May Day On The Green.

Bring MAY DAY back to the Green!

        Tired of the ritual Glasgow May Day, a boring walk through the city, to sit in a hall listening to "our leaders", pontificating and spouting about how they will save the world. Well, a group of us are trying to bring May Day back to The Green and make it what it was meant to be, a family day, a fun day, a day to celebrate the solidarity of the working class.

       Sunday, May 1st we are organising a family get-together/picnic in the Green, Based at Free Cycle North, with activities and bikes, in and around the green. With a little bit of the history of May Day. Bring what you expect to find, it is our day. It is early days yet, but we expect face painting, music, singing and performance poetry, among other events, and a picnic, with some eats. It should kick off on The Green around 1:00pm and end by 3:30pm app. on May 1st.
You can have your march around the city and come back to the Green to meet up with friends and comrades and have a friendly afternoon with all the family. May Day belongs to the people, and belongs on the Green, let's bring it back. Bring a picnic and food to share.
        We will be doing some banner and sign making at the Electron Club this Saturday 23rd, from 2:00 come along and help. Electron, CCA 350 Sauchiehall St, Glasgow G2 3JD

PLEASE FORWARD AND GET INVOLVED.

        If you can sing, dance, juggle, face-paint play an instrument, ride a mono-cycle, read a poem, or any other wee skill that might entertain the people, bring it along. If you feel you would like to take part, please do get in touch. The more the merrier, it is growing in momentum, Glasgow can make it better and bigger.

annarky@radicalglasgow.me.uk
bob@citystrolls.com

 

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Vive Le Commune!!

       Overthrown, but not conquered, the Commune in our days is born again. It is no longer a dream of the vanquished, caressing in imagination the lovely mirage of hope. No! the ‘commune’ of today is becoming the visible and definite aim of the revolution rumbling beneath our feet.” Kropotkin on the Paris Commune.

       Another interesting article by Jerome Roos from Roar Mag. Well worth reading the full article. 

What Is the Commune?

----------- Historically speaking, communal ways of organizing social life long precede the development of the modern state, and humanity on the whole has spent far more time living communally than it has under capitalism.

        To an extent, historical experience therefore lends credence to the proposition that, in the long run, the commune-form might secure a far more stable social order than the state-form, whose contradictory unity with crisis-prone finance capital renders it increasingly vulnerable to social conflict and systemic chaos, not to mention ecological catastrophe. On this point, indigenous communities and peasant communes may hold some important clues for the identification of alternative developmental pathways—which helps explain why theorists like Marx and Kropotkin spent many years studying such pre-capitalist societies.

         Nevertheless, there are clearly important differences between these ancient communal forms and the type of revolutionary commune of which we are speaking here, not least in terms of the latter’s emancipatory, future-oriented and internationalist horizon. Crucially, the modern commune fully embraces the expansiveness and universality of the socialist ideal. To paraphrase Subcomandante Marcos, whose Zapatista movement has formed its own indigenous communes in southern Mexico, the revolutionary commune is “not a dream from the past [or] something that came from our ancestors. It comes to us from the future; it is the next step that we have to take.”-------

       We count on the present generation to bring about the social revolution within the commune, to put an end to the ignoble system of bourgeois exploitation, to rid the people of the tutelage of the state, to inaugurate a new era of liberty, equality, solidarity in the evolution of the human race.”

Read the full article HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

The Warmth Of A Dream.

 

          The British winter has passed, but our climate still makes this country a vicious, brutal and death dealing place to sleep rough. Across the country in towns and cities, vulnerable people are having to spend their nights finding a doorway, a lane, a hole in the wall, or wherever, to bed down for the night. The capitalist system can produce 5 star hotels and luxury housing for some, but shit housing for the majority, and in many case no home at all. Our cities and towns are awash with empty premises, all locked up, yet we still have people dying on our streets, and the powers that be call this democracy. There is no way that we should accept, in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, that anybody should have to sleep rough, this is surely an indictment against a system that is greed driven and built on exploitation and inequality. While some dine and sleep in unbelievable opulence, others seek shelter from the elements in tattered and worn clothes curled up in a doorway. This is the hallmark of a failed system that must be destroyed.

The Warmth Of A Dream.

He lay in a dark doorway, dreamed of home,

night frost locked his joints

morning rain chilled the marrow of his bone.

In the dream there was a sister, 

a pram in a garden, a crowd of youngsters

who called him "mister", a time of little pain.

Are these youngsters the same young men, who

now laugh at him, throw beer cans,

piss on him as he lies drunk in some dark lane?

When was that first step down this slippery slope,

when was that first step to no forgiveness.

No will to rise to beg for food,

numbness kills the pain.

The dream brings a warmth that feels good,

dark fog shades out consciousness,

an ambulance carries off a body washed in rain. 

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicallglasgow.me.uk

Enough Is Enough.

        More and more the system is struggling with "civil disobedience", which really translates into trying to cope with people's anger at being screwed. From Canada to Greece, from Spain to France, from Turkey to Germany, people are standing up and saying, "enough is enough".

The latest from SubMedia TV:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

The Surface Glitter Of Athens.

         Just back from a visit to Athens, on the surface, central Athens looks much like the Athens I used to know, the cafés, restaurants, tavernas, all looked busy with pretty pretty butterfly people. One change you do notice is the traffic, it is mainly yellow taxis and motorbikes. They say if you want to know anything about a city, ask a taxi driver, so we did. One driver told us that there are more than 1,700 taxis in Athens, and most are people who have been made redundant. The taxi allows them to work as long as they want, to try to get by, one drive said he worked 16 hours a day, every day and at the end of the month after taxes etc, he was left with €600 to get through the month. Work that out as an hourly rate and you are talking sweatshop money. Another said before the crash he wasn't rich but had €1,800 in the bank and lived reasonably well, now he has nothing and works as many hours a day as he can, every day, just to survive. Two gave conflicting answers to how many had left Greece since the “crash”, one stating almost 1 million, and the other probably 300,00 to 400,000, either amount is a drain on any country. One other we spoke to was leaving in a few weeks to live in Australia to give his kids a chance at a better life. All summed it up as Greece today is dreadful, a disaster. 

       We also went to Exarcheia and visited an occupied cinema, K-Vox, it is run by between 30-40 people, who label themselves as anarchist, communist and libertarian socialist, though the communists emphasising that they had nothing to do with the communist party. It has a café and a library, and they hold various events. All the money raised is used to support political prisoners, it also houses a free medical centre. A wonderful asset, and great to see all the strands of anarchism working together, strength in numbers, and a display of what can be done. If you want to support what they are doing you can contact them at katalipsivox@yahoo.gr

Enjoying the sun outside K-Vox.

        Athens, like all Western city centres, has poverty well hidden, so as not to chase spending tourists away. Though we did see the signs, up side-streets, the bundles of rolled up blankets in doorways and on two occasions, a man lying on the pavement, as if asleep with a crumpled plastic cup in their hand, both were still there hours later when we passed. The temperature was 25 degrees.
       Other facts about Greece, with a population of just over 11 million, it has a prison population of 12,693, 111 per 100,000 of the population, 2014 figures, but there is an anomaly, the prison population is 54.7% foreigners. Unemployment is running at just over 24%, with youth unemployment running at a staggering 51.9%. 

       All the misery, unemployment, families breaking up, poverty, deprivation and long working hours, suffered by the majority of ordinary people in Greece is simply the result of the financial Mafia's gambling spree, and it isn't going to get better any-time soon. The financial moguls of the Troika,( EC, European Commission, ECB, European Central Bank, IMF, International Mankind Fuckers) are starting to squabble among themselves regarding the next bailout to Greece. The IMF saying Greece's debt is unsustainable, so don't want to pour their filthy lucre into the leaking bucket and say the will not participate in the bailout unless the debt is “restructured” The European part of the Troika will not accept that, but say they could not go ahead with the bailout if the IMF doesn't participate. Meanwhile, while the financial gambling sharks shuffle their chips, the people of Greece bleed. That's capitalism.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Warm Air On Ageing Bones.

          Hi, this will be my last posting here for a couple of weeks. I'm off to let some warm air caress my ageing bones. So see you soon.

MY GREEK HOLIDAY.

Bustling town,

Greek warriors striding towards me

erect, looking straight ahead

dressed in traditional dress.

Skin tight jeans, knee length Jimmy Chow boots,

ample cleavage, displayed,

topped with Prada sunglasses

and Gucci bag slung over the shoulder.

Noisy cafes, loud animated conversation,

no hands, no voice.

Click of dice, backgammon the religion.

An array of coffees, delivered

to background music born of a forced marriage,

traditional Greek, rock and rap, Greek pop.

White and beige apartment blocks

scarred by long dark shadows,

set ablaze in a scarlet fire

by a fireball sun that seeks the sea,

creating a firestorm across the sky.

Only a lingering kiss with the sea can cool its ire.

Apartments, villas, tavernas,

marauding groups, two’s, three’s, four’s.

Sometimes lying around in the sun,

sometimes following you,

sometimes howling at you.

Everywhere, the street dogs of Greece.

Sitting on my rock

On the side of the mountain,

the sun in my face,

not a breath of wind, not a sound.

Ah, this must be the valley

Where the Gods sleep.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

May Day On The Green.

        An other appeal for those interested in getting May Day back on the Green, get in touch, bring what you expect to find, come and do your thing, just let us know what you hope to do.

 MAY DAY IN THE GREEN

Sunday ist May from 1.30pm (to around 4pm) informal picnic with poets, singers, musicians. The location will be at the other side of the Peoples Palace in Glasgow Green, near the "washing lines" and canopy. Part of a project to return Mayday to the people from the Bureaucrats of the STUC & Politicians. This will be after the May day march from George Square at 11.30 and complementary to street stalls at Buchanan St. Planning meeting at 1pm Sunday 17th April in Electron Club. All invited to help make this a success! An event supported by Spirit of Revolt archive, Clydeside IWW and performers    email   annarky@radicalglasgow.me.uk

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Capitalism, The Cheats Paradise.

      Our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media is all in a flutter of the Panama leaks, which seems to suggest that some rich millionaires might be fiddling the books, surely not!!! From what they've printed, it seems to be all the bad guys that the west doesn't like, We have Putin linked, Gaddaffi, is mentioned, Mubarak, and Assad are mentioned, of we all know that no Western leaders would be implicated in such dirty dealings, we are democratic. Believe that and you'll believe any bullshit. There is a mention of PM Cameron's daddy being involved in what they call creative accounting. "Off shore" is a euphemism for very large pig trough.

        It would be more interesting to see who among the UK pampered parasites are not involved. We expect the lot to have their greedy snouts firmly tucked into the trough, while posing in photo ops as upstanding individuals. They inhabit a stewpot of self interest, greed and corruption. No doubt some will still manage to tut-tut at it all.  They are all underhand wheelers and dealers, that's what they do, It does get awful close to Lizzie's associates: (Elizabeth Windsor's family bank Coutts & Co are implicated in the Panama Papers scandal. They made 487 tax haven firm start-up requests to Mossack Fonseca, making them one of the most prominent applicants to tax haven schemes.) Time to clean the pig shed out.

      To me this isn't news, it is the way they do things, though it is satisfying to see the dirty washing being hung out to dry. Who needs them.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Words For Julia.

        Staying with poetry, I received this from comrade Loam, a beautiful poem, born of the brutality of the Franco regime in 1938.

        José Agustín Goytisolo. Born in Barcelona on 13 April 1928, his family was brutally shaken by the death of his mother (Julia Gay) in an aerial bombardment by Franco regime, in 1938. José Agustín was specially affected, and named his daughter after his lost mother. 'Words for Julia' is one of his best-known poems (sung by Paco Ibáñez -anarchist)

Here's the poem translated into English.

José Agustín Goytisolo
Words for Julia

You cannot turn back
because life's pushing you
like a never-ending howl.

My daughter, it's better to live
with the happiness of mankind,
than to cry before the blind wall.

You will feel cornered,
you will feel lost or lonely,
maybe you'll wish you hadn't been born.

I know very well they will tell you
that there is no object to life,
that it is an unfortunate affair.

Then always remember
what I wrote one day
thinking of you as I am now thinking.

A man alone, a woman,
taken like that, one by one,
are like dust, are nothing.

But when I talk to you,
when I write these words for you,
I also think of other people.

Your destiny is in others,
your future is your own life,
your dignity is that of everybody.

Others expect you to resist,
your happiness to help them,
your song among their songs.

Then always remember
what I wrote one day
thinking of you as I am now thinking.

Never give up or halt
by the road, never say
I can't take it any more and here I stop.

 Life is beautiful, you will see
how in spite of the sorrows
you'll have love, you'll have friends.

For the rest there is no choice
and this world as it is
will be all your patrimony.

Forgive me, I do not know
what more to say, but you understand
that I am still on my way.

And always, always, remember
what I wrote one day
thinking of you like I am now thinking.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

I Dream Of Fires Of The Future.

Two poems today, and why not?

I Dream.

I dream

A world where man

No other man will scorn,

Where love will bless the earth

And peace its paths adorn.

I dream a world where all

Will know sweet freedom's way,

Where greed no longer saps the soul

Nor avarice blights our day.

A world I dream where black or white,

Whatever race you be,

Will share the bounties of the earth

And ever man is free,

Where wretchedness will hang its head

And joy, like a pearl,

Attends the needs of all mankind----

Of such a I dream, my world!

Langston Hughes.

 

Fires Of The Future.

I am fire,

I surge,   I hiss,

sometimes bursting forth in flame

that lights up the world

illuminating unimagined dreams.

Then the black cloak

blankets out the glow.

Again all is dark,

but,    still

beneath the surface

I surge,    I hiss,

I endure, waiting, seeking,

building up pressure.

One day I will explode

destroying forever

the Tartarean crust of oppression. 

I am fire,

I am the people.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Capitalism And Mental Health.

          Although this video came from  our friends just up the road, I just came across it yesterday on arrezafe. Great work comrades, keep up those Libertarian Socialist Rants.

Published on Mar 22, 2016

       Far from being a far-fetched pipe dream that human beings could never live under, pockets of anarchistic self-activity are what keep us sane in a profoundly insane world. This video mainly deals with how the capitalist system exerts massive amounts of pressure on individuals and gives the average person a million different things to worry about. I mainly talk about anxiety and depression here, although I fully acknowledge that there's so much more to cover than just that, both in terms of mental illness and in terms of societal analysis. 

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

World Wide Anarchist Radio.

        Anarchist radio goes world wide on Sunday, April, 3rd. 2016, 14:00-18:00 (European Central Time) Four hours when the world can tune in and listen to our ideas. Now, that must be worth shouting about.
        On Sunday, the 3rd of April 2016, the 17 projects of the International Gathering of Anarchist and Anti-authoritarian Radios that is taking place in Berlin, Germany, will do a 4 hour live radio broadcast that can be listen to through an online stream (links below!).
        The programme will cover wide range of topics from the perspective of anarchist and anti-authoritarian movements. Presentations of local and international projects, groups/networks and activities/struggles; discussions on current issues such as migration; announcements of the upcoming protests/conferences/meetings/bookfairs and much more!

The facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1288252974526939/ 14:00 - 18:00 (European Central Time)

 Streams: 

A-radio Berlin (Germany):

 http://giss.tv:8000/aradio-berlin.mp3 http://giss.tv:8001/aradio-berlin.mp3 

Radio Študent 89,3 MHz (Slovenia): 

http://kruljo.radiostudent.si:8000/ehiq 

Broadcasts: Radio Študent 89,3 MHz (Slovenia): 89,3 fm 

        MORE INFORMATIONS SOON! Help us spread the information about the online radio broadcast that will be done this Sunday. Please share this informations with your comrades and all those interested through your channels of communication! SHARE THIS FB EVENT AND INVITE FRIENDS! There will be radio projects (radio stations, radio shows and podcasts) from different parts of the globe participating, so interesting program is inevitable: 

*A-Radio Berlin (Podcast, Germany)* http://aradio.blogsport.de/ 

*FrequenzA (Podcast, Germany)

*?rna Luknja (Show, Ljubljana, Slovenia)

*radiostudent.si/druzba/crna-luknja 

*A-Radio Vienna (Show, Austria)

*Radio Libertarie (Station, Paris, France)* http://www.radio-libertaire.net/ * Motbrus (Podcast, Stockholm, Sweden) 

* Furia de Radio / Radio Irola Irratia (Show and station, Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain) 

* Lucha Libre / Radio Topo (Show and station, Zaragoza, Spain) 

* The Final Straw (Show, North Carolina, USA) 

*Ex-Worker/CrimethInc (Podcast, USA+international) http://www.crimethinc.com/podcast/ 

* Volver a la tierra (Show, Temuco, Chile) 

* Error Involuntario (Show, Concepción, Chile) 

*Radiozones of Subversive Expression / 98FM (Show and Station, Athens, Greece) 

*1431AM (Station, Thessaloniki, Greece) https://www.1431am.org/ 

*Radio Parasita (Station, Volos, Greece) 

*Radio Psalidi (Station, Rethymno, Greece) * Radio Revolt (Station, Thessaloniki, Greece)

      Last year (2015) the International Meeting of Anarchist and Anti-authoritarian Radios was held in Ljubljana, Slovenia. You can check the radio programme from that meeting here: http://radiostudent.si/druzba/crna-luknja/voices-of-anarchism

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

 

Homeless In A Cruel Climate And A Very Rich Country.

        As you walk through the centre of Glasgow you will come across an unusual site on George Square, a small encampment of tents. They are not there as tourists, it is very cold and wet here. What they are doing is trying to draw attention to the homeless problem in Glasgow. These are homeless people, which in a city with innumerable empty properties, this is an indictment against "our city fathers". Humanity demands that nobody should  have to sleep out in conditions like this, every individual in our cities, towns and villages must have a place of safe, warm, shelter. You cannot be a civilised human being and turn your back on those how for a multitude of reasons, find themselves homeless. It is not because there is no where to house them, it is the value structure of this society that says, empty property is worth more than human life.

        All those in that fine building, The Kremlin in George Square, will pontificate, do research and write papers on the homeless, then go home to a warm, safe home, to comfort and food, leaving those that they are writing their papers on to spend the night facing the elements of a cruel climate. Is it too far to stretch their fixed inhuman heads to come up with several empty premises and open them to those in need of shelter and warmth. This is the twenty first century in one of the richest countries in the world, why should people be homeless?

        The city fathers answer to the problem is to evict them from George Square, and in their tiny minds, problem solved, but the people are still homeless. Just pushed out of site, swept under the carpet, driven up dark lanes. Faced with such injustice who can blame homeless people from taking matters into their own hands, rather than face another night seeking somewhere safe and warm to lay their head.

         We have a right and a duty to see that everybody is adequately provided for, food, safe shelter and warmth, it is called civilisation, however, by their actions, our politicians are proving themselves to be far from civilised.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

States' Cattle Herding Exercise.

         The "refugee crisis", I prefer to call it "the humanitarian crisis ignited and exacerbated by Western foreign policy" to the causal  glance appears to be chaos, but I see it as the usual state control. People are channelled and controlled, "the Balkan corridor" and then herded like cattle at border points and the states are getting organised at the point of entry and setting up a deportation system. As usual the various states will disagree on method and pace, but all agree in herding and control over the movement of people.

          From one of the entry points, at a No Borders Kitchen on Lesvos, a report by Contra Info:

        On the island of Lesvos, where the deportation machine is working at full speed, all the camps for refugees are cleared out and the registration center ‘moria’ has showed the true purpose and is now functioning as an deportation centre, NBK is still standing strong and operating at full speed.
         The current situation is that we now host a couple of hundred refugees, who have been hunted down on the island by frontex and police and have no other place to go. The kitchen is up and running day and night to help anyone in need on food, shelter, medical aid and a (semi)safe place to rest, where refugees work side by side with people in solidarity on an equal level. We host, the refugees participate, and together we keep the camp up and daily life running.
        Already the rumors were spreading that NBK will be evicted soon, since its an ‘ illegal’ camp and the last camp on the island were refugees are to be found, besides the unfortunate ones who have been arrested and moved to the Moria deportation center (which is still called a ‘ registration center’ by the officials). For days we have had police coming by in small numbers, sometimes checking passports of people in solidarity, sometimes searching people for drugs outside NBK, sometimes counting the numbers of people in the food-line and taking pictures.. Also they started arresting refugees on the road from NBK to the city of Mytilini, which is a huge problem since NBK as it’s on a dead-end street and there is only one way to walk.

Read the full article HERE: 

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

On My Knees.

 

       Another beautiful day, took the dream machine round familiar territory, Milton of Campsie area, birth place of Thomas Muir, so that marks it out as somewhere special. The house he grow up in, still stands, it is not far from Milton of Campsie, at Huntershill, just outside Bishopbriggs. However, it is not just Thomas Muir that makes this place stand out in my mind, It was on the main road in Milton of Campsie that I was cycling along approaching a junction, a car was coming the other way and indicated he was turning right, across my path. Although I knew I had right of way, but I don't trust motorists, I eased off to see what he would do, he stopped, so I went on, he then changed his mind and tried to get round in front of me. The result was that I hit his back door, rolled over the roof of his car and slide down over his boot and landed on my knees behind the car. It was my old steel framed bike, so no damage there, but one of my knees was rather swollen, so it was off the bike for a few weeks. He did give me a lift home, ah, the camaraderie of the open road open road.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk