Thursday 21 November 2013

Electron Club Open Day Just Got Bigger.


The Electron Open Day looks more exciting by the day, so don't miss out. Two new events added to the already fascinating list.

RADICAL INDEPENDENT BOOK FAIR
Books you don't find many of in the bookshop, zines, DVDs leaflets, posters, T shirts, book swap, and a whole range of freebies. RIB has em all.

WIKIPEDIA
One of the things that comes up when you search the internet a lot is Wikipedia. Full of facts, information images and all sorts.Did you know you can add stuff to WP? Did you ever think about it but weren't sure? Come and meet a Wikipedia volunteer who does and will explain how to go about it.

Electron Club.

Electron Club Open Day
Upstairs at the CCA
350 Sauchiehall Street
Glasgow.
Sunday, December 1, 12 noon to 4pm.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Tragedies Feed Corporations.


“Today, a young man on acid realised that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration – that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively. There’s no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we’re the imagination of ourselves. Here’s Tom with the weather.”Bill Hicks

     This little quip from a favourite of mine, the late Bill Hicks, is to me a true reflection of that babbling brook of bullshit we call main stream media. They continually juxtapose graphic images of some horror, like a typhon torn country with bodies buried in the rubble, and the latest fashion in poodles neck wear, scenes from some mass shooting somewhere, and Harry and Kate shaking some prat's hand. I suppose, like all propaganda, it is very well thought out. Pretend to bring you what is happening in the world, but hope to leave you smiling, feeling that a lot of nice things happen in our country. Over the years I have gone from watching the “news” with a little disinterest to now seething with rage and disgust at the lack of information, lack of depth, and the fact that a great big slice of the world I live in, is censored out. Reported tragedies seem to be no more than appeals for you and I to throw lots of money at the banks, who after making millions from it, will pass it on to corporate organisations who will make a fortune delivering a portion to those in need. In this society, tragedies are a means for the corporate bodies to make a mint. Why is it always you and I that are expected to supply the money and not the multi-national corporations with their billions sloshing around in their bank accounts. In such tragic situations as the recent typhon, you and I would give willingly what we could to help, and freely offer ourselves when possible. The rich fat corporate world waits until the money is collected from you and I, before it offers up the goods. Fat cats feeding off the misery of ordinary people, acceptable and the norm in this greed driven system of capitalism. Humanity takes second place to profit.
 
Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk
 

Almost 70 Years Of Apartheid And Genocide.

       How long have the "Peace Talks" between Israel and the Palestinians been going on? Well more or less since the creation of the Israeli state just after the second World War. That's a long time to be talking peace, but what have all those years of "Peace Talks" achieved? They have seen the reduction of the land of Palestine to a few Israeli occupied, apartheid ruled, strips of land. Those years of "Peace Talks" have seen poverty, misery, deprivation and violence heaped on the Palestinian people. Approaching 70 years of land grabbing genocide and the world powers look the other way, or worse still, support, praise and arm the occupiers, are we looking at 100 years to destroy a country and disperse or kill its people? This is nothing other than a religious driven persecution.


 

      With U.S. influence waning in the face of spreading civil war and revolution in the Middle East, America needs to project an image of still being in charge. The Palestinians’ long resistance against horrific oppression inspires the Arab Spring, so the U.S. wants to reassure American neocons, war hawks, weapons makers, and right-wing Christians and Zionist Jews. Not to mention calm its wealthy allies in the region who live in terror of rebellion lurking in their own impoverished populations.
      Then there’s President Obama’s historical legacy. Surely he wants it to be more prestigious than his ongoing wars, electronic spy program, and record for deporting and jailing the most immigrant workers and refugees in U.S. history!
Read the full article HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Corporatism, Fascism, There Is No Difference.


    Mussolini stated that it should not be called fascism, it should be called corporatism, as it is the coming together of the state and the corporate, in one body of control. Well it is now global corporatism, (fascism), and it is here, global corporatism or fascism, call it what you will, it is tying the world up in one simple package to suit its greed driven ends. All decisions concerning our society and our environment will be taken behind the closed doors of plush boardrooms, by faceless millionaires and billionaires working to maximise their power and wealth. Is this the tomorrow we want?
This from Watchdog.net:
   The Trans-Pacific Partnership is set to create a virtually permanent corporate rule over the people.
     This is the trade scam NAFTA globalized, a devil's deal that has nothing to do with trade and everything to do with corporate protectionism — of the 29 chapters in the TPP, only FIVE actually cover trade issues!
Lax food safety regulation, unregulated fracking, overseas job shifts, rocketing drug prices, Internet monopolies, slashes to public services to profit Wall Street robbers... these are just some of the effects the TPP's passing will have on our world.

     Don't let voting nations pass this corporate coup d'etat. Call on the US, Canada, Japan and other nations considering the trade deal to back out of the TPP now!
Sign the Petition!
Share on Facebook!

     PETITION TO TRADING NATIONS: Don't sacrifice our rights, liberties and economic independence to profit corporations and monopolize trade. Vote against joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership now.


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/4012?n=44631808.kSNz85

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Wednesday 20 November 2013

Austerity And Deprivation, Two Sides Of The Same Coin.


        What does “austerity” mean, or what should it mean? You would imagine “austerity” would mean a doing without the luxuries, a little tightening of the belt, but does this financial Mafia's variety of “austerity” fit that description? This brand of “austerity” means abject poverty for families the length and breadth of the land. In England, since the 2008 “crisis”, malnutrition treated in NHS hospitals has almost doubled. Diagnoses of malnutrition in England rose from 3,161 in 2008/09 to an criminal 5,499 in 2012. This has been driven by wages being frozen/cut, while the cost of food and heating have rocketed. Add to this the various benefit cuts, bedroom tax, ATOS attack on the disabled, and it becomes very clear that this “austerity” is a vicious attack the living standards of the general population.
      Oxfam, that organisation that we see as a charity for those poor countries, stated that, in the UK, "increasing desperation to avoid starvation in one of the world’s richest and unequal countries has seen the number of visits to food banks rise to around half a million a year." The Trussell Trust, the UK's largest food bank operator, has seen the number of those receiving food parcels rise from approximately 26,000 in 2008, to more than 350,000 in the past five years. UK director of Trussell Trust has stated that, “It’s not surprising that rates of malnutrition have also increased. We see people coming to food banks who’ve gone without food for days.”
     Poverty and debt go hand in hand, as people get desperate in their struggle for survival, they are more likely to run up more debt. The average UK household debt is £54,000, that is close to twice the level of a decade ago. Personal debt in the UK's is almost 94% of the total UK economic output for 2012, a mind boggling £1.43 trillion. Lots of people are failing to manage that debt and are suffering in many ways, cutting down on food and heating. Interest rates are set to rise, when that happens, thousands more who are at the moment barely coping will start to sink into the mire of poverty and deprivation. With poverty comes health problems, both mental and physical, families and relationships start to strain and break.
        This is the true meaning of “austerity”, it is not a slight drop in your luxuries, a little bit of inconvenience, as you miss a night at the movies. It is mind crushing stress, it is malnutrition, it is health problems, it is watching your family disintegrate, it is seeing your kids future being stunted and their potential obliterated. It is living with the reality or the fear of homelessness, for what? To sort out a bunch of financial parasites' gambling mess, while they continue to live in the lap of unearned and undeserved luxury. That's capitalism. Do you want it? If not, what are we going to do about it?
Cum'awn, dae sumthin'

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk





800 Workers Replaced By Scabs.


    The corporate world will do anything to crush any organising by their workforce. Everything from blacklisting union activists, to sacking those who speak out about wages and conditions. In some countries, and it could happen here, employers simply fire all the work force and start new, non-unionised workers in their place. What the employer doesn't want is for this to get out and create a backlash against their products, so please, spread the word on this one. Well Ansell makes medical gloves and condoms, we as members of the general public might not be able to boycott one, but sorry friends, solidarity, there are other brands.


