The Kilt And The Black Flag.

       With Scottish independence on the agenda it is good to hear the various points of view being put forward. I for one have never quite got my head round "what is a nation". Having been born in "Scotland" and lived there for most of my life I have often wrestled with the question, "what is Scottish", after all the border between Scotland and England has moved several times in history. It is a geographical location where at least three languages have struggled for survival, and with languages comes as many cultures. As a citizen of Glasgow, a post industrial city, I feel I have more in common with the people of Liverpool than I have with the people of the highlands and islands. I am also loathed to get involved in a debate between the various party political clans as how best to carve up a capitalist entity, so that, that capitalist entity can best serve a particular section of the population. I would rather debate how do we get rid of that capitalist entity and best serve the interest of the people. To me, nationalism and capitalism belong in the same bed, and it is a bed soaked in the blood of the ordinary people. Would it not be better if the debate was about what is happening in Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Cyprus, Ireland, Turkey, Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq, Syria, Iran, and find the connection to what is happening here?

       To add to the debate here is an extract from an interesting article in The Commune:

 

  "--------In Britain today, the mainstream socialist left, in defiance of history,  still regards internationalism as abstract propaganda and is campaigning for a yes vote for Scottish nationalism and independence for Scotland, which is not an oppressed nation.  In a globally integrated world economy, dominated by transnational corporations and world financial organisations, such as the International Monetary Fund, the entire question of national independence becomes hollowed out as in Greece.  And how can the creation of another capitalist state, based on cutting business rates and corporation tax,  and other measures to attract capitalist investment,  benefit the working class ?  Loyalty to a new Capitalist State would renew nationalism and class collaboration and blunt any class struggle for a post Capitalist alternative.
       Independence lite, the programme of the SNP, sharing the Bank of England, the army, the Monarchy  and a currency will not represent the break up of the British State.   But the left in Scotland is putting its hopes on steering the state left .  The Radical Independence Campaign is  ”a coalition that does not even pretend to be based on the goal of Socialism.  Indeed, this emerging coalition is very much in the tradition of welfare provision in Scotland and England for a century ”  (18)  Nationalism given a Social Democratic gloss to attract the working class.  ”The only way in which the grip of a capitalist world system on individual countries, can be broken, is that if the system itself is destroyed. And no national struggle can achieve this, only the international working class” (19) Working class self emancipation from below  cannot be built on a nation, utilize the nation-state, or be confined to the nation-state.

Read the full article HERE:

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PATRIOTISM.

No, I shall not die for the fluttering flag,

if truth be known, ‘tis nothing but a multi-coloured rag

held aloft by some foolish hand

inciting worker and peasant to kill

on some green and wooded hill,

peasant and worker from some other land.

Nor shall I shed blood for the fluttering rag

that brings out fools to stand and brag

of brutal deeds painted grand,

deeds where rustic and craftsman lie so still

killed by my brothers' misguided hand.

No allegiance have I for the Nation

this man made autocratic creation

that divides my brothers in a world so small,

binds us to a country's cause, right or wrong,

bids us follow its drum, sing its song,

then sheds our blood in some border brawl.

No, I'll be no slave to flag or nation,

have no ear for power oration,

though its iron heel is on my breast,

my back feels its leather thong,

at patriotism's barracoon, I'll be no guest.

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Hands Off Syria.

 

   

    The West is hell bent in turning the entire Middle East into a stone age area awash with sectarian violence, Iraq, Libya, now Syria with Iran still in their sights. All this misery heaped on the people of the area, to open up its rich resources to the dollar driven corporate greed machine. This is not about compassion for the ordinary people, it's not about democracy. The Western corporate juggernaut doesn't give a shit about the people of any area, but it does care about oil and gas and the control of these resources. When the corporate world speaks the political puppets obey, this is not Western politicians concerned about the well being of people in the Middle East, it is simply a plunder of another countries natural resources, control and profit, plain and simple.

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Stop the War bulletin | June 2013 | stopwar.org.uk

Tomorrow: demonstrate against US sending arms to Syria

Stop Western Intervention in Syria

US Embassy Grosvenor Square London W1A 2LQ
Saturday 15 June 2013 1pm

     Earlier today the US approved sending arms to Syrian rebel groups, a policy that has been pushed by Britain and France for months and one that threatens to escalate violence in Syria.

      The possibility of a no fly zone - the prelude to the horrific bombing campaign carried about by Britain and France in Libya - now looks more likely as the West seeks to intensify an already difficult conflict with devastating humanitarian consequences.

Join us tomorrow to Stop Western Intervention in Syria: US Embassy, 1pm Saturday June 15.

Please make sure you attend and spread the word.

Take action

• Join our protest at the US Embassy on 15th June at 1pm.
• Share the event with your Facebook contacts.
  

Read more on Syria:

• Shamus Cooke: The real reason Obama is going to war with Syria has nothing to do with chemical weapons

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The Unfolding Story Of Greece.

       A few minutes after 11pm on the night of June 11, the signal of the two TV stations of ERT (the Greek state media broadcaster) was abruptly cut, as the Greek fascist government went further down the road of attempting to control the flow of information, or cut it all together. This decision was taken and enforced without any public debate or any vote in parliament. This unprecedented action was carried via a "act of legislative content" which is supposed to be invoked only during a state of emergency. The shut down meant the immediate firing of all the 2,600+ employees, this on top of an unemployment rate of 27.4%, the employees immediately occupied the broadcasting premises. The Greek public have come out in support of the employees occupation and more than 8,000 have gather outside the ERT HQ on Mesogeion Avenue.

     This drastic action by the fascist political puppets of the financial Mafia changes the situation in Greece as it has even angered the other political puppets that are playing the "representative democracy" game with the fascists, and further alienated the people from the government.

        Public sector Unions called a general strike for Thursday 13 June, buses, subway and trains stopped running, train and ferry links were affected, air traffic control was involved, journalists staged an indefinite strike with practically all major newspapers failing to appear, and hospital staff, already under pressure, also reduced staffing in protest at the ERT closure.

            There are some excellent photographs HERE and by Teacher Dude on his flickr site.
     Though the Troika, (ECB, European Central Bank, EC, European Commission, IMF, International Mankind Fuckers) consider that their fascist puppets in Athens are doing a good job, the people of Greece have not yet decided which way they will take their country, the book is not yet written.

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Turkey, The Angry Face Of Revulsion.

        Where protest movements grow and people take to the streets, it is difficult to get the truth of what is happening. What should be a conduit for information, the mainstream media, becomes a babbling brook of bullshit and state propaganda. What is going on in Turkey is an event that must worry all the other states in Europe, it is an open revulsion at the direction of Western society, it is a disgust for those elected politicians who assist the plundering of the public purse by the corporate greed machine. It is a realisation by the people that this system can't work in their interest. We are the chips at the financial Mafia's casino.

 

         This is an extract from an excellent article from Contra Info, of what is going on in Turkey at present:

    Then Gezi Park, then Gümüşsuyu, then Beşiktaş… And beyond İstanbul came riots in Sakarya, Kocaeli, Ankara, Adana, İzmir… In this revolt, which is still going on, the most important motivation that kept spontaneity alive was sharing and solidarity. Voluntary health workers formed civic medical centres for activists that were affected by police violence. Organizations like law associations, lawyers’ bars, and human rights associations supported protesters in custody or in similar conditions. Trade unions like the Turkish Mechanical Engineers Chambers Association turned their buildings into infirmaries. People opened their homes, workplaces, gave support with food and drinks. People gave information to each other over social networks, and created their own means in face of the silenced media.
     Everywhere and everyone became the revolt against state terrorism, police violence and all forms of exploitation. Social solidarity has worked, and is continuing to work, wherever the State was dismissed from the lives of people.

Read the full article HERE:

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HIV Criminals!!

       We are well aware of the Greek fascist government's scapegoating of immigrants but what is less known is their attack on those who have AIDS. One of the governments first "austerity" actions was to close needle exchange clinics, since then HIV in Greece has rocketed. In place of assistance and support, those unfortunate to suffer from this illness are criminalised. The "austerity" axe fell unduly harsh on the Greek healthcare system. Its budget was set to grow by 4% annually but instead has been hit by staff pay-offs, budget cuts and drug rationing. Of course the consequences of this has been a spike in HIV and Malaria, to mention just two of the extra burdens being borne by the people of Greece.

      "Austerity" means poverty, poverty means deteriorating health facilities, that in turn means misery for families, increase health risks for children and old age devoid of care and medication. "Austerity" is not an economic term, it is a brutal attack on the living conditions of the ordinary people. It is not an evenly spread set of conditions, the vicious blade of austerity never reaches those who plan and implement the "grand plan". It is you and I that feel the pain of austerity.

     None of this is necessary, it is an ideology, it is an economic system to protect and further the wealth of the criminal fraternity at the heart of the financial Mafia that controls our lives. It is not a system set in tablets of stone, it is a man made system that can easily be dismantled and replaced with a more fair, sane and just system based on co-operation, mutual aid, sustainability and the needs of all our people.

     A wealthy suit says "austerity" and people die, that is surely a brutal criminal act and should be called to justice.

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Radical Feminism.

Circled "A" Radio on second wave feminism.

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What Will Your Grandkids Wages Be?

       According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, UK wages have fallen more in real terms than ever before. According to Claire Crawford of the IFS “The falls in nominal wages - - - during this recession are unprecedented.” Of course we all know the reason, a deliberate policy by employers, public and private, to use the “crisis” to freeze wages or in some cases cut wages. Workers are facing a continual rise in living costs with inflation running at between 2 to 3%, while aproximately one third of workers who stayed in the same job since the “crisis”, have taken a wage cut or wage freeze. Those who have not, have seen wage increases of well below the inflation rate. Of course any wage increase below inflation is in fact a wage cut.

       With “austerity” set to continue into 2020, can you calculate by how much your income will have fallen in real terms by then? We are well on our way to being the UK section of the European sweatshop economy. With a downwrd spiral forecast until 2020, and then some promise of pie-in-the-sky, you can see what kind of future our kids and grandkids are heading towards.

       Of course this "austerity" business is just for you and I the ordinary guys, those at the top haven't even had a whiff of "austerity". Corporate bodies are holding vast volumes of cash, waiting for the right conditions, a pool of very cheap labour, then they will start to exploit it with a vengeance. Their aim is an abundance of cheap labour, ours is to live a decent life with some dignity, the two are incompatible. The sooner we realise this fact the sooner we can all come together and dismantle this burden on our shoulders and start to create that better world. A world of co-operation in place of competition, of mutual aid in place of profit, a world that sees to all our needs and not the greed of a handful of parasites.

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The Right To Privacy.

      For those who have no desire for their personal data read and filed by the various branches of the state apparatus, there is some good information available  HERE.

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Police Brutality.

      Turkish police, Greek police, it doesn't matter, they all follow the same pattern.

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Today In Taksim Square.

      The latest from Taksim Square, the police have went in with force this morning and useing water canon and teargas and are charging the protesters in a brutal attack to try to clear the Square. The latest video  from the BBC gives some idea as to what is actually going on. Some photographs here. Also this short video from Reuters shows police numbers.

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What Does Surveillance Mean To You.

         We got the usual "shock- horror" from our millionaire two-faced politicians about the latest revelations on surveillance, revelations about what we all know is going on all the time by all governments. However, don't expect the state to abandon any of its hi-tec ability to snoop on us no matter which bunch get into power. Spying, snooping has been part of the state apparatus since the first state came into being. As a matter of fact it probably took a lot of spying and snooping to bring it into existence. After "questions have been asked in the House" and the subject matter debated, don't expect to see black bags over those CCTVs, nor to hear about GCHQ unplugging all those black-boxes. No, there will be waffle and blurb and then things will go on as before, with your every e-mail, text, phone call, internet visit and visit into town, monitored, sifted and stored for further analysis. If we want rid of the snoopers we have to get rid of the state and all its repugnant apparatus.

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A People's Man

       This wee video made me think, "Where have all the people gone"? He wasn't an anarchist, but his heart was in the right place and he certainly had a following of ordinary folks.

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The No-Change Party Of Change.

A quote from a satirical article by Mark Steel in The Independent:

       "At last, the Labour Party leaders are revealing their election strategy. They’ve announced they’ll stick to the current Government’s spending plans, and the current Government’s welfare cap. Next week, Ed Miliband will announce:“The British people are sick and tired of the way this Government runs the country, and that’s why we promise to do everything exactly the same. There are so many things they’ve ruined, which is why I assure you categorically we will keep ruining the same things. THAT is the exciting prospect we will be putting to the British people in 2015.”

