40th Anniversary of Chilean Coup: Justice Must be served

 

September 11, 2013, marks the 40th anniversary of the Chilean coup d'etat,  that ousted the democratically elected President of Chile, Salvador Allende, which led to a 17 year old repressive dictatorship and the torture and murder of thousands of innocents, under the auspices of General Augusto Pinochet from 1973 to 1990. On this day air force planes  bombed the presidential palace, and in the aftermath Allende lay dead, having committed suicide rather than be captured.
More  than 3,000 people were killed by state agents or dissapeared during this era, and more than 27,000 were tortured, with many thousands more being forced into exile. All told, the  present Chilean government now recognises that more than 40,000 people were killed, imprisoned and tortured for political reasons.

Sadly  many years after this brutal dictatorships demise, for many victims of the dictatorship has proven elusive. Many people  are still demanding truth and justice, and will not rest until they have found out was has happened to their loved ones, who were arrested, and went missing, never to return.
Barak Obama declared on Margaret Thatcher's death that she was "one of greatest champions of freedom and liberty." This is the same bit of poison that told her friend Pinochet that, she was " very much aware that it was you that brought  democracy to Chile, you set up a constitution  suitable for democracy."
Throughout Pinochets regime of terror he was supplied by UK Defence Manufacturers, the military junta that took power  bombed the presidential palace  using British Hawker Hunter aircraft. She personally after coming into power lifted the arms embargo on his regime. Whilst Thatcher fawned over him, Pinochet carried on killing, critics, and any form of opposition, among them the revered Chilean singer Victor Jara, who was arrested by the military and tortured at Estadio Chile, in front of thousands of onlookers, who was subsequently shot as he defied the taunting soldiers by singing, his body left bloodied, his bones and his hands broken and battered full of bullet holes.

Victor Jara

 Pinochet would always be thankful to Thatcher, visiting her on an annual pigrimage to London.
Pinochet eventually died in 2006, under house arrest, with many millions of pounds laundered in banks, but had  managed to avoid going on trial and thus avoiding justice.

Thatcher and Pinochet

 

 

Pinochet the murderous fascist dictator

 

For  many his legacy is one of state terrorism, and rampant disregard for human rights, he caused a whole society to become fearful, their daily lives one of terror. We must not forget, the dead and the missing, nor the human rights activists who shone a light on this dark regime. For many victims of the dictatorship justice has proven elusive, people still waiting to hear the outcome  of eight retired army officers who have been indicted in Chile in connection with the murder and torture of Jara.
According to Amnesty Internationals Deputy Director at the Americas Programme, Guadalupa Marenga " It is not acceptable that 40 years after the military coup the search for justic, truth and repatriation in Chile continues to be hampered. An amnesty law continues to shield human rights violators from prosecution, there are still long delays in judicial proceedings and sentences fail to reflect the severity of the crimes committed."
There is a petition by Amnsty International signed by thousands that you can sign here, calling on the Chilean authorities to put an end to all obstacles protecting the perpetrators of human rights violations in the country. The fight for justice continues.

http://www.amnistia.cl/web/formulario/40anosGolpeEstado/

Victor Jara of Chile - Adrian Mitchell

Victor Jara of Chile
Lived like a shooting star
He fought for the people of Chile
With his songs and his guitar

And his hands were gentle
His hands were strong

Victor Jara was a peasant
Worked from a few years old
He set upon his father's plough
And watched the earth unfold

And his hands were gentle
His hands were strong

When the neighbours had a wedding
Or one of their children died
His mother sang all night for them
With Victor by her side

And his hands were gentle
His hands were strong

He grew to be fighter
Against the people's wrongs
He listened to their grief and joy
And turned them into songs

And his hands were gentle
His hands were strong

He sang about the copper miners
And those who work the land
He sang about the factory workers
And they knew he was their man

And his hands were gentle
His hands were strong

He campaigned for Allende
working night and day
He sang take hold of your brother's hand
The future begins today

And his hands were gentle
is hands were strong

The bloody generals seized  Chile
hey arrested Victor  then
They caged him in a stadium
With five thousand frightened men

 And his hands were gentle
His hands were strong

Victor stood in the stadium
His voice was brave and strong
He sang for his fellow prisoners
Til the guards cut short his song

And his hands were gentle
His hands were strong

They broke the bones in both his hands
They beat his lovely head
They tore him with electric shocks
After two days of torture they shot him dead

And his hands were gentle
His hands were strong

And now the Generals rule Chile
And the British have their thanks
For they rule with Hawkers Hunters
And they rule with Chieftain tanks

And his hands were gentle
His hands were strong

Victor Jara of Chile
Loved like a shooting star
He fought for thee people of Chile
With his songs and his guitar

And his hands were gentle
His hands were strong

Reprinted from:-
The Apeman Cometh - Adrian Mitchell
Jonathan Cape, 1975

This ballad was later set to music  by Arlo Guthrie, which you can hear here :-

 Earlier post  on Victor Jara's and his Last Song
:-http://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/victor-lidio-jara-280932-150932-chile.html

Venceremos- A Chilean Popular Song

 

March organised by National Association

of Human Rights in Santiago, to mark

40th anniversary

 

 

The War machine - Stop the DSEI Arms Fair

Occupy force of citizens against 'DSEI Arms Fair' in London
Media:http://www.demotix.com/news/2625053/occupy-force-citizens-against-dsei-arms-fair-london#media=2624895
Citizens from all nations protested against the DSEI Arms fair held in the Excel Centre in London. The demonstrators held a die-in and pitched roughly 30 tents in the area.
A massive week of action is currently underway running from 7-14 September to take action against this Arms Fair which is bringing together 28,000 international buyers and sellers. These deals fuel the Arms Trade the world over, fuelling repression, conflict amd military with the complicity of our government. The Stop the Arms Fair coalition has also been attempting to highlight the 'deep hypocricy' of inviting manufgactures of Syrian weapons to showcase their wares in the Uk, while also condemning Syrian President Bashar al Assad in using them.
I have just returned from a succesful demonstration against the use of Drones at Parc Aberporth, Blaennananerch, West Wales, where I joined over a hundred strong crowd to protest against the militarisation of Welsh airspace. Joining my local Amnesty Group, C.N.D Cymru and other groups to call for the end of military drone testing.
We were aghast at the thought of our own Welsh Assembly Economy Minister Edwina Hart being in attendence at the Arms Fair, it was of the opinion that she did not represent athe voices of the people of Wales and  dissaproved of her comments after visiting the Arms Fair where she is reported to have  said : "This event provides an important an mportant platform to showcase the innovation advanced technology coming out of Wales and offers an excellent business opportunity for these clever companies to promote their capability." What an idiot I thought there is nothing clever about companies that profit from war.
We were roused by stirring speeches  from many different activists from different parts of Wales, local poets, and inspiring music from Cor Cochion Cymru, and left detemined to continue to spread our  messages, loudly in the name of peace and justice,  against the  the use of drones and other weapons that are used frequently to kill ordinary people who are going about their everyday lives across the globe. We will continue to say no to their use, when far from being used innocently, are used as indiscriminate weapons indiscriminately against civilians.

 

 

 

 

 

Map for Drone Demo: Parc Aberporth 9/9/13

The above map shows where we are meeting for demo tomorrow http://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/military-drones-out-of-wales-end-drone.html , and this is an address for all coming from far away. I hope to see a few people here.

West Wales Airport,
Blaennanerch,
Aberporth,
Ceredigion,
SA432BN

Stop the Use of Child Soldiers

What is more abominable than recruiting kids to bear arms and kill? In so many countries, children have been recruited and used by armed forces, government-backed militias, and a complex range of armed groups with varying levels of comad structure and military, political or criminal objectives. Help Stop the Use of Child Soldiers!!!

http://www.culturesofresistance.org/groups-we-support-coalition-to-stop-the-use-of-child-soldiers

The Daily Mail Tube Map

Page 15 of today's Daily Mail carries am op-ed taking Hugo Boss to task over their historic link to the Nazis,  this is the same newspaper who ran the following headlines in the 1930's.

'Hurrah for the Blackshirts'

'Give the Blackshirts a helping hand'

http://politicalscrapbook.net

Meanwhile, for legal reasoms he can only be named as journalist 'F', but today this young member of the Daily Mail's editorial staff is in hiding as threats and invective continue to spew from Paul Dacre's office after their top secret editorial formula was leaked to the press.

http://www.thepoke.co.uk/2010/07/15/daily-mails-secret-editorial-formula-revealed/

Military Drones out of Wales: End Drone terror killing

 

                                Click on above image to enlarge

The Welsh Government uses millons of pounds of our taxes to facilitate the testing of drones at Parc Aberporth up the road from me. The Israeli military are a  frequent presence there, and to say that I am uncomfortable with this would be an understatement.
The test work, carried out over the last  2 years by Qinetiq for the Ministry of Defence, was set to be completed in April, and has continued this summer.There are reports that theWatchkeeper UAV at the site is to be extended for another 2 years.
This is why I will be attending The Arms Fair Solidarity Event http://www.stopthearmsfair.org.uk at Aberporth, West Wales outside Parc Aberporth, supporting The Drones Campaign Network Cymru Event http://www.facebook.com/dronecampaignnetworkcymru
Military Drones Out of Wales:End Drone Terror Killing, coinciding with a vigil at the ExCel Arms Trade Fair http://www.dsei.co.uk/ in London, the World's largest Arm's Fair which is to showcase ' drones' and other remotely controlled weapons.
There will be a peaceful protest and demonstration on Monday the September at 12.00 midday at Parc Aberporth, Near Cardigan, West Wales.
Parc Aberporth is the main military training drone testing, training and evaluating Centre in Wales, despite many local objections. Local Amnesty International Group first raised concerns 4 years ago about the testing of drones, used by Israel against innocent Palestinian civilians in Gaza, at Aberporth. Use of military drones against civilians is a human rights abuse.
I see nothing innocent in the use of drones, although the drones flown from Parc Aberporth do not carry missiles they are used by the British Army for surveillance and 'Target Acquisition'.
Similar technologies around the world, in Gaza, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Somalia etc are armed and frequently kill ordinary people going about their every day lives. Over 2,500 people have been killed in Pakistan alone. Examples of psychological trauma caused by Drones exist in Gaza, where people have reported that Drones disrupt their daily activities, making them feel powerless and unsafe http://www.paltelegraph.com/palestine/gaza-strip/10481-the-other-israeli-psychological-war-on-gaza.html. So if you can come along, please come and join us. as we say no to Drones.


Meanwhile I would like to draw your attention to the following petition on behalf of  War On Want:

Tell the British Government to Ban Killer Drones

We're often told it's brutal regimes that trade in terror, when in fact democratic governments - including ours - have begun using a new weapon of choice:drones

Drones are unmanned aircraft, remotely controlled by 'pilots' from the ground at great distance from war zones. Far from being 'precision weapons' which kill intended targets with a high level of accuracy, recent reports indicate that at least 2,505 people have been killed by Drones in Pakistan alone.

Drones are indiscriminate weapons of war responsible for thousands of civilian deaths. In Palestine, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen, millions live under the constant threat of drone attacks.

Read More here
and please sign the petition
http://www.change.org/bankillerdrones

Seamus Heaney (13/4/39 - 30/8/13) - From the Republic of Conscience

Following yesterdays's post on the sad news of poet Seamus Heaney's death here is the text of his poem' From the Republic of Conscience ' which was commissioned by Amnesty International and published on Human Rights Day, 1985. Inspired by Prisoners of Conscience, men and women who had suffered torture, imprisonment and silence. I thank Seamus Heaney today for all the solidarity he gave to the struggles within the republic of conscience.

I

When I landed in the republic of conscience
it was so noiseless when the engines stopped
I could hear a curlew high above the runway.

At immigration, the clerk was an old man
who produced a wallet from his homespun coat
and showed me a photograph of my grandfather.

The woman in customs asked me to declare
the words of our traditional cures and charms
to heal dumbness and avert the evil eye.

No porters. No interpreter. No taxi.
You carried your own burden and very soon
your symptoms of creeping privilege disappeared.

II

Fog is a dreaded omen there but lightning
spells universal good and parents hang
swaddled infants in trees during thunderstorms.

Salt is their precious mineral. And seashells
are held to the ear during births and funerals
The base of all inks and pigments is seawater.

Their sacred symbol is a stylised boat.
The sail is an ear, the mast a sloping pen,
the hull a mouth-shape, the keel an open eye.

At their inauguration, public leaders
must swear to uphold unwritten law and weep
to atone for their presumption to hold office -

and to affirm their faith that all life sprang
from salt in tears which the sky-god wept
after he dreamt his solitude was endless.

III

I came back from the frugal republic
with my two arms the one length, the customs woman
having insisted my allowance was myself.

The old man rose and gazed into my face
and said that was official recognition
that I was now a dual citizen.

He therefore desired me when I got home
to consider myself a representative
and to speak on their behalf in my own tongue.

Their embassies, he said, were everywhere
but operated independently
and no ambassador would ever be relieved.

Reprinted from
The Haw Lantern , 1987

http://www.amnesty.org/

Seamus Heaney (13/4/39 -30/8/13 ) R.I.P - Postscript

Sad to hear that poet and nobel laureate  has died in hospital in Dublin, yesterday morning, after a short illness, aged 74, following a stroke that he had in 2006.
From his first major collection 'Death of a Naturalist (1966)  he was to become a colussus in the poetry world.Born on a farm near Toomebridge, in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, he was a magnificent communicator of global significance. His early works examined the implication of having been born into a society deeply divided along religious and political lines. This gave him a deep preoccupation with the question of poetry's responsibility and pregoratives in the world, and is now considered to be one of the most important poets of the modern age. His works were often meditations on the intersection of personal choice and loss with the larger forces of history and politics.Virtuosity  and truth, the one useless without the other, are also hallmarks of his poetry. He also saw the role of the artist to give voice to those who are oppressed and the ignored,believing that art was driven by empathy, thus being a great supporter of Amnesty International and the Palestinian people, being the Patron of the Palestine Literature Festival.
 A huge loss to the cultural hub of Ireland and the world. His words inspiring hope in a seemingly hopeless world.
He is survived by his wife Marie and three children.
The following poem , describes a drive along the Clare coast. It is a meditation on the fate of being a poet. He does not park but drives on through the glittering scene, and sees the dazzle of light on the sea, on the other side of the road, the lake. Magnificent stuff! So sad that he has gone, but his words will never fade.

                                                Postscript

And some time makes the time, to drive out west
Into County Clare, along the Flaggy Shore,
In September or October, when the wind
And the Light are working off each other
So that the ocean on one side is wild
With foam and glitter, and inland among stones
The surface of a slate-grey lake is lit
By the earthed lightning of a flock of swans,
Their feathers roughed and ruffling, white on white,
Their fully grown headstrong-looking heads
Tucked or cresting or busy underwater.
Unless to think you'll park and capture it
More thouroughly. You are neither here nor there,
A hurry through which known and strange things pass
As big soft buffetings come at the car sideways
And catch the heart of guard and blow it open.

Reprinted from:
The Spirit Level (1994)

The Martin Luther King that Obama did not mention as he plans to bomb Syria

Watch the above video to see what Martin Luther King might have said to Obama about attacking Syria.
This is the Martin Luther King that Barak Obama, who is waging several wars - In Iraq, Afghanistan, etc, etc, wants you to forget

Say no to Western Intervention in Syria

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/54193

Statement by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmarment on Syria

http://cnduk.org/cnd-media/item/1731-dont-attacksyria

Dr Martin Luther King Jr (15/1/29 -4/4/68) - I Have a Dream

Today marks the  anniversary of Dr  Martin Luther King Jr's famous  'I Have a Dream Speech, still resonating deep into the American psyche. The clergyman was a prominent leader of the civil rights movement, whose great progress has made him an icon for human rights causes across the globe.When President Kennedy brought the Civil Rights Bill before Congress in 1963, King made a speech on television on 11 June, in which he said:-

 ' The Negro baby born in America today regardless of the section of the nation in which he is born, has about one-half as much chance of completing high school as a white baby born in the same place on the same day; one third as much chance completing college; one third as much chance of becoming a professional man; twice as much chance of becoming unemployed; about one-seventh as much chance of earning $10,000 a year, a life expectancy which is even shorter; and the progress of earning only half as much.'

In an attempt to persuade Congress to pass Kennedy's proposed legislation, King and other civil rights leaders organised the famous March on Washington for jobs and freedom. The march 50 years ago was a huge success with estimates of the crowd varying between 250,000 to 400,000. King was the final speaker and outlined his vision of American racial harmony in a historic display of oratory, in the style of a fervent Baptist preacher.
Just months before he was assassinated, Dr King, was to take these ideas further, whilst organising support for the "Poor Peoples Campaigns," aimed at supplementing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with a full measure of economic and human rights for America's poor, arguing that African-Americans and poor whites were natural allies and if they worked together they could help change society.
But 50 years laters, despite some victory's and gains, the march for equality is unfinished, and for some the dream is unrealised, and  as tens of thousands of people marched to Dr King's memorial last Saturday, some pledged that his dream included equality for gays, latinos, the poor and the disabled, and we must remember our modern failures and wrongs, taking for instance, the way an all-white jury in Florida cleared George Zimmerman of murdering the black teenager Tayvon Martin, the persistently high unemployment among America's  black population, twice that of white Americans.
We cannot let go of Dr King's dream, because, surely it is everybody's dream, we must continuously try to change the world, remember those in the U.S.A fighting for jobs and freedom, a land  still lanquishing to find itself, while perpetrating injustice, discrimination and inequality.A country that imprisons more  of their citizens than any other country in the world. African Americans in particular, though they are 12% of the population, make up 38% of the state prison population, despite their crimes being no different from their white and hispanic counterparts.
Despite much positive change, the struggle continues, and we must continue pushing and shoving and  let freedom ring.

' Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today,my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold those truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons 
 of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Missisipi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governeor having his lips dripping with the words of 'interposition' and 'nulification' - one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

i have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain, shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day - this will be the day when all of God's children, will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.

Land where my father died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,

From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that:

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Missisippi.

From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

Martin Luther King Jr - I Have A Dream Speech
August 28, 1963
Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C