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UP-THE-ANTI. 10:41 am / 28 October 2012 by ann arky, at annarky's blog.

     A date for December, it could be a talking shop, but in reality it will be what you make it, and what you take away from the event.

From Up-the-Anti:


Since the financial crisis broke we have seen a rising tide of protest, revolutions and resistance. One of the driving forces of these movements has been a desire to change the future: to reject the idea that we have no future outside of the logic of never ending austerity, declining living standards and the loss of public services to private profiteers.


     Up the Anti is a one day conference to think about and discuss  how we lay claim to the future that we want and deserve. It will host an eclectic mix of sessions, ranging from in-depth seminars and debates to participatory, facilitated discussions and workshops. There are many questions we need to ask, including:
  • Is there an alternative to capitalism? What might it look like?
  • How do we win popular support for new radical projects?
  • What can we learn from the social struggles and new movements in Europe?
  • And how do we overcome divisions within left and radical movements?

What next after the Occupy protests?
       We called the event ‘Up the Anti’ because we all agree that we need to build a bigger movement against social oppression and capitalism.  But we are not just against things, we also want to reclaim the future from those in power who seem intent on dragging us towards austerity, growing social inequality and environmental destruction.
      The conference will be held in London at Queen Mary university, not far from Mile End and Stepney Green underground stations.
But the day is not just all workshops and seminars, we also have time for a gig at Queen Mary Student Union with comedy, music and DJs. Highlights include the up and coming radical comedian Chris Coltrane and the critically acclaimed blues guitarist Sean Taylor.
      UP THE ANTI is a genuine movement event put on by a plurality of groups, websites, publishing houses, and networks. It is sponsored by New Left Project, Ceasefire, Occupied Times, Anticapitalist Initiative, Platypus and Globalise Resistance.

ann arky's home.

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WORKERS KNOW YOUR HISTORY – LOVE OR NOTHING. 8:50 am / 28 October 2012 by ann arky, at annarky's blog.


    I know that I bore the shit out of you by going on about Greece, I can hear you say, "Not Greece again". But as far as I'm concerned, if you want to fly a kite, you have to know which way the wind is blowing, and Greece is telling us that.
    The following extract is from an article by Paul Mason, the full article is well worth a read. History can tell us so much and allow us to be ready and get organised to take control of events, rather than let others and/or the events take control of us.


      Of all the operas written during Germany's Weimar Republic (1919-33), probably the most haunting is the last. Kurt Weill's The Silver Lake, written with playwright Georg Kaiser, tells the story of two losers - a good-hearted provincial cop and the thief he has shot and wounded - as they make their way through a society ruined by unemployment, corruption and vice.
      After spending a week again in Greece - amid riots, hunger and far right violence - I finally understood it.
     The opera was meant to be Weill's path back into the mainstream. It was his first break from collaborating with Bertolt Brecht, and was scheduled to open simultaneously in three German cities on 18 February 1933. But on 30 January Adolf Hitler was appointed Germany's chancellor. The first performances of The Silver Lake were disrupted by Nazi activists in the audience and on 4 March 1933 it was banned. The score was torched, together with its set designs, in the infamous book-burning ceremony outside the opera house in Berlin.
The full article is well worth the read HERE:

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ROTTEN AT THE HEART. 6:26 am / 28 October 2012 by ann arky, at annarky's blog.


      There is something rotten at the heart of the state. It is a system of repression, corruption, hypocrisy, greed, and stinks the air we breathe.
This from The Greek Streets:

Journalist Vaxevanis was just arrested after publicizing the list of Greek taxdodgers

Sunday, October 28, 2012
       Today is national day in Greece, forces of police and military police are guarding the army parades and the governmental politicians who will are watching them. At the same time, police one hour ago raided the house of a journalist who published a list with Greek tax-dodgers two days ago. The list that the  journalist Costas Vaxevanis published was available to the Minister of Economics for a couple of years now, who had decided to keep it secret and take no more actions.
       Greece, but it could be any where in the Western world, like I said, there is something rotten at the heart of the state.

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STRONGER TOGETHER. 6:05 am / 28 October 2012 by ann arky, at annarky's blog.

     We all know that winter in Scotland means choices, choices between eating or heating. Winter in this country, because of the climate and "fuel poverty" brings with it misery and death, while the energy companies fatten their shareholders with bigger profits. There are ways and means of fighting the leeches that own the energy companies.
This from SNIFFER:


"Jam the gas meters or Stronger Together?

    Direct action on fuel poverty in Europe campaign ‘Samen Sterker’ or "Stronger Together" reports that thousands of people in Belgium and Netherlands have organised collectively against the power companies and won great deals.
   But here in the UK EDF Fuel prices for residential customers are to hike up by 10.8% from December 7, 2012 sending the average dual fuel bill to £1,251. Scottish Gas and Scottish Power will be more than this by up to £23. And we already know that means misery and death.
   Excess winter mortality statistics from the UK Office for National Statistics estimated there were 25,700 Excess Winter Deaths (WHO) in England and Wales in 2011, 3.4% higher in the North East. Scotland’s winter statistics at 2,450 are like the UK’s low temperature related deaths, not exclusively hypothermia but cerebrovascular disease and heart disease, pneumonia, stroke and respiratory diseases.
    Belgium and Netherlands have taken direct action on fuel bills by collective switching. Their groups of 10,000 people prepared to switch en-mass to a new supplier this means that these suppliers offer a decent price in order to get them as new clients. They have a trusted third party who's actually doing all the leg work, setting up the switch system so that it is minimal effort for us. Hundreds of thousands of consumers have benefited and on average saved some 200-250 euros a year.
   Earlier this year the UK consumer organisation Which? organised the firstcollective switch in the UK. Almost 40,000 people took part, with average savings of £223 a year.
     A pilot scheme is running in Cornwall, and South Lakeland District Council in Cumbria is finalising the first local authority project in the UK. Other local councils may follow suit soon.
Let’s do it in Scotland."
      Start to organise your own "energy switch" group in your own area, join the group nearest you and hit the energy companies with a mass switch deal and get the best price. Start today before the Scottish weather really bites.

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WILL IT BE A DIFFERENT XMAS THIS YEAR? 3:45 am / 28 October 2012 by ann arky, at annarky's blog.


One person's opinion from Anarchist News:


       Many years ago the Mayans invented an ingenious time/calender system. This master calender had many precisely accurate cycles and one master cycle. The master cycle ends when all cycles end, to begin again. The end of the master cycle is enormously rare. We live in amazing, historical time not just for humans, but for the entire earth, solar system and universe. The end of this master cycle is on December 21, 2012... Which is in less the two months... The Mayans did not believe the world would end in 2012, they believed in the emergence of a different type of civilization on earth. I believe this new society will be one of harmony and Anarchy!
HOW WILL THIS COME ABOUT?
And I wouldn't get too excited about the rest of the article HERE:

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BREAKING THE SILENCE. 11:02 am / 27 October 2012 by ann arky, at annarky's blog.

Israeli Soldiers Breaking The Silence 

on the Occupation of Palestine



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The Class Struggle Analysis of Privilege 6:44 am / 27 October 2012 by Adam Ford, at Infantile Disorder

The following is a repost from the Anarchist Federation women's caucus, and was the product of many months' debate. I think it is a must read for all class struggle activists. Aims and definitions The purpose of this paper is to outline a class struggle anarchist analysis of Privilege Theory. Many of us feel “privilege” is a useful term for discussing oppressions that go beyond economic

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FROM THE EDGE OF BORDERLINE DEMOCRACY. 3:08 am / 27 October 2012 by ann arky, at annarky's blog.

      This is an email I received recently and think it is worth posting to give it as much publicity as possible. I hope you all do likewise.

Greetings,

I would like to bring a new project to your attention. We are journalists based in Greece, and we have created a new blog, "Reports from the Edge of Borderline Democracy".

We will be posting some shorter texts, opinion pieces etc, but the main effort is to publish extensive reports, in English, on issues affecting politics and society in Greece, so they are as accessible as possible around the world.

You can see our first report on the rise of Golden Dawn, Greece's neonazi party that is rapidly rising, here:

If you like the idea, we would like to ask you to spread the word as much as possible, particularly to non-Greek speakers in other countries.

Best regards,
Augustine
*Augustine Zenakos*

*Reports from the Edge of Borderline Democracy<http://borderlinereports.net/>
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WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWERS GONE? 2:41 am / 27 October 2012 by ann arky, at annarky's blog.


      The "Arab Spring" so hailed by the West, certainly hasn't brought about a bed of flowers for the people of those countries involved. The state still rules with an iron fist or it has descended into religious/tribal factions each vying brutally for power. Somewhere in this mess people are still struggling for justice and freedom.
This from Amnesty International:

Egypt: Troops and Police acting above the law

Azza Hilal Ahmed Suliman, victim of assault by Egypt's security forces, seen at her home in Heliopolis, Cairo, 18 September 2012In December 2011 49-year-old Azza Suleiman (pictured) attended a large protest near Tahrir Square. As she started to leave, she saw a group of soldiers violently beat and strip another female protestor. Act now to end the abuse

Concerned, Azza and some others tried to help carry the woman away. But the soldiers reacted violently: they beat Azza so severely that she lost consciousness. Even then they did not stop. Their attack was so vicious it left Azza with a fractured skull and impaired memory. To date, no one has been held accountable for this violence.

Azza’s treatment at the hands of the authorities is horrific but her story is not unique. Over 100 peaceful protestors have been killed by troops and police forces since early 2011 when Egyptians bravely took to the streets to demand political reform.

Despite President Morsi making some positive changes since taking power, troops and police remain above the law. Find out more

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MASTER OF ALL WE SURVEY??? 2:19 am / 27 October 2012 by ann arky, at annarky's blog.


        This sort of puts our squabbles in perspective and makes those god people's ideas of us as something special look very childish and rather stupid.


PINNACLE OF EVOLUTION.
There’s a crazy ape, who
by means of incredible intransigence
has mastered the art of carnage;
through dogged determination
in a ruthless rampage
raised the body-count beyond belief.
This crazy ape
creates the human chronicles
as a cruel callous calendar,
transforms our indulgent earth
into a primitive barbaric abattoir.
He struts across the land
with bumptious pride;
he’s destructive, he’s devious,
demands dominion
planet wide.
His claim to fame,
history immortalised in rivers of blood.
Even so,
this crazy ape called man, believes
he’s the GODS’ sublime solution,
progress’s perfection,
the pinnacle of evolution.

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