Kids Who Die.

      I have long admired the poetry of Langston Hughes Now we can hear the words of his poem "Kids Who Die".

A Movement Grows #Ferguson

       In 1938 civil rights activist and poet Langston Hughes wrote his chilling poem “Kids Who Die” which illuminates the horrors of lynchings during the Jim Crow era. Now, Hughes’ vivid poetry is being featured in a three minute video created by Frank Chi and Terrance Green. It is a startling reminder that the assault on Black lives did not end with the Jim Crow era.

     As we approach the one year mark of the Ferguson uprising that has sparked a movement of resistance against state violence, we are reminded of our ability to secure real change. This is a matter of life or death and we need collective power to win. Join the movement and text JUSTICE to 225568.

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Resistance Is A Duty.

      Is this getting organised, or just making a noise? We have to do something, or we will end up living in a totally privatised world, with the corporate bosses in full control. Though they are not that far off that position today. Under such a sustained attack on the ordinary people of this country, resistance on all fronts, is a duty, solidarity is our weapon for victory.

This from The People's Assembly:

        Just three weeks since we launched the call for a week long protest & festival against the The Conservative Party Conference and we've been overwhelmed by the support from the public, organisations & campaigns. These events now have massive potential and it’s time to spread the excitement.  The Tories think they can take over Manchester from 4-7 October. They want to dominate the headlines with their politics of austerity, with their plans to further rip apart the welfare state. Let’s stop this from happening!
      The People's Assembly, alongside unions, campaigns and local groups, is co-ordinating a national week of action in Manchester throughout their conference. All day, everyday, that they are there, we will be too. Coaches and transport is being organised from across the country. We are appealing to as many people as possible to take off a couple of days from work and stay for as much of the activity as you can.
      Events will include a national demonstration (Sunday 4 October), meetings on topics including: Privatisation, Save our NHS, Climate Change, Education, TTIP, Europe, alternatives to austerity. Plus theatre performances, workshops, direct action, People's Cinema, comedy, music, flash mobs, tent cities & more...

Participants throughout the week include:

      Jeremy Corbyn MP, Frankie Boyle, Charlotte Church, Sam Fairbairn, Frances O'Grady, Len McCluskey, Mark Serwotka, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Owen Jones, John Hillary, Terry Christian, Sam Duckworth, Kate Marlow, Mark McGowan, Kevin Maguire, Francesca Martinez, Mark Steel, Jeremy Hardy, Dave Ward, Sara Pascoe, David Walker (Bishop of Manchester), Lindsey German...and more to be announced!

Accomodation:

       The People's Assembly will be providing cheap accommodation for a couple of quid a night. This won't be glamorous . As it stands we are booking a large sports centre in the evenings where people can sleep. Toilets & shower facilities will be available and we're in discussions with organisations about providing discounted food for those staying over. You'll need to bring a sleeping bag and camping mat. We'll organise somewhere to store bags and belongings during the day. Full details and booking will be available in the next couple of weeks. Alternatively you can book yourself into hostels or hotels. Click here for local hostels We'll keep you updated with all arrangements.  
Transport: 
      Keep checking the People's Assembly website for updates about what coaches have been booked, where they are picking up from and when.   

Let’s get organised!!

The People's Assembly Against Austerity http://www.thepeoplesassembly.org.uk/

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

The Magic Of Anarchism.

 

      The story of what happens when an old man leaves his home to go and live with his family and gives his house to a bunch of anarchists.

      Three years ago, health problems forced Krist to move in with family, abandoning the house.
       Squatters came and went, leaving behind a maze of extension cords and a mountain of waste. Inside, garbage, debris and junk piled high. The Lincoln sat idle in the driveway, coated with years of dust.
     Eventually, neighbors nailed boards across the windows and doors to keep the scavengers out. Weeds grew unchecked where once gardens had flourished, attracting a citation from city inspectors.
     Around that time, Krazy Bill connected with an anarchist collective that was loosely based in Tempe, which called itself Carpe Locus. The group was looking for a home. Bill invited them to use his house, if they could clean the weeds and clean the garbage out.

Read the full article HERE:

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

Glasgow Dates For Your Diary.

      The Govan Participatory Action Research Project will be participating in the GSC Funday running a ZINE workshop, come along, tell your friends.

GLASGOW SOCIAL CENTRE: Summer Funday!
Saturday, August 8 at 11:00am until 4:00pm
Kinning Park Complex, 43 Cornwall Street, G411BA (opposite Kinning Park
Underground)

      Come one, come all, to our fantastic Summer Funday. This event is perfect for people of all ages!
Funday activities include:

- Relaxing massages from 2pm
- Tricks by a stage magician
- Free food for all
- Arts, crafts and games
- Make your own water squirter (2PM -outdoors - weather permitting -
bring change of clothes)
- Free shop with clothes,ornaments and plants
- Stalls from groups such as the Radical Independent Bookfair, WestGAP,
Unity and AFed
- Live music
...and more!
      The event is free, but we will be collecting donations that can go towards our fund to setting up a social centre so a few quid per person could go a long way.

AND

COMMON GOOD FILM NIGHT CONVERSATIONS:

GROWN IN DETROIT
Tuesday, August 11 at 6:30pm
The Portal Plantation Productions, 987 Govan Road, G51 3AJ

      Focuses on the urban gardening efforts managed by a public school of 300, mainly African-American, pregnant and parenting teenagers.
     Also COMMON GOOD PROJECT, will be at 
Centre Human Ecology in the Pearce Institute every Thursday from between 
1-4pm, or by prearranged times:

Phone:
07811263923 

email: info@inthecommongood.org 

Web: commgood.wordpress.com

PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT
Part of the PAR To increase understanding and encourage participation in helping to build local institutions where research can be shared, discussed and developed with others.

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

A Place To Rest.

       Another nice day, phew, what a summer!! Once again out on the bike and felt great, that's what the bike does to you. Free transport at a pace you can enjoy the scenery.

A guy told me he knew a good resting place??

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

Hiroshima State Insanity.

        August 6th. 1945, America drop the first atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. One bomb an a city and its inhabitants incinerated, all in a few seconds. A war crime of gigantic proportions. Then to compound the crime, three days latter the repeated their horrific deed on another city, Nagasaki.

       Since then they have peddled the lie that nuclear weapons have kept the peace for all these years. A peace that has included Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, and hundreds of other wars across the planet. Ask the people of these countries if nuclear weapons have kept the peace. They are weapons that break every piece of international legislation covering combat between nations, they are indiscriminate, weapons of mass destruction against civilian populations.

      Nuclear weapons are a blot on humanity, a reminder that we allow ourselves to be governed and controlled by a bunch of insane psychopaths. There is no rationale for the existence of such weapons, they are the weapons of madmen, and nothing to do with keeping the peace.
This from David Rovics:

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This Crazy World.

This Crazy World

In this crazy world,

                      half dead from dereliction

                      half brutalised from deprivation

                      half drowned in a sea of greed 

                      half devoured by perpetual need.

Where

                      war shrieks from East to West

                      famine seldom seems to rest

                      hunger stalks the layman's life

                      poverty kills with a silent knife.

We find

                      a pompous pampered arrogant clique

                      live a life that's smooth and sleek

                      far removed from want and fear,

                      bought with another's sweat and tear.

Yet

                      not a word do they speak

                      to aid the fallen or the weak

                      preferring to kneel at luxury's shrine

                      repeating their mantra, "This is mine".

Now watch them

                      peddle lies of tongue and pen

                      slyly hoard their plunder then

                      with spurious sanctimonious phrase

                      shed crocodile tears at man's malaise.

Where

                     is it written that masses must sweat

                     deprivation and misery a constant threat

                     covering the world in measureless wealth

                     so the few can plunder with avid stealth?

In friedship

                     let's clasp each human hand

                     with compassion try to understand

                     our differences, our hopes, our fears

                     dragging mankind from this sea of tears.

Creating

                     a world where justice flowers

                     the many reap the fruits of toiling hours

                     a world of sharing, tending the others need

                     an end to privilege, plunder and greed.      

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

The Office Worker War.

        Something that we don't read a lot about in our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, is the war being waged by America in different parts of the world, by means of drones. This office worker war, where the perpetrators of the violence sit comfortable, miles away from the havoc and destruction that they dispatch on persons unknown, could be, and should be, categorised as war crimes. In war, the combatants are supposed to differentiate from legitimate combatant targets and civilians, drones fail miserably in this respect. 

      A new analysis of the data available to the public about drone strikes, conducted by the human-rights group Reprieve, indicates that even when operators target specific individuals – the most focused effort of what Barack Obama calls “targeted killing” – they kill vastly more people than their targets, often needing to strike multiple times. Attempts to kill 41 men resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1,147 people, as of 24 November.

       This type of warfare is the preferred option, as it can be sold to the public easier than boots on the ground, with such illusionary labels as “clean” “surgical” and “accurate”, all lies, as the above information makes clear. It is not going to go away as America has seen a forty fold increase in its drone capacity 

According to the GAO report, "From 2002 to 2010, the number of unmanned aerial systems in DOD's [Department of Defense] inventory has increased about forty fold, from about 170 to 7,500 aircraft." The CIA has over 80 Predator drones, while the Air Force has 468 Predators and the Army has 110, according to an October 2014 War Is Boring piece - based on General Atomics' (company that makes Predator drones) numbers - on drone fleet figures.

       Pakistan has suffered drone strikes on a vast scale which increased massively after Obama came to office. In that country since 2004, over 3,000 people have been killed by drones, with an estimated mere 2% being high ranking combatants and almost 200 were children. America is not at war with Pakistan, but attacks and kills the people of that country on a regular basis.
       What other country regularly bombs another “friendly” country, and gets away with it, with no questions asked by the international community? The same is happening in Yemen and Somalia, attacks on other nations without any declaration of war. This is the new American imperialism, brutal and indiscriminate attacks around the world, all done from the comfort of an office thousands of miles from the death and destruction.

        Of course the UK state is not innocent in this office worker warfare, as of 2013, the UK state has 500 drones.

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

They Have Kids, Try To Earn A Living, Just Like You And I.

      The migrants at Calais who are being herded like wild animals by the forces of the state, and being portrayed as such, by that babbling brook of bullshit, our mainstream media, are real people, they have sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters and children. They are not roaming the world to rape and plunder, they are trying to escape the ravages of war and violence, in most cases brought about by the foreign policy of Western imperialism, aided and abetted by religious nutters and psychopathic "leaders". These are people who, like you and I, fall in love, get married, have kids, care for their elderly, work for their living and try to provide for their family.

      They deserve our support and solidarity, they need our help, but the state is an expert at dehumanising, and will do its damnedest to keep them cloak in the terminology of "swarm", "herds" and "lawless hoards". However, they are human, they will organise to protect themselves, but they do need our assistance. 

This from Calais Migrant Solidarity:

      -------It was a very large and strong group, however on the other side of the fence were many Gendarmes and also active French military who were menacing their machine guns. The group’s chanting continued for around an hour until the point they started to make their move to try and push through the fence. People had gone down a hill and were lining a steep verge consisting of loose gravel. Those at the bottom, closest to the fence, started to try and make their way over it when suddenly the Gendarmes released a huge amount of ‘tear gas’ onto the crowd. Exactly what type of gas they used though is not clear. Having experienced it and after speaking with people afterward, it was very powerful; much more so than typical CS gas and had strong effects even at the top of the hill far from where it was sprayed. It also created a shortness of breath and a panicked feeling which suggests that it may have been CR gas. After the attack there were also people lying unconscious on the ground. Any use of gas here and particularly CR (if it was indeed that) was completely unnecessary and irresponsible. The panic that the gas created caused a stampede up the hill, but as the footing was so loose people were falling over one another trying to get away from the poison. It was difficult to breathe, see, or move in that area and many people got hurt trying to flee from the gas into a more open space. However, the group, after recovering from the attack, got together and held a meeting about what to do next. They decided to occupy the road leading to the freight terminal at the Eurotunnel, their aim, to stop traffic until they were heard.

Read the full article HERE:

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

A Cure For Cabin Fever.

        Monday 3rd of August didn't look like being a very nice day, dull and a heavy shower in the morning. However suffering from a severe case of cabin fever, I had to get out, so grab the bike and set off. Dull and windy but enjoyed getting out and peddling, it did clear up after I got home, ah well that's cycling in Scotland.

Near Twechar, looking towards the Campsie Hills

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

 

Reform Your Cell Or Break Free??

       When do the people of the world wake to the fact that reform is impotent against capitalism. We have had a couple of centuries of reformists, and we have reformed ourselves into austerity, increasing poverty and deprivation. Reformists failed to stop brutal wars, where the ordinary people paid the full price in millions of unnecessary deaths. Reformists have lead us to this present state, where corporate capitalism, hand in hand with the financial Mafia, control the world. Our history has writ large in letters of struggle and misery, capitalism, like a viral epidemic, can't be reformed, it has to be destroyed. Social democracy, representative democracy, born in the womb of capitalism is a still born child. A prisoner in a cell, who is allowed to discuss some improvements to his cell, is still a prisoner in a cell.

       We have to stop assessing our every situation in the language of economics, stop measuring our future by means of growth. We have to see the profit motive as one symptom of the viral epidemic of capitalism. All of these, are the tools of the exploiter, to use them is to tie your own hands in the face of your enemy. A new world requires a new language, the language of needs, of mutual aid, co-operation and sustainability. None of these can survive in the belly of capitalism, no amount of reform will make them grow and flourish in a system based on personal greed and exploitation. 

This from Autistici:

       So what’s going on in Greece is just the antepenultimate episode of the always sad and lamentable story of the historical Social Democracy, that is to say the bourgeois party for workers and proletarians, this social force in charge of emptying our movements of struggle from their subversive substance, of diverting their perspectives of radical transformation of the world onto a simple reform, and finally of making us falling back into ranks of social peace. The camp of Social Democracy materializes at two levels: by setting up a militant structure external to our class, a structure directly stemming from leftist and progressive factions of the bourgeois class on the one hand, and by development of a reformist ideological corpus generated within our class and based on the weaknesses, limitations and illusions of the struggle on the other hand, all that in a dialectical back-and-forth movement between both.
      So what’s going on in Greece is nothing very different from what the very “radical” Workers Party of Brazil (led by the reformist Lula da Silva and the former “guerrilla” Dilma Roussef) achieved in recent years in terms of attacks on proletarians’ living conditions; what by the way provoked the June 2013 revolt against austerity and misery.

Read the full article HERE:

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

Need Or Desire!!!

       Saw this on Arrezafe, and thought it accurately explains what is wrong in this insane capitalist system we exist under. A system that can't distinguish between need and desire.

Do not waste it----

 Millionaires need it-------

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Two Babes Were Born.

Two Babes Were Born.

Two babes were born one happy morn,

They came with love divine,

And a mother smiled by the River Thames,

And a mother smiled by the Rhine.

These children grew, so brave and true,

Each mother said, "How fine!"

And hearts were glad by the River Thames,

And hearts were glad by the Rhine.

But one sad day, so people say,

Their rulers tried to shine,

And one heard the call by the River Thames,

And another the call by the Rhine.

These two brave sons, the raised their guns,

As they marched in martial line,

And a mother sighed by the River Thames, 

And a mother sighed by the Rhine. 

On the battle plain where bullets rain,

These lads formed into line,

And hearts were sad by the River Thames,

And Hearts were sad by the Rhine.

They took their sight in the biter fight,

Their aim was really fine,

And a mother prayed by the River Thames,

And a mother prayed by the Rhine.

Two noble sons fell by their guns,

Their names in glory shine,

And a mother weeps by the River Thames

And a mother weeps by the Rhine.

So the Thames so fine, and the River Rhine,

Flow into the same great sea,

And they seem to say as they kiss the spray,

"If men were as wise as we."

Fred. Easton.

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The Cull On The Disabled Continues.

       MAXIMUS, the Latin word for “greatest” or “largest”, greatest or largest what? When applied to Maximus, the company that has taken over the Work Capability contract from ATOS, then it probably means the greatest or largest piece of shit ever to land on our shores. ATOS was responsible for carrying out the governments attack on the disabled by means of the Work Capability Assessment, until they had to withdraw due to the bad publicity brought to the public's notice by the determined group of people who formed the “Anti-ATOS” campaign. ATOS has gone, but the savagery of the Work Capability Assessment still ravages the vulnerable, most needy and disabled in our society. The new executioner of the government's cull of the disabled is Maximus, a company that has been found guilty of massive fraud against the US government, disability, race and gender discrimination, and forced to pay out millions of dollars in compensation for botched IT projects, and the cream on its cake, fined for improper expense claims. 

       The government obviously doesn't care about the competence or track record of the company they put in charge of this assault on the disabled. What matters to our millionaire cabal in the Westminster House of Hypocrisy and Corruption, is that their chosen hit-men will ruthlessly carry out their dictate, and at the lowest possible price.
      Maximus must be driven out of this contract just like their predecessor ATOS, the Work Capability Assessment must be made unworkable, the disabled must be treated with compassion, dignity and justice, this will not happen under the watch of Maximus. 

        There is a dedicated group who turn up outside the offices of Maximus on the last Friday of every month (except holidays) to voice their opposition to this inhumane indignity of our disabled. They need our support and solidarity. If you have any time please show up on the last Friday of every month, between 12:30pm and 2:00pm, stay for a while, show your revulsion at a system humiliates and traumatises the disabled, in the name profit for Maximus and austerity.
 

Outside the offices of Maximus.
Corunna House
29 Cadogan Street,
Glasgow G2 7RD.
A 5 minute walk from Central Station, can be reached by buses 1, 21, 43.
There is disabled parking, but sadly no wheelchair accessibility.
Solidarity is our weapon of victory. 

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

 

Who Controls The Greek Parliament???

       For some reason this video has been taken down from Real News and the embedding code has been removed from Youtube, so here is a link that will allow you to view the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nVIRG_sEf8

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

The Resurrection Of Freedom.

      I still feel strongly that the demise of the Freedom newspaper was a loss to the anarchist movement in the UK. 128 years of of a chequered history down the tubes with the statement, "Kropotkin might have started it, but we fucking finished it!" which to my mind seems an unfitting comment, which only adds insult to injury. It is good to know that there are those who are fighting hard to see the paper rise from this degrading epitaph, and once again become an important part of the UK anarchist movement. Hopefully, as they say, from the ashes of disaster, grow the roses of success.

This latest report from Northern Voices:

Who Killed FREEDOM? – update 4 – August 2015

       REGULAR readers will recall this series began as an analytical report on the destruction of FREEDOM, the world’s oldest radical newspaper. Further investigation revealed that the Board of Trustees (FFP) legally responsible for safeguarding the newspaper was as seriously dysfunctional as the FREEDOM collective.

        Our immediate fear was that having closed down the paper in 2014, the collective would sell off the FREEDOM PRESS building and walk away with a million pounds to use as they wished.  Unless we could quickly reactivate FFP there was nothing to stop them and they were already discussing the idea.

     UPDATE THREE briefly outlined the decline of Friends of Freedom Press (FFP) and reported our successful campaign to have it re-constituted.  As our ultimate aim was always to restore intellectual, ethical and political integrity to a re-launched FREEDOM newspaper we chose not to emphasise individual responsibility for the fiasco of FFP.  On 24th June 2015, the first meeting of the newly reconstituted FFP recognised that without the Northern Voices' campaign FFP would have languished.  However, Richard Parry, one of the individuals involved now rejects that view, claiming, 'If anyone was pushing to get FFP working it was me!'

      Parry challenges our account and accuses Northern Voices of inaccurate reporting so we will now analyse his response. (To minimise blame and antagonism we identify individuals only where essential and apologise in advance for necessarily tedious detail).

Read the full article HERE:

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

Just Like You And I.

      The migrants at Calais are getting a lot of publicity from our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, but never is that publicity the human face of ordinary people. We are exposed to pictures of primitive conditions in "the jungle", shadowy figures scurrying about in the dark, trying to get a free ride on a truck, or breaking through fences. No attempt is made to show them as ordinary people like you and I, they "swarm", according to Bullingdon boy Cameron, they are an inconvenience to our businesses, they cause delays to our travel. Never are they people fleeing deprivation, war and brutality, trying get a decent life for themselves and their families. Never are they ordinary people fleeing the cauldron of chaos and savagery spawned by the foreign policy of Western imperialism in their home region. Heaven forbid that they should ever be seen as desperate human beings in need of help.

This from Rabble:

     One more death last night (28/29 July) at the border. Another killed, a Sudanese man, run over by a truck. Now 11 lives taken since 1st June.
     The English press complains about these “accidents” causing traffic jams in Kent. Words fail. Below we repost two new articles from Calais Migrant Solidarity on the current situation at the border.
      But first, because even amidst so much death there is also life, here are links to some videos made in the last weeks of people playing music. One is from the Syrian camp in the town centre on 18 July, the other two of Sudanese musicians singing with the “SOAS Arabic Music Band” at a concert held in Le Channel, the main Calais music venue, on 30 May. That was a couple of days before the riot police evicted the Fort Galloo squat then mainly occupied by Sudanese people.     Thanks to the Syrian and Sudanese musicians, and the Calais-visiting musical and artistic people from SOAS.

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