GLASGOW'S ANARCHIST CRITIC.

The latest issue No96, of Glasgow's free sheet, The Anarchist Critic, is available for free download at annarky1.

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WHAT IF THE CORPORATE FASCISTS CONTROL THE INTERENET.

          We take wikipedia for granted but what would the world be without it? It is not just the loss of wikipedia but all the periferal damage, the censorship, the control over what you can post and what you can watch, that this act would impose on everybody. You would be under threat each time you clicked on a search engine list, or the list would be so depleted that it would be next to useless.The corporate world controls the fiscal policies of most governments and now they want to control you via the internet. You can rest assured that it is not for your benefit but for the benfit of the corporations in the media and entertainment world. It is another tentacle of corporate fascism.

Created by: Online University
Graphics by: Peter Kim

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BIG BROTHER TOOK A STEP BACK.

                   More on the US big brother approach to the internet, from AVAAZ. 

Dear friends,

Today could be the day we save the free Internet. We've flipped the White House and Congress is on the back foot. Now Wikipedia's blackout has pushed the US web censorship bills to the top of the news. Today we've reached the tipping point. Let’s bury the bill for good. Click to sign the petition:

Today could be the day we save the free Internet.

The US Congress was poised to pass a law allowing officials to censor access to any website around the world. But after we delivered our 1.25 million strong petition to the White House, it came out against the bill and with public pressure at a boiling point even some bill backers are switching sides. Now, the Wikipedia - led blackout protest has rocketed the public campaign to the top of the news.

We are turning the tide. But the dark forces of censorship are trying to revive the bill right now. Let’s bury it for good today. Click to sign this emergency petition to save the Internet now and if you've signed already, to email, call, Facebook, and tweet Congressional and corporate targets. Then send this to everyone:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_internet_action_center_b/?vl

The bill would make the US one of the worst Internet censors in the world -- joining the ranks of countries like China and Iran. The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) would allow the US government to block any of us from accessing sites like YouTube, Google, or Facebook.

We got the White House to switch sides and now our global campaign and the growing public pressure is forcing Congress to abandon the bill. Last weekend, Senator Cardin, who cosponsored the legislation, announced he will vote against it! Then six prominent Republicans penned a letter requesting that the bill be shelved. Now the lower house vote is reportedly on ice.

Just days ago we were told it was impossible to stop the corporate censorship cabal, but now this is at a tipping point and amazingly we could win! Let’s stop US censorship today. Sign this emergency petition to save the internet now and forward it to everyone:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_internet_action_center_b/?vl

This US legislation could infringe on all of our freedoms. But if we win, we will show that when people unite with one voice from all over the world we can stop the abuse of power anywhere. We have brought this bill back from the brink. Now, if we amplify our voices today, we can put an end to the most powerful Internet censorship threat that the world has ever seen.

With hope,

Dalia, Ian, Alice, Ricken, Diego, David, and the Avaaz Team

 

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BIG BROTHER NEVER GOES AWAY.

        

         Big brother never goes away, the tentacles of the corporate empire wriggle their way into ever aspect of your life. Government is there to further the aim and to protect the wealth of the corporate empire. It always takes a consolidated effort by the people to stop this continued attempt at control over all aspects of our life, the Internet is there for you as a tool of self expression and creativity and they don't like that, if they can't control it then they will do  their damnedest to destroy it. This bill going through Congress is just another example of the corporate fascism that demands total control over our lives. Only the strength of people power can stop their strangling the creativity of the people. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

http://boingboing.net/

       

Tell Congress not to censor the Internet NOW! - fightforthefuture.org/pipa

          PROTECT-IP is a bill that has been introduced in the Senate and the House and is moving quickly through Congress. It gives the government and corporations the ability to censor the net, in the name of protecting "creativity". The law would let the government or corporations censor entire sites-- they just have to convince a judge that the site is "dedicated to copyright infringement."
        The government has already wrongly shut down sites without any recourse to the site owner. Under this bill, sharing a video with anything copyrighted in it, or what sites like Youtube and Twitter do, would be considered illegal behaviour according to this bill.
        According to the Congressional Budget Office, this bill would cost us $47 million tax dollars a year — that's for a fix that won't work, disrupts the Internet, stifles innovation, shuts out diverse voices, and censors the Internet. This bill is bad for creativity and does not protect your rights.

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

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AL CAPONE STYLE BONUSES!!

