Bonfire.

         Obvious where I lifted the image from, but thought it suited a wee verse I wrote some years ago.

The Propagandist.

When the hordes run with their flaming torches
When they light the torch of freedom
Burning all injustices
Scorching all hypocrisies
Making a bonfire of poverty
Throwing dogma, patriotism, and religion on the flames
I'll be there, among them with my box of matches. 

 

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Farce.

         It seems that despite the covid19 lockdown, there is a long running farce continuing in Belgium. Though I have no doubt, even with the pandemic, such theatricals are being performed in cities across the world. If it was not so pathetic, vindictive and cruel, we could laugh.

The following from Act For Freedom Now:

 

The one spectacle that continues despite viruses and lockdowns (Belgium)

         While the cultural sector is still debating social distancing restrictions with whatever politician appears to be in charge, one venue keeps on hosting its spectacles in spite of everyone. So we are disgusted to announce to you the upcoming theatrical performance taking place on the 8th and 9th of October 2020 in the Palais de Justice in Brussels (that Moloch built on top of the proletarian Marolles and adored by many authoritarians for its oppressive bombast).
        Since it concerns an appeal case there will be no original content, alas! But be prepared for the rerun of unbelievable acts by the magician and prosecutor Malagnini. Watch as he just needs to add one person to another to create the illusion of an organization, while putting one accusation he just came up with on the table to suddenly find yourself faced with a criminal organization. (His previous act where he would demonstrate the existence of a terrorist organization got cancelled after even the managers of the venue thought of it as too far fetched.) Stand in amazement how fireworks in solidarity with locked-up immigrants gets twisted to fit the incredible story of an arson attack against those same people. Be blown of your feet by how the simple fact that there is no proof is, in fact, … the proof. (“Of course, since the modus operandi of the accused is that they remain unidentifiable. A proven hypothesis because we could not identify them. Aha!”) Wait with anguish for the appearance on stage of the magician’s assistant and investigative magistrate Panou. See how she is able (is she though?) to explain that an investigation going out on a fishing expedition to find accusations against persons is not at all proactive (gathering intelligence in view of deeds that didn’t happen yet or are unknown) but indeed reactive (starting from specific acts to identify their authors). (“Yes, your honour, a proactive investigation would have been illegal under the circumstances. But! Somewhere, at some moment, something happened. So! It is a reactive investigation, in hindsight …”)
        This is only a small and bitter taste of the infamous show that is already going on in Belgium since 2009 in the police departments and since 2016 in the juridical corridors. A show that distorts years of struggles and combative bounds against deportations, prisons, borders and other institutions of this oppressive society. We know that our individual lives and collective experiences will never fit their narrative, even if the collaborators in the rewriting of this clueless plot are eager to unveil their culprits to the audience.
         So we invite you to do as you please on the 8th and 9th of October (the accused will do the same).
We’ll speak,
       Anarchists concerned (more or less) by current events in Brussels, but not exclusively.

P.S. A verdict will be expected in the month following the pitiful event.
P.S.2 More information on the trial: https://actforfree.nostate.net/?p=33414 & https://actforfree.nostate.net/?p=33891

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

Thoughts.

 

     Thoughts and words, melodies and rhymes, rhythms and beats, weave patterns, paint pictures, tell stories, portray hopes and fears. 

THE HIGH AND MIGHTY.

Politicians, high priests of the holy church
of greed,
yours are the crimes from which the many
bleed.
See, vice and corruption make their
stand,
with brutal tyranny, walk hand
in hand;
your arrogant minds, lost in ambition’s
cloud,
oblivious to the suffering of the humble
crowd.
When poverty’s knife makes our people
bleed,
your cancerous power is all you ever
feed,
holding high some ego-inflating avaricious
plan
that divides, soon pits man against
man.
Now anguish and war mark your mad
career,
covering our world in the brume of
fear,
then shedding youth’s blood by cruel
deceit,
with spurious pomp, lay the guilt at
another’s feet.
As we fall heir to a plundered
land 

  you tyrants walk in manner
grand,
what must we do to make you
yield
to see our children play in a bloodless
field?
Smash and crush your dark nefarious
power
allowing love and peace to freely
flower.

THE MURMUR OF THE POOR.

Brokers, bankers, Earls and Dukes,
callous, mercenary, pirate crew
gasconading through the land
bloated, pampered, privileged few.
Striding with selfish arrogance
plundering as you go
grasping at the fruits
the common people sow.

Take heed, you swaggering fat-cats,
in our world you don’t belong,
that murmur you hear is the poor
rehearsing an angry song.

The day is fast approaching
when our chorus loud you’ll hear,
then all your greed and treachery
will surely cost you dear.

A price you’ll pay for being blind
to the hungry at your door,
oh, haste the day our angry chorus
becomes a mighty roar.

THERE WILL COME A TIME.

There will come a time when the hordes remember,
who bound our grand-parents to the yoke of oppression,
who sentenced our parents to deprivation,
who bid poverty sink its teeth into our heart,
who teach our children, greed is a noble art.
Who sent our sons through the gates of hell
to a litany of cambist brawls,
crammed coffers with blood-stained gold
while laughing in Ares’ halls.
“Who does these terrible things to us?” they will ask,
and when they remember,
they’ll bring an energy that is endless
to drive a fist that is fearless.
Then this merciless market-driven world will crumble
under an insurrection of integrity,
the poor will emerge from the dark husk of capitalism
to live in the light of social justice.
There will come a time when the hordes remember. 

 
I WANT TO BELIEVE!

I want to believe
All that is good is out there
Sleeping in hearts that live in dark valleys,
About to blossom like some magic woodland,
In spite of war, in spite of greed
The essence that is humanity struggling to be free.
All around death arrives in many guises,
Silent as the frost poverty kills,
The ruthless march of war
With every drum beat seeks God’s blessing,
While the God fearing kill the God fearing,
Slaughter in the name of the greater good.

I want to believe
All that is good is out there
Sleeping in the hearts that live in dark valleys
About to blossom like some magic woodland,
Not just as the dream of poets.

 

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Nobodies.

          When poetry steers the mind, what else can you do but follow.

Fascism: I sometimes fear---

I sometimes fear that
people think that fascism arrives in fancy dress
worn by grotesques and monsters
as played out in endless re-runs of the Nazis.

Fascism arrives as your friend.
It will restore your honour,
make you feel proud,
protect your house,
give you a job,
clean up the neighbourhood,
remind you of how great you once were,
clear out the venal and the corrupt,
remove anything you feel is unlike you---

It doesn’t walk in saying,
“Our programme means militias, mass imprisonments,
transportations, war, and persecution.

Michael Rosen, 2014.

 The Nobodies--

Fleas dream of buying themselves a dog, and nobodies dream
of escaping poverty: that one magical day good luck will
suddenly rain down on them- will rain down in buckets. But
good luck doesn't even fall in a fine drizzle, no matter
how hard the nobodies summon it, even if their left hand is
tickling, or if they begin the new day with their right foot, or
start the new year with a change of brooms.
The nobodies: nobody's children, owners of nothing. The
nobodies: the no ones, the nobodied, running like rabbits,
dying through life, screwed every which way.
Who don't speak languages, but dialects.
Who don't have religions, but superstitions.
Who don't create art, but handicrafts.
Who don't have culture, but folklore.
Who are not human beings, but human resources.
Who do not have names, but numbers.
Who do not appear in the history of the world, but in the
police blotter of the local paper.
The nobodies, who are not worth the bullet that kills them

Eduardo Galeano 

In Those Years.

In those years, people will say, we lost track
of the meaning of us, of you
we found ourselves
reduced to I
and the whole thing became
silly, ironic, terrible:
we were trying to live a personal life
and, yes, that was the only life
we could bear witness to

But the great dark birds of history screamed and plunged
into our personal weather
They were headed somewhere else but their beaks and pinions drove
along the shore, through the rags of fog
where we stood saying I

Adrienne Rich. Dark Fields Of The Republic.

The Individualist Hymn

Before dying in the mud on the streets
we would imitate Bresci and Ravachol;
anyone who extends a hand to you, bourgeoisie,
is a person unworthy of looking at the sun.

Grinding machines tear the beggars to pieces
and their wives are forever pale and weeping,
The fields remain fallow, the miners buried
and the workers crushed forever by murder.

And to those who don’t give in, open the tombs,
prepare the bombs, sharpen the knife,
action is the ideal!

France, on the watch with the guillotine,
chops off the head of anyone who wants to punish her.
Cowardly Spain strangles with a garrote and murderous
Italy guns down those who aren’t accustomed to trembling.

Hanged in America, throats cut in Africa,
forever tortured at Montjuich in Spain,
but the individualist still knows how to strike
the sorry breed of gentleman thugs.

And to those who don’t give in, open the tombs,
prepare the bombs, sharpen the knife,
action is the ideal!

As long as we are a herd it’s appropriate that there’s
a social gang passing laws;
as long as the sun of anarchy doesn’t shine,
we will always see the slaughtering of the populace.

Be very afraid, coppers, when you hear
the dynamite exploding against the oppressors.
We are enemies of all cops and scoundrels,
And one against all, we will scatter them.

And to those who don’t give in, open the tombs,
prepare the bombs, sharpen the knife,
action is the ideal!

No Copyright. 100% DIY. Feel free to reproduce.

 

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

AI Society.

        Covid19, call it what you will, from conspiracy to accident, from inevitable to act of God, from human destruction of nature to error at biological weapons factory, whatever is your poison, you have to admit, it has been a wonderful opportunity for the big corporate beasts and the state. The big boys are all in overdrive to make the most of this pandemic, thousands of small business will go under, the big beasts will survive, grasping at billions in taxpayers money, slashing wages and conditions paying off millions across the globe. At the same time allowing them to monopolise the field if or whenever the economy picks up. At the same time organising to get more automation, more part-time working, working from home and more precarious livelihoods for those who still have a job.
      What we are witnessing is the largest, fastest transformation of society since capitalism was born. The state is pushing ahead with total control, setting ridged limits in the way you live your life, and doing it all "for your benefit". While the corporate world tears to shreds any semblance of a welfare state or public assets, the state apparatus is doing its damnedest to create that submissive population necessary to keep the lid on the anger and frustration that will surely start to boil up. At the moment the evil twins, capitalism and the state, are in control and we, the ordinary people at the receiving end of all this, seem to be unable use the pandemic as an opportunity to shape the evolving future to our needs and desires, while they organise and get on with their agenda. 

 Job: Factory work, would suit A.I. robot, humans need not apply.

The following from The Wrong Kind of Green:

COVID-19 as a Weapon. The Crushing of the Disposable Working Class – by Design

Wrong Kind of Green Apr 13, 2020 Pacifism as Pathology, Social Engineering
By Cory Morningstar
        [Due to the urgent need for the dissemination of this information, the following research is being presented in a simple concise format, similar to a timeline.]
        “The largest economic transformation in the history of mankind” The arrogance and brutality of the ruling class – is nothing less than breathtaking.

Let’s begin.
       April 9 2020, Business Insider: “Many Americans will not have jobs to return to after the coronavirus pandemic ends, according to former US presidential candidate Andrew Yang”: “Many Americans will not have jobs to return to after the coronavirus pandemic ends…” “We’re going to see something like 10 years of change in 10 weeks…”
       “The fact is right now this virus is the perfect environment for companies to get rid of people, bring in robots and machines, and figure out how they can operate more efficiently.”
       “Universal basic income is going to become the topic, not just here in the United States, but Spain’s adopting a version of a minimum income. Legislatures around Europe are all very, very much focused on this.”
     “We’re going to see the progressive Amazonification of our economy as Amazon’s one of the only businesses out there that’s hiring more and more. You’re seeing more robots are in grocery store aisles cleaning after we all supposedly go home…”
       “One thing I’ve been saying is that we’re going to see something like 10 years of change in 10 weeks, because businesses are being put in a position where it makes sense to speed up a lot of the automation that they were considering investing in.”
      “The fact is right now this virus is the perfect environment for companies to get rid of people, bring in robots and machines, and figure out how they can operate more efficiently.”
      “My kids are at home just like everyone else’s kids and they’re getting taught online…they’re going to be many, many families that actually make a different determination where they actually say, “Hey, this online thing is working well.”
       “If you can find a way to, frankly, make yourself useful from afar, that’s going to be something that unfortunately we all have to think about more and more.”
       “I think at this point it’s actually going to need to be a bit higher than that, because the $1,000 a month is enough for baseline needs for at least most of us, but the economy is going to become even more inhuman and punishing, both during this crisis and afterwards.”
      “… I’d be looking at something higher than $1,000 a month that would be more robust & helping people not just be able to meet their needs, but also have a real path forward.”
        “we’re going to be dealing with the consequences of this crisis for years to come, and we need a Marshal Plan style initiative to rebuild the country… helping create that vision for what America in 2022, 2023, is going to look like after we have a vaccine in place.”
         March 31 2020, Business Insider: “RESTAURANT APOCALYPSE: More than 110,000 restaurants expect to close up forever in the coming weeks, with millions out of work and the industry’s future uncertain.”
        And while the Amazonification of our economy ploughs full steam ahead, independent shops and services are pounded into dust, while public services are shut down, opening the door for further privatization. While prepping the citizenry for coming and required “certifications”, the deliberate and violent contraction of the economy continues. The decimation of small enterprise with monetary wealth directed, again, upward. McDonald’s, Starbucks and Walmart (“essential services”) remain open while small business is forced to remain closed. On April 13 2020, Amazon announced they would hire Amazon will hire an additional 75,000 workers to keep up with its soaring volume of online sales.

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I Believe.

       Wouldn’t we have a more sane and honest society if all those religious believers in positions of power would declare their beliefs before asking us to trust them with making decisions that will affect our lives. Since we live in a so called Christian country, I refer to those believing Christians that sit in the corridors of power holding sway over our lives. Before standing for office they should perhaps start with, “I believe there is a man in the sky and I talk to him on a regular basis and he guides me in my decisions”, “I believe that a man was crucified and died, then some days later rose up and spoke to us, before floating up in the sky.” “I believe that a virgin woman gave birth to a son, and he went on to raise the dead.” “I believe that a woman who looked back at where she was running from and was immediately turned into a pillar of salt.”. Now that you know my true beliefs, will you vote for me to have power over decisions that will seriously impact on you and your loved ones?
     Instead of this honesty, they shroud their true beliefs in platitudes of morality and ethics, talk of making rational decisions and following the science. Of course Christians are not alone in this duplicity, it is part and parcel of all those in power who hold to any one of a myriad of fantasies called religious faiths. Of course there are a few in power who more open and honest believers, like Mike Pompeo, who openly believes in the rapture, this is when their man in the sky will come down and lift all the true believes up to heaven with him, and leave all those nasty none-believers to rot in hell. No wonder duplicity and insanity reigns in our society, Ah, if only the human was an honest and sane creature, or perhaps we were less gullible. 

 

A to Z of Religions

Acclaim Arrogant Absolutes.
Bellow Bygone Beliefs.
Casuist Cackling Cabal.
Deadly Divine Dogma.
Embellish Earlier Errors.
Form Fearful Fundamentalists.
Gaily Gabble Gehenna.
Hype Holy Hate.
Ignorantly Idolise Illusion.
Justify Judgmental Jargon.
Knowingly Kindle Kulturkampf.
Lambaste Liberal Learning.
Machiavellian Mind Moulding.
Narrate Nescient Nostrum.
Obligatory Obnoxious Obfuscation.
Peremptory Pestiferous Panjandrum.
Quickly Quell Querists.
Redundant Reactionary Rants.
Suppress Scholastic Scepticism.
Totally Trammel Tolerance.
Ululate Useless Utterances.
Vaticinate Vicious Vengeance.
Wailing Wearisome Waffle.
Extol Excessive Exaltation.
Y? Y? Y?
Zany Zealous Zealots.

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Organise.

          In this cesspool of an economic system, organised and managed by corrupt and repressive state apparatus, to cross, uninvited, one of their imaginary lines called borders, places you in the category of a no-human, a being devoid of rights, driven to live in the margins, to be invisible just to survive, or end up in one of the thousands of concentration camps dotted around the world. There you will be brutalised, devoid of basic rights, hygiene and health care, cramped into grossly overcrowded conditions, subject to arbitrary beatings. Because of the human desire for decency and freedom, these conditions inevitably lead to drastic measures by the imprisoned, in an attempt to end their pain and anguish. Hence the burning of the Moria concentration camp on the island of Lesbos, and similar actions in other camps across the globe. Desperate actions to try and alleviate desperate conditions.
      If only we the ordinary people were as well organised as our exploiters and oppressors, you have to hand it to them, they come together, discuss and organise and then ruthlessly carry out their grand plans. You have the World Bank, the IMF, Davos World Economic Forum, Bilderberg Group, then you have their International Arms Fairs where all and sundry of the power club come together to display their latest means of control and domination and offer them to the highest bidder. Then you have these imaginary lines called borders to be taken care of, so the experts on surveillance and border control mechanisms, all come together to discuss how they can tighten the controls of those imaginary lines, this year there will be one of these meetings of authoritarians in Athens, 24th.-26th. November. If we organised as they do, we would win hands down, as there are much more of us than there is of them, we could destroy this brutal insanity of a system and replace it with fairness, justice, freedom and sustainability, freed from the shackles of profit, endless wars, borders and the illusion of perpetual growth creating a structure that sees to the needs of all our people. Let's try.

The following from Act For Freedom Now:

PDF

 

Poster spread in Athens in Greek & English

 Camps are for burning…
           Inhabitants of the Moria refugee hell on the Island of Lesbos recently gave the most honest and firm response to the war that is waged against them by the European states. Arson within the camp caused two nights of fires finally leading to its total destruction. Faced with prison conditions some chose for a direct and non-negotiated attack. In Moria a completely unbearable situation was all these years imposed as normality by those in power. Intimidation was part of its management.
         Administrative blackmail was part of its management. Beatings were part of its management. Humiliation was part of its management. Starvation was part of its management. The refugee camp of Moria continuously showed us the uncovered face of the system we are all living in.
       Reminding us in harsh ways that people become dispensable once they are declared enemies by domination, unwanted by the ruling logic.

The merchants of misery work around the corner
        But in this society the loss of one is the other’s gain. Border control is key in the organization of a society which is based on exploitation and oppression. This control needs to be under constant development to retain some effectiveness. But who is doing this, how and where? A good example is an upcoming conference on the 24th till the 26th of November in the Divani Caravel hotel in Athens (www.world-border-congress.com).
         National and international politicians, high placed representatives of different policing institutions, but also business leaders of the security industry come together to discuss the advancement of the border control complex, of identification and registration, imprisonment and deportation. These are the merchants of misery, building their careers on the backs of imprisoned refugees everywhere, of those hunted and shot against the unwanted. Let us sabotage this gathering and those who participate in it, in all the ways and moments we see fit, using our creativity and determination as our compass.
        Because the fires that were lit in Moria light up our spirits and inspire our actions.

… Down with all borders!

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Toothache.

        Yea, I'm saying it again, Covid19 has been, and still is, the greatest opportunity in a generation for our corporate big boys and those hellbent on privatisation. While the corporate beast slashes away at working conditions and wages, and they gobble up billions of our taxpayers money as a wee helping hand from their friendly government, the privateer mob have been busy grabbing contracts from the NHS via a privatisation oriented government. Just one example, millions spent on crap test and trace contract jamborees, all handed to friends and buddies of the powers that be. If there is taxpayers money to be got rest assured the corporate world will be ahead of the queue with the NHS far down the line, even if it is their field of expertise.
          Not to be out done, your friendly neighbourhood dentist is in there with the grabbing fist. Needing some treatment for that tooth problem, want treated on the NHS, wait outside in the rain, but go private, please have a seat, the dentist will see you shortly. Of course there will be excuses, regulations, costs etc. but that doesn't help your toothache if you wish it to be treated on the NHS.

The following from The Herald:

 

      MORE dentists in Scotland are refusing to treat NHS patients than in England, dental leaders say, leaving many struggling to access even basic check-ups.
       An investigation by the Herald found there is wide variation across Scotland and some confusion over what treatments dentists can or are willing to provide if patients are not private due to the impact of coronavirus.
      Currently only emergency ‘aerosol generating procedures (AGPs) can be provided on the NHS, which for example involve the use of a drill, but there does not seem to be consensus on what treatments are permitted.
        More procedures are available privately because dentists are not governed by the same sanctions and dentists’ leaders say they are able to recoup the costs of enhanced PPE and other safeguards.

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The Military.

        The hypocrisy of the world's states in their chattering about climate change and environmental damage, is blatant and demeaning to any intelligent person. I say "chattering", for that is all they are doing, the murmurings about us having to change our lifestyles, save energy, develop a green economy, are all good and well in their place, but will not solve our problem. Not one state has come up and openly mentioned, or even hinted at, what is knowingly the largest environment destructive process on the planet, if halted would be a revolutionary change for the better for the environment. I refer to the the military, excluding wars, the military with its vast expenditure  and use of vast amounts of the planets resources, its testing and then destruction of old armaments to be replaced with new later super destructive ones send the pollution rate through the roof, with the Pentagon leading the charge. Add to this the endless wars and you have the most destructive force on Earth as far as the environment and its infrastructure are concerned. It is estimated the between 1-6% of the Earth's surface is used for military training, storing and testing, add to this the manufacturing base and the surface decimated by those endless wars, and the picture of the environmental destruction becomes obvious. To save the planet we should be attacking the state and its partners, capitalism and its industrial military complex.

The following from Conflict and Environment Observatory 

Environmental damage before conflicts
        The environmental impact of wars begins long before they do. Building and sustaining military forces consumes vast quantities of resources. These might be common metals or rare earth elements, water or hydrocarbons. Maintaining military readiness means training, and training consumes resources. Military vehicles, aircraft, vessels, buildings and infrastructure all require energy, and more often than not that energy is oil, and energy efficiency is low. The CO2 emissions of the largest militaries are greater than many of the world’s countries combined.
      Militaries also need large areas of land and sea, whether for bases and facilities, or for testing and training. Military lands are believed to cover between 1-6% of the global land surface. In many cases these are ecologically important areas. While excluding public development from these areas can benefit biodiversity, the question of whether they could be better managed as civil protected areas is rarely discussed. Military training creates emissions, disruption to landscapes and terrestrial and marine habitats, and creates chemical and noise pollution from the use of weapons, aircraft and vehicles.----

       A UK battle group training on the British Army Training Area Suffield (BATUS), Alberta Canada. Much of what we know about the potential health and environmental risks from the residues of weapons come from training ranges, with very little data from conflict contexts. Now commonly used explosives are under increasing scrutiny thanks to civil chemicals legislation. Credit: Ministry of Defence 

AND:

Environmental damage during conflicts
       The environmental impact of conflicts themselves vary greatly. Some international armed conflicts may be brief but highly destructive. Some civil wars may last for decades but be fought at low intensity. Many contemporary conflicts have blurred the lines, lasting years but with sustained periods of high intensity warfare. Who is fighting, where they’re fighting and how they’re fighting all strongly influence the environmental impact of a conflict.
      High intensity conflicts require and consume vast quantities of fuel, leading to massive CO2 emissions and contributing to climate change. Large scale vehicle movements can lead to widespread physical damage to sensitive landscapes and geodiversity, as can the intensive use of explosive ordnance. The use of explosive weapons in urban areas creates vast quantities of debris and rubble, which can cause air and soil pollution. Pollution can also be caused by damage to light industry and environmentally sensitive infrastructure such as water treatment plants. The loss of energy supplies can have reverberating effects that are detrimental to the environment, shutting down treatment plants or pumping systems, or can lead to the use of more polluting fuels or domestic generators.----

Debris and rubble in Mosul in 2018. The city was left with at least 8 million tonnes of rubble. Unless managed properly, the disposal of post-conflict rubble and debris can create new environmental problems. Credit Hassan Partow/UNEP

Read the full article HERE: 

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Covid Gains.

      I keep repeating myself, this pandemic has been seized upon by the state and the corporate world. The state has seen this a an opportunity to increase population control, introducing a raft of measures, usually without any parliamentary scrutiny, which will be modified rather than eliminated, attempting to get people into a more receptive mode and more acceptable to total surveillance, scrutiny and a submissive attitude. While the corporate world grasp this as an opportunity to slash at workers wages and working conditions, while at the same time having billions of taxpayers money poured into their already well filled coffers. To the state and the big boys in the corporate world, covid19 has been a win-win situation. Only the concerted effort of the people can turn this round to an opportunity for the people to change that old normal, into a new normal that puts the people at the heart of fair and just society that sees to the needs of all our people and doesn't kneel before the altar off the economy and profit.

 Columbian mine.

This from LabourStart:

        Once again, a company has taken advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic to attack workers' rights. This time, it's coal miners in Colombia who have had to go on strike. Workers at the Cerrejón coal mine are in the middle of bitter dispute with three multinational mining companies, Anglo American, BHP and Glencore.
When the pandemic broke out back in February the union, in good faith, withdrew its list of demands and suspended collective bargaining negotiations.
        When negotiations resumed in July, the company refused to respond to the union proposals, and instead demanded concessions in rights and benefits. Then the company unilaterally announced a radical shift change roster, without consulting the union and in violation of Colombian law. The new shift roster, which workers call the 'death shift' will lead to the loss of 2,500 direct and indirect jobs, will require workers to work an additional 72 days a year for the same wage, will cause turmoil in workers' family lives and will lead to an increase in fatigue and thus an increase in accidents. The company has boycotted the government labour ministry’s facilitation to end the strike, now in its fourth week.
        The union in Colombia and IndustriALL global union have a launched an online campaign on LabourStart in support of the miners. Please take a moment to show your support - click here.
       And please don't forget our campaign in support of miners in Ukraine, who have taken their fight for justice underground - into the mines. Learn more and show your support here. 

Ukraine striking miners.

 

       Please share this message with your friends, family and fellow union members. 

 

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US Imperialism.

         An accepted fact, the American imperial empire distorts, circumvents and over rules justice in country after country. It is the pattern of empires through the centuries, its citizens are seen as superior to those of other countries. That attitude usually persists even after empires have lost a lot of their power, this manifests itself in the state's attitude to migrants and other facets including that disease called patriotism.

The following from Struggle-la-lucha:

 

        All of Jennifer Laude’s friends called her “Ganda” or “Beauty” in Filipino. Laude’s friends described her as selfless, generous and confident about her sexuality. She was murdered for being a transwoman, and her murderer was never brought to justice because of the neocolonial relationship between the U.S. and the Philippines.
         On Oct. 11, 2014, a custodial worker found Jennifer Laude dead in a motel bathroom, naked, her head shoved in a toilet, with strangle marks on her neck. Earlier that night, Joseph Scott Pemberton, a 19-year-old U.S. Marine, brought Jennifer to a motel in Olongapo City after meeting her at a bar. The doctor who performed the autopsy testified that she was beaten, strangled and drowned to death.
        Over a year later, on the first day of December 2015, Pemberton was found guilty of homicide, not murder, and was sentenced to 6 to 12 years in prison, later reduced to a maximum of 10 years.
        Because of the Visiting Forces Agreement between the Philippines and the U.S., Pemberton remained in U.S. custody throughout the trial proceedings, and spent his prison time on a U.S. military base, rather than in a Philippine prison.
         On Sept. 8, 2020, only five years into his sentence, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte granted Pemberton an absolute pardon. Days later, Pemberton was deported back to the U.S. Recent reports say that he is now stationed in Hawai’i.
         LGBTQ2S rights organization Bahagari released the following statement condemning Duterte’s pardon:
         “Pemberton violently murdered our sister, transwoman Jennifer Laude, six years ago. Even with the admission of his brutal, hateful killing, the courts upheld that Pemberton’s conviction was to be commuted from murder to homicide, for which he was sentenced to 6 to 12 years of imprisonment. That alone was a massive slap to Jennifer’s family and the movement for justice for our slain sister.
         “The feeble conviction set a terrible precedent for the LGBTQ+ community and the Filipino people: under the VFA, if a U.S. soldier brutally murders a transgender woman on Philippine soil, they would ultimately roam free after as little as six years of incarceration.
         “In Pemberton’s case, it was ‘incarceration’ in an exclusive Joint U.S. Military Assistance Group compound inside Camp Aguinaldo, where only American personnel and Philippine officials with clearance may enter. It is no stretch to assert that Pemberton has, in fact, been serving ‘jail time’ comfortably, at ease and with impunity.
         “Pemberton’s release is two-pronged. Firstly, it represents the unfettered violence and injustice the LGBTQ+ community continues to face. Moreover, it symbolizes the Philippine government’s continued submission to U.S. imperialism. Justice for Jennifer cannot exist without both being decisively ended.
           “Duterte suspended the VFA’s termination in exchange for military aid from the U.S., and for its support of the Anti-Terrorism Law. The VFA and ATL are, in fact, quid pro quo for continuing U.S. military aid for Duterte.
           “Hence, we assert that the Visiting Forces Agreement, which has enabled and exacerbated injustice for Jennifer Laude to the greatest extent and which continues to serve as Duterte’s offering in his ploy for continued U.S. assistance, must be finally abolished to bring justice for our slain sister.”

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

System Fail.

      The third episode of "System Fail" has just been released, it takes you through the Portland riots, to the people's response to the Belarusian cesspool of corruption and tyranny presided over by President Alexander Lukashenko 

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Misery.

   

      I found the article ‘The Rebellions of Misery’ by Gustavo Rodriguez extremely interesting and very informative. Taking history and portraying it like a long string with lots of knots along its length, which we have to untie. Though quite long, I consider it well worth a read in full. After all trying to understand what and why people will finally rebel, what is the trigger, what is the spark that will ignite the fire, and what direction will it burn, is always the enigma we have to solve.

 

 
The following is a short extract from Act For Freedom Now:

‘The Rebellions of Misery’ by Gustavo Rodriguez

The rebellions of misery.
      “All control systems are based on the punishment/award binomial. When punishments are disproportionate to rewards and when employers no longer have any rewards left, uprisings occur.”
Burroughs(1)
      In the second decade of this century, urban revolts are becoming more frequent throughout the global geography, with subtle variations in duration and intensity. Hong Kong, France, Algeria, Iraq, Haiti, Lebanon, Catalonia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Sudan, Chile, Belarus, and now the United States of America, have been the sites of massive protests widely reported in the means of mass domestication. As I have pointed out on other occasions, these demonstrations have very particular motivations that explain them; however, it is indisputable that they all possess an intangible link that serves as a common denominator of most of these mobilizations: the weariness and rage of despair.
        Far from the leftist rhetoric that insists against all evidence that “as long as there is misery there will be rebellion”, what has really motivated the recent rebellions has not been “misery” but the conjunction of weariness and despair. These two factors – which drive the nostalgia for the “devil you know” and yearn for the return to the welfare state, to industrial capitalism and to the society of labour – are the causes of the widespread unrest that has led to the global revolt of our days.
        It is increasingly axiomatic that “misery” only produces “misery”. That is to say, servitude, begging and even the loss of all dignity. As the proverb goes, “hunger is a bad counsellor”. She is the mother of all those specimens that hang a sign around their neck that says “I will do any work” (even for the SS, as George Steiner reminds us). Therefore, instead of creating rebels and refusers, misery breeds disease, malnutrition, mortality, fear, sexual exploitation, corruption, soldiers, police, informants and voters: human misery.
         This is why misery is exalted by the left, knowing that the future is fattened in its jaws, as that is where future votes are counted. All we have to do is to consign some “prizes” and, to state abracadabra: the corpse-like clientele will remain guaranteed for a relatively long period of time, until “there are no more prizes” (Burroughs dixit) and the uprisings return.

 Read the full article HERE:

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A Shed.

        Derek Mahon, (Born November 23rd. 1941, Belfast-Died October 1st. 2020 Cork.) poet, weaver of words, shaper of thoughts, profuse in output, honours in multitudes, a man who turned words into artists paint brushes and saw life in all its facets as his pallete, has just recently died. My humble tribute to this magician of words is to post the last verse of his poem
       

 A Disused Shed in Co, Wexford: 

They are begging us, you see, in their wordless way,

To do something, to speak on their behalf

Or at least not to close the door again.

Lost people of Treblinka and Pompeii!

‘Save us, save us,’ they seem to say,

‘Let the god not abandon us

Who have come so far in darkness and in pain.

We too had our lives to live.

You with your light meter and relaxed itinerary,

Let not our naive labours have been in vain!’

 

 

Wikipedia: Derek Mahon, Moscow 2010.

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

B(A)D News.

 

  The latest episode of B(A)D news from A-Radio Berlin;

 In this episode you will hear contributions from:
      1. Radiofragmata (Athens, Greece) on direct actions, environmental struggles and the upcoming anniversary of the death of Pavlos Fyssas. One of his songs is featured at the end of their segment. Rest In Power Killah P!
      2. The Anarchist Radio Berlin in conversation with comrades from the “Burning Arks” collective, discussing solidarity work around a police operation not so well known outside of Spain, called “Operation Ark”, which took place in May of 2019.
     3. Dissident Island Radio from London with a short roundup of union wins, animal action, eco-wars and acab ammo from a largely wet august on the steadily sinking ship that is the so called United Kingdom.
     4. Radiozones of Subversive Expression contribute reports about the fire that recently devastated the Moria refugee camp and the evacuation of the Rosa Nera squat.
   5. Frequenz A with a short report about the ongoing struggle against gentrification in Leipzig (Germoney).
      6. Free Social Radio 1431AM from Thessaloniki with updates about the eviction of Terra Incognita squat, the invasion of cops in Libertatia squat and comrades in hunger strike and the martyr Ebru Timtik in Turkey.

 
Listen HERE:

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