Finances Inhumanity To Man.

        How far has the social structure of Greece been crushed since the "help" from the financial Mafia and the Troika, (EC, European Commission, ECB, European Central Bank, IMF, International Mankind Fuckers) was first given to that unfortunate country? Apart from the 27% unemployment, approximately 60% among the young,  the doubling of suicides since 2010, the rocketing figures of homeless, the epidemic of substance abuse, and the massive increase in hunger and deprivation, there has been an increase in the prison population to the situation of gross overcrowding and inhumanity, as well as an unprecedented increase in immigrants being held in filthy overcrowded detention centres, (concentration camps).

         As the following extract shows, even in the prison hospitals, this inhumanity has reach new levels of inhumanity. It is difficult to believe that this is a 21st. century country in "modern" Europe. It is however, a level quite acceptable to the powers that be, as they continue their plundering of the public purse in an endeavour to regain some of their gambling losses. 

 

       Besides, prisoners’ fight is a struggle for survival and a one-way road, considering that complaints sketch out an obscure Medieval-inspired stage set. Two hundred and nine (209) patients at the prison hospital ward are cramped to suffocation in filthy “warehouses” fit for 60 people. All are suffering from severe, particularly contagious and painful diseases and 131 are HIV-positive. The number of cases of scabies, TB etc remains to be determined.
      Medical care provided consists in just two (!) permanent physicians, while the relevant appeal for the obligatory public prosecutor’s supervision as required by law has crushed into the indifference of the people responsible, who in fact claim that they “have a family” and are thus unable to enter the premises.

Read the full article HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

There Will Come A Time.

        April 30th. last day of April, last poem, of poem a day month, love, anger, cry for justice, memories, call for peace, and much more, a poem can say it all. However I thought I would end the month with a prediction, a promise.

THERE WILL COME A TIME.

There will come a time when the hordes remember,

who bound our grand-parents to the yoke of oppression,

who sentenced our parents to deprivation,

who bid poverty sink its teeth into our heart,

who teach our children,   greed is a noble art.

who sent our sons through the gates of hell

to a litany of cambist brawls,

crammed coffers with blood-stained gold

while laughing in Ares hall's.

"Who does these terrible things to us?" they will ask,

and when they remember,

they'll bring an energy that is endless

to drive a fist that is fearless.

Then this merciless market-driven world will crumble

under an insurrection of integrity,

the poor will emerge from the dark husk of capitalism

to live in the light of social justice.

There will come a time when the hordes remember.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Glasgow May Day.

       May Day, May 1st. there will be a gathering of like minded people on Thursday 1st May, from 12:30, in Buchanan Street opposite Gordon Street. People who believe that May Day should be celebrated on May Day, not some convenient day that wont upset commerce. 

        So if you also believe that the ordinary people should gather and indulge in fun, banter, catch up with friends and celebrate workers day, labour day, May day, on the proper day, then come on down and join them. 

      There you will meet Clydeside IWW supporters, members of Glasgow Anarchist  Federation, Glasgow Solnet Network, among others. buy papers, get leaflets, chat, ask questions, add your comments and thoughts on what is happening to your world, make contacts, join a group. It's your day, come and join us.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

A Matter Of Spin.

        Two more days, two more poems. An old one, but as nothing changes in this system, I think it is still relevant.

A MATTER OF SPIN.

At last the poverty's more affable

now it's administered with a smile

we've entered the age of new waffle

old greed with a brand new style.

hard choices to curb the wealth makers

new policies to make the rich grin

plans to protect the wealth takers

it's all just a matter of spin.

New Britain's the envy of Europe

low pay's the call of the day

fat cats have plenty of scope

on off-shore tax-havens to play.

Welfare to work's the cry

that's when the illusions begin

to sell you some pie-in-the-sky

it's all just a matter of spin.

Ethical foreign policy's the new game

as the free market still prevails

watch East Timor burst into flame

with new conscience directed sales.

You know single parents cost us dear

our patience with disabled's growing thin

tough decisions are how we'll steer

it's all just a matter of spin.

Your health service is bankrupt

education is in decline

still,   we mustn't disrupt

the holy free market shrine.

23 billion for trident

900 million to a millenium bin

no need to seek your consent

really,

it's all just a matter of spin.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

On The Road To A Sweatshop Economy.

     Yesterday saw the launch of Iain Duncan Smith's, ( I. D. S. Idiot Dickhead Smith.) Help To Work scheme. The idea is to help 2.3 million unemployed into approximately 500,000 vacancies, that works out at approximately 5 people chasing every job, of course it varies from area to area. In high unemployment areas the figure is much worse. How is IDS going to shove those 2.3 million into those 500,000 vacancies? Well by forcing people to work for six months doing community work, for no wages, if they refuse, stop their jobseekers allowance for 4 weeks, and if the refuse again, then stop their allowance for 13 weeks, so it's deprivation, or work for nothing. Another of I D S's ideas is to get longterm unemployed to sign on every day, can you imagine the queues at job centres, or will he employ extra staff at the centres, that might help bring done unemployment.

     If you are sentenced by a court for an offence, say assault, the maximum community service you would do, would be 300 hours, but those unemployed will be forced to do more than twice this, 780 hours. Obviously in this society, to be unemployed is worse than assaulting somebody.

        Whichever measure is used, there are nowhere near enough vacancies to enable everyone currently looking for a job to find one. Of course that doesn't matter, the idea is to get people used to working for nothing, then they might be extremely grateful when they are offered a crap job with crap wages. It is all part of the plan to create a sweatshop UK. The UK corporate bosses love Idiot Dickhead Smith.

        The fact that they have launched their “Flagship” policy, doesn't mean that it will work, as usual it will be ill thought out, ill prepared, under funded, under manned, and result in chaos, as well as heaping stress on enormous numbers of people. From ATOS, to Workfare, to the bedroom tax, to Help To Work, it is all about co-ercing people to accept the unacceptable, a low wage economy, and big bucks for employers.

        It seems that the lauch has, as predicted, has seen chaos on its first day. This from The Void: 

       Despite wildly optimistic claims from the DWP, today’s launch of mass workfare seems to be in chaos behind the scenes.  With barely any information yet available on the scheme it appears that the flagship Help To Work programme has no-one actually running it, no guidance for companies involved and no real plan to deal with the huge influx of claimants to Jobcentres from daily signing.

Read the full article HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

We The Poets.

April, poem a day month, draws to a close with just a few more poems to come.

WE THE POETS.

We the poets

must rise to hold the mirror,

not at romantic moon

dressing trees in silver web

but,   at sadness in a child's eyes

helpless face festooned with flies,

the listless look of hunger.

We the writers

must rise to hold the mirror,

not at hopes of superstars

pandering to an ego of selfish greed

but,   at misery of the world's maimed

duty done by smart bombs, computer aimed;

peoples crushed by pitiless power.

We the artists

must rise to hold the mirror

not at views from penthouse windows

of meadows green and lush

but,   at peoples broken by starvation,

at war, its brother deprivation,

capitalism's bastard twins.

If across the planet as a whole

we don't stand up and play our role,

poet;   heart of compassion,

writer;   voice of conscience,

artist;   eyes of justice,

we've cheated tomorrow's generation,

hurried the planet to extinction.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

The History Of The Black Bloc

Nothing much on? why not watch a movie?


A history of the Black Bloc from the stimulator on Vimeo.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Austerity Is A Scam.

        So austerity was not necessary and George Osborne has been wrong on everything, and is always wrong, of course we always knew that fact.

And now for a evening at the movies.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

My Foolish Heart.

Still a few days left of April, the poem a day month, so here we go again.

MY FOOLISH HEART.

Rich,   gold encrusted autumn

most precious of the seasons,

though death hangs as a distant mist

on yon not far off horizon;

within my heart still burns,

unashamed and unabated,

that fire of eternal spring

the mystery of life created. 

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Spaceship Earth Has No Escape Capsule.

         April 26 1986, marks the 28th. anniversary of what was probably the world's worst man made disasters, to date, namely Chernobyl, we are still measuring Fukushima. Though that babbling brook of bullshit the mainstream media, has long since dropped it as a subject worth reporting, the disaster lingers on. Neighbouring towns and cities within a 30km exclusion zone were abandoned, and residents have still not been allowed to return. Within 36 hours approximately 50,000 residents were evacuated. Most scientist agree that it will not be safe to inhabit for thousands of years. Radiation from the explosion contaminated soil, water and solid matter, across large swaths of Europe and Western USSR. Deaths from cancers etc. are put in the 100's of thousands and we are still counting.

      Although the disaster was at Chernobyl, the workers lived in a nearby town specially built for them called Pripyat. A once new town with grand buildings, schools and shops, it is now an eerie ghost town hardly recognisable as nature slowly takes over. The town's concrete square is now broken with trees and shrubs pushing up and slowly turning it to rubble. Once fine buildings stand with trees and other vegetation sprouting from balconies, floors and window frames. The surrounding forest is slowly taking back the town. Standing as a symbol of the disaster is the towns new amusement park, with its giant yellow ferris wheel, meant to open for May Day 1986, was used for a couple of hours to amuse the residents on the 27 April, before they were ordered to evacuate.It now stands trees, shrubs and other vegetation, slowly but surely strangling it, as nature wants its territory back.

       Capitalism being what it is, can't miss an opportunity to make a buck, so there are tour companies that will arrange guided tours around this eerie ghost town. Though it is illegal to take items in or out of Pripyat for fear of spreading the radioactive contamination. The town's inhabitants are now wild boar, wolves and stray dogs, of course there will be the usual smaller life, rabbits etc. though I doubt if any of it is worth hunting. A handful of individuals have returned to their contaminated towns and villages and live there without official permission, they are known as “self-settlers”.

         This is a large slice of the planet that we probably can never use again, and with the ongoing saga of Fukushima, spilling into the ocean, it looks like we are about to repeat the disaster on a larger scale, on both land and sea. This is contamination on a permanent scale, a poisoned heritage for our grandchildren, yet the babbling brook of bullshit, spews out information of football managers losing their job, privileged parasites prancing about with their kid, and the latest scandal from some soap. We should remember, Spaceship Earth has no escape capsule.

An extract from a more detailed article from Nautilus Blog:

        Born of human error, continually generating copious heat, the Elephant’s Foot is still melting into the base of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. If it hits ground water, it could trigger another catastrophic explosion or leach radioactive material into the water nearby residents drink. Long after bleeding from the core, this unique piece of waste continues to be a testament to the potential dangers of nuclear power. The Elephant’s Foot will be there for centuries, sitting in the dark basement of a concrete and steel sarcophagus, a symbol of one of humankind’s most powerful tools gone awry.

Read the full article HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Their Threat Is A Promise.

Taken from Anarchy Works, by Peter Gelderloos;

There are hidden stories all around us,
growing in abandoned villages in the mountains
or vacant lots in the city,
petrifying beneath our feet in the remains
of societies like nothing we’ve known,
whispering to us that things could be different.
But the politician you know is lying to you,
the manager who hires and fires you,
the landlord who evicts you,
the president of the bank that owns your house,
the professor who grades your papers,
the cop who rolls your street,
the reporter who informs you,
the doctor who medicates you,
the husband who beats you,
the mother who spanks you,
the soldier who kills for you,
and the social worker who fits your past and future into a folder in a filing cabinet
all ask
“WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITHOUT US?
It would be anarchy.”

* * * * *

And the daughter who runs away from home,
the bus driver on the picket line,
the veteran who threw back his medal but holds on to his rifle,
the boy saved from suicide by the love of his friends,
the maid who must bow to those who can’t even cook for themselves,
the immigrant hiking across a desert to find her family on the other side,
the kid on his way to prison because he burned down a shopping mall they were building over his childhood dreams,
the neighbor who cleans up the syringes from the vacant lot, hoping someone will turn it into a garden,
the hitchhiker on the open road,
the college dropout who gave up on career and health insurance and sometimes even food so he could write revolutionary poetry for the world,
maybe all of us can feel it:
our bosses and tormentors are afraid of what they would do without us,
and their threat is a promise —

Read the full article at The Anarchist Library HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

In Times Such As Ours.

There is an alternative----

IN TIMES SUCH AS OURS.

In times such as ours,

when honour crowns the sword

more than the humble word,

let the poet be your broker

trading a week's hate

for one precious moment of love,

demand,   lovers songs supplant

the warrior's battle cry,

so hand in hand, lover and poet

lift our spirits high.

In times such as ours,

when greed is a noble cause

and all,   blind to another's loss,

let the child's tear touch your heart,

make care the common currency

giving the normal act;

sharing with open palm

must be the future's key

so all can freely feed

from the fruits on nature's tree.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

May Day.

This from Stop The war Coalition:

        Trades unionists, human rights campaigners and solidarity groups will march to Trafalgar Square next Thursday, May 1st. The 2014 May Day march and rally will be held in honour of the late Bob Crow, former leader of the RMT union, and the late Tony Benn, former president of the Stop the War Coalition. The peace/anti-war bloc will gather at Clerkenwell Green, London at 12 noon. Look out for Stop the War Coalition and CND banners to find us. If you would like more information or you would like to help on the day by stewarding or distributing  leaflets and banners, please email office@stopwar.org.uk or call 020 7561 4830.

Work for Stop the War
        We are very pleased to announce an exciting opportunity to work at the national office of Stop the War. This is a fantastic opportunity to learn about the work of Stop the War and to support our campaigns against new military interventions and wars abroad. Quaker Peace & Social Witness will fund the peaceworker job for one year. If you are successful, and you are selected to work at Stop the War, you would begin work in September 2014. If you would like to discuss this opportunity, please email office@stopwar.org.uk or call the Stop the War office on 020 7561 4830.

2014 Appeal: thank you
         Stop the War would like to thank everyone who has donated to the 2014 Appeal. We are pleased to announce that we have now reached our £15,000 target thanks to the generosity of hundreds of our supporters.
        Over the last few days we have seen Tony Blair banging the war drum yet again, calling for more international action (military intervention) to combat 'Islamism', adding to the witch-hunt of Muslims at home and we continue to witness the disastrous consequences of the eastward expansion of NATO.

       The anti-war movement must continue to put the pressure on. After a packed public meeting on the crisis in Ukraine, Stop the War is now organising a series of meetings across the UK to discuss the crisis and prepare for the Nato summit in September. With your support we can mobilise thousands to say No to Nato when it visits Newport in Wales later in the year. To make sure we can build the best defence against new wars, and because of the success of our appeal, we have decided to raise our appeal target to £20,000.
      If you haven't yet donated, please click through to donate online or telephone 020 7561 4830.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

May Day Is Fast Approaching.

        May Day is fast approaching and it is sad that so many young people don't know what it is all about. They sometimes see it as a government given holiday, just like the August bank holiday, or Easter Monday, it is not. It is a very special day for the ordinary people from all over the world. 

 May Day; what's it all about?

        May Day, Labour Day, Workers Day, our day, a day when we the ordinary people of the world can celebrate the heroes from our ranks. Paying homage to the men and women who dedicated their lives to the cause of working class emancipation. People who sought nothing for themselves, many dying for their beliefs, individuals that sometimes stood like a colossus astride the political scene, others that worked tirelessly in the shadows, all for the greater good of all peoples, not more for themselves. Their statues, their plaques are no where to be seen, the establishment has them airbrushed out of history. Instead, the powers that be litter our public squares and parks with grandiose statues of arrogant warmongers, empire builders, kings of industry, rich merchants, all who made a fortune on the back of slave and/or cheap labour or the bloodshed of ordinary people. The establishment wants us to forget our heroes, no statues, no plaques, we mustn’t be allowed to think that fighting for the betterment of ordinary people is a worth while cause, much better to try to convince us that it is more honourable to be a self-centred arrogant pursuer of power and wealth at the expense of others. We mustn’t let this happen, we have to keep alive the names and deeds of that legion of men and women who dedicated their lives to our future well being and that of our kids. Spirit of Revolt is helping to do this for those in struggle in the Glasgow/Clydeside area.

MAY 1st.    Must always be a festive day, a day of celebration and pride, a day when we can all come together and wave our banners, party, and remember those names and deeds. A day to revive that spirit of co-operation in struggle and hopefully push our cause to a higher plain. Always on May 1st. not some conveniently arranged employer/union date, the nearest Sunday or Monday holiday, so as not to upset their production. It is our day, always claim it as a day of family fun, festivities and remembrance, a day of hope for the future of all the ordinary peoples of the world. Glasgow, like most cities, is fortunate in having its own legion of working class fighters, a legion that stretches back through the industrial age and beyond. To pick a few at random, names like Thomas Muir, George Barrett, Tom Anderson, John MacLean, Helen Crawfurd, GuyAldred, Ethel MacDonald, Jenny Patrick, William McDougal, Mary Barbour --- and the names go on and on and on, events such as, The Calton Weavers strike, The Cotton Spinners strike, the rent strikes, the first world war peace movement, etc, etc, etc. All names and events to be justly proud of but difficult to find recorded, all the more need to celebrate MAY DAY and keep alive that part of our history, our culture. Take to the streets this MAY DAY, bring the family, bring colour, bring music, bring the spirit of the working class, have fun, remember why we are there, be proud and strengthen your resolve to do more to push the cause of co-operation in struggle with all our people. Keep alive the names and deeds of our past, not those of a corrupt, brutal, exploitative system. Keep alive the dream of a society of free association, voluntary co-operation, and mutual aid, a system of seeing to needs and not to the greed of the few.

More on Glasgow's radical past HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Belonging.

What more can I say-----

BELONGING.

A gentle kiss that bears a promise

confirmed in that philtrf smile,

soft fingers like a breath on flesh

lingering, just a while.

Sweet words that caress

loving hands that speak,

these tell my wondering heart

here is the harbour I seek.

A closeness that needs no voice

a peace that stills the storm

this special human magic, can

an arduous world transform.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Holly Joes And Sharp-Shooters.

      Isn't it strange how the holly Joes end up with their finger on the trigger. We had that fundamentalist Christian, Bush, with his messianic Catholic buddie, Blair, blasting the people of Iraq back to the stone age. Then we sighed a sigh of relief when they were gone, only to find that Etonian millionaire Cameron finds guidance in church on a Sunday. He wishes to act like Dynrod, clearing a way for Christians to be more open in The Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption. Why do nutcases get to the top of the heap? The last thing we need in a volatile world, is those in charge getting their information from an imaginary man in the sky. All of them of course convinced that their man in the sky is the only one, and always right, and each coming back with a different message.

      We have created a system where holly Joe visionaries and sharp-shooting conmen rule the roost. They hold the reins of power, selfishly stashing the plunder in their personal coffers, obviously mayhem will continue until we remove the nutcases from power, and take charge of our own lives.

      The record of the holly Joe and sharp-shooter society, is one of injustice, violence, poverty, deprivation, and a planet that is dying from human abuse.

     I'm sure any one of us could come up with a fairer and saner way to run society, but it wont happen, unless we the ordinary people stand up, take those reins and control the direction we wish to go. A fairer, sustainable society that sees to the needs of all our people is surely not beyond our ability.

Grand Plans.

In this world where we serve oblivion

with a blind pride and sure conviction

creating plans to land a man on Mars

grandiose schemes to conquer the stars

eyes on horizons ever further afield

believing, to us the universe will yield.

Yet here on Earth we fail to see

a chaotic world of human debris,

our magnificent results thus far

a planet dying from a human scar,

oblivious that our plans sublime

are mere litter scattered in space and time.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

The Seasons.

If we are fortunate, our life is like a year, it has all the seasons.

THE SEASONS.

When you look, it's plain to see,

spring has crossed these mountains,

------------------ many years before;

kissed their slopes, with shoots of hope,

promised so much more.

Then sweeping in, in a blaze of life,

summer saw the promises bloom,

---------------- many years before;

bathed the dreams, in bounteous streams,

birds began to soar.

So with stealth, and deceptive charm,

autumn cooled the gurgling streams,

------------------ many years before;

slowed their pace. to one of grace,

quietly closed a door.

Now, with vulgar haste, and callous force,

winter assaults those mighty peaks,

--------------- of many years before;

as gathering clouds, spread their shroud,

memories start to pour.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

The Ragged-Trouser Philanthropist.

      Today, April 23, is the hundredth anniversary of the publication of The Ragged-Trouser Philanthropist, by Robert Tressell, his real name was Robert Noonan. Robert Tressell died in 1911, his book was published three years later, in 1914. It is still as relevant today as it was when it was written, all those years ago.

This from Parrysongs

        Today is the 100th anniversary of the publication of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, my favourite book.
       To commemorate the anniversary, the film making team at “Shut Out The Light” have released this fabulous trailer of their forthcoming film Still Ragged.
       I’m really proud that my song Letter To Kathleen, based on Tressell’s final letter home to his daughter, is the soundtrack to the trailer.
        The film itself features Ricky Tomlinson, Dennis Skinner MP, Len McCluskey of UNITE and Tom Watson MP amongst others.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk