It Was No Dream.

 

         Up early this morning, sitting at the computer, looking out the window, yes, this is Scottish weather. It is all very grey, the grass is wet and I'm thinking of a heavy woollen top, though, the eternal optimist, it will clear up again soon, and the sun will return. Or, were all those wonderful bike runs of the last ten days, in glorious sunshine at 18/20 degrees, all a dream? Was it all wishful thinking and the product of an over active imagination? A glance at my arms, traces of sunburn, then there are the photos, so, yes it really did happen. Yesterday's magnificent sun, a total contrast from today, saw me around the Campsie Hills area, AGAIN, the countryside looked gorgeous, the array of colours, the changing contours, the glowing sun, a paradise. Of course nothing is perfect, the wind was 20mph exacerbated by occasional sudden gusts, so I had to work very hard on stretches of the road, but so what, I was out on the bike in a half-sleeve top, in glorious sunshine, ain't life wonderful.

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

Sqats, A Road Out Of Capitalism.

      And more on squats and their place in the battle to radically change the shape of society to a more community based system of co-operation.

 K*Vox occupied social centre which houses a café, a library and a free medical centre.

From 325:

Radiofragmata: International Call for Action about Squats (Greece)

      The anarchist squats ought to be a thorn for the repression mechanisms, against every dominant expression of the existing system. All things considered, they ought to be thorns against the social norm, against the alienated everyday life of decay that the social norm itself produces.

       Regarding the link of dynamics of the people who take action in squats and choose to clash with the above aspects of the dominant complex, we believe that a necessary tool is the coordination of individualities and groups which act within and around the squats, so as to able to form a living organism with direct offensive reflexes. The coordination and the interaction between squats mustn’t be determined by the attacks from the state and its mechanisms -official or unofficial- but to form a cell of essential political fermentation and a meeting place of our individual and collective negations and desires.

        It is necessary again to overcome the pathogenic characteristics of introversion and institutionalization that are making their appearances even within the occupied spaces of the Greek landscape. The continuous gamble that the squats are being asked to win is the one regarding the clash with authority, the one of our theoretical and insurrectional development, the overcoming of the social automatisms which constitute takeoffs of a social web’s miniature that we detest. These squats are able to form a new field of creative development and confrontation against the existing system. For these squats, the authority is going to bleed if they ever attempt to take them back, because they will be liberated centres of struggle of the polymorphous anarchist action, vital parts in other words, of a wider range of a combative network of liberated spaces that won’t bargain their life over obedient submission.

      We, as Radiofragmata, since we are a vital part of an occupied space (the one of the polymorphous anarchist action at Zaimi 11, Exarcheia, Athens), support and constitute an active mosaic of this call, in which the comrades of the Anarchist Library Teflon, Papamichelaki Squat and Continuous Deconstruction are equally taking part, that places the issue about squats at the epicenter, the coordination amongst them and the need for intensification of their offensive characteristics.

 

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Exarcheia Calling

         What is happening in Greece should be of interest to all of us, who wish to bring about justice, freedom, co-operation and sustainability, in other words, who wish to bring about the end of capitalism. Greece is at the forefront of the " refugee crisis" but is also at the forefront of the financial Mafia's attempt to recapitalise it institutions at the expense of the people. How the people react to this criminal act of looting, is something we can learn from.

From Anarchist News: 

Exarcheia Calling

            This statement is based on our personal and shared collective experience of the current situation of anarchist struggle in Greece, Athens and Exarkhia. We did not neither had the time to consult and agree with the older Greek crowd of anarchists and radicals, and is only our sentiment as mostly international people with little experience and limited knowledge of the dynamics within the militant crowds.
           We are an ad hoc collective of international squatters in Exarkhia who just opened a new occupation in a lofty house at 119 Zoodorou Pigis, three weeks ago, pitted together by the necessity of developing a place where to live and organize, with the desire to spread anarchy against a ruthless State at the very entrance of Fortress Europe, and its armies of civil and uniformed minions. This squat 'til now has been an awesome adventure filled with creative energies and has helped several anarcho street travellers as well as refugees to have a stay, be a stake up against society and in the process build ties with new people, something that had become nearly impossible these days in Athens due to not just State repression but also the internal politics of the well-known squats and the demotivation/demobilization of many anarchists in Exarkhia.

Read the full article HERE: 

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When Will We Abolish Slavery??

        Look around and what we see is blatant greed and corruption by the wealthy and powerful, with the people growing more and more aware of this looting and a realisation that the ballot box is just an illusion to fool the subservient. So protests grow, turmoil increases and the system cracks and starts to crumble. In the capitalist system protest and direct action is the only road to real change, justice and freedom. The states answer to this threat is to lock more people up in cages, believing this will solve the problem. However, people in cages are still people, and their resolve to be treated as such will always be there and grow.

        Across the system those locked up are also turning to direct action as much as they can within the confines of the brutal state incarceration. Prisoners direct action is growing, in Greece there is a constant battle within the prison system in America across several states prisoners are on strike, and the latest in Europe is in Belgium, where several prisons have prisoners roiting, to the extent that the Belgian government has sent in the troops. Slavery is not dead as long as we have prisons and those locked up used as productive units to make profit for large corporations, as happens in every country in Europe. In America, prisons are nothing more than large production units useing the inmates as slave labour. All those who are protesting, striking, taking direct action, within the prison system must be able to call on the support and solidarity of all those outside the cages, we are all fighting the same system, exploitation,injustice and corruption.

      A small chronology of the riots spreading the Belgian prisons, where guards are on strike for more than two weeks now…

On Monday 25th of April, the prison guards of all prisons in the French speaking parts of Belgium went on strike, in total 21 prisons. The prisoners are confined in their cells. All activities, like the walk, shower, visit, legal counsel, are cancelled. The police took over the control of the prisons to assure security.

After one week of guards on strike, and with conditions rapidly deteriorating inside, incidents start to spread in many prisons. In some prisons, the situation could be called catastrophic. Prisoners only receive food once a day, didn’t go out of their cells in more than ten days, hygienic conditions are terrible with infections and diseases spreading.---------

Read the full article HERE:

And in America, prisoners strikes are growing.

      Alabama prisoners who have been on strike for 10 days over unpaid labor and prison conditions are accusing officials of retaliating against their protest by starving them. The coordinated strike started on May 1, International Workers’ Day, when prisoners at the Holman and Elmore facilities refused to report to their prison jobs and has since expanded to Staton, St. Clair, and Donaldson’s facilities, according to organizers with the Free Alabama Movement, a network of prison activists.

      Prison officials responded by putting the facilities on lockdown, partially to allow guards to perform jobs normally carried out by prisoners. But prisoners told The Intercept that officials also punished them by serving meals that are significantly smaller than usual, a practice they have referred to as “bird feeding.”----------

Texas.

       Claiming that they are treated like slaves, inmates from up to five Texas prisons have orchestrated a historic workers’ strike. A lack of access to quality food and water, low wages, overcrowding, and poor working conditions were among their complaints.

Striking inmates are refusing to leave their cells for work assigned by Texas Corrections Industries (TCI), a publicly traded company.

        Established in 1963 under the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, TCI uses prison labor to make a variety of products “from hand soap to bed sheets, from raising livestock to making iron toilets and portable buildings,” all of which are sold to local, state, and federal government agencies, as well as public schools, and hospitals ‒ and prisoners receive none of the profits, according to a letter outlining the reasons for the strike.--------

     PRISON INMATES around the country have called for a series of strikes against forced labor, demanding reforms of parole systems and prison policies, as well as more humane living conditions, a reduced use of solitary confinement, and better health care.

       Inmates at up to five Texas prisons pledged to refuse to leave their cells today. The strike’s organizers remain anonymous but have circulated fliers listing a series of grievances and demands, and a letter articulating the reasons for the strike. The Texas strikers’ demands range from the specific, such as a “good-time” credit toward sentence reduction and an end to $100 medical co-pays, to the systemic, namely a drastic downsizing of the state’s incarcerated population.

       “Texas’s prisoners are the slaves of today, and that slavery affects our society economically, morally and politically,” reads the five-page letter announcing the strike. “Beginning on April 4, 2016, all inmates around Texas will stop all labor in order to get the attention from politicians and Texas’s community alike.”---------

Well worth reading these articles in full.

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

 

Great Ride, Pity About The Roads.

 

         Let's hope that this most unusual Scottish weather continues. Another lovely run out on the dream machine, again the wind was not playing ball with us cyclists, approximately 20mph, not a nice companion when pushing up a hill. Another shocker, tearoom at Campsie shut again. So I just sat in the sun for a few minutes contemplating the dire effects of not having the obligatory plate of lentil soup. Obviously none, as I just got back on the bike and cycled home. 

        However, I think it is time that we cyclist and you motorist got together and took the various councils to task on the state of our roads. Surely the councils have a duty to keep the roads "fit for purpose". I know that motorists don't always feel the bumps in the roads the way a cyclist does, but the damage to the suspension system and wheels of cars must be an ever increasing cost. To the cyclist it is a bit more than an uncomfortable ride, and a bit more than damage to wheels etc, it is a matter of life and death. While cycling on our roads it is hard to believe that we live in the 5th. richest country in the world. The cyclist has to manoeuvre and zig-zag through an array of potholes, cracked tarmac, rough troughs, sunken drain covers, tarmac patches that are raised abruptly above the level of the road, and general crap rough surfaces, all the while being very much aware of fast flowing traffic that flies past you with very little space between you and the vehicle. All this while councils and government bodies are spouting that more people should take to cycling.

 

        I consider it criminal neglect on behalf of the councils to allow our road system to fall into such a state of disrepair. In doing so they are risking the lives of cyclists and other road users. Somehow, we must be able to hold them to account. Any ideas? 

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

We Eat Austerity, And Send Our Wealth To The Banks.

        Having been a regular visitor to Greece over the years, and enjoyed the pleasantries of that country and the generosity of its people, I have watched the people of Greece being cruelly sacrificed on the altar of big finance, and my mind can’t help revisit the present problems faced by the people of Greece. The general perception by the people of the rest of Europe is that we have generously pour billions into that country and they are still in a mess. Of course the truth is far removed from that piece of chicanery and illusion. What we should all be aware of is that the “rescue packages”, were really designed to save the private investors and the banks, the people of Greece don’t come into the equation. According to research done by the European School of Management and Technology, of the first two aid packages amounting to more than €215 billion, a mere €9.5 billion went to assist the people of Greece, the remainder went to interest payments and to service old debts, in other words, it went back to the banks. 

         Greece is no longer a sovereign country, its so called socialist government is merely there to implement the dictate of the financial Mafia, the Troika, (EC, European Commission, ECB, European Central Bank, IMF, International Mankind Fuckers) and they are determined to gut and clean out any assets left in that country and in the process totally destroy the already shattered social welfare structure of Greece.
        Even in the “refugee crisis”, Greece has been left to sort it out by itself. While Turkey got a deal of €6 billion to tidy them through, Greece got bus loads of advisers to help them stream line the paper work and processing of that tragic army of desperate people landing on the shores of Greece in their hundreds of thousands. 

       Yet we have that member of the financial Mafia, Wolfgang Schauble, German finance Minister, stating, “we were very generous with Greece.”, helping to weave the cruel illusion that the problem is really all about the nasty, lazy, inefficient, bad managers that is Greece.
          Greece is the perfect example of how the financial system that controls our lives, is hell bent on attempting to secure its debt laden banking system at the expense of the welfare of the people. For the same reason, all our welfare systems are under attack, the financial Mafia will continue to push for more and more “austerity” which translates as, “send all the money to the banks” to prop up the phoney crumbling house of cards. 

        Let’s look at Greece in honest detail and ask, why do we tolerate such a vicious, unjust, corrupt system that openly only benefits the pampered parasites who are looting the earth at everybody’s expense. If you say you want justice, then you have to say, you want an end to the capitalist system. 

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

I Saw The Sun!!!!

       Our weather has seen fit to take pity on us sun starved Scots. The last few days have been wonderful, and it looks set to continue for the next week. So Sunday saw me out on by usual territory, around the Campsie Hills area, I cam always get a good plate of lentil soup there.

      It was hot, but yet again, the wind stayed with us, it was an easterly wind and quite strong, but still a great day.

       I believe that Scotland's countryside is so beautiful that it doesn't matter where you point your camera, it's always a pretty picture.

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

Chat, Songs And Poetry, Happy May Day.

        Yea, I know, I keep going on about the May Day picnic on The Green, but it was a great wee self organised event. So here is a wee video of the event thanks to Bob at City Strolls.



And the more sedate and sanitised official May Day march and rally.

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

We Live In A Financial Asylum.

        And so the sorry, sad, Greek tragedy continues. Come July the Greek government has to pay €3.5 billion in debt repayment, but it needs a bailout of more debt to make that payment. Yes, that’s the crazy system we live under, I owe you ten quid, I can’t pay you until you give me ten quid, with which to pay you. Although the people of Greece have been driven to dire poverty and deprivation, the financial Mafia want another round of budget cuts to the tune of €3 billion. What more can they cut, unemployment in Greece is running at approximately 25%, with youth unemployment running at around 51%, an education system in a state of collapse, and a health system in total chaos. Of course there is still lots of Greek assets that could be sold of to the corporate greed machine at give away prices, to help recapitalise the banksters of the Western world. 

         Well, will Greece get more debt with which to make a payment to its debt? The negotiations are not going too well, they are deep into the waffle stage, the Troika is now squabbling among themselves, with the IMF (International Mankind Fuckers) stating that the Greek debt must be “restructured”, they are getting a bit cautious about throwing their money into the Greek debt hole, on the other hand the EC (European Commission) and the ECB (European Central Bank) will not hear of that, as it would mean that as they hold the vast majority of that Greek debt they would lose lots of filthy lucre. If the restructuring doesn’t take place, the IMF has threatened to walk away, which means the bailout disappears. 

      How long will this crazy insane game of monopoly continue, how long must the people of Greece be held hostage in the crazy financial house of cards that is the capitalist financial system? Sadly, as long as we all accept the capitalist system, The system is controlled by a faceless, unelected, uncontrollable, financial Mafia, and it is not interest in the answers to the problems the people face, it is only interested in protecting and growing its wealth. So stick with capitalism, live in the asylum.

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

 

 

May Day On The Green Photos.

       For all you poor souls who missed Glasgow's May Day Picnic on The Green, here are some photos to make you feel you made it there. Thanks Anne.

 

 

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