Rather long for a quick look, but interesting, well worth persevering. I liked the end conclusions. The book is available from AK Press.
Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk
views and poetry from an anarchist perspective.
Read the full article HERE:Comrades from the area met once again on the streets, joining the call for a mobilisation with a distinct bloc at the tail end of the demonstration. As anarchist individuals, we might come from different starting points, nevertheless we share a common conviction: We have no illusions of democracy, nor do we wait for any bourgeois justice or electoral system to solve the problems of the oppressed. The institutions of the States and Capital are the main perpetrators responsible for the murders en mass of migrants and refugees at the borders of the continents and oceans; for the State and para-State pogroms and deportations, for the concentration camps, for spreading xenophobia and racism, for the production and reproduction of nationalisms, and finally for the complete fascistisation of our neighborhoods and societies.
This week, 1,500 business leaders and 40 heads of state are meeting in Davos, Switzerland, for the annual World Economic Forum. They will be discussing how big business can help improve the state of the world – in their own best interests.The rhetoric from Davos is so deeply engrained in society that it can be difficult to challenge the power that they hold. Our new series of interactive infographics exposes seven myths that exist to perpetuate injustice and poverty across the world - find out who is really getting richer; who the real scroungers are; and how Africa is really the one aiding us.
Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.ukThe world will not be saved a tiny group of the super-rich. Hope lies in challenging the power and wealth of this small elite and the orthodoxy of neoliberalism. By working with social movements around the world another world is possible.At Global Justice Now we are campaigning for a world where resources are controlled by the many and not the few. And the first step to do this is to debunk the myth that big business is the solution to all our problems.
--------- the rise of Empire is the end of national conflict, the "enemy" now, whoever he is, can no longer be ideological or national. The enemy now must be understood as a kind of criminal, as someone who represents a threat not to a political system or a nation but to the law. This is the enemy as a terrorist....In the "new order that envelops the entire space of... civilization", where conflict between nations has been made irrelevant, the "enemy" is simultaneously "banalized" (reduced to an object of routine police repression) and absolutized (as the Enemy, an absolute threat to the ethical order"Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk
Today, ISIS' undermining of the legitimacy of the King's legitimacy is not seen to be problematic, but rather a return to the true origins of the Saudi-Wahhab project.Read the full article HERE:
In the collaborative management of the region by the Saudis and the West in pursuit of the many western projects (countering socialism, Ba'athism, Nasserism, Soviet and Iranian influence), western politicians have highlighted their chosen reading of Saudi Arabia (wealth, modernization and influence), but they chose to ignore the Wahhabist impulse.
After all, the more radical Islamist movements were perceived by Western intelligence services as being more effective in toppling the USSR in Afghanistan -- and in combatting out-of-favor Middle Eastern leaders and states.
Why should we be surprised then, that from Prince Bandar's Saudi-Western mandate to manage the insurgency in Syria against President Assad should have emerged a neo-Ikhwan type of violent, fear-inducing vanguard movement: ISIS? And why should we be surprised -- knowing a little about Wahhabism -- that "moderate" insurgents in Syria would become rarer than a mythical unicorn? Why should we have imagined that radical Wahhabism would create moderates? Or why could we imagine that a doctrine of "One leader, One authority, One mosque: submit to it, or be killed" could ever ultimately lead to moderation or tolerance?
"That the impious presumption of legislators and rulers, civil as well as ecclesiastical, who, being themselves but fallible and uninspired men have assumed dominion over the faith of others, setting up their own opinions and modes of thinking as the only true and infallible, and as such endeavouring to impose them on others, hath established and maintained false religions over the greatest part of the world and through all time."
(2nd paragraph, Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom, composed by Thomas Jefferson in 1777, enacted into Virginia law on January 16, 1786)
Excuse me? “GOD and country?” Ahem, well, just WHOSE “god” might that be, U.S. Army?Read the full article HERE:
Let me fairly go out on a limb here and gamble that it is neither the god of Islam nor the god(s) of Hinduism? No way it’s Buddhist, Sikh, Shinto, Native American Spiritualist or The Flying Spaghetti Monster. I believe it’s a very safe bet to presume that the Army is pretending to refer to the “Judeo-Christian” god, and by THAT worn out and duplicitously deceptive label, of course, I really mean what the Army REALLY means; only the “Christian” god, Jesus. Unfortunately, as the experts will tell you, there are literally multiple tens of thousands of distinctly separate denominations of Christianity in existence. So, once again, the question is begged as to exactly WHICH “God” the U.S. Army Special Forces are boldly, publicly and eagerly recruiting for? ------
The vast majority of Bristol's anarchist community aren't like this. With their status as queen-and-country-hating tabloid pariahs, few people would be aware of any difference between different anarchist groups. But their methods, goals, and targets differ radically. Groups such as the Anarchist Federation (Afed) and Solidarity Federation (Solfed), which constitute a majority of the scene in the UK are involved in open, public-facing, class-based community work—handing out leaflets, helping workers who go on strike, that kind of thing—rather than acts of fly-by night vandalism.Read the full article HERE:
But these distinctions don't seem to count for much as far as the police are concerned. Over the past few months, activists from across the anarchist community say the police have been targeting them arbitrarily and indiscriminately. They say individual activists have been harassed, houses raided, workplaces visited, and arrests made without charges.
