The Martyrs Stone.

   

     Not exactly my kind of cycling weather, 10/11 degrees and a strong westerly wind, but I had to escape.

The Martyrs Stone, on the Kirkintilloch-Kilsyth road.

      The original stone is on the ground. Another one by sympathisers, put up in 1886, stands beside it. The iron cage could do with a bit of repair work. Unless walking or cycling it's hard to view as the road has no parking provision and is very busy.

Situated beside the Kirkintilloch to Kilsyth Road, about a mile from the Kirkintilloch boundary, the monument is dedicated to two executed Covenanters, John Wharry and James Smith, who were put to death for their faith.

I believe their corpses lie in the field behind the stone.

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

I'll Willing Walk With Dreamers.

      I admit, I am a dreamer, I will willingly walk with dreamers. To paraphrase the words of a song, "if you never have a dream, how you gonna have a dream come true."

I Dream.

I dream

A world where man

No other man will scorn,

Where love will bless the earth

And peace its paths adorn.

I dream a world where all

Will know sweet freedom's way,

Where greed no longer saps the soul

Nor avarice blights our day.

A world I dream where black or white,

Whatever race you be,

Will share the bounties of the earth

And every man is free,

Where wretchedness will hang its head

And joy, like a pearl,

Attends the needs of all mankind-----

Of such I dream, my world.

Langston Hughes.

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

The Ever More Piercing Eyes Of Big Brother.

    Anybody who thinks living under the heel of any state and its apparatus will not lead to an ever increasing invasion into their private life, is living an illusion. This march for ever more information of its citizens is essential for the state to keep control over those citizens. Big Brother is a son of the state, and it will continually feed that son. We here in the UK have seen an epidemic of CCTV, that has spread like some destructive virus, not by accident.

        As the technology behind CCTV rapidly develops, it becomes ever more intrusive, ever more clever at gathering details, from face recognition to demeanour analysis. This is all gathered, sifted, analysed and stored. Your every movement, that walk to the bookies, that crazy night out, who you meet and where. All details that can and will be, used to control.

      Police Scotland now confirms that it uses controversial face recognition software. So just remember when you next attend a peaceful and legitimate protest, march or whatever, your face is being scanned, compared and stored for future use. Under the prying eye of the state and its intrusive apparatus, "you are never alone". No need to take a selfie, just get access to the police database and you'll find thousands of images of your face from which to choose.

This from the Herald:

    Ms McInnes said the figures were "staggering" and showed Police Scotland was using "intrusive software" extensively. She added: "The photos of over 300,000 Scots are among 18 million included in the national database.

     "The combination of this database with the new facial recognition software has triggered concerns about the protection of our civil liberties. "It could be used to identify protestors at political events or football fans, stifling freedom of speech.

      "I also have real concerns that the privacy of innocent people could be compromised and they could be exposed to the risk of false identification."

Read the full article HERE:

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

One World, One People.

     

       As Bullingdon boy Cameron, beefs up his anti-immigrant  rhetoric, to satisfy the racist element in his Oxbridge cabal, it's good to see that the people on the street tell him where to shove his xenophobic ideology.
This from Rabble:

      This video going round the internet shows a day earlier this month when 2 vans of Home Office immigration thugs arrived at Peckham market, South East London. They started going into shops and asking people for names and immigration details. An angry crowd gathered shouting at them and they were forced to retreat, get back into their vans and fuck off.
We haven’t seen a full write up of this event as yet. But we know that these raids happen frequently in Peckham and in other black and migrant areas. And this is not the first time that they have been resisted and chased off.
We repost below an article from Antiraids network which gives a bit more background on what is happening with immigration raids in London recently, as the government announces an escalation in its attacks on migrants.

People in Peckham sent Immigration officers packing. First time in History. Power to the people. "Bad market" for David Cameron ' s squads.But watchout for their 2nd coming, it will be brutal. Question: in your own opinion, which you are entitled to, was it right to obstruct the immigration officers from carrying on their duty?.
Posted by Djali Journalist on Friday, 22 May 2015

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The Brutality Of The Financial Mafia.

       The extent to which the financial institutions of the world have usurped the sovereignty of national governments is nowhere more apparent than in Greece. The extent to which this financial Mafia controls the shape and direction of any government becomes clearer and clearer with each "financial crisis". In Greece today, the people are being crushed into deprivation, the fact that they have voted in a "left" government does not mean that this situation will change. The minute that this government sat down at the table of the financial Mafia, they have accepted to play the game according to the rules of that Mafia, and that game ensures that all public assets will be handed over to to fill the coffers of the said financial Mafia. The only sovereignty they have is not to play the game at all, and this could be devastating for the people of Greece, but it could also be their opportunity for the people to take control and shape their country to their own desires. The power which the financial Mafia exert over the direction of a country is supreme, freedom will only come when we the people walk away from their gambling table and take control of our own affairs.

       In this article by Jerome Roos, gives an excellent and detailed explanation of the workings of the financial Mafia and the battle that faces not only the people of Greece, but all of us engulfed in this financial quagmire of greed.

     These three changes have been foundational to the generalized move away from widespread default, as was the norm prior to World War II, and towards the incredible track record of debtor compliance that has been established under the neoliberal regime of financialization. Ever since the Mexican debt crisis of 1982 — and the Latin American and Third World debt crises that followed in its wake — governments have generally tried to avoid a suspension of payments at all costs. As Harvey has put it:

    “What the Mexico case demonstrated was one key difference between liberalism and neoliberalism: under the former lenders take the losses that arise from bad investment decisions while under the latter the borrowers are forced by state and international powers to take on board the cost of debt repayment no matter what the consequences for the livelihood and well-being of the local population.”

Read the full article HERE:

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

A Tremendous Victory, The Rent Stkike.

      Spirit of Revolt is proud to work alongside Clydeside IWW, Scottish Peace Network, Document Human Rights Film Festival, and Fairfield Heritage Centre, in producing this event. The Rent Strike was a tremendous victory in working class struggle, an important part of our heritage, an event we can still learn from, and feel proud of all those who brought that victory to fruition.

 

Document Human Rights Film Festival – Spirit of Revolt – Scottish Peace Network – Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)

Present

We are not removing! Two films and a blether for the centenary of the 1915 Rent Strikes

Pearce Institute, Thursday 4 June 2015, 7pm

Free / donations welcome / Refreshments provided / Free crèche (please book)

Fairfield Heritage Centre (located a short walk away) will be open before the event

The 1915 rent strikes, which started in the back-courts of Govan tenements, were a famous victory in the ongoing struggle for decent, affordable housing, and an example of working-class solidarity in action. While the workers were risking their lives at the front, or their health in the munitions factories of the First World War, the landlords tried to increase the rents. But the women were not having any of that. They didn’t have the vote yet, but they had each other’s backs when they said – We are not removing!

Films:
Red Skirts on Clydeside (1984, 43min)
Introduced by filmmaker Jenny Woodley

When this film was made, the importance of women in the history of social movements on the Clyde had been all but forgotten. The filmmakers bring this history back from the archives through interviews with women who knew Mary Barbour, Helen Crawfurd, and Agnes Dollan. Hear how the sheriff officers got chucked into the midden and how the tenement back courts echoed with radical ideas!

You Play Your Part (2011, 24min)
Introduced by filmmaker Kirsten MacLeod

Twenty-seven years after the original film was made, Govan women reflect on their lives and roles by the Clyde in a unique collaborative women’s history film project.

There will be some time and refreshments between the films for anyone interested in the rent strikes centenary or in contemporary housing issues to meet and chat.

Free crèche will be available, please contact the organisers to book a place.

Fairfield Heritage Centre will be open until 7pm on this evening. A short walk from the Pearce Institute, featuring displays on shipbuilding and local history, including the rent strikes, in A-listed shipyard offices: http://www.fairfieldgovan.co.uk/heritage/

Earlier that day there is an event at Glasgow University on film and history, including films about the UCS work-in, Pollok Free State, and the Govanhill Baths. Please click here for details.

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

My Window With A View.

     This capitalist world drowns us in brutal contradictions, pays for opulence with misery and poverty, buys pomp and power with deprivation and death.

My Window With A View.

From my TV window on the world

I see the crazy ape

build mountains of meat

while, an arms length from my heart

a host of children die of hunger.

We with guilty silence play our part

deaf to tears that drop like thunder.

The crazy ape

casts fish back into the sea

not a length of a sigh from swarms

grovelling in rubbish tips.

Can't we hold our brothers dear,

why no righteous anger from our lips?

Now the crazy ape

hoards fields of wheat

yet, the distance of a tear-drop

hands beg a simple crust of bread,

a ritual only death will stop;

must justice wait 'till all are dead?

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

Unbroken Anarchism--A Crime!!!

       The varieties the of ways the state will conjure up to keep incarcerated those it feels are a threat to its power and control, knows no limit. A comrade is continuing to be held in a Swiss prison because, "his anarchism is unbroken". It appears that psychiatrists will only consider him for parole, if he distances himself from his ideology. A bit like the church during the Spanish inquisition. The brutality might not be as physical, but just as vindictive.

This from Contra Info:

      For some time the penal system is being aggressively colonized by psychiatry and psychology in Zurich as in prisons elsewhere. The report of the forensic psychiatric department from 31.3.2015 provides a “risk-oriented sanctions enforcement” assessment, a new evaluating development, since the report explicitly uses psychiatric argumentation only and for the first time formulates specific “recommendations”. Urbaniok’s psychiatry distributes contact prohibitions – defines political distancing or rather political renunciation as a requirement for conditional release. The big word is and remains the “crime-promoting ideology”!

We cite from the report’s controversial points:

• The legal prognosis is supposedly bad, since “he continuously strongly and actively delves in his ideology and is in contact with relevant comrades” which “can be seen in his statements as well as in his networking with the scene”.

• “It has been observed that MC’s attitude is solidified and imprisonment has not initiated a process of change.”

• “It may very well be required from a person like MC that he reflects on his statements – knowing of his influence and possible consequences – and that he is able to recognize statements of a more or less inciting content. To reduce the risk MC would have to distance himself from his conviction for which currently no evidence can be found” since he “is not willing to do any work concerning his crimes”.

Read the full article HERE:

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

Free Travel In A Beautiful Land.

        Another delightful outing on the dream machine, which means that you get lucky and see another couple of lovely snippets of our beautiful country. 

Enjoy:

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

Whose Justice??

       Capitalist "justice" is a contradiction of the meaning of the word. As well as an excellent critique of this repressive capitalist system, this is a call for solidarity for all those enslaved in the cages of the state, and to those caught in the straight jacket of capitalist economic insanity. It is a call from those shackled in heart of the European Financial Mafia's latest experiment, the Greek economy, from those feeling the full force of capitals pulverising of our social structures, to enhance its overflowing coffers.

From Contra Info:

      We remain simply on this: Justice as an institution of capitalist democracy can never be objective. It serves the perpetuation and reproduction of the system of inequalities that define it “unmediated” in solving the production of these inequalities. A step further, its autonomy has nothing to do with cutting the umbilical cord from the centres of authority, Media and capital. On the contrary: through their unification, prosecutors and judges, besides not losing the money they get for the shameful job they do, work for the interests of the bosses before they even get orders. A recent example is the moaning for the increasing conservatization of the new correctional legislation (a legislation you would not call progressive, unless you compare everything with the fascists of New Democracy).

       We are not speaking in anyone’s name. The prisoners, those who mainly experience the tragic consequences of the system and justice in their lives but also all those excluded in the cities-prisons, should realize their position, organize and fight for liberation from relations from the walls that divide them today. But above all for complete liberation through the revolution itself and the destruction of State and capital.

      Let’s act in order to live our lives freely without States and borders, without prisons and psychiatric clinics, without businesses and the exploitation of nature and people.

Read the full article HERE:

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

Edinburgh Uni. Occupation.

An appeal from our friends at ACE.

INFO from the Autonomous Centre of Edinburgh, 17 West Montgomery Place EH7 5HA
ACE is open Sats 12-4pm, Tues 12-3pm, Thursday 6 - 8pm
Advice and solidarity on benefits, debt, housing etc on Tuesdays.
Leith Wholefoods, the Info Shop, Scottish Radical Library and free broadband
available all 3 days.
Open monthly meetings first Wednesday of the month, 7.30pm at ACE
0131 557 6242 ace@autonomous.org.uk
www.autonomous.org.uk

Support Edinburgh Uni occupation at Charles Stewart House, Chambers St

       "We have just occupied one of the main University management buildings -Charles Stewart House – as we’re thoroughly disappointed with the University’s failure to commit to divestment from fossil fuels. "

https://www.facebook.com/edunipeopleandplanet?fref=ts

https://investethically.wordpress.com/2015/05/19/where-is-my-mind-night-6-in-the-occupation/

      The occupiers and supporters have faced violent attacks and threats from security hired by the University.

see also ace facebook

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Autonomous-Centre-of-Edinburgh/106122676099131

which writes:
     It's important to support the struggle of these students in Edinburgh to build a stronger movement in this city and beyond. This occupation is not just about sustainability and green economy but taking action for the only world we have, against the neoliberal management of our lives and the oppression of local communities all over the world. If we link the fight of the students with those of the workers, unemployed, immigrants and disabled in this city we can be stronger and more successful. Let this be the beginning of a hot summer of dissent.

‪ActionAgainstAusterity‬

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

Civilised People Don't Cage Animals Or Humans.

       The UK has one of the highest prison populations percentage of population in Europe, being beaten by Poland. The UK prison population stands at approximately 86,000, this is an increase of roughly 800, on last year. The largest growing age group being imprisoned are the over 60s, showing an increase of 130% between 2002 and 2013. The UK state imprisons 148 of its citizens per 100,000 of the population. All this while we are being told that crime is falling. Prisons have nothing to do with rehabilitation, they are simply a method of control by the establishment.

      Not content with holding the dubious record of imprisoning more of it citizens than practically every other country in Europe, the UK state is building a mega-prison in Wrexham, North Wales. This monstrosity of inhumanity, will have the capacity to cage 2,100 of our citizens. It will be the second largest prison in Europe and will cover an area large enough to fit the Millennium Stadium in its grounds seven times over and still leave space. It will cost an estimated £250 million of our tax money to build, which will go to the shareholders of Lend Lease, the company doing the build.

      Why should we be concerned? Simply because we know, like all prisons, it will imprison, the poor, working class, troubled people with mental health difficulties, learning difficulties, individuals suffering substance abuse, plus a disproportion of people of colour and immigrants. We know that these festering, depressing halls of cages, produce self-harming, brutality, mental trauma and suicides. Also, apart from being an inhumane and brutal caging of human beings, its workshops will replace local jobs based on slave labour, and paying well below the minimum wage. As far as I am aware, the decision as to whether it should be run by the public or the private sector has still to be decided. Another wonderful corporate idea, making a fortune from the incarceration of poor and vulnerable people.
      However, there has been considerable resistance to this monstrous edifice of the capitalist exploitative system.

This from Contra Info:

Sunday 17^th May, 2015.
     Last night an action took place at the site of Europe’s second largest prison in construction on Wrexham Industrial Estate in North Wales. The mega-prison, if built, will cage more than 2100 human beings at any one time.
     Multiple large diggers and construction equipment had their engines destroyed. Slogans were sprayed on the half-built prison fences including ‘Fuck Lend Lease’ and ‘Fire to the Prisons’.
     This is a warning to any company large or small that that is involved in the North Wales Prison Project, or any other prison building scheme that the state initiates. You are a target and you will feel the venom of the working classes fighting back.
     This action is dedicated to every slit wrist, suicide attempt, destroyed family and oppressed community harmed by the prison system.

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



 

Jews Got God's Word Wrong??

So God forbade the Jewish people from having a state!!!

Jewish Rabbi speaking the truth
This is an amazing MUST SEE explanation of whats really going on with a top Jewish Rabbi speaking the truth.
Posted by The Deen Show on Wednesday, 23 July 2014

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

We Are Many.

An appeal from Stop The War Coalition:

Major anti-war conference/ We Are Many, launches on Thursday

Book now for June 6th anti-war conference
"Confronting a World at War"
Saturday 6 June • 10am - 5pm
TUC • Great Russell Street
London WC1B 3LS

      Hundreds of people will attend the 6th June Confronting a World at War conference to discuss how to resist the Anglo-American war machine and the ensuing militarist brutalisation of life. Leading anti-war writers and campaigners are coming from around the world. These include:
     Medea Benjamin is a leading US peace activist. She is the co-founder of Code Pink and one of the best-known progressive figures in the United States. Barack Obama stated once (after being interrupted by Medea Benjamin during a major speech on the "war on terror") that "the voice of this woman is worth paying attention to".
     Mustafa Barghouti is a globally known campaigner for Palestinian rights. He is the General Secretary of the Palestine National Initiative. He has been a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and was Minister of Information in the Palestinian unity government.
    Explo Nani-Kofi is a noted Ghanaian-born social researcher and a campaigner for social justice. her coordinates the Campaign against Proxy Wars in Africa and is the Director of the Kilombo Centre for Civil Society and African Self-Determination.
     Mark Weisbrot is a writer for peace and social justice. He is the co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C. He has written for publications such as New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, etc. He is the co-writer of the screenplay for Oliver Stone's film South of the Border.
        They will be joined by Tariq Ali • Lindsey German • Seumas Milne • Bruce Kent • Jeremy Corbyn MP • Victoria Brittain • George Galloway • Ozzie Ardiles • Richard Sakwa • Kate Hudson • Jonathan Steele • Andrew Murray • Joe Lombardo • David Edgar • Anas Al-Tikriti • Sabby Dhalu • Sami Ramadani • Chris Nineham • Jenny Clegg • Hamja Ahsan • Judith Orr • Carol Turner • Steve Bell • Malia Bouattia • Matt Willgress • Daniel Jakopovich

       We are offering discounted tickets at £8 until the end of this week. Book now to be sure of your place.
Share the event with your Facebook contacts
Book your ticket online with Eventbrite

Box office: 020 7561 4830
Don't miss the launch of We Are Many this Thursday

      The acclaimed film We Are Many will be in cinemas across the UK on 21 May, with a Q&A panel, and then in selected cinemas on 22 May.
      We Are Many tells the story of 15 February 2003, when millions of people in cities and towns across the world marched to say not in my name to the Iraq war. It is a brilliant argument about why protest matters. Tomorrow it will be promoted on Channel 4 News, Front Row and BBC Breakfast TV. The film has broken the world record on Thunderclap on Twitter with a reach of more than 37 million people.
      It is vital that the film is seen by as many people as possible. Local Stop the War groups are promoting the film in their areas. You can help promote the film in your area by inviting your Facebook contacts to your local cinema. Facebook events have been created for each town.
Click to see a short clip from the film
See the nationwide venues, book tickets and invite your Facebook contacts

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

 

Waiting For Tomorrow.

Another poem, and why not?

Yesterday Waiting For Tomorrow

Observe the crazy ape's despair,

trapped in a consumer's world.

Where dream's have gaping wounds,

happiness floats ahead like a mirage.

A strange world

where nostalgia flows like wine

drowning the present;

trivia traps mesmerised minds

They live yesterday, waiting for tomorrow,

an existence

where "NOW" has been eliminated.

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