Two Faced Society.

        Wrote this little piece five years ago, I like to drag these past rants out just to see what has changed. However over my 86 years I have heard all these promises of pie in the sky spewing from the mouths of our political ballerinas, over and over again, "We will eradicate the scourge of child poverty", "We will end homelessness in X number of years", but nothing much changes. These two-faced careerists either have very short memories or are just barefaced liars. They know it has all been promised before and they know that these inhumane injustices are still with us today, and if we continue with the present system they will be with us tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.

My rant form 10 January 2016. 

        This winter may have been mild, but it is Scotland, and it is winter, cold and damp, not the sort of conditions anyone should find themselves homeless. While our parasitical politicians tell how well everything is doing, spouting, everything is on the up and up, some facts contradict that propaganda. The number of homeless people is rising, rising homelessness can never equate with an improving society. Glasgow City Mission, a charity that helps provide temporary shelter for homeless people, claims to have had a 60%+ increase in the number of rough-sleepers seeking a bed for the night. The charity claimed that, December 2015, saw 711 individuals came to them seeking a bed, compared with 437 December 2014. The quietest night this December saw 14 individuals seek a bed for the night, last December that figure was 4. While the busiest December night this year the figure was 31, compared with last December when there were 21.

 

        Not a very flattering picture of Glasgow, Scotland's largest city, and an indictment of the system we live under. Glasgow has an abundance of glossy, glitzy, shopping malls, lots of fancy expensive restaurants, car parks littered with luxury cars, yet hunger and homelessness stalks its streets. Under the neon lights a doorway can be a shelter from the cold and damp, a dark lane, a bed for the night. There is an invisible army of enforced hungry, lurking in the shadows of abundance. It is totally unacceptable that hunger's vicious claws tear at an individual a hands throw away from a warehouse of food. It is totally unacceptable that someone should lay their head on cold wet stone for a bed, when the city abounds in empty accommodation.

        This cruel injustice is the law of capitalism, no matter your needs, you will have to do without, if you can't pay. You can't be provided for if there is no profit in it for somebody. In this insane system, you can die from hypothermia and/or hunger, while shelter lies empty, and food rots next door. Why do we tolerate this?

         The figures may be different today but the injustice and inhumane callous cruelty persists, ah, that's capitalism for you. With the present pandemic creating a whirlwind of unemployment and austerity, we can expect the usual result from capitalism, more child poverty, and more homelessness to help to "balance the books".

The Homeless

 
Tenebrous spectres, they exist, out there,
on the crumbling edge of chaos.
A father, a son, a brother,
a daughter, a sister, a mother.
Fragments of some shattered family structure;
waste products
from a society being driven to destruction
by a hurricane of greed,
living a life that wears out life,
dying,
the devious death of exhaustion from existence.

http://radicalglasgowblog.blogspot.co.uk/.../wealth-and...

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

Asset Strippers.

         Glasgow City council, like most city councils I suppose, has been merrily selling off public land to private developers. What this means is that the council, supposed caretakers of the citizens publicly owned assets, are in fact disposing of them to groups who will make a fortune from those asset. As this continues, we will reach a stage where there will be no public owned assets, other than those that can't make a profit. We the citizens will be lumber with costs but nothing of value, we will live in a privately owned city, where every step will cost you money. We have a housing crisis, we have homeless families and others living in inadequate housing while others are forced to live in ever increasing rented accommodation, stuffing the private landlord's coffers. We need all that publicly owned land, it is ours, we need it for social housing giving the citizens decent affordable accommodation. Private land developers are not philanthropists, you could call them asset strippers, they are out to make a fortune at our expense. Why let the council assist them in their plundering of the public purse.

Meeting Info:

 

 

         Living Rent have been battling to stop this site in Marhill which was once the site of council houses to stop its sale to private housing. We need our land to build council houses, not sold to rip-off landlords. We need reasonable rent council houses if not for our selves, for our young folk who have little enough to look forward to without just working to pay the rent. Wages going down rent going up! Time to stop the give away! It would be zero cost to the council to postpone the sale and listen to us.

Townhall Meeting For Maryhill

Invited speakers:
Bob Doris MSP, Cllr John Letford, Patrick Harvie MSP and candidate Keiran O'Neill are all confirmed as coming. Now is the time to make the community's view heard. Are you coming?
The Council spoke to just 69 people over 13 years to come up with their sell off plans for bought housing. Now is the time to show the community's real view and decide the site's future. Try to be there. 6:30pm, Tues 12th, meeting link at www.livingrent.org/collinastreet

Sign the petition:
https://www.livingrent.org/halt_the_sale_of_collina_street?fbclid=IwAR2Jc-fNLYznYA3a_J8AbenhXsvOIUIjLMsf1e4vS5-UCQeRJmQZ_Xz1wAQ

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

UK inhumanity.

         The mainstream media quite often carry stories and photos of "illegal" migrants being picked up on the beach on this side of the Channel. They tend to leave the story there, they have done their bit, created the illusion of an "invasion" of "illegal" foreigners coming here to use our wonderful benefits system and destroy our very special way of life. The rest of the story is of little interest to them. The fact that these people have, in desperation, taken on a horrendous and dangerous journey, half way across the world, fleeing unimaginable violence, deprivation, persecution, death and destruction. All of these conditions mainly due to the foreign policy of the Western powers, that they run to for help, is not news worth to them.
         So they get picked, what next? They get a welcome and help? Well no, they get locked away from any social connection in detention centres, (prisons for desperate foreigners), they are trapped in a system of policing, devoid of any rights, caged. For how long, well nobody knows, weeks, months and in some cases even years. This being a truly capitalist country, all of this has to make a profit for some corporation, it has to stuff some CEO's bank account with tax payers money. So the UK's detention centres (prisons for desperate foreigners) are mostly run by private companies, human storage and cargo at a profit. As long as the corporate world can make money from this inhumanity, it will persist, it is a capitalist system, not a humanity based system.

The UK holds many accolades, not many of them for worthy causes.

         The UK has the largest Immigration Detention estate in Europe. UK policy results in asylum seekers facing detention at any time, even if they have committed no crime whatsoever. Detention has no time limit and is not automatically subject to Judicial Review. Many endure months and some endure years of indefinite detention.
          There are no safeguards in place to prevent the detention of vulnerable persons, including those who have faced imprisonment, torture and /or sexual violence in the countries from which they have fled. This harmful and expensive practice is unnecessary and deprives people of their freedom, their dignity and is damaging to their mental health.
         Detention Action Frequently Asked Questions about Detention and reports including Detained Lives. They also have a freephone number 0800 587 2096 for advice. 

         Conditions in these prisons for innocent foreigners, are far from decent, and far short of how any civilised society should treat desperate people in need of help. 

        Some detainees are being held for too long and in insect-ridden rooms at Europe’s largest immigration centre in west London, inspectors say. Conditions at Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre were “desolate”, with bare rooms, broken equipment, bed bugs and cockroaches, the report by Chief Inspector of Prisons Peter Clarke said. Some detainees were held for over a year, with one man held for five years.

And:

      The outbreak has led to renewed calls for all detainees to be immediately released. “The outbreak of COVID-19 at #BrookHouse detention centre was completely predictable - and utterly preventable. Nobody should be detained for immigration purposes during a global pandemic,” tweeted Freedom From Torture. Celia Clark, the director of Bail for Immigration Detainees (BID), similarly argued: “The government should now recognise that the use of detention and deportation in the current climate helps to spread coronavirus and puts lives at risk.

        Another of the UK's accolades is, we have the largest detention centre, (prison for desperate foreigners) in Europe. 

        Harmondsworth IRC currently has a capacity of 676, which makes it the largest detention centre in Europe. It holds only men and the security in several of the wings is comparable to a Category B (high security) prison. Harmondsworth is run by private security company Mitie, under contract to the UK Border Agency.
        The last inspection by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons was released in March 2018. The report found that there were considerable and persistent failings in the safety and respect afforded to detainees.

       In matters of detention, control, surveillance and policing, the UK punches well above its weight. 

 

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

Far Right.

    What happened in Washington, America, on the 6th of January should have red lights flashing in all those of the left. The Biden brigade will have to move further to the right for two main reasons, it has to somehow get those millions of trump fascist on board to quell their anger, and it will have to appease all those conservatives who will be demanding that the government come down with a tough law and order agenda. Dissent will be seen as an evil that has to be snuffed out to save their precious "democracy". Follow the rules or be severely punished, not fertile ground for freedom of expression. We have seen the far right across the planet strengthen and stiffen its resolve for total control, with America, still a powerful imperialist power, now openly at the helm of the far right, freedoms flag is truly being torn asunder, but still flutters bravely.

The following article is from crimethinc:

 Meanwhile, as the Republicans Fracture, a New Political Center Emerges—Further to the Right
      As a consequence of Donald Trump’s supporters occupying the Capitol building in Washington, DC after a rally promoting his baseless claims of election fraud, the Republican Party is fracturing, setting the stage for the consolidation of a new bipartisan political center—albeit much further to the right than before. Yet this also paves the way for massive sections of Trump’s base to break away from representative democracy altogether, embracing an explicitly fascist alternative. The events of January 6 offer them martyrs and a revanchist narrative that will serve them for years to come, providing an internal mythos for recruitment and a justification whenever they need to use force.
     The events of January 6 will discredit Trump supporters in the eyes of centrists and force some Republicans to shift their allegiances to the center, but they will also push the envelope regarding what is acceptable. This may help the far right recruit locally countrywide and could normalize similar actions in the future.
      But this is not the only danger ahead. In the name of a war against extremism, centrists are going to demand to expand the same machinery of state repression that the next Trump will inevitably use against us. This is essentially what happened in Weimar Germany, setting the stage for the rise of the Third Reich. Likewise, Trump’s chief weapon throughout 2020 has been the Department of Homeland Security, created under Bush in response to the September 11 attacks, and he has also benefitted from further centralization under Obama. Centrist appeals to fight “chaos” will serve to draw many of our former allies out of the streets, while justifying new crackdowns that will target us as well as the far right. 

       The state clampdown after this will suppress freedoms across the board, targeting all forms of dissent. In Turkey, when Erdoğan put down a right-wing military coup, that paved the way for him to repress every form of protest. State repression of the right will follow the playbook they use against our movements—incorporating reformist elements while isolating and destroying “extreme” elements. If the only pressure on the government is from the far right, the state will make concessions to them. 

      We are already seeing our former allies withdrawal from the streets in the events of January 6. Liberals urged people not to go to DC, counting on the authorities to deal with Trump supporters. This was a miscalculation. Security forces are not particularly inclined to stand up to the part of the population they sympathize with most—and even when they choose to do so, their hands are effectively tied by the deeply engrained institutional habits of treating conservative white people much more respectfully than they treat people of color, poor people, and anti-capitalists.

Read the full article HERE:

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

Manslaughter.

      Work is glorified in this capitalist system, it is spouted as giving meaning to your life, to give you dignity and to give you a decent standard of living. Of course experience tells us none of this is near the truth. Under the capitalist system, work is exploitation, maintained at the lowest wage rate the employer can get away with.There is also the fact that health and safety is seen as eating into their profits, so will be by-passed when and where possible. One thing that is never mentioned, under these conditions, work is often a killer, not just from avoidable "accidents" but also from industrial diseases. The corporate powers are without doubt, in many cases, guilty of corporate manslaughter, all in the name of profit. Under no circumstances should your occupation be a possible death sentence. However, not until all manufacturing and distribution is under the control of the those who work their, will this corporate manslaughter stop. The interests of the corporate bosses and those of the workers are diametrically opposed, the circle can't be squared. 

         IndustriALL Global Union’s Korean affiliate the KMWU believes that POSCO workplaces will only become safer when union representatives are able to participate fully in safety structures. Instead, POSCO recently dismissed three union activists for exposing union busting, and failed to reinstate them after the National Labor Relations Commission ruled that the dismissal was unfair.
       The KMWU argues that large-scale industrial disasters happen at POSCO due to management decisions to not upgrade aging facilities and equipment, to downsize subcontracted workers, and to outsource risks instead of eliminating them.
      POSCO blocks the KMWU from accessing accident sites and refuses to allow union safety experts to participate in accident investigation. The company fails to disclose the true cause of an accident after an investigation is concluded, leaving workers to face the same risks that killed their colleagues.
      South Korea has the highest occupational fatality rate among OECD countries and every year 2,400 workers die in industrial fatalities. In 2018, trade unions and civil society launched a campaign for a Corporate Manslaughter Bill after a young worker in his twenties was found dead in a power plant after the company violated standard operating procedures.
       The signatures of 100,000 citizens placed this bill before the Korean National Assembly. The intent of the bill is to impose heavy penalties on employers who cause the death of workers, and to ensure that they adopt comprehensive preventative measures.
         The KMWU believes that if the bill becomes law, POSCO CEO Jeong-Woo Choi should the first person to be held accountable.
        Accidents in November and December at POSCO’s Gwangyang steelworks in Korea resulted in the deaths of five workers. On 24 November, an explosion near a blast furnace lead to the deaths of three workers. In further incidents on 9 and 23 December, another two POSCO workers lost their lives.
      The lastest is the 18th accident in the past three years at the company’s Pohang and Gwangyang plants. POSCO workers have been killed by asphyxiation, explosions, fires, physical crush injuries, fatal falls, and overwork. The accidents have continued despite the plants being subject to an inspection conducted by the labour ministry.

       In this society we work to survive, that shouldn't mean we face death for our daily bread.work 

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

Union Rights.

         Teachers in this country and some others can hold Zoom meetings and their union can criticise the government, mind you that doesn't do that much good. However, the situation in some other countries is much different. In Jordan at the moment teachers are having a hard time from the state, facing prison on a mass scale. At this moment they need our support and solidarity.
The following from Labour Start: 

 

 

        On 25 July last year, leaders of the Jordanian teachers union were jailed. The Education International, uniting teachers from all over the world, launched a global protest including an online campaign on LabourStart. On 23 August, the teachers' leaders were freed from jail -- because Jordanian law allowed them to be held for just 30 days.
      Four months later, things have gotten much worse. on 31 December, the Amman Magistrate's Court authorised the dissolution of the teachers union, and the detention of all 13 union board members for a year.
      The detained union leaders have been released on bail while the union appeals the judicial decision.
       As we did last summer, we need to flood the Jordanian government with demands that the harassment of the teachers must stop now.
      As the campaign states: "Workers should be allowed to enjoy freedom of association and their right to collective bargaining as guaranteed by the national constitution as well as international treaties to which Jordan is a party."

Please take a moment to show your support for the Jordanian teachers - click here.

          And please share this message with your friends, family and fellow union members.

Thank you! Eric Lee.

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

Keelie 14.

     The Glasgow Keelie jumps into 2021 with its latest issue, No.14, and as usual it carries a punch and variety of subject matter. This pocket rocket of criticism and information is a must read, read it and spread the word, it's your paper Glasgwegians. However it might be a local paper but the info is of interest to all who wish to see through the smoke and mirrors of this society.

Read the latest issue HERE

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

Tomorrow's World.

