Living In The Illusion Of democracy.

          It always is the pattern, the so called democratic states always come down hard on those who fight for freedom and solidarity between people, while supporting the marches and actions of racist fascists. Anarchist and anti-fascists are always at the receiving end of state repression. The state spouts democracy while stifling any journey to equality and freedom, fosters divisions in society, while waving the flag of patriotism calling for unity to reclaim some mythical great past. It is in the face of this that we have to call on solidarity, and face this ongoing and ever strengthening state repression.

This from Contra Info:

          On Saturday November 19th, there will be a demonstration in The Hague, The Netherlands, against the wave of repression that Hague anti-fascists and anarchists have been facing in the last year. One who attacks one of us, attacks all of us. Solidarity through struggle!
       Within the last year, repression against anti-fascists and anarchists has greatly increased, with The Hague in the middle of it. An area ban for anarchists was issued for the Schilderswijk, in an attempt to break the struggle against the racist, violent, and murderous police. After that, another area ban was issued, this time against anti-fascists who have been resisting against the extreme right wing Pegida demonstrations. Damage claims of 50,000 euro were demanded from several anarchists who resisted against the eviction of social center De Vloek, which had been squatted for 13 years. The mayor also tried to shutter the local Autonomous Center. Furthermore, subsequent demonstrations were forbidden, people were intimidated by the police at home and on the street, numerous preventative arrests were made, and attempts were made to recruit informants.
          But these are not just attacks against individual anarchists and anti-fascists. This is an attack against all who fight  against racism, this is an attack against all who stand for a world without exploitation and discrimination, this is an attack on all of us. And this attack cannot go unanswered! This is a call for solidarity, because solidarity is our weapon against the isolation being forced on us by the police and the mayor. We must defend our autonomous spaces and structures!
         Come to The Hague on November 19th. Because the chains of the state dripping with racism and oppression must be broken! Because one who doesn’t fight has already lost.
Fight repression!
More information you find on:
fightrepressiondemo.noblogs.org

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

Do We Ask The Corrupt To Clean Up The Corruption?

      How do you deal with corruption in high places when the judiciary are part of that corruption? Not a rhetorical question, as it is commonplace among most, if not all, modern capitalist countries. Do you appeal to those in high places, who are part and parcel of that corruption, to come clean and behave themselves, or what? Let's face it, whoever enters politics, no matter where they start from, and are elected to the dark corridors of power, leave their job much, much richer than when they entered. While in almost all other jobs, that doesn't happen. Makes you think!!

This from To Bhma, (To Vima)

         The militant Conspiracy of Fire Cells (SPF) group has assumed responsibility for the bomb attack in Exarchia on Wednesday evening. In a statement uploaded on the Athens Indymedia site, the group explains that it targeted the prosecutor Georgia Tsatani.
        According to the statement the bomb attack was carried out for two main reasons. The first reason cited by the group is the prosecutor’s involvement in a para-judicial network that protected business and political interests. The group claims that Mrs. Tsatani saw to is so that Andreas Vgenopoulos avoided a certain conviction by filing away the relevant case-file.
       Mrs. Tsatani was also accused by the group of ‘forgetting’ to forward to Parliament the case-file regarding Evangelos Meimarakis’ involvement in bribery scandal during his tenure as Minister of National Defense, in exchange for the appointment of Mrs. Tsatani’s daughter and husband as New Democracy candidates.
        The second reason for the attack, the group argues, was the prosecutor’s participating in the ‘judicial campaign’ and ‘unethical blackmail’ against imprisoned members of the group. The statement concludes with the group promising to issue a more detailed manifesto on its ‘Nemesis’ operation.

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21st. Century Slave Revolt.

        Over 20,000 prisoners involved in strike action across America, and our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, doesn't notice. Keep in quiet, starve it if publicity, and perhaps it will disappear. Or perhaps they don't want to give those on the outside any ideas about resistance. It could be that they will blanket this action in silence and secrecy, and when they decided to use their usual brutal force in an attempt to crush it, then that will also go in silence, away from prying eyes of the public. We can't let that happen, this brave action by so many prisoners who suffer harsh and brutal treatment, and are forced to work as slave labour, must have our open support. It is our duty to give this action as much publicity and support as possible, drag the curtains of silence open, let the world know of this slave labour empire, and the resistance of those trapped in its tentacles.

This from Contra Info:

         It hardly seems necessary to summarize what has gone down inside U.S. prisons since September 9th. Hunger strikes, work stoppages, and riots have spread throughout the country on a scale that we likely aren’t even fully aware of yet. Some uprisings appeared took us by surprise, such as in several Florida prisons, while others presumably grew from recent organizing endeavors on the inside, such as at Kinross in Michigan or Holman in Alabama. By rough estimates, over 20,000 prisoners were involved in some way. That’s huge.
       On the outside, solidarity burned so brightly all over the world. Banner drops, graffiti slogans, noise demonstrations and more showed that we had the backs of all who would partake in the strike. It is worth noting however that the vast majority of this took place the first weekend of the strike. But this prison strike—and the struggle against prisons more broadly—is about more than a day or a week. It didn’t start on September 9th and it isn’t ending any time soon. Some prisoners may return to work while others decide to stop working for the first time. It’s easier when there is a definitive date to take action on, to build momentum towards, but that’s not going to be enough.
       Therefore, we would like to offer a call for renewed actions in solidarity with the prison strike and the struggle against prison society. Right now many are organizing anti-repression campaigns for striking prisoners and that is of course very necessary and not nearly as exciting work. But it would be a mistake to conceive of this struggle in a linear fashion—that is to say, a single wave where we demonstrate as it crests and write letters as it crashes. How many prisoners hadn’t heard about the strike until after it had started? How many knew but didn’t think people would actually be there to support them? Three weeks after the start of the strike, inmates in Turbeville, South Carolina rebelled against a guard and took over their dorm. How can we stop while inmates are still risking their lives for freedom?
       We propose the week of October 15th – 22nd for a concentration of actions to remind everyone locked up by the State that we will always have their back. Once again, it is important to take these dates with a grain of salt. No one’s going to judge you if you take action on October 23rd, or in November, or even in 2017. Neither should anyone sit on their hands waiting for the 15th to get going. New Year’s Eve should also be kept in mind, which has traditionally seen noise demonstrations outside of prisons every year, despite being an equally arbitrary date.

         “When times seem slow and uneventful we let ourselves stagnate, but imagination and revolt are like muscles: the less we use them the weaker they become. We can push back the boredom of less eventful times and point towards insurrection. Solidarity actions and struggling on our own timelines is a way we can create momentum and tension when there isn’t much.”

– “Our Own Timelines” Anathema, Vol 2 Issue 6

        It is undeniable that many comrades exist outside of realities where organizing a protest or noise demonstration is tenable. Many of us are still searching for a few like-minded comrades, let alone attempting to bring out a crowd. There are still opportunities to act, whether it is a one or two person team dropping a banner or putting up posters, or hosting a letter writing or informational event that can help connect future accomplices. It certainly can never be overstated how important writing letters of support and calling in to prisons is in and of itself, but why pass on an opportunity to build our capacity?
        If nothing else, we should all feel ashamed that the most active city in terms of U.S. prison strike solidarity actions is Athens, Greece. They already have such a head start but we can at least give them a bit of challenge, can’t we?

– Some Restless Uncontrollables

supportprisonerresistance.noblogs.org / //itsgoingdown.org/ / iwoc.noblogs.org/

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

Martyrs' Stone.

       Managed out four times this week on the bike, though getting a bit cold. I hope I didn't give the impression that the last run I done up the Loch, was from Arrochar to Tarbet, 4+ miles? I come from the other direction, from beyond Balloch to Tarbet and then round to Arrochar, before turning back to Tarbet for that plate of sustenance.

      Last Wednesday it was a wee dash round my home territory, a non stop 30 mile circuit circling round Lenzie, Kirkintilloch, Milton of Campsie, Torrance zigzagging this way and that until I got my 30 miles. No stops, so no photos. Thursday it was the same territory, but cut it short to 25 miles, again no stops, no photos. 

       Monday I decided to go up the Aberfoyle road, on  reaching the Aberfoyle/Killearn/Drymen round-about, I was met with cones across the road stating road closed, and a notice saying diversion via Drymen. No intentions of going to Drymen, I decided that I would go through the cones, and if it was road works, I could just cycle/walk through and then carry on to Aberfoyle. 

     What a wonderful experience, mile after mile with no traffic. I started to imagine that this is what it will be like when the real "oil crisis" hits us, no noise of roaring cars, no thundering lorries, roads for bikes. I began to wonder what the cones were there for, when about 400 yards from Ballott Toll, it became obvious. There is an aqueduct that crosses the road at that point, carrying the lovely clear waters of Loch Katrine to the people of Glasgow and surrounding districts to flow into their homes for drinking, among other purposes. It was propped up with about twelve steel columns across the road, tall steel fencing across the road with heavy chains and a notice, DANGER, no entry. It looks as if the vital water supply to Glasgow is about to fall down, disaster for Glasgow should that ever happen. I admitted defeat, turned the bike and headed back along the wonderful stretch of traffic-less road.

        Today, Wednesday, it was a repeat of last Thursday's run, though I did stop at one point for a couple of photos. It was the Martyrs' Stone on the Kirkintilloch/Kilsyth road, a monument to mark two Covenanters who were put to death for their faith. I just feel that I would have respected them more if their passion had been for humanity, rather than for their faith. I have photographed this stone before, but I thought it was worth another shot. It must be the least visited monument in this part of Scotland, as it is situated at the side of a rather narrow road with no footpath or parking and a steady stream of fast traffic.

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

Where Do We Live When We Finally Screw The Planet?

 

       A call for all you environmentalists, Earth Firsters, etc., to share you ideas, actions, hopes and fears. Magazines like Earth First can only survive because of people like you, if you like and want the magazine, then put pen to paper, of course today it might be finger to keyboard, but you know what I mean.

From Tarcoteca, a Call from Earth First:

We want your writing!
For a semi-regular zine of activist reflections and actions.

       This is an invitation for articles offering a critical analysis and reflections on Earth First! and related environmental and social justice direct action movements, how we organise and the actions we take. Contributions can be about actions in the UK or international. We also welcome book reviews, activist resources, short rants, illustrations, cartoons, poems and photographs. We suggest 500 – 2000 words for articles, but contact us if you want to do something longer.
        We aim to have a zine in print and online by the Earth First! winter moot 2017. All articles will be copyleft and you can choose whether to write anonymously. Deadline November 30 2016.
      Also contact us if you want to join our editorial collective or offer us funding. zine@earthfirst.org.uk or contact us if you want to send an article by snail mail.

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

Slave Labour And Xenophobia, Diseases Of Capitalism.

        Weekdays are workdays at the Perry Correctional Institution in Pelzer, South Carolina, where Dee, a forty-two-year-old native of Georgia, has spent a decade serving time for a robbery. On typical mornings, he “commutes” from his cell to an on-site furniture factory, where he and other inmates assemble wooden tables and chairs for a private company. But when Dee’s cell door opened on September 9th, the forty-fifth anniversary of the Attica prison uprising, he did not respond as usual to the call to attention. Dee was on strike. “I quit,” he told me a few days ago, speaking via a contraband cell phone. “That was my last day of work.” Dee grew up poor and began committing crimes as a young man, but he had educated himself in prison and joined a group of “jailhouse lawyers” who assist other inmates with legal issues. More recently, Dee had begun to think of himself not just as a prison activist but as a worker. “We’re not compensated for our labor,” he told me. At Perry, inmates earn less than a dollar per hour in the furniture shop. “Slavery is inhumane, no matter its disguise.”

