Of The people And For The People.

      Syriza claims to be a party for the people, so as an anarchist, I would expect one of the first things they would do would be to remove all the draconian legislation created by the previous, pro-capitalist parties in power. Legislation that targets protests against the capitalist system, stop the state apparatus targeting anarchists and their families, repeal all legislation regarding high security prisons, that rob anti-capitalists of their human rights. I would expect them to immediately bring an end to the appalling, unsanitary, inhumane, overcrowded, ill-funded, disgusting, criminal, Greek prison hospital system. None of the above, with perhaps the exception of the prison hospital, would require any massive funding, so would not in any way add to their problems as they kneel before their financial masters in Europe. The above changes would show exactly where they stand regards the people and capitalism.

     What we have is another power group who think they can manage capitalism in a slightly different manner. They will not hand over enterprises and institutions to the people, to run them for the benefit of the communities, and the people of Greece in general. They will base all their plans on the economic growth of the capitalist model. Perhaps slicing a little bit more off the cake to help alleviate the poverty and misery of the people. They will continually kneel at the alter of the financial Mafia, who will make it quite clear, that the cake belongs to them.

    I agree that the people of Greece have, and are, suffering more than any other group in Europe, and a desire to bring some sort of relief is overwhelming, but Syriza is a left of centre capitalist oriented political party. Its solutions will inevitably lead to the same capitalist problems that we all face, it will all just be a matter of degree. The struggle in Greece is still in progress, as it is in the rest of the capitalist world. If you wage your struggle according to the rules created by your enemy, you are doomed to failure.

This from Contra Info:

“Today Sunday 8 of March we occupy the central offices of the government SYRIZA in Koumoundourou Street.
We stand in solidarity with the hunger strikers, political prisoners in Greece, and we ask that their demands are satisfied.
1. Abolition of the Anti-terrorist Law Α’, article 187, Law 2001 (criminal organization)
2. Abolition of the Anti-terrorist Law B’, article 187A, Law 2004 (terrorist organization)
3. Abolition of the “hoodie law” (acts committed with concealed physical characteristics)
4. Abolition of the legal framework for type C prisons
5. The immediate release from prison of Savvas Xiros (convicted for his participation in the R.O. 17 November) on health grounds
6. Against the criminalization of the family relations of the members of the R.O. Conspiracy of Cells of Fire.
Anarchists in solidarity with political prisoners”

If Syriza was of and for the people, these individuals would not need to do this.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Guy Aldred's "The Word".

       Spirit of Revolt is still busy trying to bring alive Glasgow/Clydeside non-party political grass-roots history. The latest addition to our ever growing collections is four bound volumes of Guy Aldred's, The Word, probably one of the largest collections in Scotland. Thanks to co-operation with The Sparrow's Nest, you can now read fourteen issues of The Word on line, we will have more on line later. Twelve from the 1939/45 war years and a couple from later on. They make fascinating reading, a lot of anti war material, conscientious objectors' trials and a variety of subjects covered from the perspective of one of Glasgow's better known lifelong anarchists. Just click on HERE, scroll down and enjoy.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

The World Needs The Full Potential Of All Its Peopele.

      March 8th. International Women's Day, a day when we honour the achievements of women across the world, a day when the other half of the world's population should rise up, join women, and once and for all, end the domination of one half of the species by the other. Women's fight for full equality can only exist because those rights are refused by men. There is no grounds for any law, natural or otherwise, that states one half of the species shouldn't have the same rights and opportunities as the other.

      We are all born as children, it is unacceptable that we should structure our society so that one half of those children will not have the right to develop to their full potential. Any institution that furthers or defends this inequality of opportunity must be destroyed, be it religious or political.

     By seeing that every human on this planet has equal rights to develop to their full potential, will release an explosion of creativity that will enhance the quality of life across the globe. We as a species, cheat ourselves and humanity, if we deny half our population the right to add their full worth to our combined effort to build that better world. There can be no better world when half its population is denied equality.

     I thought it fitting that on this day, International Women's Day to post a cutting from an old copy of The Word, held in the Spirit of Revolt Archive. We all should honour and respect those who stand up in the face of the state, in time of war, and say, "I am are a conscientious objector". However we tend to think of them as men, this case, from WWII, is the UK's first women conscientious objector.

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Who Cares Who She Was.

       I removed the post called Who Is She. as I found out that it was Gracie Fields entertaining the workers for the war effort, not something I would knowingly support. Thanks to the individual who pointed out who she was, and thanks to others who commented. These war supporting creeps get enough publicity from the establishment, and that babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, without me adding to their worthless, already bloated celebrity status.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Workers And Soldiers.

     They can call it democracy, but the state can attempt to stifle free assembly, if it so wishes. If they don't like what you're doing or saying then they will draft a law to say you can't do or say that.

     At a time of anger and organisation among the people, the state will bring about any weird and wonderful "law" to intimidate and prevent the people from expressing that anger.

      This is a wee gem from our Glasgow's democratic past, when the powers that be were getting a bit anxious about the coming together of the public and soldiers. Obviously they were a bit worried about the rebellion sweeping across industry, might just take hold in the forces. After all the imperialists needed the soldiers as the pursued their bloody land grab of that era.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Workers Know Your History, Glasgow's 1848 Food Riots.

      The citizens of Glasgow have always been a rebellious bunch, like other large cities across the UK, they have been involved in a long struggle to improve their conditions, and sometimes that struggle has been bitter and violent. You could say Glasgow has been a City of Rebellion, from the union in 1706, we had anti-union riots, and many more after that, some being violently put down, there was the 1725 Malt Tax riots, Feb 1800 crowds breaking into shops, and the troops called to quell their anger, 1812 the weavers strike, and so it goes on, with other protests and riots in between. However, today March 6th. marks the 167th, anniversary of the Glasgow food riots, back then society hadn't the safety valve of "food banks".

     The trouble started when the mass unemployed were expecting some sort of handout of provisions, which never materialised. The angry and starving crowds started marching through the main streets in the city centre, smashing their way into food shops, and went further, starting breaking into gun shops. The entire city centre came to a standstill all business closed. By now the starving angry and armed crowds were covering the city centre marching and shouting, "bread or revolution". 

     The authorities read the "riot act", the crowds were spreading into other districts of the city, breaking in to any food shop they came across. The city fathers called on more troops troops from Edinburgh. March 7th. crowds again gather in Bridgeton, a young boy threw something at the troops and was arrested. However the crowd were not having that, stormed the troops and rescued the young boy. It was then that Police Superintendent, a Captain Smart, gave the order to open fire, in the ensuing minutes, five of the crowd were shot, also a police officer was shot in the cross fire. For some days after this event crowds still lined the streets, however every public office in the city was securely guarded by troops.

       And so the struggle goes on, the rent strike 1915, the Upper Clyde work-in, 1971/72. In between the bitter and sometime violent struggles we have had an endless catalogue of smaller battles, but never the less important, and part of our history, a history that proves that it is only the ordinary people who carry forward this struggle for a better world for all, against an elite of rich and powerful, that will do their damnedest to hold on to their privileged position. So let's not forget those who challenged that elite, at times with great personal sacrifice and on occasions, death.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

The State's Prying Eyes.

     So the Scottish government wants to open the NHS central Register (NHSCR) to 100 or so public bodies. What could possibly go wrong with 100 different public bodies being able to dip into your personal data, after all we know that all these 100 or so public bodies are all fully staffed by totally scrupulously honest people, who would in no way abuse that data!! Not even inadvertently.

     The Scottish government, UK government, French government, American government, Chinese, government, and the rest, they are all the same. They want to collect as much data as possible about you and share it with all branches of their apparatus, and it is always for our benefit, to protect us, but the bottom line is that it is control. They want all their branches to know as much about you a possible. Dipping into your personal data will be local councils, the police, tax collectors, benefit offices, education departments, even Scottish Canals and Quality Meat Scotland. Like I said before, what could possibly go wrong? 

      We all know that a lot of that data would be very useful to commercial entities, insurance companies etc., and they will be doing their level best to pick-pocket little gems to enhance their profits, with over 100 new doors opening, that would make their job so much easier.

      Big Brother walks in many guises, but the aim is always the same, who are you, where are you, what are you up to, why are you there, have you been authorised to be there, who are you mixing with, and why. It costs a lot of money to collect, process and store all that data, and you would be a fool if you thought it was all for your benefit. The tentacles of the state do not caress, they strangle.

From the BBC:

   Everyone born in Scotland or registered with a GP north of the border has a Unique Citizen Reference Number (UCRN) held in the NHSCR.

Read the full article HERE:

Visit ann arky'#s home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Human Ingenuity.

      Man cons prison in to letting him walk free!! I found this amusing, you have to admire the ingenuity of the human species. Perhaps all prisoners should take courses in IT.

This from Mail Online:

       A serial fraudster managed to con prison guards into letting him walk free from jail by sending them emails from the ‘courts service’ demanding his release.
       Neil Moore, 28, set up a fake website and sent emails purporting to be from the courts service to trick Wandsworth Prison into thinking he had been freed on bail by a judge.
      However, the ‘consummate and practiced’ conman appeared to have a ‘change of heart’ just three days after his release and was re-arrested after informing his solicitor of his actions.
      Moore, of Ilford, north east London, had originally been jailed for an elaborate web of frauds which saw him posing as bank staff to dupe major organisations into handing over more than £1million.
      He pretended to be employed by RBS, Lloyds bank, and Bank of America to dupe companies into handing over money.
     Cambia Autos was conned out of £46,000 in November 2013, Thomas Global Exchange handed over £140,000 to Moore, TD Banking gave up $120,751, and Hogan and Vest was duped out of $739,439 in 2012 and 2013.
      Moore also targeted Volkswagen by posing as an employee of the Bank of New York in December 2013.

Read the full article HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Brutal State Murder By A Friendly Nation.

      The West has gone to war on numerous occasions under the pretext that they were removing an unacceptable tyrant, recently Saddam and Gaddaffi, to mention just two. We were told that they treated their citizens brutally, and we are going to "free" the people.

      However there are extremely brutal regimes that indulge in the most barbaric and horrendous state murders and yet the West is silent, and even honours and anoints them with the highest of hospitality at the highest offices in the land.
    The quote below is of an event ordered and sanctioned by the highest in the land, in that "friendly" nation Saudi Arabia, and that babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, will let it pass without as much as a ripple of disapproval.

Photo of a women being beheaded in Saudi Arabia for sorcery. 

     I have edited it slightly for translation purposes only, this from Arrezafe:

      The Saudi authorities beheaded, on Monday a Burmese woman, in compliance with the judgement rendered against her, for allegedly murdering her sister, a girl of seven years, as reported by Saudi media. A recording of the beheaded woman, identified as Laila Bint Abdul Muttalib Basim, has been released on the internet.
       In the shocking document, you hear her shout, “I did not kill, I did not kill”, while at least four policemen dragged her into the middle of the street, where an executioner was waiting to behead her. She uttered a shriek moments before the executioner's sword fell on her neck. According to Saudi media, it took up to three strokes with the cutlass to sever the neck of the woman.

Read the full article HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Workers Know Your History, 1820 Insurrection.

      The 1820 insurrection is an event that the state would rather we forgot, or see it as a handful of protesters hell bent on trouble, that were brought to heel by the forces of law and order. During that era Britain was in turmoil, 1819 Peterloo massacre sparked riots in Paisley and Glasgow, as well as elsewhere. It took the full force and duplicity of the state to break the rebellion, some paying for their desire for freedom by being hanged and beheaded, others were transported to Austraila.

     Spirit of Revolt has just put up an interesting piece on this event, you can read it at their Read of the Month.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Workers Know Your History, Death On The Picket Line.

      Last March, at the start of the 30th. anniversary of the 1984/85 miners strike, Spirit of Revolt, along with Clydeside IWW and Glasgow Anarchist Collective, co-sponsored  a talk in Glasgow, by Dace Douglass. After the talk, Dave asked if we had any knowledge of a recording of The Ballad of Freddie Mathews. Freddie Mathews was a Hatfield miner who was killed while on the picket line.

      Sadly we drew a blank, nobody seemed to know of a recording, so I approached Alun Parry and asked if he could make a recording. This he done, and he will be performing it at the Hatfield Colliery Gala in Doncaster, later this month.

       Thanks Alun. Settle down and enjoy a tale from working class history and struggle.

After almost a year of bitter and brutal struggle, the strike ended on March 3rd. 1985.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Funny Money.

     I like one of the recent acts of the Syriza government, it would great if our millionaire cabal that infests the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, would follow suit. Of course, there's not a hope in hell of that happening, our bunch of lords and masters just love funny money.

From International Journal of Socialist Renewal:

     I must tell you that today we announced the conclusion of a judicial investigation made at the request of the anti-corruption minister. It led to the freezing of 404 million euros found in bank accounts of large investors and depositors who have failed to prove the lawful origin of the money.

Read the full article HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Syriza And Democracy.

      Syriza or no Syriza, the Greek state apparatus is still a fascist institution. It has draconian laws in place which Syriza has not even hinted at repealing. They have laws governing "criminal organisations" and "terrorist organisations" which sees legitimate protesters detained in high security prisons. Then their is the so called "hoodie law",  acts committed with concealed physical characteristics, plus forced DNA samples. Admitted Syriza has a bitter loosing fight on its hands with the European financial Mafia, but it could still be addressing these matters on simple democracy at home.

      The conditions in Greek prisons are probably the worst in Europe, this from Wikipedia: Amnesty International and other human rights bodies such as the Committee for the Prevention of Torture have repeatedly expressed concern about the prison for its overcrowding and inhumane treatment of detainees. ^[4][5] In 2007, a special committee composed of physicians of the Division of Health Inspections of the Prefecture of Piraeus and Piraeus Medical Association has reported that the hospital and the mental clinic of the prison operate without even the minimum conditions of hygiene, with aging infrastructure and big shortages in medical and nursing staff.^[6] 

      Because of these totally inhumane and undemocratic conditions, there is another prisoners hunger strike taking place in Greece. Will Syriza handle this hunger strike  any different from the way the last incumbent "managers" of the Greek state apparatus handled the last one?

Greece's only prison hospital.

View video of interior of Greece's only prison hospitals.

This from Contra Info:

On March 2nd 2015, combative prisoners launched a hunger strike in various Greek prisons. Their main demands are: the abolition of Article 187 (criminal organisation) and Article 187A (terrorist organisation) of the Greek Penal Code; of the “hoodie law” (acts committed with concealed physical characteristics); of the legal framework for Type C prisons; of the prosecutorial provision of forcible taking of DNA samples – and the immediate release from prison of Savvas Xiros (convicted for his participation in the R.O. 17 November) on health grounds.
So far, those who have joined the political prisoners’ mobilisation and collective hunger strike are three urban guerrillas incarcerated in the E1 wing of Domokos type C prison: Dimitris Koufontinas, Kostas Gournas, and Revolutionary Struggle member Nikos Maziotis – and five participants in the Network of Imprisoned Fighters (DAK): Antonis Stamboulos (Larissa prison), Tasos Theofilou (Domokos prison), Fivos Harisis, Argyris Ntalios and Giorgos Karagiannidis (Koridallos prison). The rest of the comrades who participate in the

Read the full article HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Making Communities Safer.

      Day and daily the babbling brook of bullshit, our mainstream media, report violence from all around the Middle East, and elsewhere, but there is one country that doesn't get much publicity about its corrupt, brutal police force, a country where there is practically a shooting of an unarmed man by the over re-acting police every day of the week. I find it sickening that day in day out we find that some unfortunate, usually young person, has died at the hands of what can only be described as, a police force completely out of control, a law unto themselves.

      That country I'm referring to is the so called, "land of the free", "defender of the world's democracy", and other such double speak titles, The Good Ol' US of A. Where like police across the globe, they carry such phoney logos as "keeping you safe", or "making communities safer", and other such meaningless and empty phrases.

     A country where on average, every 28 hours, a young black man dies at the hands  of cops. This latest episode, captured on this video, is of a homeless man being dragged from a tent and killed outside a homeless mission in Los Angeles.

This report from Free Thought Project:

       Los Angeles, Calif. – In a brutal display, Los Angeles police shot and killed a homeless man in front of Union Rescue Mission today, after he scuffled with officers.

       A video of the event, posted on Facebook, shows numerous officers fighting with the man and eventually wrestling him to the ground where he continues to struggle against the officers.

The footage shows officers violently attacking the man with blows and then throwing him to the ground as four officers attempt to subdue him as he continues to resist the officers’ aggression.

At this point in the video, an officer can be heard yelling, “Get off my gun. Get off my gun.”

      While possible that the victim went for the officer’s weapon, it must be noted that one of the tactics utilized by police, as a means of conditioning witnesses, is to yell out phrases such as “stop resisting” even if the person is doing no such thing.

