In Or Out, Or Half Way In And Half Way Out???

        I made a promise to myself that I would not join in the Brexit pantomime, but at the moment it is difficult to escape the spewing out of a myriad of Brexit scenarios from every avenue of the mainstream media. The views range from greater glory for the wonderful UK, to doom and disaster for this confused and bumbling nation state. After last night's massive defeat of the government by 230 votes, the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption was filled with our political ballerinas indulging in a range of expressions from wringing their hands in despair, to chuckling with glee, and on occasions, that dazed look of confusion. What is clear is that they all state that we, as a country don't know what is going to happen next.

      Perhaps my simple mind can add some clarity to the situation. Leaving with a deal, any deal, or leaving with no deal, to changing the direction and staying in the EU, one thing is certain. We will remain under the yoke of capitalism, the poverty and deprivation will remain, the homeless will still struggle to find shelter, the elderly will continue to die from fuel poverty, our children will still go to school hungry, social services will continue to be decimated. The only real debate is at what rate these injustice will move, certain conditions will accelerate the plundering of the poor, but no conditions under capitalism will alleviate these injustices.

     As long as we accept that our world be driven by the financial mafia and the corporate juggernaut, as long as we accept a world hell bent on profit, as long as we allow ourselves to be governed by "The Market" and the billionaires that control that "Market", we will continue to wade through the swamp of poverty, deprivation, inequality and injustice. In the EU, out the EU, half in and half out, the capitalist system will still control our lives. Until we sort that one out, as far as the ordinary people are concerned, nothing will change.  

     Instead of debating the Brexit, which is just another power struggle among the privileged parasites, we the ordinary people should be debating how we free ourselves from the grip of the capitalist system, how we can take control of our communities and our workplaces. The answers are there, the resources are there, we have the imagination and the intelligence to govern our own lives, creating a society that sees to the needs of all our people, all we need is the will to do so.

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

The Omnipotent Market.

      The power of “the market” is something we are told we have to accept, as if it were some omnipotent super being, beyond our control, somewhere in the outer universe, when in fact “the market” is no more than greedy people with lots of money manipulating resources in an attempt to increase or safeguard their unearned wealth and power.
      The latest crisis in “the market“ is oil, once selling at $100 a barrel, now heading for $30 a barrel. Same product, doing the same things, but now looking like it is near worthless, according to “the market”. This transformation is simply brought about by a bunch of greedy oil producers, in this case the Saudis, who see the growth of fracking in places such as America, as a threat to their market share. So they flood the world with their oil and suddenly it's a very cheap product, making the more expensive fracking process look uneconomical. The Saudis aren't to worried about the falling price as they are sitting on a multi-trillion dollar oil fund, and their oil is relatively cheap to get out of the ground.
       However, as these greedy billionaires fight it out to retain their slush money, the effect their squabbles have on the ordinary people can be devastating. If you are an oil producing country and your economy is dependent on oil, and it is more expensive to get your oil out of the ground, then this little squabble means bankruptcy for you, with all the attendant misery that this heaps on the people of that country.

       This is what is happening to Venezuela at the moment. The country is now running out of money, inflation is soaring and stands at 65%, supermarkets are empty, queues stretch round buildings for everything and anything, as desperate people try to survive. Some area authorities are banning buying groceries on certain days, and banning queueing at night, while protests are on the rise. According to UBS, Venezuela has an 82% possibility of collapse this year. The financial Mafia will descend on Venezuela like a flock of vultures and devour all the assets in the country. The people will suffer poverty and deprivation, and of course it will all be put down to that omnipotent outer space being, “the market”, nobody will be to blame.

     “The market” is capitalism at work, the devastation caused by these workings, are man made, and all the decisions are made by people sitting in boardrooms, protecting their plunder, without a thought for the misery they inflict on the ordinary people. As long as we have capitalism, we will have “the market” destroying people's lives, we will have poverty and deprivation, and we will have wars, as the greedy invisible suits behind the illusion of “the market”, take what measures they deem fit to hold onto their ill-gotten wealth and power.
     The world has enough resources to see to the needs of all its people, it is the insane method of gathering and distributing those resources that is the real problem. Capitalism is a man made system, we can dismantle it, replace it with sanity, create a system based on needs, and bury forever, the illusion of that omnipotent spectre “the market”.

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