MAY DAY-MAY DAY-MAY DAY!!

     

 The Cameron millionaire cabal are hell-bent on getting rid of anything that has a connection with the culture of the ordinary people, anything that the ordinary people can call their own, an event that brings them together and reminds them of the struggles of the past. Everything has to be corporate culture, good for the economy or steeped in nationalism and power. May Day has always been our day, a day when we the ordinary people of the world can come together and celebrate our past struggles, our working class heroes, our history, our culture. It is our day, a day of fun, family, reunion and solidarity. We must stand up and stop this bunch of public school millionaire thugs from trying to erase anything that unites the ordinary people across all borders and cultures. We don't want another symbol of state or corporate power to take the place of what is ours. If a bank holiday in October would "help the economy", then let's have one, there is nothing wrong with another holiday, we don't get as many as our continental neighbours.

 

      The Government is currently running a “pre-consultation” on moving the May Day bank holiday, potentially to October.

        The idea is that a later bank holiday might help stimulate domestic tourism. Whilst this could be true, the loss of domestic tourism in May would be greater than the gain – just ask any of the big retail companies and trade associations currently lobbying against the move.

       Or is this more a move to placate Tory back benchers who've long wanted to remove a public holiday with an association to May Day? It's surely a bad idea to mess around with a tradition dating back to the middle ages over a political whim.

       The Government’s consultation ends on Thursday 9th June. If you want to join us in defending May Day (and calling for an additional bank holiday whilst we're at it!) please use this online action to add your own submission to the pre-consultation.

Send your own message now

 

 

ann arky's home.

LIBYANS CHEER AND LIBYANS DIE.

        

       See here we have another "Coalition of the Willing", a bunch of Western imperialist states supported by a ragtag bag of dictatorships, about to blow the shit out of another oil rich country. No matter what the "rebels" or the "Pro-Gaddafi" groups think, it will be Libyan people that will be killed. It will be ordinary people, men women and children that will be at the receiving end of the might cruise missiles. Missiles that will be launched by a bunch of youngsters sitting in what could pass for a games console, an environment completely divorced from the reality of what they are doing. Their co-ordinates and button pushing will result in mangled bodies of young and old, ordinary Libyan people. At the end of it all, the West will have control of the oil and the Libyan people will be left with a divide country potholed by mighty missiles and pockmarked by graves.

        Is this the only answer that a civilised world has to this problem? If so we are in for a massive escalation of missile launching as our world is filled with Gaddafis, large and small, and in most cases armed to the hilt by the benevolent West. The real problem is state power and corporate capitalism working hand in glove with each other to further their power and wealth. All this has nothing to do with the welfare of the people, to the state and the corporate world, people are dispensable, profit and power are the gods.

 

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ARE YOU PROUD?

     All the mainstream media pour out stuff that is supposed to make you think that the only type of society that the human race is capable of organising is international corporate capitalism. WE are meant to believe that the only game in town is this system of greed and exploitation. We are also expected to swallow the crap that it is the only way to eradicate poverty and bring ever increasing wealth and well being to humanity. They pour this crap over you day in day out, even when the evidence to the contrary is everywhere to be seen.

    Capitalism has been nothing but boom bust boom recession with the world's wealth flowing into ever few hands at every step of the way. According to recent figures released this recession has pushed another 100 million people into poverty, this is on top of the fact that before the recession there were already 1,029,999,199 people classified as under nourished, approximately 9,351,160 people die each year from hunger, 1,454,972,999, (and rising rapidly) have no access to clean drinking water, and 4,684,945 have died from water related diseases this year so far. All this from a system that produces unimaginable wealth for a bunch of pampered parasites and can afford to spend, this year so far to the 5 December 2010 at 21:39, $3,409,887,641 world wide on armaments. The reason that you have to state the time with that last figure is that it is rising so rapidly that you can't give an accurate figure without the time factor.

      Wealth flows into all manner of sophisticated weaponry to destroy life at an immeasurable rate, while millions live in abject poverty and deprivation. This is capitalism's success story, war and weapons make millions for the corporate world, spending to lift people out of deprivation is not on the same scale when it comes to the corporate world making money.

     If we want rid of the poverty and deprivation, in most cases, it is brought about by the corporate system, then we will have to get rid of the corporate capitalist system. No modifications, no green capitalism, it doesn't work, greed is the driving engine of the system. You can't have compassionate capitalism, the shareholders would squeal because they could make much, much more by being greedy and ruthless. Profit is the name of the game.

     Why do we accept that there is no alternative when we know within our hearts that there is. We know that co-operation and mutual aid would produce a fairer system, we know that removing the profit motive and creating a society that sees to the needs of all our people would produce a fairer society. We know that if we got the parasites off our backs and took control of all the means of production and distribution we could create a sustainable fairer society that we would be proud to leave to our children and grandchildren. Look around and ask yourself, would you be proud to leave this type of society to your children and grandchildren?

ann arky's home.

MORE ON NEWS CORPORATION.

                                                          Image by John Hartfeild.

    

      A few days ago I posted a wee article on Mr. Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation and how its wonderful creative accounting and other shufflings managed to pay only 6% tax on billions of $ profit over a period of three years. His empire stretches far and wide and he is as far to the right as you can get without falling of the planet. Well Mr. Murdoch is a very anbitious man and is hell bent on taking over the entire UK media. The following is part of a campaign by avaaz to try and prevent that from happening.

      The conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch is trying to take over British media with his bid for full ownership of BSkyB. We only have 3 days to tell the regulator why this deal is bad news! Rupert Murdoch is on a fast track to control over half of this country’s newspapers and television. This week is our only chance to tell regulators to stand up for a wide choice of news, and defend our democracy.

       Britain loses if Murdoch wins. With all of the BSkyB TV network his massive dominance of our media would become further entrenched, extending his power and political influence. Here and elsewhere Murdoch has used his reach to promote conservative political candidates, the persecution of minorities, climate change denial and the dangerous lies that led to the invasion of Iraq.

       We have until Friday to stop this! Let’s flood the regulator with thousands of submissions saying why we feel this deal is against the public interest. We’ll deliver tens of thousands of comments in boxloads to Ofcom’s offices on Friday, making a media splash. Send yours now via the link below, and encourage everyone you know to do the same today.

http://www.avaaz.org/en/ofcom_no_bskyb_takeover/?vl

         Murdoch’s News Corporation already owns 39% of the BSkyB television company and four of our best-selling newspapers. His new expansion bid rides roughshod over the ‘media plurality’, which the government has a legal duty to uphold. Regulator Ofcom is accepting public comments on Murdoch’s plans for just a few days.

        This deal would allow Murdoch to cross-promote his different outputs and increase his political roles. For 30 years no British political party has won an election without Murdoch's blessing. This ability to get voters’ attention gives him frequent access to the prime minister - hence his nickname the ‘24th member of the cabinet’.

        This is a fight for the soul of British democracy. We cannot afford to have one company dominate half of our TV, newspaper and online news. From illegal spying at the News of the World here to his hate-filled Fox News empire in the U.S., Murdoch’s media erodes the values we hold dear and shows few scruples when attacking political or commercial rivals - now including the BBC.

        The Avaaz movement in Canada recently proved that determined campaigning can block conservative media takeovers. Let’s do it again here. Ofcom has given until this Friday for anyone to submit comments on whether this deal is in the public interest. Let’s send a message today and tell everyone we know.

http://draft.blogger.com/goog_1736774496

       In the world we are striving to create, citizens will be empowered by a media telling truth for the public good. Countering this deal is vital if we are to leave space for such a media in our country, and the world.

With hope,

Alex, Ricken, Brianna, Mia, Ben and the whole Avaaz team

PS Avaaz has a new website! Your feedback will be very valuable to help us improve it. You use the pink buttons on the left hand side of any page to report any problems you find.

ann arky's home.



