It’s less than a year since Glasgow City Council announced measures to drastically curtail the number of marches and parades in the city centre – reportedly by up to ‘ninety percent’. This policy was brought in ostensibly to cut back on the estimated 250 Orange Order parades through the city each year, and to allow the typically 10,000 strong king-billy-won-a-battle-three-hunner-years-ago-fuck-the-cafflics parade in early July to be rerouted out of the city centre.
Now Leftfield can reveal that this same policy is being used as a pretext to disallow, reroute and denigrate marches held by groups as diverse as the trade union and environmental movements.

Controversy over the new parades policy came to the fore last December, when The Wave demonstration, demanding urgent action over climate change, wasforced out of its city centre route, which it had taken the two years previously, and made to march between parks in outlying regions of the city. The police and the council parades committee claimed a city centre route would bring disruption to Christmas shopping. In London, on the other hand, the 50,000 strong march was allowed to march through Westminster, the heart of government.

And now, in perhaps their most audacious curtailment of the right to protest yet, the council have not only denied the trade union Unison the right to hold their demonstration against public service cuts in the city centre, but forced it back to 9.30am in the morning. The march will assemble on University Avenue – on the Glasgow University campus, and typically dead at this time on a Saturday – and be entirely confined to the west end, ending at a rally inside Kelvingrove Park.

Sources at Unison Scotland have told Leftfield that this was the best arrangement on offer from the council , and that attempts were made to push for the demo to be held later on in the day – particularly given that it is a national mobilisation, with coaches coming from union branches across Scotland – and for a more central assembly point. It is understood the council are insisting that this has to be the case to justify their restrictions on Orange walks and Irish Republican parades, and to prove that they are not discriminating on any one particular group.

The precedent for the decision on the upcoming Unison march was set by the rerouteing of the 10,000-strong demo against education cuts organised by the teacher’s union, the EIS, last month. Blytheswood Square has traditionally been a meeting point for marches held by the trade unions, the anti-war movement and so on. Now, however, it houses a five star hotel – and the EIS application to meet there was rejected on these grounds, forcing a relocation to the west end. Says Jim Coleman, now leader of GCC: “Gathering there will no longer be acceptable. There will be businesses in the city centre wanting us to come up with a new policy on parades. We need to look at new methods of parading around the city centre, not through it.”

the cooncil got very up set when the marchers wouldn't relocate to kelvingrove

The council have clearly laid out where their priorities lie – not in Glasgow’s proud working class tradition of trade unionism and industrial militancy, but in further gentrification and commercialisation of our city’s streets. This attack on the basic right of the labour movement to march in central Glasgow is particularly ironic given the grip that the Labour Party possess over the City Chambers, and further points to the insanity of the trade unions continuing to fund a political party that blatantly does not represent their interests.
Glasgow clearly has its own unique set of issues when it comes to marches – Glasgow allegedly has more Orange marches than Derry and Belfast combined, and is surely one of the only cities in the world where the Irish community can’t hold a St Patrick’s Day parade without being attacked by racist thugs. Yet this is now being used as an excuse by GCC to come down hard on demonstrations by everyone – when they evidently possess their own agenda: that the city centre is for commercial use and profit-making, not for cultural or political use, no matter how ‘respectable’ or ‘official’ the cause. For further evidence on this, only a few weeks ago a group of SSY members were doing a stall outside the now empty Borders store on Buchanan Street – we’d barely even set up when a besuited man from Land and Environmental Services strode up and informed us that they needed permission to do a stall. This was news to a group of comrades who’d been doing stalls at the same location for years, and right enough, we ignored him and continued on for the next hour and a half.

We need to reclaim the streets – last November when we took to them in our hundreds to oppose the Scottish Defence League, the police were powerless to stop us, even though the march was in effect illegal. Meanwhile, the establishment-backed Scotland United group had had to jump through hoops to get a route approved through the city centre.
SSY usually holds a Legalise Cannabis march each summer – I wouldn’t hold your breath on us getting one with council backing this year. Not unless it’s held in the middle of a fucking roundabout in the middle of a fucking industrial estate at half seven in the morning.

As Leftfield reported a couple of days ago, Greece right now is the frontline of the European wide assault on the working class.

The bankers who fucked up the economy royally are now determined to make ordinary people pay through wage cuts, job losses and slashing public spending.

In Greece, the government is trying to impose an austerity package so harsh the country has risen up in a general strike and massive demonstrations. Greeks need our solidarity today, because if they lose it’ll be us tomorrow.

In the video above, strikers and demonstrators talk about why they’ve gone into the street. (via Monthly Review zine.)

Hundreds of local residents and people from across Glasgow marched through the city earlier today in memory of Red Road flat residents the Serykh family, who were driven to suicide last weekend reportedly following the failure of their asylum application.
The demonstration gathered at the Red Road flats, one of the main areas in which Asylum families are ‘dispersed’ in the city, and marched on a route to the city centre, before a rally just off George Square. The march was noisy (with a samba band!) and got a really good reception from passers-by, especially when we reached the city centre and held a brief sit-down protest outside the City Chambers. Despite the overhanging sadness of last weekend’s events, the march had a celebratory atmosphere – of hundreds of people coming together to show Glasgow’s true face as a welcoming city that opens its doors to refugees and asylum seekers, and refuses to be taken in by the lies of the mainstream media and politicians who try to use those seeking sanctuary in our country as scapegoats for the problems of the system.
You can read more from Leftfield about the asylum system and the Red Road flats here.

SSP PUBLIC MEETING: end the government’s terror against asylum seekers! for decent housing, jobs and incomes for ALL!
Wednesday 17 March, 7.30pm. Church Hall, Quarrywood Avenue, Barmulloch.
With speakers Kevin McVey (SSP candidate in Glasgow North East) & Waheed Totakhyl (Scottish Afghan Society).

the marchers pours into george square

no borders, no nations, stop deportations!

But it’s not just the Greek people that are militant. Oh no, Greece also has some of the most militant, revolutionary canines in Europe! Writes a Greek anarchist of their four-legged friends: “They always hated police and authority, lived in Exarchia and the university and came with us in every demo. Some are still with us, some have died, always dreaming of a free world.”
One dog in particular, who we believe to go by the name of Kellanos, has become a minor celebrity round Athens, as a regular participant in every demonstration there over the past few years, never shying away from the front line of battle. Think I’m joking? Take a look at these…

24 February 2010

PAWS-ING FOR THOUGHT: 4 March 2009

9 May 2009

12 December 2008

24 February 2010

Leftfield salutes the efforts of Comrade Kellanos and the street dogs of Athens in their valiant struggle to bring about a fairer world for all creatures, two-legged and four-legged alike, and thinks the dogs of Scotland could learn much from their waggy-tailed comrades of Greece. Canines of the world unite! You have nothing to lose except your collars and leads!

No, not that Europe

When what is possibly the worst economic crisis since the 30’s got going in 2008, a lot of people looked back into history. They pointed out that when the Wall Street Crash happened in 1929, it took a couple of years before we really began to see political implications, like the rise of Hitler or the Spanish Civil War.

In recent weeks a wave of protests and strikes has engulfed Southern Europe, bringing people on to the streets of Greece, Spain and Portugal. It looks like for some countries at least, we won’t have to wait much longer to see consequences of financial meltdown.

The Euro as a currency is in crisis as a result of what’s happening. The fate of countries like Greece puts serious doubts on its long term viability.

Many people support the European Union, because they think it is a big club where everyone helps each other out and prevents wars. The EU’s own rhetoric has often talked about solidarity across Europe. But the response to the financial crisis in Greece has shown that the EU is no different than any other part of the capitalist world-the strong exploit the weak, and the powerful have no interest in solidarity with those who are relatively powerless.

Hyperinflation made money cheaper than jenga

The biggest power in the EU is Germany. The German elite have learned from history, and since the war they’ve wanted two things: sound money and European integration. In the 30’s hyperinflation made the German Mark worthless, causing misery for everyone and spurring the rise of the Nazis. And following the destruction of the war, the only way France and Germany could ever hope to match up to the global power of the US was by teaming up.

These two objectives came together with the establishment of the Euro, the aim of which was to give Europe a strong currency that could stand up to the dollar on world markets. But the idea was also that the Euro would help political integration, with the EU becoming more like a state of its own.

But closer integration has proved difficult, and in the meantime the EU has mushroomed outwards to take in a bunch of countries in Eastern Europe. Now 16 different states, many with very different economies, are tied together economically by using the Euro. Some of these countries, like Germany or the Netherlands, export a lot of products and as a result have surplus money. Others, like Greece or Spain, have huge debts. In the past, if a country had a surplus the currency would increase in value, making it more expensive to buy their products. If another had a deficit, then its currency would fall in value, having the opposite effect. This is the way, traditionally, that imbalances got sorted out.

But now, with so many countries locked into one currency, it’s nearly impossible for a national government to take action to try and deal with an economic crisis. Richer countries like France and Germany have been able to pump some of their own money into the financial system, but the banks and capitalists don’t trust the poorer countries like Greece, and won’t let them do the same.

EU members today

Germany has the second largest trade surplus in the world, after Saudi Arabia. It exports a lot more than it imports. Its relationship to the rest of Europe is a bit like China and the US-Germany provides goods and finances, and the rest of Europe buys those goods and takes the investment. The difference is that other European countries aren’t nearly as economically powerful as the US. Germany has invested and traded heavily with poorer countries like Greece, Spain and Portugal. These countries companies just can’t compete with German ones.

On top of this, it’s now clear that there was a lot of bullshitting going on by European governments in order to keep the Euro working, and get more countries as members. An investigation is being launched into how the former Greek government conspired with banks to hide the true extent of their debts. But more generally, many of the European governments have been breaking their own rules and covering it up.

PIIGS: shocked by hidden debt

This hasn’t been money that has been spent to the advantage of workers, but is the result of massive corruption and mismanagement, along with huge tax evasion by the wealthy. Without cooking the books like this, it would have been impossible for countries like Greece to join the Euro.

Before the crash, governments were able to cope with their debts by playing financial games and borrowing more money. But that option is closed off now for most of them after the collapse of the financial system, and several countries are left with huge debts that are causing a huge problem for the Euro. The worst problems are in the countries that have been rudely dubbed “PIIGS”-Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain.

In these countries the governments are now forced to desperately try and cut spending, meaning wage cuts, job losses and general misery, whilst at the same time raising taxes. In other words, they are trying to force the working class to pay the cost of the crisis that was created by financial speculators, banks and badly-managed governments.

In Greece, the government has a few months to raise £20 billion through cuts. If it doesn’t they could face the serious possibility of a Euro member going bankrupt. The German and French governments have been less than willing to come to the rescue, although they may yet be forced to. In the meantime the government is trying to force through an unprecedentedly harsh package of cuts.

Greek protesters: handy with a stick

The good news is that the Greek working class is one of the most militant in Europe, and is refusing to accept the government’s programme without a fight. From midnight tonight (Wednesday) Greek workers are walking out to start their second national strike. In previous strikes protestors have been fighting in the streets with riot police, and attempted to storm the parliament.

In other parts of Europe resistance is starting to heat up as well. In Portugal civil servants shut down courts, schools and hospitals in protest at government wage freezes. In Spain, where the government wants to raise the retirement age from 65 to 67 to keep people working longer, tens of thousands have been on the streets protesting. And in Ireland 4,500 porters, caterers, security guards and other low paid workers are set to go on strike against wage cuts in Dublin hospitals.

These Greek protesters bricked up a bank entrance to demand the government takes action against them!

In the UK, with the PCS already on strike and the prospect of more savage cuts after the election whoever wins, it couldn’t be more important to learn about what’s happening across Europe. We aren’t yet looking at a real revolutionary situation, but there’s no doubt that if we let European governments implement their plans it will mean poverty and misery for the European working class on a scale not seen since the 1930’s. The only way we can stop that happening is by defeating our governments across the continent, through mass action, strikes and people on the street. There’s an urgent need to link up the struggles across borders and understand the international nature of what’s going on, and Leftfield will do its best to keep you informed in a clear and understandable way in the months to come.

Footage of last month’s general strike in Greece.

On 8 March, International Women’s Day comes around once more.

As the Scottish Socialist Voice explained in a previous IWD special (scroll down to centre pages):

For over 150 years, women and men across the world have demonstrated on International Women’s Day. On that day in 1857 in New York, hundreds of women workers in the textile industry went on strike, protesting casual labour, low wages and poor working conditions. The women were attacked and beaten by the police – their stand was one of the reasons 8 March was officially recognised as International Women’s Day in 1910. So why do we still mark the day now in the 21st century?

The multinational bank HSBC is a major sponsor of the ‘official’, or at least biggest, International Women’s Day celebrations in Britain now. Their website explains:
“Many companies have actively supported International Women’s Day… This is essential if they are to recruit and retain the best female talent, sell their products/services to them, and see more women investing in them.”
But for others, including the Scottish Socialist Women’s Network, the reasons we march on International Women’s Day are the same as why the New York textile workers marched – because we are still fighting low pay, exploitation and oppression.

Photo by Eva Merz

Socialists in Scotland will be marking the occasion with our annual International Women’s Day protest outside HMP Cornton Vale.

Cornton Vale is the only women’s prison in Scotland, and it is notoriously overcrowded – despite the fact that most of the inmates shouldn’t be there in the first place. Just one per cent of women in Cornton Vale are there because they have committed a violent offence. Previous reports have found that 90 per cent of women imprisoned in Scotland have committed crimes related to poverty  – through drug and alcohol abuse, non-payment of fines, or just struggling to cope with living below the breadline.

In 2006, it was found that 98% of the inmates were struggling with addiction; 80% had mental health problems and 75% were survivors of abuse.

Former Scottish Socialist Party MSP Rosie Kane was held in Cornton Vale in 2006 for non-payment of a fine. One of her fellow inmates was there for nothing more than throwing some candles and a James Blunt CD out of a window during an argument. You can read about Rosie’s experience in Cornton Vale here.

It costs £37,000 a year to keep one woman in Cornton Vale – that’s money that could be investing in helping women with drink and drug problems, helping poverty stricken women from having to turn to prostitution or theft to feed themselves, their families or their habits. That is money that could help women rebuilt their lives after abuse and trauma. Instead women are being locked up and mistreated over and over again.

Socialists and feminists protesting outside womens’ prisons is often misunderstood or deliberately misconstrued. We DON’T think women are inherently good and gentle and should therefore don’t belong in jail. The fact is that women receive disproportionately high sentences when compared to men who have committed similar crimes. As previously reported in Leftfield, shoplifters (mainly women) are more likely to be imprisoned than sex offenders (mainly men). Women taking a tiny bit of profit-making opportunity from private companies are considered more dangerous criminals than men who pose a serious risk to the safety of women and children. That’s FUCKED UP.

Stop the war on women!

Join us this Sunday, 7 March at 12 noon at Stirling Train Station, to march on Cornton Vale and PROTEST.

Please bring ribbons and flowers to decorate the fence.

If you are a driver, your help ferrying protesters from the train station to the prison would be much appreciated.

After being convincingly routed last month the SDL are talking about having another march, this time in Edinburgh on February 20th.

The last time the SDL marched they were outnumbered 1,500 to 80 and were unable to march anywhere. They spent the day cooped up in a bar, a totally different situation from other parts of the UK where the EDL ran riot, intimidating Muslims outside Mosques.

SSY is supporting a planning meeting this Wednesday, December the 9th at 7pm in the Meadow Bar on Buccleugh street. I’ll be speaking and giving a brief background on the EDL/SDL and we can discuss and plan openly and democratically how to no platform the fascists – the same way Glasgow Anti-Fascist Alliance did in the run up to the SDL’s Glasgow demo.

Lets keep Edinburgh Fascist free, no pasaran!

Facebook group for the event

I did started getting pretty suspicious when I found out that they don’t even accept cardboard for recycling.
And now, as if we needed any further evidence  that Glasgow City Council LOVE the global rise in temperatures caused by human activity that’s probably going to KILL US ALL, news reaches Leftfield that they’ve gone and denied the annual demonstration against climate change their intended route through the city centre.

The demo, monikered ‘The Wave’, is being billed as Scotland’s largest ever demonstration against climate change, and is taking place on December 5th. However, rather than taking its planned route from Glasgow Green through to Kelvingrove Park, the powers that be at the council parades committee have decided to reroute it to a starting point at Bellahouston Park on the southside, from where it will march the 2.5 miles up to Kelvingrove Park, managing to completely avoid the city centre. The reason?
Christmas, of course! Yes, seems that the annual festival of capitalist consumption, consumerism and um, Jesus (so I gather anyway), is being given greater priority than an issue which the entire planet’s future depends on, all because it might interfere with a few shoppers doing some no-doubt-vital-to-the-planet’s-survival Christmas shopping.
Oh, and because the police are saying that there’s the ‘risk of disorder’ on the route that was initially applied for. What, are we really to believe that the Climate Change Denial Nutcase Brigade are marching the same day? Nah, I didnt think so. Glasgow City Council are just being bastards, and quite clearly sending out a message that they’re willing and able to stop marches in the city centre if they want to, having announced earlier this year that they want to curtail them by 90%. The idea ostensibly being to clamp down on the hundreds of Orange marches that take place each year – but as we’re seeing, they’ll use it against anyone.

Now, as it happens, the last lot of protestors to be taken out the city centre and abandoned somewhere in the Paisley Road West area were none other than… the scumbag Scottish Defence League. Coincidence? I THINK NOT.
On the bright side, let’s all just be really fucking grateful that Glasgow City Council aren’t in any way involved in the Copenhagen summit. Although, to be fair, they probably couldn’t make much more of a mess of it than Ed Miliband and co will no doubt do…

march with SSY on The Wave – assembles 10.30am, Sat 5 Dec at Bellahouston Park
more info  and a map of the route here: www.the-wave.org.uk/scotland

Millions – okay, maybe nearer hundreds – of protestors marched through Springburn on Saturday 7 November, for the Youth March for Jobs, organised by the SSP and SSY.
The demonstration provided a sharp dose of reality in a by-election otherwise dominated by ex-Big Brother contestants (two of them!), tabloid columnists, former newscasters and the ever reliable Charlie Baillie, of creepy youtube videos and being a nasty Nazi fame .
The march wound its way from Springburn shopping centre through the housing scheme to Springburn park, where it finished in a rally and speeches from SSY’s Andy Bowden and Kevin McVey, the SSP by-election candidate.
With youth unemployment reaching 1 million – and reputedly at 30% within the Glasgow North East constituency – it’s proving to be the most pressing issue in the election, as reflected in the overwhelmingly positive response local people have given the SSP’s recent campaigning, and Saturday’s demo.

bottom two photos: eddie truman