Support Nurses.

      During these troubling times, if there is one group that surely deserves our support and solidarity it is the nursing profession. Well now is the time to show that support and solidarity by attending these demonstrations across the country. Now more than ever we have to show solidarity with each other, by doing this, we can shape our new normal not wait to be regimented back into subservient wage slaves. demonstrate with anger but stay safe and protect each other.

Edinburgh demo
Edinburgh NHS work Pay Justice
11am – 2pm at the Scottish Parliament tomorrow Saturday 8th August
https://www.facebook.com/events/295330008217451/

      Nurses United write: “ Throughout the pandemic, we’ve clapped to thank Healthcare workers for the incredible work they’ve been doing. Now let’s pay them properly too! We demand a 15% pay rise for all health and social care workers.”
      Info on actions Britain-wide including Glasgow and Inverness

https://www.nursesunited.org.uk/pay-rise-actions/

Demo guidance re Covid-19

https://www.nursesunited.org.uk/app/uploads/2020/08/Demo-R-rate-guidance.pdf

 

       Reel News give some background to the demos tomorrow
      Thousands of furious nurses demanded a 15% pay rise as they marched to Downing Street to confront a government that has agreed a pay rise for 900,000 other public sector workers for their work during the COVID-19 pandemic - but not for a single nurse, cleaner or porter.
       The astonishing - and very emotional - demonstration came off the back of a facebook group formed just 7 days previously, and already with over 70,000 members.
      Anger was also directed at union leaderships who are still not organising action, after shamefully agreeing a paydeal 3 years ago which has led to a now 20% pay cut over the past 10 years allowing for inflation.
       Amid calls for a national strike across the NHS, this new movement of rank and file nurses has now called demonstrations all over the country for August 8. Whether you're a healthworker, or one of the millions who applauded NHS workers for their sacrifices (540 healthworkers dead already, with 61% of them BAME workers) - find your nearest demo and get our NHS workers the pay rise they deserve.

All out on the 8th!

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

Fawkes V.

         Surveillance keeps spreading its ever refined net over our world, apart from companies wanting to know what your up to, so they can target you with crap ads, and the state ever fearful that you are a bad apple, wants to build a very complete profile of you, from your habits, whereabouts, friends and what you actually look like. So anything that can hamper that process has to be welcomed. 

      A recent article from The Verge offers you free software that can go some way to making your facial recognition that bit more difficult. It's called Fawkes, after the Guy Fawkes mask worn in V for Vendetta.. Surely anything that might in some small way stick to fingers up at our surveillance masters is worth spreading around.

      The following is from The Verge:

    Ubiquitous facial recognition is a serious threat to privacy. The idea that the photos we share are being collected by companies to train algorithms that are sold commercially is worrying. Anyone can buy these tools, snap a photo of a stranger, and find out who they are in seconds. But researchers have come up with a clever way to help combat this problem.
      The solution is a tool named Fawkes, and was created by scientists at the University of Chicago’s Sand Lab. Named after the Guy Fawkes masks donned by revolutionaries in the V for Vendetta comic book and film, Fawkes uses artificial intelligence to subtly and almost imperceptibly alter your photos in order to trick facial recognition systems.
       The way the software works is a little complex. Running your photos through Fawkes doesn’t make you invisible to facial recognition exactly. Instead, the software makes subtle changes to your photos so that any algorithm scanning those images in future sees you as a different person altogether. Essentially, running Fawkes on your photos is like adding an invisible mask to your selfies.
        Scientists call this process “cloaking” and it’s intended to corrupt the resource facial recognition systems need to function: databases of faces scraped from social media. Facial recognition firm Clearview AI, for example, claims to have collected some three billion images of faces from sites like Facebook, YouTube, and Venmo, which it uses to identify strangers. But if the photos you share online have been run through Fawkes, say the researchers, then the face the algorithms know won’t actually be your own.
            According to the team from the University of Chicago, Fawkes is 100 percent successful against state-of-the-art facial recognition services from Microsoft (Azure Face), Amazon (Rekognition), and Face++ by Chinese tech giant Megvii.
           “What we are doing is using the cloaked photo in essence like a Trojan Horse, to corrupt unauthorized models to learn the wrong thing about what makes you look like you and not someone else,” Ben Zhao, a professor of computer science at the University of Chicago who helped create the Fawkes software, told The Verge. “Once the corruption happens, you are continuously protected no matter where you go or are seen.”
          The group behind the work — Shawn Shan, Emily Wenger, Jiayun Zhang, Huiying Li, Haitao Zheng, and Ben Y. Zhao — published a paper on the algorithm earlier this year. But late last month they also released Fawkes as free software for Windows and Macs that anyone can download and use. To date they say it’s been downloaded more than 100,000 times.
In our own tests we found that Fawkes is sparse in its design but easy enough to apply. It takes a couple of minutes to process each image, and the changes it makes are mostly imperceptible. Earlier this week, The New York Times published a story on Fawkes in which it noted that the cloaking effect was quite obvious, often making gendered changes to images like giving women mustaches. But the Fawkes team says the updated algorithm is much more subtle, and The Verge’s own tests agree with this.
        But is Fawkes a silver bullet for privacy? It’s doubtful. For a start, there’s the problem of adoption. If you read this article and decide to use Fawkes to cloak any photos you upload to social media in future, you’ll certainly be in the minority. Facial recognition is worrying because it’s a society-wide trend and so the solution needs to be society-wide, too. If only the tech-savvy shield their selfies, it just creates inequality and discrimination.
       Secondly, many firms that sell facial recognition algorithms created their databases of faces a long time ago, and you can’t retroactively take that information back. The CEO of Clearview, Hoan Ton-That, told the Times as much. “There are billions of unmodified photos on the internet, all on different domain names,” said Ton-That. “In practice, it’s almost certainly too late to perfect a technology like Fawkes and deploy it at scale.”
          Naturally, though, the team behind Fawkes disagree with this assessment. They note that although companies like Clearview claim to have billions of photos, that doesn’t mean much when you consider they’re supposed to identify hundreds of millions of users. “Chances are, for many people, Clearview only has a very small number of publicly accessible photos,” says Zhao. And if people release more cloaked photos in the future, he says, sooner or later the amount of cloaked images will outnumber the uncloaked ones.
           On the adoption front, however, the Fawkes team admits that for their software to make a real difference it has to be released more widely. They have no plans to make a web or mobile app due to security concerns, but are hopeful that companies like Facebook might integrate similar tech into their own platform in future.
          Integrating this tech would be in these companies’ interest, says Zhao. After all, firms like Facebook don’t want people to stop sharing photos, and these companies would still be able to collect the data they need from images (for features like photo tagging) before cloaking them on the public web. And while integrating this tech now might only have a small effect for current users, it could help convince future, privacy-conscious generations to sign up to these platforms.
           “Adoption by larger platforms, e.g. Facebook or others, could in time have a crippling effect on Clearview by basically making [their technology] so ineffective that it will no longer be useful or financially viable as a service,” says Zhao. “Clearview.ai going out of business because it’s no longer relevant or accurate is something that we would be satisfied [with] as an outcome of our work.”

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

Fists Full Of Cash.

          HS2, a multi-billion pound prestige project that will help fill the coffers of the corporate and the pampered privileged few. A project that will shovel tax payers money into bank accounts of the greed driven parasites that  love tax payers money. It will destroy miles of natural environment, wildlife habitat, destroy thousands of trees and have people evicted from their homes by compulsory purchase orders, and the benefits will be that it will take a handful of minutes of the travel time from London to Birmingham. The usual insanity and corrupt distribution of your tax money.

HS2 costs could rise to £106bn or more, warns government review

And so it begins: HS2 Contaminating the Chiltern Aquifer

The following is from Enough Is Enough:
       UK. There are currently several courtcases going on prosecuting Stop HS2 activists, whilst HS2 Limited recently announced that their chief executive earned £659,000 last year, making him the highest paid UK government official. The board of directors got £1.6m remuneration in total … and this was all paid for by our taxes!? Instead of this greed and corruption being investigated, at the end of July young tree protector Jellytot faced charges at Birmingham High Court for allegedly breaking an injunction seventeen times. Defending ancient woodland in Warwickshire is the alleged crime!

         Originally published by Squat Net.

       HS2 Limited are pushing for a prison sentence for trespass, which HS2 Rebellion has called “draconian & totally disproportionate”. A TINAAR (This is not about a railway) blogpost stated “These injunctions are not only a violation of a lawful right to protest. They are another example of how our supposed criminal justice system and government over and over again bow to the will of corporations and business and sell out the people they are supposed to protect.” Representing Jellytot, Andrew Wagner raised concerns with the court about the injunction’s unjust nature, since it was not properly served and the area covered was altered over time. Wagner asked a high court enforcement agent “Your officers use violence don’t they?”.
       The court, presided over by Mr Justice Smith, heard Jellytot speak to deny the charge of breaching the injunction earlier this year. Referring to one alleged breach, the judge asked “This looks really quite dangerous – you really feel that strongly about preventing HS2 that you put yourself in physical danger?” and Jellytot answered “Yes, I didn’t think about the danger I just thought ‘this machine is going to cutdown trees so I will do what I can to stop it’”.

      The hearing was postponed for further submissions until September, dates to be confirmed. Report drawn from various sources including This is not about a railway, @HS2Rebellion and mainstream media.

        Thursday July 30th and Friday July 31st 2020, our friend Elliot will be on trial. He is being charged allegedly with 17 counts of breaking a high court injunction. He is facing a potential prison sentence for resisting against the HS2 land grabbing machine.
      The use of injunctions by big business and corporations is a concrete example of how our criminal “justice” system is used abused and manipulated by corporations to stamp even harder over any community resistance to their actions.
      An injunction, much like any other other part of a justice system is supposed to protect people. An injunction is similar to a restraining order, it is supposed to give legal protection to an individual who feels threatened by another. This is understandable someone on their own may be weak but with support can be strong and feel safe. At least in theory.
      However when used by corporations and business this is reversed. No one can possibly doubt the strength and endless reach of our government, big business and corporations. Their wealth, gained through our poverty, through the theft of our land and exploitation of our labour mixed with endless corruption, created through a governmental system that gives all the power to a few to do with as they please and forces us to obey whether we like it or not. Our voice is never counted.
      The brutality of our government and of corporations is shown clear and plain within HS2; compulsory purchase orders forcing people out of homes they have lived in their entire lives, out of their homes and livelihoods without even seeing a penny; refusing to allow farmers to harvest a crop before HS2 takes possession; people strong armed with threat of even less money if owners don’t comply with further orders. All of this we have heard first hand from the people who live on the proposed path of HS2.
     Considering all of this in the context of an injunction, all HS2 and other corporations are doing is demanding that the court extend their already brutally strong grip over communities. By criminalizing to the extent of locking someone in a cage, for demanding that their voice, and the voices of others which have been silenced, be heard.
      These injunctions are not only a violation of a lawful right to protest. They are another example of how our supposed criminal justice system and government over and over again bow to the will of corporations and business and sell out the people they are supposed to protect.
      We demand a society that has the needs of all it’s people at its heart. Only the people themselves know these needs and only the people can fulfill them.
     We demand an end to Hs2, a project alien and unendingly destructive to those needs.
     We demand justice for Elliot and an end to a criminal justice system that puts the desire of business over the dignity of the people.
     “The law prosecutes the man who steal the goose from the land, but protects the man who steals the land from the goose.”

Fight corporate control over our land and our lives.
We Are Jellytot
Community autonomy for all.

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

Phony Tears.

Beirut, Lebanon, today.

 Beirut, Lebanon, July 2006 after Israeli bombing

 

Beirut, Lebanon, 2006 after Israeli bombing.

 

        I always get sick in my stomach when I hear officials of various states weep at death and destruction in other countries, when they themselves are responsible for shedding the blood of countless thousands across infrastructure they have destroyed, time and time again. Beirut has experienced a disaster of blitzkrieg proportions and its nearest neighbour, who has on several occasions devastated the infrastructure and killed thousands of citizens of Lebanon and Beirut, now stands with tears that burns holes in truth and ridicules humanity. Israel has no shame, no humanity, what has happened in Beirut has been perpetrated on a greater scale in Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank, time and time again by Israel. I saw no tears then, and I don't accept their tears now.

 

Gaza after an Israeli visit.

The following article first appeared in Haaretz

     Official Israel presented itself as shocked at the disaster that struck its neighbor, Lebanon, yesterday. Almost everyone put on a sorrowful face. Except for Richard Silverstein, who writes a blog, Tikkun Olam, no one accused Israel of causing the disaster. Except for Moshe Feiglin and a few other racists, no one expressed satanic joy over it. Fortunately, former Israeli army spokesman Avi Benayahu ran Feiglin out of the race: “With such statements, you don’t belong to the Jewish people,” declared Benayahu, the man of Jewish morality, and the stain was removed.
     Benayahu is right: The Jewish state never caused such disasters, and when our enemies fell it never rejoiced. The Israel Defense Forces, whose voice Benayahu was, never such caused destruction and devastation, certainly not in Lebanon, certainly not in Beirut. What does the IDF have to do with the destruction of infrastructure? An explosion in the Beirut port? Why would the most moral army in the world have anything to do with bombing population centers? And so the country’s leaders hastened to offer help to the stricken land of the cedars, such a typical Jewish and Israeli gesture, human, lofty and moving to the point of tears.
     True, the Israel Air Force thumbs its nose at Lebanon’s sovereignty and flies through its skies as if they were its own. True, Israel has devastated Lebanon twice in war, but who’s counting. Israel’s president issued a statement of condolences to the Lebanese people, the prime minister and the ministers of foreign affairs and defense said they had “given instructions to offer humanitarian and medical assistance to Lebanon.”
     As if all this beneficence was not enough, the mayor of Tel Aviv ordered the municipality building illuminated with the colors of the Lebanese flag. Words fail. All past hatred has been set aside, Israel is now a friend in need to its suffering neighbor. Maybe it was Tu B’Av, the holiday of love, marked yesterday. But still, a vague memory threatens to spoil the how-beautiful-we-are party, which we love so much around here.
      Was it not that same defense minister that only last week threatened that same Lebanon with destruction of infrastructure? Didn’t the prime minister also threaten Lebanon? And how does destruction of infrastructure look in Lebanon? Just like what was seen in Lebanon on Tuesday. The sound of thunder shook the city, black smoke billowed over it, destruction and devastation, civilian blood spilled, 4,000 injured at hospital doors, as described in horror by the ambassador of a European country in Beirut, who had previously served in Israel. She was injured Tuesday in the blast and was in shock.
    Half of Israel and the entire IDF General Staff know how to recite the acclaimed Dahiya Doctrine. Every second politician has threatened to carry it out. That is our language with Lebanon and Gaza. It’s the doctrine espoused by the Israeli Carl von Clausewitz, former chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot, the current hope of the Israeli left, when he was chief of the Northern Command.
     And what is this sophisticated doctrine? It’s the use of disproportionate, unbridled force against infrastructure, the sowing of destruction and shedding of as much blood as possible. “Flattening” – to teach the enemy a lesson “once and for all.” The IDF has tried this more than once in the past, in Lebanon and in Gaza, and it was a dizzying success story. It looks just like what was seen in Beirut on Tuesday.
     Not a week had passed since Israel threatened to destroy infrastructure in Lebanon if Hezbollah dared avenge the killing of one of its fighters in a limited military action on the border, and Israel the destroyer becomes Israel the merciful. Would you accept humanitarian aid from such a country? Is there a more sickening show of hypocrisy?
    When Israel demolished Dahiya and other neighborhoods in Beirut, the Tel Aviv Municipality building was not illuminated with the colors of the Lebanese flag. When Israel killed thousands of innocent women and children, old and young, in Gaza during the criminal Operation Cast Lead and Operation Protective Edge, the municipality was not lit up in the colors of the Palestinian flag. But on Wednesday we were all so humane, so Lebanese for a moment. Until the next Dahiya.

