Wednesday, 13 January 2016

Solidarity In The Community, Solidarity Between Communities.


        The people will make progress when there is solidarity within the community and solidarity between the communities. Here is a opportunity to show that solidarity.
Support the Meadows community space!
Community Gathering + Bonfire @ North Kelvin Meadow & the Children's Wood Saturday, 16 January at 10:00am - 10:00pm
North Kelvin Meadow, Sanda Street / Kelbourne Street / Clouston Street, G20 8PU
        In anticipation of the council's site visit on 26th January to determine the future of the meadow and woods, we're organising a large gathering on Saturday the 16th to bring the community together in support of the space. The Children's Wood will be running the event from 10am until 2pm. Afterwords there will be a bonfire starting around 3pm and continuing into the night. 
      During the day there will be big marquees set up and attractions include home baking from the local community, tea and coffee and various workshops. Knit Wild will be running a knitting workshop making items for yarn bombing the meadow on the day of the council site visit, and there will also be a banner making workshop taking place. The usual outdoor learning group will be running with outdoor play activities open to all children, and there will also be storytelling happening, as well as a capoeira workshop.
      In the evening there will be an open jam session around the fire - please bring along your instruments if you play! There will be several tarpaulins around the fire area for rain cover, and we also hope to provide hot drinks.
       The children's wood will be running a stall during the day providing campaign info and adding people to the mailing list (the list will be around all evening too). There'll be folk around all day from morning until late: come along for half an hour or the whole day - bring your children, parents, dogs, grannies, friends etc.

See you all on Saturday!
Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglagsow.me.uk

Social Care And Money!!!



         It looks good when legislation is put in place to see that people in need of social care receive that care. Everybody applauds, and we change the subject, moving on to the next problem. However in this money based society, the problem hasn't been solved. It has come to light that people assessed as in need of social care don't always receive that care. In this dehumanised capitalist society assessing and delivering are to totally unrelated aspects of the problem.
 
      Figures received after a Freedom of Information request show that in Scotland last year 270 people assessed as in need of care, died before receiving that care. The figures also revealed that in some cases those deemed to be in need of care, had to wait over a year for that care to begin. Another shocking revelation has been that in a single week last year, more than 12,000 hours of approved social care was never delivered. Imagine the individual suffering these figures portray.
      The failing of course is not due to the lack of humanity in those trying to provide that care. Those at the front-line of delivering that assessed care, are a dedicated and caring group of people, the root of the problem is the lack of money. Not that we are a poor country, the UK as a whole, can find billions to bomb Syria, billions to maintain and renew Trident, billions to upgrade that symbol of British imperialism, the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption. We are a very wealthy country, it just that to the powers that be, caring for the ill, the infirm and elderly is not a priority. 
      Sadly the problem will persist as long as the capitalist system we live under persists. Until we bring about the demise of capitalism and replace it with a system that has the need of its people as the fundamental base of society, the sick, the elderly, the poor, the infirm, the disadvantaged, will have to continue to scramble for some of the crumbs that fall from the parasites table. 
Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk
 

Tuesday, 12 January 2016

The State's Justice Machine, Guantanamo Bay.


        I doubt if there is anyone in the developed world today who doesn't know of Guantanamo Bay, who doesn't know of the brutal injustice that emanates from its walls. Guantanamo Bay epitomises the brutal authority of the state, it is the states final answer to resistance, justice put in the hands of the military. No civil courts, no due process, no public scrutiny, simply brutal military rule. It is fourteen years since its creation, fourteen years of secret brutality beyond the prying eyes of the public, a state gone mad with authority.
       Obama came to power seven years ago with the promise that he would close this abomination, his reign at the helm of the world's biggest empire has accounted for 7 years of overseeing Guantanamo Bay, 50% of its time in existence. He leaves office in approximately one year, and it looks like he will leave the rod of empire, and the keys of Guantanamo Bay to the next emperor. I have no doubt that this symbol of repression and brutality will continue to stand, belching out its foul stench of state authority and human degradation, for as long as the powers that be think they can get away with this, their weapon of choice.
       This video is distressing, but as far as we know accurate.


