Lest We Forget---!!.

      Perhaps a wee bit late for "Rembrance Day", but still worth mentioning. Just what were we remembering and what were we forgetting? We here in this country may have "peace", but it is a blood stained peace.

      An article I wrote some years ago, it is obvious that nothing much has changed except perhaps that the weapons are more destructive.

       All the self centred, pompous heads of state who shuffled for their moment on the podium, attempting to glorify the imperial blood bath of 1914/18, keep referring to how war brought peace to Europe and how we all live in harmony now. The so called peace that followed that dreadful avoidable slaughter, lasted a mere 21 years, before they were at it again, spreading the blood of youth  across the globe. They wax lyrically about how Europe has known peace since their last blood letting of 1939/45. That of course is a lie. There may have been peace in most countries in Europe, but we were busy doing our blood thing across the globe. The list of wars, battles, interventions, and attempts to thwart independence movements across the empire, is a long unending catalogue of bloodshed.

       This is by no means a complete and definitive list, but it does give some idea of what they mean by peace.

After the 1914/18 blight on humanity, we have had:
1918/20, Intervention in Russia civil war.
1919/23, Turkish war of independence.
1919/19, Third Anglo-Afghan war.   
1919/21, Irish war of independence.
1920/20, Somalialand campaign.
1920/20, Great Iraqi revolution.
1936/39, Great Arab revolt in Palestine.
1938/48, British Zionist conflict.
1939/45, Second World War.
1945/49, Indonesian National revolution.
1945/46, Vietnam, Operation Masterdom.
1946/47, Greek civil war.
1948/60, Malayan emergency.
1950/53, Korean war.
1951/54, Suez Canal zone emergency.
1952/60, Mau Mau uprising.
1955/60, Cyprus.
1956/57, Suez Crisis.
1962/66, Indonesia - Malaysia.
1962/75, Dhofar rebellion.
1963/67, Aden emergency.
1982/82, Falklands war.
1982/84, Lebanon.
1991/91, Gulf War.
1992/96, Bosnia.
1998/98, Desert Fox Iraq.
1998/99, Kosovo.
2000/02, Siera Leone civil war.
2001/----, Afghanistan, 4th Anglo-Afghan war.
2003/09, Iraq war.
2011/11, Libyan Intervention. 2011,
2011, Syria

     Most of these conflicts were against people trying to free themselves from the British Imperialists. While we were merrily sending our youth to foreign shores to repress and kill, we were proudly proclaiming how we were living in peaceful Europe. As we done our imperial killing across the globe, other European countries were doing likewise, but our efforts were dwarfed by the new mighty imperial nation, US of A.

     This is the pattern of capitalist peace, slaughter for wealth and power, death for resources and profit. Nothing will change until we change the system, and consign this exploitative system of capitalism to the dustbin of history.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

What Is Property?

 

        As we look around, it isn't hard to see that all that was common and open to all is fast disappearing and being gobbled up into that great  bucket of "Private Property". More and more of the planet and all that is on it, is being owned by fewer and fewer, and more and more we find that the vast majority of people have lost all that was common, Why? Quite simply, capitalism a system that is built on the principle of the few gathering more and more wealth and therefore property, at the expense of the many. We are fast reaching the stage where all the planet will belong to a few who control the corporate and financial juggernaut that is capitalism. In this system, property is power.

This from It's Going down: 

        All power structures are rooted in ideology. A shared belief in this ideology is what keeps the structures of power in place. Under capitalism, the edifice of social control is built on the collective illusion of private property, and the sanctity of the so-called ‘free market’. Any moves taken to challenge this logic will therefore provoke pushback from the system’s indoctrinated cheerleaders, and will certainly catch the attention of the repressive and recuperative functionaries of the state. But as the saying goes… you can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs. And you definitely can’t overthrow capitalism without messing with people’s stuff.

So…. what is property, anyway? And what do anarchists have against it?

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

Rent Strike Walk Of Pride, Glasgow.

