Bailout Scam.

        How long will it be before the public at large get really pissed off with being shafted generation after generation? In this capitalist system the bigger you are the less you play by the rules. In capitalism, when a small business runs into financial difficulties, it goes bust. However if you are a very large capitalist business, and you run into difficulties, then there is every chance that the government will bail you out with tax payers money. This is not new due to the pandemic, it is standard practice and has been for generations. The pandemic has just opened the sluice valves that bit wider. Of course it is not just happening here in the UK, it's part and parcel of the capitalist system the world over. America is probably where the largest hand over of tax payers money to big businesses is happening.  

 

 

        Here in the UK we try to mimic the U$A in this bailout scam.  

    While SMEs struggle to gain access to government-backed loans, large corporations have already been bailed out to the tune of approximately £7.5bn via the Bank of England’s newly created Covid Corporate Financing Facility – and it’s all being hidden from public view. ------
----- The most concerning aspect about the CCFF however, is that neither the Bank of England nor the Treasury are being transparent about which corporations have access to the facility. The Bank explicitly states that “the names of issuers and securities purchased or eligible will not be made public” and recipient companies are even required to sign a confidentiality agreement regarding their participation in the scheme.
       A few companies however have seemingly broken this agreement by publicly announcing the support they’ve received through the CCFF. This includes EasyJet, Redrow, and Greggs who have secured £600m, £300m, and £150m respectively. With these sums amounting to £1.5bn, that leaves another £6bn already doled out to some of Britain’s biggest businesses completely in secret. 

       This is just the tip of the bailout iceberg, and all this while the NHS is struggling for more staff, equipment and funding, councils are slashing services to local communities and vulnerable groups are flounder in a morass of  poverty stricken services and facilities, and food banks grow by the day. It is glaringly and blatantly obvious that we the real wealth creators in society, are being plunder and pillaged by the rich and powerful, through the auspices of Her Majesty's Government, yet we tolerate this generation after generation, while watching the ever growing poverty among our children, why? 

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk    

2,000 Dead!!

          Time and time again this pandemic is seen to have been handled by our political ballerinas, lead by bubbling Boris as an economic crisis. Their shut, open shut again, half open and half shut, was obviously driven my thoughts of their corporate friends and a desire to see that they didn't lose too much money. Health and safety of workers was away down the scale. Only when it was seen to be getting out of control did they come up with another prolonged lockdown. However even in these circumstances they still wanted to keep some business earning, so construction was allowed to continuing working as the number of case spiked. 

        The result being that it has meant that those working in the construction industry had to pay a heavy price for this economic decision. According to the Office of National Statistics, the number of construction workers who have died from Covid19 between March 9th, 2020, and December 28th, 2020, is over 2,000. This figure doesn't take into account all the ancillary staff, security guards, delivery personnel, cleaners etc. Nor does it take into account how many of the construction workers' family and friends fell fowl of this disease because of this government's cavalier attitude to the health and welfare of workers.
        Surely this and all the other bungling decisions made with one and half eyes on the economic and half an eye on the medical during this pandemic is a case that must be brought into the open, and justice brought to all those who died unnecessarily through government bungle ineptitude and economic greed. There must be a reckoning or we insult those and their families who died unnecessarily. 

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

Tomorrow's World.

        A new lockdown, dreary days without real social interaction, thoughts of trying to make sense of this world we have created. Holding on to sprigs of hope, doing our utmost to create a new and better world, we have the formula, anarchism, plain and simple. Now must be the time, when we take a look at where we are and the direction we are facing.

TOMORROW’S WORLD!!

See the fat cat’s grinning smile
as Corporate Capitalism runs amok,
Chasing profit as it goes
firing millions of ordinary folk.

Raping and polluting land after land,
starting bloody wars.
Toxic waste, sweat shop wages
and oil covered sea shores.

Where have all the flowers gone
beneath this ozone free sky?
To join the birds, to join the fox
on yonder plutonium field to die.

Mercury fish, strontium lamb
trees that never show a leaf,
radio active beaches, toxic streams
good lean BSE-antibiotic beef.

