Emotions.

          I love poetry, some more than others, there can be so much emotion encapsulated in a few lines, a vid picture can appear in a verse. I find Xu Lizhi's poems very moving. "I Fall Asleep, Just Standing Like That" is a poem that I'm sure those who work at boring repetitive jobs can identify with the words and emotions.
        Xu Lizhi a young Chinese poet who took his own life on 30 September 2014, at the age of 24, in Shenzhen, China.

"I Fall Asleep, Just Standing Like That"


The paper before my eyes fades yellow
With a steel pen I chisel on it uneven black
Full of working words
Workshop, assembly line, machine, work card, overtime, wages...
They've trained me to become docile
Don't know how to shout or rebel
How to complain or denounce
Only how to silently suffer exhaustion
When I first set foot in this place
I hoped only for that grey pay slip on the tenth of each month
To grant me some belated solace
For this I had to grind away my corners, grind away my words
Refuse to skip work, refuse sick leave, refuse leave for private reasons
Refuse to be late, refuse to leave early
By the assembly line I stood straight like iron, hands like flight,
How many days, how many nights
Did I - just like that - standing fall asleep?

-- 20 August 2011

 

Shy, quiet, introverted, solitary

In 2010, Xu Lizhi went [from his home in rural Jieyang, Guangdong] to work at [a] Foxconn [electronics factory in Shenzhen], beginning life on the assembly line. From 2012 until February of this year [2014], over 30 of his writings were published in Foxconn’s internal newspaper Foxconn People (富士康人), including poems, essays, film reviews, and news commentaries {…} Xu posted the titles of these writings on his blog in a post called “The Maturation Given to Me by a Newspaper,” indicating his gratitude for this platform for his literary aspirations. The first time his friend Zheng (pseudonym) read Xu’s poetry, he was astonished to discover that this young man could be so talented. Henceforth, Zheng always looked for Xu’s writings in the newspaper.
           Zheng’s impression was that Xu was a shy boy, “of few words, but not silent.” “Xu asserted his convictions, but he seemed quite solitary – very much the air of a poet.” When Zheng heard of Xu’s suicide, his entire [week-long] break for [China’s] National Day was shrouded in grief. He could not go outside for days.

          Turning feelings into poems; fearing they be read by family

          Most of Xu’s early poems were descriptions of life on the assembly line. In “Workshop, My Youth Was Stranded Here,” he described his conditions at the time: “Beside the assembly line, tens of thousands of workers [dagongzhe]1 line up like words on a page/ 'Faster, hurry up!'/ Standing among them, I hear the supervisor bark.” He felt that “Once you’ve entered the workshop/ The only choice is submission,” and that his youth was coldly slipping away, so he could only “Watch it being ground away day and night/ Pressed, polished, molded/ Into a few measly bills, so-called wages.”

Readthe full article HERE.

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info   

Tinsel.

        There is a pattern on a globe floating around in the milky way, and it is a macabre picture of poverty, destitution, wars, inequality, and injustice, the main species on that globe is engaged in a suicidal war with it's ecosystems. Some are forming groups and rebelling against this insane, self inflicted bloodfest, while those in power lash out with savagery at those who dare to break the pattern. I just sit in my wee bubble and despair, so turn and look the other way, and think of verse.

 Tinsel Cities.

In the city of tinsel and bright lights
midst the playthings of the rich
just beyond the champagne bubble
out of earshot of the butterfly people
in the dark shadows where no one looks
there you’ll find poverty and destitution
dance a macabre dance of survival.
In Mammon’s city of grand illusions
where rivers of wealth feed frivolity
in its twisting dark and musty lanes
where the light of hope seldom shines
an army of the living dead sweat and toil
polishing the tinsel, changing light bulbs
refilling the champagne bottles
nothing must stop the flow of frivolity
or the butterfly people will die.

A Dream deferred.

A dream deferred, where does it go?
Is it stored in some labyrinth of the mind,
does it fade and waste away,
gone, forgotten, lost,
or does it become a burden
that weighs heavier with the years,
a burden that breaks you,
poisons your thoughts with regret
like a fog clouding your mind
in that bitter taste
of what could have been. 

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

I Want A World For The Soft And The Gentle.

       A poem can come from a thought, a word, something you saw, an inner feeling, a desire deep inside. This poem came from a deep sadness after hearing of the death by suicide of a dear friend's young son.

TO LOSE A SON.

