On 25th February 1940, "The Proud Valley" became the first film to have its première on radio, when the BBC broadcasted a 60-minute version.
The film starring the legendary Paul Robeson, was written by Herbert Marshall and his wife, Alfredda Brilliant, who were both associated with the Left-Wing Unity Theatre, and with a script from Welsh writer and ex-miner Jack Jones was filmed on location in the South Wales coalfield and realistically portrays the hardship of an industrial community when representations of both the working class and ethnic communities were often broadly-drawn caricatures.
It tells the story of a good natured and generous charismatic African-American sailor called David Goliath, who arrives in the mining community of Blaendy in the Rhondda Valley, Wales in 1938 in the aftermath of the 1926 general strike and the Great Depression who after finding work down the pits as a stoker wins the respect of the local Welsh people through his singing.
Carousing his fellow workers with the song All Through the Night, he captures the attention of Dick Parry (Simon Lack) and his son Emlyn (Edward Chapman) whose dream is to win the national Welsh choir contest. He becomes a hero who sacrifices his own life, in utterly heartbreaking scenes, to save fellow miners in an underground accident.
The Welsh actors in the supporting cast, notably Rachel Thomas, Charles Williams and Jack Jones previously mentioned , give the film its authenticity. The setting of the film is realistic too. Some location work took place in te Rhondda Valley and working class life and death isn't glamourised.
The film was a politically radical story too even by today’s standards,
tackling the difficult issue of coal pit closures – one that continued
to resonate throughout the British coalfields throughout the century and
made the film relevent to generations of mineworkers who faced the
similar closure programmes decades on.
It was noteably sympathetic towards the plight of
the miners, and also the crucial role that the coal industry played in
mobilizing the populace for the coming war, which broke out as the film
was reaching its final weeks of shooting. The producers even re-worked
the ending to reflect this.
It also dealt bluntly with racism – At one point in
the movie a group of workers complain about David’s (Robeson’ character)
position in the mine and in the choir. “This fellow brought a black man
to work down the pit…” “Well?!?” booms a voice from off-camera. “What
about it?” In a close-up you see Robeson hang his head and stoop his
shoulders, showing his emotional pain at the slight. But in the singing
there’s a complete solidarity amongst the men which echoes the theme of
the movie.
The film shows how the solidarity of the workplace overcomes the
miners’ suspicion about a dark-skinned stranger. “Aren’t we all black
down that pit?” asks one of the men.
“It’s from the miners in Wales,” Robeson explained, “[that] I first understood the struggle of Negro and white together.”
Following a deadly explosion, the pits are closed, leaving the villagers
out of work and struggling to make ends meet. Wanting to help the
community that welcomed him so generously, David rouses a group of
activists to march to London in the hope of reopening the mine in time
to serve the nation at the outbreak of war.
In taking on this role he was fulfilling the promise
that emerged in his early days as an actor in the West End of London
where he starred in the production of Show Boat at the Drury Lane
Theater back in 1928.
It was there that he met a group of
unemployed miners who had marched to London to draw attention to the
hardship and suffering endured by thousands of miners and their families
in South Wales. He was drawn by their singing and began a friendship
with the Welsh miners that endured for decades. In the next ten years
he’d donate money to and visit the Talygarn Miners’ Rest Home and would
sing in various towns including Cardiff, Neath and Swansea – once, in
Caernarvon, he appeared the day after 266 miners lost their lives in
nearby Gresford. https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2016/09/gresford-colliery-disaster.html
In 1938, he famously sang at the the
Welsh International Brigades Memorial at Mountain Ash to commemorate the
33 Welshmen who had died in the Spain civil war, telling the audience
“I am here because I know that these fellows fought not only for me but
for the whole world. I feel it is my duty to be here.”
The film Proud Valley may to some seem to be overtly sentimental and about the past, and may be about an industry that has
all but come to its end in the United Kingdom, but is still
easy to relate to, so moving and poignant. It is about community, and the spirit of a man who
fought for the people who welcomed him in with open arms.
The Proud Valley remains a fitting tribute to Paul Robeson who is revered as the finest Black actor of the era, who remains endowed with both integrity and honour. As the son of a former slave, he appreciated the capacity of music to liberate the soul from the back-breaking and heart- breaking toils of manual Labour. It was this knowledge that connected him, intuitively and politically with the Welsh miner. He supported them during their greatest struggles and they never forgot him as he faced persecution in McCarthy's America, when he was denied a passport by US authorities and actively campaigned in his support.
Paul Robeson to me remains a mighty Goliath of a man, s quintessential everyman whose heroic life continues to inspire the people of Wales and the world, remembered for his commitment to the liberation of people across the globe.
As the Manic Street Preachers insist in ' Let Robeson Sing';
A voice: so pure-a vision so clear
I've gotta learn to live like you
Learn to sing like you
Here are links to two earlier posts in the great man,
It is with sadness that I write that legendary singer of the seminal grunge band Screaming Trees,Mark Lanegan has died aged 57.
The musician was also a member of rock bands Queens of the Stone Age
and The Gutter Twins – and collaborated with artists such as Nirvana’s
Kurt Cobain.
A statement posted on Lanegan’s official Twitter account said he died at his home in Killarney, Ireland, on Tuesday morning.
“Our beloved friend Mark Lanegan passed away this morning at his home in
Killarney, Ireland,” the Tweet read. “A beloved singer, songwriter,
author, and musician he was 57 and is survived by his wife Shelley. No
other information is available at this time. We ask Please respect the
family privacy."
While no cause of death has been released yet, Lanegan revealed in a December 2021 interview with Consequence that
he dealt with intense symptoms of COVID, which led him to a three-week
coma and temporary deafness. However, it’s still uncertain whether COVID
was related to his death.
