It's Our World.

 

       I received this article, "A World Divided" and thought it fell in line with my own thoughts, and something that should be said and repeated until it is universally accepted. We are citizens of the one world, it's our world, and we the ordinary people have to put it right. I have said something similar in my poem Patriotism.

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.

A World Divided

    After working at the University of Sussex over the summer, myself and two of my best friends embarked on an interrailing trip around Europe. The trip was a wonderful experience and a fantastic chance to visit iconic cities and locations. We managed to see, and do, so much, as is evidenced by this brilliant video my friend made of our time on the continent. As well as the memories, and the photos of our experience, the trip proved to be incredibly thought provoking. It gave me a wealth of ideas and topics which I wanted to write about. Travel really does broaden the mind and I would defy anyone to venture across Europe for a month and come back the same person as when they left. I learned many things on the trip, and many of my beliefs were re-affirmed. None more so than the belief that this world is divided into unrepresentative and irrelevant categories.

     It was in Austria, whilst staying with more friends of mine in Vienna, that it became apparent. The only divide I had with these people was that of nationality. In almost every single way we were identical. We were around the same age, we held the same interests, had the same views and beliefs, participated in the same leisure activities and were concerned about the same things. My two friends from the UK and my friends in Austria were only separated because of the land mass that they happened to have been born on. There was no difference between “British” and “Austrian”.

     I try not to define myself as any nationality. I don't believe I owe allegiance to any flag, or country in particular, I certainly don't take pride in being a nationality, for a start I am not really sure what that even means. Does it mean that I should feel good about what other people have done? Other people that just so happened to have been born on the same land mass as me? The accusation of traitor has probably been levelled at those that have expressed similar views as these in the past. With regards to being told “you’re betraying your country”, I believe that its an empty insult. As cliche as it sounds, I have no country. The world is my country and all its people are my brothers and sisters. This is something I truly believe. I will not discriminate against someone due to their nationality, and I will not immediately support someone just because they are of the same nationality as me. Nationality to me is a creation. Its a concept that everyone buys into, and because of this, the concept is legitimised. In my opinion nationalities and nations are obsolete. That though, is for another article, and is another argument.
Read the full article HERE:

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

A Few Dates For Your Calendar.

        A few dates for your calendar, come together, discuss our problems and then we can find our answers, and start to create that society freed from the grip of profit, greed and corruption. If we don't discuss the problems from our perspective we will never get answers that are to our benefit.

Mon 24th June - Turning Words into Action (Dundee)

 

7.30pm Dundee Voluntary Action, 10 Constitution Road, Dundee DD1 1LL

 

      Speakers include Susan Archibald, Disability Campaigner.

Forum organised by Unite the Resistance in Scotland.

      The forum will bring together people from different campaigns resisting Austerity. By standing together we gain strength and learn from each other’s experiences.

 

      Supported by Black Triangle, UNITE R&F M&E Construction Branch and UNITE Scottish Housing Association Branch

 

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Tues 25th June - Turning Words into Action (Edinburgh) 

 

7.30pm Augustine Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EL

 

     Francis Wylie (UNITE United Left) will be speaking on blacklisting and fighting back, John McArdle (Black Triangle) on the attacks on disabled people, Penny Gower (EIS-FELA President) on Tory changes to our employment rights & PCS speaker (to be confirmed)

 

Forum organised by Unite the Resistance in Scotland

 

       The forum will bring together people from different campaigns resisting Austerity. By standing together we gain strength and learn from each other’s experiences.

 

      Supported by Black Triangle, UNITE R&F M&E Construction Branch and UNITE Scottish Housing Association Branch

 

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Tues 25th June - Turning Words into Action (Glasgow) 

 

7.30pm Jurys Inn, Jamaica Street, Glasgow, G1 4QE

 

     Jim Harte (UNITE R&F M&E Construction branch) on the Blacklist and Joyce Drummond (ATOS campaigner) on ATOS and the assault on welfare. Other speakers to be announced

 

Forum organised by Unite the Resistance in Scotland

 

     The forum will bring together people from different campaigns resisting Austerity. By standing together we gain strength and learn from each other’s experiences.

 

Supported by Black Triangle, UNITE R&F M&E Construction Branch and UNITE Scottish Housing Association Branch

 

 

Sat 29 June - Armed Forces Day

 

       Events to mark Armed Forces Day are being held around the UK on or around 29 June.

 

      "In both Iraq and Afghanistan, once the reasons for going to war were found to be false, or unattainable or just forgotten, those with a vested interest in continuing the wars resorted to one of the oldest tricks in the book.

They cultivated the myth of the soldier as hero.

They told you that you might not understand why the war continued but that you should support the soldiers.

Never again will I be complicit in the killing and torture of my Brothers and Sisters.

Never again will accept the vile religion of Patriotism.

I refuse to pull on that rancid uniform.

I refuse to fight for Queen and Country."

 

Ben Griffin, former SAS soldier

---

Sat 29 June - Scotland United Against the Bedroom Tax

 

10.30am - 4pm Meadowbank Stadium 139-141 London Road, EH7 6AE Edinburgh

 

      Local campaign groups, trade union branches, equality campaign organisations and housing and legal specialists and politicians are invited to come along to explore the options available to mitigate and eliminate the bedroom tax and its impacts.

 

Organised by the STUC

 

http://no2bedroomtax.co.uk/event/scotland-united-against-the-bedroom-tax-conference/

 

https://www.facebook.com/events/149017925283500/  

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.

ann arky's home.

Our CRAP Society.

      I have posted this before, but I feel it is worth repeating from time to time.

Our C.R.A.P. society, based on 

Capitalism,
Religion,
Authority,
Patriotism.

                  CRAP for short,

       

        Any alien looking in on our society must come to the conclusion that we earthlings love CRAP. It is all they will see as we scurry about working in CRAP jobs for CRAP wages and in what little “leisure” time we have we rush around buying CRAP. We spend precious time discussing the benefits of this piece of CRAP as opposed to that piece of CRAP. We weigh up the difference between this pair of CRAP trainers and that pair of CRAP trainers, this CRAP label and that CRAP label. We consider we have choices when we select this CRAP newspaper or that CRAP magazine from the avalanche of CRAP paper pulp on offer. One CRAP supermarket after another offers us an array of CRAP food and TV vomits endless CRAP into our homes and we flick from CRAP Big-Brother to CRAP house make-overs, from CRAP lifestyle programs to CRAP celebrity chat shows.

        Move to the realms of the “serious” CRAP and we have on offer CRAP political parties throwing up an display of smiling CRAP politicians, who, come election time, prance about offering CRAP policies in the hope that they can take their place in that CRAP institution at Westminster. What we get from the CRAP government of the day is such things as the CRAP war on drugs, that doesn’t work, CRAP tough on crime, that criminalizes poverty, CRAP war on terrorism, that is counterproductive,

Capitalism,

can produce nothing but an abundance of CRAP as profit is the only motive.

Religion,

produces CRAP freedom destroying dogma, based on the supposed mutterings of some airy-fairy gods.

Authority,

gives us a CRAP life based on surveillance and strict unbending laws.

Patriotism,

the last refuge of the scoundrel gives us CRAP racism and generates canon fodder for the state’s endless CRAP wars.

      Is this the type of society that we want to bequeath to our children and their grandchildren? Should we not be taking control of our own affairs and producing to our needs based on sustainability? A world of free association, voluntary co-operation and mutual aid is possible, a world that accommodates us all as equals and prepares the world for the next generation rather than rob them of an existence. 

First we have to get rid of  C. R. A. P. Let’s start now.

ann arky's home.

WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF CRAP.

Lifted from an old post on my sister blog Annarky1:


Society based on Capitalism,Religion,Authority and Patriotism.

             C.R.A.P.   for short.

        Any alien looking in on our society must come to the conclusion that we earthlings love CRAP. It is all they will see as we scurry about working in CRAP jobs for CRAP wages and in what little “leisure” time we have we rush around buying CRAP. We spend precious time discussing the benefits of this piece of CRAP as opposed to that piece of CRAP. We weigh up the difference between this pair of CRAP trainers and that pair of CRAP trainers, this CRAP label and that CRAP label. We consider we have choices when we select this CRAP newspaper or that CRAP magazine from the avalanche of CRAP paper pulp on offer. One CRAP supermarket after another offers us an array of CRAP food and TV vomits endless CRAP into our homes and we flick from CRAP Big-Brother to CRAP house make-overs, from CRAP lifestyle programs to CRAP celebrity chat shows.

        Move to the realms of the “serious” CRAP and we have on offer CRAP political parties throwing up a display of smiling CRAP politicians, who, come election time, prance about offering CRAP policies in the hope that they can take their place in that CRAP institution at Westminster. What we get from the CRAP government of the day is such things as the CRAP war on drugs, that doesn’t work, CRAP tough on crime, that criminalizes poverty, CRAP war on terrorism, that is counterproductive,

Capitalism,

can produce nothing but an abundance of CRAP as profit is the only motive.

Religion,

produces CRAP freedom destroying dogma, based on the supposed mutterings of some airy-fairy gods.

Authority,

gives us a CRAP life based on surveillance and strict unbending laws.

Patriotism,

the last refuge of the scoundrel gives us CRAP racism and generates canon fodder for the state’s endless CRAP wars.

      Is this the type of society that we want to bequeath to our children and our grandchildren? Should we not be taking control of our own affairs and producing to all our needs based on sustainability? A world of free association, voluntary co-operation and mutual aid is possible, a world that accommodates us all as equals and prepares the world for the next generation rather than rob them of an existence. 

First we have to get rid of  C. R. A. P. Let’s start now.

ann arky's home.

A MULTI COLOURED RAG.

        We are into the second week of the Olympics and nobody can deny, there has been a lot of excellent sport. Though we all know that the modern day Olympics has nothing to do with sport. It is all about corporate identity, a corporate greed feast with particular brands trying to dominate the market. It is also about giving a public subsidy of tax payers money to big business, we are talking billions here. However, its most important function is to get the public all behind the flag, all that flag waving and shouting, creating the illusion that we are all in this together, we are one big happy family. Patriotism, the foundation of wars, the keeper of the state, forget your poverty and injustice, forget the gulf between rich and poor, forget the austerity cuts, unemployment, benefit cuts, lower pensions and deteriorating education system and health service, we are all team GB.

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.

ann arky's home.

THE PEOPLE'S FLAG.

           

The People's Flag - Part 2 (Fascism and War 1931-1945)

       This video shows how the wealthy and some royalty of this country were allegedly keen to do a deal with the Nazi fascists. Making the point that the powers that be, have no thoughts of democracy, only what will safeguard their wealth and power, they consider the people are a necessary inconvenience that has to be controlled. The beginning is a bit slow but be patient.

      Originally screened on Channel 4 television in 1987, The People's Flag is a five-part history of the British labour movement in the 20th Century. Part 2 covers the period of the Great Depression, the people's resistance to the rise of fascism and events leading up to and including World War II.

ann arky's home.

STATE VIOLENCE AND LEGITIMATE TORTURE!!!!

      

       So George W. Bush has informed us that lives have been saved in the UK and US by waterboarding. According to the logic of this deranged individual, torture is fine if it is done by the good guys but is evil when done by the bad guys. Of course they are both doing it for the same reasons, in the hope of extracting information that might be useful to their cause. My problem is how do you differentiate between and “bad” guy torturing another human being, and a “good” guy torturing another human being? With these statements what these so called leaders are proving is that there is no difference between the power mongers at both ends of the so called “war on terror”. They are both extremists and have no compassion for anybody who gets in their way. Immense suffering can be inflicted on thousands of innocent people as long as you believe that your God is on your side and you're doing it for the right reasons. This allows us to vilify the suicide bomber while applauding the “shock-and-awe” inflicted on the innocent people of Iraq. You see, our cause was good, their cause was bad, simple logic. These psychopathic leaders see the horror that is now experienced by millions of innocent Iraqis and Afghans as acceptable simply because they say the cause is right. If the situation was reversed and we suffered as these unfortunate people's, have and are suffering, it would of course be a dreadful evil, their cause couldn't possible be as noble as ours. It is all part of the Western philosophy, me-right-you-wrong, which allows us to ride roughshod over any country in order to further our own interests.

           Oh for the end of this state system that pits man against man because of ever shifting lines drawn on the planets surface, an end to the power held by religions, and an end to this capitalist system of greed and exploitation that pits man against man and state against state all for the greater good of the shareholders.

 

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.

ann arky's home.