Imperialist Office Warriors.

      President Obama's inaugural speech last month was the voice of hypocrisy, The Prince of Peace stated, and stated without a hint of embarrassment, that “A decade of war is now ending,” --”We, the people, still believe that enduring and lasting peace do not require perpetual war.” What that translates into is, “We will not be sending so many of you overseas to kill and maim, you will be able to do this from a comfortable office in Nevada and Saudi Arabia.

     We are now seeing foreign invading troops preparing to leave Afghanistan without having achieved their object, since nobody seems to be able to say what was the object. That doesn't mean the end of the military campaign, the war will continue from computer screens in the form of drones. According to a report from the area of North Waziristan, from 2008 to 1012, there have been around 147 drone strikes, killing 894 people with 211 injured. This year has seen an escalation in the number of drone attacks in Pakistan and Yemen.

      The face of imperialist wars is changing, weapon laden armour plated boots will still be called on to do some of the dirty work, but this will be their cleaning up operations. The real slaughter will be done by young smooth faced office workers, sitting at their desks marking up scores on hits, just like any other computer game. Only this time it is for real, real bodies being blown to bits, real children dying, real homes being demolished. No need to be a battle hardened trained killer, you can make you way up the military ladder by having the highest score of hits in the office.

       Just to encourage those 9 to 5 office work killers and make them feel part of the “hero” brigade, they are considering creating a medal for the cyber-killers. Defence Secretary Leon Panetta recently announced that the Pentagon is creating a medal that can be awarded to troops who have a direct impact on combat operations, but do it well away from any combat zone.

     To those on the receiving end of drone warfare, the result is just as bloody, destructive and terrifying as any other type of warfare. There is no such thing as clean humane warfare. Drones of course sanitise it for the perpetrators of that destructive violence. You can kill from 9 to 5 and then go home to your family and have a night out. This is the new imperialist warfare. In an interview Secretary of Defence Leon Panetta. Asked by journalist Martha Raddatz whether the 2014 pullout of U.S. troops from Afghanistan would mean an increased reliance on drones, Panetta said: “ I think that's reality. We've done that in Pakistan. We're doing it in Yemen and elsewhere. And I think the reality is it's going to be a continuing tool of national defense in the future.”

     There is a ready trained army of computer literate kids, experts at computer games all well able to spend a few hours a day playing their game and getting paid and walking away as if it were “just a game”. It is a frightening thought, but it is our future, unless we do something to change the system.

 

 

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Spirit of Revolt.

      Spirit of Revolt is a group of enthusiasts who are passionate about collecting, saving and cataloguing material from grass-roots campaigns and struggles, in the belief that it is an essential part of the history of the ordinary people, and is free of party political politics. It is the part of our history that seldom finds a home and is lost to future generations. Each generation can learn from the actions of the past, but only if that past is available. That is why the group is intent on making all this material easily accessible through the medium of their website and the catalogue system of the Mitchell Library. We are also keen to put on exhibitions in various locations similar to our recent successful exhibition on Radical Presses Clydeside, held in the Mitchell Library foyer.

     This is the history of the ordinary people of the Clydeside area, part of our culture, and if we let it disappear, we become a people without a history, a people without a culture. There is also the point that without this section of history, recorded history becomes a distorted image.

     The cataloguing is well under way, images are being scanned on a regular basis and will eventually find their way onto our website. The website is slowly taking shape but still has a long way to go, images being the next big part of the project.

      Why not visit our website, have a look, make a comment, 

www.spiritofrevolt.info

      Though all those involved are unpaid volunteers, sadly all this work can't survive on passion alone and funding is always a problem. So we welcome any donation no matter how small, it will always be gratefully received.

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More on Freedom Fire Bombing.

        A recent talk on Circled A Radio about the recent fire bombing of the Freedom Book shop. Also a short video on how every man and his dog turned up to help put things right.

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From Wage Slave to Bond Slave.

  

     From our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, you get the impression that there has been a bit of a financial crisis, but everything is trundling along as usual. That magic panacea, "growth" is just on the horizon, so if you put up with "these difficult times" a bit longer, we will all be living on strawberries and cream and sipping champagne. Of course the pampered millionaire parasites who spout this crap live somewhere in a parallel universe and know nothing of our world and care even less.

