Talk Is Cheap.

   We now get a daily briefing from our political ballerinas, they seem to enjoy making noises about being on a war footing and mouthing off with Churchillian phrases and platitudes, all noise and empty rumblings. Of course we should always remember that their hero Churchill was the idiot responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands at Gallipoli due to his arrogance and total lack of understanding of the situation.

       Allied casualties reached upward of 200,000 men killed, wounded, or missing in action. The men evacuated from the Gallipoli beaches later were shipped to France, smack into the bloodbath of the Western Front trenches.

       As for Gallipoli, it would be difficult to find another location where so many men from so many nations fought and died in such a small place. Turks, Germans, British, Australians, New Zealanders, French, Indians, Senegalese, Arabs, Austrians, Gurkhas, and others

      Of course Churchill was an imperialist, and therefore revered by our lords and masters. 

     It is the one thing our political ballerinas are good at, mouthing platitudes, and grand sounding soundbites and we are hearing a lot of them with regard to the NHS, but these and other front-line workers are still short of equipment to safeguard them as they do their life saving work. Plenty of vacuous phrases but very short on cash.

     So in our very humble way we have come up with a poster which we have put in our window, just to try to keep in the forefront of people's minds that our government ministers are responsible for the depleted state of our NHS and other social services, all talk but little cash.

   We hope those who have the facilities will print out the poster and display it where they can. Or email us at annarky(at)radicalglasgow(dot)me(dot)uk and we will send you some.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk    

Wrong Turning?

      It seems that the covid 19 has given the state what it will always strive for, complete control and a submissive population. A population that will police others for the state and report the rule breakers. I don't have the answer to where we are, but I do get a nasty smell from the road we are walking down, a feeling of unease that we have taken the wrong turning and it might be very difficult to find our way back. I believe the following article is well worth pondering.

     A leaflet from Italy:

How to make an invisible enemy become “visible”

           In order to be functional to the State, one doesn’t need to ponder too much on the more general causes of the appearance of this virus, such as globalization and the lack of adequate immune defences thanks to, for example, pollution and the unhealthy lifestyle imposed by the production system; on the contrary one needs above all to look for a common enemy to be fought everywhere, and this can be a person walking in the street, a wayfarer on the road or anyone who doesn’t live in the neighbourhood.

     Why stop and think of how many hospital beds have disappeared over the last thirty years…? I’LL STAY AT HOME!
      Why think about the fact that only those who have the economic possibility can afford to live without wages…? I’LL STAY AT HOME!
      Why consider the fact that even if there is the obligation to stay at home, there are some who don’t have a home…? I’LL STAY AT HOME!
       It’s sufficient to think a little bit more to understand how it’s not a stroll in the streets that increases contagion, but everybody is now ready to report anyone who doesn’t comply with the emergency rules made by the government. It’s not really important to find a way to reduce the possibilities of contagion, what counts is to accept power acritically, going as far as turning into disgusting policemen. All this with the purpose of protecting “public health”, but at what price?
       In a dark period such as the time of the racial laws, a part of the “Italian people” reacted to deportations by closing their shutters so as not to see. On the contrary today, in a similar situation, almost all the “Italian people” open their shutters to see if someone isn’t sticking to the rules.
      Perhaps many deaths will be caused not by the virus but by the liberticidal measures clearly put in place by the State. The real price of the contagion, if we want to submit to the imposed laws, will be precisely the loss of ourselves, of the ability to look at ourselves in the mirror, in the name of something that is supposed to represent us, the State.
       Are you really sure this is worthwhile?
      After all there is a worse evil than the Covid, and this one is really difficult to eradicate… once we absorb all the worst of authority, will we still have a life worth living?

Anarchists

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

Billionaire's Dream.

        The world economy was well on the way to recession before the coronavirus struck, Last year Bloomberg Economics created a model to determine America’s recession odds. The outcome was that the chance of a recession now stands at 100%, bring to and end the nation’s longest-running expansion.
         America may be the leading world economy but the signs of recession were not just in that country. Where America goes economically the rest of the developed world usually follows.
Some figures from Forbes, October 2019:
      Hong Kong, several months of protests that have battered the city’s economy, sending it into a “technical recession,” tourism and retail especially hard hit from the ongoing turmoil.
        UK, uncertainty over Brexit would cause UK to fall into recession.
      Germany, EU’s largest economy, due to enter recession from to drop in manufacturing and poor world auto sales.
       Italy, was in a technical recession in second half of 2018 and has faced continued economic woes from weak productivity, high unemployment, huge debt problems.
       China, In part due trade war and slowing world economy, its economy has continued to slow, growth in 2018, 6.6%, 2019, 6.1% and IMF forecast for 2020 5.8%
      According to world economic experts other highly stressed economies around the world include Turkey, Argentina, Iran, Mexico and Brazil, among others.
       Crucial statistic, The world economy will only grow 3% this year, that’s the slowest rate of expansion since the global financial crisis started in 2008.
 

      So creaking capitalism was about to see its wheels fall off, before the coronavirus descended on us. What the covid 19 has done is merely accelerated the process by about a year or so, and no doubt it will make that recession all that more brutal for the ordinary people of this world. However the billionaire parasite class will probably see the pandemic as a blessing in disguise. Without raising public anger, as in the previous recession, by demanding a massive bailout with public money, the climate has changed and the public are accepting that the state must throw money at the billionaire parasite class to preserve jobs. In actual fact that could be rephrased as, to save the share holders from loosing to much of their loot. The top billionaire parasite class don’t care too much if businesses go bust, they will have the capacity to expand to take up any increase in demand as and when it might return, and all that taxpayers money will oil the wheels of their new plundering era, if we let it happen.

    It won't be too long before they say that restrictions can be eased, eager to get you back to work, as the billionaire parasite class need you to keep building their wealth and power, so what if it cost more lives, to them a large swath of us are expendable without too much loss to their money making endeavours.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk 

Hold To Account.

      As most people stay with the "guide lines" it is good to see that around my local patch some people or person is useing their walk and exercise time in a positive way.

     Clapping and praise are all well and good, and without a doubt those frontline workers deserve it all. However, all the clapping and verbal praise will not sort the problems within our NHS. Instead of words and patronising phrases from our political ballerinas, we need to see loads of cash being thrown at the NHS, to make up for the plundering this bunch of hypocritical politicians have carried out over the last ten years or more. Dedicated to their ideology of private good, public bad, and to hell with the consequences to the general public, they are responsible for bring the NHS to its knees and are therefore responsible for the resultant deaths, they must be held to account.

      He and his coterie of rich buddies have to be brought to account for their careless, idiotic and vested interests method of handling one of the biggest crisis to hit the world's population in generations. Hundreds of thousands of deaths can't go unanswered or shrugged off as, Oh, it was the pandemic. 

     Let's hope that the public's revulsion at the handling of this crisis by our lords and masters is enough for them to clear our society of this profit driven scum, and change forever the way we structure our society.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

Inhumane System.

 

      This coronavirus has put some fear in most people as they realise that it can and does mean death to many people. So people take precautions, isolate, good hygiene and clean conditions. Imagine if you're in a situation where you are not allowed to isolate, the hygiene is dubious at best, and the conditions are over crowded and far from clean. You know how this virus spreads and you are aware of these conditions you are forced to live under, what do you do? 

      Prisoners across the globe are crammed in over crowed, insanitary  conditions with insufficient health care and rightly so are rebelling, they have been sentenced to prison not to a death sentence, they are all human and all deserve to be treated as humans. Their conditions at present are a criminal act by the various states.

