Sparrows.

         It is always sad when a comrade dies, an action fades, a gap appears and memories flood in, but soon the action resurges, the gap is filled and the memories are cherished, that's the nature of anarchism. This from The Sparrows Nest, an archive, like Spirit of Revolt collects store and digitises the history of anarchists, anarchism and libertarian socialists history and literature, and makes it easily and freely available on the internet. I have no doubt the Sparrows nest  will miss Chris, but will continue from strength to strength doing what they do with a passion. 

 Sparrows Nest <sparrowsnestlibrary@gmail.com>

To sparrownews

Hello,

      With great sadness do we report on the death of our dear friend and comrade Chris Richardson, committed Socialist, proud fighter for LGBTQ+ liberation, accomplished historian and author of A City of Light. Chris was also a very generous and active supporter of the Sparrows’ Nest, and e.g. helped to compile our collections of local LGBTQ+ papers.

He is greatly missed.

       Please find his obituary on the website of People’s Histreh, and attached to this email.

       Chris’ life and legacy will not be forgotten anytime soon. Not only do so many people cherish vivid memories of him, he also left a rich trove of published and unpublished records. He is exactly the kind of person future students of history will stumble upon long after we have all gone too, just as he rediscovered so many amazing people and captured echoes of their lives and struggles. We will work to make those future historians’ work easier, and hope you can help them too.

        If you want to share any documents, photographs, audio andl/or visual records and not least your personal stories of Chris, please contact: info@thesparrowsnest.org.uk

       In light of the Covid-19 crisis, Chris’ partner Richard McCance and several close friends have decided to hold an event celebrating Chris’ life at a time when people can get together again without undue risk.

      If you wish to take part in the preparations or to be kept up to date with those plans, please contact: info@thesparrowsnest.org.uk

Thank you and stay safe

A Sparrow

Sparrows Nest <sparrowsnestlibrary@gmail.com>
to sparrownews

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

Forest Fires.

       So many injustices, so many inequalities, causing so many mass protests, like forest fires across the globe, perhaps the spark of one will leap across and ignite another area and our world will be ablaze with passion, burning all those injustices turning to ashes all those inequalities. Certainly we will never see a planet at peace as long as we allow to exist an economic system that spawns inequality, injustice and poverty for the many while lavishing pampered privilege on the few.

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. 

       At least 30 protesters were detained during big pro-democracy demonstrations in Peru, with multiple reports of heavy-handed treatment of largely peaceful attendees. The health ministry reported two protesters were killed and more than 30 people were being treated for injuries on Saturday after nearly a week of unrest over the controversial removal of Martín Vizcarra as president.
      Vizcarra's replacement by a de facto government is seen by many Peruvians as a coup and people have demanded the resignation of Manuel Merino, the former speaker of congress who was sworn in as president on Tuesday
Peru's president Martín Vizcarra ousted in impeachment vote
Two killed as huge pro-democracy protests continue in Peru

And:

       Thousands of protesters rallied for a second day in Bangkok to condemn police use of teargas and chemical-laced water cannon jets against them. Demonstrators gathered outside the national police headquarters, hurling blue and yellow paint and spraying graffiti fiercely critical of the country's king. More than 50 people were injured during the violent clashes with police earlier in the week sparking calls for changes to the constitution, reform of the monarchy and the removal of the prime minister

• Thai PM threatens to use 'all laws' against pro-democracy protesters

And:

         A black man has died after being beaten by supermarket security guards in the city of Porto Alegre on the eve of Black Consciousness Day. Videos of the incident circulated on social media and have sparked outrage and protests across Brazil, with people entering Carrefour supermarkets and demanding justice for Freitas

Protests erupt in Brazil after black man dies after being beaten outside supermarket

And:

       Belarus police have arrested more than 200 people in the capital, Minsk, during the latest anti-government protests ignited by a disputed presidential election in August, human rights activists have said. Thousands took to the streets on Sunday, and police used stun grenades to disperse crowds, several Belarusian media outlets reported.

