As The Oil Flows, So Does The Blood.

       We all know that wars are fought not for principles of morality, defending democracy, or freeing "the people", but for the gain of those in power, the controlling of resources for big corporations, and dominance in resource rich territory. Anybody who can't see this, just isn't paying attention. Sometimes the manoeuvring remains shrouded in illusion and the fog of lies, sometimes it comes out quite quickly, but it is always a struggle to get the facts accepted.

       The Saudi lead massacre in the Yemen is one of those charades that the light of truth falls on while it is still in operation. The whole Yemeni slaughter is no more than bombing a clear path for a Western/Saudi backed oil pipeline to by-pass the Strait of Hormuz, and be free from Iranian influence. 

        We will support organisations like al-Qaeda, one day, then bomb them the next, depending how the powerful can use them.

        The following is an extract from a very interesting article on that Western backed Yemeni slaughter, taken from The Canary:

Massive attack

         In an official statement after the April operation, the Saudi-led coalition said that “more than 800 al-Qaeda elements” had been killed in the military confrontation. Mainstream media outlets parroted the coalition claim. The Wall Street Journal referred to a successful “offensive” marking a “new direction for the coalition.” And Reuters described the operation as a “lighting advance” that “routed the militants” from their stronghold. In the official narrative, on the day Saudi-led Yemeni and UAE troops moved to the outskirts of Mukalla, local Islamic clerics and tribesmen were enrolled to mediate al-Qaeda’s withdrawal. AQAP subsequently “fled westwards” in the wake of the frightening military advance.
        A statement from the Saudi embassy in Washington said: Saudi forces are also on the ground alongside the UAE forces in Mukalla… it is a Saudi-led Arab Coalition that is fighting AQAP alongside the US military contingent on the ground. New details about the alleged US and UK-backed assault emerged on Wednesday from an interview with the Commander of the Saudi-led Yemeni forces behind the Mukalla operation.
         In the Al Jazeera interview, Major General Faraj Salmeen al-Bahsini painted a Hollywood-esque picture of a: big number of [AQAP] fighters… destroyed first by the coalition’s warplanes and then by [our] forces on the ground. None of the al-Qaeda fighters was able to flee these camps.
       Al-Bahsini said that the total number of AQAP fighters killed was “probably” much higher than the 800 originally claimed. The general described: precise air strikes by the coalition’s warplanes on [AQAP’s] key positions, gatherings, ammunition depots and centres-of-command rooms.
         There were also, he said, bold coalition navy attacks on hundreds of fighters who were fleeing the city on boats and vessels bound for the Horn of Africa.
Not to mention: special commandos who attacked al-Qaeda from the sea The commandos bravely secured the Dhabah oil terminal from the AQAP barbarians, before rapidly defusing hundreds of landmines.

Except they didn’t.

Attack? What Attack?
        Independent on-the-ground sources have denied there was any such attack. Veteran BBC journalist Iona Craig, who has reported extensively from Yemen, said that the coalition statement was “ridiculous”, as AQAP had already deserted the city before the alleged military ‘rout’: There weren’t even 800 fighters left there. There was no fighting inside the city because al-Qaeda had already left. She described the 800 figure as “a lie that’s not even plausible.” Craig had been in Mukalla a month before the military operation. She said that Saudi-led forces had been secretly negotiating with AQAP for the previous two weeks “to let fighters leave”. Far from being ‘routed’, al-Qaeda “had been given free passage out of the city” by their Saudi benefactors.
         There were sporadic clashes on roads leading into Mukalla, but none within the city itself. She also said that coalition airstrikes were hitting targets that had already been repeatedly bombed.
        Mohammed al-Yazidi, a Mukalla-based writer, said during the operation that locals were surprised at the “prompt and bloodless exit” of AQAP from the city.
         Hisham al-Omeisy, a Yemeni political analyst, similarly reported that there was “no real battle” as AQAP fighters had left the city within twelve hours. Yet, he said: Coalition capitalise, claim huge battle killed 800. In other words, the Saudi ‘victory’ against AQAP in Mukalla was achieved without a single fire-fight in the city.

The US and UK collude in Saudi pipeline plan        While under al-Qaeda’s control, Hadramawt had remained curiously free from Saudi aerial bombardment since the beginning of the war. The province is central to a long standing Saudi plan, supported by the US and UK, to install an oil and gas pipeline route through Yemen to the Gulf of Aden. The idea is to bypass Iranian influence via the Strait of Hormuz. Regional oil supplies must currently pass through the Strait to reach world oil markets.
       The pipeline plan is mentioned in a top secret 2008 State Department cable from the US embassy in Yemen to the Secretary of State: A British diplomat based in Yemen told PolOff [US embassy political officer] that Saudi Arabia had an interest to build a pipeline, wholly owned, operated and protected by Saudi Arabia, through Hadramawt to a port on the Gulf of Aden, thereby bypassing the Arabian Gulf/Persian Gulf and the straits of Hormuz.
        Ousted Yemeni President Abdullah Saleh had originally supported the project, but eventually became its chief opponent.

The full article is a must read HERE:

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

Undying Desire To Be Free.

        Gabriel Pombo da Silva's first letter of gratitude and commitment from outside the Spanish state's cages.
From Act For Freedom Now:

      “Anarchism concerns the individual, not only with regards to collectivity but also with regards to itself’. Anarchism is not directed at the “citizen” but to people.” – Albert Libertad.

Dear comrades,

        Finally, after endless games and chicanery by the prison institution and the ministry of the interior they were forced to obey their own laws, which they constantly break, here I am finally free, writing these first words of gratitude and love to all those who over these past 30 years have accompanied me and reaffirmed my own anarchist beliefs, putting into practice the basic values and principles of anarchism like mutual support and solidarity and have finally managed to pluck me from the clutches of the prison beast which I will continue fighting from the street without forgetting, obviously, the combat being waged outside.

          I am certain that even in all of this I am very privileged to have had the support of comrades, because there are many who do not have this possibility. In the coming days we will send out statements in more specific terms about what concerns our movement and possible strategies that we must develop so that we can cure the revolutionary anarchism of our elders of all institutionalism and insubstantial chatter. I want to be clear that I will never forget our libertarian comrades imprisoned in the spanish state and around the world, particularly Mónica, Francisco, Claudio, and the latest comrade to be arrested who will soon be extradited to the german state, and many more unnamed.

         There is still so much to do, I know, and it will certainly not remain undone due to lack of will, passion and commitment. In these moments I won’t refer to the pettiness implemented by the prison administration to try to impede my release because we will be documenting this with official papers that denote, clearly, how crude and cunning the justice administration in this country is.

           I am free and apparently in 45 days they intend to imprison me again, they will unleash their hounds on me. Obviously, I will not go voluntarily or participate in any way in any kind of agreement or negotiated release with those disgusting people. Therefore I suppose that I have no choice but to continue, as always, fighting from the shadows, supporting those processes and anti-authoritarian projects that I consider it necessary to give life to with all the means I can reach from my imposed clandestinity.

       It would be impossible to mention here all the people and organisations that have supported me throughout all these years, because they are too many. I only want them to know that they can count on me yesterday, today and forever for anarchism and social revolution.

         Today, from a place outside the walls, huge greetings to all my sisters and brothers in latin america and southern europe, with the confidence that we will find ourselves on this journey and project of emancipation that is our lives in struggle.

Gabriel Pombo da Silva   10th June, 2016.

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

American Slave Labour Camps.

       The American prison system is nothing less than slave labour camps, where billions of dollars of merchandise is produced for the American military and large corporations, and the prisoners get no choice in the matter.
          Regarding the action against the American prison system, June 13th. from Free Marius Mason site. 

         Greetings to all the good folks who are coming together on this day to fight together against an important Environmental Justice issue. It inspires me to see that friends in the environmental movement and friends in the prison abolition movement are seeing some essential common ground, to join forces and visions in their work.
       Many, many years ago in Detroit, I and a small group of neighbors got together to oppose a trash incinerator that was being built in the city, in our neighborhood. At one of the many public hearings, I accosted an EPA official who had signed off on a report that said that the fatalities due to the operation of this monstrosity would be about 40 people. His answer to me, was that was only if people were exposed to the toxins coming from the stack every day, all day. His assertion was that most people would go away from the area, either by moving or for vacation or for work…..but this was a false assumption. The poor people of my neighborhood were stuck there, many were house-bound elders or small children, and most of us who were able to work did so minutes away from the faculty. We were in essence a sacrifice community, deemed expendable because of our poverty or our race. We eventually lost our fight, for the most part. But were able to get them to put the state of the art capture technology on the Incinerator that would NOT have been put in place had it not been for our intense struggle. Direct action really does get the goods, but you have to be in it for the long haul.
        No one is more locked into one spot for the long haul than are the prisoners incarcerated in the United States; so many for decades on end. Many are prohibited from transfer and would certainly be exposed relentlessly to any toxic source that was on the premises. And as recent litigation has proved..hardly anyone is less likely to be served as to their medical needs. So the curse of a toxic facility on a prison population is doubled by the lack of access to any monitoring or treatment. Given that the prison population is overwhelmingly people of color, trans and queer folks and poor people – the result is a great human rights tragedy as well as the thoughtless destruction of an environment that is literally coming apart, unable to withstand the damage that our society is inflicting on it.
     As an environmental and animal rights activist, as a trans prisoner of conscience, as someone whose choice and whose voice are so often taken away by the system – I am infinitely grateful to all of you who are here today to insist that we want a world that cares and respects all beings and this Earth. Thank you for speaking for so many who cannot. I wish you strength and success in your campaign.

We are all in it for the long haul, love and solidarity,

Marius Mason

Write to Marius.

        We encourage everyone to write to Marius in prison:


Marie (Marius) Mason #04672-061
FMC Carswell
Federal Medical Center
P.O. Box 27137
Fort Worth, TX 76127

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

Squat The World.

          Squatting is one path to where we are going. A brief statement from a relatively new squat in Exarchia, Athens. Solidarity across borders could help it keep functioning.

         Since April 21st 2016, we have occupied an abandoned private house on 119, Zoodochou Pigis Street. It’s Cat’s spirit, where we want to have a base for anarchist people, especially new people arriving in Exarchia. The plan is to create an open space for both anarchists and refugee activists, but also for people in emergency housing need.
Squatting is always a political action. We are fighting against private property in a capitalist system that created it. We are trying to live in a different way: collective, dignified and self-organised.
         After having abandoned the building for years, on June 6th 2016 a woman presenting herself as one of its owners threatened to call the police if we didn’t pay a rent in the next days. The reality is that we’ve expropriated one empty and destroyed house, and we are trying to live in it. So, we refuse any kind of negotiation with the owners.
         We believe in solidarity with all self-organised places in Exarchia, in order to show to the system that we will continue to resist and fight for autonomy and freedom.
         Let’s all be ready to support self-organised spaces everywhere!
SQUAT THE WORLD! RESISTANCE!
Cat’s spirit

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

Hello Lamp Post, What Kind Of Day Have You Had?

 

        It seems that the citizens of the fair city of Bristol are to be part of a large and very expensive experiment. They are soon to be enmeshed in a web of connectivity, an invisible spider's web of waves and pulses. The City council with the help of hi-tec giants, universities and pots of money will be working together to create a magic world of an all joined up society. Lamp posts, bus stop and other inauspicious objects will become points of communication. The latest face recognition and crowd analysis will be employed, the powers that be boast of the wonderful benefits, stating that it could mean that if there was an accident, the emergency services could be notified before you can reach for your phone. Of course they don't mention that with all that face recognition and crowd analysis, that other service, the one with the riot shields and truncheons could arrive before you can reach for your phone. Another feature they seem to be getting carried away with is, you will be able to communicate with the said lamp posts and bus stops and have some sort of conversation, and others will be able to hear and see what has been going on there, swapping information. Doesn't it sound wonderful, you will be able to communicate with everybody without actually meeting anybody. So when you tire of watching crap TV or playing with your game consul, you can walk down the high street and have a conversation with a lamp post, or perhaps your fancy is a nice bus stop, this they say is connecting the city!! 

      What it boils down to is a super surveillance system where there is no hiding place, no need to came face to face with another human being, or are you naive enough to think that all this money and effort is being spent for the benefit of the citizens of the fair city of Bristol. If it is successful, in the eyes of the powers that be, it will be rolled out across the country. The perfect controllable society, where people can function in isolation, always being observed and recorded, a system where decisions are made by algorithms, computers and faceless individuals. Welcome to the world of connectivity. 

This from 325:

       City authorities and allied technological entrepreneurs are working to kit out Bristol with a city-wide ‘digital fabric’ of the very latest in sensor and connectivity technology, to make it the world’s first open ‘programmable city’. A high-speed fibre-optic network (making use of disused cable ducting owned by the council) is being combined with a new ‘city operating system’ that will power an experimental network. In the coming spring of 2016, 1,500 sensor-equipped lampposts are being launched around the city; the vast majority of Bristol will be covered in a Radio Frequency (RF) mesh. This is predicted to revolutionise the way that emergency response, traffic management and other municipal services are handled, and track certain vehicle locations, with eventual alleged trickle-down ‘benefits’ such as informing residents of parking spaces and air pollution (ahem, from those parking spaces) in an increasingly mechanised and technified environment.-------

And there is more:

---------The sensors will collate vast amounts of raw data, which the council is already equipt with various ‘Big Data’ processing platforms to analyse; Bristol has already opened up almost two hundred of the city’s data sets on traffic flows and energy use, crime trends, targeted advertising, generating new innovative businesses, as well as encouraging citizens to interact with the city in new, digitalised ways. ‘Acoustic detection sensors’ have also been mentioned; similar uses have been made of microphone-equipt lampposts in major cities of the United States, with audio recording and gunshot detectors linked straight to police targeting ‘high crime areas’, to be combined with surveillance video. As opposed to the reactions which their use in obtaining convictions have earned across the Atlantic, as a precursor to the Bristol Is Open initiative the PAN innovation team began a four-week project in Bristol during 2013 called Hello Lamp Post, to introduce smart-city technologies more ‘softly’. The project’s co-creator, Ben Barker, was featured in media at the time. “Smart cities, where technologies play an important role, tend to be perceived as high on efficiency yet low on warmer, human elements, Barker explains. “Our starting point was a desire to use the city’s existing infrastructure to encourage human interaction through storytelling and story sharing.” ” In a bizarre mix between Artificial Intelligence and a chat forum, users were offered the opportunity to ‘communicate’ with street furniture like lampposts, postboxes, and bus stops via text message by using the repair numbers found on these objects as SMS codes. The object would “wake up” and respond in kind with a series of text messages, “sharing interesting content about that specific location left by others who’ve come before”.

The full, well worth reading article, can be found HERE:

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

What If------!!

          Some thoughtful words from Not Buying Anything:

       What is the ethos of our time? Most people would agree that it is the American Dream, or globally speaking, the Consumer Dream.
An ethos is defined as "the characteristic spirit of a culture, era, or community as manifested in its beliefs and aspirations." So ours is something like - work hard and you will be able to buy everything you have ever wanted. As nice as this lie sounds, it has had some unintended consequences.
         There are currently several individuals in the world that are in the running for designation "First Trillionaire". They truly exemplify the ethos of our day, which could also be read as "The Ethos of More".
But only for me. Not for you. My gain is at your expense because there is a scarcity of everything. There is not enough so we have to compete with each other, and winner takes all. This is a distortion of the facts when we live in an infinitely abundant universe. “If you perceive the universe as being a universe of abundance, then it will be. If you think of the universe as one of scarcity, then it will be… 

         I always thought that there was enough to go around - that there are enough ideas in the universe and enough nourishment. It’s very hard to move beyond the idea that there is not enough to go around, to move beyond that sense of ‘I better get mine before anybody else takes it away from me’.” 

- Milton Glaser

       Our current ethos, The Consumer Dream, has become The Planetary Nightmare.We need a new characteristic spirit to guide us, one diametrically opposed to the one we have today.
        In an abundant world there is plenty to address everyone's need, but there will never be enough to fulfil the greed of even a few. Needs are finite, while greed is unlimited.
        What if we are not as greedy as the economists tell us we are? Maybe we don't have infinite wants, or wouldn't if it weren't for being immersed in profit propaganda and advertising our whole lives. Maybe, with a new world view, people would give simplicity a try, and discover that a simple life of limited wants is a sustainable, happy existence. It is enough.
Imagine if, in an Ethos of Abundance, we all thought that there was more than enough to satisfy the needs of every human on the planet. In such a world view we could freely share the gifts of Earth with everyone taken care of in the healthiest way possible.
        In such a world we would spend our time taking care of ourselves and those around us in a spirit of cooperation and sharing. Most people would agree that this would be preferable to competition and perpetual war.
         It is an idea whose time has come. Goodbye American Dream, hello Enough For Everyone. Gift what you can - receive what you need.

"What if...

Everyone started sharing, just a little bit
With everyone else,
something that they liked to do
and didn’t charge for it?

I like making art and growing plants.
In current society, I have to sell
“things” or my “time” to live.

But if I gave some of my art
And some of my plants away,
And other people gave away some of what they do
Before long our society
Would have a different shape.

I believe we would soon have
More time for 'giving'
than for 'selling'."

- Candace Ross

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

Another World War, Whose Side Are You On?

         Pick your country, and there is a need for solidarity across those borders, as the various states use their purloined power to stifle any attempt by the people to reclaim that power. There is a world war going on at the moment, it is the war against the tyranny and exploitation of the capitalist system, it is a world wide class war. If we want a world of freedom and justice, a world we would be proud to hand to our children and our grandchildren, then it is a war we must win. 

         We have to forget those phoney lines drawn on maps by kings, presidents and dictators, and realise that the struggle, in any part of this world, by people defending their conditions or fighting for a decent life, is our struggle. The system we are fighting is world wide, it is not national, though states call on us to be patriotic, their masters, the capitalist system, is never patriotic, they laugh at those same borders they insist we observe. 

        Today French unions, students and undocumented workers have been in the streets day and night to reject the anti-labour reform pushed through the government without a vote. Not that our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media notices. They are on the streets defending some meagre conditions that they wrestled from the system, and it now wants them back. That struggle is our struggle, it is the same system, what is implemented there can and will be implemented elsewhere if it suits the profit motive. Don’t be fooled by the propaganda that the French workers have it easy with their guaranteed 35 hour week. The facts are somewhat different. The French workers on average work longer hours than their UK and German counterparts. The figures for 2014 show that on average the French workers worked 37.5 hours per week, UK, 36.1 and German workers, 35.3. Like all conditions for workers, they can be manipulated at will by employers. 

         Those in struggle in France are part of that world wide class war, they are planning a general strike for June 14, it demands all the support and solidarity we can muster. Let the borders melt, we are one people in one gigantic struggle. Our solidarity is our most powerful weapon, if we use it we can win.

 Some points from the French labour reform bill.

• The 35-hour week in theory remains, but as an average. Firms can negotiate with local trade unions on more or fewer hours from week to week, up to a maximum of 46 hours.
  
• Firms are given greater freedom to reduce pay.
  
• The new law creates easier conditions for laying off workers, which is regulated in France.
  
• Employers given greater scope to negotiate holidays and special leave, such as getting married and maternity leave.
  

Where in this is there anything that is a gain to the workers? It is an employers bill

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

The Grand Illusion.

      What a hullabaloo about the possibility of a woman president in America. All those women shouting about feeling empowered, remember Thatcher? As one woman put it, "I fell as empowered by a woman president as I do about women cops". Then of course we had that other earth shattering empowering moment in America, when the first black man was was voted in as president. Suddenly all the people of colour in America were empowered, my arse. Things will go on as before, the financial Mafia will rule, the new figurehead might indicate a slight difference in emphasis, but not direction.

      How much money was thrown at Hilary to get her where she is? Well it was a cool $296.4 million, that's what you need to be empowered in the capitalist world of America. All those big backers that threw their money at her will be waiting in the wings to get their pay-back if she gets to the Whitehouse. and that's where the empowerment goes, never to "the women", "the people of colour" or any other group of ordinary people. 

       Every four years we are subjected to this grand illusion, this spectacle of mass insanity, where millions think that by all voting for one person, the system will change. Out goes one figurehead, in pops another, but the power moguls still sit with their hands on the power levers. Of course there might be a few titbits thrown here and there, some crumbs for the peasants, a sort of window dressing, but not necessarily so.

       Think of the number of presidents and prime ministers that have been ushered in on a wave of misplaced belief that this would bring change, here we are, in the twenty first century, and the result is a planet facing destruction, a world at war, poverty rampant, and the gap between rich and poor ever widening. Can't we wake up to the fact that this system doesn't work. There is an alternative, first we have to get rid of corporate power, dispel the illusion of capitalist representative democracy and take power into our own hands. We don't need presidents, prime ministers, CEO, and other hoarders of wealth and power, we can have a fairer system of distribution and see to the needs of all our people, if we really want it to be that way. 

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

Great Run, Pity About The Roads.

        Well it seems that this glorious spell of wonderful weather is about to fizzle out in a few days time, we will be back to what we know best, a bit on the cold side, windy and wet. However it was great while it lasted, who knows, perhaps it will come back again, SOON.

Ward Toll, a cross roads and a garden centre. 

       I took the bike along another road that I haven't been for a few years, up past Ward Toll, turn right and head down to Buchlyvie, turn right along the road from Stirling, then soup and coffee at Ballot Toll. For some reason I can't find the name "Ballot Toll" on the google map.

Buchlyvie, needs to see to its roads.

      The decision to take the B road to Buchlyvie was a big mistake, for about 1-1.5 miles, the road surface is atrocious, difficult to describe it other than there must be a law against call a piece of ground like that "A Road". you then get a couple of miles of fairly decent surface, then it gets worse than the first bit. The section after you go over the wee hump bridge and start to climb up to the main road, defies description. I thought as I turned onto the main road from Stirling that it would be a good surface, it is not, for the first mile or so, it is a nightmare, it does eventually turn into what could be called "A Road". I would recommend that anybody with a decent road bike should not go anywhere near the Ward Toll to Buchlyvie road.

Ballot Toll, one of my favourite watering holes when out on the bike.

      From Ballot Toll,  I went on to Drymen, then on through Croftamie and on to Glengoyn, famed for its single malt whisky.

Ptarmigan Pub Drymen.

Glengoyn Distillery.

       Despite the miles of excuses for roads, it was a wonderful day out.

Another view from Drymen Square.

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

Glasgow Peoples Press.

 

    Over the years, anarchists and libertarian socialists have produced a mountain of zines, newspapers, serials, etc. and those in Glasgow are no exception. The vibrant people of our city have added more than their fair share to that legacy of literature, detailing the struggles, anger, dreams and hopes of the ordinary people. We at Spirit of Revolt are very proud to have collected a considerable number of these publications and are working hard to make them available on line, so that those involved in struggle today, can learn from the past, and grasp the fact that their struggle is not a new struggle, but the same struggle as previous generations.

         The latest paper to be digitalised by Spirit of Revolt, and made available for you to read on line is one that, though there were not a tremendous number of issues, 11, in fact, it was popular and influential, namely Glasgow Peoples Press. All 11 issues are held in our archive and are there for you to read on line, see T-SOR 3-56-6 John Cooper Collection. The latest addition to our Read of the Month gives a short summary of this paper, highlighting issue No.6. Have a look, we know you will find it all very interesting and we hope helpful in your struggles.

 Image from Glasgow Peoples Press No.11.

       I'm sure there are a lot of anarchists/libertarian socialists etc. out there and they may have a bob or two in their pockets, if so, and you like what we are doing, remember, it's your history, perhaps you could make your way to the Contribute page. Any small donation, a one of, or a regular direct debit, a couple of quid or so, will be gratefully accepted, and can be the life blood that keeps us going, doing what we think, and I hope you think, is a very important part in the preservation of the history and heritage of the people of this city. Go on, look at our site, and ask yourselves, do you want to help.

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

Solidarity Is Our Weapon.

 

       In this country, we all know that the justice system is served by police, who have given us the Birmingham 6, Hillsborough, and Orgreave, to mention a few. We also know that this is not unique to the UK police, but pans out across the globe as part and parcel of the way the various states do things. In Greece there has been the long running case of anarchist Grigoris Tsironis and comrades. Held in prison on a serious of robbery charges, which  have now been dropped, thanks to the international support and the fact that it was obviously a frame-up. Of course the state doesn't give up easily, the robbery charges dropped, he and his comrades are now roped into the anti-terrorism laws, and under investigation about terrorist organisations. If you're a nuisance to the state, they will keep after you and keep trying to silence you. That is why we must always show our solidarity with those who stand up and face down the system. It is obvious that they don't do it for their own well being, their fight is our fight and demands our support.

This from Act For Freedom Now:

        I call, therefore, the solidarity movement to rally up forces with its strong and mass presence in the judicial battles of all the comrades whose cases are now underway. Solidarity and support by the movement cannot be given partially or selectively.
      Comrades who refuse the charges attributed to them and fight for their collapse, deserve our solidarity. Comrades who claim responsibility for their acts and with dignity and political arguments fight their battle inside the court rooms, deserve our solidarity.
Finally, comrades who discredit civil justice and spit in the faces of judicial employees, do not bargain for their freedom and they themselves create the preconditions in order to regain it, deserve the same solidarity.
       Let us perceive, even if it sounds romantic, that we are different pieces of the same puzzle, that when connected, our vision for the revolution will appear.
        Let’s look ahead and gaze this vision and let’s leave the mistakes and hostilities in the past.
Solidarity is our weapon
Not a step back…

NO COMRADE HOSTAGE IN THE HANDS OF THE STATE
FREEDOM TO POLITICAL PRISONERS
AND IMPRISONED FIGHTERS
STRENGTH TO THE WANTED COMRADES
Grigoris Tsironis
Koridallos Prisons
4/6/2016

Read the full article HERE: 

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

Another Capitalist Success Story!!!

        So Mike Ashley, in front of a committee of MPs, admits he is a bit of a rascal. Accused of paying below the minimum wage, too many zero hours contracts, the vast majority of the warehouse staff are agency workers, running a climate of fear in his warehouse, involving the staff in long, time consuming searches, after their clocked off time, administering a, six strikes and you’re out regime. The strikes being, chatting too much, taking too long in the toilet, and other such vile crimes. Also being penalised if you are as much as one minute late. 

           The publicity has seen the price of the shares in his company, Sports Direct, take a tumble, down 45% on last year. Could this be the next capitalist success story after Philip Greens magnificent job at BHS? He has promised is accusers, the MPs, that he will put all these matters right, that of course could hit his profit margins, which in turn will keep pushing the price of his shares down. Could this be time to pull the plug and walk away with his millions, earned from all that below minimum wage, zero hours contracts, and agency workers, climate of fear, routine that he followed so faithfully. Of course, if so, we will get the usual, “difficult trading conditions” was the cause of the collapse. Whatever the outcome of this little exercise with the MPs, what I don’t expect is that Sports Direct will become a pleasant and well paid place to be employed.

 

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