Vulnerable Children, Profit Making Entities?

      The plan rolls along merrily, privatise everything that they can make money from, whether it be education, health or child care. The millionaire Oxbridge cabal in The Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption are pushing hard the ideology of the financial Mafia. We had ATOS killing the disabled, now it is the turn of vulnerable children, as Gove looks at ways of getting such humanitarian institutions as G4S, ATOS and Serco to squeeze a profit out of our vulnerable children. No doubt if this goes ahead, the children involved will suffer the same stress, humiliation and trauma that the disabled suffered under ATOS.

An appeal from 38 Degrees:

      Would you trust private companies like G4S, Atos or Serco to look after vulnerable children? Or to influence decisions about taking children into care? Protecting children is one of the most difficult and sensitive roles for a government to perform. But education secretary Michael Gove is consulting on whether to outsource this role to profit making companies.
       If we want to stop this, we don’t have long - the consultation closes this Friday. So far, the issue’s had very little media coverage, and the consultation has barely been publicised. If thousands of us write in today, we can show Michael Gove that we’re watching - and make sure he drops these plans.

Please can you write to the consultation today:  
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/childprotection

        Decisions by child protection professionals affect lives and can break up families, these decisions should be kept miles away from any hint of a profit motive. Adoption services have already been protected from privatisation. And there’s no evidence to suggest that outsourcing services is a good idea anyway.

       The government’s proposal argues that letting private companies provide children’s services will encourage innovation. But we all saw the mess that G4S made of providing security at the Olympics, would we really want them to care for vulnerable children’s lives?

       Experts have already voiced outrage at the plans, now we need to hammer the message home with people power. Previously when 38 Degrees members have responded to Michael Gove’s consultations, our voices have been heard loud and clear. Last year, he dropped his plans to remove climate change from school curriculums after we wrote in our thousands to oppose them.

Can you write into the consultation and help stop these plans today:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/childprotection

Thanks for everything you do
Robin, Ali, Blanche and the 38 Degrees team

NOTES:
[1] The Guardian - Privatise child protection services, Department for Education proposes: http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/may/16/privatise-child-protection-services-department-for-education-proposes
[2] Public Finance - Child protection: not for sale: http://opinion.publicfinance.co.uk/2014/05/child-protection-not-for-sale/
[3] The government proposal: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/304660/Powers_to_Delegate_Con_Doc.pdf
[4] The Guardian - Child protection services too important to be privatised: http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/may/16/child-protection-privatised
[5] 38 Degrees blog - Victory: Climate change will stay in the curriculum: http://blog.38degrees.org.uk/2013/07/09/victory-climate-change-will-stay-in-the-curriculum

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

Let's Change The World!!

       Go do, direct action, get involved, it's your life. Thanks Anne.

Published on May 27, 2014

       What if you really could change the world? Jody Williams, Nobel Peace Prize winner, firmly believes that each and every one of us can and should contribute to creating a better world. In this empowering RSA Short Jody explains why it is so important that we strive to make a difference.

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

The Developed West's Child Labour.

 

        America, the pinnacle of capitalist development, the land of the free, the land of opportunity, we have heard all that shit for years. Seldom does the truth behind the myth get spoken, the media wouldn't want to spoil the illusion.

         Poverty is no stranger in that land of plenty, as these figures from Feeding America show:

In 2012, 46.5 million people (15.0 percent) were in poverty.

In 2012, 26.5 million (13.7 percent) of people ages 18-64 were in poverty.

In 2012, 16.1 million (21.8 percent) children under the age of 18 were in poverty.

In 2012, 3.9 million (9.1 percent) seniors 65 and older were in poverty.

The overall poverty rate according to the Supplemental Poverty Measure is 16.1%, as compared with the official poverty rate of 15.1%.

Under the Supplemental Poverty Measure, there are 49.7 million people living in poverty, 3.1 million more than are represented by the official poverty measure (46.5 million).

Food Insecurity and Very Low Food Security

In 2012, 49.0 million Americans lived in food insecure households, 33.1 million adults and 15.9 million children.

In 2012, 14.5 percent of households (17.6 million households) were food insecure.

In 2012, 5.7 percent of households (7.0 million households) experienced very low food security.

In 2012, households with children reported food insecurity at a significantly higher rate than those without children, 20.0 percent compared to 11.9 percent.

In 2012, households that had higher rates of food insecurity than the national average included households with children (20.0 percent), especially households with children headed by single women (35.4 percent) or single men (23.6 percent), Black non-Hispanic households (24.6 percent) and Hispanic households (23.3 percent).

And according to the November 2012 US Census Bureau, more than 16% of the population lived in poverty, including almost 20% of American children

       It would appear that the plenty is not spread around. Ah, that's capitalism at its best.
       Another myth that our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, push, is that working conditions in the developed West protects children, not like those nasty people in the Eastern sweatshops, where children are used as cheap labour. We would never do that in the civilised West, would we?

Published on May 13, 2014

http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/05/14/us...

          Child labor is common on tobacco farms in the United States, where children are exposed to nicotine, toxic pesticides, and other dangers. Child tobacco workers often get sick with vomiting, nausea, headaches, and dizziness while working, all symptoms consistent with acute nicotine poisoning. Many work 50 to 60 hours a week without overtime pay, often in extreme heat. They may be exposed to pesticides that are known neurotoxins. Many also use dangerous tools and machinery, lift heavy loads, and climb to perilous heights to hang tobacco for drying. The largest tobacco companies in the world purchase tobacco grown in the US to make popular cigarette brands like Marlboro, Newport, Camel, Pall Mall and others. These companies can't legally sell cigarettes to children, but they are profiting from child labor. US law also fails these children, by allowing them to work at much younger ages, for longer hours, and under more hazardous conditions than children working in all other sectors. Children as young as 12 can work legally on tobacco farms and at even younger ages on small farms.

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

Faslane Peace Camp, A Diary Date.

     A date for your diary, 4 days of workshops, fun and direct action hosted by the Faslane Peace Camp, June 12th. Lend your support to 32 years of continuous resistance to nuclear weapons.

 

        Faslane Peace Camp is a permanent peace camp sited alongside Faslane Naval base in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It is a reminder of the horror that nestles in our beautiful countryside, a beacon highlighting the insanity of the system under which we live. Thanks to an army of dedicated peace lovers, it has been occupied continuously, in a few different locations, since 12 June 1982. 

        The camp has changed over the years, morphing according to the number and personalities of those occupying the site. At one point there were two camps, one at each of the main gates of the nuclear base.

      A few years ago, after council border changes, the new council ended the camp's tenancy. An eviction was organised, but in the face of strong resistance and what would be large costs, they abandoned the eviction.

      Over the years the camp residents have breached the security of the nuclear base and been swimming and canoeing in its waters, as well as disrupting the transporting of trident nuclear missiles. They also run workshops and other events to keep the issue of the illegality of these weapons of mass destruction, in the public domain, and the insanity of storing of them so close to a large city, Glasgow.

     The 12th of June will see the Peace Camp hosting 4 days of workshops, fun and direct action. This is to mark 32 years of continuous resistance to the insanity of nuclear weapons. Accommodation will be available and there will be evening entertainment.

       This event is open to the public and you are invited to come along and help run, organise, workshops and make suggestions, make friends and strengthen the resistance to this horror on our doorstep. 

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

Amused Ourselves To Death---

In a more reflective mode, Roger Waters, Amused to Death.

We watched the tragedy unfold
We did as we were told
We bought and sold
It was the greatest show on earth
But then it was over
We ohhed and aahed
We drove our racing cars
We ate our last few jars of caviar
And somewhere out there in the stars
A keen-eyed look-out
Spied a flickering light
Our last hurrah
And when they found our shadows
Grouped ’round the TV sets
They ran down every lead
They repeated every test
They checked out all the data on their lists
And then the alien anthropologists
Admitted they were still perplexed
But on eliminating every other reason
For our sad demise
They logged the only explanation left
This species has amused itself to death . . .

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

Have I Been Understood?