And:

        Thousands of people have staged the biggest protest yet against Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei, with some setting fire to Congress, fuelled by anger over cuts in the 2021 budget as the country reels from back-to-back storms.

And:

         Thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets of Paris on Saturday to protest a proposed new law that would criminalise the dissemination of images of police officers. Protesters gathered on the Esplanade of Human Rights at the Trocadéro, chanting "Liberty!" and carrying placards saying: "No to the police state".

And:

       Large crowds protested in Berlin against the German government's push to enshrine coronavirus restrictions into an existing law. Police intervened as the crowds sought to approach the parliament.

And:

         Tens of thousands of people marched through Australian cities and towns for Black Lives Matter protests on Saturday, defying an attempt from the police to ban one demonstration through the courts and despite pleas from the prime minister and state leaders for people to stay home.

And:

        Over 3,000 primary school teachers clashed with police in the second week of protests over hiring reforms. Teachers in Athens demonstrated on Monday against government plans to change the hiring system for the public sector. Protesters held banners that read: "Permanent hirings now!"

And and and and and ---

 

 

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

I Am--.

 

       It is difficult to find a patch on this plundered planet where the general public are not in open protest against the privileged parasites that hold the reins of power. Poverty, injustice, inequality, deprivation, exploitation, homelessness and wars, scar the face of our planet and we the general public carry that burden on our backs, but the righteous anger of the ordinary people is rising on a dally basis and rightly so. Bubbling below the surface for many years with periodic explosions, that anger is now becoming open and common place. Those who take to the streets to right these scars of inhumanity that burden the ordinary people, must have our solidarity and support, this struggle is the struggle of all the people for the benefit of all our people.

I AM THE CROWD.

I am the crowd
I swim in the quagmire of poverty
its hooks, its barbs, tear my flesh
rupture my dreams,
I hold my breath for centuries
hoping to break through, gasp pure air.
Through the murky mire
I see bright things, shiny things, sparkle
I see women in fine dresses, men in silk shirts.
I ask myself,
why do I swim in this cesspool?
I want the light and warmth of rectitude
to caress my labouring body,
seeds of my dreams to bloom
like wild flowers in a meadow.
One day, I will use my boundless strength
to haul this torn, battered being
out of the morass
onto the warm grassy bank,
when I do;
woe betide you, women in fine dresses
woe betide you mister in your fine silk shirt
should you ever try to get in my way,
for I am the strength of the world,
I am the crowd.

The following from Act For Freedom Now:

 

       Anarchists have always stood up against tyranny and dictatorship. Regardless of the color of the flag, raised by authoritarianism over this or that corner of the planet. So it is not surprising that anarchists are actively involved in the uprising against the dictator Lukashenko in Belarus. From the very first days, with our determination and uncompromising attitude, we showed that anarchism is a revolutionary movement capable of changing the world!
       During the uprising, many of our comrades ended up in prison. Now at least 10 anarchists and antifascists are serving administrative arrests. In addition, 10 anarchists and 4 anti-fascists are waiting for criminal courts, punishment for some of them reaches 20 years in prison.
       We call on you to join the week of solidarity and show by action your support for revolutionary anarchists and antifascists fighting against the occupation regime of Lukashenko! Every action counts!
      Send reports on the actions and activities to the post email of ABC-Belarus belarus_abc@riseup.net.
      Financial support can be send through ABC-Belarus (https://abc-belarus.org/?p=13136) or crowdfunding campaign (https://www.firefund.net/belarus).
Details of political affairs
     Since the beginning of the protest about 40 of our comrades have been detained and sentenced on administrative cases. Some of them later became defendants in criminal cases. Without waiting for their arrest, they decided to leave Belarus. Many activists are now forced to hide from persecution in Belarus and abroad.
The case of anti-fascists “MTZ-RIPO”
      Anti-fascists Vitaliy Shishlov, Tamaz Pipiya, Timur Pipiya and Denis Boltut were arrested after protests against Lukashenko’s secret inauguration in October this year. About 5 thousand people took part in protests throughout Minsk. Minor clashes with rioters took place in some parts of the city. According to the investigation, anti-fascists took part in them. Moreover, two of them were also charged with organizing mass riots. All anti-fascists are now waiting for trial in the pre-trial detention center.
The case of the Belarusian anarcho-partisans
      On October 22 in Soligorsk administrative building of State committee of forensic examination was attacked and cars were set on fire at the parking of prosecutor’s office of Soligorsk district. On the night of October 28 a building of traffic police department of Mozyrsky district was set on fire. Soon anarchists Ihar Alinevich, Dzmitry Dubovsky, Dzmitry Rezanovich and Sergey Romanov were detained on the territory of Belarus near the Ukrainian border.
The activists are accused of terrorist activity and illegal trafficking in weapons and explosives. At present, everyone is in the KGB jail in Minsk.
The case of Mikalai Dziadok
Anarchist and blogger Mikalai Dziadok was detained late in the evening of November 11 in a safe house near Minsk. After his arrest Dedok was beaten for several hours and forced to give passwords to the encrypted equipment.
The investigation believes that Dziadok repeatedly called for illegal actions on his Internet pages, including participation in protests and resistance to the cops. Dziadok himself was forced to go underground even before the revolution because of the threat of political persecution.
The case of Igor Banzer
Anarchist, antifascist and musician Igor Banzer was detained on October 20 in Grodno. He was charged under part 1 of article 339 (hooliganism) for performance in front of a cop car. Before that, he had been repeatedly detained at protest actions.
Akihiro Khanada-Gaevsky, Alexander Franzkevich, Maria Rabkova, Andrei Chepiuk, and Ivan Krasovsky were also detained for organizing, participating in, and financing mass riots. You can learn more about them on our website: https://abc-belarus.org/?paged=3&cat=3

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

Screw You.

        So now the wee hints are being dropped, with the Chancellor stating that hard times are ahead, suggesting a freeze on public sector wages, the inevitable cut to services and an increase in taxes, he did however, say that there would be no return to "austerity". Though in my book if it looks like austerity, smells like austerity and hurts the general public like austerity, then it is austerity. Having handed the large corporations and their business buddies, billions of pounds in handouts, and handed out lucrative health related contracts to non-health business pals, they now turn round and tell you and I, that we are the ones who will have to pay back all that money to the money lenders of the financial Mafia, apparently it is "our" debt. You have to hand it to them for their blatant two fingers to the public, while announcing these pictures of a brutal future of wage freezes, increase taxes for us, he has just announced the largest increase in military spending since the cold war. They know whose side their on, do we?

      Their sacred economy is all that matters, big business corporations must be rescued and protected come what may, as for small businesses, they can go to hell in a handcart and the public can go with them. Welcome to state/corporate fascism.

Thanks Loam for the link: Sick Britain's Orwellian Dystopia.

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

Facts?

     I get confused with the info that keeps coming out about the covid19 pandemic, so many graphs, figures and opinions. We here in the UK are being told that our government is handling the pandemic as best as possible, "following the science", then we get the dreadful state of America with the Trump gang not bothering too much about the pandemic. We hear of the dreadful statistics coming out of that patch on the planet. However, a look at some of the statistics and I sort of gasped, as for deaths per million of population we are doing worse than America. Unless I'm reading the data wrong, this is an indictment of the gross negligence, lying and criminality  of our Boris brigade. The data also points to the disturbing fact that Europe, as a whole, is doing worse than America as far as deaths per million of population.

Data from Statista:

 

        To those who still refer to it as some kind of flu, comparing these deaths with the range of flu deaths according to World Health Organisation figures, Covid19 vastly dwarfs flu figures.

       The WHO estimates that between 290,000 and 650,000 respiratory deaths globally each year are associated with seasonal influenza.
       At the time of writing this article in March, Public Health England told Full Fact it estimated that on average 17,000 people have died from the flu in England annually between 2014/15 and 2018/19 - with the yearly deaths varying widely from a high of 28,330 in 2014/15 to a low of 1,692 in 2018/19.

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Remember.