Read the full article HERE:

    Though I and millions of others don't see it as satire, we have no doubt that the Labour Oxbridge mob will continue to steer the good ship UK Corporate Dream to a safe port, leaving us stranded on Deprivation Island.
    If you want real change, then you will have to look outside The Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption. We are the only real change.

Why Not Wobble Along.

Invitation from the Clydeside IWW to their monthly open meeting.

Wednesday, 19 June 2013

19:00 until 21:00

 

Unitarians Hall, 72 Berkeley Street, Glasgow G3 7DS. 

(At the side of the Mitchell Library near Charing Cross.)

       If you would like to learn what makes the Industrial Workers of the World different from a trade union or the party political left, or if you don't know anything about us and would like to find out, then please join the Clydeside general members branch of the IWW for an informal evening of short videos, presentations, and a group chat with our members. We'll supply refreshments so if you have any dietary requirements and are planning on heading along then do let us know.

      And why yes, we will happen to have plenty of membership applications forms on-hand now that you ask ;)

 

ann arky's home.

 

For The Love Of Poetry.

    Like the title says, for the love of poetry.

For The Love Of Poetry.

To you who love poetry,

whose eyes I try to see,

whose mind I try to reach,

whose heart in tune with mine,

see the weeping, the wounded,

I don't offer the grand plan, the blueprint,

only a heart, a hand.

Like you, I know our world as a beautiful garden,

a bounteous Olypus,

exploited, abused.

Like you, I see vicious claws of poverty

tear the dreams of youth,

pillage the pride of age.

Like you, I hear the heavy tread of tyranny,

shake the humble heart,

crush the human spirit.

I don't offer the grand plan, the blueprint,

only a heart, a hand.

Perhaps, with enough hands, enough hearts

we can at last

stop the weeping, heal the wounded.

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How To Get Rid Of Taxes.

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      If your one of the ordinary citizen of your country, and one of that dwindling band who still have a job, you'll have no option but to pay your taxes. Even if you are not working, you are still taxed via VAT, you pay tax on practically everything you buy, you are even taxed when you cook and heat your house. We are told that we pay taxes to make society a better place, our taxes pay for social services hospitals and such. There is probably enough taxes paid by you and me to end poverty in our country and see to the needs of the vulnerable. However, our taxes also pay for the state to arm itself to the teeth and send armies across the globe to kill other ordinary people who pay their taxes, and that's a big slice of our money. So we put up with poverty allowing the state to rob us so that it can play its game of power and control.

      There are however, those in this society that don't bother with that crap of paying taxes, they just keep their money and spend it on themselves, I'm talking about corporations, that band of greed merchants that at the moment control our world. Apple, just one of those corporations, in recent years paid practically no tax on $78 billion simply by setting up shell corporations in low-tax countries and posting profits abroad. It is considered that across the globe, the corporate world avoid paying taxes to the tune of $1 trillion every year. That's a fair slice of money, it is reckoned that it could end poverty, it's enough to give every family on the planet $1,000 every year, or put every child on the planet in school, it is almost as much as the military budget for every country on the planet, and bigger than the total budget of 176 nations. But instead, it goes into expanding corporate power and keeping an army of parasites in unimaginable luxury.

      We know that those duplicitous suits, the political class, will not do much, if anything, to prevent this bonanza for the rich, as they are part and parcel of the same corporate world, they are the puppets of their corporate masters. The only real answer is for the people to take control of those corporations, change the production from crap trivia for fashionistas, to producing what the people of the world actually need. In one fell swoop we would end poverty and deprivation, get rid of that army of parasites and the need to bother trying to get them to pay their taxes.

 

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Occupied Taksim.

       For those wishing to keep up to date on what is happening in Turkey can visit the new site, Occupied Taksim.

 

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Not A Hope In Hell.

       Europe is a rich capitalist continent, it is a big slice of the developed world, and yet visit any country in that continent and poverty is rife and growing. If capitalism can't eradicate poverty in its richest and most developed areas, what chance is there of poverty being tackled in the poorer areas. No matter which country you pick, take Germany, Europe's biggest economy, held up as an example to the rest of Europe. In this paragon of capitalist efficiency, 15.5% live below the poverty line and would be nearer 25% if it was not for public assistance, (2010 figures but have increased since then), while child poverty has doubled since 2004.
 

        France, Europe's second biggest economy, sets another fine example of capitalist efficiency with youth unemployment at 26% and rising, and 23% of 18 to 24 year olds living in poverty, on top of that, there are approximately 11 million people in France living in poverty. In that second biggest economy there are 2 million people living on less than €640 a month.
 

       Here in the UK we have 3.6 million children living in poverty, that's 27% of all children. In some local council areas the figure is in Third World realms with 50% to 70%. My own local area of Springburn in Glasgow has 52% of children living in poverty. Poverty in the UK has seen the number of people seeking help at food banks soar by 170% from 2010 to 2013, the number is put at over 500,000 people needing a hand out with their food. 28% of adults state that they scrimp on food to feed others in the family.

 

      Italy, has millions too poor to heat their homes and almost 2 million children living in poverty, the highest child poverty % in the 25 European nations. In May, Italy's National Statistics Institute, (ISTAT) stated that 25% of Italians were heading towards deprivation, while the number already living in poverty has doubled in the last two years. The ISTAT report also found that 14.3% of the population was seriously deprived in 2012 up from 6.9% in 2010. It also stated that 14.9% were heading towards poverty.
 

        Spain, 27% unemployment, those under 25 and not studying the figure for unemployment is 57%. If you move south in Spain the unemployment reaches 40% in some areas. 1.9 million households have no breadwinner, 10% of the population have had no work for two years or more and 3 million live in extreme poverty with less than €3,650 a year, and a further 3 million get by on less than €7,300 a year.

 

        All of these figures are dwarfed when we visit Greece which has taken a full frontal attack from the financial Mafia that rule the European capitalist world.

       For the whole of Europe the unemployment rate is a little over 17%, that is approximately 84 million people can't find work in Europe. If the rich developed heart of capitalism carries so much poverty, and the misery that goes along with that poverty, only an idiot would believe capitalism can solve the problems of the ordinary people. There is not a hope in hell that capitalism can eradicate poverty in any country, it was not intended to, it was a system devised to make the business class rich and that is what it will do until we the people dismantle this exploitative and repressive system of injustice and greed.

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The Veneer Has Cracked.

      Across the internet there are lots of reports of what is happening in Turkey, some very graphic, others very emotional. I found this one to be graphic, ringing with both sincerity and feeling. I don't think we can give enough cover to what is happening in Turkey at the moment. It is the perfect example of what is on the face of things, a perfectly functioning capitalist consumer society, but just under the surface lies a plethora of discontent, a rumbling of resentment at inequality and daily injustice, now the veneer has cracked and truth is pouring out. Each country in Europe shines with the same illusion and harbours those same resentments just simmering under the surface. How long will their veneer hold?

 

 Photo taken from Occupy Gezi Facebook page. Also used by Reuters.

This from Insanlik Hali:

To my friends who live outside of Turkey:
      I am writing to let you know what is going on in Istanbul for the last five days. I personally have to write this because at the time of my writing most of the media sources are shut down by the government and the word of mouth and the internet are the only ways left for us to explain ourselves and call for help and support.
     Last week of May 2013 a group of people most of whom did not belong to any specific organization or ideology got together in Istanbul’s Gezi Park. Among them there were many of my friends and yoga students. Their reason was simple: To prevent and protest the upcoming demolishing of the park for the sake of building yet another shopping mall at very center of the city. There are numerous shopping malls in Istanbul, at least one in every neighborhood! The tearing down of the trees was supposed to begin early Thursday morning. People went to the park with their blankets, books and children. They put their tents down and spent the night under the trees. Early in the morning when the bulldozers started to pull the hundred-year-old trees out of the ground, they stood up against them to stop the operation.
    They did nothing other than standing in front of the machines. No newspaper, no television channel was there to report the protest. It was a complete media black out. But the police arrived with water cannon vehicles and pepper spray. They chased the crowds out of the park.

Continue reading HERE:

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