Stuff!!

         Capitalism demands that we have a consumer society, buy, buy and buy. Any old crap, the latest fashion, an update as they convince you that what you have is out of date, obsolete. A big and better car, move to  bigger house and then fill it with more crap. Consumerism is the life blood of the capitalist parasite class. We eventually find we have loads of stuff, and a lot of it we never use. As long as we buy, we are feeding the capitalist system that enslaves us, helping it to survive and grow. Let's pull the plug on consumerism and see to everybody's needs through mutual aid. On this subject as usual a few words of wisdom from my friend and comrade at Not Buying Anything.

Imagine a life with fewer possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for clutter or excess
In a simple living plan
Imagine all the people
Enjoying just what they need.


- my little ditty, with apologies to John Lennon

         Imagining what we should do with our possessions is a question we all need to come to terms with, preferably before death so we don't leave finding the answers to others.
         Stuff, I have found, is annoyingly persistent. Once acquired, it is difficult to get rid of.
         In recent years even second hand stores have become very selective about what kind of stuff they are willing to take. That's right - you may find you have trouble giving away your unwanted stuff.
         And what is stuff that no one wants? Generally we call that "garbage", and you may have to pay a fee to landfill it. We pay to acquire stuff, pay again to maintain and store it, and finally pay one final time when we want to part with it.
         I have concluded that the thing to do with stuff, unless it is doing important work in your life, is get rid of it as soon as possible, and eliminate the draw on precious life energy. That is why one of my summer projects was filling my big black backpack and biking unwanted possessions out of the house to wherever will take them.
        Returnable beverage containers went to the eco-centre. There I learned that the 125 flattened 1 litre juice tetra boxes in my pack would get shipped all the way to Asia for processing. That seems dumb.
       This led Linda and I to question whether we need fruit juice in tetra packs, or if we need juice in our diet at all. Now we have eliminated it from our pantry, to be replaced by actual fruit.
         Unwanted clothes were also stuffed into The Big Black Pack of Liberation to be whisked away right our of our closet and our lives. Those I biked down to a drop box in the grocery store parking lot. The clothes collected there are resold to benefit a local charity.
         Next I cycled 3 coats to a neighbour that volunteered to make sure they were distributed to people that could use them. I also cleaned out our home and garage and came up with 5 bags of recyclables. Those went to the curb and were picked up on the appropriate day.
        A lot of people can't get stuff into their houses fast enough. They even move to bigger houses to have more room for more stuff. I can't get rid of it fast enough, and it always feels awesome to be rid of it.
        It is a work in progress, and we continue to unload the dead weight that holds us back. There always seems to be more, as if it spontaneously appears and hides until you notice it. This is living better with less in action, and it feels like the right thing to do. The quantity of our possessions are only beneficial to a point, beyond which they are only annoying anchors that hold us back.
       I am always imagining fewer possessions. It is easy if you try.

 

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info

Bye-bye.

      As usual, a few simple words of wisdom from Gregg at Not Buying Anything:

 

         During the last 18 months many former consumers have said "Bye-Bye" to Buy, Buy, Buy. Either by choice, or by force, or both, many are joining the ranks of anti-consumer survivors across the globe.
        If the power brokers ever succeed in "restarting the economy", many of those former consumers will never say "Hello" to consumerism again. They are finished.
         Many can see that it may be prudent at this juncture in history to switch from being a consumer to being a survivor. Unless you are very rich, you can't be both.
         When you leave consumption as a way of life behind you, it is possible to see the way forward more clearly.
        Survivors are focused on growing a garden and raising their own food. They are busy investing in social capital and their local community and economy.
        Survivors look for ways of circumventing the negative effects of corporate and government control of our lives. They make changes that allow them to operate outside of the matrix.
         Making a conscious choice to become self-reliant and resilient as a family, group, or community means becoming active survivors rather than continuing on as passive, dependent consumers.
        Eventually we will all need to reject the mindless waste of the Buy, Buy, Buy propaganda we have been subjected to for far too long. Bye-bye.

 

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info     

Anti-consumerism.

     Once again an interesting article for Not Buying Anything, an observation that I hope is true, my only fear is that when this over and some people find they have more money than usual, they may go out on a spending binge. I hope not, I hope they keep their sanity and take stock of the things they enjoyed without spending money. Time for reflection.

     This from Not Buying Anything:

       Recreational shopping has been a pastime for decades. Similarly, leisure, or non-essential, travel has also been popular. That just changed. We will not be going back to the way it was before the year 2020.
     Shopping and traveling were fun and entertaining for many in pre-pandemic times. When it was easy. We will not have the same zeal for spending when it is hard.
       If shoppers have to wear masks, get their temperature checked at the door, sanitize their hands, and social distance once they get in to the business, consumption won't be what it was in the spend freely days of pre-pandemic times.
      And if they continue to get infected, in-person shopping will remain a shadow of the peak consumerism days of the recent past, and likely will never come back in the same way.
       Evidence for this is the largest increase in the American savings rate ever, that happened recently. When spending money becomes less attractive, savings rates increase.
     What is good for your bank account, though, is bad for the overflowing vaults of the 1%ers.
      This is the capitalist nightmare - people deciding to do other more enjoyable things instead of spending their meagre funds to buy goods and services they don't need. But that is what is happening.
      All over the world humans are waking up every day and finding healthier, less expensive, and more meaningful, ways to occupy their time. Things that aren't shopping or traveling. Or traveling to go shopping.
      This could be the end of many familiar things and arrangements. Will it be the end of consumerism, and would that take down capitalism, too? That would be welcome, because either we take it down, or it will take us down. That decision will be ours to make.
      We have the power, that much is perfectly clear. If we won't work for them, and won't shop for their junk, what can they do? They need us more than we need them and their wasteful ways.
       Our predatory psychopathic-lead system is getting morphed into who knows exactly what as the people rediscover their power to make change. Some of those changes are that we will become savers rather than spenders, and will choose the familiar home range over frivolous foreign sojourns.
       After more than a decade of watching consumer behaviour closely, I am getting the feeling that many newly re-minted community participants are tiring of spending money on non-essential things, and going in debt to do so.
We are moving on to more important, more beautiful, more balanced concerns, and say to our former rulers and their soulless system, "Thank you for your service - we will take it from here".

 

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

Time To Be Me.

        "Not Buying Anything" is a site I visit often, and the result is always the same, I come away feeling I have learnt a little bit more of what the world could be if we all open our eyes, but I also leave feeling more eager to pick up the cudgel and do what I can to help destroy this paralysing, corrupt, unjust exploitative economic system that is responsible for so much destruction, death and misery, that will, if not brought down, eventually lead to the demise of humanity by the destruction of the Earth's fragile ecosystem.

This latest from Not Buying Anything:

 

       Like Jean Weir, "I think I experienced society like an iron vice from the day I was born." That is the main reason I find living simply so attractive - it loosens the grip of that iron vice.
      Since I was young I felt the control and exploitation that I was swimming in constantly. I thought it might drown me.
      Because I was born a sensitive, I keenly felt the stings of an obviously unjust and hypocritical system. It was everywhere - in the "father knows best" family structure, at school, the mall, in the playground and on the streets.
     I wondered, and still do, why so few could see it. Can fish perceive the water they swim in? Maybe that is the problem.
     My desire has always been to be beyond sneaky methods of control used by parents, teachers, bosses, priests and society. That is why I developed a powerful connection to nature and wild places, and honoured my desire to be far, far away from the centres of civilizational control as often as I could.
     I wanted to be away from the set of laws that seek to control everyone except the rich and powerful, who are free to do as they please.
   I wanted to leave consumerism, its garish billboards and screaming advertisements, in the dust behind me. These are the rankest forms of control of all, being subtle and based on the best neuropsychology money can buy (over 1 trillion dollars a year now).
     A saner world would see them for the mind control that they are, and resist them at every turn.
    The consumer lifestyle lulls us into creating our own gilded cages, then willingly walking into them. The authorities don't even have to monitor us after our initial training, because when we leave our cells to work for our keepers, we go right back to them at night.
    The average person prefers the cage to the perceive dangers and discomforts of more natural surroundings. Things, they say, are not convenient in nature. Therefore, it is bad, and must be controlled, destroyed and plundered.
    This shows the level of control has been complete and total. When you can successfully tear people from the land you create displaced zombies, ripe for exploitation and prone to suggestion.
     So, at an early age I decided I would not work for this sick system if that was ever possible. I had no wish to aid them in their exploitations and predations. I would rather be poor and free than complicit.
     I would go on to disassociate myself from the consumer lifestyle as much, and as soon, as I could. A life of buying less would allow me to work less. Working less would allow me to live more freely.
      Time, I thought, is the most valuable resource, and I didn't want to spend all mine working for the man. Or woman.
      Living simply is not so much about saving the world for me, although that would be a nice fringe benefit. It is about getting out of that iron vice of society.
      It is about building a real and lasting freedom for myself, and for everyone else.

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

There Will Come Soft Rains.

        Like all humans, I have many loves, likes, desires, hopes and fears. I love freedom, not just for myself but all. I desire my grand-kids and their grand-kids, to have happy fulfilling future, in a world of peace, freedom, good health and justice. I also love poetry, especially the kind that tries to tells something about the injustices in this world, or our stupidity, warn us about our greed and points to suffering of others. I am anxious about that future, will it contain the human species, or will nature finally give up on us and see us perish from the disease of our own greed and stupidity. No matter the out come, no matter how foolish our action, no matter how powerful we think we are, nature will win and have its way. We work with it or we lose, the planet will survive even our crass stupidity.

This from Not Buying Anything:

         Sara Teasdale won the earliest Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1918, the year she wrote "There Will Come Soft Rains", a piece of writing that imagines the world without us.
      In the poem, Teasdale describes nature reclaiming a battlefield after war. She also writes about the extinction of humanity, far before the threats of nuclear winter, or weapons grade consumerism became a reality.
       Her poetry is known for its "simplicity and quiet intensity", and this poem is certainly all of that.
There Will Come Soft Rains

There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,
And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;

And frogs in the pools singing at night,
And wild plum-trees in tremulous white;

Robins will wear their feathery fire
Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;

And not one will know of the war, not one
Will care at last when it is done.

Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree
If mankind perished utterly;

And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn,

Would scarcely know that we were gone.

— Sara Teasdale [1884 - 1933]

        Our war on nature is one that we will most certainly lose. We have treated the planet, and all life on it, so harshly, that it would surprise me if any wild creatures would miss us if we manage to do ourselves in.
       Would they celebrate our demise? I wouldn't blame them if they did.
        Mary Oliver is another Pulitzer Prize winning poet, and she says, "Maybe the world, without us, is the real poem."
        It doesn't have to be that way. We used to be a harmonious part of nature, and if we ever learn to adopt a global philosophy of simplicity, we will be again.
        There will come soft rains, with us, or without us. The choice is ours.

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

A Two Year Old Birthday Party.

 

       If you can get there, have fun, make contacts, learn, share and help change the world.

       Squat Kumma celebrates its 2 year journey in august with a hardcore gig on saturday 25.8 and a DIY-festival on 31.8-2.9. At the DIY-fest there will be workshops about tattoos and “artvandalism”, food, gigs, art exhibition and more!
       Two years ago a group of squatters decided to squat an empty house in Malminkartano, Helsinki and create a space for self-organized and free from oppression. Since then the squat has hosted numerous events; gigs, peoples kitchens, movie nights, workshops etc.
      What does Do-It-Yourself mean for us?
      DIY for us is anti-capitalism, squatting, taking back our lives, solidarity, direct action and many other things. It is not only a theory but an action that we want to spread right here and now.
      We dont want to create a consume-based event but to create a space for sharing skills, learning from eachother, experience and emancipate. No-one has to be a expert to participate because DIY for us is also Do-It-Together.
*SQUAT KUMMA DIY-FESTIVAL PROGRAM*

OPEN CALL FOR ARTISTS:
        Squat Kumma invites graffiti writers and all sorts of artists to decorate Kumma for upcoming diy festivals on thursday 30.8
send email to kumma@protonmail.com or just come to the house afternoon!

PROGRAM:
Friday:
17:00 “Artvandalism” workshop
      How to cut stencils or to use spraypaints? Whats the best way to make wheat paste or make paint bombs? In this workshops we go through basic practices of art vandalism and why reclaiming cities walls should be important for anarchists.
Workshop is free
 

20:00 Music and dj:s 3-5€
    KUUMOTUKSET FEAT VIOLA (PSYCHOTIC RAP)
AFF (HARDCORE TECHNOMETALLC PUNK EXPERIENCE WRAPPED IN REGGAETON)
FLORALL ( cutest in the game // soundcloud.com/florallll )

Saturday:
15:00 Pizza
       Squat kumma starts the day with pizza
 

16:00 Stick n poke tattoo workshop.
      Practicing and doin handpoke tattooing. Come and make tattoo for your friend or on yourself. Kumma will provide tattooing materials so we wish that people would donate little bit to cover the costs of inks, needles,glowes and so on. However if you dont have any money thats not a problem!
 

19:00 Film documentary: If a tree falls
        Trailer www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAGxy85R380
+ documentary about social center satama.

Sunday:
14:00 Fleemarket/Freemarket/freeshop/Distro(s)
       Come and bring your old clothes, distro, whatever! There will also be kummas own zine distro.

16:00 Building workshop
      Kumma will provide materials for creatin. You can build art
installations, furniture, whatever you want!

17:00 Food

18:00 Playing basketball, football etc

xoxo
Changes in the program are possible!
Welcome to Kumma in late august!
      If you have questions or want to help organizing the festival please contact kumma (at) protonmail.com
kumma.me

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

Screw The Sytem, Get Messy.

       Modern capitalist society functions better when we are all controlled, predictable, and set in our routine of work and consume. It starts to fall apart when we are self thinking, unpredictable free agents, who don't follow their rules. It makes the system difficult  to manage when they can't fit us into nice little boxes of predictable productive units. So screw the system, be unpredictable, think for yourself, for get their rules, choose your path, be alive to the possibilities that a free life has to offer. It might not be the easiest path but it will be the most exciting, and it will be the real mixed up existence, the way our lives are supposed to be, we are humans, social creatures who enjoy challenges.

The usual words of wisdom from Not Buying Anything:

        I have always thought that the luxurious, easy, prosaic predictable life was the kiss of death. Humans were designed to be challenged. We are actually good at it, and grow stronger through overcoming adversity.
       To be easy is to be on auto-pilot. Challenges build character, creativity, and resilience.
         That is why I am looking forward to a messy new year in 2018. This year I will enjoy slogging through the mud pit of life, interacting with real things and real people. I will get messy, and I will know that I am alive.
        Nassim Nicholas Taleby said, “Provided we have the right type of rigor, we need randomness, mess, adventures, uncertainty, self-discovery, near-traumatic episodes, all these things that make life worth living..."
       The quote continues, "...compared to the structured, fake, and ineffective life of an empty-suit CEO with a preset schedule and an alarm clock." But not many of us are CEOs, while all of us are expected to be worker drone/ultra-consumers.
         I would amend that to read, "...compared to the structured, fake, and ineffective life of empty consumers with a preset list of aspirations that keep them diligently working at unloved jobs and careers."
         Life is increasingly random, messy, and uncertain with weekly or daily near-traumatic episodes. And I don't think it's just me. We might as well make all that work for us, and embrace it as part of the human experience.
      Will I have an easy, uneventful and predictable new year? I hope not.
        An adventurous and rigorous simple life provides everything that makes life worth living.
      Happy simple messy new year to everyone. Linda and I look forward to sharing it all with you in the coming year.

        When you realise that you are in a cage of conventions and illusions, when you are bound by habit and ritual, the only dignified response is rebellion.

THE REBEL

Rebel rebel break the rule,
What does it matter that a “wise” man sees a fool.
Not for you the herd’s dull beat
Making tomorrow, yesterday’s repeat,
Living out the life of a clone
Marching with the crowd but always alone.
Shaping your life from some dusty tome
Playing it safe, staying at home.

Rebel rebel break the rule
Swim in the sea, never the pool.
Live your emotions, feel the surge
Follow your dreams, chase the urge.

Make life though short, an exciting game
Not a mad march for fortune or fame.
Capture the moment, live it now
Being alive your only vow.
Rebel rebel break the rule
In the end, you’re humanity’s jewel.

The Disease Of Consumemas!

       The retail trade is sitting biting its nails, the last weekend before Christmas is now visible on the horizon, it is the last chance for Santa Clause to empty the public's wallets and purses, the last chance for Santa Clause to get the punters loaded up with debt, the last big binge before it starts all over again with the January sales. Whatever Christmas is supposed to mean is irrelevant, what really matters is to get the consumer binge through the roof. Get the public moving through the shopping malls like stampeding cattle, grasping at colour boxes that are somehow meant to produce happiness, endless bottles of odours all supposed to have their own special magic. The stress levels go through the roof, the debt mountain goes strata-strophic, but the colour boxes and odour filled bottles fail to bring that special magic and fail dismally  to create that higher level of happiness. Come January the bubble bursts, the illusion evaporates. Why are so many still captured by the same illusion each year? By now we should all know that coloured boxes don't bring happiness, and odour filled bottles don't contain magic, but vast consumerism does destroy the planet. It also increases the power of the corporate world, who live and grow fat by our gullibility. Celebrate the winter solstice in a community manner, no need to come bearing gifts of the latest "thing", bring companionship and plan for a future without consumerism.

       This breath of common sense comes from the site Not Buying Anything:

Creating art from found natural objects can be a meaningful new Winter Solstice ritual that costs nothing.

       Is there any Christmas left in Christmas? It is more like Consumemas now. It is all about the presents, the loot, the haul, the stuff. Shopping, wrapping, unwrapping, throwing away - same futile cycle with the same futile results. Within a few days all that remains is the debt and damage.
        It is no wonder many people find this madness to be depressing and demoralizing. But we can rise above Consumemas, and reclaim this special time of year for our own. It truly is an event worth celebrating, as humans have for millennia, before Christmas, or Consumemas, ever existed.
        And while gift giving may be involved, it does not have to be all about the gifts. Indeed, gifts are not a required part of enjoying this time of year. While the social pressures are great, many are breaking free from the burden of mandatory (and often mindless) gift giving.
        Those with experience have found that involving a group of people in the discussion surrounding radically changing winter celebration traditions can be fruitful and liberating. Often they find that they aren't the only ones wondering how they can stop others from buying them things they don't want, or need.
        I got the following email reminder from Adbusters concerning #BuyNothingXmas:

       "The malls are full of anxious sweat. The throngs are out and about for the final shopping "rush", hunting the aisles with a tense urgency that's inimical to the spirit of giving. But another Christmas is possible. Another way of being is possible.
       Reclaiming the ritual of this magical season – consciously and deliberately – is a radical, emancipatory choice. Since manufacturing and consumption are responsible for more than half of the global carbon dioxide emissions, choosing to buy nothing this Xmas may give Gaia some much needed relief.
       And if you still need to be convinced to consume less – consider that if we heat up just 4 degrees more, we will witness a total and irreversible collapse of human civilization. We're killing ourselves – but even as the denial about global warming is slowly breaking over us, we still choose – sheeplike – to join the madness in the malls.
      Consumerism is the opiate of the masses. Without significant rituals, we clamour to participate in the only ones we have, like the Christmas shopping binge, driven by our desire for meaning – of which our culture is devoid.

          #BuyNothingXmas gets to the heart of this matter.

        As the much awaited solstice arrives and Christmas nears, can you find the strength to break the addiction, to wake up from the nightmare ... will you be brave enough to plant the seed of a new way of being? Make your life a demonstration, a defiance, a piece of art, a heroic journey.
        Start this Christmas – dare to gather your friends and family together and vow to do it differently this year."
         There are many meaningful ways to celebrate at this time of year. Conspicuous consumption does not have to be one of them.
“Creating a new tradition that brings more peace and heart to your holidays could also bring you closer to family and friends.
          Sharing a ritual founded on love of nature, on respect for the always renewing cycles of life, and on faith in the future has a way of bringing out the best in people.”
 Deena Wade

Ring The Bells That Still Can Ring.

        No need to get depressed because you can't move mountains, but you can still shift a pile of rocks by yourself, think how many rocks you could move with the help of some friends, it could be a whole mountain. A few words of wisdom from that excellent site Not buying Anything.

       Things appear grim these days, globally speaking. But that should not overshadow all the good that can be enjoyed in the time we have remaining, however long that may be. Lots is broken, but lots is still working.
       Yesterday Linda and I were viewing Leonard Cohen performing his song "Anthem". As we listened, I thought of how gracefully Cohen aged, and how his experience allowed him to view the world in a more Zen-like manner. He wasn't fighting life (or death), but going with the flow.
      When he said,

“Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.”,

he reminded us not to fall into despair. Just because we can't do everything, doesn't mean we shouldn't do something. We can't wait for perfect solutions before we act.
       Cursing the darkness is not the answer. When we choose Earth-friendly lifestyles we are lighting candles, and every photon helps.We can do what we can do, and use what works.
      Simple living is a set of bells that still can ring, loud and clear. Their peal cuts through the void. No change, no peal.

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

From Little Acorns Great Oak Trees Grow.

       The people of the world are not going to rise up en-mass and create that better world. What will change the world in our direction will be the sum total of countless little actions across the planet. Small actions in every village, town and city, increasing until it reaches a critical mass, creating a change in consciousness, then it will be unstoppable and the world will be ours. Continuous small affairs, toy-swaps, book-banks, clothes-exchanges, surplus food sharing, skill sharing, and so on. All of this undermines consumerism, the life blood of this insane capitalist system, and draws a community together, then slowly the world changes. However, we must accept that this revolutionary change will not come with roses alone.

This from Its Going Down:

        Last weekend, autonomists and anarchists organized a coat and clothes drive in the Downtown Modesto area, with hundreds of free items. The event was the end result of several days of organizing and collecting donations from the community including warm clothing as well as fresh apples, toothbrushes, and other free dental supplies.
       The event itself was attended by over 50 people, and during the event we had numerous positive interactions with individuals who discussed everything from job loss to how to get involved in the future with upcoming events. We also put up a banner that read: “Free Clothes” in Spanish and in English, as well as the slogan, “Community Mutual Aid” with a circle (A), and flew a red and black flag. We did this to make clear that this event was not simply carried out as an act of charity, but instead to put forward a set of anti-capitalist and anti-authoritarian ideas, reclaim public space, have fun, and also meet people in our community. Police drove by, but did not fuck with us.
     In the past several years, attempts by the city, police, and developers to remake the Downtown core by driving out poor, homeless, youth, and the working class, have largely backfired. Many businesses have shut down, including the one grocery store in the Downtown area, cutting off access to the main supply of food for many elderly and impoverished people. But, there are signs that the gentrification machine will attempt to continue on the path ahead, especially in the wake of many stores shuttering, as we are seeing several new hip and swanky stores and bars openly in the Downtown. We can only assume that developers are hoping to accommodate displaced people from the bay area, while at the same time displacing us.
      While we enjoy helping provide resources for those without, we also know that class society and the State will not collapse through an accumulation of either negative or ‘positive’ acts – or posts on anarchist websites. Instead, in the coming together and building of actual relationships, we can attempt to create new forms of power for the battles to come. Only several weeks ago, we found ourselves alongside over 100 others, remembering the life and death of Nick Pimentel, who was murdered by local police in South Side Modesto. Also, on the same day as our coat drive, a march was organized to protest attacks on DACA, and down the road from the giveaway, residents have been protesting harmful waste covered up by the city near their homes.
     All of these struggles are connected, and across the divisions placed upon by by geography, neighborhood, gender, and race, we hope to build something that can overcome the systems of control and domination, and usher into being an existence worthy of the name ‘humanity.’

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

         

Not Buying Anything - Still Legal!

         Consumerism is the drug that keeps this insane system going, consumerism is the idiotic process whereby we suck the planet dry, just to fatten the parasites that control the self destruct system under which we live.
        One of the many sites I enjoy visiting is "Not Buying Anything", when I visit it, it is like opening a window in a smoke filled room, you suddenly get a breath of fresh air.
       This latest piece is just another such, breath of fresh air.

"This isn't about your stealing anything. It's about your not buying anything."

        The system makes it very difficult to not buy anything, but it is still legal. They can't actually force us to be consumers.        Capitalist interests have pretty much wrapped it all up - you have to pay for everything. Some cities have even made it illegal to sleep outdoors, meaning you are going to have to pay someone to get off the street. What if you can't afford what they are asking?       Pay to sleep. Pay to eat. Pay to drink water. Pay to move. Pay to stand here. Pay to park there. They are always making it easier to buy and pay for things. Pay up, be imprisoned, or die. Pay more while you make less. Sick and tired, you try to break free.       Harvesting rainwater is illegal. Governments use satellite imagery to find, and tax, your backyard garden. Building codes make it impossible to build your own tiny home. When you are down to living in your car, you find it is illegal to sleep in your parked vehicle in many locations.       However, resistance is not futile. People in hyper-consumer systems have lived successfully without money all together. It is a full time job to resist so actively. The payoff is not being complicit in the sickness that is making our planet terminally ill.        Consumerism, and the ecocide that it is causing, is what should be illegal. It is clearly immoral to try to kill Mother Nature, and this heinous violent crime has billions of victims. Perhaps this crowded planet should have new laws concerning taking more than ones fair share of Earth's gifts.      Imagine if security staff thanked you for not buying anything on your way out of the store.

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

A Festivus For The Rest Of Us.

        For all those sane and rational people out there, it would be nice if could celebrate, a Festivus For The Rest Of Us. Air your grievances with each other, shout your mouth off about all that is wrong with the world today, and forget all that decoration nonesense and consumer crap. 

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

We Must Administer The Medicine.

 

       We are coming to the end of the annual epidemic of the disease of consumerism, a time of the year when millions sacrifice themselves on the altar of debt. The epidemic passes, but the disease of consumerism lives on, as does the burden of debt. At this time of the year, the babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, splurges out vast amounts of sewage in the form of "adverts" extolling the wonders of all manner of crap, the nearer we get to the cut off date of this consumer extravaganza, December 25th., the more neurotic the corporations become, and we see the magic of falling prices as they shout 10% off, 15% off, 20% off, 50% off and more, starting to display just how much they were ripping you off by, in the first place. No matter the occasion our capitalist society must turn it into one of mass consumerism. No event is complete without the sale of its paraphernalia, Christmas is just one of the major peaks in the disease of consumerism, which is slowly destroying the planet. We have the cure for this disease, but seem reluctant to administer the medicine, which is organising our communities on the basis of seeing to the needs of all our people through mutual aid and co-operation, free from the poisoning influence of profit, in a word, anarchism.

Here are some wonderful art works by Angel Boligan, for more visit arrezafe. 

 

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

 

Have A Paracetamol.

         Well here we are, once again in the midst of the period when the illusion goes even crazier. Having struggled all year with such problems as heating your home, feeding your kids, and due to the cuts in social services, you are running ragged caring for your ageing parents. Now all your anxieties, fits of depression, loneliness and loss of confidence, can be sorted. It is just a matter of the right perfume, shower gel, super razor, or getting rid of your dandruff. How foolish of you, you didn’t realise that happiness comes in coloured boxes, the more boxes, the more happiness. Your job prospects are enhanced, if you would just pick the right four-wheel drive car. Your self esteem will grow, your sex life will be more exciting, and your standing among your peers will know no bounds, if you just run out and buy that new outfit. Yes, it is the season of the grand illusion, our society has found the secret of happiness and fulfilment it is to be found in coloured boxes. 

        Gone are the thoughts of those 58,000 homeless in England, up by a third since 2010/11, a large proportion of them working, the 3,400 families with children living in B&B’s, steadily increasing since 2011, and those 3,600 people sleeping rough in England, (a low estimate) up 30% since 2014. All lost in a mist of tinsel and coloured boxes, and illusions woven by that babbling brook of bullshit. I guess their problem was that they didn’t buy enough coloured boxes to enhance their lives. I have no doubt there will be a splurge of consumerism in search of happiness, and come January, the old anxieties, depressions, insecurities, loss of confidence and loneliness will return. They’ll be fuelled by the usual realities of this capitalist system, zero hours contracts, low wages, increasing prices, benefit sanctions, job insecurity, and wars and turmoil across the planet. The answer to our problems doesn’t lie in coloured boxes, these are the paracetamol of the system, an attempt to temporally relieve the pain. The answer lies in changing the system, away from the a greed driven capitalist system, to one of mutual aid communities. 

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

What If------!

 

      As always, Not Buying Anything, comes up with something thought provoking.

"What if the spider you just killed in your home had spent its entire life thinking that you were its room-mate? 

Ever think about that? 

No, you only think about yourself."

I read this recently, and laughed. Then I thought, and thought some more. It makes sense. I might think differently if I lived in Australia, but I hope not.

Since reading this I have seen it it in other places, unattributed to any author. To me it has the life-positive, anti-violent vibe of Buddhism, or Jainism. It has caused me to be even more aware of the preciousness of life, and how everything just wants to live.
This level of sensitivity to the needs of others can be applied to all situations.
How about,

"What if that computer you are typing on was made by child labour, or is toxic to workers, or destroys the habitat of wild creatures? 

Ever think about that? 

No, you only think about yourself."

Or,

"What if that flight you are taking increases your carbon footprint dramatically and adds to potentially catastrophic climate change? 

Ever think about that? 

No, you only think about yourself." 

What if our habits and desires are killing not only spiders, but the very Earth itself? Ever think about that?

"Rest easy spider

My broom

Does not sweep that far."

- Issa Kobayashi

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