Organised Anarchists.

       It should be obvious to any observer of the present economic system that rules this world, that it can't be reformed. Capitalism can't be converted into a caring compassionate, system that sees to the needs of all our people. Its basis is self gain based on the exploitation of others, others are there to be profited from, not cared for. So running to a ballot box putting down your mark, against a chosen party disciple, will not bring about the compassionate capitalism you hope for, nor will petitioning the political ballerinas that hold the reins of power because of that ballot paper. 

      The creation of that better world for all, must take place outside the rules of capitalism, and outside the legislation of the capitalist minders, the state. The change has to happen among the people, by the people, in their communities and workplaces, in spite of, and in opposition to, the structures created by this enslaving economic system. We have no rules, we create structures and strategies as we develop, our needs will determine the shape of our new society, after we have built a bonfire of all the rules and legislations that bind us as units of profit, and as subservient units of the state.

       This from:  The Foundation for Economic Education

In the New York Times, Niki Kitsantonis writes, “It may seem paradoxical, but Greece’s anarchists are organizing like never before.”

No. Anarchists – the sensible ones, at least – are not against organization. They are against rule – against ruling and against being ruled. Merriam-Webster explains the derivation of the word: “Medieval Latin anarchia, from Greek, from anarchos having no ruler, from an- + archos ruler.”

True, as the dictionary editors note, “anarchy” and “anarchism” are sometimes used to mean something like “absence or denial of any authority or established order” or simply “absence of order.” But rational political theorists and even activists don’t advocate pure disorder; they advocate the absence of rule, which they define as the absence of government.

So what is it that these Greek anarchists are organizing for? Well, in fact, the focus of the article is on how anarchists are supplying the services that the Greek state is not providing:

Seven years of austerity policies and a more recent refugee crisis have left the government with fewer and fewer resources, offering citizens less and less. Many have lost faith. Some who never had faith in the first place are taking matters into their own hands, to the chagrin of the authorities….

Whatever the means, since 2008 scores of “self-managing social centers” have mushroomed across Greece, financed by private donations and the proceeds from regularly scheduled concerts, exhibitions and on-site bars, most of which are open to the public. There are now around 250 nationwide.

Some activists have focused on food and medicine handouts as poverty has deepened and public services have collapsed.

In recent months, anarchists and leftist groups have trained special energy on housing refugees who flooded into Greece in 2015 and who have been bottled up in the country since the European Union and Balkan nations tightened their borders. Some 3,000 of these refugees now live in 15 abandoned buildings that have been taken over by anarchists in the capital.

One part of Athens seems to have been a self-governing, but not state-governed, territory for some time. Some sources say Exarchia has existed since as early as 1870. The name presumably comes from “ex-,” out of, away from, and of course “archos,” ruler.

In Athens, the anarchists’ epicenter remains the bohemian neighborhood of Exarchia, where the killing of a teenager by a police officer in 2008 set off two weeks of rioting, helped reinvigorate the movement and produced several guerrilla groups that led to a revival of domestic terrorism in Greece.

The police and the authorities tread lightly in the area.

The police have recently raided some buildings illegally occupied by anarchists, called squats, in Athens, in the northern city of Thessaloniki and on the island of Lesbos, a gateway for hundreds of thousands of migrants over the past two years….

The anarchists say their squats are a humane alternative to the state-run camps now filled with more than 60,000 migrants and asylum seekers. Human rights groups have broadly condemned the camps as squalid and unsafe.

In Exarchia, one of the squats includes a former state secondary school that was abandoned because of structural problems. Established last spring with the help of anarchists, the squat is now home to some 250 refugees, mostly from Syria, who have set up a chicken coop on the roof. Many more refugees are on a “waiting list” for other occupied buildings.

The squats function as self-organized communities, independent from the state and nongovernmental organizations, said Lauren Lapidge, 28, a British social activist who came to Greece in 2015 at the peak of the refugee crisis and is actively involved with several occupied buildings.

“They are living organisms: Kids go to school, some were born in the squat, we’ve had weddings inside,” she said.

There’s really nothing paradoxical about anarchists setting up institutions and communities outside the state to provide needed goods and services. The Greek anarchists probably don’t see businesses as part of that non-state society, though libertarian anarchists and anarcho-capitalists do.

What is paradoxical, as I wrote five years ago, is Greek “anarchists” who object to the state reducing its size, scope, and power by cutting back on taxes and transfer payments. Anarchists who organize voluntarily to achieve common purposes are just living their philosophy.

This piece originally published at Cato@liberty

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Expropriation.

         Wouldn't it be nice if supermarkets were places where you picked up the necessities of life, instead of places where you are obliged to spend the crap wages you get from your lousy job, all so that you are a unit of profit for this insane, unjust, unequal, crap economic system. 

This from Act For Freedom Now:
      Expropriation of OK super market, in Exarhia – Athens

        Few days ago we decided to join the operations that are taking place around the area of Exarchia contributing as we want and we can to liberate our neighborhood from the presence of the capitalist super markets…. But at the same time we understand and we like all the attacks by our comrades. Against the suppression that we feel every day on our skin or in a psychological way..from the mercenaries of the state, so called police. Against the gentrification of the area by luxury and expensive cafeterias etc..
       We perceive Exarchia as a revolutionary field of resistance and we think that is unacceptable and a big contradiction to compromise with this situation.We are hostile to every form that is feeding capitalism. The gentrification is here..is an indirect attack to corrupt,infiltrate and poison the characteristics of this area.. It happened many times, in many places in the past.. An example is Plaza de Sol in Madrid.. A square that from instructional environment turned into a lifestyle meeting point.
       So stop the invasion of our squats, of our neighborhood and open your fucking capitalist spots somewhere else, or we will be every time more active in the resistance.

FREEDOM FOR PANAGIOTIS Z.
FREEDOM FOR OUR COMRADES IN PRISON
GET THE FUCK OUT FROM EXARCHIA
Source

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People Hidden From Society.

       Yesterday, Wednesday, another lovely day, though the wind could have been a wee bit kinder,13/14 mph. These nasty thoughts about the wind never used to enter my head, but now that I'm an old wrinkly, fair weather cyclist, they do creep in from time to time.

       As I said, another lovely day, so out on the usual route, the Campsie area. Not a good run for a Westerly wind, which it was, as the start of the run is mainly down hill, from the Lowmoss/Torrance round-about, all the way through Kirkintilloch, you have it easy and the Westerly wind behind you. Like I said, those nasty thoughts creep in as I flee downhill towards Auchenreoch, "I'll have to face this bloody wind all the up this drag on the way home", an easterly wind would be nice for this run.

       On the way home I thought I would go and have a look at that wee lochan I saw through the trees, last time out. So I wandered down a twisty path to its edge, there were a couple of locals out with their dogs, and I asked if this small lochan had a name. Their answer was a wee bit of a disappointment to me, they said "No". They explained that it was a man made settlement pool for domestic waste water from the nearby, well-to-do housing estate that was built on what was once the beautiful location of Lennox Castle. Hidden away from public view, surrounded by trees, Lennox Castle, has gone from a home for those with learning difficulties, to a swanky housing estate. It seems that it has followed the normal course in this society, from a publicly owned hospital, albeit, with a dubious past, to a home for the wealthy. Ah well, I suppose that is par for the course in this society. 

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Street Poetry.

        I often spout that a poem can say more than a large book. It can condense and yet magnify events, feelings, and ideas into a phrase or a line. I received this from a comrade, thanks Andy, it says it all, the misery, injustice, brutality, repression, inequality, anxiety and stress, of this insane system we live under.  

 

Street poetry fae Dundee
FREE THINKING
Someone got abused and it's you that gets the blame
Weirdo cracks, and snide remarks. To tell you your not the same.
As bingo, soap, and clubby folk, who s labour gives them hope,Who live their lives, like the dance of flies. Whilst drinking in their smoke.
the powers that be, say there,s war , your children flock to fight, The chocked dry words that mask the fact, their death's the ultimate sacrifice.
How old is young Billy there, he looks a strapping lad,
Make sure he joins the chosen few, in the footsteps of his dad
And if he survives he,ll get to march, with worthless medals, to the cenotaph.
the watchers, watch your freedom, concerned about your health.
All you want, desire, or crave, is sitting on a shelf.
The prison population, is as healthy as can be,
The courts are working overtime, to keep your freedom free.
So pay your debt and pay your tax, and forget the powers that be. Leave them to do there job, to tell you that you're free
if you need another crutch. You,ve always got your church,
That will guarantee you,ll never die, believe in us we never lie,
But you must remember, to give them all your cash,
Or the top man in heaven, won't see their wealthy rash.
Nor golden goblets, raised in praise, the best of wine no aftertaste,
The pious followers of the faith have heaven on their mind,
The same as the thieving prison,who are serving out there time.
insurance is a business, copied from the church,
Selling you salvation, they know your a soft touch,
The banker sells you money. With slimey bloodsoaked hands,
He makes a tidy living, from our loss and pain and harm,
He,ll be the first to advertise the country should re arm,
To finance strife,makes up his life, and profit margins rife.
With the corpses of his shady deals, and desperate people with no meals.
The breaking news, of procesded views, will feed you all their fear,
The media slant. Of the current rant. Is directed straight at you
Watch out for knives, and hooded youth's, and computers that steal your lively hood.
Don't drink smoke, nor crack a joke, about a religion that's not yours
Don't eat too much. And wash your hands, and give generously to the poor,
Save energy and save the trees,save all the creatures in the seas,
And save your childrens, children's from likes of you and me.
The freedom that we,re looking for, is locked up in our minds,
The key's that free our freedom, are guarded by a fear that binds,
We dare not follow a different path, for fear of fear,s been planted here by the civilisers wrath.
The moral ways, of our living days, are not about free will,
Obey the educators and keep on standing still.
Free thinking men and women are at liberty to think,
But must keep their thoughts in closets, in case they cause a stink.
The written word was written for the likes of you and me,
The only thing it fails to state, is that it will never set you free

Andy Duncan.

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Twisted Values And False Histories.

       Listening and reading about the débâcle of removing confederate statues in America, I'm surprised that such a campaign has not been raging through our own society here in the UK.  In this upside down society of twisted values and false histories, it is safe to say, that most of the immortalised great and good, of our country, have blood on their hands, the captains of industry, the leaders of military, the builders of empire, all glorified, all soaked in guilt, all standing knee deep in the misery and blood of others. Industries that destroyed lives, enforced poverty, and polluted our planet, military leaders who saw the breaking of bodies, as a way of gaining power for their masters, All depended on useing people mercilessly to achieve their own personal ambitions. We are suppose to look up to them and feel proud, how insane is that.

        Back to America, its slave era and that brutal link to one of America's great and good, a Dr. James Marion Sims. 
This from Anarcha Library:

 Dr. James Marion Sims.

A Note to the Editor

         As a medical student I am often exposed to a short history of the discovery and or circumstances related to the construction of a tool or drug before or during a scientific lecture. I almost always hear the professor exclaim that Greece was the birthplace of modern medicine and that we should thank this person or that person for contributing to American medicine. Needless to say the countless contributions of many other nations and people are almost always missed.
       I have spoken with other medical students for whom this is also a problem. The reading material for most medical schools is standardized and I am sure that each student can see that the medical contributions that make it into most medical textbooks are almost always devoid of contributions from minorities or people who would not be considered white.
       Very recently I was particularly affected by this inequality as I listened to a lecture on the female exam. I felt like a large part of the history was overlooked when the lecturer commented that she would not discuss the controversial history of the speculum except to say that Dr. [James Madison] Sims created a very useful tool that allows physicians to examine the walls of the vagina and the uterus.
       I was very curious about the history that she was eager to omit. After reading several accounts of his various cruelties and the way they where distorted to make Dr. Sims out to be a hero I was compelled to memorialize the enslaved women in the same way that he is memorialized.
       Anarcha was not able to tell her own story it is probable that she was unable to read or write. I am sure that her story would be more horrible than the fictional account that I have written but with the bits and pieces that I have placed together I am sure that what she endure in the name of the advancement of medicine could have read like the following submission.—Alexandria C. Lynch, MS III

ANARCHA'S STORY.

By Alexandria C. Lynch, MS III

       A pregnant woman stands in the blazing sun with her arms arched to her back. Tired from an 18-hour workday, picking cotton, looking after Master's children, or cooking in the big house. These days are particularly hard for her, as it is hard for all women who must work until the moment they are to give birth.
        Yes, she is worn tired and she can feel the aches grappling her bones. She is also filled with a glorious anticipation, any day now her sweet beautiful baby will be born. As an enslaved woman, life is difficult to say the least but there are still beautiful moments that this woman cannot be denied. Even though enslaved she can bring life into the world as naturally as any other woman.
        She returns to her cabin, covering herself as best she can with a tattered cloth or blankets. She has a conversation surrounding her thoughts and concerns about the arrival of her child with her fellow captive comrades. All of the women on the plantation are anxiously awaiting the birth of this new hope and the father is also anxious. Both parents have mixed concerns about bringing a child into a life of slavery but there is nothing that can derail what will soon happen.
        Later on that night she feels the pain of labor contractions. She is hoping to give birth quickly because she knows that the birth of her child will not be an acceptable reason to miss work the following day. She waits a few hours and awakens the other women in the room with a scream. They rush to her aid and prop her up on the bits and pieces of tattered blankets. They make her as comfortable as possible. The night passes straight away and she is still in labor. The headman must now be informed that she will not be in the field today. She cannot stand and she cannot work. The day passes and still no baby is born. She is tired and in pain. Three days will pass and she still will not see her child.
        After three days her condition is past serious and the fact that she is unable to perform her duties as an enslaved woman starts to weigh heavy in the Master's thoughts. In an effort to protect his human investment he summons a physician to aid in the delivery.
        By this point she is beyond fatigued and lying flaccid on the floor. He enters the room and uses a tool to excavate the baby that was stubbornly lodged in the woman’s vagina. He has had very little experience using his makeshift forceps. Several days after the birth of her child she is unable to control her bodily functions. Her Master finds her condition repugnant and sends her to the same physician to see if there is anything that he can do to repair his damaged property.

Continue reading:

      

        Look behind the façade, seek the true history, see the cruelty and the misery they perpetrated, all in the name of fame, wealth and power.

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Hamburg Summer 2017: I Am There, I Stay There!

 

        Like I have said before, it is difficult for me to keep my mouth shut within this kaleidoscope of injustice and inequality, repression and poverty.  I have often spouted off about prisons and their purpose, their part in the control chain of this repressive and exploitative system. This letter taken from Act For Freedom Now, from a victim locked up inside one of Germany's many prisons, for protesting that injustice, puts it much better than I could.

Letter from Hamburg from Billwerder Prison, by a French prisoner
        It’s been almost a month and a half since I was imprisoned during the twelfth G20 summit in Hamburg, in a city that was besieged and taken in hostage by the security forces, but which also saw an important local and popular protest.
       Tens of thousands, if not more, flocking from all over Europe, and even beyond, converged, met, organised, debated and demonstrated together for several days in a great surge of solidarity. At all times aware of the possibility of suffering the violence and the repression of the police. A huge prefab police court had been built for the occasion, to punish any dissent against this international summit as quickly as possible.
      My arrest, like that of many comrades, is based only on the sacred word of the police, of a brigade sent to infiltrate, observe and follow their “prey” (during forty-five minutes in my case, for a supposed throwing of a projectile…). Once isolated, they sent colleagues to arrest them, intervening quickly and violently, and leaving no loop-holes.
        So, here I am, locked up in these places primordial to the proper functioning of a global social order, these places that serve as a tool for the control and management of poverty, essential to the maintenance of their “social peace”. Prison acts like a sword of Damocles hanging above each and every individual so that they are petrified by the idea of deviating from the codes and dictates of an established order: “working, consuming, sleeping”, from which no dominated individual may escape, so they alienate themselves through work and the life that goes with it, to be on time, without ever flinching, and not only during the second round of the presidential elections, where we have been required to be “En Marche” [“in operation”, Macron’s slogan and name of the party in power right now] or to die, preferably slowly and silently.
        Since the law has no vocation to guarantee the general interest, nor to be neutral, it is the expression of an increasingly institutional domination by the most powerful in order to guarantee their property and security and thus paralyse, sanction and marginalize anyone who does not see things the same way or who will not submit.
        Beyond the cases of the well-known and supported activists who are locked up, there are also, and above all, those men and women who are exposed to the brutality and the cruelty of imprisonment. Here the work is paid one euro per hour, of which half is accessible only on release from jail. In my wing, detainees in pre-trial detention or for short sentences (six months to four years) are mainly detained only for one reason: their social condition and origin. Apart from the staff, very few are from the host country, all are foreigners, refugees and/or precarious, poor, weakened by life. Their crime: they did not submit to the rules of the game, for the majority by engaging in drugdealing or by committing thefts, scams, alone or in organised gangs at various scales.
         Imprisonment is a fundamental pillar of this system but one can not criticise it without attacking the society that produces it. The prison, not operating in self-sufficiency, is the perfect link in a society based on exploitation, domination and separation in its varied forms.
“Work and prison are two essential pillars for social control, work being the better police and rehabilitation a permanent blackmail.”
        My thoughts go to the Italian comrades facing an umpteenth wave of repression, especially those charged in the investigation into the “explosive device” left in front of a bookstore linked to Casapound. The extreme right must face an organised, popular and offensive counterattack. It is so useful and complementary to those states that feed on its security aspirations and delusions and its incessant stigmatization of “foreigners.”
        Thoughts also for the comrades who will face trial next September for the police car burned on the eighteenth of May last year, in Paris, during the movement “loi travail” (labour law) movement. Many people have gone through prison and two are still incarcerated. Strength to them!
        Acknowledgments to the local activists organising rallies in front of our prison, an initiative appreciated here as it breaks the routine and the state of ambient lethargy in which we are alienated. Acknowledgments to all those who support us here and everywhere.
To the Bro’, 161, MFC, OVBT, wild youngsters, those who BLF and other friends …
Comrades, strength!
        Let’s free the G20 prisoners and all the others! We’re not alone!
One imprisoned among others
Billwerder Prison,
Hamburg
14 August 2017

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A Wee Hidden Gem.

         Haven't been able to get out on the bike much recently. A combination of lousy weather, (I'm now a fair weather cyclist) and difficult circumstances. However, today was forecast to be dry, with light winds, so dusted it down, checked the tyres and set off for a spin round my old familiar patch, the Campsie Hills area. Wrong shirt, it was a bit cooler than I thought, but still a very enjoyable run, not as many cyclist out on the road as usual. Although I have covered that area on the bike countless times, it never fails to surprise me, a view I hadn't taken in before, something through the trees I hadn't noticed before, some trees that have been removed, a burn in spate, and so on. Today, as I took to the cycle path just before you enter Lennoxtown, second time ever, I was obliged to stop because of a group of people with about six dogs spread out all over the pathway. While stopped I noticed through the trees a small lochan I never knew existed. It is pleasantly tucked behind shrubs and trees. So I stood looking at it for a while, watching the mallard peacefully swimming about. I had to take a wee photo. 

 On the cycle path just before you enter Lennoxtown. 

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Call Out For Solidarity.

        In this so called democracy, sanitised, and authority choreographed, marches, demos and protests are tolerated, but even in these sanctioned affairs, the eyes of the minders of the state, are ever eager to mark things with their branding iron of fear, just in case anybody should try to think for themselves and act accordingly. Glasgow Pride March, a rather merry and pleasurable affair, saw 5 arrests.
         This is a call out from various groups, to show support and solidarity with those arrested.

Solidarity with 5 arrested at Glasgow Pride MarchHi, 

     There’s a write-up on this blog, including pictures and video: https://athousandflowers.net/2017/08/19/no-pride-in-police-arrests-in-glasgow-as-protesters-resist-police-led-pride-march/amp/
       The first three arrests were a planned protest by Free Pride and they were bailed on Saturday. The other two arrests were from our bloc: a young person nicked for having an offensive banner (with no chance to surrender or destroy it) and someone who tried to intervene / observe. As far as I know these two are being held for court on Monday.
        I’ll go to the court tomorrow in support; is anyone else coming, and do we know the full names of the arrestees? I expect both to be not called, or bailed or ordained to return for trial. Does anyone know where prisoners are released from Glasgow Sheriff Court custody, if they don’t get out through the main doors?
        Thanks for any help, best wishes,

Solidarity with 5 arrested at Glasgow Pride March
        Latest news is that two people are still in custody, the other three have been released. There is going to be a solidarity demo at the Glasgow Sheriff Court tomorrow Monday 9am onwards
       For updates see ACE facebook and especially Free the Pride Five events page https://www.facebook.com/events/294177851048722/
       Excerpt: On 19th August three trans activist and two antifa were arrested for protesting capitalist pride. Join us in solidarity on their court date.
UPDATE: three have been released but we will still be there for the other two.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1445513385484082&id=216550781713688&ref=bookmarks

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Happy Birthday.

 

        This month marks the 6th anniversary of the birth of Spirit of Revolt Archive. August 2011 a small group of dedicated activists sat down in a café in Glasgow and put in place their ideas to preserve the history of the struggles of the ordinary people in their city and Clydeside area. From that small band with their ideas, has grown what I believe to be a unique archive of considerable scope and breadth. It was not just a desire to record and preserve this valuable history, but to make it all easily accessible to the public at large. This requires a small army of dedicated volunteers to sit and scan thousands of documents to make them available on our website, so you don't have to make your way to a library in Glasgow to read them, but can do it from the comfort of your home. Have a look at our collection, read rare documents from the past and not so distant past, learn about the struggles of your parents, grand parents and actions you may have been involved in yourself. It is a living history, still being created by you, your friends and neighbours.

       Browse our catalogue, transport your self in to the struggles of ordinary people as they strive for that better life for all. I believe it was George Orwell who said, and I paraphrase, "the best way to destroy a people is to destroy their history". Without a record of our history we become a people without a history or a culture. We must never let that happen, we have a very rich history, of which we can be very proud, our history is our culture, it's who we are. Our archive strives to make sure our history is preserved, recorded and made readily available for all. 

       All this requires time and volunteers, but sadly it also requires money, and it is always a struggle to keep ahead of the financial demands the capitalist system makes on us. We believe what we do is not only valuable, but necessary, if you also feel this way, perhaps you can see you way to helping with a small donation, one of or, a monthly direct debit, no amount is too small. You can donate by going to our DONATE page and follow the instructions there. In anticipation of you thoughtful generosity, a big thank you. 

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A Disturbing Observation.

         We live in dangerous times, the capitalist corporate juggernaut is now backed up by weapons of unimaginable destructive power, and the emperors are mad. Each mad emperor boasting of melting each others country, unleashing a nuclear holocaust, which in all probability would see the end of human life as we know it. This is the natural path of capitalism, from its endless wars with ever increasing more powerful weaponry, always trying to be the biggest toughest guy in town, a sure path to destruction. Mad emperors with large armies was one thing, mad emperors with their finger on the nuclear button, is quite something else. Our call should not be to ban the bomb, but to abolish the capitalist system and it endless wars, orchestrated by mad emperors. As long as we tolerate the capitalist system with its attendant mad emperors, we will walk ever closer to that world of destruction beyond belief, that permanent dark winter.

  Winter.

Dark malefic clouds crowd the sky

winds carry the stench of carrion to every nostril,

the crazy ape has followed the faculty of hawks.

All around stand crows, magpies, jackdaws, vultures,

edacious eyes anticipating their putrid feast.

A weary Cassandra laments;

doves, hearts weeping for a better yesterday

forsake their olive branches.

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They Must Be Abolished.

           Most large cities have at least one, they sit there with little or no activity going on around them, most people pass them without giving them much thought, but these silent buildings belie there reality. They are of course prisons, large hell-holes of anguish, oppression, distress, and brutality. Symbols of state oppression, part and parcel of its control system. Among a considerable amount of the public, there is the glib thought that they are places where the “bad people” are sent. However, the truth is far removed from that glib thought. 

         Since 1900 the prison population in England and Wales has grown by 400%, in Scotland approximately 200%, it is a growing business. The prison population figures for August 2017, for England and Wales is 86,353, Scotland 7,700, and Northern Ireland 1,600, all up on last years figures. The UK takes pride of place in the EU as the country with the highest percentage per 100,000 of its population in prison. England and Wales 148 per 100,000 of the population are in prison, compared with France 98.3 per 100,000, Italy 86.4 per 100,000, and Germany with 77.4 per 100,000. Most UK prisons are overcrowded and thus create inhumane and unbearable conditions, adding to the already existing injustice. 

          As for these being the “bad people” of society, of the UK prison population, 10% of men and 30% of women have had a previous psychiatric admission before ending up in prison. Of those in prison 25% of women and 16% of men have symptoms indicative of a psychosis, among the general public the figure is 4%. Of the UK prison population, 62% male and 57% female, have a personality disorder, 49% of women and 23% of male prisoners in a Ministry of Justice study were assessed as suffering from anxiety and depression, 46% of females and 21% of males in UK prisons have attempted suicide. Another factor that contributes to the prison population is the fact that many of those who foolishly put on a state military uniform to fight for the corporate empire, end up damaged and unable to adjust to civilian life, so find themselves part of the prison population, approximately 8,500, 10% of the UK prison population are ex military.
        So what we have are large buildings, dotted around the country, kitted out with cages, where we dump those with mental health problems. The other section of the prison population is those who dissent, deviate, from the prescribed path laid down by our lords and masters, those who see the injustice of the system and rebel against that injustice, inequality and exploitation.
         Prisons are not for the “bad people” they are there to protect a system of privilege for the few, to maintain the power and wealth in the hands of those who control our lives. We can never live in a democracy as long as one prison still stands. 

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Has The Time For Words Passed?

          In the face of so much oppression, unnecessary suffering, injustice and raw exploitation, and a heart that is bursting with passion for justice and freedom, I’m finding it difficulty to keep my mouth shut. How can you shut out all the unnecessary misery in this world, how can you turn a blind eye to the cause, especially as the cause of all this suffering in wars and deprivation is simple to see, capitalism. Capitalism is the root cause of practically all our problems, to remedy that situation you have to kill the root, not try to prune some of its malignant twigs. 

           I always find it puzzling that a system that produces so much poverty, misery and exploitation, while fabricating endless wars, all for the wealth and power of the few, continues functioning. Where is the righteous anger of the crowd, the ordinary people, who exist in the exploitation, misery and poverty, and whose family and friends have their blood shed to feed these endless wars? They could bring the system down tomorrow if they so desired. It is a system where our pleasures are enjoyed under the shadow of dark deeds done thousands of miles away. These deserts of poverty and deprivation, these lands of blood soaked soil, this world of oppression, are not brought about by some mechanical device or natural occurrence, but by humans, sitting in plush offices, making decisions based on personal gain, decisions devoid of humanity. Deprivation, poverty, oppression and exploitation are not diseases, they are the result of human decisions. These people, along with our political ballerinas who pander to their every desire, must be named shamed and brought to task, for the savage brutality they have heaped on the ordinary people of this world, merely to satisfy their own greed, wealth and power. 

         I sincerely believe that the time for talking and reasoning with the irrational greed driven cabal that is driving this world to destruction, has passed. That which is held by faith or belief, cannot be dislodged by reason, the powerful warmongering cabal that control this vicious system are helpless and blind to reason’s bright light. Over the centuries, we the ordinary people have pleaded, argued, and reasoned for a fairer society, our request and pleadings have often been met with the brutal might of the state, with savage force attempting to silence our reasoning. As we are, after those centuries of seeking justice, still mired in exploitation, poverty, deprivation and the savagery of endless wars, surely the time has come to admit, that our pleadings, requests and reasoning have failed miserably. 

        Will we continue to reason with the irrational? Will we still appeal with dialogue against the brutality of the state? Will we harbour the thought that the rich and powerful will turn rational and compassionate, and decide to share that wealth and power with us lower mortals? History has your answer.

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Old Age Never Comes Alone.

 

       At the age of 83, I have to admit that it is a true saying, old age never comes alone, one thing it does come with is a set of automatic brakes. It slows you down, it stops you from time to time, and it sets the pace. Over the years I have always been a very active person, never seeming to tire, always juggling several things at the one time. Now it is very difficult to keep doing the things I want to do. In recent years I have researched and compiled a list of working class people and events that have helped to shape the conditions in our city and further afield, strugglepedia, from that was born  the book Radical Glasgow, now in its third edition. For a number of years I produced and distributed on the streets of Glasgow, a small free paper, The Anarchists Critic, which was monthly, then bi-monthly and latterly quarterly, the last issue, No.113  was a special 2017 General Election/May Day issue. Some are listed HERE, though no longer up to date. However one of the things that I am exceedingly proud, is the fact that I was one of the founder members of Spirit of Revolt, an archive of the struggles of the ordinary people of Clydeside and Glasgow. I consider it a extremely valuable resource for younger people, and others not so young, to learn of, and from, the on-going struggles of others. It also records a history that would otherwise be lost, helping to complete a more accurate picture of the mosaic of OUR history. The history of those grass-roots movements and individuals, non-aligned with the party political machines and unions, people struggling for that better world for all. 

      Then there is this blog, in which, over the years, I have spouted my mouth off on matters that hit my passion spot. However, because I can no longer get out and about, no demos, protests, marches, meetings, talks, discussions, pickets, etc. I am starting to feel out of touch. Therefore feel less able to speak as someone involved, and have no desire to become "an armchair anarchist". So the blog will fall silent, there might be the odd sporadic outburst when something slams into my passion spot, and that passion prevents me from keeping my mouth shut. Other than that, I will concentrate my time to Spirit of Revolt, attempting to get out on the bike, playing chess against the computer, and read more poetry, and perhaps, attempt to add to those I have already written.

      So I would like to say a big thank you to all those who took the trouble to read my outpourings, made a comment, or followed the blog. I have enjoyed doing it, and I hope it added something positive to your thinking. 

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

You Are Many, They Are Few.

       Sometimes a phrase or paragraph says so much you feel you don't have to read the rest of the article, though I don't recommend that as a general rule. I sometimes go to the site Gods and Radicals, there I can find interesting reading and and at times, words of wisdom.

       Reading an excerpt from Dr. Bones’ new book, Curse Your Boss, Hex The State, Take Back The World. on the Gods and Radical site, the article was headed by this paragraph:

       “So the patient advocates of ‘free states,’ ‘free speech,’ ‘free assemblage,’ what are they but deluded children in the vicinity of forces they do not comprehend? If they want to assemble and speak without let or hindrance, let them increase their own power, their strength of arm until they can speak and meet as they will. But to ask for free speech and free meeting, what is it but an acknowledgement of tutelage, inferiority…There is only one thing the down-trodden with retained dignity can do, and that is to Get Up.

Dora Marsden, The Freewoman, Volume 1 Number 1, June 15th 1913

       It doesn't take much brain power to see the truth in this statement, but how many will act upon its wisdom?
      Dr Bones' book Curse Your Boss--- is available, in print or digital form HERE:
        Staying with Gods and Radicals, another extract form an article, Margaret Killjoy’s Fantastic Aesthetic Anarcho-Fun Heresy, contained another kernel of wisdom. 

          What she saw about an aesthetic built on fantasy and an alternative vision born of the industrial age is what every really good fantasist, but also every good theorist and mystic, sees: the world not only could have been different, it still can be. And not only can it be, but the certain sorts of people who give way too much time thinking about how it still can be different are the ones who have the potential to make it different.

       Again, it is by not believing you can change the world, or giving up on trying to change the world, that we perpetuate the present system of capitalist greed and destruction.
      So let's join hands with the poets, the dreamers, the lovers and the visionaries, and  shape this world to our imagination. Just remember what the poet said, "you are many, they are few".
     Video of Ursula K. Le Guin and Margaret Killjoy - Mythmakers & Lawbreakers: Anarchist Writers On Fiction

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In Defence Of Hambach Forest.

        The corporate bodies that rape and plunder our planet are, if nothing else, persistent, they are unrelenting in their drive for ever greater profit. They set their plans in motion to desecrate an ancient forest to further their profits, the public protest and set up resistance, five years on the corporate juggernaut is creeping ever closer to those fighting to save the forest. All this is done with the backing of the state, an institution whose prime purpose is to keep the lid on the civil population, should they attempt to protect their country's forests, mountains, rivers and ecosystems from the devouring corporate monster. The state is the corporate plunders minders, stemming the flow of resistance, to allow the unbridled greed of their corporate masters to go unhindered in its rape and plunder of the planet. The state and capitalism will never allow rationalism, freedom and sustainability to enter the debate, perpetual growth is the only game in town, to the detriment of all that is natural and necessary for our survival. Just as the corporate juggernaut is relentless and persistent, so is the resistance of the people, and those who put their time, energy and lives on the line to protect our natural environment, deserve all the support and solidarity we can muster.

This from Squatting Will Stay:

 Call for defending the occupation of the Hambach Forest

       The Hambach Forest has been occupied for five years. For five years people have been building and defending tree houses in order to protect the trees they are living on. For five years diggers, cops, and secus have kept coming closer. Officially, the forest is owned by RWE, a multinational energy company that does not only want to kill the thousands-of-years-old forest, destroy habitats, dispossess and displace residents from the surrounding villages to generate power. With it’s production of lignite in the Rhineland along it is responsible for 30% of Germany’s CO2 emissions. A company that does not shy away from exploiting the entire world in order to maximise its profits. It is a company that significantly contributes to generating situations forcing people to leave their countries of origin. Because the people who first have to deal with the consequences of global warming are not those profiting from coal, but people from the global South. This makes our struggle part of the struggle against imperialism, against oppression and racism. What happens here does not happen by accident. It is a symbol of the capitalist system. And we are working on means of attacking it.       For five years we have not only been attacking RWE, but a system of hierarchy and exploitation that facilitates the company’s mania for profit. It is very clear for us that the fight for climate justice is intimately linked with the struggle for a world without hierarchies, a world far away from capitalistic coercion where major companies do not yield any power over human beings and nature! It is intimately linked to a world where everyone has the right and courage to defend their opinions and principles without being silenced by repressions from the state and system! The fact that the occupation is still alive after five years is proof for the fact that it is possible to resist, that it is possible to dedicate your life to your own maxims and that we will succeed in turning theory into praxis. Only by organising collectively and through courage were we able to fight for this freedom and free space and to maintain it. Despite repressions, despite many of us having been beat up, abused and imprisoned, we are here and will stay here!

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How Dare They Nationalise Their Oil!!

       According to Western propaganda spewing from the babbling brook of bullshit, our mainstream media, Iran has been, and still is, the king of the world's evil empire. According to that organ of the state and the corporate juggernaut, the babbling brook of bullshit, all things nasty, all terrorism, all human rights failures, stem from that country. The West's vision of Iran is shaped by nothing more than power and wealth for that elite bunch of parasites, oil is the driving force of that hatred. Some years ago, the people of Iran had the audacity to nationalise their countries oil, and to the West, that is an unforgivable crime. All the wars of the West are for the same reason, wealth and power to that small cabal of obscenely rich moguls who control the world in which we live.

This from The Canary: 

        The US just fired at Iran. But there’s something vital that the media won’t be telling you about ongoing tensions.
On 25 July, the US Navy fired ‘warning shots’ at an Iranian patrol boat in the Persian Gulf. This isn’t the start of World War Three as some media outlets may suggest; but it is a sign of continuing US-Iranian tensions. And it comes just weeks after the release of declassified documents which highlight the issues at the very heart of these tensions. We probably won’t be hearing such historical context in the mainstream media any time soon, though.

Newly released documents show tensions exist for a reason

As Noam Chomsky pointed out in 2013:

-----for the past 60 years, not a day has passed in which the U.S. has not been torturing Iranians… [It] began with a military coup, which overthrew the parliamentary regime in 1953, installed the Shah, a brutal dictator… When he was overthrown in 1979, the U.S. almost immediately turned to supporting Saddam Hussein in an assault against Iran, which killed hundreds of thousands of Iranians, used extensive use of chemical weapons… Right after that, Iran was subjected to harsh sanctions. And it continues right until the moment.

      And in June 2017, newly released documents showed exactly what was at the heart of CIA involvement in the 1953 coup. As Foreign Policy reported:

------the CIA plot was ultimately about oil. Western firms had for decades controlled the region’s oil wealth… [Then, Iranian Prime Minister Muhammad] Mossadegh nationalized Iran’s oil industry. A fuming United Kingdom began conspiring with U.S. intelligence services to overthrow Mossadegh and restore the monarchy under the shah… [Eventually,] Iran’s nationalist hero was jailed, [and] the monarchy [was] restored under the Western-friendly shah…

        The US long denied its involvement in the coup. And Washington only drip-fed documents to the public over the years. But even the 2017 release was incomplete; with a number of original CIA telegrams having either ‘disappeared’ or been destroyed long before. And retired history professor Ervand Abrahamian believes the US was so reluctant to publish this information partly because it “shows how involved the U.S. Embassy was… in internal Iranian affairs”.
As Noam Chomsky highlights, Amnesty International regularly described the shah as “one of the worst, most extreme torturers in the world”. And Foreign Policy stresses that the 1953 coup fueled “a surge of nationalism which culminated in the 1979 Iranian Revolution and [poisoned] U.S.-Iran relations into the 21st century”. In 1979, Chomsky says, Iranians “overthrew a tyrant that the United States had imposed and supported, and moved on an independent path”; and as a result, the US has punished them ever since.

      US hypocrisy and self-interest still at play in Iran

      In 2017, current US President Donald Trump is ramping up tensions with Iran. But not because of democracy or human rights. Instead, his hostility is largely because Iran’s regional enemies, Saudi Arabia and Israel, are US allies; because there’s a barely reported conflict occurring over oil pipelines in the Middle East; and because Iran does not bend easily to America’s will.
Indeed, Trump’s speech in Saudi Arabia back in May contained no talk of freedom, democracy, or human rights. But it was full of talk about terrorism; full of talk about deals with America’s “magnificent” Saudi “friends”; and full of verbal attacks on Iran. Trump said:

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