When The Cash Fountain Is Sucked Dry----!!

Philip Green doesn't fly Easy Jet.

        So BHS looks like it could go into administration, sign of the times, just another ailing business, or-----? 

Philip and friends messing around in boats.

        BHS has proved itself to be a cash fountain for the one time owners, the Green family, and a bunch of cash crazy shareholders. After buying the business in 2000, the shareholders extracted more than £422 million in two years, 2002-2004. the vast majority of the loot went to the Green family. The Philip Green family also managed to collect another £151.4 million from BHS in rent for 12 stores which happen to be owned by Carmen properties, which just happened to be a Green family business. The cash fountain didn't stop there, the Green family also earned almost £10 million from £19.5 million bond issued to BHS, and then there was the the £3 million from ground rent on BHS head offices. This looks like the BHS, in a rather short period, earned the Green family £164.4 million plus the major share of another £422 million, a nice little earner if you can get it. So there you have it, a company that is now likely to go into administration poured the princely sum of £586.4 million into the coffers of a little bunch of city gents. Let's not forget all the perks that go with “owning” a company, travel expenses, wining and dining, etc. Now that the this gravy train was being sucked dry, the livelihood of thousands of ordinary people, hangs on a cliff edge. Ah, that's capitalism, when the cash fountain is sucked dry, it's time to go.

Philip's little 2006 purchase, valued at $150 million.

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

 

Another Grab For Libyan Oil And Gas.

        As the millionaire bunch of corporate buddies, that go by the name of “Her Majesty's Government” start to weave the tapestry of deceit around the “need” to have yet another war in Libya, expect an avalanche of lies, misleading figures and ambiguous statements. In spite of having lived many, many years with this river of propaganda shit, it still makes me choke on my porridge when I hear politicians spout something with a serious face, that clearly contradicts what they have already stated. Our war hungry Mr Hammond states, that, he knew that the new Libyan government would be cautious about requesting western military support but if it did, the government would consider it. Having previously said, “If only it were so simple as there being two sides,----There are about 120.” Of course our lords and masters, who Mr Hammond works for, desire to pick one and help it gain power by throwing in Western military air power and ground troops, is not based on the will of the Libyan people. It is simple economics, they want a subservient, compliant puppet government in Libya, one that will let the West exploit and plunder Libya's vast oil and gas reserves, and UK wants to be at the front of the queue when the real plunder starts.
       So all this talk of air strikes and ground troops to help the non-existent, illusionary Libyan government, is the usual sham of blatant hypocrisy, to cover their strong arm tactics in support Western corporate greed. Do you honestly believe that the Cameron cabal sitting in those palatial halls of power called the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, are wrestling with these decisions out of a human desire to help the welfare of ordinary people of Libya? Surely you're not that daft, they don't even give a shit about the people here in this country.

        We have to raise our voices loud and clear that we will not tolerate another bloody conflict, another corporate grab, another imperialist adventure. Wars are never for the benefit of the ordinary people.

This from Stop The War: 

            The Western powers are planning a major military escalation in Libya. The UN is trying to impose a new government on the country, despite the fact that both of the two existing and competing authorities have rejected their plans. The reason the West backs the man they call 'Prime Minister designate' Fayez al- Sarraj, is that they expect him to invite the West in to support.
         This helps them avoid a public debate about intervention. On Monday, Michael Fallon made it clear the government disapproves of democratic scrutiny over going to war when he announced a promised bill to enshrine parliamentary debate on military action would be dropped. Their unseemly haste to intervene in Libya is driven by two things. Firstly, a desire to control the oil and gas fields and secondly, a plan to stop refugees crossing the Mediterranean from Libya by force. We need to widen our campaign against the government plans.
        Stop the War is holding a public meeting on Libya this Tuesday 26th April at the Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church in Central London (235 Shaftesbury Avenue, London WC2H 8EP). Please join us to discuss the situation and how we can oppose another disatrous intervention. 

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

 

 

I Am Alive.

 From Not Buying Anything:

       I am alive, and it feels great. When Linda and I chose to live simply it was so we could feel more alive more often. It has paid off. We have no regrets.

Here are a few things that make me feel alive.

• being in nature
• riding my bike
• spending time with Linda, my best friend and companion
• writing
• meditating
• reading a good book
• cooking and eating a good vegetarian meal
• exercising
• listening to birds and frogs and bees and wind and rain and thunder
• making music, singing, listening to tunes
• contemplating death
• spending time with family and friends
  

What makes you feel alive?

        I read this posting from “Not Buying Anything”, I agree with practically everything he says. It could make for a very stress free life. However, I can't turn my back on the millions of refugees across the globe, fleeing death from wars and famine, the millions of individuals being ruthlessly exploited by the greed of the capitalist system, the dire poverty and deprivation heaped on millions because of the exploitative corporate world, the millions of innocent people, young and old, maimed and killed by imperialists wars. Nor can I ignore the gross inequality that blights all the countries on the planet, the stunted lives and destroyed potential of millions, as the system drives for ever greater profit.
       Sadly, I don't really know what to do about all these brutal injustices, except to raise my voice and stand with those who also see these things, and wish to try to eliminate them by bring down the system that is at the root of all these problems, capitalism. Believing that I, in some small way am contributing to the demise of this greed driven system and helping to shape that better world where we see to the needs of all our people, 

that is what makes me feel alive.

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

The Sleazy Slush Fund For Millionaires.

        Talk of tax avoidance/evasion is all over the news at the moment, as if it was something special and out of the ordinary, and only done by dodgy foreigners. However, you and I know that it is common practice among our home grown millionaire pampered parasites., they are all members of the same club, the Millionaires' Exploiting Club, and are always looking for ways and means to grow their loot without paying anything towards the social fabric of our society. Corporations, and millionaires/billionaires, don't like prying eyes seeing the extent of their ill-gotten gains, so with the aid of over paid lawyers and accountants, through a web of complex fabricated trust funds and mock companies, it is all stashed away in tax havens, well hidden from tax officials.
       According to recent research by Oxfam, the amount of this stashed loot is staggering, the true figure world wide will never be know but they state that 50 of the biggest US companies, including such names as Coca-Cola, Walt Disney, Alphabet, (Google)and Goldman Sachs have booty of approximately $1.3 trillion stashed away in cubby holes in these tax havens. This whopping cesspool of ill gotten gains is greater than the GDP of Spain, Mexico or Australia.
        We would be naive to believe that it is only large American corporations that are at it with their filthy loot, it is the way the game is played in the world of greed driven capitalism. All the supposed legislation to “clamp down” on such practices, is just a charade, to appease the peasants. It looks good on the politicians CV. They are not likely to do anything to upset their corporate masters, after all they are there to protect that sleazy world of of their corporate masters. 

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

Stared At By A Thousand Prying Eyes.

        In our present society, surveillance is now an all very intrusive fact of life. Our cities are festooned with CCTV cameras, in shops, shopping malls, on transport vehicles, and all around our streets. They are capable of face recognition and profiling, but still they want more. So we have “Stingray”, a system, it can be fixed or mobile, that captures all the data on mobile phones of up to 10,000 people in one area, at one fell swoop. It cannot be targeted at one person, so you are all guilty and worthy of surveillance. You don't know your data has been stolen and you have no idea who will use it, or how it will be used, still they call it democracy.
        Now there is another tool soon to be available to the armoury of the state snoopers. A car that can scan faces up to 600 metres away while travelling at 75 mph. A very sophisticated piece of surveillance equipment, it can determine gender, age, and race of each face and compare this to a database alerting the driver when there is a match.
       So you go to meet a friend in town, your every movement is filmed, your mobile phone data is stolen, your face is profiled and compared to some mysterious secret database, You meet your friend, who has been through the same process, then it is repeated on your way home. Who is watching you, who is going through your personal details, who is making assumptions about you based on this stolen data? An open and free society, capitalist style.

Stingray, Wikipedia:

           The StingRay is an IMSI-catcher with both passive (digital analyzer) and active (cell site simulator) capabilities. When operating in active mode, the device mimics a wireless carrier cell tower in order to force all nearby mobile phones and other cellular data devices to connect to it.[4][5][6] The StingRay family of devices can be mounted in vehicles,[5] on airplanes, helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles.[7] Hand-carried versions are referred to under the trade name KingFish

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

Corporate Greed Or Anarchism.

      The corporate greed machine now knows its strength and is ever increasingly flexing its muscles. The number of corporations challenging government legislation, stating that it is damaging their profits, and winning billions of dollars of tax payers money is increasing.
      You may lobby your government to bring legislation to safeguard the environment and some multi-million pound corporation can challenge it in court stating that it is impeding its drive for profit. One new case is the Tobie Mining and Energy company which has launched a $16.5 billion lawsuit against the Columbian government because the government blocked a gold mining operation that was damaging the Amazon Forest. Of course if it wins, it is $16.5 billion of tax payers money that flows into the corporations coffers.
     There have been other cases and to lawyers this is big business. 

Fifteen years ago, Parada’s work was a minor niche even within the legal business. But since 2000, hundreds of foreign investors have sued more than half of the world’s countries, claiming damages for a wide range of government actions that they say have threatened their profits. In 2006, Ecuador cancelled an oil-exploration contract with Houston-based Occidental Petroleum; in 2012, after Occidental filed a suit before an international investment tribunal, Ecuador was ordered to pay a record $1.8bn – roughly equal to the country’s health budget for a year. (Ecuador has logged a request for the decision to be annulled.)

        Under this insane economic system the power of money over-rides the will of the people, rain forests and mountain areas are commodities to be exploited for profit. The world's diverse environment is necessary for our survival, to the powerful corporations they are there to be ripped apart to fatten the bank accounts of the already over wealthy pampered parasites. To curtail the power of wealth over the will of the people, we will have to end this greed driven brutal exploitative system of capitalism, and replace it with a system of community based mutual aid, co-operation between communities, sustainability and a system that sees to the needs of all our people, in a word, anarchism.

It's this:

 or it's this:

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

Eco-Friendly Transport.

      Wednesday was a nice day, though the wind was a wee bit on the cold side. So I took the opportunity to have my first run out on my dream machine since coming back from my holiday in the sun. It was invigorating to say the least, I had just passed that symbol of state oppression, Low Moss prison when I couldn't resist stopping to take a photo of two forms of eco-friendly transport side by side. One for road travel, and one for sedate cross-country.

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

Wars Make Money For The Rich.

 

         With the Cameron cabal following in the footsteps of their imperial ancestors, and hoping to renew the bombing of Libya, in an attempt to set up a compliant, puppet government, in that part of the oil rich world, it is important that we raise, even louder, our voices against all military adventurism. In all these imperialist adventures of "bring democracy" to a country via the bomb and the bullet, it is the ordinary people who die in their thousands, while the corporate world that grows fat on the looted assets.

 This from The Scottish Peace Network:

        The next monthly vigil, sponsored by the Scottish Peace Network, will take place on Wednesday, April 27, from, 5 to 6pm at Dewar's statue on Buchanan Street. We will be protesting the bombing of Iraq and Syria, also against the renewed threat of UK bombing Libya, and weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and urging everyone to resist militarism.
        We have placards, a banner and flyers. Feel free to bring your own placards. Please share through your circles and networks.

   Hope to see everyone there.

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

May Day On The Green.

Bring MAY DAY back to the Green!

        Tired of the ritual Glasgow May Day, a boring walk through the city, to sit in a hall listening to "our leaders", pontificating and spouting about how they will save the world. Well, a group of us are trying to bring May Day back to The Green and make it what it was meant to be, a family day, a fun day, a day to celebrate the solidarity of the working class.

       Sunday, May 1st we are organising a family get-together/picnic in the Green, Based at Free Cycle North, with activities and bikes, in and around the green. With a little bit of the history of May Day. Bring what you expect to find, it is our day. It is early days yet, but we expect face painting, music, singing and performance poetry, among other events, and a picnic, with some eats. It should kick off on The Green around 1:00pm and end by 3:30pm app. on May 1st.
You can have your march around the city and come back to the Green to meet up with friends and comrades and have a friendly afternoon with all the family. May Day belongs to the people, and belongs on the Green, let's bring it back. Bring a picnic and food to share.
        We will be doing some banner and sign making at the Electron Club this Saturday 23rd, from 2:00 come along and help. Electron, CCA 350 Sauchiehall St, Glasgow G2 3JD

PLEASE FORWARD AND GET INVOLVED.

        If you can sing, dance, juggle, face-paint play an instrument, ride a mono-cycle, read a poem, or any other wee skill that might entertain the people, bring it along. If you feel you would like to take part, please do get in touch. The more the merrier, it is growing in momentum, Glasgow can make it better and bigger.

annarky@radicalglasgow.me.uk
bob@citystrolls.com

 

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

Vive Le Commune!!

       Overthrown, but not conquered, the Commune in our days is born again. It is no longer a dream of the vanquished, caressing in imagination the lovely mirage of hope. No! the ‘commune’ of today is becoming the visible and definite aim of the revolution rumbling beneath our feet.” Kropotkin on the Paris Commune.

       Another interesting article by Jerome Roos from Roar Mag. Well worth reading the full article. 

What Is the Commune?

----------- Historically speaking, communal ways of organizing social life long precede the development of the modern state, and humanity on the whole has spent far more time living communally than it has under capitalism.

        To an extent, historical experience therefore lends credence to the proposition that, in the long run, the commune-form might secure a far more stable social order than the state-form, whose contradictory unity with crisis-prone finance capital renders it increasingly vulnerable to social conflict and systemic chaos, not to mention ecological catastrophe. On this point, indigenous communities and peasant communes may hold some important clues for the identification of alternative developmental pathways—which helps explain why theorists like Marx and Kropotkin spent many years studying such pre-capitalist societies.

         Nevertheless, there are clearly important differences between these ancient communal forms and the type of revolutionary commune of which we are speaking here, not least in terms of the latter’s emancipatory, future-oriented and internationalist horizon. Crucially, the modern commune fully embraces the expansiveness and universality of the socialist ideal. To paraphrase Subcomandante Marcos, whose Zapatista movement has formed its own indigenous communes in southern Mexico, the revolutionary commune is “not a dream from the past [or] something that came from our ancestors. It comes to us from the future; it is the next step that we have to take.”-------

       We count on the present generation to bring about the social revolution within the commune, to put an end to the ignoble system of bourgeois exploitation, to rid the people of the tutelage of the state, to inaugurate a new era of liberty, equality, solidarity in the evolution of the human race.”

Read the full article HERE:

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

The Warmth Of A Dream.

 

          The British winter has passed, but our climate still makes this country a vicious, brutal and death dealing place to sleep rough. Across the country in towns and cities, vulnerable people are having to spend their nights finding a doorway, a lane, a hole in the wall, or wherever, to bed down for the night. The capitalist system can produce 5 star hotels and luxury housing for some, but shit housing for the majority, and in many case no home at all. Our cities and towns are awash with empty premises, all locked up, yet we still have people dying on our streets, and the powers that be call this democracy. There is no way that we should accept, in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, that anybody should have to sleep rough, this is surely an indictment against a system that is greed driven and built on exploitation and inequality. While some dine and sleep in unbelievable opulence, others seek shelter from the elements in tattered and worn clothes curled up in a doorway. This is the hallmark of a failed system that must be destroyed.

The Warmth Of A Dream.

He lay in a dark doorway, dreamed of home,

night frost locked his joints

morning rain chilled the marrow of his bone.

In the dream there was a sister, 

a pram in a garden, a crowd of youngsters

who called him "mister", a time of little pain.

Are these youngsters the same young men, who

now laugh at him, throw beer cans,

piss on him as he lies drunk in some dark lane?

When was that first step down this slippery slope,

when was that first step to no forgiveness.

No will to rise to beg for food,

numbness kills the pain.

The dream brings a warmth that feels good,

dark fog shades out consciousness,

an ambulance carries off a body washed in rain. 

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

Enough Is Enough.

        More and more the system is struggling with "civil disobedience", which really translates into trying to cope with people's anger at being screwed. From Canada to Greece, from Spain to France, from Turkey to Germany, people are standing up and saying, "enough is enough".

The latest from SubMedia TV:

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

The Surface Glitter Of Athens.

         Just back from a visit to Athens, on the surface, central Athens looks much like the Athens I used to know, the cafés, restaurants, tavernas, all looked busy with pretty pretty butterfly people. One change you do notice is the traffic, it is mainly yellow taxis and motorbikes. They say if you want to know anything about a city, ask a taxi driver, so we did. One driver told us that there are more than 1,700 taxis in Athens, and most are people who have been made redundant. The taxi allows them to work as long as they want, to try to get by, one drive said he worked 16 hours a day, every day and at the end of the month after taxes etc, he was left with €600 to get through the month. Work that out as an hourly rate and you are talking sweatshop money. Another said before the crash he wasn't rich but had €1,800 in the bank and lived reasonably well, now he has nothing and works as many hours a day as he can, every day, just to survive. Two gave conflicting answers to how many had left Greece since the “crash”, one stating almost 1 million, and the other probably 300,00 to 400,000, either amount is a drain on any country. One other we spoke to was leaving in a few weeks to live in Australia to give his kids a chance at a better life. All summed it up as Greece today is dreadful, a disaster. 

       We also went to Exarcheia and visited an occupied cinema, K-Vox, it is run by between 30-40 people, who label themselves as anarchist, communist and libertarian socialist, though the communists emphasising that they had nothing to do with the communist party. It has a café and a library, and they hold various events. All the money raised is used to support political prisoners, it also houses a free medical centre. A wonderful asset, and great to see all the strands of anarchism working together, strength in numbers, and a display of what can be done. If you want to support what they are doing you can contact them at katalipsivox@yahoo.gr

Enjoying the sun outside K-Vox.

        Athens, like all Western city centres, has poverty well hidden, so as not to chase spending tourists away. Though we did see the signs, up side-streets, the bundles of rolled up blankets in doorways and on two occasions, a man lying on the pavement, as if asleep with a crumpled plastic cup in their hand, both were still there hours later when we passed. The temperature was 25 degrees.
       Other facts about Greece, with a population of just over 11 million, it has a prison population of 12,693, 111 per 100,000 of the population, 2014 figures, but there is an anomaly, the prison population is 54.7% foreigners. Unemployment is running at just over 24%, with youth unemployment running at a staggering 51.9%. 

       All the misery, unemployment, families breaking up, poverty, deprivation and long working hours, suffered by the majority of ordinary people in Greece is simply the result of the financial Mafia's gambling spree, and it isn't going to get better any-time soon. The financial moguls of the Troika,( EC, European Commission, ECB, European Central Bank, IMF, International Mankind Fuckers) are starting to squabble among themselves regarding the next bailout to Greece. The IMF saying Greece's debt is unsustainable, so don't want to pour their filthy lucre into the leaking bucket and say the will not participate in the bailout unless the debt is “restructured” The European part of the Troika will not accept that, but say they could not go ahead with the bailout if the IMF doesn't participate. Meanwhile, while the financial gambling sharks shuffle their chips, the people of Greece bleed. That's capitalism.

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

Warm Air On Ageing Bones.

          Hi, this will be my last posting here for a couple of weeks. I'm off to let some warm air caress my ageing bones. So see you soon.

MY GREEK HOLIDAY.

Bustling town,

Greek warriors striding towards me

erect, looking straight ahead

dressed in traditional dress.

Skin tight jeans, knee length Jimmy Chow boots,

ample cleavage, displayed,

topped with Prada sunglasses

and Gucci bag slung over the shoulder.

Noisy cafes, loud animated conversation,

no hands, no voice.

Click of dice, backgammon the religion.

An array of coffees, delivered

to background music born of a forced marriage,

traditional Greek, rock and rap, Greek pop.

White and beige apartment blocks

scarred by long dark shadows,

set ablaze in a scarlet fire

by a fireball sun that seeks the sea,

creating a firestorm across the sky.

Only a lingering kiss with the sea can cool its ire.

Apartments, villas, tavernas,

marauding groups, two’s, three’s, four’s.

Sometimes lying around in the sun,

sometimes following you,

sometimes howling at you.

Everywhere, the street dogs of Greece.

Sitting on my rock

On the side of the mountain,

the sun in my face,

not a breath of wind, not a sound.

Ah, this must be the valley

Where the Gods sleep.

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