Our History.

        Prisons are books, that contain dark and dreadful tales, tales of brutality, savagery, suffering  and death, but also tales of struggle, explosions of desire for freedom and enduring comradeship. Most of these tales go untold, but they are there, a history of endurance and struggle in the face of continuous state repression, we should tell these tales they are an inspiration to all those who struggle for that society of justice, freedom and comradeship.

The following from Act For Freedom Now: 

        Chile : 10 years after the massacre in the prison of San Miguel: words from Memory and tales of struggle
        If prison walls could talk they would tell the experiences of those who were (and are) locked up behind them; perhaps they would tell us many stories where the poor are the protagonists, or perhaps they would tell us of the immense yearning for freedom that fills the hearts of those locked up in the dungeons and the cells.
      Unfortunately prison walls are silent witnesses of the experiences of the people inside them. It is therefore a precise responsibility of each of us, kidnapped by the State, and of whoever wants to put an end to the present system of terror to tell what happens inside these places. The history of the prisoners is our history and cannot be lost.
        Sadness reigns in prison, is its lady and mistress and dominates the lives of those who end up in this gloomy place. Not only does the prison of San Miguel contain stories full of pain, it has also had many experiences of resistance and struggle.
        In the early 1990s many political prisoners were locked up in this prison, men of several organizations filled the tower cells until they were transferred to the C.A.S. in 1994, a transfer that the combatants opposed arms in hand.
        During the cell searches right after the clashes a large quantity of weapons and ammunition were found: a 7.65 mm Browning gun with seven cartridges; an Italian calibre 38 Trident revolver; a Dachmaur gun with fifteen cartridges; a 7.65 calibre Llama; a bag containing thirteen bullets; another leather bag with 18 bullets; a NEC cell phone and three homemade explosives (1). Several prison guards and a number of prisoners were injured during the clashes, among whom Mauricio Hernández Norambuena (guerrilla and ex-commander of the FPMR, Manuel Rodrìguez Patriotic Front). Commander Ramiro (one of the founders of FPMR) said: “I was seriously injured. I had never been hit by gunfire before, and it was precisely in jail that I was shot for the first time” (2). The same event was recounted by Ricardo Palma Salamanca (ex-guerrilla of the FPMR) in an interview given in Paris on 27th January 2019: “In the middle of the clashes two people were killed, I was also armed but I wasn’t hit”.
        The weapons used in the resistance during the transfers to the C.A.S. had originally been destined for escapes. Mauricio Hernandez tells it like this: “We managed to get various weapons into the prison of San Miguel and had devised a very interesting escape plan with external support, which was joined by fighters of Mapu-Lautaro (Mapuche military leader protagonist in the war of Arauco in Chile and the MIR, Movement of the Revolutionary Left). The idea was to get a large group of prisoners out. There were fifteen or twenty combatants in support outside. There were good weapons but unfortunately the plan failed. The whole operation was organized right down to the smallest detail, the fighters outside occupied a house whose walls adjoined those of the prison, with the intention of blowing it up. They could just go through a gate and get out from that side. Unfortunately, we were transferred to the C.A.S. a few days before the escape and used the weapons for the escape to resist the transfer” (3).
        This was not the only escape attempt from the prison of San Miguel. In 1997, a group of ex-members of the FPRM tried to escape from the prison through the roofs, with a system of ropes and pulleys, so as to reach one of the adjoining roads. But the attempt failed and a revolt broke out, the prisoners involved were transferred to the prison of Colina I and II, among whom Jorge Saldivia, who was killed during a bank robbery in 2014.
      The walls don’t talk but they bear signs that are difficult to erase. Many prisoners tell us that in Tower 5 in the prison of San Miguel, where 81 prisoners died in a fire, the stains of the bodies were never completely erased … The women say that the stains seem to be made of oil, and it doesn’t matter how much wax and paint they put on the floor and walls, they always come through again. Many anecdotes are told about the ghosts and spirits of tower 5, beliefs, myths or reality… but the death of 81 prisoners has never been forgotten by the other prisoners of tower 5, and shouldn’t be forgotten by any other prisoner.

10 YEARS AFTER THE MASSACRE IN THE PRISON OF SAN MIGUEL: ACTIVE AND COMBATIVE MEMORY UNTIL ALL CAGES ARE DESTROYED!

MÓNICA CABALLERO SEPÚLVEDA

ANARCHIST PRISONER

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Obvious.

         I have always maintained that those who believe we can "fix" capitalism, are idiots. They are trying to fix something that isn't broken, capitalism is working just fine, and doing what it was intended to do, make a few people very rich at the expense of the many. Once you grasp this truth, you realise that the only answer for justice and equality for all, is the total destruction of capitalism and all its attendant institutions. We are sold lies and illusions, and dwell in a land of smoke and mirrors. A world woven by the massive corporate advertising beast and its companion, state propaganda. Nowhere in the world of these two servants of capitalism is there a shred of reality, nothing related to the world we the ordinary people inhabit. 

      Nothing is as it is painted, "the economy" dressed as necessary and benevolent to all, reality, a label for the continuation of exploitation of the mass of people. Bearing in mind that the richest 1% have massively increased their wealth while the bottom 50% have become poorer.  "Prison", a place to put dangerous people, reality, a dustbin to dump those who would hinder the exploitation of the people. Bearing in mind that approximately 80% of those in prison suffer learning difficulties, substance addiction and/or mental health issues, and should be somewhere in the social care system and not prison. "Advertising" bringing the latest information to assist you to make choices to enhance your life, reality, devious and duplicitous manipulation of desires and reality to increase consumption and profit. Bearing in mind that the corporate world spends billions of pounds annually on advertising, so it must work. "Democracy", hailed as a way for you to be involved in the running of your country, reality, an illusion created to try to stop you from taking control of your own lives and communities. Bearing in mind that practically all those in government have connections and investments in the corporate world and they decide the shape of your world and how your tax money will be spent.

        So the answer seems to be straight forward, to live our lives in a world we recognise and relate to, we must screw the "economy", abolish "prisons", scrap "advertising", and get rid of their so called "democracy" and take control of our communities and workplaces in co-operation with all other communities scrapping the profit motive. Well, what are we waiting for?

 

 

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26 Years A Slave.

       It is impossible to imagine how you would feel if at the age of twenty you were incarcerated in a hellhole of a prison for a crime you did not commit and then spend the next 26 years locked away from public view, proclaiming your innocence, lots of that time in solitary confinement. However, in this state controlled world we live in, these things do happen, sometimes the person never manages to prove their innocence serves their full term, or worse ends their days under the shackles of state incarceration.
       Lots of individuals who do leave prison, are often broken and damaged after their experience, some with that wonderful human resolve, fight to maintain their humanity and succeed, we should honour them and support them all. One day, when we become a civilised species, prisons will be a horrible memory from the distant past.

FROM LACINO HAMILTON:

         My life changed in an instant on September 30, 2020 when a Wayne County circuit court judge apologized for 26 years of wrongful incarceration, and then released me from prison.
         I walked out of the Michigan prison and into a crowd that worked years to prove my innocence. But that was a beginning of sorts. The challenges have been both small and big.
       The small challenges have been things like never having used a cellphone and not knowing what I’m doing. The bigger ones have been things such as re-entry during COVID-19 – with so much shut down or slow or not working.
       While incarcerated, I painfully self-educated and became a social justice activist, organizer and critical thinker. And in between starting life completely over at 46, I’m searching for ways to do the same on this side of the wall.
       I want to continue to be an advocate for justice.
       I’ve come a long way in less than two months due to the assistance of RootsAction and others. But I have so far to go, and counting on the support of the broader community.

Thank you,
Lacino Hamilton

P.S. from the RootsAction Education Fund:

     Through all those years in prison, many of them in solitary, Lacino never gave up or gave in. Now that he’s freed, we need to help amplify his voice so he can educate his fellow citizens about the evils of mass incarceration.
     You can help make that happen with a U.S.-tax-deductible donation of any amount. Please do what you can to support Lacino Hamilton’s advocacy.

Donate Button

Background:
  Truthout columns by Lacino Hamilton

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Our Kate.

          As usual the people at Kate Sharpley Library do a magnificent job in preserving and making available anarchist info and history, we at Spirit of Revolt, Archives of Dissent, take our hats off to them, as I'm sure lots of others will do likewise.  This latest bulletin is no exception, packed full of interesting info. Take a wee look.

2020

          Quite a lot has gone up on the website (and gone on in the world) since our last KSL Bulletin in September. We are not even thinking of trying to sum up our year. But we send you our good wishes and some anarchist history you might have missed.

Stuart Christie 1946-2020

Four months on, we’re still coming to terms with the fact it’s no good thinking ‘I must ask Stuart…’ John Barker, his friend and fellow defendant in the Stoke Newington Eight trial, has written a tribute: ‘I couldn’t stomach Bakunin and he Marx but when it came to the politics of the prison we acted as one. And something else, the great thing about Stuart as comrade and friend is that he was always cheerful and ready to make things both happen, and to work. […] With Stuart there was never any need to say, Don’t Let The Bastards Grind You Down.’
Read the rest of the tribute at https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/vhhpd8
 

Bob D’Attilio tribute from the KSL

For many years Robert (Bob) D’Atillio was an inexhaustible source of material on the Sacco and Vanzetti case. His loss is a tremendous one to those of us interested in the nuances of anarchist history. See https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/6wwrds
There’s a longer obituary by Luigi Botta at https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/vmcx9h
 

Other Anarchist Lives

Thoughts on Francesco Ghezzi
Francesco Ghezzi was an anarchist militant from Milan who was also active in France, Switzerland, Germany and Russia (and was imprisoned in the last three countries)…
On the 5 November 1937 Ghezzi was arrested for the final time. His case file records his frank replies to the secret police ‘I declare that I was and remain an anarchist, and that no one will change my convictions.’… (from the Gulag Anarchists blog) https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/fttgj8

Much more HERE:

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Tommorow?

 

WALK WITH THE POETS.

My head has had enough of you,
you doomsday sooth-sayers, and
rationalists, that trap us in the world that is.
Go weave your tales of “can't be done”
to the dead, and those of no imagination.
I want to walk with the utopian,
the dreamer and the poet,
laugh with the child and sing with the wind.
Run with the deer, not with “the market trend”
Enough of, “this is the way it has to be”,
a world of poverty, wars and inequality.
Now, I'll create the world I want to see,
A world of sharing, peace and liberty.
I want the children to plan tomorrow,
the adult help them get there,
trees and flowers our treasured possessions,
with birds and animals their keepers.
Who wants a world that chains us to mortgages,
binds us to a labouring day, just to eat bread?
Who wants to spend their life, feeding fat-cats
while their own children go hungry?
No, this is not the world that has to be,
in our foolishness and misplaced trust,
this is a world that has slithered over us,
poisoning our mind, putrefying our spirit.
Let's call on the poet, let's welcome the dreamer,
let's take council with the utopian,
They'll help us create a better world for all.

          The shortest day and longest night of the year have past, the year is running to an end, how will we shape the new year? Will we crave to get back to the "old ways" the so called "normal", or will we seize this opportunity to sever the shackles of consumerism, break free from the deadening hand of the luxury yacht owning planet plunderers with their private little tax havens? There has never been a more opportune moment to make the change, shift our direction away from the exploiting profit seekers and look towards our communities, allow the corporate beasts to rot in the wilderness. We can create a world of mutual aid, co-operatives, skill sharing, DIY and swap-shops, etc., all built on sustainability, equality, dignity, freedom from the profit motive, and respect for all our people. In so doing we see an end to wars, deprivation and escape the pending ecological disaster that awaits us if we continue with the profit mongers greed driven plan for ever expanding consumerism. A plan that only feeds the pampered privileged parasite class and leads to a devastated ecosystem, unfit for habitation.
       The two roads are diametrically opposite each other, the choice of which we choose is up to us, if we continue to follow the state/corporate/consumerism path, we will deserve all we get, and I doubt our grandchildren will thank us for that tainted bitter heritage. We have to make that choice sooner rather than later, the egg timer is running out.

 

 IT'S TIME TO STORM HEAVEN.

Under the yoke of servitude we dragged our existence forward
For generations have fertilised the earth with our blood
Oiled the machinery of wealth with our sweat
We have produce bountiful harvests
A mountain of luxury
Yet
All we know is
Penury pain and poverty
Struggle laced with bitter anguish
Our hands have fashioned a pleasure palace
Feasts abundance frivolity and a sea of fetishes
For a merciless army that feeds on selfishness and greed
And though we dwell under the shadow of hell
We will shall never relinquish our dreams
In our hearts we nurture a better future
A softer world for all our children
Where poverty's claws
And war's ire
die
One day
Our righteous anger
Will smoulder and rumble
And cause the old world to tremble
Before exploding in a blast of social justice
We the people will storm the gates of an earthly heaven.

 

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Merry Nothing.

        It's the corporate retailers "golden quarter", or it is meant to be, that time of year when you are supposed to run about mad, feeling under an obligation to buy all your friends and family lots of all those shiny boxes of crap. Stuff they don't really need and in all probability don't particularly want. However the pandemic has knocked a hole in the corporate retailers plans, even although their friends in government are doing all they can to get you back into all those shopping malls and to hell with health and safety. So let's not fall for their duplicity, we've got by in recent months without buying their pretty boxes of crap. Let's continue with that and see their heap of shining tatty, boxes of the latest whatever, that we'll be told in a few months, that it is out of date and has to be renewed, standing and rotting. Let's see all those greedy retailers weeping over their mountains of tat and froth rotting in store rooms. We don't need your sweatshop garbage to fill our cupboards and empty our purses, so you can buy another luxury yacht. 

The following is from Not Buying Anything:

 

 

     Gift giving is changing. It may never be the same again. You can thank the pandemic for that. The spell of consumerism has been broken, and you can thank the pandemic for that, too. There will be no returning to "normal", despite what we are being told.
Was normal that great anyway?
Do we really want to return to that?
Not when normal is wage slavery in order to survive.
Not when normal is a declining standard of living for most... but not all of us.
Not when normal is rich people going for all the marbles in a global takeover.
Not when normal is the unleashing of violence upon people in other countries that have resources we want, as well as upon our own people... if they are the "wrong" people.
Not when normal is working harder for less, and not having enough time to live.
And certainly not when normal is buying people things they don't want or need because of feelings of obligation, misplaced love, a large dose of advertising arm-twisting, and an even larger dose of "it's the patriotic thing to do".
     This gift-giving season, think about a more sensible approach, or consider no gifts at all.
     A pandemic is a great excuse to take a break! Do we really want to think about mindless ritual gift giving with so many other more important things going on right now?
     If you do give gifts, think of giving something appropriate for this pandemic holiday season. Highly appreciated by most would be things actually needed. And there is so much need right now. That is the way to go this year, and every year.
Gift Giving In A Pandemic
- food, water, clothing, shelter
- toilet paper (this year's hot gift for sure)
- or better yet, an add-on bidet, or tabo
- tea, coffee, and chocolate provide a moment of respite in hard times
- rent money
- books (the old fashioned kind that don't need electricity to work)
- face masks, hand cleaner, disinfectants
- help paying health care costs
- best is to give the gift of your time
       And remember, the gift of nothing is nice if the person in mind doesn't need anything.
       Sometimes nothing is better than something.

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Thinking.

 

      Thinking when we should be talking and acting.

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Chile.

        It is just a little over a year since that patch of land known as Chile exploded with the righteous anger of the people, and they took to the streets to vent that anger at the system and institutions that had been grinding them down for years. They attacked official government buildings, police stations, and other edifices that represent this corrupt and exploitative system. Fourteen months on and the fire still burns, the people of Chile still carry on that fight for freedom and justice. Chile is not unique, the same system ferments wars and grinds people into poverty on a binge of greed and corruption the world over, and like Chile, revolt is on the streets in country after country. Our aim should be to unite all those struggles as one final battle in the war against this state/corporate plundering of the planet, corruption and domination of our lives. Their struggle is our struggle, one people, one world, our world of equality and justice for all.

The following from Act For Freedom Now:

Chile – The new issue of Confrontación is out

NOTHING IS OVER!
WE ARE STILL IN REVOLT AGAINST EVERY AUTHORITY
A year after the start of the revolt that exploded in Chile on 18th October 2019, we continue to spread Confrontación. Greeting all those who have remained active in the struggle against the established order before, during and after so-called the “social explosion”, we remain in the streets with a new printed issue.
     A year has passed since 18th October and over these days we have carried anarchist rage against this oppressive system with the warmth of the moments of struggle we continue to share among comrades and occasional accomplices in solidarity, in the heat of the revolt.
      We also have a vivid memory of each instance of repression and state violence on our bodies/minds and the many murdered, tortured, assaulted and maimed. To this we add the referendum of 25th October for a possible change of the Constitution, an institutional trap that doesn’t concern or represent us.
       Like any moment in history, our context has its own possibilities, difficulties and challenges that form the struggle scenario. Here we want to share some reflections, questions and practical ideas to connect us with the concerns and desires of those who refuse to allow the triumph of normality imposed by Power and the democratic delusions being put on today’s agenda.
FOR A FREE LIFE BUILT ON THE RUINS OF THE OLD WORLD OF THE STATE AND POWER
      For those of us who for years have been spreading the revolt against all authority in word and deed, the struggle doesn’t pass through changes in the State apparatus. A year has already passed since a revolt that had different components and whose horizon of rupture with the established order has unfortunately remained trapped by the illusion of presumed structural changes starting from the possibility of a constitutional change, a reformist solution agreed by the political class in November 2019 faced with the impossibility of stopping the advance of a violent revolt without leaders or managers.
      A wide range of sectors adhered to solutions offered by the institutions with greater or lesser diffidence towards the constituent electoral process, channelling energies and debates towards this scenario with a logic similar to the plebiscite held in 1988 for a return to democracy with peaceful means after almost a decade of mass protests and anti-dictatorial subversive actions. The plebiscite – as an experience re-conducted to the present time – was also born from the pact between dictatorship and a political class ready to guarantee social pacification and the continuity of the dominant economic and political regime.

Read the full article HERE: 

$hile, October-November 2020
CONFRONTACION ES PDF
If you want paper copies write to confrontacion@riseup.net 

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Every Step!

       The Covid19 population control directives and dictates are just part and parcel of the state's mechanisms to keep a watchful eye on you, yes their is a pandemic, and we have to take care, but the state will not miss an opportunity to tighten its grip over the people, it needs total control and a submissive population to guarantee its survival, to guarantee that wealth, power and privileges stay where they are.

         The eyes of the state are everywhere, often very visible in the form of an epidemic of CCTV cameras littered all over our streets, in shopping malls, shops, bus stops, pubs, as well as in buses, trains and all forms of public transport and public places, libraries etc.. You can rest assured that the prying eyes of the state are with you every step of the way. You disagree with some aspect of the state and/or its policies and you could come under a bit more scrutiny than you friends and neighbours. A walk in the countryside or a drive to the coast does not guarantee your out of their vision. There is that invisible array of cameras, microphones and tracking devices that are planted secretively where you're not supposed to find them. All this rather contradicts the state's projected illusion that we live in a democracy, I'm not referring to the UK in particular, for they are all at it, every state on the planet, the West, and those other states that our lords and master declare vile enemies of freedom.
       The following little article is not new, nor is it unique, but is the sort of thing that goes on day and daily in our free and democratic world, remember the undercover cops "scandal", that was no scandal, but part of their methodology on keeping tabs on you and your activities.

 

← A GPS tracker and a microphone found in a car in Berlin (Germany)

 

From Ears and Eyes:

      The information below comes from a recent article published by Reporterre, a left-wing environmentalist media. The article in question, whose “legalistic” approach disturbs us, can be read here: https://reporterre.net/Au-Carnet-des-cameras-cachees-et-illegales-pour-surveiller-des-ecologistes (in french).
       In august 2020, four cameras were found near the “ZAD du Carnet”, a place of struggle against the creation of an industrial area, in Loire-Atlantique, in the west of France. The cameras were found on august 31, and “appear to have been installed right before a « weekend of resistance »” organized there on august 29 and 30.
      The four cameras, hidden near an access gate to the area, were “camouflaged in a fake tree log and fake stones“. They “filmed continuously and were connected, via buried cables, to large batteries and modems, also concealed, allowing images to be sent directly to a remote station“.
       In addition, “the mention « Allwan », visible on some of the images found, as well as on a label on a camera, strongly suggests that the equipment was supplied by the company Allwan Security“. The company Allwan Security is present in our list of companies.
        Below, you will find a picture of the devices found, two pictures of the objects in which they were hidden, and a map showing the positioning of the cameras around the access gate.

 

 

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Pretty Boxes.

         We in the West receive our shiny hi-tec products in nice boxes and it all looks very pretty, but at the manufacturing end it is never quite so pretty. These products so often start their lives in sweatshops under arduous conditions, where workers lives are worth nothing and human dignity is something they dream about. Many endure this as a necessity to survive and see to their family's needs, some decide that they'll take no more of this inhumanity and slavery and give free reign to their righteous anger. This is what has happened at a factory that manufactures products for such big shining lights in the hi-tec world as Apple, Levono and Microsoft to mention a few. These and other extremely wealth corporate beasts, paint their products as beautiful necessities to enhance your life, but every box is sealed with blood and sweat of ordinary people struggling to survive in this cesspool of greed.
This from Gadgets 360:

 

 A screengrab of the purported video of the violence, not verified by Gadgets 360 independently

        An iPhone manufacturing facility in Kolar district in Karnataka, operated by Taiwan-headquartered Wistron Corporation, has reportedly been vandalised. A video clip of the violence, allegedly by workers, has also appeared online. However, this clip has not been independently verified. Press Trust of India has quoted a police official saying that the workers attacked the facility — damaging windows, vehicles, furniture, and computers — over salary-related issues. A trade union leader also reportedly said that most employees were not being paid on time and they were unhappy about many deductions in their salaries.
        The workers allegedly claim that many of them were made to work for 12 hours but only paid Rs. 200 to Rs. 300 per day calculated for 7-8 hours, according to a report by News 18. The vandalism took place after the management failed to address their grievances, as per the report.
       Hundreds of workers are said to have ransacked the manufacturing facility, located in Narasapura Industrial Area in Kolar district, 51 kilometres from Bengaluru, after their night shift ended at 4 am today, December 12.
       Wistron Corporation manufactures iPhone 7 for Apple, and IT products for Lenovo, Microsoft among other companies. The company has not made any official statement so far.

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The Message.

        It's that time of year again, when lots of people go merry, till bells are ringing, bankers are singing, and the turkeys try to run free. It is also the time of year when our "Monarch" hereditary head of state in a democracy, (contradiction there somewhere) gives her Christmas message. Now what can an extremely rich, privileged, pampered old woman, who holds that position because of who her dad was, say to ordinary hard working and struggling people? She will of course refer too "My government", which is actually a true reflection of what our democracy is, a collection of her pampered and privileged friends and acquaintances. She is referred to as really just a figure head, but one whose stamp of approval must appear on all and sundry regarding the state and its affairs.
        Apart from living off the state, tax payers money, Lizzie Windsor owns some extremely valuable assets with large incomes. Almost half of the shore line of England, Wales and Northern Ireland is owned by the crown estate. Six royal residences dotted around the country, approximately 150,000 works of art, many said to be priceless, and a team of very expensive winning race horses. Other little gems that she possesses, include a car collection stated to be worth around £10 million, a very large collection of Faberge art works, the British sea bed, Regent Street in London, Westminster Abbey and Hyde Park. You can throw in some other little pieces to see she doesn't go hungry in these hard times, such as, for what it is worth, all the gold mines in Scotland, the world's largest clear-cut diamond, 25 acres of forest, the UK continental shelf, an off shore wind farm, while at the same time her family are doing their bit for the UK arms industry.

 

       The British establishment and royalty know that arms are good investments; especially shells, bombs and cruise missiles that are tipped with depleted uranium. Air, water and soil are contaminated when DU is used, and once contaminated there is no way to decontaminate it. Contaminating the food chain is a crime against humanity for which the Royal Family is complicit, as it was (with the help of Tiny Rowland) in the asset stripping of Africa.

 

        Referring to her as a figurehead, is the smoke and mirrors of her class. The royal family is there as a gigantic monument to British imperialism, a display of pomp, wealth and power, to let you know your place, if you ain't got diamonds and ermine you're not one of them, you are a minion in their service, it's saying, "don't mess with us, we've got lots of wealth and power." God doesn't need to save the queen, we the UK tax payers do that.

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Whose Money?

  

 

       Since the start of this pandemic, I have always stated that it was an ideal opportunity for the state to re-capitalise the failing capitalist economic system. Since the beginning of the Covid19 affair, the various states across the world have poured trillions of dollars/pounds etc into the coffers of the corporate beast that is destroying the planet. Before the pandemic, all the indicators were that capitalism was in dire straights, and was heading for a colossal slump, unless they could re-capitalise it to a massive scale. The bailout needed would dwarf the 2008 taxpayers handout to the financial mafia, and we all know the years of austerity that little exercise cost the ordinary people. Glory hallelujah, along comes Mr Covid, and the propaganda machine convinces us all that we have to save the economy, to save your jobs of course, nothing to do with corporate profits etc. Open the flood gates flood the corporate world with all sorts of grants, special funding and lots of dodgy contracts. Where will all that money end up, and who will pick up the tab when the financial mafia send the debt collectors to various states to demand their loaned loot back? Why, you and I of course will be expected to foot the bill, by then the billionaire class will have salted their share away in some nice little tax haven.
        We continually pay for the privileges and welfare of the richest people on the planet by our poverty, crap wages, poor working conditions, lousy living conditions, broken education system and inadequate health and social welfare systems. This time round most have not only willing accepted this but have asked and encouraged the state to do so, to protect the economy and "our jobs" of course. What a wonderful state of affairs for the pampered, privileged parasite class, no doubt they'll all sit back with a smug look of satisfaction, for once again they have shafted the general public, plundered the public purse, and got away with it. For how much longer will we tolerate this two fingers to the people.

 

       The total net worth of the nation’s 651 billionaires rose from $2.95 trillion on March 18—the rough start of the pandemic shutdowns—to $4.01 trillion on Dec. 7, a leap of 36%, based on Forbes billionaires, according to a new report by Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF) and the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS). By around March 18 most federal and state economic restrictions in response to the virus were in place. Combined, just the top 10 billionaires are now worth more than $1 trillion.

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Whose Wars?

       Isn't in strange that we in the West are always the good guys, and those others are the bad guys, we always do the right an honourable thing, while they always do heinous and nasty things. What a wonderful position to be in, always righteous, fair and compassionate. Well that's the propaganda that is spewed out over us on an hourly basis, and I suppose it is the same in those other patches on the planet that we vilify. All attempting to engender that poison called patriotism, and it is never for the benefit of the general population of either side.
      It's all about power, wealth and privilege of the parasite class on either side of the divide, a divide that doesn't or shouldn't exist between the ordinary people from either side. We don't, or shouldn't, seek power and privilege, we seek, or should seek, justice and peace among all our people, no nation, no borders, just one world of people. Wars are never fought with the benefit of the people in mind, nor do the ordinary people ever gain from any war, we shed the blood, the powerful and privileged pick up the spoils, riches from blood and death. It doesn't have to be that way.

A message from John Pilger...

"Why are we living with the threat of world war? Russia, a nuclear power, is encircled by America and Europe; China, a nuclear power, is the brunt of unrelenting provocation.  Why do we in the West allow this? The answer lies in one word: propaganda. In the West, our propaganda industries - both political and cultural - rarely ask us to look in the mirror. Stop the War performs this vital task and deserves our support. Join me at Artists Against War on Friday."

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