Bob Crow (13/6/61 - 11/3/14) R.I.P Comrade in Arms

 

 

Sad to hear the news  earlier that Bob Crow, the General Secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) had passed away in the early hours of this morning. He will be greatly missed, strong passionate voices like his are needed now more than ever. He will be remembered for a long time because he stood  up for others, working tirelessly for his union, committed too to the many whose voices are simply ignored. A man for all people, he realised that together as one we can release the chains, in his own words " 'If you fight, you won't always win. But if you don't fight, you will always lose.'"
A friend of  progressive causes across the globe, an anti fascist, who fought for the underdog and for what he believed,proudly standing with the Palestinian people, challenging Israels policies, speaking also over the years at the Trade Union Congress for peace and justice for all,
An effective leader, of enormous integrity, bravery and vision. His defence  of standards in public transport was about much more than the interests of his own members, it was for the general society and our shared responsibilities.
His struggle was ours, for a better society. His work unfortunately unfinished, so we must carry on his deeds.
The enemies of the working class  knew his value, in their consistent campaign of vilification, led by the Daily Mail. Only yesterday he gave a frank and quite candid interview with Radio 4, with his last breaths he never flinched an inch.
So thank you Comrade Bob Crow, my thoughts go out  to his family and friends and all those he worked so hard to represent.
The struggle continues.

William S. Burroughs on Dreams

Excerpts from a lecture by William S. Burroughs on public discource, recored at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics on August 11, 1980. The complete 90 minute sound file can  be downloaded here.
http://www.archive.org/details/naropa_william_s_burroughs_lecture_on
(Other topics discussed include nuclear weapons, disarmament, aliens, function of the artist, writing, cut-up method, mind-altering drugs, reincarnation, and economics.)

Timelapse photography by Martin Setvak
http://www.setvak.cz/timelapse
Selected clips are from the2008 and 2007 galleries.Music by Biosphere ( 'As the Sun kissed the Horizon' and ' Poa Alpina' from 'Substrata,' Origo Sound 1997).

Beautiful day over here, not sure what to do watch a game of Rugby Wales Verses England (wonder if you can guess who I will be supporting) or go outside spend sometime in the garden. Either way I will keep on dreaming.

Ingeborg Bachmann (25/6/26 -17/10/74) Every Day

Ingeborg Bachmann was an Austrian Poet and short story writer. She wrote a doctoral thesis on philosophy at  Heidgegger. She was awarded the Buchner Prize in 1964. Her work focused on themes of personal borders, the establishment of the time, and the philosophy of language. 
I decdicate this post in solidarity to my sisters everywhere on International Womens Day remembering all the struggles and sacrifices they have made. Heddwch/peace.

Every Day

War is no longer declared
but continued. The unheard-of thing
in the every-day. The hero
keeps away from the fighters. The weak man
has moved up to the battle zones.
The uniform of the day is patience,
its decoration the humble star
of hope worn over the heart.

It is awarded
when nothing goes on,
when the drumbeat subsides,
when the enemy has grown invisible
and the shadow of everlasting arms
covers the sky.

It is awarded
for desertion of the flag,
for courage in the face of the friend,
for the betrayal of unworthy secrets
and for the non-observance
of every order.

Egypt denies entry of 62 women peace activists en route to Gaza for International Women's Day

More than 40 women from the U.S based anti-war group Code Pink on there way to Gaza as part of a delegation for International Womens day are staging a sit in insidde  Cairo International Airport after being refused entry into the country since Tuesday, airport officials in Egypt have said today. They were travelling to witness the hardships facing the 1.7 million residents og Gaza, and to deliver  humanitarian aid and call attention  for a long term strategy to achieve peace and justice for Palestinians. Standing in solidarity  with the terrible life that women, children and old people have to endure daily in Gaza.
Some of the activists  have been deported, they include women from many different countries,  including Northern Ireland  Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairead Maguire, American human rights campaigner Medea Benjamin, and Northern Ireland human rights advocate Anne Patterson.
 Ms Benjamin, who travelled alone, was assaulted  by Egyptian security officials deported to Istanbul, Turkey, on March 4 and was hospitalised overnight in Istanbul until her flight to the US midday on March 5," according to a press release by CODEPINK.
It is widely being seen as a backward step in Egypst support of the Palestinian cause  and the Gazan people in particular.
Link to CODEPINKS website here:-

http://www.codepink4peace.org/

 

 

 

 

Fly Kites Not Drones

March is kite flying weather, support the people of Afganistan, Palestine, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia by flying a kite. Kite flying has become synonomous with Afghanistan as a well loved pursuit which was banned under the Taliban, now Afghans are more used to the presence of UK armed surveillance drones flying above. Having to live under the mental pressure and physical destruction which British drones (currently operated from RAF Waddington, Lincoln) now reap.
A campaign launched  by Voices for Creative Non-Violence UK in solidarity with the Afghanistan Peace Volunteers  who want  to end the use of drones. In commemoration of the Afghan New Year 21-23 March.
More information here:-

http://vcnvuk.wordpress.com/

Oh and if you haven't signed the following please do.

Who Controls my sky?

Small World Theatre which is local to me, has got through to the final shortlist of 3.
With your help it can go all the way?

Drones are currently being tested in my local area. Unmanned Surveillance and weapons equipped aerial devices, although the drones may not be armed when tested  there have been worrying accidents. Small World Theatre would like the opportunity for my community to creatively discuss this controversial subject and share different views.

Is this a vital multi billion pound industry for Wales?

Is West Wales part of a programme that assists surveillance and remote killing?

Small World is an artist led organisation, who with the National Theatre Wales is helping explore the impact of the use of drines locally, nationally and internationally.

In a personal capacity as a member of Cardigan Pembrokeshire Amnesty International Group we have been campaigning against them for a number of years.We have constantly condemned there use, which are used to assist surveillance and remote killing.
It's a worlwide issue though and effects us all, so please vote for them here :-

http://nationaltheatrewales.org/who-controls-drones-my-sky

if you would prefer to text

here's a number

thanks, heddwch/peace

029 2009 1507

I also support the following local initiative here in West Wales

Drape the Drones in Aberporth September 21st 

 

see poster with details here:-

http://dronecampaignnetwork.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/drape-poster.pdf

There is also a facebook page which you can find here:-

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Drapethedrones/491092527676407?ref=nf

30th Anniversary of the Miners Strike : Their brave struggle not forgotten.

30 years ago on March 1, 1984, the state owned National Coal Board under American Ian MacGregor aided and abetted, by the then Conservative Government under Margaret Thatcher announced  that it planned to close 20 coal pits with the loss of over 20,000 jobs. This decision was to go and pit Mrs Thatchers government against the NUM and its then president, Arthur Scargill.
The year-long strike  that followed would change the political, economic and social history of Britain forever. The courage and determination of  the striking miners, their families and communities would charge and inspire the political consciousness of hundreds of thousands of people, as it did for me, aged 16 and a half at the start of the strike.
It would see the full force of  the state  out to try and break and tear apart  communities with  the use of road-blocks, beatings, snatch squads, phone taps and the erosion of civil liberties.

Miners on picket lines were brutalised and attacked by baton-wielding police in full riot gear. For me at the time this was to be a year of great awakenings, seeing their fight, I started to see connections with other peoples struggles. The plight of the poor and unemployed, Nicuaragua and Apartheid South Africa, people being daily attacked by Margaret Thatchers rabid Government. I decided  to take sides with with those who decided to take on the right wing policies of Thatchers government.
The rights and wrongs of whether the miners should have had a national ballot has been widely discussed, but like many others at the time I believed that once the miners were out, it was our duty to support and work for them. Within weeks of the strike starting 80%  of miners supported the strike, standing against what they saw as the unjustifiable attacks on their right to existance and resistance.

Later at Orgreave it became apparent, of the true intentions of Thatchers government, with the full collusion of the police ,it was noticed that they had no intention of finding reconciliation or settlement to this industrial dispute. The sole intention was an ideological one, to mortally wound the National Union of Mineworkers, to defeat it with military force and with naked violence ,by any means necessary.
Despite increasing hardships the miners fought on with determination and bravery. During the course of the strike over 6,000 were arrested, with over 20,000 miners being injured in acts of state violence.
Throughout the strike I would witness, how the right wing media tried to vilify and undermine. The media being used to lie, and used as a weapon to crush the miners resiliance, the media  also enabling to misrepresent, and divide the movement.The propoganda part of Thatchers assault, was being pushed out  everyday. At her so called enemy within.
Psychological  pressure was  also used, with the police encouraged to wave wads of cash at pickets, designed to undermine and demoralise, the use of scabs increased, bussing them through picket lines in a determined effort to break the will of the striking miners.

Throuhout the country, groups emerged, either as individuals or part of miners support groups, raising money and awareness, standing in solidarity. Disparate groups found common ground,  from the Unemployed, the Peace Movement, students, other Trade Unions, all standing firmly behind the miners in their great struggle. The women from the mining communities in particular acted as bulmarks of strength, organising welfare and support, collecting food and money and giving much needed moral energy. Lesbian and Gay support groupss also  played a vital role and consequently the NUM led the pride demonstration in London  in 1985. It was an energising time, new friends were made, the camerardie that emerged was simply amazing.
Sadly eventually some miners started drifting back there will broken,  but it should be noted  that 63% of the miners stayed out  to the bitter end, and finally they were defeated, there can be no denying this unfortunate fact.

Sadly they were also let down  by the Labour Party,  especially  their spineless leader Neil Kinnock, who refused to attend picket lines or events supporting the miners, in effect helping Thatchers dirty war of attrition. Other Trade Union leaders let them down to, unfortunately.
30 years later I remember the courage and sacrifice made during this bitter struggle and the spirit   of revolt they unleashed, and those who remained defiant to  the end, and acknowledge the miners who were arrested and locked up on trumped up charges.The communities that never fully recovered from the financial blow of the strike. Those  who fought for the survival of a humane society here in Wales and across Britain, and a vile government who used the state in almost all its entirety to defeat the miners and to teach the whole working class a lesson. Passions remain unwaned, and I feel the miners strike has left us with a legacy that we should be proud of, of a people and community standing together in solidarity in the face of adversity.
30 years on solidarity is needed  more than ever, as we remember the miners struggle, and continue our own for jobs, social justice and welfare. in our opposition to the current Con Dem coalition Government, who are carrying on where Thatcher left off.
The fight continues.

Test Department and the South Wales Striking Miners

- Comrades in Arms

Evan James (Ieuan ap Iago:- 1809 - 20/9/1878) An Ivorite song to be sung to the tune of Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau

On a lighter note, happy St Davids day/ dydd dewi sant. Cymru rydd!
Evan James was a modest tradesman living in Pontypridd in the mid nineteenth Century. Born in 1809 in Caerphilly. He was a weaver by trade, who would spend his spare time reading literature and composing simple poetry. From an early age he showed a natural gift gor music and became fond of the harp. He also happens to be the author  of Wales National anthem Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau (land of my Fathers), giving the Welsh nation inspiration and passion, and something to sing about on Rugby International days.
An occasional  publican, his circle of interest was the local eisteddfodau, the Ivorite charity society, and the motley  circle of poets who gathered at the Rocking Stone/ Y Garreg Siglo on Pontypridd  Common, the central point for the meeting of the Gorsedd or gathering of the bards, which were first organised by a hero of mine, that rascal called Edward Williams, otherwise known as Iolo Morgannwg. Oh and Evan also went under the bardic name of Ieuan ap Iago.
Anyway off in a while to warm my soul with a hearty bowl of cawl, and a tasty piece of cheese.
Heddwch/peace

Can Iforwal:
 i'w chanu ar don Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau

Gyfeillion Iforwal a breinuddawlllawn bri,
Cyflwynaf trwy draserch iachannerchi chwi,
Os noddir trwy burdeb ein hundeb yn iawn,
O frody ei gysur a gawn

Byrdwn;

   Iaith, iaith, noddwn yr hen iaith
   Hoff aeg odidog enwog yw
   Tan faner Iforiaeth bydd fyw.

Gwir yw'r hen ddihareb 'mewn undeb mae nerth'
Trwy'r profiad a gawson ni wyddom ei gwerth,
Mae braint ac anrhydedd o'i golud i'w gael
A rhinwedd gorfoledd gwir fael.

Byrdwn;

Y firain Iforiaeth hoff heiaeth ei flawd
Gwir brawf o'i gweithredoedd ar gyhoed a gawn,
Cynhorthwy tra rhyfedd o'i rhinwedd a roes
Mewn adfyd, tan glefyd a gloes

Byrdwn;

Boed heddwch a chariad wyr mad yn ein mysg
Gan ddiwyll ymdrechau i daenu gwawl dysg,
Meithrinwn gyd-deimlad o'r bwriad di-ball
Fo'n gynne, er lles naill y Llall.

Byrdwn;

Er pob creulonderau am oesau tra maith
Ni lwyddodd un gelyn yn erbyn ein hiaith
Er lladd ein Tywysog galluog a'n Llyw
Mae'r berffaith hen  famiaith yn fyw.

Byrdwn;

An Ivorite song:
to be sung to the tune of Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau

Ivorite friends privileged and honoured
I offer adoration and greetings to you,
if properly protected our union in purity,
My brothers, it's comfort we'll have

Refrain

   Welsh, Welsh, we will protect the old tonque
   Beloved and splendid and famed
   Beneath the Ivorite banner will live.

True is the old proverb 'in union there's strength',
From our experince it's value we know,
There's honour and privilege to be had from its wealth
And virtue  and joy to be won.

Refrain;

The comely fellowship abundant its fate
True proof of its actions for all can be seen,
Marvellous assistance of virtue it gave
In distress, ill health and in pain.

Refrain;

May there be peace and affection in our midst
By sincere endeavour to spread learnings light,
Nurturing sympathy and never to fail
So warm for the good of us all.

Refrain;

In spite of atrocities in ages long past
No foe was successful in destroyng our tonque,
In spite of the killing of Llywellyn our helm
The perfect old language still lives.

Refrain;

A Poem for Yarmouk

Yesterday the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees released photographs of what it called "apocalyptic scenes " of Palestinians queing for food parcels in Syria's refugee camp.
A day earlier, UNRWA chief Flippo Grandi spoke of the shocking conditions he had seen inside the camp, which has been under seige and bombardment for months.
"It's like the appearance of ghosts" he said of the sight of thousands of Palestinians flooding toward an aid distibution point at the camp, when he was in the Syrian capital on Monday.

Poem for Yarmouk

Scenes of unimaginable desolation,
the sounds of devastated cries,
as Palestinians in Syria,
get caught up in a man made catastrophe.
The images that we see, only a hint,
of the suffering, deprivation and loss,
experienced daily by the inhabitants of Yarmouk ,
humanitarian aid blocked, people marooned,
shivering under a helpless sky,
forgetting to tell joy from bitterness,
in darkness, tears fall all around,
as walls of suffering hold there gaze,
while humanity fails to answer the need,
of a people driven to exile to a hostile land,
the smell of jasmine, far from there breath.

What can we do? How to explain?
How many questions can  there be?
as they shout in misery and desperation,
a mother tries to protect her newborn child,
to allow it to be safe from harm,
left out, and allowed to drift,
in this prison camp of stinging shadows,
going nowhere fast, with nowhere to run,
cornered in a hell that they did not choose,
another dark page in the passage of history,
a savage reminder of the sacrements of man.

ACT NOW THIS SIEGE MUST END
Various petitions online.
Here's one:-
http://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/uk_Government_United_Nations_Break_the_siege_of_Yarmouk_Damascus_and_Homs/pv=8

Atos awarded new contract for N.H.S records! The mind truly boggles.

I was jubilant when I heard the news that ATOS the French company that has hounded our sick and disabled citizens to death, acting under Government orders, originally bought over by the old one (New Labour) had decided to withdraw its services as asssessor of people on disability benefits. A company that has declared thousands of people fit for work, and  within 6 weeks  of being declared fit for work, 10,000 people have since died, a dircreditable company with blood on its hands. A company that has made profits from the vulnerable, making nearly £2 billion from there contact awithout having paid a penny in tax.
A company that is simply not fit for purpose, I wrote a poem about rhem last week , and attended a demonstration against them in Carmarthen. Driven to give up there old contract  because of the depths of feeling against them, acting as a lighning rod for hatred and upset.
Now I have heard the almost unbelieavable news   that they will now manage the extraction of patient records from GP surgeries as part of the controversial NHS data-sharing scheme. They will now have access to  our family history, vaccinations, referrals for treatment, diagnoses and information about prescriptions, all our confidential data, D.O.B, postcode, NHS number and genders.
The governments insensitivity in handing over this new contract to this disreputable company is amazing, but knowing there track record I guess it is to be expected. Like ATOS, this Government does not care about the feelings of the people it is supposed to be serving.
The concern is not just from me, Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chair of the BMA general practitioners committe, has expressed concern about the widespread confusion theses  plans couldmake. Damaging the trust built up between individuals and famly doctors. He said :-
"Patients visit their GP, they visit us and they entrust us with very personal, confidential information as part of their life-long record in general practice.
At the heart of our concern as GPs is that if patients mistrust or are concerned about the security of their data, or have concerns about how this data will be used, that would actually potentially, irrevocably damage that fabric of trust when a patient walks into their GP surgery.
That may actually have other consequences in the way the NHS rcords data, it may actually result in patient not attending their surgery at all, for fear or what may happen to their records.
Or they might be inhibited in being totally open about some things."
And I got most of the above information from the Torygraph newspaper.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/10661359/Atos-awarded-contract-for-NHS-records.html . I do not have any trust in ATOS, let alone any faith in this Tory run government, to hand over this sensitive contract to such an unreliable organisation,they must be having a laugh. If there next step was to hand  over a contract to Count Dracula to manage the blood bank, in days like these, it would not be to surprising.
Tell your doctor that you do not want your records to be handled or shared in this manner.

The Records are cracked but spin with delight

At home still play my old records,
that take me to uncontrolled steeples heights,
punk, jazz and blues, some reggae and soul,
psychedelic adventurers, world music cosmanauts,
celtic flowers spinning with benediction.

Entrapping time, drowning conversation,
in magical perfume, atoms of infinity.
supplicants of memory,
returning me to,
gardens  of youth.

Round and round, paint the sky,
with saluted cadence, discharging smiles,
floods of necessity, time capsules of electricity,
cicada's voice rumbles on,
ringing out loud, doubling horizon,
opening windows of perception,
rhythms endless stream,
resurrecting and carrying.

Transistors of heart's beat,
that feed my faith,
in pastures of endurity,
these tides release my dancing feet,
floating on rivers of delight.

Oceans of sound,  navigate uncharted
                                                 waters,
as the needle gets into the groove,
melding endlessly in gracious flight,
the blossom of chords and notes,
is enough to sustain and warm,
as melodies and songs, explode on
                                              tonque.