GLOBAL SOLIDARITY.

An injury to one is an injury to all. This from Labour Start.

They're calling it the "uprising of the invisible." Cleaning workers in the Netherlands have been on strike for 30 days and have now asked for international solidarity.

 Please send off your message today and spread the word.

 

           Thousands of Dutch cleaners, members of trade union FNV Bondenoten, are standing up to fight their invisibility in society. They have been on strike for more than 30 days to demand respect and fair pay on the job. The cleaners' work is important: it provides a healthy and clean atmosphere to executives, doctors, bankers and ministers. The cleaners aren’t asking for millions or great riches. They just want ordinary things, such as sick pay, enough time to do the job, security for timeworkers and a fair wage to take care of their families. Big, wealthy clients like Philips, ING, Ahold, Dutch government ministries, the tax authorities and universities expect miracles for impossibly cheap cleaning deals. FNV Bondgenoten members need your help. Please support the cleaners and send a message to their bosses and the most important clients: Hans Simons the chairman of the empoyers’ group, Anton Witte is the main negotiator for the employers and Norma van den Berg represents cleaning giant ISS in the negotiations. Hans Schelbergen is responsible for the cleaning contract at Philips, which cut 1.3 million euros from its cleaning budget while paying out 3 million euros to six executives. Peter Specker is responsible for the government cleaning contracting. The cleaners ask their friends around the globe to support their Uprising of the Invisible. Let us never be silent or invisible anymore. The price of outsourcing is the same around the globe: it has negative effects on quality, health and prosperity. The cleaners of the Netherlands, who have roots in all the countries of the world, are standing up and speaking loud and clear: SCHOONGENOEG (Clean enough!)

ann arky's home.

ANOTHER LITTLE SLIMY CHEAT.

          At last, after an eight month investigation concerning an offence that took place 9 years ago, Chris Huhne is to be charged with perverting the course of justice. The charge is in relation to trying to get someone else, his wife at that time, to take his speeding offence so the he would not lose his licence.    

        So another one of our “Honourable Gentlemen” bites the dust. They all strut about full of self importance, spouting to us lesser mortals about how to live our lives, they take the fat salary and all the perks as if they were worth it and more, when in actual fact so many of them are no more than little greedy shits and cheats. How many of those “Honourable Gentlemen” from the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, have been caught with the hands in the till, how many have fiddled and twisted the rules so as to extract as much as they can from the public purse? Fiddling and cheating seems to be par for the course, in that establishment. It would be difficult to find more millionaires and very rich people collected in one place anywhere else in the country than in Parliament, yet the place keeps turning out fiddlers, liars and cheats. They will start to foam at the mouth and shout kill them, kill them, at the very mention of so called, “benefit cheats”, but will stay dumb or merely tut-tut at any of their members caught fiddling. The main difference between “benefit cheats” and our “Honourable Gentlemen” is that the former is usually someone trying to survive one step above the gutter, while the latter are usually stinking rich and trying to get their hands on more and more, while preaching austerity to the rest of us.

As an MP, I know what I would do with those benefit cheats.

          Chris Huhne's offence may have been a fiddle with his licence, and not one of his hand in the till, but was committed to make sure he stayed on the gravy train as an MEP, as he was at that time. He was sitting pretty on a fat salary plus mouth watering expenses from the public purse, and for that amount of money that we were paying him, we were not under the impression that we were paying for a little shit of a cheat. I'm sure if we had wanted a cheat we could have got one much cheaper than what we paid Mr. Chris Huhne. Of course Chris is no stranger to cheating, he also cheated on his wife.

ann arky's home.

DON'T EAT AT PIZZA HUT.

Solidarity Picket With IWW Pizza Hut Workers

Pizza Hut Argyle St

Glasgow

G2 8BU

Saturday 4th February

12 noon-1.30pm

           Refuse to eat at Pizza Hut until management negotiate with the collective demands of organised workers in Sheffield. The Sheffield Pizza Hut Workers Union, part of the Industrial Workers Of The World demand for all Pizza Hut workers:

1. Bank Holiday Pay – Standard practice time and a half for unsociable shifts.

2. Delivery Drivers Commission – Delivery commissions have not risen despite a changing delivery radius and the rising price of petrol. The recommended rate from the AA is 45p per mile.

PizzaHutIU640@IWW.org.uk

iwwgmbsheffield.wordpress.com/pizza-hut-workers-union

Facebook Event Page:

http://www.facebook.com/events/289515507775551/?context=create#!/events/289515507775551/

ann arky's home.

SHE NEVER SAW IT COMING.

From Stop The War:           THE GIRL KILLED BY BARACK OBAMA.
     Barack Obama has authorised over 260 drone attacks -- five times as many as George W Bush -- in six different countries. Close to 3000 people have been killed, many of them civilians, including women and children. On 30 January 2012, Obama claimed that the drone attacks he authorises are targetted only at named people on a list of active terrorists who are a direct threat to America. The facts tell a different story, as this video shows.

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CLEARING THE GROUND FOR WAR AGAINST IRAN.

       Here we go, here we go, here we go, the three nuclear bullies of the West, America, UK and France, are foaming at the mouth like rabid dogs as they circle Iran. The US has sent another carrier to the Gulf, and the shrieks from the war mongers in the various parliaments is reaching fever pitch. The second world war lasted 5 years, but since 2001 we have been at war in Afghanistan, that's 11 years. The West has been killing in Iraq since 2003, more than that if you include the killings from the ten years of sanctions before we invaded, and though the UK is out, the Americans are still there and the killing still goes on. However even with this amount of blood on their hands they want more, they are ratcheting up the tension to the same pitch as the “weapons of mass destruction” in Iraq and we all know the validity in that line.

       Why is it that the so called defenders of freedom and democracy seem to be the only countries that invade other countries? Shouldn't it be the other way? After eleven years of bloodshed in Afghanistan to remove the Taliban, we are all set to leave and a leaked report form the top military, states that the Taliban are poised to take control after we leave. Iraq, nine years after we bombed them into liberation, the country is in turmoil with death a daily occurrence. With these kind of results you would think that invasion would be away down the list if ideas, but no, blood and death are of no consequence when the country to be decimated contains lots of oil and gas. Corporate fascism will spill the blood of any amount of ordinary people just to get control of what they deem valuable assets. How long will we tolerate the type of insanity that trades our blood for oil?

 

From Stop The War: 

            There is a frightening crescendo building towards war in the Middle East. The UN is debating a resolution on Syria demanding regime change. This follows the withdrawal of the Arab League delegation there and calls for intervention. The US military is clearing the ground for war against Iran. In a report to Congress, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper claimed that Iranian leaders "are now more willing to conduct an attack in the United States."
             Meanwhile Defence Secretary Leon Panetta went on TV to assert that Iran would have a nuclear bomb within a year. The US is conducting a military build-up in parallel to the propaganda offensive. A third US carrier is now on the way to the Gulf. On 28 January, Stop the War launched its national DON'T ATTACK IRAN campaign at a 500 strong rally outside the US Embassy in London. SEE REPORT & VIDEOS OF SPEECHES: http://bit.ly/zMKNEL.
             We are asking Stop the War local groups and supporters to organise urgent activists' meetings in every area to start planning local campaigns against an attack on Iran. On Saturday 11th February we are calling a national day of action with protests, die-ins, sit-ins, mock air raids, petitioning and street meetings, to publicise the arguments against an attack.
          Please check the Stop the War website for details about local activities as they are published. FOR UPDATES SEE: http://bit.ly/wTXnfL
The Facebook Event for the day of action is here:
http://on.fb.me/werrhn
If you want to get involved in the Don't Attack Iran campaign please e-mail office@stopwar.co.uk or call 020 7801 2768.

ann arky's home.

PUBLIC HANGING OF ABORTIONISTS, --IN AMAERICA!!!

          Our political system is riddled with loud mouth idiots, power hungry fundamentalists, crooks and liars. Sometimes we dismiss them as harmless fools, but I don't. I see them in a position to create legislation which the majority of us disagree with, but will be obliged to follow or suffer the consequences. I see them in their greed for power being influenced by institutions to create and pass legislation that is against the general good but suits the particular institution. Then there those others, the real raving lunatics and you have to ask yourself, how did this dangerous idiot get into this position of power. The frightening thing is that out there there are people who want this type of dangerous lunacy. One of the more dangerous lunatic politician is a Mr. Larry Pittman, North Carolina Republican, a staunch anti-abortionist who favours public hanging for abortionists. This is a short extract from Care2

---Pittman expressed this view in an email to every member of the North Carolina General Assembly. From Pittman’s email: “We need to make the death penalty a real deterrent again by actually carrying it out. Every appeal that can be made should have to be made at one time, not in a serial manner,” Pittman wrote in the email. “If murderers (and I would include abortionists, rapists, and kidnappers, as well) are actually executed, it will at least have the deterrent effect upon them. For my money, we should go back to public hangings, which would be more of a deterrent to others, as well.”

Continue reading:

        Well, there you have it, legislative power in the hands of a raving dangerous fundamentalist right here, doing his thing at the heart of our political system. While our media reports on every Arab fundamentalist who attempts to curtail women's rights, calling for everything from having him banned to imprisoned, and with rightful indignation, shouts outrage at public executions in other countries. We in the West continually preach human rights to the rest of the world, where do the Larry Pittman's of this world fit in that preaching?

ann arky's home.

A DESTRUCTIVE SYSTEM OF FINANCIAL APARTHEID.

SPRINGBURN PARK - Vox Pops from Diversity Films on Vimeo.

        I recently posted an article on the percentage of children in this country who live in severe poverty. The worst area in Scotland was Springburn in the north side of Glasgow, the area where I live and have spent most of my life. This district, once the centre of steam locomotive building in Britain has seen its entire industrial history wiped out. The factories closed and large swaths of the district were demolished to make way for a dual carriageway. Parts of Springburn are attractive with trees and greenery and a very pleasant park. However, pleasant scenery on its own doesn't make a life. The area has massive unemployment with precious few opportunities for jobs. The percentage of children in Springburn living in severe poverty is an outrageous 52%. Of course that figure can't be taken in isolation, with children living in severe poverty comes adults living in poverty, teenagers living in poverty, homes in poverty. Then there are the health problems, including mental health problems. Depression and suicides increase in relation to poverty and unemployment. These are the same people that designed, built and exported the finest steam locomotives in the world, so we can't blame the people, it is the immoral, unjust, crazy, exploitive economic system that we allow to govern our lives. These people, because of that system, are priced out of society. It is a system of financial apartheid with subliminal signs everywhere saying, “KEEP OUT IF YOU DON'T HAVE THE MONEY” The people of the world fought hard to rid the world of the South African apartheid system based on race, now is the time for the people of the world to unite and rid the world of this more widespread system of financial apartheid.

NORTH GLASGOW Vox Pops - Pressure from Diversity Films on Vimeo.

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A BLOODLESS COUP???

 

         For some strange reason beyond my ken, earlier today this post disappeared of the blog, so I have just re-instated the piece.

 

          I know I go on and on about corporate fascism, claiming that we are living under such a system, but it is becoming increasingly clear with each statement coming from the cabal that sits in Europe's marble halls discussing how to enlarge and protect their billions, that that is the system which controls our lives. The Greek people are now living in a pit of deprivation, their elected government has an unelected "technocrat" installed as its leader and now the financial fascists at the centre of Europe are demanding that they take over the fiscal running of that country. It is a coup by the corporate fascists and they will do it to any country they wish, if they think it is the best thing for their money. Though some would say it is a bloodless coup, that is not exactly true. The Greek people have already paid in deprivation, a stratosheric increase in unemployment, increase suicides and a massive increase in health problems, these are just some of the casualties of this war. It is a class war and the corporate fascists are beginning to show their teeth.

It was tried previously (several times) under "slightly different" circumstances, and failed. Yet when it comes to taking over a country without spilling even one drop of blood, and converting its citizens into debt slaves, Germany's Merkel may have just succeeded where so many of her predecessors failed. According to a Reuters exclusive, "Germany is pushing for Greece to relinquish control over its budget policy to European institutions as part of discussions over a second rescue package, a European source told Reuters on Friday." Reuters add: "There are internal discussions within the Euro group and proposals, one of which comes from Germany, on how to constructively treat country aid programs that are continuously off track, whether this can simply be ignored or whether we say that's enough," the source said.' So while the great distraction that is the Charles Dallara "negotiation" with Hedge Funds continues (as its outcome is irrelevant: a Greece default is assured at this point), the real development once again was behind the scenes where Germany was cleanly and clinically taking over Greece. Because while today it is the fiscal apparatus, tomorrow it is the legislative. As for the executive: who cares. At that point Goldman will merely appoint one of its retired partners as Greek president and Greece will become the first 21st century German, pardon, European colony. But at least it will have its precious euro. We can't wait until Greek citizens find out about this quiet coup.

Continue reading.

 

 ann arky's home.

AND SO - WHAT NOW?

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        As the corporate fascist machine moves into overdrive, the entire fabric of our society is being dramatically changed. All public assets are being privatised, all public spaces are being sold off at bargain basement prices to that same corporate machine. We the public will be rootless individuals in a fragmented society owned by the financial Barons of the corporate world. Anarchism holds up a vision of a society that could be, a society where we the people own everything in common ownership. A society that sees to the needs of all its people, freed from the grip of the profit motive that feeds the parasitical army of the corporate fascists. But are anarchist going about it in the right way? With all the rapid and dramatic changes taking place in the world today perhaps it is time to examine ourselves, to ask questions, to re-adjust, to shape to the new dangers of that rampant corporate fascism that confronts us today.

The following is from an article from FREEDOM;

         Putting things in perspectiveAnarchists in the UK today stand at a historical crossroads. Whether we identify as students, workers, unemployed, as members of a network/organization or not, we are called upon to answer this fundamental question: what is our political relevance to the larger world in the context of the struggle against austerity and beyond?

Other important questions lead on from here:-

• Are we existing in a tacitly recognized political ghetto, where we see ‘our’ concerns as more or less unrelated to the more ‘mainstream’ struggles of the students and the workers (public as well as private sectors)?
• If many of the anarchists identify themselves ‘as class struggle anarchists’, are we adequately engaging in that class struggle?
• Perhaps the term ‘class struggle’ itself needs to be sufficiently defined in order for us to engage in it?
• How do we relate to the rest of the anti-cuts movement, which falls within the ambit of ‘class struggle’? Is there a desire to do so?
• Most crucially, as social anarchists, how do we act collectively and in a unified way, as an ‘anarchist movement’, not just in name but in deed?

Looking forward
The answers to the above questions – the desire to engage with these questions – will determine our future as to whether anarchism has an appeal beyond the visuals of menacing-looking black blocs and street battles with the police. Do we have answers to the thorny problems of everyday life? Can we practically and materially create the alternatives needed that the Left has no desire to do? Or, are our ideas mere rhetoric, and incapable of being implemented?

Organizing ourselves, and mobilizing people to this end, not just in the current social unrest but also in the long-term, is key to the continued political life and growth of anarchism. Otherwise, the title ‘anarchist’ would mean nothing at all, and we may have to consider ceding the way to new political subjectivities and new political subjects who are better able to adapt to the changed circumstances. The is true of the Left as much as it is true of anarchists.

Perhaps we can begin this self-critical, but also self-renewing process, by examining whether our current organizations and organizational frameworks have been adequate to meeting this challenge, or do we need to create entirely new spaces and structures that are efficient, inclusive, and non-sectarian. For there is no doubt that the need for such structures and procedures exists, and if we can begin to build them together it might just spell the difference between our political obscurity and a political rebirth.

Continue reading

 ann arky's home.

SKILL SHARING WITH GUERILLAS??

         Glasgow is a city with an army of activists all passionate about their particular “thing”, all of them working hard to further their cause. Well, in Glasgow we are also fortunate that we have Camcorder Guerillas. They have the credibility, experience, and technique to push forward any campaign and what is more they are offering their skills and experience for free. The following explains their latest event.

FREE VIDEO TRAINING FOR ACTIVISTS:
Are you involved in a grassroots or community struggle? Learn how to make short online films to boost your campaign. Book your place by February 10th!

Camcorder Guerillas are running a series of free video workshops aimed at small community or grassroots campaigners with little or no funding. The training takes place over two half days at the Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) in central Glasgow and it is organised according to different campaign themes.
TRAINING THEMES & DATES

1 ANTI-CUTS Monday 5th March & Wednesday 7th March
2 DISABILITY RIGHTS Monday 12th March & Wednesday 14th March
3 ENVIRONMENTAL & CLIMATE CHANGE Monday 19th March & Wednesday 21st March
4 ASYLUM SEEKER/REFUGEE RIGHTS Monday 2nd April & Wednesday 4th April

The training is over two half days from 1pm-5pm.

Mondays: Planning and Filming
Wednesdays: Editing and Online Distribution
See attached booking form for more details.YOU MUST BE ABLE TO ATTEND BOTH DAYS
TO APPLY FOR A PLACE
Priority will be given to people who are campaigning on a voluntary basis or for organisations with little or no funding. Places on each course are limited to six, with a maximum of two people from any one campaign group. To apply, choose you theme and dates from the list above (making sure you can attend both days). Then complete the attached booking form and email it to info@camcorderguerillas.net or post it to

Camcorder Guerillas, CCA, 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow G2 3JD.

If its easier for to apply over the phone please call Tim or Inigo on 0141 332 9775.
The deadline for applying FRIDAY 10 FEBRUARY and we'll get back shortly after this to confirm if you've got a space. To prevent people from booking and then not showing up, we will require those offered a place to pay a deposit of 20 per person to secure the booking. This deposit will only be refunded to those who attend both training days. If, as expected, the training is oversubscribed we will be keeping a reserve list in case we are able secure more funding to run repeat sessions.
IN-HOUSE TRAINING
For funded or larger organisations, we'd be happy to talk to you about the possibilities for buying in-house training which can be adapted to suit your needs. Please get in touch if you would like to discuss this.
CAMCORDER GUERILLAS GET IN TOUCH:

EMAIL info@camcorderguerillas.net
TEL 0141 332 9775
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @CamGuerillas
WATCH OUR FILMS ONLINE www.camcorderguerillas.net
CAMCORDER GUERILLAS
CCA, Centre for Contemporary Arts,
350 Sauchiehall Street. Glasgow, G2 3JD

ann arky's home.

IT'S FRACKING AWFUL!!

        The oil companies are increasingly looking at the technique of "fracking" as a source of oil, even although they are aware of the possible problems. Problems like poisoning the water table and triggering earth tremors. Recently there was a case in America where after "fracking" started methane found its way into the towns drinking water, which could be shown by turning on your drinking water tap and setting it alight, yes water on fire. In our own country the area around Blackpool suffered minor earthquakes after "fracking" started in that area. To the oil companies none of this is of any consequence when it comes to making money. Of course none of the oil executives live in the area where the "fracking" will take place. To the corporate world the destruction of the planet doesn't enter the equation when it comes to profit, the planet is there to be plundered to produce wealth for the parasites in control of this crazy system.

From Barry:

Friends,
        I just created a petition: The Scottish Government: Establish a moratorium on fracking in Scotland, because I care deeply about this very important issue. I'm trying to collect 1000 signatures, and I could really use your help. To read more about what I'm trying to do and to sign my petition, click here:
http://www.change.org/petitions/the-scottish-government-establish-a-moratorium-on-fracking-in-scotland?share_id=tsUrkrvWJI&

It'll just take a minute!       Once you're done, please ask your friends to sign the petition as well. Grassroots movements succeed because people like you are willing to spread the word!

Thanks Barry.

'the wisest man is the man who is most aware of his own ignorance'. Socrates.

*Business:* www.deargreenplanet.co.uk
*Blogs: *http://deargreenplanet.blogspot.com/
*Sign my petition: *
The Scottish Government: Establish a moratorium on fracking in
Scotland<http://www.change.org/petitions/the-scottish-government-establish-a-moratorium-on-fracking-in-scotland>
       <http://deargreenplanet-consumer.blogspot.com/>

ann arky's home.

PRIVILEGED PARASITES AND CARING CAPITALISM.

          It seems he's at it again, our shiny faced, multi-millionaire Prime Minister Cameron, is talking about the need for a caring, compassionate capitalism, his verbal diarrhoea also includes such crap like moral markets. I wonder if he will start with his friends in the banking world, after all he comes from a long line of bankers, his father was a stockbroker, so he has influence there. We are all aware of how caring and compassionate are our bankers and stockbrokers. This man can stand in front of cameras and spout about caring capitalism and moral markets, being aware that his ancestors made their fortunes from naked, raw, brutal capitalism, ripping-off the ordinary people. When was the era of caring capitalism, when have we lived with moral markets, that he keeps referring to? While doing his damnedest to pass himself of as an ordinary guy, this smooth over privileged public school product, sits on a fortune that stretches back to his parasite ancestor King William IV. It is said that this ordinary guy left university and walked into a Tory job after a mystery caller from Buckingham Palace recommended him. His background is littered with Sirs, Baronets, Earls, and Viscountesses, and his fortune has grown because of the harsh exploitative capitalism that he supports through his policies as Prime Minister. You can rest assured that any caring, compassion or morality he pushes for, will be to the benefit of his rich privileged parasitical friends, not for the benefit of the likes of you and I.

"And my ancestors will call for caring capitalism."

       This "cry from the heart" for that illusion, caring capitalism, is a true reflection of his hypocrisy and cynicism. He can't possible believe in caring capitalism, he lives in luxury off the back of, and is up to his armpits in, the most brutal and exploitative economic system ever devised by man. It also shows how he believes that the general public are a bunch of fools and will swallow this shit of the caring capitalism. This guy is awash in privilege and luxury because of injustice and exploitation, and he will do everything in his power to make sure that it stays that way.

ann arky's home.

THE HIGH OFFICE OF PRESIDENT!!!

        I for one can never get my head round why such idiots with such bizarre beliefs get massive support when running for the US presedency. The media in the West lampoon Islamic fundamentalists for what they describe as crazy and dangerous views, yet report with some reverence the views of such crackpots like the bunch that is running for the Republican nomination for the US Presidency.

       Take just two, this from WHY EVOLUTION IS TRUE. 

Rick Santorum, Republican candidate for President, said this about education in a speech in Florida:

“It’s no wonder President Obama wants every kid to go to college,” said the former Pennsylvania senator. “The indoctrination that occurs in American universities is one of the keys to the left holding and maintaining power in America. And it is indoctrination. If it was the other way around, the ACLU would be out there making sure that there wasn’t one penny of government dollars going to colleges and universities, right? . . . If they taught Judeo-Christian principles in those colleges and universities, they would be stripped of every dollar. If they teach radical secular ideology, they get all the government support that they can possibly give them. Because you know 62 percent of children who enter college with a faith conviction leave without it.”

Yeah, the ACLU has such awesome power over government spending on schools.

Santorum’s solution? Stop supporting higher education:

“I’ll bet you there are people in this room who give money to colleges and universities who are undermining the very principles of our country every single day by indoctrinating kids with left-wing ideology. And you continue to give to these colleges and universities. Let me have a suggestion: Stop it.”

Can Republicans get any more stupid?

But giving the ex-Senator a run for his money is

Ralph Shortey, a state senator from Oklahoma, who thinks that food companies are putting aborted fetuses in food, and has introduced a bill in the state legislature to prohibit the use of fetuses or fetal cells in food. Of course nobody is doing this or intends to.___.

           One would imagine that the people of any country who look to someone to represent them would pick somebody they consider holds similar views to themselves and is in some way as reasonable and rational, or even more so, then themselves. So is this what we are seeing in America? Or are these just the rightwing nutcases that the rightwing nutcase media want to push in the hope of stifling any alternative view from surfacing? When you hear the views of this bunch I would imagine that most reasonable Americans will realise the truth of that statement, "Why Vote, it changes nothing".

ann arky's home.

30 YEARS OF CONTINUOUS PROTEST.

        You may not like camp anymore, or agree with camp but you have to respect 30 years, lets make this the biggest yet people!!

Faslane Peace Camp           30 Days of Action at Faslane Faslane Peace Camp are announcing 30 days of non-violent direct action against the Faslane Naval Base to mark the 30th birthday of the Peace Camp. Over the last year, a small group of us  have been endeavouring to make Peace Camp a healthy and happy place to facilitate direct action against Trident. We are ready for action! The birthday celebrations will commence on Saturday 9th of June 2012 and continue until the 9th of July. This week the First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond announced that an independent Scotland would be a nuclear free Scotland. Whilst these are welcome words, the response is that the MOD are reportedly looking into new venues south of the border in the fear that Scotland will win independence. We need to give a clear and unmitigated message that simply moving them is not enough. We are in a unique position to make this potential removal from Scotland mean an ipso facto end to nuclear weapons in the UK but our message needs to be full volume. We are inviting local, national and international groups to  take responsibility for a day of anti-nuclear activities, this can be a  march to the base, a demo at the gates, a blockade, a mass trespass, a die-in... get creative! If you are a small group or an individual and want to team up with others, we can help choreograph partnerships. We can also facilitate workshops on peaceful direct action at Faslane so no activist experience is necessary. There will be lots to be done day to day and plenty of roles to fulfil during the 30 Days campaign and the time leading up to it so enthusiastic helpers (and donations) will be welcomed with open arms! Communal meals will be provided and there will be plenty of sleeping and camping spaces. For more information, legal stuff and for details of our safer spaces, residency and alcohol agreements please contact Faslane30@riseup.net or write to us at:
30Days, Faslane Peace Camp, Shandon, Helensburgh, G84 8NN.

GLASGOW SOLIDARITY NETWORK.

GLASGOW SOLIDARITY NETWORK LAUNCH
LEAFLET AND POSTER DISTIRBUTION STALL

SATURDAY 28TH JANAUARY
12 NOON - 1PM NEXT TO THE CO-OP SUPERMARKET
285 GREAT WESTERN ROAD
WOODLANDS
GLASGOW G4 9HR

DEPOSIT STOLEN? WAGES STOLEN? JOIN GLASGOW SOLIDARITY NETWORKCOLLECTIVE DIRECT ACTION AGAINST LANDLORDS AND BOSSES

LEAVE A MESSAGE:
glasgowsolnet@gmail.com
www.glasgowsolnet.tk

Our first direct action is coming very soon.

GLASGOW SOLIDARITY NETWORK

1. Glasgow Solidarity Network is an all volunteer mutual support network.
2. We use collective direct action, like picketing estate agents to win back stolen deposits or picketing employment agencies to win back stolen wages.
3. We organise by direct democracy – everyone has an equal say.
4. We oppose all forms of discrimination and oppression by landlords, employers or individuals amongst us.
5. When deciding what struggles to get involved in we ask:
(a) Can we win it?
(b) Are the people affected willing to participate and will they come out to support other tenants and workers.
6. In the long-term we have revolutionary aims. We want to live in a society without landlords or bosses – a society based on 'from each according to their ability to each according to their needs.

JOIN US: Facebook event page:
http://www.facebook.com/events/369455619735961/?context=create#!/events/369455619735961/

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BIG BROTHER, HE'S STILL AROUND.

        Like I keep saying, in this type of society big brother never goes away, it can be the state, it can be the fascist corporate Mafia, or both. Until we get rid of both, we will always have to fight big brother.

From AVAAZ

A new global treaty could allow corporations to police everything that we do on the Internet. Last week 3 million of us successfully pushed back the US censorship bills -- if we act now, we can get the EU Parliament to bury this new threat to all of us:

       Last week, 3 million of us beat back America's attack on our Internet! -- but there is an even bigger threat out there, and our global movement for freedom online is perfectly poised to kill it for good.

     ACTA -- a global treaty -- could allow corporations to censor the Internet. Negotiated in secret by a small number of rich countries and corporate powers, it would set up a shadowy new anti-counterfeiting body to allow private interests to police everything that we do online and impose massive penalties -- even prison sentences -- against people they say have harmed their business.

      Europe is deciding right now whether to sign ACTA -- and without them, this global attack on Internet freedom will collapse. We know they have opposed ACTA before, but some members of Parliament are wavering -- let's give them the push they need to reject the treaty. Sign the petition -- we'll do a spectacular delivery in Brussels when we reach 500,000 signatures:

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

       It's outrageous -- governments of four-fifths of the world’s people were excluded from the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) negotiations and unelected bureaucrats have worked closely with corporate lobbyists to craft new rules and a dangerously powerful enforcement regime. ACTA would initially cover the US, EU and 9 other countries, then be rolled out across the world. But if we can get the EU to say no now, the treaty will lose momentum and could stall for good.

      The oppressively strict regulations could mean people everywhere are punished for simple acts such as sharing a newspaper article or uploading a video of a party where copyrighted music is played. Sold as a trade agreement to protect copyrights, ACTA could also ban lifesaving generic drugs and threaten local farmers' access to the seeds they need. And, amazingly, the ACTA committee will have carte blanche to change its own rules and sanctions with no democratic scrutiny.

       Big corporate interests are pushing hard for this, but the EU Parliament stands in the way. Let's send a loud call to Parliamentarians to face down the lobbies and stand firm for Internet freedom. Sign now and send to everyone you know:

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

         Last week, we saw the strength of our collective power when millions of us joined forces to stop the US from passing an Internet censorship law that would have struck at the heart of the Internet. We also showed the world how powerful our voices can be. Let's raise them again to tackle this new threat.

With hope and determination,
Dalia, Alice, Pascal, Emma, Ricken, Maria Paz and the rest of the Avaaz team

More information:

If You Thought SOPA Was Bad, Just Wait Until You Meet ACTA
http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/01/23/if-you-thought-sopa-was-bad-just-wait-until-you-meet-acta/

ACTA vs. SOPA: Five Reasons ACTA is Scarier Threat to Internet Freedom
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/286925/20120124/acta-sopa-reasons-scarier-threat-internet-freedom.htm?cid=2

What's Wrong With ACTA
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number10.1/whats-wrong-with-ACTA

The secret treaty: Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) and Its Impact on Access to Medicines
http://www.msfaccess.org/content/secret-treaty-anti-counterfeiting-trade-agreement-acta-and-its-impact-access-medicines

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WAR IS BUSINESS, PROFITS OUTWEIGH DEATHS!!!

        Here we go again, the Western “defenders of democracy” are rattling their big sabres. This time it is at Iran. It is rather bizarre the the sabre rattlers are always those with the biggest sabres. The three most vociferous in threatening Iran, USA, UK and France, are in the top four for military budgets. When it comes to the world's military budget the USA is away out in front with a massive 42.8%. Even China, which has a quarter of the world's population is dwarfed by this, coming in with a mere 7.3%, followed by that small island of the coast of Europe, the UK, with a totally disproportionate 3.7% and then France with 3.6%. Iran's percentage is so small it doesn't even register on the chart below.

        We in the West live in a civilization that seems to indulge in endless wars, a civilization that somehow believes that the destruction of other countries, with the resultant thousands of deaths of ordinary innocent civilians is a legitimate answer to a problem. Think of the pretexts offered for our invasion and destruction of Afghanistan and Iraq, think of the number of lives lost and those injured physically and mentally on both sides. Has it been the answer? Can we hold our head up and say “problem solved”? Can we honestly say that the world is now a better place because of the destruction of these two countries, has the hundreds of thousands of deaths of innocent people been justified?

        The reasons being put forward for an attack on Iran is that it is trying to do what we and a host of other nations, including Israel, have already done. We have no proof, just speculation. Is that justification for what would be the death of hundreds of thousands of ordinary innocent people. We would be killing plumbers, bus drivers, gardeners, doctors, typists, teachers, elderly and children, for what? Perhaps the really reason is that we in the West live in a society where war makes unimaginable wealth for the corporate world. A society that is under the control of a military industrial complex, producing wealth and power for that small cabal of billionaire parasites. The same billionaire parasites that hold the “elected” governments of the West in their pocket.

Chart from Informed Comment.

From Stop the war coalition.

STOP THE WAR BEFORE IT STARTS - EMERGENCY PROTEST THIS SAT JAN 28
Hands off Iran and Syria
2 - 4pm, US Embassy
Grosvenor Square
London W1K 2Called by Stop the War Coalition.       Supported by UNITE the Union, War on Want, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Campaign against Sanctions and Military Intervention on Iran, Friends of Al-Aqsa, Goldsmiths Student Union and SOAS Student Union.

        This is the most dangerous moment in the world since 2003. The sanctions on Iranian oil imposed by the EU on Monday are a provocation that could spark a war at any time. Iran's threats to retaliate by closing the Straits of Hormuz were answered on the weekend by US Defence Secretary Panetta saying the US would 'respond' if there was a closure and by US, British and French navy ships sailing through the Straits.

        The new sanctions mark a sharp escalation in an ongoing campaign of cyber attacks, assassinations and US troop deployments in the area all designed to destabilise the Iranian regime. Such a strategy of tension isn't just deeply irresponsible. It shows the argument for war is gaining ground in the west. An article by influential US hawk Mattew Kroenig in the current edition of Foreign Affairs is headlined 'Time to Attack Iran'. His basic argument is summed up in a single subheading: 'Strike Now or Suffer Later'.

       As yesterdays Financial Times pointed out, this approach is making headway. Both US Republican presidential contenders Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich favour an attack. Sections of the British establishment are now talking up confrontation. Meanwhile calls for intervention against Iran's ally Syria are also growing.The echoes of the build up to war on Iraq are loud and clear.
        If you oppose the terrible prospect of a war on Iran or Syria please join the protest this Saturday. Speakers will include Tony Benn, Lindsey German, Roger Lloyd Pack, Abbas Edalat, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Sabah Jawad, Shirin Shafie.

TWEET-OUT TO SPREAD THE WORD, TODAY 12 ONWARDS

       Please help publicise the protest by joining our tweet-out and facebook surge today, starting at 12 noon. Tweet with hashtag  #DontAttackIran, retweet our tweets, share links, share photos and anything else using this same hashtag. Copy us into your tweets if you like using @StwUK so we know what you want us to repost. Also please do include the Facebook event for the protest - http://on.fb.me/yR9Q3i .

If we can get #DontAttackIran trending in London it will be a big publicity boost for the protest.

Join the Tweet-out - #DontAttackIran
Invite friends on Facebook - http://on.fb.me/yR9Q3i
Follow StoptheWar on Twitter - http://twitter.com/STWuk

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GLASGOW2DETROIT TRAILER.

        Some time back I posted the film, “away ye grow,” made by a bunch of Glasgow people who went to Detroit to see how that city was responding to the usual capitalist crisis of devastatingly high unemployment. Both cities had similarities, both had been industrial giants and in both cases the industry just got up and left, leaving the customary capitalist aftermath of poverty and deprivation. Some of you may have been put off by the fact that it was an hour long movie, though worth every minute of time spent viewing, so here is a wee trailer to whet your appetite.

 

Glasgow2Detroit Trailer from Away Ye Grow on Vimeo.

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