As of 20 hours ago (It is now 14:25pm, 15/11/2015) “15 mosques in france have been attacked in the past 24hrs. i guess the term terrorist only applies if the crime is committed by a muslim” – Hajer Mansour

https://calaismigrantsolidarity.wordpress.com/2015/11/14/the-refugees-are-weeping-with-the-french-people/

“”Can i just take this opportunity to remind you all that Mr Mohammed from your local shop wasn’t involved in last nights attacks on Paris. Neither was Mrs Azeer from Lloyds Bank or her family. Kamal from down the road has never been to Paris, and his brother Abdul, the taxi driver, was watching the news in horror along with everyone else.” – Whoever made this simple yet potent point was right on point, well said.

As active anti-capitalists (And with that, active anti-fascists) we need to learn how to defend ourselves from attack whether it be from fascists, security guards, police, military or whoever else.

But which is the best system to learn? Some people are born with a knack for fighting whereas others are not but in both cases learning a martial art is a good way to prepare. In my opinion a good martial art is one which is practical for use on the streets. The following are my suggestions as to which ones people should look into:

• Krav Maga
• Systema
• “Western Boxing”
• Muay Thai
• Mixed Martial Arts

Krav Maga – Jewish martial art originating among the Jewish community in Hungary. It was originally started to actually fight nazis on the streets and to defend against pogroms. It combines various styles such as “Western boxing”, Aikido, Wrestling, Judo and later KAPAP. It also places a good amount of attention on defence against firearms and bladed, edged, blunt and sharp objects. It also teaches the psychology of street fighting, teaches threat assessment and recognition and employs a hit them hard and leave the scene approach, which is very sensible in this day and age.

Systema – A Russian martial art which works on grappling, knife and blunt object training, hand-to-hand combat and firearms. Training requires fluidity, the ability to learn and sustain good breathing and relaxation. Again, very useful for use on the streets.

“Western boxing” – Basically as we think it is and most people already know what it is. Involves heavy and sometimes sustained punching between opponents. Very practical but only focuses on the punching aspect. Whilst HIGHLY useful and effective makes “Western boxing” limited if the hands have became debilitated or something else which would render the hands less effective. However, highly recommended.

Muay Thai – Thai martial art which focuses on standing-up whilst striking and clinching techniques. Can be brutal if learned effectively and is an essential component of mixed martial arts.

Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) – Most commonly associated with cage fighting and employs full-contact methods such as grappling and striking whilst standing, in motion and on the ground. It is one of the most popular martial arts at the moment and like those above is very useful on the streets and employs brutal and effective real world tactics and methods. A very good list of styles employed is found on Wikipedia:

“Striking: Boxing, Kickboxing, Muay Thai, Kyokushin Karate, Taekwondo, Combat Sambo and Sanshou are trained to improve stand-up striking.

Clinch: Freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling, Judo, Sambo, Sanshou and Jujutsu are trained to improve clinching, takedowns and throws, while Muay Thai is trained to improve the striking aspect of the clinch.

Ground: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Judo, Sambo, Submission wrestling and other arts are trained to improve ground control and position, as well as to achieve submission holds, and defend against them.”  (I do not usually use Wikipedia as a point of reference but it does provide a good overview in this case)

So there you have it, choose whichever martial art you like but I do recommend one or a combination of the above, you will need it if you are serious. They can be used to either kick the shit out of a fascist, defend yourself against pig or security guard violence or just general self-defence and fitness (Because by and large the fitness levels among libertarian socialists are ridiculous).

In the words of the Oi Polloi song “Bash the Fash”, “A life or death struggle – not some kind of game,l earn at least the basics of some martial art, then you’ll be ready when the aggro starts”.

So it looks as if there will be three categories of people who will selfishly gain from the tragic and cowardly massacre in Paris last night. Those who will benefit will be 1) those who did the killing (Daesh), 2) those who will go on to kill (Daesh (IS), French, British, U.S., Turkish, Syrian, Russian and other states, far-right clowns etc.) and 3) those who will exploit this for their own sick game (Far-right groups and individuals, anti-Muslim bigots, the military industrial complex, various states, security industrial complex etc.).

We should not allow our grief, sorrow and solidarity to become a tool for the state to justify its murder and repression to come and curbs on what superficial liberties we have. We must not allow them to turn our cries into thunder from above bringing more death and destruction to yet more innocent lives, as well as the persecution and anti-Muslim bile which will cheerlead that.

We should not allow our grief, sorrow and solidarity to become a tool for far-right and anti-Muslim pricks. Our concern for the tragedy in Paris is not a vindication and justification for the far-right and anti-Muslim sickness. The far-right/anti-Muslims and Daesh (IS), Al-Nusra etc. have more in common with each other than they would like to admit.

My utmost sympathy goes out to the murdered, injured and scared of Paris.

Rest In Peace!

Just when you thought things could not possibly get worse then a bunch of cowards have to go and kill a bunch of innocent people in Paris, France. Not only have they killed, injured and scared innocent people they have provided a pretext for war, a pretext which the military industrial complex and states have been waiting for. If it were indeed Daesh (IS), Al-Qaeda or whoever else then guess what wankers, you have just ramped up persecution of Muslims in Europe, the U.S. and elsewhere. By all means kill yourselves but do it quietly in a room where no one else gets hurt except yourselves. The world will be a better place without you.FUCKING COWARDS!

…the Cry and Dash Squad aka. “Pie and Mash Squad”, a shit group of ugly twats and plastic football casuals. Yesterday tried and failed to blockade a Portsmouth pro-refugee demo. Also they hate us so much that they try to adopt our tactics (Blockade and black bloc style of dress), sad bunch of loner fucks.

Hilarious when one of them tried to grab the banner and just failed miserably. Also there are less than a handful of them there but I suppose they actually bothered to turn up this time (A la (Plastic) Casuals United, which is their previous incarnation and also in their current form, Pie and Mash Squad). But they turned up to oppose a demo which looking at them are slightly liberal types (Although that is just an observation not concrete fact) so, hardly brave is it?

The demo also broke through their flimsy lines but what is most hilarious is the ugly thing filming the pro-refugee demo with its phone. I seriously thought that even Pie and Mash Squad would have had slightly more standards than to bring that out with them. Next time lads keep it in its cage. Also that grey haired bloke with the bin bag jacket, seriously mate? Really? At least try next time!

When I said they were dropping like flies I never realised it was this good…

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/nov/09/caparo-steel-boss-angad-paul-dies-falling-london-flat

Fantasist from “Red London” whilst on holiday where he actually got to meet some real life Kurdish people! Wow, well done to him!

Red London guy had this to say: “Oh yeah like, because I went traveling yeah and got to meet some actual natives yeah. I am like so down with the Kurds now yah”.