Rebel.

                  The state relies on a submissive population, one of its tools to engender this submissiveness is the virus of patriotism. It needs you to feel you owe an allegiance to the state and its flag, so that you can be used as cannon fodder in its many power driven wars. They attempt to create the illusion that the state is there for you, where as they have created a society where, in actual fact, we are there for them. To be used as tools for creating wealth for the few and dying to protect their power, wealth and privileges. Our submissiveness to this arrangement makes us complicit in our own slavery, and in prolonging our world of broken dreams and hollow promises. Our placid acceptance of this hollowed out world is entirely up to us, we have the numbers, the imagination, power and ability to end this insanity and create that better world free from profit, greed and exploitation.

 Patriotism

No, I shall not die for the fluttering flag,
if truth be known, ’tis nothing but a multi-coloured rag
held aloft by some foolish hand
inciting worker and peasant to kill
on some green and wooded hill,
peasant and worker from some other land.

Nor shall I shed blood for the fluttering rag
that brings out fools to stand and brag
of brutal deeds painted grand,
deeds where rustic and craftsman lie so still
killed by my brothers' misguided hand.
 

No allegiance have I for the Nation
this man made autocratic creation
that divides my brothers in a world so small,
binds us to a country's cause, right or wrong,
bids us follow its drum, sing its song,
then sheds our blood in some border brawl.

No, I'll be no slave to flag or nation,
have no ear for power oration,
though its iron heel is on my breast,
my back feels its leather thong,
at patriotism's barracoon, I'll be no guest.

 The following extract from the magazine, The Local Kids.

     

        The initial shock of a new war in Europe has provoked the tired argument that an exceptional event merits an exceptional response. Nevertheless, many before us have been confronted with unprecedented events and have found their anarchist position. Anti-patriotism isn’t an unrealistic position: the discussion of taking sides between warring states is deceitful even in its most pragmatic form. War doesn’t turn authoritarians into humanitarians. On the contrary, strategic calculations become more ruthless. A victorious state will not be generous to anti-authoritarians even if they temporarily ally themselves with the armed forces. On the contrary, the state thrives and is emboldened by patriotic fervour. We should refuse the blackmail of kill or be killed but that doesn’t mean that we should march with the opportunists who now claim pacifism. Although the world doesn’t come back as it was before, anarchists do not start from nothing in finding our way through the perennial challenges of our days. Our hearts still beat for direct actions against war mobilization because there’s nothing liberating in being soldiers and fighting their wars.
          Take care and greetings to everyone out there taking advantage of the interruptions!

PDF on thelocalkids.noblogs.org

Visit ann arky at https://spiritofrevolt.info

Local Kids.

          The latest issue of The Local Kids, Autumn 2020, No. 6, is just released well worth downloading the PDF and having a wee read.

 

        The last months we saw different shades of curfew being imposed throughout the world. Apparently in this highly developed society (in the sense of the multiplication of institutions and technologies that penetrate every aspect of life) a pandemic can only be dealt with through the most blunt weapon of repression. To come together, to see eye-to-eye, is branded irresponsible and forcibly disbanded, with a glaring exception for profit-making, exploitative relations.
          Physical intimacy and tenderness suddenly become something threatening with deadly consequences. Meetings and physical contact are declared to be something abnormal and forbidden. Don’t kiss, don’t hug, don’t touch. Yes but touch the screens. The physical is banned from our real world and replaced by the virtual. The situation serves as an ideal opportunity to push ahead the total digitalization of all aspects of life. This is the definition of this society of a human life; work and consume, preferably without leaving the confinements of the home and permanently accompanied by a fear of potential infection which puts one in a constant state of anxiety.
          Levels of fear went through the roof not only because of the unknown risks of a potentially deadly virus, but also because of the violence unleashed against perceived potential transmitters. Everyone who doesn’t display the good behaviour of the responsible citizen, is deemed suspect. The understanding of solidarity and responsibility was deformed and equated with obedience and trust in the state. Though not everyone went along with this narrative, the streets and squares did empty. Interaction moved to the internet, a space inherently linked to
surveillance (data gathering) and shaped by unknown or misunderstood parameters (algorithms). Some might accept this (self-)imposed separation and isolation, others are starting to doubt if they want to live a life devoid of encounters that are not ruled by capitalist logic.
          The flow of goods will continue, the economy will be kept alive, the transfer of all aspects of life to the digital will be guaranteed. Thus creating an unstable construct of infrastructure where mobile phone antennas, fibre optic cables and the supply by trucks, trains etc. are more and more important. Could this mean possibilities to sabotage their apparent security at their sensitive points? By experimenting with these possibilities, can we perhaps feel, sense and touch life a little more?

PDFs on thelocalkids.noblogs.org

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

Disturbing Public Peace.

 The Local Kids, is a publication that describes itself as, a compilation of texts, a contribution to a correspondence between those who desire anarchy and subversion. It is certainly filled with interesting articles on a variety of subjects.

    All of the articles are worth a read, this particular short article is from issue No.2:

Disturbing Public Peace

First pronounced in a courtroom in Berlin, 8th ofAugust 2018

       For me, the court, this building of authority, is not a meaningful setting for anarchist and revolutionary confrontation with domination. The struggles for a world without exploiters and exploited take place in everyday life and on the streets. A trial is an imposed snapshot that seeks to weaken current and past struggles and to deprive them of their fellow combatants.
      In a way, however, I involve myself with this juridical spectacle by sitting in the dock today. I could have simply paid the fixed fine to avoid this trial. But to pay for what? I am here today to create a certain publicity that should show that state repression can be counteracted by combative deeds.
       Therefore, it is not my intention to negotiate with the prosecutor and to enter into the discourse of innocence or guilt. It is perfectly clear to me that if I am convicted - as in principle is true for all accused - I will be convicted as an example, to deter others from committing the reproached deeds. I doubt that in this case the intent of overall repression and oppression will have an effect, because I do not feel attacked as a person, but mainly for my idea of a human coexistence without any domination. But this idea does not solely belong to me. Thousands of comrades showed this clearly in July 2017 in Hamburg - among other dates - where for a brief moment state control has failed altogether, despite massive security measures. During this moment, the will to create a rupture with the existing order has moved and inspired many people to act in solidarity.
       That today a public prosecutor will judge me, is to me an admission of the vulnerability of the state. In that sense, I'm certainly not the one who is justiying himself with this trial and judgment, but you: who must defend your blood-soaked power and submission to the state and capital!
       Because of my views, I certainly do not insist on the right to freedom of expression, because the language of the law is not mine. Accordingly, I expect and demand nothing from this court and its servants, because as I have already said: the struggles for a liberated society and against the existing order will be fought elsewhere

Autumn 2018.

Read issue 2 PDF, A4.      Print issue 2 PDF, A3.

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