Silence for Gaza, by Mahmoud Darwish (penned in Arabic in 1973)

 

Since  October 7, 2023, the terrible ongoing violence against innocent civilians in Gaza   which has resulted in the deaths of over 50,200 Palestinians.

Supposedly in response to Hamas’s attacks, in the name of “self-defense”, the far-right extremist Israeli government did not take the time for reflection, mourning, or negotiations for the release of hostages.  Instead, they immediately sought “revenge” as a cover for land theft, while collectively blaming and punishing the entire population of Gaza, including countless children, for Hamas’s actions. 

The corruption and brutality of this genocidal vengeance has been unprecedented, atrocious, tragic, and infuriating. The ongoing incremental dispossession of the Palestinian people has reached a crescendo, where Palestinian civilians are being murdered while  being denigrated as “human animals”, “terrorists” or “terrorist supporters.”  This is not war. It is genocide.  Every person, regardless of their background, deserves freedom, opportunity, dignity, life, love, and nourishment. 

Eid has  just been celebrated , while many of us live in comfort and enjoy a range of dishes at this time, please keep people of Gaza in your minds and escalate our efforts for them.  For over 30 days, not a single sip of water, a bite of food, or medicine has reached Gaza. For two million people, half of them children. No electricity, no equipment  to  remove the rubble .No aid, no fuel, no supplies, nothing.. The situation is really really desperate and the catastrophe in Gaza is worsening unimaginably by the minute.

Israel has bombarded and destroyed water containers, ambulances and hospitals.. Many  are still living in tents. How the fuck are people gonna survive. This isn’t war. It’s extermination. To those who care, keep  talking  about  Palestine.

Give hope to the oppressed.keep calling for the Palestinians suffering  to  end They must be allowed to  survive.  Sttand in solidarity with the people in Gaza, the West Bank, and all of Palestine. It is part of our collective responsibility to never waiver on their rights, work to end this genocide, and demand their liberation from Israel’s settler-colonial apartheid regime. 

Since 2003 I   have often been  left feeling anger and shame, tinged  with  great  sadness, but  at  the same time throughout this  painful  period  I have been consciously seeking out and reading words by Palestinian authors and poets.They  have  bought me  much  strength. 

Mahmoud Darwish   was born on March 13, in 1941, in al-Birwa in Galilee, a village that was eventually occupied and later razed by the Israeli army. Because they had missed the official Israeli census, Darwish and his family were considered “internal refugees” or “present-absent aliens.”

Darwish is feted as Palestine’s national poet for his words expressing the longing of Palestinians deprived of their homeland, which was taken by Zionist militias to make way for present-day Israel, whose words have left an indelible mark on Arabic literature. 

His poetry gave voice to the pain of Palestinians living as refugees and those under Israeli occupation for nearly a century. The beauty of his poetry lies in its rich language, blending personal and collective histories with poignant reflections on love, loss, and the quest for belonging. His legacy continues to inspire readers with its profound humanity and lyrical grace. Here's a  timeless ode to Gaza from this Palestinian literary giant, The relevance to today's circumstances is unbelievable. It's as if it was written yesterday.

Silence for Gaza, by Mahmoud Darwish (penned in Arabic in 1973)   

Gaza is far from its relatives and close to its enemies, because whenever Gaza explodes, it becomes an island and it never stops exploding. It scratched the enemy’s face, broke his dreams and stopped his satisfaction with time. 

 Because in Gaza time is something different.   

 Because in Gaza time is not a neutral element.  

 It does not compel people to cool contemplation, but rather to explosion 

and a collision with reality.   

 Time there does not take children from childhood to old age, but rather makes them men in their first confrontation with the enemy.    

Time in Gaza is not relaxation, but storming the burning noon. Because in Gaza values are different, different, different.    

The only value for the occupied is the extent of his resistance to occupation. That is the only competition there. Gaza has been addicted to knowing this cruel, noble value. It did not learn it from books, hasty school seminars, loud propaganda megaphones, or songs. It learned it through experience alone and through work that is not done for advertisement and image. 

Gaza has no throat. Its pores are the ones that speak in sweat, blood, and fires. Hence the enemy hates it to death and fears it to criminality, and tries to sink it into the sea, the desert, or blood. And hence its relatives and friends love it with a coyness that amounts to jealousy and fear at times, because Gaza is the brutal lesson and the shining example for enemies and friends alike.  

Gaza is not the most beautiful city.    

Its shore is not bluer than the shores of Arab cities.   

Its oranges are not the most beautiful in the Mediterranean basin.  

Gaza is not the richest city.    

It is not the most elegant or the biggest, but it equals the history of an entire homeland, because it is more ugly, impoverished, miserable, and vicious in the eyes of enemies. Because it is the most capable, among us, of disturbing the enemy’s mood and his comfort. Because it is his nightmare. Because it is mined oranges, children without a childhood, old men without old age and women without desires. Because of all this it is the most beautiful, the purest and richest among us and the one most worthy of love.   

We do injustice to Gaza when we look for its poems, so let us not disfigure Gaza’s beauty. What is most beautiful in it is that it is devoid of poetry at a time when we tried to triumph over the enemy with poems, so we believed ourselves and were overjoyed to see the enemy letting us sing. We let him triumph, then when we dried our lips of poems we saw that the enemy had finished building cities, forts and streets. We do injustice to Gaza when we turn it into a myth, because we will hate it when we discover that it is no more than a small poor city that resists.   

We do injustice when we wonder: What made it into a myth? If we had dignity, we would break all our mirrors and cry or curse it if we refuse to revolt against ourselves. We do injustice to Gaza if we glorify it, because being enchanted by it will take us to the edge of waiting and Gaza doesn’t come to us. Gaza does not liberate us. Gaza has no horses, airplanes, magic wands, or offices in capital cities. Gaza liberates itself from our attributes and liberates our language from its Gazas at the same time. When we meet it - in a dream - perhaps it won’t recognize us, because Gaza was born out of fire, while we were born out of waiting and crying over abandoned homes.   

It is true that Gaza has its special circumstances and its own revolutionary traditions. But its secret is not a mystery: Its resistance is popular and firmly joined together and knows what it wants (it wants to expel the enemy out of its clothes). The relationship of resistance to the people is that of skin to bones and not a teacher to students. Resistance in Gaza did not turn into a profession or an institution. 

It did not accept anyone’s tutelage and did not leave its fate hinging on anyone’s signature or stamp.  It does not care that much if we know its name, picture, or eloquence. It did not believe that it was material for media. It did not prepare for cameras and did not put smiling paste on its face.  

Neither does it want that, nor we.   

Hence, Gaza is bad business for merchants and hence it is an incomparable moral treasure for Arabs. 

 What is beautiful about Gaza is that our voices do not reach it. Nothing distracts it; nothing takes its fist away from the enemy’s face. Not the forms of the Palestinian state we will establish whether on the eastern side of the moon, or the western side of Mars when it is explored. Gaza is devoted to rejection. .  hunger and rejection, thirst and rejection, displacement and rejection, torture and rejection, siege and rejection, death and rejection.

Enemies might triumph over Gaza (the storming sea might triumph over an island. . . they might chop down all its trees).    

They might break its bones.   

They might implant tanks on the insides of its children and women. They might throw it into the sea, sand, or blood.    

But it will not repeat lies and say “Yes” to invaders.   

It will continue to explode.    

It is neither death, nor suicide. It is Gaza’s way of declaring that it deserves to live.

