CAPITALISM = POVERTY.

         A few days ago I wrote a little piece about the rising poverty in America, since then I read a post that listed 50 things wrong with America and it gives a wider range of the problems in that country. It must be increasingly difficult for those who advocate capitalism, to point to a success story as country after country under capitalism hits the rocks. Even in the so called leader of the capitalist world, the pinnacle of capitalist development, America, its citizens are facing poverty and deprivation. Of course we have always known that capitalism is a success story for the few, and today it still continues to be a success story for them. Unfortunately it was, by means of smoke and mirrors, sold under the illusion of prosperity for all, and now all those that produce that wealth are seeing the reality as the smoke starts to clear, and the mirrors crack. That reality is that the few parasites will continue to do all right, while those that produce the wealth will see deprivation staring them in the face. Recognise it, it is the true face of capitalism.

ann arky's home.

GUNS ON THE STREETS.

          

          According to a recent Guardian article by Allan Travis, it seems that the UK millionaire cabal is considering employing water cannon, plastic bullets and live ammunition to deal with disturbances on our street. I have a sneaking suspicion that the wealthy parasites are looking ahead at the possibility of the UK public taking to the streets in anger at the continued slashing of their standard of living, to fund bankers aid. They would want to be prepared and have every form of repression and intimidation stamped with their badge of legality before the events. Of course the British state has used live ammunition on our streets before now. Excluding Northern Ireland, we can go back to 1919 when we saw British troops line Glasgow city centre, docks and place machine gunners on top of the City Chambers Building in George Square and other buildings in the city. This was after disturbances during the “40 hour week” strike, an event that became know as "Bloody Friday".  In  Liverpool the troops shot and killed two strikers on the street during the 1911 dockers strike. So if there are those out there that view the violence in Egypt etc. and think that it couldn't happen here, well read your history and think again, it has, and it could again. The state will always do what it needs to do to protect the wealth and power of those whose hands are on the power levers. The people must be kept in their place, as far as the parasites are concerned.

ann arky's home.

WORKERS KNOW YOUR HISTORY - TOM ANDERSON.

TOM ANDERSON, 1863-1947

EARLY YEARS.

Tom Anderson was born on the 17th December 1863, at a place called Pollokshaws in Glasgow. His father, a hand-loom weaver came from a long line of hand-loom weavers and a line of Presbyterians. Though Tom's father was a Presbyterian he also held very strong radical views and taught his children to be courteous to all but bow to none. The family moved to Airdrie, at that time it was a small village not far from Glasgow. At the age of ten, Tom started work. He did not follow the family craft but at the age of fourteen started his apprenticeship as a joiner with Shanks of Motherwell (a small town near Airdrie). Tom was by nature a rebel and did not take readily to the ideas of the Church. He became an avid reader and devoured the books in the local library. His favourite being Gibbon's "Decline and fall of the Roman Empire", he later wrote 'Across the Ages', a small book based on his study of this book. His attendance at Church dwindled and eventually stopped as Tom became a Freethinker.

TRADE UNIONISM & POLITICS.

At the age of twenty in 1883 he moved back to Glasgow and joined the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners, a year later he was elected as the society's president. In 1889, Tom married Bella Craig, she came from a Unitarian family. Throughout her life she looked on the bible stories as stories of childhood and not to be taken seriously, she was a staunch comrade and enthusiastically helped Tom in all his activities. They had three sons James, Robert, and Tom, and one daughter, Bella. During the 1914-1918 war, their son James was an Absolutist. The year 1894 saw Tom join the newly formed Independent Labour Party and worked with them for several years. Later he joined the Socialist Democratic Federation, and threw himself into its pioneering work. In 1907 the south side branch of the SDF presented Tom with an illuminated address in appreciation of his work on behalf of socialism.

SOCIALIST SUNDAY SCHOOL.

1894 was also the year that Tom founded the first Socialist Sunday school and three years later he formed the South Side Socialist Sunday School, which continued well into the 1930s. Tom believed in the Catholic maxim, "Give us the child until he is six, and you can do what you like with him afterwards". For over thirty years Tom Anderson taught the children of the working class the virtue of independence, the power to think for themselves and the meaning of socialist revolution. Tom was an accomplished musician and a fine poet, and in 1907 he compiled a song book containing fifty three songs. Of these songs thirty three had original melodies and most were of a socialist nature. His poetry was always of social protest and revolt. Tom Anderson was probably the first socialist member of the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners and it was as a socialist that in January and February 1901 he led one of the biggest strikes in the city. Throughout the strike Tom showed himself to be a courageous and very capable leader and gained the respect of all the workers involved and those out with the trade. After the strike Tom found it almost impossible to get work, he seemed to be blacklisted by all of the city's employers. At this period he left his trade and started working for himself.

