Workers, Know Your History, Miners Strike 1984/85.

      The miners’ strike, began on 12 March, 1984 and ended on 3 March, 1985. This year marks the 30th. Anniversary, and in certain areas, feelings still run deep and bitter. In appearance it was an industrial dispute over planned pit closures, but at its heart, it was a battle of ideologies, sacrificing communities in the killing off of heavy industry. The intervening 30 years has not seen an industrial dispute of such length and heartfelt passion and intensity. It was a dispute in which the British state threw its full power against a well organised trade union in an attempt to crush any resistance to the new Britain of financial services, as opposed to manufacturing. 

The miners strike was a monumental show of working class heroism, the like of which has not been seen since. It also should the brutal extent that the British state would go to in crushing working class struggles. We should learn from the tactics of the miners and their supporters and take pride in their strength in that bitter brutal struggle, and be prepared for future savage attacks on working class resistance, as capitalism continues to savage the living conditions of all our people. 

  

    In a simple and humble way, Spirit of Revolt has put up a small display marking the 30th. anniversary of that strike. It is in the window of the 13th Note pub in King Street, near Trongate in Glasgow.

 

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Punished For Being Low Paid!!

       So you think the present "austerity" policies are as bad as it gets, and you believe that the rich bastards can't do much worse to us? Well, what is in store for the us will make the present feel as if you have been living in a socialist utopia. You will be punished for not earning enough, you know it's your fault, you should be out looking for a better paid job. It's a strange philosophy, you work but don't earn enough, so punish the worker and not the employer who doesn't pay them enough. Logic, sanity, fairness, justice, all turned on their heads and spouted as truths. Ah the wonders of capitalism.

This from The Void:

     In breath-takingly savage news, it has been reported that the DWP plans to stop Housing Benefit payments to low paid part time workers if they fail to carry out ‘work related activity’.
       When Universal Credit is finally introduced, those earning less than the equivalent of the minimum wage for 35 hours a week will be forced to constantly look for more or better paid work to qualify for in-work benefits such as Tax Credits and Housing Benefit.  Part time workers could face being sent on workfare in the hours they are not at work and will have to prove to Jobcentre busybodies that they are constantly looking for another, better paid job.

Read the full article HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

There Is No Glory In Blood Letting.

     Across the country there are groups organising to stop the Cameron millionaire cabal from taking what was a bloody imperial land grab, known as World War 1, in which at least 15 million people, almost entirely drawn from the working class, were killed, and turning it into a spectacle, where our duplicitous dignitaries stand under flags, lauding it as a war for democracy. We can't allow the deaths of over 15 million people to be demeaned by this vulgar garish lie. Before, during or after the slaughter, democracy was never on their agenda, nor did it arrive after the blood letting was over. Those who did come back from that hell on earth, came back to abject poverty and unemployment. The truth of that indictment against the powers that be, must be shouted from the roof tops. It was a clash of greed driven empires, a battle between aristocrats where they threw the people against each other to grab as much territory as possible. The cost in lives was of no consequences, it stopped because they were running out of bodies to throw. The aristocrats and empire builders do not know the meaning of democracy, and would never engage in any struggle that might bring it about.

This from Stop The War Coalition:

Campaign Against Glorification of World War One

---

     In 2014, Stop the War, No Glory and a range of peace organisations are organising meetings, debates and cultural events to mark the First World War centenary.
     We oppose the attempt by David Cameron, Michael Gove and others to use the centenary to "celebrate" a slaughter that killed 15 million people as a "just" and "noble" cause.
      Here is our calendar of events organized by Stop the War and other organisations. The latest events will be updated on the Stop the War web site. Full details of each event can be obtained by clicking on the links below.

Wandsworth: How should we remember WW1?	17 March 2014	Wandsworth Stop the War
SOAS London: WW1 debate	17 March 2014	SOAS Stop the War
Cardiff: WW1: Was it a war for democracy?	20 March 2014	Cardiff Stop the War
Newcastle: The Real History of WW1	20 March 2014	Newcastle Stop the War
Bristol: WW1: Was it a war for democracy?	27 March 2014	Bristol groups
The Great Debate: How Should We Remember World War One?	03 April 2014	London Stop the War
Portsmouth: Carving Up the Globe - the Real Causes of WW1	09 April 2014	Portsmouth Stop the War
Somerset No Glory in War	22 April 2014	South Somerset Peace Group
London WW1 Cultural Event	30 April 2014	North London Stop the War
St Albans WW1 Debate	12 May 2014	St Albans Stop the War
Cold Stars Lighting... First World War Poetry Readings	15 May 2014	London No Glory in War
Nottingham CND: WW1 Debate	29 May 2014	Nottingham CND
Frome: Oh! What A Lovely War!	09 July 2014	Frome Stop the War
No Glory in War Folk Night	18 July 2014	London: No Glory
Manchester Peace Conference: Peace History Lecture: No Glory	20 September 2014	Manchester Peace Conference
World War 1914 - What are the lessons for World Peace 2014?	16 October 2014	Bath UN Association

If you would like help setting up a debate or cultural event in your area, please telephone 020 7561 4830 or reply to this e-mail.

      Please consider joining a group in your area, or starting one, to stop this using the dead as a propaganda exercise to glorify the war mongers and power freaks. 

Visit ann areky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Circled A Radio, On Scottish Independence.

This episode of Circled A discusses Scottish independence:

      Rants and raves with Mr G on Scottish independence and Ukrainian revolution. Will this rising nationalism provide a path away from doom or just leave us all with bed sores?

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Sorry, Your High Street Is Closed, For 20 Years!!

An appeal from AVAAZ:

Dear friends,

Israeli soldiers shot tear gas and rubber bullets at Palestinians peacefully marching to demand access to their main commercial street. More than a dozen were injured or detained. Now, they are calling on us to help get key diplomats to visit the city to expose this repression. Send a message now:

    I just witnessed as Israeli soldiers shot tear gas  and rubber bullets at Palestinians peacefully  marching to demand access to the main commercial  street of their city. The youth responded with stones,  and chaos ensued. More than a dozen were injured  or detained. Now, they are calling on us for help.

     The situation is totally unjust -- Hebron is a city  with nearly 200,000 Palestinian residents, who are  banned from their main street, while 800 Israeli  settlers, protected by Israeli soldiers, are allowed  full access. If we can get key diplomats to visit the  city, we could help expose this repressive  segregation.
     When diplomats themselves bear witness to this  injustice, they will be more motivated to act. We  have  to act fast as more peaceful actions are  planned now and there could be more violence.  Let’s  flood key Consuls General in Jerusalem with  messages to send a mission to visit the Governor of Hebron and speak out. Send an urgent message now:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/open_shuhada_street_c/?bwqhjab&v=36574
     Shuhada Street is an iconic symbol of the crushing subjugation of Palestinians under the Israeli occupation. What used to be a bustling shopping street has now become a ghost road with massive concrete boulders and heavily armed young soldiers at checkpoints at each end. Palestinians who need to pass through to go to work or home can be held for hours for no reason, harassed or humiliated. 
      Israel says it pushed out thousands of Palestinian families and shop owners from the heart of their city for security reasons. But the closure and increasing illegal colonisation by violent Israeli settlers in the area is in fact increasing tensions and insecurity.
     Right now, the US government says it is negotiating a peace deal, but until there is an end to these endless violations of Palestinians’ basic rights, it's hard to imagine real peace. Let’s send the Consuls General an urgent message to meet with the Governor of Hebron before anyone else is detained or hurt:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/open_shuhada_street_c/?bwqhjab&v=36574
     Months ago our community came together to raise funds for these courageous families that are peacefully standing up to the daily violence of living under occupation. Now they are calling on us to stand with them. Let’s answer their call and help get them their rightful access to the heart of their city.
With hope and determination,
Nick, Alice, Rewan, Ari, Ricken and the entire Avaaz team
SOURCES
Palestinians demand Shuhada St. reopened after 20 years
http://972mag.com/palestinians-demand-shuhada-st-reopened-after-20-years/87526/

Saving the West Bank's Shuhada Street
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/03/20133585443672.html
An Exclusive Corner of Hebron
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/feb/23/exclusive-corner-hebron/
Hebron city center
http://www.btselem.org/hebron

Remembering the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/2014/02/remembering-ibrahimi-mosque-ma-20142231059152302...
Hebron marks 20th anniversary of massacre
http://www.aljazeera.com/video/middleeast/2014/02/hebron-marks-20th-anniversary-massacre-20142258125...
Hebron massacre: Twenty years on
http://blogs.aljazeera.com/blog/middle-east/hebron-massacre-twenty-years
PHOTOS: 20 years since Cave of the Patriarchs Massacre
http://972mag.com/photos-20-years-since-cave-of-the-patriarchs-massacre/87599/
WATCH: 20 years since the Ibrahimi Mosque Massacre in Hebron
http://972mag.com/watch-20-years-since-the-ibrahimi-mosque-massacre-in-hebron/87489/

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Glasgow Diary Date.

A reminder from Glasgow Games Monitor 2014: 
Hi all,

    Our next group meeting is on Monday 3rd March, 7-9pm, Unite the Union offices, John Smith House, 145/165 West Regent Street, Glasgow G2 4RZ. Meeting Dates:

http://gamesmonitor2014.org/meetings/Contact: gamesmonitor2014@googlemail.com 

      Also, giving advance notice that we will be holding a joint HOUSING CRISIS meeting with Unite the Community Union at the Bridgeton Community Learning Campus, on Tuesday March 18th, 7-9pm: http://www.bclc.org.uk/ We will be examining the promises of housing made for the Games and Clyde Gateway and more generally drawing attention to the annihilation of social housing in Glasgow, Scotland and the UK more generally. More details to follow soon, please add to your diaries and let others know if interested. Cheers,http://gamesmonitor2014.org/

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Big Brother, He's Everywhere.

     Big brother is everywhere, cops masquerading as anarchists, to entrap and destroy the voice of dissent, military intelligence agents doing likewise, this is the shape of Western representative democracy. A sham, an illusion, a system of total control. We don't want it, we can change it, the voice of dissent has to get louder and more persistent.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Homeless In A Forest Of Empty Houses.

       In any civilised society it would seem natural to take as a basic given, that everybody has the right to a roof over their head. Homelessness, when and if it happens, should be a very short and temporary affair. However this insane system of capitalism, that we seem to tolerate, creates homelessness by its economic policies. Not that it pulls down houses so that there aren't enough, it just makes them unaffordable to millions across Europe, and then demonises those unfortunate enough to become victims of its greed driven policies.

      It is estimated that there are more than 4 million homeless across Europe, and highlighting the insanity of the system, Europe has more than 11 million empty houses. More than enough to give every homeless person two homes. In that very rich conglomerate we call Europe, you can pick your country and the picture is much the same.

      The most recent statistics on homelessness in Ireland are from the Special Census report on homeless persons in Ireland. Of the 4.5million persons in Ireland on Census night (10th April 2011), 3,808 were in accommodation providing shelter for homeless persons or were sleeping rough. 62% (or 2,375) were living in Dublin on Census night, and 644 (17%) were under the age of 20. 15% or 553 people were non-Irish, compared to 12% of the total population. Almost one-third of homeless persons had health which was ‘Fair’, ‘Bad’ or ‘Very bad’, compared with 10% of the general population.

      There are so many empty houses in Ireland there is talk of bulldozing some to protect the housing market and keep prices up, not a new idea, as this has been done in Spain. Deutsche Bank figures suggest that there are 289,451 empty houses in Ireland, including almost 60,000 vacant holiday homes. This represents a vacancy rate of 15 per cent. A recent report suggested that it would take 43 years to fill them. With sanity we could fill most of them tomorrow..

      So homelessness is not a matter of not enough homes, we are awash with empty houses, it is the system that prices people out of the ability to have that basic right, of a roof over your head. It is the system that sees houses as a means of making a profit, rather than a place to live. It is the system of gross inequality where one person can have two or more houses and others have to sleep rough. If sanity prevailed, the system would be scrapped and people's needs would be seen to, and a roof over your head would there for all.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Show Your Anger By A Stroll Through Town!!.

     He marched them up to the top of the hill and then marched them down again!! The British people are seeing their living standards being decimated, and the TUC wants us to show our anger by going for a walk on a Saturday afternoon in 8 months time. That'll teach the ConDem coalition buggers not to mess with us!!

I enjoyed this article from A World To Win:

 

      Yes, in eight months’ time we are being invited to march through London to a rally in Hyde Park.  Not on a weekday because that might involve people going on strike (God forbid) to take part. No, as usual, we will all walk calmly through the centre of the city on a Saturday afternoon.

     There, if you care to stay for the rally, you will hear speeches from TUC luminaries and probably Labour leader Ed Miliband. They will be standing under the banner of “Britain Needs a Pay Rise”. Not workers, you notice, but “Britain”.

Read the full article HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Yes, in eight months’ time we are being invited to march through London to a rally in Hyde Park.  Not on a weekday because that might involve people going on strike (God forbid) to take part. No, as usual, we will all walk calmly through the centre of the city on a Saturday afternoon.
There, if you care to stay for the rally, you will hear speeches from TUC luminaries and probably Labour leader Ed Miliband. They will be standing under the banner of “Britain Needs a Pay Rise”. Not workers, you notice, but “Britain”.
- See more at: http://www.aworldtowin.net/blog/in-case-you-missed-it-heres-hot-news.html#sthash.Hf12jLQP.dpuf

Yes, in eight months’ time we are being invited to march through London to a rally in Hyde Park.  Not on a weekday because that might involve people going on strike (God forbid) to take part. No, as usual, we will all walk calmly through the centre of the city on a Saturday afternoon.
There, if you care to stay for the rally, you will hear speeches from TUC luminaries and probably Labour leader Ed Miliband. They will be standing under the banner of “Britain Needs a Pay Rise”. Not workers, you notice, but “Britain”.
- See more at: http://www.aworldtowin.net/blog/in-case-you-missed-it-heres-hot-news.html#sthash.Hf12jLQP.dpuf

The Poisonous Tentacles Of The State.

      We are all aware of the fact that we live under a state surveillance society. Every day we see the apparatus of the overt side of the surveillance, CCTV in all avenues of our lives, we know that we are profiled by where we draw cash, where we spend it, etc.. However we should be very aware that there is another side, the covert surveillance, the snooping in our private affairs unknown to us. Like it or not, the poisonous tentacles of the state reach into all aspects of our private life. Your texts, phone calls, your contacts on social networks and Internet viewing. Without being paranoid, to what extent are our actions, unknown to us, being shaped by agent provocateurs, paid servants of the state?

  

This from Anarchist News:

        One of the many pressing stories that remains to be told from the Snowden archive is how western intelligence agencies are attempting to manipulate and control online discourse with extreme tactics of deception and reputation-destruction. It’s time to tell a chunk of that story, complete with the relevant documents.

       Over the last several weeks, I worked with NBC News to publish a series of articles about “dirty trick” tactics used by GCHQ’s previously secret unit, JTRIG (Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group). These were based on four classified GCHQ documents presented to the NSA and the other three partners in the English-speaking “Five Eyes” alliance. Today, we at the Intercept are publishing another new JTRIG document, in full, entitled “The Art of Deception: Training for Online Covert Operations”.

     By publishing these stories one by one, our NBC reporting highlighted some of the key, discrete revelations: the monitoring of YouTube and Blogger, the targeting of Anonymous with the very same DDoS attacks they accuse “hacktivists” of using, the use of “honey traps” (luring people into compromising situations using sex) and destructive viruses. But, here, I want to focus and elaborate on the overarching point revealed by all of these documents: namely, that these agencies are attempting to control, infiltrate, manipulate, and warp online discourse, and in doing so, are compromising the integrity of the internet itself.

Read the full article HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

ATOS Is Dead, Long Live ATOS!!

      French IT firm Atos saying they are planning to pull out of Work Capability Assessments, the shambolic and cruel tests designed to strip away benefits from sick and disabled people, is the most humiliating blow yet for Iain Duncan Smith’s bodged attempt at reforming social security.
      In a stunning victory for campaigners, Atos say the Work Capability Assessment isn’t working, for them, claimants themselves and even the hapless DWP.  The attempt at early withdrawal from the contract comes just days after protests were held outside Atos assessment centres in towns and cities across the UK.

      If ATOS pulls out of this bludgeoning of the sick and disabled, it will be due to the sustained persistence of those who campaigned relentlessly against their savage implementation of the DWP policy, of punishing the most vulnerable in our society. It is of course only a partial victory, as there is an army of blood sucking leeches waiting to jump into the place vacated by ATOS. It is Ian Duncan Smith and the whole stinking system that he represents that has to be flushed down the toilet.
       We are a very rich country, we can afford to keep a family of parasites, that we call "Royals" in unimaginable splendour and pomp, we can buy and maintain the most expensive weapon systems on the planet, we can spend billions of pounds on spectacles such as Olympics, Commonwealth Games, we can indulge in endless wars. However, we can't keep our sick and vulnerable in reasonable comfort, we have people dying from hypothermia, because they can't afford to heat their homes, and we have 25% of our children living in poverty. Any sane person can't accept this, we have the wealth and resources for a fair and just society, all created by the people, but sadly we leave that abundant wealth in the hands of thieving parasites, and call it a market economy, as if that made everything OK. We can do better than this.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Let's Play.

What is the world coming to!!


Muitelingen - Let's play - 14/2/2014 from Muitelingen on Vimeo.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk