31 Oct 2011

Does Dean of St Paul's resignation statement show church cares more about profit than prophets?








Original to be found here.

"The past fortnight has been a testing time for the Chapter and for me personally. It has become increasingly clear to me that, as criticism of the cathedral has mounted in the press, media and in public opinion, my position as Dean of St Paul’s was becoming untenable. In order to give the opportunity for a fresh approach to the complex and vital questions facing St Paul’s, I have thought it best to stand down as dean, to allow new leadership to be exercised. I do this with great sadness, but I now believe that I am no longer the right person to lead the Chapter of this great cathedral.
"This has not been an easy decision for me to make, at this stage in my ministry, as I have very much enjoyed being at St Paul’s as dean. I am immensely grateful to the current members of the Chapter, both ordained and lay, as well as previous colleagues, for their help, support and encouragement, but above all, their friendship.
"I would also wish to place on record my thanks to all the staff of the cathedral, both paid and volunteers, who work tirelessly, day by day, to ensure that this amazing place is maintained, and that it is indeed cherished as a place of worship and pilgrimage.
"In recent days, since the arrival of the protesters’ camp outside the cathedral, we have all been put under a great deal of strain and have faced what would appear to be some insurmountable issues. I hope and pray that under new leadership these issues might continue to be addressed and that there might be a swift and peaceful resolution.”

30 Oct 2011

Occupy 'shows that it is still possible to save our species from extinction.'

Hugo Blanco is the historic leader of the Peruvian indigenous.


He led a successful peasant revolution for land rights in 1961 when peasants were being killed by land owners.


Praised by Che,  Hugo then a leader of the Fourth International, was captured and placed on death row and only lived due to an international campaign of solidarity launched by figures like Sartre.


Now in the his late 70s he publishes 'Lucha Indigena', 'Indigenous Struggle' and is the foremost ecosocialist revolutionary on our planet.


The uprising in Peru of the Awajan and Wampis and other Amazon people, of the Aymara and Quechua have shown that indigenous and workers can organise to challenge the destruction of the Earth and to build a democratic alternative to capitalism.


Hugo Blanco argues that the revolution must be global and that the occupy movement shows that people in the North are joining the revolt against the 1% and for a democratic, ecological society for the 99%.


This is a rough translation of this editorial on the occupy movement!




Hugo Blanco: The Global Movement Against Neoliberalism Grows Ever Larger
 
The World-Wide Rebellion Against Neoliberalism Grows Ever Larger
 
The wave of rebellion against neoliberalism was started by Mohamed Bouazizi, the Tunisian Street Vendor who in protest against sustained police harassment and pollooting emptied fuel on to himself and lit a match. The flames of that fire are now spreading around the capitalist world. First they bought about the insurrection of the Tunisian town that demolished the government. Egypt was next and their too the government was overthrown. The movement then extended to other Arab countries where the fight is on-going. NATO intervened in Libya to gain control of the incoming government and similar is expected in Syria.
 
The rebellion jumped to the door of the sun in Madrid with the name 15M (It began on the 15th of May) extending to Greece and many other cities and European countries and recently to New York taking the name of Occupy Wall Street. This latest development is appropriate as it is the world-wide financial centre and from here spread to many other US cities. Then on the 15th of October a tsunami of global protest against the capitalist system spread to 951 cities in 82 countries. The brilliant slogan of the North Americans is “We are the 99% against the 1%” (the 1% that governs the world to satisfy it’s own narrow egotistical endeavours).
 
Neoliberalism
 
Neoliberalism reduces leisure, replaces human labour with automation and increases the age of retirement; which on one hand harms the elderly and on the other the young because it diminishes job opportunities. In the rich countries of the so-called ‘first world’ prior to the crisis bought about by the financial companies and banks, the attitude of the governments was to reward them with money from the public purse. Now, before the new economic difficulties, instead of increasing the tax on the millionaires, they load the debt on the majority of the population, reducing the budget for health, education and other public services like support for disabled people, the elderly, and single parents. In order to create money numerous public workers lost their jobs and then their houses, or repayments simply became too high. In either case many of them still have to pay to settle the debt.
 
