NEWS CORPORATION.

     

     A short profile of Rupert Murdoch taken from Class War,  his influence spreads far and wide, so you should know a little about the man.

     Rupert Murdoch is News Corporation, an organisation that has evaded, (avoided) paying what would be considered his fair share in tax.

      Some of Murdoch's tax avoiding assets: Fox, Sky, The Sun, News of the World, The Times, The Financial Times, and Myspace.com. He is rated as the 117th richest person in the world with a net worth of $6.3 billion

        He is a union hater and according to the Economist in 1986 Murdoch helped to smash the British print unions by transferring the production of his newspapers to a non union plant at Wapping in East London. He stated that he would dismiss the 6,000 striking workers who were trying to win some concessions out of the media billionaire. The London Evening Standard called the episode, "the biggest union-busting operation in history."

      According to a BBC report; "Mr Murdoch's die-hard loyalty to the tax loophole has drawn wide criticism." The report found that in the four years prior to June 30, 1998, "Murdoch's News Corporation and its subsidiaries paid only $325 million in corporate taxes world wide. That translates as6% of the $5.4 billion consolidated pre-tax profits for the same period. By comparison another multi-national media empire, Disney paid, 31%. The corporate tax rates for the three main countries in which News Corp. operates - Australia, the United States and the UK - are 36%, 35% and 30% respectively. Further research reveals that Mr Murdoch's main British holding company News Corp. Investments, has paid no net corporation tax within these shores over the past 11 years. This is despite accumulated pre-tax profits of nearly $3 billion." 

    So in keeping with the feelings of the ordinary people about occupying and picketing bailed out bankers and tax dodgers we could start a boycott campaign against the tax dodging anti-working class newspapers who will be peddling the crap put out by the millionaire cabal at the Westminster House of Hypocrisy and Corruption, that these cuts are necessary.

ann arky's home.  

THE PEOPLE STRIKE BACK!!!

     The people strike back: http://www.indymediascotland.org/node/22138

     More and more we are seeing people from all across the political spectrum taking direct action against the gambling casinos they call the financial sector and the tax dodgers of the corporate world. People are beginning to show their anger at the gamblers blowing their lot in the casinos of the financial world, then coming with the begging bowl and being given billions of tax payers money only to pay themselves massive bonuses and run straight back to the casino. At the same time telling us we have run up too much debt because of the money we have loaned them, so we will have to decimate our welfare services to save the bond markets losing some of their money.

       Do we have to put up with Vodafone's £6 billion tax fiddle and the new boss of Lloyd's getting a £7 million pay package, while we are told to tighten out belts and head to the nearest charity to get help for our kids? The list of tax evaders, (dodgers) is so common place that they are quite blatant about it all. It ranges from Vodafone to Google, to Murdoch's News Corporation, from Ashcroft to Green, billions of what should be tax paid to society is siphoned off into private coffers or poured back in to their business to increase bonuses to shareholders.

      Recently we have seen banks being occupied and picketed along with Vodafone, this justified action is simple to organise and effectively hits them in the pocket as well as showing other people that there is a way to get back at the greed machine that is set to shred our standard of living. Watch for what is going on in your area and join them, those involved are ordinary people, working, unemployed, pensioners. After all it is the ordinary people that are being squeezed but we don't have to take it lying down.

ann arky's home.

DEPLETED URANIUM, A STATE CRIME.

        

        Over the years I have written several articles on depleted uranium, some in blogs and websites and one for the newspaper Freedom. I have highlighted the horrors in Serbia and Kosovo caused by NATO forces use of depleted uranium weaponry on the people of that unfortunate region. Also the use of these same weapons much closer to home at the weapons testing range at Dundrennan on the Solway Firth. However all that was dwarfed by the US and UK forces use of these weapons in Iraq and Afghanistan. What has unfolded in these regions must rate as the one of the greatest ever state crimes. In regions of Iraq the rate of birth defects has risen into the stratosphere, cancers and other diseases have sky-rocketed and this is set to continue for many years to come. Yet most people in the West are blissfully ignorant of what their governments have done in their name, not only to these countries, but to our own troops, and of course our governments play dumb and carry on using these weapons of mass destruction.

          To once again attempt to highlight this state crime against innocent people I have lifted part of someone elses article on the subject.

          You can read the whole article HERE. 

         "Most Americans have no idea that depleted uranium munitions used by the U.S. military are causing one of the greatest environmental nightmares in the history of the world. In fact, most Americans have no idea what depleted uranium even is. But even as many Americans gobble down their burgers and french fries and pizza and enjoy the "good life" watching their big screen televisions, an entirely different story is being written on the other side of the world. In Iraq and Afghanistan today, there are some areas that have been so polluted by depleted uranium that they have literally become uninhabitable hellholes. Americans like to think of themselves as so "environmentally conscious", but the truth is that one of the greatest environmental tragedies of all time is being caused by the U.S. military and yet nobody seems to care."

      The full article is a must read.

ann arky's home.

REMEMBER, REMEMBER THE 11th OF NOVEMBER??

       

       Every day, every month, the workers have a history to tell and write. Though we could go through the month of November and find volumes of working class history worth remembering, I think this one is of special significance. It highlighted the depth of hypocrisy and corruption that the state will go to in an attempt to crush those who stand up to fight for the rights of the ordinary people. This event was not about the deaths of eight police officers, mostly killed by police bullets, it was about trying to crush an idea. An idea that workers could organise together in an attempt to better their conditions. To this day, states all over the world are still trying to put obstacles in the way of workers organisation. Some states more brutally than others but all will go as far as the feel they can get away with in an attempt to keep the workers "in their place".

      Perhaps you could let ann arky know what piece of November working class history you think is significant and why. Write it in the comments for others to read. Our history must be written or it never happened.  Read some of Glasgow's working class history HERE.         

      

      November, 11, 1887, the Haymarket anarchists, Spies, Fischer, Engel and Parsons were executed at Illinois prison. It became know as one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in American legal history. The Haymarket affair, also known as the Haymarket massacre, started in May, 4, 1886 when a mass meeting was held in Chicago at Haymarket Square in support of a strike for an eight hour working day.

       The police moved in to disperse the meeting, at that point an unknown person threw a bomb at the police lines, the unsuing confusion of the bomb and gunfire resulted in eight police officers being killed mostly from “friendly fire”. There was also an unkown number of civilians injured and killed.

       The legal proceedings that followed saw eight anarchists tried for murder, the trial also received international publicity and the verdict received international condemnation. Although the prosecution conceded that none of the accused had thrown the bomb, four men were convicted and executed and one committed suicide in prison. At the execution, Parsons’ last words are reported to have been, “let the voice of the people be heard.”

     The Haymarket affair is usually seen as significant in the origin of the workers International May Day. It was also seen as the event that brought about the caricature of the “bomb throwing anarchist”. Although none of the accused threw the bomb, to this day, that caricature is still used by many, among them the mainstream media.

     The site of the incident was designated a Chicago Landmark on March 25, 1992. The Haymarket Martyrs' Monument in nearby Forest Park was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated a National Historic Landmark on February 18, 1997.

 

ann arky's home.

KNOW YOUR HISTORY, THEY'RE STILL AFTER YOU.

       Since the word anarchism first appeared, the various states have been doing all they can to get rid of those who support the theory and practice of anarchism. It obviously worries them that the people should want to control their own affairs and remove power and wealth from the handful of parasites who have for far too long had an unearned  monopoly on on both. Their attacks will use whatever they have at their disposal, phony science, propaganda, indoctrination, (education) violence and intimidation. In spite of this it hasn't gone away, if anything, there are probably more anarchist now than there has ever been. The idea that people can manage their own affairs better than a privileged parasitical elite can, is now more obvious than ever. However, the state never gives up without a fight, so it will continue to intimidate, misrepresent and use overt and covert means to try to destroy the idea that people will benefit more from self-management, co-operation, free association and mutual aid, working in federated communities based on sustainability. Why so many people still fall for the states line that we are better off living in a system of power and privilege to the few, is a bit of a mystery to me.

     

       The following article was taken from Redpepper

       "The International Conference of Rome for the Social Defence Against Anarchists, which took place between 24 November and 21 December 1898, agreed to a series of measures to clamp down on anarchist activities and propaganda.

      These included the establishment of new surveillance agencies; arrangements for the exchange of intelligence among participating countries; new laws on the possession and use of explosives; bans on membership of anarchist organisations and the distribution of anarchist publications; a prohibition on rendering assistance to anarchists; limits on press coverage of anarchist activities; and mandatory capital punishment for assassination of heads of state.

      The conference was convened in response to a wave of anarchist violence, including the assassination of Empress Elisabeth of Austria at Lake Geneva on 10 September 1898. It also agreed to an early version of suspect ‘profiling’ – the ‘portrait parlé’ method of criminal identification, based on Alphonse Bertillon’s system of classifying criminal suspects according to physical characteristics of parts of their head and body.

Britain was the only participating country that refused to sign the conference’s final protocol."

 

 

ann arky's home.

MONEY FROM NOTHING, OR PHONEY WEALTH!!!

       

       The following is an extract from a much longer and very informative article which can be read HERE.

Amazing, in today's world you can create wealth by just adding a couple of zeros at the end of a reserve account, no need to go to the printers and waste all that paper.

4. Quantitative easing -- dirty deeds done dirt cheap.

        The long decline of the US dollar documented earlier -- a decline that is ongoing -- is one reflection of the growing relative weakness of the US in the context of the world economy as a whole. This growing weakness was revealed by the harsh impact of the most recent recession on the US economy, one felt much more strongly there than in the other major economies. In the face of this deepest recession in a generation, the fourth and final aspect of US-based currency wars came to the fore. It is without doubt the strangest of any that we have looked at, not the least because of its mysterious name, "quantitative easing".

       There are several ways of defining Quantitative Easing. According to the Central Bank of the United Kingdom, it is a way of injecting money into the economy "by purchasing financial assets from the private sector". How are these assets paid for? Why "with new central bank money". But where does that money come from? Well, "the Bank can create new money electronically by increasing the balance on a reserve account".[20] And that's it. New money is just simply created. If your balance is $1000, add a "zero" and it's $10,000, new money created "electronically by increasing the balance on a reserve account". Quantitative easing's "effect is the same as printing money in vast quantities, but without ever turning on the printing presses."[21] A skeptic would argue that the obscure term "quantitative easing" was chosen as less likely to arouse suspicion than a more transparent name such as "Harry Potter money creation".

       When this was policy in Japan in the wake of the deep recession of the early 1990s, it was derided in the US press as something "which essentially stuffed Japanese banks with cash to help them write off huge bad loans accumulated during the 1990s".[22] But since 2008, this policy of creating money from nothing has been embraced with passion in the United States. In 2008, the US central bank (the Federal Reserve) "bought $1.7 trillion worth of Treasury and mortgage bonds with newly created money".[23] That $1.7 trillion did not exist. It was brought into existence electronically and transferred to the books of financial institutions in the hopes of pushing that newly minted money into the economy and stimulating growth. That program is now over. There is, however, every prospect that another round of quantitative easing will be announced in the coming weeks, with anywhere from $1 trillion to $2 trillion being created electronically to "stuff US banks with cash to help them write off huge bad loans" accumulated in the last 10 years, to paraphrase the sarcastic analysis of Japan's similar policies.

ann arky's home.

THE BIG SOCIETY????

    

       Millionaire Cameron's “BIG SOCIETY” is certainly going to be big on unemployment. At present there are approximately 2.5 million people unemployed in the UK with about 1.5 million claiming Jobseekers Allowance. These figures are set to rise rapidly if the experts have done their sums properly. According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, (CIPD) the private sector will lose most with the rise in VAT to 20%, they reckon that the increase VAT will throw approximately another 250,000 people on the dole from the private sector. John Philpott, chief economist with CIPD has stated that, ”The full impact of the coalition government's planned fiscal tightening has been underestimated.” The CIPD also says that their calculations show that the impact of VAT rise and the government's spending cuts will cost approximately 900,000 jobs from the private sector and 725,000 jobs from the public sector. Their estimate is that the coalition's cuts will cost the UK 1.6 million jobs over the next 5 years with the private sector taking the biggest hit.

        Well there you have it, the “BIG SOCIETY” everybody on the dole, services cut to the bone and everybody running around helping in charity organisations to alleviate the suffering of the poor, of which they themselves are part.

        How much of all this suffering will affect the millionaire cabal in the Westminster House of Hypocrisy and Corruption that are implementing this grand plan? Not one of them will feel the least bit of pain as the deprivation increases on the rest of society. Why do we accept the will of the millionaire class that inflicts this suffering on us, knowing that it is all to the benefit of their friends in the millionaires' club. Their cronies in the financial sector will be wining and dining them from now until they are buried. They know how to work together for their mutual benefit, isn't about time we the workers done the same? Why let parasites feed of your body, let's get rid of this whole system of privilege and power to the wealthy, and replace it with a system of co-operation, mutual aid, and sustainability that works for the benefit of all our people.

ann arky's home.

UNFAIR UNSAFE.

   

   
     What is it like living under a control order? This is from LIBERTY.
   
     Under a control order you might never know the accusation against you and never have the chance to clear your name. How would that feel?

      In February 2010 we spoke to a young man called Cerie Bullivant and he gave us a moving account of what life under a control order is really like:

      “It became impossible to live an ordinary life. As more and more restrictions and conditions were added, normal activities like working and studying became impossible. Not only did inflexibility of the hour that was set for the daily signing in make it difficult – between noon and 1pm – but any places of work or study had to be vetted by the Home Office. What employer is going to take the risk of hiring someone on a control order! Your life is no longer your own – you can’t plan anything."

     “It’s true I breached the control order a number of times – mostly for signing in late. Everyday I would have to travel to a particular police station to sign in. It wasn’t my local police station – it had to be a 24hour station, even though I had a set one hour period to sign in. Often the police station would be busy and I would have to wait in a queue – one of my ‘breaches’ for being late happened as I was standing in the police station waiting to sign in!”

      “After a year on the control order I tried to study mental health nursing – because of my experience of mum’s illness I thought I’d be good at it. However, the CRB check wasn’t coming back and the College were suspicious - also the daily sign in time made it impossible for me to attend class on time – and they wouldn’t let me change the time I had to sign in. In the end, it was impossible – I had to give it up."

       “More and more restrictions were added to my control order; I couldn’t work, I couldn’t study, I couldn’t plan anything, friends had turned against me, the pressure had caused my new wife to leave me. I felt isolated. I became really depressed; I was having nightmares, and would wake up in the night terrified, thinking the police were at my door.”

      Why not read Cerie’s full story and add your name to our petition to end control orders by visiting our  Unsafe Unfair campaign page.

ann arky's home

THERE IS A BETTER WAY.

      

      On Saturday 23 October there will be a massive demonstration and rally in Edinburgh against the cuts. It is important that we the ordinary people show our anger at the millionaire's attack on our living conditions. This onslaught against the working class is not because the millionaires are sadistic prats that want to hurt the poor, nor is it because they are stupid and got their calculations wrong. Nor is it about balancing the books, good housekeeping or about reducing the "deficit", this is a set agenda, it is about the transfer of public assets to the corporate world. It should be seen for what it is, it is class war. Starve the councils of funds and they will not be able to provide the services the community needs. Libraries, swimming baths, leisure centres, nursery schools, museums, sports grounds, etc. will all be up for closure. Lo and behold, in will come the white knight in shining armour, the private sector, ready and eager to supply you with everything you want or need, ---at a profit to them of course, with you having no control over the where and when and how. Quite simply it will be a case of no money, no facilities, you will of course still be able to apply to a charity to help you out, assuming that there is one that can see to your particular needs. The corporate world will provide everything from cleansing, pay by the kilo for your rubbish to be collected, pay by the litre for your water, we already have private prisons, why not education, health, policing, sports and leisure facilities?

      This is such an important issue that it will not be enough to march from A to B waving your banners, shouting your polite slogans at the selective deaf, and of course escorted by your friendly community police, still publicly financed but could soon be a private force. Remember the anti war demonstrations of 2003 when they completely ignored you and went in and blew Iraq back to the stone age with their "shock and awe"? We need to come up with different strategies, think back to the 1915 rent strikes, the first world war Clyde Workers Committee, the Poll Tax struggle the Upper Clyde Work-in. All mass grassroots movements that worked outside the usual party system, communities organising in federation with all other communities. We don't need to beg for more crumbs we have the power and the resources to create a just and fair society. The millionaire cabal and their masters the corporate world, are working as a united force to change the shape of society forever to their benefit. As a united force we, the ordinary people, can change the shape of society forever to our benefit and create a society that sees to the needs of all our people, sending the pampered millionaire parasites to the dustbin of history.  

     This attack by the millionaire parasites on our class is our opportunity to create the foundations for the "BETTER WAY". 

      There will be several of our Red and Black flags at the march, why not join us and show that we will be thinking outside the party political system and are determined to find that "BETTER WAY".

     

  
There is a Better Way - March and Rally

Edinburgh 23rd October 2010
11.00 am: Assemble East Market Street Edinburgh
11.30am: March off
12.30 pm: Rally Ross Bandstand

       The STUC has called a massive demonstration against the public spending cuts in Edinburgh on Saturday 23 October under the slogan There Is A Better Way. Asylum seekers and refugees will be targeted by the Government. Racism and Islamophobia will be dusted down from their war work and used to drive a wedge between people. The cuts will be accompanied and supported by nasty and dangerous scapegoating.

Please join the demo.

To help with banners and placards (if you live near Edinburgh) phone 07791913316 or email edinburghstw@tiscali.co.uk
More about the demo
Buses to the Demo.

Many trade unions and trades councils are organising buses to the demo. It may be worth contacting them even if you aren't a member

 
EIS Glasgow

Glasgow EIS have three buses booked to go to the march, leaving from George Square at 9.30am and returning from Edinburgh at around 2.30 pm. contact glasgowla@eis.org.uk

 or phone 0141 572 0550, leaving name, number of seats needed and the name of their associated school, college, service, playgroup, university, community group, etc.

Inverclyde LA (EIS)

Bus leaves from Gourock 8.30am, Greenock 8.40 am, Port Glasgow 8.45am and Paisley 9.10 am.
Contact Tom Traceymailto:inverclyde@eis.org.uk


South Lanarkshire EIS

Four Buses, all depart 9am leave Edinburgh 2.30 pm

Lanark - at the bus stance at the bus station

Hamilton - Beckford Street across from Courts

East Kilbride - Atholl House

Rutherglen - Stonelaw High, Community Wing Entrance

All welcome

To book seats phone Bill Ramsay Secretary South Lanarkshire EIS 01698 452769


City of Aberdeen Unison

Inverurie 7.00am, Aberdeen 7.30am, Stonehaven 8.00am

Buses are free to Unison members, family and friends. Places can be reserved by contacting Wendy Hudson w.hudson@unison.so.uk or on 01224 620624

City of Dundee Unison

Leaving from “The Howff, Meadowside 9.30 am


City of Glasgow Unison

UNISON Office, 18 Albion Street, Glasgow, 9.30am
Members wishing to book should e-mail enquiries@glasgowcityunison.co.uk


South Lanarkshire Unison

Atholl House, East Kilbride at 9.30, Council Offices, Hamilton at 9.45.
To book a place contact South Lanarkshire UNISON on 01698 454690.


West Dunbartonshire UNISON and joint trade unions

The buses will leave at approximately 9.00 am from the following departure points:- Balloch Bus Stance, Alexandria CE Centre, Renton Health Centre, Dumbarton Central Station, Dumbarton East Station, Bowling Station, Old Kilpatrick, The Ettrick and Clydebank Town Hall. Members wishing to reserve a seat should contact Linda on 01389 737246

or email unison@west-dunbarton.gov.uk indicating numbers and preferred pick up point



Inverness Unison

Bus leaves Inverness (Highland Council Headquarters rear car park, Glenurquart Road) at 7 am.
The bus leaves Edinburgh at 4 pm.
Please contact Liz Mackay, UNSON on unisonhighland@btconnect.com,
or telephone 01463 715891



Kilmarnock and Loudoun TUC
Kilmarnock: A bus is leaving John Finnie Post Office Kilmarnock on Saturday October 23 at 9.30am .
Contact Arthur West on 07803936228 to book seats or
 e-mail arthurwest@btconnect.com
Bus organised by Kilmarnock and Loudoun Trades Union Council. .


Aberdeen TUC

Aberdeen TUC Marsichal College, Broad Street, Aberdeen, 7.30am


North Lanarkshire TUC

Bus will leave from the COMMUNITY Union Building, Motherwell at 8.30am and should return about 17.00pm. Due to cost a donation will be taken on the bus.

Contact Hugh Gaffney hugh.gaffney@yahoo.co.uk




Unite the Union

Aberdeen, Marsichal College, Broad Street, Aberdeen, 7.30am Tommy.Campbell@unitetheunion.org

Dundee, Unite, Dundee Office, 110 Blackness Road, 9.30 am Colin.Coupar@unitetheunion.org

Glasgow, Blytheswood Square, 9.00am Jackson.Cullinane@unitetheunion.org *

Scottish Borders: 8.00 am - Hawick Market Street.; 8.30 am - Galashiels - Bus station; 9.00 am Peebles - Post Office, Main Street.

Gillian.McKay@unitetheunion.org

Unite members should book seats by contacting the named official for each bus


Glasgow GMB

There will be a bus available on Saturday, 23rd October for Organisers/Members who wish to travel to the Demo from Glasgow. There are 70 seats available.

The Bus will depart from Fountain House at 9.30 am on Saturday, 23rd October and will return to Fountain House immediately following the demonstration.

If any Organiser/Member wishes to book a seat on the bus please e-mail these names to Ellen Page at
ellen.page@gmb.org.uk


Glasgow General Apex Branch

Departs STUC, 333 Woodlands Road, Glasgow G3 6NG at 9.00 am, Returning 4.00 pm

Members wishing to book seats should email kbuchanan@stuc.org.uk



Check for transport updates at http://www.thereisabetterway.org/buses-23-october-edinburgh

ann arky's home.

YOU CAN'T EAT MONEY.

       

        This article first appeared on annarky 1 blog on April 6 2010 but I think it is worth repeating. It is just one field where the big money funds manipulate and speculate to increase their wealth at the expense of the ordinary people. Crisis after crisis is inflicted on the ordinary people to the benefit of the pampered parasites that feed of the people, all in the name of profit, it is called capitalism.

    

         "Over the last year we have seen food prices rise at an alarming rate with the pundits pointing in all directions as the possible area to blame. It is drought and other adverse weather conditions, it is the increase population, it is the bio-fuel drive, it is increase demand from the growing middle class in China and India and so they go on. There is absolutely no doubt these factors do play a part in the increase but what is driving the prices up quicker than any other factor is undoubtedly the speculators, “non commercial traders” as they are called in the financial circles.

        Before 2007 the percentage of trading in the world’s food markets controlled by speculators was about 12%, today it is 43%. That is a lot of extra money being pushed into the food market with the result that prices start to rocket. What we are talking about is greed little people with millions scurrying around looking of ways of turning their millions into billions and they don’t give a damn of the consequences to the rest of us. The other bunch of greedy speculators that are pushing the price of food through the roof are of course the speculators in the oil futures markets. We live oil, as it its price goes up so does food transportation, fertilisers and the energy required to process that food. These two groups are holding the world’s population to ransom in their quest for ever more millions for themselves and their shareholders.

       In 2007 before the prices started to shoot up there were 800 million people on this planet who could not get enough to eat, with the daily increases in prices this figure is also shooting up dramatically. We are now hearing of food riots in countries across the globe, the speculators are starving the world in an attempt to increase their already over abundant wealth. Our political “Leaders” are meeting here and there in capitals across the world and making noises but they don’t have the muscle nor the will to control the big corporate greedy beast that is devouring our planet.

       While those government representatives are uttering vacuous mush on the subject the developed governments are subsidising one of the elements of the price increases, bio-fuel. It is stated that by 2017 40% of the maize production in the US will be for bio-fuel. This will certainly increase the speculators wealth and will certainly help keep the internal combustion engine going but will do nothing but more harm to that ever growing, starving multitude of 800 million+ .

      This is the capitalist system, it is not set in tablets of stone, it is not the only way to organise our societies, it is a man made system that fosters greed in parallel with poverty. It can be removed and a fairer and more humane system set up in its place if the people so desire."

 

       Only when we organise to finally put the parasites and their greed driven system in the dustbin of history will we ever see an end to the suffering of millions of hungry people.

ann arky's home.

500 STRIKERS ARRESTED.

         This post from LabourStart should be acted on by as many as people as possible across the world. If India as one of the worlds largest industrial areas can lock up strikers without a murmer from the rest of the world it will become the pattern. Workers conditions in the developing countries are poor to say the least, to be imprisoned for struggling to improve them must be seen as a crime. Of course history tells us, that is the way capitalism works, in partnership with the state.

 

        The arrest of one worker whose only crime was to go on strike -- that's reason enough to get angry, and to protest and campaign. But what do you do when 500 workers are arrested?

That's the situation today in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, where some 500 workers have been jailed following their strike against electronics manufacturer Foxconn.

That name should ring a bell -- Foxconn's Chinese factories were the scene of a series of worker suicides earlier this year.

In the next few hours and days, we need to flood the offices of state officials with the demand that all the jailed workers be released.

Please do two things right now:

Send off your message HERE
Spread the word in your union -- let's mobilize thousands in support of this campaign! 

Thanks - and have a great weekend.   Eric Lee  LabourStart.

ann arky's home.

THEY LOOK DIFFERENT, BUT--!!!

An image from an old Black Flag magazine, Vol.VII No.3 1983.

.

                                                                                                        Future cop. 

Nice cop.                            Not nice cop.                  Nasty cop.

Found in tourist spots  Has a degree in              Enjoys brutality

and leafy suburbs        harassment, expert          found in hordes at

helps old ladies find     in leaping from vans        peaceful demos,

the Post Office.        while wielding trucheon.  being cloned rapidly.

  It is amazing that there are still people out there who think that the police are there to catch muggers and burglars and fail to see that they are the states minders. The police are the step down from the military in protecting the establishment, its wealth and its power. The little bit about protecting you from the mugger is just a sort of spin-off. It keeps them in shape for their real duty, to keep you in your place.

      The picture below is from 1984 and shows you what community policing is all about. It was taken from the magazine Black Flag Vol VII No.7 1984. It was in Armthorpe in England 22nd. August 1984, (1984 dadadada). Why were they there? Well some miners were on strike to try and save their jobs and you can't have that. Today's public sector workers be warned, that nice cop who stands outside the council offices and gives you a smile as you enter and leave, you could meet him in a different role.

      
                                                                                                                                

ann arky's home.                                                                

WE'RE BANKSTERS, WE DON'T OBEY NO STINKING LAWS.

I fell in love with this photo and headline I saw on Politics in the zeros site so I pinched them both. Hope you don't mind Bob.

         Cuts, cuts, cuts, we’re all in this together!!! Or so the crap goes. We all have to tighten our belt, family allowance cut, benefits for the chop, libraries to close, sports centres to close, council workers on the dole, education funding getting a hatchet job and back door privatisation of the health service. Yep, it is all tough going, well except if your a banker. It seems that our city friends have decided to pay themselves a nice little £7 billion bonus package. I suppose that will go some way to making up for the loss of their family allowance. Let’s not forget that we the taxpayers handed them billions of taxpayer’s money to save them going bust. They then tell us we have too much debt and we will have to pay that debt off by getting rid of most of our social services. We pay twice, they get the bonuses. Hollywood couldn’t produce a more ludicrous farce. The problem is, that it is for real. It is real people that are going to end up on the dole, it is real kids that are going to see the education being shredded, it is real communities that are going to see their already minimal social amenities trashed, it is real old people that are going to find there is no care for them, etc. etc. etc.
      The “debt” is just an excuse for the corporate world to push for the privatisation of all social services. It has always been the aim of the corporate world to get possession of all public assets, everything owned by some corporate institution and all services available at a profit to them. No profit, no services, no money, no services. You will of course still be free to appeal to some charity or other when you have needs but not enough money.
      Why do we put up with a system that benefits the top 10% or so of society and screws, plunders, and exploits the other 90% of the people? Isn’t it time we took control of our own lives and told the pampered parasite profit junkies to, go eat your money, we don’t need you or your money. We can surely organise society in a much more fair and equitable fashion based on mutual aid and sustainability, not profit. A society that sees to the needs of all our people is there for the taking, we have all the means at our disposal, all it takes is the will to organise, occupy and take control. Never accept their perpetual mantra, that capitalism is the only game in town. It is not, it is a relatively new man made system of greed, being man made it can be man destroyed. There is an alternative that does not turn man against man but seeks co-operation between all peoples and has as its aim the equal well being of all people. It is called anarchism, anarchists are simple trying to move in that direction. Seek out your local group, join them and we can move much further along that road.
 
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WE'RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER.

      

      As the Cameron/Clegg millionaire twins keep telling us, "We're all in this together." So let's put that into action by supporting the coming event.

Action for Refugee and Migrant Rights conference:

Glasgow, Saturday October 9th* 10am -- 2pm

Venue;

 STUC 333 Woodlands Road, Glasgow G3 6NG.

      A networking and action-planning event, bringing together a wide range of groups working for asylum and migrant rights. With discussion groups, workshops, information stands, food.

An event organised by National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns, with Church Action on Poverty and the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC).

supported by:

UNITY

Glasgow Campaign to Welcome Refugees

Scottish Detainee Visitors

Medical Justice

Govan & Craigton Integration Network

Glasgow Refugee, Asylum and Migration Network

    A programme of meetings and workshops will be published soon at http://www.ncadc.org.uk/october9

Food and refreshments will be available. Creche available - * but please contact to reserve a place for your child *

To book childcare, email: angela@gcin.org.uk

For more information, contact:
Michael Collins
Campaigns Coordinator, North
National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns
email michael@ncadc.org.uk
phone 0141 334 1333
 
 

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POVERT OR DIGNITY?

       

      At the stroke of midnight 29 September Spain kicked off its general strike. As the day unfolds we will see where the will of the people lies. Will the people of Europe stop work with the Spanish and have fun with their families or will they take to the streets in protest. Hopefully it will be a mixture of both with a complete stop to all non-essential work across the whole of Europe. Why should the people of Europe allow their living standards to be hacked to pieces at the behest of the millionaires gambling club called the bond markets? Whose debt is it? Who screwed up their own honey pot? Who stands to gain with these cuts?

Who stands to suffer? Just some of the questions that will never be answered by the mouthpieces of the bond markets, ie; the politicians.

        We should however never lose sight of the real purpose behind all these cuts, not only will it safe guard the wealth of the millionaires club but will also transfer all public assets to the private sector, giving them even more of our wealth with which to gamble. This era is crucial, it is the final move by the corporate world to seize what remains of public assets, turning our world into a corporate empire where the people own nothing. No public spaces, no social services, everything bought from the corporate institutions. You can have what you want, but at a price that feeds the pampered parasites in charge of that corporate empire. There will of course be charities who will try to copy with the worst of the poverty and deprivation, co-operation and mutual aid will be seen as signs of insanity.

       They are about to attempt to change the world in their favour forever, it is up to us to change this world in our favour forever. Only by breaking out of the system of profit before everything and changing to wellfare of the people first and foremost based on mutual aid and sustainability can we hope to achieve that aim.

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FIGHT OR RUN!!!

   

    Today France will again take to the streets in protest at the government's attempt to hack at the living conditions of the French people. This time there is expected to be in excess of two million people on the streets protesting at the government's proposals to raise the pension age from 60 to 62. Compare this to what is happening here in Britain. Here we are meekly accepting talk of raising the pension age to 70 and there hasn't been enough people on the streets to form a bus queue. Why the difference, our conditions are far worse than the French, yet we seem to be prepared to accept even more brutal cuts to our standard of living.

     Whatever meagre conditions we have, we have had to fight for every one of them. It has taken generations of battle and sacrifice to attain the conditions we have, and now we seem to be surrendering them without a fight. This is an insult to all those ordinary people how through struggle, tears and sometimes blood battled for the benefit of all our people. Are we simply going to see their effort wiped out so as to stabilise the millionaires gambling club ie; bond markets? 

    The Greek people have been protesting for months, Spain has had several general strikes, other countries across Europe have taken to the streets to protest the slashing of their living standards at the behest of the financial world. Here in Britain we have so far accepted without much of a fight, the beating that the powers that be are handing out. Do we realy want to return to the Victorian era of poverty?

    Next week, 29th. September is a day when we can show our determination to make a stand and try to change the world in our favour forever. After all the millionaires club is trying to change the world in their favour forever. Only the ordinary people can decide who is going to win, we take the beating or we stand up and fight.  

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29th. SEPTEMBER- COULD BE THE START OF SOMETHING BIG!!

       One week to go until the TUC planned day of action on the 29th. September. There is supposed to be mass demonstrations across Europe. Though the publicity doesn't seem to scream out at you, it seems more like a quiet affair for the loyal few. Well that might be the way they want it but it is up to the members to insist on a real mass action right across Europe not just a few high profile spots. Insist that your local branch organises for a full walk out on that day and where you don't get the support from your union, then there is nothing wrong in having a day off. Have a lie in, take the kids to the park, read that book you have been trying to get your head round. Go as a family to the movies have a day in the garden, but what ever you do don't turn up to be exploited on that day September 29th. You will probly start to like the idea of having a lie and then doing what you fancy and make it a regular habit.  All the workers have to do to stop this exploitive unjust system is don't turn up for "work". When the CEO of all the companies in the world decide to have a day off, nobody notices, we don't need them. However when the workers all take a day of, the world stops, they need us. We can change the world, we have the skills, we have the resources, we have the numbers, all we lack is is the will to take that one step, stop working until we have reorganised the world.

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BED FELLOWS.

    Over the last few days I have come to the conclusion that when the Pope visits this country nothing happens in the world. There is obviously nothing to report, nothing of importance being said or happening. Every newspaper you pick up has page after page of photos of faces and crowds, headline after headline of the same event. Interviews with the mesmerised members of the "flock" who all make meaningless statements which we have grown to expect from the followers of this mass hysteria.

       All it shows is that the so called "newspapers" have nothing to do with news and all to do with propaganda. We are being drowned in a tsunami of irrational gibberish as if it was the accepted way of life of the people of this country. This is an organisation that is having trouble recruiting and swaths of those it has recruited are paedophiles and child abusers, only a very small number of the people of this country regularly enter the organisation's brain-washing units known as churches. It is a extremely wealth organisation that continually holds out the begging can, has repeatedly hidden abusers and silenced the abused. It preaches a dogma of repression against women and  gays, rants against the right of women to choose abortion and spouts the ridiculous rubbish that condoms spread aids.

     In spite of all its cancerous preachings, our media give it all the propaganda that it wishes, our mouth-pieces of the state, the politicians, give it the stamp of legitimacy. Of course the two corrupt power-mongers are well matched. 

    As long as the church and/or the state hold sway, freedom will be an elusive prize.

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SEX AND THE POPE??

     

     We all know that the Catholic church preaches repression, sexual repression being at its foundation. Women are second class citizens as far as the Catholic church is concerned, unclean in fact. If it wasn't for Eve and her weakness we would all be living in the Garden of Eden, women are flawed. That doesn't say much for the creator, after all he only made two humans and got one wrong.

      This organisation is lead by a former member of the Hitler Youth movement who has presided over a cesspool of paedophiles and abuser.

      This organisation, like all religions, heaps suffering and misery on the lives of millions across the globe with its views on so many things from contraception, aids, gays and abortion, plus the influence it wields in the corridors of power, an influence out of all proportion to the number of the faithful practitioners. Poly Toynbee's comment in the Guardian is very apt when it comes to the Catholic Church's view on aids, " Ann Widdecombe's riposte that the Catholic church runs more Aids clinics than any single nation was like suggesting the Spanish Inquisition ran the best rehab clinics for torture victims." 

Read the full article here.

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THE GLASGOW MAFIA STRIKE AGAIN!!

     Geesus, they never give up, you have got to hand it to them for persistence. I am of course referring to our beloved Glasgow City Council, also known as the Mafia in George Square, previously known as the Purcell Gang. They keep coming up with ideas to turn Glasgow's public parks into commercial buildings, private car parks or privately owned expensive play pens for the for those with a large disposable income.

     We have had the wonderful idea of turning part of Victoria Park into a car park, then there was the one about Botanical Gardens housing a night club and café, and we all remember the Pollok Park private play pen where you could have a shot on their swings at £45 a go. There was the other idea of a café and car park in Kelvin Grove Park and having been rebuffed on all of these baffling ideas they have come back with another attack on one of Glasgow's Public parks. This time it is a charity and café in Ruchill Park. These people seem to have an aversion to green spaces except around the leafy suburbs where they live.

     This latest attempt at hiving off Glasgow's public green spaces is in an area where there is an abundance of vacant ground lying derelict waiting for some sort of amenity to spring to enrich the lives of the community. If the Mafia in George Square wish, I'll take them by the hand round the district and show them acres of space for development that would not damage one blade of grass. To build privately run concrete and tarmac on the one green area in the centre of this district would diminish the quality of life in the area. There are all sorts of ludicrous rumblings coming from the mouths of the Mafia, “- it will bring visitors to the Ruchill Park area from all over Scotland and raise the profile of the park and the north of Glasgow.” Once again, turn it into a tourist attraction and to hell with the local people. Building on the park would be blatant destruction of the limited amenities available to the local people of Ruchill.

      Their other attempts to hand Glasgow's Parks to the private sector have been stopped, let's organise to make sure this latest proposed sale of our public assets is stopped in its tracks.

 

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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.

 

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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.
 
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WHO ARE WE?

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

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