THE ROSE OF FIRE.

         As the "deficit reduction" and the "austerity cuts" bit ever deeper into the living standards of the ordinary people, what shape will the protests take? I always say, workers know your history, there are lessons to be learnt there.

This from Crimethinc.com

The History

“La rosa de foc ha tornat!” This was the expression of excitement on many people’s lips during the general strike throughout Spain on March 29, 2012. While the unions estimated an impressive 77% turnout, it was the fires blackening the skies over Barcelona that everyone talked about.

At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, when more anarchist attentats and bombings were carried out in Barcelona than in any other two countries combined and dozens of churches and police stations were burned to the ground, the city was affectionately known as la rosa de foc, “the rose of fire.” The period of“revolutionary gymnastics” in the ’20s and ’30s foregrounded the city as a laboratory of subversion for anarchist struggles worldwide, a role that was taken further with the revolution of July 1936. The struggle of Catalan maquis—guerrillas—during the Franco years was the precursor to the guerrilla struggles that blossomed in Europe and Latin America in the ’60s and ’70s; in some cases, it was the vector along which experience and materials were directly passed on. But this history has largely been lost, thanks to the rupture imposed by fascism and democracy, and Barcelona lost its significance on the revolutionary stage.

With the backing of the democratic powers, forty years of dictatorship and repression effectively suppressed the anarchist movement in Catalunya and the rest of the Spanish state. A great deal of pro-anarchist sentiment remained, but this was dissipated when the rebounding social revolution was sidetracked by the transition to democracy in the 1970s. Hundreds of thousands of people were taking the street, hoping to pick up the torch that had been dropped in ’36, but the government played its cards well, the returning CNT played its cards poorly, and democracy carried the day. Since then, the city has been tamed, if not outright pacified, and the rose of fire forgotten.

Read the full article.

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FIRST THE AUSTERITY, THEN THE REPRESSION.

          Although the mainstream media fail to report the continuous and mass protests across Europe, doesn't mean that it is not happening. In cities across the continent people are on the streets showing their anger at the plunder of all public assets and the resultant poverty being heaped on ordinary families. The millionaire managers of the financial Mafia system, (the elected governments), are looking at ways of forcefully repressing any attempt by the people to change the system. There line of attack will be, first by trying to conceal the fact that ordinary people are taking to the streets and secondly by passing ever more draconian legislation, on the pretext that it is only hooligans and trouble makers trying to disrupt our “smooth running and fair society”. Also to try to put fear into the minds of those angry groups, hoping they'll all sit at home and watch the Olympics or some other money making con-trick. As things get worse, as they inevitably will, the powers that be will never be able to contain the anger of the people, they have more to lose than we have.

        This from Vast Minority:

         NEOLIBERALS are beginning to panic in the face of growing global resistance to their brutal and corrupt system. The illusion of democracy and 'government by consent' is evaporating in a heated spiral of popular defiance and increased repression. Opposition is thus becoming deeper and more radical, as the obvious impossibility of reform opens a new generation's eyes to the necessity of revolution.

          One example of this process is Spain, where the state has announced a package of draconian new laws to criminalise dissent. Jorge Fernandez Diaz, the interior minister, said "serious disturbances of public order and intent to organise violent demonstrations through means such as social networking" would carry the same penalty as involvement in a criminal organisation under the new reform. He also said that the measures would extend authorities' powers to deal with passive resistance as contempt of court.

         The measures would make it "an offence to breach authority using mass active or passive resistance against security forces and to include as a crime of assault any threatening or intimidating behaviour," he said in Congress. In addition attempts to disrupt public services such as transportation would also be made a crime. During the recent general strike picketers blockaded bus and train stations in an attempt to bring transportation to a halt. "New measures are needed to combat the spiral of violence practised by 'anti-system' groups using urban guerrilla warfare," the Interior Ministry clarified in a later statement. Catalonian interior minister Felip Puig has said he wants the new laws to "make people more frightened of the system" - a clear admission of the direction the neoliberal establishment is now heading.

Read the whole article:

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BIG BROTHER - HE NEVER GOES AWAY.

        You have to hand it to them, their Big Brother desires never go away. It is a relentless drive to control ever aspect of your life, to pry into ever avenue of your activities, what you are up to at work and play, what your most intimate actions and desire are, who are you talking to, why and where. They will try to scare the hell out of you with their everybody is a fraudster, terrorist paedophile or worse, and they are only tying to protect you. The truth is, more than 99.9% of us are just ordinary people trying to get on with our life, and we don't want nosey, twisted minded control freaks poking around in our personal information.

This from AVAAZ:

Dear friends,

Right now, corporations like Microsoft and Facebook are supporting a powerful new law that would allow the US to spy on almost everything we do online. But if enough of us speak out, we can demand that the corporations withdraw their support and stop the cyber-spying. Join the call:

       Right now, the US is poised to pass a new law that would permit US agents to spy on almost everything we do online. But we can stop them before the final vote.
        Companies that we trust with our personal information, like Microsoft and Facebook, are key supporters of this bill that lets corporations share all user activity and content with US government agents without needing a warrant in the name of cyber-security -- nullifying privacy guarantees for almost everyone around the world, no matter where we live and surf online.
        If enough of us speak out, we can stop companies that profit from our business from supporting cyber-spying. Sign the petition to these key net corporations now:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/stop_cispa_corporate_global/?vl

        The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) would allow companies doing business in the US to collect exact records of all of our online activities and hand them over to the US government, without ever notifying us that we are being watched. No warrant, no legal cause and no due process required. To make matters worse, the bill provides the government and corporations with blanket immunity to protect them from being sued for violation of privacy and other illegal actions.
         The bill’s supporters claim that consumer information will be protected, but the reality is that huge loopholes would make everything we do online fair game -- and nowadays, from banking to shopping, our private information is all stored on the Internet.
        CISPA is being moved forward in Congress and will be voted upon in days. Let’s raise a massive outcry to stop corporations from giving the US a blank check to monitor our every move. Click below to take action:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/stop_cispa_corporate_global/?vl

         This year, we helped stop SOPA, PIPA and ACTA -- all dire threats to the Internet. Now, let’s block CISPA and end the US government attack on our Internet.

WIth hope and determination,

Dalia, Allison, Emma, Ricken, Rewan, Andrew, Wen-Hua, and the rest of the Avaaz team

More information:

CISPA: The internet finds a new enemy (Global Post)
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/the-grid/cispa-the-internet-finds-new-enemy-sopa

CISPA protests begin amid key changes to legislation (Los Angeles Times)
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-cispa-protests-begin-amid-key-changes-to-legislation-20120416,0,5314596.story

Cybersecurity Bill FAQ: The Disturbing Privacy Dangers in CISPA and How To Stop It (Electronic Frontier Foundation)
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/04/cybersecurity-bill-faq-disturbing-privacy-dangers-cispa-and-how-you-stop-it

New CISPA Draft Narrows Cybersecurity Language as Protests Loom (Mashable)
http://news.yahoo.com/cispa-draft-narrows-cybersecurity-language-protests-loom-134202431.html

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MORE THOUGHT FOR THE DAY.

Taken from "The Anarchist Library":  The Indefinite Strike.

           One never locates oneself simply within a movement, but always in relation to it, facing it, perhaps even in opposition to it. Opposing all of that which is incoherent or flimsy, the reflux of despair, where it flows back into emptiness. It's a question of attacking the material and affective conditions that bind us to this world. The return to normality must be rendered not only impossible, but undesirable. To establish a cartography of everything which holds us: flows, forces, affective states, logistics, and supplies. To acquire, across the conspiring weave of our friendships, the insurrectional know-how to rout this world. We've learned the opening letters of the alphabet of sedition: blockading the refineries, the oil depots, the ports. Allowing the streets to fill with garbage and transforming the latter into barricades. Smashing the shop-windows that reflect our absence. The question put to us might just as easily be: how to shut off, definitively, the nuclear reactors? How to turn the strike into desertion? How to care for, nourish, and love one another without leaving this world in peace?

Read the whole piece.

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BBC SCOTLAND OCCUPATION.

Today Tue 17 April, ongoing -

Occupation of BBC Scotland

       Over 40 protesters have occupied the Headquarters of BBC Scotland in Glasgow, demanding mainstream media coverage for the 2,400 Palestinian prisoners who began hunger strikes today. These actions mark a development from the ongoing hunger strikes which have been taking place since December. Currently, the individuals who have been on hunger strike longest are Thae'r Halahi and Bilal Diab, both of whom are currently on their 50th day without food. This protest is organised to challenge the BBC's continued silence around this recent escalation of Palestinian resistance - it's refusal to report any of the actions that have lead to this decision by 2,400 Palestinians calls into question it's impartiality. The demonstrators entered the building before midday

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14.5% ANNUAL PAY INCREASE, NICE ONE LLOYD.

        While the financial Mafia, lead by the likes of Goldman Sachs etc. continue with their slash and burn of the living standards of all the ordinary people across Europe, they have no qualms whatsoever in gorging themselves on the fruits of their plunder. It is not done surreptitiously, no it is done quite blatantly, their arrogance makes them feel they are entitled to such stratospheric payments.

It's hard being a banker, I have to make some tough decisions.

      Take Mr Lloyd Blankfein, head of Goldman Sachs, while you and I are suffering from a wage freeze or wage cut, this hard working gentleman received, for his 2011 annual pay, an increase of 14.5% taking his reward for a hard years work to the princely sum of $16.2million. This is approximately £10.3million a payment that makes up his salary, bonuses, long term share rewards and perks. You can rest assured that every penny/cent of that was gleaned from the “austerity cuts” and “deficit reduction” being imposed on the rest of us. Well, that's capitalism for you.

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PEDAL ON PARLIAMENT

     As a keen cyclist I am obviously eager to stay alive on the roads and so welcome any attempt at trying to impliment a more sane and humane system on our roads. It seems crazy that enjoying cycling should come with a high risk of death at the hands of a vehicle driver.

EDINBURG <<<<<<<<<<< GLASGOW

PEDAL ON PARLIAMENT

is a mass ride on Holyrood, the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, which will be happening on the 28th of April. It is aimed to make Scotland a safer place for cyclists, and to demand better facilities for cyclists, and cycling to be taken seriously by the Scottish Government. It's a grassroots campaign, and is not allied with any political group or party. Our aim is to make cycling a real political priority and give a push to make Scotland a more Cycling-friendly nation. We want a really good showing from Glasgow and we know there are lots of keen cyclists in Glasgow as well as across the country. Feel free to adorn your bikes with buntings, banners and any electronic or circuit-bent wonderfulness!

You can get more information at
http://pedalonparliament.org/

PLEASE - download and print a poster and put it up at your University or workplace!
http://pedalonparliament.org/resources/
Any Cafes, bike shops, lunch places, universities, workplaces - please get posters up there!

Feeder rides from Glasgow on the 28th - at a nice easy pace:
https://www.facebook.com/events/346583735388533/

Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/pedal.on.parliament/

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WHAT CAPITALIST DEMOCRACY?

      Western mainstream media is always on about the nasty North Korean regime and how it's people are not as happy as those lucky South Korean people who live in a wonderful "capitalist democracy". If only the North Korean's could see how wonderful things are in the South they would want the same.!!

     This is a video of the happy South Korean people celebrating their democracy during a strike called by one of its trade unions. It seems that we have to search far and wide to find a "capitalist democracy" where the people are not on the streets in confrontation with the system. Europe in turmoil, America Occupy Movement, the Middle East, the Far East and Asia, they all know the system stinks, is immoral, unjust and is corruption personified.

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HAS THE ARAB SPRING BLOSSOMED?

CAIRO.

This from The Anarchist International:

          We have all observed the emergence in Tunisia of a vast energy that spread to Egypt. In Tunisia as well as Egypt, unstable dictators were unseated. We distrust the people who helped push for these limited goals. Specific people and organizations (such as the April 6 Movement) persistently agitated and organized to implement technocratic capitalism in Tunisia and Egypt. In Tunisia, elections have been held and a new prime minister elected. Now that Tunisia has a reliable capitalist democracy, the actors that exacerbated the insurrection have mysteriously vanished. There is still rebellion and the population knows how to utilize the tools of the democracy-bringers, but the absence of these actors is very clear. In Egypt we see a similar pattern catalyzed by these same actors, fighting for technocratic capitalism.

Continue READING:

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GLASGOW'S MASS EVICTIONS.

         Glasgow has more than its fair share of homeless, so you would think that the powers that be would do their utmost to prevent any more. However, no, due to a change of policy at Ypeople, who house refugees at Red Road flats, they are evicting at least 140 refugees, making them homeless in one fell swoop. We are talking about families,young people and individuals. As a city we can't throw another 140 people onto our streets, we must put pressure on the authorities to stop this insane and brutal treatment in what is a modern civilised city.

       A meeting will be held at the STUC building in 333 Woodlands Road, subject, How Do We Stop The Evictions. This is an open campaign meeting with speakers from, Campaign to Welcome Refugees, Ypeople residents,, Unity Centre and others.

TUESDAY17 APRIL, 7PM.
STUC BUILDING
333 WOODLANDS ROAD
GLASGOW.
PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD.

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WE ARE AWARE.

           October 15 may have come and gone, but the anger of the people is still there. The corruption and exploitation is still there, the parasites are still filling there over sized bellies with the wealth of the people. What is more the anger is spreading, the people are joining hands across borders. A message to the army of parasites that inhabit the world of the financial Mafia and to the corporate fascist, we are aware. We are aware of your lies and you corruption, we are aware of your greed and money making tricks such as war, we are aware of your plundering our public assets. Also we are aware of a better world, we are aware of your vulnerability and we are aware of our strength. Change is coming, the people will make that change.

 

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FIBRE OPTIC PARASITES.

        You and I know that the system stinks and is corrupt from top to bottom. It is a system of making money from nothing and those who make nothing make the most money, and have most control over our lives. It is a system of parasites feeding of the daily lives of the ordinary people. Capitalism used to be those with money investing it in making things and making more money, but things appeared. Now those with money make money from thin air and get rich faster than ever imagined and at the end of the day they have produced nothing, except more money for their money making smoke and mirrors trick.

It's  great system, who'd want to change it!!

This from The Drum:

Trade parasites feeding at the heart of the ASX 

By operating at the speed of light high frequency traders can "feel" a buy order coming and can dart in front of them.

        In the Australian Securities Exchange's Sydney data room, which is about the size of a big lounge room, there are six "cuckoos". These are the banks of servers installed by high-frequency traders.

        They sit against the wall opposite the ASX servers and each is connected directly into the host by a fat fibre optic pipe. Each cable is precisely the same length by agreement with the ASX so that none gets an advantage; if one server is closer to the input, its cable is looped around to lengthen it.

      Think about that: one less metre of optic fibre carrying data at 299.8 million metres per second - that is, the speed of light - would give one share trader an unfair advantage over the rest. It suggests that something pretty quick is going on.

        The question is whether it's fair to the rest of us; whether those six parasites with their suckers fastened directly into the heart of the ASX should be allowed to get away with it.

Continue READING:

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NET CAUTION.

Use a Dot Com web address? Then you're at risk

      Do you have a website or blog with a .com, .net or .org address? Do you have some responsibility in your workplace for a website that does? Is your website, whatever its address, hosted by a company based in the US?

       Then watch out. The US authorities could take your website down if they think it is breaking US laws. More importantly, they could take YOU down - extradite you, put you in the dock in a US court, and jail you.

         The US claims jurisdiction over websites, wherever they are run from, if they are hosted on servers located in the US - and many of the most popular and cheapest web hosting companies are located in the US. But if you think that by avoiding US web hosting companies you can stay safe, think again. The US also claims jurisdiction over a number of apparently "international" domains, including .com, .net .org, and .tv, because the companies that administer these domain names are located in the US.

         Babar Ahmad and Tahla Ahsan are facing extradition to the US to face terrorism charges arising from their alleged involvement with a website that was hosted, for a short period, on servers in the US. Their connection with the website has yet to be established. You might think it would fall to a British court to decide on that, and to decide whether or not the website was legal. But neither the British nor the US governments want that to happen. Ahmad and Ahsan's application to the European Court of Human Rights to have their extradition blocked was rejected on 10 April, but they still have a right to ask a larger panel of European Court judges to look at their case. Think the US will only do something like that if it thinks its security is at stake? Think again.

          Richard O'Dwyer is facing extradition to the US to answer charges of copyright infringement solely because his site TVShack.net used a US-administered domain name. His website broke no UK laws, but that may not be good enough to keep him out of jail. He has lodged an appeal against the UK Goverrnment's decision to allow his extradition. More cases like this are inevitable. New Zealand based web expert Vikram Kumar says:

"When a government finds a means that works, the range of ends to which it feels justified to apply that means can expand very quickly."

What you can do to stay safe?

        * If you live in the UK, contact your MPs (you can use www.writetothem.com) and demand that they repeal the Extradition Act 2003, which allows the US to seek your extradition without having to present any evidence in a British court. And tell your MP that the extraditions currently in the pipeline must be stopped. The people the US is trying to extradite should be tried in Britain if there is any evidence against them.

        * If you live elsewhere, make sure that your country's extradition laws are French style (French citizens are not extradited to the US), not British-style. If your country has British-style extradition laws, ask your democratic representatives to change them.

        * If your website uses a US-administered top-level domain such as .com, .org or .net, consider changing it to something else, such as .co.uk, .org.uk. With care, it need not cost you web visibility. One day you may be very glad you did it.

         * If you have influence in a business or organisation that uses a US-administered top-level domain, encourage them to consider a change.

         * If you work with such a website as part of your job, ask your trade union to look into the legal risks you may be exposed to. Perhaps your employer thinks the magic of a .com domain is worth the risk. Your union should ask them to think again.

         * If you live in the UK, contact the Director of Public Prosecutions to demand that Babar Ahmad be put on trial in the UK. It's the right thing to do (Ahmad's alleged crimes were committed in the UK, the evidence against him was gathered in the UK by British police, and he is a British citizen). It's what Babar Ahmad wants. And it will set a precedent that makes it less likely that YOU could be extradited to the US. More info about writing to the DPP

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THE DOGS FOR CHANGE!!

   
Probably the most experienced revolutionary in Europe.

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FOR REAL CHANGE, SHORT CIRCUIT THE SYSTEM.

For discussion, from, The Anarchist International.

1: Build and maintain antagonistic infrastructure

        The first priority for anarchists is to build and maintain antagonistic infrastructure. We use this term to mean infrastructure that is inherently conflictual by right of existing. Infrastructure cannot be antagonistic unless its very existence challenges the laws, morals, and equilibrium of the world capitalist system.

         A community garden on land that is purchased by the gardeners merely provides a few lucky people with the chance to grow their own food. But if the garden is planted on land that is stolen from a real estate company, that garden becomes antagonistic to capitalism. While the chances of the garden’s complete destruction increase dramatically, the antagonism also increases the chances of the struggle for the garden to resonate with and attract new people into the struggle against global capitalism. In this way, a garden can stop feeding the belly of green capitalism and contribute to the revolutionary anti-capitalist struggle.

Continue READING:

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WHAT IS "THE COUNTRY"?

            It is a fact that governments pass legislation and if you do something that is outside that legislation then you will be penalised. However when that government wants to do something outside that legislation, it just simply changes the legislation. They call it democracy, I call it fascism. They also state that what they do is for the benefit of "the country", what is "the country"? All the so called "necessary" wage cuts, increase taxes, cuts in social benefits and increase unemployment, which drive the people into desperate deprivation, is for the benefit of "the country"! I'll ask the question again, what is "the country"? If not the people, is it the rocks and soil, or is it the rich and powerful? To answer the question all we have to do is to look at who benefits from all this necessary wage cuts, increase taxes, cuts in social benefits and increased unemployment, and it becomes obvious, to them "the country" is the rich and powerful. Well isn't it time that the people took "the country" back and organised it for the benefit of all  "the people" of that country?

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PRAISE THE LORD????

     

         While doing my thing on the internet I came across a short video and with all those God fearin' men and women shouting for military action against one country after another, with Iran, Syria and North Korea the main targets of their present, holier than thou preaching, I thought the video most appropriate. Nothing changes, the so called good and decent in high places, always seem eager and willing to sacrifice other people's lives but never their own, and always dress it up as God blessed. Perhaps we should call it God blessed righteous murder. Though I suppose this God guy is a handy guy to have on your side, sadly though, the other side think like wise.

   
The video is from a fellow Glaswegian at Thumping The Tub.

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STOP THE DOGS OF WAR.

         As the dogs of war start to bay louder and louder at the gates of Iran, with the leaders of the pack, the US, UK and Israel snarling the most viciously, we have to keep the pressure on our "elected" governments to keep the dogs of war on a tight leash. Or better still have them put down.

This from Stop the War Coalition:

MAKE YOUR MP WORK TO STOP IRAN WAR.
       We are asking all our supporters to lobby MPs to help stop another war. Today talks start between UN security Council members plus Germany and Iran over Iran's nuclear programme.
        The US, Britain and Israel are set to take a hard line, demanding the closure of Fordo, one of Iran's main enrichment plants, and an end to uranium enrichment to 20% levels, demands likely to be unacceptable to Iran.
         President Obama has called these talks the 'last chance' to resolve the issue peacefully, signalling that a breakdown in the talks may be used to justify moves to war. (SEE NOAM CHOMSKY on threats to Iran: http://bit.ly/HCXp8s)
         We are asking you to take this chance to lobby your MP to back an early day motion in Parliament against military attack on Iran. We have a highly effective online lobbying system that allows you to email your MP at the click of a mouse. Please put the pressure on now by going to: http://bit.ly/HCX59F

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"THE POLICE DO NOT HAVE A MONOPOLY ON VIOLENCE".

By The Children of the Gallery (TPTG)
Burdened with debt reloaded: The Politics of Devaluation
         In Greece, the initial austerity measures developed into a full blown shock policy of devaluation of capital, which has deepened the recession and increased public debt. A main ingredient of the politics of devaluation of capital is the depreciation of labour power which aims at the weakening of the power of the working class by establishing permanent austerity and disciplining mechanisms, and by the creation of a large reserve army. Furthermore, this depreciation of labour power is facilitated by the institutional abolition of collective bargaining agreements, a process which, to a great extent, undermines the very function of the labour power representation mechanisms…

…The extremely volatile and explosive situation does not allow any safe conclusions for the time being since the inability of the proletarian struggles to have any real and persistent effects (in the production and reproduction spheres of the capitalist totality) is accompanied by a deep, generalized and amorphous despair and anger precipitated also by the destruction of any safety valves for their containment. Therefore, the widespread prospect of a rather prolonged dead-end period looming ahead could be easily reversed by a social explosion that will change more deeply the balance of forces
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