Fueling Hatred.

       What makes you hate a system? I suppose we all come at it in our own way. I took to anarchism at the age of 17 as a apprentice in the shipyards, these views were reinforced after I left the yards and became a door to door salesman. Below I will relate very briefly some of the experiences that hardened that hatred of the system and done much to strengthen my love of anarchism. They are not in any chronological order, just as they come to mind. Nor are they limited to Glasgow, these scenes were repeated in other districts where I knocked on doors for a living, Coatbridge, Airdrie, Port Glasgow, Greenock, and so the dreadful scenes kept repeating themselves.

      1. Entering the "single end", I found myself in a square room with no furniture except for a wooden kitchen chair, where the woman sat tearing up waxcloth to throw on the fire to try and heat the place. I then became aware of a bundle of coats lying on the floor in the corner and noticed to little heads sleeping huddled beneath the coats.

     2. As I entered the house a voice said, "watch your feet" and I noticed that there were hardly any floorboards in the hallway, and a young boy was in the kitchen chopping them up to burn to keep warm. In the living room with a couple of chairs, there was a wire coming in the window from the house above. The electricity had been cut off and they paid the woman above a few shillings every week  so that they could have some light and the radio.

   3. A house I entered and stood in the hall while the man, trousers down below his navel, and a t-shirt well above it, displaying a blackened stomach where you could see the cleaner lines where the sweat had created little rivers. As he looked for some documentation, which was never forthcoming, my attention was drawn to a kitchen cabinet in the hall, the type with glass doors and a drop-down front. The glass had long gone, and the front was open, while looking at the bits and pieces of food lying there I also noticed maggots crawling among the scraps. Then a little white face appear looking in a puzzled manner at me, it wore nothing but a very short vest, was filthy and pale white, obviously had never seen the outside.

     My memory is filled with such visions of abject poverty and deprivation I witnessed on a daily basis. This while Glasgow was a bustling industrial city, with wealth pouring into the coffers of our lords and masters. Our politicians preaching about eliminating child poverty, all those years ago, and here we are in the 21st. century with approximately 25% of our child population living below the poverty line. Talk about hypocrisy and empty promises. When will we ever learn.

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

Endless Babble.

      One thing this pandemic has done is blow a large hole in the illusion that we live in a democracy. The hypocrisy is laid bare, the phony lies become obvious, the callous blundering ineptitude is clear for all to see, government by dictate is the rule. The following extract is about France, from Freedom For Farida, but does it not sound familiar, the ruse of shifting the focus from the depleted and impoverished health service to all in unison, clapping the health workers as heroes.

     On Thursday, June 16, 2020, after months on the front line fighting to save lives threatened by the COVID-19 virus, hospital workers in France took the streets. They wanted to defend their rights and denounce the lack of funds and staff that have plagued French public hospitals for decades.
     Whenever a new government comes to power in France, they repeat the same old song: there’s no money for public hospitals. As a result of these policies, health care workers continue to work tremendous amounts of overtime hours with less and less means to offer patients proper treatment.
    The COVID-19 pandemic compounded their problems—yet at the same time, the French government was glorifying hospital workers as heroes on the front lines of the war against the virus, making promises to improve their conditions and proclaiming that the government would do everything possible to help hospitals. The authorities even asked people to stand at their windows every night at 8 pm and clap their hands to express solidarity with healthcare workers. Many hospital workers understood that this new rhetoric was just political theater aimed at manipulating the public. In fact, the government had no real plan to improve their conditions. Rather than words, healthcare workers wanted action, concrete changes that would improve the situation of healthcare workers.

Read the fullarticle HERE:

   

     One advantage of growing old is the fact that you are living long enough to see the empty rhetoric and hypocrisy being repeated election after election, with nothing changing. The same shiny faces in nice suits pouring out lies and phrases they think the public want to hear. Sadly over the years most of the public have swallowed these lies and empty promises and ran to the ballot box to elect the new Messiah. Remember the euphoria as "things can only get better" smiling Blair rose to the throne in the house of lies, now a hated war criminal. Then the crazy scenes as the pope of hope, the prince of peace, Obama walked six feet above the earth, who went on to continue the killing in the name of the corporate greed machine.

      How long will it take for the people to realise that to be governed by wealthy privileged self seeking greed merchants, spells doom and misery for the ordinary people. Perhaps these recent uprisings against police brutality, will help them grasp the fact that the police are not the real problem. It is the established bureaucratic institution of the state, that is the real problem. It needs the police they are there to protect the pampered privileged wealthy power mongers and will be legislated to do what is necessary to subdue and keep control over the population. Exploitation, inequality and injustice would not be tolerated by the mass of people if there was not the threat of the state's loaded judicial system to come down hard on the dissenters.  

Endless Babble

The questions arise, Why the hunger?

Why does poverty continue to linger?

Why such need in a world of wealth? 

Why put a price on a child's health?

Confused and angry the public stand

gazing in disbelief at this pathetic band.

Those shiny politicians designed by spin

their street credibility paper thin,

the great persuaders looking the mood

struggling so hard just for our good!

Masters of the art of wheeling and dealing

exceptional experts at legal stealing.

Enter the media, drowning us all in trivial text

everything you need know

of scandal and sport, crime and sex.

Together they create a world of confusion

all fashion and style, a vicious illusion.

So no matter how often we point at need,

we always drown in a sea of greed,

no debate entered into, no answers found,

 the waffle and babble goes round and round. 

 

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Anarchy.

     Without much effort I can see hunger, poverty, deprivation, midst warehouses filled with food and necessities of life. At a glance I can see police brutality, state repression and I can smell the decaying flesh of wars.
      What words can we use to end the inequality, injustice and pointless misery of wars.

  Words.

Perhaps words are just forgotten trinkets
locked in some old box
lying in a dark attic
waiting for the poets to find the key.

      Behind every glossy facade this society of illusions throws up, they walk, unseen, the forgotten, the disenfranchised, the hungry, the homeless and the lonely, lost and unwanted somewhere under a sea of opulence.

Between Dignity and Poverty

In this metropolis of wealth with its fountains of opulence
We are the excluded army that walks that tightrope
Between dignity and poverty.
The excluded, the marginalised, the forgotten,
Regulated by mercenaries, some with guns, others with pens.
They know not, we are their brothers and sisters.
Nor do they know,
Our strength is forged in the humiliation of the bread line
Our daily question, will there be food,
Or will the pangs of hunger stay.
We exist in a system of numbers and balance sheets,
Our lives, dehumanised statistics,
Catalogued and filed by a blind accountant.
When asked to count our dead, do we count the living dead?
Will this tightrope be the inheritance to our children
Or shall our tortured journey lead us from anxiety to revolt
Will the anguish of our children feed our righteous anger
Causing us to tear asunder this fabricated web of injustice 

 

      A depressing view of our world, but one that is there for all to see, should they care to look. Our question should be, how do we right these wrongs, how do we wipe the injustice and inequality from the face of the earth. how do we create that world of respect for all human life, and end power pomp and privilege that is based on wealth.

Why Not?

I see hungry children crying beside warehouses of food
I see the elderly cold hungry alone in an ocean of plenty
I feel anger when caskets draped in that coloured rag
carried home with military pomp weeping families
another causality of greed privilege power
Day and daily I see greed praised as success
rich as celebrities, poor as failures
I swim in a sea of fabricated illusions where privilege is progress
where truth dies a lonely death somewhere in a corner of our heart
Yet within my heart I have millions of seeds of love
I know I must plant and let grow
So why shouldn’t I be an anarchists?

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Inch By Inch.

     This little video should have gone with the previous article. It is a little demonstration how the slowly, slowly, principle works, and why we should always pay attention to those little changes in the way the state tries to govern us. Vigilance, critical thought and resistance, are the safeguards of freedoms, the few that we have, also the way to advance those freedoms. Thanks Loam for the link.

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Slowly, Slowly.

 

       If you observe the way our society is drifting it is difficult not to mention the word fascism. We would do well to remember Hitler and fascism in Germany didn't arrive with two guns blazing. It was little increments at a time, slowly, slowly, that people didn't pay too much attention to all those little changes. Only with hindsight can we see the monumental change that took place over time in Germany.

     In Haffner’s telling, the collapse of freedom and the rule of law occurred in increments, some of which seemed to be relatively small and insignificant. In 1933, when Nazi officers stood menacingly outside Jewish shops, Jews were merely “offended. Not worried or anxious. Just offended.” But Haffner insists that Hitler’s brutality and the ongoing politicization of everyday life were clear from the outset. In the early days of the regime, a self-styled republican advised him to avoid skeptical comments, which would be of no use: “I think I know the fascists better than you. We republicans must howl with the wolves.”

       Whatever the reason, lately we have seen some dramatic changes in the way we are legislated to live. As time goes by, lots of these changes will be absorbed into the "new" way of living, and there will be controls in place to see that you adhere to these "new" rules. Your freedoms and choices will become more limited than they are at present. The direction is always the same, more legislation, more rules to be obeyed, less freedom of choice. How far down that road will we go willingly, and how far before we rebel and reverse that ever tightening control. Shall we wait until that fascism is so blatantly obvious and its vicious grip too tight? 

        Under such circumstances as we are living with its ever increasing lurch towards more control over our lives, the only real answer is to turn our direction the other way, to be a rebel, to be aware of the link by link that is being created to tie you down and refuse to accept the drift to an ever tighter state controlled environment.  

The Rebel

Rebel rebel break the rule,

What does it matter that a “wise” man sees a fool.

Not for you the herd’s dull beat

Making tomorrow, yesterday’s repeat,

Living out the life of a clone

Marching with the crowd but always alone.

Shaping your life from some dusty tome

Playing it safe, staying at home.

Rebel rebel break the rule

Swim in the sea, never the pool.

Live your emotions, feel the surge

Follow your dreams, chase the urge.

Make life though short, an exciting game

Not a mad march for fortune or fame.

Capture the moment, live it now

Being alive your only vow.

Rebel rebel break the rule

In the end, you’re humanity’s jewel.

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"Legitimate" Violence.

       It is difficult to get your head round the amount of inhumanity, brutality and vindictive savagery that is perpetrated by so called "legitimate States". Every country that you care to mention, there you'll find  a callous, dictatorial authoritarian, establishment, that shows complete disregard for the human rights of those who choose to criticise the state. At the moment, across the globe anarchists are being particularly hard hit by these so called "legitimate states". This hard war against the critics of the system tells us that they are worried, they see the rising discontent among the ordinary people, and are trying to defuse that discontent and anger, they are aware of the crumbling of their system and their power, and will brutality try to hold on to their power, wealth and privileges. Apart from the police brutality on the streets, there is the callous vindictive brutality of their incarceration system, the institutions of repression that fly under the flag of the "judicial system" are an abomination on the face of any society that wants to wear the label of "civilised". 

     Surely the time is fast approaching when we collectively put an end to this inhumanity by the privileged pampered few, the opportunity is here now to change the direction of our society and create that better way to live. A society where humanity reigns, and sits on the foundation stones of justice, equality, and attention to everybody's needs. Free from the cancerous profit motive fed by greed and upheld by wealth, power and privilege.

      The article below is from Belarus, but name your territory and you can repeat the article over and over again, brutal power, intimidation and repression are the necessary survival tools of this exploitative system. 

The following from AMW: 

 

 Anarchist Prisoners Ivan Komar and Nikita Emelyanov on Hunger Strike in Belarus

Information came to our mail that anarchist prisoners Nikolai Emelyanova and Ivan Komar went on a hunger strike on June 16 in solidarity with the detained and arrested activists. The girlfriend of political prisoner Yana Chulitskaya also joined the hunger strike:

“Due to the fact that political prisoners anarchists Ivan Komar and Nikita Emelyanov go on hunger strike in protest against an unjust sentence, against violation of their rights, obstruction of correspondence, and also due to the fact that recently the state has declared a hunt for dissidents (everyone who is against the dictatorial regime of Lukashenko) and they are kept in inhumane conditions, I inform you that I, Yana Chulitskaya, born in 2001, giving full report to my actions, being in my right mind, deliberately went on a hunger strike from June 16, 2020.

I demand:

1. Adequate review of the cases of Emelyanov and Komar in their presence, and the replacement of their punishment, not related to imprisonment.
2. Stop the detention of people for expressing their opinions. Ensure respect for the rights of detainees for peaceful assemblies.

I beg:

Respond to the application, send a written or oral response. Notify doctors in my area about monitoring my health.”

From: https://abc-belarus.org/?p=12874

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Symbols.

     There has been a lot in the media recently about "statue protectors", and yes, these shithead thugs deserve to be met head on to stop the spread of the "virus". However, these street thugs are not the real statue protectors, they are just doing the dirty work for the establishment. If you want to take on the real statue protectors then perhaps a wee look that the photo might give you a hint from where they run their protection racket. In those marble halls of power, pomp and wealth, the illusions of grandeur and honour are fabricated, legislation is created to protect those illusions and the phony  symbols that they erect. 

      These offending statues did not appear over night all by themselves, they are part of the fabric of that illusion that is created  in an attempt to make you honour greed, brutality, royalty, military might, and the plunderers that created an empire on the blood and sweat of occupied indigenous peoples.

     You may get some of the statues removed, but what about the creed that they represent, who will still be there legislating to protect these phony symbols and still perpetrating the acts that these symbols represent, greed, wealth, power, injustice and gross inhumanity. 

      Getting rid of the statues might be the easiest part, but the creed that they represent will still be there, how do we get rid of them?

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A Dying Beast.

      At the present time we are living with a corpse, well at least with a dying beast. The economic system that has dominated our lives for generations is sounding its death rattle. However we should always remember, a dying beast can be very dangerous.The system is creaking at the seams, as the life ebbs out of it, it will lash out in desperation to cling on to life. The pandemic has given it a golden opportunity at a last gasp for survival. The largest bailout in the history of the entire life of the capitalist system is being delivered to the billionaire parasite class, under the cloak of saving jobs during this pandemic. Fear and public caution is being used to introduce draconian measures of control, creating a submissive population. Controls that will be needed to keep civil unrest off the streets when the shit hits the fan. As it will, when the money lenders come round with their repayment deal. You may believe that we have suffered drastic austerity, and the social damage and injustice that it has delivered, but that deliberate ideological assault on the public will fade into insignificance as the dying system dives in ever deeper to plunder the public purse to pay its money lenders and try to survive. The beast will not "go quietly into that dark night" (A wee pitch at Dylan Thomas). There will be savage  lunges at survival, brutal assaults to stay alive, it will unleash its hounds of fascist beasts on to the streets. We have it in our power to put the beast to death and remove its rotting corpse from the shoulders of humanity. It may be a struggle at times on the streets and in the workplaces, but with the strength, solidarity and unity of our communities we can create that better world for all and rid the world of the vicious beast of dying capitalism.  

The following from Act For Freedom Now:

 

 

      A Funeral for this Rotting Order, Call to Saturday and Onward in Athens
     The world is moving into economic crisis unlike anything experienced since the early 1900s. States with already unstable foundations are now without money or support. In Greece, just this week the new nazi party polls in the top 3 political forces in the country. A counter to the right wing administrations response to pandemic, 6 percent of the country stating simply, economy is preferred to death.
      The end of austerity economics was always destined for war. War against it’s detractors, not abroad but at home. So these weeks we have experienced;
– Detentions for hanging posters
– Detentions for existing outside a police station
– Detentions for hanging a banner
– Mass arrest of a motorcade
– Victoria mass sweep of migrants to camps
– Victora mass detention of those in solidarity
– Monastiraki demonstration met with small army of police
      The employment of the states direct offensive toward active detractors is no surprise. Lets not forget the political war these weeks have brought;
    The education system further turned into efficient factories to churn out workers
     Workers rights continuing to be obliterated on all fronts
    Passing of anti refugee laws designed to force migration toward central europe
     Health workers continue to be ignored while thousands of security forces are hired
       The worldwide preparation against civil society began before the pandemic with faith in an economy that would never falter. Foolish for them yes, but it’s no matter as the way forward requires a break from the past. Much of this break is already written. We believe that through the coming chaos ways of living will emerge which allow existence to flourish beyond the current limitations of state sanctioned life. In the face of Goliath positivity may seem questionable. We suggest two points of contention;
      Unwavering support for subversive culture in contentious neighborhoods and antagonism against all servants of order in these spaces
     Activity designed to display the economic fragility of the state, with understood instead of unnecessary risk
As anger builds which it is, and the anarchists fight with many, which we will, let us lead by example, a clear break from the past.
       Saturday 6/20 we call to support the multiple events throughout the day in Athens and at night in Exarcheia. No ends just beginnings.
     Onward toward a culture of antagonistic individuals against society, its freedom and faith in order. The attack against it,shines a revolutionary path forward for the lost and dispossessed.
Obsidian
source

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Imperial History.

The British state, Fighters of fascism???

       I am somewhat shocked to hear voices from the “left” refer to WW2 as our fight to defeat fascism. Surely they have some grasp of the history of this country. We didn’t go to war with Germany to defeat fascism, we went to war with that country to stop it being a rival or a threat to the resources of the British Empire, as was WW1.
     WW1 had nothing to do with the shooting of a pompous Duke, it was all about the German Empire planning to build the Berlin to Baghdad railway. This would have give Germany tremendous influence in Iraq and other countries in that region, allowing it to move resources and troops in and out of that area much quicker than the British Empire, and Iraq was an oil rich country that the British claimed as theirs. So we super-doper imperialist would have to teach the nasty German Empire a lesson. Of course we all know it didn’t turn out quite like that, the conflict turned Europe into a bloody altar where the youth of nations soaked the soil of Europe in blood. The total number of military and civilian casualties in World War1, was around 40 million. There were 20 million deaths and 21 million wounded. The total number of deaths includes 9.7 million military personnel and about 10 million civilians.

 
       This film is on Spirit of Revolt audio/video section.

     The German Empire was decimated and that suited the British Empire, allowing it to lord it over a vast section of the world, pillaging and plunder land after land. Fast forward and along comes a guy whose intention is rebuild the German Empire, this posed a threat to the arrogant imperialist that control the British Empire. So once again our lords and masters decided to teach that nasty Germany Empire a lesson, and as they say, the rest is history, or it should be, not a truth lost in an illusion of imperialists propaganda. World War 2 was the deadliest military conflict in history. An estimated total of 70–85 million people perished, which was about 3% of the 1940 world population (est. 2.3 billion).
     By now we should all know that the British state never goes to war to defeat fascism, it trades with them as long as it is beneficial to them, it goes to war to protect or enlarge its resources, power and wealth, and the people can go to hell in a hand cart.
      It’s the the weekend, have some music.

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Direct Action.

     Over your lifetime how many peaceful marches and peaceful demonstrations have you attended, and how many have abysmally failed to bear fruit? How many school closures etc. have gone ahead despite strong local peaceful demonstrations against this happening? At the age of 86 I've lost count. The establishment has no fear of peaceful marches and demonstrations, even when you march to their citadels of power and stand there peacefully holding your banners and flags. One of the recent most obvious proof of this, was before the start of the illegal invasion of Iraq. Millions across the planet marched, probably the largest world protest up to that time, and peacefully let it be known that they did not want this illegal invasion and resulting carnage to take place, but all that was ignored and to this day we still see the bleeding wound that is Iraq. The establishment may from time to time rough up those peaceful marches/demonstrations, more as a deterrent to others in an attempt to stop them from gaining public support, not from fear of the peaceful demonstrators. I often think that the establishment is quite happy for the odd mass peaceful march/demonstration to take place. I believe they may see it as a public paracetamol, it makes you feel better but does nothing to sort out the real problem.

     A not too distant event that shows that to really bring about effective change, your peaceful march/demonstration has to move to a different level. The poll-tax was being forced down the throats of the people in this country. Peaceful marches and demonstrations, burning of poll tax demands etc., all went for nothing. Only when the people moved to the level of open rebellion and took to the streets to forcefully demonstrate that they were not going to accept this injustice, did anything change, the poll-tax quickly died. Direct action is the weapon the establishment fear most.

The following is an extract from an article on Crimethinc:

 

Together, we are unstoppable: Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The Effectiveness of Insurrection
      Where one reformist campaign after another has failed, the courage of those who burned down the Third Precinct in Minneapolis has catalyzed an unprecedented movement for social change. The victories of the first week of the movement alone surpass what other approaches had accomplished in years. We should not underestimate the contributions of abolitionists who have labored for decades to make it possible for people to imagine doing without police and prisons, but many of those who set this movement in motion do not think of themselves as activists at all.
      The past three weeks have offered the most persuasive demonstration of the effectiveness of direct action in decades. Liberals will try to represent the strength of the movement as a mere question of numbers, but these numbers only came together because daring rebels showed that they could defeat the Minneapolis police in open combat. The idea of abolishing the police was deemed inadmissible until it became conceivable that rioters could overthrow the police by main force. Then, and only then, police abolition became a widespread discussion item.
      So direct action gets the goods—and everyone knows it now. It will be very difficult to put this genie back in the bottle. From the centrists who are suddenly struggling to reduce police abolition to a matter of “defunding” to Donald Trump himself, who was forced to make a show of calling for police reforms yesterday, there is no denying that the riots have changed everyone’s priorities. Rather than alienating people, as critics always alleged it would, confrontational direct action has won millions over to ideas and values they might never have considered otherwise.
     This will have long-term effects on a global scale as movements all around the world internalize these lessons. International solidarity actions have already taken place in over 50 other countries, some of them including massive riots.

Read the full article HERE: 

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

Shielding.

        Getting away for a few moments from the savage brutality of the state, the inherent injustices in the system, the millions in dire poverty, and the callous bloodshed, all pouring from a system that is perpetrated by the greedy, wealthy, powerful few, who control the levers of power, my mind floats to the garden.

      Because of my age and my many underlying medical problems, I have been "shielding" for roughly three months. So this meant that I spend a lot of time in the house, in the garden, short walks in pubic parks and of course escapes on the bike, (very short runs). The garden has been a tremendous pleasure to me. I love roses, and have grown them for years. My memory tells me that my roses always come into bloom round about the middle of July, a month or so behind the south of England, though I wouldn't be surprised if I got that wrong, my ageing memory. However, this year I'm amazed that here we are in the middle of June and we have roses in full bloom. Just in case you might think that is all we have in the garden, those frivolous roses, in the back garden Stasia has an array of vegetables and some fruits.

     While sitting in the garden, more often than usual, I also notice small things, like the bees, they seem to be programed  to go for certain colours. For example, I have watched a couple flirting from purple flower to purple flower, ignoring other colours, while others go from yellow flower to yellow flower, and another that only seems to prefer white. If so, is this a evolved process of efficiency rather than them randomly chasing the same ground as others. Or does the hive have a regimental sergeant major, who barks out their orders as they leave the hive. I hope it is the former, as I believe that bees are much more intelligent than us.

   Another thing I discovered while sitting still in the garden, we have a bubble-bee hive. We watched the bees hover over a tiny hole in the grass and then disappear down, and others to come up from the hole and fly off. That wonderful discovery is thanks to my "shielding", so I suppose I should be grateful for that.

      In keeping with the old age and pottering about in the garden, a wee poem.

 

Mirror Mirror On The Wall.