It seems, in this harsh and callous world

There is no room

For the sweet, the soft, the gentle

Too many compromises to the inner self

Too many cruel realities pierce the heart.

How do you love

When survival bids you

Case your heart in an iron cask

Seal your skin in a titanium sheet

Fulfil the code and not yourself.

With pleasures locked in an inner chamber

Love hidden beneath a smile

Desires crammed in secret corners

All protected from the discordant demands

Of a rapid moving, confusing, pitiless world.

Where do the sweet, the soft, the gentle, find solace

Where can the heart float free

Where can the inner self blossom

Open for all the world to see

Accepted and un-threatened? 

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

 

Culpable Homicide.

      Culpable homicide  is a specific offence in various jurisdictions within the Commonwealth of Nations which involves the illegal killing of a person either with or without an intention to kill depending upon how a particular jurisdiction has defined the offence. Unusually for those legal systems which have originated or been influenced during rule by the United Kingdom, the name of the offence associates with Scots law rather than English law.

    Involuntary manslaughter: Involuntary manslaughter is the unlawful killing of a human being without malice aforethought, either express or implied. It is distinguished from voluntary manslaughter by the absence of intention. It is normally divided into two categories; constructive manslaughter and criminally negligent manslaughter, both of which involve criminal liability.

      By their actions people have died, which of the categories applies to our government?

From the Mirror:

      A grandad who had just found out his benefits were being stopped shot himself dead – after telling friends he was “unable to cope”.
Shaun Pilkington, 58, was sent a letter saying he was to lose his ­Employment and Support ­Allowance, which he got after a long-term illness.
He was told he would have to be reassessed and needed to prove he was eligible. But as the hearing approached, friends said Shaun, a licensed gamekeeper, became discouraged.
Days later he called police and said he was about to kill himself. They found him dead at his flat.-----

      -------Shaun’s estranged family was too upset to talk. He joins a growing list of people who have taken their lives since the Tory-led Coalition employed private firm Atos to reassess thousands of people on long-term benefits.
Blind Tim Salter, 53, of Kinver, Staffordshire, died after being deemed fit to work. A coroner ruled the move to axe his benefit had contributed to his suicide.
Edward Jacques, 47, of Sneinton, Nottingham, took a fatal overdose after his benefit payments were stopped.
Jobless Richard ­Sanderson, 44, of ­Southfields, south-west London, stabbed himself in the heart. Unemployed electrician Lee Robinson, 39, of Crawley, Sussex, also took his own life.

  
      It is a fact that thousands people have died after being assessed and told they are fit for work, some put the figure at 32 a week. I consider it reasonable to say that in a very high proportion of these deaths, pressure from the government was the prime cause of death. When do we hold them accountable, when will those responsible be brought to justice? Rich pampered parasites sitting at there desks, making decisions that will at best cause distress, at worst death, and continue this over a long period of time, well aware of what is happening to thousands of vulnerable people. They don't belong in our world, but they make the decisions that shatter the lives of our friends and neighbours. Cocooned in their marble halls, they feed and grow fat on the blood of the people. The cesspool of unfeeling parasites has to be destroyed.

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

 

The Brutality Of The Israeli State.

      Every time you look at what is happening in the Israeli occupied Palestinian territories, you never fail to be shocked at what is happening to the Palestinian people. It is hard to believe that you are reading about the 21st century and hard to believe that the rest of the world not only tolerates this treatment but in many cases condones this barbarity.
        I recently read the report of the Palestinian lawyer who after being released from an Israeli prison, hanged himself in his bedroom. One can only imagine the horrors that drove this quiet rational family man to take his own life. 

 

 

     On the morning of 29 April, Amjad Safadi’s wife left their Jerusalem home for work. A little after 8am, Amjad’s younger brother Samer arrived to escort him to a court hearing. As he opened the door to his room, Samer found that Amjad had hanged himself.
     The shocking death of the 39-year-old lawyer and father of two girls came five days after his release from the notorious underground Russian Compound detention center — known in Arabic as the Moskobiyeh — in Jerusalem.

Read the full story HERE:

     The number of Palestinians imprisoned by the Israeli authorities is out of all proportion to the Palestinian population. It is estimated that since 1967, over 650,000 Palestinians have been imprisoned, this accounts for approximately 20% of the population and 40% of the male population. Recent estimates of how many are in prison put the figure at around 6,800, including members of the Palestinian legislative council. Minors are not exempt from this brutality, recent figures put the number of minors imprisoned as over 200, with 29 below the age of 16.
     This is 21st. Century Israel lashing out 19th century treatment to a subjugated people, while the so called civilised world looks the other way. 

 

     Children are often taken suddenly from their homes, often in the middle of the night, with soldiers surrounding the house and then raiding it. Soldiers usually do not have a warrant for arrest or searches. For example, in July of 2010, an unusually heavy number of Israeli soldiers (in 12 jeeps) entered the outskirts of the village to arrest a local youth, 17 year old Ahmad Abed Al-Fatah Burnat, without giving any reason. Ahmad was taken by jeep to Ofer military prison located outside Ramallah. Prisoners in Ofer, especially young boys, are kept in harsh conditions with the intention of pressuring them to give information about other Palestinians. Many are denied food and water for extended periods of time and exposed to extreme cold or heat.

Detailed Report HERE:

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

A Truth Of Our Era, ATOS Kills.

     ATOS Kills, is not a slogan, it is a truth. Across the country we have seen deaths and suicides as a result of this so called “assessment policy”, which translates as, cutting welfare to the most vulnerable in our society. Whatever the result of the “assessment” the stress and trauma of having to face this humiliating treatment is often enough to push vulnerable people over the edge. We have, sitting in the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, a millionaire cabal, who, in their pampered bubble world, know nothing of the struggles and suffering of the ordinary people, nor do they care. They are all worshippers in the temple of Mammon, the poor and vulnerable are mere sacrifices on the altar of finance.

 

      ATOS is just one of the many tools in their armoury as they plunder the public purse, but it is a brutal tool being used against a vulnerable section of our community. We can all say what we feel about this savage attack on our communities by attending the organised Day of Action against ATOS, which takes place tomorrow Wednesday, 19 February. There will be one in your town or city, if not create one. Protests are taking place in towns and cities across the UK including Leeds, Glasgow, Manchester, Croydon, Hull, Birmingham, Truro, Portsmouth, Edinburgh, Wimbledon and many more. To find a protest near you visit: http://ukrebellioncom.ipage.com/atosdemo/

 

This from The Void:

 

     Someone recently commented that there was once a time when a government policy which led to spate of unintended deaths would have been halted to find out what the fuck was going on.

     Yet the death toll linked to the horrific Atos run Work Capability Assessment grows ever higher with a spate of tragic suicides reported throughout December.  Life is cheap under neo-liberalism and neither the Tory Party, or Labour – who merely say they will replace Atos but the assessments will continue – are opposed to this terrible regime facing sick and disabled claimants.

     Barely any of those found ‘fit for work’ by Atos have actually found jobs, despite Iain Duncan Smith’s magical Work Programme.  The number of successful appeals against decisions made to throw people off benefits remains sky high.  The stress and suffering caused by Atos is more than well documented by hundreds, if not thousands of people on the internet.

Read the full article HERE:

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

Glasgow Against ATOS Monthly Picket.

       Glasgow against ATOS is a Grassroots disabled activist campaign opposing Atos (Atos HealthCare) and supporting rights of disabled people in Glasgow and beyond. On the last Friday of each month the group picket outside the ATOS offices in Cadogan Street Glasgow. The next picket will be Friday January 31 at 12:30.

    Ian Duncan Smith's "reforms" of disability allowance, is administered by ATOS and since they started their brutal campaign against the most vulnerable in our society, we have seen more than 1,300 people died after being assessed and told to start work related activities. Whichever way you look at this, it is unacceptable, Ian Duncan Smith has blood on his hands. Some disabled people have committed suicide after being assessed as fit to start looking for work. People who force vulnerable people into this sort of situation have changed the category from suicide to murder, and should be held accountable.

Photo From Glasgow against ATOS

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

Government Paid Mercenaries!

      When a state carries out policies that kill people in another state, they usually call it war. However, what do you call it when a state carries out policies that kill its own people? Well here in the UK the policies pushed through by the state are killing people. One of them is called “Work Capability Assessment” and the weapon is in the hands of ATOS. I suppose that ATOS being a French company, we should call them mercenaries.

      The number of people who have died after being assessed by ATOS, as fit to work, is well over 100,000. In any war situation these figures would be a national disaster, why does our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, not splash them across banner headlines? Simply because they are on the other side, the side of the murdering state. The latest tragedy in this brutal assault on the disabled and vulnerable, was 53 year old, partially sighted Jacqueline Harris, as well as her problem with her sight she had restricted mobility and was on constant pain relief. However the compassionless bureaucrats, sitting comfortable in their cocooned world of “ticky-boxes” considered her fit to look for work and stripped her of her benefits. It was a pain to far, and sadly Jaqueline Harris took her own life.

    This war against its own people continues on many fronts, the freezing/cutting of wages in the midst of rising energy and food prices, the bedroom tax, putting extra strain on already stretched finances, are just two attacks which are pushing more people into fuel poverty, food banks, deprivation and in turn malnutrition, with the resultant health problems. In truth, these actions are a slow death sentence and are directly responsible for health problems and an early death in thousands of cases. The state by its deliberate policies is killing its own people, all in the name of the economics of the banksters, it is sacrificing the lives of its citizens to bolster and increases the wealth of the already obscenely wealthy. We live in a sacrificial society, where the people are offered up to the god Mammon. 

This from The Void:

     A woman stripped of benefits after being found ‘fit for work’ by Atos has taken her own life the Bristol Post have reported today.

According to the newspaper: 

     “PARTIALLY-sighted and only able to walk with the aid of a stick, Jacqueline Harris suffered crippling pain due to slipped discs in her back and neck. Her mobility was reduced further when a dog savaged one of her wrists. “Despite being in agony which strong pain relief could not ease, the 53-year-old was deemed to be fit for work following a government health assessment and told to find a job.

      “Her sister claims the verdict that she was ineligible for disability benefits drove her to take her own life earlier this month.”

Read the full article HERE:

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

What Has Been Lost.

      Having  been a regular visitor to Greece for a number of years, what has been inflicted on the people of that country hurts me deeply. It hurts all the more because it wasn't necessary, it was all part of a deliberate policy, all part of the financial Mafia's grand plan to plunder the public purse, and they were fully aware of what the consequences would be for the ordinary people. It is now a country ripe for the corporate world to move in and set up the first of the great European sweatshops. Other European countries are on the same conveyor belt, heading in the same direction. It can only be stopped by the combined action of the people of Europe, only a move to take control of our lives and shape society the way we wish it to be. To wrestle the power from the hands of the corporate greed merchants and their accomplices, the financial Mafia.

         This article from Teacher Dude gives some idea of what has happened to the people of Greece.

What Has Been Lost

      I have been very quiet recently, at least as far as this blog is concerned. While I still tweet quite a lot about what is happening in Greece, over the last month or so I have lost the desire to go out on the streets and cover what has been happening in the city. Perhaps the fact that the end of the academic year is approaching and everyone is feeling worn out is to blame, or maybe the endless stream of bad news I hear from those around me is getting to me.

      More friends are leaving the country to escape the crisis, others are struggling on but the cost is enormous both financially and in terms of dignity. It's hard to be sanguine when so many people you know are fighting to just retain their self respect in the face of grinding poverty which seems to have no end.

    On the other hand the international press, or at least The Economist, FT, CNN and even the Guardian have decided that no matter what your eyes tell you every time you go out the worst of the crisis in Greece is over. Business confidence is up, the government's privatisation plan is finally going ahead, and the banking sector is stabilising. All of which is fine as long as your main interests are in finance and not out there in the "Real Economy"with the rest of us schmucks.

        Despite the euphoria in the mainstream media the economy is still collapsing,unemployment hasn't stopped rising, let alone dropped, the suicide rate is the highest in 50 years, 200% increase in new AIDS cases reported and just to add yet more joy to everyday life a new drug, Sisa or Shisha is doing a roaring trade in Athens.-------

Read the full article HERE:

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Murder By Legislation.

      The present government in pandering to the dictates of the financial Mafia have introduced numerous savage attacks on the living conditions of the ordinary people. Among some of the most brutal are, the ATOS attack on the disabled, the closing of Remploy factories, workfare slave labour legislation and the bedroom tax. This latter piece of legislation from the warped mind of rich well housed, Iain Duncan Smith, has just claimed its first death. Stephanie Bottrill forced to pay extra council tax because of spare rooms, in a house she had lived in for 18 years, couldn't take any more and threw herself in front of a lorry, she left a letter saying she could no longer afford to live and blamed the government for her death. I can't formulate my thoughts into words that would be adequate for this outrageous crime perpetrated on a 53 year old woman living alone. However, some people can:

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HOW MANY DEAD AND INJURED WILL WE ACCEPT?

        It is imperative that we continually stress the human side of all this financial shuffling being done by the various governments at the behest of the financial Mafia. We get daily reports about how the markets are responding, but little or no mention of the distress and deprivation being heaped on the people.  It seems that the format is for the elected governments to try to gain the confidence of the markets by screwing the people. One would imagine that it should somehow or other, be the other way round, the elected governments trying to gain the confidence of the people by screwing the markets. The fact that it is the way it is, makes it glaringly obvious whose side they are on. In this web of financial re-adjustments, re-capitalisation, increasing banks liquidity, and other descriptions for plundering the public purse, there is no group taking care of the interests of the people. It is up to the people to take care of themselves with the same ruthlessness as the financial mafia take care of themselves. There is no other phrase suits the situation better than "class war". Our people are being injured and dying by the deliberate decisions of a group of people, well aware of the consequences of their actions, for no other reason than personal gain. It is a class that has all the wealth dragging what they can from another class, those who produce all the wealth. That by any analysis is "class war".

 

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WHAT PRICE A LIFE?

ATHENS (Reuters) - A cash-strapped Greek pensioner shot and killed himself outside parliament in Athens on Wednesday saying he refused to scrounge for food in the rubbish, touching a nerve among ordinary Greeks feeling the brunt of the country's economic crisis.

Picture courtesy of Teacher Dude & BBQ.

        He played their game to their rules, he worked hard, got a “decent” job, he was a pharmacist, and brought up his family within the rules of their game, and in his old age, callously they threw him into deprivation. What more could he have done - nothing -. to the financial markets he is worth nothing, a disposable unit, of no consequence. To those who knew him, he was a dignified man, to his family, a loving member, to the general public, a decent human being destroyed by a system that is immoral, unjust and inhumane. The media may focus on this betrayed and destroyed elderly man, but across this continent millions are rapidly dropping to his level of despair, fear and deprivation, for what? To save the bankers from losing their wealth, to keep an unjust immoral and inhumane system functioning. How many more will be driven to take such action as this elderly retired pharmacist? When will we turn on the perpetrators of this hideous crime and bring them to justice?

Picture courtesy of AE TV.

           When do we take control of our lives and build a society that sees to the needs of all our people. It is possible, there is an alternative to this parasite breeding, greed infested repressive system. Capitalism is not some plan of the Gods, it is a man made economic system the fails the majority of the people. Before many more of our people are driven to the depth of despair, to the end of their tether, let's dismantle this cruel killer of an economic system and replace it with one built on mutual aid, co-operation, sustainability and humanity.

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THE PRICE OF COOL!!

         So it's expensive, slick, cool and a must have for many, but Jobs created jobs that kill.


Created by: Online MBA Programs

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WHEN IS SUICIDE NOT SUICIDE - WHEN YOU'RE PREGNANT!!

      Sometimes you read a report and you come to the conclusion that it must be from some far off, foreign undeveloped country, as it seems so out of line with civilized thought. That was how this article struck me, of course it wasn't from some enclave of a primitive warlord, it was in fact, from the land of freedom and opportunity, the supposed leader of free democratic world, the good ol' US of A. No doubt the religious fundamentalists will be behind this injustice. The sooner we rid ourselves of the insanity of the religious fundamentalists, Christian, Muslim, Jew or what ever, the better for all concerned.

         Today, the Indiana Court of Appeals heard testimony on the case of Bei Bei Shuai, the pregnant woman who ingested rat poison in a suicide attempt, causing her to go into preterm labor at 33 weeks to a baby girl that died soon after.

       Shuai, who survived her attempted suicide only to be arrested and held without bail since this March, has become the poster child for the question as to whether the rights of a fetus actually outweigh the rights of the woman who carries it. Ironically, she has now been imprisoned for nine months — longer than she ever carried the baby girl that she is accused of murdering.

Read the full article.

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THE EAGLE HAS LANDED.

         In this society anxiety walks with us, will my benefit be cut, will I be deported and who knows why a young man would throw himself in front of a train, but then again, this is capitalism. 

Jim McFarlane 30-6-11   hereandnowscot@gmail.com

         I was early. I had the luxury - on a clear day - to get off the shoogly bus. Across the Squiggly bridge I sauntered, northwards past the Broomielaw, nondescript buildings housing bureaucrats of BT, the Scottish Office.....

