Hope.

        As the mass protests and outrage at the public murder of George Floyd by the police, started to spread across the world, that little glimmer of hope that I always had, that one day all the single issue politics would disappear and become one mass worldwide protest movement against this savage, brutal and exploitative system and end it once and for all, that little hope grew brighter. Here at last the ordinary people of all the shades of humanity were coming together, this illusion of race was evaporating before our eyes. Perhaps now we would all see that the only real division in the human race is class. Though the hope is still there, I never underestimate the subterfuge, devious and brutal nature of the other class, the "establishment", the millionaires and billionaires the corporate bodies and their minders, the state. That is what we should be watching for, there underhand, hijacking and false propaganda to divide and undermine that unity.

The following is from FSP, (revolutionary feminism.)

The Barricades Are Burning.

       On Saturday, May 31, the world witnessed an historic event – the fires of mass rebellion broke out a few hundred yards from the White House.

Donald Trump, the political head of the most powerful imperialist state that economically and militarily lords over the whole Earth, was escorted to the secure bunker inside the White House fearing that the angry masses of Black, Latinx and poor white Americans would attempt to settle accounts with their president.

     Thousands of Black working-class youth have led massive protests composed of workers and the unemployed of all races due to the Covid-19 pandemic since the American dream has become a nightmare of growing poverty, the loss of housing, the lack of jobs, the super-exploitation of part-time employment, and the absence of adequate healthcare. Brave young people – both citizens and immigrants – faced off against brutal, murderous men in uniform to avenge the death of George Floyd by shouting, “No more police killings!”

      In a May 30 statement, the National Comrades of Color Caucus of the Freedom Socialist Party and Radical Women wrote that, “The police have always been in the service of capitalism and white supremacy since its origins as the slave patrols of the South. Ever since, the corrosive power of white supremacy has been used to delude working-class whites into thinking that their interests lie with rich whites instead of their own class brothers and sisters of color.”

       Now the monumental crisis that the capitalists have created in the world economy that delivers its most violent and terrible blows to the lives of most the humble and dispossessed has drawn a clear line between the rich and poor, the exploiters and exploited, the oppressors and oppressed. 

The class interests of workers in the U.S. are beginning to overcome the racial barriers that the U.S. bourgeoisie has maintained to divide poor whites from poor Blacks since the founding of the nation.

      The moving expressions of solidarity around the world clearly illustrate that the working class is a single class and international. Let no wall stand in the way of grief over the death of George Floyd, a Black man; nor impede solidarity with the oppressed and exploited in the United States. The same state that drains the livelihood of workers in other countries beats and strangles its own people.

        It is time for working people around the world, united in suffering and pain, to stand up against capitalism that destroys and kills and end all oppression by building a socialist world.

Workers of the world, let us unite!

Committee for Revolutionary International Regroupment (CRIR)

Partido Socialismo y Libertad – Argentina
Partido Obrero Socialista – México
Freedom Socialist Party – United States and Australia

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

Migrants & Solidarity.

      Migrant centres, camps or call them what you will, prisons would probably be a more accurate name, go hand in hand with violence, intimidation, humiliation and denial of human rights. This is easily verified by a little research into reports from those detained. Since these degrading institutions are ordered, created and organised by the state, what this highlights is another strand of the states vindictive, callous, psychopathic,  violent, racist structure. As another display of the state's callous brutality, in most cases it hands these institutions over to private corporations to run them at a profit, making money from human degradation and misery, operated by the low life that calls this "a job". It is an inhumane society that treats those fleeing war, famine, deprivation and death in such a threatening and vicious manner. A society that doesn't have compassion for all human life is a flawed and failed society. Police brutality on the outside, state violence on the inside, two sides of the same coin, are the pillars of a this society, built on plunder, privilege, exploitation, intimidation and control.

The following from Anarchists Worldwide:

        Recently it became publicly known that systematic violence is perpetrated against refugees in the federal asylum camp in Basel (Switzerland). Obviously this violence is neither an isolated case nor is it limited to the asylum camps in Switzerland.

       This violence is systematic and the system has names. Those responsible are internationally represented and operate in many different places. Let’s name them and show them that their actions bear consequences.

The spread of the coronavirus has highlighted the violence of the European migration regime – both at the EU external border as well as in local asylum camps and prisons.

        This call wants to continue the intensified struggles against it.

What are federal asylum camps?

     Since the spring of 2019, asylum seekers in Switzerland are being administered in so-called federal asylum centres. The accelerated asylum procedures related to the erection of these new structures do not result in fairer procedures for most of the persons affected, but in faster deportation. The federal asylum camps are often geographically isolated. The type of construction, the location, as well as the rules imposed are reminding of prisons and other institutions that deprive people of their freedom. They are contributing to the racist constructs of the nation state and borders.

Whether the Swiss federal asylum centres, the German anchor centres, the CIE (Centro di Identificazione ed Espulsione/ Centro de Internamiento de Extranjeros) or the French CPA (Centre de Premier Accueil): they are all part of the European migration regime, which categorises, isolates and deports people by force and coercion.

      For the maintenance of these camp structures, various sectors must be covered. The include, for example, construction, administration, delivery of food, transportation, servicing, surveillance and security services.

All these tasks are entrusted to companies that profit financially from the precarious situation of people in search of asylum.

What is happening is Basel?

      Reports from witnesses show that in the federal asylum camp in Basel people from the Maghreb are deliberately harassed, abused, beaten and in some cases seriously injured by employees of the Security AG. The disciplinary measures referred to by Securitas as “self-defence” often end in hospital for those persons affected.

        Securitas is mandated and gets covered by the camp operator ORS and the SEM (State Secretariat for Migration): Those persons affected by the mistreatment are being blamed for any incidents. The injuries inflicted by Securitas employees are racist portrayed in the official reports as self-inflicted injuries by “aggressive North Africans”.

     The federal asylum camp in Basel is located directly next to the (deportation-) prison “Bässlergut”. Both in the prison and in the camp, there was and still is resistance from detainees. Actions and attacks against these institutions also take place outside the walls.

Further info:

        Documentation brochure of the Securitas violence in Basel (in German): https://3rgg.ch/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/3RGG_Immer-ein-Grund-uns-zu-schlagen_2020-1.pdf

   Information and past actions concerning the Bässlergut (in German): https://barrikade.info/tag/74

On the security business

       In Switzerland, Securitas AG is mainly responsible for “security and order services” in the federal asylum camps. Protectas is also deployed in the camps. Protectas is the Swiss version of the internationally active Securitas Group (logo with the three red dots), which has nothing to do with Securitas AG in Switzerland (eye logo).

There are many other companies that offer these services and thus carry out the direct oppression and control of people through psychological and physical violence.

On the “Organization for Regie and Special Projects (ORS)”

       In Switzerland, ORS has a near monopoly in the management of asylum camps. It operates internationally in Italy, Germany, Austria and Spain (under development) and has an EU office in Belgium.

ORS Service GmbH
Muthgasse 36
AT-1190 Wien
+43 (0)1 8906666-808
info@orsservice.at www.orsservice.at
www.orsintegration.at

ORS Deutschland GmbH
Albert-Schweitzer-Str. 16
D-78052 Villingen-Schwenningen
+49 (0)7721 697 18 40
info@orsdeutschland.de

ORS Deutschland GmbH
Güterhallenstrasse 4
D-79106 Freiburg
Tel. +49 (0)761 769 931 20
info@orsdeutschland.de

ORS S.r.l.
Piazza Annibaliano 18
I-00198 Roma
Italia
info@ors-italia.com www.ors-italia.com

ORS Group
14b Rue de la Science
1040 Bruxelles
Belgium
info@ors-group.eu www.ors-group.eu

Further addresses (in Switzerland) of responsible companies can be found in the call at https://barrikade.info/article/3517

++++ This is a call! ++++

For solidarity beyond national borders. Let’s fight together against the Fortress Europe and all its pillars!

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

Solidarity.

      This must be the time of a universal stand in solidarity between people across the world, a new era of universal solidarity. The public murder by the police of George Floyd, opened the flood gates to rage and out pouring of solidarity, our solidarity must encompass all those in struggle against this punitive, exploitative violent system. In our rage and fury at this brutal system we must not forget the others still suffering at the hands of the various "legal" systems of repression across the globe.

      This is a call for solidarity from Italy for comrades being dragged through the Italian state's judicial mesh.
From Act For Freedom Now:

 

 

      The second degree of the «Scripta Manent» trial will begin in Turin on July 1st, 2020. We ask comrades and people in solidarity for economic support, all the more important because in these months of lockdown the benefit initiatives have been reduced to a minimum if not completely interrupted.

The bank references to send money are:

Iban: IT56M0567617295IB0000592586
Accountholder: Omar Nioi
Bank: Banco di Sardegna
Bic/Swift code: SARDIT3S100

For any information contact the e-mail: cassamanent[at]anche.no

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

Why Police?

       The mass protests that started in America, has mushroomed across the planet. An obvious sign that their is an underlying malaise at the root of this economic system. The anger is not just against the police and their daily brutality, sanctioned and funded by the state, this can be seen by the symbols of the system that are being attacked. What we are seeing is the latent energy of populations that have lived with a murmuring of anger just below the surface. Anger fermented by generations of exploitation, by ever growing inequality, by an ever more blatant plundering of the public wealth, all backed up by state repression and brutality.

       The callous brutality of the police is no aberration within this society, it is a deliberate production of the state, to enforce this continual plundering of the commonwealth for the parasitic few. If by some magic formula we managed to eliminate the police, the state would have to reinvent it to ensure its survival. It would need to recreate an enforcing system to allow its corporate masters to continue their exploitation of populations and destruction of the planet. 

       So let's focus on the real problem with our society, not the activators of the violence, but on the reasons why they are there in the first place, who trains, funds and sanctions them, and why. Answer those questions and you will stand with the protesters and show solidarity in this justified release of generations of pent up anger. The police are being ever more militarised  and are backed up by masses of legislation, devised and brought into law, not by the police, but by the planners of the system, those faces with names that sit in the marble halls of power, for no other reason than to protect the inequality and exploitation, to defend the status-quo. Unless you sit with those who sit in those marble halls, you should be supporting those on the street. Solidarity is the weapon that can bring down the injustice inherent in this savage economic system of violence and inequality.

      Not a new image, but a true reflection of the system under which our righteous anger has grown.

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

Killing Machine.

        Most of the world's decent people are shocked and outraged at the public murder by the police of George Floyd, and the continuous killing of African Americans by the police on an almost daily basis, all strength to their righteous anger. However what doesn't seem to have yet entered the public consciousness is that in South Africa the police kill more than three times the number of people that are killed by the police in the United States per capita. Killing and violence are part and parcel of the state malaise. State killings and brutality are on an unimaginable magnitude during their many and continuous wars, these killings are of people in another country, usually under the pretext of bring peace and democracy, though the ordinary people of the invading country also pay a price. However the state doesn't stop its violence and killings in times of so called "Peace", in country after country ordinary people are brutalised and killed by the enforcers of their own government. The state and violence are inseparable. They kill to enrich their resources and markets, they kill to stop other states from gaining resources and markets, they brutalise and kill at home to preserve their festering system of greed and power.
 

     Killing and violence are the basis of their system, how else could they exploit, rob and plunder year in year out, how else could the garner the wealth created by the many, into the hands of the few. The killing will only stop when we finally accept that it is our responsibility to bring to an end this cancerous economic system. This is not just a fight against the police brutality and racism, it is a fight against a system that to survive it requires the back up of its many violent and killing agencies.

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

Watts,1965.

        What we are looking at in the wide spread riots and mass protests following the public murder of George Floyd by the police, is a mirror of Los Angeles, 1965, only on a much larger scale. It becomes obvious that in this capitalist economy nothing changes in the relationship between the state and the general population. The only change seems to be in the growing inequality and the more brutal and draconian methods to keep the system going in the same ruthless manner. I have no doubt these events will keep repeating themselves until we finally get rid of the root cause, the state/capitalist economic system that is driven by greed and profit, and has shackled our lives for centuries.

    Some photos from those Watts riots, 1965.

Rare footage from Watts 1965:

      The following is an extract from quite a long article, but well worth reading, from "Bureau of Public Secrets" on those 1965 riots in the Watts district of Los Angeles.

The Decline and Fall of the
Spectacle-Commodity Economy
     

  August 13-16, 1965, the blacks of Los Angeles revolted. An incident between traffic police and pedestrians developed into two days of spontaneous riots. Despite increasing reinforcements, the forces of order were unable to regain control of the streets. By the third day the blacks had armed themselves by looting accessible gun stores, enabling them to fire even on police helicopters. It took thousands of police and soldiers, including an entire infantry division supported by tanks, to confine the riot to the Watts area, and several more days of street fighting to finally bring it under control. Stores were massively plundered and many were burned. Official sources listed 32 dead (including 27 blacks), more than 800 wounded and 3000 arrests.
        Reactions from all sides were most revealing: a revolutionary event, by bringing existing problems into the open, provokes its opponents into an inhabitual lucidity. Police Chief William Parker, for example, rejected all the major black organizations’ offers of mediation, correctly asserting: “These rioters don’t have any leaders.” Since the blacks no longer had any leaders, it was the moment of truth for both sides. What did one of those unemployed leaders, NAACP general secretary Roy Wilkins, have to say? He declared that the riot “should be put down with all necessary force.” And Los Angeles Cardinal McIntyre, who protested loudly, did not protest against the violence of the repression, which one might have supposed the most tactful policy at a time when the Roman Church is modernizing its image; he denounced “this premeditated revolt against the rights of one’s neighbor and against respect for law and order,” calling on Catholics to oppose the looting and “this violence without any apparent justification.” And all those who went so far as to recognize the “apparent justifications” of the rage of the Los Angeles blacks (but never the real ones), all the ideologists and “spokesmen” of the vacuous international Left, deplored the irresponsibility, the disorder, the looting (especially the fact that arms and alcohol were the first targets) and the 2000 fires with which the blacks lit up their battle and their ball. But who has defended the Los Angeles rioters in the terms they deserve?
        We will. Let the economists fret over the $27 million lost, and the city planners sigh over one of their most beautiful supermarkets gone up in smoke, and McIntyre blubber over his slain deputy sheriff. Let the sociologists bemoan the absurdity and intoxication of this rebellion. The role of a revolutionary publication is not only to justify the Los Angeles insurgents, but to help elucidate their perspectives, to explain theoretically the truth for which such practical action expresses the search.

Continue reading HERE: 

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The Murmur.

      As I have always said, nobody knows the spark that will ignite the fire. Police brutality goes on day and daily, in country after country, and there is an angry murmuring. George Floyd's public murder by the police, thanks to modern technology, circulated the world, that was the spark that ignited this fire. This was not a sudden and unexpected explosion, this is the release of decades of pent up discontent and anger, decades of having injustice heaped on you on a daily bases. George Floyd threw open a door through which our anger could run free and express itself and attack the causes of those decades of brutality and injustice. 

     Of course you'll get the so called voices of "reason" condemning the destruction and looting, but where were they when for centuries the wealth created by the many was continually being looted by the few, where were their voices when the few, through the state and corporate bodies heaped destruction on our home, the planet? In a society where the majority are continually being looted of the wealth they create, what the apologists for the state, the media, call "looting" is merely taking back some of what you created. The trillions paid to the corporate world as a "bailout", is nothing more than looting the public purse by the state to comfort the wealthy few. 

      Yes, this anger may subside, and authority take back control, if that happens, then the brutality, the plundering of public wealth, the gross inequality and injustice will return, and you will have to accept it, or ignite another fire. The state authority and its accompanying brutality will not melt away because you desire it to do so, it will require the full force of your anger to rid ourselves of that scourge. 

      This could be the birth pangs of a new world as it struggles to be born, trying to push its way from the darkness to a bright new future. The choice is ours.

The Murmer Of The Poor

Brokers, bankers, Earls, Dukes,
callous, mercenary, pirate crew
gasconading through the land
Bloated, pampered, privileged few.

Striding with selfish arrogance
plundering as you go
grasping at the fruits
the common people sow.

Take heed, you swaggering fat cats
in our world you don't belong,
that murmur you hear is the poor
rehearsing an angry song.

The day is fat approaching
when our chorus loud you'll hear,
then all your greed and treachery
will surely cost you dear.

A price you'll pay for being blind
to the hungry at your door,
oh, haste the day our angry chorus
becomes a mighty roar. 

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

Looters.

       Somethings I always expect when I visit Not Buying Anything, compassion, insight, respect and common sense. Qualities if we all acted upon, we would have arrived at that better world by now.

   Here are Gregg's latest thoughts on today's society.

Looters On A Rampage. 

 

      I was going to write about my garden, which is fully planted, but there is so much going on in the world right now I find myself needing to sow some ideas in the fertile soil of the internet first.
      So here goes with some random thoughts.
      * When you steal the contents of a store you are a looter.
     When you steal the contents of an old growth forest you are an enterprising industry leader.
     * When telling a lie, tell a whopper. Keep repeating it. If challenged, double down. 

      For example - "You are free." "We care." "TINA." "Corruption only happens in other countries." "You have Freedom of Assembly."
     * You can rob more money by owning a bank than by robbing a bank. 
     * There is never enough money for the people's projects.
     There is always enough money for propping up crony capitalism.
    * When you dump a load of steer manure on a CEO's doorstep you are engaging in "domestic terrorism".
     When that CEO dumps toxic shit in your drinking water he is engaging in "bringing jobs and prosperity to your community".
     * When a crowd of people are in the street (some with automatic weapons), disrupting traffic and screaming moistly for haircuts and a sit down fast food meal, they get a police escort.
     When a crowd of peaceful, non-violent, non-armed citizens are in the street screaming (also moistly) for justice they get pepper spray, rubber bullets and police infiltrators/provocateurs instigating violence to discredit their message.
    * When you try to save the Earth you are an ecoterrorist and will be rewarded with scorn and incarceration.
     When you succeed in destroying the Earth, if you are lucky, you will be rewarded by becoming a billionaire.
     I can see who the real looters are, and where the real violence is coming from.
      It is not the citizens I have seen in the streets, who are largely peaceful and compassionate toward each other and loving toward their communities.
    Right now the real looters are on a record-setting multi-trillion dollar rampage. It is the largest transfer of wealth in the history of large transfers of wealth.
     And the largest purveyors of violence on the planet are state authorities trying to keep our necks under their knees. "We can't breathe!"
     These truths aren't being reported while we are obsessing over The People's understandable reaction to an obviously messed up social and economic situation.

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

Crazy World.

       When you survey the world we live in you see so much blatant injustice, poverty, corruption, greed, violence and inequality, in the midst of unimaginable wealth. You see and hear the wealthy being applauded for their pilfering and greed, and you ask yourself, why do we tolerate this plundering of the common wealth by the greedy few. We could all write volumes of the way the world is being destroyed by that greedy few. There is another way to live, we could put it all right if we the many would only rise up and take control. There is a better world in all our hearts, we just need the courage to take control and start to build it here and now.

 THIS CRAZY WORLD.

In this crazy world,
             half dead from dereliction
             half brutalised from deprivation
             half drowned in a sea of greed
             half devoured by perpetual need.
Where
             war shrieks from East to West
             famine seldom seems to rest
             hunger stalks the layman’s life
             poverty kills with a silent knife.
We find
            a pompous pampered arrogant clique
            live a life that’s smooth and sleek
            far removed from want and fear,
            bought with another’s sweat and tear.
Yet
            not a word do they speak
            to aid the fallen or the weak
            preferring to kneel at luxury’s shrine
            repeating their mantra, “This is mine”.
Now watch them
            peddle lies of tongue and pen
            slyly hoard their plunder then
            with spurious sanctimonious phrase
            shed crocodile tears at man’s malaise.
Where
            is it written that masses must sweat
            deprivation and misery a constant threat
            covering the world in measureless wealth
            so the few can plunder with avid stealth?
In friendship
            let’s clasp each human hand
            with compassion try to understand
            our differences, our hopes, our fears
            dragging mankind from this sea of tears.
Creating
            a world where justice flowers
            the many reap the fruits of toiling hours
            a world of sharing, tending the others need
            an end to privilege, plunder and greed.

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

Silencing Dissent.

         The tentacles of the state's authority machine spread far and slither into a variety of places. Ever seeking to silence dissent, tie the lips of resistance, isolate the people from the true nature of society, and advance their desire for a submissive population.
       If you ever go on to espive.net, you would expect to find a plethora of views and information on autonomous spaces, resistance to injustice, support for migrants, direct action against repressive state actions, support for those in struggle for freedom, etc..
      However today you will find a very simple message that highlights how the freedom of speech is always under attack from those who oppose real change to this repressive and exploitative society that dominates our daily lives.
      Those who  desire freedom must always be on a war footing and ever vigilant, as the attack on our freedoms is relentless, surreptitious and backed up by repressive legislation, all moulded in favour of those in power.
 

     The following is the clear message you will find today if you click onto espiv.net: 

ENGLISH
Hello, comrades:
        We would like to inform you about the latest developments on the shutdown of the server.
          The information we received is that the server went out of order after an oral command of the rector of Panteion University to their computerisation section on the occasion of a complaint about digital piracy.
       More specifically, this complaint concerned two book titles that were uploaded in pdf format to one of the hundreds of blogs hosted by the server. We immediately tried to contact the rectorial authorities and work out a solution, wanting to regain access to the content of the blogs as soon as possible.
        The server, which hosts 850 blogs, has been located in Panteion University since the beginning of Espiv project in 2008. From time to time issues have arisen, and so far we have managed to overcome them and keep the server in place, at a public university in Athens (Greece).
       We understand that many things have changed over the last 12 years, and from time to time we have discussed the real conditions under which Espiv project continues to operate. However, it is our intention and desire to keep the server in place, with all political and labour collectives, neighbourhood assemblies and self-organised projects hosted on it.
     Our repeated attempts to receive a clear answer from the rectorial authorities fell on deaf ears. On Thursday, 28 May 2020 (a week after the shutdown), we received information that the rector will refer our issue to the next council of the senate of Panteion University, which is unknown when it will take place. One should not be too superstitious or naive to assume that all this is due to increased academic duties. After all, the command to shut down the server was given impressively quickly. With universities still closed and after a two-month lockdown, conditions were considered favourable to add another movement’s infrastructure to the long list of squats and projects recently suppressed. A choice that expands repression in the field of internet, imposing the normality of social media, digital snitching, and recording and surveillance of any information circulated on the internet, again showing that the role of the cop can be played well by all sorts of rectors and state employees. The choice to suppress an infrastructure that supports the expression of dozens of collectives within the antagonist movement can only find us against them.

      We will let you know of any further developments and mobilisations.

NO POLITICAL GAGGING LEFT UNANSWERED.
NOT A STEP BACK.

The administration crew of espiv.net

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

Regeneración.

        May 30th, last day of the month, so I suppose we just made it. Spirit of Revolt's "Read of the Month" for May is a copy of the paper, Regeneración. Started in 1900, in Mexico and continued in 1937 in Glasgow. Our Read of the Month is of the Glasgow version, from our MV Collection. Enjoy.

     The anarchist paper Regeneración first produced in Mexico 1n 1900, Wikipedia-(Regeneración (Spanish: [rexeneɾaˈsjon]) was a Mexicananarchist newspaper that functioned as the official organ of the Mexican Liberal Party. Founded by the Flores Magón brothers in 1900, it was forced to move to the United States in 1905.[1]Jesús Flores Magón published the paper (along with Anselmo Figueroa, a leading member of the party), while his brothers Ricardo and Enrique contributed articles.[2] The Spanish edition of Regeneración was edited by Ricardo, and the English version by W. C. Owen and Alfred G. Santleben.[3] )
      Guy Aldred, Glasgow anarchist, started an English version in 1937 as the Organ of the United Socialist Movement. At Spirit of Revolt we have Volume, 1 No. 3 dated 7th March 1937, of this relaunch in our MV Collection.

Courtesy of Warwick Library, Read on line:

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

State Violence.

       Solidarity knows no borders, that doesn't just apply to those imaginary lines drawn by the various states across the planet. It must also apply to those borders between those under state incarceration and those on the other side who are still able to roam the streets. The prison population has been growing in most countries and most prisons are overcrowded, conditions are unhygienic and deteriorating, rules are vindictive and manipulated to repress and humiliate, they are cesspools of official callous violence. Added to this is the now constant threat of covid19 rampant in unhygienic, overcrowded conditions, with inadequate health care.
     Now more than ever those enmeshed in the states savage prison regime need and deserve our full solidarity until we finally bring down that border between incarceration and freedom. 

A poem by Eric King:

 

  

“If Tamir was named Andy from the Hamptons”

Every breath is an air of defiance
sparks flying I breathe fire
What happened in the Lorraine
happened in Ferguson & Batton Rouge
Police keeping cities safe
passing out freedom bullets
Black bodies not regarded as anything
more than click-bait and hot topics
If Tamir was named Andy
from the Hamptons
maybe it’d make a fucking difference?!
This isn’t gang violence, its state violence
its race violence, it shouldn’t exist but
so often does happen without outrage
from the privileged to well off
to be outspoken
This isn’t new it’s just finally on the news
cause people took to the streets
& when told to disperse they refused
So painful but its true
Blue Lives Murder

 

      The following open letter from Eric King anarchist prisoner in U$A and published in 325:

     This is my sixth year in prison and has easily been the hardest. After being accused of assaulting a lieutenant on August 17, 2018, I’ve been in the SHU since. The past two years have shown me a wide scope of state brutality: physical beatings and tortures, psychological games like being kept in bare rooms with no contact to the free world, and their legal power – bringing serious new charges that could carry 20 additional years. Resistance is not a game.
      During this time I’ve learned a lot; that A LOT of people get set up this way, that prison support is priceless, that they can always turn it up, and that WE can always turn it up also. Despite the harsh sanctions and restrictions, I’ve refused to be a wilting willow. Now has been the time to face them head on – whether legally with motions and pressure; casual bucking; hard bucking; leading protest for basic rights; having long talks about social, class, and prisoner consciousness; and organizing the other prisoners. Anarchists don’t hide.
     One thing I couldn’t have done this without has been the outpouring of support. Fiscal support to my canteen and legal fundraiser (keep it coming pls), the uptake in letters, those who sent magazines, books and articles after we won those rights. I let me supporters and Team know this wasn’t going to be a smooth ride, that resistance is in my blood, and they’ve stuck it out. People new and long lasting have shown up when needed most. We cannot fight on the inside, without you on the outside. We are fighting cases, fighting injustice, fighting the same battles happening in the streets, inside, in close quarters.
    Prisons need to be demolished, it’s a fight that can only be won on two fronts – unity inside and solidarity outside. We chop this dragon’s head off, relegate it to horror stories and museums of resistance. Together, it’s possible.
     Thank you to everyone who has helped in any way, whether being kind to my partner, donating funds, showing up to trail (August 10th, see you there!).

Let’s take FTTP literal, shall we?

Until All Are Rubble,

EK
Fire Ant Collective
IWOC

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

Social Control.

      We can be sure that the state will use this pandemic as a platform for experimenting with new social controls that it can tweak and introduce after this pandemic is over. Social distancing, limited numbers at certain events, will continue for quite a while, and will be enhanced and modified to increase control over the population. The longer it goes on, the more they hope the public will become accustomed to some form of these measure. We have to vigilant and determined to ensure that all those restrictions introduced because of the pandemic must be totally scrapped as soon as this pandemic is under control. They will not do this willingly, it will require our determined and organised effort to unsure this happens.

      The following is an extract from an article on the Greek state's actions during this pandemic, from Crimethinc: 

 

 

       Night is especially scary; teams of Delta police can be seen riding around in motorcycle gangs, beating and arresting people at random, chiefly non-white immigrants. On top of this, gatherings of 30 to 50 cops can be seen at various checkpoints, flagrantly violating the social distancing protocol that is the justification for the lockdown in the first place. This sort of opportunism would be comical if it weren’t so oppressive for the most vulnerable residents.
     However, disdain for the police behavior is widespread, even among residents who were annoyed by Exarchia’s squats and riots in the past. We are certain that when the lockdown measures are eased, resistance will return with a vengeance.
      The state has done everything it can to blame the public if social distancing efforts fail. The state and corporate media have spread fabricated videos of people not respecting social distance in order to turn Greek society against itself. The state is using this pandemic to experiment with martial law, even enforcing prohibitions on swimming and fishing. Such measures serve to test what Greek people will put up with in order to refine plans for future authoritarian efforts to change this society, especially considering that the IMF now anticipates an even worse economic downturn than the recession of 2008.
    All across the country, Greek police are ticketing homeless people for violating the lockdown as a consequence of lacking shelter, ticketing immigrants at a higher rate and targeting the most vulnerable on the pretext of enforcing safety measures. The Greek state has also evicted student housing throughout Athens, a step they likely hope will make it easier to privatize the university system in the future. They are also using the text message system via which residents request permission from the state to go outside to collect information about the general population.
     In short, the Greek state that slashed funding for medical facilities and accelerated the privatization of health care is dealing with the pandemic by escalating state control and social manipulation. In early April, when doctors and other workers at the Evangelismos hospital in central Athens tried to stage a demonstration demanding more protective equipment, an army of police swarmed in to shut it down. In addition to ordering direct assaults on medical staff, the authorities have also told Greek medical workers that they are forbidden to speak publicly to the press about issues relating to the pandemic.

Well worth while to read the full article HERE: 

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