Two Lochs, Two Beauty Spots.

        What a wonderful climate we have in this country, I know, I have an excellent short term memory, it's the other half isn't so good. A beautiful day for the bike, not much wind, lots of sunshine, and no rain, Yee-ha. It was up the Loch again, and on round to Arrochar on Loch Long. Let's hope there are many more days like this still to come.

 You can never grow weary of a view of Loch Lomond, and there are millions.

 

Looking down Loch Long just across from the Arrochar Hotel

Same spot, looking up the Loch.

 

Same spot, looking across at the jaggy peaks of the Cobbler.

 

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

 

 

24 Years In Prison, Without Sentence?

      An appeal on behalf of Sean Swain.

About Sean Swain: Sean Swain is a hostage held by a lawless rogue-state calling itself “The State of Ohio.”1    He has been held without legal conviction or sentence since 1991 for the self-defense killing of a court official’s relative who broke into Sean’s home and threatened his life. In fall of 2012, prisoners calling themselves the Army of the 12 Monkeys (A12M) got rowdy at Mansfield Correctional, and the prison authorities assumed “that anarchist” Sean Swain must have been behind it and threw him in supermax isolation. Sean denies any involvement or affiliation with the A12M and is in the process of suing the ODRC for targetting him based exclusively on his ideology and political speech.

This from Contra Info:

Received on September 15th:

        We’re not sure what’s going on, but Sean Swain has been blocked from receiving (and presumably sending) JPay emails. He also has not called his primary supporters, or The Final Straw for a new radio segment. We’ll probably hear from him via snail mail sooner or later, but until then, we’ve got to assume he’s cut off.

        When we called the prison, they told us he was not in the hole, and did not have any restrictions on his communication. We suspect they may have transferred him back to a 3B spot, undoing the success of our recent call-in effort. They refused to tell us what security level the block he is held in is on and they got surly and authoritarian when we asked.  It seems that the officers at Sean’s newest prison, Warren CI need to learn that their jobs are a whole lot easier when they don’t provoke anarchists from across the country to call and check in on the welfare of our friend who they hold captive.

WARREN CI: 513-932-3388state repression,politi

        You can call Warren CI and ask the same questions we asked- why does Sean not have access to communication, what security level is he currently housed in, and does the JPay kiosk in his (or any Warren Unit) actually work right now? You can also leave Sean’s Case Manager a voicemail by punching extension 2281, or try and talk to deputy warden Robert Welch, who maybe got Sean moved from 3B to 3A a few weeks ago, he’s at ext 2005. Whatever lucky anarchist happens to be on the call when when of these officers breaks and spills the beans, please drop a line to AnarchistSwain [at] gmail [dot] com.

       Sean doesn’t like when they fuck with his communication access. Being a writer, getting his voice out is one of the things that help Sean feel connected to the outside world. So he’s probably feeling alone and frustrated. Also, his birthday was Sept 12th, so if you haven’t written for a while, or missed sending him birthday wishes, please consider dropping a line and letting him (and the mailroom monkeys who have to read all his incoming communication) know that he is loved and missed.

Sean Swain
243-205
Warren CI
P.O. Box 120
5787 State Route 63
Lebanon, Ohio 45036

Current address, as of Aug 14, 2015

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

The Riot.

The Riot.

 

Surrounded by unaffordable commodities,

offered illusion as reality,

 pushed to pursue the latest

worthless fashion fetish

the individual walks in anger;

trapped by perfect symbols

of a corrupt capitalist system,

everything for sale,

anything can be bought,

including human dignity.

 

Haunted by the spectre of counter attack

by the many, by the dispossessed,

the power brokers of the system, push

for social controls that leave us 

powerless to express our desire

to be alive,

they struggle with stealth and raw power

to silence the cries of the excluded;

their success will last

as long as the many fear

the power, freedom has to offer. 

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

 

People Have The Power.

 "The power to dream, to rule
To wrestle the earth from fools
But it's decreed the people rule
But it's decreed the people rule

Listen, I believe everythin' we dream
Can come to pass through our union
We can turn the world around
We can turn the earth's revolution

We have the power
People have the power
People have the power
People have the power."

From: People Have The Power by Patti Smith

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

A Society Of Hypocritical Customs.

       There are those among us who will never yield to authority, not to its faintest  odour, nor to its harshest lash of the whip, they will never bend their knee to the subtle seduction, nor the merciless brutality of authority. To them, we weaker mortals must pay homage, and lend our solidarity when and where ever we can. They are the ones who forge that unknown arduous path to the world in our hearts, who lay the foundation stones of that better world. We owe them.

Greece: “From the land of the forgotten against oblivion…” by Olga Ekonomidou

     “I do not need, nor do I want your discipline. With regards to my experiences, I want to have them for myself. It is from them, and not from you, that I will draw my rules of conduct. I want to live my own life. Slaves and lackeys terrify me. I hate those who dominate, and those who let themselves be dominated sicken me. He who bends before the whip is worth no more than he who wields it. I love danger, and the unknown, the uncertain, seduces me. I’m filled with a desire for adventure, and I don’t give a damn for success. I hate your society of bureaucrats and administrators, millionaires and beggars. I don’t want to adapt to your hypocritical customs nor to your false courtesies. I want to live out my enthusiasms in the pure, fresh air of freedom. Your streets, drafted according to plan, torture my gaze, and your uniform buildings make the blood in my veins boil with impatience. And that’s enough for me. I’m going to follow my own path, according to my passions, changing myself ceaselessly, and I don’t want to be the same tomorrow as I am today. I stroll along and I don’t let my wings be clipped by the scissors of any one person. I share none of your moralism. I am going forth, eternally passionate and burning with the desire to give myself to the world, to the first real person that approaches me, to the ragged trousered traveler, but never to the grave and conceited wise-men who would regulate the length of my stride. Nor to the doctrinaire who would like to clutter my mind with formulas and rules. I am no intellectual; I am a human being — a woman who feels a great vibration within herself before the impulses of nature and amorous words. I hate every chain, every hindrance; I love to walk along, nude, letting my flesh be caressed by the rays of the voluptuous sun. And, oh, old man! I will care so very little when your society breaks into a thousand pieces and I can finally live my life.”

-“Who are you, little girl, fascinating like a mystery and savage like instinct?”

-“I am Anarchy.”

- Emile Armand, French individualist anarchist

Olga Ekonomidou

member of CCF-FAI

Women’s prison of Korydallos

 Read the full article HERE:

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

No Government, The State Still Kills Freedom.

      At the moment Greece has no government, as the Prime Minister resigned and called for another election. So, on the 20th. September, Greece will hold another general election, in an attempt to cobble together a bunch of careerist politicians who will willing back the financial Mafia's austerity plundering of the people of Greece, and selling off of the people's assets. While this farce goes through it usual theatre of tomfoolery, the state apparatus continues its repression and its continuing battle to wipe out any resistance to its power. Government or no government, the state apparatus proceeds with its anti freedom agenda.

This from Insurrection News World Wide:

      Evi Statiri, held hostage by the Greek state at Korydallos Prison for no other reason than being the life companion of imprisoned Conspiracy of Cells of Fire (CCF) member Gerasimos Tsakalos, has announced that she will commence a hunger strike on September 14th.      The announcement came not long after Evi's latest appeal to be released was rejected by the judicial council.       Here are some roughly translated excerpts from a text by Evi announcing her hunger strike that was posted on Athens Indymedia website...       "The latest refusal from the judicial council in consideration of my release has only confirmed what I already knew from the first day that I found myself in the cells of counter-terrorism. My imprisonment is not just a personal matter. My imprisonment is the reflection of an overall repressive strategy aiming to dominate via fear and to satisfy the vengeful fury of law enforcement against political prisoners and all those whose values are not consistent with the culture of power."       "I still find myself in prison for the unique 'incriminating' element that I am the wife of political prisoner and member of the CCF, Gerasimos Tsakalos. I am still in prison because I refused to sign their 'certificate of social conscience' and refuse to disown my partner and our relationship."       "Anybody standing beside political prisoners may find themselves in the adjacent cell...Anybody who refuses to bow their head, silence their voice or lower their gaze towards the idols of power can be dragged in handcuffs and detained by the courts and their investigation offices. But the solidarity actions carried out last week showed that fear can rule, but it cannot reign in the hearts and minds of free men and women. I send a big thank you to all those who by their actions expose the dictatorship of lies and hypocrisy of justice that keeps me locked in it's cells. Now a new battle begins...The dismissive ultimatum of the judges leaves me only one answer - the last resort of the captive human - a hunger strike for my release."
"Monday September 14 I begin a HUNGER STRIKE against fear and injustice."
SOLIDARITY AND STRENGTH TO COMRADE EVI STATIRI!

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

The Bleeding City Behind The Mirage.

     Some of the older readers of this blog may remember Glasgow's Culture City.

Culture City.

In this gaudy painted bomb site

where passions crawl in chains,

dreams in tatters lie,

truth, a curfew, as victim claims;

justice fallen, in the rubble lies.

Still they play, those butterfly people

megalomaniacs, weavers of mirage.

The hungry to themselves cry out,

poverty in the shadows weeps,

garnished with pride, greed grows stout;

everywhere,selfishness like ivy creeps.

Still they play, those butterfly people

avaricious weavers of mirage.

Let men of words crash uselessly

against your mutual wall of rage,

don't let gifts of tinsel tame your anger,

let justice set the stage.

Bring down those butterfly people,

expose the bleeding city behind the mirage.

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

And Then The Rain Came.

        As an old wrinkly fair weather cyclist, I dread the winter, but try to grasp each day that shows a glimmer of sun and take to the road with my dream machine. Today was such a day, early on it looked promising, but by the time I got myself organised and out the door, the dark ominous clouds were gathering. Had to stop at Auchenreoch and don the faithful old nylon waterproof. That was it for the rest of the run and back home with it turning dry again as I head home through Kirkintilloch. Still a great run and an added pleasure to my day.

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

Beware, The Dogs Of War Are Howling.

 

           The “Migrant crisis” in Europe, translate as millions of people fleeing the chaos and carnage initiated by Western imperialists foreign policy in the Middle East, has started the dogs of war howling in earnest. The baying for blood by the political pundits and pseudo academics is reaching a maniac shrill, and it is all shaded in the illusion of helping the people of Syria. Somehow we are to believe that you can compassionately bomb civilian populations into liberty. Those hundreds, perhaps thousands, of children, elderly, men and women, that will die under the rubble of their towns and cities as collateral damage, will somehow be grateful. Syria is practically a destroyed country, the last thing the people of that country need is the destructive might of Western imperialism sending in its weapons of mass destruction. What ever the answer to the problems of that area are, it is not marching in an all conquering imperialist army behind an avalanche of cruise missiles and so called “smart bombs” creating Armageddon across the country, and calling it “freedom” for the people. 

 This is how we brought freedom to Iraq and Libya, we can do the same for Syria.

         What ever action the Western imperialists take in this area, you can rest assured that it is not out the love of the Syrian people, it will not be the result of their love of humanity. It will always be for power and wealth. States that are cutting social spending in their own countries, claiming, we can't afford them, will quite happily spend countless millions on weaponry on the people of Syria, killing and maiming thousands, out of pure love and compassion. The dogs of war know that there is oil and gas in Syria, and they want their blood dripping claws on it, Their cheer leaders are of course the powerful arms industry, with their ferret lobbyists scurrying around the marble halls of The Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, handing out favours and charms to the inmates. 

 People being liberated by the bomb.

This from ROAR Mac:

       The predicate of the arguments is that the West, despite calling for Assad to step down since 2011, has done nothing to get rid of him and as such has “abandoned” the Syrian people. We must now step up and bear this burden, so the pundits say.

    The Guardian’s editorial last week berated Europe for its “paralysis,” “inertia,” and “years of failure to confront Syria’s bloody collapse.” New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof largely agrees, while his colleague Ross Douthat sees Syria as “an ugly crack” in the otherwise admirable and “very consciously accepted stewardship of global stability” that is Pax Americana.

      The Washington Post’s Anne Applebaum agrees too, and calls the refugees a “security crisis,” the “consequences” of Europe’s inaction. Edward Luce, in the Financial Times, repeats the claim that the US bears responsibility for this crisis as well, since it abandoned its role as “beacon”, abstaining rather than intervening, having done “almost nothing” to oust Assad.

Never mind reality.

     Reality is, as Adam Johnson of media watchdog FAIR reminds us, that the predicate that Western states did nothing in Syria is pure fantasy: “The US has been ‘intervening’ in the Syrian civil war, in measurable and significant ways, since at least 2012—most notably by arming, funding and training anti-Assad forces.” Johnson cites a Washington Post report from just a couple of months ago:

Read the full article HERE:

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

Turkey Is Smouldering.

A delegation being prevented from entering Cizre.

          We are all aware of the bloodshed and savagery that is taking place in Syria and Iraq, it is a tragedy that has been going on for some years now. But what is not being reported in our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, is the savage military violence that is taking place against the civilian population, of a city in a country that aligns itself with Europe and has been trying to join the EU for some years. The country is Turkey, and the city Cizre, the Turkish state has decided that, for some reason or other, the citizens of Cizre have to be punished. It has released the full fury of a military war machine against its own citizens, and the situation is deteriorating daily, if not hourly. Once again we see the savagery of the state, and it its total disregard for the citizens of its own country. 

The road to Cizre, September 9th. 2015.

