A Smothered Arab Spring.

      In that babbling brook of bullshit, the media, there is lots of coverage of the bloodshed in Syria and lots of talk about helping the elements that are attempting to bring down the Assad regime. They spout support for democracy as why they are supporting the "Free Syrian Army", yet hardly a CS gas canister's throw away, there is another uprising which gets little or no coverage from that same babbling brook of bullshit, the uprising by the people of Bahrain. The people of Bahrain have been involved in mass protests to demand a new constitution and removal of the autocratic family that rules their country. These protests started around 2011 and are still continuing, and to date it is estimated that 114 people have been killed and approximately 2700 injured, there have been 43 deaths from excessive use of CS gas. This is an uprising by the majority of the people of Bahrain who are attempting to create a more democratic society, it has been going on as long as the Syrian bloodshed, why the difference in coverage by the babbling brook of bullshit? The main difference is that in Syria, the Assad regime doesn't let the Western corporate world get its hands on the countries resources, that really pisses off our corporate greed merchants, So he has to go, just as Saddam had to go for the same reason and why Iran is being measured up for destruction. On the other hand, the Bahrain autocratic despot family that rules that country with an iron fist, is friendly to the West and allows the Americans a free hand in keeping their massive Middle East naval killing machine based there, so that it can keep an eye on those nasty regimes that want to keep hold of their own natural resources.

       That is why our babbling brook of bullshit will always support any ragbag of armed groups as long as they get rid of any regime that doesn't play ball with the Western corporate greed machine, but will support any brutal despot dictator, family, monarch etc. as long as the allow our corporate lords and masters to profit from their existence. The people of these countries, or their conditions, are of no interest what so ever to our Western imperialists.

ann arky's home.

February 28 - A Pointless Anniversary.

         Today 28 February 1856 the protagonists of the Crimean War, after three years of slaughter, came together in Paris and through hours of huffing and puffing, signed an armistice, which was to end on the 31 March 1856. However both sides continued the build up their defences, but they did managed to calm their blood lusts, and on March the 30 1856 the Treaty of Paris was signed, and the blood soaked land got a little respite.

      Since then right up to the present hour, the imperialists and nation states have continued to slaughter the lives of ordinary people. Treaties have come and treaties have gone but the power lust remains. Borders are crossed, borders are eliminated, power structures are destroyed and new power structures built in their place. None of this is for the benefit of those who stand in the front line, none of this carnage is for the benefit of the ordinary people. Through the years all that has changed is, why the slaughter. It used to be to further or defend the power of monarchs and imperial empires, today it is to further or defend corporate empires, resources and markets. But the pattern is still the same, we do the dying and the killing, they reap the rewards.

         Here we are in 2013 and they are still legitimising the destruction, while they make arrangements to take their killing machine out of Afghanistan, they are entering a new adventure in Mali, with warring glances at Iran. In all the recent carnage and misery, who have been the beneficiaries? An honest assessment would probably say, the arms industries and the oil and gas industry of the Western corporate empire. 

 

       The madness and killing will continue as long as we keep this greed driven system of capitalism, a system the seeks to build and defend the personal fortunes for the few. Of course there are alternatives, we could, as ordinary people, take control of our own lives and build structures that see to the needs of all our people, the type of society that we want, based on co-operation, justice, mutual aid and freedom. That means of course that capitalism must be destroyed.

ann arky's home.

Dangerous to be in a Union.

      We should never take for granted that which our forefathers suffered and struggled to gain. So many things in today's society that we take as part of a civilised society, weren't there a generation or so ago. Most of what the ordinary people fought and struggled to achieve has to be guarded or it will be taken away from us. In this type of society it is an endless fight to move forward and to hold onto what we have achieved. Here in the UK being a member of a trade union is accepted as your choice, and once a member you don't expect to be punished. However in some parts of the world, being a union member can mean beatings, torture, prison and in some cases even death. The state will go to great lengths to crush any attempt by the people to organise to control their own lives, such ploys as labelling them terrorists, or shouting "national security", allows them to repress such movements. We don't have to go to the darkest corners of the world to find an example of how the state will try to destroy attempts by ordinary people who organise to improve their conditions. Most people see Turkey as a modern civilised country, but being a union member there is fraught with danger.

This from LabourStart:

       In the early morning of Tuesday, 19 February, Turkish police targeted members and leaders of the public sector union KESK, arresting at least 100 of them, including members of the teachers union.  

      Overall, 167 arrest warrants were issued for trade unionists.  The police have accused the trade unionists of links with terrorist organizations.

      This is not the first time that the Turkish authorities have used anti-terrorism laws to crack down on trade unionists. On 10 April, the a trial will begin against 72 additional KESK members and leaders who were arrested in June 2012.

       The International Trade Union Confederation, the Education International, Public Services International and the European Federation of Public Service Unions, representing tens of millions of organized workers around the world have launched a major new campaign demanding the immediate and unconditional release of all the arrested union members.  They also demand that the Turkish state stop harassing and labeling trade unionists as terrorists. 

 

Please take a minute and add your name to the online campaign - click here.

 

        And please make sure that your union shares this message with thousands of its members -- this is the only way to grow this campaign into something so massive that we cannot be ignored. If thousands of us send off messages, and soon, we may be able to get the Turkish government to back down and to release our brothers and sisters from jail.

 

Thank you.  And - solidarity forever!

 

Eric Lee

---

ann arky's home.

Is it a Banksy?

Pixies and fairies, I'm all for them. This from Faslane Peace Camp:

Faslane Peace Camp posted in Scrap Trident! Blockade Faslane Naval Base! 3 Days of anti-Trident activities for all the family!

Faslane Peace Camp 26 February 14:13 Scrap Trident pixies spent yesterday evening painting a notice of the April Scrap Trident event on the side of the derelict Blue Ribband factory building overlooking the M8 in the Kinning Park area of Glasgow. The activists painted “Blockade Faslane April 15th 2013: www.scraptrident.org.” with the event logo on top of the building which, until now, has had an advert for the space and some graffiti. One of the painters said: “We are reclaiming this advertising space for the peace movement. The Armed Forces spend nearly £2billion a year on marketing and recruitment. The peace movement doesn't have this kind of money so we saw an opportunity for free, moral advertising and took it. We are bombarded with negative, sexist and shameless consumerist and pro-military advertising in every single space we inhabit on this planet. Even children as young as seven are targeted by military marketing via the schools we trust to educate them in their best interests. "We've reclaimed this particular space and used it to advertise direct action against nuclear weapons. An action that we believe is representative of the anti-nuclear sentiment of the majority of people in Scotland and that will have an empowering affect on all those who take part. We will continue to resist the ongoing stationing of the British nuclear weapons system on the Clyde and we will continue to fight their replacement”. The painting was done to reach out to more people in Glasgow and urge them to join in the three days of the Scrap Trident event in April.

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"Whodunnit"

       I haven't said much on the "horse meat scandal", I see it all as just one of the many aspects of the profit driven system that we have allowed to dominate our lives. The very nature of getting wealthy on the backs of others requires subterfuge, somebody has to be conned somewhere. This is just one, that for whatever reason, that babbling brook of bullshit, the media, has decided to trumpet. It is not the only "scandal" that weaves its way through the smoke and mirrors of this corrupt and exploitive system, it is just the one that is in the news.

I found this an interesting article from Socialism or Your Money Back:

 Customer to the Butcher: A pound of mince, please
Butcher to the Customer: Aye, neigh bother.

      Who is responsible for the horsemeat scandal?  "Not us’ say the government (even though they cut the number of food inspectors). ‘Nor us’, say the supermarket bosses. "Us neither" say the suppliers. "It wasn't us" say the abattoirs. As in every good ‘Whodunnit’ drama, we are looking for a bad guy. The French and then the Romanians were first to be blamed, now it is organised crime and the Mafia. The Swedes blamed the French company Spanghero who also deny the charge. The Netherlands said the Cyprus-based meat vendor Draap that sold the meat to Spanghold was responsible, and the company’s track record would suggest the Dutch had a point. In 2012 Draap was convicted of selling South American horsemeat labeled at German and Dutch beef. Draap — run by a trust in the British Virgin Islands — is owned by the company Guardstand, that in turn owns part of the arms dealing company, Ilex Ventures. According to prosecutors in New York, convicted international arms dealer Viktor Bout owns Ilex Ventures. Guardstand’s sole shareholderis Trident Trust, which sets up companies in tax-free nations. Guardstand helped set up Ilex.

Read the full article HERE:

ann arky's home.

Cheap Subservient Labour.

     It is obvious that the Greek state is determined to crush any attempt by the people of Greece at self organisation. What is going on in Greece is not just a smashing of the social fabric of that society, not just a plundering of the public purse and all public assets, but a consorted effort to break the will of the people. There is nothing in the Greek state's agenda that says that the people of Greece will return to a reasonable standard of living, on the contrary, there is an attempt to force them, by means of repression, to accept their new place in third world, sweatshop conditions. The Western corporate world, Europe in particular, is determined to compete with the Eastern corporate world, to do that, it requires a low wage, sweatshop economy. Greece is the first step in that grand plan, Spain, Italy, Ireland and Portugal are not far behind, the rest of Europe will follow suit in time. The Financial Mafia's methodology in pushing this corporate dream, will be "austerity".

      If the Greek state has the welfare of the Greek people in mind, why would it crush any attempt at self-help by the people trying to alleviate some of their suffering. Over the past year the Greek state has attempted to smash and close down any established squats and self-help centres in the cities and towns, hardly a method of helping the people through tough times. Sweatshop Europe is on the cards, unless we the people of Europe start now to organise self-help and solidarity across the continent. After all the financial Mafia and their partners, the corporate greed machine are well organised across the entire continent, and that is what we are up against. They have a grand plan, the workers have to know their place, a pool of unemployed to draw from, cheap subservient labour fearful for their jobs, as deprivation is the alternative. Is this the world we wish to leave to our children and grandchildren? If not, what are we going to do about it?

This from Contra Info:

March 25, 2012: Mass detentions and police raid of the autonomous hangout Baruti in the city of Veria (northern Greece)
April 20, 2012: Cops raid on the squatted social centre VOX and Valtetsiou 60 living squat, both spaces in the neighbourhood of Exarchia, Athens
April 29, 2012: Eviction of Panteion housing squat in Athens
July 2, 2012: Mass detentions and double police raid of the anarchist hangout Nadir and Orfanotrofio squat in Thessaloniki
July 10, 2012: Fascist arson attack against Apertus squat in the city of Agrinio
July 13, 2012: Fascist arson attack causes extensive damage to Draka squat on the island of Corfu
August 18, 2012: Eviction of the occupied municipal market of Kypseli in downtown Athens (seized and operated by the municipal authorities by now)
September 12, 2012: Cops arrest comrades and evict Delta squat in Thessaloniki; among various projects housed there, the anarchist Radio Revolt looses yet another roof; one of the arrested anarchists is held at a detention camp for immigrants and then extradited to Colombia; some of the former squatters are now faced with further prosecutions
September 13, 2012: Fascist arson on the self-managed hangout in the university of Rethymnon on the island of Crete (following an attempted parastatal incendiary attack against the same space on September 6)
October 1, 2012: Eviction of the squatted social centre Afroditis 8 in the city of Veria
October 30, 2012: Eviction of the Spyridonos Trikoupi living squat in Exarchia, Athens
December 20, 2012: Cops evict Villa Amalias squat in Athens
December 22, 2012: Fascist arson attack against the squatted social space Xanadu in the city of Xanthi (northern Greece)
December 28, 2012: Police arrest and beat migrant street vendors, and raid on the self-managed hangout in the ASOEE faculty in Athens; cops also confiscate equipment of the 98FM pirate radio from the same space
January 9, 2013: Eviction of Skaramaga squat in Athens, following a reoccupation attempt of Villa Amalias squat that failed and resulted in mass detentions
January 15, 2013: Police raid on Lelas Karagianni 37 squat in Athens
February 2, 2013: Nazi scum and cops team up to attack the social centre Mperntes and the Villa Zografou squat in the district of Zografou, Athens
February 7, 2013: Fascist arson attack against the anarchist space Thersitis in the district of Ilion, Athens
On February 15, a reoccupation attempt of Skaramaga squat failed, resulting in a police crackdown in the wider area of Exarchia, Athens.

ann arky's home.

The Right to Peaceful Protest.

     Here on the streets of Glasgow, the same streets that John MacLean, Guy Aldred, Willie McDougal and many others, held meetings and protests attended by hundreds, we are seeing the authorities  trying to stamp out that tradition of peaceful public protest. If they succeed, where is your freedom to voice your concerns and anger at injustice?

    A peaceful protest held in Gordon Street Glasgow, on February 22, saw two young men arrested for no more than using a megaphone to get the attention of the passing public. How often have you walked through our city streets and some preacher has been belting out his "message" through a sound system and no large police formation and no arrests? The authorities only send in their minders, the police, if it is a political protest, they can't have the people voicing their concerns publicly, others might listen.

     There is  campaign to right this wrong, to hold onto our right to peaceful public protest. It is our city, our streets, our right to freedom of expression.

More details HERE:

ann arky's home.

Austerity = Sweatshop Economy.

       I've said it, you've said it, it's about time everybody said it and acted on it. Austerity is about creating sweatshop conditions, it's about robbing the public purse and handing that wealth to the financial Mafia. All the chatter on that babbling brook of bullshit, the media, by "economic experts", is smoke and mirrors, it's gobbly-gook and should be classified as economic bullshit, it's a charade for your benefit, to keep you ignorant and subdued, while the financial parasites suck you dry. We are being bled to death by deliberate policies, adhering to a strict ideology. Austerity kills, but only the ordinary people, millionaires don't notice austerity, they're doing just fine.

ann arky's home.

Bare-Knuckle Capitalism.

      Across Europe the state and its apparatus are tightening their grip on peaceful protest, as they continue their plunder of the public purse. As the public anger grows, so the state increases its violence against those who stand up for the rights of ordinary people. From the brutal police action in Greece to the recent action by EDF to bring a £5 million lawsuit against those who participated in a peaceful protest at their West Burton power station, it is all part of their policy of intimidation. The state and its partner, corporate capitalism, will not tolerate those who get in the way of their drive to turn the UK into a profit generating sweatshop economy. Here nearer home in Glasgow we witnessed this aggressive stance being taken by the state's minders at a peaceful "Glasgow Against ATOS" protest . The more we stand up for our rights the more likely the state will enter the scene with the gloves off, we are well into the era of bare-knuckle capitalism. It is all an attempt to intimidate, to get the people to meekly sit around and accept whatever the corporate greed machine throws at them. The following is from The Glasgow Defence Campaign and is asking for a massive show of support for those arrest while protesting against injustice.

***Any witnesses to the arrests, or the events leading up to them,

contact: glasgowdefence@yahoo.co.uk***

 

GLASGOW DEFENCE CAMPAIGN – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TWO ARRESTS ON PEACEFUL GLASGOW AGAINST ATOS PROTEST.

 

 

     22 Feb, Glasgow – Two supporters of Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! (Glasgow) were today violently arrested, Friday 22 February, shortly after 2pm outside the Royal Bank of Scotland on Gordon Street, Glasgow city centre. They were taking part in a peaceful rolling picket organised by Glasgow Against ATOS, a campaign committed to opposing the French multinational ATOS and the government’s attack on welfare.

     Both those arrested were taken to Stewart Street police station and were released at approximately 18:30. They are facing charges of liberating a prisoner from custody, resisting arrest and using a megaphone. Court date is set for Friday 22 March, for which solidarity protests are being organised. In an outrageous attack on democratic rights, their bail conditions include a ban on attending demonstrations in Glasgow city centre. This is the real reason behind these arrests: to disrupt and destroy political activity.

Continue reading HERE:

ann arky's home.
 

Who are the Oppressors?

Thought for the day.

    Who are the oppressors? The few: the King, the capitalist, and a handful of other overseers and superintendents.

    Who are the oppressed? The many: the nations of the earth; the valuable personages; the workers; they that make the bread that the soft-handed and idle eat.

Mark Twain.

ann arky's home.

Wobblies Commercial??

A wee push for the wobblies.

ann arky's home.

India, an Economic Giant!!!!

      Our babbling brook of bullshit, the media, continually spews out a vision of India as one of the world's economic giants, which in corporate greed, it is. As they follow Cameron around that country, what we see is an army of well fed, well manicured, wealthy parasites, living off the cream of a country where deprivation is endemic. Campaign after celebrity campaign goes on about the poverty in Africa, and believe me that is real poverty, but what we don't hear is that India has around 450 million people living in “dire” poverty. This is equivalent to all the poor of all the countries in Africa combined. A country lauded for its economic growth and it has more than 450 million people living on 12 rupees or less a day, (this is the measure of “dire” poverty). This army of deprivation has seen practically no reduction in the past 30 years. A recent document by the Planning Commission states that the poor of rural India were better fed 30 years ago than they are now. The Indian government's own figures reveal that of its 856 million rural population, 50% live in poverty trying to survive on less than 20 rupees a day.

       This wonderful economic growth that the Western corporate world looks at with envy, creates the same pattern as corporate growth the world over, glaring brutal inequalities. India is fourth in the billionaire league with 61 billionaires, who have a combined wealth of $250 billion, The 100 richest people in that country have assets equivalent to a quarter of the country's GDP, with its richest man having a personal wealth of $20 billion. Compare that with the fact that every second child born in India is stunted and under weight due to poverty and malnutrition.

      This is the pattern of corporate capitalist growth in country after country. Billionaires grow bloated on wealth stolen from the ones who actually create that wealth. Private jets, holiday islands purchased for friends and family, sumptuous homes dotted around the globe, personal assistants, personal trainers. All this wealth belongs to those who produce it, yet they are the ones that live in deprivation, our wealth is plundered daily by that small army of parasites, who, like all parasites, will continue to feed of our sweat and toil as long as we allow them. We need to wash our society and get rid of those parasites. 

     I'll repeat the verse from the last post:

We are the ones who knead and yet we have no bread,
we are the ones who dig for coal and yet we are cold.

We are the ones who have nothing,
and we are coming to take the world.

~ Tassos Livaditis (Greek poet, 1922-1988)

ann arky's home.

---We are Coming to Take the World---.

Inspiring verse by Tassos Livaditis lifted from ROARMAG:

We are the ones who knead and yet we have no bread,
we are the ones who dig for coal and yet we are cold.

We are the ones who have nothing,
and we are coming to take the world.

~ Tassos Livaditis (Greek poet, 1922-1988)

ann arky's home.

Greek General Strike.

Wednesday February 20, general strike in Greece, below is live stream;

Watch live streaming video from stopcarteltvgr at livestream.com

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A Creeping Killer Epidemic.

      We are witnessing a creeping killer epidemic, it is moving steadily across Europe and where it takes hold people suffer, people die, futures are blighted. Until recently Europe was relatively free from this killer, but know it is virulent and covering ever wider regions of Europe. It is not an unknown disease, and for years it has been growing in many regions of the world, mainly the Third World and the sad fact is, it is a preventable disease. This killer can be managed and eradicated simply by better management of resources. I am of course talking about poverty and deprivation. We should be alarmed as Greece is now entering that "Third World" category, simply on the back deliberate and predictable policies, policies that are being enacted across the rest of Europe. They will of course have the same results elsewhere as they do in Greece.

This from a recent meeting of ICAN held in Thessaloniki 

    A trip to the doctor or hospital now costs €25 – and climbing. Having a baby sets you back €800 – double that if you need a caesarian. Without the money, you’re told to ‘go home and do the best you can’. Free access to contraception and abortion have been removed. Vaccinations for children have virtually stopped. The big pharmaceutical companies now refuse to sell medicines to the hospitals.
   We spoke to a pharmacist who said every day she came across people who couldn’t afford their medication, and many who take a vastly reduced dosage to make it last longer. She told us: “In this corner of Europe, the situation is very bad – it’s tragic. People die through lack of access to basic health services.”Read the full article HERE:

    Why do we tolerate this ideology of emptying the public purse into the vaults of the financial Mafia? Why do we watch our brothers and sisters slowly die to gratify the egos of bullshit economists? This is not some God given system that is eternal, it is a man made system of greed, created by parasites. It can be destroyed and a system of justice and mutual aid built in its place. If not now, when? If not us, who?

ann arky's home.

Postponed Postponement!

      How many times can the judiciary postpone a case on the grounds of "lack of court time" before you can call a halt, due to unfair treatment?

Census trial adjourned again

 

      Barbara Dowling's trial for allegedly refusing to fully complete her census form has today (19 February )  been adjourned due to lack of court time until 23rd April

 

     Today's decision continues a long history of delays. Barbara first appeared before Glasgow Sheriff Court in connection with these charges in September 2011, when she entered a not guilty plea.

 

      A US-based defence contractor involved in human rights abuses at Abu Ghraib Prison helped to run the Scotland's 2011 census. The contractor - CACI International - has tried for years to claim immunity from lawsuits relating to its involvement in torture and abuse. But people in Scotland who refused, as a matter of conscience, to participate fully in the census are being pursued as criminals through the Scottish courts

 

See http://www.ethicalcensus.org.uk/

 

More info: contact@ethicalcensus.org.uk  or phone  07936432519 or 07786630764

ann arky's home.

Bedroom-tax - Poll-tax!!

      We in the UK are heading for some real battles and should be preparing now. Come April there will be the implementation of the "bedroom tax"  on top of increasing food poverty and fuel poverty. This "bedroom tax" will put three options before all those in social housing, if they are deemed to have an extra bedroom. As an "under-occupier" you can pay extra, take in a lodger or get out, non-compliance will trigger eviction notices. This is probably the most vicious attack in decades on the ordinary people of this country. The legislation comes into force and they are well aware that there isn't enough right sized accommodation to fulfil that legislation, but that won't stop them going for evictions. Even if there were enough right-sized apartments for everybody, but there isn't, the monumental upheaval to people's lives, sick, disabled, elderly, young families, as they are shunted around to the satisfaction of some millionaire cabal's bullshit economics, is inhumane, unjust and downright vindictive. This is "poll-tax model two.
       While our millionaire parasites that lord it in those Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption are spewing out crap about it all being necessary and "for our own good" a UN official, Mr De Schutter, the UN's Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, has stated that the explosion of people in the UK, depending on food handouts could represent a human rights abuse. He points to the dramatic rise in the number of food banks as evidence that governments had "failed in their responsibility not to leave the poorest behind". Here in the UK the number of food banks as exploded tenfold  since the start of the recession.
       This is the UK today, massive fuel poverty with energy prices still rising. Food poverty with food banks the only growth industry in town. A third of children living in poverty. Unacceptable unemployment among our young people. Being forced through "workfare", to work for free in some tax dodging corporate greed machine. Now the threat of evictions being heaped on the shoulders of the already struggling public.
        These are drastic times and drastic action by the organised public is the only answer. We may not yet be where the people of Greece are as far as deprivation is concerned, but we are moving inexorably in that direction, it is only a matter of time. It is inevitable, unless we the public, by mass organised resistance, come together and drive our society in a different direction. Another world is possible. 

POWER CUTS, a daily reality in Greece by docupraxi

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Bullshit Economics.

       Being a simple minded type of guy, I always get confused about national debt and GDP. However when it comes to world debt and world GDP, I get even more confused. According to those clever people who know what is going on, the world's GDP has been rising year on year and for the year 2011 it was standing at over $69 trillion. That's a lot of wealth to share between just 7 billion people, yet we have millions of people dying in total deprivation. Obviously we are not doing things right. As for the world's debt, well for the year 2012 it was sitting at approximately $51+ trillion. it is impossible to give an accurate figure as it is rising at approximately more $200,000 per second. That's an awful lot of debt and an unbelievable rate of increase. My confusion comes when I think of the world producing all that "stuff" at an ever increasing rate, and the world's debt rising at warp2, how come? How does the world owe all that debt and to who. Is there an office somewhere, just outside the world where we can make our monthly payments, and remember to get a receipt? 

       It is bullshit economics, it is insane, we the ordinary people of this world produce and distribute everything in this world to the extent of $69+ trillion and yet, millions of us ordinary people live in poverty and deprivation, and at the end of the day we owe somebody or group, a staggering $51+ trillion and rising. Don't you think that somewhere along the line, we the ordinary people are being ripped-off?

ann arky's home.

Torture and the Scotish Census.

Support Barbara Dowling - on trial over the census on 19 February

Glasgow Sheriff Court.

Assemble outside the court from 9.30pm

Trial from 10am.

     Barbara Dowling's long delayed trial for allegedly refusing to fully complete her census form will be held on 19 February, in Glasgow Sheriff Court. Even if you can't come along for the whole of the trial, please show your support by joining us outside the court from 9.30am.

       A US-based defence contractor involved in human rights abuses at Abu Ghraib Prison helped to run the census. The contractor - CACI International - has tried for years to claim immunity from lawsuits relating to its involvement in torture and abuse. But people in Scotland who refused, as a matter of conscience, to participate fully in the census are being pursued as criminals through the Scottish courts.

See:             http://www.ethicalcensus.org.uk/

More info:     contact@ethicalcensus.org.uk

or phone:       07936432519 or 07786630764

ann arky's home.

Imperialist Office Warriors.

      President Obama's inaugural speech last month was the voice of hypocrisy, The Prince of Peace stated, and stated without a hint of embarrassment, that “A decade of war is now ending,” --”We, the people, still believe that enduring and lasting peace do not require perpetual war.” What that translates into is, “We will not be sending so many of you overseas to kill and maim, you will be able to do this from a comfortable office in Nevada and Saudi Arabia.

     We are now seeing foreign invading troops preparing to leave Afghanistan without having achieved their object, since nobody seems to be able to say what was the object. That doesn't mean the end of the military campaign, the war will continue from computer screens in the form of drones. According to a report from the area of North Waziristan, from 2008 to 1012, there have been around 147 drone strikes, killing 894 people with 211 injured. This year has seen an escalation in the number of drone attacks in Pakistan and Yemen.

      The face of imperialist wars is changing, weapon laden armour plated boots will still be called on to do some of the dirty work, but this will be their cleaning up operations. The real slaughter will be done by young smooth faced office workers, sitting at their desks marking up scores on hits, just like any other computer game. Only this time it is for real, real bodies being blown to bits, real children dying, real homes being demolished. No need to be a battle hardened trained killer, you can make you way up the military ladder by having the highest score of hits in the office.

       Just to encourage those 9 to 5 office work killers and make them feel part of the “hero” brigade, they are considering creating a medal for the cyber-killers. Defence Secretary Leon Panetta recently announced that the Pentagon is creating a medal that can be awarded to troops who have a direct impact on combat operations, but do it well away from any combat zone.

     To those on the receiving end of drone warfare, the result is just as bloody, destructive and terrifying as any other type of warfare. There is no such thing as clean humane warfare. Drones of course sanitise it for the perpetrators of that destructive violence. You can kill from 9 to 5 and then go home to your family and have a night out. This is the new imperialist warfare. In an interview Secretary of Defence Leon Panetta. Asked by journalist Martha Raddatz whether the 2014 pullout of U.S. troops from Afghanistan would mean an increased reliance on drones, Panetta said: “ I think that's reality. We've done that in Pakistan. We're doing it in Yemen and elsewhere. And I think the reality is it's going to be a continuing tool of national defense in the future.”

     There is a ready trained army of computer literate kids, experts at computer games all well able to spend a few hours a day playing their game and getting paid and walking away as if it were “just a game”. It is a frightening thought, but it is our future, unless we do something to change the system.

 

 

ann arky's home.

Spirit of Revolt.

      Spirit of Revolt is a group of enthusiasts who are passionate about collecting, saving and cataloguing material from grass-roots campaigns and struggles, in the belief that it is an essential part of the history of the ordinary people, and is free of party political politics. It is the part of our history that seldom finds a home and is lost to future generations. Each generation can learn from the actions of the past, but only if that past is available. That is why the group is intent on making all this material easily accessible through the medium of their website and the catalogue system of the Mitchell Library. We are also keen to put on exhibitions in various locations similar to our recent successful exhibition on Radical Presses Clydeside, held in the Mitchell Library foyer.

     This is the history of the ordinary people of the Clydeside area, part of our culture, and if we let it disappear, we become a people without a history, a people without a culture. There is also the point that without this section of history, recorded history becomes a distorted image.

     The cataloguing is well under way, images are being scanned on a regular basis and will eventually find their way onto our website. The website is slowly taking shape but still has a long way to go, images being the next big part of the project.

      Why not visit our website, have a look, make a comment, 

www.spiritofrevolt.info

      Though all those involved are unpaid volunteers, sadly all this work can't survive on passion alone and funding is always a problem. So we welcome any donation no matter how small, it will always be gratefully received.

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