In Or Out, Or Half Way In And Half Way Out???

        I made a promise to myself that I would not join in the Brexit pantomime, but at the moment it is difficult to escape the spewing out of a myriad of Brexit scenarios from every avenue of the mainstream media. The views range from greater glory for the wonderful UK, to doom and disaster for this confused and bumbling nation state. After last night's massive defeat of the government by 230 votes, the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption was filled with our political ballerinas indulging in a range of expressions from wringing their hands in despair, to chuckling with glee, and on occasions, that dazed look of confusion. What is clear is that they all state that we, as a country don't know what is going to happen next.

      Perhaps my simple mind can add some clarity to the situation. Leaving with a deal, any deal, or leaving with no deal, to changing the direction and staying in the EU, one thing is certain. We will remain under the yoke of capitalism, the poverty and deprivation will remain, the homeless will still struggle to find shelter, the elderly will continue to die from fuel poverty, our children will still go to school hungry, social services will continue to be decimated. The only real debate is at what rate these injustice will move, certain conditions will accelerate the plundering of the poor, but no conditions under capitalism will alleviate these injustices.

     As long as we accept that our world be driven by the financial mafia and the corporate juggernaut, as long as we accept a world hell bent on profit, as long as we allow ourselves to be governed by "The Market" and the billionaires that control that "Market", we will continue to wade through the swamp of poverty, deprivation, inequality and injustice. In the EU, out the EU, half in and half out, the capitalist system will still control our lives. Until we sort that one out, as far as the ordinary people are concerned, nothing will change.  

     Instead of debating the Brexit, which is just another power struggle among the privileged parasites, we the ordinary people should be debating how we free ourselves from the grip of the capitalist system, how we can take control of our communities and our workplaces. The answers are there, the resources are there, we have the imagination and the intelligence to govern our own lives, creating a society that sees to the needs of all our people, all we need is the will to do so.

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

The Relentless March Of The Financial Mafia.

 

       It is relentless, it is gaining in pace, it will continue as such, unless we stand up and resist. I'm talking about the march of privatisation, gentrification and corporatism, the commandeering of public spaces, a process that can by any rational thought, be called the culling of the poor. Excluding them to the margins of this new society, built for profit only. The ordinary will be dumped in poverty camps on the periphery, there to be called upon when needed to serve the new society built to the god Mammon. Obviously autonomous spaces are a threat to this financial Mafia dream, so must be rooted out, by rigged laws or brute force. Argument and dialogue will have no more than a delaying effect, they have the wealth, and the power of the state behind them, they know their goal. Do we the ordinary people, know ours?

This from Autonomies

         Anarchist social centres constitute fragile points of passage for anti-capitalist archipelagos of resistance.  There fragility is born of the (ever increasing) restrictions of private property and State opposition.  Yet they are often the only link to rebellious pasts and radical presents: they are the vehicles of radical thought and practices, the precious islands of different futures struggling against and creating beyond the violence of the present.
      The Centro de Cultura Libertária of Cacilhas-Almada, Portugal is the oldest anarchist cultural centre in Iberia; a centre whose space is now threatened by rampant real-estate speculation.  From the CCL, we share their urgent call for solidarity.

The CCL needs your support!
       The Centro de Cultura Libertária, an anarchist association with 44 years of activity in Cacilhas-Almada, Portugal, is again threatened. The continued pressure of the real estate business, the change in the rental law and the gentrification that forces the departure of residents from the central spaces of cities, the destruction of non-profit spaces or the closure of neighborhood stores, now also touches the CCL.
What is happening?
       This is not the first time that the CCL’s permanence in its historic headquarters has been called into question.
Between 2009 and 2011 the Centro de Cultura Libertária resisted an eviction procedure initiated by the landlord. Only the solidarity of many collectives and individuals here and beyond allowed us to face the costs of the judicial process, which led to two trials and one appeal. In the end, we reached a rent increase agreement that allowed us to continue in the space without changes in the duration of the contract.
      However, in 2014, as a result of the changes in the rent law in favor of property owners’ interests, the CCL contract duration was set at five years. At the end of 2018, we have reached the point where, as has happened to thousands of tenants, the continuation of the rent of our space will be at the mercy of the owner’s will and the conditions that he wants to impose on us.
Why support the CCL?
      The CCL is an anarchist cultural centre founded in 1974 by old libertarian militants who resisted the dictatorship, occupying since then the space rented at number 121 Rua Candido dos Reis, in Cacilhas-Almada. The Center has a unique library and archive in Portugal, with documents produced over the last hundred years, as well as a bookshop promoting libertarian culture. It has been a fundamental space for anarchism in Portugal, welcoming successive generations of libertarians. During its existence, the Center hosted numerous activities, such as debates, meetings, reading circles, video sessions, workshops, dinners and various learning workshops, and served as home to many libertarian groups and collectives. Different publications came out of the space, such as the Voz Anarquista in the 1970s, Antithesis in the 1980s, the Anarchist Information Bulletin in the 1990s, and Húmus magazine in the first decade of this century.
As an anarchist association, the functioning of the CCL’s internal organisation is horizontal and is based on the assembly of its members, where decisions are made and the tasks inherent to the life of the association are distributed. Participation in the CCL is always voluntary, unpaid and non-profit. The only sources of funding are membership fees, the bookstore, dinners and solidarity donations.
What future for the CCL?
       We do not want the Centro de Cultura Libertária to end! We want it to continue to exist as an active libertarian association for many years!
       But at the moment the future of the CCL is open: it can remain in the same space, paying a much higher rent, or move to a new space, where we would try to have better conditions for our activities, but where expenses will also be higher.
       In both cases, and given the conditions imposed by the current housing market bubble, we know that we will need financial means that we do not have. For this reason, we will start a fundraising campaign, which will include crowdfunding, concerts, dinners and other initiatives.
      We count on your solidarity support so that together we can guarantee a future for the CCL.
Center for Libertarian Culture
October 2018
C.C.L. bank account details for donations
Holder: CENTRO DE CULTURA LIBERTÁRIA
IBAN: PT50003501790000215493029
(Bank: Caixa Geral de Depósitos)
Contacts
E-mail: ateneu2000@gmail.com
Mail: Apartado 40 / 2800-801 Almada – Portugal
http://culturalibertaria.blogspot.com
www.facebook.com/CulturaLibertariaCentro
The website for the crowdfunding effort can be found here. 

        For the Centre’s blog, click here.
       Original Portuguese language statement from CCL, HERE

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

Precarious Workers Organise.

 

     Capitalism continually morphs trying to rescue itself from crisis after crisis. However all the changes never enhance the working conditions of the ordinary people. The previous crisis ushered in austerity, another name for stripping the funding from social service to repay the financial mafia's gambling losses. During this period the most wealthy managed to double their wealth, while the ordinary people went from "just about managing" to an ever precarious struggle to survive.

      The latest crisis  coming in on the back of austerity, has seen the expansion of zero hours contracts, part-time working and the gig economy. All of these are another step in protecting their ability to cream ever greater profit from the workers. It is a planned development to erode workers conditions stripping them of paid holidays, guaranteed income, sick pay, and saving the employers from paying national insurance. It also frees them from any responsibility for accidents at work and working conditions.

     This form of work, is likely to grow as more and more employers see the benefits to them of making workers "self-employed", freeing employers from any responsibility and lowering their costs. If there is anyone out there that thinks that the government, who work hand in glove with the employers, is likely to do anything to reverse this trend, they are living in the fog of naive illusion. Employers are working towards the ordinary people being units on the self, for the employer to pick up when they need them, and to be dumped back on the self to survive as best they can, until some other employer sees the need to pick up a couple more to be used in the same temporary manner.

     The only way that these workers will see any improvement in their conditions or improvement in their life style and security, is to organise in conjunction with other workers and the unemployed.