In a world of epidemic, plague and famine
it’s bottled water and chemical food.
Of course, it’s all tested on rats and mice
so you know it’s got to be good.

Beneath a sky that’s always black,
hurricane winds and endless drought,
its oxygen masks for the toxic air,
corporate profit is what it’s all about. 

 

 

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk    

Mutual Aid.

           This Covid19 pandemic has forced us all to rethink the way we do things, and one of the positive actions that have come from the drastic circumstances we find ourselves in, is the number of "Mutual Aid" groups that have sprung up all over the country. Let's hope we learn that these groups are not just for  emergencies, but point the way to a better way of doing things in our communities from here on in. A way to get to know your community, to enrich your community, to offer the hand of help where needed, and spread friendship across your community. Also a method to bypass the corporate profit seeking moguls that exploit us on a daily basis. You know it makes sense.

         Got this wee article from a comrade, Nick, thanks Nick.

Mutual Aid – A Radical Response
        “Mutual Aid is the sharing of resources as opposed to the wealthy giving to the needy” 

         Glasgow Mutual Aid (GMA) was set up in response to the covid pandemic at a time when charities and state organisations were slow to respond. We saw organising democratically, without hierarchy and bypassing the system to deliver a non-judgemental service as both being necessary and to be a radical act. We quickly realised that we needed to respond to non-covid situations as well. However, few of us thought that ten months later we would still be active and be needed more than ever.

 

          Whether it’s help with shopping; collecting prescriptions; a friendly regular phone call; picking up medication for pets; arranging food parcels or accompanying someone anxious about travelling to visit their dying mother, our volunteers have met a variety of challenges both willingly and imaginatively. Many volunteers have also received a service, for example when required to self isolate.

 

        As people’s circumstances have changed and furlough has ended for many, our pool of volunteers has dwindled. However, the current resurgence of the virus and the toll that months of restrictions is taking on many people, means that demand is rising again. There are currently opportunities for volunteers across all Glasgow postcodes. Even if it’s only a couple of hours a week, you can make a difference to folk in your local community. Get Involved to volunteer or request a service:

Phone M-F 10-2 0141 280 7025

Text 07451289389

support.glasgowmutualaid.co.uk
volunteer.glasgowmutualaid.co.uk

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk 

Merry Nothing.

        It's the corporate retailers "golden quarter", or it is meant to be, that time of year when you are supposed to run about mad, feeling under an obligation to buy all your friends and family lots of all those shiny boxes of crap. Stuff they don't really need and in all probability don't particularly want. However the pandemic has knocked a hole in the corporate retailers plans, even although their friends in government are doing all they can to get you back into all those shopping malls and to hell with health and safety. So let's not fall for their duplicity, we've got by in recent months without buying their pretty boxes of crap. Let's continue with that and see their heap of shining tatty, boxes of the latest whatever, that we'll be told in a few months, that it is out of date and has to be renewed, standing and rotting. Let's see all those greedy retailers weeping over their mountains of tat and froth rotting in store rooms. We don't need your sweatshop garbage to fill our cupboards and empty our purses, so you can buy another luxury yacht. 

The following is from Not Buying Anything:

 

 

     Gift giving is changing. It may never be the same again. You can thank the pandemic for that. The spell of consumerism has been broken, and you can thank the pandemic for that, too. There will be no returning to "normal", despite what we are being told.
Was normal that great anyway?
Do we really want to return to that?
Not when normal is wage slavery in order to survive.
Not when normal is a declining standard of living for most... but not all of us.
Not when normal is rich people going for all the marbles in a global takeover.
Not when normal is the unleashing of violence upon people in other countries that have resources we want, as well as upon our own people... if they are the "wrong" people.
Not when normal is working harder for less, and not having enough time to live.
And certainly not when normal is buying people things they don't want or need because of feelings of obligation, misplaced love, a large dose of advertising arm-twisting, and an even larger dose of "it's the patriotic thing to do".
     This gift-giving season, think about a more sensible approach, or consider no gifts at all.
     A pandemic is a great excuse to take a break! Do we really want to think about mindless ritual gift giving with so many other more important things going on right now?
     If you do give gifts, think of giving something appropriate for this pandemic holiday season. Highly appreciated by most would be things actually needed. And there is so much need right now. That is the way to go this year, and every year.
Gift Giving In A Pandemic
- food, water, clothing, shelter
- toilet paper (this year's hot gift for sure)
- or better yet, an add-on bidet, or tabo
- tea, coffee, and chocolate provide a moment of respite in hard times
- rent money
- books (the old fashioned kind that don't need electricity to work)
- face masks, hand cleaner, disinfectants
- help paying health care costs
- best is to give the gift of your time
       And remember, the gift of nothing is nice if the person in mind doesn't need anything.
       Sometimes nothing is better than something.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk    

Every Step!

       The Covid19 population control directives and dictates are just part and parcel of the state's mechanisms to keep a watchful eye on you, yes their is a pandemic, and we have to take care, but the state will not miss an opportunity to tighten its grip over the people, it needs total control and a submissive population to guarantee its survival, to guarantee that wealth, power and privileges stay where they are.

         The eyes of the state are everywhere, often very visible in the form of an epidemic of CCTV cameras littered all over our streets, in shopping malls, shops, bus stops, pubs, as well as in buses, trains and all forms of public transport and public places, libraries etc.. You can rest assured that the prying eyes of the state are with you every step of the way. You disagree with some aspect of the state and/or its policies and you could come under a bit more scrutiny than you friends and neighbours. A walk in the countryside or a drive to the coast does not guarantee your out of their vision. There is that invisible array of cameras, microphones and tracking devices that are planted secretively where you're not supposed to find them. All this rather contradicts the state's projected illusion that we live in a democracy, I'm not referring to the UK in particular, for they are all at it, every state on the planet, the West, and those other states that our lords and master declare vile enemies of freedom.
       The following little article is not new, nor is it unique, but is the sort of thing that goes on day and daily in our free and democratic world, remember the undercover cops "scandal", that was no scandal, but part of their methodology on keeping tabs on you and your activities.

 

← A GPS tracker and a microphone found in a car in Berlin (Germany)

 

From Ears and Eyes:

      The information below comes from a recent article published by Reporterre, a left-wing environmentalist media. The article in question, whose “legalistic” approach disturbs us, can be read here: https://reporterre.net/Au-Carnet-des-cameras-cachees-et-illegales-pour-surveiller-des-ecologistes (in french).
       In august 2020, four cameras were found near the “ZAD du Carnet”, a place of struggle against the creation of an industrial area, in Loire-Atlantique, in the west of France. The cameras were found on august 31, and “appear to have been installed right before a « weekend of resistance »” organized there on august 29 and 30.
      The four cameras, hidden near an access gate to the area, were “camouflaged in a fake tree log and fake stones“. They “filmed continuously and were connected, via buried cables, to large batteries and modems, also concealed, allowing images to be sent directly to a remote station“.
       In addition, “the mention « Allwan », visible on some of the images found, as well as on a label on a camera, strongly suggests that the equipment was supplied by the company Allwan Security“. The company Allwan Security is present in our list of companies.
        Below, you will find a picture of the devices found, two pictures of the objects in which they were hidden, and a map showing the positioning of the cameras around the access gate.

 

 

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Whose Money?

  

 

       Since the start of this pandemic, I have always stated that it was an ideal opportunity for the state to re-capitalise the failing capitalist economic system. Since the beginning of the Covid19 affair, the various states across the world have poured trillions of dollars/pounds etc into the coffers of the corporate beast that is destroying the planet. Before the pandemic, all the indicators were that capitalism was in dire straights, and was heading for a colossal slump, unless they could re-capitalise it to a massive scale. The bailout needed would dwarf the 2008 taxpayers handout to the financial mafia, and we all know the years of austerity that little exercise cost the ordinary people. Glory hallelujah, along comes Mr Covid, and the propaganda machine convinces us all that we have to save the economy, to save your jobs of course, nothing to do with corporate profits etc. Open the flood gates flood the corporate world with all sorts of grants, special funding and lots of dodgy contracts. Where will all that money end up, and who will pick up the tab when the financial mafia send the debt collectors to various states to demand their loaned loot back? Why, you and I of course will be expected to foot the bill, by then the billionaire class will have salted their share away in some nice little tax haven.
        We continually pay for the privileges and welfare of the richest people on the planet by our poverty, crap wages, poor working conditions, lousy living conditions, broken education system and inadequate health and social welfare systems. This time round most have not only willing accepted this but have asked and encouraged the state to do so, to protect the economy and "our jobs" of course. What a wonderful state of affairs for the pampered, privileged parasite class, no doubt they'll all sit back with a smug look of satisfaction, for once again they have shafted the general public, plundered the public purse, and got away with it. For how much longer will we tolerate this two fingers to the people.

 

       The total net worth of the nation’s 651 billionaires rose from $2.95 trillion on March 18—the rough start of the pandemic shutdowns—to $4.01 trillion on Dec. 7, a leap of 36%, based on Forbes billionaires, according to a new report by Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF) and the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS). By around March 18 most federal and state economic restrictions in response to the virus were in place. Combined, just the top 10 billionaires are now worth more than $1 trillion.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk  

It's Law!!

         The Greek state shows how to use Covid19 to control public protests and demonstrations. Since 2008 after the murder of teenager Alexis Grigoropoulos by a police officer, the people of Greece have marked his cold bloody murder by mass gatherings, and march to the place where the police officer cold bloodedly gun down the 15 year old teenager. This year the state uses the pandemic to stop this annual commemoration of a child murder. A massive police presence surrounded the memorial to his shooting. This was a mass gathering of heavily armed police formed to stop a mass gathering of unarmed people. The people of Greece have shown in the past that they can hold mass gatherings while keeping social distancing, but the state was more interested in putting a stop to this annual remembrance of a police killing than anything to do with the pandemic. This is a repeat of the police violence launched against the annual march and demonstration marking the 1973 student uprising that eventually lead to the overthrow of the Greek Military junta.

         The state will do all in its power to quash any thought of marking events against authority, this pandemic has given them carte blanche in dealing with public protests. It is a right we relinquish at our peril. No doubt state's across the globe will do likewise drawing on the "emergency" laws to stop the spread of Covid19, to stop mass public gatherings and protests. All for your own good of course.

       Police in Greece’s capital have detained dozens of people who defied a coronavirus-related ban to take part in the annual commemoration of the fatal shooting of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos by a police officer in 2008.
        Some 4,000 police officers were deployed on Sunday to prevent gatherings and will continue to do so until the early hours of Monday. 

Protesters shout slogans after being detained in Athens during a rally marking the killing of Alexandros Grigoropoulos 12 years ago [Yorgos Karahalis/AP Photo]

        Footage posted online showed riot police on Sunday afternoon entering apartment buildings in Exarcheia, a neighbourhood in central Athens, to flush out would-be protesters. One video showed officers throwing stun grenades inside a building. Another clip showed police pushing photojournalists and other accredited members of the media. 

A picture of Alexandros Grigoropoulos, right, at an impromptu shrine at the site of the fatal shooting in Athens 12 years ago [File: Lefteris Pitarakis/AP Photo]

       

         The scenes reminded the heavy-handed tactics adopted by police last month when they violently broke up a peaceful rally commemorating a 1973 student uprising against Greece’s then-military rulers.

The following from AA:

        Over 100 people have been detained in Greece’s capital who gathered to mark the 12th anniversary of police killing of a 15-year-old boy on Sunday, local media reported. Tension rose as police tried to disperse demonstrators that gathered in central Athens where the shooting took place, according to Athens-Macedonian News Agency.

      The government had announced a ban on public gatherings of more than three people as a measure to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Some protesters tried to hold banners, but where stopped by the police.
       Meanwhile, the Greek police said five policemen were injured following a mob attack outside the police station of Kolonos, a northwest suburb of Athens, on Saturday.  Nearly 80 people had been arrested, they said.
      "Yesterday, on December 5, 2020 afternoon, nearly 80 people, with covered faces, wearing helmets and full-face hoods, tried to approach and attack the Kolonos police station," the police said.

 

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk       

Submission.

          This covid19 pandemic has certainly changed the way we live our lives, the state has seized full control of all aspects of our lives. When we can go out, where we can go, and who we can meet, all enforced by law, true aspects of a dictatorship, a living model of fascism. It's handed out as the only road available, and most people have accepted it. Perhaps out of fear, confusion, or a desire to protect their loved ones, the propaganda certainly attempted to mould people's minds in that direction. I too accepted it but with the never disappearing thought that this was all wrong, there was an alternative, but the state, as should have been expected, went for the total control method, rather than a community based series of answers. The state more or less abandoned any semblance of "parliamentary democracy" and ruled by decree and dictate.
          The mould has been set, the model is working, the population is submissive, the state can now move on from there, holding onto that now conditioned population that await the next directive, the next set of instructions. This is a very high price to pay, when there were alternative ways that didn't erase what little freedoms we had, we could have organised our communities to take control in conjunction with other communities, advised by the best medical and disease experts we have. The political ballerinas should have been taken out of this equation, it is a medical emergency, not a political emergency. The state is not your doctor, nor never will be, it is your controller, your gaoler, the guardian of their sacred economy.
       We now face a very difficult struggle, to get the state to relinquish that control over us that it has always sought, and has now grasped by propaganda and decree. The following article may be from Italy, but the similarities to our own little patch of the planet, are obvious for all to see.

The following from Act For Freedom Now:

 

       Health, yes sir!

    No people will readily submit to authority, however docile they may be by nature and however accustomed they may have grown to obeying it. Therefore it requires constant coercion and compulsion, meaning police surveillance and military force. Michail Bakunin

 

         If it is true that language creates the world in which we live and helps to understand it, then what is being prepared is a terrible world, as terrible as a world where militarism – and consequently war – are the predominant aspects can be. If the continuation of a state of emergency that carries on from decree to decree, and is tending to become permanent was not enough, now the government curfew has arrived.
        The history of this word clearly recalls tragic scenarios, normally used in contexts of war or dictatorship; in both cases the repressive role carried out by the military is obvious. What is happening is exactly this, a repressive upsurge limiting personal freedoms in an increasingly militaristic way.
         After militarizing our minds with months of propaganda, during which they bombarded us with slogans such as “we are at war” against an “invisible enemy”, now militarism is gaining ground in its most classic physical version. If it has been visibly present in the big cities for several years with the pretext of “Safe streets”, it is now materializing in all the most remote corners of the Peninsula, such as what is happening in Taurisano, province of Lecce, under the pretext of the high percentage of the population testing positive to Covid, with the very real prospect of deploying the army to prevent gatherings and control possible demonstrations in the streets. And if, as is the case of Taurisano, they present themselves in a more reassuring guise with white coats worn over brutal combat gear, this must not reassure us, but rather make us reflect on the role of science – medical but not only – and its increasingly close relation with militarism, war and repression. With its role of government, in fact, government meaning control and the submission of the population.
       It is certainly not by chance that since the Covid epidemic struck Italy, Political decisions have always been subordinated to a Committee of scientists: the Comitato Tecnico Scientifico [technical scientific committee], which includes councillors of arms factories such as Leonardo – Finmeccanica among among its members. These are the same scientists who are carrying out projects of death in a vast number of Italian universities, guess what, also in ever closer contact with the army, through various collaborations.
         The militarization of not just our minds and our lives but the whole of this society is becoming more and more visible therefore.
           But when the life they have in store for us is militarism, therefore war, the first steps to stand up to it are desertion and resistance, so as not to be labelled collaborationists at least.
salut-DEF

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk 

Cashless.

         Covid19 has certainly been a great boon to the capitalist world, it has allowed the reshaping and refinancing of the crumbling capitalist model, leaving the bill for the tax payer, and as I have said before allowed the state to tighten its grip on the population. There is another opportunity that has been seized by the financial section of capitalism, the cashless society. The wet-dream of the financial gurus, and of the state has been a cashless society. Of course not in the same sense that anarchist/communists see a cashless society.  Transactions are much easier controlled if there is no physical cash to change hands. Much more efficient without producing all that moving around securely, producing and counting  paper and coinage. There will be no place to hide, we all need to purchase in this capitalist nightmare. The cashless society would mean that every financial transaction you make would be logged and stored in a computer somewhere, place, time, amount, all stored. There to be pried into, analysed and profiled along with your other actions from that massive intrusive array of surveillance apparatus that surround us all. 

 

        The pandemic was the golden opportunity to make cash infectious, dirty, much better and safer to use contactless cards. This moves on to the next money saving exercise, the end of the ATM machines, why maintain and service all those devices if the bulk of the population just wave a card to pay for everything, plus the line that is pushed, everybody now purchases on-line. Then of course, no cash deposits or withdrawals, so why have all those people sitting around in those nice banks dotted around you cities and towns, you can do it all on line.  Of course the most vulnerable are the ones who depend most on cash in the hand, but to our financial masters, they are a negligible minority that can be taken out of any equation in their grand plans, superfluous to requirements. The cashless society is a blessing to the control freaks in state organisations and a must for the financial mafia in their drive for a totally controlled, world wide system, of financial control and manipulation. Because of the pandemic and the ensuing propaganda from the state and its coterie of parasite companions, we have allowed ourselves to quietly walk into their dream, a world under their total control. One world, one open prison, with no escape route, except revolution of course. 

 

 

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Opportunity.

         Never have the state authorities been handed such a golden opportunity to massage the population into one large submissive herd, as the covid19 pandemic offers them now. States across the planet have all seized on the opportunity and brought in directives enforced my the force of their laws, that manage and control the population, submissive obedience is now seen as the right thing to do by the vast majority of the population. A far cry from freedom, justice and democracy.
       All for our own good we are told, but the situation could have been handled much more efficiently and democratically if the communities were in control of how best to protect themselves from this disease, in conjunction with the necessary medical and scientific advisers. However, we are expected to sit back and wait for the directives from our lords and masters, all "following the science", of course. That little phrase has been swallowed and brought people to the position of not only obedience to the state, but sitting waiting for the next directive.
     They have reshaped society to their desires, and at the same time have refinanced collapsing capitalism with trillions of pounds, which you and I will be obliged to pay back to the money lenders of the financial mafia. We will pay for it in unemployment, austerity, wage freezes, slashing of working conditions, destruction of social services, increase in poverty, and homelessness, and much more, blighting the next generation of ordinary kids. That's the price tag for the reshaping of the capitalist economic system. Of course we the ordinary people could seize this opportunity to take control of our lives, communities and workplaces, and reshape society to suit the needs of all our people, dismantling the pomp, privilege and power of the wealthy parasites that blight our everyday lives.

The following from Crimethinc: 

        Greece is currently in a full lockdown. This includes no freedom of movement. To maintain such a lockdown without also expanding medical and financial support for those affected is an exercise in sheer authoritarianism.
           There are only six recognized justifications for leaving the house: to shop at pharmacies and supermarkets, to exercise (as defined and allowed by police) or walk a dog, to go to work, to attend funerals, to visit a doctor or hospital, or to help a person in need. The latter usually only applies to Greeks helping their grandparents; police have ticketed many people who were trying to give needed supplies to homeless people or people in refugee or Roma camps. You have to text the state to receive permission to go outside and show the SMS confirmation to police if they stop you. These SMS requests to the state provide data and surveillance opportunities to state agencies. Violations can result in a 300 euro fine or other charges. The police most often stop people of color or establish checkpoints in less affluent neighborhoods.
         A curfew is also mandated between 9 pm and 5 am, during which the only permitted activities are going to work, walking a dog, or going to the hospital.

         Many people in Greece are homeless in the midst of the lockdown.
       Though lockdown is nationally mandated, it is enforced differently in different neighborhoods. Exarchia, for example, is under intense surveillance with almost no one in the street, while wealthy suburbs see little supervision. In the United States, the right condemns safety measures and lockdowns as a liberal conspiracy to sabotage the economy; if they recognized the political opportunities that the pandemic has handed right-wing administrations across Europe, they might change their narrative.
       The first lock down in March and April took place when cases were averaging around 150 to 200 per day; today, the numbers fluctuate between 2000 and 2500 per day, with ICU beds filling rapidly. The blame for the infection rates rests on the business elite who demanded open borders for tourism in August, despite the obvious danger. Although there was 90% less tourism than in previous years, these policies permitted a few wealthy tourists to spread the virus throughout the mainland and islands of Greece. The New Democracy regime continues to slash hospital and medical staff budgets, redirecting the funds to decorative urban renewal projects, police and prison staff, and an increased military budget. They prioritize adding fountains and potted plants to neighborhoods over addressing rampant homelessness and drug addiction. They have failed to adjust public transportation to allow for social distancing, so subways and buses remain packed with people, likely spreading the virus. This disproportionately affects those who cannot afford to travel to work by car. While failing to provide funding for protection, the government blames individuals for the alarming infection rates.

       As in many other countries, elite scientists propose further lockdowns, taking everything into consideration except the plight of those already living precariously under capitalism. A lockdown without parallel support for the poor only offers protection for the wealthy elite, disregarding poverty as an excusable consequence of the pre-existing social order.
       With everything closed, furloughed workers are paid even less than what was already too little to survive. “Essential” delivery workers, teachers, and grocery store workers receive no increase in pay or free protective equipment. Some wish their work was deemed “nonessential” so they could be paid a small unemployment salary rather than risking their health for so little money.
      Homelessness has worsened in Greece as the New Democracy government has attempted to reinvent the country as a glamorous, heavily policed tourist destination in the midst of a pandemic.
       Homeless people continue to face fines, arrest, and displacement. The state is using the virus as an excuse to prevent assemblies of any kind. Police recently attacked and beat people inside a social center in Patras for gathering food to distribute to those in need. Mutual aid efforts continue, despite the constant threats, arrests, and fines imposed by police; the simple act of helping those in need outside of the context of the church is now treated the way that much more controversial or confrontational actions were before. Many in Greece, especially the residents of Exarchia who witness the harshest enforcement of the lockdown in an urban environment, refer to the virus as a “Junta holiday.”
      Doctors have mobilized to call for more investment in protective equipment and medical solutions to the pandemic, but they are ignored or repressed. Essential workers have faced fines for not having the correct paperwork while outside risking their safety to deliver essential services. People have organized small demonstrations against this sort of political opportunism, but police have responded by kettling them, further endangering the demonstrators with regard to virus transmission as well as police violence.
      New Democracy and its European counterparts are implementing a lockdown that is designed to “save Christmas” for New Democracy’s right-wing base. In this strategy, a lockdown will be implemented to the fullest extent until retail stores open for those who have money to spend on Christmas shopping. The plan doesn’t go much further than this; except for this temporary period of consumption, the lockdown is expected to continue after the holiday. Formal announcements about this plan came as the state spent thousands of euros to temporarily project an image of Jesus Christ onto the parliament building for “Armed Forces Day,” an expression of New Democracy’s determination to reinvent Greece as an authoritarian Christian state.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk    

Ruskin.

     Covid19, covid19, covid19, every second word in the news outlets is covid19 or pandemic. This present situation has prevented us from accessing our archive, Spirit of Revolt, it also has somewhat hampered our activities. However, there are still things we can do to bringing you something different to read other than covid19 and pandemic,and our "Read of the Month" is one of them. For the month of November we bring you the pamphlet, The "Rights of Labour", according to John Ruskin arranged by Thomas Barclay. It is part of our Charlie Baird Collection. So read, learn and enjoy, and perhaps if you liked what you read, you should take a wee browse through the catalogue, and see what other delights you might find, and spread the word about the gems you can find in Spirit of Revolt..

The Rights of Labour.

Read the pamphlet on line:

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk