Austerity And Deprivation, Two Sides Of The Same Coin.

        What does “austerity” mean, or what should it mean? You would imagine “austerity” would mean a doing without the luxuries, a little tightening of the belt, but does this financial Mafia's variety of “austerity” fit that description? This brand of “austerity” means abject poverty for families the length and breadth of the land. In England, since the 2008 “crisis”, malnutrition treated in NHS hospitals has almost doubled. Diagnoses of malnutrition in England rose from 3,161 in 2008/09 to an criminal 5,499 in 2012. This has been driven by wages being frozen/cut, while the cost of food and heating have rocketed. Add to this the various benefit cuts, bedroom tax, ATOS attack on the disabled, and it becomes very clear that this “austerity” is a vicious attack the living standards of the general population.

      Oxfam, that organisation that we see as a charity for those poor countries, stated that, in the UK, "increasing desperation to avoid starvation in one of the world’s richest and unequal countries has seen the number of visits to food banks rise to around half a million a year." The Trussell Trust, the UK's largest food bank operator, has seen the number of those receiving food parcels rise from approximately 26,000 in 2008, to more than 350,000 in the past five years. UK director of Trussell Trust has stated that, “It’s not surprising that rates of malnutrition have also increased. We see people coming to food banks who’ve gone without food for days.”

     Poverty and debt go hand in hand, as people get desperate in their struggle for survival, they are more likely to run up more debt. The average UK household debt is £54,000, that is close to twice the level of a decade ago. Personal debt in the UK's is almost 94% of the total UK economic output for 2012, a mind boggling £1.43 trillion. Lots of people are failing to manage that debt and are suffering in many ways, cutting down on food and heating. Interest rates are set to rise, when that happens, thousands more who are at the moment barely coping will start to sink into the mire of poverty and deprivation. With poverty comes health problems, both mental and physical, families and relationships start to strain and break.

        This is the true meaning of “austerity”, it is not a slight drop in your luxuries, a little bit of inconvenience, as you miss a night at the movies. It is mind crushing stress, it is malnutrition, it is health problems, it is watching your family disintegrate, it is seeing your kids future being stunted and their potential obliterated. It is living with the reality or the fear of homelessness, for what? To sort out a bunch of financial parasites' gambling mess, while they continue to live in the lap of unearned and undeserved luxury. That's capitalism. Do you want it? If not, what are we going to do about it?

Cum'awn, dae sumthin'

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

800 Workers Replaced By Scabs.

    The corporate world will do anything to crush any organising by their workforce. Everything from blacklisting union activists, to sacking those who speak out about wages and conditions. In some countries, and it could happen here, employers simply fire all the work force and start new, non-unionised workers in their place. What the employer doesn't want is for this to get out and create a backlash against their products, so please, spread the word on this one. Well Ansell makes medical gloves and condoms, we as members of the general public might not be able to boycott one, but sorry friends, solidarity, there are other brands.

This from Labour Start.

800 striking workers in Sri Lanka need our help.

    They are employed by Ansell, an Australian-based manufacturer of medical gloves and condoms. Ansell has replaced them with scabs in an attempt to break the union.

    They’ve also sacked union officials and even assaulted the branch union president.

    We’ve been asked by IndustriALL Global Union to mobilize thousands of people around the world to send messages of protest to Ansell.

Please take a moment to do so — click here.

It will make a difference.

Thanks very much.



Eric Lee

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Electron Club Open Day, Glasgow.

Open day as in open

December 1st., 12 noon to 4pm.

CCA is at 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow.

     The Electron club is a space at the CCA that is home to a whole variety of people and ideas. Started as a computer/electronics/artist Open Source software lab it soon expanded into many areas of cultural diversity and many have little to do with computers. You are just as likely to bump into a Wobblie as you are a computer hacker. If you are an artist, techie, nerd, or your bag is community activism or you are just interested in life, come and take a look. We are open to the public. Anyone can join. Its free.

