Aftermath.

         Of all the war poets, my favourite is Siegfried Sassoon, Born, 8 September, 1886, died 1 September, 1967.

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A War Painted In Pastel Shades Of Lies.

 

       The babbling brook of bullshit, mainstream media, backs the establishment in painting WW1 in glorious pastel shades of lies, here is an extract from an excellent article stating some of the truths of WW1 From Stop The War:

     Dominic Alexander debunks ten myths being used by politicians and historians to rebrand World War I in the centenary of its outbreak.

---

1. The war was fought in defence of democracy
         This is contradicted by the basic facts. Germany had universal manhood suffrage while in Britain, including Ireland, some 40% of men still did not qualify for the vote. In Germany also, there were attempts to justify the war on the grounds that it was being fought to defend civilised values against a repressive, militaristic state, in the form of Russian autocracy.
2. Britain went to war due to a treaty obligation to defend the neutrality of Belgium
        There was no clear and accepted obligation on Britain to do this, and, in fact, before the Belgian issue appeared, the war party in the cabinet was already pushing for British intervention on the entirely different ground that there were naval obligations to France. These obligations had been developed in secret arrangements between the military of both countries, and were never subject to any kind of democratic accountability. The Germans even offered guarantees over Belgian integrity, which the British government refused to consider at all.
3. German aggression was the driving force for war
        However aggressive the German leadership may have been in 1914, the British establishment was at least as determined to

Read the full article HERE:

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Lest WE Forget.

     November 11, Remembrance Day, lest we forget, I can say no more than I have already said, so will just repeat something I posted back in July 2014.

       That babbling brook of bullshit,the mainstream media, always gets it wrong. At the moment it is pouring out lots of hate rhetoric against Russia, but precious little against the murderous onslaught by the Israeli state against the people of Gaza.

     Also on the WW1 "celebrations", they throw their weight behind the establishment view, of it being a heroic and glorious battle for democracy, which we, being the democratic half of the contest, won of course. I wonder what the German people think about that?

      What we should never forget is that the blood letting that goes by the name of WW1 wasn't won, it was an armistice. It was stopped because the imperialist psychopaths were faced with mutinies, rebellion and spontaneous out breaks of truces between the ordinary soldiers on the front line, some of these young men paid with their lives in front of a firing squad for the act of humanity. At home, the imperialists were faced with another battle, strikes and civil unrest across the continent of Europe. Another factor that brought the war warmongering nut-cases to call a halt, to the greed driven slaughter, was the fact that the death toll continued to soar and the maimed continued to be carried home, they were simply running out of canon-fodder. WW1 was an unimaginable spilling of mainly young blood, to further the aims of greed driven imperialist ambitions, in other words, greed and nothing more.

   Up to the start of that unnecessary blood letting of WW1, Europe had no democracy to defend. After the bloody event, Europe had no democracy anywhere. 100 years after that imperialist blood letting, we the ordinary people are still fighting for democracy in Europe.

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War Is A Racket.

     Nice to hear the truth from a military mouth, Major General Smedley Butler, served as high ranking officer in the Marine Corps and then wrote a book called "War is a Racket". Perhaps a bit simplistic, but his hearts in the right place.

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A Class War Welcome For Iain Duncan Smith.

A call from The void:   

       

      Iain Duncan Smith is hosting a Jobs Fair at Chingford Assembly Hall, Station Road, Chingford, E4 this Friday November 14th.  Class War will be welcoming him from 10am and are planing to make a day of it.  Speakers including the future Chingford MP Marina Pepper, – the local Class War candidate – along with John McArdle from the Black Triangle campaign are expected to speak at noon.  Expect vengeance.  Please spread the word and help make this big.

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Can We Join The Dots?

 

      We all know capitalism produces wars between countries, and has done so more or less, since the system crawled out of the slime to infest the globe. What most people don't seem to recognise, is, it also causes wars within countries, wars between the ruling elite and the ordinary people. As capitalism is global it is difficult to find a country where the people are not in open conflict with the powers that be. The Ferguson riots in America, though classed as racial, racism is an aspect of capitalism. Mexico, the recent disappearance of 43 students and teachers and the ongoing violent protests, is the capitalist state attempting to crush any resistance to its exploitation. Recently we have seen over 100 protests across Ireland against watercharges, as capitalism tries to squeeze more profit from the ordinary people. In Brussels, there have been violent clashes as more than 100,000 protesters took to the streets against that common aspect of capitalism, “austerity”. In London we have just had more than a thousand masked anti-capitalist protesters take to the city centre.

      It would be extremely difficult to find a country where the people are not at odds with the system, across the globe unrest, anger and disgust are the feelings of the people, all have a growing hatred of a system that ties them to poverty, while they produce an abundance of wealth, that invariably ends up in the hands of a small greed driven bunch of parasites. With so much anger and unrest, it seems strange that the system is still managing to bleed us dry, perhaps we just have to join the dots between these world wide protests and we will see the system collapse.

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War.

A poem by my then, 11 year old grandson, Ros:

 WAR.

War is a bullet in someone's chest.
War smells like gunpowder.
War tastes like sour lemon.
War sounds like people screaming and crying.
War feels like a cold hand.
War looks like a broken picture of a family on the floor.
War lives in a box bullets.

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Remembrance Day, What Are We Forgetting?

      We are approaching "Remembrance Day", when we will be treated to  a cacophony hypocritical speeches by the solemn faces of those who sent us to war, expensive suits with the obligatory red poppy, who see war as a necessary way of protecting their wealth and power. We will hear the false voices of those who believe it is acceptable to shed the blood of others, while they reap the plunder and the spoils.

 

       What will be missing from this militaristic spectacle will be the voices of those who speak the truth of what war is, and why we still have wars. No one will be allowed to point the finger, no one will be held to account for the pointless slaughter of countless millions of young men and women, 99% of which come from that group that never see the "spoils of war", the ordinary people. To the victor and the vanquished, the result is the same, the ordinary people of both sides, pay with blood, and the ruling class lift the gold and the glory. They have always spoken of the war to end all wars, well, that has still to be fought, and it is called The Class War.

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Workfare, A Capitalist Epidemic.

       Here in the UK we protest against the government about workfare, a scheme whereby the unemployed work for businesses, but get no salary. We behave as if this was just our problem, the result of us having a nasty government. However, like I keep saying, these greed driven capitalist ideas are not a UK phenomenon, the capitalist disease is world wide. Take Greece for example:

 GreekReporter notes the solution to Greece's problems...

     Centre of planning and Economic Research in Greece has proposed a controversial measure in order to deal with the problem of increasing unemployment in the country.  The measure includes unpaid work for the young and unemployed up to 24 years old, so that companies would have a strong motive to hire young employees. Practically, what is proposed is the abolition of the basic salary for a year. At the same time the “export” of young unemployed persons was also proposed to other countries abroad, as Greek businesses do not appear able to hire new personnel.

     Then of course there is that country at the other end of the world in what lots of people see as a benign but pleasant land, Canada, where the Bank of Canada Governor stated:

   ------that the employment situation is so bad that young people should consider working for free. As The Globe & Mail reports, Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz said 'Adult children stuck in their parents’ basements because they can’t find adequate employment should take unpaid work to bolster résumés as they wait for the recovery to take hold'.

 

      Similar schemes are in place or are being considered in other countries, including France, and of course Bill Clinton set the ball rolling in that direction in America as far back as the 90's. Our problem is not British workfare schemes, it is the capitalist system. I have no doubt that if we were successful in getting rid of the various workfare schemes, the system, no matter the colour of the government, would come up with other similar means of cutting labour costs and increasing company profits. Until we finally demolish the system of capitalism, we will be plagued by exploitation by various variations of workfare schemes, and poverty will be our domain.

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When Will We Ever Learn?

  

     Written almost 500 years ago, and sounds like an anarchist analysis, certainly still makes excellent sense today.

The Politics of Obedience:Discourse of Voluntary Servitude

by Éttiene de la Boétie.

         “What is so remarkable is that La Boétie did this in 1552 or 1553 - four-hundred-and-forty years ago! It is also interesting that modern tyrants use the same formula today to subjugate and dominate their victims. Here are the main elements of the La Boétie analysis as I see it:” (FrederickMann)

The only power tyrants have is the power relinquished to them by their victims.

• The tyrant is often a weak little man. He has no special qualities that set him apart from anyone else - yet the gullible idolize him.
• The victims bring about their own subjection - they "win their enslavement."
• If without violence the tyrant is simply not obeyed, he becomes "naked and undone and as nothing."
• Once you resolve to serve no more, you are free.
• We are all born free and naturally free.
• Grown-up adults should adopt reason as their guide and never become slaves of anybody.
• People can be enslaved through either force or deception.
• When people lose their freedom through deceit, it is because they mislead themselves.
• People born into slavery regard it as a natural condition.
• In general, people are shaped more by their environment than by their natural capacities - if they allow it.
• Habit and custom are powerful forces that keep people enslaved.
• There are always some people who cannot be tamed, subjected, or enslaved. Even if freedom were to be entirely extinguished, these people would re-invent it.
• Lovers of freedom tend to be ineffective because they are not known to one another.
• People who lose their freedom also lose their valor (strength of mind, bravery).
• Among free people there is competition to do good for humanity.
• People seem to be most gullible towards those who deliberately set out to fool them. It is as if people have a need to be deceived.
• Tyrants stupefy their victims with "pastimes and vain pleasures flashed before their eyes."
• Tyrants parade like "workers of magic."
• Tyrants can only give back part of what they first took from their victims.
• Tyrants attain their positions through: (a) Force; (b) Birth; or (c) Election.
• Tyrants create a power structure, consisting of a multi-layered hierarchy, staffed by a conspiracy of accomplices. Accomplices receive their positions as a favor from the tyrant.
• The worst dregs of society gather around the tyrant - they are people of weak character who trade servility for unearned wealth.
• Accomplices can profit greatly from their positions in the hierarchy.
• If people withdraw their support, the tyrant topples over from his own corrupted weight.

From
LeDiscourse of Voluntary Servitude by Éttiene de la Boétie.(abridged and edited from the Harry Kurz translation)

    "Let us therefore learn while there is yet time, let us learn to claim our liberty. Let us open our eyes to our natural freedom for the sake of our honor, for the very love of virtue. As for me, I truly believe I am right, since there is nothing so contrary to reason as self-imposed tyranny. I believe the time will come when support will be withdrawn from tyrants and their accomplices. Then let us watch them all fall from their own corrupted weight."

 When will we ever learn, when will we ever learn?

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There Is Another Way.

        There is another way, but the road will not be easy, the imperialists will try to crush the dream by any means available, propaganda, subterfuge, oppression or outright bloody war, they have done so in the past, and are doing so at this moment in time, wherever freedom raises its flag. As long as the people allow themselves to be governed by a small group with vested interests, they will never taste justice, nor feel freedom.

     In the year after the Gezi uprising, protests continue against the government’s urban redevelopment plans, against police repression, in response to repression of the Kurdish and Alevi populations, and in honor of the martyrs that lost their lives in the uprising. Most recently, angry protests and riots have spread across the country in solidarity with the Kurdish People’s Protection Units fighting against the Islamic State in Kobanê, Rojava. This film chronicles a year of uprisings, resistance and repression since the Gezi uprising in Turkey.

After Gezi: Erdoğan And Political Struggle In Turkey from brandon jourdan on Vimeo.

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Seize The Day.

       Thought for the day, remember "The Dead Poets Society"? Seize the day. Enjoy.

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Net Neutrality Under Threat.

         The internet is important to the way we organise, communicate and keep in touch with friends and family, anything that skews it in favour of big business at the expense of the ordinary member of the population, has got to be stopped. It would be shaping the internet the same way our society is formed, the rich and powerful get he cream while you and I get shoved into the slow lane, a class divided internet is not acceptable. 

Dear Fight for the Future member,

Click here to join an emergency protest for net neutrality on November 6th!

    Did you hear about the massive protests in Hungary? The government there proposed an Internet Tax, that would have charged ordinary internet users exorbitant prices *per gigabite.*

Thousands of people took to the streets in protest, holding their shining cell phones aloft as a symbol of resistance to the unfair Internet Tax. In response, the government announced they would lower the tax.

Instead of accepting the compromise, even more people took to the streets demanding unfettered, affordable access to the free and open web. And they won. The government backed down and took the controversial tax off the table.

      It’s election day here in the U.S. and we face a similar crisis. Regardless of which party comes out on top today, the FCC is set to annihilate net neutrality and open the floodgates for rampant Internet censorship and abuse. This is the moment we’ve been building for. In the last year, Fight for the Future has grown to more than 1 million members! We are stronger than we’ve ever been and we have the power to save net neutrality, but signing petitions and making pho ne calls isn’t going to be enough.

    This Thursday, November 6th we’re organizing emergency protests across the country, but we need more people to step up and help “anchor” protests in their towns. Anchoring a protest is easy: it just means you pick a time and location, and agree to be there and get as many of your friends as possible to come. The protests themselves are simple: we are asking people to gather in the evening at government buildings and hold their glowing cell phones, laptops, and tablets aloft to shine light on the growing corruption in DC and demand real net neutrality.

     We, and several other groups with large email lists, will send an email to our thousands of members in your area encouraging them to attend your event.

Click here to join an emergency protest or start one in your town.

You can also reply to this email if you are able to help anchor a protest and we’ll get in touch with you right away.

     The protests on Thursday will be the kickoff for a month of escalating actions leading up to the FCC’s final decision, which we expect to come in early December. We’ll be holding these vigils every Thursday leading up until that point, so if you can help organize one any time in the coming weeks, let us know! Just reply to this email, we’ll see it.

We’ve updated https://Battleforthenet.com to support these emergency protests.

      Please share the link far and wide and tell as many people as possible that the fight for net neutrality is coming to a head and we need to start something big right now.

For the Internet,

-Evan at Fight for the Future     
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* Keep us fighting, chip in what you can.

 

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The End Of The World As We Know It, Do You Care?

         Another informative episode from The Stimulator, from tar sands resistance to mass protests against the disappearance of 43 students and teachers, from Iraq to Kobane.

Locomotive Time Bomb from the stimulator on Vimeo.

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Having The Shit Kick Out Of Us.

      George Osborne at the recent Tory party conference announced that if the Tories get in at the next election he would introduce £25 billions worth of new cuts, which would include one of the biggest squeezes of welfare in recent times, at the same time promising his rich friends tax cuts to help pour more cash into their already overflowing coffers. He also announced a two year freeze on working-age benefits. This is another way of saying two year of cuts to working-age benefits, as no doubt inflation will not stay frozen at the same time.
 

 How the West introduces democracy abroad.

 

      This arrogant pompous millionaire parasite, also said the the British people could no longer afford to live in a country which spent £100 billion on welfare payments to people of working age. Perhaps he could start by getting his rich billionaire corporate friends to start paying wages that would stop those working, from having to claim benefits just to survive. Of course we are a country that can afford to spend more than £250 million on bombing Libya back to the stone age, and re-entering the Iraq war at an unknown cost, as it forecast to last for years, but missiles being fired are in the region of £250,000 and £750,000 each, and tornadoes flying at a cost of more than £40,000 an hour. However, all we ever get from this bunch of pampered Oxbridge millionaire parasites, is about how the poor and the vulnerable are a heap of scroungers and are costing us too much. 

 

The West's version of a ballot box in the Middle East.

     We are being severely  beaten in a brutal class war, and the sooner we realise this, the sooner we can begin to address this as united group, aware of our class connections, and take on the pampered parasite class, that at the moment, is kicking the shit out of us.

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