Bastille.

            Here in the UK, millions are facing dramatic hikes in their mortgage payments, due to the ever increasing interest rates, and landlords are increasing rents. Millions of ordinary people here are also being hit with an unbearable 18.3% inflation rate in basic food prices, while trying to manage astronomical energy prices. Poverty is rampant with little hope of it easing any time soon. Meanwhile we have the wealthy and privileged telling us to "hold our nerve", while other wealth parasites are urging the Bank of England to increase interest rates to bring about a recession to bring down inflation, and to hell with the effects a recession would have on the lives of the ordinary people of this country. 

Image courtesy of Wikidata.

 

            Instead of listening to these wealth, pampered parasites, with their own self seeking agendas, we should perhaps reflect on the date. July 14th. back in 1789 on July 14th. the poor and the marginalised of France decided that they could no longer put up with the injustice of poverty in the midst of obscene wealth. Their anger took them on to the streets and in Paris they stormed the Bastille. This marked the start of the French revolution. We don't have to repeat the results of the French revolution, which, in fact ushered in capitalism as a dominant force. We could however change society for the better of all, but only if we direct our anger and disgust at the repeating injustice of the present system and are are determined to bring an end to this gross injustice that shackles millions to poverty in the midst of obscene opulence. 

 

Visit ann arky at https://spiritofrevolt.info   

Fires.

Image courtesy of Euro News.

FIRES OF THE FUTURE.

 
I am fire,
I surge, I hiss,
sometimes bursting forth in a flame
that lights up the world
illuminating unimagined dreams.
Then the black cloak
blankets out the glow.
Again all is dark,
but, still
beneath the surface
I surge, I hiss,
I endure, waiting, seeking,
building up pressure.
One day I will explode
destroying forever
the Tartarean crust of oppression.
I am fire,
I am the people.

           The foundations of the capitalist society are built on bricks made of the work and exploitation of the ordinary people. These foundations are very weak, as pillage and plunder rampages across humanity and injustice roars with laughter. There is always a simmering anger just below the surface, and sometimes it explodes through the chimera of stability and lets the dream of freedom and justice run free scattering the seeds of hope. It always takes the state's full exercise of power and brutality to quell and control this explosion, but it can never extinguish that simmering anger and desire for justice and freedom.
          One such explosion was recently plainly visible in France, where anger burst forth and claimed the streets and displayed what it thought of this subservient exploitative and brutal system. The anger was plain to see as the state's brutal apparatus tried to stem the flow of that desire for freedom and justice. 

           The following extract is from an article that documents the physical result of the explosion of anger but can't detail the feelings that started it and the feelings that it has lit in the hearts and minds of so many. Long live anarchy, which will blow like a breath of fresh air through the decaying pungent smell of exploitation and injustice. 

Image courtesy of Daily Mail.

Today’s Figures on the Riots

 In total, between the night of June 27 to 28 and July 2 to 3, there were officially 12 031 vehicles burned, 2 508 buildings burned down or damaged, including 273 police and gendarmerie premises, 105 town halls burnt or damaged, 168 schools were attacked. 722 law enforcement personnel were injured.

3,625 people were taken into custody throughout the territory (1,124 of whom are minors). Among all those arrested, « the average age is between 17 and 18 (…) the youngest is 11 years old and the oldest 59 years old, one third are minors”, “60% of the total have no criminal record”, «10% of the people arrested are non-French and there have been 40 placements in administrative detention centres» according to the Minister of Interior. Of the detained persons, 990 of the age of majority and 253 minors were referred to the prosecutor’s office, and 480 of the age of majority were referred to the court for immediate appearance. To date, 380 people have been sent to prison, whether they have been sentenced or placed in pre-trial detention pending trial.

Continue READING 

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Class War.

 

          An interesting pamphlet from Trindni Valka free to download. Anarchist literature always welcome, spread far and wide, if you can, download and print and distribute, spread our ideas.
        

         In Ukraine, the Czech Republic, the UK, Italy, Syria, France etc… All over the world there is a voice against capitalist wars and also against capitalist peace. Only class war can end this terror and that is what we mean when we say No War but the Class War!

       The new pamphlet contains 14 texts by various groups and individuals. The aim is to explain and affirm the meaning of antimilitarism, internationalism and revolutionary defeatism. The publication will be presented for the first time at the Balkan Anarchist Bookfair in Ljubljana. The pamphlet is also available for download in PDF.

Visit ann arky at https://spiritofrevolt.info    

Keelie 42.

             Glasgow Keelie No. 42 is out, wanti kno wit yir cooncil is upta, get yir Keelie, don't know whit a Keelie is, GET YIR Keelie, it tells yi oan th'back page. The Keelie is Glasgow's best pocket rocket free newspaper, packed with info on what is going on in our city and further afield. Shouts loud an clear on what is wrong with the system that runs our lives, the dubious dealings of YOUR council in which you have no say. Find out where workers are in conflict and struggle defending their wages and conditions, and how to support them. Where to find the Keelie, at pickets, protests, demonstrations on the streets, cafes and pubs or contacts us for a free bundle to distribute among your friends and work mates. CONTACT us HERE: Read it free on line HERE:

 

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Anti-war.

            How low will the U$A war pimps stoop to prolong the blood bath in Ukraine? The latest statement of insanity from the prince of death Biden, is that he is considering sending cluster munitions to Ukraine, despite these weapons being banned by well over 100 countries, due to their extremely high risk of causing civilian injuries and deaths, years after the conflict has stopped. This is just another step in the U$A's desire to weaken the Russian military and ruin its economy to try and prolong Americas dollar dominance in the world. 

                                                       Image courtesy of Al Jazeera

             Day and daily we hear about the billions U$A is giving to Ukraine to prop up its dictator and his fascist regime. What is not made clear is that the money doesn't go to Ukraine. The way the system works is that U$A send Ukraine its old munitions and military hardware, the money then goes to the U$A military to hand over to the American military industrial complex to deliver new and more advanced weaponry to replace their dated weaponry that has been shipped to Ukraine. The con trick of getting tax payers money straight to the arms industry without touching the ballooning arms budget. So the arms industry gets two bites at the cherry and prays that the war continues, and it will, since most of those in power in the U$A are in love with the arms industry as it makes them millions.
         The blood shed in Ukraine could have been avoided if the U$A and NATO had wished so, and it could end likewise by negotiation. However that road doesn't suit the U$A's desire for world domination with the dollar the weapon, backed up by military might. 

Image courtesy of Tridni Valka

 

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Revolting Art

          We live in a world of chaos, pillage and plunder, all managed and manipulated by powerful and rich individuals and corporations, aided and abetted by the various states. All to their advantage at the expense of the lives of ordinary people, the ones who actually produce all that wealth. Wars, ecological disasters, mass poverty, gross injustice and inequality is the norm produced by this economic system of insanity and greed.
          However, below the surface there is always a rumbling of anger and an army of people working hard at trying to change this mayhem to a fairer and sustainable system, a system freed from the profit motive, that sees to the needs of all our people built on mutual aid and co-operation.
          That underground army must use every means at its disposal from literature on the streets, autonomous spaces, community based mutual aid groups, workplace organisations that build solidarity, mass protests, direct action, strikes and reminding everybody of the history of this economic system of greed and exploitation.
         We also should never forget the part art and poetry can make to this struggle for justice. Both these mediums can inspire, point a direction, awaken those feelings of desire for freedom and explain the basic injustices of the present economic system. 

          So, not to be missed is an exhibition of art works by Euan Sutherland, Portraits of Power. This will run from Tuesday 1st to Saturday 12th. August and will be held in The Deep End 21 Nithsdale Street G41 2PZ This exhibition will be part of the Govanhill International Festival here is a copy of the festival program

 

 

Between Dignity and Poverty

In this metropolis of wealth with its fountains of opulence
We are the excluded army that walks that tightrope
Between dignity and poverty.
The excluded, the marginalised, the forgotten,
Regulated by mercenaries, some with guns, others with pens.
They know not, we are their brothers and sisters.
Nor do they know,
Our strength is forged in the humiliation of the bread line
Our daily question, will there be food,
Or will the pangs of hunger stay.
We exist in a system of numbers and balance sheets,
Our lives, dehumanised statistics,
Catalogued and filed by a blind accountant.
When asked to count our dead, do we count the living dead?
Will this tightrope be the inheritance to our children
Or shall our tortured journey lead us from anxiety to revolt
Will the anguish of our children feed our righteous anger
Causing us to tear asunder this fabricated web of injustice 

 

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Fail 24.

 

           System Fail 24 just released, again it covers a wide range of subjects from around the world. This episode covers the attacks on Pride events and community, Wagner's march on Moscow, a statement from Russian anarchists and the people of Argentina's fight against the lithium mining. Always well worth watching.

 

Visit ann arky at https://spiritofrevolt.info  

History.

         Spirit of Revolt for our July “Read of the Month” bring you a magazine from our KM Collection T SOR 4-1-138, Revolutionary Perspectives, No.21. Other issues of this magazine are also available to read on line at the same catalogue number, T SOR 4-1-138. While there take a wee while to browse through our extensive collection of anarchist and libertarian socialist history. Thousands of documents, magazines, photos, posters, letters, banners, memorabilia and lots more. If you enjoy what you find and think our history is worth preserving why not buy us a pint a month, by donating on our DONATE PAGE. Spirit of Revolt is run by a group of unpaid volunteers who give up precious time to keep, preserve and make easily available on line, a rich history that would otherwise be lost, our history of struggle.

 READ ON LINE

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Debt.

         While we struggle with the cost of capitalist greed, re-named, "cost of living crisis" have trouble paying bills, getting sufficient decent food to the table and can't afford to cook some of the food we buy, our lords and masters tasked, by default, with looking after our welfare, keep telling us to hold our nerve and other hypocritical platitudes, there's pie in the sky- - - - SOON! Our government can still find millions to prolong the war in Ukraine by supporting a dictator. Yes Zelensky with his motley crew is a dictator. There will be no Presidential elections until the end of the war, he has banned opposition political parties, arrested political opponents, banned all unfriendly media, and he shut down Orthodox churches, so what else can you call him.
       It seems that this is standard behaviour for the capitalist system, whether it is at home or abroad. Here at home our poverty is created and managed by the political ballerinas who follow the dictate of the higher echelons of the capitalist system, IMF (International Mankind Fuckers), World Bank (Wayward Bandits) and others of that ilk, we have no say in that, a dictatorship?.

Image courtesy of Bangladesh Info

 

 

       According to the latest research by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR). UK households are about to be savaged by yet another capitalist manoeuvre as a result of the Bank Rate rising to 5 per cent, by the end of 2023 more than a million households (4 per cent of all UK households) will run out of savings because of higher mortgage repayments, taking the total proportion of insolvent households to nearly 30 per cent (around 7.8 million), 

        The IMF does not only tie Western countries to its debt ridden policies, It traps any developing country in its debt web and demands control of how that country will manage its affairs, never to the advantage of the recipient country. 

         In the early months of the pandemic in 2020, the IMF offered to open up new windows for borrowing that they said would come without conditionalities. The G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative and other such offers to pause debt payments suggested that the poorer nations would receive assistance to prevent total economic collapse and to gain access to vaccines. However, Oxfam found that thirteen of the fifteen IMF loan programmes during the second year of the pandemic (2021) required ‘new austerity measures such as taxes on food and fuel or spending cuts that could put vital public services at risk’. The Commitment to Reducing Inequality Index reveals that fourteen out of the sixteen countries in West Africa planned to cut their budgets by a total of $26.8 billion in 2021 to contain haemorrhaging national debt crises and that these policies have been encouraged by the IMF’s COVID-19 loans.
The evidence is clear: the IMF not only engineers austerity-driven debt crises, but its policies are designed to ensure and manage a permanent debt crisis, not to erase debt.

Image courtesy of Gauri Lankesh news

 

          Does it have to be this way, are we so dumb we can't think of a fairer system on which to build our society. Are we condemned to give our children and grandchildren an ever increasing debt laden country and an ever decreasing standard of living? That's what the present capitalist economics of insanity are constructing for our future generations. Only us the ordinary people can change this, don't expect those who gain so many privileges so much wealth and power from the present insanity to ever dream of changing to a fairer system.

 

Visit ann arky at https://spiritofrevolt.info  

ANTI.

 

         I never lose my love of anarchist paper on the streets. I find it very satisfying to have our literature, papers, leaflets, zines, all circulating in our communities, workplaces and city centres. So many have sadly disappeared, so I always mutter a silent thank you when I become aware of a new anarchist magazine appearing. So let's give this latest addition to a long tradition a welcome by boosting its circulation.

   ANTISISTEMA – Paper for anarchy and passionate destruction

This is the first issue of the bilingual anarchist paper Antisistema, which will be published irregularly. The paper gives space for anarchist analyses, discussions and documentations of attacks on structures of domination. From now on we will upload the PDFs of the paper in german and english and want to encourage decentralized printing, distribution and discussion.

Contact: anti-sistema at riseup.net
Blog: antisistema.blackblogs.org

Index:
– Editorial
– For more cheerful daring
– For a determined struggle against the industrial destruction of the
earth!
– Combining the question of social revolution with the question of
ecology
– Defence is not the best attack
– Words are followed by actions

 

EDITORIAL. 

Continue reading. 

 

Visit ann arky at https://spiritofrevolt.info  

Hypocrites.

Waiting for inflation to drop!!

                                           Image courtesy of Adam Smith Institute.

             Like me, I suppose your sick to the back teeth of hear those hypocritical platitudes spewed out by the parasite class that sit in those Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption. While you and I struggle to pay our bills, put food on the table and heat our homes We have Rishi Sunak, with his £800 million luxury cushion, telling us we will "need to hold our nerve". He has no inkling of how we live our what we have to put up with while he spouts pie in the sky---tomorrow, maybe. It makes no difference to him if the price of basic food double in price, he won't even notice. Then we have that other mouthpiece of the system, Karen Ward, she is a member of the Jeremy Hunt Advisory Committee. Her take on the situation we face is, the Bank of England have been too hesitant in raising interest rates and they need to create a recession to get inflation under control. Do these people really understand what a recession does to the ordinary people of this country, or is it that they really don't give a damn? A recession is high unemployment low wages and a massive increase in poverty. All this so that the corporate world and their business buddies can increase their profit margins. Isn't it about time we decided that we can't live under this insane greed driven economic system. We must work to bring the whole stinking edifice down and put capitalism where it belongs, in the dustbin of history, labelled "Humanity's darkest hour".

 Image courtesy of Ecoist Mag.

Visit ann arky at https://spiritofrevolt.info  

Willie Mc.

            Glasgow has a long history of anarchist activists one being Willie McDougal, born 1894, Willie was an active anarchist from his teens until his death in 1981. As a conscientious object he was in several prisons, escaping from Dartmoor, after stealing a bike cycled part way back to Glasgow, where he continued his anti war public stance. He kept the Anti-parliamentary Communist Federation going until 1941, Guy Aldred having left in 1932. Willie held street meetings at the bottom of Buchanan St. Arrested for speaking on Glasgow Green without a permit during the "Fight for Freedom of Speech on Glasgow Green". He published printed and edited numerous papers, among them, Advance, Fighting Call, Barcelona Bulletin, Workers Free Press, Solidarity,  He also formed Workers Revolutionary League. Also with others formed The Workers Open Form and kept it going until 1950's. The last issue of his paper Sense was at the printers when he died in 1981. We owe his dedicated life a gift of gratitude for helping to keep that vision of a better world alive for us to take up the struggle and carry forward. See https://spiritofrevolt.info and Clck on STRUGGLEPEDIA.

Image courtesy of LibCom.

 

Visit ann arky at https://spiritofrevolt.info     

Rebel.

                  The state relies on a submissive population, one of its tools to engender this submissiveness is the virus of patriotism. It needs you to feel you owe an allegiance to the state and its flag, so that you can be used as cannon fodder in its many power driven wars. They attempt to create the illusion that the state is there for you, where as they have created a society where, in actual fact, we are there for them. To be used as tools for creating wealth for the few and dying to protect their power, wealth and privileges. Our submissiveness to this arrangement makes us complicit in our own slavery, and in prolonging our world of broken dreams and hollow promises. Our placid acceptance of this hollowed out world is entirely up to us, we have the numbers, the imagination, power and ability to end this insanity and create that better world free from profit, greed and exploitation.

 Patriotism

No, I shall not die for the fluttering flag,
if truth be known, ’tis nothing but a multi-coloured rag
held aloft by some foolish hand
inciting worker and peasant to kill
on some green and wooded hill,
peasant and worker from some other land.

Nor shall I shed blood for the fluttering rag
that brings out fools to stand and brag
of brutal deeds painted grand,
deeds where rustic and craftsman lie so still
killed by my brothers' misguided hand.
 

No allegiance have I for the Nation
this man made autocratic creation
that divides my brothers in a world so small,
binds us to a country's cause, right or wrong,
bids us follow its drum, sing its song,
then sheds our blood in some border brawl.

No, I'll be no slave to flag or nation,
have no ear for power oration,
though its iron heel is on my breast,
my back feels its leather thong,
at patriotism's barracoon, I'll be no guest.

 The following extract from the magazine, The Local Kids.

     

        The initial shock of a new war in Europe has provoked the tired argument that an exceptional event merits an exceptional response. Nevertheless, many before us have been confronted with unprecedented events and have found their anarchist position. Anti-patriotism isn’t an unrealistic position: the discussion of taking sides between warring states is deceitful even in its most pragmatic form. War doesn’t turn authoritarians into humanitarians. On the contrary, strategic calculations become more ruthless. A victorious state will not be generous to anti-authoritarians even if they temporarily ally themselves with the armed forces. On the contrary, the state thrives and is emboldened by patriotic fervour. We should refuse the blackmail of kill or be killed but that doesn’t mean that we should march with the opportunists who now claim pacifism. Although the world doesn’t come back as it was before, anarchists do not start from nothing in finding our way through the perennial challenges of our days. Our hearts still beat for direct actions against war mobilization because there’s nothing liberating in being soldiers and fighting their wars.
          Take care and greetings to everyone out there taking advantage of the interruptions!

PDF on thelocalkids.noblogs.org

Visit ann arky at https://spiritofrevolt.info

Class War.

Image courtesy of Eric Solheim.

          Inflation is the headline news at the moment with the capitalist propaganda gurus stating that inflation can only be tackled by making the people poorer ie, raising interest rates. The fact that inflation is fed by excessive corporate profits, CEO's grossly excessive salaries and bonuses and of course, excessive shareholders bonuses. Any suggestion of tackling these excesses is greeted with, we need to allow this to make the economy grow, touching that golden goose would hinder investment. So their only answer is to make the people poorer. As far as the wealthy are concerned, asking for wage increases to meet these dire conditions is destructive and will only prolong the inflation problem.
          It angers me to hear Oxford educated Andrew Bailey, the Governor of The Bank of England, with his salary of £575,338 per annum, that works out at £2,212. 84p a day, state "We know this is hard- many people with mortgages or loans will be understandable worried about what this means for them. But if we don't raise rates now, it could be worse later."
          This from a man who couldn't care less if meat tripled in price and milk likewise, it wouldn't dent his standard of living. However, what it means to millions of ordinary people across this country is a drastic cut in their already diminished standard of living. This in turn leads to all manner of health problems, stunted kids because of poor diet, increase homelessness. This is a class war, a direct attack on the ordinary people who are already struggling to make ends meet, and often failing. The well being of the corporate world is more important than the well being of the people.
         This savage attack on the people has the backing of millionaires, the get inflation down so as to increase their profit margins brigade, Rishi Suak, he of the £800 million nest egg, states, that the Bank of England is doing a good job, and Jeremy Hunt with his little £14 million cushion, gives it his blessing with, "If we don't act now, it will be worse later." none of them give a shit if food prices double
        Why do we continually accept this crap false scenario, painting the illusion that the only solution to our dropping living standards is to make the ordinary people poorer? Where is the righteous anger, where is the demand for justice and fairness and an end to this insane economic parasite breeding system of greed and profit for the few. 

 

Image courtesy of Green Hearted.

 

Visit ann arky at https://spiritofrevolt.info 

Rebellion.

 

                                                 Image courtesy of Daily Record.

        Over the centuries Glasgow has been a city of rebellion as workers fought for decent wages and conditions, the poor and unemployed fought for some form of help. In a lot of these actions there was confrontation with the military and on occasions fatalities. Today we face mass poverty, food banks, an education system on its knees, a social care system that has evaporated before our eyes and a health system that by all modern standards is not fit for purpose. Meanwhile large corporations are making billions in profits and handing out excessive bonuses to shareholder. There are striking workers in all section of our society in an attempt to stop this greed driven grossly unfair distribution of society's wealth, wealth created by the workers. What brought the citizens of Glasgow to turn to rebellion in those past centuries, what element is missing now that stops us from demanding more and taking to the streets to take what is rightfully ours? Will Glasgow and other cities once again become cities of rebellion, the conditions are there, poverty, grossly unfair distribution of wealth, draconian legislation preventing us from taking our grievances to the street in protest. How much further will we allow our society to sink before we cry out, enough is enough.

                                                     Image courtesy of BBC.

          Some date of past rebellions in the city of Glasgow. To read about these and more of Glasgow's past go to https://spiritofrevolt.info and click on "STRUGGLEPEDIA"

1706 The Union
1706 Against the Union
1787 Calton Weavers Strike
15th February 1800
1812 Weavers Strike
6th March 1848
1915 Rent Strikes
1919 'Forty Hour Week’ Strike

 

                                                   Image courtesy of BBC

Visit ann arky at https://spiritofrevolt.info