Anger.

            Across the globe, people are angry and taking that anger to the streets. To more and more people it is becoming obvious that the dominant economic system on the planet is not working for the better good of the many, but simply protecting and enhancing the wealth, power and privileges of the few. Of course as the anger among the people grows, so the repression of the state increases. Any written word, spoken word or action, that attempts to end this exploitation of the people and the plundering of the planet is now labelled criminal, or terrorist, allowing the state to unleash its brutal forces of intimidation backed up by its loaded so called judicial system.  However the rebellion continues. The youth of France are angry and on the streets, the Yellow Vests are still on the streets in vast numbers. Russia has mass demonstrations against state repression. People's anger walks the streets of Greece, South America is in a constant state of rebellion No state is immune from the anger of the people and it grows by the day. When will this storm of anger finally wash away the greed, inequality, injustice and brutality of this economic system of privilege and insanity. When will we end this economic system that spawns wars, brutality, deprivation and obscene inequality. 

From Italy:

Sibilla predict a storm?
       At dawn on 11 November, a number of searches were carried out in various Italian cities and six comrades were served with orders for precautionary measures: in prison for Alfredo, under house arrest for Michele, and an obligation to remain and sign three times a week for four other comrades.
The comrades are suspected of the crime of art. 270 bis (subversive association for the purpose of terrorism and subversion of the democratic order) for the conception, editing, printing and dissemination, including via computer and telematic tools, of the anarchist paper “Vetriolo“, for wall writings with content considered outrageous and instigatory and for an episode of damage. They were also charged with Article 414 (incitement to commit crimes), for drawing up and disseminating communiqués containing incitement to commit crimes against the State in person, for the purposes of terrorism and subversion of the democratic order.
      In addition to this, two counter-information websites, roundrobin.info and malacoda.noblogs.org, were obliterated because they were considered an aggravating factor in the specific crime of incitement (through a digital instrument).
       The investigation starts in the year 2017 in Milan, from the beginning of the newspaper’s editorial experience, then was passed to the Perugia prosecutor’s office until today, and reviews the content of the anarchist propaganda articles that are declared dangerous for their communicative effectiveness and the spreading of the radical idea.

Read the full article HERE:

 

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The Crowd Is Silent.

      Most of us will remember 2008, the "crash" when the state rushed to bail out the banks with billions, across the world it was trillions. Afterwords there was anger from the public that the state could come up with those wagon loads of cash to help the banks get over their gambling debts and push us into years of austerity.

    Since then all has not been going well for the capitalist system. over the last 4/5 years or so the growth has been creaking to a halt, the bond market has almost died, and relations between the various power blocks has strained to breaking point, and most wise pundits agree, another, much bigger crash looms large. Across the planet people are on the streets in anger at the injustice, inequality, corruption and abject poverty produced by this economic system.  Barely a country doesn't have mass protests flaring up on their patch. 

     Could the states bail out the system with public money again, in such a climate of anger and open protest and rebellion? It would be quite a risk for the powers that be. Quite a problem to be faced.

     I have no idea how covid19 started, or where it came from, and I am no conspiracy theorist, but for our lords and masters it couldn't have come at a better time, and I have no doubt they will exploit it to their advantage to the utmost. With one fell swoop they have shut down the streets, Hong Kong streets are quiet, where are the Yellow Vests, the heat of the Chilean rebellion seems to have gone cool, Prague has lost its mass protests, Extinction Rebellion is extinct. What is more, the public, instead of being angry at another bailout, are demanding that the state pours in billions of pounds into businesses to help save jobs. Yes, companies will go bust, but that 1% in the billionaires club, will gobble up any surplus demand that appears after the dust has settled.

     However you and I will face the same call from the financial Mafia, the country's debt is too high and governments will need to take urgent action to reduce that debt. That means once again, you and I will face the raw teeth of mega austerity, all to save the economy. Which no doubt will plunder its way on until the next crash, or until we finally dismantle this whole plunder charade of the parasite class, and replace it with a society based on mutual aid, co-operation, sustainability and free from the profit motive. A society that sees to the needs of all our people, not just to the pampered privileged 1%.

Champs-Élysées Paris, March 19, 2020. Where are the Yellow Vests?

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France Mass Protests.

The heads of Britain's richest benefit family out for a walk.

       Not much on mass protests and police brutality happening in France, from our bubble gum and popcorn media outlets, but they continue to spew out the drivel from the family squabbles of Britain's richest benefit family, the Windsors, as if it was earth shattering news about to alter our whole way life. While we, in our under heated homes with our underfed children, sit and wait with bated breath to see which road Harry and Meghan will take. Only when we know this will we be able to relax and get back to our subservient life.

      Meanwhile, in France a general strike has been in progress for 7 weeks. Started by transport workers it is now being joined by a wide spectrum of French society including lawyers and judges; and the dancers at the Paris Opera, among other professions. They have now joined up with the Yellow Vests, who have been on the streets protesting since December 5th. 2018.

       Naturally this has not been happening in a conciliatory manner, the state has unleashed it dogs onto the street, and they have treated the protestors with a brutal savagery typical of any authoritarian state. Beatings, tear gas, rubber bullets, random arrests and more, has been part of the state's response to the demands of the people. Obviously all this is not worth mentioning by our bubble gum and popcorn media with the people gasping for more on the gripping story of the Windsors. 

This from Roar Magazine:

         "-----On one side, the Macron government has staked its legitimacy on pushing through this key “reform” intact, as a matter of principle, regardless of how unpopular it is. On the other side stand the striking railroad and transit workers, who are bearing the brunt of this conflict and have already sacrificed thousands of euros in lost pay since the strike began on December 5. After six weeks, they cannot accept the prospect of returning to work empty-handed, and they have set their sights high: withdrawal of the whole government project.
        This looks like a “now or never” situation. Moreover, it seems clear that the transport workers mean business. When the government — and the union leaders — proposed a “truce” in the transport strike during the sacred Christmas/New Year holiday period, the rank-and-file voted to continue the struggle, and their leaders were obliged to eat their words.
        Nor are the transport workers on their own, despite the inconvenience to commuters and other travelers. They have been joined by emergency-room nurses and doctors angered over lack of beds, personnel and materials; public school teachers protesting undemocratic and incomprehensible reforms to the national curriculum; lawyers and judges; and the dancers at the Paris Opera, among the other professions joining the strike.-----"

Read the full article HERE: 

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Bloody Democarcy.

         From our daily bilge feed from our mainstream media, it would appear that all is fine and dandy in France, and the people are quietly getting on with their servile existence. Of course nothing could be further from the truth, the people of France are angry and showing it on the streets. It is over a year since the yellow vests started their mass protests, and they are still continuing, recently they have been joined by massive union presence on the streets, taking on the government for its unjust, corrupt, anti-worker and profit oriented polices. Of course France being a member of the phony democracy club, comes down hard with unleashed police brutality against the any form of dissent. 

     The following video is of one of the many protests happening on a continuous basis. This altercation took place at the corner of rue Jeanne d'Arc and rue du Gros-Horloge in the city centre at around noon local time on the 9th of January 2020.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1215252368381612033

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The State's Pacifier, Police Violence.

 

        Yes the yellow vests struggle in France continues, but what we have to realise that it continues in face of extreme state violence against anyone who would dare to challenge the inequality, injustice and corruption of the French state. Those statistics of injuries are people, people's lives mutilated and changed forever by the callous use of brute force and dangerous weaponry, on which the state believes it has a monopoly. They believe they can use what force they wish with impunity, and those who continue to resist this savagery will be hit harder, and others will be chewed up in the state's loaded judicial system.

The extremely violent repression of the Gilets Jaunes movement has affected the lives of many, continuing a long tradition of police violence in France. In December 2018: three lives are affected by police violence amongst the chaos of the Yellow Vest protests in France. This film is dedicated to people all over the world mutilated and killed by police weapons. Please watch and share this independent short documentary which has been filmed over a year.

A story of police violence in France from Ross Domoney on Vimeo.

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Yes, Yellow Vests Are Still On The Streets.

      No, it hasn't gone away, one year on and the Yellow Vests are still on the streets of France in their thousands. Though you would never know this from our mainstream media. Of all the mass protests going on across the world, France is the nearest to us here in the UK. but we hear very little, if anything, about what is going on across the channel on the streets of France, but lots of what is going on in Hong Kong, Why?

       The Yellow Vest Movement, is planning a massive protest with strikes across France, on the 5th. December, they deserve our support and solidarity. What they are fighting against is the same problems we have here in the UK. deteriorating living standards, destruction of social services, increase in poverty and homelessness, gross inequality, evaporating working conditions and blatant corruption. All this midst unimaginable wealth, splattered around in the shape of luxury yachts, private jets, opulent mansions, limousines and bank accounts stashed away in tax havens. This is our world, it is only right that we should take to the streets to end this control of our lives by the greedy, wealthy and powerful.

      This from Acorn, Winter Oak: (For clarity I have posted the full article)

                  Thousands of protesters stream across the river, November 16th.

       “I am not ashamed to feel afraid from time to time. I keep on coming, but I understand those who don’t come any more because they’re too frightened”. So spoke Antoine, a 75-year-old Gilet Jaune marking the first anniversary of the Yellow Vest movement in the southern French city of Montpellier on Saturday November 16.
    This was just one of many protests and occupations across the country (notably in Paris) marking the birthday weekend and paving the way for a big day of strikes and actions on December 5. Antoine explained: “I’ve been here from day one and I’ve escaped police batons by a whisker on several occasions, even though my only weapons are my whistle and my gilet jaune!”
     The last of these alarming encounters had come just the previous week in Montpellier, he said, when the “forces of order” had attacked the demo right at the start. He had seen a riot policeman from the CRS bearing down on him, baton raised, but fortunately for the pensioner it was another protester who took the blow.
      I had already noticed that the majority of the demonstrators gathering in the Place de la Comédie were not wearing the trademark yellow singlets, in the stark contrast to the last time I reported from Montpellier, and Antoine said this was because of the massive police violence which protesters had been facing over the months. He was sure this was a deliberate strategy on behalf of the French state and felt that the previous week’s brutality was intended to dissuade people from taking part in the anniversary protest we were attending.
      Julian, an observer with the Ligue des Droits de l’Homme, a human rights organisation, confirmed to me that the previous Saturday’s police behaviour had been particularly bad. “There was kettling and teargassing right from the start, for the first time here and without there having been any violence”, he said. “The state really wanted to stop the demo. It was kettled for an hour and a half”. He said there were some police who did their job properly, but others who certainly didn’t, particularly the plain-clothed BAC (Brigade anti-criminalité) units and the CDI (Compagnie départmentale d’intervention) for the Hérault area.
     With this in mind, it was quite a relief when the demo, a couple of thousand strong, was able to form up and leave the elegant main city square without any visible police presence. To the sound of drums, music and singing, we headed away from the narrow medieval city streets where the police would have been expecting us. But as we surged in the bright Mediterranean sunshine across a bridge over the River Lez and into the suburbs, the seagulls circling overhead were accompanied by a police drone tracking our movements. The protest paused for a moment at Place Ernest Granier, blocking cars and trams on this important intersection and then moved off again.
      It was now clear that the target was the south coast motorway which runs through the outskirts of the city and, an hour after the march set off, it was met with a line of riot cops blocking the road ahead. Not content with merely blocking the way, they advanced towards us and soon were raining volleys of tear gas cannisters down on the retreating protesters. Quickly, a Plan B was hatched and hundreds of us streamed across a small park surrounded by housing estates to seek out another route to the motorway. “Joyeux anniversaire!” sang the Gilets Jaunes in celebration of a whole year of joyful rebellion across the whole of this country.
      Again, police vans turned up to block the way and more tear gas filled the air. Despite successful attempts to create traffic jams to halt the police’s progress, they caught up with us again a mile or so later and this time the protest was cut in two, with hundreds caught in a kettle. The front part of the march ploughed on, still with the idea of blocking the motorway in mind, and came across the Village Jaune, a birthday-weekend occupation of the roundabout at Prés d’Arènes. Here there were tents, a large gazebo, trestle tables, banners, yellow balloons and an astonishing level of honking and waving from passing motorists, confirming once again that this movement enjoys high levels of support from the French public, outside the dominant metropolitan elite.
      What to do next? Some wanted to keep going for the motorway, some seemed happy to be on the roundabout and others wanted to head back and help out the part of the march kettled by police. In the end, there was little choice. Police advanced at speed from two directions, the tear gas began coming again and protesters scattered.
      The first year of this revolt has been a story of non-stop police repression, combined with the relentless sneering hostility of the corporate media. Can it succeed in the face of all that? “Yes,” one Gilet Jaune, Ingrid, told me. “I am quite sure of that, otherwise we wouldn’t be here. We have to have hope. We want people to have a life, we want nobody to be sleeping on the streets, we want wealth to be shared. “The government will give way. We just don’t know when!” A fellow protester, Manon, said: “We’re still here because we have to keep on fighting. They are destroying everything.
      “We have to do this despite the police repression. We are fighting for another world and this is what we find ourselves faced with. It’s totalitarian neoliberalism. “We are fighting for people’s dignity. It is the same struggle everywhere, in Chile for example”. Manon said the strength of the Gilets Jaunes movement was the way it brought together people from all sorts of backgrounds. “We have created something completely different, a new generation of protesters. People have come together who would never have done so before”.
      Antoine, who had spoken to me about the way police violence was scaring some people away from protesting, said he didn’t think it would work in the long run. “I consider myself to be here as a representative of ten other people who have told me they are with me. Most people I know support the Gilets Jaunes. “The aspects that motivate me are social justice and human rights, which exist less and less from one Saturday to the next. “The Gilets Jaunes are much more representative of society as a whole than other movements I have been involved in, such as the trade unions”. There were even people involved who considered themselves to be on the political right, he said, although he questioned whether this self-designation was accurate, given the nature of the cause they supported.
     “The real right is that infernal couple of Macron and Le Pen”, he added, noting that Marine Le Pen, the far-right leader, had abandoned her early pretence of supporting the Gilets Jaunes and had since reverted to form by allying herself with a fascistic police trade union which defends the use of violence againt protesters. Asked whether the movement could succeed, he insisted: “It has already succeeded, by bringing together people from very different backgrounds, which is something in itself”. This last point was reinforced by my conversation with Damien, a 74-year-old who explained that he was a retired policeman who had once been part of the notorious BAC units which have been in the forefront of the recent repression. He said former colleagues he had spoken to were now more or less just going through the motions, doing the minimum their job required. Damien said he was involved from the very start of the Gilets Jaunes revolt. “I’ve come back for the anniversary,” he added. “I’m still very unhappy about what I’m seeing”. Macron had managed to hold on to power by dividing people, he said, and by buying their collaboration. “Personally, I have nothing to complain about because I have got a good pension. But I can’t stand seeing people working all their lives and having nothing to show from it. “I am doing this for everyone. This is a movement which came from below. It was a little revolution and it needs to keep going, starting with December 5”.

More photos HERE:

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

Extinction Submission!

       On Extinction Rebellion, I have made my views known in a couple of previous posts, I still hold the view that those behind this movement are not what they portray themselves to be, and are leading the public along a road that will not solve the problem of possible planet extinction.

     This is an extract from an article, which I endorse, from Acorn:

         We are well aware that there are many genuine grassroots activists involved in Extinction Rebellion protests, people we know are on our side. But more and more questions are being asked about the nature of the organisation itself, about the true agenda of the leadership lurking behind a flimsy illusion of horizontality.
         The non-existence of a mass radical anti-capitalist movement in the UK (let alone a radical ecological anti-capitalist one!) means that XR has appealed to a lot of people who have long been waiting for some kind of rebellion to finally emerge.
        Perhaps they have been tolerant of XR’s eccentricities (starry-eyed love of the police, dogmatic non-violence bordering on control-freakery, connections with business interests, refusal to consistently condemn capitalism) because they are the only show in town and it is a question of XR or nothing.
        The same is not true in France, though, where revolution is often in the air and where the last year has seen a full-on yellow-coloured challenge to the neoliberal state. XR have been active there too, but their fake radicalism and lame submissiveness to authority has shocked many eco-radicals and anti-capitalists, who have been voicing their concerns online.
        On October 12 the “Désobéissance écolo Paris” collective published an open letter to Extinction Rebellion members, containing a wide-ranging critique of the organisation and its approach.
      Then on Monday October 14 two reports appeared on the anti-capitalist Paris Luttes site. The first of these was entitled “Extinction Rebellion : ni désobéissance, ni obéissance, mais servilité et crédulité” – “Extinction Rebellion: Neither Disobedience or Obedience, but Servility and Credulity”.
      Reporting on the XR occupation in Châtelet, it said “Extinction Rebellion scuttled its own initiative in a total absence of strategic thinking and analysis of power struggles”.
       It explained: “The ‘diversity of tactics’ working group on Wednesday evening had asked each of the six blockade points to start thinking about what we would say to the press, the authorities, the public, on the day that we were moved on.
     “For instance, it was suggested, in the spirit of a convergence of struggles, that we say ‘we are not leaving without the passing of a law for carbon neutrality by 2025 and an amnesty for all activists incarcerated during the various Gilets Jaunes protests’. That would have been awesome.
      “But the XR leadership decided, at a sparsely-attended assembly on Friday morning, October 11, to dismantle the camp, to move most of the equipment and to pull out from the six blockade points.
      “In short, XR removed everything which made this public space a living space where we could discuss, debate, get to know each other.
       “The given reason was, of course, the next day’s action, but anyone with a minimum of strategic sense should have seen that this camp, now that it was there, now that it had been reinforced by Gilets Jaunes and other anti-capitalist and environmental activists, the night before the weekend, had definite subversive potential. Predictably the action on Saturday October 12 was, on the other hand, a total flop”.
       The article went on to comment: “This is not a case of ‘non-violent civil disobedience’ nor indeed of ‘obedience’ since there was no official warning from the police or the authorities. It was rather a case of servility: we ended the camp before even having been ordered to leave. This is exactly the opposite of struggle or rebellion”.-------

------- They added: “It was a rather pleasant surprise to see that many XR activists did not stay stuck in the XR box, did not shy away from more radical action, less focused on media PR, and were asking real political questions about the scope of these actions. As often happens, the grassroots could quickly outgrow the organisation”.

Read the full article HERE: 

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Why I Decided To Fight.

  

       Why I decided to fight: 

       letter from a Yellow Vest prisoner

        Thomas P is just one of many Gilets Jaunes prisoners in France, locked up for their participation in the mass uprising against the neoliberal Macron regime. Below are some excerpts from an open letter he wrote from jail, after three months behind bars. 

      One is no longer innocent when one has seen ‘legitimate’ violence, legal violence: that of the police.
      I saw the hatred or emptiness in their eyes and I heard their chilling warnings: ‘disperse, go home’.
      I saw the charges, grenades, and beatings in general.
      I saw the checks, searches, traps, arrests, and jail.
      I saw people falling, blood, I saw the mutilated.
      Like all those who were demonstrating this February 9th, I learned that once again a man had just had his hand ripped off by a grenade.
       And then I did not see anything any more, because of the gas. All of us were suffocating.
       That’s when I decided not to be a victim any more and to fight.
       I’m proud of it. Proud to have raised my head, proud not to have given in to fear.
      Of course, like all those who are targeted by the repression against the Yellow Vests movement, I first protested peacefully and daily, I always solved problems with words rather than with fists.
      But I am convinced that in some situations conflict is needed.

      Because debate, however ‘big’ it may be, can sometimes be rigged or distorted. All that is needed is for the organiser to ask the questions in a way that suits them.
     We are told on one side that the state coffers are empty, but we are bailing out the banks with millions when they are in trouble, we are talking about an ‘ecological transition’ without ever calling into question the production system and consumption at the origin of all climatic disturbances.
     We are millions who shout at them, saying that their system is rotten, and they are telling us how they are trying to save it.
     The challenge of street clashes is to manage to push back the police, to keep them in line: to get out of a trap, to reach a place of power, or to simply take the street.
     Since November 17th those who have threatened to fire their weapons, those who brutalise, mutilate, and suffocate unarmed and defenceless protesters, those who are not the so-called ‘breakers’, they are the police.
      If the media does not talk about it, the hundreds of thousands of people who have been at the roundabouts and in the streets know it.
      Behind their brutality and threats, it is fear that is hiding.
      And when that moment comes, in general, it means that the revolution is not far away.

 Read the full English translation of the letter here.

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We Have A Right To Be Angry.

      As any observer can see all capitalist economies create unimaginable wealth, but the ordinary people are continually mired in poverty, inequality, poor housing, homelessness, poor wages etc.. However, most of the time the people struggle on the best they can, but that underlying anger simmers away, France is no different. For more than twenty weeks now the people of France have been taking to the streets to vent that anger. Though the numbers may have been slightly diminishing during that period, it takes a lot of anger to sustain that level of activity on the streets, for that period of time, in the face of fierce police brutality.

      The recent event in France of the fire and destruction of a vast symbol of religious wealth and power, changed things. This symbol in a few days received almost a billion euros for its restoration. Yes, ordinary people probably threw in some of that money, but the bulk of it came from the rich parasites and the state, the same rich parasites that are responsible for those low wages, crap low paid jobs and the inequality the the people are angry about. Proving once again that to the establishment of this society, the symbol is worth more than human dignity.

       This lavishing almost a billion euros on a symbol of religious wealth and power, was another spark to the fire of anger that fills the people of France. So week 23 of the Yellow Vests protests saw the numbers soar dramatically. With the increase in numbers came an increase in anger. The shear hypocrisy of this society is blatantly laid before the eyes of the struggling poor. You are worth less than a piece of architecture that symbolises religious power. Yes in the eyes of some, a fine looking building, but worth more than your dignity?

     I have always maintained that real change in our society will only come when enough of us get angry enough, to openly vent that anger. A revolution may be based on love, freedom and equality, but can only come to fruition and the back of extreme anger. Anger displayed openly and in large numbers. So to people of France I say, enjoy the ecstasy of your righteous anger, maintain it until you get what you want, and to the rest of Europe, look and learn. In the face of avoidable injustice, misery, poverty, deprivation, homelessness and inequality, we have a right to get angry, and defend ourselves.

      Protestors warned that troops will open fire!!! Another symbol of our so called democracy.

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ACE Events In Edinburgh.

       Our friends at ACE, (Autonomous Centre Edinburgh) are always busy, so here are a few more up and coming events that should have you heading in their direction.

SOME UPCOMING EVENTS AT ACE

PLUS MORE EVENTS ORGANISED BY FRIENDS OF ACE

Gilets Jaunes, Meet The Left Activists:
Sunday 17 March 3pm – 6pm
At ACE
Free All welcome

        We will be hosting two French Gilets Jaunes (Yellow Vests) activists; Justine Chaput from the NPA (New Anticapitalist Party) and Maia Pal. Come & learn what the Yellow Vests movement is and what's happening over in France!
      Hosted jointly by ACE and the The Common House (London) our two speakers from France will speak in English via Skype.
      With an introduction by an activist from Common House recetly returned from several weeks in France with the movement.
https://www.facebook.com/events/2296310920400933/ 

Resist the Fascist SDL:
      Meet at the Robert Ferguson Statue on the Royal Mile, Noon on Saturday 23 March. Help resist attempts by the SDL to march through Edinburgh
https://www.facebook.com/events/1994571330850842/

Sisters Uncut
Open Meeting for new sisters
Ace 6.30pm Monday 25 March

Universal Credit: Not Fit For Purpose (Glasgow event)
        Come join the conversation and let's be the change we want to see! This is a free event with limited childcare places available. Saturday 30 March, 11 - 4 pm, Castlemilk Youth Complex.
https://www.facebook.com/events/789446804755132/

       For more events see ACE facebook @AutEdinburgh
and the calendar at www.autonomous.org.uk
      Autonomous Centre of Edinburgh, 17 West Montgomery Place, Edinburgh EH7 5HA
      ACE is open every Tuesday 12-3pm, the last Thursday each month 6pm - 8pm, and the first Saturday each month 1pm - 4pm
      Plus see ACE facebook and the calendar at www.autonomous.org.uk for special events and meetings
        Tel 0131 557 6242 - best to ring during opening hours, sorry we cannot guarantee to be able to respond to voicemail.

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

Yellow, The Colour Of The Revolution?

       When ever a public protest in the West starts to disappear from our vomit spewing illusion creating mainstream media, it is wise policy to consider it is being successful. The Yellow Vests protests are hardly ever mentioned in our millionaire owned media, but the protests is still massive and strong after 16 weekends of street protests. Has the revolution changed its colour, has the black bloc been replaced by the yellow bloc?

This from Winter Oak:

        We had just positioned ourselves downwind from the teargas canisters that had been fired towards us from the ranks of riot police protecting the Sous-Préfecture, the French state’s HQ in Alès, southern France. Then suddenly we were coming under attack from the opposite direction. A squadron of cops was lurking, unseen, on the other side of the modern pedestrianised square and had started firing tear gas from behind us. Choking and with streaming eyes, we fled down a little side street which, ironically enough, turned out to be dedicated to the “martyrs of the resistance”.
        Passers-by, women with young children, stood gawping in the direction of the clouds of chemical warfare following us down the road. “Incredible!” said somebody behind me, astonished at the violent reaction to the protest. “They’ve completely lost the plot!” Suddenly there was an almighty noise and on the pavement next to us rolled a hefty rubber bullet, a “flashball”, which had bounced off a nearby wall and almost hit the little group of local onlookers. We scattered, for the moment. Some headed out of the town centre, only to be met with a baton attack by a marauding gang of cops. Others regrouped and carried on the fight, with reports of injuries from yet more rubber bullets.
        The police helicopter circled overhead, frightening the herons on the river Gardon, which flows through the town. This was all a far cry from the last report I filed from Alès for Red Pepper in December, when the Gilets Jaunes were handing out free Christmas presents to local kids. Today was Saturday March 2, Act 16 of the Yellow Vest uprising which has seen a broad cross-section of the French public take to the streets against President Emmanuel Macron’s neoliberal regime, with a ferocious determination that puts the rest of the Europe to shame.
       Alès was the location for a regional protest, uniting Gilets Jaunes from across the Gard department and beyond. There was a carnival atmosphere as the protesters gathered outside the municipal theatre in Alès, with a Batacuda band creating a lively rhythm as we set off on a tour of the town centre. The cops made a sudden and provocative appearance in the midst of the crowd before we moved and we were later told that three Gilets Jaunes had been arrested as they tried to join the protest. Others were stopped by police on the approaches to the town, which might explain why the numbers on the march swelled remarkably in the first ten minutes or so until we had easily reached 3,000.
        As ever, the protest was diverse and politically mixed, but there was a very strong showing from the local libertarian left, who had advertised the event on their networks. The loud refrains of “a-anti-anticapitalista” paid witness to their presence. The festive feeling, with hardly a cop in sight, lasted until we reached a roundabout next to the Sous-Préfecture. Here the police were lined up in full riot gear to stop us going anywhere near their masters’ property. After a short stand-off, we headed off down the road to the rail station, which was also heavily guarded by the cops, presumably because of the Gilets Jaunes’ successful track record in blocking railway lines. A back street led us back to the other side of the Sous-Préfecture and, inevitably, another line of police vans and robocops. It was not clear what sparked things off – someone told me the riot police had fired a rubber bullet at head level. In any case, things quickly escalated. Outraged protesters shouted the familiar chants of “everyone hates the police!” and “police everywhere, justice nowhere!” and the tear gas was answered with a hail of stones and the odd firework.
      Across France, it was the same story, not least in Montpellier, just 40 miles down the road from Alès. Every week the authorities and their tame media tell the public the rebellion is petering out, there is hardly anyone out on the streets, the whole thing is a flop. And every week they deploy thousands and thousands of tooled-up thugs to attack the Yellow Vests with batons, tear gas and grenades. After four months of revolt, those who hold power in France, and elsewhere, have ceded nothing. And those who oppose them are not ready to give up. How will this end? Where will this go next? None of us can say, because history is being written, in bold yellow lettering.

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Those Tinpot Dictators.

 

   The brutality that states will inflict on their own citizens to maintain their power over them is well documented.

    After eleven weeks of mass protests the figures are shocking to say the least. The number injured by police varies according to source but government figures put the number at 1,700, knowing governments, these figures will be an under estimate. Again numbers seriously injured in the protests varies according to source and are put at between 124 and 353. Some of the serious injures being sight impairment, lose of an eye and broken bones, to a hand blown off. Most of the injuries were caused by “defensive bullets” known as Flashballs or LBDs and stun grenades which contain a dose of TNT. On one occasion during the protest  on December 1st. the police fired 10,000 tear gas canisters, working out as approximately one for every protester present on that day.

     The extent of savagery that these tinpot dictators in foreign lands will go to to hold on to their wealth and power is a testament to their depravity.

     Ooops, sorry, these details are not some foreign tinpot dictator, this is our own home grown variety, this is modern day France and is happening today, against the Yellow Vest protester. This is European democracy at work racking of the violence on protesters in the hope of breaking their resolve to effect change. The last thing Western European power mongers want is change that might impinge on their wealth and their grip on power. Capitalism is a savage beast that can't be domesticated, it has to be put down.

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Yellow Vests And False Flags.

        The "Yellow Vests" in France have been an inspiration to the underlying anger of the people against this elitist system that fits a yoke around the shoulders of the people. However, though you may walk under the banner of your true feelings, there are those who march under a false flag, we have to be ever vigilant. The cabal of xenophobic, fascist vermin, will never miss an opportunity to get their bile onto the streets. It seems that the racist scum in Dublin have commandeered the Yellow Vest movement in that city.

      This report from Ireland taken from 325:

The Yellow Vests call for unity, but how can there be unity?

       On Saturday, January 12th the Yellow Vests had another of their weekly marches in Dublin. Anti fascist and anti racist showed up to the march for the second week in a row.

      As soon as the banner and anti fascist flag was took out yellow vesters came out of the crowd looking angry. We received a torrent of abuse and shouts of, “house our own”, “we need more racists”, “Fuck refugees”, “refugees not welcome”, “you’se are paid by George Soros”, and “Ireland for white people”. They gave a very poor attempt to take our banner and flag but couldn’t manage to succeed. We were shouted at to leave, “fuck off”. Not one out of the crowd of about 60 to 70 yellow vests supported the banner for refugees or said anything about the racists shite being spouted. We stayed and followed them in their march and we left before they attempted their joke of a direct action where they attempted to block a road for an hour, the cops moved them on before the yellow vest protest reached their hour long goal to block traffic.

          The Yellow vests in Ireland are not a “leaderless movement”

The Yellow Vest march was led this week by Kevin Molloy, a self confessed debt collector. Kevin even announced this in his speech, not one yellow vester bat an eyelid including the anti refugee people who want to “house our own” and who preached on about “our homeless are sleeping on the streets”.

        His xenophobic, anti muslim mate Glen Miller was busy this week in Wexford organising the Wexford branch of the Yellow Vests. Any talk of a “leaderless movement” is bull shit. There is very much a leadership of key organisers within the yellow vests, the majority of them are either anti Muslim, xenophobes or conspiracy “free men” nut jobs.

      In the core group of leaders they decide what the march will do and where it’ll go. They talk with cops of what their plans are. They control the admin on the facebook pages.

I would imagine a lot of the people attending yellow vest march wouldn’t be racist or necessarily anti refugee/immigration. The dangerous thing is a lot of the leaders and key organizers are. On one hand they call for unity against the government on the other hand they are against refugees/migrants entering Ireland.

Homes for all:

       There is 250,000 of empty/boarded up buildings all over the south of Ireland. There are also 10,0000 people on the housing waiting list? So let’s do the math – if 10,000 of these empty place were turned into homes for the people on the waiting list it means there are still plenty left over.

        Yes there is need for struggle against the state but we also need to look at the Irish elite class, the banks, and further afield at the imperialist proxy wars being waged in the Middle east and the IMF purposely getting countries into severe debt. The struggle is against the whole system that creates poverty, wars and corruption which goes on to create homelessness and refugees.

     Whoever considers unity with this joke would really want to seriously reconsider their position.

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Message from Financial Mafia: Well Done Greece, You Allowed Us To Plunder Your Assets.

      Greece has received its final bailout, and the financial Mafia are saying, "Well done Greece". Of course that doesn't return Greece to a sovereign state, it is still under the hard boot of the financial Mafia. There are stipulations Greece has to adhere to. It has to show a surplus in its budget to the satisfaction of the EU, ECB, and the IMF, that means keep the austerity going. It is also instructed that it will have to "modernise labour relations and working conditions", this of course translates as giving employers the right to keep wages down and for them to attack workers conditions and also to shirk any employer responsibilities. While the financial Mafia applaud themselves for their "success" this "success" is a health service that has virtually collapsed, an education system that is in tatters, they froze hiring in  public schools in 2009, unemployment running at 18.6,  still the highest in the EU. If however your are one of those under 25s, your chance of earning money to survive is reduced considerably, with the unemployment rate at 38.5.

      So while the bankers and the rest of the financial Mafia rejoice, what they are actually saying is, "thank you, the ordinary people of Greece, by suffering more than ten years of deprivation, and allowing us to plunder your assets, you have allowed us to make up most of the money we lost gambling at the billionaires casino, the "market".   

      Like France with the tenth week of Yellow Vest protests, the streets of Greece are not quite. Primary school teachers have been out showing their anger and disgust at the Greek government doing as it was told by the financial Mafia, loosening up employment conditions by changing the hiring process of public sector workers. The protestor deserve our support.

       Over 3,000 primary school teachers clashed with police in the second week of protests over hiring reforms.Teachers in Athens demonstrated on Monday against government plans to change the hiring system for the public sector. Protesters held banners that read: "Permanent hirings now!"

         Police threw tear gas at the gathered crowds in response to some of the protesters letting off fireworks in their direction. Protesters also tried to break a police cordon near parliament.
Teachers argue schools are understaffed and want the creation of more permanent positions. The Greek government froze hiring at public schools after it was hit by an economic crisis in 2009.

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Anger And Frustration Will Open The Gates to Change.

Today's Western Democracy. 

 

      It should be obvious to all that the idea of voting for a different party to "govern" you, will only produce the same tasteless loaf of bread, just cooked in a different oven. Real change can never come from keeping the same basic principles of profit and continuous growth. Likewise relying on those parties which wish to participate in the management of this system will only lead to new faces sitting on the throne of power. As this awareness grows it becomes obvious that it is not party ideology that will force change, it is anger and frustration. Only when the people start to say to hell with this being shit on generation after generation, and decide to do something about it, without waiting for their esteemed leaders to tell what and when, only then will we see real change. The first burst of anger may not be successful but it will set the pattern as people start to feel the strength and power they hold. They will forge their own answers in the heat of struggle, there will be no need to stop to see what the rule book says. Each answer will be born from the problems that arise.

      All the more reason we should be paying particular attention to the Yellow Vests actions and seeing the possibilities inherent in that form of struggle. The new future can only come about by destroying the corrupt and decadent present. The Yellow Vests may not be the birth of the new future, but it could be the consummation of that birth, that is up to all of us.

       Anarchist News has is a well documented and detailed article on the Yellow Vests which is well worth reading in full:

       Since November, France has been shaken by the yellow vest movement, a grassroots reaction to President Macron’s proposal to increase fuel taxes in order to force the poor to pay for the transition to “ecological” technologies. Like the Occupy movement, the yellow vest movement cohered around shared tactics and frustration rather than common goals or values; consequently, the movement has been a battleground for many different political agendas and factions. The far right initially took advantage of the movement’s “apolitical” character to gain influence, especially online; but as the movement spread and the clashes with the police intensified, anarchists and other uncontrollable rebels also staked out ground within the movement.

Continue reading HERE:

https://anarchistnews.org/content/yellow-vest-movement-showdown-state 

       

         Also worth a read is the article by David Graeber:

       If one feature of any truly revolutionary moment is the complete failure of conventional categories to describe what’s happening around us, then that’s a pretty good sign we’re living in revolutionary times.

      It strikes me that the profound confusion, even incredulity, displayed by the French commentariat—and even more, the world commentariat—in the face of each successive “Acte” of the Gilets Jaunes drama, now rapidly approaching its insurrectionary climax, is a result of a near total inability to take account of the ways that power, labour, and the movements ranged against power, have changed over the last 50 years, and particularly, since 2008. Intellectuals have for the most part done an extremely poor job understanding these changes.

Continue reading HERE:
http://news.infoshop.org/europe/the-yellow-vests-show-how-much-the-ground-moves-under-our-feet/?platform=hootsuite

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