BOMBING DEMOCRACY INTO THE WORLD.

       An old article, but nothing much has changed, it is still America bombing democracy into the world. In the language of American (world) corporatism, the road to freedom and democracy is through the slaughter and misery of the people. For them true democracy is paved with the slaughter of children, is the freedom to exploit all natural resources and to destroy any resistance to that exploitation.

This from JesseJack:

Recent studies from the New York Times show that...

• Over 300,000 children are fighting as soldiers in armies world-wide today
• Over the last ten years, 2 million have died in wars...
• ...there have been 1 million orphaned...
• ...6 million have been seriously injured...
• ...12 million have become homeless...
• ...and ten million are seriously psychologically traumatized as a direct result.

        The UN, in response to these figures, drafted a document to try and end the abuse of children. Only two UN nations turned this down. One was Somalia, and the other was the United States. That's right, the good old USA, the world's leader in support of human rights, refused to sign or ratify the Convention on Children's Rights. Why? Their excuse was that they recruit 17-year-olds into the Marine Corps. Doesn't it make you feel good to live in a country that would rather promote the abuse of children rather than slightly reform the recruitment policies of a single branch of it's (needless, wasteful, abusive) military?
        I've said it a million times before, the US people take a government press conference as gospel. Of course there's bickering between conservatives and liberals, but they share a common goal, and they don't want it to look like it's a priority. An example? Look at the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. As Noam Chomsky has said...
"Despite the desperate efforts of ideologues to prove that circles are square, there is no serious doubt that the
NATO bombings further undermine what remains of the fragile structure of international law. The US made that entirely clear in the discussions leading to the NATO decision."
        Stop and think about it. There are too many instances of attrocities committed or bankrolled by the United States, each of which is covered up from the eye of the media or appologized for, to suddenly start trusting them just because a dead revolutionary wrote a song. Things have definatly changed since the revolution, if you'll consider Thomas Jefferson's ideals about aristocrats vs. democrats. So how can you believe that the US actually supports a human rights mission? The attrocities by the Yugoslav government have noteably increased by god-knows-fold since the NATO campaign started, which was admitted as "predicatable" by the US leader of the bombings. So why didn't someone stop and say something? Well, England is "by now, about as much of an independent actor as the Ukraine was in the pre-Gorbachev years", and none of the other NATO countries, or capitalist countries for that matter (with the exception of Russia, who isn't a NATO nation anyway), would stand to oppose the US. Not surprisingly though, despite thier willingness to take a stand, the other NATO countries are, for the most part, growing tired of Madeline Albright and the violent policies of the United States. The really scary thing is this: The US gets away with it, but other nations catch the breeze by the source of all disruption to anti-war world order, the United States, whenever they do something of this sort.
       Could it be that the US wants to turn the world into one capitalistic empire? The other reformed capitalist countries sure don't seem to stand up for all the people in the world that die in needless wars. If they're not part of the solution, obviously they're part of the problem, because passive agression or blind agreement in a "focus, nod, go back to work" fashion gives the aristocrats of the American government exactly what they want: to be the rulers of a secret imperialism.

ann arky's home.

MORE "THINGS" = MORE HAPPINESS!!!!

      What is it that we really want, is it more "things", the latest version of those "things", does happiness come when you're a "celebrity" or when you're in the presence  of a "celebrity"? Is our aim in life to mirror those "celebrities", are we better people if we can get our hands on the "best" trainers, phone, flat screen TV etc? You would come to that conclusion if you in any way follow the mainstream media, (that babbling brook of bullshit) Everything that is pumped out as "desirable" has nothing to do with our relationships with one and other, it is the opposite it is a process of isolation, locking into the "me" "I" syndrome, but it does help the corporate world to create more wealth and power for the few, that little army of pampered parasites that do their damnedest to control and shape our lives for their own ends.

      The corporate world's life blood is consumerism and consumerism on an ever increasing scale, hence the endless propaganda that pretty little boxes with coloured ribbons will deliver happiness, and those with the most pretty little boxes are the "celebrities" we have to try and mimic. None of which, in reality, has anything to do with you and I. Our life is more about finding a job, (selling yourself) trying to feed ourselves, hoping to keep warm this winter, struggling to keep a roof over our head. This tells us that there are two worlds, the illusionary world sold to us by the mouthpiece of state and corporatism, and the real world you and I inhabit. Isn't time we abandoned the illusionary world and concentrate on the world we live in and take control of the resources to sort that one out, and let the juggernaut of consumerism crash into the barrier of oblivion?

An excerpt from an interesting article by Naamloos:

     This world is a canvas of cynicism, separation, aesthetics, and stupidity, held together by forms of existence which destroy us: the necessity of selling ourselves to our workplace and to each other, the pathetic desire for recognition; the infantile inability to do anything, even feed ourselves, without a supermarket; the isolation of a life that moves from cubicle, to bar, to apartment, and back again. Those of us who didn’t fit into this arrangement, we consider it an individual problem, our problem and spend much of our lives trying to solve it with Zoloft, Xanex, hobbies, careers, heroin, alcohol, therapy, the gym, a computer screen, or a hookup. Best case scenario, we get a little Jeff Johnson action, POP POP. In reality, the stupid isolation and cynicism of this world is not “our problem” – rather, it is the very way we are governed, and all the medications, hobbies, clothes, and styles that we try are all just apparatuses that seek to prevent, at any cost, this world’s collapse.
     Everything at your fingertips, carefree, without lifting a finger, worry-free, hands-off, hassle-free, peace of mind, rest-assured… one only has to string together some of the guidelines of 20th century consumer satisfaction to understand the sedative aspects of our private lives that are held out as a promise (the one thing we can strive for) in the face of the enormous efforts required to sustain oneself, earn enough money, enjoy a social life, receive physical and mental care…

Read the full article HERE:

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A SHACK IN THE MIDST OF WEALTH.

          South Africa accounts for 24% GDP of all African Countries, according to the World Bank it is classed as an "upper-middle economy" It abounds in natural resources and is a very rich country. This is a table of the percentage of the world's production of these particular  substances: platinum, 77%; kyanite and other materials, 55%; chromium, 45%; palladium, 39%; vermiculite, 39%; vanadium, 38%; zirconium, 30%; manganese, 21%; rutile, 20%; ilmenite, 19%; gold, 11%; fluorspar, 6%; aluminium, 2%; antimony, 2%; iron ore, 2%; nickel, 2%; and phosphate rock, 1%. South Africa also accounted for nearly 5% of the world’s polished diamond production by value. The country’s estimated share of world reserves of platinum group metals amounted to 89%; hafnium, 46%; zirconium, 27%; vanadium, 23%; manganese, 19%; rutile, 18%; fluorspar, 18%; gold, 13%; phosphate rock, 10%; ilmenite, 9%; and nickel, 5%. It is also the world's third largest coal exporter. 

        It is also a very diverse economy with mining, fishery, agriculture, vehicle manufacture and assembly, finance, energy, textiles etc. In spite of this, 25% are unemployed, and more than 25% live on less than US$1.25 a day.

     All that adds up to it being a country of massive wealth and extensive poverty. As this film shows, like all capitalist countries, it doesn't go anywhere near fulfilling the needs of its people, and can be honestly stated to treat millions of its citizens as if it were an extremely poor country. Then again, that's the system, it is called corporate greed.

ann arky's home.

IT'S TRUE, WE NEED MORE ANARCHISTS.

     It is more than a year and a half since I wrote up the blog, We Needs More Anarchists, but I feel it is even more relevant today than when I wrote the piece.

    Savage cuts have been made to our living standards and to the education system, our National Health Service is being fragmented to be made suitable for the corporate world to gobble up. The disabled have been attacked and made to feel like criminals as they sit before assessors, to see if they can lift an empty box, or some other such humiliating and useless task. VAT increase has been followed by energy price increases, wages are frozen or cut and pensions are under attack. We are being forced to work longer, pay more for our pensions and get less when we retire. This is not the end of the financial Mafia's grand plan, there are more cuts in the pipeline, next year will see an even greater attack on our living standards. All this to prop up the banksters world so that they don't loose all the billions they gambled on phony deals and get rich quick schemes.

      Do we just let them get on with it, and screw us for all we are worth, or do we try to negotiate with them with, "Please sir, can you give us a little bit more of the cake", or do we decide we can run our affairs much better by ourselves and set about destroying this system that hands power to the rich? Do you honestly believe that voting to put a cabal of millionaires in power will solve our problems? Will they start to move wealth from their millionaire friends down to the likes of you and I? Would their millionaire friends let them?

      Like I said more than eighteen months ago, We Needs More Anarchists, and now, 

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WORKERS KNOW YOUR HISTORY,- THE LUDLOW MASSACRE.

       Another September anniversary, the 1913/14 Colorado miners strike. What is known as the Ludlow Massacre, was the coming together of the federal state, the banks, the press, and the American corporate world, in a brutal attempt to crush any unionization of the coal mining industry. That was 1913/14, to day they are still doing their damnedest to crush any form of organising among the ordinary people, perhaps the guns aren't out yet, but we should never forget that they have done it in the past and still have the loaded guns on stand-by, should they feel the need.

This is an extract from Angelfire:

    "----The miners voted to strike. Evicted from their huts by the coal companies, they packed their belongings onto carts and onto their backs and walked through a mountain blizzard to tent colonies set up by the United Mine Workers. It was September 1913. There they lived for the next seven months, enduring hunger and sickness, picketing the mines to prevent strikebreakers from entering, and defending themselves against armed assaults. The Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency, hired by the Rockefellers to break the morale of the strikers, used rifles, shotguns, and a machine gun mounted on an armored car, which roved the countryside and fired into the tents where the miners lived.
     They would not give up the strike, however, and the National Guard was called in by the governor. A letter from the vice president of Colorado Fuel & Iron to John D. Rockefeller, Jr., in New York explained:
     You will be interested to know that we have been able to secure the cooperation of all the bankers in the city, who have had three or four interviews with our little cowboy governor, agreeing to back the State and lend it all funds necessary to maintain the militia and afford ample protection so our miners could return to work.... Another mighty power has been rounded up on behalf of the operators by the getting together of fourteen of the editors of the most important newspapers in the state-----"

Read the full article HERE:

ann arky's home.

ONE OF THE MANY STATE MURDERS.

 

         On September 25, 1973 in Barcelona, in what was supposed to be a well planned operation by Franco's plain clothes police, there was an attempt to arrest two anarchists, Salvador Puig Antich and Xavier Garriga. A shoot-out took place and a young Guardia Civil, Francisco Anguas Barragan was killed, Salvador Puig Antich was badly wounded, and arrested. He was tried by court martial and condemned to death. Though there was persistent doubt about his guilt, and demonstrations in many countries across the world to change the sentence to life in prison, Franco refused. On March 2 1974, at 9:40am, in a cell in Barcelona Central Prison, 25 year old Salvador Puig Antich was executed by garrote. On the same day Heinz Chez was also executed by garrote, these were the last two executions by this method in Spain.

ann arky's home.

MURDER ACCEPTABLE, IN THE NAME OF GOD??

       Two interesting quotes, though I don't agree with the entire articles, but for sure, religion and superstition have brought nothing but havoc, misery, and violence to the world, from the days of sacrifices, to witch burning, to stoning to death, from blasphemy laws, to the right to brain wash our children, to censorship of expression. These religious rituals are and have been seen as, for the good of man and are considered the right of the religious, the so called devout. Preach love and indulge in violence and murder and that is alright as long as you say, it is god's name.

 

Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Muslim Rage & The Last Gasp of Islamic Hate “For a homicidal few in the Muslim world, life itself has less value than religious icons, such as the prophet or the Quran. These few are indifferent to the particular motives or arguments behind any perceived insult to their faith. They do not care about an individual’s political alignment, gender, religion, or occupation. They do not care whether the provocation comes from serious literature or a stupid movie. All that matters is the intolerable nature of the insult.”

Sam Harris: On the Freedom to Offend an Imaginary God
“The freedom to think out loud on certain topics, without fear of being hounded into hiding or killed, has already been lost. And the only forces on earth that can recover it are strong, secular governments that will face down charges of blasphemy with scorn. No apologies necessary.”

ann arky's home.

A PEOPLE'S AGREEMENT 2012.

         We know that the present system stinks, is corrupt, unjust, exploitative and panders to the 1% pampered parasite group of arrogant greedy millionaires, but what do we put in its place? The A World to Win group have put together "an agreement of the People for 2012", what do anarchists think?

An Agreement of the People for 2012

In the light of the ConDems plan to turn Britain into a total market state and Ed Miilband’s plan for Labour to “save capitalism from itself”, we present a 2012 draft of the Agreement of the People (with deference to the Levellers and their 1647 version debated at Putney).

hereas the current British state political system is undemocratic and unjust in that:

• the state is a highly centralised, alienating power that has established itself above society as a whole

• this power is exercised primarily on behalf of dominant economic and financial interests

• legal authority does not come from the people as citizens, but from the Monarchy, Lords and Commons

• the House of Commons is a powerless assembly rather than an independent transforming legislature 

• Members of Parliament do not exercise any real control over ministers or civil servants  

• a surveillance state secretly monitors and tracks the legitimate activities of activists, trade unionists and protesters

• increasing numbers of “arms-length” quasi-state agencies have been created which are totally unaccountable at central and local level

• local government has lost its relative autonomy and is now reduced to carrying out central government orders and decisions

• the state has abandoned primary responsibility in a number of areas including housing, higher education and care in older age in favour of markets

• the states refuses to take steps to cut carbon emissions and other measures to meet the challenge of climate change. 
  Read the full agreement HERE:
  
  
  
  ann arky's home.
  
  
  

BARBARA DOWLING'S TRIAL.

A call for solidarity for a very brave and principled woman. 

Barbara Dowling's census trial re-scheduled for 25 September

     Barbara Dowling will be on trial in Glasgow on Tuesday for allegedly refusing to aid and abet torture by cooperating with Scotland's census.

10am Tuesday 25 September at Glasgow Sheriff Court.
Map http://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/locations/index.asp?crt=glw&val=map
     

      Please come along to support Barbara in court. If other commitments prevent you from staying for the duration of the trial, please come along *before* 10am to show your support outside the court - even if it's only for a few minutes.
         "As everyone knows, soldiers and civilian contractors at the Abu Ghraib prison committed criminal offenses," says New York Times editor, Andrew Rosenthal. So why have no Abu Ghraib contractors faced prosecution? And why is a Glasgow woman facing criminal charges for objecting to the involvement of Abu Ghraib contractor CACI in Scotland’s census?
        Barbara Dowling will be tried in Glasgow Sheriff Court on Tuesday 25 September, accused of committing a criminal offence under the Census Act 1920. She allegedly refused to fully complete her census form last year in protest at the involvement in Scotland’s census of a British subsidiary of US defence contractor CACI International.

Read the full article
http://news.ethicalcensus.org.uk/2012/is-objecting-to-torture-a-crime/#more-319

More info: contact@ethicalcensus.org.uk
mailto:contact@ethicalcensus.org.uk

or phone 07936432519 or 07786630764

ann arky's home.

NICE TO KNOW THERE IS A DEMOCRAT IN POWER!!

       It is amazing how language can be distorted and words used to mean the opposite of what the dictionary would give. Look up DEMOCRAT in the dictionary, then look at Obama in America, then consider his recent victory in an appeals court. Comment below from Panther Productions.

OBAMA WINS ONE FOR THE POLICE STATE

Right to Detain Forever Is Protected, We're Safe !

    The Obama administration has won an emergency freeze of a federal judge’s recent decision to block a controversial statute that gave the government the power to carry out indefinite detention.

An appeals court agreed to stay Judge Katherine Forrest’s ruling against a provision in the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, authorizing the imprisonment of anyone deemed a terrorism suspect anywhere in the world without charge or trial.

ann arky's home.

IN THE UK, IS A GENERAL STRIKE POSSIBLE?

        This year for the first time in who knows how many years, the TUC has discussed the possibility of a general strike. This subject has always been taboo at TUC conferences, this year however, it was there being discussed. Of course with no mass industries, union membership at its lowest since about the 40's and most of that union membership in the public sector, could there be a general strike? If so, what then? Would it be a case of government collapse, new elections and a Labour government voted in to carry on the same polices as the Con/Dem's only with subtle nuances and at a slightly altered pace, with the TUC's blessing?

Listen to this discussion from Circled A:

ann arky's home.

A VISION OF THE FUTURE???

     Sometimes you come across an article and it just slaps you in the face with its facts figures and analysis, it hits you and you don't know how to respond.  This is three excerpts from what to me was such am article. You could say that this is just a stone's throw away from what is probably the richest country in the world.

 1 "If Katrina revealed America’s third world, then the earthquake revealed the third world’s third world. Haiti is by nearly every metric one of the poorest nations on the planet—a mind-blowing 80 percent of the population live in poverty, and 54 percent live in what is called “abject poverty.” Two-thirds of the workforce have no regular employment, and, for those who do have jobs, wages hover around two dollars a day. We’re talking about a country in which half the population lack access to clean water and 60 percent lack even the most basic health care services, such as immunizations; where malnutrition is among the leading causes of death in children, and, according to UNICEF, 24 percent of 5-year-olds suffer stunted growth. In Haiti life expectancy hovers at around 60 years as compared to, say, 80 years in Canada. As the Haiti Children Project puts it:"

 2    "Never fear, though—if anything is certain it is this: There will be more Haitis. Some new catastrophe will strike our poor planet. And for a short while the Eye of Sauron that is the globe’s fickle attention span will fall upon this novel misery. More hand wringing will ensue, more obfuscatory narratives will be trotted out, more people will die. Those of us who are committed will help all we can, but most people will turn away. There will be a few, however, who, steeling themselves, will peer into the ruins for the news that we will all eventually need."

3     "One day somewhere in the world something terrible will happen, and for once we won’t look away. We will reject what Jane Anna and Lewis R. Gordon have described in Of Divine Warning as that strange moment following a catastrophe when “in our aversion to addressing disasters as signs” we refuse “to interpret and take responsibility for the kinds of collective responses that may be needed to alleviate human misery.”

      One day something terrible will happen and for once we will heed the ruins. We will begin collectively to take responsibility for the world we’re creating. Call me foolishly utopian, but I sincerely believe this will happen. I do. I just wonder how many millions of people will perish before it does."

Read the full article HERE:

ann arky's home.

SEASOL TALK/DISCUSSION.

       A reminder of the talk/meeting/discussion tomorrow, Thursday evening, 20th. September,  at the Glasgow University in the Boyd Orr Building room 709. Leading the talk will be a representative of Seasol, (Seattle Solidarity Network) the event is hosted by Glasgow Solidarity Network, and the IWW.  In the present economic climate this should prove to be a very interesting and informative evening.

More details HERE:

ann arky's home.

WE ONLY HAVE ONE EARTH.

        One call that is universal from all sane and reasonable people is that we develop the world in a sustainable manner. However our corporate fascists, who control the world at the moment, it is a matter of rape and plunder the planet as fast as possible for maximum profit, it's a case of rip the world apart to fatten greed driven shareholders. One of the worst offenders in this destruction of the wee orb on which we live, for the sole purpose of wealth, is the oil industry and they are determined to take that record further by means of the devastating "tarsands extraction". Fortunately the opposition is growing and in America and Canada, Earth First is leading the battle against this insane greed driven policy.

This is an appeal for support:

Friends, comrades, and allies:

In the heartland of Texas, camped in the backwoods among armadillos and water moccasins and deeply rooted small farmers and ranchers, we at Tar Sands Blockade are engaged in what may be the largest direct action battle of our time. We are mobile, skilled and powerful, and though we number in the dozens, the magnitude of what we face demands a call to action. As many of you know, Tar Sands mining is the most ecologically destructive project on planet Earth, and the Keystone XL pipeline is a major piece of infrastructure that will allow for greater Tar Sands extraction and profit. The pipeline is proposed through over 2100 miles of farmland, forest and prairie in eight states and provinces and likely oil spills from this threaten much of North America’s water table including the massive Ogllala aquifer. For more on the issue visit http://stoptarsands.org/.

       TransCanada is a multi-billion dollar multinational corporation with the government on their side. They have a history of leakages from their pipelines. We are aligned against this enemy in an unlikely coalition of allies: local residents fighting eminent-domain land seizures, forest defense veterans, conservatives concerned about corporate/government intrusion on family lands, liberals concerned about climate change, and radical blockaders directly doing battle with the behemoth.
       Our adversary is everywhere. They are building this pipeline as we speak, in many different places at once. Clearing crews are mowing down swaths of trees, some over a century old, and tearing up farmland right next to people’s homes and water sources. It’s a massive project but we still anticipate stopping them at some key points that can ideally shut down the entire
operation. We can’t fight them everywhere but are trying our damnedest, and need a lot of help.
       We are utilizing a true diversity of tactics in this fight, including community cookouts, lockdowns, public rallies, meme warfare, arboreal dwellings, roving bands of mischief-makers, and more.
We need all skill sets, including: videographers and media specialists, medics, chefs, vehicle mechanics, tree-sitters and riggers, lockdowners, forest scouts, community organizers, welders, carpenters, and badasses of all trades.
       The most important thing is to come down here and plug in, but other ways to help include publicizing the Tar Sands Blockade on Facebook, Twitter etc., donating and/or raising funds and supplies including climbing gear, holding teach-ins in your bioregion, organizing solidarity actions against TransCanada and their enablers, and just generally spreading the word to help us increase our numbers as quickly as possible.
       We are a small crew of Earth First!ers and eco-anarchists engaged in tactical elements of the larger Tar Sands Blockade campaign. We’re requesting help from you, our comrades, to come join us as quickly as possible. If you have questions or want to discuss this at all, please email noneshallpass@riseup.net.
See y’all in the woods!

ann arky's home.

P0LITE LANGUAGE - BRUTAL RESULTS.

     What does "austerity cuts" really mean. We here in the UK still haven't yet had our full dose of financial Mafia medicine. there is more coming down the pipeline. If you want to see what is in store for you just look across at Greece. There they have seen their education system disintegrate, schools with no books, etc. their health service devastated, hospitals and clinics closing, running short on medicines, unemployment stratospheric, with all that, that entails. So it goes on, a sea of human suffering, misery and deprivation, all summed up in those nice sounding words, "austerity cuts". 

       Our shiny millionaire politicians along with the media, (the babbling brook of bullshit), are forever pouring out those nice sounding euphemisms. "Wage freeze" translates into possible malnutrition, foreclosure, or hypothermia in the winter. "Benefit reform", attacking the meager living standards of the lowest paid and most vulnerable. "Capping housing benefit" throwing families onto the street. There is always a reality to their respectable sounding words, words that taken together really mean plundering the public purse for the benefit of the financial Mafia.

      Like I said, we haven't been pushed down as far as Greece, YET, but where is the guarantee that we will somehow be saved from that. Do you think that the compassion of the millionaires and their friends in the financial Mafia will some how see our suffering, and stop stuffing their bank accounts? As far as they are concerned, everything is working fine, we the public are pouring billions into their pockets, in the hope that they will be nice to us in the future.

A report from The Greek Streets:

140 university departments are closing down –

hospital doctors on partial strike

        The ministry of education decided to close down 140 higher education departments including entire institutes. In an effort to keep the society as less educated as possible, and given that a lot of young people are developing a radical political identity and practice within the universities, the government now closes down entire departments while from this year on the free textbooks policy comes to an end, while there are systematic efforts to introduce tuition fees.

        Meanwhile the union of the hospital doctors yesterday announced that they are going on a partial-strike accepting only A&E patients and rescheduling every arranged appointments with patients. Hospital doctors protest because the Ministry of Health does not pay them for work they done, while doctors salaries have fallen circa 40% the last couple of years.

ann arky's home.

STAFF TIPS GOING ASTRAY.

        The over the top opulence that our herd of pampered parasites live, is only possible by an army of low paid individuals trying to earn their bread. No matter how luxurious the lives of the parasites, those that manage this obscenity, still try to fiddle the workers out of their legitimate rights. To them greed is seen as a necessary prerequisite to their way of life and subservience a necessary prerequisite for the workers.

This from IUF:

      Guests at the Hilton Conrad Rangali Islands Resort in Maldives pay 1,000 dollars a night to stay in luxury villas located on two private islands, where they can choose from "seven world class restaurants including the world's first all-glass undersea restaurant serving contemporary cuisine". "For the ultimate dining experience" guests can order a private beach dinner with their own chef and waiter. But conditions are less than luxurious for the workers who serve them.

    Last year, some 350 workers held a peaceful work stoppage to highlight their longstanding demand for a clear reckoning of the service charge which makes up a crucial l part of their pay. Management responded by terminating union supporters - and refuses to comply with a court order ordering the resort to reinstate them.

Click here to send a message calling on Hilton management to reinstate these 22 workers who stood up for their rights and recognize their union!

Ron Oswald
General Secretary, IUF

International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF)

8, rampe du Pont-Rouge
1213 Petit Lancy, Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 793 22 33
Fax: +41 22 793 22 38
web-site: www.iuf.org

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EXARCHIA ATHENS.

From Anarchistnews.org

Exarchia — the Hell’s Kitchen of Athens

        Historical stronghold of anarchists in the heart of Athens, the square has become a thermometer of Greek society during the crisis. Among the artists’ squats and trendy youth dropping by to breathe the air of protest, trafficking and violence are growing.

      The Albanian is a legitimate businessman today, and the young girl from the wealthy neighborhood of Ekali has grown into a little troublemaker. The good old anarchist sending the pseudo-revolutionary neophytes back to their studies, the Cypriot hotelier who becomes the best friend of Japanese tourists, and the former prisoner now an organiser of cultural events can all be found around Exarchia Square, a rallying point for the capital’s youth come by to savour the myth of the square, which a PASOK [Greece’s socialist party] chief wants to turn into a parking lot.

       In the heart of Athens, by day the square, like a snake shedding its skin, turns into something else, a mix of races, of shops opening and closing (thanks to Molotov cocktails, of course), watching over its restaurants, the Rozalia tavern and the Floral, and even the Riviera cinema. Not to mention its two kiosks, the statue of the lovers and two or three other things. A visit late in the day can confirm that the crisis has left its marks, but it can also reveal what never changes about Exarchia, the most restive neighbourhood in Greece ever since the fall of the dictatorship and even warned of as such by the U.S. State Department.

Read the full article HERE:

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A NEW GARDEN IN THE CITY.

          A city is a desert unless the people cultivate it, one way to cultivate your city is for the people to come together  and create those spaces that allow us to be who we are. Spaces where we can be creative, relax and communicate with each other, speak of our desires and hopes, free from the constraints placed upon us by the rigorous structures of our economic system. In other words, we need "social centres".

Social Centres

      Social Centres, at their best, are at once spaces of disruption and creation. They disrupt the everyday, everywhere, ‘canny get the feck away from it,insidious nature of both capitalist and state relations, by creating alternatives to them. You know the process: say the right things; wear the right clothes; tick the right boxes. All life made knowable: our ideas, our aspirations, our communities inscribed, made stable, mobile, comparable, combinable and ultimately sellable. Social centres are about imperfect experimentations in de-commodifying our lives through listening, learning, agitating, laughing and so much more.

The Glasgow Social Centre

      The Glasgow Social Centre (GSC) is a non-profit volunteer run cooperative, which brings together a diversity of groups and individuals in the creation of a safe, comfortable space, open to all members of the community for the purpose of community education, action and creativity on issues of social and environmental justice and the arts. We endeavor to support and enhance groups taking action to protect and improve our environment and communities by providing a hub of activity in the form of workshops, performance and general meeting space. We strive to benefit the lives of people in Glasgow through our commitment to community education, nutrition and the arts. In short, as active Glaswegians, we wish to take a proactive role in creating a positive, healthy and sustainable city.

Achievements thus far

    The GSC came together in December 2008 as a group of people from a wide range of backgrounds wanting to make a positive impact on their urban landscapes. From the beginning we envisaged a space in the city which would act as a hub for all manner of community group activities: A place where a variety of social, cultural, political and environmental bodies might congregate to share and galvanize existing ideas as well as create new possibilities.

     From August 2009 to January 2010 we ran a pilot project in a space we shared with the African and Caribbean Network (A&CN) in Glasgow city centre for an agreed six months period. This allowed us to gain some purchase on our limitations and plan our project more effectively, based on real experiences. We completely renovated the space from an abandoned factory building to an operational community space in little over one month with few funds other than small personal contributions. For the next five months we hosted and ran workshops, fundraisers, artist and performance events and galleries. In addition we raised funds and promoted awareness on issues such as the Haiti Earthquake and sustainable city living.

    Over the last two years we’ve been doing much of the same in various locations around the city. We call these ‘Pop-Up Centres’. Events have included a Direct Action workshop; a Common Land and Resources Awareness Workshop; a Roller skating Disco and the odd gig or two.

Today

     Beginning this October we embark on a series of workshops and socials in the Basement of the Garnethill Multicultural centre (Rose St) every Tuesday (6-10pm).

  These include a fortnightly film club showing a range of documentaries and movies and a monthly women’s group. We will also be organizing a few wee socials on Fridays at the same venue (we’ll keep u posted).

Current Schedule (More To be Announced):

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A HIDDEN SLAUGHTER.

     A more detailed article on the brutal deaths of thousands of Palestinians 30 years ago at Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. We should never allow this savage massacre to be airbrushed out of history.

This from US Palestinian Community Network:

     On this day, 30 years ago, the soil of Lebanon was quenched with the blood of thousands of Palestinians and Lebanese. It is said that chrysanthemums burst out of the earth at the place where martyrs’ blood flows. In the year 2012, however, no chrysanthemums are blooming in Sabra and Shatila. This bloody crime on the hands of the Israeli state, its US funder, its Lebanese proxy forces and the complicit Arab regimes that created the conditions for the massacre of 1982, is carefully skirted, quietly spun and wrapped in a cloak of silence. We are asked to forget our people or confuse the events surrounding their sudden disappearance; we are invited to debate these matters as a subject for narratives, disputes and counter narratives.

Read the full article HERE:

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MORE BULLSHIT FROM AN EXPENSIVE SUIT.

       As a rule, every time a politician opens their mouth there is a mixture of bullshit, arrogance and ignorance. The flag carrier for a “compassionate capitalism” the Labour Party leader, Ed Miliband, is no exception. In an interview with The Daily Telegraph he said he had nothing against the rich, as long as they made their money, “the hard way”. This of course perpetuates the myth that in this society all you have to do to get rich is work hard. Well Ed, my father was a miner all his life and worked extremely hard. He never took a holiday, in those days the mines closed for the “Fair Holidays” but they always needed a crew to go down the mine on a daily basis during the holidays to check on gas, flooding and roof collapses. My dad took that job year after year. I don't know of anybody who worked harder, he didn't drink nor gamble, but we were poor, we never got rich. Get wise Ed, to get rich in this type of society you have to exploit people somewhere along the line, hard work doesn't get you rich. Another bullshit outpouring from Ed, during his interview was, "My dad was sceptical of all the Thatcher aspirational stuff, but I felt you sort of had to recognise that what she was talking about struck a chord. I want to save capitalism from itself," so Ed is one of those, “there is no such thing as society, only individuals” What he and Thatcher considers “aspirational stuff” is just an unleashing of personal greed and to hell with the community. A society of “me” “I” and “what can I screw from this deal”. Ed also wants to “save capitalism from itself”, well, please Ed don't bother wasting your time, it can't be turned into a nice compassionate system where we are all rewarded for our efforts. Don't bother trying to save capitalism from it self, it is a lost cause, capitalism is exploitation, capitalism is corruption, capitalism is injustice. You and your “fairer capitalism” bunch are perpetuating a system the breeds deprivation, corruption and greed, there is no way you can build a fair society on those foundations. Ed you and your bullshitting mob are the problem, get out of the way and let the people control their own communities and society in a non-capitalist way.

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