Learndirect Gets Some Visitors.

 

       Yesterday, a group of enthusiastic and poster armed people from far and wide descended on Edinburgh to protest against the government's inhumane and cruel policy of slave labour, that flies under the flag of workfare. A scheme of forced labour without wages, and the continual threat of benefit cuts, (sanctions). The protesters target this time round, was Learndirect, the slave dealer that supplies the market with its free labour. Well done, to all of you, your fight is for all working class people, not just the unemployed, the unemployed are the tool used by the government to undermine the wages and conditions of all workers. Workfare is also a bonus to the corporate friends of the millionaire cabal that sits in the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption. They work hand and glove to further their own wealth and power, the corporate bosses want wages to go down, the government hands them slave labour, what more could they ask for? Well plenty, if we let them get away with it, workfare must be stopped, this is everybody's struggle.

These photos from Boycott Workfare Edinburgh, and there are plenty more there and also HERE:

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

Kurdish Protests.

From 325:

Report compiled by RabbleLDN, anarchist site based in London, UK.

Kurdish groups in Europe and Turkey have stepped up protests in solidarity with their comrades on the frontline in Kurdistan.

Today a large group managed to bypass security and storm the European parliament in Brussels, occupying the main lobby. At the time of writing, riot police have moved in to block access to more protesters. Read the rest of this entry »

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

We Are At War.

      Our war mongering, imperialist lords and masters, seem to think that it is not war if you go in and bomb a country, they keep mouthing "No boots on the ground" and that makes everything just fine. However in actual fact there will be "special forces" on the ground. We are not at war, we are just bombing different countries, and of course with our "smart bombs", we only kill the bad guys. The West is always morally justified in killing in foreign countries, after all, we're the good guys, it is other countries that make up "The Axis of Evil" , "The Evil Empire", etc..

        The world pours blood from such psychopathic illusions. War is states' means of retaining power, it is not a bring of democracy, it is not an envoy of peace, it is the imperialists tool for survival.

This from Freedom Socialist Party, The Voice of Revolutionary Feminism:

    President Obama reassured the nation in his special press conference on Sept. 10 that no U.S. “boots on the ground” would be used to “degrade and destroy” ISIS — just bombers. So therefore, this country is not at war. What a pack of lies.

Actually, “targeted military airstrikes” is exactly how imperialists make war in today’s world. And the majority of casualties are civilians. In Syria, for example, Assad’s air superiority has murdered, wounded and displaced millions of non-combatants in three years. Israeli air attacks killed more than 2,100 Palestinians in just a month. Ukraine’s air strikes on eastern Ukraine killed 3,000 mostly civilians, and produced a million refugees in two months. And, as Iraq war vets point out, Iraqis still face radioactivity and infrastructure devastation from the eight-year U.S. military occupation.

As have many before him, the president declared that U.S. militarism is good and just. Nonsense! Empire America created the likes of ISIS and the Taliban to bolster U.S. control over the region and stamp out authentic revolution against gross poverty and repression.

Massive, unconditional humanitarian aid is the only thing the U.S. can offer that will help. No bombs! No drones! No troops! No mercenaries!

We Have To Change Everything.

     It's our dream, to change everything, not to tinker round the edges, not to fight to get a few more handouts, of our own wealth from the plunderers. We want to shape the world to suit the needs of all our people, to share all our wealth, with all our people, to change everything is the only way.

Ah Love! Could Thou and I

with Fate Conspire

To Grasp this Sorry Scheme

of Things entire,

Would we not shatter it

to bits, and then

Remould it nearer to

the Heart's Desire!

 Extract from Rubaiyat of  Omar Khayyam.

      From Kickstarter:

      Climate change, economic crisis, unrest from Egypt to Brazil: the prevailing order is unsustainable in every way. Today even entrenched representatives of the status quo admit that it is necessary to change everything. But the best they can come up with is to appeal to the same authorities that are responsible for our problems in the first place. 
What would it mean to change everything? How can we set out on a different path?

Read the full article HERE:

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

War Is Peace, Authority Is democracy.

     Who can accept the rhetoric or the proclaimed aims of any state, in this war torn planet of warring states? We have created a world of power mongering  blocks that see each other as a threat to their own hegemony. Co-operation between states is tentative at best, as this weeks friend could be next weeks foe and vice-versa. Leaders, supposedly elected by the people for the people, talk over the people's heads, and act in contradiction to the will of the people. No where on this planet can we find democracy, yet each state pretends to be democratic and criticises others for not being democratic. The word democracy in today's world is a cloak that hides a host of monsters, corporatism, authoritarianism, monarchy, dictatorship, plutocracy, military junta, etc. they all shout that they are the defenders of democracy, and are prepare to kill the people when they demand democracy.

      It is an Alice in Wonderland, or an Orwellian world, where men of war are applauded and give a peace prize, nothing to do with the reality in which you and I live. It is a mad world where war is peace, and authority is democracy, where exploitation is is freedom.

    An extract from an article in Politics in the Zeros, by William Boardman, originally from Reader Supported News:

“We have always been at war with Eastasia”

The U.S. without a war is like an apple pie without apples

      A Nobel Peace Prize recipient is among the loudest voices for war nowadays. Better, this Nobel Peace prize recipient has unchecked power to wage war and uses it willfully in a variety of nations. Perhaps best, this prize-winning peace president has set out a plan to make a desert and call it peace, for which a grateful power structure might well give him yet another prize.

       Such absurdity dominates the world we live in now, because people in governments are committing us all to irrational choices based on no credible public explanation. Examples are myriad, but President Obama’s shrill war cries at the United Nations offer a paradigm of the present bloody moment that is, in part, a near-parody of grandiloquent George W. Bush doing his most preening strut as a feckless “war president.”

     The following excerpts from President Obama’s long and specious 39-minute speech to the U.N. on September 24, 2014, are chosen to highlight the contradictions and deceits so carefully packaged with familiar, false pieties about imaginary realities. The pitch is fraudulent from the moment the president begins, with a pseudo-lofty, tripartite cliché untethered from the real world:

     “We come together at a crossroads between war and peace; between disorder and integration; between fear and hope.”

       Yes, every moment is a crossroads between war and peace in some place, a moment waiting for some commander somewhere to cross the line and start killing “enemies.” The president’s moment at--

Read the full article HERE:

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

Hysteric POTUS channels Bushist war shtick before UN

- See more at: http://polizeros.com/2014/10/08/hysteric-potus-channels-bushist-war-shtick-before-un/#sthash.i6Gi1vc8.dpuf

Turkey's "Blowback".

      The Kurdish problem has always been a thorn in the side of Turkey, but now it appears that Turkey has found an answer to that problem, IS. Having allowed an open border for IS, and allowing arms to roll through, Turkey now seems to be prepared to stand by and let IS do its dirty work, crush the Kurds. Though it may suffer "blowback" as hundreds of thousands of Kurds cross into Turkey and the resident Kurdish population rise up in anger at Turkey's shameful and brutal alliance with IS. It also appears that the mighty "super-powers" with their million pound smart bombs and faster than sound million pound aircraft, can't stop a bunch of religious fundamentalists from moving in and massacring a town, Or are they not that interested in saving the people of that unfortunate town?

This from ROAR Magazine:

      Kurdish anger is exploding onto the streets of Turkey and across Europe in protest at Western inaction in Kobanê and Turkish collusion with ISIS. As the extremist militants of the Islamic State close in on the besieged town on the Turkish-Syrian border, with the People’s Protection Units (YPG) running low on ammunition and Kurdish commanders warning of an impending massacre, the Turkish government and the US-led coalition appear to be content to stand by and let ISIS unleash a bloodbath in the city.

     In recent days, thousands of Kurds have descended upon the Turkish town of Suruç, just miles from Kobanê, in an attempt to cross the border, break the siege and bring supplies and reinforcements to their family, kin and comrades. Turkish troops have responded by sealing off the border crossing and firing teargas and rubber bullets both at Turkish Kurds trying to break into Syria and at Syrian refugees fleeing towards Turkey. Cut off from the outside world and without much air support, the YPG fighters are left to fend for themselves.

Read the full article HERE:

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

Kill Workfare Before It Kills You.

      Continuing with the theme of  a week of action against Workfare, today's call for action is in the sector of hospices charity shops. Thousands of actions across the country on a daily basis against this aberration in decent human society, will have an impact, if we show determination and solidarity. The poisonous tentacles  of workfare has slithered its way through the fabric of this corrupt exploitative system, and the powers would be delighted if we would let it become the norm. This mustn't ever happen.

Today's Call For Action:

Take Action:

Stop workfare in hospice charity shops

Posted: October 8th, 2014 | Author: boycottworkfare | Filed under: Action report, Charities | No Comments » This week is #HospiceCareWeek.  Today, as part of our week of action, we want to contact hospices and ask them to commit to not taking part in any of the government’s workfare schemes.

Hospices offer palliative care, social support, and practical advice – and help families through mourning and bereavement. They help people with illnesses which would otherwise massively curtail their freedom of movement be as independent as possible. This is vital and valuable work, transforming the quality of people’s lives.
Help the Hospices, the charity for hospice care in the UK, says that

 ‘A hospice is not just a building, it is a way of caring for people. Hospice care aims to improve the lives of people who have a life-limiting or terminal illness, helping them to live well before they die.’

But why are so many hospices willing to stop other people living well,  by forcing them to work for no pay under threat of sanctions?
Many hospices have local charity shops which take people through workfare schemes – especially Mandatory Work Activity.  If you’re unwilling to take part in MWA, which involves 30 hours unpaid work per week, for four weeks at a time, you’ll be hit with a minimum sanction of 13 weeks for a ‘first failure’. The maximum sanction is 3 years: 3 years of hunger, hardship and destitution.  We’ve also heard from people at hospice charity shops on mandatory work placements from the Work Programme and six-month Community Work Placements.
We know hospice shops and care centres need volunteers to run them.  And we know that hospice care across the UK relies on the work of tens of thousands of volunteers to carry on their valuable activities.  But that is no justification for forcing unemployed people to work in charity shops for weeks at a time for no wages.  Charities that take part in workfare not only undermine genuine volunteering, but are also instrumental in claimants being sanctioned and left with no income.

More Details HERE:

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

Protest Against Massive Slave Labour In The UK.

      Workfare is nothing less than slave labour, no matter how they dress it up and phrase the various forms, it is still working for no wage, and being sanctioned if you refuse. This is not just an attack on the unemployed, it affects all our jobs, it helps to depress wages. We might expect big business to grab this money making gift from their friends, the government, but charities and voluntary organisations are supposed to work on a different level, lots of them don't.

      This week in October, across the country, is a week of protest against workfare, to highlight its injustice and help bring it to an end.

       Action for today:

Take action: No grounds for greenwashing workfare

Posted: October 7th, 2014 | Author: boycottworkfare | Filed under: Call to action, Charities | No Comments »

Groundwork boasts of its involvement in workfare. Join in with an online blockade of their social media and let them know what you think of their prolific and unashamed use of forced unpaid labour.  

      Take online action today against Groundwork, the green charity using unpaid labour. Branches of Groundwork up and down the country openly advertise their involvement in all kinds of workfare, including the latest and most exploitative programmes.
     Charities and voluntary organisations should know the value of volunteering. Instead Groundwork is taking thousands of unemployed people on workfare placements with no pay and putting people at risk of sanctions. According to their own statistics they forced 4,500 people through workfare last year alone. They trade on the goodwill of their ‘volunteering’ projects to secure government money for unpaid labour schemes.

More details HERE:

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

Glasgow Document Film Festival And Spirit Of Revolt.

      Glasgow's unbeatable Document Film Festival is back with its annual  feast of films, information, entertainment and education. As usual it is centred in the CCA, 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow G2 3JD  and runs from the October 9th. until the 12th. October. Well worth some repeat visits.

     Glasgow's own Spirit of Revolt will be there with a short film, chat and mini-exhibition about the Spirit of Revolt, on Saturday, 11th. October, 12 until  2pm. This event will be held in the Electron Club in the CCA. 

      The Spirit of Revolt was founded in 2012 as an archive of dissent which chronicles the story of Anarchists and Libertarian-Socialists in Glasgow, Clydeside and the wider area, past and present. This record of everyday struggle for a fairer life has industrial and cultural activism at its heart- a colourful and empowering history. Come and find out what SOR does, and how you could turn Glasgow’s radical history into useful tools for future action, a must for those interested in OUR history.

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

 

The Only Answer, Kill Capitalism.

       The fight against "workfare" and it various permutations, is as admirable as it is necessary. However, if it is successfully destroyed, rest assured, our lords and masters will devise an equally noxious mutant to continue with our exploitation. Capitalism is a system of exploitation, that's how it works. We produce all the wealth of the world, and we get a pittance, the bulk is syphoned up to those who produce nothing, the wanker bankers, corporate CEO, financial Mafia and greedy shareholders. No matter how you look at it, that is total exploitation.

        Trainee schemes, apprenticeships, work placements, low wages, zero hours contracts, workfare, wage freezes/cuts, a minimum wage that nobody can live on, all tools in the exploiters bag of tricks. The political classes work hand in glove with the corporate world, to ensure that the exploitation is total. The slashing of benefits forces desperate people into deprivation, or into lousy, demeaning and/or dangerous, low paid jobs, in an attempt to survive.

      The struggle to improve our conditions has been going on as long as capitalism, and here we are in the 21st century, still struggling, while poverty spreads and wealth accumulates. Have we learnt nothing in 3 or 4 hundred years? It isn't that there isn't enough to go round, we are awash with wealth, it's the system of capitalist exploitation that keeps it in the hands of the few. We are the punters in the gambling casino, the odds are stacked against us, deliberately. Until the majority grasp this fact and decide to do something about it, nothing will change. Capitalism is destroying the planet and its entire population, for what?

        Though the powers that be tell us that it is the only game in town, capitalism is not a system set in tablets of stone, from some mighty god on high, it is simply a man made economic system, that works against the majority. It can be replaced by another man made economic system, that works in favour of the majority, and sees to the needs of all our people. It is up to to us, which one do we want?

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

It Is Our City, It's Not For Sale.

        In our city, Glasgow, it is not unusual to see right of way paths, public access and public spaces disappear. For some years now, there has been a campaign to open up access in the city centre, along the south bank of the river Clyde to public access. It is at present a lovely path, running along the side of the river but closed as it runs in front of private property.

 

       This sort of thing is nothing new, it goes away back, as the following extract from an old Glasgow Herald of 100 years ago states: 

    The Glasgow Right of Way Defence Committee have secured  the co-operation of the Govan Parish Council in their efforts to conserve the rights of way along the south bank of the Clyde. The Glasgow Corporation in their General Provision Order are applying for confirmation of the sale of the rights of way at Fairfields and Middleton Shipyards, and also for power to sell the right of way at Linthouse Shipyard.

       Of course those guilty of disposing of public spaces and rights of way, etc. are those elected for the express purpose of protecting those same public spaces, Glasgow City Council. They always seem eager to sell off our public assets to the highest bidder, part of Pollok Park went for a motorway. At the moment in Glasgow, there are campaigns to stop the council selling of part of Victoria Park, getting rid of Sighthill Park, and a constant vigilance by the public to prevent the sell of of part of Kelvingrove Park and parts of the Glasgow Green. 
      It would appear to all intent and purposes, our City Council is no more than a branch of the corporate greed machine. Left to their own devices they will denude our city of all public spaces and public assets, flogging everything off the their business buddies.

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

It Makes Sense, But Will It Happen?

       Short and to the point, if you believe in logic and rationalism.

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

A System That Destroys Human Beings.

     Prisons are never welcoming places, they are there to repress and intimidate, but it is difficult to imagine the depth of deprivation and inhumanity into which the Greek prison system has collapsed. The prison hospitals are really misnamed, they are no more than human disease incubators, and the prisons are not far behind them. This is a supposed, developed European country in the 21st. century, but has all the qualities of pre-middle ages conditions. The State's treatment of those it considers a threat to its power are always dealt with in the most brutal manner, no matter where that state exists. There is nothing in the rule book that says that it couldn't happen here.

Greece's Korydallos Prison Hospital

This from Contra Info:  

       Regardless of a “typical” dispute between an anarchist and a prosecutor, whose CV surely contains many more cruel accomplishments and sad stories that remain in the dark, I have to focus on what “special detention wings” actually mean. In order for her to be assured that her command was executed, her insanity and vengefulness have led her to the disciplinary wings for the first time. She didn’t pay much attention though to what this place, where she sends so many people, really is. Obviously, her time is too precious to care about the fact that 20-25 people live in nine 2m×2m cells in a 25m×0.5m narrow corridor, while in some cells 4 people live with 2 mattresses on the floor and with literally no space to step on. Obviously, the fact that there is only one double bunk bed and a toilet with improvised flushing without a door or even a partition in these cells, whilst they also lack windows, sink, tables, chairs, heater and a refrigerator, is not important. Obviously, the fact that the whole area is dipped in filth and stench, that is now impossible to remove, is of no importance. Trash everywhere, cockroaches, mice and germs compose an actual sanitary bomb.

       Obviously, the fact that the prisoners constantly ask for de-worming and cleaning materials in order to clean the cells themselves, as the cleaning crew doesn’t come here like it does to the other wings, and the fact that the prison authorities never give these things to them, is not important. Obviously, the fact that the things that the prisoners order, only come once in a while, is not important. Obviously, the fact that the prison yard, which is a 5m×5m concrete hole with barbed wire serving as a ceiling, is never accessible to them, is not important. Obviously, the fact that there is only one shower for all the prisoners, from which you come out dirtier than before, only one outdated and dirty water cooler and only two pay phones, out of which only one is working, is not important. Obviously, the fact that there is a rickety electrical table and rickety plugs ideal for electrocution and in some cells, like mine, instead of a plug there are two bare electric wires, which results in prisoners making improvised constructions, is of no importance. One of my cellmates, without realizing what he was doing and because he was trying to help me, was carving the bare wires with a plastic knife until I stopped him. Obviously, the fact that the disciplinary wings were closed down after a sanitary inspection, but were re-opened after a superficial painting of the walls, is not important! Obviously, these things are not important since the locks and the camera, the only things considered important here, are also the only things that function properly in this storehouse for souls.

Read the full article HERE:

Most Greek prisons are grossly overcrowded.

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

Uncontrolled Greed Runs Rampant.

       An impassioned plea from one who was on the inside of the corrupt oil and gas corporations, backed up by facts. The corporate and financial Mafia rule the world, and they don't give a shit about you and me. Power and wealth is their only aim, greed has no morality. Unless they are stopped by the people, and only by the people, they will plunder and rapidly destroy this planet. The mainstream political classes are in the pockets of the corporate and financial Mafia, and at an ever increasing rate, they are poisoning the earth that we all depend on for our survival. Together, the corporate and financial Mafia, with the full weight of the state apparatus, they will threaten, intimidate and repress, any attempt to halt their greed driven policies. Only the people can bring down this colossus of corruption and greed.

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

How Stupid Can We Get?

     I once had a lot of chickens, I was a bit worried about what might happen to them, so to protect them I paid for a group of foxes to be responsible for protecting my chickens. I then went about my daily business, working, watching football and taking the kids to the park. Then one day I went to have a look at my chickens and they were all gone. The foxes were still there, strutting around looking rather pleased with themselves, and they all look a good bit fatter. Was I rather stupid?

    Well just think, we have a NHS and we are a bit worried what might happen to it. So we pay a bunch of very rich people, who have a vested interest in selling it off, to be in charge of protecting our NHS!! One day we will take a good look at our NHS and find it has all gone. The very rich people will still be there, looking rather pleased with themselves and a lot richer.

 

Thanks to Mathew Lyall for the photo.

    That place of pomp, privilege and grandeur, The Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, is stuffed full of very rich people, many of them millionaires, lots of whom have interests in companies that would gain immensely from the privatisation of the NHS. These are the people that we pay to protect our NHS, while we go about our normal daily business. Are we rather stupid? Isn't time we got rid of the two-faced greedy parasites, and started looking after our own affairs? Ever heard of community control, people's assemblies, etc.? Is it wise to pay greedy millionaires to protect you from greedy millionaires? Perhaps you think that they are not really interested in wealth and power, and all they think about is your welfare, now that really is stupid.

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

What's The Difference?

       If only we would just think about it, and act accordingly, a lot of our problems would be solved.

Post by Cultures of Resistance.

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

Let's Hear That Mighty Roar.

         One poem, a national poetry day does not make. So let's all drown in poetry, at least for the day.

THE MURMUR OF THE POOR.

Brokers, bankers, Earls and Dukes,

callous, mercenary, pirate crew

gasconading through the land

bloated, pampered, privileged few.

Striding with selfish arrogance

plundering as you go

grasping at the fruits

the common people sow.

Take heed, you swaggering fat-cats,

in our world you don't belong,

that murmur you hear is the poor

rehearsing an angry song.

The day is fast approaching

when our chorus loud you'll hear,

then all your greed and treachery

will surely cost you dear.

A price you'll pay for being blind

to the hungry at your door,

Oh, hasty the day our angry chorus

becomes a mighty roar. 

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

All Men Shall Brothers Be.

      Today, Thursday, 2nd. October, is National Poetry Day. Go read some poetry, read it out loud, read it quietly, by yourself, read it to some friends, to some one special. Or better still go write some poetry, pour your heart out about your favourite flower, you greatest hope, your worst fear, the budgie that died, the birth of your child,. The subject matter is endless, just pour you self into a few lines and feel good. You never know, it could be a very fulfilling hobby, a wonderful way to express yourself.

HEAVEN.

The heaven I seek holds no guarded gate

nor boasts no throne on high

has no host on bended knee

no king to call us nigh.

Death shall not be our road of entry

no trumpet blast to show the way,

has no frontier guards for man nor beast

nor some far off judgement day.

The heaven I seek is here and now,

where symbols of power crumble like sand;

standing upright all men shall brothers be,

no one privileged with high command.

Vibrant life shall be our only passport,

the glorious morning sun our only sign,

with a true love of man and beast,

we can have heaven in our time.

(Not meant to be sexist.)

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

We Are All Creative Beings.

        In this so called modern society, work and poverty stifle creativity. You step from school on to the conveyor belt of work, and you are carried along with sign posts along the way shouting about the importance of "getting on", "getting ahead", gaining possessions, trinkets, beads and baubles. It's all packaged for you, just work hard and pop into the shopping mall and pick up the latest, "thing". No need to think, the ads will tell what is the latest and the best. Watch grand events, spectacular shows, no need to participate, leave that to the experts.

      How much richer would your life be if you got involved, in things, learned to do, started to create and participate? Just be, instead of an applauding bystander.

This from Not Buying Anything:

Author Kurt Vonnegut said,

      "Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what's inside you, to make your soul grow."

        If you are like most people you harbour regrets about not following an artistic whim that interested you earlier in life, but was sacrificed for "more important" things. Now is the time to make it happen whether it is photography, knitting, or learning the Lindy Hop.
       When you have the time you can follow your passions. You can have fun. You can grow your soul through expressing your creativity. It will change you, and it will change the world.

Read the full article HERE:

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