Borders.

            From an early age the state and its propaganda section, attempt to get you to love that little patch of land that they have with force claimed and built an imaginary wall around, it's called a border. They need you to support them against some other state who might wish to shift the border in favour of their own, power, interests and control. You are trained to love this little patch of land of which you own none, you are trained to love the history of those who claimed this land as theirs and set up those invisible walls called borders. You are meant to have an unstinting love for its flag and its leaders, and patriotism is the poison they use to attempt to intoxicate you into a state of being prepared to give your life for their purloined piece of the planet. These borders are sacred to the powers that be and encourage a dislike and distrust of those on the other side. Trying to cross these borders can cost you your life, you can be herded like cattle in detention centres, classified as an "alien" devoid of any rights. Humanity demands that we bring these imaginary walls crashing down, there is only one race, the human race and we are all part of that race and live on the one planet which belongs to no one, or belongs to us all. Borders are weapons to protect the rich, privileged and powerful, and attempt to create differences between the various groups of people trapped within their boundaries. Freedom and democracy means no borders, and freedom of movement.

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.

The following from Enough is Enough:

           This summer we will organize a No Border Camp, somewhere* in the Netherlands.

Originally published by Indymedia NL.

This summer we will organize a No Border Camp, somewhere* in the Netherlands. A week of actions, networking, meetings and discussions about all aspects of repressive migration policies – detention of refugees, racist border controls, deportations, militarization of borders, exploitation of migrant workers, etc. – and the connections with other areas of struggle, such as climate, anti-racism and anti-militarism. The international Abolish Frontex campaign is an important spearhead for the camp.
In the No Border Camp we want to bring the undocumented and the documented together. During the camp, interesting workshops are held and we discuss how we can all take a stand and organize resistance against the harsh Dutch and European migration policies.

Note the dates in your agenda; further info will follow.

Ideas for workshops or actions? Can you help organize this? Mail us: nbc-2022@riseup.net.

* location to be announced shortly before the start.

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

Those Migrants.

         No matter the country, nationalism and patriotism is the main drive of the powers that be. They all try to create this notion that the collective "we" of that country are special, different and should be protected from cultural infection of those others from over there. Migrants are the enemy, the are obviously inferior of criminal intent, and must be herded like cattle and denied any human rights. This technique has worked for centuries, making it easier for the state to gather its population of ordinary people behind its flag and send them over there to kill the population of ordinary people of some other state. All for power, wealth and/or resources to benefit the handful of power mongers that hold the reins of power.

        Patriotism is a poison that tries to tell us the we are different, sadly it is being fed to the ordinary people in every country across the globe. It's a poison that says we are different, when in actual fact we are all the same, human beings trying to make sense of our lives and survive in an alien economic system that benefits the few.

 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.

Brisbane, Australia: Fountain Runs Red for the Victims of Fortress Australia
Posted on 10/08/2020 by anarchistsworldwide

       This morning a group of autonomous dissidents went to the heart of Meanjin’s (Brisbane) capital and political district, close to the plush offices of politicians who make decisions about who gets to live freely and safely, and who remains indefinitely imprisoned and tortured in Australia’s detention regime.
         The fountain runs red today, representing the blood of the dozen or more refugees who died at the hands of Australia’s detention industry, and the thousands of others who have been mentally and physically tortured by it.

         We wrote messages to express our rage and our solidarity for the morning coffee goers, joggers and politicians who work in the corridors of power above, to read on their way to work.
        Though our gesture this morning is small, it is a symbol of our commitment to fight to the end for the freedom of refugees and abolition of Fortress Australia. We demand nothing but freedom and full citizenship rights for all asylum seekers and refugees incarcerated by Australia.
         This is not a game. Refugees have lost eight years of their lives imprisoned by this regime and childhoods have been stolen.
Enough is enough.
          We are counting down, there are only days left to choose humanity over this barbaric standard.

           Each day is another day of shame to Australia and the countdown is on.
5, 4, 3, 2, 1…

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

I Moan.

       I moan, but I feel with justification. Our freedoms are under attack, the attacker wears the cloak of a caring state, but we must be wary, it has ulterior motives. Naturally a lot of our actions have been governed by fear and self preservation along with fear for the lives of our loved ones. A population that lives with fear is easier manipulated and controlled, and that will be the underlying ulterior motive of the state. Society is being reshaped before our eyes, socialising will be very limited, as the restricting legislation introduce now will still be in place as the virus recedes. Keep your social distancing, but go to work, out of work experiences will be curtailed for some considerable time. Theatres and large sporting events postponed for at least a year, pubs disappearing as the go bust from no sales but still got the bills coming in. Get back to work, but keep your distance, no social gatherings as work conditions will now keep you apart, for your own good of course. Isolated living and working, with TV and virtual meetings, and a lingering fear that the virus is still there. Welcome to capitalism's brave new world. 

        This will be our new normality, unless we decide that the time has come for resistance rather than submission. We have seen the shoots of our view of the world we want. Those mutual aid groups springing up spontaneously in communities across the country, a desire to be with one and other, and to help where needed without the thought of profit. That has to be the driving force of the normality that we want, not the isolated profit making for wealthy shareholders. Resisting the call to go back to work under the dystopian construction of our capitalist masters, may be difficult, but complying is abdicating your right to live freely, in communities with your friends and families. This could be the final battle for your freedom, if they win, we continue our subjugation on a journey to an ecological disaster, with no come back. We are the only ones who can save ourselves and future generations from this nightmare dystopian human disaster. I moan, but I feel with justification.   

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

State Of Emergency?

 

       At the risk of information overload, here are some more thoughts on the coronavirus, the state's response and the state of emergency. I still maintain that it is up to the communities to organise and protect themselves in a rational and humane manner, rather than wait for the state's instructions and to quietly follow. Yi pays yir money an yi takes yir pick.

 This from Anarchist News:

Anarchists in Italy Report on the Spread of the Virus and the Quarantine        From one side, our lives are threatened by a new virus; from the other side, our freedom is menaced by nationalists and authoritarians intent on using this opportunity to set new precedents for state intervention and control. If we accept this dichotomy—between life and freedom—we will continue paying the price long after this particular pandemic has passed. In fact, each is bound up in the other, dependent upon the other. In the following report, our comrades in Italy describe the conditions prevailing there, the causes of the escalating crisis, and the ways that the Italian government has taken advantage of the situation to consolidate power in ways that will only exacerbate future crises.
       At this point, the strategy of the authorities is not aimed at protecting people from the virus so much as controlling the pace at which it spreads so that it doesn’t overwhelm their infrastructure. Crisis management is the order of the day, as in so many other aspects of our lives. Our rulers don’t intend to preserve the lives of everyone—they already wrote off concern for the destitute long before this crisis began. Rather, they are determined to preserve the current structure of society and their perceived legitimacy.

Continue reading:

This from Act For Freedom Now:

     INTERRUPTIONS …         There is nothing new about social life taking place at a distance. For a long time now people have been persuaded that the best way to communicate and relate is through the use of a device. Prostheses of the human being, the smartphone and its like, have transformed the way of being together, of being informed, learning, communicating, writing and reading.
      The next step is the robotization of living, technique pervading every place, every aspect of daily life. An overcoming of nature and the natural in favour of artificial beings and places. Such a scenario needs no social life, it does not need relationships, feelings, thoughts, it only needs order, discipline, regulation, machines. Maybe Dominion is trying to take a step forward and use a health problem, the spread of a virus, to reach generalized regimentation at least, the rest will then take care of itself. Science fiction comes to mind, but States have centuries old instruments to draw on without having to resort to the unknown.
       The social distancing imposed by laws prohibiting kisses and hugs and the suppression of most social activities, recalls states of emergency in which the rules of social life are imposed and must be obeyed so as not to run up against getting charged or being arrested. And indeed the establishment of red zones and checkpoints, limitation of freedom of circulation, obligation of home isolation for those coming from areas considered infected controlled by police, but above all the ban on gatherings, i.e. public meetings, is the police management of a health problem. Not surprisingly it is foreseen in the ten rules recommended by the Italian State to avoid the spread of the virus that in case of fever the carabinieri must the first to be contacted. But states of emergency are also the measures provided for in situations of conflict or insurrection, as happened recently in Chile.

Continue reading:

This from 325:

Coronavirus, Agribusiness and the State of Emergency’ by Silvia Ribeiro
       Much is said about the Covid-19 coronavirus, and yet very little. There are fundamental aspects that remain in the shadows. I want to name some of these, different but complementary.
      The first refers to the perverse mechanisms of capitalism to hide the true causes of the problem so as not to do anything about them, because it affects their interests, but it does deal with the apparent cure for the symptoms. Meanwhile, the State spends enormous public resources on prevention, containment and treatment measures, which do not act on the causes either, so this way of facing problems becomes a captive business for transnational companies, for example, with vaccines and medicines.
      The dominant reference to viruses and bacteria is as if they were exclusively harmful organisms that must be eliminated. A war-like approach prevails, as in so many other aspects of capitalism’s relationship with nature. However, due to the ability of viruses to jump between species, viruses and bacteria are a fundamental part of the coevolution and adaptation of living beings, as well as their balance with the environment and their health, including humans.

Continue reading: 

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

Imprisoned Within The Illusions Of Freedom.

        There is a tendency to refer to people in this society being free or in prison, as if there was a clear demarcation between the two. It is all a matter of degree, in this so called free democratic society. Our society comprises of two types of prisons. The vast majority are confined to the open prison, with its illusions of freedom. However, you are still confined within the framework of controls, managed by CCTV cameras that record your every move and build a record of where you’ve been who you met and when. Then there is the confines of the wage slavery, binding you to a particular routine to earn the right to live a precarious half decent life. Your quality of live is inextricably link to your market value on any particular day. You are obliged to be subservient to the established order of inequality, laid down by the wealthy and powerful powers that be. Otherwise you could be transferred to the other prison, the closed prison. This is the one for those who cannot accept the stifling demeaning restrictions of the open prison, those who dare to challenge the system and its inequality and exploitation. In this prison surveillance is total, complete with bars, locked cages, guards, restricted movement and deprived of family and friends. It is where you end up if you can’t or won’t play by the rules laid down for the smooth running of this unjust and exploitative system. In the open prison your potential is limited to your market value, in the closed prison you potential is demeaned and destroyed by deliberate policies to turn you into a subservient citizen, so that you can be returned to the open prison to be a marketable asset to the system.
        If we talk of tearing down the walls of prisons to create a free society, we will not only have to address the walls of the closed prison, but the walls of the open prison as part and parcel of the same struggle for freedom for all. The walls that prevent equality across the whole of society, the walls that prevent the freedom of unmonitored movement, the financial walls that prevent the full development of the potential of all in society, and governs and stifles the quality of each of our lives. Tearing down one prison’s walls without addressing the other, still leaves us imprisoned within the confines of an unequal and exploitative system.
        Let us in unison start to tear down walls and re-imagine justice.
And again, one of my favourite quotes:

"Ah Love! could thou and I with Fate conspire
To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire,
Would not we shatter it to bits -- and then
Re-mould it nearer to the Heart's Desire!"

A quotation from Omar Khayyam's, Rubaiyat.

Let us with fate conspire.

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

From Desperation To Scapegoat.

          Once again we see another attack on the vulnerable and needy by an EU state, certainly a daily occurrence across Europe. Refugees/immigrants are the people with no basic human rights, scapegoats for the states policy of divide and conquer. Creating the illusion of the foreigner destroying our "way of life", the enemy responsible for all our ills, keeps the population locked in internal squabbles, allowing the state to exert greater authority over the situation.

         The EU has an influx of migrants due to its foreign policy, in conjunction with the US, especially in the middle east and north Africa. Rather than helping these vulnerable and needy people, whose situation they created, it will use this army of desperate and vulnerable people to further its own agenda. People are of no consequence to the powers that be. Civilised Europe, will herd them into unsanitary and over crowded detention centres, by propaganda, lies and misinformation, it will link them to organised crime and violence, feeding the far right with ammunition.

      This is just one recent example of a state's agenda of useing migrants as a tool. This from Athens, Refugee Accommodation and Solidarity Space City Plaza:

          The police operation that took place 2 days ago in Exarchia, against the two refugee squats was not directed against the mafia in the neighbourhood. Despite the propaganda, they did not find anything in the squats to link them with mafia. The goal of the government and the police was a show of power. Refugees have been turned into scapegoats for pre-election purposes. Refugee targeting does not harm mafia, but it strengthens the racist stereotype of identifying “foreigners/refugees” with criminal activity and of course, opens the way to fascist violence.
         We remind them that the squats are the voices against the failed policies of the state on “migration management”. The housing problem is more acute than ever, for both refugees and locals. Instead of finding solutions for the housing problems, government and the oppositions are turning against those who have no shelter and hope. The recipe is classic: Instead of limiting poverty, targeting and criminalising poverty.

Do not let them impose the policy of fear and hatred.

Refugees Accommodation and Solidarity Space City Plaza, April 13, 2019

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

Humans With No Basic Rights.

 

        Thousands of migrants are trapped in Greece because of the EU's policy. What the Greek state will do with this ever growing army of desperate people is the question that the state is not prepared to answer. The policy of treating them like cattle and hording them in camps will continue until something explodes and forces a change. These are human beings, old, young, infirm and ill, but once the label of migrant is attached to them, in the eyes of the state, they become other than human, and are treated in a brutal, savage and inhumane manner by the state. Once the state applies this label of migrant to these human beings, it means that the state can deny them the very basics of human rights. No right to freedom of movement, no right to decent food and shelter, no right to representation in society. The state takes the right to hold them in over crowded insanitary camps unfit for human habitation.

       This is Western democracy at work, the state holds the supreme right to treat you as it categorises you, stripping you of human rights, ignoring your needs, or if you are in that bunch of the chosen few, heaping privileges on you.    Only the total destruction of this unjust, exploitative, savage and inhumane system of state/capitalism will see an end to this savagery against desperate people, only then will all humans have the right to dignity and be treated as equals in a fair and humane manner.

       This from Enough is Enough, written by Riot Turtle. 

 

 

          Thousands of migrants and refugees gather and demand freedom of movement in Diavita , northern Greece near the city of Thessaloniki and in Larissa train station in Athens. Greek police attacked the protesters.
             The situation of refugees in Greece is getting worse and worse. After the announcement by the Greek state that recognized refugees would lose state benefits of 150€ per month and housing, migrants across started mobilizing for the ongoing protests.
Mainstream media reported that the protests are the result of rumours that the borders would open but although spreading this kind of rumours is irresponsible and counter productive, it seems that the ongoing protests for the freedom of movement have not that much to do with the “fake news” about open borders.
               Most migrants are aware of the fact that the member states of the European Union are not going to open the border, and certainly not voluntarily. Many people are fed up that they don’t have the right of freedom of movement and the hostile policies of marginalization and exclusion against refugees.
           In Diavate, near Thessaloniki, refugees were attacked by riot cops with tear gas and batons yesterday. After these acts of police violence, the cops sealed off the area. Refugees wrote me that the cops did not allow food supplies and water into the area where the protesting refugees are. Fortunately some people managed to get some supplies into the area anyway.
          The regional coordinator of the ministry of migration announced that all trains from Athens to Thessaloniki will not be operational until further notice. This is a clear attempt to try to prevent refugees from Athens to join the protests. Many refugees stranded at Larissa train station in Athens and now started to protest in the train station.
           Although the Greek authorities do anything they can to prevent people from joining the protest, the makeshift camp outside of the official Diavata refugee camp is still growing. After yesterdays police violence, cops attacked refugees again earlier today when a huge crowd tried to start marching towards the border.

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

         

The Curse Of Those Imaginary Lines.

       Day in and day out, within this so called bastion of peace and democracy, the EU, immigrants are used as animals to be exploited and abused to further the riches of the profiteers of the system. The fantasy veil that is held up to convey the illusion of a civilised society is gossamer thin, and stained with the blood and suffering of the vulnerable, immigrants usually find themselves in that group.
       The following article is a story that can be repeated across Europe, probably the world, where the system creates second class citizens by the power mongers claim to territory, and drawing imaginary lines across the planet, then confining you to your allotted spot.

This from 325:

       Our friend Radek, has been held in custody, in the Netherlands, for 5 months now. He was charged with attempted arson at the Polish embassy, which carries a sentence of up to 12 years in jail. Radek – just as many other workers on emigration – had dealt with exploitation by the employers, on a daily basis. Exploitation, unfair pay, unpaid overtime, atrocious living conditions – the realities of work in the West. Radek had tried to solve those problems in a less radical matter. He had given a shot by going public with it, informing the media, executing his rights. None of it helped. Eventually, he took a brave step forward. He went to the Polish embassy in The Hague, with a can full of gas and a lighter. He then informed, that he would burn the place and asked for people inside the building to be evacuated. In reality: springs from the lighter were taken out, so as to make sure, that starting a fire wouldn’t be possible.
        By drawing attention onto himself, his goal was to make people aware, of what kind of conditions do employment agencies ‘serve’ Polish workers in the Netherlands. He did it in his own name and in the name of everyone, who are just as him – oppressed by this whole machine of exploitation.
        We’ll keep you updated with more details about the incident, after we get Radek’s letter, in which he describes his actions and labour conditions in the Netherlands.
       Our friend wanted to spread awareness about the problem, which hurts helpless people, in need for money, with families they need to take care after. He wanted to show, what kind of shit is being condoned. Meanwhile – his cry has been silenced and the case is being kept quiet… So as to close him up as soon as possible.
      He has still two trials left ahead of him; the sentence is set to be announced in July. As for this moment, Radek needs our total support: he needs to know, that people – have in fact – heard about the things he tried to convey. That’s why we encourage all of you, to write him letters (when locked down in a single-cell for months, reading those letters, will be one of few entertaining things to do).

Radoslaw Bogacki RB number 08445474 Pl Alphen aan den Rijn locatie

Eikenlaan 36 PO BOX 762 2400 AT ALPHEN AAN DEN RIJN HOLLAND
       If you’re willing to give financial support, please do – we’d be grateful (please contact us about the account number by private message).
       We also encourage you to take solidarity actions. As for us, we invite you to join our SOLIDARITY PICKET UNDER THE DUTCH EMBASSY IN WARSAW, which will take place on 07-04-19 (DD-MM-YY), at Noon (12 AM), on Kawalerii st 10.
        If anyone of you knows any press or places we could contact, to make this thing go wide – please contact us by private message or by e-mailing us: FASlask@protonmail.com (our e-mail address).
Federacja Anarachistyczna Śląsk/Anarchist Federation Silesia

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

Venezuela, Guatemala, Same Old Same Old---

 

     What are the people of Venezuela facing? History tells us the the US imperial machine stamps its blood stained boot heavily in that part of the world.

Havana Reuters:

      "Cuba said on Thursday the United States was moving special forces closer to Venezuela as part of a covert plan to intervene in the chaotic South American country using the pretext of a humanitarian" crisis.

      Scaremongering, fake news, or just the usual US behavior in that part of the world. We should have no illusions about the cause of Venezuela's problems nor should we doubt the motives of the US imperialist Empire. History tells us the story.

This from Freedom Socialist Party:

       “We came to work. I know I’m not getting asylum because they don’t give you asylum for hunger,” a young migrant from Honduras told a reporter. “But us on the caravan would rather die fighting than sitting in Honduras waiting to starve or be killed.”
      These stark words show the desperation of thousands of people, half of them women and girls, who have recently fled Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. What could force so many people to leave home and everything they know for a future that is uncertain at best? The history of U.S. intervention in Central America largely supplies the answer.
       Guatemala: coup, civil war, climate change. In 1954, the CIA engineered a coup against the government of Guatemalan President Jacobo Árbenz. A 36-year civil war ensued, during which the U.S. militarily aided one bloody, right-wing regime after another. Each has conducted a genocidal campaign against the indigenous peoples, who are the majority of the population.
       During the war, more than 200,000 people were killed and another 43,000 “disappeared.” More than 80 percent of the victims were indigenous Mayans. Prosecution of the main military and political figures responsible for mass murder is still rare 23 years after peace accords were signed ending the war.
        Half of Central America’s people live in poverty. Global warming, caused mainly by carbon emitted by richer countries, is leading to drought and crop failures and making the situation even more dire. With hunger common across the region, Guatemala has one of the world’s highest rates of chronic malnutrition.

Read the full article HERE: 

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

Under The All Seeing State.

      How much more policing by surveillance machines can we accept? We are watched in all aspects of our lives, as you walk down the street, enter a pub/cafe/library, or what ever, you are being watch. Shopping, place of work, sitting on the bus, they are there, the CCTV cameras, 24-7. Having got us all to accept the presence of the camera, they keep adding another surveillance/control facility to its armoury. Facial recognition, profiling, and now predictive algorithms. The computer will tell the police where a crime is likely to be committed and who is likely to commit a crime. Wonderful no need for detective work, just ask the computer where was the crime committed and who "dunnit", problem solved. No denying it the computer has worked it out, so you must be guilty, computers don't make mistakes!!!! 

    What a load of crap to depend on for your freedom, humans design the algorithms, humans come with bias and make mistakes, but the computer will be accurate? We as a society are sleep walking into a panoptic prison.

     This little piece from Liberty:

Policing by Machine – Predictive Policing and the Threat to Our Rights collates the results of 90 Freedom of Information requests sent to every force in the UK, laying bare the full extent of biased ‘predictive policing’ for the first time – and how it threatens everyone’s rights and freedoms.
It reveals that 14 forces are using, have previously used or are planning to use shady algorithms which ‘map’ future crime or predict who will commit or be a victim of crime, using biased police data.
The report exposes:

• police algorithms entrenching pre-existing discrimination, directing officers to patrol areas which are already disproportionately over-policed
• predictive policing programs which assess a person’s chances of victimisation, vulnerability, being reported missing or being the victim of domestic violence or a sexual offence, based on offensive profiling
• a severe lack of transparency with the public given very little information as to how predictive algorithms reach their decisions – and even the police do not understand how the machines come to their conclusions
• the significant risk of ‘automation bias’ – a human decision-maker simply deferring to the machine and accepting its indecipherable recommendation as correct.

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

Borders, The Enemy Of People.

         Nationality, borders, devices to stop the free movement of people, to hold you hostage within the fiefdom of one group of power mongers, and gives the powers that be the right to make arbitrary decisions who should be thrown over their imaginary lines to some other power mongers fiefdom. They allow the festering mental illness of patriotism to breed distrust and fear between between the people of this planet. These imaginary lines drawn across the Earth's surface, are never there for the benefit of the people, they are there to protect the wealth and power of the cabal that holds sway over that particular piece of the planet. Enforcing these imaginary lines leads to morally bankrupt acts of injustice, to the breaking up of families, to trauma, to personal suffering and in many cases death. Each enactment of the laws governing these imaginary lines is an attack on the personal freedom of the individual concerned, the denial of what should be a natural right, to live and work, on any part of your choosing, on this small planet.  

          Help Chennan Fei Stay in Scotland- Stop her Deportation.

        Chennan has done nothing wrong. She came to the UK in 2002 as the dependant of her parents who were legally here on Student Visas at the time. Chennan was educated in Glasgow high schools and went on to study at the University of Edinburgh, receiving an MA (Hons) in Accounting & Business Management.

https://www.change.org/p/secretary-of-state-for-the-home-department-help-chennan-fei-stay-in-scotland-stop-her-deportation

         Chennan Fei has lived in Scotland since she was 13 years old. She is now 28 and is in loving relationship with her Scottish boyfriend, Duncan. The couple had planned on moving in together in the next few months and Duncan had hoped to pop the question and ask Chennan to be his wife.
        But, Chennan was detained by the Home Office on 23rd March. She was taken to Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre but was later moved south of the border to Yarl's Wood on 25th March. The Home Office plan to deport her to China.
        Unbeknown to Chennan her parents visas had expired within a few years of
her arriving in Scotland. There is no rule or provision in the Immigration Act that deals directly with the ‘children’ of over-stayers and the Home Office plan to send her into exile, away from the only home she has ever known and the friends
and partner who support her.
        Chennan has lived more than half her life in Scotland. She has volunteered at several agencies in Glasgow including the Scottish Refugee Council, putting the accountancy skills she learned at university to good use. The Home Office do not permit her to take up paid employment.
         Although her almost 15 years living in the UK may not be considered ‘legal’, this is through no fault of Chennan’s.

She is BLAMELESS.
Bring her Back to Scotland.
#SaveChennanFei

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 www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

No Borders.

 

      The "migrant" question is still top of the agenda for most of the political parties, the usual cry being, "control must be restored" which is an admission that the state's control is far from complete, they always wish to go further down that road. A excellent excuse for more draconian rules and regulations, which don't just apply to migrants, but can be used in a blanket form against the general public. What always puzzles me is the wide acceptance across the population, of these new Orwellian rules. The "Calais Jungle" may have gone, but the people are still in transit, and still branded as illegal. Instead of congregating in self managing groups, they are being transferred to state managed "detention centres", in simple language, prisons. The following is an extract from an interesting article from Bordered by Silence.

Anarchist texts on the Calais Jungle
       Although by now the Jungle of Calais has been destroyed, these two texts by Paris Sous Tension are still very relevant for understanding the situation of migrants in France today from an anarchist perspective. Many of the migrants were moved from the Jungle to various detention or housing centres, but all of those spaces are temporary and they will soon be back with the others in the camps that appeared or grew following the Calais eviction. In November, several thousand people were evicted from the Stalingrad neighbhourhood of Paris, where a camp had grown on the grassy medians of busy commercial streets. With right-wing politics ascendant here in the lead-up to presidential election in the spring, it is likely that the attitude of the state towards the migrants will harden and that the two strategies described in these articles, repression and management, will take on an increasingly violent character. 
“I don’t want to go there. That camp is a prison, a sneaky way of imprisoning us.” from Paris Sous Tension, January 2016
       In Calais, the year 2016 begins in the same way the previous ended: by further repressive measures against the undersireables (undocumented people, outlaws, rebels…), by declarations of war against them by the government and its police. All with the explicit support of the most despicable segment of the population, those who have turned to xenophobia to soothe their miserable existence and who rejoice to see the government — who, in their opinion, never does enough —  go all out and resort to drastic measures. Those who, when things get serious, always line up behind the state and demand as the price of their passive adherence that the order be restored. Their only concern is to preserve their small comforts, their precious bank balance, their precious car and daily routine, their precious space of mental peace that all allows them to live their lives without paying attention to the world around them.
       Like many places around the world, people have been flocking to Calais for years now in hopes of crossing to England, crossing a border that is closed to them because they don’t have the required documents, because they don’t meet the legal requirements , because they don’t have a degree or a resume to help them sell themselves on the labour market, or rather because keeping this cheap labour pool living day to day and in fear is a good way to domesticate them and keep them readily exploitable. For years, these people have been organizing among themselves for survival, in hopes of managing to slip across the border illegally, of overcoming the many obstacles that separate one bit of territory from another for those who are seen as undesireable by the state and the market. And as is often the case in hostile situations, there is strength in numbers and so they’ve come here by the thousands (between 4500 and 6000 [1]) in an informal camp in an area now known as “the Jungle”. The cops, who used to simply destroy cabins and tents back when they were isolated from each other, don’t dare to enter “the Jungle” to evict the inhabitants. And these inhabitants, no longer being chased off every few days, are now able to organize themselves in small groups to sneak into cargo trucks in order to enter the tunnel under the English channel or to enter the port.
        And so we see in the past few months that companies like Eurotunnel and the SNCF rail network have restricted access to the tunnel and drastically increased security — the former by hiring a hundred dog handlers and the latter by erecting barriers along the roadways that are several metres tall and topped with barbed wire. As for the cops, more numerous and recently equipped with drones, they are happy to take advantage of a decree (a gift for the cops as part of the state of emergency) allowing them to stop any pedestrian on the road leading to the port and to pass them on to their friends, the judges, who can then condemn them to six months in prison. Oh joy, proclaim the the president of the region (who is calling for the support of the army to main-tain or-der!), the mayor of Calais, and the police chief  as they demand the deportation or imprisonment of every migrant found guilty of: trespassing around the port or near the Eurotunnel (which is necessary, considering the absence of a space-time portal to cross the border); conflict with the police (which has become necessary in order to access the sites in question, in addition to its general value); vandalism; or “by-law violations” (healthy reactions in the face of frustration, disappointment, anger, despair, rage…). It’s a way of oiling the judicial meat grinder, to wave the cleaver of prison or expulsion (which means, at the very least, starting again) over the heads of those migrants who don’t act the way the bureaucrats, functionaries, judges, and politicians expect: as victims.
        Governments of all stripes dream of order and pacification, but this isn’t in the cards for the near future. As proof, on December 17, about a thousand people set out along the highway towards the tunnel. With Christmas approaching and big traffic jams all around the commercial centres, they figured there would be more chances to sneak onto a truck. But the police didn’t agree, which lead to hours of confrontation. Same thing on December 25, 2500 people passed through the centre of Calais to reach the tunnel under the channel, but the police pushed them back. On their return trip, cars payed the price of their frustration and rage: rear view mirrors and windshields smashed, wipers bent back. A few uniformed goons were hurt. In these dark days, the blindest hatred meets the pettiest arrogance and cowardly submission prospers in the absence of any broader hope for a radically different life. We didn’t have to wait long to hear the half self-interested, half indignant grumbles and squeals of the peaceful and hardworking population as they lined up on the side of order.

Read the full article HERE:

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

Migrants Are People.

        Migrants may be reported in our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, but never as people. They are this band of figures that cross borders “illegally”, but behind every mention of a migrant, there is a person and in most cases a person suffering. They are individuals and families, in search of a better life, or worse fleeing death and destruction. Despite their plight, they are herded like cattle, shunted into detention centres, intimidated, humiliated and often abused. Million of pounds are spent on immigration officials, transport and detention centres, but little in trying to alleviate the individual’s problems. The normal procedure is, gather them up, lock them up, and ship them back to what ever horror they came from. We are one people, we live in one world, would should treat each other as such, migrants are people, just like you and I.

This from Act For Freedom Now:

 Let’s break isolation
       CIEs are prisons for immigrants destined to be deported from Italy. They are part of the system of control, selection and ruling of migration flows throughout Europe. A system that by either giving or denying a document decides who can stay on the European soil in order to thicken the ranks of the exploited, and who must be taken away because they are not needed. In other words, those destined to stay as clandestine, subjected to even more blackmail and exploitation.
There have been struggles both inside and outside the CIEs in the course of the years, the struggles of those who are locked up and of people in solidarity who have decided that a stance must be taken against all this: the CIEs are to be razed to the ground for the sake of everybody’s freedom.
      One of the CIES currently operating can be found in Brindisi, hidden in the countryside of Restinco.
       Many testimonies of violence and abuse have been coming from inside the centre, directly from the prisoners, in the last month. It seems that whoever protests against the humiliating conditions of detention – if the threating wasn’t enough to dissuade him/her – will be taken by force to a little yard by the guards, away from his/her companions, and beaten up by scores of them.
     Against isolation, against all prisons, in solidarity with the imprisoned immigrants:
Demo outside the CIE in
Brindisi-Restinco
Monday 8th August 6pm
(4pm meeting point at Villa Matta squat, Lecce, via San Nicola 1)

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

No Borders!!!

          No Borders! People tend to see borders as those imaginary lines drawn on the surface of the planet by various power-mongers. However within those “borders” that surround “your” country, there are borders. There are areas of “no-go” territory, places of confinement, prisons are borders, those in can’t get out, those out can’t get in. Schools are borders, again once in, your not supposed to get out until the authorities tell you, you can go. They are all around us, detention centres, military property, places of employment, you can’t just walk in, and once in you can’t just walk out, you need somebody’s authority, or you pay a price. Even the glitzy shopping mall, you may go wandering in and leave, in fact you will be encouraged to come in, and you can just walk out, but the owner controls the right of entry, you can be banned from entering and you can be removed, if you don’t function as “expected”, it is not a public space. 

         Then there are the other type of borders, things you can't have, places that you can't go, barred for financial reasons, these borders are probably the most insidious, they slither through our society, separating the "haves" and the "have-nots", herding the poor into areas of deprivation, and making sure they stay there.

        Borders have become so entrenched in our psyche that there are borders we don’t even recognise, they become part and parcel of our life, an accepted fact of this society. This makes it all the more difficult for people to see the dropping of those imaginary lines that the power-mongers drew on the surface of the planet with our blood, but fall they must. 

 

         We can never claim to be free when we live in the midst of so many lines we cannot cross without a “higher” authority. We have to recognise all the borders within borders, a place of work should not be a place of confinement, but a place of willing creativity, schools should be an integrated part of our society, not a camp for shaping people to suit the needs of a capitalist “economy”. Prisons should be seen as what they are, an abomination and a scar on humanity, a system of repression. 

       Freedom means just that, freedom of movement, but must be linked to freedom to stay, with or without “documentation”. Borders are an anathema to freedom, our love of freedom means they will always need to be enforced, by a "higher" and "powerful" authority.

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

 

Solidarity In One Big Fight.

 

       It is great to see that the racist policies of this government, (and the previous ones) are being resisted and that resistance is growing, not just with meetings and leaflets, but by direct action. This latest action was in London and shows solidarity and ingenuity. It is all linked, migrants, workers conditions, social cleansing, austerity, it is one large fight against an all encompassing system of repression and exploitation.

This from Rabble:

       On Monday afternoon the neighbourhood of Deptford, South East London, chased away a Home Office “Immigration Enforcement” raid team. The Home Office bullyboys had reportedly been spotted several times in the previous week doing so-called “intelligence gathering”. I.e., trying to harass shopkeepers into giving them permission to carry out “operations” in their premises so they don’t have to go to the hassle of getting a court warrant. On Monday they came back in greater force, but people gathered and sent them away empty handed. They drove off in several unmarked cars but abandoned their marked “racist van” in a back street, which was then refurbished with the windows smashed and messages written in spray paint (see pictures).

     Deptford market is a regular target for Home Office raids, often working in conjunction with police, the local council and other agencies. The most recent major raid was in April. As with other London street markets (such as East Street), there are clear links between these attacks targeting migrants and wider attacks on the neighbourhood, as property developers and state authorities combine to “socially cleanse” the area, and clearing out those they consider undesirable. But resistance is growing. In Deptford, there is now a regular “Deptford Anti Raids” information stall every Saturday in the market, and Monday shows that people are ready to fight back.

Check the AntiRaids twitter account for raid alerts and other live updates.

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