TEN PROLETARIAN MAXIMS.

Tom now joined the Socialist Labour Party, and in 1910 they opened a Socialist School for children. They dropped the word "Sunday" as they did not want to be seen as hypocrites. Tom became President of the school and remained so throughout its existence. In June 1917 the first issue of Revolution appeared with Tom as editor. 1917 also saw Tom write his famous 'Ten Proletarian Maxims', he believed them to be the basic principles of Revolutionary Socialism. In 1918, Tom founded the Proletarian School Movement in conjunction with the Proletarian Colleges, with the ten proletarian maxims as the basis of its teachings. The movement was inaugurated with the purpose of teaching children of the working class the necessity of abolishing the present political state. In March 1919 the first number of the 'Red Dawn' appeared, this was the official organ of the Proletarian School Movement and Tom was the editor. The Proletarian Colleges were to carry forward the work of the Proletarian Schools, but embrace all the social activities of the working class. Among the subjects taught were, economics, industrial history, sexual science, drama and music. Tom Anderson as Principle of the college was fortunate to have the help and assistance of John MacLean MA, John S. Clarke and many others in the socialist revolutionary movement. On the 4th of April 1920, the Proletarian Schools held their first annual conference with Tom Anderson as President. The outcome of this conference was the formation of the International Proletarian School Movement affiliated to the Third International and the Young People's Movement. By now the movement had a good hold in Scotland and Wales and was spreading in the Midlands and the south. In 1923, a public petition was organised by the National Citizens Union, deploring, "...the existence and the rapid growth of Proletarian Schools which by their teaching of sedition and revolution, and their blasphemous treatment of all religion, are fast becoming a menace to the stability of the democratic constitution of his country; as well as to our national character, moral standards, and home life; and urge upon the Government the necessity of taking immediate steps to deal with this communist movement to pervert the minds of British children; and to give all facilities for the private bill which is being introduced with this object into the House of Commons." The private bill mentioned in the above petition was introduced into the House of Commons by Sir John Butchard Bart., MP. The National Citizens Union managed to raise 71 petitions and collect 72,718 signatures. Some indication as to how worried the established institutions had become.

SPEAKER & WRITER.

As well as being an excellent speaker Tom Anderson was a brilliant story teller and over a period of many years wrote extensively, often under different pen names, the better known being John Davidson, Mary Davis and Margaret Dobson. In July 1919, under the name of John Davidson he published in book form his story of the class war. It appeared in the New York Weekly People, it was reprinted in the Socialist and the Sydney People and the IWW of Sydney printed it in thousands as a propaganda leaflet. In February 1924, under the name of Margaret Dobson, he published Sex knowledge for Parents. In July 1924 the Government confiscated the entire issue, leaving Tom facing considerable financial difficulties. Tom Anderson continued in the revolutionary movement all his life and also continued writing. Below is listed some of Tom Anderson's printed thoughts;

·Across the Ages: Short stories for young workers, (part 1) 1930, (part 2) 1932, 3rd. ed 1945.

·Two slaves and the underman (1915)

·The Proletarian song-book (1919)

·The fat bourgeois: A story for the young (1919)

·The class state (1930)

·Comrade Josef Dietzgen (1937)

·Comrade John MacLean: His life (1930, 2nd. ed. 1938)

·The God Man (1931)

·The story of the inquisition (1946)

·Proletarian poems (2nd. ed. 1946)

This is only a small proportion of the writings of Tom Anderson but might give some idea to the breadth of ideas and the effort he put into his beliefs. Tom had been involved in public speaking from the age of fourteen and then from the age of twenty five to the age of fifty five there never was a week he didn't speak at one or more meetings during the open air propaganda season, nor during the winter indoor meetings.

