War, Racism, Two Sides Of The Same Coin.

     Our Western imperialist warlords are frothing at the mouth and spinning around in a frenzy attempting to convince us that the slaughter of civilians is an honourable cause. In their desire to unleash unbelievably powerful modern weaponry,  they try to conceal the fact that it is cities, towns, villages and their inhabitants, that are being pulverised, not an ideology. The Paris massacre is grasped by them as a reason for the intensification of their usual racist agenda of divide and rule. There propaganda machine, the babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, spews out vile racist vomit, trying to convince us that a working class family in the Middle East is inferior to a working class family in the West, their lives of less value, and should be feared. However we should all be aware, that a bus driver with a family in Syria, is doing the same as a bus driver with a family in the West, trying to provide for that family. The people of this planet are not the problem, it is the economic system of power, greed and wealth, sponsored by multi-national corporations and endorsed by imperialist governments. Until we sort that problem out, we will continue struggling against racist propaganda and continuous wars, with all the misery and suffering that entails. In this climate of engineered fear and racism, we must stand together. It is the ordinary people of the world who will have to sort this destructive and exploitative mess out. We can't rely on a Messiah coming with the grand plan and leading us to that promised land, they have all failed in the past and consumed with greed for power, lead us into a desert of deprivation and carnage.

      This Saturday November 28th is a chance to come together and show that solidarity with all the ordinary people of this planet. The world is our village, its people our family. War and racism are two sides of the same coin.

Sat 28 Nov - 
St Andrew's Day March and Rally

Assemble 10:30am Glasgow Green, march off 11am, rally 12 noon Glasgow Film Theatre
No Racism: Refugees Welcome Here

The STUC's annual march against racism, more important this year than ever.
Organised by the STUC

More info: http://www.stuc.org.uk/campaigns-and-external-events/st-andrews-day-2015

https://www.facebook.com/events/1710872952462801/

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

Rent Strikes And Joe Hill.

        Last chance, last few days to see the Spirit of Revolt exhibition, "The Rent Strikes, 100 Years On", being held in the foyer of the Mitchell Library. The exhibition will close on Saturday 28 November, so pop in and see it, and have a chat with the group members, before you have to say, GEE, I missed it.

       Following on from that exhibition, Spirit of Revolt, along with Clydeside IWW and The Only Way is Ethics are holding a Joe Hill song night, to mark the centenary of his execution by the American state. This is a "must go". It will be held on December 2nd. and will take place in:

The Old Hairdressers,

20-28 Renfield Lane,

Glasgow, G2 6PH.

7:30-11:00

£7, £5 un-waged. 

         This is the REAL Glasgow, be part of it. 

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

Poet, Benjamin Zephaniah, Anarchist.

       Slowly, slowly, one by one, they turn to anarchism, hopefully, soon, the trickle will become a flood. Then the people will crawl out of the dark decaying husk of capitalism, and bathe in the warmth and light of justice and freedom.

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

The Baying Hounds Of War.

 

      In our imperialist world, the hounds of war are always growling, ever eager to exert their viciousness. On occasions they are kept in check by the public's distaste for war and violence. The Paris massacre has been a gift to the war mongers, the hounds of war are now straining at the leash and howling loud and fierce. Our so called democratic leaders are now declaring, "we are at war", not that we have ever been at peace. The image of war that they try to portray is one where we, the "righteous" go out and defeat the bad guys, and things go back to that illusionary idyllic past where everything was "nice". Of course war is not quite like that, as one side attacks the cities and homes of the other, the other intensifies its effort in doing likewise.  That's what war is.

      The Cameron, Hollande, Obama, warlord trio, have for years now been trying to engineer the downfall of the Syrian regime, but it hasn't been going too well, and with Russia in there supporting Assad, Paris has been the golden opportunity for them to raise there game. One thing we can be certain of, is that no matter who bombs Syria, the civilian population will bear the brunt of that violence. and when the last bomb has fallen, Syria, once a developed country,  will be reduced to a stone age territory, steeped in the blood of innocent civilians. Its people will be scattered to the four corners of the planet and the imperialist corporations will have their hands on the oil and gas in that area. That's what it is all really about, without the oil and gas in the area, you wouldn't see a a Western imperialist military unit even looking in that direction.

       States and capitalism, the perfect formula for greed driven destruction, and as long as we live by such criteria, we will spiral deeper and deeper into that void of destruction. However, it doesn't have to be that way, we have the power, the ability and the resources to end this destructive, exploitative system and replace it with a system based on sustainability, mutual aid and co-operation, a system of justice that sees to the needs of all our people and banishes the cancer of capitalism to the dustbin of history as man's darkest hour.

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

Joe Hill Night Of Music.

The Man Who Never Died.

      A date for your calendar, if you're in or around Glasgow on December 2nd, there will be a great night of music. Marking the centenary of the American state's execution of union organiser Joe Hill, The Only Way is Ethics is putting on a night of his songs with a variety of musicians. The Spirit of Revolt and the Clydeside IWW will be involved in this great night of music.

       One hundred years on from Joe Hill’s execution, this night will be a celebration of his songs and legacy, featuring a selection of Glaswegian musical talent, to be announced soon.
      The Songs of ‘Joe Hill’ are celebrated worldwide. He wrote them in the period, 1910-15, the last 20 months being held in prison in Utah on a trumped-up charge of double-murder. The Songs were inspired by the ‘Wobbly’ song tradition, which satirised religious and popular song.

        This event which is part of The Only Way Is Ethics, Glasgow 8 Day Festival, and will take place at:

The Old Hairdressers, 

20-28 Renfield Lane,

Glasgow G2 6PH. 

Time-7:30-11:00

Price: £7, £5 unwaged.

No7 of Joe Hill or Wobbly song lyrics
One of his last songs, from 1915, written in gaol

DON'T TAKE MY PAPA AWAY FROM ME (JOE HILL) (1915)
A little girl with her father stayed, in a cabin across the sea,
Her mother dear in the cold grave lay; with her father she'd always be --
But then one day the great war broke out and the father was told to go;
The little girl pleaded -- her father she needed.
She begged, cried and pleaded so:
CHORUS:
Don't take my papa away from me, don't leave me there all alone.
He has cared for me so tenderly, ever since mother was gone.
Nobody ever like him can be, no one can so with me play.
Don't take my papa away from me; please don't take papa away.

Her tender pleadings were all in vain, and her father went to the war.
He'll never kiss her good night again, for he fell 'mid the cannon's roar.
Greater a soldier was never born, but his brave heart was pierced one day;
And as he was dying, he heard some one crying,
A girl's voice from far away: 

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

The Madness Of Frenzied Consumerism.

        You can already hear the rumble of the consumerism sewer pipe, as the garbage flood that is Black Friday starts to attempt to poison the minds of all living under the deluge of pointless corporate consumerism. They must raise the panic level, they must infest your mind, don't be left behind, get out there and grab your happiness from the avalanche of super bundles of trinkets. Get in there with flaying arms and blind determination, the bigger the box the greater your happiness, don't let yourself be beaten in the frenzy of insanity, walk over the elderly, crawl under your neighbour. The rush, the shove, the push, the trampling, must mean there is something of value there for ME. A day of insanity, all to help feed the already overflowing coffers of the greedy corporate world. It is the festival of candy-floss and bubble gum, the main produce of the capitalist consumer world.

       Of course this insanity should be resisted at all costs, let them fill their selves with their trinkets, candy-floss and bubble gum, and watch their panic as it continues to sit on the shelves. Who knows, if we resist their intended greed fest, we may see a few CEO jump from their penthouse balconies.

On this subject, I re-post this from Not Buying Anything:

It's coming again - Black Friday.

      Yes, yet another apocalypse of extreme shopping that transforms regular people into consumer zombies. Why bother getting trampled or having an arm taken off by a falling television when you could avoid the shops entirely and do something infinitely more constructive?
Naturally, I have a few suggestions:
         Plan a White Friday, white being the colour of peace. Reach out to someone you are experiencing conflict with and extend an olive branch. Donate money to a non-profit that promotes peace around the world. Practice forgiveness for the whole day.
         Make it a Blue Friday. Know someone that is feeling down? Do something to make them feel better. When you are done you will feel better, too.
        Have a Green Friday and do something for the environment. Ride a bike instead of driving, start a recycling program, tell someone about something green that you are doing. Go for a walk, hike or roll.
         Make it a real Black Friday and have a lie in while in a darkened room. Get up when you are rested, and not a moment before.
          After you get up, sit quietly and explore the black space between your ears for a while. Repeat throughout the day. Nothing pays off as much as discovering more about the workings of the black box of your mind. Tracing your thoughts and pin-pointing your motivations means that you can better understand and choose your behaviour. You will make yourself more impervious to advertisement and propaganda, like the kind that leads to bizarre behaviours such as the consumer madness represented by Black Friday.
       That is black as in emptiness, the void, and the dark side of destruction. Why would one consciously choose that when there are so many alternatives?

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

 

Trying To Make Sense Of Insanity.

       As always we get a one sided self righteous monologue from our millionaire owned babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream Western media, that it so refreshing to hear an alternative view. Most people would agree that what is going on in the Middle East is some kind of insane nightmare, and for the ordinary person on the street it is extremely difficult to get your head round it all and make some sense out of what is actually going on. Of course being fed a diet of downright lies and distortion, and being unaware of the hidden agenda and the hidden power influences at work, it is almost impossible for us to to grasp the whole picture.

      Perhaps the following video might help to shape that picture a little bit more accurately.

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

The State's Assumption Of The Monopoly On Violence.

      Since that babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, continues its coverage of the Paris massacre, with its one sided hypocritical, self righteous view of the world, I feel it is only right that other views must also be heard.

       Again I repeat, without losing or diminishing the sympathy for all those who suffered in that brutal massacre in Paris, and certainly in no way condoning the savage viciousness of the religious nutters who perpetrated this insanity, we should not forget, the French Republic is built on bodies of the innocent and cemented with their blood. An imperialist state where the red of its flag is the blood of innocents. Like all imperialist powers, it is a power structure held together with repression and brutal violence for the benefit of the wealthy and powerful. Like all states, it will not hesitate to use its power against it own people, as they have all done in the past, and then lie about the deaths of innocents, or classify their deaths as "unavoidable collateral damage". The imperialist powers of the world assume a monopoly on violence and stir up hatred by their savage plunder of others' lands in their never ending greed for more wealth, power, resources and markets. The imperialist world of competition for power and and wealth is insanity in the extreme, and we should not be surprised that it spawns violence in all the corners of the planet. This being so, why not here on our own doorstep? The system is our problem, not the people on the planet. 

Photos from the the October 1961 Paris massacre of anti war demonstrators.  

The following from Contra Info:

https://socialistworker.co.uk/art/25877/17+October+1961%3A+Massacre+in+Paris

Neither their War, nor their Peace!

“We must annihilate the enemies of the Republic… and strip those who besmirch the French spirit of their nationality.”
Manuels Valls, Prime Minister, 14th of November 2015

         If one has to recognize a certain continuity of the French Republic, its for sure the continuity of mass murder. From the State Terror of 1793-1794 which gave birth to the word terrorism to the slaughter of the insurgents of 1848 and those of the Commune of 1871; from the colonisation or the deportation of Jews made possible by prior screening and filing to the massacres of Algerian demonstrators in 1961 in the heart of Paris, all French Republics have massacred without counting so that the powerful might continue to dominate and exploit everyone. The French Republic is a mountain of corpses of which the filth that composes the summit has only be able to stay in place by crushing its true enemies, the rebels and revolutionaries who fought for a world of justice and freedom. The “French spirit”, if this enormous stupidity would ever exist, would be a closet filled up until the point of bursting with voices crying for vengeance against the bourgeois, the politicians, the cops, the soldiers and the priests who have trampled them to establish their power.
       Ah, but that’s all rubbish from the past, isn’t it? Do the decades of civil participation, commodity integration and generalised dispossessing really made forget those who still preserved a slightest touch of sensibility that firing randomly into the crowd is not an exclusivity of remote terrorists? That since several years the French State is making its great return on the international scene of state terrorism by multiplying its military attacks in the four corners of the globe (Libya, Mali, Afghanistan, Ivory Coast, Somalia, Central Africa, Iraq, Syria)? The pretext changes each time, but the reasons stay the same: to maintain control of strategic resources, to win new markets and influence zones, to preserve its interests against competitors, to avoid that insurrections are transformed into experiments of freedom. And if it was still needed, warnings have been given also to avert the indolent that this war logic will not know any territorial limit: the death of a demonstrator last year in Sivens or the bodies riddled with shrapnel in Notre-Dame-des-Landes and in Montabot recall that the offensive grenades in khaki do not hesitate, also not here, to be launched against crowds as to sow terror.

Read the full article HERE:

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

A Wet And Windy Walk Of Pride.

       Glasgow's Walk of Pride, yesterday, November 17th. was not as well attended as we would have liked, nor did as many people turn up that said they would. Perhaps the weather had something to do with that, as it was dreadful, cold, windy and wet. Never the less, all in all about 20 people braved the Scottish crap weather, and Walked with Pride, carrying their banners and making the symbolic noise of an odd racquet and whistle, down to the City Chambers in George Square. So marking that wonderful working class victory won in 1915, 

         A big thank you to all those who left the comfort of their home and braved the lousy Scottish November, and a thank you to all those who helped organise the event. 

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

An Orgy Of Illusionary Superiority.

       Once again I repeat, without losing any sympathy for the innocent people who suffered in the Paris massacre, and without condoning the brutal carnage carried out by the religious nutters responsible, we have to look back at history, and remember France is an imperialist power. France, like all imperialist powers, is guilty of brutal and vicious repression of the people of its colonies. Like all Western imperialists, it still stokes the fires of racism, and administers the policy of divide and conquer, to maintain its influence in its former colonies. History shapes our present, history is a step to our future, violence begets violence, war breeds war, repression spawns blowback. We reap what we sow, and we the ordinary people are now reaping the seeds of imperialist greed, and vicious brutality. How many deaths can be laid at the feet of the British Empire, The French Empire, and the American Empire? Brutal repression enters the consciousness of people, memories move from generation to generation.

      While we applaud and encourage, working class memories of capitalist repression in our own lands, we are not so aware of colonial people's memory of imperialist repression. However, we ignore it at our peril. We have to break out of this insane circle of patriotism, state power, one state dominating another, for the benefit of a small elite. We have to start and start now, and build that world of no borders, no state, no dominant force, where patriotism dies and state nor religion exerts no power over the individual. We are one species, on one small planet, with no escape capsule, we have to come together, or destroy ourselves, in an orgy of illusionary superiority.

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

Workers Know Your History, November 17, 1915, Rent Strike Victory.

A reminder, today, 17th. November, we celebrate that great victory with pride.

THE RENT STRIKE.

CAUSES.

         The first world war saw considerable change to the structure of Glasgow's working class. Youth employment was common with boys as young as 11 years of age employed as horse drawn van drivers. Also women being employed in what until then had been all male trades. Ministry of Munitions figures stated that by 1916 there were 18,500 women working in metal trades in the Clydeside area. During the war the standard of living improved considerably with near full employment, endless overtime and restricted pub hours. After the war there was a tremendous rise in unemployment and in poverty.

GLASGOW WOMEN’S HOUSING ASSOCIATION.

        In pre First World war Glasgow there were a large number of empty houses, by the year 1915 all were occupied by incoming workers to the munitions and allied war industry trades. A shortage of workers and materials saw a lack of maintenance and the housing stock deteriorate rapidly. At the beginning of the war the landlords tried to implement large rent increases, at risk were 7,000 pensioners and families whose men were fighting in France. This brought about the formation of the "Glasgow Women's Housing Association" and many local "Women's Housing Associations" to resist the increases. All manner of peaceful activities were used to prevent evictions and drive out the Sheriff's officers. There were constant meetings in an attempt to be one step ahead of the Sheriff's officers. All manner of communication was used to summon help, everything from drums, bells, trumpets and anything that could be used to create a warning sound to rally the supporters who were mainly women as the men were at work in the yards and factories at these times. They would then indulge in cramming into closes and stairs to prevent the entry of the Sheriff's officers and so prevent them from carrying out their evictions. They also used little paper bags of flour, peasmeal and whiting as missiles directed at the bowler hatted officers. These activities culminated on the 17th of November 1915 with the massive demonstration and march of thousands through the city streets and on to the Glasgow Sheriff's Court. This resulted in the immediate implementation of the "1915 Rent Restriction Act" which benefited tenants across the country. The Rent Act was to run for 6 months after the war. However immediately after the war the Glasgow Property and Factors' Association demanded large rent increases. The City's tenants organised the Scottish Labour Housing Association. John Wheatley through an ILP campaign helped to bring about the 1920 Rent Restriction Act. The intended compromise was that there would be an immediate increase of 15% plus another 25% if essential repairs were done. The tenants, however stated that there had been no repairs since 1914 and precious few before that. On the 23rd of August 1920 a General Strike was called and had a massive support in Glasgow. A large demonstration took place on Glasgow Green and "Notices of Increase" were piled up and set alight. The property owners response was to take out eviction orders in Court against tenants who refused to pay. During the period between the 1920s and the 1930s Glasgow's unemployment never fell below 20% with a population of over 1,250,000. Unemployment in the city climbed to over 25% during the thirties. The Labour Housing Association pointed out that the cases could be continued in the Sheriff Court, who were unlikely to grant thousands of decrees for eviction of unemployed tenants. It appears that the Glasgow Sheriffs were not unsympathetic to the plight of the poor tenants. The "GLASGOW HERALD" , a newspaper not noted for its sympathy towards the ordinary folk of Glasgow, carried an article on, " ...the human consequences of this endless litigation against the poor..."

LEGAL CONFUSION.

         The numerous attempts at peaceful protest to the evictions continued, using the same methods as before. Thousands of windows had notices stating, "We are not paying rent increases" . The situation with regards to tenants under Scots law was that when they signed their original tenancy agreement accepting the rent the agreement was binding on both parties as long as the tenant paid the stated rent. The factor could not alter the rent without first issuing a Notice of Removal", giving the tenant the option of accepting the new rent or vacating the premises. On the 26th of November 1920 the Sheriff-substitute Menzies of Dumbarton Sheriff Court held that the rent increases allowed by the 1920 "Rent Act" are invalid where no "Notice of Removal" had been given. Further, rent increases paid under these circumstances could be reclaimed by the tenants. At the same time, on the same day the Glasgow Sheriff Court gave the opposite ruling on an identical case involving "Emmanuel Shinwell", who was duly evicted. The Factors Association appealed the Dumbarton Court decision all the way through the legal system to the Law Lords and in each appeal the decision was to agree with the Dumbarton Court's findings. The Glasgow "Rent Strike " movement, though still continuing was now weaker than the situation in Clydebank where it remained solid and very militant.

ASSESSMENT.

         Due to the trouble and chaos of the rent situation the government in January 1925 set up a commission under "Lord Constable" to look at the whole affair of rented accommodation. This more or less brought about the collapse of the "Rent Strike" movement. The rent strikes were not led by any one person or group. This was a genuine popular struggle involving; women, housewives, the "National Unemployed Workers Movement", militants, organised vigilantes, propagandists and housing associations. 

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

To Get Beyond Two Shitty Choices.

       Without losing sympathy for the victims of violence or condoning violence, one should never forget that France is an imperialist power. It is in other lands with modern fire power defending its assets, the "collateral damage", is the deaths of innocent men, women and children, creating trauma and misery for families and friends on a greater scale than what happened in France the other night. Violence be-gets violence, war breeds war, and so the circle is perpetuated.

     Until now the fight has always been, from first to last, between existing and aspiring world powers; it has always been a struggle between a power that already oppresses us and one that will soon do so; the point, however, is to finally get beyond this stale tale of two shitty choices----

The First and Last Word on a Rotten Civilisation.  

       -------Unlike the citizens of early Mesopotamian city-states, who assembled to govern their own affairs directly and whose active consent was needed even by a demi-god ruler like Gilgamesh before he could wage war, the voters of France assemble only to labour as servants for their bosses or consume the bread and circuses they are thrown as distraction and compensation for their servitude. The rulers of European or Middle-Eastern states wage war through the passive resignation of modern plebeans, who can do no more than reap the grave consequences of decisions they neither understand nor command. A civilisation that began as a democracy of slave-holders who elected their representatives has reached perfection in a democracy of slaves who elect their masters. From this botched experiment (which has produced nothing but irresponsibility, insanity, and impotence – transmuted by the lies of history, art and political-economy into fictions with pretty names like duty, reasonableness, and maturity) there's nothing worth defending or saving.

The ferocious muslims who, unlike the era of the crusaders, now have the ability to retaliate, are right to despise it. If only they did so consistently! The first and final paragraphs from the entry for Ebla on Wikipedia read:

Ebla was one of the earliest kingdoms in Syria. Its remains constitute a tell located about 55 km southwest of Aleppo near the village of Mardikh. Ebla was an important center throughout the third millennium BC and in the first half of the second millennium BC. Its discovery proved the Levant was a center of ancient, centralized civilization equal to Egypt and Mesopotamia, and ruled out the view that the latter two were the only important centers in the Near East during the early Bronze Age. Karl Moore described the first Eblaite kingdom as the first recorded world power.
As a result of the Syrian Civil War, excavations of Ebla stopped in March 2011, and large-scale looting occurred after the site came under the control of an opposition armed group. Many tunnels were dug and a crypt full of human remains was discovered; the remains were scattered and discarded by the robbers, who hoped to find jewelry and other precious artifacts. Digging all around the mound was conducted by nearby villagers with the aim of finding artifacts; some villagers removed carloads of soil suitable for making ceramic liners for bread-baking ovens from the tunnels."

The villagers of Syria know how to treat the ruins of a despicable past with the disrespect it deserves. Only people able to perform this task coherently can create anything useful, beautiful and happy out of the rubble of a miserable history. Until now the fight has always been, from first to last, between existing and aspiring world powers; it has always been a struggle between a power that already oppresses us and one that will soon do so; the point, however, is to finally get beyond this stale tale of two shitty choices. Humanity will never be happy until the last Quran is used as tinder for setting fire to the presidential palace of the last democratic republic!

Read the full article HERE: 

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

 

Glasgow's Walk Of Pride.

        A rallying call, for this Tuesday, 17th. November, 12 noon, this is not a protest march, it is a Walk of Pride, a chance for all Glaswegians to show their pride in their parents and grandparents. In the struggles that they fought, the poverty and repression they endured with solidarity and dignity. The battles they won, against all the odds. November 1915 saw the rent strike victory over the greed of landlords, forcing the government of the day to introduce The Rent Restriction Act, freezing rents across the whole of the UK, until the end of the war.
       This was no mean victory, it took the combined determination and solidarity of all the women in the districts of Glasgow and Clydeside, combined with the unstinting support of the workers in the shipyards and factories of Clydeside.
       Let's hold our heads high, show our pride in that spirit of solidarity, and determination that built an unbeatable working class army of ordinary people. Let's make it a fun day, let's celebrate our history, our culture. Come along in your groups, families, friends and neighbours. Bring your noise with you, let's create that noise that rallied the women of the time to come out and face down the sheriff officers. Bring pots, pans, whistles, drums, racquets, banners and music. Let's walk with pride, it's our history, a history of solidarity. 

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