THE ANGER IS GLOBAL

      What seems to be in the spotlight at the moment is the European crisis, but it is not just in Europe that the people are taking to the streets against an economic system that is now seen to be totally unjust and unable to serve the people. It is really across the globe that people are taking to the streets in an attempt to put an end to this continual exploitation of the many by a small group of parasites. What has always been seen, politically, as a quiet backwater, Canada, now has turmoil and anger on its streets. From East to West, the world is in revolt and the anger is directed at the same thing, this exploitative economic system controlled by an unelected, faceless, financial Mafia.

This from  Linchpin:

      Early on the student strike in Quebec adopted the slogan “it is a student strike, and a popular struggle” (in French, “la grève est étudiante, la lutte est populaire"). Over the course of this unprecedented strike, the slogan has become a reality, as people from all sectors of society have joined the students in opposition to the neoliberal government of Jean Charest and his Liberal party.
    As this is written, neighbourhood committees are forming in Montreal and daily protests, including the now famous casseroles (pots and pans) protests, are occurring across Quebec – including in small towns and regions not known for their militancy. The legitimacy of the government and its police force is being called into question as tens of thousands defy its “special law 78”, which criminalizes spontaneous protests among other measures. The student strike has indeed become a popular struggle. While no one could have predicted that the student strike would spill across society, this development is not entirely without a foundation in recent struggles. And this foundation is best exemplified by the Coalition Opposée a la Tarification et Privatisation des Services Publics (in English, the Coalition Against User Fees and the Privatization of Public Services).

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ECONOMIC CHAOS,--NAZI BREEDING GROUND!

     As the economic system in Europe shudders, shakes and splinters, and as the people feel the pain biting deeper and deeper, there is bound to be anger confusion and chaos. This is a perfect breeding ground for the far right, and we are seeing the Nazi scum rising across Europe, they are becoming emboldened. No doubt financed and supported by elements of the establishment. We can mock them and ridicule them, but we ignore them at our peril as they will divide and foster splits among the ordinary people who should be united in their struggle to overthrow the economic serfdom of this capitalist system.

       At this moment in time it is wise to look at what is happening in Greece as they are further down the road of that economic chaos than the rest of us, though no doubt we will follow. There the far right Nazis, though only gaining around 6% of the vote, have seats in parliament and are much more visible on the streets, doing their usual intimidation and scapegoating with a renewed brutality. Meanwhile the police look the other way. This is a formula that the establishment will encourage as the economic chaos increases, it is one way of preventing the unity of the ordinary people from taking hold.

Monday, June 18, 2012

        The district of Ano Liosia, in NW Athens, has a large Roma population; the community’s relationship with the police has often been tense: last year, a DIAS motorcycle policeman ran over and killed a 6-year old Roma girl.

          On Sunday, one DIAS policeman died and another was seriously injured after crashing into a van driven by a Roma man. Both sides claim that the others violated a STOP sign. What has followed since is partly unclear: it is confirmed that the police conducted a large operation in the Roma camp, supposedly in response to the traffic accident, but essentially harassing the camp’s residents. There are also still unconfirmed by very strong leads that the Golden Dawn held a gathering in Ano Liosia tonight, insulting and provoking the locals.

          The local Roma have reacted, took to the streets, set a bus on fire (confirmed) and shot toward the police, injuring up to six of them (number unconfirmed). It appears that the situation has calmed down for the time being.

More information as it comes.

Roma, Asian, anybody that is different from them in any way will do as the enemy, as the shit-heads brutally vomit their poison among the ordinary people. 

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GLASGOW EARTH FIRST FEED-BACK.

         May 14 in Glasgow, we organised an Earth First talk/discussion with two of our American friends, Panagioti Tsolkas and partner Cara. The Glasgow event was one of several they held on their way across Europe to Greece. They following is their report back on their journey.

       The current rate of species extinction is more than 3 per hour, and that rate of loss could reach 10,000 times the background rate in two decades.

The rate of farmers in India committing suicide is now hourly, over 200,000 documented since 1997, with the primary method of drinking pesticides….

Tid bits like these make it hard to view the eurozone clash between privatized and state-run industrialism as an actual crisis. But still, it was encouraging, in that miserably depressing way, to hear so much talk in countries like Ireland and Greece—both dragged into Euro debt-bondage with promises of high-tech modernity—about how shit is severely, deeply fucked.

Maybe the chickens are on their way in to roost for Fortress Europe. And we at the Earth First! Journal were overjoyed to be projecting our slide show off the wall of the coop and peddling propaganda from the eco-resistance to the new barbarians on the fringes, in the hopes that we could be of some help in adding a new set of ruins to the junk piles of civilization.

