A Storm.

            To those extremely rich individuals sitting in the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, during this "exploitation crisis" who waffle on about growing the economy being the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. They totally ignore the fact the the crisis is now, millions are facing deprivation on a Dickensian scale, They may throw a few peanuts your way, a propaganda stunt to make you believe they are trying to improve your situation. However, it is that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow that they are focused on, and it will not be shared with you.
          It is encouraging to see more and more people take to the streets to vent their anger at this blatant exploitation. The public are now more determined than ever that they will not take this being shafted by the rich and powerful any more. The anger is there and it will not dissipate by the usual paracetamol of meager handouts to try to appease that righteous anger. We, demand a dramatic change in how our society is run, we will have a fair society or that anger will spill over and explode across the whole of society.
          Across the country there are demonstrations, protests and rallies, Glasgow is no exception. This Friday, August 12th. saw a protest held outside the head office of Scottish Power, in St Vincent St. from various groups and individuals, all with one thought, we will not take this plundering of our assets to enrich a handful of very rich and powerful individuals and corporations. I loved their very large banner, Power to the People, very appropriate outside Scottish Power. There is a storm brewing.

Here are some photos from Friday's protest, courtesy of Bob Hamilton.

 

 

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Contrasts.

            At this moment in time millions of people in the UK are facing hardship beyond their lives experience. Poverty, debt and lack of decent food and heating. with massive increases in prices of food and energy shooting higher, the future looks black indeed. At present in the UK the total debt already owed to utility companies is £1.3 billion. How will the coming price increase add to that. These figures are human beings, struggling to survive in extremely adverse conditions. Compare this with the other end of the capitalist system. The UK has 171 billionaires, with a total wealth of £653 billion, this is up £55 billion on the previous year, that's a 9.4% increase in the past year. Have you seen an 9.4% increase in your personal wealth in the last year. Surely since we are the wealth creators we should be seeing that extra wealth flowing our way. 

 

       Since the end of the pandemic, the only section of this country that has seen a real benefit is the millionaire/billionaire class. During the pandemic UK billionaires saw their wealth grow by more than a fifth, while the population as a whole saw their conditions deteriorate.
       It must be obvious to anyone with at least two brain cells, to realise that this capitalist system is grossly unfair. We have allowed a system that sees the real wealth creators come off worst in the distribution of that wealth and a few parasites to glean the cream of the created wealth. It is long past the time when people think of reforming this unjust exploitative greed driven system of capitalism, its total destruction is the only answer and see it replaced with a system of fairness, justice, mutual aid and the ability to see to the needs of all our people.

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Sewage!!

                                                     Image courtesy of BBC.

        When Maggie Thatcher privatised English water companies in 1989, the government paid off all their debts. So the gobbling shareholders got an nice fat debt free series of companies. On average since then English water companies have paid out £2 billion per year in bonuses to shareholders. Between 1991 and 1019 parent companies have paid out a whopping £57 billion in dividends. Even as they paid out dividends in shovels full, they managed to amass a debt of £48 billion over the past three decades, this debt costs them £1.3 billion in interest in one year. Not only are the CEO and shareholders making a killing from that necessity of life, water, but the financial Mafia are milking it big time. So there are people getting very rich because water is an necessity of life, we all need it every day of our lives. Perhaps if that £57 billion had been spent on infrastructure development, proper maintenance, we would not be seeing a hose pipe ban in the south of England. Perhaps they could have avoided the 400,000 times that raw sewage was discharged into rivers in 2020. However the Holy Scriptures of capitalism states that profit is sacred and all else will be sacrificed to that end. Sewage in our rivers, hose pipe bans, all necessary to feed the greed infested parasites that control these companies and their vampire shareholders. Do we need them? Could we do better on our own without shareholders and profits? Think about it.

Image courtesy of The Conversation.

 

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Ruchill.

         As this "Exploitation Crisis" bites deeper into the daily lives of most of the people of this country and across the planet, and energy companies profits soar, protests and strikes are popping up all over the place, more frequent more vociferous and more organised, and rightly so. What is needed is these protest groups to link up across all our communities and organise on a national basis. Likewise, workers need to co-ordinate their strike actions and join with other unions and bring this system of greed and exploitation crumbling down. We have the power, we just need to join hands across communities and workplaces. It is only by joint and co-ordinated action will we win a decent life for all our people.

 

        The video is of a protest held on Saturday August 6th. 2022 outside the Ruchill Community Centre, a centre that is threatened with closure. The protest was against closures and the cost of living disaster we are facing, an avoidable disaster. I apologise for the traffic noise, but it was a main road. 

 

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Hiroshima.

 

                                                  Image courtesy of Britannica.

     Today marks the 77th. anniversary of the worst crime against humanity in our blood soaked human history. The psychopathic display of imperialist power by the U$A, the dropping of two atomic bombs on Japan, Hiroshima, and three days later on Nagasaki. These two events may drift into the fog of history, but are etched in blood and suffering in that human history, unforgettable, unforgivable. The extent of the horror and suffering caused by these two actions is proof the we must not allow any nation state to hold such devastation in its power. We must demand an end to any such weapons existing on this planet, especially now, when those same imperialist powers are discussing the possibility of a nuclear war.

       The extract blow from ICAN, states far more eloquently the horrors of nuclear weapons, than I ever could. No matter how it is said, it must never be forgotten, never forgiven.     

          The two atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945 killed and maimed hundreds of thousands of people, and their effects are still being felt today.
            By the end of 1945, the bombing had killed an estimated 140,000 people in Hiroshima, and a further 74,000 in Nagasaki. In the years that followed, many of the survivors would face leukemia, cancer, or other terrible side effects from the radiation.
         The uranium bomb detonated over Hiroshima on 6 August 1945 had an explosive yield equal to 15,000 tonnes of TNT. It razed and burnt around 70 per cent of all buildings and caused an estimated 140,000 deaths by the end of 1945, along with increased rates of cancer and chronic disease among the survivors.
          A slightly larger plutonium bomb exploded over Nagasaki three days later levelled 6.7 sq km. of the city and killed 74,000 people by the end of 1945. Ground temperatures reached 4,000°C and radioactive rain poured down.
  

No response capacity
        If a nuclear weapon were to be detonated over a city today, first responders - hospitals, firemen, aid organisations - would simply be unable to help.
       The reason we know this is that the extent of the damage in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 made it nearly impossible to provide aid. In Hiroshima 90 per cent of physicians and nurses were killed or injured; 42 of 45 hospitals were rendered non-functional; and 70 per cent of victims had combined injuries including, in most cases, severe burns.
       All the dedicated burn beds around the world would be insufficient to care for the survivors of a single nuclear bomb on any city.
       In Hiroshima and Nagasaki, most victims died without any care to ease their suffering. Some of those who entered the cities after the bombings to provide assistance also died from the radiation.

       This powerful video by the Red Cross explains why responding would be impossible.  

Read the full article HERE:

‘Hiroshima Child’

I come and stand at every door
But none can hear my silent tread
I knock and yet remain unseen
For I am dead for I am dead

I’m only seven though I died
In Hiroshima long ago
I’m seven now as I was then
When children die they do not grow

My hair was scorched by swirling flame
My eyes grew dim my eyes grew blind
Death came and turned my bones to dust
And that was scattered by the wind

I need no fruit I need no rice
I need no sweets nor even bread
I ask for nothing for myself
For I am dead for I am dead

All that I need is that for peace
You fight today you fight today
So that the children of this world
Can live and grow and laugh and play

A poem by Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet

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Poems.

           Perhaps it is a time for a wee poem or two, to say the thoughts that clamber and crash their way through the labyrinth of my mind. 

Tinsel Cities.

In the city of tinsel and bright lights
midst the playthings of the rich
just beyond the champagne bubble
out of earshot of the butterfly people
in the dark shadows where no one looks
there you’ll find poverty and destitution
dance a macabre dance of survival.
In Mammon’s city of grand illusions
where rivers of wealth feed frivolity
in its twisting dark and musty lanes
where the light of hope seldom shines
an army of the living dead sweat and toil
polishing the tinsel, changing light bulbs
refilling the champagne bottles
nothing must stop the flow of frivolity
or the butterfly people will die.

 

The Invisible.

We live there— yes— there
A little bit above the dead
But quite a bit below the living
Where poverty is a dream
Deprivation a reality
Our daily bread an illusion
We sigh--we weep—
As ruthless poverty
With its cold claws
Tears the heart from our children
We ask—WHY?
Surrounded by opulence
Invisible to arrogant greed
Anger simmers beneath the surface
We seek equality
We will have justice
If blood is the price
So be it. 

 

 Mirror Mirror On The Wall.

I can’t help but watch him
that old man
as he staggers across the room
with that unusual gait
punctuated by the odd stumble
I hear his groans and feel his pain
sometimes with a few profane words
he drags himself from the couch or chair
pauses for a moment to regain his balance
I sense his reluctance to bend down
and pick things off the floor
I’m fascinated by those hands
light brown withered looking bony structures
with their pronounced veins
running along the back of them
and up his slim arms
I sense his annoyance
that they’re not as strong as they used to be
I feel his regret
that he can’t do the things he once did with ease
I often think
that to have lived that long
he must have a chest full
of memories and experiences
that should be worth something
but what puzzles me most
is when
I look in the mirror
I see him and not me.

 

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Expoitation.

 

         It is difficult to take your mind off the so called "cost of living crisis" because of the amount of suffering and hardship that will hit millions of ordinary people in this country and across the world. However, on examination you realise that it is not a "cost of living crisis", it is in fact an "exploitation crisis".
       For example, the wholesale price of gas is 37% cheaper than it was at its peak in March, but retail prices are 53% more expensive than they were in March. Meanwhile British Gas, during the same period, posted an increase of 411% in profits during that period. BP have just announced the highest profits in the company's history, approximately £7 billion. This little earner could mean that the BP CEO Bernard Looney will be in line for an obscene remuneration of £11.7 million. Though in this case we are the real "loonies" for accepting this daily plundering of our lives.
        Now hand on heart and say this is a cost of living crisis and we are all in it together. When will we wake up to the fact that we are being shafted day and daily by a group of billionaires, aided and abetted by the corporate world's minders, the state. They are two sides of the same coin, inseparable, licking each others backsides.

 A trade off!!

           Of course it is not a local problem, it is a world wide plundering and pillage of the ordinary people. For example EXXON's profits are stated to be $2,245.62 every second of every day. Where do you think all that money goes?

 

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Fights On.

           Giannis Michailidis has served his full prison sentence and fulfilled all the conditions for his release, and despite this and the fact that he has been on hunger strike for 67 days in attempt to have his just release, the Greek state is callously refusing him justice and are willing to see him die a slow death, locked in solitary confinement. Giannis has stated that he has suspended his hunger strike for justice, but not abandoned the fight, for reasons he will explain at a later date.
 

 The following from Act For Freedom Now:

         I find myself in the unfortunate position to announce that I am suspending this difficult struggle without having won anything substantial. However, this struggle is not over yet nor do I intend to leave it unfinished. The suspension is temporary; some of the reasons are the obvious ones. Some are not. I apologise to those who have supported me that I cannot share the reasons publicly at this point. Should I need to continue I will explain publicly and in detail the reasons I chose the temporary suspension. I will continue to fight for what I deserve and hopefully will not need to continue.
       The justice system has been humiliated. So far, the only success of this hunger strike is that it has highlighted its contradictions. In terms of the barricades I have attempted to raise, there have been the statements of the lawyers, changing the mood of the “throw them inside and throw away the keys” logic. But my personal request remains in the air. And my commitment that I wouldn’t stop seems betrayed at this point. This weighs on me, of course, and despite knowing that my intention is – if necessary – to continue at a more fruitful time in the near future; but as I said before, not everything can be said at this moment and I hope it will not have to be said. Closing this announcement, I want to wholeheartedly thank those who have supported me in any way. Those who took a stand, those who transcended their social roles because empathy prevailed. But above all, those who fought tooth and nail to break the enforced silence, those who were beaten in the streets to express their solidarity, those who took risks and those who starved in prison. To the latter I owe my life. If all this had not happened, at this moment the conditions for this suspension wouldn’t exist. That’s all for now. I still look forward to my immediate release.

Everything continues…

Yiannis Michailidis

 A text by Giannis Michailidis, read out at the event in Athens for "Words for Remembrance of Political Prisoners."

THE HIDDEN STRENGTH OF AN INSURRECTION IS THAT IT AROUSES THE IMAGINATION

         It was late evening of December 5th, 2008 and I was reading the comic book ‘V for Vendetta’, when a phrase shook me: “Noise is relative to the silence preceding it. The more absolute the hush, the more shocking the thunderclap.” The economic crisis hadn’t yet unsettled the dominant narrative of capitalism as a one-way road, and a spontaneous insurrection in a country of the west world seemed like a utopia. I stood on this phrase, which I felt very believable, but there weren’t any facts to support it and I wondered a lot inside me.. A day later, a bullet struck the heart of feisty comrade Alexandros Grigoropoulos. The bullet came from the weapon of a cop, for whom Vyronas Polydoras, 

Read the full article HERE: 

 

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Help!!

         Remember the insulting "help" from SSE on how it customers could keep warm this winter with the astronomical energy prices we were being ask to pay? Their heart felt advice as they ran smiling to the bank was, “doing a few star jumps”, “having a cuddle with your pets”, and eating “hearty bowls of porridge”. None of this advice would be needed by their shareholders or their CEO, they would hardly notice the price rises.
       Meanwhile, SSE made £600 million profit, Scottish Power and Centrica, owners of of British Gas, turned in a smart little profit of £423 million. These energy companies stashed away more than a billion pounds in profit before this years price hike. How much are your bills going up by?
       The bosses of the UK six biggest energy companies are the UK's highest earners. In 2018 former Centrica CEO received £2.4 million, a salary rise of 44% on his previous salary. During the first year of the pandemic, CEO of SSE Alistair Pillips-Davies was paid a tidy £1.6 million. In any given year the average CEO by 6th of January will have earned more than the average worker will all year.
        Have a good look at these figures, think of the obscene increases in profits and salaries of the energy companies and the CEO, then think of the massive price increases to you and I with our meager incomes being stretched to breaking point. Then ask yourself, should we blame the war in Ukraine or the greed infested energy companies, who are part and parcel of this system.

 

 

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Rip-Off.

         As we all face energy bills in the region of £4,000, and the political ballerinas spout how it is all the fault of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, our energy companies are wallowing in unprecedented profits. Get your head round these figures and say, hand on heart, the prices are unavoidable.

         The two biggest energy companies in the UK, Shell and Centrica are both making a killing on the backs of your suffering. Take Shell first, for the three months April to June 2022, hauled in profits in the region of £10 billion. While suffering amnesia regarding the astronomical bills its customers are set to pay, Shell has promised its shareholders £6.5 billion in bonuses.
       Its pal in piracy, Centrica, came up with profits of £1.3 billion for the first half of 2022 and has promised its shareholders bonuses amounting to £59 million.
      So do you get the feeling that the Ukrainian situation is a bonus to these people, an opportunity to rip us off with vengeance, and that they are laughing at us as they slither their way to the bank.

        When will we ever learn, when will we finally say, enough is enough and bring this festering cancer of greed crashing down. A better world is there, it's in your hearts, you know how it would look, fairness, justice, humanity, mutual aid and the ability to see to the needs of all our people, we don't need corporate conglomerates, millionaires and billionaires, they are the parasites that destroy our lives.

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Work Hard!!

   

         I suppose it's nothing new for me, getting angry at politicians. I get angry at their arrogance, their callous disregard for the truth, their phony demeanor and the pompous acceptance of their belief in their own exceptionalism. However I can add being insulted by them, to the list. Listening to the two self opinionated empty shells standing for the Tory leadership, I, and I'm sure many others feel insulted, to hear an individual with a £200 million personal fortune, put it all down to the hard work of his parents. That's the answer, just work hard and you'll be a multi-millionaire. That is the really insulting message that this pair of delusional liars pump out. 

Photo courtesy of Flashback:

       As far as hard work goes, I consider that no man or woman worked harder than my father. A coal miner all his life, he never took a holiday. When the mines closed for the Glasgow Fair fortnight, they needed people to go down the mine on a daily bases to check for gas and/or flooding, so that the mine would be operational when the miners returned. My father always took that job. We went off with my mother doon the waatur to Dunoon where my mother had booked a room or room and kitchen, and we had our two weeks holiday. We never achieved our £200 million, I suppose in Rishi's and Liz's world my father did not work hard enough.
      There are millions of workers who work hard all their lives and have nothing but struggle, health workers, factory workers, office workers and so it goes on, but all face a life of perpetual struggle. To say that it is hard work that earned these two political puppets their millionaire status, is a disgusting insult to all those ordinary people who work hard day and daily to give their families a decent life, and face a life of perpetual struggle. 

                                                Photo courtesy of Facebook:

        Rishi Sunak, personal wealth in the region of £200 million, poor Liz Truss has to get by on a mere £8 million, approximately. I guess her parents didn't work as hard as Rishi's.

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Crisis???

     

       So there's a cost of living crisis and EVERYBODY suffers, well not exactly. Petrol prices have rocketed, and it is all put down to those nasty Russians, no mention of the astronomical profits being made by the oil producing and refining companies. This section of the capitalist system, far from suffering due to this war in Ukraine have used it to shove profits through the roof. They are all making unimaginable profits and in private praying at the altar greed, that the war continues. They've never had it so good.
        This is just one example of how this system enjoys wars as they always benefit the rich and powerful. The same applies throughout the capitalist system. Emergencies, wars, famine and shortages are all a means to increase profits, a system based on exploitation of the many for profit for the few. This greed based system, this billionaires gambling casino, this insanity called capitalism will only end when wee the ordinary people decide we have had enough and organise to bring the whole stinking edifice crashing down. A better world is possible, just think of how you would like to see the world, a fairer world, a world based on compassion, humanity and justice, then make it happen. We have the numbers, we have the imagination, we have the skills, where is the will?

The following from Zero Hedge: 

 

 

         Amid soaring gasoline prices in the second quarter, the eight biggest independent U.S. refiners are set to report later this month a huge 652% sequential jump in their average earnings per share (EPS), according to estimates from investment bank Tudor Pickering Holt & Co cited by The Wall Street Journal.
        All refiners and all integrated oil and gas companies are set for a windfall of profits for the second quarter as U.S. gasoline prices soared to the highest ever on record of over $5 per gallon in early June.
        The biggest refiners are also expected to generate billions of cash flow from operations as refining margins are at their highest in many years.
        “We’re seeing margins twice as high as the golden age,” Charles Kemp, a vice president at energy consulting firm Baker & O’Brien Inc, told the Journal. Kemp was referring to the 2004-2007 period, when refiners booked massive profits, too.
        The largest international majors are also set for exceptional earnings at their refining businesses, thanks to high refining margins and fuel demand in the second quarter. Some of the largest international oil majors have already announced expectations of blockbuster earnings from their refining divisions when they report Q2 profits later this month.
          France’s supermajor TotalEnergies said last week that “Refining & Chemicals results are expected to be exceptional given the very high levels of distillate and gasoline cracks.” ExxonMobil said in an SEC filing in early July that the rise in industry margins is set to add between $4.4 billion and $4.6 billion to its Q2 results. At Shell, the refining margin nearly tripled in Q2 compared to Q1 and is expected to add between $800 million and $1.2 billion to the second quarter results of Shell’s Products division, compared to the first quarter 2022.
         Yet, the second quarter could have been the peak refining profits for some time as gasoline demand in the United States has weakened in recent weeks in response to high prices at the pump. Crude oil prices have also dropped from the recent highs of $120 a barrel as markets fear a recession is coming. 

