Liberty.

 

          For March “Read of the Month” we at Spirit of Revolt offer you a magazine from March, 1977, Soil of Liberty, Volume 3, No2. It is from our Bratach Dubh Collection T SOR 5-1-4. It is an excellent read like the thousands of other documents letters, booklets, pamphlets, and lots more, held in the Spirit of Revolt Archive. Delve in and learn about our history, the people’s history, history from below.

READ ON LINE.

           Spirit of Revolt is probably the largest anarchist/libertarian Socialist archive in Scotland, and it is free to use. It is run by a small team of unpaid dedicated volunteers, but it does require money to function in this capitalist system. Wifi, website maintenance costs, annual fees for domain, name paper and ink cartridges and other ancillary costs etc. We receive no grants and rely on the generosity of our friends, comrades and supporters. So if you think we are doing a worth while job and would like to see it grow, why not donate the price of a couple of cups of coffee a month, so that we can continue to gather and catalogue and make easy accessible more of the struggle and history of the ordinary people.

                       DONATE.

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

It's Ours!

 

Image courtesy of Jane Finch

 

      There are many ways to alleviate the cost of living crisis, of course the state's remedy is to get you to grin and bear it until the good times arrive, but they never do arrive. The capitalists tell is it is all due to external factors and market forces, so we just have to be patient and the market will sort it all out. There is another way expropriate what is the fruits of our labour all locked in the labyrinth of the capitalist economic swamp. We create and make everything, we distribute everything, it is all ours but we fall for the capitalist mantra, that it is they who create the wealth and we have to buy the fruits of our labour back, so as to keep CEO and shareholders rich, all bullshit of course.
        An example of self help and mutual aid from that patch of land named Greece.

Image courtesy of Anarchist News.

 

 This from Act For Freedom Now.

via:https://athens.indymedia.org/post/1623804/
Athens: Expropriation of products in My Market in Patisia area

             Precision pricing is one of the most recent manifestations of class violence unleashed by the State and the bosses on those below. The already unaffordable prices of basic goods for some have been inflated through location, resulting in privilege for the haves over the have-nots. With capital striding on the backs of the social base, further impoverishing it, and the State being the institutional guardian of capitalist restructuring and repression, taking our lives into our own hands is the only solution. We will not divide our needs into basic and non-basic, we will not step back on what belongs to us, we will fight side by side until the final elimination of the State and classes.
          In the context of the ongoing mobilizations against precision pricing, revaluations and the overall devaluation of our lives, on Saturday 4/2 an intervention was held by about 25 comrades in My Market in the area of Gravas in Patisia. Various kinds of products were expropriated and after the end of the intervention they were distributed to the people who were in the street market near the supermarket.

Everything is ours because everything is stolen

NTOY in the supermarkets, refusal to pay, war on the war of the State-bosses

 

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

Sacrifice.

 

                                                  Image courtesy of Glamour.

  
          It is normal practice for the state to keep asking the people to make sacrifices, Put up with low wages so that we can beat inflation and get the economy growing, accept a crumbling health service because there is not enough money until the economy grows. We the ordinary people are the ones who are told to sacrifice ourselves in capitalism's continuous wars while the rich and powerful organisers and perpetrators of the war sit back and reap the benefits in blood soiled gold. Always pie in the sky, for you and I, never a realisation of that imaginary time when the economy is super producing and all our ills are sorted. Our end of this arrangement is that we continue to struggle for a decent life while the rich get richer. If we have to live a life of continuous sacrifice and struggle because of the economy, then screw the economy. To grow the economy translates into helping big corporate business to get bigger and richer at our expense. We are fed crumbs so that we can get on with growing the economy all to their advantage. Why not put up with sacrifices to bring down this economic insanity and build society based on mutual aid, co-operation, freed from the poison of profit and one that sees to the needs of all our people. Struggle for revolution rather than struggle to grow the economy under its present exploitative rules and structure.
      Capitalism is continuous competition for markets and resources and that competition takes on an ugly and brutal form in wars. War is just a continuation of capitalist competition. Another aspect of capitalism when we, the ordinary people are asked to make the ultimate sacrifice. There is a better way to organise our society, we should make that choice, sacrifice for capitalism, or sacrifice for revolution.

                                              Image courtesy of The Telegraph.

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

Criminal.

           During this so called cost of living crisis, (really an exploitation crisis) the Western nations have been pouring in a virtual avalanche of weapons and ammunition to this American war with Russia, being fought on Ukrainian soil. So much so that some military experts are claiming that the West has depleted its defence capabilities and will have to make military spending, (they call it defence spending) a top priority. UK's Ben Wallace has stated that the military will get an extra £52 billion, and the pentagon has already sent $18billion on prolonging the Ukrainian blood flow, with the U$A planning to up its military budget once again.
      The European Union, in total aid, financial, humanitarian and military, has spent the most, however the U$A has by far, supplied the most in military hardware. The Kiel Institute calculated that between January 24th and November 20th, 2022 £96.7 billion flowed into Ukraine from Western countries, I have no doubt there is more we don't hear about.

Image courtesy of Energy Intelligence.

 

        So it is obvious that as far as the so called free democratic West is concerned, there is never a cry of "not enough money" when it comes to war.
         Contrast this with the cry that there isn't the money to fund the NHS properly. The flow of funds for destruction while our people die waiting for an ambulance, die waiting for treatment, die waiting for an appointment. We have reached the level of third world countries where people languish in hospital simply because there is no community social service to look after them and hospital staff are forced to take strike action to try and improve their working conditions and pay.

Image courtesy of The Mirror.

 

       In this society the government is supposed to have a duty of care for the citizens in their keeping. Failing to do this and allowing people to die because of the lack of proper funding while spending billions on destruction and death of another country's citizens, is surely criminal, and those responsible should be held to task and face criminal charges. It is our money, and we the ordinary public have no desire to see our money being used for the killing and maiming of ordinary people in another country. 

 

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

Torture 2.

 

                                              Image courtesy of The Parliament.

          State prisons are not what they are sometimes labelled, correction centres, rehabilitation centres, reform centres, they are in fact death centres. When incarcerated in one of the state's and sometimes private run prisons, (run for profit) something has to die. The state's hope is that it is your desire for freedom and you can be released into the community a subservient digit in their plans. However if that spirit doesn't die then you will  go through the various processes to make it happen, even if the end result is your death. Solitary confinement, sensory deprivation, broken sleep, and a multitude of other inhumane endeavours to break you desire for freedom. Some prisoners take the dangerous road of hunger strikes rather than meekly submit to the state's  demands that they abandon their desire for freedom. We owe them our unstinting solidarity and support, their struggle for freedom and justice is our struggle. 

Image courtesy of BBC.

The following article from Act For Freedom Now.

 

Financial support for the surgical expenses of an anarchist comrade.

Dear comrades
         The Solidarity Fund for imprisoned, persecuted revolutionaries (Tameio), has been trying to obtain, since being established in 2010, a regular and consistent political, moral and material support to the political prisoners and imprisoned fighters. Alongside, it has also actively aided with legal expenses and bails of persecuted comrades and it supported prison struggles. Solidarity, as a crucial political act, is extended to include comrades who need our active support.
       With respect to this, we would like to inform you about the firefund that has been created by a group of comrades from Athens for the financial support of an anarchist comrade who faces substantial medical expenses, needing to promptly have a costly surgery.

https://www.firefund.net/medical23

In solidarity,
Solidarity Fund (Tameio)
Italy - General news ,sabotage, actions and Solidarity with anarchists arrested and all those under investigation, Revolutionary Prisoners News, Solidarity Events, e.t.c.
Greece: Announcement of the hunger strike of Anarchists and Fighting Prisoners in Solidarity with Alfredo Cospito
16 February 2023

        16th of February, Hunger Strike of Anarchists and Fighting Prisoners in Solidarity with Alfredo Cospito
        The 41-bis prison regime is the completion of the prison structure into a masqueraded death sentence. The execution, in this case, does not end in one moment, like with a gunshot, the tightening of the noose, the application of electrical current or the injection of poison into the body, rather it lasts a lifetime in a state of social coma, in a state of non-world. And so, spread through time. Out of this world, the death sentence has evaded history, just like the state pursues oblivion for all the prisoners of the social war who are buried alive in the state of 41-bis. The 41-bis regime has already murdered one fighter, Diana Blefari Melazzi.
       The 41-bis regime and the law about “massacre” are the legacy of the european counter-revolution from the time of Piazza Fontana (Strage di piazza Fontana). This civil war never ended. The states, and particularly the Italian one, carry on the counter-revolution so that the flame may never flare up again. All the systems follow, step by step, the examples first introduced as special warfare, e.g. the white cells of West Germany, the F-type prisons in Turkey and the FIES prisons in Spain to the Type-C prisons in Greece or the new high security prison system A.A.; the still active Hitler-inspired law about indefinite extension of one’s sentence on “preventative” grounds, by which comrade Thomas Meyer Falk is being held for another 10 years (25 in total) in Freiburg prison in Germany, to the different methods of extorting declarations of repentance, and from Asinara to Imrali.
        Anarchist Alfredo Cospito is fighting for the flame to flare up again. Let’s reassert the fight of the comrade. It is our duty to defend in deed the battle that Alfredo Cospito is fighting. A struggle for and against time itself. This particular hunger strike does not concern only the comrades in the italian territory, but it is internationalist, and so the star of internationalist solidarity must shine on the side of Alfredo Cospito and all those who are fighting from within a special prison regime. From Greece to every point in the planet – for all those fighting for freedom.
       Because defeat is not captivity, but losing one’s faith in the possibility of wining. So, we are collectively going on a hunger strike, according to each one’s capacity, so that we may stand by the side of anarchist revolutionary Alfredo Cospito, but also, against the death regime of 41-bis. At the same time the struggle against the new prison code in Greek prisons is continuing.

Anarchist and Fighting Prisoners

Giannis Michailidis
(1 day hunger strike)

Dimitris Chatzivasileiadis
(3 day hunger strike)

Thanos Chatziaggelou
(1 day hunger strike)

Iasonas Rodopoulos
(1 day hunger strike)

Kostas Dimalexis
(3 day hunger strike)

Lambros Vougiouklakis
(1 day hunger strike)

Panagiotis Vougiouklakis
(1 day hunger strike)

Stathis Nikolouzos
(1 day hunger strike)

Stergios Kalaitzidis
(1 day hunger strike)
 

Fotis Daskalas
(1 day hunger strike)

 

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

torture.

 

Image courtesy of Freedom Press.

         The Italian state rumbles on with its callous mechanisms, functioning with a complete disregard to the life of a human being in their care. They sift through their judicial papers setting dates that in their twisted minds they know that the individual in all probability will not make it. Alfredo Cospito has been on hunger strike for 119 days while held in the most draconian and dehumanising conditions in the Italian penal system. Callous disregard for a human being in your care is not only criminal, but is callous judicial torture. Sadly all the public have not yet learned that all states are inhuman, dictatorial and unbending in their desire for complete control over the population, they can only survive if they manage to get a subservient population. One person's life is of no consequence to them if they feel it will strengthen they grip on the population. We must prove them wrong on this occasion and make them understand the one person's life is sacred to us as human beings, and they will pay a price should one human die in their care because of their callous indifference.

                                               Image courtesy of Ceasefire.

  The following report from Act For Freedom Now.

 Update about the health condition of Alfredo Cospito on the 119th day of hunger strike February 15, 2023)

         In recent weeks, a mass-media campaign of slander and denigration has been underway against anarchist comrade Alfredo Cospito. Various newspapers have given much prominence to the fact that in the last few days the comrade had started taking supplements again and that he had eaten two yogurts [in the past months, the comrade had at times taken extremely mild supplements, which he had stopped taking for some time, only to try to resume them in the last few days along with the yogurts so as to try to remain lucid in view of the hearing on February 24th in the cassation court, for which the prosecutor general has filed a request to overturn the 41 bis measure].
         Today’s news [February 15th] is that Alfredo’s body, now after too many days of hunger strike, has rejected both these two yogurts and the supplements, contrary to mass-media reports: what he is currently taking is only sugar, salt and potassium. This is dramatic news both with regard to the comrade’s possibility of making it to February 24th alive (the day on which the hearing for the appeal against the order of the surveillance court of Rome that confirmed detention under 41 bis will be held at the cassation court), and with regard to his ability to resume feeding himself following a possible revocation of the 41 bis order.
        [Received via e-mail & published at https://lanemesi.noblogs.org/post/2023/02/15/update-about-the-health-condition-of-alfredo-cospito-on-the-119th-day-of-hunger-strike-italy-february-15-2023

 

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

My Rant.

 

          My wee rant on anarchism for those not to sure about what it is. I don't claim it is an essay on anarchists philosophy or a text book for the future, just my ideas on what anarchism can bring to our society.

         Anarchism is a political philosophy that advocates society without a centralized state or government, individuals have the freedom to govern themselves through voluntary cooperation and mutual aid. Though anarchism is often falsely associated with chaos and disorder, there are however, considerable benefits in organizing society on the principles of anarchism.
        What anarchism offers is an increase in individual freedom, choice and equality, with the absence of a central authority that can concentrate power and wealth in the hands of a few individuals, resources are more equally distributed with access to basic needs, such as food, housing, and healthcare are widely available to all. An anarchist society would see to the needs of all its people. It also promotes innovation and creativity, individuals are free to experiment and explore new ideas and solutions to problems, leading to a more dynamic and flexible society.
         Anarchism would create, develop and fosters stronger communities and relationships between individuals, on their own terms without the interference of the state, you are free to form relationships based on trust, mutual aid, and cooperation, which can lead to a greater sense of community and social cohesion. It offers considerable benefits across the full spectrum of society, increased freedom and autonomy for individuals, greater equality, promotion of innovation and creativity, and stronger communities. Anarchism offers an alternative perspective on how society can be organized and the benefits that come from empowering individuals and communities. We can put our trust in each other, rather than some group in the marble halls of power.

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

Killers.

          I post this article in full as I think it is important reading and gives a look at how this insane cruel capitalist system works, whether it is war or big business, it ceaselessly kills people for profit, usually the poorest in our society.

Article from Struggle La Lucha

Toxic chemical cloud from train wreck.

         What’s the connection between the earthquake in Syria and Turkey with the train wreck in East Palestine, Ohio?
         More than 41,000 people, including thousands of children, have been killed by the Feb. 6 earthquake. No one has died so far in the Feb. 3 train wreck or from the dangerous chemicals that were released because of it.
          Earthquakes are terrible natural events caused by the shifting and collision of plates inside the earth. Reinforced buildings designed to withstand shocks can greatly reduce fatalities. Real estate sharks seeking more profits aren’t interested in constructing safer buildings. Thousands of people were killed because of contractors trying to cut costs
          There was nothing natural about the wreck of the Norfolk Southern freight train that derailed. The 150-car train was 9,300 feet long and weighed 18,000 tons.
Railroad tycoons like long trains, which are part of their Precision Scheduled Railroading model. PSR has helped destroy 62,000 railroad jobs since 2015 while increasing average train length by 25%. It’s simple logic that the longer a train is, the more likely there will be an equipment defect. Excluding the locomotives, a 150-car freight train has 600 axles. An overheated roller bearing on a wheel axle apparently failed, causing 38 cars to derail with catastrophic results. Another 12 cars were damaged. Twenty cars carried hazardous materials. Residents of East Palestine were told to temporarily evacuate and drink bottled water.
          A huge mushroom cloud rose above the town. Dead fish have been found in streams within 7.5 miles of the catastrophe. Toxic residue was found in the Ohio River. While Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine was holding a news conference on the train wreck, his state troopers arrested Evan Lambert, a Black TV reporter for News Nation. Lambert’s resisting arrest and trespassing charges were later dismissed.
         Five tank cars were deliberately exploded on Feb. 6. “We basically nuked a town with chemicals so we could get a railroad open,” said Sil Caggiano, a hazardous materials specialist.
         Cancer time bomb
         Among the dangerous cancer-causing chemicals that continue to be released into the air, soil and water are vinyl chloride gas, butyl acrylate, ethylhexyl acrylate and ethylene glycol monobutyl ethers. Also released was phosgene gas that was used in World War I to kill and blind soldiers. Railroad workers cleared the important transportation artery by Feb. 4. That’s what Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw and the outfit’s big stockholders care about: keep the trains rolling and the profits coming in. Among the 10 biggest Norfolk Southern stockholders, holding a total of more than 24 million shares, are JP Morgan Investment Advisors, BlackRock and Wells Fargo. Shaw made $4.5 million last year but doesn’t want to give any sick days to railroad workers. Shaw’s lobbyists got Trump to throw out a safety rule adopted under the Obama administration. It mandated a new electronic braking system for trains carrying hazardous goods like the train that derailed.
        Big-hearted Norfolk Southern, which hauled in $4.8 billion in profit last year, is offering $1,000 “inconvenience checks” to East Palestine residents. Warren, Ohio, Attorney David Engler is advising clients not to take the chump change since it could be used as an excuse by NS management to deny further compensation.
       Economic sanctions and deindustrialization
        In the Turkey-Syria quake, construction shortcuts helped kill children and their parents. So did the U.S. capitalist government. The Pentagon has been at war with the elected Syrian government since 2011. U.S. forces seized Syrian oil and wheat fields U.S. sanctions, some of which have been lifted, prevented aid from going to Syria. U.S. sanctions against socialist Cuba haven’t stopped Cuban doctors and other healthcare workers from helping Syrians. One of the biggest U.S. Air Force bases is in Incirlik, Turkey, near the earthquake zone. Nuclear weapons continue to be stored there.
           East Palestine, Ohio, almost touches the Pennsylvania border. Western Pennsylvania and Northeastern Ohio were once one of the biggest concentrations of steel mills and heavy industry in the world. Hundreds of thousands of union jobs were destroyed in a region that includes Pittsburgh and Cleveland. Deliberate deindustrialization is also an economic sanction.
          East Palestine is named after the country of Palestine. David Ben Gurion was the first prime minister of the apartheid regime that occupies Palestine. He said of the Palestinians driven out during the Nakba or catastrophe that “the old will die and the young will forget.” Palestinians have never forgotten their homeland and are continuing to fight for their freedom against a racist colonial government.
         If East Palestine becomes a cancer cluster 10 or 20 years from now, railroad owners also hope that “the old will die and the young will forget.” Many of those possible cancer victims will be youthful.
         The U.S. government has shoveled over $140 billion into Israel while it has lavished money on railroads for 160 years. General Custer had it coming, and he died for the Northern Pacific Railway that was invading Lakota Sioux land. The Northern Pacific is now part of billionaire Warren Buffet’s BNSF railway. From Palestine to East Palestine, it’s poor and working people who suffer from capitalist disasters. 

In the Turkey-Syria quake, construction shortcuts helped kill thousands.

          The writer is a retired Amtrak worker.

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

Rip-off.

           The giant energy company Equinor has just announced record profits of £62 billion, this on the back of grabbing a much larger share of the natural gas market after Europe cut its gas supplies from Russia. So while we freeze the energy companies fatten their shareholders bank accounts. Though in the case of Equinor, it's ranked as the 169th-largest public company in the world and is a Norwegian state owned company, so lots of loot rolls into the Norwegian state coffers. Unlike the UK where our lords and masters made sure that all the profit from the North Sea gas and oil goes straight to their buddies in the capitalist gang. Like all large companies, Equinor wants to be bigger and is in the process of trying develop the Rosebank field in the North Sea, if approved this one field could produce more climate pollution than the combined annual emissions of the world’s 28 lowest-income countries. This polluting development must be stopped at all costs. We can all do our bit to end this economic insanity, by continuous mass protests at the doors of all the large rip-off companies and supporting ever strike, showing solidarity with all those who struggle for that better life for us all.

         When you add Shell's profits of £32 billion and BP's profit of £7 billion to Equinor's £62 billion, that's a lot of loot plunder from the public as we struggle to meet our energy bills The only conclusion we can arrive at is that we are being ripped-off and laughed at by the billionaire parasite class, as they stuff their bank accounts with money earned on the backs of of our poverty. There is an alternative way to organise our society that frees it from the profit motive and sees to the needs of all our people, Did I say anarchism, well looking at the total disregard in this society for the well being of ordinary people, why not.

 

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

Barrett.

 

    
             How have anarchists fared in Glasgow since 1910? Have we grown, shrunk or remained that same little band of dedicated individuals. The reason I ask is after reading a George Barrett essay written while he was in Glasgow in 1910. In the essay he posts the question, "What is the matter with Glasgow anarchists?"
           The following is an extract from that essay, taken from the book published by Freedom Press, The essays of George Barrett, "Our Masters are Helpless." Though written in the early 1900's, George Barrett's words are always worth a read.

      "What is the matter with Glasgow anarchists?
Since May Day a little band, a very little band of us have been holding meetings with more or less regularity, averaging at least more than one a week. We have occasionally received words of encouragement from some local comrades; nay, more, we have even received promises to fix up meetings in outlying districts; but herein ends the "assistance" offered us. The regular sales of Freedom in Glasgow indicates that there are many sympathisers here. But to live a life of sympathy is not to live, it is only to wistfully watch other people live. The meaning of life is in the anarchist movement. Let us live. - - - -"

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

Class War.

  A little message lifted from Act For Freedom Now.

 Destroy Borders. Destroy Slavery!

Xenophobia, hierarchy, and racism
cannot be fought with fratricidal wars
sworn on bibles or patriotic flags

In breaking the silence and
indifference of the civilised we want to
widen the space for revolt, increase the
possibilities for direct attack on the
pillars of this world.

The objectives can be seen everywhere
the concentration camps,
the airline companies that deport
‘aliens’, the ‘waiting zones’, the slave
traders, the lines of communications,
etc. etc.

Only through direct solidarity
will we be able to refuel the social
tempest of class war, sabotage and
relentless attack where the divisions
into nationals and foreigners, legal
immigrants and aliens dissolves in
joyous collision against the enemy
that oppresses us all.

Vagabond hearts, enemies of all
borders, the world-wide of insurgents

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

Wars.

          The following poem was taken from Direct Action summer 1999, author unknown. It refers to different war, in another time, but war is war, no matter the time or the nation, it is the innocent that suffer, and the perpetrators, though they never pull a trigger nor shed any of their blood, are the ones who gain. When will we ever learn.

Image courtesy of Institute of Policy Studies.

All In The Name Of democracy.

From the height of 60,000 feet
you can't see the bombs hit the street
can't see the terror in their eyes
as death rains down from the skies
can't hear the shrieks and groans
as we burn their flesh and mangle bones
Milosoviv and his cronies safe below
deep in shelters where our bombs can't go.
We punish the people on the ground
Leaving devastation all around
you feel the excitement and the thrill
when "our" government says "go out and kill".
But when alone, I think " how insane
the Serbian people are not to blame
it's the politicians again - as before
and they never fight the bloody wars.
One day maybe we'll get it right
when workers of all nations refuse to fight
when all races, brothers and sisters can be
joined in human solidarity.

 

                                           Image courtesy of Stimson.org

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

Beauty.

 

            The inexhaustible variations of nature's beautiful artistry in sunsets, Springburn, Glasgow, Saturday 4th February, 2023. Perhaps, just for a moment, it will take your mind off the shit that we ordinary people are expected to swallow, under the present insane economic system.

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