by the Trades Union Congress should take heed of what is happening in Greece if we are going to find ways to move beyond resistance to the deepening crisis.

     The Greek trade unions this week held their 20th one-day general strike in two years against the absolutely savage cuts in living standards imposed by governments of the left and the right, as well as coalition regimes. Regarding the strikes as short-lived protests, the Greek state is standing firm on behalf of the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and European Union governments – the infamous Troika.

     Their riot police are working hand-in-glove with the fascist Golden Dawn to protect the authorities as society edges towards breakdown. Only just in the background stands the Greek army, whose colonels are not averse to staging military coups and taking power as they did from 1967 to 1974.

      Despite the widespread hatred of the measures that have reduced many Greeks to penury – to the point where many can’t even afford to bury their dead or obtain vital drugs – the misery is scheduled to worsen, with further pay and pension cuts. One in four are already out of work and job losses are continuing.

     Britain’s situation is not like Greece’s, you could argue. But that would be a superficial view. Greece is at the sharp end of a global crisis of capitalism that is driving policy making in every single country.

Read the full article HERE:

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A PEOPLE'S AGREEMENT 2012.

         We know that the present system stinks, is corrupt, unjust, exploitative and panders to the 1% pampered parasite group of arrogant greedy millionaires, but what do we put in its place? The A World to Win group have put together "an agreement of the People for 2012", what do anarchists think?

An Agreement of the People for 2012

In the light of the ConDems plan to turn Britain into a total market state and Ed Miilband’s plan for Labour to “save capitalism from itself”, we present a 2012 draft of the Agreement of the People (with deference to the Levellers and their 1647 version debated at Putney).

hereas the current British state political system is undemocratic and unjust in that:

• the state is a highly centralised, alienating power that has established itself above society as a whole

• this power is exercised primarily on behalf of dominant economic and financial interests

• legal authority does not come from the people as citizens, but from the Monarchy, Lords and Commons

• the House of Commons is a powerless assembly rather than an independent transforming legislature 

• Members of Parliament do not exercise any real control over ministers or civil servants  

• a surveillance state secretly monitors and tracks the legitimate activities of activists, trade unionists and protesters

• increasing numbers of “arms-length” quasi-state agencies have been created which are totally unaccountable at central and local level

• local government has lost its relative autonomy and is now reduced to carrying out central government orders and decisions

• the state has abandoned primary responsibility in a number of areas including housing, higher education and care in older age in favour of markets

• the states refuses to take steps to cut carbon emissions and other measures to meet the challenge of climate change. 
  Read the full agreement HERE:
  
  
  
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CORPORATE ENGINEERED HUNGER.

       There is a world hunger problem and sadly the institutions and economic system that caused the hunger problem in the first place are the ones that are  sitting round that table discussing how they can gain from the situation. What ever answer they put on the table must involve the corporate world profiting and the tax payer paying. It is the only philosophy they know. Human suffering can only be resolved if there is profit for the corporate world in the operation. That's corporate capitalism.

Another excellent article from A World to Win:

       Because of the global crises, taking control of the earth’s remaining resources – land, water, forests, biodiversity – has become crucial to the survival of capitalism and the corporations. At the recently concluded Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, this resource grab has been institutionalised under the label of ‘green economy’.

Read the full article here:

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YES, MORE ON THE OLYMPICS.

----and a little more on the Olympics, this time from A World to Win:

Olympic dream and reality

It’s exactly a year since inner-city riots swept London and other parts of the country. They were sparked by bottled-up anger at the arrogance of the police and rapidly spread into a brief orgy of looting and general destructiveness that took many, including the police, by surprise.
As the medals stack up, politicians backed up by the tabloids are hailing the London Olympics as a great British success story draped in endless Union Jacks. So does the hiatus as millions are drawn into the spectacle mean that the alienation which lay behind the riots has been replaced by a new sense of community, as some would have it?
It’s true that the London Olympics are a showcase for aspects of the British character and mass behaviour not normally apparent in the hardscrabble struggles of daily life. In addition to the prowess of the athletes, thousands of young people have made it as a chance to be friendly and helpful to visitors.
It may be asked where has this great surge of sporting talent and determination, which saw British athletes win six gold medals in one day, come from?

Continue READING:

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LORDS OF THE RINGS!!

From "A World to Win"

Lords of the Rings take over London

      When a café owner has to change its name, shops are banned from having a certain number of linked rings in their window, roads are barred to ordinary motorists and thousands of police and soldiers occupy a quarter of a major city, it can only mean one thing – the Olympics are here.

And when corporations are provided with a tax-free zone for the duration of the Games, you know that the shadowy International Olympic Committee is running the show. Tax exemptions were granted by UK tax authorities as part of a package of concessions demanded by the IOC. They apply to corporation and income tax for non-UK companies and individuals working on the Olympics between 30 March and 8 November this year.
         The IOC’s charter states that their mission is “to promote Olympism throughout the world and to lead the Olympic movement” and “to oppose any political or commercial abuse of sport and athletes”. This is hypocrisy writ large from the owners of the Olympic rings logo.

Continue READING:

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