A'Kin Feel Th'Cauld Blast.

      A bit late with this one. I was out on the bike on Thursday, but computer problems held up this wee post. It is most certainly getting to the end of my cycling season, a'kin feel th'cauld blast goan doon ma tubes, but still enjoying it when I can grab a day. Everywhere you look, the colours are now changing to that mosaic of reds, rusts, golds and yellows, but it is still a very green and pleasant land.

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

See The Other As Self.

 

       In this society, there are so many campaigns on so many issues, from freedom of movement, freedom of speech, feminism, human rights, freedom from religious extremism, animal rights, the right to privacy, and so it goes on. All of this highlights the fact the we are living in a flawed system, a system where each individual has to fight for the right just to exist without coercion, intimidation or fear. At the heart of this flawed society is the failure to see the other as a unique human being with the same rights as ourselves. If we put that part right, the rest should follow.

      This latest broadcast from Circled A Radio, is an interview with Maryam Namazie. Maryam Namazie has spoken and written numerous articles on Women’s Rights issues, free expression, Islamism, and Secularism. Maryam is an inveterate commentator and broadcaster on Rights, Cultural Relativism, Religion, Political Islam and many other related topics. She’s a speaker at the Feminism in London Conference on the subject ‘Religious Fundamentalism and the British State’

Listen to the interview HERE:

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

 

From A Small Prison, To A Bigger Prison.

        Evi Statiri, is now out of a prison, but when will she be free? Like she says in her letter, her prison has just been increased in size to 1km.

This from Contra Info:

Received on October 7th 2015:

       Once you are released from prison, the first thing you realise is that your glance doesn’t stumble into walls, bars or dividers. It can wander and face the sky, without staring through barbed wire. Then, your footsteps are no longer numbered—twenty walking towards the wall of the prison yard, and twenty going back to your cell. Certainly, in my case, the prison yard walls have expanded by one kilometer distance from my home, without even being able to have contact with my companion…
      But be that as it may, for me my release from prison feels like a first victory against fear and injustice they want to impose on us as a restrictive condition of living…
    Nothing of this would have happened if it weren’t for a dynamic polymorphous movement of solidarity, who conveyed to me from every corner of Greece the strength and optimism that history is not only written by the authoritarians but also the insurgents…
      A big thank you goes out to all of the known and unknown comrades who broke the terror of the Power’s omnipotence.
      A big thank you also goes to the doctors at the General State Hospital of Nikaia, and even more to the physicians Spyros Sakkas and Olga Kosmopoulou, who supported me with warmth and self-abnegation from the very first moment.
       Of course, I do not forget those left behind, in prisons and frigid cells… I’ll always stand beside them and hold on to all the moments we shared, until we meet again…
       Because as long as there are prisons, no one will be free…

Freedom for political prisoners
Freedom for those who are in prison cells

Evi Statiri

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

Silly, But Dangerous America.

         I found this article full of honest to goodness truth, not that I favour the Russian imperialism over the Western imperialism, they both stink and are responsible for brutality on a massive scale. I have always said that the Americans were not interested in destroying ISIS, at least not until it had bled the Assad regime to death, then they might step in and blow it to pieces. A cold calculating brutal policy, as the whole of Syria and the surround area would be utterly destroyed and hundreds of thousands of innocent people would be dead. But in American eyes, well worth it to see a regime they don't like being brought down. Of course as stated in Club Orlov, the arms corporations make lots of money from such callous, brutal endeavours, They are the real force behind Western policies.

From Club Orlov:

       But it was Putin's speech that laid out the Empire's silliness for all to see when he scolded the US for making a bloody mess of the Middle East with its ham-handed interventions. The oft-repeated quote is “Do you understand what you have done?” but that's not quite right. The Russian «Вы хоть понимаете теперь, чего вы натворили?» can be more accurately translated as “How can you even now fail to understand what a mess you have made?” Words matter: this is not how one talks to a superpower before an assembly of the world's leaders; this is how one scolds a stupid and wayward child. In the eyes of the whole world, this made the Empire look rather silly.      What happened next is that Russia announced the start of its bombing campaign against all manner of terrorists in Syria (and perhaps Iraq too; the Iraqi request is in Putin's in-box). What's notable about this bombing campaign is that it is entirely legal. The legitimate, elected government of Syria asked Russia for help; the campaign was approved by the Russian legislature. On the other hand, the bombing campaign that the US has been conducting in Syria is entirely illegal. There are exactly two ways to legally bomb the territory of another country: 1. an invitation from that country's government and 2. a UN Security Council resolution. The US has not obtained either of them.