800 striking workers in Sri Lanka need our help.

    They are employed by Ansell, an Australian-based manufacturer of medical gloves and condoms. Ansell has replaced them with scabs in an attempt to break the union.

    They’ve also sacked union officials and even assaulted the branch union president.

    We’ve been asked by IndustriALL Global Union to mobilize thousands of people around the world to send messages of protest to Ansell.

Please take a moment to do so — click here.

It will make a difference.

Thanks very much.



Eric Lee
Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Electron Club Open Day, Glasgow.




Open day as in open

December 1st., 12 noon to 4pm.

CCA is at 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow.

     The Electron club is a space at the CCA that is home to a whole variety of people and ideas. Started as a computer/electronics/artist Open Source software lab it soon expanded into many areas of cultural diversity and many have little to do with computers. You are just as likely to bump into a Wobblie as you are a computer hacker. If you are an artist, techie, nerd, or your bag is community activism or you are just interested in life, come and take a look. We are open to the public. Anyone can join. Its free.

Who will be there:

OPEN STREET MAP DEMO
     There numerous mappers in and around Glasgow with a wealth of knowledge and from a variety backgrounds and ages. Come and ind out what mapping is about and start mapping the world.

GLASGOW SCIENCE FAIR
      Is about getting folk young and old interested in science. Come and play with their robot, Knex, Arduino and other science tech stuff. "Lego Mindstorms Challenge - Help explore how to programme Mindstorms robots to follow commands and navigate its way around our obstacle course. Bring Lego to life in this fun introduction to programming and robotics."

SPIRIT OF REVOLT
     The Spirit of Revolt is a group based in Glasgow who are attempting to collect as much material as possible from grass-roots campaigns in working class struggle, in and around the Glasgow/Clydeside area. An archival collection of working class history. Find out about this very important project for the city. We will be screening a film made at the SOR exhibition at the Mitchell library

COMMON GOOD AWARENESS PROJECT
      CGAP was set up to create awareness of Scotland's Common Good Fund, a whole bunch of assets, art galleries, schools, town halls, parks, that are publicly owned. Many of these assets have disappeared, have been lost or stolen over the years due to a lack of awareness that they even exist and maladministration by those whose duty is to protect the fund for the benefit of the public. Find out more and about the common good and the Farmhouse Trust, a Common Good project in Govan to create a independent resource centre whilst experiment with off grid technology eco building and gardening along the way.

GLASGOW TO DETROIT
     A second chance to see a shorter version of Glasgow to Detroit if you missed the Kinningpark screening. Here we will be discussing specific ideas from Detroit activists mentioned in the film to examine the situation in Glasgow/Scotland around growing.

INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF THE WORLD
      Founded in 1905, the IWW is open to all workers. Don’t let the “industrial” part fool you. Our members include teachers, cleaners, social workers, retail workers, construction workers, bartenders, and computer programmers. Only bosses are not allowed to join.


SPIRIT OF REVOLT film shot at exhibition Q&A after 2:00
GLASGOW TO DETROIT Screening and discussion on organising around growing 3:00
More info from:   bob@citystrolls.com

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk


Courage To Resist.



     I like the idea that this group works at what is the largest military base in the world, Fort Hood. It is a case of being where you are most needed. Since the Vietnam era, it has been encourage and supporting troops who have the courage to resist, it is a place where conscientious objectors can find support and guidance. We need one at every military base in the world.UTH












  

By Bob Meola, Courage to Resist. November 13, 2013
In February, 2014, Under the Hood Café and Outreach Center will be five years old.  Under the Hood is a GI coffeehouse founded in the spirit of the Oleo Strut and the other GI coffeehouses of the Vietnam era.  The Oleo Strut was just a few blocks away from Under the Hood’s current location at 17 North College Street in Killeen, Texas.
A lot of what goes on at Under the Hood has its parallels with Oleo Strut.   Under the Hood has become more than just a coffeehouse and is now called Under the Hood Café and Outreach Center.  “Then [the Vietnam War era] there was a coffeehouse at every base,” said Malachi Muncy (photo below-right), manager of Under the Hood.
“Many of them opened as places for soldiers to decompress but developed into other things.  Between 1968 and 1972, the Oleo strut became a stronghold of veteran activism, setting up the organizing of boycotts of businesses that exploited soldiers, leading peace marchs, and even publishing an underground newspaper.”
Read the full story HERE:
Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk


 

Tuesday 19 November 2013

Fumbling Fiddlers.



      It's amazing, isn't it, those who spout about putting the economy in our country on a sound footing, and claim to be the people to run the country efficiently, are the ones who make a dog's dinner of everything they touch. Of course I'm talking about our millionaire lords and masters in the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption. The only thing they are doing with a any degree of success is siphoning all the wealth of this country into the bank accounts of their corporate friends. Well I suppose, to them that's all that matters. Everything else is just smoke and mirrors, slight of hand, fiddle and con tricks, in an attempt to keep the public confused. However, we are not confused, we are well aware of their charlatan characteristics, and greed driven arrogance, and to be aware, is a long way along the road to putting the problem right.
   In yet more humiliation for Iain Duncan Smith’s bungled welfare reforms, Universal Jobmatch was judged the worst online jobs website at a recent industry awards ceremony.
      The government job-seeking website, which has been plagued by spam, scams and spoof vacancies, won the ‘Wooden Nora’ at last week’s National Online Recruitment Awards.  730 online recruitment websites were considered for awards with Universal Jobmatch being judged the worst.  According to The Guardian’s Diary the website was described as a “mongrel of a recruitment website” that “commits almost every online recruitment crime, and then some.”
       Universal Jobmatch was designed at huge cost – believed to be approaching almost £20 million.  Despite this the site has been plagued by technical problems as well as becoming home to thousands of flaky self-employment schemes, pyramid scams and fake job adverts used to harvest CVs and even commit identity theft.  It is hard to understand how Monster, the company paid to produce the website, could have produced something so atrocious that it is a laughing stock amongst recruitment professionals.
Read the full article HERE:
Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk
  

Workers Know Your History, Joe Hill.



      An anniversary worth remembering, a fighter for his class, November 19, 1915, Joe Hill was murdered by firing squad by the state. He was charged with murder but subsequent evidence proved he was innocent. Joe Hill was an organiser for the IWW and spent his short adult life fighting for justice for the ordinary people.

My will is easy to decide,
For there is nothing to divide.
My kin don't need to fuss and moan,
"Moss does not cling to a rolling stone."

My body? Oh, if I could choose
I would to ashes it reduce,
And let the merry breezes blow,
My dust to where some flowers grow.

Perhaps some fading flower then
Would come to life and bloom again.
This is my Last and final Will.
Good Luck to All of you,
Joe Hill




Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

World War 1, A Period Of Mutiny And Strikes.


     We are approaching what will be one gigantic propaganda exercise glorifying World War 1. The 100th anniversary of the start of that insane episode of human carnage is to be turned into a spectacle perpetuating that myth of British unity and patriotism. However, history tells a different story, 1914 to 1918 was a period of widespread industrial disputes and the “military campaign” was littered with rebellion among the troops. Forget that tale of the Xmas football match between opposing armies, there were mutinies popping up at regular intervals, among them the ÉtaplesMutiny 1917, even just after the war there was the Southampton Mutiny 1919. Then there was the British West Indies Regiment mutiny. This one highlights the arrogance and xenophobic attitude of the British ruling class. In the need for cannon-fodder it was suggested that their could be a black West Indies regiment, but that bulwark of British ruling class Lord Kitchener was of the opinion that black people should not be allowed into the armed forces. It was the intervention of King George V, probably realising that his empire was at stake and he needed that cannon-fodder, over ruled the noble lord.
     So the British West Indies Regiment was born, but at the front they were not to do the fighting and were unarmed. Their task was to load the weapons build the fences, load and unload vehicles, clean the toilets, in general be the general dog's body and do the white man's donkey work. On Armistice Day stationed at Taranto in Italy, they then found out that the white soldiers were give a pay rise but the black soldiers were not. This on top of the way they had been treated was the final straw and on December 6 1918 they attacked their officers. The mutiny lasted four days, the punishment handed out to some of those involved   varied from 3 to 5 years in prison, one man got 20 years, and one was executed, (murdered) by firing squad.


