Organise.

          I sometimes wonder if the general public in the UK are fully aware of the tsunami that is thundering towards them. There is the energy price increase which will kill hundreds of elderly and infirm, their is the cut to universal credit, which will plunge thousands more into poverty, then there is the increase in National Insurance payments that will cut the wages of the poorest the hardest. On top of that, those in need of special care are being hit by a care system that is in dire crisis. All this while the bank accounts of millionaires and billionaires grow ever fatter and fatter. Of course it is not all being taken lying down, Stagecoach bus drivers are taking strike action over pay, care workers who have struggled to do their job under the most adverse conditions, under staffed and under paid, have decided to march to the Tory Party conference in Manchester to vent their anger.

    Before the national insurance and energy price hikes and before the slash at the universal credit, in the year 2019/20 11.7 million people, 18% of the population in the UK were in the "relative low income" category.

        Some facts and figures on Poverty in this country, one of the richest countries in the world:

The facts and figures show the reality of child poverty in the UK.

• There were 4.3 million children living in poverty in the UK in 2019-20.1 That's 31 per cent of children, or nine in a classroom of 30.2
• 49 per cent of children living in lone-parent families are in poverty.3 Lone parents face a higher risk of poverty due to the lack of an additional earner, low rates of maintenance payments, gender inequality in employment and pay, and childcare costs. 
• Children from black and minority ethnic groups are more likely to be in poverty: 46 per cent are now in poverty, compared with 26 per cent of children in White British families.4
• Work does not provide a guaranteed route out of poverty in the UK. 75 per cent of children growing up in poverty live in a household where at least one person works.5
• Children in large families are at a far greater risk of living in poverty – 47 per cent of children living in families with 3 or more children live in poverty.6 

 

         These figures are all before the present tsunami of energy price increase, and cuts, not to mention the pandemic, hits the public at large. No working class family will escape these hammer blows to their standard of living, what can we do about it? We can take a leaf out of the Stagecoach bus drivers and organise strike action, we can organise in solidarity with the care workers and take our righteous anger on to the streets. We can organise in our communities and work places to take control and shape society the way we want it, a society that sees to the needs of all our people. We don't need the millionaire/billionaire parasites and their bedfellows, prancing political ballerinas, that army of pampered privileged parasites that hold the reins of power over our lives, all to their own advantage. We don't need them, they need us, dump them, we can make a better world without them.

 

 WE THE LABOURING MASSES.

We the people have, every brick laid,
have fed the world with sweat and spade,
every instrument played in every band
created by the skill of the craftsman's hand.
We made every truck and every load,
our toil our effort every winding road,
every ship that ever sailed the sea,
our power our imagination made it be.
Cities and towns large and small,
our labouring hands fashioned them all,
every home, every spire,
luxury mansion or humble byre.
No matter what dreams the mind might spawn
without labour's hand, never see the light of dawn,
without labour's strength and labour's skill,
we would be foraging beasts in a jungle still.

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

Them And Us.

 

        Language is a tool, poetry is a weapon, it can be a powerful weapon that can stab the heart, open a mind, explode a myth, ram home the truth.

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

Time To Tighten The Screw On Pensioners.

 

      Anyone who lives in the world of ordinary people is well aware that the vast majority of pensioners are not rich, a considerable number of them live in poverty, some in dire poverty. However, that does not stop the well heeled parasitic politicians with their grand salaries and lush pensions from putting pensioners in the line of attack in their pseudo science of economics. They have devised a method of stripping the unemployed of their benefits through workfare and sanctions, they have implemented a system to deprive the sick of their benefits by means of assessments and sanctions, so now it is time to attack the pensioners. They started by raising the age at which you can receive your pension, now, their latest manoeuvre to comply with the ideology of their pseudo economics, it is time to destroy the "triple lock" system, by which pensioners are guaranteed an increase in their meagre pensions each year. All this at a time when inflation is predicted to shoot up.