     It is encouraging to see that is what they are starting to do. Recently we had the couriers strike, and two protests and rallies of "precarious workers", which covers all those mentioned above and more. One in London and one in Glasgow, but they need the solidarity of all workers, unemployed and pensioners. As their conditions are stripped away it impinges on all our communities. Without organising we face a society of impoverished workers and social services stripped to the bone.    

Some photos from today's demonstration in Glasgow's George Square:

Some from the London demonstration:

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

They Are International Mankind Fuckers, The IMF.

       On the previous piece I posted "A Truth From The IMF!!!" I feel the title may have confused some people as to my thoughts on this powerful member of the financial Mafia, though referencing them as IMF (International Mankind Fuckers), should have made that clear. So just to clarify my position even further, on this pro-corporate beast of power and wealth, here are a couple of photos that express my true opinion on this powerful member of the cabal that is intent on enslaving millions and destroying the planet, all in the name of benefits to the wealthy few. Photos and article lifted from 325:

          We are a group consisting of autonomous individuals who carried out some poster bombing and vandalism actions against Bank of Indonesia, ATMs, police posts, the Digulist roundabout, the West Kalimantan governor’s office and several other highly visible locations in Pontianak City. We carried out these actions as a response to the meeting between Global Capitalist organizations the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund that is being held in Bali from October 8-14, 2018.

       These spontaneous actions we carried out express our uncompromising rejection of a normal life full of daily submission. These actions are a manifestation of our hatred, anxiety and and anger against a system that requires us to accept a society where we have no control over our own lives. Their meeting is a clear sign that Global Capitalism has improved it’s position in controlling daily life with various disgusting economic schemes and investments.

             For us there are two options: taking action or remaining silent – and we will never choose the second option. Passively watching or reading the news about the IMF-WBG meeting, that is not an option for us. If we take a deeper look, we can see that all aspects in this world relate to economics, and yes, they are the people who are behind all of this bullshit.

           Here is a sentence that is appropriate for all those groups and individuals who condemn our actions as immoral and irrational acts: There is no system or morality that can hold us back when we reach the peak of our anger.

         And another thing you should know: you are all under their control. You just don’t realize that the concept of good / bad morality that you follow is what allows them to achieve their goals. You are all their obedient tools.
We are what you call Utopianists. We are Anarchists!

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

Robbery With Violence.

 

     My few days escape was extremely pleasant, and it took the mind, momentarily, away from the manufactured, yet inevitable turmoil, inequality and horror of the capitalist system, even although it was still all around me. However, no matter where you hide you head, that capitalist nightmare is still there, biting at your backside. 

      Ten years since the so called "financial crisis", a euphemism for the gamblers vast loses, a period that seen the financial mafia demand that the various states reimburse them with what they had lost in their gambling frenzy. The public would have to pay for their greed driven gambling disaster. The plundering of the public purse would be politely know as "austerity". Ten years on and the gamblers are richer than ever, and the ordinary people are poorer than ever, and the mountain of debt that the financial Mafia ran up and was responsible for their plight, is now greater than ever. Considering the damage and misery inflicted on the ordinary people by this deliberate action, it is in fact robbery with violence.

     The financial Mafia is now merrily repeating its greed driven gambling frenzy, but with larger sums, while we the ordinary people continue our downward slide, thanks to the mountain of debt heaped on us by the mobsters of the financial world. So it is inevitable that another "financial crisis" is thundering along towards us. Do we accept a repeat of the last "solution", once again pile the debt into the public purse, while emptying the public coffers to reimburse the gamblers? Surely not, we must have learnt something from the last ten years.

      An extract from another interesting article from Roar Magazine by Jerome Roos.

      With inequality on the rise, global debt higher than ever and international tensions intensifying, the political backlash to the crash of 2008 has only just begun.

