Unity Appeal On Behave of Destitute Asylum Seekers.

 

 Night Shelter Winter Appeal

       Glasgow Night Shelter for Destitute Asylum Seekers has been providing a vital front-line service for destitute asylum seekers and other migrants in Glasgow for the last two years. From 8pm to 8am, every night, our volunteers provide somewhere warm and safe for migrants, who, because they’re prohibited from working or claiming any benefits, have been refused access to normal homeless services in the city.
       With the winter holiday season upon us the night shelter needs extra help to cover our volunteer rota as well as during the day on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day when we’ll be running a special, holiday, drop in so the men staying at the shelter have somewhere to come to during the daytime when everything else is shut.
       We’re also appealing for warm clothes, especially thermal vests and long-johns, boxer shorts, shoes, coats, hats, scarves and gloves. Please support the Glasgow Night Shelter for Destitute Asylum Seekers!

1.Donate your time:

     We need volunteers to cover gaps in the rota over the holiday period while other volunteers are away and we especially need help during the day on the 25^th and 26^th December and on 1st January from 10am – 7pm at the special holiday drop in. If you wish to volunteer ring
07929852264 or email glasgownightshelter@gmail.com mailto:glasgownightshelter@gmail.com

2.Donate some clothing or food:

       Many of the men staying at the shelter need warm clothing. If you can, please buy some new thermal underwear or boxer shorts or warm socks next time you go shopping. And we are also asking for warm, waterproof coats, hats and gloves and good shoes if you have any that you can donate. Or donate some food – our weekly shopping bill is huge! Tins of tomatoes, kidney beans, tuna, sweetcorn or chickpeas, or bags of lentils or rice or fresh vegetables such as onions, peppers or potatoes or fresh fruit are always welcome! But perhaps you may also wish to donate something special for the winter holiday period?
Clothing and food can be donated via The Unity Centre, 30 Ibrox Street, Glasgow G51 1AQ which is open Mondays to Fridays from 10.30 to 6pm or at one of the Unity in the Community charity shops located at either 371 Paisley Road West G51 1LX or 70 Shaw Street, G51 3BL which are open Mondays to Saturdays from 11am – 5.30pm.

3.Donate financially:

      Every month we need to pay utility bills and for food. Your financial support will help go towards the running costs of the shelter as well as enable us to give out small amounts of cash to help the men staying at the shelter with bus passes, etc. To donate financially you can send a cheque made out to the “Glasgow Destitute Asylum Seeker Night Drop In” to the Glasgow Night Shelter c/o The Unity Centre, 30 Ibrox Street, Glasgow G51 1AQ or directly at any Lloyds TSB branch, by paying your donation into Account Number:
75140563, Sort Code: 87-37-51.

More information about the night shelter:

     With their insecure immigration status many destitute asylum seekers shy away from charities and agencies in case they get into trouble with the authorities. Support for this group of people is very restricted as they are not allowed any recourse to public funds and many charities offer only limited support. Two years ago, some members of the Glasgow Destitution Network set up a temporary winter shelter for destitute asylum seekers. During this project, the charity, Unity in the Community, set up by the Unity Centre, took on responsibility for running the shelter for three nights a week. The night shelter had such a positive impact on the lives of the people staying at it that it was decided to make it a permanent project based in a church hall in the west end of the city.
      Since then the night shelter has provided a safe, warm, welcoming, space for destitute asylums seekers to stay overnight where they can get a hot meal, and can feel secure. During that time over 100 people have volunteered at the shelter either spending a few hours in the evening talking with the men staying there helping them with any problems they may have or staying overnight in the shelter helping prepare the evening meal or getting everything cleared up and packed away in the morning.
        The night shelter now hosts up to 15 men a night and we aim to open a separate women’s shelter in the New Year. The accommodation is pretty basic. Each man is issued with a sleeping bag, pillow, duvet and camping mattress. They sleep on the floor of a gym in the church hall. During the evening while they wait for the meal to be prepared, the men staying at the shelter sit, talk, play games and watch DVDs in the shelter’s TV room.
        The Glasgow Night Shelter for Destitute Asylum Seekers was set up by some members of the Glasgow Destitution Network and is now a completely independent organisation in its own right, separate from the Glasgow Destitution Network and we aim to secure charitable status in the very
near future.
     To contact the Glasgow Night Shelter for Destitute Asylum Seekers please contact the co-ordinator on 07929852264 or email
glasgownightshelter@gmail.com mailto:glasgownightshelter@gmail.com

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

Workers Know Your History, Dublin 1913 Lockout.

       One hundred years ago this month, Dublin society had been ripped apart by one of the worst industrial disputes of the Great Unrest period. Locked out since August, the striking workers were, by December, starving and on the verge of defeat.

      Donnacha DeLong speaks to Gary Granville, author of Dublin 1913 Lockout and Legacy (https://www.obrien.ie/dublin-1913 ), about the situation in Dublin in 1913 and to Marian Larragy, activist and community journalist, about women's involvement in the strike.

Listen to the conversation here on Circled A Radio.

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

Edinburgh ACE, Films, Goodies And Solidarity.

ACE MID WINTER FAYRE THIS SATURDAY

      All are welcome to the ACE mid winter fayre this Saturday 14th December, from mid-day through to the early evening with a film showing of The People and the Olive, showing the reality of life in Palestine, at around 5pm. All at the Autonomous Centre of Edinburgh premises at 17 West Montgomery Place.

      On top of Leith Wholefoods' usual goodies there will be tastings of delicious Palestinian food, superb Palestinian olive oil at discounted prices, quality Xmas presents such as Faith in Nature shampoos and toiletries, essential oils, soaps and much more.

       Amber jewellery from Chiapas, Mexico will be on sale, along with other handicrafts from the Zapatista co-operatives such as hand-embroidered cotton blouses, plus a range of t shirts. Not to mention the 2014 Zapatista Solidarity Calendar with fantastic photos from the Zapatista rebel territories. All sales go to support the Zapatista struggle for autonomy.

Plus check out the new stock in the relaunched ACE info shop.

NEWS FROM EDINBURGH COALITION AGAINST POVERTY.

Edinburgh Coalition Against Poverty meeting

7pm Mon 16 December at ACE All welcome

      Report on the successful anti workfare anti sanctions demo last Saturday at the Salvation Army at www.edinburghagainstpoverty.org.uk plus see ECAP facebook

      The last ECAP Tuesday support and advice shift of the year is the coming Tuesday 17th, 12-3pm as usual. ACE will be closed on Tuesdays 24th and 31st, Tuesday shifts restart on 7th January.

      ACE will also be closed on thursdays 26th December and 2nd January.

Best to ring first - 0131 557 6242 - if coming any distance on Saturdays 28th and 4th.

ACE CINEMA

Following several recent successful Sunday screenings, ACE Cinema will restart in the New Year, watch out for news.

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

Corporate Finance And Pollution.

       An appeal from The Sum of Us, as corporate capital attempts to get its way in plundering the planet. Gold mining is among the most environmental polluting businessed on the planet, it uses some of the most toxic substances on earth, and they usually find their way into the water table. Leaving the locals with poisoned water and some arsehole in another city with a gold watch.

     Infinito Gold, a Canadian mining company, just slapped Costa Rica with a $1 billion lawsuit because the nation decided to protect its rainforests rather than host an open-pit gold mine.

      Costa Rica’s rainforest is lauded as one of the most beautiful in the world, and is home to many endangered species, including the green macaw. Officials considered approving the gold mine, but the use of toxic chemicals such as cyanide -- which often leaks into and pollutes nearby lakes and rivers -- was far too great a risk to allow the project to move forward.

      A subsidiary of Infinito Gold has announced that a massive lawsuit against Costa Rica is “imminent”, so we need to act now. If thousands of us stand together against this toxic mine, we can show Infinito that Costa Rica and other countries that are defending their natural resources will not be silently bullied by corporate power. 

Tell Infinito Gold to drop its $1 billion lawsuit against Costa Rica.

        Open-pit gold mining in Costa Rica would destroy 190 hectares of pristine forest. The rainforest houses 5% of the world’s species and has seen tremendous growth in the ecotourism industry. Over 75% of Costa Ricans oppose mining and have decided that they cannot take the risk to move forward with gold mining in the country.

        Costa Rica is not the first to be sued by Infinito Gold. In 2001, Infinito Gold locked Venezuela into a ten-year legal battle over a rejected mine. Fortunately, Infinito lost. We can make sure Infinito Gold loses again by standing up to its greedy tactics and shameful behavior. Corporate profits cannot take precedence over the health of the people and the environment.

Stand up for Costa Rica’s rainforests -- tell Infinito Gold to drop the $1 billion lawsuit now.

Thanks for taking a stand,
Kaytee, Hanna, Katherine, Terryn, Kimberly, Jessica, Ledys, Fatah, Marie, Zermina and the rest of us

P.S. Please help us up the pressure on Infinito by sharing this petition on Facebook or forwarding this email to your friends.

More information:

All That Glitters. Corporate Knights, 3 Oct 2013.
Calgary-based mining company suing Costa Rica for more that $1 Billion. Global News, 4 Oct 2013.

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

   

Riot Police At The Funeral March.

      December 11 saw the funeral of Sara, the young 13 year old girl who died from carbon monoxide poisoning in Thessaloniki, after her mother, in desperation to keep herself and her daughter warm, lit a fire in a make-shift stove in their apartment. The young girl and her unemployed mother lived alone and had their power cut off three months earlier. They were doing their best to try and keep warm, as temperatures dropped to near freezing in their part of northern Greece.

Photo from Teacher Dude: 

       In Greece even a funeral march by students, is accompanied by riot police in full riot gear. The march to the funeral by high school students in the Thessaloniki, was also in commemoration of the murder of a 15 year old teenager, Alexis Grigoropoulos, by a Athens police officer in December 2008. An event that set off a wave of protest that engulfed all of Greece in the worst civil violence experienced since the overthrow of the country's military dictatorship in in 1973.

    Sara died because of the Troika and their subservient Greek puppet government. They forced the banksters' policies of “austerity” and “structural adjustments” onto the people of Greece, they are directly responsible for the deaths by suicide, malnutrition and ill-health that must follow in the wake of their social destruction. These events are not accidents, they are the expected consequences of driving people to deprivation.

     Alexis Grigoropoulos was murdered my the state apparatus, likewise, Sara was murdered by that same state apparatus. You can point a gun and shoot, or you can starve and freeze people, the effect is the same, death by a deliberate action. All the poverty and deprivation brought about by the actions of the Troika, (EC, European Commission, ECB, European Central Bank, IMF, International Mankind Fuckers) are not accidental events, they are aware that if you slash people's standard of living, they will suffer, the more you cut, the more they suffer, and that suffering can and does end in death. There is nothing accidental in that.

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

Union Busting In India.

     An appeal from IUF regarding illegal and brutal treatment of workers in India trying to form a union. Solidarity is our weapon.

     Earlier this year 162 workers out of 170 employed in three warehouses exclusively contracted by PepsiCo in West Bengal organized a union and submitted their demands. They were harassed, assaulted by company goons and then brutally fired.
    In May 2013, they were allowed to return to work, but under conditions that strip them of their human rights.
     They were told they can return to work if they declare they will never again join a union, made to sign false statements which they were told were legally binding, and told to cut up their union cards and step on them as they walked into the warehouses. Those who refused were told hey will never work again and that they will be blacklisted by all local employers.
    Despite threats, harassment, home visits by management and economic hardship, 28 of these unfairly dismissed workers have refused to surrender their rights. In August they formed the PepsiCo (Frito-Lays) Workers Action Committee and escalated the campaign.

CLICK HERE TO SEND A MESSAGE TO PEPSICO demanding unconditional reinstatement of the 28 workers with full back pay and full recognition of their trade union rights.

E-mail: iuf@iuf.org
Rampe du Pont-Rouge, 8, CH-1213, Petit-Lancy (Switzerland)
www.iuf.org
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Subscribe to IUF NEWS by e-mail

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

How Do You Live When Sanctioned?

     How do you cope if you are on Jobseeker's Allowance and you get “sanctioned”? Quite frankly, you don't, you can't possibly, unless you can dip into a nice bankbook, which in the circumstances is most unlikely. It's a matter of begging, borrowing, stealing or doing without. After all Jobseeker's Allowance doesn't let you save for a rainy day. Losing the pittance that you rely on to survive, even for a few months, can tip you over the edge. This policy is brutal, inhumane and totally unjust, and belongs to, what should be, a bygone era of peasants and serfs. In a civilised society, nobody should be treated in that manner or forced in to that situation.

       That babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, is quiet on this matter of sanctions, far be it for them to reveal the truth of what life is like for the ordinary people, too many celebrities to pander to, and splash across their pages. However on the streets in the real world, where you and I live, the number of people being sanctioned is growing, we now have an army of people being brutally abused in this way. What is more, it is not just the Department of Work and Pensions that are willy-nilly throwing about santions, the companies that are involved in the workfare scheme are referring people to be sanctioned. Not content with getting the labour free, they want sweat and blood.

This from Corporate Watch:

Sanctioning – stopping someone’s benefits after a perceived infringement of the terms of their claim for between one week and six months – was a favourite policy of the previous government but figures revealed by Corporate Watch and the Observer today show the coalition, together with sub-contracted private ‘provider’ companies, has massively increased the amount of sanctions imposed.

To download as a pdf click here.

Read a personal experience of being sanctioned here.

      139,000 sanctions were handed out to Jobseeker’s Allowance* claimants in 2009 but this more than tripled to 508,000 in 2011, the coalition’s first full calendar year in government. There was little change in the number of people signing on in this period, meaning a much higher proportion of people have had their benefits cut. In February 2011 for example, 1.44 million people were claiming JSA compared to 1.42 million in 2009. 51,000 sanctions were imposed in the former month, compared to 9,000 in the latter.

       Many of these sanctions are initially suggested, or ‘referred’, to the Department of Work and Pensions by the private companies the government has sub-contracted to run many of its welfare schemes, such as the flagship Work Programme, for people who have been signing on for a year or more. DWP statistics, obtained by a Corporate Watch freedom of information request (download the disclosure here), show companies such as Serco, Seetec, Working Links and A4E have been even more eager to sanction people than the government.

      The companies referred over 110,000 cases to the DWP for sanctioning between the start of the Work Programme in June 2011 up to January 2012, the last month figures were available (they do not have the power to sanction but they can suggest claims should be sanctioned to the DWP, which then decides whether the reasons given by the provider are appropriate).

Read the full report HERE:

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

Workers Know Your History, Angel Pestana.

      A life dedicated to the cause of the ordinary people, one of our own, Angel Pestana Nunez, born in poverty in Ponferrada, Spain, on Feb 14, 1886, he was politically active throughout his life. At the age of 15 he was imprisoned for his part in a political rally. After travelling to North Africa and France, he settled in Catalonia and became involved in the local anarchist group. In 1918 he became editor in chief of the newspaper Solidaridad Obrera. During his editorship the paper ran a powerful campaign against the local police force. In April 1919 after Catalonia was subject to massive protests, he was detained and the paper banned. On returning from a visit to Russia he was again detained. Pestana was also victim to an assassination attempt by the Spanish authorities, while giving a speech in Manresa. In October 1936, with the start of the Spanish Civil War, he was appointed general sub-commissioner for war, but resigned shortly after this due to ill health, he died December 11, 1936. 

 

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

Glasgow In The 60's and 70's.

        Looking for an interesting and cheap night out? Well look no further than the Kinning Park Complex, and find out a little about Glasgow's history.

GLASGOW (1982) FILM SCREENING
THURSDAY 12 DECEMBER, 6.30 FOR 7PM START
KINNING PARK COMPLEX (next to Kinning Park Subway)

       A rare screening of episodes from a series of films about Glasgow originally aired on the BBC in 1982. The series constitutes an amazing document of Glasgow, and the East End in particular, and provides a crucial historical context for understanding present-day social and environmental problems in the city.
       Episodes focus on the blight left behind from the mass demolitions of the 1960s and 1970s – the era of Comprehensive Development Areas; the closure of Beardmore’s Forge at Parkhead and with it the end of large industry in the East End; and a portrayal of the infamous Barrowfield Scheme next to Parkhead. For those interested in current ‘regeneration’ plans associated with the Commonwealth Games 2014 and Clyde Gateway, it is unmissable.
     Margaret Jaconelli, who was evicted by CPO on the site of the Commonwealth Games Village, and Neil Gray from Glasgow Games Monitor 2014, will talk about the films in relation to the present era. Followed by open discussion. Donations on door welcome.
Organised by Glasgow Games Monitor 2014 and Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism!

http://gamesmonitor2014.org/2013/11/28/glasgow-1982-film-screening/

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

Their Growth Is Our Deprivation.

      Where do we stand as a country, our lords and masters, the millionaire class, spout growth and being a world leader. What is more, they come up with mythical figures to prove their illusion. Of course you and I, the people on the ground, outside that bubble of rarefied atmosphere of upper crust parasites, see it somewhat different. While they discus figures plucked from their favourite guess-machine, and Her Majesty's Opposition produce imperceptible variations on those figures, we, the ordinary Joe, live in the real world of food banks and workfare, of choosing between heating or eating. In our world we are acutely aware of our collapsing infrastructure and our rapidly descending standard of living. We might have smart-phones, tablets and super broadband, but large swathes of our elderly and vulnerable are facing problems from hypothermia, and malnutrition has double in the last year. We the ordinary people are also well aware of the fact that we live with an eduction system that miserably fails our kids. According to a recent report, South Korean, Vietnamese and Macanese teenagers are streets ahead of our teenagers, in mathematics and science.
      Our infrastructure is late nineteenth century early twentieth century, and as we would expect our industrial over lords never invest, but are merely interested in taking the profits and running things into the ground, out-sourcing is cheaper, so more profitable. According to a recent survey of 148 countries by the World Economic Forum, our road transport system was rated as inferior to that of Barbados and our roads were ranked worse than those of Chile.
       Of course we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that, as far as our standard of living is concerned, it is all going to plan. Our millionaire political class, (who we should not forget, are all big investors in, and friends of, the corporate greed machine) are working hard with their corporate masters, to get this country down to a low wage, sweatshop economy, and you have to say, aren't they doing well.
     A cheap subservient workforce is the key to their growth, their businesses will grow in size and profitability. They will be able to compete with their Easter competitors. So when you hear the corrupt millionaire political cabal, and the greed driven parasitic corporate greed machine, talk of growth, you know what they mean, it's growth in their bank accounts that they are after, and you and I, are the tools.

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

Noam Chomsky, What Is Anarchism?

Published on Nov 20, 2013
       Noam Chomsky spoke at MIT Wong Auditorium on November 18, 2013. The event was sponsored by the Boston Review. This event was based on the topic of Noam Chomsky's new volume, On Anarchism. 

    Noam Chomsky, world-renowned public intellectual and MIT Professor emeritus discussed the reasoning behind his fearless lifelong questioning of the legitimacy of entrenched power. Chomsky's anarchism is distinctly optimistic and egalitarian. It is a living, evolving tradition, situated in a historical lineage, which emphasizes the power of collective, rather than individualist, action.
     His scathing analysis of everything that's wrong with our society reaches more and more people every day. His brilliant critiques of - among other things - capitalism, imperialism, domestic repression, and government propaganda, have become mini-publishing industries unto themselves.

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

Politicians, Energy Companies And Death,

        If you implement policies and the result is death, then you are a murderer. It seems quite simple to me, but these murderers are never brought to justice, but they should. Politicians who blithely force through policies that directly impact on people's lives, creating misery, poverty, deprivation and in some cases death, must be held accountable.

        The recent case of a young 13 yearold girl living in Thessaloniki in Greece, who died of suspected carbon monoxide poisoning, was not an accident. She was living with her unemployed mother in a city of high unemployment, in a home without electricity or any other form of heating. In Greece, high taxes and high electricity prices and extortionate heating oil prices, puts heating your home beyond the means of thousands of ordinary people.

       Thessaloniki is a cold city in the winter, and left with no other means of heating her, this woman lit a brazier in her home, sadly both she and her 13 year old daughter were over come by the fumes. The woman came round, but sadly her daughter was dead. Greece, a small country, is in the EU, one of the richest economic blocks on the planet, but it kills its citizens by putting heating beyond their means. This is not just abhorrent, it is totally unacceptable, why should people freeze to death or die from carbon monoxide poisoning in the midst of opulence? No doubt in Thessaloniki, like other cities in Europe, there will be large posh homes with heat going through the roof, there will be shopping malls with heat pouring out their doors, but down the road a young girl dies because her mother can't afford to heat their home. The system stinks and has to be demolished and a decent system of humanity created in its place.

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

Glasgow, Police Helicopters And Accidents.

      Like many, many people across the country I have been deeply moved and saddened by the loss of life and the injuries from the recent tragic accident of the helicopter crash onto the roof of the Clutha in Glasgow. Everybody accepts it was an horrific accident, but like all accidents, we have to carefully analyse the events and attempt to guarantee that this will never happen again. I have no doubt that the experts will point to some mechanical failure, but there are other aspects that must be looked at, for example, why are there low flying helicopters over dense urban areas? This was the second police helicopter crash in Glasgow, that's two too many.

    I received this from an IWW member and I whole heartedly endorse the contents. 

 Ground Surveillance Helicopters – Permanently!

      The Clutha Vaults tragedy on 29^th November touched so many. It killed 6 pub users and injured many others, physically and emotionally. It happened because of the increasing practice, of low-flying helicopters being used in dense urban areas. We are mourning the dead, some like John McGarrigle immortalised in print.

    But “an injury to one is an injury to all “, as the wobbly slogan puts it. From mourning we should take the step to organise to highlight, oppose, and demand the end to the use of helicopters in this way.

Helicopters are used to convey the sick and injured – but that is a different use from that of the Police. How many of us have got up from our sofa to be met by a bright light, like a searchlight, barely clearing our tenements and houses/

    The Clutha had a great reputation as a haven for radical & literary ideas, for poetry and live music. But in addition to commemoration, or rebuilding the Clutha/ we can add our opposition to the use of surveillance helicopters This is not to blame the pilot, but to identify the practice, and the record of accidents and near misses associated with this practice/ As with other aspects of the creeping surveillance State – we ask , what are they useful for, and to who?

Campaign to put an end to their use, this winter of discontent!

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

A Nation Of Paupers, Knee Deep In Wealth.

      And still, from the mouths of the parasite class of politicians and their masters the corporate world, the crap keeps coming, ” Work hard and you will get on”. But it's now a truth, that working in this country, is more likely to make you poor. For the first time since records began, there are now more working families living below the poverty line, than in workless and retired families combined. Living standards of those in work in this country have been decimated to the extent that there are 6.7 million working families living below the poverty, line compared with 6.3 million workless and retired. We are talking about 13 million living below the poverty line in one of the richest countries in the world. These facts fly in the face of the millionaire cabal sitting in The Westminster House of Hypocrisy and Corruption, who are spouting about growth and recovery. Growth and recovery for what section of society?

      According to recent report published by The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, job insecurity is common place among millions of people, and one in six of the total workforce has has claimed Jobseekers' Allowance at some point in the last two years. It also points out what we all know, that the fall in median income over the last two years has wiped out all the gains of the last decade. The report also points out that the proportion of low paid jobs has increased and three fifths of these are done by the over 30's. Plus there are now 5 million people being paid below a living wage. Adding to this depressing picture of deprivation in the midst of wealth, is the policy of sanctions, depriving those in poverty of that meagre pittance that barely keeps them alive. No matter which group of our class we look at, poverty looks back at you, the largest group living in poverty are working age adults without dependent children, a staggering 4.7 million.

         Take a good look at this picture and ask yourself why? Is it because there is no wealth in this country? Is it because we are a very poor country? Is it because we don't know how to distribute that wealth in a more equal fashion? Or is it because we are controlled by a greed bunch of millionaires who do the bidding of the corporate world? Well we know we are a very rich country with an abundance of skills, and I'm sure we all know how we could distribute the wealth much more fairly. So I guess it's because we are controlled by a greedy bunch of millionaires who do the bidding of the corporate world. Well now we know the answer, how do we set about sorting the problem?

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

Who Voted For Slavery?

       How much longer will the people of this country vote in this system of greed and corruption, that works against their interests, how long will it be until they all realise that this is not a democracy, never has been, and under the present system, never can be. We cannot tolerate any longer, a system where by the poor are forced to work for nothing to enrich the profits of large wealthy companies. This, Workfare/Traineeship/Work Experience con, is not a little temporary fix, this is the template for the future, this is the pattern they want to be the accepted route for the next generation. The kids will leave school and be conned into thinking that this is the norm, a crap eduction, then work for nothing, swelling the bank accounts of rich shareholders, with the carrot held out in front of you, that if you humiliate yourself sufficiently for long enough, you might be one of the privileged that get a paid job at the end of it all. How wonderfully gracious of your employer to actually pay you.

       We as a class cannot accept that our kids are here to be forced into slave labour at the dictate of a bunch of millionaires, whose only interest is in the profitability of their shares. We are responsible for the dignity and well being of our kids and grand kids. Standing by and watching them being humiliated and abused by corporations is not acceptable under any circumstances. Nobody in this country voted to bring back slavery, but it has already got its foot well and truly in the door.

       There are so many avenues being used by this government of boardroom directors to attack our living conditions, all of them help big business. The slashing of social services and benefits is necessary to allow them to reduce the taxes that their corporate friends pay, if and when they pay at all. The bedroom tax, ATOS attack on disability allowance, and Workfare/Work Experience/Traineeships are all part of this business friendly agenda. Do we want a society that has only one aim, to enrich the corporate world at the expense of the people? As long as we keep putting rich millionaire business people in charge of our lives we will get screwed. Their businesses come well before your kids, you would be an idiot if you expected them to do otherwise. Can you not hear Osborne's speech to the Employers Federation, "I have a dream, one day all the workers will come to your businesses for nothing, and we will realise that paradise of sweatshop Europe"

      If we want a decent life for all we have to get rid of this festering cancer of capitalism. We shouldn't be organising to ask for some more crumbs from the cake, which we made, or please don't squeeze us so hard. We should be organising to take over the entire running of all aspects of our society, all manufacturing and distribution at the dictate of the people's needs, not driven by the greed of a handful of overtly rich useless parasitic leeches.

This from The Void:

      Osborne will force all those out of work for six months and between the ages of 18 and 21 into Traineeships or Work Experience.  Those who refuse will be sent on a Community Work Placement  – 780 hours unpaid work – or face losing benefits completely.  This is a huge turn around for a Government that in early 2012 were falling over themselves trying to persuade people that unpaid Work Experience – for major employers such as ASDA and Poundland – was voluntary.

     Osborne’s speech yesterday made a laughing stock of companies like Tesco and charities like Barnardo’s who have insisted that Work Experience schemes are not workfare.  Even if you bought that, they are now, or will be as soon as Osborne gets his way.

Read the full article HERE:

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

5th Anniverssary Of The Murder Of Alexandros Grigoropoulos.

       Two days before the fifth anniversary of the murder in Exarcheia, Athens, by the police, of the youth Alexandros Grigoropoulos, plain clothes police shot and wounded an anarchist in the same area, Exarcheia.

This from Contra Info:

     Before I start describing the incident, I would like to mention the reasons why I haven’t initiated any formal complaint or lawsuit. First off, I declare myself an anarchist-antiauthoritarian. Therefore, my conscience cannot be misled by legal proceedings. Freedom combatants should draw the battle lines against the system and its “privileges” offered to us. In the following account of the incident (which occurred two days before the anniversary of the murder of comrade Alexis Grigoropoulos, in 2008), I want to make it clear that I do not consider myself a victim of the described attack, because the battle lines are drawn, and we stand against the enemy, as I already mentioned.

      On the night of December 4, 2013 I was in the downtown area of Exarchia alongside other comrades, when we understood that we were followed by three plainclothes cops close to the corner of Benaki and Eressou streets. We briefly talked about what to do, and then we chased and harassed the cops. Two of the plainclothes ran away on Dervenion street toward Zoodochou Pigis street, while the third cop ran off to Eressou street, heading also to Zoodochou Pigis. It came as no surprise when we saw the first two thugs making a turn into Valtetsiou street and then on to Charilaou Trikoupi street, exactly where an anti-riot squadron is permanently stationed. We looked back, towards the third cop, and I yelled at him: “Where do you think you’re going, you fuckin’ undercover?” Suddenly I noticed that he was holding a gun pointed at me, and he shouted: “Come here… I’ll fuck you over” pointing his gun at my chest. In the next few seconds he cocked his pistol, ready to fire, and I shouted back at him: “What are you going to do, shoot me?” He shot me in the leg. At that precise moment, I didn’t realized that I was injured however, and the thought that his next bullet would hit me made me run towards Exarchia square, where I finally saw I was wounded in the leg.

       I considered useful to disclose this information not to spread fear but rage. We won’t chicken out no matter what; they must get it through their heads we don’t bend, not even with bullets.

      Attack first and always, with every possible way and every means, against the State and its minions.

See each other on the streets today, December 6 and every day.

The bullet will be returned to both the instigators and the perpetrators of the shot.

        Strength to the vagabonds who are accused in the cases of Velventos and Nea Filadelfeia.

     Two days later, on the anniversary of the murder of Alexandros Grigoropoulos, the people of Athens took to the streets to mark this cold blooded murder of the young Alexandros, and as normal in Greece, when you take a protest to the streets, you are met with the full force of the state apparatus. As well as the usual stun grenades, baton attacks and detentions, the police spent a considerable effort trying to remove radical posters from the walls in Exarcheia.

These details From The Greek Streets:

20:48 GMT +2 Police have cordoned much of exarcheia.

20:16 GMT +2 The police have already attacked the square in exarcheia. People are gathering and setting up barricades on Benaki street and sidestreets.

19:56 GMT +2 The demonstration in Athens has ended, people are gathering at the place where Alexis was murdered. A couple of hundreds are there already, gathering is called for 9pm local time – the time that Alexis was shot.

14:27 GMT +2 Cops are slowly leaving now and students are being released after being searched by the cops. Seems to be the first time the cops have used the “kettling” technique (well-known in the UK) in a greek demo.

14:16 GMT +2 More students trapped, probably about 300 now.

14:02 GMT +2 They are now pushing all journalists away and more cops are arriving.

13:45 GMT +2 Student demo of approximately 2-3000 people is coming to an end. The cops have kettled about 200 people outside the university.

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