Same Old.

 

        Just in case there are any young people out there that think the present day energy crisis is a new phenomena, I would like to point out to them that the ordinary people get shafted year in year out, while millionaires become billionaires and billionaires bank accounts grow fatter by the hour. It will be ever so, as long as we tolerate this greed drive exploitative, insane system of profit oriented capitalism. To make my point I'm reposting this article I wrote for the Anarchist Critic away back in 2008, read it and see if it rings familiar.

issue 67 Aug. '08
WHO WILL DIE THIS WINTER??

         Energy firm Centrica, owners of British Gas, recently announced a massive 35% price increase to take effect immediately. A day or so later they announced a profit of almost one billion pounds for the six months to June 30th. This was £100 million higher than the city financial spivs were expecting, this did not however, cause them to revue their price increase. So while the city spivs were rubbing their sweaty palms in greedy glee, the rest of us are probably sweating while thinking of our next gas bill, of course you will not be sweating come the winter when you cannot afford to heat your home. British Gas managing director, Phil. Bentley, stated, “We very much regret that we have had to make this decision at a time when many household budgets are already under pressure” I wonder, how cold will his house be this winter and how much pressure is his household budget under?
         Every winter in Scotland there is an large increase in deaths among pensioners, mainly from cold related health problems. Pensioners and others on low income in this country cannot heat their homes properly during the winter and have to make that third world choice, “to eat or to heat”.
The recent fuel price increases will push even larger numbers of vulnerable pensioners and low income families further into the pit of fuel poverty. Many will die and others will suffer health problems that will stay with them the rest of their life.
       Look around you, see the old and the low income families, try to visualise the ones that wont make it through the winter. Try to think of how they will die, their life slowly ebbing, their dignity disintegrating as the temperature falls and the dampness bites. As one of the richest nations on the planet are we prepared to see our friends and neighbours die in poverty because of the greed of shareholders? Are we prepared to stand by and feed the rich parasites at the expense of those around us? Or will try to change things so that we see to the needs of all our friends and neighbours, put an end to such indignities as death from fuel poverty and put all the natural resources in the hands of the people?
ann arky would be interested to hear how you will cope with this massive increase in gas prices and what you think should be done. annarky@radicalglasgow.me.uk

When will we ever learn? 

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Slow Death By Avoidable Poverty.

         I know I sometimes repeat myself, but there are somethings that just build up the anger that I feel I will just keep repeating it in the hope that it might just make a little difference. I wrote the following piece about 6 years ago, now instead of just writing it I feel I should be shouting it from the rooftops, as it becomes ever more obvious that the same vicious policies are still being pursued by our greedy rich and powerful masters. However, they don't have to be our masters, we can be masters of our own destination, it's up to us.

    Some things are necessary for survival, like water, shelter and food, without any one of these basics your survival is in jeopardy, yet we tolerate a system where by if you don't have enough of that stuff called money, you can be denied these basic necessities. Probably one reason this cruel unjust system survives is because you don't die suddenly. With poverty you can be denied one or all of these basics, not enough money means cheap crap food, not enough food, and you die, rather slowly. We won't see people fall over and die in the street, they will just simply deteriorate and die young, the shock factor isn't there. Likewise the homeless, a hidden slow death by poverty, murder by shareholders. Across the world day in day out, millions of lives are shortened by not having access to clean drinking water. Why should the flow and distribution of the very basics of life be under the control of the Davos Club, that group of greedy, pampered, parasitical, millionaire shareholders?

      Under our millionaire's scheme of "debt reduction" and "austerity cuts" we are seeing more and more of our public assets being handed over to those shiny suits of the Davos Club. Soon there will be nothing that belongs to the people. In the UK they already own, among other things, our energy resources and we have seen the prices rocket, as they pursue ever greater profits. Social housing has long been under attack and is disappearing, financial institutions own our homes, and they are working hard at getting our water.

      These corporate conditions will produce a world where we will be completely at the mercy of those greedy, pampered, parasitical, millionaire shareholders of the Davos Club, for everything we need, and if you are poor, your only means of survival will be dependent on charity organisations. Of course we can take everything back, creating co-operatives and community controlled enterprises, it is happening in all sorts of places across the globe. People have seen enough of "free market", "neo-liberalism", which translates into ripping-off the people and widespread deprivation. The tide is turning, it has to, it must be our world, or it is a destroyed world of abject poverty.

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