 Food for thought, a little piece from The Barbarians:
 

     Dionysus, this old new divinity, come to reclaim his rights as the patron of bare life, ecstatic joy set against the despair and unhappiness of Protestant sophistries...
      This abhorrent doctrine of cold, frosted forests and rocky sea coasts, rainy cities and money-making tried to implant itself in the lands of the Mediterranean. But unbeknownst to all, the rebellious Dionysia kept growing, now taking the city by revelry, now by flame. The masks of the theatre stayed on as more and more forgot themselves, this strange remembering of the essential...
        Release the dark passions, says Bakunin, and this dark fury destroys all the old beliefs and monuments. This would be inexplicable were it not the midnight of childbirth...
       Many the thyrsus bearers, few the Bacchants. Yet revolutions are these bacchanals where none are not drunk, Dionysian festivals of world-history. The millenial peasants demanded the sacrament of wine to be shared for all, and the time is soon coming when the consciousness of Liberty demands this once more.
      The official end of the Christian era and its divinized State...We want no more rationed units of pale happiness, this utilitarian world of small pleasure and empty rejoicing- no, the loss of these petty concerns: unaccounted delight, the old celebration deprived of its spurious veiling,
a final epochal revolution to reveal
the true mystery of bread and wine! 

“Have I been understood? -
Dionysus versus the crucified”
 Friedrich Nietzsche.

 

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

 

Military Coup And Smartphones.

 

        So there's been a military coup in Thailand, to save the country of course. This is not Thailand's first military coup, they have had 12 since the its break from absolute monarchy in 1932 and this is the second in the last eight years. The first thing the military do to protect democracy is shut down TV broadcasting, you can't have information getting out to the general public if you want a “military democracy”. However, Thailand is one of those many countries that are avid users of social media and so it was a simple switch from TV to smartphones. Information continued to flow through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. So people were still getting and passing on information of what was going on. This of course doesn't suit “military democracy”

     To protect the country, the New Thailand masters summoned the local internet providers and ordered them to “monitor, check and block the dissemination of information which is distorted, incites violence or which may lead to unrest in the kingdom or affect national security or contravene public morals.”. On top of this, the Thai newspaper The Nation, had its headquarters occupied by troops, just to protect the people from any nasty news that might slip out.

 

     To get the population to be subservient, the powers that be need to control what information, ”propaganda”, the people are fed, so called “representative democracies” are a little bit more subtle, but the military move in with the boot, it's how they think.

       Social media and smartphones make it much more difficult for the powers that be to isolate us from each other, and from information of what is going on in our world, making us much more difficult to be controlled. Let's hope the Thai people use it to full advantage to achieve real freedom and democracy. 

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

No Thanks!!

        Have you ever heard of the "Land of The Free"? That's the euphemism for America, a country where it seems that you have checkpoints in the strangest of places. From this video I got the impression that it would be like here in the UK having checkpoints when travelling between Dumbartonshire and Stirlingshire. At least some people are standing up against what has all the hallmarks of a military dictatorship. More steam to their elbow.

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

A Disappearing Population.

      Glasgow was once a city of just over 1 million people, it is now down to around 600,000. It seems to be a city of a disappearing population. Lots of densely populated areas were cleared to make way for motorways, shopping malls, large office blocks and expensive apartments. Its people were dispersed to new towns, overspill areas, and housing schemes on the periphery of the city. Areas of vibrant communities became deserts, before being handed to the big money developers. What's more, it is still going on, Glasgow's East End has seen its local communities banished, to allow big money to make a quick buck on the back of the Commonwealth Games.

A date for your diary, from Glasgow Games Monitor 2014:

KINNING PARK COMPLEX

(next to Kinning Park Subway),

Sunday 25th May, 2-4pm. FREE

      Second instalment of screenings from a series of films about Glasgow, originally aired on BBC in 1982. The series is a vital document of Glasgow, and the East End in particular, and gives a crucial historical context for understanding present-day social and environmental problems in the city.

     These episodes (3 and 4) focus on housing policy and life in the once notorious Barrowfield estate next to Parkhead stadium, and culture, religion and community belonging in Glasgow, both positive and negative. The screening will be introduced by members of Fight Racism Fight Imperialism (FRFI) and Glasgow Games Monitor. Open discussion to follow. All welcome!

  http://gamesmonitor2014.org/2014/05/16/glasgow-1982-film-screening-2-2/

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

Who Owns The Earth's Seeds?

         When a quarter of a million farmers commit suicide, I think it is safe to say that there is something far wrong with that countries agriculture policies.

This from March Against Monsanto:

     May 24, 2014 ‘March Against Monsanto’ planned for over 50 countries INTERNATIONAL (May 24, 2014) - On May 24, millions of activists from around the world will once again March Against Monsanto, calling for the permanent boycott of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and other harmful agro-chemicals. Currently, marches will occur on six continents, in 52 countries,with events in over 400 cities. In the US, solidarity marches are slated to occur in 47 states. A comprehensive list of marches can be accessed at www.march-against-monsanto.com.

         Tami Monroe Canal, founder of March Against Monsanto (MAM), was inspired to start the movement to protect her two daughters. “Monsanto’s predatory business and corporate agricultural practices threatens their generation’s health, fertility and longevity. MAM supports a sustainable food production system. We must act now to stop GMOs and harmful pesticides.”

        GMOs are not adequately monitored to ensure public safety. Long term, independent, peer reviewed studies were not conducted before GMOs were introduced for human or animal consumption. In the USA, the revolving door between Monsanto employees, government positions, and regulatory authorities has led to key Monsanto figures occupying positions of power at the FDA and EPA. Monsanto has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to obstruct all labeling attempts; they also suppress any research containing results not in their favor. The scientifically established health risks include, but are not limited to: organ damage, sterility, infant mortality, birth defects, auto-immune conditions, allergies and increased cancer risks. GMOs have been partially banned by Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Japan, Luxembourg, Madeira, New Zealand, Peru, South America, Russia, France, Switzerland and Costa Rico, and are currently labelled in 62 countries. Despite this, factory farm animals throughout the world are still fed GMOs.

      Kelly L. Derricks started March Against Monsanto's Agent Orange awareness program, educating supporters on the deadly chemical weapon that Monsanto was the largest manufacturer of during the Vietnam War era. Kelly is the president and co-founder of the non-profit, Children of Vietnam Veterans Health Alliance (COVVHA). The organization fights internationally for the children exposed to Agent Orange through generational exposure that is killing tens of thousands with no recognition from the United States Government. She is quoted saying, "If we fail to realize that March Against Monsanto is not about GMOs alone, then we have already lost the battle."

      Josh Castro, organizer for Quito, Ecuador’s march observes, “Ecuador is such a beautiful place, with the richest biodiversity in the world. We will not allow this Garden of Eden to be compromised by the destructive practices of multinational corporations like Monsanto. Biotechnology is not the solution to world hunger. Agroecology is. Monsanto's harmful practices are causing soil infertility, mono-cropping, loss of biodiversity, habitat destruction, and contributing to beehive collapse. GMO crops cross pollinate with traditional crops, risking peasant farmers' livelihood."

      In India, more than 250,000 farmers have committed suicide after Monsanto's Bt cotton seeds did not perform as promised. Farmers, left in desperate poverty, are opting to free their families of debt by drinking Monsanto pesticide, thereby ending their lives. Many farmers in other countries are also stripped of their livelihood as a result of false promises, seed patenting and meticulous legal action on the part of Monsanto and other big-ag interests. In many parts of Africa, farmers and their communities are left to choose between starving or eating GMOs.

       An “Open Letter from World Scientists to All Governments Concerning Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs),” http://www.i-sis.org.uk/list.php, signed by 828 scientists from 84 countries, detailed concern regarding GMOs coupled with a call for immediate 5 year suspension of GMO crops in order to conduct “a comprehensive public enquiry of agriculture and food security for all.”

Supporting links:
The World according to Monsanto
http://tinyurl.com/mxvd3tx
Total Disinformation Awareness: Monsanto Suppresses Research On GMO Crops
http://bit.ly/1351Fal
Anniversary of a Whistle blowing Hero
http://huff.to/9NJ0lp
GMO Scandal: The Long Term Effects of Genetically Modified Food on Humans
http://bit.ly/11RB8wL

Data Pool of MAM:
http://on.fb.me/17bX7QP
###
For media inquiries:
Send messages to the official March Against Monsanto Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/MarchAgainstMonstanto

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

Government Backed Corporate Imperialism.

 

       Giants like Monsanto don't get what they want without the help of the various governments. Governments listen to the corporate wish list, and then proceed to set up funding to smooth the process, and pass legislation to put the stamp of legitimacy on their greed driven agenda. Of course it is all shrouded under the banner of development and aid. Western aid has always been loaded to assist Western corporate giants take advantage of developing nations, the first thought has never been the welfare of the people.

         The new imperialist adventure in Africa goes by the name of “The New Alliance for Food and Nutrition”, for the African nations that sign up, this means that their agriculture policies will be at the mercy of the big greed driven giants like Monsanto, Unilever and DuPont. Just to make it easier for those corporate plunderers, the UK government is throwing £395 million into the pot. Imperialism is not something from the last couple of centuries, it is here and now, and we the tax payers are still funding, the plundering of the African continent. 

This from War On Want:

 

      The New Alliance has been modelled on the ‘new vision’ of private investment in agriculture developed by management consultants McKinsey in conjunction with the ABCD group of leading grain traders (ADM, Bunge, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus) and other multinational agribusiness companies. Government officials have acknowledged that most of the content in the national cooperation frameworks has been taken from other corporate initiatives such as AGRA (the Alliance for a New Green Revolution in Africa) and the Grow Africa investment platform of the World Economic Forum. Policy commitments required of African countries joining the New Alliance include ending the free distribution of seeds, phasing out national export controls and making it easier for private investors to take over agricultural land. The UK government’s Department for International Development (DFID) has announced that it will be contributing £395 million from the UK aid budget to the New Alliance over the coming three years.

Read the full article HERE:

         People are now more aware of the greed and corruption that goes on between  corporatism and governments and are organising against this destructive system. Saturday May 24th sees the world event of March against Monsanto, though it should be noted that Monsanto are not the only viper in this basket.

 

Details:

    The global March Against Monsanto will take place this coming Saturday, May 24th! If you haven't RSVP'd to your local event yet, you can find a location near you on this event list. If there isn't a march in your area, you can still start one! Here's how: http://www.march-against-monsanto.com/2014/02/directions-to-organize-march-against.html
      Whether you are physically marching or not, please join our social media hashtag storm that will be coinciding with the march on Saturday. The details and hashtags will be released through the event page and our Facebook page. You can RSVP to the event here.
     Please invite your friends lists to your local events and to the social media storm. Here's an easy plugin for Firefox users to automatically invite all of their Facebook friends: http://mzl.la/1eIy3Ct
      To view March Against Monsanto's press release, go here. Please forward this press release to any and all of your press contacts.
       Hope to see everyone out there! Here are our links to stay up to date and get involved:
Website www.March-Against-Monsanto.com
    Global event list: www.march-against-monsanto.com/p/blog-page_5.html
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarchAgainstM
Facebook: www.facebook.com/MarchAgainstMonstanto -

     See more at: http://www.march-against-monsanto.com/#sthash.eUfJZh5S.dpuf
     If there isn't a march in your area, you can still start one! Here's how: http://www.march-against-monsanto.com/2014/02/directions-to-organize-march-against.html

Website www.March-Against-Monsanto.com
      Global event list: www.march-against-monsanto.com/p/blog-page_5.html
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarchAgainstM
Facebook: www.facebook.com/MarchAgainstMonstanto - See more at: http://www.march-against-monsanto.com/#sthash.eUfJZh5S.dpuf

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

The global March Against Monsanto will take place this coming Saturday, May 24th! If you haven't RSVP'd to your local event yet, you can find a location near you on this event list. - See more at: http://www.march-against-monsanto.com/#sthash.eUfJZh5S.dpuf

The global March Against Monsanto will take place this coming Saturday, May 24th! If you haven't RSVP'd to your local event yet, you can find a location near you on this event list.


If there isn't a march in your area, you can still start one! Here's how: http://www.march-against-monsanto.com/2014/02/directions-to-organize-march-against.html

Whether you are physically marching or not, please join our social media hashtag storm that will be coinciding with the march on Saturday. The details and hashtags will be released through the event page and our Facebook page. You can RSVP to the event here.

Please invite your friends lists to your local events and to the social media storm. Here's an easy plugin for Firefox users to automatically invite all of their Facebook friends: http://mzl.la/1eIy3Ct

To view March Against Monsanto's press release, go here. Please forward this press release to any and all of your press contacts.

Hope to see everyone out there! Here are our links to stay up to date and get involved:

Website www.March-Against-Monsanto.com
Global event list: www.march-against-monsanto.com/p/blog-page_5.html
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarchAgainstM
Facebook: www.facebook.com/MarchAgainstMonstanto - See more at: http://www.march-against-monsanto.com/#sthash.eUfJZh5S.dpuf

Solidarity Has No Borders.

