War.

 

           My only criticism of this advert is the title, A war that should never have happened. In my nearly 89 years on this planet I have yet to know of a war that should have happened, unless we talk about the Class War. Also Blair and Bush didn't start the war, they didn't wake up one morning and decided to have a war with Iraq, it was the big Western multi-national corporations, who wanted their hands on Iraq's oil and to dollarise Iraq in the process. Blair and Bush were merely the pawns tasked with managing that process to war. Despite these small criticisms, I give my full support to the campaign for peace and attempting to stop all wars, which will require a complete change away from the insane economic system that shackles our lives.

This from Stop the War Coalition.

 Iraq-20 years on: A war that should never have happened.

          The invasion of Iraq launched twenty years ago by George Bush and Tony Blair was a catastrophe for the Iraqi people and had a disastrous impact across the Middle East and beyond. It led to a million deaths, the displacement of millions more, the destabilisation of the region and a deep anger against the Western powers across whole areas of the globe.

It also generated the biggest anti-war movement in history.
           Stop the War is marking the anniversary of the war with an evening of remembrance and analysis from Iraqi activists and other leading anti-war figures including Lowkey, Sami Ramadani, Raghad Al-Tikriti, Tariq Ali and Lindsey German.

 

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

These Dangerous Women.

       Because of the male dominated political parties and the male dominated babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, women have often been airbrushed out of history. However if you ever poke your nose into the history of working class struggle, you'll find that, not only were women there, but often they were major players at the forefront of that struggle. Women played a major role in the WWI peace movement and continue to be a force in the peace movement of today. In the struggle to improve working class conditions women have stood tall. We in Glasgow have a legion of women working class warriors that of which we can be very proud. Names such as Mary Barbour, Helen Crawfurd, Ethel MacDonald, Rita Milton, Jane Hamilton Patrick and too many to mention here. So any exhibition that highlights these women warriors and helps to redress the position, is worth supporting.  

Subject: Audacious Women festival:

Scottish WILPF Exhibition at Ocean Terminal

Dear All,
       If you haven't seen the Exhibition yet it will be at 'The Little Shop of Memories' Ocean Terminal 1st February to 3rd March.
      Please share the attached flyer with your friends and encourage people to go and see the exhibition.
       If you are not in Edinburgh and would like the Exhibition for a local venue please contact Scottish WILPF.

In peace
Anne Scott, Secretary Scottish WILPF

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

War Is Not a Game.

        Any observer of our society would be well aware that we are a warring society. Through the onslaught from the babbling brook of bullshit, that is our mainstream media, with its war movies, stories of "great" battles, and war heroes, their justification for every war in which we have ever been involved. Then there is the "games" fed to our kids, super-human heroes, winning fierce battles over the bad guys, games of war, killing sprees where the player enjoys killing and never feels the pain of hot shrapnel tearing through their flesh, and knows that at the end of this violent indulgence, they can walk away unscathed, a million miles from the real killing sprees into which the state throws our kids. 

Of course we should not forget those callous military recruiting teams that infiltrate our schools, targeting the poorest areas.

 This is war.

      All the state has to do is reap this harvest and dispatch them to fight the imperialist wars that it indulges in at the behest of the corporate giants, who are ever hungry for more resources and markets, all gained from the blood of our youth.

 This is war.

     The armed forces make around 11,000 visits to secondary schools and colleges schools in the UK each year, and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) spends around £26 million each year on school Combined Cadet
Force (CCF) units, both of which have a strong recruitment agenda behind them, contrary to the repeated denials of this in recent years by the MoD

      Marlborough science academy is one of thousands of UK schools to invite in the military. Today, as part of an Insight Into Industry event, the army and other organisations – including the fire and rescue service, Marks & Spencer, and Hertfordshire University – are giving students an insider’s view of their work. Next to the assault course is a display showing salary scales for all military ranks, and male and female soldiers from different units are on hand to answer questions.

         We recommend that the Welsh Government considers whether further research is needed into the reasons for the apparently disproportionate number of visits to schools in areas of relatively high deprivation.

  Concerns over how many visits army officers make to schools in deprived areas will be debated by assembly members on Wednesday.

 The British Regular Army visits schools as a major part of its recruitment programme and a third of new soldier recruits are aged under 18. These recruits may face serious personal risk and challenging moral dilemmas, yet their terms of service can prevent them from leaving the army for up to six years. Given that minors are less able than adults to make free, informed and responsible decisions about enlisting, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and the House of Commons/Lords Joint Committee on Human Rights have recommended raising the minimum age of recruitment to 18. Both Committees also recommend that the UK ensure that disadvantaged communities are not targeted for recruitment.

 This is war.

      If we wish peace to be the main picture of our society, then we have to stop the military from the callous recruiting of kids, which happens mainly in poor and deprived areas, all with the blessing of the state. We have to ban all military recruiting teams from anywhere near a school. Schools are supposed to be a safe and welcoming environment for the enlightenment and development of our kids, allowing them to make balanced and informed decisions as adults, they are not to be a conveyor belt of cannon fodder for the interests of a profit greedy corporate world.

This is war.

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

A Date For Edinburgh.

Field punishment. 

        In memory of those heroes that the establishment would like you to forget, those who stood up against the first world war, voices for peace, punished, and suffered, as attempts to silence them increased, with the final humiliation, being erased from history. We can never let that happen.

The World Is My Country Exhibition
Thurs 25 Feb - Sat 12 March
Free Exhibition Launch
6pm Thursday 25 February
With graphic artist Emily Johns, Gabriel Carlyle, and Protest in Harmony.
Scottish Storytelling Centre
43-45 High St, Edinburgh EH1 1SR
The Exhibition celebrates, in stories and pictures, the people and movements that opposed the First World War. Featuring disobedient soldiers, feminist peace initiatives, a Maori princess, a famous Cambridge philosopher, and the striking graphic art of Emily Johns. Plus designs for the Conscientious Objectors Memorial in Edinburgh by pupils from St Thomas Aquins Secondary School. Launch with an interactive presentation by Emily Johns and Gabriel Carlyle. Wine & Food. Free. Donation requested.
Join & Share Event on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1575076856117731/

Songs of the Unsung Heroes

Jane Lewis and Penny Stone from Protest in Harmony lead a fun and inspirational afternoon of songs celebrating the movements and people who opposed the First World War. Learn songs about the men and women who refused to fight and those involved in the broader movements for equality and social justice that move us closer to a world without war. In conjunction with The World Is My Country exhibition.

All welcome, no previous experience necessary.

Scottish Storytelling Centre

Full Price – £12.00
£10 Network Members
http://www.tracscotland.org/scottish-storytelling-centre/centre-events/4588/songs-of-the-unsung-heroes

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

Finn MacKay, Explains Feminism. .

        Finn MacKay explains feminism and the need for it in our society, we obviously have a long way to go to reach that desirable state of gender equality.

        Finn Mackay is an Author, Academic and Feminist activist. She founded The London Feminist Network. Revived the London Reclaim the Night march, And a former organiser of the Feminism in London Conference. She was nominated as a world-changing woman in a 2006 Guardian poll. After working in youth work and education, Finn devised policy on domestic violence prevention before returning to academia and completing her PhD on the British Women's Liberation Movement. She is currently a senior lecturer in sociology at the University of the West of England in Bristol. She speaks and writes regularly on Feminist issues, particularly male violence against women.

 

       This episode of Circled A Radio interviews Finn MacKay on feminism.

Listen HERE:

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

WORKERS KNOW YOUR HISTORY - PEACE CRUSADE 1916.

WOMEN’S PEACE CRUSADE JUNE 1916.

THE LAUNCH.

Because ant-war feelings were running high in Glasgow it was only natural that Glasgow became the militant centre of the anti-war movement, with John MacLean at its core. A giant of the anti-war movement as he was, of course John MacLean did not stand alone in this battle against the war, it is said that pro-war meetings in the city were more than likely to turn into anti-war demonstrations. However, it was the women activists including Helen Crawfurd, Agnes Dollan and Mary Barbour who in June 1916 organised a peace conference in the city which gave birth to The Women’s Peace Crusade which became a dominant force in the anti-war movement. There is some variation on the actual date but June 10th 1916 is generally accepted as the birth of the Women’s Peace Crusade. A year later, June 1917 saw the Women’s Peace Crusade go national with the launch of the National Women’s Peace Crusade with Helen Crawfurd as its Honorary Secretary The Women’s Peace Crusade split the suffragette movement with the majority, in Glasgow at least, turning their activities to the anti-war movement and the rump taking a pro-war stance. Many of the women activists in the Women’s Peace Crusade were not new to this type of struggle as many of them were active in the suffragettes, the Glasgow rent strikes and also the No Conscription Fellowship. However the Women’s Peace Crusade was a concerted attempt to get working-class women organised against the war and made a major contribution to the anti-war movement.

MASS DEMONSTRATION AND SPREAD.

Sunday June 8th. 1917 saw Glasgow Green become a technicolour kaleidoscope as Women’s Peace Crusade processions from all corners of the City converged on the Green, the usual focal point for demonstrations and struggle in the city, turning the Green into a sea of colourful banners and filling the air with lively music. Estimates put the number of men and women assembled on that occasion as 12,000-14,000. All there in defiance of the avalanche of patriotic jingoism from the media and official circles, and with one desire, to stop the war.

Resolutions were put forward congratulating the Russian revolution of that year and called for immediate peace negotiations. After this event the Women’s Peace Crusade rapidly spread to cities of northern England and the Midlands including Birmingham.

GEORGE SQUARE PROTEST.

At the beginning of December 1917 the Women’s Peace Crusade had asked the Corporation of the City of Glasgow to receive a peace deputation, the request was refused. However, the members of the Women’s Peace Crusade were determined that their voice should be heard. So on December 13th 1917 a number of women assembled in George Square opposite the City Chambers to let the Corporation hear their voices raised in opposition to the war. Among those present were Helen Crawfurd, and Agnes Dollan, their banners were held high and peace leaflets were distributed to those passing by and other on-lookers.

THE BROLLY BATTLE.

During this anti-war display in George Square the Patriot League arrived and started harassing the women in the peace demonstration, attempting to destroy their leaflets and tearing their banners. Fights ensued and the women of the Women’s Peace Crusade defended themselves by brandishing their umbrellas. George Square which had been the site of many a political struggle now saw a mini war.

ENTRY TO THE CITY CHAMBERS.

At this point Helen Crawfurd and Agnes Dollan managed, by fair means or foul, to gain entry to the City Chambers and as the meeting of the City Corporation got under way, trying to ignore the demonstration outside, Helen and Agnes showered the councillors with anti-war leaflets.

RELIGION.

Although the Women’s Peace Crusade can be said to have had religious under currents it was still an attempt to build a broad working class anti-war movement and many, if not most, of its leading activists were socialists. It was essentially a housewives movement with men and women marching in different sections. It gained support from housewives who had lost husbands and sons in the war, or whose husbands and sons were on the battle fields.

More on Glasgow's working class history HERE.

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