Without Our Labour, Nothing.

Time for a wee poem.

We The Labouring Mass

We the people have, every brick laid,

have fed the world with sweat and spade,

every instrument played in every band

created by the skill of the craftsman's hand.

We made every truck and every load,

our toil our effort every winding road,

every ship that ever sailed the sea,

our power our imagination made it be.

Cities and towns large and small,

our labouring hands fashioned them all,

every home, every spire,

luxury mansion or humble byre.

No matter what dreams the mind might spawn

without labour's hand they'll never see the dawn,

without labour's strength and labour's skill,

we would be foraging beasts in a jungle still.

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

A Grotesque Display Of Pomp And Power.

 

 UK democracy at work.

      Those who, for some reason or other, don't see this society as a class structured, class ridden entity, surely changed their minds after seeing the grotesque display of privilege and power, they call "The Queen's Speech". We saw the parade of monarchical power being escorted through the streets of London, flanked by military symbolism. Then we had this so called democratic government, sitting in awe, listening to an old woman steeped in heredity power and wealth, telling them what "Her" government will do. Her continued reference to "My government", was not a slip of the tongue, but a deliberate statement to reinforce where the power really lies in this country. The very way the The Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption are set up follows this pattern. You have "the Commons" and the "Lords", while sitting at the head of that lot of pompous privilege, we have "The Monarch". She signs off their bills, and gives their legislation the stamp of approval. You'll look long and hard to find a dictionary that puts such a structure under the heading of "Democracy".

 An honest display of the UK power structure.

       All that pomp and ceremony is paid for by you and me, the gold encrusted coach, the fancy jewel festooned crown, extremely large gold covered throne, all the military trimmings, do you honestly believe that it is all to show that we live in a democracy, or is it more a display to let you know your place in this medieval class structure? I think it does the latter very well, we are on the outside looking in at the power that rules our lives. We could of course change all this and create a real democracy, but that would mean you and I taking control, and making all the decisions that matter in our lives, rather than abdicating our power to a bunch of privileged parasites.

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

The Coming Crooks And Liars Competition.

       A general election next year, it will be the usual attempt by the crooks and liars to prove they are the best crooks and liars in the game. Same old crap spouted from the same old privileged Oxbridge educated millionaire class. They will be promising you and I, the same old pie-in-the-sky, if we will only let them screw us for another five years. They will be asking you to legitimise their entrenched power and  pilfered  wealth, seeking your approval as they bolster the wealth and power of their buddies in the financial/corporate Mafia. Sadly, the great fraud show, the election, will be accepted by most people as giving them that stamp of legitimacy.

     By then, as George Carlin said, "they have you by the balls".

      Though there is a call for change, there doesn't seem to be a great ground swell to scrap the ballot box and take control of our lives. So perhaps Ian Bone's Class War election campaign has something going for it. An opportunity to use that platform as a propaganda excercise, a chance to talk class war politics to a wider public, to put class war on the agenda, to once again get more people talking about class, and the realisation that this is a class war situation.

 

From Ian Bone's Blog:

        We are standing Class War candidates in the general election on May 7th 2015. We are doing this to launch a furious and co-ordinated political offensive against the ruling class with the opportunity an election gives us to talk politics to our class. We in no way see the election as an alternative to direct action. By the brick and the ballot.
      We are not talking community politics here. It’s too late for a patient slowbuild like the IWCA. The ruling class have us by the throat -they need a short sharp kick in the bollocks. Our election campaign will use any means necessary. we won’t be ushered away by PR minders – we will make ourselves central to the campaign in a funny, rumbustious combative and imaginative way. We will be on the streets and in their faces.
     Comrades whatever our yesterdays you are welcome now. join in. reject cynicism. have fun.
FULL STEAM AHEAD THROUGH THE SHIT

Read the full article HERE:

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

The Weapon Of Poetry.

     With Michael Gove removing books from the curriculum, one step before burning them, we have to accept that his straight line brain can't think any other way, it's his way or no way. He displays the true attitude of a fascist mind, his pure untainted, flawless, self-centred line of thought, unsavaged by the opinion of others, pushed to mould the future in his own image.

