Our Green.

         The citizens of Glasgow, like those of other large cities have a myriad of likes and dislikes, loves and hates, but one thing you can count on is the general love of Glasgow Green by the majority of Glasgow's citizens. "The Green" as it is referred to is steeped in Glasgow's history It has been a place of celebration, family outings, a place in the city centre where you can walk with kids cycle, have a picnic. However there is another aspect the "The Green" that endears it to the people of Glasgow. It has been a place of struggle, a rallying point for all manner of radical actions. It has hosted thousands on May Days, anti-war protests, suffragette rallies, freedom of speech battles. It is also the place where the state carried out some of its "legal" murders of radicals. Over the years there has been fights with the Glasgow council to save "The Green" for what it was intended, the free use by people. There have been attempt to sell off parts, even, at one point considering starting a coal mine, all resisted by the good people of Glasgow.
       The battle still continues as the council have let the gem in the centre of "The Green", The People's Palace and Winter Gardens, fall into a state of disrepair, trashing the Winter Gardens completely, and a battle rages to have it opened in its original form and for what it was, a centre of history of the ordinary people of Glasgow, and a place for all to relax in its lovely Winter Gardens, FREE for all of Glasgow citizens. Meanwhile the council has ideas to "reimagine" it and turn it into a commercial venue where the citizens will pay to enter and make lots of money for some corporate mob. 

 

 

     You can enjoy Spirit of Revolt's "Radical History on Glasgow Green, HERE 

      Also you can enjoy this new addition to the Spirit of Revolt's Video collection

 

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info  

Disobey.

          The media and our political ballerinas keep telling us that times will be hard. We the ordinary people will struggle to heat our homes, and cook warm meals, It will be difficult to pay for the food to cook, even to eat cold. normal things for the kids will be curtailed considerably as we struggle just to survive in a much more impoverished manner. We will worry about those energy bills that are going through the roof, worry about the things we can no longer put on the dinner table, worry about our rent, our mortgages and paying just to get to work. Of course those who manage this system of insane economics, our Right Honourable PMs, I doubt if any of them will be worried about their energy bills nor will they miss a meal so as to turn on the heating. They are doing all right with their salary of approximately £82,000 plus expenses and cheap meals in the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, and in lots of case, making just as much again and in some cases more than their salary from second and third and in some case fourth jobs.

 

       Another group that are doing very well thank you, are the energy companies. I may be ignorant on this, but I don't think it cost any more today then it was a few weeks ago, to get the oil and the gas out of the ground, but the price per barrel and per therm has rocketed to somewhere in the stratosphere, Shell and BP's combined profits for the year, amounted to £40 billion. Somebody is making a killing at our expense. Of course the energy industry is not the only group that are plundering and pillaging at our expense. Rio Tinto will be handing its investors a neat little bonus of £16.8 billion for year 2021. Barclays more than quadrupled its profit to £1.1 billion.

How else can you get about?

 

If you wish to go a little further afield.

 

       So you see, it is not all gloom and doom, if you're in the millionaire/billionaire club, life is looking good. If however you happen to be one of the ordinary people of this country, then are you in for a very rough time friend. Of course it doesn't have to be like this, The reason we are where we are is our obedience to the greed driven insanity of capitalist economics, which over the centuries has kept amassing more and more wealth into fewer and fewer hands, and driving more and more into poverty and destitution. Sick and tired of being the ones who do all the hard work and watch the wealth from that work flow into the hands of the millionaire/billionaire class of parasites. Well sticking to their rules will just perpetuate the insanity of this situation. Non-Serviam, I will not serve, would be a better approach. 

Visit ann arky's home at

 http://strugglepedia.co.uk/index.php?title=Main_Page  

+The Sabre.

      This little rant in no way shape or form supports Russia's action in Ukraine. However I do get frustrated at the continuing double standards that seems to be accepted from our media. At the moment we have Western journalists in a frenzy in Ukraine, showing us the anguish, stress and fear of the ordinary people in Ukraine at Russia's actions. I don't recall any such media frenzy inside Iraq showing the same feelings borne by the people of Iraq at the start of America's Shock-and-Awe. The frenzy was all from our side showing with some pride the massive destruction of a country. At the moment we are witnessing land being grab from the Palestinian people by the Zionist state of Israel, hardly a peep from our media. Israel is bombing military bases in Syria, where is the media? Saudi Arabia is destroying Yemen, more or less silence from our so balanced media. Can you say how many countries America has invade? Well in fact there are only three countries on the planet that have not seen US military on their soil Andorra, Bhutan, and Liechtenstein. Countries invaded by America is quite a staggering list. There are more countries invade, threatened or blockaded by America than by any other country on the planet. Not much of a media frenzy in most of these cases.

COUNTRY OR STATE	Dates of intervention	Forces	Comments
SOUTH DAKOTA	1890 (-?)	Troops	300 Lakota Indians massacred at Wounded Knee.
ARGENTINA	1890	Troops	Buenos Aires interests protected.
CHILE	1891	Troops	Marines clash with nationalist rebels.
HAITI	1891	Troops	Black revolt on Navassa defeated.
IDAHO	1892	Troops	Army suppresses silver miners’ strike.
HAWAII	1893 (-?)	Naval, troops	Independent kingdom overthrown, annexed.
CHICAGO	1894	Troops	Breaking of rail strike, 34 killed.
NICARAGUA	1894	Troops	Month-long occupation of Bluefields.
CHINA	1894-95	Naval, troops	Marines land in Sino-Japanese War
KOREA	1894-96	Troops	Marines kept in Seoul during war.
PANAMA	1895	Troops, naval	Marines land in Colombian province.
NICARAGUA	1896	Troops	Marines land in port of Corinto.
CHINA	1898-1900	Troops	Boxer Rebellion fought by foreign armies.
PHILIPPINES	1898-1910 (-?)	Naval, troops	Seized from Spain, killed 600,000 Filipinos
CUBA	1898-1902 (-?)	Naval, troops	Seized from Spain, still hold Navy base.
PUERTO RICO	1898 (-?)	Naval, troops	Seized from Spain, occupation continues.
GUAM	1898 (-?)	Naval, troops	Seized from Spain, still use as base.
MINNESOTA	1898 (-?)	Troops	Army battles Chippewa at Leech Lake.
NICARAGUA	1898	Troops	Marines land at port of San Juan del Sur.
SAMOA	1899 (-?)	Troops	Battle over succession to throne.
NICARAGUA	1899	Troops	Marines land at port of Bluefields.
IDAHO	1899-1901	Troops	Army occupies Coeur d’Alene mining region.
OKLAHOMA	1901	Troops	Army battles Creek Indian revolt.
PANAMA	1901-14	Naval, troops	Broke off from Colombia 1903, annexed Canal Zone; Opened canal 1914.
HONDURAS	1903	Troops	Marines intervene in revolution.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC	1903-04	Troops	U.S. interests protected in Revolution.
KOREA	1904-05	Troops	Marines land in Russo-Japanese War.
CUBA	1906-09	Troops	Marines land in democratic election.
NICARAGUA	1907	Troops	“Dollar Diplomacy” protectorate set up.
HONDURAS	1907	Troops	Marines land during war with Nicaragua
PANAMA	1908	Troops	Marines intervene in election contest.
NICARAGUA	1910	Troops	Marines land in Bluefields and Corinto.
HONDURAS	1911	Troops	U.S. interests protected in civil war.
CHINA	1911-41	Naval, troops	Continuous occupation with flare-ups.
CUBA	1912	Troops	U.S. interests protected in civil war.
PANAMA	1912	Troops	Marines land during heated election.
HONDURAS	1912	Troops	Marines protect U.S. economic interests.
NICARAGUA	1912-33	Troops, bombing	10-year occupation, fought guerillas
MEXICO	1913	Naval	Americans evacuated during revolution.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC	1914	Naval	Fight with rebels over Santo Domingo.
COLORADO	1914	Troops	Breaking of miners’ strike by Army.
MEXICO	1914-18	Naval, troops	Series of interventions against nationalists.
HAITI	1914-34	Troops, bombing	19-year occupation after revolts.
TEXAS	1915	Troops	Federal soldiers confront “Plan of San Diego” Mexican rebels
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC	1916-24	Troops	8-year Marine occupation.
CUBA	1917-33	Troops	Military occupation, economic protectorate.
WORLD WAR I	1917-18	Naval, troops	Ships sunk, fought Germany for 1 1/2 years.
RUSSIA	1918-22	Naval, troops	Five landings to fight Bolsheviks
PANAMA	1918-20	Troops	“Police duty” during unrest after elections.
HONDURAS	1919	Troops	Marines land during election campaign.
YUGOSLAVIA	1919	Troops/Marines	intervene for Italy against Serbs in Dalmatia.
GUATEMALA	1920	Troops	2-week intervention against unionists.
WEST VIRGINIA	1920-21	Troops, bombing	Army intervenes against mineworkers.
TURKEY	1922	Troops	Fought nationalists in Smyrna.
CHINA	1922-27	Naval, troops	Deployment during nationalist revolt.
MEXICO HONDURAS	1923 1924-25	Bombing Troops	Airpower defends Calles from rebellion Landed twice during election strife.
PANAMA	1925	Troops	Marines suppress general strike.
CHINA	1927-34	Troops	Marines stationed throughout the country.
EL SALVADOR	1932	Naval	Warships send during Marti revolt.
WASHINGTON DC	1932	Troops	Army stops WWI vet bonus protest.
WORLD WAR II	1941-45	Naval, troops, bombing, nuclear	Hawaii bombed, fought Japan, Italy and Germay for 3 years; first nuclear war.
DETROIT	1943	Troops	Army put down Black rebellion.
IRAN	1946	Nuclear threat	Soviet troops told to leave north.
YUGOSLAVIA	1946	Nuclear threat, naval	Response to shoot-down of US plane.
URUGUAY	1947	Nuclear threat	Bombers deployed as show of strength.
GREECE	1947-49	Command operation	U.S. directs extreme-right in civil war.
GERMANY	1948	Nuclear Threat	Atomic-capable bombers guard Berlin Airlift.
CHINA	1948-49	Troops/Marines	evacuate Americans before Communist victory.
PHILIPPINES	1948-54	Command operation	CIA directs war against Huk Rebellion.
PUERTO RICO	1950	Command operation	Independence rebellion crushed in Ponce.
KOREA	1951-53 (-?)	Troops, naval, bombing , nuclear threats	U.S./So. Korea fights China/No. Korea to stalemate; A-bomb threat in 1950, and against China in 1953. Still have bases.
IRAN	1953	Command Operation	CIA overthrows democracy, installs Shah.
VIETNAM	1954	Nuclear threat	French offered bombs to use against seige.
GUATEMALA	1954	Command operation, bombing, nuclear threat	CIA directs exile invasion after new gov’t nationalized U.S. company lands; bombers based in Nicaragua.
EGYPT	1956	Nuclear threat, troops	Soviets told to keep out of Suez crisis; Marines evacuate foreigners.
LEBANON	l958	Troops, naval	Army & Marine occupation against rebels.
IRAQ	1958	Nuclear threat	Iraq warned against invading Kuwait.
CHINA	l958	Nuclear threat	China told not to move on Taiwan isles.
PANAMA	1958	Troops	Flag protests erupt into confrontation.
VIETNAM	l960-75	Troops, naval, bombing, nuclear threats	Fought South Vietnam revolt & North Vietnam; one million killed in longest U.S. war; atomic bomb threats in l968 and l969.
CUBA	l961	Command operation	CIA-directed exile invasion fails.
GERMANY	l961	Nuclear threat	Alert during Berlin Wall crisis.
LAOS	1962	Command operation	Military buildup during guerrilla war.
CUBA	l962	Nuclear threat, naval	Blockade during missile crisis; near-war with Soviet Union.
IRAQ	1963	Command operation	CIA organizes coup that killed president, brings Ba’ath Party to power, and Saddam Hussein back from exile to be head of the secret service.
PANAMA	l964	Troops	Panamanians shot for urging canal’s return.
INDONESIA	l965	Command operation	Million killed in CIA-assisted army coup.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC	1965-66	Troops, bombing	Army & Marines land during election campaign.
GUATEMALA	l966-67	Command operation	Green Berets intervene against rebels.
DETROIT	l967	Troops	Army battles African Americans, 43 killed.
UNITED STATES	l968	Troops	After King is shot; over 21,000 soldiers in cities.
CAMBODIA	l969-75	Bombing, troops, naval	Up to 2 million killed in decade of bombing, starvation, and political chaos.
OMAN	l970	Command operation	U.S. directs Iranian marine invasion.
LAOS	l971-73	Command operation, bombing	U.S. directs South Vietnamese invasion; “carpet-bombs” countryside.
SOUTH DAKOTA	l973	Command operation	Army directs Wounded Knee siege of Lakotas.
MIDEAST	1973	Nuclear threat	World-wide alert during Mideast War.
CHILE	1973	Command operation	CIA-backed coup ousts elected marxist president.
CAMBODIA	l975	Troops, bombing	Gassing of captured ship Mayagüez, 28 troops die when copter shot down.
ANGOLA	l976-92	Command operation	CIA assists South African-backed rebels.
IRAN	l980	Troops, nuclear threat, aborted bombing	Raid to rescue Embassy hostages; 8 troops die in copter-plane crash. Soviets warned not to get involved in revolution.
LIBYA	l981	Naval jets	Two Libyan jets shot down in maneuvers.
EL SALVADOR	l981-92	Command operation, troops	Advisors, overflights aid anti-rebel war, soldiers briefly involved in hostage clash.
NICARAGUA	l981-90	Command operation, naval	CIA directs exile (Contra) invasions, plants harbor mines against revolution.
LEBANON	l982-84	Naval, bombing, troops	Marines expel PLO and back Phalangists, Navy bombs and shells Muslim positions. 241 Marines killed when Shi’a rebel bombs barracks.
GRENADA	l983-84	Troops, bombing	Invasion four years after revolution.
HONDURAS	l983-89	Troops	Maneuvers help build bases near borders.
IRAN	l984	Jets	Two Iranian jets shot down over Persian Gulf.
LIBYA	l986	Bombing, naval	Air strikes to topple Qaddafi gov’t.
BOLIVIA	1986	Troops	Army assists raids on cocaine region.
IRAN	l987-88	Naval, bombing	US intervenes on side of Iraq in war, defending reflagged tankers and shooting down civilian jet.
LIBYA	1989	Naval jets	Two Libyan jets shot down.
VIRGIN ISLANDS	1989	Troops	St. Croix Black unrest after storm.
PHILIPPINES	1989	Jets	Air cover provided for government against coup.
PANAMA	1989 (-?)	Troops, bombing	Nationalist government ousted by 27,000 soldiers, leaders arrested, 2000+ killed.
LIBERIA	1990	Troops	Foreigners evacuated during civil war.
SAUDI ARABIA	1990-91	Troops, jets	Iraq countered after invading Kuwait. 540,000 troops also stationed in Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, UAE, Israel.
IRAQ	1990-91	Bombing, troops, naval	Blockade of Iraqi and Jordanian ports, air strikes; 200,000+ killed in invasion of Iraq and Kuwait; large-scale destruction of Iraqi military.
KUWAIT	1991	Naval, bombing, troops	Kuwait royal family returned to throne.
IRAQ	1991-2003	Bombing, naval	No-fly zone over Kurdish north, Shiite south; constant air strikes and naval-enforced economic sanctions
LOS ANGELES	1992	Troops	Army, Marines deployed against anti-police uprising.
SOMALIA	1992-94	Troops, naval, bombing	U.S.-led United Nations occupation during civil war; raids against one Mogadishu faction.
YUGOSLAVIA	1992-94	Naval	NATO blockade of Serbia and Montenegro.
BOSNIA	1993-?	Jets, bombing	No-fly zone patrolled in civil war; downed jets, bombed Serbs.
HAITI	1994	Troops, naval	Blockade against military government; troops restore President Aristide to office three years after coup.
ZAIRE (CONGO)	1996-97	Troops	Troops at Rwandan Hutu refugee camps, in area where Congo revolution begins.
LIBERIA	1997	Troops	Soldiers under fire during evacuation of foreigners.
ALBANIA	1997	Troops	Soldiers under fire during evacuation of foreigners.
SUDAN	1998	Missiles	Attack on pharmaceutical plant alleged to be “terrorist” nerve gas plant.
AFGHANISTAN	1998	Missiles	Attack on former CIA training camps used by Islamic fundamentalist groups alleged to have attacked embassies.
IRAQ	1998	Bombing, Missiles	Four days of intensive air strikes after weapons inspectors allege Iraqi obstructions.
YUGOSLAVIA	1999	Bombing, Missiles	Heavy NATO air strikes after Serbia declines to withdraw from Kosovo. NATO occupation of Kosovo.
YEMEN	2000	Naval	USS Cole, docked in Aden, bombed.
MACEDONIA	2001	Troops	NATO forces deployed to move and disarm Albanian rebels.
UNITED STATES	2001	Jets, naval	Reaction to hijacker attacks on New York, DC
AFGHANISTAN	2001-21	Troops, bombing, missiles	Massive U.S. mobilization to overthrow Taliban, hunt Al Qaeda fighters, install Karzai regime, and battle Taliban insurgency. More than 30,000 U.S. troops and numerous private security contractors carry out occupation.
YEMEN	2002	Missiles	Predator drone missile attack on Al Qaeda, including a US citizen.
PHILIPPINES	2002-?	Troops, naval	Training mission for Philippine military fighting Abu Sayyaf rebels evolves into combat missions in Sulu Archipelago, west of Mindanao.
COLOMBIA	2003-?	Troops	US special forces sent to rebel zone to back up Colombian military protecting oil pipeline.
IRAQ	2003-11	Troops, naval, bombing, missiles	Saddam regime toppled in Baghdad. More than 250,000 U.S. personnel participate in invasion. US and UK forces occupy country and battle Sunni and Shi’ite insurgencies. More than 160,000 troops and numerous private contractors carry out occupation and build large permanent bases.
LIBERIA	2003	Troops	Brief involvement in peacekeeping force as rebels drove out leader.
HAITI	2004-05	Troops, naval	Marines & Army land after right-wing rebels oust elected President Aristide, who was advised to leave by Washington.
PAKISTAN	2005-?	Missiles, bombing, covert operation	CIA missile and air strikes and Special Forces raids on alleged Al Qaeda and Taliban refuge villages kill multiple civilians. Drone attacks also on Pakistani Mehsud network.
SOMALIA	2006-?	Missiles, naval, troops, command operation	Special Forces advise Ethiopian invasion that topples Islamist government; AC-130 strikes, Cruise missile attacks and helicopter raids against Islamist rebels; naval blockade against “pirates” and insurgents.
SYRIA	2008	Troops	Special Forces in helicopter raid 5 miles from Iraq kill 8 Syrian civilians
YEMEN	2009-?	Missiles, command operation	Cruise missile attack on Al Qaeda kills 49 civilians; Backing Saudi-Yemeni military assaults on rebels
LIBYA	2011-?	Bombing, missiles, troops, command operation	NATO coordinates air strikes and missile attacks against Qaddafi government during uprising by rebel army. Periodic Special Forces raids against Islamist insurgents.

IRAQ

2014-?

Bombing, missiles, troops, command operation

Air strikes and Special Forces intervene against Islamic State insurgents; training Iraqi and Kurdish troops. Attacks on pro-Iran militias & Iranian general.

SYRIA

2014-?

Bombing, missiles, troops, command operation

Air strikes and Special Forces intervene against Islamic State insurgents; training other Syrian insurgents; bombing alleged Syrian government chemical arms sites, bombing pro-Iran militia.

NIGER

2017

Troops

Special Forces combat against Islamist insurgents.

SAUDI ARABIA

2019-20

Troops

Mobilization against Iran in Saudi Arabia & UAE after drone attacks on Saudi oil infrastructure & Gulf tankers.

         What we are witnessing is the usual sabre rattling of imperialist powers, working at dividing our planet into controlled zones. America, the largest imperialist power, sees the rise of Russia and Chine as  a threat and for years has been working at trying to limit the growth of these rivals to its grip on the planet. It is only a matter of time before the sabre rattling develops into sabre slashing with the usual blood shed of ordinary people. The American imperialist will do anything no matter how brutal to retain their dominant position no matter the blood shed, just as the British Empire did before it. Only when we rid ourselves of state and power seeking conglomerations, all bent on power, control and wealth, will we be able to see peace among all people. 

Visit ann arky's home at 

http://strugglepedia.co.uk/index.php?title=Main_Page

UK Nazis.

         I'm not one for taking sides in the various imperialist machinations to gain, sustain or enhance their particular power scope, in my book, they are all tarred with the same brush. However, we are lead to believe, by our media, that this latest Russia/Ukraine/Western stew that is brewing just popped up suddenly in the last few months, all due to nasty Russia's aggression. What we are not told is that the Western imperialists have been poking their devious fingers in Ukraine for quite a while, including the UK.. One event denied by the UK, was a meeting by UK military commanders with Ukraine National Guard, September 2021, discussing training. Among those in the Ukrainian National Guard is the infamous Nazi group, Azos, reported to have a thousand members.
          Of course here in the UK establishment we have always had our Nazi sympathisers. Before World War 2, we had certain members of the Royal family enjoying themselves with Hitler and his cronies. We also have had Nazi sympathisers walking the marble corridors of our Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, So this latest little chummy get together with the UK military and Nazi sympathisers should not surprise us, nor should the fact the the UK MOD deny the meeting took place and no record available shows any such meeting, our secret society. However photographs are worth a thousand words.  

 

Neo-Nazi insignia on the helmets of Azov fighters in eastern Ukraine. (Image: ZDF)

 

British commanders (left) meet with senior officials from Ukraine’s National Guard in Kyiv, September 2021. (Photo: NGU)

Thanks Loam for the link.

 

Information regarding the UK military meeting with Ukrainian National Guard from Decalssified UK, HERE: 

 

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info
 

Obey?

        We live in a society with upside down values, where to obey is seen as the right thing to do. To obey is to accept the Status Quo, to obey is to continue with the inequality and injustice, to obey is live with the insane economics of capitalism, to obey is allowing the pampered, privileged few continue to drive the majority towards poverty, to obey is to accept borders, to obey is to see those others on the other side of those borders as different,

      In this society where wealth equals quality of life, sanity, justice, equality demand disobedience, disobedience is what stops wars, disobedience challenges exploitation, disobedience holds those with power to account. For far too long we have accepted obedience to law and order of the rich and powerful who shaped those laws to protect their privileged position. The only way we can free ourselves from the grip of the wealthy and powerful is by disobedience and on a massive scale. We are dealing with a very ruthless and powerful group who always have the backing of the state's armoury and its loaded judicial system. Obey and continue our life of servile dependency, disobey and build that world we really want, a world of justice for all our people, a world that sees to the needs of all our people.

     Let's make our rallying call, non serviam, I will not serve. 

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info    

1%??

 

        Here we are in the UK, a small but very rich country, where the people are facing a cost of living crisis the like of which most of the population have never experienced before. Taxes go up, food prices are rocketing, energy costs are going stratospheric and no real assistance on the horizon. A few sticking plasters have been suggested, none of which will do anything to alleviate the massive impact of the rising cost of living, a cost of living crisis that will lead to illness, early deaths and stunted potential of a generation. Our social service are creaking at the seams, our health service is at breaking point, and education system is a disgrace in a rich civilised society. Our lords and master that walk the marble halls of power having praised to the roof our struggling health workers have offered them an insulting 1% pay rise, which is in effect a pay cut when considering inflation at 5.5%, forecast to reach 7%.

                                                   Image courtesy of Guardian.

          As I said we are a small country our people are struggling to have a decent life, yet the pampered privileged "honourable MPs" who lord it over us, see fit to spend more on military spending than the vast country of Russia. According to "World Population Review" the figures for 2022 are, that vast and expansive country of Russia, population 144.5 million, spends $48 billion on military spending, while the tiny islands of the UK, population 67.22 million, spend $55 billion 

Image courtesy of Imperial and Global Forum.  

     I repeat, we are a very rich country, but for how much longer are we going to tolerate this insanity that feeds endless billions on the means for war and all its savagery and destruction, yet leaves its population struggling for the basics of a decent life. Are we to remain slaves to the insane economics of the powerful war mongers?

          This small piece was prompted by Loam's comment: BRITAIN OVERTAKES RUSSIAN MILITARY SPENDING — BUT ONLY OFFERS NURSES 1% PAY RISE Britain’s government is offering healthcare workers a 1% pay rise, which is likely to amount to a pay cut after inflation, at the same time as its military spending has just overtaken Russia to become the world’s fourth-largest defence budget. https://declassifieduk.org/britain-overtakes-russian-military-spending-but-only-offers-nurses-1%-pay-rise/

Thanks Loam.

 Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info  

Magón.

    

          We must honour and remember all those fearless warriors of the class struggle, those who dedicated their lives and in many occasions gave their life, in the cause of freedom and justice for all, anarchist to the very fibre of their being. It is 100 years this year since the state murder of Ricardo Flores Magón, killed in a cell in Leavenworth prison in Kansas America, November 21st 1922. Our capitalist state would have us forget these individuals and plaster our cities with statues of nobility, blood stained generals and greed driven "captains of industry", all defenders of wealth power and privilege, pointing to these as the people we should honour. However, these are the enemies of the people and their desire for freedom and justice.   

                                                     Image from It's Going Down.

 

           Let every man and woman who loves freedom and the anarchist ideal, propagate it with determination, with tenacity, without concern for mockery, without measuring the danger, without regard to consequences; let’s get to work comrades, and the future will be our anarchist ideal

-Ricardo Flores Magón

Farewell!

We cannot break our chains with weak desire,
With Whines and supplicating cries.
'Tis not by crawling meekly to the mire
The free-winged eagle learns to mount the skies.


The gladiator, victor in fight,
On who the hard-contested laurels fall,
Goes not in the arena pale with fright
But steps forth fearlessly, defying all.

O victory, O victory, dear and fair
Thou crownest him who does his best,
Who perishing, still unafraid to bear,
Goes down to dust, thy image in his breast.

Farewell, O comrades, I scorn life as a slave!
I begged no tyrant for my life, though sweet it was;
Though chaines, I go unconquered to my grave,
Dying for my own birth-right- - - and the world's. 

                                                                            

                                                                               Ricardo Flores Magón

 

        This poem was written before his death while incarcerated in the federal prison, Leavenworth, Kansas.  Ricardo Flores Magón was an active Mexican rebel, and at the behest of the Mexican Government, the US Government seized him, its agents beat him up fiercely and afterwards held him for years until his death.

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info     

Caged.

 

          They stand there, those innocuous looking buildings, could be anything, but for the usual nameplate HM Prison---At first glance they do not say arbitrary punishment, cruelty, inhumanity, repression or viciousness. The propaganda element of the judiciary menagerie and the various mouthpieces of the state, weave the illusion that they are correction centres for bad people. So if you are a good and obedient citizen, then you will never need to trouble yourself about these institutions of state repression. However we know that there are innumerable innocent people enmeshed in the tentacles of these inhumane institutions, we know that their idea of correction is to create a submissive, obedient population. We know of the countless case of "miscarriage of justice". They are there to protect the wealth and power of the privileged few.

This from Enough is Enough:

           On Tuesday 08/02 at 19.00 p.m I was brought in by the anti-terrorist service outside my partner’s house in Ano Poli. The reason for this is the previous arrest- in the morning hours of the same day- of Thanos Hatziangelou and Georgia Voulgari accused for placing an incendiary device in the institution of National and Religious Reflection. I was transferred to the General Police Directorate of Thessaloniki(GPDT), where hours later I was announced of my arrest on criminal charges and membership in the organization “Anarchist Action”. I remained detained for two days in the basements of GPDT where on Friday 11/02 I passed by an investigator and a prosecutor where my pre-trial detention was announced.

Originally published by Athens Indymedia.

        Amidst the vortex of a comedic yet tragic process unfolding against me, I unequivocally and strongly declare innocent of all the accusations against me. I am currently imprisoned without ANY evidence linking me to any involvement in what is being attributed to me, without ANY mentioned of my name in the anti-terrorist testimony in relation to the organization’s activities. The only connection that is being attempted is through the house I was renting (allocated next to the shop that I kept with my associates) as well as next to my partner’s house (where I actually lived) and which I had given as a quarantine and recovery space by covid- 19.
        I make efforts to stand tall up against this manufactured conspiracy that deprives me of my freedom. I try to keep my mind alert and clear so that I can stand up to this injustice that drowns me. I try to stand up to this arbitrariness who thinks my life is a pawn on an invisible chessboard. Against those who take human relationships and use them as they wish and as it suits them, to compose the puzzle they design.

I will make it.

       Solidarity to my friend, colleague and comrade Thanos Hatziangelou and comrade Georgia that I met a few days ago in the basements of GPDT.

Panos Kalaitzis

Korydallos Prison 15/02/2022

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Darkness.

 Sometimes I walk a long dark corridor---

 Tinsel Cities.

In the city of tinsel and bright lights
midst the playthings of the rich
just beyond the champagne bubble
out of earshot of the butterfly people
in the dark shadows where no one looks
there you’ll find poverty and destitution
dance a macabre dance of survival.
In Mammon’s city of grand illusions
where rivers of wealth feed frivolity
in its twisting dark and musty lanes
where the light of hope seldom shines
an army of the living dead sweat and toil
polishing the tinsel, changing light bulbs
refilling the champagne bottles
nothing must stop the flow of frivolity
or the butterfly people will die.

 

 Victory.

Nature recoiled from the savage beast
A beast so fierce on its war horse of progress
sweeping aside all that was natural and beautiful
This blind beast conquered meadow and stream
Banished the fish from the seas
Left a trail of barren concrete and tarmac
Filled the air with odious gases
Eventually the beast conquered the earth
Now master of a dead and lifeless planet
A world that nature, maimed and bleeding
Finally abandon to allow the beast to slowly die.

 

No Words To Say.

I’m a poet with no words to say
wandering a world of sorrow and pain
lost in catastrophes played like a game
short visions rule the day
Mountains of money piles of poverty
lost in a sea of swirling illusions
wars a natural road to walk
death and destruction a way of life
ringing in my ears songs of poverty
melodies of marauding deprivation
I have eyes that see ears that hear
a dictionary in my mind but
I live in a world beyond their reach
I’m a poet with no words to say. 

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Lies.

 

         As you read the following article you may say, Ah, but that is one of those far away nasty regimes. Well we would do well to remember the cases of the UK  undercover police who entered phony relationships with female members of ecology groups and lived the insidious lie for years destroying the lives of those they tricked into those relationships. These dirty tricks are part and parcel of every state's  tools for prying, repression and control, and can most certainly be said to be proof that we do not live in a democracy. Undercover police with phoney relationships are not the foundation stones of democracy. 

 The following from  Act for Freedom Now:

        In December 2021, we received information that Aleksandr Zaitsev, who declared his commitment to the anarchist movement, was in pre-trial detention in Volodarka. It took us quite a while to verify this man’s story and get to the bottom of it.
         In 2020, Zaitsev actively participated in protests against the regime and was detained at least once in November under “people’s” article 23.34. While in detention, Zaitsev met a man who introduced himself as Dmitry Sergeenko. Comrades from the Pramen team found the real name of this man – Dmitry Akulich, who had been working for many years with the Interior Ministry as a provocateur and prison agent. Akulich actively begins “developing” Zaitsev and by summer both are already planning a radical action: they want to set fire to Sukalo’s dacha. To paint a pretty picture of the investigation, Akulich says that he got in touch with the group “Stork fly” and they paid for him to buy two five-liter bottles of gasoline.
         Not far from the dacha both are taken by Almaz. Zaitsev confesses to everything and is now under terrorist article 289 part 3 (punishment up to the death penalty). We do not know Akulich’s status in this case, but he most likely passes as a witness with the false name of Sergeenko. It is noteworthy that Akulich was given a real passport with a fake name to work with Zaitsev.
Now Aliaksandr Zaitsev continues to be held in the pre-trial detention center, awaiting trial. We have almost no information about the anarchist himself, as none of the activists know him.
        Remember, if you want to carry out any radical action, you should do it only with trusted people, not with acquaintances. This story also shows that cops actively engage in provocations to continue repression and spin the myth of terrorism.
Now it is extremely important to remember to have a safety culture and take the time to familiarize yourself with texts on countering repression!

 via: ABC Belarus

 Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info  

Liverpool.

       

           Yea, I know I go on about not enough anarchist paper on the streets, but I think it is where the battle will be won, and if our ideas are not flowing freely through those streets it could be the wrong people that win.
         Just released the latest issue of Liverpool Anarchists, issue 19 an excellent little publication. It is freely available for download at their site, love the image on the front cover. If you can, why not print a few copies and throw them around, after you read it of course, excellent read. Well done Liverpool.

Image taken from Liverpool Anarchist.

 

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info 

7.5%

   

           The media and our pompous pampered privileged ministers of government, have been crowing about the UK's economic growth, previous year was an unexpected growth of 7.5%. I suppose we the ordinary folks are supposed to whoop and yell with delight and pride. However, before you jump up and down with you joy and shout yippee, take a moment to reflect how your life has changed over that same year. Have you shared in the 7.5% growth in wealth, or have you struggled harder than the year before. Like everything in this society it is all about economics, not about human health and welfare. All that is indicated by that 7.5% growth is that businesses have been doing much better, shareholders are getting richer, but have they passed on a fair share of that wealth to you and I? Once again this the media playing the illusion game, these little titbits are meant to be the paracetamol to make us all feel better, but in no way cure our problems. Take all that economic bullshit with a pinch of salt and focus on how we are being driven back to the Dickensian era, while the millionaires/billionaires laugh all the way to the bank. 

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50 Years?

             For centuries the British imperialist machine has stomped across the planet, waving its red white and blue rag, soaking it in blood where ever it went, from India to America, to Asia. So much so that the red white and blue rag became known as the butcher's apron. However we don't have to go across the globe or back to the 1800's for examples of the British imperialist savagery, we can move much closer to home and just go back 50 years. The British state, like any other state, has no qualms about unleashing its military hounds on its own population. In Northern Ireland in 30th January, 1972, the British state unleashed its military on a peaceful protest and shot 26 unarmed civilians, 13 were killed outright, two others died later from their wounds. 50 years on and the friends and families are still seeking justice. 

 ‘Butcher’s Dozen’

Derry Remembers 50 Years On

(Sunday, 30th January 2022)

        This performance of Thomas Kinsella’s poem, ‘Butcher’s Dozen’ was produced for the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, similar to what was done with the poem 25 years ago. Back then it was performed in public as a live performance in Derry City’s Bogside, where these 13 men and boys were shot and killed by the British Army's 1st Battalion the Parachute Regiment during a peaceful Civil Rights march and demonstration.
          Thomas Kinsella, a Dublin poet, passed away on December 22nd 2021. He wrote the poem following publication of the British Government's official report in April 1972, compiled by Lord Widgery, the lord chief justice of England. Effectively, the "Widgery Report" exonerated the British Army for the killings and blamed the organisers of the Civil Rights march.This most powerful performance of the poem can be heard at https://youtu.be/U_P6GW7jpqo
         The ten voices/contributors include three of those who attended the original march: Eamonn McCann, Liam Wray whose brother Jim was shot dead on Bloody Sunday and Donnacha McFeeley, whose friend Gerald was also shot and killed that day.
        People interested to learn more on these events and the situation as it is today in regard to the justice question should go to http://bloodysundaymarch.org/for_justice/ or to www.bloodysundaymarchcommittee.org

Thomas Kinsella's poem, Butcher's Dozen.

 

BUTCHER'S DOZEN:
A LESSON FOR THE OCTAVE OF WIDGERY

by Thomas Kinsella

I went with Anger at my heel
Through Bogside of the bitter zeal
- Jesus pity! - on a day
Of cold and drizzle and decay.
A month had passed. Yet there remained
A murder smell that stung and stained.
On flats and alleys-over all-
It hung; on battered roof and wall,
On wreck and rubbish scattered thick,
On sullen steps and pitted brick.
And when I came where thirteen died
It shrivelled up my heart. I sighed
And looked about that brutal place
Of rage and terror and disgrace.
Then my moistened lips grew dry.
I had heard an answering sigh!
There in a ghostly pool of blood
A crumpled phantom hugged the mud:
"Once there lived a hooligan.
A pig came up, and away he ran.
Here lies one in blood and bones,
Who lost his life for throwing stones."


More voices rose. I turned and saw
Three corpses forming, red and raw,
From dirt and stone. Each upturned face
Stared unseeing from its place:
"Behind this barrier, blighters three,
We scrambled back and made to flee.
The guns cried Stop, and here lie we."
Then from left and right they came,
More mangled corpses, bleeding, lame,
Holding their wounds. They chose their ground,
Ghost by ghost, without a sound,
And one stepped forward, soiled and white:
"A bomber I. I travelled light
- Four pounds of nails and gelignite
About my person, hid so well
They seemed to vanish where I fell.
When the bullet stopped my breath
A doctor sought the cause of death.
He upped my shirt, undid my fly,
Twice he moved my limbs awry,
And noticed nothing. By and by
A soldier, with his sharper eye,
Beheld the four elusive rockets
Stuffed in my coat and trouser pockets.
Yes, they must be strict with us,
Even in death so treacherous!"
He faded, and another said:
"We three met close when we were dead.
Into an armoured car they piled us
Where our mingled blood defiled us,
Certain, if not dead before,
To suffocate upon the floor.


Careful bullets in the back
Stopped our terrorist attack,
And so three dangerous lives are done
- Judged, condemned and shamed in one."
That spectre faded in his turn.
A harsher stirred, and spoke in scorn:
"The shame is theirs, in word and deed,
Who prate of justice, practise greed,
And act in ignorant fury - then,
Officers and gentlemen,
Send to their Courts for the Most High
To tell us did we really die!
Does it need recourse to law
To tell ten thousand what they saw?
Law that lets them, caught red-handed,
Halt the game and leave it stranded,
Summon up a sworn inquiry
And dump their conscience in the diary.
During which hiatus, should
Their legal basis vanish, good,
The thing is rapidly arranged:
Where's the law that can't be changed?
The news is out. The troops were kind.
Impartial justice has to find
We'd be alive and well today
If we had let them have their way.
Yet England, even as you lie,
You give the facts that you deny.
Spread the lie with all your power
- All that's left; it's turning sour.
Friend and stranger, bride and brother,
Son and sister, father, mother,


All not blinded by your smoke,
Photographers who caught your stroke,
The priests that blessed our bodies, spoke
And wagged our blood in the world's face.
The truth will out, to your disgrace."
He flushed and faded. Pale and grim,
A joking spectre followed him:
"Take a bunch of stunted shoots,
A tangle of transplanted roots,
Ropes and rifles, feathered nests,
Some dried colonial interests,
A hard unnatural union grown
In a bed of blood and bone,
Tongue of serpent, gut of hog
Spiced with spleen of underdog.
Stir in, with oaths of loyalty,
Sectarian supremacy,
And heat, to make a proper botch,
In a bouillon of bitter Scotch.
Last, the choice ingredient: you.
Now, to crown your Irish stew,
Boil it over, make a mess.
A most imperial success!"
He capered weakly, racked with pain,
His dead hair plastered in the rain;
The group was silent once again.
It seemed the moment to explain
That sympathetic politicians
Say our violent traditions,
Backward looks and bitterness
Keep us in this dire distress.
We must forget, and look ahead,


Nurse the living, not the dead.
My words died out. A phantom said:
"Here lies one who breathed his last
Firmly reminded of the past.
A trooper did it, on one knee,
In tones of brute authority."
That harsher spirit, who before
Had flushed with anger, spoke once more:
"Simple lessons cut most deep.
This lesson in our hearts we keep:
Persuasion, protest, arguments,
The milder forms of violence,
Earn nothing but polite neglect.
England, the way to your respect
Is via murderous force, it seems;
You push us to your own extremes.
You condescend to hear us speak
Only when we slap your cheek.
And yet we lack the last technique:
We rap for order with a gun,
The issues simplify to one
- Then your Democracy insists
You mustn't talk with terrorists!
White and yellow, black and blue,
Have learnt their history from you:
Divide and ruin, muddle through,
Not principled, but politic.
- In strength, perfidious; weak, a trick
To make good men a trifle sick.
We speak in wounds. Behold this mess.
My curse upon your politesse."


Another ghost stood forth, and wet
Dead lips that had not spoken yet:
"My curse on the cunning and the bland,
On gentlemen who loot a land
They do not care to understand;
Who keep the natives on their paws
With ready lash and rotten laws;
Then if the beasts erupt in rage
Give them a slightly larger cage
And, in scorn and fear combined,
Turn them against their own kind.
The game runs out of room at last,
A people rises from its past,
The going gets unduly tough
And you have (surely ... ?) had enough.
The time has come to yield your place
With condescending show of grace
- An Empire-builder handing on.
We reap the ruin when you've gone,
All your errors heaped behind you:
Promises that do not bind you,
Hopes in conflict, cramped commissions,
Faiths exploited, and traditions."
Bloody sputum filled his throat.
He stopped and coughed to clear it out,
And finished, with his eyes a-glow:
"You came, you saw, you conquered ... So.
You gorged - and it was time to go.
Good riddance. We'd forget - released -
But for the rubbish of your feast,
The slops and scraps that fell to earth
And sprang to arms in dragon birth.


Sashed and bowler-hatted, glum
Apprentices of fife and drum,
High and dry, abandoned guards
Of dismal streets and empty yards,
Drilled at the codeword 'True Religion'
To strut and mutter like a pigeon
'Not An Inch - Up The Queen';
Who use their walls like a latrine
For scribbled magic-at their call,
Straight from the nearest music-hall,
Pope and Devil intertwine,
Two cardboard kings appear, and join
In one more battle by the Boyne!
Who could love them? God above..."
"Yet pity is akin to love,"
The thirteenth corpse beside him said,
Smiling in its bloody head,
"And though there's reason for alarm
In dourness and a lack of charm
Their cursed plight calls out for patience.
They, even they, with other nations
Have a place, if we can find it.
Love our changeling! Guard and mind it.
Doomed from birth, a cursed heir,
Theirs is the hardest lot to bear,
Yet not impossible, I swear,
If England would but clear the air
And brood at home on her disgrace
- Everything to its own place.
Face their walls of dole and fear
And be of reasonable cheer.


Good men every day inherit
Father's foulness with the spirit,
Purge the filth and do not stir it.
Let them out! At least let in
A breath or two of oxygen,
So they may settle down for good
And mix themselves in the common blood.
We are what we are, and that
Is mongrel pure. What nation's not
Where any stranger hung his hat
And seized a lover where she sat?"
He ceased and faded. Zephyr blew
And all the others faded too.
I stood like a ghost. My fingers strayed
Along the fatal barricade.
The gentle rainfall drifting down
Over Colmcille's town
Could not refresh, only distil
In silent grief from hill to hill.





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