States And The Misuse Of Language.

         Governments adopt names that belie their intentions and ideology, Greece is no different. The newly elected government of Greece is called "New Democracy", yet its first priority is to attack and close down social spaces that work in a democratic fashion. The recent and ongoing military style attacks on social and autonomous spaces in Exarcheia are just typical examples of this misuse of labels. The poster might say "New Democracy" but the actions say "fascist". There is language in normal use, then there is the distorted language of doublespeak as used by states and their institutions. Below is just another account of this phony democracy at work, attacking those who don't obey their dictates or don't fit the model of big capitalism, all carried out under the false banner of citizen security and safety. Bullshit for the naive and subservient loyal followers.

This from Act For Freedom Now:

 

         Today on Wednesday the 25.09 the State has again attacked. This time to little sellers that used to make a flee market in Victoria, Filis after the laiki agoras. An operation of State-Municipality Police, of the private security of the market and Civilians Cops accompanied with different vehicles like a garbage car, Municipality Police vans and an interrogation van (waiting in the beginning of the market) went through the market harassing the street sellers. The cops start checking people appearing with bags of things to sell. They checked their papers, and threw the bags in the trash. In an arrogant way they were even bullying the ones looking either poor or like Migrants to them even though they just carried bags of fruits bought from the ‘legal’ market.
        It was the second time that we observed this action of the State, so this time some sellers were more careful with their goods. They were waiting in the streets to see if they have a chance to sell some things. Meanwhile the cops got compliments by local assholes telling them that they do a great job! They were walking in different groups, security in the beginning followed by cops that were doing the checks together with Civilian cops looking in the bags. We are not sure if they arrested people today but we observed many identity checks and disgusting behaviour of the cops and their friends.
         This is the continuation of the State’s discrimination of the outcast and the irrational separation of legal and illegal. It’s more obvious than ever that racism and fascism are coming from State Institutions.

         We here in UK should not be complacent we are trundling along the road to fascism at an ever increasing pace, our recent parliamentary fiascos should make that obvious to anyone with half a brain cell. Other states across Europe and elsewhere are further along that road or are catching up. You cannot debate with fascism, you have to fight it head on with no quarter given. 

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk     

Borders Mean Deaths.

 

        Everybody by now should be aware that migrants are the scapegoats of the world, a group of individuals and families that are stripped of all human rights and herded like cattle. All this to uphold the states demand for those imaginary lines on the map, borders. Quite often the worst cases of migrants mistreatment seldom reach our mainstream media, as the media doesn't want to upset their various partners, their particular state.

 An Afghan woman outside her "home" on Lesbos.

        One hell-hole where migrants are herded is the island of Lesbos, on this small beautiful spot is one of the many "refugee" camps, proper name would be concentration camps. In this camp built to poorly house 3,000 migrants are crammed 12,000 migrants, mainly those fleeing Afghanistan's many brutal dangers. Such conditions foster psychological and physical health problems fueled by desperation.

      In the early hours of Sunday morning in an act of desperation to try to further there demands to be transferred to better conditions on the mainland, migrants lit a fire in an olive grove outside the camp and one inside the camp and struggles with the police ensued. The result is one person dead, burnt to death, and later it was confirmed that a mother and child had died. 

       No matter how this is written up, the truth is that these deaths can be firmly laid at the feet of those who deem it is alright to cram 12,000 desperate fleeing people into a space not fit for 3,000. 12,000 migrants is the wrong term, it is 12,000 human beings, who for no reason of their own are relabeled stripped of all human rights and treated worse than wild animals. 

      Despite the plight of migrants when they reach Europe, conditions are such that thousands still try to flee their homeland because of destruction, death and abject deprivation, usually brought about by Western foreign policy. According to the Greek coastguard, on Sunday, a baby and a toddler were among seven people who died when a boat carrying migrants and refugees sank in the eastern Aegean Sea. Such desperation not only deserves, but demands compassion and support. However the state's insistence on borders will only prolong this human tragedy.

A human cry for help.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

Weekend in Wonderful, Wild Scotland.

 The cottage.

       It was Stasia's birthday on Sunday, not allowed to mention age, so we booked a wee cottage a few miles before Stronachlachar, for the weekend. I had cycled that route many years ago, but had forgotten just how rubbish the road is once you pass Kinlochard, As you head for Stronachlachar the road (a rather misinterpretation of the word) you find yourself on a winding up and down single track with potholes and passing place which are not much more that some rubble at the side of the road. We arrived at the cottage on Friday afternoon and just did some wandering around and settling in before lighting the log fire and settling done for the evening. Not much else to do in such an isolated part of the country. 

Loch Katrine at Stronachlachar.

Stasia thought this one funny because of the notice

Stronachlachar.

      Saturday morning, breakfast and then head for Stronlachachar, just about four miles or so, but what a lousy twisting hilly single track road, but the weather was lovely, lots of sun and not much in the way of wind. Stronlachachar is a pretty isolated spot at the head of Loch Katrine, Just a lodge a pier and a cafe. There are sailings from Trossachs end of Loch Katrine to Stronlachachar, great walking country, but road rather lousy for cyclists and cars. 

 Inversnaid.

Inversnaid waterfall.

Inversnaid Hotel.

Inversnaid Harbour.

 

     We then decide to carry on to Inversnaid, where you eventually run out of road. The stretch to Inversnaid is even worse than the previous stretch of road, the last bit is a sharp decline and full of turns and twists, and as far as I could see this stretch had no passing places, not for the feint of heart.

    Inversnaid is a beautiful spot at the head of Loch Lomond on the opposite side of the Loch from Duck Bay, Luss, Inverbeg and Tarbet. There are small passenger ferries connecting you to the other side of the Loch.

     It was a wonderfully relaxing break and as always the views are stunningly beautiful, a mixture of long lochs, rugged mountains and forests, though I cursed the rotten roads, long may it remain so isolated and retain that escape potential.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

The Virus Persists.

      September, 27th. marks an anniversary of a fight back, and success, by ordinary people. It was on that date in 1936 that fascist Oswald Mosley lead a march of 1000 Blackshirt fascist in Leeds, however it didn't go unnoticed. They were met by around 30,000 locals who attacked them with all manner of missiles, some hitting Mosley. The locals continued their assault by singing the Red Flag and drowning out the fascist speeches. It is sad that today that the virus persists, we are still facing this fascist menace as it continues to raise it vile head from the sewers of society and spews out its divisive rhetoric. Our parliamentary pampered Oxbridge political ballerinas pay lip service to this fascist rise by their abhorrent derogatory language. Fascism will only be beaten and finally eradicated by the people, on the streets, not by the institutions of the state. Fascism and the state are very close relatives.

 

Working Class History

@wrkclasshistory

#OtD 27 Sep 1936 1000 uniformed fascist Blackshirts led by Oswald Mosley in Leeds were confronted by 30k locals who attacked them, pelted them with stones, hitting Mosley, and drowned out speeches by singing The Red Flag

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Wild Times.

       Busy as usual, Spirit of Revolt has chosen for September’s “Read of the Month”  Wild Times, Newsletter of Scottish Action Against Bloodsports. This is from our Clydeside Hunt Saboteurs Collection, which makes for very interesting reading. Though Scotland in 2002, passed legislation restricting fox hunting etc. hunts can still continue in their sadistic tally-ho cruelty as long as they have gunmen around to claim that every fox was “legally killed”. So the need for hunt saboteurs is still a necessity and they still do their remarkable work trying to save Scotland’s wild life. Surely a time will come when this barbaric cruelty is seen as a bad chapter in our distant history.

     Why not peruse our website and then drop us a wee note at, info@spiritofrevolt.info  and let us know what you think, or offer your skills as a volunteer?

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

Who Was Peter McKellar?

 

       The history of the struggles of the ordinary people has an endless list of unknown heroes, people who stood against the power of the state and struggled for justice and peace. No matter what the state threw at them they remained true to their principles. They are part and parcel of our working class heritage yet remain unknown. Where possible we should try to find out who they were, and record their principled stand against the relentless authority of the state. 

      I have tried to remember and record some of those working class heroes and events in Strugglepedia, but there are still so many that remain unrecorded, hidden somewhere in some dark corner of history. If we can, we should bring them into the light of the known  mosaic of our proud and colourful history.

     To that end I wrote this piece some time ago, but sadly got no response, so this is another wee try to find out , "Who was Peter McKellar"

     I believe that we should never forget those comrades who stood against authority when it was at its harshest and most repressive. Reading through an old copy of The Word, on the Sparrow's Nest site, I came upon the case of Peter McKellar. The article starts with:-- 

     Our comrade Peter McKellar of 38 South Annadale Street, Glasgow, will have been court-martialled for the second time before these lines are printed.
     Then aged 22, a glazier by trade, he registered as a conscientious objector on December, 26, 1939. His case was heard on April 23, 1940, by the Glasgow Tribunal, consisting of Sir A. C. Black, K.C., Sir Robert Bruce, J.P.. L.L.D., and Mr. (now Sir) R. Bryce Walker, C.B.E., etc.
    McKellar told the Tribunal that his father was killed in the great war. He would not butcher nor yet be butchered. It was enough that this had happened to his father. The Tribunal sympathised with him. He replied that he wanted justice as an anti-militarist, not sympathy. --------

      Who was Peter McKellar, is there anybody out there who can throw some light on this comrade and man of principle. We should remember our own, record their life, they are part of our history, the history of the ordinary man and woman of our communities.  So if you have any wee bit of info, no matter how little a detail, please share it with ann arky, so that we can try to put his page in its rightful place in our history.

 Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

Beware The Cop In Your Pocket.

       This is a re-hash of something I wrote about some time ago, but think it is worth repeating. It is impossible to deny that as far as the state is concerned, we are living in glass bowl. We are monitored every where we go, with CCTV, facial recognition and cameras in every pub, shop, bus, train, shopping mall, library, etc. and so it goes on. However their is another tool in the state's  widespread surveillance, that little gadget most of us carry everywhere, the mobile phone.  

       You’re heading out the door, ooops, better not forget my phone, perhaps it should be, ooops, better not take my phone!! One thing that we should always be aware of, you’re never alone with a phone. The phone is a conduit into the nitty-gritty of your personal life, an archive of your life. In it are all those personal texts, emails, photos, contacts, personal details etc. As you walk about your business that simple little gadget in your bag/pocket monitors your movements, and can pinpoint you down to the metre. On the pretext of being able to send you all your emails and texts, the phone company keeps a very accurate record of all your whereabouts at all times, you are continually monitored. Your phone contains transcripts of years of private conversations, data on all your friends associates and partners, your phone is your personal “black-box” and can be used against you in a court of law. Your phone is a cop in your pocket.
       Let’s not forget “Stingray”, a devise that the powers that be, can set up anywhere, in a vehicle, in any street, in a public park,  and it imitates a genuine phone mast, all the phones in the area are tricked to sending all their transmissions to this phoney mast, the information from the phones is scooped up, sorted, stored then with in minutes, the original signal is sent to the nearest genuine mast to continue its journey, and you are unaware that anything has happened. “Stingray”, can swoop up thousands of mobile phone data in minutes in one fell swoop, just by a vehicle sitting quietly in a street.
      Heading out, oops must remember to take the cop from my pocket and leave the creep in a drawer. Where ever you go, what ever you do, never forget the cop in your pocket.

 Hi, I'm your friendly cop.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

Self Defence Takes Many Shapes.

      There is no doubt that this world has beauty and pleasure in abundance to offer, but it is impossible to be blind to the violence all around us, we live in a very violent world. The inescapable fact that we should all wake up to is that states are by far the worst offenders when it comes to violence. State authorities far outstrip any individual, group, or gangster mob, in the range and depth of violence they daily administer.

        Their violence takes many shapes from the misery, poverty and early deaths from corporate exploitation, aided and abetted by the state. There is the plundering of the public purse to enrich the already wealth bedfellows of the state, which is responsible for millions living mired in deprivation. There is the state "punishment" handed out to those who would resits this deliberate, avoidable violent injustice. Of course we can never ignore the state's greatest savage, brutal violence, it is when it decides to go to war with one of its fellow states. Which of course is always founded on a false narrative, cajoling the population into following its fluttering coloured rag and sacrificing their lives for the survival and enrichment of the keepers of the state. Wars create mountains of bodies and rivers of blood, and millions of lives that remain steeped in misery for the rest of their lives. However the keepers of the state ensure that the state survives intact.

        How people respond to this violence varies, but due to the scale brutality and breadth of state violence it is difficult to fault anybody's struggles against this continuous onslaught, each of us must choose or own path of resistance, but resistance is always justifiable, it is simply a choice of self defence.

    An anonymous song from Italy depicting someone's choice of resistance, lifted from Anarchists Worldwide:

The Individualist Hymn
Before dying in the mud on the streets
we would imitate Bresci and Ravachol;
anyone who extends a hand to you, bourgeoisie,
is a person unworthy of looking at the sun.
Grinding machines tear the beggars to pieces
and their wives are forever pale and weeping,
The fields remain fallow, the miners buried
and the workers crushed forever by murder.
And to those who don’t give in, open the tombs,
prepare the bombs, sharpen the knife,
action is the ideal!
France, on the watch with the guillotine,
chops off the head of anyone who wants to punish her.
Cowardly Spain strangles with a garrote and murderous
Italy guns down those who aren’t accustomed to trembling.
Hanged in America, throats cut in Africa,
forever tortured at Montjuich in Spain,
but the individualist still knows how to strike
the sorry breed of gentleman thugs.
And to those who don’t give in, open the tombs,
prepare the bombs, sharpen the knife,
action is the ideal!
As long as we are a herd it’s appropriate that there’s
a social gang passing laws;
as long as the sun of anarchy doesn’t shine,
we will always see the slaughtering of the populace.
Be very afraid, coppers, when you hear
the dynamite exploding against the oppressors.
We are enemies of all cops and scoundrels,
And one against all, we will scatter them.
And to those who don’t give in, open the tombs,
prepare the bombs, sharpen the knife,
action is the ideal!
******
No Copyright. 100% DIY. Feel free to reproduce.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

Attack The Root, Don't Pluck At The Petals.

       I and countless of thousands of others have repeatedly stated that the climate change protests as they stand are delusional. They are appealing to the state to legislate to turn the capitalist destructive monster into a nice friendly green capitalist destructive monster. The planet cannot and will not be saved by states in conjunction capitalists, they are the bedfellows of the destructive system that is capitalism, a system that feeds them unimaginable wealth and power. The answer is obviously outside the state/capitalist way of thinking, capitalism needs perpetual growth, perpetual growth is the destruction of the planet. It is impossible to push for perpetual growth on a planet with finite resources, something has to give. If we continue with this economic model then in the not too distant future, we lose, and the planet goes on for countless more centuries without us. We have to attack the root of the problem, not pluck at the petals. The following article from Contra Madriz puts it much better than I could.

This from Act For Freedom Now:

        Various institutions, environmental groups, trade unions and student groups gathering under the name “Fridays for Future” have announced a so-called “Week for Climate” from the 20th to the 27th of September. Basically this week consists of programmed and alienating demonstrations in which the State and other institutions (UN, G7 etc) are being asked to remedy or take action against the disaster they are causing. In their simplistic and reformist discourse they never criticize the cause of the ongoing devastation: industrial techno capitalism and its technocratic organization of the world.
       They are the ones who criticize climate change without criticizing those who produce it: they have a corpse in their mouths, those who defend the myth of progress, of sustainable development and of a ‘comfortable’ life in exchange for slavery and the commodification of every aspect of our lives, a life sold to technological domination. They are the ones who have purchased the new fashionable product, climate change, from the supermarket of rebellion.
      Fridays for Future? Today more than ever the future does not exist, we live in an eternal present and any vestige of the past has been erased. The technological prostheses that surround and colonize us make us live in a continuous state of sleepwalking, where the catastrophe is not about to come as they insist on warning us, the catastrophe is here and now, the catastrophe is the alienating life directed by the algorithms of our ‘virtual assistants’, the catastrophe is a world already devastated by industry.
      Climate change is just one more of the thousands of harmful consequences of the industrial revolution (the only revolution, that began two centuries ago, that has reached all parts of the planet and colonized and commodified all lifeforms). Climate change is inseparable from the techno industrial system: deforestation, acidification of the oceans, desertification, extinction of thousands of animal and plant species, thousands of chemical products that doom our existence, pollution of land, air and water are just some of the the harmful consequences of this system. We believe that to speak only of climate change without criticizing the techno industrial system is to fall into a reductionism and to not go to the root of the problem.
       Climate change and all the toxicity are the consequences of the technocratic project that manages and administers our lives. A project that consists of colonizing, dominating and commodifying all lifeforms. Once nature has been colonized and dominated, the next objective is human beings, a project based on the convergence of technologies known as NBIC (nanotechnologies, biotechnologies, information technologies and cognitive sciences) to which we can also add robotics and artificial intelligence, their greed has no end. If everything is commodified right down to our daily activities, their profits will not stop increasing. To turn the world and everything that inhabits it into a programmed machine where nothing escapes its control: world-machine, human-machine. This leads us to a mechanistic vision of the world, of ourselves and everything that surrounds us.
     Hundreds of research programs with multi million dollar investments are dedicated to finding new sources of energy. This need for energy for the world to function results in the devastation of territory and annihilation of millions of human and non-human animals. Industrial energy runs the world, it is necessary for the production and distribution of all those unnecessary products that we find around us, it is the economy and it is war. The system has identified and understood as a big business that only ‘renewable’ and ‘clean’ energies will allow to it operate, expand and survive. The new technocratic project is ‘renewable’ and ‘sustainable’, it is ecological. This new project also covers the entire territory, from the industrial deserts of solar panels and wind farms (also causing climate change, devastation of the territory, diseases etc) to eco-cities (non-places where everything is controlled, optimized and automated, also producing hundreds of harmful products and an alienating life). So, to defend green energy is to defend the project that is hurtling us at great speed and a huge rate of progress towards the abyss, it is to defend those who are creating a totalitarian world, it is to defend the project of those who manage and administer our robotized lives.
        This is why we are calling for a week of struggle against climate change and all harmfulness from the 20th to the 27th of September from an anarchist perspective, which goes beyond the limits imposed by social democracy. One more week, in which by means of diverse forms of direct action various groups and individuals will confront the techno industrial system. The week of September 20-27 is only a goal for liberal and statist ecologism, but for those of us who aim for the elimination of the State, capitalism, patriarchy and the techno-industrial system, it is an opportunity to escape the narrow margins of domestication and initiate an autonomous, anti-capitalist and anarchist path against techno-industrial toxicity.

Neither the State nor techno-science will save us.
The struggle is the only way.

(via Contra Madriz)

*Translation note [AWW] – the original title for the week of action translates directly as ‘Week of Struggle Against Climate Change and All Harmfulness’, which sounds fine in the original Spanish language text but does not translate well into English. We toyed with using the word ‘toxicity’ rather than harmfulness, but in the end decided to just leave it out.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

“No Pasaran”, Solidarity Is The Weapon.

        Exarcheia is not a militarised controled zone, it is still a battlefield, and the residents and their supporters are fighting back. This latest action took the riot police by surprise, showing it can be done, as they say, "you can't evict a dream". Solidarity of the people will eventually defeat any authoritarian repression, we have the numbers, it is all a matter of coming together and cementing that solidarity.

This from Anarchist News:

Exarcheia Anarchists surprise riot police, reoccupy squat.

 

 On Friday 20 September 2019, on the three years anniversary of the occupation of the building that became known as “Spirou Trikoupi 17 Squat” housing refugees in the heart of Exarcheia (Athens, Greece), people were not deterred by the fact that the Squat had been evacuated on Monday 26 August 2019, following a massive police raid and that the neighborhood of Exarchia has been turned into a “militarized” zone, with constant riot police attacks against people in the area and social centers.
         Instead, they chose to celebrate the anniversary like the evacuation never happened by organizing a collective dinner on Exarcheia square to celebrate the Squat’s birthday, “with their one and only weapon… Solidarity!”, as noted in their public communique.
        During the event, people decided to defy the “militarized” law imposed on Exarcheia and while taking the riot police brigades by surprise, managed to enter the sealed -with bricks- building, symbolically reoccupying it, hang a huge banner writing “No Pasaran”, light up flares ans shoot fireworks, while more activists started to protest in the street in front of the building.
        They then exited the building the same way they entered, unnoticed, leaving the riot police on the spot astounded, that then had to bring a crane to enter the building from the balconies in a big operation, puzzled, trying to figure out what has just happened.

        This was the communique of the “Spirou Trikoupi 17 Squat”:

     “We are waiting for you all, at 7 p.m in the square of Exarcheia!
3 years ago, an abandoned building in the center of Exarcheia was squatted to house the hopes and the dreams of thousands people that passed by, in their pursuit of a better life. The 3rd bday of Trikoupi finds us evicted from our house but still alive and strong, fighting for our principles and our beliefs. We organize a collective solidarity dinner in the square, to make the statement that trikoupi was far more than just a building. It was and still is an idea! An alive and active community!
       Collective dinner this Friday 20/9, in Exarcheia square to celebrate our birthday, with our one and only weapon… Solidarity!

See you all there!

You can’t evict our dreams… You can’t evict a movement!
Our community will never die. Trikoupi is still alive!
Solidarity will win…“

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk    

We Can Do It All By Ourselves.

          Still on the subject of climate emergency. A wee message that history has taught us over the years, all the peaceful marches and demonstrations are only seen by the state as complaints, and the don't pay any attention to complainers. Remember the Iraq war!! Millions on the march across country after country, but the powers that be went ahead with their plans for domination and blew the hell out of Iraq and its people.
          Take you complaint to the various states regarding the climate emergency and they will sort it out in their own time with their own agenda that will not do too much damage to profits of their corporate pay masters.
         We can shut down those responsible for this emergency, and we can do it quickly, all by our selves, all we need is the vision and the will to so so.

       This from Crimethinc:

 

 No Government Will Save the Planet for Us

       From September 20 to 27, tens of thousands will take to the streets to denounce the causes of climate change and call on governments to address what may be the most drastic crisis facing humanity in the 21st century. These mass actions will showcase the growing anger of a new generation that has known nothing but crisis, war, and the threat of environmental collapse. We have prepared the following text as a flier encouraging climate activists to consider how to interrupt the causes of climate change via direct action rather than petitioning the state to do solve the problem for us. Please print these out and distribute them at climate protests and everywhere else you can.
      Finally, people are filling the streets to call on governments to address the climate crisis, the most serious threat facing humanity in the 21st century. This is long overdue. But what good will it do to petition the same sector of society that created this problem? Time and again, we have learned that the state does not exist to serve our needs but to protect those who are profiting on the causes of this crisis.
      The most effective way to pressure politicians and executives to address the climate crisis is to show that whatever they fail to do, we will do ourselves. This means moving beyond symbolic displays of “non-violence” to build the capacity to shut down the fossil fuel economy ourselves. No amount of media attention or progressive rhetoric can substitute for this. If we fail to build this capacity, we can be sure that the timeline for the transition to less destructive technologies will be set by those who profit on the fossil fuel economy.
      Several examples from recent social movements show that we have the power to shut down the economy ourselves.
        In 2011-2012, the Occupy Movement demonstrated that tens of thousands of people could make decisions without top-down organization, meeting their needs collectively and carrying out massive demonstrations. On one day of action, participants shut down ports up and down the West Coast, confirming that coordinated blockades can disrupt the global supply chain of energy and commodities.
      In 2016, people converged to fight the Dakota Access Pipeline, a corporate project threatening Native land and water. Tens of thousands established a network of camps to block construction, demonstrating a new way to live and fight together. The Obama administration canceled the pipeline, causing many occupiers to go home, but the Trump administration reinstated it—confirming that we must never count on the government to do anything for us.
        In France, occupiers blocked the construction of a new airport at la ZAD, the “Zone to Defend.” Farmers teamed up with anarchists and environmentalists, establishing an autonomous village that provided infrastructure for the struggle. After years of struggle, the French government gave up and canceled the airport.
      We have seen train blockades in a variety of struggles. In Olympia, Washington, anarchists blocked trains carrying fracking proppants in 2016 and in 2017, forcing the company to stop transporting the commodity. In Harlan County, Kentucky, coal miners have blocked a coal-carrying train after the Black Jewel company refused to pay wages they owed to workers. It only takes a few dozen people to shut down a key node in the supply chains of the global fossil fuel economy. Imagine what we could do on a bigger scale!
        Governments serve to protect the economy from those it exploits. The state exists to evict, to police, to wage war, to oppress, and above all to defend the property of the wealthy few. The perils of climate change have been known for years, but governments have done little in response, focusing instead on fighting wars for oil, militarizing their borders to keep out climate refugees, and attacking the social movements that could bring about the sort of systemic change that is our only hope of survival.
       The capitalist economy is literally killing us. Let’s begin the process of shutting it down.

Another end of the world is possible!

 Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk 

Our Home Is On Fire.

         Just what are we doing to the our home, planet Earth? The Amazon fires have grabbed the headlines recently, but it seems that it is not the largest or most widespread of the world's fires. Forests are being cleared at an alarming rate, some by natural events, though this is accelerating due to rising temperatures, and an increasing amount of fires are to increase farmland. However without forests life on this planet is in extreme danger of a dramatic change. Without our forests the CO2 would rapidly fill our atmosphere greatly accelerating the temperature rise and rapid demise of most large forms of life, including humans. No doubt bacteria, viruses and certain insects would survive for a certain amount of time, they would probably be the last inhabitants of planet Earth.

       All this "slash and burn" extravaganza is nothing more than the capitalist system at work, a system where every piece of the planet must be turned it a profit making entity. Forests are seen as profit generating timber factors, or a hindrance to developing other profit making ventures. In this capitalist system nothing is for what it actually is, it has to produce financial profit or it is deemed to be useless. The profit from a healthy planet is not on their balance sheet.

       Seeking to change capitalism into a humane green system is being naive in the extreme. To save our home, planet Earth, from burning, capitalism has to be destroyed and replaced with a sustainable system of mutual aid and co-operation, freed from the profit motive, that sees to the needs of all our people. We have to decide which system we want and we don't have a lot of time to make that decision. As one placard said "The wrong Amazon is burning".

 This from Void Network:

         While the Amazon burns, many other fires are burning across the world, some even larger and more widespread than those in the Amazon.
        The fires in the Amazon have been among the top news stories in the world for the past week because it is such an iconic location that is so important to the global ecosystem. However, it is important to note that these events come at a time where many other fires are burning across the world, some even larger and more widespread than those in the Amazon.
        The areas affected include Angola, Congo, Spain, Greece, Alaska, and Siberia.
        The World Meteorological Organization announced that this fire season has been unprecedented for the Arctic Circle, with over 100 major fires reported in the region.
        In Siberia, it has been reported that over 21,000 square miles of the forest were recently damaged. Some reports, from Global News and other outlets, have indicated that these fires were started intentionally to conceal illegal logging activities, but these reports have not been confirmed.
       Also last week, the Greek island of Evia was under a state of emergency after multiple large fires broke out. Earlier this month, a huge fire in Russia’s Krasnoyarsk Territory damaged over 1 million hectares of forest.
        Alaska and Greenland, both known for cold temperatures, have also faced serious fires this summer. Last month, Denmark sent a team of firefighters to Greenland to put out huge fires that were spreading across the island nation.
         A fire in Spain’s Canary Islands cased 9,000 people to evacuate. Another Spanish island off the northern coast of Africa, Gran Canaria, lost about 46,000 square miles of woodland due to fires this year.
        At this moment, it seems that the largest fires in the world are currently burning in Angola, Africa.
        According to MODIS satellite data analyzed by Weather Source, 6,902 fires broke out in Angola in the 48 hours between August 21st and 23rd. During the same time, 3,395 fires were reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo and 2,127 in Brazil.
        Large wildfires are not uncommon in Central Africa this time of year, but once again, many of these fires are intentionally set by humans attempting to clear space for agriculture businesses.
        According to data from the NASA Aqua satellite, more than 67,000 fires were seen in just one week during June of last year.
        Experts believe that most of these fires are the result of a farming technique, known as slash and burn, which as the name implies, involves the burning of forest to make room for crops. Obviously, there are other far less-reckless ways of getting the job done, but burning everything down just happens to be the fastest and the cheapest. The ash also provides nutrients to the crops that will eventually be planted, but environmentalists warn that this practice could cause deforestation, soil erosion and a loss of biodiversity.

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