Peace Vigil - Aberteifi/Cardigan, West Wales.

Just drawing attention to a local event in my area where people can come together in protest against all wars. Possibly there will be those here who will explain the different struggles the road to peace can take. With more  and more people speaking out against wars destructive force, the road to some for justice can also be achieved. A strong reminder too, for whoever goes past that there will always be  people, ever vigilant in their stand against war.

Charlie Haden (6/8/37 -11/7/14) - Silence R.I.P

Double bass player and Jazz icon who helped change the shape of jazz, has sadly passed away aged 76. In his own words last year he said " I want to take people away  from the ugliness and sadness around us every day and bring beautiful, deep music to as many people as I can." An avant garde icon, I am thankful  for  the magnificent music that he bought to my table, combined with his wonderful creativity, passion  and political conviction.
Charlie Haden Rest in Peace.


Charlie Haden and Chet Baker - Silence

What's the difference between Palestine and Israel.

This post is dedicated to my mum and dad, and all those others perplexed by my take on recent events.
For Fuck's sake, the difference  between the Palestinians and Israelis is that the Palestinians have no military base - the struggle is akin   to David and Goliath.  WE,  I and other colluders - gave away Palestinian land in  1948 -  when we had no right whatsoever to do so - it was underhand shenanigans - and as it has turned out highly dangerous and volatile.
The recent attacks by Israel have been described as COMBAT?
A funny form of COMBAT, because where for instance are the Palestinian warplanes? Where is the Palestinian army? Where are  the Palestinian tanks?
At the end of the day Israel  murders and the world's governments are silent ( not just silent but complicit in it from  the start - the US arming Israel to the teeth so as to have another strong Military in the Middle East?
Don't look at the BBC to find this out, they will not point out that a society that supposedly values and  is apparently prepared for peace, it's people celebrate the murder of innocent civilians.
The mainstream media, wants us to demonise the victims. Israel denies and ignores all international law, continues to steal land, the Palestinians, those on the other side so to speak, remain imprisoned. bombarded by air, sea, and land.
So mum and dad if you have read this far, this is why I wont shut up. All human but the real difference between Israel and Palestine should not go by unnoticed. These are the real barriers to peace.
Remember too, that civilians are dying. Israeli airstrikes  in the past few days have killed at least  83 people, including 21 children aged 16 and younger.
More than enough reasons for us not to remain silent.

Support the strike on 10 July

Pay freezes and below inflation pay rises have reduced public sector workers pay  by 20% since the rotten coalition Government came to power in 2010 Public sector pensions have  been attacked and public services  have been slashed across the country. So this is why I will be  supporting up to 2 million people out on  a coordinated strike action across the country tomorrow  being planned by  among others the  NUT, GMB, FBU, PCS . Lets make sure  that the strikers  are supported in our communities. Remember that they are fighting for us all, as they give the coalition a message that they can't ignore.
We should also remember those unemployed existing on depivation levels, with benefit sanctions,  the thousands of workfare victims, the disabled under attack, all those suffering under the coalitions draconian policies. The Tories and their friends  are not looking after us but  together in solidarity we can, they can't ignore us, when they see us all fighting back.

 

 

Tears of Gaza: The video social media keeps removing!

Tears of Gaza:
The video that social media keeps removing. Please share it while you can.
Be moved by this video, its why we continue to love and support Palestine and Palestinians and Sorry for the ugliness but this is the the horror and terror visited daily on Palestine. Children and civilians living in fear. So bloody sad.

This is not the sunshine, this is Gaza being bombarded!

Suicide in the Trenches - Siegfreid Lorraine Sassoon ( 8//9/1886- 1/9/67)

Following my recent post on Armed Forces Day, a poem by Siegfried Sassoon.
The trenches of  the First World War were a vast area of darkness and danger, dank and miserable conditions, often infested  with rats who ate the flesh of the dead. The stench  of unwashed humanity, all squashed together, combined with the smell of rotting flesh, and overflowing latrines, and the lingering smell of death and battle on accounts must have been unbearable.
Siegfried Sassoon witnessed  all this and came to see and understand the futility of conflict. In the following poem, the line ' No one spoke of him again.' illustrates how many soldiers found dead  in the trenches at the time were simply forgotten. All this suffering, erased, because death which occurred in such vast numbers  simply merged into one.  Over 16 million deaths and 20 million wounded in what is considered to be among the deadliest of
conflicts in human history.
We should not forget the 306 British and Commonwealth soldiers who were shot  on the orders of the military top brass, many suffering from shell shock, and what is now known as Post Traumatic Stress. Charged with desertion after  becoming dazed and confused, young disturbed, traumatised teenagers some of them , who had simply volunteered for duty.
Many other soldiers during the First World War were driven to suicide, or left with  mental exhaustion, depression and shell shock because of this war.
It has taken time, but the stigma of mental health issues  caused by conflict are  very real indeed. In the end  no glory in war, only sadness, this is how I choose to remember. This why humanity too, should  not forget the barbarity and futility  that the world has ever known.

Suicide in the Trenches

I knew a simple soldier boy
Who grinned at life  in empty joy.
Slept  soundly through the lonesome dark.
And whistled early with  the lark.

In winter trenches, cowed and glum,.
With crumps and lice and lack of rum,
He put a bullet through his brain.
No one spoke of him again.

You smug-faced crowds with  kindling eye
Who cheer  when soldier lads march by.
Sneak home and pray you'll never know
The hell where youth  and laughter go.

Happy Birthday N.H.S

The N.H.S turns 66 today - happy birthday  and lets make sure it is not the last. This is our N.H.S. Everyone rich or poor, woman or child can use it. or any part of it. There are no charges except for a few special items.We love it, we pay for it, and we will certainly fight for it. We must not allow the Tories to dismantle it, and strongly say no to any attempt at privatisation. There is still plenty of money to go round, it's just the case of it being in the wrong hands.
It has endured  so long in our hearts and minds because of its  founder, the late great Nye Bevan  who said ' Illness is neither an indulgence for which people have to pay, nor an offence, for which they should be penalised, but a misfortune, the cost of which should be shared by the community'
So while I'm at it, I will raise a glass to Nye Bevan's honour too, here's to the next 66 years.

The British National Health Service 1948

The night is long faced.

The night is long faced
accustomed as it is to misfortune
every night the Palestinian
under occupation, since 1948
tries to sleep in its shadow.

It's people killed everyday
children left as  orphans,
daily it is hit, in the face
and in the guts,
again and again
until this process
starts to feel normal.

This is the taste of occupation
people learning  to live  in fear everyday,
knowing that any minute, their front door
could be kicked down, trying to stay human,
trying desperately to stay sane
knowing that  their children, mothers and fathers,
may never return home again.

The  children are seen as terrorists,
for simply using slingshots against tanks
and fierce looking  men with machine guns
the media  likes to portray them as perpetrators
its people as the enemy,
while turning the bully 
into a victim. 

In the mornings, seeds of bitterness spread
as grim days stretch out this peoples agony,
and the longing for their liberation
and though Palestine does not exist on the map
it exists  in the hearts of millions around the world.

Like the night, they have learnt
that with warm buds of thirst,
freedom is existence, and survival is resistance 
and that  one day, from the rivers to the sea ,
with hope on their sides, they will be free.

Glenda Jackson's speech about Iain Duncan Smith and the DWP

Glenda Jackson 30 June 2014

Every word the truth. Why can't Millibland be more like this. Perhaps he has no real life experience, does not  know lots of vulnerable people, or those daily under the receiving end of  the Conservatives bullying approach.
We need more people like Glenda Jackson, voices of truth speaking against  smiling tyrants of the oppressed in this country, whilst so called representatives twidding with their mobile phones, collect their cash, show no real interest at all, showing us that they have no bloody compassion at all.

Be Careful of drunken words

           
                                                                 (Thanks Kim)

Be careful of  drunken words  that are let loose
in particular after drinking large quantities of wine
they will create and reel in havoc
as they tear themselves into pieces
leave a trial of distraction
coming and going in haze of hesitation.

Be careful of drunken words
that cannot walk in straight lines
words  that break through taboos
words if breathalysed could be charged
and then imprisoned
words  that may never be found again
because they have been put in solitary confinement.

Be careful of drunken words
let loose with abandonment
wide eyed and legless
sprawled on the pavement outside
staggering without pause
staining the paths of conformity
refusing to be silent.

Be careful of drunken words
in the streets hawking messages of sorrow,
weeping, keeping faith with blurred sensitivity
rippling with defiance, straining to be heard
spitting against the gates, frightening the sober
                                                 voices away.
be careful of drunken words.