In Despair, I Repeat Myself.

 

      Maybe I'm a depressing sort of guy, and I see the world different from lots of others, but I can't help looking at the world we have created, and getting a sickening feeling in my stomach. We have taken a planet that had the potential for a paradise for all, and turned it into a savage nightmare of grotesque brutality.

    No matter how convenient your mobile phone, no matter the amount of movies you can stream, no  matter how comfortable your home, we are living an illusion. That real world, that place where the vast majority live, is a cruel vicious and very often deadly place.

      I wrote the following article about nine years ago and have posted it once since then, and I post it again, for the simple reason that I think it is still a picture of the unjust savage reality in which billions of people have to survive. If anything, in the passing nine years or so since first posting this, I believe things have got worse. How and when do we change things?

    It is difficult to grasp the state of the world that we have created. A world where there is an abundance of almost everything conceivable and yet to the vast majority of the world’s population it is all out of reach. A world where a small elite live a life of obscene and wasteful wealth while millions die of starvation and millions of children die from the lack of clean drinking water. In this capitalist made world there are small enclaves where the rich, in safety, play games with their expensive toys, private jets, luxury cars, yachts and several holiday homes in “exotic” locations. While just over that financial apartheid wall there is the stench of squalor and death for countless millions living in total deprivation and endless wars,
        In this capitalist created world, 8 million people die every year from poverty, One billion children live in abject poverty, 640 million do not have access to appropriate shelter, 140 million have never attended school, 400 million do not have access to clean uncontaminated water, 500 million do not have basic sanitation, 270 million have no access to health care, and 90 million are severely food deprived. Approximately 12.3 million people worldwide live in conditions of “modern slavery,” while over one billion people live on less than one dollar of income per day and over three billion live on less than two dollars per day. Then there is the strata in between, that manage to scrape a reasonable existence that seems to keep them from revolt.
        All this misery in spite of the fact that the world economy actually produces one and a half times the amount of food necessary to provide the entire human population with adequate and nutritious meals. The fact that the capitalist system will not allow this to be shared out to those in need tells us that it is not a natural problem but a political problem. Perhaps the words of Derrick Jensen come close to capturing something of that world.
       “We are members of the most destructive culture ever to exist. Our assault on the natural world, on indigenous and other cultures, on women, on children, on all of us through the possibility of nuclear suicide and other means—all these are unprecedented in their magnitude and ferocity ... What this means is that corporations and those who run them cannot stop exploiting resources and amassing wealth until they have...I cannot finish this sentence, because the truth is that they can never stop; like cancer, they can only continue to expand until they kill the host ... For us to maintain our way of living, we must tell lies to each other and especially to ourselves. The lies are necessary because, without them, many deplorable acts would become impossibilities.”

Eighteen Hungry Children

Eighteen hungry children die

every minute of every day

eighteen of tomorrow’s people

cruelly thrown away.

When pandering to a fashion

gratifying our greed,

think, theirs is no desire

but a basic need.

Envisage a familiar face

a child that calls your name,

try to be the parent

try to place the blame.

Eighteen hungry children die

every minute of every day,

eighteen little faces

that never learnt to play.

Walk past your local school

listen to the shrill,

stand and count to sixty

imagine hunger start to kill.

Fingers must be pointed

at decisions made on high,

questions must be asked

loudly asked by you and I.

Eighteen hungry children die

every minute of every day,

eighteen precious lives

the claws of hunger slay.

WHY?

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France, May-June 1968.

      To mark the 50th anniversary of the  1968 May-June events that shook France and reverberated throughout Europe, the Kate Sharpley Library have brought out a excellent pamphlet, written by a participating eyewitness at the time,  Flûtiste Le (the flute player). How have we moved forward in 50 years?

 Flûtiste Le:  The Anarchists in Paris, May-June 1968

       An anarchist eyewitness to the revolt of May-June 1968, Le Flûtiste ("the flute player") looks back on the highs and lows of Paris' student-worker rebellion. Topics covered include, student life before the revolt, the barricades of the Latin Quarter, the student and worker occupations and strikes and the part played by the anarchists in the upheaval.
      "Having been hit by a grenade and come under gas attack, I had made up my mind to join the demonstration at Denfert-Rochereau. ... First I watched as the head of the demo paraded past, made up of trade union bigwigs and their henchmen; then came heaps of more or less unknowns such as the Situationist Guy Debord whom I spotted on his own, just him and a friend. Then, all of a sudden, my eyes were treated to the unbelievable spectacle of a forest of black-and -red flags, with a sprinkling of black flags! ... The public's curiosity about and interest in anarchist ideas was born right there and then. Anarchy, which the Stalinists and socialists generally - not to mention the bourgeois - had declared a dead duck in the land of Utopia, was rising like the phoenix from the ashes! Its burial licence had expired, to the great annoyance of all those respectable folk."

This extract/review from Freedom Press:

        First of all, on the outbreak of the fighting in Paris, between 300-400 anarchists were attending the gala of the Federation Anarchiste that evening in central Paris on May 10th. Members of other groups were present on that evening, including the Union of Anarchist Communist Groups, the Anarcho-Syndicalist Union and the anarcho-syndicalist union the CNT.These were on hand to reinforce the barricades that were set up that evening in the Latin Quarter, a culmination of weeks of unrest in the universities. To his credit Dany Cohn-Bendit of the March 22nd student movement used his megaphone to call for the taking over of the area. The writer describes this then anarchist as “hard to stick” as a person(more on that later).

       “Get this: what few leftwing or “leftist” students there were on hand tried to talk them of digging up the streets or building barricades and berated the barricade builders as “provocateurs”. They were promptly seen off…”

      The writer describes the lightning spread of barricades through the neighbourhood.”The clashes were violent in the extreme; many young people refused to give ground (to the police) and like out-and-out kamikazes, threw themselves into the hand-to-hand fighting”. He also notes that “local residents, outraged by the sight of the police brutality, sided with the students, tossing down buckets of water to dampen the effects of tear gas grenades and taking demonstrators into their homes”.As a result of the fighting and the vicious brutality the trade unions and left wing organisations were forced into calling a demonstration for May 13th. Over the coming days strikes broke out spontaneously around France.

         The leftists now attempted to hijack the movement, setting up literature stalls in the courtyard of Sorbonne university and token committees that they controlled.

The demonstration on May 13th brought out between 500,000 to one million people. The writer notes the “forest of red-and-black flags with a sprinkling of black flags”.

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Living History.

      We at Spirit of Revolt work hard at recording and keeping alive the history of the ordinary people of Glasgow and Clydeside area, but our collections cover a much wider field. Our dedicated scanners work away in the background scanning thousands of documents, they are then put up on our website for easy access for the public at large. Have a wee look at some of our latest digitised material, it makes interesting reading, and do keep coming back to Spirit of Revolt catalogue, as there is always new material being digitised and posted on line.

Some of our latest additions:

T SOR-4-1-9, Spectacular Times.
T SOR-4-1-11, State Research, vol.2 No's 13-15.
T SOR-4-1-11, State Research, No. 30.
T SOR-4-1-12, Radical America.
T SOR-4-1-101, Delta.
T SOR-41-1-102, Yugoslavery.
T SOR-4-1-103. Inquietacao.
T SOR-4-1-104, Encyclopaedia of Nuisances.
T SOR-4-1-106, Women & Struggle in Iran.
T SOR-4-1-145, Aufheben.

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America's Slave Labour Industry Is Going On Strike.

          2016 saw the biggest prisoner strike in American history, this year starting August 29th The Incarcerated Workers Organising Committee are working towards this strike to have a great impact than the 2016. It will of course require solidarity and support from those outside the states repression cages.  Support and solidarity depend on publicity, so the more we share the details of this event the great the support and the great impact. The American prison system is a multi-billion dollar corporate industry that uses slave labour, under the guise of law and order, punishment and rehabilitation. All prisons are an abomination, the American prison system tops the list in mass incarceration and all for no other reason than repression and profit. 

         As we approach the start of the 2018 Prison Strike, which will begin on August 21st, Rust Belt Abolition radio sits down for this important dialog with Oakland IWOC about the strike.

         In this episode, we discuss how some of us are preparing for the upcoming 2018 Prisoner Strike — slated to take place between August 21st and September 9th. We speak with members of the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee of the IWW, Oakland chapter, about the lead-up to the strike and how you can get involved.

        This year’s actions come in the wake of the extraordinary 2016 prison strike — the largest and most widespread prisoner strike in U.S. history. It is estimated that about 50,000 imprisoned workers in more than two dozen different states refused to do the work that keeps prisons running. In August 2017, the Millions for Prisoners march led prison officials in Florida and South Carolina to preemptively lock-down their entire prison systems — impacting over 121,000 imprisoned people.

         Rustbelt Abolition Radio covered these historic events in our September 2017 episode, Reports from the Prisoner Resistance Movement, as well as in our Making Contact audio documentary, Specters of Attica: Reflections from Inside a Michigan Prison Strike.

The prisoner resistance movement takes another step this August 21, 2018, as prison rebels in more than 17 states will refuse to labor and maintain the institutions that perpetuate their captivity.

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Wealth And Power Before Welfare.

        Where on this planet is the state that looks after the welfare of the people as a priority? Of course there are none, business, economy, and warmongering are the top priorities of all states. What strengthens the state will always come before the welfare of the people, to that end it will displace people, destroy communities and ravage the planet to the detriment of all life on the planet.

       In the 1950's the UK was responsible for displacing whole communities of indigenous people in Australia, so that it could carry out atomic weapon tests. This was certainly not in the interest and welfare of those people. That's how states function, it will always be wealth before welfare, the people are there to be used or discarded as suits the power of the state.

This from 325:
‘Protecting Country’ 
Indigenous Voices against Uranium Mining and Nuclear Waste (Australia)

       “an independently produced film bringing the voices of the contemporary Adnyamathanha, Gurindji, Tanganekald, Yankunytjatjara Anangu, Mirning, Narunnga Aboriginal Australian people forward who are united in their stand AGAINST the present and planned uranium mining and nuclear dump activities in South Australia. Bruce Hammond, an Aboriginal Tanganekald man with ties to the coast in the lower South East of South Australia and the central desert regions of Finke and Alice Springs in conjunction with Alexander Hayes & Magali McDuffie from Ngikalikarra Media brought the ‘Protecting Country’ documentary film on a screening road trip across Australia.”

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The World Of Millionaire/Billionaire parasites.

        I never usually pay any attention when the parasites of the establishment start to carve up one of their own. However reading our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, you would imagine that the Manafort trial in America was a case of one naughty rogue millionaire who broke the rules. He is charged with tax avoidance, fiddling loan applications and secret bank accounts. The reality of course is that this sort of behaviour among our millionaire/billionaire parasite class is par for the course. It doesn't take much research to find out that the tax haven financial racket is not in recession, it is in fact booming. As the millionaire/billionaire plunderers grow in wealth, their accountants and lawyers seek ever new ways to conceal their wealth and to avoid paying their due taxes, it is a thriving industry.  

      So why is Manafort being taken to task for doing what they are all up to? You can rest assured it is not moral indignation at his behaviour. It is just the usual power struggle among the millionaire/billionaire parasite class. They always play legal games to gain power for one plundering group and/or to undermine the power of another plundering group. Wealthy powerful groups don't make good bedfellows, driven by greed they all want more and see the other group as a threat to their power and wealth.

       So fry Manafort, and even send him to prison, it will not in any way clean up the system of greed, corruption and exploitaion that controls all aspects of our lives. The system is built on greed, corrution and exploitation, and there are plenty more "Manaforts" beavering away at plundering and stashing their ill gotten gains in tax havens and secret bank accounts. It is the system, we need to fry and dismantle, to rid ourselves of the cancer that is the Manafort culture, but don't expect the millionaire/billionaire parasite class do do that for you, that task is up to us, the ordinary people of this world.

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An Odd Way To Recycle Nappies.

         Isn't it amazing what some people will do to an individual just because they are a filth rich, dangerous, hypocritical arsehole? Don't they realise that Jacob will have to take time off from making more money, just to organise the clean up of his garden. Not that I imagine, he himself will ever touch the nappies.

This from 325: 

 Photo from Anarchist News.

      Far-right politician Jacob Rees-Mogg gets a home-visit by crazed anarchist vandals (UK)

        How many people would love to tell Jacob Rees-Mogg to go and fuck himself? Well, last night we did so in joyful fashion. We paid a little visit to the countryside just outside of Bristol, to his mansion called Gourney Court in the quiet village of West Harptree.
          For those of you who are reading this and do not know who this man is, he is one of the most detestable members of parliament ever, and fuck me they’re a bad bunch. Other politicians claim he is the one truly ruling this country from behind the scenes. Here are some of his charming characteristics…
        He is extremely wealthy, staunchly Roman Catholic, a clear friend to fascist groups and has his eyes fixed on being the actual political leader of this fucking prison island (after May decomposes fully).
         He was raised by his nanny. After prep school he attended Eton college and then Oxford university (for the poshest people in the country). Him and his wife have a 100 million quid together, they just bought a new house in London for 5 million, he makes 168,000 pounds a year from his partnership in a hedgefund business called Somerset Capital Management that is worth 7.5 billion pounds (apparently it invests in tobacco, mining and oil and is based in offshore tax havens, for those who care about such details). He proudly claims he has never changed a nappy in his life despite having 6 kids.
         He uses his religion as an excuse for his xenophobic views. He is opposed to same sex marriage and contraception, he is against feminism, LGBTQI people and specifically gender re-assignment. He is opposed to abortion in all circumstances including cases of rape. He has argued for the abolition of environmental protections and for fracking, he is pro fox hunting and has also argued for the Conservative party to be almost entirely white skinned. He is opposed to immigration, he supports zero hours contracts and loves the equally charming DUP (Northern Irelands right-wing Democratic Unionist Party) and the Conservative governments billion pound deal with them.
         He fucking idolizes Margaret Thatcher and we’re not even done yet…
        In May 2013, he addressed the annual dinner held by the Traditional Britain Group, a group of fascists that calls for non-white Britons to be deported. Apparently he had been informed about these things by anti-fascist group Searchlight prior to his attendance.
      After Rees-Mogg was confronted by anti-fascists in Bristol a year ago, Britain First (another fascist organisation) pledged to protect him at future events.
      Rees-Mogg is backed by Nigel Farage, the disgusting former leader of nationalist UKIP party, who has probably the second most punchable face in politics after Rees-Mogg himself. He’s also met with Steve Bannon of Breitbart News in the US.
       He constantly spouts-off about these high morals of Catholicism from his position of other-worldly privilege with no comprehension of the realities of people at the other end of the financial spectrum.
       Phew, that is an impressively exhausting list to sum up a contender for the worlds biggest arsehole.
       For all of these reasons and more he was chosen as a perfect symbol of many things we struggle against as anarchists. And so… last night we left him over 60 soiled nappies spread across his grounds as he’s no idea what they look like (don’t ask where they came from! haha). We spread around condoms to see if the idea would grow on him, even decorating a crucifix in his garden with them. We left lots of lovely messages sprayed around many of the buildings on his property letting him know exactly how we felt about him and causing a considerable clean up job. The pièce de résistance: his wife’s car (license plate Y7 HRM) sprayed with “SCUM” across the side in massive letters with a big sucker dildo planted on the bonnet! Beautiful.
       Our action is not revenge or punishment (how could it be, there is no balance between our prank and this list of his accomplishments), but one (slightly sillier) glimpse into one of the multitude ways we exercise our critical analysis.
        The conditions of our existence are under the control of people like this, but make no mistake, unlike one member of Bristol antifa who confronted Rees-Mogg, we are not supporters of the left or defenders of Jeremy Corbyn, we are not interested in a different leadership, in another form of representation, in a regime change, or in anything that merely shuffles around the makeup of power. We are opposed to all political forms including democracy. Democracy is shit, it breaks the link between thought and action. It does nothing but maintain the existence of alienated power since it requires that our desires be separate from our power to act, and any attempts to engage in that system will only serve to reproduce it. Voting does not give you a voice, it takes it away.
     We continue to struggle for our ourselves, in solidarity with our comrades (inside and outside of the prison walls, across national boundaries and to those continuing to struggle who have been forced underground)… and in honor of a comrade who fell in the midst of fighting and who spent her life struggling against many of the issues mentioned above. Like the graffiti says around Bristol, “keep fighting!”.
       The Cornerstone group(1) can shove their faith and their flag up their arse and Momentum(2) can go fuck themselves as well!

Down with politics and politicians, religion and the State!

The Home-visit Cell
          PS. Sorry for the long communique, blame Jacob Rees-Mogg for being such a massive prick.

(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornerstone_Group
(2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Momentum_(organisation)

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The Storm Troops Of Imperialism.

       When ever members of the military come out and openly voice the truth about what the military is all about. When they lay bare the fact that the military, in any state, are the storm troops of imperialism, an antithesis of freedom and democracy. We should spread their words far and wide. Thanks Loam for the link.

       Follow Eyes Left Podcast and others on SoundCloud.

In this debut episode of Eyes Left, hosts Spenser Rapone and Mike Prysner discuss the vision and goal of the podcast, how their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan led them to become socialists, and why US troops should resist U.S. foreign policy.
Support this project at Patreon.com/EyesLeft
Follow us on Twitter twitter.com/EyesLeftPod
and Instagram instagram.com/EyesLeftPod

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While Poverty Exists … There Will Be Rebellion!

           While in prison your treatment becomes, at best, that of a second class citizen, or that of a non-person, something to be controlled, intimidated, subdued. Our solidarity with those incarcerated in the state's cages of repression should be unquestionable and unstinting.

This from Contra Info:

Juan Aliste Vega’s message from the Prison Hospital

 

      Our negotiations and tenacity inside and outside prison over the past four months have achieved a first result: on Thursday 19th July I was transferred from the High Security Prison to the Prison Hospital to have an ECG and other tests I needed. The following morning, Friday 20th July, I was transferred again – amidst a huge deployment of police and prison guards – to the INCA (Institute of Neurosurgery) to finally have an angiography, a test in order to get a more detailed image of the area where the cerebral damage I sustained from blows inflicted in the past is to be found.
        It is worth mentioning that this test is crucial and necessary for the operation that I will need to have very soon. In the end the test was carried out without any problem and the medical team involved treated me in a dignified and correct way.
           After the test I was transferred to the Prison Hospital by ambulance; from there I will be discharged soon to be taken back to the High Security Prison.
Medical language and its technical details can only partially describe my current situation. There are still many obstacles to be overcome, just as difficult or even more difficult than this test, before I can undergo the brain operation, which had already been defined ‘urgent’ last March: obstacles and barriers erected because for the State I am an outcast, closely watched by the local police who act according to the hard logic of revenge and fury, and moreover I’m submerged in a disgusting bureaucratic quagmire.
       These words are far from victimization and lament, but are full of revolutionary, untameable and subversive vitality. In the constant practice of reciprocal revolutionary solidarity, which we subversive political prisoners have been carrying out for years, it becomes necessary to relate any step taken in this battle. It wasn’t the first nor will it be the last battle we have to face as outcasts of the State.
           I’d like to take the chance to rejoice in the various initiatives carried out in Santiago, Concepciòn, Valdivia, Temuco and other places, as well as the internationalist initiatives that were able to cross the borders of Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and Spain … Initiatives and gestures with which we put solidarity into practice, solidarity that builds and strengthens the network of subversion; initiatives and gestures that are vital to us like oxygen and support us in the path towards the ultimate liberation from prison.
         We remain here, not one step back, without bowing our head, proud of the wonderful rebel complicity that goes everywhere, spreads, multiplies and allows us to face everything that will come.

While poverty exists … there will be rebellion!

Juan Aliste Vega, Subversive Prisoner
Prison Hospital, Santiago of Chile
July 2018

    

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Shelter Is A Huma Right.

           Once again solidarity has proved itself to be a powerful weapon in the struggles of the ordinary people. The growing support by the people of Glasgow to stand up to injustice, and take on the corporate juggernaut of SERCO and its partner in crime, the home office, has met with success, albeit, temporary success. Only the continued growth of that solidarity can turn this into a permanent victory. Shelter is a human right, not a privilege in the hands of corporate bodies or the home office to be handed out on ideological whim and/or profit motive. Well done to all those involved, and continue to grow our solidarity.

      Living Rent Scotland's tenants union has welcomed today's announcement by SERCO to immediately halt their proposed evictions of up to 300 people in Glasgow, it comes as the Tenants union was preparing to mobilise hundreds of volunteers to defend the doors of those facing eviction by SERCO
       Over 500 people have now signed up to a call out by Living Rent and were preparing to mobilise on Monday morning to defend the doors of their neighbours who are threatened with eviction by SERCO, it comes as part of the ongoing campaign by campaigners across the city to put a stop to SERCO's plans to evict up to 300 people across Glasgow
       "We welcome this decision by SERCO to put a temporary halt to any lock changes, but let's be clear it's temporary. This concession from a multi-billion-pound multinational has only come about through the combined mobilisation of ordinary people and dedicated organisers; this belongs to the people and its only through our continuing mobilisation that we can ensure this victory is seen through.
         The best way to ensure a victory in the courts is to show that the ordinary citizens of Glasgow are ready to take to the streets in defence of their neighbours no matter what. We have been planning and building up our capacity for neighbourhood defence all week in preparation for SERCO's attempt to evict people, we have seen a massive response from the people of Glasgow who are rightfully horrified and angry at these plans by SERCO. In less than a week we have already shifted the balance of power - over the next 21 days we need to gather our forces to finally show Serco and the home office that we mean business"
         We will continue our plans to mobilise our members and all those who pledged to volunteer this week, everyone who has got in touch and pledged their support should keep Monday morning free if possible and we will be in touch as soon as possible.

Onwards!

Living Rent Glasgow
http://www.livingrent.org/

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Rent Strike, A Well Tested And Tried Working Class Weapon.

          Mention "rent strike" in Glasgow and you will get a response of 1915. However the rent strike is not just a part of history of working class struggles from the past, it is still a valid weapon in the armoury of the ordinary people. It is encouraging to see it is still alive and functioning well. This report is from Canada, but I'm sure across the globe, the rent strike is a powerful weapon being used against the greed of landlords and their policy of gentrification.

      This from It's Going Down:

         What follows is a call to support the Flemingdon Park rent strike, yet another rent strike popping off in so-called Ontario in Canada.
BACKGROUND
        On August 1st more than 200 tenants at 31-35 St. Dennis Drive will withhold their rent. Rent strikers demand Minto Properties withdraws its application to raise rent above the guideline. Despite serious and persistent disrepair in the building, Minto wants to raise tenants’ rent by $180 over three years. This would mean that every month Minto would take $70,000 more in rents from the pockets of tenants in the building.
           Minto bought the building 31-35 St. Dennis Drive last year. The company anticipates rising rents in the area with the arrival of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT. The landlord is now beginning to price out working class and immigrant tenants, renovate units, and raise rents even higher. The building is owned by Roger Greenberg, one of Canada’s richest 100 people in 2018.
           31-35 St. Dennis is home to many immigrant families. More than half the residents are Roma people from Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Roma people who are new to the country after having fled persecution at home are once more being threatened with displacement.
For more information please contact: stdennistenants@gmail.com
CALL AND WRITE TO MINTO

Phone Script:

            I’m calling to demand that Minto immediately withdraw its application to raise rent above the guideline at 31-35 St. Dennis. Should you choose to ignore tenants’ demands, you will face further action from tenants and community members who support them.

Email Example:

Rob Pike,
            I am writing in support of rent strikers at 31-35 St. Dennis Drive. I demand Minto immediately withdraw its application to raise rent above the guideline at 31-35 St. Dennis.
           Minto’s bid to price working class and immigrant tenants out of their homes will not go unopposed. Should you ignore your tenants’ demands you will face further action against your company by tenants and we community members who support them.

Sincerely,
XXXXXXX

Contacts:

Rob Pike
President of Minto Properties
rpike@minto.com

George Van Noten
VP Property Operations (Ottawa)
613.230.7051
GVanNoten@minto.com

Amanda Mitchell
VP Marketing and Communications
416-301-0017
amitchell@minto.com

Michael Kidd
Regional Manager
647-255-3466
mkidd@minto.com

           *Minto is a member of the Federation of Rental Housing Providers (FRPO), the Ontario landlords’ association. Rob Pike of Minto sits on FRPO’s Board of Directors. Please cc Daryl Chong of FRPO on your emails *

Daryl Chong
Interim President & CEO
416-385-1100 ext.20
president@frpo.org

RENT STRIKE DEFENSE FUND

            The Flemingdon Park rent strikers are not only up against their predatory landlord, Minto Properties; they will also have to contend with Landlord and Tenant Board. Far from a fair and even arbiter of landlord-tenant disputes, the Board is a veritable eviction factory – 90% of the Orders it makes each year are for vacant possession of tenants’ homes.
              If Minto drags hundreds of rent strikers to the Board, they will need a defense fund. The Board may require each rent striker to pay Minto’s eviction application filing fee of $190. It is the Board’s practice to apply these fees as a punitive measure against tenants.
      For information on how you can donate please contact stdennistenants@gmail.com. A donation of $190 sponsors one rent striker, ensuring they have their eviction fee covered going forward. If you’re a union member or a member of another organization interested in making a larger donation.

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

Police Brutality.

       Europe, a supposed leader in democracy, yet in every country in Europe we have police brutality on the streets and in those dark rooms of the "security services". Sometimes it against demonstrators, and other times it is against individuals. Here in the UK, probably the worst in recent times was the savage treatment inflicted on the miners during the 1984 miners' strike. It is still a bleeding wound in the history of working class struggles.

      This case from Act For Freedom Now,  is of a particular vicious attack on an individual, an immigrant, in Athens, by those obedient dogs of the state, the police. Despite all this going on, there are some misguided individuals who seem to be deluded into thinking that "we need more police on the streets". They seem to be under the delusion that the police are there for the benefit of the ordinary people, when they should wake up to that fact the the police are there to keep control of the ordinary people, and protect the power, wealth and privileges of our lords and masters.

 State terrorism: Torture on the back streets of Athens.

         On Thursday 27th of July around 2 in the morning in Athens, on Bouboulinas st. in Exachia neighbourhood, a squadron of greek cops kidnapped and tortured an anarchist immigrant. Straight away they began to torture me with a barrage of kicks, using racist and fascist insults. Meanwhile, the police stated that my offence is that I am an anarchist and belong to a known political group of Exarchia. Then the squadron of riot cops forced me into a dark alley. They laid me on the ground and they tried to break my ribs by kicking; I placed my hand on my ribs to protect them. They took away my hand from my ribs and tried to break my fingers with their shields. In order to protect my fingers, I pulled my hand under my belly. At that moment, they hit my ribs again to break them. This action lasted a long time, until one of the cops proposed to break my wrists. So they placed my hands on the curb stone to break them with batons, but I managed to pull my hands away. This escalated their anger, and by saying fascist and racist insults, they all started to beat me.
          They beat me for more than one and a half hours. All the while they were taking several photos of me getting beaten up, as well as when I was lying semi conscious on the street. When cops realized that my body had been seriously damaged and I was not able to move, they started to play a game with me, telling me “you have ten seconds to leave from here, if we catch you again, we will kill you”, and two cops moved a little bit ahead of me to catch me again. They hit my knee several times with batons to make sure that I can not escape. When one of them turned to look behind him, with all of the pain that I had, I started running. One of the cops tried to catch me again but I could escape by running up Tositsa and seek help at a nearby house of comrades.
          Solidarity paramedics came immediately and after examination, told me I should go to hospital. There they found that aside from severe bruising all over my body and head wounds, I aslo had a fructured spinal joint.
       Exarchia, as an area with self-organized projects and revolutionary struggle, is under constant attack from the state because it is part of international social struggle against capitalism, mafia, terrorism and generally the system. Exarchia is a zone of defence where different groups exist together to fight for freedom and equality against the oppression of the system. By mutual cooperation we can meet the needs of each other without any authority. For this struggle the state beats us.
          The state by placing permanent police forces in the perimeter of Exarchia has made a kind of border between us and the rest of Athens, so it is as if they put us in a kind of prison. At the moment we have no other way to resist this prison except riots against the military check points. One of the reasons that the cops wanted to break my wrists is because as they said, I am one of those who participate in the riots. Many persons usually participate in these clashes with the police forces, because they do not want to be in prison, because they do not want control from any authority.
         As an immigrant anarchist I understand that the struggle for freedom is common between locals and migrants. For this reason I work towards unity and making collective body between locals and migrants. We will not fight only for immigrants but for everyone, because we understand that our pain, our problems are the same.
         Immigrants are under constant attack from the state and facists and it does not matter what kind of government is in power, whether it is ultra-right or leftist government. SYRIZA present themselves as supporters of immigrants but the reality is they imprison migrants on mass scale, every day they deport and kill people at the borders. We know that all authority is our enemy.
         In Exarchia today immigrants are under increasing threat of repression. Recently they began to make police sweep operations on the square arresting any migrant that is there. At the same time there are groups in Exarchia who act like police, using the same tactics, like pogroms on the square against migrants. Such as a group known as security team, military part of the political group “Anti-authoritarian Movement” (AK), who have relation with the government and present themselves as supporters of immigrants, but instead they use immigrants as a cover for their mafia business. As an immigrant I have to say to such groups: stop using our name for your dirty business.
          It is clear that cops and mafia work together for the same purpose: control and the crushing of resistance.
          The message of this violent attack by the pigs was: to terrorize immigrants, anarchists and those who actively resist and fight the police. We shall not kneel down. The state’s violence make it more clear that our struggle is just.

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

Help Stop This Criminal Act, Glasgow Is Better Than This.

         For those who missed the protest against the forced eviction in Glasgow of 300 refugees, which was held in Buchanan Street Glasgow yesterday evening, Tuesday 31st. July, here is a wee sample of the event. I hope it will encourage you to join the campaign to stop this savage, inhumane, unjust and criminal action. Thanks Bob for the video.

Some useful links to help you get involved:

Refugee Survival Trust - http://www.rst.org.uk/

Glasgow Night Shelter - https://glasgownightshelter.org/

Glasgow Asylum Destitute Action Network -

https://destitutionaction.wordpress.com/

Positive Action in Housing - http://www.paih.org/

Scottish Refugee Council - http://www.scottishrefugeecouncil.org.uk/

Govan Community Project - http://www.govancommunityproject.org.uk/

Unity Centre - https://unitycentreglasgow.org/

Ubuntu Women's Shelter - http://ubuntu-glasgow.org.uk/

Scottish Detainee Visitors - http://sdv.org.uk/

Maryhill Integration Network - http://www.maryhillintegration.org.uk/

Refuweegee - https://refuweegee.co.uk/

Maslow's Community Shop Govan -

https://www.facebook.com/maslowsgovan/?hc_location=ufi

Scottish Afghan Society - http://www.scottishafghansociety.org.uk/Home.aspx

Right To Remain Toolkit - https://righttoremain.org.uk/toolkit/

Report on Asylum Destitution in Scotland:

https://digitalpublications.parliament.scot/Committees/Report/EHRiC/2017/5/22/Hidden-Lives---New-Beginnings--Destitution--asylum-and-insecure-immigration-status-in-Scotland

 

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

Glasgow Welcome Refugees.

       Wednesday's protest in Glasgow against the planned eviction of around 300 immigrants was very well supported. Several hundred people turned up with an array of banners and home-made placards, showing their anger at the government's policy being carried out by the money grabbing Serco. Glasgow already has a problem with homelessness, to callously throw another 300 individuals on to the street, is not just inhumane, it is criminal.

      The protest continues, today, Wednesday August 1st. the protest shifts to:

WestGap, 

365 Paisley Road West
G51 1LX Glasgow, United Kingdom
12:00-13:30. 
   I'm sure the people of Glasgow can provide more support today and improve on the grand figure of hundreds that turned up yesterday evening.
Useful links: 

Refugee Survival Trust - http://www.rst.org.uk/

Glasgow Night Shelter - https://glasgownightshelter.org/

Glasgow Asylum Destitute Action Network -

https://destitutionaction.wordpress.com/

Positive Action in Housing - http://www.paih.org/

Scottish Refugee Council - http://www.scottishrefugeecouncil.org.uk/

Govan Community Project - http://www.govancommunityproject.org.uk/

Unity Centre - https://unitycentreglasgow.org/

Ubuntu Women's Shelter - http://ubuntu-glasgow.org.uk/

Scottish Detainee Visitors - http://sdv.org.uk/

Maryhill Integration Network - http://www.maryhillintegration.org.uk/

Refuweegee - https://refuweegee.co.uk/

Maslow's Community Shop Govan -

https://www.facebook.com/maslowsgovan/?hc_location=ufi

Scottish Afghan Society - http://www.scottishafghansociety.org.uk/Home.aspx

Right To Remain Toolkit - https://righttoremain.org.uk/toolkit/

Report on Asylum Destitution in Scotland:

https://digitalpublications.parliament.scot/Committees/Report/EHRiC/2017/5/22/Hidden-Lives---New-Beginnings--Destitution--asylum-and-insecure-immigration-status-in-Scotland

Here are some photos from yesterdays protest.

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