The Voices Of Austerity The Cold Hard Truth (With Music)

Everything  you need to know about what's going on with the powers that be in the U.K.
Listen, understand it and share it....
Good people of the world.

Click on picture to enlarge

The Termites may win - Herbert Noyes (b ? d1917)

Herbert Noyes was an Anglican priest in the last quarter of the 19th Century and first two decades of the 20th Century.

MILLIONS of years ago it was a point of issue whether Man or the Termite should possess the earth. Both being, in their natural state, the most helpless, unprotected, and weaponless of all creatures that walk - or crawl - the victory was in doubt, until, some aeons later, the ant came to the recue to the man and drove the Termite underground.
In entomology the Termite belongs to the order Isoptera, but is commonly known as the "white ant," because, as some humorist has observed, it is neither white nor an ant.
The life of the Termite is beyond all human comprrehension. Neither hereditary or evolution can adequately explain the miracles wrought by it. No scientist has ever put forward any reasonable explanation of the Power which guides their destiny - though no man can say what the last may be - is to me beyond doubt.
In a few thousand years, when the names and theories of our scientific teachers of today have faded from human memory, the Termite, secure in the fact that its total destruction is an economic impossibility, will be relentlessly pursuing his endless warfare against man and all his works. Empires and kingdoms, civilisations and creeds will dissapear, leaving no more vestiges behind than those which have preceded our own vaunted progress, but the inscrutably directed civilisation of the Termite, disdaining all mechanical aids, will remain to mock all our explanations.

Reprinted from Wit & Wisdom:
A medley of life and laughter,
London Burke Publishing Company Limited
1946.

Emmeline Pankhust (15/7/1858 - 14/6/1928) -' There are women lying at death's door...' and the uncomfortable legacy

 

Picture above, Emmaline Pankhurst

(Repost from yesterday, forgotten spectacles)

On the anniversary of the death of one of the leaders of Britain's Suffragette movement and the fourth anniversary of this blog, thought I would reprint this speech she delivered to an American audience on the 15th November 1913.
Whilst recognising the Suffragettes heroic struggle for equal rights, inspiring many to follow in acts of civil disobedience, with Emmeline herself being imprisoned many times, it does leave me with a few questions which I will try to raise at the end of this speech.

'...I have seen men smile when they heard the words 'hunger strike' and yet I think there are very few men today who would be prepared to adopt a 'hunger strike' for any cause. It is only people who feel an intolerable sense of oppression who would adopt a means of that kind. It means you refuse food until you are at death's door, and then the authorities have to choose between letting you die, and letting you go; and then they let the women go. No, that went on so long that the government felt that they were unable to cope. It was then that, to the shame of the British government, that they set an example to authorities all over the world of feeding sane, resisting human beings by force. There may be doctors in this meeting: if so, they know it it is one thing to feed by force an insane person; but it is quite another thing to feed a sane, resisting human being who resists with every nerve and every fibre of her body the indignity and the outrage of forcible feeding. Now, that was done in England, and the government thought they had crushed us. But they found that it did not quell the agitation, that more and more women came in and even passed that terrible ordeal, and they were obliged to let them go.
   Then came the legislation - the "Cat and Mouse Act". The Home Secretary said: "Give me the power to let these women go when they are at death's door, and leave them at liberty under licence until they have recovered their health again and then bring them back." It was passed to repress the agitation, to make the women yield- because that is what it has really come to, ladies and gentlemen. It has come to a battle between the women and the government  as to who shall yield first, whether they will yield and give us the vote, or whether we will give up our agitation.
  Well they little know what women are. Women are very slow to rouse, but once they are aroused, once they are determined, nothing on earth and nothing in heaven will make women give way; it is impossible. And so this 'Cat and Mouse Act' which is being used against women today has failed. There are women lying at death's door, recovering enough strength to undergow operations, who have not given in and wont give in, and who will be prepared, as soon as they get up from their sick beds to go on as before. There are women who are being carried from their sick beds stricken on stretchers into meetings. They are too weak to speak, but they go amongst their fellow workers just to show that their spirits are unquenched, and that their spirit is alive, and they mean to go on as long as life lasts. Now, I want to say to you who think women cannot succeed, we have bought the government of England to this position, that it has to face this alternative: either women are to be killed or women are to have the vote. I ask American men in this meeting, what would you say if in your state you were faced with the alternative, that you must either kill them or give them their citizenship? Well, there is only one answer to that alternative, there is only one way out - you must give those women the vote ... I come to ask you to help win this fight.'

Powerful stuff indeed, and it was not untill 1928 that women were granted full equal rights of voting as men in Britain. Whilst supporting the concepts of equality and freedom, I believe the Suffragette movement unfortunately helped perpetuate the myth that making an 'X' on a pice of paper can affect real change. It leaves many people with the idea that they can vote and assuage themselve of guilt for not participating in any further action, with the conviction that they have done all that they need to do.
It is noticeable that Pankhurst, persuaded her Women's Social and Political Union to halt all militant suffrage activities dring the First World War, being among the first to ssurrender their principles to the altar of war and patriotism.It is also noticeable that Emmeline Pankhurst later became a member of the Conservative Party. It is also worth noting that the ability of women to elect and be elected culminated, in Britain with the rise to power of Margaret Thatcher, whose policies of repression, which had nothing I guess with her gender,did however prove that voting alone cannot accomplish significant positive change.  in my humble opinion does not amount to much of a legacy, despite the bravery and sense of common purpose that the Suffragettes showed.

Now in 2013, democracies dominant paries still represent the few, alligned with corporations, private financiers, that exploit the resources of our nation, not for us, but for the interests of the few which they truly represent and uphold. Are we really free? Is not democracy a sham. In the last election in Britain the majority of the people voted against the Conservative Party, but now in coalition with the Liberal Democrats, it is their policies that are being currently cruelly implemented across the country. Struggles outside parliament are routinely ruthlessly supressed or critisised or simply ignored by the mainstream media.
Where is the democracy that saw the arrests of many people, taking part in actions and demonstrations leading up to the G8 summit.

Where is the democracy that sees communities being torn apart, and stigmatised. The marginalised, the poor and disadvantaged singled out to pay for the crimes of the bankers and the capitalist system, aidied and abetted by nearly all the parties  operating within the Parliamentary structure.
The legacy of the Suffragettes lives on though in people who daily practice deeds not words, who participate in direct action, constantly calling out for more radical change.
On the anniversary of Emmeline's death their are still many being foce fed, from Guantanamo, Israeli Prisons, across the world, many people still fighting , still hungry for freedom. Here in Britain at the moment their is a 60 year old man called George Rolph, who has now been on hunger strike against Atos ( the organisation that carries out work capability tests on behalf of the Government) prepared  to sacrifice his life to draw attention to the fact that his disability benefits had been denied. A survivor of domestic violence and abuse, who suffers from post traumatic stress disorder. On all accounts an individual with severe mental health issues. Bringing attention how the most vulnerable people in the U.K are being treated by their democratic government. Many others have died because they are ill and cannot cope under the strain of this Government Policies....

So on anniverary of this blog, I thank those who have supported this blog, left a comment or too, shown some encouragement, you know who you are.
Stay free,practice solidarity.
All the best
heddwch/peace.......

Henry David Thoreau (12/7/1817 -6/5/62) - A natural aristocracy of thought

                               
 Henry David Thoreau (American author, poet,  philosopher,abolitionist,  naturalist and transcendentalist)

'  Books are the treasured wealth of the world and the fit inheritance of generations and nations. Books, the oldest and the best, stand naturally and rightfully on the shelves of every cottage. They have no cause of their own to plead, but while they enlighten and sustain the reader his common sense will not refuse them. Their authors are a natural and irresistible aristocracy in every society, and more than kings or emperors, exert an influence on mankind.'

From, Walden ( 1854 ) incidentally one of my favourite books

Jazz Poem

In the long nights of  Autumn
I let the records revolve round and round,
as ashtray heart gets filled with golden memories.
Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Thelonius Monk,
Miles Davis, SunRa, Roland Kirk, 
into  deep spaces where I'm pleased to chill.

Follow giant steps, a love supreme
on the corner, the shape of things to come,
elements of fusion, on the fringes of tone time
rythyms of a higher power, free expression,
the poetry of improvisation, currents moving
running wildly across  seamless skies.

Charles Mingus, Ornette Coleman
strong and bold, rough and smooth,
these are the beats of my heart
Chet Baker, Johnny Ray sing out,
voices of the past touching now
eclectic hums still running free.

Take a stroll in the moonlight
take a voyage round the sun,
cast aside rules, space is deep
within you yet far away,
follows no particular season
inside deep a temple of sound.

Ah, jazz, it's horizon smiles with seduction
gets under fingernails, gets into souls,
water's senses with unlimited oceans
follow the notes outside, find devotion,
flowing with this magical understanding.

Keep on moving, dance with intent
refresh your breath, shake your hips,
raise your hands, make room for celebration
listen to the sounds of rhythm's eternal escape,
wordless music, releasing  creativity
pulling us into the chambers of dream.

Naksa anniversary marked in Gaza

The fifth of June marks Naksa day or the setback during the 1967 six day war. At that time Israel launched a hostile war against Syria, Egypt and Jordan. After defeating Arab forces, Israel  completed the occupation of the rest of the Palestinian territories and occupied vast areas of Syria and Egypt.
46 years later a war veteran said Palestinnians were betrayed by Arab forces. Palestinian resistance groups forced Israeli forces to withdraw form Gaza in 2005. Israel now says that it no longer occupies Gaza but facts on the ground prove otherwise. This place under international law is occupied. You only have to live  their to see the Israeli warplanes that dominate the sky and still fly over.

 Furthermore, in the aftermath, Israel expopriated around 80% of Palestinian property and displaced more than 400,000 Palestinians. Around half of those displaced Palestinians in 1967, were already refugees from 1948 Nabka. By it's swift end, Israel had occupied the West Banl ( including Jerusalem) the Gaza strip and the Golan heights, with the exception of the Sinai Peninsular, Israel continues its illegal occupation of those lands to this day.Nany have said that the Six Day War was not thrust upon Israel, but engineered by them.
Since this date,  well immediately after this so called  defensive war, Israels settlement policy increased.
According to Noam Chomsky

 ' Settlements in the Occupied Territories began immediately after the war, sometimes without government authorisation, though this regularly came later... By December 1969, the Meir government had established as one of its 'esssential goals' the 'accelleration of military settlements and permanent agricultural and urban settlements in the territoryof the homeland'. ( ref: Noam Chomsky, The fateful Triangle: The United States, Israel and the Palestinians, South End Press, 1999)

I leave you with the words of eminent journalist Robert Fisk - ' The injustice done to the Palestinians, the dispossession, the massacres, not only the loss of that part of Palestine which became Israel- and  is internationally recognised as such- but also the occupation of the reminder of the mandate territory and the bloody suppression of any end all manifestations  of Palestine resistance:all this had to take secind place to Israel's security and the civilised values and democracy for which Israel was widely promised' Her army, which often behaved  with cruelty and indiscipline, was  to be regarded as an exemplar of 'purity of arms' and those of us who witnessd Israel's killing of civilians were to be abused as liars, anti-semites or friends of 'terrorism.'

from ' The Grreat War for Civiliation:The Conquest of the Middle East;
Robert Fisk, 2005

Remnant of village destoyed after 1967.

I am a friend of neither, but I oppose injustice.

BADGER SWAGGER

CALL TO ACTION-

Urgent....
Sign the petition and find more about the cull.
http://www.getoffmybadger.com/
Write to your M.P takes 20 seconds
http://www.writetothem.com

The Track

BADGER SWAGGER has been produced & created by the Artful Badger with a little help from their friends...

https://twitter.com/ArtfulBadgerUK

http://facebook.com/artfulbadgeruk

WHY? -

We created this track & music video together to raise awareness on the needless,unscientific, cruel & unwarranted slaughter of one of the British Isles' most beloved and unique creatures. Backed by politics & fear, not science nor public opinion, this exopensive & ineffective badger cull could well cause more problems than it cures ... even our friend David Attenborough says so!!

Listen in the track for what he says....

BADGER SWAGGER

LYRICS

We love the badgers and they matter to our nanners
Cameron where's your manners
why them cameras try scan us
Some are sitting in a palace champagne and scallops
Some are in the store house begging for a package
We can't even manage
and killing all the badgers aint gonna fix the damage
It is sinning and drastic
like killing for plastic
Most are living brassic
people back this
We can't have this evil madness
Will tell your grandkids the story of the badgers
In 40 years time when they've all vanished
That you was to busy getting dizzy with a gadget
Sign the petition get busy and back it
Listen tio the mission see the vision and tactic
This will make the difference cos I went and Rob Cass'd it
Abbey road studios artful badger smacked it
Yeah I wrote a banger cos with grammar I'm the ccaptain

Chorus

Some things are black and white
Come on we got to win this fight
Some things are wrong not right
So people gotta hold on tight
Some things are like dynamite
Got to make them see the light
Some things are black and white
Come on fight the fight

Verse 2

Listen to my verse and words in the tune
It's all going down on the first of June
People gather round give your point of view
In the manor underground be the voice for you crew
Yeah it matters now make a choice for the truth
You can't cull the bagers if you aint got the proof
NFU NFU deaths bad karma for your revenue
NFU NFU it's not a clever move
I think you better think it through
Be careful what you do
Cos the inner city's gritty
And we don't like the news
TB just rteduced by 16%
Even if every single badger is dead
So whats the effect we're not impressed
All the scientists said it doesn't make sense
Yet the killing goes ahead
How do you sleep in your bed
Get off my badger or I will get vex!

Chorus

Some things are black and white
Come on we got to win the fight
Some things are wrong not right
So people got to holld on tight!
Some things are like dynamite
Gotta make them see the light
Some things are black and white
Come on fight the fight

Spoken word: (Sir David Attenborough)
So the government instituted a major inquiry to establish
scientifically the facts. That involved culling 11,000 badgers and
the results by the government advisor to that independent scientific
group were that culling was not a vible policy option.

Chorus

Some things are black and white
Come on we got to win this fight
Some things are wrong not fight
So people got to hold on tight!

X2

Some thing are like dynamite
Got to make them see the light
Some things are black and white
Come on fight the fight

STOP THE CULL

earlier post
West Wales badger cull
http://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/west-wales-badger-cull.html

R.S Thomas ( 29/3/13 -25/9/00) - On the Threshold of Liberty

                               
                                Rene Magritte


Been away a week, amongst  Hay-on -Wye's corporate tents, time for  annual reflections, time for trusty old notebooks to disappear.
Reflections  may come, and go, but every year I read some R.S. Thomas, so this year with it being the centenary of his birth it adds a little poignancy. So last week as I immersed myself in Welsh landscapes. I also searched out Mr Thomas's deeper imaginings, where his passion for art is overlooked, far away from Iago Prytherch, his  resonance still littered with profound suffusion, little proclamations of committment, that continually assist.
So today I honour yesterdays's serial obsessive, who unlike google at least followed some kind of ethical code, whose flowers  still bloom in hope's potent wind. On the bridge of possibility.

What it means is:
            you must accede
to the invention. Flesh,
trees, dwellings, the grain
                        in the wood
are vulnerable and not
             to be shot at;
only the sky is
           target.
                    Challenged
the inventor would claim
             all he wants is
  for it to go off.
                        So move
the paintings to one side
             in  the humanist's
gallery; open a window.
Let the gun point its muzzle,
at the idea that there are limits.       

Reprinted from
Ingrowing Thoughts- R.S .Thomas
Poetry Wales Press, 1985.          

Looking (after Hay)

Yesterday,
went missing for hours,
drifted in and out of shops,
with scraps of paper,
names of elusive books,
written down, to look for lost pleasures,
to fill in the blanks, left at home.
I Walked with open mind,
followed random navigation,
echoes reverberating with voluptuous tranquility,
it began to rain, saw poets,making a run for it,
turning on their heels, running on plains of sensation,
I continued searching, leaned on  latticed bookcases,
deciphering experimental  exit signs,
of no return.

Palestinian Children killed by Israeli forces since 2000 : 1,397

 

That was quicker than expected, quick schedule here, lest we forget.
An Israel government report released on May 19th claims Israelis occupation forces did not kill 12 year old Muhammad Al-Durra and that he may not be dead at all. Credible human rights organisations disagree.
Jamal a-Durra, Muhammads father responded ' Israel says my son is n't dead. Can you imagine how this feels for a father who has lost his child.They have all the technology tools in the world. He's not dead? Then bring him to me.
Muhammad is just one of nearly 1,400 children who have been killed since 2000 as a result of the military occupation and settler presence in the West Bak, Gaza strip, and East JJerusalem.
Read a full report by the IMEU here.
http://www.dci-palestine.org/content/child-fatalities