Solidarity with disability cut protesters at the House of Commons earlier. The BBC and ITV were been told to stop filming because it might encourage campaigners to stage similar stunts. So above here's a photo. Not that we are used to viewing anything contentious on our mainstream news media. Business as usual. Strange that the BBC saw fit to try and report it though because when an anti-austerity protest was attended by over 50,000 people recently, they decided not to report it and bury the news. Following yesterdays post, it is worth noting that welfare cuts have already killed more people by their own government in the UK than terrorists have killed in Europe. The deaths will continue. Sad to report of anyone under attack, these facts might not prove popular, but I believe that the sickest and most vulnerable deserve to have headlines of their own as well. Yes terrorists are evil , but we should forget that out own Governments in order to govern, has been allowed to get away with murder, punishment and spite, directed against the most vulnerable. My heart goes out to all victims. May they all get the justice they deserve. Campaigners voices continually must be heard.
Sad to hear that at least 26 have died and many injured after blasts erupted in Brussels airport this morning. This comes after last weeks arrest of main suspect in the deadly Paris attacks, Salah Abdeslam. This attack part of a nihilistic movement that many are calling fascist in nature. Carried out by those with a warped negative view of humanity. Seeking not justice, but apocalypse and destruction. Seeking it seems to spread ethnic hatred against one another, trying to create deeper divisions over an ever fractured continent. We must truly stand in solidarity, literally, side by side, with the victims, in unity with all forces who fight the ideology of ISIS on whatever front. We must repel this death cult, keep searching for answers, these forces of fascism can not be allowed to win. Condemn this indiscriminate use of violence as a way of achieving their ends. Acknowledge that many of the victims of these atrocities are ordinary working class people, from diverse backgrounds, and that this is indefensible. We must also extend our full solidarity to any who face possible racist attack, as a result of some sort of backlash. We must not allow civil liberties to be lost in exchange for a false sense of security and justice. This latest incident is horrible and very sad, so lets hope that we can break the cycle rather than allow this to become the new normal. Sadly though the enemy is to be found within every country. We must not forget that bombs do not discriminate, daily bombs fall in Ankara, Turkey, in many other places too, too numerable to mention, all human lives lost, matter too. The flag filters of tragedy does not just come to European countries. Somehow we are France, and Belgium, but sometimes forget to be Nigeria, Palestine, Lebanon, Ivory Coast, Burkino Faso, etc etc. All life is equal, all life matters. We must not turn the blame, and the hatred and use it on refugees , fleeing the same evil, plus our own bombs, (in their own country's) this is their suffering too and is not just happening today, but everyday. My heart goes out to the family and friends of the dead and wounded. Let us pray for all humanity, the world is in chaos.
Remember both of those below want to eliminate the grey zone
Glenda Jackson's superb speech about Ian Duncan Smith and the DWP, 2014. Where she cut through the crap, so perfectly. We do not forget that IDS , as Glenda said " plunged thousands and thousands of our citizens into the most abject penury." A woman of honor among the swine. Lets not forget that their is no such thing as compassionate conservatism they are all just a set of ideological vandalizers hell bent on the destruction of our welfare state. Intent on carrying out their unfair policies. People are finnally joing the dots, it does not add up, this long economic plan of pain is not what the people ordered. Their austerity medicine is simply not working, and in IDS's resignation all they have done is replace one man who hounded the sick, the disabled and vulnerable with another, who will do more the less exactly the same. Anyway currently the conservatives are divided over whether to be bastards or utter bastards. Currently tearing themselves apart, which is good to see, because at the end of the day it could be just what this country needs. I guess too, that it is time to forget about IDS, move on, and go out and get Stephen Crabb
who now takes on the mantle of chief benefit cutter. Who is an unashamed fan of Margaret Thatcher, who owes everything to David Cameron and will now be expected to do his masters bidding. Because he was bought up in poverty on a council estate, he now acts like he has a divine right to batter those that he left behind. He has said there will be no more welfare savings in THIS Parliament saying " We will not be going ahead with changes to PIP that had been put forward. I am absolutely clear that a compassionate and fair welfare system should not be just about numbers. Behind every statistic is a human being and perhaps sometimes in government we forget that." Call me cynical but I am not a great believer in compassionate conservatism, not a bit. The people of Pembrokeshire have been fed up with him for a while, and if he has decided not to resign his post as Pembrokeshire patron for MENCAP by April 2nd will be holding a demonstration outside his office in Haverfordwest and gather and demand that he resigns his post. Many believe that as an M.P that he has also failed to represent his constituents and has just instead consistently voted for his party, such a Tory loyalist he is. The Tory's are no friends of democracy though, more than any government in history they have attempted to use their power to weaken opposition, see their moves on Trade Union funding, voter registration, boundary changes, and political party funding. Time and time again they have demonstrated that their are no tricks so low that they will not consider. Call me cynical, but I do not believe in the versions of compassionate conservatism that have been sprouting forth in the last few days, not a bit of it. Now is the time to keep undermining the heart of the Tory party and keep pushing the message that there is an alternative to austerity. Who knows the Tory's game might be up, lets keep pushing and fighting back. We have not got a moment to lose.
When the news headlines are the ' crisis ' in the tory party you know it's a good day already, a time that I for one release a mighty smile. As for compassionate Conservatism. Their is no such thing. Their all grubby pocket-lining trough snouters. Here's 5 reasons why Ian Duncan Smith's resignation letter could end austerity.
1. Ian Duncan Smiths resignation letter attacked Osborne's claim that 'we are all in it together.' Osbornes budget cut £3000 a year from disabled people to pay for tax cuts from the rich. 2. His letter also revealed that Tory cuts were ' distinctly political rather than in the national economic interest.' Finally killing the myth that austerity is about helping the economy. 3. Osbornes austerity has been shown to be failing on its own terms. He has missed his own targets on investment, debt and balancing the books. 4. Tory M.Ps and the general public have joined IDS in attacking these cuts. A poll showed that fewer British people than ever believe Government cuts are necessary. 5. Support for an alternative anti-austerity message is now much stronger than the Tories message. It seems that the British public is finally waking up to the fact that ideological austerity is one big con. A socially and destructive one designed to transfer wealth form the majority of people to the super rich minority. We must continue to oppose the Tories damaging toxic policies, and make the case for an economy in which prosperity is shared by all. Share to expose the truth about austerity.
On this day March 18th, 1871, artisans and communists, labourers and anarchists took over the city of Paris and established the Paris Commune. This radical experiment in socialist self government lasted 72 days before being violently being crushed in a brutal massacre that established France's Third republic. This rebellion would shake the foundations of European society to the core, the people rising up against a despised and detested government and its its capitalist rulers proclaiming the city an independent municipality, belonging to itself . a commune where they would directly and collectively manage their society through new institutions and voluntary associations of their own creation. It would mark the first major experience of the proletariat seizing political power. Taking charge of their own destiny. The Paris Commune was the high point in the surge of the workers movement also expressed in the First International founded in 1867. Ideologically charged, with lots of division, the backlash following the defeat of the Commune, also broke up the International in 1872, which would see it splitting into two factions; Marxist and Anarchist. The leading figures on the two sides were Karl Marx and Mikhail Bakunin. Both Marx and Bakunin supported and hailed the Commune - unlike some English trade unionists in the International, who recoiled in horror. Bakunin and his followers would use the word 'commune' a lot saying that the state could be immediately abolished by transforming society into a federation of free communes. The Paris Commune reflected anarchist ideas of community control, workers associations and confedorations, and suprisingly at the time Karl Marx strongly embraced the Commune, writing at the time he said " Working men's Paris, with its commune, will be forever celebrated as the glorious harbinger of a new society. It's martyr's are enshrined in the great heart of the working class." Since then the Paris Commune has been thus variously described as either Anarchist or Socialist depending on the ideology of the commentator. It still fills me with much cause for celebration and inspiration as the Commune had put forward a radical social agenda that included seperation of Church and State, womens suffrage, abolition of interest on debts and worker self-management. From March 18 to 28 May the two million residents of Paris ran their city as an autonomous commune, establishing 43 worker co-operatives, and advocated for a federation of revolutionary communes across France, establishing an 8 hour day,and began to regulate workers wages and contracts, abolishing fines for workers, giving them compensation, this was truly a government who put the interest of workers first . It also aimed to make education free, opening up culture for the people, formerly the sole property of the wealthy, opening reading rooms in hospitals to make life pleasant for those sick. Paris was filled with life, ideas and enthusiasm , though their city was under siege, attempts made to starve and break the will of the people surrounded by a hostile army. Peter Kropotkin later enthused "Under the name of the Paris Commune, a new idea was born, to become a starting point for future revolutions.' But many others thoughts that the Paris Commune did not go far enough . Anyway the French government was not going to tolerate this radicalism in its capital, and finally the French army marched from Versailles, but retaking the city would prove to be difficult, the communards would hold out for several weeks. The revolutionaries had built 600 barricades around the city which had to be cleared one by one. The French army finally entered Paris on May 21 and crushed the movement by May 28. Paris burned and was drowned in blood , the estimate of Parisian civilians killed usually tally's to be around 20,000, many died on the barricades. The leaders of the Commune might have had faults but for all their mistakes , they chose to fight to the end alongside the other workers. At the Pere Lachaise Cemetery the French army lined up and executed 147 Commune members. Around 6000 communards fled as the fighting doomed their experiment, fleeing to surrounding nations. Since then both Communists, left wing societies, socialists, anarchists and others have see the Commune as a model for a prefiguration of a liberated society, with a political system based on participatory democracy from the grass roots up. It is a story of possibility not failure, evidence that points to the seeds of building an alternative society. The people of Paris began the fight for a new world, I guess it's up to us to finish the task.
Budget 2016: Income Tax cuts will see the richest benefit by benefit, but the poor again left with less. George Osborne delivered a bitter sweet budget as he announced a surprise tax on fizzy drinks but slash public spending while handing the rich a massive tax cut. This budget no different to his other seven, simply allowing his business pals to enjoy tax breaks that allow them to dodge billions in corporation tax, and the super rich again enjoying lower rates of income tax. His budget he maintained also was ' a budget that puts the next generation first.' but what the next generation will inherit will be the shadow of a welfare state that once enabled people from disadvantaged backgrounds to survive. Furthermore a third of his budget cuts will come from disability benefits, as the Chancellor revoltingly informed us that he had made a conscious decision to save £ 4.4 by cruelly cutting Personal Independence Payments (PIP) to 640,000 by 2020. The sight of Osborne being mauled and petted by his chums was pretty nauseating too. But in one of his strongest performances at the disbatch box, the labor leader Jeremy Corbyn responded well ( not that their are not faults in his policies) in recognising that the buget had 'unfairness to it's core'' He said " The budget the chancellor has delivered is actually the culmination of six years of his failures. It is a recovery built on sand on and a budget of failure. He's failed on the budget deficit, failed on debt, failed on investment, failed on productivity, failed on trade deficit, failed on the welfare cap, failed to tackle inequality in this country. Going on to say :- ' This budget has unfairness at its very core, paid for those who can least afford it. He could not have made his priorities clearer - while 500,000 people with disabilities are losing over £1bn in PIP, corporation tax is being cut and billions handed out in tax cuts to the very wealthy." Yes, at the end of the day this budget is a total disaster for the most vulnerable people in the UK, but 100 billion left for trident which could have cut the NHS hole and help end austerity and help the poor and needy and pay poor tax payers back , the money stolen by the Tory's to bail the banksters out. Oh and a little less cleavage on the Tory front bench would have been much appreciated too, vent over, think I'll go and have a wee drink, the stronger the better.
It has become customary to mark the passing of Rachel Aliene Corrie a 23 year old American Peace activist from Olympia, Washington who was crushed to death by an Israeli military, caterpiller D 912 bulldozer in 2003, while undertaking non-violent direct action trying to protect the home of a Palestinian family from demolition in Rafah in the Gaza strip. Justice has never been served for her, along with others killed under the Israeli occupation. Today I reflect upon Rachel's brave stand in Gaza 13 years ago today and her courage to resist and all those who continue to live and struggle there. And all those passionate changemakers across the globe who each day act with conscience and work tirelessly to try and make a difference. Currently in the city of Cardiff one of the UK's biggest arms fairs has come,to visit I applaud all those now trying to shut this awful event down. People saying no to business people profiteering from mass murder, displacement and torture. Exhibitors include BAE systems, the worlds 3rd largest arms producer whose weapons are currently being used in the Saudi attacks on Yemen. When the rich make war it is the poor that die. Remember that what is happening in Palestine is no inexplicable cycle of violence where each side is as bad as one another,. It is no more than an equal cycle of violence as seen in apartheid South Africa. Being against it is not anti-Jewish anymore than being against a British governments military aggression marks you as as anti-British. Rachel Corrie understood these links and connections and would have known about an active Israeli peace movement, and of the hundreds of Israeli soldiers who refuse to serve in the occupied territories, many of whom have been jailed for their stance. Israel has invaded Palestinian land in breach of international law. Rachel died while attempting to prevent a demolition of a home, a common practice of the Israeli army's collective punishment that has left more than 12,000 Palestinians homeless since the beginning of the second uprising in September 2000. A practice that violates International Law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention. So here's to the memory and bravery of Rachel Corrie a true American hero. http://www.rachelcorrie.org https://www.stopthearmsfair.org.uk
