I am Bradley Manning

It's time to stop the war on whistleblowers
http://iambradleymanning.org

Avalon

The chambers of the sun
break through the mist
light releases, hugs the earth
makes space within our hearts
as we follow chords of immediacy
sing out abundant songs
pause and remember
as rippling currents point the way
feeding thirsty roots
casting shadows of peace
against the darkness of seasons sap
the roads lead on and on
as nature continues to carry us
releasing seeds, leaves, and hope
making things stronger 
feeding love that grows
as we struggle and renew
all things are possible.

Happy Summer Solstice,
heddwch/peace

World Refugee Day

On this day
Don't forget the 6 million Palestinian Refugees around the world.
Some 31% of Palestinian refugees in the West Bank and Gaza live below the poverty line, according to statistics issued by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.
This is reinforced by a young population of which 41% are under the age of 15, compared with 39.7% of the non-refugee population in the West Bank and Gaza strip.
Meanwhile 27.9% of over 15 year olds are unemplyed, compared with 19.8% of non-refugees.
However, the illiteracy rate among Palestinian refugees is lower than non-refugees, with a rate of 3.7% of those aged 15 and above, compared to 4.3% of non-refugees.
While 86% of refugees owned their own housing units, only 15.9% owned private cars. 10% less than non-refugees.
These statistics were released to mark International Refugee Day and show that as of 1 January 2013, there were 5.3 million UNRWA registered Palestinian refugees.
Of the total 40% are in Jordan, 24% in Gaza strip. 17% in the West Bank, 10% in Syria and 9% in Lebanon.
According to UNRWA'S website, when the Agency satrted working in 1990, it was responding to the needs of about 750,000 Palestine refugees.
http://www.unrwa.org/

A Slow Burning Fuse

                                                   Sao Paulo, Brazil, 13/6/13

                                                   Turkey, now.

Voices tail us
roaring on the wind,
in a rainbow breath
on the squares of continents,
people united, under flags of resistance
brandishing patents of indignation,
where  crumbs become waves
and the air fills with fire.and rage,
Poisoned by legislators, and politicians tongue
calls for justice, weave comrades together,
and with clenched fists, the people sing
tides, follow no order, but it's forces soar,

Passionate defiance stirring throughout the land

People united by struggle, one just worthy cause.
as the barriers and fences come tumbling down
the fury of the masses  cannot be contained,
a slow burning fuse, fuelling  pulsations,
when, there is nothing left to lose.

Nice Page,here inspiration for above poem
https://www.facebook.com/#!/TheSlowBurningFuse?fref=ts

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.