The Tonypandy riots and why Winston Churchill's name is not revered in the hearts and minds of the Welsh people.

On 7 November 1910  the South Wales Miners’ Federation  called a strike of all 12,000 men working in the Cambrian Combine’s pits in the Tonypandy area. They had walked  out over mining magnet D.A Thomas's decision to sack the whole workforce at  the Ely Pit in Penycraig, Rhondda.It had initially begun when miners had protested at the rate for working in a difficult seam. Which meant a seam 18 inches high with a couple of inches of water under their backs. They demanded better pay and working conditions. The miners found that Leonard Llewellyn, manager of Llwynypia’s Glamorgan Colliery, was using blacklegs to keep the pumps working.After one striker had been killed, a miner called Samuel Rhys and mass pickets had failed to stop police from scab herding,( they had bused  in scab workers from Cardiff to keep the colliery running,) few expected what came next, but  tensions already high erupted, and an uprising ensured, which is  now known as the Tonypandy riots.
Strikers attacked shops in the town which had put families on a credit blacklists not allowing them to buy enough food, thus aiding the bosses. Blackleg trains were stoned and halted. It would continue unabated for almost  two days and would involve violent clashes between striking miners and the Glamorgan Constabulary, reinforced by both the Bristol and Metropolitan police forces.
The anti socialist Winston Churchill, then the Home Secretary ordered the troops in to confront the striking Welsh miners at Tonypandy who justifiably saw this as a defense of the coal owners, Churchill getting the army involved with the sole intention of protecting the bosses interests alone, instead of those of the miners and their families. 

The question of whether troops fired on striking miners remains controversial to this day, as there appears to be no documentation, but they were certainly there and played a support role to the police and as a result there was deep anger at the troops being present at all.

Although no authentic record exists of casualties, as many of the miners would have refused treatment in fear of being prosecuted for their part in the riots, nearly 80 policemen and over 500 other people were injured,Thirteen striking miners from Gilfach Goch were arrested and prosecuted for their part in the unrest.The troops would remain in the Rhondda until October 1911.

After almost one year on strike these brave miners who had to endure so much hardship returned to work. Though their demands were not met, the strike helped change the face of British Trade Unionism, still inspiring workers fighting for better conditions today, giving rise in South Wales to increased militancy, the growth of revolutionary syndicalism in the workers struggle against their bosses.It would however leave bitter scars in the Rhondda, particularly as the miners were forced to return to work after having to agree to a paltry sum for the coal extracted, and because of Churchill's stance against the miners it would also also see thousands of miners blacklisted.

Because of this at the time  it would see Churchill being despised by many in the South Wales Valleys, and until his dying days, reviled by many as " the man who sent in the troops" and remains deeply unpopular  to this day for the actions that he took, becoming a hate figure for generations of Welsh men and women.A major factor in the dislike of Churchill's use of the military, was not in any specific action undertaken by the troops, but the fact that their presence prevented any strike action which might have ended the strike early in the miners' favour. The troops also ensured that trials of rioters, strikers and miner leaders would take place and be successfully prosecuted in Pontypridd in 1911. The defeat of the miners in 1911 was, in the eyes of the local community, a direct consequence of state intervention without any negotiation, and this action was seen as a direct result of Churchill's actions. In 2010, 99 years after the riots, a Welsh local council made objections to a street being named after Churchill in the Vale of Glamorgan because of his sending troops into the Rhondda. Jackie Griffin, clerk of Llanmaes council, stated he was unable to support such an “inappropriate name change” due to the fact that there is “still a strong feeling of animosity” towards Winston Churchill in the community.Sadly along with Margaret Thatcher he has  now become an official saint of the right wing of the bourgeoisie. 
And now adding further insult to the injury he once caused  we have to  put up with Winston Churchill’s tawdry image on every £5 banknote, along with his “blood, toil, tears and sweat” quote to a backdrop of parliament . He has replaced Elizabeth Fry, the progressively-minded social reformer and Quaker known as the “angel of prisons”, who has been on the note since 2001.The image of Churchill  on the  new five pound note is seen as a deeply  political act which also obscures and distorts the many other heinous acts that  he committed through the course of history, and simply extols a mouthpiece who advocated the crushing of strikes using military force here in Wales and other parts of the UK. His political philosophy alone is not one that I feel should make him worthy to be recognised in this way either, after all this was a man who was, inclined at all times to further the expansion of Empire, which resulted in famines, territorial theft and mass suffering, which were based on racist prejudices and a bigoted belief in the superiority of an imagined Anglo-Saxon race.Today the Churchill myth still prevails, and adding his face to the new bank notes will only repress and distort history further. In reality, Churchill was a warrior for the ruling class and a darling of British imperialism; he was racist, sexist, eugenicist and virulently anti-working class, endowed with an immense ego and a capacity for callous destructiveness. No number of five-pound notes can pay for his crimes. Lets not rewrite him out of history though, we should continue to teach generation to come of the true values he represented. Along with many other Welsh people, I do not consider him a man worthy of being used in this way.
The role of Churchill played in the above dispute is outlined in the book 'The Tonypandy Riots 1910-1911 by Gwyn Evans and David Maddox.

Virginia Woolf ( 25/1/ 1882 - 28/3/ 41) - Death of a moth

Virginia Woolf is one of my favourite Women British writers of the the 20th century who published short stories novels, including, "Mrs. Dalloways", "To the Lighthouse", and "The Waves" "A Room of One's Own" which focused on women's history in writing.Recognized as one of the major figures of modern literature, Woolf is highly regarded both for her innovative fiction techniques and insightful contributions to literary criticism. In her short fiction, she explored such themes as the elusive nature of storytelling and character study, the nature of truth and reality, and the role of women in society. Like her novels, these highly individualized, stylistic works are noted for their subjective explorations and detailed poetic narratives that capture ordinary experience while depicting the workings and perceptions of the human mind.

Virginia Adeline Stephen was born on the 25th of January 1882  the third child of Leslie Stephen, a Victorian man of letters, and Julia Duckworth. The Stephen family lived at Hyde Park Gate in Kensington, a respectable English middle class neighborhood. While her brothers Thoby and Adrian were sent to Cambridge, Virginia was educated by private tutors and copiously read from her father’s vast library of literary classics. 

She later resented the degradation of women in a patriarchal society, rebuking her own father for automatically sending her brothers to schools and university, while she was never offered a formal education.Woolf’s Victorian upbringing would later influence her decision to participate in the Bloomsbury circle, noted for their original ideas and unorthodox relationships.

Virginia’s mother died from rheumatic fever. Her unexpected and tragic death caused Virginia to have a mental breakdown at age 13. A second severe breakdown followed the death of her father, Leslie Stephen, in 1904. During this time, Virginia first attempted suicide and was institutionalized. According to nephew and biographer Quentin Bell, “All that summer she was mad.” The death of her close brother Thoby Stephen, from typhoid fever in November 1906 had a similar effect on Woolf, to such a degree that he would later be re-imagined as Jacob in her first experimental novel Jacob’s Room and later as Percival in The Waves. These were the first of her many mental collapses that would sporadically occur throughout her life, until her suicide in March 1941. 
Virginia Woolf wrote the following essay "The Death of the Moth" before she drowned herself  on the 28th  of  March 1941. In the essay she describes the circumstances revolving around a moth's death .In this powerful meditation she allows the reader to respect death and the power it has over us. She illustrates the universal struggle between life and death, portraying the valiance of the fight.but at same time acknowledging it's futility.As she examines the struggle of a moth trying to achieve something impossible by going through a windowpane to reach  the outdoors, Woolf sees the moth in a new light, a light that identifies the moth not as insignificent and in demand of pity, but a small creature of the world, a pure being that was afforded the gift of being "nothing but life."
The moths purpose is pure. The moth does not fear death, it fears losing the struggle. This is worse than death for the moth, and the moths ability to overcome the living fear of death is what draws Woolf to her and causes her not to pity, but to admire it for it's simple existence and the courage to dance upon the windowpane that brings his death.
An admirable essay and sentiment, but one that still fills my heart with fear and dread, not for me per say, but for those other gentle beings that I do not want  to see departing anyday soon.It has however helped me understand a little more,about  the eternal power that death has over us all, and although we may stop and stand still or pass away, life continues without us for everyone else.Virginia Woolf was more than just a women's writer she was a delicate observer of everyday life.
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The Death of the Moth - Virginia Woolf