Tom, was born in poverty of working class parents, he was well qualified to understand their plight and their hopes. He never drifted away from his class nor betrayed any of the principles he professed. After a lifetime of struggle for the cause of revolutionary socialism Tom Anderson died in 1947

More on Glasgow's working class history HERE.

ann arky's home.

WHOSE "MORAL COLLAPSE"?

       

        David Cameron is on again about the “moral collapse” of Britain, according to him our “live and let live” has lead to a “do as you please” which in turn has contributed to our “moral collapse”. When he and those of his ilk, speak about Britain's “moral collapse” they don't mean them, they mean you and I. The fact that he and his cabal, are millionaires and their fortunes will be invested in a multitude of businesses involved in extracting the maximum profit from those who have considerably less than them, will be contributing to the rape and plunder of the planet and destruction of the environment, is not seen as “moral collapse”, no, to them this is seen as the proper way to do things. This talking of “broken Britain” and our “moral collapse” prepares the ground allowing free market ideology to be pursued as a remedy for “our” “moral collapse”. There is however, a “moral collapse” in those who live in the lap of luxury free from want, free from any fear of deprivation and then inflict poverty and hardship on others. There is “moral collapse” in those who slash at the social benefits of the sick and vulnerable, rip apart the social fabric of our society, knowing that they will be immune to any of the effects. The last thing we should do is listen to a bunch of millionaire parasites spouting about “our” “moral collapse” while they milk the system for all it is worth. It is because of “their” “moral collapse” that we have so many in poverty and deprivation. It is because of “their” “moral collapse” that we have people dying from fuel poverty, it is “their” “moral collapse” that is responsible for the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and else where.

I'll have to do something about Britain's moral collapse.

        Sadly “their” “moral collapse” will continue to inflict misery, deprivation and death on us as long as we allow them to dictate the shape of our society, only when we get rid of the bunch of moralising millionaire parasites and the system that they worship, replacing it with a needs based society, controlled by all those in that society, will we see an end to poverty, deprivation and wars.

   ann arky's home.

MY WORK IS KILLING ME!!!

           Is your work killing you? In all probability the answer is yes. Every year across the country people are killed just trying to earn their bread. “Accidents” at work usually happen because of attempts to save time and/or money, health and safety is circumvented with disastrous results. Last year in this country almost 200 people were killed at work and it is across the full spectrum of occupations. In agriculture 34 workers were killed, in construction, 50, manufacturing, 27, service industry, 47, and waste & re-cycling, the number was 9, on top of that, 68 members of the public were killed in work related accidents.

         These tragic figures are those that happen in the work place and are easily identified, but a far more insidious form of death from earning your bread and a far higher number of workers deaths come later in life. These deaths are related to what materials you work with and where you work.

        Take one disease that we are all familiar with, cancer, it is difficult to find a material that if we are exposed to it, will not translate into cancer. This list is from the UK, Health and Safety Executive:

• Leukaemia (other than chronic lymphatic leukaemia) or cancer of the bone, female breast, testis or thyroid due to exposure to electromagnetic radiation or ionising particles (disease number A1)
• Acute non-lymphatic leukaemia due to exposure to benzene (C7).
• Skin cancer due to exposure to arsenic, arsenic compounds, tar, pitch, bitumen, mineral oil (including paraffin) or soot (C21).
• Sinonasal cancer due to exposure to nickel compounds (C22a) or due to exposure to wood, leather and fibre board dust (D6).
• Lung cancer due to exposure to nickel compounds (C22b) or due to work as a tin miner, exposure to bis(chloromethyl) ether, or to zinc, calcium or strontium chromates (D10) or due to silica exposure (D11).
• Bladder cancer due to exposure various compounds during chemical manufacturing or processing, including 1-naphthylamine, 2-naphthylamine, benzidine, auramine, magenta, 4-aminobiphenyl, MbOCA, orthotoluidine, 4-chloro-2-methylaniline, and coal tar pitch volatiles produced in aluminium smelting (C23).
• Angiosarcoma of the Liver due to exposure to vinyl chloride monomer (C24).
• Mesothelioma (D3).
• Asbestos related lung cancer (lung cancer with asbestosis (D8) or lung cancer with evidence of at least 5-years asbestos exposure before 1975 in certain jobs (D8A))

        All this information is known but how often are people at work, and the public, exposed to one or a combination of several of these substances unnecessarily? In this society, health and safety of workers moves much slower than the information is made public, health and safety cost companies money and that is not on their agenda. The dangers from asbestos were known back in the 30's, medical papers had been written detailing the effects, but as a young man working in the Clyde shipbuilding industry in the 50's, I worked in conditions where asbestos was widely used and liberally thrown about. The powers that be had the information, we the workers didn't, asbestos was cheap and efficient, workers can always be replaced, so its use was continued. To this day, the workers of this country are still reaping the disastrous result in deaths from mesothelioma. In the UK approximately 12,000 deaths a year are work related.

        As long as production is for profit and not for needs, the health and safety of the workers will be a secondary matter. No person should be expected to risk their life just to earn their daily bread, no person should suffer a slow linger death because of being employed by someone who wanted to make a fortune at other people's expense. Sadly that is the way we live today, it is called capitalism, profit for the few at the expense of the many, profit is God, workers are cheap. 

WHEN THE TIME-BOMB GOES OFF.

The bike just sits there,

dust covering its lovely sheen,

puffing up the Fintry Hills

well, it’s no longer my scene.

Y’see, as a Clydeside apprentice

I proudly learnt the tradesman’s skill,

little did I know then

the price, asbestos lungs that kill.

Now I just sit here through the painful day

gasping each mouthful of air, wondering

how can I make the bastards pay.

They new it was a killer

a time-bomb in our lungs

but, because it was so quick and cheap

they firmly held their tongues.

So what, if it cost the workman’s life,

there’s always a couple of new workers

in the care of the worker’s wife.

Please try to understand my anger

as I and others bear their cost,

a slow death from asbestos lungs,

a vibrant life lost.

Anguish for family and friends,

all in the name of profit;

now that really does offend.

Our anger without direction

is a blind archer behind the bow,

we have to use our anger

to smash the status-quo.

ann arky's home.

THE VARIED VARIANT.

       Just out, the latest issue of Variant, a free, independent, arts magazine, published in Glasgow. This excellent free magazine gives in depth coverage in the context of a broader social, political and cultural issues. You can read the complete issue on line, or down load it as a PDF.

Subjects covered in this issue, as usual, are wide, varied and interesting;

The Recent Future ofScottish Art.

The Economy ofAbolition/Abolition of Economy.

Language is NeverNeutral.

Boredom in the CharnalHouse.
Art of Protest.
Tales from a Riverbank.
Disposable Women.
Anarchism and Sexuality.

        Like all free enterprises in a capitalist society, to survive it depends on the effort and ingenuity of those involved plus that all important substance, money. Variant needs you support and any donation would go a long way to keeping the magazine going and free.

http://www.variant.org.uk/donate.html

ann arky's home.

THE DISEASE OF RAPE.

       Reading about a recent survey on violence I found the statistics frightening. You start to wonder what would it be like to live in such a country. The survey found that approximately 20% of the women suffered rape, 25% suffered domestic violence. The survey also found that there are 24 reported cases a minute of rape, violence or stalking. In the year prior to the survey there were 1 million reported cases of rape, 6 million reports of men and women victims of violence and or stalking, and more than 12 million men and women reported rape, physical violence or stalking by an intimate partner.

      It also found that 80% of rape victims were raped before the age of 25, and 35% of those raped before the age of 18 were also raped as adults. This survey also found the 1 in 71 men had been raped at some point in their lives with 25% being raped at the age of 10 or younger.

     Where could this land of rape and violence be? No Western civilised country could come up with such horrifying figures and the brutal scenario that they paint. Sadly it is the free democratic peace loving West, the figures are in fact from America. With such dreadful statistics it is difficult to see how we can consider our selves as a role model for any our part of the world.

       These figures are from the Centers for Disease Control's first year of their National Intimate Partners and Sexual Violence study.

ann arky's home.

GLASGOW2DETROIT -AWAY YE GROW.

        Glasgow and Detroit are cities with similar backgrounds. Both were large industrial cities, Glasgow known for its shipbuilding and steam locomotive manufacturing, Detroit for its cars and steel works. Both saw their industries collapse and move elsewhere, in both cases the citizens had to adapt and dramatically change their way of life. With the collapse came poverty and high unemployment. However, in both cities the citizens are resilient and creative and have gone about surviving with imagination. Recently a group of Glasgow's urban gardeners went to Detroit to see how their counterparts had survived and developed their city farms.

        Those interviewed were, Paul Weertz, Malik Yakini, Gloria Lowe, Grace Lee Boggs, Ian Sharp, Gordon Barnes, Moira McCaig.

ann arky's home.

THE MANY SHAPES OF VIOLENCE.

         Brutality and violence comes in many shapes and some capitalist bastards are worse than other capitalist bastards. 

From IUF.

Over 100 workers have been locked out from the CPM Rangitikei plant for 2 months by a vicious employer trying to starve them into accepting huge pay cuts and unacceptable changes to terms and conditions. Their union, the New Zealand Meatworkers Union, has requested the Employment Relations Authority to provide facilitation services.

To learn more and to send a message to ANZCO Foods urging the company to enter into facilitation and demanding an end to the lockout and a return to the bargaining table, click here.

Ron Oswald
General Secretary, IUF

International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF)

8, rampe du Pont-Rouge
1213 Petit Lancy, Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 793 22 33
Fax: +41 22 793 22 38
website: www.iuf.org

ann arky's home.

USA, - MILITARY DICTATORSHIP!!

       Some time today the America Congress will vote on a bill that will increase military control in that country. The legislation would allow the military to arrest and detain indefinitely, without charge, any American citizen it deemed to be a danger to the country. This dictatorship type legislation would circumvent the FBI and other civil law enforcement agencies. If this passes, it will be the final proof that there is no such thing in America, as even a sham of democracy. The state usually justifies such legislation in time of national emergency and war, of course, America is permanently at war, as are all Western capitalist "democracies" so perhaps that is their thinking. What we should be aware of is that if America introduces such legislation you can rest assured the rest of the Western countries will be looking at it with interest. We live under what at best can only be called the illusion of democracy. The brutal slashing of the living standards of most of the people in the developed world, against their wishes, is proof enough of that.

FROM HUMAN RIGHTS FIRST.

         As early as today Congress will vote on the final version of this dangerous defense bill. It then goes to President Obama. This bill threatens both U.S. national security and fundamental American ideals. It would:

• greatly expand the military's role in domestic counterterrorism, sidelining the FBI and local law enforcement;
• authorize the indefinite detention without trial of terrorism suspects, including American citizens; and
• effectively make Guantanamo a permanent prison.

President Obama promised to veto the bill if the final version contained these provisions. Tell President Obama on Twitter to protect our national security and our rights with a veto of the NDAA.

The Secretary of Defense, the Director of National Intelligence, the Director of the FBI, and Obama's Counterterrorism Advisor have publicly expressed opposition to the bill, as have 16 former interrogators and counterterrorism professionals and 26 of the nation's most respected retired military leaders.

Retired four-star Marine Generals Charles C. Krulak and Joseph P. Hoar wrote in a New York Times op-ed that "this budget bill—which can be vetoed without cutting financing for our troops—is both misguided and unnecessary: the president already has the power and flexibility to effectively fight terrorism."

Please act quickly. Tell President @BarackObama @WhiteHouse: Protect #US National Security and #VetoNDAA!

ann arky's home.

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.

ann arky's home.

OCCUPY THE WORLD, IT'S OURS.

 

        The occupy movement seems to be gaining momentum and is moving in the right direction. In America there has been a campaign to occupy the ports, and though they have been evicted from the Wall Street site they are planning to re-occupy it with Occupy 2.  In London there has been the occupation of the UBS building and the forming of the “Bank of Ideas”.

 

        The occupy movement has to grow or it dies and the only way for it to grow is to branch out and bring the idea to a greater number of people. The occupying of the ports in America is widening the range of influence and allowing a greater number of people to become involved. The London “Bank of Ideas” again will involve a greater range of people and will widen the idea of occupation as a tool of change, rather than sitting in one spot in some symbolic action.

The work places, distribution and the streets should belong to the people, only then will we have justice.

ann arky's home.

MANUFACTURING HATE IN PREPARATION FOR WAR??

From Stop The War.
      Last Monday about 250 people packed into Conway hall to hear a range of speakers address the threat of an attack on Iran. Abbas Edelat from CASMII (Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran) busted the myths used to demonise Iran, showing that there is in fact no evidence of Iran developing nuclear weapons and that far from Iran being the belligerent country, it is the western powers that have played this role for over 50 years.

     There were messages of solidarity from John McDonnel MP and Darren Johnson from the Green Party. George Galloway drew the worrying parallels with the media campaign and the 'dodgy dossier' in the build up to war on Iraq. But unlike Iraq, Iran is far from being isolated or internally divided. If Iran is attacked, people inside the country will unite in resistance and many nations of the world will very quickly be involved. An attack on Iran will set the Middle East on fire.

      In light of this disastrous potential, Tony Benn urged everyone to speak out against any possibility of an attack and start building the resistance now to a new war in the Middle East.

      The public meeting last Monday was the start of a campaign to do just that. We need to follow this up with local meetings and events to start spreading these arguments far and wide. Stop the War is urging supporters who want to organise such an event to get in touch now so we can start planning a mass campaign in the new year.

Watch videos from the meeting here: http://bit.ly/sV9Ixd
Sign the petition here: http://bit.ly/rXkyFZ

ann arky's home.

BEHEADING, CORRUPTION AND THE UK'S BLIND EYE.

       The arms industry is a true capitalist enterprise, devoid of any morals. Since 1960 the regime of Saudi Arabia have been a major purchaser of UK made arms. This is not just a series of corporate manufacturers selling to the highest bidder, the hand of the UK state is involved in most of these deals as they are government to government contracts. Governments are expert at putting nice names to despicable affairs, recently BAE arms manufacturer sold 72 Euro fighters to Saudi Arabia, at a cost of £4.4 billion, the project was named The Salam (Peace) Project. UK corporate business with the help and blessing of the UK government, makes billions supplying all manner of weapons to what is probably one of the most repressive regimes on the planet. This regime of Royal despots rule over a country that as well as brutal repression, is in the eyes of most observers is rife with corruption on a massive scale. The Guardian has ran numerous reports of allegations of corruption at the highest level.. In 2004, following revelations about a £60 million "slush fund", the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) began an investigation. There were further allegations in June 2007 that BAE, with approval of the UK’s Ministry of Defence, had made payments worth hundreds of millions of pounds since 1985 to bank accounts under the personal control of Prince Bandar, the son of Prince Sultan. On 14th December 2006 the SFO announced that it was stopping its investigation. CAAT and The Corner House challenged the decision in the courts. In April 2008 the High Court ruled that the SFO had acted unlawfully in curtailing the inquiry, but this ruling was overturned by the House of Lords on 30th July 2008. More information about the case and documents which were released during it can be viewed here.

The whole thing stinks.

      Saudi Arabia is also a country that beheads people, for among other things, the crime of sorcery. The latest case of this was a 60 year old woman who was headed for the crime of sorcery, and recently a man was beheaded for the same crime, it seems he told fortunes. This year alone the Saudis have executed 79 people, 5 of them women, compared to 27 for the whole of last year. It is obvious that they are stepping up the repression with one eye on the “Arab Spring”. It is criminal, but to be expected, that the UK state considers Saudi Arabia to among its “friendly” allies.

ann arky's home.

GIVING BIRTH IN GREECE.

         While the UK mainstream media fills its pages and TV time with squabbles over David Cameron's EU veto, we should not lose sight of what the “Euro crisis” means on the ground. The conditions in Greece for the ordinary people are appalling, what is happening there is nothing short of crime against humanity. The criminals in this case are the financial gurus of the bond markets with complete complicity of European national governments. The Greek people are being ground into the dust by “austerity” cut after “austerity” cut, increase taxes, pension cuts and thousands being added to the unemployment army on a daily basis. Ill health, suicides, drug addiction and alcoholism are all on the increase, these are the constant companions of poverty. In the new Greece to be pregnant is now a nightmare unless you belong to that well-heeled group in the upper echelons of the income bracket. Read how it is to be pregnant in modern Greece.

      Of course we should not be under any illusions that we are somehow guaranteed immunity from the Greek treatment, it could and probably will come your way, in the not too distant future. That's capitalism for you.

ann arky's home.

CORPORATE DESIRE - A CHEAP SUBSERVIENT WORKFORCE.

       The present corporate friendly government, is hell bent on handing the big business lobby what it has always wanted, ie; to be able to fire workers without running the risk of being taken to a tribunal for unfair dismissal. The corporate world is asking the government to do away with legislation that the workers and unions have fought long and hard for, protection against dismissal at the vagaries of their employer. They are also asking for another couple of favours from their millionaire puppet politicians, to do away with redundancy and collective bargaining. According to the double-speak of the deranged minds of the corporate bosses, this will create more jobs by allowing businesses to hire and fire without fear of facing a tribunal. They maintain that it would help business if they could hire and fire more cheaply.

We need protection from the workers.

       This is just hogwash, in an attempt to take away what little rights workers have. Employers can at present hire workers on an temporary contract for up to three months to determine their suitability for the job and can dismiss them at the end of that three months, with no costs involved for the employer. If they were eager to hire more workers but feel they don't want to run the risk of a tribunal if the worker is unsuitable, they can use the temporary contract and if they are suitable retain them. The fact that they don't just means that they don't want to employ more workers and it is not the legislation that is stopping them.

      In the present climate the corporate bosses know that they have the backing of our public school millionaire politicians to do what they can to dismantle what little protection workers have. Less workers rights, easy hiring and firing, no redundancy, no collective bargaining, all helps to keep down wages and increase profit margins. In this exploitive system of capitalism, that's the name of the game. A cheap subservient work force is the corporate world's dream. No amount of tinkering will change that. We have to remember that as we fight for decent conditions, they are never ours when we win them, they are merely on loan, the bosses will come back later with the backing of their friends in The Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption and take them all back again. For a decent life for all we have to get rid of this exploitive system of capitalism.

ann arky's home.

WAR IS OUR BUSINESS!!

        It is quite frightening how the “Free Democratic Peace Loving West” can drum up all manner of reasons to attack, invade and destroy so many countries across the globe. Our most recent list includes, Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya to mention a few. Now our war hungry political class is screwing up the tension for having a go at Syria and Iran. There are those who claim that the war against Iran has already started with covert attacks on industrial installations and the assassination of a general. What drives our war crazy “leaders”? Do you honestly believe it is all for the benefit of the Iraqis, Afghans and Libyans? Or is it big money corporatism seeking control over all the planet's valuable resources? The following is a short extract from a recent article in The Guardian, it is well worth reading the whole article.

"---The whole campaign has an Alice in Wonderland quality about it. Iran, which says it doesn't want nuclear weapons, is surrounded by nuclear-weapon states: the US – which also has forces in neighbouring Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as military bases across the region – Israel, Russia, Pakistan and India.

Iran is of course an authoritarian state, though not as repressive as western allies such as Saudi Arabia. But it has invaded no one in 200 years. It was itself invaded by Iraq with western support in the 1980s, while the US and Israel have attacked 10 countries or territories between them in the past decade. Britain exploited, occupied and overthrew governments in Iran for over a century. So who threatens who exactly?---"

Continue reading.

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"SAVE THE BANKERS" CHARITY.

         As we all contribute to "Save the Bankers" charity by accepting savage cuts to our living standards and accepting the decimation of our kids education, while at the same time giving our pensions to the "Bankers Bonus Fund" we should not forget, it is going to hurt. The main effect of all the legislation being passed by the millionaire cabal will by to safeguard the financial sector and destroy the lives of vast swathes of ordinary people. There is no shortage of money, it is all up to the choices our millionaire public school thugs decide to make. All that money that is being stolen from the public sector is going somewhere, that's the choices they have to make. Do we take the taxpayers money and spend it on the welfare of the people, or do we give it to the bond markets? Do we spend it on health and education or spend it on wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya etc.? Do we give people a decent civilised pension or do we replace our nuclear weapons of mass destruction and build status symbol massive aircraft carriers? To our millionaire political class that inhabit The Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, it isn't a difficult decision, the former wins every time and screw the people. Big business must be helped, the people must pay, our parasite politicians see this as how to run a country. What's your idea of running a country?

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STATE REPRESSION.

          Not all Arab Springs lead to sunshine, while the media mainly focuses on Egypt, we should not forget that all across the Arab world there has been people rising up against authority and in most cases this is being met with brutal repression. Messages of solidarity can let those being violently intimidated know that we in other countries are aware of their struggles and will raise our vioces in their support. They are not alone, an injury to one is an injury to all.

  

From LabourStart.

Last spring, while Tunisians and Egyptians celebrated the fall of authoritarian regimes, the people of Bahrain also staged a series of peaceful protests.

They were met by fierce repression. Leaders of the teachers' union were arrested and sentenced to long jail terms.

This weekend, their appeal comes before the courts. The Education International, representing some thirty million unionized teachers around the world, has called for a major online campaign to press the Bahraini government to drop the charges.

You can learn more and send off your message here.
Thanks very much - and please spread the word.

Eric Lee

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SPARKS FIGHT BACK.

          It is encouraging to see the private sector fight back against the savage attack on their living conditions. A combined fight back of both public and private sector industries is one route to success. This article is from Union-News.co.uk

Sparks in “unprecedented” action over pay, apprenticeships

 by Pete Murray - 7th December 2011, 18.36 GMT

     Electricians in the construction sector have taken part in what organisers describe as “the biggest unofficial strike in decades”. The series of mass walk-outs followed a decision by the construction giant, Balfour Beatty to initiate a legal challenge to last month’s strike ballot conducted by Unite which returned an 81% majority in favour of industrial action against threatened “sign or be sacked” contracts which had been due to come into force today. Hundreds of sparks and supporters blockaded Balfour Beatty sites in London, Hartlepool, Hull, the Conoco Phillips refinery at Immingham in Lincolnshire, Cardiff, Liverpool, Glasgow and Manchester. Sparks at the Grangemouth oil refinery in central Scotland voted at a mass meeting earlier this week to join more than one hundred colleagues who protested outside the company’s head office in Hillington, Renfrewshire. They later blockaded the entrance to a Strathclyde Fire Brigade training centre under construction by Balfour Beatty. More than a dozen sparks walked off the job to join protesters who later occupied one of the site offices.

       Today’s protest in Cardiff marks the first action of its kind in Wales. In Manchester, electricians occupied a city council meeting and demanded to know why councillors had awarded a construction contract for the town hall and library to NG Bailey – one of the seven employers which Unite says is trying to impose a 35% pay cut and enforce de-skilling on the industry. Ian Black, Unite shop steward at Grangemouth told UnionNews: “The agreements at the centre of this dispute have worked well for forty years and we don’t see any reason for change. “This is an attack on our wages and employment, but it’s also about apprenticeships. It’s about the future, about young people getting a proper four-year apprenticeship.  It’s not just about money, not just about ourselves.  It’s about the young men and women coming into our industry.” Rank and file organisers of today’s protests – which mark an escalation in their four month campaign against the so-called BESNA contracts – feel increasingly the momentum is with them, not the employers.

       At Balfour Beatty’s Blackfriars site, 300 workers and students persuaded 20 workers not to go in, despite police pushing aside campaigning workers to allow Balfour employees to enter the site unhindered. Campaigners did manage to shut down a lorry entrance leading to the canceling of orders for the day. One spark from Southend who only wanted to be named as “Keith” told workers blockading the site: “You [Balfour] can’t make 55 million pounds and then expect people like me to take a 35 percent pay cut.

SOLIDARITY.

      In one scuffle, a police officer grabbed the only black protester present at the demonstration. Other activists tried to free him but officers took the man named by a friend as “Josh” away to a van and confirmed he was arrested for assaulting a police officer. Cries of “racist boot boys” and “I’d rather be a picket than a scab” reverberated around the area, as protesters promised to return this evening. Rank and file sources say no sparks, cable pullers or scaffolders came on site for the night shift. Spirits were  boosted by the presence of a large number of senior lay Unite officials at the Blackfriars protest, which was also attended by the Labour MP John McDonnell and RMT general secretary Bob Crow.

      Unite is contacting all members at Balfour Beatty in preparation for re-balloting employees in the coming days. The union is also preparing to ballot for industrial action at two more of the group of seven companies seeking to break away from the current JIB agreements, which cover pay, skill and safety levels. Senior officials believe Balfour Beatty’s management is looking for a “face-saving exit” from the dispute. Unite is calling for the employers to take part in talks at ACAS to try to stop escalating industrial action and civil disobedience in the new year.

Watch our film report of today’s events here:

Tags: Balfour Beatty, JIB agreements, NG Bailey, sparks, Unite

Related Articles:

1. Sparks ignite nationwide protests
2. Sparks block Blackfriars – ballot, Nov 9th day of action planned
3. Sparks shower shards of anger in City of London
4. BREAKING NEWS: Sparks occupy fire station over contracts dispute
5. Unite condemns Balfour legal challenge – cancels sparks 81% strike ballot

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