This from IWW member:

           As you might have come across, the IWW's Incarcerated Workers Organising Committee has been involved in an an ongoing prisoners' strike since the 9th of September in the United States (https://www.facebook.com/ incarceratedworkers/) . Companies profiting from the forced labor of prisoner include household names such as McDonald's and Victoria's Secret. I think that there is room for some solidarity actions that are not very time consuming or difficult to organise (such as picketing a central McDonalds and handing out leaflets) but which will nevertheless be effective in raising awareness of the strike and thereby actively aiding the struggle of IWOC and the prisoners. Even a small action, even if it has next to no impact, will be important for the morale of the persons involved in the strike and in the general picture of solidarity actions (that being said, obviously we should hope to have as big an impact as possible). A branch of IWOC exists for England and Wales which will I am sure give us lots of support -http://incarceratedworkers. noflag.org.uk/category/news/( leaflets, newsletters etc.).
            Additionally, a migrant strike is being organised under the title 'one day without us'- more information here https://www.theguardian. com/uk-news/2016/oct/10/ migrant-workers-plan-labour- boycott-to-protest-racism- highlight-contribution-to- britain
           Not much is known about this, but it is scheduled for the 20th of February, which gives lots of time for organising.

   Migrant workers picking daffodils in Linconshire. many people are alarmed by xenophobic attitudes to foreigners. Photograph: Alamy 

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Anti-fascism In Greece.

      The recent history of the people of Greece has been one of violent struggle. During the second World war, they were occupied by the Nazis, at the end of that war the patriots, that had fought to help drive the Nazis out, found themselves engaged in a war with the British imperial military, who under Churchill's dictate, wanted to eliminate any left-wing resistance to his plan to restore the Greek monarchy, which would be compliant to the will of the British imperialists. However, even the wealthy class in Greece didn't want that bunch back again. Greece was then racked by a civil war as the various factions struggled for control. An authoritarian government gave way to a military take over, ushering the Regime of The Colonels, which despite strong resistance, lasted until 1974. This is a very short, abbreviated, truncated, history of the people of Greece, but it does give you some idea of why there is such strong hatred of the fascists, in that tortured and decimated country.

 Cretan Guerillas attacking Germany soldiers on the island of Crete.

This from Act For Freedom Now:

WE CAME AND WE WILL COME AGAIN

       On Sunday 2/10 we attacked the building that houses the offices of the Golden Dawn. We threw paint in all spaces of the building and torched the entrance to the offices of the local organization. Our priority was to not threat any human lives so we limited the expansion of the fire. So the “well-wishers” should drop the nonsense about a new Marfin bank incident.
      Our choice to target the residents and owners had clear motives. We want to clarify to them that we consider them jointly responsible for the existence of the fascists’ offices in the city. The historical period we are going through is crucial, and social polarization is inevitable. Thus, we think veryone must be a vital cell in the developments, if we wanna hope for a world without fascists and other such scum. Those who, consciously or not, choose to maintain a neutral stance are complicit to the existence of the fascist leprosy. Those who are responsible for the fact that the war with fascism is so long-term are those who every now and then offered them peace.
      Recently a discussion has opened about the arrival of 2000 refugees and their allocation to the sland of Crete. Simultaneously, all sorts of nationalists-patriots found an opportunity to take to the streets and propagate a sewer of hate and xenophobia. Culminating to the recent incidents in Rethimno, when on Wednesday 28/9 they attacked the antifascist gathering together with the riot cops and in the following days they harassed and beat anyone they did not like. Therefore, this act is a warning message. A small reminder, that our grandparents hung the fascists, they didn’t vote for them, nor did they rent apartments to them. As an active part of the antifascist movement, we are not willing to accept any racist delirium, whether it comes from the murderers of the Golden Dawn, or the scum of Artemis Sorras or anyone else. We will respond accordingly with any means at our disposal. Because you either tolerate fascism or you fight it.

P.S. As for the lads of the G.D., we will meet again and in person…

Next door extremists.

Source

Translated by Act for freedom now!

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

It's Easy, Just Cut and Paste

       For those who still like their zines done the "old" way, away from photoshop and gimp, this will be a breath of fresh air.

From 325:

              ‘Pub Quiz #5 – We are all on a no-fly list, are you?’ – Anarcho-nihilist flyposter zine by anti-social hooligans in Bristol (Dark Matter Publications)

(79mb) PDF: ‘Pub Quiz #5 – We are all on a no-fly list, are you?’ – Anarcho-nihilist flyposter zine by anti-social hooligans
          As part of Dark Matter Publications and in line with the nihilist ethos of the project we present this latest zine by some anti-social hooligans in Bristol. It’s made up of cut-n-paste flyposters that have been spread around the city and the originals are collected here for the first time. These are not professional posters of the official movement, but dirty DIY amateur efforts about topics as diverse as police repression, eco-action, surveillance and consumerism. This is what happens when fevered twisted minds get hold of stationary and scissors. Being mainly flyposters, the zine contains pretty much no prolonged verbal diarrhea, long-winded sectarian tripe or boring pontifications posing as critical theory or whatever.
Anti-social hooligans

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The Beauty And Magic Of Paper.

       It is a problem that hasn't gone away, how do anarchists get their ideas out to the general public? today there seems to be a tremendous emphasis on "social media", but to me that seems so distant and lacks that human contact. To gain your information you have to sit in front of a computer or pick up you mobile phone/tablet, and deliberately go to a particular spot on the internet dial, an isolated way of communicating, though a useful tool. I still believe that the paper in your hand, handed to another human being, is a much rich path to walk. It is a contact in real space, in real time, a possible kindred spirit. Who knows where that paper will end up, in whose hands. You give it to one, they take it home, a member of the family reads it, takes it and gives it to their mate, and so on.
      In Paris it seems that the plastering the walls with paper is back in fashion. The wall, the lamp-post, can be you 24 hours a day, quiet mouthpiece, shouting to those who care to look.

 This from Anarchist News:

Blasphegme: An anarchist broadsheet on the walls of Paris

[From the first issue of Blasphegme: An anarchist broadsheet on the walls of Paris. It’s been getting pasted up around the city in the past month. The biggest difficulty faced by anarchist counter-info projects is often distribution -- how to get texts into the hands of people who will be interested in them? Using posters as a way of distributing long-format texts has definitely been tried before, either by connecting to a website or by keeping things short enough to fit, but it's an interesting idea that's worth experimenting with more.]

Introduction:

“I spit on your idols, I spit on your gods, I spit on the homeland […] I spit on your flags, I spit on capital and the golden calf, I spit on all religions: they’re jokes, I don’t give a shit about them, I don’t give a damn. They only exist because of you, leave them and they’ll fall apart.
You’re resigned, but you’re a force — you don’t even know it, but you’re a force nonetheless, and I cannot spit on you, I can only hate you… or love you. Beyond all my other desires, I want to see you shaken from your resignation in a terrible awakening into life. There is no future paradise, there is no future, there is only the present.”
Albert Libertad, To the Resigned, 1905

An excerpt:

The party’s already over?

(excerpt from a poster seen in the streets of Paris these past months)

       We’ve had a good time running through the streets these past months, trying to subvert our existing lives and these modern, sanitized cities, these showpieces of capitalism and the society of control.
       We didn’t give a shit about this law, just like the results of a presidential election or of a football match, because we don’t want to work, period. We don’t accept our exploitation, whether or not its facilitated by this law.
      So why wait for the next “movement” to have fun, when all we have to do is to continue what we started these past months? Why should we each return to our own isolation, submerged in the various alienations that distract us from our self-destructive boredom and loneliness, when we’ve seen that so many of us want to attack the existing world? This society tries to break us down a little more each day, and to frighten away those who have decided they can no longer accept this comedy, no longer blindly follow the union march and the marching orders of good citizens, no longer accept states of emergency, or, for that matter, any states at all.
       We have discovered, or rediscovered, what it means to run across the pavement, to play in spaces where policing controls our every movement. We knew that this society of misery depended on our servitude, and our fear of cops, but we’ve learned that we are strong enough to overturn it, that they can’t prevent us from playing like wild children who destroy everything they pass.
       We’re off to such a good start, let’s not trade any piece of the present for a fictional tomorrow, and let’s not surrender anything of this moment for the winds of the future!

Solidarity with all those arrested these past months!

Read the full article HERE:

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

Capitalism Is Exploitation And Destruction.

 

       Every now and then our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, spout an amazing disclosure, of a large company exploiting its workers. Of course this dreadful revelation implies that all the other companies and corporations are behaving impeccably, regards their treatment of their employees. The latest one for the UK is ASOS, facts are revealed about how shockingly the workers are treated. The nice little scheme devised by the firm who runs their warehouse, called "flexing", means being asked, at times at very short notice, to work overtime, and the extra hours will be paid to you away in the future. Of course refusing to "flex up", can see your job in jeopardy. Not so long ago it was Sports Direct and its policies of zero hours contracts, penalties and intimidation.

        Of course we all know, or should know, the entire capitalist system is based on exploitation. As far as these two greedy arsehole companies are concerned, they are small fry. It is their immediate employees that they try to screw. However, the big boys in the capitalist game, well, they go for anybody and everybody. The general public, employees, the environment, all fair game to be polluted, exploited, plundered and left to stew the mess the corporate greed machine leave behind. Remember Bhopal?

       The entire list of large corporations can all be stood in the court of decent human behaviour and be found guilt. The ravishes inflicted on our planet, the destruction of the entire world environment, causing unpredictable climate change, the pollution being spread across the earth, causing illnesses and suffering, and the extinction of thousands of the planet's species. All this is not a natural phenomenon, it can all be laid at the feet of the greed driven corporate world and the system of capitalism on which it is based.

This from Labour Rights:

Coca-Cola

       Coca-Cola Company is perhaps the most widely recognized corporate symbol on the planet. The company also leads in the abuse of workers' rights, assassinations, water privatization, and worker discrimination. Between 1989 and 2002, eight union leaders from Coca-Cola bottling plants in Colombia were killed after protesting the company's labor practices. Hundreds of other Coca-Cola workers who have joined or considered joining the Colombian union SINALTRAINAL have been kidnapped, tortured, and detained by paramilitaries who are hired to intimidate workers to prevent them from unionizing.
        In India, Coca-Cola destroys local agriculture by privatizing the country's water resources. In Plachimada, Kerala, Coca-Cola extracted 1.5 million liters of deep well water, which they bottled and sold under the names Dasani and BonAqua. The groundwater was severely depleted, affecting thousands of communities with water shortages and destroying agricultural activity. As a result, the remaining water became contaminated with high chloride and bacteria levels, leading to scabs, eye problems, and stomach aches in the local population.
         Coca-Cola is also one of the most discriminatory employers in the world. In the year 2000, 2,000 African-American employees in the U.S. sued the company for race-based disparities in pay and promotions.

       For more on the companies that make up the world's 14 worst corporate, people and planet destroyers, well known names such as, Nestles USA, Monsanto, Dow Chemical, Pfizer, Kellogs group, and see the true face of the capitalist cancer that is killing the population and destroying the planet, 

Read HERE:

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A Crime Called Freedom.

 

        The biggest strike of prisoners in America's history is still going on, but still no big deal in the babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media. But prisons exist in all countries, not just the USA, and all serve the same purpose, to maintain control over the population and maintain the existing power structure that keeps the wealth and power in the hands of the same cabal of parasites in country after country.

        America is currently in the midst of the biggest prison strike in the nation’s history. Inmates in approximately 12 states in approximately 12 states and 29 facilities have taken part in the strike to protest free prison labor. Organizers have estimated that about 24,000 inmates have taken part. The strike, which began Sept. 9 on the 45th anniversary of the Attica uprising, was organized in large part by the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee (IWOC).

        More on prisons and the prison society that we live in, and seem to tolerate with silent acquiescence. An audio section from Os Cangaceiros, (The gravediggers) A Crime Called Freedom,

       "If we sack the banks, it's because we have recognized money as the central cause of all our unhappiness. If we smash the windows it's not because life is dear, but because commodities prevent us from living at all costs. If we break the machines it is not because of a wish to protect work, but to attack the slavery of salary. If we attack police it's not to get them out of out neighborhoods, but to get them out of our lives. The Spectacle wished to make us appear dreadful. We intend to be much worse."

The Gravediggers, Paris, May 1980

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National Poetry Day.

      Today, Thursday 6th. October, is National Poetry Day, so let's enjoy.

        This one is by Claude McKay, Black American poet, 1890-1948. It grasps a brutal scene form a not too distant America, and an aspect of society which here and elsewhere is once again on the rise, "racism"

The Lynching.

His spirit in smoke ascended to heave,
His father, by the cruellest way of pain,
Had bidden him to his bosom once again,
The awful sin remained still unforgiven.
All night a bright and solitary star
(perchance the one that ever guided him,
Yet gave him up at last to Fate's wild whim),
Hung pitifully o'er the swinging chair,
Day dawned, and soon the mixed crowd came to view
The ghostly body swaying in the sun:
The women thronged to look, but never a one
Showed sorrow in her eyes of steely blue;
And little lads, lynchers that were to be,
Danced round the dreadful thing in fiendish glee.

 

       This one, from much further back, speaks a truth that has been known by some for centuries. It is by Tommaso Campanella, Italian Philosopher, 1568-1639, translated by John Addington Symonds.

The People.
 

The people is a beast of muddy brian
That knows not its own strength, and therefore stands
Loaded with wood and stone: the powerless hands
Of a mere child guide it with bit and rein;
One kick would be enough to break the chain,
But the beast fears, and what the child demands
It does; nor its own terror understands,
Confused and stupefied by bugbears vain.
Most wonderful! With its own hand is ties
And gags itself- gives itself death and war
For pence doled out by kings from its own store.
Its own are all things between earth and heaven;
But this it knows not; and if one arise
To tell this truth, it kills him unforgiven. 

One from the first world war, by an American poet, Sara Teasdale, 1884-1933.

"There Will Come Soft Rains"

There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,
And swallows calling with their shimmering sound;

And frogs in pools signing at night,
And wild-plum trees in tremulous white;

Robins will wear their feathery fire
Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;

And not one will know of the war, not one
Will care at last when it is done,

Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree,
If mankind perished utterly;

And Spring herself, when she awoke at dawn,
Would scarcely know that we were gone.

This one with a little hope, perhaps, this time, we will get it right.

FROM GEORGE SQUARE TO TAHRIR SQUARE. 

In a global square, in a global village the people are gathering,
They want to sort out their village once and for all.
They have had enough of wild beasts stealing their chickens,
Of war lords pillaging and plundering their crops.
Though they labour hard, they live poor
While the wild beasts and war lords grow fat.
This time they will take the time and do it right,
This time they will finally and forever banish,
Wild beasts and war lords from their village.
This time all our chickens will feed all the children of the village
This time our crops will see all our people through the winter,
This time, all the fruits of our labour will be ours.

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

Tomorrow's World, For People Or For Profit.

 

        (ANTIMEDIA) Technology powerhouses Microsoft, IBM, Facebook, Google, and Amazon announced yesterday they have joined forces to create the Partnershipon Artificial Intelligence (AI) to Benefit People and Society.

       So the big Western technology giants have teamed together to develop artificial intelligence for the benefit of people and society!!! Well let’s not forget, those big boys, Microsoft, IBM, Facebook, Google and Amazon, are part and parcel of the big corporate cabal that is in constant overdrive to control everything in this world, benefiting people and society is not high on their agenda, profit is. It is obvious that in a capitalist society, as robots and hi-tec appliances grow in number and sophistication, employing people will go down, but profits will go up.

      All this hi-tec growth, reducing labour, would be a wonderful thing, if society was organised to benefit all the people and see to their needs, on an equal and fair basis. However that’s not the way our society is organised, as production improves, more labour will be flung on the scrap heap, after all, capitalism is about profit for the corporations, not about people’s needs. So we should be extremely worried by this coming together of some of the biggest corporations on the planet, to plan for a world where people are superfluous. Added to that there is a great deal of anxiety among lots of scientists and other experts on this drive for artificial intelligence, with a belief that we are opening an uncontrollable can of worms.

This from Tarcoteca 

--------- It should come as no surprise that software programmed by humans, who are flawed, will reflect and even amplify those human flaws. The White House released a report in May highlighting the major potential for discrimination in “Big Data.” A quick look at the table of contents shows that mitigating discrimination is a challenge in every area. A report published byProPublica showed risk assessment programs used by courtrooms across the nation turned up significant racial disparities, falsely labeling black defendants as future criminals at twice the rate of whites.
        Though the public is skeptical of AI, most people are unaware of these shortcomings.
        Even so, a poll conducted by the British Science Association shows “60 per cent think that the use of robots or programmes equipped with artificial intelligence (AI) will lead to fewer jobs within ten years, and 36 per cent of the public believe that the development of AI poses a threat to the long term survival of humanity.”

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Workers Know Your History, Battle Of Cable Street.

         Today marks the 80th anniversary of The Battle of Cable Street. October 4th. 1936. It was an event that started as so many of these confrontations with fascism do, with all the major Caesars of the political parties calling for a peaceful low key demonstration, they don't want to upset the political order of  things in which the want to control. Sometimes the people have other ideas and decide to go and do it their way. At which point, if it looks like a winner or the leaders being left behind, then they will jump on the bandwagon. The people of the East End of London was a mixed group of cultures, mainly Irish and Jewish, different likes, different desires, different histories, but came together with one real hate, fascism.

       Mosley's fascist "army", they did wear uniforms as the paraded their venom through the streets, with the backing of the British state, failed to break down the resistance of the local working class, and the black-shirt army, had to do their marching away from the East End, rather than through the area.

From East End Women's Museum:

       On 4 October 1936, Oswald Mosley’s fascist Blackshirts attempted to march from Tower Hill, through Aldgate and Shadwell, a predominantly Jewish neighbourhood at that time.
       When they arrived at Gardiner’s Corner, a huge crowd (estimates vary from 20,000 to 200,000) gathered to block their path, roaring “They Shall Not Pass!” After 6,000 police failed to clear the area, the march was diverted via Cable Street.
      However, three sets of barricades, including an overturned lorry, had already been set up there. Broken glass and marbles had been strewn across the street, and thousands of local people massed behind each barricade, chanting anti-fascist slogans and fighting back fiercely against the police.
       Eventually the Police Commissioner instructed Mosley to march his troops west and out of the area, in a humiliating defeat. Thousands of the anti-fascist protestors gathered in Victoria Park to celebrate their victory.

Continue reading:
From Libcom:

         I was put in a cell and lay on my back waiting for the possible entry of the heavy mob. I heard a woman screaming in another cell. There was a clanking sound as her cell door was opened. Followed by complete silence, after which I heard the cell door being closed. I don't remember any more about my stay in the cell as I fell fast asleep. I had not been interfered with in any way. It was about 11.30pm when I felt someone shaking me. He said. 'Come on, your friends have come to take you home'. He added, 'You haven't half got a lot of friends'. I entered the reception area and there was Phil Piratin complete with rent book. He had come to bail me out. Outside the station hundreds of people were assembled, all shouting 'They shall not pass'. A little cheer went up as I appeared. 

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Dump The Bosses.

 

       Let's sing and dance our way to that new world. I always prefer a song and dance, rather than bombs and bullets, but the road will determine the tools needed.

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