        The Job Centre in Argyle Street wasn't my destination, this time, carrying on, was the ATOS assessment centre at Cadogan St. - quiet outside at mid morning - no Black Triangle or dis ability campaigners this early.

       Reaching Bothwell Street I at first turned right, only to discover the imposing entrance I had imagined to be "Eagle" was not the place. About turning I strode. Across the road, every window of Habitat festooned the message: closing down sale/ everything must go! A symbol of the sixties myth, going the way of Woolies.....

        Just beside the slip-road from the Kingston Bridge was the Eagle building. The penny dropped. This was the immigration office place. Up to the 4th floor, a screening barrier and uniformed civil servant greeted me. Keys, coins, lighters, all to be placed on a tray. It was a hallmark of departure.

      I had to sit next to the toilets. This was the designated bay for benefit appeal claimants. In the larger waiting room space, a few of Jock Tamson's bairns who awaited a different fate: the right to stay or face deportation.

      Another unshaven man was processed. He said he was late because a young lad had thrown himself under an Underground train at Govan. No empathy overflowed from the clerk. My fellow claimant's lateness would undo my planned escape to Paisley afterwards. I settled down - a few BBC science magazines helped distract my thoughts. Others came & went or nervously visited the latrines.

      My time came. The clerk led me along the corridor. He opened the door. A surprise greeted me. This was not like Wellington Street or other overspill locations for Appeals. It was a miniature court room. I took my seat, a desk in front with water and tissues. I was at least 12 feet away from judgement.

     The legal man, explained how they would conduct the proceedings. The medical man - whose face betrayed a liking for the bottle - asked the questions. It was a case of casting the mind back, a portrait of anomie in the months before last autumn. A period when the diagnosis was incomplete. The medical scans were underway but not going as planned. I was sleeping fitfully, I was not functioning as before. Enough information was gleaned.

    Time to go. There would be no verbal verdict. I would be in a state of suspense. They ushered me out of the Eagle's lair. Would I continue under the scrutiny of the State? Or would I tread the path of precarity .

Disability assessor

[to be continued...]

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TOMORROW'S WORLD -- THEIR'S OR OUR'S??

      We live in an ever changing world and though it is filled with hope and dreams, it  can also be a very depressing place at times. It is through this fog of depression that we have to continually plan and build a better world for our children and our grandchildren, we can't leave them the nightmare that we have put on the horizon.

      The following is a short extract from "We Have to Dismantle This" by Derrick Jenson.

       The unprecedented reality of the present is one of enormous sorrow and cynicism, “a great tear in the human heart”, as Richard Rodriguez put it. A time of ever-mounting everyday horrors, of which any newspaper is full, accompanies a spreading environmental apocalypse. Alienation and the more literal contaminants compete for the leading role in the deadly dialectic of life in divided, technology-ridden society. Cancer, unknown before civilization, now seems epidemic in a society increasingly barren and literally malignant.

       Soon, apparently, everyone will be using drugs; prescription and illegal becoming a relatively unimportant distinction. Attention Deficit Disorder is one example of an oppressive effort to medicalize the rampant restlessness and anxiety caused by a lifeworld ever more shrivelled and unfulfilling. The ruling order will evidently go to any lengths to deny social reality; its techno-psychiatry views human suffering as chiefly biological in nature and genetic in origin.

        New strains of disease, impervious to industrial medicine, begin to spread globally while fundamentalism (Christian, Judaic, Islamic) is also on the rise, a sign of deeply-felt misery and frustration. And here at home New Age spirituality (Adorno’s “philosophy for dunces”) and the countless varieties of “healing” therapies wear thin in their delusional pointlessness. To assert that we can be whole/enlightened/healed within the present madness amounts to endorsing the madness.

        The gap between rich and poor is widening markedly in this land of the homeless and the imprisoned. Anger rises and massive denial, cornerstone of the system’s survival, is now at least having a troubled sleep. A false world is beginning to get the amount of support it deserves: distrust of public institutions is almost total. But the social landscape seems frozen and the pain of youth is perhaps the greatest of all. It was recently announced (10/94) that the suicide rate among young men ages 15 to 19 more than doubled between 1985 and 1991. Teen suicide is the response of a growing number who evidently cannot imagine maturity in such a place as this.    

 

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 its 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’s what its all about.

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