GLASGOW'S DOCUMENT FILM FESTIVAL --- 2011.

        Every year the Glasgow Document Film Festival comes around, and every year they never fail to entertain, inform and provoke discussion. This year I'm sure will be no exception, so take my advice and pop in to a worthwhile enlightening experience.

Growing Bolder - Free Film Afternoon

2.00pm - 4.00pm

Thursday 9th June 2011

CCA, Club Room

350 Sauchiehall Street

Glasgow

        This is a relaxed afternoon of films selected from Document Film Festival and Plantation Productions. Two films will be screened followed by questions and answers session with a panel of the film-makers

        The Govan Banners is a film about the Spanish Civil War made by Govan Seniors Film Club based at Plantation Productions, inspired by banners from 1938 which were found in an attic in 1979 by one of the group members. The banners link Govan with the Spanish Civil War through the Scottish democracy movement. The film shows the group’s quest to find out more about this.

        You Always Think There’s Nothing There is a thought provoking film made with the 'Damned Rebel Bitches' - an independent social history group of mature women based at Tollcross Community Centre in Edinburgh. The film explores what poverty means today for older people across Scotland’s capital and looks behind the glamorous façades of tourism and culture. A story about self respect! Part of 'Making A Difference, Stories From The Fight Against Poverty In Scotland. http://www.makingadifferencescotland.co.uk/

For more info on Growing Bolder/Active Ageing Week: http://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/

THAT'S NO WIT THE FILM WIS SAY'N!!!

One Scotland Many Voices Film Festival

3.00pm - 6.00pm

Friday 24th June 2011

GMAC

5th Floor, Trongate 103

Glasgow G1 5HD

Free    Free    Free.

Other Europe

Rossella Schillaci / Italy / 2011 / 75’

(Italian/Somali with English subtitles)

        Document 9 in partnership with GMAC present Other Europe. This beautifully shot film documents the struggles and aspirations of a group of fully-recognised refugees who face being moved from the disused building they occupy to a prison-like compound.

       Despite difficult living conditions, language barriers and hostility from locals, some determined refugee inhabitants attempt to take a stand against the local authorities to make their voices heard.

Followed by Q&A.

IT'S THE BEST FILM FESTIVAL IN THE WHOLE WORLD, SO IT IS.

Please circulate...........Please attend.............

Paula Larkin
Coordinator  Document Festival
tel: 00 44 141 332 9311

http://documentfilmfestival.org/

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GREECE TODAY-- SPAIN, PORTUGAL TOMORROW??

 

      The following is a report from OCCUPIED LONDON-- FROM THE GREEK STREETS. Where are the British people in this corporate plunder of all our public assets and the slashing of our standard of living? Are we going to be limited to 50 or so people at a time running round pointing out the tax dodgers, or are we going to organise and mobilise to change this corrupt and exploitive system once and for all?
      All the media is spouting about the "Arab Spring" where is the "Pan-European Spring"?
   

     REPORT STARTS HERE: Athens sees its biggest gathering in years, more than 150,000 at Syntagma square as the build-up for the General Strike of June 15th begins

A crowd whose size is difficult to even estimate gathered in central Athens to protest against the crisis and the Memorandum tonight. The call to a pan-european call of action saw more than 100,000 (some estimates give much higher numbers) flooding Syntagma square and many central nearby avenues. In contrast to previous gatherings, police presence was much higher, with fencing erected around the parliament building and double, or triple rows of riot police around it.

The city is now building up for the General Strike of June 15th, which is also the next date of action announced at Syntagma square. Both mobilisations are aimed against the new agreement between the government and the troika (IMF/EU/ECB) which is planned to be voted at parliament on the morning of the 15th. The general assembly of Syntagma square has already called for a blocking of the parliament from the night of the 14th. In addition to the fencing installed around the parliament (see below), a police water canon has also appeared nearby.

Similar demonstrations took place in Thessaloniki, Patras, Heraklion, Larisa, Volos and many other Greek cities. In the Cretan city of Chania, fascists bearing arms appeared in the gathering, in a failed attempt to provoke the gathered crowd.