      Two dates that are enshrined in the minds of the people of Greece, one is the 1973 student uprising that preceded the overthrow of the Greek Military Junta, and the more recent brutal event on December 6th 2008 when 15 year old Alexandros Grigoropoulos while out in Exarcheia having a coffee with with his friend, was shot by a Greek police officer, he died on the street in the arms of his 15 year friend Nikos Ramanos. Both these dates are marked by mass gatherings in Greece. Just prior to these events, the Greek government introduce a ban on gatherings of more than 3 people. The following report, shows some of the response by the people to this dictatorial measure. 

 

15 year old Alexis Grigoropoulos, 15 year victim of police murder.

 

Nikos Romanos being arrested some years after the police murder of his friend Alexis.
 

 

 

The following report was lifted from Anarchist-Communism site

Stratos Moraitis shared a link.

[Video] Riot in Athens
        The Orwellian ban on gatherings of more than 3 people leads to riots all over Greece.
       17 November 2020: On the day commemorating the bloodied student revolt against the dictatorship back in 1973, this is how the right-wing government in Greece honored the dead of the fascist regime. By banning all gatherings of more than 3 people, something that has happened in Greece for the first time in its modern history, on the 21 April 1967 when there was a fascist military coup d'état and on 17 November 1973 during a student revolt against the military junta of that same regime.
       The banning of public gatherings of more than 3 people on that particular day, (and on the 6th of December on the day commemorating the revolt that occurred back in 2008 following the murder of a 15 years old by a cop at Exarcheia in Athens), during the 9 months of the pandemic awoke memories of a fascist regime creating an incomprehensible precedent of banning protests. It is obvious to the people that the banning of public gatherings was imposed with one and only aim. To ban protests. While for 9 months since the pandemic other places around the world were preparing for the 2nd more dangerous and lethal wave of the pandemic, by strengthening their public health systems, hiring more doctors and nurses, setting up new hospitals and Intensive Care Units, the neoliberal right-wing government in Greece chose to hire thousands of policemen (true fact) and to provide the Mass Media with free money to promote the government’s propaganda. Hiring cops instead of doctors and nurses during a deadly pandemic! Imagine that!
      Faced with the complete incompetence of the greek government to handle the pandemic and a direct attack on people’s rights, many all over Greece defied the banning of public gatherings and symbolically took to the streets taking all health precautions, to protest, wearing masks and keeping distances (as it can be clearly seen in the video). These people were not anti maskers or anything of that sort. The essence of anarchism and communism is based on the notion that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.
      And then the greek government and the police showed their true face. As it can be seen in the video, while all health precautions were being taken by the protesters, scores of policemen ruthlessly launched an attack with batons, flash-bang grenades, asphyxiating gas, water cannons and dozens of police bikers chasing protesters for many kilometres. The idiotic paradox of power. They injured and asphyxiated people to protect their health!
       Similar scenes like in the video above, (shot by @kinimatini on Twitter) took place all over Athens and other greek cities and towns. And yet in an Orwellian new life, as it is now being formulated by those power, people still managed to break the wall of fear being built around their lives, and take back the streets to show that this is going to be a long battle.

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

Savage State.

      We can never give enough publicity to the real conditions in prisons across the world, there can be no civilised method of imprisoning people, the whole idea of incarceration of humans is inhumane and a barbaric aspect of a degraded human mind.  Added to the sadistic process of locking people up in cages, is the brutal arbitrary violence, gross overcrowding and total lack of human duty of care, lack necessary facilities, and inadequate medical treatment, even more so during this pandemic.

    Of course the state and its mouthpieces will always paint the opposite picture, first demonising the individuals that happen to get sucked into their loaded judicial system and end up incarcerate in these cages of repression. Secondly, they will put out propaganda trying to create the illusion that life in their cages is one of ease, comfort, with modern facilities and due care of prisoners, and lots of programs to make those unfortunate individuals, "better people". We are also fed, via the media a series of "entertainment" programs showing prisons as places of calm and camaraderie between prisons and their cage keepers, citadels of of dialogue and compassion, the old UK program of "Porridge" springs to mind. We have to keep shouting the truth about these inhumane cages and the true reason for their existence, they are there to protect the powerful and wealthy privileged parasites, who hold the reins of power in this economic system, and control all aspects of our lives. Prisons must be crushed and the parasite class abolished before human dignity can flourish.

 

 

The following from Act For Freedom Now:

Greece :A letter from Polykarpos Georgiadis about the situation in the Greek prisons
         In recent months the far right neoliberal government has launched a tempest of propaganda on prisons through the controlled media aimed at creating a deformed narrative on the prison situation, thereby favouring a methodical abolition of the rights conquered with the blood of the prisoners themselves. These are not rights conferred by some merciful government but conquests that were won through hard struggles, revolts, torture, hunger strikes, privations.
        In this propaganda campaign, the prisons are being presented almost as places of rest and leisure, with luxury cells and services, in the same way that the junta of the colonels presented the places of confinement. They were ridiculous to the point that they even indicated kettles, small speakers, USBs with music and films, etc. as luxury articles. But instead of calling up the various chiefs of the prison guards such as Aravantinos and the various robocops, who give a false image of prisons, journalists should make the effort to go into the prison wings themselves to see the real conditions of life in person. Of course the image shown by the media is distorted and misleading. The reality is completely different. Thousands of people are literally crammed up in disgusting buildings, in inhuman shameful conditions of detention. Obviously, this is nothing new for Greek prisons. However, in the current conditions of pandemic the situation is even more dreadful. Not only are the conditions of detention still deplorable, but no substantial health measures have been adopted to protect the health of prisoners, who continue to be piled into cells that are becoming the antechambers of coffins. The prisons are filling up each day more and more and are on the verge of collapse, at the same time as the government – through the ever-available media – are publicizing a “spectacular fall in criminal delinquency”.
        How do you explain this paradox: reducing criminality and filling up the prisons. And this is happening in Greece, whereas even authoritarian regimes have decongested their prisons, releasing thousands of prisoners. At the same time the government is making a fool of prisoners by publishing COVID-19 instructions and advising them not to have gatherings! In the Greek prisons, instead of adopting basic health measures, the ministry of public order prefers prohibitions and the imposition of repressive measures that make prisoners’ lives even more difficult. All permits have been cancelled, visits with third parties abolished and days for closed visits have been reduced instead of increasing them to avoid crowding of relatives and friends in waiting areas. The example of Corfu’s jails is absolutely indicative. Instead of taking health measures, the authorities preferred to block prisoners, sentencing them to death while waiting for EODY [national organization of prevention and public health] to wake up after a week and proceed with prescribed tests.
       This policy is obviously murderous and some have chosen the role of hangman for themselves. In the face of these destructive and inhuman conditions it is necessary, inside and outside the prison hells, to develop a wide movement of solidarity that demands the immediate decongestion of prisons, the provision of dignified conditions of life, and medical care as well as visits by doctors to check (and not the Ministry of Public Order) measures taken to protect the prisoners’ health, doing mass testing, the free administration of antiseptics and face masks, the immediate lifting of repressive measures and their replacement with aequate health measures against the pandemic.
       P.S. 1. Shortly before publication of this text, new repressive measures were announced by the ministry, clearly revealing the inhumanity and depravation of its leader, M. Chrysochoidis. So, all visits have been cancelled indefinitely, thus intensifying the social and family isolation of prisoners; all transfers to hospitals for health reasons have been suspended, thus endangering the very lives of prisoners and, finally, all educational services and therapeutic activities have been stopped. The only certainty is that they want us dead. But, you reap what you sow – who sows wind reaps a tempest.
        P.S. 2. I send my solidarity to comrade Costas Sakkas who started a hunger strike on 9th November demanding his transfer to Korydallos for reasons of study.
Polykarpos Georgiadis
Prison of Larissa

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

Litter Louts.

         I can hear you all saying, there he goes again, with his boring, "we need more anarchist papers on the street." but we do, it is the best way to get our ideas and actions into the hands and minds of those that I call, with no offence intended, that great apolitical apathetic horde, we must reach to change society to that better world for all. That mass of people who would never think of going to an anarchist site on social media, but might take a free paper from someone on the street.
       So with that in mind I'm delighted to post info about another free anarchist paper you can download, distribute or throw from the top of buildings, your choice, it's the latest issue, Anathema, Volume 6, issue 7.

A Philadelphia Anarchist Periodical

Volume 6 Issue 7 (PDF for reading 8.5 x 11)
Volume 6 Issue 7 (PDF for printing 11 x 17)

In this issue:

What Went Down
Repression Update
White Supremacy & The World’s Destruction
Heating Up & Cooling Down
Balancing & Burning Out
Armed Struggle
Living In Fast Times
Decentralized Action
Nigerian Revolt
West Philly Vs The Proud Boys
Sick Ass Poster

         So come on, let's be litter louts and throw our papers everywhere, on the streets, in the workplace, leave our papers lying around on buses, trains  and pubs, anywhere that you think people might just pick them up.

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

Same Old.

       With the Trump Biden farce still gurgling along, we should remember that America is not just Trump and Biden, across that country, I suppose as in other countries, there are lots of little Trumps and Bidens fashioning their own authoritarian wet-dreams. Lots of states across America are merrily passing legislation restricting freedom and directing people how they should think, all without any directive from their lashing insane viper leader, in the White House. Lots of anti-abortion, anti-gay banner carriers hold power in states, as well as an army of pro-Zionists under the spell of emperor Benjamin Netanyahu. An army of Zionist groupies in America have been merrily peppering various states legislation with acts to stop any criticism of Israel, and they are not going to disappear when the new Messiah Biden places his posterior on the U$A throne.

The following from Mondoweis: 

Rep. Deborah Silcox introduces Harold Hershberg of Israeli consulate (l, partial image) to Governmental Affairs Committee hearing in Atlanta, GA. March 11, 2020. Screenshot. 

         A Georgia state legislator who has pushed the state law opposing boycotts of Israel testified at a hearing that the Israeli consulate “asked me” to introduce an amendment to the law, and she did. The lawmaker appeared at the hearing in March with an Israeli consular officer seated at her side, and introduced him to the House committee.
      State Rep. Deborah Silcox made her comments a month after Benjamin Netanyahu bragged that Israel was promoting these laws. Netanyahu tweeted on February 12:
       Whoever boycotts us will be boycotted… In recent years, we have promoted laws in most US states, which determine that strong action is to be taken against whoever tries to boycott Israel.
       The Israeli government’s intervention was first reported by the Council on American-Islamic Relations in a March press release. I learned about it from an interview with a lawyer who is suing the state of Georgia, which was posted on Empire Files by journalist Abby Martin last Friday.

Here is the back-story.

      Thirty-two states, including Georgia in 2016, have adopted laws denying state funds to those who advocate boycotting Israel. The U.S. Senate has passed a bill urging other states to do so (The “Combatting BDS Act of 2019”). Last summer the Forward reported that an organization that has helped draft these laws received a grant from the Israeli government.
      In February 2020, Abby Martin was “disinvited… from delivering a keynote speech at an academic conference” at Georgia State University, losing out on a $1000 honorarium, because she refused to sign what she calls an “Israel loyalty oath,” affirming that she would not engage in boycotts against Israel.
     Backed by several groups including the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Martin then sued Georgia State in federal court, saying that it had violated her First Amendment rights by applying the law.

       Will the ascension of Saviour Biden change all that, I doubt it very much. When you look at the "team" he is gathering around him, what you are watching is the forming of a kettle of hawks. So get ready for the big change that will keep everything the same.

 

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

Acceptance.

       Where are we now in this new world wide control system, where have the little freedoms we had gone, where are our choices? We seem to have accepted the state's open prison approach to this pandemic without much of a public discussion. We willingly abandon our right to be involved in formulating the solutions of our problems, to our political ballerinas, with their economic value structure and their sole interpretation of the "science". Now we walk in a world of weariness, fear, confusion and mistrust, pinning our hopes on the big capitalist pharmaceutical companies to come up with the magic bullet, a vaccine. Could it have been different if we the public were involved in helping formulate the solutions, would the economy have outweighed the health and welfare of the people? Too late now, we are where we are, not so, we could still take control of the situation, taking the politics and economy out of the equation, and concentrating on the health and welfare of the people, allowing the experts in the fields of pandemics, public health and medicines to guide us, all free from the weight of saving the economy.
        The following an extract from an interesting article originally in El Critic 

 

Barcelona.

 Translated by Autonomies: 

 

         The social malaise spreads moment by moment. The endless sequence of confinement – de-confinement – re-confinement – is the rope that slowly asphyxiates us. It is the rope that a State, incapable and seized by panic, holds to, to try to impose its new normal. Now we know that the announced new normal is nothing more than the continuation of this nightmare. When it all started, it seemed that we were in a science fiction movie, and that we were masked protagonists. The contained emotion of the first month was made up of fear and relief; the fear of dying and the relief of not having to work. The balconies strove to open up to the sky. Now there are no songs. The slogan “Everything will be fine” sounds even more stupid, and we have learned that we are only the useful fools of a moment in the history of capitalism. The plot can be summed up in a few words: unbridled capitalism – what is usually known as neoliberalism – produces a virus that capitalism itself reuses to control us. In the silence of the night subjected to a curfew, the cry of “Enough!” is heard. We are tired, fed up with so much uncertainty, fed up with so many falsehoods and, above all, fed up with so much arbitrariness.

Read the full article HERE 

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

I Despair.

         When we look around we can all see, poverty and deprivation, we are all aware of the corporate plundering of our planet and the ensuing bloody and violent wars to gain and/or to protect that plunder. We all have seen the evidence that the present economic system is destroying the planet and all life on the planet. We are all witness to the gross inequality, with a privileged few wallowing in obscene opulence, while a teardrop away the many struggle for a decent life, millions die from hunger, across the world, while millions of others find sleep in some dark doorway or back alley. Yet the many still turn up for work, politely go about their business and patiently put up with the advancing Armageddon. Why are we so forgiving, polite and patient? 

 

 

        Why is there no outrage on the streets, why is there no explosion of anger, why do we allow this system to continue to function, knowing full well the ending is death to life on our only home, planet Earth? Is it because we don't care about the future, or what happens to the next generation, our kids and grand-kids? Or is it that most are comatosed by their daily struggle to survive, or hypnotised into a zombie state of acceptance, submissiveness, consumerism, celebrity worship and envy, by an extremely sophisticated culture of subliminal control where reality comes in the form flashy images and fast moving emotional stimulating advertising and government propaganda? Our politeness must be put in abeyance, our patience must end, and our forgiveness withdrawn, and be replaced by our pent up righteous anger and blood red rage, driving our action, it is the only way we can ever hope to stop this dystopian vision becoming our worst nightmare reality. 

 

PROPHET OR DREAMER?

Am I a dreamer?
Ever dazzled by unrisen dawns,
always hearing the song of liberty
though freedom’s flag is torn.
I walk towards a world
no borders, kings or slaves;
history claims the warrior’s hand
peace the crown of bays.
I see the hungry feasting
midst the brotherhood of man;
all the children singing
the fear of famine gone.
I find the common man
hold his brother dear
create a world of social justice,
Elysian fields their sphere.
Freedom’s flag is torn,
quiet is liberty’s song
unrisen suns still to dawn;
prophet,

 Or dreamer born?

 

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Man's Inhumanity.

       This pandemic has brought misery and fear to millions across the planet, but none more so than those incarcerated in the various state's prisons. The conditions in these institutions of state repression are at best brutal and deplorable, added to these conditions has been the covid19 outbreak. This combination of inhumane conditions linked to the spread of the covid19 virus within the prison system has lead to riots in countries across the world, though not always reported. Sometimes the determination for human justice within these state hellholes takes the form of hunger strikes. Recently in Turkey we witnessed the Turkish state let two young prisoners die from the results of hunger strikes, that is not exactly unknown elsewhere. This report from the state of California in America is just another one of those cases where we search for words to describe this unacceptable and inhumane state function. The words from a 1784 dirge by Robert Burns,  "Man was made to mourn", spring to mind, "Man's inhumanity to man".

The following from It's Going Down:

       Perilous Chronicle reports on the ongoing hunger strike at Corcoran prison in Central California. 

 

 photo: Alfaz Sayed

By Ryan Fatica
          In the southern part of California’s Central Valley, about halfway between Bakersfield and Fresno, sits Corcoran, California—a small farming town surrounded on all sides by acres of cotton and tomato fields. Perched at the town’s southern tip are two of the state’s largest prisons. Together, their denizens make up about 33% of the population of Corcoran. One of the facilities, the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility (CSATF), is the state’s single largest, housing 4,481 prisoners, about 130% of its intended capacity.
        At the end of October, in the midst of a rapidly spreading COVID-19 epidemic at the facility, a small group of prisoners in D yard have announced a work stoppage and hunger strike in protest of what they consider to be institution’s “failure to protect” them from the spread of a virus from which they have no means to protect themselves. “I have lost all hope in humanity because of how California and CDCR [California Department of Correction and Rehabilitation] has Failed to Protect individuals like myself,” wrote David S. Cauthen, Jr., 32, a prisoner at CSATF who says he is currently on day 14 of his hunger strike.
        In an email to Perilous, Cauthen explained that the purpose of the protest is to draw attention to the spread of COVID-19 at the facility and to protest staff misconduct. “The primary goal is to set a constitutional standard on CDCR and all of its officers, staff members and medical personnel,” Cauthen wrote. “California and CDCR cannot expect inmates to follow the law as it relates to correctional officers giving orders, while all the while officers are breaking the rules that say CDCR must protect prisoners against any harm to life of themselves.”
        The Corcoran treatment facility is home to the California prison system’s largest active COVID-19 outbreak, with 502 active cases and counting. On Wednesday, the number of positive cases at the facility jumped by almost a hundred in a single day. Of the total number of COVID-19 cases at the facility, 482 have been diagnosed in the last 14 days, according to statistics maintained by the California Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (CDCR).
        There is reason to fear that the true magnitude of the prison’s outbreak is not reflected in these statistics. Estimates of false negatives produced by PCR testing range from 20%-67%, depending on the stage of illness at which patients are tested. In one study, researchers called the rates of false negatives they found “shockingly high.” Given this reality, it is statistically likely that at least 764, or 20%, of the 3,823 prisoners at CSATF tested in the last 14 days were given false negatives. If so, it’s likely that at least 28% of prisoners at the facility are currently infected with COVID-19 and the true number could be much higher.
        Late last week, the strikers released their list of demands through the prisoner support group Oakland Abolition and Solidarity. Their demands include:
Universal and voluntary testing available to everyone in the facility with results provided immediately. Restore safe programing and basic necessities namely law library, access to telephones, showers, dormitory cleaning supplies, hot meals, and canteen. Create mechanisms of accountability by which independent family and supporters on the outside have visibility on CDCR’s plans and actions during and after an outbreak like this. According to Cauthen, officials at CSATF have visited the strikers in order to resolve their demands but have refused to officially recognize the strike. Officials at CDCR did not promptly respond to requests for comment.
       As the strike enters its third week, the safety and health of the strikers may be in jeopardy in the absence of serious efforts toward resolution on the part of prison staff. “The hunger strike will last until we notice our physical health taking a turn for the worse,” Cauthen wrote. “But even once we do begin eating, our work strike will continue and members will fail to perform work for corrections.”
      Linda Osby, Cauthen’s mother, receives only sporadic updates on the hunger strike from her home in Texas. While she appreciates that Cauthen is doing something to improve conditions at the prison for everyone, she views the hunger strike with some trepidation. “He’s been in there 18 years,” said Osby, “I’m just ready to have him home.” She’s nervous to see her son taking these risks, but she is also praying for him. In the end, she has faith that he will get through it: “God has him covered in everything he does.”
        For updates on the hunger strike and other struggles in California prisons and beyond, follow Oakland Abolition and Solidarity on their website and on Twitter: @OaklandAboSol

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