Candy And Bubblegum.

        From "Destroy Everything", not new, but still relevant, I particularly like the lines:

Sidewalk chalk writers leave notes for our leaders
who cover our eyes with candy and bubblegum.

      How true, so of course that means you have to work hard at seeing the truth. 

Sidewalk chalk writers leave notes for our leaders
who cover our eyes with candy and bubblegum

They hear what we’re saying, but they
choose not to listen at all

So we choose a different voice
we chew on our choices
and swallow the knowledge and the experience
that we make for ourselves

And we savor
the flavor of knowing
of trying and doing
of coming and going

From this here cold harbor
where we ship in the labor
to export our culture
in favor of giving ourselves

Welcome to the state
here is your flag
and your minimum wage
just be grateful for what you’re given

Our teachers are telling us
your prayers will be answered
as soon as the cancer has
eaten away at your soul

So we’re waiting
and our savior is hiding
but there have been sightings
on billboards and in federal laws

And business is fruitful
its engineered for the mouthful
the chemicals might be harmful
but you will not notice the taste

If you need more
there’s plenty left over
enough to feed everyone
and plenty to be thrown away

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

Corporate Health Service, PLC.

      If you pop your head into that cesspool, the babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, you will be aware of the dread and doom headlines regarding the NHS. in recent years. Here are just a few:

    The NHS in England faces a funding gap of up to £2bn, about 2% of its budget, for the next financial year, the BBC understands.

      The NHS could slip £2.5bn into the red later this year and its financial position could spiral “out of control”, with many hospitals and vast chunks of the service running out of money, one of its most senior figures has warned.

     NHS finances in crisis due to rising demand and budget cuts

     Exclusive: NHS faces financial disaster in 2015 as politicians urged to find radical solution

      Two finance directors in three fear their hospital will go into deficit next year as next government must choose between cuts and extra spending, say experts.

       All this in one of the richest countries on the planet, why? It is not incompetence by staff, it is not abuse by patients, it is ideology. The powers that be, that sit in The Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, are following the dictate of the financial Mafia and their corporate masters. They will continue to run the NHS into the ground by means of changes, targets and lack of funding, and then state that something drastic has to be done to save the health service. That drastic action will be the calling on the cavalry of private finance, to come riding to the rescue and invest. In other words take over the running of the NHS. The NHS will become the Corporate Health Service, PLC. The NHS is well on the way to being privatised, and if you can't see that, you're not looking at the evidence. The UK is the world's 6th. largest economy and the 3rd. largest in Europe. We can afford to spend 2.2% of our GDP on weaponry making billions in profits for the arms industry, no country in Europe spends a greater percentag, but we can't afford to look after the health of the people??? It is ideology, it is financial Mafia policy, that is grinding the NHS down, so that it can be carved up in bite size pieces for the corporate greed machine to devour and create a massive money making machine out of the ill-health and suffering of the sick and elderly.   

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

The Rent Strike, 100 Years On.

       Spirit of Revolt is putting on another exhibition in the foyer of the  Mitchell Library, Glasgow from November 2^nd. to November 29^th. The main theme will be The Rent Strike, 100 years on. We are sure there is a lot of interest in this subject, and we hope that this exhibition will help feed and maintain that interest. The history of the struggles of the ordinary people is seldom fully recorded, but we should never let it be lost, to this end the Spirit of Revolt collects, catalogues and publishes on line, as much of the struggles of the ordinary people of Glasgow and Clydeside, as we can get our hands on. It is our history, our culture of struggle for a better life, if we don't record it it will be lost, and we become a people without a history, a people without a culture. If this exhibition is as successful as the last one we put on at the same venue, the group will be extremely pleased. Our history is important to us all, as well as future generations, so do spread the word, come along, bring some friends, make your comments, we welcome your feed-back.

 Photos courtesy of The Mitchell Library, from "Rent Strike Information Pack".

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

 

To Call For Peace, Is To Risk Death.

         It is a tragic reflection of our society and our times when we have a situation where, those who struggle for peace run the greatest risk of death.

       Statement from Revolutionary Anarchist Action on today’s bombing in Ankara, (10th. October 2015.) Originally posted in Rabble.
 

      Today, bombs placed at a rally in the Turkish town of Ankara killed at least 86 people. This comes in the context of the bomb attacks in Amed in June, against an election rally; the attack on Kobanê from Turkey’s borders in June and the attack in in July in Suruç against a delegation bringing aid to Kobanê. Many comrades in Turkey and Kurdistan blame these attacks on the Turkish state.
      This statement has been released by Revolutionary Anarchist Action (DAF):

“CAN’T BE FORGOTTEN, CAN’T BE FORGIVEN

       Today, on the 10th of October, the “Labor, Democracy and Peace Meeting” that was organized by various unions, associations and organizations has been attacked. Like in Amed on June and in Suruc in July, the bombs exploding in Ankara today has killed tens of people.
      Thousands of people came together from many different cities of the geography against the politics of war, against war profiteering of different power groups.
      Today, the bombs that exploded, murdered the people who wanted peace, life and freedom against war.
      This explosion, in which more than 30 people have lost their lives until now, is a reflection of the blood thirsty greed of the powers. The ones who murdered in Amed, in Pirsus, in Cizir, are now trying to intimidate the peoples, frustrate with war politics and discourage from the struggle for freedom, by murdering tens of people in Ankara.
      The powers should know that by any means, be it arrests or murder with bombs, we will not be afraid of the powers or submit to their war politics.
       For a new world, a life of freedom, the murderers in Amed, in Pirsus, Cizir and Ankara, murdered ones CAN’T BE FORGOTTEN, the murderers CAN’T BE FORGIVEN.
Revolutionary Anarchist Action (DAF)”

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When Autumn Leaves Start To Fall.

 

     September and October have been very kind to us, long may it last. Another wee run out on the bike, round Militon of Campsie area. A beautiful day, and the benefit of virtually no wind, glory be, I love it when that Scottish cauld blast disappears for a while. Though in the photos I think the leaves were actually last year's, they looked rather dirty and wrinkled, anything for effect.

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

A Wee Bit Late.

      Jeeesus, I've missed National Poetry Day, how did I manage that? October 8th. National Poetry Day, three days late. So I'll make up for it with three instead of one.

     First, one from an old friend from the Scotia poetry nights, Hughie Healy, sadly died of throat cancer some time ago, at the time I was going through cancer treatment of my own.

UMMEE

She brought her culture and mystique

To my city street

This Asian mother and child

The exotic colours of her shalmar-kameez

Highlighted brown skin and dark eyes

Her lips moved

In prayer perhaps

To a different god than mine

The little one spoke words

I failed to comprhend

She answered

In the universal language of mothers

I'm oot withoot any money

So shut your face

You're getting nae crisps!

And one from away back in my early years. 

Knowledge.

In learned books what do we gain,

argue Heidegger with Russell, Sartre, Berlin, 

quote Descartes, Kant, Wittgenstein,

know all the answers

to a world w never live in.

So,   richer by far a labourer be

perhaps, never to read nor write

but with a glance, a smiling eye

name each tree, each bird in flight.

Who'll stand in awe at a burning sunrise,

enjoy the cool moisture of a summer shower,

wonder at life in a woodland paradise,

marvel at the changing colour in ever hour.

Glow at the warmth in a lover's embrace,

willingly give that gentle kiss,

lovingly touch a smiling face,

relish holding hands in silent bliss.

Experience magic through a child's sight,

know how to dry its tear,

when to lift it, hold it tight,

bringing comfort, chasing fear.

Desipient book worms may shake their head,

mock his untutored state, only see a fool,

his knowledge will stand him in greater stead,

he took his learning at amore erudite school.

Now one from a man I have admired for many a year, William McIlvanney.

Everyman: A Morality Play.

"Aye, zur," Everyman said, as the Lord of the Manor

raped his wife, sons and his daughters and threw him a tenner.

"Aye, zur," Everyman said, " that be bully for 'ee."

And he pulled up his smock as he bowed from the knee

With a delicate click of obedient clogs

And a tail-wagging movement he borrowed from the dogs.

"Aye, zur," Everyman said, that be bully for 'ee. 

"Appen Maister be wantin ma bollocks for tea?"

With a father from the north and a mother from the south

He let every cliché find a home in his mouth

Being taught as a man he would never be fit,

He was skilled in the role of an identikit. 

He learned his lines well until one fateful day,

Though his mouth still remembered the things he should say,

A slight twinge in one leg made him suddenly see;

"Get a grip, Human beings can't bow from the knee."

"Ach, fuck this for a play,"every man said,

Took the lord of the manner and stove in his head.

There I hope I have made amends for missing National Poetry  Day.

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

 

Sing The Truth

David Cameron Rap
this is the best thing ive ever seen tbh
Posted by Hugo Jackson on Wednesday, 1 October 2014

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

A'Kin Feel Th'Cauld Blast.

      A bit late with this one. I was out on the bike on Thursday, but computer problems held up this wee post. It is most certainly getting to the end of my cycling season, a'kin feel th'cauld blast goan doon ma tubes, but still enjoying it when I can grab a day. Everywhere you look, the colours are now changing to that mosaic of reds, rusts, golds and yellows, but it is still a very green and pleasant land.

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

See The Other As Self.

 

       In this society, there are so many campaigns on so many issues, from freedom of movement, freedom of speech, feminism, human rights, freedom from religious extremism, animal rights, the right to privacy, and so it goes on. All of this highlights the fact the we are living in a flawed system, a system where each individual has to fight for the right just to exist without coercion, intimidation or fear. At the heart of this flawed society is the failure to see the other as a unique human being with the same rights as ourselves. If we put that part right, the rest should follow.

      This latest broadcast from Circled A Radio, is an interview with Maryam Namazie. Maryam Namazie has spoken and written numerous articles on Women’s Rights issues, free expression, Islamism, and Secularism. Maryam is an inveterate commentator and broadcaster on Rights, Cultural Relativism, Religion, Political Islam and many other related topics. She’s a speaker at the Feminism in London Conference on the subject ‘Religious Fundamentalism and the British State’

Listen to the interview HERE:

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

 

From A Small Prison, To A Bigger Prison.

        Evi Statiri, is now out of a prison, but when will she be free? Like she says in her letter, her prison has just been increased in size to 1km.

This from Contra Info:

Received on October 7th 2015:

       Once you are released from prison, the first thing you realise is that your glance doesn’t stumble into walls, bars or dividers. It can wander and face the sky, without staring through barbed wire. Then, your footsteps are no longer numbered—twenty walking towards the wall of the prison yard, and twenty going back to your cell. Certainly, in my case, the prison yard walls have expanded by one kilometer distance from my home, without even being able to have contact with my companion…
      But be that as it may, for me my release from prison feels like a first victory against fear and injustice they want to impose on us as a restrictive condition of living…
    Nothing of this would have happened if it weren’t for a dynamic polymorphous movement of solidarity, who conveyed to me from every corner of Greece the strength and optimism that history is not only written by the authoritarians but also the insurgents…
      A big thank you goes out to all of the known and unknown comrades who broke the terror of the Power’s omnipotence.
      A big thank you also goes to the doctors at the General State Hospital of Nikaia, and even more to the physicians Spyros Sakkas and Olga Kosmopoulou, who supported me with warmth and self-abnegation from the very first moment.
       Of course, I do not forget those left behind, in prisons and frigid cells… I’ll always stand beside them and hold on to all the moments we shared, until we meet again…
       Because as long as there are prisons, no one will be free…

Freedom for political prisoners
Freedom for those who are in prison cells

Evi Statiri

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Silly, But Dangerous America.

         I found this article full of honest to goodness truth, not that I favour the Russian imperialism over the Western imperialism, they both stink and are responsible for brutality on a massive scale. I have always said that the Americans were not interested in destroying ISIS, at least not until it had bled the Assad regime to death, then they might step in and blow it to pieces. A cold calculating brutal policy, as the whole of Syria and the surround area would be utterly destroyed and hundreds of thousands of innocent people would be dead. But in American eyes, well worth it to see a regime they don't like being brought down. Of course as stated in Club Orlov, the arms corporations make lots of money from such callous, brutal endeavours, They are the real force behind Western policies.

From Club Orlov:

       But it was Putin's speech that laid out the Empire's silliness for all to see when he scolded the US for making a bloody mess of the Middle East with its ham-handed interventions. The oft-repeated quote is “Do you understand what you have done?” but that's not quite right. The Russian «Вы хоть понимаете теперь, чего вы натворили?» can be more accurately translated as “How can you even now fail to understand what a mess you have made?” Words matter: this is not how one talks to a superpower before an assembly of the world's leaders; this is how one scolds a stupid and wayward child. In the eyes of the whole world, this made the Empire look rather silly.      What happened next is that Russia announced the start of its bombing campaign against all manner of terrorists in Syria (and perhaps Iraq too; the Iraqi request is in Putin's in-box). What's notable about this bombing campaign is that it is entirely legal. The legitimate, elected government of Syria asked Russia for help; the campaign was approved by the Russian legislature. On the other hand, the bombing campaign that the US has been conducting in Syria is entirely illegal. There are exactly two ways to legally bomb the territory of another country: 1. an invitation from that country's government and 2. a UN Security Council resolution. The US has not obtained either of them.

Well worth reading the full article HERE:

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

Freedom At The End Of A Leash.

 

      A state decrees that a wife cannot communicate or meet up with her husband, not because of any grievance between the couple, but because the state sees such a meeting as some sort of threat. Or is it vindictive repression by the state against anybody who seeks to challenge its authority over the individual's freedom?

     Evi Statiri continues her struggle, having won her release from the state's inhumane cages, by means of a long and dangerous hunger strike, she now faces a struggle against the repressive conditions placed on her, so called "freedom", by that vindictive state. That "freedom" consists of being treated like some monitored animal on a leash, permanently under the piercing eye of the state.  

This from Contra Info: 

      According to our latest information, Evi Statiri suspended hunger strike on October 2nd 2015, when the competent judicial council decided to grant her a conditional release from preventive detention. In the coming period she is expected to file a motion for the lifting of restrictive conditions imposed on her, which include the following: ban on exiting the country; obligation to report to her nearest police station 3 times a month; prohibition on communicating or meeting with her husband (CCF imprisoned member Gerasimos Tsakalos) and any other of her co-accused; obligation to reside only in the home she has declared as permanent residence; and ban on moving outside a perimeter of 1 kilometer around her home.

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

The High And Mighty.

The High And Mighty.

Politicians, high priests of the holy church

of greed, 

Yours are the crimes from which the many

bleed.

See, vice and corruption make their

stand,

with brutal tyranny, walk hand

in hand;

your arrogant minds, lost in ambition's

cloud,

oblivious to the suffering of the humble

crowd.

When poverty's knife makes our people

bleed,

your cancerous power is all you ever

feed,

holding high some ego-inflating avaricious

plan

that divides, soon pits man against

man. 

Now, anguish and war mark your mad

career,

covering our world in the brume of

fear,

then shedding youth's blood by cruel 

deceit,

with spurious pomp, lay the guilt at

another's feet.

As we fall heir to a plunder

land,

you tyrants walk in manner

grand,

what must we do to make you

yield,

to see our children play in a bloodless

field?

Smash and crush your dark nefarious 

power,

allowing love and peace to freely

flower.  

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

Glasgow Southside Film Festrival.

        A date for your diary, if you're in or around Glasgow, October 8th. to October 11th..

Glasgow Southside Film Festival.

         Glasgow's Southside Film Festival returns for a fifth edition, and, as ever, the organisers have made inventive use of a variety of venues south of the Clyde
        The Southside Film Festival, now in its fifth year, was a pop-up long before pop-ups were all the rage. Its appropriation of non-cinema spaces has become its biggest asset; the joy of the festival is its clever use of venues and this embracing of its civic spaces makes every screening feel part of the community. For example, at this year’s event you can watch Martin Scorsese’s Hugo in the grand surroundings of Queens Park Church (10 Oct), catch The Gorbals Story in the eponymous borough’s St Francis Community Centre (9 Oct), or experience Bill Forsyth’s deadpan debut, That Sinking Feeling, in a drained swimming pool (10 Oct). The pool in question is the long-closed Govanhill Baths, which also hosts a screening of United We Will Swim… Again, documenting the long battle by southside residents to renovate the baths and bring them back into the heart of the community (10 Oct). 

       Scottish cinema is the festival’s real focus. We’d encourage you to head along to the festival’s screening of Grant McPhee’s great doc on the Scottish punk scene Big Gold Dream, followed by a gig (Glad Cafe, 9 Oct). Cinema discussion Scotland on Screen, meanwhile, asks if Scottish cinema has influenced how we view ourselves – film writer Jonathan Murray and director Eleanor Yule give their thoughts (Glad Cafe, 11 Oct). And then there’s southside-made Much Ado About Govan, a lo-fi Shakespeare adaptation shot by local teens, which sounds like a riot (Kinning Park Complex, 9 Oct). All that, plus a crash course in film review writing with critic Siobhan Synnot (The Glad Foundation, 11 Oct) and a rare screening of Laurel and Hardy short Putting Pants on Philip (Pollokshaws Burgh Hall, 9 Oct), to celebrate Laurel’s southside connections (he grew up in Mount Florida). The curtain comes down with Dziga Vertov’s playful documentary A Man with a Movie Camera (Pollokshaws Burgh Hall, 11 Oct), a fittingly inventive spectacle for a festival full of invention.

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

A System Run By Greedy Arrogant Arseholes.

       We are surrounded by greedy arrogant arseholes, unfortunately, lots of them are in positions of power, and shape our lives and our society. Take the research director of The Taxpayers Alliance, Alex Wild, who is quoted by the BBC as saying that cuts to benefits such as winter fuel payments and free bus passes should be made “as soon as possible after an election for two reasons”. “The first of which will sound a little bit morbid – some of the people... won't be around to vote against you in the next election. So that's just a practical point, and the other point is they might have forgotten [who made the cuts] by then.” 

      Anther arrogant arsehole who agrees with these cuts to pensioners benefits, is one Dr Liam Fox. At the Tory conference he stated, “that any such cuts must be made permanently, in order to help the next generation”. He is also reported as having said, “We can't afford it now, we can't afford it in the future, why don't we try to get a longer-term plan put in place so that people can make the adjustments they will need to make for us to be able to get back into balance,”
         This particular arsehole is no stranger to sticking his snout in the MPs expenses trough. This from Wikipedia: 

In March 2010 Fox appealed Sir Thomas Legg's decision that he had over claimed £22,476 in mortgage interest payments. Fox immediately[68] repaid the money, then appealed the decision. Fox's appeal was rejected and the decision was upheld by Sir Paul Kennedy, a former high court judge.[69]

Fox stated that his decision to remortgage his second home to pay for redecorations and claim the higher interest repayments on his expenses represented value for money because he could have charged the taxpayer for the decorating bills directly. In his response, Sir Paul Kennedy stated: "What you claimed was not recoverable under the rules then in force. I entirely accept that, like many others, you could have made other claims if the fees office had rejected your claims for mortgage interest, and that you may well have spent some of what you raised by increasing your mortgage on your constituency home, but the evidence is imprecise, and my terms of reference only allow me to interfere if I find special reasons in your individual case showing that it would not be fair and equitable to require repayment, either at all or at the level recommended."[68] This reportedly made him the Conservative Shadow Cabinet member with the largest over-claim on expenses, and as a result, he has been forced to repay the most money.[70]

It was reported in June 2009 that Fox claimed expenses of more than £19,000 over the last four years for his mobile phone. Fox claimed the high bill was due to regular trips overseas, in his capacity as Shadow Defence Secretary and said he was looking for a cheaper tariff.[71]

In October 2012, the Commons Speaker blocked the release of data showing which MPs were renting their homes to other MPs for financial gain. However, a study of parliamentary records was published in the Daily Telegraph.[72] The study showed that Liam Fox receives rental income from his London home while simultaneously claiming rental income from the taxpayer to live at another residence.

In October 2013, Fox hit the news again, after documents showed he claimed 3p for a 100 metre car trip a year earlier. He also made an additional 15 claims of under £1 for car travel approved in 2012-13, two of which were for 24p and 44p. He told the Sunday People: "I don't do my expenses. My office does them. But they are all done according to the rules for travel distances."

        Then we have MP Michelle Thomson, an greedy arrogant arsehole who believes that emotion should not get in the way of making a profit from other people's misery. Regarding her property business, she is quoted as having stated, a rise in families losing their homes as a "great opportunity" and said emotional attachment could stand in the way of "huge profit". 

       Then there is prize greedy arrogant arsehole Alan Sugar, who is quoted as saying in an interview with the Times magazine, "Who are the poor these days? “You've got some people up North and in places like that who are quite poor, but they all have mobile phones, being poor, and they've got microwave ovens, being poor, and they've got televisions, being poor.” This particular arrogant arsehole is estimated to be worth, £1.4 billion, admitted, that he didn't know the price of a pint of milk, a loaf of bread or a dozen eggs, and only bothers to look at the prices for “planes and boats and things like that”. 

      These are the type of greedy arrogant arseholes who shape our society, who shape they way we live, and basically they are taking us all to the cleaners. We live in a society where they system dictates that we hand the keys of the chicken coup to the foxes, (no pun intended). When will we wake up to the fact that we don't need greedy, arrogant arseholes to run our lives, we can do a much better job all by ourselves.

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

The World Is Our Village.

        How much bloodshed and misery has been caused by armed thugs belonging to a rich elite defending imaginary lines on the ground? Some warmongering thug gathers around themselves a bunch of paid mercenaries to hold on to some land they have stolen, they set up an apparatus called "the state", this is supposed to legitimise their theft and butchery. From then on, all those trapped within those imaginary lines are the slaves and servants of that elite. All those outside those imaginary lines, are alien, different, inferior, dangerous, of course the same insanity is going on within all those plots of land bound by imaginary lines and defended by force. It is the mind set of the insane, the greedy, the psychotic, their are no borders, these are simply robbers stakes from plunder by deceit and force. We the people do not need borders, we do not need imaginary lines to create imaginary enemies, we are one world, one humanity.

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