Nancy's Petticoat.

       For those interested in the history and struggles of the ordinary people, I'm still shying away from the coronavirus thingy, I thought I would post these two images I received from a friend in Manchester, thanks Ron. I have transcribed them for easier reading.

Owd Nancy’s Petticoat.
      My earliest remembrances of taking part in Radicalism are the invitations I used to receive to be at ‘owd Nancy Clayton’s in Charlestown, on 16th of August to denounce the Peterloo massacre and drink in solemn silence ‘to the immortal memory of Henry Hunt’
     This old Nancy and her husband were both at Peterloo, and, I believe, both were wounded, at all events, the woman was.
     She wore on that memorable day a black petticoat, which she afterwards transformed into a black flag which on the 16th of August used to be hung out and a green cap of liberty attached there to.
      In the year 1838 a new cap of liberty was made, and hung out with the black flag on the anniversary of the Peterloo massacre.
      These terrible and terrifying emblems of sedition alarmed the then powers that existed and our then chief constable -no lover of democracy- was ordered by a magistrate to march a host of special constables and all the civil power he could command and to forcibly seize and take possession of these vile emblems of Anarchy and base Revolution. Off they marched . . . but the women of that part of the borough heard of the contemplated raid that was likely to befall their cherished emblems. And the women drew them in and hid them.
      Up this gallant and brave band of men went to the front door of poor old Nancy Clayton, and placed themselves in daring military array while the chief constable with a subordinate marched upstairs, and amongst the women there he found my old friend “Riah Witty, who told the writer what follows.
      Imperiously and haughty, as became the chief of so noble a band and in so righteous a cause, he demanded the Black Flag and the cap of Liberty.
     My old friend ‘Riah said,
     “What has thou to do wi’ cap o’ liberty? Thou never supported liberty, not aught ‘ut belongs thee?”
       However, the chamber was searched and the poor black flag was found under the bed and taken prisoner .. the house was searched from top to bottom for the cap of liberty, but neither the genius of the chief nor his subordinate could find the missing emblems of Revolution. Off this gallant band of men marched with poor old Nancy’s petticoat – the black flag never more to grace a radical banquet of potatoe pies and home brewed ale …
      The Saturday after this grand demonstration ‘Riah Witty met the chief constable, and she exclaimed, “Now, thou didna find that cap o’ liberty, did tha?” “No”, he said, “I didna ‘Riah, where was it?” She said “I knew thou couldna find it; it were where thou duratna go for it”…

       From the recollections of William Aitken, weaver and life-long radical. Published in the Ashton Reporter, 30th. January, 1869. 

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Not Waving.

     Each post, every news broadcast, most communications, we can't escape from it, Covid19, important, of course, but we can suffer from information saturation, subject overload. So I stray now and again into the world of, music, poetry, chess, all passions of mine. I also enjoy Frank Skinner, so was delighted to find we shared a love, poetry, and he does a podcast. So to take your gaze away from Covid19 for a wee while, here is Franks podcast on works from two poets, Stevie Smith, a new poet to me, so thanks Frank, and William Carlos Williams, enjoy.

Not Waving but Drowning

By Stevie Smith

 

Nobody heard him, the dead man,   

But still he lay moaning:

I was much further out than you thought   

And not waving but drowning.

Poor chap, he always loved larking

And now he’s dead

It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way,   

They said.

Oh, no no no, it was too cold always   

(Still the dead one lay moaning)   

I was much too far out all my life   

And not waving but drowning.

 Photo and poem courtesy of Poetry Foundation.

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Enemies Of The State.

     The state is all about control, control of the population to make sure that wealth, privileges and power stay where they are. They will do all they can to silence, stifle or intimidate those who would dare to speak out against this unequal and unjust system. They are the strong arm enforcers of the capitalist system. Some states do this in a quiet underhand subtle manner others are more open on their brutal attack on dissident voices, useing, apart from open violence, completely fabricated scenarios and false evidence to put those dissident voices in cages to try to keep their voices from being heard and turn them into subservient citizens. 