In the interview, Lanegan stated that he was on the mend,
“[I feel] a million times better — I finally turned the corner. But it
took a really long time. It was crazy. There’s some residuals. Whatever I
had, it attacks places where there was trauma in the body previous
times.”
Born on November 25, 1964, to an abusive mother and a hard drinking father Mark William Lanegan was a singer, songwriter, author, and musician of Irish, Scottish, and Welsh descent.
By 12, as he recounted
he was a “compulsive gambler, a fledgling alcoholic, a thief, a porno
fiend”, and by18, his criminal record included breaking and entering,
shoplifting, drug possession, vandalism, insurance fraud and 26 counts
of underage drinking.Mark was using drugs heavily having already been arrested and sentenced to one years imprisonment for drug related crimes.
In 1985, Lanegan was repossessing rented videocassette
players for a video store in his hometown of Ellensburg, Wash. a small
rural town southeast of Seattle when he started the band Screaming Trees with his boss’ sons, guitarist Gary Lee Conner
and bassist Van Conner.
The lure of fame and the rock ‘n’ roll road appealed to the rebellious, discontented Lanegan.
“I wanted excitement, adventure, decadence, depravity, anything,
everything,” he wrote in his 2020 memoir “Sing Backwards and Weeps,”
adding, “I would never find any of it in this dusty, isolated cow town.
If the band could get me out, could get me into that life I so craved,
it was worth any indignity, any hardship, any torture.”
The group was the main part of Seattle's grunge scene, running in the same circles as bands like Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Nirvana and Alice in Chains.
As frontman of Screaming Trees, the 6ft 2in underground rock star
produced some of the genre’s most psychedelic and experimental music. Their debut album, Clairvoyance, dropped in 1986. and their commercial breakthrough came with the
release of 1992’s Sweet Oblivion, which was buoyed by the popularity of
grunge bedfellows such as Nirvana. The album birthed their biggest single, the soaring Nearly Lost You.
When they disbanded in 2000 amid creative differences, Lanegan went
on to establish himself as a varied and successful solo artist, creating music
that was quieter, more bluesy, and more broody, earning him the
nickname “Dark Mark.”
Lanegan released his solo debut, The Winding Sheet, in 1990 via
Sub Pop. The record featured collaborations with Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain
and Krist Novoselic, and, in 2005, Dave Grohl called The Winding Sheet
“one of the best albums of all time.” Lanegan’s albums continued to
have notable contributors, such as J Mascis (who was on 1998’s Scraps at Midnight),
as well as PJ Harvey, Joshua Homme, Greg Dulli, Troy Van Leeuwen, and
Duff McKagan, who were among the many contributors to 2004’s Bubblegum.
His second solo LP 1994’s Whiskey for the Holy Ghost, which I've been listening to as I wrote this piece contains the six-minute
“Riding the Nightingale” which is an entrancing, atmospheric masterpiece .reflective of the darkness in Lanegan’s personal life at this time.
Gripped by drug addiction and disillusionment, he apparently attempted
to destroy the album’s master tapes by tossing them in a river behind
the studio, but was physically prevented by engineer Jack Endino. Had
Lanegan succeeded, he would have destroyed arguably his most beautiful
recordings..
In 2008, Lanegan codified his collaboration with Greg Dulli when they shared their lone LP as the Gutter Twins, Saturnalia.
His voice made him a sought-after collaborator with his fellow
Seattle musicians. He sang on projects with Alice in Chains’ Layne
Staley and Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready. He also recorded a series of Leadbelly
covers with Kurt Cobain. It would never be released, but Cobain would
use their arrangement of “Where Did You Sleep Last Night” in a memorable
performance on “MTV Unplugged.” He also worked with artists such as English
multi-instrumentalist Duke Garwood and Isobel Campbell, the former
vocalist of Belle & Sebastian,Massive Attack, Moby, Pearl Jam, the Eagles of Death
Metal and more. ..
He first appeared on Queens of the Stone Age’s Rated R album in 2000 and lent his voice and songwriting talent to several songs. He was more involved on 2002’s Songs for the Deaf, writing songs and singing more vocals. Lanegan continued recording with Queens of the Stone Age through 2013’s Like Clockwork.
His last album, Straight Songs Of Sorrow, arrived to critical acclaim in 2020f which found him as creatively brilliant and darkly deep as ever.. Most recently he'd worked with the Manic Street Preachers on their latest album The Ultra Vivid Lament, who are said to be devastated with the news of his death .
He’d first worked alongside the band when they both supported Oasis on their 1996 US tour, and they’d kept in touch ever since.
The singer, who was known for his deep-gruff voice and even harsher living, sang of the darkest nights of
the soul, the deepest heart-breaks and emotional bruises, broken dreams,
desperate addiction and longing, failure, desolation and death, in 2020, published a “no holds barred” memoir calledSing
Backwards And Weep.in which the musician covered everything from
“addiction to touring, petty crime, homelessness and the tragic deaths
of his closest friends”, among them Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain and Alice in
Chains’ Layne Staley.
The book beautifully written was an incredible record of a tormented life
and the complex relation between creativity, addiction and mental
illness.
In an interview with Rolling Stone in 2020, Lanegan spoke about the difficulties in his past,
including struggles with drug addiction and the death of Kurt Cobain. The two musicians had been known to share a close friendship, with
Lanegan even considering Cobain to be a “cherished little brother”. He wrote in his memoir that he was haunted after missing
calls from Cobain before his death, throwing himself into his addictions
before an intervention from Cobain’s widow, Courtney Love.
“I remember
Courtney leaving me a letter saying, ‘Kurt loved you as a big brother
and would have wanted you to live. The world needs you to live,’” he
told the magazine. “That was powerful because I hadn’t done any good for
anybody in years.”
In his 2017 collection of lyrics “I Am the Wolf,” Lanegan reels off a
list of artists who influenced that album’s music — including his friend
and idol Jeffrey Lee Pierce of the Gun Club, Leonard Cohen, John Cale,
Nick Cave and Ian Curtis of Joy Division ,whose impact would be felt
repeatedly over the course of a 30-year solo career.
In August 2020, mid-pandemic, Lanegan moved to Ireland with his wife, Shelley Brien. The stay was meant to be temporary, he told Spin last year, but the "physical beauty" of the area convinced him to stay.
Last year however Lanegan became sick with Covid-19 and nearly died, an
experience he documented in another memoir, "Devil in a Coma," published
in December. in which he detailed his harrowing .battle with Covid-19. In an excerpt from
the book, published by The Guardian, he told of being placed in a
medically induced coma while in hospital in County Kerry, Ireland.
In the chapter, Lanegan wrote:
:“I had been feeling weak and sick for a few days and then woke up one
morning completely deaf. My equilibrium shaky, and my mind in a
surreal, psychedelic dream state, I lost my footing at the top of the
stairs. Head over heels over head, I knocked myself out on the
windowsill as I crashed down the narrow staircase at my house. Bang. My
wife was out horseback riding for the day, and I came to hours later
still unable to hear a thing, unable to move, two huge opened welts on
my head and my knee not supporting any weight.
“For two days I tried to get from stairwell to couch, with no
success. I could not move, nor could my wife support my 200lb body, so I
lay suffering on some blankets on the hard floor. My ribs were cracked,
my spine bruised, battered and sore, and my already chronically
messed-up knee gone again as if some tendons were ripped or a ligament
severed.”
Early in the pandemic Lanegan was among those who believed COVID-19
fears to be overblown. After contracting the virus, which at one point
left him deaf and unable to walk, he stated in Devil in a Coma
that, “I was one of those knuckleheads who was wary of the vaccine. But I
learned my lesson. I’ll be the first one to get a booster shot when
it’s available in Ireland."
Further describing his COVID-19 battle in the book, he also wrote:
“Whatever was in this shitwagon I’d caught a ride on, it was no fucking
joke. I’d taken my share of well-deserved ass-kickings over the years
but this thing was trying to dismantle me, body and mind, and I could
see no end to it in sight.”
The singer openly battled alcoholism and drug addiction. He had two stints in rehab, once in 1996, and again in
2007.He was constantly busy, however, even when in the grip of addictions that at one point left him almost homeless. Lanegan managed to beat his substance abuse and, at the
time of his death, had been sober for over a decade.
Over the last decade, Lanegan was prolific, collaborating with the likes
of Neko Case and Marianne Faithfull and co-writing the theme song for
Anthony Bourdain’s show “Parts Unknown.”
Although Lanegan never saw major commercial success, he won a devoted fan base that
included critics and his fellow musicians of several generations.
Fans are paying tribute now across social media platforms to the grunge pioneer who was known for his powerful, low voice.
“Mark Lanegan will always be etched in my heart — as he surely
touched so many with his genuine self, no matter the cost, true to the
end,” John Cale of the Velvet Underground said on Twitter.
Iggy Pop tweeted, “Mark Lanegan, RIP, deepest respect for you. Your fan, Iggy Pop.”
“Mark Lanegan was a lovely man,” tweeted New Order and Joy Division
bassist Peter Hook, with a photo of Lanegan joining him on stage. “He
led a wild life that some of us could only dream of. He leaves us with
fantastic words and music! Thank god that through all of that he will
live forever.”
Charlatans singer Tim Burgess tweeted: “Oh no. Terrible news that
Mark Lanegan has left us. Safe travels man – you’ll be missed.”
Badly Drawn Boy, whose full name is Damon Michael Gough,
described him as one of the “great singers of the last 30 years”,
tweeting: “Hearing about Mark Lanegan passing away has properly stopped
me in my tracks. I’m absolutely gutted.
“Met him on a couple of occasions and I was nervous because I loved him so much.
“He was a perfect gentleman, really kind. One of the great singers of the last 30 years. So sad.”
Lanegan was “a supremely gifted performer, songwriter, artist and
author, and we are devastated to hear he has passed away,” his UK
publishing house, White Rabbit Books, said in a statement posted to Twitter. “His art will endure and only grow in stature.”
Killarney councillor and publican Niall O’Callaghan said people in the town were saddened to learn of Lanegan’s death.
He told the PA news agency: “On behalf of Killarney and the people,
we would like to sincerely send our condolences to the family of Mr
Lanegan.
“We are all in the town saddened to learn of the untimely death.
Killarney is a small town and we all know each other; it’s a tight-knit
community.
“It is a sad day for the town when you lose anyone who lived here.
For a man of the stature of Mark Lanegan, it was a real honour that he
choose to live in Killarney.”
57 is way too early to depart this weary land, especially someone who has survived so much darkness to find the powerful force of redemption, a tragic loss, such a talented man,who nevertheless leaves us with an amazing solid body of work, a poetical voice that soothed us all and a rich legacy that will not simply fade away. The man was the real deal, He is survived by his second wife, Shelley Brien. My thoughts are with his family and friends and all who loved his artistic vision. Rest in Peace Mark Lanegan..
As Millions struggle with a Cost of Living Crisis; Tory ministers react by ditching. its plan to ban foie gras. The nation is saved... NOT. It's barely credible that any sane human could vote Tory. .
There was a time when life felt real and dreams were something that loomed in the distance like carrots and guarded by ecstatic angels in a fettered carapace just out of reach of humans,
As reality drained. the shell has been cracked open to reveal a poisonous dystopian nightmare waiting to anoint greedy, compassionless, power driven and merciless strangers to integrity that could inflame the pits of hell. The concealed seeds are rotten to the core. They are perniciously packed with misleading labels designed to dupe and confuse.
I am appalled at the catastrophic mess this corrupt government and their criminal Brexit have made to our country. I hope I live long enough to see the main culprits behind bars. The Tories shame every decent person. If Keir Starmer is the only voice of opposition, we are all doomed.
Today marks 23 years of imprisonment for Abdullah Öcalan (aka Apo) the de facto leader of the outlawed
Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) who has been held at Imrali Island Prison on
the Marmara Sea, Turkey, most of the time in solitary confinement.Sentenced to death in 2002, his sentence was commuted
to life imprisonment when Turkey abolished capital punishment as part of
its quest for European Community membership.
Born on April 4, 1948, in Mardin Province of Southeast Turkey/North
Kurdistan, Öcalan 's importance and significance cannot be ignored. Often called the Nelson Mandela of the Middle East, the treatment of Ocalan
has many similarities to Nelson Mandela’s incarceration on Robben
Island, yet, in the words of Mandela’s lawyer, Essa Moosa, “the
isolation of Ocalan is worse than that of Mandela.”
Mandela was at least allowed to see his lawyers whereas since his
abduction and incarceration Ocalan has been mostly condemned to complete
isolation with little or no access to lawyers or his family.
As of now, no-one has heard from Ocalan since March 2021 when he was
allowed a brief call with his brother, and between 2015 and 2019 he was
not allowed to meet with his lawyers, have any visitors or any contact
with the outside world.
The isolation of Abdullah Ocalan is
contrary to Turkey’s own constitution and to international human rights
law bu is
symptomatic and symbolic of the Turkish state’s war on the whole of its
Kurdish population. .Solitary confinement is commonly regarded as a form of torture, one
that Öcalan has had to endure since his arrest in 1999.Despite his continuing imprisonment he has made the whole world
acknowledge the Kurds, and Ocalan’s ideas
have inspired a major movement for grassroots,
multi-ethnic secular democracy, and the respect in which he is held
makes him key to a peaceful settlement for the Kurds in Turkey – an
ideal for which he has strived repeatedly over the last two decades.
In Rojava, The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria,
Öcalan’s political thoughts are being implemented, negotiated and
practised.
However since 2016 thousands of Kurdish politicians, teachers, journalists,
activists and trade unionists have been jailed, many for numerous life
sentences that reflect that of Abdullah Ocalan’s sentence.
Increasingly the charge of terrorism is used by the Turkish state to
punish anyone who speaks out against it, and in particular those who
speak out in favour of the ideas of Ocalan on peace, freedom and
equality.
Abdullah Ocalan is a powerful symbol of the Kurdish people’s desire
for peace. He founded the Kurdish liberation movement in 1974 in
response to military oppression of the Kurds by Turkey, and although
influenced by Marxist ideas he has since developed these ideas and
transformed the politics of the liberation movement with new ideas based
on women’s liberation, ecology, and grassroots democracy as an
alternative to the nation state.
His philosophy of democratic confederalism has its roots in the
international workers’ movement and offers a new solution of peace and
democracy for the entire Middle East.
His ideas and vision have served as an inspiration for Kurds in
Turkey, in Syria, for the Kurdish diaspora, and for left movements
globally.
His detention has been condemned by the Committee to Prevent Torture and other international rights organisations which say his treatment contravenes international law on the
rights of prisoners.
Ocalan, held in prison under extremely
inhumane conditions, is about as physically unfree as any human being
can be. But his ideas run free among the Kurdish people exactly as they
did when he was at liberty.
Physically, Ocalan is silenced and prevented
from speaking to any of his supporters, but through his powerful
writings and within the collective memory of the people his words are as
alive as if he was able to speak to an audience directly. Ocalan still
exercises an influence like no other Kurdish political figure of modern
times. This influence is undiminished because Ocalan articulates the
main demands and wishes of the Kurdish people. A leader with such
demonstrable influence clearly has much to offer and contribute to the
future politics of his people and the region. He speaks for the
Kurdish people’s aspirations for freedom from political and cultural
oppression, for democracy and peace.
From his prison cell, Öcalan has led a campaign for peace and a
democratic solution. He has written books explaining his ideas on how
democratic peace can be achieved through a process of negotiation. His
‘Road Map to Peace’ has inspired millions of Kurds, in Turkey and
beyond, to seek the democratic path to freedom within the existing
borders of the country.
' The Nelson Mandela of the Middle East' is a unique modern Kurdish leader whose reputation
continues to grow. He has stood firm in his call for peace over all
these years and has issued repeated proposals for achieving peace with
Turkey and is the key to resolving the crisis in Turkey and the wider Middle East and spearheaded the 2012-2015 ceasefire and peace negotiations between Turkey and the PKK.
But his last contact with the outside world was a brief phone call in March 2021 to dispel rumours of his death, and his lawyers and family have just been informed it will be many months before they can hope to contact him again. The campaign to free him deserves our support as does the broader struggle for the rights of the kurdish people.
Numbering some 40 million people, the Kurds are the world’s largest
nation without a state. They have been subjected to massacres,
oppression and the banning of their language and culture since the
establishment of the modern Turkish state in 1923. For many years even
the word Kurd was banned and they were referred to as “Mountain Turks.”
During the 1990s more than 3,000 villages were burned to the ground and
Kurds were forced from their homes and into large cities as part of
state assimilation operations. An estimated 40,000 people have been
killed in a bitter struggle, with Ocalan’s freedom central to a peaceful
resolution to the country’s so-called Kurdish question.
The fate of the Kurdish people in Turkey has become intertwined with the
fate of Mr. Ocalan. Since its inception in 1923 the Turkish state has
not accepted the existence of the Kurdish people and massacred over
250,000 Kurds; and also denied their right to representation and a
leader. All Kurdish leaders have either been executed, murdered or
imprisoned. This is why the freedom of Mr. Ocalan is a prerequisite for a
political and peaceful solution to the Kurdish question.
It is no no surprise that Nelson Mandela recognised the plight of the Kurdish
people as a similar struggle to that of black South Africans and the
struggle against apartheid. Addressing a conference in 1997 he said: “I
am part of the Kurdish struggle. I am one of you.“We know what it means to be oppressed in your own country. We know
the pain of a mother whose child has disappeared. We know what it means
to have your nationality and culture insulted.”
Turkey benefits from the PKK being defacto included on the terror lists across the West, though no European court has even found that the PKK should be included on their domestic terror lists. Indeed worldwide it is only Turkey, the USA and the EU which consider the PKK to be a terror organisation, This happens at Turkey's request, to stifle legitimate debate or any attempt towards a resolution of the crisis in Turkey.
You can support the Kurdish cause by signing the following petition calling for the PKK to be removed from international terror lists.
Alejandro Finisterre or Alexandre de Fisterra (born Alejandro Campos Ramírez; anarchist poet and inventor of the futbolín, a Spanish variant of table football was born on May the 6th in 1919 in Finisterre, Galicia, one of 10 children of the telegraphist at the lighthouse at "the end of the world" The family moved to A Coruña when Alejandro was five years old, and he left to study in the Spanish capital at the age of 15.
It was apparent from a very early age that Alejandro would lead an extraordinary life. While at school his headmaster put the teenage Alejandro to correcting the younger students’ homework in order to pay his school fees, when his father’ who had become went bankrupt. He would go on to lead an adventurous life, working as a labourer, in a print shop, and even as a tap dancer in the company of Celia Gamez..
It was on the outbreak of the Spanish civil war in 1936, in Madrid where he was editing a literary magazine, ‘Paso a la juventud. his political idealism was realised, and when he first met the poet Leon Felipe, whose hatred of bourgeois society and his belief that poetry could revolutionise an unjust world Finisterre shared.
However, Finisterre, who lived in an anarchist stronghold in Madrid,, 17 at the time, was severely injured after a nationalist bomb exploded on his house and left him under the rubble in November 1936, at the height of the Spanish Civil war.
He was rescued and dragged from the rubble and evacuated, first to Valencia and finally in Barcelona. where was taken to recuperate from his injuries in the Colonia Puig de Montserrat hospital. Recovering, he saw many injured children, unable to play football with their friends. Being a lover of table tennis, Finisterre thought that if would play a kind of mini tennis with rackets and a green table, the same could be done with football and And so, inspired by the idea of table tennis, set about building a table football pitch or futbolín as it was called in Spain with with a Basque carpenter called Francisco Javier Altuna,using pine wood and steel bars created a game even inured or disabled people could play.
A German, Broto Wachter, had invented a version of the game in 1930, but Finisterre used the realistic figures that are known worldwide today. On the advice of a local anarchist, Finisterre patented his invention in Barcelona in 1937. He also patented a foot-pedal that enabled musicians to turn the pages of their scores.
Fleeing to France at the end of the war, Finisterre's patent turned to pulp in pouring rain. Back in Spain, he completed a philosophy degree, but left for Paris in 1947.It was when he was in Paris in 1948 that Alejandro Finisterre heard that a friend from the hospital in Cataluña had patented the futbolín and it was being manufactured by a company in France. He claimed his right to the patent, and emigrated to Ecuador with the money he received from the company. He founded the poetry magazine, Ecuador 0º 0’ 0”, and met the Guatemalan Ambassador at an event which was organised to present the magazine, who asked him to produce his invention in Guatemala. Alejandro Finisterre left for Guatemala in 1952, where his futbolín was hand-made in mahogany by indigenous peoples. His business went well – he even played some games against Che Guevara during that time – until the military coup in 1954, when Finisterre was kidnapped by Franco agents and put on a plane to Panama, with the aim of taking him back to Madrid. He managed to gain his freedom by wrapping a bar of soap from the toilets in silver paper as if it were a bomb, and shouting out, ‘I am a Spanish refugee, they’ve kidnapped me, and I know how to stop this plane arriving at its destination if I have to!’This early act of air piracy won the support of crew and passengers and Finisterre was let off the plane in Panama.
For the next 20 years, Finisterre published in Mexico City more than 200 books of Latin American non-fiction and poetry and the work of Spanish exiles especially Galicians "I published what was forgotten by commercial publishers," .he said.
He returned to Spain after Franco’s death, and became the leading authority on his late friend, Leon Felipe who had died in Mexico City in 1968.Finisterre moved to Felipe's home town of Zamora The town council promised to open a museum, when it didn't, Finisterre in a final battle, polemicised in articles that the poet;s neglected legacy was decaying in damp boxes, The situation became symbolic of how "official " Spain had ignored its exiled culture.
His enthusiasm for what he was doing and his drive,contrasted with many accounts of his very deep shyness.He also downplayed the fact that he had been the creator of the wold famous football game. " Bah,, If I hadn't invented it, someone else would have invented it,"
Though Finisterre himself wrote poetry, he thought of them as "just verses" He considered like Jean Cocteau that "Poetry is always necessary, I don't know for what, but it's necessary."
A restless and combative cultural agitator, he dedicated his life to promoting other people's work. Now best remembered as the creator of a simple game for children which is still the most widely used in modern times, that continues to bring sustenance to a generation of young people, who are broken,and impacted by conflicts and war across the world, the popularity for Finisterre's invention has not gone away,
Alejandro Finisterre died a month away from his 88th birthday, on 9th February 2007 at his home in Zamora.and retained his idealism to the end: " I believe in progress: there is a human impulse towards happiness, peace, justice and love, and that world will one day arrive!" His ashes were scattered in the Duero River as it flows through Zamora, and in the Atlantic, off the coast of his homeland at the end of the world, Finisterre.
Finding out that you have cancer can be truly devastating, whatever the
prognosis, and is likely to impact virtually every aspect of your life.
Those
with a cancer diagnosis not only have to come to terms with the fact
they may need surgery and ongoing treatment but must also deal with the
emotional impact their illness has on them and their loved ones. As if
all this isn’t enough, cancer patients also often find themselves under
huge financial pressure if their illness means they’re no longer able to
work.
World Cancer Day is celebrated on 4th February every year
around the world. The purpose of this day is to help prevent deaths from
Cancer, and to be able to unite people and
countries affected by Cancer and to raise awareness about Cancer, to
strive to act to help improve knowledge and education about the illness
and to help raise funds for Cancer initiatives., promote research, improve patient
services, raise
worldwide awareness of cancer and all the various impacts it can have,
with the ultimate goal of reducing the millions of preventable cancer
deaths.
The day was set up by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) – the largest and oldest international cancer organisation – and was first marked in 2000.
2022 World Cancer Day has extra meaning in the UK, as it is also 20
years this year since Cancer Research UK was founded. Cancer Research UK
has done amazing work over the 20 years and helped millions of people.
Current statistics in the UK say that 1 in 2 people will be impacted by
cancer in their lifetimes in some way. That percentage is staggering
when you consider the UK population is 60 million people. When
expanded to a global scale, it is estimated that 10 million people die
per year as a consequence of cancer, with estimates increasing to 13
million by 2030.
The theme for 2021’s World Cancer Day is “Close the Care Gap”and aims to expose significant barriers
related to socioeconomic factors that prevent many people from accessing
life-saving prevention services, diagnostics, treatment and care. The aim is that everyone should have access to life-saving cancer treatment and care - no matter who you are or where you live. The care or equity gap however means that 50 percent of the global population
have a lack of resources and access to fundamental health services. In
terms of cancer, this includes basic care, prevention, diagnosis, and
treatment, meaning that your place in the world can determine your
chances of survival of cancer.
According
to research done, 28% of employees who have been diagnosed with cancer
said they did not receive support from their employers, or the support
they were offered did not meet their expectations.
Under UK law, Cancer is classed as a disability, which means employers
cannot treat employees less favourably because of a cancer diagnosis.
Any employee who is treated less favourably over someone without a
cancer diagnosis could bring a claim to the Employment Tribunal for
discrimination.Disparity is not the only disparity of wealth; it can be inequality of healthcare too and it’s happening globally.It’s not only happening in third world countries, it’s happening in developed countries too.
The significance of todays theme lies behind the fact that like so many
other diseases, cancer care also reflects the saddening inequalities and
inequities of the world.
Half
the world’s 7.9 billion inhabitants lack access to a full range of
essential health services, including cancer treatment and management.
The
Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated the situation and two years on from
the beginning of the crisis more than half a billion people have been
pushed or pushed further into extreme poverty due to healthcare costs.
While
scientific advancements are causing the survival rates for many cancers
to rise exponentially, the effects are not being felt in developing
nations. Many people in low and middle-income countries are unable to
effectively access adequate cancer care, even when the infrastructure
and expertise exist. This is what the Union for International Cancer
Control refers to the “equity gap”, which is costing lives.While
inequity is usually measured in terms of the unequal distribution of
health or resources, there exists an array of underlying factors known
as the “social determinants of health”.
These
include income, education, geographical location, national resources,
gender norms and cultural bias. Discrimination and assumptions based on a
person’s race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability
and lifestyle also play a part .and they lead to wide discrepancies in the risks of developing and surviving cancer.
The
groups with the biggest disadvantages are also more likely to have
increased exposure to additional risk factors, such as tobacco and an
unhealthy diet.
Nine out of 10 women who die of cervical cancer, live in
low- and middle-income countries where lack of HPV vaccination,
lifestyle-related risk factors, delayed diagnosis due to the absence of
screening programmes and unavailability of, or inadequate access to,
effective treatment constitute as many obstacles to optimal patient care
and outcomes.
Even in the UK, given the huge demands placed on the NHS by the
pandemic, people could face lengthy delays for cancer diagnosis or
treatment, which can make a worrying time even more distressing.
Although
nothing can help ease the emotional or physical fallout from cancer,
having some form of financial protection in place can at least help
alleviate money worries, providing more choices and options to those
affected.
World
Cancer Day 2022 comes as people are being urged to seek help for
potential symptoms of cancer after it emerged that fewer are coming
forward during the pandemic.
The
Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said that the latest NHS
data for England shows fewer people are being referred for help for lung
cancer and urological cancers because they are not coming forward for
help.
Cancer
is a disease that causes great physical and mental suffering, and yes
death, and its management always requires great dedication in terms of
time, investment, means and good organisation. Throughout the disease ,
may unforseen and delicate situations arise that require great
individual adaption to overcome them.
Because
of the pandemic added challenges have been added. We could not imagine
that the pandemic caused by covid-19 would affect cancer patients so
much, fundamental tests and treatments are being put on hold such as
radiology, chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery. All these
changes are causing a significant delay both in diagnosis and treatment.
An extremely stressful and anxious time for all concerned.
Cancer is a disease that will kill more than eight million people
worldwide this year . The world needs to unite against this disease
that knows no borders and represents one of humanity's most pressing
concerns.
Moreover , understanding and responding to the full impact of cancer
on emotional , mental and physical wellbeing will maximise the quality
of life for patients, their families and care-givers. Every citizen
should have access to free treatment options and care.
Many cancer patients and their families describe feeling a loss of
control of their lives after a cancer diagnosis. Patients and families
should be empowered to participate actively in decisions about their
care and treatment plan which respects their individual needs and
preferences. This can go a long way in helping individuals to regain a
sense of control and preserve their dignity throughout their cancer
experience.
Like other wars, real and imagined, the war on cancer is a gift to
opportunists of all stripes. Among the vultures are travel insurers who
charge people with cancer ten times the rate charged to others, the
publishers of self-help books and the promoters of miracle cures,
vitamin supplements and various ‘alternative therapies’ of no efficacy
whatsoever.
But most of all, there’s the pharmaceutical industry, which
manipulates research, prices and availability of drugs in pursuit of
profit. And with considerable success. The industry is the UK’s third
most profitable sector, after finance and tourism, with a steady return
on sales of some 17 per cent, three times the median return for other
industries. Its determination to maintain that profitability has seen
drug prices rise consistently above the rate of inflation. The cost of
cancer drugs, in particular, has soared.
The industry claims high prices reflect long-term investments in
research and development (R&D). But drug companies spend on average
more than twice as much on marketing and lobbying as on R&D. Prices
do not reflect the actual costs of developing or making the drug but are
pushed up to whatever the market can bear. Since that market is
comprised of many desperate and suffering individuals, it can be made to
bear a great deal.
The research that this supposedly funds is itself warped by the
industry. When it comes to clinical trials of their products, they
engage in selective publication and suppression of negative findings and
are reluctant in the extreme to undertake comparative studies with
other products
Taking political
action is also key to us preventing, treating and diagnosing
cancer earlier in order for us to achieve survival of 3 in 4 by 2034.
For those living with cancer, now and in the future (and that’s one in
three of the UK population), the biggest threat is the coming public
spending squeeze, cuts in NHS budgets and privatisation of services will
mean more people dying earlier from cancer and more people suffering
unnecessarily from it. Even better survival rates will become a curse,
as responsibility for long-term care is thrown back on families. A real
effort to reduce suffering from cancer requires a political struggle
against a system that sanctifies profit – not a ‘war’ guided by those
who exploit the disease.
The target
for treating cancer patients within 62 days of urgent GP referral has
not been met for over 5 years, despite the pandemic, and surveys
evidence suggests that people are experiencing lengthening delays in
getting GP appointments. Longer waits are a symptom of more people
needing treatment than the NHS has the capacity to deliver,.we need the Government to tackle the cancer backlog or we will lose tens of thousands of additional lives.
The Government has said they want to launch a 10-year war on cancer.
This is welcome but they also need to ensure the 60,000 missing cancer
patients are treated quickly and not left to suffer the pain of delays.
We
should not forget the heartless uncaring hypocrites in government who
are underfunding the NHS, that are continuing to put those that suffer
from cancer further at risk. We must not forget to hold our
Government to accountable further down the road . We must not cower from
politicising the deficiencies in the NHS that the pandemic crisis has revealed.
Care for cancer,, like so many other diseases, reflects the
inequalities and inequities of our world. The clearest distinction is
between high- and low-income countries, with comprehensive treatment
reportedly available in more than 90% of high-income countries but less
than 15% of low-income countries.
Similarly, the survival of
children diagnosed with cancer is more than 80% in high-income
countries, and less than 30% in low- and middle-income countries. And
breast cancer survival five years after diagnosis now exceeds 80% in
most high-income countries, compared with 66% in India and just 40% in
South Africa.
Furthermore, a recent WHO survey found that cancer
services are covered by a country’s largest, government health financing
scheme in an estimated 37% of low- and middle-income countries,
compared to at least 78% of high-income countries. This means that a
cancer diagnosis has the potential to push families into poverty,
particularly in lower-income countries, an effect that has been
exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic.Fortunately, much is being done to bring quality cancer care to countries for which, up until now, it has been out of reach.
On World Cancer Day and on any other day in fact, awareness is so important, for the survivors and those who are not so
fortunate, we should not be afraid to talk about it. For many affected
by the disease it is a solemn one of reflection, a
time to become aware of this disease's impact and what is being done to
help effect change for millions it impacts. A diagnosis of cancer does
not mean that you have to live a painful and miserable life. Their is
hope and positivity to. But it is so important to keep up the conversations.
Efficient and widely accessible cancer services will save countless
individuals from a premature and often painful death. Greater equity in
healthcare will also strengthen families and communities, benefit the
economy with greater workforce participation and offer net savings to
health budgets.
The campaign website for World Cancer Day
provides extensive details on the different barriers people are
experiencing in accessing care, how this affects prevention, treatment,
survival and support, and offers examples of actions that governments,
organisations and individuals around the world can take to close the gap
in cancer care.
More than a third of all cancers can be prevented and lives saved if detected early but the fact also remains that Inequity in cancer care costs lives.People who seek cancer care hit barriers at every turn. The Care gap affects everyone, including you and your loved ones. These barriers are not set in stone. They can be changed. Everybody should have equal access to the practical, emotional and
social support they need to live life as fully as possible with the
impact of cancer.
Today is not only the first day of Black History Month in the USA, it is also American, writer, poet and social activist Langston Hughes birthday..
Born James Mercer Langston Hughea on Fevruart 1 February 1902, in Joplin Missouri. Hughes eventually became one of America's greatest and most prolific poets
His parents James Nathaniel Hughes (an attorney) and Caroline Hughes (an
actress and school teacher).divorced when he was very
young. His father moved to Cuba, and then to Mexico,. while he was sent to live with his maternal
grandmother, Mary Patterson Langston. in Lawrence, Kansas.
Foreshadowing his career, in elementary school
Hughes was selected as the class poet, about which he said, “I was a
victim of a stereotype. There were only two of us Negro kids in the
whole class and our English teacher was always stressing the importance
of rhythm in poetry. Well, everyone knows – except us – that all Negroes
have rhythm, so they elected me as class poet.” By high school he was
writing for the school newspaper and yearbook, as well as beginning to
write poetry and short stories on his own. Hughes attended Columbia
University in New York, which he left after a year citing racial
prejudice. However, this was his first introduction to Harlem, a
primarily African American neighborhood surrounding Columbia, which
would become his muse and home. He famously stated, “Harlem was in
vogue.” Through his writing he explored issues of racism, injustice,
culture and spirituality..
Hughes was greatly impacted by African culture. He travelled back and forth
from America to different parts of Africa for his job working on a boat
during his lifetime. His experience with the culture there, combined
with the culture he experienced in America, led to the poetry’s powerful
nature. When art and culture were in flux, Langston turned from the
classical Shakespearean format to the flow of folk stories and blues
songs. He worked hard throughout his life to write about meaningful
topics and make them accessible to as many people as possible. He made
sure to use an easily understood,vocabulary and often recited his poems, giving people who couldn’t read access to his work as well.
While his work was affected by his race, Hughes was careful to keep mentions of his sexuality to a minimum. In his most obvious queer works, he does not align himself with queerness but rather shows his support for the queer community. In ‘Cafe, 3 AM’, for example, Hughes says:
“Degenerates,/some folks say./But God, Nature,/or somebody/made them that way.”
Despite his relative silence on the subject, speculation on his sexuality has always existed. Some theorists claimed that Hughes wasn’t gay but was rather uninterested in sex with anyone, regardless of gender. Others claim that he was a gay man, and any suggestion to the contrary is an attempt to hide an important part of his identity.
There is, more than enough evidence that Langston experienced deep romantic attraction to other men. He wrote many unpublished love poems with their subjects being men, and he often found himself in the company of gay men, having many friends who were out, and being a part of the queer community at the time.Despite the community of relative support he was surrounded with, Langston Hughes never came out himself.
He would first gain the attention of New York publishers when attending Columbia University between 1921 and 1922. Releasing works in local publications, he soon became a permanent artistic and intellectual fixture of the emerging Harlem Renaissance. Throughout his life Hughes published numerous acclaimed poems, plays, novels, two autobiographies, and helped pioneer the jazz poetry style.
He along with his contemporaries in the Harlem Renaissance, made a point to speak to the lower strata of Black people, focussing their art on opposing their social conditions, confronting stereotypes ND Re-imagining Black people's image of themselves. His cultural nationalism and racial consciousness was a great influence to many Black writers who followed in his footsteps,
Though the poet permanently settled in New York in 1929 after graduating from Lincoln University, he would still travel internationally as both a writer and reporter. In 1932 Hughes traveled to the Soviet Union, along with 22 African American artists, filmmakers, and actors to produce a film about African American life in southern states. Though the film was cancelled, Hughes remained in the USSR for a short time where he felt unrestricted by discrimination. He traveled on the Moscow-Tashkent express train to Central Asia where he witnessed the ethnic diversity of the USSR’s southern regions. Hughes would later find himself persecuted for his associations with the USSR and his revolutionary poetry
In 1937 he covered the Spanish Civil War as a reporter for the Baltimore Afro-American, writing on topics untouched by the white mainstream Western press such as the participation and leadership of African American anti-fascists in the war. During this time, Hughes would cross paths with Spain’s and Cuba’s outstanding Afro-descendant poets Federico Garcia Lorca and Nicolás Guillén.
He also he supported the Scottsboro boys, and strongly opposed the McCarthy
witchhunts,
Hughes’ first book of
poems was The Weary Blues , published in 1926. It included “,The Weary Blues ” seen below in a performance with the Doug Parker Band in 1958. It also
included his famous "The Negro Speaks of Rivers (first published in
the radical Black newspaper The Crisis in 1921), which he reads in another video
below.
Some of his other famous
works are Let America Be America Again,Sweet Flypaper of Life (with
photography by Roy DeCarava), Montage of a Dream Deferred and The
Mulatto.
In addition to poetry, Hughes wrote plays, and short stories. He also
published several non-fiction works. From 1942 to 1962, as the civil
rights movement was gaining traction, he wrote an in-depth weekly column
in a leading black newspaper, The Chicago Defender.
Although Hughes had trouble with both black and white critics, he was
the first black American to earn his living solely from his writing and
public lectures. Part of the reason he was able to do this was the
phenomenal acceptance and love he received from average black people. A
reviewer for Black World noted in 1970: "Those whose
prerogative it is to determine the rank of writers have never rated him
highly, but if the weight of public response is any gauge then Langston
Hughes stands at the apex of literary relevance among Black people. The
poet occupies such a position in the memory of his people precisely
because he recognized that ‘we possess within ourselves a great
reservoir of physical and spiritual strength,’ and because he used his
artistry to reflect this back to the people."
On May 22, 1967, Hughes died from complications of prostate cancer. A
tribute to his poetry, his funeral was filled with jazz and blues
music. His ashes were interred beneath the entrance of the Schomburg
Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem. The inscription marking
the spot features a line from Langston’s poem “The Negro Speaks of
Rivers” which states “My soul has grown deep like the rivers.”
His Harlem home, on East 127th Street, received New York City
Landmark status in 1981 and was added to the National Register of Places
in 1982. Volumes of his work continue to be published and translated
throughout the world.
He passed away on May 22, 1967 and his ashes are interred at
the Arthur Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem.
As a sensitive Pan-Africanist, humanist, and anti-imperialist, Hughes would continue to the end of his life to write on African American and African efforts at cultural, political, economic, and psychological freedom.He bravely confronted racial stereotypes, and protested social conditions whilst promoting the concepts of equality,freedom and African American heritage, His work helped shape the future of American literature and even helped
change politics. I remember his words, his legacy, his commitment to his art and his people, and his unwavering belief in the value and beauty of all Black lives.
A Dream Deferred- Langston Hughes
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explod:?
