Why Vote?

 

        Spirit of Revolt is probably Scotland's largest collection of Anarchist and Libertarian Socialist history, memorabilia, letters, pamphlets, periodicals, serials, photos, posters and a myriad of documents on the everyday struggles of the ordinary people, mainly Glasgow Clydeside, but lots of material from further afield including other language material. Spirit of Revolt is entirely run by a small group of unpaid volunteers and we welcome volunteers who can give an hour or two a week to help out and at the same time learn about archiving. So if you are interested in archives and history from below and have those couple of hours spare, why not get in touch, contact us HERE or contact us through info@spiritofrevolt.info

         One of our aims, beside collecting and preserving our history is to make it freely and easily accessible to all. To this aim we digitise as much as possible and make it freely available on our website https://spiritofrevolt.info We also produce a "Read of the Month" here on this blog and on our website. You can also read selections from our collections on our twitter account, https://twitter.com/RevoltArchives

         We rely entirely on donations from comrades, friends and associates, and are not supported financially by trade unions, or businesses. So if you like what we are doing and think it is worth while doing, why not support us by the price of a pint our a couple of coffees a month. On off or monthly direct debit no matter how small would be very much appreciated. DONATE HERE.

 For September's "Read of the Month" We bring you Why I Won't Vote.

READ ON LINE HERE.

Visit ann arky at https://spiritofrevolt.info  

State Crime.

Image courtesy of The Telegraph.

          So here we are in Great Britain, a country that can afford to throw £millions into prolonging a blood bath in Ukraine but spouts no money to afford to eradicate child poverty at home. During 2021-22 in the UK there were 4.2 million children living in poverty, that's a staggering 29% of all UK children. Of course statistics vary as you move among the population. In lone parent families,44% of children are living in poverty. Again, if we move to Black and minority groups, then the % of children living in poverty jumps to 48%
        Of course the ever preached mantra from our lords and masters that work will lift you out of poverty, proves to be the usual bullshit we expect from our political ballerinas. Here in the very rich UK 71% of those children living in poverty are in a family where at least one person works. Again the dice is loaded against you if you come from a larger family. 42% of children living in families of 3 or more children are living in poverty. Of course we shouldn't forget, the adult poverty that lives along side this tsunami of child poverty.

Image courtesy of West Wales Chronicle.

 

        These figures certainly don't paint a picture of a very rich country, but we are living in a very rich country. The problem is the distribution of that wealth, the capitalist system is a system that favours the few who can horde that wealth and with it live a life of opulence steeped in privileges and power. Until we sort that problem we will bequeath a future of continuing poverty and stunted lives for the coming generation of our kids. The choice is ours, the solution will not come from those hoarding parasites who live a privileged life and hold the reins of power.

 

Visit ann arky at https://spiritofrevolt.info   

Memory-Hole.

An extract from the article, The Mass-Media Memory Hole.  

          Knowledge that sheds light on how the world operates politically and economically is kept to a minimum by the ‘mainstream’ media. George Orwell’s famous ‘memory hole’ from ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ signifies the phenomenon brilliantly. Winston Smith’s work for the Ministry of Truth requires that he destroys documents that contradict state propaganda:

‘When one knew that any document was due for destruction, or even when one saw a scrap of waste paper lying about, it was an automatic action to lift the flap of the nearest memory hole and drop it in, whereupon it would be whirled away on a current of warm air to the enormous furnaces which were hidden somewhere in the recesses of the building’.

(Orwell, ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’, 1949, Penguin edition, 1982, p. 34)

The interests of power, hinging on the domination of an ignorant population, are robustly maintained:

          Australian political analyst Caitlin Johnstone noted recently that:

‘Arguably the single most egregious display of war propaganda in the 21st century occurred last year, when the entire western political/media class began uniformly bleating the word “unprovoked” in reference to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.’

          Pointing out that the West ‘provoked’ Russia is not the same as saying that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was justified. In fact, we were clear in our first media alert following the invasion:      

  ‘Russia’s attack is a textbook example of “the supreme crime”, the waging of a war of aggression.’

        As Noam Chomsky pointed out, the 2003 invasion of Iraq was totally unprovoked, but:

        ‘nobody ever called it “the unprovoked invasion of Iraq.” In fact, I don’t know if the term was ever used; if it was, it was very marginal. Now you look it up on Google, and hundreds of thousands of hits. Every article that comes out has to talk about the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Why? Because they know perfectly well it was provoked. That doesn’t justify it, but it was massively provoked.’

         Bryce Greene, a media analyst with US-based Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR), observed that US policy makers regarded a war in Ukraine as a desirable objective:
        

‘One 2019 study from the RAND Corporation—a think tank with close ties to the Pentagon—suggested that an effective way to overextend and unbalance Russia would be to increase military support for Ukraine, arguing that this could lead to a Russian invasion.’

          The rationale was outlined in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece by John Deni of the Atlantic Council, a US think tank with close links to the White House and the arms industry, headlined ‘The Strategic Case for Risking War in Ukraine’. Greene summarised the logic:

            ‘Provoking a war would allow the US to impose sanctions and fight a proxy war that would grind Russia down. Additionally, the anti-Russian sentiment that resulted from a war would strengthen NATO’s resolve.’

        Greene added:

         ‘The consensus among policymakers in Washington is to push for endless conflict, no matter how many Ukrainians die in the process. As long as Russia loses men and material, the effect on Ukraine is irrelevant. Ukrainian victory was never the goal.’

          As Johnstone emphasised in her analysis:  

     

  ‘It’s just a well–documented fact that the US and its allies provoked this war in a whole host of ways, from NATO expansion to backing regime change in Kyiv to playing along with aggressions against Donbass separatists to pouring weapons into Ukraine. There’s also an abundance of evidence that the US and its allies sabotaged a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine in the early weeks of the war in order to keep this conflict going as long as possible to hurt Russian interests.’

She continued:      

"We know that western actions provoked the war in Ukraine because many western foreign policy experts spent years warning that western actions would provoke a war in Ukraine.’

         But you will search in vain for substantive reporting of such salient facts and relevant history – see also this piece by FAIR – in ‘mainstream’ news media.

 

Visit ann arky at https://spiritofrevolt.info   

The Green.

          Gleswegians know your history, without your history you were never here. As George Orwell stated, "The best way to destroy a people is to destroy their history" So make sure that won't happen to us. Spirit of Revolt works hard at trying to preserve and make freely accessible to all, the history of the struggles of the ordinary people. Why not visit their website and delve into a wealth of information on the history, the struggles the victories and the pain of trying for that better world for all.

Spirit of Revolt Archives of Dissent Glasgow/Clydeside

This 25-minute film draws together 1000 years of writings about the area now known as Glasgow Green an integral part of Glasgow and its people the film is part of Spirit of Revolt Archive 

 https://spiritofrevolt.info/radical-history-on-glasgow-green/

 

 

Visit ann arky at https://spiritofrevolt.info  

Milked!!

            The troubles and struggles we have in our daily life are all down to our Lords and Masters saying, "there isn't enough money" not enough to sort out the health workers with a decent wage increase, Not enough money to recruit more staff. There is not enough money to sort out the education system that is falling apart, just like our NHS. However, when one of their corporate buddies throws down a veiled threat of pulling out of the UK because their antiquated furnaces are costing them money, as the Tata billionaires have done, then our impoverished Lords and Master find £500 million to help them out, to update their antiquated furnaces. It's there business and they boast about putting in £700 million of their own money. They claimed to be losing money, but fail to mention the billions they made rather than update the ageing furnaces. We are being milked by the usual billionaire parasite class, with the co-operation of our political ballerinas, and they are all getting fat on salaries we pay them. Our £500 million will cost a lot of families distress and poverty as the deal comes with 3,000 redundancies. That's the corporate way of saying thanks to the UK tax payers.
           When do we finally take control of our workplaces and our communities and run our affairs for the benefit of all our people, instead of feeding bloated billionaires and their cronies. We have the skills, we have the power, we have the imagination, we have the numbers, all we require is the will and solidarity. Our sweat and labour fashioned and made everything in this world.

Image courtesy of Liverpool University Press.

WE THE LABOURING MASSES.

We the people have, every brick laid,
have fed the world with sweat and spade,
every instrument played in every band
created by the skill of the craftsman's hand.
We made every truck and every load,
our toil our effort every winding road,
every ship that ever sailed the sea,
our power our imagination made it be.
Cities and towns large and small,
our labouring hands fashioned them all,
every home, every spire,
luxury mansion or humble byre.
No matter what dreams the mind might spawn
without labour's hand, never see the light of dawn,
without labour's strength and labour's skill,
we would be foraging beasts in a jungle still.

Visit ann arky at https://spiritofrevolt.info  

War Drums.

            Do you feel threatened by China, do you think that China is likely to attack the West? Strange how the West pushed on by the cheer-leader the good old U$ of A, believes that China is the greatest threat to our way of life. Looking at American history I don't think anybody believes that the U$A stance on China has anything to do with democracy or the well being of the Western population. It is all to do with the psychopathic determination to hold on to the dollar's domination on the world's stage and the power that this hegemony gives America over our countries. To lose this power would knock U$A of the world stage, it would just be another player with no special powers or privileges. The parasite class of America will go to any lengths to avoid this climb down from their throne of power. And that's the worry, the U$A state with its imperial agenda is fanning the flames of war and prodding China in the hope that will capitulate or face a nuclear war. A war where there will be no winners. I'm not singing the praises of China it is just another state that happens to be better at capitalism than the West. However, the outcome of this war mongering lie is what should concern us. 

                                                 Image courtesy of Global Times

An extract from an article by Marjorie Cohn from Truth Out.    

        The United States is gunning for war with China. By cozying up to Taiwan and arming it to the teeth, President Joe Biden is undermining the “One China” policy which has been the cornerstone of U.S.-China relations since 1979. The Biden administration is enlisting South Korea and Japan to encircle China. The U.S. military is conducting provocative military maneuvers that exacerbate the conflict in the South China Sea. Biden is escalating tensions with China and intensifying the danger of nuclear war in the Asia-Pacific. And Republican presidential candidates are also fanning the flames of war with China.
         In March, U.S. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines called China the “leading and most consequential threat to U.S. national security.” Chinese President Xi Jinping stated, “Western countries — led by the U.S. — have implemented all-round containment, encirclement and suppression against us.”
         The Biden administration has “doubled down on the most insanely bellicose aspects of Trump administration policies, especially over Taiwan, which the U.S. had long recognized as part of China,” Peter Kuznick, professor of history and director of the Nuclear Studies Institute at American University, told Truthout.
         More than 90 percent of the most advanced microchips in the world are manufactured in Taiwan. The chips are used to power our smartphones, train artificial intelligence systems and guide missiles. The Trump administration imposed heavy tariffs on Chinese imports to cut off China’s access to the software technology and equipment required to build the advanced chips.
           Biden has maintained and dramatically expanded Trump’s coercive economic measures and imposed a blockade on advanced semiconductors. “Official U.S. policy is to make a nation of almost a billion and a half people poorer,” David Brooks wrote in The New York Times.

AND--

        Speaking on a panel at the Veterans For Peace (VFP) annual convention on August 25, Kuznick remarked that China has not been at war with any country since 1979. By contrast, the United States has had only 16 years of peace in its 247 years. “The U.S. is the most war-making country” in the world, Kuznick said.
       K.J. Noh, an activist scholar who writes about the geopolitics of the Asian continent, also spoke on the VFP panel. Noh described South Korea as key to the U.S.’s escalating war on China. “The United States has operational control over South Korean troops,” Noh said. The U.S. is also “weaponizing Taiwan into an imperial outpost for war.”
        The third panelist was Simone Chun, a researcher and activist specializing in inter-Korean relations and U.S. foreign policy on the Korean Peninsula. She echoed Noh’s comments, calling South Korea a “pawn in Washington’s march to war against China.” South Korea, Chun said, is a “subcontractor in the new Cold War.” In an article for Truthout in March, Chun characterized “[t]he U.S. military encirclement of China” as threatening “to escalate into an Asia-Pacific war, with the Korean Peninsula at the focal point of this dangerous path.” South Korea has 30,000 combat-ready U.S. troops on 73 U.S. military bases in the small country

Visit ann arky at https://spiritofrevolt.info    

Disobey.

       

                                        Image courtesy of Electoral Reform Society.

          At the moment, there's a lot of talk about elections in the UK and each of the crooks and liars parties are spouting their illusions to try and tempt you to run to the ballot box and put down your little X. Of course what you will get from whoever wins will be difficult to tell the difference from what we have already suffered at hands of our political ballerinas. A general election is a bit like tossing a two-headed coin and expecting a different result each time. The Tories are known as the party that attacks the working class, Labour are supposed to be their saviour. However it looks like we can expect Labour to be the party that cuts state pensions. Deputy Labour leader has stated that if they win the next election, they can't guarantee to keep the triple-lock on pensions and benefits. That's a sure vote winner among the Tories, to hell with the principles on which the Labour Party was founded, votes and power is what it is all about. That is power to keep the capitalist system rolling along making big bucks for the corporate world and their minders who worship in that edifice to pomp, power and privilege, the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption. When will we ever learn? 

Visit ann arky at https://spiritofrevolt.info  

9-11

          We should always remember the violence carried out and/or orchestrated  by the U$A against states that don't follow their rules. The list is long and the details horrific as catalogues of state terror heaped on innocent people. America's first imperialist adventure was the Philippines, 1899-1902. Since then it has invade countries across the globe on a regular basis.

                                              Image courtesy of Radio Havana Cuba.

          Today 11th September marks the 50th anniversary of the American orchestrated military overthrow of the legitimate elected government of Chile. The Presidential Palace, La Modena, was bombed by military jets, the legitimated elected president Salvadore Allende was killed. General Augustus Pinochet took the reins of power. What followed was years of brutal repression of the people of Chile with thousands killed and as many "disappeared". Dictator Pinochet ruled until 1990 but continued as Commander-in-Chief until 1998, when he became senator-for-life according to legislation he passed in 1980. He has a close friend of the UK Thatcher government.  Still it goes on, from Korea to Vietnam, Afghanistan to Iraq, Libya to Syria the U$A proxy war in Ukraine and the belligerent military attitude to China, a desire to maintain its dominant position in the world is a road to total destruction for civilised life on the planet.    

Visit ann arky at https://spiritofrevolt.info    

BRICS.

         What can you do when a bunch of very rich psychopaths armed to the teeth with nuclear weapons feel their power is slipping out of their hands? That is the situation with the US dollar, the dominance of the dollar as a reserves currency is what makes America rich and powerful, and that power is now threatened so should we be concerned? The U$A sees any economic state or group that is growing in strength as a threat and must be stifled at all costs. China and Russia are seen as a real threat to the dollar dominance, hence U$A's hostility to both these nations. America has 750 military bases around the world and is building more to encircle China, why? There is nothing humanitarian in this build up of overseas military bases, nor is it defensive. They are there to crush China should the dollar start to lose it power. 

Image courtesy of CineTimes Babu

 

        That dollar decline s now rapidly increasing as more economies decide to join 

hands and trade in their own currency, with the birth of the BRICS, an economic block that is determined to end their dependency on the dollar. A major event in this de-dollarisation was a recent deal between India and Abu Dhabi, where Indian Oil Corp bought one million barrels of oil from Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and paid for it in rupees, a real slap in the face of the dollar empire. Also India has purchased 25 kg of gold from UAE and paid for it with 128.4 million rupees.
      The BRICS is no small fry player in the world's economy it now controls a majority of the world’s energy supplies, and some 37 percent of global GDP, more than the US-led G7. Making opportunities to trade in currencies other than the dollar that much easier. According to the World Bank report China, a leading member in the the BRTICS, average contribution rate to the world economic growth is now at 38.6% 

Image courtesy of ARKTOS

 

 

         The growth of the BRICS economies will create a decline in the value of the dollar and therefore a decline in the U$A's wealth and power, and its ability to dominate and control other countries.
         There lies the danger, America is armed to the teeth with nuclear weaponry has 750 military bases around the world, will the psychopaths that grow fat and powerful on the dollar simple watch it decline, or will they carry out their insane plans to destroy China and Russia in an attempt to hold onto that dollar dominance. Such a scenario is world destruction on a scale of unimaginable horror and devastation. There will be no knight in shining armour to come to our rescue, it will be up to us, the people to stop this insanity being forced on us by the rich and powerful parasite class.

