Here, There, The Thoughts The Same.

 

Our smart bombs bringing democracy to the Middle east.

        Hi all, I'm back after a break away from the normal routine, it does wonders for you mind, clears out some fixed ideas that you're not too sure why they are fixed in the first place, gives birth to new ideas, you wonder why you never thought of them before. No matter where we hide, the destruction and misery that is capitalism continues. However, in my case, no matter where I escape to, the focus is always the same, unnecessary injustice, avoidable misery, implemented poverty, and the horrors of the power struggles that spawn avoidable wars, with all their attendant suffering, trauma and countless violent deaths of innocent bystanders, and what we can do about them. These are all symptoms of the festering disease, born of the cancerous marriage of the nation state and capitalism.

       Capitalism is blind, irrational, and destructive, it will race towards the precipice, unwilling and unable to stop before the edge, it is only after it has crashed does it pause to see how to modify itself, to continue on its course of total destruction. To allow this to continue will obviously lead to the destruction of everything, from climate, environment and human civilisation. To hope for anything else from this system is naive in the extreme.

       Frankie Boyle is a Glasgow comedian I much admire, as well as making us laugh, he uses his skill with words, to make us think, pointing at things with his own brand of humour and wit. Humour can be a great weapon against authority and its corrupt thoughts and decisions, and against the woven illusions, and smoke and mirrors, of that babbling brook of bullshit, our mainstream media. I repeat here his latest piece.

 Frankie Boyle

Yesterday at 10:37 ·

A column I wrote about Trump and Syria:
Nothing more perfectly embodies White America than a 70 year old golfer firing missiles at the Middle East from his country club. Some sticks in the mud probably expect a host of formalities to be gone through before attacking another country: a UN investigation, or congressional approval perhaps, but personally I'm just glad to see a guy with the temperament of a mistreated circus animal launching ballistic missiles on a hunch. It seems statesmanlike and decisive. It's difficult to tell what Syria's moderate rebels are really like, as journalists can't really be embedded with them, because they'd be beheaded. But I refuse to be cynical: there's every chance that Assad's end will see a peaceful, pastoral period for Syria once groups like Allah's Flamethrower and Infidel Abattoir get round the table and good-naturedly sort out their deep seated differences on the finer points of Islamic Law. Perhaps this is a period which Syrians will one day look back on and laugh, if laughter is still allowed.

Not only will Democrats support any war Trump chooses to start, they'll be outraged by any voters who hold it against them at the next election. Hillary Clinton called for the airstrikes immediately before they happened. We'd do well to listen to the woman who is the architect of modern Libya, where her neoliberal intervention introduced the principals of the free market with such clarity that the country now has several different governments competing for the right to kill everybody. Clinton was criticised for running a tone-deaf, aloof campaign but Democrats have rallied, pointing out that many people didn't vote for Hilary because Trump is a Russian spy, and people who didn't vote for Hillary are Russian stooges, and people who voted for Hillary but not very enthusiastically are also Russian stooges, and slowly but surely the goodwill has begun to return.
Personally, I think it would be great if Putin was controlling Trump. I'd love to think there was a rational, malevolent actor directing him rather than just a combination of his own blood sugar levels and the concept of vengeance. I honestly think we'd be in less trouble if he was being controlled by the dark wizard Thoth Amon, or if his body had been taken over by a sentient bacterial civilisation that was using him as a kind of Lifeship. I'm not saying it's impossible that Trump was moved by the plight of Syria's children, perhaps in the same way that Tony Soprano got really upset when that guy killed his horse, it's just that the balance of probabilities is that he doesn't care about them, even enough not to ban them from entering his country.
The Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said that the UK government had close discussions with the US over the few days running up to the attack and had been given "advance notice of the President's final decision". Odd then, that immediately after the chemical attack the Guardian cites Downing Street officials (on a tour of despots with the prime minister in the Middle East) who, when asked about military reprisals, said “nobody is talking about that”. Sort of makes you wonder if there's any contempt that can be shown by the US that will stop us drooling about our "special relationship" like we're some kind of stalker. I doubt the Americans see us as a valued ally. We're just somewhere that they stick a few missiles. My best guess is that they think of us in the way that we would think of a shed.
At the prospect of a war, the media reacted with the exuberant joy that I remember fights bringing to a school playground. War copy sells well, and is easier to write. A good way to get a handle on the media's attitude to conflict is to try to write a thousand words on a United Nations sponsored bilateral negotiation, then the same on a missile cutting a hospital in half. The Guardian exuberantly described the "pinpoint accuracy" of Tomahawks. I'm not sure accuracy is strictly relevant when you're delivering high explosives, the ultimate variable. In the West, we've never needed the military spectaculars favoured by Soviets and dictators; the news has always been our missile parade. On MSNBC the launch of the Tomahawks was repeatedly described as "beautiful". And there is a certain beauty at that point in their trajectory. Perhaps we should focus on some other point. It would be nice to see a shot of them ten seconds before they drop on their screaming victims. Or two days later when bodies are being pulled from the rubble. Maybe a shot from ten years down the line when the shell casings form part of a makeshift gallows, reflected in the glass eye of an implacable amputee warlord. Perhaps our whole fucked up attitude to war comes from only ever seeing our missiles taking off, only ever seeing our soldiers setting out.
Ignoring international law is bad for all sorts of reasons, not least because it's the same position as Assad's. Knowing that our own resolve is only strengthened when people attack us and expecting other people's to be weakened is suggestive of a kind of racism. Pouring arms and bombs into an intractable conflict means that you are happy for it to be prolonged and worsen. Britain's activities in the Middle East historically mean we almost can't imagine what a moral position might look like. We have a huge navy that we could use to pick up the thousands of Syrians, Libyans and others scheduled to drown in the Mediterranean this year, for a fraction of the cost of the bombs we've dropped on them. I wonder if those people know, clambering onto boats with their frightened children, many of whom have never seen the sea before and will never see land again, that we aggressively tune out images like this, should they ever reach us at all. That we see all these lives we could save as part of a chaotic, insoluble mess, better not thought about; we who focus so intently on the sleek, clear lines of bombs.

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

See You Later.

      To all my comrades, friends and followers, I'll be away for a wee break, of around two weeks, I believe in the philosophy that the older you get the more breaks you should take.  So my rants will fall silent for a while, keep changing the world until I get back, and I'll try to join you. 

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

Believe Or Die!!

          Nation states, all of them, are morally corrupt authoritarian institutions, that will make bedfellows of any other state, no matter its record on human rights, as long as it is advantageous to the power mongers in charge. Here in the UK, our lords and masters always spout about our high moral values and our respect for human life, but have no problem cosying up to such regimes as Saudi Arabia. A state that is harshly governed by a bunch of intolerant religious fundamentalist psychotic nut-cases. A state that is  so barbaric that it still carries out public beatings, as well as public beheading. In our dear friend, Saudi Arabia's land, a woman who is raped and reports it to the police, is usually charged with having sex out with marriage. In the developed world there are those who believe they have a friend in the sky, who they can talk to and who will personally look after them, and there are those who consider this as a rather stupid idea. Normally there is no real danger in holding the view that the man in sky is an illusion and should be dismissed. However in that land of our dear friend, Saudi Arabia, to speak of atheism, can imperial your life. The late King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia introduced laws defining atheists as terrorists, and recently the "justice system" in Saudi Arabia saw fit to sentence a young man to 2,000 lashes and ten years in prison for expressing his atheism on twitter. Of course the lashing was carried out in public, just to bring home to others, that in that country you are not allowed to express your personal view on the man in the sky, you must kneel before authority. I suppose, in that land of sadistic barbarity, you could say that he may have been lucky, there is the case of the poet who renounced Islam and was sentenced to death. Such cases abound in that "holy Land" of a loving god, our bosom buddy in the Middle East.

        Members of the club for deranged young men, know locally as Members of the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice of Saudi Arabia, or religious police.

         We can go through nation state after nation state, and they will all be found wanting in a greater or lesser degree, in the way they treat human rights. All states consider human rights expendable, when it come to the safeguarding of the power of the cabal at the top of the festering mess that is the established state.

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

Occupational Hazards.

        Anybody with two or more living brain cells should be well aware that our National Health Service is being privatised. The strategy of continual highlighting failings in the service, creates dissatisfaction and raises expectations, and calls for change, this is engineered by propaganda from our babbling brook of bullshit, and lack of funding from a government cabal of greedy millionaire private enterprise junkies. As the crescendo of complaints keeps rising, the call for change increases and from the private enterprise entrepreneurs, their call is always, private money, open the NHS to the market. You have to hand it to them for their persistence and determination, this call has been going on since the birth of the NHS, our problem is that they are more than half way there.

      The years between 1976 and 1994 saw a spate of hospital occupations, perhaps the time is right for a return to this tactic. If you want a NHS that is publicly owned and free at the point of need, you will have to do something drastic and very soon, or it will be  British National Health Service, PLC.

This is a quote from Past Tense, a very interesting, and worth reading document: 

past tense

Occupational Hazards

Occupying Hospitals:
inspirations and issues from our history

A past tense Dossier

        Between 1976 and 1994. more than twenty hospitals in the UK were occupied either wholly or partly by either staff who worked in them, or by local communities, or both; usually to prevent threats to close or merge them, cutting services and slashing jobs. Some were successful, some were not, but work-ins or occupations were a widespread and accepted tactic.
      With the looming threat of ‘re-organisations’ and further cuts and closures in the NHS looming, could occupations and work-ins be back on the agenda?
       Occupational Hazards documents some inspiring tales from the past, and asks some questions about some of the issues and problems arising from taking over a hospital.

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

Every Day You Die Many Times.

         So we think we have a lot on our mind, what with austerity, Brexit, and the Indy-ref 2. Well perhaps we should spare a thought for those hundreds of thousands of refugees herded like cattle in various points on the continent of Europe. In Greece, in particular, their conditions are deteriorating rapidly from appalling to utterly inhumane and unbearable. Having managed, through grit, courage and determination, to extract themselves from the bloody dystopia that is the imperialist slaughter house of the Middle East, they find themselves trapped in a living hell. Just the other day, "an asylum seeker was found hanged in an apparent suicide at Greece’s largest port, shortly after aid agencies warned of mounting desperation among refugees trapped in the country. The 25-year-old Syrian man was carrying refugee application papers when he was found dead near passenger ferry departure gates in Piraeus, outside Athens." More than 1,500 refugees are living around the Greek port of Piraeus, but there are over 62,000 refugees trapped in Greece in concentration camps and elsewhere by the idiotic impractical EU-Turkey deal and other border closures across Europe. Of course this is capitalism, so there will be those standing by to make a profit from exploiting this trapped and desperate group.

         Research by Save the Children found more than 5,000 minors are living in “appalling conditions”, driving a mounting mental health crisis. It found that children as young as nine were self-harming and 12-year-olds attempting suicide, sometimes filming themselves in the act. A spike in drug and alcohol abuse by teenagers was also recorded, as dealers exploit them in the camps.

       The root of this "refugee crisis" is  of course, the world imperialists' blood stained foreign policy, their brutal, savage drive for control of the oil rich territory. Those unfortunate individuals and families, caught up in this mayhem of death and destruction, who see their homes, villages, towns, and cities being obliterated, and their families and friends being killed, and decide to try to make it to a safer place, are further hindered by those imaginary lines dawn on the planet's surface, borders. This is where the minders of the various states, stop the hungry, the sick, the maimed and the desperate, then make the arbitrary decision, which to accept and which to reject. Decisions that can mean, in many cases, the difference between life and death.
       The plight of the hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing the bloody fireball that is the Middle East, has somewhat, disappeared from our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, that does not mean that the problem has been solved, far from it, it just means that they have lost interest and have moved on to their usual bilge splurge of candy-floss and bubble gum, peppered with the odd cash and sex scandal.
       What is going on in the Middle East is still there, the misery is still being created, the death and destruction is still going on, and the hungry, the terrified, the desperate, are still trying to flee to a safer place, and the developed world, the cause of the problem, is still turning its back on them.

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

Borders, The Enemy Of People.

         Nationality, borders, devices to stop the free movement of people, to hold you hostage within the fiefdom of one group of power mongers, and gives the powers that be the right to make arbitrary decisions who should be thrown over their imaginary lines to some other power mongers fiefdom. They allow the festering mental illness of patriotism to breed distrust and fear between between the people of this planet. These imaginary lines drawn across the Earth's surface, are never there for the benefit of the people, they are there to protect the wealth and power of the cabal that holds sway over that particular piece of the planet. Enforcing these imaginary lines leads to morally bankrupt acts of injustice, to the breaking up of families, to trauma, to personal suffering and in many cases death. Each enactment of the laws governing these imaginary lines is an attack on the personal freedom of the individual concerned, the denial of what should be a natural right, to live and work, on any part of your choosing, on this small planet.  

          Help Chennan Fei Stay in Scotland- Stop her Deportation.

        Chennan has done nothing wrong. She came to the UK in 2002 as the dependant of her parents who were legally here on Student Visas at the time. Chennan was educated in Glasgow high schools and went on to study at the University of Edinburgh, receiving an MA (Hons) in Accounting & Business Management.

https://www.change.org/p/secretary-of-state-for-the-home-department-help-chennan-fei-stay-in-scotland-stop-her-deportation

         Chennan Fei has lived in Scotland since she was 13 years old. She is now 28 and is in loving relationship with her Scottish boyfriend, Duncan. The couple had planned on moving in together in the next few months and Duncan had hoped to pop the question and ask Chennan to be his wife.
        But, Chennan was detained by the Home Office on 23rd March. She was taken to Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre but was later moved south of the border to Yarl's Wood on 25th March. The Home Office plan to deport her to China.
        Unbeknown to Chennan her parents visas had expired within a few years of
her arriving in Scotland. There is no rule or provision in the Immigration Act that deals directly with the ‘children’ of over-stayers and the Home Office plan to send her into exile, away from the only home she has ever known and the friends
and partner who support her.
        Chennan has lived more than half her life in Scotland. She has volunteered at several agencies in Glasgow including the Scottish Refugee Council, putting the accountancy skills she learned at university to good use. The Home Office do not permit her to take up paid employment.
         Although her almost 15 years living in the UK may not be considered ‘legal’, this is through no fault of Chennan’s.

She is BLAMELESS.
Bring her Back to Scotland.
#SaveChennanFei

Patriotism

No, I shall not die for the fluttering flag,

if truth be known, ’tis nothing but a multi-coloured rag

held aloft by some foolish hand

inciting worker and peasant to kill

on some green and wooded hill,

peasant and worker from some other land.

Nor shall I shed blood for the fluttering rag

that brings out fools to stand and brag

of brutal deeds painted grand,

deeds where rustic and craftsman lie so still

killed by my brothers' misguided hand.

No allegiance have I for the Nation

this man made autocratic creation

that divides my brothers in a world so small,

binds us to a country's cause, right or wrong,

bids us follow its drum, sing its song,

then sheds our blood in some border brawl.

No, I'll be no slave to flag or nation,

have no ear for power oration,

though its iron heel is on my breast,

my back feels its leather thong,

at patriotism's barracoon, I'll be no guest.

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

The Most Effective Cops Don't Wear Uniforms.

         The most effective cop doesn’t wear a uniform, the most effective cop is in your head. Today the population, to a great extent, has been domesticated, where individuals have animals to do their bidding, so the state has citizens to do its bidding. We have been domesticated from birth by the education system, the pattern is planted, obey the teacher, obey the authority, abide by the rules and you will go through the system unmolested, abide by the law and you be fine. The mould has been set and is firm and strong, go to school, carry that obedience through to your work place, respect authority, don’t rock the boat, just conform. Of course when the few don’t, and those who haven’t succumbed to the conditioning, start to think for themselves, then that’s when the more brutal conditioning comes in, the appearance of the uniform, the baton, the tear gas, the controlled cages, etc.. This whole system of conditioned domestication relies on fear, there has to be that shadow hanging over you, there has to be that dark place waiting for you if you disobey, that’s the duty of the systems minders, the cops, the judicial system and its isolated cages. It is extremely difficult to act as a freethinking individual when you are conditioned from birth, when your value structure has a foundation of respect for authority. Respect should never be an obligation, it should be something that is earned by verifiable evidence. There is no other purpose for the police than to protect the wealth and power of those in authority, to keep the system running as it is, unequal, unjust, and exploitative. Yes there may be spin-off, they may catch a rapist, or a paedophile, but that is incidental to their real purpose. In all probability the catching of a rapists will be done with less violence that breaking up a peaceful protest about an injustice in society.
       If we want to be a society of freethinking individuals, we have to get rid of the cops in our heads, expel them, we have to see the real purpose of the uniformed cops, only then will we able to challenge the injustices of this greed driven system of corruption, only then will we be able to create that better world for all, only then can we be our own person.

 

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

 

The Purveyors Of Plunder And Mayhem Come To Hamburg.

         July 2017 will see the the gathering of our beloved leaders from across the planet, the G20 will take place in Hamburg, on July 7th.-8th. These are the people that shape our world, and are so beloved by their people, that when they come together to discuss their grand plans, they need  the area where they are to meet, to be in lock-down, the citizens cleared or restricted, and a minimum of 10,000 police and secret agents to protect them from their loving citizens. The scale and concentration of the security that will surround this bunch of managers of the plundering of the earth, is indication of the total disgust in which the people hold them. These are the people responsible for the slaughter in the Middle East, the genocide of the Palestinian people, the drowning of thousands of fleeing innocent people, the army of refugees that are being, harassed, herded like cattle, or abandoned to claws of hunger and deprivation. Protests against this cabal of greed driven war mongers and power grabbers, should not be limited to Hamburg, it should be at least, pan-European, but preferably world wide and co-ordinated.

    They will arrive in their private jets, their limousines, and with their army of flunkies. This obscene display of corrupt power and savage authority will be paid for by you and me, no matter the cost, you and I will pick up the tab, they call it democracy.  

This from 325:

          On the 7th and 8th of July 2017 the G20 summit is supposed to take place in Hamburg. The heads of the governments of the 19 richest and most powerful states of the world, accompanied by 6.000 delegation members, surrounded and permanently photographed by 3.000 journalists and of course cordoned off and protected by an army of at least 10.000 police and secret service operatives.

         All this is supposed to take place in the middle of Hamburg: in the exhibition halls, in the town hall, in the Elbphilharmonie. Large-scale and multilevel barriers, ID controls, evacuated appartments – the main victims will be the people in the Karoviertel and the surrounding neighborhoods. Especially those, that are already more exposed to frequent controls and harrassments because of the color of their skin, their legal status, their precarious social situation or other reasons.

       The residents are supposed to give way for an orchestration of power, a living city is turned into a dead scenery. The main performance is the illusion that the political elites of global capitalism have everything well under control, that they are somehow capable of providing security, peace, livelihood and a real future perspective to the people of the world.

        But we are witnessing the exact opposite: the prevailing world order is a further escalating world disorder of brutal social inequality, structurally embedded sexism and racism, ecological destruction and spreading wars.

       Millions of people are forced to flee, billions are struggling to survive and the number of people that is affected by precarisation is continuously rising, also here in Germany. At the same time a small global upper class is getting richer and richer.

         The political representatives of this world disorder want to come to Hamburg: Erdogan from Turkey, Putin from Russia, the cold putschist Temer from Brasil, and if we are unlucky also Donald Trump.

       There also aren’t a lot of good things to say about the governments of China or India. And the so very democratic governments of western Europe? They are the ones that build walls and fences and coldly let fleeing people drown at sea. We will show them that they are not welcome in Hamburg!

        In many political groups and spectres the reflections on how to organize the necessary protests and actions against the G20 Summit have already begun. There are many different approaches: Some care about the right to the city, others about climate policy, to others flight and migration or capitalism as a whole matters. There are ideas such as a counter summit, a major demonstration, or disobedient actions around the conference venue or in the whole city.

No matter what the criticism of the G20 Summit is precisely based on, no matter what actions or forms of expression are prefered, the protest can only be a success if we are able to make the possibility of a different world, a world of justice and solidarity, appear in them. And if the protest are complementary rather than in opposition to each other.

        That needs arrangements and a lot of communication between the summits opponents.
Autonome Aktion Europe

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

 

Ah, That Distant Memory, The Sun, Has Returned.

 

         Well it happened, I thought it never would, but it did, the clouds rolled away, the sun came out, and the temperature shot up. Suddenly that horrible dull very cold and windy weather that seem to have gone on for ever, had gone. It brought cyclists out in their all their gleaming Lycra and fancy bikes. I enthusiastically joined them. The start of my cycling season always starts around familiar territory, the Campsie Hills, so it was up round Clachan of Campsie, beautiful. Sadly the good weather also brings out the motorists, so the roads were very busy, but you grow to expect that now-a-days. Here's hoping this is the start of a glorious long hot summer, but I say that every year and it doesn't always materialise, but you never know. 

      As a young man I spent years hill walking, and I would never have hesitated to drink for any stream as we trudged our way along. Now however, I would never dream of drinking from any stream, too much pollutants, pesticides, fertilisers etc., have seeped into our rivers and streams, we have taken that pleasure away from our kids. What else will we steal from them?

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

Days Of War, Nights Of Love.

 

             Something to think about, Days Of War, Nights Of Love, an old article from Crimethinc:

              Whatever medical science may profess, there is a difference between Life and survival. There is more to being alive than just having a heartbeat and brain activity. Being alive, really alive, is something much subtler and more magnificent. Their instruments measure blood pressure and temperature, but overlook joy, passion, love, all the things that make life really matter. To make our lives matter again, to really get the most out of them, we will have to redefine life itself. We have to dispense with their merely clinical definitions, in favor of ones which have more to do with what we actually feel.

          As it stands, how much living do we have in our lives? How many mornings do you wake up feeling truly free, thrilled to be alive, breathlessly anticipating the experiences of a new day? How many nights do you fall asleep feeling fulfilled, going over the events of the past day with satisfaction? Most of us feel as though everything has already been decided without us, as if living is not a creative activity but rather something that happens to us. That’s not being alive, that’s just surviving: being undead. We have undertakers, but their services are not usually required; we have morgues, but we spend most of our time in office cubicles and video arcades, in shopping malls, in front of televisions. Of course suburban housewives and petty executives are terrified of risk and change; they can’t imagine that there is anything more valuable than physical safety. Their hearts may be beating, but they no longer believe in their dreams, let alone chase after them.

             But this is how the revolution begins: a few of us start chasing our dreams, breaking our old patterns, embracing what we love (and in the process discovering what we hate), daydreaming, questioning, acting outside the boundaries of routine and regularity. Others see us doing this, see people daring to be more creative and more adventurous, more generous and more ambitious than they had imagined possible, and join us one by one. Once enough people embrace this new way of living, a point of critical mass is finally reached, and society itself begins to change. From that moment, the world will start to undergo a transformation: from the frightening, alien place that it is, into a place ripe with possibility, where our lives are in our own hands and any dream can come true.

           So do what you want with your life, whatever it is! But to be sure you do get what you want, think carefully about what it really is, first, and how to go about getting it. Analyze the world around you, so you’ll know which people and forces are working against your desires, and which ones are on your side… and how you can work together with us. We’re out here, living life to the fullest, waiting for you—hopping trains across the United States, organizing political protests in French public schools, writing beautiful letters at sunrise in Bangkok. We just finished making love in the corporate washroom a minute before you walked in on your half hour lunch break. And Life is waiting for you with us, on the peaks of unclimbed mountains, in the smoke of campfires and burning buildings, in the arms of lovers who will turn your world upside down. Come join us!

Published 2000-09-11

• Days of War, Nights of Love

 

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

Death Penalty For The Crime Of Homelessness.

The Homeless.

Tenebrous spectres, they exist,   out there,

on the crumbling edge of chaos.

A father, a son, a brother,

a daughter, a sister, a mother.

Fragments of some shattered family structure;

waste products

from a society being driven to destruction

by a hurricane of greed

living a life that wears out life,

dying,

the devious death of exhaustion from existence.

  

     A recurring feature of this capitalist system is it ability to just scrap and abandon people, and let the needy perish in the midst of incredible wealth. Glasgow has it homeless problem, which is allowed to persist, in city with countless empty properties, even in the midst of Scotland's cruel and harsh winter. Property and wealth are valued more than human life.

        Last Monday/Tuesday was blizzard conditions in Glasgow, and one young man faced that blizzard alone, and on the street, the price he paid was his life. He was found dead in the morning lying outside one of the city's large stores. To die of the cold, on the street at 28 years of age, in what is supposed to be a civilised country, is not an accident, it is a crime. It was not just the fact that he was homeless, a crime in itself, but he needed help, he suffered from alcohol addiction and mental health problems, where was that caring society? Because of his problem he spent long periods sleeping rough, Why? Where was the help that a civilised society should produce as standard? He was not the first to die on our streets, and as long as we tolerate a system that puts money and profit before human life, he will not be the last. To die alone on the street is an indictment to a failed system, it is the manifestation of a greed driven system that abandons the needy and the weak. Who will be brought to justice for this crime?

        Homeless Matthew Bloomer, 28, was found by police outside the TJ Hughes department store on Argyle Street in Glasgow's Trongate at around 9.10am on Tuesday after spending the night outside in freezing conditions.

Speaking to STV News, his older brother Paolo Barnett-Bloomer, 30, paid tribute to Celtic fan Matthew.-----

-------Matthew had struggled with alcohol addiction and mental health issues, which led to him spending long periods sleeping rough on the streets.

The Warmth Of A Dream.

He lay in a dark doorway, dreamed of home,

night frost locked his joints

morning rain chilled the marrow of his bone.

In the dream there was a sister,

a pram in the garden, a crowd of youngsters

who called him "mister", a time of little pain.

Are these youngster the same young men, who

now laugh at him, throw beer cans,

piss on him as he lies drunk in some dark lane?

When was that first step down this slippery slope,

when was that first step to no forgiveness.

No will to rise to beg for food,

numbness kills the pain.

The dream brings a warmth that feels good,

dark fog shades out consciousness,

an ambulance carries off a body washed in rain. 

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

The Last Of The Snow.

        Though in my book it is still too cold, I have managed out on the bike three times this month. The first two occasions were just short non-stop wee circuits, just to remind the legs what they are supposed to do, no stopping for the camera. The third, yesterday, Thursday, 23rd was meant to be the same, but I couldn't help stopping to capture the last of the snow on the Campsie Hills, before nature got out her paint brush and covered everything in various shades of green, splattered with dashes of vibrant colour. Well I hope it is the last of the snow, until next winter, give me warmth. Each of the three runs have had one feature in common, 15/16 mph extremely cold wind. Never the less thoroughly enjoyable, it always feels great when I dust the bike down, after the winter months and start trundling my way merrily around our lovely countryside.

 

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

Glasgow's May Day.

         It is fast approaching, that day that will be celebrated all over the world, the workers day, the day for the ordinary people of this world to come together to celebrate and remember. I'm talking about May Day, a fun day, a day to renew old friendships, make new ones, a family day, out in the open.
       Sadly in Glasgow it has deteriorated to a slow march through the city and then a meeting in a cinema to listen to our political ballerinas explain how they and they alone, will lead you to the promised land. Most young people in Glasgow have no memory of the May Days out in the open, having fun. To alleviate this illness, a group of us are trying to bring May Day back to the Glasgow Green and have it reborn as what it was meant to be, a family day, a fun day, a day to celebrate our common connections, a day to show the solidarity of the working class.

     So come along to the May Day Picnic on The Green, at Free Wheel North. Monday May 1st from 2:00. Bringing what you expect to find, bring your street, bring May Day back to the Green. It is workers day, the celebration of spring, out in the open, as it should be.
      Make this a day to meet up with old friends and comrades, make new connections, and have a real fun relaxing friendly day on The Green. May Day belongs to the people, let's make it what we want it to be.

          Join us at Free Wheel North on 1st of May 2:00
See website for details: Updates for activities will be posted as they come in.

https://maydayglasgow2017.wordpress.com/

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

 

A Late World Poetry Day.

 

      Considering it was the day before my birthday, I guess I must be getting old, I missed World Poetry Day, it was yesterday March 21st. However, as they say, better late than never.

Just Imagine!

If only we could find the imagination

to see this world as one rich colourful nation,

not a collection of camps, insular and small

always eager to mount a border brawl

sending forth an army of fruit growers

to shed the blood of some seed growers,

holding high a coloured rag

proclaim, "the blood I shed is for this flag",

believing this justifies the countless dead

across nature's beauty spread.

Can't we learn from yesterday's errors

borders breed false fears and foolish terrors;

each flag waving hand sows the seeds

of tomorrow's pointless brutal deeds.

If only we could find the imagination

to see this world as one rich colourful nation,

all free to walk our chosen path

free from fear of the stranger's wrath.

A brother, rich or poor we can accept

a different coloured skin is cause to reject,

smile at a brown eyed sister with reddish hair

yet mock one who walks a jungle path, bosom bare.

Shower with praise and welcome embrace

anyone from our spurious race,

greet with snarl and angry glare

those strange people from over there;

then useing our culture as some kind of shield

guarantee our future in isolation sealed.

If only we could find the imagination

to see this world as one rich colourful nation. 

A new Dawn.

Today we live in a peace

midst a thousand pygmy wars;

a humanity bankrupt by its past

dragged wearily through darkness and despair

yearns for a day that's cast

long, warm and fair,

a dawn that sees humankind discard

its class, its nation and prepare

to grind outworn creeds to dust,

so mankind naked is revealed,

then moving with common cause,

share

what such a dawn may yield.

Our Children's Inheritance. 

Blind to the future's unrisen dawns

we change nature to industrial debris.

Lead our children to a terrifying land

there to let them do or die.

Consign our children's children

to

poisoned air, a sterile earth,

set hungry faces fishing on some odious fishless sea.

Bequeath them a silent world

where

no feathered friend wings and sings

no hare, no fox runs free; by our efforts guarantee,

no wondrous woodlands, no wild forests,

no blushing bloom of spring,

no clear streams, no rolling meadows,

no fresh breezes blowing in on a bounteous sea.

How can we meet their trusting eye

when our legacy they acquire;

children

who by our actions will receive

a thorn in every kiss, from every mouth a lie.

What will our heart reply when asked,

"Why no harmony with nature?"

"Why has the truth been masked?"

         I can hear you say, "OK, so you missed the day, but there was no need to go into overdrive!!"

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

A Call For Support.

        To any observer, it is obvious that today, the neo-nazis are emboldened enough to take their vile. poisoning ideology on to the streets. Their confidence will grow in relation to our lack of resistance, and conversely, their confidence will diminish in relation to the strength of our resistance. Passive resistance to their lying, divisive ideology will fail, they dream of power, of being a force, and force is the only weapon that will defeat them. They are not open to rational discussion, they are not receptive to evidence based information, so these weapons will be of no avail in the struggle to rid ourselves of this cancer that is creeping its way through our society. One brave anarchist, if perhaps a little foolhardy for tackling such a crowd on his own, faced up to them in a very unequal battle, a difficult decision in such a situation. He paid a price in damaging injuries, and now faces further punishment from the corrupt state judicial system. We all know that the police and the fascists walk the same path.

         An appeal for solidarity and financial support from 325:

March 19th, 2017

      On the 19th of February, Taras Bogay, an anarchist and eco-activist from Lviv, Ukraine, was assaulted by a group of 20-30 drunk neo-nazis from the rightwing organisations Right Sector and the neo-nazi militia named the Azov battallion. They attacked Taras after he tried to protect a group of foreigners that the nazi group was harassing with racial slurs and threats.
        During the fight the attackers threatened to kill Taras. He was knocked unconscious and sustained a heavy concussion and numerous cuts resulting in the near loss of one of his fingers. While defending himself and the foreigners, Taras slightly cut one of the attackers with no serious injury. Taras fought well, but the forces were uneven.
       Despite Taras having been found covered in his own blood, the Lviv police department released news about the incident later that day without mentioning Taras’ injuries. The news stated: “the police arrested a 27-years old man that stabbed an 18-year old teenager in a conflict”.
        A few days after the incident a false “witness” claimed that Taras suddenly attacked the group of innocent people, then cut himself and ran away. While every word of this evidence is a clear lie, it may be considered as proof of Taras’s fault in the court. The case clearly demonstrates that Ukrainian police has a strong affiliation with far-right organizations. Currently, Taras is being treated for his wounds, and is doing rehabilitation from his concussion. Taras is recovering gradually and his condition is gradually improving. Nevertheless, he is still unable to work.
       Taras is experiencing severe financial problems. First, he is unable to work due to the injuries and have to pay medical bills. Second, to protect himself from the false charges, Taras requires a lawyer that cost at least €900 (he has concluded a contract with a lawyer for the period of investigation – about half of a year).
      Without a good lawyer Taras could face a prison sentence between five and seven years (the charges being disorderly conduct and grievous bodily harm).
       We have started the fundraising campaign at firefund.net/ukraine to collect €900 that will enable us to provide Taras with a good lawyer and help him to survive during the period of unemployment. The struggle against far-right politics relies on global solidarity and mutual aid.

Also, you may donate to ABC bitcoin wallet: 39pQm5RxArsFZEBt4MPvMFuHEuyY1oG18k

Stop fascist scum! Solidarity with Taras Bogay!

Thank you for the support!
Long live anarchy!

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