     Piece by piece our communities are attacked, section by section they are dealt an economic blow, all done under the financial Mafia's, "austerity" banner, wafted by the breeze of illusion called "balancing the books". If by some weird twist of the mind, our lords and masters were trying to "balance the books", there is no problem, our country is awash with money. We have billions for nuclear weapons, billions for bombing Libya, billions for war in Syria, billions to subsidise the corporate greed machine, but by their reckoning, not enough to see the the welfare of the needy in this country. 

       This "triple lock" attached to pensions has, since its inception, stuck in the throat of many of those well-heeled politicians, their twisted minds were mulling over the point, "why should pensioners get some sort of guaranteed increase each year, while we are screwing the rest of the population". So it is time to start turning the screw tighter on the pensioners. 

       By any measure, this system is insane, but worse, it is vicious, savage and brutal, to those who create all the wealth there is in this land. Are we to believe the blurb put out by the billionaire owned media, that this is the only way we can function as a society? It is simply a man made system of exploitation that creates wars, spreads poverty and spawns misery, for the benefit the few, at the expense of the many. I know we have the imagination, the ability and the resources to create a better world that cares for all, that takes care of the needs of all our people. All it lacks is the will of the people to take that step and demolish this insane creator of wars, misery and poverty. As long as we tolerate capitalism we will suffer poverty and deprivation, we will endure wars, and destroy the environment. Why?  

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

Corporate Murder, Political Murder, What's The Differnce?

      Ian Duncan Smith, master of the grand plan, creator of the final solution, the culling of the sick, the vulnerable, those with disabilities, those deemed by the corporate world to be none productive units. We can't afford you if you don't sell yourself to the corporate greed machine, embrace the minimum wage, beg for zero hour contracts, profit is what it is all about.

      The recently released figures showing the number of people who have died after having their benefits cut, or been deemed fit for work, is nothing less than a crime, a crime against the most vulnerable in our society. Those who bring these pressures to bear on the sick and vulnerable are responsible for their deaths, and must be held to account. If it was a factory, there would be a charge of corporate murder, these deaths didn't happen in a factory, but the responsibility still lies with those pushing and enacting this legislation.

      However it is no more than we should expect from a system of exploitation based on profit for the few, at the expense of the many. We can protest, complain, demonstrate, all we want, but we can't turn capitalism into a caring compassionate system. It is not a system of social sharing, mutual aid, and caring for the needy in society, if you are unfortunate enough to be in need of any of these terms, you will be dumped by the wayside. Your only recourse to survival will be charity.

 Figures from Vox Political:

      A statistical release published today (August 27) in response to my Freedom of Information request dating back to May 28, 2014, states that the total number of deaths involving claimants of Incapacity Benefit, Employment and Support Allowance and Severe Disablement Allowance – between the start of December 2011 and the end of February 2014 is 81,140, including 50,580 (ESA claimants) and 30,560 (IB/SDA claimants). All figures are rounded up to the nearest 10.

      Add this to the 10,600 deaths that were already known between January and November 2011 and you have 91,740.

Information for ESA claimants shows:

• 7,540 deaths while claims were being assessed, bringing the known total to 9,740.
• 7,200 deaths in the work-related activity group, bringing the known total to 8,500.
• 32,530 deaths in the support group, bringing the known total to 39,630.
• And 3,320 deaths in which the claimant was not in receipt of any benefit payment and is therefore marked as “unknown”.
  

The total number of claimants who flowed off ESA, IB or SDA whose date of death was at the same time and of those the number with a WCA decision of “fit for work”, between December 2011 to February 2014 was 2,650 (2,380 ESA, 270 IB/SDA).

Read the full article HERE:

        The above figures show quite plainly the way this system treats its vulnerable and needy. This is not done with a heavy heart, it is worked out by expensive suits sitting round a table in the marble halls of power, in a cold and calculated way, checking balance sheets to see how much they can save by abandoning the weak, needy and vulnerable, based on their poisonous ideology of, if you can't provide for yourself, then you can be abandoned to the fate of poverty, deprivation and death.  

            Capitalism can't be reformed, it must be destroyed, or it will destroy any semblance of society that we might have at the moment.

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

Corporate Murder!!!

     A recent study based on the UK government's own figures found that approximately two-thirds of children living in poverty were in households where at least one parent was working. The study also found that that there was an increase in the number of children living in working families who were faced with absolute poverty as opposed to relative poverty. 

     The acceptable face of economic growth capitalist style. We produce an abundance of wealth, and more working families sink deeper into the mire of poverty. This is the reward the system hands you if you are one of Cameron's “hard working families”. All of this is no accident, it is the expected result of policies based on ideology that glorifies the greed of the corporate world, at the expense of the people who create all that wealth. 

      Poverty, especially child poverty, has a devastating effect on the health and development of the individual. It brutally destroys the potential of every individual that it touches. We also know that in this system there are a considerable number of people who have died as a result of benefit cuts. People proclaimed to be fit for work by a bunch of bureaucrats, had their benefits cut, and died shortly afterwards. Others have committed suicide after such callous inhumane treatment. 

       All of this is the result of deliberate policies thought up and implemented by people with names and addresses. They must be held to account, the evidence is there, they are responsible for what is nothing less than murder. 

      Despite almost a quarter of a million people signing a petition demanding that the government release the figures showing the number of people who have died after being stated to be fit for work, and had their benefit cut, this bunch of Bullingdon boys refuse to do so. Despite the judicial system of the land stating these figures showed be released, they still refuse, stating that they will appeal the decision. Their excuse is that those demanding the release of the figures are scaremongering. The answer is simple, release the figures and prove your point.

      How much longer will we accept the cull of our poorest and most vulnerable? How much longer will we accept our people being sacrificed on the altar of corporate greed? How much longer will we allow ourselves to be duped by a bunch of millionaire parasites who are working hard for the benefit of their rich cronies in the corporate world? Are we waiting for the rich and powerful to become more compassionate, waiting for them to look at our plight and say, “Oh dear, we must do more for those poor people”? You'll have a helluva wait.

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

Culpable Homicide.

      Culpable homicide  is a specific offence in various jurisdictions within the Commonwealth of Nations which involves the illegal killing of a person either with or without an intention to kill depending upon how a particular jurisdiction has defined the offence. Unusually for those legal systems which have originated or been influenced during rule by the United Kingdom, the name of the offence associates with Scots law rather than English law.

    Involuntary manslaughter: Involuntary manslaughter is the unlawful killing of a human being without malice aforethought, either express or implied. It is distinguished from voluntary manslaughter by the absence of intention. It is normally divided into two categories; constructive manslaughter and criminally negligent manslaughter, both of which involve criminal liability.

      By their actions people have died, which of the categories applies to our government?

From the Mirror:

      A grandad who had just found out his benefits were being stopped shot himself dead – after telling friends he was “unable to cope”.
Shaun Pilkington, 58, was sent a letter saying he was to lose his ­Employment and Support ­Allowance, which he got after a long-term illness.
He was told he would have to be reassessed and needed to prove he was eligible. But as the hearing approached, friends said Shaun, a licensed gamekeeper, became discouraged.
Days later he called police and said he was about to kill himself. They found him dead at his flat.-----

      -------Shaun’s estranged family was too upset to talk. He joins a growing list of people who have taken their lives since the Tory-led Coalition employed private firm Atos to reassess thousands of people on long-term benefits.
Blind Tim Salter, 53, of Kinver, Staffordshire, died after being deemed fit to work. A coroner ruled the move to axe his benefit had contributed to his suicide.
Edward Jacques, 47, of Sneinton, Nottingham, took a fatal overdose after his benefit payments were stopped.
Jobless Richard ­Sanderson, 44, of ­Southfields, south-west London, stabbed himself in the heart. Unemployed electrician Lee Robinson, 39, of Crawley, Sussex, also took his own life.

  
      It is a fact that thousands people have died after being assessed and told they are fit for work, some put the figure at 32 a week. I consider it reasonable to say that in a very high proportion of these deaths, pressure from the government was the prime cause of death. When do we hold them accountable, when will those responsible be brought to justice? Rich pampered parasites sitting at there desks, making decisions that will at best cause distress, at worst death, and continue this over a long period of time, well aware of what is happening to thousands of vulnerable people. They don't belong in our world, but they make the decisions that shatter the lives of our friends and neighbours. Cocooned in their marble halls, they feed and grow fat on the blood of the people. The cesspool of unfeeling parasites has to be destroyed.

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

 

Seasons Such As These.

 

           Most people would agree that Willie Shakespeare had a way with words, and some of those words are just as relevant today as they were on the day that he wrote them. How about a few lines from "Seasons Such As These".

Poor naked wretches, wherese're you are
that hide the pelting of this pityless storm,
how shall your houseless heads and unfed sides,
your looped and windowed raggedness, defend you
from seasons such as these.

           As the Cameron cabal carry out the merciless plan of the financial mafia, under the guise of "austerity", we  see poverty sink its pityless teeth ever deeper into the fabric of our way of life. Day and daily fears of poverty become reality, the spectre of homelessness a way of life. Benefit cuts, sanctions on the unemployed, workfare for no wages, zero hour contracts, dragging more and more families into he dark pit of deprivation. Food banks a necessity, loan sharks arrive in the guise of a saviour. We are in the midst of a man made season of wretchedness. Only the ordinary people can move us to that season of a bountiful spring.
              A  quote from "Freedom" November 1903, by someone who signs him/herself, "anarchist".

He who would be free
Himself must strike the blow

Here we are,111 years on, and we have still to strike that blow. 

Living In 1930's, Today.

The 21st. century with 1930 families!!

Published on May 8, 2014

        Food bank providers told MSPs it was "clear" that UK government welfare reform had been one of the drivers of the "terrifying" increase in the number of people using food banks in Scotland.
        Denis Curran from Loaves & Fishes said the use of food banks was "not just growing but exploding" saying people were being penalised for being poor and the "heart of the matter is people are starving".

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

FAIR MINDED MR. SMITH.

        So Ian Duncan Smith thinks it is not fair that benefits have increased more than wages, and believes that benefit increases should be capped below the rate of inflation. Of course, in his drive for fairness, the fact that wages have increased less than the rate of inflation doesn't mean that he will call for an increase in wage settlements. What fair minded Ian Duncan Smith fails to mention, is that those on benefit, as a rule, tend to be living near, at, or below the poverty level, and any increase below the rate of inflation will most certainly push them further down that depressing pit. Bearing in mind that a large proportion of those who are working are also at, near, or below the poverty level, any wage increase that is below the rate of inflation is in fact a wage cut, adding more pressure to the endless struggle just to get by. Which is the situation that the ordinary working population of this country have been suffering for more than two years. Will our righteous Mr Smith, in his crusade for fairness, call on employers to make all wage increase at least equal to or greater than inflation. Most certainly not, that is not the direction to go if your are trying to create a UK sweatshop economy. Make no mistake about it, that is the grand plan, not just for the UK, but for the whole of Europe. Bit by bit we are being squeezed, bit by bit our standard of living is being lower. We are not at the level of the people of Greece, yet, but we are going in that direction, it is just a matter of time. Unless of course we decide that we have had enough of being screwed by millionaires, for the benefit of millionaires, and start to take control and change the system to one that sees to the needs of all our people.

ann arky's home.

PENALISED FOR WORKING PART-TIME.

       It would appear that Ian Duncan Smith's own advisory committee, the Social Security Advisory Committee, (SSAC) has stated that his universal credit reforms are unworkable and unfair. It seems that our very rich Ian wants to penalise part-time workers, that don't look for more work often enough, It also is part of his plan to penalise those on part-time work by cutting their benefits, if they don't take up a “better” job, within 48 hours of being told to do so by by a job centre. They could also see there benefits cut if they refuse to take up full time work that is with 90 minutes of their home. It would appear that to this bunch of pampered parasites, one and a half hours travelling to and from your work, for what will probably be a minimum wage, is fair, three hours onto your working day for poverty wages is how they see the plebs living their lives. This country has 8.1 million part-time workers and when asked, almost one and a half million would prefer full time work but can't get it. So those 8.1 million are the ones likely to see their benefit cut in an economic climate where there are no full time jobs to be had. We all know that is “unfair” but to the Ian Duncan Smiths of this world it is all about saving money and to hell with the consequences on the people. This mob of pampered parasites don't know what it is to live under this capitalist system, they have always existed in the rarefied atmosphere of wealth and the arrogance, privilege, security and opportunities that it brings.Who needs them to tell us how to live our lives?

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UK SHOW TRIALS.

         As usual The Commune  has come up with an excellent article on the upper class hatred of the working class as displayed in the recent "show trials" after the August riots. Taimour Lay explains the meaning of these post-riot show trials'.

         The criminal courts’ reaction to the riots was to instinctively follow the hysteria of a panicking government and a shocked police. Of 3000 people arrested, 1000 were charged in August alone. Magistrates have been sending hundreds to jail (an average of five months for theft or handling stolen goods), with the majority remanded in custody until a Crown Court can hand down an even longer term.

- 3000 arrested nationwide

- London’s Met police set ‘target’ of 3000 convictions

- six months jail for stealing a £3.50 bottle of water

- five-month sentence given to mother-of-two who ‘handled’ stolen pair of shorts

- burglary charge and jail threat for stealing two scoops of ice-cream

- rioters’ families face being turfed out of council houses, benefit cuts

        It is hard to overstate quite how extraordinary this spasm of rushed ‘justice’ has been. Sentencing principles have been thrown out the window: it hasn’t helped defendants to plead guilty, be young, have a clean record, turn themselves in, express remorse, come from an abusive home or take a bottle of water as opposed to a plasma TV. Bail rights have been systematically disregarded. These are show-trials if the only aim is deterrence.

Continue reading HERE.

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THE BROADEST SHOULDERS!!!

“it's fair that those with broader shoulders should bear a greater load” (David Cameron, justifying the cuts, Conservative party conference 6 Oct 2010)

'The Broadest Shoulders?'
By Camcorder Guerillas - Scotland 2011 - 4 mins.

They gambled an' lost, an' we've to pay??

         How cuts in benefits will affect disabled people “we are not cheats… we are not scroungers… it’s us who need supporting not the banks” In October 2010 the coalition Government announced public sector cuts of £81 billion, including £18 billion cuts to benefits. Whilst the rich avoid £120 billion of taxes and bankers continue to award themselves huge bonuses, “disabled people are facing the biggest attack on their rights since the 1930s”.

Join us in speaking out against the cuts.

        Share the film with others, Post the film to your facebook, twitter or myspace site. Click on the “Share” Icon. More info on how to share the film vimeo.com/​275807
        Embed the film in your website or blog. Click on the “Embed” icon. More info on how to embed the film vimeo.com/​help/​faq#what_is_embedding

      Distribute our poster at your workplace, college, union and neighbourhood. Get in touch info@camcorderguerillas.net to discuss organising a screening event.

          

The Broadest Shoulders? from Camcorder Guerillas on Vimeo.

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SET-UP TO BE SANCTIONED.

    

         The Guardian has just released this video of a whistle blower explaining how claimants are set up to be "sanctioned", temporally removed from benefit. This is all part of the government's culture of targets, manpower cuts and spending cuts, part and parcel of a sustained attack on the most vulnerable in society. Of course anybody can see that this will push lots of vulnerable people over the edge. It will also go a long way to increase poverty in families and create stress related illnesses. This is Cameron's "Big Society", dump people and let them sink or swim, depending on their ability to access a suitable charity.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/video/2011/apr/01/jobcentre-whistleblower-target-culture-welfare

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