The Glorification Of War, An Imperialist Trait.

        All I can say about this piece is, read it and share it, for it is not only a true picture of the American establishment, but a mirror of our own war worshipping privileged parasites that pontificate over our lives, with little or no value of those lives.Thanks Keith for the link.

Friends,

As we mark Memorial Day, I share an article I wrote at this time in 2014. Sadly, the US is lashing out more aggressively than four years ago and the world is an even more dangerous place as a result. As we relax and enjoy the long weekend, let's double down on our efforts for peace and justice. Solidarity,

Andy

Memorial Day and Everywhere is War

                                                                                                                                                           by Andy Piascik

            Summer approaches and the stench of war is all around. Or, as the great Bob Marley put it, Everywhere is War. Start with the commemorations over a five-week span of Memorial Day, Flag Day and Independence Day, all presented varyingly as celebrations of our war dead, symbols of our greatness, the freedoms we love so dearly and seek to export to every corner of the world and, perhaps most important, the unquestioned rightness of our cause.

            In reality, the celebrations are of imperialist war, with the talk about the hallowed dead just so much cover for the murderous nature of US foreign policy. Celebrating the dead – note that the dead celebrated are just the American dead, not any of the millions killed by US aggression or client states – is a no-lose proposition designed to render anyone who asks the wrong questions a traitor or a terrorist. The notion that the US regularly commits war crimes and that polished, well-educated men like John Kennedy and Barack Obama are war criminals is unthinkable; war criminals look like Osama bin-Laden and Saddam Hussein and those other nasty people far away, over there. 

World War One Centennial

            It’s also the summer of the centennial of the start of what in its time was known as the Great War, the greatest blood-letting in history except for that of the Second Great War barely two decades later. Of one thing we can be sure and that is that the lessons drawn from mainstream discussions of World War One will be all the wrong ones. Worse, the spectacle of the intelligentsia waxing eloquent about the horrors of war while unflinchingly cheering on the warmakers in Washington will be accepted by one and all of their kind as perfectly reasonable – as beyond discussion, in fact.

            In recent weeks, meanwhile, mainstream commentators have been shocked to discover that things in Iraq are not alright, in fact are worse than at any time since the second US blitzkrieg in 2003. Gee, who knew. Who knew that an invasion predicated on a lie of weapons of mass destruction, designed to secure control of massive oil supplies, would go wrong? The political class and intelligentsia didn’t, or at least they pretended they didn’t, but millions around the world who demonstrated against the invasion in the weeks before it was launched certainly did. And one of the points those demonstrators underscored was that a US invasion would fuel sectarian divisions and violence, precisely as has happened. Al-Qaeda, which did not exist in Iraq prior to the invasion, now flourishes while a new group, the Islamist State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), rampages through the country.

            The response of many elites in the US, naturally, is for more war. Calls from certain factions for a third US invasion are growing louder and, true to his preference for violence over diplomacy, Obama has sent a strike force to Iraq. Whether the people of the United States can come together as we did last summer when we rose up and prevented Obama from attacking Syria remains to be seen. We must at least try.

Disgraceful Treatment of Veterans

            Also on the war front is the Veterans Affairs’ disgraceful neglect of ex-soldiers in need of medical care. For years, political elites have been slashing benefits for veterans while increasing spending on weapons and cutting taxes for the Super Rich. That the problem came to a head with a Democrat in the White House is simply an accident of timing, and it is especially outrageous that the most enthusiastic cheerleaders of the illegal Bush-Cheney invasions, as well as reductions to the VA’s budgets and the tax cuts for 1%, now pretend that they care about soldiers.

            Equally farcical is the commencement of yet another round of hearings on the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi. Such hearings would certainly be valuable if everything related to US actions in Libya since the launch of the 2011 assault were up for review, but there is virtually no chance of that happening. The deaths of tens of thousands of Libyans in yet one more illegal military strike, as well as the resulting chaos and violence in that country, is of no concern to those who long for the good old days of Bush-Cheney and are interested only in scoring political points.  

Bowe Bergdhal

            Then there is the saga of the much-vilified Bowe Bergdhal, a heroic young man who came to see the criminal nature of the US invasion of Afghanistan. The refusal of working class youth to fight for Empire is the ruling class’s biggest nightmare and the attacks on Bergdahl, like the show trial that convicted Chelsea Manning, show how far they will go to punish those in uniform who dare challenge their objectives. A hidden aspect of the movement that ended US carnage in Southeast Asia is that it was the widespread opposition of soldiers, both as embodied by organizations like Vietnam Veterans Against the War as well as active duty resisters, that decisively turned the tide.

            So alarming was this development that two massive disinformation campaigns were immediately launched: the myth of the hostility of the anti-war movement for returning soldiers that sought to drive a wedge between active duty and homefront resistance (see, for example, Jerry Lembcke’s outstanding book The Spitting Image: Myth, Memory and the Legacy of Vietnam); and the completely fraudulent MIA blitz (expertly exposed by Bruce Franklin in MIA, or Mythmaking in America) concocted by the Nixon Administration to shift attention away from the death and destruction wrought by the US to the plight of nonexistent prisoners of war. 

            Because preventing any similar development of resistance among soldiers is central to imperial objectives, discussion has largely avoided what Bergdahl actually said about his service in Afghanistan, including his telling declaration in a 2009 e-mail to his parents, as quoted by Amy Goodman on Democracy Now!: “The future is too good to waste on lies and life is way too short to care for the damnation of others as well as to spend it helping fools with their ideas that are wrong. I've seen their ideas, I'm ashamed to even be American. The horror of the self righteous arrogance that they thrive in.” Rather than joining in the Bowe Bergdhal lynch mob, US soldiers everywhere, not to mention those with loved ones in the military, would do well to heed his words and experience.

The Supreme International Crime

            Lastly, the same standard that applies to the war crimes of others applies to the US. As articulated by Robert H. Jackson, chief US prosecutor at Nuremberg, a war of aggression such as committed by the US against Afghanistan and Iraq “is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime, differing only from all other crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.” In such a circumstance, what Bergdahl did was proper and, it could be argued, obligatory for anyone party to war crimes. So amidst the flag waving and speechifying that glorifies imperialism, we should support him and prisoners of conscience like Chelsea Manning. We should demand that all services veterans require be provided, that US bases around the world be closed, that soldiers be returned home and that the US cease its campaign of endless aggression. And as enticing as the military may seem in such desperate economic times, we should counsel young people to stay away no matter how bleak the alternatives may be.     

           

       Andy Piascik is an award-winning author whose novel In Motion was recently published by Sunshine Publishing.  He can be reached at andypiascik@yahoo.com.

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

The Legal Right To Armed Resistance.

 

     Do the Palestinian people have the right to defend themselves by armed struggle? Well according to the UN, as an occupied territory, they have that right legally. Israel as the occupier does not have that legal right and as an invader they are the illegal entity in this continuing bloodshed. 

     This from The Palestine Chronicle:

         When Israel says it has a “right to defend itself,” the correct response is to ask from what or whom?
      Not a single Israeli citizen or soldier has been harmed or killed by Palestinians since the protests began. In short, Israel is shooting and killing human beings who pose absolutely zero threat to either the state of Israel or its citizens.
       Moreover, never once have you ever heard an American journalist ask an Israeli war crimes apologist, “Well, don’t Palestinians have a right to defend themselves, too?”
       It’s such a self-evidently obvious and simple question, but no one dare asks it. I mean, why not?
       When Palestinians support non-violent forms of resistance, such as the boycott Israel movement, they’re smeared by Israel as “anti-Semites.” When they protest against their injustices angrily, they’re smeared as violent Arabs, and when they resort to violence, out of sheer desperation, they’re labeled “radical Islamic terrorists.”
         So, I’ll ask again. Do Palestinians have a right to defend themselves?
The answer to that question is a resounding yes.
         In fact, international law is unambiguous in its endorsement of “armed struggle” for peoples who seek self-determination under “colonial and foreign domination.”
          United Nations resolution 37/43, dated 3 December 1982, “reaffirms the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples for independence, territorial integrity, national unity and liberation from colonial and foreign domination and foreign occupation by all available means, including armed struggle.”
         Moreover, the resolution’s preamble makes clear that it refers not to a hypothetical in the abstract, but rather specifically to the rights of Palestinians, stating, “Considering that the denial of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination, sovereignty, independence and return to Palestine and the repeated acts of aggression by Israel against the peoples of the region constitute a serious threat to international peace and security.”
        Lynda Burstein Brayer is an Israeli-trained human rights lawyer, and she affirms the legal and moral right Palestinians have to armed struggle against Israel’s occupation, noting, “This document [UN resolution 37/43] legitimises all national liberation struggles, including, at this time in history, most particularly, the Palestinian people’s struggle for its own freedom. It is this right which legitimizes all Palestinian attempts to lift the yoke of Israeli oppression from Palestine, including all the actions taken by the Palestinians during Operation Cast Lead [Israel’s 2008/09 siege of Gaza].”
        Now we have completely flipped pro-Israel propaganda on its head.
Under international law, Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories is illegal, and Palestinians have a right to “armed struggle” against their illegal occupier – Israel – thus ipso facto Palestinians have a right to defend themselves against Israel, but Israel’s right to defend itself against Palestinian resistance is not guaranteed in the same manner.
        This reality should be chanted far and loud for it undercuts every Israeli attempt to couch its violence against the Palestinian people in claims of self-defense.

Read the full article HERE:

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

War Kills A Child, We Are Responsible.

          This vile insane system that we live under has spawned endless wars, millions of deaths, devastation, and millions of displaced people, mass poverty and deprivation, with no end in sight. The babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media pumps out its biased misinformation about the "conflict" in Syria, but not a lot about the horrifying situation in Yemen. What started as a "civil war" in Yemen has developed  into an international power grab involving Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Sudan and Senegal, all lined up against the Houthi in Yemen. As if that line up was not enough to be involved in another country's affairs, of course the UK would have to stick its nose into any conflict involving a Middle East country that has oil and gas. We are sending weaponry and military advisers, to Saudi Arabia to assist them in their battle in Yemen.

     The situation in Yemen is dire to say the least. In war it seems that the children are of no consequences, their deaths just mount up and become a statistic in a list of statistics. Not our children, so their deaths fade into the fog of lost memories. But every child has a family that is devastated and torn asunder by that death.

          As of March 26, 2018, at least 10,000 Yemenis had been killed by the fighting, with more than 40,000 casualties overall.
Getting accurate information on the death toll is difficult, but Save The Children estimated at least 50,000 children died in 2017, an average of 130 every day.
       The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, has estimated that Saudi-led coalition air attacks caused almost two-thirds of reported civilian deaths, while the Houthis have been accused of causing mass civilian casualties due to their siege of Taiz, Yemen's third-largest city.

       All wars are vile and destructive, and in most cases completely unnecessary, but combatants that target hospitals must surely have reached the bottom of the barrel of humanity's dregs.

     Saudi Arabia has pressured aid groups to leave rebel-controlled areas of Yemen, saying that aid workers are at risk. In January 2016, a hospital operated by Doctors Without Borders was hit by a rocket, killing four people. A bombing carried out by the Saudi-led coalition injured at least six people at a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders in October 2015.

       Remember, Saudi Arabia is the country that we are sending weaponry and military advisers to assist them in the battles in Yemen. Where does that leave our Honourable Gentlemen that sit around that symbol of privilege and power, The Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption?

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

And Here Is The News---HA-HA-HA!!

        I always refer to the mainstream media as the babbling brook of bullshit, the reason being, in the UK at least, it is no more than an outlet for state and corporate propaganda. However, what amazes me is that so many people still think they are keep up with the "news" when they indulge themselves in its outpourings. The BBC comes in for the most "respected" news broadcaster badge by lots of people. Of course it won that badge by smoke and mirrors reporting and clever self prompting propaganda.

     The following article is well worth reading in full, it pinpoints just a little of the slight of hand "reporting" that favours UK state wars and Western corporate interests that is spewed out as "news"

      The extracts are from Gorilla Radio Blogs:

          On January 22, BBC News at Ten carried a piece by 'defence' correspondent Jonathan Beale reporting a speech by General Sir Nick Carter, the British Army's Chief of General Staff.
Carter gave his speech, pleading for more resources in the face of the Russian 'threat', at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), an establishment thinktank with close links to the military and corporate media. Beale began his BBC News piece with a prologue of raw propaganda, delivered in an urgent and impassioned tone:

'Russia's building an increasingly modern and aggressive military. Already tested in battle in Syria, using weapons Britain would struggle to match – like long-range missiles. In Ukraine, they've been using unconventional warfare, electronic cyber and misinformation. And they're even on manoeuvres on Europe's doorstep, with large-scale exercises near Nato's borders. Enough to worry the head of the British army who tonight gave this rare public warning.'

The essence of Carter's 'rare public warning' was that:

'Russia was building an increasingly aggressive expeditionary force and the potential military threats to the UK "are now on Europe's doorstep"... the Kremlin already boasted an "eye-watering quantity of capability" - a level the UK would struggle to match... Britain "must take notice of what is going on around us" or... the ability by the UK to take action will be "massively constrained".'

Carter continued:

'Rather like a chronic contagious disease, it will creep up on us, and our ability to act will be markedly constrained - and we'll be the losers of this competition.'

      The army chief's warning had been approved by the Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson.
On News at Ten, Beale's reporting of the speech amplified the army chief's message – in other words, the Defence Secretary's stance - by deploying such key phrases as:

'Increasingly aggressive', 'tested in battle', 'Britain would struggle to match', 'manoeuvres on Europe's doorstep', 'near Nato's borders'.

     There was, of course, no mention of US/Nato encroachment towards Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union (contravening assurances given to Gorbachev), or the US bases and military exercises close to Russia's borders as well as globally, or the long history of US threats and major crimes around the world. Nor was there any reference to Ukraine which has routinely been reported as an example of Russian 'aggression'. John Pilger observes that the BBC along with others, including CNN, the New York Times and the Guardian:

'played a critical role in conditioning their viewers to accept a new and dangerous cold war.
'All have misrepresented events in Ukraine as a malign act by Russia when, in fact, the coup in Ukraine in 2014 was the work of the United States, aided by Germany and Nato.'

      Beale's credulous reporting of the army chief's speech was an exemplar of 'public broadcast' media whipping up fear to promote state interests.

Read the full article HERE:
      Then go and get your news from local and international social media and independent sources, removed from the chains that link mainstream media to the state and corporate interest.

Visit ann arky's home at radicalglasow.me.uk

Keep the Focus On Target.

 

          Just a few more photos to help to keep in focus, the Israeli Zionist state's brutal genocide of the Palestinian people. The protest was held to show and gather support for the Palestinian people's fight for justice. It was held in Argyle Street Glasgow Saturday 26th May, outside Marks and Spencer's, store, a known strong supporter of the Israeli Zionist state.

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

Just Living Or Having A Life??

        There are many options offered to bring this system of economic slavery, down. One way of bring it to its knees is simply, stop buying their carp, or stop playing by their rules. Just opting out of the system might not be everybody's idea, but it does have an impact.
         Once again some nice level headed words of wisdom from Not Buying Anything.

          Making a living is not the same as having a life. To build a life worth living, one needs time for leisure.
I don't know about you, but I always thought that working 8 hours a day, 5 days a week 50 weeks a year was too much. Much too much.
Now, with "labour saving" technology, one can be in permanent work mode. But why?
        Soon labour saving will mean more than the appearance of cutting down on work, all the while increasing that work. It will mean cutting labour out entirely with AI and robots. Now there is a threat even worse than low paid workers in foreign countries.
"You don't like being in permanent work mode? You should feel lucky that you still have a job at all."
        No thank you. I have lived simply for most of my life so I could avoid such an outcome. My reasoning was that the less I needed to buy, the less I needed to work. And the less I needed to work, the less dependent I was on the masters and their perpetual work demands.
Unlike AI, to be human is to need leisure time. Messy, inconvenient, but true. Not working for a taskmaster means that I can indulge the amount of leisure time necessary to build a life.
       “The original meaning of the concept of “leisure” has practically been forgotten in today’s leisure-less culture of “total work”: in order to win our way to a real understanding of leisure, we must confront the contradiction that rises from our overemphasis on that world of work. 

        The very fact of this difference, of our inability to recover the original meaning of “leisure,” will strike us all the more when we realize how extensively the opposing idea of “work” has invaded and taken over the whole realm of human action and of human existence as a whole.” - Joseph Pieper

         I got out of debt. I saved as much as I could. Then, at the earliest possible date, I quit the endless work world.
       Now I do what I want to do, which is most certainly not virtually attending a meeting while I am on "holiday" or in the bathroom, or while out with friends, or in bed.
         If you have to work while on vacation, it isn't a vacation. If you have to work all the time, you are not getting the leisure time you need.
         No leisure, no life. Living more simply is one way to get the time you need, and deserve.

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

Lest We Forget!!

        By now our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media will have moved on from the brutal murder of 111 Palestinian protesters by the Israeli Zionist military machine. They will be onto some new spectacle, sensation, scandal, the sex life of an MP, gossip on the latest moviestar spilt up. Lots of popcorn and bubble gum trivia for the masses. However the persecution of the Palestinian people still goes on, day in and day out, the Israeli Zionist state is relentless in its genocide of the Palestinian people. So though the babbling brook of bullshit has drop the subject, we the ordinary people should not. We must not forget that this is 70 years of ongoing persecution, 70 years of land grabs by the Zionists, day and daily murder, arrests and repression of an entire people, held in the largest open air prison in the world.

     So the protests across the world must continue in solidarity and support of a persecuted people, the Palestinians. We must continue to raise our voices about the 21st. century genocide, that is aided and abetted by the Western governments. Our silence is complicity in the support, and supply of weapons, to the Israeli Zionist state. we have to continue to shout, this genocide must end.

     It is encouraging to see that a group of Glasgow citizens are keeping the protests going. Though again sad, that only one red and black flag present, held aloft by a solitary Glasgow anarchist, where are you all? Today, Saturday 26th May, they were out side Marks and Spencers Argyle Street store, a known strong supporter of the Israeli Zionist state, informing the the general public of the situation in Palestine. A genocide based on the ludicrously insane idea that an invisible man in the sky, gave this land to the Jews some 2,000 years ago. That is the belief that underpins this savage murder of thousands over the years. 

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

Death At Work..

The "gig" economy and zero hours contracts are now the shape of a life for a large section of the working class. It is pumped out as flexible to suit the individual, but in actual fact is just another way of employers saving money and cutting down on their responsibilities to the employee. They have no worries about paid holidays, sick pay and health and safety, and a host of other workers rights. As usual it is the employee bears the brunt of this stripping down of conditions, conditions that were fought for over generations are now being destroyed, all in the name of profit, under the false flag of "flexibility".

         The recent case in Philadelphia where a courier was killed while working and his employer washes their hands of any responsibility, brings home the brutal truth of this type of "employment". Unfortunately I will be unable to take part in this action of support and solidarity, if you can, please do, it is short notice as it is this evening, but please spread the word.

Hi FWs,
       This Friday (25th) in Glasgow at 6:30pm, George Square, the Couriers Network Scotland will be holding a memorial bike ride for Pablo Avendano- a food courier who was killed recently whilst working for the app 'Caviar'. The company refuse to accept their share of responsibility for his death and his friends and family have asked for solidarity actions.
        All are welcome. We'll have supply of black armbands for folks to wear in his memory.
         (If you don't have a bike, there are Next Bikes available in the Square that you can rent for free for 30 mins)
         "This Friday Glasgow Critical Mass will be dedicating their monthly bike ride to Pablo Avendano, a Philadelphia based bike courier and activist who tragically lost his life while working for courier firm Cavier last Saturday!
Come on down to show your support!
An Injury to One is an Injury to All!
The Streets are our workplace!"

Solidarity,

Chris - Couriers Network Scotland

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

Just A Wee Morning Rant.

Pompous defender of privilege Duke of Wellington receives a touch of Glasgow Humour.

  

       As you walk around our fair city of Glasgow, you get the impression that the ordinary people played no part in the development our the city. The city centre is festooned with statues, but none to the struggles of the ordinary people who tried to improve the conditions of the ordinary people and who fought inequality and injustice. Seldom do these people enter into the history curriculum in the education system, yes, I know, we have a statue to Mary Barbour, instead there is a catalogue of kings, queens, dukes and earls fighting for wealth and power, or it is the history of war mongers, who shed the blood of ordinary people to defend the wealth and power of the few, “captains” of industry or greedy entrepreneurs, we even have streets named after slave owners. Our city is littered with statues and plaques to these greed and power driven individuals, most of whom gained their fame and fortune on the blood and sweat of the ordinary people.
       It is encouraging to see various campaigns to have some of the statues of these symbols of power mongers removed. As far as I am concerned most should be scrapped, as they are symbols to the blood soaked defence of privilege, power and wealth, symbols of oppression of our people, and of people in the once blood soaked British Empire. The “British Empire” is just a sanitised name for the savage and brutal plunder of the planet for the benefit of the few, that army of parasites that control our lives.
       Nowhere do you see statues and plaques honouring those thousands of ordinary working class people who spent their lives struggling to change this society and free the ordinary people from poverty and oppression. That is our history, a history that we should rightly be very proud of, and do our utmost to keep alive to inspire us, our children and grand children to continue the struggle to bring justice to all and an end to poverty power and privilege.

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

 

Let The Prisoners Speak.

 

          Anyone with half a brain cell knows that the prison system is a state tool of repression and control, and has nothing to do with "rehabilitation". Prisons are also a place where people with learning difficulties, mental health problems and addiction problems and various other problems, are stored out of public view. They are places of violence and brutality where the human spirit can be ground down, where people are caged, and in most cases, in grossly overcrowded conditions. 

    The only humane approach to prisons is to demolish them completely, removing this scar from the face of our society. 

   There is a call out for all prisoners and ex-prisoners to let the world hear their stories, their experiences, their points of view. Bring the prison experience to the public at large, open their eyes and awaken their sense of humanity to the brutal savagery of the state prison system.

A call for contributions for a new publication.

       The Empty Cages Collective and the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee (IWOC) in Wales, Ireland, Scotland and England is calling out to prisoners and ex-prisoners worldwide to contribute their writing to a new publication: Prisoner Writings on Prison Abolition.

         This publication will share prisoner voices in the prison abolition conversation. It will centre the experiences of people in prison and their ideas on questioning, resisting and dismantling the prison industrial complex – as well as building a world without prisons.

It will be published during the International Week of Solidarity of Solidarity with Anarchist Prisoners at the end of August 2018.

           Material received before the 1st June will be published in an interim publication distributed at the International Conference on Prison Abolition (ICOPA) that is taking place in London, England from 15-18th June 2018. It will also be distributed online, be posted to prisoners and shared with radical distributors across the planet.

Prisoners are invited to send letters, articles and artwork to:

Empty Cages Collective, c/o BASE Social Centre, 14 Robertson Road, Bristol BS5 6JY, UK

Or supporters can email typed-up contributions to: info@prisonabolition.org

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

 

Royal Statues, Symbols Of Brutal Conquest.

         A little reminder of how the British monarchy, as head of state, presided over the plunder and brutalising the planet. How they and their privileged parasites grew fat on the spoils of that plunder, riding roughshod over the indigenous people. Theirs is a history of brutal conquest and vicious control, a history written in the blood of millions of ordinary people across the globe. Statues of royalty are symbols to a bloody and brutal history for self gain and power. Thanks Loam for the video link.

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

Let Your Righteous Anger Burst Forth.

      At the moment, looking at our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, you would be forgiven for thinking that our world comprises of over privileged useless prats, prancing around in ridiculous attire, being cheered on by a mindless horde of adoring fans. All because our biggest social benefit family have decided to try to cement their family's privileged position by having another wedding. No mention in the babbling brook of bullshit's out pouring, of the strikes and mass demonstrations in France against this system that spawns these over privileged prancing prats.

        France is in turmoil with transport strikes, social service strikes and student strikes. Not to mention the brutal state attempt at the eviction of ZAD, which has been going on for weeks now. Groups from various sections of French society are calling and organising for a general strike. The simmering anger that has been bubbling away under the surface is starting to break through in an attempt to tear this rotten corrupt system apart. We should be supporting their efforts in any way we can, and be trying to bring to boiling point, that simmering anger that lies just below the surface in our own society. Years of a deliberate ideology of dispossessing the poor, has fuelled that anger, but anger without a target is like a blind archer behind a bow. We have to direct that anger at the root cause of our ever decreasing share of the country's wealth, that we the people create, capitalism itself.

       This from Enough is Enough:

           As we reported more and more people discuss an indefenite general strike on the French territory. In the coming week there are two major mobilizations: on May 22 and May 26. On May 22 students are mobilizing for the “Day of the Barricades”and the public services sector will go on strike.
        On May 14 there was a first meeting in Paris about the current mobilizations and a general strike. The meeting was organized in less than two weeks by Front Social and about 300 people attended. There is now a proposal for another meeting with activists of various general assemblies (railway workers, postmen, students etc.) to meet in the evening of May 22. Gaël Quirante (a union member of SUD Post 92) said during the May 14 meeting: “It is time to discuss how we go on strike, how to amplify the strike, how we generalize it, how we build a general strike. And a general strike is something different than just not working, it’s not only for those who have a job: a general strike means that at some point, with or without job, is a strike that raises the question of who decides in our lives.”

Read the full article HERE:
       
        The ongoing struggle for ZAD:

          Since the government’s decision to cancel the construction of an airport at Notre-Dame-des-Landes (NDDL) on January 17, 2018, life on la ZAD—the Zone a Défendre (Zone To Defend) where the airport was to be built—has been a complicated series of conflicts about whether to negotiate with the government for the future of the land. Any lingering illusions that it could be possible to coexist peacefully with the authority of the state were dispelled this week, as the French government initiated what they hope will be the decisive eviction of this world-famous inspiring autonomous zone. To learn about the fifty years of struggle that led up to this moment, read our full history, “La ZAD: Another End of the World Is Possible.”

The latest from ZAD:

           The government has announced a second wave of evictions on the zad of Notre-Dame des-Landes. The operation could be launched as soon as May 15th. We have no idea how large or how long it will be. What is certain is that we cannot trust official announcements and that we will mobilise if faced with any new attempt to pick and choose, which living places on the zad they will evict.
           Despite those, from the government or unfortunately even from the movement, who try to sow divisions, label and increase tensions, we will maintain as wide as possible a common defense for all the living places, perspectives and activities that are intertwined on the zad.
         This is the line that we have wanted to hold, as much within the negotiations as with the various forms of resistance and mobilisations on site for several weeks. We thus invite everyone to be ready to react again on the zad and everywhere else from May 15th.

Read the full article HERE: 

 

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