And:

       ------This new radical politics first showed its face in the global uprisings that rocked the established order from 2011 onwards. It has recently begun to consolidate itself in the form of vibrant grassroots movements, progressive political formations and explicitly socialist candidacies that collectively seek to challenge the untrammeled power and privileges of the “1 percent” from below.
        Even in the midst of the Syrian civil war, the bloodiest and most intractable conflict to have emerged in the shadow of the Great Recession, in a region so often deprived of hope for a better future, the struggle for democratic autonomy by the Kurds and their allies has demonstrated the concrete possibilities of a revolutionary political project in these tumultuous times.
      At this point, it is still far too early to tell whether this emerging anti-capitalist politics of the twenty-first century will be able to succeed in the face of a powerful nationalist backlash. But if the dramatic events since 2016 are anything to go by, the political fallout of the global financial crisis is only just getting started. The real confrontation, it seems, is yet to come.-------

It is well worth reading the full article HERE:

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

Resistance Is Many Faceted.

       On my many visits to Greece, mainly Athens, I have always found the public transport cheap, and what is more it was publicly owned and run with the people in mind, lots of concession for those who needed them. However, since the Troika, (ECB, Expert Crooked Bastards, EC, Executive Criminals, IMF, International Mankind Fuckers) got a strangle hold on the Greek state, it has demanded that all public assets be transferred to their greedy corporate buddies. Everything in sight is being privatised, this includes the once publicly owned and reasonable transport system, of course this is happening in countries across the globe. Just another sign that the financial Mafia are out to bleed the public dry.  

        What this has meant is that fares are rising, control by the system is increasing and large sections of the community are being exclude from the once cheap transport system. It seems that this is not being accepted in a subservient manner by sections of the people, they have decided to hit back at the profiteers and hit them where it hurts, in their bank accounts. They are taking action that will slow down the whole process of control and cost the plunders of the public purse, lots of that stuff they worship, "money". 

This from Act For Freedom Now:

       In the early hours of Saturday December 2nd we attacked the centre of application collection and issuing of registered electronic travelcards of OASA, on 153 Thessalonikis street, Kallithea station, with an incendiary device. The above function was taken on by OASA as well as personnel from 2 companies which are in charge of installing and operating the new electronic systems of control on public transport (turnstiles, electronic tickets etc.), LG CNS and GEK TERNA. Our intervention resulted in the complete destruction of very expensive technological equipment (computers, scanners, special ticket printers etc) that belongs exclusively to the companies-contractors, as well as a massive amount of copies of registered electronic travel-cards and issuing applications.
        Our message is clear: just like you organize our exclusion from public transport and want to control our every movement in the cities, we organize to destroy your plans. Methodically, with rage and a plan we organize your worst nightmares!
      The incendiary attack on a main structure of the OASA-state-contractors plannings is added to the diverse factual moves of resistance against the systems of control, surveillance and exclusion which are set up on public transport recently. Against its restructuring, we chose to carry out a targeted act aiming at creating the greatest possible damage, the greatest possible cost for those who have received millions of euros in order to organize the exclusion of large parts of social strata from public transport. To factually contribute to the blocking of the unobstructed implementation of their plans, to further promote the wider social struggle for free transportation.
       While the ministry of Transport proceeds to the gradual closure of
turnstiles at the entrances of Metro stations and endless lines are formed at the electronic tickets and registered travelcards, we chose to express our rage. Instead if standing in lines and becoming desperate, instead of legitimizing the plans of state-contractors against our daily material interests, instead of being vulnerable towards inspectors and turnstiles, instead of thinking INDIVIDUALLY, we chose to organize and act COLLECTIVELY. We chose to attack and torch the shackles they offer us. We chose to break extortion itself and not negotiate the terms of acceptance. We could not care less about the “discomfort and indignation of the passengers” who rush to purchase the sought after ticket, waiting up to 1-2 hours in line. We are not them, we do not speak in their name.
        We are interested more in those who are thrown out of stations and buses because they do not desire to negotiate their every day need for transportation. This is the position we speak from, this is the position from which we chose to attack the condition of social control and discipline that dominates inside and of public transport. We keep our hate and rage for the daily scalpers and extortionists of our lives, all sorts of inspectors, snitches and cops we see on our path.
       OASA made an announcement the next day and mentioned that “the extensive and ethically unacceptable practices of the fake ticket networks and the bloodsucking of public wealth has ended and many will have to deal with the truth and justice”. This game played by OASA and the ministry of Transport who attempt to connect the diverse resistance movement with networks and alien interests, is one we have seen before and is ridiculous. We have one thing to say: SHUT YOUR MOUTHS!
         No political supervisors of the ministry of Transport ever, let alone Spirtzis (minister of Transport) because of his political-party background, can speak of networks and dark interests when addressing others. They should look in the mirror! They should first speak of the public transport bodies that have been set up and raised for decades now as realms of contractors and employment agencies through slavery practices and black-unpaid labour of thousands of workers cleaning and guarding the stations by outsourcing to other networks. They should first speak of the organized bloodsucking of public wealth of the national contractors of public projects that continue to plant toll booths everywhere and the structures (ports, airports etc.) that were built with the money and sweat of other people
so they can deliver them to all sorts of contractors and investors at will.
FACTUAL RESISTANCE TO THE CONTROL AND SURVEILLANCE OF OUR LIVES
FREE TRANSPORT FOR ALL
STRENGTH AND SOLIDARITY TO HUNGER STRIKERS, MEMBERS OF THE REVOLUTIONARY
STRUGGLE N.MAZIOTIS-POLA ROUPA

    

Our Violence Good, Their Violence Bad.

       Bahrain has been in open insurrection since 2011, with protests and molotov attacks on cops a daily occurrence. Many have been killed and hundreds of others have been injured, and thousands of people die in prison in the state where they are tortured, all supported and supplied by Western countries, while the state security forces are being trained by British cops, and backed by Saudi Arabian military.
       However, we don’t hear much about the bloody rebellion within the lands of our Saudi friends. Our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media doesn’t dwell too much on the savagery of the British manufactured royalty, that governs the rich oil fields of what has become known as Saudi Arabia. After all they are very good customers of our arms industry, and they allow our financial Mafia access to that lucrative oil. So what is there not to love about this public beheading, public flogging, religious extremist regime. Of course what the Saudis are doing to the Shia in their oil rich kingdom, is what states do to any group they see as a threat to the control of their privileges, wealth and power, crush them, or do their damnedest to achieve that end.

 City of Awamiya, in Eastern Saudi Arabia.

       What is going on in Awamiya in eastern Saudi Arabia is as brutal as what is going on in Syria, perhaps on a smaller area, but the savagery is just as fierce. The might of the Western armed Saudi regime is being unleashed on its own citizens, who respond with resilience and small arms fire. However, our babbling brook of bullshit will gloss over this, but give brutal details of the violence where they portray us as the good guys, putting our lives on the line to help the peoples of that area build “democracy”, a “democracy” where we keep control of the oil rich resources, allowing our financial Mafia to milk the region, to fatten Western parasites and their puppets. 

       Our babbling brook of bullshit, are experts at highlighting the violence of those our masters call the "bad guys", while turning a blind eye to the savagery and brutality of those they deem as our "allies". It is all part of their sworn duty of spewing out the usual brainwashing propaganda, in favour of this insanity we call capitalism.  

        Since May, 2017 an ongoing insurgency has been raging in the Shia heartland town of Awamiya in eastern Saudi Arabia and it’s only thanks to the BBC being allowed to enter the area and film the destruction that the world can see how the House of Saud’s war against the Shia population of Yemen has now expanded to include the Shia population of eastern Saudi Arabia.
       The BBC World report shown on Wednesday, August 16, seemed to have come from Syria, with al-Zara, the ancient Shia capital of the Persian province of Bahrain and the rest of the town of Awamiya showing a level of devastation resembling that in Syria or to the Kurdish cities destroyed recently by Erdogan Ottoman’s Janissarris.
       Block by block destruction of the Old City with no visible signs of the Shia people who once lived here for millenia with almost 500 buildings destroyed and over 20,000 driven from their homes by Saudi airstrikes, artillery and mortar fire. 

Read the full article HERE:

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

"Capitalism".

        “Capitalism”, a word that means many things to many people, but what is the actual manifestation of the word in our world? It means the expanding transnational corporations concentrating the largest slice of all the social wealth in fewer and fewer hands. This in turn, results in ever expanding impoverishment among the many. Its incessant drive for profit creates endemic job insecurity, and the persistent threat of unemployment, with the resultant deprivation. Another of its features is the inherent corruption that perpetuates the privileges of the ruling elite, wealth buys privileges. The bedrock of "Capitalism" is a banking system that accumulates vast mountains of capital that in turn, fosters the growth of financial predators slashing their way through societies, creating human misery in an endless endeavour to increase that mountain of capital. A banking system that has the power to create homelessness by means of evictions, and by its ruthlessness fosters misery and suicides. 

       “Capitalism” in its drive for perpetual growth creates a world of endless wars, wars for resources, wars for markets, resulting in destruction across vast swathes of our planet, bringing death, misery and deprivation to countless millions of innocent people. These wars give birth to racism, and the vile poison of xenophobia, and the persecuting of minorities of all shades. In “Capitalism”, money is the governing factor in the quality of your life, which opens the door to organised crime, this in turn allows the state, in the name of “law and order”, to move towards ever increasing authoritarianism, eventually criminalising political dissent. 

        Because “Capitalism” is a system based on cost and profit, we are witness to thousands of displaced individuals and families, fleeing death and deprivation, being abandon on the shores of Europe to survive or die in appalling conditions, the system can’t find a way of profiting from their presence, so there they will rot. The worst form of hedonistic individualism is fostered as success, inequality is accepted as inevitable. These are all manifestations of “Capitalism”, I’m sure you can come up with more of its inhumane and unjust qualities, but with a track record like that, why do we tolerate this man made economic system? It is after, just a product of man’s mind, not a system set in tablets of stone by some higher being. Do we lack the imagination to see a better fairer system. I’m sure all of us ordinary people can visualise a system of fairness and justice that would see to the needs of all our people. The resources are there, our ability is there, the vision is in our hearts, it is just the will to start to tear down this stinking edifice to greed that is lacking, and time is running out. 

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

PFI, Private Fiddling Initiatives.

         In this greed driven capitalist system the financial Mafia and the moguls of the corporate juggernaut have refined the numerous ways they can steal from the public purse, of course with the unstinting assistance from their minders, the state apparatus. They work hand in glove with each other to further the plunder of that public purse.
       The capitalist greed merchants start their grand theft by first managing us, the ordinary people, to "work" for them in producing tremendous wealth, then let us lick the droppings from the cats saucer, then they move on to getting us to pay rip-off prices for the merchandise we produced.
       Of course there are other ways they dip their hands into the public cash machine. One of those devious rip-off schemes is the Public Finance Initiatives, (PFI). This is the con-trick of getting public bodies to engage in projects where the financial Mafia fund the infra structure of our NHS and other public institutions. Then, in theory, the infra structure becomes the property of that institution. In the UK this con-scheme started about 20 years ago, with a push from the corporate friendly State. Today, these public bodies now owe a staggering £300 billion in PFI debt. Our public institutions are in hock to the financial Mafia to that mouth dropping £300 billion, that's debt that you and I will have to pay the vampires from our taxes.

         Our NHS is sinking under a totally engineered, state and corporate greed burden. Between 1997 and 2007 approximately 90% of capital investment in the NHS was PFI. The result is that today the NHS is cracking at the seams from lack of funding, yet it has to pay out to private companies a staggering £2 billion per year. £2 billion of our cash that could be improving the service to the people, is flowing into the bank accounts of private companies. Will it end, well not likely, as by the time that the infrastructure is paid off, it will need upgrading, repairing or replacing, and so the merry-go-round continues, shovelling our cash into the pockets of the vampire squid, the corporate world. It is a brilliant scheme for transferring public money to private bank accounts, and let's not talk about the quality of some of those PFI built infrastructures, that's another story.

       If you are foolish enough to want to continue this plunder of the public purse, then stay with the present greed driven corrupt system of capitalism. If on the other hand you would like to live on a society that sees to the needs of all our people, without the rip-off from greed driven power mongers, parasites and vultures, then you have to look at demolishing this man made economic system of exploitation and corruption. Stop appealing to the parasites, to be a little more kind to you, and to give you a little more of the wealth that you created, they don't understand that language. 

        Only the ordinary people can create a society that looks after the ordinary people, only when we control our communities and our work places, can we hope to create that better world. Forget that middle class approach of petitioning for improvements, within the parameters capitalist system, forget the pointless appealing for reform, where some extra crumbs come you way. Forget a bigger crust, take over the bakery.

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

There's Trouble Ahead, How Do We Solve It?

        As anybody who has had a look at how the capitalist system works, is well aware, it is a system with inherent flaws. It inevitably goes into convulsions, as those with the money look like losing lots of it. This happened in the pre thirties, giving us the hungry 30's, it happened again in 2008, giving us a decade of austerity. When these convulsions happen the way the system "corrects" itself, is by plundering the public purse, giving us bail-outs and austerity. The government hands the corporate juggernaut and the financial Mafia lots of public money in the form of "bail-outs" amassing mountains of debt, and then applying "austerity" to reduce that debt. Of course austerity only happens to the ordinary people, to those rich parasites, austerity is some kind of disease to which the ordinary people fall foul to periodically.

       Claudio Borio, the head of the BIS monetary and economic department, said a new recession could come “with a vengeance” and “the end may come to resemble more closely a financial boom gone wrong”. The BIS, which is sometimes known as the central bank for central banks and counts Bank of England Governor Mark Carney among its members, warned of trouble ahead for the world economy.

      We are not yet clear of the previous convulsion, and the gnomes of the financial Mafia are starting to shit their pants, as there appears to be warning signs that the next is about to hit them. No doubt, in their marble halls of greed and opulence, they will already be looking at how else they can plunder the public purse to retrieve their new massive gambling losses. They will be looking hard to see which part of the social fabric of the planet can they rip-off to recoup their greed gotten losses. This week Italy has been forced to bail out two of its banks to the tune of €5.2 billion, of tax payers money.

       Such luminaries as Mark Carney and other members of the BIS, (The Bank of International Settlements, sometimes referred to as the central bank of central banks. Though I like to refer to them as Bandits in Suits. ) are already ringing their alarm bells, and saying it could be worse than the last convulsion.

       While the vultures, and parasites of the financial Mafia will be preparing to grab what public assets they can get their hands on, to regain their gambling losses, what will we be doing? Will we accept another decade, or more, of "austerity", will we see ourselves pushed as far into deprivation as the people of Greece, with no end in sight? Or will we get serious about organising to bring down this flawed system of greed and exploitation, and put an end to capitalism, that is the root cause of the poverty and deprivation of millions of people across the planet?

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

"Austerity", Just One Trick In Their Box.

       An excellent video that highlights the brutal effects of "austerity" on the most vulnerable in our society. It also points out that it is a class policy, since it favours the rich at the expense of the poor, it is an ideological choice and not a necessity. However, in attacking "austerity" and calling for an end to that particular ideology, they fail to grasp that any such change will still leave the same exploitative system in place, wealth generation by the many, and wealth grabbing by the few. Yes, "austerity" is a savage brutal attack on the poor, but it is just one trick in their box, just one method of wealth plundering employed by the capitalist system. Capitalism is by it very nature, an exploitative system with little or no place for compassion if it gets in the way of profit. Tinkering with the methodology of capitalism still leaves the beast alive to savage the poor and vulnerable, it still leaves us all at the mercy of the corporate juggernaut and the financial Mafia. It is not its methodology that we have to change, it is the capitalist system itself we have to destroy.  

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

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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