Thebes, Greece: Rebellion in the women’s prisons of Eleonas in Thebes following the death of a prisoner – Announcement of women prisoners
      9/4/20, The uprising continues in the Women’s Prisons of Eleonas, Thebes. It broke out in the morning, after the death of a 38-year-old prisoner, who developed fever and shortness of breath and died in the ward of the E΄ wing, in front of 20 prisoners. The prisoner died of coronavirus. The other prisoners set fire to mattresses and clothes, while damaging the prison’s refrigerators. A prosecutor has now arrived at the jail and a medical examiner has gone to perform an autopsy. Strong police forces – MAT – who rushed to the prison to prevent the spread of the women’s uprising to all the wings of the prison, carried out extensive beatings and – despite the repression that took place – the uprising spread throughout the prison.
Announcement of women prisoners
      9/4/2020 “Today, April 9, prisoner Azizel Deniroglou died in her ward, helpless, as she also had heart problems and a high fever. She had been begging for help all night as she had chest pains and could not breathe.
According to testimonies, they did not even measure her temperature and we are unaware of the real causes of her death. The shift manager threatened her with a report, because it bothered her. The lifeless body of our fellow prisoner was dragged out with a sheet in front of the shocked eyes of the whole wing. This tragic incident took place in the E wing, where about 120 people are stacked. The prisoners revolted and the uprising spread throughout the prison. Another prisoner died a month ago. The criminal indifference to the prisoners and their health has resulted in the death of many detainees, the government and the Ministry are responsible for sentencing them to death. The government and the Ministry are responsible for the death of this prisoner. We demand the immediate release of patients, mothers with their children and the elderly, who are considered vulnerable, a groups, a total of 1/3 of the prisoners. We will not return to our cells until the end! ”
      Pola Roupa, a political prisoner and member of Revolutionary Struggle, also complained that another woman had died in prison about a month ago. She stressed that: “Despite promises of prison decongestion due to the coronavirus pandemic, nothing has been done yet. Hospitals do not accept inmates from prisons, there is no doctor in Thebes. The vulnerable groups should have been released. ” We are imprisoned. We were not sentenced to death.”

Italy – Revolt in the CPR of Gradisca d’Isonzo
       30/03/2020 Last night prisoners in the CPR of Gradisca, on hunger strike for some days, made their anger and desperation heard again by lighting fires in the cells.
      Police with military back-ups intervened to repress the protest and the fire brigade rushed to extinguish the flames at 9pm, 10pm, midnight and 2am. Furniture, mattresses, and plastic skylights were burning and some cells were damaged. The day before yesterday a person who tested positive to coronavirus and had been taken to the centre from Cremona and put in isolation according to the authorities, suffered a deterioration of his condition, with a high temperature, and was taken to hospital in Cattinara.
      According to what we know, some guards were also put in quarantine, but nothing has been done for the other prisoners of the CPR.
hurriya

 Photo from the Guardian.

 https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/04/01/prison-riots-break-around-world-coronavirus-spreads/

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/apr/10/us-prisons-coronavirus-uprising-riot 

https://observers.france24.com/en/20200407-covid19-riots-iranian-prisons-deaths

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/04/life-lockdown-coronavirus-sparks-fears-uk-prisons-200406220723216.html

        The list could go but all it would do is re-enforce the fact that we live with a system that has no humanity, a system that sees certain lives as expendable, as long as it works to their rules.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

1940's Glasgow.

        For those youngster, and not so young, interested in the history of Glasgow's anarchism, you could do well to have a wee read of the Charlie Baird Snr.'s interview on libcom. Part WW2 period experience and part post war. My one little criticism of the interview is no mention of Willie McDougal, a very active Glasgow anarchist, who published several papers, spent time in prison as a conscientious objector, and kept the Workers Open Forum running when others had moved on, and very little on Guy Aldred, a very active and well known anarchist in Glasgow. It would be interesting to hear what people think of where we are now in Glasgow. Have we grown, shrunk, on track, lost our way, are we grasping the opportunities the way we should, have we lost the streets in favour of the internet?

 Willie McDougal.

Anarchism, in 1940's Glasgow:

1) Charlie Baird Sr. : An Interview

6th June 1977

Before the war I’d been sympathetic to the Communist Party, as early as 16 or 17 years of age. It wasn’t until the war, when Russia had signed the pact with Hitler, that I started to have my doubts about the CP. But even prior to that I’d drifted away from them. When the war started, I took up the Conscientious Objector position, and finished up, of course, in jail. It was in jail - I hadn’t been conscious that there was such a movement as the libertarian movement, the anarchist movement - I thought that the CP was the last thing in left-wing movements.

I met two lads in prison (I also knew one prior to going in, who’d told me to look out for these two lads) ; one was Jimmy Dick. He’d managed to get some anarchist literature in. I went through that and discovered that was what I’d been looking for. It was what I’d believed, even when I was in the CP ; I was dissatisfied with the centralised character of the movement.

Then, of course, when we came out, there was an anarchist movement in Glasgow at that particular time. We came out of jail and teamed up with them. It was around 1942 when I came out of jail,and there were about 40 active members of the group. By 1944-45 it was probably around 70-80 members.

The peculiar thing about the Glasgow group was that there was no such thing as recognised members of the group. The only way you could recognise a regular member of the group was by his activities ; there were no things like membership cards or anything like that. The 70 or 80 would include the lads from Burnbank and Hamilton - miners, the small groups out there with 3 or 4 members. They organised meetings and we supplied them with speakers.

Continue Reading HERE: 

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

Out Again.

         Well, well, I thought it might never happen again. However, today I got out on the bike for a wee run, just a wee run. Which is fantastic as I was beginning to think that I would never get back on the bike again. A crap spell of chemo and hospital appointments and various other procedures, arthritis in my lower spine and hips and slipped disc, among other problems and a lousy spring, too cold for my chest, made it look doubtful. However, today, 17 degrees and no wind, how could I resist. Though I did cheat, to ease the pain in my back I took a couple of paracetamol before heading out. Something I refrain from doing, hate those things, I have enough pills on my list to keep a pharmacy in business all by myself.

    It was just a short spin around Springburn Park, but boy, did it feel good, as usual Stasia had to get some photos, she can't resist, I hope you can see the delight in my face.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

State Repression.

       I know everybody is preoccupied with the coronavirus pandemic, and rightly so. However the state functions at different levels, and the brutality and savagery of its mercenaries continues, pandemic or no pandemic. Migrants are still badly treated and in some cases viciously repressed. Migrant camps are dotted all over Europe and the conditions are far from acceptable, but in some cases it is reminiscent of nazi concentration camps. This latest report from  the detention centre Paranesti Dramas in Greece should not go unmarked because we are suffering from a pandemic. These are human beings, their lives are being made a living hell by the same state apparatus that spouts how it is trying to save us all from this pandemic, of course all, doesn't include migrants. 

 Paranesti Detention Centre.

The following report from 325:

       Following our communication by phone with many migrant prisoners in the Paranesti Detention Center, we were informed of the following events that took place on Friday 3rd of April. In the aforementioned camp there are 6 wings in which are places 7 to 8 containers, and in each one are cramped together 15 persons. The living conditions are terrible and the people are lacking basic resources for survival.
        Under conditions of life threatening detention, the authorities on top of this, ceased to accept any asylum claims a month ago and they ordered confinement due to the corona virus. As a result the migrants were confined inside the containers without any hope of freedom. No information was given to them about the reasons they were quarantined, about what is going on outside or even what they should be doing to protect themselves from the virus.
       In a climate of general upheaval and uncertainty, on Friday 3rd of April they decided to react initially regarding the terrible food that they are given and then, in coordination, 500 to 600 people in all 6 wings refused the meals. They made known to the Administration the reasons of their mobilization and the authorities reacted immediately telling them their demands would be met and convincing them to accept the food temporarily.
       Later the same day they were given the same inedible food to eat and so, realizing the intentions of the Guards, they decided to declare hunger strike not only for the meals but also demanding to be informed about the health situation and the reasons for their isolation.
     The managers of the concentration camp, as true heirs of their fascist predecessors, locked up the migrants inside the containers, aiming to isolate and terrorize them so as to stop their mobilization. Moreover, as punishment they cut the supply of food in the super market.
      What followed is worthy of the Nazi tradition in the concentration camps. After keeping them imprisoned for hours inside the containers, around 9 pm the riot squad came along with the OPKE (heavily armed units) cops and 2 vans full of fully armed cops. Savage beatings followed with the repression forces opening the doors of the containers one by one and dragging out of them the migrants one by one beating them up. They would enter the containers, 6-7 cops together beating indiscriminately everyone in their sight. Then they would drag them outside beating them on the head, the legs, the body and wherever their batons would strike. The migrants say that even tasers were used against them.
     The whole operation lasted 2 to 3 hours, and when the cops took out all their fury, they decided to elaborate their torture, by keeping some migrants outside on the containers in the cold until the middle of the night, while locking others inside.
      Many of the migrants were badly hurt and taken the next day to hospital, some were punitively transferred to other detention centers while some were taken to the cells of police stations. Some were transferred to the nearest clinics for their wounds. In this way they dispersed them, isolating them so as to not have any contact between them and so as to silence the events.
     This violence, the repression against hunger striker migrants should not pass!

