Roses.

         Exploitation, poverty, homelessness, famine, wars, pandemic, injustice, inequality, deprivation, racism, these are the some of the thoughts that occupy my mind most of the time. Now and again my mind turns to those other things, things that I love, poetry, comradeship, and of course roses. I have grown roses for years, I simply love to see a rose bush in full flower and growing and tending them fills me with tremendous pleasure.
       Last year due to the early warm spring we had a wonderful long lasting season of beautiful roses. This year due to the prolonged early morning frost right up to the middle/end of May, the roses seemed to be much slower and a bit behind. However, nature being what it is, they are now in full swing with some magnificent blooms. To try and share my pleasure I have captured some of the blooms just after a shower of heavy rain, though the transfer from camera to blog doesn't do the photos justice. The pure white one is a standard T rose called Iceberg, the bloom is particularly long lasting and at the moment, the bush is covered in beautiful white blooms, all enhanced by the raindrops. All of them things of beauty that can for a while, keep at bay, those other afore mentioned thoughts of the avoidable horrors that plague our wider world.

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http://strugglepedia.co.uk/index.php?title=Main_Page

London Anarchist Bookfair, 2017.

        This year’s London Anarchist Bookfair will be on Saturday 28th October from 10am to 7pm.

Venue: Park View School
West Green Road, London, N15 3QR

         The Bookfair is open to the public and free to attend. There are no tickets and no need to book, just come along. Progammes will be available at the door, suggested donation £1.
       Unfortunately, all the stalls and meeting spaces have been booked. If you look at the Meetings page you can see all the meetings on the day, so you can start planning early what you want to go to. The Film room is slightly different this year in that it will be both films and live entertainment in room P5. The Other Events page has other activities going on during the day and also gigs we know of after the Bookfair is over. The gigs are not organised by the bookfair collective but they are raising money to support the day’s activities.
          If you have any access requirements, please check out the Access page. Free child care is provided from 10am to 6pm for kids from 2 to 12.
         The Bookfair is an event for those that think they know everything about Anarchism to those that know they know very little. It would be great if you can help us publicise the Bookfair on all forms of social media. But we also need you to talk to friends, family, workmates, people you see when you are signing on or in the school playgrounds, at Uni, college or school or anywhere else you happen to socialise about the day. We still have leaflets so leave them around anywhere people mingle. We are a small group who organise the Bookfair and rely on others to help us publicise the event. In good old anarchist tradition we hope people will self organise with publicity. We organise it, but it’s your Bookfair. 

What is anarchism?
          Like all really good ideas, anarchy is pretty simple when you get down to it. Human beings are at their very best when they are living free of authority, deciding things among themselves, rather than being ordered about. That's what the word means: without government. Read on...

See a map of the venue and surrounding area.
Directions to venue
From Seven Sisters
         Come out of tube and walk down West Green Road. Either get 41 bus down the road to Philip Lane stop (3 stops) or walk along West Green Road (15 minutes).
From Turnpike Lane
       Come out of tube and get 41 or 230 bus from stop outside the florists towards West Green Road (4 stops) and get off after KK McCools pub. Or 67 bus from same stop but get off before mini roundabout (again 4 stops) and walk along West Green Road a couple of hundred yards. Or walk from tube along West Green Road (15 minutes)
From Manor House
       341 bus (towards Turnpike Lane). It’s about 9 or 10 stops. Or overground to Seven Sister and then get bus or walk. Look for the Anarchist Bookfair banners on the blue metal fence outside the venue.
        It is a 20 minute walk from the nearest tube to the venue. There are buses that go from the tube station to the venue, but if you have mobility problems and have difficulties making this journey please email us at access@anarchistbookfair.org.uk and we will see if we can help with transport. 

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

Vandals.

 

        I have always maintained that we are all anarchists at heart. We all want to control our own lives, we don’t like being told what to do, we like to feel we belong, and are a useful part in whatever we are involved. Of course this sort of society doesn’t allow for that. So to all those youngsters out there, the ones who hate being told what to do, who hate authority, who lash out without direction, the “vandals, the “rebels without a cause”, you’re not the misfits, you’re not the bad penny, the black sheep, you are the ones that are alive, you are anarchist that are looking for a direction. Look deep and seek the root of your anger and frustration, it’s not your neighbour, the bus driver, the car park attendant, or the group in the other street, it is the system, the state and its apparatus, that tries to bind you in a straight jacket of their rules and regulations. Direct your young anger and energy in that direction and you will find what you are looking for, and become part of an ever growing army that wants the same as you, comradeship, freedom, justice and equality of opportunity.

 

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. 

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