Why not turn the UK parliament into a holocaust memorial?

Source

http://www.redressonline.com

By Gilad Atzmon

17th May 2019   

Britain’s prime minister and four of her predecessors, some of whom are renowned war criminals, have united in calling for a holocaust memorial to be built in proximity to parliament. “A sacred, national mission” is how Theresa May described the idea and, for once, I totally agree with this tragic, sad woman. I would take it further: don’t just build a holocaust shrine in Westminster, make the UK parliament itself a holocaust monument. We don’t really need a House of Commons; as things stand, it would be more transparent if we were to be governed by our true rulers in Tel Aviv.

But there is a deeper ethical rationale that justifies the erection of a holocaust memorial instead of our dysfunctional parliament. Every political commentator in Britain knows by now that the more Jewish pressure groups terrorise Britain, its human rights campaigners, artists, writers and poets, the more Britons become aware of the crimes of Zionism, Israel and their ruthless lobby. The more British politicians join parliamentary friends of Israel clubs, the less Britons will trust their political system. The more holocaust indoctrination is shoved down our throats, the more suspicious Britons become of the manner in which history is told.

Watch Britain’s compromised prime minister and her predecessors in this video:

According to May: “By putting our national holocaust memorial and education centre next to our parliament, we make a solemn and eternal promise that Britain will never forget what happened in the holocaust.” Is that true Mrs May? Do you really mean what you say? Will our holocaust memorial bring to light the embarrassing fact that Britain made it very difficult for Jewish refugees to seek a safe haven in the UK or in other parts of the empire?

In Zionist history, British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin (Labour) is remembered as one of the bitterest enemies of the Jewish people. This senior Labour politician had opposed removing the limiting of Jewish immigration to Palestine. Is this Zionist chronicle of Labour anti-Jewish politics going to be explored in the holocaust monument?

In 1937, as the rate of Jewish refugees looking to immigrate to Britain increased, the British government created stricter standards for those whom they would admit. One was that refugees had to have ₤50 deposited in an overseas bank, but in Germany it was against the law to possess foreign currency. If this was not enough to stop Jewish immigration from Germany, the British government limited the number of immigrants in 1938 and 1939. Practically speaking, the British government turned its back on German and Austrian Jews.

The prime minister vowed that “in the face of despicable holocaust denial, this memorial will stand to preserve the truth forever”. I am here to tell you with confidence that the British holocaust memorial will in fact conceal British complicity in the destruction of European Jewry.

Mrs May was joined by all the living former UK prime ministers: David Cameron, Gordon Brown, Tony Blair and John Major. With the exception of Major, all the other living ex-prime ministers have been involved in a lot of death and carnage. While Blair and Brown led this country to a disastrous criminal war in Iraq that resulted in millions of casualties, it was Cameron who managed to pull this country into a chain of disasters in Libya, Syria and beyond.

Blair, whom a third of the British people see as a war criminal, said in his message that “anti-Semitism and hate did not end in 1945. Unfortunately, today some of this poison is back from the political fringe to parts of the political mainstream.” Blair was probably referring to his own party, which is struggling to disown the criminal past he himself inflicted on it. But the truth of the matter is that anti-Semitism didn’t die in 1945, certainly not in Britain. The postwar Labour government went out of its way to make the lives of Jewish holocaust survivors impossible. In Zionist history, British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin (Labour) is remembered as one of the bitterest enemies of the Jewish people. This senior Labour politician had opposed removing the limiting of Jewish immigration to Palestine. Is this Zionist chronicle of Labour anti-Jewish politics going to be explored in the holocaust monument? 

Millions of innocent people lost their lives due to the crimes of the empire, yet our ethically compromised prime minister and her predecessors are committed to the commemoration of crimes that were committed by another people. Is this the ethical message we are supposed to pass to the next generations? Is zero self-reflection a new British value?

It doesn’t take a genius to gather why Blair and Brown are so enthusiastic about a museum that chronicles Nazi crimes rather than a proper and timely institute that would explore their own crimes in Iraq. It is pretty clear why Cameron prefers to divert attention from his own blunders in Syria and Libya. But it goes further. Britain and its empire have a long list of crimes against humanity to account for: slavery, concentration camps in the Boer war, the partitioning of India, the destruction of Palestine, famines in Ireland and Bengal. Millions of innocent people lost their lives due to the crimes of the empire, yet our ethically compromised prime minister and her predecessors are committed to the commemoration of crimes that were committed by another people. Is this the ethical message we are supposed to pass to the next generations? Is zero self-reflection a new British value?

I have learned that Jeremy Corbyn, the person who according to the polls is destined to become Britain’s next prime minister, is not at all different from his predecessors. Corbyn, who at a certain point claimed to care for the many, is now subscribing to the primacy of Jewish suffering. Corbyn was quick to announce that he also would “strongly support permanent commemoration, including a national memorial, alongside extra investment in educational programmes”. I guess that supporting a holocaust memorial is an entry ticket to 10 Downing Street.

Valley of the sex dolls: Our post-apocalyptic future is grimmer than you thought

Sam Spruce

April 23, 2019

“OUR INCREASINGLY DESECRATED LANDSCAPE”
[Warning: Adult content. Offensive image.]

After reading this excerpt by Cory Morningstar I could not help but recall my recent findings on the picturesque banks of the Haven. Since she seems to write better than I do, I felt I would have said something like this if I could, and so I decided to present the least offensive, whilst still informative, image I have of my encounter along with Cory’s excerpt. What I have read of her work to date leads me also to recommend her work in general. I’ve included a link to her Patreon account.
==============================

Valley of the Sex Dolls: Our Post-Apocalyptic Future Is Grimmer Than You Thought
by Cory Morningstar
Published December 12, 2018
Excerpt:

The near-term and even more so post-apocalyptic future will be grim – a reflection of the neoliberal and patriarchal ideologies that will bring us face to face to a new form of mind pollution – a collective conditioning to the continued social degradation of women. With the rise and proliferation of plastic sex dolls and sexbots – our increasingly desecrated landscapes will soon be filling up with disposable bodies. Many dismembered and almost exclusively, female in form.

Industrial scale production is already here. Akin to a slaughterhouse, these life-like forms hang suspended from the ceiling on chains bound to the neck. Row upon row, the headless forms represent a new era in commodification, exploitation and ultimate degradation – the socially acceptable and financially profitable desecration of the female body.

The irony of the politically correct backlash toward plastic straws in contrast to the acceptable growing tsunami of plastic waste exclusively in female form – is lost. Silicone heads, torsos, breasts, arms, legs, removable vaginas, dirty and worn, will protrude from garbage bags and trash bins. A growing number of these forms will resemble dead children – the discarded remains of the anatomically-correct imitations of five-year-old girls, created exclusively for paedophiles. After all, according to the manufacturers, “It’s not worth living if you have to live with repressed desire.”

As a sign of the depravity of man, rivers, streams, lakes, oceans and all other places of waste disposal will overflow with plastic corpses that grossly mimic the female form. The sheer abundance of female bodies floating face down – or face up – will become so commonplace, an already desensitized society will become even more indifferent to the grotesque spectacle. Left solely to the machinations of men, female body parts fill up landfills by the tens of thousands – to such an extent – real women will be indistinguishable from the plastic corpses, literally lost amongst the rubbish.
==============================

WATCH Julian Assange dragged out of Ecuadorian embassy and arrested

RT.com

11 Apr, 2019

© Ruptly

Video shows whistleblower and Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange being carried out of the Ecuadorian embassy in London by force, before being shoved into a police vehicle.

In exclusive footage from RT’s Ruptly video agency, a disheveled Assange complete with full white beard is seen being carried out of the building by several men holding him by the limbs.

The whistleblower had been living in the embassy for the last seven years protected by political asylum, which was dropped earlier in the day by Ecuador.

UK Absolute Child Poverty Hits 3.7m Amid Brexit Chaos, Jumps 200,000 In One Year

Roughly 3.7m children are living in absolute poverty across the UK, an increase of 200,000 in a year, new data from the UK government has revealed.

© East News / Hazel Thompson

sputniknews.com

28.03.2019

Whilst the rate of absolute child poverty has decreased gradually since 2012, figures have begun to rise again, new UK government data revealed on Thursday.

Roughly 3.7m children are living in absolute poverty across the UK, an increase of 200,000 in a year, new data from the UK government has revealed.

The new figures have challenged claims from British cabinet ministers who said last year that absolute poverty rates had been falling.

The news comes after a Resolution Foundation study showed last month that the number of children living in poverty would instigate a crisis by 2023 — 2024 if the government failed to implement effective changes to universal credit and other UK benefits systems.

The Resolution Foundation said that the main factors driving UK income inequality were benefits and tax credit cuts, which hit lower and working class families with over two children the most.

© AFP 2019 / LINDSEY PARNABY

Research from the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) in line with the new data also showed that the Cabinet’s four-year freeze on child benefits would result in losses of roughly £240 per year for families.

CPAG chief executive Alison Garnham said: “Despite high employment, today’s figures reveal that 70 per cent of children living under the poverty line have at least one parent in work. That is not an economy that is working for everyone.”

She added that the increase in child poverty for working families had been “widely anticipated and could have been avoided” but that the government chose to ignore the dangers and missed “another opportunity to do the right thing for children and families despite the fact that the freeze had already achieved its planned savings”.

“At this critical point in the UK’s history, we need to step back and ask what kind of country we want for our children.”

Such cuts to social welfare systems, in addition to Brexit, were fuelling the increasing poverty numbers, according to a report in November from the UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights.

UK ministers were “looking at what more can be done to help the most vulnerable and improve their life chances,” a government spokesperson said. “Tackling poverty will always be a priority for this government, and we take these numbers extremely seriously.”

“Employment is at a record high, wages are outstripping inflation and income inequality and absolute poverty are lower than in 2010,” the spokesperson added. “But we know some families need more support, which is why we continue to spend £95bn a year on working-age benefits.”

4.5 million UK children living in poverty: Study

More than 14 million people, including 4.5 million children, are living below the breadline in the UK, a study showed.

Source: PressTV-4.5 million UK children living in poverty: Study

PressTV.com

Mon Jan 21, 2019

The UK government abolished child poverty targets in 2015. (File photo)

More than 14 million people are living in poverty in the UK, according to a major report proposing a new measure of financial hardship which considers the impact of “inescapable” costs such as childcare and disability.

The research by the Social Metrics Commission (SMC) found that 14.2 million people were living in poverty under the new measure, of which 4.5 million were children and 1.4 million were people of pension age, according to The Independent.

Of that total figure, 7.7 million people were found to be living in “persistent poverty”, meaning they had spent all or most of the last four years or more in poverty, while 6.9 million were living in families with a disabled person.

The figure in the report marks a rise on findings by the independent Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) last year which showed 14 million people in the UK were in poverty.

The SMC said its work over the last two and a half years has given rise to a new measure which makes “significant changes to our understanding of who is in poverty”.

The new measure accounts for the negative impact on people’s weekly income of “inescapable” costs such as childcare and the impact that disability has on people’s needs, and includes the positive impacts of being able to access liquid assets such as savings.

It also takes the first steps to including groups of people previously omitted from poverty statistics, like those living on the streets or in overcrowded housing, SMC chair Baroness Stroud said.

The report finds that the majority (68 percent) of people living in workless families are in poverty, compared to 9 percent for people living in families where all adults work full time.

There are 2.5 million people in the UK who are less than 10 percent above the poverty line, meaning that relatively small changes in their circumstances could mean they fall below it, the commission found.

Margaret Greenwood, Labour’s shadow work and pensions secretary, said: “The government’s strategy to tackle poverty consists of trying to mask the deep cuts it has made to social security by disputing the numbers of people in poverty.”

“The new measure importantly shows the impact of debt, housing and child care costs, and the extra costs that disabled people face. The extent of poverty it reveals among disabled people and their families is a major concern given the severe cuts to support to them in Universal Credit.”

Sam Royston, director of policy and research at the Children’s Society, said it was “extremely worrying” that nearly a third of children – around 4.5 million – were living in poverty according to the proposed new measure.

“This important report rightly suggests that inescapable costs like childcare, housing and support for children with a disability should be taken into account when measuring poverty,” he said.

“When these are considered children sadly make up a greater proportion of those in poverty than previously recognised and they can contribute to situations in which families are left struggling to make ends meet and facing impossible choices between essentials like eating and heating.”

The report also revealed “some areas of good news” with far fewer pensioners living in poverty than previously thought following a “significant fall” in pensioner poverty over the last 15 years.

Philippa Stroud, chair of the SMC, said: “For too long it has been possible to have a debate about the measurement of poverty.”

“I call on people and organisations across, and outside of, the political spectrum to support this new measure of poverty so that we can all put our energy into creating the policies and solutions that build pathways out of poverty.”

A UK government spokeswoman said: “Measuring poverty is complex, and this report offers further insight into that complexity and the additional measures that can be taken into consideration.”

”This government is committed to making a positive difference to the outcomes for poor and disadvantaged families and children.”

“Through our welfare reforms we are providing personalized support, helping people overcome their specific barriers and allowing them to progress into work and then progress in work – as we know this still remains the best route out of poverty.”

”Running parallel with that support, we continue to spend £90bn a year on working age benefits to provide a safety net for those who need it when they need it, and we will be spending £54bn this year, more than ever before, to support disabled people and those with health conditions.“

Hundreds die on UK streets as homelessness reaches record levels

Over the last five years, an estimated 2,627 homeless people have perished on the streets.

Source: Hundreds die on UK streets as homelessness reaches record levels – World Socialist Web Site

http://www.wsws.org

By Margot Miller
3 January 2019

Thousands of people are living on the streets in every UK town and city and a record number of roofless people are dying.

One encounters homeless people on every major high street—sitting, sleeping, begging, wrapped in a sleeping bag or blankets in an attempt to keep out the winter cold.

Homelessness shot to national prominence again over the holiday period when a man died just feet from Parliament on December 20. Hungarian national Gyula Remes had been homeless for the last three months. According to friends, he had just found a job as a chef’s assistant and was hoping to be off the streets soon.

His death came as the Office for National Statistics revealed figures showing that almost 600 people died in 2017 while sleeping rough on the streets. The grim tally of 597 dead marks a 24 percent increase over the last five years, with the highest numbers in London and the north west of England. Over the last five years, an estimated 2,627 homeless people have perished on the streets.

There were 50 deaths on the streets of Greater Manchester last year, with homeless people dying at a higher rate, relative to population, than London, where 136 homeless people died.

In the region’s main city, Manchester, on December 26, Tony Lawless, who had been a rough sleeper on and off since the death of his father, was found dead in Rochdale canal. The former market worker had just been released from North Manchester General after collapsing on Christmas Day and was 51 years old.

Homeless people often resort to sleeping in refuse bins, which has led to several deaths. Last January, Russell Lane, 51, died from his injuries after being tipped into the back of a refuse lorry in Rochester, Kent. He had wrapped himself in a disused roll of carpet in the bin.

The number of rough sleepers in England doubled in 2017 to 4,571, from 1,768 in 2010, according to the House of Commons Library, which also reported average life expectancy for a rough sleeper at just 47 for a male and 43 for a woman.

The first published deaths of the homeless on the street coincide with the latest figures released by the Crisis charity, revealing a record 170,000 families and individuals without homes. The number is expected to rise.

Research carried out at Heriot-Watt University on behalf of Crisis found a year-on-year increase in homelessness between 2012 and 2017. Approximately 38,000 under-25s and 4,200 over-65s are homeless.

There are 170,800 homeless households in comparison to 151,600 in 2012. Included in this figure are those who are rough sleeping, sofa-surfing, or staying in hostels.

Crisis lays the blame at the doors of government, including policies which have created an acute shortage of genuinely affordable social housing, reduced Housing Benefit which no longer covers rent and is not available to under 25s, and youth thrust out of the care system aged 18 without provision. John Sparkes, chief executive, said, “This new research echoes what we see every day in our front-line work—that there is no such thing as a ‘typical’ homeless person … this crisis is affecting people who range from young care-leavers to pensioners. … This is a wake-up call to see homelessness as a national emergency.”

These figures are corroborated by housing charity Shelter, which revealed at the end of November that there are 320,000 homeless people living in Britain, an increase of 25,000 since last year. This figure, which includes people in working families, is likely an underestimate. Official figures only include those in contact with local authorities and not the hidden homeless residing with family or friends.

Shelter Chief executive Polly Neate said, “Due to the perfect storm of spiralling rents, welfare cuts and a total lack of social housing, record numbers of people are sleeping out on the streets or stuck in the cramped confines of a hostel room.”

The charity cited one of the causes of rising homelessness as the low level of housing benefit—a means-tested welfare benefit to help meet costs for rented accommodation—which does not cover average rent. The local housing allowance in Manchester, for example, is set at £532 a month for a family needing a three-bedroom house. However, private landlords, apart from student lets, ask for rents of £800 per month and upwards.

The homeless crisis has become so visible and public anger so widespread that Theresa May’s Conservative government has been forced to retract its previous denial of responsibility. Just prior to Christmas, Housing Minister James Brokenshire said the Conservatives “need to ask ourselves some very hard questions” regarding the increase in rough sleepers since the government came to office, and that what was necessary were “changes to policy.”

This was just PR, with the government doing virtually nothing to ameliorate an appalling crisis. After announcing “the end of austerity” in September, May allocated a measly £100 million—a repackaging of money already announced—as part of the government’s “Rough Sleepers Strategy” that is supposedly to eradicate rough sleeping by 2027!

Leading politicians of all parties, whose austerity policies over decades are responsible for the crisis, interrupted their Christmas celebrations for a show of sympathy for the homeless and destitute.

In recent weeks, the public have been forced to endure the obscene spectacle of Conservative MPs visiting food banks and supermarket food bank drop-off points for photo-ops. Among these were Dominic Raab, who infamously said in 2017 that those using foodbanks were people “who had a cashflow problem episodically.” The reality is that huge swathes of the population are going hungry and being forced onto the streets due to more than a decade of brutal anti-social policies, such as the bedroom tax and universal credit.

Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn visited a homeless hostel run by Crisis in his Islington constituency on Christmas Eve. In his Christmas message he invoked the spirit of the Good Samaritan, while his government-in-waiting has bent over backwards to reassure the rich it will not encroach on their ill-gotten gains to provide essential services.

Labour’s promise of initial funding of £100 million for one year into a rough sleepers’ cold weather fund is derisory and would not end rough sleeping. Corbyn acknowledged as much when he suggested Labour in office would repeal the 1824 Vagrancy Act, under which there have been 2,365 prosecutions in 2015-2016. This would make it legal to sleep and beg on the streets but would not eradicate the causes of destitution.

The homeless crisis is an indictment of a failed system, capitalism. Beginning in the 1980s under Margaret Thatcher, and pursued enthusiastically by subsequent Labour governments, over 1.5 million council houses were sold off as the building of new stock ground to a halt. Last year only 6,463 homes were built in England for social rent, while 1.25 million families are on the waiting list.

Labour councils throughout the UK have implemented every cut imposed by central government and implemented privatisation of services with zeal. In London, residents have organised in opposition to the regeneration plans of Labour’s mayor Sadiq Khan, which involve the demolition of 8,000 council estate homes so property developers can get their hands on prime real estate to make a killing.

Greater Manchester’s social housing stock has declined by 5 percent in the six years since 2012 and 85,639 households languish on Labour council-run housing waiting lists. This led to 2,000 children spending their Christmas in emergency accommodation.

Gentrification and social cleansing are happening everywhere, with city skylines crowded with cranes and newly built luxury high-rise blocks that are unaffordable to everyone but the richest.

The resources can and must be found to provide safe, decent homes for all. The wealth of the billionaires and super-rich, acquired by exploiting the working class, must be expropriated to meet urgent, life or death, social needs.

$1.07 Trillion Wasted In Afghan War In 17 Years

The 2001 US-led military invasion in Afghanistan has caused incalculable suffering, civilian casualties, with record levels of territory retaken by a growing Taliban insurgency.

Source: What Could NATO States Do With $1.07 Trillion Spent on Afghan War Since 2001? – Sputnik International

sputniknews.com

Dec 6, 2018

© AP Photo / Mohammad Anwar Danishyar

What Could NATO States Do With $1.07 Trillion Spent on Afghan War Since 2001?

The 2001 US-led military invasion in Afghanistan has caused incalculable suffering, civilian casualties, with record levels of territory retaken by a growing Taliban insurgency.

A damning 2016 report from the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) also revealed that US expenses on the War in Afghanistan were astronomically high, opaque and endless due to a mixture of corruption and substandard contracting work opening a black hole in NATO budgets.

As of 26 November 2018, the NATO Afghan National Army (ANA) Trust Fund estimated the defence bloc’s total contributions to surpass $2.5 billion alone, despite the Taliban controlling over 50 percent of Afghanistan.

17 years later, the US has spent $1.07 trillion, including a total initial cost of $773 and $243 Department of Defence (DoD0 increase, among others. People are left scratching their heads as Afghan High Peace Council and Taliban forces prepare to strike peace accords in Moscow, not Washington.

Analysts at Sputnik have crunched a few numbers to determine how $1.07tn could have been spent on better, more productive activities.

Ending Poverty Across the Planet 

It would cost $175bn (£137bn) a year for 20 years to end world poverty, which is pence on the pounds for the wealthy elite and a mere four times the annual US military budget, according to the Borgen Project. With 3.5 trillion quid, you could pretty much make the whole planet great again.

With the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank worth twice that of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, $100bn alone is a worthwhile investment for tackling global inequality.

Paying Off the F-35 Nightmare 

US taxpayers will pay roughly 1.508 trillion up to 2070 for the Pentagon’s F-35 Lightening II Joint Strike Force “flying boondoggle” programme. With the extra funds saved by using diplomacy, the US could have bought 11,888 F-35 units, or nearly 410 per NATO country. Conversely, the Pentagon could nearly pay off the cost of funding the programme altogether and fixed the fighter jet’s 966 deficiencies. However, one F-35 costs $30,000 per hour to fly, so budget accordingly.

Speeches from Hillary Clinton. Anytime. Anywhere. 

Disgraced 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton received a one-off $675,000 payout from Goldman Sachs to speak privately at Wall Street functions in 2016, whilst earning a total of $22m in speeches since leaving her Secretary of State post 2013.

Costs saved from the Afghan invasion could have allowed Americans $4.4m per year, $366,666 per month and $12,222 per day to listen to Hillary Clinton squawk about Russian aggression and losing elections — a small price to pay for protecting freedom.

© Recode

Hillary Clinton moments after making a racist joke in an interview with Recode.

The Great Border Wall of America

The Trump administration has asked Congress for a staggering $25bn to fund the roughly 2,000-mile-wide US-Mexico border wall, a Government Accountability Office report found. Should President Trump’s assessment prove correct, the US could have used its Afghan expenses to fund an efficient and timely border wall programme along the US border 42.8 times, surpassing the Great Wall (13,171 miles) of China 6.4 times in length.

© AP Photo/ Rustam Nazari

‘Hasn’t Been Smart’: 49 Percent of Americans Call 17-Year Afghan War a Failure

350 million on NHS, Brexit Divorce Bill 

According to 2016 figures, the UK Ministry of Defence spent £58.3bn, or 2.2% of GDP on NATO expenses, with plans to inject £178bn in weapons over 10 years, a 2017 UK government document showed. With the money UK’s defence ministers plan to spend, Britain could instead fund missing £350m NHS hole 509 times and could also pay off 4.5 Brexit divorce bills.

© AP Photo / Rui Vieira

Conservative Party Leader and Prime Minister Theresa May dances as she arrives on stage to address delegates during a speech at the Conservative Party Conference at the ICC, in Birmingham, England, Wednesday, Oct. 3 , 2018.

NATO Puppies for Peace Programme 

© Photo: Screenshot

Leave Me Alone: Golden Retriever Annoyed by Fellow Puppy

Owning a dog will cost roughly £12k-17k throughout their lifetime, the People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals states. Based on this, the US could have supplied 71.3m Americans with low-maintenance puppies. With a population of 35.5m people, you could buy every Afghan citizen two puppies for life instead, ending the war by uniting a divided and battle-weary Afghan population in mere minutes, with billions to spare.