CARNIVAL FOR FULL ENJOYMENT 4 July 2005 Central Edinburgh
*No wage slavery *No benefits slavery *No army slavery *No debt slavery
Meet 12 noon, West End of Princes St/ Shandwick Place/ foot of Lothian Rd/
Flex, temp, full-time, part-time, casual and contortionist workers, migrants, students, benefit claimers, New Dealers, work refusers, pensioners, dreamers, duckers & divers... Bring drums, music, banners, imagination for action against the G8 that expresses our resistance in work, out of work and wherever we live. Assert our desires for FULL ENJOYMENT with some fun in the city - and begin to make capitalism & wage slavery history.
The G8
Since the G8 last met in the UK in 1998, we’ve seen more social cuts, privatisation and compulsory work schemes in Europe and beyond. This is part of a continuing enclosure of resources and means of living - such as water, land and housing - around the world. Now the G8 leaders meeting in Gleneagles claim to address concerns about climate chaos and world poverty. But they really aim to strengthen the system at the root of these conditions, and to find more efficient ways of managing, exploiting and enclosing us. We can only stop it by abolishing a profit-based economy; by dismantling the states and borders that divide us.
Up our street
Gleneagles isn’t the only place we can see international capitalism at work - it’s here on the high streets. The bailiff knocking on your door is a not-so-distant cousin of the cartel forcing peasants off common land in another part of the world. Whole industries such as banks, loan and insurance companies thrive on indebtedness as people struggle to make ends meet. Job centres, private and government agencies harass claimants to accept low-paid work or to labour full-time just for benefits - they even intend to put pensioners to work under the slogan of ‘active ageing’! Army recruiters target unemployed youth for ‘economic conscription’ with the help of job centres.
Other firms press workers to accept insecure contracts, cut benefits, more work and stress; still others rake it in exploiting refugees who are cut off from other workers by racism, the border regime and looming slave labour schemes. So much of our work only profits the fat cats or serves the state. But it is possible to satisfy our social needs, live more and work a lot less.
Claiming what’s ours
Whether we are waged or unwaged, we are often faced with isolation and a lack of collective power. We can overcome this by supporting each other in job centres, workplaces, compulsory schemes and in our communities - and by reaching beyond to find new ways of struggling and living. Let’s share information and reclaim what’s ours on the streets, in the shops, on public transport.
They say that time is money. Steal some today. Call in sick, go on strike, take an extra-long lunch break! Meet friends from far away and next door to conspire and celebrate; to disrupt the daily grind of the institutions that plunge us into overwork, poverty and debt. When we claim Job Seekers Allowance, we’re told to ’actively seek’ work. But we actively seek the end of this system based on profit, and we work towards a global community based on freedom and cooperation.
website: http://www.nodeal.org.uk
email: dissentagainstwork@yahoo.co.uk
Recommended site: http://www.edinburghclaimants.org
Info also at http://www.wombles.org.uk and http://www.dissent.org.uk
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