This from ROAR Mag:

     Tanks shelling the city center. No-one allowed in or out. Electricity and water have been cut, as well as phone lines and internet access. The people have dug trenches to stop armored vehicles from entering their neighborhoods and have hung sheets in the streets to prevent being seen and shot by snipers.

     While the above reads as a report from Kobane, from when the Syrian town was still under attack from the so-called Islamic State (IS), it is in fact a description of the current situation in Cizre, a predominantly Kurdish town in southern Turkey.

Cizre under attack

      Since the Turkish government imposed a curfew in Cizre last week, its citizens have been forced to remain indoors, risking being shot by snipers as soon as they step out. The city is under total lock down, which means that for at least a week people have had no access to fresh food or water, medical services, or anything else for that matter. Even the wounded are not allowed to be transported to the hospitals, as a result of which a number of civilians have died from non-lethal injuries due to blood loss and infections, among them a baby of less than two months old.

     Due to limited phone and internet access in Cizre news from the besieged town reaches the outside world only piecemeal, meaning that reports of what is going on inside the town are difficult to confirm – a very worrying sign in and of itself.

Read the full article HERE:

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

An Anarchist Welcome.

        Probably everybody has seen what is happening in Lesbos, with an array of small craft landing desperate people on its shore, and the chaos in the authorities handling of the situation, well I thought this might put a more pleasant slant on what is going on in tiny Lebos.

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

The Cruel Lottery Of Asylum.

         Our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media is pouring out stories and images of the suffering of "migrants", in Europe's "migrant crisis". This does two of several things, one, creates the vision of Europe being hit by a problem from somewhere else, and two, it's because of "migrants", these are groups of people different from us. What they never focus on is the fact that the "migrant crisis" is the result of Western, (Europe and America) foreign policy in the region where the vast majority of those people are coming from, and two, they are not different from us. They are ordinary everyday people fleeing from a region that has been brutally and savagely, over a considerable time, bombed back into the stone age, been turned into a fertile breeding ground for religious fundamentalist factions, fighting for power and territory, and to add insult to injury, most of these fighting factions, are armed by Western arms companies. Europe's "migrant crisis" is a problem of Europe's making, driven by Western imperialism's lust for wealth and power. 

      The latest issue of the French anarchist bulletin, Lucioles, has an interesting article on the "migrant crisis".

       However, the most twisted card played by the State was that of division and recuperation: the card of asylum. It seemed that some of those living in the slum of La Chapelle were entitled to be granted asylum, having come from war-torn countries. Obviously, that ‘right’ is not guaranteed to all and resembles more of a lottery, paid for by the obedience of those that request it. But this trap served more than anything to separate the good refugees with the right of asylum from the bad sans-papiers that needed confining to detention centres and loading onto planes. It is understandable that people who are blackmailed for survival every day, faced with the threat of deportation back to the horrors they fled, would hang on to the hope of asylum. But we need to be clear that even if this is a partial solution for individuals, it merely reinforces the state’s anti-immigration policies. Sadly, it works. Already the fact that those supporting the sans-papiers refer to them as ‘refugees’ and demand their ‘rights’ is the sign that everything is geared towards the recognition of these famous ‘rights’ by the State. Rights that will be paid for by responsibilities and the exclusion of all those – the vast majority – who cannot access them. Power gives us crumbs to calm the passions and to distract us, while it continues to imprison and deport at all costs.

Read the full article HERE:

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

Kill Or Be Killed.

      An entrenched power, with unimaginable wealth, creates and holds that wealth by brutal exploitation, its wealth grows, as that which finds its way down to the ordinary people ever diminishes. This power's only aim is to increase that wealth and power, it will attempt by subtle or brutal methods, to crush any resistance to its dream of the perpetual growth of its wealth and power. Will we be able to persuade that power to abandon its selfish plundering and forego its power, simply by petitioning it, or by peacefully marching from A to B, chanting slogans and waving banners? Do we believe that we can change this gluttonous monstrosity that is capitalism, into a sharing, caring compassionate system? I think history tells us that we are dreaming if we accept that stand point.   

        Capitalism will not fall all by itself, it will not slowly or suddenly collapse, it can continue to morph into unlimited variations on the same greed driven theme, exploitation. It will only disappear when the people decide it is time to pull it down, and destroy every vestige of its stinking carcass. There will have to be a revolution of consciousness, a new way of seeing the world, a world that is based on respect for each other, a world with the desire to share and guard against authority and exploitation, built on mutual aid and co-operation. As the powers that be continue their quest for ever greater wealth and power they will destroy the planet, our only chance of survival is to tear up the existing rule book, be bold enough to have that revolution of consciousness and creating that better world now.

From SubMedia.TV:
 

         This week we re-think our critique of the People’s Climate March, then we go to Germany where trouble makers have been regularly shutting down Europe’s largest source of CO2. Then on to Greece, to look at a growing resistance against a gold mine and finally to the longest running blockade of oil and gas pipelines in Turtle Island. On the music break, we have Alas and Savage Fam with “Go Away.” We conclude with a special report from Ecuador, where indigenous peeps opposed to extractive industries, blockaded roads last month, paralyzing the country.

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

Left Government, A Contradiction.

         What will the September 20th. elections in Greece bring for the people of Greece? They have had governments of varying shades, from the "right", up to the latest "left" Syriza, and all that has happened is deterioration in the living standards of the people of Greece. The so called radical left of Syriza proved to be a short lived animal, once it stepped into the position of government playing the game according to the rules of the Troika, (EC, European Commission, ECB, European Central Bank, IMF, International Mankind Fuckers). It was certain death as the power mongers make the rules, so there is no way they can lose. Reformist governments following the rules of the financial Mafia can never bring equality and justice to the people. To create that better world for all, we have to step outside the rules created by those who wish to control and exploit us, we have to write our own rules according to OUR needs. The idea of a "left" government is a contradiction of terms.

With the help of the financial Mafia, I'll lead you to the promised land.

This from The Barbarian Times:

Concerning the New Memorandum and the Elections of 20 September

         The 3rd Memorandum signed by the SYRIZA government marks the complete political bankruptcy of the left regime and the chimerical aspirations for a more “humane” capitalism. After taking office last January, this marks the collapse of the attempted Syriza management of the defeat of the popular social movements from the period 2010-2012. For those who had no illusions, this whole period until the adoption of the 3rd Memorandum represents simply a waiting period for the predicted backtracking, where the campaign promises to repeal or renegotiate the Memorandum and partial cancelling of the debt along with a parallel policy for the relief of the poor was first followed by the agreement of February 20 which extended the second memorandum, and then came (despite the disapproval of 62% of the voters in the referendum of July 5 rejecting the proposals of lenders) the third memorandum which is much worse than the measures rejected in the referendum.

     Within a few months, Syriza crossed over its “red lines” in complete retreat and acceptance of the creditors’ demands, towards the acceptance of a Memorandum far more brutal than that which was voted by the previous Samaras government.

      “First time left” [note: πρώτε φορά αριστερά- a popular Syriza slogan claiming that they were for the first time a left government in Greece’s history, as if they were somehow different from PASOK] and the total humiliation of the will of the social majority to get rid of Memorandum policies that make them serfs of the markets is unprecedented.

    “First time left” and there was a quicker and more resounding denial and betrayal of expectations than all prior governments in political memory.

Read the full article HERE:

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

Capitalism, The Juggernaut Of A Corrupt Gambling Casino.

      We all know, or should know, that capitalism is corruption personified, a juggernaut of a gambling casino, a sewer from which the rich and greedy feed off the backs of ordinary people. Our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, spews out figures about the "markets", trying to cloak them in some form of science and legitimacy. When in fact, the "markets" are just a horde of very rich individuals and institutions, shifting their unearned wealth around the tables of the large gambling casino, in an endeavour to get more unearned plunder, or to re-coup their losses. Of course under the rules of capitalism, while this bunch of parasitic leeches, play their gambling games, millions of ordinary people suffer from these adjustments and shifting of capital.

      Should the "markets" collapse, the plundering pirates of the corporate and financial world lose lots of their unearned booty. However the factories, mines, oilfields, farms and orchards, and all the means of production and distribution would still be there. All we would have to do is take them over, and organise them to cater for the needs of all our people, and create the type of society WE want. We are lead to believe that the "markets" are important to us, so we follow their narrative and share the greedy leeches concerns, this in turn perpetuates the whole stinking system of greed and corruption.

In saying that, here is an interesting article from Anarkismo:

       It was long ago stated that capitalism came into the world dripping in blood and dirt, from every pore, from head to toe. While it has demonstrated that it won’t simply collapse under its own weight, the recent goings-on around the current capitalist crisis have shown that with age it has become even more hideous. Capitalism is now rank with massive state intervention required to simply keep its rotting body moving: through states propping up the financial sector and deepening the colossal attack on the working class.

Fallout from Chinese stock markets

     The goings-on that have once again highlighted capitalism’s depravity, are the turmoil – starting in China – that has occurred over the last few weeks on stock markets; including the underlying causes that led to it, and the actions that the ruling classes have taken since then to try and end it, or at least alleviate it.

Read the full article HERE:

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