EU Democracy.

 

         States work very hard with a ceaseless effort and unfailing determination to control the population and create a flock of subservient citizens. From continuous monitoring and profiling and for those more persistent citizens who stubbornly refuse to be part of the subservient flock they have other methods, entangling them in the loaded judicial system and prison.
       From Spain to Greece and across the EU, that so called bastion of peace, freedom and wealth, the pattern is the same.
       Two cases both with the same aim subservience, one from Spain and one from Greece, both members of the EU financial Mafia club.

Spanish democracy.

From Spain:

        Since June 2018, the anarchist prisoner Amadeu Casellas is back in prison, accused of stealing 300,000 euros in Sabadell, Catalonia. As told by Amadeu, at the time of arrest, he was working at his home; they found absolutely nothing and also the victim did not recognize him at first, the judge took no consideration of these details when decreeing detention. He is currently imprisoned in Brians I prison in Catalonia. The following interview comes from the revolutionary website La Haine.
        I first send my solidarity and that of La Haine to you in this new prison in which you’ve been suffering for months. How do you feel?
Very good.
        How was your arrest and this new accusation?
       At about 5 am they blew open the door where I lived. I was sleeping. I heard the noise and at first thought it was a neighbor, did not even think it was for me. Hooded police entered, threw themselves on me. I was hurt in the fifth and sixth vertebrae and I had to be taken to Granollers hospital. I had to wear a collar for about 20 days and was prescribed an anti-inflammatory. I was accused of armed robbery. Some 20 policemen checked, and found nothing.
       After spending years in prison, you came out in 2010 and now, 9 years later, you’ve been taken back to prison. Have you seen any change in the prison reality between these days?
        Yes, the conditions have fallen between 30 and 40 years ago and now, in all aspects. You cannot even maintain a hygienic value; they do not provide prisoners with any free products, so whoever cannot afford to buy it does not have access to them. Those that do not have hygiene are more likely to have scabies (which has already appeared in some prisons), tuberculosis, etc … Also the food has gotten worse, is less in quality, and cold; menus are repetitive and also they cheat with the portions: for example, in the menu it indicates that there are 4 patties per person and they distribute 3, and so on with everything. The commissary prices have doubled; if it was already expensive before, it is now much more; a liter of milk, which in a store costs about 60⁄70 cents, here costs € 1.60. Not only that, the laundry machine is broken and there is no money to fix it. The other day, a light bulb melted and they had no money to change it at that time. Where is that money? Where is that percentage of profit they get from the commissary going?
        You have participated in numerous protests in prison in the different stages that you have been imprisoned. How is the current struggle in prisons?
          I tried to collect signatures on the subject of food, I got very few, about 20 and 30, people are afraid and some came to say that they pulled back from the protest…
         In the years you were out of prison, you witnessed the fascistization (even more, if possible) of the state and the expansion of repression in large parts of society. How have you experienced this process?
        It is also something that is experienced inside, even as some officials carry the flag.
        From the outside, how can we help your situation to denounce injustice and fight for your freedom?
        Go pestering the court of Instruction No. 3 of Sabadell and especially create a lot of publicity, especially with those releases that come out.
         From your perspective as an anarchist, how do you describe the present political situation in the Spanish state?
        Currently, there is no talk of politics, but of parties; people are leaving things as important as the social aspects (health, evictions, maintenance of forests to prevent fires, maintenance of infrastructure to prevent flooding) and are devoted only to discussing and accusing the opposing parties without contributing anything.
       Finally, what message do you want to say to move all people struggling against repression and against prisons?
        Much strength to you all, the struggle continues. Even though we are few, do not be discouraged; it is a matter of desire and not quantity. Often one person or few can move a crowd. It is a struggle for social inequalities, against sexism, racism; if we do not fight, it will finish worse than in the Franco era.

And from Greece:

Greek democracy

SOLIDARITY TO THE COMRADES OF THE KOUKAKI SQUATTING COMMUNITY
      Since the end of August 2019, the state has launched a wide-scale crackdown on self-organized structures, occupations of the anti-authoritarian space and against squats, which also housed refugees and immigrants, mainly families with children. The present ND (Νέα Δημοκρατία / New Democracy) government is attempting to level everything left standing by the previous SYRIZA government, which had made more selective progress, with the goal of evicting squats of either immigrants or self-organized spaces of struggle.
      The Koukaki Squatting Community is one of these self-organized structures of struggle, which was evicted some time ago, but their comrades in arms recaptured it yesterday which led to a second intervention by the police which resulted in the arrests and beatings of the comrades and those acting in solidarity. The dynamic resistance of the Koukaki Squatting Community who fought against the MAT (Riot Police) and the EKAM (Special Anti-Terrorist Unit) twice during eviction operations for the first time in such cases in Greece, is an exemplary stance to defend the options and practices of struggle that we should never abandon.
SOLIDARITY TO THE COMRADES OF THE KOUKAKI SQUATTING COMMUNITY

SOLIDARITY TO EVERYONE WHO DEFENDS THE CHOICE TO STRUGGLE

Pola Roupa – Nikos Maziotis, members of Revolutionary Struggle

12/01/2020, Korydallos Prison

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REMEMBER THOSE OTHERS WANT TO FORGET.

     Even in those least democratic areas of the developed world, people will celebrate, to welcome in the new year, passing greetings between friends and neighbours. However, in these areas there are those who cannot celebrate with friends and families. They are prisoner of the state. Locked in their cramped conditions, suffering isolation, loneliness and repression, we should not forget them. 

This from Contra Info:

      “Persons locked up behind bars stop living, they just survive in prison. Every one of them makes their own mold into which they’re supposed to fit, finding refuge in standardized behaviours and reactions (…) one becomes simply a number, another accusatory brief scattered on an iron bed, in a narrow prison cell. A number less, who cares. In any event, the punitive system thinks that inmates haven’t ever been born but just sprung up from somewhere, and they can just as easily be uprooted.” [excerpts from a comrade’s letter on prisons]
      Monday, December 31st, 2012 by 23.30pm Solidarity gathering outside Koridallos women’s prisons
      From Santiago to Montreal, and from Thessaloniki to Chania: 10, 100, 1000 solidarity gatherings outside prisons, juvenile detentions centres, immigration concentration camps
When all others celebrate, we remember those that others want to forget
—anarchists

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A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY.

       Like the man said, "Prison is a crime against humanity." In America there are more people locked up in prisons than any other country in the world, while we in the UK also come very high on that list. I believe that in the UK approximately 80% of those in prison are in for non-violent crimes and a high proportion have mental health problems, and addiction problems. More hospital cases than prison cases, but this is capitalism. However under the present system we will not be able to abolish prisons, but there are those who do try to do something about those unfortunate enough to get caught up in this destructive system. Everybody knows Amnesty International, there is SACRO (Scottish Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders) there is also Anarchist Black Cross and Jail Guitar Doors. Until that day when the prison walls come down by the force of justice, those on the inside still need support.

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HILLARY THE CALLOUS, THE ARROGANT.

        

         Hillary Clinton has called for the the man accused of the Lockerbie bombing to be returned to prison. He was released on compassionate grounds as he was dying from cancer and recent video footage shows him lying in his bed obviously near to death. Why would this so called civilised Christian woman want a dying man back in prison? Why is anyone put in prison, is it to try to reform them, so that they can again take their place in society, is it because they are a danger to society, so have to be kept locked up, or is it just to punish them? Does she think that Magraghi can be reformed while on his death bed, or does she think that a dying man on his death bed is a threat to society? Or does she just want to punish him? How do you punish a dying man?

       Not only has this woman shown utter callousness she has also shown her arrogance and let the cat out of the bag, in so much as who got rid of Gadaffi. This short clip shows her at her delighted and arrogant self, on hearing of Gadaffi's death and letting it be known who actually got rid of Gadaffi. This is also the same woman that sat in the comfort and safety of Washington, watching the assasination of Osama bin Laden. She glories in her assumed power.

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HMP - SURVIVAL GUIDE.

          At time when more and more of us are likely to fall foul of "The Law" this little booklet could be of considerable help. It's free, there for the downloading worth publicising.

Hi there,

          I've just finished writing an article entitled HMP - A Survival Guide. It's a free booklet designed to help anyone who is expecting to receive their first custodial sentence; from what to take and what to expect to how to conduct yourself, better your experience and stay strong.

         It's written in a style intended to be digestible for those who need it the most and I believe it has the potential to help a lot of people at a time that can be the hardest in their life thus far.

It's also available as a downloadable pdf and issue article from www.prisonism.info.

        If there is anyway you can support this project (link to it, blog it, give it to people who are at risk of going to prison) or if you have any feedback or suggestions as to how I could best distribute it to potential inmates I'd very much appreciate it.

Please let me know, Carl Cattermole

--
Carl Cattermole

www.prisonism.info

 

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WORKERS KNOW YOUR HISTORY,--

WILLIAM C. McDOUGAL 1894-1981.

EARLY YEARS.

       Born on the 22nd. of January 1891 in the district of Partick in Glasgow, William C. McDougal spent nearly seventy years actively promoting Libertarian non-sectarian Socialism. He joined the Glasgow Anarchists around the age of nineteen. Willie served as secretary to the Glasgow Anarchist Group and held Sunday meetings at the foot of Buchanan Street. At this time anarchists groups were growing in number in and around Glasgow.

GLASGOW ANARCHISTS 1905.

PRISON.

       Prior to the first world war anarchist groups received relatively little interference from the police. The war changed all that, with meetings being disrupted by police and patriotic groups. At one such meeting in Botanic Gardens, Willie was speaking and referred to the King as a parasite. A crowd rushed the platform and threatened to throw him into the nearby River Kelvin. In 1916 Willie was arrested for refusing the call-up, he was beaten by the local police and handed over to the Military. He refused military orders, was put on trial and sentenced to two years imprisonment. He was sent to Wormwood Scrubs Prison, then on to Denton Camp, eventually ending up in Dartmoor. While at Dartmoor he was involved in prison disputes and tried to organise a strike. He then decided to slip out of the camp by means of the camp bicycle, cycling part of the way he eventually reached Glasgow where he resumed his anti-war and anarchist propaganda. This activity also included holding classes on economics in the rooms of the Herald League and speaking at open-air meetings.

ANTI-CONSCRIPTION GLASGOW GREEN 1939,

RUSSIAN REVOLUTION.

     After the war the Russian Revolution considerably increased political activity on the streets of Glasgow. Most anarchists were enthusiastic about the Revolution, some of Willie’s meetings indicate this with titles like, “Lenin’s Anarchy”, “Revolution of Necessity”, and “Dictatorship, democracy and Government”. It was not long before Willie and the Anarchists lost faith in “Lenin’s Anarchy”, by 1920 it had turned to hostility.

      At this time the Glasgow Anarchist Group became the Glasgow Communist Group, in 1921 it changed to the Ant-parliamentary Communist Federation, this group was kept alive right through the 1930s by Willie McDougal, Guy Aldred, Jenny Patrick and other anarchists. Guy Aldred left in 1933, Willie kept it going until 1941.

GUY ALDRED.

GLASGOW GREEN FIGHT.

        Willie was also involved in the fight for freedom of speech and assembly on the Glasgow Green. This struggle came to a head in 1931 by the arrest and imprisonment of the Tramp Preachers. The major players in this struggle to repeal the bye-law forbidding public speaking on the Green were Guy Aldred, Willie McDougal, Harry McShane, and John McGovern. Willie was among those arrested and tried for speaking on the Green without a permit, many other activists played a part in this important Glasgow struggle. The bye-law was repealed in 1932 thanks to the excellent case put by Guy Aldred.

GEORGE SQUARE BLOODY FRIDAY 1919.

SPANISH CIVIL WAR.

       1936 to 1939, the years of the Spanish Civil War, saw a remarkable rise in the activity of Glasgow Anarchists. During this period Willie’s public speaking activities were to peak, the events in Spain also drove Willie to print, publish and edit a number of papers. The first to appear was “Advance”, 1936, then came “The Fighting Call”, 1936-37, “The Barcelona Bulletin” 1937, followed, next came the “Workers Free Press”, 1937-38, and then, “Solidarity”, 1938-40. Apart from trying to give an anarchist view point on the Spanish Civil War, these papers were trying to provide an open forum for anarchist and other voices of the left.

TANKS IN TRONGATE GLASGOW AFTER BLOODY FRIDAY 1919.

WORKERS OPEN FORUM.

        During the 2nd. world war Willie McDougal with Dugald Mackay formed the Workers Revolutionary League to follow on from the Anti-parliamentary Communist Federation. Later on with others he formed the Workers Open Forum, this was again an attempt to provide a platform for all the views from the left and try to create unity. The “Form” rented rooms at 50 Renfrew Street and continued until the late 1950s. The end of the Workers Open Forum marked the end of an era, an end to regular working class political meetings in dingy little halls dotted about the city.

PROPAGANDIST TO THE END.

      After this period Willie McDougal continued his struggle to spread anarchist views by publishing papers. In 1970s there was the “Industrial Republic”, and the year up to his death, “Sense”. Along with these he produced many pamphlets, among them, “Marxism Made Easy”, “An Open Letter to Mr Callaghan”, and “Anthology of Revolt”.

       Willie McDougal continued his propagandist activities right up to his death. The last issue of “Sense” being at the printers at the time of his death. He always tried to put his ideas in the simplest form possible. Willie never lost faith in the belief that the struggle to end the insanity of capitalism could and would develop towards Socialism. William C. McDougal together with other Socialist activists kept alive the Anti-parliamentary Libertarian Socialism that demands real change in society not the tinkering reforms of Party Politics within the framework of Capitalism. His life was an advancement of that cause, his death a loss to the fight for human liberty.

 More on Glasgow's working class history, HERE.

 

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WORKERS KNOW YOUR HISTORY - WILLIE MCDOUGAL, GLASGOW.

Glasgow has many who have dedicated their lives to the working class cause and Willie McDougal stands tall among Glasgow's many working class fighters for justice and a fair society.

WILLIAM C. McDOUGAL 1894-1981.

EARLY YEARS.

        Born on the 22nd. of January 1891 in the district of Partick in Glasgow, William C. McDougal spent nearly seventy years actively promoting Libertarian non-sectarian Socialism. He joined the Glasgow Anarchists around the age of nineteen. Willie served as secretary to the Glasgow Anarchist Group and held Sunday meetings at the foot of Buchanan Street. At this time anarchists groups were growing in number in and around Glasgow.

PRISON.

       Prior to the first world war anarchist groups received relatively little interference from the police. The war changed all that, with meetings being disrupted by police and patriotic groups. At one such meeting in Botanic Gardens, Willie was speaking and referred to the King as a parasite. A crowd rushed the platform and threatened to throw him into the nearby River Kelvin. In 1916 Willie was arrested for refusing the call-up, he was beaten by the local police and handed over to the Military. He refused military orders, was put on trial and sentenced to two years imprisonment. He was sent to Wormwood Scrubs Prison, then on to Denton Camp, eventually ending up in Dartmoor. While at Dartmoor he was involved in prison disputes and tried to organise a strike. He then decided to slip out of the camp by means of the camp bicycle, cycling part of the way he eventually reached Glasgow where he resumed his anti-war and anarchist propaganda. This activity also included holding classes on economics in the rooms of the Herald League and speaking at open-air meetings.

RUSSIAN REVOLUTION.

       After the war the Russian Revolution considerably increased political activity on the streets of Glasgow. Most anarchists were enthusiastic about the Revolution, some of Willie’s meetings indicate this with titles like, “Lenin’s Anarchy”, “Revolution of Necessity”, and “Dictatorship, democracy and Government”. It was not long before Willie and the Anarchists lost faith in “Lenin’s Anarchy”, by 1920 it had turned to hostility.

At this time the Glasgow Anarchist Group became the Glasgow Communist Group, in 1921 it changed to the Ant-parliamentary Communist Federation, this group was kept alive right through the 1930s by Willie McDougal, Guy Aldred, Jenny Patrick and other anarchists. Guy Aldred left in 1933, Willie kept it going until 1941.

GLASGOW GREEN FIGHT.

       Willie was also involved in the fight for freedom of speech and assembly on the Glasgow Green. This struggle came to a head in 1931 by the arrest and imprisonment of the Tramp Preachers. The major players in this struggle to repeal the bye-law forbidding public speaking on the Green were Guy Aldred, Willie McDougal, Harry McShane, and John McGovern. Willie was among those arrested and tried for speaking on the Green without a permit, many other activists played a part in this important Glasgow struggle. The bye-law was repealed in 1932 thanks to the excellent case put by Guy Aldred.

SPANISH CIVIL WAR.

        1936 to 1939, the years of the Spanish Civil War, saw a remarkable rise in the activity of Glasgow Anarchists. During this period Willie’s public speaking activities were to peak, the events in Spain also drove Willie to print, publish and edit a number of papers. The first to appear was “Advance”, 1936, then came “The Fighting Call”, 1936-37, “The Barcelona Bulletin” 1937, followed, next came the “Workers Free Press”, 1937-38, and then, “Solidarity”, 1938-40. Apart from trying to give an anarchist view point on the Spanish Civil War, these papers were trying to provide an open forum for anarchist and other voices of the left.

WORKERS OPEN FORUM.

       During the 2nd. world war Willie McDougal with Dugald Mackay formed the Workers Revolutionary League to follow on from the Anti-parliamentary Communist Federation. Later on with others he formed the Workers Open Forum, this was again an attempt to provide a platform for all the views from the left and try to create unity. The “Form” rented rooms at 50 Renfrew Street and continued until the late 1950s. The end of the Workers Open Forum marked the end of an era, an end to regular working class political meetings in dingy little halls dotted about the city.

PROPAGANDIST TO THE END.

      After this period Willie McDougal continued his struggle to spread anarchist views by publishing papers. In 1970s there was the “Industrial Republic”, and the year up to his death, “Sense”. Along with these he produced many pamphlets, among them, “Marxism Made Easy”, “An Open Letter to Mr Callaghan”, and “Anthology of Revolt”.

        Willie McDougal continued his propagandist activities right up to his death. The last issue of “Sense” being at the printers at the time of his death. He always tried to put his ideas in the simplest form possible. Willie never lost faith in the belief that the struggle to end the insanity of capitalism could and would develop towards Socialism. William C. McDougal together with other Socialist activists kept alive the Anti-parliamentary Libertarian Socialism that demands real change in society not the tinkering reforms of Party Politics within the framework of Capitalism. His life was an advancement of that cause, his death a loss to the fight for human liberty.

MORE OF GLASGOW'S WORKING CLASS HISTORY HERE.

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WORKERS KNOW YOUR HISTORY - GLASGOW.

GLASGOW'S RADICAL WOMEN:       JANE HAMILTON PATRICK, 1884-1971.

EARLY YEARS.

            Jenny Patrick, as she was known, was born in Glasgow in February 1884. Her father had a “Ladies Costumier” shop in Sauchiehall Street, the family lived in nearby Garnethill. Jenny’s mother died in childbirth, and her father married almost immediately. Her stepmother did not treat Jenny the same as her own, she would dress her own in finery and Jenny in cast-offs. Jenny left Garnethill School at 14 and started work with a printer in St. Vincent Street Glasgow, as a copy-holder. At 16 she became a typesetter and later was employed as a printer by a footwear company. Jenny joined the Glasgow Anarchist Group, in 1914, and became secretary in 1916. After the 1914/18 war the Glasgow Anarchists, Jenny with them, joined with the Communists of Guy Aldred’s group and in 1920 the group was renamed the Glasgow Communist Group. This group had three branches in Glasgow, Central, Springburn and Shettleston, there was also an association with other groups in Lanarkshire. In 1921 these groups were coming together to form an Anti-Parliamentary Federation which would have its own new newspaper called “The Red Commune”, Jenny Patrick would be the secretary. The new paper appeared on the 1st. of February this was before the new group had been formally finalised. The Anti-parliamentary Communist Federation came into being at Easter 1921 and Jenny was a founded member.

ARREST AND PRISON.

             On the 2nd of March, Guy Aldred was arrested in London and a police raid on Bakunin House in Glasgow saw Jenny Patrick arrested with Douglas McLeish, a group member and a printer named Andrew Fleming. All four made a formal appearance before the Sheriff on the 7th of March 1921 and were remanded in custody for a fortnight before appearing before the Lord Justice Clark. Andrew Fleming was released on £200 bail, Jenny Patrick and Douglas McLeish on bail of £150 each and Guy Aldred was remanded in custody. until the case against them came up for a hearing on Tuesday the 21st of June, 1921, at the Glasgow High Court. The indictment covered eight pages and involved charges of urging anti-parliamentary action, employing a Sinn Fein tactic and conspiracy to cause disaffection among the populace. The trial lasted two days and received wide publicity in the press. The jury took a only a few minutes to return a verdict of “Guilty”. Lord Skerrington passed sentences of Guy Aldred one year, Douglas McLeish, three months, Jenny Patrick, three months, Andrew Fleming, three months and a fine of £50 or another three months. Aldred and McLeish were taken to Barlinnie Prison, Fleming and Jenny Patrick were taken to Duke Street Prison.

DISOWNED.

               When Jenny came out of prison her family disowned her and she moved into Bakunin House. When Guy Aldred was released from prison there had been a split between himself and his partner for a number of years, Rose Witcop. Rose returned to London to continue with her family planning campaign while Guy remained at Bakunin House in Glasgow. Rose Witcop died in 1932 aged forty two. Jenny and Guy moved into a tenement flat in Baliol Street Glasgow, became partners and remained so until his death in 1963. Although Jenny Patrick did not approve of Guy’s Parliamentary Election tactics she continued to support him in all his campaigns.

SPANISH CIVIL WAR.

                July 1936 saw the start of the Spanish Civil War and an upsurge in political activity among the socialist groups in support of the Spanish workers and their struggle. The Glasgow Anarchists were asked to send a representative to Barcelona, but in fact sent two. Ethel MacDonald went as the Glasgow Anarchist representative and Jenny Patrick as the representative of the Anti-Parliamentary Communist Federation. Both women, with very little money, left for Spain on the 20th. of October 1936. they reached Paris with one franc between them. Jenny and Ethel with no papers and only the help of comrades, hitch-hiked across France and eventually reach Spain. Ethel was sent to Barcelona, Jenny to Madrid to the Ministry of Information, where she served with the CNT-FAI’s Comite de Defense, editing the English edition of their paper Frente Libertario, there she experienced the siege of Madrid. In 1937 she moved to Barcelona in charge of CNT’s English radio bulletin.. While there Jenny and Ethel experienced the momentous May Days. Her eye-witness accounts of the Communist Party counter revolutionary conspiracy against the Anarchists were rushed into print in Glasgow by Guy Aldred in a special Barcelona Bulletin. Both Jenny and Ethel, while in Barcelona, helped to fill the soldiers clips with bullets and gather information . She returned to Glasgow on May the 20th. 1937, Ethel remained until November 1937.

STRICKLAND PRESS.

              After returning from Spain, Jenny joined with Guy Aldred, Ethel McDonald and John Caldwell in setting up the Strickland Press in 1939 at 104-106 George Street Glasgow. Her experience as a printer was invaluable, among other jobs she set up the headlines, something she had done since her days as a young woman. For 25 years Jenny with others worked long wageless hours, printing socialist and anarchist literature, notably the USM’s The Word, In 1945 due to a dispute with the Scottish Typographical Association the work could not be contracted out, Jenny and Ethel did the typesetting themselves.

DEATH.

            Jenny a small woman, she was respected for her dynamic personality and persistent and courageous character. She never sought the limelight, but endured poverty and hardship for the sake of her anarchist principles. A few years after Guy’s death she became ill and very frail and was nursed at her home in Baliol Street by John Taylor Caldwell, a comrade of long standing. Eventually she had to be moved to hospital where she died a few days later, Jane Hamilton Patrick was cremated at Maryhill Crematorium where John Taylor Caldwell said the tribute, sadly only a handful of mourners were present.

More of Glasgow's working class history HERE.

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