Keep on Dancing - Gabrielle Roth (4/2/41 -22/10/12)

" We dance to reclaim our brilliant ability to dissapear in something bigger, something safe, a space without a critic or a judge or an analyst. The beat is a love that never dissapoints, and  like all loves it demands 100% surrender. It has power to seduce moves  we could only dream. It grabs us by the belly, turns  us inside  out and leaves us abruptly begging for more.
The beat is bad, wicked, sick, whatever the word is now.
Dance to fall in love with the spirit in all things."

This coked up P*****k should be sacked.

Well we would if we turned up in this state. Who knows he might not be under the influence, he could just be a swivel eyed loon., like most of the hypocritical, corrupt elite  that none voted for, that surround him. At the end of the day, whatever he does in private is  up to him, but when he is busy tearing our country apart  and the faces of suffering  are being caught up in  a near end cycle  of misery, due to him and his friends. This mans actions should be accounted for and forever questioned, people  take drugs everyday but do not come up with policies as bad as his, whatever he's on, he's still an arse.In light of the Governments failing drug policy, George Osborne's bizzare appearance at Prime Ministers Question time,  begs the question what planet are some of these M.Ps on, its certainly not ours. Personally think the whole ruddy cabinet should be sacked.

William S. Burroughs - A Thanksgiving Prayer

Uncle Bill...it's time for a Thanksgiving Prayer again. His message  still continues to spin with vitriolic  spin,  delivered to America, still as relevant as ever, still a dark elegy for our times, 28 years after William Burroughs first delivered it. Here he thanks America  for its violence, racism, oppression and homophobia. A nation that still  today cannot seem to mind its  own business. Thank goodness that there are still those outside, that seek to make this world a  place better.

Unbelieavable!: Tony Blair wins Save the Children's Global legacy award 2014.

Tony Blair, the man who was hugely responsible  for killing, injuring and displacing, thousands  of Iraqi  children ( among his many crimes)  has been recognised for his humanitarian work by the worlds  foremost childrens charity, Save the Children.
How could this organisation make such a monstrous error, but their chief executive is known to be a Blair underling. This so called Middle East Peace Envoy, has already been named 'Philanthropist of the year'!! by GQ magazine, while lining his greedy pockets, a friend  and someone who has been  criticised for a range of shadey dealings with autocrats and dictators.
This is a man  known throughout Iraq and Afghanistan  for the trauma that he has caused. To offer him such an accolade and reward is sickening. Tony Blair  because of his support for the 2003 invasion    is guilty of infanticide, the subsequent perhaps one and a half million deaths in a country  where half the population were children.
This man should not  be lauded, should not be applauded, for he has offered the world no apology, he should be shamed, many would like to see his arrest for being what he  represents, nothing but a war criminal, the causer of so much pain and division.
Many of  the charities  own staff have since complained  that the presentation of this award   has discredited  and misappropriated and betrayed  Save the Childrens founding principles and values.It is worth noting that Save the children  recently appointed Samantha Cameron, wife of Dave, as their 'Ambassador for Syria, and their  chief executive Justin Forsyth was special envoy to Blair for three years, perhaps it's just a case of us not actually being in it all together.
I am truly outraged that Save the Children, is being seen as contributors to the impunity, whitewashing and rehabilitation of this hollow man. An organisation that represents and serves the interests of children should not be complicit  in whitewashing the innocents  killed.I can see no justification in this reward, his reputation for many remains rotten to the core.
Please join me is supporting this campaign to get this reward removed from a warmongerer and profiteer of death who has long poisoned the well of public trust.






http://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/stop-save-the-children-charity-from-giving-tony-blair-their-annual-global-legacy-award

"Don't tell the people to calm down! Tell the cops/military to stand down!"

The anger and outrage in Ferguson, Missouri and in solidarity protests around the "U.S" are not just about Michael Brown. This is a long, bloody  history of political violence, against typically, people of color, and/or oppressed classes in general. To speak of the real history here, is to talk about, first of all, a nation that founded itself on indigeneous genocide, stolen land and broken treaties. It is to talk about a militarised police state that got its hands as bands of mercenaries hired to track down runaway slaves (literally called the "slave patrol") or hired thugs brought in  to bash the heads of striking workers. Not much has changed in these years - for many, if not most, indigeneous and people of color.
"Black Reality and White Denial" are going strong in America, the home of the KKK.
White supremacy is a system  of power that is active today as any time in this culture's history. While activists must do everything they can do to dismantle  personal and institutional racism'

Solidarity with the people of Ferguson.

Read these guidelines for how people with privilege can ally and show solidarity with people of color on the frontlines of resistance to racism.

http://www.deepgreenresistance.org/en/what-we-do/deep-green-resistance-white-ally-guidelines

We Stand With Shaker: Official Campaign Video

In 2002 Shaker was taken, blindfolded and shackled to Guantanamo Bay, to Guantanamo Bay, and is now the only British resident there. Here's the official campaign video  for the Stand with Shaker, calling for the immediate release of Guantanamo#  of Shaker Aamer the last British resident still held.

Features 'A song for Shaker Aamer ' written by Andy Worthington and performed by his band the Four feathers. His continual incarcernation is a scandal and an embarrassment. The failure of the British Government to challenge this illegal incarcentation is shameful and damaging. Shaker is suffering from  post-traumatic stress disorder after over 12 years of torture. It is time to bring him home.

Video by Billy Dudley. Please share widely.

Make films not war

Vittoria Arrigoni  was an Italian born reporter and pro-Palestinian activist who lived and reported in Gaza until his death in 2011. The film Stay Human records intellectuals, authors, activists as they read Arrigoni's account of Israel's Operation Cast Lead in 2008-2009, which left 1,200 civilians dead.
Arrgoni fulfilled one of the most important  duties of a bystander in a time of war: he bore witness. The readers who bring his words to life in this unique 'reading movie' include Hwaida Arraf, Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein and Mairead Maguire.

Watch the trailer and the whole film here :-

https://stayhuman.tv/

Paddy Hill and the Birmingham Six

Today, marks 40 years since the Birmingham pub bombings and the wrongful arrest of the Birmingham six.
40 years later Paddy Hill is still seeking justice of the 21 who lost their lives, the 182 injured and the families of all those affected. We remember the death of innocents, but also  the death of justice, where people are gaoled,  not because they are guilty, but because the police needed a conviction, . Victims left dehumanised, spending their lives, seeking some form of justice.

NHS final Faith

Good  film from  the People's NHS. We must save the NHS from the corporations  and the vultures in power . As Private health  firms are on course  to win more  than £9bn of NHS contracts to look after patients as a result of  the coalitions ramping  up of competition  in the health service.Private contractors ares damaging our beloved NHS  and simply wasting money, as they cherry pick the most profitable treatments.We urgently need to protect the NHS's services, we must  keep faith, in only 3 years the Tory's and their friends have given us cuts, queues and chaos, only ramping up I guess what New Labour began, lest we forget. If it carries  down on this road to privatisation, it will cease to exist as we know it.The NHS cannot be sold. It belongs to us all.
We have no time to waste this is an emergency.

Joe Hill (7/10/1879 -19/11/15) - An Injury to one is an injury to all.

Today I offer a poem in rememberance of Joe Hill, on the anniversary of the murder by the state of this itinerant worker, labour activist, revolutionary union martyr and singer songwriter of the Industrial Workers of the world, who gave rise to the labour motto ' An injury to one is an injury to all.'
Born Joel Haggland  in Sweden, he came to  the U.S.A  on 1902. Active in the Labour movement  throughout his live,  in January 1914, he was arrested in Salt Lake City and accused of murder. He died proclaiming  his innocence. From his conviction  to his death he became an icon for workers everywhere,  and his subsequent  execution sent echoes around the world. For many his spirit and his legacy  lives on.
This is a short account of his later framing and execution: https://libcom.org/history/1915-the-murder-of-joe-hill.

Two earlier posts of mine can be found here :-

http://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/happy-birthday-joe-hill-7101879-191115.html
http://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/joe-hill-7191879-191115-joe-hills-last.html

Still Dreaming of Joe Hill

Through the dusty ages
the earth creaks and moans,
dark shadows try to break people bones
the air is still , thick with mire,
daily each border, delivers human shame
parasites still create walls of oppression,
build bloodstained monuments that can't thwart hope
because the mighty human spirit carries resilience,
within us all, lay rivers of resistance.

Standing together we are strong
in our palms, another world glows,
with unity's strength 
we set people free,
no tyrant's grip 
can ever stop us,
we serve the weak and defenceless
protecting with dignity and defiance.

Today we remember
when Joe Hill was shot down,
his enduring dream survives 
gives us strength,
shoulder to shoulder 
solidarity lives,
an injury to one
is an injury to all.

Revealed : How the Coalition has helped rich by hitting the poor.

In a  landmark study of the coalition's tax and welfare policies  6 months before a general election,  it has been revealed how money has been transferred   from the poorest to the better off,  apparently refuting the chancellor of exchequer's claims that the country has been 'all in it together.'
According to  independent research published today, and seen by the Observer Newspaper George Osborne has been engaged in a significant transfer  of income from the least well off half of the population to the more affluent in the past four years. Those  with the lowest incomes have  been hit hardest.
In an intervention that will  come as a major blow to the government's  claim to have shared out the burden of austerity equally, the report by economists at  the London School of Economics and the institute for Social and Economic Research at the  University of Essex, finding that :-

1. Sweeping changes to benefits and income tax  have had the effect of switching income from the  poorer half of households  to most of the richer half, with the poorest 5% in  in the country in terms of income loosing nearly 3% of what they would  have earned if Britain's tax and welfare system of May 2010 had been retained.

2. With the exception of the top 5% who lost 1% of their potential  income. It is the better half of the country that has gained financially from the changes, with an increase of between 1.2% and 2% in their disposable income.

3. The top 1% in terms of income have also been small net gainers from the changes bought in by David Cameron's government since May 2010, which includes a cut in the top rate of income tax.

4. Two-earner households, and those with elderly family members, were the most favourably treated, as a result  of direct tax changes and state pensions respectively.

5. Lone-parent families have done worse, losing much   more through cuts in benefits  and tax credits and higher council tax than they ever gained through higher income tax allowances. Families with children in general. and largefamilies in particular, also did much worse than the average.

6. A quarter of  the lowest paid 10% have shouldered a particularly heavy burden, losing more than 5%  of what would have  been their income without the coalitions's reforms.

For more on this see here:-


http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/nov/15/coalition-helped-rich-hitting-poor-george-osborne


and more here


http://www.welfareweekly.com/
Not that any of the above surprises too much, this is what the tories and their friends do, look after the rich, lie to the people, persecute the sick, diabled and vulnerable. Surely they are not fit to represent the people of this country. It is is time to destroy this nasty coalition.

Henry Miller (26/12/1891 - 7/6/1980) - Utopian Speculations.

An American writer I admire, Henry Miller, is known for breaking existing  literary forms, who sought to reestablish the freedom to live  without  the constraints and  restraints of civilization.
His works often reflected   hos own personal experiences, measured with  a humanism that often shocked and outraged. Writing about all phases of his life, everything that happened  to him struck  him as being of equal and monumental importance.His total  surrender  to life without meaning has resonated with me for a while,  and despite succumbing  to what some people have referred to as 'existential despair' he never  completely  surrendered reason. He has become one of the worlds forbidden writers, forbidden because he dared to speak from his dark passionate heart, of some place beyond ideology , where the shadows of the soul  know no time.The perception of Henry Miller as a writer and literary outlaw remains today.
The following paragraph was quoted in  Normal O. Brown's Life against death and he comments on  Millers's text as follows:' Utopian speculations such as these of Henry Miller must come back into fashion. They are a way of affirming faith in the possibility of solving problems that seem at the moment insoluable. Today even the survival of humanity is a utopian hope.'
Here's to Henry Miller spiritual Anarchist.

' The cultural era is past. The new civilization, which my take centuries or a few thousand years to usher in,  will not be another civilization - it will be the open stretch of realization which all the past civilizations have pointed to. The city, which was the birth place of  civilization, such as we know it to be, will exist no more. There will be nuclei of course, but they will be mobile and fluid. The peoples of the earth  will no longer be sent off from one another within states but will flow freely over the surface of the earth and intermingle. There will be no fixed constellations of human aggregates. Governments will give way to management, using the  word in a broad sense. The politician  will become as superannuated as the dodo bird. The machine will never be dominated, as some imagine; it will be scrapped, eventually, but not before men have understood  the nature of the mystery which binds them to  their creation. The worship,  investigation and subjugation of the machine  will give  way to the larger one of power - and of possession. Man will be forced to realize that power must be kept open, fluid and free. His aim will be not to possess power but to radiate it.'

Africa Stop Ebola

There's already a song about Ebola by high profile Francophone West African musicians. Why doesn't Mr Bob Geldof simply promote this song? Or even acknowledge  its existence? 'Africa stop Ebola' features a number of international  stars :- Tiken Jah Faloky, Amadou and Marian, Salif Keita, Ounu Sangare, Kandina Kora, Mory Kante, Sia Tolno, Barbara Kana and rappers Didire Awadi and Markus and Mokoke, so why another rehash of the grotesque ' Do they know its Christmas'. We should remember that this crisis is part of a long colonial disengagement, Geldof just compliant in  glossing neo-liberal policies  towards the continent with a humanitarian/ anti poverty sheen of respectivitety, gathering together in my humble opinion a worthless pile of toss,  which ignores the richness of Africa's own musical voice that is already out there.
The Ebola crisis is tragic and devastating, a crisis for humanity,the fight against it, is a fight well  worth supporting but we should not ignore or erase the efforts of those that come fromAfrica  while making it appear that western actions  are what saved the poor diseased Africans once again. We should not either forget  that the aid industry that has emerged from efforts like Band Aid, have themselves  fuelled human rights abuses, and corruption across the African continent and missed the Ebola crisis in its entirety. Ebola is a pestilance but we  must carry on treating  sufferers and  the people from country's effected with dignity and respect.

Please share and support the above project , all profits of which go to Medecins Sans Frontiers/Doctors without borders

http://www.msf.org.uk/ 

" We will kill you. We will break your bones.".

Torture is an everyday reality in Tibet yet survivor accounts are rare, used by China as a weapon against political dissent, since the Chinese forcefully took over Tibet in 1959.Harsh treatment is common at the prisons where diissidents are held, with prisoners routinely subjected to torture,  beatings, and forms  of abuse.

Ex-political prisoners are closely monitored by Chinese authorities, their families often under threat if they speak out and escape into exile  overseas is increasingly difficult. When Tibetans  do share information they are risking everything.

Hear from  torture testimonies read  by the actors Dominic West, Alan Rickman, Juliet Stevenson and David Threlfall. 
As many as 133 Tibetans have also set themselves ablaze in self-immolation protests calling for Tibetan freedom, opposing Beijing's rule and calling  for the return  of their exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama. As others have also resisted their actions represent the wishes and  aspirations of  countless Tibetans living under  repressive Chinese rule.
You can also read about recent incidents and learn how you can join the campaign to stop torture in Tibet.
Please  share the testimonies widely,  lets show the Chinese that the world is watching, and continue to help global Tibetan groups who campaign to secure the release of courageous individuals who symbolise the enduring resistance  of Tibetans inside Tibet.

Free Tibet.

http://freetibet.org/

Berlin Wall vs Palestine Wall

Of  course a real comparison  would be measured  by   how the soviets regularly pulverised West Berlin from the air and occasionally  launch massively destructive ground attacks  destroying Berlins  basic infrastructure, and preventing all flights landing, and refusing to talk to whatever government the population elected.  And refusing to allow most goods into the city.
It is a good thing  that Israel  is the only democracy in the region, means anything other than the best equipped army running the show.
Remember too,  that the Berlin wall was 96 miles long,  while the Palestinian wall is significantly larger stretching out over 400 miles.
Anyway  yesterday Palestinian youth  destroyed a hole in Israels security wall  with the Palestinian territories as a symbolic gesture  to mark 25 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Like the Berlin Wall previously  it snakes through Palestinian land, isolating people from their land, extended family and friends, and one day soon, this oppressive apartheid wall  will one day fall. too Despite all obstacles the Palestinian peoples determination  to be free remains as strong as ever. Their thirst  for freedom grows, the walls that surround them, do not protect, but cruelly divide, they don't prevent a peoples existence, but only serve to incite resistance.


    

Lest we forget

90% of victims of war are civilians , lest we forget to move forward from  bloodshed and work for peace. If as much money was put into this objective as  there is  nto killing  and its misery it would benefit the whole world.
Those who benefit the most financially are those  with investments in the war machine and land/resource grabbing. Today I feel  reinforces the ideal of patriotism and militarism,  in stark contrast to the original ' Armistice day' when the   nations of the world  hoped to be united in peace. The horrors and misery of World War 1   still need remembering,   but not in a way that reinforces an ugly military agenda. Today politicians stand praying for peace while preparing for war...their hypocrisy abounds. The grisly facts  and horrors of war in all our histories is worth more  than  all the false red poppy illusions that are being seen today. Sadly  the red poppy today has been hijacked  by arms companies, look how last week Lockheed Martin, the World's biggest arms company sponsored the Poppy Rocks Ball., and Thales joined Boris Johnson in a Big Red poppy Billboard at Westminster.  
Today I remember all those sadly lost, in two World Wars but also those that everyday risk their lives  to build peace and prevent conflict, and time  turn to one another as friends, united in our goals  working together, so that the future potential of conflict could be resolved to the extent  that all the current spending on arms and the war machine was no longer necessary.

Israels protective edge operation.

When we talk of Israels protective edge operation in Gaza, we  should not forget over 2130 humans bombed to death, the over 500 children  or the 89 families  exterminated. We speak of the living, and this is their life. Tens of thousands  of refugees  will be finding shelter from the cold, wind and the rain,in bombed United Nations schools and the remains of  their destroyed homes.
And Gaza remains beseiged, the biggest ghetto in the world awaiting the next round of oppression, knowing that  any form of resistance will be labelled terrorist.
Boycott Israel.

Remember, remember!

'Behind every mask  there is more than just flesh. Beneath this mask there is an idea..and ideas are bulletproof.'

-Alan Moore -'V for vendetta'

Solidarity with all those marching tonight, may you ignite the world with passion. Gorgeous moon tonight also, don't forget to look up as it lights the way. Together we can all dismantle the masters house

Moan

Still can't upload  photos or video in libraries, but that is the least of our problems. At the moment in time we have a corrupt authoritarian government thrashing everything decent about this country, flogging of our public services, cutting our beloved welfare state- all of which we have paid for, killing 1000's through their cruel draconian policies, founded on social Darwinism and eugenics by stealth, and what are the nation and media babbling on about? How much Millibland  gave a woman who was begging, and how he looked while doing it, the same as he usually does. Tories, labour, the bloody liberals, where  is the difference. There whole damn country seems to be heading back to the workhouse times. A man immoral bunch that make me ashamed and angry to say the least
Tens of thousands  of desperate jobseekers will be forced to cancel Christmas too, due to benefit sanctions, job centres develop a scrooge like mentality at this time of the year, about 59,000 job seekers were sanctioned  in December 2013.
Gradually all are support and sustenance is being kicked away. Bah.

Prisoner of Palestine - by Seize the Day

A powerful song from the band Seize the Day about the conflict in Palestine. No images just words.

Seize the Day are a great  forward thinking bold green anarchist band.


Still having problems with libraries computers please bare with me.