Idle.

In Praise of Idleness, By Bertrand Russell:

      Like most of my generation, I was brought up on the saying “Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do.” Being a highly virtuous child, I believed all that I was told and acquired a conscience which has kept me working hard down to the present moment. But although my conscience has controlled my actions, my opinions have undergone a revolution. I think that there is far too much work done in the world, that immense harm is caused by the belief that work is virtuous, and that what needs to be preached in modern industrial countries is quite different from what always has been preached. Every one knows the story of the traveler in Naples who saw twelve beggars lying in the sun (it was before the days of Mussolini), and offered a lira to the laziest of them. Eleven of them jumped up to claim it, so he gave it to the twelfth. This traveler was on the right lines.

       This pandemic has created a lot of enforced change in the way we live, suddenly you find yourself with lots of time on your hands. At first it might be frustrating and boring, but a bit of reflection and you will soon realise that you can survive without stressing yourself out at a lousy job for crap wages, just to pay rent/mortgage, TV license, car, and other bills that come with a very busy life. Do you need all those bells and whistles, bobbles, bubble gum and popcorn that this work ethic society throws at you? After all do your really want to be running against a clock and jumping through hoops to the detriment of your health, at somebody else's dictate?

      As always when I visit Not Buying Anything blog, I find common sense in plain language, this visit was no different.

The following is from Not Buying Anything:

 

 

        Since the beginning, this blog has been promoting the idea that doing less, not more, is the way to lasting happiness.
      My personal motto is: "Do less with less, and do it less often."
     That has set me at odds with mainstream notions of a work ethic, but I couldn't be bothered to care any more. But is doing less lazy? It could be self-preservation. Or just enjoying life.
     When workaholism is the expectation, slowing down (or-gasp!-stopping) reflects a dangerous lack of ambition and initiative. Who thought that shit up?
      I don't think it was a worker that invented the work till you drop ethic. It sounds like something a boss would come up with.
       Although people in fast nations have forgotten it, not all humans have accepted accelerated lifestyles high on speed and stuff, but low on quality of life. Some cultures see no shame in cultivating the art of doing nothing, and have done so since time immemorial without being guilted into exchanging that for "productive activity". Whatever that means. Sounds like the bosses again.
     Now, perhaps those of us in North America may be finally learning something about the benefits of being idle. Just because we are in a lockdown does not mean we can't gain something from it.Let that be at least one take away - during this pandemic I hope people discover the childlike heavenly simplicity of doing nothing. On purpose, and repeatedly.
       This is an excellent opportunity to Begin Building Better. Sorry, I got a little slogany there. But I persist. How about starting a whole new life? One can do that when one finds one's self at the bottom, which is a good place to start a new foundation.
      Allowing ourselves idle time will lead to slower, more intentional ways of living, ones which have nothing to do with infinite speediness, and the endless pursuit of wealth, power, and fame. Quite the opposite. We can leave that behind us.
      This is about being in that glorious moment of non-productive bliss. This is about taking back power and control over your own person.
      For, as Tom Hodgkinson says in his book How To Be Idle, "Idleness is not a giving up on life, but a spirited grabbing hold of it."
      So grab hold of a bit of American idle today.
      You might like it.

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

Tomorrow!

      Artists paint pictures, so do poets and writers, but figures can also paint a picture. So let's take some figures and try to paint a picture of what lies ahead of us in the UK after covid19 .
         Bank of England unemployment predictions, 2019 3.8%, 2020 8.6% 2021 11.0%
Another prediction:
Unemployment could hit 15 per cent in UK hit by second coronaviruswave

Dark picture even before covid19:

       March 2020 An extra 1.5 million children will have been pitched into poverty by 2021 as a consequence of the government’s austerity programme, according to a study of the impact of tax and benefit policy by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

      The EHRC study forecasts dramatic increases in poverty rates among children in lone parent and minority ethnic households, families with disabled children and households with three or more children. There are clear winners and losers from austerity tax and benefits changes since 2010, the study says. The regressive nature of the policies means that low-income families have been hit hardest: the poorest fifth will lose 10% of income by 2021, while the wealthiest fifth will see little or no change.

After covid19: 

COVID-19 Impact: 50 per cent of UK households believe they will struggle to meet their financial commitments over the next three months.
       In the first three weeks after the UK government introduced the ‘lockdown’, an estimated 7 million households (a quarter of all households in the UK) had lost either a substantial part or all of their earned income as a consequence of the COVID-19 crisis. The immediate consequences of the crisis for UK households are seen in the large numbers (28 per cent) who were experiencing financial difficulties. An estimated 3.1 million households were in serious financial difficulty and a further 4.8 million households were clearly struggling to make ends meet. Anxiety about money was widespread, with half of all householders saying that thinking about their financial situation made them anxious.
Key findings:

• 3.1 million households are in serious financial difficulty
• 4.8 million households are struggling to make ends meet
• 7 million have lost a significant part of their earnings
• 7.7 million households anticipate some fall in income in the next 3 months
• 10.4 million households are potentially exposed financially
  

On housing: 

• Of those in serious financial difficulty, 64% are renting
• 31% are home owners
  

      These are some of the findings from a national COVID-19 financial impact tracker published by Standard Life Foundation, which were analysed by the University of Bristol’s Emeritus Professor Elaine Kempson, and Christian Poppe at Oslo Metropolitan university.  
      Professor Kempson will be leading the series of monthly surveys, designed to track the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 crisis on household economies. The analysis and reporting is being undertaken by Bristol in collaboration with other researchers, including academics at Oslo Metropolitan University.You can download the full report here.

