Blogger Alan notes: My use of the above photo might be argued by some as unduly provocative, but I would argue that there are some in authority who do not want Parliament to debate the policing of anti-fracking demonstrations that Tina Louise Rothery's petition to UK Parliament is about.
Revoke charges/fines/outstanding cases against anti-fracking protest & apologise
For nearly a decade residents throughout UK campaigned against
fracking. The government promoted, encouraged, financed & marketed a
'Dash for Gas' based on inadequate research that meant our communities
were vulnerable to harm. Used as guinea pigs, then treated as criminals
when we objected.
Hundreds of arrests, fines, records & outstanding court cases
MUST BE OVERTURNED; our bodies were harmed by police during peaceful
protest; arrests, fines, jail time & criminal records followed.
We want an apology for anguish, suffering & time stolen from people
who simply wanted to protect their families. Government has now admitted
we were right - they cannot safely frack for shale gas without risking
uncontrollable/unpredictable seismic activity.
We are not and never have been criminals.
And so I, Alan, clicked on that link, and present the response I received from UK Parliament Petitions that greeted me:
5 people have already supported Tina Louise Rothery’s petition.
We need to check it meets the petition standards before we publish it.
Please try again in a few days.
Who will police the police and those who use such stalling tactics against the restoration of justice?
"It should be extremely disturbing to everyone that a ruling Government
is using Public funds and official resources for party political
purposes. This is the sort of thing we’re told happens in rogue states
and banana republics, not here in Great Blighty."
As a retired disabled jobseeker, I know what it's like to have one's reputation smeared by those with privatisation agendas, and that has led me into blogging and my previous co-authorship of the Green Party of England & Wales response to Labour's 2008 'welfare reform' Green Paper [consultation document] 'No-one written off'. That Green Party of England & Wales document was sat upon by major UK news outlets to which it was sent, but can still be found online via
19 Oct 2008 - Writing off workfare: ... Green Party of England and Wales[1] ..... (see Jonathan Rutherford, http://www.lwbooks.co.uk/journals/soundings/ ..... [4] The online title of the same article on the Community Care magazine website is ...
But I would add that while I do believe that Jeremy Corbyn is a very decent and much-maligned person, his apparent subservience to a witch hunt of anti-Zionists in the Labour Party is worth examining, as Tony Greenstein points out https://azvsas.blogspot.com/2019/11/corbyn-can-win-but-it-is-unlikely.html
I would, however, distance myself from Tony Greenstein's own way of applying derogatory labelling of people.
These headings caught my eye in the past couple of days, and I take this opportunity to share them with you now to emphasise the dangers of deregulation, or 'regulation by the market'.
ONE of the most
controversial projects in Camden’s Community Investment Programme
collection of schemes has been taken over by partners in the Far East
looking to capitalise on a tower of luxury flats.
How the new tower will look
The
council has levered in investment for new facilities for Edith Neville
Primary School, whose site had fallen into disrepair, and nearly 40 new
council homes by allowing a development which will dramatically change
the skyline in Somers Town.
Hong Kong-based
investment company Prime Pacific and the ED Group Holding, based in the
UK and Europe, have “formed a strategic joint venture” to work on
residential developments in London and have exchanged contracts on the
22-storey tower project.
It will feature 54
private apartments which are already being promoted with the promise of
panoramic views and its proximity to the railwaylands regeneration in
King’s Cross site....
The second is from London School of Economics International Inequalities Institute:
WATCH 'Plunder of the Commons: a manifesto for sharing public wealth' With Professor Guy Standing, David Lammy MP and Caroline Lucas MP
Accelerated by Margaret Thatcher and then even more so in the austerity
era, our Commons have been depleted illegitimately. The commons belong
to all commoners, and include the natural resources, inherited social
amenities and services, our cultural inheritance, the institutions of
civil common law and the knowledge commons. The rights of commoners were
first established in the Magna Carta and the Charter of the Forest in
1217.
This presentation shows how all forms of commons have been taken in the
neo-liberal era, through enclosure, commodification, privatisation and,
most shockingly, colonisation, highlighting how this has increased
inequality. It concludes by outlining the key components of a 44-Article
Charter of the Commons that could be an integrated part of an
ecologically progressive politics in Britain and elsewhere.
Instead of a "home owning democracy" we now have public land and buildings sold off to remote 'investors' by indirect routes, and "there [should be] no such thing as society" as a major legacy of Thatcherism, as Guy Standing argues. It is a further 'plunder of the Commons'.
Meanwhile, a registered charity called 'Optimum Population Trust' or 'Population Matters' blames over-population and lack of birth control for shortages of land, etc. Eg, Population Matters: For a Sustainable Future.
Yet when land is owned by remote control and vast wealth, I am reminded of the practice of food supplies as 'commodities' and supplies of those 'commodities' are destroyed to increase price or value. That phenomena is clearly illustrated in a song by Tom Paxton, called 'Feed the Children' that he recorded around 1979:
Lyric content of Tom Paxton's song, 'Feed the Children'
"Feed The Children" lyrics
Tom Paxton Lyrics
"Feed The Children"
The cribs are bursting with ears of corn
A hungry cry from a child is torn
In all the shops no corn to buy
And all ask why
The grain is piled high in every bin
Still the wagons bring more in
It seems as if each pile would try
To touch the sky
And yet the child will get no bread
They'll burn it all down to dust instead
Destroy it all; do you wonder why
The price stays high
Feed the children
Feed them all
Feed the children
Let no war
Prevent the child from being fed
Jesus said
Feed the children
Feed the children
Feed them all
Feed the children
Let no war
Prevent the child from being fed
Jesus said
Feed the children
The market rises, the market falls
The market races, the market stalls
The price is hot, now the price is cold
The grain is sold
It changes hands, now it's sold again
It's in the hands of the middle men
The smiles are warm and their eyes are cold
They pay in gold
The mothers weep and the children cry
But people sleep and the children die
How many more must die tonight
'Til the price is right
Feed the children
Feed them all
Feed the children
Let no war
Prevent the child from being fed
Jesus said
Feed the children
Feed the children
Feed them all
Feed the children
Let no war
Prevent the child from being fed
Jesus said
Feed the children
Jesus said
Feed the children
