Glasgow's Joe Hill Night Of Song.

       Our exhibition on “The Rent Strikes, 100 Years On”, in the Mitchell Library, finished on Saturday, November 28^th, and by all accounts it proved to be of interest to lots of people, some leaving very positive comments, others asking lots of probing questions. A big thanks to all those who took a slot in manning the stands and a special thanks to our many visitors.
      If you enjoyed or missed the exhibition, there is another chance to join us. Following on from our Mitchell Library exhibition, we are, in conjunction with Clydeside IWW and The Only Way Is Ethics,  holding what is shaping up to to be a wonderful night of music, in The Old Hairdressers, 7:30-11:00, on Wednesday December 2^nd . So come along and help us celebrate the life of Joe Hill, with a night of songs written and inspired my the man himself.
      As well as a variety of musicians, there will a floor spot for audience participation. Come and sing a song, read a poem, or just settle down and enjoy the music, the atmosphere and the camaraderie.
       All the proceedings will go to help fund The Spirit of Revolt archive.

Joe Hill, the man who never died.

Joe hill, his bio.

Wednesday December 2^nd. 7:30-11:00,

£7, Un-waged £4

Tickets at the door, or pre-booked from Monorail at Mono café bar 12 Kings Court Glasgow G1 5RB Tel: 0141 553 2400

The Old hairdressers,

20-28 Renfield Lane

Glasgow G2 6PH.

We apologise for the absence of wheelchair access.

SOME OF THE PERFORMERS
Richard Youngs
Fritz Welch
Josie Vallely
Paul Tasker
John Mcfarlane
Dave Featherstone
Enradgey
More will be added to this list.

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

Shall We Sow The Seeds Of Hate, And The Desire For Vengence.

     Can the voice of sanity drown out the baying for blood, can the doves of peace silence the trumpet call to war, can the will of the people return the dogs of war to their kennels? We can't expect that pampered, privileged, hypocritical cabal sitting in the marble halls of power to silence the howling hounds, they are the ones who stand ready to unleash them. It is not blood that flows through their veins, it is the venom of imperialism. Stopping the frenzied rush to war can only be done by the will of the people, only by the concerted effort of the ordinary people can the bloodshed be stopped.  

       The savagery of war is never to the benefit of the ordinary people on either side of the slaughter. They are the ones who see the blood of their loved ones stain the fertile earth, but never gain the the spoils of war. They are the ones who mourn, while the war mongers feast in marble halls built on the bones of the people.

      Syria at the moment is being bombed into oblivion, the Syrian people are bleeding from every pore, Britain's contribution will add a few more villages, towns and cities, splattered with the blood of ordinary people. The reason for our lords and masters desire to contribute to this humanitarian disaster, is simply, the desire for the British imperialists to play on the big imperialist stage, they don't want to miss out on the spoils. This action is certainly not born out of compassion for the people of Syria.

     If we the ordinary people can't stop this, we are complicit in the deaths of men, women and children who have done us no harm, we will be planting the seeds of hatred and perhaps a desire for revenge.

 From SACC:

MONDAY - Don't Bomb Syria - Emergency Protests
From 5pm Buchanan Street steps Glasgow
5-7pm east end of Princes St, Edinburgh
SACC Statement on UK Military intervention in Syria (30 Sept, but still valid)
SACC Statement on responses to the Paris attacks

From Stop The War:
Day X approaches,
MPs prepare to vote for war on Syria

1) Reports, images and vide on nationwide protests against bombing Syria
      Thanks to everyone who came out and demonstrated this weekend. We had a great turnout at very short notice. The message was very clear: Don't Bomb Syria.
      As reports, pictures and videos were posted online from around the country, the hashtag #DontBombSyria trended at number one on Twitter for much of the day.
       Thousands turned out in London where Whitehall was brought to a halt by the protestors, including many young people. See excellent video here...
      Around Britain thousands more held protests despite gales and rain in some places. Cambridge got a message from their local MP while protesting that he opposed airstrikes. There was a protest in North Staffs despite appalling weather. In Manchester, Leeds, Oxford, Norwich and Birmingham there were protests.
     Among those signing the petition on the Stop the War street stall in the tiny village of Lymm in Cheshire was Ian Brown, lead singer of the legendary UK band The Stone Roses.
See reports, images, video from around the UK on the national day of action...

 

 

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

The Creeping Disease Of Fascism.

         We can see the ugly face of fascism creeping along the sewers of Europe, ever increasing their presence as capitalism creaks at the seams. It has to be resisted at all times and at all costs. No where is that battle more obvious than in Greece, a country where the police and fascist openly work hand in glove, a situation that will become the norm as the present capitalist crisis grows deeper.

A Contra Info appeal from London Antifa:

 London Antifa Solidarity Tour –

Financial support of prosecuted comrade in Kavala, Greece

Saturday December 5th
7pm – 11pm
LARC
62 Fieldgate Street
London E1 1ES

We will be asking for donations at the door.

       London Anti-Fascists are organising a short tour with a comrade from Kavala, Greece to raise awareness and solidarity for their struggle against fascists and state repression.

      Anti-fascists in Kavala have been some of the most active in all of Greece, organising demonstrations and actions against neo-nazi groups over the past years. We are organising this tour as one of the comrades from Kavala is facing serious charges on December 9th and is desperate need for solidarity and financial support.

ABOUT THE CASE:

       On Sunday 26th January 2014, a few hours before a scheduled anti-fascist rally, neo-nazis from the “Patriotic Movement” smashed up a shop owned by one well know anti-fascist and attempted to set fire to it, endangering the lives of those inside the building. After the intervention of local residents, as well as people from the surrounding nightclubs, the worst was avoided.

      Our comrade, once notified of the attack on his store, went down there to see what had happened. A few moments later some plain-clothes police officers arrived, having been notified by the local residents. At that moment our comrade is informed that before the smashing and arson of his store, a clash had taken place between a group of antifascists and a group of members of the Patriotic Movement. The “Patriotic Movement” were guarding the public space of the Municipal Park to prevent any anti-fascists from attending.

     Though refusing to have anything to do with the police, our comrade for the purpose of insurance had to go to the police station. Whilst waiting for 3 hours he was informed that he was arrested for public disturbance. Apparently members of the Patriotic Movement in collusion with the police attempted to put the blame for a previous confrontation on him.

     Not only were the Patriotic Movement attempting to control the streets and public spaces, they had after the incident violently attack two youths in a park and then proceeded to work with the police in making this claim against our comrade.

     A few hours later the antifascist rally, organised by the Autonomous Collective of Kavala [Kavala Autonomous Hangout], Vironos 3 squat and individual antifascists, took place in Faliro Park. From the very first moment of the rally, the Park was surrounded by several riot squads (around 8 to 10) and many plain-clothes cops. As soon as the antifascists (150 to 170 people from Kavala and other towns) blocked the road in front of the park, police vans shut off the road, in order to prevent the antifascists to approach the Municipal Park, where at the same time the fascist gathering was being held. Not only neo-nazi Golden Dawn members took part in the fascist gathering, but also other neo-nazi groups, such as the National Socialist Army of Macedonia and other known and unknown fascists from Northern Greece. After the events of that weekend, two comrades were held in custody for several days and face charges of “disturbance of public order with facial features covered”.

The trial is set for December 9th 2015.

       We hope that this tour can further make links between anti-fascists in UK and anti-fascists across Greece.

londonantifascists.wordpress.com | ldnantifascists[at]riseup.net

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

The Workers Pledge In Time Of War.

      The blood curdling howl of the dogs of war reverberate through the airwaves, the babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, blasts out the bugle call to arms. Meanwhile, in the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, the Honourable Members, those who will never be called upon to wear a uniform, or lift a gun, call for others to shed blood in the name of some illusion. From their cloistered, pampered, privileged cocoons, they scream their frenzied insanity, calling on workers of this land, to kill workers in another land.

      Have no illusions, our super smart bombs are not really smart, they are blunt instruments of death. They will tear through the flesh of a child just as accurately and as brutally, as that of a "terrorist". The bombs will fall on villages, towns and cities, and will reap carnage on shopkeepers, nurses, invalids, gardeners, and fruit growers, the elderly will meet the same fate as the gunman. Villages, towns and cities will disappear from the map, their people will scatter to the four corners of our world, fleeing hell on earth, families will be dispersed, and hatred will grow like weeds and its seeds will spread in the wind of memory and folklore. 

Patriotism

No, I shall not die for the fluttering flag,

if truth be known, ’tis nothing but a multi-coloured rag

held aloft by some foolish hand

inciting worker and peasant to kill

on some green and wooded hill,

peasant and worker from some other land.

Nor shall I shed blood for the fluttering rag

that brings out fools to stand and brag

of brutal deeds painted grand,

deeds where rustic and craftsman lie so still

killed by my brothers' misguided hand.

No allegiance have I for the Nation

this man made autocratic creation

that divides my brothers in a world so small,

binds us to a country's cause, right or wrong,

bids us follow its drum, sing its song,

then sheds our blood in some border brawl.

No, I'll be no slave to flag or nation,

have no ear for power oration,

though its iron heel is on my breast,

my back feels its leather thong,

at patriotism's barracoon, I'll be no guest.

        We cannot allow the insanity of our wealthy "lords and masters" wrapped in the cloak of patriotism and "national security" to drag us into another nightmare of carnage. We cannot see another generation born into a world of hatred and revenge. We the ordinary people of the world, have bled through endless wars, our families have mourned our dead for generations, we know the suffering of carnage, it has solved nothing. Don't be fooled by the frenzied screaming of the friends of wealth and power, the voice of imperialism. We have been bombing the Middle East continuously since 2001, remember Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and now Syria? Is the world now a safer place, a more peaceful place? Only a blind fool or a lying imperialist stooge would answer yes.

         Let us go back to the words of one of Glasgow's well known anarchists, and conscientious objector, Guy Aldred, and take some words from his 1929 pamphlet, "At Grips With War"

The Workers Pledge In Time Of War.  

   I refuse to kill any child's father.

   I refuse to slay any mother's son.

   I refuse to plunge the bayonet into the breast of any

                   woman's brother, lover our mate.

   I refuse to murder and deem the slaughter glory.

   I refuse to butcher with hands that were intended to

                   to serve and caress.

   I refuse to soak the earth with blood and blind my reason

                   with obedience.

   I refuse to assassinate another man and then hide my

                   stained fists in the folds of a bloodstained flag.

   I refuse to be flattered, cajoled, or driven into hell's

                   nightmare by a class of well-fed snobs, crooks

                   and cowards who despise my class socially, rob

                   my class economically, and betray and oppress it

                   politically. Let militarism do its worst, I refuse

                   to serve, I decline to kill.

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

The Planet's Black Death.

      "Black Friday" is the continuing "Black Death" for the planet. mass frenzied consumerism, a desire for more tinsel, trinkets, candy-floss and bubble gum. A mountain of which will eventually end up in a landfill somewhere. We live in a system where the world's finite resources are wasted in over production of all manner of pointless playthings, then we use a tsunami of energy to get rid of it at a later date. Parallel to this, millions live in deprivation, sleep rough, die from hypothermia, children starve to death, and preventable diseases run rampant. The system can't survive without this gross injustice and unnecessary inequality, this disparity is what feeds the corporate world, cheap labour producing toys for the pretty pretty butterfly people. Social justice will only be born after the death of capitalism.

Image from Not Buying Anything.

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

One Nation,Under Surveillance.

     We all know that the state will use whatever it can manufacture, or whatever comes its way, to tighten security. The recent attack in Paris, though tragic in every aspect, has been seized upon by the French state, and other European states, including the UK, to compromise civil liberties. Engendering a climate of fear, the state apparatus is able to clamp down more firmly on an voice of dissent. “For your own safety” protest marches will be banned, you will be encouraged to snoop on your neighbour, and report all you paranoias to the “proper authorities”, remember Nazi Germany. 

       The noose is ever tightening round the people, new anti-union laws, greater scope for surveillance, ever growing epidemic of CCTV cameras, now monitoring your every move and profiling you as you make your way about you daily business. Now the UK has found money in this austerity age, to fund more secret service units and decided not to cut funding to the police, while still slicing £12 billion from welfare. It knows where its priorities lie, certainly not with the welfare of the people.

     Are we to sit idly by while our civil liberties are shredded on the pretext of protecting us. We need protection from the state more than any other protection.

An excellent article from Crimethinc:

    WE received the following report from the group that produced the French version of To Change Everything, Pour Tout Changer. They describe the situation in Paris before and after the attacks of November 13: the intensification of xenophobic discourse, the repression of homeless refugees, the declaration of a “state of emergency” as a way to clamp down on dissent, the preparations for the COP 21 summit at which demonstrations are now banned, and what people are doing to counter all this. It offers an eyewitness account from the front lines of the struggle against the opportunists who hope to use the tragedy of November 13 to advance their agenda of racism and autocracy. With demonstrations forbidden and the COP 21 summit around the corner, what happens in Paris will set an important precedent for whether governments can use the specter of terrorism to suppress efforts to change the disastrous course on which they are steering us.

Escalating Xenophobia

       The attacks that took place in Paris several days ago, tragic as they are, are unfortunately not an isolated event. The capital city of France was simply another target in a string of bombings in Suruç, Ankara, and Beirut; it represents the continuation and expansion of the strategy ISIS initiated in the Middle East.
In France, these attacks exacerbate a political context that was already fraught. Following the attacks of September 11, 2001 and the participation of the far-right party Front National in the second round of the 2002 presidential election, the political discourse has taken an increasingly conservative tone. For example, Nicolas Sarkozy, as Ministre de l’Intérieur from 2002 to 2007 and President from 2007 to 2012, openly adopted some arguments, topics, and symbols that were previously only used by the Front National. These discourses of “identity” and “security” have especially stigmatized Arabic and Muslim communities. In 2010, for example, a law was passed stipulating that it was forbidden to cover your face in public places in France. While not explicitly directed at those wearing a niqab or hijab, it resulted in more controls targeting Muslim women.
During this same time period, law enforcement groups were given new equipment such as Flash-balls (supposedly non-lethal anti-riot weapons) and Taser guns. The national DNA file, used since 1998 to collect the DNA of sexual offenders and abusers, has been extended to every person convicted of an offense. The “Plan Vigipirate,” a governmental anti-terrorism security plan established in 1995 after several bombing attacks in France, was also updated three times between 2002 and 2006, and more recently in 2014 under current President François Hollande.

Before the Attacks

      For years, refugees have been fleeing their countries to escape death, military conflicts, and constant political instability. Until last summer, the French government and its European counterparts didn’t care about the refugee issue—witness the countless tragic deaths of people trying to cross the Mediterranean sea. In Paris, several groups of refugees have been living on the streets in precarious conditions for months.
      Nevertheless, due to accelerating waves of immigration, the French government started to change its policy, taking part in the European political initiative “Welcome Refugees.” This was more of a political move than an expression of solidarity. During this period, refugees and migrants, left alone by authorities, began to create their own camps in several locations in Paris. They received some assistance from NGOs, collectives, activists, and others concerned about their difficult situation.
      However, refugees faced aggressive state repression, as they still do. They are regularly harassed by police who intimidate, beat, evict, and arrest them or destroy their camps. In June 2015, the fascist group Génération Identitaire (Identity Generation) attacked a refugee camp in Austerlitz with stones and bottles. The Austerlitz camps were removed by the authorities in September.
      At the end of July, another group of refugees and migrants decided to squat an old and abandoned high school in the 19th district of Paris: the Lycée Jean Quarré. Collectives and activists came to offer help; together, they began organizing demonstrations to defend refugees’ rights. On the morning of October 23, police evicted the squat. Some of the migrants who occupied it have been relocated to centers or shelters in the suburbs or even further outside Paris. Others remained without a place to sleep, so they camped in front of the Hotel de Ville, the City Hall of Paris.

Well worth reading the full article HERE:

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

Glasgow's Joe Hill Song Night.

       The fabulous music night, The Man Who Never Died: Joe Hill Song Night., is just a few days away, Wednesday December 2nd. 7:30-11:00, at The Old Hairdressers, 20-28 Renfield Lane, Glasgow G2 6PH. You can get your advanced tickets, (£7, £4 un-waged) at Monorail (music store), Mono, 12 King’s Court, King Street, Glasgow G51 5RB
      This night of music is being run jointly by Clydeside IWW, Spirit of Revolt and The Only Way Is Ethics.
      Please Get in Touch - The Only Way Is Ethics www.ethics.scot The Only Way is Ethics is an ethical festival which takes place across Glasgow from 29 November to 6 December. 

e-Mail info@ethics.scot
Telephone
07743 454 134 http://www.ethics.scot plus onlywayisethics on facebook

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

 

Who Owns Planet Earth??

    Our world is a mess, awash with greed for possessions. This is mine is a mantra repeated by those who have too much. his fact has been known for centuries, yet it still persists. Jean Jacques Rousseau, 1712-1778, proclaimed this truth all those centuries ago, when he said:

         "the first man who, having enclosed a piece of ground, bethought himself of saying, This is mine, and found people simple enough to believe him, was the real founder of civil society, From how many crimes, wars and murders, from how many horrors and misfortunes might not any one have saved mankind, by pulling up the stakes, or filling up the ditch, and crying to his fellows, "Beware of listening to this imposter; you are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and the earth itself to nobody." 

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

War, Racism, Two Sides Of The Same Coin.

     Our Western imperialist warlords are frothing at the mouth and spinning around in a frenzy attempting to convince us that the slaughter of civilians is an honourable cause. In their desire to unleash unbelievably powerful modern weaponry,  they try to conceal the fact that it is cities, towns, villages and their inhabitants, that are being pulverised, not an ideology. The Paris massacre is grasped by them as a reason for the intensification of their usual racist agenda of divide and rule. There propaganda machine, the babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, spews out vile racist vomit, trying to convince us that a working class family in the Middle East is inferior to a working class family in the West, their lives of less value, and should be feared. However we should all be aware, that a bus driver with a family in Syria, is doing the same as a bus driver with a family in the West, trying to provide for that family. The people of this planet are not the problem, it is the economic system of power, greed and wealth, sponsored by multi-national corporations and endorsed by imperialist governments. Until we sort that problem out, we will continue struggling against racist propaganda and continuous wars, with all the misery and suffering that entails. In this climate of engineered fear and racism, we must stand together. It is the ordinary people of the world who will have to sort this destructive and exploitative mess out. We can't rely on a Messiah coming with the grand plan and leading us to that promised land, they have all failed in the past and consumed with greed for power, lead us into a desert of deprivation and carnage.

      This Saturday November 28th is a chance to come together and show that solidarity with all the ordinary people of this planet. The world is our village, its people our family. War and racism are two sides of the same coin.

Sat 28 Nov - 
St Andrew's Day March and Rally

Assemble 10:30am Glasgow Green, march off 11am, rally 12 noon Glasgow Film Theatre
No Racism: Refugees Welcome Here

The STUC's annual march against racism, more important this year than ever.
Organised by the STUC

More info: http://www.stuc.org.uk/campaigns-and-external-events/st-andrews-day-2015

https://www.facebook.com/events/1710872952462801/

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

Rent Strikes And Joe Hill.

        Last chance, last few days to see the Spirit of Revolt exhibition, "The Rent Strikes, 100 Years On", being held in the foyer of the Mitchell Library. The exhibition will close on Saturday 28 November, so pop in and see it, and have a chat with the group members, before you have to say, GEE, I missed it.

       Following on from that exhibition, Spirit of Revolt, along with Clydeside IWW and The Only Way is Ethics are holding a Joe Hill song night, to mark the centenary of his execution by the American state. This is a "must go". It will be held on December 2nd. and will take place in:

The Old Hairdressers,

20-28 Renfield Lane,

Glasgow, G2 6PH.

7:30-11:00

£7, £5 un-waged. 

         This is the REAL Glasgow, be part of it. 

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

Poet, Benjamin Zephaniah, Anarchist.

       Slowly, slowly, one by one, they turn to anarchism, hopefully, soon, the trickle will become a flood. Then the people will crawl out of the dark decaying husk of capitalism, and bathe in the warmth and light of justice and freedom.

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

The Baying Hounds Of War.

 

      In our imperialist world, the hounds of war are always growling, ever eager to exert their viciousness. On occasions they are kept in check by the public's distaste for war and violence. The Paris massacre has been a gift to the war mongers, the hounds of war are now straining at the leash and howling loud and fierce. Our so called democratic leaders are now declaring, "we are at war", not that we have ever been at peace. The image of war that they try to portray is one where we, the "righteous" go out and defeat the bad guys, and things go back to that illusionary idyllic past where everything was "nice". Of course war is not quite like that, as one side attacks the cities and homes of the other, the other intensifies its effort in doing likewise.  That's what war is.

      The Cameron, Hollande, Obama, warlord trio, have for years now been trying to engineer the downfall of the Syrian regime, but it hasn't been going too well, and with Russia in there supporting Assad, Paris has been the golden opportunity for them to raise there game. One thing we can be certain of, is that no matter who bombs Syria, the civilian population will bear the brunt of that violence. and when the last bomb has fallen, Syria, once a developed country,  will be reduced to a stone age territory, steeped in the blood of innocent civilians. Its people will be scattered to the four corners of the planet and the imperialist corporations will have their hands on the oil and gas in that area. That's what it is all really about, without the oil and gas in the area, you wouldn't see a a Western imperialist military unit even looking in that direction.

       States and capitalism, the perfect formula for greed driven destruction, and as long as we live by such criteria, we will spiral deeper and deeper into that void of destruction. However, it doesn't have to be that way, we have the power, the ability and the resources to end this destructive, exploitative system and replace it with a system based on sustainability, mutual aid and co-operation, a system of justice that sees to the needs of all our people and banishes the cancer of capitalism to the dustbin of history as man's darkest hour.

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

Joe Hill Night Of Music.

The Man Who Never Died.

      A date for your calendar, if you're in or around Glasgow on December 2nd, there will be a great night of music. Marking the centenary of the American state's execution of union organiser Joe Hill, The Only Way is Ethics is putting on a night of his songs with a variety of musicians. The Spirit of Revolt and the Clydeside IWW will be involved in this great night of music.

       One hundred years on from Joe Hill’s execution, this night will be a celebration of his songs and legacy, featuring a selection of Glaswegian musical talent, to be announced soon.
      The Songs of ‘Joe Hill’ are celebrated worldwide. He wrote them in the period, 1910-15, the last 20 months being held in prison in Utah on a trumped-up charge of double-murder. The Songs were inspired by the ‘Wobbly’ song tradition, which satirised religious and popular song.

        This event which is part of The Only Way Is Ethics, Glasgow 8 Day Festival, and will take place at:

The Old Hairdressers, 

20-28 Renfield Lane,

Glasgow G2 6PH. 

Time-7:30-11:00

Price: £7, £5 unwaged.

No7 of Joe Hill or Wobbly song lyrics
One of his last songs, from 1915, written in gaol

DON'T TAKE MY PAPA AWAY FROM ME (JOE HILL) (1915)
A little girl with her father stayed, in a cabin across the sea,
Her mother dear in the cold grave lay; with her father she'd always be --
But then one day the great war broke out and the father was told to go;
The little girl pleaded -- her father she needed.
She begged, cried and pleaded so:
CHORUS:
Don't take my papa away from me, don't leave me there all alone.
He has cared for me so tenderly, ever since mother was gone.
Nobody ever like him can be, no one can so with me play.
Don't take my papa away from me; please don't take papa away.

Her tender pleadings were all in vain, and her father went to the war.
He'll never kiss her good night again, for he fell 'mid the cannon's roar.
Greater a soldier was never born, but his brave heart was pierced one day;
And as he was dying, he heard some one crying,
A girl's voice from far away: 

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