alanjjohnstone
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http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/feb/04/police-forces-opposed-to-water-cannon============ Five of the six largest forces in England and Wales said they were against deploying water cannon on their streets, with one police chief dismissing them as being "as much use as a chocolate teapot" for quelling disorder.
12 years for the Bloody Sunday inquiry5 years for the Chilcot Iraq inquiryA year for fracking…is it too much of a rush to judgement?
http://blogs.wsj.com/davos/2014/01/24/bono-needs-a-name-for-his-next-campaign/?nan_pid=1799383824Brothers in crimeCameron, who is supporting the fresh development push. The pair is targeting everything from ways to stop the corruption that drains millions out of the developing world to strategies to cut maternal mortality. “We need Bono…to come up with a name and a campaign,” said Mr. Cameron.“We all understand that there is an avalanche of cynicism just by our being here,” Bono said. “The business community north of the equator has to be reformed…But capitalism can be a great force.”
Libcom is carrying an interesting interview that sheds some more light on the Ukrainian unrest. http://libcom.org/news/politicians-had-obey-crowd-29012014
Some more dirt on Bono http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/eac871ce-8943-11e3-bb5f-00144feab7de.html?ftcamp=published_links%2Frss%2Fcomment%2Ffeed%2F%2Fproduct#axzz2rzGWxWybThe BoA Superbowl ad will declare that for 24 hours everyone can download a new song from U2, “Invisible”, for free. The bank will then donate $1 for every download to a global fund to fight Aids, organised in association with Red, the philanthropic group co-founded by Bono. “When we looked at BoA [Bank of America]and got to know [ BoA CEO,Moynihan], we saw that values were important to them and they were trying to compensate for the financial mess. But to be honest, even if they weren’t [decent] but were willing to give us $10m, I would still be sitting here…The band wouldn’t,” he added with a chuckle, as Moynihan laughed. “They are the ones who find some of the company I keep really excruciating. But I have long since given up on that kind of vanity – it’s about outcomes. Our audience want us to be effective, and you have to be prepared to make unusual allies.” =============== Bono is backing a videogame which promotes the invasion and destruction of Venezuela in order to check “a power hungry tyrant” who has “seized control of Venezuela and her oil supply.” Bono has failed to respond to concerns raised by the Venezuelan Solidarity Network about his funding of this project. “Mercenaries 2: World in Flames,” created by Los Angeles based Pandemic/Bioware Studios, simulates a mercenary invasion of Venezuela in the year 2007. Pandemic is a subcontractor for the US Army and CIA funded Institute for Creative Technologies, which uses Hollywood techniques to mount war simulations in California’s high desert in order to conduct military training. “Mercenaries 2: World in Flames” simulates destruction in downtown Caracas, and promises to leave no part of Venezuela untouched. Elevation Partners is an investment firm that Bono helped create in order to exploit marketing opportunities between U2 and its fans, including projects from Pandemic/Bioware Studios. http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/1823
When peace talks make the excuse for war. http://truth-out.org/news/item/21520-is-syrian-peace-conference-laying-the-foundation-for-war
Why the minimum wage is good for capitalismhttp://www.alternet.org/economy/ron-unz-makes-case-higher-wage-then-president-obama?paging=off¤t_page=1#bookmark
I understand your point about aid…but foreign aid always has strings and if it takes a proponent of Laissez Faire economics to say it and oppose it – so be it. Pacific Island nations, many of which have been independent for 30-40 years get overseas development assistance (ODA) to the region amounts to 469 dollars per capita, compared to 64 dollars in Caribbean small states and 54 dollars in Sub-Saharan Africa. We see the result Nauru supporting Israel in any UN vote and volunteering to be a prison island for Australia's political asylum seekers (as has Papua New Gunea) . We also see the powers of judiciary on Nauru being removed in what can only be described as a coup without any condemnation from the West . According to the Vanuatu-based think-tank Pacific Institute of Public Policy the impact of corruption on aid and development in the Pacific Islands are “staggering" In the Solomon Islands issues such as misuse of aid funds, donor-led projects unaligned to local priorities, and “boomerang aid” characterised by large numbers of highly paid expatriate advisors and corporate contractors. Australia, the largest aid donor to the Pacific Islands, awarded aid contracts worth 58.3 million dollars, of which 47.8 million dollars went to Australian companies. As PIPP again says “Pacific Islands living in debt often dance to the tune of those who provide much needed resources. Even when Pacific Islands are out of debt, they remain indebted in principle for the ‘generosity’ provided to them in the past.”http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/01/pacific-nations-need-help-away-aid/
I would be more impressed by the critique if it was not from a Labour Party member and exhibited the subsequent hypocrisy and outright delusion about his own party's performance. …"while forced to make cuts every bit as agonising as those in Brighton and Hove, [Labour councils] made real progress where they can in improving the lives of their citizens. "…suuuuuuuuure they have….. "Put simply, it’s a council’s job to set a budget. That’s what councillors are elected for. " Were the Greens not deprived of this right by rate capping and setting about reclaiming it? "..a failure to move beyond gesture politics"… "failure to oppose austerity and speak for the disadvantaged is particularly damning" – and Labour's record is ??? He does hit the spot on the Green's money crankism, i admit I don't think any future socialist administation would be so dismissive of referenda as the blogger, who i think feels that the profession of politician is undermined by permitting decisions making to be taken way. "Telling your electors they’re the problem has never been a productive way of doing things." which of course Callaghan and Kinnock and Blair never ever did' I could go on but i think many SPGBers have enough experience in the political real world of trade union activity to know that a judgement made and taken especially an unpopular has to be justified to ones peers and those members do in fact understand the intricacies of compromise and yes sometimes concessions but equally able to take a longer view on the presentation of their interests by their elected spokespersons. Perhaps we have more to learn but not from a Labour Party. Oxford's IWCA might offer a bit more insight into the problems…particularly the day to day problems of engaging in full time council political work. We have more to learn from their mistakes and strengths than either the Greens or Labour http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_Working_Class_Association
Go through this play-list. You may find a few that maybe suitable. Most are copyright free.http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=111310We Are Everywhere might dohttp://www.soundclick.com/player/single_player.cfm?songid=757187&q=lo&newref=1Religions and prisons and races Borders and nations FBI agents and congressmen And corporate radio stations They try to keep us apart, but we find each other And the rulers are always aware That they're a tiny minority And we are everywhere But i would stick with your original choice. Phuk the Philistines
http://truth-out.org/news/item/21431-michoacan-and-the-economics-of-crimeAnother good article on the vigilante movement of Mexico. To put it in perspective the world's mafias and various crime cartels generate the equivalent of about $800 billion, an amount higher than the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Spain and equivalent to the GDP of Canada, i.e., 15 percent of world trade. According to the report, nearly $400 billion are earmarked for security services, ranging from buying politicians and officials, guards and private armies, which allow for the free movement of illicit capital, to its end point, which is the reintroduction into the legal economy.
Certainly people make their own history. We are all responsible for our own actions.When i talked of past community i remember there was always someone ready to lend you the shilling for the electric meter, but also someone equally ready to break into that very same meter. I don't have a rose-tinted glasses view of the pastBut if we reject that we possess a social responsibility, we reject socialism. Our case is that not every aspect of capitalism is bad, it succeeded in socialising us much more than previous societies, but we now argue that it has outlived its past usefulness and hold us back now from further communal living.To return to the original post, i am not as scathing as Steve that neighbours and community should take responsibility for all people which may supercede the parents rights in regards children. Schooling may be a means of transmission for the ruling class ideas, but like everything capitalism produces it also serves contradictory purposes.I don't know too much about Wilshaw but a google showed he is critical of privileged private schools. "Independent your schools may be but isolated they are not. They are firmly connected to the wider community. Your pensions, many of the public may be surprised to learn, are subsidised by the taxpayer. Most of your teaching staff were educated at public expense. The independent sector gains 1,400 teachers from state schools every year," He dismissed their existing collaborations as "crumbs from their table. "…Harrow, Eton, Westminster, Charterhouse, Winchester and scores of others were endowed and established with the express purpose of providing an education for the poor. I am calling on you all to renew and deepen that commitment.". He conceded that the heads might run into opposition from unhappy fee-paying parents: "What might you say to parents who think that noblesse oblige is the latest perfume from Chanel?" Wilshaw has taken issue with those who had said state education is neglecting the wider needs of children."These heads in inner-city London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds haven't got the time to worry whether their children are climbing trees proficiently," Wilshaw said. "They would feel particularly insulted if this criticism was coming from some educationalists who have the luxury of teaching children from aspirant and often well-heeled homes – homes that would make damn sure that their children passed their exams, even though the school afforded them the time to climb trees and gaze upon the beauties of life."Sure, in the end he is a reformist, someone who rejects a socialist solution to the problems of education, but i do not share Steve's opinion that he is a proponent of Nazism and Stalinism. Slightly hyperbolic conclusion, imho. I share Wilshaws somewhat misplaced aspiration for education to be a community responsibility and not the choice of simply the parent. http://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/oct/02/ofsted-independent-schools-deep-pockets-wilshaw"We were taught under the old ethic that man’s business upon this earth was to look out for himself. That was the ethic of the jungle the ethic of the wild beast. Take care of yourself, no matter what may become of your fellowman. Thousands of years ago the question was asked: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” That question has never yet been answered in a way that is satisfactory to civilized society. Yes, I am my brother’s keeper. I am under a moral obligation to him, inspired, not by any maudlin sentimentality, but by the higher duty I owe to myself. What would you think of me if I were capable of seating myself at a table and gorging myself with food and saw about me the children of my fellow beings starving to death?" – Debs
