Showing posts with label freedom of expression. Show all posts
Showing posts with label freedom of expression. Show all posts

Monday 5 December 2022

To The Right!


            As the state here tightens its legislation on protests, trying to make it impossible to protest against any injustice, and demonises those who dare to take strike action in a struggle for a decent life, labelling them enemies of the state, as well as accusing them of playing into the hands of Putin, we must remember, this is not a local problem, it is happening across the world. Here in Europe and in America the various states are marching to the right, as is happening elsewhere. Anarchists always come in for some of the harshest treatment. In Italy a law, 41-bis, brought in to attack the mafia, after a string of assassinations is now being used against anarchists. In Greece it is practically a military operation with guns and all the brutal appendages the authoritarian state can muster to destroy free autonomous spaces and brutalise those who defend those spaces. This is an on going threat that we ignore at our peril. Our limited liberties are being trashed, if this happens, it will be a harder fight to get them back. Much better to defend what you have rather than try to retrieve what you have lost. This fight is of the most urgency, the various state are marching right at an ever increasing pace.

The following extract from Enough is Enough.


Originally published by Communıty of Squatted Prosfygıka.

We are still here … The Community remains strong and united … Prosfygika will win!!!!

            On 22/11/2022, at 5.45 am, all kinds of police forces, riot police MAT, state security, Delta, OPKE and EKAM, invaded the squated neighbourhood of Prosfygika on Alexandra Avenue and more specifically the 7th block, on Tikhonidos Street (behind the Elpis Hospital). They broke through the outer door of the building, breaking it. Then they went up to the second floor where two community companions, the arrested companion and another refugee from Iran live. They kidnapped both of them and proceeded to carry out a thorough search of the building. At the same time, the entire neighborhood was surrounded by the repression forces, not only at the site of the search but in total, attempting to occupy it.
        The operation was spotted by the community’s daily morning patrol who began to inform the neighborhood. Comrades and compañeras took to the rooftops to wake up the rest of us. Not knowing exactly what was happening, we recognized that the operation was limited to a specific building, but we also realized the serious possibility of a general attack. In retrospect, we judge that the invasion that took place was premeditated from the morning. All the time that elapsed until the moment of the invasion was the result of preparation, judgment on costs and gains, as well as a measurement of our determination, by the officials of the GADA and the ministry.
        As time went on, the situation seemed to get more difficult. The comrade remained inside the building, the police forces were not removed and the encirclement remained. The neighbourhood was becoming suffocating with the situation. We attempted to contain the riot police further in from Kuzi Street, that is, the vertical street that centrally separates the refugee blocks, so as to open up vital space for the neighbourhood, without obstructing the investigation, but making our presence felt. This allowed the neighbourhood to slowly leave their homes, some to go to their jobs and others to take their children to school. It also stopped the torture of our comrade, who was under captivity in his house for about 3 hours. At least as he informed us later, then, after the fireworks, they stopped and took him to GADA.
       At the same time we were receiving more and more information and indications of a second operation that had been predecided and which would take place after 3.00 p.m., after the partial eviction of the two hospitals of St. Sava and Elpis. Around 12.00 noon we held a march through the neighbourhood and called an emergency advocacy meeting at the community shelter in the 6th block for 4.00 p.m. At 5.00 p.m., during the open publicly announced meeting, the repression helicopter and drone attack began in the air. The guarding shift resisted as best they could given the circumstances, using every means of non-criminal force, not only to protect against persecution disproportionate to the litigation, but also to protect the entire community, its children and patients, and the wider neighbourhood in general. A wave of terrorism fell upon the 5th and 6th blocks that left children and other people in the neighborhood in panic attacks that continue to this day. The Hellenic Police assassins broke down apartment doors with guns drawn, threatening anyone in sight, and attempted to impose a regime of terrorism. A sick woman in a wheelchair and her daughter, a family holding their children in a panic attack, a mother beaten and thrown to the floor in front of her 12-year-old son after their door was broken, migrants and refugees spilling into their homes and on the stairs, like an invasion of Gaza.


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

Wednesday 5 January 2022

Victory.

          It is not very often that a group involved in self help and community mutual aid, that has been harassed, intimidate told by the city council that what they are doing is illegal and threatened with court action, finds itself in court and after a seven year battle wins and receives damages from the city council. Fort Lauderdale council, done its best to stop Food Not Bombs, by all manner of threats and intimidation from handing out food to those in need. Congratulations to Food Not Bombs for their persistent and courageous fight against the power of the state and gaining a tremendous victory. Hope this is an inspiration to all those other groups and individual intent in facing down the state and trying to make this world a better place for all. The vindictive inhumanity and cruelty of the state knows no bounds, and it is encouraging to see its crass inhumanity get a kick up the backside.

The following from Anarchist News:

           It took seven years, but FTL FNB’s federal civil liberties lawsuit against Fort Lauderdale for banning food sharings is finally concluding. After we won our 2nd appeal in August 2021, the City has accepted a settlement that admits they were wrong to enforce the Park Rule against us and will pay us a small amount of damages. They will also have to pay our lawyers a great deal more!
          These results are on top of the victories this lawsuit already accomplished in years’ prior, including the 2018 appeals ruling that ruled that the original sharing ban law was unconstitutional – and creating a strongly worded precedent about sharing food as protected free speech.
         So anyways we would like to say: FUCK YEAH! We had to bite our tongues a lot over the years to see how this would play out, but no more. We out-lived and out-maneuvered the old Mayor, City Manager, and City Attorney, who were all intent on policing us and the homeless out of existence. Fuck them! Let’s not forget multiple FLPD Chiefs and Captains who sent their goons to stalk and arrest us, all gone now! Nuts to all the narrow-minded fools who wanted to be rid of us.
        And while we struggled to keep FNB going, we did so much more along the way – actions, workshops, fundraisers and so on. We’re honored to have an impact in the courts and the streets over the years.
         One downside to running such a long campaign was our friends that didn’t live to see the end. Presente our dear friend and volunteer David Bambi Hitchcock, and Gonzalo Vizcardo, also a volunteer from a long time ago, and our supporters Sylvie, Bob Bender, Jack Lieberman, and Daniel.
         We deeply appreciate the contributions of all our volunteers and allies over the years.
        All thanks to our lawyers – Mara Shlackman, perhaps the only person who could’ve ever made any of this possible, and Kirsten Anderson, Andrea Costello, and Jodi Siegel of Southern Legal Counsel.
       For the other Food Not Bombses out there – y’all are going to accomplish great things! Don’t give up!
       Finally we’d like to say – Let’s fuck shit up in 2022 – ‘cuz everything’s scary and nothing’s gonna change unless we make it! The people are hungry!

Read the full article HERE:

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

Wednesday 6 January 2021

Keelie 14.

     The Glasgow Keelie jumps into 2021 with its latest issue, No.14, and as usual it carries a punch and variety of subject matter. This pocket rocket of criticism and information is a must read, read it and spread the word, it's your paper Glasgwegians. However it might be a local paper but the info is of interest to all who wish to see through the smoke and mirrors of this society.

Read the latest issue HERE

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

Monday 12 October 2020

Eviction.

   

         The continuous drive by the state marches on relentlessly, it drives on its desire to crush any form of dissent, independent living or thought. State after state proceeds with its heavy handed evictions and closure of autonomous spaces, it will take the relentless drive by all independent thinkers and groups to return this savagery back on the perpetrators. If you desire a fair society with freedom of expression, thought and action, then you must get behind those fighting this brutal drive for a subservient population. Perhaps you think that the eviction of a squat doesn't affect you, but it does, it means that in the society that you live, the right to an alternative thought and way of life has been curtailed by brute force, savage action against people who are trying to create that better life for themselves and others, is that the type of society that you can live with?

 The following from 325:

Berlin: Liebig34 is evicted (Germany)
October 12th, 2020
9 October 2020
          It feels incredible to type these words into the keys: The Liebig34 is cleared.
          At 7:00 a.m. Robocops started sawing and flexing fences, doors, windows and barricades and at 11:00 a.m. the last inhabitants* of the Liebig34 were dragged out of the rooms.
          We are sad. We are crying. We are exhausted. WE ARE ANGRY.
          They can‘t imagine the determination they have awakened in us. This act of violence will explode in an act of counter-violence and self-defense. Already so much solidarity has happened in the last nights, months, years and has shown what we are capable of doing. This eviction is a moment of radicalization. We can use it and together we can express our hatred for this shit.
          Even if the press, politicians, cops and Nazis are now taking pleasure in our loss, we are turning powerlessness into anger. So many borders have been crossed. We shout NO in your spiteful eats. You can have our house, you will never get our passion. We are so much more than this house – we are anarchists, feminists, queers and antifascists who will now channel their anger and attack capitalist patriarchy to the last.
         We call for the demo from 21:00 in Monbijoupark. We call for decentralized actions. Let us experience a wild and chaotic October together!
34 million property damage – we are already well on the way.
Liebig34 lives. Liebig34 fights.

Liebig34
Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk 

Sunday 8 December 2019

The Usual Police Brutality.

 


      Police brutality is a fact of the state system, there is no other way that the state can keep control of the population. What the people want and what the state want are irreconcilable. People want freedom to choose their way of life, to enjoy the fruits of their labour and to share in an equal and civilised manner. The state wants total control to keep the wealth flowing to the few wealthy power mongers at the top. The moment people challenge that position out comes the iron fist, Chile, Lebanon, Ecuador, Haiti, Bolivia, Iran, Iraq, France, Spain, Hong Kong and lots of places elsewhere.

   Let's not forget Greece, a short video of Greek democracy at work today:



Thursday 28 November 2019

Why Not A Poem.

     When all else fails, why not read or write a poem?

A Scarred Heart.
I tossed a heart at life
saw it dance in the morning sun
watched it through a field of nettles run
felt it warmed by passion's breath
heard it crack between love's teeth
was proud, as it turned its back on fear
sighed so when it it near' drowned in an anguished tear;
scarred and bleeding it came back, aged like wine,
with a quiet pride I said, "This is mine". 
Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk  

Wednesday 27 February 2019

The Holy Crap Of Vicious Religions.

 
     With sickening regularity, another child sexual abuse case in the Catholic Church hits the headlines. This time it is the top of the tree that has had the spotlight shine on him, a Cardinal no less. When will people realise that the Catholic Church has been riddled with this sort of thing for centuries, it is not a modern phenomena, it is part and parcel of its history. I have always maintained that it is not just the humble priests that are guilty of this. Priests get promoted and no doubt some of those will continue secret perversion as they move up the ladder. How many guilty higher ranking clergy are now sitting in the judgement seat of of known colleagues with the same perversion. 
     The whole institution stinks from top to bottom for a multitude of reasons, child sexual abuse is just one of that multitude. Others include stifling freedom of expression, control over people's rights to choose, brainwashing children into believing in a man in the sky, who will send them to hell for all eternity if they don't obey their perverted and irrational rules. In all its history it has been an instrument of control with bizarre, cruel and barbaric punishments on those who would dare to disbelieve their hogs-wash. 
     As I have said, it is a scar on the face of humanity, an impediment to freedom of speech and choice, its brutal and violent past has not been abandoned willingly, it has been contained by public outrage and disgust.
        Debates in international forums and in mainstream media on the role, responsibility, liability, and response of ecclesiastical authorities of the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) toward clerical child sexual abuse (cCSA) fail to take into account the historical roots and awareness of the problem. Reports also fail to mention the historic organizational laws RCC developed over centuries. In contrast, RCC documents evidence that the Catholic Church not only carried century's old history of cCSA, but also repeatedly condemned cCSA by successive papal authorities, organizational laws, and institutional management mechanisms. During the first millennium, however, church laws remained confined to the bookshelves and were not converted into appropriate management policies and infrastructural models. This was largely due to the absence of a central administrative organizational structure, which developed later in the 12th century, following the Second Council of Lateran (1139) when the Papacy asserted its authority to establish administrative control over the organizational church. It was only then that management policies started to be framed and institutional structures enacted to deal more appropriately with cCSA from the 14th to 20th centuries. Despite this, RCC developed a culture of secrecy using clandestine organizational management models and institutional laws prescribed in 1568, 1622, 1741, 1866, 1922, and 1962 which aimed to manage cCSA. The current study traces reported cCSA as far back as the first century and critically examines the organizational laws, and institutional policies developed by RCC to address clerical sexual misconduct up to the end of the 19th century.(
From Wikipedia:  
 
