Now And Then, Freedom Is Illuminated.

 

     Across the world they create sparks, little flashes that illuminate the vision of freedom. For this they suffer, are persecuted, imprisoned, tortured and killed, but still the sparks appear. Sometimes the spark creates a fire, and freedom, for a while, becomes a reality somewhere, until the powers that be with the usual tangle of their brand of repressive "legality" and barbaric brutality, extinguish the flame. Still the sparks appear, again and again, in the glare of their neon cities and in the darkest depth of their tyranny, little heroic acts that gladden the heart of all those  who see freedom as the natural and only way to live. 

      Centuries have rolled by with authoritarian regimes struggling to gain control over the spark creators and darken their sparks forever, they always fail miserably, the sparks are still there. All those who love freedom can become spark creators, for sure nobody knows which spark will create that fire that will destroy this world of exploitation, authoritarianism, injustice, wars and inequality.

     The sparks are created by an indeterminate variation of acts, some simple, putting up a poster, dropping a banner, handing out a leaflet, creating a discussion group, they can be acts of great heroism, that kick the system where it hurts. It is their some total, their continuing appearance and their frequency that frightens the power moguls of the capitalist system.

     We pay homage to all the spark creators of the past and stand in solidarity with those of today, with one cry, this world is ours, and one day we will take it back, from the corporate and warmongering  beasts. When we do, humanity will walk from the dark malignant husk of capitalism into the bright and warm light of social justice.

From Peru to Pakistan,

from America to Armenia,

from Ireland to India,

from Canada to Cambodia,

Long live Anarchy. 

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

    

A Game Of Chicken, With Civilisation At Stake.

       I'm no lover of the Russian state, or any state for that matter, but I do get concerned by this onslaught of vitriol that is being flung at the Russian state, with no evidence produced by the accusers. Would the UK state lie? Remember Iraq? Of course our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, throws its full propaganda expertise behind the campaign, instead of investigating and trying to reveal evidence to support or otherwise, of their claims. In this insane world of competing power blocks, all armed to the teeth with nuclear weapons, we the public, should be concerned, when one nuclear power group tries to push another nuclear power nation into a corner. Surrounds it with nuclear weapons and tries to destroy its influence in the world. A game of "chicken" between nuclear powers is insanity in the extreme, with civilisation the likely victim.  Does the cornered nuclear state back down or retaliate, continuing the escalation, in which case we the public across the globe are the losers, not the lords and masters of the nuclear war machines.

      In the following video John Pilger tries to blow away the fog and dispose of the smoke and mirrors of this worrying, if not terrifying, war mongering rhetoric. Thanks Loam for the link.

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NATO, Western Imperialism's Nuclear War Machine.

        NATO is held up as the defender of democracy, but in fact it is nothing more than the war machine of the Western imperialist corporate juggernaut. State financed by our tax money, it is a wonderful customer of the arms industry, feeding billions of pounds into their coffers.

     Its main duty is to safeguard Western imperialism's resources, plundered from various part's of the globe. Also it is there to snatch valuable resources it feels will benefit the corporate power mongers of the West, and to maintain the West's strangle hold on the world's economy.

     It comprises of 29 nation states, I say nation states, simple because not all the population of those nations states are in favour of this nuclear armed war machine. Each of the member states have continuous protests against its existence. Some of the member states were dragged in kicking and screaming from their population.

      Iceland saw mass demonstrations on the announcement that they would become part of this war machine:

Wikipedia:

        The Icelandic NATO riot of 30 March 1949 was prompted by the decision of Alþingi, the Icelandic parliament, to join the newly formed NATO, thereby involving Iceland directly in the Cold War, opposing the Soviet Union and re-militarizing the country.
The protesters first convened behind a school in the centre of Reykjavík and then marched on Austurvöllur, a small park in front of the parliament building, where a throng of people had already arrived positioning themselves between the parliament and the rioters, intending to defend it.
        At first the demonstrators were calm, but when a leading member of the Socialist Party announced over a loudspeaker that the leader of his party was held hostage inside the Parliament building, things became violent.
        Rocks were tossed at the building, some breaking the windows and one narrowly missing the head of the Parliamentary president, until the Reykjavík police force, aided by volunteers from the Independence Party intervened, beating rioters down and eventually launching tear gas grenades at the rioters.
No official estimate exists of the number of participants, but photographic evidence clearly shows that thousands of people were present.

