Rags and Bones

"In the great tide of nationalism in the nineteenth century, there was a handful of prophetic and..."

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 16:40:20 -0400

“In the great tide of nationalism in the nineteenth century, there was a handful of prophetic and dissenting voices, urging a different style of federalism. It is interesting, at the least, that the ones whose names survive were the three best known anarchist thinkers of that century: Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Michael Bakunin and Peter Kropotkin. The actual evolution of the political left in the twentieth century has dismissed their legacy as irrelevant. So much the worse for the left, since the road has been emptied in favour of the political right, which has been able to set out its own agenda for both federalism and regionalism.”

- Colin Ward, The Anarchist Sociology of Federalism

Warrior Clothing

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 23:58:04 -0400

Warrior Clothing: Classy clothes and some nice prices too…

"Provocation, when it becomes so widely extended, becomes a danger even to the regime it serves, and..."

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 23:53:11 -0400

“Provocation, when it becomes so widely extended, becomes a danger even to the regime it serves, and above all to those at the head of this regime.”

- Victor Serge, What Every Radical Should Know About State Repression

"Officers of the Security Service, MI5, are being accused of “outsourcing” the torture of..."

Wed, 28 May 2008 15:33:44 -0400

“

Officers of the Security Service, MI5, are being accused of “outsourcing” the torture of British citizens to a notorious Pakistani intelligence agency in an attempt to obtain information about terrorist plots and to secure convictions against al-Qaida suspects.

A number of British terrorism suspects who have been arrested in Pakistan at the request of UK authorities say their interrogation by Security Service officers, shortly after brutal torture at the hands of agents of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI), has convinced them that MI5 colluded in the mistreatment.

”

- Ian Cobain, MI5 accused of colluding in torture of terror suspects (The Guardian, April 29 2008)

"Massive investment in CCTV cameras to prevent crime in the UK has failed to have a significant..."

Wed, 28 May 2008 15:32:01 -0400

“Massive investment in CCTV cameras to prevent crime in the UK has failed to have a significant impact, despite billions of pounds spent on the new technology, a senior police officer piloting a new database has warned. Only 3% of street robberies in London were solved using CCTV images, despite the fact that Britain has more security cameras than any other country in Europe.”

- Owen Bowcott, CCTV boom has failed to slash crime, says police (The Guardian, May 6 2008)

"In September a national children’s database is due to be set up containing the details of every..."

Wed, 28 May 2008 15:28:15 -0400

“

In September a national children’s database is due to be set up containing the details of every child in England and Wales. Ministers say that details on all families are needed so that children’s services can contact one another. Details held will include names, addresses, schools, GP details, and other services involving each child.

Town hall officials, charity workers and even careers advisers will have access to the database, along with doctors, social workers and teachers.

”

- Richard Ford, New database increases power of surveillance over citizens (The Times, February 13 2008)

Living off the grid – how to escape the spies all around us

Wed, 28 May 2008 15:25:00 -0400

Living off the grid – how to escape the spies all around us

"Is it not astonishing, horrifying and, worst of all, deeply un-British that, when Heathrow Terminal..."

Wed, 28 May 2008 15:21:01 -0400

“Is it not astonishing, horrifying and, worst of all, deeply un-British that, when Heathrow Terminal 5 opens for business next week, every one of its passengers will be compulsorily fingerprinted? Yes, even if you are merely flying from London to Manchester, you will be required to place four little pinkies on an electronic pad, just as if you had been charged with robbery with violence. You will also be photographed. And that’s just at check-in. When you reach the departure gate, the whole process will happen again.”

- Richard Morrison, Beware: Big Brother has got you fingered (The Times, May 20 2008)

"A massive government database holding details of every phone call, e-mail and time spent on the..."

Wed, 28 May 2008 15:16:59 -0400

“A massive government database holding details of every phone call, e-mail and time spent on the internet by the public is being planned as part of the fight against crime and terrorism. Internet service providers (ISPs) and telecoms companies would hand over the records to the Home Office under plans put forward by officials. […] Police and the security services can access the records with a warrant issued by the courts. Rather than individual companies holding the information, Home Office officials are suggesting the records be handed over to the Government and stored on a huge database.”

- Richard Ford, ‘Big Brother’ database for phones and emails (The Times, May 20 2008)

"When a man knows that he is to have all the fruits of his labour, he labours with more zeal, skill,..."

Sun, 25 May 2008 18:22:41 -0400

““When a man knows that he is to have all the fruits of his labour, he labours with more zeal, skill, and physical energy, than when he knows — as in the case of one labouring for wages — that a portion of the fruits of his labour are going to another… In order that each man may have the fruits of his own labour, it is important, as a general rule, that each man should be his own employer, or work directly for himself, and not for another for wages; because, in the latter case, a part of the fruits of his labour go to his employer, instead of coming to himself… That each man may be his own employer, it is necessary that he have materials, or capital, upon which to bestow his labour.”

- Lysander Spooner, Poverty: Its Illegal Causes and Legal Cure

"They are few, we are many: and yet, O our Mother,Many years were we wordless and nought was our..."

Sun, 25 May 2008 16:41:47 -0400

“They are few, we are many: and yet, O our Mother,
Many years were we wordless and nought was our deed,
But now the word flitteth from brother to brother:
We have furrowed the acres and scattered the seed.”

- William Morris, The Workers

"Nature bids all men to work in order to live, and that command can only be evaded by a man or a..."

Sun, 25 May 2008 16:09:33 -0400

“Nature bids all men to work in order to live, and that command can only be evaded by a man or a class forcing others to work for it in its stead; and, as a matter of fact, it is the few that compel and the many that are compelled; as indeed the most must work, or the work of the world couldn’t go on.”

- William Morris, Monopoly; or, How Labour is Robbed

"…the revolution will be absolute and irrevocable, because it will place the forces of..."

Wed, 21 May 2008 16:34:29 -0400

“…the revolution will be absolute and irrevocable, because it will place the forces of production in the hands of free men, i.e. of men who will be capable of running the workshop created by capitalism without any need of masters.”

- Georges Sorel, Reflections on Violence

Fire and Flames

Wed, 21 May 2008 15:16:50 -0400

Fire and Flames: “The finest clothing for the elegant revolutionary”

England Belongs Clothing

Wed, 21 May 2008 15:14:55 -0400

England Belongs Clothing: Rudeboy, skin, mod…

Pirate 69!

Wed, 21 May 2008 15:13:00 -0400

Pirate 69!: Skinhead history, style and attitude…

"Unless we wake up to the damage that the gadget-filled, pharmaceutically-enhanced 21st century is..."

Wed, 21 May 2008 14:41:00 -0400

“Unless we wake up to the damage that the gadget-filled, pharmaceutically-enhanced 21st century is doing to our brains, we could be sleepwalking towards a future in which neuro-chip technology blurs the line between living and non-living machines, and between our bodies and the outside world.”

- Susan Greenfield, Modern technology is changing the way our brains work, says nueroscientist (Daily Mail online)

Mathematical Bridge, CambridgeThe bridge was built in 1749 by...

Wed, 21 May 2008 14:16:58 -0400

Mathematical Bridge, Cambridge

The bridge was built in 1749 by James Essex the Younger to the design of William Etheridge. It was subsequently rebuilt to the same design in 1866 and 1905.

"You had to attack civilians, the people, women, children, innocent people, unknown people far..."

Thu, 15 May 2008 16:16:42 -0400

“You had to attack civilians, the people, women, children, innocent people, unknown people far removed from any political game. The reason was quite simple. They were supposed to force these people, the Italian public, to turn to the State to ask for great security. This is the political logic that lies behind all the massacres and the bombings which remain unpunished, because the State cannot convict itself or declare itself responsible for what happened.”

- Vincenzo Vinciguerra, imprisoned fascist terrorist on the Italian strategy of tension

The Angry Brigade, the British urban guerrilla group of the...

Mon, 12 May 2008 18:04:55 -0400

The Angry Brigade, the British urban guerrilla group of the 1970s, emerged in May 1970 with the discovery of a bomb in the high security Paddington Green Police Station; police claim its roots go back to the US Embassy machine-gunning in 1967.The Angry Brigade’s members were anarchists and other libertarian socialists.

Scottish anarchist Stuart Christie, who introduces this documentary and was involved in the Angry Brigade, had previously been imprisoned for taking part in an attempt on Spanish dictator Fransisco Franco’s life. He remains active in the anarchist movement today.