For those interested in cinema and the influence of anarchists and anarchism, on cinema, there is a well written article by Denmark Vesey on the DISSIDENT VOICE site, called "On the Need for an Explicitly 'Anarchist' Cinema"
Sunday, 30 September 2012
Saturday, 29 September 2012
WORKERS, KNOW YOUR HISTORY, MARIUS JACOB.
Today, 29 September, we celebrate the life and birthday of ALEXANDRE MARIUS JACOB (1879-1954) he was
a French illegalist anarchist whose avowed mission was to steal back
from the major thieves: commerce, the aristocracy, the state.
Although a lucid and articulate thinker and polemicist, he soon
learned to avoid political milieux and cut to the chase, working with
common criminals. He was by all accounts a phenomenal burglar — he
was a model for the “gentleman-cambrioleur” Arsène Lupin. He
had, for example, the panache to leave at the scenes of his crimes a
calling card in the name of “Attila.” He devised the trick, often
enacted in movies, of breaking into an apartment from the floor above
by poking an umbrella through the ceiling and using it to catch the
plaster. At one point he bought a hardware store, where he could
dismantle safes at his leisure. But he was also famously Robin
Hoodesque, redistributing the bulk of his takes to the poor. When he
discovered that an intended victim was choked by debts, he left her
10,000 gold francs, and when he found that another one was a writer,
he put everything back and left money for damages. Caught and sent to
forced labor in French Guyana in 1903, he attempted escape seventeen
times, and authorities complained about having to bring in new guards
at frequent intervals, since he regularly converted his jailers to
his principles. He spent his last few decades as a market peddler in
rural France. He died 9 August 1954.
"I AM ONE OF MANY".
One of my favourite quotations, it is from the poem "From the Paris Commune to the Kronstadt Rebellion" by Ken Roxroth.
They shall rise up heroes, there will be many,
None will prevail against them at last.
They go saying each: “I am one of many”;
Their hands empty save for history.
They die at bridges, bridge gates, and drawbridges.
Remember now there were others before;
The sepulchres are full at ford and bridgehead.
There will be children with flowers there,
And lambs and golden-eyed lions there,
And people remembering in the future.
Today as poverty and repression sink their teeth into our daily lives, as turmoil and anger ravages our hopes, we should always be aware, "I am one of many" and recalling our history remember, "there were others before", but never forget, "none will prevail against them at last".
Friday, 28 September 2012
THE IMF IMPLEMENTING CORPORATE FASCISM.
This is democracy under the auspices of the IMF (International Mankind Fuckers). Spain has the highest unemployment in Europe and the instructions from the financial Mafia is, just as it is in Greece, Italy, UK, and other countries across Europe, more cuts, more unemployment, more misery for the people. The public purse has to be emptied into the coffers of the parasites that make up that financial Mafia, As long as they feel they can control the people on the streets, the cuts will go on and on. It is not a temporary adjustment, it is a shifting of all wealth into the hands of the few. Their move is towards a full corporate fascism, everything owned by the corporate world, no public assets, no public space, everything controlled by the boardroom, and the sad thing is, that they are almost there. This is an attempt to change the world, to put full power in the hands of the financial barons as they rape and plunder the planet to gratify their own greed and arrogance. Our living conditions are of no concern to them, a collapse of the social fabric of a society allows them a free hand to manipulate and control the worlds assets, while we scramble for a meager existence.
Photos from VOID MIRROR:
Photos from VOID MIRROR:
Thursday, 27 September 2012
HOW THE QUEBEC STUDENT MOVEMENT WON.
The student protests in Quebec reached a successful conclusion. They did not win by marching from A to B and then going home. They got organised to fight back and meet state violence with self defence force. They were determined not to be driven off the streets, not to be intimidated, they fought back. The state will always fall back on violence to gain control, control through intimidation is always in their armoury. It is a hard lesson to learn but to negotiate with the state you have to negotiate from a position of strength, it is the only thing that will make them concede.
WHO CONTROLS GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOOD?
The field of genetically-modified food needs to be under the control of the people who will end up eating it, not the corporations who stand to gain millions of pounds from forcing it onto our tables. It is an uncharted area and those who stand to get rich by it should not be in the decision making of its suitability for human consumption.
A recent French study of Monsanto genetically-modified corn
has turned up shocking and disturbing images of rats weighed down with
disgusting tumors the size of golf balls. The two-year study
found that rats fed Monsanto’s NK603 corn developed more tumors and
severe diseases than a control group fed natural corn.
France has twice banned the corn from its country, but twice has seen
that ban overturned by the European Food Safety Authority, most
recently in May. According to the EFSA, it is because "there is no
specific scientific evidence, in terms of risk to human and animal
health or the environment" to support a ban. But the results of this new study are too big to ignore, and with our help the EU might finally listen. Russia has already banned the product, and the European Union should be next in line to protect consumers.
Monsanto and other GMO companies
have an enormous amount of lobbying power, but through direct
citizen-consumer action, we can get our own voices heard, and have an
enormous impact. Speaking up with the combined power of our voices,
members of SumOfUs.org are able to counterbalance some of the biggest
corporations in the world. Together, we are building a healthier, safer
world.
Thank you,
-Paul, Claiborne and the rest of us
***********************
Further information:
Food and Chemical Toxicology: Long term toxicity of a Roundup herbicide and a Roundup-tolerant genetically modified maize, 19 September, 2012
THE WORLD IS PROTESTING AGAINST THE STATE.
Greece, Spain, Portugal, Italy, France are in the news with unrest, people taking to the streets, mass protests, but one country that doesn't get much coverage by that babbling brook of bullshit, the media, is Belarus. In that country the president, Lukashenko, has been in power since 1994 and at recent elections, of the 109 winning candidates all were from pro Lukashenk parties, it is not unusual for ballot papers to have just one name. His human rights record is so atrocious that he was banned from appearing at the London 2012 Olympics. Every action has to be sanctioned by the state, even distributing leaflets can have you in prison as it can be deemed "illegal mass media production". A simple act like attending a punk concert can see you arrested. Repression is brutal but still the people take to the streets in their fight for a better life.
Is there a country on the planet where the people are happy with the state? People across the world are fighting for change, a better life, a better way of organising their lives, an end to the state and capitalism. It is a global struggle and we are winning.
Wednesday, 26 September 2012
AND THEY EXPECT YOU TO VOTE FOR IT.
They call it democracy, they expect you to run out and vote for the people responsible for this system, and sadly so many still do.
A letter from Domokos Prison Greece, posted on Act For Freedom Now:Read the full letter HERE:Diary of operation “Angela Davis” 18/8/2012
I come out of Keramikos station (athens). I look for an internet café, which is find closed. My detox from my avatar will last just a little longer. I make my way towards Thissio.
Two motorbikes stop in front of me. A herd of people fall on me and immobilize me. I don’t know what is going on. I scream. They cuff me and put a black hood over my head. They do not identify themselves to me. they put me in a car, a Toyota yaris or something.
It does not matter. They tell me “You messed up our summer you wanker! We have to deal with you now?”. So, I think. This is the punch line of the antiterrorist force. “Hey, we got him” notifies the driver on his mobile. “You sure its him?” wonders the one who is holding me in the back.
“What is your name?” they ask me. I tell them, they are relieved. I have heard stories with a beginning like this about a dozen times. I couldn’t imagine such a continue. Not even in my narrations. I am in an underground garage. At the entrance.
PEOPLE RE-ACT TO STATE VIOLENCE.
According to the latest reports from the general strike in Greece, over 100,000 took to the streets in Athens and hundreds have been arrested and a considerable number injured, there are reports of water cannon moving into Exarcheia Square. No doubt that babbling brook of bullshit, the media, will spout about the violence of the people on the streets. There will be no mention of the violence of the state in implementing draconian cuts to the standard of living of the people, which is in reality a brutal assault on ordinary people. An assault that is causing ill health, malnutrition, metal health problems and suicides to mention a few of the direct results of the state's brutal assault on innocent people. What is happening on the streets is an attempt at self defence by the people, it is obvious the ballot box didn't work. What is being forced onto the people was never in any election manifesto. That being the case then it is also obvious that democracy doesn't exist. Never the less the people are expected to be subservient, humble, quiet and take what is thrown at them on the instructions of the financial Mafia.
We should also remember that similar scenes have been taking place in Spain and Portugal this week, is this because these people are just violent people, or are they people that have been assaulted, too often, for too long, too severally and they feel it is now time to hit back and defend themselves. We should never forget that the violence always starts with the state, not the people, we only respond to how we are treated.
GENERAL STRIKE, GREECE.
September 26, a general strike in Greece, you can follow it live at Occupied London: HERE:
MOMENTS OF EXCESS.
Another radio chat from The CircledA, enjoy MOMENTS OF EXCESS:
This show is presented by Chickpea of Dissident Island Radio, features portions of
an interview with Brian and Keir, two members of the Leeds-based collective writing
and discussion group. Free Association about the project, its process and the
complexities associated with anti-capitalist protest. The interview is peppered with
samples from a copyleft of their recently published book 'Moments of Excess'.
Accessible and enlightening in its deconstruction of capitalism, the Free
Association's book and the group's continuing engagement in contemporary radical,
anti-capitalist politics and political organising is particularly relevant not only
to anarchists and anti-capitalists of all flavours but to all dissenters of
'capitalism as usual' in its ability to question and inspire, in entertaining ways,
thought in the process, purpose and direction behind the contemporary political
protest movements in the UK and beyond.
Tuesday, 25 September 2012
THE FORGOTTEN PALESTINIANS.
An interesting and informative talk on the Israeli state's treatment of Palestinians, given by Ilan Pappe Israeli historian.
This from Green Left TV:
September 16, 2012 -- Green Left TV -- Celebrated Israeli historian Ilan Pappe, whose landmark publication The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine documented the removal of
700,000 Palestinians from their lands in 1948, has written a new book, The Forgotten Palestinians.
In the book and at his September
16, 2012, community meeting at Sydney University above, Pappe reveals the situation
for Palestinians who still live within Israel's borders.
The meeting was the first event of Pappe's 2012 Australian lecture tour.
It was hosted by the Sydney Peace Foundation with the Coalition for Justice and Peace in Palestine and Leichhardt
Friends of Hebron. Pappe was in Australia to deliver the annual Edward Said Memorial Lecture at the University of
Adelaide.
DEATH AT THE HANDS OF THE POLICE.
On the 3rd. March, 2012, Anthony Grainger was shot dead by armed police, he was sitting at the wheel of a parked vehicle when shot. After the incident, no weapons were found in the vehicle. One more in a long line of deaths at the hands of the police.
This from 325:Father of two, friend to many: Shot and killed by Greater Manchester Police
“This has left us devastated as a family, our lives will never be the same. I cry every single night knowing what they did to my son… We won’t rest until we get justice.” Marina, Anthony’s mother
On 3 March 2012 Anthony Grainger was shot and killed by a police officer from Greater Manchester Police. Anthony was sat behind the wheel of a parked car in Culcheth, Warrington when a squad of armed men surrounded the car, and marksmen shot Anthony in cold blood through the windscreen, killing him immediately.
Anthony and the two men he was with were unarmed. Anthony has no record of being involved with guns and the police had apparently had the men under surveillance in the period leading up to the killing – we believe they knew he was unarmed.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) is now investigating Anthony’s death and will soon present its evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). It is then up to the CPS to decide whether to charge any police officer. In the past the IPCC has consistently failed to carry out proper investigations into crimes committed by the police.
Anthony’s death at the hands of the police is not an isolated incident. Since 2000 over 30 people have been shot and killed by the police in Britain and over 400 have died in police custody. Not one serving police officer has served a prison sentence for these deaths.
We will not stop, we will fight. We have joined with many other campaigns who have lost a loved one by the hands of the police who are facing the same INJUSTICE in our system. We fight as ONE – Unity is our strength.
Join us on facebook at facebook.com/groups/justice4grainger/ or email us at justice4grainger(at)yahoo.com
Please could you sign the United Friends and Families e-petition against police killings and show your support:
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/26276
The Police protect the System and the System protects the Police its time for change – NO JUSTICE!!! NO PEACE!!!
GOD IS DISPLEASED WITH THE WHITE HOUSE!!
Where on earth do they find them, I know, in America. It seems that God is not happy with the White House, at least that is something I have in common with him.
TOWARDS AN ANARCHIST SPIRITUALITY.
I believe that anarchism is not merely an economic system, it is a way of life, a way of interacting on an individual level and a community level, it is a value structure that is based on love and respect, surely, somewhere at its heart must lie "spirituality".
PINNACLE OF EVOLUTION.
There’s a crazy ape, who
by means of incredible intransigence
has mastered the art of carnage;
through dogged determination
in a ruthless rampage
raised the body-count beyond belief.
This crazy ape
creates the human chronicles
as a cruel callous calendar,
transforms our indulgent earth
into a primitive barbaric abattoir.
He struts across the land
with bumptious pride;
he’s destructive, he’s devious,
demands dominion
planet wide.
His claim to fame,
history immortalised in rivers of blood.
Even so,
this crazy ape called man, believes
he’s the GODS’ sublime solution,
progress’s perfection,
the pinnacle of evolution.
This from This is Primal War:
Read the full article HERE:Towards An Anarchist Spirituality...
“They therefore invented an idea of "primitive man" as a being whose total intelligence was supposed to consist in some rudimentary fumblings towards the kind of wisdom monopolized by Western civilization. Hardly dreaming that there are other and highly developed types of intelligence and wisdom, as well as different life/goals, than those contemplated by Western man, these anthropologists found only what their prejudices enabled them to see. Their premise was that their own culture as the "latest" in time represented the height of evolution. Earlier cultures must therefore be elementary forms of "modern” culture, and their degree of civilization and intelligence had to be estimated by the degree to which their values approximated to modern values.” – Alan Watts Myth and Ritual in Christianity
To begin with, this quote by philosopher Alan Watts is in reference, immediately, to Christianity and it’s origins, it’s colonialist imperative but also applies more broadly to modern culture as a whole. I would find it hard to not relate critique of modern culture to Christianity, being that it has been, if not the most dominate religion of the past 500 years,could be called the most dominating with it’s imperative of conquest and control. We have seen in our lifetimes alone, a massive amount of repression, genocide, ecological devastation and oppression under the flag of divine right. From the conquest of the west to the colonization of the east (read Phillipines, South Korea, Australia, etc.) at the hands of not only the Church as an institution, but the force of will of “good” Christian missionaries, paving the way for development and providing reformist cleanup after genocide wrenches it’s deadly claim.
Monday, 24 September 2012
BIG BROTHER IS RELENTLESS.
How long before we see them over head here, as we go about our normal business. Big Brother has all the best of technology.
IS YOUR BOSS A PSYCHOPATH?
Have you ever had a boss you thought deserved a padded cell? You’re not
alone. Nearly one third of employees think their bosses should see a
psychologist. And as it turns out, your so-called jaded assumptions
might not be that far off. Bosses are four times more likely to exhibit
psychopathic behavior than your average guy or gal. Included in these
behavioral traits is an ability to hide who they really are. They can be
charming, but still manipulative and lack empathy and remorse. It isn’t
surprising, then, to find out that all these psychopathic bosses cost
their employees their health and the U.S. economy some serious cash.
Employees with bad bosses can lose their hair, gain weight and up their
chances of heart disease by a whopping 25%. And to top it all off,
poorly managed workplaces are less profitable and have lower levels of
productivity. Psychopathic bosses: bad for you, bad for the economy.
BOMBING DEMOCRACY INTO THE WORLD.
An old article, but nothing much has changed, it is still America bombing democracy into the world. In the language of American (world) corporatism, the road to freedom and democracy is through the slaughter and misery of the people. For them true democracy is paved with the slaughter of children, is the freedom to exploit all natural resources and to destroy any resistance to that exploitation.
Recent studies from the New York Times show that...
The UN, in response to these figures, drafted a document to try and end the abuse of children. Only two UN nations turned this down. One was Somalia, and the other was the United States. That's right, the good old USA, the world's leader in support of human rights, refused to sign or ratify the Convention on Children's Rights. Why? Their excuse was that they recruit 17-year-olds into the Marine Corps. Doesn't it make you feel good to live in a country that would rather promote the abuse of children rather than slightly reform the recruitment policies of a single branch of it's (needless, wasteful, abusive) military?
- Over 300,000 children are fighting as soldiers in armies world-wide today
- Over the last ten years, 2 million have died in wars...
- ...there have been 1 million orphaned...
- ...6 million have been seriously injured...
- ...12 million have become homeless...
- ...and ten million are seriously psychologically traumatized as a direct result.
I've said it a million times before, the US people take a government press conference as gospel. Of course there's bickering between conservatives and liberals, but they share a common goal, and they don't want it to look like it's a priority. An example? Look at the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. As Noam Chomsky has said...
"Despite the desperate efforts of ideologues to prove that circles are square, there is no serious doubt that the
NATO bombings further undermine what remains of the fragile structure of international law. The US made that entirely clear in the discussions leading to the NATO decision."
Stop and think about it. There are too many instances of attrocities committed or bankrolled by the United States, each of which is covered up from the eye of the media or appologized for, to suddenly start trusting them just because a dead revolutionary wrote a song. Things have definatly changed since the revolution, if you'll consider Thomas Jefferson's ideals about aristocrats vs. democrats. So how can you believe that the US actually supports a human rights mission? The attrocities by the Yugoslav government have noteably increased by god-knows-fold since the NATO campaign started, which was admitted as "predicatable" by the US leader of the bombings. So why didn't someone stop and say something? Well, England is "by now, about as much of an independent actor as the Ukraine was in the pre-Gorbachev years", and none of the other NATO countries, or capitalist countries for that matter (with the exception of Russia, who isn't a NATO nation anyway), would stand to oppose the US. Not surprisingly though, despite thier willingness to take a stand, the other NATO countries are, for the most part, growing tired of Madeline Albright and the violent policies of the United States. The really scary thing is this: The US gets away with it, but other nations catch the breeze by the source of all disruption to anti-war world order, the United States, whenever they do something of this sort.
Could it be that the US wants to turn the world into one capitalistic empire? The other reformed capitalist countries sure don't seem to stand up for all the people in the world that die in needless wars. If they're not part of the solution, obviously they're part of the problem, because passive agression or blind agreement in a "focus, nod, go back to work" fashion gives the aristocrats of the American government exactly what they want: to be the rulers of a secret imperialism.
MORE "THINGS" = MORE HAPPINESS!!!!
What is it that we really want, is it more "things", the latest version of those "things", does happiness come when you're a "celebrity" or when you're in the presence of a "celebrity"? Is our aim in life to mirror those "celebrities", are we better people if we can get our hands on the "best" trainers, phone, flat screen TV etc? You would come to that conclusion if you in any way follow the mainstream media, (that babbling brook of bullshit) Everything that is pumped out as "desirable" has nothing to do with our relationships with one and other, it is the opposite it is a process of isolation, locking into the "me" "I" syndrome, but it does help the corporate world to create more wealth and power for the few, that little army of pampered parasites that do their damnedest to control and shape our lives for their own ends.
The corporate world's life blood is consumerism and consumerism on an ever increasing scale, hence the endless propaganda that pretty little boxes with coloured ribbons will deliver happiness, and those with the most pretty little boxes are the "celebrities" we have to try and mimic. None of which, in reality, has anything to do with you and I. Our life is more about finding a job, (selling yourself) trying to feed ourselves, hoping to keep warm this winter, struggling to keep a roof over our head. This tells us that there are two worlds, the illusionary world sold to us by the mouthpiece of state and corporatism, and the real world you and I inhabit. Isn't time we abandoned the illusionary world and concentrate on the world we live in and take control of the resources to sort that one out, and let the juggernaut of consumerism crash into the barrier of oblivion?
This world is a canvas of cynicism, separation, aesthetics, and stupidity, held together by forms of existence which destroy us: the necessity of selling ourselves to our workplace and to each other, the pathetic desire for recognition; the infantile inability to do anything, even feed ourselves, without a supermarket; the isolation of a life that moves from cubicle, to bar, to apartment, and back again. Those of us who didn’t fit into this arrangement, we consider it an individual problem, our problem and spend much of our lives trying to solve it with Zoloft, Xanex, hobbies, careers, heroin, alcohol, therapy, the gym, a computer screen, or a hookup. Best case scenario, we get a little Jeff Johnson action, POP POP. In reality, the stupid isolation and cynicism of this world is not “our problem” – rather, it is the very way we are governed, and all the medications, hobbies, clothes, and styles that we try are all just apparatuses that seek to prevent, at any cost, this world’s collapse.Read the full article HERE:
Everything at your fingertips, carefree, without lifting a finger, worry-free, hands-off, hassle-free, peace of mind, rest-assured… one only has to string together some of the guidelines of 20th century consumer satisfaction to understand the sedative aspects of our private lives that are held out as a promise (the one thing we can strive for) in the face of the enormous efforts required to sustain oneself, earn enough money, enjoy a social life, receive physical and mental care…
Sunday, 23 September 2012
A SHACK IN THE MIDST OF WEALTH.
South Africa accounts for 24% GDP of all African Countries, according to the World Bank it is classed as an "upper-middle economy" It abounds in natural resources and is a very rich country. This is a table of the percentage of the world's production of these particular substances: platinum, 77%; kyanite and other materials, 55%; chromium, 45%; palladium, 39%; vermiculite, 39%; vanadium, 38%; zirconium, 30%; manganese, 21%; rutile, 20%; ilmenite, 19%; gold, 11%; fluorspar, 6%; aluminium, 2%; antimony, 2%; iron ore, 2%; nickel, 2%; and phosphate rock, 1%. South Africa also accounted for nearly 5% of the world’s polished diamond production by value. The country’s estimated share of world reserves of platinum group metals amounted to 89%; hafnium, 46%; zirconium, 27%; vanadium, 23%; manganese, 19%; rutile, 18%; fluorspar, 18%; gold, 13%; phosphate rock, 10%; ilmenite, 9%; and nickel, 5%. It is also the world's third largest coal exporter.
It is also a very diverse economy with mining, fishery, agriculture, vehicle manufacture and assembly, finance, energy, textiles etc. In spite of this, 25% are unemployed, and more than 25% live on less than US$1.25 a day.
All that adds up to it being a country of massive wealth and extensive poverty. As this film shows, like all capitalist countries, it doesn't go anywhere near fulfilling the needs of its people, and can be honestly stated to treat millions of its citizens as if it were an extremely poor country. Then again, that's the system, it is called corporate greed.
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