Grief And Hate.

     After the recent killings of two soldiers in Canada, it's own version of the babbling brook of bullshit, its mainstream media, has gone into overdrive with the usual, "We need more surveillance", "what extra powers do the police need", "What laws do we need to change, to get these people sooner" It is the usual and predictable ranting that we get here, whenever there is any violence, suspected or otherwise, by anybody who can be labelled a Muslim.

     However, sadly in Canada the population seem to be falling for the propaganda, and are on the streets calling for these types of actions. This not so subtle, rendering of grief for the victim, then moving on to hatred of a group which the perpetrator can be linked, is brutal, dangerous, and intended state propaganda. It is garnering support for tighter control over the people. Teaching hate and fear of the manufactured enemy abroad, and the imaginary enemy at home, attempting to create in the minds of the people, a desire for a stronger state, and should be resisted at all times.

 

An extract from a recent article in Anarchist News:

     -----The media is incessantly asking what could draw good Canadian youths to Daesh's ideology. But one could just as well ask what drew the young soldier killed in Ottawa to take up arms in defense of a genocidal, imperialist nation state. Interviews with his family show that he loved the military since he was a child, it just seemed to be in his blood they say. As despicable as it is to claim that any child is born to follow orders to kill and die, Canada is using the same kinds of narratives as Daesh to attract the same directionless, war-fetishizing young men to its cause.
      The grain of truth in the Canadian propaganda is that people in Canada enjoy many social freedoms. The historical narrative is of brave explorers befriending natives (who then somehow disappeared) and who through their work and dedication, opened up the country from sea to sea to sea, and developed an enlightened nation while avoiding the excesses of the United States. The authoritarian project looks different here – it's a trade of complicity for privilege, including the privilege to not be bothered by political matters. In times of crisis though, more is asked of us to stay on the state's good side.-----

Well worth reading the full article HERE:

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

THAT BABBLING BROOK OF BULLSHIT.

       Time and time again I refer to the Media as that babbling brook of bullshit, if only that was all they were. They are in fact a necessary arm of the powers that be and produce part-information and mis-information shaping and shading the picture of the world that we are handed. They are not innocents, their distortions can bolster a war by painting it justifiable and honourable, when in fact it is no more than a corporate resource grab, Iraq springs to mind. Their selective amnesia and blind-eye vision is nothing less than complicity in some of the most brutal episodes of modern Western imperialism. Without the loyal subservience of the mainstream media the state could not possibly get away with these brutal murders of innocent men, woman and children across the world. If the states of the world are blood stained up to their armpits, the mainstream media is wallowing in that same blood.

         There was a report half way through the war of an Italian refugee charity arriving at the border of Kosovo with a camera crew and ambulance, and spiriting away an old woman refugee who’d collapsed – all of it faithfully filmed for Italian TV. It was the first time during the war the charity had done anything. It turned out that the woman had merely fainted – and, as a result of this dramatic intervention she became extremely upset, hardly surprising, since she’d been separated from her family who, in the meantime, had been shoved off to some other refugee camp, and no-one knew where they were. Once you enter this world of TV, of image, of the appearance of goodness, “care”, “charity” & “humanitarianism” are but masks for indifference: everything’s just a photo-opportunity. The more all-pervasive these role-bound relations are the more such functionalising of people appears as ‘natural’. The media is simply an arm of the State, making modern alienated spectacular relations seem reasonable and in­evitable. 

         An article from a former soldier in Bosnia said that when an American TV crew turned up at his base they asked to see a burnt-out village previously inhabited by Bosnian Muslims – which they were duly shown. When the UN soldiers asked if they wanted to take photos of a burnt-out village previously inhabited by Bosnian Serbs the journalists refused, saying it would confuse the issue: their viewers wanted clear ideas about what was going on. The soldier then went on to say that this was a typical American desire for black and white opinions. In fact, this American TV crew were merely being loyal servants of their masters, the US ruling class, loyal servants of dominant ideology, which is not simplisticly a lie, but a half-truth that omits any facts that contradict the official “truth”.

 Image by John Hartfield.

Read the full article HERE:

 

ann arky's home.

UNITE AGAINST FASCISM - -SUCCESS.



        Unite Against Fascism is proud that the protest on Saturday kept the racists
and Nazis our of the city centre of Edinburgh. As over 400 people,
overwhelmingly from Edinburgh, joined the protest, we demonstrated that the
streets of Edinburgh belong to anti-racists.

       The hand written placard stating “We love haggis pakora” best summed up the
spirit that made the march so positive. The diverse groups represented on our
march, from LGBT groups to Muslims, black and white was a living example of our
city maintaining it’s proud tradition of welcoming all communities.

       As our march held the city centre the racists in the Scottish Defence League
and their violent friends were humiliated as they were hidden on a quiet
street, invisible to the people of Edinburgh. Instead of the mobilization of
500 they had boasted about bringing, less than a hundred made it to their
assembly area.

         And their day got even worse……
Some members of the SDL went down to a bar in Leith to drink after the march.
However someone called the police and the SDL were then held inside before
being bussed out.

Join or donate
We desperately need money to keep up the fight against the far right, please
join or donate at:
http://uaf.org.uk/join-donate/

And finally…..

Stv coverage
http://local.stv.tv/edinburgh/news/269741-far-right-protest-passes-without-incident/

Photos from the demo
http://www.flickr.com/photos/duncanbrown/sets/72157627520500767/

BBC Coverage
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-14861594#story_continues_1


Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Edinburgh-Against-the-Racist-SDL/243430722357693

COMING UP
Love Music Hate Racism Gigs - Sat 26th and Sun 27th November.
Sat will be a all Ska night with 3 of Scotland’s biggest ska bands "Big Fat
Panda" "This R2 Tone" and "Red2RED"
Sun will be Indie/rock with "Diego" "SaucyJack" and either "after me the flood"
or "Morris Major"
More information to follow.

ann arky's home.