Sexual abuse has existed in the Catholic Church since at least as far back as the 11th century, when Peter Damian wrote a scathing treatise, Liber Gomorrhianus, against such abuses and others. In 1531, Martin Luther claimed that Pope Leo X had vetoed a measure that cardinals should restrict the number of boys they kept for their pleasure, "otherwise it would have been spread throughout the world how openly and shamelessly the pope and the cardinals in Rome practice sodomy."[23]
       I don't write these things an an enemy of the Catholic Church, but as a lifelong enemy of all religions. They are all power structures, that aim to control the population within their irrational dogma under the threat of punishment. They all preach peace and love, but will have no hesitation in slaughtering non-believers and those of other religions. All religions have a gory blood stained past, which from time to time bursts forth to the surface even today. How many bloody conflicts across the globe can be laid at the feet of opposing religions and religious factions? Too many to count and too many to allow us to let religions maintain their vicious grasp of people's minds. 
  
Visit ann arky's home at radicalglasgow.me.uk

Friday 9 November 2018

Publish And Be Damned.

         You believe strongly in justice for all, equality of opportunity, freedom as a basic right, you are vehemently anti-exploitation, anti-war. You sit at your computer writing up leaflets, flyers and texts, to distribute to all and sundry, hoping to influence them to change society towards these ideals. However, are they legal? For the word legal, substitute, "controlled". The state lives by control, if what you are doing is not controlled, you will be deemed a threat, and no doubt, appropriate action can and will be taken. In this society, freedom extends only as far as you are subservient, and you make no attempt to change the structure of the power arrangements within this society.
 

          This from leccoriot, translated for Act For Freedom Now:
 IF EVEN PUBLISHING IS CLANDESTINE ACTIVITY…

          On 7th July a comrade was stopped in Lecco station by the Railway Police. After searching him and examining the books and pamphlets he was carrying, the police decided to raid his home and that of his parents on the pretext that they had found ‘La salute è in voi’ [Health is within you] among the books, a manual for lovers of direct action edited in 1906 and recently reprinted by some comrades. 
        Following the searches more anarchist printed material was seized as it had been printed illegally, and the comrade was charged with ‘clandestine printing’. To this charge another was added, that of ‘insulting the armed forces’, because of a poster where the Alpini [Alpine Troops] were specifically attacked in a proposal for a debate.
         Unfortunately this episode is not an isolated one and raises several points for us to think about.
           First of all it reintroduces the charge of clandestine press from out of the armoury of repression. Although claiming the publishing and distribution of material outside the rules imposed by the market (and the State) would be superfluous, it might be useful to dwell on the potential of this repressive instrument for a moment.
         In fact, in any documentation centre or squat there are dozens of texts that have been ‘freely’ published without any authorization or copyright; all this material could end up being locked away in police station store rooms.

What to do in the face of this?

         Without even considering the question of legalization, which, if it were possible, would allow books and pamphlets to continue to circulate without any legal consequences, one preventive response to future repressive crusades in the name of clandestine printing could be to open up a debate on the significance of ‘free’ publishing, its potentialities, perspectives and difficulties.

The charge of ‘contempt for the armed forces’ also deserves a mention.

          Certainly not because of the penal question in itself, which is minimal, but rather for comrades to think about. Attacking the armed forces directly, whichever way one prefers, should be a good habit not to be lost in our opinion. Especially as some of these forces, the Alpini for example, disguise themselves as pacifist entities that are beneficial to the community and, thanks to their fake folkloristic character, their nationalist, racist and sexist aspects are passed on unsuspectingly. Hence the decision to unmask them explicitly and openly criticize them in any situation whatsoever, no matter who their interlocutor, so as to tear away the veil of ambiguity that lets them move around freely. 
         May there be contempt! This could be a good starting point for looking beyond the single atrocities perpetrated by Alpini, police and carabinieri, and finally getting to the root of the problem. That is to say the State’s need to increase its repressive or preventive apparatuses, the existence of the armed forces as functional to maintaining the status quo. And no less important, especially in these ominous times, the increasing push for every ‘good citizen’ to become police informers, blindly obedient with an acritical respect for the law seen as absolute truth, characteristics that are undeniably linked to the militarist ideology.
          Certain that their intimidations won’t have any effect, we need to build as many occasions as possible so that words printed in black and white cut through our pages and come out into the open, expressing a radical critique that can’t be recuperated by the democratic yoke.
          To bring alive the tension against all authority, against assassins, minions of power and the indifferent, increasingly accomplice to everyday atrocities.

Centro di documentazione anarchico l’Arrotino [Anarchist resource centre l’Arrotino]
Visit ann arky's home at radicalglasgow.me.uk



Saturday 27 January 2018

Naughty Words And Daft Opinions.

 
         To some it might seem a trivial affair, someone puts a poster up in their window, the state's minders the police, run in and demand they take it down, the individual refuses and is arrested and a date set for their court appearance. The offending poster stated, "FUCK OFF YOU TORY CUNTS" However this is far from trivial, but typical of the state of repression that exists in this country. Any excuse to glean information, intimidate and subdue the people from freely expressing their political view will be seized upon and the full force of the biased judicial system will enmesh the individual. Glasgow has recently had this denial of freedom of expression foisted on an individual, and the case is still on going. Perhaps all those Class War supporters should display this poster in their windows, and see the country festooned with the offending words, which are really an expression from the heart of a lot of people across the UK.
       To some people some words may be offensive, but that is all they are, just words, they are just an expression of an opinion, nobody gets hurt. I was born  in the Glasgow slum of Gangad, my father was a miner all his working life, I started my working life in the Clyde shipyards. The language was, to say the least, varied and colourful, but over time the political correct have tried to cleanse our language of a range of words, they deem offensive. My advice to them is to Fuck Off and leave us alone.  

       This from Freedom News:
         Last year during the national elections campaign, Class War Scotland member David McHarg was arrested twice because of a poster that was displayed on his window. The poster read: “Fuck off you Tory cunts”.
         The first time the police had visited David McHarg in May 2017. Upon David’s absence, the cops demanded that his wife remove the offending poster. She refused, explaining that the poster is her husband’s property and it is not for her to decide what to do with it. The polce conducted two more visits at David’s, during which he refused to remove the sign, or to give any personal details. Eventually David was arrested for ’threatening or abusive behaviour’ under Section 38, The Criminal Justice and Licencing (Scotland) Act 2012 and for ‘failure to give details as a witness’ under the Court Section 13–14, The Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995. However, initially David wasn’t even charged: instead, he was taken to the police station, where he was made to wait for 9 hours, and was subjected to anal cavity search.
         David is a member of Class War Scotland. He says that ‘It was done to humiliate me, because they were obviously aware of my political standing which is anarchist’.
         David’s trial took place mid- January at Glasgow Sheriff Court and the case has been adjourned till June. If David is found guilty, he plans to seek the help of Amnesty International and to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights.
         David McHarg is invoking his Article 10 right to ‘freedom of expression’ under the Human Rights Act 1998. Article 10 protects the right to hold ones own opinions and to express them freely ‘without government interference’ This includes the right to express your views in public (for example through public protest and demonstrations) or through published articles, books, leaflets, television or radio broadcasting works of art, and the internet and social media.
          It isn’t the first time the cops interfere with Article 10. Another similar case occurred in 2010 during the Parliamentary Elections, when officers invaded David Hoffman’s home in East London and insisted on the removal of a poster displayed on his front window showing the face of David Cameron with the word “WANKER” printed underneath. The civil case took place in the High Court. David Hoffman claimed that this treatment amounted to an unlawful interference with his Article 10 right to ‘freedom of expression’ under the Human Rights Act 1998. The Metropolitan Police accepted Hoffman’s claim and provided him a letter of apology.
       According to NETPOL (The Network for Police Monitoring), “Powers given to the police to deal with anti-social behaviour are increasingly being used to gather information on participants in political protest.” In the same article it is also stated that over the years the police have misconstrued a wide variety of protest activity, including demonstrations, handing out leaflets and sit-down protests, as ‘anti-social behaviour’. This operation is constantly used to obtain the names and addresses of those taking part, and David McHarg is yet another victim of such policy.
Visit ann arky's home at radicalglasgow.me.uk

Sunday 19 November 2017

The Dear Green Place On a Cold Dull Night.

       What else would you do on a cold miserable Saturday night in Glasgow? Or where else would you do this?

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


Tuesday 7 November 2017

First They Came For The Anarchists----.

 
       The venomous tentacles of the state always reach further and deeper into the fabric of society. Total control is the desired aim, control of your actions and control of your thoughts, that means control of information that you receive. The state's legislation put in place in pursuing certain Islamic groups, will now be geared up to attack all groups and individuals they see as potential voices of dissent, that wonderfully vague term "extremists" will now be used as a wide brush to sweep up any and all opposition to the the state's ceaseless march for control. For full control, all voices of dissent must be silenced. Naturally, anarchists, who are always vociferous in their opposition to this strangling control by the state, will be targeted, and are being targeted, in various countries across the capitalist globe.
      Europe has upped its attempt to silence anarchist media centres, autonomous centres, and any group or individual that challenges state control,  Italy, Spain, Greece, France and Germany, have all in recent times stepped up a gear in repression of these forms of expression. Now more than ever, we should all remember:

First they came for the anarchists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not an anarchist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
First they came for the anarchists. 


      Over the past couple of months, there have been several acts of repression aimed at autonomous media project in the territory controlled by the French state. Below are two translated texts dealing with this.
        The first discusses criminal charges brought against an anarchist comrade for texts published on the long-running anarchist website cettesemaine.info. This site recently decided to stop publishing, while making clear that it is not because of the repression they face, but rather with the limits of counter-info projects and dissatisfaction with how much importance the internet is given in the anarchist space. The comrade’s trial is this Wednesday, November 8, in Paris.
      The second is from Indymedia Nantes about their decision to ignore a legal demand from the French cybercrime division ordering them to remove communiques about attacks and announcing contingency plans in case their site is blocked in the coming days.
      This repression follows on the German government’s recent decision to shut down Indymedia Linksunten and in a context in France where the current government has bypassed the usual democratic steps to write parts of the State of Emergency (that has been in effect for a year and a half) permanently into criminal law. Some see this as a broadening of the repressive measures developed for use against Islamist groups to include anarchists and social movements.
      As an anarchist involved in counter-info projects, as an anarchist period, I feel solidarity with the comrades at Indymedia Nantes and especially with the person being dragged before a judge this week in Paris. Fuck all courts and the world that needs them. One way of showing this solidarity is to share information about the situation and to make plans for how we can continue communicating in a context of increasing repression, while never forgetting that solidarity means attack.
Read the full article HERE: 
Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Thursday 28 September 2017

National Poetry Day 2017.

       Today is national poetry day, so in my humble way I attempt to celebrate and further the idea that, poetry is a magic portal through which you can see a different world. Enjoy.
 
Anarchy
 
Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori
rings false for a pillaging empire.
To die for war-mongers
and criminals in business suits
is sour.

The Pledge of Allegiance
is sinister and violent.
National identity empowers
the American war machine.
Proudly waving flags
conceal the unjust bloodshed.

War needs public support;
propaganda makes it possible;
repetition makes it stick.
Indoctrination into the fold
of nationalistic pride
from birth.

Do governments truly
unite their peoples...

...or divide the world
with flags and gods?

Mind control
on an unbelievable scale,
a shill production scheme.

And who votes either
"For" or "Against"

plays into
unknown
fists.

 
WE THE LABOURING MASSES.

We the people have, every brick laid,
have fed the world with sweat and spade,
every instrument played in every band
created by the skill of the craftsman's hand.
We made every truck and every load,
our toil our effort every winding road,
every ship that ever sailed the sea,
our power our imagination made it be.
Cities and towns large and small,
our labouring hands fashioned them all,
every home, every spire,
luxury mansion or humble byre.
No matter what dreams the mind might spawn
without labour's hand, never see the light of dawn,
without labour's strength and labour's skill,
we would be foraging beasts in a jungle still.

FROM GEORGE SQUARE TO TAHRIR SQUARE.

In a global square, in a global village the people are gathering,
They want to sort out their village once and for all.
They have had enough of wild beasts stealing their chickens,
Of war lords pillaging and plundering their crops.
Though they labour hard, they live poor
While the wild beasts and war lords grow fat.
This time they will take the time and do it right,
This time they will finally and forever banish,
Wild beasts and war lords from their village.
This time all our chickens will feed all the children of the village
This time our crops will see all our people through the winter,
This time, all the fruits of our labour will be ours.

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


Sunday 20 August 2017

Call Out For Solidarity.




        In this so called democracy, sanitised, and authority choreographed, marches, demos and protests are tolerated, but even in these sanctioned affairs, the eyes of the minders of the state, are ever eager to mark things with their branding iron of fear, just in case anybody should try to think for themselves and act accordingly. Glasgow Pride March, a rather merry and pleasurable affair, saw 5 arrests.
         This is a call out from various groups, to show support and solidarity with those arrested.

Solidarity with 5 arrested at Glasgow Pride MarchHi, 
     There’s a write-up on this blog, including pictures and video: https://athousandflowers.net/2017/08/19/no-pride-in-police-arrests-in-glasgow-as-protesters-resist-police-led-pride-march/amp/
       The first three arrests were a planned protest by Free Pride and they were bailed on Saturday. The other two arrests were from our bloc: a young person nicked for having an offensive banner (with no chance to surrender or destroy it) and someone who tried to intervene / observe. As far as I know these two are being held for court on Monday.
        I’ll go to the court tomorrow in support; is anyone else coming, and do we know the full names of the arrestees? I expect both to be not called, or bailed or ordained to return for trial. Does anyone know where prisoners are released from Glasgow Sheriff Court custody, if they don’t get out through the main doors?
        Thanks for any help, best wishes,

Solidarity with 5 arrested at Glasgow Pride March
        Latest news is that two people are still in custody, the other three have been released. There is going to be a solidarity demo at the Glasgow Sheriff Court tomorrow Monday 9am onwards
       For updates see ACE facebook and especially Free the Pride Five events page https://www.facebook.com/events/294177851048722/
       Excerpt: On 19th August three trans activist and two antifa were arrested for protesting capitalist pride. Join us in solidarity on their court date.
UPDATE: three have been released but we will still be there for the other two.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1445513385484082&id=216550781713688&ref=bookmarks
Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk
 

Friday 19 August 2016

Freedom From Religion.




       Why does religion get special treatment in our society? We are always hearing that in a free society you should be free to indulge in the religion of your choice. However freedom and religion stand on opposite sides of a chasm. Religion is an authoritarian institution, and in most cases, is interwoven with the power strands of the state. In almost all the countries on this planet, religion and state stand side by side holding hands in their attempt to control the people. All religions have a heritage of brutal violence against other religions, and more venomous brutality against those who disbelieve their particular fantasy. Religion must be seen for what it is, a control system, a system that demands obedience to a set of dogmas handed down from higher authority, therefore the enemy of freedom.
 
     If we seek freedom to live our lives in free association, and voluntary co-operation, then religion and all its authoritarian bullshit has to be our enemy. It is not, as it would have you believe, an innocent bystander that hands out charity, it is part and parcel of an authoritarian system that demands obedience. By constant struggle from ordinary people we have, to a degree, put a muzzle on the brutality of religion, but it is still inherent within the beast, they still have the desire to punish disbelievers. 
     To fight for freedom means that the gloves should be off in regard to all authority, state, judiciary, religion, and the rest. Authority comes in many guises, sometimes with a smile, sometimes with a helping hand, but behind its back, it always, but always, carries a thick stick. Religion is no different, it must be grouped with all the other authoritarians.
 
A to Z of Religions
Acclaim Arrogant Absolutes.
Bellow Bygone Beliefs.
Casuist Cackling Cabal.
Deadly Divine Dogma.
Embellish Earlier Errors.
Form Fearful Fundamentalists.
Gaily Gabble Gehenna.
Hype Holy Hate.
Ignorantly Idolise Illusion.
Justify Judgmental Jargon.
Knowingly Kindle Kulturkampf.
Lambaste Liberal Learning.
Machiavellian Mind Moulding.
Narrate Nescient Nostrum.
Obligatory Obnoxious Obfuscation.
Peremptory Pestiferous Panjandrum.
Quickly Quell Querists.
Redundant Reactionary Rants.
Suppress Scholastic Scepticism.
Totally Trammel Tolerance.
Ululate Useless Utterances.
Vaticinate Vicious Vengeance.
Wailing Wearisome Waffle.
Extol Excessive Exaltation.
Y? Y? Y?
Zany Zealous Zealots.
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Tuesday 17 May 2016

Squats, A Starting Point.


               Squats; seeds, dreams, hopes, a doorway, a pathway, a factory for the imagination.
           More on squats from 325 by CCF, (Conspiracy of Cells Of Fire) 

      Some thoughts on the invitation sent by the comrades of Papamichelaki Squat, of Teflon Library, of Radiofragmata and of Continuous Deconstruction, about the Squatting issue.
        The following text corresponds to snapshots and features that we can find in the current squats in Greece.
I) Property is theft.
       “Property is theft” says one of the oldest anarchist slogans. It is the theft of collective life, it is the abolition of community, it is the refuge of taking distance from the commons, of fear.
         Property and its twin sister power, gives birth to the distinction of people based on titles, positions and privileges… Just like the sky has no borders, the land should not be owned.
A human from a collective being becomes an owner. An owner not of their life but of walls, windows and furniture…
Squats have begun as a form of denial of property, and of self-organised expression. The course of the squat movement has many shades… Some of them are more militant, others are more harmless… There are anarchist squats and alternative squats, squats which are cores of lawlessness and squats which are dehydrated cultural centers.
         Today in Greece there are much more squats than in the past, not only in Athens but also in many cities.
       Every squat begins with an act of war. It annuls property (cornerstone of state power) and releases the ground from contracts, taxes, accounts, legality…         But the bet is exactly starting from that moment on… Squatting and the self-management of a place is a sharp tool, that can either stab the world of property or just become a souvenir and rust… Certainly, a squat is changing our own small-world, but as long as our world is bordered with the world of state power, if it doesn’t arm itself in order to attack, it will become a vision of an oasis surrounded by the desert of the existent.
II) The House of Anarchy.
        State power, in order to maintain its throne produces destruction. It separates people through laws, rules, racism, insecurity, locks, showcases, screens…          State power manufactures the loneliness of the crowd… “Each one alone … each one for himself.” The absolute principle of “Divide and Conquer…”          A Squat can become a meeting point without separations, an open chance to rediscover our collective self, to create communities again.
Read the full article HERE:
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