Tax Money.

       Covid19 might be a stressful period for most ordinary people, but to the government and large companies it’s an opportunity to shift taxpayers money into the corporate coffers. March this year our financial wizard, Chancellor Rishi Sunak, came up with, Covid Corporate Financial Facility, CCFF for short, a scheme to help what he considered large companies that were important to the UK economy, small companies were not included, just the big rich mob. This handout was given with minimum conditions. 

 

       While receiving billions from the taxpayers, through the CCFF scheme, these rich companies saw fit to pay out approximately £11.5 billion to shareholders and investors, and in gratitude for this taxpayers handout, they paid off thousands of employees. It is reckoned that of 26 companies involved in this CCFF taxpayers gift to big rich companies, have paid of approximately 43,000 workers.
       While this money plundering was going on the NHS was desperately crying out for PPE, struggling with staff shortages and lack of equipment. Care home residents and the staff were being denied testing facilities and left to suffer and die. This is capitalism, the economy is sacred, the corporate is valued above the well-being of the people. Every penny of the billions spent by the government in handouts to big business will have to be paid back to the financial mafia by you and I, the taxpayer. We will pay for it with unemployment, severe cuts to social services and the selling of public assets.

 

         No doubt, bumbling Boris and his rich coterie will be shouting about investing in massive infrastructure projects, to get the economy growing, what this translates as, is handing more billions of taxpayers money to large corporate very rich companies to build a host of showpiece entities that will be of little or no use to the ordinary people. HS2 springs to mind. 

 

      Surely if people look at how the system works they must draw the conclusion that this has to stop, this insane economic system of greed that feeds a small clique of parasites to the detriment of the many, has to be destroyed.

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

Mr. President.

      Most people seem to accept that Trump is the worst President of the USA ever. That's quite an accolade considering the liars and butchers that have held that post before him. To me the main difference with Trump and the other  figureheads of American imperialism, is the fact that he has a big mouth and doesn't hide his racism and fascist and homophobic views, he openly revels in them.

The following extracts are from Arrezafe:

Monday, April 16, 2018: Peace protesters trying to tear down the Truman statue in Athens

       Two days ago, Greek police forces, on orders from the SYRIZA-ANEL government, brutally attacked anti-war protesters as they tried to topple the statue of US President Harry Truman. This 3.2-meter statue - "a fossil of bloody US imperialism" , as the KKE called it in a statement - has been in the center of the Greek capital since 1963.
      Recent events give us an opportunity to remember who Harry Truman really was. A representative of US imperialism, Truman was the author of the most horrendous war crime of the previous century. We refer to the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

         "Being in possession of a bomb, we have used it ... We will continue to use it until we completely destroy the military power of Japan. Only its surrender will stop us ... We thank God that he has placed it in our hands, and not in the hands. of our enemies, and we pray that He guides us to use it in his path and for his purposes . "

        These gruesome words were spoken on August 9, 1945, by the President of the United States, Truman, during a radio address to the American people. It was three days since the terrorist Enola Gay had dropped the atomic bomb called “Little boy” on Hiroshima and another bomb was sowing death, destruction and chaos in Nagasaki.-------

And:

  ----------Numerous American officials, as well as academics, have exposed Truman's blatant lies. For example, the US Strategic Bombing Survey group, which had been assigned by President Truman himself to study air strikes in Japan, was writing in a report prepared in July 1946:
      "Based on a detailed investigation of all the facts and supported by the testimony of the surviving Japanese leaders involved, it is the opinion of the Study that certainly before December 31, 1945, and in all probability before November 1, 1945, Japan it would have surrendered even if the atomic bombs had not been dropped, even if Russia had not gone to war and even if no invasion had been planned or contemplated . "
       For his part, the then Supreme Commander of all Allied Forces who later became President of the United States, General Dwight Eisenhower, said: "The Japanese were ready to surrender and there was no need to hit them with that hideous thing . " We could cite many testimonies from various officers of the United States Army (Admiral Leahy, General MacArthur, Under Secretary of War McLoy, etc.) that confirm all of the above.
       History has documented the tremendous effects of the nuclear holocaust on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Truman and his administration are responsible for more than 200,000 deaths and hundreds of thousands of radiation-related post-attack casualties.-------

And: 

      "Hero" for the Greek bourgeoisie - "Butcher" for the people.

