The Web Of Illusions Woven Around War.

        Wars and their reasons are probably the most savage and brutal illusions foisted on the people of any and all countries. Wars are always labelled defence of democracy, for liberty, justice, to bring democracy to others, just wars, wars to bring peace. They are never stated to be for the growth of empire, to grow resources and markets, to stifle the growth of competitors in the big corporate battles, to fan patriotism and get the public behind the government. Part and parcel of this system and society of illusions that swamp our minds and blind us to reality.

An interesting excerpt from an article from Anarkismo: 

World War One and 100 Years of Counter-Revolution.

--------FROM THE WAR ON TERROR TO A NEW GREAT UNREST
        Despite the brutality of the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, international opposition did deter the US military from bombing people on the scale of the Korean and Vietnam wars. At the same time, however, the US population's reluctance to sacrifice its soldiers compelled the US military to use a level of violence to protect its personnel that only increased opposition to the American presence. Unable to bomb people into submission or to win their support, US defeat was inevitable.
        This defeat later helped to encourage the Arab Spring uprisings across the Middle East. Unfortunately, counter-revolutionary repression and civil war have, so far, crushed these uprisings. But the US and other Western governments still need to use troops on the ground to stabilise these counter-revolutions and people’s reluctance to sacrifice any more soldiers makes that an extremely risky proposition. Unable to unite their populations around wars in Iraq, Iran or Syria – let alone the Ukraine – Western politicians are, instead, keen to commemorate the national unity and futile sacrifice of past wars in a desperate attempt to pretend that we really are ‘all in this together’.
        With no concession to any historical truth, Barack Obama has praised the ‘profound sacrifice’ that Allied soldiers made in 1914-18 ‘to fight and die for the freedom we enjoy’. Meanwhile, David Cameron was so fixated on the idea of the sacrifice that British soldiers ‘made for us’ that he used the word ‘sacrifice’ eight times in one commemoration speech. Fortunately, if Britain, with its strong military traditions, cannot tolerate the sacrifice of 179 soldiers in Iraq, then no Western societies are likely to tolerate the sacrifice of vastly greater numbers in any new global war. Nevertheless, the Western ruling class are still hoping that people will agree to sacrifice their living standards in order to compete with workers in Asia and so, somehow, rejuvenate Western capitalism.[13]
       Such a sacrifice, such a ‘race to the bottom’, would be less bloody than the inter-imperialist competition of 1914-18, but no less pointless. As in the early years of the Great War, people will go along with government propaganda for a while but – eventually – they will realise that they are sacrificing their lives for nothing. Then it may only be a matter of time before we see social unrest comparable to that of the Great Unrest. And, this time, our rulers will have serious problems containing any such unrest because there is no easy way to divert people’s energies into war as there was in the Cold War – or in the Great War.
       The British Government’s desperate attempt to revive what Cameron called the ‘national spirit’ by commemorating the monstrous slaughter of 1914-18 is a good opportunity to expose the real history of capitalism and its counter-revolutionary wars. See http://therealww1.wordpress.com for information about future events and for more anti-war articles.

Read the full article HERE:

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Cop Or Soldier??

    Your friendly beat cop!!

         Militarism used to be a phrase that related to the state apparatus and how it enacted its foreign policy and how it waged war in some foreign land. However, today, militarism is a pervasive ideology that has crept into all aspects of our society, we are a military society. The militarising of the police force, the military style of dealing with civilian protests, with armed police patrolling our streets, check points and stop and search, the thin line between the military and the police has all but vanished. Now if you are anti-militarism, you must include the police in your critique.

Cop or soldier?

This from Bordered By Silence:

       “In recent years, ethnic, tribal, social, and political problematics have re-emerged and contributed to tensions and conflicts in many regions of the world. […]
“The logic of insurgency and counter-insurgency have become essentially urban questions […]
“Guerillas, insurgents, and other non-state actors have taken advantage of the benefits of operating in this environment and will doubtless continue to do so.”
NATO – Operations in urban areas 2020
2.3.2 The Nature of the Enemy – April 2003 [1]
the NATO Research and Technology organization in Neuilly-sur-seine [2]
         “The militarization of the state progresses at a hectic pace. More and more often and for many different reasons, military-style solutions are chosen that disturb or threaten to disturb the fragile social equilibrium”
Anarchist Prisoners of Korydallos
Letter on the assassination of Marian Kola – August 2013 [3]        In times of war. If it weren’t for the avalanche of alienation dispensed by the fourth estate, the media, and its commentaries that fade into declarations by decision-makers — ministers, presidents, religious leaders, and kings — we wouldn’t need to spell this all out. But the change in how uprisings happen and how they are repressed is clear, which means a debate about them is obviously necessary.
          Going forward, for the powerful, there are no clear front lines to hold: all conflicts have become asymmetrical. There are no longer regular armies to force into submission by diplomacy or strategy, treaty or ceasefire. Now, their enemies are everywhere and all wars will be total. The only victory is unconditional: by annihilating the adversary (by murder, enslavement, or imprisonment) or by full control over their subsistence and environment. This is done by means of magnetic cards (credit or ID), NGOs, military and police checkpoints [4], and by generalizing technological advances (like biometrics, surveillance, and virtual social networks).
        Here, we want to highlight that this avalanche of disinformation — the TV news steeped in a warrior tone, where even the reporting is set to imposing music — strategically misleads us, like the propaganda during the Second World War that tried to conceal terrible events in order to morally defeat the enemy civilian population.
Here, we want to highlight that the ongoing militarization of repression is aimed at Us: Those who are in conflict with the existent, its structures, its defenders, and its false critics.
       Of course, scenes of cops in action, armed to the teeth, and the moving declarations by military commanders and soldiers, as well as police and gendarmes, are demonstrations of the means used by the state to defend itself. Immediately, the testimony of terrified citizens and the families of victims ring out from the machines of the fourth estate, justifying the “emergency” measures “put in place”.
      But again, we need to clearly distinguish the propagandistic practices from the real ones and the fictional reasons from the true motivations. We need to distinguish the Logic of the State from Insurrectionary Motivation. Not that of some priest, imam, or ideologue, but those of the exploited, the deserters and the rebels. .
       We need to see the reality of the current conflict clearly:

Continue reading:

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Remember 9/11??

       In a few days the anniversary of 9/11 is coming up, and no doubt the babbling brook of bullshit, our mainstream media, will spew out its usual avalanche of phoney patriotism, aiming to get all and sundry beating their patriotic chests. This comment in no way detracts from the suffering of those involved in that tragic event. The Western imperialist states’ response to this tragedy was, the “war on terror”, which spawned a continuous series of brutal wars, that are still to this day, shedding the blood of thousands of innocent people. All the wars that arose from the “war on terror”, are still ongoing, with the devastating consequences to people, villages, towns, cities and countries across the whole of the Middle East and North Africa. The “war on terror” was the West’s attempt to reassert its power and control over that region, for no other reason than its oil under the soil.
       However, the 9/11 that the babbling brook of bullshit will not give much, if any cover to, will be the tragedy of September 11th. 1973. This was the brutal overthrow of the elected Chilean government of Salvador Allende, by the butcher of the Chilean people, General Augusto Pinochet, let's not forget, he was a deeply religious man, who acted with the backing of US president Nixon. 

       The presidential palace was bombed, Allende committed “suicide” and there followed the usual fascist public burning of books, brutal torture, savage repression and disappearings. More than 200,000 Chileans went into exile, their lives destroyed by the savagery of the regime. Thousands of Pinochet’s political opponents were murdered, thousands of others ended up being tortured while held indefinitely in detention centres. Such was the savagery of the Pinochet regime that more and more states across the world started to distance themselves from his brutality. Even the US government of President Carter started to distance itself from this butcher, of course we all know that Margaret Thatcher loved him. Over his 16 years of savage power hugging, Pinochet shed the blood of countless thousands of the citizens of Chile. That is the 9/11 that will be to the fore of my thoughts when that date comes round once again. Though the New York 9/11 was a tragic event, it is dwarfed by the 9/11 of Chile, more deaths, more brutality, 16 years of ongoing torture and repression, backed by the so called democratic free West.

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

Let's Cut The Bloody Claws Of Militarism.

        With the UK among the Western imperialists, who are eagerly involved in sticking their blooded hands in Iraq, Syria, and Libya, by means of aerial bombings and “special forces” and “training personnel” on the ground, it is now more important than ever that we keep up a continuous anti-war presence. Our lords and masters would love to keep their brutal involvement in these imperialist resource grabs, out of public scrutiny. With the establishments mouth-piece, that babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, ever pushing in our faces, the splits in the Labour party, and the horrors/benefits of Brexit, it is up to us to stand up and point the finger at the savagery being heap on the lives of the civilian population in these countries, all in the defence of corporatism. 

       There will be the usual monthly vigil for peace and against militarism, on Thursday evening 28th. July. It will be held at the top of Buchanan Street at the Donald Dewar statue, 5pm.

Thursday 28th. July
From 5pm.
Donald Dewar statue
Top of Buchanan Street Glasgow.
         Please come along and support the drive for peace and an end to militarism. There will be placards, but bring what you would expect to find at a rally for world peace. 

Let’s Make That Stand

Come rise with me

here, take my hand

it’s time my brothers

to make that stand,/p>

we’ve bought this world/p>

with blood and tears

shed by our kin

through countless years.

Put an end to war

it’s time for peace

man killing man

has to cease.

No more poverty

in a sea of wealth

all men equal

in a new commonwealth.

Let’s never again kneel

let’s stand up tall

claim what’s ours

justice for all.

 

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

 

 

 

Kids As Cannon Fodder For Imperialism!!!

      Everybody knows, or should know, that the British military is there to defend and further the British imperialist state, forget that crap about defending peace and democracy, we have never had either. So it seems, that more and more people are staying clear of the military recruiting offices. However, this is a problem for the state, it needs cannon fodder to do its dirty work, when it comes to defending its plunder in other countries, or when it feels it can move in and grab some more of other countries' natural resources, Iraqi and Libyan oil to mention just a couple. They come up with totally misleading propaganda adverts, appealing to the easily misguided or vulnerable of our children, promising comradeship, free travel and learning a valuable skill. No mention of authoritarian brutality, sexual and physical assaults, depression, suicides, and trauma, let alone death and injury.  Even their expensive glossy misleading adverts don't seem to be doing the job. The new targets are our schools, the imperialist cabal in the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, are planning to launch military cadet units in our secondary schools, mainly in the working class areas of the country. This callous bunch of parasites, are well aware that the kids in the poorer areas of the country are facing a life of fewer and less rewarding opportunities, just what they consider to be, ripe pickings for the cannon fodder to defend their imperialist plunder here and abroad. All this while the hypocrites gasp in mock horror about "boy soldiers" in other lands. 

From The Herald:

      With the army and reserve forces struggling for recruits, the Tory government has launched a £50m Cadet Expansion Programme (CEP) to establish 500 school cadet units across the UK by 2020, with schools in “less affluent” areas being prioritised.
      Scotland’s largest teaching union, the EIS, said its members would also oppose anything that smacked of the armed forces trying to recruit within schools.
      With around 100 units recently established in England, and many more already in place in private schools, the UK government needs 145 more state cadet units to hit its target.
       It has now turned its attention to Scotland’s 360 secondaries to help make up the numbers. 

        This callous duplicitous action should be a battle ground for us, it is blatant class war, we have to see it for what it is, getting the poor trained, to defend the wealth of the rich. On no account should the teachers, friends and families of our school kids allow this scooping up of our young impressionable kids, to carry out the brutal, dangerous, dirty work of defending the ill-gotten gains of the wealthy and bloated parasitical rich. Keep the military well away from our schools, we don't struggle to bring up our kids to have them sacrificed on the bloody altar of imperialism. 

 

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

 

Designer Shoes From Blood!!!

         In the coming week, January 6th. two anti-militarists will be in Cardiff Magistrate s Court, for protesting against the 2014 DPRTE arms fair, held in Cardiff, having been driven out of Bristol, its previous venue. What they are charged with points to the type of life style these dealers in death live,  they are charged with damaging, among other things, a £400 suit and a pair of £200 designer shoes. No doubt, all paid for in blood.

          If you are in or near the Cardiff Magistrates Court on January 6th. You could go along and show solidarity with the defendants, though we all know who should be in the dock. 

Details from Radical Wales:
 

     There has been active opposition DPRTE since 2013. The arms fair had previously been hosted at the UWE campus in Bristol, but was subsequently driven out, hence the move to Cardiff. The protesters involved a variety of actions including blockading the UWE north entrance causing queues trailing back along the A4174.
      Having being driven out of Bristol, South Wales Anarchists, Stop NATO Cymru  and others resolved to show the arms dealers that there is no welcome for them in Wales either. Many felt it unjust that whilst ordinary people are struggling and having to turn to food banks or are on the brink of homelessness, these arms dealers are walking around in expensive clothes worth more than most local families’ entire monthly disposable income, all bought with the profits made from mass murder. What does a statistic like 100 000 dead civilians in Afghanistan mean to the arms dealers at DPRTE? In material terms it means a bit of financial security and a couple of nice holidays a year.
One of the defendants said:
       “Arms dealers are complicit in slaughter all over the world. Perpetual war is in this industry’s interest and this is what's become the norm. If the law really was a forum for justice, wouldn't it be them on trial?”
In a similar vein, Elliw from StopNATO Cymru said:
       “What I would like to know is when have the arms dealers ever had to justify their horrific choice of career? Have the arms dealers ever had to look a mother in the eye and explain why their expensive suits, luxury goods and nice big homes are so much more valuable than the lives of their children, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers? These cowards never have to face the consequences of their career choice. It sickens me that we live in a society that rewards such abhorrent and frankly psychopathic behavior.”

Read the full article HERE:

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

They are accused of damaging the luxury goods of DPRTE arms dealers and organisers -including a £400 suit and a £200 pair of designer shoes - with childrens play paint. - See more at: http://www.radicalwales.org/2015/01/opposing-dprte-arms-fair-in-caridff.html#sthash.jgOLbDC2.dpuf

They are accused of damaging the luxury goods of DPRTE arms dealers and organisers -including a £400 suit and a £200 pair of designer shoes - with childrens play paint. - See more at: http://www.radicalwales.org/2015/01/opposing-dprte-arms-fair-in-caridff.html#sthash.jgOLbDC2.dpuf