There Is No Going Back.

      2014 was a year of rising unrest, across the globe, neo-liberal/corporatism ran wild, sparking wars, spawning devastation and creating poverty for millions. People lost faith with the usual channels of governance, and took to the streets, in many areas the establishment felt threatened and fanned the rise of fascism. States lurched violently to the right in an act of self preservation. What is becoming ever more obvious is that there can be no return to the "old ways", people have lost their fear, and are no longer demanding change, but creating that change. It will not be an easy road, as the avenues of the left grow in strength and confidence, so the establishment with fear at its heart will strengthen the forces of the right. Repression will be more open, the gloves will be off, the control structure of the existing system will not relinquish its power willingly.

     The choice is limited, we either buckle under and allow the power of the financial Mafia to control all aspects of our lives, or we strengthen our resolve to finally smash  this corrupt, repressive system that is a weaver of illusions, a cancer on humanity, and a destroyer of freedom and justice.

This extract from Roar Mag:

    In many respects, 2014 was a very dark year. Between Israel’s monstrous war on Gaza to the shooting down of a civilian aircraft over the Ukraine, and from the world’s appalling inaction in the face of the ebola outbreak in West Africa on to the thousands of migrants who drowned off the Mediterranean coast this year, there seemed to be little to be hopeful or excited about. Some of the most spectacular mobilizations, from the Euromaidan revolt in Ukraine and the royalist rebellion and military coup in Thailand to the middle class protests that rocked Venezuela, originated not from the left but from the right.
But 2014 also witnessed the steady rise of new progressive forces. In Greece, the conservative-led government just collapsed over its failure to appoint a new president, triggering snap elections to be held on January 25, with the radical left party Syriza slated to win. In Spain, meanwhile, the new leftist party Podemos was founded in January to compete in the European elections, and now, less than a year later, already finds itself catapulted into first position in the polls. Spanish activists hopefully observe that “the fear is changing sides.” In 2015, the European austerity doctrine will face its most serious challenge to date.

Read the full article HERE:

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

We Need More Utopians.

      I have always believed that revolutionaries, activists, dreamers, pursuers of that better world, strivers for Utopia, are the stepping stones to social justice, they carry that better world in their hearts, with the burning desire that we should all enjoy its fruits. Today the world is a harsh and cruel place, not by nature, but by this man made system of global capitalism. The free market, neo-liberal, financial dictatorship, that dominates all aspects of our life, binds us to exploitation, inequality and injustice, and like a cancer, is destroying the planet.  Now, more than ever in our history, we need the dreamers, the seekers of Utopia, those who still refuse to accept that the corporate free market is the only game in town. Those who still believe that there is a better way and a better tomorrow, if we will only grasp at the dream. 

      Sometimes when you read something, there is a passage that with clarity and accuracy seems to say all that you are trying, to say. I find this short paragraph from the Introduction: Open Utopia falls into that category.

      Yet we need Utopia more than ever. We live in a time without alternatives, at “the end of history” as Frances Fukuyama would have it, when neoliberal capitalism reins triumphant and uncontested. There are still aberrations: radical Islam in the East, neo-fascist xenophobia in the West, and a smattering of socialist societies struggling around the globe, but by and large the only game in town is the global free market. In itself this might not be so bad, except for the increasingly obvious fact that the system is not working, not for most people and not most of the time. Income inequality has increased dramatically both between and within nations. National autonomy has become subservient to the imperatives of global economic institutions, and federal, state, and local governance are undermined by the protected power of money. Profit-driven industrialization and the headlong rush toward universal consumerism is hastening the ecological destruction of the planet. In short: the world is a mess. Opinion polls, street protests, and volatile voting patterns demonstrate widespread dissatisfaction with the current system, but the popular response so far has largely been limited to the angry outcry of No! No to dictators, No to corruption, No to finance capital, No to the one percent who control everything. But negation, by itself, affects nothing. The dominant system dominates not because people agree with it; it rules because we are convinced there is no alternative.

Read the full article HERE:

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