     By now it should be obvious to all working people, that business doesn't like workers organising to protect themselves. The word "union" can have CEO and their cohorts wetting their knickers at the thought that workers should be organising. From the Carlton Weavers Strike, 1787, to the Ludlow Massacre, 1914, and on to the Thacher era attack on the miners union, it has been the same story, crush any workers who dare to organise for collective security. They are still at it, day and daily we hear the same stories from all the smiling brands, whether it be in manufacturing or services, they see union busting is part of their business. The welcoming KFC, Pizza Hut, etc. put on that show of "welcome" to take customers money, but come down hard on any worker that tries to be active in any way in a union. Non-union, disorganised workers are much easier to exploit, more likely to be subservient to the demands of their employer, hence the need for all workers to be organised and unionised, you know it makes sense.

 This from IUF:

KFC, stop harassing union members!
      Only few days after her return from the 1st IUF International Fast Food Workers' meeting in New York (click here for more) a union representative has been summoned and threatened with legal action from YUM! BRANDS' managers, which owns famous fast food brands such as KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, for simply having attended that meeting.

SEND A MESSAGE TO YUM! BRANDS

This is not the first time that union members face brutal repression from the company. In 2011, three workers were terminated after they established a union and sought to bargain a collective agreement with KFC (read more here). The three workers were only reinstated (click here for more) by court order months later.

This harassment spanning three years demonstrates that Yum! Restaurant International (Thailand) does not recognize and respect the human right to freedom of association and collective bargaining and is in breach of its obligations under the OECD Guidelines on Multinational Enterprises and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

Click here to send a message to YUM! BRANDS - stop the anti-unionaggression in Thailand now!

 E-mail: iuf@iuf.org
Rampe du Pont-Rouge, 8, CH-1213, Petit-Lancy (Switzerland)
www.iuf.org
Follow us on Facebook and Twitter

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

Gentrification, Eviction And Big Money.

       Council capers, gentrification, eviction and big money. An update from Glasgow games Monitor 2014.

       1. "Commonwealth City" was on BBC 1 Scotland last night and shown some of the impacts of the games plus footage of the brutal eviction of the Jaconelli family: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0444wqv/commonwealth-city-episode-1 

       2. A new Primer is on the website on sport and participation impacts: http://gamesmonitor2014.org/2014/05/20/sport-and-participation-primer-5/ 3. We are co-organising a film showing and discussion about Glasgow's social/environmental history at Kinning Park on Sunday, 2-4pm, all welcome. For more details see: http://gamesmonitor2014.org/2014/05/16/glasgow-1982-film-screening-2-2/ Please share this information widely. Cheers, http://gamesmonitor2014.org/

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

Time For politicians And Bankers To Leave.

 

    I recently read an open letter by the leader of the Portuguese dockers union, to Passos, the Prime minister of that country, and published in Xpressed. Though I don't agree with the entire content, I agree with the feelings and the sentiments expressed in the letter, particularly the last couple of paragraphs. The last paragraph could equally apply here or for that matter, to any other country.

        The fury with which you take forward your ideological agenda is so radical that you are unable to look at the consequences for people’s lives. In the Lisbon Port, for example, which is the reality I know better, the irrationality of port law, which you have approved against everything and everyone, has led to 47 dockers being unfairly fired, when their job was crucial for the performance of the port. The bosses have recognised this and have committed to reinstate them all, but nothing erases the suffering of being jobless for one year. Do you have any idea what that means? I know well that you only care about the performance of exports –a reality you have hindered– but let me tell you that your intransigency has a tremendous impact in people’s lives. Unemployment is almost always to blame for other avatars, from divorce to depression, from giving up on having children to losing the house, from the lack of horizons to the illusionary escape of emigrating.

      Passos, listen… we are tired of seeing our relatives, rights and dreams emigrate and we will keep fighting so that you understand quickly that the best for everyone is that you, your government and your bankers leave. Nobody will shed a tear when you sail off. This trip today is a condition for people to have hope in a better future tomorrow. It’s not enough surely, but everything will begin again in that day, whole and clean.

President of the Dockers Union , Traffic workers and Maritime Clerks of the Centre and South of Portugal.

Read the full letter HERE:

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

Same Old---Rich Get Richer, Poor Get Poorer.

    They Sunday Times has just released its latest UK “rich list”, and it tells an interesting story, though perhaps one that every ordinary person the the UK already knows. Last year the rich got richer and the poor got poorer, so according to the system, everything is working fine.

     The latest figures show that the richest 1,000 British now have a combined wealth of £518,975 billion, up 15.4% from a year ago, and now accounts for one third of the UK's total GDP. Just to get into that 1,000 rich list, you need to have at least £85 million, if you hope to aspire to the top 500, then you will need to flash around £190 million.
     Philip Beresford, compiler of the list, has been doing this wee job since 1989, said: "I've never seen such a phenomenal rise in personal wealth as the growth in the fortunes of Britain's 1,000 richest people over the past year. "The richest people in Britain have had an astonishing year.--”

We have to stay with austerity, the recovery is still fragile.

 

      Of course as we would expect, that old lady that stays in Buckingham Palace, done very well this year by adding around £10 million to her already sizeable little pile of loot, bring her in at No. 285 on the list, with a tidy little £330 million.
      The list is a compilation of the usual CEO, landed gentry, TV grinning faces, and smiling celebrities, etc.. “Ordinary common one of us” Jamie Oliver and his wife, added a nice wee bundle of £90 million to their stash, bring it to a health £240 million.
      I should add that these figures are what is called “identifiable wealth”, you know the sort of stuff, land, property, race horse, yachts, works of art, and so on. It does not take into account their bank accounts, that's personal, and no doubt there will by many, and fat, and in diverse places.
      The list also points out that the number of billionaires living in the UK has topped the 100 for the first time, reaching 104, with their combined wealth shooting over the £300 billion. Britain now has more billionaires per head of the population than any other country, and in that cesspool of the financial Mafia, London, there are 72 sterling billionaires, making it the largest concentration of billionaires in any city in the world. So the rich have had an astonishing year with “austerity” meaning that they all ran to the bank shouting “Yipeeee”.

 

        While at the other end, the you and I end, we saw our incomes shrink by approximately £1,600 since 2010. We have had to cope with bedroom taxes, slave labour workfare schemes, vanishing disability allowances, rocketing energy prices, rising food prices, a greater use of food banks, zero hours contracts, wage increases of less than inflation, if they arrive at all, cuts in benefits and social services. So it is obvious where that massive increase in the “identifiable wealth” among the parasites came from, it came from you and I, they get richer and we get poorer, and we tolerate this!!!

 

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Greek Mainstream Politics, A Quiet Indoor Affair.

       The political scene has changed dramatically in Greece, elections are not what they used to be. Gone are the days when pre-election rallies were held in the open air with thousands gathering to worship their chosen leader. Massive public affairs with the messiahs from the various parties, mainly two, Pasok and New Democracy, openly accepting the adoration of the faithful. Now it is all so different, such is the loathing by the people of Greece for the mainstream parties and their corrupt cohorts, that meetings are indoors, invitation only and surrounded by security. They dare not show their faces to the general public for fear of a verbal and physical assault, in my opinion, a well deserved response.

Teacher Dude describes one such meeting:  

      Actually, I had no intention of attending the event which I assumed would be an invitation only affair in which the media (or, in my case, not-quite-media) would be kept at arms length. However, following the lead of some friends who were there legitimately, I managed to get myself past the metal detectors and security checks, which was lucky as I would have had a hard time explaining the gas mask in my bag. I'm guessing that telling the police my allergies were playing up would not have been terribly convincing.
       However, once inside the venue I decided to exploit my good luck to get into the swing of things taking pictures of the local conservative nomenclature which has ruled Thessaloniki for generations, noting the preparations being made ahead of the main speech. If only New Democracy paid as much attention to economic policy as it did to the placement of flag waving party workers in the bleachers.

Read the full article HERE:

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We Are All The Little Tramps.

      We have had eras of this and that, monarchies, dictators, so called representative democracy, all the same as far as the ordinary person is concerned, a group of thieving parasites at the top, bleeding to death the majority at the bottom. Well we can bring about a new era, the era of the ordinary person, where the majority all benefit from the fruits of their combined labour, and for once in our history, free from parasites. The wee man's speech has a lot going for it, especially on the anniversary of that imperialist led blood bath of the ordinary people in 1914.

First Published on Apr 27, 2014

        In February 1914, in a time of economic turmoil and international conflict, Charlie Chaplin walked onto screens for the very first time as the beloved Little Tramp character. 100 years later, with homelessness on the rise, massive cuts to social security, and an uncaring government trying desperately to drag the country to war once more, Jack Brindelli and friends consider what the Tramp's legacy can teach us in modern times.

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