Welcome To Greece's Economic Miracle.

      The Peloponnese in Greece, is probably one of the most beautiful places on earth. Breathtaking views, glorious weather, and steeped in Greek history and mythology. While the rest of Greece mires in "austerity", unemployment, poverty and deprivation, nestling in the beautiful Peloponnese is the small town of Nea Manolada. Former “Socialist” Prime Minister George Papandreou, praised the area as an "economic miracle". This little town has a turnover of more than €90 million, all from that lovely fruit, strawberries, acre upon acre of strawberries.

      While the Greek state,  under its program called, Xenios Zeus, after the ancient Greek God of hospitality, carries out mass sweeps of immigrants, rounding them up and placing them in over crowded and inhumane concentration camps, it gives the area of Nea Manolada a miss. This might seem odd as the town has a population of approximately 2,000, but a migrant population of approximately 4,000. Among and around the lush strawberries are migrant workers living under the glaring Greek sun in makeshift plastic tents, where hygiene is poor or none existent.  

 

      This is the small town in which an employer and a some of his foremen, blasted some migrant workers with shotgun pellets, for having the audacity to ask for their six previous months wages. Their case came to court recently and the result proves that the Greek judicial system is as corrupt and fascist as the Greek state. The employer was acquitted, while the two shooters were given 14 years and 8 years, but were released on appeal and ordered to pay a €5 a day fine instead.

      The Nea Manolada "economic miracle" is built on extremely low, or non-existent wages, and dreadful conditions. Greece is in the European Union, and this part of Greece is where brutal exploitative capitalism morphs into brutal capitalist slavery. The latter being the ideal conditions for maximum profit, the capitalists dream.

        These conditions, and worse, are repeated all over the world, all in the name of profit for the few, that is the system we tolerate, why?

The full story HERE:

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

Workers Know Your History.

        Despite all the pomp and ceremony marking the start of the blood letting of the imperialist land grab, that goes by the name of WW1, and the lies that they pump out, we should keep repeating, "It was the working class that stopped the slaughter", not the stupid, arrogant generals, not the so called "military strategists", it was the ordinary people in countries across the globe. It was their revulsion at the slaughter, and their desire for peace across borders, that silenced the guns, and saw the blood stop flowing. All contrary to the aims of the ruling classes and the capitalist system. 

       The struggles that brought the imperialist bloodshed to an end, are not over, the workers may have lost the first real battle, but we will win the final one, and eventually over throw this system of capitalism, which is a blot on the history of humanity.

       As I keep repeating, "Workers Know Your history."

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

Behind The Smoke And Mirrors.

        It is always good to hear some truth, coming from America and spoken by an American from the "higher echelons".

       Basically, the war machine in Washington (I call it the Warfare State), couldn't abide that. There are just too many people that operate in the devil's workshop; which is to say we have all of this capacity, we have all this machinery of war-making and of intervention and of global empire that is obsolete and unnecessary -- and yet it is manned by people who want something to do. Who need to justify budgets. Who need to pursue and prosecute missions. That is what I think is happening at the present time.

       It's just the warfare state machinery has gotten itself activated into motion and it is drastically simplifying the real facts that we face and creating a narrative that is really preposterous in terms of what our national security, the safety and security of the American people, really requires in this circumstance.

 

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Welcome To Greeece.

       Greece, despite having a very successful tourist season, is not a welcoming country for those foreigners labelled migrants. That group can be beaten-up on the streets in broad daylight, and locked up in inhumane concentration camps. Not matter if you enjoy the hospitality of the average Greek citizen, Greek government is fascist.

       A poster that has been making an appearance on the streets of Athens tells part of the brutal story that is modern Greece.

From Contra Info where you can read the poster more clearly:

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A Blood Stained Peace.

       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.

     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 www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

There Are Men Too Gentle.

       Gaza, Syria, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, how can we live, how can we love, when the red sunset is really the blood of others? 

   A James Kavanaugh. Quote:

“I am one of the searchers. There are, I believe, millions of us. We are not unhappy, but neither are we really content. We continue to explore life, hoping to uncover its ultimate secret. We continue to explore ourselves, hoping to understand. We like to walk along the beach, we are drawn by the ocean, taken by its power, its unceasing motion, its mystery and unspeakable beauty. We like forests and mountains, deserts and hidden rivers, and the lonely cities as well. Our sadness is as much a part of our lives as is our laughter. To share our sadness with one we love is perhaps as great a joy as we can know - unless it be to share our laughter.
We searchers are ambitious only for life itself, for everything beautiful it can provide. Most of all we love and want to be loved. We want to live in a relationship that will not impede our wandering, nor prevent our search, nor lock us in prison walls; that will take us for what little we have to give. We do not want to prove ourselves to another or compete for love.

For wanderers, dreamers, and lovers, for lonely men and women who dare to ask of life everything good and beautiful. It is for those who are too gentle to live among wolves.”

THERE ARE MEN TOO GENTLE TO LIVE AMONG WOLVES
A Poem by James Kavanaugh

There are men too gentle to live among wolves
Who prey upon them with IBM eyes
And sell their hearts and guts for martinis at noon.
There are men too gentle for a savage world
Who dream instead of snow and children and Halloween
And wonder if the leaves will change their color soon.
There are men too gentle to live among wolves
Who anoint them for burial with greedy claws
And murder them for a merchant's profit and gain.
There are men too gentle for a corporate world
Who dream instead of candied apples and ferris wheels
And pause to hear the distant whistle of a train.
There are men too gentle to live among wolves.
Who devour them with eager appetite and search
For other men to prey upon and suck their childhood dry.
There are men too gentle for an accountant's world
Who dream instead of Easter eggs and fragrant grass
And search for beauty in the mystery of the sky.
There are men too gentle to live among wolves
Who toss them like a lost and wounded dove.
Such gentle men are lonely in a merchant's world.
Unless they have a gentle one to love.

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

No Glory In War, No Celebration Of War.

       Monday marks the 100th anniversary of the start of the clash of empires that resulted in over 37 million, military and civilian, casualties, comprising of more than 16 million killed, and over 20 million wounded, all in just a matter of four years. Approximately 7 million of those killed were civilians, a fact not often mentioned. This 4 year blood bath called WW1, was nothing more than empires trying to grab as much of the world's resources and markets, all in the name of power and wealth for the few. There can be no glory in war, there should be no "celebration" of war. Wars are power mongers method of cementing their power, never for democracy. The war for democracy will not be fought on foreign shores, it will be fought here in each of our own territories.
       This Monday there will be gatherings across the country, against the pomp and glory of the establishments attempt to turn the slaughter of WW1 into some sort glorious part of our history, when in fact it is an indictment against the established order we live under, a blot on the history of humanity.
      Glasgow Monday 4th. August, by the Scottish Peace Network:

     If you can possibly make it, come and stand in solidarity for world peace.

In London by, No Glory In War and others:

No Glory - No More War

No Glory - No More War
Monday 4 August  6.30pm - 8.30pm
Parliament Square London

       Monday 4 August is the 100th anniversary of Britain's entry into World War One. Britain's recent record of foreign wars, its commitment to NATO expansion and its support for Israeli aggression make it essential that there is a strong anti-war message on the day.
       There are anti-war events taking place around the country to counter David Cameron's campaign to make the WW1 centenary an occasion for "celebration" and "glorification".
       In London the No Glory in War campaign will stage an event in Parliament Square at 6.30pm, just before the official commemoration, evoking the real horror of World War One, demanding that nothing like it happens again. We will be celebrating resistance to war at the time and today.
Speakers and performers at the No Glory - No More War event include actors Samuel West and Kika Markham. Jeremy Corbyn MP will read Kier Hardie's anti-war speech of 1914. Writer AL Kennedy will read Carol Ann Duffy's Last Post in honour of Harry Patch, the last surviving soldier from the First World War trenches, who said until the day he died in 2009 that war was 'legalised mass murder'.
       Also speaking are World War II Normandy veteran Jim Radford, historian Neil Faulkner and Kate Hudson from CND. Music will be performed by Sean Taylor and Gunes Cerit.
       Stop the War is asking all our supporters who are able to attend, to bring white poppies and other anti -war symbols to make sure this anniversary is marked in the only way appropriate - with a loud call for an end to foreign wars.
If you are are a Twitter user, please use the hashtag #NoMoreWar throughout the day.

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

 

Glasgow's Lost Comrades.

        Just back from our travels down south, and a wonderful time it was, the weather was great, very warm. So much so that I burnt my baldy head and was forced to buy a "bunnit", which seemed to create a considerable amount of laughter each time I placed it on my head. Which made me all the more determined to wear the thing.

       Our first stop was Warwick University Archive department, where we spent some time prowling through old issues of the Freedom paper, 1900's. What surprised me was the amount of names that appeared from Glasgow. It would appear that there were a considerable amount of active comrades in Glasgow at that time, who seem to have been lost to us, or at least to me.

      In Glasgow there were at one time, three names of individuals from whom you could get your Freedom. There meetings being arranged and literature being published by people we seem to have forgotten, that shouldn't happen. Perhaps it is my ignorance. I would be delighted if anyone anywhere, can provide any detail to the names that follow. Any information, date of birth, death, where, and if they worked, family, activities, addresses, writings, etc., of course photos would be icing on the cake.

     Blair Smith, 15 Sunnybank Street Dalmarnock and Paisley, seems to have been very active around 1902/03, he also published a pamphlet in September 1900, called "Direct Action Versus Legislation" it would be great if somebody could tell me where I can lay my hands on a copy. Also, P. Josephs 198 Main Street Gorbals. Other names that cropped up in articles/letters etc., are, Moscow, John Turner, Arthur St. John, Fred Charles,  McKay, Paisley/Glasgow 1904, Macfew Seklew, listed as "Individualist", A. P. Howie, 91 Aitkenhead Road also 69 Toryglen Street, 1905, and 99 Trongate 1905, (Seems Tronagte was a popular address from those comrades.). There was a J. Docherty, who wrote in Freedom, "Notes from Scotland" May, 1903.

     There was a D. Baxter 126 Trongate, around 1903, also listed at 127 Trongate, perhaps a typo, George Dallas, also listed as 126 Trongate, published Voice of Labour, 1904. Was 126 Trongate an office or book shop or a residence, or what, was Howie's 99 Trongate a typo?

       I hope someone, out there somewhere, can come up with some details, anything so as to get a better picture of who they were and of Glasgow at that time. I would be delighted if I could add them to Strugglepedia.

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

The Start Of WW1.

      For those interested in the start of WW1, the should look no further than the excellent film by Robert Newman, "The History Of Oil". As any informed person knows, we can all say, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, my arse. He also touches on the Iraq invasion and why.

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

Global Fuckin' Warming.

       From Damming rivers to tar-sands, from fracking to de-forestation, the corporate Mafia are screwing the planet, and their puppets the national governments are putting the stamp of legitimacy on the rape and plunder of our world. They use the euphemism, "progress", which really translates as, greed for profit. What world will we hand to our grandchildren?

This from "The Stimulator":

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Seasons Such As These.

 

           Most people would agree that Willie Shakespeare had a way with words, and some of those words are just as relevant today as they were on the day that he wrote them. How about a few lines from "Seasons Such As These".

Poor naked wretches, wherese're you are
that hide the pelting of this pityless storm,
how shall your houseless heads and unfed sides,
your looped and windowed raggedness, defend you
from seasons such as these.

           As the Cameron cabal carry out the merciless plan of the financial mafia, under the guise of "austerity", we  see poverty sink its pityless teeth ever deeper into the fabric of our way of life. Day and daily fears of poverty become reality, the spectre of homelessness a way of life. Benefit cuts, sanctions on the unemployed, workfare for no wages, zero hour contracts, dragging more and more families into he dark pit of deprivation. Food banks a necessity, loan sharks arrive in the guise of a saviour. We are in the midst of a man made season of wretchedness. Only the ordinary people can move us to that season of a bountiful spring.
              A  quote from "Freedom" November 1903, by someone who signs him/herself, "anarchist".

He who would be free
Himself must strike the blow

Here we are,111 years on, and we have still to strike that blow. 

Still No Democracy.

 
         Still down south sipping coffee and reading papers, among other things. It was while doing the coffee, paper thing that I came across an article in The Times of July 28th.. which I had to spout my view on. They had a photograph and a full page article on the Bullingon Club, mentioning that a high percentage of those in the photograph had died in the first world war. The article seemed to convey the notion that the war had claimed the lives of all classes. This may be true, but without a shaddow of doubt, it was the ordinary people who paid the highest price by a very large margin.
        There is also another difference. Since this war was nothing other than an imperialist scramble for wealth, power, resources and markets, for thos imperialists and their parasite friends, and the Bullingdon Club was stuffed full Princes and other friends and members of that imperialist class, they are the ones who should have done all the fighting. It was their war, they stood to gain or lose imperial wealth and power. On the other hand, the ordinary people, who died in their millions, came from poverty, and after the greed driven avoidable blood-bath, those who returned, returned to unemployment and poverty.
        I personally, have no sympathy, nor will I shed any tears, for those of the imperialist parasite class, who died fighting an imperialist greed fest, which they engineered. They were defending theur own position of wealth and power, or trying to gain more. They ordinary people, on the other hand, were hoodwinked and bullied into believing they were defending something they never had, and still do not have, namely, "dwmocracy"
      The article is just another plug at the establishment propaganda line, "we're all in this together", pure unadulterated bullshit.

 

A Quiet Spell.

        ann arky is heading down south for a couple of weeks, a sort of working holiday. So my rants will cease for a spell, thanks for all your support, keep struggling, you know it makes sense, I'll continue ranting soon.

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

Escape The Games.

       Trying to find somewhere to escape "The Games"? Well you can do that and at the same time be informed on what is behind the corporate spectacle that pumps public money into the coffers of the big-business world.

Glasgow Autonomous Updates:

Glasgow Games Monitor invite you to a critical intervention into the Commonwealth Games. Free talks, film screenings and the Games Monitor Library………23rd July to 3rd August at Stereo and The Old Hairdressers

http://gamesmonitor2014.org/no-wealth-for-the-commons-glasgow-games-monitor-events/

 

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The Protests must continue, The Genocide Must End.

      It is important to keep the pressure mounting if you want to have any effect on the governments of the world, in a bid to stop the genocide that the Israeli state is carrying out in Gaza. Tonight a hospital shelled, 5 dead and at least 11 wounded, how do you claim to be trying to avoid innocent civilians when you shell a hospital? The protests must continue and most grow in numbers.

This from Stop the War Coalition:

 National demonstration: Stop the Massacre in Gaza - Free Palestine!

     Gaza End the Siege As if the people of Gaza have not suffered enough, Israel has escalated its brutal assault on Gaza in the last 24 hours.

      Last Saturday a fantastic 100,000 marched to the Israeli embassy - this Saturday's demonstration is even more important.

      Over the weekend more than 150 Palestinians have been killed, 67 in one attack alone last night including 17 children and 14 women. The media continues to accept the rhetoric of 'limiting casualty levels' and 'targeting militants' and the politicians refuse to condemn Israel and call their action what it is, a massacre of innocents.

      Why? Because Israel remains the West's main ally in the Middle East.

       That is why we have called a national demonstration this Saturday starting at the Israeli Embassy and marching to Parliament. Last week 100,000 of us descended on the Israeli Embassy, this Saturday we are taking our anger to the centre of political power in Britain.

      National demonstrations are the best way to show the government that the majority in Britain oppose their disgraceful support for the Israeli assault.

      We are asking all our supporters around the country to organise transport to get the maximum numbers to London next Saturday.

Check for details as they emerge on the Stop the War web site. We will email further details later in the week.

National Demonstration: Saturday 26th July.

      Meet 12 noon at Israeli Embassy. Nearest tube: High Street Kensington. March to Parliament.

      Organised by Stop the War, PSC, Friends of Al-Aqsa, CND, BMI, MAB and Palestine Forum in Britain.

       Please share and invite your friends to the Facebook event. Let's make it go viral!

E-mail your lists and share with your organizations and unions

Organise leafleting in your area. Call 020 7561 4830 to order flyers.

Let us know your transport details by e-mailing office@stopwar.org.uk

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

Armed Police, Stop And Search, Democracy??

      Another matter that is raising the hairs on the back of my neck is the recent case of a driver being stopped for speeding in Aberdeen and it turns out that both police officers had holster guns strapped to their sides. These were later joined by another two police officers, who it appears also had holstered guns. Four armed police for a speeding offence. Some time earlier it appears that three police officers were seen walking through the streets of Inverness to a disturbance in a restaurant, all three were armed with holstered side arms. Is this Scotland, land of the supposed, unarmed police force, or the US of A? Slowly, slowly, little by little, the police in Scotland are being armed, not by parliamentary legislation, but the designs of the chief constable of Scotland. He has apparently stated that this is not a political matter, it is a policing decision, and he will make the decisions. Well so much for "democracy".

       Still going on about the policing in Scotland, it seems that we are a nation of very dodgy characters. The latest figures show that we in Scotland suffer stop and search intrusions, nine times more than the citizens of New York. Obviously the police in Scotland view the people of Scotland as nine times more criminal than the NYPD view their citizens. Either we are a nation of dodgy criminals, or we are cursed with a more authoritarian police force. I know where my opinion lies.

      Armed police started appearing in our cities, airports etc. under the guise of anti-terrorism, now it seems that they are needed to stop speeding offenders, and to stop disturbances in restaurants. Lets go the whole-hog and arm traffic wardens, job centre employees, security attendants in shopping malls, you know how crazy some people get during the sales. The poison seeps through every fibre of society, authoritarianism, control, intimidation and repression.

     Let's get together and insist that the guns get off our streets. You can't trust a person who could get angry and has a gun, whether they have a fancy uniform or not.

Visitann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

The Establishment's Weaving Of Lies.

       That babbling brook of bullshit,the mainstream media, always gets it wrong. At the moment it is pouring out lots of hate rhetoric against Russia, but precious little against the murderous onslaught by the Israeli state against the people of Gaza.

     Also on the WW1 "celebrations", they throw their weight behind the establishment view, of it being a heroic and glorious battle for democracy, which we, being the democratic half of the contest, won of course. I wonder what the German people think about that?

      What we should never forget is that the blood letting that goes by the name of WW1 wasn't won, it was an armistice. It was stopped because the imperialist psychopaths were faced with mutinies, rebellion and spontaneous out breaks of truces between the ordinary soldiers on the front line, some of these young men paid with their lives in front of a firing squad for the act of humanity. At home, the imperialists were faced with another battle, strikes and civil unrest across the continent of Europe. Another factor that brought the war warmongering nut-cases to call a halt, to the greed driven slaughter, was the fact that the death toll continued to soar and the maimed continued to be carried home, they were simply running out of canon-fodder. WW1 was an unimaginable spilling of mainly young blood, to further the aims of greed driven imperialist ambitions, in other words, greed and nothing more.

    Up to the start of that unnecessary blood letting of WW1, Europe had no democracy to defend. After the bloody event, Europe had no democracy anywhere. 100 years after that imperialist blood letting, we the ordinary people are still fighting for democracy in Europe.

Part of an email I recently received: 

         As the UK commences four years of commemorations of the centenary of World War 1, the Northumbria and Newcastle Universities Martin Luther King Peace Committee has released a set of resources to help schoolteachers mark the December 1914 Christmas Truces as part of their World War 1 teaching. They are designed as a corrective to the government-sponsored commemorations of the slaughter in the trenches as a heroic and necessary war.

        The December 1914 Christmas Truces, when British, French and German soldiers stopped fighting to celebrate Christmas, exchange gifts, sing carols, and even play football, are one of the most extraordinary episodes in modern military history. These were not isolated incidents. Following weeks of spasmodic fraternisation by men unconvinced by war propaganda, the Christmas Truces occurred right down the front from the North Sea to Switzerland. Made possible by shared traditions of Christian celebration, they were a hopeful moment of recognition of common humanity and a (brief) rejection of the terrible violence of industrialised war pursued by rulers in a deadly game of global imperial competition for territories and resources. They were quashed by orders backed by threats, and by replacing troops with men 'untainted' by the Truces.

         The truces are worth teaching about because they are simply so remarkable and evocative in themselves. Ordinary men recognising their common humanity infuriated high commands by temporarily stopping the industrialised slaughter of the trenches. However at a time when revisionist historians and politicians are offering retro-chic defences of the First World War as somehow necessary or even heroic, the truces can also teach an important message that may otherwise be overlooked in the centennial commemorations.

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