Do Not Be Bullied.

An Important date for your diary, picket, Partick Job Centre Wednesday 25th. February, 2:30. Prove to the powers that be, that we will not be bullied, we will stand in solidarity with each other.

YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO
   BE ACCOMPANIED TO ALL  
   BENEFITS INTERVIEWS!

    You have the right to be accompanied to interviews at the Jobcentre and all DWP offices – and that's official!
      A top official writing on behalf of the Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus for the United Kingdom has stated:
    “On the matter of accompanied interviews....Mr McGonigle and his predecessor Bill Wilson have written to Edinburgh Claimants about this and made clear the position for interviews conducted on Jobcentre plus premises. We accept that there will always be times when customers attending our premises feel the need to be accompanied by a friend or advice worker and we will always try to accommodate this where possible.”
      (Letter copied to Edinburgh Claimants from Matthew Nicholas, Employers and Stakeholders Director Jobcentre Plus, on behalf of the Chief Executive Darra Singh, letter dated 15 February 2010. Mr McGonigle and Mr Wilson are the current and previous Jobcentreplus local District Managers)
     More evidence of this right was provided on 24 th February 2014 when, in response to a Freedom of Information request, the DWP wrote: "Claimants accessing DWP benefits and services can have someone to accompany them to act on their behalf.....”
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/196795/response/486014/attach/html/3/Response%20634.pdf.html
     By writing that the accompanier can act on the claimant’s behalf this statement also makes it clear that the accompanier can speak in appointments.  

NO NEED TO FACE THEM ALONE

        Certainly if you have any interview you think might pose problems we advise you to take a friend or adviser with you. For example, if they are threatening benefits sanctions, trying to change your jobseekers agreement, or force you to go on schemes or apply for jobs you don't want, or if you are called in by the Counter Fraud team, you should NOT face them alone. If you have a benefits medical exam, you should be accompanied. Edinburgh Claimants and Edinburgh Coalition Against Poverty accompany people to such interviews, and to interviews at City of Edinburgh Council, all the time. If anyone tries to stop your friend or adviser accompanying you, then tell them the Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus says this is allowed, and show them the quotes in this leaflet. Edinburgh Coalition Against Poverty have also won the right for claimants to be accompanied by a person of their choice to all A4e, Ingeus and JHP workfare provider appointments.
Edinburgh Coalition Against Poverty

 ecap@lists.riseup.net www.edinburghagainstpoverty.org.uk
      Don’t be bullied or intimidated – let’s support each other and stand up for ourselves.
Partick Job Centre picket organised by Clydeside IWW clydeside@iww.org.uk and other activists in solidarity with Tony Cox arrested in Arbroath on 29th. January after police acted on a complaint by JobCentre Management when accompanying a jobseeker, who was facing unreasonable requests to comply with a Jobseekers Agreement. Today there is a Court picket in Forfar and pickets in Edinburgh etc.

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

Today's Wild West.

    While we here in Scotland. population 5.2 million, are lumbered with a police force that has carried out nine times more stop and searches than New York, population 8.4 million, or London, population 8.3 million, at least the victims are still alive. Take the police force in Pasco in Washington State, population 59,000, they have shot and killed four people in the last six months. This is more than the three years figures for police in the UK, population approximately 62 million. In the last year, they also managed to outstrip the police in Germany, population 80.6 million.

     The video shows a shocking misuse of power, the man concerned, apparently he threw rocks at an officer, had obviously stopped running to face the officers, but hit the ground in a hail of bullets, just like a Wild West movie. America, land of the free.

       Of course if our Scottish Police chief has his way there is nothing to say that we might not be competing with the little district of Pasco in Washington State. 

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

Please Sir, Can I Have Some More?

      I have always held the view that the EU would not tolerate any deviation from its financial masters' "austerity" plan. Since they don't really give a shit about the people of any particular country, they are quite prepared to see a people slide into total deprivation, as long as it protects their mountain of phoney money. People don't matter when you are dealing with balance sheets. For Greece to go to them to negotiate and talk about a humanitarian crisis, is simply to confuse the issue by talking a different language. All they would say to that is "what humanitarian crisis"?

       It has never been a negotiation on equal terms, Greece is the Oliver in this macabre play, they are simply going to the fat cats and asking for more please, under the illusion that people matter in these affairs. If you play the game according to the rules laid down by your adversaries, you are onto a looser.

      Where does this leave Greece? It leaves it still on a hiding to more austerity and deprivation. Time keeps rolling on, we have been treated to seven years of austerity, and more promised, nobody has said when it will all come good. Austerity is the new way of life, the longer it goes on, and they get away with it, the longer it will go on. Of course we are treated to phoney rhetoric of recovery is arriving at platform one SOON.

        Accept it, the grand plan is for a low wage economy throughout Europe, creating a sweatshop to compete with the Eastern sweatshops. In doing so protecting the loot of the Western financial Mafia. Unless of course, we all wake up and say we don't need to take this shit from a bunch of useless parasites, we don't have to play the game to their rules. Just as they change the rules to suit themselves, then so should we. Their grand plans are not to our advantage, nor are they set in tablets of stone.

An analysis on the latest Greek situation from Lenin's Tomb.

       The problem with Tsipras's speech goes further than this, however.  Not only is it deluded.  It recalibrates the government's language and goals in order to rationalise not just this thrashing but future routs.  Having said that austerity and the Memorandum are now left behind by this deal, the government shifts the goalposts and terms of future negotiations.

       And this is part of the reason why those who speak of 'buying time' are wrong.  Time is not a simple quantity that only one side gains from. The EU ruling classes have also 'bought time' and they have the resources and are on the offensive, while Syriza has retreated.  There are no grounds for thinking that Syriza's bargaining position will be better in four months time than it is now.  It has already weakened its stance, while its political position, after four months of continued austerity, will probably be worse.

      One can hardly pin most of the blame for this on Syriza.  They are in a weak position, and it is doubtful that any government could have obtained better against an EU determined to humiliate Greece.  Yet, the line of Tsipras and Varoufakis is simply untenable.  Their commitment to trying to resolve this crisis within the terms of the euro must fail.  They were simply wrong to think that they would have a single ally or interlocutor in the EU.  The southern European governments are even more fanatical than Berlin on this question.  Hollande, far from being a friendly face, told Syriza to shove it fairly early on: he made his decision on austerity some time ago.

Read the full article HERE:

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

The Internet Of Things.

      I recently posted on Glasgow's new experimental surveillance system, where CCTV cameras in Glasgow City Centre are now linked to a central operations room, where ‘emotional recognition’ software identifies the name and mood of pedestrians, including demonstrators, and can then link the person on the camera with social media postings, phone calls, emails, police records, and more. All this without any consultation with the people being snooped upon that the council is "supposed" to serve. Another giant step towards the totally observed population. It has become the norm in this country and elsewhere, to go about your daily business and be photographed thousands of time in a few days. Where you go, what you get up to, all on record for those and such as those, whither you like it or not.

       This new "Big Brother" era is much worse than the what Orwell envisaged, his was simply state control. In this new era of "Big Brother" they want more, it will be a two pronged attack. The state concentrating on control of the population, while the corporate cabal will concentrate on personal information to to shape and mould your consumerism. All your personal data will be up for grabs and sold around "The Market" to those with a vested interest in turning you into a consuming unit to suit their balance sheets.

      More and more of our appliances will be linked, more and more of our personal data will flow in to the office of the security services, and the offices of the corporate greed machine. You will have no say in how it is gathered and how it is used. Welcome to the "Big Brother" that Orwell couldn't have envisaged.

 Photo by Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

This from Politics in the Zeros:

     The Internet of Things is a NSA paradise / Orwellian nightmare, coming real soon to your house, and Silicon Valley wants it to happen as much as NSA does.

      Huge invasions of privacy and loss of freedom are happening now.  Our government pretends to make us safer. Silicon Valley pretends to be helpful. Their real object is to collect as much data about us as they can, and to do that they need to watch and record everything about our online lives. They are two facets of the same data-slurping entity that cares little about personal privacy and freedoms. It’s all about grabbing the data, then exploiting and selling it. You are the product.

Samsung TVs record what we say, then sends it to an anonymous company which converts it to text, so it can process voice commands. They promise to erase the data when done with it. Right. I certainly believe them – just as much as I believe Google reading my email and Siri listening to me will never be abused, intercepted, and exploited by marketeers, criminals, or the government.

     It’s only a matter of time until Samsung gets a court order to turn over voice data files. I bet iPhone’s Siri already has.

     All of this is poisonous for democracy, freedom, and privacy. We have a right to not be snooped on constantly. However, we will need to fight for it. First though, we need to know just how much surveillance is happening now, who is doing it, and where the data goes. I suspect the answer will appall most of us (while government and tech apologists scurry to explain why it actually is good for us.)

Read the full article HERE:

Maximarse Marches Into Town.

     Blood drenched ATOS moves out, thanks to the dedicated protesters who kept up a constant direct action and publicity campaign, and a constant presence outside their offices of death. However the same scheme is still in place, the Work Capability Assessment, a process of humiliating and harassing the sick and the vulnerable of our society, in an attempt to deprive them of their benefits. This inhumane scheme will now be administered my Maximus, A company with a “chilling” record of incompetence, discrimination and alleged fraud is in prime position to take over the new “fitness for work” contract from Atos Healthcare, Disability News Service (DNS) can reveal. It is this scheme that is flawed, changing the compassion-less suits at the desks will do nothing for our sick and vulnerable. They will still be humiliated and harassed, the will still be forced to jump through hoops, and in some cases pushed to the limit, that they can't take any more.

        Well, ATOS pulled out of this lucrative tax funded cash machine, because of those dedicated individuals and groups who shouted out the abuse, and put their feet on the ground where it mattered. Maximus, whose website states: "We help governments, businesses and individuals achieve their goals by providing essential services to the communities we serve." the usual bland bullshit rhetoric  that we expect from the looting corporate world, can be stopped by the same methods that got ATOS to pack its bags and leave. Maximus is there to do the same job as ATOS, save the government paying out our tax money to the sick and vulnerable, some of the most needy in our communities, and they intend to make a fortune from this tax funded cash machine.

This from DPAC, (Disabled People Against Cuts):

      Planning for the Day of Action to Welcome Maximarse to their new role as assessors for the cruel and hateful WCA is taking shape, and we now have actions planned or in planning for:
Aberdeen, Balham, Bournemouth, Bradford, Brighton, Cardiff, Croydon, Dundee, Ealing, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Hull, Inverness, Ipswich, Leeds, Leicester,  Lincoln,  Manchester,  Norwich, Portsmouth, Plymouth, Reading, Sheffield, Sunderland, Toronto, Truro, Wrexham and Maximus HQ in central London.
If you can get to one of these protests – great ! You can see details of each event list below. If you would like to contact the organisers of any of the actions beforehand – mail us on mail@dpac.uk.net and we will be able to put you in contact with them.

Get the full details HERE:

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

More On American Authoritarian "Democracy".

       You get charged, you go to trial, you are found guilty, you are sent to prison. You spend years in prison and then you are filled with jubilation, your conviction is overturned. You imagine your life after your release, but somehow it doesn't happen, you are kept in prison. The situation is repeated, your conviction is overturned for a second time, but still no release, 43 years in solitary confinement, your conviction overturned twice, and still no parole, they still want you locked up, WHY? American justice at work.

This from Amnesty International: 

Albert Woodfox, 43 years in solitary confinement.

     Albert Woodfox has been held in solitary confinement for nearly 43 years for a crime he maintains he did not commit, a claim that much of the available evidence supports.  Sent to solitary confinement in 1972, Albert is 68 today.

    He is mentally and physically frail from being kept in conditions described as torture by the UN Special Rapporteur on torture, who has called on US authorities to release Albert from solitary confinement with immediate effect.
      On 2 March Albert has a bail hearing. Demand state officials not to appeal his bail request and to give Albert a long overdue chance at justice.

Give Albert a chance at justice

      Albert was convicted of murdering a prison guard in 1972, and he has always maintained his innocence. Evidence appears to corroborate his claim, and suggest that the Louisiana authorities served the sentence and condemned him to decades of solitary under racially and politically motivated circumstances.
     Albert co-founded the Angola prison chapter of the Black Panther Party, with the hope of demanding basic rights for inmates from within a discriminatory and often corrupt system.
     He believes that his political activism and demand for racial equality have been a large factor in not only charging him with the crime, but keeping him in solitary.

Tell state officials not to oppose Albert's bail

      Louisiana authorities have no legitimate reason to continue to keep Albert in solitary confinement: his prison records are exemplary, and clearly state that he poses no threat to himself or others. And still, prison authorities have refused to conduct a meaningful review of Albert’s isolation since 1972.

Call for long overdue justice for Albert

Thank you,

Karen Middleton

Individuals at Risk Manager
Amnesty International UK

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From The Ashes Of Disaster---!!

Kobani after the city was liberated from ISIS.

     Is this what freedom looks like? If so it should not deter us, we should remember we surfaced every road, laid every railway line, built every house, and we done it for others, we can do it for ourselves.

As Buenaventura Durruti said:

     "We have always lived in slums and holes in the wall. We will know how to accommodate ourselves for a time. For, you must not forget, we can also build. It is we the workers who built these palaces and cities here in Spain and in America and everywhere. We, the workers, can build others to take their place. And better ones! We are not in the least afraid of ruins. We are going to inherit the earth; there is not the slightest doubt about that. The bourgeoisie might blast and ruin its own world before it leaves the stage of history. We carry a new world here, in our hearts. That world is growing this minute."

       Kobani, the city, may be in ruins, but the people of Kobani are anything but, they are vibrant, and optimistic, like Durruti said, "they carry a new world in their hearts".
This from Anarchist News:

      While the liberation of Kobani came as a long-awaited relief and was proudly celebrated by the citizens of Kobani, it was a bittersweet victory. More than 80 percent of the city has been destroyed entirely, reduced to little but a heap of rubble. Throughout the battle, YPG based its operations from the west where there was little fighting, except for ISIS’s mortar shells and the real danger of sniper fire.
      As a result, the urban center has shifted west — the only part of the city where life still exists. Guerrillas, taking a break from the front-line in the villages surrounding Kobani, stroll through the streets calmly with Kalashnikovs in hand, soaking up freedom. Men and women linger at street corners, chatting about the latest YPG victory in the villages.
     A school now functions, with eager children hoping to forget the pains of the conflict. In itself, the school amounts to little more than a concrete foundation of a house on the western outskirts of the city. However, when you descend into the basement — chosen for its obvious protection from ISIS shells — there is a bustling environment of alternative education.

Read the full article HERE:

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

Despicable Racism On Behalf Of Israel.

       Why is this tolerated by the so called civilised countries on this planet? This is Israel spouting anti-Semitism, while insulting and humiliating ordinary people whose land they occupy and are stealing. Inhuman treatment for no other reason than they are Palestinians. This is the daily life of those in the occupied territories. Unacceptable, despicable, racism, tolerated and and condoned by the West as they turn a blind eye to this de-humanising of a people.

Post by Issam Bayan.

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

A Very Authoritarian Democracy.

      America struts around the world proclaiming itself to be "the land of the free", it bombs the world into democracy, and walks away leaving death, destruction, mayhem and misery in its wake. At home it has the highest number of its citizens locked up in prisons, than any other country on the planet, and it passes some of the most restrictive and authoritarian legislation in the Western world.

       I received this appeal this morning:

     In West Virginia, teaching about "social problems" could become a crime.
    A bill introduced in the West Virgina House of Delegates would charge teachers with a misdemeanor if they teach “social problems, economics, foreign affairs, the United Nations, world government, socialism or communism until basic courses in American state and local geography and history are completed.”
     Teachers would be charged a $10 fine for every week that they taught prohibited subjects, and repeated offenses would get them fired and blacklisted from teaching for one year.

Tell West Virginia lawmakers that teaching is not a crime!

PETITION TO WEST VIRGINIA DELEGATES: TEACHERS ARE NOT CRIMINALS. VOTE NO ON HB 2107!

Click here to sign -- it just takes a second.

Thanks,
-- The folks at Watchdog.net

P.S. If the other links aren't working for you, please go here to sign: http://act.watchdog.net/petitions/4999?n=92043092.riFgxS

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

At Strife,---Still!

    David Edelstadt, 1866 - 1892, Russian born anarchist, immigrated to America aged 15, he was deeply involved in developing the anarchist movement in New York. An activist and excellent poet, he died at the age of 26 from tuberculosis. The sentiments in his poetry still apply today, the same struggle that he immersed himself in, is still exploiting, killing and repressing people today. When will we ever learn.

      These are the last three verses from his poem

 AT STRIFE.

To liberate the poor and the enslaved
Who suffer now from cold and hunger's blight,
And to create for all humanity
A world that shall be free, that shall be bright;

A world where tears no longer shall be shed,
A world where guiltless blood no more shall flow,
And men and women, like clear-shining stars,
With courage and with love shall be aglow.

You may destroy us, tyrants! 'Twill be vain.
Time will bring on new fighters strong as we;
For we shall battle ever, on and on,
Nor cease to strive till all the world is free!
David Edelstadt

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

Lambeth Town Hall Occupation.

      Housing Action Southwark & Lambeth, (HASL) are a group who believe in direct action. Pissed off by their treatment from the local council, doing the dirty work of the, Cameron/Osborne Oxbridge millionaire cabal, the decided to pay a visit to Lambeth Council Town Hall. What a colourful addition they made to its drab interior. More steam to their elbow.

From HASL:
       This afternoon, Monday 16th February, around 30 HASL members visited Lambeth council’s town hall demanding ‘social housing not social cleansing’. The local housing group, made up of homeless and precariously housed people, visited the town hall in the half-term holiday with their children to give the council a sense of what temporary housing feels like: cramped, noisy, and disruptive!
      We were joined in our occupation of the town hall’s lobby by Lambeth Pensioners’ Action Group taking our numbers to 50+!
Lambeth council refused to meet with our group to speak with us about our concerns and shamefully called the cops to try and evict us. About 10 police came and harrassed our members. We have still not received a response to our letter to Lib Peck about our concerns about recent changes to the social housing register and new powers to force homeless people into the private sector – both of which make everyone’s access to social housing even more difficult. We will continue our campaign on these issues and continue informing people of their rights if they are being pressured into the private sector. See our new leaflet here.
      The action is one of many happening across London as part of the Radical Housing Network’s week of action.

     Pictures from the action on Flickr can be found here.

Massive thanks to everyone who joined us today!

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

Who Rules, People Or Markets?

         What happens in Greece will impact on us, here in the UK, and the rest of Europe, if not the world. Today, the economic system is a world wide ponzi scheme, if one part crumbles, the rest shudders.

      Our struggle is from job centres, to housing schemes, from local issues, to international issues. The Troika, (EU, European Union, ECB, European Central Bank, IMF, International Mankind Fuckers) control Europe and the financial Mafia is tightening its grip on our world, we have to fight it on that international battlefield.

From Labour Start:

      Leading figures in the German trade union movement have issued an appeal for solidarity with Greece following the resounding election victory of the leftist Syriza party.
      It's an extraordinary statement and trade unionists around the world are being asked to add their names to those of the German trade union leaders.  Thousands have already done so.
       Please read the appeal and add your name here:

http://www.labourstart.org/go/greece

     Please share this message with your friends, family and fellow union members.

Thank you!
Eric Lee

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Ex-Worker Podcast Episode #34.

From Anarchist News:

The Ex-Worker Podcast Episode #34: 

Staying Safe To Be Dangerous Together.

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

Solidarity Is Our Winning Weapon.

       A call for solidarity from Edinburgh Coalition Against Poverty, (ECAP). This case epitomises the callous, brutal and heartless attack on the poor and vulnerable in our society by a system with no compassion. Remember, the Cameron/Osborne financial Mafia henchmen, have promised £30 billion more cuts over the next few years. Believe me, yi ain't seen nothin' yet.

This from ECAP:

      Please contact ecap@lists.riseup.net if you would like to help at any Edinburgh or Lothians jobcentre.
      As we face unprecedented sanctions and benefits cuts, its more important than ever that we support each other and stand up to the DWP bullies.  The Scottish Unemployed Workers Network, Dundee Against Welfare Sanctions and other groups have established a strong presence at the Jobcentres in Dundee and in nearby towns and cities like Arbroath, Perth and Blairgowrie, supporting claimants in opposing sanctions and harassment.
WHAT HAPPENED AT ARBROATH JOB CENTRE
    On 29 January Tony was accompanying a vulnerable woman claimant, who suffers from severe dyslexia and literacy problems. The claimant, D, had been signed up to the Universal Job Match (UJM), the computerised job search system, and was being forced to complete five job searches per day, the pressure of which had led to her having several panic attacks.  Tony proposed that D's UJM account be closed, and that her number of job searches be significantly reduced.  The adviser refused to consider this, and so Tony and D met with the Jobcentre manager.
    The manager likewise refused to even look at the issue, falsely claiming that all jobseekers had to be registered with UJM.  She even suggested to D that she should arrange another meeting without Tony or any other witness or rep present. Despite the pressure D was being put under by the manager, she replied that she would not attend another meeting without Tony. At this point the manager demanded that Tony leave the building or the police would be called. Tony refused to leave, but the meeting ended when it was agreed that a further meeting be arranged to discuss the issue further.  Tony was arrested after he left the Jobcentre.

Read the full article HERE:

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

  

Shatter It To Bits And Then---!!

 

      You know it, I know it, and we would be idiots if we didn't realise that “they” know it. The “they” I'm referring, to is our Oxbridge millionaire lords and masters, the Cameron/Osborne Cabal. What is it we all know? It is the fact that we the public are being screwed, and getting poorer. According to recent figures, the average Scots worker's annual salary is £1,900 lower in real terms now, than when the financial Mafia's henchmen, the Oxbridge mob, took control in 2010. While our wages go down, fat cat chief executives of the large companies, earn as much as the average annual salary, every two days, and they know it. As chief executives stuff their loot into off shore accounts, Citizens Advice Scotland, reports that it has seen a significant rise in the number of working Scots who are struggling to put food on the table. I'll repeat, you must be an idiot if you think “they” don't know that, the point is “they” don't give a shit.

       Of course “they” know it, but what is their considerate, compassionate reply, well the Osborne part of the thieving Cavaliers, has promised another £30 billion of cuts, or as they call it, "fiscal consolidation", over the next few years. That translates into higher salaries and bonuses for the top bunch of parasites, and more cuts to the standard of living of you and me.

          We don't need to keep demonstrating, telling them about the damage cuts are having on people's lives, “they” know. We have to organise to bring the whole stinking system of greed, inequality and injustice, down on their heads. We can do better than this, we built this sordid edifice and everything else in it, we can sweep the ruins aside and start that better world, built of fairness, co-operation and mutual aid, creating a society that sees to the needs of all our people.

Ah Love! Could Thou and I

with Fate Cospire

To Grasp this Sorry Scheme

of Things entire,

Would we not shatter it

too bits, and then

Remould it nearer to

the Hearts Desire!

Extract from Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.

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