On The Streets Of Bosnia Herzegovina.

      In country after country people have been taking to the streets to show their contempt for the existing capitalist system. From Brazil to Spain, Greece to Italy, Turkey to Egypt, Bahrain to Australia, Canada to France, and so it goes on. It is always difficult to get a true picture of what is actually happing as these uprisings occur, as our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, with its short attention span, and distorted vision, spews out its loaded propaganda. Now the babbling brook of bullshit has shifted its hall of mirrors to the Ukraine, and as the mouthpiece of the Western corporate empire, it vomits its bile against the Russian empire. Where does that leave the people?

      Recently we had the people of Bosnia Herzegovina on the streets demanding change, but the babbling brook of bullshit, as usual, dropped that and jumped to the next "hot news", Ukraine, to paint its surrealist picture of the facts. So it is good to get some honest information from what was actually happening on the streets of Bosnia Herzegovina.

This from Circled A Radio:  Enjoy.

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Just Follow Instructions.

        Day and daily the propaganda hits you, some silently from billboards, ads. at bus stops, and newspapers, some surreptitiously through the education system, some screaming at you from cinema and TV ads. and then the official outpourings from our lords and masters. However it all says the same, it is the same message repeated and repeated in various guises Don't get involved, be a good citizen and just follow instructions, leave the decisions to us who know better. Of course we all know that freedom is the opposite.

 
Love the State
Respect your boss
Watch Television
Produce more
Obey authority
Don't be late
Abhor protest
Hate change
Fear difference
Stay at home
Know your place
Believe the news
Denounce colleagues
Love the State
Respect your boss
Watch Television
Produce more
Obey authority

This video from Teacher Dude's Grill and BBQ:

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Anarchists As Artists.

      As well as involvement in all aspects of our communities, we need publicity, propaganda, call it what you will, but we must continually put our ideas on the table of everyday life. If our ideas are not known to the ordinary people when they find themselves in conflict, then our ideas will not be taken up. Anarchist have a very colourful palette, let's paint our communities, leaflets, posters, conversations, meetings, stalls, stickers, an avalanche of anarchist ideas flooding this festering mess they call capitalist society. Every opportunity to put our ideas, beliefs, theories out there, should be embraced, from pub and bus stop chats to graffiti, it all adds up.

A Mural from Zurich in Switzerland. 

 

The mural reads:
     “We are growing old among men and women without dreams, strangers in a present time which leaves us no room for outbursts of generosity. The best this society can offer us (a career, a reputation, a sudden, big win, ‘love’) simply doesn’t interest us. Giving orders disgusts us just as much as obedience. What we are and what we want begins with a no. We are exploited like everyone else and want to put an end to exploitation right away. For us, revolt needs no other justification. Our life is escaping us, and any class discourse that fails to start from this is simply a lie. Revolt needs everything—papers and books, arms and explosives, reflection and blasphemy, poisons, daggers and arsons. The only interesting question is how to combine them.”
“NEVER PJZ!”

Read the article HERE:

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ENGINEERING CONSENT.

     There are those who say that advertising has no effect on them, they buy what they want and when they want. Having been a salesman for most of my life I know this to be false. A salesman is probably the most useless job in society. As a salesman selling round the doors, before leaving the depot, I would check what was in stock and what carried the best bonus and that is what my clients would want and get. This would happen even although I got them to look through the entire catalogue if they wished.

      Public opinion, culture and desires are shaped by the avalanche of advertising, (propaganda) that surges over us on a daily basis. The man who put this into top gear was the nephew of Sigmund Freud, one Edward Bernays. With one publicity stunt, he started American women on the road to lung cancer by getting them to smoke. What he did for women is still going on today, to all of us, across the full spectrum of worthless products.

       The extract below is from an interesting article, (Engineering Consent)  on this subject from Iconoclast:

       Bernays was granted an opportunity to experiment on the minds of the public when American Tobacco Corporation president Tom Hill hired him to break the social taboo surrounding women who smoked cigarettes. Bernays consulted with prominent psycho-analyst A.A Brill, who told him that cigarettes were symbols of male sexual power. If Bernays could find a way to connect cigarettes with the idea of challenging male power, then women would smoke. With this in mind, Bernays persuaded a group of rich debutants to hide cigarettes in their clothes during New York’s annual Easter Parade, with the instruction that all at once, they were to light up the cigarettes dramatically. He then informed the press that a group of suffragettes were preparing to protest male domination by igniting what he called “torches of freedom” during the parade. The press was desperate to photograph the event, which linked the idea of liberty to the defiant act of women smoking. The plan was a success; the story broke nation-wide, and the sale of cigarettes to women began to rise overnight. Through this social experiment, Bernays learned that he could infuse powerful meanings onto irrelevant objects. Consumer choices would no longer be based on careful reasoning, but instead would become expressions of individuality; each product would be a personal investment.

Read the full article HERE:

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YOUR ENEMY WON'T SPEARD YOUR MESSAGE.

     The pattern is the same the world over, they talk of the "free press" but what the mean is that it's free of any really critical political action or ideas. Free press really means state mouthpiece, or corporate propaganda machine. The media is 100% behind the status quo, it is no more than a babbling brook of bullshit. So no wonder the left grouping SYRIZA, in Greece is finding it hard to get a voice, if they have to rely on that cesspool of corruption to promote their ideas and aims, they are doomed. They have to stay on the streets, reach out through networking sites, indymedia, direct action, meetings, mass leafleting and assemblies. Hard work, but there is no other way.

Graphic, by John Hartfield.

This from Teacher Dude's Grill and BBQ:

      For fans of signs and omens the sudden end of summer and onset of rainy weather that accompanied the arrival in Greece's second largest city of the leader of the Radical left Coalition, Alexis Tsipras probably made perfect sense. The sudden chill in Thessaloniki seems to be a fitting metaphor for his relationship with the press as SYRIZA has an uphill battle on their hands trying to get the party's message out in the face of intense mainstream media hostility. With most of the traditional media joined at the hip to more mainstream parties such as New Democracy and PASOK  Tsipras has no natural allies in the media, whose members often play a dual role of journalist and party supporter, an incestuous set - up that has hobbled objective reporting for decades.

Read the full article HERE:

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WHEN PURGES START, WHO'LL BE THE FIRST TO GO??

       It is the normal procedure for that babbling brook of bullshit, the media and state propaganda, (usually the same thing) to tie together fundamentalists, terrorist groups and anarchists in the one category. It makes it easier to demonise any activity against the state apparatus. It also creates confusion among the general public, who in all probability know little or nothing about anarchist history, philosophy or actions.

An interesting read from, Nihilo Zero:

        Obviously, it is their underlying ideology and their latent populist appeal which is feared by the state and its media. And, maybe, someday, anarchists will actually pose a serious threat to the oppressive authoritarian systems in place. But, until then, especially for the moment, lets at least be honest about who anarchists really are and what threats they actually present. Most anarchists in the U.S., for better or worse, are primarily concerned with starting sustainable farms, feeding the hungry, and speaking out against war. They are interested in going to book fairs, protecting the environment, and working on their blogs.  And these are the same anarchists who will probably be the first to go when the purges start.

Read the full article HERE:

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IN SOLIDARITY.

From the Greek streets:
 

      We make a call out for ten days of propaganda actions, in as many places as possible, aiming to promote struggles which are more or less known but also entirely unknown to many people. Individuals and/or groups who wish to join in these ten days will choose the thematic and the means according to their own criteria and dynamics, for the strengthening of international and reciprocal solidarity amongst the oppressed.

      We are mainly suggesting taking to the streets, painting slogans and dropping banners in solidarity with cases that we believe are important to be heard. We have done this in Athens in the past months, and you must have done it, too, in several occasions. But we need to go a step further and carry out such actions simultaneously at a European level and, hopefully, beyond. Some of us are in the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Serbia, Portugal, Greece, but also in America, therefore we can make out of a simple action something beautiful. For those that feel all alone in places where they live, it might seem harder… but all you need is a sheet, paint or spray, plus a nice location. Wherever you are, call your mates and spread the word.

Continue READING:

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THE BBC MANUFACTURING CONSENT???

Manufacturing consent from Think Left.

         The BBC should be an important voice, not least because we, the people own it- and its users, ( so that’s us again) – fund it. We would hope to be able to trust it to provide quality educational material and to keep us informed about what is happening in the world, and honest and accurate reporting.

Today, rather than report on Ed Miliband’s letter to the House of Lords about the Health Bill, the BBC bombards us with articles about the Falklands, Syria and disgruntled Christians.

So what is happening at the BBC? We are kept well informed about the goings-on in the Falkland Islands. Is that a co-incidence in that as I remember it was the flag-waving and cheering of the departing ships, which led to a recovery for Margaret Thatcher in 1982 when the public-service cuts were hitting hard?

The BBC inform us of the coming-and-goings of managers of football clubs, about complaints from Christians about being marginalised. I am unsure as to why the BBC should be a voice for religious groups – isn’t that what churches are for?

While all this is going on, the most unpopular policies in recent years go unreported by the BBC, and by much of the Press.   Continue READING.

              An interesting article on the manufacturing of consent and the failure of the BBC to keeping us well informed on what is going on in our own country and also the rest of the world. The BBC is meant to be an information source free from the tainting bias of money. However it is no more than a propaganda organ for the establishment and though it comes in for a lot of criticism from that body, that criticism is mainly that it is a public owned body, as they believe it should be privatised and allow their corporate friends to make lots of money from the organisation. It is a publicly funded body that should serve us the public that fund it but fails miserably on that score. Naivety would surely be the only reason for stating that the BBC is an unbiased organisation.

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IN PURSUIT OF THE IMPOSSIBLE.

          Over the years I have written many pieces venting my hate of the mainstream media, I see it as dumbing down, sensationalising, and misrepresenting the world we live in, I see it as a tool of the establishment, an organ of the state propaganda machine. Part and parcel of that corrupt body, the media, is the weaver of illusions, the advertising industry, it attempts to shape the world to suit the the corporate greed machine. It uses and abuse everyone and anyone, creating illusions as reality, moulding our kids, into attempting to be the impossible. I like this video as in a clear and amusing manner, it highlights the corrupt and corrosive effect of the advertising industry, and how it insidiously destroys lives for profit.

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MILLIONAIRE'S STANDARD OF FAIRNESS!!!

     

      The millionaire cabal at the Westminster House of Hypocrisy and Corruption are always spouting about how everything they do is fair. Their austerity cuts that will throw another million on the dole, is in their way of thinking, fair. A freeze on public sector pay, while the top banksters and other financial over lords reap massive bonuses, is fair. So with these standards of fairness it is no surprise to see that the fair plans for the House of Corruption is to reduce the elected Commons from 650 members to 600 while at the same time they have just announced an extra 54 new members to the Lords bring them up to approximately 750. A little closer look at those 54 new unelected Lords and we find that 43 of them are supports of the millionaires coalition, loading the dice would you say? Of course as we would expect from the millionaire's fairness team most of that 54 unelected over privileged mob, are wealthy donors to the three main parties. Fund us and we will see you fixed up with a wee peerage and all the privileges that go along with the grand title.

       A system of privilege and complete unfairness is the only way to sum of this system of rule by parasites. Millionaires discussing with their millionaire friends in the corporate world about how to carve up the assets of this country to their advantage. Every change that they are implementing will bring lasting hardship to the poorest and most vulnerable in our society and profit the the corporate world. The ordinary people will have to take the pain as the millionaires set about changing society away from any semblance of a welfare system to a free market corporate society. They plan to change society into nothing more than a profit making organisation with the people having no control over any aspect of that society.

      Don't be fooled by the budget blurb and the deficit crap, these are only the excuse to push their ideological agenda. We are told that the UK debt is out of control while the clever Germans are getting it right, but the UK debt in percentage of GDP is approximately 76% while in Germany it is approximately 75% but ours requires a total destruction of the welfare system. The only philosophical answer to that analysis is “bullshit”.

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MORE ON NEWS CORPORATION.

                                                          Image by John Hartfeild.

    

      A few days ago I posted a wee article on Mr. Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation and how its wonderful creative accounting and other shufflings managed to pay only 6% tax on billions of $ profit over a period of three years. His empire stretches far and wide and he is as far to the right as you can get without falling of the planet. Well Mr. Murdoch is a very anbitious man and is hell bent on taking over the entire UK media. The following is part of a campaign by avaaz to try and prevent that from happening.

      The conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch is trying to take over British media with his bid for full ownership of BSkyB. We only have 3 days to tell the regulator why this deal is bad news! Rupert Murdoch is on a fast track to control over half of this country’s newspapers and television. This week is our only chance to tell regulators to stand up for a wide choice of news, and defend our democracy.

       Britain loses if Murdoch wins. With all of the BSkyB TV network his massive dominance of our media would become further entrenched, extending his power and political influence. Here and elsewhere Murdoch has used his reach to promote conservative political candidates, the persecution of minorities, climate change denial and the dangerous lies that led to the invasion of Iraq.

       We have until Friday to stop this! Let’s flood the regulator with thousands of submissions saying why we feel this deal is against the public interest. We’ll deliver tens of thousands of comments in boxloads to Ofcom’s offices on Friday, making a media splash. Send yours now via the link below, and encourage everyone you know to do the same today.

http://www.avaaz.org/en/ofcom_no_bskyb_takeover/?vl

         Murdoch’s News Corporation already owns 39% of the BSkyB television company and four of our best-selling newspapers. His new expansion bid rides roughshod over the ‘media plurality’, which the government has a legal duty to uphold. Regulator Ofcom is accepting public comments on Murdoch’s plans for just a few days.

        This deal would allow Murdoch to cross-promote his different outputs and increase his political roles. For 30 years no British political party has won an election without Murdoch's blessing. This ability to get voters’ attention gives him frequent access to the prime minister - hence his nickname the ‘24th member of the cabinet’.

        This is a fight for the soul of British democracy. We cannot afford to have one company dominate half of our TV, newspaper and online news. From illegal spying at the News of the World here to his hate-filled Fox News empire in the U.S., Murdoch’s media erodes the values we hold dear and shows few scruples when attacking political or commercial rivals - now including the BBC.

        The Avaaz movement in Canada recently proved that determined campaigning can block conservative media takeovers. Let’s do it again here. Ofcom has given until this Friday for anyone to submit comments on whether this deal is in the public interest. Let’s send a message today and tell everyone we know.

http://draft.blogger.com/goog_1736774496

       In the world we are striving to create, citizens will be empowered by a media telling truth for the public good. Countering this deal is vital if we are to leave space for such a media in our country, and the world.

With hope,

Alex, Ricken, Brianna, Mia, Ben and the whole Avaaz team

PS Avaaz has a new website! Your feedback will be very valuable to help us improve it. You use the pink buttons on the left hand side of any page to report any problems you find.

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BED FELLOWS.

    Over the last few days I have come to the conclusion that when the Pope visits this country nothing happens in the world. There is obviously nothing to report, nothing of importance being said or happening. Every newspaper you pick up has page after page of photos of faces and crowds, headline after headline of the same event. Interviews with the mesmerised members of the "flock" who all make meaningless statements which we have grown to expect from the followers of this mass hysteria.

       All it shows is that the so called "newspapers" have nothing to do with news and all to do with propaganda. We are being drowned in a tsunami of irrational gibberish as if it was the accepted way of life of the people of this country. This is an organisation that is having trouble recruiting and swaths of those it has recruited are paedophiles and child abusers, only a very small number of the people of this country regularly enter the organisation's brain-washing units known as churches. It is a extremely wealth organisation that continually holds out the begging can, has repeatedly hidden abusers and silenced the abused. It preaches a dogma of repression against women and  gays, rants against the right of women to choose abortion and spouts the ridiculous rubbish that condoms spread aids.

     In spite of all its cancerous preachings, our media give it all the propaganda that it wishes, our mouth-pieces of the state, the politicians, give it the stamp of legitimacy. Of course the two corrupt power-mongers are well matched. 

    As long as the church and/or the state hold sway, freedom will be an elusive prize.

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THE PROPAGANDISTS.

THE PROPAGANDISTS.

When the hordes run with their flaming torches,

When they light the torch of freedom

Burning all injustices

Scorching all hypocrisies

Making a bonfire of poverty

Throwing dogma, patriotism and religion on the flames,

I’ll be there, among them with my box of matches.

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