Image courtesy of The Counter View.

 

Visit ann arky at https://spiritofrevolt.info       
 

Unfair.

 

 

            GREAT Britain, well I suppose it all depends on which side of the fence you sit. To the ordinary citizen of Great Britain the the word GREAT is a joke. Every day we have more reports of buildings with crap RAAC concrete all nearing the end of their lives, from schools, hospitals, public buildings and who know what else. We have an education system in meltdown, a transport system that is not fit for purpose, a health service that is falling apart at the seams, poverty is on the rise, homelessness is on the rise, child poverty is on the rise. More and more families depend on food banks and can't afford to heat their homes, while struggle endlessly to pay their way. We have social services that fail miserably to look after the elderly, infirm and those in need.

                                            Image courtesy of Trussell Trust.

            However, on the other side of the fence in GREAT Britain, the millionaire/billionaire class has added unimaginable amounts to their personal wealth. Large corporations are roping in mountains in profit and handing out millions to their CEO and their shareholders. Great Britain, a divided society with opulence, privileges and power for the few, and a harsh struggle with poverty and deprivation always a close neighbour for the many, who know all to well that there is nothing GREAT in these conditions.

 Image courtesy of Compensation Cafe.

          All this happens with our consent, we pay the managers of the system to handle our affairs and this is the hand they deal us. They won't change the system as it benefits them and their cronies immensely. If we want to change the system, then it is up to us the ordinary people. We must in solidarity, take control of our communities, our workplaces, our towns and cities and bring this insanity that spawns poverty, inequality and gross injustice, crashing down, we can build a better world if that is what we really want.

                                      Image courtesy of Economic Policy Institute.

Visit ann arky at https://spiritofrevolt.info      

Depravity.

Some of the less brutal results to civilian population from cluster bombs.

                                                Image courtesy of Borgen Project.

           There is no depth of depravity to which Western Imperialists will not steep to in an attempt to try to weaken any state that seems to threaten their hegemony on world power and resources. In the cross hairs of the Western Imperialists is the Russian state and they are quite prepared to sacrifice the last Ukrainian to their cause. Having poured billions of dollars in weaponry, so called conventional weapons, all to no avail, they are stooping to lower depths. The UK and the U$A in seeing that wasn't low enough lead the charge to depravity with their cluster bombs then UK started supplying depleted uranium weaponry followed by the U$A. The carnage caused by cluster bombs to civilian population years after the conflict has stopped, is well catalogued, and most countries in the world have banned such weapons. As for depleted uranium weapons, the damage to the health of those exposed to it and future generations is also well know to the authorities of all so called civilised countries. Information on the dangers of depleted uranium weaponry see HERE.

Some of the effects on children in Iraq after the use of depleted uranium.

                                        Image courtesy of Foreign Policy Journal.

 

Visit ann arky at https://spiritofrevolt.info    

Shafted.

          

Image courtesy of West Country Voices.

       Why do we the public put up with so much crap, duplicity, corruption, and greed from those we pay to manage our affairs? We have minsters fiddling their tax, funds stashed away in off shore accounts, over claiming expenses, while legislating austerity for us, the ones who pay their wages. You have members of Parliament going on the huff because they didn't get a seat in the House of Lords. Rishi £750 million Sunak fights hard to get a job that pays £164K a year, why? He could easily sign up with some merchant bank firm and probably earn about 5 times that salary plus bonuses and privileges. What was his real motive, could it be to get his hands on the control levers of our society and direct our affairs in the favour of his wealth and that of his cronies. We have ministers overseeing the building of schools, hospitals and social centres with our tax money, that are not fit for purpose. Why would you even considering building schools with a life expectancy of 30 years and then they become a risk to the lives of those who use them How many high private office buildings are built useing this weak cheap crap concrete? Is this material just for the peasants and tax payers money?

Image courtesy of Vox Political.

        Of course you could go on, they start and indulge in wars, apart from pouring billions of pounds of our tax money into this savagery for power and resources they kill thousands of innocent people, displace millions, then set up a "hostile environment" for those displaced because of their state terrorism called war. They push the irrational illusion of perpetual growth at the expense of all life on the planet, why?
         Since we stupidly accepted the state and capitalism, we have seen poverty mushroom across the planet, wars and destruction devastating the lives of millions and a few war mongering wealthy parasites get richer and richer. Still millions run to the ballot box to vote in more of the same. Surely insanity, we can't just go on the way things are, we have to call enough is enough and do our damnedest to bring this whole edifice to greed, insanity and selfishness crumbling down. There is a better way to organise our society, if only we would take control and shape our communities, workplaces and towns and cities they way we want them, to be fair, just and seeing to the needs of all our people. When will we ever learn.

Visit ann arky at https://spiritofrevolt.info 

Justice.

 

          

       In this unjust, unequal society justice is the at the dictate of the powerful, the ordinary people are in a continuous struggle to try and achieve justice, but so far have failed. So what is universal justice? In all Probability it is anarchism.
         This film on justice is from Submedia and is well worth the time to sit down and watch, and perhaps spread it around.

 From Submedia,       

It's our pleasure to announce a new episode in our A is for Anarchy series, "What

          

          A world without police or prisons doesn’t mean a world where harm isn’t confronted or addressed. Learn more about anarchist conceptions of justice in this episode of A is for Anarchy
         Our conceptions of justice shape who we are and how we believe the world should work. In this episode of A is for Anarchy, we examine historical foundations of justice, the carceral criminal justice systems employed by states today, and anarchist strategies for confronting and addressing harm outside of the punitive logic of the state.
        In a world where states claim a monopoly on justice, we’re left with just us, so what are we going to do about it?

Visit ann arky at https://spiritofrevolt.info  

I spy!!

 

                                                Image courtesy of Who What Why.

         The following extract is from Freedom News and refers to the U$A, but I don't for a minute think that it is only in that country that the surveillance culture is out of control, well as far as the public is concerned, but hasn't gone far enough as far as the powers that be are concerned. Here in the UK we are continually filmed, photographed by CCTV, tracked by our mobile phones and cash machines, and car number plate identification is everywhere. I go to a dance display of my grand daughter and I'm not allowed to take photos or film the kids, but the state can photograph kids running around and playing in the park, or just doing what kids do, and they do it with impunity. The state can only exist with control over the population and in their eyes that means more surveillance, more of your data available to their prying eyes. The existence of a state controlled surveillance system nullifies any possible semblance of a democracy. and makes a mockery of freedom.

From Firestorm Books

            

        The opening of our bookstore on Sunday had unexpected guests. Throughout the afternoon, a police drone hovered conspicuously over Haywood Road, directly in front of our shop. Occasionally it flew back to the nearby APD substation, only to be replaced a few minutes later. As we handed out homemade popsicles to celebrate our big day, some community members were alarmed. People wanted to know if the drone was ours. A neighbor arriving with her family asked if she and her children were being filmed.
         It seemed that our shop and the hundreds of people who visited it were being surveilled. While the quadcopter sat in the sky and stared creepily down at us, police cars drove by slowly. Sometimes the drivers appeared to be filming with their cellphones. One officer hollered unintelligibly at folks sitting on our patio. This wasn’t a covert operation—Asheville cops wanted to make sure our customers knew they were being watched.
        This bizarre abuse of power is worth talking about, not because it’s exceptional but because it’s increasingly normal. We live in a city where the surveillance capabilities of the police have greatly outpaced restraints, and elected officials ostensibly tasked with oversight are eager to appease a tough-on-crime audience. That’s an Asheville story, but it’s also a national story, with cities across the US being reshaped by a conservative backlash to the George Floyd Uprising and its call for a reckoning with the white supremacist roots of policing.

Visit ann arky at https://spiritofrevolt.info