Well worth reading the full article HERE:

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

Freedom At The End Of A Leash.

 

      A state decrees that a wife cannot communicate or meet up with her husband, not because of any grievance between the couple, but because the state sees such a meeting as some sort of threat. Or is it vindictive repression by the state against anybody who seeks to challenge its authority over the individual's freedom?

     Evi Statiri continues her struggle, having won her release from the state's inhumane cages, by means of a long and dangerous hunger strike, she now faces a struggle against the repressive conditions placed on her, so called "freedom", by that vindictive state. That "freedom" consists of being treated like some monitored animal on a leash, permanently under the piercing eye of the state.  

This from Contra Info: 

      According to our latest information, Evi Statiri suspended hunger strike on October 2nd 2015, when the competent judicial council decided to grant her a conditional release from preventive detention. In the coming period she is expected to file a motion for the lifting of restrictive conditions imposed on her, which include the following: ban on exiting the country; obligation to report to her nearest police station 3 times a month; prohibition on communicating or meeting with her husband (CCF imprisoned member Gerasimos Tsakalos) and any other of her co-accused; obligation to reside only in the home she has declared as permanent residence; and ban on moving outside a perimeter of 1 kilometer around her home.

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

The High And Mighty.

The High And Mighty.

Politicians, high priests of the holy church

of greed, 

Yours are the crimes from which the many

bleed.

See, vice and corruption make their

stand,

with brutal tyranny, walk hand

in hand;

your arrogant minds, lost in ambition's

cloud,

oblivious to the suffering of the humble

crowd.

When poverty's knife makes our people

bleed,

your cancerous power is all you ever

feed,

holding high some ego-inflating avaricious

plan

that divides, soon pits man against

man. 

Now, anguish and war mark your mad

career,

covering our world in the brume of

fear,

then shedding youth's blood by cruel 

deceit,

with spurious pomp, lay the guilt at

another's feet.

As we fall heir to a plunder

land,

you tyrants walk in manner

grand,

what must we do to make you

yield,

to see our children play in a bloodless

field?

Smash and crush your dark nefarious 

power,

allowing love and peace to freely

flower.  

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

Glasgow Southside Film Festrival.

        A date for your diary, if you're in or around Glasgow, October 8th. to October 11th..

Glasgow Southside Film Festival.

         Glasgow's Southside Film Festival returns for a fifth edition, and, as ever, the organisers have made inventive use of a variety of venues south of the Clyde
        The Southside Film Festival, now in its fifth year, was a pop-up long before pop-ups were all the rage. Its appropriation of non-cinema spaces has become its biggest asset; the joy of the festival is its clever use of venues and this embracing of its civic spaces makes every screening feel part of the community. For example, at this year’s event you can watch Martin Scorsese’s Hugo in the grand surroundings of Queens Park Church (10 Oct), catch The Gorbals Story in the eponymous borough’s St Francis Community Centre (9 Oct), or experience Bill Forsyth’s deadpan debut, That Sinking Feeling, in a drained swimming pool (10 Oct). The pool in question is the long-closed Govanhill Baths, which also hosts a screening of United We Will Swim… Again, documenting the long battle by southside residents to renovate the baths and bring them back into the heart of the community (10 Oct). 

       Scottish cinema is the festival’s real focus. We’d encourage you to head along to the festival’s screening of Grant McPhee’s great doc on the Scottish punk scene Big Gold Dream, followed by a gig (Glad Cafe, 9 Oct). Cinema discussion Scotland on Screen, meanwhile, asks if Scottish cinema has influenced how we view ourselves – film writer Jonathan Murray and director Eleanor Yule give their thoughts (Glad Cafe, 11 Oct). And then there’s southside-made Much Ado About Govan, a lo-fi Shakespeare adaptation shot by local teens, which sounds like a riot (Kinning Park Complex, 9 Oct). All that, plus a crash course in film review writing with critic Siobhan Synnot (The Glad Foundation, 11 Oct) and a rare screening of Laurel and Hardy short Putting Pants on Philip (Pollokshaws Burgh Hall, 9 Oct), to celebrate Laurel’s southside connections (he grew up in Mount Florida). The curtain comes down with Dziga Vertov’s playful documentary A Man with a Movie Camera (Pollokshaws Burgh Hall, 11 Oct), a fittingly inventive spectacle for a festival full of invention.

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

A System Run By Greedy Arrogant Arseholes.

       We are surrounded by greedy arrogant arseholes, unfortunately, lots of them are in positions of power, and shape our lives and our society. Take the research director of The Taxpayers Alliance, Alex Wild, who is quoted by the BBC as saying that cuts to benefits such as winter fuel payments and free bus passes should be made “as soon as possible after an election for two reasons”. “The first of which will sound a little bit morbid – some of the people... won't be around to vote against you in the next election. So that's just a practical point, and the other point is they might have forgotten [who made the cuts] by then.” 

      Anther arrogant arsehole who agrees with these cuts to pensioners benefits, is one Dr Liam Fox. At the Tory conference he stated, “that any such cuts must be made permanently, in order to help the next generation”. He is also reported as having said, “We can't afford it now, we can't afford it in the future, why don't we try to get a longer-term plan put in place so that people can make the adjustments they will need to make for us to be able to get back into balance,”
         This particular arsehole is no stranger to sticking his snout in the MPs expenses trough. This from Wikipedia: 

In March 2010 Fox appealed Sir Thomas Legg's decision that he had over claimed £22,476 in mortgage interest payments. Fox immediately[68] repaid the money, then appealed the decision. Fox's appeal was rejected and the decision was upheld by Sir Paul Kennedy, a former high court judge.[69]

Fox stated that his decision to remortgage his second home to pay for redecorations and claim the higher interest repayments on his expenses represented value for money because he could have charged the taxpayer for the decorating bills directly. In his response, Sir Paul Kennedy stated: "What you claimed was not recoverable under the rules then in force. I entirely accept that, like many others, you could have made other claims if the fees office had rejected your claims for mortgage interest, and that you may well have spent some of what you raised by increasing your mortgage on your constituency home, but the evidence is imprecise, and my terms of reference only allow me to interfere if I find special reasons in your individual case showing that it would not be fair and equitable to require repayment, either at all or at the level recommended."[68] This reportedly made him the Conservative Shadow Cabinet member with the largest over-claim on expenses, and as a result, he has been forced to repay the most money.[70]

It was reported in June 2009 that Fox claimed expenses of more than £19,000 over the last four years for his mobile phone. Fox claimed the high bill was due to regular trips overseas, in his capacity as Shadow Defence Secretary and said he was looking for a cheaper tariff.[71]

In October 2012, the Commons Speaker blocked the release of data showing which MPs were renting their homes to other MPs for financial gain. However, a study of parliamentary records was published in the Daily Telegraph.[72] The study showed that Liam Fox receives rental income from his London home while simultaneously claiming rental income from the taxpayer to live at another residence.

In October 2013, Fox hit the news again, after documents showed he claimed 3p for a 100 metre car trip a year earlier. He also made an additional 15 claims of under £1 for car travel approved in 2012-13, two of which were for 24p and 44p. He told the Sunday People: "I don't do my expenses. My office does them. But they are all done according to the rules for travel distances."

        Then we have MP Michelle Thomson, an greedy arrogant arsehole who believes that emotion should not get in the way of making a profit from other people's misery. Regarding her property business, she is quoted as having stated, a rise in families losing their homes as a "great opportunity" and said emotional attachment could stand in the way of "huge profit". 

       Then there is prize greedy arrogant arsehole Alan Sugar, who is quoted as saying in an interview with the Times magazine, "Who are the poor these days? “You've got some people up North and in places like that who are quite poor, but they all have mobile phones, being poor, and they've got microwave ovens, being poor, and they've got televisions, being poor.” This particular arrogant arsehole is estimated to be worth, £1.4 billion, admitted, that he didn't know the price of a pint of milk, a loaf of bread or a dozen eggs, and only bothers to look at the prices for “planes and boats and things like that”. 

      These are the type of greedy arrogant arseholes who shape our society, who shape they way we live, and basically they are taking us all to the cleaners. We live in a society where they system dictates that we hand the keys of the chicken coup to the foxes, (no pun intended). When will we wake up to the fact that we don't need greedy, arrogant arseholes to run our lives, we can do a much better job all by ourselves.

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

The World Is Our Village.

        How much bloodshed and misery has been caused by armed thugs belonging to a rich elite defending imaginary lines on the ground? Some warmongering thug gathers around themselves a bunch of paid mercenaries to hold on to some land they have stolen, they set up an apparatus called "the state", this is supposed to legitimise their theft and butchery. From then on, all those trapped within those imaginary lines are the slaves and servants of that elite. All those outside those imaginary lines, are alien, different, inferior, dangerous, of course the same insanity is going on within all those plots of land bound by imaginary lines and defended by force. It is the mind set of the insane, the greedy, the psychotic, their are no borders, these are simply robbers stakes from plunder by deceit and force. We the people do not need borders, we do not need imaginary lines to create imaginary enemies, we are one world, one humanity.

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

Bring Freedom Through Death.

 

      Like I always say, our mainstream media is simply a babbling brook of bullshit. It spews out misinformation, distortions and down right lies. It is no more than a propaganda machine for the imperialists, and a money maker for its owners. Truth, real information and honest discussion, are alien to its basic structure. 

 Bringing freedom to the people of Baghdad.

      Below is an extract from a report made at the beginning of this year, The report is the result of studies by respected and highly qualified people in their field, it trashes the frequently circulated figures of deaths by the US/UK war on terror in the Middle East, vomited out by that babbling brook of bullshit, yet up until now they have ignored it. 

 Shock and awe, democracy Western style.

This from Middle East Eye:

A Muslim holocaust. 

       Last month, the Washington DC-based Physicians for Social Responsibility (PRS) released a landmark study concluding that the death toll from 10 years of the "War on Terror" since the 9/11 attacks is at least 1.3 million, and could be as high as 2 million.
      The 97-page report by the Nobel Peace Prize-winning doctors' group is the first to tally up the total number of civilian casualties from US-led counter-terrorism interventions in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
        The PSR report is authored by an interdisciplinary team of leading public health experts, including Dr. Robert Gould, director of health professional outreach and education at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center, and Professor Tim Takaro of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University.
        Yet it has been almost completely blacked out by the English-language media, despite being the first effort by a world-leading public health organisation to produce a scientifically robust calculation of the number of people killed by the US-UK-led "war on terror".

Read the full article HERE

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

London Anarchist Bookfair.

       It's that time of year again, a time when anarchists and like minded people come together from far and wide, discussions abound, stalls display a wonderful array of literature, the air is filled with chat and banter. A great time of friendly story swapping, information transfer, meeting long lost comrades, and making new friends and contacts. A chance for anarchists to recharge their batteries with a new lease of life.

        I am of course, talking about the annual London Anarchist Bookfair.

       The 34th London Anarchist Bookfair will showcase anarchist ideas from around the world and across the UK. As usual it’s not just books. Thousands of Anarchists will gather to discuss everything from Austerity and , Housing to Migration or Workplace Orgainsing. Anarchists from around the world including Greece, Kurdistan, Spain, Czech Republic, USA and the Caribbean will be talking about the struggles in their countries, and how we can work together to strengthen the global Anarchist resistance. Most of all people will be able find out the truth about anarchist ideas rather than the distorted caricatures presented by politicians and journalists from any of the 100 stalls and 60 meetings.

      Key speakers include Janet Biehl on social ecology, Scott Crow who helped organise the grassroots response to Hurricane Katrina and was criminalised for his efforts and John King, author of the Football Factory and England Away.

     The bookfair has a new venue – at Central St Martins  (University of the Arts London)  and as always it will be free with a crèche and older kids space.

For further information see the website. Telephone contact – 07960 668471

10am – 7pm at Central St Martin’s  (University of the Arts London)

Granary Building, 1 Granary Square, Kings Cross, London N1C 4AA

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

Scotland's Beauty.

      Scotland's beauty is the wonderful mosaic of cities, towns, small towns, villages and varied countryside, all compacted into a small country. Another dry day, another run out on the bike. It is now getting a bit cold for my old damaged bronchial tubes, so it is getting near the end of the cycling season for this fair weather cyclist. I usually put the bike away when we shift the clock back, then hibernate and wait for the seasons to turn. However, I'll grab each day I can.

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

I Am The Crowd.

I Am The Crowd.

I am the crowd

I swim in the quagmire of poverty

its hook, its barbs, tear my flesh, 

rupture my dreams.

I hold my breath for centuries

hoping to break through, gasp pure air.

Through the murky mire

I see bright things, shiny things sparkle

I see women in fine dresses, men in fine silk shirts

I ask myself,

why do I swim in this cesspool?

I want the light and warmth of rectitude

to caress my labouring body,

seeds of my dreams to bloom

like wild flowers in a meadow.

One day I will use my boundless strength

to haul this torn battered being

out of the morass

onto the warm grassy bank,

when I do;

woe betide you, women in fine dresses,

woe betide you mister in your fine silk shirt

should you ever try to get in my way,

for I am the strength of the world,

I am the crowd.

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

The Creeping Disease Of Corporate Fascism.

 

         We all know that we live under the illusion of democracy, governments are in the pockets of the corporate world and the financial Mafia. However, if the world of big business gets its way, even that veneer of the illusion of democracy will evaporate. The big corporate players have come together and are in secret negotiations with EU governments, to remove completely any shred of power that governments may still have, they are trying to put the final nail in the coffin of the voice of the people. Governments will be held to account by the CEO and shareholders of big business, should they attempt any legislation that might in any way hinder their drive for increase profits. They want to get their grubby plundering hands on all public assets, privatisation will be the law, NHS, education, social services, all must be open to them for profit. Any legislation that might improve working conditions or wages will be challenged, and governments fined, as it may hit the  profits of the corporate greed merchants. Corporate fascism will be the only power, unless we wake up and bring this whole stinking, corrupt, unjust, exploitative system to an end.

This from Global Justice Now: 

Something exciting is about to happen. On Saturday 10 October thousands of people from across the EU and the USA will be taking to the streets to protest against dangerous trade agreements that could put more than 1 million of us out of work, ruin public services like our NHS, and allow dangerous chemicals and hormones in our food.  Probably the best known of these deals is TTIP which is being negotiated between the EU and the US. There’s a Stop TTIP action in Glasgow starting at 9.30am outside the SECC. Please come along and join in. www.globaljustice.org.uk/events/stop-ttip-action-glasgow

We’ll be there celebrating the enormous amount of names added to the Europe-wide petition against TTIP which closes in four days. If you haven’t already you can sign the EU-wide petition here. It’s reached almost 3 million signatures! Acting together, we can beat TTIP.

Best wishes, Guy Taylor Trade campaigner

P.S. Another dangerous trade deal is CETA between the EU and Canada. It could lock-in privatisation of public services and open up our government to huge lawsuits by corporations. If you haven’t already, tell your Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to vote against CETA.

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

The State Can Be Beaten.

 

      To all those who showed support and solidarity for Evi Statiri, while she was imprisoned for being a relative of a prisoner, and voiced their anger at her need to go on hunger strike to seek justice, good news, she is soon to be released.

This from Contra Info:

      According to an update we received from the ‘Relatives–Friends of prisoners and prosecuted fighters’, Evi Statiri (currently hospitalised) is soon to be released from prison, though with the provision of the strictest restrictive conditions.

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

Finn MacKay, Explains Feminism. .

        Finn MacKay explains feminism and the need for it in our society, we obviously have a long way to go to reach that desirable state of gender equality.

        Finn Mackay is an Author, Academic and Feminist activist. She founded The London Feminist Network. Revived the London Reclaim the Night march, And a former organiser of the Feminism in London Conference. She was nominated as a world-changing woman in a 2006 Guardian poll. After working in youth work and education, Finn devised policy on domestic violence prevention before returning to academia and completing her PhD on the British Women's Liberation Movement. She is currently a senior lecturer in sociology at the University of the West of England in Bristol. She speaks and writes regularly on Feminist issues, particularly male violence against women.

 

       This episode of Circled A Radio interviews Finn MacKay on feminism.

Listen HERE:

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