I can’t believe that I missed this story. It seems the Hate Mail managed to shoot itself in the foot by pissing off the Twitterati (if it’s not already a word then it is now!). It seems that to mark the end of Refugee week the Hate Mail, from hereon in to be known as the Daily Fail, placed a poll on it’s website asking “should the NHS allow Gypsies to jump the queue?” in relation to an article by that bastion of human decency.. sorry I mean utter cunt rag, Richard Littlejohn. In his article he espouses the usual racist bile that we have come to expect from the fetid little man yet with which he still manages to shock us.

Anyhoo. In relation to this rather disgusting, and ever so slightly leading, poll question the Twitterati swung into action and before long the poll was showing that over 90% of the Daily Fail’s readership supported gypsies getting special treatment from the NHS. This show of decency from its readership led to the Fail removing the poll from its website and replacing it with one asking “Should Commons Speaker Michael Martin resign?”. Does anyone want to tell them he resigned a month ago!

I know this is already a week old but I really wanted to add my wee voice to the hordes already laughing their arses off at the Daily Fail – FAIL!

Yesterday, 27/06/09, marked the first in a worrying new state organised annual public festival. Armed Forces Day is being touted as a day to ‘celebrate’ the nations armed forces and, according to their website, “show our support for the men and women who make up the Armed Forces community: from currently serving troops to Service families, and from veterans to recruits.”
This event is an attempt to, once again, place the military out of bounds for criticism following the coming to light over recent years of the ineptitude of the military top brass in keeping the troops alive and the barbarity of the culture on military bases. The leaving of military veterans, particularly those injured in the course of duty, on the scrap heap as soon as they have served their purpose is something the military has also been criticised for of late.
The rhetoric of Armed Forces Day, and military apologism in general, is phrased in such an emotive way as to make those who would criticise it out to be inhuman monsters. Similar to the ‘with us or against us’ false duality of George W Bush’s pro Iraq invasion speech it is insinuated that those who stand against celebrations of violence and rabid nationalism wish to see the streets flow with the blood of squaddies.
This is, without a doubt, true of an insignificant minority. The vast majority of those who criticise not only the state but the existence of the armed forces at all want to see the disbanding of the army. I mean why would we want to see harm come to the lads and lasses of the British armed forces? They are after all our friends and relatives, partners and lovers. The armed forces, well those who do the dying anyway, are almost exclusively made up of working class boys and girls so why would other members of the working class want anything other than their safety.
For many of our class the military is an attractive option for a seventeen year old on the dole queue or working in McDonald’s for minimum wage. A far higher wage than anything you’re likely to get in civy street and the promise of travel and adventure. What an attractive deal. The risk of death isn’t a real risk because, lets face it, at seventeen you’re immortal.
The Afghan and Iraq wars have however done a great deal of damage to this appeal. The obviousness of the lies spun by the state coupled with the number of coffins draped in the union flag returning from the deserts has led to a drop in the number of young men and women willing to sign up to fight and die.
The military has always been an active recruiter with nationwide advertising and recruitment stalls on the street and a, rather sickening to be honest, presence at jobs fairs at high schools. This move though from the military recruiting as an independent entity to a public festival, organised by the state, aimed at celebrating its very existence and recruiting yet more meat for the grinder, displays an attempt to militarise our culture.
Public festivals to celebrate military prowess are nothing new and have been used by the vilest of regimes as a cultural event that reinforces nationalistic sentiment and subordination to the power of the state. From Nazi Germany through Stalin’s USSR to modern day North Korea these celebrations of the states power to murder the citizens of other parts of the globe have been an integral part of the psychological remodeling of their societies. The reinforcing of the connection between cultural identity and the military will be an even more efficient recruitment tool than even national service. With national service you have a large force of, mostly, unwilling troops. By making military service part of a persons identity means that you have ready and willing troops. It’s not this generation that will see the effects of this cultural militarisation but future generations who will see a psychological shift towards accepting that a persons role is to serve in the armed forces.
Unless that is we can stop this in its tracks.

The other thing is, did noone think of the historical significance of putting tanks on George Square?

(click picture to learn more)

This is no appeal to calm.

Yesterday through the actions of the Metropolitan Police a man died during the protests against the G20 in the City of London. How this man died, whether as a result of direct blows from police batons or from the effects of the police “kettling” tactic and their attempts to force people in a direction it was not possible move, his death is their responsibility. We have already seen the BBC, unsurprisingly, peddling the police’s line that his death was due to ‘natural causes’. When they mention it at all that is. Though how it is natural to be penned in by armed thugs like an animal before being beaten and attacked is a tribute to their warped logic.

What should not be forgotten in light of this murder is that this is not the first and nor shall it be the last death at the hands of capital.

Everyday people are murdered by states, police, armed forces and militias all over the world. Capital, and its agents, think nothing of human life and profit will always, always come before humanity. Capitalism is directly responsible for the deaths of millions upon millions of people all around the world. From the wars that are fought in pursuit of profit to famine and death through preventable disease to those murdered for resisting its impact upon their communities or for organising for better conditions at work.

As we see the economic situation decline for working people in this country we can expect to see this become starkly clear. As more and more are made homeless, jobless and see their living conditions reduced, the ruling class will continue to live in splendour and affluence upon our backs as their parasitical forebears have done for generations.

The rulers of this country, and indeed this world, live lifestyles of opulent luxury that is beyond the ken of the vast majority of us. These parasites shall not see their blood drenched splendour reduced in the slightest.

Unless that is that we, the honest, hard working people of this world tear their privilege asunder.

These wealthy parasites live off our hard work and we suffer the consequences of the economic games they play in pursuit of ever greater profits for themselves and everyday we, the working class, suffer and die all over the world. This death through police actions yesterday is just one more death in the tragic blood stained history of capitalism.

This is no appeal to calm, rage today on the streets of London. Rage though not at this one death but at the horror and terror inflicted upon our class by the ruling 1% and their agents. Rage against the theft of our world by parasites who sponge off our labour. Rage at having to work your entire life through only to be denied the fruits of the world that is yours by right of birth.

This is no appeal to calm.

For more up to date information on what is happening in London today do not look to the BBC or other mainstream media outlets.. Look instead to the indymedia website which will carry updates as they come in from the streets.

There will be a demo today in solidarity with the guy killed last night.

Meet 1p.m. at the Bank if you are in London.

The aim of the assembly is to:

mark the death of the protestor,
call for an independent police inquiry
show solidarity against the enormous police repression that happened against protestors outside the Bank, the Climate Exchange and elsewhere in the City of London.
Any witnesses to this event or any other act of police violence against demonstrators is advised to write a full statement as soon as they possibly can, sign and date it, and give a copy it to a trusted other party. These statements should be given to Bindmans Solicitors (contactable on 020 7833 4433) and the Legal Monitoring groups present at the demonstrations. Information can also be sent to Indymedia London: imc-london@indymedia.org (this is a private email address).

You know, I was never that good at math back in school. Is there any chance any one could talk me through this equation?

Global Priority                                 $U.S. Billions
Cosmetics in the United States                    8
Ice cream in Europe                                     11
Perfumes in Europe and the United States 12
Pet foods in Europe and the United States 17
Business entertainment in Japan                 35
Cigarettes in Europe                                    50
Alcoholic drinks in Europe                         105
Narcotics drugs in the world                     400
Military spending in the world                  780

And compare that to what was estimated as additional costs to achieve universal access to basic social services in all developing countries:Global Priority                        $U.S. Billions
Basic education for all                                  6
Water and sanitation for all                          9
Reproductive health for all women             12
Basic health and nutrition                           13

link

Discovered this awesome article earlier today in which the author explains how to reprogram those electronic road signs that get put up around road works. Whilst it’s aimed at Australian devices I would imagine that some things, such as the password, are different over here. If anyone knows the default password for these devices in the UK that would be awesome.

Of course I’m not recommending that people reprogram these signs with humorous messages. I’m just saying that it would be hilarious and people should do it.

Why don’t we put the amount of energy into projects like Hubble that we do into warfare? Oh yeah, capitalism and class society that’s it!
Science geeks of the world unite! If we are to have free enquiry tomorrow we must make revolution today!