The police maintain that they are searching for suspects linked to the IAF, but activists say they are targeting anyone that publicly identifies as an anarchist. And they say it's getting worse by the day. For the last week I've been talking to different members of the anarchist scene in the West Country and the impression I've got is of a community under siege.
Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.ukWow -- David Cameron's plan to force fracking on us just hit a new low. The prime minister wants to change the law to allow fracking firms to drill under our homes. But now he's fast-tracking his plan through Parliament at a blistering rate.
Only a HUGE backlash from our MPs can stop him -- and we've got just days to make it happen. Can you tell your MP to vote against the prime minister's plans to force fracking on us?
Sign the urgent petition to all MPs: https://secure.greenpeace.org.uk/fracking-vote
Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking as it's often known, is a controversial process where a high-pressure mix of water, sand and chemicals is blasted underground to release trapped gas and oil.
It's already been banned in France and Bulgaria, and just last month New York joined the list of US states that have taken action to stop the industry.
Despite massive public opposition, David Cameron is determined to bring fracking to the UK. And right now he's on the cusp of changing our laws to make it easier to roll it out.
But the prime minister's plan can't get the go ahead without approval from MPs -- and inside the halls of Westminster, a backlash is starting. The Scottish National Party and the Green Party have spoken out against Cameron's plan. Amongst Labour and the Lib Dems voices of dissent are on the rise, while Conservatives are feeling increasingly nervous as we approach the election.
MPs will vote on the issue before the end of this month -- that's far earlier than expected and a move that would slash the time for debate and scrutiny.
152,000 people have already asked their MP to vote against Cameron's plan, but we'll be even stronger if thousands more join in. Can you quickly sign?
We're piling the pressure on before the crucial vote. Alongside our friends at 38 Degrees and Friends of the Earth, teams of volunteers will visit several MPs at their offices -- handing over our petition face-to-face. And then next week, we'll double our impact by sending letters to every single Westminster MP -- telling them who's signed the petition in their constituency, and calling on them to vote down Cameron's plan.
Together we'll make this petition unmissable, so if you haven't yet, please sign today: https://secure.greenpeace.org.uk/fracking-vote
With all my thanks,
Richard
PS I know you've received a few emails from Greenpeace this week and I hope you're not feeling too overloaded. I wanted to let you know about this urgent news as the new law that will make us powerless to oppose fracking under our homes is being rushed through at an alarming rate -- so we must act fast. Please sign: https://secure.greenpeace.org.uk/fracking-vote
Read the full article HERE:In fact (a correspondent tells me, referring to this article), the provisions of recent legislation (13.11.2014) on the monitoring and reporting of school pupils' speech and behaviour appear to have been put into effect for the first time as the names of children who failed to observe the minute's silence were reported by teachers or supervisors to the head, then to the rectorat - the regional education administration - and on to the police and prosecuting authorities, to be analysed by the intelligence services, who decide whether the facts in question are serious enough to warrant formal investigation of the pupil and his/her family and social network.More widely, there are a series of arrests and sentences being handed down for "justification/gorification of terrorism", including that of a 28 year old man diagnosed with learning disabilities.If you are not Charlie, would you please speak up so that we can have you arrested and flung in jail, or re-educated?
On Thursday December 16 a large-scale police operation took place in the Spanish State. Fourteen homes and community centers were registered in Barcelona, Sabadell, Manresa, and Madrid. Books, pamphlets and computers were seized and eleven people were arrested and sent to the Audiencia Nacional, a special jury for cases of "national interest" in Madrid. They are accused of incorporation, promotion, management and participation in a terrorist organization. However, defense lawyers denounce lack of transparency, customers have had to declare without knowing what they are accused. "They talk about terrorism without specifying specific criminal acts, or individual facts attributed to each" (2). When asked why, Judge Bermudez said "I'm not investigating specific facts, I am researching the organization, and the threat it might pose in the future" (1); making this another case of preventive detention in appearance.--------
Read the full article HERE:-----The European Parliament report on the surveillance program NSA US States that "privacy is not a right of luxury, but the foundation of a free and democratic society" (3). Recent revelations about the extent of the violation of the right to privacy of all by States show that everything that can spy, will be spied (4). Moreover, we know that criminalize people for using privacy tools have a chilling effect on everyone, and human rights defenders, journalists, and activists in particular. Give up your basic right to privacy by the fear of being labeled as terrorist is unacceptable.
December 16th 2014 saw 11 anarchists in Barcelona detained in what has been known as "Operation Pandora".Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk
All 11 detainees (4 of them were released on charges on December, 18th) are anarchist activists. One of them is a member of Sabadell CNT union and is still imprisoned. Solicitors for the accused have stated that they have been arrested for being organised; evidence against the accused is non-existent and desperate. Demonstrations have taken place already around Spain, however January 16th may see even bigger demonstrations. Please pass this information on - and if you live in or near a city with an embassy or consulate, let us know!
Join us - We will hand out leaflets against this attempt at criminalisation of anarchism.