Dialogue Of The Destitute.

        Today's poem, written by Yamanoue no Okura, from another place and another time, but sadly, some things never change. The poverty written about all those years ago, in this poem is still very much part of today's world. For how much longer?

This from Wikipedia:

       Yamanoue no Okura (660–733) was a Japanese poet, the best known for his poems of children and commoners. He was a member of Japanese missions to Tang China. He was also a contributor to the Man'yōshū and his writing had a strong Chinese influence. Unlike other Japanese poetry of the time, his work emphasizes a morality based on the teachings of Confucius. He was perhaps born in 660 because his fifth volume, published in 733, has a sentence saying "in this year, I am 74".

        The Yamanoue clan was a tributary of the Kasuga clan,^[1] who is a descendant of Emperor Kōshō. Yamanoue no Okura went on to accompany a mission to Tang China in 701 and returned to Japan in 707. In the years following his return he served in various official capacities. He served as the Governor of Hōki (near present day Tottori), tutor to the crown prince, and Governor of Chikuzen.

      Modern scholar^[who?] have reached the general consensus that Okura was likely of Korean extraction. He is believed to have been one of the refugees from the Korean kingdom of Baekje (called Kudara in Japanese) who fled the Korean peninsula for Baekje's close ally Japan after their kingdom was invaded by Tang China.

Dialogue of the Destitue
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"On nights when rain falls,
                  mixed with wind,
on nights when snow falls,
               mixed with rain,
I am cold
And the cold.
       leaves me helpless:"
I lick black lumps of salt
and suck up melted dregs of sake.
Coughing and sniffling,
I smooth my uncertain wisps
                        of beard.

I am proud-
          I know no man
                is better than me.
But I am cold.
I pull up my hempen nightclothes
and throw on every scrap
of cloth shirt that I own.
But the night is cold.
And I wonder how a man like you,
          even poorer than myself,
with his father and mother
starving and freezing,
with his wife and children
begging and begging
              through their tears,
can get through the world alive
               at times like this. "

"Wide, they say,
              are heaven and earth-
but have they shrunk for me?
Bright, they say,
               are the sun and moon-
but do they refuse to shine for me?
Is it thus for all men,
                  or for me alone?
Above all, I was born human,
I too toil for my keep-
as much as the next man-

yet on my shoulders hangs

a cloth shirt

not even lined with cotton,

these tattered rags

thin as strips of seaweed..

"In my groveling hut,
    my tilting hut,
sleeping on straw
cut and spread right on the ground,
with my father and mother
       huddled at my pillow
and my wife and children

       huddled at my feet,
I grieve and lament.

Not a spark rises in the stove,

and in the pot

a spider has drawn its web,

I have forgotten

what it is to cook rice!
As I lie here,
a thin cry tearing from my throat-
                  a tiger thrush's moan-
then, as they say,
to slice the ends
of a thing already too short,
to our rough bed
comes the scream of the village headman
           with his tax collecting whip.
Is it so helpless and desperate,
the way of the world?"

ENVOY
I find this world
a hard and shameful place.
But I cannot fly away-
I am not a bird. 

 

ann arky's home.

Internship - Workfare, Exploitation.

      I'm a little confused by the difference in description of "unpaid internship" and "unpaid workfare". A certain Jo Swinson, business minister,  has raised the matter of "unpaid internships" stating that the exploitation of interns was a significant problem and an attack on the minimum wage. She has handed to HM Revenue and Customs, a list of over 100 names of companies she believes are indulging in this exploitation, and lots of them are well known household names, no surprise there.

      It appears that, anyone who is considered to be "working" under law must be paid the minimum wage. This means that if your are given something specific to do, rather than just "observe", then you are said to be "working", and as stated, under the law you must be paid the minimum wage. So all those on "unpaid workfare" should make it clear that if they are unpaid, then under the law, all they can do is "observe".

      Why Jo Swinson should be so concerned about "interns" but not see the same exploitation of those on "workfare" seems a bit a mystery to me. The only difference I can see is that "internship" tends to be voluntary, where as "workfare" is forced. So in this economic system of insanity, it is consider unlawful to be a voluntary "unpaid intern", but it is quite acceptable to be a forced "unpaid workfare" victim. 

      I assume that both the individuals concerned were unemployed before the either voluntarily became an "unpaid intern" or were forced to become an "unpaid workfare" victim. Come on Jo, take another list of all those exploiting "unpaid workfare" victims and hand that to HM Revenue and Customs along with your existing list of exploiters. They are both doing the same thing, exploiting free labour.

ann arky's home.

Scrap Trident Rally And March, Glasgow.

Scrap Trident Weekend of Action - Saturday, Sunday, Monday

 

Saturday 13th April  - Scrap Trident Rally and March    

 

Assemble George Square, Glasgow 10.15am
March starts  10.45am, Rally George Square 11.45am to 1.15pm

 

The plan is for people to walk in blocs calling for Scrapping Trident and Funding Education, the NHS, Pensions, Disability Benefits, Sustainable Energy and more. We invite you to get together a bloc or group to join us. How does Trident affect you? Whatever your reason for wanting nuclear weapons to be scrapped, get together with like-minded people and join us.

 

SPEAKERS
Sandra White MSP SNP, Patrick Harvie MSP Greens, Dave Moxham Deputy General Secretary STUC

Youth/Student: Stacey Devine NUS Scotland Womens Officer, Suki Sangha STUC youth committee
Education workers: Susan Quinn President EIS
Pensioners: Cathy McCormack Easterhouse Anti-poverty Community Activist and author
Disability Rights: Susan Archibald Disabilities Rights campaigner
Faith groups: Peter Macdonald Leader Iona Community
Health Workers: Judith McDonald – Medact
Welfare: Cat Boyd Youth Young Trade Unionist and PCS Member

And: Krista van Velzen  Former Member of Netherlands Parliament, Marion Nisbet  Bedroom Tax Federation, Leonna O ‘Neill  Faslane Peace Camp

MCs: Pat Smith/Angela McCormick/ Jonathon Shafi

 

More information: http://scraptrident.org/demonstration/

 

Travel from Edinburgh: Meet up to travel through to Glasgow on the 8.45am or 9am Scotrail trains. If you get to the station 15 or 20 minutes before the departure time it’s possible to team up and make use of the 4 travel for the price of 2 tickets. See you there.If you plan to travel by car and can offer a lift, email edinburghstw@tiscali.co.uk to let us know. Similarly let us know if you need a lift.

 

Travel from Aberdeen: Bus eaving from Spa Street (at the back of His Majesty’s Theatre) 7.30am. Return from Glasgow at 4pm arrive back in Aberdeen around 7.30pm. £12 waged / £8 unwaged. Contact Jonathan on 07582-456 233 or email: jhamiltonrussell@hotmail.co.uk

 

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Enemy of God And Foe of Kings.

      Today's poem was written by one of Glasgow's best known anarchists, Guy Aldred. A man who dedicated his entire life, selflessly to the struggle of the ordinary people, a man who died with 2 shillings in his pocket. A conscientious objector, he served many years in prison. A prolific writer on a myriad of subjects, this poem was written on the eve of his first Court Martial at Fovant in 1916.

 from, A Meditation.

To the destiny of man

to the instinct of my own nature

to the martyred spirit of all dead pioneers

let me pray.

Let me commune for health & strength & endurance

in captivity

Let me pray for zeal of spirit & power of faith.

Let me pray for intellectual vision & fervour of passion.

Let all vulgarity slip from me & the word, the spirit

of truth, become incarnate in me.

Let me never deny the truth either in word or spirit.

Let me work for the overthrow of scoffers in high places,

for the destruction of scoffing.

Let me become a prophet against scepticism

of worldly piety and social unbelief.

Let me become a son of man

the enemy of God the foe of kings

the destroyer of ritual, ceremony & all useless form.

Let truth & truth alone be my mistress

and may I bring witness to her integrity

from all lands & climes.

May no worldly ambition

no temptation in this wilderness of understanding

lead me to serve the enemy of man,

the principle of power and domination.

                                                GUY ALDRED.

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Stifling The Voice Of The People.

      While the Greek state continues to carry out the dictate of the financial Mafia, it is also tasked with another, in their eyes, necessary duty, to stifle any resistance to this rape and plunder of the Greek people and their assets. The more the people struggle for alternative and more community based modes of existence, the harder the fist of state repression strikes. As well as longstanding squats across Greece being evicted, there is now another attempt to close down the people's voice of communication. One of the means by which the ordinary people of Greece communicate and co-ordinate their struggle against the policies of poverty and deprivation is through Indymedia Athens and the longstanding, Radio 98fm. Once again they are under attack. The state needs a monopoly of the means of communication, to pump out its propaganda and drown the voice of resistance. A people who can't communicate are a divide and fragmented people, much easier to subjugate and control. It is of the utmost importance that the ordinary people protect, maintain and  grow their own means of communication.

This from The Greek Streets:

Indymedia Athens and Radio 98fm under attack

Thursday, April 11, 2013

      On Thursday 11 April the Greek extreme right wing government shut down Athens Indymedia and radio station 98fm.

Solidarity to Athens Indymedia and 98 fm.

     Urgent call for a protest tomorrow, Friday 12th of April, 13:00, in the central square of Polytechnioupoli, Zografou.

Means of transport busses 608 & 242

Requesting to spread this call!!

For updates in Greek visit the temporary page http://indymedia.squat.gr/

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Let's Make That Stand.

       Today's poem is with the previous post in mind. It was written a considerable number of years ago, so please forgive the couple of lines that could be claimed as sexist, but I'm sure you'll agree with the essence of the poem.

LET’S MAKE THAT STAND.

Come rise with me

here, take my hand

it’s time my brothers

to make that stand,

we’ve bought this world

with blood and tears

shed by our kin

through countless years.

Put an end to war

it’s time for peace

man killing man

has to cease.

No more poverty

in a sea of wealth

all men equal

in a new commonwealth.

Let’s never again kneel

let’s stand up tall

claim what’s ours

justice for all.

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The Death Of A Badge!!

      There is a lot of hatred and venom spewing about at the moment and it is directed at Thatcher. So she's dead, what has changed? During the “Thatcher era” communities were devastated, people's lives were torn asunder, youth saw its future shredded and the spectre of poverty and deprivation loomed ever larger. It was an attack on the living standards of the ordinary people. So like I said, what has changed??

      Today we have a bunch of millionaires continuing that same policy, today our education system is being torn apart and offered up to the corporate world, our health service is being handed on a plate to the same big corporate market casino, from these actions, deaths and injuries there will be. This same bunch of parasitical millionaires must also take responsibility for those vulnerable and unfortunate individuals on disability allowance who died shortly after being found “fit for work” by the government funded ATOS. As far as I am aware, to-date that number is in excess of 1,700. Not an unfortunate accident but the result of raw ideological brutality, equally as savage as the “Thatcher era”. We have the “bedroom tax” holding the threat of eviction over thousands of ordinary families. This month the tax rate to the richest in the land was reduced, while social services are being slashed, and today the spectre of poverty and deprivation still looms large over the ordinary people. Like I said, what has changed???

       Shouting, dancing and partying like crazy over the death of a badge, a badge of a system that is still in place, inflicting the same savage injuries on the ordinary people, and gathering pace. Celebrating as if we had won a victory while still mired in the sewage of those same policies. All this hitting out at a symbol, is like lashing out at a punch-bag in the gym, just remember no matter how hard you hit, you are not in the ring, it is not the real fight, the real fight has still to come and it is outside the gym of symbolism. 

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£53 a week?

       Almost half a million people signed the petition asking Iain Duncan Smith to put put up or shut up. Spouting he could live on £53 a week for a year, but so far he has refused to follow that through by actually doing it. He may find the adjustment somewhat difficult, as at present his daily income is slightly more than four times that  figure of £53 he states he could live on for a week. A part from his daily income of approximately £225, there is also the perks that go with being one of the boys in that millionaires' club, The Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption. A nice little number if you can get it.

This from Change.org

460,000 people is a lot of people!

On Monday the Department of Work and Pensions found out just what that looks like when I delivered the petition calling on Iain Duncan Smith to live on £53 a week right to their doorstep.

Share the photos of the delivery with your friends on Facebook here. 

Iain Duncan Smith still refuses to respond to the petition but I have no doubt he felt its impact. In fact his department was so surprised by how many journalists turned up at the delivery they went into lockdown for 15 minutes before they conceded they had to open the doors and let us in!

When I started the petition I didn't think that he would actually take up the challenge, although there is nothing to prevent him from doing it. The point was to highlight the hypocrisy of our politicians living lives of real privilege while lecturing others on what poverty feels like.

This petition was about taking back the control of the debate -- and we did that! 

Last week the petition was reported over 250 times in national media. Press from every major outlet turned out to report the delivery. 

We gave a platform for people affected by the welfare changes to tell their stories. I want to say a special thank you to Heather Simpson, Eileen Short and Ian Mortimer Jones who accompanied me at the delivery. Eileen and Heather campaign with the anti-bedroom tax group and Ian campaigns for the WOW petition - please check out their campaigns. 

And finally I want to thank you and everyone who supported this petition. We brought the debate back to the doorstep of power, and even though they attempted to drag it into the gutter, their actions lacked conviction and confidence, reflecting an establishment rattled by a very modern form of democracy -- people power online.

Ten days ago I was at home getting frustrated about another out of touch politician saying something dismissive on the radio. A week later I was stood in front of five TV cameras getting a chance to tell a different side of the story -- all because I started a petition on Change.org. I sincerely hope this has inspired you as much as it has inspired me. 

I am leaving the petition open so people can still sign it. Iain Duncan Smith will be returning to Parliament next week -- it would be good to clock up even more signers before then!  

Thank you for your support,
Dominic

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The Pinnacle Of Evolution.

         Today's poem, could be said to be food for thought, ah, but shouldn't that be what all poems are?

PINNACLE OF EVOLUTION.

There’s a crazy ape, who

by means of incredible intransigence

has mastered the art of carnage;

through dogged determination

in a ruthless rampage

raised the body-count beyond belief.

This crazy ape

creates the human chronicles

as a cruel callous calendar,

transforms our indulgent earth

into a primitive barbaric abattoir.

He struts across the land

with bumptious pride;

he’s destructive, he’s devious,

demands dominion

planet wide.

His claim to fame,

history immortalised in rivers of blood.

Even so,

this crazy ape called man, believes

he’s the GODS’ sublime solution,

progress’s perfection,

the pinnacle of evolution.

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Privatise Thatcher's Funeral.

     Petitioning Privatise Thatcher's Funeral. It's what she would have wanted!

   Privatise Thatcher's Funeral. It's what she would have wanted!: Sign the petition to say you agree.

     Don't let taxpayers pay for a state funeral when it's cheaper and more efficient via privatisation. Let's do this in her memory. It's exactly what she would have wanted.

A Ken Loach comment:
     “Margaret Thatcher was the most divisive and destructive Prime Minister of modern times,” he said. “Mass Unemployment, factory closures, communities destroyed – this is her legacy. She was a fighter and her enemy was the British working class. “Her victories were aided by the politically corrupt leaders of the Labour Party and of many Trades Unions. It is because of policies begun by her that we are in this mess today.
    “Remember she called Mandela a terrorist and took tea with the torturer and murderer Pinochet. How should we honour her? Let’s privatise her funeral. Put it out to competitive tender and accept the cheapest bid. It’s what she would have wanted.”
     Long an opponent of Thatcher, Loach's views come as little surprise, and follow the announcement that Baroness Thatcher's ceremonial funeral, to take place at St Paul's Cathedral, is expected to cost up to £8 million, the biggest funeral of its kind since the death of Sir Winston Churchill in 1965.

Sign the petition HERE:

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There Will Come A time.

      Today's poem, is, I think, in keeping with the previous post. I'm sure there will come a time, my only hope is that it is soon.

THERE WILL COME A TIME.

There will come a time when the hordes remember,

who bound our grand-parents to the yoke of oppression,

who sentenced our parents to deprivation,

who bid poverty sink its teeth into our heart,

who teach our children, greed is a noble art.

Who sent our sons through the gates of hell

to a litany of cambist brawls,

crammed coffers with blood-stained gold

while laughing in Ares' halls.

"Who does these terrible things to us?" they will ask,

and when they remember,

they'll bring an energy that is endless

to drive a fist that is fearless.

Then this merciless market-driven world will crumble

under an insurrection of integrity,

the poor will emerge from the dark husk of capitalism

to live in the light of social justice.

There will come a time when the hordes remember.

ann arky's home,

The Thatcherite Era Of The Class War.

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    Our babbling brook of bullshit, the media, is in full spate at the moment, gurgling through its foetid channels is the stench of Thatcher. The praises ring loud and clear, they do however allow a little criticism to show its face, just to try to give the impression of balanced journalism. Balanced it is not. What has become known as the “Thatcherite” era, was an era of war, but it is never detailed like war, the deaths and injuries were not noted. In the case of the Belgrano, a ship needlessly torpedoed by a UK submarine, killing 323, many of them young sea cadets, it was detailed. A coal mine was shut, hit by an ideological missile, a town/village dies, the deaths and injuries are not detailed. In the case of the Belgrano, the deaths were more or less instantaneous, in the case of the destroyed coal mine, steel works, shipyard, the deaths and injures took place much more slowly, in some cases over years. But deaths and injures there were, those who fired that ideological missile have blood on their hands.       

     During this “Thatcherite” war era, there were many such ideological missiles fired at towns, villages and cities across the country, the resultant deaths and injuries were never detailed. Deaths from stress, addiction, overdoses, suicide and mental and physical problems, plus destroyed future generations, faced with poverty and long term unemployment, all the direct result of those ideological missiles fired with callous calculating coldness by those who had everything to gain and nothing to lose from the resultant war carnage. The “Thatcherite” era was a bloody era, for the ordinary people of this country, it was an all out war on working class communities and institutions, nowhere was there any gain in it for those casualties of the ideological missiles fired.

       Millions across the country suffered as the financial Mafia pushed ahead with their grand plan, Thatcher was merely the badge that they wore, she was their public face. Today that same grand plan is still being pushed, the rape, plundering and pillage of all public assets, grinding down of the ordinary people, preparing the correct recipe for corporate greed to take control of everything. Yes, spit venom at the image of a woman who symbolised an ideological plan, but she didn't write that plan, she didn't detail the targets, she was just simply put in the driving seat with her satnav already set. Yes she done it with force and pleasure, but remember, she has gone, but the plan is still in place and proceeding at an alarming pace.

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The Rebel.

     Today's poem,--- well, make what you will of it, I suppose that's what we should do with every poem.

THE REBEL

Rebel rebel break the rule,

What does it matter that a “wise” man sees a fool.

Not for you the herd’s dull beat

Making tomorrow, yesterday’s repeat,

Living out the life of a clone

Marching with the crowd but always alone.

Shaping your life from some dusty tome

Playing it safe, staying at home.

Rebel rebel break the rule

Swim in the sea, never the pool.

Live your emotions, feel the surge

Follow your dreams, chase the urge.

Make life though short, an exciting game

Not a mad march for fortune or fame.

Capture the moment, live it now

Being alive your only vow.

Rebel rebel break the rule

In the end,     you’re humanity’s jewel.

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As Safe As Banks.

    The impact of what has happened in Cyprus is not being fully reported by our babbling brook of bullshit, the media. Nor is it being reported that the Cyprus plan is is not a new thought that has suddenly flashed across the crazy minds of the financial Mafia, they have been discussing this particular asset grab and other means of “re-capitalising” for some considerable time.

     The effect of what the financial Mafia have done to the ordinary people of Cyprus, is to fast-track them in a few weeks, into the level of desperate deprivation that was unimaginable a month or so earlier. The economy has more or less been shut down, small to medium businesses can't pay wages, can't continue, so lay off the staff, long term mass poverty across the island, and on a personal basis that could be repeated in similar fashion across the island is the case of a UK couple who bought a house on the island and retired there. Recently the husband died, the woman sold up with the intentions of returning to the UK. Like everybody in these circumstances, after the sale her money went into the bank, and that's the last she has seen of it. If she gets it back it will be after they have chopped anything up to 60%. It's called freedom and democracy.

     The fact the this is not a sudden one off, but just one of the many devious and down right criminal arrangements to protect the vested interests of the big boys in the financial Mafia Club is made clear in the following article.

An Extract Global Research:

     The underlying tendency at the national and global levels is towards the centralization and concentration of bank power, while leading to the dramatic slump of the real economy.

      Bail ins have been envisaged in numerous countries. In New Zealand  a “haircut plan”   was envisaged as early as 1997 coinciding with Asian financial crisis.

There are provisions in both the UK and the US pertaining to the confiscation of bank deposits.  In a joint document of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Bank of England, entitled Resolving Globally Active, Systemically Important, Financial Institutions, explicit  procedures were put forth whereby “the original creditors of the failed company “, meaning the depositors of  a failed bank, would be converted into “equity”. (See Ellen Brown, It Can Happen Here: The Bank Confiscation Scheme for US and UK Depositors,Global Research, March 2013)

     What this means is that the money confiscated from bank accounts would be used to meet the failed bank’s financial obligations. In return, the holders of the confiscated bank deposits would become stockholders in a failed financial institution on the verge of bankruptcy.

Read the full article HERE:

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Eighteen Hungry Children.

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     Today's poem, written more than ten years ago, and the figure has not changed much in that time, is a poem to turn your thoughts to those children born to die, children who have no future and die of hunger in a world of plenty.

EIGHTEEN HUNGRY CHILDREN.

Eighteen hungry children die

every minute of every day

eighteen of tomorrow’s people

cruelly thrown away.

When pandering to a fashion

gratifying our greed,

think, theirs is no desire

but a basic need.

Envisage a familiar face

a child that calls your name,

try to be the parent

try to place the blame.

Eighteen hungry children die

every minute of every day,

eighteen little faces

that never learnt to play.

Walk past your local school

listen to the shrill,

stand and count to sixty

imagine hunger start to kill.

Fingers must be pointed

at decisions made on high,

questions must be asked

loudly asked by you and I.

Eighteen hungry children die

every minute of every day,

eighteen precious lives

the claws of hunger slay.

WHY?

ann arky's home.

The Red Rock, Icaria.

      Most of us are now aware of the tragic state of the vast majority of the population of Greece, with massive unemployment, rapid increase if health problems both mental and physical and in your face poverty and deprivation. It's the “financial crisis” we are told, we have to slash your standard of living to pay the losses of the gamblers in the financial Mafia. The plan, of course is to promise everybody pie-in-the sky, from those wonderful green shoots of growth, that will miraculously appear in the distant future, and put the whole stinking mess back on track for another rip-off session for the corporate world. To say the whole of Greece has been decimated is not quite accurate. 

     There is a Greek island called Icaria, sometimes called the Red Rock, not because of the colour of the landscape, but more the colour of its lifestyle. The islanders of Icaria have always been an independent lot and threw the Turks out in 1912 and declared themselves, The Free State of Icaria. Shortly after this they join with Greece. In 1947 when the nationalist in Greece defeated the communists, with no little help from the British military, the nationalist government rounded up 13,000 communists and deported them to Icaria. The communists soon integrated with the locals and their influence has helped shape the lifestyle on the island to this day. The island never embraced the consumer society and they live a more communal community oriented system. If somebody on the island wants to build a house, or repair a barn, the labour will come free from the community, knowing that it will be returned when their needs require. The type of comments from the islanders goes something like, “These city folks see something in the evening and they must have it in the morning and seldom is anything they buy something that they really need. Consumerism is not happiness.”

       So far they have been more or less untouched by the financial Mafia's rape and plunder of Greece, perhaps the rest of the country could see an answer to their problems if they take a wee look at the island of Icaria. In fact, perhaps we could all learn something of value from the people on that sunny island situated in the Aegean. 

ann arky's home.
 

Kelvin Meadow.

   More on The Kelvin Meadows, see earlier post Kelvin Meadows Belongs To The People.

Video from CityStrolls.

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A Needless Sea of Tears.

And today's poem is:

A NEEDLESS SEA OF TEARS.

Though we live in a world of callous commerce

and know justice

is an altar where the caring are sacrificed,

see freedom as a river that runs parched

in the fierce desert of poverty,

our thoughts cannot be chained

our dreams will not be caged.

 We will think beyond the profit race

dream beyond the market place

in friendship clasp each human hand

with compassion try to understand

our differences, our hopes, our fears,

dragging this world from its needless sea of tears.

ann arky's home.

How To Increase Your Workforce Without Increasing Your Wage Bill.

         Are there any idiots out there who believe that Poundland and Homebase etc., take on unemployed people under the ConDem's workfare scheme simply to help them find a job? I have no doubt across the country's boardrooms the discussions will be around how many they can take on in an attempt to keep down their wage bill. It's great value, a subsidy from the government to their millionaire friends, free labour, slavery with the stamp of legitimacy.

      Continuous demonstrations against this modern day slave labour scheme have been responsible for some companies dropping out of this government gift scheme to their corporate buddies, they don't like the bad publicity, it could damage their profit margins, they want you the public to love them. More needs to be done to kill this scheme dead. However, Homebase have just blown away any illusions that were there, about this being for the benefit of the unemployed.

 Photo from Pride's Purge.

From The Guardian:

     Leaked internal document appears to promote the use of unpaid jobseekers to reduce company payroll costs. Homebase has been accused of "vulture" business practices after a leaked internal document appeared to promote the idea of using unpaid jobseekers to keep down company payroll costs. The DIY retailer confirmed that a photo of more than a dozen unemployed jobseekers from the government's work experience programme, captioned, "Would 750 hours with no payroll costs benefit YOUR store?" was produced by company staff for an internal discussion.

Of course you can forget all that crap about it being voluntary

Again from The Guardian:

     Jobseekers have been made to do compulsory unpaid work for up to four weeks after refusing to take part in the voluntary work experience scheme. The revelation, supported by documents released through the Freedom of Information Act, calls into question the concessions made to the voluntary programme last month, which removed a two-week benefit sanction imposed on those dropping out of that scheme, as refusal to complete a placement on the compulsory scheme can lead to jobseekers' benefits being stopped for three to six months.

     This is the grand plan, get wages down to sweatshop level, cut all social spending, (reduces big businesses tax bills) and then force those who can't find work into a job for no wages. That way our beloved corporate benefactors will be able to compete with all the other sweatshop economies across the globe. Who can possible object to that plan?

     Day by day it becomes more obvious that this greed driven system called capitalism has nothing to offer the ordinary people, we get screwed on a daily basis by well coiffured, shiny suited, (Boris Johnston excepted) millionaires. How they must laugh when at their sumptuous dinner parties, they sarcastically talk about austerity and us all being in this together. I can hear them in their mansions, giggle over cocktails as they joke about the "bedroom tax". I can imagine the conversation in their posh clubs, as they discuss how many employees they can take on-board without paying them a penny in wages. Are we waiting to see if they will change and perhaps share their cake with us? We'll have a long wait.

ann arky's home.

Let's Roar!

Continuing a poem a day throughout April;

LET’S ROAR.

The problem’s too big
the perpetrators unknown
you can’t beat the system
all on your own.
So it’s easy to withdraw
find your own little cage
turn a blind eye to the suffering
stifle your rage,
but the greed goes on
the poverty’s still there,
you can’t just leave it
for your children to bear.
Others feel as you do
eager to put things right
but locked in isolation
it’s a hopeless fight,
so don’t sit in silence
behind a closed door,
your voice can help raise
a whisper to a roar.

ann arky's home.