Wet Sma' Shot.

           Well Paisley's Sma' Shot Day passed without its bands, drums banner, flags, march and burning of the "Cork", as I stated in a previous post, the town fathers had decided to cancel it, well, they didn't say that in words, but did in deeds. The said it would be an online affair, which just means that it was cancelled. How do crowds march through the streets with banners, music and noise, end up in a flat bit of town and carry out the annual ceremony of burning the "Cork", while sitting at home looking at a screen?
        However this working class struggle and victory was marked on the street in Paisley by a small group of die-hard working class warriors. The "Cork" turned up, with his ill gotten money sticking out of his hat, pockets and sleeves, but wasn't burnt on this occasion, literature was handed out, but the weather decided not to be on their side and it poured buckets. Undeterred the event went ahead, the stall, the "Cork" and leaflets, explaining about the Sma' Shot Day and the Radical Paisley got distributed. If you missed the event, enjoy the photos.

 

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

Live Free.

            Autonomous spaces, where people organise in a co-operative manner the way they want to live, free, in peace, co-operation and harmony are essential bullet holes in this authoritarian system of control freaks and profit gobbling maniacs. However the state can't tolerate free thinking people who live in harmony outside their cage of submission. The Greek state has used every brutal tool in its authoritarian armoury against these autonomous spaces brutal evictions, detention and prison sentences, bricking up doorways, and mounting a military style occupation of the area. However, the Greek state is not alone in this onslaught against the free thinking people, state after state is doing likewise, and never much of a mention in the state mouthpiece the mainstream media. The following extract is from Germany, but it could be Russia, France, Chile or any of the other capitalist oriented states.

From Enough is Enough:
 

Originally published by Kontrapolis. 

 

To the companions of Köpi Wagenplatz
         We know exactly how you feel right now. We went through the same shit almost a year ago. The whole chaos of barricading, clearing things out, keeping things there. Arguing, liking each other, all the fear of losing the long used and long loved home. All the questions of where to go afterwards and at the same time knowing that we will not lose our home, because we can still defend ourselves, because we will still defend ourselves.
        Of course the Liebig34 was and is quite different from the Köpi Wagenplatz. But when it comes down to it, we can count on each other. We want to say again a big thank you how you have supported us shortly before the eviction and really on all levels. Without you we wouldn’t have been able to get things going so well and we wouldn’t have had as much fun. And above all, we would not have gotten to know each other better. Thanks for that! For support and new friendships.
That’s why we want to ask everyone to support Köpi as much as we do! More than 30 years of self-organization do not just pass us by. Köpi Wagenplatz is similar to the Liebig a super diverse bunch of people and therefore quite unique. Few Wagenplätze in Berlin have existed for so long and more and more are being evicted and more and more are needed.
        We can’t imagine a Berlin without the Köpi and the Köpi Wagenplatz and we don’t want to. We have experienced the best concerts in Köpi. We all forgot about time for a whole weekend and hung out in the Köpi yard by the fire bin for far too long, drank beer and forgot when next Monday wll come. All in all, we all have our different exciting stories that we don’t want to miss. Köpi is so much more than a place to live! Köpi is a super international place where so many different spaces, people and collectives are. “Köpi bleibt Risikokapital!“ That is clear. Let’s show the profit-oriented system what it means when another self-organized project is taken away from us. Let’s show the pigs that they can’t take away our ideas of freedom. Better burning hearts than dead dreams!
         It is the same as always, Köpi Wagenplatz must be defended to the last.

We wish you a lot of strength!
See you soon your Liebig34

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info   

Holy Violence.

       Most of my adult life I have always resented the fact that those organisations which believe in magic and men going up into the sky on a horse and a man having died coming back down from the sky to speak to some of his friends, get more privileges and protection from the establishment than ordinary rational based organisations. Likewise I have always believed that we will never be free until every Rabbi, priest, minister, mullah and any other variety of magical visionaries have been banished to the solitude of their own backsides. I have also longed for the day when every church, chapel, synagogue mosque and any other symbol of the magic brigade is turned into a sports centre, community autonomous space, dancehall, or some other such useful establishment for the locals, free from the idiotic ramblings of that group of insane known as the religious.
      All religions are steeped in blood they persecute those who don't swallow their magic balderdash, they slaughter each other trying to prove that their loving god is more loving than the others. Their history is on catalogue of killing for power and converts.
      So you can imaging that I shed no tears after reading of the burning of churches and I understand the anger, but I shed tears for the savage brutality brought down on the children caught up in their maniacal drive for converts to their hocus-pocus magic rituals.

