A Rich Country With Rising Child Poverty!!

         As the UK millionaire cabal sitting the the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption drives it patriotic bus out of the EU, waving the flag of nationalism, while spouting illusions about being the fastest growing economy in Europe, what the don't shout about is the fact that child poverty in this country has rocketed in the last year.  The government's own figures show that child poverty has risen by 100,000 in the past year. A glaring indictment of the system we live under, is the fact that today, in 21st. century UK 30% of our kids now live in relative poverty. Unicef’s deputy executive director for the UK said the country ‘can and must do better‘ and should be ‘more ambitious’ for its children. According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, cuts to working and non-working benefits since 2013 are projected to increase child poverty by 50 per cent by 2020. So the trend is ever downwards. UK, that country with the fastest growing economy in Europe, now has a total of four million children in families struggling to make ends meet, the worst figures since the financial crisis. And the overall number of people in poverty in Britain has risen to 10.4 million, the highest level this decade.

        Surely the measure of a society is how it treats its children, its elderly, its sick and needy? In all these measures the system under which we live fails miserably. What makes this an even more hideous crime is the fact that this rapidly rising poverty is not by accident but by design. This tsunami of poverty that is washing over the ordinary people of our country, is the direct result of an ideological driven policy. They can dress it up in many guises, austerity, balancing the books, managing the crisis, and so on, all part of the smoke and mirrors needed to conceal the reality of this brutal system. However, the aim is the same, creating a cheap labour economy by plundering the public purse to enhance the profit of the corporate world. Do you honestly believe that this is the best economic and social system that we can create? We don't have the ability and imagination to create a system that sees to that needs of all our people? We are so dumb we are stuck with this exploitative, greed driven system that robs the poor to gorge the rich? If so, we deserve our poverty.

 

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

The State Is The Antithesis Of Freedom.

          Cry "Freedom" and the state will take a dislike to you, act on that cry, and the state will try to crush you. It's the same story the world over, you are free to be obedient and subservient. You are given World Cups, Olympic Games, shopping malls, limitless TV channels of trivia, bubble-gum and candy floss, what more could you want?  Break that mould, and you face the wrath of the state, with its many tentacles it can reach into your life and slowly strangle you. Our history is a litany of names who sought freedom and who have perished at the hands of the state and its binding laws, all there to protect the powers that be. So the sad tale goes on, yesterday, today and tomorrow, unless enough stand up and cry "Freedom" and as one body in solidarity, start to act on that cry.

From Insurrection News:

      17.03.17: Erdoğan Çakır, imprisoned in France for membership of the DHKP-C (Revolutionary People’s Liberation Front), has been on an indefinite hunger strike since February 15, 2017. The reason for this is that he began a one week hunger strike in solidarity with revolutionary prisoners in Turkey on February 13 and was attacked two days later by the guards at Villenauxe prison.
       In a report from the revolutionary press, it stated that on February 15, dozens of guards entered his cell and attempted to subject him to a degrading body search. Erdoğan Çakır, who resisted the search, was stripped naked under duress and locked in an isolation cell. He then extended his hunger strike indefinitely following this incident.
       On March 4, his daughter Gülcan Çakır went on a solidarity hunger strike which she carried out in her home. There have also been protests in front of Villenauxe prison.
Erdoğan Çakır N ° d’écrou: 10255 EA 2BC B209 CD de Villenauxe Route de Sezanne 10371-Villenauxe la Grande France

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

The Human, A Vegetarian Animal.

 

        Is vegetarianism a call back to our natural state, is carnivorism the root cause of our brutal history and our continuing macho society? An interesting article from arrezafe, that certainly makes a strong case for that argument. The translation is not great but certainly readable.   

   

      Like their closest relatives, the great apes, man is basically a fruitarian animal, but with the advantageous option carnivorism. So advantageous that probably saved us from extinction, because when scarce plant foods (for example, because of an ice age or desertification of forests) can be fatal rely solely on them.
       The need to get meat in times of severe famine took our remote ancestors to form groups of hunters armed with sticks and stones and prepared to work together in order to increase their chances of success against large dams (the most desirable, but also the most dangerous). And this successful survival strategy had several side effects.
      One was the domestication of some wolves and jackals who spontaneously began to participate in the hunt to take the bones and other parts that men would not eat (it did not possess the powerful jaws of carnivores and their digestive systems specialist). The ancestors of our dogs helped locate and harass the prey, and in return a portion of the loot they took. That man found his best friend.
      Another consequence of the hunting team was surely the exaltation of violence and increasing social prestige of brute force, thereby relegating women (less corpulent and often limited in physical activity for long periods of gestation ) and the consolidation of male camaraderie. To collect fruits should not be very strong: women, and even children can do as well or better than men; but to face a buffalo or a mammoth should be well provided with muscles and testosterone.

Read the full article HERE: 

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

Spaceship Earth Has No Escape Capsule.

 

         Two policies that will, in my opinion, eventually destroy the planet for human habitation, one is the illusion of perpetual growth, and the other is the continuous wars that are engineered to support that illusion. At the moment practically the whole of the Middle East is a hell-hole of bloodshed, destruction and unbelievable misery for millions of ordinary people, and this is just one strand of what has been continuous wars imperialism has foisted on the planet. These wars are to hold/gain or increase control over resources to feed that illusion of continuous growth, or they are to protect markets, create or capture new markets, or to prevent another force from gaining ground in that field. The driving force is capitalism's insatiable insane philosophy of "perpetual growth", a policy of rip the planet apart  to feed the greed of the corporate world. Where and when will it stop, will the corporate world one day say, well I think we have done enough damage, let's start to try to repair the mess we have created? If that's what you believe, you will be a spectator to humanity's destruction. The when and where is up to the ordinary people, the world belongs to all life that lives on, and depends on, the planet for survival, and if we don't stand up and fight for it now, our home will be lost forever. Just remember, spaceship Earth has no escape capsule.

Global Fuckin Warming from subMedia.tv on Vimeo.

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

The Public Gets Shafted, The Parasites Get Pampered.

 

       Once again we see the priorities of this parasite controlled state. While ideologically driven austerity is forcing down the living standards of most ordinary people, our lords and masters have decided to spend £4 billion doing repairs the that monument to British imperialism, The Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, and as you and I know, that cost is likely to rise as time goes by. Then in the next breath, we are to spend £360 million repairing Lizzie Windsor's house in London, known as Buckingham Palace. No doubt that will rise as time goes on. I know that there is this lie being spouted that it is really Lizzie that is paying for this as the money will come from that raised by the "crown estates". However, that money is raised from parts of the UK and goes to the government for it to spend as it sees fit. It slides a portion back to Lizzie and her family to keep them in the style they don't deserve, the rest it spends as government money. So the £360 million repair money, is coming out of money that could go towards easing some social problems, of which we have many, but we know the priorities of that cabal with its fingers on the purse strings of "our" money. 

In need of urgent repair.

       So where would you like to see that £4 billion + the £360 million go, perhaps to train more teachers, or doctors, or nurses.  Perhaps sort out some of the problems in social care. Of course you know that that will not happen, as the wealth of this country is earmarked for the wealthy of this country, that's how this system of capitalism works. You can live in cold damp houses, you can struggle to feed your kids, you can watch your health service crumble before being sold off, you can see you education system come apart at the seams. However, that's your lot, it is called austerity, an ideology that never extends to that army of pompous parasites that take it for granted that they should be privileged and pandered to for their every desire.This is capitalism as it was intended to work, it has another name, it's called plundering the poor, and it's doing just fine, you get shafted, they get pampered. Ah, the wonders and beauty of capitalism.

 You're doing just fine.

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

 

The Youth Own Tomorrow.

       We oldies are the caretakers of the future, and we don't seem to have done a very good job so far, but it is the youth that will inherit that future, we owe it to them to give them all the support we can as they try to shape that future as a better place for all our people. In Glasgow, the housing scheme of Castlemilk seems to be leading the way, more steam to their elbow, well done Castlemilk Against Austerity.

 Info from City Strolls:

        Get along to Castlemilk this Saturday, see what the young folk are up to. Great space, Welcoming and creative youth.
      We would like to invite you to come along to Castlemilk Youth Complex this Saturday 18th March and join us for our YouthFest created for and by young people, the day will start with workshops ranging from graffiti art, hip hop, samba drumming, stain glass window making, sculpture, discussing topics like zero hour contracts, trade unionism, social security benefits sanctions, racism, bullying, LGBT equality, to name just a few this will be followed by a play about bullying written and performed by the youth complex drama group, led by Kirsty Chapman, then a break for food provided by the youth complex, the next stage will be feedback from workshops, followed by a vote on what was good and bad and should we have more events discussions like this, this will then culminate in live music with individual artist and band along with spoken word artists it's going to be an amazing day/night not to be missed and it's Free
‘YouthFest’ Sat 18th Mar, 3pm till late! FREE!
Performance! Workshops! Food!
Supported by Castlemilk Against Austerity
City Strolls will be filming event

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

Sticky Fingered Ermined Parasites.

 

                        Men in funny dresses, trying to keep up with the women.

          We in the UK still wallow in the putrid swamp that is imperialism, we spend millions of pounds on keeping its symbols alive, just to reminder us, the ordinary plebs, of who is the real power in our land. Within those ageing buildings known as the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, there is a section that goes by the name of The House of Lords. I thought that in a Christian country there was only one Lord, but we seem to have a house full of them, all of them as equally useless as the Christian one. The army of ermined parasites who are privileged to sit in that hallowed hall are those who have arse licked enough to help cement the power of the privileged. This cabal of ermined parasites are no different from their counterparts in "that other chamber" known as "The Commons", in so much as a lot of them have sticky fingers, and seemed to be drawn to an open till.

      In their publicly  subsidised club, it appears that if you sign in, a nice little deposit of £300 will be dropped into you bank account. Being a shrewd bunch some of them have grasped that all you have to do is sign in, then pop off to get on with your life elsewhere, and you have a little more spending money to the tune of £300. Some of course do sign in, and then go on into the place, but make their way to the publicly subsidised restaurant and bar, partake of their pleasure, then bugger off again, being "fed and waatered" on the cheap, at our expense, and £300 the richer. Apparently, one member was noted to arrive, ask his taxi driver to keep the engine running while ran in, signed in, then buggered off, £300 the richer. Just play that game five days a week and you have £1,500 to play with, a nice little sideline over and above you earnings.

       The fact that this was becoming known, the club decided to let one of their own investigate this matter, but after months of investigation, the ermined lady in charge decided to drop the investigation. Her reasoning, it seems, was that she did not want to name and shame those greedy sticky finger bastards, as it would be likely to cause a media frenzy. Who says crime doesn't pay. 

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

The State Will Not Tolerate Self Organising By The People.

 A refugee inside the detention centre with a message concerning his detention.

This from Act For freedom Now: 

 The Refugee Accommodation Space, City Plaza’s statement:

            Repression will not put an end to the squat movement
The evacuation of Villa Zografou and the Alkiviadou squat by police is an act of extreme state authoritarianism. The SYRIZA-ANEL government quickly aligned itself with far-right voices screaming for more repression. While refugees are crammed inside terrible camps, while enormous sums of money are being wasted, while the city is suffocating from the lack of free, non-commercial spaces, the government is opting for a policy of police violence and social suffocation.
          Yet they are mistaken if they believe they can crush the squat movement with riot police and district attorneys. The struggle for solidarity and dignity will continue unabated. It is a Social need, it is a political choice.

            Syriza, in Greece, is living proof that "left-wing" governments are no less authoritarian than any other form of government. As the people of Greece struggle with day to day problems of survival in a capitalist created nightmare, this "left-wing" government vomits out repression over any attempt by ordinary people to self organise for the improvement of their lives. Squats are part of the social struggle of people attempting to create living spaces of community, self help in time of need, a helping hand to others in need, but to any state, this is unacceptable. Syriza, like all governments in the developed world is all about control of the civil population, and obedience to their masters the financial Mafia. All spaces must be under state control or in the hands of their festering bed fellow, corporate capitalism. To this end they will bring down the full force of their brutal enforcement apparatus.
        So be warned all you who run to the ballot box the next time a new "left-wing" messiah steps up to take the reins of some "radical left-wing " political party. Once in power, they will, like obedient slaves, follow the dictate of their masters, the financial Mafia.

 

Self-Organized occupied space of refugees in Alkiviadou and Acharnon

 

Statement from Void Network:

         Two Social Centers In Athens Under Attack / Solidarity Announcement
       The repression of social liberation movement and the destruction of the occupied spaces of refugees and immigrants will not be left unanswered. The Greek Left government chose at the dawn of 13/03/2017 to listen to the commands of the conservative right and the neo-liberal Media of Mass Manipulation and attack two occupations of the broader social movement in Athens, Greece. Police raids are an ideal example of the policy imposed by the domination during our era: when we sleep the State continues working against all of us.
       The occupation at the beginning of Acharnon Street, very near to the old Villa Amalias squat in the center of Athens was – with the joys and sorrows of the past year-, a real school for all the local solidarity activists that took part in the titanic struggle offering assistance to refugees outside the mechanisms of the regime, as humans to humans over the last years. The occupation of Acharnon was the first example of direct, autonomous and unmediated self-organization of refugees without the presence and participation of local activists. It was a self-organized space of immigrants and refugees by themselves for themselves and this is why it was hit directly by the state.
        The occupied park and castle of Villa Zografou in the Zografou area was an important social center of the neighborhood and with a very strong involvement in the uprising of 2008 and the movements that followed until the final uprising of February 12, 2012. At a time of recession for the movements and of the general inaction of society, the State comes to get back every corner conquered by the social movements at a time when they tried to give answers to the capitalist, predatory raids misleadingly named by our oppressors as “CRISIS”.
        The fraud of the representation of popular interests in parliament by ridiculous politicians and sold out parties already ended at Syntagma Square in the summer of 2011. The massive illusion of the desperate majority that Syriza wouls “save us” has ended long ago. This attack on the social centers is yet more proof that the left government is nothing more than another form of antisocial “social democracy” in front of us. Syriza is a zombie of PASOK, and while it is dying it continues to grasp at the defense of its own power, and every minute that passes the future of this society is mortgaged away.
        The parliament stinks of the plague and those who want to support it with their backs and to irrigate it with their blood have to know that they live at the expense of their children and that they CHILDREN WILL GIVE THEIR ANSWERS. The Future will defend its rights and THE FUTURE BELONGS TO THOSE WHO ARE STRUGGLING.
        Re-occupation of all occupations hit by the State – Create squats and social centers across the country in all possible and unlikely places – Liberation of everyday life from all stupid social responsibilities and conventions – Refuse the dominant culture – Recruitment towards the social movements of our time – Support of the movement’s for the spaces with our daily participation

SYMBIOSIS / EQUALITY / TOTAL FREEDOM

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

A Force, Living In The Shadows.

         For those who take on the state and all its appendages in direct confrontation and at every level, will feel the full wrath of that apparatus. The beast will do its damnedest to destroy them, it has the time and the power to leave no stone unturned to silence that individual or group. The effect on those in such a situation can be harsh, cruel and isolating, forcing the group or individual into another world of extreme uncertainty. No casual meeting with friends and family, no spontaneous social outing, all must be carefully planned or abandoned. The state may succeed in its aims in certain circumstances, in silencing some of those in such a situation, but the ideas will live on in the hearts of others, who will take that same road, knowing the consequences. Sooner or later, the majority of people will take up those ideas, and the state and its authoritarian ways will perish, and with it, its putrid bed companion, capitalism. 

          This from one individual who is walking that harsh uncertain road, but with undaunted determination.

 Fleeing the future
[Received via email]
           A black mantle. A great unknown. Something that has been frightening me lately: the future. Up until now it had had quite a pragmatic role in my life. It forced me to arm myself with means such as planning, efficiency and calculation so as to be able to shape my revolutionary everyday life as well as possible. Only rarely did I stop to think about the future, or feel uneasy or frightened by it. Of course such feelings overwhelmed me at times, when I allowed the madness of this world to overcome me or when my life was touched by some crucial event. But I always told myself that it’s pointless hiding one’s head in the sand.
           Because that wouldn’t alter the fact that we find ourselves in a desert of solitude, alienation and misery produced ad hoc, and changing that requires the direct action of each individual to undermine the desert with determination, anger and solidarity, to create something on an anti-authoritarian basis that will never tolerate the existence of power for the exercise of authority.
Driven by the will to put this into practice, my doubts, fears and uneasiness about the future were always cast aside. Anything that was far away never really interested me.
          But since I have been on the run, my approach to the question of the future has changed drastically. Having been torn away from my daily habits overnight and leave everything behind apart from my subversive ideas, I find myself in a situation where I have to think seriously about my imminent future and the far off one too. In both cases it’s the uncertainty that scares me but at the same time it allows me to better know myself.
            At last I understand in my heart why so many refugees, with whom I have struggled, care little about the future yet put all their hopes in it. For as soon as one realises that one has been robbed of the future, it is something that’s missing even if it never existed. A paradox that, now, hardly raises a weary smile. So it’s not just fleeing the law but also the future, which because of this situation seems so unclear and alien and with no certainty. A future that one must live almost completely without a past – without history, without identity.
        But as an anarchist I feel like facing this unknown as a duty and a challenge, and consider the cold water that I have to dive into something refreshing that widens the horizon. Because in my situation, keeping a cool head and a warm heart is extremely important.

Click here to read the first piece written by the comrade and an article on the raids linked to the case.

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

The Cruel Hypocrisy Of Capitalism.

 

 

         Following on from yesterday's post on children dying from starvation, we are now informed that the world is facing its worst humanitarian crisis since the formation of the UN, 60 years ago. More than 20 million people in four countries in Africa are facing starvation, 20 million adults, children and elderly, coming face to face with an avoidable cruel, slow death. While this man made human tragedy is rapidly unfolding, our great leaders sitting in opulence are wringing their hands and crying crocodile tears, in one of the most gigantic displays of mass hypocrisy that the world has seen. They speak as if this nightmare has just sprung up suddenly, caught them by surprise, and they shake their heads spouting the figure of $5 billion needed to alleviate this suffering, as if this was a massive stumbling block to getting on with solving this tragedy. $5 billion dollars? Where's the problem? To put that in perspective, here in Scotland two asset management companies have just merged, creating a pot of assets of £660 billion, just to be shuffled around the world to make more money for those who already have much too much money, the Rothschild family is reckoned to be worth some where between $300-$400 billion, the Walton family of Wal-Mart fame, is sitting on approximately  $149 billion, then we have smiling generous Bill Gates with $79 billion. So where is the problem in raising a paltry $5 billion to save 20 million people from starvation?  

       Another factor in this cruel, insane an hypocritical scenario, is the fact that Africa is extremely rich in natural resources, which are being plundered by the developed nations. Those developed nations are happy and willing to pour billions of pounds of weaponry into this plundering process, creating mayhem and unimaginable suffering. Weapon sales to Africa for the period 2010-14 show an increase of 45% on the period 2005-09. Was the famine problem not starting to show its ugly face at that stage? However, we mustn't in any way impede the growth of the arms industry and its profits.  

       What we are seeing epitomises capitalism, the only criteria is the growth of wealth, not its distribution. The cost of that growth in human misery is irrelevant. This famine will play its self out on the cruel inhumane stage of capitalism. The need for wealth to alleviate it will be a struggle, despite the fact that the world is awash with wealth, that wealth will continue to flow into fewer and fewer hands, and other famines, other avoidable human tragedies will come an go. Unless of course we get rid of the system that causes and aggravates these situations. Capitalism is the problem, not the world, we can shape the world in a more humane and just fashion, we have the resources, we have the ability, we have the imagination, when will we have the will and determination to end this festering cancer of capitalism that is eating humanity and destroying the planet? Must another 20 million people face the slow cruel death of starvation?

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

So Many Cruel Slow Unnecessary Deaths.

       Over what I believe I can call my "long" life, (83, in a couple of weeks), I have heard and seen all the political parties draw up plans for the future, lay out their illusions of that better world - - - tomorrow, we sacrifice our today for the imaginary, unknown, pie-in-the-sky. We are to offer up our today and lay it at the altar of posterity. Through all that time the ordinary people have lived in the world of "pleasure postponed" while our lords and masters have lived the in the world of "pleasure now". Over the years the political ballerinas have promised this and that, a wonderful tomorrow,- - - if you will just knuckle down for one last sacrifice, then we can enter that utopia, I'm still waiting.

      Some 25 years or so ago, I wrote this little poem, I would like you to read it, then tell me, what has changed. It may fluctuate from year to year but the horror and cruel injustice remains. 

This from Hunger Notes:

• 6.3 million children under age five died in 2013, nearly 17,000 every day. The risk of a child dying before completing five years of age is highest in Africa (90 per 1000 live births), about 7 times higher than in Europe (12 per 1000 live births).
• Approximately 3.1 million children die from hunger each year. Poor nutrition caused nearly half (45%) of deaths in children under five in 2011.
• Children who are poorly nourished suffer up to 160 days of illness each year. Undernutrition magnifies the effect of every disease, including measles and malaria. The estimated proportions of deaths in which undernutrition is an underlying cause are roughly similar for diarrhea (61%), malaria (57%), pneumonia (52%), and measles (45%) Malnutrition can also be caused by diseases, such as the diseases that cause diarrhea, by reducing the body’s ability to convert food into usable nutrients.
• 66 million primary school-age children attend classes hungry across the developing world, with 23 million in Africa alone, which greatly impacts their ability to learn.

           All this when we know their is enough food to feed everybody on the planet, it is our man made system of capitalist greed and inequality that is responsible, and as long as we accept this, we are complicit.

         How much longer will we accept their lying promises, how much longer will we  wait for that prosperous tomorrow, how much longer will we accept their cruel, vicious, deliberate illusions?

 Eighteen Hungry Children

Eighteen hungry children die

every minute of every day

eighteen of tomorrow’s people

cruelly thrown away.

When pandering to a fashion

gratifying our greed,

think, theirs is no desire

but a basic need.

Envisage a familiar face

a child that calls your name,

try to be the parent

try to place the blame.

Eighteen hungry children die

every minute of every day,

eighteen little faces

that never learnt to play.

Walk past your local school

listen to the shrill,

stand and count to sixty

imagine hunger start to kill.

Fingers must be pointed

at decisions made on high,

questions must be asked

loudly asked by you and I.

Eighteen hungry children die

every minute of every day,

eighteen precious lives

the claws of hunger slay.

WHY?

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

With Sticks And Stones---.

       While the Greek political ballerinas in secret, discuss the continual screwing of the people of Greece and the plundering of their assets, with the financial Mafia, in the shape of the Troika, (EC, Expert Criminals, ECB, Europe Criminal Bastards, IMF, International Mankind Fuckers) the people of Greece continue to fight back. On Wednesday morning, 8th March, the ferries brought 1,000-1,300 farmers and stock breeders from the island of Crete to Athens. Here they formed up in front of the Ministry of Agriculture Offices, demanding a meeting with the Minster, who refused to accommodate their request. As usual the police and riot police moved in heavy handed, only to be met with an army of farmers retaliating with their long shepherds staffs. 

       What the people of Greece are facing is tax rates of 26% and pension cuts of 22%, unemployment of 24%, youth unemployment of 50%, a collapsed health service, and crumbling education system, a massive increase in homelessness, mental and physical health problems and suicides. Still the financial Mafia want more of the same for the innocent people of Greece. This is capitalism attempting to sort its problems by bleeding the ordinary people. Capitalism can't be fixed, it is a system of exploitation, the people's struggle can fix things, by completely removing capitalism from our lives. 

        What is happening to the people of Greece is happening to all of us, it is all a matter of degree, the direction is the same, the ordinary people are being fleeced to enhance the wealth and power of those who control the system. We can sit and wait until we reach the same position as the people of Greece, and then sink further with them, or we can start now and demolish this unfair, unjust, exploitative greed drive system of inequality. We can shape the world to our desires, rather than follow the dictate of a small army of parasites. 

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

A Poem For International Women's Day, 2017.

      Another poem for International Women's Day,  thanks Loam for reminding me of this one.


You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may tread me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

Maya Angelou.

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

International Women's Day, 2017.

 

          It is a strange world where approximately 50% of its population is deemed less valuable than the other 50%. What kind of species are we that thinks one half of our kind, is worth more than the other half? It is impossible to rationalise this sort of thinking, it is simple beyond reason, for us to regain our sanity this sort of thinking has to go.

         A poem for International Women's Day, first read at an International Women's Day celebration at Joy Kogawa House in 2015,

I want to write a poem for every girl and woman today
Who has been told she can't attend school although her brothers can;
Who has had acid thrown on her dreams;
Who has been shot in the head for thinking;
Who is forced into marriage as if her life weren't her own;
Who is bought, who is sold;
Who weeps or who can no longer weep
because of the men who trespass her body;
Who is beaten and fearful; who is beaten, but fearless;
Who is starved because she speaks out, speaks back, just speaks;
Whose house is bombed, whose village is razed;
Who is stoned for adultery because she is pregnant;
Who is stoned for a rape that male judges call adultery;
Whose family erases her, whose community evicts her;
Who has just enough money for a single egg;
Who carefully slices that egg for her children to eat;
Who is denied a single day off work;
Who takes on three jobs to keep her family off the street;
Who is whipped by her boss after days without sleep;
Who watches over our children in manicured playgrounds
while her own grow up motherless;
Who lies locked for months alone in a cell;
Who huddles into herself with eyes like trampled flowers;
Whose mind is trapped in the shuddering loop of annihilating night;
Who is told she is nothing when she is everything;
Who is told she is dirt, when she is the Earth.

Fiona Tinwei Lam.

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

No Tolerance To Those Who Divide The Working Class.

          Time and time again when ever capitalism stumbles into one of its many cyclic "crises" and the ordinary people start to challenge the system, out of its cesspools and sewers slither the fascists. Today is one of those crises, and fascism is once again, raising its ugly head and spewing out its festering poison among the ordinary people. Fascism, aided and abetted by sections of the rich elite, plants the seeds of division among the ordinary people, dividing them along race lines, religious lines, nationality lines, holding up that well worn  illusion of that great past, when we were "pure". As long as ordinary people keep fighting ordinary people, over imaginary differences, the rich can continue to exploit us, and hold onto their power and wealth. Fascist knuckle-heads are the storm troopers of the rich and the elite, their duty is to keep the ordinary people from organising as one group against this system of ruthless exploitation. It is the capitalist system's last line of defence against an organised working class, and its tactics are those of fear and brutal intimidation. Though, let's not forget that there are more fascist in fine suits strutting the corridors of power, than there are knuckle-heads stomping our streets. Nor should we forget that since their ideological stance is based on irrational illusions, it can't be dealt with by reasoning, it has to be met head on with force. As the man said, fascism doesn't start with concentration camps, that's where it ends.

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