DIRECT ACTION - THE ONLY WAY.

         As the savage attack on the living standards of the ordinary people by the financial Mafia, bites deeper and ever deeper, in country after country, perhaps we should look carefully at Greece. The Greek people have seen their living standards decimated, the cuts there have been deeper and far more wide spread than in other European countries. The Greek people have been sacrificed on the alter of financial greed, but that will not be enough to satisfy the financial beast. What is happening in Greece is on the cards for the rest of Europe, so we should be prepared and take some lessons from the Greeks. Recently the Greek government introduced a new property tax, to make it almost impossible to avoid they lumped it in with the people's electricity bill. This has pushed these bills so high that people are now defaulting on their electricity bills and disconnection notices are being issued. However, the unions have acted in true direct action method and occupied the offices that send out the disconnection notices.

On Sunday, trade unionists of GENOP-DEI, the union of the Public Power Corporation, occupied the building issuing the electricity disconnection orders for households that have failed to pay their bills. As of a few weeks ago, the latest bills now include the latest property tax imposed by the government, typically including hundreds of euros per property, making payment for thousands a non-option.

The full statement by GENOP-DEI can be read HERE.

 ann arky's home.

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A POST FROM PRISON.

          Recently I posted a statement from Omar Ibrahim, who was sent to Wandsworth prison for his part in the March 26th anti-cuts protest in London. Well, Omar hasn't been idle while in prison and has set up a blog which he hopes to update on a weekly basis, or better, if possible.

This week's post includes the prison gossip on the Pakistani Cricketer Celebrity Prisoners!

        You can support Omar and his blog HERE.

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WORKERS KNOW YOUR HISTORY - FREEDOM OF SPEECH ON GLASGOW GREEN.

       Workers know your history, for without it you are a people with no history and a people with no culture. You history tells you of the struggle that has been waged by the ordinary people against repression and exploitation. It is your link in the chain that is the continuous struggle of the people for a decent standard of living. The battles being fought today against the financial Mafia that controls the world, is not a new fight, it is the same struggle that has been waged for centuries. A struggle that will only end when the system we live under is finally destroyed and replaced by a needs based system of mutual aid, co-operation and sustainability. Read your history, it arms you for the battles yet to come.

FIGHT FOR FREEDOM OF SPEECH ON THE GREEN.

HEART OF THE CITY.

Glasgow Green lies in the centre of the city, it is the oldest of Glasgow's parks. Its origin lies in the common lands of the Burgh. Since the 1100s the area of the Green has been used for all manner of purposes from peat cutting, pasturing, slaughtering cattle, executions, walking, talking and playing.

On April 13th 1916 Glasgow Corporation repealed a bye-law passed in 1896 covering the regulation of city parks and replaced it with bye-law 20, restricting the right of free assembly. The bye-law was not invoked until 1922 when it became responsible for a considerable number of riotous disturbances during the 1920s and 30s.

JOYCELYN SQUARE.

On July 30th 1923, after many protests and demonstrations, bye-law 20 was amended to make an exception to the area outside the gates of the Green at Joycelyn Square. Meetings were still being cleared from outside all other city parks, this was not always concluded quietly. Guy Alfred Aldred challenged the bye-law by holding meetings outside the gates of the Botanic Gardens, because of its historical traditions he considered the Green a special case. On July 6th 1924 Guy Aldred addressed an open letter in "The Commune" to the Lord Provost, Magistrates and the City Council. He referred to the right of unlicensed liberty of free speech on Glasgow Green secured by long tradition and respected by the Common Law of Scotland. In the letter he made it known that he would be one of seventy speakers participating in an orderly quiet meeting at the monument on Glasgow Green. He also mentioned the seventy cases pending and those already in prison being treated like common criminals because of speaking on the Green without a permit. The meeting went ahead as advertised and further meetings for several weeks after this. At each meeting the police took names and charged the speakers. The speakers were drawn from two groups, Guy Aldred’s Anti-parliamentary Communist Federation, and John MacLean’s Scottish Workers’ Republican Party.

EXEMPTION REPEALED.

