Serfs.

       It's a cruel illusion that is woven around us, as we are continually told, by the mainstream media and political propaganda, that we live in a free democracy. Yet a simple look around, and you see gross inequality, where the majority strive with sweat and blood producing an abundance of wealth, but live a life of constant struggle in an attempt to gain a half decent life. We know we produce a mountain of wealth, we see it all around us, in the shape of large mansions, super sports cars, private jets, luxury yachts, etc. and that small coterie of individuals living the high life in luxury and opulence.
      Are we still living away back in he middle ages of serfs, with a few trimmings of "modernity" but all the power and wealth still in the hands of our lords and masters? Has the structure really changed, we are as free as the cattle in the field or the sheep in the pen, there to be used as our masters see fit. They'll feed us, just enough as long as we are of value to them, when we are surplus to their requirements, they will dispose of us in various ways, or simple leave us to rot. We are the 21st century serfs, we struggle just to survive, placated by trinkets, mere popcorn and bubble gum in the form of mobile phones, laptops, etc. the usual bread and circuses, from world cups, to Olympic Games, all just paracetamol to make us feel better however remedying none of our problems, but all money making exercises for our lords and masters, for which we pay,

       The following food for thought from Acorn, Winter Oak.

 

 

         Inspired by Gerrard Winstanley who was born 411 years ago in Wigan.
         Most are happy to say they belong to a ‘nation’ or ‘country’ and feel a strong sense of pride in their connection to its land and shared ancestry. We think the times when monarchs and lords made claims on everything and everyone living on the land have long since gone and that these ‘nobles’ now ‘serve’ us and there are laws and safeguards to stop this kind of wicked exploitation happening again.
      What if on the surface it only looks like this but, in reality, these old ruling elites have found more covert ways to exploit us, keeping us in a similar state to how we were back in the dark and middle ages only with a veneer of modern state crafted respectability?
     Are modern day ‘nations’ no more than ‘mega brands’ that can be owned and managed for personal gain? Does state propaganda, and a corrupted mainstream media convince us that we have more freedoms than we in fact do, and that by voting once every 5 years, we have a say in who governs us when really we don’t? 

       You only have to look at current leaders like Boris Johnson and Donald Trump to wonder how they got to these important positions on which so many lives depend. Do these wily old families continue to benefit unfairly from the most constant and lucrative revenue stream available to a people? That is, its collective creative energy; namely the taxes we all pay on everything we earn, spend and own… For which we receive very little in return.
     Where does all this money go? How is our country still in debt after all this time, and the hard work we all put in? To give recent and obvious examples of everyday corruption, we know that £12 billion has just been spent on a phone app and £103 million was spent on a ferry company with zero ferries and so on… This list is in fact endless! Is something still ‘Rotten in the State of Denmark?’ as Shakespeare said? It appears it most definitely is.
     If it is the case, it means countries are more like fiefdoms and our common status that of chattels rather than a modern citizenry. In other words, 21st century slaveism.
      Perhaps it’s time to ask ourselves some pertinent questions. Are we falling for a very clever marketing con trick that makes us feel free and empowered when the reality is that a few power-obsessed and stupidly rich groups are still running everything behind the scenes, while life for the rest remains a constant struggle on an increasingly damaged Earth? How far have we come as a society when the weak are still made to carry the strong? You have to ask – and keep asking.

 

 

C.D.

      “England is a prison; the subtleties in the Laws are the bolts, bars and doors of the prison; the Lawyers are the Jailers; and Poor Men are the prisoners”. Gerrard Winstanley. (19 October 1609 – 10 September 1676)

         Of course for "England", substitute the patch of land on which you live.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk  

WHOSE RIGHT DIRECTION?

       David Cameron in his new year speech has said that Britain “is heading in the right direction”, and he really means it. As far as our millionaire parasite Prime Minister and his millionaire corporate cronies are concerned, we are “moving in the right direction”. Two years of shrinking incomes due to wage freezes/cuts and wage increases of less than inflation, have taken the country nearer to that corporate dream of a low wage sweatshop economy. It is all falling into place, low wages, part-time workers desperate to hold onto their carp job, temporary contracts that can be cancelled at a moments notice and a massive erosion of workers rights and entitlements. A few more years of this and our corporate masters will be able to compete with any sweatshop in the East. Their other success story is of course the cuts in social spending. To the corporate greed merchants, social spending is tax money, if we can get rid of all that mamby-pamby social spending nonsense, it would mean a reduction in taxes and therefore, an increase in their profits. In their philosophy of greed and exploitation, if people want services of any kind, social or otherwise, they can purchase them from the corporate world. Of course if you can't afford that, well, tough, that's not their problem.

     Yes Mr Cameron, you can hold your head up high among your millionaire corporate cronies, you have been successful in taking the people of this country well down the path of transformation from workers to serfs. However, if I were you, I would not get too confident and complacent, I do expect the people of this country will start to stand up and do to you, what you have done to them, and kick the shit out of you, and those millionaire corporate cronies. We will not quietly crawl into serfdom, we have been there before. 

ann arky's home.

AUSTERITY TO SERFDOM!!

      So 2012's candle is starting to flicker, soon to be extinguished. What does a look at the year tell us? It saw the world's ordinary people assaulted and ravished by the power of capital, aided and abetted by their administrators, the state governments. It also saw some of the fiercest fight backs against the full might of the state's repressive power. From London to Washington, from Athens to Moscow, from Madrid to Delhi, the ordinary people of this planet organised and protested against the battering ram of the financial Mafia's austerity plan. Sometimes it was bloody, with South African miners being gunned down by the state's bully boys the police. Tear gas and and baton charges were almost daily events in Athens. Death and injury were seen among protesters time and time again.

       This was not just an aggressive attack on the living standards of the people, it was a case of what little freedom we had being eroded. The state's clandestine agencies stepped up surveillance on dissenting voices, with more covert operations being mounted against legitimate protest groups, they introduced new legislation criminalising acts of protest, many civil liberties were torn up and binned.

       What was also visible over the last year was the disintegrating support for the usual mainline parties. The usual flunky parties in the pocket of the corporate world saw the people turn away in droves, with a mixture of disgust and hatred. That support in some cases turned to apathy, but mostly moved to the more radical wings of the political spectrum, the radical right as well as the radical left.

       Just as the financial Mafia's drive for more austerity will not fade away in the coming year, it is more likely to intensify, so the resistance will grow and the struggle become more bitter, more fierce. However it also means that there will be another front being fought, that for the hearts and minds of the people, against that rising tide of extreme right wing groupings. In every country where austerity has been biting, and the people resisting, the extreme right has gained ground. No doubt financed by many of those powerful people and institutions that financed and backed the usual mainstream puppets that are now discredited.

      What little gains the ordinary people have made by decades of bitter struggle, resistance, and perseverance have been wiped away, what crumbs came our way have been greedily stolen back. To stand still we will have to re-double our efforts, as the financial Mafia's plan is to push us further back, to something resembling the poverty of the Victorian era.

      2012 also saw a continuation of the US corporate funded government acting as guardian of the the world's corporate profit seekers. Bombing the shit out of people across the globe, all in the name of peace and democracy of course. Any country that wouldn't let the dollar and Western capital control their assets, became the axis of evil, and felt the full fury of Western “shock and awe” democracy. We all know the list, and it is still growing with more on the agenda.

       2013 will prove to be a critical year, as the rate of the financial Mafia's drive for “austerity” increases, so will our descent into serfdom. Unless we can counter that with increased resistance, an abandoning of the tradition politics, and a massive move towards politics from below, with increased resistance, direct action, occupation and a desire not to fix the system so that we can reclaim some of the crumbs we lost, but dismantle it and replace it with a sustainable system of seeing to the needs of all our people. A system of co-operation, mutual aid and free from the profit motive.

ann arky's home.