 [Translated by Sinan Antoon From Hayrat al-`A’id (The Returnee’s Perplexity), Riyad al-Rayyis, 2007]

They say cities are measured by their buildings, but Gaza is measured by its ability to rise after every catastrophe. This tent is not just fabric; it is a condensed homeland, a suspended memory, a defiance that refuses to bow. And around it, everything is destroyed, everything has ended-except for the will to endure, the flag that refuses to fall, and the spirit that will never die.

Amidst the heavy veil of siege, through the sharp pain of grief, and the deep scars of loss, the  Palestinian  people  rise, unyielding, on the wings of resilience. Their voices,  powerful, with steadfastness as their armor, their courage burns brightly, a flame that the world must acknowledge, a call that cannot be ignored. Palestinian is a love for land, self, and  one another. A testament to the best of humanity. As Mahmoud Darwish once said: "On this land, there is something worth living for... It was called Palestine, and it became Palestine."

To  all the resilient souls of Gaza, the mothers who bury their pain, the children who smile through rubble, the fighters who defend with faith alone. Your courage  and strength  will  endure, destined to be celebrated forever.Palestine will be free  from the rivers to  the sea. Two earlier appreciation   on  the poet Mahmod  Darwish  can  be  found here.

https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2010/01/mahmoud-darwish-poet-of-resistance.html

https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2020/08/those-who-pass-between-fleeting-words.html

Marking Palestinians Land Day

 

Every  year  Palestinians commemerate Land Day / Yom al-Ard/ which coincides with the third anniversary of the Great March of Return in Gaza, and  is marked by Palestinians wherever they live. on the anniversary of March 30, 1978,when Palestinian villages and cities across the country witnessed mass demonstrations against the states plans to expropriate 2,000 hectares of land in and around the Arab villages of Araba and Sakhnin as a part of a plan to "Judaise the Galilee".Israel's Galilee region. 

In coordination with the military, some 4,000 police officers were  dispatched  to quell the unrest. At the end of the day, six Palestinian citizens  were Killed by occupation forces, Kheir Mohammas Salim Tasin, Khadija Qaeem Shavaboch, Raja Hssein, AbuRayva, Khader Eid, Mahmoud Khalayleh, Muhsin HasanHasan, Said Taha and Raafar Ali-Zheir, as they defended their land, and over one hundred injured by state security forces..

The Day of the land - or Land Day marked the first mass mobilization of Palestinians within Israel against internal colonialism and land theft. It also signalled the failure of Israel to subjugate Palestinians who remained in their towns and villages, after around 700,000 of them were either expelled or forced to flee massacres committed by Zionist armed groups in 1948.

Today's commemoration of Land Day is an emblematic reminderL that  the day falls during the Israeli government’s genocide of Palestinians. With immense grief and rage at the horrors the Israeli military is committing in Gaza right now, we recognize Palestinians’ deep roots in their land as we support the struggle for Palestinian freedom.and remember  the  countless human rights violations that have characterised more than 70 years of Palestinian land confiscation and dispossession. 

This important day in Palestinian history commemorates the Palestinians sense of belonging to a people, to a cause and a country, to stand united against racial oppression and rules of apartheid,and the discriminatory practices of the Israeli government, giving continual potency to the Palestinians cause , its quest for justice and Palestinian rights, and its resistance to injustice,who never cease to fight for their land while holding passionately to their history and identity. It is the right of return, recognised in the United Nations Resolution 194, that drives Palestinians to continue with the commemoration of Land Day - regardless of their geographical location.

The day is commemorated  annually by Palestinians in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem and further afield in refugee camps and among the Palestinian diaspora worldwide, with demonstrations, marches and by planting olive and fruit trees, as a symbol of their resilience to daily occupation..

Despite attempts to suppress Palestinian political movements, Land Day has remained a unifying symbol of resistance for Palestinian citizens in their fight for land, identity, and rights.While Israeli settler colonial expansionism does not rest, neither does Palestinian perseverance and Palestinians are continuing to mark Land Day with anti-Israel protests around Israel, West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Land Day continues to be poignantly relevant as Israel continues to confiscate land, expand their colonies, and continue to build their illegal settlements in flagrant violation of all international conventions, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention and international humanitarian law.  

Land day is  a Palestine day, a day for its people to  proudly declare that they are one from the River to the Sea. It serves to remind the world that the Israeli denial and suppression of Palestinian resistance and their right to self-determination is a policy intended to squash the Palestinian people’s will and dominate them to expand Israel’s settler colonialism.

 The Keep Hope Alive - Olive Tree Campaign works to support the Palestinian farmers to protect their land, to restore their hope, to empower them and to strengthen their steadfastness, by providing them with olive trees and share with them actions of solidarity and support from partners and friends worldwide.

In 2018, the Day of the Land once again bore witness to the popular organizing of the people, as thousands upon thousands gathered in Gaza for the Great March of Return, and occupation foces again shot down Palestinians defending their land and upholding their rights, 47 years after the first Land Day massacre. Israel occupying forces killed 16 martyrs of the land and return, with over 200 more shot down in the marches in the months and days to come.

The Palestinian struggle is unified around rootedness in the land: from land defenders in Masafer Yatta, to farmers in the Naqab. From those who use the day to visit the location of their villages destroyed in the Nakba, to those in exile who demand return to their homeland.

Today, Palestinians are resisting Israel’s relentless onslaught across their homeland.  Israel’s genocide in Gaza has killed many tens, if not hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. Most of Gaza’s residents are already refugees, displaced from their land by Israel’s previous campaigns of ethnic cleansing.

In Palestinian reality, every day is Land Day. Despite Israel's genocide and apartheid, Palestinians will never give up their  right to return to  their ancestral lands.Today and tomorrow I continue to stand side by side with my sisters and brothers in solidarity with  their struggle for peace, justice, equality and an end to the illegal occupation of their land. 

I would urge others who may read this to do the same.As we mark the 49th anniversary of Land Day, commemorate all of the Palestinians murdered in Israel’s genocide against 2.3 million  people in occupied Gaza. The Indigenous people of Palestine will continue their  struggle for liberation and for the return of refugees to their ancestral land despite the genocide.  and will never  give in. 

When the Israeli occupation ends, which  it must it  wil see many Palestinians return to their homeland and live there because  it is their  land. 

The Land Day strike   inspired the following powerful poem by Tawfiq Zayyad, Palestinian poet, writer, scholar and politician, that continues to resonate across the Palestinian generations.

Here we will stay - Tawfiq Zayyad ( 7/5/ 29 - 5/7/ 94)

In Lidda, in Ramla, in the Galilee,
we shall remain
like a wall upon your chest,
and in your throat
like a shrad of glass,
a cactus thron,
and in your eyes
a sandstorm.
We shall remain
a wall upon your chest,
clean dishes in your restaurants,
serve drinks in your bars,
sweep the floors of your kitchens
to snatch a bite for our children
from your blue fangs.
Here we shall stay,
sing our songs,
take to the angry streets,
fill prisons with dignity.
In Lidda, in Ramla, in the galilee,
we shall remain,
guard the shade of the fig
and olive trees,
ferment rebellion in our children
as yeast in the dough.

Link to poem by Mahmoud Darwish on the same theme :-

https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/to-our-land-mahmoud-darwish-13309.html

The international community must go beyond solidarity and  demand an end to the occupation and defend the self-determination of the Palestinian people, as recognized by the International Court of Justice and the United Nations General Assembly. 

We must demand a total ceasefire and support the steadfastness of the Palestinian people and their safe return to their land, and  to  demand our  governments ends its complicity in Israel’s settler-colonialism and apartheid,  and to  stop arming Israel, and ban all trade with illegal Israeli settlements on stolen land. To  those here in Britain  I  will urge   to write to Foreign Secretary David Lammy now. From the river to the sea Palestine will be free!

https://palestinecampaign.eaction.online/sanctionIsrael

The Solemn Present

 

Edvard Munch/Melancholy II, 1898

The Solemn Present

The weight of the world 

Sometimes too much to bear, 

On everyone's shoulders at the moment.

The earth drenched in crisis and despair,

Emotions swirl inside us like a storm  

Thinking of Palestine and Myanmar, 

Equally battered and delivered a cruel fate

Harmony destroyed each day a nightmare,

Circuts of sorrow spread before our eyes

Enxhaustion debilitating  difficult to repair

People broken, hearts heavy, souls worn

Groans of  mourning sadness fill the air,

The  horrors we witness not easy to forget

Paths of joy, broken, seemingly going nowhere

We wish the pain  and suffering to end  

Release thoughts of solidarity and care,  

Where life and death hangs by a thread 

WIpe your own tears dry and share, 

Offer thoughts of compassion to others 

Whose burden is greater, far more unfair.

Keep prayng for suffering to come to an end

Beyond the darkness allow light to flare.

Rachel Reeves Cruel Spring Budget

UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves  delivered the government’s spring budget  earlier today , and  appallingly will  now see welfare payments  cut even further, hitting the poorest and the most vulnerable the hardest, and pushing a quarter of a million people into poverty.

At a time over three quarters of people in receipt of Universal Credit and disability benefits are already struggling to afford the essentials like food,  and when millions  of us  are struggling to make ends meet, these cruel cuts are simply indefensible. People who are unable to work because they are disabled, sick or caring for others deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.

A tightening of eligibility for the main disability benefit personal independence payment (PIP) and changes to the sickness element of universal credit (UC) last week had already prompted stark warnings from charities concerned over their impact on vulnerable people. But today  Rachel Reeves confirmed UC health benefits for new claimants will be halved in 2026 and then frozen until 2030.  

The department for work and pensions' (DWP) own impact assessment of the cuts , also published today  revealed up to 3.2 million families who are current and future recipients will lose an average of £1,720 per year compared to inflation.

Today’s Spring Statement  continuies the legacy of austerity since 2010, which saw the harshest spending cuts in generations. The cruel benefits cuts in Rachel Reeves spring statement aren’t because of her economically illiterate fiscal rules or balancing the books, she’s been gunning for benefits claimants for over a decade.The  following is a link  to an article from 2013. 

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/oct/12/labour-benefits-tories-labour-rachel-reeves-welfare?fbclid=IwY2xjawJSLVpleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHffKJRNZ7-A2taCgRxEKihGtlI3Fn9veboZe1QwdFnh0hYktyA_vBVCvnA_aem_8-xdWrQ6jru5CCdvKnnIYQ 

Her welfare cuts are driven by ideology, not necessity.

Labour’s justification for the cuts makes little economic sense and is rooted in the kind of demonisation of people who rely on the welfare state that we have seen under successive Conservative governments: a scroungers versus strivers narrative pushed by politicians and the media alike.  

A life on benefits is not an easy ride at the taxpayer’s expense. Around five out of six households on universal credit regularly go without essentials such as food and heating, according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Making claims is also an arduous task. Many have described the Pip application process as complex and humiliating, while the work capability assessment for disabled people was linked to nearly 600 suicides in the three years following its introduction in 2010.

Far from being about streamlining and improving the welfare state, these cuts are a cynical, penny-pinching exercise, introduced with the sole aim of adhering to the chancellor’s self-imposed fiscal rules. 

Before the July 2024 election, Keir Starmer repeatedly promised that there would be no return to austerity. But, from the winter fuel allowance to welfare, that pledge has been needlessly shattered. As it stands, the government is set to unleash the most punishing erosion of disability benefits the nation has ever seen, the highest rates of child poverty since 1998 and our already battered and bruised public services are facing another hammer blow. This is the opposite of what people voted for and many are viewing having cast their ballot for Labour as a mistake they won’t make twice.

Cuts to already precarious incomes won’t help disabled people find work. Instead, they’ll risk forcing more people to skip meals and turn to food banks to get by  and push  many deeper  into poverty. The additional freeze to the health element of Universal Credit will undoubtedly force more people to decide between heating and eating, which is a choice no one should have to make. 

It is a simple fact that alreafy many people are not getting the support they so genuinely need. And it's very difficult to  see  how  this  government of ours is going  to  make anything easier.This isn't what voters want. Seven in ten voters across political parties agree the social security for disabled people should at least be enough to cover essential living costs

The idea that the Chancellor’s hand was forced into this by extenuating circumstances is an entirely false economy; there is always a choice. Choosing disabled people to bear the burden of today’s self-imposed economising , a group which already make up 70 per cent of foodbank users, is most certainly a wrong  and  disgraceful choice  of  clear  deliberate cruelty .

What is making me so angry about Rachel Reeves' cuts is their sheer brazen callousness. The needs and hopes and longing of the people for a better future just slapped away, and all the while billions are given over to war and the wealthy left untouched. This was a chance to introduce a tax on the super-rich and big corporations, to redistribute their extreme wealth and create a fairer society.  

Rather than committing to investment in clean energy, housing, schools, nature restoration, culture, things that would meaningfully improve our lives ,the UK government squandered this opportunity. 

Instead of targeting the wealthiest in society, the Labour government has chosen  shamefully to attack those who are most vulnerable. A simple 2% tax on assets over £10 million could raise £24 billion, r — nearly five times as much revenue as will be gained from welfare cuts. .A meausre that had   much  public support too,

Rachel Reeves told MPs of  the  government plans to cut billions from welfare support for the sick and disabled, while diverting funds from the international development budget to increase military spending. finding £2.2bn to give to Big Military. Ensuring we are purveyors of military death and destruction so we can have "economic growth". It's  psychopathic, and at the  the  same time  MPs are getting a pay rise, and  to  me personally  the government’s   continual obsession with militarisation shows that it is morally bankrupt. . 

Rachel Reeves could  very easily have issued  a Wealth Tax,  but  choose not too and  like the Tories before her continues to treat our disabled people ,mentally  ill   and  the  vulnerable  with disdain. We don't need more austerity, we need a system that protects not punishes. 

It's  all  very  worrying  stuff,   mny  of  us  are scared  and  frightened at this  present  time,  as we witness attacks on the poorest and most vulnerable that  the previous Tory government  would have been proud of. What an absolute bloody disgrace. 

Rachel Reeves finds ‘personal criticism’ hard, but as she set out her   plans  of  democide for the disabled.and the poor  among us  she has revelaed herself  to  be  truly vindictive and evil Rachel Reeves has consigned so many  now to a life of poverty or an early grave. 

It is in the vital interests of the labour movement as whole to resist these cruel  vicious  cuts. The poor, disabled people and the sick are part of the working class, even if all of them are not currently in work. The Labour party  seems to  have forgotten this. Every imposition on them is a disgrace, and has the potential to affect everyone in work, or seeking work.

IF effected by  all of  this, as  am  sure a lot  are, rhree charities,  Mind, Scope and Citizens Advice - have  already said they  have seen a surge in people contacting them after last week's disability and sickness benefit cuts announcement.  remember to be  be kind to yourself. We must  continue to  fight this evil,  and  if you haven’t already, will you  please email your MP urging them to call on the Work and Pensions Secretary to rethink these cruel cuts? 

https://action.trussell.org.uk/disability-cuts?utm_source=sfmc&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=spring+budget+response+25&utm_term=https%3a%2f%2faction.trussell.org.uk%2fdisability-cuts&utm_id=746876&sfmc_id=96287488&utm_campaignId=

Israel has shattered the ceasefire

During the  sacred month  of Ramadam in a grave escalation of their genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians,  and  after countless violations, Israel has completely shattered the ceasefire in Gaza. In its most brazen breach of the agreement, Israel launched airstrikes into Gaza early Tuesday morning, killing over 413 people mostly civilians, including women and children. Targets of the attack included homes and tent camps across the Strip. More than 550 have been hospitalised while more bodies remain trapped beneath the rubble.  

Israel has been consistently undermining the so-called “ceasefire” by both indirectly and directly killing Gazans throughout this period. On March 2, Israel sealed Gaza’s borders, blocking food, medical supplies, and essential goods from entering, and the Israeli occupation forces never stopped opening fire and killing Palestinians in Gaza. In reality, the genocide never ended. 

The bombings have resumed, hitting densely populated areas, makeshift schools, residential buildings, and the temporary shelters of people who’ve lost their homes. Forced displacement orders are pushing families from one place to another with nowhere safe to go. With the siege still in place, food and water are scarce.

For the last two weeks, Israel has completely blockaded Gaza, using starvation as a weapon of war as it continued to kill Palestinians with impunity.Prices have sky rocketed; tomatoes now cost eight times what they did. Medical evacuations remain impossible; thousands of wounded, including 4,500 children, need urgent care outside Gaza. Make no mistake, Israel does not intend to stop bombing civilians including scores of children in Gaza. So I  have to say. Don’t stop talking about Gaza. 

The latest Israeli attacks on a defenceless population in Gaza are barbaric and inhumane. World leaders can no longer turn a blind eye.As children in Gaza continue to be killed by Israel, the least we can do is bear witness to the crimes committed against them. Remember  that Hamas hasn’t fired a rocket at Israel in over 2 months.

The near-total decimation of the healthcare system in Gaza and the desperate shortages in medical equipment and supplies, exacerbated by Israel’s unlawful siege, effectively means a death sentence for many of those with serious injuries and illnesses, and those that in normal conditions would be easily curable.    

The resumption of Israel’s attacks also puts the lives of 24 remaining Israeli hostages at risk who are believed to be alive. This is also a cruel blow for hostages and Palestinian detainees as well as for their families. 

The international community must unite against these acts of genocide and hold Israel accountable for its flagrant breaches of international law. Israel is a terrorist State. 20,000 Palestinian families have lost at least one child in Gaza. Children in Gaza are being killed while sleeping. What an evil state can possibly mass kill children, in a  clear  crime  against  humanity.Nothing can justify the loss of life of a child. Nothing. Not self defense. Not human shields. Not a damn thing. How has bloody Keir Starmer 'reacted' by continuing to send Israel the weapons to kill them. Absolutely shameful. 

Israel has committed war crime after war crime, emboldened by Western governments' refusal to act. All governments must respond to this despicable assault on civilians with immediate sanctions,stop arming Israel and force this  monstrous country to end its war crimes.

Israel's  bloodthirsty aggression proves peace was never the goal, only genocide and domination. Shame on a nation that bombs fasting children while the world watches in silence. Israel has systematically starved, forcibly displaced and deliberately deprived Palestinians in Gaza of everything they need to survive , water, food, medical help and shelter. This act of collective punishment is against international law, as is the indiscriminate killing of civilians.

“The international community’s seismic, shameful failure for over a year to press Israel to end its atrocities in Gaza, by first delaying calls for a ceasefire and then continuing arms transfers, is and will remain a stain on our collective conscience." Dr Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International Secretary General.  

Justice for Palestine starts with action! The international community needs to do more than just make noise right now.How are we meant to carry on as “normal” when a genocide is happening in front of our eyes? 

Get on  the streets and demand an end to  Israel’s war crimes! We  need to push for a permanent ceasefire, to allow humanitarian aid for people facing intolerable suffering. The siege of Gaza must be stopped, and water, food and fuel allowed in.

Against the grains of injustice

Shadows swallow light so fast

Like hope now lost to time,

As the sky weeps still over Gaza

The evil, so wilful clearly felt,

Hard to forget, I wont ignore

The days dripping with sadness,

Nor my own bloody government 

That now wants to kill the poor,

It's all such a fucking disgrace 

All who allow sorrow’s glow, 

No support from me for souless shits

I loathe all leaders who defile,

Those of venomous poison

That make us sick and unwell,

Think it's fine to bully and abuse

Steal  people's peace of mind,

Saturating dreams with cruelty

Moribund streams of immoraity,

No breath of kindness or warmth

Destroyers of mercy and safety,  

Making life cruel and unbearable

As our voices of complaint lie forgotten,

But I remember the likes of  Bobby Sands

Who bravely died in springtime,

His words echoeing to this day

"Our revenge will be, 

The laughter of our children"

In the sparkle of stars, in night sky

The release of sunbeams gleam,

Conquering fear, like rainbows

With mellorisms of strength,

Our spirits free will keep resisting

Against the grains of  injustice.

Plans to slash billions from welfare spending is an outrageous attack on the poorest

In news  that  will strike fear into the hearts of many, the UK Government is set to unveil more than £6 billion catastrophic cuts to the welfare budget which will mean those unable to work will lose money, during a massive price rise and cost of living crisis..

The plans, revealed by ITV News https://www.itv.com/news/2025-03-07/government-to-make-6bn-welfare-savings-with-benefits-shake-up, will see £5bn in cuts by making it harder to qualify for the disability benefit Personal Independence Payment (PIP).  

PIP is not linked to work but is awarded to help with the additional costs of disabilities. The Labour Government is also set to freeze PIP payments next year so that they do not rise with inflation. There will also be changes to the way Universal Credit is calculated. The basic rate paid to those searching for work will be raised, while the rate for those who are judged as unfit for work will be cut.  The remaining £1bn will reportedly come through “a major investment for employment support for those who are looking for a job”.  

Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall previously said that “there are people who shouldn’t be on benefits who are taking the mickey”.  Yes, they're called 'The Royal Family'  and currently UK Labour who are truly "taking the mickey"

What everyone needs to grasp that legacy welfare benefits, Carer's Allowance, Universal Credit and PIP are currently woefully inadequate. nly last week the United Nations called out the inadequacies of the UK’s disability benefits system. PIP and ESA don’t cover basic costs. Disabled people are already being pushed into extreme poverty by Tory welfare cuts.Any changes to benefits should support, not disadvantage, those with disabilities or long-term conditions.The welfare state is supposed to provide a safety net, not punish people for being disabled or out of work. 

Another thing people seem  to forget is that  British people are entitled to £23 billion pounds more in benefits payments than they actually claim. The public purse is billions better off because folks who need and are are entitled to support opt to struggle through solo. That's the real story of benefits in Britain.

If  these announcements are actually  true it's one of  total  shame for the Labour Party who will have revealed themselves to be totally morally corrupt sociopaths, they are currently giving billions to Ukraine, while planning to take  billions from the Disabled. It's simply outrageous. Especially when you consider that Keith Starmer is only doing it for profit. 

Labour recently signed a 100-year business deal with Ukraine. This is a warped ideological decision, not an economic one. the labour party just wants poor, old and disabled people to die. 

The combination of Labours welfare cuts, almost all aimed at the disabled, their unashamed pro-Israel policy and the rest of their capitulations to power, privilege and wealth means no one with any pretensions to decency can remain within the party.  Starmer has torn the heart and soul out of the party and it  has no reason to exist any more.

Labour figures including Anas Sarwar, when asked why they are cutting welfare, are parroting the same slogan.  "The clue's in the name. Labour. We're the party of work."  There isn't any Labour party anymore. There are just three right wing parties. Reform, Labour and the Tories.

If you had any hope that the Labour party we all used to know; the one who gave us the NHS and the welfare state, who stood behind the workers and the people, was still here then this will finally kill that idea. The old Labour Party would have fought tooth and nail to help those in need but this lot seems instead of tackling the root of soaring living costs hellbent on sadistically hurting us. 

Am absolutely disgusted at the Labour Party for even thinking that it's acceptable to try and balance the books at the expense of some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in society. Shame on them and anyone who thinks it's acceptable just because they aren't the Tories. 

However hard they try to defend this, however they try to spin this, however they try to hide what they are doing in double talk their  behaviour is evil  and immoral in every sense of the word ,it's  bad enough they support genocide. At least the Tories told us to our faces what they were doing; this shower lie, deceive and plot our deaths.

The cost-of-living crisis has hit those of us already experiencing poverty the hardest. Slashing billions from welfare will not help people into work or save money, We must continue to resist reforms that target and harm  the  vulnerable, mentally  ill, disabled people, among us, that  will only further deepen poverty and further exacerbating distress.

Why is this Government so reluctant to tax those who can afford to be taxed more, the mega-wealthy, who wouldn't even feel a 1 or 2% on their income? Crucifying  and scapegoating the poor is not the answer. it's not reform, just a heartless unnecessarily cruel measure.

Plans to slash billions from welfare spending is an outrageous attack on the poorest. Imagine living with a disability, relying on essential mobility aids and medication, and already facing overwhelming expenses. Now, the Government wants to make huge cuts to our welfare system, which experts warn will push more people with disabilities into poverty.  

Charities and even 80 Labour MPs, a fifth of the party, oppose these plans. We need to show the public’s voice with a huge petition saying NO to these cruel cuts.  The welfare system is meant to support us when we need it most. Think about having an accident that left you struggling with high costs and then the Government slashed your support. We can’t let this happen - these cuts must be stopped in their tracks.

Opposing the removal of £6 billion from disabled people and some of the most vulnerable in society isn’t about being left or right—inside or outside Labour. It’s about basic decency. Please sign  the following petition. 

https://act.38degrees.org.uk/act/no-cruel-cuts-to-benefits?utm_source=email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=blast98787

Celebrating the life and work of Radical artist Franz Wilhelm Seiwert (March 9, 1894 – July 3, 1933)

The  radical German painter Franz Wilhelm Seiwert  was born on 9 March 1894 in Cologne, the only child of a postal worker Johann Seiwert and his wife Margarethe, née Düppenbecker.. His father came from Andernach, his mother from Oberpleis (now the city of Königswinter)Seiwert  grew up in humble circumstances, and began attending elementary school in 1900, which he completed in 1909. 

Franz Wilhelm Seiwert was severely burned by a radiology treatment in 1901 at  the  age of  seven and for the rest of his life feared he would die at a young age. This not only had a significant influence on his development, but also shaped his artistic work to such an extent that human suffering became the central theme of his work.

From 1910 to 1914, he attended the Cologne School of Applied Arts, and afterwards he worked for an architectural firm. During the First World War, Seiwert was not drafted due to his illness. Politically, he adopted a pacifist stance during this time, which was expressed in the fact that from autumn 1916 onwards he took part in the anti-war cultural lecture series in Cologne, privately organised by the writer couple Carlo Oskar (1984-1971) and Käthe Jatho (1891-1989). A close friendship developed between Seiwert and the couple, who soon gave him the name Franz in reference to Francis of Assisi (1184-1226), 

Seiwert  also came   in contact with other up-and-coming artists such as Otto Freundlich (1878-1943), who was of key importance for the stylistic development of Seiwert's work in the following years and put him in touch with important contacts, such as the Berlin publisher Franz Pfemfert (1879-1954). 

Seiwert received further inspiration for his art from the religious, philosophical and secular works of literary history that were presented and discussed at Jathos events, and which the artist dealt with in woodcut cycles, such as the Gospel of John (1917) or Homer's Odyssey (1919). 

An exhibition of expressionist graphics by German avant-gardists organized by the "Jatho" circle in 1916 gave Seiwert the opportunity to present his own work in the form of a bust of Christ. His participation brought him his first commission from the women's rights activist Mathilde von Mevissen  who entrusted Seiwert with painting the dome of her house in Cologne. 

The year 1917 saw Seiwert become closer to the pacifist-communist artist movement during this time and in the following years became an important agitator of the movement in the Rhineland and an ardent advocate of the Marxist world revolution, and was actively involved in the international discussions concerning proletarian culture during the revolutionary upsurge following the First World War. "Throw out the old false idols! In the name of the coming proletarian culture"  

He was also  frequent contributor to Franz Pfemfert's anti-militarist magazine Die Aktion, and in 1917, Seiwert became a member of Pfemfert's "Anti-National Socialist Party" (German: Antinationale Sozialistenpartei)  a political organisation originally clandestinely founded in Berlin in 1915, and after the end of the war in 1918/19  he was also co-founder of the Cologne branch of the Berlin "Working Council for Art". 

While the connection to Pfemfert had already enabled the artist to exhibit in the Berlin offices of the "Aktion" in 1919, contact with social revolutionary artistic circles in the following years opened up the possibility of participating in numerous important exhibitions in Germany, which ultimately led to Seiwert's work's public breakthrough. 

Also around 1919, the artist began writing social and cultural revolutionary, partly anarchist pamphlets that were published in socialist magazines. In these writings, the artist called for the "enslaved" proletariat to rebel against the capitalist consumer state and for the self-denial of its population.

On a political level, Seiwert demanded the removal of parties and leaders, rejecting Bolshevism and opposing the revolutionary centralization propagated by Russia, which in turn contradicted the Marxist doctrine he represented. Although  a  committed Communist  he was never  an  actual  member of the German Communist  party KPD and  was dismissive of party politics in general.. 

In 1919, alongside Max Ernst, Hans Arp and Johannes Baargeld, Seiwert was also instrumental in the creation of Cologne's significant, though short-lived branch of Dada. which was a radical artistic and literary movement that was a reaction against the cultural climate that supported the First World War. The Dadaists took an anti-establishment attitude, questioning art's status and favouring performance and collage over traditional art techniques. Many Dadaists went on to become involved with Surrealism.

Dada was an international, multi-disciplinary phenomenon that reacted against the nationalist climate supporting the First World War. The movement was defined by an anti-bourgeois, anti-establishment stance and a love of the absurd, nonsensical and ridiculous. The group even declared themselves anti-art, claiming, ‘Dada is anti-Dada!’. 

Beginning in Zurich, the movement was later developed in Berlin, Hanover, Cologne, New York, Paris and Barcelona during and after the First World War. It is now considered the first conceptual art movement and a watershed moment in the development of modern art. The Dada language evolved alongside other avant-garde movements including Cubism, Futurism, Constructivism, and Expressionism and a diverse output ranged from performance to poetry, photography, sculpture, painting, and collage.

Accounts on the discovery of the term ‘dada’ vary, although it is thought poet Richard Huelsenbeck plunged a knife into a German-French dictionary at random. The term appealed to the group, reflecting their childish sense of the absurd. It had an elastic quality, as Ball explained, ‘Dada means in Romanian, ‘Yes, Yes’, in French a rocking- or hobby horse. In German, it is a sign of absurd naivety.’   

During the First World War, Zurich was a refuge for international artists, writers and thinkers. Hugo Ball and Emmy Hennings initially founded the movement in 1916 in the city’s Cabaret Voltaire, with other members including Hans Arp, Tristan Tzara, https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2014/04/tristan-tzara-441896-251263-radical.html Marcel Janco and Richard Huelsenbeck. 

The Zurich group published a Dada magazine and held numerous art exhibitions spreading their anti-war, anti-art ideas. They also held regular evening events with experimental poetry readings, music and dancing, and Tzara and Arp famously explored ‘chance’ through ripping up and scattering paper pieces onto the floor. 

In 1917, Tzara went on to found Galerie Dada on Bahnhofstrasse in Zurich and later became the leader of the movement, spreading the word through letters to France and Italy. After the end of the First World War in 1918, many artists returned to their home countries and spread Dada ideas further. In Berlin, Huelsenbeck founded Club Dada, with major figures including John Heartfield, George Grosz and Hannah Hoch. Their work reflected a fascination with technology, and took on deeper political leanings than the Zurich group. 

Kurt Schwitters was excluded from the Berlin group, due to his work’s aesthetic qualities, instead founding his own one-man group in Hanover in 1919, in which he termed his art Merz. In Cologne, Max Ernst and Johannes Theodor Baargeld formed a Dada group in 1918, later joined by Hans Arp who made series' of ground-breaking collages.

An  earlier  post on  the  movement  can  be found here. https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2016/07/dada-manifestozurich-july-141916-hugo.html

Seiwert would take part in the Dada-Constructivist conference in Dusseldorf in 1922 and then establish himself as the leader of the Gruppe Progressiver Künstler (The Progressive Group of Artists). This was a group who sought to reconcile Constructivism with a realism that carried radical political views. The style that Seiwert advocated was one of sharp graphic clarity, geometric precision and which also contained words printed on the surface whose themes concentrated on Marxist writings, on workers and on unionist principles as in Soviet era Russian Constructivism. 

As Ernst was to remember though, due to political differences, Seiwert had ultimately pulled out of taking part in the much-celebrated Cologne-Dada inaugural exhibition shortly before its opening. According to Ernst, Seiwert's decision was made on the grounds that he found their concept of Dada not revolutionary enough, or as he described it, not 'socially concrete'. 

Instead, along with the ar tists  Willy Fick, Heinrich Hoerle,  Angelika Hoerle. Anton Räderscheidt and his wife Marta Hegemann, Seiwert  founded the alternate, 'Gruppe Stupid' to which Ernst  and Baargeld,would also, for a time, be affiliated. 

The Gruppe Stupid' aimed to address sociopolitical issues through an art of proletarian character. Seiwert described the group's esthetic: "We are attempting to be so clear that everyone will be able to understand us." Räderscheidt's studio was their base of operations, but by 1920 he had abandoned the constructivist style. The group exhibited together and issued a publication, "Stupid 1", before disbanding.

While Seiwert's post-war art was primarily characterized by an expressionist-cubist style, in which sculptural works predominated alongside the often symbolic, figurative and abstract prints, from 1920/21 the artist developed a representational-constructivist formal language, partly based on medieval painting, which fulfilled his claim to simplify, symbolize and typify the motifs of his propagandistic, proletarian art. 

                    

Workers,  Franz Wilhelm Seiwert  1926     

Demonstration, Franz Wilhelm Seiwert , 1925

With the change from woodcut to linocut around 1920, Seiwert also made a change in craftsmanship in an effort to implement a socialist art. At the same time, his sculptural activity declined. The artist found motifs and themes for his socially critical works of the early 1920s in the political and social events in the Ruhr region, where radical, revolutionary tendencies and the progressive impoverishment of the working class due to hyperinflation and the Allied occupation policy were particularly evident between 1918 and 1923.  In 1921, Seiwert is known to have travelled to Berlin for the first time, where he made important contact with regard to his cultural and political activities in the artist couple Margarete (1891-1984) and Stanislaw Kubicki (1889-1943), who organised an international exhibition of revolutionary artists in Berlin in 1922 with artist and writer friends.

The acquaintances he made with László Moholy-Nagy (1895-1946) and El Lissitzky (1890-1941) through his participation in the international “Congress of New Progressive Artists in Düsseldorf” in 1922, meant that Seiwert increasingly dealt with abstraction in his work at this time. His visit to the Berlin “1st The “Russian Art Exhibition” in 1922 with works of suprematist and constructivist art by Kazimir Malevich (1879-1935), Vladimir Tatlin (1885-1953) and Alexander Rodchenko (1891-1956) had a lasting influence on his work.  

A kind of counterpoint to his previous writings on revolutionary theory was the pseudo-historiographical article "The Development of the Communist Movement in Germany", published in 1922, in which Seiwert attempted to explain the course and failure of the socialist post-war revolution. The failure of all Spartacist uprisings, which the artist believed was the fault of the Social Democrats, forced him in 1923 to believe that there was no such thing as proletarian art and culture, which meant that his social revolutionary graphics decreased significantly from 1924 onwards and he began to focus on sociological oil paintings as well as typographic and architectural work. 

He also took on advertising commissions during this time and, together with Heinrich Hoerle, worked as a consultant for the Cologne architects  Wilhelm Riphahn  and Caspar Maria Grod (1878-1931).  In 1924 Seiwert took part in the "1st General Art Exhibition of the West" in Moscow, where he exhibited again in 1926. In the same year he visited Otto Freundlich in Paris, who had emigrated there in 1924. This stay was followed in 1927 by another trip to France, to Chartres and Paris, during which he developed friendly contact with Fernand Léger (1881-1955) and Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957), after whose sculpture "The Kiss" Seiwert designed the gravestone for his mother in 1929.  

Seiwert expanded his political commitment in 1925 by writing several articles for the Cologne newspaper "Sozialistische Republik". From 1927 onwards, his architectural work was reflected in his collaboration with the magazine "Westdeutsche Bauschau", for which he wrote numerous articles until 1929. Together with Gerd Arntz, August Sander and El Lissitzky, Seiwert produced works for the International Press Exhibition in Cologne in 1928, where he came into contact with the Bohemian artist Augustin Tschinkel (1905-1983).

In 1929 he founded the magazine "a-z", a journal of progressive art which he edited until its final issue in February of 1933. This became a vehicle for the exposition of Figurative Constructivism, describing its origins as "From the expressionist-cubist art-form abstract constructivism was developed, which in turn led into Figurative Constructivism"and of which his 1927 painting Freudlose Gasse (Joyless Alleyway) is one of the finest examples. 

As in the work of his fellow 'Progressive', Gerd Arntz, the simplified geometry of this painting is intentional. Seiwert saw the rigid structure of his paintings as analogous to the similarly rigid structures of life imposed upon the proletariat by the ruling powers. 

As opposed to a work depicting social disintegration and decay such as George Grosz's 1918 Gefährliche Strasse for example, (and which this painting, in some ways, resembles) the rigid structures and strict compartmentalisation of Freudlose Gasse confront the viewer with an easy-to-read diagram of social order and control. Here, the picture outlines the essential stereotypes of much of 1920s German Realist painting: the bourgeois in his bowler hat, the naked prostitute and the policeman-guardian of the establishment, all neatly aligned into subordinate performative roles within the overall structure of the nocturnal metropolis. Serving as a simple lexicon of German night-life in the 1920s.

In 1933, Nazi threats forced Seiwert to temporarily flee to the mountain range  of  Siebengebirge, but  his health was badly deteriorating, due to the incurable radiation burns he had received as a child, and after friends brought him back to Cologne, he died  on  July 3rd 1933,  just before the Nazis undoubtedly would have come for him.  The Franz-Seiwert-Straße in Cologne commemorates the artist.

Selbstbildnis (Self-portrait) by Franz Wilhelm Seiwert, 1928, 

Happy International Women’s Day! Accelerate Action

 

International Women's Day (IWD), celebrated on March 8, is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The women's day has been celebrated for well over a century, with the first one in 1911.

The day marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. Significant activity is witnessed worldwide as groups come together to celebrate women's achievements or rally for women's equality.

Marked annually on March 8th, women's day is one of the most important days of the year to celebrate women's achievements, raise awareness about women's equality, lobby for accelerated gender parity and fundraise for female-focused charities.

The day is marked in various ways across different cultures. In some countries, it is a public holiday, while others observe it with demonstrations, panel discussions, and cultural events. In Italy, women receive yellow mimosa flowers as a symbol of solidarity and appreciation. In China, some workplaces grant female employees a half-day off. Countries such as Argentina and Spain hold large-scale rallies advocating for women’s rights.

One of the most recognizable symbols of International Women’s Day is the color purple, representing justice and dignity. Alongside green (hope) and white (purity), these colors were originally chosen by the Women’s Social and Political Union in the United Kingdom in 1908.

Let's not forget  either the radical history of the day itself. Ever since women fought for the right to vote in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the essence of their fight has been political. They have put forward their claims on society as a matter of right, facing all kinds of state-inspired discrimination and violence against them and state-sanctioned attempts to relegate them to second, third and fourth grade citizenship based on brutal identity politics and exploitation. 

Women, however, speak in their own name and refuse to accept any limitations on their right to decide all matters which affect their lives. Their courage and determination in the front ranks of the struggle for a society which recognizes everyone as equal members of the body politic with equal rights and duties inspires everyone to also fight for the rights of all.  

In 1909 the Socialist Party of America organized a New York City march commemorating a garment workers’ strike the previous year when hundreds of women workers in the New York needle trades demonstrated in Rutgers Square in Manhattan’s Lower East Side to form their own union and to demand the right to vote. This historic demonstration took place on March 8th. It led, in the following year to the ‘uprising’ of 30,000 women shirtwaist makers which resulted in the first permanent trade unions for women workers in the USA. The famous slogan bread and roses made its debut at this protest The Socialist Party of America declared National Woman's Day, to be celebrated on February calling for better pay and working conditions as well as the right to vote. It was at the second annual meeting of the International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen in 1910, that Clara Zetkin, a prominent Marxist activist from Germany’s Social Democratic Party, proposed the following motion at the Copenhagen Conference of the Second International: “The Socialist women of all countries will hold each year a Women’s Day, whose foremost purpose it must be to aid the attainment of women’s suffrage. This demand must be handled in conjunction with the entire women’s question according to Socialist precepts. The Women’s Day must have an international character and is to be prepared carefully.” 

The conference agreed. During the First World War, she along with Karl Liebnecht, Rosa Luxemburg, and other International SPD politicians, had rejected the party's policy of Burgfrieden , which was a call to refrain from strikes during the war. Among other anti-war activities she also organised an international socialist womens anti-war conference in Berlin, 1915. She however was not just an organiser, but also a great writer and thinker. That still remains an inspiration today.  Because of her anti-war opinions, she was arrested several times, during the war and in 1916 was taken into 'protective custody'.She also held the view that still holds much resonance today, that the source of women's oppression was in capitalism, and that any form of liberation, could only be served with the self-emancipation of the working class. 

IWD, consequently, was celebrated for the first time in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland on March 19, 1911. Women in these countries demanded the right to vote, to hold public office and the right to work. Russian women began celebrating IWD in 1913,  and on IWD 1914, across Europe there were marches against the impeding imperialist war and for a women's right to vote.  In 1917 in Russia, International Women’s Day acquired great significance , it was the flashpoint for the Russian Revolution. 

On March 8th  women workers in Petrograd held a mass strike and demonstration demanding Peace and Bread in protest at the deaths of more than 2 million Russian soldiers in the war. The strike movement spread from factory to factory and effectively became an insurrection. After the Russian Revolution, in 1922, in honour of the women’s role  in 1917, Lenin declared that March 8th should be designated officially as women’s day in the Soviet Union. From there, it was primarily celebrated in communist countries such as China. But on the heels of the U.S civil rights movement in the 1960s, as women fought sex discrimination in the 1960s and ’70s, the United Nations declared 1975 as International Women’s Year. 

In 1977 the U.N. officially marked IWD by inviting member countries to celebrate women’s rights and world peace on March 8. It has since been celebrated in more than 100 countries, and has been made an official holiday in more than 25. Ever since, International Women’s Day celebrations have been held on March 8 in countries across the globe — serving as an annual reminder of the revolutionary potential of working women., and  in 1996, began to adopt an annual theme for every year. The first theme was "Celebrating the past, Planning for the Future."

The International Women’s Day website https://www.internationalwomensday.com/ has announced that this year’s theme is ‘For ALL women and girls: Rights. Equality and Empowerment’, calling for  urgent action that can unlock equal rights, power and opportunities for all and a feminist future where no one is left behind. Central to this vision is empowering the next generation, particularly young women and adolescent girls as catalysts for lasting change.  

Aligned with this global movement, the agency theme, ‘Accelerate Action’, is an  important rallying call  that reflects the UN's urgency to drive gender equality forward  and emphasises the importance of taking swift and decisive steps to achieve gender equality and addressing systemic barriers and biases that women face, both within personnel and professional situations.  

While the progress made in women's rights should be applauded, it  it's a very sad fact that for many women in the present day, little if anything has improved, since all those years ago when women initially marched. Many women are still not paid equally to that of their male counterparts, women still are not present in equal numbers in business or politics, and globally women's education, health and the violence against them is worse than that of men. 

This day then is an appropriate occasion to remember the too many gaps hindering, sometimes in a brutal and cruel manner, the process towards the full recognition and protection of women’s rights as universal human rights.  change is still happening too slowly for thousands of women and girls around the world. 

At the current rate of progress, it will take until 2158, which is roughly five generations from now, to reach full gender parity, according to data from the World Economic Forum. That's why this year International Women's Day aims to highlight the importance of taking swift and decisive steps to achieve gender equality. 

Statistics show the gaps that still exist, in conflict zones, reports of sexual violence have surged, with a 50% increase in recorded cases in 2023. Women and girls made up 95% of the victims. An estimated 119 million girls worldwide remain out of school. Women continue to have access to only two-thirds of the rights that men enjoy in most countries.

In 2024, nearly half the world’s population participated in elections, but the growth in female political representation was at its lowest rate in 20 years. A we  observe International Womens Day,  lets stand up for all women still trapped by injustices, still suffering from abuse,  acknowledge all those  who have been persecuted, jailed, tortured, simply for being a woman. Especially those who are among the most vulnerable in this present moment of time - the refugees. 

Let us also celebrate the  powerful women who've fought dictatorship, risked their lives to fight climate change and led mass movements for justice across the world, we cannot let their contributions go unnoticed today and every day. As Audre Lorde said "I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own,"

We  must acknowlege  too that freedom from gendered oppression will not be complete without the liberation of all oppressed people, whether here in Britain or across the world.As far back as the period of the British Mandate, Palestinian women were organising together to advance the struggle for liberation, both as women and as proud Palestinians.  

Today, despite the fact that 70% of those killed by Israel in Gaza since 2023 have been women and children; despite the current complete restriction of aid which will push thousands of women further into desperation; despite Israel’s escalating violence against Palestinian women across the West Bank including the recent killing of eight months pregnant Palestinian woman Sondos Jamal Muhammad Shalabi in Nur Shams refugee camp; and despite the gendered and sexual violence that is central to Israel’s settler-colonial project; incredibly, Palestinian women continue to resist.  

In November 2023, Palestinian feminists issued a call  https://bdsmovement.net/Ending-Gaza-Genocide-Feminist-Issue-Call-From-Palestinian-Women to people across the world to escalate campaigns as a form of meaningful solidarity to bring down Israel’s regime of oppression. They called for aid to Gaza, to reject the forcible transfer of Palestinians from their home and for countries across the world to impose a comprehensive military-security embargo on Israel. Shamefully, the British government has utterly failed to answer this call. It is up to us to ensure they are held to account.  

As the statement from Palestinian feminists reads: “This moment is the litmus test for humanity and the very meaning of justice and freedom. If not now, when?” 

Actions will be taking place for International Women’s Day across the country. I encourage you  to stand, today and every day, with all those oppressed by patriarchal and colonial violence, and all those internationally who are still fighting sexism and the inequality, exploitation and hardship and  continue to try and promote gender equality and political justice, that will make this world of ours a better place for everyone. Happy International Women’s Day! Let;s not forget its socialist feminist origins.  and use March 8 to pledge to redouble our efforts  accelerate and protect and extend women’s rights “for the many not the few.”

Ramadan Mubarak! 🌙✨

With the sighting of the new moon, almost two billion Muslims worldwide have begun to observe the Holy month of Ramadan. The holy month of fasting spans a period of 29 to 30 days and celebrates the first time when the Quran was revealed to Prophet Muhammad, according to Islam. Ramadan is the ninth month and the most sacred of the Islamic lunar calendar, that is observed worldwide.

The Islamic Calendar follows the phases of the moon, commonly known as the lunar cycle. As a result, the Holy month of Ramadan falls approximately 10 days earlier each year in the Gregorian calendar. The Ramadan start date for 2025 was  expected to fall around 28 February following the sighting of the moon over Mecca or respective countries. This year, the month-long fasting festival  started on March 1, but the fasting started on Sunday, March 2

Lasting for 29 or 30 days, Ramadan 2025 will end around 30 March, with the celebratory days of Eid al-Fitr estimated to start around 30 March, again with a possible difference of a couple of days.A joyous celebration that begins with a special prayer known as the Salat al-Eid. This day is characterised by feasting, wearing new clothes, giving gifts, and spending time with family and friends. It’s also a time when muslims continue their charitable practices by giving Zakat al-Fitr, ensuring that even the less fortunate can join in the festivities.

This holy month is among one of the Five Pillars of Islam. Muslims will fast (Sawm) and abstain from food and drink (physical component) from dawn to sunset, and offer more prayers (Salāh) and to learn self-discipline, patience, humility, and enhance community cohesion (spiritual aspect). Muslims will also donate to charity (Zakāh), and carry out charitable acts, pursue to improve one’s character, and spend time with family and friends.

For Muslim communities, Ramadan is not only a month of fasting but also a sacred time to delve deeper into and appreciate cherished human values, including upholding the rights of fellow human beings, serving communities, and strengthening bonds with each other. A month of mercy, forgiveness, and blessings. Muslims also aim to grow spiritually and become closer to Allah and their loved ones. They do this by abstaining from pleasures like smoking, drinking and sexual intercourse between sunrise and sunset each day.  

 One of the most important aspects of the Ramadan fast is called “niyyah” which literally means “intention.” Muslims must not simply (or accidentally) abstain from food; they must achieve the requirement of niyyah. A Muslim’s intention to fast must come from the heart and from a place of worship to Allah. So if someone fasts for political or dietary reasons, they will not achieve niyyah. According to scripture, “Whoever does not make niyyah before dawn, would not have fasted”. 

In much of the Muslim world, restaurants are closed during the daylight hours of Ramadan. Families wake up early, before the sun rises, and eat a meal called “sohour”. After the sun sets, the fast is broken with a meal called “iftar”. Iftar often begins with eating dates and drinking sweet drinks to give fasting Muslims a quick energy boost. It can include any type of food, but the dessert almost always includes konafa or qatayef. Konafa is a cake made of wheat, sugar, honey, raisins, and nuts, and Qatayef is a similar but smaller cake, that’s folded to encase the nuts and raisins. In between the two meals, the night-time iftar and the pre-dawn sohour, Muslims can eat freely.

As we begin this Holy Month, Palestinian, Lebanese, Sudanese and Syrian people are beginning to rebuild their lives despite their homes, hospitals, schools and places of worship being destroyed as Winter sets in. Fearless women in Afghanistan continue to fight for their freedom. Over a million Rohingya remain in Cox’s Bazaar, some for decades. Civilians continue to come under attack and face famine in South Sudan and Yemen. 

Meanwhile, Uyghur Muslims in China endure their religious freedoms being repressed, mass surveillance, arbitrary detention, and the erosion of their cultural and religious identity.

This Ramadan, lets remember the importance of charity, and in giving back to affected communities as well as keeping those who have lost their lives in the Gaza genocide in mind.

Lets stand united, stand alongside Muslim communities  around the world and continue to challenge injustice in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, India, Iran, Lebanon, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sudan, Yemen and many other places.

The  other  night  I was speaking to a palestinian friend in gaza  and  despite Israel halting all aid from going inside of Gaza on the first days of Ramadan, they were gathering for Iftar in the rubble of their destroyed neighborhood, I have never encountered such faithful, resilient, and indomitable people as Palestinians before.

Under the weight of a prolonged Israeli blockade and widespread devastation left by Israeli military attacks, Palestinians in Gaza are clinging to the traditions of Ramadan with unwavering determination.. Remember that nearly eivery single mosque has been destroyed in the north of Gaza. yet they keep their faith despite everything. Thouigh undoubtedly. anxious about where their meals to break their fasts will come from.

Remember the women and children fasting in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Afghanistan and elsewhere. Their resilience shines a light of hope in the face of adversity.

This Ramadan, lets also all be  reminded of our collective responsibility to firmly stand against Islamophobia, racism, and hate in all their forms. 

To all who are observing this holy month, May this sacred time bring peace to your hearts, light to your souls, and strength to your faith. Ramadān Mubārak, May it be a blessed one. Filled with love, light and countless blessings. Wa Salam (with peace), Free Palestine  🌙✨