The following extract from Act For Freedom Now: 

 

       Two new churches were burned down on Saturday 26 June on native territories in western Canada, bringing the total number of churches burned to four, since the discovery of a thousand unmarked graves near former residential schools run by the Catholic Church in British Columbia.
       In the early hours of Saturday, St. Ann’s Church and Chopaka Church, both located on strips of aboriginal land in British Columbia, were burned within an hour of each other, federal police said. “Both churches were destroyed,” said Sgt. Jason Bayda of the Canadian Mounted Police in a statement. 

       

           The fires occurred two days after news broke of the discovery of more than 750 unmarked graves on the site of a former Catholic Church-run residential school in Marieval. Last month, the identification of the remains of 215 children near another such school had already shocked and outraged the country, illustrating the ordeal suffered for decades by indigenous children in schools run by the Catholic Church. 

Continue reading HERE: 

 

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

Sma' Shot Day.

    Sma' Shot Day a traditional workers celebration held annually in Paisley, according to the powers that be, will be a virtual event this year, that's the same as saying it will be cancelled, but you can watch pictures of past events on your screen. But fear not, a small group of die-hard supporters of working class traditions will be holding a small event to mark this memorable day in working class struggle. The Glasgow Keelie will have a stall where you can come and meet the "Cork", he is usually burnt at the annual celebration. Sadly he will not be burnt this year, so come along a tell him what you think of profit grabbing greedy bosses, pick up a free copy of Radical Paisley, Glasgow Keelie and other free literature, chat with the stall members, and keep alive this important day of workers celebration of victory.

Details:
Saturday 3rd. July, 1pm. to 3pm.
Paisley, The Cairn, the Cairn is at the west end of the pedestrianised area near the arcade, M&S etc.

     TRAVEL ON SATURDAY: Cairn is at the west end of the pedestrianised area where the arcade, M&S etc  If not from Paisley, or on the direct train line to Largs, Ayr, Gourock. From Glasgow Central, trains to Paisley Gilmour St. There is another small line which terminates at Canal st, via Dumbreck, a bit further away which used to be ideal for Sma Shot, as in 2019. For 2021 walk up New St. to get to the Cairn. By bus 9 First Bus, 38 McGill, 26 McGill via Govan & Braehead, 17 McGill via Bath St, Kelvin Hall, Tunnel and Cardonald. The Glasgow Times has reported that some localised Orange order parades are scheduled in various parts of Glasgow & could delay some bus travel.

 Timetables via https://www.travelinescotland.com

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info  

Authority.

          Well more than a year and we at Spirit of Revolt, thanks to Covid19, are still unable to gain access to our working room at the Mitchell Library. We can and do try to keep things moving as best we can, one of those things we can still do is to keep giving you our "Read of the Month". A little snapshot of what we have in our archive and on our website, https://spiritofrevolt.info
        This month it is a little known publication called Authority, issue No.2 from 1979. Have a read and perhaps it will tempt you to delve ever deeper into what we have in our archive. There is a lot to read, enjoy and learn from our comrades from the past. 

Read Online: 

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info   

Me-Too

             The rise of feminism in Greece is seen by the power mongers of their established patriarch society as a serious threat to their macho-man society. Feminism undermines their ingrained vision of man the superior and woman the submissive, it shakes the foundation of their grip on power. Hence the brutal attack on any hint that woman should have the same rights and privileges as men. The Greek state, even by its standards, is brandishing the big stick with ever greater viciousness and vindictiveness against any sign of opposition to its macho delusions. A simple slogan can land you in the high court and facing a long gaol sentence as well as astronomical costs, anything to try and stamp out the rise of women seeking respect, justice and equality. Our solidarity sees no borders.
The following from Enough is Enough:

          Athens. In the night of the 8th to the 9th of June five people got arrested for collaging "El violador eres tù“ on the National Theatre of Athens. This action was taken to shoot light on the case of Lignadis, former director of the theatre, who is right now being prosecuted for raping four minors. This case is extremely political considering that Lignadis is protected by the fascist government of Greece and has personal relations to the prime-minister of Greece. 

Originally published by Athens Indymedia.

          This way of collaging started in France over the last year under the name „les colleuses“ and is now being used internationally to call out patriarchal oppressions. As the general climate of state repression in Athens is getting harsher and the struggle against patriarchal issues is getting tenser since the me-too movement started to arise in Greece in the beginning of the year, we see now how the repression is more actively targeting feminist actions, even the most minor ones.
         The 5 comrades are now being prosecuted for this action and risk up to two years of prison. They already have to pay 1200€ for lawyer and court expenses since they are being prosecuted in a higher criminal court rather than a regular one. The charges brought against them are completely disproportional to their action as you can see in the picture.

STATE, JUDGES, POLICE = PATRIARCHAL ACCOMPLICES

HANDS OFF FEMINIST FIGHTERS  

 

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

Green Lie.

            While most states spout about climate change and going green, they still give the nod of approval to ravishing and plundering the planet's resources in the name of profit. one example is electric cars, all the components, mining and manufacturing processes that are in the standard petrol/diesel will still be there, all the metals, plastics, and other synthetic materials. The only real difference will be the extra lithium in the bigger battery and all that copper wire required for an electric motor. More mining, more factory processing, of course all done green. An illusion, like everything else wrapped up in this economic system of insanity.
          Italy is, like the rest, spouting green but giving licence to a mining company to devastate a piece of pleasant planet. The prize, that valuable metal titanium, widely used in that green industry, the aero industry. Green capitalism is about as possible as square circles. 

 6th-7th-8th August 2021

CAMPING AGAINST THE TITANIUM MINE ON MOUNT BEIGUA
           The threat of a devastating titanium mine in the Piampaludo – Bric area in Tarin keeps advancing. Far from appeals and the chambers of the regional administrative tribunal, we decided to invite everybody to a self-organized camping to get to know one another, to know the territory and start sharing spaces without any kind of authority in the Mount Beigua area in Liguria.
per contatti: delcoloredellaterra@anche.no
Updates and more information will follow shortly.
Translated by act for freedom now!

Visit ann arky's home at
http://strugglepedia.co.uk/index.php?title=Main_Page    

Big Brother.

          Coming to a supermarket near you, biometric cameras that capture your every move, even eye movements. Supermarkets in France are introducing this new level of surveillance, which sends a photo to  security guard of any suspicious movement or action. So have no doubt they will eventually arrive here in the  UK. What's more there is no doubt that they will proliferate to our streets, bars, transport, bus-stops and stations, etc.. Do you think it is acceptable, when out for a stroll with the kids or meeting up with friends, that you should have your every personal movement recorded without your knowledge. Surveillance is one of the many cancers inherent within this state system, the state wants to know your ever move, where you are going, why, and should you be there or should you be somewhere else. The state needs to monitor, record and profile every individual, it can only survive by total control over the population, and surveillance is its best tool to back up its police/judicial/prison apparatus to guarantee the wealth, power and privileges stay where they are.

The following extract from Act For Freedom Now:

           Biometric video surveillance in our supermarkets
In order to detect theft, Carrefour, Monoprix, Super U and Franprix [and Intermarché] are experimenting with biometric analysis software to monitor our every move in their stores. The health crisis had already unleashed the desire of private companies for biometric surveillance: thermal cameras at company entrances, detection of physical distances in offices, tracking of eye movements for remote university exams… Several French companies are now proposing to automatically detect thefts in stores “in real time” thanks to biometric analysis software directly connected to the cameras already present in the stores [behavior detection software that then sends an immediate alert to the security guard’s smartphone with a copy of the images]. While the idea of automatically detecting theft in stores has already been tested in Japan, several French companies have not hesitated to develop their own software:
          “Anaveo”, a company of 320 people with a turnover of 70 million euros works in video surveillance for mass retail. Its “SuspectTracker” software promises to capture the flow of images from the cameras to analyze “suspicious behavior”, for example “gestures towards a stroller, backpack, trouser or jacket pocket”. Their presentation videos mention in passing that theft detection feeds into a database to further improve the algorithm.
         “Oxania, a start-up founded in 2019, has produced a “Retail Solutions” software that would be able to “recognize gestures associated with theft in real time, detect behaviors, dangerous situations, customer journey and much more”. The video presentation calmly assumes to make a biometric analysis of the behaviors of people present in the store (body heat, gestures, body …).
         And above all “Veesion”, a Parisian start-up that sells a “gesture recognition” product with “an algorithm that has several bricks that work together and can tell at any time if there has been a gesture that can be associated with shoplifting or not. There is a brick that locates the human, another that locates the limbs on this human body, another that locates the objects of interest, the shopping cart, a purse, a shopping cart, the shelf itself, the items that come off the shelf. And these bricks work together to give a probability of theft at each moment. Then, the store employees have a mobile app that receives the videos as soon as a suspicious gesture has been spotted”, explains Benoit Koenig, director of the company Veesion. (France Bleu, August 19, 2020). As a bonus, Veesion proposes to analyze “your flight history and [provide] personalized recommendations”.

source: Sans Nom
via: darknights.noblogs

Continue reading HERE: 

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info    

Rapists.

           I have often visited Greece and love Athens, having stayed there for months at a time, though I see those who live there, on the whole, as very friendly and welcoming, but patriarchy is a problem. I remember asking a very friendly elderly gent who lived near Athens if he had any family, his answer was "Yes, three --- and a daughter".
       The following report is welcome news as the women of that patch of land known as Greece are now standing up and claiming their right to equality. 

The following From Enough is Enough: 

        It was in response to an incident in which a woman hired to clean a house was imprisoned and repeatedly sexually assaulted by her “employer.” The neighbors called the police but the police declined to intervene. They are always ready to raid a squat or attack people in a public square, but cringe away from breaching the door of a middle-class home, so the rapist was able to escape and remains at large.
       This horror also unfolded in the shadow of an ongoing headline-grabbing case in which a “respectable” Greek man, an airline pilot, murdered his (much younger) wife and then said she was killed by immigrants, a calculated racist ploy which Greek police not only agreed with, blaming “hardened immigrant criminals” on national TV, but acted on by kidnapping an undocumented guy from the country of Georgia and beating him for days in an effort to make him confess.
      It seems almost too obvious to state, but the above is an example of the intersectional ways gender is interlocked with class, race and nationalism, as well as the key role the police play in maintaining these brutal hierarchies.
       As with so many incidents of gendered violence, fatal or otherwise, the perpetrator was that most deadly thing: “the man of the house.” Graffiti spotted in the neighborhood summed him up: “Good kid. Pilot. Orthodox Christian. Femicide.”
        The police responded to the revelation of the husband’s guilt by going back on TV and giving other men who might want to kill their wives advice on how they could get away with it better than he did. This is not a joke or hyperbole.
       While mainstream news coverage of both these cases focused on what might be called a “carceral” angle — why weren’t these men ARRESTED and LOCKED UP? — the women of Athens have gathered in tremendous numbers multiple nights in a row to express not only their outrage but more direct, systemic solutions to the campaign of violence waged daily against women.
       The march on Tuesday night began with speakers and chants. Prior actions had already heavily coated the surrounding blocks with militant feminist graffiti in both Greek and English. Once the march got moving, the amount of graffiti became so intense that artists towards the back of the march had trouble finding any wall space! There were lots of feminist, anarcha-feminist, anti-police and queer slogans and symbols. A few that I noticed were DEAD MEN DON’T RAPE, KILL RAPISTS, ABORT PATRIARCHY, ABORT CAPITALISM, THE POLICE DON’T KEEP ME SAFE – MY FRIENDS DO, and the immortal line INSTEAD OF “I LOVE YOU,” SAY “FUCK THE POLICE.”
      I was also moved by the graffiti reading LET’S ALL BECOME INSURGENTS, ROBBERS, SABOTEURS.
      There were countless stickers and flyers as well as ferocious chants (in Greek). Following are translations of some of these superb chants:

       “Patriarchy rapes and kills, on the street and at home. We will burn the state and patriarchy.”
         “Glorious Greek man, on your grave we’ll hold the biggest festival.”
        “The rapist will not come from the East, he will come from Ekali and Koponi.” (Greek neighborhoods)

“This, this, this is right: kicks with 12cm heels to smarten you up.”
“Die, Greece, so we can live. To hell with the family! To hell with the homeland!”
“Two meters, two meters underground, there is a home for every rapist.”
“Gay, trans, lesbians, priestesses of disgrace. We are proudly the shame of the nation.”
“In the streets, in the squares, in all the neighborhoods: immigrant women, you are not alone!”

        MAT, the riot police, nipped at the heels of the march, but there were no direct clashes, though a few participants practiced the quintessentially Greek multitask of jogging away from police while hand-rolling a cigarette.

Continue reading HERE: 

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

Struggle.

          To the ordinary people of this capitalist world daily life is daily struggle. There’s the struggle to keep a roof over your head, to put food on the table, There’s the struggle against a system that splits humans into nationalities and cages them between illusionary borders, the struggle against a system that plunders the earth for the benefit of the few. The struggle against the military industrial complex that squanders precious resources on endless wars for power and markets. Then of course there is the endless struggle against boring jobs with inadequate wages. All with one outcome, power, wealth and privileges for the few.
 

 

         To maintain this system of power and privileges for the few, the state creates a whole raft of legislation, backed up by a rigged judicial system. Our daily struggle must include stand against laws formulated by the rich and powerful, and a system that punishes those who would dare to challenge this selfish insanity. For self respect and freedom, we must also struggle against the ever creeping authoritarianism and its accomplice, total surveillance.
        As long as we tolerate this capitalist economic system, our struggles will not just continue, they will increase and the barriers to equality, justice and a sustainable system that sees to the needs of all our people will keep ever increasing. The capitalist system can’t be reformed, inequality and exploitation are inherent within its structure. Appealing to the managers and beneficiaries of the system to abandon their wealth, power, privileges and selfish greed driven desires, in favour of a more egalitarian and fairer system, is doomed to failure. We might as well ask Queen Victoria’s statue to end imperialism. 

And growing!!!

 

         The system has to be brought crumbling down by the force of the ordinary people deciding that they will no longer tolerate greed fed inequality, injustice and abject poverty and deprivation in the midst of opulence, they will no longer see their sons and daughters sacrificed at the alter of endless wars to feed mammon. We must be the change, there is no knight in shining armour about to charge in and rescue us, it's up to us, the ordinary people.

 

Visit ann arky's home at:

 http://strugglepedia.co.uk/index.php?title=Main_Page   

Subterfuge.

         Wars are games played by capitalist states to enhance their power, there is no thought given to the thousands of deaths and mass destruction that always follow wars. As a matter of fact destruction is good for capitalism, it means government money, public tax money, being handed to corporate giants to rebuild a country., so the bankers and financial mafia and their corporate friends, see wars as a wonderful asset and aid to corporate growth.
       At the moment the dominant capitalist power is America, but it sees the dominance being threatened by other growing economies, so draws its sabre and starts to scare its competitors into submission or provoke them into a brutal war, in which it will draw in all its vassal states, of which the UK is one, for physical support to give it the stamp of legitimacy .
       This is what is happening at the moment with America's rivals, China and Russia. All the lies and subterfuge about human rights and defending democracy are publicity stunts to get the public behind them in their brutal savagery against the people of another country. We the ordinary people of this country and it's so called enemies can never gain from these conflicts of capital, these savage manoeuvres for control of markets and resources in the quest for ever increasing profit and power for the few. 

The following is  statement from Stop The War Coalition:

          The British government and its militarily is playing very dangerous games. Earlier this week there was a critical military incident in the Black Sea in which a British war ship was pushed back as it encroached on disputed waters in the Black Sea. We released the following statement:

         "Stop the War condemns the provocative decision for the UK destroyer HMS Defender to sail into disputed waters in the Black Sea near the Crimea. HMS Defender sailed just 12 miles off the Crimean coast, despite warnings from the Russian forces that they regard these as Russian waters. Moscow’s defence ministry said a patrol ship fired warning shots towards the destroyer and a jet dropped bombs in the path of HMS Defender.
        The UK government has played down events and denied such a military incident, but Jonathan Beale, a BBC journalist who was on the destroyer said that the ship was indeed harassed by the Russian military. It is clear that the crew of the Defender knew that their action was likely to cause a dangerous incident. Beale reported that, ‘the crew were already at action stations as they approached the southern tip of Russian-occupied Crimea. Weapons systems on board the Royal Navy destroyer had already been loaded.’

         UK government sources have confirmed that the ship’s action was deliberate, saying that ‘it was not there to pick a fight but to make a point’. In recent weeks the US and its allies have ramped up their intervention in Ukraine, inflaming an already tense situation which could erupt into a shooting war at any time.

        The British government’s use of a navy destroyer to back up US brinkmanship is completely irresponsible. It is a dangerous act of aggression that has nothing to do with defence or security. We call on the government to end its support and participation in NATOs provocations against Russia."

 

 Tomorrow we're marching alongside PSC, Friends of al-Aqsa, CND, MAB and Palestinian Forum on the Palestine, Peace & Anti-War Bloc at the People's Assembly National Demonstration. Join us.

          We will be demanding fair pay for key workers and an end to the billions being spent on weapons and war. While refusing to give nurses and other frontline workers the pay rise they deserve the government announced a massive £16.5bn increase in defence spending. Priorities must change.

       Be part of this vital demonstration on Saturday and demand freedom for Palestine, Welfare not Warfare and Nurses not Nukes. 

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info  

Sewage.

             I don't often spout about our pampered, privileged political ballerinas and their two faced shenanigans as they drag their snouts along the trough. I have grown to expect them to function in the usual double dealing double standards, of the old school boys network, oblivious to the lives of the ordinary people. However, sometime I just can't hold my tongue it is so blatant and two fingers to the public at large. 

           The incident that caused me to vent my bile on this occasion is the actions of hapless Hancock, Secretary of State for Health. This "tower of virtue" jumped on professor Ferguson when a friend visited the Prof's house, stating that the prof's actions were extraordinary and the rules were there for every body and they were very serious. However here we are and hapless Hancock is caught on camera kissing a woman in his office. I'm sure his wife will be very understanding, as will the husband of his gobb sucking partner.

Gina Coladangelo, Hapless Hancock's little bit on the side. Photo Daily Mail.

           The woman in question is the woman that he appointed as non-executive director of the Department of Health. When he appointed her, he also forgot to mention that she was an old friend from his days at Oxford, ooops. The lady in question Ms Coladangelo, must bring something very special to the job, other than satisfying hapless Hancock's desires, as for her services she is paid a £15,000 salary. Not much you might say, but when you consider that she was expected to work 15 to 20 days a YEAR, for that, she surely must have other services she should offer her boss the hapless Hancock. A coterie welded in sleaze, double standards, squandering public money, our tax money, and shuffling cushy numbers to friends and associates, all at our expense. These are the people that we leave to run our affairs, are we insane?

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info   

A Crisis.

           To those who observe, it was obvious that capitalism and its minder states were heading for a major crisis in the form of ever increasing rebellion and revolt on the streets. Country after country saw the population take to the streets in anger and determination to change this exploitative, unfair and unjust system. However, whatever you wish to call it, Covid19 hit the planet and governments across the world seized the moment and introduced lockdowns, by some it may have been deemed necessary due to the circumstances, though methods of tackling the pandemic are debatable, but it cleared the streets in many countries and put the population, on the whole, in submissive mode. A situation the states would utilise to the utmost, to regain control over the streets and their rebellious citizens.

  

        However, in country after country the honeymoon is over and anger has once again taken to the streets, the old injustices are still there, the same ecological disasters are still galloping towards us, the same poverty and deprivation still cripples millions, the same wars for gain still kill and maim thousands, and the people are fully aware of this, and realise that it is part and parcel of the capitalist economic system, and to remedy these problems we must tear down the system and replace it with a fairer, sustainable system that sees to the needs of all our people and the planet that we call home, a system freed from the cancer of profit.

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