In the so called ‘developing’ countries, the situation of hunger and misery is getting worse. Peru has been ‘desindustrializado’  which means the wages stagnate but prices for other things rise i.e. the relative wage decreases. In addition the ‘tercerizacion’ or services in which workers are not contracted to the factory in which they work but to another company creates a disconnect so workers are less able to negotiate a pay change.
 
Another burden faced by the poor countrie , besides global warming is the effects of the extractivist economy that provides millions for the great multinational companies. Mother Earth is knocked down with great insensitivity by hydrocarbon extraction, open-cast mining, high-ways and fast roads, the agro-industry, dams etc. All this in the name of ‘development’ and ‘progress’. To this end there are many ‘dealings’ between politicians and multi-nationals. The peasantry and indigenous and non-indigenous natives suffer the despoliation of water and of the soil, sinking in to greater misery. That is the reason they gave their lives in protest in Bagua, Islay, Juliaca. 

In Arab countries, these evils have been added by dictators who ruled with impunity, without allowing any criticism, committing every imaginable outrage. It was against this that broke those countries.
The governance of the world and of countries is less and less by states,  which are becoming increasingly weak. Gradually governance of by corporations is gaining strength.
Wars are driven by the arms industry.
There is more and more privatization, not only in poorer but also in richer countries.
The privatization of education has led to the struggle of the Chilean and Colombian students. The combatants in the war,  are increasingly employed by private companies. The prisons are also in the hands of private companies. In Peru state control of rail, post, road tax belongs to the past.

 
Uprising
It is against all of this that the peoples uprising began with the "Arab spring" and spread to the "first world" with the Spanish indignants and " Occupy Wall Street."
The rebellion present in the rest of the world is the same as we find with the struggles in our country (Peru), especially in defense of water and life.
Although the rebellion is not yet sufficiently organized to demonstrate its effectiveness against the current system, much has been achieved.
One aspect worth mentioning is the revival of collectivist solidarity that characterizes the world's indigenous communities, such as the Aymara and Quechua ayllu (commons system) against individual egoism that is promoted by the capitalist system.
The organization of indignants in Spain and the United States occupy movement shows that in the areas occupied, there are not leaders but good organization, there is responsibility for food, rubbish collection, library, care of health, children care, signing for the deaf,  translation, etc..
Furthermore, as shown in another article in this edition, solidarity grows in Greece: The striking doctors provide free care, electrical system employees reconnect those who have been disconnected for nonpayment.
We read: "The popular neighborhood assemblies rather than designing on paper  "an alternative" are making everyday organized solidarity for those who are on strike, for those who are suffering most from the economic crisis, for neighbors, for the most weak. "
In Madrid the community expelled the police who sought to capture an illegal immigrant, to cries of "No human being is illegal".
Also in Spain home evictions of those who were no longer able to pay their mortgages were prevented by the movement.  In Granada there is a movement called "Stop Evictions Granada."
In a sign that read: "You interest me much." It is seen that selfishness is artificially introduced and that human nature is united.

 

Critique
 
Some people criticize the lack of leadership. We see it as a merit, not as a deficiency, which has reached a profoundly democratic organization in which all rule, in which the concept has passed of the hierarchical class society, that one is born to rule and others to obey .
Another criticism is the lack of a finished program. We understand that as no one knew who develop elite, and that has to be made by consensus, necessarily slow progress, but the main thing is said, the fight is 99% which is crushed by 1% of world population As said Vandana Shiva, Indian activist, and was repeated by intellectuals who signed a document supporting the movement in Madrid: "The G8 should be replaced by full humanity, G7, by the billions".
The rest of the program is moving slowly but solidly, as shown above.