      He and all you homophobic, racist, nationalist, xenophobic, patriotic, white- supremacist, religious fundamentalist, closed minded bigots, banging your drum, shouting your superiority, and the purity of your heritage, listen and learn, let the weapon of poetry carve your mind.

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

Class Warriors See Off ATOS.

 More photos on Glasgow Against ATOS.
 

       Friday, 30th. May, saw the last picket held by Glasgow Against ATOS, and though I couldn't make it, I think I can safely say, from all accounts, it was a large, colourful, noisy, cheerful picket, that can claim success. All of us must take our hats off to this ever growing army of class warriors, that saw injustice, got together, and stood on the line. For almost two years, month after month, in wind, rain, hail and frost, there they were, outside the ATOS offices at Corruna House in Cadogan Street in Glasgow. 

 

      The dogged determined campaign to highlight the traumatizing, intimidation, and humiliation heaped on our most vulnerable, by the profit junkies ATOS at the direction of the Cameron millionaire cabal, spread nation wide. Through the continued bad publicity being brought to the public's notice by this army of class warriors, ATOS decided to pull the plug on its despicable operation. The campaign succeeded in doing what it set out to do, getting ATOS off the backs of our disabled. 

 

    ATOS may have gone, but the millionaire vermin that sits in the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, has in no way changed its policies. They still want to remove benefits from our disabled. Their first hatchet man has gone, we can rest assured that they are already looking at what vampire squid to hand the lucrative contract to next. Will it be the ruthless, bungling G4S, or perhaps the mighty  Serco, the company that has been dogged by scandals from overcharging for prisoner tagging to allegations of sexual assault at an immigration detention centre. The choice our parasitical millionaire government has to do its dirty work, is wide and vile.

 

     So Glasgow Against ATOS, well done, you are class war heroes, but, keep your powder dry, the enemy is re-arming.

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

Barcelona Is Bubbling.

     The Can Vies, was an abandoned building in Sants district of Barcelona, owned by the city's transport authority, it was occupied in 1997 by young people as a protest against the lack of public facilities in this mainly working class area. It remained a squat and social centre since then until last week, when the authorities decided to evict the occupants.
       What has followed has been three continuous nights of rioting, that has spread to other districts and pushed the authorities to bring the full force of their repressive regime to bear on the protesters.
       Of course our babbling brook of bullshit the mainstream media, has not give it much cover, they never like to show people fighting back against any Western authority.
      Spain, like Greece, is at the forefront of the Financial Mafia's looting attack, as the greed merchants attempt to plunder all public assets in rapid fashion. However, what the Financial Mafia should think on is, that when you have everything stolen from you, you have nothing to lose by fighting back. We should watch and prepare as the plundering is going on in all our countries, it is just at  a different pace, but the end result will be the same, poverty and deprivation for us, and unbridled wealth for the few, unless----

An extract from Anarchist News:

       If the chronicles of the recent events in Barcelona have turned into summaries and the summaries grow shorter, this does not reflect a diminishing of activity, but the contrary.

      During the day, conversations among friends repeated what was more or less insurrectionary common sense: today is the key day. A riot continuing from one day to the next was unprecedented in Barcelona since the end of the dictatorship. Now, if it could continue for a third day, it would have the chance to expand. Otherwise, calm would be restored until the major protest convened for Saturday, politics as usual with or without riots.

       Until nightfall, normality reigned, although people across the city were discussing the events. In the evening, people gathered in many different neighborhoods. In Nou Barris, a potentially rebellious proletarian zone, a strong police presence prevented the gathering. In Sant Andreu, a gathering blocked a major avenue with burning dumpsters. Most other neighborhoods went to Sants, probably making things easier for the police to contain, but giving many first-time or unexperienced participants who did not yet feel prepared to take over their neighborhoods a chance to win street experience.---

Read the full article HERE:
A video and report from RT.
 

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

East End Injustice.

       Glasgow East End residents got an opportunity, (at last) to voice their anger, (perhaps I should say "righteous anger") at the treatment the have and are receiving, as the council steamrolls a path for big money to make a killing, in what is called, The Commonwealth Games 2014.

This from Glasgow Games Monitor 2014:

      1.  Very interesting 'Angry Games Residents Meeting' last night: http://gamesmonitor2014.org/2014/05/28/residents-vent-games-anger-at-packed-meeting/

       2. We meet next at 6.30pm-8.30 pm, Monday 2nd June at UNITE the Union offices, John Smith House, 145/165 West Regent Street, Glasgow G2 4RZ. All welcome! http://gamesmonitor2014.org/meetings/

    3. Event challenging stigma in the East End, 5.30, Thursday (tomorrow) 29th May, Parkhead Library (Community Meeting Hall), 64 Tollcross Road, G31 4XA: http://gamesmonitor2014.org/2014/05/28/event-beyond-stigma-exploring-everyday-lives-in-the-east-end-of-glasgow-and-the-cwg2014%e2%80%8f/ Cheers,http://gamesmonitor2014.org/ 

Also from Glasgow Games Monitor:

   This event tomorrow night may be of interest to people in the East End especially... Beyond Stigma: Exploring Everyday lives in the East End of Glasgow and the CWG2014 The East End of Glasgow has had a lot of negative media and political commentary attached to it. With your help, we want to explore the lives and promote the voice of people actually living in the East End of Glasgow. We are looking for people to keep diaries of their thoughts and experiences throughout the Commonwealth Games 2014 and beyond. To be involved, please come to our community meeting at:Parkhead Library (in the Community Meeting hall)Thursday 29th May 2014 at 5.30pm64 Tollcross Road, G31 4XA If you would like to be involved, or want more information please contact Vikki McCall.Phone: 01786 467698; e-mail: vikki.mccall@stir.ac.uk 

       More about the Project… We seek to explore the impact of territorial stigmatisation on the people that live in the East End of Glasgow in the context of the Commonwealth Games 2014 and other social and economic changes that are impacting on the city.The 2014 Commonwealth Games sets out ‘Glasgow’s ambition… for a meaningful legacy that will go beyond 2014 and will benefit everyone’. Yet beneath the fanfaring, there is little supportive evidence that mega sporting events can achieve the aims set out by local government. Further still, this regeneration initiative was envisaged in different set of economic and political conditions.The City of Glasgow has the highest number of people living in conditions of multiple deprivation and the East End in particular is subject to negative media and political discourse and stigmatisation. Those living in the East End of Glasgow will have a certain level of awareness of these discourses and are also actors in negotiating the process of stigmatisation as well as living with the consequences of it. But how exactly are such discourses being received and experienced in the East End? Do they create further material inequalities?     How do stigmatizing narratives and structural inequalities coalesce? In asking these questions, this research will examine the relationship between territorial stigmatisation and gentrification/regeneration. 

        It will explore the material underpinning of narratives of lack which devalue and/or valorize neighbourhoods and people of those places. It will compare these narratives to the everyday lived realities of Glasgow’s East Enders. Who is involved… The project is led by Dr Gerry Mooney, from the Open University in Scotland.The project is being managed by Dr Vikki McCall, from the University of Stirling. Vikki lives in the East End of Glasgow and is on the Board of Parkhead Housing Association. Please feel free to tweet @vikki_mccalland Dr Kirsteen Paton from the University of Leeds. 

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

Vulnerable Children, Profit Making Entities?

      The plan rolls along merrily, privatise everything that they can make money from, whether it be education, health or child care. The millionaire Oxbridge cabal in The Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption are pushing hard the ideology of the financial Mafia. We had ATOS killing the disabled, now it is the turn of vulnerable children, as Gove looks at ways of getting such humanitarian institutions as G4S, ATOS and Serco to squeeze a profit out of our vulnerable children. No doubt if this goes ahead, the children involved will suffer the same stress, humiliation and trauma that the disabled suffered under ATOS.

An appeal from 38 Degrees:

      Would you trust private companies like G4S, Atos or Serco to look after vulnerable children? Or to influence decisions about taking children into care? Protecting children is one of the most difficult and sensitive roles for a government to perform. But education secretary Michael Gove is consulting on whether to outsource this role to profit making companies.
       If we want to stop this, we don’t have long - the consultation closes this Friday. So far, the issue’s had very little media coverage, and the consultation has barely been publicised. If thousands of us write in today, we can show Michael Gove that we’re watching - and make sure he drops these plans.

Please can you write to the consultation today:  
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/childprotection

        Decisions by child protection professionals affect lives and can break up families, these decisions should be kept miles away from any hint of a profit motive. Adoption services have already been protected from privatisation. And there’s no evidence to suggest that outsourcing services is a good idea anyway.

       The government’s proposal argues that letting private companies provide children’s services will encourage innovation. But we all saw the mess that G4S made of providing security at the Olympics, would we really want them to care for vulnerable children’s lives?

       Experts have already voiced outrage at the plans, now we need to hammer the message home with people power. Previously when 38 Degrees members have responded to Michael Gove’s consultations, our voices have been heard loud and clear. Last year, he dropped his plans to remove climate change from school curriculums after we wrote in our thousands to oppose them.

Can you write into the consultation and help stop these plans today:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/childprotection

Thanks for everything you do
Robin, Ali, Blanche and the 38 Degrees team

NOTES:
[1] The Guardian - Privatise child protection services, Department for Education proposes: http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/may/16/privatise-child-protection-services-department-for-education-proposes
[2] Public Finance - Child protection: not for sale: http://opinion.publicfinance.co.uk/2014/05/child-protection-not-for-sale/
[3] The government proposal: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/304660/Powers_to_Delegate_Con_Doc.pdf
[4] The Guardian - Child protection services too important to be privatised: http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/may/16/child-protection-privatised
[5] 38 Degrees blog - Victory: Climate change will stay in the curriculum: http://blog.38degrees.org.uk/2013/07/09/victory-climate-change-will-stay-in-the-curriculum

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

Let's Change The World!!

       Go do, direct action, get involved, it's your life. Thanks Anne.

Published on May 27, 2014

       What if you really could change the world? Jody Williams, Nobel Peace Prize winner, firmly believes that each and every one of us can and should contribute to creating a better world. In this empowering RSA Short Jody explains why it is so important that we strive to make a difference.

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

The Developed West's Child Labour.

 

        America, the pinnacle of capitalist development, the land of the free, the land of opportunity, we have heard all that shit for years. Seldom does the truth behind the myth get spoken, the media wouldn't want to spoil the illusion.

         Poverty is no stranger in that land of plenty, as these figures from Feeding America show:

In 2012, 46.5 million people (15.0 percent) were in poverty.

In 2012, 26.5 million (13.7 percent) of people ages 18-64 were in poverty.

In 2012, 16.1 million (21.8 percent) children under the age of 18 were in poverty.

In 2012, 3.9 million (9.1 percent) seniors 65 and older were in poverty.

The overall poverty rate according to the Supplemental Poverty Measure is 16.1%, as compared with the official poverty rate of 15.1%.

Under the Supplemental Poverty Measure, there are 49.7 million people living in poverty, 3.1 million more than are represented by the official poverty measure (46.5 million).

Food Insecurity and Very Low Food Security

In 2012, 49.0 million Americans lived in food insecure households, 33.1 million adults and 15.9 million children.

In 2012, 14.5 percent of households (17.6 million households) were food insecure.

In 2012, 5.7 percent of households (7.0 million households) experienced very low food security.

In 2012, households with children reported food insecurity at a significantly higher rate than those without children, 20.0 percent compared to 11.9 percent.

In 2012, households that had higher rates of food insecurity than the national average included households with children (20.0 percent), especially households with children headed by single women (35.4 percent) or single men (23.6 percent), Black non-Hispanic households (24.6 percent) and Hispanic households (23.3 percent).

And according to the November 2012 US Census Bureau, more than 16% of the population lived in poverty, including almost 20% of American children

       It would appear that the plenty is not spread around. Ah, that's capitalism at its best.
       Another myth that our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, push, is that working conditions in the developed West protects children, not like those nasty people in the Eastern sweatshops, where children are used as cheap labour. We would never do that in the civilised West, would we?

Published on May 13, 2014

http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/05/14/us...

          Child labor is common on tobacco farms in the United States, where children are exposed to nicotine, toxic pesticides, and other dangers. Child tobacco workers often get sick with vomiting, nausea, headaches, and dizziness while working, all symptoms consistent with acute nicotine poisoning. Many work 50 to 60 hours a week without overtime pay, often in extreme heat. They may be exposed to pesticides that are known neurotoxins. Many also use dangerous tools and machinery, lift heavy loads, and climb to perilous heights to hang tobacco for drying. The largest tobacco companies in the world purchase tobacco grown in the US to make popular cigarette brands like Marlboro, Newport, Camel, Pall Mall and others. These companies can't legally sell cigarettes to children, but they are profiting from child labor. US law also fails these children, by allowing them to work at much younger ages, for longer hours, and under more hazardous conditions than children working in all other sectors. Children as young as 12 can work legally on tobacco farms and at even younger ages on small farms.

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

Faslane Peace Camp, A Diary Date.

     A date for your diary, 4 days of workshops, fun and direct action hosted by the Faslane Peace Camp, June 12th. Lend your support to 32 years of continuous resistance to nuclear weapons.

 

        Faslane Peace Camp is a permanent peace camp sited alongside Faslane Naval base in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It is a reminder of the horror that nestles in our beautiful countryside, a beacon highlighting the insanity of the system under which we live. Thanks to an army of dedicated peace lovers, it has been occupied continuously, in a few different locations, since 12 June 1982. 

        The camp has changed over the years, morphing according to the number and personalities of those occupying the site. At one point there were two camps, one at each of the main gates of the nuclear base.

      A few years ago, after council border changes, the new council ended the camp's tenancy. An eviction was organised, but in the face of strong resistance and what would be large costs, they abandoned the eviction.

      Over the years the camp residents have breached the security of the nuclear base and been swimming and canoeing in its waters, as well as disrupting the transporting of trident nuclear missiles. They also run workshops and other events to keep the issue of the illegality of these weapons of mass destruction, in the public domain, and the insanity of storing of them so close to a large city, Glasgow.

     The 12th of June will see the Peace Camp hosting 4 days of workshops, fun and direct action. This is to mark 32 years of continuous resistance to the insanity of nuclear weapons. Accommodation will be available and there will be evening entertainment.

       This event is open to the public and you are invited to come along and help run, organise, workshops and make suggestions, make friends and strengthen the resistance to this horror on our doorstep. 

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

Amused Ourselves To Death---

In a more reflective mode, Roger Waters, Amused to Death.

We watched the tragedy unfold
We did as we were told
We bought and sold
It was the greatest show on earth
But then it was over
We ohhed and aahed
We drove our racing cars
We ate our last few jars of caviar
And somewhere out there in the stars
A keen-eyed look-out
Spied a flickering light
Our last hurrah
And when they found our shadows
Grouped ’round the TV sets
They ran down every lead
They repeated every test
They checked out all the data on their lists
And then the alien anthropologists
Admitted they were still perplexed
But on eliminating every other reason
For our sad demise
They logged the only explanation left
This species has amused itself to death . . .

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

Have I Been Understood?

 Food for thought, a little piece from The Barbarians:
 

     Dionysus, this old new divinity, come to reclaim his rights as the patron of bare life, ecstatic joy set against the despair and unhappiness of Protestant sophistries...
      This abhorrent doctrine of cold, frosted forests and rocky sea coasts, rainy cities and money-making tried to implant itself in the lands of the Mediterranean. But unbeknownst to all, the rebellious Dionysia kept growing, now taking the city by revelry, now by flame. The masks of the theatre stayed on as more and more forgot themselves, this strange remembering of the essential...
        Release the dark passions, says Bakunin, and this dark fury destroys all the old beliefs and monuments. This would be inexplicable were it not the midnight of childbirth...
       Many the thyrsus bearers, few the Bacchants. Yet revolutions are these bacchanals where none are not drunk, Dionysian festivals of world-history. The millenial peasants demanded the sacrament of wine to be shared for all, and the time is soon coming when the consciousness of Liberty demands this once more.
      The official end of the Christian era and its divinized State...We want no more rationed units of pale happiness, this utilitarian world of small pleasure and empty rejoicing- no, the loss of these petty concerns: unaccounted delight, the old celebration deprived of its spurious veiling,
a final epochal revolution to reveal
the true mystery of bread and wine! 

“Have I been understood? -
Dionysus versus the crucified”
 Friedrich Nietzsche.

 

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

 

Military Coup And Smartphones.

 

        So there's been a military coup in Thailand, to save the country of course. This is not Thailand's first military coup, they have had 12 since the its break from absolute monarchy in 1932 and this is the second in the last eight years. The first thing the military do to protect democracy is shut down TV broadcasting, you can't have information getting out to the general public if you want a “military democracy”. However, Thailand is one of those many countries that are avid users of social media and so it was a simple switch from TV to smartphones. Information continued to flow through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. So people were still getting and passing on information of what was going on. This of course doesn't suit “military democracy”

     To protect the country, the New Thailand masters summoned the local internet providers and ordered them to “monitor, check and block the dissemination of information which is distorted, incites violence or which may lead to unrest in the kingdom or affect national security or contravene public morals.”. On top of this, the Thai newspaper The Nation, had its headquarters occupied by troops, just to protect the people from any nasty news that might slip out.

 

     To get the population to be subservient, the powers that be need to control what information, ”propaganda”, the people are fed, so called “representative democracies” are a little bit more subtle, but the military move in with the boot, it's how they think.

       Social media and smartphones make it much more difficult for the powers that be to isolate us from each other, and from information of what is going on in our world, making us much more difficult to be controlled. Let's hope the Thai people use it to full advantage to achieve real freedom and democracy. 

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

No Thanks!!

        Have you ever heard of the "Land of The Free"? That's the euphemism for America, a country where it seems that you have checkpoints in the strangest of places. From this video I got the impression that it would be like here in the UK having checkpoints when travelling between Dumbartonshire and Stirlingshire. At least some people are standing up against what has all the hallmarks of a military dictatorship. More steam to their elbow.

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

A Disappearing Population.

      Glasgow was once a city of just over 1 million people, it is now down to around 600,000. It seems to be a city of a disappearing population. Lots of densely populated areas were cleared to make way for motorways, shopping malls, large office blocks and expensive apartments. Its people were dispersed to new towns, overspill areas, and housing schemes on the periphery of the city. Areas of vibrant communities became deserts, before being handed to the big money developers. What's more, it is still going on, Glasgow's East End has seen its local communities banished, to allow big money to make a quick buck on the back of the Commonwealth Games.

A date for your diary, from Glasgow Games Monitor 2014:

KINNING PARK COMPLEX

(next to Kinning Park Subway),

Sunday 25th May, 2-4pm. FREE

      Second instalment of screenings from a series of films about Glasgow, originally aired on BBC in 1982. The series is a vital document of Glasgow, and the East End in particular, and gives a crucial historical context for understanding present-day social and environmental problems in the city.

     These episodes (3 and 4) focus on housing policy and life in the once notorious Barrowfield estate next to Parkhead stadium, and culture, religion and community belonging in Glasgow, both positive and negative. The screening will be introduced by members of Fight Racism Fight Imperialism (FRFI) and Glasgow Games Monitor. Open discussion to follow. All welcome!

  http://gamesmonitor2014.org/2014/05/16/glasgow-1982-film-screening-2-2/

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

Who Owns The Earth's Seeds?

         When a quarter of a million farmers commit suicide, I think it is safe to say that there is something far wrong with that countries agriculture policies.

This from March Against Monsanto:

     May 24, 2014 ‘March Against Monsanto’ planned for over 50 countries INTERNATIONAL (May 24, 2014) - On May 24, millions of activists from around the world will once again March Against Monsanto, calling for the permanent boycott of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and other harmful agro-chemicals. Currently, marches will occur on six continents, in 52 countries,with events in over 400 cities. In the US, solidarity marches are slated to occur in 47 states. A comprehensive list of marches can be accessed at www.march-against-monsanto.com.

         Tami Monroe Canal, founder of March Against Monsanto (MAM), was inspired to start the movement to protect her two daughters. “Monsanto’s predatory business and corporate agricultural practices threatens their generation’s health, fertility and longevity. MAM supports a sustainable food production system. We must act now to stop GMOs and harmful pesticides.”

        GMOs are not adequately monitored to ensure public safety. Long term, independent, peer reviewed studies were not conducted before GMOs were introduced for human or animal consumption. In the USA, the revolving door between Monsanto employees, government positions, and regulatory authorities has led to key Monsanto figures occupying positions of power at the FDA and EPA. Monsanto has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to obstruct all labeling attempts; they also suppress any research containing results not in their favor. The scientifically established health risks include, but are not limited to: organ damage, sterility, infant mortality, birth defects, auto-immune conditions, allergies and increased cancer risks. GMOs have been partially banned by Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Japan, Luxembourg, Madeira, New Zealand, Peru, South America, Russia, France, Switzerland and Costa Rico, and are currently labelled in 62 countries. Despite this, factory farm animals throughout the world are still fed GMOs.

      Kelly L. Derricks started March Against Monsanto's Agent Orange awareness program, educating supporters on the deadly chemical weapon that Monsanto was the largest manufacturer of during the Vietnam War era. Kelly is the president and co-founder of the non-profit, Children of Vietnam Veterans Health Alliance (COVVHA). The organization fights internationally for the children exposed to Agent Orange through generational exposure that is killing tens of thousands with no recognition from the United States Government. She is quoted saying, "If we fail to realize that March Against Monsanto is not about GMOs alone, then we have already lost the battle."

      Josh Castro, organizer for Quito, Ecuador’s march observes, “Ecuador is such a beautiful place, with the richest biodiversity in the world. We will not allow this Garden of Eden to be compromised by the destructive practices of multinational corporations like Monsanto. Biotechnology is not the solution to world hunger. Agroecology is. Monsanto's harmful practices are causing soil infertility, mono-cropping, loss of biodiversity, habitat destruction, and contributing to beehive collapse. GMO crops cross pollinate with traditional crops, risking peasant farmers' livelihood."

      In India, more than 250,000 farmers have committed suicide after Monsanto's Bt cotton seeds did not perform as promised. Farmers, left in desperate poverty, are opting to free their families of debt by drinking Monsanto pesticide, thereby ending their lives. Many farmers in other countries are also stripped of their livelihood as a result of false promises, seed patenting and meticulous legal action on the part of Monsanto and other big-ag interests. In many parts of Africa, farmers and their communities are left to choose between starving or eating GMOs.

       An “Open Letter from World Scientists to All Governments Concerning Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs),” http://www.i-sis.org.uk/list.php, signed by 828 scientists from 84 countries, detailed concern regarding GMOs coupled with a call for immediate 5 year suspension of GMO crops in order to conduct “a comprehensive public enquiry of agriculture and food security for all.”

Supporting links:
The World according to Monsanto
http://tinyurl.com/mxvd3tx
Total Disinformation Awareness: Monsanto Suppresses Research On GMO Crops
http://bit.ly/1351Fal
Anniversary of a Whistle blowing Hero
http://huff.to/9NJ0lp
GMO Scandal: The Long Term Effects of Genetically Modified Food on Humans
http://bit.ly/11RB8wL

Data Pool of MAM:
http://on.fb.me/17bX7QP
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