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TEAPOT COLLECTIVE INTRODUCTION TO ANARCHY, PAGE 12.

     Well it is time for another wee page from the Teapot Collective Introduction to Anarchy, enjoy page 12. You can look back at page 11 HERE.

     ---and forests grow again.

      But this is silly utopia, and anarchists are hopeless indealistic dreamers who must be totally miserable when confronted with reality.

      Actually no. Anarchists have a vision of what life could be like, but we try to live it in the here and now, in many different ways.

  

     This society is quite blatantly showing its flaws. Many people are pissed off with the way things are run, from ecological destruction to the misery and monotony of everyday life. You have to spend most of your time working your arse off for someone you probably don't like or something you don't care about and then struggle to pay bills while being pressured to buy more consumer crap.  It is also difficult to build up friendships, when there is a general air of mistrust, deceit, and society's based upon the motto, 'you have to fuck people over to survive'.

      Many will not swallow all the lies anymore and also see the futility of voting. But a general mood of cycicism and apathy has been created.

      We want people to get past this. Let's talk about our dreams and desires.

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POVERTY IN THE UK!!

      It is odd that so many people believe that capitalism is a system that brings prosperity to all. Even as the evidence stacks up against it with poverty increasing across the world, it is still accepted by too many as the only game in town.

       Poverty in the UK tends to be invisible when it comes to the mainstream media. They are more likely to focus on poverty elsewhere. Yet poverty in the UK is considerable by any standard. Some figures compiled by Oxfam give an indication of just how poverty blights the lives of so many across the UK.

      In the UK 13 million people, more than 1 in 5, live in poverty, with the majority of both children and working age adults in poverty living in working households, 55.3% of children and 52.9% of adults. Bang goes that excuse that they are poor because they wont work!!. How does poverty translate in to real life? One example would be that a child born in the poor district of Calton in Glasgow has a life expectancy of 54, where as a child born in the more affluent area of Lenzie on the outskirts of Glasgow has a life expectancy of 82. They are separated by about 10 miles.

       In the supposed affluent UK, 1 in 8 men and 1 in 4 women earn less than £7 hour and almost 50% of home owners earn less than the minimum wage. In this land of advanced capitalism a staggering 3.9 million children live in poverty with more than half of these in working households. The reality of this is that children born into poverty are more likely to have lower birth weight, higher infant mortality, and poorer health than their counter parts born into better off homes.

       Another feature of this advanced capitalist society is the fact that the number of households in which no-one has ever worked has almost doubled since 1997. According to the Office of National Statistics, 1.7% of all households were permanently jobless by the second quarter of 2010, up from 1% in the second quarter of 1997. Of course as we know, capitalism is an unfair system so these figures are not spread evenly across the country. For example in the more affluent East England it is just 0.5% jobless households, compared with inner London which stands at 6.5%.

Everything seems to working fine!!

 

      As the gap between rich and poor gets wider by the year and the number of poor increases, surely we will reach that point where we say enough is enough. After all capitalism is just a man made system, one that benefits the few at the expense of the many, it is not created from tablets of stone or ordained by a supreme being. Men created it, men can destroy it, and create a more fair and just system that benefits all our people, not just a handful of parasites.

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OUR MAN IN SPAIN.

   

     It is difficult to find out what is really going on in Spain at the moment. The mainstream media, as usual tells us about uprisings in far away places, but never too much about unrest right here in the EU. So ann arky is appealling to blog readers who have any first hand information of what is happening in Madrid, Barcalona and Bibao to send in your account. One such account came in from a friend, "our man in Spain", it is brief but still welcome.

      It is only by communicating across borders that we can learn from each other and know what other resitance groups are doing and how best to support each other. The working class has no borders, no country, we are trans-global.

FROM OUR MAN IN SPAIN.

    "Really frustrating not being able to catch up much on what's going on in Madrid and Barcelona and to a lesser extent Bilbao. I suppose you saw what happened when they tried to evict people in Barcelona. From what they've told me in Bilbao there's a bit of everything but there does seem to be a genuine belief in a horizontal form of organising which, let's face it, is the only way any resistance movement has a chance of getting anywhere. Something positive and creative certainly seems to be taking shape. Time will tell but the signs are encouraging. Don't really know if the PSE lost votes to the PP in the recent regional government elections or people simply didn't bother voting for them or voted for some of the small progressive parties."

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WHEN WILL WE EVER LEARN???

     

      Behind closed doors and long into the night they met. Then the announcement, Greece and its EU partners have agreed a deal to loan Greece more money. You would think that for the people of Greece that would be a good thing, after all the country is strapped for cash and the people are suffering.

      However this money will not go to make the lives of the Greek people any better, on the contrary, they will have to suffer more pain because of this loan. They will have to face higher taxes, cuts in services, and lower wages, add to that the fact that they will have to sell off all their assets to the corporate world, who at the moment are hovering over Greece like the proverbial vultures. You see, this money isn't really for the Greek people, it is to save the gambling casinos of the world, (the banks and bond markets) from suffering the effects of their excessive greedy gambles that went wrong.

     Over the last few years the banks and bond markets gambled like crazy and it all went wrong and they are virtually bust. So how do they save themselves? Why by getting the taxpayers of the world to fund their losses. The governments of the EU and across the world will slash the standard of living of all the people and the money saved can go to pay off the gamblers debts. Then those same governments will sell off all our public assets to their friends in the corporate greed machine and that should just about save the parasites in the banking and bond markets from losing too much of their unearned cash.

Why should we want to change things??

 

     Who devised such a wonderful scheme, if you have billions to play with and you lose, no problem, just take the people's money and let them grovel in misery, while you get back to playing with your billions. Oh when will we ever learn????

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GLASGOW'S BIGGEST FESTIVAL.

The place to be this weekend is in Glasgow, what with the Reshuffle and the Westend Festival, where else would you want to be.

GLASGOW'S BIGGEST FESTIVAL.

       Once again the many participants bring you over 600 events ranging from classical and choral music, folk, rock, jazz, theatre, dance, children’s authors, guided walks to local gala days. In 2010, over 165,000 people attended free and ticketed events across 16 days, making WEF Glasgow’s most successful festival. The famous Festival Sunday (the Opening Parade) alone attracts tens of thousands from all over the city and central Scotland.

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GO LOCAL THIS WEEKEND.

REMEMBER: Tomorrow Friday
Community action and hidden power.
We will discuss, play, make, act and interact.

Creativity and popular education
Critical conciousness
Decoding and encoding action
For multi-racial politics, environmental and social justice

Pearce Institute, Govan Road, across from Govan Cross subway. 

Tea from 12.30,  Workshop starting at 1pm-4 With 15-20 min. break for snack.

Weans kin go, let's get doon therr.

 Part of the Govan Reshuffle,  All ages. Children with supervision

See yi at the reshuffle man.

REMEMBER: Saturday at the Community Garden, Elder Park. Govan Glasgow.

Bike Station Dr Bike 1:30 3:30;
Bring your bike and get it checked or fixed FREE. Also Free bicycle lessons.

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WE ARE ONE.

      In most Western countries being a union leader or activist, can cause you hassle, but seldom your life. However, the situation is different in other parts of the world. In the developing world to organise to try to improve your conditions can mean harrassment, beatings and death. It is unacceptable in this day and age, that when ordinary people come together to try to better their meagre living conditions, they should run the risk of death. The following is a call from Labourstart, please spend a few minutes of your time in an attempt to stamp out this brutal intimidation of ordinary working people trying to survive in an unjust and exploitive system.

       This is not the first time I've written to you about Iraq - but I need your help again.

      We have just learned that Jamal Abdul-Jabbar, a leader of the Iraqi oil and gas workers union, has been forcibly relocated in an attempt to destroy the union. Please take a moment to learn more and to send off your messages of protest by clicking here. And please spread the word to your fellow union members.

     Meanwhile, we've learned some terrible news from Guatemala, where the banana workers union leader Idar Joel Hernandez Godoy has been murdered. Thousands of us need to send urgent messages to the President of Guatemala telling him to bring the perpetrators to justice. Click here to learn more and to send off your message.

     Thanks for your continued support. Eric Lee.

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WOMEN IN PRISON.

     Most people who know anything about prison agree that, in the vast majority of cases, they do not solve the problems they are intended to. A very high percentage of prisoners have mental health problems, addiction problems and other forms of problems that prison does not address. A very high percentage are non violent and no threat to the public, but still we lock them up.

     In the case of women prisoners the case for locking them is even thinner, yet the female prison population in England and Wales has increased 114% over the last 15 years, and now stands at over 4,000. 80% of women prisoners have serious drug problems, and of prisoners that self harm, 43% are women, though they only make up 5% of the prison population. Approximately one third are there for shop lifting or handling stolen goods, and a half are thrown into prison on remand.

     Another feature of the women in prison means that each year 17,000 children are separated from their mother because of prison. Of these children only 5% remain in the family home and 9% are looked after by the father. The children lose their routine, their school friends and because of the few women's prison, their mothers are usually miles away creating problems trying to keep contact with the family. In Styal Prison some of the prisoners were actually born there, becoming part of a never ending cycle. Two children a week are born in prison.

     Looking at the cost of keeping a woman in prison, stated to be £56,415, and being aware of the non violent nature of the offences, the devastating effect on family life and the women themselves, plus the fact that it is help that most need and not punishment, it is obvious that the money would be better spent setting centres to deal with their problems rather than locking them up and perpetuating the cycle of chaotic lives.

     Of course that would require a civilised society where all vulnerable people would receive assistance when required.

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WORLD WIDE SOLIDARITY.

IUF:    Uniting food, farm and hotel workers world-wide

      Three union activists have been dismissed from their employment at KFC in Thailand after they established a union and sought to bargain a collective agreement with KFC management.

Send a message to KFC management demanding their reinstatement.

http://cms.iuf.org/?q=node/938

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STRUGGLE IN JAPAN.

     

     The Western mainstream media is filled with the uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa, however that is not the only places that the ordinary people are in revolt against this exploitive system. At this moment in time, people in countries all over the world trying to bring a halt the injustices of the capitalist system, trying to change the world for the benefit of all. In the South American continent, across Europe, America, and Asia, people are in revolt against their lives being controlled by the plundering parasites of the corporate world. The following is a little information of the struggle taking place in Japan.

     Through the medium of instant communications, solidarity across the globe is now possible, can the global uprising be close at hand?

From:  doro-chiba-quake-report@auone.jp

Sent: Mon, 30 May, 2011 18:16:34
Subject: Doro-Chiba Quake Report

Dear Friends,

                  Japanese Kan administration launched series of outrageous oppression: one is a bloody crackdown on Kan-Nama (Solidarity Union of Japan Construction and Transport Workers Kansai Area Branch), the western stronghold of labor movement, arresting 13 union officials and members on May 11, and the other is a unprecedented outrageous oppression on Sanrizuka farmers (Sanrizuka-Shibayama United Opposition League against the Airport Construction) arresting 50 farmers and supporters in the Tokyo High Court building on May 20.

This is a video of the mass arrest taken from the pavement of the High Court Building:

http://youtu.be/d54jmGBVEDk

The crackdowns express profound fear of the ruling class that these pivotal labor and farmer movement are joining together the mounting anger of workers, farmers, fishers and other inhabitants in the quake-stricken areas who are suffering from the disasters and radioactive exposure.

Rise up to crush violent crackdowns together! The united power of working class and people alone can create future! Stop mass layoff of one million under the pretext of the huge quake! Abolish nuclear plants by the power of international solidarity!

Please forward this Newsletter as widely as possible and send protest messages to the Japanese Government:  https://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/forms/comment_ssl.html

In Solidarity, 

International Labor Solidarity Committee of Doro-Chiba  http://www.doro-chiba.org/english/english.htm

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