Low Tech.

 

             We seemed to be completely hypnotised by modern technology it has swamped our lives, we have become dependent on it throughout our daily life. Each new piece of technology we are lead to believe it will improve our life, make life easier, but does it and at what cost? Modern technology has enmeshed us in one massive surveillance machine, the powers that be and some commercial concerns gather facts about your daily life and can use it to their advantage without your knowledge. Cameras monitor your very movement, your phone is a tracking machine and can pin point where you were at any given moment. Modern technology takes away many of your skills that helped you to be independent. It can isolate you but give you the impression that your are part of a community, social media, where some people have a thousand "friends" but have met very few. A strange world of community in isolation. 

These words from Not Buying Anything must surely provoke some thoughts        

 

Wendel Berry at work... without a computer.

       In 1987 Wendel Berry explained that he did not wish to buy a computer with which to do his writing. He never did relent, preferring the low tech and less flashy pencil and paper combo.
       His goal was always, "to make myself as plain as I can". Towards this goal he shared his standards for technological adoption.

They are as follows:
1. The new item should be cheaper than what it replaces.
2. It should be at least as small in scale.
3. It should do work that is clearly and demonstrably better than what it replaces.
4. It should use less energy than what it replaces.
5. If possible, it should use some form of renewable energy, such as solar or that produced by the body.
6. It should be repairable by a person of ordinary intelligence, provided that he or she has the necessary tools.
7. It should be purchasable and repairable as near to home as possible.
8. It should come from a small, privately owned shop or store that would take it back for maintenance and repair.
9. It should not replace or disrupt anything good that already exists, and this includes family and community relationships.
       Using such standards would mean that much of the technology we use now would no longer be produced or consumed. How much of modern technology advances the human condition, rather than advancing surveillance, control, and profit-making? Maybe we need less technology, not more, or perhaps the answers we need can only be addressed by low tech rather than high. But talk that way and most people will think you are insane. We have accepted high tech unconditionally as a good that always makes life better.
        Berry says, "The Luddites asserted the precedence of community needs over technological innovation and monetary profit. The victory of industrialism over Luddism was overwhelming and unconditional. It was undoubtedly the most complete, significant, and lasting victory of modern times.
        To this day, if you say you would be willing to forbid, restrict, or reduce the use of technological devices in order to protect the community, or to protect the good health of nature on which the community depends, you will be called a Luddite, and it will not be a compliment.

Technological determinism has triumphed."

         In an insane world, the sane will be seen as the ones who have lost their minds. Some would say that Wendel Berry was not thinking straight to consider that using a pencil for writing, and editing on paper with his wife, could not be improved upon by the purchase and use of a computer. And yet, he still resisted.
        "The individual", Friederich Nietzsche said, "has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe." He thought that if you tried it, you would often be lonely, and sometimes frightened. But, he thought, "no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself".
         You could say that Berry was off his rocker for not being an enthusiastic cheerleader for high tech. But you couldn't say that he didn't own himself. We would do well to consider his standards for technological adoption, and seriously question all new innovations before we choose to adopt them in our own lives. Contrary to what the tribe believes, new technologies are not always improvements that benefit humanity.

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Gone?

 

           It is always sad to see the demise of an anarchist journal/magazine, there is never enough of them circulating. So thanks to Storm Warnings for their prolonged effort, you will be missed. There are still some out there, Anathema for example, and hopefully new ones are being created by the up and coming generation of anarchists that keeps the tradition of journals and magazines  with anarchist ideas and hopes alive and kicking. 

The following from Act For Freedom Now.

     The final issue of Storm warnings, anarchist bulletin for the social war, issue 59-60(December 2022) came out. It is the full English translation of Avis de Tempêtes.

Storm warnings, issue 59-60 (December 15, 2022) :

For reading

For printing (A4)

For printing (Letter)

“To conclude, if it has always been a pleasure to write and elaborate each issue of this bulletin, we must also say that after five years, the desire to put an end to it has arrived. A certain weariness in seeking to ensure this regularity, the sometimes difficult lack of feedback or intertwined debates,
the observation of a redundancy in our ways of approaching the vast questions of action, certainly also the limits of the instrument itself, are all elements that contributed to our decision to conclude this experience of Storm Warnings. Such a decision might seem paradoxical, knowing that
the interest and need we feel for such spaces of reflection and elaboration are still alive, but the instrument we have forged over the years does not lend itself to a new start or a new format. It seemed to us more appropriate to make it disappear, so that other projects could see the light of day.”

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The 30's?

   

            It should be noted, that in France, Macron is not in power by the will of the people, he received 15% of the vote, but only 28% voted, so the vast majority of the people of France don't want him in power. How far will the people of France go to change their society to the benefit of the majority? On the 23rd of March it is estimated that 2.5 million people took to the streets in France to voice their anger at what is being imposed on them by a man who does not have the support of the majority of the people. There is now evidence of some of the police and riot squads are standing down and walking with the demonstrators. If this is true it is obviously a good sign for real change, will the people of France persist in their drive and grasp that opportunity to change French society for ever and to the benefit of all their people? 

 
 

Image courtesy of The Guardian.    

         Just across that imaginary line they call a border, in the patch of land called Germany, March 27th marks Germany's massive "mega strike" all transport comes to a halt, railways, airports, buses and metro. When was there such massive anger and discontent across Europe, perhaps back in the 30's. Has the discontent return as the poverty of the 30's returns? Will it grow, will the people finally realise that the system is rigged against them and bring it crashing down. A pipe dream, perhaps, or a reality if the people so desire.  

Image courtesy of Left Voice.

 

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Murder.

 

          Life long anarchist Alfredo Cospito is being treated in the most draconian manner by the Italian state. He is being used as a warning to all those others who would dare to challenge the state's desire for total control over the population, Alfredo has been on hunger strike since 20th. October 2022, an indomitable spirit that refuses to bend his knee to the authoritarian dictates of the state. Apart from slowly killing the man the Italian state is trying to kill the ideas and visions that he portrays, a desire for freedom, justice, equality and peace. The state in this brutal inhumane fashion is trying to kill the spirit of anarchism. Alfredo's fight is our fight, if we too wish a society of freedom, justice and equality in a world of peace. We must show solidarity and raise our anger level considerably to end this barbaric, brutal state savagery.

 

The following from Act For Freedom Now.

         SO AS TO CONTINUE TO LIVE PROUDLY AN ANARCHIST IN ITALY HAS DECIDED TO DIE PROUDLY
        Using his body as a weapon to attack the judicial conspiracy to distort his person, his struggle and the very essence of anarchism in order to bury him alive under the anti-mafia law 41bis.
with Alfredo Cospito
end 41bis now!
          “There are two types of solidarity. A passive one that all too often serves only to wash away conscience for someone’s own inactivity and that does not bridge the gaps between words and deeds.
          And then the active, concrete, real solidarity that some call revolutionary, created in silence and anonymity, where only destructive actions speak even through the words that follow. Needless to say which one I prefer.
           In final analysis, the best solidarity that i could receive is to see the planning of this new anarchy, in all of its forms, continue to move forward, insensible to the strokes of repression. I will not deny it, in every action that someone salutes us as anarchist prisoners, both in Italy and the rest of the world, my heart fills with joy.
          This is my life today. The war continues, never give up, never give in.” Alfredo Cospito 2014.

FIRE TO THE PRISONS!

 

 

poster 1 pdf

poster 2 pdf

 

Previous Post Palermo, Italy: Gathering at Ucciardone prison and poster in solidarity with Alfredo Cospito from Sicily 

 

Next Post Parcel bomb against the head of the prison guards union CSIF (Zaragoza, Spain)

 

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

Personal

                                

              Continuing the theme of poetry and personal thoughts, a couple more personal views.

Image courtesy of Design You Trust.

 

Who Am I. 

Who am I
This son of a waitress
son of a miner
statistic from a Glasgow slum
digit in a National Health Service
walking in a fog
endeavouring to separate heaven from hell
reaching out to hands that aren’t there
sailing in the wrecked hull of hope
seeking a safe harbour
a soft beach to land
trying to forget yesterday
hoping too fashion tomorrow
who am I
I am a camera with ears
seeking a voice
wanting to be heard
in this tower of Babel

Image courtesy of Independent
 

Compassion.

Sometimes our strength breaks
not because of the burdens in our life
but because of our compassion
As year in year out we bear witness
to the savage claws of poverty
rip into the hearts of a legion of children
watch our green Earth stained red
with the blood of innocents in endless wars
standing silently by an see the young and old
die slowly from avoidable disease
and tragedy of human created disasters
compassion a necessary component
of that better world we all crave
but a crushing burden in this world
fashioned by greed power and privilege.

 

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Poetry.

    

           March 21st, International Poetry day, as usual I missed it by a day. Never the less I think I should still celebrate that day, better late than never.

Image courtesy of Lithub.

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.

Image courtesy of LSE Blog.

The Invisible.        

We live there— yes— there
A little bit above the dead
But quite a bit below the living
Where poverty is a dream
Deprivation a reality
Our daily bread an illusion
We sigh--we weep—
As ruthless poverty
With its cold claws
Tears the heart from our children
We ask—WHY?
Surrounded by opulence
Invisible to arrogant greed
Anger simmers beneath the surface
We seek equality
We will have justice
If blood is the price
So be it.

 

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

It's a Con.

            Our lords and masters who pontificate in those Westminster Houses of Corruption and Hypocrisy, pump out green messages, to save the planet. They tell us, take a shallower bath, a shorter shower, turn your thermostat down a degree or two, only put enough water for a cup of tea in the kettle, wear a jumper or two, all to save the planet. We are being asked to alter our lifestyle make sacrifices. Meanwhile their buddies in the wealthy parasite class carry on with their lives of luxury, private jets, gas guzzling limousines and luxury homes dotted around the planet.
           Their latest little pleasure trip is a three year cruise, that will visit 135 countries visiting all the continents on the planet. How this thundering hulk of steel carrying 1,074 passengers plus crew, ploughing its way across the world, burning fossil fuel 24 hours a day fits in with saving the planet must be the joke of the year.

            It is obvious that any sacrifice to save the planet is to be done by you and I, the serfs of the system, and doesn't apply to the rich, wealthy, pampered, parasite class. It becomes more obvious by the day, that their are laughing at us, as they merrily carry on with there pampered lives of luxury and we do the sacrificing. When will we ever learn, the system is rigged, can't be reformed, has to be destroyed, if we want that better life for all. A society of fairness, justice and mutual aid, that sees to the needs of all our people.

 

 

Image courtesy of AFAR.

The cruise will take place on the MV Gemini, which can accommodate up to 1,074 passengers. Cabin sizes range from 130 square feet for interior staterooms (which include a double bed, a bathroom, and a desk) to 260 square feet for balcony suites (which have an additional living room area).
          Pricing, which includes all meals, drinks (both alcoholic and nonalcoholic), laundry, Wi-Fi, gratuities, housekeeping, and port fees, starts at $90,000 and go up to $330,000 based on accommodations.

Image courtesy of AFAR.

 

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

Keelie 39.

 

         The Glasgow Keelie 39 is now available, as usual packed with what you would expect from wee Glesca Keelie. Out spoken, exposing the government's deliberate attacks on the poorest in our communities, pointing the way to resist, lots of info on how to resist and get involved in fighting this perpetual cull on the poorest and most vulnerable, helping to get that better world for all our people. The Keelie will be found in the usual places pickets, protests, demos and on the street in general. Watch out for it and grab your free copy of Glasgow's most radical newspaper. 

You can read The Glasgow Keelie on line HERE

         If you want a wee bundle to spread among your mates, or have something to say about today's injustices, corruption, and financial shenanigans of our lords and masters, contact us HERE. 

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

WW3

           Capitalism stutters from one crisis to another but people seem to forget, the capitalist system is always in crisis. Over production, inflation, labour shortage, lack of growth, its necessary ingredient, are just some of the inherent flaws in the insane economics of capitalism. The recent flutter of worries over the collapse of two Banks within a week is the least of their worries. Another unexploded bomb in their midst is the sudden mushrooming of "buy now pay later" loans. Even when times are hard, the system still wants you to continue buying all those little luxuries. hence the pie in the sky, there is a cost of living crisis, they still have to move all those luxuries, but there isn't the where-with-all to pay for them. So the magic wand of capitalism, "buy now and pay later" when the "good times" return. Of course the don't and all this millions of loans don't get paid, boom and other capitalist crisis.
        The capitalist system has never recovered from the 2008 banking collapse, they are desperate to re-capitalise the system, and despite enforcing years of austerity on millions and billions of tax payers bailout cash, they have still failed miserably. The Western oligarchs that form the American financial Mafia are desperate to get back to those glory days that America enjoyed after WW2, when the world paid homage to the dollar and the loot kept flowing into the U$A coffers. However emerging economies, like China, Russia, India etc. are making that difficult for the masters of the dollar.
        So our biggest worry should be the fact that these parasitic masters of the dollar will take desperate measures and play their big ace, war. War is also a great way of releasing tax payers money into the military industrial complex, and a way of destroying the opposition and grabbing their resources, in the insane hope of that illusion, "Make America Great Again"
      There is desperation among the big dollar owners and dollar lovers, and desperation leads to drastic consequences. We would do well to remember, WW2 caused the deaths of 100 million+ innocent individuals, with America the only nuclear nation then, and they used that power on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, WW3 would more devastating as several nations now have nuclear weapons. The result would be the complete devastation of the entire planet. The masters of capitalism don't worry too much about that, it is up to us, the ordinary people to take away that power and take control and create the society we want, freed from the insanity of capitalist economics. 

 
The following extract from Struggle-La-Lucha.

 

          Drone swarms. The Pentagon’s massive budget includes a new project, the Autonomous Multi-domain Adaptive Swarms-of-Swarms (AMASS), to launch automated, coordinated attacks by swarms of thousands of many types of drones that operate in the air, on the ground, and in the water.
    

The White House released its budget request for 2024. For the Pentagon, there is $824 billion. Adding armaments for military operations in Ukraine takes that figure to more than $950 billion.
            Add the $24 billion Department of Energy budget item, as the department maintains nuclear bombs and related armaments. Hidden are the budgets for the CIA and other secret military forces. Biden’s total budget for world war totals well over $1 trillion.
            The Biden administration has started a proxy war in Ukraine against Russia. At the same time, it is building up toward war on China, including a possible U.S. invasion of Taiwan under some wild pretext, such as a threat from weather balloons.
           Don’t laugh. That’s how every U.S. imperialist war started, like the sinking of the battleship USS Maine in Havana harbor — the Maine sank because of a coal-bunker fire next to the ship’s gunpowder storage, not from mines planted by Spain, as was reported at the time. “Remember the Maine” became the battle cry for launching the war with Spain in 1898.
        Like the “Gulf of Tonkin incident” in Vietnam, alleged attacks by the Vietnamese on U.S. ships that never happened but were used to authorize an all-out war on Vietnam. Like the “weapons of mass destruction” that never existed but were used to launch a war on Iraq.
            As history has shown, a country that prepares for war is likely to go to war. Washington is engaged in a military buildup against China, diplomatic hostility including sanctions and trade barriers, and multiple semi-unreported operations such as basing a fleet of U.S.-crewed nuclear-powered attack submarines in Australia.

Read the full article HERE: 

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

Munroe!

 

          SubMedia, System Fail 20, takes a look at the carnage, corruption and plundering the Munroe Doctrine has heaped on South America, with a look at Greece that authoritarian EU member regime that teeters on the verge of collapse. Again, all material that the mainstream media seem not to notice or care about.

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

Talking???

         In that patch of the planet that goes by the name of Greece, a member of the EU, is a prime example of the direction Western democracy is travelling, further to the right and more authoritarian. What is happening in Greece is happening in all other states, it is just a matter of degree and timing. All states want total control of the population, a subservient populace that can be used to fuel the wheels of the capitalism's exploiting mechanisms. There are two roads open to us the ordinary people, submit and be an obedient subservient digit in their system, or resist by what ever means are available to us, destroy this burden on humanity and build that better world for all, a society that sees to the needs of all our people and stops feeding millionaire/billionaire parasites. Rest assured, we are not going to win that better world for all, at talking shops, nor by waving banners, they have too much to lose and will fight a bitter brutal battle to keep what they have plundered.

The following extract from Act for Freedom Now.

Financial support of the four comrades in pre-trial detention
https://www.firefund.net/4pretrial

          The following text is the political view of the Assembly in Solidarity with the four comrades in pre-trial detention Fotis D., Jason R., Lambros V. and Panagiotis V.

        On November 14th, 2021 an unmarked police vehicle rammed into the comrades Fotis D. and Jason R. as they were in motion and then they were taken to the General Police Department of Attica. There, the uniformed garbage of the Greek Police proceeded to mandatory fingerprinting and DNA sampling, in order to link them to the attack on the Piraeus traffic police on the same night. In a process that took only half a day, they raided their homes, making sure to plant incriminating evidence, thus building a weak case against them. At the same time, the media indulged in their usual vile role, talking about homes being bomb and explosives manufacturing facilities, in an attempt to normalise the new criminal code in the public mind (which upgrades the possession and use of Molotov cocktails to a felony). It is worth noting, that the code came into force the day before their arrest. For the millionth time, the fabrication of guilty people by the media, has socially reinforced the prosecution’s argument and created the appropriate ground for the pre-trial detention of our two comrades, who have been held captive for 15 months in the Korydallos and Avlona hellholes.

       With the trial date not being set and the case file still open, the interrogator had room to implicate more people. Following a prosecution conducted by the interrogator, on Tuesday morning 20/9, state cops accompanied by a prosecutor, stormed into the house of comrades Panagiotis V. and Lambros V. The comrades were arrested and detained in GADA, where for several hours the reasons for their detention were not known and they were not given the right to communicate with their lawyers or their close ones. The next day, they were tried by the Single-Member Plenary Court in Evelpidon for violation of the weapons law and were later released.

Continue reading. 

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

IWD.

          The struggle of the ordinary people for that better world for all comes in many shapes and guises. Since most, if not all these struggle, are against the prevailing system, so their history tends to be whitewashed over, modified, buried, or romanticised, to make it acceptable to the status quo. However, all these separate strands of struggle are forged in blood sweat and tears. None more so than women's part in these struggles. March 8th. International Women's Day, rightly so, draws attention to the struggle of women for equality and justice, freeing it from the balloons and pink ribbon that the existing system would have you envisage that struggle. Women's struggle is our struggle, solidarity prevails.

the following extract from Struggle La Lucha.

       

        On many holidays recognizing people’s struggles and their leaders — for example, the civil rights movement and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. — the present-day celebrations are both sweet and sour.
       The only reason for formal recognition is that protests and struggle made it so — and this is a victory. But the other, “give it the side-eye” part is that the actual history of how they originated is covered up in pink ribbons. The blood, sweat and tears that were shed have been washed away.
       International Women’s Day is like that. So much has been done to sterilize it, package it, market it, capitalism-it (my made up word) — foremost in the capitalist West, of which the U.S. is the capital. 

Continue reading     

And More,----Imagine a gender equal world. A world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination. A world that's diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated. Together we can forge women's equality. Collectively we can all #EmbraceEquity. Celebrate women's achievement. Raise awareness about discrimination. Take action to drive gender parity. IWD belongs to everyone, everywhere. Inclusion means all IWD action is valid.

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

Resist.

   

                                                   Image courtesy of Guardian.

             Make no mistake, the state works hand-in-glove with corporate capitalism. At the moment in the UK the capitalist class is complaining of a "labour" shortage. This simply means that they have capacity to exploit a greater number of citizens than they are exploiting at the moment. So they look around and come up with the label "economically inactive" in their eyes it is unacceptable for an individual not to be in harness to the capitalists class when it needs them, of course in over production they'll dump you without a thought about you being, "economically inactive". So the state will do its bit to make sure that those individuals classed as "economically inactive", become "economically active", to the benefit of the corporate greed merchants. The technique this time round is to do to their own citizens what they inflicted on migrants, create a hostile environment for all those, for whatever reason, are "economically inactive. You are going to be treated like subservient slaves, unless you strongly resist.

       New DWP pilot scheme threatens even more sanctions – resistance needed!

        “From Monday 27th February the DWP starts a pilot to force thousands of Universal Credit claimants to compulsorily attend jobcentres 10 times over a 2-week period, which PCS believes could increase the risk of poverty and make it more difficult for people to claim benefits.”

“If the customers, who have been claimants for 13 weeks, fail to attend they could be sanctioned and risk losing their benefits, plunging often very vulnerable people deeper into poverty.”

A new DWP pilot threatening Universal Credit claimants with even more sanctions has just started in 60 jobcentres round Britain including 11 in Glasgow and area........

https://edinburghagainstpoverty.org.uk/?p=3274

         The Glasgow area jobcentres involved in the pilot are
· Barrhead
· Castlemilk
· Drumchapel
· Glasgow City Central/Renfield Street
· Govan
· Laurieston
· Newlands
· Partick
· Shettleston
· Springburn
· Partick Jobcentre

 

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

War.

 

           My only criticism of this advert is the title, A war that should never have happened. In my nearly 89 years on this planet I have yet to know of a war that should have happened, unless we talk about the Class War. Also Blair and Bush didn't start the war, they didn't wake up one morning and decided to have a war with Iraq, it was the big Western multi-national corporations, who wanted their hands on Iraq's oil and to dollarise Iraq in the process. Blair and Bush were merely the pawns tasked with managing that process to war. Despite these small criticisms, I give my full support to the campaign for peace and attempting to stop all wars, which will require a complete change away from the insane economic system that shackles our lives.

This from Stop the War Coalition.

 Iraq-20 years on: A war that should never have happened.

          The invasion of Iraq launched twenty years ago by George Bush and Tony Blair was a catastrophe for the Iraqi people and had a disastrous impact across the Middle East and beyond. It led to a million deaths, the displacement of millions more, the destabilisation of the region and a deep anger against the Western powers across whole areas of the globe.

It also generated the biggest anti-war movement in history.
           Stop the War is marking the anniversary of the war with an evening of remembrance and analysis from Iraqi activists and other leading anti-war figures including Lowkey, Sami Ramadani, Raghad Al-Tikriti, Tariq Ali and Lindsey German.

 

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