       The NATO bombing of Yugoslavia was a military operation against the Serbian people and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) during the Kosovo War. It was the first time that the organisation used military force without the approval of the UN Security Council. The air strikes lasted from March 24 to June 10, 1999.



       Those sitting in the marble halls of power, making the decisions, as how and when their war machine should move into action, are, as usual, not the ones that will do the fighting, and dying. That part of the plan falls on the ordinary citizens. Some, foolishly, will do the bidding of the lords and masters of the war machine, others will be at the receiving end of the slaughter. The spoils of the bloodshed will, of course, not be shared by those who did the dirty part of the plunder and slaughter, it all goes to the CEOs of that greed driven Western capitalist juggernaut.

      If world peace is what you desire, you will have to see NATO as part of the problem, you have to think of how to eliminate nation states, and their war machines, dismantle capitalism, and replace it with a sustainable system of mutual aid, based on the needs of all our people, freed from the profit motive.
      States, power blocks, and an economic system of greed and exploitation, can only deliver war and inequality.

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

      

The Undemocratic Bombing The World Into Democracy!!!

        America along with its other members of that bully-boys club, NATO, stomp around the world bombing nations to destruction, maiming, displacing and killing, countless millions of innocent civilians. This the club spouts as, "bring democracy" to these people. Of course if you swagger around the world bombing them into "democracy", the assumption is that your own countries are "democratic". However, you don't have to look for long to see that "democracy" is very thin on the ground of the member states of the bully-boys club, NATO. 

      The previous post "The Viciousness Of Austerity" points to the injustice and inequality, and therefore, total lack of "democracy" in the UK. The following video displays how the "democratic" member state of Spain, deals with the legitimate protests of its people. Thanks Loam for the video link.

 

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The Viciousness Of Austerity.

       What do you call a state that deliberately and continuously administers violence on its population? Certainly the word democracy is completely out of place. The British state, like most states across the globe, rolls out policies that cause early deaths, stunts the potential of youth, throws thousands onto the homeless list, increases trauma, stress and anxiety. It pushes policies that lead to poverty, deprivation and in many cases, suicide. Creates communities where food-banks are an essential means of survival. All this takes place under the banner of the innocuous word "austerity". The true viciousness of austerity is hidden behind a flood of propaganda, misinformation and downright lies. It is also put forward as a beneficial policy to all of us, creating stability, and future prosperity. Lies, lies and more lies, but not innocent lies, vicious, deliberate lies created to hide the real extent of the cruelty of the ideology that is pursued to enrich and protect the already rich and powerful, to protect a system of greed and exploitation.  

      Leading this smokescreen of illusion and subterfuge, this tsunami of propaganda, is our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media. Peddling petty pulp, blurring the vision of the ordinary people with a web of misinformation, inane articles and sensationalizing the mediocre. Without their smoke and mirrors the illusion would be impossible.

        The viciousness of austerity may not reported or be seen in our babbling brook of bullshit, but to the vast majority of this country, it is most certainly felt. Universal Credits, and welfare cuts, silently move across the land like an invisible thief, taking years off the lives of the vulnerable, snatching the future from the young, disappearing social services, lay the fearful stifling hand of trauma, anxiety, and stress on the millions of struggling ordinary people. The silent hand of vicious austerity, in the guise of suicide, visits the homes of those broken by it incessant grinding force.

       This onslaught against the most vulnerable and the poorest in our communities under the banner of austerity, will leave a scar for generations, and it is all a deliberate pushing of an ideology of dispossessing the poor to enrich the wealthy and powerful. It will continue as long as we tolerate the present system of capitalism. To stem the flow of this viciousness against the ordinary people, we have to come together and demolish its root cause, an economic system based on greed and exploitation, that rewards the rich and powerful, we have to bring an end to capitalism, we have to wake up and see this cancerous capitalist system as humanities darkest hour.

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

The State and Its Two-Faced Little Spies.

        As long as we have a state, or any form of competing power blocks, we will have those lowest of low life, the infiltrator "spy". All those who are alive to the injustice, exploitation and repression of the system we live under, and are prepared to speak their mind and take action against that injustice and repression, need to watch their back. One in their midst may not be what they profess to be, though they may be the most vociferous in their criticism of the system. It could all be a ploy to draw you into their sphere of influence and prod you to action you may not have taken under you own volition. While they gather a profile with which to snare you at a later date, dragging you into the quagmire of the state judicial system in an attempt to silence you.

        An interesting article from Freedom News, though not an isolated case, it is always well worth while to get these snakes out to public scrutiny.  

Exclusive: The Met spychief who infiltrated Freedom Press

Freedom News,
        After an investigation tracking his articles through the paper and talking to old comrades, Freedom can today reveal at least some of the story of former spycop Roger Pearce as he used our paper to worm his way into Northern Ireland.
      Earlier this week it was disclosed that Freedom Press would now be considered a core participant in the Undercover Policing Inquiry, following official confirmation that Pearce had operated as “Roger Thorley,” a former writer for Freedom in the 1970s and ’80s.
       Having looked through the Freedom archive and cross-checked with former collective members, Freedom can confirm that Pearce, writing under the moniker R.T, penned a series of articles over the course of the period 1980-81 and then joined a fact-finding mission to Belfast, before disappearing from sight.
Download the articles (pdf)
        Most of these essays were dryly written, but heavily critical assessments of the policing and justice systems with a focus on the situation in Northern Ireland, suggesting among other things that IRA members detained by Britain should be treated as political prisoners — a major and controversial demand of Republican combatants at the time. Pearce qualified as a barrister with Middle Temple in 1979, meaning he was ideally placed to act as an “expert voice” on such matters when putting forward such articles for publication.
        The strong implication, and one which Freedom is investigating, is that Pearce was using the paper as a way to contact and assess British connections with the radical community in Northern Ireland in a period of crisis. The news will strengthen the case for an expansion of the inquiry into the region, as Pearce joins other undercovers with links to Northern Ireland and would go on to become the Met’s Director of Intelligence and head of Special Branch from 1998-2003.
Have pen, will travel
        Anarchists who were active at the time do not, for the most part, remember Pearce very well — he seems to have kept a relatively low profile — and as far as can be told he was never an active editor at the paper. Some memories do survive however, which fit with what we now know to have become the standard operating procedure for Met infiltration of perfectly legal, poorly resourced organisations.
        Dressed up with Trotskyish glasses and a goatee, Pearce was conspicuously “useful” as a car driver prepared to give people lifts (this is a recurring theme from spycops) and one comrade remembers that he was the “unofficial chauffeur” of Leah Feldman, a grandee of earlier times in the movement who, it was said, had been at the funeral of Peter Kropotkin 60 years earlier. Other memories place him as having a girlfriend who was also an activist, though this can’t be confirmed.
       What can be confirmed is that when inquiry head Mitting defined Pearce’s writing as “virulently anti-police” he wasn’t exaggerating — and it was specifically in favour of the IRA. In one article, Prisoners of Politics (Vol 41, No. 22, Nov 8th 1980) the editors debate “R.T” over his demand that IRA detainees should have political prisoner status, noting that “all prisoners are political”. In another he attacks the arrest of Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, as “difficult to evaluate in terms of sheer blatant prejudice and hysteria,” comparing him to Provisional IRA man Gerard Tuite.
        But it is R.T’s final article which should raise the most eyebrows. In The Not So Distant Struggle (Vol 42 No. 19, Sep 26th 1981) he reports back from a fact-finding mission to Belfast that he had inveigled himself onto, along with four other members of the Freedom Collective. The consummate London police spy’s empathetic report on the Troops Out phenomenon, which suggests a close working relationship with the then-active Belfast Anarchist Collective, notes:
       Within a short distance of Britain we are daily witnessing a most repressive regime whose intensity supports no comparison with life in London; a regime where there is near total monitoring of movement day and night, where constant use is made of the Prevention of Terrorism Act to detain and prosecute ‘political offenders’, where the overt presence of armed forces often reaches saturation point, where prisoners are condemned by juryless Diplock courts, and where widespread condemnation has been directed internationally, particularly from America.
        This was a man so embedded in the heart of that “repressive regime” he would rise to high office, ringmaster to the many other liars and manipulators of that force in their efforts to destroy resistance in Belfast and beyond. A paid-up member of the British state writing to the public that:
        Ideological scruples must not be allowed to erode the clear responsibility of focusing attention on what has become the embodiment of the repressive state visibly at work in utilising all its resources, using the streets of Belfast, Derry and elsewhere as a prime testing ground for future urban unrest in Britain.
        In doing so, the striking image of people demanding to determine their own existence emerges not just from individual IRA actions, but rather from the close communities of which the IRA guerrillas are an indissoluble part.
       It’s an analysis many anarchists and leftists would agree with, then and now. But for an agent of the Crown, misleading would be an understatement.
       We are now asking around Belfast comrades to see if anyone remembers his visit – or whether he resurfaced later in his deployment period, up to 1984. Please get in touch if you do!

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

 

Blind And Biased Media, The State's Mouthpiece.

          Most of our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, is still pouring out the horrors of Ghouta in Syria, giving horrifying details of injured and dead children, the horror is real, and is an indictment against state power. However, why no similar details of the Turkey's Erdogan fascist's horrifying genocide in Afrin. In the eyes of the Western state propagandists, are the people of Afrin lesser mortals than the people of Ghouta? Is murder and devastation justified when perpetrated by a "friend", but unacceptable when administered by a rival imperialist power block? How long will we tolerate this slaughter of innocents to bolster state power.
This from Enough is Enough:

 “Let’s meet in 

#Brussels against Turkey and #NATO 

on March 27″

         The Platform for Afrin issued a written statement to call for a central march and rally to be held in Brussels on March 27.

          The statement starts with, “Tens of thousands of people will join the NATO protest in Brussels on March 27 and stop the massacres and the genocide,” and continued with:

“ERDOĞAN CAN BE STOPPED THROUGH RESISTANCE”

        “The fascist Turkish state carries out massacres and invasion attacks in Afrin using all the opportunities and weapons NATO offers, as well as the silence and support of international powers.

The second largest army in NATO is implementing a genocide in Afrin with open approval for the massacre by Russia. NATO is directly responsible for the massacre inflicted on a civilian population, using all opportunities and resources of NATO.

         The people of Afrin have put forth the Resistance of the Age and stupefied imperialist states and their tool the fascist Turkish state. Since January 20, the peoples of the world have been witnessing the most noble resistance of human history. We are faced with the duty to increase the resistance of the peoples which will foil the plans of the imperialist states and international institutions who have offered silent support for the massacre of the Kurdish people. The murderer Erdoğan is glad of this silence, but he can be stopped if we turn everywhere we are into the grounds of resistance.

“WE WILL BE THE VOICE OF AFRIN”

          The genocidal operation against our people in Afrin is implemented barbarically by the Turkish state with the permission and approval of imperialist states. Hundreds of civilians, women and children have been massacred by the fascist Turkish state’s army and the murderous Al-Nusra, Free Syrian Army and ISIS gangs to date. Together with the anti-fascist and peace movements from Kurdistan, Turkey and Belgium, we will be in Brussels on March 27 to be the voice of the people of Afrin.

           As the Platform for Afrin that includes 94 organizations and institutions (Kurdistani institutions and organizations, revolutionaries and democrats from Turkey, Assyrian-Syriac people, Armenians, Alevis, Êzidîs, Muslims, Christians, women’s and youth organizations), we are calling on the Belgian and world public:

“NATO WEAPONS USED IN MASSACRES”

           The true owner of the dirty war and invasion attacks in Afrin is NATO. NATO’s support for the massacrist Turkish state, NATO resources and weapons are being used in the genocidal war in Afrin. Our call for all Belgian people who are anti-war and pro-peace, all unions, NGOs, antifascists, politicians and for the women’s movement is to join the European central march we will be holding on March 27 to stop the NATO war in Afrin.

        We are calling on all our people and our allies to participate in the protest against NATO on March 27 in Brussels.

We are calling on all peoples to participate in the march to dismantle this dirty alliance.”

          The Platform for Afrin announced that the march will start from the Place Rogier Bruxelles on March 27 at 12.00.

Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/186900225257467/

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

Time For More Family Re-unions.

       From Berkeley to Brussels, from Calton to Catalonia, from Paris to Paraguay, from Moscow to Mumbai, from Italy to Iran, we are brothers and sisters of a very large family, we are anarchists. One of the problems with large families is, that they don't meet up often enough. The following article from Freedom News, first appeared in Winter 2017 issue of Freedom Anarchist Journal, (though I can't seem to trace that issue) mirrors my sentiments. 

  

         I love being an anarchist. Why? Because whatever bigger city you go to, you’re bound to find a liberated space inhabited by your siblings-in-arms. It’s like you’re part of a big family — always bickering, but when the worst comes to worst you always have each other’s backs.

        And you can rely on the fact that if you’re stranded in strange territory, there is always someone who will share a beer and local knowledge with you, and if you’re in need of it, a couch. You’re family, after all.

        But despite all of us sharing the same general goals — liberation, solidarity and all that — you can find different ways of working towards them wherever you go. If you cross a national border and meet with the anarchists there, you will find that they have entirely other methods of abolishing that border than your own group might.

It makes sense, of course. Different environments require different tactics.

          But on my travels I saw some things that might work just as well in Cologne as they do in Belfast or Barcelona — we simply hadn’t thought of them before!

          The things we can learn from each other are almost infinite. Ask the libertarios of Barcelona Sants about resisting eviction and how to connect with a working-class neighbourhood.

Ask Sinistra Anticapitalista in Italy about how to work against the housing crisis.

        Learn about the squatting hotlines in Brescia, syndicated strike action in Paris, the newspapers in Madrid, the radical bookstores in London, the antifascist gyms in Athens.

      It’s truly incredible what we can come up with, and to every problem that the elites and capitalism confront us with, the radically free are quick to find a creative solution.

        With the means of oppression globalising, our resistance has to follow the same development.

        We have to connect with each other and learn about things that already exist in our own environment, and those that are yet to come. Union busting, to name one example, is rampant in the US, and elites in Germany and the UK are going heads over heels to apply the same tactics here.

       We need more connection between activist communities, locally and globally. International — or rather antinational — conferences and actions are something we cannot leave to our enemies only. Let’s spend some of our funds on sending each other greeting cards of love and rage, so that when global capitalism attempts to crush us, we have the united power of anarchists everywhere to fight back.

From Europe to South America to Asia and everywhere else — we are the Antinationale!

La Maupin

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

As Blood Flows Across Borders, So Should Solidarity.

      Dictator Erdogan's bloodshed flows across the world, brutal repression in Turkey, and savage bloodshed in Afrin, from there it streams across borders to other lands. It is our brothers and sisters that are being viciously slaughtered in Erdogan's grab for more power and territory. 

This from Anarchist News:

First appeared in Empty Cages Collective.

         Our hearts are heavy with sadness today as this weekend we learned of the death of our friend and comrade, Anna Campbell.
         Anna was killed in a missile strike in Afrin while fighting with the YPG. Anna was a core member of the Empty Cages Collective and an active organiser in many anti-prison projects and campaigns, including Community Action on Prison Expansion, Smash IPP as well as Bristol Anarchist Black Cross. She made organising a joy.
          She was a dedicated anarchist deeply committed to fighting for liberation. Her list of engagement in social struggles is long, from hunt sabotage to student occupations. She was a passionate feminist and proudly queer.
      Like, Louise Michel, her favourite historical anarchist, social revolution was the deepest of her desires and is what took her to Kurdistan. Anna died on the frontlines where she wanted to be – defending a revolutionary movement. She will be deeply and desperately missed by friends and family. Her courage inspires us to keep fighting for liberation, and for the destruction of the state and its prisons.

“We revolutionaries aren’t just chasing a scarlet flag. What we pursue is an awakening of liberty, old or new. It is the ancient Communes of France, it is 1703; it is June 1848; it is 1871. Most especially it is the next revolution which is advancing under this dawn.”
– Louise Michel

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

From Arrest To Trial----Ten Years!!

         The wheels of state "justice" can turn very slowly, after ten years, a group of anarchists known as the Tarnac nine, who were arrested with a show like a Hollywood movie, finally arrive in court. This is a report of the start of the trial from Anarchist News:

          Ten years after being rounded up in a well-publicised raid by anti-terror police, defendants in a trial for the alleged sabotage of a rail line did their best to ridicule the prosecution and show their lack of respect for the court this week. The case, which started out as an accusation of a terrorist plot, appears to have been sparked in part by reports from a British undercover cop who has since been exposed by environmental activists.

        "Monsieur Coupat, is it really necessary to eat your snack during the proceedings?" presiding magistrate Corinne Goetzmann asked the star defendant on the first day of the "Tarnac trial" as he bit into a cereal bar.

       The following day she gently reproached him for drinking the Latin American drink maté in court, informing him he did not have "a monopoly on irony" when he protested that she had said he had the right to drink during the trial.

      During the first two days Julien Coupat and fellow defendants joined their lawyer in interrupting prosecutor Olivier Christen and casting doubt on the police's evidence.

        But on Friday Goetzmann took a more no-nonsense tone.

"I'm well aware that in this trial some defendants felt an anger that needed to be expressed, which is why it seemed important to me to let them [speak]," she said. But, she went on, "That is not how a trial happens, the evidence must be discussed, people must listen to each other".

From terrorism to criminal conspiracy

        On 11 November 2008, Coupat, 43, and his ex-wife, Yildune Lévy, 34, were among nine people arrested by some 150 police officers in front of TV cameras in a raid on a farmhouse in south-west France where they were all living. Echoing the police's version of events, the right-wing interior minister at the time, Michèle Alliot-Marie, claimed that an ultra-left terrorist plot had been foiled.

        The group was accused of being behind five acts of sabotage on the railway network in which steel hooks were hung on overhead cables, posing no risk to life but a serious threat of damage to trains.

Coupat and Lévy were finally accused of placing a hook on cables on a high-speed TGV line near Paris on 7-8 November 2008 and charged with terrorism.

        But 10 years later the terror charges have been dropped. Coupat and Lévy now stand accused of criminal conspiracy, along with Elsa Hauck, 33, and Bertrand Deveaud, 31. Two of their comrades, Christophe Becker, 41, and Marion Glibert, 34, are charged with forgery or receiving stolen documents, and Benjamin Rosous, 39, and Mathieu Burnel, 36, are charged with refusing to give DNA samples, a charge four of the other accused also face.

Police report's inconsistencies

       A key element of the prosecution case - a report by police who tailed them on the night of the crime - came under the spotlight on Friday. The defence pointed to inconsistencies, including the fact that one of the officers signed another report in a police station in Levallois-Perret at the time he was allegedly following the suspects.

        The prosecution claims he signed a fax sent from the station the next day. Coupat and Lévy say they drove around the Paris region in Coupat's father's Mercedes because they knew they were being followed and that they tried unsuccessfully to book a hotel room.They claim the police at some point gave up tailing them and then invented the rest of the testimony after the act of sabotage was discovered the next day.

       The defence's request for the police officers' phones to be traced to establish their whereabouts has been turned down on the grounds that their numbers are a state secret.

British undercover cop

        The French police were allegedly tipped off about the Tarnac group by a British undercover police officer who has since been exposed by an environmentalist group he infiltrated.

Mark Kennedy, alias Mark Stone or Mark Flash, has been accused of being an agent provocateur. He is also one of five British police officers at the centre of a legal case over their alleged deception of women into having serious relationships with them while they posed as activists.

        Like several of the others, Kennedy has a wife and children. He has since told the media that he was used by the police forces of 22 countries, has declared that he has regrets over the role he played and, according to the Guardian newspaper, sued the police for manipulating him and failing to protect him from falling in love with one of his targets.

         Kennedy appears to have been the source for an account of a visit Coupat and Lévy paid to the US, crossing the frontier illegally from Canada to avoid having biometric passports. They admit meeting like-minded people in New York but insist that their encounters were not a sinister global anarchist get-together, as it has been portrayed in the police account. "I abhor being placed in the position of defending myself by a fake police officer," Coupat declared when refusing to plead innocent or guilty on the first day of the trial.

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

A Death Of An Ordinary Person Is Of No Consquence To The State.

       The state is an institution of control that lacks compassion and human empathy, it follows that those employed to guard its power and privileges are endowed with those same deficiencies. To expect the police to protect the public when their actual function is to protect the state, is naive in the extreme. The state, to safe guard its existence, grants itself the monopoly on power and violence, it can kill at will, and dress it up in their legal jargon, giving it their stamp of legitimacy. You kneel at the alter of state power or you are the enemy. There is a litany of evidence to this effect, all of it written in the blood of the ordinary people.

This from Enough is Enough:

        On March 15th, around 5 o’clock in the afternoon, our brother, friend, and colleague, Mame Mbaye Ndiaye, passed away. The incident took place on Calle Oso, Lavapiés, after a racist raid that was followed by a pursuit.

       Together with all the organizations that support us including the 12N Sin Racismo, SOS Racismo, The Association of Manteros and Lateros, and Kwanzaa, we will no longer continue to accept the daily persecution of black people, nor the constant assassination attempts made by the Spanish State.

       In accordance with our fellow colleagues who had also been the victims of the pursuit from Sol to Lavapiés, there were reports that the Police had been continually kicking them so that they would fall to be able to arrest them.

       Mame Mbaye and a colleague had managed to reach Lavapiés where he then collapsed. His colleague tried to help him when he fell, but the police impeded him from doing so, with the excuse that they should wait for paramedics. Aid was possible, but yet the forces of the State decided to wait, facilitating his death. This incident is clearly a crime supported by the Ley de Extranjería (Spanish Law of Immigration), a law that kills, tortures and humiliates us both on the street and in the CIEs (Detention Centre for Illegal Migrants). A law that excludes us from society in such a way that prevents us from being able to exercise basic rights such as the right to work, health care, and fair legal representation. We find ourselves before the crime of a system of borders — a crime of state-sanctioned violence.

         Moreover, we want to emphasize the fact that what happened to our brother Mame is not an isolated incident, but one that forms part of a bigger dynamic between the Spanish government that sustains itself through racism and the torture of black bodies and migrants.

The Collective of Manteros and Lateros is currently one of the social groups that suffers from the most police violence. Our colleagues are constantly attacked, discriminated against, and beaten for merely trying to survive. This is in addition to several thefts and arrests by state forces.

        We demand the immediate conviction of the assassin of our brother, Mame Mbaye Ndiaye. We want to also commemorate each person that has been assassinated by these very same racist laws and borders including Samba Martínez, Aramis Manuka, Idrissa Diallo, Mohamed Abagui, and all those who cross continents and all our mantero brothers that suffer as well as all our ancestors.

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

The Israeli Apartheid Support Thwarted In Glasgow.

      Saturday in Glasgow was a very wind and bitterly cold day, despite this, approximately 1,500 brave individuals faced up to the vicious weather to take part in Glasgow's anti-racism march and rally. Perhaps the organisers would like to explain why COFIS, (Confederation of Friends of Israel Scotland) was allowed to join the march? This is a group that openly supports the violent racist Israeli state and its Zionist forced apartheid, a state where non Jews are second class citizens. Why was the national flag of this openly racist state allowed to be carried at an anti-racist march? This was a slap in the face to the Palestinian people, from the organisers of this march.

        I was delighted to see that a considerable number of people thought the same as me on this matter, and had managed a well organised and very efficient counter demonstration, managing to isolate the COFIS group, and their Israeli flags, from the main march. They contained and delayed the COFIS group to such an extent that by the time that the racist COFIS group reach George Square for the rally and speeches, the rally had already dispersed. Well done to each and everyone that took part in that real anti-racist counter demonstration.

     I thought the symbolic Israeli racist wall had a very powerful effect, forming a barrier between the racist COFIS and the pro Palestinian and other protesters. A strategy that could be employed to great advantage in other situations. Great idea comrades.

The "wall" that the COFIS had to march behind all the way to the Square.

COFIS being contained at the start of the march.

Some of those that helped contain and delay COFIS.

COFIS on their slow walk to the Square.

COFIS being being contained at the start of the march.

 Part of the main march reaching the Square, with COFIS a mile behind.

 Of course, no anti-racism march would be complete without them.

       No matter what blurb comes out from COFIS about this event, the true result of this counter demonstration is, that it was a complete success, they prevented this support group of racist Israel from attending the rally in George Square, a success for anti-racism.

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

 

We Are All Born Anarchists.

       In our continuous struggle for freedom and justice for all, we take inspiration from from those who have, unstinting, unwavering, given their lives to that cause. We take energy from their lives, we are honoured to take up the struggle, to carry the baton on to the next stage. Some of those who inspire us have lived a long and hard life,unrelenting in their desire for that better world. It is seldom that a child is the warrior that inspires us, but Javier Recabarren, was such a child, born in poverty but courageous in is battles against injustice, at the young age of 11, on March 18th 2015, he was killed  on the street where he fought many of his battles, run over by a bus. 

        His life should re-enforce that belief that we are all born anarchists, it is the present society that attempts to shape and mould us, to fit into their neat little boxes, all the easier to control.

This from Theory Without Borders:

PROPAGANDA AND SABOTAGE FOR TOTAL LIBERATION

       We remember the young anarchist fighter Javier Recabarren, who died on the 18^th of March 2015, after being run over by a bus from the company Transantiago.

         On the 18th of March our comrade Javier Recabarren died after being run over by a bus outside of his school. However, this 11 year old boy was no ordinary kid. Whoever crossed his path noticed his unshakeable desire for freedom.

He was a member of the “Animal collective: Raise your voice” and participated in extensive manifestations for animal liberation initiatives. He also regularly performed anarchist activities that involved practising revolutionary solidarity with our comrades in prison. Naturally, he was also involved in the Street Fights, fearlessly facing the police and burning flags of the United States. These actions led him to be detained by the bastards on several occasions.

        The war that Javier started is a clear sign to keep fighting against all forms of power and authority, along with continuing the fight for animal liberation and practising revolutionary solidarity in order to ensure that Javier’s vision prevails and transcends… This young fighter inspires us to maintain our chosen path towards total liberation.

¡¡COMRADE JAVIER RECABARREN: PRESENT!!
¡¡Today we will give you a minute of silence… and a lifetime of fighting!!

Read the full article HERE:

 

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

 

The Street Cleaners.

        Trumps victory in America certainly opened the sewer gates and allowed the filth to flow freely onto the streets of America. However, no matter the stench from the neo-nazis, fascists, white supremacists, KKK, and other demented minds, there are those who will take to the streets to clear the filth and allow freedom to breathe. Let's hope this band of street cleaners grows rapidly in every city across the globe, and sweeps the far right sewage back into the cesspool from which they slither.
This from Roar Magazine:

         Since the election of Donald Trump, acts of racist violence have proliferated across the United States. Racists and misogynists feel emboldened to express and act on their views. White nationalist groups and resurgent traditional white supremacist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan have used Trumps victory to gain new recruits. All that stands in their way are the groups of anarchists, communists, and socialists who have taken it upon themselves to prevent fascism from becoming a powerful political force in the United States. This film tells the story of what “Antifa" is and why people are using these tactics to confront racism and fascism in the US today.

        Who are the anti-fascists? What motivates them to risk their lives to fight the far right? What is the history of militant anti-fascism and why is it relevant again today? How is anti-fascism connected to a larger political vision that can stop the rise of fascism and offer us visions of a future worth fighting for? Through interviews with anti-fascist organizers, historians, and political theorists in the US and Germany, we explore the broader meaning of this political moment while taking the viewer to the scene of street battles from Washington to Berkeley and Charlottesville.

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