The State Always Tries To Crush Resistance.

Solidarity doesn't recognise borders, resistance knows no frontiers.

An Appeal from US Palestinian Community Network:

ALL OUT FOR DETROIT
To Defend Rasmea Odeh

         Rasmea Odeh, Palestinian community leader and icon, begins her trial on June 10th. Despite months of Rasmea Defense Committee organizing in Chicago and across the nation, the U.S. government refuses to drop its case against Rasmea, who they are alleging lied on an immigration application she filled out 20 years ago.

       If found guilty, she could face up to ten years in federal prison, an immediate revocation of her citizenship, and then deportation from the United States.

NOT UNDER OUR WATCH!

        The charge against Rasmea is nothing but another political attack by the U.S. government, meant to defame and criminalize another Palestinian, Arab and Muslim leader who has dedicated her life to the empowerment of her people, as well as to intimidate and repress entire communities that are organizing for justice and liberation.

         We know Rasmea never lied about any part of her life. She was brutally tortured into a confession by the Israelis 45 years ago, and now the U.S. is trying to brutalize her once again. After giving so much of her life to others, Rasmea now needs our support. We have already received statements of support from over 100 organizations and more than 3,000 people have signed the online petition for Rasmea. Now, we have to show our presence in the court rom.

That is why we are putting out the call: All Out for Detroit!

        Join us on June 10th in Detroit, Michigan, for the beginning of Rasmea's trial. We will pack the courtroom and rally outside every day of the trial to show the broad support Rasmea has across all communities.

Locations and times are still to be announced, but regularly updated information will be found at:

www.stopfbi.net
www.uspcn.org

You can also reach the Rasmea Defense Committee directly at cppr@aaan.org.

I SUPPORT RASMEA ACTION PLAN:

1) Sign the petition to drop the charges:
http://www.iacenter.org/rasmeaodehpetition/

2) Send statements of support and solidarity to cppr@aaan.org

3) Like Drop the Charges Against Rasmea on Facebook and Tweet using #justice4rasmea.

4) Send us your pictures holding up the following message: "I am _____ and I SUPPORT RASMEA." (Fill in the blank with a self-identifier - your name, occupation , or any other description. Examples: "I am a youth organizer and I support Rasmea!" or "I am a supporter of Palestinian Human Rights and I support Rasmea!" Hold the sign up, snap a selfie, and send it to cppr@aaan.org. Then make it your Facebook/Twitter/Google profile picture! Remember, we may use your image in publications or informational pamphlets either online or in distributed hard copies.)

DONATE: To help support Rasmea's defense fund, go to http://stopfbi.net/donate. You must also send an email to cppr@aaan.org, noting the amount and its designation to Rasmea in order for the funds to be allocated correctly.

If you want your donation to be tax deductible, the donation must be in the amount of $100 or more and you must pay by check to "NLG Foundation" with "Rasmea defense fund" on the memo line.

Please mail these checks to:
Arab American Action Network
ATTN: Rasmea Defense Fund
3148 W. 63rd Street, 2nd Floor
Chicago, IL 60629

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

Army And Police Against Strikers.

An appeal from Labour Start:

 

Striking workers at one of the world's largest paper mills need our support.

      In March, Indonesian paper workers went on strike to demand that management return to negotiations, and to discuss the minimum wage rate established in the district Governor.
     Four rounds of negotiations failed and the company called in the army and police against the strikers and declared the strike illegal.

       These workers are asking for each of us to take less than a minute of our time and send off messages calling on management to reopen negotiations, to stop criminalizing the strike and to end repression. 
Please click here to do so:

http://www.labourstart.org/go/app

     After you've supported the campaign, please share it with your friends, family and fellow union members.

Thank you!

Eric Lee

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

Athens, A Failed Consumer City.

       I keep going on about Greece and how we should not take our eye of that battlefront of "capitalist correction", and we should realise that it is not a unique situation. "Capitalist correction" is taking place all over the planet, it is just that Greece was the first and most severe in Europe. It is all a matter of degree, and that "correction" is still going on throughout Europe. We are all walking the same road as Greece, under the banner of "austerity" but like people, countries walk at different paces, however, we will all get there in the end. 

          By looking at Greece, (with Spain, Italy, Portugal, all close behind) we can learn and organise to be be prepared to turn the "capitalist correction" process to our advantage by creating alternative structures, free from the deadening shackles of consumerism and  the illusion of eternal growth.

       The following extracts are from an article I found extremely interesting, it is well worth reading it in full:

-------The years of the Athenian spectacle ended violently and abruptly in December 2008, uncovering various underlying tensions and contradictions, not least in the consumption-led model of urban development (see Vradis and Dalakoglou, 2012). Capitalist “cracks” (Holloway, 2010) and “societies within societies” (Papi, 2003) began to appear in various parts of Athens and beyond. One of the most striking examples, for instance, was what is now known as “Navarinou park” or “the park”, a former parking lot that was turned into an open squat by Exarcheia-based residents (and other enthusiastic supporters) who, in the aftermath of the 2008 riots: “….united to squat on the space and demand the obvious, that the parking turns into a park! They broke the asphalt with drills and cutters, they brought trucks carrying soil, planted flowers and trees and in the end they celebrated it”ⁱⁱⁱ. Operating on the basis of self-management, anti-hierarchical structuring and anti-commercialisation, the park aspired to be:

… a space for creativity, emancipation and resistance, open to various initiatives, such as political, cultural and anti-consumerist ones. At the same time, it aspires to be a neighbourhood garden which accommodates part of the social life of its residents, is beyond any profit or ownership-driven logics and functions as a place for playing and walking, meeting and communicating, sports, creativity and critical thinking. The park defies constraints relating to different ages, origins, educational level, social and economic positioning^iv.----------

 

-----Indeed, Athens is now by and large inhabited by people who can no longer fully express themselves on the basis of what they consume and where. Their city is no longer a “world-class” city for consumption (Miles, 2010) and cannot pretend to be so either. After all, it is the capital and by far most populous city of the first developed country to be downgraded to “emerging” market status^v. By 2014, the average Greek salary was reduced by 40%^vi. In many ways, the consequences are far more pronounced in Athens than anywhere else. The once well-to-do Athenian middle-classes now parallel the world’s so-called “emerging middle-classes” in reverse, experiencing everyday precariousness and the fears of “falling from the middle” (Kravets and Sandikci, 2014)―and straight onto the poverty zone―in an unprecedented magnitude and scale. Increasingly, Athenians approximate Europe’s “defective” and “disqualified” consumers (Bauman, 2011, 2007), unable to fully define themselves neither in terms of what they consume nor what they produce: with unemployment rates hitting a record 27% across the entire population and over 50% among the youth^vii.
Present-day Athens is the world’s “failed” consumer city par excellence: comprising “zombie” retailscapes for increasingly disempowered consumers who still mourn the dramatic decline of their spending power and unfulfilled consumer desires that seem all the more unreachable. I have seen, for instance, various individuals visiting gifting bazaars and desperately trying to revive consumer fantasies and a “customer ethos” remnant of a not-so-distant past where much of their leisure time was spent around department stores. I have heard of others that walk into stores and pay a small deposit to reserve items, pretending they don’t know that they know it is no longer possible to return to buy them. In a (European) society of consumers, “a world that evaluates anyone and anything by their commodity value” (Bauman, 2007, p. 124), both Athens and its residents have comparatively little, if any, status.

Read the full article HERE:

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

Games Monitor Meeting.

Note from Glasgow Games Monitor:

Hi all,

     Apologies for short notice... Meeting Tonight: 7.15-9.00, Monday 5th May, Please Note!!!!! Normally we meet at John Smith House (address below), but because of the May Day holiday, we'll be meeting instead at the 'Pot Still' pub, 154 Hope Street, very nearby: http://www.thepotstill.co.uk/ We will be waiting at John Smith House until about 7.10 in case anyone comes by who hasn't seen this mail, then heading to the 'Pot Still' to start at 7.15. Meet us at either point. All welcome! John Smith House, 145/165 West Regent street, Glasgow, G2 4RZ Cheers,http://gamesmonitor2014.org/meetings/

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

Circled A Radio, Violence In The Left.

       Violence is a many coloured, many faceted beast, it taints many avenues of this society. Subtle under ground, quietly in the back ground and sometimes in your face at home, at work, and various organisations, some that wear the badge of equality, and of course, the top of the tree, the state.

      This week Circled A Radio discusses two cases of violence in "left" organisations, the RTM and SWP.

Listen to the discussion HERE: 

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

Glasgow's May Day Photos.

        Sunday, May 4th, saw Glasgow's  (sanctioned) May Day parade march off from George Square, though there was a constant drizzle, the spirits were high. It was as usual, colourful and good humoured, with lots of great banners. Though it could be said it was a good turnout, it was a sad reflection of past May Day parades, not so long ago, that ended up in Glasgow Green with tents, stalls, things for the kids, a really family affair. It now seems that the powers that be want it over as quickly as possible, with a quick march through the centre of town, into a hall, get them off the streets and out of sight, have some bigwigs make a few speeches, then go home and forget about it all. That's not what it is really all about, perhaps next year we will get back to it being a celebration for all the family, re-newing old friendships, a remembering our struggles of the past, honouring our working class heroes, and furthering our cause of a better world for all. It should also be a mark of our resistance to this continued exploitation of the ordinary people. Well that's my personal May Day rant. Enjoy: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

May 4th. Glasgow's (Sanctioned) May Day.

 Glasgow May 1st. 2012.

First posted on Glasgow Anarchist Federation:

Radical Workers Bloc of Mayday March
Sunday, May 4 at 11:30am
South West corner of George Square (opposite Greggs) Clydeside IWW will be assembling to take part in the STUC post-mayday march, and welcome any radical workers to join them on the march itself, and then for an informal social after the march in Mono (10-12 King’s Court, King Street, G1 5RB).

Information on the origins of Mayday: http://www.iww.org/history/library/misc/origins_of_mayday

 ***ALSO***

Queer-Trans-Feminist-Sex Worker- LGB and more… Bloc
Sunday, May 4 at 11:30am
George Square

Lets walk with our colleagues, co-workers, community members in solidarity for ALL workers’ rights and against austerity. Against transphobia, sexism, homophobia and all discriminations; for sex workers’ rights! – join us!

**********

Mono Baby Disco
Sunday, May 4 at 12:30pm – 2:30pm
Mono Cafe Bar 10-12 King’s Court, King Street, G1 5RB

This Sunday MONO BABY DISCO!

A fun-time wiggle for babies, toddlers and early schoolers with resident DJ Sci-fi Steven (Bis). Come along!

Recommended donation £1 if you can.

MONO BABY DISCO is on the first Sunday of every month.

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

Through The Fog In Ukraine.

         Through the fog that surrounds Ukraine, a fog that is created by that Western babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, it is difficult to grasp what is really going on on the ground. We are fed a foul broth of Western imperialist belligerent rhetoric, of tales of a handful of armed thugs controlling the eastern part of Ukraine, and how this threatens the happy smiling, but nervous democratic loving groups, in the rest of Ukraine. No mention of neo-nazi groups, fascist gangs and beatings being handed out by those happy smiling, but nervous democratic loving people in and around Kiev. 

       It is obvious that the people of Ukraine are caught up in an imperialist land grab and the conditions on the ground are being influenced and manipulated by the two empires squabbling over territory. What is being played out on the babbling brook of bullshit, the media, has nothing to do with the welfare of the people of Ukraine, justice, democracy, or peace, it is a propaganda exercise on behalf of the Western empire, preparing the ground for whatever action it might deem fit, for its purpose of expansion. Listening to the war of words between the two empires conjures up pictures of kettles and pots and the word black. 

An extract from an article, though with a bias, does through some light on what is going on  in that tortured country:

For many months the Western media has attempted to portray the so-called Maidan movement in rosy colours as a movement for “democracy”. The Western media has shamelessly concealed the leading role played by open fascist and Nazis organisations in the overthrow of Yanukovich. Fascist elements are present in the Kiev government and dictate many of its policies, including the attempt to ban the Russian language. They have begun to rewrite history presenting the Banderaists, who collaborated with the Nazis and perpetrated atrocities against Russians, Poles and Jews during the Second World War, as nationalist heroes. The reactionaries in Kiev brand anyone who does not agree with them as “slaves” or Russian lackeys. The deputy from Lviv in Western Ukraine, Iryna Farion, likes to refer to Russian speakers as “creatures”.
No Western politician could get away with such language. Yet people in the West, who rely on news reports in the media, can have no idea of how far reaction has gone in the Ukraine. Therefore, when they see reports of armed men seizing government buildings in the South East of the country, the only explanation given to them is that it is all the work of sinister forces sent from Moscow.
Kiev, Lviv and other Western Ukrainian cities are in the grip of a White Terror. Communists are beaten up and their officers ransacked and burnt down by fascist gangs. For instance, the Kiev offices of the Communist Party (KPU) were ransacked by extreme right wing thugs from the neo-nazi Right Sector and the Maidan “Self Defence” on April 9 and later that night suffered an arson attack. Offices of the KPU were also attacked in Lviv and other cities. Members of Parliament for the extreme right wing party Svoboda (part of the new government) beat up the state TV station director and forced him to resign. The same Svoboda Members of Parliament beat up Communist Party leader Symonenko as he was addressing the Rada criticising Ukranian right wing nationalists. Oleg Tsarev, a presidential candidate who claims to represent the South and Eastern regions, was beaten up by extreme right wing thugs after a TV appearance and then again as he visited Mikolayiv.-------

Read the full article HERE:

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

  

Murder With Intent.

        You walk through the air conditioned shopping mall and are surrounded by an array of colourful shiny shops, all displaying a kaleidescope of goods. They are all there, H&M, Gap, Adidas, and others, it all looks so innocent. However, a lot of the merchandise of these companies is manufacture in Indonesia, along the banks of the once beautiful River Citarum. A river that for centuries was the survival line for millions of people. They fished the river, they drank the water, it slaked the thirst of their animals, and it watered their fields of crops.

        Now thanks to the manufacturers of cheap goods for Western corporate names like the three mentioned above, the River Citarum is now a running sewer, as factories along its banks pour in a cocktail of toxic chemicals such as Mercury and other noxious poisons and waste. In spite of this the River Citarum, now among the dirtiest rivers in the world, is still drinking water to approximately 35 million people. Now the local trade has changed, instead of fishing, the local villages along its banks try to salvage rubbish from the river to sell, it's a living.

 

      Why should these people have to endure a range of horrific illness and the destruction of their way of life and livelihood, because corporations want to maximise their profits in the West? This is a form of slow mass murder, people will die from avoidable illnesses, others will live a life of poor and deteriorating health, all in the name of corporate profit. You kill somebody and steal their belongings, that's murder. You slowly kill thousands of people and steal their way of life, that's mass murder. It is not done through ignorance, these corporations are fully aware of the damage they are doing, fully aware of the consequences on the lives of those caught up in their greed driven quest for ever more profit. Not an impassioned murder, but cold blooded murder with intent.

 Sign the petition HERE.

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

1st. May, Glasgow, May Day, 2014.

 

    

      Glasgow's May 1st. May Day event in the city centre, held by a variety of groups, including Clydeside IWW, Glasgow Anarchist Federation, Glasgow Anarchist Collective, Faslane Peace Camp, all armed with a plentiful supply of books, leaflets, pamphlets, badges, t-shirts, etc. was well received by the general public, comments made, questions asked, and leaflets, pamphlets and booklets, t-shirts and badges, all going to interested individuals as they lingered in their passing. As usual, friends and comrades not seen for a while met up and exchanged chat. All in all, very cold for the 1st. of May, but a great day.

 

 

 

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

The Struggle Goes On.

        May day is celebration  day, but it is also a day to remind us that the struggle still goes on. Nothing has been resolved, we are still in struggle to protect our living conditions and to change the world for the benefit of all peoples. The corporate world is relentless as it works with the various governments to privatise everything in  the attempt to remove any social fabric from our society. The effects of privatisation has been more devasting and more brutal in some of those countries  where natinalisation was the norm. Below is an extract of a recent and inspiring struggle from  Bosnia Herzegovina, in particular, Tuzla.

       The multi-ethnic, industrial town of Tuzla in Bosnia and Herzegovina counts on a long tradition of workers’ struggle: at the entrance of the city a huge monument representing a miner holding a gun in place of a pick celebrates the miners’ armed rebellion of 1920 against industrial slavery, known as Husinska buna.
        After the nationalization of its factories under the socialist system of Tito’s Yugoslavia, in the last decades the industrial apparatus underwent a process of privatization which resulted in their bankruptcy and consequent job loss for most of the workers. The detergent factory DITA represents an emblematic case: while before the war it guaranteed 1,400 working places, after its privatization in 2007 its major owner — heavily indebted with bank loans — stopped paying pension funds and health insurance to the workers. Following the closure of their firm, in December 2012 the workers of DITA started pickets night and day outside the factory, unfortunately without succeeding to prosecute the owner

Read the full article HERE:

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