Similarly, saying that someone went for the officers weapon is an accepted justification to use deadly force, and has become the default justification in many encounters where officers have killed unarmed citizens.

     Suddenly a barrage of 5-6 gunshots ring out. Witnesses can be heard yelling, “Ain’t nobody got no guns!,” after the gunfire subsides.

No gun was reportedly found at the scene by police.

According to witnesses on the scene named Dennis Horne, 29, the victim was a man that went by the name “Africa.”

    Horne said that Africa had been arguing with someone in a tent when police arrived, reported the LA Times.

    After refusing to come out of the tent after being commanded to do so by officers, cops tasered him and dragged him out, according to Horne.

“It’s sad,” Horne said. “There’s no justification to take somebody’s life.”

    Ina Murphy, who lives in an apartment nearby, told the Times that Africa had arrived in the area about four or five months ago. He reportedly told her he had recently been released after spending 10 years in a mental facility.

Read the full article HERE: 

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Dubious and Duplicitous Public Servants!!!

And more tunes from that MP fiddle.

Scottish Labour's candidate in the party's top target seat is under pressure after it emerged that he worked for the consultancy which helped design the Tory-led Government's NHS reforms in England.

and:

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is being asked to investigate the conduct of her own Energy Minister Fergus Ewing after he was accused of blocking one wind farm to pave the way for another backed by the Duke of Buccleuch, Britain's largest private landowner.

       It just goes on and on and on, greedy, self gratifying, egotistical, devious, duplicitous, lying, two-faced careerists, the whole bunch of them. Why do we pay for, and tolerate this cesspool of corruption, that serves us no purpose what so ever?  

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

If Only All Fiddling Was Music!!!

 Ironic??

       The latest episode in the long running saga of fiddling MPs, brings to the fore two long standing members of that self gratifying bunch of rich parasites, Namely Rifkind and Straw. Hardly new boys, who didn't know the “rules”, the rules being, don't get bloody caught. Of course this isn't Straw's first besmirching over expenses, in the past he jumped the gun when hearing that MP's expenses were to be made public, this from wikipedia: Two months after learning that MP's expenses were to be made public, Straw wrote to the fees office to confirm that he had over-claimed on the Council Tax for his constituency home. He attributed this to an oversight – he had been entitled to a 'non-occupancy' discount of 50% for four consecutive years, but had continued to claim expenses for the full rate of Council Tax. Included with the letter was a cheque for the amount he believed he had overcharged, which itself turned out to have been miscalculated, leading Straw to send a further cheque with a note saying "accountancy does not appear to be my strongest suit" There may be other traits that are not his strongest suit.

 If Only!!

       As for Rifkind, well he may have stated that he couldn't get by on £67,000 a year, but then does he need to? His list of interests are, very interesting. This from wikipedia:

       Non-executive Director of Unilever plc; monthly ongoing payment of £7,166 gross from May 2013 (£85,992 annually)[16][17]

• Non-executive Director of Adam Smith International; Salary £35,000
• Member of Advisory Board, L.E.K. Consulting; Salary £25,000
• Director of Alliance Medical Holdings Limited, since January 2014
• Director of the Amphion Group Limited, since June 2008
• Director of United Holdings Limited, since July 2013

      A nice little list of sidelines to help him through these difficult times, when his £67,000 is running a bit short. The one that interest me is the Director of Alliance Medical Holdings Limited, now a man with that sort of interest might, just might, see benefits for him and his company if the NHS was privatised, but that's another fiddle. 

 All chums in the rich man's club.

     This brings us to the question of whether MPs should take a second job. In Rifkind's case he has at least six other jobs besides his full time, £67,000, day job, busy man. There is no worry though of them taking a REAL job, one that might be of help to their constituents. When have you ever known an MP to take a job in, say a pipe factory, or at take-away, or perhaps you might meet your MP in the supermarket as he/she fills the shelves. No, that's not on the cards, this thieving bunch of money grabbing parasites will only take a second “job” when it entails no other work other than companies using them for influence, and lining their pockets with unearned loot.

      The Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, has never been other than a rich man's club, where they wheel and deal to grow and protect their own assets and privileges. Where they can legislate to protect their own power and wealth, and we are the stooges that vote them in, and pay their salaries, while they merrily fiddle their way through life. When will we ever learn?

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk