THE END IS NEAR???

       While we hear of the demonstrations in Greece and see the scenes of violence and repression on our screens the message seems to be that it is just Greece that is the problem, and once that is sorted everything will be just fine. However, as I keep saying, this is not a national problem, it is not something that the Greek people have done wrong and now they have to pay. What is happening in Greece is happening across the developed world, it is all a matter of degree. You would be hard pushed to find a country in the developed world that doesn't have mass demonstrations by the ordinary people shouting against what is being imposed on them by the financial Mafia. Country after country is ripping up the “social contract” with its people and forcing through “austerity” measures, in other words taking the contents of the public purse and giving it to the bankers, at the dictate of the corporate fascists.

     Each country likes to portray the unrest in other countries to convey the impression that we're OK, It is that other bunch over there that has the problems. However, if you have a system where there is not a country in that system that doesn't have mass angry demonstrations day in day out, weekend after weekend, then you have to ask yourself, is this system working? Is this system seeing to the needs of the people? Is this system worth keeping? Or is this a system that only sees to the desires of a small bunch of parasites at the expense of the vast majority of the people? What we are facing is a system of corporate fascism, an elitist system that will crush any group of people in an attempt to hold onto that privileged position, today Greece, to morrow Portugal, then Ireland, Spain and Italy with perhaps Romania and Hungary along the way. Meanwhile, those who don't suffer the same deprivation, cruelty and insult as the Greek people will still be hit with “austerity” cuts and the demise of the social fabric of our society.

GREECE.

SPAIN.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17090994

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17067246

HUNGARY

http://thecontrarianhungarian.wordpress.com/2012/01/02/civil-sphere-and-grassroots-protests-in-hungary-december-2011/

PORTUGAL.

http://www.portugaldailyview.com/01-whats-new/crisis-troika-arrives-today-in-portugal-amid-growing-social-discomfort

ITALY.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/01/23/uk-italy-strikes-idUKTRE80M14Y20120123

ROMANIA.

http://blog.inkerman.com/index.php/2012/01/16/romanian-unrest-an-engine-for-change-protest-bucharest-violence-basescu-romanian-riot/

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SYNTHETIC MEAT FACTORY!!!

      For many years I have been ranting that the food industry no longer has a connection with agriculture as we envisage it, The food industry is now part and parcel of the chemical industry. Everything we eat, has been processed through a multitude of chemicals, some for flavour, (who wants natural flavours) colouring, (who wants natural colour) and shelf life (who wants fresh food). Then of course there is the production end, the fields and the animals. Everything that grows is treated with pesticides, chemical fertilisers and growth enhancers. The animals and farmed fish are pumped full of growth hormones and antibiotics to the extent that we are now being faced with bacteria that is resistant to any of our known antibiotics, leaving us to face diseases that we can't treat. What might surprise you is that of all the antibiotics sold in America, only about 20% goes to sick people, most of the rest finds its way to the farmed animals and fish. All this is done for profit, not for our health and well being. The image of farms with animals being cared for and tended with a touch of humanity and fed on natural produce is an illusion, it is factory farming on a vast scale for the vast majority of livestock.

       Not content with turning animals and fish into factory produced items, we now have the news that a Dutch university has managed to come up with the first laboratory produce synthetic “meat”. Muscle fibre produced from stem cells has been grown in their laboratory, they commented that “unfortunately it is white”, but they are planning to mix it with blood, (from who or what?) and fat, (from who or what?) and by August they hope to have a hamburger. Any takers for the first bite??

       How far from the natural world will they take our diet? Can you imagine a world where you can be shown round the pork making factory and next door is the meat making factory, while down the road is the fish making factory and the fruit making factory. Of course they are all in very close proximity to the corporate chemical plant. Is this the world you want to leave to your grand kids? Well like it or not, that is the road we are going, unless we change the system, but don't expect that change to come from those who stand to gain billions from this bizarre and unnatural route, there will always be enough fresh natural food at a price for them.

ann arky's home.

FINANCIAL MARKETS HAVE NO ETHICS.

        Something that is lacking in all the debate about the Greek debt is the actual suffering of the Greek people. We get long academic out pourings on all the minute detail in economic parlance. We get varitions on the possible effects on this country's banking system and that country's banking system. We are given %'s of debt to GDP, interest rates on the bond markets. We can have the first 20 minutes or so of the evening news on the miriad of statements from the various finance ministers across Europe, telling us banks will have to increase their capital, or banks will have to lend more. However what we don't get is the increase in suicides, the increase in mental health problems, the break down in social relationships, the increase in malnutrition, the increase in drug and alcohol abuse. We are not told that deprivation among the ordinary greek people has gone stratosheric, nor are we told that there are now more than 20,000 homeless in Athens, an ever increasing number of soup kitchens are handing out a bowl of food too an ever increasing army of hungry. There are counties in other parts of the world where these conditions would have aid pouring into them from the West.

      This is the price in human suffering that the Greek people are expected to pay, and pay for at least a couple of generations in an endeavour to save the billionaire bond markets from taking a loss. The financial markets played a dangerous game of throwing cheap magic unearned money at everybody and everything and now they want it all back and it's the people that are expected to pay. We have a system where debt and profit are away more valuable than people, that surely is unacceptable, but don't expect the 1% billionaires to want in any way to change that relationship. Any change will have to come from the 99%, those at the receiving and of this financial corporate fascism's plunder of the public purse. The following is from Two Minds. 

     The potential for loss and actually bearing the consequences from irresponsible extensions of credit was unacceptable to the banking cartel, so they rewrote the laws. Now student loans in America cannot be discharged in bankruptcy court; they are permanent and must be carried and serviced until death. This is the acme of debt-serfdom.

      The global banking cartel has declared Greece's debts to be permanent and its people debt-serfs. More precisely, some privately held debt will be written down, but certainly not all of it, and the debt owed to the European Central Bank cannot be written down a single euro: Greece must pay the interest on the full debt, whatever the costs to its people.

     We might ask why the fully-financialized Status Quo of financial and political Elites so carefully insures no shadow of ethics passes over the Greek debt crisis: If they did, it would become obvious that when debt becomes more important than people, the system is evil and should be dismantled.

CONTINUE READING:

 

 ann arky's home.

UNION BUSTIN' IS WORLD WIDE.

Another call from Labour Start, for solidarity:

Ten union leaders - eight of them women - have been fired because they dared to organize.

      They work for Euro S.A. in Ica, Peru, a profitable agricultural export plantation. Euro S.A. is owned by Agricola Athos, which operates in five different regions in Peru and supplies produce to countries in Europe, Asia, and North America. The firings of these workers is part of a pattern of union-busting in Peru.

       We've been asked by the Confederación General de Trabajadores del Perú (CGTP), the largest national trade union center in the country, help get these workers their jobs back and to get their union recognized.

Please take a moment to send off your message - click here:

Peru: Stop union-busting, reinstate sacked union leaders

And please spread the word in your union.

In brief ...

             Last week we announced preliminary results of the Second Annual Survey of Trade Union Use of the Net -- results which we'd like to share with you and your union. I think we learned some interesting things which will help us as trade unionists make better use of the new technology.      

Read our report here.

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THE SCUM IS RISING FROM THE SEWER.

         It would appear that the Scottish Defence League (SDL) intend to hold a “static” demonstration somewhere in the centre of Glasgow on Saturday February 25. It is up to the Glasgow citizens to turn up in their hundreds and show their disgust and hatred of this fascist off-shoot of the English Defence League/BNP Nazi grouping. The ordinary people of Glasgow should make it quite clear that there is no room on our streets for this bunch of racist/Nazi/fascist scum. These people have been responsible for intimidation and violence against any group that shows any form of libertarian views. They have attacked stalls in the city centre because they don't like what they say. When ever these brainless clones raise their empty heads above the sewer it is with the intention of intimidation and violence, they get off on doing Nazi salutes in front of a mirror, we should not allow them to create divisions with in our class, we are all being exploited by the same corporate greed machine, even the Nazi scum, but they are too stupid to realise that fact. They should not be let out alone.

         At a time when we are facing an all out attack on our living standards from the corporate fascist, these brain dead street fascists seek to find scapegoats. It can be anyone who is different, immigrants, people of colour, those with a different religion, all they do is create divisions in the working class making it easier for the corporate fascists to plunder the public purse. The ordinary people have a common cause against the corporate world that is destroying the very fabric of our society, there is only one division, those who own and control the means of production and distribution, and the ordinary people, those exploited of this system. We can't allow the brain dead fascists of the SDL ilk to divert us from our resolve to win a better life for all.

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FINANCIAL COLONIALISM.

        The corporate fascists continue with their hatchet job on the Greek people and at the same time having imposed an financial technocrat as boss of the Greek government, they are now intent on demolishing any semblance of democracy that the Greek people ever had. As well as demanding that the politicians put in writing that they will carry on with the “austerity” measures as directed by the corporate fascists, even after new elections, they are also demanding that they put officials in place in Greece to run the Greek fiscal policies. It is modern colonialism, corporate financial colonialism. What is more there is nothing that says that they can not, and will not, do the same to Italy, Spain, Portugal, Romania, or any other country that they feel they need to, to protect their billions and their power. After all they already have installed a Goldman Sachs hit man to run Italy. We, the ordinary people have to stand with the Greek people, we have to accept that this is not a national struggle, it is international struggle and only by international solidarity of all our people do we have a hope in hell of defeating this corporate assault on all our living conditions.

EDINBURGH.

       It is encouraging to see that there have been demonstrations of solidarity with the Greek people across Europe and there has also been demonstrations of solidarity in the US. Are we slowly awakening to the reality of our situation?  Just some of the support for the Greek people from around the world, may it rapidly grow. 

MADRID.

ATLANTA

GERMANY.

CHICAGO.

CYPRUS.

SYDNEY.

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THE CROOKS AND LIARS AT IT AGAIN.

         You are probably used to it, the public outcry against a particular piece of intended legislation and the powers that be, say the will hold a consultation on the matter. So you feel confident because there are so many against it, but somehow at the end of the consultation the opposition is thrown out, very strange. Your puzzled, well the following extract from Ben Goldacre helps to explain how the system works. They call it democracy, I call it smoke and mirrors, a con trick, but what do you expect from crooks and liars? So you'll know what to expect from Camerons consultation on his Health and Welfare Reform Bill.

     David Cameron is holding an emergency summit about the troubled NHS bill on Monday. There has been a lot of chatter on twitter about who is, and is not, invited. It's notable, for example, that the elected head of the Royal College of GPs has not been invited: the NHS bill is all about putting power in the hands of GPs, but they have such serious concerns about the bill that they've called, with regret, for it to be dismissed. Continue READING:

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PAN-EUROPEAN CLASS WAR.

       Since the Sunday night's demonstrations of anger in Greece there has been calls for solidarity from cities across Europe. Perhaps the people of Europe are beginning to realise that what is happening in Greece is their struggle, the Greek people are not responsible for this corporate plunder of the public purse and what is happening in Greece will in all possibility be happen in countries across Europe, it will all be a matter of degree, how much the corporate fascists think they can get away with.

This from Germany

     Let’s organize gatherings from 13-2/2012, by 20.00 MEZ, at central railway station forecourts and show our solidarity with the social rebellion —today, not tomorrow.

   The nationalist and racist resentments against Greece are unbearable. Politics, mass media and large misinformed parts of the German population fail and lie deliberately in their ‘analysis’ of the current state of the capitalist system. The effects of the Troika’s strangleholds are being trivialized, thus devaluing the justified protest.

   In Athens and in many other cities, the resistance has now reached a new peak. We cannot leave the victims of the very capitalist system alone, nor allow that people are ripped off their human dignity. We must not fall into the trap of those in Power who want us to turn against each other in order to succeed in their plans.

We are left only with solidarity; otherwise the case of Greece will become a paradigm for us all.

Denmark

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SAVE OUR NHS, NO PRIVATISATION.

Rally to Save Our NHS
7 March, 18.00-19.30. Central Hall,
Westminster and streamed LIVE online

Sign up now to take part

      Those who work in the NHS and those who use it are telling the government they must think again about their controversial Health and Social Care Bill.

        The Bill is still in the House of Lords and this is our best chance to change the proposals before it returns to the Commons, where the government can rely on party whips to get it passed.

        We still have time to stand up and defend the NHS – and show peers, MPs and ministers just how unpopular these proposals are.

       The All Together for the NHS campaign are organising an evening rally in Westminster, opposite Parliament, to show the breadth of opposition to the Bill.

        Please show your support by coming to the rally in person if you can, or pledging to attend our ‘virtual rally’ live online.

       We’ll be asking those who can’t get to London to tune in for a webcast of the live event, and to make as much noise online as they can. Tweet about it, blog and comment about it, or share it on social networks. We can get the internet buzzing in a way the government can’t ignore.

Sign up now to come to London, or to take part online

Organised by the All together for the NHS campaign –
health professionals, patients and the public standing up for our NHS.

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PICKET ATOS GLASGOW.

Picket Atos

Friday 17th February 2012

4pm-5pm

Atos Medical Assessment Centre,

Corunna House,

29 Cadogan Street,

Glasgow G2 7AB.

Against the latest Atos and DWP con:

Atos and the DWP are conning people into signing on for Job Seekers Allowance when they get turned down for sickness benefit. This means they are forced into applying for jobs that loads of other people are applying for and as most people win their appeal against getting turned down for sickness benefit with the help of an advice centre it also means a lot of sick and disabled people are being harassed into applying for jobs that they are too ill to carry out. If claimants just ask for a reappraisal their money is reduced until they win their appeal, but they are not forced to job search or restart their claim for sickness benefit from scratch and they will get their sickness benefit back-dated.

We also want to let claimants know that it is fairly easy to appeal against being placed in the Work Related Activity Group on Employment Support Allowance (the new name for sickness benefit). In this situation you get sickness benefit, but they try to harass sick and disabled claimants off ESA by forcing them to attend regular interviews over a number of months.

We will be giving advice leaflets to sick and disabled claimants outside Atos, but please share this information with anyone you know on sickness benefit:

Good morning, I'm your new assessor.

What to do if you 'fail' a Work Capability Assessment -

http://thecrutchcollective.blogspot.com/2012/02/what-to-do-if-you-fail-your-work.html

How to prepare for an ESA Tribunal Hearing -

http://thecrutchcollective.blogspot.com/p/how-to-prepare-for-esa-tribunial.html 

We will also continue to inform the public of how Atos are helping the government make the sick and disabled pay for the public debt caused by the greed of bankers and the inevitable booms and busts of capitalist economics:

http://thecrutchcollective.blogspot.com/p/atos-robbing-poor-to-give-to-rich.html

thecrutchcollective@gmail.com

http://thecrutchcollective.blogspot.com/

Facebook Event Page:

http://www.facebook.com/events/190066311101505/?context=create#!/events/190066311101505/

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PROTECTORS OF LAW AND ORDER????

         What is obviously a peaceful march taking place in Thessalonika, is attacked from the rear by police who are out to intimidate and provoke. Police brutality is nothing new at large demonstrations, no matter the country, but in Greece at the moment they seem to have a completely free hand to dish out whatever brutal treatment they wish. It is in situations like this that it becomes blatantly obvious that the powers of "law and order" don't really give a shit about "law and order", it is all about control.

ann arky's home.

GLOBAL SOLIDARITY IS ESSENTIAL.

        We should never forget that our struggle is global, it has to be, those who are exploiting the ordinary people are organised on a global scale. It is no longer the boss who lives up the hill, it is the boss who works in marble halls somewhere thousands of miles from your workplace. Only when we link up and organise on a global scale can we hope to win a decent life for all our people.

SOLIDARITY.

This fromIUF:

        The human resources manager at Nestlé's Kabirwala dairy factory has been ordered to appear before the Punjab High Court for repeatedly showing contempt for court orders to reinstate the unfairly terminated President of the Nestlé Kabirwala Workers Action Committee, Ashfaq Butt. The HR manager's contempt citation is one in a long series of violations committed by Nestlé over the course of more than 2 years as part of management's brutal response to the contract workers' struggle for their rights.

       Nestlé has not only repeatedly violated court orders, Pakistan law and international standards and Conventions in its ruthless drive against the contract workers and the union which is supporting them. The company has falsely implicated Butt in four fabricated police cases, and he is only free on bail. Nestlé continues to pressure workers into withdrawing their legal claims for reinstatement, has created over 100 permanent positions for workers who do not support the Kabirwala workers' struggle for their rights, and is promoting a rival group of contract workers with an eye to provoking clashes in order to fabricate still more criminal cases.

Click here to send a message to Nestlé, telling them to Stop Nespressure and respect trade union rights in Pakistan!

Read the full story here.

Join the Stop Nespressure! campaign on Facebook

Ron Oswald
General Secretary, IUF

International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF)

8, rampe du Pont-Rouge
1213 Petit Lancy, Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 793 22 33
Fax: +41 22 793 22 38
website: www.iuf.org

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IT'S TRUE, ANARCHY IS FOR LOVERS.

            There is so much going on in this world of corporate fascism, the struggle seems endless. As always, anarchists are at the forefront of any struggle for the freedom of the individual, the well being of humanity and freedom from the exploitation of people by wealth and power. Sometimes we are so involved in struggle and strife that we can lose sight of why we are fighting. It is not because of our love of fighting, it is not because the only way we can exist is by struggle. It is the opposite, it is because of our love, our love of freedom, not just for ourselves but for all, it is because of our love of the individual and their right to a decent life, it is because of our love of the coming generations. In spite of the bad publicity given to anarchists by the mainstream media, love is the foundation of anarchism. So on this day, February 14 we would like to take our rightful place among the lovers of this world and declare, anarchy is for lovers.

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BIG BROTHER, -- HE NEVER GOES AWAY!!

        Under our present system you can rest assured that big brother is alive and well. Not only that but he is always trying to take his control a little bit further, little by little, but it is relentless. All the extra control mechanisms come under various guises, “war-on-terrorism” seen some of the most direct attacks on our civil liberties, but “national security” usually tops the lot. Who decides the “national security”, a rich cabal with vested interests, interests that we will never be told of, but will shape the decisions that they make. This from Liberty.

For Their Eyes Only – a new campaign

Today Liberty launches a new campaign against Government proposals to extend the use of secret evidence and closed courts.

Some things are best kept secret, like a secret valentine. Other things demand nothing less than openness and scrutiny – like justice and fair trials.

The Government’s Justice and Security Green paper undermines these centuries-old principles by allowing the deeply flawed and unfair Closed Material Procedure system to spread way beyond the boundaries of national security into any area of civil law concerning material which might ‘damage the public interest’.

This could include civil actions against the police for assault or false imprisonment; personal injury claims brought by ex-servicemen against the Ministry of Defence; class actions against Government or big business and even inquests.

Liberty believes that these proposals are designed to put the Government above the law and keep the rest of us in the dark – shutting out bereaved families, the public and the press.

Find out more by visiting www.ForTheirEyesOnly.co.uk

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THE AMERICAN RECOVERY, POVERTY AND TENT CITIES.

         As the populations of countries across the developed world face a brutal attack on their living standards from the financial Mafia, we keep getting told it is the “economy” and all this suffering is necessary to get the economy going again. We are also told that the American “economy” is recovering, so everything should be OK. Well we can accept that most of the “good news” is bullshit propaganda approaching the Presidential elections, Obama needs some help.

      Let's take the poverty in America, it is estimated that there are more than 47 million Americans living below the poverty level, on top of that there are approximately 5,000 people living in tent cities, with an estimated 55 such tent cities dotted around America. The largest of these ironically, is not that far from Disneyworld in Florida, where approximately 300 people live in tents on a 13 acre site. Most of these sites don't have electricity and the sanitation leaves much to be desired. On top of that most can't even feed themselves, they rely on charity. The BBC covers some aspects of this situation in its Panorama program.

       The following extract is another take on the American “recovery” and it is well worth reading the full article.

The other day I was struck by this wierd feeling of deja vu. Where had I seen this kind of listlessness before? Where had I observed this sort of laggard, slumping despair? Then I remembered. It was back in Russia during the Yeltsin years. It was the exact same atmosphere: Things were shitty and getting worse. Life was shabby and dilapidated. Their rulers were corrupt and didn’t give a damn. Cosmically rich oligarchs were cannibalizing the country, and the system was so badly broken there wasn’t a damn thing anyone could do about it. Drink up. Continue reading;

  This austerity is necessary for the recovery.

         Like I keep on spouting, we have to stop looking to our “own” bunch of political crooks and liars to sort it out for us, and realise that this is an international war. This is the world wide corporate fascists plundering the ordinary people of the world, your “own” little bunch of crooks and liars are not on your side. If they even hint at improving the social fabric of society, the big financial boys will have you down graded, grab their capital and leave, or they might just do as they have done in Greece and Italy, suspend your so called “democratically elected” government and put one of their henchmen in to take charge, to get you back on the right track of austerity and handing them the public purse.

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THE SHATTERED ILLUSION OF DEMOCRACY.

       As the Greek people pause for a breath, the corporate fascists are not content with sacrificing the Greek people on the alter of financial greed, having demolished the illusion of democracy in that country they are now set on ensuring that there will be no democracy for the Greek people for the foreseeable future. The IMF (International Mankind Fuckers) having got the agreement it wanted from their henchman in charge of the Greek parliament, they now want it signed in blood, so as to prevent any change to the agreement after the April elections. What that means is that the Greek political parties can't go to the electorate with a manifesto of any form of change, they must promise to carry on with the IMF manifesto of looting the public purse to the benefit of the corporate fascists. This makes the elections a bigger farce than usual, they will not be able to offer the promise of anything different than the IMF have decreed. What are the elections for? Merely to bring in some new administrators of the IMF policies. Who controls Greece, if not the people, then it is the despots of the corporate fascists sitting in their marble halls thousands of miles from Athens. We in other countries should not feel complacent, the same corporate fascists control the developed world, how hard they will hit you will depend on how much the need to, to protect their wealth and power.

ann arky's home.

A TAX ON CREATIVITY.

          The Mafia in George Square Glasgow seem to be determined to turn Glasgow into a cultural wilderness. Their latest venture to extract more money from its hard pressed citizens will most certainly put an end to a whole host of small events. The only way groups and individuals will be able to carry the cost of this new tax, will be to pass it onto the public. I'm not talking about the big multi-million celebrities affairs, they already rip us off. It is more the DIY events, the small gigs to raise funds, the small independent exhibition to introduce an artists work, the community event to help the community, free or chargeable, it will be hit by this added tax.

http://www.change.org/petitions/the-scottish-government-scrap-public-entertainment-licence-fees?utm_medium=facebook

 Why This Is Important.

        The implementation of hefty fees to obtain a Public Entertainment Licence for exhibitions and events—including those to be held free of charge—is practically extortion and will cripple grass-roots art and culture in Glasgow. Small, independent venues such as coffee shops who support artists and performers by hosting free events will not be able to sustain the fees announced.

       It is a tax on arts and entertainment. Glasgow City Council must urgently review this and scrap the proposed fees.

Council briefing note:

http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/57F0A7CC-ADC8-4798-BC8B-9E7A5C97F9F0/0/BriefingNotePEL.pdf

Proposed fees:

http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/en/Business/Licences/Entertainment/TemporaryPublicEntertainmentLicensing.htm

Press coverage:

http://www.heraldscotland.com/mobile/news/home-news/warning-new-law-puts-city-art-scene-in-danger.16724126

The Bigger Picture

       This petition is a response to Glasgow City Council's announcement that from 1 April 2012, a licence will be required to hold free events such as exhibitions and performances. Previously a licence was only required for events charging admission. We, the undersigned, believe this change will be damaging to the foundations of Glasgow's art community and wish to have the changes repealed.

        Visual art thrives in Glasgow. The Arts and Humanities Research Council have recently awarded £122,500 to the Glasgow School of Art for the express purpose of studying the phenomenon known as the "Glasgow Miracle" - the overwhelming success of art in Glasgow. (BBC News 2012) For many artists, gallerists, and enthusiasts the explanation of this success is simple: art in Glasgow is driven by a core community of hard-working, early- to mid-career artists with a strong do-it-yourself ethos. Artists in Glasgow take empty warehouses, factories, shops, offices and transform them into vibrant, productive spaces. Locations such as IRONBBRATZ Studios, based in a former Merchant City office, demonstrate Glasgow's resourcefulness in utilising unconventional spaces to host events featuring both local and international talent. To require artist-led initiatives such as these to apply for licences to host free events would exhaust small budgets.

         The application fee for a Public Entertainment Licence is costly - based on the previous year's figures the licences range from £120 to £7500. It is also a lengthy process, requiring months of notice to the Council and 21 days of public notice via signage posted on location. Artist collective The Mutual, for example, do not have permanent premises and rather host exhibitions in a variety of venues, each of which would require licensing under the amended law. It would almost certainly bring a close to the "pop up" exhibition in Glasgow - the use of empty shops between leases as temporary exhibition spaces. The months of planning required to apply for a Public Entertainment Licence would undermine the spontaneity and flexibility required of such events and organizations.

      Glasgow's art community has produced a number of exceptional talents, and notably the last three Turner Prizes have been awarded to artists with connections to the city. Events such as the Glasgow International and Merchant City Festival coordinate programming throughout a variety of small venues to create weeks of attractions, generating both cultural interest and valuable tourism. Inspired by a long local history of exhibitions in temporary venues, the Glasgow International in particular has been so successful as to serve as a model for similar events in other cities and countries. This kind of success is built upon a strong foundation of artist-led initiatives and independent exhibitions which will be undoubtedly stifled under the new regulations.

      This legislation will impact sectors beyond the visual arts; community organizations, clubs and activity groups, students, charities and performers of all types will feel the restrictions imposed by this licensing change. It will also have a direct impact on local shops, landlords, restaurants, pubs and tourism. The arts in Glasgow generate a substantial economy for local business owners, without which many would suffer.

        Requiring all public events, regardless of size or entry charge, to register for licensing allows the city council to determine what events it deems suitable for public audiences. It jeopardizes not only visual arts in Glasgow but also freedoms of expression and assembly. The changes to public entertainment licensing cannot as they stand be allowed to come into effect. We demand these changes be reassessed with careful consideration of the cultural and financial impact they will have on Glasgow as a whole.

"BBC News." School of Art awarded grant to probe 'Glasgow Miracle'. January 18, 2012. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-16603378.

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