WORKERS, KNOW YOUR HISTORY!!!

I keep repeating my pet little mantra, Workers, know your history or repeat yesterday. No doubt there will be lots of people out there thinking that this cuts thing, is something new, a blip in the wonderful efficient capitalist system. However if you look at history you’ll see that it is the normal partern for this type of society. What gains the workers have won over the years by many and long struggles soaked in blood, sweat and tears have always to be defended as the system attempts to take everything back to feed the parasites at the top of this stinking system. What is happening now, cuts and increasing un-employment is just the system doing its thing, yesterday happening again, simply because we haven’t learnt from the past, we have forgotten our history so we repeat yesterday.

   To make my point I have taken a cartoon from an old newspaper, not any old newspaper, but one worth reading. It is from a 1978 Bread and Roses paper. 

ann arky’s home.

WE TOLD YOU SO!!!

        Recently there has been rumblings coming from the various political pundits that today’s situation means that it is no longer a matter of the right-left struggle, it is now a struggle of the people aginst the corporate world. It may come as a surprise to these people, but since the late 1880′s anarchists have been saying that it is not a matter of left and right between the people but a matter of the people against the state. The state has always been there for the protection of the wealthy. After all it was them that set the whole thing up in the first place, and it took generations of struggle for the ordinary people to get even a token element of participation. Remember the struggle for all to get the vote, then for women to get the vote.? Americans can surely remember the civil rights struggles. The only thing that has changed is that in the past the wealthy of a nation owned that nation, now the corporate world own the planet. It is the corporate world that dictates fiscal policies to the various nations. Look around the world and you see governments of left, right, and middle all pursuing the same fiscal policies, the only variation is in degree and speed.

         As long as we accept a system that sets the creation of wealth for the corporate institutions as the goal rather than the well being of the people, we will continually see the gap between rich and poor ever escalating. Poverty will run rampant and the elite pampered parasites will own and control every aspect of our lives.

        Anarchist have been proclaiming this since the word “anarchist” first came in to the language. The difference now is that is is becoming more and more glaringly obvious that they have been right all along. So all those “political pundits” have to do is take the obvious step and through their weight behind the cause for anarchism. 

 

ann arky’s home.

AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY via. THE CIA.

         If anybody out there thinks that it is Clinton/Bush/Obama that is the problem, then perhaps this little list, which is in no way complete, might help to make the point that it is the system of state/corporate capitalism/imperialism, and not the figurehead at the top that is the real problem.

Excerpts courtesy of   CIA timeline.   by Steve Kangas

1953: Iran; CIA overthrows the democratically elected Mohammed Mossadegh in a military coup, after he threatened to nationalize British oil.

1954: Guatemala; CIA overthrows the democratically elected Jacob Arbenz in a military coup.

1957-1973: Laos; The CIA carries out approximately one coup per year trying to nullify Laos’ democratic elections.

1959: Haiti; The U.S. military helps “Papa Doc” Duvalier become dictator of Haiti. He creates his own private police force, the “Tonton Macoutes,” who terrorize the population with machetes.

Ecuador; The CIA-backed military forces the democratically elected President Jose Velasco to resign

Congo (Zaire); The CIA assassinates the democratically elected Patrice Lumumba

1963: Dominican Republic; The CIA overthrows the democratically elected Juan Bosch in a military coup

1964: Brazil; A CIA-backed military coup overthrows the democratically elected government of Joao Goulart. The junta that replaces it will, in the next two decades, become one of the most bloodthirsty in history.

1965: Indonesia; The CIA overthrows the democratically elected Sukarno with a military coup.

Congo (Zaire); A CIA-backed military coup installs Mobutu Sese Seko as dictator.

1967: Greece; A CIA-backed military coup overthrows the government two days before the elections.

Bolivia; A CIA-organized military operation captures legendary guerilla Che Guevara.

1969: Uruguay; The notorious CIA torturer Dan Mitrione arrives in Uruguay, a country torn with political strife. Whereas right-wing forces previously used torture only as a last resort, Mitrione convinces them to use it as a routine, widespread practice.

1973: Chile; The CIA overthrows and assassinates Salvador Allende. The CIA replaces Allende with General Augusto Pinochet, who will torture and murder thousands of his own countrymen in a crackdown on labor leaders and the political left.

1981: Iran/Contra Begins; The CIA begins selling arms to Iran at high prices, using the profits to arm the Contras fighting the Sandinista government in Nicaragua

1983: Honduras; The CIA gives Honduran military officers the Human Resource Exploitation Training Manual, which teaches how to torture people.

1989: Panama; The U.S. invades Panama to overthrow a dictator of its own making, General Manuel Noriega.

Like I said, this list is in no way complete, but there is enough there to surely convince you that changing the smiling face that sits on the throne of corporate capitalism isn’t going to make one bleeding bit of difference to the endless slaughter that goes on to protect the bank balances of the rich parasites that own the corporate world. It will require the destruction of corporate capitalism and the creating a system based on mutual aid and sustainability that will see to the needs of all our people, before we see an end to the slaughter for profits.

 

ann arky’s home.  

IT’S YOUR FAULT, YOU VOTED!!

 

         Now that the well manicured millionaire twins are in full swing with their machetes, hacking at the living standards of the ordinary people of this country, all those who voted at the last election must ask themselves is this what they voted for? Did you know what you were voting for, was it really to see the millionaires club rip you off? Well, it is all your fault, you voted for them. Think of the number of elections we have had and all those wonderful manifestos and yet nothing has changed. The rich and powerful still hold all the aces, we get to carry their bags and we are supposed to be grateful.

          Every adult should know by now that changing the smile at 10 Downing Street, doesn’t make our lives any easier. It is not the well coiffured grinning face that needs changing it is the system. This system of corporate capitalism owns you, it owns the best houses the best land, the factories and the supermarkets, the schools and the hospitals. They have you by the balls and they are squeezing harder now than ever before. Our destiny is now shaped by globalised financiers and multinational corporations, ask yourself, did you vote for them? The 23 millionaires in the cabinet are the action team of the corporate world, they are there to sort things out, to sew-up all the public assets into nice packages for their parasite friends in the millionaires club to gobble up, and to hell with the people. It is their world or it is our world, there can be no compromise.

ann arky’s home.

THE POOR DON’T DESERVE A HOUSE!!!

 

         The Millionaire twins’ plans to cut the housing budget will have devastating effect on a huge swath of ordinary people. According to certain estimates the cuts will put another than 500,000 people on to the housing waiting lists as well as costing over 300,000 jobs in the process. The National Housing Federation stated that ministers risk “shutting the door on an entire generation of low-income families” It will also result in the creation of ghettos where the poor will be corralled like cattle, while the rich live in their secured areas of opulence at the expense of those poor. This is only one aspect of the Cameron-Clegg “BIG SOCIETY”. As well as decent housing being exclusive to the rich, the health service will go the same way and an adequate education will be an expensive commodity that most will not be able to afford. All this to safeguard the bond markets and the millionaire parasites of the corporate world, the real friends of this government and its millionaire cabinet.

           We accept these cuts at our peril, all that the working class have gained through struggle over the last century will be wiped out. It will be a return the poverty of the Victorian era where the deprivation in society was handled by charities and the rich parasites massage their egos by pretending to be philanthropists where they handed back a pittance of what they stole from the poor and expect respect and homage from those that they plundered.

ann arky’s home.

BLOOD AND MINERAL WEALTH??

        300 British troops killed in Afghanistan, it is working out at 1 killed every other day, 300 British families devastated, all in the name of –WHAT–? This does not take into account the number of young people coming back from that imperial expedition with limbs missing and other horrific injuries, then there are those who come home mentally scarred and broken. The bulk of those killed and damaged in this imperial affair are from the working class, the class that has nothing to gain from this endless slaughter. When it comes to why we are there we get a myriad of answers from, making us safe here in the UK, to building a true democracy in Afghanistan, of course we haven’t even started to build a true democracy here in the UK. 

    Recently we have been getting little hints of what could be the true reason for our government sacrificing so many of our  working class youth, (and they are young, the average age of UK deaths in Afghanistan is 22 and among the 300 deaths, 31 were teenagers) In some of the financial papers there has been talk of the mineral wealth of Afghanistan as being in the £3 trillion region. Now the Western corporate world is not going to let that fall into the hands of of any other power group. So they call on their minders, the Western states to get in there and lay claim to that wealth by setting up a compliant government. A government that will let the Western corporate greed machine rip, rape and plunder that unfortunate land to feed their ever hungry shareholders. We the working class of the world bleed and the corporate world gains.  

ann arky’s home.

CAPITALISM AND POVERTY.

     

        So, you’ve had your election, how will the result impact on the figures below?  Just consider how many elections have taken place in your life time and the results are still the same dismal statistics that are listed below. Under capitalism, elections come and elections go, leaders come and leaders go,  but poverty goes on forever.

      In households with less than 60% median income in Scotland today are:

980,000, 20% or one fifth of all individuals,

250,000, 24% of children,

150,000, 16% of pensioners,

590,000, 19% of working age adults

• Inequality:

        The share of the income of the richest ten per cent is the same as that of the bottom fifty per cent.

• Poor Health:

        Differences in life expectancy between the poorest and richest areas of Glasgow can be up 25 years for men and 15 years for women.

• Debt and financial exclusion:

         Only 1 in six people whose household income is less than £10,000 has a bank account. More than half do not have any savings.

• Bad Housing:

       360,000 homes in Scotland are affected by dampness, more than 70% of Scottish social housing is below the Scottish Quality Housing Standard and over 125,000 children live in overcrowded houses.

• Fuel Poverty:

      An estimated 650,000 ‘fuel poor’ households in Scotland and more than 2,000 (rising to 5,000 in severe winters) people aged over 65 die as a result of cold related illnesses during winter months.

• Disadvantaged young people:

         Nearly 1 in 5 young people leave school without SVQ2 level (Higher education entry level) qualifications, increasing their risk of poverty in later life.

          This is what we can expect from the capitalist system, a system based on greed and profit, a system where wealth is created by the many and continually sucked up to the parasitical handful who control the means of production and distribution. Only when we have workers control of these means of production and distribution will we see an end to poverty and deprivation.

ann arky’s home.

CHILD POVERTY – TAX HAVENS!

 

        The government recently announced that it has missed its target of lifting children out of poverty. The government’s definition of child poverty is when the family income is below 60% of the national average. A strange target to miss for one of the richest nations in the world. However while poverty continues to crush and destroy potential of more than 3.4 million children, a conservative estimate, the government of this wealthy nation absolves itself of blame and turns a blind eye to the greed of those pilfering parasites who have plundered the wealth of the nation and avoided paying taxes. Of course there is the usual platitudes about doing better in the future, however a former welfare reform minister warned that, “The pot of money for major new welfare reform projects is now empty.” Though I doubt if the pot of money for the illegal Iraqi, Afghanistan invasions is now empty. Capitalism’s strange priorities.

            Compare that welfare empty pot with the facts from the BBC2’s “No tax please, we’re rich” which estimated that Britain loses £10 billion per year through tax avoidance by the “super-rich”. A previous estimate by the Guardian 12/4/02, put the figure at £85 billion. More than enough to fund the problems we have in welfare, health care, education and public transport. This figure does not include the even greater amounts stashed away in tax havens by the greedy multinational corporations. The contrast of children in poverty and the “super-rich” stashing their millions away in tax havens is part and parcel of the capitalist system. Of course this stashing away is theft of the nation’s assets, condoned by a complicit government who have members in that “super-rich” category. So don’t expect them to do anything about that problem.

          In the run up to the 1997 election the Labour party funded party-political broadcasts promising to tackle corporate tax avoidance. However that was before they were elected, once in power it is expected of them to cozy up to the corporate greed machine as the two of them are arms of the same corrupt beast. Once again as we run up to another election we are getting similar promise about a fairer and equal society. That is of course with the millionaires running the show. The government’s latest pretence at tackling tax avoidance is a series of adverts asking you to grass up your neighbour for working on the fly, ie: the baby sitter, the handy man that does the odd job, the plumber, and the joiner. At no time in the adverts do we see the men in suits with their laptops and brief cases, the ones who really know how to rip off the system and get away with millions. That’s capitalism.

          Only when we dismantle this corrupt festering marriage of state power and corporate greed and replace it with a system of social justice based on the needs of our communities and not on the avaricious desires of sweaty palmed packs of “super-rich” will we see an end to child poverty.

ann arky’s home.

MAY DAY, WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT?

 

       May Day, Labour Day, Workers Day, our day, a day when we the ordinary people of the world can celebrate the heroes from our ranks. Paying homage to the men and women who dedicated their lives to the cause of working class emancipation. People who sought nothing for themselves, many dying for their beliefs, individuals that sometimes stood like colossuses astride the political scene, others that worked tirelessly in the shadows, all for the greater good of all peoples, not more for themselves. Their statues, their plaques are no where to be seen, the establishment has them airbrushed out of history. Instead, the powers that be litter our public squares and parks with grandiose statues of arrogant warmongers, empire builders, kings of industry, rich merchants, all who made a fortune on the back of slave and/or cheap labour or the bloodshed of ordinary people. The establishment wants us to forget our heroes, no statues, no plaques, we mustn’t be allowed to think that fighting for the betterment of ordinary people is a worth while cause, much better to try to convince us that it is more honourable to be a self-centred arrogant pursuer of power and wealth at the expense of others. We mustn’t let this happen, we have to keep alive the names and deeds of that legion of men and women who dedicated their lives to our future well being and that of our kids.

         MAY 1st. Must always be a festive day, a day of celebration and pride, a day when we can all come together and wave our banners, party, and remember those names and deeds. A day to revive that spirit of co-operation in struggle and hopefully push our cause to a higher plain. Always on May 1st. not some conveniently arranged employer/union date, the nearest Sunday or Monday holiday, so as not to upset their production. It is our day, always claim it as a day of family fun, festivities and remembrance, a day of hope for the future of all the ordinary peoples of the world. Glasgow, like most cities, is fortunate in having its own legion of working class fighters, a legion that stretches back through the industrial age and beyond. To pick a few at random, names like Thomas Muir, George Barrett, Tom Anderson, John MacLean, Helen Crawfurd, Guy Aldred, Ethel MacDonald, Jenny Patrick, William McDougal — and the names go on and on and on, events such as, The Cotton Spinners strike, the rent strikes, the first world war peace movement, etc, etc, etc. All names and events to be justly proud of but difficult to find recorded, all the more need to celebrate MAY DAY and keep alive that part of our history, our culture.

         Take to the streets this MAY DAY, bring the family, bring colour, bring music, bring the spirit of the working class, have fun, remember why we are there, be proud and strengthen your resolve to do more to push the cause of co-operation in struggle with all our people. Keep alive the names and deeds of our past, not those of a corrupt, brutal, exploitative system. Keep alive the dream of a society of free association, voluntary co-operation, and mutual aid, a system of seeing to needs and not to the greed of the few.

More on Glasgow’s working class history HERE.

ann arky’s home.

Society based on Capitalism,Religion,Authority and Patriotism.

             C.R.A.P.   for short.

        Any alien looking in on our society must come to the conclusion that we earthlings love CRAP. It is all they will see as we scurry about working in CRAP jobs for CRAP wages and in what little “leisure” time we have we rush around buying CRAP. We spend precious time discussing the benefits of this piece of CRAP as opposed to that piece of CRAP. We weigh up the difference between this pair of CRAP trainers and that pair of CRAP trainers, this CRAP label and that CRAP label. We consider we have choices when we select this CRAP newspaper or that CRAP magazine from the avalanche of CRAP paper pulp on offer. One CRAP supermarket after another offers us an array of CRAP food and TV vomits endless CRAP into our homes and we flick from CRAP Big-Brother to CRAP house make-overs, from CRAP lifestyle programs to CRAP celebrity chat shows.

        Move to the realms of the “serious” CRAP and we have on offer CRAP political parties throwing up an display of smiling CRAP politicians, who, come election time, prance about offering CRAP policies in the hope that they can take their place in that CRAP institution at Westminster. What we get from the CRAP government of the day is such things as the CRAP war on drugs, that doesn’t work, CRAP tough on crime, that criminalizes poverty, CRAP war on terrorism, that is counterproductive,

Capitalism,

can produce nothing but an abundance of CRAP as profit is the only motive.

Religion,

produces CRAP freedom destroying dogma, based on the supposed mutterings of some airy-fairy gods.

Authority,

gives us a CRAP life based on surveillance and strict unbending laws.

Patriotism,

the last refuge of the scoundrel gives us CRAP racism and generates canon fodder for the state’s endless CRAP wars.

      Is this the type of society that we want to bequeath to our children and their grandchildren? Should we not be taking control of our own affairs and producing to our needs based on sustainability? A world of free association, voluntary co-operation and mutual aid is possible, a world that accommodates us all as equals and prepares the world for the next generation rather than rob them of an existence. 

First we have to get rid of  C. R. A. P. Let’s start now.

ann arky’s home.

ANOTHER WORKERS HANDOUT TO THE RICH!!

 

      Another one of those sneaky little things that slip by in this class ridden society that most ordinary working folks probably don’t know is that all those posh private schools where the rich send their kids to be groomed to expect privileges they haven’t earned, have long been granted “charitable status.” These must be without a shadow of doubt, the swankiest charities in the country.

      Private schools create and sustain privilege and social divisions, they drain resources from the public sector schools. They feed the class based idea that education is a privilege for those who can afford the price. While public state schools are facing closures and cuts, and we are continually being told of the lack of funds available for improvement, the private schools with their healthy income from the well-heeled, receive this grossly inaccurate classification of “charitable status.” It was revealed recently that the top private schools in Scotland have an income of some £165 million. In spite of this they receive what is in effect a subsidy from you and me in the way of tax relief because of this “charitable status,” do you see private schools as a “charity”? Take your kids along and find out. What “charitable status” in this case really means is that you and me help the rich in making sure their kids receive the same privileges that they themselves are accustomed to receiving.

         Of course there is nothing new in this sort of arrangement where the poor help the rich to maintain their privileged lives. After all, that’s what capitalism is all about, siphoning the wealth upwards from the workers who create it to the privileged who believe they have a right to it. Those who have shall get more and those who have not will have to do without, is the basic rule of this greed driven system.

ann arky’s home.

A CITY IS NOT A COMPANY.

Rather late with this post but thought it was still worth posting.

 Workers Initiative, Poland.

Sent: Tue, 9 March, 2010 11:05:20

Subject: Poland: City is not a company!

 37 anarchists arrested in Poznan City is not a company!” – 37 anarchists arrested in Poznan after clashes with cops. On Monday, 8th March, about 50 people from Rozbrat squat Collective made a demonstration in front of the gate of Poznan International Fair Center, where a congress of local councils from all over Poland was taking place. Shouting slogans “City is not a company. Rozbrat stays!”, the anarchists blockaded the gate. Many cars with the officials were forced to turn back. After a while, the protesters decided to walk inside the premises of the Fair, they were not stopped by anyone. Then, they tried to go inside the building where the congress was taking places. They were attacked by the police. Some of the anarchists were heavily beaten up, 37 were arrested and driven to three different police stations. Most of them are already released with minor charges. From the information we were able to gather, 3 people will be charged with an attack on a functionary, those three are still in jail. The demonstration’s aim was to show that the city council in Poznan is not interested in developing the social-cultural side of the city but they only care about the profits coming from the wealthy investors. Activists from Rozbrat have been coming to the meetings of the city council for over a year now and the officials have never been interested in doing anything about our situation. They have been debating over a local development plan for the district of Solacz, where Rozbrat is situated and this debate has been taking them so long only because so many ordinary people have come and have been opposed against it. According to the plan, there will be a villa neighborhood on the premises of Rozbrat. Meanwhile, another culture center, the Inner Spaces gallery, which was renting a bulding from the city, has just been removed and the city decided to rent that space to a restaurant. Two independent and long-running cinemas Malta and Amarant also have to close down because they have been dominated by the big multiplex cinemas and they also haven’t received any support from the city council. Still, the authorities are standing for the title of the Cultural Capital for Poznan in 2016. Monday’s action was a call for the demonstration on the 20th March. We won’t give up without fight!

Pictures here:   http://www.rozbrat.org/galeria/category/218-

Video here:   http://www.szumtv.blip.tv/

ann arky’s home.

TWO SIDES OF THE COIN??

 

The Ultimate Battle.

TOMORROW’S WORLD.

See the fat cat’s grinning smile

as Corporate Capitalism runs amok,

Chasing profit as it goes

firing millions of ordinary folk.

Raping and polluting land after land,

starting bloody wars.

Toxic waste, sweat shop wages

and oil covered sea shores.

Where have all the flowers gone

beneath this ozone free sky?

To join the birds, to join the fox

on yonder plutonium field to die.

Mercury fish, strontium lamb

trees that never show a leaf,

radio active beaches, toxic streams

good lean BSE-antibiotic beef.

In a world of epidemic, plague and famine

it’s bottled water and chemical food.

Of course, it’s all tested on rats and mice

so you know its got to be good.

Beneath a sky that’s always black,

hurricane winds and endless drought,

its oxygen masks for the toxic air,

corporate profit’s what its all about.

 

I WANT TO BELIEVE!

 

I want to believe

All that is good is out there

Sleeping in hearts that live in dark valleys,

About to blossom like some magic woodland,

In spite of war, in spite of greed

The essence that is humanity struggling to be free.

All around death arrives in many guises,

Silent as the frost poverty kills,

The ruthless march of war

With every drum beat seeks God’s blessing,

While the God fearing kill the God fearing,

Slaughter in the name of the greater good.

I want to believe

All that is good is out there

Sleeping in the hearts that live in dark valleys

About to blossom like some magic woodland,

Not just as the dream of poets.

ann arky’s home. 

FRIENDS DON’T DO TERRORISM??

     

       It is all history now but it does show what American imperialism will get up to to bring down what it sees as a rival system. William Blum’s book is an amazing expose of what lengths the United States was prepared to go to, to discredit and destroy East Germany:

 

 

“It was a remarkable undertaking. The United States and its agents used explosives, arson, short circuiting, and other methods to damage power stations, shipyards, canals, docks, public buildings, gas stations, public transportation, bridges, etc; they derailed freight trains, seriously injuring workers; burned 12 cars of a freight train and destroyed air pressure hoses of others; used acids to damage vital factory machinery; put sand in the turbine of a factory, bringing it to a standstill; set fire to a tile-producing factory; promoted work slow-downs in factories; killed 7,000 cows of a co-operative dairy through poisoning; added soap to powdered milk destined for East German schools; were in possession, when arrested, of a large quantity of the poison cantharidin with which it was planned to produce poisoned cigarettes to kill leading East Germans; set off stink bombs to disrupt political meetings; attempted to disrupt the World Youth Festival in East Berlin by sending out forged invitations, false promises of free bed and board, false notices of cancellations, etc.; carried out attacks on participants with explosives, firebombs, and tire-puncturing equipment; forged and distributed large quantities of food ration cards to cause confusion, shortages and resentment; sent out forged tax notices and other government directives and documents to foster disorganization and inefficiency within industry and unions … all this and much more.”

 (See Killing Hope, p.400, note 8, for a list of sources for the details of the sabotage and subversion.)

          To all intent and purposes, that’s terrorism, however we don’t call it that when we do it. This perhaps gives us some insight to why the Berlin wall was built in the first place.

ann arky’s home.

 

THERE WILL COME A TIME.

THERE WILL COME A TIME.

There will come a time when the hordes remember,

who bound our grand-parents to the yoke of oppression,

who sentenced our parents to deprivation,

who bid poverty sink its teeth into our heart,

who teach our children, greed is a noble art.

Who sent our sons through the gates of hell to a litany of cambist brawls,

crammed coffers with blood-stained gold while laughing in Ares’ halls.

Who does these terrible things to us?” they will ask,

and when they remember,

they’ll bring an energy that is endless to drive a fist that is fearless.

 Then this merciless market-driven world will crumble under an insurrection of integrity,

 the poor will emerge from the dark husk of capitalism to live in the light of social justice.

 There will come a time when the hordes remember.

ann arky’s home.