A scene from one of Willie Walsh's nightmares

In yet another example of rich people thinking that what is best for their wallet is best for everyone, British Airways boss Willie Walsh has today criticised the government for daring to cost his airline some money by not letting him fly through VOLCANIC FUCKING ASH. Members of the International Airline Association, i.e. a lot of very rich men who are out to get absolutely every penny of your money while you are hurtling through the air in a metal box and are completely reliant on them for your safety, condemned European governments across the board for not letting them fly when it’s not actually safe to do so. This quote from BBC news says it all:

BA chief executive Willie Walsh – who flew aboard a BA 747 on a test flight through parts of the restricted zone on Sunday – said the airline deemed the risk to be “minimal”.

He is the latest airline boss to speak out against the flight bans imposed across Europe.

Mr Walsh is demanding the authorities lift the flight ban and allow the airlines themselves to judge when it’s safe to fly.

So some planes have flown through some parts of the air that might be near some volcanic ash, and didn’t crash. That’s great for the poor pilots who were told to fly them, but that doesn’t actually prove anything, Willie. Let’s not forget Willie is a union-busting, money-grabbing arsehole who’s been in the news recently condemning trade unions for daring to function within normal practices.

Who would you trust to be the judge of whether it’s safe or not for you to fly through volcanic ash, which has caused engines to switch off mid-flight in similar situations before – a government meteorologist, or a desperate airline owner who’s losing £20 million a day? Of COURSE the airline owners should not be allowed to judge whether it’s safe to fly or not! That is MADNESS!!!!!!! They are unscrupulous bastards who don’t care if you die, so long as you buy 200 fags off their underpaid air stewards before you burst into flames. Don’t listen to what idiots like Willie Walsh have to say – if you need to fly, wait until people who actually know what they’re talking about tell you it’s safe to do so.

Here is a list of ways in which volcanic ash is most definitely dangerous to aeroplanes. Anyone saying that it’s not dangerous, well they’re probably about as intelligent as Richard Littlejohn.

WHO IS THIS MAN? Answers on a postcard to Lembit Opik's 'hash n honeyz fund', Transylvania

TONIGHT! LIVE! The SSY newsdesk brings you a blow by blow account of all the fucking THRILLING developments in the first of three US-style televised UK party leaders’ debates. What we want to know is, where’s oor Colin? He’d jazz the place up wi his funky earrings and tartan troosers.

8.35 – Gordon Brown is wearing a fetching pink tie, David Cameron looks like a taut scrotum, and some other guy’s crashed the party.

8.45 – All of them are being racist chumps with their bullshit immigration and asylum policies. What a surprise.

8.51 – David Cameron “I went to a drugs rehabilitation centre recently”. OO ER! Joining oul Stevie Purcell were you? He’s also saying “hardened” a lot, which is satisfying our childish humour.

9.01 – Gordon Brown claims the Labour party now support an elected House of Lords. WHAT’S THE POINT IN THAT, IDIOT? Abolish the fuckers. And the Queen.

9.08 – They’re all saying that they back having ‘recall elections’ for MPs when the public think they’ve got out of hand – a populist policy in the wake of the expenses scandal. This is of course something we could support. Of course, under a Labour/Tory/Lib Dem government the outrageous levels of corruption would lead to a by-election every single week!

9.09 – Host Alistair Stewart: “The Scottish and Welsh leaders’ debate take place on Tuesday.” Doesn’t matter cause we’re not real countries anyway.

9.14 – Cameron wants MOAR DISCIPLINEZ in schools, to keep all those pesky youths in check. Like it was in back in Eton, what ho old boy!

9.22 – “I’d LIKE to give everyone 250 pounds, but I just can’t do it right now!” – Nick Clegg. See, the Lib Dems can say whatever they bloody want, they’re never going anywhere.

*SSY newsdesk is bored. SSY newsdesk hopes this guy interrupts soon*

9.33 – All of them have the absolute cheek to try to sound solemn while ‘paying tribute’ to all of the soldiers who have lost their lives in the illegal war supported and implemented by ALL of the establishment parties, causing utter misery to not just those serving soldiers and their grieving families, but also all of the innocent Afghani civilians being killed on a daily basis.

9.40 – Nick Clegg – “We don’t need nuclear weapons to flatten St Petersburg and Moscow” – It’s called Leningrad you fuck!

9.43 – Cameron is rimming the NHS, aww how sweet.

9.43 – Nick Clegg “The government’s wasted some amount of billions on a computer system”. Well get Linux then, loser. Get wi the program Nick, teh internets makes the world go round. FREE THE INTERNET.

9.47 – Gordon Brown has literally said nothing of note. Maybe he is literally in Burma.

9.50 – David Cameron reveals a SHOCKING TRUTH! Apparently it’s not cancer that kills cancer patients, it’s the Labour administration! Nick Clegg says “we should all work on this together” – of course, he’s only saying that because he knows he won’t win. If he was in with a shout he’d be screaming “these fuckers will give you cancer!”. Yunno, under socialism, cancer will be abolished. Just sayin’..

9.53 – Dey talkin bout dis ‘free personal care for the elderly’ ting Gordy B has pledged. Scotland already has that! DEVOLUTION 1 – UNIONISM 0!

9.57 – “I admit that none of us have the perfect solution”. Yeah, we know. The perfect solution is socialism, obvs.

9.58 – Gordon Brown keeps sucking right up Nick Clegg’s hole. Oh Nick, you fine handsome lovely man, won’t you please form a coalition government with me?

9.59 – In the last few minutes, David Cameron has managed to use the words “lever-arch file”. What a thoroughly exciting man.

10.01 – Nick Clegg’s closing statement: “I have remembered all of your names, question askers! Because they are written on my notes! That’s how much I care, unlike those cancerous motherfuckers!”

10.02 – Gordon Brown’s closing statement: “I referenced Britain’s Got Talent, please love me? CANCER CANCER CANCER”

10.04 – David Canceron: “Choose hope over fear. If you are scared of us, don’t be! If you work hard, I’ll be behind you (watching your every move). I am never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you. Never gonna make you cry, never gonna say goodbye, never gonna tell a lie or hurt you.”

That was it then. Yeah, I prefer Tina Fey.

On Saturday 10th April, the world suffered one of the greatest losses of the 21st century. The Polish President, Lech Kaczyński, was killed in a horrific plane crash.

Now who is going to fight against those pesky gay pride paraders promoting a homosexual lifestyle and offending public morals?

Who is going to take a stand against promiscuous baby-murdering women’s libbers?

Who is going to bravely speak out in favour of the death penalty?

Well, probably his twin brother Jarosław, who helped him found the right-wing Law and Justice party, and was elected Prime Minister at the same time Lech became President, in 2005. Though Jarosław is no longer the Prime Minister, he is still hugely active in Polish politics, and is currently the leader of their party.

It's difficult to spot the evil twin when neither of them have beards.

The Creepy Twins and their Party of Creepiness have been at the forefront of Being Wrong About Pretty Much Everything for many years now.

They want to ban gay pride parades and any other recognition or acknowledgment of gay people’s existence, want to ban gay people from being teachers and believe that “the affirmation of homosexuality will lead to the downfall of civilization”.

Their party was terrified that the election of Barack Obama would mean “an impending catastrophe, the end of the civilisation of the white man”.

They want to give harsher punishments and longer sentences to people committing minor crimes, and execute major criminals, whilst at the same time taking away women’s control over their own bodies because life is sacred… even when it’s an unfertilised egg, or some uterine lining with a few more cells than usual.

They want to increase militarisation of Poland, and bring back conscription.

They want to deny the human rights of anyone they disapprove of, and they’re all round nutters.

So, sorry Lech, but we’re glad to see the back of you, and we wish your brother had been on the plane with you.

The Creepy Kaczyński twins rose to fame as child actors, age 12, in a film called The Two Who Stole the Moon, playing two cruel, lazy and nasty boys. I don't know what's more terrifying, fact or fiction...

Who’d have thunk it eh, not only is Gordon Brown a closet Marxist but it turns out the ideas of Socialism have now penetrated the Tory opposition as well. As soon as Maggie took her eye off the ball, we managed to plant our people in the Conservative party and convince them that they had got it all wrong.

At least that’s the only way I can interpret David Cameron’s theft of Socialist policies, as he calls for a maximum wage in the public sector,

A Tory government would establish a fair pay review to ensure that no senior manager in the public sector can earn more than 20 times more than the lowest- paid person in their organisation.

The scheme could mean that up to 200 senior public sector executives would face pay cuts. Public sector chiefs whose salaries would be cut include Ed Richards, the chief executive of Ofcom, whose £392,056 salary is 22 times higher than the estimated lowest full-time salary in his quango, £18,000.

Well done Dave, the SSP has always thought it was ridiculous quango chiefs and council bosses could earn so much more than many of their low paid employees do as civil servants, cleaners, nurses, clerical staff etc – particularly when they try to sack them.

With any luck we should have an announcement from Tory party central office within the hour that, in the spirit of fairness and being in it all together what goes for the public sector must also go for the private sector – which means no private sector CEO should earn more than 20 times any of their workers.

We know it might be hard for the Tory party considering one of their biggest donors, Lord Ashscroft is so wealthy his own personal fortune is considered equal to that of the entire GDP of Belize, but we have faith David Cameron will do the right thing. I mean anything less would be total hypocrisy and make him look quite full of shit, wouldn’t it?

As the SSP candidate for Glasgow Central, I feel the burden of being an official member of civil society. To my mind, the norm when a prominent death occurs is for the media to do the rounds of Important People, gathering their balanced reactions. In order to assist our friends in the press, I have prepared an official statement, constituting my response to old Eugene’s passing:

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA

HAAAAAAAAAAHAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

WOHAHAHAHAHA

HAHAHA

HA

The only good fascist is a dead one

SSY has a long and proud record of celebrating when fascists die in embarrassing and or unfortunate circumstances. Whether it’s the sad loss of BNP founder John Tyndall (we coincidentally had a BBQ the day he popped his clogs – remember Tyndall burgers?), Austrian Fuhrer Jorg Haider who killed himself in a car crash after coming back pissed from a gay bar, or of course, Mussolini riddled with bullets hanging upside down in an Italian Garage. So SSY is pleased to announce another addition to that list of human shit, none other than Eugene Terre Blanche.

"I look all annoyed because I don't like the blecks"

Eugene Terre Blanche was the leader of the AWB – the Afrikaner Resistance Movement. The AWB is a far-right organisation that was founded in the 70’s because some Afrikaners were so mental they thought pro-Nazi Prime Minister BJ Forster was too liberal. The AWB violently opposed relaxation of even “petty apartheid” rules, like black and white people kissing, marrying, shagging etc.

Even when the chips were obviously down for apartheid, the AWB were trying to organise a civil war and carve out their own all-white Boer state out of a multiracial South Africa, not dissimilar to what the Serbs did in Bosnia. At their height the AWB had the support of roughly 5-7% of South Africa’s white population, a similar % that the BNP get today from the UK population.

The AWB organised violent attacks against Blacks in South Africa as well as those Afrikaner politicians they believed were too liberal; for example, shooting and throwing grenades at Black South Africans during the chaos of the Bophuthatswana coup where their members declared they were on a “kaffir hunting picnic”.

The AWB also turned up armed and provoked violence outside a meeting where President FW Klerk was speaking in the Battle of Ventersdorp. Klerk had enraged a minority of Afrikaners for unbanning the African National Congress and releasing Nelson Mandela. This wasn’t the only violent attempt to stop the dismantling of apartheid – the AWB also stormed the Kempton Park World Trade Centre where negotiations to conduct South Africa’s first free and fair multiracial elections were being conducted.

The AWB’s campaign of violence was unable to stop the inevitable destruction of apartheid however. Despite having a small but armed minority of support among Afrikaners, the White population of South Africa was too small to survive as an indefinite dictatorship over the Black majority population any longer. The AWB’s demand for a white ruled Boer Republic was a fantasy, as there was no contiguous landmass in South Africa that had a white majority. The South African state and economy was dependent on the overwhelming majority of the population, the Black population, having no rights whatsoever, allowing South Africa to construct a slave economy over the backs of the populace.

The Boers themselves were largely made up of the descendants of Dutch colonists who had arrived in the South of Africa over 300 years ago. They fled the British ruled Cape Colony, in what was called the “Great Trek” where they lived a nomadic lifestyle. They called themselves “Voortrekkers” and were similar to the European colonists in North America and Zionist settlers in Palestine in that they saw their role as taking control of “virgin territory” that had been unused, left to waste until a superior race of people could exploit it. Like in North America and Palestine however the Voortrekkers were not alone – this land too had a people.

The Voortrekker’s superior technology allowed them to massacre the indigenous Zulu tribes. At the Battle of Blood River the Voortrekkers were able to slaughter 3000 Zulu Natal warriors. No Voortrekkers died – only 3 of them were lightly wounded. After this defeat of the native population, the Voortrekkers were able to establish several Boer republics, which eventually became the apartheid South African state.

It’s this siege mentality among sections of the White South African population, that has been a part of their history in settling in Africa that the AWB relate to and try to exploit. Since the collapse of apartheid many White South Africans have lost their old privileges in the political and economic systems of South Africa. Many Boers and their farms have also been attacked, and there is fear among the Boers that what happened in Zimbabwe – where White farmers were expelled from their land will happen to them. On the opposite side many Black South Africans have not seen their quality of life increase substantially in democratic South Africa, and whilst losing a lot of their privileges the Afrikaner population is still better off than any other racial group in South Africa.

We don't know if Wikus Van De Merwe did kill Eugene with alien weaponry, but we are prepared to float it as a possibility.

So whilst most of South Africa’s population support the dismantling of apartheid, it is by no means a perfect multiracial rainbow paradise yet. There still remains a minority of Afrikaners who are attracted to the ideas of the AWB. In 2004 a poll was conducted to find out who South Africans thought their greatest countryman was – unsurprisingly, Mandela topped it, but Terre Blanche came in at No 25.

If you want to see more about Eugene, Nick Broomfield has done a series of documentaries about the nutter which are available here.

Sir Bob shows his radical credentials

The world has watched in horror as the outrageously corrupt BBC and Channel 4 has attempted to make the ludicrous claim that there are still problems in Africa.

Sensible people everywhere know that Africa is now a paradise thanks to the efforts of their saviour, multi-millionaire Saint Sir Bob Geldof the Wonderful.

Sir Bob has been on the defensive over the last few weeks, after several different investigations attacked his legacy of work against poverty.

First of all, a BBC World Service investigation received information from several former rebel leaders in Ethiopia that a portion of aid money raised by the Band Aid charity in the 80s was in fact diverted by rebels to buy weapons.

Now, Channel 4 is to screen a documentary next week that attacks His Holiness for distracting attention from the Make Poverty History campaign in 2005.

During the 80s, at the time of Band Aid, the Ethiopian national government was at war with a number of rebel forces in the countryside. Leaders of those rebels are now in power in Ethiopia. However, some former rebel leaders have since fallen out with their former comrade and current Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. They told the BBC that the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) tricked aid workers into giving them money, by disguising themselves as merchants, as well as covering sacks of sand with sacks of food when taking aid cash.

Former TPLF leaders claim that they got $100 million this way, which was spent on weapons to overthrow the government. They also claim that they used front groups, such as the Relief Society of Tigray, to get cash. Band Aid’s own records show they gave $11 million to the society.

His Excellency Sir Geldof has been outraged by the claims, and has threatened to sue the BBC, demanding that the reporters who filed the story and their bosses should get the sack.

“Martin Plaut, [the World Service news and current affairs editor] Andrew Whitehead and Peter Horrocks should be fired. There should be an immediate investigation into what went wrong, steps should be taken to rectify the identified faults and the World Service must work very, very hard to re-establish its trust and hard-won reputation as the world broadcaster of excellence.”

It seems that, according, the His Most Generous Wonderous-ness Geldof, Band Aid should be completely above criticism. How

"Why don't people get that I'm fantastic?!"

dare anyone suggest that a major aid effort in a starving country beset by civil war could ever be affected by corruption?! As BBC journalist Rageh Omaar pointed out in the Guardian, the journalists behind this story were in Ethiopia in the 80s, received serious and credible information, and were right to go ahead with it. There should now be a full investigation. The Most Marvellous Geldof’s response? Omaar is “ridiculous.”

Geldof went on to make the laughable claim that:

“Not a single penny went on armaments. Not one. Not a pound; not a penny. Let me be clear on that. And I’ve also spoken to some of the others, including the Red Cross, who say it is absolute rubbish that any of their money could have possibly gone on arms.”

At this point he really does sound desperate. He could have argued that corruption wasn’t on the scale the story claimed. But to claim that “not a single penny” went astray? As this article on Pambazuka points out, every single aid effort to Africa suffers from corruption. In a continent afflicted by poverty, undemocratic governments and the interference of imperialism in their affairs, it’s impossible to have a completely clean and transparent aid process. In fact, much of the way that aid is given by the western capitalist powers makes things worse.

The vehemence of Geldof’s denial has the opposite effect from the one he intended: it leaves you wondering what it is he’s so desperate to hide.

Meanwhile, in a separate programme, More 4 are screening a documentary called Starsuckers next week which will attack Geldof’s role in the G8 protests in 2005.

At the time, a major coalition of charities, campaign groups and churches came together in the Make Poverty History coalition. This demanded debt relief for third world countries and more aid from rich ones. It organised a mass march through the centre of Edinburgh, all dressed in white. At the time the SSP and SSY took part, but instead of white, we dressed in red, to symbolise our desire to Make Capitalism History. We argued that the structure of the international economy was geared to do nothing else but increase inequality and keep poor countries poor. An appeal to the G8 leaders meeting in Scotland was useless, they must be attacked and defeated.

SSP marching against the G8

However, even this charity campaign was too radical for the All Knowing Genius Geldof, who organised Live Aid, a massive celebrity mutual masturbation fest, were stars both young and has-been got together for a concert where they told the world how great they were.

Starsuckers claims that Geldof hijacked the Make Poverty History campaign for his own ends. After the summit, it became clear that G8 leaders were going to do sweet FA to help third world countries, and that all the talk of progress had just been rhetoric for the cameras. But Geldof said he gave the global political elite “10 out of 10″ for commitments on aid, and “8 out of 10″ for debt relief. He later said the 8 score should be upgraded to 10 out of 10. In the process he showed just how much he himself was part of the PR machine defending the corrupt imperialist governments of the west.

The ever furious Geldof has penned a 6,000 word letter attacking Starsuckers and attempting to defend his rapidly-vanishing legacy. The theme underlying all this outrage is that clearly Geldof is pretty sensitive to allegations that show him up for what he is: a completely useless celebrity attention seeker. A man who wanted to do good, but has been completely compromised by working hand-in-glove with the powerful forces actually responsible for third world poverty.

He attacked anti-poverty campaigners as “wankers dressed as clowns”, and said Make Poverty History was “a bit lame and almost entirely ineffectual. . .boring, futile and adolescent.” Again, he says he’s contacted his lawyers.

On the other hand, according to his letter, Live Aid had an acute political vision of the world economic situation and the realistic prospect of ending under-development throughout the global south. Just listen to this piece of stunning analysis from Geldof:

“Richard [Curtis] and Bono came to me and said do another gig. I said you fucking do it if you’re so eager. Bono said he’d play with McCartney and they’d open the gig with “It was 20 years ago today” – a reference to Live Aid. I wanted to see that. Precisely that rock n roll moment I wanted to see, so I said ok. That’s why I did it. Pathetic but y’know …”

Yes Bob, we do know.

The fact of the matter is, the protests against the G8 weren’t as successful as some of the previous mobilisations against international capitalist summits, like the Battle of Seattle. A lot of this was to do with the political confusion-were we against the summit, or asking the leaders to do something for us? Despite the best efforts of the SSP and others, Make Poverty History’s campaign contributed a lot towards stopping a more radical, anti-capitalist approach.

But Geldof knows exactly what side of the power divide he comes down on. In his letter he writes:

“Like it or not the agents of change in our world are the politicians. Otherwise you’re always outside the tent pissing in. They stay inside their tent pissing back out at you. This is futile. My solution is to get inside the tent and piss in there.”

"When we get inside the tent can we piss on each other again?"

Whilst Geldof and the G8 leaders engage in bizarre watersports, those of us who actually know what they’re talking about can unpick what he’s said here. The only way to get any change is to rely on the same global elite who are responsible for creating the situation as it stands, claims Geldof. But rich countries are rich precisely because they have looted Africa and the rest of the third world for centuries now, and it’s still going on. Those people and movements who’ve tried to stand up to this have faced ferocious attacks from the west and their corrupt allies. The G8 leaders will NEVER solve poverty in Africa, because they are responsible for it.

The way forward for poor countries is demonstrated by the handful of examples where the people have won and the government stands up to the rich world. Today, Venezuela and Cuba, which have revolutionary governments supported by the mass of the people, are able to provide world class health and education to their people, and do not suffer from famine as countries like Ethiopia do. The people of these countries, and their allies here, are the real agents of change, not rich politicians.

As for us in Scotland, it’s clear that sitting around watching wanker celebrities on telly is going to change nothing. We have a responsibility to help people in the third world. The best way we can do that is by fighting for socialism here, and trying to take down our own corrupt governments responsible for so much suffering across the globe.

In a last ditch attempt to impress voters, Nigel Farrage prepares to swallow his own fist.

Anybody who will take pleasure in seeing UKIP leader Nigel Farrage getting the pish utterly ripped out of him will enjoy the latest episode of Have I Got News For You. Watch it here, and make sure to stay tuned for a classic Kilroy clip and details of UKIP’s new super sexy line of dressing gowns.

As Britain is gearing up for the most important election in decades, it’s also the most closely fought. Successive opinion polls have shown that it is unlikely any party will have an overall majority to govern – that either means working as a minority Government, or one in coalition. This has an obvious disadvantage, that at the time when the ruling class in the UK needs a strong Government to enforce public sector cuts, take on the trade unions and face down community campaigns against cuts to their services they may in fact have the weakest Government in decades; a Government that can be undermined by appealing to the opposition or coalition partners with cold feet.

This scenario has caused considerable and obvious disquiet to Britain’s bankers and potential investors. In order to quash this concern, the British state is, according to at least one press report prepared to rely on undemocratic and ancient rules to enforce stability at the price of democracy; that is, the use of Crown Powers.

The Daily Mail reports that none other than The Queen has been approached by leading civil servants to discuss using her powers as a Monarch in relation to a hung Parliament. It outlines a scenario in which no party has a majority, and the Parliament is a hung one. The minority Government could approach the Queen to request another general election to secure a stable majority Government. Leading civil servants are worried this would cause instability in the UK, and are discussing with the Queen the possibility of her using her Crown Powers to deny a request for a second General Election.

This would be designed to force the political parties to form a stable coalition Government, able to make the cuts necessary to make the UK profitable for capitalism again. Such use of Crown Power in the UK would be shocking and controversial, and it may not be necessary but it is far from impossible. Crown Powers have already been used in people’s lifetime – the Governor General in Australia dismissed a left-leaning Government in Australia using Crown Powers. These powers have also been used to overrule a High Court ruling which said the expulsion of Diego Garcia’s indigenous population to make way for a US military base was illegal.

The reality is the Crown still has plenty of power in the UK, if not to be used on the whim of the monarch itself but in the interests of Britain’s ruling establishment of MP’s, civil servants, bankers etc. It is still used in the Privy Council, whose prerogative powers were used to deny justice to the islanders of Diego Garcia and to ban GCHQ workers from being allowed to join a union. And there is of course the undemocratic House of Lords, whose peers are allowed to block laws voted on democratically in Westminster.

All these hang ons from the medieval ages are kept as an insurance policy in case any Government – in the past a feared “ultra-left” Labour one – would go too far, and for any Government to use as an extension of it’s powers beyond the relative transparency of Parliament. Remember that the next time the Monarchy comes up in a debate – tourists they may attract, but Mickey Mouse does not have the power to deny elections to the Senate in the United States!

The Queens Diamond Jubillee will be held in 2012, with public holidays on the 4th and 5th of June to celebrate her glorious reign. The SSP won’t be attending however – and will organise a demonstration for an Independent Republic, like we did at Calton Hill in 2004. We’ll be protesting so that the Queen and all the undemocratic hangovers of the middle ages have no role in politics, and Scotland is a modern, 21st century democratic Republic without inherited privilege or power.

A major investigation by Greenpeace has revealed what we always knew: climate change denial is a well funded conspiracy, centered on oil corporations.

In recent years, there’s been a lot of focus on the role of companies like Exxon in funding organisations that spread lies and propaganda to undermine climate science. But even their contributions are dwarfed by a little known US firm called Koch Industries.

The company is based in the US but has interests all over the globe. Despite being little known, it’s the second largest privately-held (that is, its shares aren’t traded on the stock market) company in the US.

The billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch who own the company put $50 million into climate change denial between 1997 and 2008. Their interest is clear-they want to discredit any attempts to end the fossil fuel economy and limit carbon emissions. What they have done is a spectacular crime against the world, allowing huge amounts of lies to be disseminated that have seriously undermined efforts to tackle the biggest problem in human history.

Through a series of front groups, the Kochs have used their money to shift political debate away from action that needs to be taken. A few examples include:

-The American for Prosperity Foundation received $5,176,500 from the Kochs between 2005-8. This money was used to organise “grassroots” events across the US as part of the ‘Hot Air’ tour, which featured a hot air balloon. The aim was to build opposition to US legislators taking any action on climate change.

- The Cato Institute received $5,278,400 between 1997 and 2008, which it used to get climate change deniers on to panels and in the media to spread lies about what’s happening.

Scumbag liars

- The Kochs funded a Spanish study that tried to claim, falsely, that renewable energy had cost Spain jobs, which has been used by right wingers in several countries despite being shown to be nonsense.

- They also funded a non-peer reviewed study that tried to claim that the declining numbers of polar bears was not related to global warming, which has also been discredited.

- Koch funded groups have played a major role in hyping and repeating vastly exaggerated claims about the East Anglia Climate Research Unit hacked emails.

These guys are scum, capitalism at its worst: endangering the entire future of human civilisation for their own short term profit. Their (extremely well funded) politics has done so much damage to the world, and embodies all that is insane about our current economic and social model.

Make no mistake: organised climate change denial is a criminal conspiracy, perpetrated by the global rich to try and prevent social change. It needs to be challenged every time it rears its head.