      Take it from me, if we don't change the system, "these difficult times" are here to stay and get worse. I know I go on about Greece, but it isn't often that we get the opportunity to see our future before it arrives. In year 2012 there were 3.1 million people in Greece living below the poverty line, it is now 3.9 million, and rising, that is out of a population of 10 million. We are different of course!!! Well just as two unemployed people in this country won their case against our government's slave labour legislation, (workfare) the millionaire cabal have rapidly pushed through legislation to make it all right to be forced to work for the corporate big boys for free. Working for nothing is here to stay, as you are made unemployed you will immediately re-directed to some corporate body and told to work for free. That way we will have zero unemployment.

      We have over 2 million unemployed here in the UK, just think how that number of individuals working for free would boost the economy, profits would go through the roof. Slave labour, the corporate world's Utopia. Once it is introduced and accepted it will be part and parcel of the work scene and it will grow. One firm will fire you and take on a freebie, you will now become a freebie for some other form. This is the future of corporate capitalism. Poverty and deprivation awaits you, unless!!

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For Real Change, Occupy Everything.

       Most people when they think of the Occupy Movement think of streets and public squares, but that should just be the spring board. The only way to really change the type of society we have, in favour of a people's needs type of society, is to occupy everything. We can run everything we need without the breath of a CEO on the back of our necks. We already make everything, we distribute everything, the only real problem is that we make what we are order to make and distribute it to who we are told, and only for the profit of the few. Why don't we make what we want to make and distribute it to who we feel needs the produce. The parasites sitting on our shoulders are a hindrance to that better world we want for all. The people of Greece have been hit hard by the corporate world and the financial Mafia, but there are signs that they are on the road to real change. Factory workers, having been unpaid for months, decided to take over the factor and today they start production under workers assembly principles. just a spark, but who knows what spark will start a fire!!

Monday, February 11, 2013

Occupied Greek Factory Begins Production Under Workers Control

Occupy, Resist, Produce!

“We see this as the only future for worker’s struggles.”
Makis Anagnostou, Vio.Me workers’ union spokesman

      Tuesday, February 12, 2013 is the official first day of production under workers control in the factory of Viomichaniki Metalleutiki (Vio.Me) in Thessaloniki, Greece. This means production organized without bosses and hierarchy, and instead planned with directly democratic assemblies of the workers. The workers assemblies have declared an end to unequal division of resources, and will have equal and fair remuneration, decided collectively. The factory produces building materials, and they have declared that they plan to move towards a production of these goods that is not harmful for the environment, and in a way that is not toxic or damaging. “With unemployment climbing to 30% – sick and tired of big words, promises and more taxes – not having been paid since May 2011, the workers of Vio.Me, by decision of the general assembly of the union declare their determination not to fall prey to a condition of perpetual unemployment, but instead to take the factory in their own hands to operate themselves. It is now time for worker’s control of Vio.Me.!” (Statement of the Open Solidarity Initiative, written together with the workers of Vio.Me – full statement:Viome.org)

Continue READING:

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The Resources Are Already There.

    We all know that the world's wealth is very unfairly distributed, and that's putting it mildly. However although most of us are aware of this “unfair” distribution, it is difficult to grasp the extent. The world's population is approximately 7 billion and at the bottom end of this catastrophic unjust distribution of resources, vast swathes of this population live in unimaginable deprivation. While at the top end there is a small group of individuals with wealth that outstrips that of some nations.

    Let's look at the mass that struggle daily for survival and on numerous occasions don't make it beyond childhood. Approximately 1,000 people die from hunger over hour, mostly children or young people. Every 5 seconds a child dies from hunger related diseases, more than 11 million children die each year from preventable health issues such as, pneumonia, malaria, diarrhoea. In this rich and varied world approximately 1.4 billion people in the developing countries have to live on $1.25 a day or less, and it is estimated that 22,000 children die every single day due to poverty.

     At the top end of this unjust greed driven system we have individuals awash in wealth, wealth of unimaginable proportions. The world's GDP is approximately $70 trillion, while 0.1% of the world's population control $42 trillion and 0.001% control $14.6 trillion. There are 100,000 individuals with assets of $30 million or more and we have 11 million individuals with assets of $1 million or more. The top 20% of the world's population control 82.8% of the world's wealth, while the bottom 20% have less that 1%.

     Not by any stretch of the imagination could this be called an endorsement for capitalism, on the contrary it is an indictment against the system. What could you do with that $42 trillion controlled by that 1%? Well for starters it could pay off the entire debt of Greece, Italy, Ireland, Spain and Portugal ten times over. It could fund 187 years of universal primary and secondary education. Or an even greater achievement, it could fund the UN millennium goal for clean water 1,400 times over. It could also fund 250 years of climate change adaptation.

    So what does this tell us? It tells us that we have sufficient wealth and resources to see to the needs of all the people of this world. It is already there, we don't have to dream up where it will come from. The real problem is just that it is in the hands of a very few extremely greedy individuals, and it is the system of capitalism that has brought this about and will perpetuate this unnecessary unjust divide. To solve the problem of deprivation and early death from preventable disease, capitalism has to go and a society based on mutual aid, co-operation created in its place. It is not rocket science, it is common humanity taking place of greed driven profit. 

Most of these figures were gleaned from TNI.org.

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Reflect,Discuss and Act.

    From a flier distributed in Belgium and published in the periodical Machete and translated into English on Anarchy in Italy:

Memory is short. Day after day, we are bombarded with information. Screens tell us the topic of the day, and tomorrow it is necessary to talk about the next topic. There is no more time for discussing and reflecting. And when there is no time, the possibility that our ideas might transform into action is destroyed. In fact, we must seize the time forcefully, taking hold of it with all the violence that our will to think for ourselves breathes. Let's take the necessary time to think and act, outside of the deadlines those in power and their media dictate. Not in the presence of the institutions, not before the media centers. Because we are speaking directly, without mediation. And we can only address ourselves to the institutions, to all institutions, through the language of attack.-- 

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Horse Meat and Chemicals in Food.

        With the latest bit of greed driven fraud, the “horse meat” scandal, filling that babbling brook of bullshit, the media, we are all supposed to be shocked. Why should we be shocked at the continual corruption of big business as it merrily goes on driving up profits by whatever means possible. Over the years we have had cows ears, lips and eyes in burgers and labelled as “beef”. Well at least it came from a cow. The food industry has always shied away from plain and simple labelling on any of its products. They simply don't want you to know what really is in what you eat. When all the “meat” is taken off and sold, what they are left with, from cows lips and ears to chicken necks and feet to cows knee bones are all processed and mixed up with an array of chemicals and sold as “meat” products. They'll add chemicals to make it look good, chemicals to make it last longer, chemicals to make it cook quicker and of course chemicals to make it taste better. They will then spend more than the “food” in fancy packaging to make it more appealing and then there will be the very confusing ingredients labelling. Horse meat in our food is probably one of the lesser of the evils that find there way into our “food” Today, anyone who thinks that the food industry is somehow linked to agriculture, is living in a long gone era. For years now the food industry has been part of the chemical industry. We swallow chemicals by the dozens daily, more if you buy processed food. Even if you walk to the local home grown food store you are swallowing chemicals. The amount of antibiotics and other chemicals that are fed to animals and fish in fish farms, to make them grow faster and bigger and leaner would turn your beer blue. As for the vegetable and fruit side, it is much the same with fertilisers, pesticides and growth supplements thrown by the ton at the soil and the plants, to maximise the profit from every acre of land. There is no such thing as agriculture, there is factory food production as a branch of the chemical industry.

       There are those who may say that we need that sort of “agriculture” to feed us, it simply isn't true. There is an interesting fact that we perhaps should look at with a view of changing the way we get our food. During the second world war Britain had a food shortage, so a campaign called “dig for victory” was born. People were encouraged to grow food in allotments and gardens. The result was that by 1942 10% of Britain's total food production came from this campaign. Should we be looking at a return to that campaign with a slightly altered aim, in a “Dig for Freedom from Chemicals” campaign.

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The Vicious Bedroom Tax.

        Come April all those tenants living in social housing will be thrown into turmoil. 1^st. April sees the implementation of the millionaire ConDem's new “bedroom tax” come into operation. This will be a severe kick in the teeth for millions across the country. What this translates into is that couples, children of the same sex and children under 10 years of age of different sex, should share a bedroom. If after this arrangement you have a spare room, you will have options. You can move out to a smaller house, take a lodger or pay a fine on a monthly basis. This is the dictate from those who have several homes, all of which will have an abundance of spare rooms. The facts on the ground prove that they can't square the circle. Which is not unusual for this mob, according to

figures from the Department for Work and Pensions, at least 600,000 one bedroom flats will be needed to house tenants who currently fall into the “under-occupying” category. Are the apartments there? Well the answer is no, at present social housing landlords have approximately 360,000 one bedroom flats on their books. To add to the chaos of this completely ill-thought scheme, there are only about 300,000 families who need a 3 bedroom apartment, while social housing landlords have available 560,000. So if you are “classified” as a one bedroom tenant, there is a good chance you will have to accept a larger apartment and be fined for the social housing inadequacies. Like wise if they make sure they only fit tenants into the”right sized box”, then there will be thousands who will have to be homeless and thousands of apartments will have to lie empty as there are not enough “right sized” families to suit. Apart from the possible penalty if you stay put in a home with a spare room, there is the trauma of uprooting elderly people who have probably lived their entire life in that particular home, and shunting them miles away from friends and family. As well as the upset of forcing a family to move when they may not want to move, for whatever reason, job, school, family etc.. Who gives them the right to say where you should live, when you should move and how many should sleep in any room in your home?

      Stupidity driven by austerity ideology, another experiment in social engineering. How many should sleep in a room controlled by the millionaire cabal, to make sure that the peasants don't get a modicum more than is minimum to survive. Will they suddenly build all the right size apartments to fulfil their plans? Not likely, they are more likely to attempt to introduce legislation to force you to limit or increase your family to suit their housing stock. In their world of control, plans come before people.

          If this doesn't raise the anger of the general public to boiling point, then I don't know what will.

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Look, Do You See The Smoke From Athens?

      Capitalism is world wide, it is ruthless in every country, yet the people in every country re-act differently. However in every country there is insurrection, but not the version of movies and TV dramas. From small individual acts against the authoritarian system to organised events, from strikes to mass uprisings, insurrection simmers throughout the capitalist world, the struggle to be free is always there. In some countries it is on the street in numbers and a clear, lines drawn fight, in others, some citizens go about their daily routine unaware that there is a battle taking place. Why the difference? Nobody can have any doubt that the struggle in Greece is at the level of on the street and lines clearly drawn. As a constant visitor to Greece I have often wondered why, why do the people of Greece re-act so differently form say, the people here in the UK, Spain or Ireland? It is the same capitalist system, it is the same ruthless exploitation, the same restriction of freedom, the same thrusting the people into poverty. Others obviously ask this question, the extract below is from another individual asking the same question with hints at an answer.

This from "Look, do you see the smoke from Athens?" on the "Moment of Insurrection" site:

        There, it’s happened again. Revolt of near insurrectionary proportions. Unbeknownst to the rest of us. Waiting with baited breath as we do. Hoping to see smoke on the horizon. ‘Look, do you see the smoke from Athens?’ asks the banner hung in Istanbul, at the bridge closest to the sight of Greece. We strain to see the smoke from here. We search the internet from wafts of smoke, images of smoke rising. And we see a massive Christmas trees on fire. Thousands in black reaching into the smoke and throwing back canisters of teargas. Back to the charging cops who are the last to lose control in riotsheild economies.

      Is this then what the end of the economy looks like? Is this then what the end of our collective movement looks like? Revolt without warning. Without postings. Wildcat uprisings?!

Continue READING:

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Rich Countries and Foodbanks.

      The capitalist system is now a world wide system, but a system that has failed miserably to see to the needs of the people of this planet. The world is split between rich, so called high income countries, and devastatingly poor countries. To the apologists of the capitalist system this is an ongoing process, to them, soon all the countries will be high income countries. However the facts on the ground tell a different story. Today most of people in those high income countries are seeing their incomes drop and in some case very dramatically, Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Ireland, to mention a few. So called poor countries are not always poor in resources, Niger and Mali spring to mind. Even in the so called high income countries poverty tugs at the sleeves of the ordinary people.

       In the “rich” high income countries approximately 60 million people turn to food banks to just get by. That is almost equivalent to the entire population of the UK. A staggering 7.2% of the entire population of all the high income countries need to get help from food banks to survive. This is the success story of capitalism in the rich countries, consider the poverty and hunger in the poor countries. It is not that the food and resources just aren't there, we live in a world of abundance, wealth is stockpiled, we have food rotting in shops and warehouses, a recent study showed that 50% of all the food we produce is thrown away. We could all sit at the planet's table and eat our fill. However we have devised a system that won't allow that to happen, unless a few parasites can make money from the process. Until we end this insane capitalist system, millions will go hungry and poverty will continue to grow.

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Tenants on The March.

       The tenants of the Queen's Cross Housing Association, (QCHA), are starting to show their muscle. It would appear that last year the QCHA hit the tenants with an almost 5% rent increase and thought that they had got away with it rather easily. So this year they have decided to throw another almost the same amount rip-off increase at the same tenants. However the QCHA tenants are not taking this lying down, a group has got together and started leafleting the entire area and getting tenants to sign a petition against the rent rip-off increase. As the group have gone from door to door they are finding willing signatories to the petition, but what is more encouraging, more and more people are coming forward to see how they can help the campaign. You can help the tenants fight this unfair rip-off rent increase by signing their on-line petition,

       In these economic times no ordinary people can afford a 5% rent increase year after year. Nowhere among these tenants will you find incomes rising by anything like 5% each year. This is a further savage blow to people already struggling to keep their heads above water, this type of greed driven increase on top of the "bedroom tax" could be the spark that starts the fire, could we be seeing shades of the 1914/15 Clydeside rent strikes?

     On Friday February 8th. the tenants will be marching from Cedar street to the QCHA Offices to hand in their paper and on-line petition, they are asking for support from all those who agree that massive rent rises on top of wage cuts/freezes are unacceptable, so join them as a show of solidarity. Bring your friends and neighbours, bring the kids, bring plenty of noise, let our voice be heard.

        The details are:

     Assemble 1:30 Friday 8th February outside 65 Cedar St. Middle of the 3 big grey tower blocks with red and blue striped sides behind Lidl on Maryhill Rd, 5 minutes from St George's Cross. http://www.facebook.com/events/211339209003805/

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A World of Corporate Vampires.

    The IMF (International Mankind Fuckers) is the financial Mafia's muscle, it goes into countries and sorts out the various governments to ensure that all that country's assets, public assets, are transferred to the said financial Mafia. When the deals are complete, the country is saddled with debts they can never pay off and all the countries resources have been privatised. As their policies went like wildfire through Africa, the effect on the lives of millions of people on that continent was devastating, and still is grinding millions into deeper poverty. Having done its foul work in Africa it is now turning its attention to Europe. Europe is rich in public assets and the financial Mafia need to re-capitalise, so those assets have to be privatised. Their dream is a corporate world, where all the world's resources are own by the mighty corporations. However we should not lose sight of the fact that the IMF and corporations are not some sort of self perpetuating natural phenomenon. They are no more than organisations run by people for their own selfish greed and they will destroy the earth and its people in their never ending drive for more wealth  and power. Just as they were started by people the can be destroyed by people. We can organise the resources of this planet to the advantage of all our people, creating a system that sees to the  needs of all and lets the parasites of the corporate era enter the dustbin of history.

     This song Taken from Athens Indymedia, was written about Africa but it now applies world wide.

Vampires  

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Where Have all the People Gone?

       Where have all the people gone! In this video you get a horrifying glimpse of the warehouse of tomorrow, only it is here today. Just how boring and mind numbing can it be to stand in the one spot all day just lifting things from one rack to another rack? As you look round that warehouse the absence of people is striking and I have no doubt that the few that are employed there will soon be replaced by other robots. This is the shape of tomorrow's world, the corporate greed merchants will have no use for people except to consume. That is where the problem gets complicated, with mass unemployment, no jobs unless you are a robot, poverty and deprivation will be endemic in most countries. No wages no purchases, so as the corporate world gets more efficient and produces more and more, the number of those who can afford the goods, gets less and less. 

       With today's technology we have the ability to produce for everybody, to see to the needs of all, and so eliminate poverty. However as long as we persist in this insane greed driven system of profit for the few, we will see goods pile up and poverty grow. We will see large high-tec production units shutting down, not because everybody has enough, but because the corporate owner isn't making a profit from the production. Insanity, in other words capitalism.

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Austerity Cuts and Rent Hikes, for Whose Benefit?

This from Cedar Street says NO:

     Here in Glasgow we're fighting a 9.1% rent increase over 2 years, through the Glasgow solidarity network. For more information please see http://cedarsaysno.wordpress.com/ Please forward around as you see appropriate as we need solidarity from further afield. We've got banners for the balconies but been too windy to have them out much. Forced the housing management to come to a mass meeting with tenants where they got blasted. But mostly its been the usual of going door to door and trying to get more people speaking up, even if its just signing the petition, and get involved. Here's how you can support us.
1) Sign our online petition. Please say so if you live locally.
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/no-to-queen-s-cross-housing-association-rent-hike.html

2) Call / fax / email QCHA and then comment below with what you and they said
Tel: 0141 945 3003 Fax: 0141 945 2429 Email : contactus@qcha.org.uk mailto:contactus@cha.org.uk

3) Come on Friday when we hand in the paper and online petitions and invite your friends too.

       Assemble 1:30 Friday 8th February outside 65 Cedar St. Middle of the 3 big grey tower blocks with red and blue striped sides behind Lidl on Maryhill Rd, 5 minutes from St George's Cross.
http://www.facebook.com/events/211339209003805/

      This campaign has been launched in response to Queens Cross Housing Association's proposed rent increase of 4.6% this year, following on from a 4.5% increase last year. This comes at a time when many people are already struggling to make ends meet - wages and benefits are frozen or decreasing whilst basic living costs are still on the rise.
      Many residents are unhappy with Queens Cross already due to a range of issues, from essential repairs not being carried out to tower block lifts breaking down on a regular basis. Many of the flats in the area have not been properly insulated and as a result residents cannot afford extortionate heating bills. There are still problems of damp and mould in many flats, which clearly has a knock-on affect on people's health and well-being.
       QCHA announced a 'consultation' period which ends on 8th February, though many were rightfully skeptical as to how much they were going to be listened to. As a result, residents called a public meeting on 1st February which was attended by representatives from the Housing Association. Despite being confronted with angry residents who had a range of objections to the plans, Queens Cross seemed unable to justify the proposal and unable to answer a straight question!
       In the days since that meeting we have launched a petition to show Queens Cross the strength of feeling against this proposal. We have been knocking doors, talking to our neighbours about the situation and collecting signatures. We also have a separate online petition so that those who live outside the area can show their support.
      This Friday 8th February, on the last day of the 'consultation' we will be meeting outside the Cedar Court flats and going together to the Queens Cross offices to hand in our petitions.

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Faslane Update.

ACTION AT FASLANE TODAY:
Peace Activists target UK’s Nuclear Hypocrisy
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday 3rd February  

      In the early hours of this morning (Monday 3rd February) two peace activists, Sylvia Boyes and Mary Millington were arrested attempting to enter Faslane home to the UK’s nuclear submarines. Their actions come a week after David Cameron pledged to increase defence spending including investment in nuclear weapons. The Ministry of Defence also admitted that chancellor George Osborne is already signing off millions of pounds worth of investment on nuclear submarines before a parliamentary decision on the issue is to be taken[i].
Sylvia Boyes, a long term term Peace Activist and member of Trident Ploughshares[ii] said:
      “When the government of my country fails in its democratic duty to disseminate the necessary information to initiate real debate on nuclear weapons how can I continue not to act? The building work and development for the Trident replacement at Aldermaston Atomic Weapons Establishment continues unabated despite the government saying no decision is to be made until the next Parliament in 2015. We here in the UK must face up to our role in the silent acceptance of the proliferation of weapons of mass murder and mass destruction.
      I remain convinced that all nuclear weapons are weapons of mass murder and mass destruction and are therefore illegal under international laws of war. This is not a one off action but one of many to create a climate of opinion to enable the government to take part in real disarmament negotiations. My banner ‘Nuclear Disarmament if not now, when?” is asking that question for us all to answer” Large protests are expected in April this year at both Aldermaston and Faslane as campaigners continue to press for a real debate on nuclear weapons and to scrap plans for over £100bn to be spent on a Trident Replacement system.
       On learning of their arrest Dave Webb, Chair of CND[iii], commented:
“At a time when people are suffering the consequences of such brutal cuts to welfare and social services – the government needs to take action on its choices for spending. Why is the government so intent on wasting billions of pounds on useless nuclear weapons while citizens suffer severe economic hardship? It is hardly surprising that citizens like Sylvia and Mary become so frustrated with the lack of progress that they feel they have to personally challenge the tragic waste of money and morally indefensible Trident system.”
For further details contact Dominic Linley at Dominic@yorkshirecn.org.uk or on 01274 730 795 / 07939 143 698  

[i]http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/jan/31/trident-uk-military-shopping-list
[ii] Trident Ploughshares is a campaign to disarm the UK Trident nuclear weapons system in a non-violent, open, peaceful and fully accountable manner http://www.tridentploughshares.org/
[iii] Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is one of Europe's biggest single-issue peace campaigns, with over 32,000 members in the UK. CND campaigns for the abolition of nuclear weapons everywhere. www.cnduk.org

 

Trident subs, aircraft carriers and drones on MoD's £160bn shopping list www.guardian.co.uk Margaret Hodge raises doubts on whether massive weapons spending has been approved by National Audit... ann arky's home

 

Capitalism V Democracy.

       The extent to to which capitalism has distorted the distribution of the earth's resources is difficult to grasp, it has placed so much in the hands of so few. When we talk of economies and we tend to think of nation states, but the facts on the ground are different. Of the top 100 economies on the planet, 40 are corporations, the wealth of certain corporations dwarf the economies of some nations. Another little known fact is that less than 1% of corporations, mainly banks, control the shares of more than 40% of all global businesses. When it comes to who is big in this corporate world it is oil and gas, 7 out of the top 10 companies in the world are oil and gas. This distortion of wealth also distorts the direction of technology and development, the big money will control where that development will go, they will drive it to increase and consolidate their wealth and position of power. They will shape our world to their own advantage.

     So that brings us to the statement made by a certain Louis D. Brandeis, a member of US Supreme Court, 1916 – 1934, “We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we cannot have both.”  

     It is long past the time to wake up to that realisation, any talk of democracy while continuing with the present system of capitalism is empty rhetoric, thoughts of fancy, or at worst, just plain manipulation, hypocrisy and duplicity. The question of how do we get more democracy, is the same question as how do we get rid of capitalism. Any dancing round the edges about improving democracy within capitalism is fantasising, it is impossible, there is no room in capitalism for democracy, one is the antithesis of the other.

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EUROPEAN SMUGGLERS.

     An interesting article from Reports from the Edge of Borderline Democracy, on alleged threats from  big business hurtled at a reporter who published an article on oil smuggling:

   On January 31^st, the latest -14^th- issue of UNFOLLOW magazine hit the news stands all over Greece. Among other reports, we published one on oil smuggling in Greece – specifically the practice of oil carrier companies to buy oil at reduced-tax rates and channel it back into the market at the normal price.

Read the full article HERE:

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FUTURE SLAVERY.

    Part of the bailout deal forced onto the people of Greece by the Troika, is that Greece privatises its public assets. These are assets that bring money into the public purse of Greece and could be spent on social services. One of the companies, soon to be privatised, in which the Greek state is the principle shareholder is ELPE (Hellenic Petroleum), while anther big money spinner that is set to be privatised on instructions from the troika is OPAP the state owned gambling monopoly. Two enterprises from which, it is virtually impossible not to make pots of money, to be handed over to the friends of the troika, the corporate world. While the troika are stating that Greece is bankrupt, they are forcing it to sell off that from which it could earn income.

      Of course it is all going to plan, the blatant and barefaced plundering of all that is public and transferring it to the private corporate world, the impoverishing of the people to replenish the gambling losses of the financial Mafia. What is more it is not just Greece that is being plundered in this fashion, it is world wide. Take a look closer to home, we here in the UK have already lost a host of rich assets to the corporate greed merchants, coal, gas, electricity, telephone, railway, now instead of being money earners for the public purse are part of the rip-off machine that grinds us ever nearer deprivation. However it doesn't end there, bit by bit education is being privatised, the National Health Service is halfway down the road to privatisation, social housing has all but disappeared, and there is much more to come. The corporate world will attempt to make money from anything, we are already seeing the development of a lucrative prison system. Which will of course mean that policies will turn to making sure that it has a steady and ever increasing flow of people to keep it profitable, it's called growth. The corporate world are not investing in large prisons as a short stopgap to help us out, their eyes are on future profits. Capitalism, no matter its shape or form, that is the direction it keeps moving.

      Do we really want to live in the faceless world of corporatism, a world over which you have no control what-so-ever? A world where you have no say in the shape and direction of your community, a world where everything is available to the rich and nothing available to the poor? Look carefully at what is happening, that is the road we are sleepwalking down, if we don't wake up soon, it will be too late and we will leave a heritage of slavery to the corporate world for our kids and grand-kids.

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CLASS WAR.

      Class war is something that is usually associated with politically active ordinary people and dismissed as unnecessary by the rich parasite class, who preach, it is a democracy and we are all in it together. However their can be exceptions, the statement, "There has been class warfare going on for the last 20 years, and my class won." was made by Warren Buffett, a man with an estimated personal fortune of $47 billion, and chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway.   

      To amass a fortune of that magnitude he must have been involved in some real brutal class war enterprises. You don't make that kind of money by your own efforts and the sweat off your brow. You have to be nicking the produce of somebody else's efforts and sweat off their brow. How many hours a week and at what hourly rate would you have to perform to end up with  $47 billion during your working life? How many jobs can you do in a working week? As chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, Mr Buffett has his plate full. This is a conglomerate that owns a long list of companies in a wide variety of fields including, confectionery, retail, rail-road, home furnishings, encyclopedias, manufacturers of vacuum cleaners, jewellery sales; newspaper publishing; manufacture and distribution of uniforms; as well as several regional electric and gas utilities. 

     Think of all those people beavering away and taking home a wage that can just about keep their head above water, with perhaps a wee nest egg for your pension, if they are lucky, while their boss, who may or may not do as many hours as them, sorts his pension out to the tune of $47 billion.

      So it is obvious that class warfare has been going on, though Mr Buffett is wrong on two counts. One, it has been going on for more than 20 years, and two, his class hasn't won. It may have been winning, but the war is far from over and the tide is turning. More and more people are beginning to accept that it is a class war, and they know which side they are on by the conditions of their lives. 

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REVOLUTION CAN AND MUST DO!

     An excerpt from Black Flags by Renzo Novatore, pen name of Italian anarchist Abele Rizieri Ferrari 1890 - 1922.

Black flags in the wind

stained with blood and sun

Black flags in the sun

howling of glory in the wind

    What the war didn’t and couldn’t do, revolution can and must do!

Oh, black flags carried

in a man’s rebellious fist

as he focuses his gaze intensely

beyond the ruling lie

—fluttering in the sun and wind

fluttering in the wind and sun

Victory smiles in the distance!

In the distance—in the distance—in the distance!

In the glory of the sun and wind!

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DANGEROUS MARRIAGE.

    How many times have we seen the church, of whatever religion embrace dictators and tyranny? Today in Greece we saw it again as the Greek Orthodox church gave its blessing to a purveyor of repression and convicted murder. In Athens today the funeral took place of the last of the Greek junta that ruled Greece with an iron fist and unbelievable brutality from 1967 to 1974. He was General Nikos Dertilis who died in prison aged 92. A callous psychopath, apart from playing his part in the savage repression of any resistance to the rule of the generals, in 1973 outside the Polytecnic in Athens he casually drew his revolver and shot dead a youth who was running away from the police after having been beaten by them. He commented with pride to one of his staff on the fact that it was an old revolver, and it only took one shot.

      Yet at his funeral today, attended by members of the Golden Dawn fascist group, the Greek Orthodox Bishop Amvrosios, compared the cold blooded murdering general, to the independence war hero Kolokotronis and even to the philosopher Socrates. Of course as well as the church praising the psychopath, several of the mainstream media showered him with praise. The daily newspaper Kathimerini, referred to him as a good officer and gave him an obituary flowing with praise and honour.

     The church and state bolster each other as they are both authoritarian institutions of control. Neither of them will tolerate any form of free thinking, obedience and subservience are necessary for their survival. They are the enemies of freedom, the weaver of chains around the free thinking mind.

A to Z of RELIGIONS.

Acclaim Arrogant Absolutes.

Bellow Bygone Beliefs.

Casuist Cackling Cabal.

Deadly Divine Dogma.

Embellish Earlier Errors.

Form Fearful Fundamentalists.

Gaily Gabble Gehenna.

Hype Holy Hate.

Ignorantly Idolise Illusion.

Justify Judgmental Jargon.

Knowingly Kindle Kulturkampf.

Lambaste Liberal Learning.

Machiavellian Mind Moulding.

Narrate Nescient Nostrum.

Obligatory Obnoxious Obfuscation.

Peremptory Pestiferous Panjandrum.

Quickly Quell Querists.

Redundant Reactionary Rants.

Suppress Scholastic Scepticism.

Totally Trammel Tolerance.

Ululate Useless Utterances.

Vaticinate Vicious Vengeance.

Wailing Wearisome Waffle.

Extol Excessive Exaltation.

Y?          Y?         Y?

Zany Zealous Zealots.

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FREEDOM BOOKSHOP FIREBOMBED.

FREEDOM BOOKSHOP AND AUTONOMY CLUB has been firebombed.
This from International Times:

     The attack on the Whitechapel bookshop took place on Friday morning at 5.30am.

      The downstairs section of the shop is badly damaged. Electrics are damaged. Many books are burnt or charred. Upstairs is untouched. No one was hurt. The fire-bomb was projected through a downstairs shop-window. An emergency meeting is taking place on Friday afternoon at The White Hart pub close to Angel Alley.

    No one has claimed responsibility and the general response can be summed up in three letters: WTF? A police forensic squad have examined the premises. It is also thought that the perpetrator may have been caught on CCTV.

    The Left has a whodunnit to solve. A book-burning is bad enough; a bookshop-burning is a very serious crime. Also, there is a mess to clean up and a campaign to raise funds. Publishers, record shops, and magazines have already pledged to donate stock and sales proceeds to help FREEDOM rebuild.

     A spokeswoman for FREEDOM said: ‘Could you please help spread the word about donating to rebuild the shop? We are setting up a donation page. In the meanwhile, anyone who wants to donate can do so by ordering a book/s through the www.freedompress.org.uk website, and emailing us at shop@freedompress.org.uk to let us know that your purchase was a donation. Thanks!’

     People will gather at the shop from 1pm on Saturday Feb 2 to start the work. All welcome.

More info and photos HERE:

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