Tuesday, December 23, 2008

THE MORE WE LEARN THE LESS WE FEAR - (MARIE CURIE)

Tonight in various places around the world people will be struggling with their own specific problems, these will range from things which some might call trivial to those which look insurmountable and; which is which; will be determined by the individuals own circumstances. Some will see huge problems because they are used to being at the height of power and wealth with riches 'beyond the dreams of avarice' and international influence, billions of pounds would be required to restore these people to their former positions. Bankers, Financiers, Stockbrokers, Builders and Businessmen, have seen their lives shattered by the events in our corrupt capitalist society.

By contrast there are many in the world that are living on the edge of survival; for them a few shillings is the difference between life and death; the disparity could hardly be greater. From the fabulously wealthy financier who can hardly contemplate life unless he/she finds hundreds of millions of pounds to the mother in the third world who needs some loose change to feed her hungry child or, a few pence for cheap and available medicine to cure ailments which you and I shrug off but, which are deadly to them.

The situation described above goes on all the time but, because it is Christmas it seems more important when, what it is in fact, is our consciences bothering us, I remember the great actor and raconteur Peter Ustinov who was a U.N. ambassador saying years ago that hundreds of thousands of children in Africa were suffering from an eye condition which would blind most of them and, the cost of treating all of them would have been the same as one new vertical take off war plane (Harrier Jump Jet) which we were enthusiastically building and selling at the time, “it was ever thus I hear you say” and you are right.

Today we still build these obscene technological marvels to kill people with and we sell them for profit, to other countries that are lucky enough to be able to afford them and; consequently they can kill people from other countries with them. Weapons of mass destruction are of course where all this madness leads us, sadly we live in a more dangerous world than we ever did despite past and present wars, we as a species, can be marvellously inventive but can’t deliver the greatest thing of all which is peace. Albert Einstein declared that had he known where his research would lead in terms of Atomic weapons he would have become “a watch maker” he bitterly regretted his part in the Atomic Weapons Race.

Perhaps we are in fact standing at the beginning of a new era, a new millennium, a new more caring society following the collapse of greed, a slowing down of the rat race. The election of Obama could be a great opportunity for change, I am personally convinced that had Obama and Brown been in power rather than Blair and Bush we would not have gotten embroiled in Iraq and more would have been done to pacify Afghanistan, a country that has been fighting with one enemy or another for hundreds of years and still haven’t been beaten, mighty does not mean automatic victory, great countries also have to learn their lessons, does anyone for instance fancy going another couple of rounds with the dirt poor Vietnamese peasants ? thought not, time to talk perhaps.

Neils Bohr, Einstein, Oppenheimer, Von Braun etc. were giants and we will see more like them, the task is to direct them to peace and justice for all not to building more efficient killing machines, what scientist would prefer to build a bomb than discover a cure for cancer ? I am not aware of any religion which does not preach peace, love and understanding, likewise any country which does not claim to want international peace and justice, can there be a greater task before us than getting them all to live out their claims ?

Here in the West we sit upon a nuclear arsenal which is unprecedented in its destructive potential, this is matched by other regions of the planet, that sounds like a no win situation to me, all we need is someone to lead the way, why not us ? start by ridding the world of the obscenity that is Trident and the rest of the killing machines, there is a way of doing this, get the British Govt. to lead the way. To do this you need to join the Labour Party, this is a plea to all you good people who regard this as the most important issue facing mankind.

This is not a plea to embrace every labour policy, I don’t do that either, if everyone who is exercised by this issue were to join and turn up at meetings and push for resolutions against Trident and fight to elect anti Trident candidates we would have a far better chance of changing policy, I am not saying it would be easy but how big a prize do you need, is there a bigger incentive ? first Trident then Global Warming, sorting out the rest would be easy. Remember the massive demonstrations, they provided one day of glorious protest, magnificent camaraderie between millions of people which did very little, Govt’s don’t respond any more to that kind of protest. Consider however tens of thousands joining the Govt. party, all of them determined to get rid of Trident, no one can stop you joining, think about it.

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

"fancy going another couple of rounds with the dirt poor Vietnamese peasants ? thought not, time to talk perhaps."

They're not dirt poor any more, because their government has embraced capitalism and liberalised the economy, resulting in double- and high single-digit economic growth every year since the early nineties.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Vietnam

Anonymous said...

As Labour have decided to spend 20 billion pounds renewing Trident, why would anyone in their right mind that is opposed to Trident want to join them.

The answer is to vote Labour out and replace them with a party that is committed to the removal of Trident. This in the long run is the only real way to get the party to waken up to the stupidity of their policy on this matter

I was a very active Labour supporter until they decided to go war in Iraq on the basis of a lie.

I could no longer support the party after they had sanctioned this kind of murder.

I would feel very unclean rubbing shoulders with those who had backed this, however, I do still agree with many other Labour policies although the backing and renewal of Trident is not one of them.

Richard

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(Anonymous) 10:54
How long then do the Vietnamese have to wait do you think before their capitalist system comes crashing down around them like ours?

