The Office Worker War.

        Something that we don't read a lot about in our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, is the war being waged by America in different parts of the world, by means of drones. This office worker war, where the perpetrators of the violence sit comfortable, miles away from the havoc and destruction that they dispatch on persons unknown, could be, and should be, categorised as war crimes. In war, the combatants are supposed to differentiate from legitimate combatant targets and civilians, drones fail miserably in this respect. 

      A new analysis of the data available to the public about drone strikes, conducted by the human-rights group Reprieve, indicates that even when operators target specific individuals – the most focused effort of what Barack Obama calls “targeted killing” – they kill vastly more people than their targets, often needing to strike multiple times. Attempts to kill 41 men resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1,147 people, as of 24 November.

       This type of warfare is the preferred option, as it can be sold to the public easier than boots on the ground, with such illusionary labels as “clean” “surgical” and “accurate”, all lies, as the above information makes clear. It is not going to go away as America has seen a forty fold increase in its drone capacity 

According to the GAO report, "From 2002 to 2010, the number of unmanned aerial systems in DOD's [Department of Defense] inventory has increased about forty fold, from about 170 to 7,500 aircraft." The CIA has over 80 Predator drones, while the Air Force has 468 Predators and the Army has 110, according to an October 2014 War Is Boring piece - based on General Atomics' (company that makes Predator drones) numbers - on drone fleet figures.

       Pakistan has suffered drone strikes on a vast scale which increased massively after Obama came to office. In that country since 2004, over 3,000 people have been killed by drones, with an estimated mere 2% being high ranking combatants and almost 200 were children. America is not at war with Pakistan, but attacks and kills the people of that country on a regular basis.
       What other country regularly bombs another “friendly” country, and gets away with it, with no questions asked by the international community? The same is happening in Yemen and Somalia, attacks on other nations without any declaration of war. This is the new American imperialism, brutal and indiscriminate attacks around the world, all done from the comfort of an office thousands of miles from the death and destruction.

        Of course the UK state is not innocent in this office worker warfare, as of 2013, the UK state has 500 drones.

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

They Have Kids, Try To Earn A Living, Just Like You And I.

      The migrants at Calais who are being herded like wild animals by the forces of the state, and being portrayed as such, by that babbling brook of bullshit, our mainstream media, are real people, they have sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters and children. They are not roaming the world to rape and plunder, they are trying to escape the ravages of war and violence, in most cases brought about by the foreign policy of Western imperialism, aided and abetted by religious nutters and psychopathic "leaders". These are people who, like you and I, fall in love, get married, have kids, care for their elderly, work for their living and try to provide for their family.

      They deserve our support and solidarity, they need our help, but the state is an expert at dehumanising, and will do its damnedest to keep them cloak in the terminology of "swarm", "herds" and "lawless hoards". However, they are human, they will organise to protect themselves, but they do need our assistance. 

This from Calais Migrant Solidarity:

      -------It was a very large and strong group, however on the other side of the fence were many Gendarmes and also active French military who were menacing their machine guns. The group’s chanting continued for around an hour until the point they started to make their move to try and push through the fence. People had gone down a hill and were lining a steep verge consisting of loose gravel. Those at the bottom, closest to the fence, started to try and make their way over it when suddenly the Gendarmes released a huge amount of ‘tear gas’ onto the crowd. Exactly what type of gas they used though is not clear. Having experienced it and after speaking with people afterward, it was very powerful; much more so than typical CS gas and had strong effects even at the top of the hill far from where it was sprayed. It also created a shortness of breath and a panicked feeling which suggests that it may have been CR gas. After the attack there were also people lying unconscious on the ground. Any use of gas here and particularly CR (if it was indeed that) was completely unnecessary and irresponsible. The panic that the gas created caused a stampede up the hill, but as the footing was so loose people were falling over one another trying to get away from the poison. It was difficult to breathe, see, or move in that area and many people got hurt trying to flee from the gas into a more open space. However, the group, after recovering from the attack, got together and held a meeting about what to do next. They decided to occupy the road leading to the freight terminal at the Eurotunnel, their aim, to stop traffic until they were heard.

Read the full article HERE:

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

A Cure For Cabin Fever.

        Monday 3rd of August didn't look like being a very nice day, dull and a heavy shower in the morning. However suffering from a severe case of cabin fever, I had to get out, so grab the bike and set off. Dull and windy but enjoyed getting out and peddling, it did clear up after I got home, ah well that's cycling in Scotland.

Near Twechar, looking towards the Campsie Hills

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Reform Your Cell Or Break Free??

       When do the people of the world wake to the fact that reform is impotent against capitalism. We have had a couple of centuries of reformists, and we have reformed ourselves into austerity, increasing poverty and deprivation. Reformists failed to stop brutal wars, where the ordinary people paid the full price in millions of unnecessary deaths. Reformists have lead us to this present state, where corporate capitalism, hand in hand with the financial Mafia, control the world. Our history has writ large in letters of struggle and misery, capitalism, like a viral epidemic, can't be reformed, it has to be destroyed. Social democracy, representative democracy, born in the womb of capitalism is a still born child. A prisoner in a cell, who is allowed to discuss some improvements to his cell, is still a prisoner in a cell.

       We have to stop assessing our every situation in the language of economics, stop measuring our future by means of growth. We have to see the profit motive as one symptom of the viral epidemic of capitalism. All of these, are the tools of the exploiter, to use them is to tie your own hands in the face of your enemy. A new world requires a new language, the language of needs, of mutual aid, co-operation and sustainability. None of these can survive in the belly of capitalism, no amount of reform will make them grow and flourish in a system based on personal greed and exploitation. 

This from Autistici:

       So what’s going on in Greece is just the antepenultimate episode of the always sad and lamentable story of the historical Social Democracy, that is to say the bourgeois party for workers and proletarians, this social force in charge of emptying our movements of struggle from their subversive substance, of diverting their perspectives of radical transformation of the world onto a simple reform, and finally of making us falling back into ranks of social peace. The camp of Social Democracy materializes at two levels: by setting up a militant structure external to our class, a structure directly stemming from leftist and progressive factions of the bourgeois class on the one hand, and by development of a reformist ideological corpus generated within our class and based on the weaknesses, limitations and illusions of the struggle on the other hand, all that in a dialectical back-and-forth movement between both.
      So what’s going on in Greece is nothing very different from what the very “radical” Workers Party of Brazil (led by the reformist Lula da Silva and the former “guerrilla” Dilma Roussef) achieved in recent years in terms of attacks on proletarians’ living conditions; what by the way provoked the June 2013 revolt against austerity and misery.

Read the full article HERE:

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

Need Or Desire!!!

       Saw this on Arrezafe, and thought it accurately explains what is wrong in this insane capitalist system we exist under. A system that can't distinguish between need and desire.

Do not waste it----

 Millionaires need it-------

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Two Babes Were Born.

Two Babes Were Born.

Two babes were born one happy morn,

They came with love divine,

And a mother smiled by the River Thames,

And a mother smiled by the Rhine.

These children grew, so brave and true,

Each mother said, "How fine!"

And hearts were glad by the River Thames,

And hearts were glad by the Rhine.

But one sad day, so people say,

Their rulers tried to shine,

And one heard the call by the River Thames,

And another the call by the Rhine.

These two brave sons, the raised their guns,

As they marched in martial line,

And a mother sighed by the River Thames, 

And a mother sighed by the Rhine. 

On the battle plain where bullets rain,

These lads formed into line,

And hearts were sad by the River Thames,

And Hearts were sad by the Rhine.

They took their sight in the biter fight,

Their aim was really fine,

And a mother prayed by the River Thames,

And a mother prayed by the Rhine.

Two noble sons fell by their guns,

Their names in glory shine,

And a mother weeps by the River Thames

And a mother weeps by the Rhine.

So the Thames so fine, and the River Rhine,

Flow into the same great sea,

And they seem to say as they kiss the spray,

"If men were as wise as we."

Fred. Easton.

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The Cull On The Disabled Continues.

       MAXIMUS, the Latin word for “greatest” or “largest”, greatest or largest what? When applied to Maximus, the company that has taken over the Work Capability contract from ATOS, then it probably means the greatest or largest piece of shit ever to land on our shores. ATOS was responsible for carrying out the governments attack on the disabled by means of the Work Capability Assessment, until they had to withdraw due to the bad publicity brought to the public's notice by the determined group of people who formed the “Anti-ATOS” campaign. ATOS has gone, but the savagery of the Work Capability Assessment still ravages the vulnerable, most needy and disabled in our society. The new executioner of the government's cull of the disabled is Maximus, a company that has been found guilty of massive fraud against the US government, disability, race and gender discrimination, and forced to pay out millions of dollars in compensation for botched IT projects, and the cream on its cake, fined for improper expense claims. 

       The government obviously doesn't care about the competence or track record of the company they put in charge of this assault on the disabled. What matters to our millionaire cabal in the Westminster House of Hypocrisy and Corruption, is that their chosen hit-men will ruthlessly carry out their dictate, and at the lowest possible price.
      Maximus must be driven out of this contract just like their predecessor ATOS, the Work Capability Assessment must be made unworkable, the disabled must be treated with compassion, dignity and justice, this will not happen under the watch of Maximus. 

        There is a dedicated group who turn up outside the offices of Maximus on the last Friday of every month (except holidays) to voice their opposition to this inhumane indignity of our disabled. They need our support and solidarity. If you have any time please show up on the last Friday of every month, between 12:30pm and 2:00pm, stay for a while, show your revulsion at a system humiliates and traumatises the disabled, in the name profit for Maximus and austerity.
 

Outside the offices of Maximus.
Corunna House
29 Cadogan Street,
Glasgow G2 7RD.
A 5 minute walk from Central Station, can be reached by buses 1, 21, 43.
There is disabled parking, but sadly no wheelchair accessibility.
Solidarity is our weapon of victory. 

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

 

Who Controls The Greek Parliament???

       For some reason this video has been taken down from Real News and the embedding code has been removed from Youtube, so here is a link that will allow you to view the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nVIRG_sEf8

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

The Resurrection Of Freedom.

      I still feel strongly that the demise of the Freedom newspaper was a loss to the anarchist movement in the UK. 128 years of of a chequered history down the tubes with the statement, "Kropotkin might have started it, but we fucking finished it!" which to my mind seems an unfitting comment, which only adds insult to injury. It is good to know that there are those who are fighting hard to see the paper rise from this degrading epitaph, and once again become an important part of the UK anarchist movement. Hopefully, as they say, from the ashes of disaster, grow the roses of success.

This latest report from Northern Voices:

Who Killed FREEDOM? – update 4 – August 2015

       REGULAR readers will recall this series began as an analytical report on the destruction of FREEDOM, the world’s oldest radical newspaper. Further investigation revealed that the Board of Trustees (FFP) legally responsible for safeguarding the newspaper was as seriously dysfunctional as the FREEDOM collective.

        Our immediate fear was that having closed down the paper in 2014, the collective would sell off the FREEDOM PRESS building and walk away with a million pounds to use as they wished.  Unless we could quickly reactivate FFP there was nothing to stop them and they were already discussing the idea.

     UPDATE THREE briefly outlined the decline of Friends of Freedom Press (FFP) and reported our successful campaign to have it re-constituted.  As our ultimate aim was always to restore intellectual, ethical and political integrity to a re-launched FREEDOM newspaper we chose not to emphasise individual responsibility for the fiasco of FFP.  On 24th June 2015, the first meeting of the newly reconstituted FFP recognised that without the Northern Voices' campaign FFP would have languished.  However, Richard Parry, one of the individuals involved now rejects that view, claiming, 'If anyone was pushing to get FFP working it was me!'

      Parry challenges our account and accuses Northern Voices of inaccurate reporting so we will now analyse his response. (To minimise blame and antagonism we identify individuals only where essential and apologise in advance for necessarily tedious detail).

Read the full article HERE:

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

Just Like You And I.

      The migrants at Calais are getting a lot of publicity from our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, but never is that publicity the human face of ordinary people. We are exposed to pictures of primitive conditions in "the jungle", shadowy figures scurrying about in the dark, trying to get a free ride on a truck, or breaking through fences. No attempt is made to show them as ordinary people like you and I, they "swarm", according to Bullingdon boy Cameron, they are an inconvenience to our businesses, they cause delays to our travel. Never are they people fleeing deprivation, war and brutality, trying get a decent life for themselves and their families. Never are they ordinary people fleeing the cauldron of chaos and savagery spawned by the foreign policy of Western imperialism in their home region. Heaven forbid that they should ever be seen as desperate human beings in need of help.

This from Rabble:

     One more death last night (28/29 July) at the border. Another killed, a Sudanese man, run over by a truck. Now 11 lives taken since 1st June.
     The English press complains about these “accidents” causing traffic jams in Kent. Words fail. Below we repost two new articles from Calais Migrant Solidarity on the current situation at the border.
      But first, because even amidst so much death there is also life, here are links to some videos made in the last weeks of people playing music. One is from the Syrian camp in the town centre on 18 July, the other two of Sudanese musicians singing with the “SOAS Arabic Music Band” at a concert held in Le Channel, the main Calais music venue, on 30 May. That was a couple of days before the riot police evicted the Fort Galloo squat then mainly occupied by Sudanese people.     Thanks to the Syrian and Sudanese musicians, and the Calais-visiting musical and artistic people from SOAS.

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

Without Us.

Without Us.

You, yes you in your Armani suit and Gucci watch,

don't judge me by the label on my shirt.

I've no need for labels,

my worth is etched on my face,

emgraved on my hands.

I'm the power that tore roads through mountains

dragged logs across the earth.

Brick by brick

these hands built your "DESIRABLE RESIDENCE",

your "EXCLUSIVE RESTAURANT".

My sister made your fancy suit,

What we create we can destroy

and recreate for ourselves.

Don't you know,

without us,

you stand cold, hungry, naked?

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

Stop Them Digging Up Pollok Estate

       Once again our public spaces are under attack. Once again Pollok Estate is being targeted. There was the motorway, then "Go Ape" theme park, now it is to be dug up with replicas of WWI trenches. Why a beautiful public space such as Pollok Estate should even be suggested for this lottery funded love affair with war is incomprehensible. Are those involve blind, stupid or just bribed? Look around, if you want such a hideous theme as war trenches stick them in somebody's private land, not our beautiful country space in our city. This has to be stopped as we will see another public space place of beauty an tranquillity disappear to the glorification of war.

This is not the site for war trenches.

     Pollok Estate is not a commercial theme park, it is not a site for developing crazy war linked projects, it is a wonderful country space in the city owned by the people of Glasgow. This has to be stopped before the diggers move in and destroy another slice of our commons. We stopped GO Ape, surely we can stop this destructive, brainchild of the city council and academia.  

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

A Quiet Road And Two Wheels.

        Thursday 30th. June, what an unusual day, not a drop of rain. It wasn't as warm as I like, but never the less, I grabbed the bike and headed out, and it looked like lots of others had the same idea. Lots of friendly waves, nods and hi's as I trundled my way along. What more can you ask on a dry day, than a quiet road and two wheels. Ah, what a beautiful country.

Sleep Well, We Have Nukes.

       Going to Edinburgh for the festival fringe? Well mark your diary 6-20 August, Free exhibition at Gayfield Creative Spaces, 11 Gayfield Square, Edinburgh, EH1 3NT.
       Seventy years of film, music, art and literature come to life in this interactive exhibition of popular culture, exploring our love/hate relationship with the deadliest weapons on earth: nukes.

Admission is free and open from 10am -6pm.

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

Outta Control.

 

     We at Spirit of Revolt work hard at trying to keep alive working class history, we all realise the importance of that history. It is a record of our struggles against a very repressive system, and part of our heritage. If we don't record and make ourselves familiar with that history, we become a people without a history, without a heritage, and the present and future generations will have to go blind into those struggles.

       One of the features on our website is "Read of the Month", where we pick out something in our collection, which we think is of special interest and post it in the "Read of the Month". This month we have chosen a paper produced by the Belfast Anarchist Collective, Outta Control, issue No. 16.  We are sure you will enjoy it and hope that it will make you dig a bit deeper into our archive.

       Other copies of Outta Control are also available to read on line from our website, click HERE and scroll down to T-SOR 3-56-26.

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

Western Imperialists And Chaos.

       Who the hell knows what is going on in the Middle East? It is difficult to get accurate information from our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media. Meanwhile, in our confusion thousands of ordinary innocent people die a brutal death, and thousands more are maimed and traumatised. However, you can rest assured that what is going on is no accident, no trick of fate, no streak of misfortune, but the direct result of planned actions by power hungry states and their psychopathic leaders, imperialist and religious nutters. As far as the Western imperialists are concerned, chaos in that region suits them, while the blood flows, creating divisions between the people, the area's resources are there for the plundering. Strong governments in that region doesn't suit the powerful Western imperialists, much easier to rape and plunder a land while it is in chaos. Perhaps the greatest misfortune to befall the people of that region is the fact that they are living on top of rich deposits of oil and gas, desirable commodities of the imperialist class. Turkey is playing the usual state power and politics game with the lives of the people, as it oscillates between supporting ISIS and bombing ISIS. Not through any change in its approach to humanity, but simply a desire for power.

 This from News Now:

       "Ankara's recent adoption of aggressive policies towards both the PKK and the ISIL has considerably raised the risk of terrorist attacks and sustained civil unrest inside the country," Wolfango Piccoli of risk research firm Teneo Intelligence said in a note.
      Yet on both fronts, Erdoğan looks to be hoping to seize opportunity out of crisis. He is reviving Turkey's international standing with the more robust stance on ISIL, but also undermining the pro-Kurdish opposition and bolstering nationalist support at home with the attacks on the PKK. Why now?
      Smarting from an election setback in June, when the AK Party he founded lost its majority and the pro-Kurdish opposition HDP secured enough votes to enter parliament for the first time, Erdoğan is keen to win back nationalist support.
       "The likely target here is instead the HDP. By striking hard at the PKK, the Turkish government is pressuring the HDP to pick a side," said Erik Meyersson, an assistant professor at the Stockholm School of Economics, in an article on his website.
      "Either it denounces PKK to end violence, risking political blowback among its Kurdish base, or it adopts a more pro-Kurdish rhetoric, risking the ire of the Turkish public as well as the judiciary, which has a long history of banning Kurdish parties and politicians."
        A collapse of the Kurdish vote and fears over security could, in the event of an early election, revive the AKP vote and with it Erdoğan's ambition to change the constitution, investing his presidency with broad new powers.

Read the full article HERE:

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

Eighteen Hungry Children.

Eighteen Hungry Children.

Eighteen hungry children die

every minute of every day

eighteen of tomorrow’s people

cruelly thrown away.

When pandering to a fashion

gratifying our greed,

think, theirs is no desire

but a basic need.

Envisage a familiar face

a child that calls your name,

try to be the parent

try to place the blame.

Eighteen hungry children die

every minute of every day,

eighteen little faces

that never learnt to play.

Walk past your local school

listen to the shrill,

stand and count to sixty

imagine hunger start to kill.

Fingers must be pointed

at decisions made on high,

questions must be asked

loudly asked by you and I.

Eighteen hungry children die

every minute of every day,

eighteen precious lives

the claws of hunger slay.

WHY?

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