Glasgow Diary Date.

      A date for your diary, Brendan McLaughlin, the man that helped make the Scotia Bar, Glasgow, what it became, an institution, a mecca for poets, writers, singers, song writers, musicians, laughter, patter, political banter, an oasis of friendliness in a big city, is launching his latest album and single on March 22. A must if you know and love Glasgow.

The Glad Cafe, 1006A Pollokshaws Road Glasgow G41 2HG

Welcomes You. To the Launch of Brendan McLaughlin's The Album 'The Lucky Ones' & The Single 'Independence' With extra special guests Quirky Jade
(A cappeiia) Telemann Ensemble (String Quartet: Oboe & Flute) Umbongo
Nambarrie (Reggae if Ska)

Saturday 22nd 8:00pm.

No charge at door just the promise that you will vote in the referendum

bbmclaughlin@btinternet.com
www.brendan-mclaughlin.com

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

Events In Edinburgh.

SOME UPCOMING EVENTS IN ACE AND IN EDINBURGH

Plus NEWS FROM ACE

SUMMARY OF EVENTS

More info below the summary…

Friday 14 March

Panda parade at Scottish Tory Conference 11.30am International Conference

Centre, Morrison St

One endangered species greets another!

Saturday 15 March

MARCH AND RALLY:

Assemble 11.00am at THE MOUND PRECINCT

Set off at 11.30am

March past the Scottish Tory Party Conference

Rally in FESTIVAL SQUARE

Sunday 16 March

THE ALTERNATIVE CONFERENCE

Workshops, Debate, Forums

12noon – 5.30pm

TEVIOT ROW HOUSE, BRISTO SQUARE

ACE CINEMA EVENTS

The screenings are on sundays at 18.30, free entry

In ACE, 17 West Montgomery Place EH7 5HA

16/3 ''There will be blood'' (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007)

23/3 ''Daisies'' (Vera Chytilova, 1966)

6/4 ''Cinema Paradiso'' (Giuseppe Tornatore, 1988)

13/4 ''Oldboy'' (Park Chan-wook, 2003)

Social Factory Cinema at ACE

Sunday 30th March, A.C.E. from 6.00pm

one day event byob and food

During this event we will show two original films inspired by Autonomia in

Italy

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

The Price Of Bread!!!

       Nine months ago a 15 year old boy, Berkin Elvan, goes out to buy some bread, there is a demonstration going on, the young boy is hit on the head by a police fired teargas canister. His life is over, he didn't die then, but spent 9 months in a coma and died on Tuesday. The simple action of going to buy bread brought 9 months of hell and torment for his friends and family and a slow death to a youth. Shades of 6 December 2008 when Greek police in Athens, shot 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos.

      Berkin Elvan's funeral has sparked massive protest across Turkey, and rightly so, teargas, rubber bullets, baton charges, can all kill. The state is well aware of that fact, and is prepare to accept deaths from their actions, in an attempt to intimidate, and crush dissent among the people.

 

 Mourners follow Berkin Elvan's coffin in Istanbul. Photograph: Osman Orsal/Reuters

       Tens of thousands of people have turned out for the funeral of a Turkish boy who died nine months after being hit by a police teargas canister during anti-government protests.
The death on Tuesday of 15-year-old Berkin Elvan after a long coma sparked violent clashes between protesters and riot police across the country.
     Police were bracing for further clashes as thousands converged in Istanbul calling for the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, to resign.
     Berkin was hit on the head by a teargas canister after going out to buy bread during the demonstrations last year.

Read the full article HERE:   English.   Spanish.

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

East Is East And West Is West!

      As a football pundit once said, "Football is a game of two halves", to me a non-football guy, I thought that was obvious, I always  miss the subtleties of the "beautiful game". However it could also be said that Glasgow is a city of two halves, the West End and the East End, and according to the Mafia in George Square, East is East and West is West, and ne'r the twain shall meet. This divide is obvious to all our senses, visit each End and the difference startles and baffles all those senses. On visiting these "ends" the first impact is visual, the West End, busy shops, cafes, bistros, pubs, restaurants and the smell of affluence, visit the East End, closed shops, derelict buildings, empty spaces, poor housing and the smell of poverty. The difference is not just apparent to our senses, it is embedded in the lives of those who live in each of these two "Ends". The life expectancy in parts of the East End are as low as 53.9 years, while a short (but expensive) bus journey across the city, and in parts of the West End, life expectancy can be as high as 82 years. 

      Now we know that it is not a genetic difference between the species that live in these two ends of our city, the root cause is that first visual appearance, affluence and poverty. Quality of life governs length of life, and in this society that is decided on affluence and poverty. We also know that poverty is not an accident, it is caused and prolonged by policies, and policies are made and carried out by people. It therefore follows that those people are directly responsible for the poverty, deprivation, short life expectancy, and the criminal plunder of the future of all those children who are born into those policy created conditions.

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

The Land Grab and Genocide Goes On.

    Can anybody explain to me why the world is not up in arms against this savage, brutal, genocidal act? How can the world manage to look the other way for so long? A village that has been on the same site for decades before the illegal Israeli occupation is illegal!!!

This from Middle East Monitor:

     Bulldozers of the Israeli Land Authority, protected by a large number of occupation forces, destroyed the Arab Palestinian village Al-Araqeeb in Negev for the 66th time yesterday.
        Despite heavy rains and windy weather in the area, local sources and witnesses said the Palestinian Arabs remained in the open air after the destruction of their homes. The village residents called this a "crime against humanity".
      The village was destroyed two days after special forces from the Ministry of the Interior and the Israeli Land Authority, protected by Israeli police, invaded the Islamic cemetery in the village and took photos of all buildings there.
     Villagers were left with no other place to protect themselves from the heavy rains and winds except tombs.
     Though the Arabic Palestinian village has been in this location for decades before the occupation however, based on an Israeli judaisation Prawer Plan, the village is illegal and it must be erased.

See more:

• Bedouin village destroyed by Israelis for 61st time
• Israeli forces destroy Palestinian village for the 48th time
• Israel demolishes Bedouin village for the 42nd time

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

The Right To Self Defence.

        We are all exploited and repressed wage slaves, or unemployed victims of an oppressive and exploitative system. However, the "system" is not something immutable, written in tablets of stone, handed down from on high, it is an economic system created by men, designed to enrich the few at the expense of the many. What men have created men can pull asunder, we have the right to self defence.

   “Violence is only justifiable when it is necessary to defend oneself and others against violence […] The slave is always in a state of legitimate self-defence and so his violence against the boss, against the oppressor, is always morally justifiable and should only be adjusted by the criterion of utility and economy of human effort and human suffering”

Enrico Malatesta, «Umanità Nova»
25th of August 1921

   

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

The Snooping Society.

       Facebook, that friendly social network, that handy tool to arrange get-togethers, an easy way to keep in touch! Well we should always be alive to the fact that it is a segment of the Big Brother surveillance society. It notes your ever key-push, whether you want it to be known or not. In this society there is, "virtually" no place to hid, delete it, too late, it has been recorded.
This from watchdog.net:

      We spend a lot of time debating what to post on Facebook. We type out a message, then we rewrite it. Sometimes we erase it all together. 

      But the code that powers Facebook has been recording everything we type on screen, even if we don't hit publish — and it wants to know why we aren't sharing.

    Turns out, Facebook has been monitoring, tracking and interpreting our unposted notes, comments and statuses this entire time, using even what we don't say as metadata to pass on to spy agencies like the NSA or advertisers from Groupon to Mastercard. 

     Choosing not to share is supposed to be what little still protects us from governments and corporations that can hack our emails, bug our phones and turn on our webcams without our knowledge.Please, join us in demanding Facebook stop logging and storing this data, and start protecting our right not to publish!

PETITION TO FACEBOOK: 

      Respect our right to remain private, and stop storing information about what we type in drafts for Facebook comments, notes and statuses to share with spies and sellers.

Click here to sign -- it just takes a second.

Thanks,
-- The folks at Watchdog.net

P.S. If the other links aren't working for you, please go here to sign: http://act.watchdog.net/petitions/4119?n=60736786.P1VoI4

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

Glasgow's Private Parks!!!

