THE DEATH KNELL OF A SYSTEM??

    

         Most people agree that the present "crisis" has still to unfold, we are only at the stage of birth pains, the real "crisis" has still to be born. All the harsh austerity cuts, (raiding the public purse) are just a frenzied attempt by the financial Mafia to stop the unstoppable. The beautiful palace of consumerism built with bubbles of imagined money is about to go POP. The fools that thought creating imaginary money out of nothing was real wealth, are about to experience a very rude awakening. 2013 will be a year of dramatic changes as the world economic system of greed disintegrates and social structures rupture beyond repair. It could be a golden opportunity to refashion the society we wish to live in, a society of communities based on mutual aid and co-operation, a society that sees to the needs of all our people. Or it could be a re-birth of more of the same or worse, it could descend into a world of brutal warlordism. It all depends on the re-action of the people to the struggle that lies ahead.

This from A World to Win:

Unsold goods pile up as crash takes its toll

        In the wake of the Olympics, countless millions of pairs of trainers lie unsold in warehouses. Thousands of Chinese companies from property developers to car manufacturers sit atop mountains of products surplus to a hoped-for demand that never materialised. China became the low-wage manufacturing centre of choice for corporations during the credit-induced 30-year frenzy of growth that preceded the crash. The belief that its burgeoning internal market would absorb an ever increasing volume of production added multiple stories to the house of cards that now lies in ruins.With the global slump worsening and austerity economics stalking the globe, real incomes are dropping fast, so few are spending and consumers are hard to find. The unsold mountains of electronics and white goods are Himalayan in scale. Earlier this month, China’s main retailers descended into a competitive price war, when online trader 360buy.com announced that it would sell home appliances at a zero profit margin. For capitalist companies zero profit is the end of the line. Clearly only the strongest will survive.

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THE WORLD WE HAVE CREATED.

        Perhaps a little on the long side, but informative, if at times both depressing and inspiring.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzNQixqun79Db2lyR2VWa3JOUWs/edit?pli=1

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THE POWER OF ADVERTISING.

      Not many people are aware of the power of advertising, to them it is just something that flashes up on the TV or cinema screen, or something that covers walls and billboards. In fact it is a powerful tool in the hands of the corporate world and of course our government. Advertising shapes and shades our culture, it creates needs that you never knew you had, it creates fears you didn't know existed.

This from Brandalism:

       Paul Mazur, a Wall Street banker working for Lehman Brothers during the great economic slump of the 1930s, is cited as declaring “We must shift America from a needs to a desires-culture. People must be trained to desire, to want new things, even before the old have been entirely consumed. [...] Man’s desires must overshadow his needs.”

Read the fulll article HERE:

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HEROIN DEALERS IN UNIFORM.

        When the economic structure of a country collapses, unless the people are organised, crime becomes the order of the day. There is always a point at which it could go either way, the people take control of their communities and their lives, or the drug and crime Mafia fill the void created my the financial Mafia's destruction of the social fabric of society. I believe Greece is at that point.

This from The Greek streets:

Police fire bullets in Exarcheia

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

        At approximately 16.50 on Saturday, August 25, a group of people tried to push away a couple of heroin dealers or users (still unclear) at the corner of Stournari Street and Kannigos Str, in Exarcheia. Some background to how this happened: The “unofficial” (but wholly sanctioned by the police) heroin trading spot has recently moved outside the Stournari gate of the Athens Polytechnic. In response, groups of anarchists and others have chosen the ambivalent tactic of forcibly moving dealers and users out of the area.

       This time round, the two dealers or users (as said, still unclear, with reports differing) called the police. In a few minutes, two motorcycles of the ZITA force appeared, chasing the group up to Exarcheia square. They snatched the last person in the group, and, according to an indymedia report they told them, “it is us who are in control of heroin, you have no idea what you got yourselves into”.

          Meanwhile, the rest of the group had reached Exarcheia square and joined by many others at the square, returned to attack the three delta motorcycles. In response, one of the ZITA police took out his gun and shot three times up, diagonally from the crowd. He then pointed his gun toward the crowd without shooting. The person who had at that time been detained by the police was freed. However, moments later, tens of DELTA and DIAS motorcycle police flooded Exarcheia square detaining and eventually arresting at least three people.

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BURGER KING WOULD MAKE YOU SICK.

         Fast food, fast buck, that seems to be the mantra of the fast food outlets They all pay low wages and some even below the minimum rate. With Domino Pizza trying to screw the drivers and Burger King, union busting and intimidating migrant workers, the pattern is repeated across the globe.

This from International Journal of Socialist Renewal:

By Joe Carolan

August 24, 2012 -- Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal -- 

       Workers employed by the Burger King fast-food chain, organised by the Unite Union in Aotearoa/New Zealand, are suffering a sustained union-busting campaign, and are now fighting back.

Burger King workers are the lowest-paid fast food workers in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Most are on the minimum wage, even some who have worked there for 15 years. Managers on salary are forced to work extra hours, and sometimes work for less than the minimum wage per hour. Many workers in Burger King are migrant workers, mostly from the Indian subcontinent. They face a bonded labour system. They are terrified of speaking out about mistreatment in case the company revokes their visa sponsorship .

           Now the company has tried to bust their union, and is seeking an injunction stopping them from speaking to the media and conducting teach-ins in the community. Unite has taken the company to the Employment Authority, detailing the company's illegal anti-union activities, in a battle that is now shaping up to be the McLibel case of the South Pacific.

          Unite union appeals to workers in other countries to organise pickets outside Burger King outlets in all the great cities of the world in solidarity with our fight.

Our fight is for the low-paid precarious workers.

Our fight is for the invisible migrant workers.

Our fight is against 21st century bonded labour and slavery.

Workers of the world unite! Down with the Burger King!

[Joe Carolan is campaigns officer for the Unite union, Aotearoa/New Zealand. Phone 029 44 55 702 or email joseph@unite.org.nz. Heaps of videos, photographs and information at Unite's blog at http://unitenews.wordpress.com.]

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WHO WOULD EAT A DOMINO PIZZA??

      Following on from a previous post  Anarchist Domino Drivers, this dispute is still on going and needs support and solidarity.

An appeal from Workers Solidarity Alliance:

Dear friends:

        The Workers Solidarity Alliance (WSA), in solidarity with the Australian General Transport Workers Association and the Anarcho-Syndicalist Federation-IWA, is appealing to you and your members to support the delivery drivers employed by Domino's Pizza Enterprises in Australia.

       The Domino's drivers have been engaged in a dispute with management since 9th of April. The key issue in this struggle has been an overnight 19% wage reduction. Meanwhile, the drivers have been sold out by their current union, the SDA, which has done nothing to fight the cuts. The GTWA and the ASF-IWA are calling for an International Day of Solidarity with the Domino's Drivers on Saturday, September 15, 2012.

        The aim of the Day is to alert Domino's management that workers and members of the community in North America and elsewhere stand in solidarity with the Australian delivery drivers in their struggle against the wage cut and in support of their right to organize under the banner of the General Transport Workers Association (GTWA). The GWTA Facebook page can be viewed here:
http://www.facebook.com/GeneralTransportWorkersAssociation

      The Australian friends are asking that folks engage in informational picketing, informational leafleting and other peaceful activities aimed at informing local management and workers about the Australian dispute. It is hoped that the local stores will report to corporate headquarters about the informational activities and this would put pressure on the company.

        The goal is informational actions with the main point to have Domino's restore the 19% wage reduction and recognize the GWTA as the drivers union. Please contact us if you are interested in participating with us in a coordinated effort to support the Brisbane and Adelaide drivers. We can be reached at: dominosworkersolidarity@gmail.com 

& facebook.com/dominos.workersolidarity

     We look forward to your positive reply and cooperatively working together to make this Domino's Drivers Solidarity Day a success here in North America.

Yours in solidarity,
Workers Solidarity Alliance

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IMMIGRANT SUPPORT.

