Monday 16 June 2014

A Glasgow Date For Your Diary.



     If you are in or around Glasgow on Wednesday evening, 18th June, here is a date for your diary. A must if you are looking for a better world for all. 

Book Launch & Talk: 
New Forms of Worker Organisation (w. Immanuel Ness)
Wednesday 18 June at 18:45 – 21:00
Fred Paton Centre, 19 Carrington Street, G4 9AJ

Book Launch and Talk, co-hosted by



 

      Immanuel Ness, editor of 'New Forms of Worker Organisation', will present a compelling case that labour unions are at a turning point that will change the character of worker representation that was crafted in the U.S. and imperialist states in the mid-20th century.

For more on the book see: http://www.workerorganization.org/

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

When The Insane Hold Power!!



        I never thought that I would find myself nodding approvingly at comments made by that arrogant, privileged, old Etonian, ex-Bullingdon Club member the dangerous buffoon, Boris (he who ordered 3 water cannons for the people of London) Johnson. However in his latest mutterings I feel he has got it right, he refers to that madman, the most holy, St.Tony Blair as unhinged.
      In his Daily Telegraph column, he makes such remarks as, "I have come to the conclusion that Tony Blair has finally gone mad.” He goes on with truths that anybody with any reasoning ability are fully aware, such as, "In discussing the disaster of modern Iraq he made assertions that are so jaw-droppingly and breathtakingly at variance with reality that he surely needs professional psychiatric help." Well said Boris, but we have been saying it for years. Even before he steeped himself in other people's blood in Iraq. Boris continues his truths on St. Tony Blair with further comments such as, "There are more than 100,000 dead Iraqis who would be alive today if we had not gone in and created the conditions for such a conflict, to say nothing of the troops from America, Britain and other countries who have lost their lives in the shambles----.” "That is the truth, and it is time Tony Blair accepted it.” and, "We utterly blitzed the power centres of Iraq with no credible plan for the next stage - and frankly, yes, I do blame Bush and Blair for their unbelievable arrogance in thinking it would work."

       I have to hand it to Buffoon Boris when he says, Blair instinctively understood how war helps to magnify a politician. His remark, "War gives leaders a grandeur they might not otherwise possess. If you hanker after Churchillian or Thatcherian charisma, there is nothing like a victorious war." tells us a lot about our privileged political class and how they think. Boris more or less accuses St. Tony of having sent British forces into the bloody conflict in part to gain personal "grandeur".

       Well said Boris, now why not go the whole way and speak to your privileged, Oxbridge millionaire friends and get their weight behind having him charged with crimes against humanity and then committed to a hospital for the criminally insane.

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

Saturday 14 June 2014

The Corporate Money Syphon Machine.



http://en.contrainfo.espiv.net/files/2014/06/fuckworldcup.jpg

      I suppose it can be fun, kicking a ball around with a group of people, though not my cup of tea. The World Cup, however is something else. Like all the large corporate spectacles, it is just another way of transferring public money into private bank accounts, though the mainstream media, that babbling brook of bullshit, tries to convince us all, that we, the ordinary people, get all the gains from this corporate plundering of the public purse. The London Olympics benefited lots of corporate bodies, but think how much you personally gained from all that tax payers expenditure? Glasgow's Commonwealth games is another corporate spectacular where we see millions of pounds of tax payers money just simply drain into private bank accounts. The other side of all these corporate spectacles is the repression, people have to be moved out of the way, dispersed from their local communities, to make way for the money spending tourists, and grand venues, that the locals can't afford to use. It is a short sharp manoeuvre, and then the money grabbing machine moves on to milk some other group of tax payers. Nothing to do with the local people, they are a bit of a nuisance to the smooth operation of the plundering of public assets, and long way they continue to be that nuisance.


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

Friday 13 June 2014

Religions Speak With Forked Tongue.


       It seems that there is no end to the cruelty, and no depth of depravity to which the vile institution of the Catholic Church will sink. From sexual and physical abuse, to paedophilia, and now the discovery of over 800 bodies of babies found in a septic tank at one of the homes run by the Catholic Church. Are there any more such homes?


        Trusted by that other vile institution, the state, to look after mothers and their children, they used and abused the mothers and starved the neglected the babies, and when the babies died they were disposed of in a septic tank. All this and more form an extremely rich and powerful organisation that preaches love.  The Catholic Church, is like all religions, they speak with forked tongue. They are the enemy of free thought and progress, the creator of divisions between people, institutions of control freaks, a blight on humanity. The quicker we clear our minds and our society of their poison the greater the chances of co-operation between all people.

 
        Vicious cruelty and religion go hand in hand, not just in the Catholic Church, it is how they treat those who differ or deny their "teachings". The only restraint on their barbaric behaviour is the secular society. Over the centuries the secularists have moderated most of religions vile acts but as we see from various reports, it breaks out again and again, creating misery, suffering and bloodshed.


This from Care 2:
       For decades in Ireland, unmarried women who became pregnant were sent to state-funded "mother and baby homes." The mothers would work to atone for the "sin" of getting pregnant; their children were taken away from them. And outside the now-abandoned site of one of those homes in Galway, the remains of nearly 800 children were found in an old septic tank last week.

       In 1925, Catholic nuns took over the running of a workhouse in Tuam, Galway, turning it into a "mother and baby home." At this grim institution, which locals simply nicknamed "The Home," children were starved and neglected, often to a fatal degree. In fact, one historian estimates that a child died once a fortnight in "The Home."

And those babies weren't treated with dignity after their tragic deaths. Instead , they were tossed in a septic tank and left there to rot -- until locals discovered them again last week.

      The Catholic church has responded with prayers for the dead children's souls. But these abused, lonely orphans deserve more than that. The truth about their lives -- the whole truth -- needs to be told, so that no one can ever forget the pain and suffering they went through.

      We have to remind Ireland's officials that we won't let the past go that easily. Please sign and ask the Irish government to help fund a memorial for these babies who never had a proper funeral.

Thank you for taking action,

Kathleen J.
Care2 and ThePetitionSite

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

Thursday 12 June 2014

Another Case For The Coming Together Of Communities.


        Sometimes you can't help but think that the Glasgow City Council is a gang from the financial Mafia, hell-bent on destroying the lives of the people of Glasgow, all in the name of big business, of course. The people of the East End of the city have been trampled over in the glorification of a spectacle that will only benefit big business, the Commonwealth Games. In the North of our city, in an area of high deprivation and low amenities, Springburn/Sighthill, they have decided to flatten one of the very few amenities in the area, namely, the Sighthill Park Standing stones. It is supposed to be in preparation for the 2018 Youth Olympics, but even if that doesn't go through, they still want to get rid of it by handing it to developers who will build more unaffordable housing. Just what an area of high unemployment, high poverty rate, low amenities is in need of, my arse. 
       The park with its standing stones is one feature in the area worth preserving, a place for kids and families to enjoy. The area has an abundance of empty brown site space crying out for some sort of development that will benefit the people of the area, why destroy the one they have?

 
Sign the petition HERE:

       The stone circle in Sighthill Park is Britain's first stone circle built according to the alignment of the stars in several thousand years. Built, in 1979, it is one of Glasgow's treasures and can teach youngsters a lot about history and astronomy. It is something unique that the people of Sighthill can call their own.

     But Glasgow City Council is currently planning to demolish the stone circle as part of the bid for the 2018 Youth Olympics - and if this falls through, they plan to destroy the circle anyway for 'redevelopment' - which the council seems to believe can only be done by flattening what is already there instead of working with it. If they simply build a path around the circle it will be preserved.

       Plans also include destroying the wildlife habitat in the vicinity. Surely enough damage is already being done to the environment, without wrecking another part of nature? It is important to preserve what we have left, not destroy more land.

         Please sign this petition to call on Glasgow City Council to preserve the stone circle and surrounding park.
Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Democracy And Water Cannons Don't Walk Hand In Hand.

 
       Do the hounds of Oxbridge sniff dissent in the air? While Theresa May, possible future queen of the Tory party, and Cameron, with his crown slipping, mull over the possible use of water cannons on our streets, dangerous, ambitious buffoon Johnson, has jumped the gun and order three. Meanwhile the police are salivating at the mouth at the thought of getting new, great big toys. Do they see a rising tide of dissent, have their expert advisers advised them that their continuing plans for swing the austerity axe, will bring in its wake mass unrest? Whatever the reason, water cannons will usher in the end of peaceful protest on our streets. When protesting against some injustice, how do react when faced with rows of shield covered, baton wielding riot police and behind them this monstrosity of brute force, the water cannon? Do you feel confident that everything will be OK as we live in a democracy? Water cannons and democracy do not walk hand in hand. Their only purpose is to intimidate and get you off the street.


This from 38 Degrees:
       Theresa May, the Home Secretary, is deciding on whether to allow the police in England & Wales to use water cannons on our streets. The police say they need them to control protests “from ongoing and potential future austerity measures”. [1]
       Yesterday, London Mayor Boris Johnson jumped the gun and ordered three water cannons for the capital before Theresa’s decision has been made. He’s now been backed by David Cameron, but Theresa May says she’s refusing to be rushed on the important decision. [2]
       38 Degrees member Neal has started a petition demanding that Theresa refuses to lift the ban on water cannons. If we can show there’s enough public opposition to the plans, it could be enough to encourage Theresa to defy David and Boris and keep the machines out of the police’s hands.
     What do you think? You can sign Neal’s petition to keep the ban on the cannons here:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/water-cannons


       He says: “The use of water cannon would be a violent and excessive use of force to combat protests on the streets of the UK. The right to protest is one of the most important aspects of our free and open democracy and I believe that the threat of this weapon will be an inhibitor to people of all ages from exercising that right.“

       We have seen all too frequently instances of police abusing their power, and using unnecessary force to break up protests. Be it the death of Ian Tomlinson, or the assault on anti-fracking campaigner Sean O'Donnell, elements of the police force would prefer to use violence and aggression to silence peaceful protest.”
[3]

     Can you sign Neal’s petition and demand that Theresa keeps the cannons off our streets?
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/water-cannons


      Neal started his petition on Campaigns by You, part of the 38 Degrees website where anyone can start a petition to try and make the UK a fairer, more democratic and peaceful place to live. If there’s an issue close to your heart, it takes just a few minutes to get your campaign off the ground. [4]

Thanks for everything you do,
Robin, Bryony, Maddy & the 38 Degrees team.

NOTES:
[1] The Guardian: Police to ask home secretary to approve use of water cannon across country http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jan/22/police-home-secretary-approve-use-water-cannon-austerity-protest
[2] The Guardian: Cameron and May at odds over Boris Johnson's water cannon http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/jun/11/cameron-may-boris-johnson-water-cannons
[3] The Guardian: Police accused of brutality as fracking protester is left 'battered and bruised' http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jan/21/police-accused-brutality-anti-fracking-protester
[3] Wikipedia: The Death of Ian Tomlinson http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Ian_Tomlinson
[4] Campaigns by You: http://www.CampaignsByYou.com 
  
Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

It's Our City, Let Us Shape It.


 

      All you good people who turned up last Monday for "These Streets Were Made For Walking" Perhaps you could all come together again for another matter of abuse in our city. The Accord Centre in the East End of our city, WAS, a day centre for more than 100 kids with learning difficulties, a place of fun and learning and a chance of respite for parents and carers. Our caring city council decided to demolish it to create a temporary bus park for the "Games". The families were promised a new centre, to date, nothing.

 
   
     The families and friends of those kids have been fighting a lone battle to get something to replace the centre that the council demolished, all to no avail. Perhaps if the thousands that turned up that Monday in Govanhill, threw their might behind those struggling kids and their families, the council might listen. This is a community matter that demands support from across our city, these are vulnerable kids, they and their families are being abused. Mass protests could change the picture, and end this abuse. It's our city, let's shape it the way we want it.
        Grace Harrigan is an East End resident for whom the Games have not been a blessing. In early 2011, she learnt that the Accord – a day centre used by her son and 120 other adults with learning disabilities – was to be demolished. It was, to quote a clinical letter from a council official, “located in the area designated for the Games”, with their plot lined up to become a coach park. Unsurprisingly, knocking down a disability centre for the sake of a temporary parking facility, for an 11-day event, proved controversial. Carers at the centre found themselves thrown into a high profile campaign and even Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond, mindful of an approaching election, waded in to remind Glasgow’s Council not to risk jeopardising the “reputation and integrity” of the Games.
Read the full article HERE:

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

Tuesday 10 June 2014

The Power Of Marketing.


      Anybody fancy a bit of chicken, or a nice pork chop? The power of marketing, the slick propaganda creators, sell us cruelty and shit and we swallow it, literally.


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

All Of Glasgow Is Our City.


      It was great to see such a magnificent turnout at Monday night's walk through Govanhill. A community issue and a massive response from across the city. To be able to safely walk through any district in Glasgow at any time of day or night is a given, and must not be jeopardised by a handful of mental freaks. The only thought of disappointment that crosses my mind is that Glasgow has a limitless number of community issues, some jeopardise the life and safety of children, others the health and welfare of families, some the well being of the elderly and the vulnerable, but we can't get the same mass response to these issues as we got with this particular matter.

Photo: Well done to the thousands who turned out in Govanhill tonight and Amanda & Ashley who pulled the event together. Earlier this week they told us: "We do not want our area to be tarnished as ‘unsafe’ or as a no-go area. We want to inspire confidence in the people, to have the knowledge that the support of the community is out there, and most importantly, we want safety on our streets."
More here: http://athousandflowers.net/2014/06/08/these-streets-were-made-for-walking/
   
    I would like to ask all those who turned up at Govanhill on Monday night to come together on all those other issues that blight lives in our city. For example, in Springburn, we have 52% of children living in poverty, the highest of any district in Scotland, why? As far as I'm aware, Springburn also has the highest number of request for care orders for children. There are other districts in Glasgow not that far behind Springburn. How does this blight and destroy the lives of these children as they grow into adulthood? What kind of adults will they become?


     Like I said, wonderful to see such a mass of people take to the streets on this issue of safety on our streets, but where are they on all those other issues?

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

Monday 9 June 2014

Anarchy, -Civil or Subversive-.

 

        A page from a new publication called Anarchy, -Civil or Subversive- from 325 This page is from the chapter called The Submissive Crowd.
The Submissive Crowd.
     “All revolutions have failed? Perhaps. But rebellion for good cause is self-justifying – a good in itself. Rebellion transforms slaves into human beings, if only for an hour.”
Edward Abbey
         You can be the most pleasant, easy-going, kind-hearted person, but it really doesn’t matter to the “normal’ members of Society: “the followers”, those who are scared and hostile towards anybody they see as different from what they perceive to be acceptable or decent. Wearing differently cut clothes or having a weird hair cut is enough to risk the ire of the “good people” it seems, without even mentioning possessing different manners or perspectives counter to the mainstream. If you have ideas that challenge the status quo, and you’re determined to commit them to experience , be ready for their anger and grudges. With narrow minds and low horizons, the submissive crowd is the eyes, ears and mouths of repression; Grovelling conformists, who, -when they are not looking out for “terrorists” and “criminals” - are busy sniffing and snitching out any of those who don’t go through life like one of a herd of sheep.
      Sheep who scrabble for money , lie, cheat and back-stab to get what they want, dominate other people when they can, and beg for protection and mercy from the authorities. “Neighbours”, “communities”, and “citizens”; mostly just more words for those who fill the streets with their xenophobia, nationalism and hypocrisy. Those who respect social mediocrity and fawn to power deserve my contempt. Their world must go. What is normal? I ask because obviously , from the reaction of those strangers I live amongst, I am not remotely ‘normal’. Holding down some shit job, marrying and breeding, running to own your own house, consumerism, drinking beer and watching TV after a day at work: this is the good life, this is the normality that those who love Society check everyone else against. These citizens hate anybody who dares to shine brighter than that and will do everything in their power to destroy the light-bringers. Because it is the Unique ones whose light makes the ignorant aware that their own grovelling conformity is nothing but a shadow of life.
Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk





Saturday 7 June 2014

A Glasgow Date For Your Diary.




         An evening of documentary, discussion and action about the work of 
The Freedom Theatre Palestine.
Friday 13th June 2014 - 6-9.30pm
Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) 
350 Sauchiehall St, Glasgow G2 3JD - Map here
        Disability Access-Email - glasgowfreedomtheatre@gmail.com for information or see you there!

 Inline images 1

         The Freedom Theatre was built in the heart of the Palestinian resistance in Jenin Refugee Camp in 2006. The aim was to create a political and artistic movement of theatre and film makers who could fight the Israeli Occupation through art and use cultural resistance as a tool to fight oppression. Due to the provocative nature of the work the theatre has had its building attacked, received numerous death threats, had its members interrogated and imprisoned and in 2011 the theatre’s Artistic Director Juliano Mer Khamis was murdered. Despite this the theatre has managed to tour their work internationally as well as open many productions in Jenin Refugee Camp where it is based.
       The discussion will be led by Nabil Al-Raee. Nabil was born in Alrob refugee Camp in Palestine and is an actor, director and teacher. He has worked at The Freedom Theatre since 2006 and took over as artistic director when Juliano Mer Khmais was murdered.
         The evening will also include the documentary Arna’s Children which was directed by Juliano Mer Khamis telling the story of a Palestinian theatre group that was established by his mother Arna in Jenin. Juliano went on to found The Freedom Theatre, leading the artistic vision for six years until he was murdered in 2011.
  أمسية الوثائقية ومناقشة مع مسرح الحرية فلسطين.
.تم بناء مسرح الحرية في مخيم جنين، في قلب المقاومة، في 2006. كان الهدف هو خلق حركة سياسية والفنية من المسرح والمخرجين. يمكنهم محاربة الاحتلال الإسرائيلي من خلال الفن. يمكنهم استخدام الثقافة لمحاربة الظلم.

يليه الفيلم جائزة آرنا الأطفال.
الجمعة 13 يونيو 2014 - 18:00 حتي 21:30
مركز الفنون المعاصرة (CCA) 350 سوشيل شارع جلاسجو G2 3JD
وصول العجز






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







Is Revenge Sweet?


     I suppose I could call myself an old person. Through all those years I have seen the system under which we live, use and abuse friends and family. I have had relatives ravaged and destroyed by war, seen others sink into the swamp of poverty, and the system rolled on painting the illusion, that hard work will sort everything out. If that was the case I should be a very rich old guy, as my father worked hard and ceaselessly as a coal miner all his life, but we struggled all our life.
     Throughout my life, I have always taken the stand, with many others, of trying to change the system to one that benefits the ordinary people, its been a long haul and the system is still there, still using and abuse friends and family, still painting that illusion, that we will all do well if only we will work longer and harder.
     Looking globally, the signs are encouraging, more and more people in more countries are standing up and fighting, with the realisation that the system is unjust, corrupt, rotten to the core, and must be changed.
     However I have waited a long time and saw a lot of poverty and misery inflicted on innocent people, and perhaps I'm getting a wee bit bitter. I saw the image below and felt that it now seems to suit my desires more than I would have said some years ago. Is revenge sweet?


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

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

Thursday 5 June 2014

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

Tuesday 3 June 2014

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.

 
        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

Monday 2 June 2014

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