I can’t help but watch him
that old man
as he staggers across the room
with that unusual gait
punctuated by the odd stumble
I hear his groans and feel his pain
sometimes with a few profane words
he drags himself from the couch or chair
pauses for a moment to regain his balance
I sense his reluctance to bend down
and pick things off the floor
I’m fascinated by those hands
light brown withered looking bony structures
with their pronounced veins
running along the back of them
and up his slim arms
I sense his annoyance
that they’re not as strong as they used to be
I feel his regret
that he can’t do the things he once did with ease
I often think
that to have lived that long
he must have a chest full
of memories and experiences
that should be worth something
but what puzzles me most
is when
I look in the mirror
I see him and not me.

 

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

Man's Inhumanity.

       Pick your country, and you'll find that it has its prisons, and those incarcerated in those institutions of state repression, will be treated as if they had ceased to be human. What shocks me most is that the inhumane treatment heaped on the prison inmates is carried out by others who profess to be human. I know that their training, funding and implementation is by the state, but who picks a job that helps to lock other humans in cages and subjects them to arbitrary violence and degrading circumstances. No doubt they go home to their families, laugh and go to the pub, and somehow blend in with those who still hold onto those special characteristics that make us human. You'll stand beside them in the super market, sit beside them on the bus, and in our ignorance accept them as normal human beings, but are they? They belong to the far too large a group that put on uniforms, obey instructions and show little or no human feelings to those they ill treat and beat up. I feel it is glaringly obvious that there is something far wrong with a society that tolerates those humans who can show no compassion to another human being and also gives them positions of authority. The police, the prison guards, the military, the politicians who support and organise these groups and the corporate institutions that need these facilities most be removed if we want a decent, fair and just society.

The following, not unique but typical, is from It's Going Down:

       Statement from Indigenous prisoners in struggle in CERSS No. 5 in Chiapas denouncing prison authorities as COVID-19 continues to take its toll at the prison.

To the Public
To the Networks of Resistance and Rebellion
To the National Indigenous Congress
To the Zapatista Army of National Liberation
To the National and International Sixth
To the Network Against Repression and for Solidarity
To the Media
To the Human Rights Defenders and Non-Governmental Organizations
To the Independent Organizations
To the Indigenous People of Mexico and the World
To the Civil Society of Mexico and the World
       We are Indigenous prisoners, Adrián Gómez Jiménez, of the organization, La Voz de Indígenas en Resistencia and Germán López Montejo and Abraham López Montejo, of the organization, La Voz Verdadera del Amate. Both organizations are adherents to the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, EZLN. We are currently imprisoned in CERSS No. 5 in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas.
      Compañerxs, brothers and sisters. We want to bring to light the situation we face as prisoners due to the health emergency brought by COVID-19, which has caused many people to lose their lives across the globe.
     The coronavirus outbreak was first known here on May 21, 2020. After the death of a prison official, Artemio Jiménez Estrada, two other workers from this prison have already died. José, who was in charge of the tortillas in this prison, died of COVID-19. Also, Manuel Cordero, who worked in the labor area has also died of COVID-19. We used to order our materials from him.
      Here in CERSS No. 5, there is an outbreak of COVID-19. Today, June 13, the inmate Mario A. has died. He was abandoned by the authorities who didn’t even realize he had died.
     Mario A. should have been released from prison because he had diabetes and other illnesses. He fought for house arrest but the unjust authorities denied him that. He should have been released. These are the injustices we face in this prison, injustices caused by government officials. We will never know if the cause of Mario’s death was COVID-19 because we know that he was never tested. What we do know is that he died in prison, from abandonment and negligence, on part of the prison authorities, who treat us like disposable objects who can die in total impunity.
     Previously, prison authorities denied the outbreak of COVID-19 here in CERSS No. 5. According to them, they had it under control with the safety measures they had in place. Let’s see what excuses and lies they come up with now regarding the death of this inmate.
      We want to mention that they did not even inform us of the death of Manuel Cordero or José. They never appeared on the radio news. They want to maintain the image that everything is under control.
     We will not remain quiet about what is happening in this prison where there is an outbreak of COVID-19. We don’t know who will be the next inmate to die victim of the coronavirus, but meanwhile we remain in danger. We continue denouncing that prison authorities have denied us our COVID-19 test results. We should be well-informed about this mortal pandemic, but it is quite the opposite.
       If they continue denying us our test results, we will carry out an action to demand that we receive our documents, because we have the right to know the results.
      Lastly, we invite the state, national and international independent organizations, the state, national and international human rights defenders, to continue demanding true justice and freedom for the political prisoners, prisoners of conscious and prisoners in struggle.
      Uniting the voices of the Mexican people, true justice will triumph.
Respectfully.

Adrián Gómez Jiménez
Germán López Montejo
Abraham López Montejo

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

Kate Sharpley.

      I regularly receive emails from the Kate Sharpley Library, with their latest publications, all very interesting and informative. I consider the Kate Sharpley Library to be one of all too few archives of the anarchist movement, that are a necessary part of our history, and a wonderful resource to aid us in our struggles. In there you will find inspiration, knowledge and often hidden historical events. We at Spirit of Revolt do what we can to add to that rich history and resource.

    Who was Kate Sharpley? The following extract will give you a little insight to this remarkable woman:

Albert Meltzer
       One of our frequently asked questions is 'who was Kate Sharpley?' Many of our readers will know of her as 'One of the countless "unknown" members of our movement ignored by the official historians of anarchism.' We hope this tribute, written by Albert Meltzer in 1978 will help to fill that statement out a little. There are more details in Albert's autobiography I Couldn't Paint Golden Angels.
     Kate's Tinwear
    Sixty-five years ago Queen Mary was handing out medals in Greenwich, most of them for fallen heroes being presented to their womenfolk. One 22-year old girl, said by the local press to be under the influence of anarchist propaganda, having collected medals for her dead father, brother and boyfriend, then threw them in the Queen's face, saying, 'If you think so much of them, you can keep them.' The Queen's face was scratched and so was that of one of her attendant ladies. The police, not a little under the influence of patriotic propaganda, then grabbed the girl and beat her up. When she was released from the police station a few days later, no charges being brought, she was scarcely recognisable.
     The girl was Kate Sharpley, who had been active in the Woolwich anarchist group and helped keep it going through the difficult years of World War 1. After her clash with the police she was sacked from her job 'on suspicion of dishonesty' (there was nothing missing but a policeman had called checking up on her…) and, selling libertarian pamphlets in the street, she was recognised by the police and warned that if she appeared there again she would be charged with 'soliciting as a prostitute' (which in those days would have been a calamity, and even today a disaster, if once convicted). Isolated from her family, and with the group broken up, she moved out of activity, away from the neighbourhood, and married.
    I met her, by chance, last year in Lewisham. Twice widowed, she remembered the anarchist movement with nostalgia, and gave me a fascinating account of the local group in the years before World War 1. Unfortunately, she was already very ill, and a few weeks ago, she died, I was told by one of her neighbours.
     I had, though, asked her for a message to the Anarchist movement today. Her answer: 'Tell the kids they're doing all right, they don't need any advice from me.' Especially she praised the young women of today: 'I wouldn't have had to take cover like I did if women of my day had any guts' she said. But she did have guts. A few only in 1917 dared take any action in bereaved England.

       The following is the latest I received from The Kate Sharpley Library:

Welcome!

Here's a link to NOT the bulletin of the Kate Sharpley Library, No.2 June 2020
Contents:
New pieces on the Kate Sharpley Library website
Three articles by Albert Meltzer
Elsewhere (AK Press; Audio; Naples 1884; Bristol 2020)
Still going (Research on The 1945 split in British anarchism)
You can read the PDF at https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/8933bb
  Image at the top of the page comes from Crimethinc’s ‘The Anarchists versus the Plague: Malatesta and the Cholera Epidemic of 1884’

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