BOYCOTT WORK-FARE.

      Slavery has been with us from time immemorial and reasonable people have always, on principle, fought against the idea of slavery. One of the first records of slavery being forbidden was in 550 BC in Achaemenid Persia where it was generally banned, their religion Zoroastrianism explicitly forbid slavery. As we move through history, over time we see scores of places introducing laws to forbid slavery or the slave trade. In 960 the Doge of Venice approved a law prohibiting slavery. Even on these islands in 1102 the Council of London made the trade in slaves illegal and in 1569 the English Court ruled that English law could not recognise slavery and again here in 1701, Lord Chief Justice ruled that a slave became free as soon as he arrived in England. Now here we are in the 21st. century and we have a government of millionaires trying their damnedest to reintroduce slavery in this country. They have tried to dress it up in more modern language and have given it a nice sounding name, they call it "Work-fare". The idea is that if you are unemployed and are receiving the princely sum of £67 a week job seekers allowance, to survive on, then you are obliged to accept being sent to some extremely rich company and work there for "NOTHING" failing to do so could see you lose your £67 benefit money. They say it is voluntary, voluntary slavery, but those who have been unfortunate enough to be put in this position make it quite clear that you are under pressure to go to your newly prescribed master and do his bidding, for nothing. The big businesses would love to grab this opportunity to have an army of unpaid young people scurrying around with the sweat dripping off their forehead, filling their selves or what ever they demand. However some are drawing back from the scheme, not out of compassion for the young slaves, but for the bad publicity that is coming their way when they do participate. People are objecting to this humiliating way of treating our young people, groups are demonstrating outside and in their premises and they public is beginning to see through the tinsel dressing and fancy words that they have dressed up this degrading scheme of modern slavery.

Saturday 3rd March
Protest against Work fare - Protest against slave labour

MEET TOP SHOP BUCHANAN STREET (OUTSIDE BUCHANAN GALLERIES) 1PM

        In solidarity with Liverpool Uncut’s action against workfare on Saturday 3rd March, Boycott Workfare has called a national day of action against workfare. There will be a Boycott Workfare action in Central London on this day and people all over the UK are to take action on their high streets.
         So many high street stores are involved in taking on forced unpaid labour that there is plenty of choice –Asda, Holland & Barrett, Primark, HMV, TK Maxx and Topshop to name but a few. Get a group together, make a plan, and head to the streets. Workfare means that those on benefits are forced into unpaid work for multi-million pound companies. Instead of the living wage – they receive £2.25 an hour in benefits for 30 hours of work.
       Workfare means those in paid positions may see their jobs replaced by this unpaid labour. Why would a company pay for people to do these jobs when they can get free labour from the Job Centre?
       We can put a stop to this forced unpaid labour – Waterstones and Sainsburys recently announced that they would no longer take unpaid placements – the other companies just need a bit more encouragement to stop this exploitation. We demand an end to this exploitation and call for welfare rights and living wages for all!

If you continue to exploit us, we WILL shut you down!
http://www.facebook.com/events/163269033789710/

ann arky's home.

OCCUPY AIPAC.

An open letter from Chris Hedges: 

I invite you to join me at the Occupy AIPAC Summit in Washington this weekend.

       I spent seven years in the Middle East. I lived for two of those seven years in Jerusalem. I was the Middle East Bureau Chief for the New York Times. AIPAC does not speak for Jews or for Israel. It speaks for right-wing ideologues who believe that because they have capacity to wage war, they have a right to wage war.
And just as these elites were too blind and too enamored of their own rhetoric to see what invading Iraq would trigger, so too are they unable to comprehend the regional conflagration that would be unleashed by attacking Iran.
      The uprisings from Tunisia to Egypt to Greece to Occupy Wall Street to our gathering outside AIPAC's doors in Washington are all the same primal struggle for justice. The battle for justice in Middle East is our battle. It is part of the vast, global battle against the 1 percent. It is a battle against the fossil fuel industry, the weapons manufacturers, the security and surveillance state, the misuse of public funds that wastes $ 4 trillion on wars that never had to be fought, the trillions more in looted taxpayer money to prop up insolvent banks and swell bloated military budgets, the battle to protect working men and women who are left struggling in the name of "austerity" to save their homes and find work.
       Join us at Occupy AIPAC this weekend. Help us make the voices of the 99 percent—the voices of mothers, fathers and children in the squalid refugee camps in Gaza, in the suburbs of Tehran and in the bleak industrial wastelands in Ohio—heard. Yours,
Chris Hedges.

Read 10 Reasons Why the Israel Lobby is So Dangerous

Sign the petition

ann arky's home.

LOCK-OUTS, PAY-OFFS, THEY'RE ALL AT IT.

An appeal for solidarity from Labour Start:

       Workers locked out by a French-owned company in Canada need our help today. It's now been three months since Acadian Coach Lines, a subsidiary of French multinational Keolis, locked out their employees because of a labour dispute. This has resulted in no intercity bus service in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, leaving many who rely on buses to get to and from cities in these provinces stranded.

Being locked out of work is always bad. For an employer to do this in mid-winter is positively cruel.

Please show your support for these workers today -

click here. It will take you less than one minute to send a strong message to Keolis demanding that they return to negotiations.

And to see what recent campaigns you may have missed,

click here.

Thanks very much!

Eric Lee

ann arky's home.

SCOTLAND'S LAST LIVING LINK!!

       Thomas Watters, the last surviving Scot who volunteered to fight in the Spanish Civil War, 1936/39 has died aged 99. Thomas had settled in Hertfordshire but was originally from Glasgow. In 1936 he was driving a Glasgow Corporation bus for a living when he decided along with approximately 500 other Scots to join the International Brigade to fight the fascist Franco's army. While in Spain he was a member of Scottish Ambulance Unit. In June 2009 at a ceremony in the Spanish Embassy in London he was honoured with an honorary Spanish citizenship. In 2010 he returned to Glasgow to give a speech at the rededication ceremony of the newly restored statue “Pasionaria” which stands on the north side of the River Clyde in Glasgow's city centre to commemorate the Spanish Civil War and the part played by the citizens of Glasgow.

       It is always sad to lose the last living link with any courageous working class event, and the volunteers from Scotland, and other parts of the world, who went to fight fascism in Spain were taking part in what can only be described as a courageous sacrifice for freedom for others, not just for themselves. We, the working class, should always remember our history, or we become a people without a history and without a culture.

ann arky's home.

WORKERS KNOW YOUR HISTORY - GLASGOW WEAVERS STRIKE.

         We should never forget that in any industrial struggle you are not only fighting your employer, but the powers that be. The authorities will always throw the full extent of their power in support of the employer and against the workers. You elect them and they support your employer, that's how the system works. That power can be police intimidation/brutality/provocation, to bringing the troops onto the streets to crush the resistance of the group in dispute. Britain is no different in that respect, we have had the troops on the streets on numerous occasions. Troops were put on the streets in Liverpool during the 1911 dockers strike, resulting in two strikers being shot dead on the street. Later in Glasgow 1919 during the 40 hour week struggle, once again the state brought troops on to the streets. That event in Glasgow became known as Bloody Friday. We can go away back to what was probably the first organised strike in the country and the then authorities ran true to form and brought the troops out against the strikers, that was the 1787 Glasgow weavers strike. Don't ever expect "YOUR" elected representatives to support you in any workers dispute, they support the system, which is one of exploitation and business orientated, your are just the replaceable wee cogs in their greed machine.

Memorial at The Weavers Cemetery Calton Glasgow.

  

GLASGOW’S WEAVERS’ STRIKE, 1787

BACKGROUND.

Glasgow’s population at this period was around 60,000. Weaving was the main occupation in Glasgow and surrounding districts after the collapse of the tobacco trade due to the American War of Independence. The movement for parliamentary reform was still a seed in people’s hearts. It took the French Revolution to cause it to shoot and grow. Attempts by workers to unite in defence of their living standards were deemed an offence under common law. The weavers’ strike of 1787 was the first recorded strike in Glasgow’s history.

Around June 1787 the Glasgow weavers and those of surrounding areas learned that the payments for weaving muslin were to be cut. This would be the second cut to the weavers income in eight months. Many meetings were held around the districts and on June the 30th 1787 seven thousand attended a meeting on Glasgow Green. On the 4th of July terms of a unanimous resolution from the meeting appeared in a letter printed in the Glasgow Mercury. The letter was sent by James Mirrie on behalf of the committee appointed by the weavers. The letter pointed out that the cut suggested by the manufacturers would bring weavers income down by one-fourth while other trades had been rightfully rising in face of an increase in house rents and other means of subsistence. It also stated that they would not 'offer violence to any man or his work'.

STRIKE.

The strike started in June and lasted through July, August, September in to October. Calton was a district then just outside Glasgow’s boundary. Most of the population of the district were weavers. Around mid-day on Monday 3rd September, the authorities of Glasgow learned that a large crowd of weavers had formed at Calton near the city boundary at Gallowgate. The Lord Provost and Magistrates arrived to disperse the crowd but were driven back by stones thrown by the weavers. Later in the day the authorities were informed that the weavers were again assembling and proposed to march to Glasgow Cathedral.

RIOT ACT.

The 39th Regiment of Foot, under the command of Colonel Kellet was sent. With them went the Lord Provost, the Sheriff-Substitute, a Magistrate and others intent on dispersing the weavers. The groups met at a spot near Drygate Bridge. The soldiers were ordered to open fire, 3 weavers were killed outright and three were mortally wounded. A considerable number were wounded. How many can only be guessed at.

It is now accepted that the Riot Act was not read, it is claimed that the Sheriff-Substitute was preparing to read the Riot Act when the soldiers opened fire in self defence. After the riot Magistrates offered rewards for information leading to the arrest of activists. As well as James Granger, one of the main organisers of the strike, others were arrested but not brought to trial. On the 4th September the Magistrates brought in another regiment from Beith.

Towards the end of September Colonel Kellet and Major Powlet were presented with the freedom of the city. At the Tontine Tavern a dinner was given for the officers. Each soldier stationed in Glasgow was given a new pair of shoes and stockings.

TRIAL AND SENTENCE.

James Granger’s trial, he was then aged 38, married and had six children, took place in Edinburgh in the year 1788. It was the first case of “forming illegal combinations” in Scotland. He was found guilty on Tuesday 22nd July and sentenced on Friday 25th The sentence was that he be carried to the Tollbooth, to remain there until the 13th August, on which day he would be publicly whipped through the streets of the city at the hands of the Common Executioner; that he should then be set at liberty and allowed till the 15th October to settle his affairs, after which he is to banish himself from Scotland for seven years, under the usual certifications, in case of his again returning during that term. A severe price to pay for trying to prevent a wage cut. James Granger returned and took part in the 1811-1812 strike and lived to the age of 75.

      This was the scene at Glasgow Trongate 1919 after the events of the 40 hour week strike which resulted in what became know as "Bloody Friday", look closely and you will see the troops have "fixed bayonets".

More on Glasgow's working class history can be found HERE.

ann arky's home.

THE EDGE OF THE PRECIPICE.

         As lots of folk in the UK look at Greece and say that it won't happen here, perhaps a closer look at some of the figures for the UK might make them think again. We as a country are just holding on with our finger tips, it will not take much to push us over the edge and have us in the same scenario as the Greek people are living through. These figures may be a month or so behind the times but nothing that has happened in the interim makes them less alarming. This from the right-wing pro-business class newspaper The Telegraph, January 4:

One million people take out emergency loans to pay mortgage

       Almost one million Britons have taken out an emergency 'payday' loan to help pay their rent or mortgage in the last year, according to Shelter, the housing charity. The high degree of borrowing highlights the 'spiral of debt' that people are falling into to keep a roof over their head, Shelter said. The charity also found that seven million Britons are relying on some form of credit to help pay their housing costs. Campbell Robb, Shelter’s chief executive, said: 'These shocking findings show the extent to which millions of households across the country are desperately struggling to keep their home.'

      Taking out a loan-shark Payday loan to pay your mortgage/rent, is pretty desperate stuff. This conceals a major problem in our economy just one blip and homelessness will rocket, and with unemployment rising fast that blip can't be too far off.

Another quote from The Telegraph on January 9:

Six million households have only five days' savings

     Around six million households would be unable to survive for more than five days if they stopped being paid, such are the low levels of savings among Britons, new research shows. A new report from First Direct, the bank, warns that one in three UK households have less than £250 in accessible savings. A fifth of all households have no savings at all. The bank said that £250 is the equivalent of three days’average monthly household take-home pay. With average monthly outgoing currently at £1,536, these savings would last just five days.

        So as our cabal of coalition millionaires keep telling us the we are on the right track, you can accept that they are lying through their teeth, are extremely devious, for what ever reason, or they are just plain stupid. We are as far as economics are concerned wavering on the edge of the financial precipice.

        The system is bust, normally capitalism brings extreme wealth to a few, some reasonable living for quite a few, and poverty and struggle for the many. Now as we move deeper into corporate fascism with the financial Mafia in complete control, the system produces unbelievable stratospheric wealth for even fewer, a reasonable living for the managers of the system and grinding deprivation for the vast majority. The unelected corporate fascists rule the world. Those who produce all that wealth never get a smell of it, the system is set up to syphon the wealth up the way. So forget changing the government, the party, the President or what ever, it is the system that we have to change.

ann arky's home.

THE PLUNDER OF A PEOPLE..

 

   

          The general public across Europe are not being made fully aware of what is really happening in Greece, the powers that be don't want you to know, as it is a brutal and vicious crime, and the public anger would rightly explode if the full extent of this crime was known. This is a European country that is being turned into a third world country and it is happening with such rapidity that it amounts to a crime against humanity. Hospitals are running out of their very basic needs, schools are devoid of materials for the education of the kids, homeless numbers have gone stratospheric, suicides are rocketing and mental health problems are soaring beyond belief. That is the stage they are at at this moment in time, yet the Troika, (European Union, European Central bank and the IMF) are determined to push further cuts to social spending, increase unemployment, decimate pensions and plunder Greece's public assets. It is rapid asset stripping of a nation for the benefit of the financial Mafia. We would be naive to think that it can't happen to us, it can and in all probability it will. This can't be allowed to continue, what has already been inflicted on the ordinary Greek people is plain and simple, a brutal robbery by a very rich small army of parasites to gratify their unending greed. It is of course class war, the very rich sending in their mercenaries to plunder the assets of the ordinary people. We have to spread the word, let everybody know exactly what is happening to the ordinary people of Greece, every day sees more misery inflicted on the old, the young and the sick, there is no relief in sight for them, unless we change the system.

         This from The International Journal of Socialist Renewal.

          February 13, 2012 -- Coalition of Resistance -- The people of Greece face an unprecedented economic and political crisis. They are being driven to poverty and mass unemployment by the demands of the so-called Troika – the European Union, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund, which has imposed Lucas Papademos, former vice-president of the ECB, as prime minister.

        Hospitals in Greece are running out of basic medicines, nearly half of all young people are unemployed, workers in some sectors have not been paid for months, and many are forced to resort to soup kitchens or scavenge from rubbish dumps.

Now the Troika demands a cut of 23% to the minimum wage, the sacking of tens of thousands of public sector workers and the decimation of pensions which have already lost nearly 50% of their value. International capital is asset stripping an entire country and ripping apart its social fabric.

Greece is at the cutting edge of the austerity measures that are being introduced across Europe. All the evidence shows that while these measures may protect the interests of the rich, they just make matters worse for the majority of the population. What happens in Greece today we will see in Portugal tomorrow and in Ireland the day after. In Britain, the Coalition government is pursuing similar measures which will see workers earnings cut, working longer for a smaller pension, and the dismantling of the NHS along with other public services.

       Mikis Theodorakis, famous Greek composer of Zorba’s Dance, and Manolis Glezos, veteran resistance fighter against the Nazi occupation, have issued a statement calling for a European Front to defend the people of Greece and all those facing austerity.

The Coalition of Resistance and the People’s Charter have decided to support this call and agreed to work with trades unions, campaigns and parties across Europe to establish a European Solidarity Campaign to defend the people of Greece. The campaign aims to organise solidarity and raise practical support for the people of Greece; they cannot be made to pay for a crisis for which they are not responsible.

       We are writing to you to ask you to endorse this campaign and to publicise it to others.
Below is a list of initial signatories. We will be calling an organising meeting for the campaign in the next week.

• Greek translation of the statement.
• German translation of the statement.
• French translation of the statement.
• Swedish translation of the statement.
• Portuguese translation of the statement
• To sign the statement or see a full list of signatories, go to http://www.coalitionofresistance.org.uk/2012/02/sign-the-appeal-for-soli...

ann arky's home.

MUTUAL AID - AN ANSWER TO OUR PROBLEMS.

          Mutual aid is the basis of any decent society, it takes us away from the capitalist consumer juggernaut, and breaks our dependency on the profit system that bleeds us and keeps us in perpetual struggle for survival. There is no avenue of our lives that we could not enrich by mutual aid. It can be introduced in education, home maintenance, making and repairing things for the community, growing our own food, book sharing schemes, toy swap schemes for the kids, the list is endless. As our involvement grows the list grows and we become more empowered and less dependent on selling ourselves to the highest bidder in an effort to support our families. The dire situation in Greece has forced the Greek people to look for alternatives to try to hold on to their dignity and try to enhance their lives, one of the latest schemes to develop is #tutorpool, a mutual aid scheme of education. The Greek education system, because of "austerity" cuts, has been decimated and is practically defunct, this scheme shows the way we can organise our society outside the state and corporate strangle hold. An extract from Occupied London.

SOLIDARITY.

      #tutorpool is an education solidarity network created by ordinary citizens living in an unordinary country in very unordinary times. Summer protests at Syntagma Square and other squares throughout the country fostered more than a profound sense of community and solidarity among citizens in Greece; friendships forged in the “square” gave way to solidarity initiatives.
#tutorpool began spontaneously in twitter after a discussion between few people and took less than a few hours to spread. That explains the use of the hash tag (#) before the name, to remind everyone that internet offers people the tools to meet, organize and work together. In less than a week, #tutorpool begun to take the form of a volunteer network, offering educational support to students whose families could not afford “coaching”. A group of volunteers managed to pull each of their skills together under the www.tutorpool.gr website and begun offering online and actual courses to students all over Greece, reaching as far as the isolated islands. At this point, less than two months later than the very first tweet, #tutorpool has more than 300 volunteer teachers, 102 students, and 205 courses offered throughout the country.
CONTINUE READING:

 ann arky's home.

THE BRAIN DEAD'S DAMP SQUIB.

        Saturday 25 February the fascist Scottish Defence League held their “static” demo in the centre of Glasgow. No marching waving their banners and giving their Nazi salutes, the bunch of pathetic brain dead morons were herded like a little bunch of sheep and contained at the bottom of St Enoch Square. Standing there in the rain making silly childish gestures with no audience, as the public were going about their business as usual along nearby Argyle Street and Buchanan Street. As well as a multicultural demonstration and rally in George Square, there was a considerable anti-fascist presence on the city centre streets. They were there in case some of the scum came along with their school playground bullying tactics of trying to intimidate the various political stalls in the city centre. They never appeared as they presence of any number of Glasgow anti-fascists would have them running to the nearest toilet.

I want a mirror, so I can do my nazi salute.

         This foul smelling bunch of scum have no place on the Glasgow's streets, the people of Glasgow have a proud history of working class solidarity and struggle and are well capable of flushing this shit down the sewer. Hopefully this particular bucket of sludge has slopped back down the sewer from which it leaked. However we must be eternally vigilant as this type of scum will always rise at times of economic turmoil, trying to find scapegoats to pin the problem on, we cannot let them distract us from the real root of all our problems, the capitalist system. We have to continually organise to bring an end to this unjust exploitative system of corporate capitalism that dominates our lives.

ann arky's home.

DON'T MISS THE BUS!!

         I say it at bus stops, in shops, in the pub, I say it to friends, to acquaintances, to strangers, I say it in the morning, in the afternoon and in the evening, I say it on the bus, on the train, so I'll say it here again. This is not a national problem, we are living under corporate fascism, this is an international problem. The policies being implemented across the developed world are the policies of a group that have never been elected, have no mandate from the people they are affecting and are working simply in the best interests of their own little group of parasites. Across the developed world the Heinz 57 varieties of political governments from so called socialists, labour, social democrats, to conservative, republican and far right parties are all carrying out the same polices, namely “austerity”. They are merely the managers of the IMF (International Mankind Fuckers) polices, policies that are bringing deprivation to millions and dividends and bonuses to the parasites. Who elected the IMF?

From ANONARCHIST NEWS;

            It was George Orwell, author of 1984, who said that, “In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”

        What is the situation now? Is peaceful dissent accepted? Or is it frowned upon and discriminated against? What are our world ‘leaders’ up to? Are they helping us, the masses of working people? Or are they actually perpetuating the existence of an outdated economic system, no matter what the cost?

        What if there was another option. An alternative to all this. What if we didn’t have to live like this? If human beings on a large scale could cooperate with each other for the common good of themselves and their community – does that really sound crazy? Or is it even crazier to believe that they expect us to remain docile and apathetic as they destroy our Earth.

        Is it impossible to have individuals acting selflessly if they understand that this is the better option, or would one rather live under a system where war is good for the economy. Where poverty is rampant on a world-scale and police-state measures are accepted without question.

        It seems to me like the choice is yours. For if we do not act now – it’ll be too late late.

ann arky's home.

CLEAN GLASGOW'S STREETS.

          Today, Glasgow should come together to clean its streets, today the nazi SDL want to turn our streets into avenues of hate. This off-shoot of the EDL/BNP nazi groupings are not welcome on the streets of our city, a city that has a long tradition of stuggling for the betterment of all its people, a city with a proud history of working class unity. We can't allow this band of deranged dangerous nazi nutters to soil that history.

Celebrating Multicultural Glasgow

Saturday 25 FebruaryFrom 12 noon, George Square, Glasgow

Bring flags, balloons, placards & banners
Download the flyer here: http://alturl.com/4f9dr Facebook Event here: http://www.facebook.com/events/232093423552257/

See you on Saturday.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note:
       The Islamophobic and racist Scottish Defence League (SDL) has stated its intention to have a demonstrate in Glasgow on 25th February. It will be the first SDL demonstration of 2012. There organisations around the country have recently been attacking mosques, campaigning street stalls and trade unionists.

      Glasgow has a proud history of challenging prejudice and promoting equality. We oppose discrimination of all kinds. We’ve all worked and campaigned together for many years to build a successful, multicultural city where different communities live peacefully side-by-side. We will not accept attempts to create fear and intimidation in our community. The SDL is a violent, racist organisation. They should be opposed wherever they attempt to organise.

      We call upon all people, political parties, trade unions, cultural, youth, faith and community organisations to work together to unite our city and defy the SDL’s attempts to divide us and stir up hatred.

       The last time the SDL tried to march in Glasgow we saw a 3000 strong demonstration of mass unity on the streets.

Lets see that mass unity drive them off the streets again.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unite Against Fascism (UAF) is a national campaign with the aim of alerting British society to the rising threat of the extreme right, in particular the British National Party (BNP), Britain First and the British Freedom Party gaining an electoral foothold in this country. We aim to unite the broadest possible spectrum of society to counter this threat. UAF is backed by every national trade union, includes members of political parties, anti-racist campaigns, faith organisations, and a variety of individuals in between. We have no affiliations to any political party.

The fight against fascism doesn’t stop once we chase the SDL out of our city.
       We urge you to join UAF and help us fight that fight until the fascists are defeated.
For more info and to get involved:
web ~ www.uaf.org.uk
email ~ uafscotland@gmail.com
Facebook: UAF Scotland

ann arky's home.

THE POOR ACT 2012!!!

       The poor have always been with us, after all we know that capitalism can't solve the problem of poverty, it doesn't function with that aim in mind. All that happens under capitalism is the the levels of poverty vary from decade to decade. Under capitalism the people have no control how the wealth they create is distributed, the system demands the wealth is always syphoned upwards to the few parasites at the top. The poverty level is like the tide it rise and falls and the policies of those who manage the system for their corporate bosses, can have a direct effect on that poverty. The policies being implemented today are sending millions into poverty and there is the cry from some that we are heading back to the 30's. I have always maintained that the present policies being implemented today by this millionaire cabal at the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, are not, as some proclaim, returning us to the hungry 30's, but are returning us to the Victorian era. Back to the days of the workhouses, a time when the poor relied on charities and were graded according to “deserving poor” and “undeserving poor”. The “deserving poor” if they were lucky, were given a pittance, for which they had to show extreme gratitude, the “undeserving poor” were to be punished in some way or other until they showed remorse for the errors of their ways.

If only those bloody undeserving poor worked as hard as me.

Think Left has a very good article on this particular line of thought comparing the Poor Act of 1834 with the Workfare 2012.

ann arky's home.

THE VIPER TONGUE OF THE MEDIA.

        It is sad that when there is any sort of demonstration against the exploitation by this corporate fascist system, people still have to rely on the viper tongued pro-system media. The mainstream media has always been, and always will be, a propaganda machine for those in power, a pro establishment anti-common people, weaver of illusions. I have often spouted my view on the lies, illusions and omissions that fill the sewer that goes by the name of mainstream media, Media - Lies and Illusions, is just one of my post on this dangerous and vile grouping.

By John Hartfield.

      A couple of statements lifted from Occupied London issued by the anarchist collective Vogliamo Tutto in Athens:

       You were, and you shall remain. scum, informants and journalists. "Hooded-youths loot the centre of Athens. The burning city is at their mercy. Chaos, 50 scum vandalised anything they found in front of them and pushed away the peaceful demonstrators. Where is the police?" (description of the events of Feb 12 by the informant-led media). The lackeys of the bosses offered their credentials once again. The disgusting coverage of journalists who did not hesitate to talk about workers threatened to lose their jobs as a consequence of the riots, or supposed small businessmen (yes, the banks and the multinationals!) of Stadiou Ave! ... to conspiracy theories, to parastatist provocateurs. These are not merely loopy or sensitive journalistic voices. The sewer opened up by the scum of the media is a standard practice of the sovereign. Libel, slander and misinformation aim at the isolation and the condemnation of social counter-violence and the scaring off of fighting and insurgent proletarians. At this crossroads, no-one can avoid taking a stance. You either bow your head, or you take to the streets! Vogliamo tutto e per tutti, anarchist group in the neighbourhood of Nea Smyrni and the surrounding areas

        We were, and we shall remain on the streets and at the barricades. Thousands of insurgent proletarians either chose to rage-fully clash with the repressive forces of the bosses, or they refused to retreat from Syntagma square, despite the countless tear-gas thrown by the riot police." -- A description from what we lived during the magical moments of the barricades but also of the demonstration of February 12. On the day of the sealing of the loan agreement, the day when local and international bosses were deciding the complete sucking off the blood of their subjects, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets. Slogans, passion, clashes, setting alight of banks and commercial chains, expropriation and active solidarity between workers on the streets. The hounds of democracy attacked rabidly but failed to counter the rage of the people. At the news shows later in the evening, a second wave of media-repression attack followed, in an attempt to halt social counter-violence and to slander the multitude in struggle. And yet, everyone who found themselves on the streets those days knows only too well what happened, they know who the true parastatists are, who steal their lives away, who are their enemies. There is no such thing as objective reality. You either remain a spectator, or you are there... Vogliamo tutto e per tutti, anarchist group in the neighbourhood of Nea Smyrni and the surrounding areas

         I have no doubt that the imposed colonial governors in charge of Greece at the moment, now that they have passed their new legislation, will expect the people of Greece to clear the streets and accept their exploitation and deprivation with subservience. As they syphon every public asset out of Greece and raid the public purse for the benefit of the banks and bond markets of the corporate world, the people are an inconvenience, a nuisance factor. No doubt the media will be used to misinform and delude the people to get them to suffer in silence. If that fails, as I believe it will, then the state apparatus will swing into action to brutally repress the justified and righteous anger of the people. It is a time when solidarity across borders is the only answer, this is our struggle, we are not British, French or Greek, we are the people.

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IT'S AN INTERNATIONAL STRUGGLE.

       The sooner we learn that this struggle is not national, but international, the sooner we will see an end to the sacrifice of people on the altar of greed. Back when I was a young man, if there was a strike by whoever, miners, dockers or construction workers, the establishment would start to isolate the strikers by demonising them. The propaganda would pour out of how they were well paid, violent disrupters of society, holding us all to ransom, if it wasn't for these violent strickers everything would be fine. Now it is the same tactics, only on an international scale. The victim, in this case is Greece, not miners or dockers, but a nation, now demonise them, they are lazy, corrupt, they have paid themselves too much for too long, they cheated their way into the Euro, if it wasn't for them we would all be doing great with growth racing ahead. The same old lies, the same aim, to isolate and bring the group (nation) to subservience, all for the gain of the corporate fascists who at present control this world.

      The Greek people should not be left alone to fight this battle, what happens in Greece will impact on us, it is our fight as much as it is theirs. Unless we link up across borders and act in unision and in solidarity with each other, we will be picked off one by one, just as we were in the days of disputes within the nation. 

The following is from Occupied London.

        Since the generalized attack on an entire society in terms of labour, social and political rights has been answered massively last Sunday, 12/2, with the concentration of hundreds of thousands of protesters across Greece, the Power plays its last card, that of intensification of repression, to recoup the social rage.

       On Sunday morning, dozens of activists were kidnapped by the State-terrorist, some even from their homes. Four protesters in Athens, defenders of the right to life, and not mere survival, were imprisoned before their trial that it may take months until it starts. Others were prosecuted three days after the protest gatherings and demonstrations in other Greek cities. A few days before that, in TV channels and the media, sold-out politicians, collaborators of the Troika’s executives raise questions over the operation and existence of Indymedia.

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HOLLYWOOD HYPOCRISY.

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