We don’t forget, we don’t forgive.
Bastards of the police, we are drops of the coming storm.

 

Visit ann arky's home at https://radiaclglasgow.me.uk

One Race.

      The incident in this post happens day and daily, in different degrees of harassment and intimidation in cities across the world. The nationalist fervour that is prevalent in our cities is a disease that we have to root out. Migrants are the easy scapegoat for nationalist bile, and the states create this by their nationalistic policies, in an attempt to get you all to rally round the flag. The other must be seen as a problem, the enemy, to get you to accept and embrace their policies of control. We are all people, we all have family or did have, we all fall in love, drive buses, fix plumbing, take care of grand parents, who look after grandkids. We can't allow the state to dictate who we like and who we should fear. Nationalism and patriotism are the enemies of unity across those false lines drawn on the map by power mongers. One race, one planet, one home. The following incident was in Athens, but that city is not unique in its treatment of migrants.

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.

The following from Act For Freedom Now:

       On 5/4, a friend from Pakistan was walking on Amfipoleos street in Votanikos towards Rouf train station. At the traffic lights, 2 DIAS bikes that were headed to the opposite direction did a U-turn and stopped him. They asked him where he lives and where he’s going, he showed them the handwritten paper that said he was going out for exercise and then they asked him for his residence permit. He showed them the application certificate, because he’s expecting his papers in the next month, they tore it up, shouting that this isn’t valid anywhere, they pushed him against the wall hitting him in the face, one of them pulled his gun, the other two were holding him and the third one was looking around. One spit at him. At that moment the man’s phone was ringing, the cops saw that those were calls from his girlfriend and started mocking him saying: “Do you have a date?” and “Is your girlfriend looking for you?”.
      Then they pulled down his trousers and opened his jacket, they did a body search on him, for drugs as they said, they searched inside his underwear and pulled off his socks and shoes. They started threatening that they were going to lock him up since he has no papers, they told him they were taking him straight to the police station, and when they saw he wasn’t answering them and just asked to call his lawyer, they refused, hitting him, and sarcastically asked if he was going to start crying, too. What’s more, they doubted that the paper of movement was written by him and they were laughing at him, saying there is no way he can write so well, they stated to him that now they’re going to send the photos from his documents everywhere and they’ll be watching him wherever he goes and in the end they told him that they’ll send him back to Pakistan if he wants to walk free in the street or to exercise, because “here, it’s forbidden”. Then they let him go, telling him that they’re doing him a favour by letting him, and only on the condition that he’ll go home.‌
      One more time, the face of democracy and its instruments is made clear. We are reporting this incident not as something new, nor as something shocking. We are aware of the living conditions of migrants in Greece, of the abuses of the state, of their ill treatment by the police and by every fascist scum, and of the suffering they’re put through—if they’re lucky—to get their papers and live with dignity.‌‌
We’ll soon deal with the cannibals of this world.‌‌
NO ONE ALONE AGAINST REPRESSION.
SOLIDARITY TO MIGRANTS.
LET’S BREAK THE FEAR
source

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk 

They Failed Us.

   

     The lockdown rumbles on, the deaths keep being reported, and no end in sight. Whatever your views on this pandemic you have to lay the largest slice of blame on our various governments and their wholehearted support of the Neo-liberalism foisted on the world for the benefit of the rich and powerful. It was their policies that hollowed out the health services to breaking point, it was their deliberate actions to destroy social services, all in the aim of increasing profits to the big corporate plunderers. We can also lay the blame at their feet for their incompetent, confused, delayed and vested interests approach to the pandemic when it first raised it dangerous head.

    As the cry for seeing things back as usual increases, we would be full blown idiots if we even considered that return road to be lead by the incompetent, crew with their vested interests that brought us to our knees in the first place. There can be no place in our plans for that new normal for the crew of the institutions that through their greed and vested interests driven policies, gross incompetence and inhumanity, brought misery and death to many more families than would have been the case had the situation been handled by well funded health services and social services, co-operation between countries and done rapidly.

      No, we can't reward greed and incompetence, our new normal must in no way resemble the old corporate greed normal of the rich and powerful, that has heaped so much misery, death and poverty on vast swaths of the world's population, and at the same time creating an ecological disaster we might not be able to repair. 

The following is an extract from an article by Paul Craig Roberts

•       We are hearing from many that the world after Covid-19 will be different. The question is: Different in what way? Will it be better or worse?
        Elites are working to make it better for them, and worse for the rest of us. About that the evidence is clear. The Big Boys are being bailed out and their debts covered. Everyone else, except those already marginalized and without a recent work record and fixed address, got a month’s rent and extended unemployment benefits.
          Big Pharma sees massive profits in the virus, Government sees more power to control
          But the disparity in economic benefits is only a part of it. Powerful vested interests, such as Bill Gates and Big Pharma, are determined to vaccinate us all, and to control our movements with an internal passport called “vaccinated, health cleared” or other words to that effect. New tracking procedures and technologies are to be put in operation reminiscent of the “mark of the beast” to police the access of varous categories of people to various areas and benefits.
         Experts point out that just as we cannot be vaccinated against the common cold, except perhaps for the past year’s version we cannot be vaccinated against Covid-19 and other mutating viruses, but the experts are already being shouted down. No expert opinion is to be permitted to stand in the way of vaccination profits.
         Neither will nutrition and vitamin advocates be allowed to get in the way. Bill Sardi predicts that orchestrated scares generated by mandatory recalls of “toxic” vitamins await us (https://knowledgeofhealth.com/modern-medicine-laid-bare/). Big Pharma is determined to acquire control over vitamins and homeopathic remedies, and the FDA is Big Pharma’s likely pawn.
         Vaccination has been elevated above cure, as Big Pharma and its shills such as CNN shout down the positive experience doctors report of successful treatments with Hydroxychloroquine and Azithromycin, and the effectiveness of Vitamin C, Vitamin D3, and Zinc in strengthening the ability of immune systems to fight off the virus. Big Pharma-influenced medical orthodoxy cannot get out of the box it has been put into. When new thinking and experimentation are needed, those capable of thought are hasseled and even blocked by FDA regulations and dogmatism.
        The permanent government and its security agencies see in the population’s fear and confusion opportunities to put into place more tyrannical measures, more set-asides of Constitutional Rights, more impairments on free speech. The ability of freedom to resist oppression is ever diminished.
  Various descriptions of the expected dystopia are offered on the Internet. But it does not have to turn out this way. It is up to us. Demoralized and fearful, we can accept more government power as we did after 9/11. Instead, we can collectively recognize the massive failure everywhere of Western leadership and construct a more livable and sustainable society.
         The failure of leadership is an opportunity for real change
        CNN, the New York Times, and the rest of the controlled media tell us every day that President Trump represents the failure of leadership. But the failure of leadership goes beyond all the leaders of the last 30 years and resides in the system itself. Global, “self-regulating,” greed-driven, financialized, soulless capitalism cannot unite people into a sustainable community. 

Continue reading HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk 

Musical Pleasure.

      And now for something completely different. I have always enjoyed music, but classical music was my main love, especially the piano. The very first classical recital I attended was when I was a teenager and was by the Polish pianist Witold Małcużyński, it was a Chopin recital. It was in Glasgow's St. Andrew's Halls, yes I'm that old, and I didn't follow the herd, for me it was a very emotional event.

    With time on my hands because of this confined to barracks period, I was prowling through some videos on the internet and came across this one of Evengy Kissin, my favourite pianist, and thought it was worth sharing. It is worth noting that this is not the performance, but the remarkable number of encores after the performance. Apart from the brilliant performance, the emotional content, and the magical dexterity of his hands, the effort is shown in the sweat dripping from his face and the sweat mark on the back of his jacket slowing moving down the jacket to below his waist line. 

 

    I feel quite privileged to have heard him live many years ago in the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, I can't remember the date, but I'm sure you could find it by looking through their back catalogue.

Enjoy:

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

The Illusion.

 

 

     What a strange phase capitalism is going through, always the call for less state interference in the market, let the corporate bosses rule and everything will be alright. Now in one of the biggest crisis to hit capitalism, this pandemic, and the hands of the corporate beast are stretching out for the state to bail them out and save the shareholders from losses. Across the developed world countless trillions are being thrown at big business to prop them up, and a pittance being sprinkled among the ordinary people. Another alien thought to the capitalist mind that is being floated, the state could buy up shares in failing businesses to get them on their feet again, then when they start to make a profit, sell them back to the shareholders. Everything must be done to save the shareholders and financial institutions from losing too much of their ill gotten loot.

 

     All this is floated as trying to save jobs to help you and me. They know we are just desperate to get back to miserable wage slavery to ensure our bosses can live in the luxury to which they have been accustomed. Perhaps we could keep all these jobs going not by the state buying into failing businesses with tax payers money, but us the ordinary people simply taking over all the business and running the ones we deem necessary as non-profit entities on a co-operative basis. That way we wouldn't need to bother about the parasitical shareholders and their lavish life styles. They could eat their luxury yachts. 

    We will be hit time and time again, us, the poor, the struggling, the ordinary citizen, with demands to use taxpayers money to bail out the rich and powerful as long as we tolerate this insane system of capitalism. History tells us that it lurches from crisis to crisis, each one worse that the previous, and the answer is always the same, we tighten our belts so that the rich and powerful can hold on to their wealth and power. "When will we ever learn"

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Treason.

         Whilst we are in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, Spirit of Revolt volunteers, like so many others, have been working from home when and where possible. Our archivist, Paula, is beavering away on a laptop at home, others are trawling through our catalogue to see where we can find improvements, and of course being another month, we can’t forget our “Read of the Month”.

        For April we have chosen, Treason: Against the State. No. 7  a 1981 pamphlet from our Bratach Dubh Collection.  

       These are trying times and with the confined to barracks regime in place at the moment, perhaps you are looking for something interesting to do. Well why don’t you spend some time perusing our catalogue, there are thousands of articles, papers, pamphlets, booklets, etc. to read your hours away, at the same time learning something about our history, the history from below, the history the ordinary people in their day to day struggles for that better world for all. With today’s conditions what better time to start to think of how we can change the system to one that benefits us all. Happy reading, stay safe.

Treason: Read on line

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

The End Is Nigh.

       Everybody is, rightly so, concentrating on getting through this nightmare pandemic, but we should also be focusing on what about after this? The political ballerinas and their experts keep talking about getting back to "normal", well I think you can forget the return to normal, as it will just not be there. There will be massive unemployment as business after business is, and will continue, to go down the plug hole. Not that I for one ever wanted to return to their normal of struggle to survive, while we keep the parasite class in luxury.

    The pandemic is being the seed sower of mutual aid, we have seen it grow in community after community, and should become our plan for a return to our created "normal", freed from the destructive profit motive that has blight humanity for centuries. As far as capitalism is concerned, let's all unite and say "The end is nigh"

   Some recent figures from America can give some insight on what to expect economically, after we get through this pandemic. Remember in this crazy economic system we are tied to the rise and fall of the mighty dollar.

The following from The UNZ Review:

1– Unemployment is off-the-charts

       Thursday’s jobless claims leave no doubt that the country is in the grips of another severe recession. More than 6.6 million Americans filed for unemployment insurance in the last week. That number exceeds the gloomiest prediction of more than 40 economists and pushes the two-week total to an eye-watering 10 million claims.

According to CNBC:

       “Those at the lower end of the wage scale have been especially hard-hit during a crisis that has seen businesses either cut staff outright or at best freeze any new hiring until there’s more visibility about how efforts to contain the coronavirus will work.

