This Weekend: Vienna, Berlin, Goettingen 11:51 am / 27 January 2012 by Fire and Flames
Vienna
Berlin
Otherwise, in Goettingen, in only a few hours unfortunately…
(More on this in a couple of days)
Uncut 154 Mar 2010 – Joy Division Pt 2 11:10 am / 27 January 2012 by Highlander, at Cactus Mouth Informer
Demonstration against NHS privatisation a success after Labour pull out 10:00 am / 27 January 2012 by Phil Dickens, at Truth, Reason & Liberty
Around 50 people joined a demonstration outside the Royal Liverpool Hospital against the privatisation of the NHS. Members of Solidarity Federation, the Anarchist Federation, Women Against The Cuts and the Socialist Workers' Party were all present, along with a number of unaffiliated individuals who supported the cause. Despite the wind and rain, it was a lively gathering which drew in a fair amount of support from the public and service users.
A demonstration had originally been called by the Liverpool branch of the Labour Party. From the start it was a very sectarian, party political affair - with Andy Burnham MP as a speaker and the tagline "the NHS is only safe in the hands of The Labour Party - join us." However, rather than "join Liverpool Labour Group Councillors & Members of Parliament," members of Liverpool Solidarity Federation decided to mobilise a turnout for the demonstration which was both against NHS privatisation and against the Labour Party.
This led to Labour desperately scrambling to bus people in from Manchester, fearing they would be outnumbered. This clearly didn't work and they soon instead announced that the demo was cancelled, citing "public safety" concerns. As a consequence, the UNISON branch in the hospital - of which Labour Councillor Jake Morrison is a member - also pulled out. Keep Our NHS Public and the Liverpool Socialist Singers soon followed suit, though there was disagreement about this in the latter group.
Liverpool Solfed members responded by urging people to still attend the demonstration:
This doesn't mean that those of us who are both anti-cuts and anti-Labour will be staying at home, though. If it did, it would only show us as standing for the same narrow, sectional interests as the Labour Party when that is not the case. The ruling class is determined to roll back all of the gains made by workers in the last century, and we stand opposed to that whichever party holds the seat of power.
At the beginning, there were about fifteen people at the demonstration. This escalated quickly enough to fifty, from a variety of organisations, rallying against the privatisation of the NHS. None of those present were surprised - or bothered - by the absence of the Labour Party and its parliamentary stooges.
Solfed members handed out 800 copies of this leaflet, making the point that only direct action - not voting - can stop the NHS reforms. It was very well received, with a number of people stopping to talk about how bad the proposed changes were and thanking us for making a stand against them. Some people made comparisons to the 1930s, before the NHS came to be, whilst others talked about the system in the US - where having an operation to save your life could genuinely see you bankrupted.
The only moment of contention came when a senior manager from within the hospital said that we couldn't demonstrate on hospital premises. The Labour Party had sought the Chief Executive's permission, and now that they had pulled out that permission was removed. He was placated, however, by a banner being moved from one railing to another and soon left.
After two hours, and with weather conditions starting to worsen substantially, the demonstration wrapped up. In all, it was a quite succesful event - with all of our leaflets handed out and lots of public support for the cause. It's not going to save the NHS, of course, though with luck it may get people thinking about the best way to do this. But it does hammer home the message that if we want to fight back we need to do it ourselves, not wait for leadership from the likes of the Labour Party who are only in it for their own gain.
Police stop the caravan of the displaced from San Juan Copala 6:32 am / 27 January 2012 by scott, at Angry White Kid
January 27, 2012
[Spanish original]
Translated by Scott Campbell
Approximately 200 police officers, belonging to the state Department of Public Security, blocked the path of the caravan of displaced Triquis who are trying to return to the cultural and ceremonial center of San Juan Copala. The police positioned themselves at kilometer 7, in the municipality of Tlaxiaco, to keep the children, women and men from entering the Triqui region.
In the group are traveling 71 Triqui women, 24 children and 26 men. As well, there are 47 members of non-governmental organizations, international observers, human rights defenders and members of an alternative media outlet.
Members of the caravan state that a stretch of the highway was dynamited near the village of Santa Catarina in order to block their path.
They say that the police operation is being headed by Víctor Raúl Martínez, coordinator of the advisers to Governor Gabino Cué Monteagudo.
These events occur 24 hours after the displaced were to sign a peace agreement, in the presence of the governor of Oaxaca. However, in meetings held through Thursday morning, members of the Union for the Social Well-Being of the Triqui Region (UBISORT) and the Triqui Movement for Unification and Struggle (MULT) made clear their disagreement with the displaced returning to Copala this week. Given the impossibility of arriving at an agreement, Governor Gabino Cué has said that he cannot guarantee the safety of the displaced.
PRIVILEGED PARASITES AND CARING CAPITALISM. 4:00 am / 27 January 2012 by ann arky, at annarky's blog.
It seemshe's at it again, our shiny faced, multi-millionaire Prime MinisterCameron, is talking about the need for a caring, compassionatecapitalism, his verbal diarrhoea also includes such crap like moralmarkets. I wonder if he will start with his friends in the bankingworld, after all he comes from a long line of bankers, his father wasa stockbroker, so he has influence there. We are all aware of how caring and compassionate areour bankers and stockbrokers. This man can stand in front of camerasand spout about caring capitalism and moral markets, being aware thathis ancestors made their fortunes from naked, raw, brutal capitalism,ripping-off the ordinary people. When was the era of caringcapitalism, when have we lived with moral markets, that he keepsreferring to? While doing his damnedest to pass himself of as anordinary guy, this smooth over privileged public school product, sitson a fortune that stretches back to his parasite ancestor KingWilliam IV. It is said that this ordinary guy left university and walked into a Toryjob after a mystery caller from Buckingham Palace recommended him.His background is littered with Sirs, Baronets, Earls, andViscountesses, and his fortune has grown because of the harshexploitative capitalism that he supports through his policies asPrime Minister. You can rest assured that any caring, compassion ormorality he pushes for, will be to the benefit of his rich privilegedparasitical friends, not for the benefit of the likes of you and I.
"And my ancestors will call for caring capitalism."
This "cry from the heart" for that illusion, caring capitalism, isa true reflection of his hypocrisy and cynicism. He can't possiblebelieve in caring capitalism, he lives in luxury off the back of, andis up to his armpits in, the most brutal and exploitative economicsystem ever devised by man. It also shows how he believes that thegeneral public are a bunch of fools and will swallow this shit of thecaring capitalism. This guy is awash in privilege and luxury becauseof injustice and exploitation, and he will do everything in his powerto make sure that it stays that way.
From #MTRsues to Joolya’s Shoe 2:20 am / 27 January 2012 by @ndy, at slackbastard
I am sick. But not too sick to fail to appreciate the seamless transition from #MTRsues to #Joolya’s_shoe. Sue For better for worse, for richer or poorer (bleedin’ poorer that’s a fact), Jennifer Wilson has published extracts from the letter … Continue reading
THE HIGH OFFICE OF PRESIDENT!!! 2:02 am / 27 January 2012 by ann arky, at annarky's blog.
I for one can never get my head round why such idiots with such bizarre beliefs get massive support when running for the US presedency. The media in the West lampoon Islamic fundamentalists for what they describe as crazy and dangerous views, yet report with some reverence the views of such crackpots like the bunch that is running for the Republican nomination for the US Presidency.
Take just two, this from WHY EVOLUTION IS TRUE.
Rick Santorum, Republican candidate for President, said this about education in a speech in Florida:
“It’s no wonder President Obama wants every kid to go to college,” said the former Pennsylvania senator. “The indoctrination that occurs in American universities is one of the keys to the left holding and maintaining power in America. And it is indoctrination. If it was the other way around, the ACLU would be out there making sure that there wasn’t one penny of government dollars going to colleges and universities, right? . . . If they taught Judeo-Christian principles in those colleges and universities, they would be stripped of every dollar. If they teach radical secular ideology, they get all the government support that they can possibly give them. Because you know 62 percent of children who enter college with a faith conviction leave without it.”
Yeah, the ACLU has such awesome power over government spending on schools.
Santorum’s solution? Stop supporting higher education:
“I’ll bet you there are people in this room who give money to colleges and universities who are undermining the very principles of our country every single day by indoctrinating kids with left-wing ideology. And you continue to give to these colleges and universities. Let me have a suggestion: Stop it.”
Can Republicans get any more stupid?
But giving the ex-Senator a run for his money is
Ralph Shortey, a state senator from Oklahoma, who thinks that food companies are putting aborted fetuses in food, and has introduced a bill in the state legislature to prohibit the use of fetuses or fetal cells in food. Of course nobody is doing this or intends to.___.
One would imagine that the people of any country who look to someone to represent them would pick somebody they consider holds similar views to themselves and is in some way as reasonable and rational, or even more so, then themselves. So is this what we are seeing in America? Or are these just the rightwing nutcases that the rightwing nutcase media want to push in the hope of stifling any alternative view from surfacing? When you hear the views of this bunch I would imagine that most reasonable Americans will realise the truth of that statement, "Why Vote, it changes nothing".
Yet more proof that all MOBA (AKA DotA-clone) communities are absolute shit. 10:40 pm / 26 January 2012 by Db0, at A Division by Zer0
I’ve spoken in length about how sexist S2 and Heroes of Newerth is, which is not surprising given how bigoted their CEO is, and other have written about how Riot games and League of Legends is not far behind in providing fan service and all the other things that implies. But I still had some hope for DotA 2,which was being developed after all by Valve, which has at least somewhat a better record at how it presents women, as seen by the absolute top male nerd fantasy: Alyx Vance. Sure, their promo images of the game characters were obviously sexist and others have raised concerns about the direction the community was taking already, but hope dies last as they say, so despite all this, and despite the fact that MOBA communities are the absolute scum of the earth, I wanted to believe that some Valve guidelines and strong moderation might improve things
It seems that the DoTA2 community is shaping to be as bad, if not worse than the S2 community and the all-powerful report function isn’t having any effect whatsoever, especially given that the moderators are actually of the same shitty opinion as the rest of their scumfuck players.
There’s really not much else to say, that the community can’t say by itself. Some choice quotes
I’m not homophobic and I call people fags all the time.
george just come out of the closet already
Because, of course, only secretly members of marginalized communities might ever be against their oppression. This argument would be so bad if it wasn’t so fucking common.
For example, I have multiple homosexual friends including one who enjoys dressing up in feminine clothing and a wig, putting on make-up, to become his alternate persona “Greere Grimes”. He has 2 or 3 friends that do this as well regularly. When we see each other at the gym and talk to each other, and he says something such as (This is a true story), “Did you see the guy at the check-in? OH MY GOD I couldn’t breathe!” and I laugh and go “Dan you’re such a fag ahahah”, he chuckles and says “Oh I know! I’m gonna go talk to him” and viola. There is no offense taken because he understands that while society attaches negativity to the word, he knows I personally do not and as well, he is in fact a faggot and is fully comfortable with it.
This is the same person who as Greere Grimes was at a bar and left early without his friends, while 3 men followed him outside and broke multiple ribs as well as giving him many bruises including a black eye. These was a hate crime and the 3 men are still at large. He was in the hospital for 4 days.
Someone who understands the hate that people can have in their hearts, and HE is comfortable with someone calling him a faggot?
[...]
I will continue to call people faggots until nobody is offended. And then I will use the word to refer to homosexuals. Because that’s what it’s already supposed to be doing.
There are no words…
I don’t get offended at asian jokes being asian myself
Nor do I get hurt by random t2s randomly throwing out racial slurs and happen to hit one
Never will be and never have been.
If I talk to my mexican friend and say something about her getting smuggled over the border she will just laugh.
If I talk to my blonde friend and tell her a really crappy dumb blonde joke she wont care.
Someone please bring out the Special Snowflake award.
This is like black people still crying about shit all the time. “Yo we can say nigger but if you white people say it that shit racist yo”
^ THIS WAS A GAME MODERATOR SPEAKING ^
Same game moderator went ahead to complain about how hard straight white mailes have it. Seriously.
Anyone who actually posts in here and tries to defend it saying that its hurtful are gay. Straight up I want your wiener in my mouth gay. Now get your ass outa the closet and stop being a white knight of the internet.
Quality
I gave up shortly after the last quote.
Insightful? Funny? Informative? Convincing? Helpful?
Other similar posts you might also enjoy: Some reactions from HoN neckbeards. Racist Apologia Gallore! | You’re not an underdog fighting “political correctness”. You’re just a bigot. | Scumfuck gamers
Molly’sBlog 2012-01-26 17:49:00 5:49 pm / 26 January 2012 by mollymew, at Molly'sBlog
CANADIAN LABOUR QUÉBEC:RIO TINTO LOCKOUT SOON TO ENTER SECOND MONTH:In the town of Alma Québec the lockout of employees of Alcan will soon be into its second month. 780 members of the United Steel Workers have been locked out since January 1. Managem…