     Gideon Levy is an Israeli journalist and author. Levy writes opinion pieces and a weekly column for the newspaper Haaretz that often focus on the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. Levy has won prizes for his articles on human rights in the Israeli-occupied territories. - "Source" -

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God Guiding Trump!

 

      When we look around at what is being done by the various heads of state, the impression is one of insanity, wrapped up with greed and power. Rationally you think this can't be, surely the mass of people could not vote in the insane to govern our world. I believe the evidence says, yes they can, and have done so. 

 

       JERUSALEM — When Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sat down for an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network in a hotel in Jerusalem earlier this month, he made a remark that was perhaps the most revelatory of any in his nearly one year in office.
       An evangelical Christian, Mr. Pompeo had just returned from tours of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, built on the ground where Jesus is said to have been crucified and buried, and of tunnels beneath the Western Wall, by the holiest site in Judaism. The interviewer posed a question around a biblical tale about a queen who saved Jews from slaughter by a Persian official: Did Mr. Pompeo think President Trump had been “raised for such a time as this, just like Queen Esther, to help save the Jewish people from the Iranian menace?”
      “As a Christian, I certainly believe that’s possible,” Mr. Pompeo said. “It was remarkable — so we were down in the tunnels where we could see 3,000 years ago, and 2,000 years ago, if I have the history just right — to see the remarkable history of the faith in this place, and the work that our administration’s done, to make sure that this democracy in the Middle East, that this Jewish state, remains. I am confident that the Lord is at work here.”

       The above statement was made by one of the most powerful men in the world, Mike Pompeo, American Secretary of State, he is a fundamentalist evangelical Christian and helps to shape American policy to the rest of the world. He is a outspoken believer in the "Rapture"

        TheRapture, in Christianity, the eschatological (concerned with the last things and Endtime) belief that both living and dead believers will ascend into heaven to meet Jesus Christ at the Second Coming (Parousia). The belief in the Rapture emerged from the anticipation that Jesus would return to redeem all members of the church. The term rapture, however, appears nowhere in the New Testament. In his First Letter to the Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul wrote that the Lord will come down from heaven and that a trumpet call will precede the rise of “the dead in Christ” (4:16). Thereafter, “we who are still alive and are left will be caught up” (in Latin, rapio, the standard translation of Paul’s original Koine Greek) “together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (4:17). The Synoptic Gospels (Mark, Matthew, and Luke) mention Jesus’ return to earth from heaven; e.g., The Gospel According to Mark cites Jesus as foretelling a “ ‘coming in clouds’ with great power and glory” (13:26).

     Evangelist Pompeo also has strong views on China, views that should make us run for the nearest nuclear bunker, or stand up and destroy this insanity.

July 31, 2020 "Information Clearing House" - Quick. Somebody tell Mike Pompeo. The secretary of state is not supposed to play the role of court jester — the laughing stock to the world. There was no sign that any of those listening to his “major China policy statement” last Thursday at the Nixon Library turned to their neighbor and said, “He’s kidding, right? Richard Nixon meant well but failed miserably to change China’s behavior? And now Pompeo is going to put them in their place?”
       Yes, that was Pompeo’s message. The torch has now fallen to him and the free world. Here’s a sample of his rhetoric:

      “Changing the behavior of the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] cannot be the mission of the Chinese people alone. Free nations have to work to defend freedom. …
     “Beijing is more dependent on us than we are on them (sic). Look, I reject the notion … that CCP supremacy is the future … the free world is still winning. … It’s time for free nations to act … Every nation must protect its ideals from the tentacles of the Chinese Communist Party. … If we bend the knee now, our children’s children may be at the mercy of the Chinese Communist Party, whose actions are the primary challenge today in the free world. …
      “We have the tools. I know we can do it. Now we need the will. To quote scripture, I ask is ‘our spirit willing but our flesh weak?’ … Securing our freedoms from the Chinese Communist Party is the mission of our time, and America is perfectly positioned to lead it because … our nation was founded on the premise that all human beings possess certain rights that are unalienable. And it’s our government’s job to secure those rights. It’s a simple and powerful truth. It’s made us a beacon of freedom for people all around the world, including people inside of China.

      A quote from Ray McGovern on Mike Pompeo’s latest rant of China.

    A lack of experience or intelligence, though, may be too generous an interpretation. More likely, Washington’s behavior stems from a mix of the customary, naïve exceptionalism and the enduring power of the U.S. arms lobby, the Pentagon, and the other deep-state actors – all determined to thwart any lessening of tensions with either Russia or China. After all, stirring up fear of Russia and China is a tried-and-true method for ensuring that the next aircraft carrier or other pricey weapons system gets built.
   - "Source" -

        How can we trust our lives to people who believe that they will be lifted into the clouds by an invisible man in the sky. How can we allow such people to determine who is our enemy and who is our friend in a nuclear armed world. This is surely insanity on our behave if we persist in accepting this  system that allows such people power over our lives. Do you think that such people as Pompeo will listen to reason and consider the well-being of all humanity, before the beliefs of his invisible man in the sky?  

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

Human Experiments.

           I'm an admirer of John Pilger and just wish he had more publicity for what he writes. He is a voice in the wilderness, instead of being embraced by the mainstream media for his detailed honesty, his truth sounds so alien to them, that he is shunned by the mainstream media.
         For those who wish to see the true picture of our western world and its dangerous ruthlessness, he is a "must read". 

       The following is an extract from his article,  Another Hiroshima is Coming… Unless We Stop It Now

      Unlike Bikini, nearby Rongelap atoll had not been evacuated during the H-Bomb test. Directly downwind of Bikini, Rongelap’s skies darkened and it rained what first appeared to be snowflakes. Food and water were contaminated; and the population fell victim to cancers. That is still true today.
      I met Nerje Joseph, who showed me a photograph of herself as a child on Rongelap. She had terrible facial burns and much of her was hair missing. “We were bathing at the well on the day the bomb exploded,” she said. “White dust started falling from the sky. I reached to catch the powder. We used it as soap to wash our hair. A few days later, my hair started falling out.”
       Lemoyo Abon said, “Some of us were in agony. Others had diarrhoea. We were terrified. We thought it must be the end of the world.”
      US official archive film I included in my film refers to the islanders as “amenable savages”. In the wake of the explosion, a US Atomic Energy Agency official is seen boasting that Rongelap “is by far the most contaminated place on earth”, adding, “it will be interesting to get a measure of human uptake when people live in a contaminated environment.”
     American scientists, including medical doctors, built distinguished careers studying the “human uptake’. There they are in flickering film, in their white coats, attentive with their clipboards. When an islander died in his teens, his family received a sympathy card from the scientist who studied him.
      I have reported from five nuclear “ground zeros” throughout the world — in Japan, the Marshall Islands, Nevada, Polynesia and Maralinga in Australia. Even more than my experience as a war correspondent, this has taught me about the ruthlessness and immorality of great power: that is, imperial power, whose cynicism is the true enemy of humanity.

Read the full article HERE: 

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

Belfast Glasgow.

     As usual, folks at Spirit of Revolt have been busy even although the pandemic has curtail our activities somewhat. Covid19 has forced us into the virtual world, and I think we can say, with some success.

      Because of the Covid19 pandemic, Spirit of Revolt’s most recent Show and Tell had to be a virtual affair, but never the less exciting for that. We were very fortunate in getting anarchist, writer, historian Máirtín Ó Catháin as guest speaker. Máirtín lead off with a talk, taking questions and then a general discussion. All extremely interesting and informative. So despite the handicap Covid19 threw at us this Show and Tell was a great success. the video is also available on Spirit of Revolt Audio/Video Section

So have a look, enjoy and send us your comments.

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

John Heartfield.

         We can always learn from the revolutions, insurrections and revolts of the past, our opportunity will come, all we have to do is organise, we have the numbers, the imagination, the intelligence and the dream in our heart. One such revolution that is not too distant in the past, the Spanish Civil War. This was a time when ordinary people across a large swath of Spain learnt that they could run society the way they wanted and to the benefit of all. They worked out their strategies as the problems arose and done it a democratic and horizontal manner. The enemy was not a flawed dream, it was the reactionaries that surrounded them.
      Artists and poets have always played an important part in the fight against this corrupt and exploitative system. The list could fill a large volume, of course not all were anarchists, but they shared a hatred of the economic system that delivered poverty, inequality and injustice for the many, and privileges, wealth and power for the few.
     One such artist was John Heartfield, activist, artist and publisher whose graphic work, quite a portion on the Spanish Civil War, is well worth remembering and is still relevant to day as it was when he produced his many works.

A couple of my favourite John Hearfield works:

      The following article is from Spanish Sky:

       John Heartfield was a highly productive artist, especially in his young adult life. He is perhaps best known for his 240 photomontages, but he was also an accomplished scenographer and editor and the co-founder of a magazine as well as a publishing house
     You’ll probably recognise many of Heartfield’s photomontages. We have selected a few works relating to the Spanish Civil War and some of his more rarely shown works.
      John Heartfield is born in Berlin, Germany 19 June 1891 as Helmut Franz Josef Herzfeld. In 1916, he changes his name to John Heartfield in protest against the anti-British sentiment in Germany, expressed, for example, in the manner of which people greeted each other: ” – God punish England – May he punish it”.
       Heartfield studies art at the Royal Bavarian Arts and Crafts School in Munich from 1907 to 1913 and at the Arts and Craft School Berlin-Charlottenburg from 1913 to 1914.

        He joins the circle of artists associated with the magazines Der Sturm (‘The Storm’) and Die Aktion. The group’s central members are publishers Herwarth Walden and Franz Pfemfert. Artist George Grosz (who has changed his name from Georg Gross) is also part of the group. Grosz and Heartfield soon develop a close friendship and engage in a longstanding collaboration as fellow artistic rebels.
        With his brother, Wieland Hertzfeld, Heartfield founds the magazine Neue Jugend (‘New Youth’) in 1916 and the publishing company, Malik in 1917.
      The October Revolution in Russia and the political situation in Germany intensify his political views. As one of the leading members of the Dada group, Heartfield now insists on greater political clarity and commitment in the artistic work.
        Photomontage as a political weapon
      Heartfield comes to the realisation that photomontage is a highly viable approach to the enhancement of a greater political awareness and understanding among the general public, his theory being that photomontage can and must demonstrate what the world is and not what it looks like.
     In 1920, Heartfield, his brother and George Grosz found the political-satirical magazine Die Pleite (‘Bankrupt’).
      During the years of 1920-1923, Heartfield works as a scenographer for theatre directors and producers Erwin Piscator and Max Reinhardt (original name Max Goldmann). Heartfelt creates photomontages for the communist paper Der Knüppel (‘The Cudgel’), which he and Grosz co-edit from 1923 to 1927. In parallel, he creates covers and posters for the Party newspaper Die Rote Fahne (‘The Red Flag’). It is, however, as a staff illustrator (1930-1938) for the magazine Arbeiter Illustrierte Zeitung (‘The Workers’ Illustrated Paper’) that his thoughts and ideas gain momentum.
        Returning to Germany
       Having been denied a residence permit in England, Heartfield returns to Germany in 1950. He settles in Leipzig (then in East Germany) and later moves to Berlin (also in East Germany), where he lives until his death 26 April 1968.

Halt’ stand, rotes Madrid,
halt’ stand, stolzes Madrid!
Das Weltall dröhnt,
die Menschheit glüht,
der Erdball singt dein Heldenlied,
Millionen singen mit:
Halt’ stand, rotes Madrid!

*

Stand firm, red Madrid
stand firm, proud Madrid!
The universe is roaring,
mankind is glowing,
the globe is singing your heroic song,
Millions sing along:
Stand firm, red Madrid!

Lyrics and music: Louis Fürnberg
Vocals and video: Ernst Busch

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

Keelie, 1820.

       It's August, and once again the latest edition of that wee radical paper that gives two fingers to authority, The Glasgow Keelie is available online. As usual it is filled with information and criticism of the corrupt system we live under. Sadly because of this covid19 menace it is still only available on line, though we hope soon to be back out and around the clubs, pubs and cafes with hard copies for you to pick up at your leisure.

Download you copy HERE:

      And for a wee bit more info on the radical war of 1820, since this is the 200th anniversary, we can still learn from these past events.

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

Water Is Life.

      Imperialists are thieving bullies, who stride across their subservient dominions plundering and pillaging, taking what they wish. Anything that will enrich its coffers or increase its power, will simply or brutally be taken. Today the biggest of those thieving bullies is the U$A. One of the most precious resources of to day is fresh water, and in arid lands it is even more precious as it is necessary to farm the land and make it livable for the indigenous population. So the anger of a people who see that water supply being redirected to their rich and powerful imperial master is understandable and is therefore righteous anger, and deserves our full support and solidarity.
      To deprive a people of water is to slowly kill them, it is death by state contract, it is murder authorised by state legislation. These are all aspects of the present day state system bound up in capitalist economics and brutal imperialism. There is a better way.

The following article is from It's Going Down:

        English translation of a report from Difusión Comunista Anárquica about the recent uprising in defense of water in the Mexican state of Chihuahua.
      Since Wednesday July 29, self-organized protests by campesinos and community members have kicked off in the municipality of Rosales in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. These coordinated actions have been directed against government buildings and other representations of the Mexican state, like CONAGUA (Mexico’s National Water Commission).
       They are an expression of the refusal by the local population to be denied water from the “Las Virgenes” dam so that the Mexican state can cover a debt it has with the United States. This dam is one of the principle sources of water for the local population, who use it mostly for agricultural activities and consumption. It should be noted that this area, like much of the northern states that border the United States, is characterized by dry and desert-like conditions. The absence or scarcity of water implies a vulnerability to productive activities that bring sustenance and life to the communities in the region.

      In addition, the Mexican state has used both the military and national guard, and has threatened the deployment of more state forces, beneath the pretext of supposedly combating “aguchicoleos,” a term being used to refer to the illicit or clandestine stealing of water from a non-authorized source. However, the only theft and deprivation that exists in the region is that which the state carries out against the people, in order to pay off its debt with the United States.
      This was part of the agreements reached a few weeks ago during AMLO’s visit with Donald Trump. The threats have escalated, along with demonstrations of resistance. There is now the possibility of the massive deployment of the national guard and police to the region. The head of CONAGUA, Blanca Jimenez, has requested the massive deployment of state forces to intimidate and stop the direct action of the people against representations of the Mexican State.
       The theft of water is one of the many practices carried out by international capital. These actions take place in open and shameless collaboration with left sectors and progressives who are no different than the scum of these governmental administrations (PRI, PAN, MORENA, PRD, etc.). Protected by the rule of law and the democratic order of civilization, they try to keep us submissive and quiet, spitting on each one of us as if we decide to get out and take the streets without previous notice, responding when our compañerxs in struggle are arrested and sent to the dungeons of capital.

Immediate freedom for the prisoners of the revolt in Chihuahua!

In defense of water and life, for the proletarian struggle!

For communism and anarchy!

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

Normal Is Up To Us.

        While we suffer under this pandemic, to hear the political ballerinas talk of getting back to normal, if this statement wasn't so hypocritical and tragic for the ordinary people of this country, it would be laughable. For our lords and masters, getting back to normal, means run out to work, if you have a job, and spend you spare time consuming. They desperately need you to get their tills wringing, they are getting nervous because we are not being able to be milk to their liking, we are needed to get their loot growing again.
      Try to imagine "normal" with mass unemployment a certainty. As the covid19 virus creeps invisibly across the land, unemployment keeps rising. Below is a wee glimpse of what awaits us in the new "normal" that our corporate and political bosses want us to return to. We have to create the new normal, one that sees to the needs of all our people and jettisons the pampered parasite class, that want to risk your health and well-being for the sake of their power, wealth, and privileges. Don't be a sucker.
       The latest job losses to be announced is in the shape of DW Sports, entering into administration this week with the risk of 1,700 job losses.
Other job losses already announced:
Up to 5,000 job cuts at Upper Crust owner SSP Group
Up to 700 jobs at Harrods
About 600 workers at shirtmaker TM Lewin
1,900 jobs at Café Rouge-owner Casual Dining Group
1,000 jobs at Pret A Manger
1,700 UK jobs at plane-maker Airbus
1,300 crew and 727 pilots at EasyJet
550 jobs are going at Daily Mirror publisher Reach
450 jobs going at Selfridges
650 job losses at Alexander Dennis, bus makers
1,200 job losses at Dyson
up to 1,200 job losses at The National Trust
British Airways 12,000
BP 10,000
Rolls-Royce 8,000
Centrica 5,000
Swissport 4,000
Boots 4,000
Restuarant Group 3,000
Restaurant Group owns Frankie & Benny’s and Wagamama
Up to 5,000 job cuts at Upper Crust owner SSP Group
Up to 700 jobs at Harrods
About 600 workers at shirtmaker TM Lewin
1,900 jobs at Café Rouge-owner Casual Dining Group
1,000 jobs at Pret A Manger
1,700 UK jobs at plane-maker Airbus
1,300 crew at Easyjet
727 pilots at EasyJet
550 jobs are going at Daily Mirror publisher Reach.

 

        This list is by no way complete and comprehensive, there are a multitude of small business that are shedding employees, with some closing down completely.
       A fair list of people looking for work with the pandemic far from over, and the furlough scheme ending in a couple of months. That simple action alone, will see employers jettison employees by the lorry load. Now think very hard about getting back to normal, especial if you are in one of the families affect by those daily growing numbers. 

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

Condemn Or Else.

         In today's society it seems that if something happens the state doesn't particularly like and you don't jump up and condemn the action, then your are a suspect. 

The following article appeared on the site, finimondo, 

English version from Act For Freedom Now:

Lecce, Italy: A stupendous thought
August 2, 2020 by actforfreedom
        Some local news. We don’t know when, we don’t know who, we don’t know why, we only know where. And that alone is enough to open your heart, even if what happened seems not to have been very successful. But, as is well known, in some things it’s the thought that counts.
      A thought like the one someone left on the wall of a company in the outskirts of Lecce last weekend. It wasn’t a poster, or a slogan, no, it was a pot full of petrol with a couple of gas canisters attached to it, equipped with a rudimentary, possibly defective, fuse. There was a big blaze, but no explosion. The local media have no idea when it happened. Um, between the evening of Friday April 24 and the morning of Monday the 27th? They don’t even say who it could have been, or for what reason. Um, an act of intimidation or retaliation by some criminal or unbalanced element? On the other hand, they were very precise about where it occurred: in via del Platano 7, in the Castromediano district, headquarters of Parsec 3.26.
       But what is it involved in, this Parsec 3.26? It is a computer company specializing in digital technologies for the local authorities. For example, it created the software that is used by the police and the banks for the facial recognition of those filmed by video surveillance cameras. Ah, that’s all? Could it have been targeted because of, as we learn by browsing the site with the dreadful techno-Anglo-cretinising language, its “passion is E-Government”?
       Just because «it has started a division called Reco 3.26, active in the production of software systems in the field of smart recognition … in research in biometric systems and makes use of interdisciplinary teams that include Engineers and Scientists … The sectors in which it is currently introducing this technology are transport, finance, security (public and private). Growth is driven primarily by governments’ security initiatives. Companies belonging to sectors such as retail and banking are adopting facial recognition systems for identifying customers and monitoring their behaviour. To date, the solutions produced by Parsec 3.26 represent the state of the art of recognition technologies in Italy for public security. In fact, the company has distinguished itself for having created a biometric recognition solution currently used by the Ministry of the Interior – Central Anti-Crime Direction within the SARI system “?
        Is it possible that there is anyone hostile to this “distinguished” society just because it helps the State to fill the prisons and the banks to protect their safes? Whoever would have thought such a thing!
        Here, the fact that in times of confinement, checkpoints, self-certifications, tracking, surveillance with drones and so on … — stuff to shame those weaklings of the totalitarian regimes of the past — someone who had such a thought shortly before, during or after the anniversary of the Liberation from nazifascism, leaves us spellbound. Perhaps it was just a blaze, but how much splendid light amidst the darkness of today’s voluntary servitude.
        Light of revenge, light of dignity, light of freedom.

        Some time after the article was published the writers were paid a visit. The following is their report of the incident, again from Act For Freedom Now: 

Lecce, Italy: A little thought
        This is what the investigators looking into the unexpected blaze at the Parsec 3.26 on April 27, on the outskirts of Lecce in full lockdown, have had. And since Finimondo published a text which did not condemn what happened and were not outraged by it, quite the contrary, and as the animators of Finimondo live not far from the headquarters of that company whose social and economic reason for being is to embody Big Brother, you want to bet that 1 + 1 +
      So today, Monday July 27th, we were dragged out of bed early in the morning. No, it wasn’t the alarm clock, it was the Digos [political police]. They came to carry out a search and to give one of us a notice of investigation. They suspect he was the one who left “a pot containing petrol and two camping gas canisters” near the techno-cop company in Salento. The search, particularly attentive to computer equipment (which allows “understanding of the actual purposes of the act”) and clothing (being strangely attracted to multicolour, black must have gone out of fashion), had a positive outcome. No, but what are we saying, positive is too little, we would go as far as to say very positive. In fact, it seems they have discovered that there are traces of Finimondo’s text on the computer used by the suspect who has fired the Prosecutor’s imagination so much (you don’t say?). Moreover two camping gas canisters were seized (oh really?). Finally – you will never believe it! – they even found pots in his kitchen (seriously?). They didn’t seize them, only photographed them, for everlasting evidence. As we anticipated, 1 + 1 + …

Continue reading: 

 

       So just remember, when you see or hear of something the state doesn't like just whisper, "shame on you", you may be able to sleep longer in the morning.

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