Remembering the 1910 Cambrian Combine Strike, the great Unrest and the Tonypandy riots.

On 1st November 1910, coal miners working for the Cambrian Combine began a ten month strike, because of having to exist on starvation wages, which which would lead to the Tonypandy riots. Also at issue was the  price to be paid for a new seam of coal. During this period in the early 1910's which is often  called " the Great Unrest.' the South Wales valleys were  experiencing its fair share of industrial tension and unrest.
30,000  miners in the Rhondda, Aberdare and Maesteg went on strike  or were locked out.
The strike would mark one of the few occasions in British troops were deployed against striking workers, ( I remember how Margaret Thatcher would later deploy the British police as her  own unofficial private army against the miners in the 1984/85 strike.)
On 7 November 1910, thousands of striking miners marched across the Rhondda valley,  they had walked  out over mining magnate D.A Thomas's decision to sack the whole workforce at  the Ely Pit in Penycraig, Rhondda. They demanded better pay and working conditions. After  one striker had been killed, a miner called Samuel Rhys and mass pickets had failed to stop  police from scab herding,( they had bussed  in scab workers from Cardiff to keep the colliery running,) tensions already high erupted, and an uprising ensured, which is  now known as the Tonypandy riots. (Incidentally my own grandads sister ended up living there) strikers attacked shops in the town who had  put families on a credit blacklists not allowing  them to buy enough food,  thus aiding the bosses. Blackleg trains were stoned and halted.
Winston Churchill. then Home Secretary sent in the troops. The striking miners ( many accompanied by their women ) fought back although  the troops were wielding rifles with fixed bayonets.
People were bludgened, kicked and maltreated , with many suffering serious injuries, such was the brutality inflicted. 13 miners  were arrested and prosecuted for their part in the unrest.
After almost one year on strike these brave miners who had had to endure so much hardship returned to work. Though their demands  were not met, the strike helped change the face of British Trade Unionism, still inspiring workers fighting for better conditions today, giving rise in South Wales to increased militancy, the growth of revolutionary syndicalism in the workers struggle against their bosses.
Winston Churchill would be despised by many in South Wales, for the rest of his life, for  the actions that he took .

Awakenings ( a poem for Samhein, Jane and Shaker Aamer)

 ( a poem for Samhein, Jane, and Shaker Aamer)

Today after waking early,
I noticed the trees of life,
natures guardians with deep roots,
watchers of time and presence,   
as I carry feelings of  love,
raptured  forms of ecstasy,
that are not illegal to possess.

I cross a bridge in Aberteifi,
no longer does its river,
entice me to plunge into its depths,
today a day  of celebration,
as the veil between the worlds of life and 
                                                     death lift.

I will travel soon. to see my beloved,
gentle soul, beautiful companion,
currently stuck in hospital in West Wales,
as I remember the dead,  still look after the living,
as precious petals cast away doubt,
on this spinning whirling day of divination.

As Hecate Queen of the witches,
walks with Persephone,
deep in the underworld,
above ground,
I drift in this world,
of light and air.

I walk with beauty,
she draws me close,
from afar,
two heartbeats ,
of companionship,
journeying  together,
side by side in unity.

And today I rejoice for another reason,
Shaker Aamer the last British resident,
of Guantanamo Bay  prison camp,
has been set free, home again where he belongs,
so today is also a good  day for justice and freedom,
a time of jubilation as innocent hearts smile,
hope exists on this  earth, so blessed be, blessed be,

The flow of magic.

( possibly  without access to computer tomorrow, so an old  post of celebration)

Happy Samhein/ Calan Gaeaf


As Octobers, splendour surrenders,
coalesces and dissolves,
and the veil lifts again  on the earth,
poets try to communicate,
the sliced magic of things once witnessed,
to breathe a little  life out of thougths which grow within.

Near the rivers edge, time moves  in slow motion,
bubbling invocations leave their notation,
as words slip and slide, on thresholds rotation,
planting seeds from beneath skin,
this night of divination, allows us to keep searching,
with seas of ink and love, to replenish the earth with feeling.

Minds flying full of cobbled webs and threads,
follow the hubble bubble of exchange,
scribbled echoes and dreamscapes cast free,
to tunnel  our breaths with light and shade,
verses shaking loose undercurrents of imagination,
tides sweeping letters adrift on seas of navigation.

Our arrows shoot far into the sky,
pierce the night and its shadows,
from bright gatherings, nourishment, 
                       gets  released into air,
resonating with human care,
keeps this grinning manic world,
spinning with the afterglow of reason.

One Hour of Yiddish Communist Music

Following  yesterday's post, some more music......  normal service might resume soon. Though tell me what is normal? Boycott consensual reality.
Let freedom ring.

One Hour of IWW Music

Some musical respite - One hour of music from the Wobblies, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). The Union for all workers,  who used music more  pervasively than any other labor group.
Their songs and messages still resonating deeply with us today.  
Solidarity forever, remember an injury to one is an injury to all.

We shall return - Return is a human right

                                               We shall return - Return  is a human right

                                               Artist :- Alberto Smith Seravia

The right of return is a universal right, that is binding under international law, enjoyed by every people regardless of where they come from.
The idea of universal rights is an ancient one, but one of its first international expressions is found in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) which was proclaimed by the United Nations in 1949 "as a common achievement for all people and all nations."
One  of the core rights set out in the UDHR is the right of return, Article 13 (b) of the UDHR states :- "Everyone has the right to leave any country including his own, and to return to his country , Palestinian refugees are entitled to this binding universal right in the same way that all other refugees are. There is a broad consensus that the right of return, along with the right of self-determination, is the foundation of the 66 year old struggle of the Palestinian people.
We must remember how the majority of the Palestinian people up to 750,000 were forcibly displaced and uprooted from their homes and lands in 1948 never to be allowed to return to their homes or communities that they were displaced from.
Today there are more than 7 million Palestinian refugees scattered across the world. Their right of return must be recognised in order for the ongoing conflict to be restored. The end of the occupation would certainly help achieve this, .Anything   less would be a denial of justice.
However the government of Israel opposes these moves  therefore making it impossible for peace to exist, Until Israel recognises this right and corrects the  ongoing injustice that has and is still being perpetrated against the Palestinian people, hope lies in pieces.

Scattered thoughts in October

                                   
As the day drifts,
leaves scatter,
people too,
spreading little thoughts,
across the land.

The sky turns grey,
as wild geese fly home,
I remember that life is a journey,
with opportunities of return.

My heart can be heavy,
but dreams can awaken,
as I wear autumns clothes,
with  jumpers to warm,
offer some protection,
as nights grow colder.

Walking alone,
I have felt a lot of damage,
left me in the past, a little undone,
but there is magic in the air,
as I play with  words,
am now travelling forwards,
on the road to somewhere else,
searching for seasons new adventure.

Britain accused of doing bidding for Chinese regime.

Britain has been accused of doing the bidding of the Chinese regime after UK police raided  the family of a Tiananmen Square survivor for standing in the road holding up protest banner in Central London. 
Chinese democracy activist Shao Jiang, 47 was arrested in the street outside Londons Mansion House where a reception was being held for visiting Chinese premier Xi Jinpig.  Shaos computers and mobile phone were seized as well. Shao helped organise the 1980 student protest in Tiananmen , managed to escape China, after being jailed for months, and moved to the UK where he now writes about China for Amnesty International. A totally over the top response by London's police doing the same now as oppressive forces in China.
Two pro Tibetan activists were also arrested at the same protest.
Britain's fawning warm reception has been criticised by human rights experts for ignoring Chinas history of violating individuals citizens rights. My thoughts are currently with struggling British steel workers about to be tossed on the scrap heap due to the impact of cheap Chinese imports, and how Britain is ignoring  Chinas human rights abuses , as human rights activists currently left languising in Chinese prisons while my Government pursues lucrative deals at the expense of humanity. China's continuing infringements of civil liberties will damage the interests of the whole world including the UK. Business as usual then as Britain carries on sucking up to totalitarian regimes.

Steve Bell's cartoon in the Guardian newspaper earlier this week.

Child of the refuge

( after sadly catching the news the other night, so an amalgamation of reportage.)

                                  Aya is 8 years old,
                                  her home is in  detention,
                                  behind barbed wire and fences,
                                  in a no- man's land,  
                                  a landscape mired in abandonment.
     
                                  Aya is shivering with cold,
                                  her jacket was once white,
                                  now it is drenched with rain,    
                                  and covered in mud,
                                  her brother cries, he  wants the touch of his mother,
                                  her father is desperate as well,
                                  wants them both delivered to safety,
                                  this is not a place where dreams will flourish,
                                  there are no tents for shelter, just seas of misery,
                                  disturbed intersections, between what passes as 
                                                                              a frontier of freedom.     

                                  Aya exists  in this world of chaos,
                                  with her companions, the walking wounded,
                                  crumbling  through the night and day,
                                  as a news cameraman pans in and out,
                                  relays images back to safe European homes,
                                  to be easily digested,  in the comfort of sanctuary.

                                 Aya one fragment of many shattered journeys,
                                 the nagging pain of humanity's pulse,
                                 the drifting sadness  of frightened children, 
                                                                               terrified people,
                                 with broken hearts and broken homes,
                                 four thousand refugees stranded and abandoned,
                                 within yards of the European Union.
                                   
                                 Aya I am truly ashamed, 
                                 of the despair that follows your journey,
                                 wish I could point you in the direction of paradise,
                                 support your tiny soul, strengthen your arms,
                                 stop the  nagging persecution, detention, trauma,
                                 release  you from the tears of seperation, anxiety and grief,
                                 clasp your wishes,  send you protection, 
                                 allow you to  continue your journey,
                                 to a land of security and hope,
                                 anywhere from this grim wasteland,
                                 no place for an innocent child.  

https://iamnotasilentpoet.wordpress.com/2015/10/29/cild-of-the-refuge-by-dave-rendle/
                                   
                             
                                     

Aberfan - Lest we forget, this gross injustice

49 years ago a on Friday October 21, 1966 , approx 9.16 a.m shortly after school assembly many tons of collier rubbish (slag heaps) swept down the sides of a  Merthyr Mountain  above the town of Aberfan after several days of heavy rain, Liquified and pouring down  this black tidal wave would engulf everything in its path in this catastrophic tragedy.
Following  Monday's post about Tryweryn, another tragic memory from Wales's turbulent living history.
Aberfan was to many a result of a conflict of financial interests, which would see the death of 144 people, including a 116 innocent  children, many of whom were between the age of seven and ten along with, five of their teachers, in what is now known  today as one  of one of Wales worst mining disasters in it's history, not forgetting Senghennydd which I've written about previously when in 1913 over 400 were killed.
By the time the landslide stopped, it had demolished Pantglaas Junior School and 20 houses, severely damaging the Secondary School.

The sores and wounds of this disaster are now forever  stored in the memories  and feelings of the people of Wales because of the whole collective loss of a generation that was wiped out. So today again we  try not to forget  the children and adults who died, this human tragedy, that  many say could easily have been  prevented. The National Coal Board  (NCB) were repeatedly warned to move the slag heaps to a safer location, because they were also  close to natural underwater springs. Did the NCB have the decency to acknowledge their blame, to bow their head in shame, like hell no, but we were to  learn sadly far too late that the NCB was ostensibly a capitalist organisation more concerned with profit than lives.  A report by the government at the time said " Blame  for the disaster rests upon  the National Coal Board. The legal liabilities of the National Coal Board to pay compensation for the  personal injury ( fatal or otherwise) and  damage to property is incontestable and uncontested." The Government of the day was also extremely insensitive to the victims families, and people whould have to wait for years, for compensation.
So today we remember  the people of Aberfan, a community  that still profoundly affected by this disaster, one in three survivors still  suffering  from Post traumatic stress,  nearly 50 years after this tragic event took place.  People felt guilty that they were  left alive, they did not feel like survivors, cases of children not being allowed to play in the street, in case it upset other parents.
Let us  hope that lessons learnt from this incident can be learnt for tomorrow, and  remember that this bitter legacy still continues, what with continuing social and economic problems in the South Wales valleys still  being wrought  because of successive governments who have made lives a  continuing source of discomfort.  Combined with the failure of responsibility by the relevant authorities and the appalling behaviour of  some parties in the aftermath of the disaster.
Today, however there is very  little to remind visitors of  this tragic path, just an abstract memorial garden in the village and the childrens section in the graveyard.


Lest we forget, people before profit.

R.I.P the little angels that were lost forever.