      “We’ve lived through the recession and 9/11. What we’re seeing with this decline is actually worse than both of those events,” said Irina Novoselsky, CEO of online jobs marketplace CareerBuilder.” (CNBC)

According to New York Magazine:

      “Economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis projected Monday that job losses from the coronavirus recession would reach 47 million and push America’s unemployment rate to 32.1 percent — more than 7 points higher than its Great Depression–era peak.”

2– Service Sector has been walloped by the virus

      Services account for 70% of the US economy, but presently the sector is in meltdown. According to the analysts at Wolf Street: “Employment contracted sharply and hours were reduced for those still employed. “The employment index plunged from +6.1 to -23.8, also the lowest level on record…

       Retailers got whacked. The Retail Sales Index of the Texas Retail Outlook Survey collapsed from the already beaten-down level of -2.5 in February to an epic all-time low of -82.6 in March… (Also) the general business activity index collapsed from the beaten down level of -5.0 to a historic low of -84.2….

        Comments from retail executives were somber:… “Most of our business has gone to zero except for essential locations such as hospitals, military bases and prisons… We are contemplating at this moment sending most employees home while our owners determine whether they can afford to pay reduced salaries and cover benefits for a short period while we see if things improve or worsen” (Wolf Street)

3– Economic carnage extends across sectors

      Business Insider: “Recession risks are rising as coronavirus spreads around the world…The crisis will clobber airlines, shipping, hotels, and restaurants…

     “Sectors reliant on trade and the free movement of people are most exposed,” said Benjamin Nelson, a Moody’s vice president and co-author of the report.

Carmakers, gaming, and retail will be hit hard by supply chain disruptions, the analysts said…

     “A lengthy outbreak would affect economic activity for longer, leading to heightened recessionary dynamics and a more significant demand shock,” Moody’s said. “A sustained pullback in consumption would hurt corporate earnings, prompt layoffs, and weigh on consumer sentiment.” (Business Insider)

      Car sales have also dropped dramatically in the last two weeks. On Wednesday, Hyundai reported that sales had seen a decline of 43 percent for March compared to the same period in 2019. That’s a drop from 61,177 vehicles in March 2019 to just 35,118 during the same month in 2020. All other car manufacturers are experiencing similar weakness in demand.

Continue reading HERE: 

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

Create Our Normal.

     It is good to see that more and more people are coming together to help each other in a series of mutual aid groups. Also most are saying they don't want things to get back to normal, as their normal was pretty dismal in the first place. The majority of people were struggle to hold onto a half decent life, others were far from a decent life and saw food banks as their main source of sustenance. The thought going through lots of people's minds is to hell with getting the economy back on its feet, it screwed us for generations, let's bring the economy down and do things by ourselves and for ourselves. We can make a better job of it than the economy ever could, and it feels better being part of a real community.

    Let's all do our best to keep this attitude going, we don't need greed driven shareholders, plundering chief executives, and prancing political ballerinas, they're a burden we can jettison for good, that better world is ours to make. 

The following from It's Going Down:

       Two weeks later, more than 10,000lbs of free groceries have been delivered to the homes of people in need. Hundreds of people have responded to the call to help, forming a large scale, highly effective operation almost overnight. It’s growing by the day.

This is an amazing achievement, but it’s not nearly enough.
        The fact is, capitalism has left our communities hollowed out, brittle, on the edge of collapse for a long time now. Everyone is desperate. Trump talks about getting the country back to normal, but there’s no normal to return to. No job, no childcare, no health insurance, growing debt, soaring rent: this is the status quo many have been barely surviving under for years – and that’s without a pandemic-fueled recession. If we return to normal, it will destroy us. We need to create a different world to return to.
        Right now, while everything is on pause, we have a chance to build that world. Instead of going to work, a hundred of us spent the past two weeks figuring out how to get food to those who need it. Some have begun organizing with their neighbors to go on rent strike, or to open up abandoned houses to get homeless people a safe place off the streets. Out-of-work engineers are collaborating over video conference, working around the clock to design DIY medical care tools. Farmers are preparing new land to grow free food this spring.
      The lesson is clear: When the economy stops, we keep going – and we’re actually more capable of caring for each other without it.
The Atlanta Survival Programs are a crisis response, but they’re not a short term measure, because the crisis isn’t over until survival is possible for everyone.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk