A Saturday Date For Edinburgh.

An appeal from UAF Edinburgh:

     No one wants racists and Nazis in their city, but if you want to publicly demonstrate your opposition to of the Scottish Defence League, who are to bring their brand of intolerance and bigotry to Edinburgh this Saturday, then you need to be on the anti-racist counter protest.
     Let’s turn Saturday into a positive peaceful day when Edinburgh and Scotland says loud and clear we do not want fascists on our streets or in our
communities. We stand united.

 

Saturday 23 August
Assemble 1pm, Chambers Street.
1.30 March to Parliament

We have had great support for our Unity Statement opposing the SDL (see below) but we need to turn this into feet on the street. So please do everything you can;

Ask others to come along
Forward this email to friends family, networks or groups you are involved in.

Share the event page
https://www.facebook.com/events/506518372826916/

Download leaflets
http://www.scribd.com/doc/236718768/Nae-Nazis

    Join us before the protest for some last minute leafleting of festival goers.
11.30 Chambers St (George IV Bridge end)

 

Unity Statement
http://www.scribd.com/doc/236642868/Unity-Statement-v2

Community Groups
Edinburgh Central Mosque, Muslim Women's Association of Edinburgh, Norman
Crane (Edinburgh Liberal Jewish Community), Edinburgh Muslim Association of
Britain, Women's Federation for World Peace, Hollaback Edinburgh, Edinburgh
Stop the War & Young Fathers (Scottish Album of the Year 2014), Iqra Mosque,
Radio Ramadan (Edinburgh)..

Politicians
Kenny MacAskill (Scottish Government Cabinet Secretary for Justice & MSP SNP); Malcolm Chisholm (MSP Labour); Sarah Boyack (MSP Labour); Mark Lazarowicz (MP Labour); Nick Gardner (Labour councillor Leith Walk); Mike Corckart (MP Lib Dems); Marco Baigi (MSP SNP); Colin Keir (MSP SNP).

Trade Unions
STUC (Scottish Trade Union Council); Grahame Smith, General Secretary STUC;
Mike Kirby, Scottish Secretary of UNISON Scotland; Lynn Henderson, PCS
Scottish Secretary; City of Edinburgh UNISON; Midlothian TUC; Dumfries TUC;
Berwick upon Tweed TUC; Dumfries & Galloway EIS; John McFadden- UAF Scotland; Pat Rafferty, Regional Secretary and Jackson Cullinane, Political Officer, Unite the Union Scotland,

 

Facebook: EdinburghUAF
Tumblr: Edinburgh UAF
Email: uafedinburgh@riseup.net
Twitter: @UAFScot

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

 

Financial Mafia's World Wide Slavery.

      

      We all know that policies such as Workfare, and Work Related Activity Group, create slave labour, misery and stress, and this is aggravated by sanctions. People point the finger at the Cameron Cabal, as if this was their creation and if we could just get rid of that bunch of Oxbridge parasites, it would all be better. What we should realise is that these policies are not indigenous to the UK, the Cameron Cabal don't have the brains to think up such devious ways of getting the corporate wage bills down, they merely follow the instructions of the financial Mafia. These policies are taking place in other countries.

Some Pas Forgione quotes from Australia:

     The federal government has plans to expand Work for the Dole. From July next year it will be compulsory for job-seekers aged 18-30 to do 25 hours of work a week.

        In the same week that employment minister Eric Abetz announced the government would expand Work for the Dole to all job seekers under 50 and that job seekers would have to apply for double the number of jobs than previously, billionaire miner Andrew Forrest released his own recommendations for welfare reform — some of the most punitive ever proposed.

       The federal government is considering a proposal to force young unemployed people into strict military-style boot camps. The plan is an inadequate, simplistic response to the complex problem of youth unemployment. The fact that Labor is seriously exploring the scheme is another indication of how increasingly right-wing the party has become on welfare policy.
    The proposal, promoted as a “possible vote winner” to be announced before the upcoming election, would force early school leavers aged 15 to 21 into tough, hard-line boot camps, though precise details remain sketchy.

 
      So it is not our little bunch of Oxbridge millionaire parasites that are responsible for the misery and exploitation heaped on us, it is the world wide system of the festering marriage of capitalism and state. The shape of our society and the quality of our lives are decided in the grand marble halls of the faceless financial Mafia. Until we, across the globe, sort out that mob, our lives will continue down the spiral of exploitation and poverty.   

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

The Wall Must Fall.

 

       It is now more than ten years since the International Court of Justice declared the construction of the Apartheid Wall in the West Bank as illegal. It demanded that the wall be torn down, and called for the international community to enforce Israeli compliance. What we have seen since then is ten years of international community silence on the matter, giving Israel a free hand to continue with its brutal, illegal, apartheid policies.

 

      Ten years of ignoring the International Court of Justice on this matter, knowing that the international community will turn a blind eye, encourages the Israel State to continue with its building the largest open prison on the planet. It is time for accountability, but we can't expect our governments to put the pressure on Israel, it will have to be growing public opinion. An intensified popular struggle, forcing more boycotts, disinvestment and sanctions. 

 

    The Palestinian people are people like you and I, fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters, plumbers, teachers, farmers, carpenters and shop assistants. They must not be walled in like an ancient leper colony, at the whim of some Zionist illusion.

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

Ouroboros, The New Israel.

      What happens to a nation that dehumanises another nation, how does that society come to terms with its brutal treatment of other human beings. how does it justify its savagery? What is happening to the people of Israel as they get behind their government's inhumane treatment of the Palestinian people?

 

“Tomorrow there’s no teaching in Gaza, they don’t have any children left,” chanted supporters of the attacks on Gaza, waving Israeli flags. 

This from Roar Magazine:

Of course, none of this is unique to Israel. War and occupation have always brought out humanity’s inner bestiality — from Auschwitz to Abu Ghraib, from Hiroshima to Vietnam. (And no, observing that simple historical fact is not the same as equating Israel’s actions in Gaza to the Nazi Holocaust.) The same fundamental human bestiality has been an undeniable feature of all massacres and all colonial regimes. Not too long ago, great thinkers like Paulo Freire, Aimé Césaire and Frantz Fanon observed with great lucidity how the European colonizer, by brutalizing the colonized, ended up brutalizing himself. Running a colonial regime, they noted, requires not just the dehumanization of the oppressed, but — much more importantly — the thorough dehumanization of the oppressor. Human affects like empathy must be actively repressed to keep the colonial order intact; not only to justify the brutality ideologically, but simply to cope with one’s own atrocities emotionally.

Read the full article HERE:

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

Once Upon A Time.

        Looking around the world plagued with war, violence, greed, corruption and natural disasters, can sometimes put one in a depressing frame of mind.

Our Future.

Once upon a time,

in our not so distant past

stood a beautiful, a unique world,

laden with promise,

a world where our future was open,

our potential vast.

Now, seduced by glinting tinsel of the mad

our reason quivers

on the edge of a dark abyss.

We have created a world

where wastelands abound,

where we

the many, the marginalised, the ordinary,

struggle to survive in voracity that astounds,

are seduced

to create wastelands in our minds,

slowly accepting chaos

in a world of insanity.

Here corporate monsters

of hypocrisy, contradictions,

sever the fragile cord

that unites being with being.

But hope and friendship usually disperse the fog.

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

Who Pays For The UK's Growth?

       So the EU recover has stalled, while the UK's growth and GDP outstrips the rest of Europe. Feeling good? Me neither, as members of the financial Mafia rub their grubby, sweaty hands in glee at the UK "growth", you and I see incomes shrink as increases, if any, are away below inflation rate. We are facing eternally growing fuel bills, increased food bills, cuts in social services and benefits. This is the fruits of their "growth", corporations making millions as their labour cost drop at our expense. All this waffle about growth is intended to mask what is really happening, all the wealth is being syphoned upwards from the public to the systems wealth hoarders.

       One feature of the UK growth was revealed in a recent report. Every day nearly 600 household in England are at risk of losing their home. Figures from the Ministry of Justice reveal that last year, 210,000 homes in England were at risk of repossession or eviction. Figures from Shelter state that in Scotland, every hour, a family losses their home.  Figures are similar else where in the UK.    

 

 

       This is just one of the many stresses that are heaped on the ordinary people of this country because of the economic system that we tolerate. This is the true face of "austerity", their plan to create a low wage, sweatshop economy.

      No individual or family should have to face the threat of eviction, a policy that is there, with no other purpose, than to safeguard the members of the financial Mafia, and to protect their plunder and looted gains.

      You know we can do better than this, all we have to do is get all those greedy wealth laden parasites off our backs, and take control of our own lives. We don't need them, they are superfluous to requirements. 

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

Global Action Against Zionist Genocide.

    A call for global action against the Zionist genocide taking place in Gaza.

      ACTION ALERT UPDATE from USPCN: Our organizing is working! Ship delayed. Come out to West Oakland BART station at 3 PM Saturday, NOT 5 AM. Bring your friends and family to this historic action! "With community backing, the International Longshoremen Workers Union refused to handle cargo from South African ships in the 1980s, spurring an international boycott that helped end the apartheid regime in South Africa,” says Monadel Herzallah of the US Palestinian Community Network. “We hope that this action and many others like it will encourage organized labor to join the global BDS movement to end Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.”

      USPCN strongly encourages the broadest possible mobilization and support for this critically important action in Oakland! For those who cannot make it, please see below for events in other cities:

Stop Israel at the Port

Zionism isn't welcome on our Coast!

West Coast Blockade of the Israeli Zim Ship

Port of Oakland

Saturday, August 16th

3 PM (TIME CHANGE)

Meet at West Oakland Bart and march to Berth 57

     Participants:Those planning to participate: subscribe to text-alerts and receive live updates about the 8/16 Block the Boat, text "join" to (510) 346-5951.

Livestream:

KFPA will be livestreaming the action at www.kpfa.org/kpfa-live-stream-channel.

Also follow @BlocktheBoat for live tweets.

Volunteers and Support: Fill out form to volunteer with transportation assistance. Email info @ araborganizing.org to support with food donations. Contact AROC to pick up posters and postcards for outreach.

Donations: Donate here to help with event costs.

STOP THE SIEGE ON GAZA!

END THE COLONIAL OCCUPATION OF PALESTINE!

RIGHT OF RETURN FOR ALL PALESTINIAN REFUGEES!

FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS!

BOYCOTT, DIVEST, SANCTION!

Global Statements

-  Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions - Gaza Strip
-  Palestinian and South African Trade Unions
-  Labor for Palestine
-  Congress of South African Trade Unions
-  National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa
-  Transport Workers Solidarity Committee
-  UNITE, British Trade Union

Other cities' actions:

New York, NY, US

Saturday, August 16

1:00 PM

Israeli Consulate (Block the Boat Solidarity)

More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/429725363832321/

Miami, FL, US

Saturday, August 16

5:00 PM

Torch of Friendship (Block the Boat Solidarity)

More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/316267675214918/

Chicago, IL, US

Saturday, August 16

11:00 AM

North Avenue Beach Bridge

More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/937841456231113/

Los Angeles, CA, US

Saturday, August 16

1:00 PM

Hollywood and Vine

More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/1482387852007381

Seattle, WA, US

Saturday, August 16

12:00 PM

Westlake Center

More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/665212870225672/

Hamtramck, MI, US

Saturday, August 16

12:00 PM

Caniff St and Joseph Campau

More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/457504094391468/

Tacoma, WA, US (Block the Boat)

Wednesday, August 20

More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/678819478876975/

Seattle, WA, US (Block the Boat)

Friday, August 22

More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/678819478876975/

What's happening?

     The world has watched in horror as Israel has continued to bombard and devastate Gaza. Millions around the globe have come out in support of the Palestinian people and against the Zionist regime, holding massive marches, demonstrations, and actions. Here in the Bay, San Francisco witnessed some of the biggest mobilizations in recent years, with a series of marches, each bringing out thousands of people. It's time to step it up.

Call to Action

      Palestine is calling us to action! Palestinians laborers, Palestinian General Federation Trade Union (PGFTU), have called on workers around the world to refuse to handle Israel goods. Palestinians throughout Gaza, the West Bank and 1948 Palestine have demonstrated their unity in the struggle against Apartheid Israel and have taken to the streets in the tens of thousands, bravely facing Israeli military armed with US made weapons to call on the international community to stand with them as they resist Zionism throughout all of historic Palestine. We will be answering this call by organizing community pickets at the Port of Oakland, asking the longshoreman to honor this request and to stand with the people of Palestine as they have done in the past.

Historical Background

      During apartheid in South Africa, ILWU workers made history when they refused to unload South African cargo in San Francisco in 1984. This action was a major catalyst for international anti-apartheid solidarity and struggle worldwide. In 2010, after a Turkish flotilla, the Mavi Marmara, was attacked by Israel for attempting to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza, we built on ILWU's history and successfully blocked the Israeli Zim ship from being unloaded at the Port of Oakland - the first time in US history an Israeli ship was blocked. We will be continuing this legacy by organizing to block the Israeli ship once again. And just as apartheid fell in South Africa, so too it will fall in Israel!

Sustained BDS in the Bay

      If there is one thing that the latest Israeli attacks show, it's the power of Palestinian resilience. The resistance in Gaza is still alive and thriving, despite Israel's ongoing attempts to destroy it. But we should always remember that the Palestinian resistance did not begin with Israel's latest bombardment, nor did it begin during the last bombardment. It has been going on since 1948, since Israel came into existence. And it will not cease until Israeli apartheid falls.

We refuse to allow Israel to conduct its business as usual, here in the Bay and everywhere!

      Every Saturday, the Israeli owned Zim shipping line docks and unloads its cargo at the Port of Oakland. Let this action be the beginning of a sustained campaign to stop the Israeli ship from ever unloading in our town.

From Seattle to Oakland to Los Angeles - turn the Israeli ship around!

Not in Palestine

Not in the Bay

Not Anywhere

Stand Against Zionism Everywhere

Endorsed by:

AF3IRM

Al-Awda New York

All African People’s Revolutionary Party (AAPRP)

American Friends Service Committee

American Muslims for Palestine

ANSWER Coalition

Arab Youth Organizing (AYO)

AROC: Arab Resource & Organizing Center

ASATA: Alliance of South Asians Taking Action

Bay Area Women in Black

BAYAN-USA

Bay Area CodePink

Bay Area Latin America Solidarity Coalition

Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists Social Justice Committee

Black Organizing Project (BOP)

Black Organizing Leadership and Dignity (BOLD)

Black Workers For Justice

B.U.W (BLOOK UNITY WORKERS ): PALISTINIAN INDEPANDENCE TRADEUNION ORGENIZATION IN WESTBANK AND GAZZA AND JEROZALIM

Catalyst Project

CodePink Washington

Committee for Open Discussion of Zionism (CODZ)

Communist Party of San Francisco

Critical Resistance – LA

Critical Resistance – Oakland

Critical Resistance – Portland

Descoloniza a Oakland/Decolonize Oakland

Free Palestine Movement

Freedom Archives

Friends of Deir Ibzi’a

Fuerza Mundial/Pueblos en Movimiento

General Union of Palestine Students – SFSU

Global Women’s Strike

Gray Panthers of San Francisco

Green Party of Alameda County

Haiti Action Committee

International Action Center

International Jewish Anti Zionist Network

International Solidarity Movement – West Bank/Gaza

International Socialist Organization

International Tribunal of Conscience for Camilo

ISM-Nor Cal

IWW Bay Area Branch

Jewish Against Genocide

Jews for Palestinian Right of Return

Justice for Palestinians

La Voz de l@s trabajadores/Worker’s Voice

Labor for Palestine

Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace

Malcolm X Grassroots Movement

Marcha Patriotica (Colombia) – California chapter

Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA)

Movement Generation

National Lawyers Guild SFBA Chapter

Noam Chomsky

NorCal Friends of Sabeel

Occupy SF Action Council

ONYX Organizing Committee

The Palestine-Israel Action Committee

Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions

Palestinian Youth Movement

Queers Undermining Israeli Terror

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network

San Francisco Green Party

School of the Americas Watch East Bay

Socialist Alternative – Bay Area Branch

Socialist Organizer

SOUL: School of Unity and Liberation

Southern Anti-Racism Network

Stanford Students for Justice

Students for Justice in Palestine – Cal

Totally Radical Muslims

UAW Local 2865 (Academic Student Workers at the University of California)

US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation

US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott

US Palestinian Community Network

Veterans For Peace Chapter 69

World Can’t Wait Bay Area

Workers World Party

Xicana Moratorium

For more info: info@araborganizing.org | 415-861-7444

[ Event on Facebook]

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