Stop TTIP.

 

      I have often spouted that we are not governed by our so called "elected" government, but by the international financial Mafia. How ever, if this secretly negotiated deal, TTIP, goes through, it will without a shadow of doubt shatter any illusion of democracy that might still be held. The world will be one big corporate empire, our lords and masters will undoubtedly be international corporatism, capitalism will be king.

An Appeal from 39 Degrees:
      A deal that could permanently privatise our NHS is being negotiated in secret right now. It's called the Transatlantic Trade Investment Partnership, or TTIP for short, and this EU-US trade deal is one of the most dangerous ever written. [1] Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have the power to scupper it. But first they need to feel the pressure from the people they represent - us, the public. Can you add your name to a huge EU-wide petition and help convince them? Click here to sign:

SIGN THE PETITION

 
        Today, thousands of 38 Degrees members are out on the streets campaigning against TTIP and collecting signatures for this petition. The shady deal would allow big corporations to sue our government if they don't like our laws. Simply raising minimum wage could drag our government into a lawsuit that could cost taxpayers millions. [2] The same sort of deal is being negotiated with Canada called CETA. [3] Both of these massive deals have been negotiated behind closed doors. Now people across Europe are uniting to force them out into the open.
       If TTIP and CETA can be pushed to the top of the political agenda in the EU, then MEPs will be forced to say whether they support it or not. Your signature, along with hundreds of thousands of others from countries including Germany, France and Italy, can help move these dangerous deals into the spotlight.
     There are millions of 38 Degrees members in the UK alone, and there's millions more people across Europe who want to stop TTIP. Will you add your name? Please click the link to sign the petition: https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/ttip-eu
      Working across borders which usually divide us can have a really powerful impact. This pettion is organised by 240 organisations and signed by people from all 28 EU countries. We may all live in different places and speak different languages - but together, we all stand against TTIP, and that sends a strong message. [4]
Thanks for being involved,
Belinda, India, James and the 38 Degrees team 

NOTES:
[1] Independent: British sovereignty 'at risk' from EU-US trade deal: UK in danger of surrendering judicial independence to multinational corporations:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/british-sovereignty-at-risk-from-euus-trade-deal-uk-in-danger-of-surrendering-judicial-independence-to-multinational-corporations-warn-activists-9057318.html
[2] Touchstone: Special courts for foreign investors have no place in trade deals:
http://touchstoneblog.org.uk/2013/11/special-courts-for-foreign-investors-have-no-place-in-trade-deals/
[3] Short briefing on CETA, by Nick Dearden, Director of World Development Movement:
http://wdm.org.uk/trade/short-briefing-ceta
[4] Stop TTIP: Supporting organisations:
http://stop-ttip.org/supporting-organisations/

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

An Army Of Homeless Children.

      A human crisis is happening on the US border with Mexico, that doesn't get very much coverage in our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media. Thousands of unaccompanied children are crossing into the US and thousands of them are languishing in US detention centres. Figures vary but most estimates put the numbers as high as 60,000 in the past year.

Two young girls watch a World Cup football match on a television from their holding area while others sleep

     The crisis has pushed a simmering debate about immigration into the US back into the spotlight as the US border system creaks under the strain.
The issue has become a political cudgel on both sides as the president and the Republican opposition argue over how to respond and the root causes of the crisis.

      The Freedom Socialist Party, the voice of revolutionary feminism, has an interesting article on the subject:

      Then Obama started deporting nearly half a million people a year. Families trying to put lives back together in a foreign land were re-traumatized and divided by ICE raids on buses, in schools and homes, and at traffic stops. Now there were more orphans on both sides of the border.
In Central America, these kids joined others left without family by criminals, poverty or government policy. They set out from their home countries ready to do whatever they had to do to find a better life. They suffered hunger and abuse on their way north. And it wounded their little psyches to be shoved aside like the Dalits (untouchables) of India once here, after they had endured such an odyssey. But regardless, they were undoing Obama’s mass deportation policy and putting it on its head.
It turned out there is something stronger than U.S. imperialism. It is the children’s hunger for safety, for a roof over their heads and, most of all, for the love of their families. It pushed them across mountains and cities, across deserts and rivers. It’s why they took care of each other.

Read the full article HERE:

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

Spirit of Revolt At Document Film Festival.

     Glasgow's Document Festival is always a must, a feast of entertainment, information, education and a good old "get-together".
      This is just a wee reminder that Glasgow's own Spirit of Revolt will be there with a short film, chat/discussion and mini-exhibition, about the Spirit of Revolt, on Saturday, 11th. October, 12 until  2pm. This event will be held in the Electron Club in the CCA. 350 Sauchiehall Street Glasgow. See you there.

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

Do We Know What's Happening In Kobane?

       Is the reason for the West's reluctance to stop the onslaught against Kobane, the fact that the people seem to be in control, ideas that the West and its various "friendly" authoritarian regimes, don't want to take hold in the region.

This interesting article from Anarchist News:

 Kobane Under Intense ISIS Attack, Excluded from UN Humanitarian Aid. "

Revolution will win in Kobanê!

Submitted by worker on Fri, 10/10/2014 - 06:25

Revolution will win in Kobanê!
Our Comrades in Boydê Village Reports:
      It’s the 24th day of ISIS attacks on Kobanê. While people’s defending forces in all border villages are on human shield sentry for Kobanê against attacks, everyone, everywhere in the region we live, rised up not to let Kobanê fall.
We have been on human shield sentry for around three weeks in Boydê village west of Kobanê. In the last two days, explosions and sounds of clashes got intense in Kobanê’s outer districts and town center. During this period of intense clashes, military forces increased their attacks on human shield sentries at border villages. Soldiers of Turkish State has been attacking with gas bombs to those who approach the border from both sides, including the village that we are in, which was attacked on Tuesday. Soldiers also used live ammunition from time to time in their attacks and wounded people.
     These attacks on border villages especially mean that ISIS forces are allowed passage through the border. Republic of Turkey’s support to ISIS is clearly visible here as it is there. Of course that’s not the only thing that is clear. We have learned that one of the ISIS leaders commanding the attack on Kobanê got killed by YPJ/YPG forces. Meanwhile clashes today are as intense as before and continued all day long. Sounds of clashes almost never stopped today. However now we know that explosions are made by YPJ/YPG forces. It’s reported that YPJ/YPG forces tactically emptied the streets of Kobanê at town center and ambushed ISIS, neutralizing them with successful tactics.
      Everyone’s excited by what’s told at village meetings; one of them is ISIS’ fear of women guerillas. ISIS represents the state, the terror, the massacre and also the patriarchy of course. Because of their belief that they cannot be so-called “martyrs” when they get killed by a women guerilla, a YPJ fighter, they are scared of encountering YPJ forces. Because when they encounter them, the women who “fight” against them show no mercy to the ISIS lot. This is the freedom against patriarchy created by YPJ fighting.
      The rebellion that rises in all of Kurdistan and all cities of Anatolia in the last two days, makes us feel the invincibility of organized people. These rebellions increase the confidence in revolution for everyone in Kobanê, in villages at Kobanê border, and in all of Rojava. Whenever a sister or brother falls, although we feel the sorrow, it intensifies everyone’s anger and power here. Requiems that start with hitting on knees turn into halay dance with feet kicking fast and strong enough to crack the earth. Thus our sorrow bursts into anger, fast and strong.
This is just what everyone needs here. For the freedom and revolution that’s craved, despite everything.
Long live the People’s Kobanê Resistance!
Long live the People’s Rojava Revolution!
Long live our Revolutionary Anarchist Action!

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

Learndirect Gets Some Visitors.

 

       Yesterday, a group of enthusiastic and poster armed people from far and wide descended on Edinburgh to protest against the government's inhumane and cruel policy of slave labour, that flies under the flag of workfare. A scheme of forced labour without wages, and the continual threat of benefit cuts, (sanctions). The protesters target this time round, was Learndirect, the slave dealer that supplies the market with its free labour. Well done, to all of you, your fight is for all working class people, not just the unemployed, the unemployed are the tool used by the government to undermine the wages and conditions of all workers. Workfare is also a bonus to the corporate friends of the millionaire cabal that sits in the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption. They work hand and glove to further their own wealth and power, the corporate bosses want wages to go down, the government hands them slave labour, what more could they ask for? Well plenty, if we let them get away with it, workfare must be stopped, this is everybody's struggle.

These photos from Boycott Workfare Edinburgh, and there are plenty more there and also HERE:

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

Kurdish Protests.

From 325:

Report compiled by RabbleLDN, anarchist site based in London, UK.

Kurdish groups in Europe and Turkey have stepped up protests in solidarity with their comrades on the frontline in Kurdistan.

Today a large group managed to bypass security and storm the European parliament in Brussels, occupying the main lobby. At the time of writing, riot police have moved in to block access to more protesters. Read the rest of this entry »

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

We Are At War.

      Our war mongering, imperialist lords and masters, seem to think that it is not war if you go in and bomb a country, they keep mouthing "No boots on the ground" and that makes everything just fine. However in actual fact there will be "special forces" on the ground. We are not at war, we are just bombing different countries, and of course with our "smart bombs", we only kill the bad guys. The West is always morally justified in killing in foreign countries, after all, we're the good guys, it is other countries that make up "The Axis of Evil" , "The Evil Empire", etc..

        The world pours blood from such psychopathic illusions. War is states' means of retaining power, it is not a bring of democracy, it is not an envoy of peace, it is the imperialists tool for survival.

This from Freedom Socialist Party, The Voice of Revolutionary Feminism:

    President Obama reassured the nation in his special press conference on Sept. 10 that no U.S. “boots on the ground” would be used to “degrade and destroy” ISIS — just bombers. So therefore, this country is not at war. What a pack of lies.

Actually, “targeted military airstrikes” is exactly how imperialists make war in today’s world. And the majority of casualties are civilians. In Syria, for example, Assad’s air superiority has murdered, wounded and displaced millions of non-combatants in three years. Israeli air attacks killed more than 2,100 Palestinians in just a month. Ukraine’s air strikes on eastern Ukraine killed 3,000 mostly civilians, and produced a million refugees in two months. And, as Iraq war vets point out, Iraqis still face radioactivity and infrastructure devastation from the eight-year U.S. military occupation.

As have many before him, the president declared that U.S. militarism is good and just. Nonsense! Empire America created the likes of ISIS and the Taliban to bolster U.S. control over the region and stamp out authentic revolution against gross poverty and repression.

Massive, unconditional humanitarian aid is the only thing the U.S. can offer that will help. No bombs! No drones! No troops! No mercenaries!

We Have To Change Everything.

     It's our dream, to change everything, not to tinker round the edges, not to fight to get a few more handouts, of our own wealth from the plunderers. We want to shape the world to suit the needs of all our people, to share all our wealth, with all our people, to change everything is the only way.

Ah Love! Could Thou and I

with Fate Conspire

To Grasp this Sorry Scheme

of Things entire,

Would we not shatter it

to bits, and then

Remould it nearer to

the Heart's Desire!

 Extract from Rubaiyat of  Omar Khayyam.

      From Kickstarter:

      Climate change, economic crisis, unrest from Egypt to Brazil: the prevailing order is unsustainable in every way. Today even entrenched representatives of the status quo admit that it is necessary to change everything. But the best they can come up with is to appeal to the same authorities that are responsible for our problems in the first place. 
What would it mean to change everything? How can we set out on a different path?

Read the full article HERE:

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

War Is Peace, Authority Is democracy.

     Who can accept the rhetoric or the proclaimed aims of any state, in this war torn planet of warring states? We have created a world of power mongering  blocks that see each other as a threat to their own hegemony. Co-operation between states is tentative at best, as this weeks friend could be next weeks foe and vice-versa. Leaders, supposedly elected by the people for the people, talk over the people's heads, and act in contradiction to the will of the people. No where on this planet can we find democracy, yet each state pretends to be democratic and criticises others for not being democratic. The word democracy in today's world is a cloak that hides a host of monsters, corporatism, authoritarianism, monarchy, dictatorship, plutocracy, military junta, etc. they all shout that they are the defenders of democracy, and are prepare to kill the people when they demand democracy.

      It is an Alice in Wonderland, or an Orwellian world, where men of war are applauded and give a peace prize, nothing to do with the reality in which you and I live. It is a mad world where war is peace, and authority is democracy, where exploitation is is freedom.

    An extract from an article in Politics in the Zeros, by William Boardman, originally from Reader Supported News:

“We have always been at war with Eastasia”

The U.S. without a war is like an apple pie without apples

      A Nobel Peace Prize recipient is among the loudest voices for war nowadays. Better, this Nobel Peace prize recipient has unchecked power to wage war and uses it willfully in a variety of nations. Perhaps best, this prize-winning peace president has set out a plan to make a desert and call it peace, for which a grateful power structure might well give him yet another prize.

       Such absurdity dominates the world we live in now, because people in governments are committing us all to irrational choices based on no credible public explanation. Examples are myriad, but President Obama’s shrill war cries at the United Nations offer a paradigm of the present bloody moment that is, in part, a near-parody of grandiloquent George W. Bush doing his most preening strut as a feckless “war president.”

     The following excerpts from President Obama’s long and specious 39-minute speech to the U.N. on September 24, 2014, are chosen to highlight the contradictions and deceits so carefully packaged with familiar, false pieties about imaginary realities. The pitch is fraudulent from the moment the president begins, with a pseudo-lofty, tripartite cliché untethered from the real world:

     “We come together at a crossroads between war and peace; between disorder and integration; between fear and hope.”

       Yes, every moment is a crossroads between war and peace in some place, a moment waiting for some commander somewhere to cross the line and start killing “enemies.” The president’s moment at--

Read the full article HERE:

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

Hysteric POTUS channels Bushist war shtick before UN

- See more at: http://polizeros.com/2014/10/08/hysteric-potus-channels-bushist-war-shtick-before-un/#sthash.i6Gi1vc8.dpuf

Turkey's "Blowback".

      The Kurdish problem has always been a thorn in the side of Turkey, but now it appears that Turkey has found an answer to that problem, IS. Having allowed an open border for IS, and allowing arms to roll through, Turkey now seems to be prepared to stand by and let IS do its dirty work, crush the Kurds. Though it may suffer "blowback" as hundreds of thousands of Kurds cross into Turkey and the resident Kurdish population rise up in anger at Turkey's shameful and brutal alliance with IS. It also appears that the mighty "super-powers" with their million pound smart bombs and faster than sound million pound aircraft, can't stop a bunch of religious fundamentalists from moving in and massacring a town, Or are they not that interested in saving the people of that unfortunate town?

This from ROAR Magazine:

      Kurdish anger is exploding onto the streets of Turkey and across Europe in protest at Western inaction in Kobanê and Turkish collusion with ISIS. As the extremist militants of the Islamic State close in on the besieged town on the Turkish-Syrian border, with the People’s Protection Units (YPG) running low on ammunition and Kurdish commanders warning of an impending massacre, the Turkish government and the US-led coalition appear to be content to stand by and let ISIS unleash a bloodbath in the city.

     In recent days, thousands of Kurds have descended upon the Turkish town of Suruç, just miles from Kobanê, in an attempt to cross the border, break the siege and bring supplies and reinforcements to their family, kin and comrades. Turkish troops have responded by sealing off the border crossing and firing teargas and rubber bullets both at Turkish Kurds trying to break into Syria and at Syrian refugees fleeing towards Turkey. Cut off from the outside world and without much air support, the YPG fighters are left to fend for themselves.

Read the full article HERE:

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

Kill Workfare Before It Kills You.

      Continuing with the theme of  a week of action against Workfare, today's call for action is in the sector of hospices charity shops. Thousands of actions across the country on a daily basis against this aberration in decent human society, will have an impact, if we show determination and solidarity. The poisonous tentacles  of workfare has slithered its way through the fabric of this corrupt exploitative system, and the powers would be delighted if we would let it become the norm. This mustn't ever happen.

Today's Call For Action:

Take Action:

Stop workfare in hospice charity shops

Posted: October 8th, 2014 | Author: boycottworkfare | Filed under: Action report, Charities | No Comments » This week is #HospiceCareWeek.  Today, as part of our week of action, we want to contact hospices and ask them to commit to not taking part in any of the government’s workfare schemes.

Hospices offer palliative care, social support, and practical advice – and help families through mourning and bereavement. They help people with illnesses which would otherwise massively curtail their freedom of movement be as independent as possible. This is vital and valuable work, transforming the quality of people’s lives.
Help the Hospices, the charity for hospice care in the UK, says that

 ‘A hospice is not just a building, it is a way of caring for people. Hospice care aims to improve the lives of people who have a life-limiting or terminal illness, helping them to live well before they die.’

But why are so many hospices willing to stop other people living well,  by forcing them to work for no pay under threat of sanctions?
Many hospices have local charity shops which take people through workfare schemes – especially Mandatory Work Activity.  If you’re unwilling to take part in MWA, which involves 30 hours unpaid work per week, for four weeks at a time, you’ll be hit with a minimum sanction of 13 weeks for a ‘first failure’. The maximum sanction is 3 years: 3 years of hunger, hardship and destitution.  We’ve also heard from people at hospice charity shops on mandatory work placements from the Work Programme and six-month Community Work Placements.
We know hospice shops and care centres need volunteers to run them.  And we know that hospice care across the UK relies on the work of tens of thousands of volunteers to carry on their valuable activities.  But that is no justification for forcing unemployed people to work in charity shops for weeks at a time for no wages.  Charities that take part in workfare not only undermine genuine volunteering, but are also instrumental in claimants being sanctioned and left with no income.

More Details HERE:

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

Protest Against Massive Slave Labour In The UK.

      Workfare is nothing less than slave labour, no matter how they dress it up and phrase the various forms, it is still working for no wage, and being sanctioned if you refuse. This is not just an attack on the unemployed, it affects all our jobs, it helps to depress wages. We might expect big business to grab this money making gift from their friends, the government, but charities and voluntary organisations are supposed to work on a different level, lots of them don't.

      This week in October, across the country, is a week of protest against workfare, to highlight its injustice and help bring it to an end.

       Action for today:

Take action: No grounds for greenwashing workfare

Posted: October 7th, 2014 | Author: boycottworkfare | Filed under: Call to action, Charities | No Comments »

Groundwork boasts of its involvement in workfare. Join in with an online blockade of their social media and let them know what you think of their prolific and unashamed use of forced unpaid labour.  

      Take online action today against Groundwork, the green charity using unpaid labour. Branches of Groundwork up and down the country openly advertise their involvement in all kinds of workfare, including the latest and most exploitative programmes.
     Charities and voluntary organisations should know the value of volunteering. Instead Groundwork is taking thousands of unemployed people on workfare placements with no pay and putting people at risk of sanctions. According to their own statistics they forced 4,500 people through workfare last year alone. They trade on the goodwill of their ‘volunteering’ projects to secure government money for unpaid labour schemes.

More details HERE:

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

Glasgow Document Film Festival And Spirit Of Revolt.

      Glasgow's unbeatable Document Film Festival is back with its annual  feast of films, information, entertainment and education. As usual it is centred in the CCA, 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow G2 3JD  and runs from the October 9th. until the 12th. October. Well worth some repeat visits.

     Glasgow's own Spirit of Revolt will be there with a short film, chat and mini-exhibition about the Spirit of Revolt, on Saturday, 11th. October, 12 until  2pm. This event will be held in the Electron Club in the CCA. 

      The Spirit of Revolt was founded in 2012 as an archive of dissent which chronicles the story of Anarchists and Libertarian-Socialists in Glasgow, Clydeside and the wider area, past and present. This record of everyday struggle for a fairer life has industrial and cultural activism at its heart- a colourful and empowering history. Come and find out what SOR does, and how you could turn Glasgow’s radical history into useful tools for future action, a must for those interested in OUR history.

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

 

The Only Answer, Kill Capitalism.

       The fight against "workfare" and it various permutations, is as admirable as it is necessary. However, if it is successfully destroyed, rest assured, our lords and masters will devise an equally noxious mutant to continue with our exploitation. Capitalism is a system of exploitation, that's how it works. We produce all the wealth of the world, and we get a pittance, the bulk is syphoned up to those who produce nothing, the wanker bankers, corporate CEO, financial Mafia and greedy shareholders. No matter how you look at it, that is total exploitation.

        Trainee schemes, apprenticeships, work placements, low wages, zero hours contracts, workfare, wage freezes/cuts, a minimum wage that nobody can live on, all tools in the exploiters bag of tricks. The political classes work hand in glove with the corporate world, to ensure that the exploitation is total. The slashing of benefits forces desperate people into deprivation, or into lousy, demeaning and/or dangerous, low paid jobs, in an attempt to survive.

      The struggle to improve our conditions has been going on as long as capitalism, and here we are in the 21st century, still struggling, while poverty spreads and wealth accumulates. Have we learnt nothing in 3 or 4 hundred years? It isn't that there isn't enough to go round, we are awash with wealth, it's the system of capitalist exploitation that keeps it in the hands of the few. We are the punters in the gambling casino, the odds are stacked against us, deliberately. Until the majority grasp this fact and decide to do something about it, nothing will change. Capitalism is destroying the planet and its entire population, for what?

        Though the powers that be tell us that it is the only game in town, capitalism is not a system set in tablets of stone, from some mighty god on high, it is simply a man made economic system, that works against the majority. It can be replaced by another man made economic system, that works in favour of the majority, and sees to the needs of all our people. It is up to to us, which one do we want?

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

It Is Our City, It's Not For Sale.

        In our city, Glasgow, it is not unusual to see right of way paths, public access and public spaces disappear. For some years now, there has been a campaign to open up access in the city centre, along the south bank of the river Clyde to public access. It is at present a lovely path, running along the side of the river but closed as it runs in front of private property.

 

       This sort of thing is nothing new, it goes away back, as the following extract from an old Glasgow Herald of 100 years ago states: 

    The Glasgow Right of Way Defence Committee have secured  the co-operation of the Govan Parish Council in their efforts to conserve the rights of way along the south bank of the Clyde. The Glasgow Corporation in their General Provision Order are applying for confirmation of the sale of the rights of way at Fairfields and Middleton Shipyards, and also for power to sell the right of way at Linthouse Shipyard.

       Of course those guilty of disposing of public spaces and rights of way, etc. are those elected for the express purpose of protecting those same public spaces, Glasgow City Council. They always seem eager to sell off our public assets to the highest bidder, part of Pollok Park went for a motorway. At the moment in Glasgow, there are campaigns to stop the council selling of part of Victoria Park, getting rid of Sighthill Park, and a constant vigilance by the public to prevent the sell of of part of Kelvingrove Park and parts of the Glasgow Green. 
      It would appear to all intent and purposes, our City Council is no more than a branch of the corporate greed machine. Left to their own devices they will denude our city of all public spaces and public assets, flogging everything off the their business buddies.

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

It Makes Sense, But Will It Happen?

       Short and to the point, if you believe in logic and rationalism.

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