Corporate Greed Or Anarchism.

      The corporate greed machine now knows its strength and is ever increasingly flexing its muscles. The number of corporations challenging government legislation, stating that it is damaging their profits, and winning billions of dollars of tax payers money is increasing.
      You may lobby your government to bring legislation to safeguard the environment and some multi-million pound corporation can challenge it in court stating that it is impeding its drive for profit. One new case is the Tobie Mining and Energy company which has launched a $16.5 billion lawsuit against the Columbian government because the government blocked a gold mining operation that was damaging the Amazon Forest. Of course if it wins, it is $16.5 billion of tax payers money that flows into the corporations coffers.
     There have been other cases and to lawyers this is big business. 

Fifteen years ago, Parada’s work was a minor niche even within the legal business. But since 2000, hundreds of foreign investors have sued more than half of the world’s countries, claiming damages for a wide range of government actions that they say have threatened their profits. In 2006, Ecuador cancelled an oil-exploration contract with Houston-based Occidental Petroleum; in 2012, after Occidental filed a suit before an international investment tribunal, Ecuador was ordered to pay a record $1.8bn – roughly equal to the country’s health budget for a year. (Ecuador has logged a request for the decision to be annulled.)

        Under this insane economic system the power of money over-rides the will of the people, rain forests and mountain areas are commodities to be exploited for profit. The world's diverse environment is necessary for our survival, to the powerful corporations they are there to be ripped apart to fatten the bank accounts of the already over wealthy pampered parasites. To curtail the power of wealth over the will of the people, we will have to end this greed driven brutal exploitative system of capitalism, and replace it with a system of community based mutual aid, co-operation between communities, sustainability and a system that sees to the needs of all our people, in a word, anarchism.

It's this:

 or it's this:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Eco-Friendly Transport.

      Wednesday was a nice day, though the wind was a wee bit on the cold side. So I took the opportunity to have my first run out on my dream machine since coming back from my holiday in the sun. It was invigorating to say the least, I had just passed that symbol of state oppression, Low Moss prison when I couldn't resist stopping to take a photo of two forms of eco-friendly transport side by side. One for road travel, and one for sedate cross-country.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Wars Make Money For The Rich.

 

         With the Cameron cabal following in the footsteps of their imperial ancestors, and hoping to renew the bombing of Libya, in an attempt to set up a compliant, puppet government, in that part of the oil rich world, it is important that we raise, even louder, our voices against all military adventurism. In all these imperialist adventures of "bring democracy" to a country via the bomb and the bullet, it is the ordinary people who die in their thousands, while the corporate world that grows fat on the looted assets.

 This from The Scottish Peace Network:

        The next monthly vigil, sponsored by the Scottish Peace Network, will take place on Wednesday, April 27, from, 5 to 6pm at Dewar's statue on Buchanan Street. We will be protesting the bombing of Iraq and Syria, also against the renewed threat of UK bombing Libya, and weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and urging everyone to resist militarism.
        We have placards, a banner and flyers. Feel free to bring your own placards. Please share through your circles and networks.

   Hope to see everyone there.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

May Day On The Green.

Bring MAY DAY back to the Green!

        Tired of the ritual Glasgow May Day, a boring walk through the city, to sit in a hall listening to "our leaders", pontificating and spouting about how they will save the world. Well, a group of us are trying to bring May Day back to The Green and make it what it was meant to be, a family day, a fun day, a day to celebrate the solidarity of the working class.

       Sunday, May 1st we are organising a family get-together/picnic in the Green, Based at Free Cycle North, with activities and bikes, in and around the green. With a little bit of the history of May Day. Bring what you expect to find, it is our day. It is early days yet, but we expect face painting, music, singing and performance poetry, among other events, and a picnic, with some eats. It should kick off on The Green around 1:00pm and end by 3:30pm app. on May 1st.
You can have your march around the city and come back to the Green to meet up with friends and comrades and have a friendly afternoon with all the family. May Day belongs to the people, and belongs on the Green, let's bring it back. Bring a picnic and food to share.
        We will be doing some banner and sign making at the Electron Club this Saturday 23rd, from 2:00 come along and help. Electron, CCA 350 Sauchiehall St, Glasgow G2 3JD

PLEASE FORWARD AND GET INVOLVED.

        If you can sing, dance, juggle, face-paint play an instrument, ride a mono-cycle, read a poem, or any other wee skill that might entertain the people, bring it along. If you feel you would like to take part, please do get in touch. The more the merrier, it is growing in momentum, Glasgow can make it better and bigger.

annarky@radicalglasgow.me.uk
bob@citystrolls.com

 

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Vive Le Commune!!

       Overthrown, but not conquered, the Commune in our days is born again. It is no longer a dream of the vanquished, caressing in imagination the lovely mirage of hope. No! the ‘commune’ of today is becoming the visible and definite aim of the revolution rumbling beneath our feet.” Kropotkin on the Paris Commune.

       Another interesting article by Jerome Roos from Roar Mag. Well worth reading the full article. 

What Is the Commune?

----------- Historically speaking, communal ways of organizing social life long precede the development of the modern state, and humanity on the whole has spent far more time living communally than it has under capitalism.

        To an extent, historical experience therefore lends credence to the proposition that, in the long run, the commune-form might secure a far more stable social order than the state-form, whose contradictory unity with crisis-prone finance capital renders it increasingly vulnerable to social conflict and systemic chaos, not to mention ecological catastrophe. On this point, indigenous communities and peasant communes may hold some important clues for the identification of alternative developmental pathways—which helps explain why theorists like Marx and Kropotkin spent many years studying such pre-capitalist societies.

         Nevertheless, there are clearly important differences between these ancient communal forms and the type of revolutionary commune of which we are speaking here, not least in terms of the latter’s emancipatory, future-oriented and internationalist horizon. Crucially, the modern commune fully embraces the expansiveness and universality of the socialist ideal. To paraphrase Subcomandante Marcos, whose Zapatista movement has formed its own indigenous communes in southern Mexico, the revolutionary commune is “not a dream from the past [or] something that came from our ancestors. It comes to us from the future; it is the next step that we have to take.”-------

       We count on the present generation to bring about the social revolution within the commune, to put an end to the ignoble system of bourgeois exploitation, to rid the people of the tutelage of the state, to inaugurate a new era of liberty, equality, solidarity in the evolution of the human race.”

Read the full article HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

The Warmth Of A Dream.

 

          The British winter has passed, but our climate still makes this country a vicious, brutal and death dealing place to sleep rough. Across the country in towns and cities, vulnerable people are having to spend their nights finding a doorway, a lane, a hole in the wall, or wherever, to bed down for the night. The capitalist system can produce 5 star hotels and luxury housing for some, but shit housing for the majority, and in many case no home at all. Our cities and towns are awash with empty premises, all locked up, yet we still have people dying on our streets, and the powers that be call this democracy. There is no way that we should accept, in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, that anybody should have to sleep rough, this is surely an indictment against a system that is greed driven and built on exploitation and inequality. While some dine and sleep in unbelievable opulence, others seek shelter from the elements in tattered and worn clothes curled up in a doorway. This is the hallmark of a failed system that must be destroyed.

The Warmth Of A Dream.

He lay in a dark doorway, dreamed of home,

night frost locked his joints

morning rain chilled the marrow of his bone.

In the dream there was a sister, 

a pram in a garden, a crowd of youngsters

who called him "mister", a time of little pain.

Are these youngsters the same young men, who

now laugh at him, throw beer cans,

piss on him as he lies drunk in some dark lane?

When was that first step down this slippery slope,

when was that first step to no forgiveness.

No will to rise to beg for food,

numbness kills the pain.

The dream brings a warmth that feels good,

dark fog shades out consciousness,

an ambulance carries off a body washed in rain. 

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicallglasgow.me.uk

Enough Is Enough.

        More and more the system is struggling with "civil disobedience", which really translates into trying to cope with people's anger at being screwed. From Canada to Greece, from Spain to France, from Turkey to Germany, people are standing up and saying, "enough is enough".

The latest from SubMedia TV:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

The Surface Glitter Of Athens.

         Just back from a visit to Athens, on the surface, central Athens looks much like the Athens I used to know, the cafés, restaurants, tavernas, all looked busy with pretty pretty butterfly people. One change you do notice is the traffic, it is mainly yellow taxis and motorbikes. They say if you want to know anything about a city, ask a taxi driver, so we did. One driver told us that there are more than 1,700 taxis in Athens, and most are people who have been made redundant. The taxi allows them to work as long as they want, to try to get by, one drive said he worked 16 hours a day, every day and at the end of the month after taxes etc, he was left with €600 to get through the month. Work that out as an hourly rate and you are talking sweatshop money. Another said before the crash he wasn't rich but had €1,800 in the bank and lived reasonably well, now he has nothing and works as many hours a day as he can, every day, just to survive. Two gave conflicting answers to how many had left Greece since the “crash”, one stating almost 1 million, and the other probably 300,00 to 400,000, either amount is a drain on any country. One other we spoke to was leaving in a few weeks to live in Australia to give his kids a chance at a better life. All summed it up as Greece today is dreadful, a disaster. 

       We also went to Exarcheia and visited an occupied cinema, K-Vox, it is run by between 30-40 people, who label themselves as anarchist, communist and libertarian socialist, though the communists emphasising that they had nothing to do with the communist party. It has a café and a library, and they hold various events. All the money raised is used to support political prisoners, it also houses a free medical centre. A wonderful asset, and great to see all the strands of anarchism working together, strength in numbers, and a display of what can be done. If you want to support what they are doing you can contact them at katalipsivox@yahoo.gr

Enjoying the sun outside K-Vox.

        Athens, like all Western city centres, has poverty well hidden, so as not to chase spending tourists away. Though we did see the signs, up side-streets, the bundles of rolled up blankets in doorways and on two occasions, a man lying on the pavement, as if asleep with a crumpled plastic cup in their hand, both were still there hours later when we passed. The temperature was 25 degrees.
       Other facts about Greece, with a population of just over 11 million, it has a prison population of 12,693, 111 per 100,000 of the population, 2014 figures, but there is an anomaly, the prison population is 54.7% foreigners. Unemployment is running at just over 24%, with youth unemployment running at a staggering 51.9%. 

       All the misery, unemployment, families breaking up, poverty, deprivation and long working hours, suffered by the majority of ordinary people in Greece is simply the result of the financial Mafia's gambling spree, and it isn't going to get better any-time soon. The financial moguls of the Troika,( EC, European Commission, ECB, European Central Bank, IMF, International Mankind Fuckers) are starting to squabble among themselves regarding the next bailout to Greece. The IMF saying Greece's debt is unsustainable, so don't want to pour their filthy lucre into the leaking bucket and say the will not participate in the bailout unless the debt is “restructured” The European part of the Troika will not accept that, but say they could not go ahead with the bailout if the IMF doesn't participate. Meanwhile, while the financial gambling sharks shuffle their chips, the people of Greece bleed. That's capitalism.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Warm Air On Ageing Bones.

          Hi, this will be my last posting here for a couple of weeks. I'm off to let some warm air caress my ageing bones. So see you soon.

MY GREEK HOLIDAY.

Bustling town,

Greek warriors striding towards me

erect, looking straight ahead

dressed in traditional dress.

Skin tight jeans, knee length Jimmy Chow boots,

ample cleavage, displayed,

topped with Prada sunglasses

and Gucci bag slung over the shoulder.

Noisy cafes, loud animated conversation,

no hands, no voice.

Click of dice, backgammon the religion.

An array of coffees, delivered

to background music born of a forced marriage,

traditional Greek, rock and rap, Greek pop.

White and beige apartment blocks

scarred by long dark shadows,

set ablaze in a scarlet fire

by a fireball sun that seeks the sea,

creating a firestorm across the sky.

Only a lingering kiss with the sea can cool its ire.

Apartments, villas, tavernas,

marauding groups, two’s, three’s, four’s.

Sometimes lying around in the sun,

sometimes following you,

sometimes howling at you.

Everywhere, the street dogs of Greece.

Sitting on my rock

On the side of the mountain,

the sun in my face,

not a breath of wind, not a sound.

Ah, this must be the valley

Where the Gods sleep.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

May Day On The Green.

        An other appeal for those interested in getting May Day back on the Green, get in touch, bring what you expect to find, come and do your thing, just let us know what you hope to do.

 MAY DAY IN THE GREEN

Sunday ist May from 1.30pm (to around 4pm) informal picnic with poets, singers, musicians. The location will be at the other side of the Peoples Palace in Glasgow Green, near the "washing lines" and canopy. Part of a project to return Mayday to the people from the Bureaucrats of the STUC & Politicians. This will be after the May day march from George Square at 11.30 and complementary to street stalls at Buchanan St. Planning meeting at 1pm Sunday 17th April in Electron Club. All invited to help make this a success! An event supported by Spirit of Revolt archive, Clydeside IWW and performers    email   annarky@radicalglasgow.me.uk

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Capitalism, The Cheats Paradise.

      Our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media is all in a flutter of the Panama leaks, which seems to suggest that some rich millionaires might be fiddling the books, surely not!!! From what they've printed, it seems to be all the bad guys that the west doesn't like, We have Putin linked, Gaddaffi, is mentioned, Mubarak, and Assad are mentioned, of we all know that no Western leaders would be implicated in such dirty dealings, we are democratic. Believe that and you'll believe any bullshit. There is a mention of PM Cameron's daddy being involved in what they call creative accounting. "Off shore" is a euphemism for very large pig trough.

        It would be more interesting to see who among the UK pampered parasites are not involved. We expect the lot to have their greedy snouts firmly tucked into the trough, while posing in photo ops as upstanding individuals. They inhabit a stewpot of self interest, greed and corruption. No doubt some will still manage to tut-tut at it all.  They are all underhand wheelers and dealers, that's what they do, It does get awful close to Lizzie's associates: (Elizabeth Windsor's family bank Coutts & Co are implicated in the Panama Papers scandal. They made 487 tax haven firm start-up requests to Mossack Fonseca, making them one of the most prominent applicants to tax haven schemes.) Time to clean the pig shed out.

      To me this isn't news, it is the way they do things, though it is satisfying to see the dirty washing being hung out to dry. Who needs them.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Words For Julia.

        Staying with poetry, I received this from comrade Loam, a beautiful poem, born of the brutality of the Franco regime in 1938.

        José Agustín Goytisolo. Born in Barcelona on 13 April 1928, his family was brutally shaken by the death of his mother (Julia Gay) in an aerial bombardment by Franco regime, in 1938. José Agustín was specially affected, and named his daughter after his lost mother. 'Words for Julia' is one of his best-known poems (sung by Paco Ibáñez -anarchist)

Here's the poem translated into English.

José Agustín Goytisolo
Words for Julia

You cannot turn back
because life's pushing you
like a never-ending howl.

My daughter, it's better to live
with the happiness of mankind,
than to cry before the blind wall.

You will feel cornered,
you will feel lost or lonely,
maybe you'll wish you hadn't been born.

I know very well they will tell you
that there is no object to life,
that it is an unfortunate affair.

Then always remember
what I wrote one day
thinking of you as I am now thinking.

A man alone, a woman,
taken like that, one by one,
are like dust, are nothing.

But when I talk to you,
when I write these words for you,
I also think of other people.

Your destiny is in others,
your future is your own life,
your dignity is that of everybody.

Others expect you to resist,
your happiness to help them,
your song among their songs.

Then always remember
what I wrote one day
thinking of you as I am now thinking.

Never give up or halt
by the road, never say
I can't take it any more and here I stop.

 Life is beautiful, you will see
how in spite of the sorrows
you'll have love, you'll have friends.

For the rest there is no choice
and this world as it is
will be all your patrimony.

Forgive me, I do not know
what more to say, but you understand
that I am still on my way.

And always, always, remember
what I wrote one day
thinking of you like I am now thinking.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

I Dream Of Fires Of The Future.

Two poems today, and why not?

I Dream.

I dream

A world where man

No other man will scorn,

Where love will bless the earth

And peace its paths adorn.

I dream a world where all

Will know sweet freedom's way,

Where greed no longer saps the soul

Nor avarice blights our day.

A world I dream where black or white,

Whatever race you be,

Will share the bounties of the earth

And ever man is free,

Where wretchedness will hang its head

And joy, like a pearl,

Attends the needs of all mankind----

Of such a I dream, my world!

Langston Hughes.

 

Fires Of The Future.

I am fire,

I surge,   I hiss,

sometimes bursting forth in 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.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Capitalism And Mental Health.

          Although this video came from  our friends just up the road, I just came across it yesterday on arrezafe. Great work comrades, keep up those Libertarian Socialist Rants.

Published on Mar 22, 2016

       Far from being a far-fetched pipe dream that human beings could never live under, pockets of anarchistic self-activity are what keep us sane in a profoundly insane world. This video mainly deals with how the capitalist system exerts massive amounts of pressure on individuals and gives the average person a million different things to worry about. I mainly talk about anxiety and depression here, although I fully acknowledge that there's so much more to cover than just that, both in terms of mental illness and in terms of societal analysis. 

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

World Wide Anarchist Radio.

        Anarchist radio goes world wide on Sunday, April, 3rd. 2016, 14:00-18:00 (European Central Time) Four hours when the world can tune in and listen to our ideas. Now, that must be worth shouting about.
        On Sunday, the 3rd of April 2016, the 17 projects of the International Gathering of Anarchist and Anti-authoritarian Radios that is taking place in Berlin, Germany, will do a 4 hour live radio broadcast that can be listen to through an online stream (links below!).
        The programme will cover wide range of topics from the perspective of anarchist and anti-authoritarian movements. Presentations of local and international projects, groups/networks and activities/struggles; discussions on current issues such as migration; announcements of the upcoming protests/conferences/meetings/bookfairs and much more!

The facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1288252974526939/ 14:00 - 18:00 (European Central Time)

 Streams: 

A-radio Berlin (Germany):

 http://giss.tv:8000/aradio-berlin.mp3 http://giss.tv:8001/aradio-berlin.mp3 

Radio Študent 89,3 MHz (Slovenia): 

http://kruljo.radiostudent.si:8000/ehiq 

Broadcasts: Radio Študent 89,3 MHz (Slovenia): 89,3 fm 

        MORE INFORMATIONS SOON! Help us spread the information about the online radio broadcast that will be done this Sunday. Please share this informations with your comrades and all those interested through your channels of communication! SHARE THIS FB EVENT AND INVITE FRIENDS! There will be radio projects (radio stations, radio shows and podcasts) from different parts of the globe participating, so interesting program is inevitable: 

*A-Radio Berlin (Podcast, Germany)* http://aradio.blogsport.de/ 

*FrequenzA (Podcast, Germany)

*?rna Luknja (Show, Ljubljana, Slovenia)

*radiostudent.si/druzba/crna-luknja 

*A-Radio Vienna (Show, Austria)

*Radio Libertarie (Station, Paris, France)* http://www.radio-libertaire.net/ * Motbrus (Podcast, Stockholm, Sweden) 

* Furia de Radio / Radio Irola Irratia (Show and station, Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain) 

* Lucha Libre / Radio Topo (Show and station, Zaragoza, Spain) 

* The Final Straw (Show, North Carolina, USA) 

*Ex-Worker/CrimethInc (Podcast, USA+international) http://www.crimethinc.com/podcast/ 

* Volver a la tierra (Show, Temuco, Chile) 

* Error Involuntario (Show, Concepción, Chile) 

*Radiozones of Subversive Expression / 98FM (Show and Station, Athens, Greece) 

*1431AM (Station, Thessaloniki, Greece) https://www.1431am.org/ 

*Radio Parasita (Station, Volos, Greece) 

*Radio Psalidi (Station, Rethymno, Greece) * Radio Revolt (Station, Thessaloniki, Greece)

      Last year (2015) the International Meeting of Anarchist and Anti-authoritarian Radios was held in Ljubljana, Slovenia. You can check the radio programme from that meeting here: http://radiostudent.si/druzba/crna-luknja/voices-of-anarchism

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk