How can it be legal to train hard so as to be able to hit your opponent as hard as possible as often as you can in the hope of making them unconscious? How can this be called a “sport”, when the aim is to incapacitate your opponent as fast as you possible can? Invariably it is kids from poor backgrounds that see it as one way to get rich. It would be impossible to ban this barbaric activity, the only way to see it die would be to starve it of money, tax it out of existence, so that it is not worth all the hard training. If you indulged in this activity without putting the words amateur or professional in front of it, and without turning into a money making enterprise, you would be charged with assault or murder.
This capitalist system where money is your key to quality of life, desperate people will do desperate things. The opportunity to get rich quick can lure people into very dangerous situations and boxing is one very dangerous activity, but it is the promoters and the sports media that make all the really big bucks, but they don’t get punched to death.
For many years now ACE in Edinburgh has been a hub of struggle against this repressive exploitative system, it has been the centre of support for all those at the receiving end of the state's vindictiveness from the marginalised to immigrants, a centre of friendship, learning and support. Sadly like all these hubs they are subject to the vagaries of the capitalist system, so after years there paying their rent the owner has decided to sell the property to a developer. So now they have to move and find a new home, in Edinburgh that's not easy, nor is it cheap so there is an appeal to help save this vital centre and continue their great work in support and activism.
NEWS FROM THE AUTONOMOUS CENTRE OF EDINBURGH
ACE FUND-RAISING APPEAL
Thanks very much to all who have contributed so far, we have received a good number of donations. However ACE still needs more financial support to be able to move to new premises as our enquiries have shown that the going rate for rent for similar premises is at least double our current rent. We need to find a new building soon as the owners are moving forward with steps to sell our premises at 17 West Montgomery Place. Help save ACE!
Please go to the fund-raising appeal page at https://autonomous.org.uk/2021/05/31/urgent-appeal/
I remember when CCTV cameras were first introduced to our streets. There was quite an outcry about privacy etc.. Of course the state being what it is, ignored all that concern of the public, and now we have an unbelievable array of cameras, they are everywhere. They are in pubs, shops, cash machines, stations, clubs, schools, on all our transport, etc.. They have developed immensely since there introduction from number plate recognition to face recognition, and the data collected can be used to build a picture of your habits, it can all be logged and kept for future reference. All this takes place in our so called "democracy", no matter where you go, you are being tracked, and of course your mobile phone will plot your movements and store that information. The state has plans to create a society where there is no place to hid. It is important to the state and its attendant apparatus to know where your are, should you be there, where are you going, have you permission to go there, and for what purpose. All possible with the ever present, always watching eye of the camera and your phone.
The following from Act For Freedom Now:
While power continues to ravage and plunder territories, bodies and souls, we can still count on individuals who do not resign themselves and who, in spite of everything, continue on the tortuous path of freedom.
The capitalist system, now well established, always ready to hide behind the mask of democracy and security, unveils its tentacles a little more each day, which are insinuating themselves into the life of each individual, as well as into the exploitation of the earth, water and air. Those who (finally) realize this and those who are aware of it and have been opposing it for a long time, are immediately beaten and repressed, so that the dirty integrity of the authority that watches over the order and the instituted system is not damaged. Because of this, companions who have always thrown themselves with their tension against the power, see their affinities described as “terrorist associations”, their lives monitored and their freedom limited.
Faced with the current intensification of the exploitation of the weakest and the exploited, the new shaping of the repressive strategies (from the violent repression of the revolts in the prisons to the repression by force of the struggles in the logistic sector, to the permanent persecution of the immigrants, up to the more and more common application of the preventive measures of surveillance) carries its effects, always more incisive and widespread, with the purpose of putting in a corner those who struggle.
From Bologna to Cagliari, Genoa, Turin, Florence and Rovereto, the requests for the application of the Special Surveillance fall as if it were raining. It is a dirty and detestable fascist measure, which aims to strike in a discretionary way behaviors considered “dangerous” for the maintenance of the system.
On September 15, the Genoa court will give its decision on the request of the Prosecutor Stalker Manotti to apply this measure of preventive surveillance to a fellow anarchist, after the same measure has already been applied to two Genoese companions during the last year.
Since always, Anarchists and all the courageous bearers of rebellious ideas see the power experimenting on their lives, on their struggles, repressive strategies that will be later used against all those who refuse to bow their heads in front of an ever more oppressive system, which follows the merciless dictates of the mechanisms of prevarication and marginalization of the weak, the exploited, the “different” people, with the aim of isolating and sidelining the “enemies” of this order, now more than ever.
It is now even more necessary to respond with determination and rage to these continuous attacks. We are aware that our enemy will continue to attack us, trying to limit our freedoms even more, but we have long since chosen our side.
Wednesday, September 15th,
9:30 am: gathering in front of the court of Genoa
5:00 pm: demonstration from Piazza Banchi
In solidarity with Carlo, hit by the request of Special Surveillance, and with all the companions affected by this preventive measure.
Against the special surveillance of our thoughts, our behaviors, our relationships, against the power and the system that supports it.
Source: Attaque
Just another wee reminder that tomorrow August, 29th. the brutal and vindictive murder of James "Purlie" Wilson by the state, August, 30th. 1820, will be remembered by a gathering at the spot he was hanged and then beheaded. Opposite Glasgow's High Court at the entrance of Glasgow Green. Come and pay your respect to a working class hero of the 1820 insurrection.
Details:
Sunday, 29th. August, 1pm.
Opposite Glasgow's High Court
The entrance to Glasgow Green.
James Purlie's Speech from the dock before his execution:
James "Purlie" Wilson's speech from the dock, before his state murder on 30th August, 201 years ago. He was one of the radicals of the 1820 Insurrection.
"I am not deceived. You might have condemned me without this mummery of a trial. You want a victim. I will not shrink from the sacrifice. I am ready to lay down my life in support of these principles which must ultimately triumph."
"My Lords and Gentlemen, I will not attempt the mockery of a defence. You are about to condemn me for attempting to overthrow the oppressors of my country. You do not know, neither can you appreciate, my motives. I commit my sacred cause, which is that of freedom, to the vindication of posterity."
"You may condemn me to immolation on the scaffold, but you cannot degrade me. If I have appeared as a pioneer in the van of freedom's battles; if I have attempted to free my country from political degradation; my conscience tells me that I have only done my duty.
"Your brief authority will soon cease, but the vindictive proceedings of this day shall be recorded in history. The principles for which I have contended are as immutable, as imperishable, as the eternal laws of nature. My gory head may in a few days fall on the scaffold and be exposed as the head of a traitor, but I will appeal with confidence to posterity.”
"When my countrymen will have exalted their voices in bold proclamation of the rights and dignity of humanity, and enforced their claim by the extermination of their oppressors, then, and not till then, will some future historian do my memory justice, then will my name and sufferings be recorded in Scottish history - then my motives will be understood and appreciated; and with the confidence of an honest man, I appeal to posterity for that justice which has in all ages and in all countries been awarded to those who have suffered martyrdom in the glorious cause of liberty."
Most Expensive Boarding Schools In The UK
Brighton College - £50,880
Queen Ethelburga’s College - £49,875
Oxford International College - £46,500
Concord College - £45,000
Cheltenham Ladies College - £43,170
Eton College - £42,501
Tonbridge School - £42,105
Harrow School - £41,775
Winchester College - £41,709
Charterhouse School - £40,695
Wycombe Abbey - £40,350
Roedean School - £39,915
Benenden School - £39,372
There will be extra costs involved of course.
Each of these factories for the preservation of privilege and money generating enterprises will do their utmost to bring to its full potential any child that shows a glimmer of wealth.
I think what I am trying to say is that there is not a whisper of democracy in this UK land of privileged parasites. Here it is put much simpler.
The recent outrage over Oxbridge admission statistics, which show that a disproportionate amount of the intake come from around London or the South-East of England, is undoubtedly valid. Oxbridge is elitist. 40% of students at Oxbridge came from private or independent schools. Only 1.5% of offers go to black British applicants compared with a nationwide total of 3%. 80% of offers go to the most privileged students, whose parents are employed in professional or managerial roles. Oxbridge is elitist.
The state/corporate war on the ordinary city dwellers goes on unabated, it takes on the polite and harmless sounding label of gentrification, Gentrification is the process of changing the cities form living spaces to money making machines of tourism and expensive entertainment. The serfs that will work these new money making centres will be banished to live in the periphery of the city in soulless poor quality schemes. City centres become perfect cathedrals to the class system that dominates the economics of capitalism. Know your place and money is your key to entry, but we know there are ways to fight back. Our imagination solidarity and desire for freedom are our weapons.
The following from Act For Freedom Now:
Berlin. There are currently seven so-called KbOs areas, considered “high-crime rate locations” in Berlin: Kottbusser Tor, Hermannplatz, RAW, Görli and Wrangelkiez, Alexanderplatz, Rigaer Straße, Hermannstraße.
Originally published by Indymedia DE.
Here, the police have the power to establish their own security measures by stopping, identifying and searching people they consider suspicious of crime, even if there is no reason to do so. These measures end up taking the form of racial profiling and other types of discrimination. Controlled and criminalized are mainly Black people, People of Color, Rom*nja and Sinti*zze, groups of young people, drug users, homeless people and sex workers.While the criteria for establishing them are determined based on the discretion of the police, free transit is hindered and prohibited and people are criminalized and deported.
The streets do not become safer as a result. They are perceived as more insecure and become completely impassable for some groups. Thus legitimizing the monopoly of violence in public spaces by capitalism and the mechanisms of the State. And contributing to the invisibilization of those who do not fit into a capitalist, racist and patriarchal system.Gentrification and social control are going hand by hand by displacing of population from the center to the periphery of our city, creating “safe” neighborhoods from precarious social groups. Leaving a showcase city for tourists and yuppies that have little or nothing to do with those who today we try to build networks of mutual support, solidarity and resistance in every neighborhood of this city.
That is why on September 12th, during the Entsichern congress, we want to make these spaces ours with a bike demonstration that will go through these areas.
September 12, 05:00pm (17:00), Alexanderplatz, Neptunbrunnen, Berlin.
The following from Act For Freedom Now:
Belfort,France : the bees are going at it as well
21 August 2021 Act for freedom now!
Bees find refuge on a surveillance camera
Est Républicain, 5 August 2021
The sight intrigued many motorists at the Fusillés crossroads in Belfort on Thursday. On a public lighting pole, bees had gathered around the video surveillance camera. They had taken refuge there after an accident. A beekeeper’s vehicle had been hit by a lorry on Wednesday at around 1pm. Two hives had fallen to the ground, releasing the bees.
via: sansnom
The NHS is crying out for funding and staff, our education system needs a massive increase in funding and teachers, our social services are being slashed, our libraries and community centres are being closed, but we are always told that there isn't enough money for this things. However when you see the volume of money that was flung into Afghanistan in the form of military occupation, you have to scratch your head and ask, why do we let these extravagant psychopaths run our lives. A billion pounds for a camp in the middle of a desert to house a force for the violent occupation of another country.
Solidarity is a powerful weapon, we should use it to its fullest capacity.
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The following is an extract from Enough is Enough:
Originally published by Calais Migrants Solidarity.
Thursday’s shipwreck
In the early hours of Thursday morning (12/08/21), a boat carrying approximately 37 people, including women and children, began to deflate and take on water in the Channel, around 25 kilometers north of Dunkerque. Because of their distance from shore, the people on board were not able to reach the emergency numbers by phone. They tried to signal for help to passing cargo ships, at least two of which passed by without responding. For more than two hours the people kept trying to get water out of the boat. According to survivors, as the boat continued taking on more water, luggage was thrown overboard and some people jumped into the sea to lighten the load.
