I Am The Crowd.

 

       Mass protests started in Chile in October 2019, the public rage carried it forward to an insurrection, as banks, metro stations, police stations, petrol station etc. were torched, shops looted and set on fire. The states response was savage, brutal and persistent, at least 31 people died, thousands were injured and tens of thousands arrested. The new year saw a lull, but it appears that the people's anger is rising again, with protests increasing in regional cities including Valparaiso and Antofagasta. Also in Santiago Square, which was the focal point of last year’s protests saw another large demonstration.  

       The anger and the problems of the people have not been resolved, the fire still burns, and will continue to burn until the people find justice, freedom and peace, which can only be found outside the economic system of capitalism. 

The following from 325:

Letter to a Chilean about the current situation (IIIsytem of capitalism.and last)’ by Gustavo Rodriguez
—To Joaquín García Chanks and Marcelo Villarroel Sepúlveda, comrades and co-conspirators.
       “Let’s continue the assault on the existent with all means, undeterred by those who would silence us with weapons from the stockpile of reaction, be they the kick of the democratic jackboot, the empty chatter of opinion or the siren calls of the candy men of hope.” Jean Weir; Tame words from a wild heart.
     “Whomever is determined to carry out their action is not a brave person, they are simply someone who has clarified their ideas, who has realized the futility of striving to play the role assigned to them by Capital. They are aware, and attack with cold determination. And in doing so they realize themselves as a human being. They realize themselves in pleasure. The kingdom of death disappears before their eyes.” Alfredo Maria Bonanno; Selected Texts.
       “Let us put a stop to the conjuring tricks of dialectics. The exploited are not carriers of any positive project, be it even the classless society … Capital is their only community. They can only escape by destroying everything that makes them exploited.” At Daggers Drawn
      When history is written – with capital letters, the one that the victors have always written and will write – about the generalized insurrection in Chile at the end of the first decade of the 21st century, it will have to be read with extreme meticulousness, since it will be reflected in the supposed motivations of the “crisis” that produced the revolt.
      Once again, the economic analysis will prevail – with emphasis on “the obscenity of misery” that has caused that uncertain denomination they call “Neo-Liberalism” – and, the poor negotiating capacity of a superb government that failed to meet popular demands and chose for the continuity of a regime of corruption and impunity, a (constitutional) heir of one of the bloodiest fascist dictatorships in the Americas.
      However, nothing will be recorded of that anonymous power that shaped the anger of despair, of the nihilistic actions that transformed into a sweeping energy which disrupted normality whilst mercilessly attacking the reality that oppresses us.
      This power will be made invisible (at best) and / or, reduced to a mob of “anarchist and lumpen elements, in addition to groups allied to drug traffickers to unleash looting and vandalism”(1), and stifled in the peaceful condition of “Legitimate” protests and the transcendental importance of the new constitutional fetishes as a legal guarantor of “The needs of the People”.

Read the full article HERE: 

I Am The Crowd.

I am the crowd

I swim in the quagmire of poverty

its hooks, its barbs, tear at my flesh

rupture my dreams,

I hold my breath for centuries

hoping to break through, gasp pure air.

Through the murky mire

I see bright things, shiny things, sparkle

I see women in fine dresses, men in silk shirts.

I ask myself,

why do I swim in this cesspool?

I want the light and warmth of rectitude

to caress my labouring body,

seeds of my dreams to bloom

like wild flowers in a meadow.

One day, I will use my boundless strength

to haul this torn, battered being

out of the morass

onto the warm grassy bank,

when I do;

woe betide you, women in fine dresses

woe betide you mister in your fine silk shirt

should you ever try to get in my way,

for I am the strength of the world,

I am the crowd.

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

France Today.

        According to our mainstream media, everything in France is running as usual, the capitalist country is just getting on with the daily exploitation of the subservient public. Of course if you look a little closer you will find that particular narrative is a load of bullshit. Once again the media propaganda machine proves it is the illusion creator for the capitalist system, by omission and false reporting.

       This summary of what is really going on in France will give some idea of how far from reality or mainstream media is. It only reports revolution and insurrection in those countries that are on their list of "enemies".

       This from 325:

Compilation of resistance in progress

The rage is infinite. Every day, a blow, a strike, a revolt in the country. In order that the many initiatives do not fall into oblivion, and to give an account of the social situation, here is an attempt to compile the strikes and actions that have been taking place in France since December 5th:

RAILWAY: RATP (public transport in Paris, Enough 14) strikes for 45 consecutive days; Paris virtually paralysed during public holidays. Daily blockades of bus stations, often suppressed. A strike at the SNCF lasting several weeks, the like of which has never been seen before. Railway workers multiplying the actions all over the country. The strike was “interrupted” on January 20th to forcus on blockades. On December 5, the Paris-Lyon-Marseille TGV line was sabotaged. At the end of December, traffic on the lines in eastern France was considerably slowed down by bang signals. Several stations were attacked by protestors, particularly in Savenay, Bordeaux and Paris.

ENERGY: Several blackouts in December, notably in the Prefecture of Nantes during a demonstration and in the Bordeaux police station. Targeted blackouts in January: at the Rungis market, the CFDT (French Democratic Trade Union Confederation), Orly airport, etc. Power was cut off during the “low-traffic hours” for hundreds of thousands of households. On January 15th, the Gravelines nuclear power plant was blocked by employees, with fireworks being fired in front of the buildings. Other power plants threaten to shut down. In the refineries, rotating strikes have been taking place since December. The announced fuel shortage is not on the agenda for now.

PORTS AND DOCKS: Operation ‘ports morts’ in most major port cities. On January 15th, in Le Havre, dockworkers attack the New Year celebrations of the employers in the Chamber of Commerce and Industry by throwing big fireworks and smoke. The celebrations are cancelled. Several blockades in Montoir de Bretagne and Fos. Still in Le Havre, the strikers invade city hall and gobble up pastries and champagne of the mayor’s New Year reception.

EDUCATION: The premises of the academic inspection of Alès have been walled in. Outdated books were thrown on the rectors’ offices. Various flash mobs. Selective support of high school students who block their schools. In several schools, teachers are preventing students from taking the baccalaureate exams from January 20th. The minister promises “warnings” and “complaints”. Resignations demanded.

CULTURE: The Paris Opera gave a series of street concerts. Open-air performance of “Swan Lake” with orchestra and ballerinas at Christmas. The choir of Radio France interrupted the New Year’s speech of the boss on January 8th with the performance of Verdi’s “Slave Choir”. On January 17, striking technicians and artists disrupted the programme of the Rouen Opera House and gave a concert in the street. The Louvre is blocked. The castle of Versailles on strike. The French National Library is on strike and has hung banners.

JUSTICE: Lawyers are camping out in front of the court in Bobigny on January 15th. The lawyers of Paris confiscate the files in the “comparution immédiate” (practice of immediate presentation to a criminal judge in case of arrest), plead in many cases for non-appearance and have the accused freed. In Rennes the lawyers plead for the release of all foreigners who are imprisoned in prison camps. In most courts the lawyers’ robes are laid down. The New Year’s speech of the Minister of Justice was interrupted in Caen. All 164 bar associations are on strike.

INDUSTRY: Work stoppages and strikes. On January 17, workers in the aeronautics industry in Clermont-Ferrand threw down their overalls.

HOTEL BUSINESS: On January 20th, Macron invites the bosses to Versailles. Two workers refuse to serve the prime minister: They were fired on the spot. Others write protest messages on their plates, causing great tension in the organisation of the ceremony.

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS: More than one million protestors were in the streets on December 5. Almost 2 million on December 17. In the following days of the general strike, more than one million people demonstrated. Serious clashes in Paris, Rennes and Nantes in December. Record number of burned cars on New Year’s Eve. On January 7, the multinational BlackRock is attacked by railway workers . On January 9, several trade unionists were injured during horrific repression in Paris. Numerous offices of En Marche (La République en Marche, Macron party) were attacked. Emmanuel Macron was evacuated from a Paris theatre on January 17. A journalist arrested / The presidential restaurant La Rotonde burned down the same night. Heavy repression against the yellow vests demonstrating in Paris on January 18.

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

Kill The Drivers.

      It is difficult to get through the day without thinking, talking or reading about "climate Change". Facts keep pouring over us, extreme weather conditions, desertification, flooding, etc. but still there are doubters. However, among those who say they accept climate change is happening and accept that it is our way of life, spout, change your personal life style to an earth friendly lifestyle. We can go vegan, live frugally and plant a tree, but nothing will change, as the real culprit of our disaster impending future, is the economic system that rules this world. While you live frugally in you humble abode, the system is still spending millions on advertising  exotic holidays in far away places that you can fly to in a greedy fossil burning jumbo jet or sail to on a massive pollution distributing luxury liner. The corporate world is still hellbent on growth of their particular enterprise, continue mining the earth's resources at an ever increasing rate and transforming them into must have "luxury items" that will, according to the label, enrich your life, they are spending millions on trying to get you to consume more. its millionaires and billionaires will continue to have their private jets, their super luxury yachts and massive personal estates and mansions.

       Your changes in your personal life style may make a micro difference in this impending disaster, but the real culprit is capitalism, as it can't survive without continual growth and it couldn't survive without the authority of the state, they are co-joined twins dragging us over a precipice, they are the architects of our planet's death, they are leading humanity on a suicide drive, and the crash is close at hand. To appeal to the psychopathic corporate self-seeking greed driven drivers of this car crash is futile, we have to take direct action and stand up and destroy the entire capitalist/state economic model or crash with them. Remember, spaceship earth has no escape capsule.

This from 325:

Table of Contents

A concern of ‘each and every one’
Green capitalism
Forecasts and the misery of the political world
Smart cities
        In the past weeks we could experience relatively high temperatures again. So one heat record year beats the next. British climate researchers recently presented a model to calculate the temperature rise in the metropolises until 2050. Vienna is one of the cities most affected, with a temperature rise of 7.6 degrees Celsius compared to 1850, the year that is more or less considered the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.
       The consequences of global warming are melting of sea ice and glaciers, sea level rise, thawing of permafrost soils (which will release even more CO2), growing drought zones and desertification, increasing weather extremes, extinction of species, etc.
     In addition, there would be further social, political and economic aggravations. Like famines and water shortages, deaths and illnesses caused by the enormous heat and epidemics, wars over dwindling resources and usable territories and a global migration movement. Just to name a few.
       To pick out just one aspect here: If we remember how the political classes and European politicians reacted to the so-called “refugee crisis” in 2015. When we saw how borders were militarized, plans of action developed and powers for the military and police expanded. Not to mention the agitation of the mass media and the general racism, nationalism and panic that has been fostered by politicians, media and other opinion makers. And this was about a more or less still calculable number of people, in relation to what will happen if more and more parts of the earth become uninhabitable. Depending on how fast and drastically these developments will take place, we are talking about the largest migration movement in the history of the human race!
      The fascists and conservatives have already spoken of mass migration in 2015/2016 in order to propagate their policy of isolation. Concepts such as the “great exchange” have come up since then and various horror scenarios have been fantasized in order to achieve a racist and nationalist mobilization. Thus it is not foreseeable what reactions a migration movement of several 100 million people would trigger.

A concern of ‘each and every one’
        The ‘Point of no Return’ is crossed! Climate change is a reality, the changes are already happening, they can be felt. And these developments cannot be stopped by individual waste separation, energy saving, veganism, etc. Many appeals are directed at consumer behaviour. So the problem is made an individual problem of each of us. You can do something about it yourself’, ’10 things you can do to stop climate change’.
         They’re supposed to tell us: We humans are all in the same boat. We are all responsible for this. So change your lifestyle… Repent and become better people!
       This equates the responsibility of business, industry and the political sector with the responsibility of all of us. Every question of class and ownership is thus eliminated. But are we really all responsible to the same extent as those who actively earn money from the fact that our whole world is going down the drain? I don’t think so!

Read the full article HERE: 

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

Prisoners Solidarity.

       Our media would rather we forget the struggles on the streets, unless it is happening in a country that is deemed to be an enemy of the Western imperialism. The last thing the establishment want is for people to realise that the world is in revolt against this planet plundering, life destroying, exploitative greed driven system. State after state continues to attack and incarcerate those opposed to its gravy train for the rich and powerful. If we forget or ignore those who have been locked up in the states repression cages, we lose the struggle for that better world for all. Those who have struggled and find themselves enmeshed in the loaded state judicial swamp deserve our full and unstinting solidarity and support. They have started the struggle, we need them to help us continue with that struggle to end the darkest hour in humanities history, the capitalist economic system. The system uses international co-operation against dissent, we to have to use international co-operation against the system.

      This from 325: 

 

WEEK OF INTERNATIONAL AGITATION IN SUPPORT OF THE PRISONERS OF THE REVOLT IN CHILE. FROM JANUARY 13-19.

“THOSE WHO FORGET THE POLITICAL PRISONERS FORGET THE STRUGGLE”
        More than 80 days after the social outbreak in Chile, the struggle and social organization persists in the unwavering conviction of confronting and breaking with the model of power and economy that has perpetuated inequalities, injustices and abuses for decades.
        Undoubtedly the revolt that still breathes in Chile means this is a turning point with no return, it is within a long journey of struggle that has also brought with it a hard cost: hundreds and hundreds of prisoners of the revolt that are today in the different prisons in this territory. Each week this number increases and in an obvious phenomenon of mass incarceration the State seeks to intimidate and criminalize social protest. We speak of political prisoners of the revolt because of the fact of the mass imprisonment of social fighters after the outbreak of the 18th [October], responding to a political decision of the State and not to technical/legal criteria, understanding the complicity between the different powers of the State in order to perpetuate the existing model of control. That is why we make this call for international solidarity with the prisoners of the revolt in order to reveal the political condition of their imprisonment and demand their immediate freedom. We extend this call appealing to the multiple initiatives and solidarity actions that arise in each territory.

THOSE WHO FORGET THE POLITICAL PRISONERS FORGET THE STRUGGLE!

IMMEDIATE FREEDOM TO THE PRISONERS OF THE REVOLT!

CO-ORDINATION FOR THE FREEDOM OF THE OCTOBER 18th POLITICAL PRISONERS

In other languages 

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

Public Being Groomed To Do Cops' Work.

     Facial recognition is the new eyes of big brother, and in this society big brother  is co-joined twins, one the state, the other big corporate business, they are joined at the hip. Each piece of technology sold to the public finds itself firmly linked to the state surveillance wing, and the public are the unsuspecting assistants in the control and monitoring of the population. Your are monitored and profiled every where you go, from the CCTV in places indoors and out, and there is always the cop in your pocket, the smart phone. Believe we it is smarter than you could believe.

      Now their is a new toy being sold by big business that is being incorporated into the state surveillance system, the door bell camera.

This from325:

      Report from insurrectionary anarchist publication Anathema on the growth of networks of surveillance being developed by Amazon and local police departments.
     In November, The Intercept reported that internal documents at Ring, the home security company owned by Amazon, reveal that the company is planning to create automated neighborhood “watch lists” by incorporating facial recognition technology into its increasingly vast network of “smart home” doorbell cameras. The feature would alert camera-owners via smartphone when someone deemed “suspicious” pops up on their cameras. Like the old-fashioned “neighborhood watch” that Ring wants to replace, the feature would extend the power of the police and as well as make certain areas of town more dangerous for anyone Ring camera owners deem “suspicious.”
      Ring’s documents do not define what “suspicious” means. In practice, this will likely be defined by gentrifiers and cops, whose systemic racism is well documented. At its core, the watch list would identify people who “don’t belong” in certain areas; this means black and brown people, poor people, and anyone whose appearance deviates from social norms. Ring’s Neighbors program — an online discussion forum between camera owners — is already well known for its aggressive racism and for generally heightening distrust and paranoia within neighborhoods. For many people, Ring’s new feature would make it dangerous to be in certain neighborhoods at all — a victory for the forces of gentrification everywhere. Ring doorbell cameras have already allowed police to significantly expand their operations, simply by appropriating private citizens’ technology for no additional expense. The technology therefore has immense “value,” not only for the company, but for the state. For decades it’s been steadily expanding policing in order to keep its increasingly immiserated people under control, while struggling to balance its own budgets.

  Read the rest of this entry

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

Truly A Winter Of Discontent.

     There is no doubt that this year is different. Yes, there has always been protests in this unjust economic system, but this year there are many more and they are more intense with greater numbers on the streets, and they go on much longer, months, and still continuing. Have The people of Iran joined this world wide revolutionary movement?

This from 325:

     The Anarchist Union of Iran and Afghanistan believes that the Islamic Republic of Iran’s regime will not hesitate to massacre millions of Iranians, like it has done in Syria and Iraq as well as in Iran these these last few days. Therefore, the Anarchist Union of Iran and Afghanistan is prepared to declare that it will cooperate with all Kurdish, Arab and Baloch armed opposition forces. With respect to the widespread repression of defenseless people in Iran, we must be able to provide them with the right tools to defend themselves, before there are more dead and the people’s movement has been permanently suppressed. Therefore the need to form an armed revolutionary front to support and defend the people against the Islamic regime’s executioners is urgent and necessary. If it is possible to transport weapons to people inside Iran, you should not hesitate for a moment to prevent more people from being bled and buried. The duty of the revolutionary and radical opposition outside of Iran is to provide logistical and strategic support to the struggles and resistance of the people inside Iran

     I don't agree with everything in the following article but it is an excellent source to see the extent of these prolonged mass protests and gives hope that they will be joined by others rather than morph into some sort of formal agreement with the various states. Our support and solidarity could help immensely in preventing this morphing from happening.  From Democracy Without Borders: 

Youth celebrating the Lebanese revolution in 2019. Photo by Vicken Vincent Avakian with kind permission (source)

     This year has seen an extraordinary number of significant mass protests in over twenty countries or territories, many of which in a national context represented the biggest in recent times. They are often spontaneous, with a distinctly revolutionary nature. In many cases protesters would face a serious risk of arrest, injury or death. The ruling class, government or even the whole system of government, are the targets. Corruption, authoritarianism and/or austerity are their key motivators. ------

And:

    -------Obviously protests occur constantly, and we haven’t done a thorough data analysis comparing this year with historical averages. However, it’s generally accepted that the current protests aren’t normal. CNN’s Fareed Zakaria called them  “this autumn of protest”, and noted that “the politics of each of these movements seems quite distinct. But they are all occurring against a worrisome backdrop: a collapse of [global] economic growth”, which is now at its lowest point since the 2008 crash.

       We can take the line of thinking further and note that these various uprisings are in fact different theatres of the same conflict. 

      Protesters may be waving their national flags, and speaking of national rebirth – not global justice, but as the example of Ecuador especially shows, these national transformations can take place, but they must currently do so in spite of the prevailing global system, which is institutionally incompatible with the needs of the world’s population, captured by an undemocratic, ahistorical ideology which fetishises the balancing of national budgets with same year tax revenues which effectively prohibits effective development strategies, such as the provision of basic services or redistribution.

For the list of mass protests continue reading:

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

Silence Is Complicity.

       Not much in the news just now about the Turkish invasion into Syria aided and abetted by their jihadi friends, and given the nod by America. No mention of the destruction of an area democratically organised by the people, the area of Rojava. A small area being brutally and savagely destroyed by NATO's second largest army. No pictures of the suffering of those people at the mercy of a messianic dictator armed to the teeth with the latest and most powerful weapons. Silence in the presence of brutality is complicity. Since 2011 the people of Syria have seen their country obliterated, hundreds of thousands killed or maimed, and millions of the people displaced, and now Turkey wants to carve a slice of the country off for as its own, and still the silence. A people brought to deprivation, desperation and their infrastructure destroyed, all as part of the power game between the various power-blocks vying for control of the resources in that area. Let's stop electing leaders and playing their games to their rules, and make that decision, that for the peace of the world and the benefit all the people of this world, the entire system has to be destroyed, root and branch.

This from 325:  

via barrikade:

Comrades,

        I think it is important now that our voices of Rojava, out of the heart of that battle, are being heard. A fight for the life, for an existence in dignity, for real democracy and for the freedom of all women. I want to tell how the resistance of Serekaniye went on, how the beginning was, how the end was and also what happened in between. Serekaniye right now is in the hands of jihadist groups that are being supported by Turkey, upon approval by the United States. At a time they said there would be a five-day firearm rest…. we didn’t believe it for one second. And that’s how it was – the attacks didn’t stop, maybe they’ve been reduced, but they continued attacking us with heavy artillery, bombings and airplanes. When there are bombings, there is not much that can be done; hide behind a tree and hope, that they didn’t see you running or that they found your place.

Those five days of supposed firearm rest actually have been decisive for the United States and Turkey, to redefine the conflict, to realign the situation of war, confrontation and resistance against our forced withdrawal that no one expected. No one could believe it, after 11 days of resistance, beautiful and very hard at the same time. Leaving the city. The Turkish invasion of Serekaniye did start some days before, 8th of October, with a bombing of our military post that hasn’t been answered, for not to unleash what happened later anyway. It was an attempt of the friends to protect the people and the society. But the next day, about 3 to 4 pm, another bombing of a post of the YPG took place, where 5 friends have fallen, and since then they bombed the whole border.

        The first days have been very chaotic. We tried to keep calm and to prepare for the invasion. Yes, the last months of the preparation made sense, it became reality. To realise despite all fear, what war actually means, the bravery to assure oneself of a made decision, and at the same time, there are the doubts, that everything will be silenced, that no one in this world will hear about that barbarism. When war arrives, it is a distant war, with a lot of unexpected bombings, that you’ll only hear at the very last moment. When the bombs fall, they fall, when it happens, it happens. After days you learn to acknowledge them, and at the same time when the wounded friends start to arrive, along with the feelings they awake in us; sadness at one hand, because the war machinery is monstrous, and at the other hand the strength to also fight for them. All the defending units, those that already have been here and those that arrived when the Turkish aggression intensified, kept the city safe despite movements of the jihadist groups and enabled the transfer of the wounded to the city Til Temir. Until Turkey cut that road and it wasn’t possible anymore to bring them there.

Continue reading the article HERE: 

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

The State's Cages Of Repression.

      It is a fact that across the globe, most prisons are grossly overcrowded, conditions a deplorable and nothing is on the horizon that is likely to improve matters. This on top of the fact the all prisons are a blight on humanity. Locking people up in cages is a dehumanising process, and any civilised society would not tolerate such abhorrent institutions. We must support all those who find themselves enmeshed in this state system of repression and violence.

     This is just one case, but it could be repeated in any country and in lots of cases treatment can be much more repressive and brutal, but every case should be made public in the hope that we can end this state savagery.    

 

 This from 325:

USA: A Message from Eric King – Imprisoned anarchist comrade

November 5th, 2019

October 8th, 2019

      Here are the things I hear most:

What are you doing, we heard this, I don’t think so, we’ll see, maybe, Chow!, Count!, who’s mess is this, who’s shaking the bars, lights out, mail call, rec call, you want a shower, clean this mess, nope not today, not happening, I’ll check on it, put in a cop-out request, doubt it, quit trashing my tier, cuff up…

      Sometimes I spend hours pondering revenge fantasies, most time I think of my wife and kiddos. Fourteen months in segregation minus 4 days at Grady County, plus 6 at McCreary. We haven’t been in the same room since August 11th, 2018. Now these bastards drag me back to Colorado to force more time, and have the audacity to block our family visits, due to a bad check from 15 years ago. Maybe people who read this will be disgusted by this news.

      That said, I’m hurting friends. Being attacked sucks. Being charged with new federal charges for that attack is sickening. Never forget how horrible these people are. This system exists from the top to the bottom which is why reform is such a joke. You don’t reform cancer, you destroy it. We must destroy this system.

Until all are free,

RIP Tom Manning & Willem, never forgotten

–EK

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

A World Run By Low-Life Scum.

        The following article reads like one of those cheap Hollywood movies on psychopathic behaviour, but it is real life. It depicts the savage, brutal psychopathic regime that exists in the US prison system, though other national prison only differ in degree. It is difficult to get your head round why a supposed human being would treat another human being in such a manner, what stories do these low-life people tell their families, what bedtime stories do they tell their kids? What sort of deranged sub-human brain is situated between their ears? Their brutal callous psychopathic behaviour moves them outside the human species. Not until the last prison lies as rubble, will this type of sub-human behaviour disappear. The prison system breeds these power crazy, savage scumbags, a civilised society has no place for prisons nor this type of sub-human species that manage them. Anyone caught up in these state repression machines demands our support and solidarity.

This from 325:

       For folks who are unaware Eric is an anarchist and anti-fascist prisoner who was sentenced to 10 years for an attempted arson, an action in solidarity with the Ferguson uprising in Kansas city. Throwing two Molotov cocktails into a state representatives office at night time. He has since remained outspoken against the prison system. Exposing abuses and standing tall in the face of constant attacks and oppression.
         In august of last year Eric was dragged into a broom closet and attacked by Lt Wilcox at FCI Florence. Attacked because he is an anarchist and anti-fascist. It was timed to line up with the surgery for his wifes cancer. He was subsequently tortured and abused and never checked out medically despite being kicked in the head for 5 plus minutes. And tied to a 4 point restraint for 8 hours, having to urinate himself resulting in nerve damage to his wrists.
        Since the indictment was filed (in may but conveniently they wait for the painful anniversary to serve indictment) he has been attacked twice at the orchestration of the BOP. Once being blatantly led into a fenced in area where a fash was waiting to attack while the guards watched and by putting someone who was known to have attacked the last cellmates in his cell. Not even talking about all of the other attempts.
        Since the attack he was unable to see or talk to his family for a year, kept in segregation, not allowed even the most basic needs as the right to read a book, have a photo. Denied medical care as he begged for help August 1st, the day before his birthday. His words coming out in slurs because the whole left side of his body… paralyzed. Cognitive and confusion. 29 days without a scan, 29 days… every day further from the potential ability to minimize potentially life changing damage. Being held under the custody of the bop while fighting a bop case. Being held in a prison in which an adult man threatened their daughter 2 years before, a man who had access. A prison where this man still works. A prison where guards currently fuck with him by asking where his daughters go to school over and over. Despite the fact the BOP has attempted to attack and intimidate, orchestrating these attack by use of white supremacists.
       Eric was indicted yesterday for his own assault. He faces up to 20 years in prison for being attacked and beaten. By a guard who feels safe dragging prisoners off camera and attacking. A guard who is known by the PD office for doing this and then destroying lives. Being brought up in the federal court system, a court system that is built to crush as a much more effective machine than any other in our country. Where only 2% go to trial because the feds dont take a case they cant win. Fewer than 1% going on to win their case. Things are looking grim.
       We need folks help… We need folks to write Eric letters, print articles, short stories… hell print books.

Eric King #27090045
FCI Englewood
9595 West Quincy Avenue
Littleton, CO 80123

       [white envelopes, white paper, only black ink, no cards, card-stock, labels, marker, photos or postcards]

       We need folks to donate, hold fundraisers, we need to be prepared

       We need folks to show up at court appearances. We need to show the state we wont let them bury our friend. File court dates same day to try to ensure folks cant be there. We let them do this to Eric once already. We let the state convict him of attempted arson and give him 10 years in federal prison. Where they are trying to make sure he never walks out those doors. Is buried at the ADX.

We need help, Eric needs help.
With love and rage
EK support crew
       We Need To Keep That Spirit Alive: anarchist prisoner Eric King and partner speak
       This week on The Final Straw, we feature two main guests, anarchist prisoner Eric King and a member of his defense committee who is also Erics partner. This podcast is being released on the 3rd day of the International Week of Solidarity with Anarchist Prisoners from August 23-30th. While the majority of the show will be filled by anarchist political prisoner, Eric King, well be wrapping it in words from his partner, who also sits on his support committee. For the hour of our broadcast, Eric talks about his health, his political stance, dealing with nazis on the inside, his views on the anti-fascist struggle on the outside, the loss of Tom Manning and supporting political prisoners, counter-recruiting nazis and other topics. You can find his writings, art, and updates on his situation at SupportEricKing.org.
Eric on the final straw podcast

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

BUCK Helps Buck The Trend.

       I do sometimes harp on about getting papers onto the street, as an anarchist I strongly feel there isn't enough of our material getting out there into the hands of the general public. Perhaps my harping on will inspire those younger than me to get out there and hand people our message in a physical form, not everybody is on Facebook. So I like to publicise any anarchist papers or zines etc., that I come across, this one, called Buck, is from Bristol, a city with a fair bit of radical action. It may not be to everybody's taste, but that's anarchism for you, and is well worth a read.

        “It becomes a hazard of the choices we make when we commit acts that move us nearer to the freedom we seek.”
      ‘Buck’ is inspired by ‘September Commando’ by John Yates with it’s minimal direct punchlines that accompany iconic images.

BUCK, Free download PDF:

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

"Gentrification And Ghettoisation"

       It is a world wide phenomena, changing cities. Cities used to be where ordinary people lived, worked and had their leisure activities, those days have gone. To day cities are being turned in to, "business centres" or "pleasuredromes" for the wealthy, centres for tourists to come and spend their wealth. Expensive luxury apartments, glossy, glitzy restaurants, expensive coffee bars and "high fashion shops. In some areas, the ordinary people of the district are being pushed out to make way for what can only be called university towns, one or more universities surrounded by student accommodation. All this is to make money for the chosen few, the small group of parasites that control our lives by duplicitous financial manipulation. We accept that we should be excluded form our cities and herded on the periphery, or we decide that the cities belong to the people and not the financial Mafia. If we believe we should live in our cities we will have to fight to take them back, they are not going to gifted to us by the invading corporate juggernaut.

     The following article is from Athens, but could be from any city in the developed world. The ordinary people are being herded out to the periphery to be housed in  cheap, shoddy schemes, lacking in amenities. A systematic policy of "gentrification and ghettoisation". Out of sight of the prancing privileged as they enjoy their existence in the consumer illusion of happiness made of bubble and fizz.

This translated version from 325: 
Original source: https://athens.indymedia.org/post/1597841/

         Tourism grows like flowers in the spring, security cameras appear like leaves to protect the peaceful citizens. Everything must be clear, beautiful and in developmental path. The appearance of the city should fit into the list of Aegean Airlines. Tourists do not need a lot, some chain stores and hipster coffeeshops, a good guide to explaining which places to avoid, and something that fits into the “authentic Greek experience”. We look forward to the next group of tourists who will take a selfie around the Acropolis.At the same time, our neighborhood degrades slowly. People who can not respond to the increase of rent price are either forced to find another home to stay or are forced to comply with the new rules. At the same time, investors are exacerbating the situation as they buy old houses, which are being demolished and, in their place, they are building luxurious housing estates. Apartments renovated for short-term rent (AIRBNB) as well as public spaces and parks are privatized reducing free and open spaces. The game is as old as the same city is listening to the name of private property . The rule is also simple: whoever does not own, will pay, whoever does not pay will be expelled. People who are not part of the capitalist machine, little illegal sellers and homeless people, illegal graffiti and political posters, life in general, and things that can not be sold will disappear. We know very well that nothing will be given to us because we do not belong to the owners’ side. We know that we do not even fit into this suffocating capitalist context, nor do we want to keep up with the logic of bosses and investors. That is why we are fighting against their expansionist and developmental plans.On Tuesday 9/04, we visited a boutique (as they call it) of luxury apartments, which is in its final stage of implementation, on Kolokotroni street between Koukaki and Petralona. Kolokotroni Street is a street with several old or abandoned houses, and it seems that the crows of the construction company from Glyfada have put it in the goal. During our visit, we put a banner that read: “RICH PEOPLE GET BACK TO YOUR SUBURBS, HOUSING IS NOR A LIFESTYLE NEITHER A PRODUCT, IT’S A NEED (A)”, we throw paint on the freshly painted walls and advertisements of the company, write slogans and open holes or even completely tear apart interior walls. Nevertheless, investors insist on forcing us to a second visit and today they have put cameras thinking that we will stop.

OUTSIDE THE INVESTORS FROM OUR NEIGHBORHOOD AGAINST AIRBNB AND LUXURY APARTMENTS NO ATTACK TOWARDS OUR LIFE WILL STAY WITHOUT ANSWER IF WE DON’T GET ORGANIZED IN ALL NEIGHBOURHOODS, OUR CITIES WILL BECOME MODERN PRISONS

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

The Prisons, Institutions For Creating Submissive Citizens.

        John Bowden was sentenced to 25 years in prison, 40 years later he is still there, even although all the criteria set by the parole board have been met, according to the prison professionals who asses these things, the parole board still hold on to their pig-head authoritarian mindset, and refuse him parole. The fact that he is an anarchist and stands firmly by his anarchist principles of resistance to injustice even within the confines of prison, is the main reason for his denial of parole. They demand total and submissive obedience to their idea of the perfect citizen, he must not resist the injustices that he sees all around him. After all that is the real reason for the existence of the prison system. You can forget all that crap about re-rehabilitation and protecting the public, that is the thin veneer they spread of this repressive tool of the state. 

This from 325:

        On the 22nd January 2019 after almost forty years in prison the Parole Board considered the case for either my release or continued imprisonment. In the case of life sentence or indeterminately sentenced prisoners once such prisoners have been detained for the length of time originally recommended by the judiciary or Secretary of State, in my case 25 years, then the Parole Board has a statuary and legal obligation and responsibility to review the case for either the release or the continued detention of such prisoners. At three previous parole hearings my release had been denied by the Parole Board on the grounds that I was a “difficult and anti-authoritarian” prisoner, and insufficiently obedient to prison authority; my actual risk or danger to the public, the prime official criteria for denying the release of life sentence prisoners, was never cited as a reason for my continued imprisonment.

        At my parole hearing on the 22nd January all of the professionals employed to assess the potential risk of prisoners the community, prison psychologists, probation officers, etc., all provided evidence stating that my actual risk to the community was either minimal or non-existent and that I could be ‘safely managed’ outside of prison. My lawyer informed the parole panel that the three chief criteria determining the ‘suitability of release’ of life sentence prisoners [has the prisoner served a sufficient length of time to satisfy the interest of retribution?; does the prisoner represent a minimal risk to the community?; can the prisoner be safely managed in the community?] were all confirmed in my case and therefore there was no real lawful justification for my continued imprisonment, especially as I remained still in prison almost fifteen years beyond the length of time originally recommended by the judiciary. The issues raised by the parole panel were not in fact my potential risk to the community or potential for violent behaviour, all of which had been assessed by the system professionals who gave evidence at the hearing and who unanimously attested that my risk of either violent behaviour or risk to the community was minimal; the main concern of the parole panel was my propensity to challenge prison authority and my association with radical political groups on the outside, specifically Anarchist Black Cross. Representatives from the London Probation Service informed the panel that all of the groups that I was associated with were lawful and none were associated with illegal activity, and in terms of my relationship with the prison system whilst I continued to question and challenge what I perceived as abuses of power, I had not been involved in violent protest actions against the system for over twenty years.

        At the conclusion of the parole hearing the panel announced that it would deliver its decision regarding my release within fourteen days. By law parole panels must deliver decisions within fourteen days of hearings.

On the fourteenth day following my hearing the Parole Board claimed that it had not in fact concluded the hearing on the 22nd January but had “adjourned” it and would conclude with a “paper hearing”, when I and my lawyer would not be present, on the 20th February. They also requested additional information from the probation officers responsible for my post-release supervision concerning the conditions and rules of that supervision. The probation officers subsequently provided the Board with the information, and reiterated that in their professional opinion I could be safely managed and supervised in the community.

On the 20th February the Parole Board then claimed that they had “deferred” the “paper hearing” because one of the Board members considering my release had decided to go on leave. In early March in response to inquiries from the Probation Service regarding a parole decision, the Parole Board said that they were in the process of “finalising” their decision. What was becoming increasingly apparent was that the Parole Board simply did not want to make a decision, or at least a decision authorising my release, which placed them in something of a quandary.

        Confronted by the evidence and recommendations of system professionals such as probation officers and prison-hired psychologists who had all stated that there was no public protection justification for my continued imprisonment, the Parole authorities were denied a legitimate legal cover for my continued detention, and obviously were extremely reluctant to openly declare the true reason for their desire to deny my release – a determination to continue my punishment for ever having dared to fight and challenge the prison system, and my refusal to compromise or surrender my political integrity and spirit. In reality, when considering the release of life sentence prisoners one criteria is given absolute priority over all others, and it certainly isn’t “public protection” or the propensity, or not, of the prisoner to criminally re-offend. The most fundamental criteria governing the release decision of life sentence prisoners is the absolute obedience of the prisoner to the authority of those enforcing that imprisonment? Essentially, prisons exist as instrument of social control to tame the rebellious poor and condition them into total obedience to the system; “rehabilitation” is simply a veneer used to legitimise an institution that is intrinsically brutal and inhuman.-------------

---------------Britain now currently has the highest population of life sentence prisoners in the whole of Europe and as the social and political climate here becomes increasingly more repressive and retributive that population of the civil dead will continue growing.

Read the full article HERE: 

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

Feminism, To Be Or Not To Be, That Is The Question!

 

         I'm sure, that within the anarchist groupings this article will annoy some, irritate more, and raise others to fury. I'm also sure that there will be others in the anarchist groupings who will agree wholeheartedly with Anna. All the more reason to share it and and see what transpires.
From 325:

Words from anarchist comrade Anna Beniamino

Anna, Women’s prison of Rebibbia

Degenerations – Between pride and gender victimhood
(An article Degenerazioni – Tra orgoglio e vittimismo di genere
Published in issue 3 of the anarchist paper Vetriolo)

       I am anarchist, I am not feminist because I see feminism as a sectorial and victimist withdrawal, I have never made any gender discrimination although I don’t use gender-friendly linguistic conventions, on the contrary I often use dirty politically incorrect language. I think that the annulment of gender privilege and similar oppression is already contained in the search for anarchy, that is to say in the practice of antiauthoritarian relations, and should be cultivated there. Ah, I forgot, I loathe consciousness-raising in public meetings and I also consider assemblies to be blunt instruments. I understand and also have the will to meet. But I see how all too often the assembly degenerates into sterile self-representation.

        You see nowadays you risk having to start off with such a preamble in order to enter the thicket of clichés on gender and feminism, disentangling yourself in the intricate incapacity to relate to the anarchist galaxy, with a range of behaviours going from hyper-emotiveness to the bureaucratic calculation of what stand (and degree of negotiable compromise) to take in a struggle. I don’t think that authoritarian and sexist behaviour can be fought by trying to spread new linguistic conventions or by cooking up shreds of mainstream indignant rhetoric (among which #nonunadimeno [enough is enough], the feminicide count on TV, pride, red shoes and rainbow ribbons) in an alternative sauce.

          Rather these should be recognized as signs of yet another operation of the deconstruction of real meaning and recuperation in act. Convinced that one is opposing them, in actual fact one is adapting to the very behavioural and normative codes conceded by dominion as ways of releasing tension.

It’s nothing new that economic and political power is tending to swallow up and redigest everything, faster and faster; consider for example the pearls of anti-sexist, antiracist or whatever it might be neo-conservatism and conformism that are being dispensed by the media every day.

          I believe that the first misunderstanding is the inability to put certain kinds of behaviour into context, within what should be a wider critique of relations and communication and interaction between individuals in the antiauthoritarian sense, reducing them to the level of questions of gender.

Gender categorization, in LGBTI (XYZ…) style, should be left to those who need to feel themselves a protected category, in pigeonholes more suited to a Linnaean categorization of individuals than free bodies and minds. Instead, we find such pigeonholes in antiauthoritarian milieus, which should already have internalized their refusal.

         By the way I’m far from believing that so-called liberated spaces really are such, in fact they often become parking lots for various forms of malaise and instead of enhancing the quality of life and relationships they risk lowering it even more. For example it’s not possible to see every inability to interact in a meeting as sexism, authoritarian imposition or gender violence: I read in a pamphlet [1] that was around last year stigmatizing the latent violence in relations between comrades ‘the oldest exercises power over the youngest, those with more experience impose themselves on those who have less, whoever is stronger on the not so strong, mirroring the relations of the existent we say we want subvert.’

      This is supposed to be a critique of authoritarian attitudes in antiauthoritarian milieus and it would be valid, were it not that it banalises and flattens everything: there is a fundamental difference between imposition of strength and the expression of experience. The inability to express oneself or to act is neither authoritarian nor antiauthoritarian, and can only be solved individually… otherwise we come to the idiocy of praising inability and inaction.

The concept of emotive violence or the violation of emotional integrity is even more ephemeral, because it promotes this analytical junk amongst antiauthoritarian individuals who should have far sharper critical weapons and practical capacity of intervention. As well as emptying of meaning the inflicted and brutal violence it is being compared to.

        How can we claim to engage in an unrelenting struggle against authority and dissertate on revolutionary and liberatory violence if we cannot even react individually to some ‘undesired comment in the street’ (by taking it for what it is, and dealing with it accordingly with the person who spat it out) or keep up an animated discussion during a meeting without having recourse to the shield of violated sensitivity? Why do we find ourselves reading the disarming and obvious idiocy that advises making love with a woman in order to avoid an unwanted abortion? [2] Why codify, even in the field of gender, only for “female gangs”, like conquest, self-defence from aggression and harassment? Isn’t this a problem common to all genders among liberated beings?

      Why should we revisit the most outworn products in the wardrobe of 1970s feminism, such as separatist meetings… maybe calling them workshops (a really ugly term that combines work and shop, borrowed from business conventions and unworthy of free discussions)?

       I read the spectre of the same reductive and banalising mechanism in another recent publication, the Italian edition of the Rote Zora claims [3], i.e. the intention to sensitize only a female audience about a group of women who carried out armed struggle in the 1980s and 90s in Germany, insisting on the choice of gender, of very great interest on some feminist topics, as a privileged discriminating factor for taking them out of oblivion… given that one doesn’t want it ‘to belong to official history. It is written by men’ [4]… What?!? Is it not that official historiography tends to not talk about them because they were angry, not angry feminists? Just as it doesn’t deal with – or distorts – the history, actions and writings of so many other angry men and women? The partial vision is not that of Rote Zora who experimented their own path of individual and collective struggle and liberation in the context of wider anti-imperialist and anti-capitalistic action, but of those who try to make a flag out of it in order to give more credibility and specific weight to their own theorizing, to then reduce themselves to looking for ‘paths of self-defence’.

      Why entrench oneself in a ‘feminist and lesbian’ discourse [5]? Why yet another protective cage, rather than develop the beauty and infinity of more advanced ideas of the critique of domination (not only gender), put forward and tested?

        ‘Sisterhood’ has always seemed to me to be a form of allusive alienation of transversal political alliances between oppressed and oppressors, between ‘inter-classist’ as it has become fashionable to say again… adverse parties. I also happened to see a booklet [6] recently containing an Italian feminist’s interviews of some female veterans of the Spanish revolution in 1936, aimed at finding a questionable ‘sisterhood’ between women anarchists engaged on the frontline (and in the background with Mujeres Libres), the POUM and Stalinist women.

       It was quite significant that almost centenarian anarchist revolutionary women were far more lucid and open in their critique about the limitations of feminism than their interviewer imbued with 1970s’ clichés was: in the extreme calm of a life lived to the full, they were able to explain simply the equal relations between male and female comrades, and how they managed to ridicule and neutralize the machismos that emerged among the most retrograde and stupid of their comrades. In short the practices and theoretical contribution of these women are far more advanced along the path of liberation of the individual and the negation of authoritarian dynamics than those of feminists who glean from their experiences, defending simulacra of struggle instead of the struggle itself. The need for auto-da-fé, the ‘deconstruction of one’s male privileges’, the search for separate places for discussions, self-awareness and self-analysis in public seem a little too much like signs of these times of over-exposition and woolly thinking, parading ‘struggles’ by category and interior struggles, to end up not struggling at all.

Anna,
Women’s prison of Rebibbia
October 2018

[1] Violenza di genere in ambienti antiautoritari ed in spazi liberati [Gender violence in antiauthoritarian milieus and in liberated spaces], Italian edition translated from Spanish in 2017

[2] Critica all’aborto [Critique of abortion], Jauria – Trans-feminist publication for animal liberation, issue 1, Summer/Autumn 2015

[3] Rote Zora – guerriglia urbana femminista [Rote Zora – Feminist urban guerrilla], Autoproduzione Femminista, 2018

[4] From the introduction to the same book

[5] Which the Rote Zora women themselves didn’t think relevant. From a 1984 interview with Rote Zora: ‘Some of us have children, many others don’t. Some are lesbian, others love men’, page 51, ibidem

[6] Donne contro [Women against], Isabella Lorusso, ed. CSA editrice, 2013

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