THINK OF A NUMBER??

      

         So David Cameron, one half of the well manicured millionaire twins,  states we will be out of Afghanistan by 2015, making it a 14 years war on a poverty stricken country. Why 5 years, is that how long it will take them to complete their grand plan down to the last detail? If so what is their grand plan? Or is it just a nice number,  it sounds better than four and a bit years or there abouts, or, I'm not very sure. This 5 years is just an arbitrary number, a statement to please sections of the public but rather a callous way to approach the killing and maiming that is going on in that unfortunate country. Why not NOW, what will be different in 5 years? Does he know what state that country will be in in 5 years, can he tell us what will be regarded as a must for that withdrawal? How can he guarantee  they will have achieved their illusionary grand plan. At the moment the NATO forces are looking at an abject failure and defeat with an escalating rate of killing, but somehow in 5 years it will all be so different with peace and a true democracy flourishing in Afghanistan. The Karzai Mafia in Kabul will no longer be a cabal of drug barons, they'll be honest brokers seeking the well being of the Afghan people. Milk and honey will flow across the dusty plains of Afghanistan and our well manicured millionaires will be able to say it was all worth the sacrifice. Afghanistan will fade from the front pages, the killing will be forgotten and our troops will head off to fight another imperialist venture to make sure that the world accepts the might of Western corporate capitalism. Then the millionaires club at the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption will issue more lies about keeping Britain safe and building democracy in some other unfortunate corner of the globe, while issuing platitudes about the killing and maiming. Doesn't the system make you sick? We could work to change it!!

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A FAIR SYSTEM???

         Last year Linda Cook, former executive of Anglo-Dutch Oil, had her pension pot more than doubled to app. £16.5 million, and on leaving the company was given a “golden-goodbye” of app. £5 million taking her annual earnings, not counting the wee pension, to app.£6.5 million. At the same time the company announced that it was to axe a further 1,000 jobs, making a total of 7,000 jobs axed since last summer. Bonuses for them, dole for us!!

       Mean while the bankers still pass themselves fists full of dollars in bonuses for the useless and politicians talk about the need for cuts to our standard of living. Of course not one of the MPs proposing the cuts will feel any of the effects.

       They call it democracy, I call it rip off and exploitation, how about you?

 
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THE THEATRE OF ELECTION.

    

      As our unloved politicians gallop maniacally around the land seeking enhancing photo-opportunities and vomiting meaningless sound bites, it tells you all you need to know about our political system. It is all show and appearances, it is a personality contest, wives included. They call it democracy, I call it theatre. It is baffling how in a country that has been fighting an illegal war in Afghanistan for the last nine years can run up to an election and not one of the main parties mentions the war. Is this a coincidence or is it a pre-arranged set up by the leaders of these little political cabals to make their jabberings all on the narrowest of topics where they can speak volumes but say nothing that is related to reality.

      Imagine living in a land where the system allows you real influence and real choice. Imagine at election time engaging in debate about the war and how to end it, is the “war on drugs” a waste of time and resources, the pointless expenditure on a nuclear deterrent, should we have a religious or a secular society, why do we allow the pharmaceutical industry to bleed the our National Health Service, should we permit the privatization of the Health Service, Can we ever hope to openly debate at election time the morality of the British arms industry, the ineffectiveness of our prison system, or the unfair distribution of wealth within our society, why do we still have a Monarchy. Glory be, that would be going too far.

      What is an even greater stretch of the imagination is having been able to debate any of the above, is the possibility of that debate having any influence on those elected. No matter what is debated, it has no bearing on the policies of the elected government, that just wouldn't be British politics, that might be getting too close to democracy.

     Only with the abolition of the state and all its authoritarian institutions and replacing them with a system of free association, voluntary co-operation and mutual aid based on sustainability that sees to the needs of all our people and not to the needs of the privileged parasites that control this type of society, can we hope for fairer and just society. We need an society of communities controlled by all those who take part in those communities working in federation with each other.
For ann arky's view on elections READ.

     

 

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HIGHER PROFITS = LOWER WAGES!!!

US Beverage-Maker Mott's Celebrates Booming Sales and Share Price by  Attacking Wages!

    This is of course the pattern of things to come as companies across the globe play on the fear of employees as they see lots of jobs disappear. Strong organised union and solidarity between different trades and occupatioins is the only answer. Of course the ultimate aim should be to organise to occupy and run the various workplaces that try to return workers to the Victorian era. 

     Workers at juice and beverage manufacturer Mott's in Williamson, New York, members of the RWDSU-UFCW Local 220, are being asked to celebrate the company's highly successful sales and stock performance by agreeing to steep cuts in their wages and the elimination of their pension plan. Mott's is a subsidiary of the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, the North American beverages division spun off by Cadbury Schweppes in 2008, whose leading brands in addition to Mott's include Snapple, Yoo-hoo, A&W and Hires root beers, Crush, Sunkist, Hawaiian Punch, Canada Dry, Squirt, RC Cola, Diet Rite, and of course Schweppes, among others.

      In negotiations for a new collective agreement, management is demanding an across-the-board reduction of wages of USD 2.50 per hour and the total elimination of their company pension scheme! The company's only announced rationale for these steep cuts has been that the workers simply earn too much an astonishing claim for a profitable, growing company.

     You can support the union by sending a strong, simple message to Dr. Pepper Snapple CEO Larry Young: the company's demands are unacceptable!

To send a message go to:  http://www.iuf.org/cgi-bin/campaigns/show_campaign.cgi?c=500

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ELECTION, DEMOCRACY-MY A***.

         As the election is now set to occupy the media in its usual frenzy of excitement about nothing, we will be plagued by promises of how each and every one of the parties has the answer to our problems. The fact that we have had elections for some considerable time and the ordinary people still struggle to raise a family in decent conditions, should tell us something. Elections are a theatre put on to create the illusion that we the ordinary people are involved in the decision making process. However, no matter how we vote or if we vote, we still have to struggle to survive while the parasitical rich continually get richer. There's something wrong with the system!!! Everybody that enters the Westminster House of Corruption, comes out richer than they went in, while those who put them there are still struggling along trying to make ends meet.

       We should try to grasp the facts, the corporate world make the decisions and the sleazy two faced politicians are there to give it all a look of democracy by putting their stamp of legitimacy on those decisions. Look at what we have, CCTV cameras everywhere, was that in the party manifesto, did you vote for them? Selling off public assets at bargain prices, did you vote for that? Privatising large sections of education and health, did you vote for that? Billions given to the big banks, did you vote for that? Our money being spent on illegal invasions in Iraq and Afghanistan, not to mention the slaughter, did you vote for that? Because of the bail-out for the rich and comfortable, we are now heading for drastic cuts in our standard of living through savage cuts to health, education, benefits, pensions etc. did you vote for that?

      While the rich parasites plunder the public purse, with the blessing of their bed-mates, the political puppets, a couple of figures should make interesting reading. In Scotland the number of people living below the median wage has rise from the year 06/07. the figures for 07/08 are 8% of the population live on or below 40% of the median, 13% live below 50% of the median and 19% live below 60% of the median. With the present  “economic climate” these figures are sure to rise. Where was the money to bail-out these people, after all we are told it is a democracy. It is an cruel illusion, a cage of exploitationa, a rich parasites paradise, a blind alley for our kids, not a democracy. For ann arky's view on elections read, HERE.

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CAN'T YOU SEE!!

CAN’T YOU SEE.

Look and listen all you people

can’t you see

you’re being sold a world of illusion

fatuous spin, hypocrisy.

Packs of perverts, pushers and pimps

our media’s daily recipe.

Ever more mobiles and mega-bytes,

a road to instant lunacy.

Keyhole views of other people’s lives

the lonely voyeur’s fantasy.

Fashion and style calling the shots

days of futile fallacy

all froth and bubble, fizz and foam

a modern human tragedy.

 

ann arky's home.

NASTY PROTESTERS!!!

      

     Why do the authorities come down so heavy on protesters? A protest is really no more than a group of people wishing to be involved in the decision making process, and in an authoritarian system, that can't be tolerated. It might catch on! There is of course, always the possibility that a handful of protesters might trash a few precious trinkets of society, a society that deserves no more respect than the garbage it produces. A society that trashes the lives of the protesters' families, neighbours and friends. A society that trashes communities, villages and towns for economic reasons, example, closing factories and re-opening the other side of the world for cheaper labour.

       The heavy handed treatment also depicts a nervous ruling class, a ruling class that is aware of the threat to its power and privileges. No longer are the police mere stewards at protests, the powers that be have dropped all pretence, they know it is a class war, and now shamelessly treat it with a military response. Police supported by others in full riot gear, backed up by mounted police, with other instruments of force in the background waiting their call to action. The sooner we the exploited and controlled, accept that it is a class war the sharper and more successful our strategies will become.

       There can be no social solution to this situation because there is no longer any common ground, language or experiences between the milieus of groups and individuals that make up “society” and that other group, the parasites, the “ruling elite” that wish to continue controlling “society”.

       It can no longer be stated that a fissure exist between the two classes, it is an unbridgeable chasm, The truth of the situation is that they, the “ruling elite” need us to maintain their parasitical lives of opulence, but we have absolutely no need what so ever of them. Our lives become richer when they finally enter the dustbin of history.

 

 

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TAR SANDS KILL.

     

     Take action to keep BP out of the tar sands – the single most destructive project on earth. The BP Fortnight of Shame is a call to action from the UK Tar Sands Network, Rising Tide and the Camp for Climate Action to force BP to reverse their crazy plans to move into Canada’s tar sands. It runs between the annual Fossil Fools day on April 1st, and BP’s Annual General Meeting on April 15th. We hope to send a loud message to BP to stay out of the Tar Sands. Grassroots groups across the UK and around the world, will be taking action in solidarity with First Nations communities in Canada to stop BP’s deadly plans in their tracks.

Why are Tar Sands such a problem?

     Attempts to avert the planet from sliding into climate crisis are being threatened by a single massive project in the Canadian wilderness. Already, millions of barrels of tar sands oil are being extracted every day,producing three to five times as many greenhouse gas emissions as conventional oil. The extraction process is immensely resource-intensive,currently using enough natural gas every day to heat 3.2 million Canadian homes. Add to this the mass deforestation the projects are causing, ridding us of desperately needed carbon sinks, and it becomes clear this project cannot be allowed to continue if we are serious about preventing runaway climate change. The effects tar sands are having on local First Nations communities are devastating. The tar sands development in Alberta covers an area the size of England, with toxic tailing ponds so huge they are visible from space,leaking poisons into the local water supply. Not only are indigenous livelihoods and futures being destroyed, but communities on land where tar sands extraction has been imposed are experiencing disturbingly high rates of rare forms of cancer and auto-immune diseases.

Why target BP?

     BP are the only major oil company with no tar sands extraction projects currently in operation. This is about to change. Since 2007, BP have quietly ditched the ‘Beyond Petroleum’ sham, because investing in renewables simply wasn’t making them enough profit. They have decided to go Back to Petroleum, with a vengeance, under the leadership of new Chief Executive Tony Hayward. Moving into tar sands was one of the first steps Tony Hayward took, acquiring a half share in the Sunrise Project with Husky Energy. The Sunrise Project will be huge, producing 200,000 barrels of filthy oil a day, and using Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD), an extraction process even more energy and water intensive than the more visible surface-mining operations.

     The recession has given us a window of opportunity. BP have been forced to postpone their final decision on whether to go ahead until the second half of 2010. This means it is not too late for us to stop this outrageous project. BP are desperate for Sunrise to go ahead, and will certainly not go down without a fight, but with effective and sustained action we can win this one.

Read the full article here:  http://www.no-tar-sands.org/

ann arky's home.

THE FOG OF LIES.

Photo by John Hartfield.

     

      If it was just the sex, scandal and celebrity worship it would be bad enough but the mainstream media is much worse than just a keyhole view of the self-centred celebrity parasites and their fawning poodles. It has a much more sinister purpose, it is a necessary tool of the state/corporate/imperialism military machine and is used with a relentless brutal ruthlessness.

      Mainstream media, like harmful bacteria, is everywhere, it is accepted in its present form as if it were the guardian of society. It probably is, the guardian of this corrupt and vicious system we call capitalism. It does this by concealing and safe-guarding the shady and self-serving connections between the media, politics, government, big business, in particular, the military-industrial complex and religious organisations.

     To do this the planet and most of its inhabitants, you and me, are ruthlessly lied to, manipulated and exploited, sometimes tortured and killed, for the enrichment and gratification of a few power freaks and parasites. The mainstream media spouts patriotism, dividing the world’s working class, perpetuates such schemes as the states phony "War on terror", glorifies the present slaughter in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere as some sort of Western sacrifice for the benefit of others and works up fervour against the next sacrificial lamb, in the present case, Iran.

     The mainstream media will claim to inform and investigate when in fact all it does is pump out money making distraction or disinformation at best and at worst, cynical war-mongering propaganda. It will lie and distort with impunity, overlook, deny or " forget" its own dangerous filth but will not hesitate to crucify one of its enemies for the slightest slip-up.

     To be informed we need to ignore the mainstream media and create our own media, a working class information system that is not tied to the profit greed machine, not wedded to the corrupt state apparatus. This is easier than ever with desktop publishing and the internet, through these channels we can produce local news handouts as well as keeping ourselves informed on international affairs. We can create links across all borders with our working class brothers and sisters in any part of the world, we can create unity within our class and lay the foundations for a just and peaceful world based on sustainability and mutual aid. Let’s communicate, organise, take back our world and let the revolution flourish.

 

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GM science funded by GM corporations!!

    

      The European Commission has just approved growing genetically modified crops in the European Union for the first time in 12 years putting the GM lobby's profits over the health concerns of the public. Click below and help build a one million strong citizen's petition calling for independent research and strong regulation of GM foods: Caving to the GM lobby, the commission has ignored 60% of Europeans who feel they have to get the facts first before growing foods that could pose a threat to our health and environment.

     A new initiative allows 1 million EU citizens to make official legal requests of the European Commission. Let's build a million voices for a ban on GM foods until the research is done; they will be delivered to the President Barroso of the European Commission. Sign the petition and forward link to friends and family: http://www.avaaz.org/en/eu_health_and_biodiversity/?vl

     Consumers, public health, environmental and farmers groups have long rallied against a few international GM companies having such significant influence over European agriculture. Concerns about growing GM crops include: contamination of organic crops and the environment; their impact on climate due to the excessive need for pesticides; the destruction of biodiversity and local agriculture; and the effects of GM food on public health. EU member states have voiced strong opposition to last week's decision to authorise BASF's potato and Monsanto's maize -- Italy and Austria are opposed, and France said it would ask for further scientific research. There is still no consensus on the long-term effects of GM crops. And it is the GM industry, pursuing profits not public well being, that is funding the science and driving the regulatory environment. That is why European citizens are calling for more independent research, testing and precaution before crops are unleashed onto our land. Now, the "European Citizens' Initiative" gives 1 million EU citizens the opportunity to submit policy proposals to the European Commission and offers us a unique chance to drown out lobbyists' influence. Let's raise 1 million voices to put a moratorium on the introduction of GM crops into Europe and set up an independent, ethical and scientific body to research and determine the strong regulation of GM crops. Sign the petition now and then forward it widely: http://www.avaaz.org/en/eu_health_and_biodiversity/?vl         With determination, entire Avaaz team.

    

 More information:

Last Eurobameter Survey 2008 'Attitudes of European citizens towards the environment', page 66: http://bit.ly/aMkeVJ

The Independent, Fury as Brussels authorises GM potatoes: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/fury-as-eu-approves-gm-potato-1915833.html Reuters, France blasts GM crop approvals by EU agency: http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE6241ZQ20100305

New Report: GMOs Causing Massive Pesticide Pollution:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-kimbrell/new-report-gmos-causing-m_b_362888.html

Summary of the International Assessment on Agricultural Science and Technology for Development, including critics of GMOs use in agriculture:

http://globalpolicy.org/social-and-economic-policy/international-trade-and-development-1-57/genetically-modified-organisms.html#key

Support the Avaaz community!

      We're entirely funded by donations and receive no money from governments or corporations. Our dedicated team ensures even the smallest contributions go a long way

Avaaz.org is a 4-million-person global campaign network that works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people shape global decision-making. ("Avaaz" means "voice" or "song" in many languages.) Avaaz members live in every nation of the world; our team is spread across 13 countries on 4 continents and operates in 14 languages. Learn about some of Avaaz's biggest campaigns here, or follow us on Facebook or Twitter. To contact Avaaz, , write to us at www.avaaz.org/en/contact or call us at +1-888-922-8229 (US) or +55 21 2509 0368 (Brazil).

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+ Soviet Union No ID no entry policy +

 

   There is no end to the creeping surveillance that is penetrating every fibre of our society. This wee piece from NO2ID,  is what to expect to become the norm for visits to the cinema, supermarket and libraries etc. Unless of course we resisit and refuse. They need us more than we need them. 

   News that the Soviet Union is planning to introduce authoritarian ID checks for drinkers in Consett, County Durham may sound like the plot of a dodgy spy novel - but it's true. A 'No ID No Entry' scheme is being proposed in Consett which would mean visitors to the Soviet Union bar would have to have their passport or driving licence scanned into a computer system before they can enter. The system called 'Clubscan' is increasingly being rolled out across the UK as civil liberties are traded for booze. Of course if enough customers refuse to submit to these arbitrary ID checks then the clubs and pubs will have to remove the systems.

See:
http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/local/consett/5033467.ID_proposal_for_drinkers_welcomed_by_bar_owner/        
also:        http://www.idscan.co.uk/uk_products_clubscan.php

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KICK BACK, IT'S SELF DEFENCE.

   

    The media is now full of all those well heeled “experts” calling for deep cuts in government spending. We are bombarded with headlines reading; “Business leaders have demanded that the government start making public spending cuts this year to reduce the UK's £178bn deficit.” Not only are they calling for deep cuts but they want them now, or even yesterday. At least two employers’ groups, the CBI and the Institute of Directors have spouted that faster cuts in government borrowing are needed to restore credibility in public finances.

      It sounds all very scientific and fair, except that there is no science behind these statements, just greed. Savage cuts in government spending means more out-sourcing to the private sector, (the CBI mob) and of course eventually less tax for them to pay as government spending drops. As for the “fair” part, well, not one of those mouthing off about cuts in government spending will be in the least hurt by those cuts. No that honour falls on you and I, we are the ones that will suffer under any government spending cuts, health, education, pensions, social benefits, the young, the elderly, the unemployed, (and that army is set to grow) the low paid, even those who may think they are reasonably comfortable, they also will feel the pain. Yet not one of those who will be harshly treated by these cuts is in any way responsible for the government’s debt. The debt is there because a bunch of greedy sleaze groomed parasites blew billions in their blind quest for pots of cash for nothing, sometimes called fancy accounting. They blew it, they screwed up big time, and it looked like some of them would go out of business. So their minders, the equally sleazy parliamentarians, over burdened with their expenses, came running to the rescue and handed them billions of our money. Our generosity is now to be repaid with a kick in the balls, to which we are supposed to say,”thank you kind sirs, for saving the financial spivs, of course this should be said with a slight curtsey.

     Well why don’t we kick back and refuse to accept any cuts in our living standard, refuse to accept working longer to get our reduced pensions, refuse to see our kids education going done the tubes, refuse to see our national health system decimated and privatised, refuse to accept wage freezes or wage cuts that would return this generation and the next back to the Victorian era. What would function in this world if it was not for the working class, we built this world, it is our world, it’s time to take it back.

ann arky's home. 

CORPORATE ART.

Michelango's David has always been the envy of the American Galleries and recently corporate sponsors

ran a promotion for American artists to create their own David to be displayed in New York. You can preview the exhibition here.

ann arky's home. 

PRIVATE CAPITAL, PUBLIC MISERY.

Extract from an old article on : http://www.anarkismo.net/newswire.php?story_id=3768

      Throughout the world, public services have been under attack for the past twenty years. Forming a central plank of the capitalist globalisation agenda, ‘privatisation’ and ‘competition’ are the seemingly unchallenged dogma of modern capitalism. The levels of privatisation which have taken place worldwide are absolutely mind-blowing. During the 1990s alone over $900 billion worth of public assets were transferred into private hands. Globally this agenda is pushed by the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The basic theory by which these bodies operate is that all decisions should be made on the basis of profitability alone. Economies in the so-called ‘developing’ world have been carved up under re-structuring deals called Structural Adjustment Programmes which have been like manna from heaven for international business. The World Bank website(1) , for example, “provides information on more than 9,000 privatisation transactions in developing countries from 1988 to 2003”. This information is presented as ‘revenue generating opportunities’ for international capital. The current phase of the WTO’s strategy for the imposition of its privatisation agenda is the General Agreement on Trade in Services – which looks to sell off such basic services as healthcare, education, housing, water supply, waste management etc. This strategy is driven not in the interest of the ordinary people of these countries but by the needs of international capital. As David Hartridge, Director, WTO Services Division put it quite succinctly: “Without the enormous pressure generated by the American financial services sector, particularly companies like American Express and Citicorp, there would have been no services agreement and therefore perhaps no Uruguay Round and no WTO.” (2)

      This privatisation agenda has had disastrous consequences for many peoples and communities in the developing world. According to journalist John Pilger,

“The introduction of school fees where there was previously free education has driven many poor families to withdraw their children from school, while hospital fees have put basic health care beyond the reach of millions. Although they acknowledge the harm which privatisation has brought to poor communities in the Third World, the World Bank and IMF still insist on prescribing it as an economic model. Water privatisation is just one example. The World Bank notes that water in Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince costs up to 10 times as much from the private sector as it does from the public supply, and that poor families in Mauritania now have to spend a fifth of their household income on water. Yet both the World Bank and the IMF continue to force water privatisation on developing countries. During 2000 alone, the IMF made water privatisation or full cost recovery a condition of loan agreements to 12 African countries. The World Bank has promised Ghana an extra $100 million in loans if it privatises its water supply.”

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CORPORATISM/FASCISM.

     The British government's decision to sell off the search and rescue facilities is another step towards a totally corporate run country. The corporate world has already made inroads into the health service and education among other aspects of the social structure of this country. This latest hand over of public assets to the corporate world could have very far reaching consequences. I can see the day when you had better not take to the hills or go for a sail without your credit card. Rest assured that the corporate world are not doing this for humane reasons. How can you morally make money out of somebody in a life threatening situation? If you are ever lost or injured in a blizzard on the Scottish hills, perhaps your credit rating will decide whether they send a helicopter or a dog sleigh team. After all, business is business.

    The march of corporatism is the march to fascism, it was Mussolini who said, that it should not be called fascism but corporatism as it was the coming together of the state and the corporate world. Who should know better what fascism is than the man himself, Mussolini. The more we tolerate this march of corporatism the harder it will be to have any control over our lives. We should be organising against that cancer in our society, the growth of corporatism. Society belongs to those in that society, not to a faceless bunch of corporate parasites. Only a mass grass roots movement can ever hope to halt the growth of this cancer.

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