Gentrification, Eviction And Big Money.

       Council capers, gentrification, eviction and big money. An update from Glasgow games Monitor 2014.

       1. "Commonwealth City" was on BBC 1 Scotland last night and shown some of the impacts of the games plus footage of the brutal eviction of the Jaconelli family: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0444wqv/commonwealth-city-episode-1 

       2. A new Primer is on the website on sport and participation impacts: http://gamesmonitor2014.org/2014/05/20/sport-and-participation-primer-5/ 3. We are co-organising a film showing and discussion about Glasgow's social/environmental history at Kinning Park on Sunday, 2-4pm, all welcome. For more details see: http://gamesmonitor2014.org/2014/05/16/glasgow-1982-film-screening-2-2/ Please share this information widely. Cheers, http://gamesmonitor2014.org/

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

Time For politicians And Bankers To Leave.

 

    I recently read an open letter by the leader of the Portuguese dockers union, to Passos, the Prime minister of that country, and published in Xpressed. Though I don't agree with the entire content, I agree with the feelings and the sentiments expressed in the letter, particularly the last couple of paragraphs. The last paragraph could equally apply here or for that matter, to any other country.

        The fury with which you take forward your ideological agenda is so radical that you are unable to look at the consequences for people’s lives. In the Lisbon Port, for example, which is the reality I know better, the irrationality of port law, which you have approved against everything and everyone, has led to 47 dockers being unfairly fired, when their job was crucial for the performance of the port. The bosses have recognised this and have committed to reinstate them all, but nothing erases the suffering of being jobless for one year. Do you have any idea what that means? I know well that you only care about the performance of exports –a reality you have hindered– but let me tell you that your intransigency has a tremendous impact in people’s lives. Unemployment is almost always to blame for other avatars, from divorce to depression, from giving up on having children to losing the house, from the lack of horizons to the illusionary escape of emigrating.

      Passos, listen… we are tired of seeing our relatives, rights and dreams emigrate and we will keep fighting so that you understand quickly that the best for everyone is that you, your government and your bankers leave. Nobody will shed a tear when you sail off. This trip today is a condition for people to have hope in a better future tomorrow. It’s not enough surely, but everything will begin again in that day, whole and clean.

President of the Dockers Union , Traffic workers and Maritime Clerks of the Centre and South of Portugal.

Read the full letter HERE:

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Same Old---Rich Get Richer, Poor Get Poorer.

    They Sunday Times has just released its latest UK “rich list”, and it tells an interesting story, though perhaps one that every ordinary person the the UK already knows. Last year the rich got richer and the poor got poorer, so according to the system, everything is working fine.

     The latest figures show that the richest 1,000 British now have a combined wealth of £518,975 billion, up 15.4% from a year ago, and now accounts for one third of the UK's total GDP. Just to get into that 1,000 rich list, you need to have at least £85 million, if you hope to aspire to the top 500, then you will need to flash around £190 million.
     Philip Beresford, compiler of the list, has been doing this wee job since 1989, said: "I've never seen such a phenomenal rise in personal wealth as the growth in the fortunes of Britain's 1,000 richest people over the past year. "The richest people in Britain have had an astonishing year.--”

We have to stay with austerity, the recovery is still fragile.

 

      Of course as we would expect, that old lady that stays in Buckingham Palace, done very well this year by adding around £10 million to her already sizeable little pile of loot, bring her in at No. 285 on the list, with a tidy little £330 million.
      The list is a compilation of the usual CEO, landed gentry, TV grinning faces, and smiling celebrities, etc.. “Ordinary common one of us” Jamie Oliver and his wife, added a nice wee bundle of £90 million to their stash, bring it to a health £240 million.
      I should add that these figures are what is called “identifiable wealth”, you know the sort of stuff, land, property, race horse, yachts, works of art, and so on. It does not take into account their bank accounts, that's personal, and no doubt there will by many, and fat, and in diverse places.
      The list also points out that the number of billionaires living in the UK has topped the 100 for the first time, reaching 104, with their combined wealth shooting over the £300 billion. Britain now has more billionaires per head of the population than any other country, and in that cesspool of the financial Mafia, London, there are 72 sterling billionaires, making it the largest concentration of billionaires in any city in the world. So the rich have had an astonishing year with “austerity” meaning that they all ran to the bank shouting “Yipeeee”.

 

        While at the other end, the you and I end, we saw our incomes shrink by approximately £1,600 since 2010. We have had to cope with bedroom taxes, slave labour workfare schemes, vanishing disability allowances, rocketing energy prices, rising food prices, a greater use of food banks, zero hours contracts, wage increases of less than inflation, if they arrive at all, cuts in benefits and social services. So it is obvious where that massive increase in the “identifiable wealth” among the parasites came from, it came from you and I, they get richer and we get poorer, and we tolerate this!!!

 

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Greek Mainstream Politics, A Quiet Indoor Affair.

       The political scene has changed dramatically in Greece, elections are not what they used to be. Gone are the days when pre-election rallies were held in the open air with thousands gathering to worship their chosen leader. Massive public affairs with the messiahs from the various parties, mainly two, Pasok and New Democracy, openly accepting the adoration of the faithful. Now it is all so different, such is the loathing by the people of Greece for the mainstream parties and their corrupt cohorts, that meetings are indoors, invitation only and surrounded by security. They dare not show their faces to the general public for fear of a verbal and physical assault, in my opinion, a well deserved response.

Teacher Dude describes one such meeting:  

      Actually, I had no intention of attending the event which I assumed would be an invitation only affair in which the media (or, in my case, not-quite-media) would be kept at arms length. However, following the lead of some friends who were there legitimately, I managed to get myself past the metal detectors and security checks, which was lucky as I would have had a hard time explaining the gas mask in my bag. I'm guessing that telling the police my allergies were playing up would not have been terribly convincing.
       However, once inside the venue I decided to exploit my good luck to get into the swing of things taking pictures of the local conservative nomenclature which has ruled Thessaloniki for generations, noting the preparations being made ahead of the main speech. If only New Democracy paid as much attention to economic policy as it did to the placement of flag waving party workers in the bleachers.

Read the full article HERE:

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We Are All The Little Tramps.

      We have had eras of this and that, monarchies, dictators, so called representative democracy, all the same as far as the ordinary person is concerned, a group of thieving parasites at the top, bleeding to death the majority at the bottom. Well we can bring about a new era, the era of the ordinary person, where the majority all benefit from the fruits of their combined labour, and for once in our history, free from parasites. The wee man's speech has a lot going for it, especially on the anniversary of that imperialist led blood bath of the ordinary people in 1914.

First Published on Apr 27, 2014

        In February 1914, in a time of economic turmoil and international conflict, Charlie Chaplin walked onto screens for the very first time as the beloved Little Tramp character. 100 years later, with homelessness on the rise, massive cuts to social security, and an uncaring government trying desperately to drag the country to war once more, Jack Brindelli and friends consider what the Tramp's legacy can teach us in modern times.

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Britain's White Slaves.

       Here "Circled A Radio" discusses a little know history, the British white slaves, and the start of racism.

Enjoy it HERE:

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

Ukraine For The Ukrainians.

       Obama, mouthpiece for Western corporate power, aided and abetted by our own bunch of rabid pups, the Cameron cabal, are ratching up their rhetoric, in an attempt to prepare us for a blood bath in Ukraine, as they want a slice of that unfortunate country. Meanwhile the Russian imperialists are manoeuvring and manipulating to see that they are not outdone in this corporate land grab. Both empires are prepared to sacrifice the blood of the people of Ukraine and the blood of their own citizens to satisfy their power lust. It could be 1914, when the greed of imperialism dragged Europe into the bloodiest era of its existence, all for power and wealth for that psychopathic parasitic scum, that sits on our shoulders like a caked scab, the so called "elite".

      Millions took to the streets to try to stop the illegal invasion of Iraq, we should be prepared to take to the streets again to stop this re-make of that horror story, "The 1914 Land Grab".  

 

This from SACC:

 

Ukraine Crisis - Public Meetings in Scotland

 

       Ukraine is at the brink of war. It is being pulled apart by imperialist forces, from the East Russian forces and from the West NATO, the EU and the USA.

       SACC is one of the co-sponsors of a series of public meetings being held in Scotland with Zakhar Popovych from the Ukrainian Left Opposition. Zakhar Popovych will give an eye witness account of recent developments and offer a left analysis of events so far. Obviously Zakhar Popovych cannot represent the full range of left opinion in Ukraine, but we hope these meetings will contribute to a better understanding of the Ukraine crisis and will stimulate debate.

 

Please invite your friends and help to make these meetings a success

 

Fri 16 May - Eyewitness report from Ukraine (Dundee)

7.30pm, Queen's Hotel, Nethergate, Dundee DD1 4DU

On facebook

 

Sat 17 May - Eyewitness report from Ukraine (Edinburgh)

4-6pm, Augustine United Church, George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EL

On Facebook

 

Sun 18 May - Eyewitness report from Ukraine (Glasgow)

2pm, Jurys Inn, 80 Jamaica Street, Glasgow G1 4QG

On Facebook

 

More about the Ukraine Crisis

 

Manifesto: 10 theses of the Leftist Opposition in Ukraine (14 January 2014)

Zakhar Popovitch speaking in London (video, 12 March 2014) 

No UK troops for Nato's Ukraine war games - Statement from the Stop the War Coalition (23 April 2014) 

Ukraine’s ‘Dr. Strangelove’ Reality by Robert Parry (5 May 2014) 

A view on the Ukraine crisis from Scotland by Paul O'Hanlon (10 May 2014) 

In Ukraine the US is dragging us towards war with Russia by John Pilger (14 May 2014)

 

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

 

The Brutality Of The Israeli State.

      Every time you look at what is happening in the Israeli occupied Palestinian territories, you never fail to be shocked at what is happening to the Palestinian people. It is hard to believe that you are reading about the 21st century and hard to believe that the rest of the world not only tolerates this treatment but in many cases condones this barbarity.
        I recently read the report of the Palestinian lawyer who after being released from an Israeli prison, hanged himself in his bedroom. One can only imagine the horrors that drove this quiet rational family man to take his own life. 

 

 

     On the morning of 29 April, Amjad Safadi’s wife left their Jerusalem home for work. A little after 8am, Amjad’s younger brother Samer arrived to escort him to a court hearing. As he opened the door to his room, Samer found that Amjad had hanged himself.
     The shocking death of the 39-year-old lawyer and father of two girls came five days after his release from the notorious underground Russian Compound detention center — known in Arabic as the Moskobiyeh — in Jerusalem.

Read the full story HERE:

     The number of Palestinians imprisoned by the Israeli authorities is out of all proportion to the Palestinian population. It is estimated that since 1967, over 650,000 Palestinians have been imprisoned, this accounts for approximately 20% of the population and 40% of the male population. Recent estimates of how many are in prison put the figure at around 6,800, including members of the Palestinian legislative council. Minors are not exempt from this brutality, recent figures put the number of minors imprisoned as over 200, with 29 below the age of 16.
     This is 21st. Century Israel lashing out 19th century treatment to a subjugated people, while the so called civilised world looks the other way. 

 

     Children are often taken suddenly from their homes, often in the middle of the night, with soldiers surrounding the house and then raiding it. Soldiers usually do not have a warrant for arrest or searches. For example, in July of 2010, an unusually heavy number of Israeli soldiers (in 12 jeeps) entered the outskirts of the village to arrest a local youth, 17 year old Ahmad Abed Al-Fatah Burnat, without giving any reason. Ahmad was taken by jeep to Ofer military prison located outside Ramallah. Prisoners in Ofer, especially young boys, are kept in harsh conditions with the intention of pressuring them to give information about other Palestinians. Many are denied food and water for extended periods of time and exposed to extreme cold or heat.

Detailed Report HERE:

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

Still Going On About May Day.

      I know May Day has come and gone, but in this country, the difference between what it has been, what it could be, and what it has become, is striking. The powers that be have taken this wonderful day of celebration and struggle and turned it into a quiet walk, waving a few banners, and a theatrical style audience and performers event, as the various bigwigs do their speech thing. We the ordinary people, the ones who do the every day struggling, become the quiet audience, while the egos sing their songs, and that's your May Day "celebration". Is that what we want? Is that the way it has to be? Well I suppose it is up to us!!

Solidarity Means Attack! from the stimulator on Vimeo.

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

Question Everything.

       If they don't teach you to ask why, and question everything, they have failed.

From The Sirens:

       If you have been through school anywhere from kindergarten up, your probably familiar with this guy, your token teacher/professor. All though all of them are different, you might even like or agree with some of them, the majority do little more than create the next generation of obedient workers. The face on this poster represents that every guy, who takes young impressionable people and molds them into something of his liking.

      Don’t let the image of higher learning fool you, it is far from a neutral setting, it exists to reproduce capital.

The Sirens.

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"The Anarchists", An Anniversary.

          I may be a day behind with this one, but I still think it is an anniversary worth remembering. I believe it was May 10, 1968, during the May 1968, uprising in France that Leo Ferre, an anarchist, and one of France's finest songwriters, and poets wrote the song, "The Anarchists". A man of passion, imagination and, a wonderful performer. Enjoy his passion.

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

Two Rats From The Same Sewer.

       Two rats from the same sewer, finance and arms dealers, both are central to the festering abscess that is capitalism. They both feed each other, with death and misery being the result. The corporate financial Mafia are the driving force behind the "austerity" ideology that is responsible for the rapid declining living standards of the ordinary people everywhere. The arm industry, with the help of the financial mafia, the banks, feed the thugs, such as NATO, that create mayhem, death and destruction across the planet, in an attempt to protect the interests of their lords and masters, the corporate world.

       The ordinary people gain nothing from neither, but pay in blood and sweat to fatten the coffers of these, surplus to requirements parasites. Anything that can be done to highlight the true nature of their business and turn the public against them can't be bad.

 This from Act For freedom Now:

 

--------A local anarchist and member of the Stop NATO Cymru campaign group said: “We took part in the May Day march to draw attention to the struggles of workers all over the world against exploitation and violent oppression which is exacerbated by arms producers here in the UK.

       We targeted Barclays because it’s a major investor in Exelis Inc. the parent company of the EDO Corporation which is guilty of mass-producing arms to sell to oppressive regimes, exacerbating violent conflict and suppressing legitimate protest. Barclays Global Investors UK Holdings Ltd has 5,059,591 shares in Exelis and Barclays PLC has 63,071 shares.

       We entered the branch after leaving the May Day march and refused to leave until we had made an impact. Within half-an-hour the management decided to close, depriving the company of a busy Saturday afternoon’s profit through direct action. We sent our message to the public by plastering the front of the building with stickers which gave details of Barclays’ guilt and sent a clear message to the company that we won’t tolerate money from our communities being used to fund war.”-------

Read the full article HERE:

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

Living In 1930's, Today.

The 21st. century with 1930 families!!

Published on May 8, 2014

        Food bank providers told MSPs it was "clear" that UK government welfare reform had been one of the drivers of the "terrifying" increase in the number of people using food banks in Scotland.
        Denis Curran from Loaves & Fishes said the use of food banks was "not just growing but exploding" saying people were being penalised for being poor and the "heart of the matter is people are starving".

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Whose Streets?

         What can we learn from past protests? One of the largest and probably longest in the West, in recent years was probably Montreal 2012. For approximately six months the streets belonged to the protesters, though the true extent of this occupation never really got that much coverage from that babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media. Here is the story of those six months.

https://ia601709.us.archive.org/16/items/STREETPOLITICS/STREET_POLITICS.mp4

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When Will We Ever Learn?

        Our life is a constant struggle, we produce an abundance of wealth, and struggle to survive. For generations the public have listened to politicians and walked round to the ballot box to make their mark on that bit of paper, that guarantees a decent job for somebody else, and the same old shit for themselves. In Glasgow we remember the rent strike of 1915, it was a victory on that issue, but the system stayed the same, and that's why in  Kirby, 1972/73, the local people were once more in an organised rent strike, nothing had changed.

         Here we are today with the bedroom tax, among other repressive legislation, still struggling to keep our heads above water, still producing an abundance of wealth, and there are still people who listen to politicians, who still walk round to the ballot box, make that same mark, and get the same results. They say that one of the signs of insanity is to keep doing the same thing, but expecting a different result, makes you think??

         In this video the voice of Ethel Singleton in 1972, could be from the 1915 rent strike, or it could be from any housing scheme in 2014 Britain. When will we ever learn?

'Behind the rent strike' was Nick Broomfield's graduation project. It followed the progress of the 1972/73 Kirkby rent strike. This video features Broomfield's interviews with Ethel Singleton, one of the forces behind the strike who gives an insightful, intelligent and articulate analysis of the plight of the working class in 70's Britain.

    

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Leftovers.

 A wee poem from Contra Info:

Leftovers.

Ten bread rolls
four red apples
a green apple
a banana
dozens of sandwiches
rolled in aluminum foil

We try to save
what can be saved
from this crooked world
scavenging your garbage cans
scavenging your tourist life

Do you need any towels?
Do you need any toilet paper?
we ask while diving
deep into consumers’ leftovers

My feet are killing me
but I cannot stop questioning
When the fuck will we stand up?
against you-know-who
against you-know-what

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Freedom Of Expression.

        Keep the web free and open. Freedom of expression is not something to be overseen by corporations, nor state apparatus.

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

Failed System.

      The fight against injustice has never gone away, it is part and parcel of the exploitative system of capitalism. Throughout the years people have struggled, organised and fought bitter battles, demanding a fair and just society for all. In Glasgow, we can go back to 1787, the Calton Weavers strike where the weavers of that area  organised to fight the continuing erosion of their living standards, and in the usual attempt at repression, the powers that be were responsible for the deaths of at least six strikers. 1915, the Glasgow Rent strike, a fight to stop the landlords from squeezing the last drop of sustenance from their tenants.  Since then nothing has really changed, we are still fighting the continuing erosion of our living standards, the bedroom tax, zero hour contracts, workfare slave labour and sanctions, the removal of disability allowance from the most vulnerable in our society, and a continuing erosion of wages and working conditions.

         Centuries of bitter struggles just to keep some semblance of decency, while the employing class get richer and richer. Surely by now we should have realised that the system doesn't work in our favour, it can't be modified to work for the benefit of all our people, it has to be scrapped, shoved in the dustbin of history, relegated to the category of man's greatest folly. It has to be replaced by a system that sees to the needs of all our people, a system based on co-operation, mutual aid and sustainability, free from the corrosive motive of profit. We have to do it ourselves, by organising within our communities  mechanisms that circumvent the existing capitalist structures. The help wont come from those already in power, they are doing just fine and are loathed to change anything. The system will only crumble and die when we decide we have had enough, of this endless exploitation and bitter struggle.

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

UK, --Mended!!

          The Cameron millionaire cabal, are crowing about the UK recovery, they repeat their little ditty, “unemployment down”, “growth figures up”, and proceed to clink their champagne glasses. One factor that has helped the government's unemployment figures has been the massive increase in “self-employed”. According to a study done by the Resolution Foundation, over the last five years of recession self-employment has risen by approximately 650,000, and now accounts for 15% of the total workforce, a staggering 4.5 million. Self-employment, though lauded by the millionaire cabal, is not the guaranteed road to the good life, with more than a quarter of self employed living on poor incomes. Nor is self-employment the desired option, in lots of cases it was the only option to survival. The growth of self-employed is greatest in the areas of high unemployment, in London where there are well paid jobs, it is at its lowest. The study also shows that the average weekly income of someone self employed, is 20% lower than it was in 2008, and that a typical self-employed worker now earns 40% that of a typical employee. Self-employment is a precarious road to walk, for a very large proportion, the grim economic truth of self-employment is one of an uncertain future, with difficulties in getting mortgages and personal credit and no growing pension pot. 

 

Photo from A World To Win.

         Another factor that blows a hole in the Cameron Millionaire cabal's glowing picture of a mended Britain is the fact that according to official Eurostat figures, some areas of the UK are poorer than some poor countries from former communist Eastern Europe. According to their findings people in the Welsh Valleys and in Cornwall are worse off that those from Lithuania and Estonia. It also states that people from Durham and the Tees valley are poorer that those from the wealthiest regions of two of Europe's poorest countries Bulgaria and Romania. It also shows that London is the richest place in Europe.

 

"We must continue austerity, it's the only way to fix things."

 

       So the new fixed Britain is one of vast swaths of low incomes and an uncertain future, massive discrepancies in wealth between different areas, some of the poorest regions in Europe, and their policy is more of the same. Austerity is the new way of life for the ordinary people, while the millionaire parasites continue to increase their wealth. Britain is certainly fixed for the corporate class, and it is you and I that are paying for that fix. 

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