On Saturday 7 December, Clydeside Anarchist Noise sent a delegation of rabble-rousers to the Glasgow Radical Bookfair, at the Quaker House. We handed out loads of our zines (and ran out – possibly slightly too early!), participated in the discussions, chatted to comrades from across the anarchist scene in Scotland, and made loads of new pals! Additionally, we were able to raise some money for legal fees and to help a single mother pay her rent this month – thank you to everyone who contributed to these efforts.
Overall, we had a grand time – thank you to Red & Black Clydeside for putting it on and thanks to Food Not Bombs Govanhill for feeding us throughout the day!
Finally, attendants at the Bookfair were (un)lucky enough to be the first to see the 2nd issue of the Clydeside Anarchist Zine. This new issue is more colourful and prettier (if we dare say so ourselves), and contains a number of (not-so) theoretical texts, poems and how-to guides for local extremists. There’s a digitally readable version available below, as well as a link to Zine #1.
We are always looking for stuff to go on our blog / in our next zine – email us at notcan@riseup.net
On Saturday 17th June antifascists, trade unionists, anarchists and socialists gathered from across Scotland to demonstrate against an anti-immigrant rally being held in Elgin by Hitler fanboy Alek Yerbury and his neo-nazi Highland Division.
A vigil for refugees was organised on the Plainstones by Moray TUC on one side of the church, where people started to gather from around 11am, while a handful of fascists began to gather around the other side. A self-described libertarian wandered around the vigil with his young children while filming, generally being an arse, and trying to get antifascists to debate him. Despite the clear advantage in numbers, Moray TUC were reluctant to go around the church to confront the fascists, aiming instead to focus on their own peaceful vigil – fortunately they were unable to maintain control over the situation.
Just before noon, a 17 year old punk boy upheld a glorious antifascist tradition by punching Alek Yerbury and was cautioned by police. Shortly after this, antifascists spontaneously began to pour around the side of the church, quickly surrounding Yerbury and the 7 Highland Division nazis and forcing the police to form a protective circle around them.
Susan Slater of Moray TUC made a weak attempt to stop people chanting “fascist scum off our streets” and stick to “positive slogans” – there’s always one liberal telling people how to protest. This request was promptly ignored. Susan Slater later told a Northern Scot journalist she was disappointed that the nazis were confronted directly – maybe Moray TUC needs new reps or to up its commitment to antifascism!
For two hours Highland Division were drowned out by between 200 and 300 antifascists, trade unionists and locals. There were chants of “fascist scum off our streets”, “say it loud, say it clear, refugees are welcome here”, “when refugees are under attack what do we do? Stand up, fight back!” as well as such hit songs as “you can shove your nazi flag up your arse” and “the master race? You’re havin a laugh,” with a special shoutout to comrade vuvuzela. Several times Alek Yerbury tried to start speaking, only to be drowned out with a wall of noise and forced to give up.
Eventually the nazis had enough and the police line fell back to try and offer them an escape route, which was met by antifascists immediately surging forwards and pushing the tightly protected nazis into an alleyway while victoriously chanting “who’s streets? Our streets!”
Some antifascists then broke off and ran down a parallel street to cut the nazis off at the other side, sandwiching them in. After some halfhearted threats to charge the antifascists blocking the other side of the alleyway with participating in an illegal moving protest, the police let the nazis out of a side entrance. Yerbury and Highland Division were then pursued all the way back to their minibus, with police forming a defensive line across the entrance to the car park.
Other than the boy who was cautioned there were 0 arrests, the fascists were outnumbered at least 20 to 1, and they were driven out of Elgin in one of the most humiliating defeats anyone could expect.
We’ll never let nazis have a platform in Scotland, nae pasaran!
Attention all anti-monarchists and opponents of capitalism and the state!
On May 6th, 2023, we are calling for an anti-capitalist and anti-state bloc at Edinburgh’s May Day rally at 12pm, as well as the anti-monarchy rally on Calton Hill at 3pm.
This will be a demonstration against the coronation of Charles and the entire institution of monarchy, as well as the state and capitalism.
We refuse to stand idly be as this archaic system of oppression is celebrated and perpetuated. The UK capitalist state is based on dispossession of the commons and colonial plunder, with the monarchy being the most egregious and obvious example. In Scotland, half of rural land is owned by 432 landowners, whilst everyone else spends most of their working lives exploited at work, paying off a debt on a small patch of land which is barely enough to accommodate a dwelling, if they can even get a mortgage at all. The capitalist state system is driving us towards extinction due to ecological collapse – we must radically transform our social and economic system before it’s too late.
We call on all those who yearn for a world free from domination to join us on May 6th. Let us take to the streets, make our voices heard, and demonstrate our collective power. Let us show the world that another world is not only possible, but necessary.
We stand as part of a long and proud history of revolt, from the Paris Commune of 1871 and the Spanish revolution of 1936 to the on-going revolutions of the Zapatistas and Rojava who are showing that a world beyond the state and capitalism is possible.
An elected head of state will not change anything, just simply give the capitalist state a more liberal image. Its neocolonial plunder will continue, it will continue to protect the interests of capital against the working class.
We propose smashing the state and replacing it with a confederation of autonomous participatory councils, communes and assemblies. Workers should take control of their workplaces, abolish bosses and place them under workers-self management. This federated grassroots participatory polity using recallable delegates and confederation should encompass the whole world into an international “commune of communes”. This would give power back to communities, and allow us to take back control of our lives. It’s been done before, from the Spanish revolution, to Rojava and the Zapatistas. We can do it here too.
Fire to the monarchy! Fire to the state! Take back the commons – for an international Democratic Confederalism and the commune of communes!
P.S. Clydeside Anarchist Noise is in a period of self-reflection, meaning we have taken a short break from outward-facing action. Meanwhile, we have been supporting local struggles and building networks of solidarity. Stay tuned, and see you soon on the streets…
May Day, International Worker’s Day, is a day of struggle. It was established out of the struggle to free Chicago anarchists, arrested following the armed defence of a workers’ strike for the eight-hour day in May 1886. Four anarchists were hanged for it, and one more robbed the hangman with a bomb. From the moment the hangman’s rope was set around their necks on an autumn’s day in 1887, this day has been commemorated as a day of revolt by anarchists and anti-capitalists around the world. For, as has been proven time and again, the only dead movements are the movements that forget their dead.
Today, we find ourselves in the midst of a so-called “cost of living crisis”. We have lost count of the unending capitalist crises we have lived through in the past few years; market crashes, wars and pandemics. This one takes the form of a direct attack on the most exploited within society, as the cost of our most basic nessecities (housing, energy, water and food, among others) skyrockets. Once again, we are the ones expected to bear the brunt of their crisis, to sacrifice ourselves at the altar of profit for crumbs.
Thus, on the 1st of May 2022, 136 years after the Haymarket affair, we chose not to join the yearly demonstration of the decaying left, where the same people march through the same roads, shouting the same chants, a slight bit weaker each time. Instead, we chose life, joy and action over mere survival, returning to a miniscule extent the harm caused to our communities by defacing the facades of the following targets on Byres Road, in the West End of Glasgow:
Pacitti Jones
Clyde Property
Rettie & Co.
Pattison & Co.
THE DAY WILL COME WHEN OUR SILENCE WILL BE MORE POWERFUL THAN THE VOICES YOU STRANGLE TODAY
Acta Non Verba – For the Uncompromising Struggle Against State & Capital
