Fights On.

           Giannis Michailidis has served his full prison sentence and fulfilled all the conditions for his release, and despite this and the fact that he has been on hunger strike for 67 days in attempt to have his just release, the Greek state is callously refusing him justice and are willing to see him die a slow death, locked in solitary confinement. Giannis has stated that he has suspended his hunger strike for justice, but not abandoned the fight, for reasons he will explain at a later date.
 

 The following from Act For Freedom Now:

         I find myself in the unfortunate position to announce that I am suspending this difficult struggle without having won anything substantial. However, this struggle is not over yet nor do I intend to leave it unfinished. The suspension is temporary; some of the reasons are the obvious ones. Some are not. I apologise to those who have supported me that I cannot share the reasons publicly at this point. Should I need to continue I will explain publicly and in detail the reasons I chose the temporary suspension. I will continue to fight for what I deserve and hopefully will not need to continue.
       The justice system has been humiliated. So far, the only success of this hunger strike is that it has highlighted its contradictions. In terms of the barricades I have attempted to raise, there have been the statements of the lawyers, changing the mood of the “throw them inside and throw away the keys” logic. But my personal request remains in the air. And my commitment that I wouldn’t stop seems betrayed at this point. This weighs on me, of course, and despite knowing that my intention is – if necessary – to continue at a more fruitful time in the near future; but as I said before, not everything can be said at this moment and I hope it will not have to be said. Closing this announcement, I want to wholeheartedly thank those who have supported me in any way. Those who took a stand, those who transcended their social roles because empathy prevailed. But above all, those who fought tooth and nail to break the enforced silence, those who were beaten in the streets to express their solidarity, those who took risks and those who starved in prison. To the latter I owe my life. If all this had not happened, at this moment the conditions for this suspension wouldn’t exist. That’s all for now. I still look forward to my immediate release.

Everything continues…

Yiannis Michailidis

 A text by Giannis Michailidis, read out at the event in Athens for "Words for Remembrance of Political Prisoners."

THE HIDDEN STRENGTH OF AN INSURRECTION IS THAT IT AROUSES THE IMAGINATION

         It was late evening of December 5th, 2008 and I was reading the comic book ‘V for Vendetta’, when a phrase shook me: “Noise is relative to the silence preceding it. The more absolute the hush, the more shocking the thunderclap.” The economic crisis hadn’t yet unsettled the dominant narrative of capitalism as a one-way road, and a spontaneous insurrection in a country of the west world seemed like a utopia. I stood on this phrase, which I felt very believable, but there weren’t any facts to support it and I wondered a lot inside me.. A day later, a bullet struck the heart of feisty comrade Alexandros Grigoropoulos. The bullet came from the weapon of a cop, for whom Vyronas Polydoras, 

Read the full article HERE: 

 

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

Murder!!

          While Giannis Michailidis is slowly murdered while in the care of the Greek state, that Greek state casually goes about its business of control, repression and protecting its power and privileges. A human life is neither here nor there on their agenda.
        History teaches us that the state is an institution without humanity or compassion. Glance around the world and we see time and time again, state after state stand idly by watching one of its citizens slow die a painful death, when it is well withing its power to save that life and alleviate that suffering. The state is an institution soaked in blood, its laws written in blood, its power, wealth and privileges protected and maintained by blood. So it will always be, as long as we accept the state has some sort of monopoly of power over our lives. Not until we the ordinary people realise that we have the power to shape society and create that fairer world for all, the state is a brake on those common desires.

The following from Act for Freedom Now:

Giannis Michailidis: Rape and murder of the concept of justice

        For Greek “justice”, a rapist of a child (D. Lignadis) has been sufficiently rehabilitated and is not a danger to society after less than 1.5 years in prison. A racially motivated murderer (Ath. Hortarias), has been sufficiently rehabilitated and is also not a danger after 2 months in prison. The murderer of 15-year-old Alexandros (Ep. Korkoneas) does not deserve life imprisonment. Another rapist (P. Filippidis), earns his freedom prematurely as he is not considered dangerous because of his celebrity. This is the “epic” of crony Greek “justice”.
      However, for Greek “justice” an anarchist bank robber and escapee, after almost 9 years in prison and 7 months, after completing the required 3/5 of the sentence, “risks committing new crimes as he has not spent sufficient time in prison”.
       What I understand is that robbing a bank and escaping from prison is far worse than rape or murder. Especially if the rapist is a close friend of ministers or the killers kill troublesome kids or marginalised people. After all, isn’t the role of the state to protect capital? Also, it will obviously show more vindictiveness towards someone who has actively challenged the feared institution of prison, absolutely necessary for disciplining society.
        And as for bank robberies, now that we’re impoverishing you, don’t get any ideas. If you want to rape a kid, a wink to a minister will do the trick! This is the clear message of Greek “justice”.
        I received it. That’s why I started a hunger strike. To expose all those arbitrary acts against me, which I list at the beginning of the text. However, from what I can see they don’t need me. They have made their own judgments. Not even for appearances.
         I think they are even using the hunger strike as an example now. They’ve set my appeal hearing for 7/25. On that day I will have done 64 days’ hunger strike. The aim is clear. To exhaust me. A possible permanent disability reinforces the message they are sending. Perhaps my eventual death, which becomes more likely with each passing day. Such a perversion of the concept of justice is unthinkable. Let them enjoy their “justice”. Enjoy your careers.
        As for me, who do not have access to their villas with their lavish tables paid for with bribes, I can greet this world fasting, but with the spiritual fullness of total existential conflict with their rotten system.

 

Some photos of the mass protests to free Giannis Miachailidis 

 

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

State Killings.

       Further to my previous post on hunger striker Giannis Michailidis, and the inhumane treatment he is receiving at the hands of the Greek state, I post in full a letter from Lamia prison by Giannis.

The following is from Enough is Enough:

         Lamia. Greece. A letter from anarchist prisoner Giannis Michailidis, who is on hunger strike since May 23, 2022.

Originally published by Anarchist News.

        Since the anthropocentricity of the majority of our society attributes the above mental attributes exclusively to humans, I will probably be accused of anthropomorphism (you will tell me of all you have been accused of, did that bother you?). However, I do not attribute characteristics to scorpions that are not inferred from their behavior, such as rational thought. It is encouraging that newer neuroscientific research suggests that the architecture of neural circuits associated with the function of consciousness in humans and other mammals is even detectable in insect brains.
       How does this relate to the current situation? A few hundred million years after the appearance of scorpions, a being walked the earth that constructed permanent enclosure structures for other living beings, including its own kind: cages and guardians.
       Many intelligent animals in captivity stop eating and are driven to death (e.g. of the dolphins that are captured, few survive). Countless people in captivity, (since so long ago that the beginnings have been erased) have gone on hunger strikes in prisons to gain their freedom or dignity. This is the equivalent of self-centering by beings with enough intelligence to try to provide a way out of the impasse. That is why nowadays, the hunger strike is internationally recognized as a historically powerful means of struggle, especially for prisoners.
       In Greek circumstances (where even the junta of the colonels backed down on hunger strikes) modern judges and prosecutors are governed by a different perspective. The majority are driven by ultra-conservative views and, having caused untold pain to tens of thousands of prisoners who have been deprived of their long-term freedom, they work for a torture industry entrenched behind obvious lies such as correctionalism. Like slaughterhouse workers, or like fighter pilots bombing the enemy’s cities, they have killed any trace of empathy in themselves and can eat their lunch by convincing themselves that they are doing something useful. That is why they see the hunger strike as a means of challenging their omnipotence and show zero tolerance.
       How else to interpret, what judges and prosecutors write, up to the 46th day of my hunger strike, when the prosecutor’s proposal of the court of appeal for my release was issued?
        I was preceded by two councils where I was tried for what the judges believe I will do and I was held on remand as a “risk of committing further offences”. In the second even theirs they didn’t ask me a single question, not even about the facts and just issued a predetermined decision after 40 days (30 of which already on hunger strike). Without even a rationale, it took them 40 days to write “in accordance with the prosecutor’s proposal, to avoid unnecessary repetition”. I was treated with defiant indifference.
        In the face of this squalor, I started a hunger strike. And in the announcement of its opening, I listed both the arbitrary acts against me and numerous examples where the judges have opened wide the doors when it comes to children of the system (cops – murderers, prison guards – torturers, fascists, big capitalists).
       Meanwhile, in the midst of my strike, Alexandros’ killer, one of Zack’s killers who did as much jail time as I do hunger strike time, and rapist Filippidis have been released early on the improbable grounds that the potential victims are not at risk because he is now known for his actions and will avoid him. And I who completed 3/5 of my sentence 7 months ago “have not yet been corrected as not enough time has passed” according to the prosecutorial reasoning! Unrepentant murderers are enjoying what I have been fighting to earn for 50 days risking my life, what I have been entitled to for 7 months, freedom.
      Seemingly unrelated, and yet relevant, is the murder of the chimpanzee that escaped from Jean-Jacques Leshwar’s wild animal prison. I wonder if Greek ‘justice’ will deal with a serial killer and torturer of wildlife? Too much money…
      Anyway at this moment, my own stinger has already pierced my body and is spreading poison destroying its vital organs, probably irreversibly. However, it will inevitably pierce, even if only temporarily, the murderous order that sustains this system of generalized enslavement and exploitation of nature (human and otherwise)…

THE ONLY DEFEATED STRUGGLE IS THE ONE NEVER GIVEN

FREEDOM OR DEATH

11/7/2022,

Giannis Michailidis  

Visit ann arky's home at http://strugglepedia.co.uk  

Sadistic.

           May all those who fund, plan, build and run prisons, rot in hell. They are the most barbaric institutions in any society. To treat humans as other than human is about as low as you can crawl, but the state defends these blots on civilisation, and builds a whole structure to run them and a system to fill them, and has no intentions of removing them.
          The following case is not the first nor unique, such treatment of individuals by the states across the globe, is all to common and shown to be acceptable to those in power. Only the mass movement of people can bring an end to this savagery and build a society that treats all humans as human. 

The following from Enough is Enough:

 

Lamia. Greece. The health condition of hunger striker Giannis Michailidis, who has been on hunger strike for 44 days and is monitored at Lamia General Hospital, is extremely critical. 

Originally published by Barrikade Info. Translated by Riot Turtle.

           First of all, I would like to emphasize and point out that although the law allows each prisoner to appoint his personal doctor to examine and supervise him, in this case I was not allowed to examine him personally, despite having been authorized to do so, but our communication took place between the staffs and in the presence of a police officer right next to me, thus suspending medical confidentiality, since he heard and observed all our communication.
        Giannis’ white blood cells number has fallen so far below the lower normal limit that it now poses a danger to the hunger striker. Leukopenia leads to severe immune deficiency. Platelets are also very low, and thrombocytopenia can cause severe and threatening bleeding. He has worsening anemia, liver dysfunction, and hypocalcemia.
         Clinically, the hunger striker now reports experiencing acute precordial pain with the slightest exertion (signs of myocardial ischemia) and severe pain in his left kidney. The physicians treating him have informed him that he is now at risk of severe osteoporosis.
         Gianni’s extremely difficult situation and struggle are exacerbated by the conditions of his incarceration. Completely isolated in a four-walled cell. No window, except for a small skylight at one side, and no television (although the psychiatric examination he underwent when he was admitted to the hospital did not reveal any pathological findings). In other words, he is physically and sensory isolated, without the slightest constant support, supervision and care from his family, his lawyer and his doctor.
      All of this harms the hunger striker, causes additional stress and contributes to the destabilization of his body, as it is a kind of torture.
        And the paradox is that all this has to happen in this torturous way in a hospital, where the ethical and moral rules of the hospital should not be violated and all patients must be treated in decent conditions.
       For my part, I will once again emphasize the seriousness of the health condition of hunger striker Giannis Michailides, and call on all responsible authorities to find an immediate solution to prevent a fatal outcome of the hunger strike.

The personal physician of Giannis Michailides Pantelia Vergopoulou – NHS director.

FOR THE IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF ANARCHIST GIANNIS MICHAILIDIS

Visit ann arky's home at http://strugglepedia.co.uk  

Provoked.

           Usually after a large protest the media report what happened as "violence broke out and x number of police were injured". However, practically everybody that goes on a protest march or rally is aware that in most of the cases, trouble usually starts after police provocation. This pattern is repeated across the globe, all in an attempt to intimidate the protestors and put other people off joining any protest movements with the aim of creating a intimidated and subservient population. Making population control so much easier for the established power structure to get on with plundering the public purse and depleting the Earth's resources, all for the benefit of the privileged few who hold the reins of power.

     The following is from Athens, but can be witnessed in cities, towns and villages across the planet. Anywhere when the people challenge the established power structure.

 
 

          Suddenly 6 police bikes provocatively pass from Exarcheia Square attempting to intimidate and scare those that have already gathered there. Apart from the shouts against them, warning the cops about the response they will receive the next time they may try to provoke the people about to protest the police repression in the neighborhood, there is no aggressive action against the police.
          What do the cops do following that? They leave and return with greater reinforcements, about 15-20 bikes, 2 cops on each bike. The result is what has been recorded in the video.
           Despite the chaos created in the area by the police with asphyxiating gas grenades and flash bang grenades, the protest in Exarchia took place dynamically, with the participation of approximately 1.000 protesters.

The call for the protest follows:

JUNE 25 – DAY OF GREEK AND INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT OF EXARCHIA.

      To defend the neighborhood of the world that fits many worlds.

A neighborhood where people of all genders, ages and backgrounds can coexist with respect.

Where the history of yesterday’s struggles meets the resistances of today.

Against gentrification, evictions, political annihilation, State repression.

To fight for the Exarcheia of social self-organization, of class solidarity, of insurrection

– No Metro station in Exarcheia Square

– No to the handing over of Strefi hill to private companies

– The Polytechnic School of Athens should remain a place of meeting and struggle

– Reduction in rental prices

– No evictions

Visit ann arky's home at http://strugglepedia.co.uk  

Borders.

 

           Probably one of the most shocking videos I have ever watched. Borders kill, deaths crossing Africa, deaths crossing Europe, deaths crossing the English channel, deaths crossing from South America to North America and in all these cases it is the borders that are the cause of the deaths. The various states and their desire for power, wealth and resources create these borders. Imaginary lines drawn in blood by the duped population drunk on the poisonous wine of patriotism and all at the dictate of the rich and powerful parasites who brew that wine and hold the whip. Reading of, and viewing these deaths, surely we must ask why have these borders, who gains most from these blood soak imaginary lines, certainly not the ordinary people. They are the ones that flee the various states and their brutal regimes, they are the ones fleeing the turmoil of powerful nations foreign policies. When do we cry, in a loud and anguish voice, "enough is enough" and bring down this whole stinking brutality known as states. 

         Note the casual and callous way the thugs in uniform walk among the dead and injured, devoid of any humanity..

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

Solidarity.

         We have to support this event, now more than ever, G. Michailidis needs our support and solidarity.

Details:

Thursday, 23rd June,

From 7pm.

GAS, 53 Kilbirnie Street,

Glasgow.

The following taken from Act For Freedom Now:

      BREAKING: Decision of the Amfissa Judicial Council rejecting the request for the release of hunger striker G.Michailidis
       Today 20/6 the Judicial Council of Amfissa rejected the request for release of fellow hunger striker Giannis Michailidis. The Judicial Council of Amfissa and the judges Konstantinos Mandavinos, Ioannis Gatzias and Smaragda Moraiti signed with their dirty hands the attempt to exterminate our comrade. Next to their name the word executioner will carry with it the stigma that must accompany them for the rest of their miserable lives.
      The Amfissa Judicial Council has carried out part of a wider repressive plan to deal with our comrade’s hunger strike. Systematic silencing by the mainstream media, bureaucratic delay of the response in order to damage and exhaust the striker, rejection of the application at a time when he is in a critical condition in the Lamia Hospital.
       As we speak, after a month of hunger strike, Giannis has reached 57.5 kg, has lost more than 21% of his body weight and his life is in danger. He is locked up in a squalid cell in the Lamia hospital, without even a TV to keep him informed, which he is deprived of with the ridiculous argument of the cops that ‘there is a fear of suicide from the TV cables’. Visits with his companion are refused and she is not given any official information about his medical condition.

 

 

Visit ann arky's home at http://strugglepedia.co.uk  

Solidarity.

          As the system squeezes out more austerity from the population of ordinary people, in an attempt to re-capitalise their fractured and broken system of exploitation, more people become angry as they see their living standards being decimated and their kids and elderly suffering in the interests of profit. So naturally that anger will spill over onto the streets in the form of strikes, direct action and protests, and rightly so. However the greater our anger and the louder our voices, the harder the state will come down on those who dare to face up to this cull on the poorest and most vulnerable. Already the prisons are filling up with those who dare to take on this battle for a better and fairer life for all our people.
        If we are to win this fight for fairness and justice then we must show solidarity with all those who find themselves enmeshed in the state's web of loaded judicial systems and its repression institutions, the prisons.
       There is a call for a show of solidarity for one such prisoner entrapped in their repressive system, a prisoner of the Greek state, caged for fighting for freedom and justice. Let's show some support for this event and carry it on to solidarity with all those oppressed by the state.

 

Hi,
         We're putting on this event in solidarity with anarchist hunger striker G. Michailidis (on hunger strike since 23/05 in Greece), following a call for international solidarity.
         It would be great to see and chat to you there, and it would also be really helpful if you could share the event/poster far and wide!

All the best,
Clydeside Anarchist Noise.

Please spread far and wide and support those the state desires to silence.

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

The Law?

 

        

         Pick any state on this state/corporate infested planet and you will find authoritarian repression, exploitation and brutality. Every state is guilty of theses crimes against ordinary people, should they dare to speak out against that authoritarian repression, exploitation and brutality. Dare to point to the inequality and injustice in society and demand change, and you are likely to be targeted. Of course some states are more openly brutal than others, but the pattern is always the same, subservience or suffer.
          The following example is just one of innumerable cases of crass injustice to protect the privileged, pampered, power hungry, parasite class that hold the reins of power, for the time being, how long they hold those reins is up to us.

The following from Anarchist News:

         We have recently sadly learnt that Turkish state repression has struck our comrade, Mahmut Demir – a member of Karala, an organisation which is part of our international coordination – who has been sentenced to 6 months and 7 days in prison without even having a hearing.

This prison sentence was imposed following the complaint of a fascist informant, for “Public humiliation of the Turkish nation, the Republic of Turkey, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, the government of the Republic of Turkey and the judicial organs of the state”. Our comrade, who learned of the reasons for the decision via mail delivery, was not even summoned by the police or the prosecutor's office to testify or defend themselves throughout the trial.

This story, which seems unbelievable, highlights the high levels of Turkish state repression that our comrades there are facing.

Fortunately, at the moment of writing Mahmut is free, but the court has decided to subject him to a five-year observation period, during which time he will be subject to arrest if he insults the Republic of Turkey again.

As an international coordination of anarchists, we can only express our greatest solidarity with Comrade Mahmut and our Karala comrades. 

☆ Anarchist Communist Group (ACG) – Great Britain
☆ Coordenação Anarquista Brasileira (CAB) – Brazil
☆ Die Plattform – Germany
☆ Embat, Organització Llibertària de Catalunya – Catalonia, Spain
☆ Federación Anarquista de Rosario (FAR) – Argentina
☆ Federación Anarquista de Santiago (FAS) – Chile
☆ Federación Anarquista Uruguaya (FAU) – Uruguay
☆ Libertäre Aktion (LA) – Switzerland
☆ Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group (MACG) – Australia
☆ Organización Anarquista de Córdoba (OAC) – Argentina

☆ Organización Anarquista de Santa Cruz (OASC) – Argentina

☆ Organización Anarquista de Tucuman (OAT) – Argentina
☆ Organisation Socialiste Libertaire (OSL) – Switzerland
☆ Roja y Negra – Organización Politíca Anarquista – Argentina
☆ Tekoşina Anarşist (TA) – Rojava

☆ Union Communiste Libertaire (UCL) – France, Belgium & Switzerland
Related Link: https://karala.org/akis/yoldasimiz-mahmut-demire-hapis-cezasi/

[Castellano]

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

Rigger 94.

            Day and daily heroic struggles take place by ordinary people, people who stand for freedom of the individual with respect and mutual aid. The state has no time for such people, they are a threat to its desire for complete control over the population. The state can't function unless it has a subservient populace.
          Most of these battles go unrecorded, but we should however, honour them, celebrate them, record them and spread the word far and wide, to encourage others to stand their ground for the right to be free from an exploitative authoritarian system, that attempts to shackle them to the service of the state and its corporate bed-mate from birth to death.

The following from Enough is Enough:

            Berlin. Soon it will be a years time since the state and its lackeys attempted a large-scale attack, an eviction attempt on our house, the Rigaer 94. The excuse of “Fire Security” served politics as a legitimization to set the neighborhood into an authoritarian state of emergency by erecting a so-called “red zone”, to make an unimpeded entrance of the house possible.

Originally published by Indymedia DE.

         Blazing barricades and their defense preempted the red zone, on the next day the resistance from within the house still didn’t break away. This direct conflict was able to reject passivity and victimization.

     The one-year-anniversary will be an occasion to come together in remembrance, to discuss and to celebrate in a sociable atmosphere.

June 17, 2022

15:00 – Distro and Infotables and Flee market for costs of people facing repression after the 17th of June

17:00 – Discussion on the organization and defense of liberated territories

20:00 – Food & drinks

21:00 – Rebetiko-concert

Meanwhile: Tattoos!

        Please be alert concerning border-crossing and dominant behavior, bring it up when you notice something. At the info-table there will be people that can be approached. Otherwise you can also approach the people behind the bar, at the door or other visitors of the event.

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

Anger.

 

 

    What is always omitted from the mainstream media, is the anger across the planet at the brutal repressive actions of the various states. The anger at the continual savagery against those who demand change from this insane exploitative system based on privileges to the wealthy and struggle and poverty to the many. No matter the brutality, the struggles intensify, the anger of the people grows. This struggle is marked by the deaths of thousands of ordinary people, the beating of many more and the incarceration of millions across the planet. However, the struggle continues and the anger grows, there can only be on outcome, the destruction of the state/corporate stranglehold on the liberty of the people.

The latest from SubMedia, System Fail 12.

 

 

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

Anger.

 

            Back from a wee break in the wilderness I thought I would re-start my rantings with a video from Sub Media. Here they bring together a series of May Day happenings across the world. It is impossible today to find a country where the people are not on the streets in anger at the system that shackles millions to poverty, destitution and war, and where the public's opinion of politicians has sunk somewhere low in the sewage system, from Sudan to Sri Lanka, from Paris to Montreal, from Berlin to Chile. The people are angry, the privileged parasites are nervous, expect the unexpected.

A note from SubMedia regarding this video:

         During the production of this episode we were working with the most up to date information at the time when we had said nobody had died at the May Day protests in Chile. Unfortunately we have since learned that Francisca Sandoval, a journalist age 29 died several days later in the hospital. Our condolences go out to her family and loved ones.

We're sorry for any confusion this may have caused

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

State.

            The state would wither away if it didn't continually tighten its control over it citizens. anything that might try to shift the power away from the establishment, the rich and powerful, towards the communities and the ordinary people will always be seen as the real enemy. To expect other than this is failing to understand the true nature of the state. It fights to have the monopoly on power, the sole right to create laws and regulations, which will always be there to protect the status quo. The state has a whole box of tricks in its various appendages, its loaded judiciary, specially constructed "laws" its uniform thugs and its inhumane prisons, all there to protect the state and its privileged and powerful managers.

The following from Enough is Enough:

          Lyon. France. “We must rely on the state to contend with fascists!” liberals will tell you. “To fight bigotry and fascism, we have to give the authorities the legal powers to combat them for us!” they say. So what happens when a state has the legal authority to decide whether a political group has the right to exist in society? Who will the state wield that power against?

Originally published by International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund.

          If you’re an anarchist or if you live in Lyon then you already know the answer. The French state reserves for itself the right to ban or “dissolve” any group it deems to be “extremist.” The dissolution laws have been criticized by radical, extremist organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch for their incompatibility with French republican values like freedom of association.
          The city of Lyon has been a hotbed of fascist violence as of late. Last year, les fachos mobbed up to attack a pro-choice/pro-LGBTQ+ march; destroy a Kurdish community centre, injuring the volunteers working there; and wreck a left-wing bookstore (something the International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund stepped in to assist with afterwards). So it would stand to reason that those would be the groups the French state would target for dissolution, not the groups opposed to them.
        Wrong. Last month Groupe Antifasciste Lyon et Environs (GALE) were informed that the state had dissolved them. Their rationale? GALE had been involved in a concert months before where a hiphop artist performed got the crowd to join in chanting “toute le monde detestes les flics!” (“everybody hates the police!”). That was literally all it took for the state to target GALE and ultimately declare them dissolved. This is the first time we have heard of an anti-fascist group being “dissolved” by the state.
        GALE plan to appeal this draconian crackdown via the French courts and have set up a crowdfunder to help pay for that appeal; the International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund unanimously decided to make a sizeable contribution to that appeal. If you support the values upon which the French republic was established, you should do likewise.

Visit ann arky's home at http://strugglepedia.co.uk  

Free Press??

 

          The following article is testament to the British state and its "support" for freedom of the press. The press being handed a script by the state officials of what to write about an incident rather than the reporters reporting what actually happened. To think that this couldn't happen today is rather naive in the extreme, though perhaps the need now is less since all the major media outlets are owned by strong supporters of the state and the established order. So will load their tales in accordance with their views and will not rock the boat too much. 

The Mitchell Library

          Forward was a socialist newspaper published in Scotland from 1906. The founding editor was Tom Johnston, who was one of two main shareholders, alongside Roland Muirhead. It was associated with the Fabian Society, the Independent Labour Party and the temperance movement. It was committed to socialism and reported on these issues.
           In 1915, the paper was closed down for six weeks on the order of Chancellor David Lloyd George, for reporting a meeting where he had met a hostile crowd.
“When Lloyd George got up to talk, according to Forward, he ‘was received with loud and continued booing and hissing ... Two verses of “The Red Flag” were sung before the minister could utter a word.’ The meeting ‘broke up in disorder’ and reporting of it was restricted, with newspapers told to reproduce a press release stating that Lloyd George had been given a sympathetic hearing.
           Forward was shut down for six weeks, under DORA, after publishing its uncensored account of the meeting, though Johnston had been careful, as he thought, not to print anything that contravened it (William Beveridge, assistant secretary at the Ministry of Munitions, found it correspondingly difficult to make a case against him). Johnston wrote in his memoirs that Lloyd George ordered the police to remove copies from every newsagent in Scotland, and ‘had the police search the homes of known purchasers’.”
           Three men were arrested under the Defence of the Realm Act and charged with published material “calculated to cause mutiny, sedition or disaffection among the civilian population and to impede the progress and restrict the production of war material.’ Lloyd George’s actions were debated in the House of Commons on the 4th and 10th January 1916.
           Editorship of the Forward newspaper was passed to Emrys Hughes in 1931, George Thomson in 1948 and Francis Williams in 1957.
It ceased publication in 1959.
         Find out more about our newspaper collections in our "Breaking the News" exhibition in the Mitchell Library on the ground floor.

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

Azov.

             While our political ballerinas and one sided media sing hallelujahs in praise of the Ukrainian government and its neo-fascist president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, his henchmen thugs are attacking and beating left wing activists and detaining them simply for their political views. This of course never reaches the pages of our "unbiased" media, after all they would love to get away with this level of arbitrary brutality here in the UK. They have a burning desire to close down any radical left thinking that might impinge on their control of the population. It is asking too much to ask reporters to report all the news without bias and not just repeat what their paymasters wish them to write. Ah that'll be the day, it may cost them their job, so it will not happen.

The following extract from Struggle la Lucha:

              

               Around noon on March 3, five persons forced their way into the apartment of 31-year-old hotel clerk Alexander Matyushenko and his partner Maria M. in Dnipro (Dnipropetrovsk). As the latter told jW, they were both shouted at, forced to lie on the floor, and not allowed to move. The aggressors reportedly did not disclose identification, but two of them were apparently recognized as members of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) thanks to insignia on their clothing. The officials searched the rooms, while another man in a military uniform showing emblems of the fascist Azov Battalion beat up Matyushenko to extort information. “The same person was spitting in my face and cutting my hair with a knife,” Maria M. said. Accordingly, Matyushenko was beaten and maltreated for a total of two hours.
            These accounts are backed up by footage allegedly posted by a thug involved in the assault on the Dnipro city Telegram channel, which has around 335,000 followers. A photo shows Matyushenko lying on the ground bleeding all over his face with a gun pressed to the back of his head. A video shows him being kicked and forced to repeatedly shout the greeting of the fascist banderists, “Slava Ukrajini – Gerojam slava!”
               Matyushenko is an anti-fascist and a member of Livitsya (Left), an alliance founded by activists from various social movements in Dnipro two years ago. The left-wing organization supports strikes and uses both public rallies and publications to protest social cuts, low wages, the curtailment of democracy, and the enforced conformity of the media – which has been used by Ukrainian oligarchs to established a “right-wing consensus” in society, as Matyushenko criticized in a newspaper article in 2020. “The right-wing government and the right-wing opposition are competing in anti-communism and xenophobia.” 

   

Continue reading:

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