Conclusion

 
Marx said that as the working class faced directly against the bourgeoisie, was the call to be the vanguard of society's struggle against capitalism. We believe that it was completely right.
He also taught us that to see reality was better than reading a hundred books.
Following this recommendation, we open our eyes and see the world live and fierce attack from capitalism to all mankind, let us repeat what was said above: For the growing global warming leading to the extermination of humanity by the strong attack on nature in many other ways: open pit mining, hydroelectric plants, food processing, oil extraction, construction of roads, atomic energy, holes in the ozone layer, industrial water pollution, etc..
On the other hand: Cut the budget for health, education and other social benefits paid from the money given by the company, to become a private business whose only interest is profit and not addressing the needs of the consumer, higher prices, poisoning the entire population with GMO and chemical produced by the food industry, housing evictions, power outage, etc..
Thus, all humanity is being directly attacked by capital in multiple ways, correspondingly respond in their own ways.
We are taking the first steps in that direction, through our collective struggles in defense of water and life, the "Arab spring" of indignation, "occupy Wall Street," etc..
These movements show that it is still possible to save our species from extinction.





Hugo Blanco 'Se extiende la rebelión mundial contra el neoliberalismo''





Se extiende la rebelión mundial contra el neoliberalismo
Hugo Blanco
La inició Mohamed Bouazizi, el vendedor ambulante de Túnez, quien se volcó encima un líquido inflamable y se prendió fuego, como protesta porque la policía le quitó su mercancía. Las llamas de ese fuego están incendiando el mundo capitalista.
Primero provocaron la insurrección del pueblo tunecino que derribó al gobierno. Se contagió Egipto donde también bajaron al gobierno, luego el movimiento se extendió a otros países árabes donde todavía se combate. La OTAN interviene en Libia para tener bajo su control al gobierno entrante, pretende hacerlo también en Siria.
La rebelión saltó a la Puerta del Sol en Madrid con el nombre de 15M (se inició el 15 de mayo), se extendió a muchas ciudades, pasó a la sufrida Grecia y a otros países europeos y hace poco a Nueva York, donde se denominó Ocupa Wall Street, símbolo mundial de las finanzas, de donde se desparramó por otras ciudades de Estados Unidos.
Un salto adelante se dio con la movilización mundial del 15 de octubre, día en que se realizaron manifestaciones multitudinarias en 951 ciudades de 82 países contra el sistema capitalista. La expresión genial de los norteamericanos es: “Somos el 99% que lucha contra el 1% que gobierna el mundo en su beneficio egoísta.”

Neoliberalismo
El neoliberalismo ha globalizado la desocupación y lo sigue haciendo, no sólo con el reemplazo de mano de obra por la tecnificación, sino por el aumento de la edad de la jubilación, lo que por una parte perjudica a los ancianos y por otra a los jóvenes, pues disminuye los puestos vacantes.
En los países ricos del llamado “primer mundo”, ante la crisis provocada por las empresas financieras y bancos, la actitud de los gobiernos fue premiarlos obsequiándoles grandes cantidades de dinero proveniente de las arcas públicas. Ahora, ante las nuevas dificultades económicas, en lugar de aumentar el impuesto a los millonarios, cargan el peso sobre las mayorías de la población, disminuyendo el presupuesto para salud, educación y otros servicios públicos como ayuda a los discapacitados, a los ancianos, a las madres solteras. Para ahorrar dinero despiden a numerosos servidores públicos. Personas que hipotecaron sus viviendas calculando que podrían pagar dicha hipoteca, al verse despedidos o elevados los precios, pierden su vivienda y además tienen que pagar el dinero recibido.
En los países llamados “en desarrollo”, la situación de hambre y miseria es peor. El Perú se ha desindustrializado, eso mismo sucede en otros países, las cosas suben y el salario no, lo que significa disminución del salario relativo. Además por la tercerización o sistema de “services” en que quien contrata a los trabajadores no es la fábrica, sino otra empresa, no se puede pedir aumento de salarios al dueño de la fábrica.  
Otra carga que sufrimos principalmente los países pobres, además del calentamiento global que afecta al mundo, es el fuerte ataque a la naturaleza mediante la economía extractivista que proporciona millones a las grandes empresas multinacionales. La Madre Tierra es asolada en forma inmisericorde por la extracción de hidrocarburos, la minería a cielo abierto, las carreteras y vías rápidas, la agroindustria, las represas, etc. Todo esto se hace en nombre del “desarrollo” y el “progreso”. Lo único que desarrolla son los grandes caudales de las empresas multinacionales y los sobornos que como premio reciben los gobernantes. El campesinado, indígena y no indígena, sufre el despojo del agua y de la tierra, hundiéndose en mayor miseria. Por eso ofrenda su vida como lo hizo en Bagua, en Islay, en Juliaca.
Estos males, en los países árabes, tienen el agregado de estar regidos por dictadores que impunemente, sin permitir crítica alguna, cometen todos los atropellos imaginables. Fue ante esto que estallaron esos países.
El gobierno del mundo y de los países está cada vez menos en los estados, cada día más débiles. Paulatinamente se hace más fuerte el gobierno de las multinacionales.
Las guerras son impulsadas por la industria bélica.
Cada día hay más privatizaciones, no sólo en los países pobres, sino también en los países ricos.
La privatización de la educación encendió la lucha de los estudiantes chilenos y colombianos. Los combatientes en las guerras, en su mayoría son empleados por compañías privadas. Las cárceles también están en manos de compañías privadas. En el Perú pertenece al pasado la atención estatal del correo, la electricidad, el impuesto en las carreteras, el ferrocarril, etc.