"Moths that fly by day are not properly to be called moths; they do not excite that pleasant sense of dark autumn nights and ivy-blossom which the commonest yellow-underwing asleep in the shadow of the curtain never fails to rouse in us. They are hybrid creatures, neither gay like butterflies nor sombre like their own species. Nevertheless the present specimen, with his narrow hay-coloured wings, fringed with a tassel of the same colour, seemed to be content with life. It was a pleasant morning, mid-September, mild, benignant, yet with a keener breath than that of the summer months. The plough was already scoring the field opposite the window, and where the share had been, the earth was pressed flat and gleamed with moisture. Such vigour came rolling in from the fields and the down beyond that it was difficult to keep the eyes strictly turned upon the book. The rooks too were keeping one of their annual festivities; soaring round the tree tops until it looked as if a vast net with thousands of black knots in it had been cast up into the air; which, after a few moments sank slowly down upon the trees until every twig seemed to have a knot at the end of it. Then, suddenly, the net would be thrown into the air again in a wider circle this time, with the utmost clamour and vociferation, as though to be thrown into the air and settle slowly down upon the tree tops were a tremendously exciting experience.
The same energy which inspired the rooks, the ploughmen, the horses, and even, it seemed, the lean bare-backed downs, sent the moth fluttering from side to side of his square of the window-pane. One could not help watching him. One was, indeed, conscious of a queer feeling of pity for him. The possibilities of pleasure seemed that morning so enormous and so various that to have only a moth's part in life, and a day moth's at that, appeared a hard fate, and his zest in enjoying his meagre opportunities to the full, pathetic. He flew vigorously to one corner of his compartment, and, after waiting there a second, flew across to the other. What remained for him but to fly to a third corner and then to a fourth? That was all he could do, in spite of the size of the downs, the width of the sky, the far-off smoke of houses, and the romantic voice, now and then, of a steamer out at sea. What he could do he did. Watching him, it seemed as if a fibre, very thin but pure, of the enormous energy of the world had been thrust into his frail and diminutive body. As often as he crossed the pane, I could fancy that a thread of vital light became visible. He was little or nothing but life.
Yet, because he was so small, and so simple a form of the energy that was rolling in at the open window and driving its way through so many narrow and intricate corridors in my own brain and in those of other human beings, there was something marvellous as well as pathetic about him. It was as if someone had taken a tiny bead of pure life and decking it as lightly as possible with down and feathers, had set it dancing and zig-zagging to show us the true nature of life. Thus displayed one could not get over the strangeness of it. One is apt to forget all about life, seeing it humped and bossed and garnished and cumbered so that it has to move with the greatest circumspection and dignity. Again, the thought of all that life might have been had he been born in any other shape caused one to view his simple activities with a kind of pity.
After a time, tired by his dancing apparently, he settled on the window ledge in the sun, and, the queer spectacle being at an end, I forgot about him. Then, looking up, my eye was caught by him. He was trying to resume his dancing, but seemed either so stiff or so awkward that he could only flutter to the bottom of the window-pane; and when he tried to fly across it he failed. Being intent on other matters I watched these futile attempts for a time without thinking, unconsciously waiting for him to resume his flight, as one waits for a machine, that has stopped momentarily, to start again without considering the reason of its failure. After perhaps a seventh attempt he slipped from the wooden ledge and fell, fluttering his wings, on to his back on the window sill. The helplessness of his attitude roused me. It flashed upon me that he was in difficulties; he could no longer raise himself; his legs struggled vainly. But, as I stretched out a pencil, meaning to help him to right himself, it came over me that the failure and awkwardness were the approach of death. I laid the pencil down again.
The legs agitated themselves once more. I looked as if for the enemy against which he struggled. I looked out of doors. What had happened there? Presumably it was midday, and work in the fields had stopped. Stillness and quiet had replaced the previous animation. The birds had taken themselves off to feed in the brooks. The horses stood still. Yet the power was there all the same, massed outside indifferent, impersonal, not attending to anything in particular. Somehow it was opposed to the little hay-coloured moth. It was useless to try to do anything. One could only watch the extraordinary efforts made by those tiny legs against an oncoming doom which could, had it chosen, have submerged an entire city, not merely a city, but masses of human beings; nothing, I knew, had any chance against death. Nevertheless after a pause of exhaustion the legs fluttered again. It was superb this last protest, and so frantic that he succeeded at last in righting himself. One's sympathies, of course, were all on the side of life. Also, when there was nobody to care or to know, this gigantic effort on the part of an insignificant little moth, against a power of such magnitude, to retain what no one else valued or desired to keep, moved one strangely. Again, somehow, one saw life, a pure bead. I lifted the pencil again, useless though I knew it to be. But even as I did so, the unmistakable tokens of death showed themselves. The body relaxed, and instantly grew stiff. The struggle was over. The insignificant little creature now knew death. As I looked at the dead moth, this minute wayside triumph of so great a force over so mean an antagonist filled me with wonder. Just as life had been strange a few minutes before, so death was now as strange. The moth having righted himself now lay most decently and uncomplainingly composed. O yes, he seemed to say, death is stronger than I am."

Powers of earthly plot still carry much strength

( for Guy Fawkes)

Remember, Remember,the Fifth of November
Guy Fawkes and his co-conspirators,
religious fundamentalists of their age
who on this day tried to carry out their deadly plot,
because of passionate indignation
a message that still chimes with us us today.

Political corruption, in parliament
and backrooms woven with thickets of greed,
however I've never been to keen on bombs
currently I'm planting bulbs for springtime,
to allow  freedoms petals to explode and inspire
waiting for winds of change to blow, energies to invoke,
that can help reveal truth's essence 
beyond ignorant and irrational threads.

Down here below among bedrock of tears
we can still make those above tremble,
planting seeds of dissent and rebellion
putting right to wrongs, with the strength of conviction,
against the arrogance of those who cling on to political power
like nature we can grow wild and defiant,
with deliberation, courage, and fortitude
if we keep pushing, their days in control might crumble,
our powers of earthly plot, still carry much strength.

 the above poen can also now be found here too :- https://iamnotasilentpoet.wordpress.com/2016/11/06/powers-of-earthly-plot-still-carry-much-strength-by-dave-rendle/

This spirit moves me greatly.

(some spontaneity released earlier after visiting the above light in hospital, the reason I guess this blog exists. She has encouraged it throughout its journey, so these are some words to this guiding inspiration.)

I’m not frightened of the dark, but of the morning when my eyes awaken, the uncertainty of a loved ones paths , I ignore the critics of my poetical meanderings, who try to dim our illumination, I carry on, and every night I try to light a candle, a gift of communication, beating deep within my heart, for a love that has guided me gently, taught me how to be, showing me resilience that carries no fear, epitomising all the strength, magic and beauty that is contained in this bitter world, carried me with affection, through days of confusion, like a mountain of thought , her mind will forever be free and alive, this mighty force will never fade, this darling’s smile will be carried within me, for ever more, and if she had time now to read these words, her eyes would light up,because she will know how her great spirit moves me greatly and she knows how much I like to be moved, long before prayers have ever been intoned, she wont blame me for writing, in tough times these are keys to my self healing. For within I possess this inner resolve. I guess it displays the deep convictions that I try to share every day from my heart.

Bono, a man, receives a top prize in this years Glamour Magazine's Women of the Year !!

Bono the preening rock star has been named as a recipient of  a top prize in an award in this years Glamour Women of the year award despite being male.Apart from the fact he ain't female,what has he ever actually done.? Yes he has campaigned against poverty and recently launched a campaign called 'poverty is sexist' with a commitment to worldwide gender equality, but many actual women have been fighting poverty and sexism for years and years without any form  recognition. Personally I think this Irish muso (and ubiquitous humanitarian-activist-environmentalist so called social justice warrior) should have simply declined, but then again he is just another celebrity who can't resist the limelight.Why couldn't he simply go back to writing letters to God and his billionaire mates
I kind of side with women left feeling  disappointed that an awards scheme set out to recognise the achievements of women in a world where they are often overlooked, was being extended to men. After all there are hundreds and thousands of women who are far more worthy of this recognition,but the world has gone crazy, and I simply, despair.With only 3.7 billion women in the world I suppose Glamour magazine couldn't find any female worthy enough for that final place on the list.What about the many women fighting around the world for women's rights.so many women  working hard in her community to break down barriers, fighting domestic violence to inspire young girls to be independent and confident. Saudi women challenging repressive laws.  Egyptian poets offering a critique of repression.  South Americans challenging femicide. In the UK Maryam Namazie only challenges patriarchy every day. Abda Khan merely wrote a searing novel, 'Stained' about oppressive patriarchy, sexual violence and the use of 'honour' to silence women in Asian communities.Then there are the  women in politics regularly subjected to death threats and violence,women daily helping refugees struggling with their lives, women human rights defenders around the globe  acting as role models working to advance human rights for us all in the face of escalating risks, threats, and harassment. and courageous women like Nadia Murad and Lamiya Ashir Bashir, recently honored with top EU humanitarian award http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sakharovprize/en/home/the-prize.html. The list is simply endless.
At least Glamour magazine had the tenacity to recognise the accomplishments of some of them, who as women were all equally deserving including the five-time Olympic medal winner Simone Biles, the three founders of the Black Lives Matter movement and Nadia Murad, who was nominated for the Nobel peace prize after escaping enslavement by Isis.But their honor pales into insignificance because all the world is bloody talking about is Bono and this silly magazine that has now been reaped with all this oxygen of publicity, generated by their rather silly stunt.. 
Achievements in gender equality should be applauded and recognised but to give an award to a man  in a ceremony for women in my humble opinion is simply wrong and misguided,and is a mockery to all women across the globe and puts the clock back years.Surely even Bono himself can't fail to see the irony in all this, and  that by giving him an award at an event like this, even for trying to undo partriarchy undercuts the whole point of this award ceremony.Oh but the times are a changing. Really!!! Because after all another rich privileged white man really needs the recognition.,

Palestinians demand Britain Government must apologise for the Balfour Declaration

                                                        Lord Balfour
 
Palestinian activists have launched a campaign calling on the British government to apologise for the Balfour Declaration which pledged a homeland for the Jewish people in historic Palestine nearly a century ago as long as the rights of existing non-Jewish communities were not prejudiced.The Balfour Declaration was a letter from British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour to Lord Rothschild, head of the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland,  which had no basis of legal authority, where the indigenous Palestinians at the time of Balfour's letter amounted to 90% of the total population which paved the way for the occupation of their land.

At a launch event at the House of Parliament last Tuesday, Palestinian groups and their supporters blamed the plight of the Palestinian people on the legacy of the pledge and wider British colonialism in the region.If the petition reaches 100,000 signatures, the British parliament will have to consider debating the subject.
Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Jenny Tonge hosted the launch at the House of Lords last Tuesday, where the plight of the Palestinian people was blamed on the legacy of the Balfour Declaration and wider British colonialism in the region.The activists, backed by the Palestinian diplomatic mission in the UK, intend to push the British government in the run-up to the document’s centennial in November 2017.
Today actually marks the 99th anniversary of the cursed Balfour promise or Balfour Declaration, by means of which those who had no ownership (Britain) permitted those who had no right to establish a national homeland on an established country Palestine. Lord Balfour bought about a promise that marked  the confiscation of the Palestinians homeland with displacement of its people. I personally believe it is time that my rulers  apologise  about this historical injustice which Britain committed against the Palestinian people.
The nakba/catastrophe of 1948, when over 750,000 Palestinians were expelled was set in motion by imperialist agreements in World War 1 to carve up the Middle East in their own interests.The Palestinian conflict does not begin in 1948 but in 1917, with this  declaration. It is necessary that we go back to this crucial watershed in the history of the Middle East and the roots of the continuing betrayal of the Palestinian people.As a result Palestinians were evicted from their ancestral  homeland to be expelled to refugee camps, to live in exile across the globe, to this present day.The continuing seperation of the people of the West Bank and the open prison that is Gaza. And ever since Palestinians have endured ongoing violation of their basic human rights.Now, over 11 million Palestinians continue to suffer from Britain’s colonial legacy in Palestine. 
Because of the broken promise, Britain can be given the blame for setting the stage for the conflict that exists today.As we  approaching the 100th anniversary of this grave injustice, in the current moment the continuing gravity of the situation in Palestine cannot be overstated.Britain must accept its  full responsibility in  creating a situation  which has left a legacy of deceit, injustice and oppression.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas also called on the UK to apologize for the Balfour Declaration while in New York last week :- “We ask Great Britain, as we approach 100 years since this infamous declaration, to draw the necessary lessons and to bear its historic, legal, political, material and moral responsibility for the consequences of this declaration, including an apology to the Palestinian people for the catastrophes, misery and injustice this declaration created and to act to rectify these disasters and remedy its consequences, including by the recognition of the state of Palestine,” Abbas told UN delegates.
I  acknowledge that Balfour was not unique in history in giving what he did not own to those that were not entitled to it. It is time for the  British Government to apologise for the Balfour declaration, as this historic betrayal is still being felt and British politicians and companies continue to support the forces of colonisation..It is the least that they can do, but giving the fact that they have recently rejected another gross injustice, when agents of the state ran amok at Orgreave in the 1984 miners strike, I feel it sadly to be a bit of a long shot.But I like many others across the globe together with the Palestinian people will not give up hope. It is surely  time for the British Government to say sorry for what has bought untold misery through nearly a century of conflict, ethnic cleansing, ongoing human rights abuse, brutal occupation and apartheid.It has a responsibility and duty and  to redress the pain and suffering of individual Palestinians that has  endured ever since.

Will you join me at Standing Rock

Yesterday I checked in at Standing Rock Indian Reservation in solidarity with the Water Protectors.
"The Morton County Sheriff's Department has been using Facebook check-ins to find out who is at Standing Rock in order to target them in attempts to disrupt the prayer camps.Hundreds of Native American protectors have gathered at the site since April to protest peacefully against  the Dakota  Access pipeline’s construction on land they claim is tribal under the 1851 treaty of Fort Laramie https://ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=42.The people of Standing Rock, often called Sioux, warn that a potential oil spill into the river would threaten the water, land, health and sacred lands of their reservation.Their fight is also against a system of domination that has been imposed on the original nations.Members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe ,say it threatens the environment and will destroy Native American burial sites, prayer sites and artifacts.The Standing Rock Sioux reservation straddles the border between North Dakota and South Dakota, and the projected path of the pipeline is near the reservation's northeast corner.
Assertions that the local sheriff's department is using the Facebook check-in feature to identify and target protesters began to circulate the social media site, as have calls to check virtually in at Standing Rock to complicate these suspected efforts. SO Water Protecters are calling on EVERYONE to check-in at Standing Rock,  to overwhelm and confuse them.It isn't actually clear whether the call actually originated with the people at the  North Dakota protest but it is a powerful tool of expressing solidarity nevertheless, helping the protestors see that the world has not forgotten their plight, or their fight to defend their land.
This is concrete action that can protect people putting their bodies and well-beings on the line that we can do without leaving our homes.Over 1 million facebook users have already answered the call, in a spirit of defiance and solidarity in a  mass check-in  organized to prevent local law enforcement from tracking protesters on social media.Standing together with  hearts and minds protesting against corporate enterprises that have deceived this country and stolen peoples freedom in exchange of profits and materialistic want. The most ubiquitous of these virtual calls to action asserts that the "Water Protestors" are imploring people to simply say they're at Standing Rock, even if they're not.
 If you're sharing your location at Standing Stock (which you should be doing)
1) make it public
2) make the clarification post separate, and so that only your friends can see it
3) don't clarify on your check in, message friends who say "stay safe!" to let them know what's up -- the stay safe posts are more convincing / confusing for p*lice
4) copy paste to share clarification messages (like this one) because making it public blows our cover
5) say "Standing Stock" in clarification posts so that when they filter out / search those terms, your post is visible to the right people"
Will you join me in Standing Rock?" supporting the courageous peaceful resistance led by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to protect their land and water and become inspired by this community-led struggle, and by the potential for joint action that this widespread solidarity has demonstrated.

 Tell Big Banks to Stop Dakota Access Pipeline

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/597/965/180/bankexit-tell-big-banks-to-stop-dakota-access-pipeline/#updated

Warrior Communique from # NODAPL