This Saudi woman blogger says the revolution could well be coming to Saudi soon, unless the ageing king makes some drastic changes. How likely is that?
These are the demands of the fast growing Facebook protest group:
The People want to Reform the Government Campaign
To support the right of the Saudi people and their legitimate aspirations:
1 – a constitutional monarchy between the king and government.
2 – a written constitution approved by the people in which governing powers will be determined.
3 – transparency, accountability in fighting corruption
4 – the Government in the service of the people
5 – legislative elections.
6 – public freedoms and respect for human rights
7 – allowing civil society institutions
8 – full citizenship and the abolition of all forms of discrimination.
9 – Adoption of the rights of women and non-discrimination against them.
10 – an independent and fair judiciary.
11 – impartial development and equitable distribution of wealth.
12 – to seriously address the problem of unemployment
Saturday, 19 February 2011
Who are the real benefit claimants?
According to someone who knows, these are:
largest groups of benefit claimants I have met in my work:
I'm old/ We're old /I'm old and widowed.
My husband left me and the kids after the business collapsed/he had an affair/he left me for another woman/he left me for another woman and then i found he'd remortgaged the house 3 times over. I wasn't working 'cause I have two toddlers/he preferred a non-working wife/I care for my elderly mum.
My husband/wife died.
I'm 53 and got made redundant, started drinking, and the wife kicked me out when I got too much to handle/ I'm 18 and my parents kicked me out because they can't afford me/we had a row/ mum's new partner hates me/beats me. Now I live in a hostel.
I had an accident/got sick/developed something debilitating/had a breakdown
I got made redundant
I work but can't pay my rent anymore as it's now higher than my total income from working 48 hours in Primark.
I have a disabled child who needs 24 hour care and don't want to put him/her into care
I live an hour's bus journey (and £5 return) away from any work, and my child is at primary school and I can't find anything to fit in. (That one tende to be temporary and often allied to one of the above reasons)
Smallest groups:
drug addicts/alcoholics (and many of these would have started using to medicate against mental health problesm)
genuinely feckless single mothers - there are actually very few
benefit claimants who work in the legal or illegal economy
people who could work but don't AND who claim benefits - most adults get fed up with £60 a week to live on. I've met plenty of much better-off people happy not to work - they have (or have partners/parents) who support them.
non-existent groups:
people who do well on benefits alone. I lost count of the numbers who got by only because friends and family helped out in emergencies, or who were carrying thousands in debts run up to pay for what are commonly called 'essentials'.
people who can afford to move house when their left-over income after food and rent and bills is about £3 a week.
largest groups of benefit claimants I have met in my work:
I'm old/ We're old /I'm old and widowed.
My husband left me and the kids after the business collapsed/he had an affair/he left me for another woman/he left me for another woman and then i found he'd remortgaged the house 3 times over. I wasn't working 'cause I have two toddlers/he preferred a non-working wife/I care for my elderly mum.
My husband/wife died.
I'm 53 and got made redundant, started drinking, and the wife kicked me out when I got too much to handle/ I'm 18 and my parents kicked me out because they can't afford me/we had a row/ mum's new partner hates me/beats me. Now I live in a hostel.
I had an accident/got sick/developed something debilitating/had a breakdown
I got made redundant
I work but can't pay my rent anymore as it's now higher than my total income from working 48 hours in Primark.
I have a disabled child who needs 24 hour care and don't want to put him/her into care
I live an hour's bus journey (and £5 return) away from any work, and my child is at primary school and I can't find anything to fit in. (That one tende to be temporary and often allied to one of the above reasons)
Smallest groups:
drug addicts/alcoholics (and many of these would have started using to medicate against mental health problesm)
genuinely feckless single mothers - there are actually very few
benefit claimants who work in the legal or illegal economy
people who could work but don't AND who claim benefits - most adults get fed up with £60 a week to live on. I've met plenty of much better-off people happy not to work - they have (or have partners/parents) who support them.
non-existent groups:
people who do well on benefits alone. I lost count of the numbers who got by only because friends and family helped out in emergencies, or who were carrying thousands in debts run up to pay for what are commonly called 'essentials'.
people who can afford to move house when their left-over income after food and rent and bills is about £3 a week.
Thursday, 3 February 2011
Expect the unexpected
A revolutionary must expect the unexpected - in fact the whole point of a revolutionary viewpoint is to question the orthodox position and look at the world through new eyes. If we want profound change, we should not cut our cloth to the narrow expectations of our elites and 'realistic' views. Plan for the day when the impossible becomes possible. Egypt shows the way. Egypt also shows how the so-called democratic politicians of the west show so much fear of what the revolution may bring. The one thing the establishment fears most is a real revolution. The examples of France, Russia, China and Iran show that revolutionary terror and a new caste of authoritarian bureaucrat can take over a popular revolution and the dream of freedom can be lost. But also, those historic revolutions deprived the global powers of dominance and threatened the foundations of imperial control of resources. That is what is at stake now - the protestations about Islam and extremism are the same ones we have seen in all previous revolutions. Popular revolution overturns the status quo and we will hear constant refrains about the dangers of the Egyptian revolution, while they will also claim they support the people's fight for freedom. The truth is that they support only what doesn't threaten the interests of the great powers. But be certain that the change has begun.
Tuesday, 1 February 2011
Egypt - cable from the revolution
Bliss was it that dawn to be alive / But to be young was very heaven ... Wordsworth
My friend Louis in Alexandria sent this email five days ago:
9:32 PM Louis: No SMS
No twitter
No Facebook
9:33 PM Using live rounds in suez please spread
Last night the Egyptian Army said it would not fire on the "great people of Egypt" This is a turning point and surely marks the triumph of the people's uprising. I wanted to find a famous quote from Shelley or Byron on the French Revolution but found this wise one:
Change is certain. Peace is followed by disturbances; departure of evil men by their return. Such recurrences should not constitute occasions for sadness but realities for awareness, so that one may be happy in the interim.
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Then I found the one I wanted, from Wordsworth - "Bliss was it in this dawn to be alive, but to be young was very heaven." No revolution is the same and the hopes of the French revolution were in some sense lost in the bloody Terror and the rise of Napoleon. Then again, as Chao En Lai said in 1976 when asked about the significance of the French Revolution, "It is too early to tell". Apparently in China today they have blocked online searches for Egypt as they try to stop news of the revolution reaching its citizens. Of course this will not work. Perhaps the occupation of the central square raises memories of Tiananmen Square 21 years ago. Then the soldiers did shoot.
It appears Israel is afraid too - they have for long painted themselves as a democracy in a sea of Arab tyranny. But what happens when the Arabs stand up and seize freedom for themselves? After all, the Gazans elected Hamas, and Lebanon voted for Hizbollah. Israel's prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, said he was concerned that Egypt could end up with a regime as radical as that of Iran. "Our real fear is of a situation that could develop … and which has already developed in several countries, including Iran itself: repressive regimes of radical Islam," he told reporters after meeting Germany's Angela Merkel. Does he really mean that Israel cannot accept the right of its neignbours to freely choose a government to represent them - in other words, democracy?
My friend Louis in Alexandria sent this email five days ago:
9:32 PM Louis: No SMS
No twitter
No Facebook
9:33 PM Using live rounds in suez please spread
Last night the Egyptian Army said it would not fire on the "great people of Egypt" This is a turning point and surely marks the triumph of the people's uprising. I wanted to find a famous quote from Shelley or Byron on the French Revolution but found this wise one:
Change is certain. Peace is followed by disturbances; departure of evil men by their return. Such recurrences should not constitute occasions for sadness but realities for awareness, so that one may be happy in the interim.
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Then I found the one I wanted, from Wordsworth - "Bliss was it in this dawn to be alive, but to be young was very heaven." No revolution is the same and the hopes of the French revolution were in some sense lost in the bloody Terror and the rise of Napoleon. Then again, as Chao En Lai said in 1976 when asked about the significance of the French Revolution, "It is too early to tell". Apparently in China today they have blocked online searches for Egypt as they try to stop news of the revolution reaching its citizens. Of course this will not work. Perhaps the occupation of the central square raises memories of Tiananmen Square 21 years ago. Then the soldiers did shoot.
It appears Israel is afraid too - they have for long painted themselves as a democracy in a sea of Arab tyranny. But what happens when the Arabs stand up and seize freedom for themselves? After all, the Gazans elected Hamas, and Lebanon voted for Hizbollah. Israel's prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, said he was concerned that Egypt could end up with a regime as radical as that of Iran. "Our real fear is of a situation that could develop … and which has already developed in several countries, including Iran itself: repressive regimes of radical Islam," he told reporters after meeting Germany's Angela Merkel. Does he really mean that Israel cannot accept the right of its neignbours to freely choose a government to represent them - in other words, democracy?
Monday, 15 November 2010
Cameron to cut happiness by 30% - official
Cameron and co are going to incorporate 'general wellbeing' into GDP data. Whatever his motives, and they may be genuine, this surely must be good. Although judging by comments on the Guardian story, there are plenty who will be ticking the 'Mightily pissed off' box when the survey eventually appears.
Funniest comments:
"Those deemed not happy enough will be compelled to attend 4 week courses where they repeatedly have to read the Lib-Dem's election manifesto - that should have most people in hysterics.
If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands. (Cue deafening silence).
If 2010 was a Black Adder episode, this idea would have surely come from Baldric; after Black Adder ravaged the country and was looking for a way to have fun with his subjugates."
Actually I am absurdly happy, and it's got nothing to do with the ConDems or the economy. Am I alone in this? Or is it all because of my baby Amali...aah
Funniest comments:
"Those deemed not happy enough will be compelled to attend 4 week courses where they repeatedly have to read the Lib-Dem's election manifesto - that should have most people in hysterics.
If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands. (Cue deafening silence).
If 2010 was a Black Adder episode, this idea would have surely come from Baldric; after Black Adder ravaged the country and was looking for a way to have fun with his subjugates."
Actually I am absurdly happy, and it's got nothing to do with the ConDems or the economy. Am I alone in this? Or is it all because of my baby Amali...aah
Monday, 1 November 2010
Victory for left in Brazil's presidential election
A comment from someone who used to live in Brazil:
I hope that she continues the good work of Lula. I used to live in Brasil when Lula took office and i lived there for 5 years on and off. I returned in July after 3 years away to visit some friends and family and i was shocked to see how much Brasil had improved. I lived in Alagoas one of the poorest states and was shocked at the lack of begging and homeless people. At night where once there were just prostitutes on the street corners there were bars and snack bars and areas had been rejuvinated. When i first went to Brasil I was told there is just the rich and the poor. That is not true now, there is a huge middle class. I wish Dilma all the best and I hope she keeps Brasil on the right track and to be fair it is going to be a monster economy in a few years. Brasil will always have social problems but from my experience they are lessening year on year. Good to see a Presidenta!
I hope that she continues the good work of Lula. I used to live in Brasil when Lula took office and i lived there for 5 years on and off. I returned in July after 3 years away to visit some friends and family and i was shocked to see how much Brasil had improved. I lived in Alagoas one of the poorest states and was shocked at the lack of begging and homeless people. At night where once there were just prostitutes on the street corners there were bars and snack bars and areas had been rejuvinated. When i first went to Brasil I was told there is just the rich and the poor. That is not true now, there is a huge middle class. I wish Dilma all the best and I hope she keeps Brasil on the right track and to be fair it is going to be a monster economy in a few years. Brasil will always have social problems but from my experience they are lessening year on year. Good to see a Presidenta!
Housing benefit - don't let the facts get in the way!
An awful lot has been written about Housing Benefit since the government decided to cap it. So much, and yet so little light cast. Please, can we remember the basic facts - HB recipients DONT GET ANY MONEY. Landlords get the money! Fact: the reason HB has doubled in the last decade is because RENTS HAVE DOUBLED. Ergo, the problem is not the claimants, it is the lack of affordable housing. Buy to let landlords have been partying and they are still going to party once these cuts are in place because they don't solve the problem. Its like dealing with headaches through decapitation. If the headache is caused by someone punching you, would it not be better to stop the person doing the punching? I suggested to a friend yesterday that the answer - well, part of it - could be RENT CONTROL. Mrs Thatcher abolished rent boards in 1980, which used to regulate the private rented sector. Bring them back, I said. He said that would not be acceptable in the 21st century. My lord, perhaps he is right. It is acceptable that landlords get billions from the taxpayer to keep them in the money, but not to control rent. We could try LAND VALUE TAX, which is an effective way to stop owners of property from accumulating too much wealth at the expense of millions of working people. May be then wealth owners would do something more useful with their money - like invest in businesses and jobs. In Germany where they have an LVT the cost of renting is NINE TIMES CHEAPER per square foot. Just imagine that! May be we could take the money from LVT and apply it to building new homes and subsidising social housing. Landlordism is an age old vice. I know - I was a landlord once too. It's easy money. Why in an age of austerity can't we do something other than punish tenants. Because in England we live in a feudal aristocracy and no one will stand up to the landlords.
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