         That pleasant country Greece has changed remarkably over the last couple of years, What the IMF, (International Mankind Fuckers) and the rest of the financial Mafia have done to that country is a crime of tremendous proportions. A country that welcomed people has now become a very dangerous place for immigrants. The rapid economic decline, in certain circumstances, has brought people together in resistance, co-operation and solidarity, however it has also unleashed a wave of fascist anti-immigrant sentiment.

This from The Greek Streets:

Monday, August 27, 2012

From our friends at Reelnews:

         After making Our Present is Your Future, we went to Greece a second time to speak to immigrants and refugees about their life in Greece. Many of those we spoke to were homeless, and often didn’t know where their next meal would come from. Trying to reach safety in Europe, they get trapped in Greece, in the midst of the economic crisis. They are left to fend for themselves. And people are scared. The streets in Greece aren’t safe – for those with the wrong skin colour. A 16 year old Somali was attacked an beaten by a group of men, after they shouted at him: “Hey black! You come to Greece? You will know Greece today!”
       In preparation for this film we set up a website, with links to different organisations who work to support immigrants and refugees. Check it out here!

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AFTER FUKUSHIMA.

      We all know the dreadful results from the tsunami that hit Japan in March 2011, no matter how horrendous the effects of the natural forces, this disaster was heightened and lengthen by the fact that the part of the area hit was the Fukushima nuclear power station. The nuclear radiation effects will live on long after the tsunami damage has been repaired.

       We in Glasgow are fortunate to get a chance to hear about the after effects of the Fukushima disaster from someone who was there. On Thursday 30 August, Professor Yamaguchi of Fukushima University, will be giving a talk on the after effects from the tragedy. The talk will be held in the St. Mungo Museum 2 Castle Street Glasgow at 2:30pm.

Please circulate widely.

Date: Thursday August 30th.

Time: 2:30pm.

Venue: St. Mungo Museum, 2 Castle Street Glasgow.

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       There is resistance and there is creative resistance. Resistance is to stand up against a force, creative resistance is not just to stand up to a force, but to change its form and its direction, transform the outcome into realms that require imagination. From creative resistance can come the world we all desire.

This from Brandalism:

Creative Resistance

      At last some space. Notes on creative resistance, from a friend at the Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination
       In 2001, I was in Argentina. The country had just defaulted on its debt, the great fear of the IMF and the finance world had come to pass – a government admitted it was bankrupt and could not do anything about it except refuse to pay. Today the fear haunting the boardrooms and the stock markets is that Greece, or the other ‘PIGS’ as they are now called (Portugal, Italy, Spain) – might go the way Argentina did.
      One of the most beautiful things to emerge out of the crisis, beyond the everyday acts of resistance – the neighbourhood assemblies that ran their own services (hospitals, community kitchens, social spaces), or the occupied factories that managed their own jobs without bosses – was that one hardly ever saw an advert on a billboard – in fact all the billboards were blank, the advertising industry had no money. The streets were dotted with white facades, empty spaces that reminded us that there was a world outside of the dictatorship of the markets, a space where we could begin to reimagine what our real needs and desires were.

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THE HETHERINGTON, AUSTRALIA STYLE.

       No matter where you go, the plan is austerity cuts. Cuts in education, health, social services are the norm across this corporate capitalist world. We in Europe are told it is a problem with the Euro, but in America and else where, the financial Mafia are still pulling the strings and that means cuts to all social spending. This little story is from Australia, which if you read the babbling brook of bullshit, the media, Australia is doing fine, and is not in recession. Of course that doesn't mean that they are exempt from the financial Mafia's world wide plan of "austerity cuts". This could be Glasgow University's Hetherington, Australian style.

This from discords.wordpress.com:

ABC News: Latrobe University students were protesting against funding and job cuts at the humanities faculty during Open Day at the university’s Bundoora campus.

The student union claims the university plans to axe 41 staff and 500 subjects. But as Professor John Dewar was talking to the media, marching students rounded a corner towards him. When they spotted the university head, the protesters chased him into a building and up through a corridor, where he was protected and surrounded by security and staff. Professor Dewar was jostled by the crowd of protesters before staff and security could whisk him away into a nearby room. Students thought they had him holed up as they chanted: “Come out John” and formed a barricade. But Mr Dewar was able to escape the situation by using the university’s underground tunnel network, and was guided back to his office.

Read the full article HERE:

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POLITICS = NEPOTISM AND GREED.

        While the Greek people bleed from the wounds inflicted by the European financial Mafia, the Greek political class, like their counterparts in the rest of Europe, continue to shovel the loot into their bank accounts by the usual means. Those being fat salaries, mouth watering pensions, perks and nepotism. No matter how difficult things become, it is not for the political class to suffer. They will make the deals that savagely destroy the social fabric of society, while living in a parallel world of luxury. They are immune to this thing they call "austerity", that world is for the ordinary people. It is now so blatantly obvious that that all the decisions made by those political parasites, will be of no benefit to the ordinary people, it is all about getting as much of the public purse into the accounts of the billionaire class, the class that has bought the political apparatus of every country in the world.

 We need more austerity to get us through these difficult times.

This from Teacher Dude's Grill and BBQ:

     Antonis Samaras is currently doing the rounds in Europe, attempting to persuade fellow EU leaders that Greece needs two more years to fulfil the obligations required to receive the country's next installment of cash to avoid bankruptcy. Samaras has even personally guaranteed that Germany will be repaid in full, though how intends to do this is another matter, unless there is a secret coda in Steve Job's will that no one has been aware of till now.

       On the other hand The PM's attempt to prove the Greece has changed and become a more fiscally responsible country have been undermined by even high ranking members of his own government, who upon being elected to parliament seemingly appointed to state jobs just about every member of their extended family not in jail or the grave. Case in point being New Democracy heavy weight, Vyron Polydoras, who secured a government job for his daughter after Greece's first national elections in May. Polydoras was also involved in a scandal during the Karamanlis administration after he used his position as minister for public order to have them transferred to his own offices.

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POLICE BRUTALITY.

         Just a little reminder that police brutality is world wide. That the police are there to protect the public and bring criminals to justice, probably is the biggest act of smoke and mirrors performed by the state and reinforced by its mouthpiece, that babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media. We should never forget, the real purpose for the police is to protect the wealth and power of the establishment, and as conditions worsen and unrest grows among the ordinary people it will become even more obvious where the police stand. So be prepared.

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JUDICIAL MURDER, SACCO AND VANZETTI.

         A couple of days late, but should still be remembered. August 23 1927 was when the American state carried out one of its many brutal judicial murders in an attempt to quell the rising workers organisations. The case of Sacco and Vanzetti stands out as one of the most blatant miscarriages of justice in the Western world. The 85 years since the event has not lessened the state's crime, nor should it. Just as the state seen the abolition of workers organisations as a means to maintain its power, so the workers should see the abolition of the state as the only means to attain their freedom.

7th Annual Sacco and Vanzetti Commemoration Day - Sunday, August 26, 2012

 

           Gather at the Boston Common Visitor Center (Tremont/West) at 2PM to star marching towards the North Ends at 3PM. Then rally at 4PM the Greenway Park, Hanover St. and Cross Street in the North End of Boston.This event is dedicated to all political prisoners and victims of state repression.
JUSTICE CRUCIFIED NO MORE!
Sponsored by the Sacco and Vanzetti Commemoration Society and the I.W.W.
Endorsed by the Lantern Collective, Bread and Roses Heritage Committee, Common Struggle, Socialist Workers Party

For more info: info[at]saccoandvanzetti.org or call 617-290-5614

To download the flyer for the event click here.
To download the press release and psa click here

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RADICAL WOMEN.

      It is less than 100 years since women won the vote in America and August 26 marks that anniversary. Of course as women the world over now realise, that in this type of elected representative "democracy" winning the right to vote doesn't mean you have freedom. 

This from Radical Women:

Dear Friend,

Happy Women's Rights Day! August 26 marks the anniversary of women in the United States winning the right to vote in 1920.

The campaign for suffrage came directly out of the battle to end slavery and was fought through militant actions in the streets, workplaces and halls of government. Today, the struggle for equality continues against a stepped-up war on women. Elected officials from both parties are shredding social services while our paychecks shrink and jobs disappear. Over the last two years, state legislatures passed 164 anti-immigrant laws, relegating women and men without documents to the precarious informal economy. Last year, 26 states enacted laws restricting reproductive freedom and abortion. Meanwhile, over 40% of families headed by single African American, Latina and Native American mothers live in poverty.

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MIRROR MIRROR ON THE WALL---!

On "beauty" This from Peace X Peace:


Yasmina Mrabet
Washington, D.C. USA

     “Here I am, in a precarious condition. I struggle to maintain the standard of ‘beauty’ society demands and my authentic presence is inhibited. A focus on the external renders my internal being invisible. “

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WE BEAR THE BRUNT.

     An article I was reading today from one of the newspapers that populate that babbling brook of bullshit called the mainstream media, stated that, "it is the ordinary people that are bearing the brunt of the war in Syria." I have no doubt the writer thought he/she was making a profound statement, an illuminating point, highlighting some peculiar aspect of this particular war. However as far as I am concerned it was about the dumbest, most stupid statement, made about this particular war, or any other conflict.

        Anybody that looks at history can see that in war that is always the case, it has never been other than, the ordinary people bear the brunt of the conflict. Look at the First World War, cast your eyes over the list of lives lost, and ask yourself, where are the corporate bosses, the dukes and princes, the prime ministers etc? Move on to WW2, as it ravaged across Europe and Asia, who bore the brunt, was it the CEO, kings, presidents, land owners or the aristocracy? A resounding NO, it was as in all state wars, the ordinary people that bore the brunt. However, it is the landed gentry, corporate bosses, presidents, prime minsters, the rich and powerful that reap what ever benefits ever arise from these state struggles for power, resources or markets. We the ordinary people supply the the lives to be sacrificed at the state's altar of power. We gain nothing from these state organised actions of mass terrorism.

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TERRORISM.

      The powers that be in today's world are always sounding dire warnings of terrorists and the horror they are intent on inflicting on us. I have no doubt that there are, out there, groups of fanatics who will create mayhem for their cause. However, no matter the size of the "terrorist" organisation, none of them are in the big league.  When it comes to REAL terror, there is one organisation that can and has has outstripped them all.

    It is odd that people should accept the state, even although history tells us that, despite its vociferous and strenuous propaganda to the contrary, the state is the longest running, most experienced, most skilled, most copious purveyors in that ancient and intricate art of terror, in the long and tortured history of man. From the internal terrorist organisations of "national security", to the external exploits of the state's terrorism of war. The state, without a shadow of doubt, has the highest record of death and destruction of any organisation on the planet. There is nothing in man's history that can compare to the overwhelming destruction of the state.

      Ever since the first government was formed, terror has been an accepted weapon for keeping the people in line. Never for the benefit of the people in the line, but for those few who wish to keep them there. The few rule the many and since it is against the interests of the many, the few need the weapon of terror to protect their little profitable cabal and keep them in power. It would therefore seem obvious that if we wish to free ourselves from the the ever present anticipation and results of terror, we have to first and foremost get rid of the greatest source of terror, the state, and its mouthpiece, government.

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A CALL FOR HELP.

      A worthy cause and your support can make all the difference to some young persons life. Without our youth, there is no tomorrow.

TO LOSE A SON.

It seems, in this harsh and callous world

There is no room

For the sweet, the soft, the gentle

Too many compromises to the inner self

Too many cruel realities pierce the heart.

How do you love

When survival bids you

Case your heart in an iron cask

Seal your skin in a titanium sheet

Fulfil the code and not yourself.

With pleasures locked in an inner chamber

Love hidden beneath a smile

Desires crammed in secret corners

All protected from the discordant demands

Of a rapid moving, confusing, pitiless world.

Where do the sweet, the soft, the gentle, find solace

Where can the heart float free

Where can the inner self blossom

Open for all the world to see

Accepted and un-threatened?

200 mile Cycle 

to Promote the Prevention of Young Suicide

200 miles.
4 days.
2 girls, 2 boys, 4 bikes.
1 of the leading causes of death between the ages of 10 and 24.

     In April 2013, our Founder/Director Laura Kayes, our Head of Dance Ruth Foster and two of our long standing members Scott Jess and Gavin Shankland will be cycling the 200 MILE journey from Glasgow to Wigan to raise money for The2Davids Theatre Productions and to raise awareness of teenage suicide.
     A donations page will follow shortly but even if you're unable to donate we would be incredibly grateful if you could share this event to help us spread the word.

Love,

The2Davids Theatre Productions
www.the2davidstheatreproductions.com

 

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THE WAY OF SLAVES.

THE WAY OF SLAVES.

Politicians living a life of opulence

paid for by other men’s dreams,

add to the lexicon of humanity’s suffering

weaving their selfish grandiose schemes.

Abusing privileges, grasping at wealth

egos blown like a hot air balloon,

preaching our poverty will bring

prosperity for all----------soon.

We tighten our belt another notch

accepting a beggarly slice of the cake,

while they bask in a cherry orchard

surrounded by a fine wine lake.

Pouring words, grand posturing,

as they unveil their latest plan,

assuring they live in luxury

while we struggle as best we can.

Poverty’s the price for allowing

others to plan our days,

when will we finally grasp

this is the way of slaves.

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STARVE THE BEAST.

       This might be aimed at the American youth, and in the eyes of the general public, the war in Iraq is over, but the corporate beast is still killing in other countries across the globe, and like the videos says, "starve the beast", it is still eating our youth in the name of corporate greed.

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YOU'RE FUCKING AROUND WITH US? - NOT FOR LONG!

      Written in 1967, by Raoul Vaneigem, the book, The Revolution of Everyday Life, is still as relevant today as it was when written all those years ago.  For those who haven't read it, this short extract might prompt you in that direction.

Chapter 25

 "You're Fucking Around With Us? - Not For Long!"

       In Watts, Prague, Stockholm, Stanleyville, Gdansk, Turin, Port Talbot, Cleveland, Cordoba, Amsterdam, wherever the act and wareness of refusal generates passionate break-outs from the factories of collective illusion, the revolution of everyday life is under way. The struggle intensifies as misery becomes universal. What for years were reasons for fighting specific issues - hunger, restrictions, boredom, illness, anxiety, isolation, deceit - now reveal misery's fundamental rationality, its omnipresent emptiness, its appalling oppressive abstraction. For this misery, the world of hierarchical power, the world of the State, of sacrifice, exchange and the quantitative - the commodity as will and representation of the world - is held responsible by those moving towards an entirely new society that is still to be invented and yet is already among us. All over the globe, revolutionary praxis, like a photographic exposer, is transforming negative into positive, lighting up the hidden face of the earth with the fires of rebellion to ink in the map of its triumph. 

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IMPERIALISM - WORKERS KNOW YOUR HISTORY.

      For those interested in history as a map to where we are now, this from, Land Destroyer, is worth a read.

Part 1: Imperialism is Alive and Well

February 18, 2012 -

   The British Empire didn't just have a fleet that projected its hegemonic will across the planet, it possessed financial networks to consolidate global economic power, and system administrators to ensure the endless efficient flow of resources from distant lands back to London and into the pockets of England's monied elite. It was a well oiled machine, refined by centuries of experience.

     While every schoolchild learns about the British Empire, it seems a common modern-day political malady for adults to believe that reality is organized as their history books were in school - in neat well defined chapters. This leads to the common misconception that the age of imperialism is somehow a closed-chapter in human history. Unfortunately, this is far from the truth. Imperialism did not go extinct. It simply evolved.

Imperialism is alive & well.

     There are several pertinent examples illustrating how imperialism is still alive and well, and only cleverly disguised with updated nomenclatures. What we know today as "free trade" actually derives its origins from economic concessions the British frequently extorted from nations under its "gunboat diplomacy" strategy - that is, anchoring gunboats off the coast of a foreign capital, and threatening bombardment and military conquest if certain demands were not met.

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