Those Never Ending Imperialist Adventures.

       Bearing in mind the mutterings from St. Tony Blair, about troops on the ground in Iraq, and Cameron's desire to honour his American masters, we need to redouble our efforts to stop the UK being involved in another Middle East imperialist adventure. Peace and justice can't be bombed into existence.

This from Stop The War Coalition:

Emergency protest: Don't bomb Iraq, Don't bomb Syria. Lobby your MP.

• Protest Downing Street. 5.30pm Thursday 25th September.
  
• Lobby your MP. Use our model letter to write to your MP. It takes 2 minutes.
  

       David Cameron is planning to recall parliament on Friday to push through a vote for the UK to join the US in bombing Isis in Iraq and possibly Syria.
       If this vote passes British forces will be back in action in Iraq just three years after the last troops were withdrawn from the catastrophic occupation of 2003-11. The development comes in the same week Tony Blair called for renewed bombing in the region and the possibility of boots on the ground.
       All the experience of the terrible wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya has shown that western military action only serves to kill innocents, destroy infrastructure and inflame violence.
      Isis is a reactionary force, but it is in part a product of the disastrous occupation of Iraq by Western powers. Isis is funded by some of our main allies in the region, including Saudi Arabia. Escalating Western military intervention will do nothing to stop them but will create more suffering and further destabilise the region.
     Stop the War is calling on our supporters to protest this Thursday evening outside Downing Street from 5.30pm till 7.30pm. Nearest tubes: Westminster and Charing Cross.

• Share the event with your Facebook contacts
  

We are also asking supporters to immediately lobby their MPs to vote against bombing.

 

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

 

Cheap Coal = Climate Change.

Hi John

I'm on top of a coal train right now with 49 ordinary people, who believe so passionately that we need to stop climate change, we've stopped a train reaching Cottam power station in Nottinghamshire. We flagged it down at 2.30pm and right now, we’re shovelling coal off the train.

It’s pretty dirty work but I’m here with good friends, and we know it’s the right thing to do.

At this same exact moment, thousands of miles away in New York, global leaders are coming together for a hugely important meeting about the climate.

But while world leaders like David Cameron talk, there’s a plan to give energy companies in the UK millions of pounds of tax-payers' money to keep old coal power plants burning.

See what's happening on top of the train:
https://secure.greenpeace.org.uk/people-vs-coal

I'm blocking this coal train today to show our leaders that it’s time for action. David Cameron is at the global leaders meeting. When he gets home, he needs to scrap the plan to give tax-payers' money to keep coal power plants going.

And Ed Miliband needs to set out his plan to get us off coal. That could be enough to persuade energy companies to shut down coal plants instead of patching them up.

Click to see photos and video, and read stories:
https://secure.greenpeace.org.uk/people-vs-coal

There are 50 of us on this train in Nottinghamshire, but Greenpeace is millions of people around the world. Together we’re working for a green, peaceful future powered by renewable energy. We want a protected Arctic, and a world of oceans and forests teeming with life.

Back on the train, we’ll hold on for as long as we can – but to truly get our message out we need thousands more to support our call:
https://secure.greenpeace.org.uk/people-vs-coal

Thanks for all that you do,

Fran, from a coal train in Nottinghamshire

PS: You can see video clips rushed by bike from the stopped train, read the stories of the people on board, and sign the petition to end dirty coal here: https://secure.greenpeace.org.uk/people-vs-coal

 

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

A Black Man Is Killed Every 28 Hours By A White Cop!!!

      The Land of the free, the good ol' US of A, where a black man is killed every 28 hours by a white cop, hard to believe? The real question is why is this tolerated, why doesn't America explode?

Ferguson: Chronicle of an Insurrection from the stimulator on Vimeo.

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

The Miners Strike In Glasgow.

      Wednesday evening Dave Douglas will be in Glasgow talking about the 1984/85 miners strike, a monumental class struggle that showed just how far the state will go to crush any working class resistance. It was the Thatcher era, the cull on the working class.

      Come along to the Fred Paton Centre, 19 Carrington St., G4 9AJ at 7pm and hear first hand experience of this legendary struggle, from a miner who was there and felt the wrath of the Thatcher state, come along and add your stories, ask questions, learn about your history. There will also be stalls and displays. an interesting and informative evening is guaranteed, and it is free.

     Carrington Street is between Great Western Road and West Princes Street, near St George's Cross, Glasgow.

      Dave talks in a Channel 4 special about what Thatcher meant to him: stoking a fire of donated old shoes just to keep his family warm through the winter.

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

Tony Blair, Holy Man Of War.

      He's at it again, Britain's own fundamentalist holy man, Anthony Charles Lynton Blair, is spouting, we need to put troops on the ground in Iraq. Well Tony, get your gun and go, leave the rest of us to resist this eagerness to enter another bloodbath in Iraq, and else where. We have shed innocent blood in Iraq before, in the 1920's and again in 2003. This Christian fundamentalists  seems to have some sort of psychological fixation with sending young members of the British working class to kill and be killed in some vision of a mythical moral high ground.

      This devout Christian holy man has done very well out of his, "Labour politics", and war crimes, and now flies around in a £30 million hired private jet. His fortune is stated to be in excess of £75 million and growing, but is considered by many, very many, to be a war criminal. This is the type of individual that the babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, continue to interview and quote, as if their words were profound and rational, it's celebrity politics.

      No doubt the other war mongering millionaires in the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, will be delighted at his latest Christian mutterings of "send in the troops".

      We can expect nothing but foreign wars and more young innocent blood to flow, as long as we tolerate the Blair, Cameron, Osborne, etc. dangerous puppets of the financial Mafia to control our lives. Our "friendly" interference in Iraq and elsewhere has left millions living in squalor, deprivation and fear, and according to the imperialists, all for their own good. When will we end this charade.

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

The White Knight Of British Imperialism.

      Our British imperial state is gearing up for another military outing. This time on the myth of our high morality and ridding the Middle East of its bad men. There is no doubt what so ever that ISIS is a very brutal, fundamentalist religious group, but they are not alone, nor are they unique. The myth that helps to put the British imperial state, on the high moral ground is the one that, as the biggest empire the world has known, we willing helped put our colonies on a democratic footing when they were ready to look after themselves. 

      The truth of course is that we could show the ISIS mob a thing or two about brutality. As the people of our colonies fought to rid themselves of the exploiting, brutal British empire, we turned really nasty. The colonies emerging into the world, free from the British empire, paid dearly for their desire to be free. 

 Something to smile about.

         Aden, in what is now Yemen, an important port to the British empire, in 1960 it became known as the Aden emergency, as the locals were determined to rid them selves of their brutal imperial overlords, the British, they organised strikes demonstrations and protests and resulting riots. To sort this out the British set up torture centres. In these centres prisoners were held in refrigerated cells, bring about frostbite, and pneumonia, among other problems. It was not uncommon for prisoners to have their genitals crushed by guards hands, cigarette buts to be stubbed out on their naked flesh, to mention just some of the brutality inflicted on people seeking independence from the British state. Amnesty International in 1966, issued a report on this barbaric treatment, creating international outrage. The British imperial state had been rumbled. In the face of international condemnation, it apologised, but continued useing the torture centres for another year. 

        Amritsar, India, 1919. The people of that area, men, women and children, on April 13, 1919, pissed off by the brutish rule of the British imperialists, decided to march in a peaceful protest to the walled Jallianwala Gardens, there they hoped to make their voices heard. Late afternoon the troops blocked the exits of the gardens, and then opened fire on the protesters, they kept firing until they ran out of ammunition. The total deaths from ten minutes of relentless rifle fire varies from 379, to 1,000, with more than 1,000 injured. More than 100 women and children sought safety in a well, and drowned. Back here in Britain, the man responsible, Brigadier Reginald Dyer, was labelled, "the man who saved India". 

 

       The catalogue of British brutal imperialism is endless. We could go on and on. In the 1920's, the crushing of Iraq. The Boer war, where 10% of the entire Boer population died in British imperialist concentration camps, among them 22,000 children.

A Reminder.

       And now we are supposed to swallow the British state, painting its armour white and riding out on its white charger, with its white knight companion America, as the saviours of the Arab world. You and I know, the British state doesn't give a shit about the people of the Arab world, they have other motives.

     For more on the British imperialists morality, you could visit, 10 Evil Crimes Of The British Empire.

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

Dave Douglass And The Miners Strike.

    I doubt if there is anyone, with even a passing interest in UK politics, who hasn't heard or read about the 1984/85 miner's strike. An event that lasted approximately a year, during which time the British state threw its full force of repression against the striking miners. It tried every tactic in its arsenal, short of tanks in the mining villages and towns, to crush the resistance of the miners. This epic working class struggle should not be forgotten, to this end several groups are organising and co-sponsoring a talk and discussion by Dave Douglass, a miner who was there.

     There will be an event to mark this struggle, organised by the Clydeside General Members Branch of the International Workers of the World and co-sponsored by Glasgow Anarchist Collective, Glasgow Anarchist Federation, Radical Independent Bookfair, and Spirit of Revolt. It will be held on Wednesday, September 24th. 7pm to 9pm, in the Fred Paton Centre, 19 Carrington Street Glasgow, and is a free event. Carrington Street is between Great Western Road and West Princes Street, not far from St George's Cross. There will also be stalls and displays, an event not to be missed

       Come along, hear about your history, and add your stories and opinions.

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

Tomorrow's World Is Yours.

      So in spite of the YES camp's abundance of hard work, hope, belief and enthusiasm, the polls were mostly right in their predictions. So the bubble burst, but to all those thousands of activists how worked their socks off for a better world, all I can say is don't sink back into the swamp of anonymity. You raised you voice from a whisper to a roar, and you rocked the establishment, you have already changed this country, you can continue to change this country. Don't withdraw and leave it to the parasitic political class that inhabit that imperialist edifice, the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption. Stay alive, keep the networks going, stay on the streets, in the schemes, in the villages and towns, stay in the melting pot of ideas, always putting in you own personal contribution. You caught the attention of the world because you were creating cracks in one of the world's leading imperialist powers, that is a victory. Don't withdraw from the struggle and allow the establishment to patch up, and cover over those cracks. Think of that feeling of solidarity and companionship you felt as you made new friends, savoured new experiences, and wove greater dreams. You have lit a fire, help it spread, tomorrow is your world, you must shape it now.

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

Dump The Bosse Off Our Backs.

       Election day in the Scottish independence referendum, if it is a yes vote, let's hope that it is just the first step, for the next step, Utah Phillips pointed the way.

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

We Are Governed By Devoius And Dangerous People.

        Western continuous wars are for power and resources, but they can also be used in a cynical manner to bolster a failing Western leader and his party cohorts. A bit a flag waving patriotism seems to push the ratings up for the power mongers. We are governed by devious people, who do devious things, which are also extremely dangerous. As has been stated before, "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel."

This interesting article by William Boardman from Reader Supported News:

       The president’s plan to fight ISIS is stupid stuff in another way: it’s hardly adequate to the over-stated task. But that’s a smart thing about the stupid stuff. The hyper-rhetoric revives what’s left of patriotic flag-rallying around a White House whose party faces an election potentially more devastating than any proposed attack on ISIS. So the ISIS-fever, to the extent the president and his surrogates can generate it, seems likely to help Democratic candidates, at least to the extent that “fighting terror” drives other issues out of the news. Since those Muslims are going to be killing each other anyway, why shouldn’t they die to preserve a Democratic majority in the Senate?

Read the full article HERE:

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

The president’s plan to fight ISIS is stupid stuff in another way: it’s hardly adequate to the over-stated task. But that’s a smart thing about the stupid stuff. The hyper-rhetoric revives what’s left of patriotic flag-rallying around a White House whose party faces an election potentially more devastating than any proposed attack on ISIS. So the ISIS-fever, to the extent the president and his surrogates can generate it, seems likely to help Democratic candidates, at least to the extent that “fighting terror” drives other issues out of the news. Since those Muslims are going to be killing each other anyway, why shouldn’t they die to preserve a Democratic majority in the Senate?
- See more at: http://polizeros.com/2014/09/15/washingtons-isis-war-drums-do-stupid-stuff-do-it-now/#sthash.1Neh9h7E.dpuf

The president’s plan to fight ISIS is stupid stuff in another way: it’s hardly adequate to the over-stated task. But that’s a smart thing about the stupid stuff. The hyper-rhetoric revives what’s left of patriotic flag-rallying around a White House whose party faces an election potentially more devastating than any proposed attack on ISIS. So the ISIS-fever, to the extent the president and his surrogates can generate it, seems likely to help Democratic candidates, at least to the extent that “fighting terror” drives other issues out of the news. Since those Muslims are going to be killing each other anyway, why shouldn’t they die to preserve a Democratic majority in the Senate?
- See more at: http://polizeros.com/2014/09/15/washingtons-isis-war-drums-do-stupid-stuff-do-it-now/#sthash.1Neh9h7E.dpuf

Get Out And Let Them Sort Things Themselves.

     After the brutal murder of the young Scots aid worker by the fundamentalists ISIS, Cameron comes on TV with his serious war leader face, and announces how we are going to get involved in another war in the Middle East. ISIS is a brutal regime and murders hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent people, but our involvement will also kill thousands of innocent people, modern war does not just target combatants, our smart bombs are not that smart.

 Their history.

      I have said it before, if the West's aim is to destroy ISIS, then it should get out of the entire area of the Middle East. We fund and support a ragtag bunch of fundamentalists, The Syrian Free Army, in a civil war in Syria, tying that government up in knots, while the friends of the of that ragtag bunch of fundamentalists, ISIS, with the aid of American armoury, ravages part of Syria and Iraq. At the same time we push Iran in to a corner, stopping it from taking on ISIS. If we stopped funding the civil war in Syria and left Iran to support its neighbour, Iraq, together the three could wipe ISIS off the face of the earth. All three have that wish in common. It is our interference in that area that has given birth to the rapid rise of ISIS and other nut-case fundamentalists. The people of the Middle East, like the people all over the world, are very capable of sorting out their own affairs, if allowed to do so. 

 Before Western aid.

     The only reason for our continued interference in that area is their oil, it has nothing to do with democracy, nothing to do with protecting innocents, nothing to do with despot regimes, after all we helped form, and continue to support, most of those. It is oil, wealth and power, and the unfortunate people of that area have to bear the brunt of our continuing greed for their resources. This will continue until we wake up and destroy the greed and profit drive capitalist system that blights and jeopardises our very existence.

After Western aid.

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

War Means Climate Change.

    I get pissed off by those posh political parasitic bastards, who talk about reducing our carbon footprint, telling us to recycle more, just boil enough water for the cups of tea you need, turn your heating down, (though most of us do that because of the bills anyway). Pointing the finger at us, as problem about carbon emission, then in the next breath, talk of launching another war.

 

A really big carbon footprint.

     Apart from the human misery, the financial cost of war is staggering, it is estimated that the Iraq war cost the US approximately $1.5 trillion with a further $600 billion for after care of veterans. War also has a massive carbon footprint, all the way back to the research and development, production, storage, transportation and exports of the arms industry, to the utilisation in the war zone, all for what? One US M1 tank releases as much CO2 as 10 large Mercedes Benz cars. It was estimated that the detonation of 50 nuclear warheads of 15 kilo-tonnes each, would release  approximately 690 million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. This compares with the estimated 250 to 600 million tons of CO2 released during the Iraq war. Modern wars create massive releases of CO2 into the atmosphere, add to this the CO2 emissions from the necessary reconstruction of the destroyed infrastructure after the destruction. Any government pursuing a green agenda could not possibly contemplate war as an answer to any problem. If your are thinking green, then you have to get rid of states, and their continuous wars for power and resources. No matter how much I recycle, how shallow my bath is, how low my heating is, it is totally wiped by any one of our lords' and masters' brutal escapades in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, drone attacks in Somalia, Sudan, Pakistan, and Israel's savage war games in Gaza. All of these inhumane and savage, massive carbon footprint, power enterprises, make lots of money for that select few, and that is the real climate problem, it is the system that has to be destroyed.

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

Solitary Confinement Is Torture.

An Appeal for solidarity from Contra Info:

       Since Monday, September 1st, comrade Chiara Zenobi, NO TAV prisoner who is currently held in Rebibbia prison in Rome, has been on yard strike, refusing to go out on scheduled yard time, to protest against the isolation imposed on Graziano Mazzarelli, anarchist kept in solitary confinement at Borgo San Nicola prison in Lecce since his arrest, almost two months ago, who is charged in the same case (attack on the TAV worksite in Chiomonte in the night between the 13th and 14th of May 2013).

       On August 3rd, Graziano was moved to another individual cell, which made his situation even worse. The cells next to his are empty, and he is meant to go out alone in a messy yard. Furthermore his letters are stolen by jailers on a weekly basis, and the simplest daily needs, such as washing dirty clothes, are continuously hindered or delayed.

       Chiara’s refusal to go to the yard continues as long as Graziano is subjected to solitary confinement, a regime desired by both the prison administration in Lecce and the Turin prosecutors who, as often happens in such cases, are shifting the responsibility to each other.

       Since the morning of September 9th, comrades Niccolò Blasi and Mattia Zanotti have been on yard strike, too, while Claudio Alberto joined them on the morning of September 10th. According to recent updates, also comrades Lucio Alberti and Francesco Sala will carry out similar forms of protest against the isolation inflicted on Graziano.

         A call is made to support the initiative of solidarity with Graziano and put pressure on those responsible for this treatment, namely prosecutors Rinaudo and Padalino as well as the prison director in Lecce, Rita Russo, by sending faxes to the prosecutor office in Turin (0114327453) and the prison in Lecce (0832387496). A fax model can be found here in pdf format.

      Below are the prison addresses of the 7 anarchists co-accused in the TAV yard attack case:

Francesco Sala
C.C. Via Palosca, 2 – 26100 Cremona, Italia

Lucio Alberti
C.C. Via Cassano Magnago, 102 – 21052 Busto Arsizio (Varese), Italia

Graziano Mazzarelli
C.C. via Paolo Perrone, 4, Borgo San Nicola – 73100 Lecce, Italia

Niccolò Blasi – Mattia Zanotti
C.C. San Michele strada Casale, 50/A – 15121 Alessandria, Italia

Claudio Alberto
C.C. Via dell’Arginone, 327 – 44100 Ferrara, Italia

Chiara Zenobi
C.C. “Rebibbia” Via Bartolo Longo, 92 – 00156 Roma, Italia

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

Liars, Stupid, Or Just Simply On The Take?

Bye Bye NHS, hello corporatism, profit from sickness is the new prescription.

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