       “Despite the rhetoric saying he would close Guantanamo as almost the first act of his Presidency, President Obama has had clay feet from the beginning. He has refused to take actions to actually close the prison. Let's remember: seven of the 14 years that these men have languished in Guantanamo have been under Obama.
        “Don't let President Obama blame others. A reluctant Pentagon is no excuse. Obama is Commander in Chief. The fault is not in the stars, but with him. One day of unlawful detention is an outrage, 14 years is an abomination. If Obama is to close the prison before he leaves office, he must move to do so NOW.”
–  Michael Ratner, attorney who represented Guantanamo detainees before the US Supreme Court
       TODAY is the fourteenth anniversary of the opening of the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Join us in calling on President Obama to use his executive powers to close down the prison (and return the base to the Cuban people!).
CODEPINK National Coordinator Alli McCracken led the last delegation to Guantanamo, and the 60-person group visited Caimanera – a small town of 11,000 people that abuts the US Naval Base on the southeastern coast of Cuba. The US naval base, they were told, is an illegal occupation of Cuban land that violates the territorial sovereignty of the island. The base sits on a critical part of the bay that would vastly improve the local economy if the land were returned. They believe that the closure of the base is a condition for the full normalization of relations between the two nations.
       It is unconscionable that the prison in Guantanamo remains open 7 years into the Obama presidency. Call on President Obama to make good on his campaign promise to to close the prison TODAY!
        President Obama can’t make up for the last seven years of failed leadership, but he can live up to his campaign promises and finally end this shameful chapter of American history. Please join us to ensure that he does.
Toward a more peaceful world,
Alli, Andrea, Ariel, Chelsea, Janet, Janna, Jodie, Lisa, Medea, Michaela, Michelle, Nancy, Sam and Tighe

P.S. Make sure to sign the petition to see our video of then President-elect Obama promising to close Guantanamo seven years ago today!
Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Monday, 11 January 2016

Nuclear Weapons Passing By Your Homes.


 


         Warwickshire is a fairly long way from the Clyde, lots of roads winding they way through towns and villages. No doubt the people living along this route sleep easy at night, unaware that rolling slowly past their humble abode are convoys of deadly weapons of mass destruction. Convoys of nuclear weapons for the trident submarines based on the Clyde at Faslane, trundling past homes, schools, and hospitals, unannounced, escorted by police and armed marines. The state doesn't give a monkeys about your opinion on this matter. Your concerns will not be considered, you will not be informed. Some of the deadliest nuclear weapons in the world, being carted the length and breadth of our land, with all the inherent dangers of an accident, and you have no say in the matter. They call it democracy.




       January 9th. 2016, nuclear weapons convoy in Warwickshire transporting Trident nuclear weapons between the Atomic Weapons Establishment in Berkshire and HM Naval Base Clyde.
Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Success.


Jailed Philip Morris Pakistan workers released!
       I have no doubt that solidarity won the day in this case, as it has done in countless thousands of cases around the world. The state apparatus, and its vile partner, large corporations, can pick off individuals and small groups with impunity, if we don't stand up and support those being abused, oppressed, and imprisoned, they win. We have the numbers to overcome all oppression, it just requires our coming together in solidarity, global solidarity.
On January 8, we informed you of the arrest and jailing of 35 workers who were peacefully protesting the brutal, illegal termination of 141 workers at the Philip Morris International factory in Mardan, Pakistan. Thousands of you responded to our appeal for messages, and we are very pleased to inform you now that the 35 workers with their union President were released from jail on January 10, and the union is determined to continue their struggle.  The union has warmly thanked the IUF and all those who responded to our appeal. We thank you for your solidarity and support.
Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Sunday, 10 January 2016

Net Neutrality Violated By T-Mobile.



Dear Friend,
         For possibly the first time since the FCC adopted Net Neutrality last year, an ISP has been caught red-handed breaking the law.1
        T-Mobile is throttling video content from select websites as part of their new "Binge On" feature, and when confronted about it, T-Mobile's CEO lashed out at internet freedom activists, asking "Who the f*ck are you?" and "Who pays you?"2
         It's clear T-Mobile has no shame about violating Net Neutrality. And if the FCC doesn't crack down, other companies are sure to follow their lead.

Will you chip in $5 to help demand that the FCC crack down on T-Mobile's blatant violation of Net Neutrality?

       Here's what’s happening: Late last year, T-Mobile automatically enrolled all their users in a service they're calling Binge On, which allows users to watch video from certain select websites, like Netflix, without counting against their data cap.
       The problem is that sites not enrolled in Binge On, like YouTube and Vimeo, not only count against the data cap but are being pushed onto a data slow lane, causing buffering and poor playback.3
       This is a clear, systematic violation of the Net Neutrality rules we fought so hard for. And it's one of the first big tests of whether Net Neutrality will actually be enforced—or will exist only on paper.
       We're launching an urgent push to demand the FCC take swift action to crack down on T-Mobile. Will you donate?

Yes, I'll donate to help stop T-Mobile from violating Net Neutrality.

Thanks for taking action on this at a critical time.
David, Daniel, Kurt, Mark, Sara, Victoria, and the rest of the Demand Progress Team

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

Wealth And Poverty, Two Sides Of Capitalism.


       This winter may have been mild, but it is Scotland, and it is winter, cold and damp, not the sort of conditions anyone should find themselves homeless. While our parasitical politicians tell how well everything is doing, spouting, everything is on the up and up, some facts contradict that propaganda. The number of homeless people is rising, rising homelessness can never equate with an improving society. Glasgow City Mission, a charity that helps provide temporary shelter for homeless people, claims to have had a 60%+ increase in the number of rough-sleepers seeking a bed for the night. The charity claimed that, December 2015, saw 711 individuals came to them seeking a bed, compared with 437 December 2014. The quietest night this December saw 14 individuals seek a bed for the night, last December that figure was 4. While the busiest December night this year the figure was 31, compared with last December when there were 21. 
      Not a very flattering picture of Glasgow, Scotland's largest city, and an indictment of the system we live under. Glasgow has an abundance of glossy, glitzy, shopping malls, lots of fancy expensive restaurants, car parks littered with luxury cars, yet hunger and homelessness stalks its streets. Under the neon lights a doorway can be a shelter from the cold and damp, a dark lane, a bed for the night. There is an invisible army of enforced hungry, lurking in the shadows of abundance. It is totally unacceptable that hunger's vicious claws tear at an individual a hands throw away from a warehouse of food. It is totally unacceptable that someone should lay their head on cold wet stone for a bed, when the city abounds in empty accommodation. 
      This cruel injustice is the law of capitalism, no matter your needs, you will have to do without, if you can't pay. You can't be provided for if there is no profit in it for somebody. In this insane system, you can die from hypothermia and/or hunger, while shelter lies empty, and food rots next door. Why do we tolerate this?
The Homeless
Tenebrous spectres, they exist,   out there,
on the crumbling edge of chaos.
A father, a son, a brother,
a daughter, a sister, a mother.
Fragments of some shattered family structure;
waste products
from a society being driven to destruction
by a hurricane of greed,
living a life that wears out life,
dying,
the devious death of exhaustion from existence.
Visit ann  arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Saturday, 9 January 2016

Union Leaders Arrested In Thailand.


Around 500 locked-out union members at Japanese auto-supplier Sanko Gosei rallied outside the Ministry of Labour on 6 January 2016.
07.01.2016 ***This article has been updated***

      IndustriALL Global Union strongly condemns the Thai military government after it invoked new powers under the Public Assembly Act 2015 to end a peaceful protest by union members in Bangkok (6 January).
      It followed a rally of 500 locked-out workers at Japanese-owned auto-part supplier Sanko Gosei outside the Ministry of Labour on 6 January.
     At 19.00 three police units and military forces were used to break up the demonstrators who were planning to spend the night there. Shortly afterwards two union leaders, Chalee Loysoong, Vice President of the Thai Labour Solidarity Committee (TLSC) and Amorndech Srimuang, President of the Sanko Gosei Workers Union, which is affiliated to IndustriALL through TEAM, were questioned by authorities.
     During this time their phones and ID cards were temporarily confiscated and they were escorted at all times, even to the bathroom.
      The union leaders had taken part in mediation negotiations with Sanko Gosei and the Ministry of Labour during the day, as the rally was taking place outside.
      “We are gravely concerned that the government is using the Public Assembly Act to curb the legitimate rights of workers to gather peacefully,” said Jyrki Raina, general secretary of IndustriALL. “This goes against all norms and international standards.”
      The Public Assembly Act carries a penalty of up to ten years in prison for causing a disturbance or disruption of public services.
     “The crackdown is particularly disappointing considering our positive meeting in December at which the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Labour said the government shared IndustriALL’s will to protect the rights of workers,” added Raina.
        In October 2015, IndustriALL filed an official complaint to the International Labour Organization against the government of Thailand for serious violation of trade union rights.
       More than 600 Sanko Gosei workers, who are all union members, have been locked out after negotiations over a new collective bargaining agreement and bonuses broke down. The company claims that it is unprofitable. In the meantime, casual workers have been brought in to replace the locked out workers.
       The Sanko Gosei Workers Union accuses the company of using the dispute to bust the union and replace permanent workers with subcontractors.
       The Minister of Labour, General Sirichai Distakul, has reportedly promised to attend the next mediation meeting between the union and the company.
      For more information, please contact: Leonie Guguen, Communications Officer, IndustriALL Global Union - lguguen@industriall-union.org or tel: +4179 137 5436.
Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk





Join A Union, Get Sacked!!

         Some good news and some bad news, that's the way of workers lives. The good news usually comes from solidarity between workers across the globe, the bad news invariably comes from the state and/or big business.
2016 begins with news of yet another company responding to workers' attempts to organize themselves with mass dismissals. 

In this case, it's a company in Turkey that's sacked 30 workers who dared to join a trade union.  The International Union of Food Workers (IUF) has launched an online campaign demanding their reinstatement and a recognition of union rights.  Please take a minute and add your name here.
Meanwhile, two of our campaigns launched in December closed down fairly quickly -- and for good reason.
A campaign we launched on December 14th demanding the release of Iranian teacher trade unionist Mahmoud Beheshti Langroodi closed within a day after we learned that he had been freed. Mahmoud's hunger strike captured the attention of many human rights activists and trade unionists, and the more than 4,500 of you who sent off messages in that short time helped send a clear message to the Iranian government.
And just one day before that we learned that the deal between the Israeli and Chinese governments -- which would have led to the importation of 20,000 Chinese workers as bonded labour -- failed.  The collapse of the deal came after more than 6,300 of you supported the online campaign we launched with our partners in the Israeli and Hong Kong labour movements.  Full details are here.

These are both good news stories, and again I want to thank you for supporting our campaigns in 2015 -- as I hope you will do this year as well.



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

Mass Terminations, Mass Arrests.


      Time and time again we see the state apparatus step in to support large corporations against their employees, peaceful protest can be turned into a criminal offence at the whim of the authorities. All this proves is that there is a festering cancerous marriage between state and big business. Workers can never expect fair and just treatment from either. However, whenever this oppression happens, we should all stand up and support those workers being repressed and criminalised by the state in its efforts to protect the profits of big business.
Workers jailed for protesting illegal mass terminations
at Philip Morris Pakistan.

An appeal from IUF:
       Thirty-five workers were arrested in the city of Mardan on January 6 for peacefully protesting the brutal instant termination of 141 employees at the Pakistan subsidiary of tobacco giant Philip Morris International. Workers were informed of the mass terminations on November 21 when they arrived to work only to learn that dismissal letters would be sent to them by post.
         With the support of the local union, whose President Abrar Ullah was among the arrested, workers launched a continuous round of protests at the factory gate after management refused to discuss the terminations and began pressuring workers to accept the illegal dismissals. To add to the pressure, police were called to the factory gate when the protest began.
       On January 6, workers gathered with their union officers to present a Charter of Demands to management when police arrested 35 protestors under the Maintenance of Public Order law, which allows for up to 90 days detention without charges.
       A solidarity delegation from the IUF-affiliated Pakistan Food Workers Federation (PFWF), which had hoped to meet with the workers demonstrated outside the police station following the mass arrests. The arrested workers were then shifted to Bannu Jail, some 250 kilometers from Mardan and notorious as a prison for incarcerating Taliban activists.
       The PFWF and the IUF will continue to support and assist the workers, who have vowed to continue the fight. CLICK HERE TO SEND A MESSAGE TO THE GOVERNMENT authorities calling for the immediate release of the workers and their union President.
Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk
 

Friday, 8 January 2016

The Crime Of Asbestos.

       Throughout capitalism there has been a constant trait and it still persists. That trait has been as mining and manufacture of materials developed, dangers to workers health became apparent. In most of these cases the pattern was/is the same, first the employers try to conceal the dangers, then trash any results proving the danger, as well as trashing the reputation of those bring forward the evidence of health dangers. In most cases they can fall back on the state legislators to be on their side, as they drag their feet in introducing any meaningful legislation to try and control that danger.
        Probably one of the most brutal and callous cases of this festering marriage between employers and state in safeguarding profits at the expense of workers health has been asbestos. The dangers to workers and the public's health from asbestos was being raised in the 1800's, but the substances was still being used here in the UK well into the 20th. century. We all know now that asbestos is a killer, it is the cause of the incurable disease of mesothelioma. However it was know for years and the companies mining it and manufacturing it continued to deny any such danger, and went into the arena of dirty tricks to conceal the facts.
        One of the worlds largest manufacturers of asbestos products was Turner and Newall and they pulled out all the stops to have the reputations trashed of anyone involved in revealing the dangers of asbestos. The even called on the disgraced MP Cyril Smith to rubbish the claims at a Commons Select Committee, there was more stings to this vipers tongue that most people ever suspected. 
         From its first entry into our lives, it is impossible to put an accurate figure on the number of people who died a horrible death from asbestos mesothelioma, and the deaths still continue to this day. The crime is that the manufacturers were well aware of those dangers and with money and power, attempted to conceal the facts for generations. Our legislators, the state, are complicit in this vicious and brutal crime.
        As the West began to be forced to legislate against asbestos and around the 60's, there were calls to ban asbestos in countries like the UK, America and Australia, you would imagine that as these bans came into force, the mining of this killer would start to fall off. On the contrary, from the 60's on, mining of asbestos started to rocket. The callous reasoning behind this strange fact is that the asbestos industry realised that they were losing a vast market, so they went into overdrive in marketing their filthy product to the third world, Africa and China. Thus with one aim, increasing their profits, they spread the death dealing disease of mesothelioma to new generations of workers.
       People today are still dying from this profit driven disease, mesothelioma, as asbestos found its way into all aspects of our lives, industry, homes, cars etc. and it has not yet been all cleaned up, this killer still lurks in corners of our society, waiting to be disturbed and do its deadly deed. All thanks to the drive for profit from unscrupulous and greedy corporations.
          Turner and Newall archives reveals that executives had sent a staff member to an asbestos campaign meeting posing as a member of the public, who then sent back a three-page report detailing everything that was said. 
        The executives also revealed they had ordered a “very confidential report” to be made on researchers involved in a Yorkshire TV documentary, Alice: A Fight for Life, which told the story of 47-year-old former asbestos worker Alice Jefferson, who was dying from malignant pleural mesothelioma. The film, directed by award-winning film maker John Willis, explicitly linked asbestos to cancer and attacked the Government’s perceived complacency in limiting the manufacture of asbestos in Britain.
         At the time of the film, asbestos as a health hazard was not widely known to the public, and mesothelioma, the cancer caused by asbestos, was even less wellknown. The Government and leading doctors told people that asbestos was a vital industry and that its manufacture was safe.-------
And:

Asbestos: The slow clean-up
  • 1898 Factory inspectors express concern about the “evil effects” of asbestos dust.
  • 1911 The first cases of asbestos deaths in factories are confirmed and recommendations made for improved ventilation.
  • 1924 The death of a textile worker in Rochdale is the first published case of asbestosis. The firm pays no compensation to the bereaved family.
  • 1931 Asbestos industry regulations introduced. Home Office survey finds widespread asbestos disease in the UK.
  • 1967 The asbestos register is established. Safety limits are proposed the following year. 
  • 1972 The first personal injury claim succeeds.
  • 1983 Asbestos licensing regulations are introduced.
  • 1985 Regulations introduce a ban on crocidolite (blue) asbestos and amosite (brown) asbestos.
  • 1987 Control of asbestos at work regulations introduced to protect workers from fibre exposure.
  • 1992 Laws are amended to ban rarer forms of amphibole asbestos. Later followed by a ban on chrysotile asbestos.
  • 1995 A report shows that asbestos deaths are increasing at an alarming rate. A quarter are away from asbestos manufacturing industries.
  • 1996 A report claims asbestos protection is vastly inferior to the claims stated by its manufacturers.
  • 1999 Asbestos regulations introduce a final, comprehensive ban on asbestos.
  • 2002 New regulations mean businesses have to start identifying and managing asbestos in their properties.
  • 2006 Previous regulations are brought together in the new Control of Asbestos Regulations.

When The Time-bomb Goes Off.

The bike just sits there
dust covering its lovely sheen
puffing up the Fintry Hills
well, it's no longer my scene.
Y'see, as a Clydeside apprentice
I proudly learnt the tradesman's skill
little did I know then
the price, asbestos lungs that kill.
Now I just sit here through the painful day
gasping each mouthful of air,  wondering
how can I make the bastards pay.
They new it was a killer
a time-bomb in our lungs
but,  because it was so quick and cheap
they firmly held their tongues.
So what if it cost the workman's life
there's always a couple of new workers
in the care of the worker's wife.
Please try to understand my anger
as I and others bear their cost
a slow death from asbestos lungs
a vibrant life lost.
Anguish for a family and friends
all in the name of profit;
now that really does offend.
Our anger without direction
is a blind archer behind the bow
we have to use our anger
to smash the status quo.
Perhaps making my dying public
might provoke righteous indignation
at a system that puts profit
before the health of a nation.
Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk


 

Thursday, 7 January 2016

Protecting The System.


Protectors of the system. Coming to a side street near you!!!

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

A Littler Bit Of Good News.

               In a world that is falling apart, with wars, repression, brutal authoritarianism and executions, it is cheering to hear some good news.
            Long months have passed since the hot summer day at the beginning of July when our friend and comrade got arrested at a passport control at the Greek-Bulgarian border. The Europe-wide arrest warrant against her had been issued by the prosecution office of Aachen, Germany, on the 24th of June 2015. After having spent three weeks in Bulgarian cells she got handed over to the German cops at the airport of Sofia.
          In Germany she got locked up under the ‘U-haft‘ (Untersuchungshaft) regime in Cologne because of a presumed involvement in an armed bank robbery that had taken place two years earlier (2013). Under this regime prisoners awaiting trial are locked up, officially for a maximum of six months, which in reality very often is extended up to a period of over a year. In her case the restrictions put in place meant that at each visit (2 hours per month) there were two cops, a guard and a translator present, that she was not allowed to make any phone calls and that all post was first directed to the prosecutor’s office where it was read and then given to her after one month delay.
               Her detention was based on a single piece of evidence: a DNA trace found on two gas pistols discovered in a closet of the bank by an employee 11 days later. A few weeks ago, on the 2nd December, after months of investigation the prosecution formally charged her with bank robbery, hostage taking and weapon possession. These charges were brought in front of three judges, who had to decide whether to pursue them in court or not. On the 16th of December, the court called the prison instructing them to release our comrade because all charges were to be dropped, since the “evidence” that five months of investigation produced was not sufficient for this case to be brought to court.
                 Now, our comrade is back with us. However, the joy that this brings us does not replace, nor lets us forget our anger towards the isolating restrictions, towards the ridiculousness of the uniform circus, and towards any authoritarian system that plays with people’s lives in such a way. The biggest source of strength came from the uncompromising and uncooperative stand our comrade took: she always kept her head up and her defiant spirits alive.
Read the full article HERE:
Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk