Land Of The Free!!!!!

       It's common currency for the West, with America leading the charge, to shout about injustice, corruption and breach of human rights in other countries, but never batting an eyelid about the stinking cruel, corrupt and unjust prison system right in their own patch. The Greek prison system recently reached exploding point, however, America, "Land of the Free", leads the world in the percentage of its population that it locks up in its cruel privatised prison system.

 

      Prisons are for intimidation, control, repression, and now for profit, absolutely nothing to do with protecting society, justice or reform. This recently published letter from a prisoner in America highlights the vicious brutality and injustice of the system, with prisoners being held for long terms just waiting for their case to be heard.

This from Inside Out Alliance:

Dear IOA,
       Hope this letter finds you in best of health and spirits, as for myself I’m making it. I’ve been trying to get my writ of habeas corpus or motion to dismiss…accepted, but all have been denied without actually telling a fact. Each one of my writs or motions have been held under my constitutional right, each effort has been denied, which violates my constitutional rights and also shows due prejudice of the justice system in Durham county. Why, because I’m black.
       Each day I hear a person getting locked up for 2 grams of crack or heroin with habitual felon status and 28 grams or 14 grams with a gun and they got caught with the drugs or both and their bond is 50 for 14 grams of heroin no gun or 28 grams with a gun…I was never arrested around near any cocaine. By an informant. No arrest, still only accused. No lab work ever came back yet and now the charge is a year old. My bond was a million now for the last 5 months $500,000 bond. 7th Amendment is no excessive bond, cruel and unusual punishment. That’s why I asked your help and the Southern Coalition. My roommate and I watched your protest on the 13th of June, as we watched so did the same officers that accuse the lie on me and him. They watched all of you in the green Chevrolet, the Black F-150s, the white Ford work van, the black run down Crown Victoria with the windows down as you guys have now got their attention. I pray you watch your back for the next 4 to 8 months for just as my charge of a lie got me sitting here, I hope you better luck, if not your bond will be 1 million. Best of luck to all of you and I hope you keep your eyes open for all they do is create lies of past charges, and set up, and if you have a record of any kind they’re going to create a charge. So I ask again watch your backs you won’t know anything till they run up on you with a search warrant or indictment for some charge you done 15 years ago, but you will see them again. Three of them are S.J. Newton, D.T. Rose, and T. Thomas. There’s 18 in all, but you will learn they are a bunch of set-up artists and crooks. For I still don’t have no receipt for the last $150 they took from me when I was arrested on this charge by S.J. Newton. He still hasn’t turned it in or he paid his light bill with my money. There was no drug taken from me when they arrested me so my money since I am Black is theirs. Their word is all that counts and I’m going to sit in their jail because they can do it as long as they want for I have no help to get anyone else to come see me. My lawyer is —-, number is —-, call him tell him I said come see me. Just so you will know you call I will tell him about who I saw on June 13th…He works with District Attorney Nicholas Yates on my charge. I called both of them on the issue and haven’t seen the courtroom since they have been judge shopping ever since. This is why I asked to get the Southern Coalition to come see me. I sent the notarized affidavit of my action to you for record as well as the same copy I’m going to send the Southern Coalition. I ask again please help.
Y. B.

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

The Right To Self Defence.

        We are all exploited and repressed wage slaves, or unemployed victims of an oppressive and exploitative system. However, the "system" is not something immutable, written in tablets of stone, handed down from on high, it is an economic system created by men, designed to enrich the few at the expense of the many. What men have created men can pull asunder, we have the right to self defence.

   “Violence is only justifiable when it is necessary to defend oneself and others against violence […] The slave is always in a state of legitimate self-defence and so his violence against the boss, against the oppressor, is always morally justifiable and should only be adjusted by the criterion of utility and economy of human effort and human suffering”

Enrico Malatesta, «Umanità Nova»
25th of August 1921

   

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

Only Doing My Job.

       Oh Greece, how you used to make me laugh and chat, I loved your warm friendly people, now you make me weep, and I admire your compassionate, brave people.

This from ContrInfo:

    In the night of August 13th, a ticker inspector inside a moving trolley bus pressured a 19-year-old to hand over his identity card and pay a fine for not having a ticket, threatening to take him to the nearest police station should he not comply with his authority. After some moments, the bus driver intervened in the argument in favor of the inspector. The passenger resisted the bullying, and there was a scuffle. Then suddenly, the bus door was opened and the young man either jumped off, or (more likely) was shoved out of the vehicle. He was fatally injured from the fall on a sidewalk. Despite the teen’s body lying on the ground covered in blood, the ticket collector went on threatening other passengers who were furious at what just happened, and he even demanded a woman be arrested by the cops.

What happened later:



     After the burial ceremony, the gathered crowd returned to the place of the fatal incident. When the demonstration arrived in Dimarchiou Square, large numbers of protesters remained there. Approximately 200 people (most of them school students) continued to march toward the Aghios Antonios metro station, expressing their anger with direct actions, erecting barricades and setting dumpsters on fire.
     Soon thereafter, people were chased by MAT anti-riot squads and DELTA motorcycle units through Panagi Tsaldari Street, Ethnikis Antistaseos pedestrian road, and the surrounding alleys up to Thivon Avenue.
There followed an orgy of state repression, with anti-riot cops beating------

Read the full report HERE:

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

A Swamp Of Injustice, Inequality And Repression.

       Seven days of police brutality and the people are still there. It is no longer just Istanbul, it has spread to other towns and cities across Turkey. Of course while the people were resisting the brutal force of authoritarianism on the Turkish streets, their babbling brook of bullshit, their national media, was showing a film about penguins. The usual crap, stay at home and watch nice tele. Turkey is just like the rest of Europe, a capitalist cauldron about to bubble over, a swamp of injustice, inequality and repression. There is not a country in Europe that is not on the edge of exploding. The normal inequality and injustice has been exacerbated by the financial Mafia's  plundering of the public purse via their "austerity" plan. Do they see the threat as big enough to ease up on their plundering, or will they push ahead with their drive for a sweatshop Europe. Either decision should be unacceptable to us the ordinary people, our only hope of draining that swamp of injustice, inequality and repression, is to end the present economic system. A system of profit is incompatible with a system for the people. We have to accept exploitation or get rid of capitalism, there is no middle road in this particular struggle.

ann arky's home.

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

ann arky's home.

A LETTER FROM THE PAST.

From the Anarchist Library, an anonymous letter from a worker 1883:

Capital and the Capitalists

What is capital? The harvest of the rich by the sweat of the people.

       Yes, we workers created capital. By our work we increase it every day. And far from profiting from what we have created, we become slaves to it and by making the capitalists richer to our own detriment, we become insufferable. Many workers look to suicide to end this order of things. I think there is a better way.

      What, the capitalist wallows in pleasure and the worker cannot live off the product of his labor. While the former is dancing and feasting, the latter is starving.

        O worker, my brother, you are suffering and the capitalist is laughing at your pains. You die and he insults your corpse. Faced with these blatant facts, you find nothing better than to end your life without caring that on the day of action your brothers in slavery will be missing your support.

        No, you have not thought of that and that is your excuse, but from now on chase these thoughts from your head and feel something different.

        Yes, there is a better way than dying. You have to live in order to prepare the great era of the future. You have to live to see your efforts crowned with success. You have to live to be present at the resurrection of the worker and the death of the capitalist.

        To get there what do we need: Audacity — we have it. Finances — we’ll find it. Sacrifices — we are all ready to give what is dearest to us for the triumph of our ideals.

        Therefore, let’s get to work. Let’s group together — there is strength in union. No half-measures. Think of those who are suffering, whose children demand vengeance. Encourage the weak. Finally, let’s get ready because the hour approaches when we will have to call upon different arguments than those of our corrupt representatives.

        And on that day, no mercy to the masters, like they have shown none to us. Let our battle cry be:

Down with capital.
Crush the capitalists.
Death to traitors and scoundrels.
Long live the Revolution!

— Letter from a worker exploited by capital.

ann arky's home.

THE WORLD WE HAVE CREATED.

        Perhaps a little on the long side, but informative, if at times both depressing and inspiring.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzNQixqun79Db2lyR2VWa3JOUWs/edit?pli=1

ann arky's home.

WORKERS KNOW YOUR HISTORY - THE LONG WAR.

          Across the globe battles erupt between the state/corporate world and the people, to those who don't know their history it always seems like a new war, a blip in the system, something that will soon be sorted out and then we can all get back to "normality". However to those who do know their history, the battles are the "normality" it is just another battle in the same long war for the freedom to control our own life. A struggle that will continue until there is no state/corporate system exploiting the ordinary people. The battles come in many a guise, it can be strikes as the corporate world tries to extort extra profit from the workers. It can be protests against government policy as it tries to placate its corporate masters. It can be wars as the various power blocks seek to defend their segment or try to expand. No matter what, it is the ordinary people who are at the receiving end of the pain.

         We should always remember our history it is the voice of those who have struggled before you in the same cause, telling you of the dangers, the pitfalls, the victories. it is a cry for freedom.

 

An extract from On History, Repression and the infinite:

The Mexican Guerrilla and Forgetfulness History tells us that the Nazis cleansed Berlin of Jews in the days leading up to 1936 Summer Olympics. Before everyone arrived from abroad, the Jews had been pushed out of sight, the brutality and pogroms hidden away. The city was brightened, the roads were cleaned, and the shops were open. Three years earlier, Hitler had presided over May Day celebrations, having successfully hijacked the ideas of socialism and revolution from the Marxists, many of whom also happened to be Jews. In 1945, Hitler killed himself and had his body burnt. The war he started before his death consigned the world to its current fate of authoritarian domination. Long after he died, the SS patrolled the streets and Nazi rockets filled the sky.

In 1968, the students of Mexico City (DF) began boarding buses and handing out literature, marching in the streets against the PRI government, and withstanding heavy assaults by the police. They fought to free their imprisoned friends, to keep beauty alive, and to destroy the capitalist terror around them. They were executed in cold rooms after defending the occupied UNAM, the wandered drunkenly down Insurgentes knowing their future was gone, they fucked in dirty bathrooms knowing the world was against them, and they witnessed the tumultuous expansion of the world revolutionary Geist before their intoxicated eyes. Some of them were part of the Anarchist International, although we may never know to what extent.

Ten days prior to the opening of the 1968 Mexico City Summer Olympics, the PRI government sent a group of paramilitaries called the Olympic Brigade to liquidate the student movement. The Brigade was created to cleanse the city and erase all unwanted disturbance. In the Plaza de las Tres Culturas, hundreds of students were killed outright, their blood and life and beauty permanently staining the dry ground of the capitol.

Continue READING:

 ann arky's home.

NASTY NESTLE.

       An appeal from IUF, a reminder that in some countries to be in a union can be a very dangerous situation. Yes, this is the 21st century.

        As Nestlé shareholders prepare for the annual shareholder meeting on April 19 Nestlé watchers should note that on April 6 a court in Kabirwala, Pakistan issued an arrest warrant for a manager named Jahangir at the labour contractor which has been supplying hundreds of contract workers under abusive conditions to Nestlé's milk factory in the town.

       Abuses by the labour contractor - a crucial component of the Nestlé 'supply chain' - are part of a pattern of lawlessness and lies which have also seen the human resources manager at the plant cited for contempt by the Punjab High Court for repeatedly failing to comply with court orders to reinstate the unfairly terminated President of the Nestlé Kabirwala Workers Action Committee, Ashfaq Butt.

       Throughout the ongoing struggle for employment rights at Nestlé Kabirwala, Nestlé has shown contempt for the courts and for the truth. Nestlé management in Vevey has gone through similar contortions in attempting to explain the arbitrary firing of 53 union members at the Nescafé factory in Panjang, Indonesia, including alleging that the strike by the union was "illegal" (it was not). The handful of union members who survived the wave of arbitrary firings have come under enormous pressure to surrender their rights.

       While the shareholders prepare for their celebration, click here to send a message to Nestlé calling on the company to reinstate unfairly dismissed union members in Indonesia and provide permanent employment to contract workers in Pakistan who have claimed their legal rights.

Ron Oswald
General Secretary, IUF

International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF)

8, rampe du Pont-Rouge
1213 Petit Lancy, Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 793 22 33
Fax: +41 22 793 22 38
website: www.iuf.org

ann arky's home.

THE VIPER TONGUE OF THE MEDIA.

        It is sad that when there is any sort of demonstration against the exploitation by this corporate fascist system, people still have to rely on the viper tongued pro-system media. The mainstream media has always been, and always will be, a propaganda machine for those in power, a pro establishment anti-common people, weaver of illusions. I have often spouted my view on the lies, illusions and omissions that fill the sewer that goes by the name of mainstream media, Media - Lies and Illusions, is just one of my post on this dangerous and vile grouping.

By John Hartfield.

      A couple of statements lifted from Occupied London issued by the anarchist collective Vogliamo Tutto in Athens:

       You were, and you shall remain. scum, informants and journalists. "Hooded-youths loot the centre of Athens. The burning city is at their mercy. Chaos, 50 scum vandalised anything they found in front of them and pushed away the peaceful demonstrators. Where is the police?" (description of the events of Feb 12 by the informant-led media). The lackeys of the bosses offered their credentials once again. The disgusting coverage of journalists who did not hesitate to talk about workers threatened to lose their jobs as a consequence of the riots, or supposed small businessmen (yes, the banks and the multinationals!) of Stadiou Ave! ... to conspiracy theories, to parastatist provocateurs. These are not merely loopy or sensitive journalistic voices. The sewer opened up by the scum of the media is a standard practice of the sovereign. Libel, slander and misinformation aim at the isolation and the condemnation of social counter-violence and the scaring off of fighting and insurgent proletarians. At this crossroads, no-one can avoid taking a stance. You either bow your head, or you take to the streets! Vogliamo tutto e per tutti, anarchist group in the neighbourhood of Nea Smyrni and the surrounding areas

        We were, and we shall remain on the streets and at the barricades. Thousands of insurgent proletarians either chose to rage-fully clash with the repressive forces of the bosses, or they refused to retreat from Syntagma square, despite the countless tear-gas thrown by the riot police." -- A description from what we lived during the magical moments of the barricades but also of the demonstration of February 12. On the day of the sealing of the loan agreement, the day when local and international bosses were deciding the complete sucking off the blood of their subjects, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets. Slogans, passion, clashes, setting alight of banks and commercial chains, expropriation and active solidarity between workers on the streets. The hounds of democracy attacked rabidly but failed to counter the rage of the people. At the news shows later in the evening, a second wave of media-repression attack followed, in an attempt to halt social counter-violence and to slander the multitude in struggle. And yet, everyone who found themselves on the streets those days knows only too well what happened, they know who the true parastatists are, who steal their lives away, who are their enemies. There is no such thing as objective reality. You either remain a spectator, or you are there... Vogliamo tutto e per tutti, anarchist group in the neighbourhood of Nea Smyrni and the surrounding areas

         I have no doubt that the imposed colonial governors in charge of Greece at the moment, now that they have passed their new legislation, will expect the people of Greece to clear the streets and accept their exploitation and deprivation with subservience. As they syphon every public asset out of Greece and raid the public purse for the benefit of the banks and bond markets of the corporate world, the people are an inconvenience, a nuisance factor. No doubt the media will be used to misinform and delude the people to get them to suffer in silence. If that fails, as I believe it will, then the state apparatus will swing into action to brutally repress the justified and righteous anger of the people. It is a time when solidarity across borders is the only answer, this is our struggle, we are not British, French or Greek, we are the people.

ann arky's home.

PEOPLE AWAKENING - A RADICAL SITUATION.

http://www.bopsecrets.org/recent/awakening.htm

"A radical situation is a collective awakening. . . . In such situations people become much more open to new perspectives, readier to question previous assumptions, quicker to see through the usual cons. . . . People learn more about society in a week than in years of academic 'social studies' or leftist 'consciousness raising.' . . . Everything seems possible -- and much more IS possible. People can hardly believe what they used to put up with in 'the old days.' . . . Passive consumption is replaced by active communication. Strangers strike up lively discussions on street corners. Debates continue round the clock, new arrivals constantly replacing those who depart for other activities or to try to catch a few hours of sleep, though they are usually too excited to sleep very long. While some people succumb to demagogues, others start making their own proposals and taking their own initiatives. Bystanders get drawn into the vortex, and go through astonishingly rapid changes. . . . Radical situations are the rare moments when qualitative change really becomes possible. Far from being abnormal, they reveal how abnormally repressed we usually are; they make our 'normal' life seem like sleepwalking."

--Ken Knabb, THE JOY OF REVOLUTION

http://www.bopsecrets.org/PS/joyrev3.htm#situation

ann arky's home.

RADICAL WOMEN.

     

       This is a call from Radical Women to mark the 91st. anniversary of women getting the vote in the USA, 1920, approximately 8 years after their sisters in the UK. The problems the people face in America today are not unique to America, they are the same problems that the ordinary people the world over face. Where capitalism exists, the ordinary people are being exploited. As capitalism hits one of its recurring crisis the gloves come off and it is raw capitalism with all the brutality needed for it to survive. It can't survive without gross exploitation of the people. Like the article says, there is still much to fight for, the battle is not over yet, but with a mammoth effort of solidarity it could be.

        Happy Women's Rights Day! This August 26 celebrates women winning the vote in the U.S. 91 years ago. Today Radical Women honours the suffrage movement and its militant, multiracial fighters. These women--Sojourner Truth, Clara Lemlich, Francis Ellen Watkins Harper, Sarah Grimke, and so many more--rebelled against enforced second-class status to organize courageously for equal rights. We will be forever grateful for their work.

      Gaining access to the ballot did not eliminate oppression, however. The battle for justice continues. Many hard-earned gains of the feminist movement are being targeted in today's atmosphere of increasing bigotry and scape-goating.

        In response to the economic quagmire in the U.S., the right wing has launched a full-scale attack against women, queers, immigrants, people of colour, labour unions, and the working class as a whole. They label immigrant mothers an "invasion by birth canal," oppose gay marriage, and try to destroy ethnic studies. Politicians on both sides of the aisle advocate cutting funding for abortion and reproductive health services while eliminating the right of public workers, who are predominantly female and people of colour, to bargain collectively.

         It is no surprise that the Tea Party and Republicans have ridden this wave, but Democrats, who captured many women's support with campaign promises of relief, have blatantly exposed themselves as complicit promoters of these slash-and-burn politics. Congress' bipartisan debt-reduction super committee, for instance, is simply a cover to cut Medicare,
Medicaid, Social Security, education funding and a host of human services. Both capitalist parties are quick to abandon the facade of representing working class interests to cater to the wealthy and large corporations.

      The poor, women and people of colour are disproportionately among the hardest hit when services are reduced. Women, of course, bear the greatest burden for the welfare of their families and are forced to shoulder more tasks at home to compensate for service cutbacks.

        During these difficult times, organized fight-backs--with women at the forefront--are breaking out. Taking a cue from the rebellions in the Middle East, teachers in Wisconsin sparked a series of protests against Gov. Scott Walker's anti-union onslaught. Support from across the world poured in as intrepid unionists shut-down business as usual in Madison. Demonstrations and sit-ins at state capitals across the nation have demanded an end to union-busting, corporate give aways and balancing the budget on the backs
of poor people.

     Radical Women (RW) is deeply immersed in building this fight. In California, RW initiated Sisters United Front for Survival that calls for steeply taxing the rich and big businesses and shutting down wars to pay for vital services. Similarly, Sisters Organize for Survival, a grassroots project of Seattle Radical Women, led a "Flip the Funding" fight in Washington State. SOS issued an alternative budget based on the state meeting its obligation to help people survive, not boost corporate profits.

      Nationally, RW supported the Save Our Schools conference and march in Washington D.C. in July, where thousands of teachers, parents and community activists gathered to demand full funding and support for public education. RW garnered endorsements from over a dozen unions in four states and sent a contingent to D.C.

      Radical Women's strategy is to encourage united labor and community mobilizations to fight budget cuts and defend workers' rights. RW members have gone door-to-door, spoken at union meetings, made presentations to community groups, initiated demonstrations, hosted forums, mobilized people to testify before city, county and state
committees, launched petition campaigns, and more.

SOLIDARITY.

     Since Republicans and Democrats are part of the problem, the only way to exercise our democratic rights is to build an organized, militant, and feminist working-class movement that goes beyond voting for capitalist politicians. We need labour unions to step up to leadership and shake things up across the country, from taking capital buildings to calling general strikes. And how about building a feminist labour party that genuinely represents all workers' interests?

      We workers, union and non-union, female and male, create the wealth, and we should control it, too! There is no reason for us to tolerate the existence of a class of exploiters who use our labour just to enrich themselves at our expense. As long as capitalism is king, women, queers, people of colour, immigrants, and the entire working class, will get an ever shortening end of the stick.

     Radical Women has been engaged in the grassroots, feminist fight for an egalitarian socialist society since 1967. Join the struggle! You can learn more about RW's theory and program by reading The Radical Women Manifesto. Check out www.radicalwomen.org to learn what the chapter in your city is doing, and get involved. If we don't have a chapter in your area, contact RadicalWomenUS@gmail.com about building one. You can also
help us continue our work by donating here. A solution to these rocky times is within reach! We will save our future through a united labour and community struggle for a just, worker-controlled economic structure, and the time is now.

In solidarity,

Cee Fisher
Radical Women

REPRESSION.

     The recent students' protest in London and the expected comments from most of the media and the millionaire controllers of society, for the full weight of the law to be brought down on those nasty protesters who didn't play be their rules, should remind us that the desire for repression is alive and well in this “mother of democracy”.

     Most people have an opinion of what repression is and it is normally seen as something to do with an outrageous violation of rights and it usually happens somewhere foreign and under a dreadful dictator but not here in our “mother of democracy” This illusion is based on the failure to grasp that repression is part and parcel of any class society. In our society, as in any class society, there are those who rule and those who are ruled. It is the state’s function to maintain this structure protecting the privileges of those who rule against the desires of those who are ruled, to do this a combination of coercion and accommodation will be applied. In its drive to maintain the status quo the state will have to continually repress any social movements that attempt to break the rule-ruled, empowered-dis-empowered nature of our society, repression is a necessary and permanent part of the state apparatus.

       The military and the police are two of the main bulwarks of the state and recent years have seen a change in the way that the state deals with dissent. Crime is no longer seen as something done by individuals, it is now a “war-on-crime” this in turn has brought a militarization of the police, armed police on the streets is now seen as commonplace and it is not just small arms, the police can call on ever more powerful fire power. The introduction of the community police has been an attempt to turn the ordinary people into the eyes and ears of the state allowing the state to be more pre-emptive in its approach to dissent.

      The state also infiltrates all organisations of protest and dissent, monitoring and provoking where it feels it would be beneficial to the survival of the state. Infiltration and provocation are not new, we can go back to what is known as the 1820 insurrection, when government agents provoked an uprising in order to deal more severely with its dissenters. The same principles are applied today. The state’s ever changing forms of repression also attempts to link protest to its “war-on-terror” creating a fear among the people and allowing it greater scope to deal with any form of protest or dissent. This is repression of the desires of the ordinary people for change

       In today’s class society repression comes in many varied and subtle ways and to change society for the benefit of all we must confront that repression where ever it is present. We must see protest as our way of taking control of our lives and changing society for the good of all future generations.

 

 

ann arky's home.