Where Has The Real World Gone?

      As always, thoughtful, insightful words from Not Buying Anything.

Where has the real world gone, are we now afraid to be alone with our thoughts, after all thoughts are a good way of finding direction in our life. Face to face communication can be a wonderful enriching experience. Yes, there way be a place for "social media" but as part of our life, it shouldn't become our life, and that, unfortunately seems to be the trend. 

This from Not Buying Anything:

 

      Oliver Sacks, British neurologist, naturalist, historian of science, and author, feared for the future before he died. He wasn't so much alarmed at what had come into being. Rather, he was shocked by how much was missing.

     “Everything is public now, potentially: one’s thoughts, one’s photos, one’s movements, one’s purchases.
     There is no privacy and apparently little desire for it in a world devoted to non-stop use of social media.
      Every minute, every second, has to be spent with one’s device clutched in one’s hand. Those trapped in this virtual world are never alone, never able to concentrate and appreciate in their own way, silently.
      They have given up, to a great extent, the amenities and achievements of civilization: solitude and leisure, the sanction to be oneself, truly absorbed, whether in contemplating a work of art, a scientific theory, a sunset, or the face of one’s beloved.”

Oliver Sacks died in 2015. Before he passed he wrote, 

      "I find my thoughts, increasingly, not on the supernatural or spiritual, but on what is meant by living a good and worthwhile life — achieving a sense of peace within oneself.

       Sacks wouldn't have advised looking for such answers, such peace, in a mobile screen.

      We are trapped in a virtual world. I have doubts about it providing us with a "good and worthwhile life".

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All Power To The Powerful, The US Democracy Illusion.

 

      A simple little game of question and answer gives us a vivid lesson on how "democracy" works in the US. All Hail the Emperor of America, a wonderful system to give unlimited power to the powerful, while binding the hands of the supposed checks and balances. Thanks Loam for the link.

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Venezuela, Guatemala, Same Old Same Old---

 

     What are the people of Venezuela facing? History tells us the the US imperial machine stamps its blood stained boot heavily in that part of the world.

Havana Reuters:

      "Cuba said on Thursday the United States was moving special forces closer to Venezuela as part of a covert plan to intervene in the chaotic South American country using the pretext of a humanitarian" crisis.

      Scaremongering, fake news, or just the usual US behavior in that part of the world. We should have no illusions about the cause of Venezuela's problems nor should we doubt the motives of the US imperialist Empire. History tells us the story.

This from Freedom Socialist Party:

       “We came to work. I know I’m not getting asylum because they don’t give you asylum for hunger,” a young migrant from Honduras told a reporter. “But us on the caravan would rather die fighting than sitting in Honduras waiting to starve or be killed.”
      These stark words show the desperation of thousands of people, half of them women and girls, who have recently fled Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. What could force so many people to leave home and everything they know for a future that is uncertain at best? The history of U.S. intervention in Central America largely supplies the answer.
       Guatemala: coup, civil war, climate change. In 1954, the CIA engineered a coup against the government of Guatemalan President Jacobo Árbenz. A 36-year civil war ensued, during which the U.S. militarily aided one bloody, right-wing regime after another. Each has conducted a genocidal campaign against the indigenous peoples, who are the majority of the population.
       During the war, more than 200,000 people were killed and another 43,000 “disappeared.” More than 80 percent of the victims were indigenous Mayans. Prosecution of the main military and political figures responsible for mass murder is still rare 23 years after peace accords were signed ending the war.
        Half of Central America’s people live in poverty. Global warming, caused mainly by carbon emitted by richer countries, is leading to drought and crop failures and making the situation even more dire. With hunger common across the region, Guatemala has one of the world’s highest rates of chronic malnutrition.

Read the full article HERE: 

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Glasgow, International Women's Day- March 8th.

Wikipedia:
        International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated on March 8 every year.[3] It is a focal point in the movement for women's rights.
       After the Socialist Party of America organised a Women's Day on February 28, 1909 in New York, the 1910 International Socialist Woman's Conference suggested a Women's Day be held annually. After women gained suffrage in Soviet Russia in 1917, March 8 became a national holiday there. The day was then predominantly celebrated by the socialist movement and communist countries until it was adopted in 1975 by the United Nations.
      Today, International Women's Day is a public holiday in some countries and largely ignored elsewhere.[4] In some places, it is a day of protest; in others, it is a day that celebrates womanhood. 

      If you are in Glasgow on that particular day, why not swell the numbers for women's rights, which are human rights, take part in Glasgow's celebration of International Women's Day? 

    In honour of International Women's Day-- Friday, 8 March-- a Rally and Walk of Pride will be assembling at 12 Noon in the Glasgow City Centre at the Dewar's statue in Buchanan Street.
      All are welcome to come together for singing, an open mic, a display of banners and placards, and leaflets on the history of this international holiday, and the ongoing importance of speaking out and fighting back against the twin evils of capitalism and patriarchy.
     This will be followed by a Walk of Pride through George Square to the City Chambers to honour, in song and in spirit, ourselves, each other, and all lovers of liberty and equality. Please join us as we demand respect and our rights: in our homes, our neighbourhoods, and our workplaces.
     More information on this event, and the Industrial Workers of the World, is available from https://iwwscotland.wordpress.com/

   

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Under The All Seeing State.

      How much more policing by surveillance machines can we accept? We are watched in all aspects of our lives, as you walk down the street, enter a pub/cafe/library, or what ever, you are being watch. Shopping, place of work, sitting on the bus, they are there, the CCTV cameras, 24-7. Having got us all to accept the presence of the camera, they keep adding another surveillance/control facility to its armoury. Facial recognition, profiling, and now predictive algorithms. The computer will tell the police where a crime is likely to be committed and who is likely to commit a crime. Wonderful no need for detective work, just ask the computer where was the crime committed and who "dunnit", problem solved. No denying it the computer has worked it out, so you must be guilty, computers don't make mistakes!!!! 

    What a load of crap to depend on for your freedom, humans design the algorithms, humans come with bias and make mistakes, but the computer will be accurate? We as a society are sleep walking into a panoptic prison.

     This little piece from Liberty:

Policing by Machine – Predictive Policing and the Threat to Our Rights collates the results of 90 Freedom of Information requests sent to every force in the UK, laying bare the full extent of biased ‘predictive policing’ for the first time – and how it threatens everyone’s rights and freedoms.
It reveals that 14 forces are using, have previously used or are planning to use shady algorithms which ‘map’ future crime or predict who will commit or be a victim of crime, using biased police data.
The report exposes:

• police algorithms entrenching pre-existing discrimination, directing officers to patrol areas which are already disproportionately over-policed
• predictive policing programs which assess a person’s chances of victimisation, vulnerability, being reported missing or being the victim of domestic violence or a sexual offence, based on offensive profiling
• a severe lack of transparency with the public given very little information as to how predictive algorithms reach their decisions – and even the police do not understand how the machines come to their conclusions
• the significant risk of ‘automation bias’ – a human decision-maker simply deferring to the machine and accepting its indecipherable recommendation as correct.

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The Suffering Of The Libyan People, Part Of The Grand Plan.

       The destruction of Libya by the Western imperialist military wing, NATO, is no longer news. We are supposed to sit back and consider it a success and the people of Libya have been given democracy, thanks to our unselfish assistance. What a massive distortion of the truth, eight years on and Libya, and I'm not spouting praise for Gaddafi, far from it, what was a modern state with a national education system, health service and other modern facilities, has been reduced to a barbaric feuding tribal land, where poverty and bloodshed are co-joined twins. All part of the Imperialists' strategy to destroy any power structure in that part of the world, so that its resources can be freely plundered. Syria an on going process and Iraq, are similar scenarios, with Iran and Venezuela, marked for similar treatment. The callous savagery of Western imperialism knows no bounds. 

Democracy Western Style.

Some extracts from a Middle East Eye article: 

       NATO’s bombardment of Libya in 2011 was never about human rights. Rather, it was the wilful creation of a failed state, designed to ensure the country could never again re-emerge as a strong, united, independent power

       Of course there is not always unity between the Western imperialists, there is deep rivalry between the various power blocks within the power hungry cabal.

A blood-soaked chessboard

      At the same time, Libya continues to serve as a blood-soaked chessboard for inter-imperial rivalries between Western powers, with France and Italy backing different sides in the ongoing civil war, each vying to position itself as the "indispensable power" in the region. To this end, May saw a conference hosted by Emmanuel Macron in Paris – with the Italians cut out – while Italy held its own rival event in Palermo six months later.

     Neither produced anything concrete for Libyans, although the French president's promise of December elections may well have spurred further violence, as each side sought to create facts on the ground in the run-up. The elections, needless to say, never happened - nor could they have, in the absence of any kind of agreed constitutional framework for carrying them out. 

      Even when they come together to destroy a country, they can't always agree on dividing the spoils, greed dominates their entire individual ideology.

     - the progress of the LNA, the reconciliation with Gaddafi loyalists, and the success of the Libyan-led negotiations - were a blow to the US-UK policy of militia-led destabilisation.

Read the full article HERE:
   
      Looking at the Libya, Iraq and Venezuela situation, the logic should surely follow that with the mass protests in France and America, surely it is time for intervention to bring these poor suffering people democracy, NATO, where are you when you are needed.

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

Yea, More On Venezuela.

