DON'T SWALLOW THE CRAP.

      

      Are we all daft?? Why do we accept this sort of crap?? We keep being told that there are hard times ahead and we are all in this together. The millionaire cabinet tell us that austerity cuts are necessary and we will all have to tighten our belts. On the surface it looks like that with food price increases running in double figures, pulses up 59% tea up 30% baby milk up 29% baby foods up 21% on 2007 prices, pay freeze and pay cuts, social service cuts, pension cuts, health and education being decimated and unemployment set to hit the stratosphere. Then you take a wee look at the millionaire Mafia that are shouting for these “austerity” cuts and you see a totally different picture.

          Lets take a wee look at how the millionaire parasites are doing. This is how some of them are suffering in these difficult times.

                                                 2009 payment  2010 payment  % increase

S. Hester, C.E. of RBS group      £164,000       £1.227m           648.2

M. Geoghegan, C.E. of HSBC    £1.67m           £5.68m             240.4

S. Wolfson, C.E. Of Next PLC.  £831,000        £1.737m           109.0

S. Rose, C.E. Marks & Spencer £1.77m           £2.606m             47.6

       How about Willie Walsh, the C.E. of British Airways, the guy who has been trying to screw the workers in that industry to the deck with wage cuts and savaging their working conditions. You can see how he has tightened his belt over the last year. In 2009 he had to struggle by on an austerity pay deal of £743,000 and this year so far he has managed to scrape through on a mere £1.024m a slight increase of 37.8% Yea, we're with you Willie, we are all in this together, we want more of your type of austerity.

          When will we ever learn, as the song goes. Do we need these hypocritical parasites feeding off us? It can't be beyond our imagination to device a social structure for society that sees to the needs of all our people based on sustainability. A society freed from the greedy profit driven motive and based on mutual aid. These so called Chief Executives are greedy, useless expendable parasites, I'm sure if the workers occupied their work palces they could run them better without these egocentric worthless appendages. They are no more than the gun slingers hired by the equally parasitical shareholders.

        Anarchists point the way to that better society for all our people, anarchism is the tool that can create a world fit for all our children and our grand children. A world of peace and justice, freed from the fear of deprivation and exploitation, a colourful world fit for a colourful humanity.

 

 

ann arky's home.

WORKERS KNOW YOUR HISTORY, 16th.AUGUST.

     

        Workers should know their history, it tells you which side the the state is on no matter the government of the day. Every occasion when the ordinary people come together to try to improve their lives, whether it be to fight a closure, oppose a war or push for reform, the state always answers with force. It can be the heavy hand of the police or the bullets or sabres of the military and afterwards the state will peddle the usual lie about it being justified force. In this so called democracy the will of the people must be stifled at all costs.

        The 16th August is the anniversary of the 1819 Peterloo Massacre, the outcome of a demonstration of 60,000/80,000 people in Manchester calling for parliamentary reform. A cavalry charge, 15 killed and estimates of 400 to 700 injured. Not an isolated incident by any manner of means. Prior to this in Glasgow 1787 the Calton weavers on strike for an increase in wages marched to the Cathedral in support of their claim only to be met by the military, 6 weavers were killed by gun shot. We can move forward to the violence that the poll tax demonstrators met, the striking miners, the G20, and so it goes on. All this should tell us the the state is never on the side of the people.

      We owe it to those who have suffered and died in the people's struggle for liberty and justice to keep alive that history, our history, the workers history.

Weaver's memorial at Abercromby St cemetary Calton Glasgow. 

ann arky's home.

CALL FOR SOLIDARITY.

         

 

      A little behind but only received this in the form of a leaflet the other day and thought it deserves support, after all who will be next in their attempt to silence the opposition to their slash and burn policies? Trying to push one group out here and another out there is their way of trying to silence the public and frustrate any attempt at the ordinary people organising themselves against the millionaires' club.

Govanhill Police Attack the Right to Organise.

        On Tuesday (13/07.2010) Fight Racism-Fight Imperialism set out to hold one of its weekly stalls outside Lidl Victoria Road. Within 15 minutes of setting up we were approached by two police officers; Pc. Ishaque (badge number- G282) and Pc. Willie Neil (badge number-G480) who have tried to shut down our own and other activists stalls before but failed. Two FR/FI activists were charged with selling a newspaper without a permit ( which the human rights act 1998 allows us to do) and were also charged with obstruction. Our table and 13 FR/FI newspapers were seized!

Defend Democratic Rights! No to Political Policing!

        FR/FI will not be intimidated off the streets and will defend the rights of ourselves and others to oppose the wars, spending cuts and blatant corruption (e.g. Steven Purcell) of Britain's rulling-classes. I the period before the full crunch of the spending cuts is felt; lower the already miserable living standards of Glasgow's poor; police should be shown that they cannot attack our democratic rights without promting a fightback. Let the people of Govanhill decide who should be allowed to sell their newspapers, not a few coppers hiding behind their badges!

What You can Do?
Send e-mails of complaint to -SouthsideCentralCommunityPolicingTeam@strathclyde.pnn.police.uk
or phone 0141 532 5312 demanding our table and newspapers be returned and that all charges be dropped.

Support our right to sell newspapers! No to censorship!

L:eave your details for upcoming meetings and events or contact us at glasgowfrfi@yahoo.co.uk



http://www.revolutionarycommunist.org/



ann arky's home.

NOT ON SALE AT YOUR LOCAL SUPERMARKET.

          Ian Tomlinson is just one of a long line of victims of police brutality. To date no serving police officer has ever been successfully charged with killing someone. In spite of there having been more than 400 deaths following police contact in the last ten years, no police officer has ever been convicted of murder or manslaughter. Draw your own conclusions. 

“After 16 months of waiting, to hear nothing is being done is a complete joke. Today they gave us no hope. This experience has broken our family apart. The DPP has told us there was an unlawful act, yet no charges are to be brought. This is no justice - everyone has failed us.”

 Ian Tomlinson’s son Paul King

Photo and Paul King's comment courtesy of   Schnews 

  I'm aware that it might be last months news but it is of such importance that I think it is well worth repeating Plus don't you think the schnews photo makes the point dramatically?

GOT SPARE CASH? GET OUT OF YOUR COUNCIL HOUSE!!!

        

      You wait for years for a council house and then finally you get one and it is in an area that your happy with, so you're all sorted. You start to do the place up and settle in and feel at home, your sorted for life. Well, not any more. Our millionaire well coiffured twins have just decided to change the rules. Now you will only get a short term rental agreement, probably about 5 years. After that period a committee made up of a bunch of wealthy bureaucrats will assess you to see if your are now well-off enough to buy your own house and therefore no longer in need of a council house. What if you don't want to buy a house and you're quite happy in the area you're in? Well tough, you have been assessed as not being in need of a council house, so out you go. It could be that you have been there for years and one of your family has left home. Well those same well-heeled bureaucrats will now assess you has having a house too big for you needs and move you to another council house somewhere else. That is assuming that you haven't increased you income in that period or it could be both, too well-off and your family is too small.

         This is another little gift to their millionaire mafia friends in the lending business, another way of forcing everybody into debt with a mortgage company whether they like it or not. Council housing will only for the poorest of the poor who will be assessed every 5 years or so just in case their circumstances have improved and then out they go. The corporate world must be able to make money out of you if you have any at all. Why else are you there??

        Another glaring example of who the millionaire twins at the Westminster House of Hypocrisy and Corruption really work for, they know who their friends are. Do we know who are the friends of the working class? Well it is us of course, the working class, the only group that will look after the interests of the working class.

 

 

 

ann arky's home.

ANOTHER GREED DRIVEN THEFT.

      My aren't the political Mafia fickle? One moment they say one thing, the next they say another. For a while the Scottish SNP government was saying that Scottish Water would remain in public ownership, then some economist waved some magic numbers in front of their eyes, like £3 billion and suddenly they are considering handing over one of the Scottish people's most valued assets to the millionaire club of the corporate world.

      If this goes ahead, and I think it will, it will fit perfectly into the plans of the machete millionaire twins. Their strategy of slashing cuts has as its aim the final dismantling of all public assets of any worth and handing them to their millionaire friends, thus creating a society where nothing is there for the public good but merely to make money for their already obscenely rich parasite friends.

       Water is a natural resource and is so important that is should in no way be in the hands of the corporate greed machine. In their hands it will just another product to be sold or exported to the highest bidder. Having water run in your home when you turn on the tap will be at the vagaries of the market, need will not come it to it, cash will be the deciding factor. The poor will be priced out, and that essential product will become a luxury. Can you imagine flushing the toilet just once or twice a day to save money? Skipping the kids bath time as it costs too much? Just try to think how your life would change if you had a meter on your water and the price kept going up like gas and electricity.

       The Scottish people must organise to prevent this latest plunder of their assets, we have already seen the common goods neatly stashed away out their control. This plunder will go on and on until there are no such things as public assets. Then the corporate world will really have you by the balls and they will squeeze until your eyes pop and then leave you when you are an empty husk

 

ann arky's home.

YEP, IT IS THE SAME OLD NEW PLANS.

   

   No matter how far we go back in our history it is the same old story, the working class being screwed by the rich and powerful and a state that is hell bent on war. Since the "peace" after world war 2, the British state has been fighting in almost every corner of the globe. There were the colonial wars as the "empire" struggled to be free of the British yoke. Then of course there was Egypt, Korea,the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan to mention a few. During all this time the ordinary people of this country have struggle for a decent standard of living and now stand on the brink of a return to the Victorian era poverty. It seems that we can't afford a decent standard of living for the people but we can afford to send our young people all over the world to kill other working class people. Surely we can come up with a better system than this, you know that this system is fashioned to suit the millionaire parasite class and you know that there are alternatives. Isn't about time that we asserted our selves and showed our real strength and ingenuity and fashion that new society to suit the needs of all our people and to hell with the millionaire parasite greedy power hungry war mongers.

   The wee poem is from a previous attack on the working class and was written by one of Glasgow's own.

THE "FIND YOUR VOICE" RAP

"Do not despise the snake for having no horns for who is to say it will not become a dragon" (Ancient Chinese saying)

What do you say when you have no voice

what do you choose when you have little choice

When money talks and you've next to none

What do you say when the day is done.

Do millions have to demonstrate

against poor laws made by the state

for will they listen, will they hell

war propaganda is their main sell

What do you do when you are feeling low

thinking Bush and BLiar just have to go

Every four years there is a vote

The Party needs funds, will sell your coat?

What can you do when it is a crime

that it costs too much for TV time

Only the rich can air their views

to tell us lies and distort the news

So tell the aged, tell the youth

have the courage to tell the truth

Point out their every bluff

Shout it out "enough's enough"

By Paul Anderson 24 April 2004

ann arky's home.

GLASGOW SOLIDARITY NETWORK.

Friends and comrades,

         If you are interested in the Glasgow Solidarity Network but haven't been able to come to a meeting yet, you would be welcome at Tuesday night's all-Glasgow meeting, 7-9pm at Wyndford in Maryhill, former site of  St Gregory's Primary School: 186 Wyndford Road, Glasgow G20 8HF

        We're hoping for a good turnout to talk about publicising the network and ratifying a Constitution. For those who haven't heard about us yet, the Glasgow Solidarity Network, based most directly on the Seattle Solidarity Network, is a network of tenants, workers, claimants and residents of greater Glasgow that aims to build solidarity within the working class by taking direct action and winning fights against oppressors like landlords, employers and the DSS. Glasgow SolNet isn't affiliated with any political organisation but it is organised on non-hierarchical principles and aims to raise class consciousness and promote solidarity so that we can eventually take control of our own lives.

*Glasgow Solidarity Network all-Glasgow meeting:
7pm Tuesday the 3rd of August,
186 Wyndford Road, Maryhill*
(formerly St. Gregory's)

http://www.glasgowsolnet.tk/      glasgowsolnet@gmail.com

ann arky's home.

NO TRUTH HERE PLEASE, WE'RE MPs.

      

        It would seem that a Tory MP can't tell the truth without being reprimanded. Old Etonian MP for Penrith, Rory Stewart said that parts of his constituency, “were pretty primitive” with “people holding up their trousers with bits of twine”. Such a statement of truth meant that he had to take a finger wagging from his colleagues and then apologise by stating that his remarks were “extremely foolish”. Perhaps the millionaire twins Cameron-Clegg don't want people to have such a vision of their “BIG SOCIETY” it sort of spoils the Oxbridge illusion that they are trying to weave. A society where everybody is “properly” dressed, is an entrepreneur earning lots of money and runs around doing charity work for the poor, that don't really exist. Their world is not our world and they have no idea how we live and quite frankly they don't give a shit. It's all about ripping us off in favour of their millionaire club friends while telling us it is all for our own good. Isn't it about time that we didn't give a shit about them and took things into our own hands? When will we ever learn.

ann arky's home.

THE STATES MINDERS.

Guardian.co.uk phot.

       

      Is there anybody in this country accepts the result of the Crown Prosecution Service investigation on the Ian Tomlinson case, that is anybody but the police? An avalanche of photographic evidence of a brutal unprovoked assault on an innocent man and their view is no grounds for charging anyone. It appears that the officer who is seen to violently strike Ian Tomlinson from behind had been investigated on two previous occasions, one for excessive violence during an investigation and once for road rage while off duty. As they say in the "force" he has form. This will be seen by almost everybody as another case of whitewash, another case of a death at the hands of the police and nobody held to account. Ian Tomlinson is not alone, the list of such cases goes back a long way.

     

      1979 saw the death of Blair Peach from a fractured skull when struck on the head by police while attending an anti-nazi demonstration. No officer ever held to account. In 1999 Harry Stanley, a Scot living in London shot dead by police while walking home with a leg for his coffee under his arm. They were acting on a "tip-off" about and Irishman with a gun, again no officer held to account. More recently, in 2005, we had the case of Jean Charles De Menezes a 28 year old Brazilian electrician living in London shot dead on the tube, another case of mistaken identity. The met in this case were found guilty of "breaching health and safety rules". To this list can now be added the name Ian Tomlinson, while walking home brutally assaulted and died the result of an unprovoked attack by a police officer. No officer held to account.

     We are supposed to believe that they are only here for our protection, what crap. The police are here to protect the powers that be, and will always attack those who feel strong enough about the injustice in this system to take to the streets. I have no doubt there will be others names who will be added to this list as more and more people feel the injustice inherent in this capitalist system.

ann arky's home.

IT'S NO FAIR, IS IT?

ann arky's home.

SLASH AND BURN.

      

        The well manicured millionaire twins from the Westminster House of Hypocrisy and Corruption's planned cuts are a true slash and burn policy. What they have in mind is the biggest and most sustained cuts since the second world war, and for good measure they'll throw in some tax rises and benefit changes that will hurt all the ordinary people and crush the poorest and most vulnerable in society. So severe is the planned attack on the ordinary people that the rating agency Standard & Poor's has expressed doubts about whether the government has the stomach for the carnage it is planning, but we know it has, as none of the cuts will affect the millionaire cabinet nor their millionaire friends, who, by the way, are responsible for the “debt crisis” they are moaning about.

        Even the IMF is somewhat concerned about the well manicured millionaire twins' cavalier attitude, as France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Britain all have plans to squeeze domestic demand, all spouting, things will be just fine, as they all expect to export more???

       The millionaire cabal keep going on about the need to slash the boated public sector and let the private sector grow and create jobs. Of course they never mention that the public sector had nothing to do with the “debt crisis” in the first place, that wee problem was the full responsibility of the greed driven private sector that the so love, having the binge of its life. Well why shouldn't they love the private sector and want it to grow, they own it!!

       This so called fiscal plan, is no more and no less than a class war battle, a plan to transfer all public assets to the pampered millionaire parasites' private sector, guaranteeing that your every action and desire will make money for them and giving them total control over every aspect of society.

       If we the ordinary people lose this battle we will see the end of all public assets and all public space, our children will inherit nothing, they will be total slaves to the greed and vagaries of the corporate world. It is their world, or it is our world, there is no compromise.

 
 

ann arky's home

GLASGOW SOLIDARITY NETWORK.

GLASGOW SOLIDARITY NETWORK.

Landlord withholding your deposit?

Employer withholding wages?

Let's do something about it. You don't have to go it alone. Call Glasgow Solidarity Network for support from people like you, standing up for their rights.

Together we win!

Phone or text us on 07982742305

or e-mail us at glasgowslnet@gmail.com

Next meeting: Tuesday 20th July.

Daisy Street Community Centre 7pm.

ann arky's home.

CHILD ABUSE BY THE STATE.

Use an inverted knuckle into the sternum and drive inward and upward.

Drive fingers into groin.

Continue to carry out alternate elbow strikes to the young person's ribs until a release is achieved.

Drive straight fingers into the young person's face, and then quickly drive the straightened fingers of the same hand downwards into the young person's groin area.

Nose distraction" techniques – sharp blows to the nose –

Ram knuckles into ribs and rake shoes down the shins.

        Sounds like training for the SAS but the term “young person” should perhaps give a hint. These are some of the government sanctioned child abuse techniques in an instruction manual used in privately run prisons for young offenders. We are talking about youngsters from 12 to 17 years of age, and this treatment being inflicted by adults.

         Carolyne Willow, national co-ordinator of the Children's Rights Alliance for England (CRAE), which led the campaign for disclosure of this manual following the deaths of two teenage boys in secure training centres, said: "The manual is deeply disturbing and stands as state authorisation of institutionalised child abuse. What made former ministers believe that children as young as 12 could get so out of control so often that staff should be taught how to ram their knuckles into their rib cages? Would we allow paediatricians, teachers or children's home staff to be trained in how to deliberately hurt and humiliate children?"

           Phillip Noyes, director of strategy and development at the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, said: "These shocking revelations graphically illustrate the cruel and degrading violence inflicted at times on children in custody. On occasions these restraint techniques have resulted in children suffering broken arms, noses, wrists and fingers. Painful restraint is a clear breach of children's human rights against some of the most vulnerable youngsters in society and does not have a place in decent society." What Phillip Noyes doesn’t mention is that these techniques have also caused death. A child being killed while in the care of an adult, would that be murder?

         Of course the perpetrators of these acts of child abuse are aware of the possible damage as the manual does give some warnings of the possible effects of such treatment by stating that the techniques risk giving children a "fracture to the skull" and "temporary or permanent blindness caused by rupture to eyeball or detached retina". The manual also acknowledges that the measures could cause asphyxia. One passage, explaining how to administer a head-hold on children, adds that "if breathing is compromised the situation ceases to be a restraint and becomes a medical emergency".

         One thing the state is good at is brutalising those who don’t fit into its grand plan, in the case of privately run young offenders institutions, the state hands over the responsibility for the degradation and humiliation to a private company who proceed to make millions of pounds from the process. As they say, "busines is busines"

          It is not often that I agree with a Sir anything but I’m inclined to agree with Sir Al Aynsley-Green, the former children's commissioner for England and emeritus professor of child health at University College London, when he said: "It's time the whole country knows what is going on under their noses. This is just part of a brutal system, and we welcome the fact this is finally in the open."

       It is finally in the open, but will it change? Well that is up to you and I.

THE REBEL

Rebel rebel break the rule,

What does it matter that a “wise” man sees a fool.

Not for you the herd’s dull beat

Making tomorrow, yesterday’s repeat,

Living out the life of a clone

Marching with the crowd but always alone.

Shaping your life from some dusty tome

Playing it safe, staying at home.

 

Rebel rebel break the rule

Swim in the sea, never the pool.

Live your emotions, feel the surge

Follow your dreams, chase the urge.

Make life though short, an exciting game

Not a mad march for fortune or fame.

Capture the moment, live it now

Being alive your only vow.

Rebel rebel break the rule

In the end,          you’re humanity’s jewel.

ann arky's home.

VIDEO TRAINING FOR SOCIAL CHANGE.

    

    Activist TV Reporter Training           When: Saturday 24th July 2010 - 10am-6pm

Come and meet everyone and watch some films at 7pm on Friday 23rd July

Where: Forest Cafe, 3 Bristo Place, Edinburgh EH1 1EY       Cost: Free / donation

    Places are limited, so please fill in the application form at http://visionon.tv/training/application. Lack of experience is no barrier. Commitment to making social change with video is much more important!

Video Training for Social Change

   

     Make the news you don't see on the news. visionOntv has created easy templates for rapid-turnaround citizen video news reports. These reports can be made by absolute beginners, or by people with skills but little time.

      Make watchable and effective films for the widest possible audience. Our training programme isbold and unique. We have taken away the obstacles to making effectivefilms by radically simplifying the whole process. Come to the workshop to learn how to make fast-turnaround video news reports. Ourproduction templates will enable you to make films with whateverequipment you already possess. You can even make videos with no camera at all!

       Please bring the items of portable recording equipment you have - video camera, stills camera,mobile phone, laptop computer. We will use them during the workshop. Please note: to complete your productions, an extra session on Sunday morning (at Forest Cafe Edinburgh) will be necessary.

A joint production with Undercurrents.

ann arky's home.

VIBRANT VEGGIE VISION.

ECO VEGGIE PEEPS!


Yes, you there! Are you looking for a flat??

     Imagine a home in Glasgow where you & your flat-mates are actively participating in making a difference in the wider community through your personal choices. Now imagine yourself soaking up countless new skills & finally getting the chance to explore the full potential of your own creativity. Better still; imagine a place where all of your ideas are not only valued but valuable too!
     Well, what’s the point of being awake if you’re not living the dream? We’re a very passionate group of people with a vested interest in simple & sustainable living. Our aim is to work towards an inclusive home with little to no environmental impact by minimizing waste (using compost & wormeries, reducing the amount of packaging we buy & finding creative ways to reuse it) using home made, eco friendly detergents & cleaners, and of course recycling, conscious use of power, heat & water.
      It will also be an empowering grassroots hub for locals & travellers to share and pick up new skills & ideas; a host for couchsurfers, educational documentary nights, jam sessions, weekly communal meals & loads of workshops on everything from clowning to acroyoga!
      The flat boasts 7 big bright sunny rooms, a lounge, 2 full bathrooms, a kitchen and a big HUGE garden to call our own!! It’s furnished with all the essentials at £340 a room & will be ready for occupancy on August 1st 2010 (postcode G12 8BP).
      We prefer that all of the flat-mates are vegetarian or vegan but if you choose to eat meat then we will ask that it is not cooked or prepared in the flat
      If this sounds like something you’d like to be a part of then drop us a line!Please include a brief note about how you feel that you could contribute to the home as well as a bit about yourself.

     We can’t wait to hear from you!     Peace & love from The Glasgow Westend Intentional Community.

takeachanceonme21@hotmail.com

ann arky's home.

END THE STATES BLOOD GAMES.

PROTEST FRIDAY 16 JULY

END THE KILLING, BRING THE TROOPS HOME

5.00 - 6.00PM DOWNING STREET LONDON SW1A 2

Four more UK soldiers killed in one day, three of them by a recruit to the Afghan army, but Liam Fox, the defence secretary, still says we will "see our mission through and train Afghan security forces so they can look after their own security and our forces one day can come home". The latest opinion poll shows that only 17 percent of the British public agrees with him. Stop the War has called a protest at Downing Street this Friday to represent the vast majority who say bring the troops home.

RALLY MONDAY 26 JULY 7PM: AFGHANISTAN - TIME TO GO

CONWAY HALL, 25 RED LION SQUARE, LONDON, WC1R 4RL

SPEAKERS INCLUDE: Lance Corporal JOE GLENTON, just released from prison following his court martial for refusing to fight in Afghanistan, ex-soldier ROSS WILLIAMS, jailed in 2008 for refusing to fight in Iraq, CAROLINE LUCAS MP and other MPs. More speakers TBA.

The war in Afghanistan is in crisis. The strategy for the US-led occupation is crumbling. Violence is increasing, with deaths of Afghan civilians and Nato troops at higher levels than at any time since 2001. But the Con-Lib coalition government continues to send troops to kill and die in a war that has no purpose and is being lost. Among the speakers at this rally will be two soldiers who were jailed by the British army for agreeing with the two thirds majority of people in Britain who want all the troops brought home now.

 http://stopwar.org.uk

 
ann arky's home.

SOLIDARITY.

Landlord messing you around?

Agency not paying you?

Job centre making life a misery?

Feel like it's too much to cope with alone?

We all face problems like these and it can seem impossible to do anything about them. The Glasgow Solidarity Network is a group of people, just like you, who work together to support one another and stand up for their rights.

Modelled on Seattle Solidarity Network, Anti-Poll Tax unions and the Claimants' Union from the 80's, Glasgow Solidarity Network is a non-hierarchical organisation controlled by its members and unaffiliated to any political group or party. It aims to confront bad landlords, bad employers, and bad jobcentres/benefits agencies through collective direct action and build solidarity between tenants, claimants and workers, active and retired.

Come by Daisy Street on the 13th July to help us get this project off the ground, whether you could really use some solidarity yourself or whether you can offer it to others.

Blog: http://glasgowsolnet.tk

Email: glasgowsolnet@gmail.com

ann arky's home.

WORKERS, KNOW YOUR HISTORY.

       Saturday 3rd July saw Paisley celebrate its long running Sma' Shot Day. This consists of a parade from Brodie Park on the outskirts of the town through the streets to the town centre. The parade is lead by the beating of the Charleston Drum with locals dressed as weavers from the 19th century, in the town centre there are stalls and fun for the kids with the day ending with the burning of the "CORK". An effigy in top hat and tails representing the boss of the weavers of old. In all the literature about the Sma Shot event very little links it to the real reason the event takes place, it was in effect a great victory for organised labour against tight-fisted capital in a bitter dispute during 1856. It is probably the longest running celebration in Britain of a strike victory. It is so easy for these events to be taken over and used as a fun parade and their origins to be forgotten. We should never allow this to happen we must always keep alive the fact that all we have was won from the bosses by what can only be described as long and sometimes very bitter struggles by our forefathers and that struggle goes on today. The events of today mean we have to prepare for further struggle as once again capital is hell-bent on attacking the living standards of the working class.  We need a new "Charleston Drum"

A short history of the Sma' Shot Strike 1856. 

ann arky's home.

HOLIDAY SNAPS FROM GREECE!!!

How democracy works when the people object to having their living standards trashed to save the bond markets, How the greedy wealthy parasites' minders show their supine support for a corrupt system.

ann arky's home.

PAN-EUROPEAN GENERAL STRIKE!!!

       

       As governments across Europe go into action in the class war struggle, swinging their hatchets, administering “fair austerity cuts”(attacks on workers living standards) the people of Europe are beginning to respond. Across Europe there have been several one day general strikes, in Greece, Spain, France and Italy with Greece planning its 5th general strike for today June 29th. which should shape up to be the largest so far in this recent class struggle. June 29th is also the date for another one day general strike in the Basque countries, Spain's CNT syndicalist union has stated that one day stoppages are not enough and has called for pan-European stoppages on the same day. They also said that governments will only back down from their “austerity” plans if the stoppages are made indefinite. The Confederaction Nacional del Trabajo has called for Spain's 5th general strike on September 29th. to be made indefinite.

      There is still enough time to make the Spanish General strike on September 29th the one pan-European and indefinite general strike. However, we here in the UK seem to have some way to go to catch up with our European friends. Our government seems to have hoodwinked a lot of the general public here into believing that these cuts are inevitable and for our benefit. Ask yourself, how can driving the living standard of the general public back to Victorian era poverty be in the interests of that same general public, while the millionaires' club of privileged parasites that drive these cuts, suffer nothing?

       They know it is a class war to safeguard their wealth, power and privileges, isn't it time we saw it in the same light, a class war to safeguard and enhance the living standards of all our people.

 
 

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THINK OF A NUMBER??

      

         So David Cameron, one half of the well manicured millionaire twins,  states we will be out of Afghanistan by 2015, making it a 14 years war on a poverty stricken country. Why 5 years, is that how long it will take them to complete their grand plan down to the last detail? If so what is their grand plan? Or is it just a nice number,  it sounds better than four and a bit years or there abouts, or, I'm not very sure. This 5 years is just an arbitrary number, a statement to please sections of the public but rather a callous way to approach the killing and maiming that is going on in that unfortunate country. Why not NOW, what will be different in 5 years? Does he know what state that country will be in in 5 years, can he tell us what will be regarded as a must for that withdrawal? How can he guarantee  they will have achieved their illusionary grand plan. At the moment the NATO forces are looking at an abject failure and defeat with an escalating rate of killing, but somehow in 5 years it will all be so different with peace and a true democracy flourishing in Afghanistan. The Karzai Mafia in Kabul will no longer be a cabal of drug barons, they'll be honest brokers seeking the well being of the Afghan people. Milk and honey will flow across the dusty plains of Afghanistan and our well manicured millionaires will be able to say it was all worth the sacrifice. Afghanistan will fade from the front pages, the killing will be forgotten and our troops will head off to fight another imperialist venture to make sure that the world accepts the might of Western corporate capitalism. Then the millionaires club at the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption will issue more lies about keeping Britain safe and building democracy in some other unfortunate corner of the globe, while issuing platitudes about the killing and maiming. Doesn't the system make you sick? We could work to change it!!

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LET'S ROAR.

     Budget day, we know the damage that is going to be inflicted on our class by the millionaires' club. Are we about to whimper in pain or are we about to ROAR, (Rise-up, Organise, Agitate, Revolt.) in anger and determination. ROAR our intentions that we will not sit quietly and let the milliomaire parasites inflict Victorian era poverty on us and our children.

LET’S ROAR.

The problem’s too big

the perpetrators unknown

you can’t beat the system

all on your own.

So it’s easy to withdraw

find your own little cage

turn a blind eye to the suffering

stifle your rage,

but the greed goes on

the poverty’s still there,

you can’t just leave it

for your children to bear.

Others feel as you do

eager to put things right

but locked in isolation

it’s a hopeless fight,

so don’t sit in silence

behind a closed door,

your voice can help raise

a whisper to a roar.

 

 

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KILL THE CUTS--CHANGE SOCIETY!!

     

     Tuesday sees well manicured millionaire Osborne, on behalf of the millionaires club, launch his attack on the working class via his emergency budget. This will be the first step to take the working class back to the thirties, back to Victorian poverty. We have to show that we are not going down that road just to save the bond markets and some of his other millionaire friends from suffering some financial loss. They want to safe guard their fortunes at our expense, they know it is a class war, we pay for the problems, not the millionaires that caused the problems. To them, that's the way it should be. We have to show that we also recognise this as a class war and we know who our enemies are. We are not in the same club as that bunch of pampered, parasitical, millionaire hypocrites.

         On Tuesday 22 June there will be a demonstration and rally in George Square Glasgow from 3pm onwards. There will be a host of speakers speaking out against the cuts but no doubt some will be asking for you to vote them into power next time round. That's not the answer, the rally and demonstration is all well and good as a first phase to show our opposition to this savage attack on our living standards and show that we will act in solidarity with all our communities. However the struggle must continue into the workplaces and the local communities. Standing in George Square listening to speakers will not stop the cuts.

        It was on July 31st 1925 that then Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin made the following statement; “All the workers of this country have got to take reductions in wages to help to put industry on its feet.” Yes, they seem to have been a wee bit more honest in those days, no crap about us all being in this together for the sake of the country. Less than a year on from that statement Britain was in the grip of a general strike. The entire working class was solid but were sold down the river by the trade unions. We must learn from that and never let control leave the grass roots. All action against the cuts must be driven and controlled by the people involved, don't play follow-my-leader into the trap of change the party in power and waving at a new smiling shiny leader.

      Workers control, communities controlled by those in that community working in federation with each other to change society, not to change the leader. We don't need leaders, prime ministers, kings or presidents, their record doesn't stand up to scrutiny.

 

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WHO SHOULD PAY???

     

      Remember those Glasgow's arms length organisations, Steven Purcell's baby that brought him praises from Tony Blair and were supposed to save the city council taxpayers, millions, well those millions haven't quite materialised. They were projected to bring, for the year 2009/2010, a nice little sum of £7 million, however the have managed to amass a loss of nearly £5 million. This is a group of 12 organisations that were removed from the scrutiny and control of Glasgow's citizens and have become nice little earners for those appointed to run and oversee them. We also know that Purcell, who resigned after a drugs and cronyism scandal earlier this year was accused by some of offering up jobs in these organisations as “sweeteners” to friends and enemies alike. It was a nice little appointment as councillors could pick up £400,000 in extra salaries as directors of these organisations. The stench of corruption is the same no matter where it comes from, The Westminster House of Corruption or the headquarters of the Glasgow political Mafia.

     While this snouts in troughs act is going on we get information that ten of Scotland's councils are set to lose 10,000 jobs between them, our local Glasgow mob are about to shed 2,800. Some of the Scottish councils have said that they expect to to reduce staffing costs, (cut jobs) by 12% over three years.

      We should make no mistake, the plans that are being made at national and local level will mean massive job cuts, which will result in increased poverty among the ordinary people. Of course it will also mean a drastic cut in services for which we have already paid.

       Our aim should be to organise against these cuts, it is not somebody else’s problem it is right across our communities, we will all be hit, the only exemptions will be the millionaires club that organised the cuts. It is the wealthy, those how will not in any way be touched by these savage cuts that are telling us that it is necessary. They organise, we hurt, should we not be turning that around, we organise, they hurt.

 

 

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101 TRADE UNIONISTS KILLED!!!

       

       The capitalist system we live under always shows its true colours when it is up against those who fight for workers rights. The more active the individuals or groups become in defence of their conditions the heavier the system comes down. It will always go as far as it can legally and then resort to other more covert actions if the legal ones don't work, but they will do their damndest to eliminate all opposition to their grasp for profit.

     Too many ordinary people pay with their lives just trying to improve their living standards. The following short extract from Labourstart, says it all:

       The annual survey of trade union rights was released today -- and I'm sorry to say that the news is not good.

       According to the International Trade Union Confederation, 101 trade unionists were killed last year.

And that represents a 30% increase on the year before.

That even a single human being dies because they are members of a trade union is a tragedy.

That 101 are killed in a single year is a moral outrage.

   Only when the workers control the means of production and distribution will this moral outrage stop. as long as the interests of the corporate world hold sway over our lives we will have to defend ourselves against the violence inherent in this system of exploitation and repression.

 

 

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LET THE MILLIONAIRES CUT YOUR WAGES???

      

        As the European governments move in with the hatchets at the ready to slash and cut the living standards of the working class what will be our response? We have seen massive demonstrations on the streets in Greece. In Spain 75/80% of public sector workers  took strike action against a 5% pay cut. There have been and still are strikes and demonstrations in other countries across Europe. What will we, the working class in this country, do as the well manicured public school boys start swinging their hatchets?

       The next few months will be crucial, the cuts will come fast and furious as well as sudden, if our response is not equal to that we will have lost the momentum. We have to make it quite clear from the very start that these attacks on our living standards will not be accepted. This is a totally one side affair, all the cuts will hurt the ordinary people but will in no way affect those at the top who are responsible for this so called "massive debt".

         Let's not forget, these cuts are to protect the banks and bond holders from suffering any great losses. We are supposed to be the ones to carry the losses, why? Remember, the cabinet of this government has 23 millionaires in its little cabal. How will they hurt as they cut and slash? They know it is a class war and fight accordingly, isn't time we dealt with it in a similar fashion and fight it as an out and out class war. A pan-European class war linking up with the striking workers in all the other European coutries where the people are making a stand against this savage onslaught to their living conditions. Without a doubt the outcome of these cuts will be a return to Victorian poverty for our people, while the financial sector with its millionaire/billionarie friends re-arrange their balance sheets to their favour. Unless!!!

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PROOF THAT THE RICH GET RICHER AND THE POOR GET POORER.

     A recent study by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found widening inequalities in all areas of life in Britain. The study, "Life in Britain: Using Millennial Census Data to Understand Poverty, Inequality and Place,"         Some of the key findings are:

       Areas with the highest levels of poor health also tend to have the lowest numbers of doctors, dentists and other health professionals (excluding nurses).

      Areas with high levels of poor health tend also to have high numbers of their population providing informal care for family and friend, as opposed to professional care.

       Areas with the highest proportions of unqualified young people tend to have the lowest number of teachers per head of population. The areas faring the best have four times the density of teachers and one third the rate of unqualified young people. 

       The financial hub of the City of London and the South East accounted for the overwhelming majority of "high-paid jobs." In most other areas, people with very good qualifications are more likely to be employed in lower-paid work. In areas of higher unemployment, those with jobs are less likely to work long hours, but unemployment itself is associated with physical and mental health problems.

      Approximately a million households have three or more cars. About the same number of households that might need a car (those with dependent children, etc.) have none.

      One comment sums it up, "--it is acutely disappointing to discover that so many opportunities and resources still depend on where people live. Wide and persisting inequality is reflected in big differences between 'rich' and 'poor' areas in terms of housing, education and health care as well as economic wealth. Perversely, people living in the poorest neighbourhoods with the greatest needs are often the least likely to have access to the services and support that would help them improve their lives and life chances."

      This failure can be attributed to successive Conservative and Labour governments. The areas with the highest life expectancy 10 years ago are the places that have seen the biggest increase in life expectancy since. Wealth lets you get health.

      Ben Wheeler stated, "The Census data show quite clearly that although living standards have increased in 60 years, the rich and the poor in Britain continue to live in two different worlds."

      The authors of the report have shown Britain as a severely divided society, between those with the greatest need for good health care, education, jobs, housing and transport who continue to have the worst access to opportunities and services 60 years after the founding of the welfare state, and a powerfully rich elite that continues to amass wealth and privilege. All indications are that this divide is widening.

        The rich have rigged voting to make sure nothing changes, if your poor why vote?

        That being the case what do you think will be the outcome of the slashing cuts that are heading the way of the ordinary people of this country? An ever widening gap with the poorest in society heading for deprivation not seen in this country since the 20s/30s.

        Now is the time to organise to protect our people, we can't wait until it is all over and then try to win back some of our conditions. You could fight for a decade and still not be back where we are at present, and that isn't too good is it?

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GAZA FLOTILLA DEMONSTRATION

 CORRECTIONS

We unfortunately did not include Palestine Solidarity Campaign -- one of the main organisers -- in the list of those calling for the Gaza Flotilla national demonstration on Saturday 5 June. The full list of organisers is Stop the War, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, British Muslim Initiative, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and Viva Palestina.
Our apologies to PSC, whose website is http://www.palestinecampaign.org/
 
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RAGE AGAINST ISRAEL, NATIONAL DEMONSTRATION 5 JUNE

       

       The astounding turnout at Monday's emergency protest, when at only a few hours notice, thousands laid siege to David Cameron's residence in Downing Street and then marched to the Israeli Embassy

(see http://bit.ly/aEMHws), was a reflection of the intense rage at Israel's deadly attack on the Gaza flotilla, felt by millions worldwide.

        Ours was just one of hundreds of protests that took place in towns and cities across the globe.

A national demonstration in London this Saturday 5 June has been called by Stop the War, CND, BMI and Viva Palestina. The Gaza Flotilla March will assemble at Downing Street at 1.30 and march to the Israeli Embassy

        Monday's emergency demonstration showed how fast we can mobilise if we use all available means to spread the word as fast as possible. Please do all you can to publicise the demonstration among your friends, in your workplace, in your trade union, in your college or school, in your community group etc.

GAZA FLOTILLA MARCH: SATURDAY 5 JUNE

END THE SIEGE OF GAZA:   FREEDOM FOR PALESTINE

ASSEMBLE DOWNING STREET LONDON 1.30PM

        We urge all local Stop the War groups and trade union branches affiliated to Stop the War to bring their banners on the march.

FOR UPDATES,

PLEASE GO TO THE STOP THE WAR WEBSITE REGULARLY:  http://bit.ly/aEMHws

LONDON STOP THE WAR GROUPS AND SUPPORTERS:

Please note there is a protest today 1 June at 5pm outside the  Israeli Embassy, High Street Kensington.

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