Wednesday 30 March 2016

Police Shooting of Jean Charles De Menezes was lawful rules ECHR - Marking the death of Justice.


Just over  10 years ago an innocent 27 year old  Brazilian electrician Jean Charles De Menezes  was  mistaken  for a suicide bomber and shot at close range 7 times  in the head while sitting on a bench at Stockwell Tube Station in London on his way to work .Two weeks earlier 52 people tragically lost their lives on July 21 in a wave of terrorist bombings on the London transport system. Jean Charles was not a terrorist though. No warnings were ever shouted and he subsequently died on the spot. Nobody would want  to deny  the police the right to shoot dead a sucide bomber if they genuinely thought  he was about to blow up innocent people, but on all accounts this is not what happened here. Due to failings of the Met police from Commander to officer on the the ground an innocent man was killed deliberately and unessessarily// 
But this  killing has now been ruled lawful according to the European Court for Human Rights , see further details here :- 
http://www.rt.com/uk/337730-de-menezes-court-ruling/ Todays ruling comes  as a major blow to his family who have endured a 10 year legal battle and a long fight to achieve justice http://www.justice4jean.org.
An innocent man abroad killed at the hands of the British State. Still no justice , and no one held for account, I personally feel this to be an utter disgrace.  Once again  the British police allowed to  be unaccountable, in the so called name of justice. We should not forget the memory of this innocent man, and the tragic disturbing circumstances  in how his life was lost.

Tuesday 29 March 2016

Masks



( an old one not posted here before, rejigged)

Wearing seven masks at once,
( I am the onion)
seven secrets gently spun,
on wheels sealed,
holding on to the shore in ionspheres,
no need for tears, will be here once more,
to not give a shit, to not give a damn,
but to care all the same, and to remain questioning,
we cannot revive old factions,
or follow antique drums,
but with our traces we can reveal,
just remember to be kind,
peel the layers slowly.
truth lies naked
underneath the skin.

A history of silencing Israeli army whistleblowers – from 1948 until today


A history of silencing Israeli whistleblowers  , Jonathan Cook looks at  how the truth of  Israels past and present war crimes is surfacing, slowly  but surely, much to the dismay of Binyamin Netanayahu
and company who are threatening to ban army whistleblowers.

Link here :-

A history of silencing Israeli army whistleblowers – from 1948 until today – Redress Information & Analysis

Monday 28 March 2016

A Precious Love.



( an Easter gift for Jane, the mighty furbster,  knowing that she is unable to eat chocolates at the moment, and that the only flowers I can afford at the moment would come from the hedgerows, a poem released from my heart.)

This love I know, I've watched grow,
A rare beauty in a world gone wrong,
An understanding beautiful pulse,
Of tenderness and great spirit,
In day brings hope and the night quiet peace,
Whose face sparkles in my dreams,
Manifesting her loveliness,
In every season stands splendid and proud,
A burst of  precious moments,
Creator of joy and happiness,
Light shines all around her presence,
Sweet like honey, this love I know,
I have tasted the wonder of her lips,
None other can I compare, 
In my mind will never fade nor wither,
When I close my eyes I know,
Here be an exquisite bloom.
That will never be unspoken of or forgotten.   


Saturday 26 March 2016

100th anniversary of the Easter Rising


This Easter marks the 100th anniversary of the 1916 Easter rising in Dublin against British imperialist rule. It actually began on 24 April 1916 and lasted  for six short but bloody days, resulting in the deaths of over 300 civilian  casualties, but is marked a month early to symbolically connect it with Easter.
This  uprising marks one of the most defining moments of the struggle for Irish independence, which began with reading of the proclamation Poblach na h -Eireann  byPatrick Pearce, a radical document that called for the establishment of a republic, which  ' represented of the whole people of Ireland  and elected by the suffrages of all her men and women." and "the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland."
It occured at the height of the First World War, rebel leaders feeling the need to rise the people up, while England was at it;s weakest point.  At the time this did not arouse much sympathy because many Irish men, were already fighting  and dying  on foreign lands, for their current King and country. Nevetheless many rallied to the cause, the insugents numbering to over 1,200 men and women.Barricades across the capital city of Dublin sprung up with rebels taking over strategic landmarks.
Over the course of the rising the British deployed over 16,000 troops to brutally suppress it, but the rebels bravely resisted, but it would lead  to about 450 civilan casualties being killed and over 2,000 wounded. The rebels headguartees at the GPO would be blasted into surrender,which Patrick Pearce ordered on the 29th of April.


          
                                 GPO headquarters in ruins after failed uprising



One of the self styled commaders in chief of the rebel forces was James Connolly, a revolutionary socialist actually born in Scotland, who not only dedicated himself to the cause of Irish liberation but alsoto that of international socialism, active also within the radical syndicalist union known as the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). On the 12th ofMay he would be satin a chair and shot by firing squad along with  other leaders of the uprising, numbering  16 in all , which included Patrick Pearce. He was to weak to stand on his own because his body was too battered from wounds received in the uprising. 

Pictured :- James Connolly
 

It should be noted that at the time the rising had little support from the Irish people, no popular mandate, but because of its brutal suppresion and the martyrdom of its leaders it sparked the flame of Irish republicanism, that would launch a mass rebellion that would lead to the creation of an Irish republic. The rising subsequentlly struck a blow  against the idea of empire and imperialism, beginning a path repeated  across the British Empire as the 20th century progressed, as Edward Said  noted " a model of 20th century wars of liberation." Connolly is now rightly celebrated as one of the fathers of the Irish nation that we see now.
After the rising over 3,000 peopke were arrested many with no actual connection with the uprising and over 1,800 imprisoned. This would also start a wave of support that would lead to independence.
Many were to be interned in Frongech Prison Camp here in Gwynedd, Wales, near Bala, which would aid the rebles cause further because collectively they found solidarity, in what has become known as the university of revolution, seeds of further rebellion were sown, in the hearts and minds of some who had not previously considered this path.
In 1920, after the failed uprising Britain would sign a disputed treaty creating two governments- one in Belfast with jurisdiction  over 6 counties and the other in Dublin which  had authority over the others. It was not until 1949 that the state of Ireland explicitly became a republic, an independent nation.
The 1916 rising remains  a seminal event of 20th centurty history and  is celebrated because it gave rise to a birth of a nation. It still holds great significance because it has continued to be both a source of pride, division and controversy across this Island ever since, as some believe there is still unfinished business. 
This Easter Sunday will herald synchronised wreath laying ceremonies at strategic points across Dublin and the Republic of Ireland in what will be an unashamed celebration of the birth of the Irish republic, one hopefully of unity instead of division. A moment of a people's pride.




Friday 25 March 2016

Happy Easter: Remembering a Revolutionary Jesus



What would Jesus be up to nowadays, though many claim he is still with us, this unemployed son of two asylum seekers. Maybe he would be born in todays world as a refugee, or in an occupied nation, or in a slum or in a war zone , a life on benefits,  due to sickness or disability.
I like to think that if  he did wander on this earth he would show solidarity with the poor and oppressed, the most vulnerable, being the righteous man that he was said to be.
I am not personally of the christan faith  but respect some historical facts, the evidence that points to Jesus as one of the self proclaimed messiahs fighting to end Roman occupation and for an egalitarian society in which division between rich and poor had been erased. His revolutionary message. This is what made him a marked man and  led to his crucifiction and his followers subsequently being persecuted. I think  his ideas seem to be the complete opposite of some of his followers today, who use his name, certain right wing politicians.
Did not many of the earlier christians practice a form of communism. As Acts of Apostles says " The believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need."  And this from the gospels " he had filled the hungry with good things and sent the richaway with empty hands." Did  he not preach fairness, his revolutionary ideas stirring some  to follow him  and others to hate him. Does not the Bible reveal too, a focus on social justice and the poor and point to a way that economic life should be organised around the needs of societies weakest and most vulnerable members. He challenged  the attitudes of a society  that  looked down on the marginalised - the sick, the poor, the needy, social outcasts and challenged the structures that kept them  in their marginalised place. He did not simply ignore those who suffer on the margins of our societies. He talked about a God of compassion - one that would open up his kingdom to those locked out.
In this present time many of his followers are urging Stephen Crabb the current secretary of state for work and pensions, and current Conservative MP, for Preseli Pembrokeshire here in Wales to scrap  brutal cuts. In a letter which suggests they are incompatible with  his Christian faith.
Catholic  think tank Ekklesia have written  to him saying  his departments cuts have gone to far.  Urging him to reverse the  policies of his predecessor and to work to the principles of Christian justice . 
You can read the full contents of the letter here , well worth a read :-

http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/sites/ekklesia.co.uk/files/stephen_crabb_open_letter.pdf


happy eostore, heddwch/peace.

Thursday 24 March 2016

William Morris (24/3/1854 -3/10/1896) - No Master / All for the Cause



William Morris was an English textile designer, artist, writer and revolutionary socialist and political agitator associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts movement born on this day in 1854.
His aim was not only to create beautiful things but also a beautiful  society. He became an important figure in the emergence of socialism in Britain, founding the Socialist League in 1884, active in promoting its cause  through  his writing and lecturing on street corners. Throughout  his life  he continued  to identify  with the revolutionary left. He was heartened  by the Labour  movements break with liberalism,  but he warned, perhaps more clearly than anyone else at the time  of the dangers of reformism. Right up to his death in  1896 he was agitating and arguing  for a socialist movement that  would change the world  by open revolt. He also embraced radical ideas  of sexual freedom and libertarianism. There is a strong libertarian temper in his writings and being a close friend of Peter Kropotkin ( eminent anarchist at the time) was well aware of the anarchist case against government and political authority. 
 In 1885 he bought out his Chants for Socialism which the following two  poems are drawn from. In his novel News from Nowhere (1890) he recorded his own idiosyncratic vision after the abolition of classes. In it he envisages a society of equality and freedom. Such a vision - a rational grounded utopia , apparently so distant to us - is precisely what is needed for us today. 
An interesting  passionate and varied life, he hated the age he lived, its commerce, its poverty, its industry, but most of all he hated its individualistic, selfish system of values. At the end of his life  he explained.

"The study of history and the love and practice of art forced me into a hatred of  the civilisation which, if things were to stop as they are  would turn history into inconsequent nonsense, and make art a collection  of the curiosities of the past."  

His words still have powerful resonance in our own turbulent times.

No Master  

Saith man to man, We've heard and known
  That we no master need
To live upon this earth, our own,
  In fair and  mainly deed,
The grief of slaves long passed away
  For us hath forged the chain,
Till now  each worker's patient day
  Builds up the House of Pain.

And we, shall we too, crouch and quall.
  Ashamed, afraid of strife,
And lest our lives untimely fail
  Embrace the Death in Life?
Nay, cry aloud, and have no fear,
  We few against the world;
Awake, arise! the hope we bear
  Against the curse is hurled.

It grows and grows - are we the same,
  The feeble hand,  the few?
Or, what are these with  eyes aflame,
  and hands to deal and do?
This is the lost  that bears the word,
  NO MASTER HIGH OR LOW-
A lightning flame, a shearing sword,
  A storm to overthrow.

All For The Cause

Hear a word, a word in season, for the day is drawing
      nigh,
When  the Cause shall call upon us, some to live, and some
       to die!

He that dies shall not die lonely, many an one hath gone
      before;
He that lives shall bear no burden  heavier than the life they
      bore.

Nothing ancient in their story, w'en but yesterday they bled,
Youngest they of earth's beloved, last of the valiant dead.

E'en the tidings we are telling was the tale they had to tell,
E'en the hope that our hearts cherish, was the hope for
      which they fell.

In the grave where tyrants thrust them, lies their labour
     and  their pain,
But undying from their sorrow springeth up the hope again.

Mourn not  therefore, nor lament it, that the world outlives
        their life;
Voice and vision yet they give us, making among our hands
        for strife.

Some had name, and fame, and humour,  learn'd they were,
       and wise and strong;
Some were nameless, poor, unletterred, weak in all but grief
        and wrong.

Named and nameless, all live in us; ne and all they had
      us yet
Every pain to count for nothing every sorrow to forget.

Hearken how they cry, "O happy, happy ye were
      born
In the sad slow night's departing, is the rising of the morn.

"Fair the crown the Cause hath for you, well to die or well
      to live
Through the battle, through the tangle, peace to gain or
      peace to give."

Ah, it may be! Oft mescemeth, in the days that yet shall be,
When no slave of gold abideth 'twist the breadth of sea to
       sea,

Oft, when men and maids are merry, ere the sunlight leaves
        the earth,
And they bless the day, beloved, all too short for all their
       mirth,

Some pause awhile and ponder on the bitter days of
       old,
Ere the toil of strife and battle overththrew the curse of gold;

Then 'twist lips  of loved and lover solemn thoughts of us
      shall rise;
We who were once fools and dreamers, then shall  be the leave and wise.

There amidst the world new-builded shall our earthly deeds
       abide.
Through our names be all forgotten, and the tale of how we
      died.

Life or death then, who shall heed it, what we gain or what
        we lose?
Fair flies life amid the struggle, and the Cause for each shall
        choose.

Hear a word, a word in season, for the day is drawing nigh,
When the Cause hall call upon  us, some to live, and some
        to die!