     The true history of World War 1 is a far cry from the bilge that will be poured out in the coming year by our lords and masters, who will wrap themselves in “the flag” and from their pampered and privileged background claim the horror, degradation and bloodshed, as a glorious episode in our history. And so that mythical history of the all patriotic hang-together loyal British public will get another coat of varnish. But we the people know the real history, we know the truth.

Vann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk
 

Monday 18 November 2013

Everybody And Their Dog.


     The 17th of November saw the start of mass demonstrations across Greece commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Athens Polytechnic uprising that heralded the eventual fall of the military junta. The the marches, demonstrations and protests were mainly marking that historic moment in Greek history, it was also an opportunity to voice their anger at the forced deprivation at the hands of the Troika puppets, the Greek government.
    The events were a mixture of noise, colour and lots of passion.

40th Anniversary of Athens Polytechnic Uprising in Greece

    On this day, everybody and their dog were there, all with a message, the system stinks.

40th Anniversary of Athens Polytechnic Uprising in Greece
The dog's poster reads, 'Against Euro and Dollar no to money'. 

     Even a dog knows that would work. As I said, there was variety and ingenuity in the protests and demonstrations, but I personally think this one takes a lot of balls.

Greeks commemorate the 40th anniversary of Polytechnic uprising
Photos from Demotix.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

They Lock You Up To Keep Control.


       Prisons are not there to protect the people, they are there to protect the state and its monopoly on violence and its control over our life. Spyros Stratoulis is just one of millions of glaring examples of those the state incarcerates in its attempt to silence dissent.




The poster reads:

      Solidarity with Spyros Stratoulis, prisoner in struggle for over two decades in the Greek dungeons, who is conducting a hunger strike since November 11th, 2013, demanding a full acquittal from fabricated indictment charges for his alleged membership in a fictitious criminal organization (Thessaloniki, 2012), as well as the immediate re-granting of his exit permits from prison.
“I will respond drastically against the vengeance of the State that attempts to break resisters, against its monopoly of decision upon and looting of our lives, as well as against the indifference of every single puppet toward life, freedom and dignity” Spyros Stratoulis, incarcerated in the prison of Larisa

 
Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk
 

To Shine a Light On Another's Suffering.


       To feel the pain and anguish of the other, to see the injustice around us, is one part of being human, but to put those feelings into words and shine a light on another's suffering, is a special human gift.

The City of Beggar Children,

Where do the beggar children come from,
what forces multiply their rags?
Whose heart has never felt those fingers
pecked
by birds with copper beaks?
Who hasn’t stopped to see their bones
and hear their voices
pleading like humiliated bells?
Let there be no beggar children dwarfed in doorways,
chilled by cemetery mist,
pale wall of the city.
Let there be children with toys,
bread
and stars beneath their shoes.
Let them play in the school yard
and catch insects in the grass.
Let them live in their own worlds
among the beings and the things they love.

Roberto Sosa

    From The Return of the River: the Selected Poems of Roberto Sosa (Willimantic CT: Curbstone Press, 2002)
translated by Jo Anne Engelbert

      Every effort has been made to trace the copyright holder. If you can advise us of the appropriate acknowledgement to be made please contact reception@spl.org.uk 

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Sunday 17 November 2013

Our Radioactive World.


       Have a guess at how many nuclear devices have been detonated since the first American one at Los Alamos in 1945. Quite a few, in fact between 1945 and 1998 there have been 2053 and spread over an unbelievable area of the planet, with America leading the list of planet destroyers. How much of our planet has been poisoned by this ridiculous big state toy? Thanks to them we will hand the next generation a popping planet?
This video is well worth watching in full:
      Up loaded on July 2010, Japanese artist Isao Hashimoto has created a beautiful, undeniably scary time-lapse map of the 2053 nuclear explosions which have taken place between 1945 and 1998, beginning with the Manhattan Project's "Trinity" test near Los Alamos and concluding with Pakistan's nuclear tests in May of 1998. This leaves out North Korea's two alleged nuclear tests in this past decade (the legitimacy of both of which is not 100% clear).
      Each nation gets a blip and a flashing dot on the map whenever they detonate a nuclear weapon, with a running tally kept on the top and bottom bars of the screen. Hashimoto, who began the project in 2003, says that he created it with the goal of showing "the fear and folly of nuclear weapons." It starts really slow — if you want to see real action, skip ahead to 1962 or so — but the buildup becomes overwhelming. 


Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

We Are Alive, From The Rent Strikes To Bloody Friday.


     No matter how the establishment historians and their sidekicks in the media, try to portray the Red Clyde as a wishy-washy very pale pink, the real history defies them. The people of the Clydeside have a proud history, they have a heritage, and it is one of continuous struggle for justice and a better world. There were more industrial strikes on Clydeside during the first world war than before or after, Hundreds of thousands organised rent strikes from Clydebank to Glasgow, and successfully forced the UK government to bring in the 1915 rent restriction act. The Clydeside history is littered with hard and sometimes brutal struggles, struggles of people who demanded more, who demanded change, and in many case got it. 
    However the struggle is not over, we are now in the midst of the most brutal attack on the living conditions of the ordinary people for many a decade. Despite the struggles and victories of the past, we are once again heading back to the poverty of the thirties. It is once again time to reignite that fighting spirit of the Red Clyde, time to call on that solidarity, that unity of purpose. We don't have the shipyards, we don't have the engineering factories, but we do have the people of Clydeside and their history of struggle, and their desire for justice.
  A poster from the 80's. calling on that Red Clydeside spirit. We are alive, from the rent strikes, to bloody Friday, to the poll-tax and beyond.


Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Saturday 16 November 2013

Can There Be Democratic Slavery?



      Currently this government is doing a great job in helping their millionaire corporate friends to cut their labour costs, all part of the drive for a low wage economy. The new legislation that will come into force on April 2014, will take workfare, (unpaid forced labour) to a new level of exploitation. Job centres will be able to hand out tougher community service orders than the courts. What will your crime have been? Why the heinous act of being unable to find work. They say that slavery was abolished, but what do you call being forced to work without pay, for a rich multi-national company such as G4S? The simple truth is that those who call this society a democracy are liars or fools, or perhaps both.
       This from Boycott Workfare:
       Currently EOS, Maximus, Learn Direct, Reed in Partnership, ESG, G4S (tax dodging supremos) and Interserve (they rely on prayer & financial support from Christians) are all inviting bids from voluntary sector ‘partners’ to provide Community Work Placements in a ‘real working environment’ for up to 30 weeks, for up to 30 hours per week. In other words, forced unpaid labour for people who have not found ‘sustained employment’ while on the Work Programme.
     The criteria for being sent on a Community Work Placement are ‘lack of motivation‘ (for example a reluctance to be exploited in no pay, low pay jobs) and/or ‘lack of work experience‘. Claimants will have to do these placements alongside ‘supported job search’: the exhausting and pointless process of endlessly looking for non-existent employment opportunities. As blogger Johnny Void says: “This new scheme represents 780 hours unpaid work, over two and a half times higher than the maximum community service penalty that can be handed out by the courts.  And this is just for the crime of being unable to find a job.” Read the rest of this entry »
Read the full article HERE:
Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk