The Pitchfork Protests.

       Italy, another country where the people's anger, which has been seething below the surface, is now beginning to boil over. There have been protests in Turin in the north of the country to Sicily in the south and they are spreading. This is a growing revolt against the state and its corruption, against austerity for the many, while the few bask in luxury, it is the same complaint as in every other capitalist country on the planet. Though our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media aren't exactly shouting about the swelling anger.

Turin December 14 2013.:

      These protests in Italy are grouped under what has become known as the “pitchfork” protests and they claim no affiliation to any political party. They are manual workers, low paid, unemployed and students, and are not confined to the big towns and cities but across the whole country. It is a combination of protests, marches, sit-ins and other direct action. There are large groups involved in these protests in Turin, Milan, Florence and Palermo with large protests planned for next week. This week it spread to Rome, with students clashing with police outside a university being used by government ministers as a conference centre. One of the banners read, "Our university isn't a catwalk for those who peddle austerity,". On Tuesday last, Beppe Grillo, head of Italy's anti-establishment 5-Star Movement urged police to join protesters. 

 

Guardian photo;

   

    Italy, like the rest of the capitalist world, has been hit by “austerity”, it is also a country with 12% unemployment, which rises to above 41% for the young under 25's. Low wages and increasing poverty are driving these protests, Is Italy reaching the “enough is enough” stage? According to Danilo Calvani, a farmer and one of the protestors, “There are millions of us and we are growing by the hour___”

  Reuters photo.  

    How much longer can the various capitalist states keep the lid on the boiling pot of anger? We know they will bring out the usual brute force, telling the people, “It's for your own good” and “Law and order must be preserved”. What that translates into is that they are prepared to viciously crush the will of the people to protect their own wealth and power. They are not interested in the least in change for the benefit of the many, that's not what capitalism is about. 

 

Popularresistance.org

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

Death In A Cardboard Box.

      Homelessness lurks in the shadows of every city in this capitalist world, from the poorer Third World countries, where it doesn't so much as lurk, as hits you in the face, to the super rich Western countries, where the try to keep the streets “clean”, for the benefit of businesses and tourists. It's part and parcel of the system. At no time under capitalism has there been no homeless and at no time in the future will capitalism get rid of homelessness. The recent death of a young, 24 year old homeless man, who froze to death in Bloomington Indiana, brought a group of angry people onto the streets to protest at what is nothing less than murder in the midst of wealth. Among other acts, the protesters handed out hundreds of fliers.

From a flier distributed during the march:
   "...When the city unendingly talks about the “problem of homelessness in Bloomington,” they are talking about an eyesore, an abstract liability for downtown business and the ballooning dreams of developers.
     When we talk about the “problem of homelessness in Bloomington,” we’re talking about constant police harassment, the veiling of poverty, and people being turned away from shelters in below zero temperatures.
In short: we’re talking about a person freezing to death.

Read the full article HERE:

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

I'm Proud.

What I think.

I’m Proud

I’m proud of my people, proud to be one of them,

that great mass on society’s bottom rung.

Those who, with coal-dust under their nails

in their eyes, in their lungs

claw at the earths entrails.

Their brothers,

cement in their hair

in their mouth, in their ears,

oil ingrained in their fingers,

on their face.

Sisters, glistening with sweat

midst the ceaseless noise of machines

that throw out shirts, shoes, toys, carpets

for other people.

Those with soil and sweat stuck to their skin

smelling of the earth, feeding the multitude,

grinding out their lives in a harsh pitiless system

weighted down

with a sack load of half-dead dreams,

sometimes brought to their knees

by a tidal wave of despair,

never defeated,

groping in the dark to find tomorrow,

keeping hope alive;

they amaze me.

Somehow, from somewhere

in this cold, cruel

unforgiving scheme of things

they find love for their children.

Not a teaspoonful, not a cupful,

but buckets full, to bathe them in,

to pour over them.

They seem to know

that one day this world will be ours

and to take care of it

we will need those who have been loved.

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

We Should All Be Practicing Anarchism.

        America as a nation is in a state of terminal decline, it's infrastructure is rotting on a daily basis, and there is no money in the kitty to sort it out. Cities and towns are struggling just to stay out of bankruptcy, Detroit didn't manage, and other cities are facing the same fate. Shops and supermarkets close, teachers and other professionals, leave for greener pastures, you have to leave town to find a dentist, and unemployment climbs. Though from our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, you never get a hint of the collapse, it is all about growth and corporate dividends. An article in The Economic Collapse, highlights some of the problems 

Detroit

     Unfortunately, it is probably appropriate that our infrastructure is decaying because we are decaying in just about every other way that it is possible for a society to decay. We are decaying economically, politically, mentally, emotionally, physically, morally and spiritually. We are a complete and total mess. So why shouldn't what is happening to our infrastructure on the outside match what is happening to us as a nation on the inside?
      And sadly, we simply do not have the money that we need for infrastructure because of all the debt that we have piled up. The federal government, our state governments and our local governments are all struggling to stay afloat in an ocean of red ink, and unfortunately that means that spending on infrastructure is likely to be cut even more in the years ahead.
       So get used to rotting, crumbling, decaying infrastructure. What you see out there right now is only just the beginning.

Read the full article HERE:

        Of course I believe that we here in the UK are in the same mess, our roads are rated close to Third World standard, our education system just about matches that. So what should we be doing? Well according to John Zerzan, we should be practicing anarchism while we still have some leeway to try and get it right, make adjustments, and work things out, rather than wait for the inevitable collapse and be forced to get on with it, without any margin for error. Sounds like good common sense to me.

This from Anarchist News:

Camden

     Governor Chris Christie has essentially forced Camden, an unprepared community, to experiment with anarchism. Which is awfully irresponsible.  When I interviewed political theorist John Zerzan for this article about anarchism—written in response to the shrill and ridiculous things people were saying about anarchists and anarchism after the May Day 2012 protests—he argued that we should all be thinking about and practicing modes of anarchism right now so we'll have, in his words, "a soft landing" when the shit hits the fan.

     The slow-motion catastrophes of late capitalism and climate change, he and others argue, guarantee that Americans will be living in anarchic circumstances sooner or later, and we have a choice—we can practice and experiment with anarchism now (despite the risks) while we're still bad at it but have some wiggle room for failure.

     Or we can wait until it's too late and we're forced, en masse and with no practice, to live beyond the state. Once things have gotten that bad, it might look like Camden—on Christmas.

Read the full article HERE:

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

Stoning By A Loving Religion.

         Of all the barbaric crimes committed by humans, stoning, is probably the most horrific, though I hesitate to classify those who commit this crime as human. Death by hanging, firing squad, guillotine, beheading, though barbaric crimes, as a rule they are usually relatively quick. What kind of beast can take a young woman, it is usually young women, tie their hands by their sides, bury them to their chest in a pit and then stand by and throw stones at them until they are dead. According to wikipedia, stoning is a slow form of execution by torture. What horrendous crime must these poor individuals have committed? In some case it can be, having sex out of marriage, or in a recent case, for the heinous crime of owning a cell phone.

 

 An appeal from AVAAZ, sign the petition HERE.

      There can be no justification for such cruel and barbaric treatment of human or animal, it can't be justified on religious or cultural grounds, and those who advocate it and/or indulge in this inhuman act, are beneath the beasts of the earth, there is no place in the human race where they should be accepted.

      As usual, this is another barbaric spin-off from what is called a loving religion, and like all religions, it is all about instilling obedience by means of fear. No religion is exempt from doing its damnedest to have unswerving passive obedience. A public stoning in a village will surely get all those young women to bow their heads in submission. 

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

Unity Appeal On Behave of Destitute Asylum Seekers.

 

 Night Shelter Winter Appeal

       Glasgow Night Shelter for Destitute Asylum Seekers has been providing a vital front-line service for destitute asylum seekers and other migrants in Glasgow for the last two years. From 8pm to 8am, every night, our volunteers provide somewhere warm and safe for migrants, who, because they’re prohibited from working or claiming any benefits, have been refused access to normal homeless services in the city.
       With the winter holiday season upon us the night shelter needs extra help to cover our volunteer rota as well as during the day on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day when we’ll be running a special, holiday, drop in so the men staying at the shelter have somewhere to come to during the daytime when everything else is shut.
       We’re also appealing for warm clothes, especially thermal vests and long-johns, boxer shorts, shoes, coats, hats, scarves and gloves. Please support the Glasgow Night Shelter for Destitute Asylum Seekers!

1.Donate your time:

     We need volunteers to cover gaps in the rota over the holiday period while other volunteers are away and we especially need help during the day on the 25^th and 26^th December and on 1st January from 10am – 7pm at the special holiday drop in. If you wish to volunteer ring
07929852264 or email glasgownightshelter@gmail.com mailto:glasgownightshelter@gmail.com

2.Donate some clothing or food:

       Many of the men staying at the shelter need warm clothing. If you can, please buy some new thermal underwear or boxer shorts or warm socks next time you go shopping. And we are also asking for warm, waterproof coats, hats and gloves and good shoes if you have any that you can donate. Or donate some food – our weekly shopping bill is huge! Tins of tomatoes, kidney beans, tuna, sweetcorn or chickpeas, or bags of lentils or rice or fresh vegetables such as onions, peppers or potatoes or fresh fruit are always welcome! But perhaps you may also wish to donate something special for the winter holiday period?
Clothing and food can be donated via The Unity Centre, 30 Ibrox Street, Glasgow G51 1AQ which is open Mondays to Fridays from 10.30 to 6pm or at one of the Unity in the Community charity shops located at either 371 Paisley Road West G51 1LX or 70 Shaw Street, G51 3BL which are open Mondays to Saturdays from 11am – 5.30pm.

3.Donate financially:

      Every month we need to pay utility bills and for food. Your financial support will help go towards the running costs of the shelter as well as enable us to give out small amounts of cash to help the men staying at the shelter with bus passes, etc. To donate financially you can send a cheque made out to the “Glasgow Destitute Asylum Seeker Night Drop In” to the Glasgow Night Shelter c/o The Unity Centre, 30 Ibrox Street, Glasgow G51 1AQ or directly at any Lloyds TSB branch, by paying your donation into Account Number:
75140563, Sort Code: 87-37-51.

More information about the night shelter:

     With their insecure immigration status many destitute asylum seekers shy away from charities and agencies in case they get into trouble with the authorities. Support for this group of people is very restricted as they are not allowed any recourse to public funds and many charities offer only limited support. Two years ago, some members of the Glasgow Destitution Network set up a temporary winter shelter for destitute asylum seekers. During this project, the charity, Unity in the Community, set up by the Unity Centre, took on responsibility for running the shelter for three nights a week. The night shelter had such a positive impact on the lives of the people staying at it that it was decided to make it a permanent project based in a church hall in the west end of the city.
      Since then the night shelter has provided a safe, warm, welcoming, space for destitute asylums seekers to stay overnight where they can get a hot meal, and can feel secure. During that time over 100 people have volunteered at the shelter either spending a few hours in the evening talking with the men staying there helping them with any problems they may have or staying overnight in the shelter helping prepare the evening meal or getting everything cleared up and packed away in the morning.
        The night shelter now hosts up to 15 men a night and we aim to open a separate women’s shelter in the New Year. The accommodation is pretty basic. Each man is issued with a sleeping bag, pillow, duvet and camping mattress. They sleep on the floor of a gym in the church hall. During the evening while they wait for the meal to be prepared, the men staying at the shelter sit, talk, play games and watch DVDs in the shelter’s TV room.
        The Glasgow Night Shelter for Destitute Asylum Seekers was set up by some members of the Glasgow Destitution Network and is now a completely independent organisation in its own right, separate from the Glasgow Destitution Network and we aim to secure charitable status in the very
near future.
     To contact the Glasgow Night Shelter for Destitute Asylum Seekers please contact the co-ordinator on 07929852264 or email
glasgownightshelter@gmail.com mailto:glasgownightshelter@gmail.com

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

Workers Know Your History, Dublin 1913 Lockout.

       One hundred years ago this month, Dublin society had been ripped apart by one of the worst industrial disputes of the Great Unrest period. Locked out since August, the striking workers were, by December, starving and on the verge of defeat.

      Donnacha DeLong speaks to Gary Granville, author of Dublin 1913 Lockout and Legacy (https://www.obrien.ie/dublin-1913 ), about the situation in Dublin in 1913 and to Marian Larragy, activist and community journalist, about women's involvement in the strike.

Listen to the conversation here on Circled A Radio.

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

Edinburgh ACE, Films, Goodies And Solidarity.

ACE MID WINTER FAYRE THIS SATURDAY

      All are welcome to the ACE mid winter fayre this Saturday 14th December, from mid-day through to the early evening with a film showing of The People and the Olive, showing the reality of life in Palestine, at around 5pm. All at the Autonomous Centre of Edinburgh premises at 17 West Montgomery Place.

      On top of Leith Wholefoods' usual goodies there will be tastings of delicious Palestinian food, superb Palestinian olive oil at discounted prices, quality Xmas presents such as Faith in Nature shampoos and toiletries, essential oils, soaps and much more.

       Amber jewellery from Chiapas, Mexico will be on sale, along with other handicrafts from the Zapatista co-operatives such as hand-embroidered cotton blouses, plus a range of t shirts. Not to mention the 2014 Zapatista Solidarity Calendar with fantastic photos from the Zapatista rebel territories. All sales go to support the Zapatista struggle for autonomy.

Plus check out the new stock in the relaunched ACE info shop.

NEWS FROM EDINBURGH COALITION AGAINST POVERTY.

Edinburgh Coalition Against Poverty meeting

7pm Mon 16 December at ACE All welcome

      Report on the successful anti workfare anti sanctions demo last Saturday at the Salvation Army at www.edinburghagainstpoverty.org.uk plus see ECAP facebook

      The last ECAP Tuesday support and advice shift of the year is the coming Tuesday 17th, 12-3pm as usual. ACE will be closed on Tuesdays 24th and 31st, Tuesday shifts restart on 7th January.

      ACE will also be closed on thursdays 26th December and 2nd January.

Best to ring first - 0131 557 6242 - if coming any distance on Saturdays 28th and 4th.

ACE CINEMA

Following several recent successful Sunday screenings, ACE Cinema will restart in the New Year, watch out for news.

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

Corporate Finance And Pollution.

       An appeal from The Sum of Us, as corporate capital attempts to get its way in plundering the planet. Gold mining is among the most environmental polluting businessed on the planet, it uses some of the most toxic substances on earth, and they usually find their way into the water table. Leaving the locals with poisoned water and some arsehole in another city with a gold watch.

     Infinito Gold, a Canadian mining company, just slapped Costa Rica with a $1 billion lawsuit because the nation decided to protect its rainforests rather than host an open-pit gold mine.

      Costa Rica’s rainforest is lauded as one of the most beautiful in the world, and is home to many endangered species, including the green macaw. Officials considered approving the gold mine, but the use of toxic chemicals such as cyanide -- which often leaks into and pollutes nearby lakes and rivers -- was far too great a risk to allow the project to move forward.

      A subsidiary of Infinito Gold has announced that a massive lawsuit against Costa Rica is “imminent”, so we need to act now. If thousands of us stand together against this toxic mine, we can show Infinito that Costa Rica and other countries that are defending their natural resources will not be silently bullied by corporate power. 

Tell Infinito Gold to drop its $1 billion lawsuit against Costa Rica.

        Open-pit gold mining in Costa Rica would destroy 190 hectares of pristine forest. The rainforest houses 5% of the world’s species and has seen tremendous growth in the ecotourism industry. Over 75% of Costa Ricans oppose mining and have decided that they cannot take the risk to move forward with gold mining in the country.

        Costa Rica is not the first to be sued by Infinito Gold. In 2001, Infinito Gold locked Venezuela into a ten-year legal battle over a rejected mine. Fortunately, Infinito lost. We can make sure Infinito Gold loses again by standing up to its greedy tactics and shameful behavior. Corporate profits cannot take precedence over the health of the people and the environment.

Stand up for Costa Rica’s rainforests -- tell Infinito Gold to drop the $1 billion lawsuit now.

Thanks for taking a stand,
Kaytee, Hanna, Katherine, Terryn, Kimberly, Jessica, Ledys, Fatah, Marie, Zermina and the rest of us

P.S. Please help us up the pressure on Infinito by sharing this petition on Facebook or forwarding this email to your friends.

More information:

All That Glitters. Corporate Knights, 3 Oct 2013.
Calgary-based mining company suing Costa Rica for more that $1 Billion. Global News, 4 Oct 2013.

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

   

Riot Police At The Funeral March.

      December 11 saw the funeral of Sara, the young 13 year old girl who died from carbon monoxide poisoning in Thessaloniki, after her mother, in desperation to keep herself and her daughter warm, lit a fire in a make-shift stove in their apartment. The young girl and her unemployed mother lived alone and had their power cut off three months earlier. They were doing their best to try and keep warm, as temperatures dropped to near freezing in their part of northern Greece.

Photo from Teacher Dude: 

       In Greece even a funeral march by students, is accompanied by riot police in full riot gear. The march to the funeral by high school students in the Thessaloniki, was also in commemoration of the murder of a 15 year old teenager, Alexis Grigoropoulos, by a Athens police officer in December 2008. An event that set off a wave of protest that engulfed all of Greece in the worst civil violence experienced since the overthrow of the country's military dictatorship in in 1973.

    Sara died because of the Troika and their subservient Greek puppet government. They forced the banksters' policies of “austerity” and “structural adjustments” onto the people of Greece, they are directly responsible for the deaths by suicide, malnutrition and ill-health that must follow in the wake of their social destruction. These events are not accidents, they are the expected consequences of driving people to deprivation.

     Alexis Grigoropoulos was murdered my the state apparatus, likewise, Sara was murdered by that same state apparatus. You can point a gun and shoot, or you can starve and freeze people, the effect is the same, death by a deliberate action. All the poverty and deprivation brought about by the actions of the Troika, (EC, European Commission, ECB, European Central Bank, IMF, International Mankind Fuckers) are not accidental events, they are aware that if you slash people's standard of living, they will suffer, the more you cut, the more they suffer, and that suffering can and does end in death. There is nothing accidental in that.

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

Union Busting In India.

     An appeal from IUF regarding illegal and brutal treatment of workers in India trying to form a union. Solidarity is our weapon.

     Earlier this year 162 workers out of 170 employed in three warehouses exclusively contracted by PepsiCo in West Bengal organized a union and submitted their demands. They were harassed, assaulted by company goons and then brutally fired.
    In May 2013, they were allowed to return to work, but under conditions that strip them of their human rights.
     They were told they can return to work if they declare they will never again join a union, made to sign false statements which they were told were legally binding, and told to cut up their union cards and step on them as they walked into the warehouses. Those who refused were told hey will never work again and that they will be blacklisted by all local employers.
    Despite threats, harassment, home visits by management and economic hardship, 28 of these unfairly dismissed workers have refused to surrender their rights. In August they formed the PepsiCo (Frito-Lays) Workers Action Committee and escalated the campaign.

CLICK HERE TO SEND A MESSAGE TO PEPSICO demanding unconditional reinstatement of the 28 workers with full back pay and full recognition of their trade union rights.

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

How Do You Live When Sanctioned?

     How do you cope if you are on Jobseeker's Allowance and you get “sanctioned”? Quite frankly, you don't, you can't possibly, unless you can dip into a nice bankbook, which in the circumstances is most unlikely. It's a matter of begging, borrowing, stealing or doing without. After all Jobseeker's Allowance doesn't let you save for a rainy day. Losing the pittance that you rely on to survive, even for a few months, can tip you over the edge. This policy is brutal, inhumane and totally unjust, and belongs to, what should be, a bygone era of peasants and serfs. In a civilised society, nobody should be treated in that manner or forced in to that situation.

       That babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, is quiet on this matter of sanctions, far be it for them to reveal the truth of what life is like for the ordinary people, too many celebrities to pander to, and splash across their pages. However on the streets in the real world, where you and I live, the number of people being sanctioned is growing, we now have an army of people being brutally abused in this way. What is more, it is not just the Department of Work and Pensions that are willy-nilly throwing about santions, the companies that are involved in the workfare scheme are referring people to be sanctioned. Not content with getting the labour free, they want sweat and blood.

This from Corporate Watch:

Sanctioning – stopping someone’s benefits after a perceived infringement of the terms of their claim for between one week and six months – was a favourite policy of the previous government but figures revealed by Corporate Watch and the Observer today show the coalition, together with sub-contracted private ‘provider’ companies, has massively increased the amount of sanctions imposed.

To download as a pdf click here.

Read a personal experience of being sanctioned here.

      139,000 sanctions were handed out to Jobseeker’s Allowance* claimants in 2009 but this more than tripled to 508,000 in 2011, the coalition’s first full calendar year in government. There was little change in the number of people signing on in this period, meaning a much higher proportion of people have had their benefits cut. In February 2011 for example, 1.44 million people were claiming JSA compared to 1.42 million in 2009. 51,000 sanctions were imposed in the former month, compared to 9,000 in the latter.

       Many of these sanctions are initially suggested, or ‘referred’, to the Department of Work and Pensions by the private companies the government has sub-contracted to run many of its welfare schemes, such as the flagship Work Programme, for people who have been signing on for a year or more. DWP statistics, obtained by a Corporate Watch freedom of information request (download the disclosure here), show companies such as Serco, Seetec, Working Links and A4E have been even more eager to sanction people than the government.

      The companies referred over 110,000 cases to the DWP for sanctioning between the start of the Work Programme in June 2011 up to January 2012, the last month figures were available (they do not have the power to sanction but they can suggest claims should be sanctioned to the DWP, which then decides whether the reasons given by the provider are appropriate).

Read the full report HERE:

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

Workers Know Your History, Angel Pestana.

      A life dedicated to the cause of the ordinary people, one of our own, Angel Pestana Nunez, born in poverty in Ponferrada, Spain, on Feb 14, 1886, he was politically active throughout his life. At the age of 15 he was imprisoned for his part in a political rally. After travelling to North Africa and France, he settled in Catalonia and became involved in the local anarchist group. In 1918 he became editor in chief of the newspaper Solidaridad Obrera. During his editorship the paper ran a powerful campaign against the local police force. In April 1919 after Catalonia was subject to massive protests, he was detained and the paper banned. On returning from a visit to Russia he was again detained. Pestana was also victim to an assassination attempt by the Spanish authorities, while giving a speech in Manresa. In October 1936, with the start of the Spanish Civil War, he was appointed general sub-commissioner for war, but resigned shortly after this due to ill health, he died December 11, 1936. 

 

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

Glasgow In The 60's and 70's.

        Looking for an interesting and cheap night out? Well look no further than the Kinning Park Complex, and find out a little about Glasgow's history.

GLASGOW (1982) FILM SCREENING
THURSDAY 12 DECEMBER, 6.30 FOR 7PM START
KINNING PARK COMPLEX (next to Kinning Park Subway)

       A rare screening of episodes from a series of films about Glasgow originally aired on the BBC in 1982. The series constitutes an amazing document of Glasgow, and the East End in particular, and provides a crucial historical context for understanding present-day social and environmental problems in the city.
       Episodes focus on the blight left behind from the mass demolitions of the 1960s and 1970s – the era of Comprehensive Development Areas; the closure of Beardmore’s Forge at Parkhead and with it the end of large industry in the East End; and a portrayal of the infamous Barrowfield Scheme next to Parkhead. For those interested in current ‘regeneration’ plans associated with the Commonwealth Games 2014 and Clyde Gateway, it is unmissable.
     Margaret Jaconelli, who was evicted by CPO on the site of the Commonwealth Games Village, and Neil Gray from Glasgow Games Monitor 2014, will talk about the films in relation to the present era. Followed by open discussion. Donations on door welcome.
Organised by Glasgow Games Monitor 2014 and Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism!

http://gamesmonitor2014.org/2013/11/28/glasgow-1982-film-screening/

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

Their Growth Is Our Deprivation.

      Where do we stand as a country, our lords and masters, the millionaire class, spout growth and being a world leader. What is more, they come up with mythical figures to prove their illusion. Of course you and I, the people on the ground, outside that bubble of rarefied atmosphere of upper crust parasites, see it somewhat different. While they discus figures plucked from their favourite guess-machine, and Her Majesty's Opposition produce imperceptible variations on those figures, we, the ordinary Joe, live in the real world of food banks and workfare, of choosing between heating or eating. In our world we are acutely aware of our collapsing infrastructure and our rapidly descending standard of living. We might have smart-phones, tablets and super broadband, but large swathes of our elderly and vulnerable are facing problems from hypothermia, and malnutrition has double in the last year. We the ordinary people are also well aware of the fact that we live with an eduction system that miserably fails our kids. According to a recent report, South Korean, Vietnamese and Macanese teenagers are streets ahead of our teenagers, in mathematics and science.
      Our infrastructure is late nineteenth century early twentieth century, and as we would expect our industrial over lords never invest, but are merely interested in taking the profits and running things into the ground, out-sourcing is cheaper, so more profitable. According to a recent survey of 148 countries by the World Economic Forum, our road transport system was rated as inferior to that of Barbados and our roads were ranked worse than those of Chile.
       Of course we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that, as far as our standard of living is concerned, it is all going to plan. Our millionaire political class, (who we should not forget, are all big investors in, and friends of, the corporate greed machine) are working hard with their corporate masters, to get this country down to a low wage, sweatshop economy, and you have to say, aren't they doing well.
     A cheap subservient workforce is the key to their growth, their businesses will grow in size and profitability. They will be able to compete with their Easter competitors. So when you hear the corrupt millionaire political cabal, and the greed driven parasitic corporate greed machine, talk of growth, you know what they mean, it's growth in their bank accounts that they are after, and you and I, are the tools.

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