Saturday 18 April 2015

The shame of Fortress Europe


This week we have  seen  the tragic loss of 400 peoples lives , dying in an attempt to reach Italy from Libya, after boat capsized.  The boat was carrying about 500 people in total, according  to some of the  150 survivors who were rescued.  Italian coastguards intercepted 42 boats on April 12 and 13, carrying 6,500 people attempting  to make the crossing to Europe.
Human beings seeking a new way of life, many driven by desperation, fleeing persecution, violence, the torture, or the threat of,  fleeing from regions where human rights abuses are rife, inncents simply seeking a future. As many as 700 people have now been lost at sea this year alone. Human beings with dreams and fears in pursuit of some happiness.
Europes response has been shameful, inadequate, inhumane, and quite simply pathetic.We are after all talking about what is an injustice.
The European Union and its member states, under the guise of its Fortress Europe policies has been complicit  in these tragedies to occur, again and again,  leading to innocent   people needlesly and shamefully dying on Europe's doorstep. A result  of inhuman policies still in place today  that deny access to the asylum system for refugees.
These  deaths are not isolated incidents but the direct consequence  of tightening our immigration policies and controls. In the face  of civil war, conflict, global politics and social unrest, Europes  response has been at the end of the day disgusting, with the use of  practices and  policies that turn a blind eye to the root causes of migration.
I do not feel we will find answers in building the walls of fortress Europe higher, what is needed is the provision of more  safe and legal channels for people to access protection. For human beings to be treated  with respect and dignity. The decision  to close doors and build fences, means that men, women and children are forced to risk their lives and take a desperate journey across the sea. The boats will not simply stop. Ignoring the situation, will not make it go away. This is Fortress Europes daily shame.





Thursday 16 April 2015

McDonalds :- Now Serving Homeless Spikes




McDonalds  has come under fire after metal 'anti-homeless spikes' were installed outside one of its Leeds branches. Simply inhumane and shows a complete disregard for homeless people who struggle every day.
Homelessness is one of the worst  injustices within our society, having a place  to live  should be a right not a privilege. These spikes show a complete disregard and lack of respect for homeless people.
McDonalds claim they were there to tackle anti-social behaviour,  not target the homeless, saying  they welcome all customers through their doors.
Well they have since been hit by a 70,000 strong petition still growing. By the way I would not reccommened you eating their  food, it is definitely not good for your health. As disgusting to taste too, like their actions.

Here's a link to the petition
sign and share.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/952/690/366/remove-anti-homeless-spikes-outside-mcdonalds-on-briggate-and-everywhere-in-leeds/

Tuesday 14 April 2015

Eduardo Galeona ( 3/09/40 - 12/4/15) R.I.P Poet laureate of the anti globalisation movement.


Sadly another truthsayer has gone, Eduardo Galeona,  poet laureatte of the anti-globalisation  movement, a Uruguayan writer, poet, anti-capitalist of much depth. A committed  socialist, whose historical works condemned European and US  colonialist exploitation of Latin America over 5 centuries, which made him a revered figure among leftists. He died aged 74 after a battle with lung cancer.
Weaving tapestries of society obscured by historians, his books ( he was a productive writer of over 30 books) presented alternative histories that gave equal weight to the suffering of the downtrodden, as to the grand achievements of better known historical figures.
He was forced  to flee from Uruguay  to neighboring Argentina in 1973, after he was briefly imprisoned  bt recently  installed  military dictatorship, which banned his book Open Veins. He was blacklisted by death squads in Argentina following a military coup and fled to  Spain.
"We have a memory cut in pieces"  he once told Democracy Now. "And  I write trying to recover our real memory, the memory of humankind, what I call the human rainbow, which is much more colourful and beautiful than the other one, the other rainbow. But the human rainbow has been mutilated by machismo, racism, militarism, and a lot of other isms,who have been  terribly killing our greatness,  our possible greatness, our possible beauty."
The following is one of his  fine poems. R.I.P


The right to dream of a better world ( El derecha a sonar)

The right to dream is a poem written and read by Eduardo Galeona.
In  1948, and again  in 1976, the United Nations  proclaimed long lists of  human rights, but most of the worlds people still enjoy only the rights to see, hear and remain silent.
Suppose we excercise the  never  proclaimed right to dream? Lets set our sights above  the abominations of today, to divine another possible world






Edward Galeano - Interview ; Living without fear.








Sunday 12 April 2015

Transitory


I follow the start of the rising tide,
sit and wait for shifting frontiers, 
to reset empty agenda, to seek change,
as people decide for whom to vote, 
if they take part in the process at all.

The politicians' luck is running out,
on a point of  flickering departure,
hopefully smiles  will be seen again,
on every turn of the corner,
if hollow policies, can be exposed,
we can all be left to our own devices.

We  have learnt how to stand still,
how to run, how to leap,
though we are closely watched,
we have strength in numbers,
to change the status quo,
but beware of paths of complacency,
the jackals are outside the door,
waiting patiently still to devour us all.





Saturday 11 April 2015

Anniversary of 1981 Brixton Riots






 On Saturday 11th April 1981, Brixton was set ablaze as hundreds of local youth fought with the Metropolitan Police. The country was in recession, unemployment amongst African Caribbean  members of the community was high, and the quality of housing was poor. In the week preceding the Brixton Riots, Operation Swamp 81, saw over 1,000 people ( mainly  from the  young black community) being stopped and searched adding to the increased  frustration of the local people. Tensions were high.
What happened next was to become one of the most significant outbreaks of civil disorder in 20th Century London. Police continued operating their hated 'sus' laws,  where in order to stop someone, police only needed suspicion.  At the time the police were exempt  from the Race Relations Act, and many people targeted  were from  the ethnic community, which  led to accusations of racial prejudice.
After arrests were made  tensions rose again, igniting violence which spread across  the streets. The streets  of Brixton became a battle zone. After police arrived in  full riot gear, people started gathering to throw makeshift petrol bombs and set light to police cars. 
By the  time hostilities  had ended,  over 360  ppeople had been injured,  28 premises burned and another 177 damaged and looted. The police arrested 82 people. 
After the riots a police enquiry was held under Lord Scarman that held that policing in a civil society can only succeed with  the  consent of  the community. But 4 years later the Police  shot Mrs Cherry Grove, , causing again disturbances  in the area. There have been many many miscarriages of justice since.
34 years later there are many lessons to be learned.  Police racism continues, as does unemployment and poverty. Capitalist society still suffers from a sickness that breeds ,the big criminals of the land get rich and fat, get rewarded for their crimes (ie the bankers) whilst the poorer members of our communities are stigmatised, getting poorer, punished because of the greedy.  Sadly conditions in  Brixton are not vastly better than  over 30 years ago. Unrest can easily be fermented, when conditions on the streets are ignored. Riots that have happened since, like those seen in Brixton do not happen without a reason.






Guns of Brixton  -the Clash,  with collage of Brixton riots.


Friday 10 April 2015

This Farage Twit


I happen  to think that Nigel Farage is a twit of the first order. Many of his supporters though idolise him, on social media they don't  seem to like any criticism,  let alone  any satire, despite a whole host of mishaps and blunders. I have had people trying to have a 'pop' when I have tried to spoil their gilded view.
They claim  that UKIP is a libertarian party, all I see is  xenophopbia, authoritarianism and the whiff of racism. But  his supporters, carry on gleefuly, dancing to his chorus, carry on being misinformed , claiming media bias, and misrepresentation, but  their policies are  dangerous and blinkered that seek out to divide communities,demonising people , whilst creating stigma too.With their chief political philosophy  being that  immigrants are to blame for everything. This Is why I will personally keep taking the piss, as above Nigel Farage gets Dr Seussed. We must keep challenging their brand of intolerance, keep on questioning their point of view.
When people excuse, dismiss or are silent, about racism and hatred they contribute to the acceptance  of a more racist society. We should not forget the strong connection that exists between UKIP and extreme  far right fascists.
Oh Nige was said to be a bit tired a couple of days ago, after he bonded with Joey Essex, over their secret love of fish, after boarding a boat in Grimbsy.


At the end of the day, the picture below captures my feeling entirely. after hanging around with Joey he was caught standing behind the most appropriate sign. Ah a picture can help paint a thousand words.



Wednesday 8 April 2015

Two years after Margaret Thatcher's death, time to bury her legacy once for all



For all the gushing plaudits  and tributes dedicated to Margaret Thatcher, upon her death, she still remains an extremely divisive figure. This is because  many people are still  living with the dire consequences of her actions. As election time approaches, her breath and twisted ideology still lingers among all the mainstream parties.
Many of us are still unable to forgive her for the devastation she wrought to our communities, the damage  she caused to our industries, our whole way of life. She fought against the miners, not giving a hoot, or  an inch of compromise, then   put her sights on our welfare state, whilst leaving an entire generation to be thrown on the scrapheap.
Her whole twisted ideology  was to try and tear up the post 1945 consensus and privatise our public services, sell of our nationalised industries, whilst smashing up Trade Union rights, embarking on a systematic  path of of destruction. Carving up the land, shifting  the balance of social economic wealth between the rich and poor, very much  detrimental  to the latter.
Being kind, she was just a sower of destruction,  not  an ounce of compassion within her, a creator of mass unemployment too, a fosterer of division with her cruel policies. A liar too, about Hillsborough, who also bombed retreating ships.
While she shafted all and sundry she still managed to be friends with right wing dictators like Pinochet and P.W Botha. I can never forgive her.
She is still hated and always will be, despite her pulse stopping, her  awful legacy lives  on, in the  toxicity that is Tony Blair who called her after her death, " a unique and towering figure" then their is the rotten tory party, still here today preaching  the same stinking doctrine. The scars and pain she caused remain.
The witch might be dead, but the stench of Thatcherism still unfortunately, fills the air it is time I think, that we bury her awful legacy, once and for all,


Some earlier thoughts.

http://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/no-to-margaret-thatcher-memorial.html

http://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/margaret-thatcher-her-legacy-personal.html

http://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/the-witch-is-dead.html