What follows is a short overview of the stops we made, with a ton of links for further investigation, should you happen to pass through these areas looking to support the radical projects and campaigns who hosted us:

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WE SWEAR TO FUCKIN' GOD---.

          Saw this on Politic in the Zeros, and thought it fitted the party faithful over here, After years of broken promises, greed, corruption, and tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum polices, they still seem to run out and vote for their new party hero.

And so the crap system continues.

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GLASGOW SUPPORTS REFUGEES.

 

Great demo, marred by cops protecting the fascists.

  

         "Fantastic Refugees Are Welcome Here Demo. 1000 people from many countries and all walks of life, a dozen union banners, all the churches there and great delegations from Birmingham, Sheffield and Manchester! 

 

       Disgrace that the police threatened to use Public Order Act to disperse our Rally prematurely on the grounds of public safety and then sneakily marched 20 sdl/bnp into George Sq for 15 mins.

There will be an official complaint about their decision to facilitate these racists /fascists walking through the city when they should have been removed immediately.

A brilliant day and big thanks to all who came and marched.

This is just the start!"

Comment from SACC

 

        The presence on the demo of many asylum-seekers potentially vulnerable to police harassment was no doubt in the minds of the march organisers when they decided not to resist the police threat. Without that factor, we would have been entirely within our rights to call the police bluff and see if they were really willing to arrest peaceful demonstrators, MSPs and trade union leaders. 

The behaviour of the police was scandalous. We all need to consider whether "business as usual" can continue with Strathclyde police under these circumstances.  

SACC is one of the organisations that gave its official support to the "Refugees Welcome Here" demo. We will give the firmest possible support to any complaint made to Strathclyde Police over these events.

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CRISIS IN THE COMMUNITY.

Sunday
        Due to various things (COC). This event will now be held at Plantation Productions, at the Portal, Govan road. Not the Pearce Institute. Don't worry if other people don't get this The portal is two minutes away, about two blocks down from the Pearce Institute. Someone will be at the PI to direct people and there will be a direction notice on the PI door. Sorry about that.

http://citystrolls.com/reshuffle12/crisis.html

THE CRISIS OF COMMUNITY and the Opportunity for Change, Sunday 17th 1:00pm.
       On the Sunday James Kelman, will lead a discussion geared towards mobilisation and solidarity in dealing with the issues across the city of the councils process of stopping DIY community activities in favour of. "You can have community things but we will do them for you with private partners". There has recently been a growing ground swell of ordinary people feeling the urge and the necessity to do something. Such as. Maryhill Park clean ups, despite council objections. Making Councillors accountable campaigns. Community run dinner nights at the Pearce Institute and places like Kinningpark Complex are creating activities and bringing groups together, presenting local people with a platform to voice their concerns and also their ideas. I mention a few but there are many others across the city. Some are known about but many are invisible to people as well as to each other.
-- www.citystrolls.com

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THE FUTURE IN YOUR OWN HANDS.

From Occupied London: 

          An interview with M1 from Dead Prez and Bonnot who are part of AP2P – all power to the people. This interview was filmed in Exarchia, Athens – Greece. They talk about global movements as well as what is happening in Greece, and the need for revolutionary struggle. This film also explores the importance of neighbourhoods which serve as a bastian of resistance, like the anarcho bohemian neighbourhood of Exarchia in Athens.  

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THE ANARCHIST CRITIC, LATEST ISSUE.

The latest issue, No. 98 May/June of The Anarchist Critic is now available as a free PDF download HERE.

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SPANISH MINERS RESISTANCE TO AUSTERITY.

           Our media is never eager to spout the facts but more inclined to paint a nice picture or report on turmoil in countries far- far away, but everything here is just fine. Our lords and masters are trying hard to solve the “Euro crisis” and once that is sort then everything will be just hunky-dory. Of course right here on our doorstep there is resistance to the financial Mafia's “austerity” measures. Country after country is seeing the people take action to defend themselves against the onslaught of slash and burn tactics of the financial mafia. One event that has received little or no coverage by the media is the strike by 8,000 miners in Asturias in Spain. An area with a long militant anti-right-wing history.

 This fromWikipedia.

         “The Asturian miners' strike of 1934 was a major strike action, against the entry of the CEDA into the Spanish government on October 6,[1] which took place in Asturias in northern Spain, that developed into a revolutionary uprising. It was crushed by the Spanish Republican Navy and the Spanish Republican Army, the latter using mainly Moorish troopers from Spanish Morocco.[2]

Franco controlled the movement of the troops, aircraft, warships and armoured trains used in the crushing of the revolution. Visiting Oviedo after the rebellion had been put down he said; " this war is a frontier war and its fronts are socialism, communism and whatever attacks civilization in order to replace it with barbarism." [3] Though the colonial units sent to the north by Franco consisted of the Spanish Foreign Legion and the Moroccan mercenaries of the Regulares Indigenas, the right wing press portrayed the Asturian rebels in xenophobic and anti-Semitic terms as the lackeys of a foreign Jewish-Bolshevik conspiracy.---”

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         This present strike has been going on for more than 3 weeks, there has been running battles with the police, the miners have blocked main roads and devised guerrilla tactics in their fight against the heavy state repression being used to try and break their strike. 

This report from BBC:

         "Striking coal miners have clashed with police in northern Spain, in some of the worst disturbances since the government imposed austerity measures. The interior ministry said at least seven people had been injured in the clashes outside a mine in Asturias. Miners fired sky rockets and ball-bearings at riot police who responded with rubber bullets and tear gas.

        The miners are protesting at plans to cut government subsidies from 300m euros (£242m; $376m) to 110m euros. Thousands of miners have been on strike across northern Spain for weeks. The interior ministry said police had been trying to remove roadblocks of burning tyres at El Entrego, near Oviedo, when they were met with a barrage of missiles fired by the miners. Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets and after several hours of clashes the miners took to the surrounding mountains and forests for cover, reports said.---"

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TIME FOR RIGHTEOUS ANGER.

      What does the financial Mafia's "deficit" reduction mean to ordinary people? In just a matter of a couple of years decent ordinary hard working people in Greece have been reduced to begging on the streets. This photo from Teacher Dude's Grill and BBQ, captures something horrifying in so much that it looks like a clean proud family, ashamed of their situation but forced to beg to support themselves and their family. There is no need for their shame, it is anger that they should be displaying. The have a genuine claim to righteous anger.

TIME FOR RIGHTEOUS ANGER

We talk of justice, we ooze compassion

you and I. Our comfort sure

with a gracious smile a token give

those "SO deserving poor".

Where is compassion when children lose

carefree innocent play,

where is justice when children meet

hunger along the way

Children who, in this world of excess

create a newsreel scene

cradled in a starving mother's arms

expiring on your TV screen.

Forget the famine rationale

in a sickly syrup word,

mouthed by those crazy apes

until the truth is blurred.

Feel the anguish of the other

hear their pitiful cry

see the hunger steal their future;

loudly cry out,  why?

Then act out your righteous anger

fan the passions flame,

create a world of social justice

end this human shame.

 

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MORE ON THE CO-OPERATIVE MOVEMENT.

         Since this is 2012, International Year of the Co-operatives, another view on the co-operative movement. This time from Workers Solidarity Movement: 

 

          Workers’ co-operatives have always been championed by sections of the left and wider labour movement - from their advocacy by 19th century Welsh social reformer and utopian socialist Robert Owens to Proudhon through to their existence in various state capitalist countries today such as Cuba. While workers’ co-operatives can provide a small example of anarchist ideas based on self-management, direct democracy and mutual aid in action, we should not be blinded by their contradictions and should query their effectiveness as a strategy for real revolutionary transformation.

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CO-OPS, AN UNTAPPED RESOURCE.

       Another interesting article from The Commune. Though the honour of the first co-op can be disputed, as recently details were found that gave this honour to Ayrshire in Scotland. I have no doubt that other places will stake their claim to be the first Co-op, as I'm sure the idea is a natural tendency among us social creatures called humans. Whoever was first, co-ops, large and small are an important form of community organisation that can help take us away from the capitalist model. 

Extract:

          The late development of theory around worker, producer and community co-operatives could be one explanation for the widespread indifference of communists to this part of the working class movement.(1) In the UK, ignorance about its reach, nature and significance contrasts with an apparently inexhaustible, tailending-the-left fascination with party or group politics and rank-and-file trade unionism. Yet people are often ready with an ideological view of co-ops; they are self-exploitation, or bourgeois, or prefigure communism, or impossible, and so on.

        The International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) defines a co-op as an “autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprises”. Co-operatives are a type of collective organisation for the satisfaction of needs unmet by private enterprise and the state – for work, shelter, access to markets, land, leisure activity, credit, clean water, food, health, education. 

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HOW MUCH WILL WE LOSE BEFORE WE FIGHT?

           One reason I go on about the plight of the Greek people is because I don't see it as a unique set of circumstances. I tend to see Greece as a forerunner of what is about to happen to more European countries as the financial Mafia try to make up their gambling losses by plundering the public assets of country after country. Their policy of paying off debt with debt and getting the taxpayer to take care of the “deficit” is bound to end in disaster. What we should be doing is organising to take control of the crumbling capitalist edifice before the financial Mafia can re-group and start their casino all over again. Now is the perfect opportunity to organise to shape society the way we want it to be, one that sees to the needs of all our people. Occupations and people's assemblies must play a large part in our strategies. Organising in the community to circumvent and undermine the rules of their game of greed and exploitation. Hopefully that anger will make its self apparent long before we reach the situation in which the Greek people find themselves. In Greece they are now running out of medicines, people are finding it increasingly difficult to get medication for serious health problems from cancer to mental health problems. The usual capitalist compassion rules, the pharmaceutical companies are demanding payment up-front before they will ship any medication to Greece. Anger will grow, people will be looking for answers, and if our answers are not on the table, then they will pick up what is there. The state is preparing for public unrest, they expect trouble as they slash at the living standards of the people at the behest of their masters the financial Mafia. We either accept the situation where we watch our friends and relatives die a slow death from the lack of available treatment or we take control of the situation. Society doesn't have to be modeled on the capitalist greed plan. There are alternatives based on co-operation, and justice. We can build a society where we take care of all our people, we have the resources, the ability and the imagination, all we need is the will to come together and start the demolition job, then build that better world.

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DIRECT ACTION, - THE ONLY ROUTE.

        It should be obvious by now that if the workers play by the bosses rules, we will always lose. Two recent disputes highlight this, showing once again that direct action by the workers gets results. This from The Commune

          The wildly different trajectories of two recent industrial disputes provides us with an almost perfect lesson in both how they can be won and how they are generally lost. In both cases, the workers were members of the Unite union, as are around three million others in the UK, and in both cases the industry concerned was what might be called a ‘blue collar’ one. But one won, and is winning, while another lost badly.

         The ‘threat’ of a one day stoppage by oil haulage drivers gripped the ruling class just over two months ago, when Unite announced that 69% of respondents had voted for strike action over worsening working conditions and pensions raids. The media went into a frenzy of contrived scaremongering, and the government – sensing what a Tory memo called a “Thatcher moment” – went on the attack. Infamously, Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude told motorists to store “a little bit in the garage as well in a jerrycan”, even though Unite had not named a strike date, and they had to give seven days of notice under the anti-union laws.
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EUROPEAN FINANCIAL MAFIA'S SCAM.

       The fraudulent nature of the European financial Mafia becomes more blatant day by day. The latest scam they have performed is the Spanish fiasco. Spain stated that it didn't need a bailout, but its banks did need about £80+ billion and suggested to the European financial Mafia that they lend that amount directly to the Spanish banking system. However the gamblers at the helm of the financial mafia wouldn't entertain that at any cost. The reason being that if the Spanish banks went bust, they would lose their money. So their policy was to coerce the Spanish government into taking the £80+ billion and for them to hand it over to the Spanish banks. This would mean that if the Spanish banks go bust, then the European financial Mafia still get their money as it is the Spanish government that owes them, so the taxpayers will have to come up with the £80+ billion and this will be done by more “austerity” cuts.

         The double edge to the financial Mafia's sword is the fact that they have forced this £80+ billion loan onto the Spanish government means that Spain is now considered to be too heavy in debt and will have to pay an unsustainable interest rate to borrow, forcing it to seek a bailout and with that will come all the restriction and conditions that put the Greek people into a state of deprivation. 

"When we gamble, you wouldn't want us to lose, would you?"

        What ever happens, whether it be the destruction of the living standards of an entire nation, or pushing half the European people into deprivation, is of no consequence as long as the financial Mafia don't lose any of their money. Capitalism, how to screw the many for the benefit of the few.

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THE OLYMPICS, THE MOST EXPENSIVE TV SHOW EVER.

         The media having overdosed on the “jubilee” it is now ramming the “carrying the torch” down our throats, they get the kids out of school to make sure they have a crowd. May I suggest to all those good folk who line the streets to see the big cigarette lighter being paraded through their village/town/city, to take a good look as it will be about all they will see of the Olympics, unless they stay seated in front of a TV. What they probably don't realise is that, that television viewing will one of the most expensive viewings in their lives. They get to see the “torch” and pick up a tab of £24 billion for a television show.

      Our millionaire lords and masters spouted about the Olympics being a mere £2.4 billion which would be mainly private capital, however the price-tag rocket and private capital evaporate, leaving the tax payer to pick up the tab. By 2007 the cost was revised up to £9.3 billion, the public funding had tripled and private capital had dwindled to less than 2%. It doesn't stop there, the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee now put the cost at £11 billion with the tax payer taking the hit. While a SKY Sports investigation, including the transport upgrade put the cost at £24 billion. An awful lot of money for a TV show!! Since that is all most of the people of this country will ever see.

     The other more sinister side of this billion pound fun TV show will be the militarisation of London. The city will have surface-to-air missiles, a naval battleship moored offshore, 13,500 military personnel roaming around, which is about 4,000 more than we have based in Afghanistan. Hovering overhead will be lightweight aerial drones with elite firearms response units and snipers lurking below. All of this is not enough for the US, who will be sending their own security team which will include 500 FBI agents. This security comes at a price, £1 billion and counting. Plus it will set a precedent for drones, sniper and military patrolling our streets. Yes it will leave a lasting legacy, of debt and surveillance.

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THE GLASGOW RESHUFFLE.

Reshuffle Pearce Institute Govan

Sat. Sun. 16-17th June
        The idea of the Reshuffle is that the answers and skills to resolve most of the communities needs, desires and problems, lies within the community itself. “We only need to ‘reshuffle’ our priorities to learn where the answers lie”.
      The question we are asking this year is. What would you reshuffle given the chance? Our big "R" is going to be going round the community engaging people in the questions. Looking at our community infrastructure. How can we motivate ourselves and others to think more about taking part in things, finding out what is going on and coming up with solutions to solving our own problems.
      We could also maybe look at the possibilities around us. What do we already have. How could it be improved on. What skills do we have to offer and what do we want to learn. How do we make our community and things in it visible to more people. After we collect some ideas and things we have a shared interest in we will look at places where we can gather to talk about these things. Using our community facilities and institutions, gardens centre's, libraries and local resources.
       We will of course need to make this work interesting, creative, educational and use a whole variety of media to explore ideas. We will also need to socialise the work, make it fun if the task is boring. We will also need to think about how to engage different age groups from
kids to older folk in working together.
       But that's for later. First we must identify some issues, trains of thought, germinating ideas to get us going. We would like to bring the big R to where you R and get started on discussing a few ideas, make recordings and film things.
More Pop into Sunny Govan or Pearce Institute or Dinner nights PI Tuesday from 6:30 for more info or lookout for the big "R" around Govan and beyond and at the Reshuffle. Updates soon, this part of the project is new And will be used to plan next years event.http://citystrolls.com/z-temp/z-pages/big-r.htm

Let's get doon theer an' help!!

Help needed on Saturday:To help run the cafe and move stuff around. Some leaflets to put out this week to. Can be collected at Pearce Institute.
http://citystrolls.com/reshuffle12/index.html

--www.citystrolls.com

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GET OLDER, SUFFER POVERTY.

            One way to measure a civilised country is to look at how it cares for its most vulnerable citizens. First we should remember that in spite of all the crap poured out by our millionaire lords and masters, this country is a very rich country. As we get older we take our place among the vulnerable, so how does Britain, a modern rich country, care for its elderly? Well British pensioners are among the poorest in Europe, in this country more than two million older people are at risk of poverty. In 2010 21.4% of elderly British were classed as being at risk of poverty, dwarfing the European average of 15.9%. The only nations in Europe who treated their elderly worse were Cyprus with 45.2%, followed by Bulgaria at 32.3%, then Spain at 21.7%. We are shamed by such figures as Hungary 4.1%, the Netherlands, 5.9% and Luxembourg, 5.9%. Of course it is not just the elderly that are at risk of poverty in this country. In 2010, 10.7 million people, 17.1% of the population, were at the risk of poverty, where as the European average is 16.4%. So all the nonsense pumped out by the media and the establishment, that we in this country are better off than everybody else is bullshit. What these figures show is that almost a sixth of the entire population of Europe is living with the risk of poverty and that risk rises as we get older. This is the best that capitalism can do, from this dismal position, thanks to the “austerity”, “deficit reduction” plans, we are heading in a downward direction. The system can only deliver poverty for millions while the financial Mafia grow fatter on salaries that have shown a 51% increase in the last couple of years. I find it strange that we tolerate a system that hands astronomical bonuses to parasitical fat-cats and sinks the rest of the population into Victorian deprivation. It doesn't take much imagination to come up with a system that would see to the needs of all our people, but first we have to get the fat-cats and the parasitical financial Mafia off our backs. Shed that burden and we are almost there.

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