DON'T CAUSE THE POLICE HASSLE???

      

      So the fundamentalist Christian nutter Blair has cancelled his London book signing. The reason given must be a first for a British Prime Minister, he didn't want to give the police a lot of hassle as there would be protesters there. What a load of shit, how about all those other protests away back to the poll tax, miners strike, anti-war, G20.

     I can just read the headlines, POLL TAX SCRAPPED, PRIME MINISTER DOESN'T WANT TO CAUSE THE POLICE HASSLE. or how about. PITS STAY OPEN, THATCHER DOESN'T WANT TO CAUSE THE POLICE HASSLE, or the one we would all loved to have seen, BLAIR CANCELS IRAQ WAR, DOESN'T WANT TO CAUSE THE POLICE HASSLE.

    Oh Tony you have come to your senses far too late. With the blood of over a million citizens of Iraq on your hands and the death of hundreds of British soldiers, you now want to save the police some hassle from protesters outside a bookshop in London. Could it be that your reception at the Dublin book signing didn't fit into the perception you have of yourself. I imagine you like to see yourself walking around bathed in the light of public admiration, smiling benignly at your army of admirers. Sorry Tony, your fantasy world is just that, the illusions of a very dangerous self centred individual. Most politicians do damage to the public as they feather their nests, you Tony, have done immeasurable damage to the world as you amassed your fortune. I hope you can find no hiding place until you are brought to justice.

 

ann arky's home.

THE STATE SILENCES OPPOSITION.

      Photo from Glasgow Digital library.

     This Sunday, at 2pm. September 5th. there will be  ceremony at Sighthill cemetery to mark the execution in 1820 of two of Scotlands best known martyrs. Two men who were made an example of by the state to deter the ordinary people from thinking about changing the system to the benefit of the majority.

      Today the state might not use the same barbaric methods of silencing the public but they still have ways and means of repressing the voice of the people. We should never forget those who paid with their life for the right of all people to be represented in our society. We owe it to our selves and to future generations to remember and record their action, our history, so that we know the road we have travelled and the struggles that still lie ahead.

    The following is a transcript of a "penny sheet" of the day of the execution held at the National Library of Scotland. 

A Full, True, and Particular Account of the Execution of ANDREW HARDIE and JOHN BAIRD, who were Hanged and Beheaded at Stirling, on Friday the 8th September 1820, for High Treason, together with their Behaviour at the Place of Execution.

YESTERDAY, 8th September, 1820,

the preparation for the execution of these unfortunate men having been completed the previous night, this morning the scaffold appeared to the view of the inhabitants. On each side the scaffold was placed a coffin, at the head of which was a tub, filled with saw-dust, destined to receive the head. To the side of the tub was affixed a block. The clergymen of the town (the reverend Drs Wright and Small,) and the reverend Mr Bruce, throughout the confinement of the prisoners, were unremitting in their duties. The morning previous to the execution was spent almost solely in devotion and reflections, suited to the awful situation of the prisoners. About 11 o'clock a troop of the 7th Dragoon Guards arrived from Falkirk, and were assisted by the 13th Foot quartered in the Castle. At a quarter after one the procession left the Castle, and was seen to move down Broad Street, the unfortunate men in a hurdle, their backs to the horse, and the headsman with his axe sitting so as to face them. They were respectably dressed in black, with weepers. The procession was attended by the Sherift-depute and his Substitute, and the Magistrates, all with their staves of office. The troops lined the streets so as to permit the whole to pass slowly and undisturbed to the spot intended for the execution. During the procession, the prisoners sung a hymn, in which they were joined by the multitude. At 20 minutes to two o'clock, the hurdle arrived at the Court-house. Hardie first descended. He was followed by Baird, then the headsman. Hardie, by mistake, was conducted into the waiting-room. He bowed twice respectfully to the gentlemen who were present. The Reverend Dr Wright accompanied Hardie. The Reverend Dr Small, and Mr Brown, were with Baird. Hardie turned round, and observing how few persons were present, said to one of the clergymen, " Is this all that is to be present." Dr Wright read the whole of the 51st psalm. He then delivered a most impressive prayer; after which, a few verses of the same psalm, from the 7th verse, were sung by the prisoners and others present, Hardie giving out two lines at a time, in a clear and distinct voice, and sung the same without any tremulency. The Reverend Dr Small then delivered a prayer, remarkable for zeal and fervour ; after which, the 103d psalm was sung, Hardie giving out two lines at a time as before. The conduct of these two men while in the Court-room was most calm and  unassuming. Some refreshment being offered, Hardie took a glass of sherry, and Baird a glass of port. Hardie said something the exact import of which we could not collect. He begged the sheriff to express their gratitude to General Graham, Major Peddie, and the public authorities, for their humanity and attention; he then bowed to the other persons present, and drank off the whole of the contents of the glass. Baird then addressed himself to the sheriff, and begged to convey sentiments of a similàr nature. When they were pinioned Hardie mentioned to Baird to come forward to the scaffold. While in the Courtroom both prisoners particularly Hardie, seemed less affected by their situation than any other person present; his hand, while he held his book, never trembled. On their arrival at the scaffold, there was a dead silence. After a few minutes, Baird addressed the crowd in a very loud voice. He adverted to the circumstance in which he was placed, and said he had but little to say, but that he never gave his assent to any thing inconsistent with truth and justice. He

then recommended the bible, and a peaceful conduct to his hearers. Hardie then addressed the crowd. He commenced with the word " Countrymen." At something which we could not completely catch, and which we must not guess at there was a huzzaing, and marks of approbation. After a few moments silence as if recollecting he had proceeded too far, and had excited feelings inconsistent with his situation, he spoke again. He adised the crowd not to think of them, but to attend to their bibles, and recommended them, in place of going to public houses, to drink to the memory of Baird and Hardie, that they would retire to their devotions. After the ropes were adjusted, a most warm and aflectionate prayer was delivered by the reverend Mr Bruce. At eleven minutes before three the necessary arrangements being made, Hardie gave the signal, when they were launched into eternity. After hanging half an hour, they were cut down, and placed upon the coffins, with, their necks upon a block; the headsman then came forward ; he was a little man, apparently

about 18 years of age; he wore a black crape over his face, a hairy cap, and a black gown On his appearance there was a cry of murder. He struck the neck of Hardie thrice before it was severed ; then held it up with both hands, saying, " This is the head of a traitor." He severed the head of Baird at two blows, held it up in the same, manner, and used the same words The coffin were then removed, and the crowd peaceably dispersed.

Edinburgh;—Printed for William Cameron,—PRICE ONE PENNY.
 
ann arky's home.
 

WHO ARE WE?

Who are we if we don't know our past?

ann arky's home.

PLEASE DON'T HURT US???

      

         The European Trade Union Confederation is staging a European Day of Action on 29 September next. It will be made up of a Euro-demonstration in Brussels and trade union actions in the various European countries. The European trade unions will be demonstrating against the austerity measures adopted recently by many European countries, and to demand recovery plans in favour of quality jobs and growth.

        This is not enough, little pockets of demonstrators dotted around Europe will not have any effect on the powers that be. What is needed is an indefinite pan-European general strike. To call on the workers to politely form marches here and there asking the financial world not to hurt them too much is a retrograde step. We want to change the system, we don't want more of the same. If we want that better world for all, we can't simply ask for more of what we have just had. All the workers of this world have to do to change it for ever is just simply fold their arms. Stay at home, read a book, take the kids for a walk, go for a cycle, then organise your community and work place the way you want it to be, but don't turn up to be employed by the parasites, occupy your work place.

         This action by the European TUC should be expanded, it should be seen as the opportunity to grasp the moment and take control of our lives and free ourselves from the yoke of exploitation by the parasitical financial greed merchants and their state mouthpieces the politicians. We could take that step to start the creation of that better world based on mutual aid that sees to the needs of all our people and consign this system of greed and profit to the dustbin of history. We don't want to beg for work, we don't want to to say “Please don't cut my social services, my health service or my kids education but do keep exploiting me.” We want to change the world and only we the workers will do that for the benefit of the workers.

ann arky's home.

DEVELOPING WORLD FIRST,OUR TURN NOW!!!

    

        This was posted some time ago but I think it is worth repeating as it is more relevant now than ever before. As I keep spouting, the cuts are nothing to do with the "deficit" that is just the excuse. It is all to do with transferring public assets to the private corporate world. A look at history can often show you trends and directions and this trend of hiving off all public assets into the private sector has been going on for some time. It has created devastation in the Third World and now it is set to do likewise in the developed world. The so called "financial crisis" has allowed the big financial vultures to accelerate the process in the developed world. Be warned, it was the Third World first, now it is our turn!!

Extract from:    anarkismo

      Throughout the world, public services have been under attack for the past twenty years. Forming a central plank of the capitalist globalisation agenda, ‘privatisation’ and ‘competition’ are the seemingly unchallenged dogma of modern capitalism. The levels of privatisation which have taken place worldwide are absolutely mind-blowing. During the 1990s alone over $900 billion worth of public assets were transferred into private hands. Globally this agenda is pushed by the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The basic theory by which these bodies operate is that all decisions should be made on the basis of profitability alone. Economies in the so-called ‘developing’ world have been carved up under re-structuring deals called Structural Adjustment Programmes which have been like manna from heaven for international business. The World Bank website(1) , for example, “provides information on more than 9,000 privatisation transactions in developing countries from 1988 to 2003”. This information is presented as ‘revenue generating opportunities’ for international capital. The current phase of the WTO’s strategy for the imposition of its privatisation agenda is the General Agreement on Trade in Services – which looks to sell off such basic services as healthcare, education, housing, water supply, waste management etc. This strategy is driven not in the interest of the ordinary people of these countries but by the needs of international capital. As David Hartridge, Director, WTO Services Division put it quite succinctly: “Without the enormous pressure generated by the American financial services sector, particularly companies like American Express and Citicorp, there would have been no services agreement and therefore perhaps no Uruguay Round and no WTO.” (2)

          This privatisation agenda has had disastrous consequences for many peoples and communities in the developing world. According to journalist John Pilger (3)  

        “The introduction of school fees where there was previously free education has driven many poor families to withdraw their children from school, while hospital fees have put basic health care beyond the reach of millions. Although they acknowledge the harm which privatisation has brought to poor communities in the Third World, the World Bank and IMF still insist on prescribing it as an economic model. Water privatisation is just one example. The World Bank notes that water in Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince costs up to 10 times as much from the private sector as it does from the public supply, and that poor families in Mauritania now have to spend a fifth of their household income on water. Yet both the World Bank and the IMF continue to force water privatisation on developing countries. During 2000 alone, the IMF made water privatisation or full cost recovery a condition of loan agreements to 12 African countries. The World Bank has promised Ghana an extra $100 million in loans if it privatises its water supply.”

ann arky's home.

THE CORPORATE SOCIETY.

     

       As I keep saying, the millionaire Osborne's planned cuts are all about transferring public assets to private hands, the deficit is just the excuse they needed. Let's look at one department, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. This department looks after a considerable amount of public assets and has a budget of £2.9 billion. It has to find savings of 25%, this of course will come with the usual lay-offs and pay freezes. It has also been mentioned that they will be selling off some of Britain's nature reserves, privatising parts of the Forestry Commission and stopping grants to British Waterways which looks after miles of canals and rivers. Think of all that wealth of rich land being sold to the friends of the millionaire trio, Cameron, Osborne and Clegg. No doubt, after the grants stop, the British Waterways will find it rather difficult to continue looking after all those acres of land that line those canals and rivers and will have to hold a wee fire sale to let the millionaire's club get their sweaty hands on that public asset of prime real estate.

        While we sit and listen to their phony ceremonies about all having to tighten our belts, they are busy stuffing their coffers with everything in sight. Every public asset will be transferred to private hands, the millionaires are having a field day at our expense, they have never had it so good. A team of their millionaire friends are in the driving seat and they know where they are going, straight to the bank with all our belongings.

        Unless there is an organised and forceful defence launched soon we will have nothing left to defend. You are looking at a corporate society where the public own nothing, no public libraries, no public parks, no public walkways along the canals and rivers, no public baths, no public parks and sports facilities. Everything will be corporate owned and you will have to pay through the nose for the simplest of activities, after all, profit is the name of the game they play. This is happening now, it is happening under our noses and will continue until it is all gone. It is easier to fight to hold what you have rather than fight to try to get it back.

       As long as we tolerate this millionaire run system of winner takes all and to hell with the hindmost we will have to continually fight to try to have a decent standard of living. We don't need them, they do need us to maintain their pampered parasitical lifestyle.

 

 

ann arky's home.

EXPECTING FAVOURS FROM MILLIONAIRES!!!

       

        The Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) has stated that the coalition government's first Budget has hit the poorest families hardest. It also stated that the measures announced in the Budget were regressive. According to their analysis this Budget will see the low income families with children lose most as a percentage of net income. Their report also suggests that cuts to housing benefit and disability allowance would see the poorest families lose approximately £422 between the Budget and April 2014. Two other statements are “Low-income households of working age lose most as a percentage of income from tax and benefit reforms announced in the Budget.” and “Those who lose least are households of working age without children in the upper half of income distribution.” The report went on to conclude, “once all of the benefit cuts are considered, the tax and benefit changes announced in the the emergency Budget are clearly regressive as, on average, they hit the poorest households more than those in the upper middle of income distribution in cash, let alone percentage terms.” This from an institution that can hardly be called left wing.

        Now is there anybody out there who believed this bunch of over privileged parasite millionaires would do it different? The Chancellor is a millionaire from a privileged background, 23 of his colleagues in the cabinet are also millionaires. They have no idea of what it is like to be poor, the don't even accept the idea that this system creates poverty. With their value structure, if your poor it is because you are not trying enough, it's your fault. So why spend money on those who just won't get up and get rich. They are under the illusion that they are rich because the worked very hard. So, if you work very hard, you could be a millionaire. From their privileged pampered background social services and benefits just make you lazy. They have no idea of the reality of the working class in this system of exploitation.

          We can never expect them to create a system to benefit all the working class, everything they do will be to the benefit of the corporate world, their world. If we want a better world for all the people in society we will have to do it ourselves. Only the working class can create a society that is fair and just to all and we can only do that if we take control of our lives and control of society and all that it entails. We must organise to take control of our communities and our work places, shaping them to see to the needs of all our people. Who needs a bunch of useless, pampered, privileged parasites to organise our world?

 

 
ann arky's home.

NEW BUMS ON SEATS, NEW FACES AT THE PODIUM!!

       

        We all know that those who sit on the seat of government are in the pay of the corporate world, they call the shots, who gets invaded and when, where the tax payers money goes etc. So what’s next, new bums on seats, nicer smiles at the podium, while leaving the same corporate power in control? The system stinks from top to bottom, it is the system that should be criticised not the individuals that manage it, an Obama here a Blair there, so what, what changes. When the mass euphoria broke out at the election of Obama I reminded people of the same euphoria when Blair was elected which quickly turned to an effort to get him indicted. Over the years I have seen a multitude of smiling faces form governments and seen a library of election manifestos held aloft, but little changes, our standard of living goes up a little and goes down again, but we always struggle. We go to war on an alphabet of causes, we are always the just and the defenders of freedom, the other the evil enemy, the workers do the killing and get killed, the corporate world takes the bounty. It’s the system that needs to be destroyed, until that happens, we will struggle and we will go to war, we will kill ordinary people in the defence of those ordinary people and it will be the ordinary people that do the killing.

       Let's stop the babble and the pandering to the parasites that control and destroy our lives, Let's realise that we can make a better job of the world if we take control ourselves. Direct action, direct involvement, not delegation of our power to the millionaire parasite class that is going to screw you to the deck at every turn. 

ENDLESS BABBLE.

The questions arise. Why war and hunger?

Why does poverty continue to linger?

Why such need in a world of wealth?

Why put a price on a child’s health?

Confused and angry the public stand

gazing in disbelief at this pathetic band.

Those shiny politicians designed by spin

their street credibility paper thin,

the great persuaders looking the mood

struggling so hard just for our good!

Masters of the art of wheeling and dealing

exceptional experts at legal stealing.

Enter the Media, drowning us all in trivial text,

everything you need know

of scandal and sport, crime and sex.

Together they create a world of confusion

all fashion and style, a vicious illusion.

So no matter how often we point at need,

we always drown in a sea of greed,

no debate entered into, no answers found,

the waffle the babble goes round and round.

ann arky's home.

DON'T SWALLOW THE CRAP.

      

      Are we all daft?? Why do we accept this sort of crap?? We keep being told that there are hard times ahead and we are all in this together. The millionaire cabinet tell us that austerity cuts are necessary and we will all have to tighten our belts. On the surface it looks like that with food price increases running in double figures, pulses up 59% tea up 30% baby milk up 29% baby foods up 21% on 2007 prices, pay freeze and pay cuts, social service cuts, pension cuts, health and education being decimated and unemployment set to hit the stratosphere. Then you take a wee look at the millionaire Mafia that are shouting for these “austerity” cuts and you see a totally different picture.

          Lets take a wee look at how the millionaire parasites are doing. This is how some of them are suffering in these difficult times.

                                                 2009 payment  2010 payment  % increase

S. Hester, C.E. of RBS group      £164,000       £1.227m           648.2

M. Geoghegan, C.E. of HSBC    £1.67m           £5.68m             240.4

S. Wolfson, C.E. Of Next PLC.  £831,000        £1.737m           109.0

S. Rose, C.E. Marks & Spencer £1.77m           £2.606m             47.6

       How about Willie Walsh, the C.E. of British Airways, the guy who has been trying to screw the workers in that industry to the deck with wage cuts and savaging their working conditions. You can see how he has tightened his belt over the last year. In 2009 he had to struggle by on an austerity pay deal of £743,000 and this year so far he has managed to scrape through on a mere £1.024m a slight increase of 37.8% Yea, we're with you Willie, we are all in this together, we want more of your type of austerity.

          When will we ever learn, as the song goes. Do we need these hypocritical parasites feeding off us? It can't be beyond our imagination to device a social structure for society that sees to the needs of all our people based on sustainability. A society freed from the greedy profit driven motive and based on mutual aid. These so called Chief Executives are greedy, useless expendable parasites, I'm sure if the workers occupied their work palces they could run them better without these egocentric worthless appendages. They are no more than the gun slingers hired by the equally parasitical shareholders.

        Anarchists point the way to that better society for all our people, anarchism is the tool that can create a world fit for all our children and our grand children. A world of peace and justice, freed from the fear of deprivation and exploitation, a colourful world fit for a colourful humanity.

 

 

ann arky's home.

WORKERS KNOW YOUR HISTORY, 16th.AUGUST.

     

        Workers should know their history, it tells you which side the the state is on no matter the government of the day. Every occasion when the ordinary people come together to try to improve their lives, whether it be to fight a closure, oppose a war or push for reform, the state always answers with force. It can be the heavy hand of the police or the bullets or sabres of the military and afterwards the state will peddle the usual lie about it being justified force. In this so called democracy the will of the people must be stifled at all costs.

        The 16th August is the anniversary of the 1819 Peterloo Massacre, the outcome of a demonstration of 60,000/80,000 people in Manchester calling for parliamentary reform. A cavalry charge, 15 killed and estimates of 400 to 700 injured. Not an isolated incident by any manner of means. Prior to this in Glasgow 1787 the Calton weavers on strike for an increase in wages marched to the Cathedral in support of their claim only to be met by the military, 6 weavers were killed by gun shot. We can move forward to the violence that the poll tax demonstrators met, the striking miners, the G20, and so it goes on. All this should tell us the the state is never on the side of the people.

      We owe it to those who have suffered and died in the people's struggle for liberty and justice to keep alive that history, our history, the workers history.

Weaver's memorial at Abercromby St cemetary Calton Glasgow. 

ann arky's home.

CALL FOR SOLIDARITY.

         

 

      A little behind but only received this in the form of a leaflet the other day and thought it deserves support, after all who will be next in their attempt to silence the opposition to their slash and burn policies? Trying to push one group out here and another out there is their way of trying to silence the public and frustrate any attempt at the ordinary people organising themselves against the millionaires' club.

Govanhill Police Attack the Right to Organise.

        On Tuesday (13/07.2010) Fight Racism-Fight Imperialism set out to hold one of its weekly stalls outside Lidl Victoria Road. Within 15 minutes of setting up we were approached by two police officers; Pc. Ishaque (badge number- G282) and Pc. Willie Neil (badge number-G480) who have tried to shut down our own and other activists stalls before but failed. Two FR/FI activists were charged with selling a newspaper without a permit ( which the human rights act 1998 allows us to do) and were also charged with obstruction. Our table and 13 FR/FI newspapers were seized!

Defend Democratic Rights! No to Political Policing!

        FR/FI will not be intimidated off the streets and will defend the rights of ourselves and others to oppose the wars, spending cuts and blatant corruption (e.g. Steven Purcell) of Britain's rulling-classes. I the period before the full crunch of the spending cuts is felt; lower the already miserable living standards of Glasgow's poor; police should be shown that they cannot attack our democratic rights without promting a fightback. Let the people of Govanhill decide who should be allowed to sell their newspapers, not a few coppers hiding behind their badges!

What You can Do?
Send e-mails of complaint to -SouthsideCentralCommunityPolicingTeam@strathclyde.pnn.police.uk
or phone 0141 532 5312 demanding our table and newspapers be returned and that all charges be dropped.

Support our right to sell newspapers! No to censorship!

L:eave your details for upcoming meetings and events or contact us at glasgowfrfi@yahoo.co.uk



http://www.revolutionarycommunist.org/



ann arky's home.

NOT ON SALE AT YOUR LOCAL SUPERMARKET.

          Ian Tomlinson is just one of a long line of victims of police brutality. To date no serving police officer has ever been successfully charged with killing someone. In spite of there having been more than 400 deaths following police contact in the last ten years, no police officer has ever been convicted of murder or manslaughter. Draw your own conclusions. 

“After 16 months of waiting, to hear nothing is being done is a complete joke. Today they gave us no hope. This experience has broken our family apart. The DPP has told us there was an unlawful act, yet no charges are to be brought. This is no justice - everyone has failed us.”

 Ian Tomlinson’s son Paul King

Photo and Paul King's comment courtesy of   Schnews 

  I'm aware that it might be last months news but it is of such importance that I think it is well worth repeating Plus don't you think the schnews photo makes the point dramatically?

GOT SPARE CASH? GET OUT OF YOUR COUNCIL HOUSE!!!

        

      You wait for years for a council house and then finally you get one and it is in an area that your happy with, so you're all sorted. You start to do the place up and settle in and feel at home, your sorted for life. Well, not any more. Our millionaire well coiffured twins have just decided to change the rules. Now you will only get a short term rental agreement, probably about 5 years. After that period a committee made up of a bunch of wealthy bureaucrats will assess you to see if your are now well-off enough to buy your own house and therefore no longer in need of a council house. What if you don't want to buy a house and you're quite happy in the area you're in? Well tough, you have been assessed as not being in need of a council house, so out you go. It could be that you have been there for years and one of your family has left home. Well those same well-heeled bureaucrats will now assess you has having a house too big for you needs and move you to another council house somewhere else. That is assuming that you haven't increased you income in that period or it could be both, too well-off and your family is too small.

         This is another little gift to their millionaire mafia friends in the lending business, another way of forcing everybody into debt with a mortgage company whether they like it or not. Council housing will only for the poorest of the poor who will be assessed every 5 years or so just in case their circumstances have improved and then out they go. The corporate world must be able to make money out of you if you have any at all. Why else are you there??

        Another glaring example of who the millionaire twins at the Westminster House of Hypocrisy and Corruption really work for, they know who their friends are. Do we know who are the friends of the working class? Well it is us of course, the working class, the only group that will look after the interests of the working class.

 

 

 

ann arky's home.

ANOTHER GREED DRIVEN THEFT.

      My aren't the political Mafia fickle? One moment they say one thing, the next they say another. For a while the Scottish SNP government was saying that Scottish Water would remain in public ownership, then some economist waved some magic numbers in front of their eyes, like £3 billion and suddenly they are considering handing over one of the Scottish people's most valued assets to the millionaire club of the corporate world.

      If this goes ahead, and I think it will, it will fit perfectly into the plans of the machete millionaire twins. Their strategy of slashing cuts has as its aim the final dismantling of all public assets of any worth and handing them to their millionaire friends, thus creating a society where nothing is there for the public good but merely to make money for their already obscenely rich parasite friends.

       Water is a natural resource and is so important that is should in no way be in the hands of the corporate greed machine. In their hands it will just another product to be sold or exported to the highest bidder. Having water run in your home when you turn on the tap will be at the vagaries of the market, need will not come it to it, cash will be the deciding factor. The poor will be priced out, and that essential product will become a luxury. Can you imagine flushing the toilet just once or twice a day to save money? Skipping the kids bath time as it costs too much? Just try to think how your life would change if you had a meter on your water and the price kept going up like gas and electricity.

       The Scottish people must organise to prevent this latest plunder of their assets, we have already seen the common goods neatly stashed away out their control. This plunder will go on and on until there are no such things as public assets. Then the corporate world will really have you by the balls and they will squeeze until your eyes pop and then leave you when you are an empty husk

 

ann arky's home.

YEP, IT IS THE SAME OLD NEW PLANS.

   

   No matter how far we go back in our history it is the same old story, the working class being screwed by the rich and powerful and a state that is hell bent on war. Since the "peace" after world war 2, the British state has been fighting in almost every corner of the globe. There were the colonial wars as the "empire" struggled to be free of the British yoke. Then of course there was Egypt, Korea,the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan to mention a few. During all this time the ordinary people of this country have struggle for a decent standard of living and now stand on the brink of a return to the Victorian era poverty. It seems that we can't afford a decent standard of living for the people but we can afford to send our young people all over the world to kill other working class people. Surely we can come up with a better system than this, you know that this system is fashioned to suit the millionaire parasite class and you know that there are alternatives. Isn't about time that we asserted our selves and showed our real strength and ingenuity and fashion that new society to suit the needs of all our people and to hell with the millionaire parasite greedy power hungry war mongers.

   The wee poem is from a previous attack on the working class and was written by one of Glasgow's own.

THE "FIND YOUR VOICE" RAP

"Do not despise the snake for having no horns for who is to say it will not become a dragon" (Ancient Chinese saying)

What do you say when you have no voice

what do you choose when you have little choice

When money talks and you've next to none

What do you say when the day is done.

Do millions have to demonstrate

against poor laws made by the state

for will they listen, will they hell

war propaganda is their main sell

What do you do when you are feeling low

thinking Bush and BLiar just have to go

Every four years there is a vote

The Party needs funds, will sell your coat?

What can you do when it is a crime

that it costs too much for TV time

Only the rich can air their views

to tell us lies and distort the news

So tell the aged, tell the youth

have the courage to tell the truth

Point out their every bluff

Shout it out "enough's enough"

By Paul Anderson 24 April 2004

ann arky's home.

GLASGOW SOLIDARITY NETWORK.

Friends and comrades,

         If you are interested in the Glasgow Solidarity Network but haven't been able to come to a meeting yet, you would be welcome at Tuesday night's all-Glasgow meeting, 7-9pm at Wyndford in Maryhill, former site of  St Gregory's Primary School: 186 Wyndford Road, Glasgow G20 8HF

        We're hoping for a good turnout to talk about publicising the network and ratifying a Constitution. For those who haven't heard about us yet, the Glasgow Solidarity Network, based most directly on the Seattle Solidarity Network, is a network of tenants, workers, claimants and residents of greater Glasgow that aims to build solidarity within the working class by taking direct action and winning fights against oppressors like landlords, employers and the DSS. Glasgow SolNet isn't affiliated with any political organisation but it is organised on non-hierarchical principles and aims to raise class consciousness and promote solidarity so that we can eventually take control of our own lives.

*Glasgow Solidarity Network all-Glasgow meeting:
7pm Tuesday the 3rd of August,
186 Wyndford Road, Maryhill*
(formerly St. Gregory's)

http://www.glasgowsolnet.tk/      glasgowsolnet@gmail.com

ann arky's home.

NO TRUTH HERE PLEASE, WE'RE MPs.

      

        It would seem that a Tory MP can't tell the truth without being reprimanded. Old Etonian MP for Penrith, Rory Stewart said that parts of his constituency, “were pretty primitive” with “people holding up their trousers with bits of twine”. Such a statement of truth meant that he had to take a finger wagging from his colleagues and then apologise by stating that his remarks were “extremely foolish”. Perhaps the millionaire twins Cameron-Clegg don't want people to have such a vision of their “BIG SOCIETY” it sort of spoils the Oxbridge illusion that they are trying to weave. A society where everybody is “properly” dressed, is an entrepreneur earning lots of money and runs around doing charity work for the poor, that don't really exist. Their world is not our world and they have no idea how we live and quite frankly they don't give a shit. It's all about ripping us off in favour of their millionaire club friends while telling us it is all for our own good. Isn't it about time that we didn't give a shit about them and took things into our own hands? When will we ever learn.

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THE STATES MINDERS.

Guardian.co.uk phot.

       

      Is there anybody in this country accepts the result of the Crown Prosecution Service investigation on the Ian Tomlinson case, that is anybody but the police? An avalanche of photographic evidence of a brutal unprovoked assault on an innocent man and their view is no grounds for charging anyone. It appears that the officer who is seen to violently strike Ian Tomlinson from behind had been investigated on two previous occasions, one for excessive violence during an investigation and once for road rage while off duty. As they say in the "force" he has form. This will be seen by almost everybody as another case of whitewash, another case of a death at the hands of the police and nobody held to account. Ian Tomlinson is not alone, the list of such cases goes back a long way.

     

      1979 saw the death of Blair Peach from a fractured skull when struck on the head by police while attending an anti-nazi demonstration. No officer ever held to account. In 1999 Harry Stanley, a Scot living in London shot dead by police while walking home with a leg for his coffee under his arm. They were acting on a "tip-off" about and Irishman with a gun, again no officer held to account. More recently, in 2005, we had the case of Jean Charles De Menezes a 28 year old Brazilian electrician living in London shot dead on the tube, another case of mistaken identity. The met in this case were found guilty of "breaching health and safety rules". To this list can now be added the name Ian Tomlinson, while walking home brutally assaulted and died the result of an unprovoked attack by a police officer. No officer held to account.

     We are supposed to believe that they are only here for our protection, what crap. The police are here to protect the powers that be, and will always attack those who feel strong enough about the injustice in this system to take to the streets. I have no doubt there will be others names who will be added to this list as more and more people feel the injustice inherent in this capitalist system.

ann arky's home.

IT'S NO FAIR, IS IT?

ann arky's home.

SLASH AND BURN.

      

        The well manicured millionaire twins from the Westminster House of Hypocrisy and Corruption's planned cuts are a true slash and burn policy. What they have in mind is the biggest and most sustained cuts since the second world war, and for good measure they'll throw in some tax rises and benefit changes that will hurt all the ordinary people and crush the poorest and most vulnerable in society. So severe is the planned attack on the ordinary people that the rating agency Standard & Poor's has expressed doubts about whether the government has the stomach for the carnage it is planning, but we know it has, as none of the cuts will affect the millionaire cabinet nor their millionaire friends, who, by the way, are responsible for the “debt crisis” they are moaning about.

        Even the IMF is somewhat concerned about the well manicured millionaire twins' cavalier attitude, as France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Britain all have plans to squeeze domestic demand, all spouting, things will be just fine, as they all expect to export more???

       The millionaire cabal keep going on about the need to slash the boated public sector and let the private sector grow and create jobs. Of course they never mention that the public sector had nothing to do with the “debt crisis” in the first place, that wee problem was the full responsibility of the greed driven private sector that the so love, having the binge of its life. Well why shouldn't they love the private sector and want it to grow, they own it!!

       This so called fiscal plan, is no more and no less than a class war battle, a plan to transfer all public assets to the pampered millionaire parasites' private sector, guaranteeing that your every action and desire will make money for them and giving them total control over every aspect of society.

       If we the ordinary people lose this battle we will see the end of all public assets and all public space, our children will inherit nothing, they will be total slaves to the greed and vagaries of the corporate world. It is their world, or it is our world, there is no compromise.

 
 

ann arky's home

GLASGOW SOLIDARITY NETWORK.

GLASGOW SOLIDARITY NETWORK.

Landlord withholding your deposit?

Employer withholding wages?

Let's do something about it. You don't have to go it alone. Call Glasgow Solidarity Network for support from people like you, standing up for their rights.

Together we win!

Phone or text us on 07982742305

or e-mail us at glasgowslnet@gmail.com

Next meeting: Tuesday 20th July.

Daisy Street Community Centre 7pm.

ann arky's home.

CHILD ABUSE BY THE STATE.

Use an inverted knuckle into the sternum and drive inward and upward.

Drive fingers into groin.

Continue to carry out alternate elbow strikes to the young person's ribs until a release is achieved.

Drive straight fingers into the young person's face, and then quickly drive the straightened fingers of the same hand downwards into the young person's groin area.

Nose distraction" techniques – sharp blows to the nose –

Ram knuckles into ribs and rake shoes down the shins.

        Sounds like training for the SAS but the term “young person” should perhaps give a hint. These are some of the government sanctioned child abuse techniques in an instruction manual used in privately run prisons for young offenders. We are talking about youngsters from 12 to 17 years of age, and this treatment being inflicted by adults.

         Carolyne Willow, national co-ordinator of the Children's Rights Alliance for England (CRAE), which led the campaign for disclosure of this manual following the deaths of two teenage boys in secure training centres, said: "The manual is deeply disturbing and stands as state authorisation of institutionalised child abuse. What made former ministers believe that children as young as 12 could get so out of control so often that staff should be taught how to ram their knuckles into their rib cages? Would we allow paediatricians, teachers or children's home staff to be trained in how to deliberately hurt and humiliate children?"

           Phillip Noyes, director of strategy and development at the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, said: "These shocking revelations graphically illustrate the cruel and degrading violence inflicted at times on children in custody. On occasions these restraint techniques have resulted in children suffering broken arms, noses, wrists and fingers. Painful restraint is a clear breach of children's human rights against some of the most vulnerable youngsters in society and does not have a place in decent society." What Phillip Noyes doesn’t mention is that these techniques have also caused death. A child being killed while in the care of an adult, would that be murder?

         Of course the perpetrators of these acts of child abuse are aware of the possible damage as the manual does give some warnings of the possible effects of such treatment by stating that the techniques risk giving children a "fracture to the skull" and "temporary or permanent blindness caused by rupture to eyeball or detached retina". The manual also acknowledges that the measures could cause asphyxia. One passage, explaining how to administer a head-hold on children, adds that "if breathing is compromised the situation ceases to be a restraint and becomes a medical emergency".

         One thing the state is good at is brutalising those who don’t fit into its grand plan, in the case of privately run young offenders institutions, the state hands over the responsibility for the degradation and humiliation to a private company who proceed to make millions of pounds from the process. As they say, "busines is busines"

          It is not often that I agree with a Sir anything but I’m inclined to agree with Sir Al Aynsley-Green, the former children's commissioner for England and emeritus professor of child health at University College London, when he said: "It's time the whole country knows what is going on under their noses. This is just part of a brutal system, and we welcome the fact this is finally in the open."

       It is finally in the open, but will it change? Well that is up to you and I.

THE REBEL

Rebel rebel break the rule,

What does it matter that a “wise” man sees a fool.

Not for you the herd’s dull beat

Making tomorrow, yesterday’s repeat,

Living out the life of a clone

Marching with the crowd but always alone.

Shaping your life from some dusty tome

Playing it safe, staying at home.

 

Rebel rebel break the rule

Swim in the sea, never the pool.

Live your emotions, feel the surge

Follow your dreams, chase the urge.

Make life though short, an exciting game

Not a mad march for fortune or fame.

Capture the moment, live it now

Being alive your only vow.

Rebel rebel break the rule

In the end,          you’re humanity’s jewel.

ann arky's home.

VIDEO TRAINING FOR SOCIAL CHANGE.

    

    Activist TV Reporter Training           When: Saturday 24th July 2010 - 10am-6pm

Come and meet everyone and watch some films at 7pm on Friday 23rd July

Where: Forest Cafe, 3 Bristo Place, Edinburgh EH1 1EY       Cost: Free / donation

    Places are limited, so please fill in the application form at http://visionon.tv/training/application. Lack of experience is no barrier. Commitment to making social change with video is much more important!

Video Training for Social Change

   

     Make the news you don't see on the news. visionOntv has created easy templates for rapid-turnaround citizen video news reports. These reports can be made by absolute beginners, or by people with skills but little time.

      Make watchable and effective films for the widest possible audience. Our training programme isbold and unique. We have taken away the obstacles to making effectivefilms by radically simplifying the whole process. Come to the workshop to learn how to make fast-turnaround video news reports. Ourproduction templates will enable you to make films with whateverequipment you already possess. You can even make videos with no camera at all!

       Please bring the items of portable recording equipment you have - video camera, stills camera,mobile phone, laptop computer. We will use them during the workshop. Please note: to complete your productions, an extra session on Sunday morning (at Forest Cafe Edinburgh) will be necessary.

A joint production with Undercurrents.

ann arky's home.

VIBRANT VEGGIE VISION.

ECO VEGGIE PEEPS!


Yes, you there! Are you looking for a flat??

     Imagine a home in Glasgow where you & your flat-mates are actively participating in making a difference in the wider community through your personal choices. Now imagine yourself soaking up countless new skills & finally getting the chance to explore the full potential of your own creativity. Better still; imagine a place where all of your ideas are not only valued but valuable too!
     Well, what’s the point of being awake if you’re not living the dream? We’re a very passionate group of people with a vested interest in simple & sustainable living. Our aim is to work towards an inclusive home with little to no environmental impact by minimizing waste (using compost & wormeries, reducing the amount of packaging we buy & finding creative ways to reuse it) using home made, eco friendly detergents & cleaners, and of course recycling, conscious use of power, heat & water.
      It will also be an empowering grassroots hub for locals & travellers to share and pick up new skills & ideas; a host for couchsurfers, educational documentary nights, jam sessions, weekly communal meals & loads of workshops on everything from clowning to acroyoga!
      The flat boasts 7 big bright sunny rooms, a lounge, 2 full bathrooms, a kitchen and a big HUGE garden to call our own!! It’s furnished with all the essentials at £340 a room & will be ready for occupancy on August 1st 2010 (postcode G12 8BP).
      We prefer that all of the flat-mates are vegetarian or vegan but if you choose to eat meat then we will ask that it is not cooked or prepared in the flat
      If this sounds like something you’d like to be a part of then drop us a line!Please include a brief note about how you feel that you could contribute to the home as well as a bit about yourself.

     We can’t wait to hear from you!     Peace & love from The Glasgow Westend Intentional Community.

takeachanceonme21@hotmail.com

ann arky's home.

END THE STATES BLOOD GAMES.

PROTEST FRIDAY 16 JULY

END THE KILLING, BRING THE TROOPS HOME

5.00 - 6.00PM DOWNING STREET LONDON SW1A 2

Four more UK soldiers killed in one day, three of them by a recruit to the Afghan army, but Liam Fox, the defence secretary, still says we will "see our mission through and train Afghan security forces so they can look after their own security and our forces one day can come home". The latest opinion poll shows that only 17 percent of the British public agrees with him. Stop the War has called a protest at Downing Street this Friday to represent the vast majority who say bring the troops home.

RALLY MONDAY 26 JULY 7PM: AFGHANISTAN - TIME TO GO

CONWAY HALL, 25 RED LION SQUARE, LONDON, WC1R 4RL

SPEAKERS INCLUDE: Lance Corporal JOE GLENTON, just released from prison following his court martial for refusing to fight in Afghanistan, ex-soldier ROSS WILLIAMS, jailed in 2008 for refusing to fight in Iraq, CAROLINE LUCAS MP and other MPs. More speakers TBA.

The war in Afghanistan is in crisis. The strategy for the US-led occupation is crumbling. Violence is increasing, with deaths of Afghan civilians and Nato troops at higher levels than at any time since 2001. But the Con-Lib coalition government continues to send troops to kill and die in a war that has no purpose and is being lost. Among the speakers at this rally will be two soldiers who were jailed by the British army for agreeing with the two thirds majority of people in Britain who want all the troops brought home now.

 http://stopwar.org.uk

 
ann arky's home.

SOLIDARITY.

Landlord messing you around?

Agency not paying you?

Job centre making life a misery?

Feel like it's too much to cope with alone?

We all face problems like these and it can seem impossible to do anything about them. The Glasgow Solidarity Network is a group of people, just like you, who work together to support one another and stand up for their rights.

Modelled on Seattle Solidarity Network, Anti-Poll Tax unions and the Claimants' Union from the 80's, Glasgow Solidarity Network is a non-hierarchical organisation controlled by its members and unaffiliated to any political group or party. It aims to confront bad landlords, bad employers, and bad jobcentres/benefits agencies through collective direct action and build solidarity between tenants, claimants and workers, active and retired.

Come by Daisy Street on the 13th July to help us get this project off the ground, whether you could really use some solidarity yourself or whether you can offer it to others.

Blog: http://glasgowsolnet.tk

Email: glasgowsolnet@gmail.com

ann arky's home.

WORKERS, KNOW YOUR HISTORY.

       Saturday 3rd July saw Paisley celebrate its long running Sma' Shot Day. This consists of a parade from Brodie Park on the outskirts of the town through the streets to the town centre. The parade is lead by the beating of the Charleston Drum with locals dressed as weavers from the 19th century, in the town centre there are stalls and fun for the kids with the day ending with the burning of the "CORK". An effigy in top hat and tails representing the boss of the weavers of old. In all the literature about the Sma Shot event very little links it to the real reason the event takes place, it was in effect a great victory for organised labour against tight-fisted capital in a bitter dispute during 1856. It is probably the longest running celebration in Britain of a strike victory. It is so easy for these events to be taken over and used as a fun parade and their origins to be forgotten. We should never allow this to happen we must always keep alive the fact that all we have was won from the bosses by what can only be described as long and sometimes very bitter struggles by our forefathers and that struggle goes on today. The events of today mean we have to prepare for further struggle as once again capital is hell-bent on attacking the living standards of the working class.  We need a new "Charleston Drum"

A short history of the Sma' Shot Strike 1856. 

ann arky's home.

HOLIDAY SNAPS FROM GREECE!!!

How democracy works when the people object to having their living standards trashed to save the bond markets, How the greedy wealthy parasites' minders show their supine support for a corrupt system.

ann arky's home.