ARE YOU ANGRY??? IF NOT, WHY NOT???

     

       The people are angry. The kids are angry because they have nowhere to go in this system, and the adults are angry because nowhere is their existence. Dead-end jobs mixed with broken down schools in this endless competition to see who can end life with the most possessions. It begins with compulsory education, with the idea that indoctrination is the same as education. Feeling trapped in the endless work load, in the endless department stores, surrounded by nothing but millions of people doing the same thing and consuming the same way, there should be no need of explanation why we're angry. It's about the government detaining citizens on nothing more than a hunch. It's about police officers having the malicious control over the life and death of those around them. It's about the richest people in the world getting rich from the work of others. It's about getting kicked out of the park by cops because you deter tourism and you're homeless. It's about travelling four thousand miles around the world so you can fight in a war only to enrich Western capitalism. It's about getting beat up and torn apart, tortured and vivisected, thrown to the gutter after exploitation. And it's about swarms of people doing nothing but going along with it, buying the products that support the rich who bribe the ruling class. It's about.. Consume. Obey. Exist. Consume. Obey. Exist. Consume. Obey. Exist.

THINK!

Commercialism!

"Since the 1970s the US oil company Occidental has been drilling in the Peruvian Amazon area. During that time it is estimated that Occidental has dumped 9 million barrels of toxic waste into the streams, land and rivers of the Achuar people."

UNDERSTAND!

State Power!

"Since 2003, 4,385 US troops have been killed in Iraq, 1031 in Afghanistan, 179 UK troops have been killed in Iraq, 278 in Afghanistan 650,000 Iraqis have been killed, and they don't seem to count Afghan civilian deaths. All we know is that the number grows each year,

QUESTION!

Religion!

"I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence." -- 1 Timothy 2:12

There are thousands of reasons why we are angry,

pick one and join us.

ann arky's home.

International Call for Solidarity

International Call for Solidarity: Support the 11 of Lisbon!

     On the 25th of April of 2007, an anti-authoritarian demonstration against fascism and capitalism took place in downtown Lisbon, protesting against the growing influence of fascist groups in Portugal and the attempt to rehabilitate the figure of the former dictator, António de Oliveira Salazar. Several books about Salazar came out back then and a Museum was to be opened in Santa Comba Dão, the place where the dictator was born. A television contest, designed to boost nationalistic and chauvinistic attitudes among the Portuguese people, actually managed to elect Salazar as “the greatest Portuguese of all times”. Besides that, PNR, an ultra right-wing party, involved with nazi skinhead groups, started to show signs of great activity, with a large-scale campaign to increase xenophobia and several street demonstrations, one of which taking place, provocatively, in a known immigrants' quarter downtown Lisbon.

     As a response to the growth of reactionary forces and attitudes in Portuguese society, anarchists organized a big demonstration on the day of the celebration of the Carnation Revolution, the 25th of April, when the fascist dictatorship was overthrown. The demonstration gathered over 500 people, crossed downtown Lisbon, always being closely followed by the police, and halted in Largo de Camões, where most people left. From there, a second demonstration started and, when the demonstrators were descending Rua do Carmo, the riot police closed the street exits, trapped them, and then charged violently. Several people were injured, some of them badly, and 11 of the demonstrators were arrested and now stand for trial, for alleged civil disobedience, verbal abuses, and assault on police officers, risking sentences from six months to five years of imprisonment.

       We ask for the international support and solidarity of all sections and friend of AIT-IWA to spread the news of what's happening, specially among Portuguese communities in their area, and send protest letters, faxes and emails to local Portuguese Embassies, Consulates and interests, performing, if possible, actions in front of them, specially on the days of the Court hearings, but not limited to them. We also appeal to the sending of protest letters, faxes and emails to the Court where the hearings are taking place. 

A model protest letter to be sent:  (it's both in English and Portuguese)

     Vimos por meio da presente carta protestar contra a ida a julgamento dos 11 detidos aquando da realização da manifestação anti-autoritária contra o fascismo e o capitalismo, em 25 de Abril de 2007. Denunciamos o comportamento claramente ofensivo e discriminatório demonstrado pela polícia no decorrer dos acontecimentos, assim como a brutalidade com que a mesma reagiu à manifestação, carregando indiscriminadamente sobre os manifestantes e demais transeuntes presentes na Rua do Carmo, numa acção cujo objectivo manifesto não foi a dispersão da manifestação, mas antes o espancamento do maior número de pessoas possível, posto que todas as saídas da rua foram cortadas pela polícia de forma a não deixar aos manifestantes fuga possível. 

    Afigura-se-nos que as pessoas detidas o foram de forma aleatória e arbitrária, e que a sua ida a tribunal não serve outro propósito que não seja o de mascarar e ilibar a violência policial, culpando os manifestantes pelo sucedido. Consequentemente, exigimos o encerramento deste processo e a absolvição de todos os arguidos. 

             Com os melhores cumprimentos,

…

English translation of the letter:

       We hereby send you the following letter to protest against the trial of the 11 persons arrested during the anti-authoritarian demonstration against fascism and capitalism, which took place on the 25th of April 2007.

We denounce the clearly offensive and discriminatory behavior displayed by the police during the events and its brutal response to the demonstration, charging indiscriminately on demonstrators and bystanders at Rua do Carmo, in an action clearly intended, not to disband the demonstration, but to beat up as many people as possible, for all the street exits were cut off by the police in order to trap the demonstrators and let them no way to escape.

       For us, it seems that the persons arrested during the events were picked randomly and arbitrarily among the demonstrators, and that the charges pressed against them serve no other purpose than to whitewash the police violence, blaming the demonstrators for what happened. Consequently, we demand the closure of this process and the acquittal of all defendants.

                                 Best Regards,
...
Court address:
1º Juízo Criminal
Av. D. João II, nº 1.08.01 - Bloco B
1990-097 Lisboa
Portugal

Email: lisboa.jcr1@tribunais.org.pt  Phone: (+351) 213 505 500 Fax: (+351) 211 545 164

Process Number:  42/07.5PALSB (please mention it on the letters, faxes and emails you send to the Court)

A list of Portuguese Embassies worldwide:
http://www.mne.gov.pt/mne/en/ministerio/organizacoes/embaixadas/

Portuguese Consulates abroad:
http://www.mne.gov.pt/mne/en/infocidadao/pestrangeiro/consulados/

Days of the next Court hearings:
- 20 of April   - 29 of April   - 19 of May
________________________________________
Associação Internacional dos Trabalhadores
Secção Portuguesa
Apartado 50029
1701-001 Lisboa
PORTUGAL
Tel. +351 963 216 840  
 E-mail: aitport@yahoo.com  http://www.ait-sp.blogspot.com/  http://www.freewebs.com/ait-sp/

ann arky's home.

ARE THERE CHILDREN

are there children somewhere

waiting for wounds

eager for the hiss of napalm

in their flesh –

the mutilating thump of shrapnel

do they long for amputation

and disfigurement

incinerate themselves in ovens

eagerly

are there some who try to sense

the focal points of bullets

or who sprawl on bomb grids

hopefully

do they still line up in queues

for noble deaths

i must ask:

are soul and flesh uneasy fusions

longing for the cut –

the bloody leap to ether

are all our words a shibboleth for silence –

a static crackle

to ignite the blood

and detonate the self-corroding

heart

does each man in his own way

plot a pogrom for the species

or are we all, always misled

to war

Robert Priest.

from Blue Pyramids: New and Selected Poems (ECW Press 2002)

Also: 100 poets against the war.
 
ann arky's home.

Solidarity Statement with Workers in Struggle in Greece

      

      The International Solidarity Commission (ISC) of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) supports the workers in struggle in Greece and their strike actions in opposition to the threat of "austerity measures" by the Greek government, who claim those measures are needed to stop the country from bankruptcy. We are encouraged to see workers across Greece take a stand against the government's gamble with their livelihoods and exploitation of their labour. They have taken to the streets, and stopped working in a visible and powerful refusal to pay for the mess of the banks and financial speculators.

      Rather then acquiesce to the official lie of a nation united in necessary sacrifice for the common good, they have exposed that the working class are not the cause of the crisis. We will not suffer for it. As the slogan goes, in Greece and elsewhere, we won't pay for their crisis! As one of the first countries threatening such wide-sweeping cuts, and in turn verging on bankruptcy in this crisis, the protests of workers in Greece are for us all.

       As governments across the world respond to the current recession, a fruit of the unfettered gambling by capitalists with the wealth of the earth and the labour of workers everywhere, by further cutting into the subsistence and rights of the working class, we are glad to express our solidarity with the workers of Greece.

     We are grateful to them for refusing to comply with the lie of "austerity" measures, which amount to the demand of a sacrifice by the poor for the benefit of the rich and for continuing to take a brave stand in the face of police repression.

      In the hope that their struggle, which is also a struggle for workers everywhere, may continue and succeed, the IWW aim to lend our support, by action in solidarity, where it is within our grasp to do so, in our firm knowledge that 'an injury to one is an injury to all'.

In Solidarity,    The ISC of the IWW

ann arky's home.

THE SNOOPING SOCIETY.

     

      While the Minister for Identity tries conjuring up possible uses for the ID card - more fantasy than reality, but telling nonetheless [1] – the Home Office has continued to use every trick in the book to manufacture 'demand'.

      Its latest manoeuvre, buried in yet another obscure regulation – The Licensing Act 2003 (Mandatory Licensing Conditions) Order 2010 - is due to come into force this October. This measure, undebated by MPs and passed on the nod, is one of the first cases where showing ID for an ordinary everyday function is being written into statute.

     Less formal age checks creep ever wider, but from this autumn a pub or club MUST have an age verification policy, and MUST ask anyone who looks as if they might be under the age specified in that policy (which could be 18 but could equally be any arbitrarily chosen age which makes the premises safe(?)) to show "identification bearing their photograph, date of birth and a holographic mark".

     Note 'identification' not 'proof of age', and the conveniently limited definition of what constitutes valid ID. Mandating forms of ID is a step closer to compulsion - they can't entice enough young people to apply for an ID card, so they'll coerce them instead.

      Moves like this, as trivial as they may seem, are designed to entrench state identity control - serving Whitehall agendas that will not die easy, no matter which party is in power.

       If you receive our newsletter you may well be better informed than most Parliamentary candidates on the realities of the ID scheme and the database state. In the run-up to the election, please do take the time to express your concerns to candidates and party canvassers in your area. It'll be time well spent. Be specific. Show them you care. Rooting out the database state is going to require continued pressure and MPs who pay attention and take action - and who won't let ministers or officials sneak things like mandatory forms of ID in by the back door.

[1]

http://www.silicon.com/technology/security/2010/03/17/exclusive-next-generation-super-id-card-on-the-cards-for-2012-39745599/ 
From; http://newsletters.mu.no2id.net/

The snooping society!!

ann arky's home.

GOD'S CHOICE?

    
         Just another wee thought on the rampant paedophilia in the Catholic church. Why not blame it on God? After all the priesthood is not a job you choose, it's a calling, you're called by God to do his work. If this is the type of priests they get, these are the type of people God is calling on to do his work, or he is just a lousy recruiting officer!! Either way, their system stinks.

ann arky's home.

A ROTTEN BARREL.

       Why all this surprise at the rampant paedophilia in the Catholic church? It is nothing new, it has been going on with the priests sexually abusing youngster for centuries. It is endemic of that institution. Anybody who doubts this should read their history. It was in 1568 that a Pope something or other, publicly stated, and I paraphrase, any priest found to be sexually abusing children should be removed from his post, receive no more money from the church and be handed over to the authorities. Now if the boss man felt he had to make a public statement on that subject away back then, then it had to be of some concern to the public at large, not just an isolated incident. Yet today we are supposed to believe that this is some sort of blip in the long running flawless character of the clergy. From Nuns, Monks and Priests, they have all been at it while the institution itself saw no real harm in the practice and turned a blind eye. Unlike you and I, they were not shocked at each and every revelation of this behaviour. Then of course there is an explosion of public disgust and they are all running around shaking theirs heads and offering semi-apologies, and talking about a few bad apples. Like all authoritarian institutions, me thinks the whole rotten barrel stinks. What should we expect from a group that wear funny clothes and talk to their imaginary friend who lives somewhere up there and tells them how everybody else should be living their lives. If they want to live delusional lives like that, well and good, but don't give them power over other peoples lives, especially children and don't fund any of their weird activities with public money, and most certainly, keep them out of the education system.

ann arky's home.

THE WORLD WE HAVE CREATED.

      It is difficult to grasp the state of the world that we have created. A world where there is an abundance of almost everything conceivable and yet to the vast majority of the world’s population it is all out of reach. A world where a small elite live a life of obscene and wasteful wealth while millions die of starvation and millions of children die from the lack of clean drinking water. In this capitalist made world there are small enclaves where the rich, in safety, play games with their expensive toys, private jets, luxury cars, yachts and several holiday homes in “exotic” locations. While just over that financial apartheid wall there is the stench of squalor and death for countless millions living in total deprivation and endless wars, 

     In this capitalist created world, 8 million people die every year from poverty, One billion children live in abject poverty, 640 million do not have access to appropriate shelter, 140 million have never attended school, 400 million do not have access to clean uncontaminated water, 500 million do not have basic sanitation, 270 million have no access to health care, and 90 million are severely food deprived. Approximately 12.3 million people worldwide live in conditions of “modern slavery,”while over one billion people live on less than one dollar of income per day and over three billion live on less than two dollars per day. Then there is the strata in between that manage to scrape a reasonable existence that seems to keep them from revolt.

     All this misery in spite of the fact that the world economy actually produces one and a half times the amount of food necessary to provide the entire human population with adequate and nutritious meals. The fact that the capitalist system will not allow this to be shared out to those in need tells us that it is not a natural problem but a political problem. Perhaps the words of Derrick Jensen come close to capturing something of that world.

     “We are members of the most destructive culture ever to exist. Our assault on the natural world, on indigenous and other cultures, on women, on children, on all of us through the possibility of nuclear suicide and other means—all these are unprecedented in their magnitude and ferocity ... What this means is that corporations and those who run them cannot stop exploiting resources and amassing wealth until they have...I cannot finish this sentence, because the truth is that they can never stop; like cancer, they can only continue to expand until they kill the host ... For us to maintain our way of living, we must tell lies to each other and especially to ourselves. The lies are necessary because, without them, many deplorable acts would become impossibilities.”

ann arky's home.

THE PINNACLE OF EVOLUTION!!

      

        It is unacceptable that in the twenty first century we are still settling international disputes by the barbaric method of war. Modern warfare does not consist of two armies facing each other over some strange and foreign plain. It is a devastating and horrendous attack on the civilian population and the country’s infra structure to further the interests of imperialism. It is a ferocious and sustained attack by weapons of unimaginable destructive power unleashed on cities, towns and villages from many miles away. There is no real defence against such weapons, if the fire ball and blast don’t kill you the depleted uranium will in time and leave a legacy of cancer and deformed births for generations to come. This surely can’t be the answer to any problem, but it is, the state’s answer.

     If man is as he claims, the pinnacle of evolution, the most intelligent being on the planet, then it must be within his ability to come up with a solution to international disputes that does not create such savage, merciless slaughter and destruction. However as long as we maintain the state system and its apparatus, it will always remain the most likely answer. In all modern war fare, the vast amount of weaponry is not of the anti personnel type designed to kill the opposing troops, but is designed to destroy a country’s infrastructure, that means civilians will be the victims. The use of such weapons must be considered a crime against humanity and unacceptable in this, the 21st century..

      If we hope to end this nightmare of savagery then it is going to be up to the ordinary people of this world to organise and make a stand to end this primeval form of activity, we can’t wait for the state to relinquish its power, it never has willingly and it won’t voluntarily dissolve itself.. It is always the ordinary people that are called upon to do the killing, it is always the ordinary people that suffer most in the savagery, suffering and deprivation that are the results of war, while the corporate world reap the benefits. If we hope for a better world for our children and grandchildren then we have to bring an end to this system of profit driven greed that feeds imperialism, a system that is backed up by state power for the benefit of the few, those parasitical parasites, the shareholders and their guardians. We need a world of federated communities each seeing to the needs of its citizens based on sustainability, a system of free association, voluntary co-operation and mutual aid, a system freed from the profit motive and the greed driven power mongers.

 

THE PINNACLE OF EVOLUTION.

 

There’s a crazy ape, who

by means of incredible intransigence

has mastered the art of carnage;

through dogged determination

in a ruthless rampage

raised the body-count beyond belief.

This crazy ape

creates the human chronicles

as a cruel callous calendar,

transforms our indulgent earth

into a primitive barbaric abattoir.

He struts across the land

with bumptious pride;

he’s destructive, he’s devious,

demands dominion

planet wide.

His claim to fame,

history immortalised in rivers of blood.

Even so,

this crazy ape called man,

believes

he’s the GODS’ sublime solution,

progress’s perfection,

the pinnacle of evolution.

 

ann arky's home.

THE FOG OF LIES.

Photo by John Hartfield.

     

      If it was just the sex, scandal and celebrity worship it would be bad enough but the mainstream media is much worse than just a keyhole view of the self-centred celebrity parasites and their fawning poodles. It has a much more sinister purpose, it is a necessary tool of the state/corporate/imperialism military machine and is used with a relentless brutal ruthlessness.

      Mainstream media, like harmful bacteria, is everywhere, it is accepted in its present form as if it were the guardian of society. It probably is, the guardian of this corrupt and vicious system we call capitalism. It does this by concealing and safe-guarding the shady and self-serving connections between the media, politics, government, big business, in particular, the military-industrial complex and religious organisations.

     To do this the planet and most of its inhabitants, you and me, are ruthlessly lied to, manipulated and exploited, sometimes tortured and killed, for the enrichment and gratification of a few power freaks and parasites. The mainstream media spouts patriotism, dividing the world’s working class, perpetuates such schemes as the states phony "War on terror", glorifies the present slaughter in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere as some sort of Western sacrifice for the benefit of others and works up fervour against the next sacrificial lamb, in the present case, Iran.

     The mainstream media will claim to inform and investigate when in fact all it does is pump out money making distraction or disinformation at best and at worst, cynical war-mongering propaganda. It will lie and distort with impunity, overlook, deny or " forget" its own dangerous filth but will not hesitate to crucify one of its enemies for the slightest slip-up.

     To be informed we need to ignore the mainstream media and create our own media, a working class information system that is not tied to the profit greed machine, not wedded to the corrupt state apparatus. This is easier than ever with desktop publishing and the internet, through these channels we can produce local news handouts as well as keeping ourselves informed on international affairs. We can create links across all borders with our working class brothers and sisters in any part of the world, we can create unity within our class and lay the foundations for a just and peaceful world based on sustainability and mutual aid. Let’s communicate, organise, take back our world and let the revolution flourish.

 

ann arky's home.

NO HUMAN CAN BE ILLEGAL.

 

     In an attempt to poison the minds of the ordinary people the media with the blessing of the government try to make the words “illegal immigrant” “illegal alien”, “immigrant” and “asylum seeker” all interchangeable and also closely linked to “terrorist”. It leads to confusion, apprehension and divisions within the working class. We must unite behind the truth that we are all working class people trying to survive in a very oppressive system.We must demand full and equal rights for all immigrants living in the UK. There should be no second class citizens in any country. Apart from those fleeing persecution and oppression, it is often the free market policies of the West that has created the conditions of poverty and deprivation in the other parts of the world forcing people to move to survive and nobody should be classified as “illegal” for moving home to improve their standard of living. Nobody should be criminalized for trying to survive.

     Anti-immigration laws are racist laws and totally irrational. This country like most countries is a land of immigrants. In our case it has been going on since the times of the Celts and the Picts, the Vikings, the Romans, then we had the Anglos, the Saxons and the Normans. In later years there were the Irish then in the early part of the 1900’s those from Eastern Europe, Lithuanians and Poles, after the second world war we had those from Jamaica and so it goes on. Who in this country can claim not to be related to one of these immigrant groups?

     Few people want to leave their homeland, their friends and family, it is invariably circumstances that force the issue. It could be persecution, poverty, famine, war or just a desire to improve the quality of their lives and those of their children. Why should they be punished further and treated like criminals? How many from this country went to Canada and Australia to try and find a better life?

     We must stand solidly beside all immigrants as equals trying to survive in what is becoming an ever increasingly hostile world. We should welcome them to our ranks as working class people and together stand up for a better world for all our people, all members of the working class. It is the system that creates the problems in our lives not those from another country, they, like us, are being exploited by the same capitalist greed. They, like us, struggle from day to day against a system that puts the needs of the shareholders ahead of of those of the ordinary people. It suits the corrupt corporate greed machine to turn worker against worker, to have us at each others throats, leaving them to plunder the wealth that we as workers produce. Divide and rule is one of the main tenets in their philosophy. It is up to us, the ordinary people from all countries to come together to break this system of greed and corruption. Only we can create a world of social justice, of peace, only the united working class of the world can break the vile system of exploitation and war. If we really want that world of social justice we can’t exclude certain groups of the working class, they are our brothers and sisters.

 
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WHOSE CRISIS, THEIRS OR OURS??

        The present “credit crisis” is always reported as a problem with banks and their “liquidity”. The media always focus on what this bank is doing and what that financial concern is not doing, they never spell out the real crisis. A crisis in capitalism means that those with the money will make savage attacks on those without the money. The working class will see attacks on their pensions and all those social service that they told us were the fruits of this system. Pensions, health and housing will be sacrificed to to try to keep the capitalist beast alive. This system is not there for the welfare of the people, it is there to feed the rich and privileged parasites at the top of this festering greed driven system. As they need the money to prop up their power and privileges you will be witness to the homeless numbers growing rapidly, you will see the health service go into every greater crisis and you will experience an ever crumbling education system. You will of course be told that in is necessary and beyond their control, in spite of previously being told that they could now control the system and there would be no more boom and bust cycles. We will be told that this is just a readjustment, a blip within the system.

     However, we should all ask ourselves, is it necessary to see millions suffer poverty and deprivation to prolong a system of privilege and wealth for the few? Is this the only way we can manage and organise our affairs? Should a system that heaps so much poverty and misery on so many people ever be tolerated? Does fairness and justice not demand its end?

     The “weathering” of this present “crisis” will be savage and prolonged in its attack on our welfare, are we prepared to suffer in silence while the privileged parasites adjust the books ensuring they keep the wealth? We could make this a real “crisis” for capitalism and bring about its demise by taking this opportunity to do our own readjusting, and set about taking control of the world’s resources and organising them for the good of all the people, creating a system of mutual aid and co-operation, free from the greed driven profit motive, finally liberating ourselves from the yoke of unjust capitalism?

There are alternatives and anarchism points the way.
 
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ISRAELI APARTHEID.

 

      How long can the horror of the Palestinians continue without a world revulsion of the Israeli State? World opinion linkled to the people of South Africa ended apartheid in that country, when will it end the same situation for the Palestinian people.

      Extract from a speech by Suzanne Weiss, the full speech can be found HERE

    This speech was given by Suzanne Weiss on March 2, 2010, to a meeting of students at the University of Waterloo in Canada, held as part of the Israeli Apartheid Week. Suzanne Weiss, a holocaust survivor, is a member of Not in Our Name: Jewish Voices Against Zionism and of the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid in Toronto.

   A year after a murderous Israel’s assault, the war on the people of Gaza continues. Gaza is still under siege – still surrounded by walls and checkpoints. Its people are denied the necessities of life and the right to rebuild and shape their future.

    For me, as a survivor of the holocaust, the tragic situation in Gaza awakens memories of what I and my  family experienced under Hitlerism – the ghetto walls, the killings, the systematic starvation and deprivation, the daily humiliations.

ann arky's home.

CROOKS AND LIARS!!

      

        In today’s society we have lots of strange and bewildering events, festivals etc.. One of the most bizarre festivals is the “Festival of Crooks and Liars”, this comes round every four or five years and usually goes under the odd name of “elections.” In the UK we have one coming up in the next few months. This festival starts with the groups and/or individuals wishing to participate in the “Festival of Crooks and Liars” breaking into outbursts of incoherent verbal diarrhoea. These verbal outbursts tend to get loud, more ridiculous and more persistent as the festival date looms ever closer. The event culminates in a mad frenzy of the contestants running around the country trying to prove that they are indeed the biggest crook and the best liar in the land.

     The aim of the “Festival of Crook and Liars” seems to be for the contenders to make every attempt to out do the other contenders in verbal rubbish, hyperbole and deceit. This part is foolish enough, but the part played by the public is much more of a mystery. It would seem that some members of the public believe that if they take part in this trip of insanity and actually vote for one or other of the contestants in the “Festival of Crooks and Liars” this will in some way end poverty and bring peace and stability to their lives. What is more strange is the fact that those who take part in the voting ritual of this festival have been doing so for many years and have seen the results each time to be that the “Crooks and Liars” do very well, but they themselves remain, relatively poor and insecure and their environment keeps going down hill, yet they persist in participating believing that somehow the next bunch of “Crook and Liars” will not actually be crooks and liars.

      Perhaps those “voters” should start to organise among themselves to take control of their own lives and communities and try to shape them the way that they would like in co-operation with others and leave the ridiculous show of insanity that is the “Festival of Crooks and Liars” for what it is, a dangerous illusion, a disempowerment that allows our wealth to be siphoned upwards.

 

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THE DISEASE OF IMPERIALISM.

     

     Nothing much changes in imperialist thinking, it is always a matter of expansion into other imperialist states and resistance to the expansion of other imperialist states.

     1914 the “GREAT” war, was nothing other than a clash of two aggressive imperialist powers over territory, colonies and markets, a crime against humanity. A struggle that went on until 1918 by which time 9 million troops had died for “their” country, with no gain to the working class where the vast majority of the 9 million deaths came from.

     We are told there was peace from then until the 1939 world war. Of course during this time the imperialist powers continued the slaughter in their respective colonies as they ruthlessly attempted to put down any action for independence from within “their” colonies and so the crime against humanity continued.

     1939 the 2nd world war, again was a clash of imperialist powers, this time a re-emerging imperialist power demanding more territory, colonies and markets and the established imperialist powers resisting with all the force they could muster. The result was a crime against humanity, an unimaginable slaughter of humans, again we are talking about the working class. The Russians alone lost 23 million of their people. This carnage continued until 1945 when it ended with the dropping of 2 atomic bombs on Japan.

    The empires change but imperialism continues, today America is the new imperial power and from the end of the 2nd world war up to the present has continued the imperialist tradition of expansion with what ever slaughter it takes. The continent of South America has borne the brunt of this new imperialist slaughter but has not been the only territory to feel the pain of American imperialism.

    2003 saw American imperialism supported by its hangers-on, occupy Iraq. The occupation is a crime against humanity, a resource grab, an attempt to gain strategic military power over one of the world’s largest oil reserves. This action has been responsible for the slaughter of over 2,600 imperialist troops, working class people, and at the most conservative estimate over 65,000 Iraqi working class people. The imperialist occupation continues.

    The imperialist state with the aid of the media create and spread myths about “great” battles and “great” victories in an attempt to convince people of the need for sacrifice in the “national interest”, they spout patriotism to coerce people into supporting “our troops” and stifle resistance to these unpopular wars. The media peddle the lie that we the workers have the same interests as our bosses, an imaginary common national identity.

    The workers of the world are on the same side, we should refuse to fight fellow workers around the world just to assist our bosses competitive position. We should reach out to workers in other countries as friends, not arrive on their shores as imperialist killers. We should organise a revolution that will destroy the festering marriage of state and corporate capitalism that is the driving force of imperialism and create a world where boundaries melt and no one need die for “their” country.

 
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GM science funded by GM corporations!!

    

      The European Commission has just approved growing genetically modified crops in the European Union for the first time in 12 years putting the GM lobby's profits over the health concerns of the public. Click below and help build a one million strong citizen's petition calling for independent research and strong regulation of GM foods: Caving to the GM lobby, the commission has ignored 60% of Europeans who feel they have to get the facts first before growing foods that could pose a threat to our health and environment.

     A new initiative allows 1 million EU citizens to make official legal requests of the European Commission. Let's build a million voices for a ban on GM foods until the research is done; they will be delivered to the President Barroso of the European Commission. Sign the petition and forward link to friends and family: http://www.avaaz.org/en/eu_health_and_biodiversity/?vl

     Consumers, public health, environmental and farmers groups have long rallied against a few international GM companies having such significant influence over European agriculture. Concerns about growing GM crops include: contamination of organic crops and the environment; their impact on climate due to the excessive need for pesticides; the destruction of biodiversity and local agriculture; and the effects of GM food on public health. EU member states have voiced strong opposition to last week's decision to authorise BASF's potato and Monsanto's maize -- Italy and Austria are opposed, and France said it would ask for further scientific research. There is still no consensus on the long-term effects of GM crops. And it is the GM industry, pursuing profits not public well being, that is funding the science and driving the regulatory environment. That is why European citizens are calling for more independent research, testing and precaution before crops are unleashed onto our land. Now, the "European Citizens' Initiative" gives 1 million EU citizens the opportunity to submit policy proposals to the European Commission and offers us a unique chance to drown out lobbyists' influence. Let's raise 1 million voices to put a moratorium on the introduction of GM crops into Europe and set up an independent, ethical and scientific body to research and determine the strong regulation of GM crops. Sign the petition now and then forward it widely: http://www.avaaz.org/en/eu_health_and_biodiversity/?vl         With determination, entire Avaaz team.

    

 More information:

Last Eurobameter Survey 2008 'Attitudes of European citizens towards the environment', page 66: http://bit.ly/aMkeVJ

The Independent, Fury as Brussels authorises GM potatoes: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/fury-as-eu-approves-gm-potato-1915833.html Reuters, France blasts GM crop approvals by EU agency: http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE6241ZQ20100305

New Report: GMOs Causing Massive Pesticide Pollution:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-kimbrell/new-report-gmos-causing-m_b_362888.html

Summary of the International Assessment on Agricultural Science and Technology for Development, including critics of GMOs use in agriculture:

http://globalpolicy.org/social-and-economic-policy/international-trade-and-development-1-57/genetically-modified-organisms.html#key

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THE STATE? WHO NEEDS IT?

      

  Is the State necessary? We the ordinary people of this country, as in all countries, have a choice, we can continue to allow ourselves to be governed by the State that will always put the corporate business world first. Will always protect big business as it rapes and pollutes the planet in its quest for ever bigger profits. Will stand by and watch the corporate world create wide spread poverty as it continually seeks ever cheaper labour and resources for the benefit of its share holders. Or we can call a halt to this madness, mayhem and plunder by taking control of our own lives. Because the exercise of freedom is morally valuable, the burden shifts to the State to justify the use of the law to constrain or control it. If we build our societies on federated communities based on free association and voluntary co-operation that justification cannot be made. At best the State becomes redundant, at worst, as it is at present, a hindrance to freedom. The State has no place in matters of personal choice, it is an autocratic institution whose main purpose is to maintain the status quo, making sure that power and wealth stay where they are. The State will always fight its people when they try to take its authority away and take control of their own lives. To do this it continually introduces legislation to control its people not to protect them. The State is a hierarchal system, a power structure, which in itself is a contradiction of freedom. The State institutions of all the developed countries represent the multi-nationals, the corporate world, the world of finance, not the people. The State has lead working class youth into war after war slaughtering working class youth from other nation States. Always the guise is the defence of freedom, whose freedom? It is the freedom of one power block to wrest control of markets and resources from another power block. Freedom to wage war to tighten that grip on those markets and resources.

      If we care to look beyond the shopping malls and the mainstream media we can see that corporate capitalism with the blessing of the State, is responsible for countless thousands of deaths from poverty, not because there isn’t enough to go round, it is just simply that there is no profit in it. In the world today twenty two children die from starvation every minute of every day while excess food in the developed world is stockpiled. Have you ever asked yourself “Why?”. What kind of system would tolerate such blatant cruelty, what kind of people would tolerate such a system? The answer is of course, the State and corporate capitalism is the system, we are that people. How much longer can we allow this to continue? We can stand by and watch this world being dominated, exploited and destroyed, its peoples being divided, slaughtered and impoverished to the advantage of the privileged few, or we can stand up, claim it is our world, link hands, resist, organise, agitate, and revolt so crushing and sweeping away this festering corrupt marriage of corporate finance and State power.If we wish a fair and decent world for our children and grandchildren we have to put an end to the continual greed for profit and power and shape the world according to our needs with the preservation of the planet in mind. We must come together as individuals and communities and break this cycle of State/corporate/business/exploitation/profit/power. We have the ability and the resources to make this world a fair and just place for all, the choice is ours. We have to decide, it is their world or it is ours. The ordinary people across the world have a common cause, the final war must be the class war that abolishes the Nation State. Advocating peace between nations will only allow the exploitation of people to continue. The State will always come up with some pretext or other to call its people to arms, big business will demand it to increase its markets and resources. Big business and the State need the people to produce the profits that continually increase their power over us. The people who produce everything do not need the State nor big business. We are capable of producing and distributing everything we need in a much more fair and just manner with no thought to profit and share holders. We don’t need Kings, Presidents, Leaders or sweaty-hand share holders to tell us how to live our lives, their track record is one of wars, greed and exploitation. Let’s sweep them away into the dustbin of history. We the ordinary people must be the decision makers and organise for an era of mutual aid across all cultures, organise at community level in federation with other communities. Let’s see an end to the Nation State and with it national wars, patriotism and boundaries, a free and colourful world that belongs to free and colourful people. The anarchist principles of free association, voluntary co-operation and mutual aid are the only basis for such a society.

 

 

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GLASGOW ANARCHISTS.

      

       Anarchism in Glasgow has a long tradition and can trace its roots back to the late 1800s. Since then Glasgow anarchists have been involved in all the major struggles of the Glasgow people. Whenever Glasgow’s citizens have been in conflict against exploitation, oppression, injustice the Glasgow anarchists have been at the forefront of that struggle. The support for anarchism, its ideas, its practice and theory have gone in waves, rising and falling as circumstances within society have changed. Today, in common with the rest of the world, Glasgow is seeing a revival of anarchist ideas.

       It is not difficult to understand why there is such a revival. More and more people are becoming completely disgusted at the blatant greed and deceit of the very politicians who are supposed to be their representatives. They are angry at a party political system that sees the power of the party and it’s “leaders” as more important than the people. A system that is in cahoots with and does the bidding of the corporate world whose greed is running rampant across the world destroying our communities and the environment in the name of profit.

     Anarchists have always pointed out the fact that the party political system will always fail the people, as it removes power from the people to an elite group. Changing the party or the leader will not interrupt the power of the corporate world as they fund the politicians.

      If you are aware of this corruption and deceit, of this plundering and rape of our planet, and you want a better world for all our children and our grandchildren then why not join us in trying to create an alternative, based on the will of the people. Based on free association, voluntary co-operation, mutual aid and sustainability

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IT'S ALL FOR YOUR OWN GOOD???

      

      We in the West tend to think that other regimes are much more repressive than our "free", "democratic" Western societies. However, all the research that comes out seems to paint a different picture. Perhaps our noses are too close to the picture to grasp the reality of the scene. The information is out there. The following very interesting extract is taken from: secure.cryptohippie.com/pubs/EPS-2010…  where the full article can be read.

The United States, with the UK and France close behind, have now caught up with Russia and are gaining on China, North Korea and Belarus. The key developments driving this are the following:

● The USA has negated their Constitution’s fourth amendment in the name of protection and in the name of “wars” against terror, drugs and cyber attacks.

● The UK is aggressively building the world of 1984 in the name of stopping “anti-social” activities. Their populace seems unable or unwilling to restrain the government.

● France and the EU have given themselves over to central bureaucratic control.

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+ Soviet Union No ID no entry policy +

 

   There is no end to the creeping surveillance that is penetrating every fibre of our society. This wee piece from NO2ID,  is what to expect to become the norm for visits to the cinema, supermarket and libraries etc. Unless of course we resisit and refuse. They need us more than we need them. 

   News that the Soviet Union is planning to introduce authoritarian ID checks for drinkers in Consett, County Durham may sound like the plot of a dodgy spy novel - but it's true. A 'No ID No Entry' scheme is being proposed in Consett which would mean visitors to the Soviet Union bar would have to have their passport or driving licence scanned into a computer system before they can enter. The system called 'Clubscan' is increasingly being rolled out across the UK as civil liberties are traded for booze. Of course if enough customers refuse to submit to these arbitrary ID checks then the clubs and pubs will have to remove the systems.

See:
http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/local/consett/5033467.ID_proposal_for_drinkers_welcomed_by_bar_owner/        
also:        http://www.idscan.co.uk/uk_products_clubscan.php

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A CITY IS NOT A COMPANY.

 Workers Initiative, Poland.

Sent: Tue, 9 March, 2010 11:05:20

Subject:  Poland: City is not a company! - 37 anarchists arrested in Poznan

      City is not a company!” - 37 anarchists arrested in Poznan after clashes with cops. On Monday, 8th March, about 50 people from Rozbrat squat Collective made a demonstration in front of the gate of Poznan International Fair Center, where a congress of local councils from all over Poland was taking place. Shouting slogans “City is not a company. Rozbrat stays!”, the anarchists blockaded the gate. Many cars with the officials were forced to turn back. After a while, the protesters decided to walk inside the premises of the Fair, they were not stopped by anyone. Then, they tried to go inside the building where the congress was taking places. They were attacked by the police. Some of the anarchists were heavily beaten up, 37 were arrested and driven to three different police stations. Most of them are already released with minor charges. From the information we were able to gather, 3 people will be charged with an attack on a functionary, those three are still in jail.

      The demonstration's aim was to show that the city council in Poznan is not interested in developing the social-cultural side of the city but they only care about the profits coming from the wealthy investors. Activists from

Rozbrat have been coming to the meetings of the city council for over a year now and the officials have never been interested in doing anything about our situation. They have been debating over a local development plan for the district of Solacz, where Rozbrat is situated and this debate has been taking them so long only because so many ordinary people have come and have been opposed against it. According to the plan, there will be a villa neighborhood on the premises of Rozbrat. Meanwhile, another culture center, the Inner Spaces gallery, which was renting a bulding from the city, has just been removed and the city decided to rent that space to a restaurant. Two independent and long-running cinemas Malta and Amarant also have to close down because they have been dominated by the big multiplex cinemas and they also haven't received any support from the city council. Still, the authorities are standing for the title of the Cultural Capital for Poznan in 2016. Monday's action was a call for the demonstration on the 20th March. We won't give up without fight!

Pictures here: http://www.rozbrat.org/galeria/category/218-

Video here: http://www.szumtv.blip.tv/

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ASYLUM SEEKERS DEATHS.

     Three people fell to their death on Sunday morning from one of the tower blocks in Red Road. We understand they were asylum-seekers who had received a negative decision from the UK Borders Agency (UKBA). They are thought to have lived in Red Road for two months. Questions must be answered not the usual waffle and whitewash. This is a family wiped out in one tragic moment, why? What pressure were these people under? What support were they getting?  UKBA must be forced to reveal all the circumstances in this tragic case, what was their full involvement with this family, the details must be made public.

*** 11am Tuesday 9 March - Protest outside the Home Office, Brand Street, Glasgow - called by the Unity Centre, Glasgow (0141 427 7992, info@unitycentreglasgow.org )

*** 6pm Tuesday 9 March - come to Petershill Drive, Glasgow with banners demanding freedom and safety for all asylum seekers. - requested by a residents of Red Road Flats.

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KICK BACK, IT'S SELF DEFENCE.

   

    The media is now full of all those well heeled “experts” calling for deep cuts in government spending. We are bombarded with headlines reading; “Business leaders have demanded that the government start making public spending cuts this year to reduce the UK's £178bn deficit.” Not only are they calling for deep cuts but they want them now, or even yesterday. At least two employers’ groups, the CBI and the Institute of Directors have spouted that faster cuts in government borrowing are needed to restore credibility in public finances.

      It sounds all very scientific and fair, except that there is no science behind these statements, just greed. Savage cuts in government spending means more out-sourcing to the private sector, (the CBI mob) and of course eventually less tax for them to pay as government spending drops. As for the “fair” part, well, not one of those mouthing off about cuts in government spending will be in the least hurt by those cuts. No that honour falls on you and I, we are the ones that will suffer under any government spending cuts, health, education, pensions, social benefits, the young, the elderly, the unemployed, (and that army is set to grow) the low paid, even those who may think they are reasonably comfortable, they also will feel the pain. Yet not one of those who will be harshly treated by these cuts is in any way responsible for the government’s debt. The debt is there because a bunch of greedy sleaze groomed parasites blew billions in their blind quest for pots of cash for nothing, sometimes called fancy accounting. They blew it, they screwed up big time, and it looked like some of them would go out of business. So their minders, the equally sleazy parliamentarians, over burdened with their expenses, came running to the rescue and handed them billions of our money. Our generosity is now to be repaid with a kick in the balls, to which we are supposed to say,”thank you kind sirs, for saving the financial spivs, of course this should be said with a slight curtsey.

     Well why don’t we kick back and refuse to accept any cuts in our living standard, refuse to accept working longer to get our reduced pensions, refuse to see our kids education going done the tubes, refuse to see our national health system decimated and privatised, refuse to accept wage freezes or wage cuts that would return this generation and the next back to the Victorian era. What would function in this world if it was not for the working class, we built this world, it is our world, it’s time to take it back.

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THE BIRTH OF THE FUTURE??

    

     8,000 marched through Glasgow on the EIS demonstration on Saturday 6th. On Monday 8th March a two day strike by public service workers. The cuts are coming fast and furious as well as deep and vicious, so let's keep the fight against them coming just as fast and furious. These cuts are across all sections of the working class and demand a class wide response. Working or unemployed, retired or in education, these cuts are aimed at you. It is important that we organise across union borders and into the community. It is being demanded that we pay for the bankers greed and the sleazy politicians incompetence. They will not in any way shape or form suffer from these cuts, they just implement them, while enjoying massive salaries, unbelievable bonuses, expenses and mind blowing pensions. This bunch of spivs and parasites must be faced down, we can't afford to let them send the next generation back to Victorian times.

       Why do we have to appeal to them for a decent standard of living? We make everything, we distribute everything, then we beg them to give us a decent life. I’m sure we could come up with a more just and sustainable system without using too much imagination Why put up with a system that sees a bunch of incompetent greedy parasites cream off a life of unearned opulence while we struggle for a decent life. We have the power, the skills, the resources, and now the opportunity, all we are lacking is the will, the will to transform this wage-slave system into a society built on mutual aid, voluntary co-operation and free association and based on sustainability. A society that sees to the needs of all our people, a society of justice before greed and profit.

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INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY. MARCH 8TH.

                                                                     Ethel MacDonald
INFO HERE,
Date & time: 24 February 2010 13.00      End date: 30 March 2010 15.00

Event: FIREBRAND WOMEN

About:

           Women have fought for their rights and others throughout the decades and are still doing so. Glasgow Women’s Library is teaming up with the Workers Educational Association to offer 6 sessions showcasing some real Firebrand Women and the campaigns that they worked on which have allowed us the rights that we have today. Come along to hear the inspirational stories of the role women played in these campaigns.

Venue:
            Various venues across the city, Glasgow, G1 5RH

Organisation:
              Glasgow Women's Library: Glasgow Women’s Library is a vibrant information hub housing a lending library, archive collections and contemporary and historical artefacts relating to women’s lives, histories and achievements. We deliver an innovative Lifelong Learning Programme, an Adult Literacy and Numeracy Project and a dedicated Black and Minority Ethnic Women’s Project.
MORE INFO ON THE EVENT.

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SHALL WE SWIM OR DROWN?

A NEEDLESS SEA OF TEARS.

Though we live in a world of callous commerce

and know justice

is an altar where the caring are sacrificed,

see freedom as a river that runs parched

in the fierce desert of poverty,

our thoughts cannot be chained

our dreams will not be caged.

We will think beyond the profit race

dream beyond the market place

in friendship clasp each human hand

with compassion try to understand

our differences, our hopes, our fears,

dragging this world from its needless sea of tears

 

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INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY.

   "Merely external emancipation has made of the modern woman an artificial being. Now, woman is confronted with the necessity of emancipating herself from emancipation, if she really desires to be free."          Emma Goldman  

   

       March 8, is celebrated as (IWD)'International Women's Day'. We can trace it back to March 8 1908, when 15,000 women marched through the streets of New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights. In 1910 the first international women's conference was held in Copenhagen, Denmark, under the aegis of the Second Socialist International. The originator of the proposal was German socialist Clara Zetkin. The conference called for the establishment of an international women's day, though no fixed date was set at this event.. Prior to this the Socialist Party of America in 1909 had called for such an event to be held on the last Sunday of February. March 8 gradually became an accepted date because it commemorated an 1857 protest in New York by garment workers who two years later went on to establish the first labour union in the USA. March 8 was also the day when women in Europe held peace rallies in 1913 as the dogs of war were howling for the blood of WW1, Then there was the Commemoration of the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire on March 25, 1911 when 140 garment workers were killed in a factory fire because the owners had locked the doors, to prevent anybody leaving.

     

GLASGOW WOMEN.

       Glasgow can boast of a strong tradition of women who have taken the front line when it comes to fighting for better conditions and facing up to oppression. We should continually strive to remember their names and keep their tradition alive we should always be prepared to tell their story, their story is our history. Some were newspaper headlines, others were quietly struggling in the shadows, but fight they did. We could easily fill this blog with their names, however here are just a few, can you add to the list?

Mary Barbour,
Helen Crawfurd,
Ethel MacDonald,
Jenny Patrick,
Agnes Dollan.
 
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