Gay Rights Russia

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/...tTN_story.html





Gay rights have suffered a set back in Russia . A new bill says that it is now against the law to promote gay culture to minors in what could be seen as a set back for gay rights. Im not a fan of gay pride myself but they should be allowed march where they like, whats the harm?

Marxism and Trotskyism in a modern context

Marx’s ideas if studied in the language at the time may seem to be fairly simple and irrelevant but that is because of the use of the language of the time. Marx consistently refers to the bourgoise and the serfs and plebeians but in a modern context all this has changed. The proletariat as he referred to would not recognise they are being exploited and would be able to seize power from the bourgoise. Just who constitutes the bourgoise and the working class these days? Marx was very right in his prediction that we have the ability to seize the power of the bourgoise and bring about change. The bourgoise now days we can take to be the banks and the politicians who are inextricably linked to one and other. Loans , political donations and cronyism all sought to undermine the working man (the proletariat) in this modern age of capitalism , the fourth stage which Marx remarked we are going through. The sheer indifference and apathy of the working man to his plight is certainly evident throughout the scorn poured on the left from all sections of society . The working class rising up though has become apparent through the occupy movement which shows its power in being able to use social media and mass gathering to show that we will not be stopped as the working class and with it being a global movement it also shows an element of Trotskyism. From my understanding of Trotskyism is that we need a global labour and Union movement to take back the power and empower the working class man once again, the Occupy movement have done this and are continuting to evolve. Indeed as per the Industrial revolutions people were forced to change as a result of their conditions and what was then could very well be now as the rolling chains of industry continually force people to live on the margins as exemplified by the cut in social welfare that is coming in this years budget. Perhaps I may have somewhat simplified but any input or criticism is welcome 





Sourceshttp://www.e-ir.info/?p=14937





http://www.scribd.com/doc/73467038/1...t-Perspectives

Ideas to help struggling families

http://www.independent.ie/national-n...e-2941229.html





I read this and felt my heart strings being tugged. The Indo to me is gutter press, I dont like its journalism but this piece above I thought was fairly good. The article goes into how much people will be losing if they have child benefit cut.





If people were to adopt a family (could be phrased better I admit) or perhaps help out people who were struggling to buy food or other basics or perhaps cook a hot meal and include a struggling family or person in their locality when they cook. A network could be set up and people give their details and people willing to cook put their names in as do people whom are struggling. Would form friendships and perhaps reinforce that sense of community that has been lacking recently?

The League of Ireland fans

Many thanks to my friend K for his insight into League of Ireland fan groups. He told me the following of course all of this is paraphrased but a lot of it makes for engaging reading.

The club in discussion has two fan groups and both are seperate. One group is a group of young lads whom have developed a bad name for themselves. They have been warned about their conduct about their conduct on buses and other public transport and at a recent match within the Leinster province were intent on causing trouble. They lack and sort of leadership and the parents are doing their best at dragging them, no way are these lads being rasied. 

On the other hand, the older fan club is full of the older discerning lot, plus thirty they come across as a clique and crusty old lads whose idea is to bandy together like a gaggle of geese or aul ones at a bingo hall on a Friday night . They berate the club but add nothing to it constructively.

My friend went on to make the point, we need to look at the dynamics and get the two groups working together and I agree whole heartedly. Divided they are conquered , united they fall. They would be better off being barstoolers if the truth be known....!

Anarchopacifism - lets play the capitalists at their own game

Mulling over an idea. What about if we were to try and play the capitalists at their own game? Capitalism is an ethicless ideal, the exploitation of people for their own financial gain making a two tiered society but say we were to play them their own game? A number of people create a company to challenge the dominance of current corporations such as Chiquita (who whinged when the Honduran govt was going to raise the minimum wage by 60 percent , people there are in dire economic straits more info here http://www.counterpunch.org/2009/07/...latin-america/). We pay decent enough wages but we dont aim for profit which allows us to have minmum profit margins and anything we do make we pour back into the poor countries. I know there is the idea for co-ops and places like that but the problem with that is in places where there is military dictatorships co-ops are seen as a bad idea as the govt is in the pay of some corporations as happens in places like Colombia. Any company created could move in to pay decent wages to the workers and muscle in on the money being made by these corporations . Its guerilla captialism with an ethnic twist, hit the corporations where it hurts, financially.