        A new lockdown, dreary days without real social interaction, thoughts of trying to make sense of this world we have created. Holding on to sprigs of hope, doing our utmost to create a new and better world, we have the formula, anarchism, plain and simple. Now must be the time, when we take a look at where we are and the direction we are facing.

TOMORROW’S WORLD!!

See the fat cat’s grinning smile
as Corporate Capitalism runs amok,
Chasing profit as it goes
firing millions of ordinary folk.

Raping and polluting land after land,
starting bloody wars.
Toxic waste, sweat shop wages
and oil covered sea shores.

Where have all the flowers gone
beneath this ozone free sky?
To join the birds, to join the fox
on yonder plutonium field to die.

Mercury fish, strontium lamb
trees that never show a leaf,
radio active beaches, toxic streams
good lean BSE-antibiotic beef.

In a world of epidemic, plague and famine
it’s bottled water and chemical food.
Of course, it’s all tested on rats and mice
so you know it’s got to be good.

Beneath a sky that’s always black,
hurricane winds and endless drought,
its oxygen masks for the toxic air,
corporate profit is what it’s all about. 

 

 

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

Nothing Is Finished.

         A new year message from Act For Freedom Now:

 NOTHING IS FINISHED EVERYTHING CONTINUES

        These are tough times. Disgusted by imposed social behaviour and the models it reproduces, against every form of authority and exploitation, we aim at the destruction of this rotten system, whether it’s in “crisis” or is “prospering”.
As the State and system continue to assert their proven role against anarchists, anti-authoritarians, fighting people, self-managed spaces and various parts of society, we consider multiform action an integral part of the revolutionary process. From the distribution of leaflets in the squares, the occupation of spaces, self-organization in workplaces and neighbourhoods, to militant protests, night-time raids and re-appropriations.
       The words of our brothers and sisters in captivity give us the strength to continue. Nothing is forgotten, nothing is left behind, the social war will continue as long as the enemy persists.
       The multiform actions of the many groups and individual comrades in Greece and around the world have always raised our spirits and strengthened us. In the struggle there are also losses but the journey continues. With its losses and its joys, its hardships and also its pleasant surprises.
Solidarity and respect to all those around the world fighting in every way, inside and outside the walls, against this rotten system.
NOTHING IS FINISHED, EVERYTHING CONTINUES.
Comrades from the anarchist project Act for freedom now! 

January 2021

 

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

Morning.

        One from away back, forgot it was there.

Morning.

Dawn kisses the night
darkness melts,
once again consciousness
finds the morning,
it was where it usually is
midst the stale smells
of last night’s drunkenness

A slow tide, the blanket rolls back,
reluctant to repeat its masquerade
a body lies still.
Resenting the mind’s push, feeble feet
shuffle to a coffee jar,
thoughts of a thousand kettles clicking
a thousand spoons delving deep,
a city stirring.

Grudgingly the cast,
freed from night’s dark crypt
don their robes,
all actors, no audience,
our stage is set,
the play already started,
each player writes their script.

 

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

Direct Action.

          Direct action, a wonderful tool for trying to bring about change in society. Often misunderstood, and misrepresented in the mainstream media. Obviously to bring about the change we want, we will not succeed by petitioning the powers that be, nor by simple protests, they have too much to lose to surrender the wealth, power and privileges they have accrued around their class. We will have to short-circuit, undermine and bye-pass their laid down regulations and agenda. That's when direct action is the desired weapon in our struggle.
        The following article from crimethinc, goes a long way to explaining the correct definition of "Direct Action". Thanks Loam for the link.

Twelve Myths About Direct Action

     Direct action—that is, any kind of action that bypasses established political channels to accomplish objectives directly—has a long and rich heritage in North America, extending back to the Boston Tea Party and beyond. Despite this, there are many misunderstandings about it, in part due to the ways it has been misrepresented in the corporate media.

Read the full article HERE:

      Inspired by a quote from anarchist writer Voltairine de Cleyre, “Direct action is always the clamorer, the initiator, through which the great sum of indifferentists become aware that oppression is getting intolerable.” In other words, throw a spanner in the works.

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

40 Years!!

         I believe it is true to say that the American establishment is the most brutal, savage institution on the planet. It has invaded more countries than any other country on the planet, and it runs its own country with the same ruthless brutality. In doing so it has incarcerated a greater percentage of its population than any other country, and it runs that prison system with the same brutal inhumanity and savagery, and runs the prisons as one massive slave labour camp for the profit of its corporate moguls. 

The American criminal justice system holds almost 2.3 million people in 1,833 state prisons, 110 federal prisons, 1,772 juvenile correctional facilities, 3,134 local jails, 218 immigration detention facilities, and 80 Indian Country jails as well as in military prisons, civil commitment centers, state psychiatric hospitals, and prisons in the U.S. territories.

        Yet it sits at the head of the table of those nations that go by the name of the most developed and peaceful nations. The greatest illusion ever perpetrated on the human race.

The following is from Salon: 

40 Years A Prisoner.

       Eight-year-old me couldn't imagine not seeing my dad's smiling face on Christmas morning, or drawing my mom a cartoon-filled card covered in thank yous for Mother's Day, or the thousands of other memories small kids get to share with their parents. These types of memories make up the foundation of our traditions and are the things that we pass down to our kids. Mike Africa Jr., who was born in prison, was robbed of the chance of creating those in-person memories with his parents. The Philadelphia police department forced him to figure out life on his own.
        Africa Jr.'s journey is brilliantly related in the new HBO documentary film, "40 Years a Prisoner," directed by Tommy Oliver and available now on HBO Max. Featuring an all-star ensemble of producers including The Roots, Common and John Legend, "40 Years A Prisoner" is a compelling film about the horrors of America's criminal justice system. The story begins in 1978 when Philadelphia police raided MOVE, a back to nature organization based on love, among other peaceful principles. Africa's parents, two MOVE members, were arrested during that raid on trumped up charges and convicted before he was born. In the film, Oliver documents Africa Jr.'s life pursuit of freeing his parents, along with other MOVE members, and a decades-long battle with the Philadelphia police department. I recently got a chance to talk with Africa Jr. and Oliver about the film on an episode of "Salon Talks." 

Read the full article HERE:

 

"40 Years a Prisoner" is streaming on HBO Max.

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

Game Plan.

          The pandemic has probably brought more people to board games to escape bored evenings, in lockdown, but how many of these board games come to suit anarchist ways of thinking? Well, C4SS, Centre for Stateless Society, have put forward the suggestion, Bloc by Bloc. See what you think. 

 

Image from Anarchist News

 

       For better or worse, board games tend to be a popular form of entertainment in radical spaces, and yet there are precious few games that explicitly deal with anarchist ideas. For those exhausted by games glorifying nationalistic conquest, monopoly capitalism, and settler colonialism, Bloc by Bloc: The Insurrection Game may offer a breath of refreshing (if tear-gas-scented) air. According to the introduction in the manual, Bloc by Bloc is “a semi-cooperative game simulating protest movements, riots and popular uprisings in urban areas of the world during the first decades of the 21st century.” The name refers to the black bloc, a tactic used to anonymize and thereby protect participants in these uprisings, and in the game refers to the literal wooden blocks that represent such participants.
      Released by Out of Order Games in 2018, the latest edition of Bloc by Bloc features randomized map generation, area control strategy, and hidden agendas, where each player is a faction of revolutionaries fighting against the police in an attempt to liberate their city. Each of the various factions (workers, neighbors, prisoners, and students) has a special ability giving them an advantage in their struggle against the state. For example, the students can more easily and freely move about the city, whereas the neighbors are better at building barricades to slow down the movement of the police.
        Bloc by Bloc is a game for 2 to 4 players and it typically takes 2 to 3 hours to play. Players new to strategy board games might find the learning curve a little steep, but the instruction manual is clearly worded and includes reference cards that remind players of their available actions. Experienced board gamers will probably find many of the mechanics familiar. Board game comparison site boardvsgame.com gives it a complexity rating of 2.7 out of 5; compare this to the 2.3 / 5 of the classic competitive mainstay Settlers of Catan or the 2.4 / 5 of the popular cooperative game Pandemic.
      While it can be played in fully cooperative mode, the game’s unique semi-cooperative mode is the recommended way to play, and in this Final Straw Radio interview, the game’s designer TL explains why. In contrast to fully cooperative games, where all players are on the same team and playing against the game’s “cardboard AI,” the players in Bloc by Bloc might all be on the same team — but they also might not. In fully co-op games, there is a tendency for everyone to follow the lead of the most experienced player, at its worst becoming a de-facto game of solitaire with less experienced players acting as mere extensions of the most experienced. This dynamic (while perhaps a rational strategy, the players want to win after all), isn’t necessarily encouraging of the critical thinking and anti-hierarchical mindset that anarchists seek to cultivate. But by introducing uncertainty about other players’ agendas, Bloc by Bloc instead forces each player to autonomously evaluate any particular move on its own strategic merit. 

 Read the full article HERE:

 

 Comment from Anarchist News: 

    It was fun but the gameplay is horrible . It wouldn’t be too hard to tweak it to Make it playable. The fix would to have way less dice rolling , which there is more of in this game than risk, which is the reason risk doesn’t hold up. Also the game is way too long. I appreciate the effort though, it’s hard work creating a game

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The Justice Illusion.

        Prisons, the not too subtle procedure of the state to protect the wealth and privileges of the rich and powerful. Hellholes of brutality, injustice, overcrowding slave labour and inadequate medical facilities. We have them in every country from so called democracies to dictatorships, it makes no difference, the state, no matter what shape or style, will have its array of prisons, backed up by a loaded, in favour of the powerful, judicial system and a brutal police force.

 

         A civilised society can't exist as long as we have the prison system, the two are incompatible. Prison are a barbaric way of keeping the status-quo, they have nothing to do with protecting the public, communities are well able to look after themselves in the interests of the community. In the vast majority of "crimes" the root cause in inequality and injustice, the very things that the prisons are their to perpetuate by keeping society structured the way its and to suit the rich and powerful.

 

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

Desperation!!

     The following article was penned by a well known Glasgow Keelie and appears here courtesy of that pocket rocket of critical thought and information, the Glasgow Keelie. It is a subject matter that perhaps the anarchist groups should make their view more widely known, I'm sure there are strong opinions on this matter, it would be good to hear them aired. A shortened version of this article appears in the latest January issue of the Glasgow Keelie. Have a look at what the Glasgow Keelie has to offer.

        A lethal mix: Profiting from Alienation

        Joe Fitzpatrick sacked as Public Health Minister by the SNP Government had a poisoned chalice. It is doubtful his successor can make much of a difference. A major onslaught on the criminal gangs manufacturing street valium could have an impact. But for how long? The same might be said for the Drug advocacy industry, what lasting impact on harm reduction can we point to? Help with mental health from groups like SAMH are an exception.
        Prolonged drug use is like a slow car crash. The average drug user is in his mid twenties, but may not seek help until their mid 30s. Chances are by mid 40s, dead or severely damaged, physically and mentally. Only a minority rebuild their lives. It is not as if drug use is less throughout Europe but different drugs produce less deaths, although they may be implicated in, for example the mental health psychosis. For example, France has the highest percentage of the population aged 15-64 to have used drugs, mostly recreationally. 45% Cannabis in all it's variants. The Scandanavian countries, & Estonia have a higher minority drawn to 'hard drugs' but Scotland is in a league of it's own.
     92% of Scotland's drug deaths involve users supplementing heroin or methadone with an illicit drug. The active ingredient of street valium, however adulterated, is Etizolam, which is 10 times stronger than Diazapam and most other Benxodiazepine tablets. Nicknamed by the tabloids as the “blue plague” the problem is Scotland wide, not just in parts of Glasgow or Dundee. But already other substances are in the pipeline, like Flualprazolam. Europe wide, 71% seizures are for Cannabis, with only 10% Cocaine and Heroin 5%, and less for street valium.
       That Scotland has a problem that is in a “league of it's own” is undeniable. It might surprise you to find out Sweden is the next worse. But at 81 per million, that is slight compared with 229 here. That meant 1,264 deaths in 2019, rising 7% from 2018's previous 'high'! 69% are Male but the numbers of women dying are rising. The age bands which are now most at risk because of there are those born between 1976-85, ahead of the 1966-75. You might expect Cities with areas of multiple deprivation in England & Wales to be just as bad but Manchester, with twice the England average has 91 deaths per million.
      That is not to say that the greatest number of deaths come from those in 'disadvantaged' neighbourhoods but that there is a (not so) 'Bonnie Scotland' effect sub-culture which is perpetuated by the gangsters, who historically have their friends amongst the Police & legal profession. As the film “Battle of Algiers” showed, and for example the experience of Militant, and later the SSP in North Pollok in the period 1995-2005 showed, the pedlars are an obstacle to political change.
https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files//statistics/nrs-visual/ve/drug-related-deaths-19-info.pdf

https://www.emcdda.europa.eu/system/files/attachments/12056/3.2%20Andy%20McAuley_DRD_NPS%20Benzo.pptx.pdf

https://www.emcdda.europa.eu/publications/topic-overviews/content/faq-drug-overdose-deaths-in-europe_en quote from 2018:
      “Scotland with a population of 5.5 million reports a similar number of overdose deaths as Germany does that has a population of 83 million. Most cases in Scotland are associated with opioids (9 in 10) and benzodiazepines (7 in 10) but almost all 85% involve more than one drug. Recent increases are primarily seen in the 35–44 and 45–54 age groups.” 

The Urge to Self-Destruct is not a Creative Urge
        It is no accident that two-thirds of drug deaths were born in the period 1966 to 1985. De-industrialization and a decline in the typical job opportunities for school-leavers without qualifications drove many to seek escape & construct a new harsh self-destructive culture. 1979 witnessed the Tory Government that brought Thatcher & her cronies to power.
       The Blair Government acted to accelerate globalisation & market forces. 'Lame Duck' industries were obliterated, some like the Miners through confrontation, but more usually by jobs being exported to countries by Multinationals with lower wage costs & social security. It is also no coincidence that after urban riots in the early to mid 80s, when collective resistance was a possibility that supplies of street heroin increased at affordable prices.
        Throughout history, people have been drawn to experience substances & out of body experiences. The Late 60s glamourised recreational drugs like LSD & Marijuana as pathways to self-exploration & enhanced consciousness. From a communal experience it has become an individualised or sub group expression of alienation . Males are brought up to act “tough' not share feelings, and drugs & alcohol are escapes from hurt & confusion.
      It is a challenge that those with radical politics are not meeting. This is especially true in housing schemes where anonymity is more difficult with sectarian or drug dealer attacks more likely. There are exceptions, as with the motorway protests in Pollok in the 90s, the Independence referendum 5 years back, but it can quickly dissipate. A culture of education, resistance and local agitation is largely absent. Living Rent is a cause of hope, such as in The Wyndford in Maryhill.
      Where there is hope, education & a sense of an alternative, the urge to self-destruct, will have less appeal.
      In case you think Alcohol is missed check out https://www.alcohol-focus-scotland.org.uk/alcohol-information/alcohol-facts-and-figures/

https://www.scotpho.org.uk/behaviour/drugs/data/health-harm

 

 

https://www.emcdda.europa.eu/publications/topic-overviews/content/faq-drug-overdose-deaths-in-europe_en

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