THE DISEASE OF IMPERIALISM.

     

     Nothing much changes in imperialist thinking, it is always a matter of expansion into other imperialist states and resistance to the expansion of other imperialist states.

     1914 the “GREAT” war, was nothing other than a clash of two aggressive imperialist powers over territory, colonies and markets, a crime against humanity. A struggle that went on until 1918 by which time 9 million troops had died for “their” country, with no gain to the working class where the vast majority of the 9 million deaths came from.

     We are told there was peace from then until the 1939 world war. Of course during this time the imperialist powers continued the slaughter in their respective colonies as they ruthlessly attempted to put down any action for independence from within “their” colonies and so the crime against humanity continued.

     1939 the 2nd world war, again was a clash of imperialist powers, this time a re-emerging imperialist power demanding more territory, colonies and markets and the established imperialist powers resisting with all the force they could muster. The result was a crime against humanity, an unimaginable slaughter of humans, again we are talking about the working class. The Russians alone lost 23 million of their people. This carnage continued until 1945 when it ended with the dropping of 2 atomic bombs on Japan.

    The empires change but imperialism continues, today America is the new imperial power and from the end of the 2nd world war up to the present has continued the imperialist tradition of expansion with what ever slaughter it takes. The continent of South America has borne the brunt of this new imperialist slaughter but has not been the only territory to feel the pain of American imperialism.

    2003 saw American imperialism supported by its hangers-on, occupy Iraq. The occupation is a crime against humanity, a resource grab, an attempt to gain strategic military power over one of the world’s largest oil reserves. This action has been responsible for the slaughter of over 2,600 imperialist troops, working class people, and at the most conservative estimate over 65,000 Iraqi working class people. The imperialist occupation continues.

    The imperialist state with the aid of the media create and spread myths about “great” battles and “great” victories in an attempt to convince people of the need for sacrifice in the “national interest”, they spout patriotism to coerce people into supporting “our troops” and stifle resistance to these unpopular wars. The media peddle the lie that we the workers have the same interests as our bosses, an imaginary common national identity.

    The workers of the world are on the same side, we should refuse to fight fellow workers around the world just to assist our bosses competitive position. We should reach out to workers in other countries as friends, not arrive on their shores as imperialist killers. We should organise a revolution that will destroy the festering marriage of state and corporate capitalism that is the driving force of imperialism and create a world where boundaries melt and no one need die for “their” country.

 
ann arky's home.

GM science funded by GM corporations!!

    

      The European Commission has just approved growing genetically modified crops in the European Union for the first time in 12 years putting the GM lobby's profits over the health concerns of the public. Click below and help build a one million strong citizen's petition calling for independent research and strong regulation of GM foods: Caving to the GM lobby, the commission has ignored 60% of Europeans who feel they have to get the facts first before growing foods that could pose a threat to our health and environment.

     A new initiative allows 1 million EU citizens to make official legal requests of the European Commission. Let's build a million voices for a ban on GM foods until the research is done; they will be delivered to the President Barroso of the European Commission. Sign the petition and forward link to friends and family: http://www.avaaz.org/en/eu_health_and_biodiversity/?vl

     Consumers, public health, environmental and farmers groups have long rallied against a few international GM companies having such significant influence over European agriculture. Concerns about growing GM crops include: contamination of organic crops and the environment; their impact on climate due to the excessive need for pesticides; the destruction of biodiversity and local agriculture; and the effects of GM food on public health. EU member states have voiced strong opposition to last week's decision to authorise BASF's potato and Monsanto's maize -- Italy and Austria are opposed, and France said it would ask for further scientific research. There is still no consensus on the long-term effects of GM crops. And it is the GM industry, pursuing profits not public well being, that is funding the science and driving the regulatory environment. That is why European citizens are calling for more independent research, testing and precaution before crops are unleashed onto our land. Now, the "European Citizens' Initiative" gives 1 million EU citizens the opportunity to submit policy proposals to the European Commission and offers us a unique chance to drown out lobbyists' influence. Let's raise 1 million voices to put a moratorium on the introduction of GM crops into Europe and set up an independent, ethical and scientific body to research and determine the strong regulation of GM crops. Sign the petition now and then forward it widely: http://www.avaaz.org/en/eu_health_and_biodiversity/?vl         With determination, entire Avaaz team.

    

 More information:

Last Eurobameter Survey 2008 'Attitudes of European citizens towards the environment', page 66: http://bit.ly/aMkeVJ

The Independent, Fury as Brussels authorises GM potatoes: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/fury-as-eu-approves-gm-potato-1915833.html Reuters, France blasts GM crop approvals by EU agency: http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE6241ZQ20100305

New Report: GMOs Causing Massive Pesticide Pollution:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-kimbrell/new-report-gmos-causing-m_b_362888.html

Summary of the International Assessment on Agricultural Science and Technology for Development, including critics of GMOs use in agriculture:

http://globalpolicy.org/social-and-economic-policy/international-trade-and-development-1-57/genetically-modified-organisms.html#key

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ann arky's home.

THE STATE? WHO NEEDS IT?

      

  Is the State necessary? We the ordinary people of this country, as in all countries, have a choice, we can continue to allow ourselves to be governed by the State that will always put the corporate business world first. Will always protect big business as it rapes and pollutes the planet in its quest for ever bigger profits. Will stand by and watch the corporate world create wide spread poverty as it continually seeks ever cheaper labour and resources for the benefit of its share holders. Or we can call a halt to this madness, mayhem and plunder by taking control of our own lives. Because the exercise of freedom is morally valuable, the burden shifts to the State to justify the use of the law to constrain or control it. If we build our societies on federated communities based on free association and voluntary co-operation that justification cannot be made. At best the State becomes redundant, at worst, as it is at present, a hindrance to freedom. The State has no place in matters of personal choice, it is an autocratic institution whose main purpose is to maintain the status quo, making sure that power and wealth stay where they are. The State will always fight its people when they try to take its authority away and take control of their own lives. To do this it continually introduces legislation to control its people not to protect them. The State is a hierarchal system, a power structure, which in itself is a contradiction of freedom. The State institutions of all the developed countries represent the multi-nationals, the corporate world, the world of finance, not the people. The State has lead working class youth into war after war slaughtering working class youth from other nation States. Always the guise is the defence of freedom, whose freedom? It is the freedom of one power block to wrest control of markets and resources from another power block. Freedom to wage war to tighten that grip on those markets and resources.

      If we care to look beyond the shopping malls and the mainstream media we can see that corporate capitalism with the blessing of the State, is responsible for countless thousands of deaths from poverty, not because there isn’t enough to go round, it is just simply that there is no profit in it. In the world today twenty two children die from starvation every minute of every day while excess food in the developed world is stockpiled. Have you ever asked yourself “Why?”. What kind of system would tolerate such blatant cruelty, what kind of people would tolerate such a system? The answer is of course, the State and corporate capitalism is the system, we are that people. How much longer can we allow this to continue? We can stand by and watch this world being dominated, exploited and destroyed, its peoples being divided, slaughtered and impoverished to the advantage of the privileged few, or we can stand up, claim it is our world, link hands, resist, organise, agitate, and revolt so crushing and sweeping away this festering corrupt marriage of corporate finance and State power.If we wish a fair and decent world for our children and grandchildren we have to put an end to the continual greed for profit and power and shape the world according to our needs with the preservation of the planet in mind. We must come together as individuals and communities and break this cycle of State/corporate/business/exploitation/profit/power. We have the ability and the resources to make this world a fair and just place for all, the choice is ours. We have to decide, it is their world or it is ours. The ordinary people across the world have a common cause, the final war must be the class war that abolishes the Nation State. Advocating peace between nations will only allow the exploitation of people to continue. The State will always come up with some pretext or other to call its people to arms, big business will demand it to increase its markets and resources. Big business and the State need the people to produce the profits that continually increase their power over us. The people who produce everything do not need the State nor big business. We are capable of producing and distributing everything we need in a much more fair and just manner with no thought to profit and share holders. We don’t need Kings, Presidents, Leaders or sweaty-hand share holders to tell us how to live our lives, their track record is one of wars, greed and exploitation. Let’s sweep them away into the dustbin of history. We the ordinary people must be the decision makers and organise for an era of mutual aid across all cultures, organise at community level in federation with other communities. Let’s see an end to the Nation State and with it national wars, patriotism and boundaries, a free and colourful world that belongs to free and colourful people. The anarchist principles of free association, voluntary co-operation and mutual aid are the only basis for such a society.

 

 

ann arky's home.

GLASGOW ANARCHISTS.

      

       Anarchism in Glasgow has a long tradition and can trace its roots back to the late 1800s. Since then Glasgow anarchists have been involved in all the major struggles of the Glasgow people. Whenever Glasgow’s citizens have been in conflict against exploitation, oppression, injustice the Glasgow anarchists have been at the forefront of that struggle. The support for anarchism, its ideas, its practice and theory have gone in waves, rising and falling as circumstances within society have changed. Today, in common with the rest of the world, Glasgow is seeing a revival of anarchist ideas.

       It is not difficult to understand why there is such a revival. More and more people are becoming completely disgusted at the blatant greed and deceit of the very politicians who are supposed to be their representatives. They are angry at a party political system that sees the power of the party and it’s “leaders” as more important than the people. A system that is in cahoots with and does the bidding of the corporate world whose greed is running rampant across the world destroying our communities and the environment in the name of profit.

     Anarchists have always pointed out the fact that the party political system will always fail the people, as it removes power from the people to an elite group. Changing the party or the leader will not interrupt the power of the corporate world as they fund the politicians.

      If you are aware of this corruption and deceit, of this plundering and rape of our planet, and you want a better world for all our children and our grandchildren then why not join us in trying to create an alternative, based on the will of the people. Based on free association, voluntary co-operation, mutual aid and sustainability

ann arky's home.

IT'S ALL FOR YOUR OWN GOOD???

      

      We in the West tend to think that other regimes are much more repressive than our "free", "democratic" Western societies. However, all the research that comes out seems to paint a different picture. Perhaps our noses are too close to the picture to grasp the reality of the scene. The information is out there. The following very interesting extract is taken from: secure.cryptohippie.com/pubs/EPS-2010…  where the full article can be read.

The United States, with the UK and France close behind, have now caught up with Russia and are gaining on China, North Korea and Belarus. The key developments driving this are the following:

● The USA has negated their Constitution’s fourth amendment in the name of protection and in the name of “wars” against terror, drugs and cyber attacks.

● The UK is aggressively building the world of 1984 in the name of stopping “anti-social” activities. Their populace seems unable or unwilling to restrain the government.

● France and the EU have given themselves over to central bureaucratic control.

ann arky's home.

+ Soviet Union No ID no entry policy +

 

   There is no end to the creeping surveillance that is penetrating every fibre of our society. This wee piece from NO2ID,  is what to expect to become the norm for visits to the cinema, supermarket and libraries etc. Unless of course we resisit and refuse. They need us more than we need them. 

   News that the Soviet Union is planning to introduce authoritarian ID checks for drinkers in Consett, County Durham may sound like the plot of a dodgy spy novel - but it's true. A 'No ID No Entry' scheme is being proposed in Consett which would mean visitors to the Soviet Union bar would have to have their passport or driving licence scanned into a computer system before they can enter. The system called 'Clubscan' is increasingly being rolled out across the UK as civil liberties are traded for booze. Of course if enough customers refuse to submit to these arbitrary ID checks then the clubs and pubs will have to remove the systems.

See:
http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/local/consett/5033467.ID_proposal_for_drinkers_welcomed_by_bar_owner/        
also:        http://www.idscan.co.uk/uk_products_clubscan.php

ann arky's home.

A CITY IS NOT A COMPANY.

 Workers Initiative, Poland.

Sent: Tue, 9 March, 2010 11:05:20

Subject:  Poland: City is not a company! - 37 anarchists arrested in Poznan

      City is not a company!” - 37 anarchists arrested in Poznan after clashes with cops. On Monday, 8th March, about 50 people from Rozbrat squat Collective made a demonstration in front of the gate of Poznan International Fair Center, where a congress of local councils from all over Poland was taking place. Shouting slogans “City is not a company. Rozbrat stays!”, the anarchists blockaded the gate. Many cars with the officials were forced to turn back. After a while, the protesters decided to walk inside the premises of the Fair, they were not stopped by anyone. Then, they tried to go inside the building where the congress was taking places. They were attacked by the police. Some of the anarchists were heavily beaten up, 37 were arrested and driven to three different police stations. Most of them are already released with minor charges. From the information we were able to gather, 3 people will be charged with an attack on a functionary, those three are still in jail.

      The demonstration's aim was to show that the city council in Poznan is not interested in developing the social-cultural side of the city but they only care about the profits coming from the wealthy investors. Activists from

Rozbrat have been coming to the meetings of the city council for over a year now and the officials have never been interested in doing anything about our situation. They have been debating over a local development plan for the district of Solacz, where Rozbrat is situated and this debate has been taking them so long only because so many ordinary people have come and have been opposed against it. According to the plan, there will be a villa neighborhood on the premises of Rozbrat. Meanwhile, another culture center, the Inner Spaces gallery, which was renting a bulding from the city, has just been removed and the city decided to rent that space to a restaurant. Two independent and long-running cinemas Malta and Amarant also have to close down because they have been dominated by the big multiplex cinemas and they also haven't received any support from the city council. Still, the authorities are standing for the title of the Cultural Capital for Poznan in 2016. Monday's action was a call for the demonstration on the 20th March. We won't give up without fight!

Pictures here: http://www.rozbrat.org/galeria/category/218-

Video here: http://www.szumtv.blip.tv/

anna arky's home.

ASYLUM SEEKERS DEATHS.

     Three people fell to their death on Sunday morning from one of the tower blocks in Red Road. We understand they were asylum-seekers who had received a negative decision from the UK Borders Agency (UKBA). They are thought to have lived in Red Road for two months. Questions must be answered not the usual waffle and whitewash. This is a family wiped out in one tragic moment, why? What pressure were these people under? What support were they getting?  UKBA must be forced to reveal all the circumstances in this tragic case, what was their full involvement with this family, the details must be made public.

*** 11am Tuesday 9 March - Protest outside the Home Office, Brand Street, Glasgow - called by the Unity Centre, Glasgow (0141 427 7992, info@unitycentreglasgow.org )

*** 6pm Tuesday 9 March - come to Petershill Drive, Glasgow with banners demanding freedom and safety for all asylum seekers. - requested by a residents of Red Road Flats.

ann arky's home. 

KICK BACK, IT'S SELF DEFENCE.

   

    The media is now full of all those well heeled “experts” calling for deep cuts in government spending. We are bombarded with headlines reading; “Business leaders have demanded that the government start making public spending cuts this year to reduce the UK's £178bn deficit.” Not only are they calling for deep cuts but they want them now, or even yesterday. At least two employers’ groups, the CBI and the Institute of Directors have spouted that faster cuts in government borrowing are needed to restore credibility in public finances.

      It sounds all very scientific and fair, except that there is no science behind these statements, just greed. Savage cuts in government spending means more out-sourcing to the private sector, (the CBI mob) and of course eventually less tax for them to pay as government spending drops. As for the “fair” part, well, not one of those mouthing off about cuts in government spending will be in the least hurt by those cuts. No that honour falls on you and I, we are the ones that will suffer under any government spending cuts, health, education, pensions, social benefits, the young, the elderly, the unemployed, (and that army is set to grow) the low paid, even those who may think they are reasonably comfortable, they also will feel the pain. Yet not one of those who will be harshly treated by these cuts is in any way responsible for the government’s debt. The debt is there because a bunch of greedy sleaze groomed parasites blew billions in their blind quest for pots of cash for nothing, sometimes called fancy accounting. They blew it, they screwed up big time, and it looked like some of them would go out of business. So their minders, the equally sleazy parliamentarians, over burdened with their expenses, came running to the rescue and handed them billions of our money. Our generosity is now to be repaid with a kick in the balls, to which we are supposed to say,”thank you kind sirs, for saving the financial spivs, of course this should be said with a slight curtsey.

     Well why don’t we kick back and refuse to accept any cuts in our living standard, refuse to accept working longer to get our reduced pensions, refuse to see our kids education going done the tubes, refuse to see our national health system decimated and privatised, refuse to accept wage freezes or wage cuts that would return this generation and the next back to the Victorian era. What would function in this world if it was not for the working class, we built this world, it is our world, it’s time to take it back.

ann arky's home. 

THE BIRTH OF THE FUTURE??

    

     8,000 marched through Glasgow on the EIS demonstration on Saturday 6th. On Monday 8th March a two day strike by public service workers. The cuts are coming fast and furious as well as deep and vicious, so let's keep the fight against them coming just as fast and furious. These cuts are across all sections of the working class and demand a class wide response. Working or unemployed, retired or in education, these cuts are aimed at you. It is important that we organise across union borders and into the community. It is being demanded that we pay for the bankers greed and the sleazy politicians incompetence. They will not in any way shape or form suffer from these cuts, they just implement them, while enjoying massive salaries, unbelievable bonuses, expenses and mind blowing pensions. This bunch of spivs and parasites must be faced down, we can't afford to let them send the next generation back to Victorian times.

       Why do we have to appeal to them for a decent standard of living? We make everything, we distribute everything, then we beg them to give us a decent life. I’m sure we could come up with a more just and sustainable system without using too much imagination Why put up with a system that sees a bunch of incompetent greedy parasites cream off a life of unearned opulence while we struggle for a decent life. We have the power, the skills, the resources, and now the opportunity, all we are lacking is the will, the will to transform this wage-slave system into a society built on mutual aid, voluntary co-operation and free association and based on sustainability. A society that sees to the needs of all our people, a society of justice before greed and profit.

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INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY. MARCH 8TH.

                                                                     Ethel MacDonald
INFO HERE,
Date & time: 24 February 2010 13.00      End date: 30 March 2010 15.00

Event: FIREBRAND WOMEN

About:

           Women have fought for their rights and others throughout the decades and are still doing so. Glasgow Women’s Library is teaming up with the Workers Educational Association to offer 6 sessions showcasing some real Firebrand Women and the campaigns that they worked on which have allowed us the rights that we have today. Come along to hear the inspirational stories of the role women played in these campaigns.

Venue:
            Various venues across the city, Glasgow, G1 5RH

Organisation:
              Glasgow Women's Library: Glasgow Women’s Library is a vibrant information hub housing a lending library, archive collections and contemporary and historical artefacts relating to women’s lives, histories and achievements. We deliver an innovative Lifelong Learning Programme, an Adult Literacy and Numeracy Project and a dedicated Black and Minority Ethnic Women’s Project.
MORE INFO ON THE EVENT.

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SHALL WE SWIM OR DROWN?

A NEEDLESS SEA OF TEARS.

Though we live in a world of callous commerce

and know justice

is an altar where the caring are sacrificed,

see freedom as a river that runs parched

in the fierce desert of poverty,

our thoughts cannot be chained

our dreams will not be caged.

We will think beyond the profit race

dream beyond the market place

in friendship clasp each human hand

with compassion try to understand

our differences, our hopes, our fears,

dragging this world from its needless sea of tears

 

ann anrky's home. 

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY.

   "Merely external emancipation has made of the modern woman an artificial being. Now, woman is confronted with the necessity of emancipating herself from emancipation, if she really desires to be free."          Emma Goldman  

   

       March 8, is celebrated as (IWD)'International Women's Day'. We can trace it back to March 8 1908, when 15,000 women marched through the streets of New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights. In 1910 the first international women's conference was held in Copenhagen, Denmark, under the aegis of the Second Socialist International. The originator of the proposal was German socialist Clara Zetkin. The conference called for the establishment of an international women's day, though no fixed date was set at this event.. Prior to this the Socialist Party of America in 1909 had called for such an event to be held on the last Sunday of February. March 8 gradually became an accepted date because it commemorated an 1857 protest in New York by garment workers who two years later went on to establish the first labour union in the USA. March 8 was also the day when women in Europe held peace rallies in 1913 as the dogs of war were howling for the blood of WW1, Then there was the Commemoration of the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire on March 25, 1911 when 140 garment workers were killed in a factory fire because the owners had locked the doors, to prevent anybody leaving.

     

GLASGOW WOMEN.

       Glasgow can boast of a strong tradition of women who have taken the front line when it comes to fighting for better conditions and facing up to oppression. We should continually strive to remember their names and keep their tradition alive we should always be prepared to tell their story, their story is our history. Some were newspaper headlines, others were quietly struggling in the shadows, but fight they did. We could easily fill this blog with their names, however here are just a few, can you add to the list?

Mary Barbour,
Helen Crawfurd,
Ethel MacDonald,
Jenny Patrick,
Agnes Dollan.
 
ann arky's home. 

PEASANTS WITH PITCHFORKS.

      

       Why should somebody who has worked all their life and paid tax and national insurance, now be told they will have to work longer before getting their pension? Why should parents be told that the education for their kids will be cut? Why should someone on benefit be told that their benefits will be cut? Why should the elderly be told that their care will be reduced? Why should someone working away diligently to earn their bread be told that they are now unemployed? What have these people done wrong? The simple answer is that they paid billions to the bankers. So now they have to suffer. In a situation like this, peasants with pitchforks comes to mind

        I believe that the people of this country should be watching and learning from the Greek resistance, perhaps it might also stimulate and inspire parallel movements in this country and other countries whose people are likewise pissed-off because they have to bear the costs of a crisis they did not cause and a “recovery” that is in fact a recovery for the elite financial parasites and nothing to do with them, except that they are expected to take the full force of all the cuts. Who can criticise the people for trying to safeguard their standard of living. However the Greek resistance would need allies elsewhere to succeed and vice versa. This capitalism global crisis is just one of recurring crisis in a catalogue of various grades of crisis and as usual is a burden for the working classes of the world. However every crisis in the capitalist system should be seen as an opportunity not just to reform but to destroy the system and replace it with a fairer and more just, non-exploitative system that sees to the needs of all our people. To suffer the brutal onslaught of this crisis while missing a chance to grasp the opportunities that it offers would only make this crisis a greater tragedy for the working class.

        Perhaps it is time the peasants remembered where they put their pitchforks.

ann arky's home. 

CORPORATE ART.

Michelango's David has always been the envy of the American Galleries and recently corporate sponsors

ran a promotion for American artists to create their own David to be displayed in New York. You can preview the exhibition here.

ann arky's home. 

VIOLENCE-RIGHT OR WRONG??

  

       Anarchism attempts to create a society of free association, voluntary co-operation and mutual aid, and free from the greed devouring drive for profit. Most people would agree that it is a desirable aim, the difference of opinion is usually in how do we get there. Do we get there with or without violence? Can violence ever be justified in an attempt to create a better world? I don’t believe there is an absolute law on the matter, circumstances and those involved must be the final arbitrator. My own personal opinion seems best expressed by Martin Luther King in the following quotation. ---”As I have walked among the desperate, rejected and angry young men I have told them that Molotov cocktails and rifles would not solve their problems. I have tried to offer them my deepest compassion while maintaining my conviction that social change comes most meaningfully through nonviolent action. But they asked - and rightly so - what about Vietnam? They asked if our own nation wasn’t using massive doses of violence to solve its problems, to bring about the changes it wanted. Their questions hit home, and I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today - my own government.”

      Today, as at the time of Martin Luther King, we see the corrupt governments of America and Britain and a rat bag of others throwing indescribable massive violence at innocent peoples of other lands in an attempt to solve their own problems while condemning all other violence that may arise as a result of their actions. Where should the ordinary people of the world stand on this? Since it is always the ordinary people that suffer in such action, it is obvious if we wish to be free from this violence we must unite and put an end to the power of the state, talking to the state apparatus has never stopped the state’s violence, we must create a society where it is the people that are involved, that make the decisions, not the war-lords nor the corporate greed machine.

     I believe that anarchism is the ultimate social system for humanity. It is based on the individual’s rights, it is free from coercion, it aims for sustainability, and is based on those basic but fundamental principles of , free association, voluntary co-operation and mutual aid. To some it is an impossible dream but in reality it is possible if the will of the people so desire. We are governed by consent, we can withdraw that consent and create our own new world free from war, poverty and exploitation.

 

ann arky's home. 

2, DEATH BY A THOUSAND CUTS!!

   

     Councils and government bodies are now pushing for draconian cuts in our standard of living in an attempt to reduce the mountain of debt that has been piled on the backs of the ordinary people. Debt that appeared because the greed merchants in their voracious and reckless greed feast were about to go bust. So the tax payer, through the government, hands them billions of pounds of our money. Only to be told by the same financial institutions that the mountain of debt has to be reduced. It is not to be reduced by the financial institutions who got the money of course, no we paid them the money so we have to carry the can. 

     We are expected to quietly sit and watch TV, football and chat merrily at the pub. Meanwhile, they hack away at our kids education, our health care, our social benefits our other services, freeze wages and in some cases reduce wages, as well as thrrowing thousands on the unemployed scrap heap. All because the financial world can't function with this mountain of debt..  It is as insane as if a small business was going bust and the bank loaned it some money, the the small business then says that it can no longere do business with the bank as the bank has this debt on its head, so I would like the bank manager and his staff to take a cut in their standard of living. Alice in Wonderland stuff, only they are trying to make it a reality.

    We have an obligation to take to the streets and support all those who are fighting these cuts, the authorities will try to pick you off one at a time, but united in solidarity we can resist this savage attack on all of our living standards. This is not an attack on any one group, this is a brutal full frontal assault on the entire working class of this country. Organise, resist, take control, or see your future and your kids future go down the tubes. We can build a society based on mutual aid, voluntary co-operation and free association, that will see to the needs of all our people, not a bunch of parasitical shareholders and their minders the sleazy politicians. Now seems the right moment to put that to the test.

ann arky's home. 

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY.

I believe it is essential to grasp that an anarchist society would involve a different way of thinking and a different way of living, not the self-management of the present world.

ann arky's home. 

CONSENT???

     Has the state any legitimacy? Apathy, acquiescence, consent, ah, that is the question and how do we differenciate.

"… consent is always compromised by force; the mere existence of effective force dedicated to some end constitutes coercion toward that end, whatever you may think or want. If I consent to abide by the law when that law is enforced by a huge body of men with guns and clubs, it is never clear, to say the least, whether my consent is genuine or not. … It will always be prudent for me, under such circumstances, to simulate consent, and there are no clear signs by which a simulation could be distinguished from a genuine consent in such a case. That I am enthusiastic in my acquiescence to your overwhelming capacity for violence—that I pledge my allegiance according to formula, sing patriotic songs and so on—does not entail that I am not merely acquiescing. … [T]he mere existence of an overwhelming force by which the laws will be enforced compromises conceptually the possibility of voluntarily acceding to them. Or put it this way: the power of government, constituted by hypothesis under contract, by which it preserves the liberties and properties of its citizens, is itself conceptually incompatible with the very possibility of their consent." (Pages 50-51)

Crispin Sartwell. Against the State, Page 50/51.
 
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THE FREEDOM TO INDOCTRINATE.

       

       Recently the UK government passed legislation setting out compulsory sex education in all schools. Of course there was the usual belly-rumbling and garbled noises from the Christian fundamentalists claiming that it was an attack on their freedom to indoctrinate the minds of young kids. As usual the government caved in and an amendment was added allowing faith schools to teach sex education in a manner that reflected their religious views. What a cop-out, how do you teach sex education reflecting the view that you shouldn’t be taught it in the first place?

       I can visualise a sex education lesson in a faith school where the teacher holds up a condom between their finger and thumb stating, this is a condom, some people say it can prevent pregnancy, but if you ever use one you will burn in hell for all eternity. That should be very helpful to the kids. Now kids, you know that artist fellow down the road who does a lot of charity work, well he is gay and therfore evil, so don't look at or buy any of his art work.

        Why sex education? Why not allow the faith schools to teach all subjects to reflect their religious views, history, biology, etc. A history lesson could go something like, Henry viii founded the church of England because he was possessed by the devil and filled with evil spirits. The world today is mainly free from witches, because we burnt most of them in years gone by. Biology, the main elements that play a part in the human condition are genetics, environment and the snake from the garden of Eden. There is no end to this crap if you allow the faith schools to teach subjects to reflect their religious views.

        Why doesn’t religion get out of education and confine itself to funny places where men wear long dresses and speak to some imaginary guy in the sky. Where mumbo-jumbo and the adoration of symbolism, crosses, blood of Christ and other weirdo things is seen as OK. Let it be an adult choice if they wish do these things, stop indoctrinating our kids in this divisive, destructive, illusionary world built on the ramblings of some big noises in an ancient, nomadic Middle Eastern tribe.

 

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CAPITALISM AND POVERTY.

This isnae' wit a voted fur!!

     

       Scotland, part of the UK, one of the most developed capitalist countries in the world and land where immigrants come in the hope of a better life. However, it is not a country of milk and honey, it is the usual capitalist inequality, exploitation, injustice and poverty. 

In households with less than 60% median income in Scotland today are:

980,000, 20% or one fifth of all individuals,

250,000, 24% of children,

150,000, 16% of pensioners,

590,000, 19% of working age adults

• Inequality:

The share of the income of the richest ten per cent is the same as that of the bottom fifty per cent.

• Poor Health:

Differences in life expectancy between the poorest and richest areas of Glasgow can be up 25 years for men and 15 years for women.

• Debt and financial exclusion:

Only 1 in six people whose household income is less than £10,000 has a bank account. More than half do not have any savings.

• Bad Housing:

360,000 homes in Scotland are affected by dampness, more than 70% of Scottish social housing is below the Scottish Quality Housing Standard and over 125,000 children live in overcrowded houses.

• Fuel Poverty:

An estimated 650,000 ‘fuel poor’ households in Scotland and more than 2,000 (rising to 5,000 in severe winters) people aged over 65 die as a result of cold related illnesses during winter months.

• Disadvantaged young people:

Nearly 1 in 5 young people leave school without SVQ2 level (Higher education entry level) qualifications, increasing their risk of poverty in later life.

      This is what we can expect from the capitalist system, a system based on greed and profit, a system where wealth is created by the many and continually sucked up to the parasitical handful who control the means of production and distribution. Only when we have workers control of these means of production and distribution will we see an end to poverty and deprivation.

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ARE YOU WHERE YOU SHOULD BE??

   

    There has often been the statement made that we are "sleepwalking into a police state". For some time now I have said  that is not true, I believe we are already there, right in the heart of a very well developed police state. Where the state is always trying to increase its power of control and surveillance. Making sure you are where you are supposed to be, have you got permission to be where youy are have you permission to move to another spot, can you be observed as you move about your business? Is this the world you want? Is this the world you voted for?

This newsletter can be read online shortly at http://newsletters.mu.no2id.net/ 

+ DANGERS OF DATA RETENTION +

Anti-filesharing measures in the Digital Economy Bill currently before Parliament open a back door into your and your family's personal lives that *will* be exploited by the database state.Last year's public outcry against a Communications Data Database - intended to store details of your phone calls, e-mails and internet

browsing - forced the last Home Secretary to disavow plans for a giant surveillance database and to drop the proposed legislation. But things didn't end there.

     The Data Retention (EC Directive) Regulations 2009 were still passed, requiring internet service providers (ISPs) and telecoms providers to retain communications data on all fixed and mobile phone, e-mail and internet usage for 12 months. Because this is linked to the details of the person subscribed to the service, the retained data, wherever it is held, forms a digital dossier on YOU... and your family.

     Even national security is no excuse for blanket surveillance of everyone's communications, but the Digital Economy Bill would now make allegations of copyright infringement sufficient grounds for 'fishing expeditions' (speculative searches) in the data retained by ISPs - thereby ensuring the technology must be in place to enable mass surveillance by other agencies and organisations. With a new unit set up at the Home Office just last month to push forward the £2 billion 'Interception Modernisation Programme' (IMP), it isn't hard to imagine who else'll be snooping too.

     Open Rights Group (http://www.openrightsgroup.org/) and others continue to campaign against measures in the Digital Economy Bill. They have various objections - but as NO2ID we have to be concerned about any pretext for mass surveillance without any form of warrant or oversight.

     Interception of communications was historically so sensitive that it was made into a power exercised only on the approval of the Home Secretary that cannot be even mentioned in court. We fail to see why recording all your communications (and providing technical means for them to be arbitrarily investigated) is any different to opening your letters or secretly breaking into your home.

Please do write to your MP (http://www.writetothem.com/) in your own words, expressing your concerns.

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WAR WITHOUT END!!

      Well, there’ve always been people going around saying someday the war will end. I say, you can’t be sure the war will ever end. Of course, it may have to pause occasionally–for breath, as it were–it can even meet with an accident–nothing on this earth is perfect–a war of which we could say it left nothing to be desired will probably never exist. A war can come to a sudden halt–from unforeseen causes–you can’t think of everything–a little oversight, and the war’s in the hole, and someone’s got to pull it out again! The someone is the Emperor or the King or the Pope. They’re such friends in need, the war has really nothing to worry about, it can look forward to a prosperous future.

~ Bertolt Brecht, Mother Courage (1938)
 
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SAVE OTAGO LANE GLASGOW.

Save Otago Lane from the greed of gentrification. Smile:)

Dear all,

As you all may or may not know we are planning a 'gathering' on saturday (27th) in order to get a photo with as many people as possible crammed into the lane, hopefully at least 244...We would love for you to join us, this is an opportunity to hopefully talk to many of the interested people out there about how they can help show their objection to the proposed development and we would be very happy for anyone to hand out information of a similar nature and/or join in a small amount of speech making.

We aim to meet from 12 o'clock for around an hour/hour and a half and anyone who wishes to help out with ushering people around would also be very welcome - get in touch with Martin at Tchai ovna.

Hope you can make it, feel free to get in touch for further info,    Shuna

As gentrifiction moves in, history, character and people power move out, public space becomes private space.

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SCREW THE "MARKET".

By Zach Carter, Media Consortium Blogger.

     "Over the past thirty years, Wall Street has waged a steady war against governments around the globe, convincing policymakers of various ideological stripes that whatever raises profits for bankers and traders will be good for the rest of society. It’s a very simple and appealing portrait of how the world works. Unfortunately, it’s completely wrong.

Profiting from hunger:

     In an interview with AlterNet’s Terrence McNally, economic luminary Raj Patel explains the connection between widespread global poverty and wild Wall Street profits. Markets are defined by a set of rules—if those rules completely disregard social welfare, then the participants in those markets will ignore them as well. When traders can make a quick buck speculating on the price of rice, they will, even if that speculation drives up the price of a basic necessity and makes people go hungry.

    We’ve known this for a long time, but as Patel illustrates, governments have allowed financial bigwigs to rewrite the basic rules of the road so that Wall Street can extract profits from anything—even hunger. That process created several crises in the developing world over the past few decades, and has now ravaged the economies of the United States and Europe. As Patel notes:

     By basically gaming the system with regulations — that they authored — which encouraged a certain kind of playing fast and loose with the numbers, it was possible through some creative accounting for huge amounts of systematic risk to be kicked off into the future and ignored. And of course when the catastrophic risk was realized, everyone ran for the hills and started demanding public support.

Financial turmoil in Greece:

      This political sleight-of-hand is demonstrated by the looming fiscal crisis in Greece. As Richard Parker explains for The Nation, Goldman Sachs colluded with prior Greek administrations to hide the nation’s fiscal situation from both its own citizens and investors (Parker is an adviser to current Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou). Goldman was not interested in fair play—it was interested in making money off of the Greek government in any way it could. If that meant actively sabotaging the market by hiding important information, well, Goldman didn’t care.

First Greece, then …

    Now that this budget façade has been stripped away, Goldman and other investors are now profiting from making things very difficult for Greece. As Matthew Yglesias explains for The American Prospect, the rational, profit-maximizing choices of investors are now actively helping to drive Greece into a default that hurts everyone:

     When Greece starts looking shaky, the interest rate it needs to pay on its deficit goes up, which makes the country look even shakier. This cycle can push a vulnerable country into a default situation.

     Various Greek administrations clearly bear significant responsibility for the situation. Nobody forced them to get in bed with Goldman Sachs, just as nobody forced U.S. administrations to gut our financial regulatory system. But the problem in Greece is not just a problem for a single Mediterranean nation—there is very real risk that the investor “unease” could spread to Portugal, Ireland, Spain, Italy, and by extension the European Union and the global economy. The bonuses at Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan Chase this year were not a sign of renewed strength in the global economy.

Community Security Clubs to the rescue:

      So if Wall Street can’t save us, what can? Our communities could play a significant role, as Andrée Collier Zaleska explains for Yes! Magazine. Zaleska profiles Common Security Clubs in Portland, Boston and Fort Lauderdale to show how people hit hard by the economic downturn are banding together to make ends meet, and organizing for political action.

      “[Jared] Gardner, a busy organizer in Portland, launched four CSCs in his church, two of which were comprised almost entirely of unemployed people. By the time his own group had met five times, they were planning tours of local co-housing projects, organizing to fight locally for progressive taxation, and wondering how to bring the rest of their church into the time bank they had created.”

      Markets are supposed to serve human needs, not the other way around. But Wall Street isn’t going to give up its stranglehold on the U.S. political process for nothing. While community-driven efforts are a good start, we need much larger actions and reform to restore balance to the global economy."

     The only point of divergence that I have with this article is in the last paragraph, "--we need much larger actions and reform to restore balance to the global economy." No we don't, we need much larger actions to undermine the present system and build alternative modes of life. While the system is cracking we should double our efforts to create a society based on mutual aid not reinforce one geared to profit and exploitation. Large community organised structures that put the people in those communities in charge of their own affairs, and undermine and destroy the power of the corporate shareholder. Communitiees working in federation with each other for the benefit of all our people. The "market" will always favour the few at the expense of the many. That's hardly a desirable aim!! For years the "market" has screwed you, so now let's screw the "market". 

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