Thread.

I've watched a lot of these videos of war today. It really is truly sad, to see men sent to fight against an enemy that'l wasn't. Working class men against working class men from another country.

Strangely, it reminded me of my youth in Glasgow (1)

Gang fighting in Glasgow. These boys were the exact same as us, their only difference was they came from a different scheme. We like the soldiers went out every weekend, to the same place to fight these other lads due to some masculine identity, trying to get a reputation. (2)

There was some ideological aspect too, that our scheme produced the best fighters. The idea we were a cleaner scheme, and were not as scummy.

The irony is, we were all poor. We all came from run down schemes which had little to no money pumped into it. (3)

Social clubs were closed. Most of us grew up without dads. Many of us had alcoholic or drug abusing parents. This is how we expressed ourselves. This is how we proved to the world we were better.

But how many young lads died as a result? (4)

I lost several pals. I did some horrible things and people some horrible things to me. That was the norm. This idea of "I'll get this bastard before he gets me." It was all horrific, and we seen each other stabbed, slashed, hit with golf clubs, baseball bats. (5)

Some lost teeth, some lost eyes. Some scars, chib marks. Some had their organs hanging out. Or if they got hit in an artery the blood pumped out like a horror movie. But that was our youth, except, it was a horror movie we lived.

But it was normal to us. (6)

We were literally going out to kill other poor kids, or at least do as much damage as we could. I don't think anyone tried to kill the other, but it happened because there is a fine line between seriously hurting someone as we tried, and killing someone. Especially so young (7)

And the thing which is most sobering is, which I see now in my older life, is that these same upper-class scumbags who sent the men to die in war, are the same who caused our circumstances. Nobody gave a shit that young working class kids were killing one another. (8)

Why would they care. Just like they never cared about the working class soldiers who died. What do we remember them by? A stupid fucking flower (and that is no disrespect to the fallen). They deserved more than that, they deserved to live. (9)

But the fact is, they same scumbags who sent the men to die in war, did nothing to change our circumstances either. In fact, it was the conditions these upper class rats created which led us to wars on the streets. No opportunities, no chance at life. (10)

Demonised by the coppers, we were just young thugs. Why would anyone care? They'd rather jail us than fix the circumstances which THEY created.

So what else did we know? We were called scum for so long, we believed it. We acted accordingly. This was the result. (11)

I think of today and the soldiers who have their memorial. But I think of the young boys killed in gang violence, forgotten about, just a memory now. Lost to poverty and conditions the upper classes created. That goes for Thatcher, Major, Blair too. (12).

These scumbags in power have blood on their hands, and these conditions which bred a war on the streets, have never been accounted for. Very few studies into it, very little recognition of the absolute failures at government level.

I'll never forget or forgive them! (13. End).