Squat.

 

          As the farce of choosing a new leader to be our lord and master engulfs the UK parliamentary system once more, we all know that as far as hardship and misery goes, it will not make one iota of difference to us, the ordinary people. We will still be faced with extortionate energy bills, galloping inflation, increasing interest rates, which will clobber thousands of ordinary people, and spending cuts to social services. I envisage a vast increase in homelessness, with people forced to seek shelter in our alleyways. The obvious outcome to this apart from deteriorating health is to demand your human right to shelter, in other words, squatting. The country is awash with empty properties, any rational with humanity, would open these to homeless individuals and families. That wont happen in this capitalist gambling casino, so direct action is the only answer, squat, and the communities must get behind those unfortunate enough to have to resort to this for health and safety and shelter.
        Of course the state apparatus will do everything in its power to protect the landlords and will deal with it through their loaded legal system or brutally by the forces of the state, as is happening across the world, with Athens being among the most brutal of eviction. We must all stand together and support all those in need, until we can bring this festering cancerous system down. We are in for a very tough time, unless we show solidarity we will all suffer unnecessarily. 

The following article from Enough is Enough.

 

 Originally published by Squat Net.

        The eviction happened after only a few days of occupation. According to the court the building was unsafe to reside in. This decision was made in our absence, we were not given the ability to present evidence in our defense and no inspection had taken place.
        Even though the biggest part of the building is safe to live in and the stripped part had been closed off, the court decided to evict without a hearing. We wonder if it has something to do with the extremely expensive lawyers of the owner?
       The police came by on the 14th of October to announce that we would have to leave, our lawyer confirmed they made this decision and going into high appeal would not call off the eviction. They gave us 3 hours to pack our stuff.
        Autonomous Student Struggle (A.S.S.) called for a demonstration in front of the building, to protest against this ridiculous verdict to protect the landlords of the city from homeless students.The police decided not to show themselves until the next morning when they evicted us with their special forces. Resistance ensued in the form of barricades, the occupants could escape before being captured. The owner hired private security to stand in front of the door for the rest of the day.
        As of now we still have not seen a written verdict. The court is giving landlords and speculators a free road while we face repression for using the abandoned to attain a basic necessity; housing. We believe its necessary to use every means to fight these state-actions; on the streets, through legal and illegal means.
       Their desperate means to legitimize their evictions is a confirmation of the threat we are, as we all know we would only need a spark to ignite the fuel of our outrage. Much respect for the people who showed up for the spontaneous demonstration, we are all in this together!

 Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info 

Bookfair.

 

         Remember remember the 5th. of November, it's not that far off. That's the date of the not to be missed Manchester & Salford Anarchist Bookfair. Bookfairs are an essential part of the anarchist movement, an opportunity to meet up with old comrades and friends, meet new ones, find out what others are doing, and to have a good old chin-wag, swapping ideas, a bit of socialising, and a bit of fun. If you can make it, then get along and give your support to this Bookfair.

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info  

Liz.

           

 Image by Nate Kitch courtesy of The Economist.

     So Liz Rustbust has resigned with a helping shove from her party. The pantomime goes on, time for the next act, electing another prime minister from the bunch of self interested crooks and liars that have heaped misery and anguish on the ordinary people of this country. All this is done with the people not having any say in the matter. If there is anybody out there who thinks this will improve our living conditions, I suggest they see a psychiatrist immediately. We are in for more misery, poverty, evictions and homeless no matter on what head the stick their crown. 

Image courtesy of Sports Think Tank.

        2022 in the UK, one of the world's richest countries and millions are facing poverty and destitution. Wealth abounds with a handful of people living in obscene opulence, while 4 million kids live with food insecurity. Of the UK population 1 in 7 go without regular meals, the proportion is the same for those working or not working. More than 50% of the population are cutting back on heating, hot water and electricity. 1 in 4 households with kids are experiencing food insecurity, up 50% since April. Millions of kids will go hungry this winter, and millions of families are facing a struggle to get basic needs. All this before the next round of fuel increases. Interest rateare rising, exposing people to the threat of eviction, inflation is running at 10.1% and rising and our new Chancellor, though he may not be there for long, is promising tax increases and spending cuts and considering not raising benefits in line with inflation. This puts a vast swath of our population into Dickensian poverty, impoverished health and stunted kids.

                                          Image courtesy of International Boat.

       When has it ever been much better for the ordinary people of this country, through the centuries the public has struggled for a decent life, while that small elite bunch of parasites have lived a life of milk and honey, all at our expense. How much longer will we tolerate this gross injustice, how much longer will we see our kids go hungry in the midst of abundance? There is a better way to shape our society, but first we must take control of all our workplaces and our communities and fashion them to see to the needs of all our people. We don't need capitalist billionaire parasites to tell us how we wish to live, they need us to keep them in their bubble of opulence. 

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info   

Hunt!!

        

         We have a Prime Minister how was elected by the party faithful on a manifesto of tax cuts, her chosen Chancellor put her plans on paper, the financial Mafia didn't like what they saw and punished them, thereby trashing the UK economy. Liz decided to try and save her skin and threw the Chancellor under a bus. To try and look like she is listen and learning, she brings in as Chancellor one who is a follower of her opponent in the Tory election. He throws her policies out the window and starts to install Rushi Sunak philosophy. The mandate that she was elected on is binned, but Liz still sits on the throne, mandate or no mandate, ah, the wonders of British politics.
          We are somehow supposed to be comforted by the new Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt. He who trashed the NHS when he was in charge of that brief. While we the ordinary people are being bundled into poverty by 10% inflation, well below inflation wage increases, astronomical energy bills, increased interest rates, which will impact drastically on mortgages, credit cards and loans, pushing still more people into poverty. Our supreme Chancellor has stated that there will be tax increases and cuts to spending, more misery for you and I. These extremely wealthy individuals consider it is only right the we the ordinary people should pay for the gambling disasters of the capitalist system. They will do what is necessary to satisfy their masters in the financial Mafia, they call it balancing the books.

 

          How much longer will we accept this cull on the poor to protect the billionaire parasite class and their plundered wealth. I'm sure in your minds there are better ways to run our society, there is no moral argument for inequality and injustice. It is not as if there was insufficient wealth to go round,that small class of millionaire/billionaire parasites surround themselves with obscene opulence, purchase £100 million yachts, private jets, and wee bolthole mansions in the Caribbean. All from wealth that you and I, the ordinary people created. Let's take control of our wealth and shape society to our needs and the needs of all our people.

                                              Image courtesy of The Mirror

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info    

Liz.

           Something we can perhaps thank Liz Truss for is that she has directed that great politically apathetic mass to turn their minds to involvement in the political morass that is screwing up their lives. More people are feeling the results of deliberate policies fashioned behind the closed doors of the power mongers, and they don't like it much at all. What was always there, the great divide between rich and poor has now come into sharp focus as it grinds on to its obvious conclusion, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. However, now it is at real pain level and that makes live profoundly miserable for millions of ordinary people. So rise up you political sleepers and demand your right to a decent life, demand you right to shape society and see to the needs of all our people. We the ordinary people are the creators of all the wealth in the country, demand we decide how it will be shared, not the millionaire/billionaire parasites that call the shots today.

                                     Image by Harry Burton, courtesy of The Print

       I remember reading somewhere that at a Glasgow street meeting, by a socialist in the 30s. He asked the crowd if they were hungry, a general murmuring of yes. The speaker then said, "there is only a plate glass window between you and a good feed". He waited a while, no response, his reply was "I see, you're not hungry enough". As this "cost of living crisis" (cost of exploitation crisis) bites ever deeper into our lives, will we ever be hungry enough?

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info  

Prison Strike.

 

           There are widespread strikes in this country and across the world, and rightly so, as the living conditions of the ordinary people are savagely decimated in the name of profit and growth. Organising a strike is always difficult, but organising a strike in a prison is fraught with a multitude of problems and dangers. You're enmeshed in the state's incarceration system, under constant surveillance. So we owe it to the prisoners in Alabama's  draconian prison system to give them all the support and solidarity that we can muster. The have achieved a massive success in organising a state wide prisoners' strike across the state of Alabama. We need to keep this in the public domain as the authorities  will do their utmost to break the strike with the usual savage brutality that is all to common in prisons. We must not let this happen shielded from public view, to appear in the press as the authorities putting down riotous prisoners. This is a legitimate strike to improve conditions that even by a judicial review said they were breaking the law. Since that review, things have deteriorated. 

The following extract from It's Going Down.

    Thousands of prisoners have launched a historic work strike across what even the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) is admitting is “most major male facilities,” throwing the system into a form of modified lockdown, as prison authorities attempt to break the strike by bringing in prisoners from other facilities. “This is a huge thing, this is a statewide initiative,” said abolitionist organizer, journalist, and podcast co-host of Millennials are Killing Capitalism, Jared Ware, who sat down with It’s Going Down to talk about the strike.

The strikes, which kicked off on Monday, took place alongside protests on the other side of the prison walls in Montgomery, Alabama, which delivered a set of the prisoners’ demands, centered around “broad criminal justice reforms and changes to the state’s prison conditions.” Also central to the prisoners’ demands is the issue of parole. As WAFF-48 reported:

More than four years ago, Alabama prisons were overcrowded to the point of being unconstitutional, according to federal court judges. Now, new data shows fewer paroles may be compounding that problem. In just four years, parole denials in Alabama nearly doubled.

That’s according to data from the Alabama Bureau of Pardons & Paroles compiled by the ACLU. That data shows the parole board denied 46% of applications in 2017. In 2021, 84% of parole applications were denied.

This crisis also has a racial dynamic, as the ACLU argued in a recent report:

The rate of parole denial is even more severe for black people in Alabama prisons. The current parole board has granted relief to white candidates at more than double the rate of black candidates. So far in FY 2022, 93 percent of black parole candidates have been denied, while 84 percent of white candidates have been denied. Black candidates saw a grant rate of just 7 percent compared to white candidates at 16 percent. The board has provided no explanation for this disparity.

For years, prisoners have been arguing that incarcerated workers could make changes by bringing the prison system to its knees through coordinated strikes. In the text, Let the Crops Rot in the Field, the Free Alabama Movement wrote:

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info

Budget.

           The Truss Kwarteng marriage has certainly displayed true Toryism, feed the rich and the rest can go to hell in paper cart. We don't need experts to tell us that massive tax cuts to the wealthy and corporate juggernauts will certainly enhance their life style considerably. While you and I are promised pie in the sky in the bye and bye. It will all be wonderful when that magical growth pours billions into the exchequer's coffers at some point in the future, meanwhile we wait in poverty and hope they spend it on us, though that has never happened in the past. However if we do look at the experts in the wonderful gambling casino called economics, we find they speak a different script from the Truss Kwarteng duo.
        That much admired institution of the capitalist world, the IMF, gives it's verdict on the mini-massive budget. They state that tax cuts complicate the fight against soaring prices. They also state that inflation will peak at 11.3% by the end of the year and remain on average around 9% for at least two years. How does that fit in with your 5% pay increases and universal credits not being increased by inflation? That austere bastion of the money people the Bank of England, warns "material risk to financial stability". So it has indulged in another binge of buying government debt to prevent a sell-off and another risk to pension funds. Yes, your pensions are in the big gabling casino of capitalism and are all at risk if the gambling kids loose.

Image courtesy of Sound Health and Lasting Wealth. 

 

       If you need any more evidence that this mini-massive budget is not in your interest, then listen to the Institute of Fiscal Studies, they forecast the only way to balance the books with this budget, to suit the financial Mafia is "big and painful cuts" to public spending of around £60 billion. You know what that means to you and I, we will be starved of public services and public amenities, nurseries, libraries, health care, education, sports centres and a host of other essentials to our daily life will will crumble and fade away. All because our lords and masters decided to give massive tax cuts to the wealthy and big business. We must stand up and defend ourself and our families against this cull on the poor, there is a better way to organise society, based on fairness, mutual aid and seeing to the needs of all our people.

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info   

Iran.

 

        Once again SubMedia brings news other news channels don't, news from the horse's mouth untainted by the establishment's bias. The latest System Fail 16 is again news from around the world, and a look at what is happening in Iran. 

 

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info  

Fog of War.

 

 

        There are webs of illusions about this war in Ukraine, the theme being that Ukraine is fighting Russia. The truth is that America is fighting Russia, with assistance of its European minions, useing Ukraine as its platform, that way no collateral damage in U$A or Europe. The Ukrainian  people will shed their blood for the master. From the point of view of military aid to Ukraine, America has just announced a $1.1 billion arms package for Ukraine. This bring to just short of $17 billion in military aid by America to Ukraine since the start of the conflict.
        On the matter of boots on the ground, it is shrouded in the fog of illusion. Recently the CIA increased massively the number of CIA agents in Ukraine. Europe is not innocent in this bloodshed, supplying commandos as well as other support. All this is of course not spread wildly on our mainstream media.
       We should realise that this a war between America and its European minions against Russia, in an attempt to keep America the top dog, or top gun would probably be more appropriate. 

 

Image courtesy of News Click.

The following extract from Responsible Statecraft.

          The Central Intelligence Agency is operating in Kyiv and has been for some time, according to new reporting by the New York Times. So, while Biden has insisted on “no U.S. boots on the ground” in Ukraine, there are soft-soled operatives, otherwise known as American spies, providing intelligence and other tactical assistance to Ukraine in its war with Russia.

Sounds like Americans are in this war, like it or not.

         The news, based on sourcing from current and former U.S. government officials, is part of a broader report about a “stealthy network” of U.S. and European commandos and spies in “cells” run by the Pentagon’s European Command “to speed allied assistance to Ukrainian troops.” Much of this is operating from military bases in France and Germany and elsewhere. But as the NYT points out, there are European commandos and CIA agents working on the inside.

Read the full article HERE: 

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info   

Legal Killing.

           What seems to go without any retribution is the state's killing of ordinary people by means of legislation. Austerity measures are discussed and passed in to legislation by people who have no worries about heating or eating. It is then enacted by the minions of the state, backed up by the law. The result of course is that ordinary people, who have no say in the matter, suffer hardship, poverty and deprivation and of course death. All deemed necessary to balance the books to suit the financial Mafia. These policies to suit the big financial boys, have over the years reduce the life expectancy of the population. What is insane about this crazy setup is we pay them to do this.

            The following extract from The Guardian. 

 

 

         More than 330,000 excess deaths in Great Britain in recent years can be attributed to spending cuts to public services and benefits introduced by a UK government pursuing austerity policies, according to an academic study.
        The authors of the study suggest additional deaths between 2012 and 2019 – prior to the Covid pandemic – reflect an increase in people dying prematurely after experiencing reduced income, ill-health, poor nutrition and housing, and social isolation.
        Previously improving mortality trends started to change for the worse after austerity policies introduced in 2010 when tens of billions of pounds began to be cut from public spending by the Tory-led coalition government, the study said.
       The study, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, found there were 334,327 excess deaths beyond the expected number in England, Wales and Scotland over the eight-year period.

 

Read the full article HERE. 

 

 Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info  

Victory.

 

          I often loose my self in poetry, that wonderful world of expression, somewhere between singing and conversation. A place to let your thoughts run wild, say what your heart feels. Today October the 6th is National Poetry Day, the theme is the environment, so I thought I would say my tuppence worth.

Victory.

Nature recoiled from the savage beast
A beast so fierce on its warhorse of progress
Sweeping aside all that was natural and beautiful
This blind beast conquered meadow and stream
Banished the fish from the seas
Left a trail of barren concrete and tarmac
Filled the air with odious gases
Eventually the beast conquered the Earth
Now master of a dead planet
A world that nature, maimed and bleeding
finally abandoned, to allow the beast to slowly die.

 

Image courtesy of Envirotec.

 

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info   

Mutual Aid.

 

           Our Health Service and care facilities are a shambles, creaking at the seams underfunded, over worked. The reason is that they are tied to the state and capital, imagine a health service free from the constraints of state and capital. Imagine a health service run by health professionals and their patients. In a society based on mutual aid and co-operation it would all be possible. As long as we run our society on a system of profit, it will remain impossible. The choice is ours, continue being the slaves to the financial Mafia, live with broken health care, poverty and an eternal struggle for a decent life, or through solidarity and mutual aid break free from this insane, unjust system that caters for the rich and powerful. The choice seems a no brainer.

An interesting article from Anarchist News. 

         From https://www.healthautonomyconvergence.com/ Durham, North Carolina • Coming May 2023 •

        A convergence about healthcare and beyond❋
        Anti-authoritarian, abolitionist, and anarchist healthcare workers Re-imagining and undermining the medical-industrial complex together✹

Conspire with us…

        An invitation to deepen connections for health autonomy together. We invite healthcare workers, caregivers and all who are aligned with our principles to converge in Durham, North Carolina in May of 2023 to find and support one another while creating exits from exploitative medical mazes.
        Are you are a healthcare worker or caregiver who wants to share skills and knowledge, plug into an educational track, propose a discussion, screen a film or discuss something we haven’t even mentioned? Submit a proposal!
        Interested in tabling for the event? Click submit proposals. Interested in volunteering during the weekend? Register and shoot us an email.

About the convergence, What to expect…

         Three days and nights of discussion, workshops, speakers, hands on learning, films, food and fellowship!
         We seek experts in their respective experiences, fields, and communities to share skills and knowledge that may be difficult or impossible to access outside of the space we create together.
         For those looking to orient around specific fields for the weekend, we will experiment with tracks to (optionally) follow in order to foster self-organizing and reinforce long-lasting networks.
        We will create space to vent and grieve all we have lost in the last few years and will provide ample time to nourish ourselves together.
       Coming to Durham in May 2023 ❋ The Hospitals belong to the people
 

       Who we are
        We are anti-authoritarian, abolitionist, and anarchist healthcare workers re-imagining and undermining the medical-industrial complex.
        We look towards a future that prioritizes collective care over individualized exploitation. We honor expertise and undermine professionalism.
        We believe that all humans should have access to knowledge of their bodies, unmediated by the hands of state and capital.
         We work towards a future wherein all human and planetary life has intrinsic and non-exchangeable value, where we are able to live and die on our own terms.
         We look to deconstruct the lines separating patient and provider and hope to collaborate on truly shifting the way power flows in these systems.
         We are pro-autonomy, anti-individual, pro-intimacy, anti-commodification, and so joyful to be coming together to do this work.
         We are an evolving network. If these values resonate with you, we invite you to conspire with us.

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info    

Anarky.

           I penned this wee piece away back in April 2010, but thought it was worth another shout. With the chaos and poverty engulfing us all at the moment, surely now is the time to seek alternatives to the plundering and exploitation of the existing system, now is the time to start to create the better fairer world for all.

  

       

         Ask the average person on the street what they think of “anarchists” and they’ll all probably say something like “chaos” “violence” “mayhem” or some other negative expression. Ask them what they have read of anarchist history or anarchist theory and they will probably say “nothing.” So where did they get their opinions? Obviously they got those opinions from the propaganda organ of the state and the corporate greed machine commonly called “the media”. Why should the media give anarchists and anarchism such a bad press? Could it be because they see anarchism as the greatest threat to their desire and ability to rule over and exploit the people of this world? The state is an hierarchical structure set up to control the people and legislates to protect the wealth of the corporate greed machine. Anarchism is a non-hierarchical system of sharing and mutual aid to the benefit of all in society, the two are totally incompatible. The corporate greed machine works to exploit the population and drag all the wealth up to a privileged few, it puts a price on everything and excludes all those who can’t pay the price, be it healthcare, housing, leisure, services or the necessities of life. Anarchism seeks to see to the needs of all in society and for society to be shaped by all those who take part in that society. The state/capitalist/corporate system produces an ever widening gap between rich and poor, plunders and rapes the planet in an endless drive to increase profits to the shareholders of the corporate beast. Anarchism seeks sustainability through a system based on free association, voluntary co-operation and mutual aid. Given a choice why choose to be exploited, why choose to struggle for the benefit of the privileged few, why sell your children into poverty? We can produce enough to see to the needs of all on this planet, the reason we don’t is not lack of resources it is simply that the system says “NO”, there must be profit in every action, profit for that greedy privileged few who control the corporate greed machine. We accept a system of winner take all and to hell with the hindmost, our compassion and common sense surely demand we look at the alternatives. It is only common sense to attempt to break the downward spiral of the corporate driven consumer juggernaut that destroys the environment and creates the illusion that happiness comes in pretty packaged boxes, at a price. We owe it to our children and grandchildren to try to create a better world of peace and freedom from deprivation for all. Anarchists point the way, anarchism is the tool.

 

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info  

Keelie 35.

 

          Hi all, the Glasgow Keelie 35 is out, as usual it is packed with what's going on in our city and further afield, comments on the Truss menagerie and its incompetence and blatant attack on the ordinary people in our society. You'll find the Keelie at picket lines, demos, on the street, in pubs and cafes. Make sure you watch out for it and grab yourself a free copy. If you think you could distribute some copies among your mates, then contact us and we can arrange to get them to you.

Read the Keelie on line.

 

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info   

Rebellion.

 

            Saturday October 1st.  saw the people of Britain take to the streets in their thousands, About 50 cities saw mass protest demonstrations take place in the city centres. Enough is Enough was the rallying call, the anger is growing at this latest cull on the poor, anger at this blatant handout to the rich at our expense. However it can't end there, these protests must grow and tell the powerful, privileged wealthy who shape society in their favour, we will no longer accept poverty as our way of life in the midst of wealth and opulence. We have to take control of our lives and shape society to see to the needs of all our people. Bring an end to a society based on pomp, privilege, power and wealth, all at our expense. We are the creators of all the wealth in this country, and we allow it to be syphoned to the privileged few, why. We must become a land of rebellion to right the wrongs that unnecessarily blight the lives of so many of our people.

          A  photo from the Glasgow protest, thanks to a friend of a friend.

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info