Remembering October 7 2023

Three years on, I remember the horrific events of October 7.The Hamas-led attack killed more than 1,200 people and saw 252 people abducted into Gaza. Those are facts that should not be forgotten. I  remember innocent lives lost, the families forever changed,lives shatterred and all those who continue to carry the pain of October 7.

But remembering October 7 should not become a justification for collective punishment or endless suffering. Israeli and Palestinian civilians have both paid an unbearable price. We should remember the victims, demand accountability for crimes committed by all sides. 

I remember  the wave of destruction in Gaza and the terrible suffering Palestinians have experienced since. Israel has killed and continues to kill hundreds of thousands more than they lost on Oct 7 (and they killed some of their own that day as well, not to mention Bibi's refusal to do anything in response to warnings)  Israeli military intelligence sent Netanyahu several letters between March and July 2023, warning him of the dangers. On top of that, multiple foreign countries warned him—yet  he failed to  act.

During the October 7 assault, the Israeli army gave the Hannibal directive, instructing troops to kill Israelis in order to stop them being taken hostage. By the time the attack was over, at least 314 Israeli soldiers and 809 civilians were dead, with 252 taken hostage, with the intention of exchanging them for some of the 2500 Palestinian hostages held without charge in Israel.

Subsequently October 7 marked the beginning of a monstrous genocidal onslaught that has not yet ended. Since October 7, 2023, the terrible ongoing violence against innocent civilians in Gaza has resulted in the deaths of over 70,000 Palestinians mostly civilians. 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. Three years of children amputated without anaesthesia. Three years in which over 2,700 entire family lines have been wiped out in Gaza. Three years of annihilation. Three years of engineered starvation. 

Three years of cutting off clean drinking water. Three years of targeting healthcare, with 36 of Gaza’s hospitals either destroyed or no longer fully functional. Three years of missing loved ones, buried under the rubble of their own homes.

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.   

I also acknowledge Palestinians have lived through their own October 7s for decades.For decades, Palestinians in Gaza have lived through displacement, occupation, blockade, repeated Israeli aggressions, and the loss of thousands of lives.  

As we remember the third year of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, we must look beyond October 7 to the history that shaped the lives of Palestinians long before that day. I refuse to reduce this history to a single day or indulge in a one-sided account. If we talk about October 7 without talking about what happened in the years before it, we are missing important context. History did not begin that morning. There was already a long and painful history behind it.

I do though call today, and every day, for an end to the violence, for peace and safety for all. For me, remembering October 7 must mean holding on to our humanity and refusing to accept endless conflict as inevitable. Standing firmly against the dehumanization of innocent lives, regardless of nationality or political affiliation.Every person, regardless of their background, deserves freedom, opportunity, dignity, life, love, and nourishment.We must keep pushing for a future where all peoples can live with dignity, security and peace.

Zionism Is A Racist Ideology

The vote by the Green Party  on Sunday that was carried by 1,022 votes to 813 (55%–45%)  to .define Zionism as “a political ideology which called for the creation - and, now it exists, the continuation - of an ethnonationalist Jewish State in historic Palestine to the exclusion and/or domination of the non-Jewish population,” and states that this will be treated as any other form of racism. It commits the party to supporting “the establishment of a single democratic Palestinian State in all of historic Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital, equal rights for all, and the right of return for Palestinians and their descendants.” 

This happened on the 90th anniversary of the great anti-fascist victory at the Battle of Cable Street, making the symbolism significant. This historicaly makes it the first major party in the UK to recognise Zionism as a form of racism. Green Party leader Zack Polanski, who is Jewish, was immediately banned by the Israeli government from entering the nation after the motion was passed. 

As Israel lashes out against this I  personally beleive that the Green Party was right to vote the way  it did. Saying "Zionism is racism" cannot be racist because Zionism is not a race it is a political ideology, not a synonym for Judaism or Jewish identity and criticising it is not antisemitism. I have never been incidentally antisemitic in my life. It's as abhorrent as is all discrimination.

This is another important policy position the Green Party has adopted. For decades, the support for a non-existent two-state solution has been used as a bogus cover for Palestinian self-determination by politicians who, in reality, support Jewish supremacy and have granted Zionist Israel the time to achieve its goals. 

Even now, politicians and Zionists parrot this bogus commitment to equality, whilst a genocide of Palestinians has taken place and an annexation of Gaza and the West Bank is in process.  

A one-state solution does not deny the right to Jewish self-determination. Even this is a racist argument to make. 

It is a denial of the right of Jewish supremacists alone to determine what the state in the Holy Land should be. It says that all people Palestinian Muslims, Christians, and non-Zionist Jews, religious or non-religiou- should determine the future of that state as equal citizens.

Outrage at the UK Green party's new policy on Zionism equating with racism ignores the fact that that position had international support 51 years ago. In 1975, Resolution 3379 the UN General Assembly linked Zionism and the State of Israel to racism and racial discrimination. The UN overturned its resolution 16 years later, in 1991, under intense US pressure and after Israel refused to engage in peace talks unless it was revoked.

Since then, Zionism has shown not only that it is a racist political ideology but that it's a genocidal one too, like any ideology, it should be open to scrutiny, criticism and debate.  Yet watching much of the British media class climb over themselves to protect it from scrutiny has been extraordinary The sheer panic over simply putting Zionism under the microscope says a lot.

Historically before the establishment of Israel, Palestine was a society of multiple communities, religions and ethnic backgrounds. Muslims, Christians and Jews lived there. It was not an empty land waiting for an ethnically defined state. 

It was Zionism that recast Jewish identity as a homogenized national identity, disrupted centuries of coexistence, and projected the hostility generated by colonization onto the colonized.

The fundamental question is simple: how do you create and maintain a state built around the political and demographic primacy of one people in a land shared by others, without dispossession, displacement and unequal rights? Palestinian history tells us exactly what that has meant. No people has the right to secure its self-determination by denying it to another. 

The birth of “Political Zionism” is often dated to the 1896 publication of playwright and journalist Theodore Herzl’s Der Judenstaat (“The Jewish State”). In his pamphlet, he argued that the establishment of a modern, European homeland for Jews would provide a refuge for a persecuted people and prevent competition with non-Jews. 

Antisemitism would disappear and Jews would be able to ‘live at last as free men on our own soil’. In the years following the publication of The Jewish State, Argentina and east Africa would both be mooted as possible locations for the new homeland, but these territories lacked the draw of the Holy Land. Palestine – ‘our ever-memorable historic home’ – was the dream.  

Herzl’s vision was not accepted by all. The eastern European intellectual Ahad Ha’am, whose Zionism focused on renewing Judaism rather than fighting antisemitism, castigated Herzl for what he described as his ‘mechanical mimicry’ of Europe. Ha’am viewed Herzlian Zionism as just another form of assimilation, typical of western European Jews who knew little about their ancestors’ faith. He was more interested in establishing a country that was uniquely Jewish rather than a European-style state for Jews.  

Palestinian Arabs were, unsurprisingly, not supportive. In 1899 the mayor of Jerusalem, Yusuf Diya al-Din Pasha al-Khalidi, told Herzl that it was ‘pure folly’ to attempt to establish a Jewish country in Palestine because it was ‘inhabited by others’. 

Herzl, who viewed non-Europeans as backward (in The Jewish State he envisions the Jewish homeland as ‘a rampart of Europe against Asia, an outpost of civilisation as opposed to barbarism’), reassured the mayor that Zionism would benefit all Palestinians: ‘No one can doubt that the well-being of the entire country would be the happy result.’ Despite the opposition, Herzl ploughed on, conscious of the ever-growing threat to European Jewry.

One year after the publication of The Jewish State, Herzl convened the First Zionist Congress in Basel and established the World Zionist Organization (WZO). ‘Zionism seeks to establish a home for the Jewish people in Eretz Israel secured under public law’, declared the WZO. Zionism was now an organised movement subsequently, several waves of Jewish immigration to Palestine succeeded in creating a societal infrastructure of settlements there.

The Zionist movement emphasized its ideology as a response to antisemitic persecution against Jews across Europe. However Zionism expanded into a settler colonialist ideology that put the interests of a predominantly European religious group over the those of a multitude of people who had been living in Palestine for 1000s of years. The Zionist movement ultimately settled on Palestine for its nation-state project.Enabled by what the pre-eminent Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi termed “the British shield”, its project met with success in 1948 with the establishment of the Israeli state. It has resulted in 80 years of horror.

 Zionism is the political ideology that the state of Israel was founded on. It claims Jewish safety requires a “Jewish nation-state,” where the rights of Jews are privileged over others; a place of Jewish supremacy. In order to create a Jewish state on land that Palestinians had lived in for millenia., 

Zionism’s founders publicly embraced an explicitly colonial ideology: using ethnic cleansing, apartheid, and genocide to ensure their goal of “maximum land, minimum Palestinians.” 

Since the founding of the state of Israel in 1948, the Israeli government has used Zionism to justify massacring Palestinians, destroying villages, enforcing apartheid, running a military occupation that separates families with checkpoints and walls, enabling progroms by Jewish settlers, and the ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. 

Israel could not have been established as a Jewish state without the mass dispossession and expulsion of the Arabs of Palestine, and the wholesale usurpation of their lands and properties. Israel could not have developed as a Zionist state without the systematic application of structural racism against its non-Jewish citizens and the enforcement of apartheid regimes against Arab populations beyond its initial boundaries that would come under its control in subsequent decades.  

Crucially, the exact same pattern would have been implemented, by design, if the Zionist movement had opted for Uganda, Libya, or any other territory under its consideration instead of Palestine. It is this which distinguishes Zionism from most other nationalisms.

Zionism is the ideology that led to, and justified, the Nakba, the occupation, the apartheid, and the Gaza genocide which  is  ongoing.  A political system that gives one ethnic group supremacy over another is, by definition, racist.

Zionism means nonstop apartheid, ethnic cleansing, war, genocide, and abuse. And worse, Zionists think that they have the right to impose all that because they are "special". 

Even worse, the US, UK, Canada, Australia and many other countries do not step in to stop any of this behaviour. In fact, many send arms to Israel. It seems that the lives of some do not matter when there is a profit to be made.

Since its inception, Zionism has always been inherently racist and genocidal. The Israeli government, and the institutions that defend it, want us to think Zionism protects against antisemitism, and that to be Jewish is to be Zionist. None of that is true. 

As long as Zionism has existed, there were Jews standing in opposition to it. They rejected the idea that Jewish freedom from antisemitism is secured through a militarized apartheid state, or the power to oppress others. Instead, they built thriving communities across the world, deeply connected to their neighbors and Jewish traditions.

Many anti-Zionist Jews have visited Gaza over the years and have not only not been murdered, but feted for their courage. Many of the most consistent voices in support of the Palestinian cause have been Jews. To name a few: Norman Finkelstein, Medea Benjamin, Ilan Pappé, Avi Shlaim, Tony Greenstein, Gideon Levy, Gabor Maté, Alexei Sayle, Benjamin Moser and Max Blumenthal. I could go on.

In this following piece from a  few  years ago Ali Abunimah explains the true meaning of Zionism in a nutshell https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/asa-winstanley/why-zionism-racism .

There's no humane version of an ideology built on death, colonialism, destruction and supremacy. There is no non-racist Zionism. Zionism is racism. Period. End of story.

Celebrating the 90th Anniversary of The Battle of Cable Street

 

                                Detail from Cable Street Mural

 I have made a point of annually remembering that on this day 4th October, 1936, the histotric Battle of Cable Street when Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists attempted to march through the predominately Jewish section of East London, their goal was to intimidate the local Jewish population and promote their racist and fascist ideology. Instead  thousands of local people organised by trade unionists and community groups put up barricades and turned out in large numbers to stop the march. 

This became known as the “Battle of Cable Street”. in which the people of the East End inflicted a massive defeat on  Mosley’s British Union of Fascists that must never be forgotten. 

During this time Britain was facing very serious economic problems,  with a climate of mass unemployment and economic depression, and far right forces were intent on using this in order to exploit division and stir up hate. Oswald Mosley, a former member of Parliament known for his public speaking skills, founded the BUF in 1932, and within two years membership had grown to 50,000. Mosley's  fascists held vile anti-semitic views and tried to blame Jews for the cause of the country's problems. Throughout the mid 1930s, the BUF moved closer towards Hitler’s form of fascism with Mosley himself saying that “fascism can and will win in Britain”. 

The British fascists took on a more vehemently anti-Semitic stance, describing Jews as “rats and vermin from whitechapel” and tried to blame Jews for the cause of the country's problems. Mosley’s blackshirts had been harassing the sizeable Jewish population in the East End all through the 1930s. By 1936 anti-semitic assaults by fascists were growing and windows of Jewish-owned businesses were routinely smashed. Hurrah for the Blackshirts!’ 

The notorious Daily Mail headline is just one chilling indication of the very real threat Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists posed in the mid 1930s.

  

 As the fascist movement developed, so too did opposition to it. Led by Communists, socialists and trade unionists the anti-fascist movement grew, supported also by Liberals and some anti-fascist Tories.

However, those who interrupted fascist meetings found themselves dealing with unprecedented violence from Blackshirt thugs.

The notorious Olympia meeting of 7 June 1934 came to symbolise Blackshirt thuggery. After the Daily Worker posted the location of the West London meeting, a number of anti-fascists attended, intending to disrupt the meeting.

Hecklers were beaten by gangs of Blackshirts armed with knuckledusters and other weapons and thrown into the street. The BUF was roundly condemned by the mainstream and the violence of the meeting effectively ended Mosley’s pretence of respectability.https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2026/09/olympia-1934-blackshirts-first-mass.html

Whilst the first Jews came to Britain following the Norman Conquest of 1066, the Jewish community of London’s East End mainly comprised of families that had arrived between 1881 and 1914.

Many of these families settled in England after fleeing antisemitism and murderous pogroms in Russia, Poland and many other Eastern European countries. They followed previous waves of immigration that had brought Huguenots, Irish and other smaller groups into the area.

By the 1930s some 183,000 Jews lived in London, the majority in the East End due to cheaper rents. Stepney was home to some 60,000 Jews and the heart of Jewish East London.

With its reputation in tatters following Olympia and increasingly under the influence of Hitler, BUF leaders sought to exploit the reservoir of antisemitism in the East End in order to save the party.

By 1936 the BUF was pouring most of its resources into holding meetings in the East End and distributing crude antisemitica. Mob orators such as Mick Clarke and Owen Burke sought to whip up violence on street corners night after night.

As this approach gradually gained support in poor neighbouring areas such as Bethnal Green, Mosley announced he would celebrate the fourth birthday of the BUF by staging a provocative march through Stepney, the heart of the Jewish East End, on 4 October, 1936, following months of BUF meetings and leafleting in the area designed to intimidate Jewish people and break up the East End’s community solidarity. 

The British fascists' parade aimed to emulate Mussolini's fascist march in Rome in 1922 and that of the Nazi brownshirts in Germany, as a symbol for them of fascism's seizure of power in the United Kingdom.

Political leaders in the East End then petitioned the Home Secretary Sir John Simon to ban the march; however, their request was denied. On 2nd October, the Jewish People’s Council presented a second petition with 100,000 signatures to request that the march be banned on the grounds that the “avowed object of the Fascist movement in Great Britain is the incitement of malice and hatred against sections of the population.”   

Despite these efforts, the British government allowed the march to proceed as planned and assigned 7,000 members of the police force to accompany it.  But the East End was having none of it. Jewish communists persuaded their comrades that this must be fought. The Irish dockers who lived among Jews in this deprived area, were willing to help. Fascists were no friend to the Irish immigrants,

 They were  not welcomed and were met by protestors, waving banners with slogans such as 'They shall not Pass'( no pasaron, echoing the International Brigade’s famous republican slogan  against the fascists in the Spanish Civil War. ) , 'No Nazis here' and 'East End Unite.'  A huge force had assembled prepared to defend their streets and neighbourhoods and their right to live in them. 

Even though uniformed policemen on horseback were employed to allow Mosley's march to pass through, anti-fascists blocked the route by barricading the street with rows of domestic furniture and the police were attacked with eggs, rotten fruit and the contents of peoples chamber pots. Local kids rolled marbles under police horses hooves. 

Eventually, after more than 12 hours of nonstop riots, the antifascists succeeded in preventing the Nazi parade through the neighborhood; the British führer Oswald Mosley, who was parading in a convertible like Hitler through central London, was warned by the police that he had to end the Nazi parade because they could not protect him from the antifascists and the police ordered the fascists to disperse, .  

The pitched battle was such that they had to set up a medical aid station to treat the wounded from the fight; about 150 demonstrators were arrested, the vast majority antifascists, and 175 people were injured, including women and children, due to the British police's repression in Cable Street and its surroundings, in their fanaticism to protect the Nazis' parade.  

Cable Street  is  now rightly remembered because it saw thousands of people, from many walks of life, women, children, local jews, Irish groups, communists, socialists, anarchists standing firm as one in an incredible display of unity who worked together to prevent Mosley's fascists from marching through a Jewish area in London. 

Remembering too the support of the Jewish community in the dock strikes of 1912, Irish dockers stood in solidarity with Jews against the fascists, ripping up paving stones with pickaxes handles to add to the barricades. Together, they won a famous victory and put the skids under Britain’s first fascist mass movement. The  fascists did not get to march and they did not pass, and were left in humiliation so today we look back on this living history in celebration and pride.   

Two days after the battle, Mosely was in Berlin to marry Diana Mitford. She was one of the celebrity Mitford sisters: six aristocratic socialites who made headlines for their controversial political views, including Diana’s overt fascism. She and Mosley were wed in the home of Nazi propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, no less, with Adolf Hitler as the couple’s guest of honour. 

Then, in early 1937, the Public Order Act came into force. Among its stipulations was the prohibition of political uniforms, such as the black shirts worn by the BUF. British fascists had been humiliated by the battle of Cable Street, although the BUF membership actually rose slightly in the weeks afterwards, and despite continued provocations and canvassing their political fortunes waned. 

But when the threat of conflict with Nazi Germany became more likely, and then inevitable, the BUF were done. Following the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, the Blackshirts were seen as a potential ‘fifth column’ aiding the Nazis from within Britain. 

By July 1940, the BUF was declared unlawful and banned. Mosley advocated for peace terms with the Third Reich. This went nowhere, and barely two weeks after Winston Churchill became prime minister in May 1940, Mosley was interned under Defence Regulation 18B. This authorised the British government to detain those suspected of undermining the nation’s war effort without trial.

 Hundreds of fascists met the same fate as Mosley, among them his wife Diana, a fanatical supporter of the Nazis. She was incarcerated 11 weeks after giving birth to their second son, Max, and the couple spent much of the war behind bars at Holloway Prison. 

After the war, Mosley attempted to revive his political career and the fascist cause through the Union Movement, which replaced a need of country-based nationalism with a European nationalism. Mosley’s new party remained extremely antisemitic, denying the atrocities of the Holocaust, but it was unsuccessful. He eventually resettled outside Paris and died in 1980, aged 84.

The anti-fascist message taken up by tens of thousands of people against Mosley and his Blackshirts stands as a significant moment in the history of Britain between the two world wars. It continues to serve as a touchstone for all those united in the struggle against racism to this day.
Significantly, for some people that were involved in the protest, Cable Street was the road to Spain, and many would go on to volunteer as soldiers for the Republicans there. The legend that was Cable Street became the lasting inspiration for the continuing British fight against the fascism that was spreading all across Europe and would eventually engulf the planet in a terrible world war, the event also launched movements for tenant rights, against economic injustice, and in defense of immigrants.

The surge in support for Mosley immediately after Cable Street helped convince many, including Communist Party organiser Phil Piratin, that to defeat the BUF they had to tackle the genuine socio-economic grievances exploited by Mosley within the East End rather than simply meet it with physical force.  

Working with a network of tenants committees before forming the Stepney Tenants Defence League (STDL), Piratin and colleagues tackled the high rents charged by slum landlords for substandard accommodation. The STDL orchestrated rent strikes aimed at bringing landlords to the negotiating table, winning vital concessions and rent reductions for beleaguered tenants.  

Although the STDL was organised by Communists – many of whom were Jewish – they also saved fascist tenants from eviction. The STDL soon extended its work into the heart of the “fascist” East End, particularly areas such as Duckett Street, Stepney. The BUF had done nothing for them. 

As a result BUF cards were torn up in disgust. By helping local people overcome their problems and helping them to understand that these were not caused by “Jews” or “immigrants” the STDL proved that it is unity, rather than division, which enables communities to overcome its social deprivation.

The same East End  community  also rallied around their German neighbours facing reprisals during the second world war and in the 1970s and 1980s they helped defend the local Bangladeshi communities against attacks from the National Front. Today, local communities in the east end organise support for refugees fleeing persecution from all over the world.

Commissioned in 1976 by the Tower Hamlets Arts Project, the artist Dave Binnington drawing inspiration from Spanish muralists and Picasso’s Guernica. Binnington after interviewing many local characters and includong them in the design, started painting a large mural commemorating the battle on the side wall of St George's Town Hall.  In 1982, the still uncompleted mural was vandalised with right-wing slogans, after which Binnington abandoned the project in disgust.  It was subsequently finished by Paul Butler, Ray Walker and Desmond Rochfort, and officially unveiled in 1983.  It has subsequently been vandalised, and repainted, several times. 

The mural depicts the events  of a very physical confrontation  between police and protestors  in stunning detail, anti-fascist protestors proudly carrying banners, punches being thrown, a barricade of furniture and an overturned vehicle across Cable Street manned by residents of all ages and ethnic backgrounds, a chamber pot being thrown under the hooves of horses being ridden  by baton-wielding police, and fascist  with a startling resemblance  to Adolf Hitler, looking very alarmed in just his underwear and socks. The mural stands today as a  proud powerful symbol of anti-fascism in the East End.

 

There is much to learn from the Battle of Cable Street about the power that individuals and groups wield in the face of intolerant policies and behaviours when they unite against racism and discrimination. Hopefully by engaging with this history, we can think critically about the choices made by the East End community and its allies in 1936 and then consider choices available to us as agents of change in the face of prejudice and discrimination in our society  and communities today.

The Battle of Cable Street is deservedly famous as a crucial moment in the struggle against fascism in Britain.  The 90th anniversary  today is an opportunity to learn more about the history of that struggle and the wide range of tactics that it used

Cable Street matters because it wasn’t some abstract debate about extremism. It was ordinary people refusing to let fascists intimidate their neighbours.  

Today trade unions and community groups will mark the anniversary with a march from Whitechapel to St George’s Gardens. The TUC says the anniversary is not just about heritage, but about organising against racism and the politics of division today.

Ninety years on, the lessons of the antifascist battle of Cable Street have never felt more relevant.  remembered as a crucial moment in the struggle against fascism in Britain. Lessons and inspiration from the past help us in the fight for a fair society. Cable Street matters because it wasn’t some abstract debate about extremism. It was ordinary people refusing to let fascists intimidate their neighbours.

In 2026, the politics of division, anti-semitism, racism and intolerance and hate is on the march again. As far right and fascist groups try to grow again. We have to organise to stop them. 

Their political vision is impossible to implement without violence and they know this. These are people who are calling for the forced deportation of millions of people who were born here in the UK.

A violent act that would tear families apart, and destroy the very social fabric of some communities that have lived in the UK for generations. 

They view “freedom of speech” as a tool to bolster their platform, yet they “dox” and ruin the lives of those who speak against their violent agenda. They view many of our countrymen as less human than they are because they are a different shade to they.

If you think that by simply ignoring their   dangerous, dystopian, violent policy plans and vision of the future then you are either one of them - a fascist yourself - or someone who has an extremely poor understanding of who these people are and what they will do to the people around you. Should they be left to spread their cancerous views unopposed, I  dont think so.   

Reflecting on the conditions that facilitated the rise of fascism in the 1920s and 1930s in his 1945 book, The Open Society and Its Enemies  Karl Popper argued that if a society is tolerant without limits, its ability to remain tolerant will eventually be seized and destroyed by the intolerant and to keep a tolerant society safe, that society must keep the right to not tolerate intolerant ideas. 

These words are as relevant as ever. There is no reason why we should tolerate the intolerant. The Battle of cable street saw our communities stand together and in one voice said no  to  this. We need to remember and recommit to these principles as standard. 

Today and tomorrow we must still rally around the cry of No Pasaran - They shall not pass. They didn’t pass in 1936. They will not pass in 2026.

W.H. Davies ( 3/7/1871 - 26/9/40 ) The Battle for Cable Street.

You ask me how I got like this, Sir
Well, I don't care to say
But I will tell you a little story
Of when I was in a big fray.

I'm not very well in my old age
And as I sits drinking my broth
My mind goes back to 1936
That Sunday,Otober the fourth.

I was walking down Bethnal Green Road, Sir
just walking about at my ease
When the strains of a famous old song, Sir
Came floating to me on the breeze.

I stoppe, I looked and listened
Now where have I heard that old song?
Then I dashed to the Salmon and Ball, Sir
I know I wouldn't go wrong.

It was the Intenationale they were singing
They were singing it with a defiant blast
And holding up a big banner
With these words: " THEY SHALL NOT PASS"

And we then marched on to the East End
They were five thousand of us , I am sure
And when we got to the Aldgate
We were met by three hundred thousand more.

'Red Front! Red Front! these workers cried
It was a sight I wouldn't have missed
To see these thousands of defiant workers
Holding up their Mighty Clenched Fist.

The police said 'Now move along please,
This is all we ask'
But we said 'No, not for those blackshirts
Those rotters THEY SHALL NOT PASS'

We then marched on to Stepney Green Sir
You could see that this fight was no sham
For there were thousands of and thousands of workers
Marching from Limehouse,Poplar, Stratford and East Ham.

You could see that Mosely wouldn't get through Sir
That our slogan that day was no boast
And I shouted 'Hip Hip hurrah'
And I saw our flag being tied to a lamp post

the children shouted from the windows "O, golly"
For Mosley, no one seemed sorry
But someone had the goodness
To lend us their two ton lorry

We got it over on its side Sir
It wasn't much of a strain
But the police kept knocking our barricade down
So we built the damn thing up again.

The police said we worked mighty fast
As with a hanky their faces they mopped
So we got out our big red banner
And stuck it right on the top.

The police then charged with their truncheons
They charged us, the working class
But they couldn't pinch our red banner
With these words THEY SHALL NOT PASS

I wish you had been there to see it
You would have said it was a ruddy fine feat
How we kept that old Red Flag flying
On those barricades of Cable Street.

So this is the end of my story
And I must get back to my broth
But I hope you will never forget Sir
It was Sunday October the fourth. 

 

Video Ghosts of Cable Street, set to the music of Men they couldn't hang

Cable Street - The Young 'Uns

On the fourth of October 1936
I was only a lad of sixteen.
But I stood beside men
Who were threescore and ten
And every age in between.

We were dockers and teachers,
Busmen, engineers,
And those with no jobs to do.
We were women and children
Equal in union — atheists, Christians, and Jews.

And we had so much to lose.

For with Hitler in Germany, Franco in Spain,
We knew what fascism meant.
So when Mosley came trouncing,
Denouncing the Jews,
To the East End of London we went.

For I’d met refugees, who had fled o’er the seas,
Germans, Italians, and Jews.
And I knew their despair
For what they’d seen there
And I couldn’t let them be abused.

We had so much to lose.

Now 3,000 fascists — their uniforms black —
Had set out to march on that day.
And 6,000 policemen
Intended to greet them
By making clear the way.

But we were there ready —
Our nerves they were steady —
One hundred thousand en masse.
And we planted our feet along Cable Street
And we sang: They shall not pass!

We sang: They shall not pass!

Then all us young lads,
We were sent to the side streets
To stop the police breaking through.
And with swift hands we made strong barricades
Out of anything we could use.

And they came to charge us,
But they couldn’t barge us,
With fists, batons, and hooves.
With as good as we got, we withstood the lot,
For we would not be moved.

We would not be moved.

And, yes, there was violence.
And, yes, there was blood.
And I saw things a lad shouldn’t see.
But I’ll not regret the day I stood
And London stood with me.

And when the news spread the day had been won
And Mosley was limping away —
There were shouts, there were cheers,
There were songs, there were tears,
And I hear them all to this day.

And we all swore then we’d stand up again
For as long as our legs could
And that when we were gone,
Our daughters and sons
Would stand where we stood.

Was the first time I’d heard two tiny words
Said by every woman and man.
Now I say them still
And I always will:
¡NO PASARÁN!

Lyrics and music  by Sean Conney 

Please don't stop talking about Palestine. Free Palestine, Free Gaza

 

An  evening reminder Israel is a terrorist state . The world hasn’t seen anything like the destruction in Gaza since Second World War. Gaza is nearly 3 times smaller than Hiroshima, and Israel dropped 223,000+ tonnes of explosives, equivalent of ~15 "Little Boy" atomic bombs, on Gaza. 

Gaza is nearly the same size as Nagasaki, and Israel dropped 223,000+ tonnes of explosives, equivalent of ~12 "Fat Man" atomic  bombs.

 Gaza is nearly 3 times smaller than Berlin, and Israel dropped over 3 times more explosives than dropped on Berlin, over 25 times than what dropped on Hamburg, and almost 57 times what dropped on Dresden. Gaza is nearly 5 times smaller than London, and Israel dropped over 12 times more explosives than dropped on London, almost 20 times than what dropped on Paris, and nearly 45 times than what dropped on Warsaw. The destructions of Gaza cities is more severe than the destructions of European Cities in WWII. 

According to Article II of the UN Genocide Convention, genocide involves specific acts committed with the "intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group." Wanton devastation not justified by military necessity; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction is also an act of genocide according to Article Il of the UN Genocide Convention.The world hasn’t seen anything like the destruction in Gaza since Second World War. 

The genocide is not over. There is no ceasefire. Bombs are still dropping. Families are still being wiped out. The bloodshed continues while the world scrolls past. Silence is not neutrality,it is complicity.

Every morning brings a new struggle, just to keep their children alive. We're not talking about luxury, only the basics: food, water, and a little safety. The help that was promised to them  still hasn't come. And yet they don't lose hope.  Please don't stop talking about Palestine. Free Palestine, Free Gaza

Celebrating the 100th Birthday of Jazz Great John Coltrane ( 23/09/26 -17/7/67)

 

On this day 100 years ago on Sept 23, 1926 the great  ionic  musical force, saxophonist, bandleader, composer, John William Coltrane was born in Hamlet, North Carolina.

He was raised in a religious family, his father and grandfather both preached, and at early age he was exposed to gospel music. This had a significant influence on his life as he grew into adulthood. When he was 12, his father and grandfather both died, and young Coltrane took to playing the clarinet as a way to escape the sadness around him.

 While he was attending William Penn High School in High Point, North Carolina, he played clarinet in local bands and eventually switched to the saxophone.   

Coltrane evidently decided that instead of being drafted into the Army, he preferred the Navy, and on August 6, 1945 he enlisted in the US Navy. On his “US Navy Enlisted Personal Qualification Card,” he wrote under the heading, for skills and machines, “Musician-played saxophone and clarinet in orchestras during various musical engagements, both part time and full time.” 

He was issued serial number 9851939. He weighed 168 pounds and was 68 inches tall. The military was segregated during the war; therefore, Coltrane was sent to the black section of the Naval Training Center at Sampson in upstate New York. By the time he completed basic training at the end of October, the war was over. He was sent to the Naval Receiving Station in Shoemaker, California, and remained there for a month while he was processed and waited for his duty assignment. 

On November 28, 1945, he received orders to report to Manana, Oahu, Hawaii. Manana is where Coltrane served his time while in the Navy. He was assigned to a Navy band, the Melody Masters, and played clarinet and alto saxophone. 

While in Hawaii, on March 1, 1946, he was promoted to S1c. Navy bands were used to boast morale, and with the war over the military was downsizing. After serving only one year of his two year enlistment, he was sent to Bainbridge, Maryland where he was discharged on August 11, 1946.  Following his discharge from the Navy, he went home to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The post war years in Philadelphia offered a vibrant jazz scene dominated by bebop which Coltrane fully embraced. He also used the GI Bill to take music courses under the instruction of Dennis Sandole, who taught young Coltrane music theory and harmonic technique. Coltrane was not content with just studying music; he became very active on the music scene as a journeyman playing his saxophone whenever he could. 

He began to gain a reputation and was not only in demand on the local circuit, but big bands of national prominence recognized his talent. One of those was Dizzy Gillespie, who suggested Coltrane should switch from alto to tenor saxophone. 

From 1946 through 1955, Coltrane was in many ways a hired gun waiting for the next gig. It was during this time he developed a heroin habit, which he remained addicted to for six years.    

Coltrane’s commitment and dedication to his craft, along with the constant touring, paid off in 1955. That summer the legendary trumpeter, Miles Davis, invited him to New York City. From 1955 to 1959, under the direction of Davis, Coltrane sharpened his skills and played beside Davis which propelled him into the national spot light. 

In 1958, Coltrane recorded his own music with his own band, and the result was Blue Train recorded for the famous Blue Note label. This is the recording which showcases Coltrane’s talents as not only a great bandleader but composer as well. The music is hard bop and at the same time the sensitive side of Coltrane appears. 

The title track is one of the most recognized music arrangements from the 1960s. Just a year later Coltrane appeared on the Davis masterpiece Kind of Blue, which is considered by many as the definitive jazz record. Kind of Blue has a very slow relaxing quality about it, which pulls the listener in. 

That same year Coltrane released the solo recording Giant Steps. Jazz journalist Ira Gitler said the music of John Coltrane was like listening to “sheets of sound.” 

By the early 1960s, John Coltrane was one of the most recognized names in all music genres throughout the world.

In 1962, Coltrane formed the classic ‘Coltrane Quartet’ consisting of McCoy Tyner (piano), Elvin Jones (drums), and Jimmy Garrison (bass). The conception of this group also coincides with Coltrane’s music taking on a more and more spiritual angle. 

This group recorded some of Coltrane's most famous and encompassing works such as ‘A Love Supreme’. After the classic quartet disbanded, Coltrane pushed further and further outwards, testing the boundaries of improvised music. He would add another saxophonist, Pharoh Sanders, and also frequently collaborated with his second wife, Alice Coltrane.    

He helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz. He organized at least 50 recording sessions as a leader during his recording career, and was also a spiritual searcher,  a seeker of universal truth, an endlessly curious learner, and to some, literally God incarnate, whose shimmering, joyful music pushed jazz to its limits.

Fascinated by world religions, astrology, and philosophy, he believed that music was a vehicle for a greater good, an opportunity to have a larger impact. He wanted to do more than just entertain. Coltrane’s goal was “to uplift people” and “inspire them to realize more and more their capacities for living meaningful lives.”  

Addicted to heroin in the 1950s, he quit cold turkey, and later explained that he had heard the voice of God during his anguishing withdrawal. In 1966, an interviewer in Japan asked Coltrane what he hoped to be in five years, and Coltrane replied, “A saint.” He said  “I know that there are bad forces, forces that bring suffering to others and misery to the world. I want to be the opposite force. I want to be the force which is truly for good.”  

 “I believe in all religions. The truth itself doesn’t have any name on it to me, and each man has to find it for himself.”  “

"I humbly asked to be given the means and privilege to make others happy through music.”

His spiritual journey was interwoven with his investigation of world music, believed in a universal musical structure that transcended ethnic distinctions.  

From 1966 until his death in ’67, Coltrane was seen as the point of the spear by a new generation of jazz avant-gardists—a generation more politically charged and socially conscious than those before, and whose music reflected the growing political outrage of the time. Coltrane himself remained a humanist, more in tune with the non-violent philosophy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., than the confrontational attitude of Malcolm X or the Black Panthers. 

 Yet his music was an indelible part of the soundtrack of that turbulent era, and the recordings he made between ’65 and ’67 remain the most controversial of his entire career.  

For Coltrane, music (he didn’t like the word ‘jazz’) expressed brotherhood, and, he said, " I believe with brotherhood there would be no poverty, and no war. I know that there are bad forces, forces out there that bring suffering to others and misery to the world, but I want to be the opposite "

On his final tour in Japan in 1966, Coltrane insisted on visiting Nagasaki. When he arrived there, to the amazement of his hosts, he went directly from the station to the atomic bomb monument in the centre of the city to play and to pray for peace.  

In his last years he produced A Love Supreme, one of the best selling jazz albums of all time. On A Love Supreme, he managed something almost impossible: to bring real meaning, hope, and, most importantly, good music that pleases the ear, into a postmodern rule-free artistic mode. (Everyone should listen to A Love Supreme at least once in their lifetime) this  was followed  by a series starting with Ascension that took him into the terrain of outright free jazz where few others would follow.

Through the last months of his life, Coltrane continued to push ahead with sessions that swung between tracks that could be grating and intense, and sonic tapestries deeply introspective and calm.The musical seeds that sprouted during the A Love Supreme sessions predicted where Coltrane would go with his music. 

His measured key-hopping on “Acknowledgement” presaged a passionate atonality. His chanting was heard again on the album Om. His love of poetry resurfaced on Kulu Se Mama. His hymn-like titles became an unbroken theme—“Dear Lord”, “Welcome”, “The Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost”—their meditative sonority reflecting that of A Love Supreme.  

In the last year of his life, as Coltrane’s reputation and notoriety reached its highest level, those close to him were aware something was wrong. He was often in pain, suffering from liver cancer, as it was later learned. Yet Coltrane did not let up. He continued to perform and record, only weeks before his passing on July 17, 1967. 

The impact on the music scene was seismic; he left behind a stunned community of musicians, as well as his wife Alice, a daughter Michelle and three sons—John Jr., Ravi, and Oran—and a catalogue of recordings from which music continues to be issued and reissued.

Despite passing at the age of just 40 on the 17th of  July 1967 Coltrane remains one of the most influential and talented musicians in the history of Jazz. After his death, a congregation in San Francisco began worshipping him as God incarnate .In 1969, this congregation became The St. John Coltrane African Orthodox Church and was created to "paint the globe with the message of A Love Supreme, and in doing so promote global unity, peace on earth, and knowledge of the one true living God." 

The church incorporates Coltrane's music and his lyrics as prayers in its liturgy, specifically using A Love Supreme (1965) as a liturgical text. The church holds weekly “sound baptisms” that focus on Coltrane's later albums, monthly guided meditations, and weekly Masses that include jazz jams. 

The church also performs a social function in the community. Around the rise of the Black Panther party, the church began to get politically involved as an activist space and organizer. In addition, in those early 70s years, the church created and expanded its programs for "feeding, clothing and sheltering the poor." Today there  seems to be no better time to celebrate the ministry and the message of the Church of John Coltrane. 

Coltrane’s total mastery of the tenor and soprano saxophones, the rich harmonic density of his compositions, and his clear projection of emotion enabled him to reconcile technical virtuosity with an often spiritual profundity who bought new innovations to a constantly innovative musical form. 

To honor the 100th anniversary of John Coltrane's birth, the Coltrane Estate launched "Coltrane 100," a year-long global celebration.

The milestone features the legendary release of the "Tiberi Tapes" live recordings via Impulse! Records and  also highlights a massive schedule of catalog reissues, symphonic performances, and tribute concerts worldwide.

He is considered among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Decades of musicians and fans alike have cited Coltrane as a profoundly inspiring force. Influencing a variety of genres like funk, psychedelic rock (The Doors’ “Light My Fire” was based on Coltrane’s “My Favorite Things”), and pop, he created “a world of sound” that’s still relevant today.  And  the modern concept of music serving a deeply connective, spiritual purpose exists largely thanks to him.  Many artists achieve greatness but very few produce work that is so moving that it’s considered sacred. Amazing to me that he made all the varied records under his own name in just 10 years.

His work has accompanied me through moments when words could not, and the quality of his music still continues to inspire me, reminding me that the root of the word inspiration is ' Breathing upon.' I am healed in my soul every time I hear him.

 "My music is the spiritual expression of what I am - my faith, my knowledge, my being." When you begin to see the possibilities of music, you desire to do something good for people, to help humanity free itself from its hang-ups." - John Coltrane  

FOR TRANE ( Breathing upon )  Gone now, but in the shadows of time, his music remains, still gathering attention, saving us from high above, poet of the infinite, seeker, priest, his timbre still flying high, through time and space, releasing a music that testifies to life's force, that recognises the power and spirit of our breath, strong enough still, to give back the power that renews, a sustenance of tenderness, fills days of anxiety, anticipation and separation, with eternal rhythms of presence, knocking on doors, from one border to the next, a moving force of affirmation, releasing a love supreme that forever sings, from his impulse spirit soars, a comet who still blazes across the sky.  

Blessed be, John Coltrane. 

John Coltrane - Equinox

Love Supreme - John Coltrane

Music isn't political!

The Ed Sheeran–Macklemore controversy has become much bigger than a disagreement over whether music should stay out of politics. And honestly, there is a legitimate argument on both sides.  

Sheeran's desire for his concerts to be places where people come together rather than another battlefield in the Israel-Palestine conflict is understandable to some. 

But so is the argument from artists who believe that when civilians are being killed, refusing to speak because you are an entertainer can itself become a political position. That argument isn't going away simply because somebody bought a concert ticket.You don't have to agree with an artist's political intervention to recognise that politics has always had a place in music and at concerts. You can disagree with what an artist says from the stage. You can think a particular political intervention is inappropriate. You can even walk out. 

But claiming that concerts are somehow a politics-free zone isn't supported by the history of music.  

Politics has been on the stage, in the lyrics and in the audiences for generations. For some artists, politics isn't something they bring into music. It is part of the music! To anyone claiming politics has no place in music: have you ever listened to music?  Music has always confronted war, power and oppression.

All art is political. Music is no exception. Music cannot be non-political by its very nature. All concerts are political - especially when the audience is ignorant of the politics. Artists have  for such  a long  time  used their voices loudly and proudly to stand up for people in need. So no, I’ll never understand the whole “music isn’t political” argument. Music is inherently political. 

Ask any Black artist especially those from the 40's-90's. Ask any person who is not white, straight, or male. Even when they dont mean for it to be their music ends up being used politically.

In 1973, Victor Jara was singled out for special torture because of his music. He was key to the Nueva canción (new song)movement, with strong political themes. 

So Pinochet’s regime broke every bone in his hands then killed him. 

I personally  got into politics through music. Have  you  heard Akala, Angelic Upstarts, Ani DiFranco,Anrhefn, Asian Dub Foundation,Aswad, The Au Pairs, Joan Baez,The Beat, Billy Bragg,Black Uhuru,Buffy Sainte-Marie, Burning Spear, Tracy Chapman, Chumbawamba, The Clash, Johnny Clegg, Conflict, Crass, Culture, Jerry Dammers,Datblygu, Dead Kennedys,Bob Dylan,Steve Earle,The Ex, Aretha Franklin, Dick  Gaughan, Marvin Gaye, Woody Guthrie, Gil Scot Heron, Billie  Holiday, Victor Jara, Fela Kuti,The  Levellers,Linton Kweisi Johnson, Killing Joke, Le Trio Joubran, John Lennon, Lowkey,Bob Marley & The Wailers,Manic Street Preachers, Ewan MacColl, Curtis Mayfield, The Men They Couldn't Hang,Misty in Roots, Christy Moore, Napalm Death, New Model Army, Phil Ochs,The Poison Girls, The Pogues,Public Enemy, Rage Against the Machine, The Redskins, Paul Robeson, David Roviks,Tom Robinson Band, Leon Rosselson, The Ruts,Pete Seeger,The Selecter, Sepultura,Sex Pistols,Nina Simone, Sleaford Mods, Patti Smith,  Bruce Springsteen,Steel Pulse,Stiff Little Finger, System of a Down, Peter Tosh, Toots and the Maytals, Robert Wyatt, X-Ray Spex   or, Neil Young.? 

Music has long been a vehicle for social change. An integral part of human nature, music has the potential to connect and unite people. Music can bring people together in safe and inclusive communities, and musicians can lend their voices on behalf of the voiceless  and to their audiences speak out on social injustices  all around them.

Music has the power to bring people from different countries, backgrounds, and languages together in the same space, allowing them to share emotions. That’s precisely why, when artists speak out about war or human rights, their words can reach far beyond the music itself.  Some people may connect with those messages, while others may have completely different opinions. 

Artists  creativity has inspired people to think differently about the world,and the combination of the right lyrics, rhythm and instruments can build a group identity, stir strong emotions, engage audiences and with a level of influence and reach in society to convene and  amass people to take action.

Some have even risked their careers to stand up for what they believe in. From the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights movement to Black Lives Matter, musicians have heralded major political movements that have helped change the world with their art.The civil rights movement had a number of borrowed songs from civil war era spirituals that both motivated and unified its audiences.

 A classic examples being 'This Little Light of Mine.' A more literal example in its lyrical content would be Sam Cooke's ' A Change is Gonna Come ' along with others who wrote anti-war and protest songs that gave a voice to the dissenters.

Then there was Woody  Guthrie who  had "This machine kills fascists" on his guitar as a declaration that art is a weapon against oppression.Music as Education: He viewed songs not just as entertainment, but as educational projects to rouse political awareness and fight capitalist inequality 
The great Fela Kuti used his music as a weapon to be wielded against tyranny, with much potency, singing against tyranny and social injustice, and through his music took sides with the downtrodden.

And Gil Scott-Heron  who  used his poetry and music to deliver sharp, uncompromising political and social commentary, exploring systemic racism, political corruption, poverty  and media manipulation.
Let's  not forget Jerry Dammers who  while in  the Special AKA  who  recorded the anthemic ' Free Nelson Mandela 'which established itself as a worldwide anthem for the growing demand of the jailed African National Congress leader to be be released by the apartheid South African authorities. 

Not someone either to shy away from making political statements Patti Smith  has used her music to as a means of political activism, condemning war and human rights abuses. On a more uplifting note, her song 'People have the Power' is a powerful reminder to not sit passively but rather work to create the world we want to live in. 

And  lets remember Joe  Strummer  who viewed popular music as a powerful vehicle for social and political commentary, who believed that popular music was an unmatched tool for connecting with everyday people and fighting right-wing ideas.

And  don't  forget the  Slave songs, the  Rebel songs,  the  anguish  cry  of  the blues, Rock Against Racism,  Artists against apartheid, The Two Tone movement. 

Le Trio Joubran – the Palestinian masters of the oud through their mesmerizing music, have been hey honouring the struggles and oppression of indigenous peoples not only in the Middle East but around the world and especially affirm that their music should be a part of the struggle of the Palestinian people for recognition and liberation.

Lest  I  forget  folk, music that  has been a driving force of protest and social change for centuries.
Music can  be used to provoke and  empower people to become bold enough to fight against forces much greater than themselves.

Music is entretched in politics.Its is a art form with which the unheard, the disaffected, can express their opinion, freely. Music speaks to the soul especially when times are hard. If you dont want to hear politics, then music isnt for you. 

Music is a form of artistic expression that uses  a universal language that we can all understand, that as well as breaking down barriers, borders, transcending nationality or religion, it  can also educate. As a cultural right  it can also help to promote human rights, whether they be civil, political,economic or social.

Music can have a huge influence on what we think and how we view the world, especially now that it is so easily accessible and transferable via social networking and Youtube. 

Unlike so many great promoters of peace, social justice and equality, many musicians are blessed with the fact that millions of people already are listening to their songs. With that much influence, it only seems logical that they would choose to write about something worthwhile.

The ongoing censorship of some musicians is evidence of the power of  music to affect social change and the real threat that oppressive regimes feel when artists speak out. Some musicians have been met by state sanctioned violence and even murder. Pussy Riot's Punk Prayer saw them arrested and sent to remote gulag-like prison authorities, and creative expression through music can still be met with jail time in many places in the world. 

Many artists  have was recently been censored for supporting Palestinian rights. But more  than an attack on self-expression, censorship and persecution are attacks on the power of music to connect and create communities.

In some cases, music  has also remapped political landscapes and had a role in overturning regimes. Music is popular, and often populist, able to be employed by the people regardless of creed or class. In its role of challenging and changing history, music rises above the individual singer to a collective force of passion and will and transcends any singular time period or institution. Though statues and regimes rise and fall, the music plays on in the hearts of the people. 
Musicians Without Borders works with musicians around the world to build nonviolent, inclusive communities. And stands with musicians around the world for human rights and social justice— through music. It is a global network organization that uses music for peacebuilding and social change. Using music as a tool to build connections, foster empathy and shape communities. Studies have shown that music is a powerful tool that can influence behavior, shape culture and strengthen social bonds. Musicians Without Borders uses music as a means to address the needs of societies divided and affected by conflict.
Since 1999, Musicians without Borders has been using the power of music for peace-building, connecting people, empowering musicians as social activists, and training local youth as change-makers. Long-term commitment allows the participants the time to develop skills and talents, process grief and loss, and build bridges of reconciliation in societies divided by recent or ongoing conflict.
Where war has raged, people need everything to return to life: food, water, shelter, clothing, medicine. But more than anything, people need hope. To reconcile, people need empathy. To heal, people need connection and community. 

Music creates empathy, builds connection, can convey important messages and ideals that people can truly listen  to, that gives hope  allowing people to come together and  become  powerful forces for change. 

In the end, I believe what matters most is creating an environment where artists have the freedom to speak, and audiences have the freedom to think for themselves. Both deserve to be protected.  

At the end of the day, our perspectives are shaped by our individual positions, circumstances, and experiences. There isn’t just one way to see things, and no one can decide what the one absolute right answer is. 

But  the fact is most things aren’t apolitical when you start to pick them apart. Being vocal about something is a political statement. Silence is a political statement. Whether an artist is singing about nature, love, social or political norms, we all exist in a series of systems that decide the fate of people’s lives. Everything is political. And the music of change is blowing through all Continents.

Patti Smith - People Have The Power

Aretha Franklin - A Change Is Gonna Come 

"Music is above the law. Music can get through the cracks and infiltrate places where other things just can go" - Peter Wallenberg

Thoughts on the Macklemore-Ed Sheeran debacle

Some thoughts on the Ed Sheeran / Macklemore debacle  and what could come next in a loving world.With thanks to my dear friend Ellen Mason for her  valuable  contribution  to this  post.

The crisis began after Macklemore used his appearance at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium to perform his protest song Hind’s Hall, inspired by the Israeli military’s notorious, and cold-blooded, murder of a six-year girl, Hind Rajab, in Gaza and display images from Gaza and declare: “Free Palestine.”  

Billionaire New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, whose company owns Gillette Stadium, subsequently refused to allow Macklemore to perform at the venue. 

According to Macklemore, Kraft also contacted other stadium owners, leaving Sheeran’s tour with an ultimatum: remove Macklemore or risk losing several major venues.  

Sheeran insists the final decision was made by the tour’s promoter and the venues—not by him.  But his attempt to distance himself from the decision did not stop the fallout. 

I feel Ed Sheeran, like many public-facing bystanders of the most heinous, cruel broad daylight crimes of our time, chose the path of perceived least resistance to: 

1. Keep a wide fan base happy and himself away from the Palestine subject, which was evidently delusional, thank God. 

 2. For his own escapism which wreaks of privileged spoilt brat behaviour. This behaviour has had the pattern of being socially approved of, and therefore safe to do, until now.  

Culturally it has been more socially acceptable than not acceptable to be silent during the slaughter, terrorisation and dehumanisation of Palestinians. And only now has this received enough shame and strong disapproval to have the potential of turning the tide (and actually stopping the continuous harm of our most extremely oppressed brothers and sisters).  

This is a very promising turning point from a social engineering point of view, and from creating a better, fairer, caring society point of view, because mass perception is the key to what environment and behaviour we get. 

Ed Sheeran is no longer facing a passing controversy. He is standing in the middle of a wildfire.  

What began with Macklemore being removed from Sheeran’s Loop Tour after declaring “Free Palestine” onstage has developed into one of the most damaging reputational crises of the British singer’s career.  

Neither Robert Kraft nor Ed Sheeran has apologized for the decision that led to Macklemore being removed from the remaining dates of Sheeran's Loop Tour. Kraft explicitly defended his actions; Sheeran distanced himself from the final call while confirming pressure from venues. .

Macklemore announced he would donate his full $1 million net earnings from the (now-truncated) tour dates to six organizations supporting Palestinians and invited Kraft to match. 

Kraft responded that, before that challenge, Sheeran had already asked him to commit $2 million to match Sheeran's own donation “to aid in the region to fight this humanitarian crisis,” with Sheeran planning to reach out to other venue owners to build bridges. 

These moves occurred amid significant public backlash and media coverage. Public statements frame them as humanitarian responses and bridge-building rather than admissions of error or personal transformation. These people aren’t buying their way out of this debacle. Censorship is unacceptable 

In a statement Sheeran has said "I am appalled by the conflict between Israel and Palestine. The suffering and pain caused on both sides is a human tragedy. There are too many wars across the world causing immeasurable pain, none of which should be tolerated." 

Damage Limitation in full effect. Too late. With the backlash and stand so many have taken, it's about saving face...and money In my view, his public statement is even worse than his initial decision to drop Macklemore. It is deeply ignorant, insincere and shows utter contempt for millions of people who care about peace, freedom and justice. 

I couldn't care less if fellow celebs think he has a "good heart". If that's true, he's not showing it. It's only right that we  forgive people when they genuinely apologise and change. But that has not happened yet. Quite the opposite.The social media uproar regarding this is massive, it's damaging for Sheeran, his publicist must be having the worst week of her life . 

Kids have just witnessed first hand a Zionist billionaire fuck with their lives, telling them what music they can and can't be allowed to watch. This is a massive PR disaster, an entire generation is now engaged with the Palestinian cause. 

Ed Sheeran had the opportunity to stand for something loudly, but instead caved at the pressure. Now his tour is falling apart and his reputation is done! But the momentum for justice for Palestinians  comtinues now to build. And I think Ed should simply cancel his tour now.

One of the best things about this whole Ed Sheeran debacle is finding out how many people hated this man for years. I have found my people.

Here's why I refuse to have any sympathy for Ed Sheeran being called out. A music artist worth half a billion dollars was tested with morality and failed miserably. Ed Sheeran’s life  has just took an abrupt turn that he probably did not see coming. But he was the one who agreed to have Macklemore open for him in the first place. He could afford to lose but chose to kowtow to the Epstein billionaire class instead.

The price of silence... His remaining supporting artists have walked away. British political commentator Owen Jones delivered one of the bluntest verdicts yet on Thursday:  “Ed Sheeran is a coward.”    Jones’s video followed an earlier attack in which he condemned Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy for expressing sympathy for Sheeran. 

 “Macklemore gets cancelled for opposing a genocide,” Jones wrote. “ And who does Lisa Nandy feel sorry for? Ed Sheeran. So unbelievably pathetic.

 Finneas, Aaron Rowe, Lukas Graham and Irish band Beoga all withdrew from the remaining dates in solidarity with Macklemore and the Palestinian people.  

“Artists must not be silenced when they speak up for the oppressed,” Finneas said.  

Rowe said that as an Irishman he understood the history of “genocide, forced famine and violent occupation”, while Beoga declared that performing in venues which silence support for a free Palestine was “simply not an option”. 

Lukas Graham warned that money should never decide who is permitted to speak or which suffering the public is allowed to acknowledge.  

Their departures have left Sheeran’s claim of powerlessness looking increasingly difficult to sustain.  Irish station removes Sheeran’s music Ireland’s Classic Hits Radio has now announced that Sheeran’s music will be removed from its playlist “for the foreseeable future”.  

The independent Irish-owned broadcaster said it received feedback from listeners expressing disappointment and concern over the treatment of Macklemore. 

While acknowledging Sheeran’s explanation, the station said it wanted to stand alongside Irish artists Aaron Rowe and Beoga after they surrendered significant professional opportunities by leaving the tour.  “Our position is a simple one,” the station said. “We believe in peace, humanity and respect.”  

The station said its decision would remain under review. 

As the backlash spreads, an older attack from grime pioneer Wiley has returned with new force. 

 A video shared by Matthew Walker under the caption “Wiley clocked Ed Sheeran years ago” has attracted hundreds of thousands of views. 

The clip originates from Wiley’s earlier dispute with Sheeran, when the grime veteran branded him a “culture vulture” and accused him of benefiting from Britain’s Black and grime music infrastructure without properly reciprocating.  

Wiley referenced platforms such as SBTV and the underground radio culture which helped establish Sheeran’s credibility before his transition into global pop stardom.  

The resurfaced footage is especially striking because Wiley was not simply an outside critic. He collaborated with Sheeran during the singer’s early career, including on the 2011 track If I Could.  Sheeran rejected Wiley’s accusations at the time, insisting that he had deep love and respect for grime and for the artists who helped him.  

But amid the Macklemore controversy, Wiley’s old criticism is being viewed through a new lens: that Sheeran is comfortable drawing upon marginalised cultures when it benefits his music, but unwilling to accept the risk that comes with defending their voices. 

The problem with “neutrality” Sheeran says his concerts are intended to provide “unity, joy, escapism and love”, rather than political debate.  

He has insisted that choosing not to speak publicly does not mean he lacks personal views or does not care about Palestinian suffering.  

But critics say the removal of Macklemore was itself a political act.When an artist is excluded after speaking about Palestine, while billionaire venue owners retain the power to determine what can be said from the stage, accepting that outcome cannot credibly be described as neutrality.  

Sheeran’s defence is further complicated by his previous political interventions. He performed at the Concert for Ukraine, opposed Brexit, expressed support for Jeremy Corbyn and has publicly campaigned against racism and government cuts to music education.  

His cancelling of Macklemore makes sense only if Sheeran believes the vast scale of suffering in Gaza is of much less significance than the more limited suffering in Ukraine. Even on the most conservative estimate possible, 30 children have been killed in Gaza for every child killed in Ukraine.

With his supporting artists gone, an Irish radio station refusing to play his music, Owen Jones branding him a coward and Wiley’s old warning roaring back across social media, the attempt to contain this crisis has plainly failed.  Ed Sheeran is not putting out the fire.  It is spreading.

It was a social risk for Ed Sheeran to go with Macklemore, and thank heavens, it's backfired this  time. The disapproval of Ed Sheeran's behaviour is palpable. This is very, very good indeed in getting the genocide to stop. 

In the West, over the last 2.5 years,  we’ve seen performers, health care workers, teachers, journalists and others lose their livelihoods for standing against the Gaza Genocide. Sheeran,has misread the public mood  entirely. 

I can guarantee you, people will start feeling uncomfortable now in what should have always felt uncomfortable - ignoring the duty of standing up for those children receiving extreme brutality - our kids. 

This discomfort is tremendously healthy. If you're feeling it, great, because of what it's revealing and what the discomfort is a symptom of (which is truly worth celebrating): 

The revelation: At some point, we were duped by the entire society, the entire system that was built by oppressors, subconsciously viewed as "parents" because that's what parents do, (build and maintain the environment) to think that it was safe to throw people over there under the bus. Look away and stay in your place. Small because it's a behaviour that gets rewarded by social safety because you're doing what those "parents" are doing, rather what those equals "children" (people like me) are doing, and existential identity crises are not pretty. All of this is subconscious, and all of this is fair, not shaming. 

This is literally just humaning. This is how we behave. And there is resistance to growing in an oppressive system, because it's in the oppressor's interests to control socially obedient conformists, so it's not exactly encouraged to be righteous, confident and leading in nature. Discomfort as a symptom: This is amazing growth, the outgrowing of the "parents" - the oppressors, the cornerstone of where conscious inner parenting truly begins. 

This is the start of collectivism and structurally coherent governance from the people of the earth who have never been interested in any oppression, only love, because it's the activation of the power centre, and it's the rewiring of beliefs around what we're allowed, responsible for, and most exciting of all, how much we can play within a new paradigm where we are allowed to with shattered limits. Liberation always starts off uncomfortable, it's going to get very comfy and fun.  

Getting back to Ed Sheeran and what we now want, this is  where the light  is: 

We need many high profile celebs apologising emotionally for not speaking out. We need this humbling act. This is what's going to get the genocidal behaviour in check. We need people to swallow their pride, admit that they lacked responsibility, and then we need to be commending them for speaking out now and doing this. I would be so proud of caring celebs who haven't spoken out to do this. I would even listen to their music again.  

We need this over and over for approval to progress within politicians to completely and unanimously shut down and break the chain of oppression. And we need this across the board, it's not reserved for celebs. We need this in families, friendship groups, workplaces.  

We all need this movement. We are just waiting for the brave, the righteous, those ready for this step in their own evolution for the evolution of humankind, and for our more beautiful than ever before future together, where chains are broken, and fairness, loving kindness and care for the safety of all spreads the earth.  

Some of the worst people in the world are friendly - even "nice" – on a personal level. That doesn't take away from the awful things they do, and should not be used to excuse them.

Sheeran is world-famous; he courts the media and has hundreds of millions of pounds. That comes with responsibility and it's absolutely right he is held accountable for the decisions he made. 

A key reason why genocides happen is that not enough people take a stand. Sheeran chose to be an enabler. The man who says he doesn’t pick sides picked a side. He proved that being the nice guy is not the same as being the good guy.

Those of influence who stayed quiet on clear, large-scale atrocities (historical or current) have sometimes later acknowledged that silence carried a cost. 

Sheeran has been mates with Macklemore for over 13 years. He was well aware of Macklemore’s advocacy for Palestine and knew he would use the stage to speak up. Ed Sheeran thought he could both have his cake and eat it by making a token gesture and having Macklemore on tour.  And indeed - had he called the venue's bluff and made them cancel the dates - he could have.

This Ed Sheeran debacle is a masterclass in how to Fuck It Up. Those people who disliked the guy’s music merely tolerated him because he seemed fine. I dare say he’ll be actively avoided and ostracised from now on.It's funny how Ed Sheeran released a statement trying to defend himself, and only made  matters  worse. 

Ed Sheeran is now going to have Free Palestine shouted at him wherever he goes for the rest of his life.  He wanted to ignore Genocide, now he will never be able to. I call that Karma.

Public admissions of earlier inaction can, in some cases, model responsibility and shift norms. Extending that expectation beyond celebrities into families, workplaces, and friendship groups is a coherent extension of the same idea: social pressure as a tool against indifference.

The Ed Sheeran debacle is honestly showing that many fans are no longer going to to put up with artists not being real and genuine and not taking a stand for the right thing where it's needed. 

The way people have united behind Macklemore is proof that no amount of money, propaganda, persuasion or threats can stop the Free Palestine movement. 

Ed Sheeran’s current debacle was totally avoidable. He had the leverage but failed to realise it. He ought to have insisted Macklemore performed but he folded. Now, things have fallen apart. Stay on the fence all you like but don’t directly or indirectly participate in the muzzling of someone lending their voice to a cause.  

And realise that your silence on global burning issues affecting fans of your music can be loud. Sometimes, it can be interpreted as assent. Ed Sheeran is probably in shock right now. He knew that he was touring with Palestine supporters but he didn’t expect them to really believe in it. He doesn’t understand what that’s like. He’s never supported anything that wasn’t approved by the bosses for commercial purposes. 

Ed Sheeran politicised himself, taking a financial and reputational hit for capitulating  Robert Kraft,  an  individual who in 2019,  who built a sports complex in Israel and is a personal friend of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and pledged $20 million for a foundation to fight the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement (BDS).

The fact that Ed also played at the billionaires wedding a few years ago is also being kept  quite. Ed has appeased a supporter of genocide and in doing so, sacrificed his long  time friend for money,  is   masterclass in undermining his own career. And Kraft won't care  one  bit. 

Ed Sheeran will be fine in the end  he's worth  millions  he'll still have  a  life of  comfort, I truly hope the same can be said for the people of Gaza.

If there’s just one important thing to learn from the Ed Sheeran tour debacle, it’s that declaring yourself ‘apolitical’ is still in itself a political stance. Often a very privileged and ignorant one at that. Politics is everything, and everything is politics, there’s no escaping it, we are all involved, no matter what side you’re on or how much you do, or do not, want to talk about it. 

As the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu observed in relation to the apartheid regime of South Africa: "If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” Neutrality is complicity. Always will be. 

Accountability and moral courage matter. People in positions of influence who stayed quiet on clear, large-scale atrocities (historical or current) have sometimes later acknowledged that silence carried a cost. Public admissions of earlier inaction can, in some cases, model responsibility and shift norms. Extending that expectation beyond celebrities into families, workplaces, and friendship groups is a coherent extension of the same idea: social pressure as a tool against indifference.

During a ongoing holocaust that’s sprouting to the West Bank and beyond all of us that have a voice must use it to stop this holocaust and stand for Justice for the oppressed. 

The world united once to rid the world of Apartheid in South Africa. We must do the same to stop the genocide in Palestine. This is what certain powers fear, people united for humanity and for life. Genocide is genocide.Ethnic cleansing is ethnic cleansing. Apartheid is apartheid. Occupation is occupation. Israel is committing all these atrocities against Palestinians…We cannot look away. We must all speak out and stand against it. 

Palestine, Congo, Sudan, Tigray, West Papua, Haiti, Yemen, Hawaii, all deserve to find freedom. We may not be able to give that to them ourselves but we can and must demand change. The least we can do is listen to them and uplift their voices so they aren't silenced.

Let us not despair. Let us be the ones who heal. Let us not be divided, Let us come together united. United in hope for all of humanity. Solidarity to  all who continue  to speak out  for  justice in  the  name of  love and humanity.