CAPITALISM, GREATER OPPORTUNITY = GREATER EXPLOITATION.

        This is capitalism, big events mean greater business opportunities, greater business opportunities means greater exploitation. In this system, slavery is everywhere.

Stop Nike Cheating Women Workers!
Scotland Feminista Saturday,
31 March 2012 10:30 until 12:00

        On Saturday 31 March join Scotland Feminista’s protest outside the Nike store on Buchanan Street, Glasgow. The impact of the London Olympics is already being felt by women workers in Bangladeshi factories producing Nike sportswear. New research released by War on Want s...hows that Bangladeshi garment workers, 85% of whom are women, are being cheated of their maternity rights, face sexual harassment, and receive poverty pay. Those who join unions to demand better pay and conditions risk losing their jobs. However, thousands of women have defied intimidation to fight for their rights as workers in the garment industry. On 31 March feminists in the UK will get out onto the streets to join their struggle. WILL YOU? Take part in our Cheats’ Mini-Olympics and stand in solidarity with Bangladeshi garment workers producing Nike’s sportswear who are systematically being denied their rights.

Facebook Event Page: http://www.facebook.com/events/211700045598601/

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STILL STRUGGLING TO ABOLISH SLAVERY??

      Capitalism's answer to the unemployment problem, start slave labour, simple!

      One Quarter of Holland & Barrett Staff Could Soon Be On Workfare -Work for Dole Money. Holland & Barrett are set to become one of the biggest exploiters of forced labour with plans to take on 1000 unpaid work placements from the JobCentre over the next year. With a workforce of only around 3,500 people this could amount to more than a quarter of their current staff on Workfare.
      All 5 Workfare schemes still have sanctions in certain circmstances i.e. benefits are cut, so they are not entirely voluntary. Jobcentres use every trick in the book to force benefit claimants onto nominally voluntary schemes. The Guardian has reported that young people who refuse the Work Experience scheme face Workfare under a different scheme.

       These schemes represents a huge public subsidy for Holland and Barrett who make millions in profit. At present they offer a four week induction programme followed by more specialized product advisor training. Under the Work Experience scheme young people can be required to carry out a two month period of workfare, under the Work Programme it can be as long as six months. Therefore Holland & Barrett can use hese schemes to cover wages during their induction and training periods. They have the added advantage of having workers with no employment rights who can be laid off at a moments notice. So the ones they like they keep, the ones they don’t they can get to stack shelves or hump boxes about for a bit and then farm them back to the dole office. Holland and Barrett have taken on 500 young people for 8 week periods since last summer and of these only about 20% have been taken on permanently.

        Holland & Barrett can therefore use public paid for schemes to fund both their recruitment costs, staff training and to make up any extra staff at busy periods. This will have a devastating impact on the staff to whom they actually pay wages, who will no doubt see hours and over-time cut. If Holland and Barrett are using free staff who are paid only meagre Government benefits then that means they are recruiting less staff than they would otherwise. Workfare is causing, not curing unemployment.

Boycott Holland and Barrett! Boycott Workfare!

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ann arky's broadband has been down since Monday, hence the lack of content this week. It should be up and running by Friday. I hope all you good people that follow the blog will understand and stay with me.

CAN YOU BUY LEGISLATION??

        We all know that "our elected" representatives sitting in the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption are not shy of listening to the big guys in the corporate world and seeing to their particular needs. Why, you might ask? Well most of "our elected" representatives are all angling for a nice cushy lucrative job in that very corporate world, so it is a case of you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. So while they are being bought, (wined and dined) by their corporate paymasters, what time will they have to look at your particular problem? Especially if it conflicts with the interests of those very rich corporate paymasters. 

I'm a Cabinet Minster, Ive been networking.

         This from Care2.

           The last time I checked, government officials were supposed to act with their constituents in mind. So why is it so easy for rich executives to get access to them?
One thousand, eight hundred pounds can buy you a lot of things, including access to senior government ministers, which is a boon for energy industry executives. »
         The Chemistry Club runs previously banned networking events providing company executives with valuable access to key decision makers, including senior MPs, special government advisors and cabinet ministers. For this service, companies are, unsurprisingly, happy to pay up to £1,800. At its climate change events, executives from Shell, BP, and Gazprom get the opportunity to have quiet words with the government officials who decide on energy and environment policy.
Dubious, paid-for networking events like these are, at the very least, on the borderline of corruption and have no place in the UK.
Tell the UK government to stop allowing lobbyists the opportunity to influence government policy to such an extent. »

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TORIES AT SUNNY TROON.

Direct Action Against Youth Unemployment at Tory Party Conference

      It wasn’t just the sun that was putting the heat on the Tories at their Scottish conference in Troon on 24 March. Over 1000 people marched on their pathetically small conference to protest at rising levels of youth unemployment in Scotland. The Polis were out in force to protect the Tory scum from their electorate of all ages. The noisy and high spirited march ended with the predictable opportunity to listen to speeches from career officials such as STUC President Mike Kirby who repeat as much rhetoric as Cameron and Clegg.

       One group of young people from Glasgow Coalition of Resistance (COR) left the rally and showed the Tories their feelings by taking their protest as close to the barricaded conference venue as they could. The Polis reacted heavy handedly by “kettling” them. All were searched and videoed before being returned straight to their coach and escorted by three Polis vans halfway back to Glasgow.

              ann arky applauds direct action such as this and is heartened to see so many young people attending this march and being involved. This is the way to challenge the Tory cuts, not by speeches from trade union officials who continually sell us out to the bosses. The Tories and Labour need to know that we won’t accept the crumbs, nor the loaf. We can take over and run the bakery and decide what bread to make. And that’s what the rich are really scared of.

CL

www.coalitionofresistance.org.uk/

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GLASGOW'S EASTEND RIP-OFF.

        The people of Glasgow are being conned, millions of pounds of taxpayers money is being poured into an elaborate party for athletes and VIP's, it goes by the name of the 2014 Commonwealth Games, of course there is the promise that there will be a legacy for the citizens of Glasgow. That legacy will most likely be a mountain of debt with a handful of land speculators making millions. The East End of Glasgow, as far as I am concerned, is one of the many rich areas in our city. Not rich in material wealth, but rich in the resilience, diversity and ingenuity of its ordinary people, priceless wealth. Materially it is one of the most deprived areas in the country and has been for many years. Having been ignored by the city council for years, the East End now finds itself surrounded by multi-million pound developments. Vast amounts of money are changing hands but the ordinary people of the area are not involved. Instead they are being removed and on occasion forcibly, by eviction order. Apart from the money being poured in to the massive construction in the area there has been the money shuffling between the old boys network. Former CEO of Glasgow East Regeneration Agency, (Labour MSP Ronnie Saez and friend of Frank McAveety) was made redundant from his post with a pay-off of £500,000, approved by Glasgow councillors Catherine McMasters, James Coleman and George Redmond. Councillor Redmond was the arrogant guy who told Margaret Jaconelli and her family when they were forcibly evicted from their home, to “take it on the chin”. Other councillors have made a wee killing from this conman's bonanza, One Graham Duffy of Grantly Developments (Parkhead) since 1988 he has been holding on to a piece of derelict land in Millerfield Street, Dalmarnock. The site was named as the site for the Athlete's Village and Duffy done a deal with the council and sold them the land for a tidy little sum of £5.5 million, a stratospheric rise in its value of 12,000%. Former Glasgow Rangers boss David Murray's company a few years ago bought a piece of land for £375,000 and out of the goodness of his heart, to help the development of the Commonwealth Games sold it on for £5.1 million. And so it goes on, millions changing hands among the sharks, public money ending up in developers pockets, while the residents of the East End and evicted and scattered to the winds, in most cases taking their deprivation with them as it is all they have ever received from the council.

This film tells the story of one East End family and what the “games” means to them.

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GREECE TODAY - TOMORROW----??

          Having been a long term visitor to Greece and having a family connection there, I can tell you that the full extent of what the Greek people are suffering is unbelievable, it is criminal, it is brutal. It isn't reported on by the mainstream media, what they give you is what the financial Mafia are preaching and the need for “tighter fiscal policies”, never the human cost, or the real reason for these “austerity cuts”. The Greek people are expected to accept a life of severe third world deprivation for the next generation or two at least, and all that that entails, deprivation, increased health problems, homelessness, rapidly rising suicide rate, drug and alcohol addiction and massive unemployment. What is more, they are expected to accept it like good subservient serfs. Ask your self, what would you do? Would you kneel and accept this blatant plunder of the all public assets, the destruction of the social fabric of your society, see your kids and grand kids' future deposited in the bank account of the corporate fascists that rule this world, or would you stand up and try to do something about the situation? Well now is the time to stand up and do something. There is no point in appealing to your "elected" government, it has been taken over by a Goldman Sachs hit man with his heavy team waiting in the wings, the illusion of democracy has been shattered. What worries me is that we all tend to feel that it is all happening over there, and our media feed this type of illusion by spouting the usual crap about, it couldn't possible happen here, we don't have the failings of those people over there, but we are all in the same Ponzi scheme. It is all a matter of degree, and sooner or later our little illusion will be shattered and we will all be standing doing battle in our own little patriotic backyard. Mean while, the corporate fascists are organised world wide. This is not a national problem, this plunder of public assets is organised on an international basis and it can only be combated on an international basis, by pan-European action organised to change society, not to modify it. Of course you may feel that your government is more democratic and wont let it happen to you, they'll fix it before it really hurts you, more the fool you.

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WORKERS KNOW YOUR HISTORY - BLAIR MOUNTAIN.

The Other Side of Life

         The other night I was in a room with a few other members of Clydeside Industrial Workersof the World, watching films, uploaded from Youtube about Blair Mountain.

       No the mountain isn't the cash Tony Blair has accumulated for himself as a stooge to the U.S. War machine. Blair Mountain is in the Appalachians in West Virginia. In 1921 it was the scene of an armed confrontation between miners wearing red bandanna – nickname “red-necks” - seeking to organise throughout the State, and a reactionary militia mobilised by the authoritarian regime in Logan County. It resulted in the intervention of thousands of federal troops sent in to halt and disarm the biggest clash on U.S. Soil since the Civil War. Years later it was dramatised in the film, Matewan.

       On page 3 of Industrial Worker, the story is brought up to date by the battle to preserve the historical site and environment of forests, against current mine companies engaged in devastating open cast mining. A hidden agenda is to physically obliterate any record of the miners struggle which saw 20,000 mobilised to defend and to organise those suffering terrible exploitation and working conditions in company towns.

        Looking at such a video brings it home to you just how tough life was back then. In USA, the “land of the free”, the owners regularly turned to “Pinkerton” type agencies to assassinate workers involved in strike action, recruit desperate scabs & evict strikers from “company provided” housing.

      There is a wealth of material in the internet now from the IWW and radical union sites, determined not to forget our history. Despite all the knowledge that can be accessed, the authorities prefer the mass of people to stay as passive consumers, lulled into a “social amnesia”, where a diet of pap, glosses over a history based on class violence & subjugation. So many valiant efforts by workers and radicals are wiped from consciousness & memory, as new generations are bombarded with the propaganda of our rulers. In the USA it has a subtle twist, with all the nonsense of religious fundamentalism, a racket by manipulators & money makers to feed off the human need for group solidarity, common cause and to be uplifted “spiritually”.

Jim McFarlane, hereandnowscot@gmail.com

Some of Glasgow's working class HERE.

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THE AIM, BRITAIN, PLC.

         The plan's of the millionaire cabal, sitting pretty in the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, are still going full steam ahead. It is a Tory government in spite of the “coalition” label, and it will always look upon public expenditure as unnecessary and wasteful spending, they will never see it as the provision of necessary public services. Their line of double speak is that the flow of more going to the fortunate, and less to the vulnerable, is in some way fair and just, what they call, “economically sound”. This government is hell bent on pursuing its ideology of privatisation, their latest grand plan, running in parallel with the privatising of the NHS, being the privatising of the road network. It is an ideology of the dominance of the private over the public, the pursuit of capital over civic. This millionaire cabal will continue to ram their ideology through the entire fabric of our society and will not relent until they achieve their goal, a corporate Britain that they can sell to the highest bidders among their millionaire friends.

 

          However, changing the smile and suit that sits at the helm, by voting in another party will in no way change the direction of the ideology, it will merely change the pace at which they follow the financial Mafia's grand plan, it is just that the Tories are more eager and willing as it suits their personal fortunes and that of their millionaire friends.

A CONTINENT ON THE VERGE OF INSURRECTION!!

       Across Europe the people are being squeezed, it is all a matter of degree, where you stay will determine that amount of pain you receive. Greece is at the forefront of the attack, with wages cut by 50% and more, in some cases wages delayed for a couple of months, taxes increased, pensions slashed, social services destroyed and unemployment going stratospheric. The Italian government has been replaced by a member of the financial militia, as has been the Greek government. Italy has had mass demonstrations on the streets, Portugal is gearing up for a general strike, Spain likewise, and it already has had several one day stoppages, Ireland has dropped back into recession. Recently Spain's Prime Minister stated that comparing Spain with Greece was ridiculous and that Spain would meet it fiscal targets of austerity and reduce its deficit. However, meeting its fiscal targets, set by the financial Mafia, will mean more suffering poured on to the backs of the Spanish people, will they accept more poverty to save the bond markets?

        Romania, Hungary, Belgium are all doing the austerity thing and the people are suffering, the usual lie from the financial Mafia is that it is a “crisis”. There is no “crisis”, everything is working fine, all public funds are being directed to the corporate fascists that rule the world, everything is being privatised to help to re-capitalise their coffers, all is going according to their ideological plan. We are fed this illusion of “crisis” in an attempt to get us to swallow this rapid plunder of all public assets. You may see a worried look on the faces of the ordinary people, but you will only see smiles on the faces of the bankers, bond holders and the corporate world. How long will the public take this purloining of their kids future, how long will they suffer the lies of their “elected representatives”, how long before they public realise the system is loaded against them. It can't be modified to suit their desires, it can't deliver well being for all, it is a ponzi scheme and we the public are the dupes.

       The system has to be destroyed and now more than ever it is obvious that it is not a national problem, it is international. It is the people of the whole of Europe that have to rise up and create an alternative, we have to stop saying, “Please Sir, can I have some more.” It is our world or it is their world, we have to decide. Do we want more of the same, always struggling to get a little more from our masters, or do we want a world that sees to the needs of all our people?

This from Anarchist News.

The spectre of the revolt of December 2008, which shook the country deeply after Alexis was murdered by the cops, has haunted minds for months in Greece. Indeed, faced with the unprecedented poverty in the country, with the impossibility of “improving” the economic and social situation, faced with the turning of the screw on the whole population in the name of upholding the system and power, many people have put in their lot for the return of that spectre, for a vast revolt against the State and capitalism without compromise or mediation. After the vote went through on the nth package of austerity measures, which among other things stipulated a 30% reduction of the minimum wage (with all the prior reductions, this adds up to a 50% wage reduction in less than a year), it’s not“just” that spectre that’s taken hold of Athens as it has of several other cities – it’s something more: that night, after the vote, a breeze of insurrection blew in. Dozens of buildings were burned to the ground (banks, institutions, supermarkets, “historical heritage sites,” ministerial buildings,...), hundreds of businesses were pillaged and destroyed, barricades were erected, aside from the heavy confrontations with the forces of order, building occupations, etc. But that gust blew away all attempts to make “calculations”about what was happening too… the sheer vastness of its scope, involving dozens of hundreds of thousands of persons, every one of them charged with their own load of rage, desire, ideas – every one of them ready with their hands. No politician, no manager, no“politics” could lay a finger on it without the risk of getting burned.

Continue READING:

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MOTOR-MOUTHED LOBBYISTS.

        You are probably an ordinary person who struggles to have a decent life and when it comes to elections, if you are still foolish enough to have any faith in the system, you'll cast your vote and that will be that. You will expect your elected representative to fight your corner and to argue to protect your interests in a fair and unbiased manner. If only it was that straight forward. Your elected representative will in all possibility also be employed as an advisor to some corporate body. This will mean of course that he/she will not support any legislation that might adversely affect his corporate paymaster, and he/she will also be wined and dined by well paid motor mouthed lobbyists pushing their particular paymaster's interests. This leaves your interests somewhat away down the line. They call it democracy, I call it corporate fascism.

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YOU'RE FREE TO BUY YOUR OWN LAND WITH YOUR OWN MONEY??

          This is capitalism, the fiddles and tricks to get their hands on public money knows no bounds. This from Scottish Community Alliance:

          There’s more to the Crown Estate in Scotland than just coastal assets. For instance, there’s an ancient royal park in Stirling that has been in public ownership since the 12th century. The Crown Estate Commission has decided to sell this public asset to the Council who are to finance the deal by raiding Stirling’s Common Good Fund to the tune of £567,000. This money, which belongs to the people of Stirling, is being used to purchase land they already own. You couldn’t make it up.

Continue READING:

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CLOSURE OF REMPLOY FACTORIES.

A late appeal from the STUC.

Thur 22 March - Protest against the closure of Remploy factories.

From 9.00am, Apex International Hotel, 31-35 Grassmarket, Edinburgh.

Letter from STUC:

           The STUC has received correspondence from the GMB regarding Liz Sayce’s attendance at the Scottish Union for Supported Employment Conference this coming Thursday, the 22 March. They are requesting support from the trade union movement to mount a demonstration outside the Conference at the Apex International Hotel, 31-35 Grassmarket, Edinburgh from 9.00am onwards. Liz Sayce who is Chief Executive of Radar was the author an independent review into supported employment as a result of which the coalition Government made the recent unacceptable announcement to close Remploy factories placing the livelihoods of hundreds of disabled workers at risk.

          This is perhaps one of the most callous acts by the current Government and the STUC and its Disabled Workers’ Committee would urge affiliates to join the demonstration if possible.

           The STUC has supported all the trade unions in Remploy throughout their campaign to protect the jobs of vulnerable workers, including a substantial and visible presence at the front of the March at the People First March and Rally on October 1st. .

         We realise this is late notice but any assistance that your organisation could provide in publicising this demonstration would be gratefully received.

Yours sincerely

Ian Tasker
Assistant Secretary STUC

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HOPEFULLY, IT'LL ONLY LEAD TO DANCING!!

           Most of you who read this blog will probably, like me, leave the churches for the delusional who feel that speaking to an imaginary friend in a special building will in some way help the world. Or perhaps they are just selfish and think it will help them to a better world somewhere up their in the sky. Now and again I have come across those fine buildings being put to some good use, like when the holy people become so few that they can no longer afford to keep the fine big building and it becomes a nice restaurant, social centre or club of some sort. There are times when some people want to use it for some other purpose than taking to the man in sky, and do so while the holy people are still there. This video reminds me of an old Scottish Presbyterian saying when introduced to anything new, "Oh, it'll only lead to dancing." 

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KILLED FOR BEING UNION MEMBERS.

An urgent appeal from Labour Start, the struggle is global.

          Most trade unionists have had experience with difficult employers at some time in their lives. But have you ever had an employer who did this?

Sacked 51 people from their jobs - just because they joined your union

Then ignored court rulings and ILO decisions that backed the union case

Assassinated the union's lawyer

Made repeated death threats against the union president -- and killed eight other union members

Forced fifteen members of the union into exile

And finally in December, provoked workers to launch a hunger strike as a last, desperate act to get justice

I hope not. But that's exactly what has happened to the municipal employees in the city of Cali, in Colombia.

Support justice for the workers of Cali - send a message now.

        Please have a look at the photo above. That shows two of the union's leaders -- one who has repeatedly been threatened with death -- meeting with one of the hunger strikers. Those workers have reached out through their global union federation, Public Services International (PSI), to ask all of us to take just a minute and send off messages to the Colombian government saying enough is enough - it's time for justice for the municipal workers of Cali.

         Please do this today -- and please tell everyone you know, especially public sector workers, that our brothers and sisters in Cali need our help.

And while we have your attention ...

       Locked out meat workers in New Zealand are also appealing for your help. Please take a moment to learn more and to send off your message.

       LabourStart's campaign in defense of Abdolreza Ghanbari, the Iranian teacher trade unionist who has been sentenced to death, is the largest we have ever run, with more than 14,000 people having sent off messages so far. But we can do better than that. This is indeed a matter of life or death, and if you've not yet done so, please send off your message today.

       Finally, the fastest way to learn about a new LabourStart campaign or breaking news stories is to follow us on Twitter -- with your help, we'll have more than 6,000 Twitter followers today.

Thank you!

Eric Lee

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IRAN - STOP THE WAR.

This from Stop the War coalition:

1) DAY OF PROTEST, SAT 24TH MARCH:
DON'T IRAQ IRAN, TROOPS OUT OF AFGHANISTAN
      The unravelling of the war in Afghanistan has been apparent in recent weeks. The shooting of 16 Afghans, mostly women and children, by a US soldier, surely marked a turning point in the war as Afghans reacted with anger to the latest in a long line of outrages by demanding the soldier was put on trial in their country. The Americans responded by flying him to Kansas. This week both their ally President Karzai and their enemy the Taliban have underlined just how much the western powers are losing the war. Karzai demanded that ISAF troops should be confined to barracks while the Taliban broke off talks.
       You would hardly know this from the summit in Washington last week which saw Cameron and Obama feting each other in the White House. Instead they said the war was on course and would continue till 2014 (although they are privately bringing the dates forward as they know it is unlikely to hold for that long).
      Even worse they made clear their determination to attack Iran. The recent visit by Israeli prime minister Netanyahu to the US piled on the pressure to back an attack. This week the Israeli deputy prime minister is visiting London to drum up support for an attack on Iran and is clearly confident of winning the backing of the US and British governments.
       We have held successful protests and meetings over both issues in recent weeks, particularly attracting young people. This Saturday we have a national day of protest based around 'Don't Iraq Iran' - see http://bit.ly/x67PUk. On the 9^th anniversary of the attack on Iraq, and the first anniversary of the bombing of Libya, the interest in anti war activity is being heightened. Protests can bring in these issues, plus the threats to Syria. This is the chance to get out on the streets and build a campaign against the next main threat.

See http://bit.ly/x67PUk for more details on the day of protest.
2) ONLINE PETITION
      Our letter to the Guardian against an attack on Iran, which was signed by a number of celebrities, will go live in the next few days as an online petition. We want as many signatories on it as possible. Check the website and add your name.

3) NEW MATERIALS

       We have a range of new materials available now or soon, to spread the message about the don't attack Iran campaign: '10 reasons' leaflets, 'don't Iraq Iran' badges, special tote bags, 'Who's threatening who' maps of the region and posters.

Contact 0207 561 9311 or office@stowpar.org.uk to order or for more information.

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BANKERS CRIME -- PEOPLE PAY.

         A simple explanation on why we have "austerity" in Europe. The bankers hymn that we the people have all been living beyond our means and now we have to pay, is probably the biggest lie every put across an entire continent and yet lots of people swallow the lie. Probably partly by confusion and partly by ignorance of the facts. That is why any discussion that highlights that lie is worth giving voice to as widely as possible.

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CIRCLED A ON ALBERT CAMUS.

Circled A put out some very interesting talks on their radio slot This latest one was on
Albert Camus, worth a wee listen.

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