Paper.

          I have often spouted about getting our message on the streets, and the need for greater leaflets, pamphlets, poster to proliferate on the streets and workplaces. They are our broadcasting system, our quiet teacher spreading our ideas and hopes. The anarchist movement owes a lot to those back allay, back shop, underground and open printing places. those dedicated individuals who spent hours printing and distributing our message, our hopes, our ideas. The printed word is as valuable as the meetings, street demonstrations and protests etc.. The printed word can quietly find its way into homes, workplaces and communities. It is difficult to imagine where we would be without those little presses churning out leaflets, periodicals, posters and pamphlets.
           So I am delighted that someone has brought together a history of those printing presses and the important part they played in getting those anarchists, ideas, hopes and visions to an ever increasing public. I for one will be ordering the book when it comes out.

 

London's anarchist HQ, 127 Ossulston Street, 1894-1927

Image courtesy of Libcom.

Article taken from Anarchist News.

From University of Hawai'i News

            Anarchist letterpress printers and presses from the late 1800s through the 1940s is the focus of a new book by a University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Department of Political Science and Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies faculty member.
          Professor Kathy Ferguson’s work Letterpress Revolution: The Politics of Anarchist Print Culture, details the importance of printed materials that galvanized anarchist movements across the U.S. and Great Britain. The book will be released on February 24, and is published by Duke University Press.
          Anarchism is a political movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and holds all forms of governmental authority to be unnecessary. Ferguson shows how printers arranged text, ink, images, graphic markers and blank space within the design of a page. Their extensive correspondence with fellow anarchists and publishing their radical ideas brought the decentralized anarchist movements together. By diving deeper into the practices of anarchist print culture, Ferguson points to possible methods for cultivating contemporary political resistance.

 

Professor Kathy Ferguson.

               “The anarchists organized a remarkable political movement largely through their print culture: writing, printing, distributing, reading, and archiving their publications brought them together. Their success suggests that the act of making things together generates political energy,” Ferguson said.
              Ferguson is the author of several books, including Emma Goldman: Political Thinking in the Streets, which is about a central figure in the anarchist movement. She is working on another book on women in the anarchist movement whose contributions have been underrated or lost. Ferguson’s goal when writing these two books is to bring women more fully into anarchism, and at the same time to bring anarchism more fully into feminism. She hopes to bring these radical histories to light to make our understanding of them more robust so that we can use them better today.
            The Department of Political Science and Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies are housed in the Mānoa College of Social Sciences.

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Power.

     

                                                                                                                                        

                                       Image courtesy of 38 Degrees.                                                                                                                                                                                                  With the savage attack on our living standards by the wealthy parasite class and workers striking to defend the living standards of all ordinary people, we would do well to remember, we hold all the power, all we have to do is use it to bring down this festering greed driven system of capitalism. 

We Have The Power.

Empty streets,with empty shops,
queues forming at the job centre,
doorway beds and hungry children,
watched over by mean eyed cops,
foodbanks growing by the hour.
City razzle-dazzle just rusty remnants,
shopping malls now empty caverns,
home to starlings, pigeons, magpies,
zero hours, part-time workers live in,
homes where ambition fails to flower.
Shiny politicians peddling illusions,
grin and bear it, there’s pie in the sky,
follow the Messiah, he’ll get you there,
quietly swallow their empty promises,
so they can live in their ivory towers.
This world exists by our acceptance,
blindly following their biased rulebook,
failing to realise that we the people,
builders of the world by sweat and pain,
are the ones who really hold the power. 

 

         Bearing in mind what this savage attack on our living standards is doing to the health and well being of our kids and elderly, we must be prepared to bring about justice and fairness by any means possible. We owe that much to the next generation. We can stop them laughing at us by acting on our righteous anger.

Image courtesy of Real Movement.

The Invisible.

We live there— yes— there
A little bit above the dead
But quite a bit below the living
Where poverty is a dream
Deprivation a reality
Our daily bread an illusion
We sigh--we weep—
As ruthless poverty
With its cold claws
Tears the heart from our children
We ask—WHY?
Surrounded by opulence
Invisible to arrogant greed
Anger simmers beneath the surface
We seek equality
We will have justice
If blood is the price
So be it. 

 

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

Keelie 37.

 

             Glasgow Keelie 37 is on the streets, look out for it, you'll find it at picket lines, protests, strikers support rallies, in cafes, pubs and on the street, watch out for it and grab your free copy of Glasgow's own radical newspaper. Find out what's happening in our city and further afield, and how to get involved, a pocket rocket of a newspaper jam packed with info. If you think you can contribute, or would like a few copies to distribute among your mates, please get in touch at glasgowkeelie@riseup.net Read it on line at https://glasgowkeelie.org You can also find us Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. 

 

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

Pickets.

    

            Strikes are widespread across the country, and rightly so, as the ordinary people of this country are being savaged by the parasite financial Mafia class, all for profit for the big boys. We are being hit with massive food price increases, stratospheric energy price rises, brutal cuts to social services, wage restraint, and the promise that we will be 7% worse off by the next two years. Just remember the strikers are your neighbours, the group you meet in the pub, the bunch you go to the match with, they are us. Their fight is our fight and we must support the strikes, join their picket lines, show your support, for all of us, this is a fight we must win if we have to have any semblance of a decent life. See  Solidarity to find out how and where to support the pickets.

Some photos from this morning's picket lines, join them.

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

The Streets.

                   

           A wee bit late with this one, but better late than never. On Saturday 12th. November in Edinburgh, Friends of the Earth Scotland, organised a march and protest demanding a system change. It was massive, colourful, with meaningful banners and costumes, and they were joined by many other groups, all displaying their anger and disgust at the powers that be and their intransigence, all in the name of profit, in meaningful action to stop this climate disaster. It would appear that it is nonsense to expect the present capitalist system to stop its plundering of the Earth that continually fattens their coffers. They are in it for the money and power, not for the well being of any living thing. It is on the streets that we will destroy this system of exploitation. We have to keep up the organising and demonstrating in ever larger numbers and support the strikers, if we are are to make an impact on this system of insane economics of greed. Don't demand change, make change, we owe it to our grandchildren.
           A few photos from the very colourful and peaceful event.

 More photos from Saturday's Friends of the Earth Scotland event, Nov 12th.

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

Fail 18.

 

           Again SubMedia brings you the news that the mainstream media seem not to notice. Our mainstream media tend to show how well capitalism is working, somehow or other overlooking the mass unrest and anger among the population across the planet. This episode, System Fail 18 takes a look at the elections in Brazil and protests across the world. Thanks SubMedia for shining a light on the reality of capitalism and its corrupt so called democracy.

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

Keelie 34.

            The Glasgow Keelie No.34 is out today, as usual it packs a punch. From the con of the smart meter to the energy crisis, (exploitation crisis) where are the strikes, how to support them, how to get involved in this struggle for justice. We have had bubbling Boris and now limp Liz, and it is that same old waffle of pie in the sky. Now is the time to let that anger burst out, take to the streets and take control of our lives. The Glasgow Keelie will be at The Old Fruit Market at the launch of the "Enough is Enough" campaign, tonight Wednesday 7pm. 7th September 2022. Get down there, grab your copy of the Glasgow Keelie and support the campaign.

Read the Keelie on line:

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

Keelie 32.

 

        The latest issue of your wee pocket rocket newspaper, The Glasgow Keelie, issue No.32, is now heading for your streets, cafes, pubs, etc. watch out for it, grab your free copy and learn all about the shenanigans of our council, the Kremlin in George Square. Find out what is happening in our fair city, who is angry about the attack on living standards and what they are doing about it, and how you can can join them and much, much more. Why not grab a bundle and distribute among your friends and family, contact details HERE.

Read issue 32 on line HERE:

 

 

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March!!

         I penned the little piece below away back in February 2003, why bother repeating it now you might ask. After all Tony has bent his knee in front of the monarchy, been welcomed into the bosom of the imperial establishment and made a knight. 

 It was a joke then, what makes you think it's different now?

   

      Well the point is not about Tony, but the fact that we are facing an unprecedented attack on our living standards, millions more of ordinary people are going to be dragged in to poverty, people's health will suffer, kids potential will be stunted and the elderly will go to an earlier grave than they would normally. Meanwhile millionaires and billionaires get richer and richer by the day. So if you are thinking of marching through the streets with you placards, demanding the government do something to help you, then reflect on February 15th. 2003, when 1 million marched in London, 100,000 marched in Glasgow and similar amounts in cities across the planet, all on the same day, the result was to be totally ignored by the government. You will have to come up with something a bit stronger than nice marches and fancy placards. The state and its corporate bedfellows are in a corrupt and festering arrangement but are determined to to protect their power, wealth and privileges and will fight tooth and nail to keep wages down, cut social spending, with the excuse of cutting inflation and balancing the books, the real purpose is of course to re-capitalise their broken and corrupt system. The only way they know how to do that is to make us pay by inflicting crippling austerity on the population.
        You will have to be ready for a bitter fight and perhaps a long one, or you can knuckle down and take what is coming to you. The choice is up to us all, we organise and fight back or we accept our abject poverty and hand the same misery on to our kids and grandkids.    

 

He didn't listen to you then, what makes you think Boris will now?

 

       If politicians listen to the will of the people, what should Tony be doing after February 15th, If ever a people spoke loud and and with one voice, it was the British people on Saturday February 15th. A protest voice of 1 million ordinary British people on the streets of London, close to 100,000 on the streets of Glasgow, with nearly as many in Belfast, all saying the same thing, “This war must not happen”. On the same day, this call was repeated across the planet in most major cities. What more does Bush and Blair need to make them realise that they are wrong,
         If there is a war on Iraq, it will be in the name of George W. Bush, Tony Blair and their handful of scullions, most certainly not in the name of the British people.
        What ever we think of Saddam, and what ever we think should happen to him, on one thing we all agree, the Iraqi people must not become collateral damage in the oil barons and weapon makers scramble for richer pickings. If Tony did not get the message on February 15th. Then we must repeat it at regular intervals until he does.

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

Keelie 29.

 

        April issue, No.29, of The Glasgow Keelie is out. Once again it is packed full of info, comment and ideas, the sort of material that you will not get in the mainstream media but all relevant to our daily lives. You will not get any bubblegum and candy floss about super stars or pompous politicians grinning at some photo-op, we leave that crap for the mainstream media. It is your newspaper, it's free, get it, circulate it, comment in it, contribute to it, get a wee bundle and circulate it among your mates. Contact us HERE:

 

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