They’re Only Here To Help You!! 2:47 pm / 23 April 2013 by ann arky, at annarky's blog.
Categories: Anarchism
The March Of The Right. 12:37 pm / 23 April 2013 by ann arky, at annarky's blog.
We have had the rise of fascism in Greece, we have had the removal of an elected government in Italy and had it replaced by a "technocrat" from the Troika. So it goes on, country after country moves further to the right. We in the UK, are facing the same lunge to the right, though our mob are a little more subtle. They slide legislation through under the guise of efficiency and give it innocent sounding names, this latest one is "reforming the legal aid legislation", it should read, "destroying the legal aid legislation".
Since April 1, legal aid has no longer been available for cases involving divorce, child custody, clinical negligence, welfare, employment, immigration, housing, debt, benefit and education. A number of advice centres have closed as a result. An estimated 600,000 people will lose access to advice and legal representation.
Categories: Anarchism
I’m Sick. 11:32 am / 23 April 2013 by ann arky, at annarky's blog.
April 23rd. another day another poem, another one from the 80's but times haven't changed that much have they?
I'm Sick.
I'm sick of missing the theatre
when "The greatest show on earth",
arrives in town.
Sick of living through the winter
with the heating turned down.
I'm sick of seeing my kids
miss out on this and that.
Sick of living with dampness
in a run down council flat.
I'm sick of having beans on toast
every other day.
Sick of TV shows extolling
a healthy lifestyle way.
I'm sick of wearing the same old jacket
hail, rain, or shine.
Sick of being told
the problem's really mine.
I'm sick of being a statistic
in some ministerial debate.
Sick of quietly letting
them decide my fate.
I'm sick of being offered work
if I accept a lower wage.
Sick of trying to control
this bubbling pent-up rage.
I'm sick ------------
I'm not, really sick,
though I soon will be,
I'm just obliged to live
on benefit.
Categories: Anarchism
Shot At Dawn. 9:07 am / 23 April 2013 by ann arky, at annarky's blog.
I work with a group who are archiving as much non-party political, material on grassroots struggle, associated with Glasgow/Clydeside area, the group is called Spirit of Revolt. Have a look, I’m sure you will find something of …
Categories: Anarchism
Bullshit Economics. 3:26 am / 23 April 2013 by ann arky, at annarky's blog.
Well they came in swing their hatchet, cut, cut, cut, pain is necessary to get “the economy” going again. Of course the cuts and the pain were not for them, no, that part was for you and I the ordinary people. Millionaire Osborne, took the economic reins two and a half years ago with his pompous know-all statement that the UK's triple "A" credit rating was the hallmark of success and he would make sure we kept that rating. His next guarantee he made was his cut, slash and burn policies would lead to the UK deficit being reduced and the land would be covered by lovely green shoots. Well what a load of cobblers all that has been, the UK triple "A" rating has been downgraded by two of the three rating agencies and the figures out this week show public sector borrowing in March this year was £10.6 billion, up from £9.7 billion the previous March. So it looks like the first estimate of net borrowing in 2012/13 is similar to last year's £120 billion.
Two and a half years of austerity, a nice way of saying poverty, heaped on a people for the prize of a deteriorating society. All the Cameron/Osborne bullshit exposed for what it is. I have never swallowed this crap about the “deficit reduction” would lead to growth, to the financial Mafia it was irrelevant whither it did or didn't. The plan was a little more multifaceted than that. “Deficit reduction” was plain and simple, a transferring of public wealth to the coffers of the financial Mafia to make up for their gambling losses, a way of legitimising the selling off all public assets to the corporate world, and of course to get wages down and create a UK sweatshop economy to compete with their Eastern sweatshop competitors. So it is working well at the moment.
This is capitalism, all this chatter about deficit reduction, credit ratings and growth, is not with your welfare in mind, it's all about corporate profits, you and I are incidental to these calculations. We are an inconvenience to the corporate world, they need us to buy their crap, and sadly we need to be fed, and that means paying us, that in turn hits their profits. They will of course, always struggle to keep that cost down and they have this system of so called “representative democracy” which puts the stamp of legitimacy on policies to keep us in our place and to protect and enhance their profit margins. Until we change that system, we will continue to be screwed. They need us, we don't need them.
Categories: Anarchism
The Lonely Wynd. 3:04 pm / 22 April 2013 by ann arky, at annarky's blog.
Today's poem was written shortly after the death of my mother, so is a very personal out pouring, but I'm sure lots of you have been there.
The Lonely Wynd,
At the bed, death's waiting room,
the family muster,
with empty words, wrapped in thoughts of death,
gaily chatter.
Outside, hungry birds feed, sing and fly,
their chirpy songs seem to call her death a lie,
but summer's sun
reaching through the window pane
sadly smiles,
knowing they'll never meet again.
I wonder,
in coma wrapped, what were your thoughts.
Pleasure,
looking back at what used to be?
Pride,
at how, to this life happiness you brought?
Perhaps it was a welcome rest from pain,
a just pause in your long struggle;
alas, too late, this enigma with me remains.
So rest, in that rest, peace be your gain,
for you dear mother, an end to trouble,
as love's boundless force could not break
death's firm grasp upon your heart,
passionless devouring cancer
unmoved by prayer on our part,
took your hand along that lonely wynd,
death took time
fused the moment on our mind.
In the midst of family,
alone dear mother you had to die.
Categories: Anarchism
Boston Military Lock-down. 2:42 pm / 22 April 2013 by ann arky, at annarky's blog.
The Boston bombing was a very serious affair and must have been frightening for those runners and spectators near the scene. However, what was also frightening to see, was how tenuous is the citizen's hold on the right to freedom of movement. In one swift movement an entire city was shut down, businesses closed, Amtrak and Boston public transport to New York shut down, and people warned to stay inside and lock their doors. The city was swarming with what looked like the cast of Star Wars. A million people willingly locked down, why, because a teenager was on the run. Obama, of course said all the right things to make the citizens of Boston compliant, he praised them for being resolute, brave and not cowed, when in fact they were all sitting at home behind locked doors, leaving the streets to the state's muscle. It would seem that when push comes to shove, even that slim semblance of Madame Democracy, can so very easily be locked down. The scenes beamed across the world were a perfect portrayal of a warrior nation moving into overkill, a perfect example of how to lock-down a city when desired. The manhunt for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was a massive exercise in over reaction, creating a state of siege on the city of Boston, imposed by a military state. In spite of this, it was not the professional state muscle men that found the teenager, it was one of Boston's citizens.
I can't remember who said it but this was a perfect example, “What's the difference between the state and a terrorist? The terrorist is the one with the small bomb.” Killing innocent people is always unacceptable, but let's not forget, the state is the biggest killer of innocent people on the planet.
Categories: Anarchism
Profit From People’s Misfortunes. 3:02 am / 22 April 2013 by ann arky, at annarky's blog.
There is one thing that most people in the UK are sure of, is that at no time did they vote for the privatisation of The National Health Service. Yet we are well on the way to having a privatised health system in this country. Bit by devious bit, the market is being slotted in to all aspects of the NHS. One sector of the health service that has seen a dramatic rise in health service for profit, is the ambulance service. This service is an integral and necessary part of the NHS, but to the corporate world it is just another money spinner. The recent rise in the use of private ambulance companies within the NHS is quite staggering, it is big money. During the year 2010/11 in Yorkshire the NHS spent approximately £500,000, on private ambulance services, for the year 2012/13 that had risen to £1.8m. an increase of £1.3m. London showed an even more dramatic increase in NHS money going into the coffers of the corporate ambulance business, growing from approximately £400,000 in 2010/11, to £4.2m. in 2012/13. Other areas are seeing the same sort of increases, that's a lot of NHS money being creamed off for a bunch of well-heeled shareholders, and at the same time jeopardising a core service at the NHS. Of course as we all know that when it comes to the corporate world, profit comes first, safety and standards come somewhere down the line. There has already been complaints about lives being put at risk by this creeping privatisation, and the body set up to check those standards is not quite doing its bit, "Last year the Care Quality Commission (CQC) released figures revealing that of the 245 private ambulance companies that it has registered, only 54 have been inspected."
Of course we mustn't forget that £5 billion, "money from ill health", giant BUPA and the five private-sector hospital operators – General Healthcare Group, Nuffield Health Hospitals, Ramsay Health Care UK, Spire Healthcare and HCA, running alongside the NHS bleeding its resource for the benefit of those well-heeled shareholders. Is this what you voted for, is this what you want? No matter who you vote for, this is what your going to get, after all it was Labour that introduced the private ambulance service to the NHS, The millionaire ConDems are just oiling the wheels.
Categories: Anarchism
Good beginning for Edinburgh Bedroom Tax federation 1:49 pm / 21 April 2013 by taisdealaiche, at Edinburgh Anarchist Federation
Earlier today I was at an Edinburgh and Lothian meeting against the Bedroom Tax which aimed to launch a coalition of all the local groups and campaigns currently existing and to encourage groups in new areas.
Like a lot of these sort of meetings there was a good bit of repetition and I was really gasping for a cup of tea by the end of it. Overall, though, I thought it had a really positive outcome.
The meeting agreed that decision-making power should be in the hands of local groups and that the co-ordination between them should be done through recallable delegates.
Instead of handing over power to some committee or media personality, by stressing this organising principle we should have a genuinely grassroots federation and campaign, controlled by ordinary folk – and I hope those directly affected by the tax will become particularly involved.
This was argued for by a number of anarchists and other activists, but it seemed that most people present were in favour anyway. I like to think this shows that we have a reasonably good culture in the Edinburgh left, and that bottom-up ideas are becoming more widespread. At the same time, grassroots organising also allows competing factions to co-operate in the first place.
The meeting, as I understand it, was meant to be for group delegates and observers but this could have been clearer and hopefully there won’t be any confusion at the next real federation meeting.
There were differences in perspective between those who put more emphasis on engaging in a dialogue with politicians and those more emphatically in favour of no compromise and direct action, like anarchists. In the end it seemed like the meeting agreed that different tactics could be pursued by different groups or individuals. Also, to be fair, no-one was arguing against a direct action approach.
Another outcome was that local groups alone will send delegates to the first Scottish Anti-Bedroom Tax Conference on the 27th April, instead of another proposal that the meeting today will also send four delegates. This was the right decision. Today’s meeting was only meant to co-ordinate local groups and potential groups, and they hadn’t had a chance to discuss the national conference themselves.
The question, though, is what will the national conference amount to? This was called by the West of Scotland Anti-Bedroom Tax Federation, which I’ve been critical of in the past for putting Tommy Sheridan onto it’s ‘interim committee’ which he subsequently resigned from. How are they organised now and how many local groups do they have? Will there be a clash between the directly democratic structure of the Edinburgh groups and that of the Glasgow federation(s)?
A delegate from the West of Scotland federation was present at today’s meeting and talked far too much about politicians’ backing and fighting the Tories. We need an independent campaign that’s critical of all politicians and doesn’t just slide into an easy anti-Toryism. At Westminster, Labour is in favour of the tax, and in Holyrood, the SNP could do a lot more to ensure that people won’t be evicted. In short, just like we don’t want to give up control to committees neither should we give it to any politician or union bureaucrat.
The meeting in Edinburgh was only a first step towards a wider federation organised from below. There’s a lot of work to be done to set up new groups and to create a campaign that has effective tactics and gets results. We also need to build on this, and argue for recallable delegates and autonomous local groups across Scotland.
If you’re in the Edinburgh and Lothians area, get involved in your local anti-cuts group. You can find details on the Edinburgh Anti-Cuts Alliance site.
The High And Mighty. 3:48 am / 21 April 2013 by ann arky, at annarky's blog.
You could say that today's poem follows on from the previous post.
The High And Mighty.
Politicians, high priests of the holy church
of greed,
yours are the crimes from which the many
bleed.
See, vice and corruption make their
stand,
and with brutal tyranny, walk hand
in hand:
your arrogant minds, lost in ambition's
cloud,
oblivious to the suffering of the humble
crowd.
When poverty's knife makes our people
bleed,
your cancerous power is all you ever
feed,
holding high some ego-inflating avaricious
plan
that divides, soon pits man against
man.
Now anguish and war mark your mad
career,
covering our world in the brume of
fear,
then shedding youth's blood by cruel
deceit,
with spurious pomp, lay the guilt at
another's feet.
As we fall heir to a plundered
land,
you tyrannts walk in manner
grand,
what must we do to make you
yield,
to see our children play in a bloodless
field?
Smash and crush your dark nefarious
power,
allowing love and peace to freely
flower.
Categories: Anarchism
