There's one law for the rich and another for the poor the world over!

I enjoy nothing better than getting up early in the morning, banging on the old kettle, making my first early morning brew and tuning into BBC Radio 4; it really is a great time to get a handle on current affairs; and there is none other better or superior for information than honest-to-goodness Radio 4.


This morning one story and quite a little gem I thought, caught and grabbed my attention.

The Latvian government and police have been investigating for months a security breach. Apparently a hacker has managed to hack into government computers and then leaking data about the finances of banks and state-owned firms to the press and Latvian TV.
Using the alias "Neo" - a reference to The Matrix films – he has exposed and successfully; those cashing in on the recession in Latvia.

Before I proceed with this story it may be helpful to provide some background about Latvia for those of us that don’t know a great deal about this country which lies in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia, to the south by Lithuania, to the east by the Russian Federation, and to the southeast by Belarus, across the Baltic Sea to the west lies Sweden.

With a population of 2.24 million Latvia is one of the least-populous members of the European Union, and its population has declined since 1991.
In the global financial crisis Latvia has been hardest hit of the European Union member states, with a GDP decline of 26.54% in that period. Per Capita its GDP is only 57.3% of the EU average, making it one of the poorest member-states. In 2009, Latvia underwent a tempestuous change of government, and as a result, the country is facing renewed political instability.

After posting Europe's highest growth figures just a few years ago, the Latvian economy almost collapsed. It shrank at over a 10 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter of 2008 and the country's credit rating, already the lowest in the Baltics, was cut to junk status. The government like the Greeks, strapped for cash, petitioned international financial institutions for aid and then introduced stringent austerity program, cutting some public expenditures to the bone, in return for the bailout from the International Monetary Fund.

Then there are the banks, many from Scandinavia, which have provided in the good times plenty of easy credit, then when the tide turned and the capitalist greed bubble like elsewhere in the world collapsed and (proving that the problem is global) moved to collect on debts gone bad, hammering the poor and least well off yet again! So not surprisingly last year in January, an initially peaceful gathering of some 10,000 descended into rioting when, protesters attacked police and looted stores. In December 2008 the Latvian unemployment rate stood at 7%.By December 2009, the figure had risen to 22.8% today it stands at 24%. The number of unemployed has more than tripled since the onset of the crisis, giving Latvia the highest rate of unemployment growth in the EU.

So is it any wonder that ‘Neo’ brings forth the truth; that obviously hurts the mights that run our lives and society on behalf of capitalism. They say that sticks and stones break bones but words never hurt, unless it’s the words and information that some in world governments, would rather keep hidden from their people.

The Latvian authority’s unmasked and arrested ‘Neo’ on Tuesday 11 May, and it has since been reveled that Ilmārs Poikāns, 31 of Riga, was the man behind the hack that has been obsessively followed  on Tweeter. Poikāns hacks reveled through tax records of Latvia’s political and business elite. That whilst Teachers, Doctor’s, Nurses and other workers were taking pay cut’s and in some cases up to 70%, bankers and other top executives of municipal companies received huge monthly salaries — 4,000 lats (€5,700) and higher — while enormous bonuses, including 16,000 lats (€22,500) while as I say employees took wage reductions in light of budget cuts.

This proves that old adage taken as true, one law for the rich and another for the poor!

Bring me sunshine - Bring me Utopia!

Well it’s being forecasted that we are going to have storms this weekend, and just looking out of my flat window it’s pelting it down with rain. With only weeks to go before we arrive at that dreadful time of the year again. ‘Christmas’, and yes, I’m being a bit like Scrooge looking back at some Christmas’s past. I remember one year in the late 70s when I was working in the fitters department on the Scunthorpe Steel Works. I decided to volunteer to do all the overtime; over the holiday period, in order to avoid the whole thing, what a sad sod I must have been back then, but it didn’t last long when my work mates were able to persuaded me to come along for a few drinks, not only did I get caught up in the whole thing. I had one of the best times in my life that particular Christmas and needless to say didn’t turn up for the overtime.

Because it was the fitters department the lads new a thing or too about the clocking on machine and they would manage to stop it hours before the end of the last shift on Christmas eve, and then everyone would trek down to the nearest pub or club – they were the days!

Oh and when I say that I was working in the fitters department, I don’t want folk to get the wrong impression for my job entailed going around the works with a grease gun greasing the thousands of grease nipples on plant; yep, that’s me a greaser!

I was speaking to my friend and comrade Brian Hopper from Scunthorpe yesterday, now Brian along with his partner Linda (Giant Haystacks) Hastings and me were amongst the first to join the Socialist Labour Party back in 1996 the party setup by the former leader of the NUM Arthur Scargill, who we got to personally know quite well back then. It’s just dawned on me if Linda reads this I’m in trouble - Oh well that’s life!

But seriously, whilst I was talking to Brian who stood for the SLP in the 97 general election in Scunthorpe against the flipper, fiddler whatever he is anything but honourable Elliot Morley. Anyhow, Brian mentioned the word utopia, this is a big word and I find that most people that use the word may try to discredit ‘socialists’ of the calibre such as Brain, and they really have no idea what they are talking about. It was only afterwards that I realised that I possessed this great littlie book authored by Socialist Party member the late Ron Cook. I love the title ‘Yes – Utopia – we have the technology.’

What I will post underneath this is an edited extract of some of the first chapter, but just before I do, I want to say that I intend very shortly to write a full account about Brain and his bid to oust Elliot Morley in 97 the year that New Labour was thrust onto the workers; that’s led to two wars and an unearthly favourable position of capital and I must say at our expense!

Yes – Utopia – we have the technology

By Ron Cook

Utopia is a dream that will not go away. Every child that is born brings with it from the womb the desire for a safe, free, contented life. It is part of basic human nature.

It is not surprising that Western civilisation has produced a succession of books about ideal or at least preferred forms of society ever since Plato’s Republic. In our own era especially, (quite unlike the Middle Ages) it was taken for granted until very recently that we could all look forward to a better future made possible by the progress in science and industry. Advances in medicine, dietetics, public hygiene and house building were prolonging life and raising its quality. Washing machines, refrigerators, TV sets and cars for everyone meant, it was assumed, a generally rising standard of living. Such utopian thinking has been one of the main intellectual strands of Western culture for the last two hundred years.

A modest utopia

For the vast majority of the world’s people, however, the ideal society would consist of no more than a modest – but assured – standard of living, together with freedom from war, oppression and exploitation. And, indeed, in such a context it is possible for an infinite variety of individuals to live creative and fulfilling lives in co-operation with one another. There is nothing novel or extreme about this conception of utopia. What is remarkable is that, even in the advanced industrial democracies, these modest conditions are far from being general or permanent.

Politicians?

Similar feelings of frustration and disillusion have become common responses to politics and politicians in the democracies of the west. Gone are the day’ when voters believed that a change of party in government could bring about a substantial improvement in their day-to day life, let alone cure the deep-seated problems of the world society. In Eastern Europe and the republics of the former Soviet Union the people become so dissatisfied with their deteriorating standards of living that they threw out the ruling Communist parties and voted in a new array of politicians. They had high hopes of their new leaders and their new freedom.
It soon became clear, however, that the regime of the market was no less ruthless and inhuman than that of their former dictatorships. Moreover, criminals had moved in to fill many of the gaps left by the collapse of Communist parties. Instead of being harassed by police and party officials, they were now harassed by grinding poverty, profiteers and thieves.

In the West, especially the USA, the financial cost of running a successful election on a national scale is now well beyond the resources of all but the most wealthy parties and politicians.

Politicians are now groomed, coached and presented by the advertising industry. Their posters and slogans, the very timing and planning of their election campaigns, owe more to show business than to statesmanship. The whole business has become so blatant and insolent that, as television viewers and newspaper readers, we are even persuaded to connive in all the tactics for impressing the voters – ourselves.

Politicians no longer bother to pretend that they are really honest and trustworthy. All they want us to believe is that they are winners. The issues at stake become so many re-iterated clichés as the party leaders demonstrate their skill at handling reporters and questioners. They express deep concern about poverty, inequality. Cruelty and injustice, and – every time – they declare their firm commitment to fight these evils. Behind their rhetoric, how ever, it is tacitly acknowledged by them all, as well as their listeners, that the basic problems of the world society are beyond the reach, and certainly the control, of the politicians and governments. Our vote is, in effect, a mandate for yet another few years of the status quo.

Capitalism is only unbeatable as long as everyone thinks it is. As soon as everyone thinks it is finished, then it will be finished. We therefore need to keep in touch with what other people are really thinking. And we need to explain, tirelessly, where the only viable future for the human race lies – in that post-capitalist society of common endeavour and common concern through common ownership of the world. It is impossible to be neutral in this desperate struggle.

Wallpaper

It seems to have been absolutely ages since I last posted on the blog; two things have prevented this, first my computer has been under the weather and suffering from technical problems now hopefully resolved and secondly I’ve been working on an article on homelessness for the Socialist Standard which I submitted today. It’s amazing how much politically occurs in the course of just a few days. Let’s see we’ve had the unemployment figures, the continuing spat with the Sun and Gordon of which the less said about that the better and tonight as I write we are waiting for the by-election result in Glasgow.

One other thing that’s worth a mention is the full of the Berlin Wall and the celebrations, the Financial Times describes this event as the highest form of realism as the world watched in awe twenty years ago as Germans poured by the millions into the streets of Berlin, both east and west. Oh I forgot to mention that the author was one John McCain, yes that’s who I said it was the senator and Republican Party presidential candidate of last year.

Praising Ronny Reagan, European and American soldiers and statesmen along the lines; that this was a profound blow against totalitarianism as it gave birth to the promise of a Europe whole, free and at peace. Well this dick will say that and pretend that this is about universal human rights. So the wall fell, but what McCain won’t say is that the wall went up as a result of a carve-up at wars end between leaders Churchill, Roosevelt and Uncle Joe Stalin. The Socialist Standard has a great front cover with the title ‘Free at last’ and a picture of a guy sledge-hammering down the wall only to reveal a new wall with a $ sign all over it. And the Editorial makes it clear that the fall of the Wall did not bring peace and harmony, look no father than the war in Afghanistan supported by the German administration.

The Glasgow result is in Labour hold the seat, I wonder is a hung parliament a possibility?

Enter parliament with completely honest intentions.

Twigmore Woods, Scunthorpe


Guy Fawkes the only man to enter parliament with completely honest intentions.

I was travelling home last night from central London to my home in the east end, that’s Canning Town to be precise; and on my pushbike which is for me the usual mould of transport for getting around the city; and as it was bonfire night it was hard to keep my eyes fixed to the road as the fireworks took to the sky and all around, not as many I thought as in previous years, however as I hit home turf at about 9.00pm you could smell the smouldering sulphur wolf down the streets, always presenting me with a nostalgic reminder of personal years past.

I remember Scunthorpe when the Kids of my childhood and early youth, spent hours making an effigy of poor old Guy Fawkes. The idea being to raise funds for hosting a fireworks party by standing outside a pub or a working men’s club with Guy propped up against the wall or in an old pram and the kids would appeal to the drinker for the necessary cash for the venture in hand. In those day’s it must be said that most folk were very supportive especially if they’d had a good night with say a win on the bingo or the chocolate and meat board.

I was speaking to a friend from Scunthorpe this morning who informed me that Guy Fawkes had local connections; interestingly my friend said that Guy Fawkes and the plotters held meetings in local woods of Twigmore simply because it was safe: John Wright of Twigmoor Hall, Manton, and Lincolnshire was one of the Gunpowder plotters.
The Doomsday Book records Manton with the spelling of Mameltune. Over the centuries various other spellings of the name appear including Malmetuna, Maunton and Mawton. Translated the villages name means 'farmstead on sandy or chalky ground'. Manton is a small-secluded hamlet overlooking the steel works in Scunthorpe. Its population peaked in 1871 when 327 people were recorded in the census. Since however the figure has steadily decreased with only 124 people recorded resident in 1991.
Just to the north of Manton are Twigmoor Woods and old Twigmoor Hall. The Hall was as I say home to John 'Jack' Wright who was one of Guy Fawkes fellow conspirators in the Gunpowder Plot. Local legend has it that much of the plot was in fact hatched at the Hall. It is said that a musket shot from one of Sir Richard Walsh's men while trying to evade capture after the plot had been discovered mortally wounded Wright – and the rest has become history as well as becoming another way of making money out of our kids down the years!

What is Democracy?

The post below this is a contribution I’ve made this morning in a debate being had on the new Socialist Blogging Forum set up last week by this blog and the Lansbury’s Lido Blog. The forum very much in its infancy welcomes any new members who would like to partake in the scientific examination of the capitalist world, through debate and the friendly exchange of ideas, as albeit a small contribution to the movement for socialism and a far better world that meets the needs of the overwhelming majority, yes, as opposed to that of the tiny minority. For more information or to join the group click onto the blog forum on this page.

Coming back to the thread about ‘democracy’; and I will use a small d that seems more appropriate to what democracy is in reality. Most people will think that when we speck of democracy with the small d we speck about a system of government carried out by the people governed (direct democracy), or the power to do so is granted by them (as in representative democracy).

This word democracy is used a great deal nowadays by all the mainstream politicians, but they speak with fork-like-tong. Democracy is more than just about government or governance or what they, who rule over us, want us to think it is!

Democracy is about the way we live, and what we live under, not about who or which capitalist party we vote for who are all jockeying about to run the capitalist shit system, which we have no real say over. Government is the smokescreen for capitalism and very convenient too, when things go wrong, blame the governments, even change the government as will no doubt happen soon, but what stays in tacked is the very system, which is the real problem.

This is a system where the slaves get to vote for their masters!

As For Hugo Chavez and his like; I’m just not convinced, that he promotes a vision of democratic socialism, if he dose, it’s very much his own vision, and a vision that he says works for Latin American integration, and anti-imperialism, fine. But capitalism is global if anything more so today than ever and therefore the opposition to capitalism I feel must be global, socialism cannot be built in one country or a continent alone and in isolation. And is it, ‘socialism’ this Bolivarian Revolution? There are a number of things that I find very worrying about Chavez like his trip to Moscow a week or so ago when he reached a $2.2 billion arms deal with the Russian government to supply Venezuela with battle tanks and sophisticated surface-to-air missile systems.

The weapons agreement is symptomatic of mounting tensions in the region, which are increasingly being exacerbated by conflicts between the Washington and other powers on the world arena. Chavez has made it clear that he sees the weapons deal as a means of countering a growing threat of US military aggression, particularly in the wake of the coup in Honduras and the announcement of an agreement by Colombia to allow American military forces to use seven bases on its territory. But I still wonder? The other thing that I take into consideration about Chavez is his military career as an officer in the army and a member of a counter insurgency battalion, not to mention his left-nationalist doctrine that has been given the title ‘Bolivarianism’.

"A person who stands under someone else's roof must bow his head."

I’ve developed an interest over the last six months or so in China for a variety of different reasons, but I suppose really; its political and economic system interests me the most particularly the part it plays in world affairs. So for the next month or so I’m going to write about Chain occasionally and try to build a picture of what I think is modern day Chain; who are its people and how do they live in the 21 century.

The first thing that comes into my head when thinking about China is the seen of that young man; a protester who stood in the way of an advancing row of tanks in Tiananmen Square on 5 June 1989. And my second image is of James Bond darting around in some secret underground location trying to save the world from the Red Army and its collaboration with some international criminal. Not a very good knowledgeable understanding of a country that has the largest population in the world a staggering 1.31 billion people.

So what I’m going to do is look at and examine the structure that is the ‘People’s Republic of China’ or to use its native name ‘Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo’.

Between 1 and 3 per cent of the Chinese population control 70 per cent of all financial Wealth. In an article in the Financial Times it reported that China’s middle class (a description I don’t care for) dose not like or need what the west calls democracy, they are the most privileged 15 per cent of the population. And they would, in fact be quite concerned that if you had a democracy in China, as thay fear they would be outvoted by the lower classes.

“Most people in the Chinese middle class are complicit in this in the name of preserving social stability, as long as opportunities for money-making and wallowing in nationalist pride keep on thriving.” Pranab Bardhan F T 22/8/2008

According to the National Geographic Magazine the past decade has seen the rise of something Mao sought to stamp out forever: a Chinese middle class now estimated to number between 100 million and 150 million people. Though definitions vary—household income of at least $10,000 a year is one standard—middle-class families tend to own an apartment and a car, to eat out and take vacations, and to be familiar with foreign brands and ideas. They owe their well-being to the government's economic policies that has embraced the market and western style capitalism whilst at the same time holding on to an authoritarian style dictatorship.

In terms of unemployment official statistics are not reliable. But, basically, throughout the 1990s, 70 to 80 per cent of the state industrial sector was privatized. And as a result between 30 million and 60 million workers lost jobs. This came as 100 million to 200 million migrant workers from the rural areas moved to the urban sector typically working in sweet shop conditions; that has provided us in the west with cheep consumer goods.

To be continued ….

John McCain

The spots on a leopard never change

The descendants of slaves who were owned by ancestors of John McCain say they will vote for Barack Obama.

Lillie McCain, 56, a psychology professor, traces her lineage from two of more than 120 black slaves held before the end of the Civil War at, the Mississippi plantation owned by the white McCains.

Explaining why she is not voting for McCain now, Lillie said: "Since we can't undo what has been done, the most effective thing is to figure out how to put things in perspective and go from there.

"To harbour anger and hostility is counterproductive. Obama has shown that throughout his campaign. All my family support Barack Obama for president despite the good relations we have with the McCains."

The senator's great-great-grandfather William Alexander McCain bought the plantation in 1851.

Lillie is descended from slaves there named Isom and Lettie.

After the 1861-1865 Civil War, they retained close ties with the white family, adopting their surname and living nearby on land rented from their former owners. Lettie McCain's headstone is in a graveyard on the plantation.

A cousin of the senator owns 1,500 acres of the original 2,000.

McCain's younger brother Joe and other white McCains have attended reunions organised by the African-American McCains.

Lillie said: "I remember the Klu Klux Klan burning down our church when I was a kid."

Senator McCain has called abuses of African-Americans "a dark and tragic chapter in American history" and said "cultivating the bond between the two families is important".

Democracy?

In his eighth and final address to a largely silent hall of world leaders, the US president sounded a note that has changed remarkably little since he first spoke to the general assembly of the United Nations in the wake of the September 11 2001 attacks on New York and Washington DC. He said the global movement of violent extremists remained a challenge as serious as any since the foundation of the UN in 1945: "Like slavery and piracy, terrorism has no place in the modern world."

Afghanistan and Iraq had been transformed, he said, “from regimes that actively sponsor terror to democracies that fight terror”.

History will record that President George W. Bush and his accomplice Tony Blair went ahead with war without the approval of the general assembly because they serve the interests of capitalism and the big oil companies which has nothing to do with any kind of democracy as the former head of the US Federal Reserve has said; “I am sadden that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil.”