Election.

Does this look like a day in your working life?

Image courtesy of UK Parliament.

          With three bye-elections and a general election on the not too distant horizon, our political ballerinas are in a flutter. Will they still be on the gravy train after the election, will they be knocked off their luxury perch? These are the problems that fill the minds of our privileged political class. However, you and I should know, if we have ever looked at the history of elections over more than a couple of centuries, that our freedoms have never come from the ballot box. The suffragettes didn't get the vote by voting, our trade unions weren't born from the ballot box. Everything we have ever gained as a class, has been through determined struggle, direct action and solidarity of the people. So get used to the fact, the next election will be a close relation to what we are already experiencing, no matter what colour of tie wins a majority.
         The usual mantras will be chanted, "difficult choices have to be made", "we must grow the economy to improve our living standards". Meanwhile you and I will suffer austerity in a variety of names and guises, struggle to try to have a decent life for our kids, waiting for that pie in the sky when the economy will give us the promised land. However, our political ballerinas and their corporate buddies will be living the life of luxury. When will be get wise and decide that we will no longer be shafted by a bunch of wealthy privileged parasites. When do we say, enough is enough, we will govern ourselves, we don't need you, you are dependent on us.

         Our government functions with more that 755 peers which includes 25 bishops in the House of Lords and more than 650 MPs in the House of Commons, all paid handsomely plus expenses from our tax money. Do you think we get value for our money? 

 

Image courtesy of the Daily Mail.

 

Visit ann arky at https://spiritofrevolt.info    

The Coming Crooks And Liars Competition.

       A general election next year, it will be the usual attempt by the crooks and liars to prove they are the best crooks and liars in the game. Same old crap spouted from the same old privileged Oxbridge educated millionaire class. They will be promising you and I, the same old pie-in-the-sky, if we will only let them screw us for another five years. They will be asking you to legitimise their entrenched power and  pilfered  wealth, seeking your approval as they bolster the wealth and power of their buddies in the financial/corporate Mafia. Sadly, the great fraud show, the election, will be accepted by most people as giving them that stamp of legitimacy.

     By then, as George Carlin said, "they have you by the balls".

      Though there is a call for change, there doesn't seem to be a great ground swell to scrap the ballot box and take control of our lives. So perhaps Ian Bone's Class War election campaign has something going for it. An opportunity to use that platform as a propaganda excercise, a chance to talk class war politics to a wider public, to put class war on the agenda, to once again get more people talking about class, and the realisation that this is a class war situation.

 

From Ian Bone's Blog:

        We are standing Class War candidates in the general election on May 7th 2015. We are doing this to launch a furious and co-ordinated political offensive against the ruling class with the opportunity an election gives us to talk politics to our class. We in no way see the election as an alternative to direct action. By the brick and the ballot.
      We are not talking community politics here. It’s too late for a patient slowbuild like the IWCA. The ruling class have us by the throat -they need a short sharp kick in the bollocks. Our election campaign will use any means necessary. we won’t be ushered away by PR minders – we will make ourselves central to the campaign in a funny, rumbustious combative and imaginative way. We will be on the streets and in their faces.
     Comrades whatever our yesterdays you are welcome now. join in. reject cynicism. have fun.
FULL STEAM AHEAD THROUGH THE SHIT

Read the full article HERE:

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IN THE UK, IS A GENERAL STRIKE POSSIBLE?

        This year for the first time in who knows how many years, the TUC has discussed the possibility of a general strike. This subject has always been taboo at TUC conferences, this year however, it was there being discussed. Of course with no mass industries, union membership at its lowest since about the 40's and most of that union membership in the public sector, could there be a general strike? If so, what then? Would it be a case of government collapse, new elections and a Labour government voted in to carry on the same polices as the Con/Dem's only with subtle nuances and at a slightly altered pace, with the TUC's blessing?

Listen to this discussion from Circled A:

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THE PARTY'S OVER.

        Well the elections are over, the verbal diarrhoea has stopped, some of the Crooks and Liars breathe a sigh of relief while others shed a tear, as for the dull herd, they'll leave the scene to merge into the mire of daily life, feeling they have been part of something, though in time they'll wonder what.

        To all those obedient, subservient, believers, well you done it. You broke your daily routine, left your comfort zone and boldly marched to the ritual altar of the ballot box, you made your mark, and done your duty. Now back in your daily plod, there is a deep sense of satisfaction knowing that, because of you, from today on, things will be different. Just like the last time you voted and the time before that, and the time before that. Sorry to burst your bubble friend, those with disabilities are still being sacrificed on the financial alter, unemployment is still set to keep rising, with a generation of young people being destroyed, benefits for the most vulnerable are still being cut, our health service is still being privatised, our education system decimated, and oh, the tele is still crap. You may even have managed to change some of the smiling suits in that bunch of Crooks and Liars, and I have no doubt we will of course hear the usual platitudes, “lessons have been learnt” “we hear what you are saying”, beyond that, you will still struggle to pay your bills, you will still get crap wages and lousy conditions, if you have a job. As far as the “political class” are concerned, the show's over, it's now time for you to get back to your routine grind and leave them to get on with the plunder of all our public assets. Isn't it a great system? Well they seem to think so!!

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AH, ANOTHER ELECTION.

           It's election day, the day when we, the common herd, are promised the earth. The day when the Crooks and Liars hang about to see just how popular they are, will they get back on the gravy train or will they have to ask their cronies for pay back, for all the favours the handed out while they were in the trough with both hands. Will it be a new shining smile that will take their place in the hallowed halls of power. One thing for sure, whoever gets “voted” in will do their own standard of living a power of good.

         It never fails to amaze me that failed promises after failed promises from tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum, and lots of people still run and cast their wee X in the belief that this crop of Crooks and Liars will somehow be different from the last lot of Crooks and Liars. They say that one of the signs of insanity is to keep doing the same thing time after time, but hoping for a different result, perhaps that is the answer. Or could it be that the Crooks and Liars, with the help of the media have woven a very clever illusion.

        In my long, long experience in watching these Crooks and Liars competitions they call elections, I have to admit that this one is about the quietest I have witnessed. I think I have had one party political leaflet through the door but no callers preaching their particular brand of lies, now that's hardly enthusiastic. Perhaps the reason for this could be that this particular gang of Crooks and Liars are aware of what the public at large think of them, and so are keeping a rather low profile.

       Low profile or not, low turnout or not, there will be a gang of Crooks and Liars taking their seats in those marble halls and divvying up the proceeds, each making sure that their future is secured in the system and seeing to the welfare of their cronies. That's how this system works, it's a privileged club and you and I are not members, we merely fund it.

ann arky's home.

BANKERS BONUSES - HOMELESS, THEY ARE CONNECTED.

        One aspect of our millionaire supreme leader's policy of “deficit reduction” “austerity cuts” is that families are finding it harder and harder just to keep their heads above water. Sadly not all can, and thanks to soaring unemployment and banks' repossessions, homelessness in this country has risen by a staggering 14%. Statistics are one thing but the human side should never be forgotten. What this translates into in human terms, is that there are 48,510 destitute families with no home, within this figure there are 69,460 homeless children. Again because of the financial Mafia's “austerity” agenda, support for these families is fast disappearing, which means that lots of them find their way on to the streets. This is the 21^st century in the UK, one of the richest countries in the world, yet we have families trying to survive living homeless on the streets of our cities. From bankers bonuses and millionaires wielding power to struggling families and homeless children, our society is a picture of inequality and injustice, a society where money and profit are valued above human dignity, a society where the wealthy cement their power by subterfuge and corruption.

          While this cruel injustice is taking place before our eyes, the mainstream media will encourage us to enter into debate about tweedle-dee-Tory and tweedle-dum-Labour as if changing the suit and smiling face that occupies that stewpot of corruption, No.10, will solve all our problems. Surely history has taught us by now that, no matter how many times we send them in and send them out through the revolving doors of that No.10, our lot doesn't change that much, but those who slither into that place end up doing very well for themselves. Elections never benefit the people who vote, but do wonders for those who get the votes. Instead of voting for a bunch of egotistical parasites and keeping everything the same, why don't we ignore the elections and organise to take control of our own lives and all the assets of society and create the type of society that we want. One that sees to the needs of all our people. We are the ones that create the wealth, we make and distribute everything, we run all the services, the parasites need us, we don't need them.

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MOTOR-MOUTHED LOBBYISTS.

        You are probably an ordinary person who struggles to have a decent life and when it comes to elections, if you are still foolish enough to have any faith in the system, you'll cast your vote and that will be that. You will expect your elected representative to fight your corner and to argue to protect your interests in a fair and unbiased manner. If only it was that straight forward. Your elected representative will in all possibility also be employed as an advisor to some corporate body. This will mean of course that he/she will not support any legislation that might adversely affect his corporate paymaster, and he/she will also be wined and dined by well paid motor mouthed lobbyists pushing their particular paymaster's interests. This leaves your interests somewhat away down the line. They call it democracy, I call it corporate fascism.

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ELECTIONS, DEMOS, PETITIONS, TWITTER, --- WHAT NEXT??

    

The following short extract is from  ADBUSTERS.  The full article makes good reasding.

   

' ----Everywhere we look there are signs of moral decay, political corruption and fascistic tendencies. However, activists have not been passive. For decades, since the end of democracy in America first became undeniable, we have tried every tactic to avert catastrophe. We have voted, written letters, donated money, held signs, protested in marches, clicked links, signed petitions, tweeted websites, written books, taught classes, knitted sweaters, learned how to farm, turned off the television, programmed apps, engaged in direct action, committed petty vandalism … All this has been for naught. Popular revolution remains the only reasonably viable tactic remaining.'

         This was written concerning America, but it could equally well apply to any Western country. We, here in the UK, could say exactly the same. The more we tweet/facebook, march, petition the further that democracy slips away. Millions marched to try to stop the illegal Iraq invasion but the UK spent 5 years destroying the infrastructure of that country and the US is still there. Since 2001 there has been innumerable demonstrations/marches and petitions to pull the troops out of Afghanistan, we are still there killing and being killed.

        Now we face savage cuts to our standard of living, the decimation of our NHS, the privatisation of the Universities, the rapid erosion of our education system and the slashing of any social benefits. All this is being done against the wishes of the people of this country, simply to save the bankers and bond merchants form losing some of their unearned wealth. Our millionaire public school thugs, sometimes know as the cabinet, know who there friends are, and it certainly isn't you and I.

       So do we continue tweeting/facebooking, marching, petitioning, demonstrating, writing letters, waving placards and every 4 or 5 years running out to vote in, another bunch of duplicitous smiling crooks and liars. Or do we finally take up the only road left open to us, if we want to change this stinking system of inequality and exploitation, a popular uprising of the ordinary people, not asking for change, but making those changes we want to see?

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