It’s the start of the summer holidays, and in Scotland, that can mean only one thing: rain, and lots of it.
Okay, two things actually, and as the holidays arrive in a (literal) hailstorm of erm, rain and rain, SSY is pleased to make an announcement which will more than make up for any dreich weather the past couple of days: it’s the return of our annual Legalise Cannabis march!

The next two months are shaping up to be a bumper summer for SSY, with the long-awaited return of Camp Secret Squirrel at the beginning of August, and various other shenanigans before then, including our World Cup party, tomorrow’s conference, as well as all the usual stuff. Well you can now add more event to your diary… pencil in Saturday 24 July for the annual Legalise Cannabis demo!

This year, it’s been decided to take a more broad approach to the demo, given the full-blown, hysterical media-driven moral panic we saw earlier in the year over ‘psycho-killer-drug’ mephedrone and it’s subsequent kneejerk banning. What this proved once and for all is that when it comes to drug policy in the UK, the agenda isn’t being driven by scientific evidence or experts on the matter, but by right-wing tabloid newspapers acting on self-appointed moral crusades.

It’s easy in the current climate to view the ‘war on drugs’ as something that’s unworthy of attention. But what needs to be realised is that the disastrous consequences of the ‘War on Drugs’ are implicated in numerous deep-seated problems within our society, from crime to prostitution to poverty, and are central to conflicts being played out across the globe, from Mexico to Afghanistan. It’s an issue that isn’t going to disappear; only last week it was revealed that Scotland has among the highest proportion of heroin and cocaine users on the planet.

Legalise Cannabis marches take place in hundreds of towns and cities across the world every year, and SSY is proud to organise one of very few such events which take place in the UK. The movement in favour of legalisation is one with a growing sense of momentum, particularly with ongoing developments in the US. Earlier this year, huge rallies in favour of marijuana legalisation took place across North America, in part due to the Proposition 19 referendum which is taking place in California this November. If passed, this would decriminalise cannabis possession for those aged over 21, and control and tax its production and sale. This could be a pivotal moment in the movement to legalise cannabis globally, and the outcome will be watched with interest across the world. The sudden move towards this has in no small part been prompted by the deep financial crisis that the state California has found itself in – the idea now being that it can recoup at least some of this debt from taxing marijuana!

So listen up Cameron, Clegg and Osborne – if you’re all so desperate to cut down on the deficit, how about following the example of California?

LEGALISE CANNABIS – END THE WAR ON DRUGS NOW!
March assembles 12.30pm, University Avenue (at Glasgow Uni main gate), Glasgow
followed by music, DJs, speakers & more at Kelvingrove Park

15,000 attend a Legalise Cannabis demo in Colorado, April 2010

An armed forces day message to unarmed civil rights protesters

Today the city I call home didn’t feel like home for me. The city centre of Glasgow, like towns and cities all over Scotland, played host to a massive display of weaponry, Union Jacks, and mass recruitment to the British military.

Today is armed forces day, the second time that an annual “celebration” has been held, allegedly to “Show Your Support for the men and women who make up the Armed Forces community.”

I want to make clear from the outset that I have no problem with charities collecting money to support soldiers and veterans. God knows, the way that people who leave the military are treated by the state, they need it. 20,000 veterans, traumatised and psychologically damaged from their experiences, are in prison, probation or parole. As many as a quarter of those sleeping rough in the UK may have been in the forces, and there are hundreds of veterans on the streets or in hostels. Then there’s the harder to measure damage the wars the British government has engaged in has caused to British troops: the mental health problems, the alcoholism, the divorces, the suicides.

But you wouldn’t have heard much about that today. In Glasgow, although the charities that pick up the pieces of these broken lives were round the fringes of George Square, the heart of the city centre was instead given over to a massive celebration of British imperialism, war and military recruitment.

Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday afternoon saw around three thousands demonstrators take to the streets of Edinburgh to oppose Israel’s ongoing attacks on humanitarian aid missions en route to Gaza. The protesters marched, in soaring temperatures, on a lengthy route around the city, going past both the US Consulate and Bute House, the official residence of the First Minister. The demo was noisy and colourful, with hundreds of Palestinian flags being waved. There was a brief flashpoint when demonstrators tried to storm the Marks & Spencers store on Princes Street -- M&S being a company with extensive financial and political links to the Israeli state.

The demo came on the same afternoon that news was emerging that Israel has stopped the latest attempt by activists to break the illegal blockade of Gaza, seizing aid ship The Rachel Corrie and diverting it to an Israeli port. Fortunately on this occasion the Israeli military restrained themselves and there was no repeat of the violence which left at least 9 aid activists dead in the early hours of Monday morning.

Gaza is under an absolute blockade by Israel -- who claim that allowing goods and traffic into Gaza would allow the Islamist Hamas movement , who form the elected government of Gaza, to smuggle in weapons and rockets to use against Israel. Israel lets in some limited supplies to Gaza -- but even basics like cement and building materials are banned, as well as, inexplicably, toys, chocolate and shampoo, amongst many other goods. So when Israel says it’s still going to let aid through -- as long as the activists let it by taken in through the established military checkpoints -- what they really mean is that they’re going to confiscate most of it, as they won’t allow half of it in anyway.

This is why the aid activists are so desperate to reach Gaza -- as well as being a symbolic gesture against the blockade, the people of Gaza are in a truly desperate situation, with 80% surviving on UN handouts and unemployment hovering around 40%. And rather than weakening Hamas, the blockade only strengthens the extremist group, by both building up even greater resentment against Israel, and giving them a total grip over basic commodities in the strip, which they smuggle in through tunnels from Egypt.

The movement to end the blockade must continue to keep up the pressure on Israel, who’re hoping that the whole furore will soon blow over. Israel is a pariah state that must be cut off from normal relations with the rest of the world -- already a number of countries, including South Africa, Turkey, Ecuador and Nicaragua, have withdrawn their ambassadors from Israel in protest at their actions. While the UN Security Council have called for an investigation, Israel has already rejected this -- which can be added to the list of the dozens of other UN resolutions, demands and requests that Israel has bluntly ignored throughout the years. No more -- Israel must abide by international law. End the seige now!

On Tuesday 8 June, SSY is hosting a joint meeting with the SSP in Glasgow on recent developments in Palestine. Speaking at it will be Hasan Nowarah, who was on last week’s Aid Flotilla and was injured in the brutal IDF assault, before being detained and then deported from Israel. SSY’s Jenny Haston, who studied at university in Palestine, will be also be speaking.  The meeting’s at 7.30pm, Tuesday 8 June, upstairs in the Piper Bar on the corner of George Square, Glasgow. Not to be missed!

Israeli state terrorists on board the boat

At 4am this morning, armed commandos from the Israeli army (IDF) stormed a convoy of boats owned by the Viva Palestina aid organisation, killing at least 19 and injuring at least 50. The boats were in international waters, 90 miles away from the intended destination of Gaza, and contained activists that hoped to deliver aid to desperate Palestinians, forced out of their homes and into dire situations by the aggressive Israeli state. Attacking boats in international waters is not within the legal power of the IDF, and as a result has drawn criticism from even those who would normally defend Israel’s right to murder on solid land, although of course anyone should know better than to expect unbiased reporting from major news sources where Israel is concerned.

Today (Monday 31st) there will be several demonstrations against Israeli state terrorism in towns and cities all over Scotland. So far demonstrations at 5pm have been announced in:

Edinburgh - Assemble 5pm at the Foot of the Mound, Princes Street (07958002591)

Glasgow - Assemble 5pm at George Square (07870701011)

Dundee - Assemble 5pm at City Square (07941751452)

Aberdeen - Assemble 5pm at St Nicholas Square (07980253337)

Moffat - Assemble 5pm at 2 Holm Street (07786508715)

Inverness - Assemble 5pm at the Townhouse (07881527062)

Banff - Assemble 5pm at Low Street, Council Buildings

Stirling - Assemble 5pm at Foot of King Street

If you condemn the murder of peaceful activists trying to deliver aid into Gaza, please take some time to come along and show our government that we don’t support Israel’s aggressive actions and continued oppression of Palestinian people.

You can keep up with new protests in other towns being announced here. There will also be a national demonstration this Saturday, 5th June, in Edinburgh at 2pm -- again assembling at the foot of the Mound.

Apparently under the NATO charter the attack on a NATO flagged ship in international waters puts all of NATO in a state of war with Israel. Somehow we doubt this will result in severe repercussions for Israel, who have the support of the most powerful Western governments, but we’ll be watching intently to see how many people now begin to realise that Israel officially went ‘too far’ quite a long time ago. Viva Palestina!

North East Against Racism flying demo

Saturday 29 May was meant to be the day of the English Defence League’s ’secret’ protest. So secret, in fact, that its location was revealed months ago as Newcastle upon Tyne, giving anti-racists enough time to organise a whopping three separate anti-racist protests, all ostensibly setting out to ‘oppose’ the EDL.

The outcome was far from decisive. The EDL turnout was not nearly as high as anticipated, with most reports giving estimates of between 800 and 1000 at their demonstration. The day passed off relatively peacefully, with no arrests on either side, and there was no repeat of the widespread rioting and violence the EDL caused in both Stoke and Dudley in recent months.

Sections of the anti-fascist movement have been quick to declare the day as  a ‘huge success’  and a victory, with ‘anti-racists dominating the city’. This is simply not true. The fact is that the EDL were able to hold a police-sanctioned march through the city centre, ending at an outdoor rally with speakers and music, before they dispersed en masse to pubs around the city to continue their drunken, xenophobic chanting. This ability to openly organise and assemble in the streets, effectively unopposed, was a massive confidence boost for the EDL. What’s worse is that later on the EDL continued to maintain a large presence in the city – groups of young males in EDL hoodies and t-shirts were on virtually every street corner, and outside every pub, well into the evening.

The EDL demonstration

The anti-fascist response was marked by its disunity and poor turnout. North East Against Racism (NEAR), a grassroots organisation similar to the Glasgow and Edinburgh Anti-Fascist Alliances, assembled early on, with the intention of staying mobile, avoiding police ‘kettles’, and confronting the EDL. NEAR had spotters around the city, as well as at the service station of the outskirts of Newcastle where some of EDL were gathering. Having discerned that the EDL were beginning to assemble outside of the central railway station, we marched down to confront them. Skirting through backstreets to avoid police lines, we reached the group of around 100 EDL. A tense stand-off ensued, with police forming lines to attempt the separate us from the EDL. Tactically retreating, we marched back and forward a number of times to the station. However, the NEAR demo, although called with the best of intentions and tactics, faced two main problems. We numbered less than 100, severely limiting our ability to disrupt the EDL or challenge police direction. On top of this, the EDL were everywhere – this was two hours ahead of their official demonstration start time, and EDL supporters were spread out across the city. No sooner had we massed beside one group of EDL supporters than another would start appearing behind us. We retreated back to the Monument, where local trade unions were holding a rally against the EDL. Unfortunately, this gave the police an excuse to keep us there, and the NEAR mobilisation disintegrated.

So what did the labour movement response to fascism entail? A couple of lonely union banners, shit music, some woman dancing with a hula-hoop, a few speakers and a shockingly low turnout of no more than 150 is probably the best way of summing it up. Outright lies as well – one speaker applauded the police’s actions while informing the assembled turnout of embarrassed looking trade unionists, confused onlookers and obscure paper sellers that the EDL had been ‘denied the right to march in our city today’. Surrounding the union rally was huge lines of police, which only served to alienate the public from the event, and either way, did not stop a leading EDL member, Joel Titus, from swaggering his way through the crowd earlier in the day.

Meanwhile, as the EDL began to assemble in the city centre, Unite Against Fascism were massing on a quiet road a couple of miles away. What followed was a stage-managed display of militancy, with angry chanting and plenty of talk of ’smashing’ the EDL, before the 500 or so protestors marched into a pre-arranged tight police kettle within what was just about shouting distance of the EDL. If you shouted REALLY loudly, that is. Which they did of course, not that you could even see the EDL through the thick lines of police, parked riot vans and so on.

The word reached us that NEAR were regrouping in another part of the city. Rumours abounded that the EDL were going to descend on Fenham, a mixed area of the city with a significant Asian population, as they had in Stoke, where groups of EDL went on the rampage through a predominantly Muslim area of the city, smashing up shops and vehicles. Avoiding police detection, NEAR maintained a strong presence in Fenham for the rest of the day. Thankfully, this precautionary step remained as just that and there was a no show from the EDL. Nonetheless, with the UAF and TUC demonstrations both packed up and gone home, all that remained in the city centre from the events of earlier on was large numbers of boozed-up EDL members, as well as the accompanying heavy police presence. Fortunately on this occasion, the EDL kept up their non-violent, peaceful facade and the streets of Newcastle remained free from the scenes of destruction seen elsewhere.

EDL: a fun day out for all the family!

It’s uncertain where the anti-fascist movement in England, or the EDL, go from here. It is clear that UAF, particularly following their disasterous attempts at playing militant in Bolton which ended in their leading members’ arrest and a farcical push-and-shove contest with the police, have no interest in direct confrontation with the fascists. They will continue to maintain that marches to show the EDL that ‘they are not welcome’, while barely setting sight on them, is the best strategy to oppose them. The NEAR demo on the other hand had real potential, but sadly lacked numbers. A decisive point could have been attempting to occupy the space where the EDL were finishing their demonstration. While police stood idly around the edges, leading EDL members were setting up a PA system in the middle of the Biggmarket. Several of us were able to wander freely through – with more numbers we could have taken the street.

The future for the EDL is difficult to predict. Last year, many predicted that they would burn themselves out within a few months. This has evidently not been the case – they now have a solid base of support that they can mobilise anywhere in England, from Aylesbury to Newcastle. In the short term, they look set to be planning demonstrations over the summer – perhaps an attempt to capitalise on the upsurge of football-related patriotism that England’s involvement with the World Cup will generate – including extremely provacative demos in Bradford and Tower Hamlets in east London. In the long term, the EDL leadership are attempting to make inroads into UKIP – a party with which they share both overt Islamophobia and an obsession with Geert Wildeers. With the BNP in organisational and electoral disarray, could a new popular front of the radical right, backed up by a street army of football hooligans, be about to emerge?

The tactics we need to defeat the far-right have already been displayed twice in Scotland. Mass street mobilisations to directly confront and stop the fascists can and will be effective. But for this to truly happen, unity of the anti-fascist movement is essential. Unfortunately – and as we’ve gone into on several occasions before – the established organisations have no such interest in directly stopping the fascists. Until then, its up to organisations like GAFA and NEAR to do so, and NEAR should be commended for taking the initiative with their demo in Newcastle on Saturday. It’s just a shame that there wasn’t a bigger turnout.

Since we last reported on Thailand, the unelected Thai government has completed its brutal crackdown on the protest camp in the heart of Bangkok’s business and shopping district.

Showing that they valued the property of the area, and their own power, more than human life, the government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajjiva ordered troops to violently clear the site. In the process, at least 88 people were killed by army snipers and assault tanks. Over 1000 were injured.

Thailand’s 20th century history is littered with the intervention of the army to protect the aristocratic and business elite’s power against the majority of Thais who live in poverty. Now once again, Thais are living under a military curfew, with mass censorship of the media and internet and hundreds of political prisoners facing long sentences or possible execution.

Among the many prisoners facing trial is a British man, Jeff Savage, who lives in Thailand and was part of the protests.

But despite their short term retaking of the streets, the government has solved nothing by using violence against the overwhelmingly poor and working class Red Shirt protesters. The huge economic and class inequality in Thailand remains, and the poor are demanding democracy in order to try and get a government that will do something about it.

In parliament itself, opposition politicians have voiced their anger about the way the government has conducted itself, calling for Eton educated Abhisit to be impeached.

“Up until now, almost 100 people have died. Can you continue reading the budget and balance sheets like that? Do you have any feelings?” said Surapong Tovichakchaikul, an opposition member from Chiang Mai, a northern city where support is strong for the Red Shirts. Regional inequalities are also an important factor in the division of Thailand. The Red Shirts are particularly strong among the peasants and small farmers of the Thai north and northeast, which are ethnically and linguistically different from both central and southern Thailand. The peoples of these regions have been bounded to the rest of the country by borders established in the times of western colonialism.

Further evidence that Thailand is riven by discontent was the news that two bombs exploded in the south of the country this week, set by Islamic insurgents who want an independent south. The south of Thailand was an autonomous Islamic enclave before being annexed by Thailand in the early 20th century.

School contemporary of David Cameron and Boris Johnson Abhisit Vejjajjiva

Fundamentally, the conflict in Thailand is about the desire of the traditional nobility and business elite to hold on to power. They were threatened when, for the first time in Thai history, the 1997 constitution allowed both houses of parliament to be directly elected. This led to the rise of billionaire tycoon Thaksin Shinawatra, who was able to fill the vacuum on the left of Thai politics once filled by the Communist Party.

In the absence of a credible left alternative, Thaksin established policies like the first universal healthcare scheme and economic support for small farmers that won him huge support among the Thai poor. Ousted by a military coup in 2006, he now lives in exile and the current Thai regime is seeking his arrest through Interpol.

The demand for democracy by the mass of Thai people is, therefore, a demand to be allowed to vote in a government that will represent their interests. They are frustrated in this by the so-called ‘Human Rights’ organisations and NGOs, who support the monarchy and anti-democracy, middle class Yellow Shirt movement, which has used violence and intimidation. The National Human Rights Commission is now actively taking part in the prosecution of Red Shirts.

The complicity of the monarchy in the current crisis has for virtually the first time in Thai history brought out open criticism of the institution, and the radicalisation that is likely to follow the government crackdown can only increase this. The current King Bhumibol has been on the throne for 55 years, and is ailing in health. He still retains widespread support, especially concentrated in the more well off. Check out this scene from the national Thai TV awards, where an audience of the entertainment elite applaud a pro-monarchy statement by one of those winning an award. Such total shows of total submission to the monarchy are common among the Thai elite. (The term “Father” refers to the King.)

However, his son and heir apparent, Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, is held in much less esteem by most people. As a military officer, he participated directly in crackdowns against the Communist Party in the 70s. And his personal life has drawn a lot of criticism: he has been married several times, abandoning different wives and children. In Thailand, laws that prevent offences against the monarchy have been used to silence republican opposition. That’s why Thai socialist Giles ji Ungpakorn, who we’ve linked to before, lives in exile in Britain: he faces charges for criticising the monarchy at home. However, the Crown Prince has gone even further than that. In divorce proceedings, he accused a former wife of being totally responsible for the breakdown of their relationship, and she couldn’t answer back for fear of contravening the law!

It’s virtually certain that although crushed militarily for now the Red Shirt movement will re-emerge, quite possible greatly radicalised by this show of state violence. The fact of the matter is that the crackdown is a hollow victory for the Thai elite, for instead of taking any steps to resolve the contradictions at the heart of Thai society, their actions have only heightened them. The future of Thailand as a country is highly uncertain.

Tory Chancellor George Osborne lets the capitalists know where he stands

Today was the announcement of the first round of cuts by the UK government, with £6 and a quarter billion coming out of public spending. It’s been a busy day for SSY, as we took direct action at several points throughout the day to oppose the ConDem savagery. But first, let’s have a look at what’s been announced.

Posh boy Chancellor George Osborne, and his Lib Dem henchman, the former senior banker at JP Morgan and Barclays, and current Chief Secretary to the Treasury, David Laws, were as chummy as the two rich pals they are announcing the cuts.

There’s lots of attempts to buy people off with headline grabbing measures like removing chauffeur driven limos for ministers (although even then they can still get one if needed for “security.”) But in reality things like this will be a drop in the ocean of the cuts announced today, which themselves are just the first taste of the brutal axe that the ConDems plan to take to public services, wages and benefits.

One of the biggest pieces of news is that child trust funds are to be scrapped. This was a scheme that gave all children born after 2002 an account with £250 in it to be saved and invested, that belongs to the child and can’t be touched until they turn 18. The idea behind it being that it gave an opportunity to people from lower income families to have a little bit of the advantage that rich kids have when they go off to uni or want to buy a house etc. It’s being phased out and scrapped entirely in January. No doubt private school boys like Cameron or Clegg won’t be that bothered, having plenty of Daddy’s money to back them up.

The PCS union for civil servants has condemned the proposed freeze on recruiting more people to work in the civil service. PCS members have been forced to repeatedly strike already against the huge attacks they’ve faced from Labour, and now their jobs are set to get even harder. The union has agreed to mount a major national campaign against the cuts, arguing that the money can be found from other sources, like making the rich pay their fair share of tax. General Secretary Mark Serwotka said:

“We have serious concerns about the staff in many government agencies who will have read in the media at the weekend that their jobs could be at risk, but have been given little information since.

“We do not accept that huge spending cuts are necessary or desirable, and we do not believe it is credible for the government to say it can protect public sector jobs and services while taking the axe to departments in this way.

“A recruitment freeze now, when tens of thousands of civil service posts have been cut in the last few years, will further add to workloads and put at risk the services our members provide to the public. We would welcome the opportunity for a full and honest debate about the public sector and its role in the economy, but the government appears intent on short-circuiting that by cutting first and asking questions later.”

In further attempts to make what they were up to look not that bad, the ConDems also have pledged not to cut “frontline services” in this round, for example by leaving out schools. However, for education this means that the cuts have hit hardest in further education. There’s going to be 10,000 fewer places at unis available this year than was previously planned, at a time when demand has skyrocketed by 16.5%. It’s going to get harder for young people to get into education, increasing the numbers forced to survive on benefits. Overall £200 million is coming out of higher education.

Where the ConDems send you with your UCAS form

Something that will hit the most vulnerable people in society the hardest is the £1.2 billion cut to local government grants. This is politically helpful for the ConDems, because local councils will be the ones that have to make the choices about which services that people depend on will be axed. But the people who depend most on the services provided by local councils are overwhelmingly the poorest and most vulnerable.

They’re also axing the future jobs fund, which helps people on job seekers get a job for six months on the minimum wage. It’s far from perfect, and can force people into a pretty crap job compared to what they could be doing, but it is at least the minimum wage. What will come next will be workfare – forcing the unemployed to work for their pathetic dole money, at far below the minimum wage. In other words, slavery.

There’s other stuff too, such as the decision to seriously delay the building of a major centre for medical scientific research in London. We’ll update you with more info as it becomes clearer.

In Scotland, the actual cuts are deferred until next year. That doesn’t mean we’ve escaped unscathed though. The Scottish budget is losing £332 million, but it will be next year’s budget that the Scottish Parliament will be asked to axe, because this year’s has been set already. If the SNP Scottish Government was serious about standing up to cuts, they’d say they intend to resist this reduction, but we won’t hold our breath. The need to elect socialists to the Scottish Parliament next year has never been greater, to try and push for defiance of cuts imposed by a UK government that wasn’t elected in Scotland.

The ConDem government is composed of the parties that came 3rd and 4th in the last election. They have absolutely no mandate to attack the poorest Scots in this way. That was the message that SSY and SSP members took to the streets to spread today. We’ve already reported about our successful banner drop this morning, that was seen by thousands of rush hour commuters, and drew a lot of appreciative honks from drivers.

Later in the day, SSP Red Shirts took direct action to show our anger that an unelected government feels it has the right to ruin Scotland. We were inspired by the actions of the poor and working class in Thailand, who have faced the full force of the military as they demand the resignation of an unelected government. We decided to do the same in Glasgow.

SSP Red Shirts outside Robert Brown's office

Unfortunately, the only real public premises of either of the ConDem parties in the city centre is the constituency office of Lib Dem MSP Robert Brown. While he isn’t personally part of the UK government, he is a public representative of a party that is propping up the Tories. Without Lib Dem support the Tories wouldn’t be in a position to take power, and we think that all Lib Dems shouldn’t be allowed to forget their complicity in government butchery.

SSP organiser Richie Venton, who helped make the protest happen, said:

“In faraway Thailand an unelected dictator, educated at Eton school for the very rich and privileged, is facing determined opposition from the urban and rural poor, organised as the Red Shirts movement.

Meanwhile, an Eton-educated Tory Prime Minister who was rejected by 85% of Scottish voters is out to rule and ruin Scotland without a mandate.

Cameron plans to commit carnage against public sector jobs, workers’ pay and pensions, and the vital local public services they provide. He is only able to launch this Tory butchery because of Lib Dem treachery.

The Lib Dems posed as an anti-cuts party during the general election and conned a minority in Scotland into voting for them; now they have formed the Twin Tory government that will cut taxes on the rich and big Corporations, whilst slashing up to 100,000 Scottish jobs.

The Scottish Socialist Party is determined to unite workers and communities to resist, defy and defeat these cuts. At noon, the SSP Red Shirts marched into the offices of Glasgow Lib Dem MSP Robert Brown to conduct a polite, peaceful dialogue with him, putting him on the spot about the treacherous role of the Lib Dems in propping up the vicious Tory government.”

Robert vs Red Shirts

To be fair to Robert, he took the whole thing mostly in good humour, although when we told him we were the Red Shirts his crack that we’d “get shot” rang a bit hollow considering the Lib Dems, through their membership of the international Liberal Alliance, support the violent, pro-monarchy, anti-democratic Yellow Shirts in Thailand. He also at one point got into a bit of fairly heated debate with James N, telling the SSP’s Glasgow Central candidate to “shut up.”

Apart from the cuts, and our refusal to accept his assertion that the Lib Dems would make sure they were “fair” when they refuse to tax the rich, and make the poor pay the cost, we also took up a few other issues. We demanded he explain why the Lib Dems, who won so many votes by pretending to be against nuclear weapons, are now part of a government that will replace Trident and build new nuclear power stations.

And we also challenged him on the Lib Dem claim to have ended the detention of the children of asylum seekers, just after Nick Clegg and Liberal ministers stood by and allowed Sehar, and her baby Wania, Shabaz to be deported back to Pakistan on Saturday, where they face violence and ostracism. Whatever happens to them there is on the hands of the ConDem government. Robert claimed the government was “making progress” on the issue, but the progress only seems to be families progressing down the motorway in the back of a van to incarceration in Yarl’s Wood instead of Dungavel. He might call it progress, but to us a baby in a private prison is still unacceptable, whether the prison is in Scotland or England.

Once we’ve edited them we’ll update the article with the video highlights of our exchange, so keep checking back. As you’ll see, we remained respectful and peaceful, and left without having disrupted his day’s work too much.

In the big picture, the cuts today were carefully handled by the ConDems. The politics behind today’s announcement was all aimed at proving to the rich and the international markets that they have a government in Britain that is unequivocally on their side. Their plan clearly was to try and make a small amount of their overall planned cuts today, trying to minimise it to the public while showing their bosses and colleagues in the financial elite that they’re serious about making the poor pay for the rich’s mistakes.

Expect as the months go on for them to slowly bleed us with cut after cut, until we’re faced with hundreds of thousands of people losing their jobs, benefits and services. For us, today’s actions were only a beginning to a rolling programme of resistance. The ConDems are desperate to make people believe there is no alternative to making us pay for a crisis we didn’t create. But there is. The huge wealth of the banks and the super rich is what should be used, not money taken from the poorest and most vulnerable. That’s the message we’ll be taking again and again to the streets and picket lines. One of the biggest next steps will be building action against the emergency budget, due to be announced on June 22nd. Watch this space!

Fucken AWESOME banners mate, Fucken AWESOME.

Awritey mah wee chummos! Yur auld pal Lydia here, joost back fae Edinburger again. This time though, ah wisnae houndin’ the auld SDL, bit ah wis greetin’ mah chum best David Wankeron. Welcomin’ ‘um tae bonnie wee Scotland, cause like, presumably like, he’s nevur been here ur anyhin. Tae be fair ‘es prolly seen pichurs aye the highlands n aw that it ‘es posh Uni. Bit ‘es nevur seen us common folks before, so it wis prolly a bit ay a shocker fur ‘um like. Shame, eh? NAW.

Anywey. So whit actually happened like, wis we goat telt last night thit big DivCam the Sham would be in Scotland fur a wham-bam wi big Lecko Salmond. So we quickly organised and goat folk up tae Edinburger the next mornin’.

When we goat there, thur wis only a sparse group ‘ay people ootside the Scottish Parliament, an a hink they wur joost there tae gee Cam the auld eyeballin’. So we gets wur gear oot, wur obviously fucken amazin’ banners an aw that. An we situates wirsels it the side door ay the parliament, waiting fur good auld shiny face tae make an appearance.

Bit ‘eh disnae. Bit we staun there anywey, we shout ‘n’ chant. Joost the usual banter aboot tellin’ the Tory mob tae fuck off an that. Thur wis a real energy, ye know? People aw there fur the same cause n aw that. Aw these enthusiastic peopo who aw want tae batter David Cameron’s fucken heid in. Ahh it wis brilliant. But anywey, it wis really good an aw that, bit we started tae get a wee bit suspecious ken, cause like, DivCam wisnea makin’ an appearance, so we mosied oan doon tae the front entrance tae make sure the slimey bastard didny gee us the slip like.

Roon ‘it the front, it wis strange, like cause there wis a wee walkway set up fur his majesty an that, bit like eh polis would let a pansy Eton scum boey walk through a crowd ‘ay ragin’ Scottish peope who didny vote fur the cunt! It was aw so suspicious, ken, We wur shoutin’ loud enough fur fuckin’ Westminster tae hear us, so ahm no surprised thit they decided no tae ship the gold in through the front. So eventually, we gets aw the info. It aw comes oot.

Roon 'eh side ay the Parliament buildens.

Turns oot thit the sly basturts huv shipped ‘um in through the fucken bat cave doonstairs! An undergroon car park, ken! (Good tae know wur taxes are bein spent fucken wisely like!) An then they smuggled ‘um back oot! An let me tell ye, we wur pissed off thit we didny get tae scream in ‘es mush, but we wur well chuffed thit ‘e wis too much ay a fucken cowardly scumbag basturd thit ‘e couldny even face the fucken peopo ‘e wis tryin’ tae extend a fucken olive branch tae, like. Aye fucken right. Wur no gonnae sit an let that cunt make oot like wur fucken best pals wi the wanker. Ahm no ‘ed fucken pal. Ah HATE ‘um! AH HATE CAMERON!

Anywey, so we kinna joost started tae go hame, an we goat a wee bit doon ‘eh road n’ somecunt phones us an gees us the lowdoon thit the Toff Wank is in St Andrew’s hoose. So we dis a u-turn n sannies it up tae St Andrew’s hoose. (Another fucken grande waste ay tax money) an whin we get there, this big disaster kinna happened. See, we goat split up. Some ay us goat there furst an whin mah group goat there, aw we coul see wis the others aw fucken fenced in in this tiny kettoh. Ah wis lit “Aw naw man, geis peace,”

So the polis comes slimin’ up tae us an wis aw lit “Ye need tae go ower there, mate.”

An we wur lit. “Naw.”

An they wur lit “Bit we’ll gee yeese the heids up if ‘eh comes!”

An we wur lit “Dae we look lit fannies tae you? Naw, mate. Take yur leave,”

So the banter goes oan fur a wee bit, but they don’t manage tae gets us penned up lit wur pals. So we joost wait aboot fur um, annoyin’ the polis in a kinna casual wey like. These two mad poshos wur pure staunin’ lookin’ it us lit we wur aliens. Well, obviously we wur tae thame cause we didny huve suits, briefcases n a look oan our faces lit a duig hud shat in wur shoes.

Fucken ragin' an that.

So the big momento arrives. It wis glorious mah chummos. He comes oot wey a pure smug look on his gleamin’ mush. An we wur joost pure lit “SCUM SCUMS SCUM! YA BASS!” An ‘es wee ginger LibDem gimp nearly started greetin’ and pure dived in the motor. DivCam’s smiled kinna dripped aff lit cauld tamatae soup. We hailed ‘um oot wi wur chants an somecunt threw an egg which burst aw oor (no ‘es puss unfortunately) the motor windae as it sped the fuck ootae poor-land.

Joost goes tae show ye thit DivCam couldny gee two fucks aboot us an nevur fucken will. Cause fur a start ‘es too fucken scared tae own up tae the fucken crimes the Tories committed tae us in the past. ‘E cannae face us an ‘e fucken proved it the day wi ‘es smugglin’ in an oot ay places wi fucking high-vis wanker protection.

A protester shot by government snipers

Since we last reported on the situation a couple of days ago, the standoff between pro-democracy protesters and the unelected government in Thailand has escalated dramatically.

Troops, acting under orders from Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, have begun firing live ammunition on the protest camp in the middle of the capital Bangkok. At least three people have been killed, including two unarmed photographers. Military officer turned Red Shirt leader Seh Daeng, who we previously featured footage of, is also reported to be in a critical condition after being attacked by snipers.

Bangkok is reportedly a warzone, with protesters struggling to fight back against advancing government troops with improvised weapons, including bamboo staves, golf clubs and homemade rockets. Below there’s some footage:

There’s also reports of clashes in other parts of the country. The United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), the Red Shirts official name, has issued the following statement:

“1. The Government must stop the use of force, cease fire and immediately withdraw troops back to barracks. The Government must end the State of Emergency which has been an excuse to kill citizens.
2. Parliament should be dissolved immediately, and Abhisit and Deputy Sutep must step down from public office since they have no legitimacy.
3. Those responsible for the violence, the assassination attempt against Seh Daeng, and the killings of at least two civilians and numerous injuries, must face the justice system, just like the UDD leaders will do because of Government instigated charges.
If the Government does not accept these demands, the situation in Bangkok and other parts of the country will be extremely serious.”

There is already a civil war situation.

The Red Shirts are made up overwhelmingly of the poorest people from the Thai urban and rural working class. They are protesting the fact that the Thai army, at the behest of the aristocratic and business elite, and with the complicity of the King (who’s the richest monarch in the world), overthrew a democratically elected government in 2006. Although far from perfect, that government had won the support of the poor by carrying out some wealth redistribution and instituting the country’s first universal healthcare scheme. These actions angered the rich, who had it overthrown, and ultimately replaced with the current government, under Eton educated Abhisit.

Protester fires a homemade rocket in defence of their camp from advancing troops

The Red Shirts’ demand was simple: they wanted Abhisit to dissolve parliament and call immediate elections, so that Thailand could have a democratically elected government. However, if the Thai government wants to push its conflict with the Red Shirt movement, which has proved powerful enough to put hundreds of thousands of poor people in the street, to the point of civil war, then it’s likely the situation could spiral out of control. The majority of Thais who live in poverty are sick of the exploitation and domination of the traditional elite, who today once again are using the force of the military to try and crush them.

Update: Reports now of up to 50 people murdered by the troops firing indiscriminately at protesters. Those shot include reporters, a paramedic, and a 10 year old boy, who is in critical condition. Possibly hundreds of injured.

The acquiescence of the King in the state violence is pushing more and more Red Shirts towards a republican position.

After the break, I’ve added images from Giles ji Ungpakorn’s blog, showing the results of the government attacks, some of which could be a bit disturbing.

Read the rest of this entry »

New overlord of Great Britain David Cameron is visiting Edinburgh tomorrow. We’re going down to form an, ahem, ‘welcoming party’. Join us!

Meet 12.30pm outside the Scottish Parliament – bring flags, banners, yer mates et cetera.
For those travelling from Glasgow, meet 11am sharp at Queen St station.