      Theeconomic fallout of the pandemic could leave 1.1 million more people below the pre-Covid poverty line at year end, including a further 200,000 children, according to analysis released today (Thursday) by the IPPR think tank.

      Well there's a picture of tomorrow, do you feel that it is as it should be, or do you accept that the capitalist system has failed, as usual, to see to the needs of the ordinary people? If so, what are we going to do about its failure? Reformed is impossible, remove is the only answer.

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

Inspiration.

       The tributes to Stuart Christie, who died on the 15th August, still pour in, proof that the strands of this man's life are woven through a vast fabric that is the continuing world wide struggle for a system of justice, peace and freedom. A life of unstinting effort and sacrifice to that one cause, the better world for all, deserves to be honoured and remembered. His life should be an inspiration to all of us, young and old, who hold those same desires.

Stuart Christie, Luis Edo, Albert Meltzer, Doris Ensinger, Barcelona.

 The following from 325:

     ‘Stuart Christie, comrade, friend’ by Octavio Alberola
Stuart Christie, el compañero, el amigo
      The news of the death of Stuart Christie was communicated to me by telephone, the day before yesterday in the afternoon, by my comrade René after asking me if I was aware of the new bad news and after answering him abruptly: who has died? Well, from the tone of his voice, I immediately sensed that it must be the death of someone close to me.
       His answer left me stunned, because although Stuart had confirmed to me a week earlier that he was still suffering from cancer and that the results of the medical examinations were not very encouraging, at no time had I thought of such a quick end for him. Close to me are several comrades -more or less my age- who are not in very good health, and the “normal” thing, at my age (soon ninety-three years old), is to think that it is you that time is counting down on.
      So, in Stuart’s case, how can I think about it when he’s eighteen years younger? Besides, we were both in common projects and determined to continue participating in the fight against the world of power and exploitation.
      For me, his death is not only the loss of a comrade, of a friend; it is the end of a collaboration of many years in common actions and initiatives to denounce the injustices of the world in which we live and to fight for a more just and free world. A world that is possible and for everyone, which we have not ceased to long for and to try to build through the consistent practice of active revolutionary and internationalist solidarity.
     We had many years of a fraternal relationship since our first meeting, in that month of August 1964, until this one of 2020. More than half a century of our lives being linked, in one way or another, in a common cause in spite of the borders… Since, in spite of being focused on the political and social ups-and-downs of the Spanish people, first under Franco’s dictatorship and then under that false democracy born from the Transition/Transaction, that struggle was always framed in a revolutionary internationalist perspective.
      The proof, for him, is his prison experiences in Spain and England, and for Brenda, his companion, in Germany, and for Ariane and me in Belgium and France. These experiences bear witness to those struggles without frontiers, being aware that the condition of freedom is for everyone and for everything.
      How, then, can we not feel the need to remember this at this time when this comradeship with Stuart ends with his death. And also because of the death a few days ago of our German companion Doris Ensinger, the companion of Luis Andrés Edo, with whom Stuart also shared prison experiences and fraternization in the struggles; since it is obvious that Doris’s disappearance also meant for me, in a certain way, the definitive end point of my fraternization in the struggles with Luis. An end that began a few years before with his death.
       The fact is that with Doris I was also left in a state of shock, surprised by the news of her death that Manel communicated to me; since it was barely a week ago that she had sent us, Tomás and me, a mail to announce that she had been called to the hospital suddenly and had had a transplant… And that she was already at home and was feeling well…
        So once again I am confronted with the temporariness of our existence and the need to preserve the memory of what we have tried to be and do until death.

Perpignan, 17 August 2020
Octavio Alberola

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

The Coup!

       One of the US's favourite tactics for taking control of another countries resources is the "coup". It does this ruthlessly and has no consideration for the people of that country, their plight is of no concern to the millionaire/billionaire corporate gangs of parasites that control America and its policies. Over the years South America has been the theatre of American organised and backed coups, one so far successful, but meeting resistance is Bolivia, and one that never quite got off the ground is Venezuela. It is an on going strategy of America for control of the world's resources. Iran in the middle East is a permanent target. Where the coup fails, then there is always brute force in the way of an invasion preceded by an Armagedden of unbelievable weapons of mass destruction pored over the civilian population, Iraq, for example. 

        The recent coup in Bolivia is still meeting mass resistance, but as usual, this is met by the state, with ever growing brutal viciousness against that resistance by the people. They need our full support and solidarity, their struggle is our struggle, we live under the same savage exploitative system, it is all a matter of degree.

The following article is from Struggle La Lucha:  

 

         A 12-day national Bolivian blockade led by massive social movements, students, elders, unions and farmworkers ended on Aug. 13. It had paralyzed the entire country, resulting in food/fuel shortages and in the complete instability of the Andean nation itself. The blockade was temporarily lifted after the government agreed to have presidential elections on Oct. 18, but union workers forewarned that, if another delay occurs, expect more mobilizations to continue.
       On that same day, a terrorist attack by a group of hooded men used explosives against the centers of Las Bartolinas, a primary union organization of native Indigenous women, and of the COB, a union federation of Bolivian mineworkers. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but the deliberate brutal attacks on rural Indigenous communities have the people on edge.

          Amid the blockades, student hunger strikes, privatization of natural resources, increased deaths due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the deliberate abandonment/neglect foisted upon the Original Peoples, Bolivia continues to endure the worst state violence and political persecution it has seen in decades.
          Since the U.S.-backed coup took over, the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) and its Indigenous leaders have experienced non-stop civil unrest. On Aug. 18, the alt-right paramilitary group, Resistencia Juvenil Cochala (RJC), which is funded not only by the oligarchs but by the National Endowment for Democracy — a private “nongovernmental” operation that is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development — began passing out leaflets outside local banks with 39 images of Indigenous community leaders. The caption says, “MURDERERS REVEALED!! THESE ARE BOLIVIA’S ENEMIES!”
       One of the people listed is a young Quechua medical doctor and MAS member and leader, Marisol Coca Calderón, who resides in the Sacaba/Huayllani area, where a bloody massacre took place on Nov. 15, 2019. During a phone conversation with Calderón, she shared with me how she is being threatened and harassed daily. But because the de facto government supports and funds RJC, there is little she can do.
       For now, she continues to organize at a small local center called Juventudes de la Democracia Huayllani, which is a safe space for a community hit hard by the coup. There, they hold group meetings, provide support and guidance for one another and grow their own medicinal plants. I asked Calderón what people can do to help. Her response was, “Please keep speaking about us on social media. You are all our voices. We need your support more than ever. And, if people can help to keep the doors of our center open, it would be a major relief to not only the youth but to the widows and children of our protectors who were brutally killed in November.”
        If you would like to make a donation to help keep the Huayllani center open and to show your solidarity, please send to: Cash app: $AyniAllyuSolidarity. For more updates, please join us on our Facebook group, Ayni Allyu: The Official Llajta of Evo Morales & Indigenous Bolivians.

JALLALLA!
      Julia “Pachamama” Fernández is a Los Angeles Native/Quechua/Xicana organizer/activist and member of Ayni Allyu.

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

Opposites.

 

        As the following article states, we can't expect large capitalist organisations to continually allow their platforms to promote anti-capitalist material. I think it only makes sense that if these large corporate beasts see that they are promoting something that will lead to their demise, then they will stifle it as best they can. It would be naive in the extreme to think otherwise. Anarchists depending on large capitalist organisations to promote their ideas seems somewhat odd. If we become dependent on Facebook and Twitter etc. to further our ideas sooner or later they will close that avenue down. 

          The following article is just one line of thought, it's from Raddle:

       We can't keep expecting platforms owned by far-right billionaires to stay honest. Anarchists are the biggest threat to any capitalist, so of course they're going to shut us down at every opportunity.
       Crimethinc / It'sgoingdown / Anarchistnews / sub.media / Unicornriot / Anarchists Worldwide / 325 / A-Infos / AMW English / ROAR Magazine / mastodon.social / littleblackcart / AKPress / theanarchistlibrary and raddle.me are all incredibly important anarchist projects that each serve a different purpose, but they can't continue to exist in a vacuum while the social media behemoths are busy closing ranks to ensure all our efforts are stifled.
       Every one of our projects is wholly dependent on corporate platforms for promotion and growth. The capitalists who own those corporate platforms are making it crystal clear to us that they're no longer going to tolerate us radicalizing their users against them. They'll continue to erase any anarchist, anti-capitalist or anti-fascist project that grows enough on their platforms to pose a threat to the established order.
        Here on raddle, we try to promote and support other anarchist platforms as much as possible. Our sidebar here links to all the anarchist news outlets and we regularly discuss anarchist podcasts, book fairs and events. We've always encouraged anarchists to use our platform to grow their own platforms. But it's not a one-way street. There needs to be a concerted effort between all the aforementioned anarchist venues to amplify each other's voices. Cross promotion is the only thing that will keep us all alive and kicking. If we all work together it will benefit all of us. If raddle thrives, sub.media thrives and if sub.media thrives, theanarchistlibrary thrives.
       We need to lean on each other now that we can no longer rely on individually promoting our platforms on corporate media. Every anarchist site should be prominently linking to and working with every other anarchist site to help the entire anarchist network thrive. We need each other now more than ever.
       If you work with one of the other anarchist platforms, I'd love to hear your suggestions for achieving better integration of the anarchist web.

      To help you keep in touch and spread the word, here are some Anarchist links.
        This is by no means an exhaustive list, please take it, use it, add to it, link up and spread the word.

https://325.nostate.net/ [multilingual, news, directory, distro]
https://actforfree.nostate.net/ [en, prison, news, distro]
https://www.ainfos.ca/ [multilingual, news]
https://www.akpress.org/ [en, publisher, store]
https://www.amwenglish.com/ [en, revolutionary, news]
https://www.anarchistlibraries.net/ [multilingual, library, directory]
https://anarchistnews.org/ [en, news, social, media, distro]
https://anarchistsworldwide.noblogs.org/ [en, news]
https://anarchy101.org/ [en, learning]
https://anarchyplanet.org/ [en, chat]
https://anarquia.info/ [es, blog]
http://www.anticarcelaria.org/ [es, south-america, podcast, zines, news]
https://armthespiritforrevolutionaryresistance.wordpress.com/ [en, revolutionary, archive, library, distro]
https://asranarshism.com/ [fa, afghanistan, iran, news]
https://attaque.noblogs.org/ [multilingual, news]
https://autonomynews.org/category/news/ [en, autonomy, news]
https://autonomynews.org/ [en, england, revolutionary, news]
https://barrikade.info/ [de, switzerland, news]
https://bcblackout.wordpress.com/ [en, canada, news]
https://blackautonomynetwork.noblogs.org/ [en, blackness, zines]
https://contrainfo.espiv.net/ [multilingual, news/blog, directory]
https://contramadriz.espivblogs.net/ [es, news/blog, distro]
https://crimethinc.com/ [multilingual, news/blog, media, distro, store]
https://czarnateoria.noblogs.org/ [pl, news]
https://darknessoutside.home.blog/ [en, prison, anti-racism, australia, zines, blog]
https://enoughisenough14.org/ [en/de, news/blog, store]
https://itsgoingdown.org/ [en, activism, news]
https://kolektiva.media/ [multilingual, media]
https://littleblackcart.com/ [en, publisher, store]
https://malacoda.noblogs.org/ [it, zines, news]
https://mtlcounterinfo.org/ [en/fr, canada, news/blog, zines]
https://ni.hil.ist/ [multilingual, nihilism, social]
https://www.non-fides.fr/ [multilingual, blog, directory]
https://north-shore.info/ [en, canada, news]
https://postromanticqueerwave.noblogs.org/ [en, queer, distro, art]
https://publicacionrefractario.wordpress.com/ [es, prison, news]
https://pugetsoundanarchists.org/ [en, us, news/blog, zines]
https://raddle.me/ [multilingual, social, news]
https://ragnarok.squat.gr/ [gr, insurrection, news/blog]
https://sansattendre.noblogs.org/ [fr, insurrection, news, directory]
https://www.sproutdistro.com/ [en, distro]
https://sub.media/ [multilingual, media]
https://theanarchistcinema.org/ [en, media]
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/ [en, library, directory]
https://unicornriot.ninja/ [en, us, news]
https://urbanguerilla.org/ [en, history, archive]
https://warriorpublications.wordpress.com/ [en, canada, indigenous, news]
https://warzonedistro.noblogs.org/ [en, green-anarchy, distro]

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

Crooks & Liars.

        I don't often say much about party politics and their crooks and liars competition called elections. However there seems to be a frenzied babble about the coming American November illusion of change. Trump or Biden, Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck, Laurel or Hardy, what a choice for what is reputed to be the most powerful position in the world, however, it is far from funny. No matter which puppet of the financial/corporate industrial war machine gets to wear the USA crown, wealth and power will stay firmly where it is, locked in the vaults of the pampered privileged parasite class. Covid19 will continue to kill, evictions will still escalate, unemployment will still rise, poverty will still be rampant, and profits will still be made and syphoned into the pockets of the rich. That's capitalist change for you.

The following is an extract from FSP Revolutionary Feminism in Action:

Are The Powers-That-Be Ready to Dump Trump?

        Trump’s hopes for a second term are slip-sliding away, so he’s lashing out with vicious racism and fear-mongering. When he calls anti-racist protests unpatriotic “far-left fascism,” it emboldens white supremacists and right-wing militias to attack.
       Not only is Trump trying to rally his base with racism, but he is ranting about mail-in ballot “voter fraud” as his followers close thousands of polling places in poor and Black communities. The only thing he’s not inviting people to fear is Covid-19! Instead, he denounces Obamacare, refuses to mask up, and pushes businesses and schools to reopen during the height of the pandemic.
      Workers and the oppressed doing it for ourselves. Where is the power and will to make real change?
      It doesn’t lie with the Democratic Party — it lies with working people and the perpetually abused. In two short months, people in the streets forced cuts to police budgets, prompted bans on chokeholds and tear gas, and got cops who murder fired and arrested. Where has the Democratic Party been?
     Democratic politicians aren’t out fighting tooth and nail to stop voter suppression or police violence. They spend their energy trying to keep minor parties off the ballot and co-opting Bernie Sanders to support “centrist” Joe Biden — who actually drafted the 1994 Crime Bill that filled the prisons to bursting.
       Whoever wins the presidential contest will face the same gigantic problems, armed with the same limited capitalist tools to address them. He (undoubtedly) will have to deal with a probable depression, mass joblessness, a continuing pandemic, and public uprisings for justice, all while protecting ruling-class interests. Right now it may seem that the upper crust has more faith in Biden than Trump, but a lot can happen before November!
      What’s more important than who wins is continuing to build the strength, radicalism and organization of the grass-roots movement. The fight goes on!

Read the full article HERE:

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

B(A)D News.

   

    Keeping in touch, keeping up to date, gathering info, social media, emails, blogs and podcasts all play their part in this world of a tidal wave of voices. Obviously you have to sift your way through a swamp of misinformation, fake news and downright subterfuge and propaganda. Some info from around the world that falls into the anarchist spectrum, but should be common knowledge, so spread the word.

        Episode number 37 (08/2020) of "B(A)D NEWS - Angry voices from around the world", a monthly news program from the international network of anarchist and anti-authoritarian radios, consisting of short news segments from different parts of the world, is now online.

Length: 35:40 min

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

1820 Insurrection.

 

 

         This month marks the 200 year anniversary of what is known, in Glasgow and other parts of Scotland, as the "1820 Insurrection".  Along with the brutal repression with which the powers that be heaped on the poor, the state's habits have changed little. Back then government spies were sent to mingle and mix with the radicals and to set up situations to encourage and provoke action against the state, so that the organisers among the radicals could be exposed and treated to the state's brutal so called state "justice". Nothing has changed as  far as the state is concerned, the same methods are still being used, "undercover" police in legitimate protest groups etc.. The only real change is that the state is now much better equipped and has a much more sophisticated range of tools to spy on its population. It will still treat with vicious brutality those who would dare to challenge its authority and demand real change. The state will always be the enemy of freedom and justice for the ordinary people.

       The following is a short extract from "The 1820 Insurrection" on Strugglepedia:

       The late 1700s through to the 1800s saw brutal repression of the reform groups. Execution and transportation being the norm for dissent. Bad harvests, chronic unemployment and soaring food prices caused destitution throughout the working class. Riots took place and ever severer punishments imposed. The Glasgow Advertiser, reports that six baker boys of good character were transported without charge, trial or conviction, for making a disturbance. In Glasgow on the 15th February 1800, hungry and angry crowds attacked meatsellers and grocers shops in Argyle Street, Townhead and Calton in an attempt to feed themselves. As usual the troops were sent in to disperse the crowds.
        A short lived lull during the war against Napoleon soon ended with the Corn Law Act of 1815, plus a fresh wave of unemployment once again increasing the destitution. Once more demands for reform grew in strength. There were more riots in Glasgow, Dundee and Perth, jails filled to overflowing. In 1817 the Rev. Neil Douglas was indicted for preaching in an Anderston church against the Libertine Regent. Due to incompetence of the government spies the case collapsed. During 1819 and 1820 Glasgow was expanding taking in districts such as Bridgeton, Calton and Anderston. The population was around 147,000, most of the work was in mills and factories. The normal working day started at 5.30am, and it was a 14 hour day. Child labour was common, children as young as 6 years of age would be employed as machine operators, the wage would be a shilling a week. There was wide spread unemployment with abject poverty. Women and children sleeping rough was not an unusual sight.
United Scotsman Societies
          Those working for reform were not intimidated and grew in strength and numbers. In spite of Government repression thousands of pamphlets appeared, one such pamphlet by Margarot reached 100,000 copies. There were meetings both secret and open. With the enforcement of the Militia (Conscription) Act, secret and revolutionary United Scotsman Societies, sprang up. The workers seeing the Army as the instrument of oppression used by the Authorities against the people. The Societies spread rapidly. When ever a Branch reached 16 members another was formed. Their National Convention met every 7 weeks, usually in Glasgow. On the Glasgow Green workers went through military drill for the day of the Revolution.
         One Sunday morning in 1820 a document appeared on walls all over Glasgow. It stated 'Friends and Countrymen! Rouse from that state in which we have sunk for so many years, we are at length compelled from the extremity of our sufferings, and the contempt heaped upon our petitions for redress, to assert our rights at the hazard of our lives.' There was also a call to arms signed, 'By order of the Committee of Organization for forming a Provisional Government. Glasgow April 1st. 1820.' A footnote read; 'Britons - God - Justice - the wish of all good men, are with us. Join together and make it one good cause, and the nations of the earth shall hail the day when the Standard of Liberty shall be raised on its native soil.' Government agents spread stories that the workers in England were already armed, and that Kinloch of Kinloch was on his way from France with 50,000 troops: 5,000 of which would be camped on the Cathkin Braes and would seize the city's banks and other institutional centres. They would also arrest any reactionaries. Of course this was a deliberate attempt to get the Reformers to act knowing the weakness of the Reformers arms and the superior forces at the authorities' disposal, allowing them to destroy the Reform movement and execute its main activists.------

Read the full article HERE: 

 

 The Radical War Memorial on Bank Street, Greenock

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

State Thugs.

       States across the world continue their onslaught against any sign of self organising by the people, this is the cardinal sin in the eyes of the state. A subservient and submissive population is the state's objective. So it is no surprise that anarchists and autonomous spaces come in for a direct assault by the state apparatus. 

     The recently elected Greek political party with the misnomer of New Democracy, has declared open war on all autonomous spaces, self organised groups and all anarchists. It is methodically going around its cities unleashing its trained thugs on any such arrangements. It has attempted to close all squats, community centres, and mutual aid groups. It has succeeded in some cases, in other there has been a re-occupying by the people. It is a brutal battle with the state throwing its full repression apparatus at any resistance in its drive for total submission of the people. Some of their actions don't even follow their own rule book of legality, but then, who polices the police?

The following from Act For Freedom Now:

 via: mpalothia.net

Announcement by Terra Incognita regarding today’s eviction
This morning (17/8), around 5 am, the uniformed scum of the greek police invaded Terra Incognita in Thessaloniki, which is a building that has been occupied since 2004 and constitutes a landmark of struggle and the anarchist movement in the city.
The cops proceeded to evacuate the building, while technical and material equipment was confiscated and a large part of the resources within the building have been withheld.
More specifically, equipment from the following anarchist infrastructures housed within the squat, was confiscated: the medical -first aid infrastructure, the gym, the library and the printing infrastructure, as well as a large archive of posters and other printed material that date decades.
Since the first moment, the cops were joined by the well-fed lackeys of the media, which, after starting their “ethical” service of reporting fake and unconfirmed details regarding the arrest of one person (which is a lie), eventually took to enacting the smear campaign and “copy-paste” reports which they have the habit of doing during similar operations of repression.
Soon, near the squat, around 100 solidarians gathered and gradually marched toward the building, which was surrounded by cops, and they chanted slogans in support of squats and the anarchist struggle.
When the state signs agreements with large tourist businesses and “ecological development” contractors for the benefit of the capital, when it fights for the interests of energy giants by playing openly with the possibility of armed conflict, when it warehouses helpless people in detention centers for immigrants and forces them to live their daily lives in deplorable conditions, when it shoots people at the border and drowns people at sea, when it violates the right to protest and attempts to smash workers, when it blames people for the spreading of corona virus in order to cover its own crimes against the healthcare system, it also does not tolerate any voice of resistance in its interior.
So, it is not by accident that the state has chosen to proceed to attacking an infrastructure of the anarchist movement which has stood against the state consistently in each and every way the former has mistreated the oppressed.
Our squats and infrastructures are a very important instrument in the struggle for social revolution and anarchism, as well as our daily resistance in the world defined by authority. Definitely, such a move constitutes a significant attack against the movement as a whole.
But buildings can be reoccupied. Infrastructures can be built again. The relationships and processes which take place within them can never be repressed by states, cops or authorities.
What matters is the continuation of the struggle against the state, the capital and every form of authority. The struggle will continue as long as the ideas of liberty and anarchy live in our hearts and minds.
They wanted to bury us deep, they forgot we were a seed
Nothing is over
Terra will forever remain a squat
Get your hands off our squats!
Squat Terra Incognita
source https://athens.indymedia.org/post/1606671/

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Our World.

           There is a lot of rumblings about the aftermath of this covid19 pandemic, but one thing we can be sure of is that we the people will be expected to take the pain. Government support schemes have kept some businesses afloat by throwing billions of pounds at them, paying company wages etc.. All this was to try and ensure their economic system would survive and unrest among the public would be limited. However, government support schemes will be withdrawn and borrowers, individual as well as businesses will start to come up short on their loans. So far banks have been seen as supportive of all this and not being to ruthless with their customers. For how long will the banks be able to hold on to that helping hand posture.
       No matter how hard they may wish to be seen in the public eye as the supportive saviours of the system, crunch time will come. The time will arrive when companies go bust and all that borrowed money lavished on them has to be paid back. The survival of the banking system will make them completely ruthless. That mountain of debt the government has thrown at its corporate friends will be called in by the financial Mafia they borrowed it from. That’s when you and I come in. The conditions for that pay back will be dictated by the moguls who run the financial Mafia scheme. 

       First thing will be cut government spending so that they can use more tax payers money to service the debt, then sell public assets to raise cash to service the debt, that puts more of our wealth in the hands of the corporate world. That translates as the financial Mafia get all their cash that was thrown at the corporate world back in their coffers, but you and I will take the pain. It will be Austerity writ large and bold across the generations of the ordinary people. We have yet to recover from the previous corporate gambling crisis and we are now about to be hit harder this time round, all to save the precious economy of the pampered wealthy powerful few. 

      We have to ask ourselves, is it worth sacrificing the lives, health, welfare and potential of our children to preserve the well being of a privileged, pampered parasite class. You know there is a better way to distribute the wealth that we the ordinary people create. They need us, we don’t need them, we make and distribute everything, it’s our world, we just have to take control of the system for the benefit of all our people.

WE THE LABOURING MASSES.

We the people have, every brick laid,
have fed the world with sweat and spade,
every instrument played in every band
created by the skill of the craftsman's hand.
We made every truck and every load,
our toil our effort every winding road,
every ship that ever sailed the sea,
our power our imagination made it be.
Cities and towns large and small,
our labouring hands fashioned them all,
every home, every spire,
luxury mansion or humble byre.
No matter what dreams the mind might spawn
without labour's hand, never see the light of dawn,
without labour's strength and labour's skill,
we would be foraging beasts in a jungle still.

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Chile.

       When people take to the streets in anger against any state, they don't always want the same thing. Some are demanding better conditions, a fairer justice system, improved working conditions, better housing, health service, and other adjustments to their way of life. However, they are trying to force the state to do their bidding, all too late they will discover, the state will never bring them justice, equality and true freedom.

       That doesn't mean that we should not join them on the streets, we as anarchists can lend our ideas, strategies  and experiences in trying to point the rebellion/uprising in the direction of horizontalism, and a true democracy. However it would be much better if we could get our ideas and aims out to a wider audience before the rebellion starts. Stalls, meetings, leaflets, on the street with or literature. The revolution will not be won on Facebook or Twitter, it will happen and be won or lost on the streets of our villages, towns, cities and workplaces.
       The following text is a translation by Anarchists Worldwide of an article from Estallido Antisocial / Antisocial Outburst, a new anarchist publication from Chile. You can download a copy of the publication HERE. 

 

 

TENSIONS WITH REFORMISM AND THE CONSTITUENT PROCESS
IN THE MIDST OF FIRE AND RIOTING IN CHILE

        The idea and practice of anarchic insurrection in the Chilean region and the world is enough to make us forget who we are and to uncritically join social revolts in which diverse and sometimes contradictory interests are involved.
       For us, insurrectionists and antisocial anarchists, it has been a great joy to share moments of generalised rebellion between like-minded people and sometimes with circumstantial accomplices united by the desire to bring out the rage against what oppresses us.
       However, when we go deeper into the visions about the struggle and what we want to destroy and build, the differences usually come out and we are not interested in this going unnoticed just to be socially accepted. On the contrary, the fire of our indomitable hearts calls us to propagate the idea and practice of confrontation against all forms of social order.
        That is why we are not indifferent when we meet people who point out that there would be no major contradictions in being anarchic and going to vote in the plebiscite that could lead to a new Constitution. Among those voices, the argument is repeated that it does not cost much to go to the polls, claiming that this would be an act of “solidarity” with the most precarious people who – supposedly – would obtain structural changes in their lives when a new Constitution is approved. Some have even gone so far as to publicly denounce the “purist selfishness” of those who maintain the idea that elections and political reforms to the state apparatus are not part of the tools of autonomy, horizontality and direct action historically demanded from the terrain of anarchy.
          That is why we chose to be explicit in our position, knowing that this can stress those who, motivated by honest aspirations of “participation and social transformation”, tend in some cases to idealize without question the work “with the people”, to not even question the use of well known mechanisms of reformism such as the plebiscites which throughout history has been used to demobilize those who rise in revolt, channeling the struggle towards institutional solutions.
        Of course, our anti-electoral option does not make us better than anyone else. What interests us is simply not to forget who we are and that what we are is determined by what we do, regardless of whether the context is favorable or adverse to anarchic action.
      That is why, unlike those who claim that society is a victim of the implacable power of the State, we remain in affinity with our comrades who, throughout history, have shown the symbiotic and inseparable relationship between State and Society, revealing the very complicity of citizens in their own domination and that of other individuals.
       Because it is not enough to change a government or a constitution for another one. It is not enough to eliminate the neoliberal capitalist economic system to replace it with another form of “more humane” and kindly exploitation.
         That is why we will continue to spread the idea that structural changes to the prevailing way of life will not be found either at the ballot box or in the cages of power.
        We will continue to point out the important need to destroy the State and all forms of authority by attacking its structures, representatives and defenders, which together with the construction of forms of life and anti-authoritarian relations on the outside and against the institutions is a fundamental part of updating the historical proposals of anarchy in the struggles for individual and collective emancipation.

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Obituary.

 

     I know a lot has been posted about Stuart Christie since his death the other day, but as an anarchist of such stature and a friend of Spirit of Revolt, we believe that it is only fitting that we should re-post the obituary by John Paton published on the Kate Sharpley Library website. 

Stuart Christie 1946-2020,

Anarchist activist, writer and publisher

John Patten

      Stuart Christie, founder of the Anarchist Black Cross and Cienfuegos Press and co-author of The floodgates of anarchy has died peacefully after a battle with lung cancer.

    Born in Glasgow and brought up in Blantyre, Christie credited his grandmother for shaping his political outlook, giving him a clear moral map and ethical code. His determination to follow his conscience led him to anarchism: “Without freedom there would be no equality and without equality no freedom, and without struggle there would be neither.” It also led him from the campaign against nuclear weapons to joining the struggle against the Spanish fascist dictator Francisco Franco (1892-1975).

     He moved to London and got in touch with the clandestine Spanish anarchist organisation Defensa Interior (Interior Defence). He was arrested in Madrid in 1964 carrying explosives to be used in an assassination attempt on Franco. To cover the fact that there was an informer inside the group, the police proclaimed they had agents operating in Britain – and (falsely) that Christie had drawn attention to himself by wearing a kilt.

       The threat of the garotte and his twenty year sentence drew international attention to the resistance to the Franco regime. In prison Christie formed lasting friendships with anarchist militants of his and earlier generations. He returned from Spain in 1967, older and wiser, but equally determined to continue the struggle and use his notoriety to aid the comrades he left behind.

      In London he met Brenda Earl who would become his political and emotional life partner. He also met Albert Meltzer, and the two would refound the Anarchist Black Cross to promote solidarity with anarchist prisoners in Spain, and the resistance more broadly. Their book, The floodgates of anarchy promoted a revolutionary anarchism at odds with the attitudes of some who had come into anarchism from the sixties peace movement. At the Carrara anarchist conference of 1968 Christie got in touch with a new generation of anarchist militants who shared his ideas and approach to action.

        Christie’s political commitment and international connections made him a target for the British Special Branch. He was acquitted of conspiracy to cause explosions in the “Stoke Newington Eight” trial of 1972, claiming the jury could understand why someone would want to blow up Franco, and why that would make him a target for “conservative-minded policemen”.

     Free but apparently unemployable, Christie launched Cienfuegos Press which would produce a large number of anarchist books and the encyclopedic Cienfuegos Press Anarchist Review. Briefly Orkney became a centre of anarchist publishing before lack of cashflow ended the project. Christie would continue publishing, and investigating new ways of doing so including ebooks and the internet. His christiebooks.com site contains numerous films on anarchism and biographies of anarchists. He used facebook to create an archive of anarchist history not available anywhere else as he recounted memories and events from his own and other people’s lives.

      Christie wrote The investigative researcher’s handbook (1983), sharing skills that he put to use in an exposé of fascist Italian terrorist Stefano delle Chiaie (1984). In 1996 he published the first version of his historical study We the anarchists : a study of the Iberian Anarchist Federation (FAI), 1927-1937.

       Short-run printing enabled him to produced three illustrated volumes of his life story (My granny made me an anarchist, General Franco made me a ‘terrorist’ and Edward Heath made me angry 2002-2004) which were condensed into a single volume as Granny made me an anarchist : General Franco, the angry brigade and me (2004). His final books were the three volumes of ¡Pistoleros! The Chronicles of Farquhar McHarg, his tales of a Glaswegian anarchist who joins the Spanish anarchist defence groups in the years 1918-1924.

      Committed to anarchism and publishing, Christie appeared at many bookfairs and film festivals, but scorned any suggestion he had come to ‘lead’ anyone anywhere.

        Christie’s partner Brenda died in June 2019. He slipped away peacefully, listening to “Pennies From Heaven” (Brenda’s favourite song) in the company of his daughter Branwen.

Stuart Christie, 10 July 1946-15 August 2020

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Prepare.

      With a brutal recession most certainly coming, what should we be doing to prepare for this capitalist inevitability? Where you live and your circumstance can and will dictate a great deal of how you manage the situation, but we should always remember, mutual aid, sharing and community co-operation are key to not just surviving, but winning in this battle between survival of capitalism or a better way to live for all.  

      The covid19 pandemic taught a lot of people the benefits of mutual aid, let's not lose that knowledge, we should expand it, learn from it and take those tools with us into this battle for survival, remember, a community can grow a lot of its own food with a wee bit of co-operation and effort. When the scourge of the capitalist recession hits us, the ordinary people, it will be brutal and you can be sure the establishment's main aim will be for the survival of capitalism, no matter the cost to human health and welfare. We owe it to our children and grandchildren to reverse that plan and see to the health and welfare of all our people at the expense of capitalism. They need us, we don't need them.

     A few words of commonsense from Not Buying Anything:

 Our pantry order arrived! Not a bit of plastic. Everything is packaged in heavy paper sacks.

      We have been working on our pantry since we moved to Nova Scotia in 2014, but didn't really maximize on the space, having never had a real pantry before. We needed to get motivated. The pandemic provided us with a good kick in the butt, and this year we finally got down to business.
      When we were researching our new home area, we discovered an agri-business in the Maritimes that specializes in locally grown organic staple foods. We also found a food buying group in our community. But we had not yet connected the two.
          Enter The Virus and we had that extra bit of motivation we needed.
        We tried to order directly from the wholesaler, but were told because of the pandemic they were very busy and had to enforce a minimum order of several hundred dollars or 600 pounds of delivered weight.
         We couldn't do that. We are building a pantry, not a bunker.
      Therefore, we contacted the local food buying group, and found that they deal with the supplier! We could order whatever we wanted, in any quantity.
      They took our order by email, we paid by e-transfer, and when it came in a couple of weeks later, it was delivered right to our front door free of charge.
      As much as possible, the products are from local organic farms. All their flour is stone ground, a process which retains more fibre and nutrients than steel roller milling which causes the loss of anywhere from 20 - 30% of the good stuff.
      This is what was in our order. All of it is organic.
- 2.27 kg sesame seeds
- 2.27 kg soybeans
- 2 X 2.27 kg cornmeal
- 2.27 kg sunflower seeds
- 20 kg oatmeal
- 10 kg whole wheat flour
        I have never seen a 20 kilogram bag of rolled oats before. What a beautiful thing, if you love oats, and we do. We were buying non-organic large oats (for the same price) in 1 kg plastic bags from the store previously.
        That's 20 plastic bags we will not be using!
       Over the next few weeks we will be augmenting our progressing pantry with food from the garden. We have already made strawberry jam, and we are looking forward to drying herbs, making pesto, canning pickled beets and cucumbers, as well as tomatoes and/or salsa.
       We are also freezing things like bush and pole beans, peas, and kale.
       We have also increased some amounts of pantry items. For many things, we try to always keep 2 in stock. Now we are keeping 3 of certain items, like peanut butter. The less we have to shop, the better, and this allows us to take advantage of sales when they come up.
     Our food storage has never been this prepared before, and the timing couldn't be better. It all fits with giving up our vehicle, the pandemic, and an impending Greatest Depression.
       And who knows what else?

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