Anarchists should never be "know-alls" but should always be prepared to listen, seek information to reinforce any truths they hold, always be open to new information that may come forward, and assess it, never hold to dictate, ideology or accept things because that's the way they have always been. However, who am I to give advice, instead let's listen to a voice from the grave. A letter from Élisée Reclus seems a better source of advice than anything I could ever pour out.

     This from VOID:

A letter to the young Anarchists- by Élisée Reclus

To the editors of la Huelga General in Barcelona.
Brussels, Dec. 4, 1901.
Corresp. III:238-240.

Dear comrades,
        We have an ingrained habit of exaggerating both our strengths and our weakness. During revolutionary periods, it seems that our most minor actions have incalculably great consequences. On the other hand, during times of stagnation, though we may be totally dedicated to our work, our entire lives seem barren and useless, and we may even feel swept away by the winds of reaction.
       What then should we do to maintain our intellectual vigor, our moral energy, and our faith in the good fight?
        You come to me hoping to draw on my long experience of people and things. So, as an elderly person I give you the following advice:
        Do not quarrel or deal in personalities. Listen to other people’s arguments before you present your own. Learn how to remain silent and reflect. Don’t try to get the better in an argument at the expense of your own sincerity.
      Study with discretion and perseverance. Great enthusiasm and dedication to the point of risking one’s life are not the only ways of serving a cause. It is easier to sacrifice one’s life than to make one’s whole life an education for others. The conscious revolutionary is not only a person only of feeling, but also one of reason, for whom every effort to promote justice and solidarity rests on precise knowledge and on a comprehensive understanding of history, sociology, and biology. Such a person can incorporate his personal ideas into the larger context of the human sciences, and is sustained in the struggle by the immense power he gains through his broad knowledge.
       Avoid overspecialization. Side neither with nations nor with parties [ni aux patries ni aux partis]. Be neither Russians, Poles nor Slavs. Rather, be men of truth, free from any thoughts of particular interests, and from speculative ideas concerning the nature of peoples, whether Chinese, Africans, or Europeans. The patriot always ends up hating the foreigner, and loses the sense of justice that once kindled his enthusiasm.
       Away with all bosses, leaders, and those who treat language as if it were Sacred Scripture. Reject such idolatry and value the words even of your closest friend or the wisest professor only for the truth that you find in them. If, having listened, you still have some doubts, turn inward toward your own mind and reexamine the matter before making a final judgment.
      So you should reject every authority, but also commit yourself to a deep respect for all sincere convictions. Live your own life, but also allow others the complete freedom to live theirs.
      If you throw yourself into the conflict to sacrifice yourself on behalf of the humiliated and the downtrodden, that is a very good thing, my companions. Face death nobly. If you prefer to take on slow and patient work on behalf of a better future, that is an even better thing. Make it the goal of every instant of a generous life. But if you choose to remain poor among the poor, in complete solidarity with those who suffer, may your life shine forth as a beneficent light, a perfect example, a fruitful lesson for all!

Greetings, comrades.
Elisee Reclus.

source: Anarchy Archives

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And Still, Worker Kills Worker.

         When worker kills worker under some coloured rag or other, called “the national flag” it is seldom, if ever, because that worker hates the other worker. It is usually they have been conscripted, (forced) or because of the mainstream media, the propaganda mouth piece of the state, has convinced them that it is their patriotic duty. That we as morally superior beings have to sort out the evil of the other. An so shop keeper goes to kill bus driver, and school teacher goes to kill mother of four. Factory worker goes to kill office worker. We have had mass protests across the globe in an attempt to stop this madness, this exploitation of people for power and wealth of the few. However a simple glance at the world to day and it is obvious we have failed miserably. State sponsored carnage continues to turn vast swaths of our planet into abattoirs, the devastation of countries is total, its people, bus drivers, office workers, school teachers, factory workers and innocent parents and children, die in fiery graves with tons of rumble heaped on them as grave stones. In days gone by, in military conflict the casualties were mainly the military. Now with aid of our wonderful technology, the civilian population are, by far, the main victims in any war.
        Four years ago I wrote the following little piece and today it is more relevant than ever, wars are still portrayed as a moral answer to problems, despite the flagrant slaughter of the innocent.

    February, 2015, When Worker kills Worker. 

        On most occasions, war, in our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, is portrayed as something heroic, with our side standing tall on the moral high ground, and the enemy crawling from the sewers with mean and nasty tactics. How else could they keep recruiting fresh young blood. We can be thankful for that band of heroes the poets, who experience war in all its brutality and record it, as viewed through the eyes of a human being, seeing the destruction and death of another human being.
      One such poet was the Gaelic poet George Campbell Hay, 1915-1984, born in Elderslie and brought up in Kintyre. Due to his pacifist values, for more than a year during WWII, he had tried to avoid conscription. Faced with prison, he opted for non-violent service in the army. George was sent to North Africa and given the job as night watchman. The events of the night May 7th. 1943 traumatised him, and he was never the same again. The event he witnessed was the allied saturation bombing of the German occupied town of Bizerta.

What is their name tonight,
the poor streets where every window spews
its flame and smoke,
its sparks and screaming of its inmates,
while house upon house is rent
and collapses in a gust of smoke?
And who tonight are beseeching
Death to come quickly in all their tongues,
or are struggling among stones and beams,
crying in frenzy for help, and are not heard?
Who to-night is paying
the old accustomed tax of common blood?

 
    Of course we  have to ask ourselves, why in Gaza and many, many more places on this planet, can these words still be applied. 

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Sadly We Have Still Not Joined The Dots.

       Over the years I spout something and think it is relatively obvious, and somehow I expect others also see it and change will come. Sadly if there is any change it is microscopic and unbelievably slow. Because of the many many years I have lived, to me, it seem the change is actually non-existent. The blood still flows, the mass shootings continue, the wars recur or are continuous, poverty increases, deprivation runs rampant and still the system continues to amass unimaginable wealth in the hands of the few, the few responsible for all the ills that plague this planet.

      To make my point I will repeat an article I wrote back in 1914, called "Can We Join The Dots", however I accept that so far we have failed to Join The Dots.

          We all know capitalism produces wars between countries, and has done so more or less, since the system crawled out of the slime to infest the globe. What most people don't seem to recognise, is, it also causes wars within countries, wars between the ruling elite and the ordinary people. As capitalism is global it is difficult to find a country where the people are not in open conflict with the powers that be. The Ferguson riots in America, though classed as racial, racism is an aspect of capitalism. Mexico, the recent disappearance of 43 students and teachers and the ongoing violent protests, is the capitalist state attempting to crush any resistance to its exploitation. Recently we have seen over 100 protests across Ireland against watercharges, as capitalism tries to squeeze more profit from the ordinary people. In Brussels, there have been violent clashes as more than 100,000 protesters took to the streets against that common aspect of capitalism, “austerity”. In London we have just had more than a thousand masked anti-capitalist protesters take to the city centre. Protests took place in towns and cities across the Republic, including Letterkenny in County Donegal
       It would be extremely difficult to find a country where the people are not at odds with the system, across the globe unrest, anger and disgust are the feelings of the people, all have a growing hatred of a system that ties them to poverty, while they produce an abundance of wealth, that invariably ends up in the hands of a small greed driven bunch of parasites. With so much anger and unrest, it seems strange that the system is still managing to bleed us dry, perhaps we just have to join the dots between these world wide protests and we will see the system collapse.

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