Every Day You Die Many Times.

         So we think we have a lot on our mind, what with austerity, Brexit, and the Indy-ref 2. Well perhaps we should spare a thought for those hundreds of thousands of refugees herded like cattle in various points on the continent of Europe. In Greece, in particular, their conditions are deteriorating rapidly from appalling to utterly inhumane and unbearable. Having managed, through grit, courage and determination, to extract themselves from the bloody dystopia that is the imperialist slaughter house of the Middle East, they find themselves trapped in a living hell. Just the other day, "an asylum seeker was found hanged in an apparent suicide at Greece’s largest port, shortly after aid agencies warned of mounting desperation among refugees trapped in the country. The 25-year-old Syrian man was carrying refugee application papers when he was found dead near passenger ferry departure gates in Piraeus, outside Athens." More than 1,500 refugees are living around the Greek port of Piraeus, but there are over 62,000 refugees trapped in Greece in concentration camps and elsewhere by the idiotic impractical EU-Turkey deal and other border closures across Europe. Of course this is capitalism, so there will be those standing by to make a profit from exploiting this trapped and desperate group.

         Research by Save the Children found more than 5,000 minors are living in “appalling conditions”, driving a mounting mental health crisis. It found that children as young as nine were self-harming and 12-year-olds attempting suicide, sometimes filming themselves in the act. A spike in drug and alcohol abuse by teenagers was also recorded, as dealers exploit them in the camps.

       The root of this "refugee crisis" is  of course, the world imperialists' blood stained foreign policy, their brutal, savage drive for control of the oil rich territory. Those unfortunate individuals and families, caught up in this mayhem of death and destruction, who see their homes, villages, towns, and cities being obliterated, and their families and friends being killed, and decide to try to make it to a safer place, are further hindered by those imaginary lines dawn on the planet's surface, borders. This is where the minders of the various states, stop the hungry, the sick, the maimed and the desperate, then make the arbitrary decision, which to accept and which to reject. Decisions that can mean, in many cases, the difference between life and death.
       The plight of the hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing the bloody fireball that is the Middle East, has somewhat, disappeared from our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, that does not mean that the problem has been solved, far from it, it just means that they have lost interest and have moved on to their usual bilge splurge of candy-floss and bubble gum, peppered with the odd cash and sex scandal.
       What is going on in the Middle East is still there, the misery is still being created, the death and destruction is still going on, and the hungry, the terrified, the desperate, are still trying to flee to a safer place, and the developed world, the cause of the problem, is still turning its back on them.

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

The Cruel Hypocrisy Of Capitalism.

 

 

         Following on from yesterday's post on children dying from starvation, we are now informed that the world is facing its worst humanitarian crisis since the formation of the UN, 60 years ago. More than 20 million people in four countries in Africa are facing starvation, 20 million adults, children and elderly, coming face to face with an avoidable cruel, slow death. While this man made human tragedy is rapidly unfolding, our great leaders sitting in opulence are wringing their hands and crying crocodile tears, in one of the most gigantic displays of mass hypocrisy that the world has seen. They speak as if this nightmare has just sprung up suddenly, caught them by surprise, and they shake their heads spouting the figure of $5 billion needed to alleviate this suffering, as if this was a massive stumbling block to getting on with solving this tragedy. $5 billion dollars? Where's the problem? To put that in perspective, here in Scotland two asset management companies have just merged, creating a pot of assets of £660 billion, just to be shuffled around the world to make more money for those who already have much too much money, the Rothschild family is reckoned to be worth some where between $300-$400 billion, the Walton family of Wal-Mart fame, is sitting on approximately  $149 billion, then we have smiling generous Bill Gates with $79 billion. So where is the problem in raising a paltry $5 billion to save 20 million people from starvation?  

       Another factor in this cruel, insane an hypocritical scenario, is the fact that Africa is extremely rich in natural resources, which are being plundered by the developed nations. Those developed nations are happy and willing to pour billions of pounds of weaponry into this plundering process, creating mayhem and unimaginable suffering. Weapon sales to Africa for the period 2010-14 show an increase of 45% on the period 2005-09. Was the famine problem not starting to show its ugly face at that stage? However, we mustn't in any way impede the growth of the arms industry and its profits.  

       What we are seeing epitomises capitalism, the only criteria is the growth of wealth, not its distribution. The cost of that growth in human misery is irrelevant. This famine will play its self out on the cruel inhumane stage of capitalism. The need for wealth to alleviate it will be a struggle, despite the fact that the world is awash with wealth, that wealth will continue to flow into fewer and fewer hands, and other famines, other avoidable human tragedies will come an go. Unless of course we get rid of the system that causes and aggravates these situations. Capitalism is the problem, not the world, we can shape the world in a more humane and just fashion, we have the resources, we have the ability, we have the imagination, when will we have the will and determination to end this festering cancer of capitalism that is eating humanity and destroying the planet? Must another 20 million people face the slow cruel death of starvation?

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CHILD ABUSE BY THE STATE.

Use an inverted knuckle into the sternum and drive inward and upward.

Drive fingers into groin.

Continue to carry out alternate elbow strikes to the young person's ribs until a release is achieved.

Drive straight fingers into the young person's face, and then quickly drive the straightened fingers of the same hand downwards into the young person's groin area.

Nose distraction" techniques – sharp blows to the nose –

Ram knuckles into ribs and rake shoes down the shins.

        Sounds like training for the SAS but the term “young person” should perhaps give a hint. These are some of the government sanctioned child abuse techniques in an instruction manual used in privately run prisons for young offenders. We are talking about youngsters from 12 to 17 years of age, and this treatment being inflicted by adults.

         Carolyne Willow, national co-ordinator of the Children's Rights Alliance for England (CRAE), which led the campaign for disclosure of this manual following the deaths of two teenage boys in secure training centres, said: "The manual is deeply disturbing and stands as state authorisation of institutionalised child abuse. What made former ministers believe that children as young as 12 could get so out of control so often that staff should be taught how to ram their knuckles into their rib cages? Would we allow paediatricians, teachers or children's home staff to be trained in how to deliberately hurt and humiliate children?"

           Phillip Noyes, director of strategy and development at the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, said: "These shocking revelations graphically illustrate the cruel and degrading violence inflicted at times on children in custody. On occasions these restraint techniques have resulted in children suffering broken arms, noses, wrists and fingers. Painful restraint is a clear breach of children's human rights against some of the most vulnerable youngsters in society and does not have a place in decent society." What Phillip Noyes doesn’t mention is that these techniques have also caused death. A child being killed while in the care of an adult, would that be murder?

         Of course the perpetrators of these acts of child abuse are aware of the possible damage as the manual does give some warnings of the possible effects of such treatment by stating that the techniques risk giving children a "fracture to the skull" and "temporary or permanent blindness caused by rupture to eyeball or detached retina". The manual also acknowledges that the measures could cause asphyxia. One passage, explaining how to administer a head-hold on children, adds that "if breathing is compromised the situation ceases to be a restraint and becomes a medical emergency".

         One thing the state is good at is brutalising those who don’t fit into its grand plan, in the case of privately run young offenders institutions, the state hands over the responsibility for the degradation and humiliation to a private company who proceed to make millions of pounds from the process. As they say, "busines is busines"

          It is not often that I agree with a Sir anything but I’m inclined to agree with Sir Al Aynsley-Green, the former children's commissioner for England and emeritus professor of child health at University College London, when he said: "It's time the whole country knows what is going on under their noses. This is just part of a brutal system, and we welcome the fact this is finally in the open."

       It is finally in the open, but will it change? Well that is up to you and I.

THE REBEL

Rebel rebel break the rule,

What does it matter that a “wise” man sees a fool.

Not for you the herd’s dull beat

Making tomorrow, yesterday’s repeat,

Living out the life of a clone

Marching with the crowd but always alone.

Shaping your life from some dusty tome

Playing it safe, staying at home.

 

Rebel rebel break the rule

Swim in the sea, never the pool.

Live your emotions, feel the surge

Follow your dreams, chase the urge.

Make life though short, an exciting game

Not a mad march for fortune or fame.

Capture the moment, live it now

Being alive your only vow.

Rebel rebel break the rule

In the end,          you’re humanity’s jewel.

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