The Internet Of Things.

      I recently posted on Glasgow's new experimental surveillance system, where CCTV cameras in Glasgow City Centre are now linked to a central operations room, where ‘emotional recognition’ software identifies the name and mood of pedestrians, including demonstrators, and can then link the person on the camera with social media postings, phone calls, emails, police records, and more. All this without any consultation with the people being snooped upon that the council is "supposed" to serve. Another giant step towards the totally observed population. It has become the norm in this country and elsewhere, to go about your daily business and be photographed thousands of time in a few days. Where you go, what you get up to, all on record for those and such as those, whither you like it or not.

       This new "Big Brother" era is much worse than the what Orwell envisaged, his was simply state control. In this new era of "Big Brother" they want more, it will be a two pronged attack. The state concentrating on control of the population, while the corporate cabal will concentrate on personal information to to shape and mould your consumerism. All your personal data will be up for grabs and sold around "The Market" to those with a vested interest in turning you into a consuming unit to suit their balance sheets.

      More and more of our appliances will be linked, more and more of our personal data will flow in to the office of the security services, and the offices of the corporate greed machine. You will have no say in how it is gathered and how it is used. Welcome to the "Big Brother" that Orwell couldn't have envisaged.

 Photo by Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

This from Politics in the Zeros:

     The Internet of Things is a NSA paradise / Orwellian nightmare, coming real soon to your house, and Silicon Valley wants it to happen as much as NSA does.

      Huge invasions of privacy and loss of freedom are happening now.  Our government pretends to make us safer. Silicon Valley pretends to be helpful. Their real object is to collect as much data about us as they can, and to do that they need to watch and record everything about our online lives. They are two facets of the same data-slurping entity that cares little about personal privacy and freedoms. It’s all about grabbing the data, then exploiting and selling it. You are the product.

Samsung TVs record what we say, then sends it to an anonymous company which converts it to text, so it can process voice commands. They promise to erase the data when done with it. Right. I certainly believe them – just as much as I believe Google reading my email and Siri listening to me will never be abused, intercepted, and exploited by marketeers, criminals, or the government.

     It’s only a matter of time until Samsung gets a court order to turn over voice data files. I bet iPhone’s Siri already has.

     All of this is poisonous for democracy, freedom, and privacy. We have a right to not be snooped on constantly. However, we will need to fight for it. First though, we need to know just how much surveillance is happening now, who is doing it, and where the data goes. I suspect the answer will appall most of us (while government and tech apologists scurry to explain why it actually is good for us.)

Read the full article HERE:

Maximarse Marches Into Town.

     Blood drenched ATOS moves out, thanks to the dedicated protesters who kept up a constant direct action and publicity campaign, and a constant presence outside their offices of death. However the same scheme is still in place, the Work Capability Assessment, a process of humiliating and harassing the sick and the vulnerable of our society, in an attempt to deprive them of their benefits. This inhumane scheme will now be administered my Maximus, A company with a “chilling” record of incompetence, discrimination and alleged fraud is in prime position to take over the new “fitness for work” contract from Atos Healthcare, Disability News Service (DNS) can reveal. It is this scheme that is flawed, changing the compassion-less suits at the desks will do nothing for our sick and vulnerable. They will still be humiliated and harassed, the will still be forced to jump through hoops, and in some cases pushed to the limit, that they can't take any more.

        Well, ATOS pulled out of this lucrative tax funded cash machine, because of those dedicated individuals and groups who shouted out the abuse, and put their feet on the ground where it mattered. Maximus, whose website states: "We help governments, businesses and individuals achieve their goals by providing essential services to the communities we serve." the usual bland bullshit rhetoric  that we expect from the looting corporate world, can be stopped by the same methods that got ATOS to pack its bags and leave. Maximus is there to do the same job as ATOS, save the government paying out our tax money to the sick and vulnerable, some of the most needy in our communities, and they intend to make a fortune from this tax funded cash machine.

This from DPAC, (Disabled People Against Cuts):

      Planning for the Day of Action to Welcome Maximarse to their new role as assessors for the cruel and hateful WCA is taking shape, and we now have actions planned or in planning for:
Aberdeen, Balham, Bournemouth, Bradford, Brighton, Cardiff, Croydon, Dundee, Ealing, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Hull, Inverness, Ipswich, Leeds, Leicester,  Lincoln,  Manchester,  Norwich, Portsmouth, Plymouth, Reading, Sheffield, Sunderland, Toronto, Truro, Wrexham and Maximus HQ in central London.
If you can get to one of these protests – great ! You can see details of each event list below. If you would like to contact the organisers of any of the actions beforehand – mail us on mail@dpac.uk.net and we will be able to put you in contact with them.

Get the full details HERE:

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

More On American Authoritarian "Democracy".

       You get charged, you go to trial, you are found guilty, you are sent to prison. You spend years in prison and then you are filled with jubilation, your conviction is overturned. You imagine your life after your release, but somehow it doesn't happen, you are kept in prison. The situation is repeated, your conviction is overturned for a second time, but still no release, 43 years in solitary confinement, your conviction overturned twice, and still no parole, they still want you locked up, WHY? American justice at work.

This from Amnesty International: 

Albert Woodfox, 43 years in solitary confinement.

     Albert Woodfox has been held in solitary confinement for nearly 43 years for a crime he maintains he did not commit, a claim that much of the available evidence supports.  Sent to solitary confinement in 1972, Albert is 68 today.

    He is mentally and physically frail from being kept in conditions described as torture by the UN Special Rapporteur on torture, who has called on US authorities to release Albert from solitary confinement with immediate effect.
      On 2 March Albert has a bail hearing. Demand state officials not to appeal his bail request and to give Albert a long overdue chance at justice.

Give Albert a chance at justice

      Albert was convicted of murdering a prison guard in 1972, and he has always maintained his innocence. Evidence appears to corroborate his claim, and suggest that the Louisiana authorities served the sentence and condemned him to decades of solitary under racially and politically motivated circumstances.
     Albert co-founded the Angola prison chapter of the Black Panther Party, with the hope of demanding basic rights for inmates from within a discriminatory and often corrupt system.
     He believes that his political activism and demand for racial equality have been a large factor in not only charging him with the crime, but keeping him in solitary.

Tell state officials not to oppose Albert's bail

      Louisiana authorities have no legitimate reason to continue to keep Albert in solitary confinement: his prison records are exemplary, and clearly state that he poses no threat to himself or others. And still, prison authorities have refused to conduct a meaningful review of Albert’s isolation since 1972.

Call for long overdue justice for Albert

Thank you,

Karen Middleton

Individuals at Risk Manager
Amnesty International UK

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From The Ashes Of Disaster---!!

Kobani after the city was liberated from ISIS.

     Is this what freedom looks like? If so it should not deter us, we should remember we surfaced every road, laid every railway line, built every house, and we done it for others, we can do it for ourselves.

As Buenaventura Durruti said:

     "We have always lived in slums and holes in the wall. We will know how to accommodate ourselves for a time. For, you must not forget, we can also build. It is we the workers who built these palaces and cities here in Spain and in America and everywhere. We, the workers, can build others to take their place. And better ones! We are not in the least afraid of ruins. We are going to inherit the earth; there is not the slightest doubt about that. The bourgeoisie might blast and ruin its own world before it leaves the stage of history. We carry a new world here, in our hearts. That world is growing this minute."

       Kobani, the city, may be in ruins, but the people of Kobani are anything but, they are vibrant, and optimistic, like Durruti said, "they carry a new world in their hearts".
This from Anarchist News:

      While the liberation of Kobani came as a long-awaited relief and was proudly celebrated by the citizens of Kobani, it was a bittersweet victory. More than 80 percent of the city has been destroyed entirely, reduced to little but a heap of rubble. Throughout the battle, YPG based its operations from the west where there was little fighting, except for ISIS’s mortar shells and the real danger of sniper fire.
      As a result, the urban center has shifted west — the only part of the city where life still exists. Guerrillas, taking a break from the front-line in the villages surrounding Kobani, stroll through the streets calmly with Kalashnikovs in hand, soaking up freedom. Men and women linger at street corners, chatting about the latest YPG victory in the villages.
     A school now functions, with eager children hoping to forget the pains of the conflict. In itself, the school amounts to little more than a concrete foundation of a house on the western outskirts of the city. However, when you descend into the basement — chosen for its obvious protection from ISIS shells — there is a bustling environment of alternative education.

Read the full article HERE:

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

Despicable Racism On Behalf Of Israel.

       Why is this tolerated by the so called civilised countries on this planet? This is Israel spouting anti-Semitism, while insulting and humiliating ordinary people whose land they occupy and are stealing. Inhuman treatment for no other reason than they are Palestinians. This is the daily life of those in the occupied territories. Unacceptable, despicable, racism, tolerated and and condoned by the West as they turn a blind eye to this de-humanising of a people.

Post by Issam Bayan.

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A Very Authoritarian Democracy.

      America struts around the world proclaiming itself to be "the land of the free", it bombs the world into democracy, and walks away leaving death, destruction, mayhem and misery in its wake. At home it has the highest number of its citizens locked up in prisons, than any other country on the planet, and it passes some of the most restrictive and authoritarian legislation in the Western world.

       I received this appeal this morning:

     In West Virginia, teaching about "social problems" could become a crime.
    A bill introduced in the West Virgina House of Delegates would charge teachers with a misdemeanor if they teach “social problems, economics, foreign affairs, the United Nations, world government, socialism or communism until basic courses in American state and local geography and history are completed.”
     Teachers would be charged a $10 fine for every week that they taught prohibited subjects, and repeated offenses would get them fired and blacklisted from teaching for one year.

Tell West Virginia lawmakers that teaching is not a crime!

PETITION TO WEST VIRGINIA DELEGATES: TEACHERS ARE NOT CRIMINALS. VOTE NO ON HB 2107!

Click here to sign -- it just takes a second.

Thanks,
-- The folks at Watchdog.net

P.S. If the other links aren't working for you, please go here to sign: http://act.watchdog.net/petitions/4999?n=92043092.riFgxS

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

At Strife,---Still!

    David Edelstadt, 1866 - 1892, Russian born anarchist, immigrated to America aged 15, he was deeply involved in developing the anarchist movement in New York. An activist and excellent poet, he died at the age of 26 from tuberculosis. The sentiments in his poetry still apply today, the same struggle that he immersed himself in, is still exploiting, killing and repressing people today. When will we ever learn.

      These are the last three verses from his poem

 AT STRIFE.

To liberate the poor and the enslaved
Who suffer now from cold and hunger's blight,
And to create for all humanity
A world that shall be free, that shall be bright;

A world where tears no longer shall be shed,
A world where guiltless blood no more shall flow,
And men and women, like clear-shining stars,
With courage and with love shall be aglow.

You may destroy us, tyrants! 'Twill be vain.
Time will bring on new fighters strong as we;
For we shall battle ever, on and on,
Nor cease to strive till all the world is free!
David Edelstadt

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Lambeth Town Hall Occupation.

      Housing Action Southwark & Lambeth, (HASL) are a group who believe in direct action. Pissed off by their treatment from the local council, doing the dirty work of the, Cameron/Osborne Oxbridge millionaire cabal, the decided to pay a visit to Lambeth Council Town Hall. What a colourful addition they made to its drab interior. More steam to their elbow.

From HASL:
       This afternoon, Monday 16th February, around 30 HASL members visited Lambeth council’s town hall demanding ‘social housing not social cleansing’. The local housing group, made up of homeless and precariously housed people, visited the town hall in the half-term holiday with their children to give the council a sense of what temporary housing feels like: cramped, noisy, and disruptive!
      We were joined in our occupation of the town hall’s lobby by Lambeth Pensioners’ Action Group taking our numbers to 50+!
Lambeth council refused to meet with our group to speak with us about our concerns and shamefully called the cops to try and evict us. About 10 police came and harrassed our members. We have still not received a response to our letter to Lib Peck about our concerns about recent changes to the social housing register and new powers to force homeless people into the private sector – both of which make everyone’s access to social housing even more difficult. We will continue our campaign on these issues and continue informing people of their rights if they are being pressured into the private sector. See our new leaflet here.
      The action is one of many happening across London as part of the Radical Housing Network’s week of action.

     Pictures from the action on Flickr can be found here.

Massive thanks to everyone who joined us today!

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

Who Rules, People Or Markets?

         What happens in Greece will impact on us, here in the UK, and the rest of Europe, if not the world. Today, the economic system is a world wide ponzi scheme, if one part crumbles, the rest shudders.

      Our struggle is from job centres, to housing schemes, from local issues, to international issues. The Troika, (EU, European Union, ECB, European Central Bank, IMF, International Mankind Fuckers) control Europe and the financial Mafia is tightening its grip on our world, we have to fight it on that international battlefield.

From Labour Start:

      Leading figures in the German trade union movement have issued an appeal for solidarity with Greece following the resounding election victory of the leftist Syriza party.
      It's an extraordinary statement and trade unionists around the world are being asked to add their names to those of the German trade union leaders.  Thousands have already done so.
       Please read the appeal and add your name here:

http://www.labourstart.org/go/greece

     Please share this message with your friends, family and fellow union members.

Thank you!
Eric Lee

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Ex-Worker Podcast Episode #34.

From Anarchist News:

The Ex-Worker Podcast Episode #34: 

Staying Safe To Be Dangerous Together.

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

Solidarity Is Our Winning Weapon.

       A call for solidarity from Edinburgh Coalition Against Poverty, (ECAP). This case epitomises the callous, brutal and heartless attack on the poor and vulnerable in our society by a system with no compassion. Remember, the Cameron/Osborne financial Mafia henchmen, have promised £30 billion more cuts over the next few years. Believe me, yi ain't seen nothin' yet.

This from ECAP:

      Please contact ecap@lists.riseup.net if you would like to help at any Edinburgh or Lothians jobcentre.
      As we face unprecedented sanctions and benefits cuts, its more important than ever that we support each other and stand up to the DWP bullies.  The Scottish Unemployed Workers Network, Dundee Against Welfare Sanctions and other groups have established a strong presence at the Jobcentres in Dundee and in nearby towns and cities like Arbroath, Perth and Blairgowrie, supporting claimants in opposing sanctions and harassment.
WHAT HAPPENED AT ARBROATH JOB CENTRE
    On 29 January Tony was accompanying a vulnerable woman claimant, who suffers from severe dyslexia and literacy problems. The claimant, D, had been signed up to the Universal Job Match (UJM), the computerised job search system, and was being forced to complete five job searches per day, the pressure of which had led to her having several panic attacks.  Tony proposed that D's UJM account be closed, and that her number of job searches be significantly reduced.  The adviser refused to consider this, and so Tony and D met with the Jobcentre manager.
    The manager likewise refused to even look at the issue, falsely claiming that all jobseekers had to be registered with UJM.  She even suggested to D that she should arrange another meeting without Tony or any other witness or rep present. Despite the pressure D was being put under by the manager, she replied that she would not attend another meeting without Tony. At this point the manager demanded that Tony leave the building or the police would be called. Tony refused to leave, but the meeting ended when it was agreed that a further meeting be arranged to discuss the issue further.  Tony was arrested after he left the Jobcentre.

Read the full article HERE:

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

  

Shatter It To Bits And Then---!!

 

      You know it, I know it, and we would be idiots if we didn't realise that “they” know it. The “they” I'm referring, to is our Oxbridge millionaire lords and masters, the Cameron/Osborne Cabal. What is it we all know? It is the fact that we the public are being screwed, and getting poorer. According to recent figures, the average Scots worker's annual salary is £1,900 lower in real terms now, than when the financial Mafia's henchmen, the Oxbridge mob, took control in 2010. While our wages go down, fat cat chief executives of the large companies, earn as much as the average annual salary, every two days, and they know it. As chief executives stuff their loot into off shore accounts, Citizens Advice Scotland, reports that it has seen a significant rise in the number of working Scots who are struggling to put food on the table. I'll repeat, you must be an idiot if you think “they” don't know that, the point is “they” don't give a shit.

       Of course “they” know it, but what is their considerate, compassionate reply, well the Osborne part of the thieving Cavaliers, has promised another £30 billion of cuts, or as they call it, "fiscal consolidation", over the next few years. That translates into higher salaries and bonuses for the top bunch of parasites, and more cuts to the standard of living of you and me.

          We don't need to keep demonstrating, telling them about the damage cuts are having on people's lives, “they” know. We have to organise to bring the whole stinking system of greed, inequality and injustice, down on their heads. We can do better than this, we built this sordid edifice and everything else in it, we can sweep the ruins aside and start that better world, built of fairness, co-operation and mutual aid, creating a society that sees to the needs of all our people.

Ah Love! Could Thou and I

with Fate Cospire

To Grasp this Sorry Scheme

of Things entire,

Would we not shatter it

too bits, and then

Remould it nearer to

the Hearts Desire!

Extract from Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.

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

We Are Drowning In Shit.

       When I started scribbling little pieces for this blog, a number of years ago, I had to search around for something, that might catch the eye. Some little bit of fiddling in high places, some corporate bullying, or whatever. Now however, the difficulty is working through the avalanche of shit that keeps pour over us. Everywhere you look, corruption at every turn, duplicitous statements, proxy wars, paedophilia in high places, corporate shredding of working conditions, slave labour workfare, millionaires slashing the standard of living of the poor, Millionaires of business and state, stashing their ill-gotten gains in secret bank accounts to avoid tax, politicians with business interests in health companies, voting on how to sell of parts of the NHS. And so it goes on, as arrogant parasite Lord Fink says, everybody does it. To the average citizen the stench emanating from this pile of shit we call capitalist society, is now overpowering. The wealthy are so wealthy, that their arrogance overpowers their caution, and they openly and blatantly stitch us up at ever turn, knowing they are immune, as the powers that be, our lords and masters, legislators in that temple of decadence, The Westminster House of Hypocrisy and Corruption, are in their club. 

        Anybody that thinks the HSBC affair is something out of the ordinary, is naive in the extreme. It just happens to be the biggest one yet to be made public. Banks fiddle, it's what the financial Mafia does, that's business, remember Leham Brothers, among others, then the libor fixing, that involved all the big boys, in a nudge-nudge, nodding and winking, as they ripped of millions at the touch of a button. As I said, banksters are fiddling gamblers, who help the richest parasites to steal by tax avoidance, and stash their plunder in secret little boxes, away from the prying eyes of you and me. What is more, they know they are safe from prosecution, as those who make the laws, are among the parasites they help with their filthy loot. Ah, the wonders of capitalism.

This from Roar Mag:

 

       This week it was revealed that HSBC — Europe’s biggest bank — has been actively running and propagating a massive tax evasion scheme through its Swiss subsidiary, allowing some of its wealthiest international clients to hide over $120bn in undeclared assets in 30.000 secret Swiss bank accounts. Leading British regulators, MPs and government officials were aware of the malpractices and the names of potential tax evaders (including movie stars, drug lords and heads of state), but never pressed criminal charges.

       Instead, the UK — like the rest of Europe — ushered in an age of austerity. Where the billions of the rich escaped to Switzerland and the Caymans, the benefits of the poor were cut “to balance the budget.” Last year, David Cameron pledged to slash “wasteful” public spending for another decade, as it “comes out of the pockets of the same taxpayers whose living standards we want to see improve.” The irony of the Prime Minister speaking from a golden throne was hardly lost on anyone. Welcome to the topsy-turvy reality of austerity politics.

Read the full story HERE:

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

May Day Of Yester Year.

 

May Day 1962.

        With May Day on the horizon, I was flicking through some old papers and cuttings, and came across this one. I can't pinpoint the date, but the speakers should give us the era.

 A sea of bunnits, May Day Glasgow 1913.

GLASGOW:

                    On Sunday, April 27, the Glasgow Anarchist Communist Group held a meeting at the bottom of Buchanan street; comrades Angus McKay and Porter spoke to a large audience. On May 4, we joined the Labour Day demonstration. It was one of the worst of days from the weather standpoint. The procession started amidst a heavy downpour of rain, with thunder and lightening. Ten thousand marched to Glasgow Green, drenched; there would have been thirty thousand had it been a fine day. Glasgow has taken its May Day seriously; it was a day out for the Reds. No less than 135 Labour and Socialist organisations were represented. It was inspiring, and showed the people are awakening. We had nearly a thousand round our platform; our comrades Angus McKay, Leckie, Porter, Howie, and others were speakers. There was a good sale of literature. This summer we intend to have a vigorous campaign in and around Glasgow.

A. B. Howie, Secretary.

Who were these comrades, and how do we tell and record their story, after all, it's our history?

Something a wee bit more modern.