When Is Enough, Enough?

         As I said before, the people of Greece have been put through the capitalist shredder by its bully boys, the financial Mafia. Now the vampires are back for more. Their puppet government in Greece are now humbly accepting the latest crippling demands from the Troika, (IMF, International Mankind Fuckers, ECB, European Criminal Bastards, EC, Exceptional Criminals,)
        With its health service in ruins, its education system disintegrating rapidly, wages slashed, pensions decimated, the Greek government is set to unleash more savage "austerity" on the unfortunate people of Greece. Here are some of the measures to be foisted on the ordinary people. There will be 14.32bn euros ($20.50bn; £12.82bn) cuts in public spending, tax rises of 14.09bn euros, over the next five years. There will be 2.32bn euros of tax increases this year, this follows on from 3.38bn euros increase in 2012, 152m in 2013, and 699m in 2014. There will be a levy to be raised twice next year from households of 1% to 5% of income. A vast swath of the poorest of families who were below the tax threshold will now find themselves paying tax. as the tax free threshold will be lowered from 12,000 euros to 5,000 euros, and property tax will be raised. Then there is that tax that hits the poorest most, VAT, 19% will go to 23%, the 11% rate will rise to 13% and the 5.5% goes up to 6.5%, restaurants will see their vat rate go from 13% to 23%.
        There is no end in sight for the people of Greece as long as this economic strangulation system of capitalism persists, the financial Mafia is not going to come over all compassionate and devise a plan to help the ordinary people of Greece, it is not in their DNA. However the people of Greece, as I said before, are not sitting down weeping and hoping for a return of the "good old days".

This from Act For Freedom Now:

       “We won’t live like slaves – The only lost battles are the one that they have not been given”. On Wednesday 17 May 2017 thousands of people joined the general strike protests all over Greece, against the new harsh financial measures of 4.9 billion euros incorporated in the 4th Memorandum signed by a Greek government, aimed once again against the lower income classes rather, than the banks and the wealthy.
       The self proclaimed left government of SYRIZA in co-operation with the right wing party of ANEL have unleashed a new class war, this time specifically aimed against people with disability and pensioners that have worked all their lives and paid their share under the false notion -as it seems- that during the time when they will be most vulnerable, they would have free public health services and subsidies that would help them get by. On the contrary after 23(!) severe cuts in pensions and allowances during the 8 years of the financial crisis in Greece (amounting to more than 50 billion euros in pension and allowances cuts during the last 7 years), that has forced people to live like beggars, a further 18% cut will be imposed on pensions under the 4th Memorandum being voted in the Greek parliament these days and a “freezing” of even the slightest raise in pensions until 2022.
      And as if a life with no future wasn’t enough, the streets of Athens have been filled with thousands of riot policemen to impose fear on people daring to protest during the general strike of 17 May 2017. Thus, during the protest in Athens anarchists attacked the riot police brigades in Syntagma Square around the Greek parliament, whilst inside politicians were discussing the new harsh financial measures to be imposed on the people, without the people. More protest will take place tomorrow 18 May during the voting of the measures in the Greek parliament.

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Only The People Will Decide The will Of The people.

 

        The people of Greece have probably suffered more from the ponzi scheme, known as the "banking crisis" that collapsed in 2008, than any other European country. They are still mired in poverty and deprivation, with a collapsed health service and a disintegrated education system. They are witnessing the fire sale of all their public assets to those very institutions that were responsible for the destruction of the fabric of their society. So it is to be expected that they are alive to the reality that "balancing the books" and "austerity" is no more than a plundering of their country. All carried out by the puppets of the financial Mafia, their government. The result of this festering marriage between the state and the corporate world, only delivers human misery and a rumbling anger.

     Their anger can only be hidden under the surface for so long, it has and will again surface, it will take many shapes, only the people have a right to determine how that anger will manifest itself. The will of the people will only be fashioned by the people. You can only take a beating for so long, then you have to hit back, harder than you assailant.

       A little piece of the background to what is going on in Greece today.  

      The armed attack of Revolutionary Struggle against riot police in Exarchia was one of the most important actions of the organization. It was a legitimate political and social action in retaliation for the murder of 16 year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos by the policemen Korkoneas and Saralioti, which took place on December 6, 2008. This murder was the result of the intensification of police violence in recent years, and was formed under conditions of intensive neoliberal reforms and the “war against terrorism” in the same period.

      In particular, this development took on larger dimensions in the spring of 2007, when there were violent clashes and attacks in the center of Athens between students, youths and anarchists against squads of riot police, in the protests that were against the bill of the Ministry of Education to promote the privatization of education.

      The then minister of Public Order, Byron Polidoras, when taking office truthfully addressed the police as “Praetorians”, and when after these riots followed anarchist attacks on police stations in Exarchia and Papagos, he had stated that “the police have steady nerves” and can safely pull out their guns. Essentially, this more or less gave the green light to fire against unarmed demonstrators, youths and anarchists. At the same time there was a climate promoted by the state and the Ministry of Public Order, with declarations from this same minister and also the police union, promoting the cleaning of anarchists from Exarchia, speaking of the reclamation of Exarchia for the state. A similar debate and counter-debate exists now between Syriza government and the main opposition party of New Democracy.

Continue reading:

 

I Am The Crowd.

I am the crowd
I swim in the quagmire of poverty
its hooks, its barbs, tear my flesh
rupture my dreams,
I hold my breath for centuries
hoping to break through, gasp pure air.
Through the murky mire
I see bright things, shiny things sparkle
I see women in fine dresses, men in silk shirts,
I ask myself,
why do I swim in this cesspool?

I want the light and warmth of rectitude
to caress my labouring body,
seeds of my dreams to bloom
like wild flowers in a meadow.
One day, I will use my boundless strength
to haul this torn, battered being
out of the morass
onto the warm grassy bank,
when I do;
woe betide you, women in fine dresses
woe betide you mister in your fine silk shirt,
should you ever try to get in my way,
for I am the strength of the world,
I am the crowd.

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Austerity, The Success Story.

        So austerity is working, it is doing what it was intended to do, reduce the UK to a sweatshop economy. The corporate boardrooms are rubbing its hands with greedy glee. According to a report just recently published by the TUC, between 2007 and 2015, in the UK, real wages fell by 10.4%. A massive bonus to directors and shareholders. hooray for austerity.
        This decline in real wages puts the UK at the bottom of the league of OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operaration and Development) as far as I am aware there are 29 countries across the globe who are members of this organisation. The report also found that during the same period, real wages grew by varying amounts through the OECD, in Poland real wages increased by 23%, in Germany 14%, France 11%, and on average, across the whole of the OECD, real wages increased by 6.7%. 

       We here in the UK, thanks to “austerity”, have suffered the largest fall in real wages of any advanced country other than Greece. In fact in the OECD, Greece, Portugal and the UK were the only three countries where real wages fell. Yet to listen to the bullshit spewing from the mouths of government ministers, you would think that we lived in Utopia.
       Of course we would be naive if we thought that this trend was likely to change any day soon. It is all going in the right direction, the falling pound, combined with cheaper labour, means we can compete with the other sweatshops of the world, enhancing the profits of the corporate bodies. Across the boardrooms of the UK they are working hard at persuading the powers that be to keeping this wonderful austerity plan going. 

         We the British public paid dearly to help the bankers out of their greed fest, no doubt our lords and masters will be planning for us to help UK industry and services out of any Brexit problems that might arise. Oh when will we ever learn?

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Solidarity In One Big Fight.

 

       It is great to see that the racist policies of this government, (and the previous ones) are being resisted and that resistance is growing, not just with meetings and leaflets, but by direct action. This latest action was in London and shows solidarity and ingenuity. It is all linked, migrants, workers conditions, social cleansing, austerity, it is one large fight against an all encompassing system of repression and exploitation.

This from Rabble:

       On Monday afternoon the neighbourhood of Deptford, South East London, chased away a Home Office “Immigration Enforcement” raid team. The Home Office bullyboys had reportedly been spotted several times in the previous week doing so-called “intelligence gathering”. I.e., trying to harass shopkeepers into giving them permission to carry out “operations” in their premises so they don’t have to go to the hassle of getting a court warrant. On Monday they came back in greater force, but people gathered and sent them away empty handed. They drove off in several unmarked cars but abandoned their marked “racist van” in a back street, which was then refurbished with the windows smashed and messages written in spray paint (see pictures).

     Deptford market is a regular target for Home Office raids, often working in conjunction with police, the local council and other agencies. The most recent major raid was in April. As with other London street markets (such as East Street), there are clear links between these attacks targeting migrants and wider attacks on the neighbourhood, as property developers and state authorities combine to “socially cleanse” the area, and clearing out those they consider undesirable. But resistance is growing. In Deptford, there is now a regular “Deptford Anti Raids” information stall every Saturday in the market, and Monday shows that people are ready to fight back.

Check the AntiRaids twitter account for raid alerts and other live updates.

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How Far Will You Let Them Push You?

 

         How far will the financial Mafia go in the decimating of people in their drive to re-capitalise their corrupt bankrupt system. Across the globe they have pushed this austerity plan hard, in some countries they have pushed it to the point of destruction. I have no doubt the will push it further if they can get away with their self-centred plan.

          Take Greece, it is now agreed that what the people of Greece are suffering is as bad as, or worse than, the 30's depression, and is expected to go deeper still. The policies forced on to the people of Greece have produced an unemployment rate of more than 25%, and among the under 25's that jumps to more than 50%, in some areas it is over 60%. The number of people in Greece suffering sever material deprivation has doubled since 2008, again sadly it is the 16-24's that have suffered the most.

           Greece is the only country in the Euro area where welfare spending has dropped, and it has dropped dramatically since 2008. A follow on from this ever decreasing welfare spending is a stratospheric rise in the suicide rate, which saw an increase of 35% between 2010-2011, with a further dramatic increase of 55% in 2012. This drop in welfare spending has also heralded in, among other horrors, an increase in substance abuse and HIV, at the same time as HIV clinics and needle exchange units have been closed..

        Homelessness and sleeping rough has seen a dramatic rise, the government's own figures, which some consider to be a modest estimate, put the number of homeless in Athens at 20,000 from a population of 660,000, with a massive increase in the 26-44 age group now homeless.

      Another effect of this financial Mafia extortion racket is the effect it will have on the future of Greece, as migration has soared. Greece has a population of approximately 11 million, since the financial Mafia's inflicted "crisis", around 400,000 have migrated. Of those who have migrated it is reported that nine in ten hold a university degree, with more than 60% holding a masters degree, and approximately 11% a PhD. How will that impact on the future of Greece? All this in a modern, supposedly democratic country in Europe, one of the richest parts of the world.

     Bearing in mind all these facts it is obvious to any individual with a grain of humanity, that the people of Greece need some assistance, What is that trio of inhumanity, the IMF, International Mankind Fuckers, ECB, Excessively Conning Banksters, EC, European Cartel, planning for the people of Greece? Why, more cuts to welfare, lower pensions, work longer to receive those diminishing pensions, higher taxes, work longer hours, and wage cuts. The people can bleed to death, the financial gambling cartel want their gambling losses back.

     This then is the general plan for us all, as the millionaire gambling cabal, the financial Mafia, continue their greed fest to recoup their gambling losses. The quality of life that you and I have is of no interest to them, we don't figure in their grand plan of plunder and looting, it is all about them saving their system and all the wealth, power and privileges that go along with that stinking bankrupt system. There is an alternative.

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

Raw Capitalism.

         Thursday's general strike in Greece saw the centre of Athens packed with 40,000 workers and 14,000 in Thessaloniki protesting against the government's plans, under the directive of the financial Mafia, to cut pensions. A few days earlier, farmers were out in large numbers blocking the roads with their farm equipment. The people of Greece have been bludgeoned by the cabal of mobsters who used to go by the name of the “Troika” but now wearing a new dress, and going under its new title of the representatives of creditor institutions –(EU, European Commission, ECB, European Central Bank, IMF, International Mankind Fuckers and the EU's bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism ) This bunch of corporate millionaire mobsters have taken it upon themselves to plunder Greece of all its assets, making sure they are handed over to the corporate greed machine at a knock down price. In the process the people of Greece are sliding ever deeper into deprivation.

In his case, Karachristos says next year he will be paying 88 percent of his salary in taxes and pension contributions.

--and--

 "They have massacred my generation. We can no longer get married or have children," said Dina, 32, who owns a lingerie shop and was marching in Athens, referring to five years of austerity cuts under Greece's successive economic bailouts. 

 

The symbols of European democracy.

       These are the typical comments from across the spectrum of the population, that is those who have any form of employment. Greece is capitalism with the gloves off, raw capitalism, showing its true colours, plundering the fabric of society and to hell with the people. No country is immune, Spain, Italy and here in the UK, the plan is the same, all public assets to be privatised, including education, NHS and all social services, wages and conditions trashed, pensions whittled down. Look across the globe, the pattern is the same, no matter the particular colour of your government. Capitalism knows no other way, it is a system of exploitation. We have to come together across our communities and our borders and fight back to take back all our public assets and take full control of our society and our lives.

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

The Sham Of Austerity.

       So a fourth health board in Scotland is facing a financial nightmare and is attempting to balance the books by making savings of tens of millions of pounds. No doubt those "savings" will impact on the service the people receive, and the staff who have to deliver that service. Meanwhile, our lords and masters, tell us there is no other way, we have to swallow austerity to "balance the books". This "economic plan" is no more than a smokescreen for their economic ideology. The ultimate aim is privatisation, privatisation of everything that they can squeeze a profit from. The strategy is the same across the range of social services and councils, under the guise of efficiency and "balancing the books" all are starved of funding, making it more and more difficult to deliver those services, things start to collapse, complaints rise, and then the call goes up, the only answer is to introduce the knight in shining armour, "private capital". With a gush of humanity, in rushes the big corporate Mafia, and with a few flicks of a bankers pen, voilà, privatisation across the board.

      There is no need for "austerity" even under this stinking system of capitalism, we are a very, very wealthy country, we have billions upon billions to spare for nuclear weapons and continuous wars, but seemingly, not enough for the welfare of the people. It is an ideology driven by the financial Mafia to transfer all public assets into private hands, asset stripping on a vast scale. No matter what they say, or what they come up with, the end aim is privatisation, and this will continue until we, the people decide enough is enough and take matters into our own hands by taking control of our lives, in the communities and in the work places. Until we decide we will shape our society the way we want it, we will have to swallow the punishing regime of every tighter "austerity" until we are shorn of all our assets and at the mercy of the big corporate greed machine. 

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Social Care And Money!!!

         It looks good when legislation is put in place to see that people in need of social care receive that care. Everybody applauds, and we change the subject, moving on to the next problem. However in this money based society, the problem hasn't been solved. It has come to light that people assessed as in need of social care don't always receive that care. In this dehumanised capitalist society assessing and delivering are to totally unrelated aspects of the problem.
 

      Figures received after a Freedom of Information request show that in Scotland last year 270 people assessed as in need of care, died before receiving that care. The figures also revealed that in some cases those deemed to be in need of care, had to wait over a year for that care to begin. Another shocking revelation has been that in a single week last year, more than 12,000 hours of approved social care was never delivered. Imagine the individual suffering these figures portray.

      The failing of course is not due to the lack of humanity in those trying to provide that care. Those at the front-line of delivering that assessed care, are a dedicated and caring group of people, the root of the problem is the lack of money. Not that we are a poor country, the UK as a whole, can find billions to bomb Syria, billions to maintain and renew Trident, billions to upgrade that symbol of British imperialism, the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption. We are a very wealthy country, it just that to the powers that be, caring for the ill, the infirm and elderly is not a priority. 

      Sadly the problem will persist as long as the capitalist system we live under persists. Until we bring about the demise of capitalism and replace it with a system that has the need of its people as the fundamental base of society, the sick, the elderly, the poor, the infirm, the disadvantaged, will have to continue to scramble for some of the crumbs that fall from the parasites table. 

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Capitalism, Born Of Greed, Survives By Greed.

       Looking at this insane world of capitalism, you become accustomed to its many contradictions. For example, if you live in a rich country you would imagine that you would be better treated financially than if you lived in a poorer country. Well not so if you happen to be a pensioner.

      If we take the 10 largest economies in the world, US, China, Japan, Germany, UK, France, India, Brazil, Italy, Canada, and look at how they treat their pensioners we get some strange results. If we take pensions as a percentage of the average wage, we find that all the richest economies with the exception of Canada, are at the bottom end of that table, with the poorer countries paying their pensioners a higher percentage of average wages. The two largest economies find themselves at the very bottom of the league, with the US paying its pensioners a miserable 17.3% of the average wage, while its main competitor China, paying a paltry 2.0%. The UK, fifth in the league of large economies, finds itself in the bottom half of the pension league, with a derisory 21.6% of average wage, almost half that of the poorer New Zealand, whose pensioners receive 40.1%. of the average wage. 

       Of course it is not just in pensions that we find this inequality and injustice, the system of capitalist economics is built on such inequality, it's how the system functions. Wealth is created by the vast majority of the people, but the wealth then flows up towards a small cabal of parasites, who surround themselves with opulence beyond our imagination. To maintain that life in the cocoon of unearned wealth, the parasites have to continually plunder the wealth produced by us the ordinary people. Hence the cuts in our standard of living, education, health care, and all social services. The differences in our conditions at the bottom of this insane system is brought about by the majority having to fight individual battles to gain some of the inadequate crumbs left by the parasites, creating different strata of poor and poorer. The system is not based on logic, rationalism or compassion, but on the control of all the means of production and distribution, and that, for the moment, is firmly in the hands of the parasites. So it will continue until we decide that we have had enough of this plundering of the produce of our labour, and we take control of those means of production and distribution. 

Pensions as % of average wage.

New Zealand 40.1%
Denmark 36.3%
Ireland 33.0%
Canada 32.2%
Netherlands 27.1%
Australia 27.1%
France 25.6%
Sweden 23.2%
UK 21.6%
Japan 20.1%
Spain 19.6%
Italy 19.1%
Germany 19.0%
US 17.3%
Turkey 6.0%
China 2.0%

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Elections- A Paracetamol For The People.

      The babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, has turned its attention from Greece to migrants, that doesn't mean that there is nothing happening in Greece. Greece is still in turmoil, apart from prisoners relatives being imprisoned for being related to prisoners, prisoners on hunger strike, and austerity still savagely slashing at the living standards of the people, there is still anger on the streets. 

      There are a series of strikes on an ongoing bases, and the unions are organising for a general strike on the 12th November. As far as the people of Greece are concerned, the recent election solved nothing. But then again, we know that elections never solve anything for the people. An election is nothing more than the system attempting to give the people a paracetamol to calm things down. 

From Barbarian Times:

      The pharmacists have started rolling 24 hour strikes in protest at the new austerity measures, and farmers are planning protest actions soon. There is a general strike called by the unions for November 12.
Syriza and Anel had their offices vandalized in the Byronas neighborhood. https://athens.indymedia.org/post/1550551/
Also a minister of Syriza, Skourletis, recently was attacked and forced to leave a cafe in Exarcheia. https://athens.indymedia.org/post/1550434/
The person in charge of the committee advising on the pension reform received a threatening letter and a bullet in the mail.

     ANEL offices in Athens were occupied by the anarchist group Roubikonas, who sent out an anti-austerity communique, and then shortly police arrived and are pressing some charges for those involved in the occupation. More as it comes…

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Where Does All The Money Go???

      We are all somewhat confused by the plundering and shuffling of assets by the financial Mafia, we know we are being ripped-off, we know that it was a deliberate ploy to save all the members of that financial Mafia from going bust from their gambling addiction. However, it is such a complex ponzi system that at times we just shake our head and walk away. However, we shouldn't, our living conditions are at stake, the longer this plundering by the financial Mafia goes on the lower our living condition sink, while the wealth continues to syphon upwards. Hospitals and other public assets, will be sold off to keep the ponzi banking system afloat, it is happening now and it will continue until we the people stop the rip-off and bring down the system.

      This a rather long video, but well worth viewing to the end, pity about the adverts.

 

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