      We keep hearing rumblings from our shiny politicians about regulating the banks and curtailing those monopoly money bonuses. But I wouldn't hold my breath on anything actually happening, afte all most of the politicians have friends in that little racket, all the patter is for public consumption only. It is difficult to find on what criteria the bankers base their right to those obscene bonuses. They can't justify their bonus claim on hard work. If it was hard work that merited those staggering bonuses, then I would probably be a very rich man. Not because of my hard work, but that of my father, he was a coal miner all his working life. The pits used to close for the Glasgow Fair fortnight, but they always needed a skeleton crew to go down the pit every day to check for gas and/or flooding etc. So he volunteered for that year after year. My mother and her wee gang would head off to Dunoon for our two weeks holiday, my father never came, we saw him at the weekends. Now that is hard work, so if stratospheric bonuses were based on hard work my dad would have been a millionaire, and no doubt, me being his only son, would have benefited very nicely after his death, however, I'm just one of the nations poor pensioners. So we can discount the hard work theory for big bonuses. Perhaps it is based on the amount of money you generate, they could believe that the more money you generate, the bigger your bonus. So the less money you generate the less of a bonus you get. Of course if we carry this to its natural conclusion, if you don't generate money then you are in trouble. Meaning that people like surgeons etc. who go off to work every day, cutting and stitching people, don't generate any money. In fact they cost us money, should we then charge these people to work for us? Or should we base remuneration on a simple “fair days wage for a fair days work”, principle?

       The truth is that there is no justification for those ridiculous, mind-blowing bonuses, it is just the simple law of gangsterism. Just as in the Al Capone days, the mobsters looked after “their boys”, so that they could rely on them to do their dirty work and protect them and their wealth creating racket. So the financial Mafia of today, look after “their boys”, so that they can rely on them to do their dirty work and protect them and their wealth creating racket. It is not in the remit of the financial Mafia and “their boys” to do anything for the community at large, it is simple to gather as much wealth and power into their particular section of the rackets.

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CORPORATE STRIKE BREAKERS.

PICKET ADECCO EMPLOYMENT AGENCY
STOP THEM SUPPLYING STRIKE BREAKERS
15A-17A BLYTHSWOOD SQUARE GLASGOW G2 4AD

FRIDAY 20TH JANUARY  4PM-5PM

Facebook event page:
http://www.facebook.com/events/322789271099265/?context=create#!/events/322789271099265/

ADECCO: Casualised Strikebreaking at its Finest

       ADECCO: Stop Supplying Strikebreakers to Asea Brown Boveri factory in Cordoba, Spain. Employment agencies have long been criticised for profiting from  casualisation, precarious emploment and for creating an increasing insecure job market. However, ADECCO, the largest employment agency in the world, has now taken this to a whole new level. Not content to simply lower wages and job security through inferior short term contracts, ADECCO has now gotten into the business of strikebreaking. Workers at a Asea Boveri Brown (ABB) factory in Cordoba Spain have been on indefinite strike since 28th November, camped out all day and night in front of the factory. The strike was called in protest at ABB plans to make workers employed by subcontractors EULEN at the factory redundant and replace them with EUROCEN non-union labour with no experience or qualifications. EUROCEN is the logistics division of  the ADECCO Group of companies.

       Their union the National Conferation of Labour (CNT) points out that the problems related to the work in ABB are also related to outsourcing in general. The workers who were employed through EULEN in fact worked for ABB and took orders from them, but they have a much lower salary and worse working conditions than regular ABB workers and ABB took no responsibility for them as an employer. There were serious breaches of health and safety and inadequate equipment provided. There is also the fact that the relevant collective agreements for the work they actually perform were not applied. Management's refusal to address these issues also led to the strike. First management responded by hiring scab labour from ADECCO. Then they fired all the strikers. By continuing to provide strikebreakers, ADECCO is Complicit in ABB's continued union repression at the factory where there have been a number of union victories over the last 2 years. The workers of the Cordoba factory in Spain are demanding what all workers deserve: fair pay, respect on the job, and a safe working environment. Austerity is providing employers in the public and private sectors alike with the excuse to attack our pay and working conditions. We must stand together—across borders, industries and trade unions—and fight back. Employment agencies have exploited us long enough. A win for workers at ABB, a giant multinational that operates in over 100 countries, will not only improve working conditions for Spanish workers, it will let employment agencies like ADECCO know that workers are willing to fight back against their unscrupulous practices. We demand that sacked strikers are re-instated, management talks with the workforce, and that ADECCO stop providing scab labour .

　

Want to help?
Send a message to ADECCO demanding they cease this disgusting behaviour -
Demand for contracted workers at the ABB factory:

1. Equal Pay to other workers at the factory.
2. Respect on the job.
3. A safe working environment.
4. That management talk to the striking workers.
5. That Adecco stop providing scabs for strikebreaking.
6. That the sacked workers are re-instated.
7. Collective bargaining agreements.
8. Job Security.

A model message to send to ADECCO-EUROCEN in Spanish can be found here and below:
http://www.solfed.org.uk/?q=adecco-casualised-strikebreaking-at-its-finest
　

Model message to be sent to ADECCO-EUROCEN via their website contact page -

Cut and paste the following:

ADECCO: Para de traer esquiroles a la fabrica ABB de Cordoba. Eurocen-Adecco promueven el esquirolaje en la fabrica ABB.

Exijimos por los trabajadores contratados en la fabrica ABB:

1. Que se terminen con la arbritrariedad en el pago de los salarios.
2. Respeto en el trabajo.
3. Un entorno seguro en el trabajo.
4. Que la empresa abra negociaciones con los trabajadores en huelga.
5. Que Adecco deje de traer rompehuelgas.
6. Readmision de los trabajadores despedidos.
7. Convenios colectivos.
8.Estabilidad en el trabajo.

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IT IS VESTED INTERESTS THAT ARE KILLING PEOPLE.

      We should never lose sight of the fact that all this talk of "austerity cuts" has a human face. While those, the faceless ones, in expensive suits, sit in marble halls discussing how, where and how deep  to cut at the social fabric of our society, the results among those without the expensive suits, you and I, the ordinary people, can be ill health, poverty, deprivation, mental health problems and even death. It is discussed politely on TV and radio and long winded economic articles appear in the mainstream media, all with a cold rationalism the belies the horror and hurt of the situation to most ordinary people. As the results of the polite decision makers policies grind on, our society changes, suicides rise dramatically, family relationships start to break down, hopelessness descends on youth, who see their future as a bleak unknown devoid of opportunity. It is not the "economy" that is killing people, it is a small group of human beings making decisions to protect their vested interests.

      The powers that be would like to keep that veneer of politeness and cold discussion, but it can't last. The people are getting more anger by the day, across the developed world we are taking to the streets to vent that anger, and there is more to come, we will not be destroyed to save the wealth of the financial Mafia.

     This from OCCUPIED LONDON.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

      At approximately 7pm on Monday evening, 78-year old S.K. set himself alight with petrol at a parking lot in the town of Lefkada, in Western Greece. The man died on the spot.

This follows from a tremendous increase in suicides across Greece, and Crete in particular – where also, two days ago (on Saturday night) a homeless man died of the cold in the streets of the city of Chania.

Exploring Revolt in Greece from Ross Domoney on Vimeo.

      On December 6th 2008 a police shooting of a 16 year old innocent boy in Athens started a two week revolt in cities around Greece. Three years on people march in remembrance of Alexis Grigoropoulos. Greece now is very much in social and economic turmoil. This films looks at the events surrounding December as well as an inside look to the often cases of revolt in a country that is sinking deeply in recession. This film also explores the role that anti authoritarian movements play in Greece.

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CORPORATE FASCISM, THE END OF DEMOCRACY.

        Greece, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Romania, and the Occupy Movement in America, across the developed world people are on the streets protesting. All this has nothing to do with national governments, it is a world wide corporate assault on the public purse. The national governments are just carrying out the dictates of the corporate financial Mafia. Here in the UK there are those who see the privatisation of public services, including our health service, as a Tory Party affair, yet across the world the same thing is happening irrespective of the political persuasion of the government. In Romania the riots there are against the austerity cuts and the attempt to privatise their already rather flimsy National Health Service. Social Democrat, Liberal, Socialist, Conservative, or whatever, they all have the same agenda, cut public spending and privatise everything that can make money for the billionaire corporate class. Call it what you will, but it is corporate fascism in full frontal attack on the conditions of the ordinary people. Voting for this party or that party, is like choosing which end of the egg to crack first, the big end or the little end. You end up with the same thing on your plate.

         This system of corporate fascism can't be modified, repaired, or reformed, it can't be turned into a benevolent beast that will see to the well being of the people. It is an elitist system where control stays firmly in the hands of the super wealthy, the millionaire/billionaire parasites that sit nameless, in rooms in marble halls shuffling their billions around the globe destroying economies and countries in the pursuit of ever increasing wealth. In this system, wealth means power, and it is rigged to make sure you and I don't get our hands on the wealth or the power.

       If we want a better world for ourselves, our kids and our grand kids, then we have to destroy this profit sucking, parasite controlled monster. We can't look to the people who stand to gain from this financial sewage system we live under, why should they want to give up privilege, power and unbelievable wealth for our benefit? Forget the ballot box, forget the party political system, these are the toys you are give to play with while the big boys rip you off. The system can never work in your favour, it has to be a new way of thinking, grass roots, people power, community organisations, direct action, occupations, are the only road to real change, we have to take control of our society if we want to change it to benefit all our people.

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SCHOOL OF AMERICAS - SCHOOL OF TORTURE.

       We all know that the School of Americas, SOA, is a US government organisation for the export of torture and repression. It functions for the purpose of training forces of repressive regimes around the world in brutal methods of supressing political and public dissent. It is part of the US foreign policy of propping up repressive puppet governments that are compliant to the aims of American foreign policy. All this from the country that preaches democracy, but it is democracy at the end of a gun and only if it suits the American corporate empire. 

      For years groups of people have organised to try to shut the place down, they have faced brutallity, and imprisonment but still they come back. They see it as a cancer on the land, it has no place in any civilised country, it is the bedrock of government repression. One such case of over the top sentencing is that of Theresa Cusimano who has been sentenced to six months in Federal prison for peacably crossing the line to speak out against the SOA.

 

       Those words adorn the wall inside the courtroom of Judge Stephen Hyles at the Columbus courthouse. And there they remain, strong words that ring hollow in face of injustice, merely adornments. For her act of peacefully crossing the line at Fort Benning, Georgia - a misdemeanor offense - a 6-month sentence was imposed on Theresa Cusimano. Those who train men with guns at the SOA/WHINSEC, those who created those torture manuals, have never had to defend their actions, yet Theresa is being sentenced to six months in prison for nonviolently calling attention to the US military's role in the violence carried out against her sisters and brothers in the Americas.

       Theresa Cusimano wrote the following statement to Judge Stephen Hyles before her sentencing, telling him that his complicity goes on record today as obstructing international justice and U.S. Rule of Law, and that she wished that he had the courage of Father Roy and the honor of being a subversive.:

Read the full speech HERE.

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STUDENT PROTEST - CHILE.

         Students took to the streets in Chile and were met with riot police and water cannon. The protests were in response to a Mayor referring to a girl's boarding school as a "whorehouse".

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WHERE'S OUR GDP??

        I believe it is generally accepted by the public that as a country gets richer, we should all be better off. After all, that is why the powers that be, keep telling us about the growth of our GDP, to let us know who much richer we are becoming. It is safe to say that over the years the UK GDP has been growing steadily, with the exception of 2008/9, but suddenly we are told that we can't afford most of the things we take for granted. Things like libraries, nursery classes, decent pensions, and a half decent social welfare system are now beyond our reach. We are now being told that we have to accept wage cuts/freezes, work longer to get a smaller pension, cuts in social benefits, rising unemployment, while our kids education system is decimated and privatised along with our National Health Service. But I thought our GDP had been growing year on year for some considerable time, with just the odd blip? Well it has, so where is all that extra wealth, who has the money? What has also been happening as our GDP kept growing, was that a larger share of the wealth was being syphoned upwards to an ever decreasing number of individuals. The salary gap just kept getting wider and wider, so must of that extra wealth from our ever growing GDP, (your effort and my effort) was ending up, not in the common pool, but was heading straight into the bank accounts of the ever dwindling little bunch of parasites. If all those gains from the ever increasing GDP had been evenly spread in the common good, infrastructure and welfare for example, would we be facing the same problems? It is really ironic that it is those who gained all that extra wealth from our ever growing GDP, who are now telling us that we can't afford all the most basic parts of a decent civilised society.

Some difficult decisions will have to be made!!

       Even a glance at such an economic system tells you that it is inefficient, wrong, immoral, unjust, and corrupt. It doesn't take an Einstein to come up with a better, fairer and more just system, based on mutual aid, co-operation and sustainability, a system that sees to the needs of all our people, instead of working, struggling and worrying, just to keep a bunch of millionaire/billionaire parasites in the lap of luxury. Isn't it about time we sorted this lot out and started taking care of our own people?

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THE STRUGGLE IS GLOBAL.

        An appeal and a thank-you from Labour Start:

        Members of the Mexican electrical workers union have been engaged in a heroic struggle that began more than two years ago -- and today they need our help. Despite being evicted from their workplaces by police and military in 2009, they continued their resistance and today are negotiating with the government on a just solution.

But they need our help -- the support of trade union members from around the world.

      Sending your message to the Mexican government and the union will take you less than a minute -- please do so now - click here.

        Please spread the word inside your union, to your workmates, friends and family -- and share the campaign via these social media sites:        

       Meanwhile, thanks to the more than 7,600 of you who responded to last week's appeal in support of jailed trade union leaders in Greece. The trial began on Tuesday and the union leaders have thanked all of you for your support. But we need more messages before it resumes next week, so if you've not yet sent off a message, please do so now - click here.

        Finally, it's a new year and we're relaunching our partnership with UCS - the unionised bookshop - to promote books by and for trade unionists. This month, I'd like to urge all of you to have a look at Mother Jones: The Most Dangerous Woman in America. If you've never heard of Mother Jones, you're in for a real treat. And remember that every book you purchase using this link helps to support LabourStart.
Have a great weekend.

Eric Lee

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WHAT IS OCCUPY WALL STREET?

       What is Occupy Wall Street about,, who are they, is it just a handful of misfits, if not, why isn't there better media coverage? This video might give you some of the answers.

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LIBERTY SQUARE LIBERATED!!

        Liberty Square in New York has been re-occupied, the barriers are down and the people are back with their library and their discusions. In spite of the lack of media coveage this protest gathers numbers and steam.

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VINDICTIVE STATE APPARATUS.

Please circulate widely

News from ethicalcensus.org.uk

Support Barbara in Court - victimised over Scottish census

       Barbara Dowling is being charged under the Census Act, accused of not filling in her census form properly. Her intermediate diet was held on Tue 10 January and her case is going ahead to trial. Barbara will be defending herself. The trial will be at 10am in Court 16, Glasgow Sheriff Court Thursday 26 January (not 16 January, as stated in an earlier email).

      Countless Scots have either failed to fill in their census forms or returned them partially completed or improved by critical comments, but have not been prosecuted. Barbara's victimisation is inexplicable. Please make a date in your diary to come along and support her. And please tell your friends.

      Barbara will also be in court on 25 Jan over non-payment of a fine incurred for blockading Faslane nuclear submarine base. Barbara is refusing to pay the fine and risks a jail sentence:

10am 25th January, Dumbarton Sheriff Court - support in court welcome

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I'VE BEEN ROBBED!!!

        Well I like the guy and his songs speak volumes, homage where homage is due. Some times a song or a poem can say more in a couple of verses than you could say in a ten minute speech or a couple of chapters in a book. Enjoy and learn.

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CRUISE TO CRAP!!!

        Have you ever watched those large cruise ships sailing in to port and thought, what beautiful constructions. I have always seen large passenger ships as things beauty. However over the years they have got larger and larger, and now they look more like very large floating hotels. Now I tend to see them as massive filthy contraptions for transporting pretty-pretty butterfly people around the world to flutter about on exotic islands. Then there is the other dimension to them, all that filth and sewage they dump in our oceans and sometimes not that far from shore.

           The average cruise ship dumps approximately  21,000 pounds of untreated sewage every day, sometimes less than three miles from shore?  Of course it is not just the sewage dumping that should concern us. Every single day, a single cruise ship can dump approximately one ton of garbage, 6,400 gallons of oily bilge water, and 25 pounds of batteries, fluorescent lights, medical wastes, and expired chemicals into our oceans. That's just one ship.

     The pretty-pretty butterfly people that create all this sewage and waste don't in any way pay for the clean up, and don't seem to be too concerned about the problem, nor do the cruise companies pay anything towards the clean up, the oceans are to them, just a waste basin from which they make millions, floating the pretty-pretty butterfly people around.

          The Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU) recently singled out AIDA and TUI, two German cruise lines, for being especially environmentally filthy. It's time for them to update their filtration systems to stop thoughtlessly spewing waste into our oceans. Poisoned oceans means poisoned fish and that affects you and I.

TAKE ACTION NOW.

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