The working class strikes – and wins!

From thefreeonline on Feb 9th 24 by Class War

Last week, Ian Bone asked me if I could get him a poster printed of a 1985 Class War front cover, The Working Class Strikes Back. He wanted to put it up in his room at his Nursing Home alongside his anarchist flag.

These Bridgeman wankers had only gone and pilfered the image and were charging for its usage.

The working class strikes – and wins!

Fair enough, I thought. The image has always been one of CW’s favourites, taken during the Handsworth Riots of the same year and numerous copies over the decades have been printed out to strike fear in the hearts of quivering posh twats and annoy the fuck out of them.

During the search for a suitable copy of the image to print, one of our eagle eyed Class Warriors came across a rich bastard Bayswater based company called Bridgeman Images – “Oi Jane, you fucking seen this?!”.

These Bridgeman wankers had only gone and pilfered the image and were charging for its usage – £140, no less for the larger image. Fucking cheek – not even a printed poster for that amount, just the right to use the image.

“Oh blimey,” we thought, “just a little bit rude that innit and one thing we don’t like is yer Tarquins and Lucindas taking the mick”.

So we had words with them, and a firm and politely written email was sent with the underlying tone of “don’t mess with us, you posh wankers”.

It was pointed out that CW, being anarchist, has never been bothered with copyright as we always wanted our images to be freely available to the working class – “you know, the ones who clean your galleries and sweep your streets” the Bayswater rich scum were reminded – but that we did find it just a tiny bit impolite to take it without asking and charge for its usage, and also we would imagine the last thing they really wanted in their privileged lives was the working class actually fighting back.

Anyway, a few more digs at their wealthy arrogance and the email was sent.

For the rest of the day, comrades niggled away on Bridgeman’s FB and Twitter pages.

Then, by tea time, they could’ve knocked us down with a feather. The creative luvvies had only gone and taken the poster off their website.

Yesssss! It worked! We won! A small victory in the grand scheme of things, but still that smug sense of self satisfaction that when the working class strikes back, we can still fucking do it!

Please use the image freely just to remind posh twats we ain’t to be messed with. Innit.

~ Jane
London CW

Vetoing Justice in Gaza: The Collapse of the UN Security Council

Posted by Internationalist 360° on February 8, 2024

Mohamad Hasan Sweidan

The rise in civilian deaths and global conflict shatters all illusions that the UN has any ability to maintain the peace. A US veto at the UNSC to protect genocide in Gaza is the very last straw.

Article 1 of the founding charter of the UN boldly proclaims the organization’s primary aim:

To maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace, and to bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations which might lead to a breach of the peace.

Despite this noble aspiration, the UN has systematically, fiduciarily, and overwhelmingly failed to prevent war and uphold peace. From 1946 – a year after the UN was established – to 2022, the world witnessed 285 distinct armed conflicts, alongside numerous smaller-scale skirmishes.

The current genocide in Gaza launched in October 2023 is the latest grim reminder of the UN’s failure to fulfill its foundational mission, transforming it from a beacon of hope for peace into a mere provider of aid to mitigate the fallout of its shortcomings.

Since its inception, dozens of expensive UN agencies have sprung into existence because of the international organization’s inability to thwart conflict. These include the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), dedicated solely to the care of Palestinian refugees in West Asia, many of whom still live in tents from a conflict the UN has not resolved in 77 years.

And matters are worsening, globally. According to data from Uppsala University in Sweden, armed conflicts of all varieties – be they interstate wars, externally-fueled civil wars, or clashes between various groups and states – have been on the rise since the establishment of the United Nations. In fact, “more state-based conflict battle-related deaths took place in 2022 than any year since 1994.”

Global conflict imbalance

Troublingly, this trend shows no sign of abating, particularly in Africa and Asia – especially West Asia. It is notable that the only areas with a decline in conflict incidence are Europe and the Americas. Unsurprisingly, the populations of these continents, who bear the brunt of armed conflicts, harbor doubts about the efficacy of the UN and its Security Council.

These are statistics that validate the main grievance of the Global South: that in the post-WW2 period, the west has focused on reducing tensions in its own sphere while playing a prominent role in fueling conflicts in other parts of the world. And it explains the outraged European reaction to the west’s proxy war with Russia in Ukraine, which brought war back to Europe’s shores.

A closer examination reveals a shift in the nature of conflicts, with “direct wars” constituting only a fraction of the total. In 2022, direct wars accounted for 17 percent of all conflicts, marking a significant increase from the previous year’s 9 percent. This change underscores the proliferation of proxy wars, externally-supported internal conflicts, and clashes between non-state actors and sovereign states.

The year 2022 saw a disturbing 142 percent increase in battle-related deaths compared to the previous year, with over 204,000 lives lost.

The human cost of these conflicts are harrowing. Since 1946, countless lives have been lost and communities shattered, under the watch of a UN unable – or unwilling – to curtail the bloodshed. The statistics are sobering, with millions of fatalities attributed to conflicts that have slipped through the UN’s grasp.

How the US protects Israel at the Security Council

In theory, the UN Security Council is entrusted with maintaining global peace and security, yet finds itself shackled by the recurring exercise of the veto power, particularly when it comes to matters concerning Israel.

As a permanent member state, the US has wielded its veto authority with unabashed frequency to shield the occupation state from accountability over its numerous atrocities against the Palestinian people and its repeated acts of aggression against its West Asian neighbors.