El levantamiento

Es contra todo eso que se levantan los pueblos, se inició con la “primavera árabe” y  se extendió al llamado “primer mundo” con l@s indignad@s y con “Ocupa Wall Street”.
También la rebelión se presenta en el resto del mundo, como lo constatamos con las luchas en nuestro país, especialmente en defensa del agua y de la vida.
Aunque todavía no está suficientemente organizada la rebelión para demostrar su eficacia contra el sistema imperante, ha avanzado mucho.
Uno de los aspectos que debemos destacar es el renacimiento de la solidaridad colectivista que caracteriza a las comunidades indígenas del mundo, como el ayllu aymara y quechua, contra el egoísmo individualista en que nos educa el sistema capitalista.
La organización de l@s indignnad@s en España y la de Estados Unidos, nos muestra que en las plazas ocupadas, no hay dirigentes pero sí buena organización, existen encargados de la alimentación, de la basura, de la biblioteca, del cuidado de la salud, de la atención a los niños, de traducción a los sordomudos, etc.
Además, como se ve en otro artículo de esta misma edición, en Grecia crece la solidaridad: Los médicos en huelga atienden gratuitamente, los empleados del sistema eléctrico reconectan gratuitamente lo que había sido desconectado por falta de pago.
Leemos: “Las asambleas populares barriales en lugar de diseñar en papel la “otra sociedad”, ya se ponen a organizar la solidaridad cotidiana para quienes están en huelga, para quienes más están sufriendo por la crisis económica, para los vecinos, para los más débiles.”
En Madrid la población de un barrio expulsó a la policía que pretendía capturar a un indocumentado, a los gritos de “¡Ningún ser humano es ilegal!”.
También en España se impide los desalojos de su vivienda a personas que no pudieron pagar la hipoteca porque quedaron sin trabajo. En Granada hay un movimiento llamado “Granada Stop Desahucios”.
En una pancarta se leía: “Tú me interesas mucho”. Se ve que el egoísmo es artificialmente implantado y que la naturaleza humana es solidaria.

Críticas

Hay quienes critican la falta de liderazgo. Nosotros vemos como un mérito, no como una deficiencia, el que se haya llegado a una organización profundamente democrática en que TODOS mandan, en que se ha superado el concepto jerarquizante impuesto por la sociedad de clases: que unos nacieron para mandar y otros para obedecer.
También se critica la ausencia de un  programa acabado. Comprendemos que como no hay una élite sabia que lo elabore, y que tiene que ser hecho por consenso, necesariamente es lento el avance, pero lo principal está dicho, la lucha es del 99% que es aplastada por el 1% de la población mundial. Como dijo Vandana Shiva, la activista india, y fue repetido por los intelectuales que firmaron un documento de apoyo al movimiento en Madrid: “El G8 debe ser sustituido por la humanidad completa, el G7,000’000,000”.
El resto del programa avanza en forma lenta pero sólida, como vemos en las acciones mencionadas.

Conclusión

Marx dijo que como la clase obrera se enfrentaba directamente contra la burguesía, era la llamada a ser la vanguardia de la lucha de la sociedad contra el capitalismo. Consideramos que tenía completa razón.
Él tambíén nos enseñó que ver la realidad valía más que leer cien libros.
Siguiendo esta recomendación, abrimos los ojos y vemos en todo el mundo el ataque directo y feroz del capitalismo a toda la humanidad, repitamos lo manifestado arriba: Por el creciente calentamiento global que lleva al extermino de la humanidad, por el fuerte ataque a la naturaleza en muchas otras formas: Minería a cielo abierto, hidroeléctricas, industria alimentaria, extracción de hidrocarburos, construcción de vías de comunicación, energía atómica, agujereo de la capa de ozono, contaminación industrial del agua, etc.
Por otra parte: Recorte del presupuesto de salud, educación y otros beneficios sociales pagados con el dinero dado por la sociedad, para convertirlos en negocio privado cuyo único interés es el lucro y no la atención de las necesidades del consumidor, alza de precios, envenenamiento de toda la población con transgénicos y químicos elaborados por la industria alimentaria, desalojos de las viviendas, corte del servicio eléctrico, etc.
Siendo así, estando toda la humanidad directamente agredida por el capital en múltiples formas, corresponde a ella constituirse en su propia vanguardia.
Estamos dando los primeros pasos en ese sentido, a través de nuestras luchas colectivas en defensa del agua y de la vida, de la “primavera árabe”, de l@s indignad@s, de “Ocupa Wall Street”, etc.
Estos movimientos nos muestran que todavía es posible salvar de la extinción a nuestra especie.       


£178,000 salary is shameful as cuts bite deep


Excellent stuff from Don Grimes, incidentally it disgusts me how much University Vice-chancellor's get paid as well, all about inequality, all about 1%, so proud that the Green Party is making noise about this.

Sir
The announcement that B&NES Council is to retain the post of Chief Executive (2010-2011 salary £178,000 per year plus pension benefits) and also pay a 'head-hunting' fee of £50,000 of council taxpayers' money in this time of high-level unemployment reflects very poorly on the councillors who voted for this – the majority of them.
When so many people are to be laid off and low-paid workers are having difficulty making ends meet, this appointment is a missed opportunity for councillors to address the gulf between rich and poor in their own workforce by not paying the boss more than ten times the lowest paid worker in salary and benefits.
Lesley Seary, the incoming chief executive of Islington Borough Council in London has not only accepted this 10:1 ratio but has taken a salary cut of £50,000 making her salary £160,000. She said: "We are committed to tackling inequality in all its forms and putting money back in the pockets of our residents."What a contrast to our own bloated executives supported by unnamed councillors spending other people's money.
This could have been an opportunity for our council to lead the way and encourage others to follow suit, but instead it simply seems to confirm the fact that when it comes to high pay, and examples such as banking bonus excesses, the ConDem coalition will never do anything except talk about it.
So there’s the challenge - hopefully some of our councillors will take it up.

Yours
Don Grimes
Bath and North East Somerset Green Party



FROM

29 Oct 2011

Caroline Lucas 'Well-behaved women rarely make history.”




Lol it is the same Green Party, nice article from the FT though. Caroline is very sensible on confidence and supply, coalition is not always the way to power!

The banner in Caroline Lucas’s office is uncompromising: “Well-behaved women rarely make history.” It seems an odd epithet for this neat, well-spoken 50-year-old in a sensible grey outfit.
But Ms Lucas, the first Green MP in the House of Commons, is not afraid to antagonise ministers as she holds the coalition to account over its environmental promises.
This is a tough ambition for a single MP in a parliament of 650. Yet Ms Lucas has proved herself an adept operator in the Commons, asking sharp questions in committee and chamber. Even the Conservative-leaning Spectator magazine placed her as “Newcomer of the Year” in its annual awards for MPs last year.
This is not the same Green party of 20 years ago which denounced economic growth, suffered internal feuding and at one point used David Icke as a spokesman.
Under Ms Lucas’s leadership the party has sought to shed its lentil-eating reputation in favour of mainstream credibility. It now controls one council, Brighton, and has large groupings in Lancaster and Norwich.
But Ms Lucas knows as well as anyone that power can be elusive. She was press officer for the Greens in 1989 when they won 15 per cent of the vote in the European elections, more than double that of the SDP-Liberal Alliance. Within months, as Britain was gripped by recession, support slumped.
At the next general election the Greens plan to target Liberal Democrat seats, in particular in the south-west, in an effort to capitalise on disappointment at their “betrayal” over tuition fees and spending cuts.
Meanwhile Ms Lucas is determined to shine a spotlight on the coalition’s failures to make good on their green promises.
Preparing for success
The leader of the Green party was brought up by Conservative parents in “a conventional middle-class upbringing”, writes Jim Pickard.
In the 1980s Ms Lucas was an ardent anti-nuclear campaigner, taking part in the Greenham Common protests. “It was joyful, cheerful, fun, there was music, strong friendships were forged there.”
Her life-changing “lightbulb moment” was reading Seeing Green, a book by environmentalist Jonathan Porritt, in 1986.
Ms Lucas was the press officer for the Greens in 1989 when they won a record 15 per cent in the European elections.
“I just remember sitting there, watching the bar for the Green Party get bigger and bigger, and thinking, my God, this is really huge,” she says. “The lesson of it was you need to prepare for success.”
Ministers claim to have made progress on the renewables agenda, setting up a “Green Investment Bank” and introducing tough targets for carbon reduction. But their environmental stance is rapidly being eclipsed by a focus on economic growth.
Last month George Osborne, chancellor, boasted he had won an opt-out clause for carbon cuts if by 2014 the European Union is lagging behind. And the Treasury has said the green bank will not be able to borrow until 2015 at the earliest.
A pioneering “carbon capture and storage” scheme has been dropped and a range of renewable energy subsidies including solar feed-in tariffs are being cut by ministers.
“The Tory party has used green policies as a way of trying to detoxify the Tory brand, but as soon as you dig a little deeper they have a habit of just disappearing in front of your eyes,” said Ms Lucas. “It calls into question any seriousness about the so-called green ambitions of the hugging-a-husky era.”
Ms Lucas argues that the main three parties are “contaminated” by having been in office.
“On a range of issues there is no real political opposition coming from Labour,” she says, citing the Greens’ call for an early troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and opposition to Trident.
This is not to say that her manifesto is a slam-dunk vote-winner, with policies including a 55mph motorway speed limit.
On the wall of her office hangs a front page from the Brighton Argus – “History is made” – in what appears to be faded newsprint. In fact it is the original printing plate from election day. It is a reminder that Ms Lucas has now been an MP for 17 months.
Reflecting on her experience thus far, she says she has been frustrated by the archaic practices of the Commons: the lack of electronic voting, herdlike behaviour among MPs and the unilateral power of the Speaker. Yet she has found ways to make an impact, through alliances, amendments, reports and committee attendances.
Tim Yeo, the Tory chair of the energy select committee, said he did not agree with Ms Lucas on everything: “But given the challenge of being the only member of her party in the House she has forged a very distinctive position and is exploiting it successfully, with a higher profile than the rest of the new intake.”
At one point after the general election there was talk of a “rainbow” coalition including Labour, the Lib Dems and Greens.
For now Ms Lucas is cautious even of offering a “confidence and supply” agreement – backing motions of confidence and funding for government business – of the kind the Greens gave Ken Livingstone as London mayor.
“If you only have one MP or are fairly small, then in order to keep any sense of integrity and clarity about what your party stands for, then to go into a coalition 100 per cent is very risky,” she said.

Outrageous, unfair and morally reprehensible" fumes Penny Kemp of The Green Party.





Outrageous, unfair and morally reprehensible" fumes Penny Kemp of The Green Party.
More than £1.3 billion has been taken away from council's annual spending on help for the over 65's, pensions are losing value,  nurseries are closing and millions are living in fuel poverty and we see a  49% pay rise for Britain's top bosses: THEIR average salary hits £2.7m while the UK's average salary crawls in at £24,000. A tiny minority continue to be rewarded for failure.
Prime Minister David Cameron, speaking in Australia, said the report was "concerning". It is more than concerning Mr Cameron, it is wrong and makes a nonsense of any further cuts.
It is examples of corporate greed such as this that prompted Jenny Jones, Green Party mayoral candidate to campaign to turn London into the ‘Fair Pay City' As Jenny herself states;
"During Boris Johnson's Mayorship the number of people within the GLA group earning more than 10 times the Living Wage has risen by 56% (from 62 to 97). The Chief Executive of Crossrail, Rob Holden, earns £857,134: a figure approximately 55 times the Living Wage (1).
A 10:1 maximum pay ratio would seriously reduce the pay gap in our city. It is unacceptable to use the economic crisis to defend paying workers less than the amount needed to support a family at the same as paying out colossal salaries to chief executives."

28 Oct 2011

David Cameron to St Pauls Occupy 'Go home, you are an embarrassment.'






"I'm very concerned about the continuation of this protest meaning that St Paul's is not open to the public," Cameron told reporters in Perth on the sidelines of a Commonwealth leaders' summit.
"It's a key national site, it's a key tourist site. It's very important in the whole history, psyche of our country... I think the pressure is on to try and deal with this and deal with this rapidly."


In fact the occupy camp is not blocking St Pauls but Cameron is embarrassed by his rule and that of Conservative and Lib Dem MPs support for the 1% at the expense of the 99%.

Cameron objects because he finds occupy an embarrassment to him, his government, to Nick Clegg and the Corporation of London.

'You are embarrassing me because while the chief of Tesco is paid £12,000,000 old peoples homes are being closed down.'

'You are embarrassing me because youth unemployment is over a million but executive salaries were up 50% this year.'

'You are embarrassing me because most of the population have taken a pay cut this year.'

'You are embarrassing me because the NHS is going private.'

'You are embarrassing me because I work for News International.'

'You are embarrassing me because while corporation tax has been cut VAT is at 20%.'

'You are embarrassing me because you should shut up and pay for a crisis created by bankers.'

'You are embarrassing because the lower classes should be seen and not heard.'

'You are embarrassing because I am a millionaire and those on low incomes should know their place.'

'You are embarrassing me because while disability benefits are being cut Mrs Thatcher has received  £535,000 from the state.'





Rev Fraser Dyer 'Why I am resigning from St Pauls'












You say 'cut back', we say 'liberation theology'


Dear Bishop Michael, 
I appreciate what a difficult couple of weeks the Dean and Chapter have had following the occupation of the cathedral precinct by protestors campaigning against corporate greed. You have been much in my thoughts and prayers as you have navigated the complex issues with which you have been presented, and the negative press which arose from the decision to close the cathedral. I am delighted that a way was found to reopen the building today which satisfied the cathedral's duty of care towards its worshippers and visitors, and have been impressed by the degree of cooperation that Occupy London offered to enable this to happen. 
It has therefore been disappointing to learn of today's announcement that St Paul's will instigate legal proceedings seeking the removal of the protestors. It is particularly poignant that this announcement comes on the day that IDS report an increase in top directors' pay of almost 50% over the last year. I appreciate that St Paul's has its own means of speaking to the issue of corporate and financial conduct in the City, but am sorry that a way could not be found of - at the very least - continuing to thole the occupation of the precinct by those with a genuine and prophetic complaint that has much in keeping with the values of the gospel. 
I only recently joined the cathedral's pastoral team and it has been a privilege to minister to the building's many visitors. I was looking forward to more opportunities to do so. Today, however, I am left feeling embarrassed by the position the Dean and Chapter have taken. I do not relish the prospect of having to defend the cathedral's position in the face of the inevitable questions that visitors to St Paul's will pose in the coming weeks and months, particularly if we are to see protestors forcibly removed by police at the Dean and Chapter's behest. It is therefore with regret that I write to inform you of my decision to stand down from the pastoral team with immediate effect. 
I continue to wish you well, and a strengthening of discernment, as the situation continues to play out. All of the staff and volunteers at St Paul's remain much in my prayers at this difficult time. 
With warmest good wishes, 
Fraser.

FROM 

Imperialism Is the Arsonist: Marxism’s Contribution to Ecological Literatures and Struggles

Derek Wall ’s article entitled  Imperialism Is the Arsonist: Marxism’s Contribution to Ecological Literatures and Struggles , argues that Ma...