Democracy and The State, Opposite Sides Of An Unbridgeable Divide.

      Another couple of examples of how democracy works in the Western world. We preach democracy across the world, bomb countries into submission and call it democracy. While at home we keep locking up more and more of our citizens, and the treatment delivered to those unfortunate to be confined within its cages, can be brutal in the extreme. 
This example is from Contra Info: 

Athens: Beatings inflicted on anarchist prisoner Panos Aspiotis for refusing to give DNA sample

      Anarchist Panagiotis (Panos) Aspiotis was wanted since March 2013 on firearms possession charges (“violation of the Arms Act”). In October 2015, he appeared voluntarily before the authorities. He was remanded and sent to a prison located far from Athens (his former residence). During these months in prison, he has refused to give the police a DNA sample.
       On Saturday, February 6th 2016, Panos Aspiotis was transferred from Nafplion prison to Athens, where he is scheduled to appear before the investigating judge Eftichis Nikopoulos (special appellate judge against terrorism) on Monday the 8th. The comrade was expected to be moved to Koridallos prison, but was brought to the Prisoner Transfer Division instead. He was separated from other prisoners and taken into a cell without surveillance cameras, where he was attacked by hooded cops of the anti-terrorist unit, who tried to take a sample of his DNA by force. He was beaten and kicked repeatedly in the head, ribs and body. The comrade resisted their first attempt by swallowing the DNA swab. The cops continued beating him, even after they forcibly took DNA sample from him.

SOLIDARITY WITH ANARCHIST PRISONER PANOS ASPIOTIS.

       This video from US, is extremely sickening as we know that this sort of thing is all part of the violence the state inflicts on its own citizens, through the medium of its trained keepers of the cages.

Published on Apr 5, 2013
        "You're never going to win... Bottom line is the house wins every time." That's what Maine Correctional Center Captain Shawn Welch said to a prisoner who was strapped into a restraint chair, his face coated with pepper spray and his legs shaking in pain and fear. The entire ordeal was captured in a disturbing video that recently hit the internet. After Captain Welch pepper sprayed prisoner Paul Schlosser in the face, Captain Welch ignored Schlosser's plea that he could not breathe; at one point, Captain Welch responds to Schlosser's pleas for help with the taunt, "Last I heard, I was as useless as tits on a bull."
        A former military medic, Paul Schlosser has received treatment in prison for both bipolar disorder and depression. After being held in solitary confinement for two months, he began to cut himself -- a common response to such long-term isolation. On June 7, 2012, Schlosser pulled off his bandages and refused to be treated. He was then strapped to a restraint chair and confronted by Captain Welch.
       In the video, we see Schlosser immobilized in the restraint chair and surrounded by officers in riot gear. Schlosser remains compliant until one of the officers pins Schlosser's head to the back of the chair; Schlosser responds by squirming and then spitting at the officer. Without warning, Captain Welch suddenly coats Schlosser's face at close range with pepper spray from a canister only intended to be used on large crowds from a distance of twenty feet or more, according to an investigator's report. Schlosser chokes and fights for breath. He pleads, "I can't breathe, Captain," but Welch does nothing. Instead of following accepted professional standards and rinsing away the liquid, Welch puts a spit hood on Schlosser, effectively trapping the pepper spray against the man's face. For over 20 minutes, Welch, with canister in hand, paces in and out of the small area where Schlosser is being restrained, and refuses to let him wash the burning spray from his face and eyes.
        Sadly, this is one of many examples of corrections staff abusing restraints and pepper spray, at times with deadly results: • Nick Christie died in 2006 after being pepper sprayed twelve times and spending six hours naked in a restraint chair. There, too, guards placed a spit hood over Mr. Christie, ensuring that he would breathe the liquid as long as he wore it. The case was later ruled a homicide. • Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio discontinued the use of restraint chairs in 2006 after three wrongful death lawsuits. • Jesse Lee Williams, Jr. was restrained when guards sprayed an entire can of pepper spray into a hood before putting it over his mouth as part of a savage beating. He died two days later.
      Openness and accountability are two of the strongest bulwarks protecting prisoners from abuse. This is true whether the abuse occurs in a matter of minutes, such as when Arizona guards beat, tased, stripped, and left Marty Atencio to die in a cell, or days, like when Michigan guards strapped Timothy Souders to a cement slab until he died of hyperthermia and dehydration.
       Unfortunately, instead of promoting openness and accountability, the Maine Department of Corrections has closed ranks to protect one of its own. Corrections Commissioner Joseph Ponte ignored the recommendation to fire Welch despite an internal investigation which found that Welch acted on a personal vendetta against Schlosser and not for any legitimate security reason. Now, the Department has focused its attention on ensuring no more videos are leaked, instead of ensuring no more torture happens.
        Paul Schlosser is lucky to be alive. The next Paul Schlosser might not be so lucky.

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To Get Beyond Two Shitty Choices.

       Without losing sympathy for the victims of violence or condoning violence, one should never forget that France is an imperialist power. It is in other lands with modern fire power defending its assets, the "collateral damage", is the deaths of innocent men, women and children, creating trauma and misery for families and friends on a greater scale than what happened in France the other night. Violence be-gets violence, war breeds war, and so the circle is perpetuated.

     Until now the fight has always been, from first to last, between existing and aspiring world powers; it has always been a struggle between a power that already oppresses us and one that will soon do so; the point, however, is to finally get beyond this stale tale of two shitty choices----

The First and Last Word on a Rotten Civilisation.  

       -------Unlike the citizens of early Mesopotamian city-states, who assembled to govern their own affairs directly and whose active consent was needed even by a demi-god ruler like Gilgamesh before he could wage war, the voters of France assemble only to labour as servants for their bosses or consume the bread and circuses they are thrown as distraction and compensation for their servitude. The rulers of European or Middle-Eastern states wage war through the passive resignation of modern plebeans, who can do no more than reap the grave consequences of decisions they neither understand nor command. A civilisation that began as a democracy of slave-holders who elected their representatives has reached perfection in a democracy of slaves who elect their masters. From this botched experiment (which has produced nothing but irresponsibility, insanity, and impotence – transmuted by the lies of history, art and political-economy into fictions with pretty names like duty, reasonableness, and maturity) there's nothing worth defending or saving.

The ferocious muslims who, unlike the era of the crusaders, now have the ability to retaliate, are right to despise it. If only they did so consistently! The first and final paragraphs from the entry for Ebla on Wikipedia read:

Ebla was one of the earliest kingdoms in Syria. Its remains constitute a tell located about 55 km southwest of Aleppo near the village of Mardikh. Ebla was an important center throughout the third millennium BC and in the first half of the second millennium BC. Its discovery proved the Levant was a center of ancient, centralized civilization equal to Egypt and Mesopotamia, and ruled out the view that the latter two were the only important centers in the Near East during the early Bronze Age. Karl Moore described the first Eblaite kingdom as the first recorded world power.
As a result of the Syrian Civil War, excavations of Ebla stopped in March 2011, and large-scale looting occurred after the site came under the control of an opposition armed group. Many tunnels were dug and a crypt full of human remains was discovered; the remains were scattered and discarded by the robbers, who hoped to find jewelry and other precious artifacts. Digging all around the mound was conducted by nearby villagers with the aim of finding artifacts; some villagers removed carloads of soil suitable for making ceramic liners for bread-baking ovens from the tunnels."

The villagers of Syria know how to treat the ruins of a despicable past with the disrespect it deserves. Only people able to perform this task coherently can create anything useful, beautiful and happy out of the rubble of a miserable history. Until now the fight has always been, from first to last, between existing and aspiring world powers; it has always been a struggle between a power that already oppresses us and one that will soon do so; the point, however, is to finally get beyond this stale tale of two shitty choices. Humanity will never be happy until the last Quran is used as tinder for setting fire to the presidential palace of the last democratic republic!

Read the full article HERE: 

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To Call For Peace, Is To Risk Death.

         It is a tragic reflection of our society and our times when we have a situation where, those who struggle for peace run the greatest risk of death.

       Statement from Revolutionary Anarchist Action on today’s bombing in Ankara, (10th. October 2015.) Originally posted in Rabble.
 

      Today, bombs placed at a rally in the Turkish town of Ankara killed at least 86 people. This comes in the context of the bomb attacks in Amed in June, against an election rally; the attack on Kobanê from Turkey’s borders in June and the attack in in July in Suruç against a delegation bringing aid to Kobanê. Many comrades in Turkey and Kurdistan blame these attacks on the Turkish state.
      This statement has been released by Revolutionary Anarchist Action (DAF):

“CAN’T BE FORGOTTEN, CAN’T BE FORGIVEN

       Today, on the 10th of October, the “Labor, Democracy and Peace Meeting” that was organized by various unions, associations and organizations has been attacked. Like in Amed on June and in Suruc in July, the bombs exploding in Ankara today has killed tens of people.
      Thousands of people came together from many different cities of the geography against the politics of war, against war profiteering of different power groups.
      Today, the bombs that exploded, murdered the people who wanted peace, life and freedom against war.
      This explosion, in which more than 30 people have lost their lives until now, is a reflection of the blood thirsty greed of the powers. The ones who murdered in Amed, in Pirsus, in Cizir, are now trying to intimidate the peoples, frustrate with war politics and discourage from the struggle for freedom, by murdering tens of people in Ankara.
      The powers should know that by any means, be it arrests or murder with bombs, we will not be afraid of the powers or submit to their war politics.
       For a new world, a life of freedom, the murderers in Amed, in Pirsus, Cizir and Ankara, murdered ones CAN’T BE FORGOTTEN, the murderers CAN’T BE FORGIVEN.
Revolutionary Anarchist Action (DAF)”

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Day To End Violence Against Sex Workers.

This is both an invitation and an appeal:

       I’m writing to invite you to Scotland’s event to mark International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. This day is marked annually around the world on December 17th. The event this year is being held jointly by Scotland’s two sex worker-led organisations: longstanding Scottish charity SCOT-PEP, and Glasgow-based workers’ collective, the Sex Worker Open University (SWOU). We are inviting allies from various communities, including LGBTQ representatives, migrants' rights groups, and women’s groups.
   It’s happening from 7.30pm onwards in the African Caribbean Centre, 66 Osborne Street, Glasgow. I know that’s a wee way away if you aren’t in Glasgow, but we’re letting you know out of hopefulness, because we’d really like to you attend. Entrance to the event is free, and the venue is wheelchair accessible. We’ll be showing some short films; some sex workers will give brief talks about what the day means for them, and some allies – NUS Scotland women’s officer, Stacey Devine, and a representative from Gay Men’s Health, among others - will also say a few words. And then we’ll do some socialising.
    December 17th was first marked in 2003, to commemorate the victims of the ‘Green River Killer’, who commented in court that he knew he could kill “prostitutes” and get away with it, because nobody would care. And to an extent he was right: he killed hundreds of sex working women before anyone important enough to do anything, noticed. That case is from the USA, but of course we have plenty of similar examples here. Dec 17th was started by sex workers and allies to affirm that the Green River Killer - and all those who think like him, and target sex workers - was wrong; some people do care about the violence that sex workers experience. Our own community cares. We’d like it so much if you would join us.
     Please feel free to circulate this invitation on any mailing lists you think appropriate. The facebook details for the event are here: https://www.facebook.com/events/531885706907876/. Just in case this reaches anyone for whom this information is relevant: we’re paying the travel expenses and childcare costs of any current and former sex workers who want to attend; just email SWOU back at glasgow.swou@gmail.com for more on that.

And if you have any questions, do get in touch, either at

glasgow.swou@gmail.com, or by ringing SCOT-PEP on (+44) 0131 622 7550.
Hoping to see you on the 17th,
Luca, on behalf of SWOU and SCOT-PEP.
P.S If you’re not familiar with the event’s co-hosts, you can read more about SCOT-PEP here: http://www.scot-pep.org.uk/, and SWOU here:
http://www.sexworkeropenuniversity.com/.

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