Maybe we should ask those Marxists Bush and Cheney who are busy trying to bring socialism to their devastated country.
The jobless, the homeless, the crime, the utterly corrupt political system, those without health care, the huge child mortality, the illiteracy, the racism, the drugs, the highest number of prisoners in the world etc. etc. etc.

Someday they will remove the Statue of Lberty and replace it with a statue of Bernard Madoff, a real capitalist hero.

Is it possible to miss the point by as big a margin as you have just done?

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(Anonymous) 13:40
You could have saved yourself a lot of time here and just said “I’ve given up”

Macnasty said...

Councillor

Remember the firemen who refused to go on a 'Gay Pride' march and were sent to a Labour gulag for 're-education?'

Seems the Holy Father agrees with their stance.

Anonymous said...

There will NEVER EVER be a nuclear free UK but there will soon be nuclear free Scotland.

All the best for a Merry Christmas from all of us in the SNP.

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(Anonymous) 24/12/08
If you want to consider how Salmond (the spiv) would react to pressure from sources as mighty and wealthy as the builders/sellers of Trident, think “TRUMP” Then go and sober up.

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(Macnasty) 24/12/08
People like you and the firemen you refer to are cowards and bigots, I also believe that the Holy Father is neither.

I do however believe that he is wrong, his predecessor proposed to persuade the great scientific genius Galileo that the Sun circled the Earth and not as Galileo suggested the other way round, his chosen method of persuasion was torture, he was wrong as well, the present incumbent now concurs with Galileo, perhaps you and the firemen would demur.

I also disagree that the Holy Father would argue against the distribution of fire safety advice to anyone, you are IMO nothing more than an evil thick bigot.

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

Well done Councillor - Papal Infallibility blasted with both Kelly barrels and at Christmas too.

Don't think I mentioned any position he might take on 'Fire prevention advice,' but there you go, spinning away like a wee top, desperate to avoid the main issue.

Publish Reject
(Macnasty) 15:36

(Macnasty) 15:36
“Fire prevention advice”
This is what they were instructed to issue at the gay pride march, they were not instructed to join any march, still, don’t let the truth get in your way.

You stick with the Holy Father and I’ll stick with Galileo.

Anonymous said...

"How long then do the Vietnamese have to wait do you think before their capitalist system comes crashing down around them like ours?"

To paraphrase Churchill,capitalism is the worst form of economic system - apart from all the other ones. socialism/communism has been tried and it doesn't work - that's an indisputable fact.

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(Anonymous) 26/12/08
Capitalism is the worst.

Socialism/Communism has never been properly tried but has still had great success, remember who saved us all from Nazism.

Churchill was a drink sodden privileged old half wit.

These are indisputable facts.

Anonymous said...

The behaviour of those firemen in refusing to hand out Fire Prevention leaflets to gay people was disgusting and for them then to put it about that there refusal was because they had been ordered to join the march made it even more disgusting.

Thank you for setting the record straight.

Anonymous said...

Egypt reports that Hamas is stopping Palestinians injured in Israeli air raids from leaving to get treatment in Egypt.

Now why would Hamas do that Councillor? You see, the point is not who injured them, but rather, that men, women and children are injured and are being refused access to medical aid by their own leaders.

And these are the same leaders you are soliciting aid for.

Pull the plug councillor, save what little self respect you have left

Anonymous said...

"remember who saved us all from Nazism."

I think Vaclav Havel would dispute that the Czechs (and for that matter, Poles, Belarussians and the like) were "saved" by Stalin.

I would be interested to hear about the "successes" of socialism - could you point to either increased economic wealth or increased standards of living for any section of the population (other than party bosses) in the former Soviet Union, Cuba or North Korea as a result of communist economic policies?

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(Anonymous) 27/12/08
Had this been any other group in society the firemen would have quite rightly been sacked, the fact that they kept their jobs brought disgrace on the fire service and showed the fire service leadership to be cowards.

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(Anonymous) 28/12/08
I keep up with what is happening in the Middle East and over the last couple of days there has been countless hrs. of radio, television and newspaper reports about current events, nowhere have I heard or read this story.
I do not doubt that somewhere, someone will be putting out such stories, it goes on all the time and is done by those who support Israel and are desperate to try to minimise the damage being done as the world watches the children’s bodies mounting up, killed by Israeli war crimes.

Have you not heard about the hospital conditions in Gaza where the Israeli's have cut the power to the hospitals, where the Israeli's will not allow innocent people to leave for desperately needed treatment, they are no better than murdering gangsters.

Self Respect ? you have no concept of that phrase and neither does Israel, they are war criminals and you are an apologist for evil.

Anonymous said...

"Socialism/Communism has never been properly tried but has still had great success, remember who saved us all from Nazism."

That's right Councillor, however you omit to tell us about the raping and pillaging that took place under the Soviet controlled sections of Germany, you also forgot to mention which army machine-gunned it's own troops whenever they attempted to fall back in face of a German onslaught at Stalingrad. You also forgot to mention who it was that committed genocide against the Ukrainian people by starving them to death. You forgot to mention who it was who killed millions of thier own citizens, locking them up in Siberian gulags and mental intitutions. You forgot to mention the millions of Slovaks, Slovenian, Czechs, Hungarians, Romanians, Albanians, and other Eastern bloc citizens who were uimprisoned, tortured and murdered by their own governments.

Nice people those communists, I think we can see which side of the fence you sit on Councillor. You would be the fat little coward pointing out all the dissenters to the invading Russian forces.

Nice people those commies.

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(Anonymous) 28/12/08
“increased standards of living for any section of the population”
The overwhelming majority of the people’s lives in communist countries improved under communism, that’s why they had those revolutions.

They did not start buying Rolls Royce cars but that was never the intention. The intention was exactly that, to improve the lot of the majority.

It makes you mad as hell to be reminded that the Russians saved the world for democracy doesn’t it.

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(Joe Slovo) 13:21
I could level all of these accusations and more against plenty of Capitalist countries but it wouldn’t really register with someone like you.

“You would be the fat little coward pointing out all the dissenters to the invading Russian forces”

Had it not been for the Russian Communists you would have been the fat/skinny/tall/short coward lining up the firing squads, wearing your nice neat swastika.

“Nice people those commies”
Not nearly as nice as the Nazis eh.

Jock said...

Would like to dispute with Joe Slovo and Terry that the Soviet Union has ever been "communist". Perhaps state capitalist is a better description. Have never been to Russia or China but it would seem to me that capitalist wage slavery and the profit motive are as alive there as here in the West. I would say one "indisputable fact" is that the world is class-divided with most of us in the economic position of "wage slaves", selling our labour power to employers. Anyone who says they are a "socialist" or "communist" should be asked to define the term. Perhaps Joe or Terry could set out their own definition for some discussion.

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

“Anyone who says they are a "socialist" or "communist" should be asked to define the term”

I’ve met you before in a hundred different guises, you are the guy who wants to argue about how many angels can balance on the head of a pin.
I think of myself as a socialist but, I don’t lie awake trying to define the word.

I’m for – The redistribution of wealth from rich to poor all over the world as I’m an Internationalist as well. I’m against war because I’m a peace monger, for justice and fairness for all, against discrimination such as sexism, racism, sectarianism etc. etc. does this help?
There has never been a society anywhere which was 100% communist or capitalist and probably never will be.

Jock said...

Terry, I would say your "redistribution of wealth from rich to poor" presupposes the continued existence of the rich. Therefore you are only aiming at reforms within capitalism, therefore your idea of socialism is not really socialism at all as capitalism will still continue even if your limited reformist agenda is implemented. I think human beings are capable of cooperating in a communistic way, rather than having the economic compulsion over us to sell ourselves to survive.
Perhaps there were communist-type societies centuries ago before the rise of class-divided, property society? Contrary to what you say, I think definitions and theory are important considerations, and you could say the Labour Party has never really been a socialist party as it has always accomodated itself to capitalism , supporting wars and the economic logic of the profit system.

Anonymous said...

Merry Christmas from the SNP?

The author of that post must live elsewhere; nowhere around me in Paisley do I see much to be merry about. Well, that's not quite true, but all of the things I am merry about are despite the SNP, not because of them (and let's not even go down the road of the children who attend South School).

The one thing that this administration has given me, and for which I am thankful, is an active interest in politics. As a young woman, I had no time in my life for politics, but the SNP changed that - and then I joined the Labour party.

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(Jock) 29/12/08
No surprises here then Jock, as I said I’ve met you in many guises, I tagged you right.

There are two types of people involved in this kind of thing, there are those like me who have been involved all their lives trying to bring about progressive change and there are those like you who talk a good game.

Are you still a member of “The people’s party of Judea” or have you switched to “The Judean peoples party” ?

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(Anonymous) 29/12/08
Thank you for your comments, under this SNP led administration we are going to see a lot more misery, schools will be back on the agenda soon, they have now removed teachers from nurseries,
“to improve the children’s education” (Cllr. Cameron SNP Education Convener)

Macnasty said...

Kelly, i used 'bricks' as a explanatory term I thought you would understand.

The reality is Palestinian terrorists were firing rockets, not throwing bricks.

They sited those rocket sites in civilian areas.

The Israeli choice was simple - let terrorists continue killing it's - innocent - civilians or take out the sites.

Again, you avoid my main point, the Israelis were retaliating, not instigating

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

(Macnasty) 30/12/08
“the Israelis were retaliating”

When a foreign power invades your land and occupies it, locks up thousands of your people without charge or trial, continues to occupy more of your land and turn you into second class citizens and refugees, in your land.

You, (not you Quisling) but Palestinians might want to hit back, would that I wonder be retaliating?

“They sited those rocket sites in civilian areas”

Another base lie, the whole of the Gaza Strip is a civilian area that is why the Israeli claim to be avoiding civilians is a lie to hide their war crimes.