      The war criminal Harry Truman, who sowed destruction in Japan, is the same butcher who, three years later, ordered the bombing of the heroic guerrillas of the Democratic Army of Greece (DSE) in the mountains of Grammos. It was during the Greek Civil War that the United States intervened to help the Greek bourgeois class against the Democratic Army of Greece . In February 1948, American General James Van Fleet arrived in Athens and became the commander-in-chief of the Greek bourgeois army. 

         In 1949, the Grammos Mountains in northern Greece became the field where the American air force first used Napalm B bombs. In just one battle, in Grammos, the Americans dropped 338 napalm bombs from US positions. DSE. Years later, napalm bombs were used by American assassins in numerous imperialist wars: from Korea to Vietnam and from the 1991 Gulf War to the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.

      Quite a record for a fundamentalist Christian, one of the many who have no problem with mass killings and then asking their god of love and peace to bless their actions. Trump is at home, among a long line of liars, hypocrites and mass murders, who have sat on that throne of savage American imperialism.

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

Proactive.

      With the big social media platforms, all run by billionaires, who, to put it mildly, have no love of anarchists, ever tightening controls on who gets in and who doesn't, should we now be organising to walk away before the kick us all out? Proactive rather than reactive. We know that it is coming, it's just a matter of time.

The following food for thought from Anarchist News:

      Last week, after Crimethinc, IGD, Enough is Enough and others were banned from Fedbook, our friend Ziq gave us food for thought with this post on raddle:

      We can't keep expecting platforms owned by far-right billionaires to stay honest. Anarchists are the biggest threat to any capitalist, so of course they're going to shut us down at every opportunity.
      [There are many important anarchist projects, each serving a different purpose], but they can't continue to exist in a vacuum while the social media behemoths are busy closing ranks to ensure all our efforts are stifled...
      [raddle has] always encouraged anarchists to use our platform to grow their own platforms. But it's not a one-way street. There needs to be a concerted effort between all the aforementioned anarchist venues to amplify each other's voices. Cross promotion is the only thing that will keep us all alive and kicking...

        If you were to promote other anarchist sites/venues/projects/whatever, how would you do it? Would it look like Facebook and Twitter, Cabal and Plemora, banner drop and billboard, or something completely different? What are the pros and cons of each?
       Who would you promote? Who would you not? Let's not just have a list of names; let's hear why you chose this one over that one, why anews was on top of your list, and why you'd never in a thousand years amplify [you name it].
        Does amplifying voices mean banding together, like Ziq suggests, or does it mean going it alone, but louder?
      Who already does promotion the way you'd like it to be done? Who does it in a way that you can't stand?
       Is it as important as Ziq says to cross promote each other's voices? If you think it is, how would you like to see it play out in the days ahead? If not, what are otherways of keeping us all alive and kicking?

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

Hit The Needy.

        It is a strange and unjust society that when savings and cuts have to be made, it is always the most vulnerable and those in need that have to take the hit. Glasgow City Council are proposing saving money by closing all but two of the city's Citizens Advice Bureaus and cutting support to rape crisis centres among other things that the ordinary people sometimes have to rely on. Now you don't get any prizes for guessing who is most likely to visit these places. You wont find Jim Ratcliffe, Scottish billionaire, waiting, or any of his clique hanging around in the queue. They will always have their team of expensive expert lawyers to sort out any problems they may encounter.

       It always appears beyond Councillors and MP's imagination to find ways of getting those savings and administering cuts from that upper echelons of the wealthy bunch that sit very comfortably with no need for such common things as Citizens Advice Bureaus. 

       Today, Wednesday 2nd. of September, there was a small group outside Glasgow City Chambers protesting these unfair and unnecessary attacks on the most vulnerable in our society. It was a day of torrential rain and I admire their dedication and sincerity for holding this protest in such appalling weather. However, I feel that it was the wrong place and the wrong time. The City Chambers was empty and locked up, the meeting regarding these cuts will be held via virtual conferencing, with the participants unaware of any protest. No doubt the virtual meeting will make it extremely difficult or impossible to hear what is being said, nor will the public be able to contribute to the debate. Perhaps I'm wrong on that and they will send out the link to the virtual meeting to ever citizen of Glasgow. I'm sure Billy Connolly could turn these city chambers actions into a joke, well basically that's what it is, a sick and cruel joke at that.

Some photos of those intrepid protestors:

 

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

Greek Summer.

      While tourists fly in to Greece and its beautiful beaches and islands, perhaps they should take a moment and have a look at what is happening to the ordinary people who inhabit that little patch of the planet.
        Police violence is not something that is limited to any one patch on this planet, every state has it array of armed thugs, and experience tells us that violence by police is part and parcel of their routine. They must serve their master, the state, obediently and wholeheartedly.

The following extracts are from crimethinc: 

 Summer in Greece: New Democracy Edition.

          In Greece, following the accession of the New Democracy party and a ban on freedom of assembly, the simmering conflict between anarchists and the far right continues, even in the middle of summer. In this report, we cover gentrification, escalating tensions with Turkey, ecological struggles, refugee and prisoner solidarity, the eviction of the historic Terra Incognita squat, and more.
         The Greek government and its bootlickers and beneficiaries are stumbling towards disaster. The economic crisis of 2008 will soon be seen as easier times. While tourists wander Greece dropping coins into the pockets of the bosses, only half of society can afford to take a holiday this year—something considered indispensable in the hot Greek summer. COVID-19 cases are at record highs. The daily infection rates are much higher than they were when the country was in formal lockdown back in March. Yet the state continues cutting hospital budgets in order to redirect funds to police agencies, focusing on its human opponents rather than the virus.
        In Greece, as elsewhere in the world, revolutionaries, the excluded, and the exploited struggle with self-preservation both materially and psychologically in the face of the slow-motion COVID-19 apocalypse and the right-wing police state. While new measures are going into effect and a second lockdown seems likely, we find strength in understanding that both our precarity and the struggle against it are shared globally. The struggle here is rooted deep in the discontent of countless beautiful hearts and a history in the streets: “Even if we never win, we will always fight!” -------

Police Violence:   Rest in Power, Vassilis Maggos 

 

 

     ---------As described in our last report, the anarchist Vassilis Maggos was brutally beaten by police during a demonstration expressing solidarity with those arrested while protesting a cement factory in Volos. He suffered intense psychological trauma while in recovery from the beating. Police seized his body from his family in order for the police to use their own coroner, following a public outcry about the 26-year-old’s death. The police brought in Eleni Kalyva to conduct the autopsy—she is a well-known ally that the police have repeatedly employed to investigate controversial cases in which officers may have been at fault. She is known to have fascist sympathies and a close relationship with the current government.
       Eleni Kalyva’s conclusion was that Vassilis died of acute pulmonary edema. The police claim that this was not due to the beating; however, the full investigation has not been made public, and his family is seeking outside help. Vassilis spent his final weeks of his life recovering from the pain and trauma of being beaten by police. Using a familiar playbook, right-wing social media have cited personal issues such as drug use as a way to suggest that Vassilis was responsible for his own death. Even if drug use had something to do with his passing, the trauma of being beaten and tortured by police was clearly the cause of his tragic death, and drug use or other issues do not diminish the responsibility of the police.
       The police also brought Eleni Kalyva to investigate the murder of a girl in Trikala in late July, when a 16-year-old girl who was known to have a relationship with a police officer was found dead outside of a church. Kalyva was called in to investigate her death after suspicions began to circulate that the girl had been murdered by her police officer boyfriend. Now we are told that the girl climbed to the top of the church and killed herself—which would be a surprising feat, given the details of the situation, but Kalyva confirmed the claims of the police.
      Anarchists and anti-fascist football fans have spread murals, banners, and graffiti across Greece remembering Vassilis Maggos. A Molotov cocktail attack against a government building in Volos took place in this his name, as well as an arson attack on a bank in Marroussi, Athens. He will be remembered.-----

The world-famous Terra Incognita squat before its eviction.

Conclusion 

         It’s August in Greece and most people are away from their homes—or wish they could be. It’s hot and the situation is grim. Yet even amid the harsh summer, there have been demonstrations against the bill described in our previous report banning unpermitted protests. Fresh graffiti all over the country expresses insurrectionary discontent.
      The church and the far right count on the neo-liberal New Democracy administration to coddle them. Greece received some seventy billion euros in COVID-19 relief from the European union, but we know that money will chiefly serve to provide more contracts to the wealthy and to hire more police to protect their power and enforce their laws. Whatever happens in the coming months, we hope the fall will see a new wave of resistance ignite in Greece and around the world.

