The Terrorists Are Back In Action.

       Today as I watch the plunder of Venezuela unfold and I fear for the people of the unfortunate country, visions of the past flash through my head. For those who still think that the media splurge of propaganda is to show the world that the West cares and to let them know that we will rescue the people of Venezuela from a mad evil dictator, I ask them to cast their minds back to recent history across the Middle East, and see the Western states for what they are, professional terrorists.

     I wrote this article back in March 2016, but because of what is going on in Venezuela I think it is well worth repeating. I have seen nothing since 2016 that would alter my opinion, but a lot that would re-confirm that view.

          We live in a world of terrorists, the religious fanatics who feel the need to kill, to prove how wonderful their religion is, how great their god, they kill hundreds indiscriminately, while praising their god. Then there is the professional terrorist, the states, who bomb into destruction entire countries, killing countless millions in the process, spreading terror across land after land. At the same time creating breeding grounds for the for the religious fanatic to recruit and win over more suicide maniacs. What links these two groups is the fact that will kill indiscriminately for an idea, they will kill innocent people who are in no way involved in the terrorist process. People who just happen to be in their line of fire.

        There is no terrorist organisation on earth or has there ever been one, that could compete with, let alone out do, the countless deaths and massive destruction of the nation state. Today we are witness to almost the entire Middle East in a quagmire if blood, death and destruction, we have seen countries with modern infrastructure reduced to rubble, with the victims numbering in the millions, and the vast majority of those killed have been killed by the various states. From Afghanistan to Iraq, from Libya to Syria, the accolade for the highest number of deaths and greatest destruction goes, unchallenged, to the Western states. Only an idiot would say that the West only carried out these blood soaked actions with the welfare of the people of the Middle East in mind. They done it for their own self centred ideology, just like the religious nutters.

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

The Suffering Of The Libyan People, Part Of The Grand Plan.

       The destruction of Libya by the Western imperialist military wing, NATO, is no longer news. We are supposed to sit back and consider it a success and the people of Libya have been given democracy, thanks to our unselfish assistance. What a massive distortion of the truth, eight years on and Libya, and I'm not spouting praise for Gaddafi, far from it, what was a modern state with a national education system, health service and other modern facilities, has been reduced to a barbaric feuding tribal land, where poverty and bloodshed are co-joined twins. All part of the Imperialists' strategy to destroy any power structure in that part of the world, so that its resources can be freely plundered. Syria an on going process and Iraq, are similar scenarios, with Iran and Venezuela, marked for similar treatment. The callous savagery of Western imperialism knows no bounds. 

Democracy Western Style.

Some extracts from a Middle East Eye article: 

       NATO’s bombardment of Libya in 2011 was never about human rights. Rather, it was the wilful creation of a failed state, designed to ensure the country could never again re-emerge as a strong, united, independent power

       Of course there is not always unity between the Western imperialists, there is deep rivalry between the various power blocks within the power hungry cabal.

A blood-soaked chessboard

      At the same time, Libya continues to serve as a blood-soaked chessboard for inter-imperial rivalries between Western powers, with France and Italy backing different sides in the ongoing civil war, each vying to position itself as the "indispensable power" in the region. To this end, May saw a conference hosted by Emmanuel Macron in Paris – with the Italians cut out – while Italy held its own rival event in Palermo six months later.

     Neither produced anything concrete for Libyans, although the French president's promise of December elections may well have spurred further violence, as each side sought to create facts on the ground in the run-up. The elections, needless to say, never happened - nor could they have, in the absence of any kind of agreed constitutional framework for carrying them out. 

      Even when they come together to destroy a country, they can't always agree on dividing the spoils, greed dominates their entire individual ideology.

     - the progress of the LNA, the reconciliation with Gaddafi loyalists, and the success of the Libyan-led negotiations - were a blow to the US-UK policy of militia-led destabilisation.

Read the full article HERE:
   
      Looking at the Libya, Iraq and Venezuela situation, the logic should surely follow that with the mass protests in France and America, surely it is time for intervention to bring these poor suffering people democracy, NATO, where are you when you are needed.

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

Yes, Another Piece On Venezuela.

        I make no excuse for posting another article on Venezuela, for what we are witnessing in that country is the vicious hand of modern imperialism. It is being executed under a fog of misinformation, omissions, and lies, the outcome of which could be a blood bath of the ordinary people of Venezuela in the interests of the ruthless Western corporate juggernaut. The more information that becomes public the clearer we will be able to see the true situation. Such situations should never drop of our radar, knowledge of how the system works prepares us in countering its ruthless and brutish development.

From Black Rose Anarchist Federation
      The following is a statement on the current political crisis and U.S. backed coup underway in Venezuela produced by Solidaridad, a libertarian communist political organization in Chile. In the coming days we will be publishing an additional statement written jointly by anarchist groups in Brazil and Uruguay. For additional analysis we recommend our archive of articles and statements on Venezuela. Translation by Francisco C., Black Rose/Rosa Negra.

Original Link
A Public Statement on the Situation in Venezuela
        Venezuela is going through a profound crisis of which it is impossible to exempt the responsibility of the leadership of Chavismo: the failure in opening a path that allows the country to overcome the dependence of oil, the inefficiency in implementing measures that better the economic situation of the country, the bureaucracy that is drowning the popular initiative and the cases of corruption that affect officials who move key aspects of the economy. These are some of the unresolved problems.
      Nevertheless, this situation is within the framework of a polarization and conflict of classes where the Venezuelan right-wing, the loyal representative of the well-off sectors in the country in conjunction with diverse administrations from the U.S. government, has unfolded a destabilizing strategy intended to asphyxiate the Venezuelan economy contributing to the deterioration to the living conditions of millions of people. The objective of this effort is to undermine the popular support that has mainly sustained the process of change in Venezuela.
      Even worse, this right-wing, which presents itself as a democratic alternative and which hides its despise for the working class behind a false language that appeals to justice and respect to a constitution they had once insulted, operates in a criminal manner sharpening the levels of violence. Behind the figure of [self-proclaimed interim President] Juan Guaidó and the Voluntad Popular or Popular Will party, hiding behind the high-flown speeches amplified by the media has been an insurrectionary strategy which unfolded with armed attacks on military barracks, [1] destruction of health centers, [2] the burning of warehouses with food destined to vulnerable, [3] among other multiple actions of sabotage went on during these years. It came to the point where social leaders were being killed by hired hitmen [4] and to the burning alive of people simply for being Chavistas. [5]
        From what’s mentioned above we’ve learned that if the right gains power in Venezuela again, not only will it implement adjustment policies that include privatization of public enterprises, massive indebtedness with bodies like the IMF, and the opening of oil projects where private companies assume as principal shareholders, [6] but it will also be a government of revenge where the hate accumulated during these years will unfold brutally against organized sectors of the people who dared to dream of a country that would transition to non-capitalist ways of living together.
      The realization of a profound balance between Latin American progressives and in particular from the Venezuelan experience,even with all its contradictions and potential is a pending task for the left. Suffice it to say that many of these experiences have given way to political processes that directly harm the working class. Nevertheless, and despite the legitimate differences that we openly express with those who lead the Venezuelan process, the left and the people have to be emphatic in rejecting this new coup attempt – the ominous interference of the U.S and the other countries related to the destabilizing strategy which includes the government of [Chilean President Sebastián] Piñera and the political sectors who support its foreign policy all the way from Chile. Along with this we must demand the governments who quickly squared with the position of the United States to respect the rights of the Venezuelan people to its own conflicts without the interference of other states establishing as a minimum floor the non-recognition of the diplomatic delegations won over by Guaído.
       We manifest our solidarity with the people of Venezuela directly from our organization, especially with the fringes who even against the grain of the Chavista leadership and assuming all the contradictions of the change in process, protagonize [fight for] new experiences in building popular power that range from the takeovers of the land, the socialization of self-managed companies by its own workers or the government from below in rural and urban communities, [7] and obtaining spaces that prefigure the path of the people who fight against the ominous consequences of patriarchal capitalism we want to overcome.
Solidaridad, February 2019

      Notes [1]  https://www.eltiempo.com/archivo/documento/MAM-53579
[2]  https://www.hispantv.com/noticias/venezuela/408335/ataque-incendio-hospi...
[3]
https://actualidad.rt.com/actualidad/242996-50-toneladas-alimentos-quema...
[4]
http://www.resumenlatinoamericano.org/2018/08/03/asesinados-tres-voceros...
[5]
https://red58.org/cr%C3%ADmenes-de-odio-derecha-venezolana-quema-viva-a-...
[6]
https://www.elinformador.com.ve/2019/01/31/descargue-aqui-el-plan-pais-l...
[7] For an idea about the concrete experiences in building popular power in Venezuela we recommend you visit the following article written in 2016 written by two comrades of Solidaridad, “Political Situation in Venezuela: Crisis, Trends, and the Challenge of Class Independence.”

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

ISDS, No Friendly Society.

        ISDS, a rather innocuous seeming acronym, some may no doubt connect it with International Sheep Dog Society. However, it has another more sinister and undemocratic association connected to the corporate juggernaut and the financial Mafia, that's where the initials stand for Investment-State Dispute Settlement. This is a neat piece of legislation that allows companies to sue governments if the feel that that government has passed legislation that could harm its profits. Supposing a government passes some health and safety regulations and a large company thinks it could harm its profits, it can then sue that government and claim millions/billions in compensation, tax payers money of course.

      Here are some recent cases from Politico:

         In 2011, Australia introduced some of the world’s toughest legislation on tobacco packaging. It obliged manufacturers to remove all branding and sell cigarettes from plain brown packs dominated with grisly health warnings.

       Tobacco companies attempted but failed to overturn the legislation in Australian courts. Then Philip Morris tried another tack. It unearthed an ISDS clause in a 1993 trade agreement between Australia and Hong Kong — where Philip Morris Asia is based — and sued the Australian government.

          The case is still pending, but Australian media estimate taxpayers are having to fork out the equivalent of €34 million in lawyers fees for just the first phase of the litigation.

           In Europe, Swedish energy company Vattenfall is seeking €5 billion compensation from the  German government over its decision to phase out nuclear power following the 2011 Fukushima radiation leak in Japan.

         Canada’s Lone Pine Resources Company is using a U.S. subsidiary to sue its own government for $230 million under ISDS provisions in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). That’s in response to a provincial authority in Quebec calling a moratorium on fracking for natural gas under the St. Lawrence River.

Such cases help explain mounting concern among the public and politicians on both sides of the Atlantic over ISDS provisions in the TTIP negotiations.

         Emotions are particularly strong in Europe, where there’s already widespread unease in some countries over the impact TTIP could have in areas ranging from privacy to labor laws and genetically modified organisms.

Read the full article HERE: 

         More on this pampered, privileged parasites' plan to run roughshod over the health and welfare of the people in their greed fest for profit.

From Roar Magazine:

        Over forty of the corporations listed as WEF “Industry Partners” have been involved in ISDS cases, often intended to undermine or discourage progressive policy, including environmental protections, minimum-wage increases and public health measures.
      ISDS clauses, found within a range of trade and investment agreements including the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), enable multinational companies to sue states via secretive international tribunals if governments take actions which they believe unfairly impede their profits.
       The “Stop ISDS coalition”, an alliance of over a hundred NGOs, including Greenpeace, ActionAid and Public Services International organized the action as a launch for a petition to the European Union to end the promotion of ISDS and support a Binding UN Treaty on Transnational Corporations to give people and governments the ability to hold the private sector to account.
      Some examples of ISDS cases by WEF corporations include:

• Cargill sued Mexico in 2005 after the Government implemented a tax on high-fructose corn syrup to address the country’s obesity crisis. Cargill used ISDS under Nafta to extract over $70 million in damages from Mexico’s public budget. Cargill used the WEF in 2018 to launch a Corporate Social Responsibility project, claiming to “address social issues using the power of food.”
• In 2015, Novartis threatened to use ISDS to successfully discourage the Colombian government from making a life-saving leukemia drug more accessible through compulsory licensing. The drug, which has brought in over €40 billion in revenue for Novartis, sold for over $15,000 per patient per year; twice the average person’s income.
• In 2008, Dow Chemical sued Canada after Quebec banned the manufacture and sale of harmful pesticides. Dow Agrosciences declared the subsequent settlement a victory, and commentators noted the case may discourage other Governments from moving ahead with their own pesticide bans.

Read the full article HERE:

       So this is how capitalism works, profit above all else, health and welfare, living conditions, etc. don't even appear on the list of priorities of the corporate juggernaut and the financial Mafia. If you rely on governments to sort this one out, you'll have a long wait, governments rely on these bodies and have little to no power over them, and these bodies use governments to protect their interests. It is a relationship that excludes the people, their aims and desires.
      To see to the needs of all our people in a fair and just society, first dismantle capitalism, then work from there.

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

This System Of Human Suicide.

       There are many reasons to strive for the destruction of capitalism, its exploitation of people, its ever widening gap between rich and poor, the fact that poverty and deprivation are its by-products, the fact that the wealth created always flows up to the few at the expense of the many, its endless wars and the resultant death and misery. Then there is its drive for ever increasing growth and its plundering of the earth's resources to feed the insatiable corporate greed, and many more reason can easily be found. However, at the top of the list of indictments against the capitalist system must be it is destruction of the natural environment. This avoidable destruction is responsible for the extinction of countless species on the planet, this in turn will lead to the inevitable extinction of our own species, the human. Why persist with a system that we know, if it continues, we lose the essential diversity of the planet which will obviously see the demise of our own species.

       There are alternatives, it is possible to create a system built on sustainability, mutual aid and co-operation, we have enough resources at present to see to the needs of all our people. All we need is the will to start to put in place the building blocks for such a system at grass roots level, while destroying the foundations of this present system of human suicide. However, time is running out, we are reaching the point of now or never.

This from Not Buying Anything:

      “Our planet is now in the midst of its sixth mass extinction of plants and animals — the sixth wave of extinctions in the past half-billion years. We’re currently experiencing the worst spate of species die-offs since the loss of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.  

      Although extinction is a natural phenomenon, it occurs at a natural “background” rate of about one to five species per year. Scientists estimate we’re now losing species at 1,000 to 10,000 times the background rate, with literally dozens going extinct every day.”

Source: The Extinction Crisis, Center for Biological Diversity, biologicaldiversity.org

       Without insects and other land-based arthropods, EO Wilson, the renowned Harvard entomologist, estimates that humanity would last all of a few months.
        Even if this were the only problem facing us (it isn't), it would be enough to prompt some serious questions about where civilization is headed, and then consider some serious solutions, like radically changing the way we do everything.
      You can't separate the way we live from the challenges we face, like Insectageddon. There are better ways of doing things that respect all life on Earth, and if we are to save ourselves, we will need to adopt them, and soon.
       First insecticide, then ecocide, then humanicide. As they go, so go we.

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

Spaceship Earth Has No Escape Capsule!!

      While reputable scientists tell us we have a very short limited time to get free from fossil fuels, or face human disaster on an unprecedented scale, the UK government makes noises of approval while voicing vacuous promises. Then goes on to grant fracking licenses to greedy corporate bodies who don't give a shit about the planet, and only have eyes for profit.
       The planet is not dying, it is being murdered, by corporate greed, and by our inaction, we are complicit. A fine gift for our grandchildren.

      As usual, quiet voice of reason from that excellent site, Not Buying Anything. 

          Humans are killing the planet, and we seem unable to stop. But hey, nobody's perfect. A recent report shows that since the 1970s our actions have caused the deaths of 60% of invertebrates. And the news is not good for insects, either.
         Humanity is facing the most extreme challenges in 200,000 years, and no one seems worried enough to take any kind of meaningful and collective evasive action.
        “We have known for many, many years that we are driving the planet to the very brink. This is not a doom and gloom story; it is reality. Our day-to-day life, health and livelihoods depend on a healthy planet. There cannot be a healthy, happy and prosperous future for people on a planet with a destabilized climate, depleted oceans and rivers, degraded land and empty forests, all stripped of biodiversity, the web of life.” - Marco Lambertini, director general of the WWF

       The majority reaction is that "nobody's perfect", and that we will just have to ride this thing out and see what happens. Too bad about all the extinctions.
That is the all-too convenient truth, and it overrides all the inconvenient truths confronting us.
       We are far from perfect, but approaching perfection is a goal we should continually strive toward. If we did, we could tackle all our challenges with creative, life-enhancing solutions. For a dumb species, we can be pretty smart when we want to, or when faced with imminent death.
     We CAN do better, and we will have to. If we fail to act, and soon, before long it will be human populations crashing.
There is nothing convenient about that.

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

Time To Stop The Real Criminals, The Real Perpetrators Of Violence.

 

      A moving letter from a Hambach Forest protector, it may be personal, but they speak for all of us who see the injustice, the stupid suicidal actions, the greed driven desires, of this insane economical system that is plundering the Earth's resources at an ever increasing unsustainable rate. It rightly asks, "Who are the criminals?" "Who is inflicting the violence?". Though to those with eyes, the answers are obvious, it is the bastard twins, the corporate conglomerates, and their powerful henchmen the various states. While we, the ordinary, the many, seek a future for our kids and grandkids, the state/corporate juggernaut crashes on, its only aim, power and wealth for the few, as it destroys all our futures.

Visit  https://hambachforest.org/ for more information.

 

From Contra Info,  source: abcrhineland.blackblogs.org

     You lock us up and punish us, because we think and act independently, and decide ourselves, what is right and what isn’t. This is what makes us human: Ethics, autonomy, independence, empathy, thoughts about justice for the future, our unity of body, soul, and spirit.

       With all of these abilities come a very special responsibility, and you want that I throw this responsibility to the site, and act ruthlessly and egoistic? You want that I close my eyes and ears? An empty case, a robot, that only follows orders? This I can’t do.

      How can you demand, that I deny my humanity, or subordinate myself to the profit-motive of a single company, or power-hungry politicians? How can you demand, that I should act as if tomorrow didn’t matter, even though everything in our system is based on a future?

       Otherwise, what is insurance, wills, or pensions? We are humans, and we know what “future” is.

        So how can you demand of me, to take part in the destruction of the livelihoods of ourselves and our children, to destroy my own future?

       I haven’t always known this, but we need the forest so much. In regions far from the coast, no forest means too little rain. Without rain no agriculture, without agriculture there is too little food. And we can’t eat or drink lignite-coal. You don’t want this to be true, for you it is only trees. You will first understand this, once it is too late.

       You are telling me, that what I am doing is good, but that it is the wrong methods. That they are too extreme. Hmm. How extreme is this eviction then? As I was driven away from the forest, I could see the long line of police-cars, machines, eviction-tanks, etc. again. And I knew that it was just a fraction of these, that were inside the forest.

I almost had to laugh, that’s how ridiculous it was. Because I knew that we are winning, no matter how it ends.

      For you have nothing to fight for. You call us extreme, because we are different, because we are consistent, because we defend what we believe in. Because we can’t stop, otherwise we would betray ourselves. We were sitting in the lock-on, could barely move. Could barely turn. We could only look at each other, share words of courage and consolation. You came from all sides, slashed the roof over our heads, cut down the walls behind us. You have torn our lives apart. And then you accuse us of violence?

      Sometimes in the mornings I said thanks to Kontiki. For a wonderful restful night, for waking up in the right place, for the great feeling of safety and satisfaction, that it has given me. I never knew: am I speaking with the tree-house or with the tree? It was a creature. A creature that carried something we built, a creature with which we lived together, dreamed together. We were so anxious for the trees, when it wasn’t raining. We thought, at some point they will just fall to the ground, powerless. They were turning yellow, but they are so strong. They had to go through so much. It is an injustice to pump out ground-water, it is such a huge injustice!

       You were laughing, as we were screaming in panic, that you were bringing the life of our friend on the Skypod in danger. We were screaming and screaming, and you cut the rope. Only the friction held it up. Who is committing the crimes?

     We are making you afraid, because we don’t fit inside your schemes, because what we are fighting for isn’t power or money, but the love of life itself, the wild urge for freedom, and the rage towards those who want to take all of this away. If I give you my identity,

     I will be get out of here. So probably a lot of you will say, it is my own fault that I am sitting here. But my identity isn’t something written on a piece of paper. My identity is that which makes me human, my essence, my soul, all that I have learned in this forest, all that the people there have showed me. All of that, which I would lose, if I told you who I am. To reduce myself to these few words. I will not use the unjust privilege of a German passport. I will stay in solidarity with those, who because of repression cannot give their identity. I am a human and I fight for the preservation of this earth. Everything else is irrelevant.

Winter

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

America, Land Of Slave Labour.

         Slave labour is alive and well in 21st century capitalism, captured in camps and forced to work for little or nothing is a way of life in that so called "leader of the free world" America. The country that marauds around the globe bombing other countries into oblivion while stating it is "liberating" them. It certainly is the world's leader in destruction abroad, and slavery at home. 

Wikipedia:

Incarceration in the United States is one of the main forms of punishment and rehabilitation for the commission of felony and other offenses. The United States has the largest prison population in the world, and the highest per-capita incarceration rate.^[3][4] In 2016 in the US, there were 655 people incarcerated per 100,000 population. This is the US incarceration rate or adults or people tried as adults.^[5][3]

        America accounts for approximately 25% of the world's prison population while accounting for only 5% of the world's population, and this gigantic prison population is milked by the American corporate world. Slavery on a massive scale, legitimised by the supposed leader of the "democratic" world. The word "democratic" sticks in your throat when mentioned in the same breath as capitalism. At the moment, approximately 2.3 million people are locked up in American prisons.

        Influenced by enormous corporate lobbying, the United States Congress enacted the Prison Industry Enhancement Certification Program in 1979 which permitted US companies to use prison labour. Coupled with the drastic increase in the prison population during this period, profits for participating companies and revenue for the government and its private contractors soared. The Federal Bureau of Prisons now runs a programme called Federal Prison Industries (UNICOR) that pays inmates under one dollar an hour. The programme generated $500m in sales in 2016 with little of that cash being passed down to prison workers. Stateside, where much of the US addiction to mass incarceration lies, is no different. California's prison labour programme is expected to produce some $232m in sales in 2017.
       These exploited labourers are disproportionately African American and Latino - a demographic status quo resulting from the draconian sentencing and other criminal justice policies ransacking minority communities across the United States. African Americans are incarcerated at a rate five times higher than that of whites. In states like Virginia and Oklahoma, one in every 14 or 15 African American men are put in prison.  

 
        “Militant actions in support of the prison strike will send a powerful message of defiance to the American state and solidarity to rebels inside prison walls.”

From Revolutionary Abolition:

        On August 21st, people locked up in prisons throughout the United States are set to go on strike, calling attention not only to heinous abuses and inhumane conditions, but also to the ongoing enslavement of millions of people inside American prisons. After the Civil War, slavery remained institutionalized in American society through the constitution’s 13th amendment, which allows slavery to remain as punishment for a crime. In America, black people’s criminalization is enforced by police who frequently shoot black people with impunity and by judges who sentence black people to draconian sentences, ensuring their enslavement in modern-day plantations.
        Facing a situation meant to stifle any glimmer of joy and humanity, people in prisons across the United States are calling attention to the “lack of respect for human life that is embedded in our nation’s penal ideology” by courageously going on strike from August 21st to September 9th.
       The dates, chosen by prison organizers, signify the strike’s continuation with the legacies of Nat Turner, who began his rebellion on August 21, 1831, and the Attica Uprising, which began September 9, 1971. Nat Turner, who was born into slavery, took part in a major insurrection, freeing slaves from plantations and executing slave owners. The Attica Uprising, an important milestone for prison resistance in the United States, took place following the shooting of black revolutionary George Jackson by a prison guard during an escape attempt. Like Nat Turner and the Attica rebels before them, prison strikers today are fighting for black liberation and the abolition of slavery.
       Revolutionaries around the world should be aware of the struggle against slavery in America’s prisons. The Trump presidency is one of the most barbaric regimes in the world today, continuing a long legacy of racism, exploitation and genocide engrained in the American state. People in prisons rising up to regain their humanity are providing some of the most inspiring resistance of the Trump era to the horrifying, dehumanizing policies of America’s judicial system.
        We call on comrades around the world to join in solidarity actions with the prison strike in the United States. The American state and corporations that benefit from prison slave labor must be held accountable for their atrocities by revolutionaries through direct action in locations around the world. Actions targeting American consulates and companies benefiting from slave labor, and destroying symbols of American prison slavery will draw the world’s attention to the struggle taking place within the prisons.
        Militant actions in support of the prison strike will send a powerful message of defiance to the American state and solidarity to rebels inside prison walls.

Burn the prisons!
Support the prison strike!
Long live international solidarity!

revolutionaryabolition.

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

Another Corporate Grab For Our Public Spaces.

           I'm not a lover of petitioning our lords and masters, asking them to "please do this or that", or "please don't do this or that". However, to emphasise the point I keep making, that the aim of this corrupt system we are burdened under, is to end all public spaces and public services, I sometimes make exceptions. Bit by bit they slice and gobble up pieces of public spaces and syphon of part of our social services. moving ever towards that day when everything is "private" owned by the greed driven corporations. You pay what they ask, or you are excluded.

Loch Lomond.

 

       Here in Glasgow we have seen slices of public spaces disappear into the grasp of the money Mafia. The latest greedy grab is for a slice of Loch Lomond, part of the The Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park, to develop a money making "leisure park" named Flamingo Land. As long as you come with your credit card or wallet, you will be able to enjoy parts of the National Park that you once could enjoy for free. The Loch Lomond area is a place to relax, explore the hills and/or cycle its roads, Loch Lomond is a world renowned beauty spot, and a place of wonderful scenery and walks that you can enjoy for free. This greed driven "Flamingo Land" fantasy, gives no thought to what the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park is, their idea is to snatch a slice of the National Park and milk the hundreds of thousands of people who come to enjoy, in many forms, its spectacular beauty. Do you wish to see, piece by piece of our national parks become money making enterprises for the corporate greed machine, excluding you, unless you pay their price? Let's make sure the "flamingos" take flight and leave Loch Lomond.

 Luss, on Loch Lomond shore.

       With anger and disgust, I've just signed the following petition "Scottish Government: To The  Scottish Government - Stop The Sale of Loch Lomond" and hope you will join the growing group of angry concerned folks, and turn this into an almighty roar of real anger. However, until we dismantle the capitalist economic system we live under, we will have to continually fight these money grabbing exploits of the corporate greed brigade as they continue their onslaught to disposes the people of all public spaces and public services.

      The goal of the petition is to reach 25,000 signatures and we need more support. You can read more and sign the petition here:

https://chn.ge/2KUfJB8

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

One World, One People.

        In our struggle to defeat this capitalist cancer that is devouring our planet, we are complimented by many courageous individuals, but they need our committed solidarity, it is our struggle. To those who struggle for that better, fairer world, borders are invisible, it is one world, one struggle. A pipeline in Dakota, a privatisation in Greece, sweatshop conditions in Pakistan, it is the one fight to end the plunder of the planet and the exploitation of its people.
This from Enough is Enough:

          Support Happi with this You Caring Link
       Happi is currently being held captive by the U.S. Empire around his traditional Lakota homelands (so-called Bismarck, North Dakota). He is in Burleigh / Morton County Detention Center. Any and all funds will be used for his freedom. As a frontline warrior, he took courage during the #NoDAPL struggle by putting his body in front of earth-destroying construction equipment and stood up for the people. Happi continues to inspire with his humble and happy spirit.
        Lakota Warrior Happi American Horse Is being framed By The Morton County Police.
         Write Happi: Burleigh Morton Detention Center -Dale AmericanHorse JR- PO Box 2499 Bismark ND 58502
          Leave Happi A Free Message: 701 354-3292

Donate To legal Fund: Support

Support Committee: https://happisupport67127223.wordpress.com/

Contact Support Committee: happisupport@riseup.net

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

UK's State Sanctioned Slave Labour Force.

            Slave labour is alive and well in the UK, though most people are unaware of its extent. What is more it is state sanctioned, and housed in special built units all across the country. It is big business, and makes millions for the corporate world and undercuts the living standards of the ordinary working population. This slave labour force is paid as little as 40p an hour, no paid holidays, no right to join a union, can be punished for not working hard enough, and has none of the workers rights that have been won by bitter struggles over the centuries.
        This vast slave labour army is housed at our expense of approximately £33,000 a year, of tax payers money, per individual, but produces massive profits for the corporate world. I am of course talking about UK system of encouraging the corporate world to use prisoners as a very cheap, captive, labour force.
         Prisons have always been used as a means of control and repression of the ordinary people, in the past they have been used to colonise occupied territories, but we no longer colonise other people's countries, so the state has switched prisons into cheap totally controlled, commercial units for their corporate buddies. Prisons built and run by private companies for profit and useing prisoners as a source of cheap labour is now the norm in this country. The UK has the most privatised prison system in Europe.
        Our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media will from time to time highlight the use of prison labour by large corporations in other countries, but seldom shine a light on the subject of UK prison labour. However the UK prison slave labour industry is used by many well know brand names. Of course it is dressed up as "preparing prisoners for life outside prison" but paying them £10 for a 40 hour week to produce goods for rich companies to sell in the open market, seems to stink of raw greedy exploitation. Prison slave labour may not be the main source of our shrinking living standards, but it definitely is a very strong contributing factor, and is certainly a model the corporate world would love to expand.

From Another Angry Voice:

          Since the Lib-Dems enabled the Tories back into power in 2010, British workers have suffered the longest sustained period of long-term wage deflation in recorded history. The real terms value of British wages has slumped 10.4% since the economic crisis, a wage decline only matched in severity by Greece out of all of the most developed economies in the world.
         The Tories have been doing everything they can to reduce wages and the disposable incomes of ordinary people: They've reduced public sector wages in real terms by imposing below inflation 1% pay rises (whilst accepting an 11% pay raise for themselves), they've overseen an exponential rise in people employed on exploitative Zero Hours Contracts, they've repeatedly slashed in-work benefits like Tax Credits and Housing Benefit, they've massively increased the amounts charged for university education and the interest rates charged on this appalling form of Aspiration Tax, they've unlawfully used unemployed people as a massive pool of free labour to distribute to their corporate mates and they've massively expanded the number of prisoners working for private companies too.
        The economic effect of prison labour driving down the wages of ordinary workers is bad enough in itself, but there is evidence that the availability of prison labour is actually resulting in real job losses as unscrupulous companies lay off their paid workforces and replace them with prison labour.
Again from Another Angry Voice, some specific examples:

     DHL According to the One3One website the global distribution company employs over 800 UK based prisoners to receive orders, pick, pack and ship. Meanwhile they have been shutting distribution centres, laying off hundreds of paid staff across the country (including 330 jobs in Droitwich, 200 job losses in Swindon and further job losses in Scunthorpe and Corby), and slashing wages across their distribution network prompting strike action. This is how Chris Taylor, DHL General Account Manager described the scheme on the One3One Solutions website: "Once you are through the prison door we like to create an environment identical to any DHL workplace". 

Going Green
        A Cardiff based loft insulation and solar panel instillation company that laid off 17 workers at their call centre and replaced them with prisoners from Prescoed prison at an hourly rate of just 40p an hour. 

Speedy Hire A tool hire company that sacked 800 workers and shut down 75 depots in 2010. Since then they have massively increased the size of their prison contract to service and repair the tools they hire out, paying Erlestoke, Garth and Pentonville prisons £114,012 for the services of around 100 prisoners during the 2010-11 financial year. 

Timson Ltd
         The boss James Timson is happy to act as a propaganda mouthpiece for the government's prison labour scheme, but what he fails to mention in his praise for the programme is that his company's increased use of prison labour coincided with a wave of redundancies that wiped out some 30% of the paid workforce at the company.

CiscoCisco is mentioned by the Tory MP Andrew Selous as being a big player in the government's prison labour scheme. In August 2016 the company announced that it plans to lay off 5,500 workers worldwide. Perhaps they could prevent a few job losses in the UK by bringing the services they've outsourced to prison labour schemes back in-house?

From Incarcerated Workers Organising Committee: 

         Prisoners that work in prisons have no rights to organise, no contracts, no pensions, no right to to choose what they do – they have no use of the gains that workers have fought and died for over centuries. If prisoners refuse to work they are punished via the IEP (Incentives and Earned Privileges Scheme), and can have visits, association (time outside in a courtyard or out of cell) and other ‘privileges’ take away from them. They are the ultimate captive workforce for capitalist industries and have been used to break strikes, while simultaneously taking jobs out of communities and into prisons. Prison labour has been used as a tool for conquest and domination for centuries, from using convict labour to colonise countries, to putting prisoners to work in making goods for armies and war.

       This is state and capitalism working hand in hand to protect and enhance their power, privileges and wealth at our expense. They see nothing wrong in locking people up and turning them into cheap production units with no rights what so ever. The system stinks from top to bottom, it is a bubbling cesspool of greed and exploitation, far beyond reform. For justice, freedom and peace, its destruction is the only answer.

For A Free Society, Prisons Must Be Destroyed.

 

        Prisons are one of the state's repressive tools, they are brutal places, where ever aspect of your life is at the whim of the repressive administration. Apart from over crowded and insanitary conditions, there is the abuse by the corporate bodies that use prisoners as very profitable slave labour, in this particular field I believe American leads the field. Now it seems they are going one step further in this abuse and exploitation with a rolling out of a new scheme which bans those incarcerated from receiving fresh fruit and veg from their families and friends. Packages for prisoners can now only be made through named vendors. This is just another cruel and vindictive aspect of this savage inhumane state repressive machine. Denying prisoners of healthy food and squeezing more money from families and friends while at the same time, increasing the profit of selected corporate bodies. True capitalism, profit before humanity.

          This from It's Going Down

      The thugs who run the NYS prison system (NYS DOCCS) has issued a new directive (4911A) that describes new, draconian package rules that they are testing in 3 prisons as a ‘pilot program’. This directive comes in the wake of petty rule crackdowns after the escape of two prisoners from Clinton prison in 2015. Reports have trickled in about long term prisoners losing their trailer visits, hoodies being eliminated and even more bitterness on the part of the guards. This past fall, political prisoner Herman Bell was beat down by 3 or more guards, others like Ramsey Orta had to deal with transfer way upstate and have been assaulted by staff. Basically, staff thinks they can do what they want.
     Currently, at most facilities, family and friends can drop off packages at the front desk when visiting, packages that include fresh fruit and vegetables that supplement the high carb/sugar, meager diet provided by DOCCS. Although you have to deal with the guards and their bullshit attitude about what can and cannot come into the prison, at the end, you know your friend or family member will be getting to eat some fresh fruit, vegetables and treats they cannot possibly get from DOCCS.
      These new rules are horrible in so many ways including:
1. Packages can be ordered only from approved vendors (so basically, some corporations will win out and have a guaranteed market to sell overpriced processed food).
2. Fresh fruit and vegetables are not allowed.
3. Family and friends cannot drop off packages while visiting. All packages must be shipped through the vendor.
4. Each person is limited to ordering three packages a month for him or herself and receiving three packages a month from others. Each package cannot be more than 30 pounds. Of the 30 pounds per package, only 8 pounds can be food.
5. Allowable items will be the same in all facilities. (No more local permits.)
6. There are far fewer items allowed than before and of the items that are allowed, far less variety. This includes additional restrictions on clothing.
7. The pilot rules are not clear about how books, media, religious items and literature, or other items subject to First Amendment protection will be treated. This could mean that prison book programs like Books through Bars will not be able to send free books to the 52,000 people in the prison system.
       The pilot program implements an “approved venders only” package system. This means that only packages from approved vendors will be accepted. The vendors appear to be companies that specialize in shipping into prisons and jails. There are currently five approved vendors identified on the DOCCS website. This amounts to a cash grab for these companies.
        The pilot program is starting at three facilities: Taconic, Greene, and Green Haven. Those facilities will stop accepting packages from non-approved vendors on January 2, 2018.

          A call to organise against this callous, vicious and vindictive piece of repression and money grabbing action:

       We have to make this package directive unworkable. These new rules are cruel; eliminating fresh fruit and vegetables and creating massive profits for the vampire companies that will fill the niche.

WE CAN ORGANIZE TO ROLL THESE RULES BACK.

Some ideas how:

1.) Sign the petition- share it with your address book, share it on twitter, share it on facebook. It takes two seconds. https://diy.rootsaction.org/…/no-package-restrictions-for-n…

2.) Get in touch with your people in NYS Prisons and let them know about this. Inform them, send them the info. Massive non-cooperation on the part of NYS prisoners will have to play a huge role in this. People inside know how to make things unworkable.

3.) Flood the politicians with postcards and letters. Send one to Governor Cuomo and one to Anthony Annucci, the acting commissioner of DOCCS.

Andrew M. Cuomo Governor of New York State NYS State Capitol Building Albany, NY 12224

Acting Commissioner Anthony Annucci NYS DOCCS Building 2, State Campus Albany, NY 12226

Some sample text:

Dear Governor Cuomo,
This holiday season is about giving, not taking away. I object to the new DOCCS package rules.
From,
(Your Name)
(Your relationship to people in prison, if applicable)

Dear Acting Commissioner Annucci,
The new DOCCS package pilot punishes innocent families. Having a loved one in prison is already expensive and difficult—the new rules make it worse. Rescind the package pilot!
From,
(Your Name)
(Your relationship to people in prison, if applicable)

4.) Call Cuomo’s office and leave a message about it. You won’t have to talk to anyone. Just leave your message. 518-474-8390

5.) Email
Cuomo: http://www.governor.ny.gov/content/governor-contact-form
Annuci anthony.annucci@doccs.ny.gov

6.) Tweet at Cuomo: @NYGovCuomo

7) Get friendly media to cover this issue, to talk to family members of people inside and spread the word.

       Though I agree that prison reform is a dead end, and the prison system must be demolished, we must always show our solidarity with those trapped in this brutal state system of repression.