Merchat City Fringe, Glasgow.

        Anti-establishment, anti-corporate, anti-mainstream, pro-people, pro-community, pro-a-good-time, without the frills and the prices, well mark your diaries, Glasgow's High Street is the place to go, come the beginning of August. Never mind the high prices, cocktails, "trendy" Merchant City Festival, head for the fringe. 

The Merchant City Fringe

4 – 7 August, 2016

High Street, Glasgow

        The Blue Chair & McChuills present, in association with Fail Better and STFU, The Merchant City Fringe -a gloriously noisy celebration of creativity and everything underground and awesome in Glasgow.

          The MERCHANT CITY FRINGE is a celebration of places deemed 'too far away' to be considered for the Merchant City Festival (even though we are talking a few yards away). Conspiracy theorists are claiming it's because High Street ain't hip enough and their beer is not dear enough so this year the Merchant City Fringe is BORN and piggybacking off the main festivals success with a host of events across THE BLUE CHAIR and MCCHUILLS...

       2 venues, 3 days, 1 parastic festival attaching itself to a corporate behomoth in the spirit of community and art and music and poetry and having a good craic.

       alt-folk! punk-punk! post-punk! hip-hop! spoken word! Chill-out DJs! Lip Sync battles! market stalls! Clowning! A poetry workshop for children! And loads of other tasty treats!

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

Remembering Women Peace Crusaders.

      I'm just a wee bit late for the launch of this one, but still time to give it a visit. In these sabre rattling and blood-letting days, this is well worth supporting, an exhibition at The Glasgow Women's Library.

Forward! Remembering Women Peace Crusaders: Exhibition

July 23 - August 31

Elspeth Lamb, Timepiece, 2012. Photo Alan Dimmick

This small exhibition draws on research undertaken into some of the key figures of the Women’s Peace Crusade, highlighting a sample of some of their incredible achievements. From Glasgow based activists such as Helen Crawfurd, to national and international figures such as Rosa Manus, the research, curated by Fiona Dean and developed in collaboration with staff, learners and volunteers at GWL, aims to bring the voices and lives of a selection of women of the Peace Crusades into Glasgow Women’s Library – directly into the former Gentleman’s reading room of Bridgeton Library, a space that would not have been accessible to women of that time. The exhibition includes a newly realised series of portraits by Sarah Amy Fishlock.

 Forward! Remembering Women Peace Crusaders Exhibition from 23rd July to 31st August.

The exhibition will include newly commissioned ‘portraits’ representing workshop participants with a selection of the material about the historic women they have uncovered.

Join us for the Launch Event on Saturday 23rd July when we will lead a procession in the Crusaders’ footsteps from Glasgow Green to the exhibition at GWL. The exhibition launch will be followed by a screening of GWL and RCS’s barnstorming film, MARCH. To book for the launch event please visit this website.

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

A Date For Your Diary.

        You all know that on the whole, TV turns out a very, very high percentage of crap and bilge water. So this Tuesday why not spare yourself the brain damage and take yourself over to Castlemilk  for some real live entertainment created by real people just like you and me. Words, music and poetry with a punch. 

          Castlemilk Against Austerity is having another night of music and poetry, this is shaping up to be a great night with a purpose, as the read-out says, For the People, by the People.

           Come along to this free event its amazing the amount of poets, story tellers, and musicians who are amongst us and it serves to remind us that we have the talent and skills to break away from the TV dominated world that makes us passive recipients instead of creators. Come and get involved even if its just to listen we have loads of talent showing the way in the shape of 'fullertone' Christina Quarrel, Michelle Fisher, Darren Loki Mcgarvey, Johnny Cypher and Liam McCormick just for starters it really is by the people for the people.

Details:

Tuesday, 26th. July, 19:30

Castlemilk Youth Complex,

39 Ardencraig Road,

Glasgow, G45 0EQ. 

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

 

One World, One People.

         In spite of, or perhaps because of, the dreadful economic conditions in Greece, and despite the vast numbers of migrants in that country, people are still gathering in numbers and open demonstrations of support for migrants. With unemployment running at approximately 25%, among the young it is at around 50%, this is the usual fertile ground for the anti-migrant brigade, so it is encouraging to see a strong open defence of migrants.

From Act For Freedom Now:

MARCH IN SOLIDARITY WITH MIGRANTS/REFUGEES AND SELF-ORGANISED SOLIDARITY PROJECTS

        This is aimed at locals, migrants and even more to those who mobilize in solidarity on the issue of immigration. We consider that the attenuation of the political movement, the local and international socio-political upheavals, and the particularities of the summer season make us a target for the state and fascists. We must act today with our strength and unity in solidarity with the collective subject of the broad refugee-migrant solidarity movement. Transcending our individual differences, we are calling for a march that passes by the housing and solidarity projects which operate on the basis of self-organization. At the end of the march we will convene an open assembly for establishing dynamic structures of unified self-defense in street, mainly for the migrant housing projects, but with broader anti-repression, antifascist content.

SOLIDARITY WITH MIGRANTS/REFUGEES
NO ONE ALONE CONFRONTING REPRESSION AND FASCISTS

DEMONSTRATION – SATURDAY 23/07 /16
6.00 ΜΜ, PEDION AREOS – Athens
Assembly for self-defence structure: National Technical University of Athens (Gine Building)

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Workers, Know Your History. San Francisco 1916.

      Across the centuries states have knowingly been the perpetrators of miscarriages of justice, some come to light, others never see the light of day, they just become statistics in some judiciary report. What is today considered by some, to be a modern phenomenon, "acts of terrorism" have often been grasp by the state as an opportunity to strengthen its grip on society, and to rid itself of those it considers a problem. 100 years ago, what was San Francisco's worst act of "terrorism" was one such event that brought about one of America's worst "miscarriage of justice" 

     A brutal bomb attack on a crowded street on a day of war triumphalism, saw two innocent men spend years in prison, one under the sentence of death. The usual ingredients were there, corrupt officials, compliant lacks serving those officials, lying witnesses and a bitter anti trade union and anti socialist/anarchist bias. That was 100 years ago, how many such cases of this type of "miscarriage of justice" can you recall, and how much do you think things have changed?

 July 22nd 1916:

         As members of the Grand Army of the Republic assembled at the Ferry Building, awaiting the start of San Francisco's lavish Preparedness Day parade, one elderly veteran fainted. Just as an ambulance reached the fallen man, a explosion shook Market Street.
        When the dust settled, a bloody scene painted the street. The sidewalks ran red and "all around the bodies of men and women, almost stripped of their clothes, lay in horrible grotesque heaps," wrote the Chronicle. Windows blocks away were shattered. Ten were dead, including one child, and another 40 injured.
        It remains the only terrorist attack in San Francisco history.-------

And so the sham of justice moves into action:

       Despite the shocking blast, the parade went on as scheduled. Bodies were still on the street when the parade continued on over the broken, bloody ground. Among the rubble, police found the bomb on Steuart and Market: a suitcase packed with bullets and shrapnel and set off with a timed explosion. Without a scrap of evidence, they knew who to blame.
         "A man who would commit so dastardly and cowardly an outrage must be a man with anarchistic principles," San Francisco police chief D.A. White said.
          When district attorney Charles Flickert arrived at the scene, he told reporters, "You know, men, I already think I know who did this."
        Five days later, police arrested William K. Billings, 22, and Thomas J. Mooney, 33, without warrants. Billings, a shoe cutter from New York, was already well-known to police. He'd been arrested for the assault of the foreman at a shoe company in 1913 and had recently been found carrying explosives on a street car in Sacramento. But he was just the lackey, prosecutors argued. Mooney was the true mastermind.
         Mooney had been on the police radar for years despite having no criminal record. He was one of the city's foremost radical leaders, a well-known socialist in the labor community. With the country roiling in anti-socialist sentiment, it's perhaps no surprise Billings and Mooney were singled out.
        And the willing public had no qualms playing along, despite a complete lack of evidence.-------

Read the full article HERE: 

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

The First Black Flag.

        The Black Flag has been associated with anarchism from around the 1880's, though it was also flown in the 1840s during hunger riots, as a symbol of the desperation of the starving urban poor.

        However I have no doubt the thoughts and ideas behind the Black Flag stretch well back into the annuls of time. Long before the word anarchism was in use, long before it was nailed to a pole, its ideas were in the minds of individuals. Deep in every heart there has always been the desire to be in charge of your own life, to be free, to question injustice, to challenge a wrong, to work in co-operation on equal terms.

      Victor Hugo tries to capture that spirit of the first "Black Flag" in his poem of that name. Though I think the poems stands on its own without the reference to Job.

The First Black Flag.

JOB. Hast thou ne'er heard men say
That, in the Black Wood, 'twixt Cologne and Spire,
Upon a rock flanked by the towering mountains,
A castle stands, renowned among all castles?
And in this fort, on piles of lava built,
A burgrave dwells, among all burgraves famed?
Hast heard of this wild man who laughs at laws--
Charged with a thousand crimes--for warlike deeds
Renowned--and placed under the Empire's ban
By the Diet of Frankfort; by the Council
Of Pisa banished from the Holy Church;
Reprobate, isolated, cursed--yet still
Unconquered 'mid his mountains and in will;
The bitter foe of the Count Palatine
And Treves' proud archbishop; who has spurned
For sixty years the ladder which the Empire
Upreared to scale his walls? Hast heard that he
Shelters the brave--the flaunting rich man strips--
Of master makes a slave? That here, above
All dukes, aye, kings, eke emperors--in the eyes
Of Germany to their fierce strife a prey,
He rears upon his tower, in stern defiance,
A signal of appeal to the crushed people,
A banner vast, of Sorrow's sable hue,
Snapped by the tempest in its whirlwind wrath,
So that kings quiver as the jades at whips?
Hast heard, he touches now his hundredth year--
And that, defying fate, in face of heaven,
On his invincible peak, no force of war
Uprooting other holds--nor powerful Caesar--
Nor Rome--nor age, that bows the pride of man--
Nor aught on earth--hath vanquished, or subdued,
Or bent this ancient Titan of the Rhine,
The excommunicated Job?

Victor Hugo.

 From An Anarchist FAQ: 

         "Why is our flag black? Black is a shade of negation. The black flag is the negation of all flags. It is a negation of nationhood which puts the human race against itself and denies the unity of all humankind. Black is a mood of anger and outrage at all the hideous crimes against humanity perpetrated in the name of allegiance to one state or another. It is anger and outrage at the insult to human intelligence implied in the pretences, hypocrisies, and cheap chicaneries of governments . . . Black is also a colour of mourning; the black flag which cancels out the nation also mourns its victims the countless millions murdered in wars, external and internal, to the greater glory and stability of some bloody state. It mourns for those whose labour is robbed (taxed) to pay for the slaughter and oppression of other human beings. It mourns not only the death of the body but the crippling of the spirit under authoritarian and hierarchic systems; it mourns the millions of brain cells blacked out with never a chance to light up the world. It is a colour of inconsolable grief.

         "But black is also beautiful. It is a colour of determination, of resolve, of strength, a colour by which all others are clarified and defined. Black is the mysterious surrounding of germination, of fertility, the breeding ground of new life which always evolves, renews, refreshes, and reproduces itself in darkness. The seed hidden in the earth, the strange journey of the sperm, the secret growth of the embryo in the womb all these the blackness surrounds and protects.

         "So black is negation, is anger, is outrage, is mourning, is beauty, is hope, is the fostering and sheltering of new forms of human life and relationship on and with this earth. The black flag means all these things. We are proud to carry it, sorry we have to, and look forward to the day when such a symbol will no longer be necessary." ["Why the Black Flag?", Howard Ehrlich (ed.), Reinventing Anarchy, Again, pp. 31-2]

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

      

 

       

The Wonders Of Smooth Tarmac.

        What a glorious day, imagine a summer like that, in this country. I suppose some people will say that is what we get, sadly it is just a one day summer. I decided that it has been a while since I went up the Loch, (Loch Lomond), so that was where I ended up. It was a beautiful run, the usual chaotic traffic, but after all these years, you get used to it. One surprise, last time up that way, some of that road was in a dreadful state, especially the part where you approach the Inverbeg Hotel. It is a cyclist's nightmare, dreadful potholes, cracked surface, broken tarmac and loose gravel. However, the powers that be have seen fit to re-surface a large section of the road on that stretch. Gone are the nightmares and the swearing, it was pure dead brilliant, smooth black tarmac, and the quiet whir of the wheels, gliding along in magnificent sunshine, with the Loch on one side, the hills beyond, and trees and shrubbery on the other side. A wondrous vista of natural beauty.

The entrance to Tarbet Hotel Loch Lomond.

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

Internationalism.

          There has been a lot written about the volunteers that went to fight fascism in Spain, 1936/39, but I personally haven't read anything about the Chinese contingent, that may be due to my ignorance. So it was interesting to come across this article giving some details of this, small, but dedicated group of volunteers from a country, on the other side of the world, that was facing its own problems from imperialist Japan.

         In the autumn of 1937, Zhang Ruishu was enjoying a rare break from his 14-hour days on the frontline. One of very few, if not the only, Chinese in Madrid, he hadn’t asked for time off – there was so much to do – but his commander had insisted he take a break. The Spanish capital was decorated with defiant if raggedy banners reading No pasarán (“They shall not pass”) and Madrid será la tumba del fascismo (“Madrid will be the tomb of fascism”). Zhang had seen many such signs before. At a newsstand, however, a large promotional poster for Spanish news magazine Estampa caught his eye.

        The intriguing poster featured a man’s face in profile. It wasn’t a handsome face, but ruddy and weathered, with tightly cropped hair, hollow cheeks and a muddle of crooked teeth in a mouth set slightly agape – the face of a no-nonsense man who had known hardship. Suddenly, a crowd was gathering around Zhang; eyes were widening and fingers pointing. “That’s him!” they cried, lunging forward to shake the stranger’s hand.

Read the full article HERE:

         Xie Weijin (left) and Zhang Ji (right) with a fellow Chinese in Spain, in 1938. Photo: courtesy of Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives.

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

Anti-Trident Protests.

         For others who didn't know about the July 16th. Protest against Trident, it was happening across this country, mainly in the Glasgow and Clyde area, where these weapons are situated. These are not defensive weapons, all we have to do is remember Hiroshima, one bomb, and a city with its inhabitants incinerated, civilians, men, women and children.

Published on July 16, 2016
        As the 'British' Parliament prepare to 'debate' the renewal of the trident missile weapons system based at the Gareloch in west of Scotland, concerned citizens throughout the country express their dissent. This is Dumbarton, 15 minutes from the base which houses these weapons of mass destruction. The 'debate' takes place on Monday 18 July and although all but one of Scotland's MPs will vote against it, there is no doubt that the Tory Government and its Red Tory cohorts in the so-called Labour Party will vote to impose this horror on Scotland and its people. Shameful affront to democracy.

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

 

Planting Seeds.

       Saturday July 16th. saw demonstrations across the country against the abomination that is the Trident nuclear weapon system. Glasgow held its protest against these weapons of mass destruction at the Donald Dewar statue, at the top of Buchanan Street. The usual colourful array of banners, posters and leaflets were on display, Greens, Unions, anti-detention, refugees welcome, anti-austerity, Communist Party and various socialist groups. Alas I didn't see any anarchist presence, I did chat to two anarchist in the crowd, but no leaflets, no papers, no literature of any sort.

       I always feel these events are ideal places to put out our ideas, these are people who have a gripe with the system, people who are prepared to stand up and protests against what they see as a wrong. If we don't put our ideas on their table, then when they are looking for answers, they wont pick up ours. At these events it is not just the committed that you can make contact with, but the general public, the passers-by, the curious, it is a most fertile ground to plant your seeds. We should be there, putting our ideas out there with the myriad of material that surfaces at these events. We have to meet other's ideas with our ideas when ever and where ever they surface. After all it is the ordinary people that we have to reach, those on the street. 

THE PROPAGANDISTS.

When the hordes run with their flaming torches,
When they light the torch of freedom
Burning all injustices
Scorching all hypocrisies
Making a bonfire of poverty
Throwing dogma, patriotism and religion on the flames,
I’ll be there, among them with my box of matches.

Some photos from Saturday.

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

A Failed And Doomed Species????

           The following are a few excerpts from a speech made in court  by Athena Tsakalou during the case of CCF escape trial. Deep down I can empathise with the words and feelings, perhaps that comes with an ageing mind and a feeling of weariness, however, foolishly or otherwise, I keep pushing those thoughts away and replacing them with that infernal and eternal optimism, but they are still there, lurking in the background, with the events in the world feeding them.

This from Contra Info:

          There comes a moment when you take a look back at the years in your life, and you realise you’ve left to live far fewer than the years you’ve already lived; that is, if everything goes well. And this is a strange but intense sensation, which makes me ask myself to be sincere. Not in the simple way we often think about it, but in an essential, deeper way.

I don’t like to say: where is this world going? It’s something that we – people at an older age – often do, but such a phrase conceals some sort of innocence that I refuse to accept. I prefer to ask myself: how do you yourself walk through this world?------

As a species, how do we measure our success?

Assuming that, throughout the centuries, people have intended to live, if not a life of happiness, at least a joyful life, their history to date shows that they’ve failed. History books, either the official, inspected ones, or the secret ones that it’s hard to come by, show that people have failed. It may be that the conditions for survival or living standards got better – although ‘better’ is relative, as this is not the case in some parts of the earth – but the pain, the horror of wars, of hunger and oppression continue to rise.

Of course there’s a difference; a nightmarish difference. Nowadays, death is no longer caused just by hand-to-hand combat on the battlefields where, even from a distance determined by a firearm, you’re able to see the falling body and hear the cry of pain, and regardless of how much dehumanised you’ve become, this sight and sound leaves a peculiar imprint within you that, at some point, might make you not want war anymore. On today’s battlefields, we find ourselves in the era of smart bombs, and one is able to retain ‘their innocence’ by pressing a button which brings mass death; that’s the difference.

For some time now, more than 10,000 refugee children who were travelling unaccompanied have disappeared in Europe over the past 18–24 months. There are fears that many of them have fallen victim to exploitation by organised crime networks…

The world’s 62 richest people hold as much wealth as half the population on the planet…

The earth’s products are enough to feed its entire population, yet millions of people, millions of children die of hunger.---------

Do we hold on to hope and optimism, or as a species, admit that we failed?

And it’s about time we said: after so much human blood watering the earth’s soil every day, after all this lament filling the earth’s air, if there’s no change of course for the human species, if the human mind isn’t crossed by a lightning at some point, so that we see everything differently… then indeed it’d be a brave decision if people eventually said: ‘for so many centuries, we’ve been unable to find joy; we might as well admit that as a species we aren’t capable of something like this; we might as well admit our failure and leave calmly; let us be the last of the humans; let us admit that only trees deserve life, continuity, eternity as they’re free of the instinct of war, of horror.’

Lately all I want to do is plant trees. And someone might ask me: but is this truly your deepest desire? No, I haven’t done well; I’m still determined by the ability to see as far as my eye can see, to keep my mind off things by taking pleasure in small joys; but when I open the eye of my mind to a worldwide wandering, a worldwide looking, and I see how small a share joy has in people’s lives, I say once more: if the dream doesn’t enter people’s lives, if there’s no change of course for the human species, only trees deserve continuity, life, eternity.

Athena Tsakalou

Read the full article HERE:

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

A Call To Rape!!!!

         What would you do if you entered a fast food chain and it was decorated with the following slogans?

A CALL TO RAPE:

“LOVE IS A SPORT, ESPECIALLY WHEN ONE OF THE TWO DOESN’T WANT IT”

MACHISM :

“THERE ARE 3 CATEGORIES OF WOMEN: WHORES, SLUTS AND PAINS IN THE ASS”.

Whores sleep with everyone, sluts sleep with everyone except with you, the pains in the ass only sleep with you. “

“I’VE HAD ENOUGH OF THESE GAYS! “

       That couldn't happen in this day and age, I hear you say. Sorry you're wrong, commercialism will pander to any depth of depravity to make a buck. Obviously, in the circumstances, you would ask for it to be redecorated, politely of course. Apparently there is such a chain in France, Le Bagelstein, and when four students complained to the manager, he called the police and the students were arrested. What a perverse society we live in, when objecting to a call for rape gets you arrested.

This from Act For Freedom Now:

         On the night of Saturday, June 18, the Bagelstein of Old Lille was suddenly redecorated with multicoloured paint and its lock was sabotaged echoing the Rennes demo and the Nantes action that took place the same day.
IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE IMPRISONED OF BAGELSTEIN IN RENNES
         In Rennes May 26, 4 people get jail after an altercation with the manager of the fast-food “le Bagelstein”. Following accusations by feminists of the “deco” of the fast food chain with serious sexist and homophobic propos affixed to the walls and restaurant accessories, four students come to see this “decoration” for themselves, that goes as far as to call to rape. After some of the students’ remarks, the manager insults them and threatens them right till the arrival of the BAC. The four young people are embarked unceremoniously, direction custody, court, prison.
        The judge sentenced them to months in prison for the “violence in numbers during demonstration” (? !! ??? !!) because of their involvement in the protests against the labour law. The trial does not even talk about the reason for their presence at the scene (to denounce the sexist and homophobic communication of “bagelstein”). Once again, the court of Rennes has instructed a political trial, aiming to make these four students pay for the “malaise”, the “blues”, the “fatigue” of traders from the city centre because of the mobilization against “Job Law!” which has gone on for three months.

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

  

Trident No More.

An appeal from The Scottish Peace Network. Please share widely.

 TRIDENT NO MORE :

 

Flash-demos across Scotland 16th July

       David Cameron has announced MPs will vote on whether to renew the Trident nuclear weapons system on Monday 18th July. This in spite of the fact that he has resigned and a new Prime Minister is yet to be elected and that the country is still reeling from the Brexit decision. No doubt these things have lead to this rush to squeeze a vote on Trident in before the summer recess but a selfish desire to unite the Tories and split Labour is no reason to take such an important and expensive decision in haste. People across Scotland will be braced for yet another decision by Westminster politicians to be imposed on us. But it must be challenged and not swept away from public scrutiny or media attention. We won’t be silenced!
         The Scrap Trident Coalition message is TRIDENT NO MORE so help to send it out from every town & city across Scotland on Saturday July 16th. Gather together at noon for an hour or longer to say it loudly and clearly. Local action everywhere can speak louder than mass demos in cites (they can be good too!)
        Some locations have already decided on a place to meet. Check the Scrap Trident.org website as we add more. If your community is not on the list please contact us and suggest a location. We need everyone working together, from local CND, SNP, Green, Scottish Labour, SSP, Yes groups, Radical Independence, Women for Independence, faith communities and trade unions, not forgetting MPs, MSPs and Councillors to have a huge turnout across the country.
       Please JOIN and SHARE the Facebook event widely to insure as many people as possible come out.
          Scrap Trident media group will do national press and communications work (and we are asking The Proclaimers to help out) and please ask if you need help with the really valuable local media work contacting local papers and radio. On the Saturday we need people to take - and tweet and post - photos and also to share them to the Scrap Trident Facebook, Twitter and other platforms. Please Use the Hashtags #TridentNoMore and secondly #ScrapTrident. We have support from The Proclaimers who wrote 'A Letter To America' … ' Bathgate no more, Linwood no more, Methil no more, Irvine no more.' This time, it's TRIDENT NO MORE!
         There are also plans underway for a Scottish contingent to go to the CND lobby of parliament on 13 July. 12noon – 6pm. Houses of Parliament. http://www.cnduk.org/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=2434&Itemid=26 Scotland is supporting the lobby with representation from every constituency in the form of a written submission to all Scottish MPS. You can make an appointment with your MP via: http://act.cnduk.org/lobby/95 (not essential  but strongly advised in case your MP is busy). During the Lobby, CND will be in Room W2 between 12 & 6pm for leaflets & support before you meet your MP. Scottish materials will also be available there.
At 6pm there'll be a Stop Trident public meeting in Committee Room 10, House of Commons.
         For more info if you are planning to go to this or want your message to your MP to go with the Scottish delegation contact Janet Fenton - janetscotlands4peace@yahoo.co.uk

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

Choices???

Our Political System.

Wanker bankers, with their bundles of booty,
Sleazy solicitors, spewing slimy words for pieces of silver,
Lying lawyers, licking posteriors in the corridors of power,
Pompous politicians, products of posh fee paying schools,
Fraudulent financiers, fiddling the fruits of our labour,
Movers and shakers, false dream makers,
Weavers of illusions, creators of charades,
Perfidious pedlars of devious deals,
Nauseating narcissistic brainless mouths,
The candidates offered up to lead us to the promised land???

 

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

 

No Toll-gates On The Internet.

            The battle to control our lives is an on going war, the corporate bodies of this capitalist world are continually seeking new ways to control every aspect of our lives, and it is all just for profit to their shareholders. The multi-national telecom giants are no different, they see the internet as something they can squeeze more money from, if they can just get their grubby hands on some sort of controlling mechanism, and they are working hard at it all the time. They have the money, the political connections, the lawyers and the time and they will use them all to get that advantage. What they should not have is the power to break the will of the people, that's up to us.  

This appeal from OpenMedia:

       We have just one week to stand against a plan, put forward by giant telecom conglomerates, to put a toll booth on the Internet. Please take a moment right now to use our high impact tool to put a stop to this horrible idea. Regulators in the European Union are about to review key Net Neutrality rules that fundamentally impact how the Internet works. Telecom companies are using this process as an opportunity to push for a scheme that would give them the power to put a toll booth on the Internet — making websites they don’t like slower and more expensive to access. Please, we have until July 18th to get on the public record — take quick moment to send a message to key decision makers while we still have time.

       The Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) are responsible for these key rules[1] and they should enable equal access for all. But we know the telecom companies have powerful friends and lobbyists that have the ear of decision makers.[2] We have to make sure that so many of us speak up that we’re impossible to ignore.[3, 4, 5] We can’t afford for our favourite websites to become more expensive to access and slower to load — and whatever happens in Europe will will fundamentally impact how the borderless Internet works. We have to act now — we only have until July 18th to to get on the public record. Tell regulators: the Internet shouldn’t have a toll booth. The powerful chorus of open Internet supporters have won the battle for an equal Internet in India,[6] in the United States last month,[7] and are speaking out in droves in Canada.[8] We should get to decide how we use the Internet, — not powerful telecom gatekeepers with vested interests.[9] A free and open Internet levels the playing field for all and fosters incredible innovation, and if we don’t speak out now, we’re going to lose it. Tell regulators you’re willing to fight for an open Internet before the July 18 deadline.[10]

— Katy, and your OpenMedia team

P.S. At OpenMedia we’re always working to keep the Internet open, equal and surveillance-free. If you haven’t already, please chip in $10 a month to keep our small team fighting for your digital rights.

Footnotes:
1. Draft BEREC Guidelines on implementation by National Regulators of European net neutrality rules: BEREC
2. 10 reasons not to trust BEREC on Net Neutrality: Strand Reports
3. Net Neutrality: A Victory for Digital Innovation: Recode
4. EU Internet Users Can Stand Up For Net Neutrality: Mozilla
5. Like FCC, BEREC bows to activists on open Internet: Tech Policy Daily
6. Big win for net neutrality: Telecom regulator prohibits discriminatory tariffs for data: Times of India
7. Tom Wheeler defeats the broadband industry: Net neutrality wins in court: Ars Technica
8. We have a huge opportunity to end data caps in Canada: OpenMedia
9. EU telcos offer to ramp up 5G effort in return for watered-down net neutrality rules: Total Telecom
10. Learn more at SaveTheInternet.eu, a coalition of which OpenMedia is a proud member: SaveTheInternet.eu

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Guernsey, "Inconvenient Truth" Of Child Povertry Gap.

 

        Just back from a wee break on the island of Guernsey. When you get there you can't help fall in love with its beauty. Its rocky jagged  coastline, its beautiful beaches, narrow winding tree lined roads and a pleasant climate. What is there not to love? The one thing you notice early on, is that there are an abundance of restaurants, most on the pricey side, obviously they are not trying to attract the ordinary Joe. So, apart from being a up-market tourist destination, what is Guernsey. Like the rest of this capitalist world, it is two worlds, the surface shiny polished one, and then the under side, the usual grinding poverty. One taxi drive we spoke to, they are great for info, said that he worked on the roads, but worked 5 nights a week on the taxis to make ends meet. It doesn't sound much like the idyllic way of life. 

So, my take on the island.

Guernsey, ‘Inconvenient truth’ of child poverty gap

             Idyllic island, lots of beaches, walks, and a mild to warm climate, a rich island that earns a lot from tourism. Island population approximately 63,000, with a work population of roughly 32,000. The largest employer on the island is the finance sector, employing around 21% of the workforce. It is a haven for the rich with a low tax regime, virtually no corporation tax, and Guernsey levies no capital gains, inheritance, capital transfer, value added (VAT / TVA) or general withholding taxes. Conditions that make it a desirable abode for the rich to plant their loot and a home for such business giants as Specsavers Optical Group, and Healthspan, among others. A bubbly, champagne fizzy place for the rich. However, like all surfaces in capitalism, scratch the surface and you see just how thin that bubbly surface goes.
       Unemployment in numbers seems low, but remember the workforce is only around 32,000, recent figures put it at 411, an increase of 15% on the previous year, but up 46% since 2011. The islands chief medical officer Dr. Stephen Bridgman stated, between 5,000 and 10,000 islanders currently live in relative poverty. He said many had restricted access to health services because they simply could not afford it. The recent released Parry Report into Children’s Social Care in the Island, stated that child care was inadequate, and there was a lack of social mobility and a highly visible poorer population.
       So there you have it, a “rich island”, a bubble created to cater to the rich, lots of fancy restaurants, expensive houses, and luxury yachts in the harbours, flourishing on the back of inadequate child care and the poor. Ah the wonders of capitalism.

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