“Will the real Glasgow stand up.” Workers City – The crisis of identity
There needs to be a cultural uprising in late 2026/27 in the form of an event featuring the celebration of Working Class Culture and the reclaiming of our commons.
Why can’t the real Glasgow be an example of what is good in the world?
We used to punch well above our weight and produced firebrands as good as any from working class communities. We still do, to an extent, but the noise from technological feudalism, intolerance and a bloated misinformation pipeline is drowning out their voices.
The villages of the city once had their own identity, quirks and problems of many. But we knew who was hitting us on the head and who was the main cause of our misfortunes. Our networks then were the factories and the camaraderie to be found in working class institutions, built through our common interests and knowledge. (And destroyed mainly through, corporate interest)
We had our own traditions and ways of challenging or overcoming our problems either through humour or radical action, or both. It is what we were well known for. It is what made us proud to belong to Glasgow. But it was not a pride of upmanship, but of openness and good heartedness to others. We did not fear strangers, but welcomed them to our city in the spirit of internationalism.
https://spiritofrevolt.info/category/news/
Sure we had our problems of sectarianism, violence, racism, poverty and the mythology of the Gorbals, like any other deindustrialised city of the empire. It was the decline the tabloids and the broadsheets focused on in their surveys of the decline of the city in the 60s. The focus was never about the government, the industrialists and the owners of the tabloids and the broadsheets, that were the cause of much of the poverty and decline in the first place. NOTE Glasgow effect: https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14493634.revealed-glasgow-effect-mortality-rate-blamed-westminster-social-engineering/
So nothing has changed much for ordinary people, in many regards, same wine different bottles. The technology has opened doors for outlet and expression. Unfortunately we do not own it yet and until we do the oligarchs and high class grifters, will use it to crush us. We need to think and use as a general exercise. What happens if they pull the plug and we have no internet? How do we act, think and organise then? Maybe 2026 could be a year to think past the over reliance of technology and up the use of social space, rather than social media, in the rebuilding of working class institutions.
All You Need To Know (To get on with things)
AY-NTK will be a project about getting out more and reconnecting with ordinary people in the villages of Glasgow. For the activists, the university educated, a listening exercise, to find what learning is needed to encourage movement building in places outside of the centre of town. About building solidarity and discussing the real sources of our problems. About countering and replacing right wing propaganda, that is usurping some of our communities. Replacing propaganda with facts and ideas, that might offer alternative ways of challenging the problems our communities are all facing.
Using technology
While we can’t stop using the internet, we would be keen to help out in ideas of using the internet and technology constructively. A great way to involve people is through video and photography, interviewing and helping folk to put together an argument, a presentation and so on. But for all involved we need to be teachers in one class and students in another. As far as media, the arts, technology, tools and having some fun goes. The only question that needs to be asked is. Is what I am about to do, going to help the movement for change to go forward.
Looking ahead
We do not want to be finding ourselves at the end of 2026 wondering what 2027 will bring. We need to celebrate, ourselves, our yearly achievements and prepare ourselves for the next, because the legacy media will never report and tell us when we are winning.
Real History and Tradition
“A Glasgow person searching even today for a real history of his or her city is almost in the same bewildered state as a foster-child looking for its real parents. It is so well concealed. the masters of culture have done their task exceedingly well” Freddy Anderson, The Culture of Glasgow, 1988 From the intro: Let Us Act For Ourselves. Selected works of Freddy Anderson
Change and renewal
The celebration of the New Year, a Scottish tradition now celebrated around the world, is a mark of change and renewal. Scotlands Common Good Fund a lesser known five hundred year old institution, built on mutual protection, support, and a collectivist approach to living. We also had the Scottish Enlightenment. A generalist approach to education was once the remit of our universities, in preparing students for life, before specialisation creeped in, to serve the industrialist. There are many great examples in our history and many more (That was never taught in school) where ordinary people made change happen. Not only in Glasgow, or Scotland, but in communities all over the world.
2026 should be about re-examining that history. Particularly working class people’s part in it and use it to jell, with the energy of our young folk to give them a focus on what the real fight has always been about. Look around Glasgow at the destruction of its architecture. As they destroy the buildings and the reference points they also destroy its visual history and replace it with featureless, generic, bland, concrete and bricks. That is what the power holders, also want to do with our minds, and our historic reference points and replace them with bland, AI generated reality.
People need constantly reminded of their power, where it comes from, how it came about and why it needs to be maintained. “The Struggle is Continuous” But many will not read about it in books, or by researching the internet. It will only be realised by many, within interventions in their day to day life. With elements of surprise, innovation and creativity, in their streets, pubs, institutions and where people congregate. We need to get ourselves and others excited about public life and being involved. And we need something to look forward to in celebration of that work. Like our May Day, but maybe an end of the year celebration and preparation for the next year to come.
All you need to know – to get on with things