Sir Carbuncle.

Image courtesy of Palestinian Portal.  

     There has been a lot of statements made about the situation in Gaza and the ensuing bloodshed. One statement that made gasp in disbelief was Sir Keir Starmer's "Israel has the right to defend itself". With Starmer reckoned to be an authority on international law, one would imagine that in the pursuit of fairness and justice, he would have tried to take stock of the situation, by asking such questions as how did we get to this situation, what factors were involved in making this region so blood soaked. He could then start by having a look at the map of Palestine in 1948 and then again in 1968, 1988 and 2023. He would have noticed that the Palestinian border has shrunk massively, while Israel's borders have increased massively in accordance with the Palestinian shrinkage. Then perhaps he could have asked himself the question, "where have all those Palestinians gone", "did they leave voluntary and just abandoned their towns, villages and lands, and  wondered down to live in a large refugee camp in Gaza". Or were they driven out and warned not to come back. In the year 2015 alone, 2270 Palestinians were killed in Gaza. Sir Keir would perhaps asked himself what effect all this would have on the people of Palestine. No doubt it would fill them with anger, outrage, fear, which would grow as their land continues to shrink and Israel's continues to grow. He should perhaps also take a look at the illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land. Sir Keir, having looked at all these facts with the eye of one experienced in international law, would come to the conclusion that the Palestinians are being cleansed from their lands and are the oppressed, Israel is the aggressor in pursuing the removal of Palestinians from the homeland. after that deliberation, his first statement would be, "the Palestinians have the right to defend themselves". However we will never hear these words fall from Sir Keir Starmer's lips, why, because he is one extremely biased individual, who holds the belief that Israel can do no wrong. Sir Keir Starmer, you are a carbuncle on the arse of international law.

 

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Two-Faced.

Image courtesy of Church Times.

           As a rule, I don't like writing about the Sunak and Starmer gangs and their election antics, I usually refer to the elections as the "crooks and liars" competitions, as they each tell whoppers to try and impress and win the gullible. However, having lived almost 90 years and seen the pantomime of our political ballerinas perform their many grand illusions in many guises, I have to admit that these two take the biscuit and live somewhere under the belly of a snail, according to their stand on humanity. The £700+ millionaire Sunak waffles from one thing to another in an attempt to be the superman for all. While at the same time his stance on the genocide taking place in Gaza denies any grasp of humanity. However he is behaving as one would expect the Tories to act. Starmer on the other hand is supposed to be the leader of a party that stands up for the ordinary people, but advices his members not to take part in pickets, and now, not to take part in any Palestinian related protests. a wee bit dictatorial perhaps! As a lawyer on international law he doesn't seem to understand the meaning of genocide nor of collective punishment, both banned in international law.

Image courtesy of Channel 4.

 

           The pubic have lived under dreadful conditions after 13 years of Tory rule, if Starmer wins the next election, then dear citizens, expect more of the same. He and his cronies will play the same game of economics to the rules of the big boys, the financial Mafia. They will call the shots on how our tax money should be spent, they will control the purse strings, as they have done since the birth of cancerous capitalism. State and capital always work hand in hand to the benefit of the wealthy, and to hell with the rest of us.

 

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Protest.

   

 

         While Western states pay homage to the Israeli apartheid regime in its act of genocide on the people of Palestine, the people of those states are on the streets in defiance of, and anger at, their governments' stance. Across the globe massive protests took place on Saturday 14th October demanding justice and peace for the Palestinian people. Here in the UK, London saw tens of thousands march in protest at the pending genocide of the people of Gaza, Bristol 1,500, Manchester 1,500 Liverpool similar numbers. In Scotland, Glasgow saw several thousands march through the city demanding peace and justice for the people of Palestine, similar protests took place in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Dundee. It is obvious that the Western state acceptance of collective punishment on Gaza is out of touch with the people they are supposed to represent. This state stance in favour of collective punishment is contrary to international law. Yet, those states that pretend to be the defenders of democracy, turn a blind eye to the pending genocide facing the people of Gaza, innocent blood is on their hands.

 

Croud Image courtesy of Daily Record.

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History.

        Perhaps if more people knew the true history of Palestine and its people, there would be more anger at the Western states and the Zionist apartheid Israeli regime's genocide and land stealing. However, as long as we hold onto the state system and its capitalist bedfellow, then we will always have the type of brutality that we are witnessing today. Peace will come with a world with no borders no states and the world our village.

Image courtesy of Medium.

 

        The following film may be a bit long for some, I think it is well worth viewing it in full.

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Genocide.

     

      I repost the following article in full, simply because I am unable to put into my own words the inhumane horror that is unfolding before our eyes in a world already scarred with blood horror and destruction.The Israeli government has decided that all the people living in Gaza are animals and has decided to indiscriminately butcher them, young and old, healthy and inform, they are all being tarred by the same stick. Even although the UN and the Geneva Convention clearly state that "collective punishment" is a crime and the Israel government is well aware of this, the world's governments turn a blind eye, or worse still, support this genocidal action by apartheid Israel. 

The following article is from JVP

      

     The Israeli government has declared a genocidal war on the people of Gaza. As an organization that works for a future where Palestinians and Israelis and all people live in equality and freedom, we call on all people of conscience to stop imminent genocide of Palestinians. 

          Jewish Voice for Peace mourns deeply for the over 1,200 Israelis killed, the families destroyed, including many of our own, and fears for the lives of Israelis taken hostage. Many are still counting the dead, looking for missing loved ones, devastated by the losses. 

          We wholeheartedly agree with leading Palestinian rights groups: the massacres committed by Hamas against Israeli civilians are horrific war crimes. There is no justification in international law for the indiscriminate killing of civilians or the holding of civilian hostages. 

         And now, horrifyingly, the Israeli and American governments are weaponizing these deaths to fuel a genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza, pledging to “open the gates of hell.” This war is a continuation of the Nakba, when in 1948, tens of thousands of Palestinians fleeing violence sought refuge in Gaza. It’s a continuation of 75 years of Israeli occupation and apartheid. 

         Already this week, over 1,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed.  The Israeli government has wrought complete and total devastation on Palestinians across Gaza, attacking hospitals, schools, mosques, marketplaces, and apartment buildings.  

         As we write, the Israeli government has shut off all electricity to Gaza. Hospitals cannot save lives, the internet will collapse, people will have no phones to communicate with the outside world, and drinking water for two million people will run out. Gaza will be plunged into darkness as Israel turns its neighborhoods to rubble.  Still worse, Israel has openly stated an intention to commit mass atrocities and even genocide, with Prime Minister Netanyahu saying the Israeli response will “reverberate for generations.”  

         And right now, the U.S. government is enabling the Israeli government’s atrocities, sending weapons, moving U.S. warships into proximity and sending U.S.-made munitions, and pledging blanket support and international cover for any actions taken by the Israeli government. Furthermore, the U.S. government officials are spreading racist, hateful, and incendiary rhetoric that will fuel mass atrocities and genocide. 

        The loss of Israeli lives is being used by our government to justify the rush to genocide, to provide moral cover for the immoral push for more weapons and more death. Palestinians are being dehumanized by our own government, by the media, by far too many U.S. Jewish institutions. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that Israel is “fighting human animals” and should “act accordingly,” As Jews, we know what happens when people are called animals.

           We can and we must stop this. Never again means never again — for anyone. 

 We call on all people of conscience to stop the imminent genocide of Palestinians. We demand our government work towards de-escalation, that it immediately stop sending weapons to the Israeli military. A future of peace and safety for all, grounded in justice, freedom and equality for all, is still the only option.

 

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A Library?

 

         Where is Glasgow's anarchist library, we have Glasgow Women's Library, we have Spirit of Revolt Archives of Dissent, but no Glasgow Anarchist Library. We are a big city with a history of radical struggle by the ordinary people. Perhaps a Glasgow Anarchist Library could be the missing link. 

 From stuut.info
October 8, 2023

We are several people who set up a participatory anarchist public library in the center of Brussels because we thought it was important. It’s called La B.O.U.M. , and after many months of preparation, it’s the day of the inauguration : we are happy to celebrate, and to finally start borrowing!

It’s happening at Boom, a self-managed café on rue Pletinckx n°7 in 1000 Brussels, behind the Halles St-Géry.

Saturday, October 21, 2023 4:00-10:00 p.m.

Program :
-4 p.m. : workshops, games
-6 p.m. : presentation of the library
-7 p.m. : Spanish inn
-8:30 p.m. : concert
+ surprise

If you want to participate in the organization
contact : bibli-anar-bxl@proton.me

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Propaganda.

                                                    Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

           Propaganda, that insidious material that is a constant flow form the various state organisations and reproduced as truth by the mainstream media outlets is like a cancer. It takes over your consciousness, distorts the way you see the world and it destroys your ability to asses what is really happening in the world around us. It is one of the twin tools of the state, the other is a subservient population, one reinforces the other. Our lords and masters preach that everything our state does is honourable, other states not in the same club are deemed to be evil and can do no good, while we can do no wrong. Common sense tells us the world is not like that, all the power blocks make that same claim. We have to dispel the avalanche of propaganda that surrounds us, seek the facts and act on those human instincts of truth, fairness, equality and justice for all. The alternative is to exist as pawns in the mist of illusions.  

 

                                                    Image courtesy of wikipedia.

 The following extract from an article by Cara MariAnna makes the point more clearly.

        All of us alive at the time, and old enough to understand its import, must certainly recall the 1983 speech in which Ronald Reagan, “The Great Communicator,” famously called the Soviet Union the “evil empire”—at the very same time, it must be noted, that he and his administration were turning Central America into a killing field and supporting a jihadist insurgency in Afghanistan to trap the Soviets in a Vietnam-like quagmire. Reagan’s crude formulation resonated with many Americans. The implications were as obvious as they were primitive: Anything the Soviet Union did was evil, while anything America did was good.

       Reagan’s simplistic conceit, a product of the overwrought mind of his chief speechwriter, Anthony Dolan, survives to this day. Indeed, it makes most Americans impervious to, if not completely unable to see, the wrongs committed by their own country, the lies told by their own government. Of course, it perfectly served Reagan’s foreign policy agendas, just as it now perfectly serves Joe Biden’s, especially in his proxy war against Russia.
      Glenn Greenwald considered this question in a recent segment of System Update. “Russia continues to be the all-purpose villain that Western elites now use whenever they get caught in any sort of scandal, any kind of failure,” he noted. “They immediately point to Russia. They say, ‘It’s not our fault, look over there at the Kremlin.’”
       The persistent dogma that Russia is the embodiment of evil—and this is more recently personalized to mean Vladimir Putin—enables Americans to live in a pretend world as they continue to believe, contrary to all evidence, that the war in Ukraine was unprovoked. It is a complete disconnect from reality. The dangerous consequence of this is that anti–Russian propaganda has now pushed the world to the brink of nuclear war.

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Plunder.

        The interest the government pays on national debt is a staggering 5.05% a 20 year high. This is more than double that we saw from 1980 to the 2008 financial crash (corporate plundering). The total amount of the UK's national debt is £2.59 trillion, what does this mean to you and I? Well it means that the chancellor will have to take £23 billion of your tax money and pay it to the sharks in the financial Mafia in interest payments. Last year the government paid the financial Mafia a whopping £111 billion in interest, this is more than it spent on education. What do you think is more important, the education of future generations or sharks of the financial Mafia?

Image courtesy of Thought Co.

 

       Because of this debt and high interest rate, no doubt our "prudent" chancellor will decide to spend less on health, education and public services, so that he can keep happy those sharks of the financial Mafia. What kind of society is it that can see the people of a country produce all the wealth of a country and then syphon it off a massive chunks to their billionaire/millionaire buddies. They label this insanity "the economy", which is just a misnomer for a system of plundering the poor to fatten the rich. There is alternatives, it is possible to build society on mutual aid, co-operation, fairness and justice that sees to the needs of all our people. We have the numbers, the skills, the imagination, all that is lacking is the will and solidarity to take control of our lives. The choice is ours, we can knuckle down and get on with this grinding never ending daily struggle, or we can take control of our communities, our workplaces and create that better world we all hold in our hearts, we owe it to our future generations.

Image courtesy of Alerta id.

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Work Hard???

 

                                                   Image courtesy of Blogs.Iris.

          In Scotland there is a saying "wha's like is" in my opinion not that many in the developed world. A recent Joseph Rowntree Foundation research reveals that in this oil and whisky country, almost half a million individuals are living in "very deep poverty", an increase of 300,000 since last March. They also found that poverty among working people was growing and 10% of employees were locked into persistent low pay. Those worst hit by this capitalist created poverty are women and ethnic minorities. Following the capitalist work ethic that work lifts you our of poverty, is another spewing of bullshit, as 60% of children living in poverty have at least one parent working. Compare this with those parasites at the other end of wealth scale. Anders Holch Povlsen, who is the owner of Danish retailer Bestseller and has a 25 per cent stake in ASOS, he has managed to grasp a personal fortune of £6.5billion, which is up by £500million compared to last year. Not bad for a 49 year old. Then we have the Easdale brothers, James and Sandy with a £1.363billion fortune based on transport and property acquisitions. Let's not forget the  Edinburgh lassie JK Rowling, she added £30million to her fortune, making her worth £850 million.

Image courtesy of  IX Magazine.

        Now do you think any of these and other millionaire parasites, work that much harder than factory workers, delivery drivers, warehouse workers, nurses, and those in a host of essential jobs that keep this country going and create that wealth that these parasites plunder? Think about it, we create all that wealth, why can't we share it among all our people?

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Last Stand?

 

Image lifted from my friend Loam's blog  Arrezafe      

          To anyone who looks at world affairs it will be obvious that the Dollar and those who control it, are losing their grip on world domination. More and more countries across the planet are tiring of cow-towing to the the whims and desires of that bunch of psychopaths that hold the power of the dollar as a weapon to coercive them to follow the dictate of U$A imperialism. More countries are joining up to trade in their own currencies, freeing themselves for the Dollar domination. In the past those who dared to stand against the Dollar domination, found their country and its people steeped in blood, and left with a land of destroyed infrastructure, poverty and deprivation. The continent of South America has for centuries felt the wrath of the mighty Dollar as it was controlled, plundered and pillaged to enrich the imperial Dollar brigade. The U$A Dollar psychopaths have had no qualms about killing thousands of innocent people just to maintain their dominance. Vietnam, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, have all felt the wrath of the plundering all powerful Dollar. All have seen their country and their people fall into lands of despair, left to rot or struggle as best they can to recover.
        Looking at its history of actions to maintain its dominance, one fears for what depth it will sink in what it sees as the final stand for world domination. Their previous brutal actions could fade into insignificance as it makes that last grasp for world dominance. Will it throw nuclear weapons around like confetti, believing it will survive and over come the rest of the world. I for one don't believe it will capitulate quietly and be content to lose all that wealth and power that it has held for so long. 

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UN Hypocrisy.

 

        Nice to hear a little bit of truth being spoken in that office of U$A world control, The United Nations. Just a couple of extracts from those prepared to speak a semblance of truth at the 2023 United Nations General Assembly.  

Image courtesy of Davis Political Review.

After a bumbling, incoherent speech by President Biden, Latin America again took the stage in the person of President Gustavo Petro of Colombia:

         While the minutes that define life or death on our planet are ticking on, rather than halting this march of time and talking about how to defend life for the future, thanks to deepening knowledge, expand it to the universe, we decided to waste time killing each other. We are not thinking about how to expand life to the stars, but rather how to end life on our own planet. We have devoted ourselves to war. We have been called to war. Latin America has been called upon to produce war machines, men, to go to the killing fields.
       They’re forgetting that our countries have been invaded several times by the very same people who are now talking about combatting invasions. They’re forgetting that they invaded Iraq, Syria and Libya for oil. They’re forgetting that the same reasons they use to defend Zelenskyy are the very reasons that should be used to defend Palestine. They forget that to meet the Sustainable Development Goals, we must end all wars.
       But they’re helping to wage one war in particular, because world powers see this suiting themselves in their game of thrones, in their hunger games and they’re forgetting to bring an end to the other war because, for these powers, this did not suit them. What is the difference between Ukraine and Palestine, I ask? Is it not time to bring an end to both wars, and other wars too, and make the most of the short time we have to build paths to save life on the planet?
        …I propose that the United Nations, as soon as possible, should hold two peace conferences, one on Ukraine, the other on Palestine, not because there are no other wars in the world—there are in my country—but because this would guide the way to making peace in all regions of the planet, because both of these, by themselves, could bring an end to hypocrisy as a political practice, because we could be sincere, a virtue without which we cannot be warriors for life itself.

Petro was not the only leader who upheld the value of sincerity and assailed the hypocrisy of Western diplomacy. Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves of St. Vincent and the Grenadines cut to the chase:

       Let us clear certain ideational cobwebs from our brains. It is, for example, wholly unhelpful to frame the central contradictions of our troubled times as revolving around a struggle between democracies and autocracies. St. Vincent and the Grenadines, a strong liberal democracy, rejects this wrong-headed thesis. It is evident to all right-thinking persons, devoid of self-serving hypocrisy, that the struggle today between the dominant powers is centered upon the control, ownership, and distribution of the world’s resources.

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Cesspool.

     Where have I heard this explanation of UK politics before, AH, at various anarchist discussions. However mainstream media seems loathed to give it the oxygen of publicity.

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