Read the full article HERE: 

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

Tory War.

       Party political politics have never been my strong point, but I can't help take a little giggle of glee at the possibility of the coming war within the Tory party. The financial pundits of both sides are as usual clamoring to get the "national" debt under control. However that's where the split comes. The two factions are gearing up for a fight, on the one side is the bumbling buffoon Boris brigade, sailing along on his ginormous ego. Boris's election promise stated that there would be no return to austerity, he promised more jobs with massive spending on infrastructure projects and his ego demands that, come what may. Of course that requires more money, so his camp want to plunder the middle class with more taxes etc. Most financial pundits agree that to try and plunder the poor would be unpopular, but also impracticable, as there is not enough avenues there to sort out the £2trillion UK debt. The other side in this party squabble claim that a policy of plundering the middle class would damage the crumbling economy even more. Of course that last statement translates into hurting some of their friends and perhaps costing them their comfy job in parliament.

      Which ever way it goes the real financial Mafia will demand that they get back their £2trillion they loaned the UK treasury for their covid19 pantomime, no matter who the Tory party decide to screw. So you can rest assured that they will, and we the ordinary people will feel the pain, come what may. Of course decimating the middle class will more or less display what anarchists have always said, in this society there is only two classes. All this working class, middle class and upper middle class, is just an illusion based on propaganda to create that vision of the ladder you can climb to get to the top. However it is extremely difficult to climb a ladder made of illusions.

       So who is going to win, the Boris brigade plundering the middle class to pay off the debt, and at the same time, spend, spend more debt on infrastructure. Which is just another method of taking public money and handing it to their corporate buddies. Or the good old fashion die-hard Tories who see the plundering of the poor the only decent solution to their crumbling sacred economy and ever growing debt. 

     Of course we, the ordinary people, could throw a spanner in both their plans, by deciding to take control of our lives and sorting out our problems all by ourselves, without any political party's blessing.

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

1820 Remebered.

 

        Yesterday, Sunday 30th August was the 200th. anniversary of the state murder of one of the radicals that played a role in the 1820 Insurrection. He was James "Purlie" Wilson.
        To mark this barbaric act by the state and to honour his memory, there was an event near the spot on Glasgow Green where the state carried out this barbaric act of murder, by first hanging him, and then be-heading him. To honour this defiant radical, there was a Tree of Liberty planted near the spot. The state as usual believes that by killing the person and making an example of them, they will kill the ideas that they stood for, freedom, justice and equality for all. Of course they are deluded.
       James "Purlie" Wilson made a defiant speech from the dock, which was repeatedly interrupted by the judge in an attempt to stop his words from being made public. Again they failed miserably.

       We had an unexpected privilege at the event as one of James "Purlie" Wilson's descendants turned up.

Jimmy Carruthers, descendant of James "Purlie" Wilson, standing beside the newly plant Tree of Liberty planted in honour of his ancestor.

       James "Purlie" Wilson's speech from the dock.

       "I am not deceived. You might have condemned me without this mummery of a trial. You want a victim. I will not shrink from the sacrifice. I am ready to lay down my life in support of these principles which must ultimately triumph."
       "My Lords and Gentlemen, I will not attempt the mockery of a defence. You are about to condemn me for attempting to overthrow the oppressors of my country. You do not know, neither can you appreciate, my motives. I commit my sacred cause, which is that of freedom, to the vindication of posterity."
     "You may condemn me to immolation on the scaffold, but you cannot degrade me. If I have appeared as a pioneer in the van of freedom's battles; if I have attempted to free my country from political degradation; my conscience tells me that I have only done my duty.
      "Your brief authority will soon cease, but the vindictive proceedings of this day shall be recorded in history. The principles for which I have contended are as immutable, as imperishable, as the eternal laws of nature. My gory head may in a few days fall on the scaffold and be exposed as the head of a traitor, but I will appeal with confidence to posterity.”
      "When my countrymen will have exalted their voices in bold proclamation of the rights and dignity of humanity, and enforced their claim by the extermination of their oppressors, then, and not till then, will some future historian do my memory justice, then will my name and sufferings be recorded in Scottish history - then my motives will be understood and appreciated; and with the confidence of an honest man, I appeal to posterity for that justice which has in all ages and in all countries been awarded to those who have suffered martyrdom in the glorious cause of liberty."
      Crowd shouts Murder …."Murder", and "He is a murdered man",
     Cries of sympathy exuded from the gathering and "Shame, Shame, he dies for his country!" could be heard as Wilson climbed the scaffold. The crowd's noisy manner caused an officer of 3rd Dragoons to panic, and surmising that a rescue was about to be attempted, ordered his men to charge and disperse some of them. The mass of people remained sullen but tense. Not able to be quartered due to the agitation of the crowd Executioner stated "This is the head of a traitor" responding Crowd Vehement cries of "It is false, he has bled for his country!",
     In the gloaming of that same day, Purlie Wilson's daughter and niece reopened the grave and manoeuvred the coffin over the cemetery wall into a waiting cart that was probably owned by Wilson's friend, William Fleming. The remains were back in Strathaven before dawn where a large crowd waited to show respect to the deceased. There was no demonstration, a condition made to allow the "stealing" of the body. When the coffin lid was raised, it was noticed that the dropped handkerchief had been retrieved to cover the deceased's countenance. (This handkerchief is preserved and can be viewed in the John Hastie Museum, Strathaven.)
        The next day James "Purlie" Wilson was buried in the Old Graveyard just a few metres from his back door, not as a traitor, but as a revered patriot. Mrs. Wilson never recovered from the tragedy and spent many a sad and weary night mourning by her husband's grave.

Some photos from the event:

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

Left Unity.

 

      Left politics and right politics, where does the right stop and the left begin, how far left is still right, is left unity just another branch of the right, seems an odd way of classifying your political thoughts. Do you stand for no authority over others or just a little, do you think people need to be lead, or do you think that they can handle things by themselves. Do you think the people need some sort of leader to point the way and make sure they don't get it wrong, or do you think that people should be left to shape their own future, based on respect, equality, free association and responsibility, mistakes and all. I stand firmly in with latter.

The following is from Raddle:
Submitted by ziq in Anarchism (edited ) 

          The disturbing trend of anarcho-tankies we've been seeing can be traced back with a straight line to the proliferation of "left-unity" spaces
The biggest one is r/chapotraphouse and its spinoffs, along with r/dankleft, r/breadtube, r/genzanarchist, and probably leftbook and several youtube channels.
         Red fascists infiltrate the mod teams of these spaces and initiate left unity policies that successfully ban all criticism of their backwards conservative views. The more vocal opponents of the new policy are quickly purged for breaking left-unity, leaving a more passive audience who are ripe for indoctrination.
       Then the propaganda starts. Endless authoritarian memes to normalize gulags, guillotines, firing squads, violent struggle sessions and genocide. Tomes of nonsensical ideological "theory" that serves to brainwash young people who are starved for identity and belonging. Almost immediately, any ideas that conflict with the writings of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, Mao and Xi create desperate cognitive dissonance in their minds and the kids angrily lash out at the unindoctrinated for being "libs" and "imperialists" rather than risk parting with their new-found identity.
        Once the majority in the space are comfortable joking about murdering "kulaks", and quoting Chinese state media to counter "western propaganda", the shaming campaign begins.
        Anyone in the space who breaks with the tankie party line is lambasted and ridiculed into submission. The remaining anarchists in the space now find themselves hopelessly outnumbered by smug middle class white genocide fetishists telling them they're imperialist CIA stooges for thinking the Uighurs maybe shouldn't be put in concentration camps.
        In order to not be shunned by their peers, the anarchists adopt an obscene anarcho-tankie ideology that allows them to favor libertarian writers like Chomsky and Kropotkin, while embracing the authoritarian third positionist dogma enforced from the top down by their chosen community.
       Uncritical support for every nation (and empire) that opposes the "West", the insistance that anarchism and communism are one and the same because "they have the same end goal", the claim that anarchist communes and an ML state can co-exist in harmony, the attempt to whitewash authoritarian concepts like the dictatorship of the proletariat and the vanguard, the nonsensical belief that they can be an anarchist and also a Marxist. Suddenly they're able to take completely contradicting ideas and fuse them together in order to be accepted by the red fash echo chamber they so desperately want the approval of.
       The conflicting ideas grow increasingly out of whack the further down the rabbit hole the left unity space takes them, and the ridicule they get for their remaining libertarian attachments begins to eat at their ego, until finally they post "How I went from an anarkiddie to a principled Marxist-Leninist" and the transition is complete.
       Tldr: Left-unity is a deliberate ploy by disturbing groomers to indoctrinate impressionable young minds into their authoritarian third positionist fascist ideology and force them to abandon any libertarian beliefs they once had in order to be accepted within the collective's rigid hierarchy and not be branded a liberal or an anarkiddie for forming their own thoughts or questioning their leaders narratives in any way.
      "Left unity" is nothing more than tankie doublespeak for "obey us or be purged".

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

Wee Poem.

And now for something completely different.

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  

Solidarity.

       We are controlled mainly by our national police, but the day is not far off when that control will be in the hands of an international police force, European states are welding together an efficient police force that knows no borders. Borders are there for control of us, the populations, hemming us in as more easily controlled groups, for the state's own power. The international police will be there to control those who would dare to cross their designated border lines, without their masters permission. The framework is already there and functioning well. the following from Act For Freedom Now:

 France / Italy: Letter from Imprisoned Anarchist Comrade Carla

Fresnes, 19.08.2020
Salut!
      After 536 days on the run, I was arrested on July 26th near Saint-Etienne. I experienced the arrest as the first performance of a scene repeated a thousand times in my head, or rather 536 times? Everything seemed to happen in slow motion: the hooded cops pointing their rifles at me, put me down and ask me the name that I’ve so often been called lately. It felt strange to pronounce it.
    I was then brought to Paris by the SDAT [Anti-Terrorist Sub-Directorate], four hours of travel handcuffed behind my back in the company of their balaclavas. They blindfolded me for the last few kilometers that separated us from their premises in Levallois-Perret. They were the ones who took me to court two days after the arrest, then to Fresnes prison.
      At the hearing, I accepted the extradition without hesitation. I had followed the events surrounding the arrest of Vincenzo Vecchi (whom I greet in passing) closely, but he had refused, offering himself a chance to remain free in France. For me, the choice was between waiting for the trial in France or in Italy, where the other defendants in Operation Scintilla are, all of them free except Silvia, who is still under judicial supervision.
      It seems that in recent times, arrest by means of a European arrest warrant and subsequent extradition have become mere formalities for the European justice system. We have seen this recently in Italy on several occasions, but also in the repression that followed the Hamburg riots or in Greece and Spain. European police forces are refining their weapons and their collaboration seems to be getting closer, exchanging tips and services. So it seems to me that it is up to us to look into the matter and study the mechanisms.
    I discovered the prison at the time of the coronavirus, the regulation fortnight in the new arrivals’ quarter, the mask during all movements, including the walk for that length of time, the suspension of all activities, the cell 22 hours a day.
     At the end of my fortnight, and on the eve of the scheduled date of my extradition, the other arrivals and I were placed in sanitary isolation on the grounds that we had shared a walk with a new arrival who turned out to be infected. Tests were only offered to us once this case was confirmed and have been the rule for all new arrivals ever since. We were initially told that they couldn’t test everyone. Unsurprisingly, it seems that the prison administration (PA) is behind schedule.
      In the spring, the measures taken by the PA in response to the arrival of the coronavirus led to situations of mutinies, revolts and solidarity. Unfortunately, here at least, it seems that living with the virus has become the norm, and the fear that a newcomer could bring the virus with her is coupled with the fear of being suspended from the visiting rooms, as was the case with us this week. The meagre compensation that the PA gave in the form of telephone credit in the spring is no longer relevant, as a group of isolated newcomers is so small compared to the strong mobilisations of last March.
     I’m expecting extradition again any day now and I know that a third isolation ward will probably be reserved for me when I arrive in Italy. I take advantage of the expressions of solidarity that join me today after so much silence. In spite of the publications on the subject, which are precious, the escape is still too often considered a romantic adventure and the companions concerned are often thought of as free. During this year and a half, I have never lacked solidarity and warm support, I have never lacked anything, but one is not free when one is deprived of one’s life.
      I would have liked to have been on the street with my comrades during the demonstrations in reaction to the eviction of Asilo, I accompanied the hunger strike of Silvia, Anna and Natascia with my thoughts, I thought every day of the comrades arrested in successive waves. I would have liked to have been by my family’s side when they went through difficult times and to have heard from them when we were all confined. Today I am ready and determined to face the next few months, but my thoughts are with those who are still on the run, often far from their loved ones. I hope that their journey will be as long as they want it to be, and that the encounters they make will give them the warmth they deserve and the energy to continue to fight.
     Carla
 

      On Tuesday 25 August 2020, Carla, arrested on 26 July, was finally extradited to Italy. She is now incarcerated in Vigevano prison, near Milan, in the AS3 module (alta sicurezza 3).
This high-security isolation section is initially reserved for prisoners accused of belonging to the mafia. Since the closure of the aquila, the AS2 sections, reserved for detainees considered political by the state, hardly exist for women, with the exception of Rebbibia (Rome) where Flavia and Anna are. Anna is only there for a few weeks because the Italian state has chosen to dispatch the companions, which is why most of them, including Carla, end up in AS3.
Carla wrote a letter from Fresnes prison which we reproduce below.
Let us continue to write to her and express our solidarity!
To write to her :
Carla Tubeuf
casa circondariale di Vigevano Centralino
via Gravellona 240
27029 Vigevano (PV), Italy

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

I Awake.

        Woke up this morning, as usual, sat in front of the computer, as usual, and as usual the familiar thoughts started to flood through my mind.
     Anger at the unnecessary injustice, inequality, poverty and deprivation heaped on the many by the greed driven few.
      Hatred at the hypocrisy, indifference and greed of the wealthy plundering parasite class and their engineered wars, where they never lift the gun.
     Anguish at the suffering of the countless innocent millions mutilated, maimed and slaughtered, young and old, who never desire war and gain nothing from those wars.
       Sorrow at those migrants fleeing wars, death and destruction, whose journey is drowning, hatred and concentration camps.
       The longer we accept this engineered pattern of plundering, the deeper the pool of blood we wade through, the heavier the burden of complicity will weigh on our shoulders.

The Seeds We Sow.

Because of my ignorance, I sowed the seeds of anguish,
while my self indulgence planted the vine of pain,
my disregard of the future laid sorrow’s foundation.
Suddenly the future slaps me in the face,
while my children eat the food of that anguish
and chew the leaves of that vine,
as the sea of sorrow washes around their feet.
My yesterday shaped their tomorrow
My ignorance laid their path
and now my self indulgence is their burden.
It would appear that,
these failings of the father are burdened on his heirs.

    We all know that we could distribute the resources of this world in a more humane and fairer manner. Their is enough to see to the needs of all our people, our crime is we leave that distribution to the greedy plundering parasite class. To often those suffering the most, the marginalised, those with the greatest need for our assistance, somehow are hidden from view, unless we take a deeper look around us.

The Invisible.

We live there— yes— there
A little bit above the dead
But quite a bit below the living
Where poverty is a dream
Deprivation a reality
Our daily bread an illusion
We sigh--we weep—
As ruthless poverty
With its cold claws
Tears the heart from our children
We ask—WHY?
Surrounded by opulence
Invisible to arrogant greed
Anger simmers beneath the surface
We seek equality
We will have justice
If blood is the price
So be it. 

      We have the numbers, we have the power to change this weary and blood stained world to one of humanity, co-operation and justice for all. We have that better world drifting around in our hearts and heads, all we need is the will and solidarity to act now. Of course we can accept their tomorrow.

We Have The Power.

Empty streets,with empty shops,
queues forming at the job centre,
doorway beds and hungry children,
watched over by mean eyed cops,
foodbanks growing by the hour.
City razzle-dazzle just rusty remnants,
shopping malls now empty caverns,
home to starlings, pigeons, magpies,
zero hours, part-time workers live in,
homes where ambition fails to flower.
Shiny politicians peddling illusions,
grin and bear it, there’s pie in the sky,
follow the Messiah, he’ll get you there,
quietly swallow their empty promises,
so they can live in their ivory towers.
This world exists by our acceptance,
blindly following their biased rulebook,
failing to realise that we the people,
builders of the world by sweat and pain,
are the ones who really hold the power.

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