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Showing posts with the label capitalism

20th Anniversary of the murder of Carlo Giuliani

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On July 20, 2001, 23-year-old anarchist Carlo Giuliani was shot dead by police during protests against the G8 summit in Genoa. To his credit, he succeeded in attacking the police van with a fire extinguisher.   Originally published by Abolition Media Worldwide . At the time, the global movement was facing off against capitalism. 1999’s Battle for Seattle had inspired the forces opposed to global capitalism’s human exploitation and devastating effects on the environment the world over. Further remarkable actions against George Bush’s election and inauguration, at the World Bank/IMF meeting in Washington D.C., and at the G7+1 meeting in Okinawa, Japan lead up to the G8 meeting in Genova, Italy. Simultaneously to these mass mobilizations and actions that were making it increasingly difficult for the world’s most powerful leaders to meet, strategies for Another Possible World were in the making. Finding its roots in the Zapatista uprising on the day that the North American Free Trade Agre

20th Anniversary of the murder of Carlo Giuliani

Image
On July 20, 2001, 23-year-old anarchist Carlo Giuliani was shot dead by police during protests against the G8 summit in Genoa. To his credit, he succeeded in attacking the police van with a fire extinguisher.   Originally published by Abolition Media Worldwide . At the time, the global movement was facing off against capitalism. 1999’s Battle for Seattle had inspired the forces opposed to global capitalism’s human exploitation and devastating effects on the environment the world over. Further remarkable actions against George Bush’s election and inauguration, at the World Bank/IMF meeting in Washington D.C., and at the G7+1 meeting in Okinawa, Japan lead up to the G8 meeting in Genova, Italy. Simultaneously to these mass mobilizations and actions that were making it increasingly difficult for the world’s most powerful leaders to meet, strategies for Another Possible World were in the making. Finding its roots in the Zapatista uprising on the day that the North American F

What Labour’s new housing policy means for you

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If you’re renting It’s likely your rent will go up at the next opportunity. This may or may not be related to the policy changes, since landlords can raise the rent for any reason. Your rent may go up as a result of higher prices for potatoes as well. You didn’t really think that Labour designed this for you, did you? If you’re owning your own home This used to be pretty much the norm for most people over 30 in this country, but now it is considered a weird exception. Just go to an open home and check out how many other potential buyers are looking for a family home. Not many. For you, nothing will change because you will still only own one home. And you can’t sell it because in the time span between the sale going through and you buying another home, prices will have gone up so much that you won’t be able to afford it. So stay where you are and don’t rock the boat. And don’t lose your job.   If you own a rental property Not much will change for you either because you can always recov

What Labour’s new housing policy means for you

Image
If you’re renting It’s likely your rent will go up at the next opportunity. This may or may not be related to the policy changes, since landlords can raise the rent for any reason. Your rent may go up as a result of higher prices for potatoes as well. You didn’t really think that Labour designed this for you, did you? If you’re owning your own home This used to be pretty much the norm for most people over 30 in this country, but now it is considered a weird exception. Just go to an open home and check out how many other potential buyers are looking for a family home. Not many. For you, nothing will change because you will still only own one home. And you can’t sell it because in the time span between the sale going through and you buying another home, prices will have gone up so much that you won’t be able to afford it. So stay where you are and don’t rock the boat. And don’t lose your job.   If you own a rental property Not much will change for you either because you can always rec

COVID19 - We’re not all in this together

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By Peppertree There is plenty of writing out there that stresses how the COVID19 pandemic is different from other disasters because “it affects everyone”. Even on the left, people are writing about how the compliance with lockdown is an example of what we can achieve if we all pull together and put human life before profit. They then build a picture of how this crisis can lead to a revolution of sorts that results in a different economic system that doesn’t leave people in poverty and the planet in ruins. That is a nice thought but unfortunately it’s based on a lie, just like any other time when the privileged claim that “we’re all in this together”. Because we’re not. For some, mainly middle class white people like myself, the virus threat and the lockdown has been an inconvenience. I still have my job, I have a home that I can work from, I have access to communications technology that allows me to stay in touch with friends and family. I am reasonably healthy and am not reliant on he

COVID19 - We’re not all in this together

Image
By Peppertree There is plenty of writing out there that stresses how the COVID19 pandemic is different from other disasters because “it affects everyone”. Even on the left, people are writing about how the compliance with lockdown is an example of what we can achieve if we all pull together and put human life before profit. They then build a picture of how this crisis can lead to a revolution of sorts that results in a different economic system that doesn’t leave people in poverty and the planet in ruins. That is a nice thought but unfortunately it’s based on a lie, just like any other time when the privileged claim that “we’re all in this together”. Because we’re not. For some, mainly middle class white people like myself, the virus threat and the lockdown has been an inconvenience. I still have my job, I have a home that I can work from, I have access to communications technology that allows me to stay in touch with friends and family. I am reasonably healthy and am not reliant on he