Jobs are to go, vital services are to be cut, education is on the verge of only being available to those who can pay for it. Yep that’s situation right now in the whole country. Every working class citizen in Scotland is going to feel the impact of the cuts the worst and Aberdeen has announced whats to go (this time round). Cuts in Aberdeen have already seen swimming pools shut, day centres for the disabled gone and it almost lead to the closure of the charity Glencraft (a charity that trains blind and partially sighted people to manufacture furniture). So without further delay here’s the “highlights” of the cuts!!!….
In total £70,000,000 worth of cuts have been revealed (some cuts proposed are not yet approved however with only £25.5 million of the cuts been implemented I can only assume that the proposed cuts will be passed easily). Aberdeen City council are not even halfway through the measures to “save” (nice way of saying “cut”) £120,000,000. The confirmed cuts include a £9,000,000 drop in funding for services that help children with special needs. £1.4 million will be saved by “maximising class sizes” at secondary school. In a shocking move the funding to the Fire department is to be reduced to save £2.1 million! It wont be long until scenes like THESE are hitting the streets of Aberdeen. However I feel that the most stingy one of all has to be the £173,000 saving the council will make on on closing two council-run care homes!
Two angry Aberdonians!
This announcement comes only weeks after Aberdeenshire announced plans to axe 900 jobs. Most of these jobs will lost be in education as both City and Shire councils have expressed an interest in cutting the number of schools and amalgamating many. In the list of jobs going most are from the “ring fenced” sectors. Care assistants are set to lose out as are ; teaching assistants, nurses, fire fighters, paramedics. The list goes on and on! We were told by David Cameron and Nick Clegg that vital services would be “ring fenced” but they clearly haven’t. However being a young student from what many would consider a middle-class town I am used to be lied to by the Lib Dems. As for the Tories they were game for these cuts as it is an ideological want.
How can I spell this out to you? I can use three words, “Aberdeen is fucked”. We have been lead by an awful council who have managed to royally fuck everything up! I emphasise EVERYTHING! The case for socialism is as strong now as it ever will be. Aberdeen City Council has been lead by right wing policies aimed at making profits at the expense of the people. The councillors are rolling out savage cuts but continue to lust for Sir Ian Wood and his dreams of concreting over Union Terrace Gardens. Whilst the citizens of Aberdeen are walking the un-gritted streets as the council cannot afford to grit them the council are seriously considering
Time to show the "Red hand of Aberdeen" to the council!
subsidising this millionaire’s wee project so he can make more profit! It’s madness! As socialists we are fighting against these regressive cuts that are targeting the working classes and the vulnerable. It drives me round the bend when I hear people saying “Socialism doesn’t work”, what evidence is there to show this? Capitalism is failing, miserably! All you have to do is see how this country has been brought down to it’s knees by the rich bankers and this country’s solution? Punish the poor, punish the working classes, punish the students, punish the pensioners in fact punish anyone apart from the people who cause the crisis. That is way our country is run and it is great to see some resistance to this. From students in Aberdeen occupying Tory HQ to students doing mass walkouts in cities all over Scotland. Hopefully this will stimulate more militant action from Aberdeen. Aberdeen is a great city but at the hands of capitalists it is becoming a soul-less, poorly maintained city that is at risk of becoming gripped in mass poverty due the public sector being destroyed, the over-reliance on oil companies and the increasing size of the private sector.
No Pasaran! SSP at one of many anti-fascist demos.
Over the past few months there has been a worrying growth in fascist activity in Aberdeen. The National Front have been distributing their racist propaganda to several secondary schools in Aberdeen in which they blame immigrants and Muslims for all of the country’s problems. As an anti-fascist I find this rather worrying as they are handing out filth to young pupils who are in a vulnerable position. Most secondary schools in Aberdeen are set for a huge overhaul as the cuts are impacting schools in Aberdeen deeply with the proposed move to cut the number of secondary schools in Aberdeen from 12 to 8. This has understandably upset pupils who are disillusioned with the current set of politicians running the country. The National Front has seen this as an opportunity to instill fascist ideologies into secondary school pupils while they can.
A couple of weeks ago the SSY were up in Aberdeen and handed out anti fascist leaflets at the train station with a great feedback. There is broad agreement within the city that we have to oppose these fascists. The Aberdeen Anti Fascist Alliance held a meeting recently. It was widely agreed that the people that the National Front are targeting have to be educated about fascism and why it is not acceptable. These events will be fun but will also have a strong anti fascist message.
Aberdeen shows what it thinks of fascism!
The rise in fascism is not the first time this has happened to Aberdeen. In the 1920’s the British Union of Fascists were based in Aberdeen however they were chased out of town many times. Never has history been more relevant to anti fascism. Aberdonians and everyone in the UK should look at the great anti fascist movements in the early 20th century as inspiration. Aberdeen, like all Scottish Cities contributed to anti fascism in the 1920’s and there were many international brigadiers from Aberdeen who fought against the fascist uprising as the UK government stepped back and let a democratically elected government fall to fascism in Spain. Although the National Front do not pose the same threat we cannot under estimate them and we have got to oppose them at all times. More recently Aberdeen has shown that it doesn’t support fascism with the BNP’s disappointing election results and destroyed billboard.
Thanks to Liam Turbett for making the anti-fa leaflet for us!
On the 9th of October, in the deepest, darkest Menie there was a collective hate for a certain knob head as hundreds of anti-Trump protesters gathered to show their great discontent towards the American tycoon. Trump thinks that it is ok to evict people out of their homes for his own profitable gain. Today the basic message was that we don’t want Trump or his course or his complete contempt for human rights.
The march had a great reception and turnout with a clearly visible media presence. This event was attended by local residents, pressure groups and ourselves. It was widely agreed that this area is beautiful and should remain the way it has been for thousands of years and should be used for rolling down. The walk was from the Menie visitors centre to “The Bunker” where we all gave Trump’s security a wave! The rude bastards didn’t wave back! Between the visitors centre and The Bunker we walked through the great sand dunes and got to see the fantastic landscape which is at serious risk of no longer existing if Trump gets his way.
We got off the bus and were greeted by Tripping Up Trump activists and organisers. After a quick talk we were starting the walk. This great landscape could soon become a playground for Trump and his rich, corrupt friends whose quality of lives will not be changed by their mistakes. There is no denying the scenery is fantastic and no one can blame Trump for loving it but the moment you alter the dunes in any way thousands of years of development is wiped off, as if it never existed. This is what Trump wants to do. His desire is to destroy this beautiful part of the world so he can add couple million to HIS bank account and NOT to the local economy (which he claims he’s doing it for). The local media in Aberdeen have publicly declared their support for the course claimed that it will fill the gap for the oil industry. This to me seems odd as I cannot see how Trump will offer wages of £8+ to 500,000 people to work on his course as cleaners, KPs, Bar staff without going bust. Therefore he cannot replace the oil industry with one measly golf course. It is impossible to have 500,000 people work on a golf course. Furthermore when the oil industry goes Aberdeen will be broke unless if there is investment into renewable energies. No-one will afford to go onto this course anyways but once all the big oil managers in Aberdeen lose their jobs who will go on. I rest my case.
TUT flags fluttering in the great Menie winds.
The march was attended by 300 odd people and a further 100,000 dogs. After quick speeches at” The Bunker” a few SSY members headed back to a church hall for a meet and greet with Tripping Up Trump and for some free grub! There was information posted on all walls. There was a picture of a map showing what Trump wants to do and where Michael Forbes’ home sits in all this. Forbes is standing strong in his house and putting up a great resistance towards Trump and his international organisation and everyone has to praise him significantly for that. Forbes’ home is in the middle of Trump’s vision of luxury (Yes! Luxury being a concrete jungle in the middle of one of the most scenic places in the world.) When you see this for yourself you really understand the struggle the homeowners are facing just to keep onto their homes let alone protecting the local environment. If Trump gets to use Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPOs) it would sum up what Capitalists think of human rights, “Fuck them, I want Profit.”
This is a campaign in which we as Socialists can fight against. On one level it is showing what sort of people are running this country that they would vote down his course but then he flashes a bit of money and he’s got it, corruption of the highest order. The councillors had a very low price to sell out. From another perspective we cannot let a multi billionaire treat ordinary people like this. It is unbelievably selfish and arrogant of Trump to turn up with a wee bit o’ a swagger and get what he wants. He genuinely believed that this would be a matter of “Greetings mein fuhrer Trump, anything you want you can get it, no questions asked.” Well he is in the middle of big square go with lots of people and we will not be defeated.
I spent last weekend up in the metropolis of Menie and its near neighbour, a wee place called Aberdeen. It may be a 7-hour round trip and it may cost £26.50 (!!!?!) just for a single ticket on the bus from the ‘Deen back to Gleska; but it was worth it for the 2 great events I attended.
The first was the magnificent ‘March of Menie’ organised by Tripping Up Trump, protesting against Donald ‘The Chump’
i wish that wig would blow off
Trump’s plans to evict local residents and wreck a Site of Special Scientific Interest, just so he can build a new golf course. His project will, I imagine, be enjoyed mainly by an elite group of fat rich men, who use cat-o-ninetails on their caddies and light giant cigars with $100 bills.
A report of the demo will follow as soon as ‘pride of Aberdeen SSP’ Euan Benzie gets his finger out and indulges his blogging skillz. But I can tell you that there were up to 300 people on the march, representing a good balance of locals and visitors, from a vast array of backgrounds. Very impressive for rural Aberdeenshire, disproving Trump’s claims that his plans are opposed by “three men and a dog”. There was a good 15-20 dogs, actually. It is a truly amazing place, with beautiful coastal scenery, amazing sand-dunes, and wild stags frolicking all over the shop. It’d be a shame to wreck it by turning it into a playground for rich bastards.
Back in Aberdeen, there were a few beers (and ciders and rums) at a comrade’s house, followed the next day by a meeting of SSY’s National Executive Committee. This was the first time in a long time we’ve had a meeting like this up in the North-East and it was overdue considering there’s been a good number of active members up there for a few months. It was a really productive day and we planned loads of exciting stuff, some of which I’m gonna unveil RIGHT NOW!
First of all, we’re getting right behind the STUC’s new campaign, There Is A Better Way. Expect to hear more about this is coming days, as there’s gonna be a big demo in Edinburgh on the 23rd October. More about that on the Better Way website.
march against cameron and clegg's cuts
The gist is that they’re providing a focal point for widespread opposition to the ConDem cuts, which, as everyone knows, are ideologically-driven rather than economically necessary. They’re calling for Jobs, Services, Fairer Taxes and a Living Wage. Quite right. Different unions are running free buses to Edinburgh on the day, so get in touch with the STUC to get yourself on one, or drop us an email at scottishsocialistyouth@gmail.com and we’ll keep you in the loop. I think it’s gonna be a big demo.
Also in October (probably) is gonna be an SSY Glasgow Halloween extravaganza fundraiser thing. This will (probably) involve booze, dancing, great costumes (NB ‘HILARIOUS’ KKK/NAZI UNIFORMS NOT ALLOWED!) and all the usual Halloween fun, which will (hopefully) make us loadsa money. Muahahahaha.
Back to Aberdeen again, and we’ve got plans for a mega dayschool entitled ‘Silver City Socialism’ on the 4th of December. Expect workshops on Palestine Solidarity, What Socialists Stand For, organising against racists & fascists, feminism and the aforementioned TuT campaign. If you live in the area or just like the sound of it, then make sure to get yourself along. There will be an afterparty including vegan mince pies, mulled wine and an Alternative Xmas mix CD. Full details to follow, this one’s gonna be a cracker.
Finally and perhaps most excitingly, we decided to make a big fuss of ourselves and organise a tour to publicise the launch of the SSP’s pamphlet on Afghanistan (buy it here!), written by SSY members Andy Bowden and Jack Ferguson. The Party has been consistent in opposing imperialist intervention, and the pamphlet examines Afghan history and some of the geopolitical reasons for the invasion and occupation. Despite sounding heavy, it’s actually really well put together and easy to read; a good one for people who know nothing about the issue and seasoned anti-war activists alike. It’s a bargain buy and all profits go to the Revolutionary Association of theWomen of Afghanistan. Expect a forthcoming announcement on dates for the tour which will be coming to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, St Andrews, Dundee and possibly Stirling. We’ll have a range of different speakers and plenty of space for debate and discussion.
At a time of failing military missions and impending Tory attacks on our class’s living conditions, there is a helluva lot for young socialists to be out campaigning on. SSY is right in about it like a dog eatin hot chips.
Billionaire vandal and all round dick Donald Trump has controversially been awarded an honorary degree by Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen.
Trump wants to kick people out of their homes (with a little help from his minions in the local council) in the Menie estate in Aberdeenshire, destroying the important local dunes ecosystem in the process. This is all in order to build a multi million pound playground for fellow rich bastards -- a golf course, luxury hotel and various other things completely useless, unlike the home for people and wildlife it is currently.
Not surprisingly this has pissed a lot of people off. So the news that an Aberdeen based uni has decided to honour him has folk up in arms.
RGU have said the degree is for his exceptional wrecking people’s lives for his own amusement skills “business acumen” and “the future his company is planning for the North East of Scotland” -- a future of ordinary people kicked and a beautiful place reduced to an ecological deadzone for those with more money than sense to hit balls around with sticks.
The Trump Mafia Organisation has been subjecting local people to some pretty serious intimidation. And now he’s not only getting away with his unbelievably behaviour, he’s being given an award for it!
One man who was particularly unhappy was the former principal of RGU, Dr David Kennedy, who was a key figure at the uni from 1987-97. He’s handed back his own honorary degree in protest. He said (not mincing his words):
“It’s an insult to decent people everywhere. Mr Trump is simply not a suitable person to be given an honorary
Former RGU Principal Dr David Kennedy hands back his own degree in disgust
degree and he should not be held up as an example of how to conduct business. Mr Trump’s behaviour in north-east Scotland has been deplorable from the first, particularly in how he has treated his neighbours.
“The university needs to realise how strongly people feel about this issue. I can think of no better way to express my anger at the decision to honour Mr Trump than to return my own honorary doctorate to the university.
“I would not want to hold the award after Mr Trump has received his.”
This Saturday the Tripping Up Trump campaign is organising the March of Menie to protest about the decision, and Trump’s outrageous actions. It’s a great chance to come down and show your support for the people that live there. The march is meeting at the Balmedie visitor centre at 12, and marching to The Bunker, a plot of land bought up Tripping Up Trump. (See their ace wee film below).
In the words of the campaign:
The Fremen warriors are very upset about the threat to the Dunes
“Bring, friends, family, flags and noise for what is going to be an excellent fun way to show Trump that we will stand up to him. At The Bunker there will games, bagpipes and we’ll take a giant photo.
After the March we’re holding an exhibition to showcase the unique and picturesque dunes at the The Whitehorse from 2-5pm. Refreshments and snacks will be available.”
If you’re in Glasgow and fancy a wee day out, Tripping Up Trump have really generously put on a bus up to Aberdeenshire. It’s all paid for, so although they could do with donations towards the cost, if you’re really skint you can still have a nice trip to a lovely place on Saturday, and show your solidarity while you’re at it. Loads of SSY members are going, so it should be a good laugh. The bus is leaving from Glasgow at about 8am (early I know, but Aberdeenshire is a long way away, and it’ll be totally worth it.) Why not come along? Places are limited, so if you’d like a place leave your contact details in the comments and we’ll be in touch!
Although starting late, the event was fantastic – it was really inspiring to see a number of diverse groups pull together and put on a show, explain what it is they stand for and begin to build a support network with each other.
The night consisted of a number of musicians and performers, with poetry and comedy thrown into the mix, as well as speeches given by a representative of each group present. I spent much of the night in a state of nervous panic, awaiting my turn on the soapbox. Somehow, I managed to string together a few coherent sentences on the SSP and what we at the Aberdeen branch have achieved so far, what we hope to achieve in the future and how the people of Aberdeen can band together with us and start making a change today. I got a bit of a cheer and a clap; people signed up for our mailing list, took stickers, bought badges and copies of the Voice, and were generally up for a good discussion, a bit of banter and some home-made cake.
Highlights of the night were: Euan B giving hell to a poor bloke who disagreed with the SSP stance on Afghanistan; the Communist Party of Great Britain not even coming inside the room and just lurking at the door with their stall; making friends with the anarchists and then returning from the stage to discover the cheeky fuckers had eaten all my brownies; getting some inital signatures on the mailing list for the Aberdeen Socialist Women’s Network (never heard of it? that’s cos I’ve just started it!); getting chatted up by a drunken, middle-aged anarchist who really seemed to like the SSY “Take out the Tories” stickers; and watching Ewan and his Dad play a really great set, then joining in when the entire room started stamping feet in time. Who knew that bagpipes could be such a crowd pleaser?
It was amazing to have these different groups, different people, in the same room and for everyone to be interested in what the others had to say, to listen and to converse, without any major argument or disagreement. It can be difficult, sometimes, for those on the Left to organise as a larger, more cohesive movement. The differences between our groups are slight; we have more in common than our in-fighting would suggest. If we are to overcome struggle and achieve anything, we must work together and find points upon which we can agree. There are some major issues, both locally, nationally and internationally, that Aberdeen SSP is concerned about and could be involved in tackling. The cuts that our public services are facing; the worrying trend in our city and shire councils to ignore the wishes of the people and to only listen to those with big money; the continuing war in Afghanistan, and the conflict and unrest in the Middle East. By building links with groups like Aberdeen SPSC, Aberdeen Stop the War, Tripping Up Trump and Friends of Union Terrace Gardens (to name just a few), the Aberdeen branch can throw their weight behind these campaigns and work with as many people as possible to gain empowerment and equality, and to make our voices heard. Suffragette City helped us on our way to building these relationships, and hopefully we will see some worthwhile activism come to fruitation because of it.
An extremly cool, radical cultural and political event is taking place in Aberdeen this Wednesday night with the involvement of SSP/SSY members that is worth letting you all know about!
Aberdeen SSP will be present at a radical cultural event this Wednesday 29th September in the Tunnels, Carnegie Brae. The event is called Suffragette City, and brings together radical and activist groups from around Aberdeen. Along with the Scottish Socialist Party, groups present include the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), Tripping up Trump, and the Scottish Palestinian Solidarity Campaign. Each group will have a stall with their materials and will have a chance to get across their views on the issues that concern them. Along with being a chance for various groups of the left to meet with each other and share ideas and experiences, it will also be a chance for particularly young Aberdonians and students to meet the political and activist groups in their area and talk to them about their politics.
The other aspect of the evening is radical and anti-establishment entertainment. This includes a range of live acts and a clubnight, with full details from the event’s facebook page. One of these acts is a political folk set from our General Election, candidate Ewan Robertson (i.e. myself) and a special guest! (the guest being my dad, also an SSP member, with his bagpipes…) For anyone who thinks they can make it, the event starts at 8pm, and entry is free.
I would urge anyone who is looking for a fun night of radical music combined with meeting many of the left activist groups in Aberdeen and having a chance to find out more about their politics, to come along this Wednesday and take part in both the show and the call to action!
This evening I was at a ‘question time’ hustings at Aberdeen College, with an audience of around 100 social science students and staff, as well as student representatives from Aberdeen’s universities and the NUS. It was only the second event of that kind that I had ever done, and it was the first time I really managed to take on the other parties and challenge them for the frauds I think they are in terms of claiming to represent ordinary people.
Present were the other candidates for Aberdeen North (bar the BNP): Frank Doran, the sitting Labour MP on a pretty decent majority; Stuart Whyte, the Tory who is also a history teacher; Joanna Strathdee, leader of the SNP opposition at Aberdeenshire Council (which is best known for colossaly mishandling the Trump affair); and Kristian Chapman, the 22 year old politics student at Aberdeen Uni who is smoothly trying to make a transition from student to Lib Dem career politician with as little a gap in between as possible, claiming to bring a “New Age of Politics” (I can hear the laughs of derison already). Anyway, of all of them, the one who I’d give least stick to is Joanna, who at least had some decent opinions, even if they weren’t carried very strongly.
The first question was on voter apathy and the expenses, which I made the obvious point that our representatives take a workers’ wage and don’t live at a much higher living standard than those who they claim to represent. However, I then made the point that people aren’t interested because they don’t actually have any real democratic choice in the election, as whichever of the main parties they vote for, they always get the same policies. I quoted John Pilger, who has written that Western democracies have descended into “indistinguishable parties competing for the management of a single ideology state”. Frank Doran disagreed with this, as had Anne Begg, the Aberdeen South Labour MP, when I mentioned this at the last hustings I was at. The reason that Labour representatives find this truth the hardest to accept is because it’s Labour’s sellout to neoliberalism that made this state of affairs the case, something they’d rather ignore. Anyway, Frank Doran made a throwaway comment that there are substantial differences between the parties, before the next hour and a half proceeded to show this to be complete bollocks.
The issue of climate change came up, and while the Tory candidate talked about reducing the domestic carbon footprint (i.e. ignoring the role of business and capitalism in driving ecological destruction) and vague talk of ‘green investment’ was made by the others, I got stuck into talking about (what is one of our best policies IMO) our free public transport policy, ripping into the shitty privatised transport system, especially First Bus, and talking about how we need to take them into public ownership making the service free, which drew enthusiastic clapping from the audience. I will never, ever, tire of explaining how indescribably shit the First Bus service in Aberdeen is, so be prepared in advance for that when any of you next see me! The picture below is from one of the strikes by First Bus drivers, as the company are constantly attacking the wages and conditions of their staff as well as ripping off Aberdonians with extortionate fares.
We also talked about nuclear weapons, with myself and the SNP opposed, Frank Doran opposed (but admitting his party wasn’t), the Tory doing the usual, ‘yes we need to disarm, but it must be multilateral’ i.e. we’ll still spend fucking billions renewing them, and Lib-Dem Chapman murmuring something about ‘reviewing policy’.
Finally we got to the heart of the debate: cuts and the economy. I talked about where the deficit had come from, and that we were different from all the other parties because we said there didn’t have to be cuts: we would scrap Trident, bring the troops home from Afghanistan, raise corporation tax and end tax havens, and the key point: tax the rich. I mentioned the obscene wealth of the richest 1000 people in Britain (who have £335 bn between them, just under half of the total debt of the British state), and the face that inequality has grown massively under the Tories and Labour. The cuts are a way of continuing to transfer wealth from poor to rich, and represent the biggest attack on living standards in a generation.
This led straight onto a question from a staff member (who said he had stood for the council for the SSP a few years back, name is Brian Dunn), on what the parties would do about poverty inequality in this country. Doran for Labour mentioned that they had created the minimum wage, Chapman for Lib-Dem how they would re-jig the benefits and tax system (i.e. a tax break for earnings under £10,000), Strathdee for SNP on what they had done in the Scottish parliament (i.e. bugger all to tackle poverty), and Whyte for Tories on how they would create (plenty of low paid) jobs.
I retorted that the largest growth in poverty was for people already in work but with shitty pay, so the Labour minimum wage was clearly inadequte, as you can see here. Then I said that all of these parties were just tinkering, that the root of the problem was the system of neoliberal capitalism (and capitalism more generally) that had been developed over the last 30 years. I said we would introduce a social living wage of say £10 an hour, redistribute wealth through taxing the rich, increase corporation tax, and take key sectors of the economy into public ownership, such as transport and fuel. I made the point that in Aberdeen, ‘oil capital of Europe’, people still struggle to heat their homes in the winter while private corporations increase there prices to make money off of higher fuel prices. For me this is inhumane and undoubtedly leads to deaths each winter: it is one of the clearest example of the inhuman nature of capitalism and underlines the importance of the “people not profit” slogan. I told people that it was values such as these which was why I was involved with the SSP
I went on to explain that sovereignty lies with the people, that we should govern ourselves, and that we needed to abolish the House of Lords and the monarchy, if we were to live in a democratic socialist republic where we could share wealth more equally and offer everyone a decent standard of living. The gulf between myself and the other parties could not have been more clear. The member of staff who asked the question commented on how all the parties on the panel seemed just to want to tinker with poverty, not sort it. I asked whether he would put the SSP in that catergory, to which he replied “no”.
I did get one challenge on all of this from the Tory candidate who said I seemed to be “paranoid” about people being rich, to which I replied that it was nothing to do with paranoia, but with making the rich pay their fair share so that everyone can enjoy a decent standard of living. That was pretty much the last word of the hustings, bar me plugging the YouTube vidoes.
The hustings ended with a definite mood in the room, in my opinion, of people generally not swallowing the shit the other parties were trying to feed them. Several of the staff members in particular expressed their support for the SSP in the election, and one said he may join after the election. Certainly, by saying things that were so utterly different from the other parties, and rejecting the neoliberal politics the others were peddling, people were given a lot to think about, and the experience made me feel (even more) passionate about our politics. As as aside, in Aberdeen we’ve been having a really good experience with this campaign, and I hope we can carry that on after the election.
Anyway, tomorrow night I have another hustings, this time organised by the CND, and plan to give the other candidates as much of a grilling as I can again over their abysmal offerings of cuts, privatisation, war, renewed Trident, and selling people out to capitalism, in this election.
The whole of Scotland can breath a sign of relief, as the wait it finally over: the SSP campaign for Aberdeen North is about to get underway. Onlookers can look forward to a banging leaflet, a YouTube video of candidate Ewan Robertson (i.e., me) singing his heart out for socialism and ripping all the main parties, the council, and of course Donald Trump is the process, stalls, lamposters, and lots more socialist/election goodness.
However, until we have anything decent to show, you might as well get on the facebook group and invite all your friends, join the youtube channel in anticipation of said video, and feast your eyes on this picture of some Aberdeen SSP/SSY members declaring Aberdeen University a socialist republic for about five minutes before going to the pub. Yassss!
Last week, the BNP triumphantly announced that they’d put up their first ever billboard in Scotland, in Aberdeen. This was the first of three planned in the North East - the area of the country where they’re concentrating most of their resources, particularly following the fall-out which has fractured the party in Glasgow.
Their candidate in Aberdeen is Susan Ross, a nurse and grandmother – clearly someone they’re hoping will give their racist politics a veil of respectability. Although she stands no chance of election – and probably won’t even save her deposit – they’ve previously stated that their tactic is to build up localised support in the hope of gaining a regional list seat in Holyrood next year.
SSY is pleased to learn that local anti-fascists reacted quickly to the BNP advert, despite violent threats from the party of ’round the clock security’ to protect it – we’ve more than one report of attacks by BNP thugs on anti-fascists attempting to get near the billboard.
Well done Aberdeen – No Pasaran!
SSY member Ewan Robertson will be contesting the Aberdeen North seat in the upcoming general election – read more about the campaign here:www.aberdeenssp.org
Jobs are to go, vital services are to be cut, education is on the verge of only being available to those who can pay for it. Yep that’s situation right now in the whole country. Every working class citizen in Scotland is going to feel the impact of the cuts the worst and Aberdeen has announced whats to go (this time round). Cuts in Aberdeen have already seen swimming pools shut, day centres for the disabled gone and it almost lead to the closure of the charity Glencraft (a charity that trains blind and partially sighted people to manufacture furniture). So without further delay here’s the “highlights” of the cuts!!!….
Billionaire vandal and all round dick Donald Trump has controversially been awarded an honorary degree by Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen.
And it was, as the song goes, outta sight!
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