On November 29th 1926 at a meeting of the Glasgow Parks Sub-Committee a report was read detailing complaints from the Magistrates Committee, referring to the abuse of Joycelyn Square by undesirables such as racing tipsters attracting a rowdy and troublesome element. A motion was put to the Parks Sub-Committee that the exemption of the square from the restrictions covering the Green should be repealed; the motion was carried.

At this point in time Guy Aldred was in London on another campaign when on February 15th 1925 he was arrested from his platform in Hyde Park and charged with blasphemy and sedition. When he got notice that the Sheriff Principal A.O.M MacKenzie, had received an application from Glasgow Corporation for deletion of the clause in the bye-law exempting Joycelyn Square from the restriction that applied to the Green he lodged Notice of Appeal. The hearing was on March 29th 1927, Guy Aldred appeared in person to state his objections.

Aldred quoted Acts and authorities supporting his view that the bye-law was beyond the legal authority of the Corporation and inconsistent with the laws of Scotland and that this bye-law was in fact an act of prohibition. He also stated that the London authorities had laws to prevent tipsters from acting in Hyde Park but allowed public meetings. Sheriff MacKenzie on April 1st 1927 confirmed the bye-law. The Glasgow Herald went further in an article on April 2nd suggesting that the Corporation take steps to regulate all street corner oratory within the city. The Daily Herald carried the headline "Glasgow Green Silent".

TRAMP PREACHERS.

June 1931 saw the issue come very much alive again when the Brotherhood of the Way - known as Tramp Preachers - arrived in Glasgow and started with fervour and passion to preach on the Green. They seldom had anywhere to sleep and had no worldly possessions bar their wooden crosses. They relied on collections to survive, prison to them would mean food and a bed. They were continually arrested and sentenced to thirty days in prison, their only defence in court was to loudly sing "Onward Christian Soldiers".

John McGovern, ILP Member of Parliament for Shettleston, asked the Secretary of State William Adamson if he would release the Tramp Preachers. Not happy with the answer McGovern persisted until the speaker ordered him to leave the Chamber. He refused and as four doorkeepers tried to remove him supporters took hold of him in an attempt to prevent his removal. As this struggling mass of bodies rumbled towards the door the House was treated to a scene more in keeping with a street meeting being broken up by the police. McGovern was eventually ejected from the Chamber and was suspended for the remainder of the session. The event got him widespread publicity and he announced to the press that he would speak on Glasgow Green without a permit.

A Free Speech Council was formed. On Sunday July 5th 1931 McGovern arrived at the Green to speak, a crowd of some six thousand had assembled. The meeting was allowed to proceed with the police taking the names of all the speakers, of which there was no shortage. The speakers were McGovern,Aldred, Pickering, McShane, Rennie, Heenan, McDougal, Reilly, McGlinchy and Lanaghan. All made two Court appearances and were fined £3 each. Guy Aldred gave Notice of Appeal on behalf of all the accused.

COUNCIL OF ACTION.

At a meeting in Central Halls Glasgow on September 19th 1931 the Free Speech Committee became a permanent Council of Action. The Council of Action was held together because of the issue of the Green. In actual fact the members were from many different shades of the left with different motives. They ranged from the right to work, anti-means tests, anti-parliamentarians and others; in many instances there was little love lost between them.

RIOTS.

The differing motives and the fragmented leadership led to the days of rioting that occurred on and after October 1st 1931. On Thursday October 1st a large crowd had assembled on the Green, estimates were put at 100,000 although the police estimate was 40,000. The police had instructed certain members of the Council of Action to lead demonstrators away in organised groups in different directions. Some of the crowd were armed with sticks, hammers and bottles as instructed the previous day by certain members of the Council of Action. There appears to have been a disturbance at the head of a large group preparing to march off the Green. McGovern was assaulted and arrested. The police charged the crowd, McShane ended up behind the police and led a group who were going to "have a go at the police", away from the Green over the Suspension Bridge and into the Gorbals. Rioting broke out all over the city and it went on over the weekend. Shop windows were smashed and shops looted in every street in the city. It was reported that the city "is in a grip of terror". On Monday October 5th Guy Aldred held a meeting on the Green and sternly rebuked McGovern and McShane for stirring up the people with no other purpose than to appear to be their leader and further their own personal agenda.

January 18th 1932 saw McGovern, McShane and ten others appear in court charged with assault, mobbing and rioting. McShane was acquitted, the police stating that he had complied with their instructions. McGovern was also acquitted as he was in custody before the violence erupted. The ten others, all ordinary members of the public, each received three months in prison.

BYE-LAW 20 REPEALED.

The appeal against the conviction of Guy Aldred, John McGovern and others for speaking on Glasgow Green on July 5th 1931 came before the High Court of Justiciary on October 17th 1931. Though the appeal was unsuccessful, observations made by the Lord Justice General were brought to the notice of the Parks Committee. These observations and the events of October 1st to 6th 1931 brought the Parks Committee, on March 3rd 1932 to repeal bye-law 20 and an amended bye-law that gave the right to public meetings, literature sales, and collections on places set aside by Notice for that purpose. The amendment was confirmed on June 8th 1932 by Sheriff Principal MacKenzie. The old bandstand part of the Green was set aside for public speaking. Guy Aldred maintained that the amended bye-law applied to every park in the city and that the corporation was failing in its duty if it did not set aside by notice parts of all the city parks where citizens could meet and freely debate. The right of Freedom of Assembly only returned to Glasgow Green because of the determined and always courageous struggle of those involved. The events of Glasgow Green prove that all rights we sometimes take for granted have to be vigilantly guarded or they disappear and to have them returned can be a hard and bitter struggle.

More on Glasgow's working classs history HERE.

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ASSISTED DEATHS BY CEO. BONUSES!!

        As a young man I always looked forward to the winter. I loved hill walking in Scottish Highlands in winter, the grandeur, beauty, all breathtaking. Too young to worry about fuel poverty then, but now as a pensioner I look at the winters with a bit of foreboding. I know that I will struggle to keep the house warm as the temperature falls. I will devise strategies such as heading out on the free bus pass and having a read in a library for a few hours and then perhaps stretch to a coffee in some coffee shop that has the daily papers, another hour or more there, and then head home. Sometimes I'll dress up in the house rather than down, that extra pullover, and then as a last resort, turn the heating on. This is not unusual in our society, recent figures from a Yougov poll states that by April 2011 in the UK, there were 6.3 million households in fuel poverty, that's an unbelievable 24% of all UK households. While Confused.com found that 82% of the UK population expressed concern over fuel bills.

       Recent figures suggest that in England and Wales alone, 180 pensioners a day die from the result of fuel poverty, 84% of winter “excess” deaths are of people over the age of 64. This is modern 21^st century Britain, oil and gas off the shore of Scotland, one of the biggest economies in the world and one of the richest countries in the world. These figures of premature death among our elderly is just the tip of the iceberg. It in no way takes into account the illness and misery inflicted on ordinary people, simply because the system insists that the energy companies must make a huge profit to pour into the bank accounts of its shareholders and its CEO. It is death money and that's OK in capitalism. A system of profit first, human welfare away down the list.

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BREAK THE SILENCE ON AFGHANISTAN.

From STOP THE WAR.       

        There is a conspiracy of silence about the war in Afghanistan, despite the fact that the occupation is in growing trouble. Five British soldiers have died in the last ten days but their deaths have barely been reported. Britain and the US are trying to push an agreement that they can keep thousands of soldiers in the country after the so-called withdrawal date of 2014. Polls show this is deeply unpopular with the Afghans. On Saturday 1,000 students marched against the deal in Jalalabad. But the plans are barely mentioned in the British media.

        Stop the War is supporting an Afghanistan Withdrawal Group meeting tonight in parliament featuring Rodric Braithwaite, author of an important book about the Russian occupation of Afghanistan, 'Afgantsy: The Russians in Afghanistan 1979-89'. Tariq Ali wrote in the London Review of Books that: 'Each page reads like a warning to Afghanistan's current occupiers.'

PUBLIC MEETING:
Afghanistan Withdrawal Group of MPs
The Russians in Afghanistan 1979-89: Lessons for Today
Tuesday 22 November, 6.30-8.30pm
Committee Room 9, House of Commons, SW1A 0AA
(St Stephens entrance, nearest tube Westminster)
See: http://bit.ly/s0KZ48

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LOVE MUSIC HATE RACISM.

     

       Love Music Hate Racism in conjunction with Unite Against Fascism is proud to announce a weekend of cracking music.
       Saturday 26 November is Ska night with, Red 2 Red, This R 2-Tone and Big Fat Panda. It is sure to sell out so get your tickets now from Coloursound Rehearsal, 42 Haymarket Terrace, Tel 467 7644 or Ticket Scotland at 127 Rose St.
      On Sunday 27 take a chance to discover Edinburgh’s finest Indie bands with Toy Machine, Sea Bass Kid and Morris Major; Tickets on the door.
Both nights are at the Wee Red Bar, at the Edinburgh College of Art, 74 Lauriston Place and the first bands will start on stage at 7pm. Tickets for each night are a steal at £5 waged and £3 concessions.

A copy of the poster can be found at:
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B2moep8WjsdkNjIwNmRhYjgtNGZiZS00OTMy

LTliYTQtOWRmYzFlNWJmMjNh&hl=en_US

ann arky's home.

DAWN RAIDS - IN A DEMOCRACY???

        When you read about dawn raids on homes and people and their kids being pulled from their beds and taken away by officials of the State, and this without being able to feed their kids first, you breathe a sigh and say, "Thank goodness we live in the UK", and "How lucky we are to live in a democracy". Of course that's all an illusion, the dawn raids on families with children happens here in Scotland. This barbaric state procedure was, because of persistent protest, halted for a spell. Well its back and it will take the same solidarity and persistent protest to have it halted again, this time it should be for good.

ann arky's home.

CHILD POVERTY - AGAIN!!!

       One of the advantages/problems with living a long life is you get to hear the same old crap being mouthed by our prancing, pontificating, parasitical politicians, time and time again. Each time they come up with their new-regurgitated heart felt rendering, the new generation think it is a new problem and the mouthing politician's feelings are for real. I was born in one of Glasgow many slums, and there was poverty a plenty. Now heading for my eighties, and with Edwina Currie's remark, that no one in the UK goes hungry, ringing in my ears, I hear once again the latest primadonna politicians shedding tears over child poverty, and with that gravitas they perfected at the Oxbridge Club, stating how something will have to be done about this dreadful problem. They have been mouthing this after every election during my long life, and we still have nearly 3 million children in poverty in this country with 1.6 million in severe poverty. After so many years highlighting the problem of child poverty, I think we now have to come to the conclusion that either they don't want to fix the problem, or under the present system it can't be fixed. I'm firmly in the camp of the latter, as evidence across the globe points to increased child poverty as the capitalist system develops.

This isnae wit a voted fur.

Pinpointing child poverty also helps to obscure other factors, that are wrong with the system. Child poverty doesn't exist in isolation. Every child in poverty is in a home that is in poverty, and every home that is in poverty has a family in poverty. Nearly 3 million children in poverty, and 1.6 million in severe poverty, how many homes, how many families? In other words we have a society that has widespread poverty. Further more it has been with us throughout the history of capitalism, and the theatrics of our well-heeled political class will do nothing to alleviate the problem. It is the system that is wrong and our millionaire politicians are merely milking it for all they are worth at the expense of the ordinary people.

EIGHTEEN HUNGRY CHILDREN.

Eighteen hungry children die

every minute of every day

eighteen of tomorrow’s people

cruelly thrown away.

When pandering to a fashion

gratifying our greed,

think, theirs is no desire

but a basic need.

Envisage a familiar face

a child that calls your name,

try to be the parent

try to place the blame.

Eighteen hungry children die

every minute of every day,

eighteen little faces

that never learnt to play.

Walk past your local school

listen to the shrill,

stand and count to sixty

imagine hunger start to kill.

Fingers must be pointed

at decisions made on high,

questions must be asked

loudly asked by you and I.

Eighteen hungry children die

every minute of every day,

eighteen precious lives

the claws of hunger slay.

WHY?



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FROM DREAMS TO REALITY.

         When ordinary people across the world talk to each other, ordinary people across the world can change the world. With modern technology we can be in touch with each other in an instantaneous basis. When you protest people across the world can see it and can support that protest, when police try to break that protest the world is watching. It becomes increasingly difficult for the mainstream media to lie about it or to ignore the brutality. Today, global revolution is possible, as long as the ordinary people keep control. Grassroots movements can now shape the world the way they want, we can weave our dreams into a reality as long as we keep talking to each other and working in solidarity, never losing sight of the world we want.

        The truth can spread like wildfire, the lies can be exposed and dispelled like the smoke and illusions they are. Information is freely available, we can open up the world, we can make it our world, the world of the ordinary people.

Watch live streaming video from globalrevolution at livestream.com

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PEACEFUL PROTEST IS OK, -- ISN'T IT??

     
      Media clamp down, co-ordinated nation wide move against peaceful protest, police brutality? Surely not in the West? It must be some foreign banana republic with a despot dictator!! This is the free democratic West where we value freedom of speech and expression, after all we export such values to repressed people across the globe, don't we??

      You can take it that there is more of this to come, as the so called "crisis" takes a tighter grip of our lives. The corporate financial mafia are determined to cover any losses by taking all public spending and transferring it to their coffers. The might call it deficit reduction, but it still amounts to taking tax payers money and putting into the bank accounts of the big boys who control the financial mafia.

     You can debate how the "crisis" came about, who was responsible, until you're blue in the face, when the simple answer is that the system is inherently flawed as far as the ordinary people are concerned, but works well if you happen to be one of the billionaire parasites with their hands on the roulette wheel. It is a gambling club, but you and I are not in the club, we just provide the wealth that they gamble over.

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THE FRUITS OF CAPITALISM!!

         Capitalism is certainly filled with stories of misery, heartache, frustration, deprivation, and exploitation and we are fortunate that there are those who can record some of this human struggle to survive in a repressive system. Yes there are those who have made a fortune and those who have lived comfortably, but the majority never get beyond the struggling stage. Music and art can be a powerful way to record the injustices of the system. This does it in a simple but poignant way.

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OCCUPY THE STREETS, AND THEN---??

         With the two technocratic unelected governements in Europe, Greece and Italy, trying to push through more draconian "austerity" cuts, only on the working class of course, we are seeing the Western developed countries rising in anger. There is massive resistance in New York and other cities across America, while in Athens  there is running battles with the police and in Italy, likewise, there has been large demonstrations. This is not a few radical leftwingers being troublesome, but a general uprising of ordinary people who are at last beginning to see through the illusion that is woven with the smoke and mirrors of the politicians and the media. The attack on the ordinary people has not peaked yet, there is more to come as the financial mafia do everything in their power to hold onto and increase their wealth and power.
        The ordinary people of Spain, and the UK are facing more cuts to their living standards and the "markets" are starting to put pressure on France to contribute more to the financial parasites coffers. What ever is hapenning in Greece is coming our way, and the only real answer as far as the ordinary people of the world are concerned, is to destroy this exploitive system run by the IMF (International Mankind Fuckers) and the finanicial mafia.

Live from New York:

From Athens:

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COME TO THE VILLAGE SQUARE.

The village Square project
         While there are many interesting avenues of change around the city. There are groups, campaigns, projects and activities, working in the common good, but many of them are invisible to a lot of people. The Village Square will act as a focus point for what is happening around the communities and city. The project will operate from the Pearce Institute, Govan, Glasgow and be run by volunteers, on a daily basis also with evening events. There will be as well as hands on workshops on model making, mapping, meetings, discussions, talks, films, bookstall and an info shop.
          Groups working in the cities communities will be invited to exhibit, what they do, share and swap knowledge, ideas, organisational skills and build solidarity with each other. We would like to persuade folk to invent their own meet-up ideas and topics and to encourage those already working in the community to create awareness of what they are doing. There are a multitude of ideas that will unfold in the square, but the main aim is to encourage, parents and
children, young folk, older folk to think about, question and help to articulate ideas interests and issues in their patch. 

Let's get doon theerr.  

       We can do this in entertaining and inventive ways through cultural activities, actions, interventions, politics, education, art, drama, geography, mapping, technology, different mediums, film, photography, internet, walking, and such, can all be brought into play.
         You can find out more about the village Square at the LEGUP dinner nights, Govan conversations next Tuesday at the Pearce Institute and every following Tuesday at the Pearce cafe from 6: 30 or see city strolls for details.

Check the website:http://themeetingsquare.wordpress.com

 www.citystrolls.com

While we all watch television business gets organised.

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STOP DAWN RAIDS! STOP DETAINING CHILDREN!

STOP DAWN RAIDS! STOP DETAINING CHILDREN!
Come to the protest Monday 21 November, 10.00 am at Festival Court

        Following the dawn raid on two families early last week Unity is calling for a protest outside of the UKBA reporting centre and headquarters of the Immigration Enforcement Team on Monday 21 November. Unity hopes it will be a well-attended protest that will make it clear once and for all that the UKBA using dawn raids and the detention of families is just not acceptable. Monday 21 November is the next working day after the UN's Universal Children's Day on 20 November - a day set aside for promoting the welfare of the children of the world. (http://www.un.org/en/events/childrenday/).

SOLIDARITY.

        We want as many people as possible to come to Brand Street on Monday to make a noisy colourful protest against the resumption of dawn raids that the UKBA cannot ignore. More information about how Funke and Joseph were treated can be seen below this call-out. People involved with Unity are particularly angry that the dawn raids were carried out on families containing young children who were asleep when immigration officials forced their way into the homes. The children were woken up by immigration officials wearing uniforms and stab-proof vests only to see their mothers being handcuffed.
       This barbaric treatment of families who have not been convicted of any crime is something many people thought had disappeared following widespread community protest and opposition from all Scottish political parties in 2006. We want the protest on Monday to be a big day-long action, so tell as many people as possible. The protest will continue into the afternoon so even if you can't make it for 10am, come along when you can.
        Join the protest outside the UKBA office on Brand Street from 10am on Monday 21 November to show your opposition to dawn raids and child detention. We will be running a banner and prop making workshop and preparation meeting from 1pm on Sunday afternoon. If you'd like to come and help then please contact Unity to find out details of the venue.
And if you'd like to come from out of town - we can provide accommodation!

Just get in touch J
Facebook event page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=272568582785246

Unity!
         The protest on Monday is being held outside the UKBA reporting centre at 200 Brand Street, Ibrox, Glasgow. It is very close to Cessnock underground station and less than 100 metres from the Unity Centre. There is a map and directions on how to find the centre on our website at http://unitycentreglasgow.org/?page_id=16
          Funke Olubiyi and her son Joseph were forcibly removed from the UK on Saturday evening despite a last minute attempt to get an injunction on medical grounds. Speaking from Nigeria, Funke described how nine immigration officials and guards and a doctor accompanied her and her son onto the plane. On the phone Funke thanked everyone who had tried to fight for her and told us that she was OK for now and staying with friends.
        Funke and Joseph were the first family from Scotland known to have been detained in the new family detention centre called 'Cedars' in the village of Pease Pottage close to Crawley in Sussex.
The family had been detained following a 'dawn raid' at their home when little Joseph aged only 5 and 2 months had been asleep in his bed. Funke had been preparing to have a bath and had been undressed when seven immigration officials forced their way into the family's small flat on Shaw Street in Govan. Joseph was not allowed to have any breakfast in his house and was only given some food after the family had been taken to the reporting centre at Brand Street.
         A day earlier the UKBA had detained another single mother and baby during a dawn raid but she had managed to convince the immigration officials to realise her after being held at Brand Street with her baby for over seven hours. These two raids mark the return of dawn raids to Glasgow following a period of several years when the UKBA had almost totally stopped raiding asylum seeker families. Despite holding Funke and Joseph for three days and three nights in their 'pre-departure accommodation' at Cedars which with its 2.5 metre tall perimeter fence is run by security firm G4S the UKBA still insist "We do not detain children for immigration." Unity calls on all campaigners and supporters to work to make sure that for once this becomes a reality.

Come to teh protest on Monday 21 November.

The UNITY Centre
30 Ibrox Street
Glasgow
G51 1AQ

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EX-CIA AGENT ON THE MIDDLE EAST.