      Yea, more on Venezuela, and why not, we need solidarity across borders, just as the corporate juggernaut and the financial Mafia don't recongnise borders, so why should we? It is people just like you and I, office workers, joiners, teachers, bus drivers, etc. that are at the receiving end of this callous and vicious maneuver to install a compliant puppet government that will facilitate the corporate grab of the countries natural resources. While at the same time putting this a "proof" that socialism doesn't work. I'm not spouting to support Maduros and his disciples, but to stand in solidarity with the people of Venezuela, and allow them to sort out their problems without the interference of the greed driven billionaires from across their borders, who are backed up by the military of the cabal of America and its puppets, and trumpeted loudly by the mainstream media, whose job it is to create a favourable false reality.

Thanks Loam for the link.

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

Yes, Another Piece On Venezuela.

        I make no excuse for posting another article on Venezuela, for what we are witnessing in that country is the vicious hand of modern imperialism. It is being executed under a fog of misinformation, omissions, and lies, the outcome of which could be a blood bath of the ordinary people of Venezuela in the interests of the ruthless Western corporate juggernaut. The more information that becomes public the clearer we will be able to see the true situation. Such situations should never drop of our radar, knowledge of how the system works prepares us in countering its ruthless and brutish development.

From Black Rose Anarchist Federation
      The following is a statement on the current political crisis and U.S. backed coup underway in Venezuela produced by Solidaridad, a libertarian communist political organization in Chile. In the coming days we will be publishing an additional statement written jointly by anarchist groups in Brazil and Uruguay. For additional analysis we recommend our archive of articles and statements on Venezuela. Translation by Francisco C., Black Rose/Rosa Negra.

Original Link
A Public Statement on the Situation in Venezuela
        Venezuela is going through a profound crisis of which it is impossible to exempt the responsibility of the leadership of Chavismo: the failure in opening a path that allows the country to overcome the dependence of oil, the inefficiency in implementing measures that better the economic situation of the country, the bureaucracy that is drowning the popular initiative and the cases of corruption that affect officials who move key aspects of the economy. These are some of the unresolved problems.
      Nevertheless, this situation is within the framework of a polarization and conflict of classes where the Venezuelan right-wing, the loyal representative of the well-off sectors in the country in conjunction with diverse administrations from the U.S. government, has unfolded a destabilizing strategy intended to asphyxiate the Venezuelan economy contributing to the deterioration to the living conditions of millions of people. The objective of this effort is to undermine the popular support that has mainly sustained the process of change in Venezuela.
      Even worse, this right-wing, which presents itself as a democratic alternative and which hides its despise for the working class behind a false language that appeals to justice and respect to a constitution they had once insulted, operates in a criminal manner sharpening the levels of violence. Behind the figure of [self-proclaimed interim President] Juan Guaidó and the Voluntad Popular or Popular Will party, hiding behind the high-flown speeches amplified by the media has been an insurrectionary strategy which unfolded with armed attacks on military barracks, [1] destruction of health centers, [2] the burning of warehouses with food destined to vulnerable, [3] among other multiple actions of sabotage went on during these years. It came to the point where social leaders were being killed by hired hitmen [4] and to the burning alive of people simply for being Chavistas. [5]
        From what’s mentioned above we’ve learned that if the right gains power in Venezuela again, not only will it implement adjustment policies that include privatization of public enterprises, massive indebtedness with bodies like the IMF, and the opening of oil projects where private companies assume as principal shareholders, [6] but it will also be a government of revenge where the hate accumulated during these years will unfold brutally against organized sectors of the people who dared to dream of a country that would transition to non-capitalist ways of living together.
      The realization of a profound balance between Latin American progressives and in particular from the Venezuelan experience,even with all its contradictions and potential is a pending task for the left. Suffice it to say that many of these experiences have given way to political processes that directly harm the working class. Nevertheless, and despite the legitimate differences that we openly express with those who lead the Venezuelan process, the left and the people have to be emphatic in rejecting this new coup attempt – the ominous interference of the U.S and the other countries related to the destabilizing strategy which includes the government of [Chilean President Sebastián] Piñera and the political sectors who support its foreign policy all the way from Chile. Along with this we must demand the governments who quickly squared with the position of the United States to respect the rights of the Venezuelan people to its own conflicts without the interference of other states establishing as a minimum floor the non-recognition of the diplomatic delegations won over by Guaído.
       We manifest our solidarity with the people of Venezuela directly from our organization, especially with the fringes who even against the grain of the Chavista leadership and assuming all the contradictions of the change in process, protagonize [fight for] new experiences in building popular power that range from the takeovers of the land, the socialization of self-managed companies by its own workers or the government from below in rural and urban communities, [7] and obtaining spaces that prefigure the path of the people who fight against the ominous consequences of patriarchal capitalism we want to overcome.
Solidaridad, February 2019

      Notes [1]  https://www.eltiempo.com/archivo/documento/MAM-53579
[2]  https://www.hispantv.com/noticias/venezuela/408335/ataque-incendio-hospi...
[3]
https://actualidad.rt.com/actualidad/242996-50-toneladas-alimentos-quema...
[4]
http://www.resumenlatinoamericano.org/2018/08/03/asesinados-tres-voceros...
[5]
https://red58.org/cr%C3%ADmenes-de-odio-derecha-venezolana-quema-viva-a-...
[6]
https://www.elinformador.com.ve/2019/01/31/descargue-aqui-el-plan-pais-l...
[7] For an idea about the concrete experiences in building popular power in Venezuela we recommend you visit the following article written in 2016 written by two comrades of Solidaridad, “Political Situation in Venezuela: Crisis, Trends, and the Challenge of Class Independence.”

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Farewell To Joe.

      Just lost a dear friend of more than 40 years, my mate Joe, aged 82, died of prostrate cancer February 7th. Joe was known to many, many people, a folk singer, he had sang in pubs, clubs, gigs and festivals across the country, including Ireland. Always friendly, always with a smile, if you walked with him through the city it was only a matter of time before someone came by with “Hi Joe”, his reply was usual “Good to see you m’man.”. To the thousands that knew Joe he was a folk singer and a friend, to me he was much much more. After the death a mutual friend Ian who died of mesothelioma, Joe suggested that we meet for “a bite and a blether” at lunch time, this we done every week for the next sixteen years. It was during those soup and coffee lunches that I really got to know Joe, and found the folk singer’s range of interests spanned the world. An expert of Scottish and Irish history, and folklore, and a considerable knowledge about Scotland’s wild life. However his interests spanned much more than that. During these soup episodes we would discuss everything from politics to climate change, from natural disasters to world conflicts, the latest financial crisis, poverty and corruption. He had a fascination for nature studies and wild life videos and articles. He was eager to discus the latest science and medical advances, engineering, astronomy and inventions, nothing was outside his span of interest.
      Joe also had a very colourful and at times very harsh life, it dealt him many vicious blows, but he always come through and kept his friendly personality. On one occasion in the Scotia, he was asked to come up and sing, as he got up I said, "Joe, sing an angry song", he just smiled, of course he didn't, Joe was never an angry man. During his life he mixed with the “good and the bad” but none of it taint that loyal, friendly personality. Naturally with that very mixed and colourful life he had a wealth of stories, some sad, but most outrageously hilarious that had us laughing out loud over our soup. I used to say, “Joe we need to get these stories down on record, they are a book in them selves”, it is now a deep regret that we didn’t. He could mix in any company and be welcomed back.
     So Joe the folk singer, to me is a rather weak description of the man, in my life he was a unique. wonderfully loyal, considerate and fascinating friend. There is now a large hole in my life.
Recorded at his sister Margaret's house about week or so before he died. He stayed at Margaret's as he could no longer make the stairs at his own flat.

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We Can Do It Ourselves.

      In most emergencies, "natural" or otherwise, the state never seems to step up to the line. It gets bogged down in legislation and concern for costs and a bias to protect property. It always falls to the communities to step forward and organise in a hands on and unstinting manner. Yes charities do step in but the are always dependent on the money factor, communities use mutual aid and utilise what is available, cost is seldom a factor.

    The following article shows this coming into play in the recent brutal cold spell to hit the Chicago area, if only the communities would hold onto this strategy after the crisis has passed, then perhaps we would see a more rapid collapse of the failed system of capitalism.  

This extract from Its Going Down:

Street Team Response

---------Several teams sprung up and mobilized quickly from a coalition of anarchist groups which included Little Village Solidarity Network, Haymaker, Tenants United Hyde Park Woodlawn, Blood Fruit Anarchist Library, Chicago Recovery Alliance, Lucy Parsons Labs, Four Red Stars, Chicago General Defense Committee, Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee, and Chicago Black Rose/Rosa Negra Anarchist Federation, among others. Raising funds from family, friends, and allies, they were able to immediately put together a plan to track temporary warming shelters and open spaces that were available like Haymaker gym.
     Teams fanned out to purchase supplies and deliver them to whichever neighborhoods they knew best, giving rides to shelter where needed and checking in on people in encampments who were less mobile or didn’t want to leave. While hitting the streets other individuals were encountered who had the same idea, and some independent groups like ChiRides. As well, a warming school bus was making rounds and giving rides. Trinity Lutheran Church in Bridgeport was passing out socks that the teams were able to take with them, and shelters like Flood’s Hall in Hyde Park were looking for help with the early morning shifts, being especially busy at night. Provided by Chicago Recovery Alliance, narcan was available and distributed to whoever was in need.
     The city has a long history of criminalizing homelessness and prioritizing the needs of developers and landlords over tenants and people without housing, while hundreds of houses sit empty or foreclosed across Chicago. Though we don’t depend on the City of Chicago to come through in times like this, we used whatever tools we had to keep people safe tonight. A lot of the warming shelters that would be open during the day on Wednesday weren’t open at night, but the trains that were running 24/7 weren’t charging readmission. Passing out single ride ventra cards downtown and elsewhere has already kept a lot of people out of the cold, and then we have teams going in and out of train cards offering food and supplies through the night and all day today.
      We’re not here to be thanked or anything, but mutual aid and direct action are what’s going to save us from capitalism and that’s something that doesn’t just come about when you need it–it’s something that requires organizing now and practicing community care all the time.--------

Read the full article HERE: 

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Thugs And Politicians, Bed Partners.

      The dirty side of the lovely Greek holiday. Greece is a beautiful place, its people friendly and it has a fascinating history, though at the moment they are suffering from being ten years under the cosh of the EU, (Expert Users) ECB, (Expedient Criminal Bastards) and the IMF, (International Mankind Fuckers) and the level of poverty in that country is a criminal indictment of the system. Like all countries in this economic exploitative system of capitalism, the pleasant scenery and friendly people of Greece, has an underbelly. Apart from the "legal" exploitation of the people, there is the "illegal" abuse and exploitation of vulnerable people. Those who top the "legal" exploitation, CEO, politicians etc. are lauded and gifted privileges, the top thugs of the "illegal" exploitation reach such a position of wealth and power that they are welcomed into the exploitation club where an expensive suit and car are seen as badges of respectability. Both seek favours from the other and deliver, to form a cosy little network of exploitation and corruption, much to their mutual benefit.  

An extract from 325:

        If the one hand for laundering is the star-celebrity system, then the other one is the state.
       As a mafioso, but also as an employer, A.G. wouldn’t even survive for 30 years without the State’s tolerance, coverage and assistance. From the police “failures” to catch him, to the Financial Crime Investigation Unit / Social Insurance Institute / revenue that find his VAT number alright, all state auditing and repressive institutions bail him out. On his face we see the usual way of the local nocturnal business, with too much cruelty and gall. Still, we acknowledge him for his image of a self-made jeune premier that makes him special in our hearts. He is the first pimp, drug dealer and extortionist we know that not only doesn’t hide, but also seeks prominence and publicity.

Women burnt at the stake

        The captive migrant women of A.G. and his mafia is the tip of the iceberg in a patriarchal society, where women are to be submissive to man, the husband, the father, the boyfriend, the brother, the client, the trafficker, and the sex client. The recent murders of Helen in Rhodes and Aggeliki in Corfu represent this condition. With the same ease that the Greek society points the finger at and condemns the murderers, it winks at the conditions that produce the rapists from next door. Patriarchal violence, due to class, sex, race, sexuality, age, and any type of violence exerted by authoritarians doesn’t cease in punishment, but it goes further: it exemplifies, sending out a message to all women to remain silent, obedient, “normal” and they may not be the next victims.

      This violence is ubiquitous in daily reality. From the looks that strip, the sexist comments and harassment in the street, sexual assaults at work, to the rapes, assaults and murders, patriarchy opens wounds on our bodies and beings, delimits them with ideologies, institutions and mechanisms. Christian morality defines the woman as the inferior of the man, while stigmatizing any woman who deviates from the standard of a good Christian as a two-faced, sly, deceitful, liar, dirty. On the other hand, lifestyle reduces femininity to a refined, glossy image, always on men’s scale. At the same time, Capital binds women to production chains, while family imposes the exclusive role of motherhood, procreation and housework on them.

Immigrants burnt at the stake

      After the economic and social downturn in eastern Europe, “illegal” Capital has established networks of trafficking through employment offices and abductions as well. From Athens to the furthest villages of the Greek provinces, we got full of shabby bars, where women from Eastern Europe are being prostituted slaves to traffickers and punters, experiencing the first-hand exploitation-plunder and the male biopower.

On the other side of the coin, the remaining immigrant women take care of the local middle and petty bourgeoisie, babysitting children, cleaning houses and looking after the elderly. And in addition to the daily patriarchal decay, migrant women are experiencing nationalism, racism and xenophobia, so the Russian is identified as a prostitute, the Albanian as a cleaner, and the Bulgarian as a domestic servant.

Turning the longest night into day

    Giannakopoulos family’s comings and goings had made us stay out late. Thus, late at night of 19th to 20th December, we went to the former hellhole of Heraklion Avenue, we left three simple incendiary devices (candle, gasoline, duct tape) on some of their vehicles, set them ablaze and lit up the night.

For each Natascia, Olga, Maria.
For all.

NOT AN INCH OF GROUND FOR PIMPS – RAPISTS.
THE PATH OF FREEDOM WILL PASS OVER YOU!
ATTACK ON LEGAL AND ILLEGAL STRUCTURES OF CAPITAL

“Sophia Perovskaya” Cell, January 2019

Read the full article HERE: 

PDF version:

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

By Our Tolerance, We Are Complicit.

      I recently read an article decrying the plight of the people of Greece and stating that due to the dire economic situation in Greece, 25.7% of Greeks are unable to heat their homes adequately. It pointed out that this was among the highest in Europe. Bulgaria at 37% being the worst, followed by Lithuania 29%, Cyprus 23% and Portugal 20%. Shocking figures which are indicators of misery and deprivation across rich Europe.
       Of course you and I know that under the capitalist system, being in a rich union of countries or in a very rich country does not eliminate poverty and deprivation. Take the VERY rich UK, recent government figures reveal that we in the UK are among the top raft of fuel poverty citizens in Europe. In the first four years since the Conservative Oxbridge brigade took control of our political machine in 2010, fuel poverty has risen by 9%. During the coldest spell of the 2017/18 winter it is estimated that more than 50,000 died from cold related problems, the worst figure for 40 years.
      The study also found that as well as turning down the heating to save money. 25% were scrimping on food. It is obvious that with rising prices and benefits and real wages shrinking, fuel poverty is going to increase. The fuel poverty rate for the UK, 2015, was 17% (Wikipedia) energy prices have continued to rise well above the rate of wages, this can only add more pressure to the struggling homes.
     All this is a further indictment of this economic madness, the UK, 5th. richest country in the world is among the worst for fuel poverty in Europe, when compared to the lowest rates of fuel poverty in Europe of around 2% in Austria, Finland, Sweden, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
      In a sea of wealth, we tolerate a system of inequality, exploitation, poverty and deprivation, where people queue at food banks, and die from the cold. Our tolerance makes us complicit in their deprivation and deaths. The wonder of capitalism and the "market forces".

 

 

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Power Mongers Never Give Birth To Democracy.

      A little more on Venezuela, after all it is a possible flash point for more misery to be heaped on the heads of an already suffering population in the shape of foreign troops intervention, civil war, or both. One of the main problems is that all the moves in this power game are being called by a rich and wealthy elite in other countries, all with a vested interest in the resources of Venezuela, none of the external voices have the interests of the people of that country in there plans.
      Of course it is impossible to ask the powerful imperialists of this world to stay away and let the people of Venezuela decide their own future. They see wealth, and opportunities for grabbing resources, and in this economic madhouse, from wealth comes power.

      This not me waving the flag for the Maduros government, on the contrary, it is an attempt to highlight how the powerful imperialist powers demand that they are in control. The only real answer to the "Venezuela problem" is for the people of that country to decide how they want to run their lives, without external interference.  

Again from Information Clearing House:

        For some months now, Venezuela’s socialist government has lurched through a series of escalating crises — hyperinflation, mass protests, political violence — while both the government and its opposition have flirted with authoritarianism. It isn’t pretty — and to hear the right wing tell it, it’s the future the U.S. left wants for our own country. As if to prevent that, the Trump administration is now fomenting a coup in Venezuela.
     They’ve publicly recognized an unelected opposition leader as president, discussed coup plans with Venezuela’s military, and sanctioned oil revenues the country needs to resolve its economic crisis. They’re even threatening to send U.S. troops. They’ll tell you this about restoring “democracy” and “human rights” in the South American country. But one look at the administration officials driving the putsch perishes the thought.
      Take Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who recently spoke at the United Nations calling on countries to stand “with the forces of freedom” against “the mayhem” of Venezuela’s government.
      This fall, the same Pompeo shared a photo of himself beaming and shaking hands with Saudi Arabia’s crown prince — just as the prince’s order to kill and dismember a U.S. resident journalist was coming to light. The same prince is carrying on a U.S.-backed war in Yemen, where millions are starving. Does this sound like a man who gives one fig for democracy, or against mayhem?
     Or take Pompeo’s point man on Venezuela, the dreaded Elliott Abrams. Pompeo said Abrams was appointed for his “passion for the rights and liberties of all peoples.” More likely, it was Abrams’ history as Reagan’s “Secretary of Dirty Wars” (yes, that’s a real thing people called him).
      A singularly villainous figure, Abrams vouched for U.S. backing of a genocidal Guatemalan regime and Salvadoran death squads in the 1980s. And when a UN report cataloged 22,000 atrocities in El Salvador, Abrams praised his administration’s “fabulous achievement” in the country. Abrams was convicted of lying to Congress about U.S. support for Nicaragua’s brutal Contras, but that didn’t prevent him from serving in George W. Bush’s State Department — which backed not only the Iraq war but an earlier coup attempt in, you guessed it, Venezuela. “It’s very nice to be back,” Abrams told reporters. I bet!
      Finally there’s National Security Adviser John Bolton, who recently took a cute photo with the words “5,000 troops” written on a notepad. Bolton still thinks the Iraq war was a good idea, and he’d like one with Iran too. Do we think it’s bread and roses he wants for Venezuela?
       For all its faults, Venezuela achieved tremendous things before the current crisis — including drastic reductions in poverty and improvements in living standards. Mismanagement and repression may have imperiled those gains, but that’s no justification at all for the U.S. getting involved. In fact, U.S. sanctions have worsened the economic crisis, and U.S. coordination with coup plotters has poisoned the country’s political environment even further. The future of Venezuela’s revolution is for Venezuelans to decide, not us. All that can come of more intervention now is more crisis, and maybe even war.

Read the full article HERE:

Video: Former UN Special Rapporteur talks about Venezuela:

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

Spirit of Revolt At The Bookfair.

      The Spirit of Revolt Archive is now established as a very valuable resource of grassroots working class history and struggles in the Glasgow/Clydeside area. We are always eager to reach out to the public at large to encourage them to get to know their own history. To this end we hold exhibitions, and talks/discussions, we also hold a regular talk/discussion and display of material in the Mitchell Library, called "Show and Tell", as well as other events to attempt to bring our history alive.

     We are delighted to be taking part in coming event Glasgow Autonomous Space Bookfair on Saturday, March 2nd. with a stall displaying a wiff of what we hold in the archive. Please come along and visit us at the stall, ask questions, Talk to us about your views on Glasgow's proud radical history. 

      You can contact us via our contact form: https://spiritofrevolt.info/contact/    or at: info@spiritofrevolt.info 

Spirit of Revolt Archive stall at the GAS Book Fair
Saturday 2nd March 11am-5pm
Spirit of Revolt: Who we are?

Spirit of Revolt Archive, Glasgow based, run by volunteers, dedicated to collecting, preserving multi-media records from Glasgow/Clydeside’s anarchist, libertarian-socialist past and present. Formed August 2011 it has 38 collections and growing. It is now an important resource of working class history. A large amount of its material can be viewed online. Other material can be viewed in the Mitchell Archive reading room.
https://spiritofrevolt.info/
https://www.facebook.com/Spirit-of-Revolt-archive-18845251…/
Book Fair Event Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/315574305908436/

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

Guardian Angel America To Rescue Poor Venezuelans.

      Venezuela is in the news a lot at the moment, and it is the usual fabricated banal bullshit from the media puppets, handed to them by their political and corporate masters. The message goes something like this: "The people of Venezuela are in the grip of an evil despot, unlike us, here in the wonderful utopian free world, watched over by our guardian angel America. So we must do our duty and make that sacrifice, go in and bring them democracy, just as we have done to Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria, the poor suffering Venezuelans deserve no less than this from us."
       The fact that across the world, in every country, poverty and deprivation are part and parcel of this economic system, doesn't seem to register in their twisted minds. It is all about power and control of world's limited resources. Lies, and the suffering of the people are all part of the power mongers' game, a price we pay for their wealth and power.
       In the past days of "the great British Empire" Britain was the master of regime change and setting up of puppet governments around the world, now in the days of "The American Empire", that mantle has fallen to America, and it carries out that role with brutal savagery and total disrespect for the people in its target areas.  

      The following is an extract from Information Clearing house:

( http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51021.htm)

Why Must Venezuela Be Destroyed. 

    -------To be thorough, let’s look at the arguments being used to advance this regime change operation. There is the contention that Nicolas Maduro is not a legitimate president because last year’s elections, where he was supported by 68% of those who turned out, lacked transparency and were boycotted by certain opposition parties, whereas Juan Guaidó is 100% legit in spite of him and his inconsequential National Assembly being opposed by 70% of Venezuelans according to the opposition’s own polling numbers. There were also some unfounded allegations of “ballot-box stuffing”—except that the Venezuelans do not use paper ballots, while according to international election-watcher and former US president Jimmy Carter, “the election process in Venezuela is the best in the world.”
      There is the contention that Maduro has badly mismanaged Venezuela’s economy, leading to hyperinflation, high unemployment, shortages of basic goods (medicines especially) and a refugee crisis. There is some merit to this contention, but we must also note that some of Venezuela’s neighbors are doing even worse in many respects in spite of Maduro not being their president. Also, many of Venezuela’s economic difficulties have been caused by US sanctions against it. For instance, right now around 8 billion dollars of Venezuela’s money is being held hostage and is intended to be used to finance a mercenary army which would invade and attempt to destroy Venezuela just as was done with Syria.
     Finally, a lot of Venezuela’s predicament has to do with the oil curse. Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world, but its oil is very viscous and therefore expensive to produce. During a period of high oil prices Venezuelans became addicted to the oil largess, which the government used to lift millions of people out of abject poverty and to move them out of slums and into government housing. And now low oil prices have caused a crisis. If Venezuela manages to survive this period, it will be able to recover once oil prices recover (which they will once the fracking Ponzi scheme in the US has run its course). We will return to the topic of Venezuelan oil later.
      As a side comment, a lot of people have been voicing the opinion that Venezuela’s woes are due to socialism. According to them, it’s fine if lots of people are suffering as long as their government is capitalist, but if it is socialist then that’s the wrong kind of suffering and their government deserves to be overthrown even if they all voted for it. For example, the site ZeroHedge, which often publishes useful information and analysis, has been pushing this line of thinking ad nauseam. It is unfortunate that some people imagine that they are being principled and right-thinking whereas they are just being dumb jerks at best and somebody’s useful idiots at worst. The politics of other nations are not for them to decide and they should stop wasting our time with their nonsense.
       This naked attempt at regime change would set a very dangerous precedent for the US itself. The doctrine of legal precedent is by no means universal. It comes to us from the dim dark ages of tribal English common law and is only followed in former British colonies. To the rest of the world it is a barbaric form of injustice because it grants arbitrary power to judges and lawyers. The courts must not be allowed to write or alter laws, only to follow them. If your case can be decided on the basis of some other case that has nothing to do with you—well then, why not let somebody else pay your legal fees and your fines and serve out your sentence for you? But there is an overarching principle of international law, which is that sovereign nations have a right to keep to their own laws and legal traditions. Therefore, the US will be bound by the precedents which it establishes. Let’s see how that would work.
        The precedent established by the US government’s recognition of Juan Guaidó allows Nicolas Maduro to declare Donald Trump’s presidency as illegitimate for virtually all of the same reasons. Trump failed to win the popular vote but only gained the presidency because of a corrupt, gerrymandered electoral system. Also, certain opposition candidates were unfairly treated within the electoral process. Trump is also a disgrace and a failure: 43 million people are on food stamps; close to 100 million are among the long-term unemployed (circularly referred to as “not in labor force”); homelessness is rampant and there are entire tent cities springing up in various US cities; numerous US companies are on the verge of bankruptcy; and Trump can’t even seem to be able to keep the federal government open! He is a disaster for his country! Maduro therefore recognizes Bernie Sanders as the legitimate president of the United States.

Read the full article HERE: 

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

Shy Radicals At Glasgow Bookfair.

         Glasgow Autonomous Space Book Fair coming up Saturday, March 2nd. 2019, is shaping up to be a very interesting affair. Certainly well worth marking your diary to make sure you don't miss out. The stalls that will be there on the day are proving to cover a very interesting and wide ranging array topics, there will be something there for you.
https://www.facebook.com/events/315574305908436/permalink/373976400068226/

Shy Radicals Book Stall at the GAS Book Fair
Saturday 2nd March 11am - 5pm
         The stall will sell the Shy Radicals book as well a wide selection of zines about Autism and radical mental health and Other Asias zines:
https://otherasias.webnode.com/shop/
There is also a Shy Radicals talk at the GAS Book Fair at 2pm:
https://www.facebook.com/events/719979628402327/
Shy Radicals by Hamja Ahsan
Part manifesto, part history of the shy revolution, part hymn to introversion: Shy Radicals is a beautiful exploration of exploitation, nationalism and power-dynamics as seen from the perspective of the revolutionary introvert. It's a poem and a manual that helps you take apart the cult of personality and endless expression and their part in enforcing evils of capitalism, colonialism and white supremacy. Exploring the Shy People's Republic of Aspergistan, the book looks at how neurotypical-domination has led both to the oppression of shy people, and to the creation of an unnecessarily brutal world: reminding us that 'the extrovert state is a terrorist state.' Ahsan's work is genuinely radical, and this book challenges traditional conceptions of art and politics by putting militant quietness at its centre. It's as deadly serious as it is fun. Buy two copies and give one to a shy comrade or extroverted enemy.
The flag of Aspergistan consists of a black flag punctuated thusly '...'
Twitter / instagram: @hamjaahsan

BUY HERE THE BOOK HERE - £9.95 - https://www.bookworks.org.uk/node/1917

twitter: @shyradicals
Instagram: @shyradicals
SUPPORT & SUSTAIN my tours, artwork, activism
for as little as a cup of tea a month ($2)
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Check out other events that will be at the Bookfair:
https://www.facebook.com/events/315574305908436/permalink/373976400068226/

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