Time to vote ! I'm not apathetic, but I am still angry

So the Pantomine is coming towards it's end. I personally  think most of the political parties seen on parade seem distinquishible  only by the color of their ties and their forked tongues.
We should note that not all who decide not to vote tomorrow are apathetic, most remain angry  and disillusioned. For many voting for the same old same every 5 years no longer seems to have any relevance. Remember Governments are only ever just in office,Capital remains in ultimate power. Austerity and welfare cuts, will continue.
Apparently it's going to be to close to call, but for the many who choose not to vote or spoil it, are taking a very conscious act, sending a clear message, that they are not happy with the system. The choice for many remains difficult. We certainly need change, but will this actually occur, at the end of the day , you have to ask yourself what does the Government do to help you. Will they continue to allow people to die, cause wars, sponsor greed, and in your name because you chose to vote for them.
If people decide to vote, I sincerely I hope they vote for some kind of change, for those that stand up against austerity, that I noticed  in the last term, not hearing  many politicians loudly speaking out against, until now, so I don't find them that trustable,  As for Russel Brand, perhaps  he should have asked Ed Milliband when  will the Labour Party  bring Tony Blair et alle to the courts for their war crimes. Until  then  they have no standing in any moral decent society, did he urge him to scrap Trident, save us £100 billion which could be spent on things we actually need.. But  I guess anything is better than the current incumbents, who left in power will carry on with their wrecking campaign.The 12 billion cuts they are planning to the welfare bill will be nothing less than a death warrant for tens of thousands of vulnerable people.People being penalised , simply for being poor. In the winter of 2012/13 when heating costs rose dramatically, there were over 31,00 excess winter deaths. Harold Shipman's murderous rampage never matched any of these figures.Angry I'm bloody livid. So if nothing use your vote against them, and any complicit so and so who you think might prop them up.
I have a certain respect for the Green Party, and here in Wales at least their seem to be some good souls in Plaid Cymru, who seem to have an open inclusive agenda, but are not likely to sweep the boards, and not likely to form the next  government.
But that old maxim 'if the government changed anything they would probably make it illegal' pops back in my weary head. At the end of the day the Government will seriously impact in our lives.Call me a dreamer, but wouldn't it be nice, if we tried a few years without one, and see how we got on. Anyway if you choose to excerise your right to vote, and I do not condemn you if you do,I would urge you  vote for those who speak of social justice, against austerity,against intolerance, xenophobia, for people who put people before profit, for fairness in our society.
But do not forget either, people thinking outside their box, already fighting, a cruel,unjust system,who will carry on shouting, speaking out, day by day, week in, week out, year in year out.
Perhaps we don't just need a regime, we need to build a brand new system.
Anyway I will be wishing you a good day,we all count, we all matter,  may the force continue to be with you.

Remember all Tories are the same.

Remember this week, as  the pantomine of democracy approaches, that all Tory's are the same. Whatever  period in time,  they leave us with a diabolical legacy, but at the same time still managing to convince   people that they have been doing a decent job.
Aided and abetted by their friends  in the Daily Mail, the Telegraph, the Express and the Scum. Rags  that keep carry on pumping out the same disingeneous and divisive rubbish about the supposed recovery we are all apparently experiencing. Plus the BBC misleading people into parroting Tory narratives and soundbites.
We should not forget the Tory's  ruthless, toxic and unjust policies. Their constant assaults  on the N.H.S, the Royal Mail, people on welfare, the disadvantaged, the poor, which includes poorly paid workers, then we've got people using foodbanks, pensioners with slashed fuel allowances, the hated bedroom  tax, rising homelessness, dodgy benefit assessments, all while giving their  friends the millionaires tax breaks and MPs 11% pay rises. The list goes on and on, they are truly a nasty vicious bunch of people.
We have to get rid of them by any means necessary,  because the devil comes in many shapes and sizes, and I believe it is truly at home in the Conservative Party, a demonic party, if there ever was one. They should not be given an inch.
But remember they come in all shapes and sizes, their are red ones too, we've seen the Lib Dems true mettle, Walking  hand in hand with them for the last 5 years.  Then we have so called red tory's so I would urge people against voting for Tory's in disguise.
We should not even consider voting for anyone who will simply prop them up, this is not a serious option that anyone in their right mind should  consider.
We simply cannot afford another 5 years of this rubbish, this false war of austerity.
So say  no to the Tory's and to any scum that will prop them up. Anyone who does their bidding must be strongly opposed.
I will end by saying that at the end of the day I believe  that a system that undemocraticaly elects  Governments like this, has to go as well, it needs to be replaced with something more accountable to peoples needs, based on ideas of social justice, fairness, mutual aid and sustainability. But until that day arrives kick out the tories and any bedfellows propping them up. Their time is up.

Newtown Neurotics - Kick out the Tories

Privilege Versus Poverty

(A Poem for a Royal Birth)

So a Princess is born,
the silver spoons are near
for her to be fed,
with all the vestiges of power,
that she could ever possibly eat,
while media overdrive in frenzy,
gather outside, a life of privilege awaits.

Meanwhile,
the poorest among us,
born in chains
our voices go unanswered.
and in refugee camps across the world,
children choked in shadows of rubble and dust,
their future already denied,
they are seemingly invisible.

Innocent children killed by drones,
the press ignores their story,
and people consigned to poverty and misery,
by tory austerity and welfare reform,
are expected to fawn, 
whilst queing at foodbanks ,
running on empty.

Daily the benefit claimants, pensioners,
the underpaid workers, are told to go to hell.
Royal sprog does not have to worry though,
in the 21st century it seems, we're still born unequal,
will be looked after by nannies, sent to public school,
look forward to a lifetime of pampering and privilege,
and his grannies had a bloody pay rise too.

It's weird shit, is it not?
Guess there will be more vomit to come.
Until the future, gives reasons to celebrate,
when all  divisions are  finally abandoned,
a generation from now, all of us born absolutely free,
beyond the bullshit, the flim flam and the glitter,
this day is coming, it wont be long,

when the peasants finally revolting,
stand outside the palaces gilded gates,
wave goodbye, to the monarchy,
once and for bloody all,
singing, Viva Republic,
hallelujah, hallelujah.

All born equal?

As the BBC continues  its sychopantic fawning. Here's a really positive way to respond to the Royal Baby news. Donate to the Child Poverty Action Group.
Here's a link :-
http://www.cpag.org.uk
Remember any other family living this kind of life  at taxpayers expenses would be hounded  by the  press  as benefit scroungers. No bunting for me, but I might have to go and find a sick bag.
If this event  releases  anything, it serves us all as a reminder of the appalling   inequality that still exists in our country, which is  at the core of  existence of monarchy.
Amid growing austerity,  these ocassions should remind  us too, that in 2015 modern Britain the aristocracy still own more than one third of the country continue to hold onto disproportionate power.  This baby will have  every need  pandered too, servents to make sure it goes for nothing, while others are born into poverty, whose  mums cannot  afford food or heating.
The sad fact remains, the gloss of inherited privilege, still shines,  I look forward to the day when, we are all born equal. Should not every new baby born, be headline news.

May Day Greetings ; Sarah Teasdale (8/8/1884 - 19/1/33) May Day

A delicate fabric of bird song,
Floats in  the air,
The smell of wet wild earth
Is everywhere.

Red small leaves of the maple
Are clenched like a hand,
Like girls at their first communion
The pear tree stand.

Oh I must pass nothing by
Without loving it much,
The raindrop try with my lips,
The grass with my touch;

For how can I be sure
I shall see again
The world on the first of May
shining after the rain?

(  as the light returns,and the days lengthen and summer begins its journey upon the earth, it's renewal time,   reach out, and find what you seek, thoughts go out to all who need strength in the coming weeks or months. Life doesn't get any easier for some )

Happy International Workers day, comrades and friends.

Beauty in Everyday Gaza

The news about Gaza tends to conjure up images of destruction, decimated buildings and human suffering. But theirs a beautiful side to the area that is often ignored and artist Lara Aburamadan, wants to show it off.
Where their is much hardship and suffering, Gaza remains a place of beauty, survival, and endurance.
Despite the horrors of Israels constant wars and  occupation.

These little piggies

Simples, but their mates in the Tory press, won't tell you this. A toxic lot, money minded machine men, selfish grasping simpletons, born with some essential part of the soul missing.
Hey i'm far from perfect, but will never be a bloody tory, or remotely tory-lite.
As the piggies cry, wee, wee, wee, try to sell  us their believe, and try to make us follow their roads of self destruction, avenues paved with capitalism's delusion, contained with self-fullfillment, Revolt against their messages. But please be careful, don't allow them into your home.

The Labour Party calls on Tarzan

I'd be the first to admit , that  I think the Labour Party lost it's soul  years ago,  but this thought has been rekindled on hearing the news that they have called on Michael 'Tarzan' Heseltine, to help advise a Labour Government, on business policy.
Some people might say, fair enough, good old Heseltine,  he was one of the more level headed, responsible,so called compassionate Tory's. Sorry Labour Party,wake up, this is a multi miilionaire, whose roots, however wet he looks, run deep in the pockets of the Conservative party and big business.A political dinosaur, who I first encountered, when he was a swivel eyed loon, dressed up in military regalia, evicting harmless peace  protestors at Molesworth Peace Camp, later when left in political wilderness, still to be cheered on and on, as he strode on to platforms at  Tory |Party Conferences.Oh Yes, Mr Milliband,  seeking advice from a real man of the people, a man who  back in the day stood for all that the Labour Party supposedly did not stand for, former miners and steelworkers up and down the country must be thinking of this offer in disgust.  Tarzan let me remind you, or Lord Heseltine of Thelford ( oh  the nice bit, is his mum hails, from West Wales), was a deputy Prime Minister of a ruthless Tory Governmrnt that ruled for nearly two decades, while he was their  he supported their right to buy policy, with whatever way you look at it, his ideology and his approach is grounded in favour of Capitalist economics, that bring no benefit to the people. He for many simply represents a living embodiment and reminder of a cruel Tory Government that neither cared nor understood who governed.
Ah but the Labour Party, not of old, for a long time now,  turning ever so Tory Lite. Forget about Tarzan,  it's simple, how about an effective tax rate on high earners, jail the bankers, scrap trident, offer people real jobs, appropriate training, make sure the power of capital is broken, find a heart, do not allow the  deceitful whiff of big business and their friends, do your bidding. Sadly I guess, the Labour Party of today, no longer  looks and searches for bold radical alternatives and policies, that we all richly deserve.

Remembering the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide

A hundred years ago today, amid the upheaval of World War 1, countless villages across the Ottoman Empire became killing fields as the desperate leadership of this region, having lost the Balkans and facing the prospect of losing its territories as well, saw an imagined threat at home.
Worried that the Christian Armenian population was planning to align with Russia, the then primary enemy of the Ottoman Turks, officials embarked on what historians have called the first genocide of the 20th Century.
Nearly 1.5 million Armenians were systematically killed,  becoming tragically part of one of the biggest atrociies of the Great War. Initially intellectuals and community leader were rounded up, one by one, then thousands were  instantly slaughtered, there were reports  of mass burnings, others  put in concentration camps,  to be tortured and gassed,  others left  to die of starvation, exhaustion and disease. Rape was frequently reported too. All this occurred between 1915-1923, to   further add to this misery, the great bulk of the Armenian population were forced from Armenia to Syria, where the vast majority were sent into the desert to die of thirst and hunger.
This  horrific moment in time has since with great shame been bitterly contested by Turkey, under President Erdogan the successor of the Ottoman Empire, who has consistently denied the word genocide, as an accurate term for what happened. Years later the issue of whether to these killings a genocide remain raw and emotional, both for the Armenians, who are descended from those killed, and the Turks, the heirs to the Ottomans. For both,  the question touches as much on national identity, as it does on historical facts.
Whilst at the same time for geopolitical reasons the U.S.A too, has never  labelled the atrocities committed by Turkey as genocide, being close  friends with Turkey, their allies in  the NATO alliance. It should be noted that Robert Dole in the Senate introduced a mild resolution commemorating 1990 as the 75th anniversary of the Armenian  genocide, at the time the Israeli government worked with the Turkish government to lobby against it. ( The resolution was subsequently defeated in the Senate) Obama himself, pledged in his  Presidential campaign to call it genocide, but two terms into to his Presidency , he remains silent.  The fact that Israel has been very strongly opposed to efforts being made to recognise the Armenian genocide, for me is really quite astonishing. Especially from a country founded  in the aftermath of its own genocide, holocaust. There are growing calls from within Israel for them to finally recognise this historical fact , and  not to be  in denial, which would be good, since  both peoples, the Armenians and the  Jewish people having suffered the same fate, the same terrible tragedies.  But at the end of the day the Turks are their allies, and you don't want to alienate allies, do you, because that's much too important. Israel thinks it's not their business, lets simply not talk about the Armenian holocaust, but any  conciliatory offerings, I am sure will be welcomed. Sadly , too, the British government will not recognise it. Despite , that  during the time of Lloyd George, in fact even Churchill  himself wrote "There  is no reasonable  doubt that this crime was planned and executed for  political purposes." He also used the phrases "Administrative  Holocaust" and  "clearance of race".
Yet countries  like Canada, Argentina, France, Greece and Russia, Poland and Switzerland where the survivors  of  the Armenian genocide and their descendents live have officially recognised the Armenian genocide, thus helping the process of healing.
I believe the voices of the people killed and those haunted should not be forgotten, we should mark their identity, and  the psychic wounds that have passed through generations.
Today the anniversary will be commemorated, the date the Ottomans rounded up groups of Armenians in 1915, as the first step in what many agree was a wider plan for annhiliation.
Armenians from Turkey and the diaspora are preparing to gather in Instanbul's central Taksim Square to honor the dead. A concert will feature both Armenian and Turkish musicians.
Years later Hitler would use this model of genocide for his own tools for a Holocaust. Hitler and Himmler, guided by the same evil,  were inspired  by the Ottoman Empires own methods of quiet extermination. Mass genocidal maniacs since  like Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot followed suit with their own reigns of terror and slaughter of millions.
We should recognise the sad fact that Turkeys lack of contrition leaves descendents struggling to reconcile loss and renewal. It is simply implausible that we should still question the reality of this appalling terrible injustice.
It is a moral necessity that we continue to condemn these massacres and ethnic cleansing of Armenians, that began on this day. To continue to deny this truth amounts to a criminal lie. We need to enshrine in our collective memory this crime against humanity, so as to ensure that it is understood, learnt and transmitted to future generations. We need to recognise the wounds  that have never been able to be healed.

Armenian refugee children 1915

Please consider signing the following Armenian Genocide petition

http://www.genocide1915.info/petition/sign/

No time for music

There is no time for music today,  
realities tears flow, that cannot be denied,
remembering children, mothers,
who were taken, and dragged away,
words to be silenced forever,
the scattering of bones.

The Armenians memory, still suffering,
choking, in bitter frustrated rage,
echoes still screaming out over the age,
the sorrow and the sadness,
continuing to burn today,
as people  seek recognition,
some form of reconciliation. 


thanks to Mr P James and Mr chomsky ........

Hazel Jane Dickens (1/6/35 -22/4/11) - The Rebel Girl

On the fourth anniversary of her death, lets remember Hazel Jane Dickens, bluegrass singer, songwriter, double bassist and guitarist. Singer of pro-union and feminist songs, a clarion vocal advocate for coal miners, working people and the downtrodden.
Below she sings Joe Hill's outstanding song about Elizabeth Gurly Flynn, the original rebel girl, feminist, wobbly (Industrial Workers of the World) and activist.
Hazel Jane Dickens was born June 1st 1935, in Montcalm, West Virginia, U.S.A. One of 11 children, she grew up in a family whose survival depended on the coal industry. Her father was a Baptist preacher and a forceful singer, who hauled timber to feed the household. Her brothers were miners and one of her sisters cleaned the house for a supervisor at the mines.
A reluctant feminist role model, Hazel said she was originally scared to write about issues like sexism and the oppression of women.
Her music was characterised  by a high lonesome, singing style. If you like old time, country and bluegrass music, and  a dose of left wing politics, you will probably like Hazel Dicken's work. Cultural blogger John Pietaro noted that " Dickens didn't just sing the anthems of labour, she lived them and her place  on many a picket line,staring down gunfire and goon squads, embedded her to the cause."

Hazel Dickens - Rebel Girll

Hazel Dickens - Fire in the Soul

Hazel Dickens - Old and in the way

Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard -  Working Girl Blues