    We pay them our tax money to dream up this shit, we must be mad. Every avenue of your life must be under their control. You're photographed everywhere you go, but that's not enough, you have to be under strict control when you are not being photographed. Rampant authoritarianism, control freaks at the helm, society gone insane.

Please join this campaign: http://chn.ge/1oHE3iL

      Glasgow City Council is proposing to bring in rules relating to the Parks and public spaces of Glasgow. While it is important to preserve the outdoor spaces of Glasgow for future generations, the proposed Park Management Rules would give the council the right to refuse entry to the parks of some of the most prolific users of Glasgow's open spaces. These proposed rules include: 

     No groups of more than 20 people  being able to gather in the park without the written authorisation of the Director. If you wanted to play football, hold a fitness club, walking club or children's group forget it.  

    Dogs to be kept on a lead no more than 2m, and no one is allowed to excercise any more than 3 dogs. If you own 4 or more dogs, go to dog obedience classes or want to exercise your dog off the lead, forget it. 

   All vehicles in parks require the prior written consent of the Director. If you want to drive to the rowing clubs at Glasgow Green, you'll need written consent.

Some other activities they want to outlaw are:

     Play or practice any organised sport - I thought we were encouraging this? What will the Commonwealth Games legacy be? 

     No person shall, except with the prior written consent of the Director, operate any Radio - don't want you enjoying music during the 2 days of sunshine we have.  

      Any person or organisation seeking to use any park or park building for outdoor educational provision, child care provision, nursery or kindergarten - don't want those kids getting any fresh air now. 

     The parks have always been self policed and have survived for over 100 years. Please let common sense prevail on this one and object to Glasgow City Council curbing our enjoyment of our open spaces.

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

No War In The Ukraine.

        We should have no illusions, what is being played out in the Ukraine is a clash of two empires. Since the break up of the Soviet Union, the Western corporate empire has grabbed more and more of the Russian empire, and they want Ukraine. Just as the First World War, with its unbelievable slaughter of young lives, was a land grab between empires, and the Second World War more of the same, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, wars fought on lies, we surely aren't foolish enough to swallow the present crap that is being pumped out by that babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media. State wars are fought for power and wealth, never for freedom and democracy, and this present conflict is no different. The Western corporate states don't give a shit about the lives of the ordinary Ukrainians, it is all about expansion, and control of resources. If it comes to a war, and we the people, mustn't let it, it is the ordinary people that will shed their blood and it is the corporate war mongers that will fatten their bank accounts with the plunder. 

UKRAINE
Say NO to another U.S. war!

Urgent call for anti-war actions

March 10 to March 17

      The threat is real. Sanctions, war build up, warships with guided missiles to the Black Sea, F-15 fighter jets on Russia's border are dangerous provocations. Washington has recognized and committed more than $10 billion to an illegal right-wing government that seized power from elected officials.

     Actions large and small are urgently needed -- informational picket lines, visits to congressional offices, protests at media centers against war propaganda, vigils, and challenges to government officials. Let's make our voices heard.

   In NEW YORK CITY 

No new U.S. war! Stop media lies about Ukraine
March from CNN to Fox News
Friday, March 14
5 pm to 6 pm -
Rally at CNN, 10 Columbus Circle
(Broadway & 59th St)6 pm
March down Broadway to FOX News,
49th St. & 6th Ave.

Facebook event: facebook.com/events/226160010906938

UKRAINE: What the media isn't telling you
WAR ALERT

      Corporate media have always lied about the reasons for war, from Vietnam and Iraq to Libya and Syria. If you turn on CNN or FOX News, read the New York Times or listen to NPR, you aren't getting the real story. Here are 10 things the U.S. corporate media won't tell you about what's happening in Ukraine.

1. Washington planned the coup in Ukraine.
      U.S. State Department official Victoria Nuland was caught on tape plotting who would be the next head of Ukraine. She bragged that the U.S. had spent $5 billion funding the so-called democracy movement there. Senator John McCain went to Kiev, spoke at rallies and was photographed with the leader of the fascist Svoboda party. Neo-Nazi forces took over buildings and threw out the elected government in a coup d'etat, then passed new laws with no quorum in the parliament.

2. There has been no Russian invasion.
      Washington officials have threatened Russia for "invading" Ukraine. It's a Big Lie meant to cover up U.S. involvement in the coup. Russia has a military base in Crimea, a predominately Russian ethnic area, and is legally allowed to station up to 25,000 troops in the country. Russia has said it may act to protect civilians if they are threatened by the neo-Nazis in Kiev. That is all.

3. The U.S. war buildup.  
      The Navy has deployed the USS Truxton, a warship armed with guided missiles, to the Black Sea. Six F-15 fighter jets and 60 military personnel have been sent to Lithuania, in addition to those already stationed there. The U.S. and EU are imposing sanctions and travel bans on Russian officials. Politicians from Hillary Clinton to John McCain have compared Russian President Vladimir Putin to Hitler. When preparing for war, the U.S. always uses this bogus comparison to demonize leaders of opponent countries.

4. Neo-Nazis dominate the new government.
     The openly racist, anti-Semitic and pro-Hitler Svoboda party is one of three major parties in the government. Svoboda led the street actions that forced elected President Yanukovych to flee. The Right Sector, armed fascists who have beaten opponents and vandalized public property, are now in charge of the military. Immediately after the coup, Ukraine's chief rabbi, Moshe Reuven Azman, urged Jews to flee Kiev. The government's first act was to ban the use of Russian and other minority languages. Opponents of the coup have been beaten, disappeared, or had their offices and homes vandalized and burned.

5. Coup leaders hired snipers to justify their takeover.
     A leaked call between Estonian and European Union officials reveals that people behind the new government hired snipers to kill protesters and police in Kiev. President Yanukovych was blamed for the killings and this was used to justify the coup.

6. Wall Street and Big Oil want to control Ukraine - and Russia.
      Oil and gas pipelines in Ukraine bring fuel from Russia to Europe. Big Oil wants to control the pipelines to cut the flow from Russia and hike their own profits. The U.S. has even offered the new government gas from dangerous fracking drilling here! Russia is the world's largest producer of gas, oil and industrial minerals. They want to break up Russia too. Wall Street would love to get its claws deeper into Ukraine and Russia - to drive up profits and push down wages for workers here and there.

7. NATO's drive to expand.
      As part of the Western drive to dismantle Russia, the Pentagon wants to establish military bases on the Ukraine/Russia border. The U.S. dominated NATO alliance has expanded aggressively into eastern Europe in the past 20 years, adding 12 countries to its roster so far. U.S./ NATO forces continue to occupy Afghanistan to the south.

8. Billions for coup in Ukraine, cuts for food stamps in U.S.
     In early February, Congress and the Obama administration agreed to cut SNAP food assistance benefits for hungry families by $8.7 billion, claiming there's no money. Yet just weeks later, they announced $10 billion in assistance to the neo-Nazis in Kiev. Secretary of State John Kerry personally delivered the first billion on March 4.

9. Power for the 1%, misery for workers.
      The new regime has appointed wealthy oligarchs as governors of rebellious regions of Eastern Ukraine. It's also agreed to an IMF austerity plan drafted by Washington to cut workers' pensions, unemployment insurance and social programs - just like the cutbacks workers from Detroit to Greece face.

10. People across Ukraine are fighting back.
      People in Eastern Ukraine and throughout the country are organizing against the coup. Some have taken over regional and city buildings and refused to hand them over to the new authorities. Others are marching on military bases and demanding that the troops not obey the commands of the neo-Nazis in Kiev. Some are calling on the Russian government to protect and assist them. The people of Ukraine remember well what Nazi rule was like during World War II, and they will not stand for it again.

Get informed!
Find more information on Ukraine and upcoming actions at
IACenter.org

Join us! Educate, organize and protest.
Let's stop the next U.S. war before it starts.

International Action Center 

Variety of downloadable signs helpful for
Ukraine No War demonstrations
www.iactucson.org/signs

 Statements & further reading   

United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) demands
'U.S. hands off Ukraine and Venezuela"
http://nepajac.org/UNAC_030614.html

Veterans for Peace - San Diego:
"Preparing for war with Russia"
sdvfp.org/preparing-for-war-with-russia/

Glen Ford:
"Hillary and other assorted barbarians at Russia's gate"
www.blackagendareport.com/content/hillary-and-other-assorted-barbarians-russia%E2%80%99s-gate

Ajamu Baraka:
"Ukraine and the Pathology of the Liberal Worldview:
An African American Perspective"
www.counterpunch.org/2014/03/07/ukraine-and-the-pathology-of-the-liberal-worldview/

Transcript of leaked Victoria Nuland-Geoffrey Pyatt call
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26079957

Leak : Estonian FM says Maidan snipers were not Yanukovich's
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/03/05/1282285/--BREAKING-Leak-Estonian-PM-says-Maidan-snipers-were-not-Yanukovich-s

LIST EVENTS HERE
(We will include in future emails)

iacenter@iacenter.org

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

The End Of Capitalism?

        With the recent and pending “crises” in capitalism there is a lot of talk about “the end of capitalism”. I for one don't think capitalism will simply collapse, and that will be that. Crises will come and go and capitalism will continue doing what it always does, and does very well, shifting wealth and power from the many to the few, it will continue its attempt at perpetual growth. It might take a couple of steps back, it might change pace and or direction, but it will continue making the very rich, richer. Capitalism will don't destroy itself from within. It is not just an economic system, it is a state of consciousness, and although across the planet, more and more people are seeing the injustice in the system and are displaying their anger in various ways, it has to go beyond that. The anger has not simply to call for change, not just to appeal for a fairer distribution of resources, or an end to corruption, there has to be a revolution of consciousness among the people. We have to create that new world “beyond capitalism” in our heads and then translate it into a reality. Only when enough of us finally decide that we have had enough of capitalism, only when enough of us enter that new consciousness of a profit free world, and see the world differently, will we see the end of capitalism. Then we can place it in the dustbin of history and enter that new world of socialism. 

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

We Can.

      I love poetry, it can say in a couple of verses what prose says in ten chapters. Came across this one on A Scream of Consciousness:

We

 The fire has begun each one of us a spark

Occupy the  workplace and the Unis for a start

If we rise on mass we can touch the skies

Feet on the ground we’re immune to the lies

We’re in this together come hell or high leather

We’re the storm on the horizon the elites cannot weather

They say never, we say now, no longer kneel or bow

The hypocrisy of democracy an x in a box

Hear our feet on the street cos this beat rocks

A movement in motion that cannot be stopped

‘Til every corporate tyrant is toppled and dropped

We can see a better world , we can sense that it is coming

The spirit of people power, man that shit is just stunning

When millions move we can shake the very heavens

Can’t stop us now with their lies or their weapons

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

Beyond Capitalism.

 This from A World To Win:

      This People’s Inquiry offers a chance to share ideas and information about the related crises facing humanity. It is open to individuals, campaign groups, trade unions, academics and students. Working together, we can deepen our knowledge and work on solutions.

       Climate change has passed a tipping point and extreme weather is just one of the results. The global economic and financial system has entered a renewed, deeper crisis. Anger at the way political systems are corrupted by corporations and lobbyists is at boiling point.

      There is worldwide opposition and resistance, but as yet no shared strategy for getting beyond capitalism. Reaching the point where we achieve such a strategy is the main purpose of the inquiry.

We have suggested six areas for the inquiry together with some questions that will help focus our work:

• The ecosystem, including climate change and species loss
• Global economy and finance, where the 1% rule over the 99%
• The state, democracy and social rights (like health and housing)
• Ideology and philosophy – dialectics of liberation   
• Culture, education and sport – how they can help set us free
• Networks/organisations/strategies for revolutionary change

A World to Win is proposing a three-stage process:

1. Gathering evidence through papers, web references and contributions from individuals and groups. People can bear witness about their own situation or campaign, through text or by sending video or audio files.
2. Face-to-face meetings in different locations, and on-line meetings, to assess and discuss the evidence, draw conclusions and make proposals.
3. A working group, which contributors will be invited to join, will discuss the results and collaborate on the contents of a draft final report that maps out a way forward.

The inquiry is hosted on A World to Win’s network platform. Please register to post material,  make comments and get the inquiry under way!

Paul Feldman
Communications editor

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