 

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Assassination.

          I can only repeat, the state is an institution without humanity or compassion. In this case it is the Greek state, that with callous disregard for the health and welfare of one of its citizens. Giannis Michailidis. An anarchist prisoner of the state is in a severe condition regarding his health, after 61 days of hunger strike, yet the state ignores his right to justice, having served his time, he is being held, not for any crime, but for his political stance. Giannis deserves all the support and solidarity that we can muster, across borders, this injustice of the Greek state must be called out loud and clear, Giannis has a right to be free. 

The following from Act for Freedom Now:

           The anarchist comrade Giannis Michailidis has been on hunger strike since 23/5, demanding his release from prison. Today he completes 61 days of hunger strike without his request being accepted. His health condition has deteriorated greatly, as he has great difficulty in getting out of bed, standing up, reading and writing, his spleen and gall bladder pains are becoming increasingly severe, and he has reached a point where it is difficult for him to drink much water.
           His body weight has reached 54.1 kg. Having started the hunger strike at 73 kilos, he has now lost 19 kilos, or 26% of his original body weight. His high blood pressure is 9 and low is 6, and his blood sugar was measured at 67. Having lost over 25% of his original body weight, and with his health indicators steadily deteriorating, his chances of permanent physical damage are now very high. At the moment, comrade Giannis Michailidis is on the verge of hypoglycemic shock and doctors say that there is a possibility that he could fall into a coma. The state and judicial authorities are gambling with the life and integrity of anarchist Giannis Michailidis.

           We reiterate from the previous update that his white blood cell count has dropped so far below the lower normal limit (value: 2.43 with limits of 4.60-10.2 K/μL), leading to immunodeficiency. Platelets are also counted much lower than the lower normal limit (value: 90 with limits of 142-424 K/μL), and Thrombocytopenia can cause severe and threatening internal bleeding. Based on his latest medical examinations and according to his treating physicians, he is at risk of severe osteoporosis and he is already experiencing joint pain. In addition, he has severe chest pain when trying to move around. He already has a potentially permanent neurological problem in his eyes, as the neurological examination showed double vision in extreme positions due to lack of nutrients.
         The latest radiological examinations and ultrasound examination (on 18/7) showed that the organs now at immediate risk of permanent damage are the bile and the spleen, with the latter facing an additional burden, as Giannis has congenital thalassemia (thalassemia). Finally, there is severe pain in the left kidney. All of the above is not helped by his increased sleep disturbances, and certainly the sensory isolation space in which he is in, leading to the almost total absence of support, care and monitoring by his family members and his personal physician.----

 

       -----We warn the judicial authorities and make it clear that the delay of the decision or the possibility of a rejection by the Lamia council is tantamount to state murder of anarchist comrade Giannis Michailidis. We therefore emphatically emphasize the weight of responsibility that weighs on this decision and the time of its making.

IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF ANARCHIST GIANNIS MICHAILIDIS

Against the regime of exemption of political prisoners

Assembly in solidarity with the anarchist hunger striker Giannis Michailidis

assembly email : mihallil@riseup.net

Read the full article HERE: 

 

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