     Anarchists are always at the forefront of the attack on this authoritarian  system of privileges and power to the wealthy pampered few, while trying to create a society of mutual aid, where the people control their own lives in communities of co-operation linked to like communities, a world of equality and sustainability, that sees to the needs of all our people. So these are the people that the state fears most, those struggling to change the entire system, so these are the ones on which the state will come down hardest. Lies, fabrication, false evidence and raw brutality will be its tools, whichever it feels will work to preserve the status quo. It would be prudent for those in the areas controlled by the more subtle states to be warned that the other tools are still in the tool box of the so called democratic states.

The following from Anarchists Worldwide:

 

 

       The Continual Anarchist Witch Hunt & the Scenario of State Incompetence
      Only a few weeks ago comrades in Tangerang were arrested for graffiti and the media sensationalized the arrests followed by false information from police declaring that on the 18th of April the Indonesian anarchists had planned mass looting nation wide. This was proven false. Moreover police were trying to make a ridiculous scenario in which a petit criminal they caught was forced to do a live video declaring himself as “The sole leader of the anarchists”, fortunately this video has become a national joke. Even before, many of the activists and journalists criticized police evidence concerning books. Police confiscated books and showed them off to the media and it was mostly non-political books, many of these books were fiction or non-fiction reports that were published legally. Hence, it is concluded that this evidence — books —are not court materials. But the Indonesian police are more than ready to exaggerate their own stupidity. Mass looting, prison riots, and even people dying of hunger has already happened throughout Indonesia.
      The Absurd Arrests and the Isolation of the Defendants
      Most of the defendants concerning the case were mostly doing graffiti. While it is clear that the graffiti was to incite riots, the state and the police seem so myopic or they’re consciously doing it to divert from the real issues as part of their strategy to veil the whole incompetency of the state in dealing with the crisis. Young anarchists were arrested in West Java and more recently in the city of Malang, East Java. This case is different to that of the Tangerang anarchists, the anarchists in Malang were arrested just because they were directly involved in social struggles against land grabbing, state corporations, and other grassroots struggles, one media report went as far as saying that the prosecution of these anarchists is just because, or as the police statement to the media said: “they are anti-capitalist.” These state scenarios smell like rotten eggs coming from idiotic bureaucrats.

      One of the more outrageous arrests that occurred just a few days before was of a journalist who is very critical of government policy. Ravio Patra wrote about the state’s falsification of information about COVID-19 and published a comprehensive article on an independent news portal. Afterwards, his Whatsapp account was hacked — Whatsapp officials stated that it was true, his Whatsapp account was breached — and that all of a sudden he received messages via his account saying that “its already crisis, its time to burn, lets loot on 30th of April”. Before this Ravio already contacted some experts about why he couldn’t seem to control his own account. Not many hours after, he was out of contact. Until most of his friends and advocacy groups confirmed that he had already been arrested.
      We can say that the bureaucrats and police acted recklessly but in this time of pandemic it seems they can do whatever they want to prosecute anyone, especially people connected to the anarchists. In this latest scenario, we can see how the Indonesian state acted in a totalitarian manner. We will not go down in silence. This anarchist witch hunt has got to stop and we cannot beg the state to do it for us. Their absolute incompetency and their rotting infrastructures will go down. Down with surveillance and the society of control, decompose the state right now!
      PS: The funny thing is that most anarchists in Indonesia are and were involved in countless public kitchens in a form of mutual aid and the state are and were always trying to criminalize everything.
      We are the criminals, we don’t fucking value your laws. We’re going to help you die soon.

Circle of Marvelous Individualists

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Bloody Hands.