       An interesting interview with an ex-CIA agent. He seems to talk with a load of common sense and in a way that so many of the ordinary people with a little political savvy talk. Of course I don't think that he will get much cover in our mainstream press.

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LOCK THEM UP - MAKE A PROFIT??

         I am always appalled at the fact that locking people up can be a lucrative business. Our corporate world knows no limits, if it can make a buck, then it will, no matter the method. The corporate prison business in America, as else where no doubt, is pouring large sums of money into lobbying to have new laws passed that will hand out bigger sentences and leave fewer opportunities for parole. That is one business plan to increase you business, of course the fact that it is human misery that you're creating as a by product, doesn't in the least matter. Immigrants are seen as another possible growth area.

       A Corrections Corporation of America report from 2010 actually stated that;

“The demand for our facilities and services could be adversely affected by---leniency in conviction or parole standards and sentencing practices---”

Read the full report here.

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ANOTHER PROFIT BEFORE WELFARE.

        An appeal from IUF for your show of solidarity. Unfortunatly these types of brutal attacks on the living conditions of the ordinary people will continue in all countries across the world until we get rid of the capitalist system of exploitation.

        The New Zealand lamb processor, CMP, has brutally locked out 111 workers at its plant in Marton in order to force them and their union, the New Zealand Meatworkers Union, to sign off on pay cuts and unacceptable changes to terms and conditions.
To learn more and send a message to CMP's parent company, ANZCO Foods, demanding an end to the lockout and a return to the bargaining table, click here!

Ron Oswald
General Secretary, IUF

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

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

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CAPITALISM - PROFIT = MISERY.

           The capitalist system is in crisis, it sounds all so rational and academic, but what it means is that across Europe people are suffering in ever increasing numbers, and to an ever degrading degree. Country after country comes under the spotlight of the media and all the talk is about the “debt” crisis, never the human side. In Greece, a country with an unelected Prime Minister, unemployment has risen from 6.6% in 2008, to 16.6% in 2011, while youth unemployment went from 18.6% to 40.1%, and heroin addiction rose by 20% during the same period. Add to this human disaster the fact that the government during the same period has cut the health budget by 40% and reduced the street-work programs by 33%. Put that toxic cocktail together and you have human suffering and deprivation approaching third world proportions. Spain fares little better, with unemployment at 20%, and 10% of families with no wage earner, plus, during 2011, 1 in 8 business closed. Italy another country with an unelected Prime Minister, is about to embark on a series of vicious slashes to public spending, which will heap more people on to the already mountainous mound of misery that exists in Europe. Here in the UK we have now passed 2.6 million unemployed, 8.3% and rising. Our youth unemployment is now over 1 million and rising, add to this our wage freeze/cuts and an inflation rate of 5% and you can see the misery indicator shooting up. Meanwhile our Millionaire cabinet cabal, keep blaming the Euro-Zone for all our ills. The fact that growth in Europe is above that in the UK, and inflation is lower than the UK, doesn't seem to register with them, it is all Europe's fault.

CRISIS? What crisis?

         The simple fact is that capitalism is crisis, it can't work for the benefit of the ordinary people, it is basically a system that feeds the rich at the expense of the poor. Profit is the aim, not human welfare, and as such, that profit must be protected at all costs. The human misery resulting from this type of value structure is never taken into account on the balance sheets of the corporate world. Throughout the entire period of history where capitalism has been the main system we have had continuous wars, raging poverty, mass unemployment and the resulting misery such circumstances produce. Of course the numbers who gain a reasonable life varies from time to time, but it is a temporary respite, soon along comes another recession, or crisis and the numbers change again, with poverty and misery growing, wiping out any benefits that some of the ordinary people had fought for and temperaly gained.

        If we want to fix the “crisis” so that all the people will benefit, then we have to demolish the present system and change our value structure to one of profit free thinking. The only answer is to create a society of mutual aid and co-operation based on sustainability. The present “crisis” of the system can only be remedied by eliminating capitalism and building a needs based system. Only then will be see an end to the misery of deprivation, only then will our youth be able to flower to their full potential.

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