Who will be there:

OPEN STREET MAP DEMO
     There numerous mappers in and around Glasgow with a wealth of knowledge and from a variety backgrounds and ages. Come and ind out what mapping is about and start mapping the world.

GLASGOW SCIENCE FAIR
      Is about getting folk young and old interested in science. Come and play with their robot, Knex, Arduino and other science tech stuff. "Lego Mindstorms Challenge - Help explore how to programme Mindstorms robots to follow commands and navigate its way around our obstacle course. Bring Lego to life in this fun introduction to programming and robotics."

SPIRIT OF REVOLT
     The Spirit of Revolt is a group based in Glasgow who are attempting to collect as much material as possible from grass-roots campaigns in working class struggle, in and around the Glasgow/Clydeside area. An archival collection of working class history. Find out about this very important project for the city. We will be screening a film made at the SOR exhibition at the Mitchell library

COMMON GOOD AWARENESS PROJECT
      CGAP was set up to create awareness of Scotland's Common Good Fund, a whole bunch of assets, art galleries, schools, town halls, parks, that are publicly owned. Many of these assets have disappeared, have been lost or stolen over the years due to a lack of awareness that they even exist and maladministration by those whose duty is to protect the fund for the benefit of the public. Find out more and about the common good and the Farmhouse Trust, a Common Good project in Govan to create a independent resource centre whilst experiment with off grid technology eco building and gardening along the way.

GLASGOW TO DETROIT
     A second chance to see a shorter version of Glasgow to Detroit if you missed the Kinningpark screening. Here we will be discussing specific ideas from Detroit activists mentioned in the film to examine the situation in Glasgow/Scotland around growing.

INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF THE WORLD
      Founded in 1905, the IWW is open to all workers. Don’t let the “industrial” part fool you. Our members include teachers, cleaners, social workers, retail workers, construction workers, bartenders, and computer programmers. Only bosses are not allowed to join.


SPIRIT OF REVOLT film shot at exhibition Q&A after 2:00
GLASGOW TO DETROIT Screening and discussion on organising around growing 3:00

More info from:   bob@citystrolls.com

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Courage To Resist.

     I like the idea that this group works at what is the largest military base in the world, Fort Hood. It is a case of being where you are most needed. Since the Vietnam era, it has been encourage and supporting troops who have the courage to resist, it is a place where conscientious objectors can find support and guidance. We need one at every military base in the world.

  

This from Courage To Resist:

Spotlight on the Under the Hood Café

By Bob Meola, Courage to Resist. November 13, 2013

In February, 2014, Under the Hood Café and Outreach Center will be five years old.  Under the Hood is a GI coffeehouse founded in the spirit of the Oleo Strut and the other GI coffeehouses of the Vietnam era.  The Oleo Strut was just a few blocks away from Under the Hood’s current location at 17 North College Street in Killeen, Texas.

A lot of what goes on at Under the Hood has its parallels with Oleo Strut.   Under the Hood has become more than just a coffeehouse and is now called Under the Hood Café and Outreach Center.  “Then [the Vietnam War era] there was a coffeehouse at every base,” said Malachi Muncy (photo below-right), manager of Under the Hood.

“Many of them opened as places for soldiers to decompress but developed into other things.  Between 1968 and 1972, the Oleo strut became a stronghold of veteran activism, setting up the organizing of boycotts of businesses that exploited soldiers, leading peace marchs, and even publishing an underground newspaper.”

Read the full story HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

 

Fumbling Fiddlers.

      It's amazing, isn't it, those who spout about putting the economy in our country on a sound footing, and claim to be the people to run the country efficiently, are the ones who make a dog's dinner of everything they touch. Of course I'm talking about our millionaire lords and masters in the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption. The only thing they are doing with a any degree of success is siphoning all the wealth of this country into the bank accounts of their corporate friends. Well I suppose, to them that's all that matters. Everything else is just smoke and mirrors, slight of hand, fiddle and con tricks, in an attempt to keep the public confused. However, we are not confused, we are well aware of their charlatan characteristics, and greed driven arrogance, and to be aware, is a long way along the road to putting the problem right.

This from The Void:

   In yet more humiliation for Iain Duncan Smith’s bungled welfare reforms, Universal Jobmatch was judged the worst online jobs website at a recent industry awards ceremony.

      The government job-seeking website, which has been plagued by spam, scams and spoof vacancies, won the ‘Wooden Nora’ at last week’s National Online Recruitment Awards.  730 online recruitment websites were considered for awards with Universal Jobmatch being judged the worst.  According to The Guardian’s Diary the website was described as a “mongrel of a recruitment website” that “commits almost every online recruitment crime, and then some.”

       Universal Jobmatch was designed at huge cost – believed to be approaching almost £20 million.  Despite this the site has been plagued by technical problems as well as becoming home to thousands of flaky self-employment schemes, pyramid scams and fake job adverts used to harvest CVs and even commit identity theft.  It is hard to understand how Monster, the company paid to produce the website, could have produced something so atrocious that it is a laughing stock amongst recruitment professionals.

Read the full article HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

  

Workers Know Your History, Joe Hill.

      An anniversary worth remembering, a fighter for his class, November 19, 1915, Joe Hill was murdered by firing squad by the state. He was charged with murder but subsequent evidence proved he was innocent. Joe Hill was an organiser for the IWW and spent his short adult life fighting for justice for the ordinary people.

My will is easy to decide,
For there is nothing to divide.
My kin don't need to fuss and moan,
"Moss does not cling to a rolling stone."

My body? Oh, if I could choose
I would to ashes it reduce,
And let the merry breezes blow,
My dust to where some flowers grow.

Perhaps some fading flower then
Would come to life and bloom again.
This is my Last and final Will.
Good Luck to All of you,
Joe Hill

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

World War 1, A Period Of Mutiny And Strikes.

     We are approaching what will be one gigantic propaganda exercise glorifying World War 1. The 100th anniversary of the start of that insane episode of human carnage is to be turned into a spectacle perpetuating that myth of British unity and patriotism. However, history tells a different story, 1914 to 1918 was a period of widespread industrial disputes and the “military campaign” was littered with rebellion among the troops. Forget that tale of the Xmas football match between opposing armies, there were mutinies popping up at regular intervals, among them the ÉtaplesMutiny 1917, even just after the war there was the Southampton Mutiny 1919. Then there was the British West Indies Regiment mutiny. This one highlights the arrogance and xenophobic attitude of the British ruling class. In the need for cannon-fodder it was suggested that their could be a black West Indies regiment, but that bulwark of British ruling class Lord Kitchener was of the opinion that black people should not be allowed into the armed forces. It was the intervention of King George V, probably realising that his empire was at stake and he needed that cannon-fodder, over ruled the noble lord.

     So the British West Indies Regiment was born, but at the front they were not to do the fighting and were unarmed. Their task was to load the weapons build the fences, load and unload vehicles, clean the toilets, in general be the general dog's body and do the white man's donkey work. On Armistice Day stationed at Taranto in Italy, they then found out that the white soldiers were give a pay rise but the black soldiers were not. This on top of the way they had been treated was the final straw and on December 6 1918 they attacked their officers. The mutiny lasted four days, the punishment handed out to some of those involved   varied from 3 to 5 years in prison, one man got 20 years, and one was executed, (murdered) by firing squad.

     The true history of World War 1 is a far cry from the bilge that will be poured out in the coming year by our lords and masters, who will wrap themselves in “the flag” and from their pampered and privileged background claim the horror, degradation and bloodshed, as a glorious episode in our history. And so that mythical history of the all patriotic hang-together loyal British public will get another coat of varnish. But we the people know the real history, we know the truth.

Vann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

 

Everybody And Their Dog.

     The 17th of November saw the start of mass demonstrations across Greece commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Athens Polytechnic uprising that heralded the eventual fall of the military junta. The the marches, demonstrations and protests were mainly marking that historic moment in Greek history, it was also an opportunity to voice their anger at the forced deprivation at the hands of the Troika puppets, the Greek government.

    The events were a mixture of noise, colour and lots of passion.

    On this day, everybody and their dog were there, all with a message, the system stinks.

The dog's poster reads, 'Against Euro and Dollar no to money'. 

     Even a dog knows that would work. As I said, there was variety and ingenuity in the protests and demonstrations, but I personally think this one takes a lot of balls.

Photos from Demotix.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

They Lock You Up To Keep Control.

       Prisons are not there to protect the people, they are there to protect the state and its monopoly on violence and its control over our life. Spyros Stratoulis is just one of millions of glaring examples of those the state incarcerates in its attempt to silence dissent.

This from Contra Info

The poster reads:

      Solidarity with Spyros Stratoulis, prisoner in struggle for over two decades in the Greek dungeons, who is conducting a hunger strike since November 11th, 2013, demanding a full acquittal from fabricated indictment charges for his alleged membership in a fictitious criminal organization (Thessaloniki, 2012), as well as the immediate re-granting of his exit permits from prison.

“I will respond drastically against the vengeance of the State that attempts to break resisters, against its monopoly of decision upon and looting of our lives, as well as against the indifference of every single puppet toward life, freedom and dignity” —Spyros Stratoulis, incarcerated in the prison of Larisa

 

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

 

To Shine a Light On Another's Suffering.

       To feel the pain and anguish of the other, to see the injustice around us, is one part of being human, but to put those feelings into words and shine a light on another's suffering, is a special human gift.

The City of Beggar Children,

Where do the beggar children come from,

what forces multiply their rags?

Whose heart has never felt those fingers

pecked

by birds with copper beaks?

Who hasn’t stopped to see their bones

and hear their voices

pleading like humiliated bells?

Let there be no beggar children dwarfed in doorways,

chilled by cemetery mist,

pale wall of the city.

Let there be children with toys,

bread

and stars beneath their shoes.

Let them play in the school yard

and catch insects in the grass.

Let them live in their own worlds

among the beings and the things they love.

Roberto Sosa

    From The Return of the River: the Selected Poems of Roberto Sosa (Willimantic CT: Curbstone Press, 2002)

translated by Jo Anne Engelbert

      Every effort has been made to trace the copyright holder. If you can advise us of the appropriate acknowledgement to be made please contact reception@spl.org.uk 

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Our Radioactive World.

       Have a guess at how many nuclear devices have been detonated since the first American one at Los Alamos in 1945. Quite a few, in fact between 1945 and 1998 there have been 2053 and spread over an unbelievable area of the planet, with America leading the list of planet destroyers. How much of our planet has been poisoned by this ridiculous big state toy? Thanks to them we will hand the next generation a popping planet?
This video is well worth watching in full:

      Up loaded on July 2010, Japanese artist Isao Hashimoto has created a beautiful, undeniably scary time-lapse map of the 2053 nuclear explosions which have taken place between 1945 and 1998, beginning with the Manhattan Project's "Trinity" test near Los Alamos and concluding with Pakistan's nuclear tests in May of 1998. This leaves out North Korea's two alleged nuclear tests in this past decade (the legitimacy of both of which is not 100% clear).
      Each nation gets a blip and a flashing dot on the map whenever they detonate a nuclear weapon, with a running tally kept on the top and bottom bars of the screen. Hashimoto, who began the project in 2003, says that he created it with the goal of showing "the fear and folly of nuclear weapons." It starts really slow — if you want to see real action, skip ahead to 1962 or so — but the buildup becomes overwhelming. 

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

We Are Alive, From The Rent Strikes To Bloody Friday.

     No matter how the establishment historians and their sidekicks in the media, try to portray the Red Clyde as a wishy-washy very pale pink, the real history defies them. The people of the Clydeside have a proud history, they have a heritage, and it is one of continuous struggle for justice and a better world. There were more industrial strikes on Clydeside during the first world war than before or after, Hundreds of thousands organised rent strikes from Clydebank to Glasgow, and successfully forced the UK government to bring in the 1915 rent restriction act. The Clydeside history is littered with hard and sometimes brutal struggles, struggles of people who demanded more, who demanded change, and in many case got it. 

    However the struggle is not over, we are now in the midst of the most brutal attack on the living conditions of the ordinary people for many a decade. Despite the struggles and victories of the past, we are once again heading back to the poverty of the thirties. It is once again time to reignite that fighting spirit of the Red Clyde, time to call on that solidarity, that unity of purpose. We don't have the shipyards, we don't have the engineering factories, but we do have the people of Clydeside and their history of struggle, and their desire for justice.

  A poster from the 80's. calling on that Red Clydeside spirit. We are alive, from the rent strikes, to bloody Friday, to the poll-tax and beyond.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Can There Be Democratic Slavery?

      Currently this government is doing a great job in helping their millionaire corporate friends to cut their labour costs, all part of the drive for a low wage economy. The new legislation that will come into force on April 2014, will take workfare, (unpaid forced labour) to a new level of exploitation. Job centres will be able to hand out tougher community service orders than the courts. What will your crime have been? Why the heinous act of being unable to find work. They say that slavery was abolished, but what do you call being forced to work without pay, for a rich multi-national company such as G4S? The simple truth is that those who call this society a democracy are liars or fools, or perhaps both.

       This from Boycott Workfare:

       Currently EOS, Maximus, Learn Direct, Reed in Partnership, ESG, G4S (tax dodging supremos) and Interserve (they rely on prayer & financial support from Christians) are all inviting bids from voluntary sector ‘partners’ to provide Community Work Placements in a ‘real working environment’ for up to 30 weeks, for up to 30 hours per week. In other words, forced unpaid labour for people who have not found ‘sustained employment’ while on the Work Programme.

     The criteria for being sent on a Community Work Placement are ‘lack of motivation‘ (for example a reluctance to be exploited in no pay, low pay jobs) and/or ‘lack of work experience‘. Claimants will have to do these placements alongside ‘supported job search’: the exhausting and pointless process of endlessly looking for non-existent employment opportunities. As blogger Johnny Void says: “This new scheme represents 780 hours unpaid work, over two and a half times higher than the maximum community service penalty that can be handed out by the courts.  And this is just for the crime of being unable to find a job.” Read the rest of this entry »

Read the full article HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

November 15, Writers In Prison Day.

      Across the globe, on a regular basis, those who through their writing, attempt to draw attention to injustice, inequality, to human degradation and institutional repression, find themselves at the receiving end of these scars on humanity, and end up in prison. Those responsible for such crimes against groups and individuals do not like exposure or criticism. However, these voices of dissent, those courageous enough to throw the light of publicity on these matters are at the forefront of the struggle for justice and equality, and we should always show our solidarity with their efforts. To draw attention to those imprisoned writers, in 1981 International PEN, Writers in Prison Committee created 15, November as The Day of The Imprisoned Writer as an annual international event. It is important that we recognise and support, those writers who resist all attempts at the repression of the basic human right of self expression and the right to freely impart information. Without dissenting voices we live in the darkness of ignorance.

      So today, spare a thought and take up your pen, or strike your keypad to defend those, who find themselves in prison for defending us. 

 Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Accelerating To Deprivation.

     This government's eager complicity in the financial Mafia's drive for sweatshop Europe is seen in the number of ways in which they offer their business friends helpings of free labour. They give interviews proclaiming unemployment is falling and the recovery is gaining ground. However, unemployment is falling because thousands of people are on workfare, a government gift of free labour to the corporate greed machine, and as for recovery, well among the ordinary people the recovery is a fairytale. The millionaire's Old Boys network, our government, has now started another way of forcing young people to work for nothing, their “traineeships” scheme. Of course their millionaire buddies in businesses like Boots, Poundland and Kwik-fit, to mention just a few, are more than eager to take on board as much free labour as they can get their hands on. Why employ people for a wage when your friends in government hand you free labour.

       Another smiling comment from the millionaire cabal in charge of our drive to deprivation, is that inflation has fallen from 2.7% to 2.2% and this should ease the pressure on the general public. What a load of bullshit, in that “fall” there is hidden the fact that food has risen by 4.6% and energy bills are set to rise in the region of 10%, how this will ease the pressure on the ordinary household budget has yet to be explained.

     With workfare, traineeships, zero hours contracts, part-time employment, bedroom tax, rocketing food and energy prices, and ATOS killing off the disabled, this government has pressed the accelerator as we spiral down the deprivation road. Sweatshop Europe here we come. 

 

An excerpt from an interesting and informative article by The Void:

Unpaid workers on these schemes are counted as employed, a handy distortion of the figures for a Government that claims they are bringing down unemployment.  With the numbers in part-time work, precarious self-employment or workfare all at record levels, and wages falling far behind inflation, the true picture of the labour market is far from good news. Recent Housing Benefit statistics* show that the number claiming help with housing costs remains at record levels.  Over 5 million people are on this benefit and for the first time, in July 2013, the number of working Housing Benefit claimants topped one million.

 Read the full article HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Undercover Police, Circled A Radio.

      The latest from Circled A Radio, a chat with author of "Undercover" Rob Evans, an exposure of the UK's undercover police.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

The Ever Threatening Presence Of Big Brother.

This information and appeal from OpenMedia:

      Now we know why the TPP Internet censorship plan has been kept so secret.

Wikileaks just made public secret documents that show how industry lobbyists are trying to impose an extreme Internet censorship scheme.1

We knew it was going to be bad. We knew it could mean that entire websites and families could be kicked off the Internet. We knew it could lock out the deaf and the blind.

But the TPP Internet censorship plan is even worse than we thought. The leaked documents reveal that:

• U.S. President Obama is trying to impose laws that would clamp down on free expression, compel your Internet service provider to track your Internet usage, and impose extreme penalties for everyday online activities.
• The TPP would create secret transnational Internet censorship courts. It could override national courts and national laws.2

      Yeah, it’s that bad. This leak could change everything -- but only if people know about it. We need to raise a loud public call at this unique moment:

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SHARE ON FACEBOOK NOW

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SHARE ON TWITTER

THEN, SHARE THIS WEBPAGE WITH EVERYONE VIA EMAIL: https://openmedia.org/censorship

      The leaked documents have revealed that the United States government and lobbyists are nearly alone in pushing the most extreme parts of the TPP’s Internet censorship plan.3

    However, the leaked draft also lets us know which countries oppose these extreme new rules. And here’s the good news: many countries are pushing back.4

      The more voices we join together, the stronger the message we can send. It’s that simple. Your action today will make a difference.

Thank you. We can do this,

     Steve and Josh, on behalf of your OpenMedia.org team

P.S. If you’re still reading this, it means you care. This plan is worse than our worst fears. Your small team here at OpenMedia.org are working hard to make sure people know the truth about what’s going on. Can you do your part by chipping in what you can today towards our campaign?

 

Footnotes

[1] Secret Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. Source: WikiLeaks

[2] How the TPP endangers access to knowledge, technology, and information. Source: Public Citizen.

[3] Leaked treaty is a Hollywood wishlist. Could it derail Obama’s trade agenda? Source: Washington Post.

[4] The Trans Pacific Partnership IP Chapter Leaks: Canada Pushing Back Against Draconian U.S. Demands. Source: Michael Geist.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk