Workers Know Your History - Athens Polytechnic, November 14 1973.

 

      At the moment Greece is in the hands of a fascist grouping, directed by the financial mafia in the name of the Troika. The recent history of the people of Greece has been a long and brutal struggle against tyranny of one sort or another. It has been one continuous struggle for freedom since the German occupation during the Second World War. November 14 is an important date in that struggle.

 

     November 1973 saw the start of the massive uprising in Athens against the military junta. It started at the Athens Polytechnic on November 14, and rapidly escalated to a popular anti-junta revolt. It turned into a brutal shedding of Greek blood, when in the early hours of November 17, tanks crashed through the gates of the Polytechnic. The Junta was eventually overthrown. Sadly that struggle for freedom has been way-laid by the corrupt system of “representative democracy” which has led to the present situation where the people of Greece are being raped and plundered by the financial Mafia and offered up on the altar of corporatism. Though the uprising started on November 14, the people of Greece mark the event with large demonstrations on November 17, to honour those brutally killed and injured in the start of Junta reprisals. Demotix has some photos.

 

     However the struggle continues, not just in Greece, but across the world, people are now aware of the greed and exploitation of this system of capitalism and are rising up against the inequality and in justice. Just as the military Junta was overthrown, so will capitalism, but this time we will get it right.

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A Bird With Two Right Wings.

     I like this poem by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, poet and left activist, though he is speaking about America, it fits well with our own political system here in the UK. You can find more of Ferlinghetti's poems on Poem Hunter.

Bird With Two Right Wings

And now our government
a bird with two right wings
flies on from zone to zone
while we go on having our little fun & games
at each election
as if it really mattered who the pilot is
of Air Force One
(They're interchangeable, stupid!)
While this bird with two right wings
flies right on with its corporate flight crew
And this year its the Great Movie Cowboy in the cockpit
And next year its the great Bush pilot
And now its the Chameleon Kid
and he keeps changing the logo on his captains cap
and now its a donkey and now an elephant
and now some kind of donkephant
And now we recognize two of the crew
who took out a contract on America
and one is a certain gringo wretch
who's busy monkeywrenching
crucial parts of the engine
and its life-support systems
and they got a big fat hose
to siphon off the fuel to privatized tanks
And all the while we just sit there
in the passenger seats
without parachutes
listening to all the news that's fit to air
over the one-way PA system
about how the contract on America
is really good for us etcetera
As all the while the plane lumbers on
into its postmodern
manifest destiny

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

 

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World Wide Solidarity.

An appeal for world wide solidarity from IUF:

Colombian trade unionist murdered! Oscar López Triviño was murdered on November 9 in the Colombian city of Bugalagrande a day after he and other members of his union, SINALTRAINAL, received death threats from paramilitaries. The union had been on hunger strike at Nestlé beginning November 5. The IUF joins with the national center CUT and unions around the world in condemning this assassination of yet another Colombian trade unionist and calls on the government to swiftly bring the perpetrators and organizers of this crime to justice through a full and transparent investigation, and to provide all necessary security for other union members at high risk. Click here to send a message to the government of Colombia!

E-mail: iuf@iuf.org Rampe du Pont-Rouge, 8, CH-1213, Petit-Lancy (Switzerland) www.iuf.org Follow us on Facebook and Twitter Subscribe to IUF NEWS by e-mail  Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Employers' Grand Theft.

      We are always hearing our UK lords and masters, the millionaire cabal, spouting about being tough on crime. Top of their list are “benefit cheats”, though when it comes to fraud ,this group is small-fry. Benefit fraud compared to tax avoidance, is just a fraction. According to the DWP the amount lost through benefit fraud is £1.2 billion a year, but according to HMRC, the amount lost to the treasury through tax avoidance is approximately £30 billion a year, though other experts put the figure much higher. However, the smaller of the two gets pursued through the courts, while regards the larger one, we are told that the government is looking at ways of dealing with that. Benefit fraud is actually much smaller than errors in the system. The amount over paid by the DWP department errors is £2.2 billion, and the amount under paid by department errors, £1.3 billion. So what this means is that if they eradicated errors and benefit fraud tomorrow, and paid people what they were due, the benefit bill would rise. Therefore, economics would suggest that we let the "benefit cheats" carry on as usual and concentrate on the big boys, the tax avoidance mob.

        Another form of fraud that doesn't get much coverage from the powers that be, is wage theft. Figures released in the USA show that 64% of low wage workers have cash stolen from their pay packets by their employers every week. This figure includes 26% who are paid less than the minimum wage, approximately 75% of workers due overtime rates have part or all of that stolen by their employers. The figures also show that the average low wage worker is robbed by their employer of a staggering $2,634 per year in unpaid wages, which works out at about 15% of their salary. Remember, if you're a low paid worker, you are probably on or near the breadline, yet these greedy bastards steal from you.

      Although these figures are for the USA, I have no reason to believe that our UK employers are any less unscrupulous than their American counterparts. It is par for the course, exploit the employee, cheat them of as much of their agreed pittance and maximise your profit. It's called capitalism.

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Prosperity And Austerity - Them And Us.

    The European Commission has stated that the UK still has a structural government budget deficit of 5.7% of GDP, where as the eurozone as a whole has minus 1.5%. This after our millionaire cabal, sitting in those Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, have slashed our social services by attacking us with three years of “austerity” that was supposed to take us to the land of prosperity. However, the land of prosperity that they refer to is not for you and I. Austerity is now to be a permanent feature of our lives, public sector jobs will continue to be sacrificed at the alter of privatisation. Wages will continue to be squeezed well below inflation, that is the prosperity that is facing you and I. There will be no let up in the squeeze on the living conditions of the ordinary people, as this is the demand of the financial mafia, that band of thugs in suits, known as the Troika, (E.C. European Commission, E.C.B. European Central Bank, I.M.F. International Mankind Fuckers), their aim is a European sweatshop economy to compete with their Eastern sweatshop competitors. They see more prosperity for them if they can get the living conditions in Europe down to a level on par with those Eastern sweatshop countries. 

     Under the stewardship of this bunch of financial vultures, the people of Greece have been plunged to a level of deprivation not seen in Europe for many a decade. In spite of this, it is not enough, the vampire Troika, has demanded a further push to deeper deprivation for the people of Greece, and has demanded that a further 15,000 public sector jobs must go by 2015, this with unemployment at present sitting at 27% and almost 60% among the young. This is not because the Troika hates the people of Greece, this is the path they want for all of Europe, the end of the public sector, the privatising of all public assets, and a continent of low wages. Excellent fertile conditions for the corporate world to exploit and grow fatter.
     Burgeoning prosperity looms on the near horizon, but it is for the financial Mafia and their parasitic friends. This will continue unabated, unless we the people decide to take control of our own lives, destroy this festering cancer called capitalism and build that better world based on mutual aid and co-operation. There is no point in trying to modify the present system, there is no point in believing that there is such an animal as compassionate capitalism, it is a ruthless exploitative system of selfish greed and can only survive by the plundering and rape of the planet and the exploitation and enslavement of the people.

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How European Democracy Looks.

      The powers that be say that peace and democracy have reigned in Europe since the end of the second world war, well this is how it looks.

Shared from arrezafe

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International Anti-War Conference, London.

 

Speakers

      Diane Abbott MP, Tariq Ali author, Tony Benn president Stop the War, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Lindsey German convenor Stop the War, Edward Horgan Peace and Neutrality Alliance, Ireland, Kate Hudson General Secretary CND, Joan Humphreys Military Families Against the War, Owen Jones author, Mother Agnes Mariam nun based in Syria, Seumas Milne journalist, Manik Mukherjee All India Anti-imperialist Forum, Andrew Murray Unite the Union, Explo Nani-Kofi Kilombo, Ghana, Chris Nineham vice-chair Stop the War, Mitra Qayoom Afghans for Peace, Sami Ramadani Iraqi writer, John Rees author and activist, Rachel Shabi author and journalist, Jeremy Scahill filmmaker, Dirty Wars, Jonathan Steele author and journalist

Sessions

       Imperialism, war and resistance, A very short history of British imperialism, Merchants of death: drones and the arms trade, The new scramble for Africa, Taking liberties: surveillance, the state and Islamophobia, The Syrian war in context, Nato: expansion and war, Building the international movement

Background

       In a historic setback for the organisers of the War on Terror, protest and public opinion helped stop a new war on Syria. But the West continues its interventions, creating failed states in an arc from Central Asia to West Africa.

     The US is still focused on the middle east, but Obama is sending more military to encircle China and the West is ramping up its interventions in the African continent, creating ever more anger and instability.

       Next year the NATO conference is coming to Britain and the conference will launch protests in response. It will also discuss the planned withdrawal from Afghanistan which is likely to cause another crisis for the western powers.

      We need more effective anti war resistance internationally. This conference is a chance to analyse, build links and lay plans.

Time and date, venue and cost

• 10am-5pm (registration from 9am) Saturday 30 November
• Emmanuel Centre Marsham Street, London SW1P 3DW
• Nearest stations Westminster and Victoria
• Full price ticket £15 concessions £10 (unemployed/student/retired/low income)

Register

• Buy tickets online
• By telephone 020 7561 4830
• By post - cheques made payable to 'Stop the War Coalition' -
  Stop the War, 86 Durham Road, London N7 7DT

Share the event

• Invite your Facebook contacts
• Full details on the Stop the War web site
  
  
  
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You're A Virgin, You Have A Right To Education!!!!

      Is there no limit to the depths to which this homophobic world will sink?

This from watchdog.net:

   A city on Indonesia's Sumatra Island is about to force female students to pass a virginity test before they can go to high school.  Whether or not girls are virgins has nothing to do with their right to a good education. No male students are forced to undergo this humiliating exercise, one which shames sexually active teens and may expose rape victims to further abuse.

    If we don't speak out, this policy will spread in Indonesia and surrounding countries. But Indonesian authorities aren't expecting international scrutiny, which means it's the perfect time to call on Education chief Muhammad Rasyid to stop this anti-woman campaign.

Help Indonesia's girls get the education the deserve — write Rasyid today!

PETITION TO MUHAMMAD RASYID: We urge you to protect the women and girls of Sumatra and end plans to force female students to take "virginity tests" before entering high school.

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

Thanks,
-- The folks at Watchdog.net

P.S. If the other links aren't working for you, please go here to sign: http://act.watchdog.net/petitions/3799?n=43528499.ofty-7

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It's A Global Rip-off Sytstem.

        Every Thursday in Madrid, protesters, among them many pensioners, turn up to demonstrate outside the main banks such as Bankia. When Spain's property bubble burst in 2008, the banks attempted to balance their books by encouraging some 300,000 families to invest their life's savings into complex preference shares. The families say that instead of being warned of the risks, they were assured that the shares could not be safer. Now the banks are bust, the money has gone, and thousands pensioners and families have lost everything. There are thousands of arbitration cases, which can take years, and some are being offered a fraction of their savings. Of course to be a 70+ year old pensioner and told that your case will take years and it will be a fraction of what you had, is hardly justice. That money didn't just vanish into thin air, it went somewhere, just one of the many ways this system siphons wealth upwards to the pampered parasitic class.

 Photo from Demotix.

 

       Another way to syphon wealth from the ordinary people to that group of leeches, is to sell off public assets. Staying with Madrid, there have been protests there against the selling off of publicly owned affordable housing stock, to venture capitalists, which results in increased rents and evictions. This is the way this system, controled by the financial Mafia, works, everything can become a money-maker, all you have to do is force the ordinary people to pay, if they don't, then like the banks, steal their money, or the venture capitalists, evict them.

Photo from Demotix.

  

Main banner of the demonstration, in Spanish: 'Right to housing for everyone, out vulture funds. Against the financial scam'.

        This is Spain, but it is not unique, across the globe the pattern is the same, it is a world wide con-system, a universal rip-off, a system that for the many, it produces struggle, poverty and deprivation, for the few, opulence. When the financial Mafia talk of growth, they are talking about their balance sheets, that need have nothing beneficial for you and I. The system is run by the wealthy parasites and everything they do will be to protect and increase that wealth, we are incidental to them, to be used, or abandoned as surplus to requirements. Is this what we want for our kids and grandkids? The choice is ours to make, we can destroy this greed drive system of exploitation, and replace it with one that sees to the needs of all our people. We have the imagination, the ability and the resources, all that is missing is the will. Think, what type of heritage do you want to leave to the next generation? 

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Solidarity Benefit Gig.

 

This from The Greek Streets.

Hip hop against fascism benefit event: London, Saturday November 16

Hip-Hop Against Fascism Benefit Event” – a night dedicated to Killah P.



Saturday 16 November 2013 from 6pm onwards / info line: 07502202177 or asflondon@gmail.com / entrance £3 donation.
All funds raised from this event will go to those arrested in the anti-fascist protests following Pavlos’ death.
Line up:
* Caxton Press
* Big Cakes
* Awate
* Logic
* Wildeye
* Mc Dekay & Act on Words
* Dope Biscuits
* Sensei C & Ruby Kid
Dj sets:
* Dj Snuff
* Dj Steaz
* Dj Dissident Island Radio
and of course discussions, films, food & bar!!!
spread the word.

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My Barcelona Holiday Snaps.

     I recently had a short break in Barcelona, and found it a fascinating place. We walked everywhere and covered a fair bit of the city, and saw the usual contrasts we are accustomed to in capitalist cities. There are places of beauty and tranquility,

of course that doesn't mean that all is well and everybody is happy. As a matter of fact there seemed to be some people who had a distinct dislike for banks!!

    We also went to a large squat, but alas, it had been evicted some time earlier. The front of the building was covered in a magnificent mural, what a shame it was boarded up, the usual state repression on self expression.

    Another notable sign of state repression was watching the African migrants selling their wares on the busy streets of the city. They had developed a wonderful strategy for making a quick get-away when ever a police presence appeared. All their wares were spread out on a sheet, the corners of the sheet had thin ropes tied to them and the seller held the ropes, which were tied together, were held in one hand, as soon as the state enforcers appeared they simply pulled the ropes and slung the sheet over their shoulder and scampered off in different directions. While sitting sipping coffee at a pavement cafe, I saw them quickly melt into the crowd on two occasions as a police van came slowly round a corner. I always marvel at human ingenuity.

   We also visited the CNT library, and found it full of very interesting "things" and people, though language was a problem.

 

     However, the highlight of the visit was to the "Local" a wonderful anarchist centre, which has been there for 27 years. It was an Aladdin's cave of books, t-shirts, badges, CDs, history and wonderful friendly people. There were rooms for meetings and other resources for helping them with their campaigns, both local and national. I left feeling a bit envious, as we here in Glasgow have nothing remotely like their "Local". Sadly when I got home I discovered I hadn't taken a photo of that wonderful centre, so all I have is the memory.

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When Anger Reaches Critical Mass??

      As I keep spouting, there isn't a country on the planet that hasn't got people on the streets, venting their anger and disgust at the present system, voicing their outrage at the injustice and inequality that blights so many people's lives, all in the midst of unbelievable wealth. We struggle to survive surrounded by opulence. More and more people are realising this is not necessary, we are capable of seeing to the needs of all our people, but are hindered by a bunch of greedy pampered parasites who attempt to lock us into a system that feeds their bloated bank accounts at the expense of the well being of the people.

    I believe that awareness is the first step to change, and awareness is spreading rapidly across the continents of this world. People no longer accept the political system, and in most cases hold the political class in contempt, seeing them as the paid managers of a corporate system of greed and exploitation. Is that feeling of anger, disgust, reaching the critical point where change is unstoppable, where the old system will be demolished and that better world built in its place? If so, we need to have in our minds what that better world will look like, we need to clarify our desires and the principles on which to build that better world for our kids and grandkids. We need to think mutual aid, co-operation, equality, dignity and justice for all, we must put the needs of all our people as the basic building blocks, and build on sustainability.

      In America, that country at the pinnacle of the capitalist system, where, if it did what it says on the packet, everybody should be doing great. However, in that land of super capitalism, poverty, deprivation, and growing anger are the odours that fill the air. 

This from Workers World:

What will it take to defeat dead-end capitalism?

Dear sisters and brothers,

     There is a big change taking place in the United States this year. It has not yet been seen in mass outbreaks of struggle. But it is there. You can almost feel it, breathe it in the air. It is a growing change in the consciousness of the working class. It is especially strong among its most impoverished and oppressed sectors, including immigrants, but it is everywhere.

There is:

•  A growing resentment of the very rich, the only ones to benefit from the so-called recovery.

• A feeling that the capitalist, profit-driven system has run up against a brick wall and will not, cannot provide a real, lasting solution to the growing poverty felt by more and more people.

• A disgust with the politicians of both wings of the capitalist parties — Republican and Democratic alike. They are seen as part of the problem, not part of the solution.

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Reclaim The Night.

      Violence against women is not uncommon in this society, but then again it is a society that glorifies wars and "great battles", that portrays the idea of "macho-man", and promotes the idea that to be successful, women must be sexy and attractive to men. Hardly the ingredients for an equal society based on respect. It is a sad reflection on a society that claims to be civilised, when women have to campaign against rape and violence, and fight for the right to walk out at night without feeling apprehensive and threatened.  This weekend, women in Nottingham held a "reclaim the night" march, demonstrating against rape and all forms of violence against women. The march proceeded, at night, down Mansfield Street and was well attended. Let's build that society where such marches would a lesson in a history book and long since obsolete. 

Photo by Demotix.

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Remember Our Own.

    On November 11, we should always remember our own, those who all their life fought for justice for all and a society free from exploitation. Comrade Antonio Ferreira de Jesus died 6 November, his funeral will be November 11.

This from Contra Info:

   With great sadness we report that on Wednesday, November 6th, our comrade António Ferreira de Jesus passed away. A rebel, a libertarian and a fighter for decades inside prisons, António had recently reached his 73 years, and had only been out of jail for the last year and a half. He had been sick for a period of time, but it is still unclear of what he was suffering.

    He died in the house where he lived, and not in the hospital, since he would not go somewhere that felt so much like prison.

For those who were close to him, it was clear that his health was directly affected by the decades of imprisonment, suffering the reprisals that a struggling prisoner faces, and being confronted with the difficulties of adapting to a “free” life, that came already too late.

His funeral will be held on Monday, November 11th, at 14:00 in the city of Portimão, Portugal.

     For us, António will always remain an example of resistance and determination in the face of the harshest conditions imposed by the State.

May he now have true freedom.

Health and Anarchy!

António’s comrades

 

Death Through Bottled Water.

     We all know that the corporate world is a destructive force that rides roughshod over the well being of the ordinary people, all in the name of profit and power. However like all bastards, some are worse than others and Nestles comes in among the bottom of the barrel. We can certainly target the worst offenders in this brutal war for profit, but until we rid the world of this system of capitalism, that breeds, feeds and proliferates, this festering cancer of corporatism, we, the ordinary people, will be on the receiving end of its greed driven destructive force.

This appeal from SumOfUs:

   Nestlé is draining developing countries’ groundwater to make its Pure Life bottled water, destroying countries’ natural resources before forcing its people to buy their own water back.

    Now Nestlé is moving into Pakistan and sucking up the local water supply, rendering entire areas uninhabitable in order to sell mineral-enriched water to the upper class as well as people in the US and EU. Meanwhile the poor watch their wells run dry and their children fall ill from dirty water.
Tell Nestlé to stop making Pakistan's villages uninhabitable by stealing their water.
   Nestlé’s aggressive water grab is already descending like a plague on parts of Pakistan. In the small village of Bhati Dilwan, villagers have watched their water table sink hundreds of feet since Nestlé moved in. Children are getting sick from the foul-smelling sludge they’re forced to choke down. Meanwhile, Nestlé spends millions marketing “Pure Life” to wealthy Americans, Europeans, and Pakistanis who can afford to watch their kids grow up healthy. This scenario is played out again and again in countries around the globe. But this is where we say: enough!

      Dirty water kills more children around the world than AIDS, malaria, war, and traffic accidents combined -- and Nestlé has a big hand in it.

     At the World Water Forum in 2000, Nestlé led the way in fighting against defining access to water a universal right. Nestlé and other big corporations won out, and government officials around the globe officially downgraded water’s classification to a “need” instead, meaning it could be captured, commoditized, and exploited by major corporations without regard for local populations.
Tell Nestlé: Water is a human right. Stop stealing it from communities around the world.

     When the company's Canadian subsidiary pushed to keep draining millions of liters of fresh water from the water table in a time of drought, we joined our friends at the Council of Canadians, Wellington Water Watchers, and Ecojustice challenging Nestlé in court -- and we won! Just this month, after additional pressure from thousands of SumOfUs members, Nestlé decided to drop its appeal -- a huge win for the public.

     If we expose Nestlé’s disgusting game plan for Pakistan, the company will scale back its water-draining facilities to avoid a damaging global backlash. But if we ignore what’s happening there, Nestlé and other major corporations will suck up more and more the world’s water -- and that’s not good news for anyone.

Join us in standing up to corporations like Nestlé that suck up essential natural resources.

Thanks for all that you do,
Claiborne and the rest of us

     P.S. Nestlé’s current chairman and former CEO was caught on tape arguing that water is "not a right”, and while the clip is shocking, the reality is even worse. Nestlé’s aggressive policies are depriving thousands of people around the planet of the basic water they need to survive, all to pump up the company’s bottom line. Please get word out about Nestlé's horrific practices by sharing this campaign on Facebook.

More Information:

The Global Search For Liquid Gold, Urban Times, 11 June 2013
Bottled Life: The Story, Bottled Life, 1 January 2012
Water Facts, Food and Water Watch

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A Thought For Remembrance Day.

A thought for Remembrance Day:

Patriotism

No, I shall not die for the fluttering flag,

if truth be known, ’tis nothing but a multi-coloured rag

held aloft by some foolish hand

inciting worker and peasant to kill

on some green and wooded hill,

peasant and worker from some other land.

Nor shall I shed blood for the fluttering rag

that brings out fools to stand and brag

of brutal deeds painted grand,

deeds where rustic and craftsman lie so still

killed by my brothers' misguided hand.

No allegiance have I for the Nation

this man made autocratic creation

that divides my brothers in a world so small,

binds us to a country's cause, right or wrong,

bids us follow its drum, sing its song,

then sheds our blood in some border brawl.

No, I'll be no slave to flag or nation,

have no ear for power oration,

though its iron heel is on my breast,

my back feels its leather thong,

at patriotism's barracoon, I'll be no guest.

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