 

      April 17th I posted an article regarding the death of a prisoner on hunger strike in a Turkish state prison, the Turkish state stood by and let him die. Meanwhile another prisoner was on hunger strike and family and friends pleaded with the Turkish state authorities to intervene and save his young life. It is with sadness that we have to report that as is their custom, the Turkish state did nothing and stood by and let him die. More blood on the hands of the Turkish state, though they are not alone in this manner of inhumanity, it is a characteristic of all states. (PS: it appears that for some reason the images on that previous blog have been blocked)

The following from Enough is Enough:

      Turkey. Political prisoner Mustafa Kocak has died after 297 days of hunger, he was fighting for a fair trial after being sentenced to life imprisonment based on the questionable testimony of a police informant.
      He had dropped to 29KG, and had his last phone call today with his family where he said “I cannot breathe anymore”
      Imprisoned in the F-type isolation prison of Sakran, near Izmir, the 28-year-old was sentenced on 11 July 2019 for the kidnapping conducted by two militants of the Turkish revolutionary left (Safak Yayla and Bahtiyar Dogruyol) against Prosecutor Mehmed Selim Kiraz in Istanbul (31 March 2015). Kocak is accused of supplying weapons for the action that ended with the death of the two militants and the magistrate, this probably for “friendly fire”, following the raid by special police teams.
      Mehmet Kiraz was investigating the murder of Berkin Elvan, a 15-year-old boy who had participated in the summer 2013 Gezi Park protests. Hit in the head with a tear gas (June 6, 2013) while on his way to buy bread, Berkin had died after 269 days in a coma on March 11, 2014. The two revolutionaries involved had asked, in vain, the authorities to reveal the names of the agents responsible to bring them before the People’s Court in Istanbul.

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Last Chance.

 

     We as a species have accepted a system that has bombed countries into oblivion, resulting in millions of deaths, millions fleeing their homes, and an army of maimed and injured. We have eliminated thousands of other species, probably millions, altered the climate to our own disadvantage, and screwed the entire planet. We have taken ourselves the the edge of a precipice and stand looking over the edge. Will we blindly carry on with our journey of self destruction and eliminate our own species, or will we halt and look at what we have done. This disastrous pandemic has offered us an opportunity to take stock of what we have done, where we are and where we could go. This is probably the last real opportunity that we will have to smash the rule book of the old destructive greed driven system and to write a new set of rules. Rules that unsure that we look after our home, the planet, we see to the needs of all our people and respect all life. We must write our past into the dustbin of history and label it as "Our Darkest Hour", and swear never to repeat these disasters.
       Should we return to that destructive greed driven normal of yesterday, we will have missed what is probably our last opportunity to try to put things right with our planet and the life it supports. Our history makes for dreadful reading, our future doesn't have to follow the same script. We would do well to remember, spaceship Earth has no escape capsule.

Grand Plans

In this world where we serve oblivion
with a blind pride and sure conviction
creating plans to land a man on Mars
grandiose schemes to conquer the stars
eyes on horizons ever further afield
believing, to us the universe will yield.
Yet here on Earth we fail to see
a chaotic world of human debris,
our magnificent results thus far
a planet dying from a human scar,
oblivious that our plans sublime
are mere litter scattered in space and time.

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Beneath The Surface.

        The media still put out picture that we, on the whole, are quietly accepting our new enforced "normal", with a "we are all in this together" spirit. Of course this isn't quite an accurate picture of what is happening on the ground, there is considerable discontent and anger bubbling just below the surface. People are starting to move a little further from the rules, there have been riots in various cities across the globe, prisoners around the world are rioting, migrants in camps are rioting, and beneath the surface there is a growing desire to break out of this enforced straight jacket. The latest flash point in Europe has been Paris, after an incident with the police in a Paris suburb.
      There has been four nights of riots in the suburbs of Paris, the police being the main target of the youth from these areas. The riots began on Saturday evening after an incident that people saw as a police officer deliberately injuring a young local motorcyclist. The suburbs of Paris and many other French cities are usually very poor areas with poverty being a way of life for many struggling families. This lockdown has cost many of the residents, already poor, to lose their incomes. In these areas there has always been tension between police and residents, this has been exacerbated by the extra police presence to enforce the virus lockdown. The authorities are concerned that this situation could escalate, and there is every possibility that it will.

 

Reports HERE,  HERE, HERE, HERE,  HERE, HERE,

Photo from Sky News

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Don't Be A Cop.

This from Anarchists Worldwide: 

 

APPEAL TO CITIZENS TO AVOID AUTHORITARIAN CONTAMINATION!

      If you see a street-based worker, such as a windscreen washer, sex worker, busker, or coal-biter fundraising on the street, don’t call the police to report them. Give them some cash. Ask them if they need something and offer to help them out. Don’t be a cop.

     If you hear that someone in your neighbourhood is showing symptoms, don’t stand behind your curtains spying to see if they are leaving their house. Offer them assistance, ask them if they need support. If you notice they aren’t wearing a mask, don’t yell at them, try and get them one. Don’t be a cop.

     If you see people walking around your neighbourhood, try not to assume the worst. Maybe they are homeless, maybe they are going to work. A lot of people don’t have the privilege of shutting themselves away at home with a fridge full of food. Don’t be a cop.

      If you go out shopping, don’t make hateful glances at people around you for fear of infection. Other people are like you with the same concerns. Say hello, make conversation. If you see someone shoplifting, give them a wink. Other people aren’t your enemy. Don’t be a cop.

     If you see someone who lives on the street, don’t cross the road out of fear. If you can, offer them food, a mask, water. If they are breaking into an empty building, they may be seeking safe and secure shelter. Offer to be a lookout. Don’t add to their problems. Don’t be a cop.

Let’s not spread the cop virus!
      They are the disease that attempts to infect us all, but together we are the antidote!

(Adapted from a leaflet that originally appeared in Spain, and the French version translated into English by Anarchists Worldwide. Image by Toby Zoates) 

Download as PDF: anticop virus poster

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk 

What To Do.

        This pandemic has brought many moments of standing at the window just looking out. During one of those sessions of gazing aimlessly out the window, some words rattled through my head, so I just wrote them down.

A Pandemic

Confined to barracks no end in sight
Ordinary socialising now forbidden
Reality that doesn’t seem quite right
Open house all invites hidden
No hugs, no squeezes, no gentle kiss
Any close contact, tinged with fear
Voices received through social media
Invisible enemy prowling near
Repressive laws come with doubt
Undying desire to be out and about
Social contact now made to disappear

Ah well, I suppose it is better than going insane.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

Off Topic.

      Covid19, coronavirus, pandemic, lockdown, self isolating, social distancing, quarantine, government ineptitude, etc.. Well to get a wee break from that, something completely different.

The Birth of Spirit of Revolt.
       An idea floated around in one persons head, in 2011 he spoke to some comrades, they decided to meet in a cafe and discuss the idea. That was the day that Spirit of Revolt was born. It was the cafe in the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow, five like minded people started to plan and shape the idea, after much discussion they agreed on the name, Spirit of Revolt, today we are very proud of that creation. Of course it is no longer five individuals, it is quite a wide group of people some come and some go, but we always have a core group of dedicated volunteers that work away in the background, building, expanding and publicising what we believe is a unique archive in Scotland. Apart from gathering, recording, digitising and making easily accessible, anarchist and libertarian socialist history, we arrange outreach programs, in an attempt to bring the history of people’s struggles to a wider public.
       In this present situation of a lockdown, we can’t at the moment work in our room at the Mitchell Library, so we do the best we can working from home and arranging virtual meetings via Zoom, to make sure the archive continues to be a source of interest and information. We have thousands of documents, leaflets, pamphlets, serials, books and booklets, letters, personal documents, posters, comics, banners and other memorabilia. Thousands of these documents/articles are already digitised and can be accessed on our website, so please have a we look and let us know what you think, or if you wish to participate as a volunteer, or you may have material that you wish to donate as long as it fits our criteria.
      We consider what we have achieved to be of great value in recording the history of the ordinary people’s struggles, a history that is all too often overlooked and lost, but is part of what we are and what we want from our society. We are also proud to state that we have done this without any funding, support or association from political parties of trade unions, we owe our success to the dedication of our group of gallant volunteers.

       Four of the original five at the Cafe in the Royal Concert Hall in 2011, the fifth member, Stasia, took the photo, as usual she works away diligently in the background.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

Little Sparks!

 

     It is only a matter of time. The cracks are beginning to appear, how much longer will compliance be the accepted norm? You can rest assured as more and more people stretch the rules, the police, in their usual arrogant heavy handed over reaction, will do their best to intimidate and subdue any infringement. Don't expect the state to rebuke the police, their mouthpieces will always loudly acclaim that it was the public that was at fault, and the villains are being dealt with severely. Fear is their weapon.

   We can rest assured that this incident reported from Turin in Italy, is not the only one on this planet of lockdown, but don't expect the mainstream media to inform you of these "infringements", they would much prefer to push the scenario of all happy happy, clappy clappy, we're all in this together, to conceal their total ineptitude and stupidity and their complete inability or desire, to create a system that would protect the public from such a situation in which we now find ourselves.

The following from Enough is Enough:

#Turin #Italy – Giulio Cesare street is just the beginning.
           Turin. Italy. April 19. 2020. The now unbridled power of the police has manifested itself today in a catch that tasted like an assault. Shortly after lunch, under the occupation of 45, Giulio Cesare street, a dozen policemen stopped two men with an exaggerated exercise of force and without paying attention to the precautionary anti-infection measures. The violence of the action was such that it aroused the attention of the people in the area who, although locked in their homes, did not remain silent and many took to the streets.
        Originally published by Macerie. Translated by insuscettibile di ravvedimento.
        Among them also some comrades who began to rage against that brutality aggravated by the total and contemptuous disregard for the possible contagion. It is precisely those who effectively impose the lockdown and have the complete management of what happens in the streets of the cities that represent a further danger to health, beyond what their role normally grants them. Numerous police and army vehicles arrived as reinforcements and, in the face of a neighbourhood that was clearly hostile to them, began to put pressure on comrades who were thrown to the ground, dragged and taken away.
       Dozens and dozens of individuals remained in the street and together with a few sympathizers who arrived later and hundreds of residents at the windows created a real protest.
       With incredible speed came the first statements by the city citizen politicians from the right and left who, compete in a disjointed manner for the title of who, over the years, have invoked the repression of anarchists most tenaciously. It seems clear that they are frightened by scenarios that they cannot even imagine because in Aurora neighbourhood the measure seems to be full and after weeks of forced domicile in narrow apartments, a life now literally reduced to starvation, towards the State and its representatives in uniform are beginning to see unequivocal signs of not forbearance.
      In the popular neighbourhoods of the cities this could be just the beginning. In fact, there is news of a group of comrades who, in Milan, in the late afternoon, went from courtyard to courtyard, in the neighborhood of Ticinese, to tell about the events in Turin with a megaphone and that the response from the houses was of heartfelt and noisy solidarity with the arrested comrades.
     There is still no certain news of them, we will soon report some updates. In the meantime, the newspapers say that they are under arrest and that forty people have been denounced for violation of the rules envisaged for the current coronavirus pandemic.
      What happened today, as we said, seems to be only the beginning and it is no coincidence that it happened on the poorest streets of the city.

Freedom for Giordana, Marifra, Samu and Daniele!

Freedom for everyone!

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State Manslaughter.

       How well has buccaneer Boris and his motley crew been doing in the handling of this pandemic? Well according to the most recent figures, not very well. We are the fourth worst in Europe, but also fourth worst in the world, per head of population. For a supposed highly developed and very rich country, that is a disastrous result by any reckoning. Our lords and masters always punt the story that we are the best at almost everything and we are lucky to live in such a well prepared, organised and caring society. These results show us just how inept at building a truly civilised society our lords and masters are, profit always trumps humanity in this profit driven economic jungle. Surely with all these avoidable deaths we have arrived at judgement day, and will call this bunch of greedy, inept, bumbling careerists to task, then charge them with state manslaughter and make sure that they can never take control of our lives ever again.

	Confirmed deaths (absolute)	Population (in millions)	Deaths per million
Belgium	5,828	11.42	510.24
Spain	20,852	46.72	446.28
Italy	24,114	60.43	399.03
France	20,265	66.99	302.52
United Kingdom	16,509	66.49	248.3
Netherlands	3,751	17.23	217.69
Switzerland	1,429	8.52	167.79
Sweden	1,580	10.18	155.16
Ireland	687	4.85	141.55
United States	42,296	327.17	129.28
Portugal	735	10.28	71.49
Iran	5,209	81.8	63.68
Denmark	364	5.8	62.79

For figures on the rest of the world click HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk 

A Personal View.

    I have always maintained that the "lockdown" would only last so long before cracks start to appear and people start to stretch the rules a bit further and further, and if there is a heavy handed put down by the police it could all fall apart. The human is  a social creature, we live by socialising, we like to choose when and where we socialise and with who me socialise. What we are experiencing now is alien to our nature and we will rebel in one way or another sooner or later. We should prepare for that event by organising and coming together in our communities to ensure we don't turn it into a foolhardy free for all, but a determined effort to take back control of our lives in a rational and co-operative manner. I don't know the answer as to how we do that, but if we don't talk about it and prepare for it, we will never find the answer, but I do believe that mutual aid has to be the foundation stone of our new normal. The longer this "lockdown" goes on the more likely there will be of a growing desire to break out of it, we should be preparing for that event.

    In the talking and thinking about such a situation we should also be clear that we are not breaking out to go back to the old "normal", we must make sure that plan is complete killed off. We have the ability, imagination and the desire to create that better world that benefits us all, a world that sees to the needs of all our people. It is there, it is within our grasp, there has never been a better time or a greater opportunity than now to break the mould and start anew. As the Scouts say, "Be prepared".

     I think the graphic blow is a perfect reminder of the old "normal" that we don't want to go back to.

‘Betrayal’ by Mario Sánchez Nevado

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It'll Be Fine!

 

       There is no doubt we are in a very new type of situation, and everybody has their own way of looking at this. Some with despair, some with fear, others with hope, I tend to lean towards the hope side. Though having reached my 86th birthday, sometimes that hope wears a wee bit thin, but it is still there.

      The following is from Madrid Cuarentena City N.2

Everything Will Be Fine.

       It’s the story of a man who falls from a 50-story building. To calm down as he falls into the void he keeps saying to himself:
So far so good.
So far so good.
So far so good…
      But it’s not the fall that matters, it’ s the landing. As in the metaphor of the French film “La haine”, we live in a world that has been condemned to disaster. The continued destruction of the ecosystems to extract raw materials, the systematic degradation of the earth’s crust by monocultures and agro-industry, the expulsion or annihilation of species, the transformation of the oceans in dunghills, the irreversible damage to the ozone layer… has had an exponential advance in recent years. They’ve put us on a path which is more than evident a transformation, for the worse, of life on earth.
     At the same time, we have generated societies that are annihilators of the different, of the enemies of risk and adventure.The perpetuation of hierarchies and authorities, slaves of an economic system that puts the flow of goods above everything else. Profit as the only ideology. In which the virtual imposes itself on reality. The simulation to the experience.
     In recent weeks, campaigns were launched in places like Italy and Spain asking children to draw rainbow posters with the message “everything will be fine” or “andrá tutto bene” and then hang them on the balconies or public buildings. Unfortunately, this illusory and innocent message implies complacency with all of the above, a yearning to return to a reality that is self-destructive for people and harmful to our environment.
     And all this has been accompanied by self-incrimination, considering individuals as guilty agents responsible for the transmission of a virus, when it is clear that diseases do not become pandemics because of the actions of a few people, for that a series of infrastructure conditions (such as overcrowding in large cities, for example), environmental conditions, movement conditions, etc. are needed, and of course they are and were given.
      We assume, then, the orders to stay at home for our own good and that of others, in a paternalistic and patriarchal tone. But when we are forbidden to go on the streets alone, or with the people we share a house with, are we responding to medical or public order criteria?
      Meanwhile, let’s clap on the balconies and hang signs… but maybe it won’t go well. It’s even possible that whatever we do won’t go well. The possibilities for the recovery of the planet are infinite, it is not so much that in this resurgence from the ashes we can continue to exist as a species. But we are not going to deny ourselves the pleasure of enjoying this journey, even if it is the last one. We are going to confront, fight, experiment, imagine… pointing out and hitting those responsible for this reality and moving away with our practices from its perpetuation.
      Another world is possible, said the classic leftist slogan, another end of the world is possible, is the slogan that we have no choice but to adopt, and we do so with passion. Muchxs without hope, but with the flame in the eyes when you are so close that you can look into the abyss.

Translated by Act For Freedom Now.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

An Exit Strategy.

       At this stage in the pandemic, all the talk is edging towards an "exit strategy", of course an "exit strategy" depends on where you want to go. Our so dedicated lords and masters will no doubt, be eager to get you all back, in a subservient manner, to your usual grind of struggling to pay your bills and hoping there is enough to feed the kids, while making millions for your very rich bosses.  

       If we have a grain of sense we will not accept that road for our "exit strategy". After this experience we surely have other plans other than grinding out a life to keep our bosses in opulence. IWW has some interesting methods of making our "exit strategy" work, and it doesn't include subservience and trying to pick up a decent wage packet. It means we set the agenda, point the direction we will go and doing what is necessary to get there, free from the profit motive. We, the ordinary people,  must take control if we wish to shape the society to the benefit of all our people.

From IWW on twitter:

       “You don’t need a vote to raise hell. You need convictions and a voice.” - Mother Jones.

    We have been told year after year, that the entrepreneurs are the wealth creators  of society, during this pandemic I haven't seen any running around creating that wealth, perhaps it has dawn on them that they need the workers to do that bit. This time round, let's create it for our own people.

  Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk 

A Desired Normal.

      It must now be obvious to most people that the system we have been living under has failed us, the people. As we scramble to save lives with a decimated health service and keep hearing the same phony platitudes from our political ballerinas, that the government is doing all it can, doing it right, and everything is falling into place. While 4 weeks into this lockdown, front-line workers are still struggling to get the right equipment. 

     An economic system that was wholly focused on profit for the millionaires and billionaires at the expense of social spending, a system that completely failed to build and maintain the structures necessary for a civilised society. A system that failed to prepare for such emergencies and allowed so many citizens to fall by the wayside, must be seen for what it is, a system that is pure and simple there to enrich those few who are already rich at the expense of the many.

     Knowing this raises the obvious question, what are we going to do about this injustice and abject failure? Mutual aid groups are spring up all over the world, as ordinary people step in to fill the void left by this failed system. People with compassion and a desire to help each other and those more vulnerable than themselves. This surely must be the blueprint for any future shaping of our society. Communities coming together and doing it themselves in co-operation with other groups and communities, with no thought of profit, just seeing to the needs of all our people. I see no reason why we should abandon this method of caring for each other, rather than meekly sitting waiting for our lords and master to get the old greed drive, failed system back up and running. 

    We can and must create that new "normal", based on mutual aid, co-operation, sustainability and seeing to the needs of all our people. 

       The following short article on mutual aid, how to build on it, where it can take us, its possibilities, its possible problems, and its possible wrong directions. There are plenty of links in the article giving a much wider discourse on the subject that will save us, mutual aid.

The following extract from Acorn:

       Mutual aid features prominently in the anarchist response to the current situation. Here is, after all, a perfect opportunity to put theory into practice and to show that acting together, by and for ourselves, is more effective and empowering than waiting passively for the state to save us.
       There is also the possibility that the self-help community networks built up now could evolve into the bases of future revolutionary activity.
      “Longstanding anarchist forms of organization and security have a lot to offer when it comes to surviving the pandemic and the panic it is causing”.
      “Within communities, mutual aid has been proven as the only way to get through the privations of lockdown and the fear of serious or fatal illness. Communities have acted quickly to share basic supplies and resources”.
       “We are seeing Mutual Aid groups spring up in local communities across the UK as crisis sparks compassion in many who want to help out and reach our most vulnerable, our isolated, the many left behind by successions of uncaring governments”.
     “Social solidarity and mutual aid pandemic care is blossoming in communities large and small”.
See also here, here and here.
     There has been occasional reflection on the limits of such an approach, asking how we can ensure that mutual aid networks do not simply turn into temporary means of helping people adapt to a situation they maybe ought not to be adapting to…
        “If our capacity to care for one another fails to be instantiated in qualitatively different forms, they may very well simply be reintegrated into novel expressions of privation, dispossession, and precaritization in whatever new legal and economic systems that may attempt to establish themselves”.

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