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UG#665 - Living In An Age Of Political Paralysis (The World According To Hedges)

05-10-2013 02:58

Audio
What to do amidst a vast apparatus designed, as Graeber wrote in episode 624, to "perpetuate hopelessness"? Chris Hedges recommends a path of courageous and unflinching non-violent resistance to the US plutocrats. We hear a 90 minute interview from earlier this week, interspersed with half of a classic Hedges speech, "War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning".

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New Social Centre in Hackney Needs Your Help

04-10-2013 21:45

A new squatted social space has been created in Hackney - 195 Mare St. The space aims to be an active and inspiring hub for local individuals and community groups.

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Letter from Chomsky, Zizek etc to Zuma

04-10-2013 12:32

An open letter published in the Mail & Guardian, Johannesburg, 4 October 2013, in protest at the repression of Abahlali baseMjondolo in Durban

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Support the Syrian port blockaders in Calais!

03-10-2013 15:15

How you can support the Syrian refugees blocking access to Calais ferry port

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Afghan refugee resistance in Belgium

03-10-2013 12:47

Since the occupation of a church in July, Afghan migrants (including many of families) in Brussels been organising a sustained struggle against the Belgian state's asylum policies.

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The Berlin-Athens Axis and the Finality of Economic Occupation

03-10-2013 12:07

The relationship between the two territories is defined by their different legacies of being in the same rare historical role in different developments of the same type. Geographically evoking the idea of a smaller scale model of Europe, the client state of its former military occupier is situated at the Northern coast of the metacontinent´s interior sea, that carries the high water mark of the first wave of development-caused climate disruption resulting from the deforestations of the pre-industrial imperialist era. Its continued sponsor and obtrusive economic superior in the geographical centre of the subcontinent finds itself on the historical frontier of speculative imperialism, where the last pre-industrial geoengineering empire in its deterioration prepared deforestations it was no longer able to implement itself. Likewise the ancient destructions can be interpreted as a smaller scale model of the current industrial wave of climate disruption and the geopolitical farce around it. The so-called Greek-German relationship mirrors this climatological fact and with it a political legacy encompassing both the origin as well as the end of the Roman empire. Only when its security fence through central Europe was overrun fifty-something generations ago, an era of external plagiarism by Greece´s Western neighbour of the dimension of the notorious Babylonian captivity came to its end.

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Want to fight the cuts? Passive protests are not enough!

03-10-2013 11:54

Leaflet Image (web)
New leaflet about how the anti-cuts movement needs to be more militant, more inclusive, and more democratic...

Full text and pdf here:  https://theviolentminority.wordpress.com/2013/10/03/want-to-fight-the-cuts-passive-protests-arent-enough/

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65 Syrians protesting at the port of Calais

03-10-2013 09:45

65 Syrian exiles have blocked the foot passengers entrance at the Calais port and some of them have gone on hungerstrike. They are asking to meet a Home Office representative as they want to be allowed to seek safety in UK. They are also complaining at their inhuman treatement at the hads of the French authorities and police.

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CIA Supplying Weapons To Syrian Rebel Groups

03-10-2013 09:44

US-Terrorregime macht dicht ...... Da soll noch einer sagen, aus den USA kämen nur schlechte Nachrichten. Wie das Haus des Bösen in Washington mitteilte, wurde aufgrund von Geldmangel beginnend mit dem 1. Oktober 2013 eine Schließung des US-Terrorregimes angeordnet.

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Rapprochement with US Reinforces Iran Hand in Iraq

03-10-2013 07:09

The US – led military invasion of Iraq in 2003 pragmatically but counterproductively made the best use of the Iranian vengeance, which was in the waiting for whatever window of opportunity might open to revenge the ceasefire in the eight – year Iran – Iraq war, which the late leader and founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI), Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, lamented as “gulping the cup of poison.”

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‘Operation Terror’ the 9/11 Hollywood thriller to be web-streamed

03-10-2013 05:45

Video
$ 5 – Watch Web-Stream Ticket Donation for 'Operation Terror' Berkeley, California Event – Good from Oct 19 to Nov 30, 2013. The web-stream is world-wide and will cover the entire event including the movies, the speakers, and the question and answer period.

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BAMN

02-10-2013 22:53

BAMN - BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY

It has everything to do with anarchism and the class war we find ourselves in. Self organisation in our communities, internationalism, taking out the ruling class, it's all part of our struggle for revolutionary change. Mutual aid and voluntary cooperation. By any means necessary

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NUT Teachers Regional Strike Action

02-10-2013 18:55

11.00am Market Square, Nottingham

About 300 - 400 members of the National Union of Teachers marched from the Forest Ground to Market Square for a rally to listen to speeches. 

NUT and NASUWT Regional Strike Action - press release

Today’s successful regional strike action taking place in Eastern, Midlands, Yorkshire and Humberside Government regions is a result of the Coalition Government’s failure to enter into meaningful talks to resolve the dispute over pay, pensions, job cuts and workload. 

Teachers are deeply concerned about the impact these imposed changes are having on the morale of the teaching profession, the recruitment and retention of teachers and on the provision of quality education for pupils. The next regional strike day will be the 17 October in the North East, Cumbria, London, South East and South West Government regions. The NUT and the NASUWT are still asking the Government to enter into genuine talks to resolve this dispute.

Commenting on today’s speech by the Education Secretary at Conservative Party Conference in Manchester, Christine Blower, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, the largest teachers’ union, said:

“We agree that education is vitally important for children to achieve their full potential and we need to get it right. Unfortunately, we do not believe that the Coalition Government’s policy will achieve this and we are not alone. A YouGov poll for the NUT in 2013 showed that only 8% of parents think this Government has made a positive impact on the education system and today, the poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, led 200 academics including children’s laureate, Malorie Blackman, in calling for Michael Gove’s education reforms to be suspended.

http://nottinghamcitynut.org/

http://nottinghamcitynut.org/parent%20leaflet.pdf

http://www.teachers.org.uk/

http://www.redpepper.org.uk/teachers-there-is-no-other-option-but-to-strike/

____________________________________________

ALAN LODGE 

Photographer - Media: One Eye on the Road. Nottingham.  UK

Email:                 tash@indymedia.org

Web:                   http://digitaljournalist.eu

Member of the National Union of Journalists [NUJ]

____________________________________________

"It is not enough to curse the darkness.

                                   It is also necessary to light a lamp!!"

___________________________________________

<ends>

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'BITTER PILLS (GETTING OFF PRESCRIBED DRUGS - YOU

02-10-2013 18:55

There is international concern about over-prescribing of psychiatric drugs for all communities, and many doctors and practitioners are starting to rethink their value.  What else can be done?

 Here locally, Making Waves Nottingham, a group led by people with lived experience of mental distress, has started to run sessions in partnership with Nottinghamshire Healthcare Trust to support people ready to think about reducing or withdrawing from their medication. Please see attachment copdpublicity long for some personal stories.

 Next Tuesday, October 8th, as a part of Mental Health Awareness Week, Making Waves and Nottinghamshire Healthcare are hosting a film fact and chat event from 6-8pm at ‘Life At The Centre' next to WILKO's on Parliament Street.  All welcome!

 

‘Cure Contain or Control' prescribing has routinely been first line of treatment for people diagnosed with symptoms relating to mental or emotional distress. This happens within GP surgeries and within specialist psychiatric services. Other factors, such as underlying life traumas, marginalisation, poverty and oppression are less easy to address.  Sometimes it's just easy to give a pill!

Additionally, people and cultures outside of white mainstream, especially those viewed as ‘different,' stand a much higher risk of being diagnosed with mental illness, even though the incidence of mental distress-related illness and psychosis is much the same.

So, there is an epidemic of over-prescribing which affects everyone, some more than others, and which, in addition to being unnecessary, has produced some very damaging side effects.  And while, psychiatric medication does bring relief, particularly in the short-term, for some individuals and some conditions, its long-term benefits, outside of the pharmaceutics industry, are currently being called into question.

There is international concern about over-prescribing of psychiatric drugs for all communities, and many doctors and practitioners are starting to rethink their value.  What else can be done?

Here locally, Making Waves Nottingham, a group led by people with lived experience of mental distress, has started to run sessions in partnership with Nottinghamshire Healthcare Trust to support people ready to think about reducing or withdrawing from their medication. Please read the personal stories below.

Next Tuesday, October 8th, as a part of Mental Health Awareness Week, Making Waves and Nottinghamshire Healthcare are hosting a film fact and chat event from 6-8pm at ‘Life At The Centre' next to WILKO's on Parliament Street.  All welcome! This will be a safe place to learn more, share thoughts hopes and concerns, and meet people who have ‘been there.

Moving Away From 'Mental Medication'
 
'Feel like zombie most of the time' - 'Sex drive gone right off' - 'The drugs have put on too much weight' - 'Feels like I'm living in a fog'  - 'Brain on screen-saver' - 'My spirit gone left me' - 'So so sleepy - no will power' - ' I'll be on these the rest of my life - '

Have you ever thought that your medication was doing you more harm than good? It can be a real problem maintaining well-being when dealing with prescribed drug side effects. Although psychiatric medication is important for some of us, and keeps us well, this is not the case for everybody!
In line with recent international concerns around over-prescribing of psychiatric drugs for people living with spiritual, emotional or mind distress, the health focus is now switching to support a gradual withdrawal for those of us ready to leave the pills behind. And it CAN be done, as Arveleena tells us:


"Personally I have had a very difficult relationship with psychiatric drugs. Over the past ten years I have been on/off/on/off/on a wide variety of anti-depressants, anti-psychotics and mood stabilisers. I have struggled with side effects such a weight gain, hair loss, sleepiness and felt completely separate and distanced from my emotions and self.
9 months ago I came to a point in my life, where I wanted to and felt ready to stop taking medication and made the decision with the support of my family and psychiatrist to slowly withdraw from my medication. I have struggled with the effects of the withdrawal, the emotions and the physical effects and it has been a challenging journey. All going well, I am hoping to be medication-free, by November 2013.
At many times in my life I have been forced to take medication. Now I am choosing how and when I come off medication."

 

Yes, withdrawal or reduction of psychiatric medication is a reality, although the journey is long and can be difficult,  requiring planning, preparation, information and - above all - support! 
And yes, help is available for those who are ready to travel this path at this point in time.
 
You will have a chance to find out how to learn to reduce or withdraw from unnecessary and maybe harmful psychiatric medication in a safe and welcoming setting with the help of people who have ‘been there.'.
Local community group, Making Waves Nottingham, in partnership with Nottinghamshire Healthcare Trust are holding a film/fact /chat event as part of Mental Health Awareness Week.
A course of guided meetings will follow over the coming weeks at Making Waves, led by people who have withdrawn from or reduced medication and clinical advisors from the Trust. There will be opportunity for those taking part to then meet as a support group and in turn to encourage future course members.
Iqbal, who has successfully completed a previous course, reflects on his experience:





"I've taken psychiatric medication for over 5 years - and it has been a troubling relationship. I don't take a stance that all medication is bad, but the way it was presented to me was naive and inappropriate. On presenting myself to services I was told Olanzapine would 'get to the root of my problems'. This sounded great! 5 years later, 11 other medications on, I still take it.......!
What I wasn't told was that it is a powerful mind altering drug, which would likely present problems with withdrawal if I stopped taking it. I feel I was misled.
I did a course at Making Waves last year on reducing and coming off medication, which has helped me lower one of the substances I take. Most importantly it helped me model and discuss my relationship to medication, which I feel, admittedly out of desperation, had become unthinking.
I feel medication does have a limited role, but that its power for good had been vastly exaggerated, and its potential for harm greatly underplayed. This needs to be addressed across medical services, from GPs consulting rooms to the locked wards of psychiatric hospitals - urgently.
"


If you - or someone you care about in your family or your community - want to talk about the effects of psychiatric medication and some practical ways to reduce what is perhaps unnecessary and unhelpful then come along and find out more on Tuesday October 8th at 'Life At The Centre' on Parliament Street (opp Argos)  6 - 8pm.
More info from:
Making Waves  Nottingham: website www.makingwaves.org   e-mail    info@makingwaves.org         tel: 01159505996
Names of contributors have been changed. People available for further comment, but prefer anonymity to be maintained.

Further information from:
Julie Gosling - julie@makingwaves.org
Making Waves Training and Education

 

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EDL in Bradford- Public Meeting today at 6 in Girlington Centre

02-10-2013 15:28

We Are Bradford is organizing an open public meeting today (wed. 2/10/13) at 18.00 in the Girlington Centre discussing organizing the response to the EDL coming to Bradford on the 12th of October. The participation of as many activists as possible is welcome and necessary.

Girlington Community Centre- Girlington Road, Girlington, BD8 9NN

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Yahoo Allowing AdChoices To Delete Moderator Posts And Replace Them With Ads

02-10-2013 14:13

Yahoo Groups, part of the international Yahoo corporation, is allowing advertisers
to delete political and poetry posts and replace them with ads.

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Yellowism Under Attack. Art movement responds to the Tat

02-10-2013 13:06

Yellowists hit back at Tate's misrepresentative "Art Under Attack" with their own London exhibition

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Sexual Abuse Witnesses Deported From Yarlswood Detention Centre

02-10-2013 12:12

Women asylum seekers who have been witnesses of the reported sexual abuse at Yarlswood detention centre in Bedfordshire were last night flown to Pakistan despite a strong community campaign to keep them here. The women have been on hunger strike in protest and it seems have been deliberately disapearred despite the need for a full public inquiry.