      Following on from our Then and Now 1915 rent strike anniversary film/discussion, our next event marking this great working class victory will be our "Walk of Pride" on Sunday, 17th. November. Assembly Buchanan Steps, Buchanan Street 1pm. come along, bring noise, enthusiasm, and the family. So Come One, Come All, and walk with pride.

Details:

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

Do We Leave The Problems To Our Kids?

 

 

      So you have seen the grotesque pantomime performed by the political ballerinas at Westminster, you have seen the rising child poverty, you have seen the increase in precarious working conditions, you have seen the decimation of our social services, you have seen the increase in homelessness and un-affordable rents, you have seen the corporate mafia vultures circling our National Health Service. Look abroad and you see the rise of fascism in Europe and else where, you have seen the wars in the Middle East where the West has stepped in to bring the people of that area "democracy" and delivered death, destruction and destitution, plus an unimaginable wave of desperate people taking the dangerous course migrating half way across the world in search of a decent life. You look at our burning planet and the total unwillingness linked to complete inability of the system to do anything meaningful about this impending disaster. You look at Chile and you see the people of that country rise up in desperation to try and stop the the ever downward spiral of their living conditions, as well as the continuing exploitation, endemic corruption and state violence. Across the globe people are standing up and saying, very loud and clear, this system doesn't work for the vast majority of the people on the planet.

      We see the vast wealth that we produce, but we see it private jets, luxury yachts, opulent penthouse and vast gated estates, we are aware of the tax havens that are a boon to the millionaire and billionaire predatory class, while we, the wealth producers, struggle from day to day for a decent living.

      It is obvious that we have the imagination, the desire, the means and the ability to devise a much fairer and sustainable system that is built on mutual aid, and co-operation, that sees to the needs of all, and respect for all life on the planet. A system freed from the vile clutches of the profit motive, free of borders and authority over others. You know that in your hearts that is the world we want for our children and our grandchildren. However it is up to us to deliver it, or will we sit back and leave this vile corrupt system of exploitation for our kids to sort out?

     It is obvious that the system cannot be reformed, it is built on exploitation of others for personal gain, that is the basic principle of its existence. The only answer is the total destruction of the entire system, and that will only come about by you and me standing up and joining those who are already in direct conflict with this cancerous system of corruption and greed. We can eradicate it from the planet and place it in stories of the past, labelled "The Darkest Hour In Human History.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

Avoid The Epidemic.

 

       It's coming down the tracks at full steam ahead, the over-consumption juggernaut. You are facing an epidemic  of over indulgence, you will be infected by the splurge of the hurry-panic virus, spread by advertising agencies attempting to switching your brain to Oh Gee, I must get in first before I miss all those wonderful boxes of shit. Retailers will be sitting staring at their accounts, have they cleaned up enough to buy that new luxury yacht. Of course you could be rational and say I don't need any more shit, I'll just settle for having a great time with family and friends. Yes it is Christmas, they sell it as a time of good will, but they also tell you that you can't have good will without heaping on the debt and rampaging through the various stores grabbing never to be missed crap. Your friends will love you more if you will only spend lots of money on them.

       Retailers refer to this time of year as the "golden quarter", this when they have to drag you apathetic lethargic shoppers through their doors, get you enthusiastic about shiny things, latest models, coloured boxes, that will bring eternal happiness, for a few moments. You can worry about the debt later on.

       Let's make this a happy with family and friends Christmas, a shop free Christmas, a debt free Christmas, and have a laugh at the demented millionaire shareholders left with that mountain of shiny boxes of shit, the miles of tinsel, and all those latest models that will declared out of date by June or July. It is not too late or too soon to shut your eyes and ears to the advertisers blitz of jazzed up corny adverts. Let them do the spending while we can laugh our way through this good will season.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

The Past Can Point To The Future.

       Our event last night the film/discussion at the CCA marking the anniversary of the Glasgow/Clydeside 1915 rent strike was a success. Well attended, only a few empty seats, the entertainment was excellent, thanks to Pauline and Shaun, the film was interesting, and varied thanks to Bob, likewise the discussion brought up interesting points and lasted quite a while, we over ran our scheduled time, so a big thanks to all who took party.  The only hope is that those who attended went away with some fresh ideas and a renewed vigour in their desire to affect change. 

     It is only by coming together and discussing these issues of the past and how they can help us with the struggles we face today that we can hope to bring about that change to society that we all want. fairness, justice and equality.

    

     

   Our next event marking this remarkable working class victory will be a "Walk of Pride" November the 17th., the date on which the massive demonstration out side the Glasgow Sheriff Court forced the government to introduce the rent restriction act, freezing all rents until the end of the war.

Details:

Date, November 17th.

Time, 1pm.

Assemble, Buchanan Street steps.

Route, to Goma, old sheriff court, George Square,

Participants, Strong Women of Clydeside, reading from contemporary newspaper women activists words.

Open mic, for reading aloud and sharing thoughts songs and poems.

Actions, coloured chalking of pavements.

     Come and participate and enjoy  the memory of this magnificent victory for the ordinary people, and bring that united solidarity and determined activism back to the struggles we face today. 

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk 

1915 Rent Strike Free Event.

      Details of tonight's free Glasgow/Clydeside 1915 rent strike anniversary event in the cinema in the CCA 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow.

7:15-7:30 pm

Music by Pauline and Shaun as people arrive.

7:30-7:45 pm

Welcome from compere Bob.

Eric's brief intro to the 1915 rent strike.

Iain's brief comments on housing issues and solutions today.

7:45-7:55 pm

Shaun and Rob's poems.

7:55 to 8:25 pm

Video collage.

8:25-9 pm

Discussion.

9:00-9:10 pm

Songs by Pauline and Shaun.

          Following on from this anniversary event we will be holding another event to mark this remarkable working class victory on November 17th. a "Walk of Pride" from city centre to the old sheriff court to mark the day that this struggle was won. Of course our struggle continues as injustices become the norm. Where injustice is law, resistance is duty.

         More details of this event will be made public shortly, so watch this space.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

Cleasing The Cities Of Ordinary People.

       Gentrification, that creeping corporate cleanser, that eradicates districts and communities and replaces them with money making playgrounds for the wealthy, is a world wide policy. We have all seen it in our own cities and districts, Glasgow is no different. There will be different approaches to this cleansing of areas of ordinary people, modernisation, or perhaps for one the corporate world's extravaganzas like the "Commonwealth Games" where large swaths of Glasgow's east end was demolished and the people moved, though in that case they had a fight on their hands for quite a while, thanks to one family and their supporters. The end result is all you have is  a sanatised area where all you can do is spend lots of money. The process of course requires loads of tax payers money poured in, but we should feel good as we are told it will boost the economy, in other words it will be good for businesses. Wow, I'm delighted that big business is doing well at my expense.

      Below is just another example of this process from another part of the world, and how some people are reacting to this cleansing cities and towns of ordinary people.

 

 A Wee But-n-ben in Lecce, Italy. 

 

This from Anarchists Worldwide:

       It now appears that “Lecce city of tourism” no longer tolerates any dissent. A city now completely gentrified, synonymous with a controlled city. The walls erected following the eviction of the new anarchist occupation in the historic center, in a building owned by the municipality, speak for themselves. Outside of consumption, nothing is granted. And the historic center of Lecce is now totally a place of consumption, including bars and restaurants, trendy bars and luxury shops, hotels and B&Bs. For residents of the past, pointed because inhabitants of the historic center, there is no place left. There is no place for refractories of any kind. The walls stand for those who do not adapt or are different: whether they are immigrants living in the Giravolte for more than twenty years, or those who want to take a space to express their ideas and desires. Those walls are the exact expression of power. That is called Us with Salvini [“Noi con Salvini”, electoral party coalition led by Matteo Salvini, leader of the “Northern League” party, currently renamed “League]” or that is called Us with Salvemini (mayor of Lecce), in fact the processes carried out are the same. With brutality the first, with a smile the second, security and decorum are the central part of the agenda of power. Agenda that means more and more police in the streets, TSO, annihilation of social life, expulsion of undesirables, total control, homologation. Because everything is connected and it is not possible to feel strangers.
        Only those who have their eyes closed cannot realize how much and how this territory is changing, how and how the people who live there are increasingly dispossessed of their existence. Trees are eradicated and the landscape is erased, replaced with structures, power stations and cement. Spaces are closed to eradicate critical thinking, dissent, rebellion. By police or by bureaucracy, the Authority wants only to affirm itself and its totalitarianism. This basic concept of a police State is basically the basic concept of a democratic State and its administrators. The rest is bar talk. But if the walls are erected, the simplest and most urgent thing to do is to demolish them, whatever they represent. Borders, morality, annihilation of critical thinking. Eradicating the refractoriness of wild nature, as well as anti-authoritarian nature, is not an easy task. “Knock down, always knock down, because many more abuses are eliminated in the present, many egalitarian solutions you will prepare for the future” – E. Cœurderoy.

 Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

The System Is People.

      What a crazy insane world we live in. A world awash with wealth all gravitating to a few humans, while millions of people live in deprivation and misery. Looking rationally at the situation today you have to scratch your head in disbelief and ask yourself, how did we let this happen. In this world today we have approximately over 2,200 (USD) billionaires, that's a lot of wealth in the hands of so few. Add to this the fact that we have somewhere between, 14 to 18 million, millionaires. Think of that in total wealth and ask yourself what could that do to help eradicate the deprivation and misery experienced on a daily basis by millions of ordinary people. 

       Of course we often say it is the system and lambast the system. However we should not forget that the system is not an inanimate "thing", the system is people. The system is those billionaires and millionaires, all with names and faces, who hoard caches of wealth in tax havens, wealth they plunder from the ordinary working people. It is an impossibility for any individual to go out and work hard and amass a billion dollars, all by their own efforts, without exploiting the effort of others. My father worked really hard all his life as a coal miner, we never amassed a fortune. 

       The system will be defended ferociously by those names and faces that hold all that plundered wealth, all those billionaires and millionaires, they are the system, they are the perpetrators of all that deprivation and misery on this planet, they are the enemy of the ordinary people. Don't be fooled by their minions and puppets who call for the rich to pay more taxes, that is just the system offering the ordinary people a paracetamol. It is simply a straight forward class war between the ordinary people and that band of greed driven plunderers. 

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk     

The Shackles Of State Laws.

        This short video highlights the true nature of the state. What individuals do in the spirit of humanity and co-operation, reaching out to those in dire need, offering and helping to create shelter and assistance, so the refugees can get on with their lives and become integrated in communities, is what the state is attacking in country after country. In Exarcheia, in Athens, the Greek state has launched a full scale and savage war against these very projects. Projects that would in actual fact save the state money, but dogma and ideology dictate that the state and/or its corporate bedfellows must control  all that happens within its proclaimed phony borders. No real rational approach, no humanity, just the rule of its shackling laws, created to ensure the continuation of its power and authority. Freedom and the state are incompatible.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

Read Of The Month.

       For Spirit of Revolt's November Read Of The Month, we have trawled through our Bratach Dubh Collection and come up with a rather rare little paper. We always try to get a wide variety of papers, pamphlets, booklets for our Read Of The Month, and cover a wide range of subjects. Why not take a wee while to peruse the wealth of material in our Collections, I'm sure you will learn something and come back for more. Enjoy.

Treason, Read On Line:

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

3.5%, Is This The Tipping Point?

 Chile.

Ecuador.

        Across the world the young are turning against the enforced neo-liberalism that has brought so much hardship and misery to so many. From Chile, Haiti, Ecuador, to Lebanon, Iraq and Sudan and elsewhere, people are on the streets challenging the established authority and the symbols of this brutal exploitative system. In some states in is insurrection, and others growing mass protests. Can Chile be the spark that starts the fire?

 Lebanon.

Iraq.

    An interesting article By Medea Benjamin Nicolas J S Davies

         Uprisings against the decades long dominance of neoliberal “center-right” and “center-left” governments that benefit the wealthy and multinational corporations at the expense of working people are sweeping the world.
         In this Autumn of Discontent, people from Chile, Haiti and Honduras to Iraq, Egypt and Lebanon are rising up against neoliberalism, which has in many cases been imposed on them by US invasions, coups and other brutal uses of force. While the severe repression against these activists have led to more than 250 protesters killed in Iraq in October alone, the protests have continued to grow. Some movements, such as in Algeria and Sudan, have already forced the downfall of long-entrenched, corrupt governments.
        A country that is emblematic of the uprisings against neoliberalism is Chile. On October 25, 2019, a million Chileans – out of a population of about 18 million – took to the streets across the country, unbowed by government repression that has killed at least 20 and injured hundreds more. Two days later, Chile's billionaire president Sebastian Piñera fired his entire cabinet and declared, “We are in a new reality. Chile is different from what it was a week ago.”
        The people of Chile appear to have validated Erica Chenoweth’s research on non-violent protest movements, in which she found that once over 3.5% of a population rise up to non-violently demand political and economic change, no government can resist their demands. It remains to be seen whether Piñera’s response will be enough to save his own job, or whether he will be the next casualty of the 3.5% rule.
       It is fitting that Chile should be in the vanguard of protests sweeping the world in this Autumn of Discontent, since Chile served as the original neoliberal laboratory.
       When Chile’s socialist leader Salvador Allende was elected in 1970, after a six year covert CIA operation to prevent his election, President Nixon ordered U.S. sanctions to “make the economy scream.”
       In his first year in office, Allende’s progressive economic policies led to a 22% increase in real wages, as work began on 120,000 new housing units and the nationalization of copper mines and other industrial sectors. But growth slowed in 1972 and 1973 under the pressure of brutal US sanctions, as in Venezuela and Iran today.
        Allende was overthrown in a CIA-backed coup on September 11, 1973. The new US and Western backed leader, General Augusto Pinochet, executed or ‘disappeared’ at least 3,200 people, held 80,000 political prisoners in jail, and ruled as a brutal dictator until 1990.
         Under Pinochet, Chile’s economy was radically restructured by the “Chicago Boys”, a team of Chilean economics students trained at the University of Chicago under the supervision of Milton Friedman. US sanctions were quickly lifted and Pinochet sold off Chile’s public assets to US corporations and wealthy investors. The neoliberal program: tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, together with mass privatization and cuts to pensions, healthcare, education and other public services, was soon duplicated across the world.
          While the Chicago Boys pointed to rising economic growth rates in Chile as evidence of the success of their neoliberal program, by 1988, 48% of Chileans were living below the poverty line. Chile is currently one of the wealthiest countries in Latin America, and one of the most unequal.
        The governments elected after Pinochet, from “center-right” to “center-left”, have abided by the neoliberal model. The needs of the poor and working class continue to be exploited, as they pay higher taxes than their tax-evading bosses, on top of ever-rising living costs, stagnant wages and limited access to voucherized education and a stratified public-private healthcare system. Indigenous communities are at the very bottom of this corrupt social and economic order.
        The neoliberal consensus following Pinochet has triggered a disillusionment with the traditional political process, as voter turnout declined from 95% in 1989 to 47% in the recent presidential election in 2017.
       If Chenoweth is right and the million Chileans in the street have breached the tipping point for successful non-violent popular democracy, Chile may be leading the way to a global political and economic revolution. 

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk 

Music, Poetry And The Rent Strike.

        Just a wee reminder, Monday 11th. November is the evening when you can enjoy  some music, poetry and a film based around the 1915 Glasgow/Clydeside rent strike followed by an open discussion of what relevance has that great victory for us today, and what can we learn from that successful struggle. What is more, this is a free event, it will be held in the CCA cinema, 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow.

Details:

Date, Monday 11th. November, 2019.

Time, 7:30pm.

Venue. Cinema in CCA

Address, 350 Sauchiehall Street Glasgow.

Price, FREE.

    See you all there for a great and interesting night.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk