Epidemic.

 

           PLEASE PLEASE MAKE IT STOP. This endless throng of wooden headed individuals from ordinary backgrounds, fawning in front of a millionaire who in his entire life has never earned a penny of his wealth, it was handed to him from stolen wealth from across the blood soak empire. They’ll stand and weep and cheer and gush at his presence, then go home and worry about paying the energy bills, how to feed their families. We have to, with urgency, find a vaccine to cure this epidemic of the virus patriotism that blights our land. We have to find that antidote called sanity and spread it across the country or all will be lost and our people will continue to live with that blight of long patriotism, condemned to illusion and poverty. 

 

Image courtesy of LEGIT.

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

CRASS.

 

                                                   Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

 An Extract from Spunk Library:
        

         Throughout the 'hippy era we had championed the cause of peace, some of us had been on the first CND marches and, with sadness, had watched the movement being eroded by political greed. Throughout the 'drop out and cop out' period we hung on to the belief that 'real' change can only come about through personal example, because of this we rejected much of hippy culture, notably the emphasis on drugs, as being nothing but escapism.
        It is sad that many punks appear to be resorting to the same means of escape while in their blind hypocrisy they accuse hippies of never having 'got it together' - neither will these new prophets of the pipe dream.
        We had hoped that through a practical demonstration of peace and love, we would be able to paint the grey world in new colours; it is strange that it took a man called Hope the only 'real' hippy with whom we ever directly became creatively involved, to show us that that particular form of hope was a dream. The experiences to which our short friendship led made us realise that it was time to have a rethink about the way in which we should pursue our vision of peace. Wally's death showed us that we could not afford to 'sit by and let it happen again'. In part, his death was our responsibility and although we did everything that we could. it was not enough.
        Desire for change had to be coupled with the desire to work for it, if it was worth opposing the system, it was worth opposing it totally. It was no longer good enough to take what we wanted and to reject the rest, it was time to get back into the streets and attack, to got back and share our experiences and learn from the experiences of others. A year after Wally's death, the Pistols released 'Anarchy in the UK', maybe they didn't really mean it ma'am, but to us it was a battle cry. When Rotten proclaimed that there was 'no future', we saw it as a challenge to our creativity - we knew that there was a future if we were prepared to work for it. It is our world, it is ours and it has been stolen from us We set out to demand it back, only this time round they didn't call us 'hippies', they called us 'punks'.

Penny Rimbaud, London, jan/Mar., '82. 

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Patriotism!

            I couldn’t escape some of the media’s deluge of patriotic nonsense at the loss of one of their imperial figureheads. What shocked me most about this outpouring was a clip on TV of young woman crying because the Queen had died. This young woman of what looked like ordinary working class family, crying at the death of a woman who lived in a world of obscene opulence, so divorced for her own working class standards, she would be unable to comprehend that lavish privileged world, a women she in all probability had never met, but somehow swallowed the patriotic fabricated rubbish that surrounds that whole family and missing what they stand for, privilege, wealth and power. Monarchy is an anathema to democracy and yet vast numbers of ordinary people fall for the illusion that they, the royal family are part and parcel of life with us. The peasant and the lord are never partners, the wealth power and privileges of the lord divides and creates a wall where the peasant must know their place, and it is not in the same big happy family. Patriotism is the narcotic used to dumb the minds of the population, create that illusion that we are all one big happy family, special, different from others, better.

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.

 

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

Democracy?

         I penned this little piece three years ago, but thought as it is "jubilee year", I would repeat it, just to express my thoughts on our UK "democracy".

         The establishment and its mouthpiece, the mainstream media keep referring to the UK as a democracy, but a democracy with a monarch. This edifice to imperialism may get labelled as a “constitutional monarchy”, but a democracy? I’m sure anyone with a modicum of rationalism must see this as a contradiction, who voted them in, how do you vote the monarch out? Built on that template only an idiot would refer to the UK as a “democracy”. Somewhere else this fantasy democracy falls down is in how it treats it citizens. I would imagine that in a democracy those in most need would receive the most care. Well how does the UK “democracy” fair in that aspect? Well for starters we have lots of privileges heaped on those with lots of money, while at the other end, those in need suffer in poverty. 

         In this UK “democracy” while wealth and plenty is displayed for all to see, it is out of reach for the majority. The fact is that more than 14 million people live in poverty in the UK. Of that army of disadvantaged, 4.5 million are children, while a further 1.4 million are pensioners. Mired in that swamp of avoidable poverty, 7.7 million are deemed to be in persistent poverty, meaning that they have suffered this deplorable condition for four years or more. Then there is those with greater needs, the disabled. Of the unacceptable army of poverty stricken, 6.9 million are in families with a disabled member.
       If you live in this fantasy UK "democracy" and you are a family with a disabled member, you are far more likely to be living in poverty than a family with no disabled member. In fact approximately half of those living in poverty in this land of milk and honey, are disabled, or living with a disabled person.
        Now how do we equate these facts with the word and idea of “democracy? It seems that in this UK fantasy “democracy”, the greater your need the deeper you sink into poverty.
     If we want a "democracy", a real "democracy", we have to get rid of the pompous circus of monarchy and privilege, we have to get rid of the party political system and its inherent corruption, self interest and privileges, we have to dismantle the capitalist system that fosters and is fostered by a brutal, callous, greed driven indifferent drive for profit and growth for the few, at the expense of the many. Or we can continue to live in the self destructive illusion that we are equal participants in a democracy, and that getting shafted is part of the deal.

 

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

Charlie.

         You know Charlie, Lizzie Windsor's eldest son, the Windsor family being the largest family in UK on social benefits. Charlie leads a life of a feudal lord, lording it over his peasants who happen to live on his estate in the Duchy of Cornwall. This rather large patch of land can bring Charlie a nice little earner, somewhere in the region of £20 million a year. Why we tolerate a feudal system in a so called democracy rather astounds me. The power and privileges that go with being Lizzie's eldest son are staggering. These powers and privileges are not won by intellect, for that's a faculty on which I personally don't think he scores very high, nor by hard work, it was just a bit of luck being born into that large Windsor family and the UK's special social security system that keeps them in the custom to which they desire but don't deserve.

 

 
      This film might be a bit on the long side but is well worth watching, it will drop a few facts onto your lap of which you were unaware. Thanks Loam for the link.

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

Obituary.

 

          Pompous, pampered, privileged parasite prince, who gave nothing and took all he could get, lived a life of self indulgence at taxpayers expense, totally ignorant of his own uselessness. Existed in a bubble of opulence and splendour, part of the plundering imperialist establishment. unaware of the lives around him, he cared even less. Lover of killing wild life, collector of guns, his life and that of those in his gang exists in a bubble of luxury, that sadly the ordinary people supplied the air to keep it afloat. When will we refuse to keeping their luxurious useless bubble afloat?

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Warring UK.

       The UK, that patch on the planet that boasts of being the Mother of Parliaments, a country that claims to be a democratic and peace loving nation, well it seems that it has the second largest military presence around the world after U$A. I have no doubt that this sort of revelation will perhaps come as a surprise to you. An open democratic country where the people are unaware of the government's military involvement around the world. It shouldn't surprise us, as the state always works with duplicity, and functions in the interest of power and resources for its corporate bosses. All this being funded by tax payers money, plus the largest increase in military spending since the cold war, while the Chancellor of the Exchequer, their purse holder, promises a wage freeze for public sector workers and hard times ahead for the rest of us. Excluding themselves of course.

       Britain’s armed forces have a far more extensive base network than ever presented by the Ministry of Defence. New research by Declassified reveals the extent of this global military presence for the first time – as the government announces an extra 10% spending on defence.
        UK military has base sites in five countries around China: naval base in Singapore, garrisons in Brunei, drone testing sites in Australia, three facilities in Nepal and quick reaction force in Afghanistan
        Cyprus hosts 17 UK military installations including firing ranges and spy stations, with some located outside UK’s “sovereign base areas”
        Britain maintains military presence in seven Arab monarchies where citizens have little or no say in how they are governed
        UK personnel are stationed across 15 sites in Saudi Arabia, supporting internal repression and the war in Yemen, and at 16 sites in Oman, some run directly by British military
        In Africa, British troops are based in Kenya, Somalia, Djibouti, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Mali
        Many UK overseas bases are located in tax havens such as Bermuda and Cayman Islands
      Britain’s military has a permanent presence at 145 base sites in 42 countries or territories around the world, research by Declassified UK has found. The size of this global military presence is far larger than previously thought and is likely to mean that the UK has the second largest military network in the world, after the United States. It is the first time the true size of this network has been revealed.

Read the full article HERE 

        Of course if you read the real history of this little island you would know that the Britain has always been a militaristic nation, run by a war loving aristocratic clique, seeing themselves as some sort of exceptional breed, but now bound up with the financial Mafia and corporate plunderers. Their aim has never changed, just their methods.
       How much longer can we the ordinary people put up with this power crazy bunch of psychopaths slashing their sabres across the world, stoking the flames of eternal wars, while pushing us the ordinary people, into ever deeper poverty. When the insane are driving the car, it's time we took they car keys away from them.

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Democracy??

          I suppose we are meant to have a little sympathy for that capitalist business, the Windsors, as their business enterprise seems to be taking a wee hit during this pandemic. It seems that their business has taken a £35 million hit. Like all entertainment businesses, they are suffering from a drastic drop in tourists, foot fall is well down because of Covid19. Like all capitalist entities, they are doing the usual policy of “savings”, a wage freeze for their staff, but I doubt if there will be any drop in the standard of living for the family members who own the business. 

 

The Windsors at home.

 

      Though the Windsors is a capitalist entity, it comes with lots of bells and whistles. It holds the stamp of legitimacy over a lot of what our “elected” Parliament can do and can’t do. It is claimed that the UK is one of the leading democracies in the world, a rather odd claim, since we have a monarchy. In this illusion of democracy, it is the Queen who opens Parliament, our elected Prime Minister has to ask the Queen’s permission if he wishes to close Parliament early, as Boris did not so long ago. Lots of what we have going on in our parliamentary world, has to seek the monarch’s permission, none of this is the hallmark of a democracy. The Windsor enterprise is a capitalist business, just like any other capitalist enterprise, it is owned by a family, it makes lots of money but somehow the family still manage to draw social security benefits. The benefits they received from the taxpayer’s purse, year ending March 2020, amounted to £69.4 million, this was an increase of £2.4 million on the previous year. How much did your social security benefits increase during the same period? 

 

UK democracy on display.

 
      This so called democracy is such a blatantly obvious sham, an illusion of smoke and mirrors, and at its head is the finest example of power privilege and imperialism in the world, which cost, you and I, the humble taxpayers approximately £70 million a year. Think of this as you make your way to the foodbank, the job centre, and struggle to keep a roof over your head. You could fix the situation, but that would require solidarity with a real desire to create that fairer, better world for all, and see an end to pomp, power and privilege.

 

How UK democracy works.

 

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Rich And Riots!

      Actor and comedian  Chris Rock once said, “If poor people knew how rich rich people are, there would be riots in the streets.” Well I think they should know just how unequally the wealth of this country is sorted out.

        Let's look at the UK, we know that in the UK approximately 25% of our children live below the poverty line, food banks are growing at an alarming rate, homelessness is on the increase, there are 14 million people living in poverty in UK. However there are those UK individuals who don't know anything about that sort of world. They are the 150 billionaires that live in the UK, people who live off the backs of others sweat and toil. Meanwhile,  Here is a small peek at some of those UK billionaires.

Hinduja family	22 billion	Industry and finance
Jim Ratcliffe	18.2 billion	Chemicals
Leonard Blavatnik	14.4 billion	Investment, music and media
James Dyson and family	12.6 billion	Household goods and technology
Kirsten and Jorn Rausing	12.3 billion	Inheritance and investment
Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken	12 billion	Inheritance, brewing and banking
Alisher Usmanov	11.3 billion	Mining and investment
Roman Abramovich	11.2 billion	Oil and industry
Mikhail Fridman	10.9 billion	Industry

         Of course we shouldn't forget our "aristocracy" they grow fat on lands they stole from others or were gifted by some monarch or other who had stolen them previously. How else do you get to own acres an acres of surface of the planet, who is the estate agent that sells slices of the planet, who owns the planet in the first place, and where does the money from the purchase go?

       Let's start with that young blue blood 28 year old Hugh Grosvenor, he tops the list of very rich aristocrats and goes by the title of 7th Duke of Westminster with a nice bank balance of £10.1 billion

       Other blue blooded aristocrats follow in his wake. This according to the Sunday Times Rich list:

 

       Do you happen to notice how the vast majority of this mob, see their wealth grow considerably, a few see it drop, but what's a million or two when you have loads o'money, none of those whose wealth dropped will be visiting a food bank near you any day soon.

         This of course is just a snippet of the wealth of the pampered, privileged parasite class. We know that the rich and powerful have a tendency to squirrel away their wealth in dark and secret tax haven holes, hidden from the prying eyes of the world at large.  

       Well citizens of this fair democarcy, there is a little picture of how rich the rich really are here in the UK, are you any nearer Chris Rock's prediction?

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Pomp Privilege And Greed.

         I wrote this little piece away back in November 2012, can you tell me what has changed, other than new names being admitted to the Privileged Parasites Club? It is odd that we struggle to have a half decent life but allow this pomp and privilege to go on at our expense. Why don't we grow up and get rid of this bunch of pompous privileged shysters?

         Imagine you get a nice easy job, you get paid for turning up, you can if you wish just sleep on and off and hobble off to the bar now and again and it pays well. You start to fiddle the expenses, get caught and sentenced to 9 months in prison. You are released after 9 weeks and you wander back to your old job, move in and carry on as if nothing had ever happened. Fantasy? Well no, it is the rules in that club of pomp and privilege, the House of Lords.

         Take the case of one Paul White, last year he got convicted of fraudulently claiming £14,000 worth of false expenses at his place of work. Straight from prison after serving nine weeks of a nine month sentence, back to his old job and for the months of April and May he claimed £4,596 in expenses and for June this year has claimed £3,600 in expenses. The June expenses were for turning up on 12 seperate days at £300 a day, plus £285 travelling expenses. That's a total of £8,481, not bad for 3 months part-time “work”.

       How does he do it? Well he is one of those privileged parasites who has those magic four little letters in front of his name, “LORD” . Paul White, is better known as Lord Hanningfield, and the House of Lords is his nice little earner, of course it is tax payers money that he is pocketing and it is just for turning up.

 It's tough trying to adjust after prison.

     However I don't want you to think that Lord Hanningfield is alone as the only privileged benefit cheat. His Lordy pal Lord Taylor of Warwick, not only a cheat, but a liar, done for lying about where he lived and fiddling £11,000, served 3 months of a 12 month sentence, and in June this year his fingers were in the honeypot again, claiming £2,100 in expenses.

     Of course there more of these members of this privileged parasite club that have fiddled and the went back to business as usual. One Baroness Uddin, though not prosecuted, was told to pay back fiddled expenses to the tune of £125,349, has this June claimed £1,800 in attendance allowance. Try to think of who you know in your neighbourhood, that might have in some way fiddled at work, went to prison and then back to their old job, no questions asked? So why do we tolerate a bunch of parasites washed in pomp, privilege and impunity, all at our expense.

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Royal Statues, Symbols Of Brutal Conquest.

         A little reminder of how the British monarchy, as head of state, presided over the plunder and brutalising the planet. How they and their privileged parasites grew fat on the spoils of that plunder, riding roughshod over the indigenous people. Theirs is a history of brutal conquest and vicious control, a history written in the blood of millions of ordinary people across the globe. Statues of royalty are symbols to a bloody and brutal history for self gain and power. Thanks Loam for the video link.

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

Let Your Righteous Anger Burst Forth.

      At the moment, looking at our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, you would be forgiven for thinking that our world comprises of over privileged useless prats, prancing around in ridiculous attire, being cheered on by a mindless horde of adoring fans. All because our biggest social benefit family have decided to try to cement their family's privileged position by having another wedding. No mention in the babbling brook of bullshit's out pouring, of the strikes and mass demonstrations in France against this system that spawns these over privileged prancing prats.

        France is in turmoil with transport strikes, social service strikes and student strikes. Not to mention the brutal state attempt at the eviction of ZAD, which has been going on for weeks now. Groups from various sections of French society are calling and organising for a general strike. The simmering anger that has been bubbling away under the surface is starting to break through in an attempt to tear this rotten corrupt system apart. We should be supporting their efforts in any way we can, and be trying to bring to boiling point, that simmering anger that lies just below the surface in our own society. Years of a deliberate ideology of dispossessing the poor, has fuelled that anger, but anger without a target is like a blind archer behind a bow. We have to direct that anger at the root cause of our ever decreasing share of the country's wealth, that we the people create, capitalism itself.

       This from Enough is Enough:

           As we reported more and more people discuss an indefenite general strike on the French territory. In the coming week there are two major mobilizations: on May 22 and May 26. On May 22 students are mobilizing for the “Day of the Barricades”and the public services sector will go on strike.
        On May 14 there was a first meeting in Paris about the current mobilizations and a general strike. The meeting was organized in less than two weeks by Front Social and about 300 people attended. There is now a proposal for another meeting with activists of various general assemblies (railway workers, postmen, students etc.) to meet in the evening of May 22. Gaël Quirante (a union member of SUD Post 92) said during the May 14 meeting: “It is time to discuss how we go on strike, how to amplify the strike, how we generalize it, how we build a general strike. And a general strike is something different than just not working, it’s not only for those who have a job: a general strike means that at some point, with or without job, is a strike that raises the question of who decides in our lives.”

Read the full article HERE:
       
        The ongoing struggle for ZAD:

          Since the government’s decision to cancel the construction of an airport at Notre-Dame-des-Landes (NDDL) on January 17, 2018, life on la ZAD—the Zone a Défendre (Zone To Defend) where the airport was to be built—has been a complicated series of conflicts about whether to negotiate with the government for the future of the land. Any lingering illusions that it could be possible to coexist peacefully with the authority of the state were dispelled this week, as the French government initiated what they hope will be the decisive eviction of this world-famous inspiring autonomous zone. To learn about the fifty years of struggle that led up to this moment, read our full history, “La ZAD: Another End of the World Is Possible.”

The latest from ZAD:

           The government has announced a second wave of evictions on the zad of Notre-Dame des-Landes. The operation could be launched as soon as May 15th. We have no idea how large or how long it will be. What is certain is that we cannot trust official announcements and that we will mobilise if faced with any new attempt to pick and choose, which living places on the zad they will evict.
           Despite those, from the government or unfortunately even from the movement, who try to sow divisions, label and increase tensions, we will maintain as wide as possible a common defense for all the living places, perspectives and activities that are intertwined on the zad.
         This is the line that we have wanted to hold, as much within the negotiations as with the various forms of resistance and mobilisations on site for several weeks. We thus invite everyone to be ready to react again on the zad and everywhere else from May 15th.

Read the full article HERE: 

 

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