SPAIN JOINING GREECE.

         As the managers of the European Financial Mafia shuffle around their marble halls devising ever more brutal ways to try to protect and increase their bosses coffers, it is becoming increasingly obvious that Spain is fast closing in on Greece as the front line of that financial Mafia's assault on the European working /middle class.

        The Spanish banks are getting a handout of €30 billion, for this the financial Mafia are insisting on more draconian slashing of public spending and Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is eager to placate his masters. Four months ago he announced cuts of €27 billion, stating that it was the most austere budget in Spain's history. Now to appease his lords and masters he is pushing through further cuts amounting to €65 billion. The European financial Mafia are insisting on a further 2.7% cut in this year's budget.

          At the moment Spain's unemployment is running at 24%, the highest in Europe, with unemployment among the young at a staggering 50%. Once the financial Mafia's new wave of “austerity” starts to kick in we can expect to see those rates go stratospheric. While unemployment is rising, some of the cuts that are going to hit savagely at the Spanish people will be a cut of 30% off unemployment benefit, plus a 3% rise in VAT to 21%. On top of that there will be a €3.5 billion cut in local government spending and a further €600 million cut in central government spending.

           There is no doubt that what is happening in Greece and Spain will soon be travelling to a city near you. If anybody is foolish enough to think that what the financial Mafia have done to Greece and what they are in the process of doing to Spain will solve the “crisis”, they are living in cloud cuckoo land. Looking at the recent estimate of the unemployment trend, from The International Labour Organisation, I think they are looking at the situation with rose tinted glasses They have stated that they expect Europe's unemployment to rise from 17.5 million to around 22 million, though staggering and brutal, I see this a a grossly under estimated figure. Meanwhile America is teetering on the precipice of financial disaster.

         As the latest manuevers of the financial Mafia unfold, it is blindingly obvious that capitalism as a system for the prosperity of all the people is an illusion. It lurches from crisis to crisis and its only answer is to screw the people, and save the parsites. 

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USA SWAT FASHION POLICE.

          Further to the Seattle armed SWAT night time raid with flash-bang grenades and door battering rams, see previous post. It now appears that the police after leaving without making any arrests did leave with some very dangerous stuff, or should that be “anarchist materials”. What was taken by the police was, a pair of black goggles, a black sweatshirt, a black bandanna, a black stocking hat, papers with note book, and a pink scarf. Perhaps they were fashion police, well they have them some countries, why not the USA? Though it does seem a bit heavy handed for wearing the wrong sweatshirt and scarf.

 ann arky's home.

THEY'RE LOOKING FOR ANARCHIST MATERIALS??

         As the people's anger gets organised, so does that state in its attempt to stifle that anger and destroy any organising by the people. It is happening in Italy, Greece, UK, Spain, US, Canada and in most countries across the globe. As the people's anger grows expect the state repression to grow.

Room after police visit.

This from Kasama:

         Early morning, July 10, SWAT police forced their way into the Seattle apartment of organizers from the Occupy movement. The sleeping residents scrambled to put on clothes as they were confronted with automatic weapons.

The neighbor Natalio Perez heard the attack from downstairs: “Suddenly we heard the bang of their grenade, and the crashing as police entered the apartment. The crashing and stomping continued for a long time as they tore the place apart.”

        After the raid, the residents pored over the papers handed them by a detective. One explained: “This warrant says that they were specifically looking for ‘anarchist materials’ — which lays out the political police state nature of this right there. In addition they were looking for specific pieces of clothing supposedly connected with a May First incident.

When the police finally left, they did not arrest anyone. This action targets well known activists from Occupy Seattle and the Red Spark Collective (part of the national Kasama network).
         This apartment has been a hub for organizing the Everything 4 Everyone festival in August – to bring together West Coast forces for a cultural and political event building on the year of Occupy.

       The raid is a heavy-handed threat delivered by armed police aimed at intimidating specific people – but also suppressing the work to continue the Occupy movement in Seattle, and create E4E as a space for radical gathering.

The E4E site will update this with more as we receive it, including hopefully statement from those involved. http://www.everythingforeveryone.org/

Contact: Liam Wright, Red Spark Collective, redsparkcollective@gmail.com

 ann arky's home.

LIVING UTOPIA.

        A rather long film but well worth sitting through. It is the same struggle to day, ours is not a new and short struggle or a blip in the capitalists system. It is still the same struggle of trying to have control over our own lives, trying to remove a vile system of repression and exploitation that has been with us for centuries. Trying to get rid of a system that stifles the creativity of the ordinary people, that siphons the wealth of our productivity up to a small group of parasites that control the system. We should never lose sight of the fact that we are part and comrades of those who have gone before, we owe it to them to continue that struggle with as much spirit and imagination as we can muster. The struggle ends with the arrival of freedom and justice for all.

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IT'S A RIGGED SYSTEM.

        Police brutality and repression is present across the world. It is like a sea with waves that rise and fall, rising here, falling there and then changing again in an ever changing pattern. However the state is never afraid to raise the level of brutality, as it knows that it has set up a judicial system that will never point the finger at the state. Those perpetrating the brutality in the name of the state, also know that they will be protected by that same judicial system. But the full brutality of that judicial system will be felt by those who dare to question that state authority and its monopoly on violence. Brutal state repression does not always happen on the streets, it is also handed out by those placed in the privileged position within that judicial system. Those people who dress in fancy clothes and demand that those who question the state be incarcerated for years on end. The state its self is a brutal system that demands obedience and shows no mercy on those who dare to question and/or resist. In Genoa 2001 the Italian state showed how brutal it could be in suppressing dissent. At the G8 summit that year the state's mercenaries, the police, in the hours of darkness, raided the Diaz School, where activists who had come to protest the G8 summit agenda, were sleeping. The police ran through the school, beating and arresting sleeping activists. Now it seems that after all this time all the police charged with various offences related to that brutal assault, will now have those charges dropped, as we would expect. 

 

This from Italy Calling:

       After a 9-hour debate, the Italian Supreme Court has issued its final sentence against the 25 defendants – policemen and heads of security forces – responsible for the violence against the activists sleeping in the Diaz school during the G8 summit in Genoa in 2001. Result: most of the charges have been declared time-barred, leading to impunity for all the people involved. In the meantime, 10 activists are facing a total of 100 years of jail between themselves for crimes of “devastation and looting”.

Continue READING:

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FIGHT TO WIN.

        Another brilliant piece of artistic, critical comment from Teacher Dude's Grill and BBQ.

ann arky's home.

WORKERS BUY-OUT.

An Appeal from SumOfUs:

When the workers at a window and door factory in Chicago were told their factory was closing and they would lose their jobs, they decided that instead of letting the company's global investors determine their fate, they would raise the money to buy the factory and save their jobs.

But they can’t do it, even though they’ve put in a competitive bid on the factory. Why? Because the owner, Serious Energy, and its global investors Mesirow Financial, are in a rush to sell the factory to people who will sell it off for scrap instead.

We can help the workers save their jobs. Serious and Mesirow know pressure is mounting, which is why they are rushing to sell the factory off. If we weigh in today, the workers believe Serious and Mesirow will have to give them a fair shot at buying the factory and saving their jobs.

Stand with the factory workers in calling for Serious and Mesirow to discuss a fair deal that saves the factory and the workers’ jobs.

At the end of the day, this is about much more than saving one factory. This is a chance to showcase an innovative model of American manufacturing -- worker-owned cooperatives -- and deal another blow to the financial sector that relies on the failure of these companies to line their pockets. By saving this factory, we are helping to build a more just economy for all of us.

Thanks for joining us in fighting for good jobs,
Claiborne, Kaytee and the rest of us 

 Background story:

In February, workers at an energy efficient-window and door factory in Chicago were told that their plant -- owned by Serious Energy -- was about to be shut down, sliced up and sold off for parts.

The workers staged a factory occupation and got an agreement from Serious to delay the factory’s liquidation and give workers the opportunity to buy the plant themselves, with their newly-formed cooperative, New Era Windows. With no overhead for executive salaries, and the potential for contracts with the city of Chicago, which is gearing up for a big energy-efficiency campaign, New Era Windows was looking at a bright future as a worker-run factory.

But then, after months of stalling by Serious, the company suddenly announced on Sunday that all factory bids were due immediately, and that it wouldn’t accept New Era’s offer of $1.2 million -- instead, it asked for more money than it bought the factory for in 2009, and rigged the process to ensure that New Era didn’t have a chance.

These workers want a solution. They have been scraping money together to afford the factory and save their jobs. And they’ve fought like hell before -- back in 2008 they occupied their factory for six days and stood down their previous owner who attempted to fire 250 workers without severance pay.

Part of the pressure to sell is coming from Serious Energy’s owners, including Chicago-based Mesirow Financial. For Mesirow, selling the factory off to vultures means padding its profit by a couple percentage points. For the workers at New Era, the factory’s sale represents their livelihoods.

Stand with the workers at New Era Windows: Tell Serious Energy and Mesirow Financial to work with New Era Windows to find a reasonable solution.

Further Reading:

Workers seek arbitration to save Goose Island window factory, The Chicago Tribune, 3 July 2012
Workers vs. Investors: Chicago Window Factory in Danger of Liquidation, The Nation, 5 July 2012

SumOfUs is a world-wide movement of people like you, working together to hold corporations accountable for their actions and forge a new, sustainable path for our global economy. You can follow us on Twitter, and like us on Facebook.

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DANCE JESUS DANCE.

If Jesus was around today would this be him?

Graphic from Atheist Meme Base:




Video from Left Hemispheres:

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CROOKS AND LIARS AND SECRET MEETINGS.

          The millionaire crook and liar is dreaming of being the comeback kid, but needs to hold secret meetings, says a lot. A wee bit late but you never know.

This from Stop the War:

TONY BLAIR RUNNING SHY:
APPEAL FOR INFORMATION:

        As part of his political 'comeback' Tony Blair is due to speak at a Labour party fundraiser in Lambeth tonight. As ever though, Blair's public appearance takes place under the cover of secrecy - the same secrecy he used to mislead Parliament and take Britain to war on a lie.
        Clearly even Blair's supporters know the man inspires public outrage and have made the decision to keep this an exclusive affair, for dedicated Blair fans only. The flyer for the event shows the smiling faces of Blair and Tessa Jowell MP blossoming from a bright pink bloom of flowers - image here
http://on.fb.me/Mce71j

      At least one Stop the War member has been officially 'disinvited' from the event and several other known antiwar activists in the Labour party have found their invites mysteriously lost in the post. 

      Stop the War is therefore appealing to anyone who might have information on where the event is taking place. Please contact office@stopwar.org.uk or call 0207 561 9311. Please also pass this on to your contacts. (If you do know but wish to remain anonymous please be assured that we will treat any information in the strictest confidence).

*************

BLAIR DUE TO SPEAK WITH ED MILLIBAND:
THIS WEDNESDAY, 11TH JULY

The Lambeth event is only one in a series that Blair is speaking at this month.

     On Wednesday 11th July he will join a dinner with Ed Milliband to promote British sport in the run up to the Olympics. Stop the War is again appealing for information about where this is taking place. 

    Check our website www.stopwar.org.uk for announcements of protests to Stop the Bliar Comeback.

Related stories: see http://bit.ly/LiKZ8y for how Blair made £80 million in
the past 5 years.

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RESISTANCE IS THE ANSWER.

        Although the real aim is to get rid of the corporate greed beast and its band of leeches and parasites, in all their entirety, we should still fight to hold onto what ever meagre rights we still have. This "crisis" thing they keep belching about is in their eyes, a wonderful excuse to hack more viciously at our working and living conditions. Worse conditions for you, is increase profit for them, hire and fire at a whim suits their dictatorial attitude and also is meant to engender an atmosphere of fear in the work place, helping to create a subservient workforce that will meekly accept what is thrown at them without resistance. Standing up and fighting back scares them as it might affect their profit margin, profit is the only thing that runs through their veins.

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THIS LAND IS OUR LAND.

       The Douglas Valley in South Lanarkshire is a place of significant beauty, a place that all communities should be able to enjoy. However, the corporate greed beast sees it as a profit making entity, and have every intention of turning into a large black hole in the ground. They have plans to turn it into one large open air factory, to the corporate world, coal means profit and profit always takes precedent over people and communities. This destruction of the environment and the local communities, receives no publicity or condemnation from the mainstream media, as we should expect, as they are part and parcel of the corporate world and no friend of the people. A better name for the mainstream media is one I heard some time ago, "A Babbling Brook of Bullshit." It is up to the people to publicise the rape and plunder of our heritage and defend that which by right is ours.

 An appeal from Take Back The land,

         There’s just days to go until a week of action against opencast coal in the Douglas Valley – a place where the ruling class is crushing communities for their own financial gain, where ecological destruction is taking place on a massive scale for the profits of big energy companies and where absentee fat-cat land-lords make millions off land that shouldn’t be theirs

        *Join us 12-18 July in the Douglas Valley, South Lanarkshire, to build on 20 years of community struggle and four years of direct action against the UK’s biggest opencast mining company.*

         *Help us spread the word:

        *Please pass on our call-out to your friends.

You’ll find publicity here  

<http://takebacktheland.org.uk/?page_id=40>,

Website here  

<http://takebacktheland.org.uk/>

Social networking here

<http://www.facebook.com/events/393162964061503/>

More info here.

http://coalactionscotland.org.uk/?cat=10

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WE ARE GODLESS.

 Taken from LeftHemispheres:

We Are Godless

        We reject supernaturalism. We reject theism. We reject religion.We reject the false and unnecessary premise of a supreme being that created the universe, Earth, and humanity. To think that we are the center of it all is simply hubris. We reject the logical possibility of an omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent deity. These characteristics are inherently incompatible and illogical in unison. We reject the idea that morality is divine law and only possible through a deity. This concept breeds antagonism, intolerance, and bigotry. Additionally, coerced morality is no morality at all. We reject that belief in the supernatural and deities, is the default belief system. Individuals are no more intrinsically Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Shinto, etc. than they are a fan of a particular sports team. The majority of an individual’s religious beliefs are the direct result of what religion they were born into and purposely instilled with.  Familial and peer pressure, indoctrination and immoral threats of eternal punishment play an integral role in the inability of some to think otherwise and accept objective reality.  We reject faith as a means to form a comprehensive understanding of the universe. Faith is belief without proof of, or in spite of, evidence. Faith is ignorance. Blind faith is dangerous.

     We assert that while not everything can be known there are natural explanations for phenomena and a lack of answers is not a reason to assign a more improbable answer for which there is no evidence. We assert that humanity can be moral and just, independent of and with greater equality than outdated, ancient, superstitious morals and laws that are barbaric, hateful, harmful, and destructive. We assert that the modern morality that we all enjoy owes more to secular Enlightenment than Biblical or any other religious teachings. We assert that secular government, education, and scientific research are essential to peace, prosperity and progress. We assert that freedom of religion includes the freedom from religion. These secular ideals must be upheld to protect all people, religious and irreligious alike, from fundamentalism and extremism.

We are godless. We are good. We are everywhere.

-StevenBarry on behalf of Left Hemispheres

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THE WORLD'S BIGGEST SCAM.

       A rather long winded, but detailed and honest, explanation of the Goldman Sachs financial fiddle that is still going on and and is responsible for the misery being inflicted on the developed world through the means of "austerity".

ann arky's home.

THE GROWTH OF PLUTOCRACY.

 From Inquiring minds: 

         My life in the West taught me the power of the land-grabbers. My experience in the East gave me insight into the power of the banker, The land-grabber cornered the land. The banker corners the money and credit. Both are able through their monopolies to plunder the producers of the product of their toil. The people of the United States are playing with fire. They are experimenting with an unworkable system of social organisation – a system that has been tried repeatedly during the past three or four thousand years, and that has destroyed civilization as often as it has been tried.

          I have watched the Middle West grow from a sparsely settled wilderness, the home of Indians and of buffaloes, to the greatest center of agriculture and of industry in the world. I have watched the public domain slip out of the hands of the people, and into the hands of speculators, of corporations and of monopolies. I have seen the bankers, the trust magnates and the masters of transportation and other forms of monopoly rise from obscurity to their present position of domination in public affairs. I have watched the growth of the plutocracy—the few who rule industry, the Government and the press because they are rich.

Richard Pettigrew
Triumphant Plutocracy

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MORE ON GLOBAL DEMOCRACY.

         Further to the post "Manifesto for a global democracy" which was first posted on Federal Union,  Paul Feldman has come back with the following. 

 Democracy is more than a governance issue.

     The fanfare launch of a Manifesto for Global Democracy backed by significant thinkers ought to be a cause for celebration. Unfortunately, its content is so weak that at best it’s a missed opportunity and at worst a step backwards. 

     Among the signatories are democracy expert and professor Daniele Archibugi, Noam Chomsky, the writer and journalist George Monbiot, globalisation expert Saskia Sassen and scientist and activist Vandana Shiva. They and others wrote and signed the manifesto. Much of the document states the obvious, though it’s none the worse for doing so. You can only nod in agreement when the manifesto says:

In spite of their many peculiarities, differences and limitations, the protests that are growing all over the world show an increasing discontent with the decision-making system, the existing forms of political representation and their lack of capacity for defending common goods. They express a demand for more and better democracy.

      It portrays the “emergence of regressive and destructive processes resulting from the economic and financial crisis, increased social inequalities, climate change and nuclear proliferation” and concludes: “Global crises require global solutions.”  

      However, the assertion that the failure of national and international leaders to deal with global events shows merely that “existing forms of global governance are insufficient” is superficial and wrong. That’s because the 872-word document avoids, omits, ignores, rejects or sidesteps the nature of our current social system, aka capitalism.

Read his full article HERE: 

 ann arky's home.

THE BENEFITS FROM CORPORATE CAPITALISM.

       What has the corporate world given us? Well for starters, beef, pork and poultry that has more pesticides than any plant food, also containing antibiotics, drugs and hormones. Ocean fish is largely contaminated with heavy metals, mercury, etc.. Fresh water fish are showing high levels of pesticides. Milk cheese and butter carry the same pesticides as meat, plus growth hormones and antibiotics.

     Well how about fresh fruit? Strawberries, raspberries and cherries, they are loaded with pesticides, strawberries being the worst with 300 pounds of various pesticides per acre as opposed to 35 pounds per acre for others. This is a cocktail of 36 different chemicals and 90% of strawberries tested were found to be above the safe level.

     As for apples and pears, they are treated with 36 different chemicals, half of which are neurotoxins, meaning that they cause brain damage. Apples being as badly polluted as strawberries. Tomatoes fair no better, being treated with a variety of 30 different chemicals. Their thin skin doesn't prevent the chemicals entering the fruit, so peeling isn't the answer. The humble potato gets the same treatment, with 29 different pesticides and 79% of those tested were above the safe level of multiple pesticides.

       Well you could always just have a Pepsi, ah, but there has been a suggested link with Pepsi and pancreatic cancer. Well there you have it, all the advantages of factory farming and food production. The corporate food industry is now no more than a branch of the corporate chemical industry.

       This information is from tests done by the American FDA and the USDA and apply to America. The chemical pesticides detected in these studies are known to cause cancer, birth defects, nervous system and brain damage, and developmental problems in children. In other words, if it isn't organic, I think you should be getting worried. However, though this is an American study, I don't think that factory farming and food production is much different in any part of the corporate world of food production 

TOMORROW’S WORLD!!

See the fat cat’s grinning smile

as Corporate Capitalism runs amok,

Chasing profit as it goes

firing millions of ordinary folk.

Raping and polluting land after land,

starting bloody wars.

Toxic waste, sweat shop wages

and oil covered sea shores.

Where have all the flowers gone

beneath this ozone free sky?

To join the birds, to join the fox

on yonder plutonium field to die.

Mercury fish, strontium lamb

trees that never show a leaf,

radio active beaches, toxic streams

good lean BSE-antibiotic beef.

In a world of epidemic, plague and famine

it’s bottled water and chemical food.

Of course, it’s all tested on rats and mice

so you know its got to be good.

Beneath a sky that’s always black,

hurricane winds and endless drought,

its oxygen masks for the toxic air,

corporate profit’s what its all about.

ann arky's home.

ME AND THE GOD PARTICLE.

      With all this talk of the "God" particle, I thought, just for a bit of fun these two would fit the bill.

These from LeftHemispheres:

and for the righteous.

ann arky's home.

WHO NEEDS MONEY?

     It would appear that the Greek people are moving in the right direction, who needs money?

 Hooded youths enter a supermarket chain and 'expropriate' foodstuffs and cash, while they announce that they are anarchists and will not harm anyone although they are masked. The 'expropriated' cash is burned upon leaving the store. At similar occassions 'expropriated' foodstuffs have been distributed in nearby markets.

ann arky's home.

AN ANARCHIST???

 Food for thought.

So you think you're an anarchist?

       It is quite wrong therefore to dismiss the anarchist as a chaotic, lawless person too weak to accept the responsibilities that go with being a member of a community. A true anarchist, somebody who has made an informed choice, has to be strong enough to say "I will be responsible for myself, I will answer for my actions". Conformists on the other hand are wreak, they seek the shelter of the herd, doing what others do, even thinking what others think or at least saying in public they do.
    The problem with anarchy is like most other political philosophies including Marxism, utilitarianism, socialism and Trotskyism, it look great on paper but is never going to work in reality. Therefore people like myself, while anarchist in principle must settle for being anarchistic, true liberals who argue for personal freedom even if that freedom permits people to do things, hold views or express opinions we personally do not like.
     The historic anarchist movement was a grass roots workers' movement which flourished from the 1860s down to the end of the 1930s. While socialist parties like the British Labour Party had begun their political life as movements run by the workers for the workers, by the time Labour won its first General Election in Britain the party had been hijacked by upper middle class academics and professionals and they were telling the party's poorer supporters how to live their lives just as the old upper class hierarchy of the nobility and landed gentry had. The working classes wanted a political movement of their own.

Read the full article HERE:

ann arky's home.

AH, - THE ILLUSION OF DEMOCRACY!

        When a government decides policy in line with decisions made by consulting the public and in line with the opinion of that public, you could say that you have some form of democracy. However, when government policy is guided after consultations with those with vested interests in policy that is contrary to the wishes of the public, then it is safe to say that democracy is an illusion and the government and those vested interests are working in unison against the public interest. That's where we are at at the moment.

The following is an extract from SCOTTISH LEFT REVIEW:

        Another story that stuck in my mind: in 2006-07 the then Scottish Executive policy was to keep Scottish Water in public hands (with a bit of an open mind on the question of mutualisation). The Water Industry Commission for Scotland is a Non-Departmental Public Body (quango) with the role of regulating the publicly-owned Scottish Water. It’s Chief Executive then was Alan Sutherland. That year WICS privately commissioned a London-based consultancy to ‘consider different options of ownership for Scottish Water’ (against government policy). They called this ‘Project Checkers’ (perhaps because this game is about ‘capturing’ passive opponents) and kept it completely secret – it was never published. The project cost £209,000 of public money. Of this £17,606.00 went to a non-executive director of two private water companies owned by the world’s biggest transnational water corporation which would clearly benefit from privatisation. The report concluded that privatisation was the way forward.

       That story again; a senior civil servant (effectively) who is there to implement government policy decides to use public money to build a case to lobby against government policy and does so by employing (at significant public expense) someone with a very clear commercial conflict of interests, producing the only outcome that was possible given the methodology used – a plea for another giant handover of a profitable public asset to the private sector.

Read the full article HERE:

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