Wednesday, 16 March 2016

Remembering Rachel Corrie ( 10/4/79 - 16/3/03 )


It has become customary to mark the passing of  Rachel Aliene Corrie a 23 year old American Peace activist  from Olympia, Washington who was crushed to death by an Israeli military, caterpiller D 912 bulldozer in 2003, while undertaking non-violent direct action trying to protect the home of a Palestinian family from demolition in Rafah in the Gaza strip.
Justice has never been served for her, along with others killed under the Israeli occupation.
Today I reflect upon Rachel's brave stand in Gaza 13 years ago today and her courage to resist and all  those who continue to live and struggle there. And all those passionate changemakers across the globe who each day act with conscience and work tirelessly to try and make a difference.
Currently in the city of Cardiff one of the UK's biggest arms fairs has come,to visit  I applaud all those now trying to shut this awful event down. People saying no to business people  profiteering from mass murder, displacement and torture. Exhibitors include BAE systems, the worlds 3rd largest arms  producer  whose weapons are currently being used in the Saudi attacks on Yemen.
When the rich make war it is the poor that die.
Remember that what is happening in Palestine is no inexplicable cycle of violence where each side is as bad as one another,. It is no more than an equal  cycle of violence as seen in apartheid South Africa. 
Being against it is not anti-Jewish  anymore than being against a British governments military aggression marks you as as anti-British. Rachel Corrie understood these links and connections and would have known about an active Israeli peace movement, and of the hundreds  of Israeli soldiers who refuse to serve in the occupied territories, many of whom have been jailed for their stance. Israel has invaded Palestinian land in breach of international law. Rachel died while attempting to prevent a demolition of a home, a common practice of the Israeli army's collective punishment that has left more than 12,000 Palestinians homeless since the beginning of the second uprising in September 2000. A practice that violates International Law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention.
So here's to the memory and bravery of Rachel Corrie  a true American hero.

http://www.rachelcorrie.org

https://www.stopthearmsfair.org.uk




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Monday, 14 March 2016

Opposing Child Detainees in Occupied Palestine Territories


I have for a number  of years now, sadly heard of random, and night time arrests of young children in Occupied Palestinian Territories that have resulted in unethical trial procedures and poor conditions in military detentions and aftercare. It has concerned me greatly.
Figures for the number of Palestinian children detained in Israeli jails varies greatly, but by October 2015 there have been reports,  that 171 children were being detained. A month later, nearly 800 Palestinian children ( and minors under the age of 18 ) had been arrested and the number of children in Israeli gaols had risen to nearly 340. Most of the detained children were from occupied Jerusalem and the West Bank, as well as arrests made in Gaza.
In  June 20012,  a delegation of nine UK lawyers published a Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCU) funded, independent report ( " Children in Military Custody" )  on the plight of  Palestinian children arrested and detained in Israel. The report found that Israel's treatment of Palestinian child prisoners was in breach pf Article 76 of the Geneva Convention on the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War ( concerning occupied territories and several articles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The  report made 43 recommendations and the UK Government, at the time promised to take up the issues  with the Israeli Government:-
http://www.childreninmilitarycustody.org.uk/report/
Back in 2013, Israel submitted a periodic report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, which set out to monitor the implementation of the Convention. The Committee responded in June 2013 saying that  it regretted Israel's :-

" persistent refusal to provide information and data and to respond to the Committees's written questions of children living in the Occupied Palestinian Territory."

Many children   detained are denied access  to a lawyer and are not entitled to family visits,  furthermore hardly any education is provided, which is in contravention   of the Geneva Convention  and multiple human rights treaties. For adults detention can be stressful and dangerous, but for children can be even more so. Many  sentenced or incarcenated because of suspicion of throwing stones, or releasing frustration in defiance of the Israeli armies illegal occupation. Detained children exhibiting symptoms of trauma, injustice, mistrust of others, combined with feelings of helplessness and worthlessness., OCD, disorder, hostility and aggression, withdrawal and lack of motivation.
I have written to my own M.P expressing my concerns, it is good to report that  he is in agreement at the the injustice of this situation, I would urge you to keep  pressuring your own individual representatives to do more to rectify this situation and  move more in pursuit of peace and justice.
Lets not forget that Israel remains a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child , which among other provisions requires; " that a child not be compelled to give testimony or to confess or acknowledge guilt." and clearly states that detention or arrest should be used as a lat resort.
The use of interrogation techniques of mental and physical abuse that include threats of intimidation  and physical violence must end, this continual violation of children's rights, that the international community must continue to speak out against in order to demand justice and accountability. Seeking to challenge Israels prolonged military occupation of Palestinians , demanding immediate protections for Palestinian children currently held in Israeli military detention where ill-treatment and torture is widespread and systematic.
Until the day that Israel stops its stubborn continual violation of international law with regards to Palestinian child prisoners and detainees.
Detainment and imprisonment will only serve to keep the cycle of violence and fear in this region ongoing that in the end securitises children, we must continue to speak for them, as conscious , right bearing subjects, that have the seeds of the future in their pockets.
As long as Israel avoids international accountability that human rights groups are urging , children will  unfortunately continue to bear the brunt of the escalating violence that Israel uses to maintain its occupation, that offers no everlasting hope.








Friday, 11 March 2016

Sociopath IDS says people are thankful for being sanctioned



His lies analysed here :-

http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/22833

Partial Transcript : ' Mr Duncan Smith  launched into a defiant defence of the  penalties, insisting that people were often glad the way sanctions had changed their lives. 
Forgetting to add that the Government has just gone out of the way to cut £30 a week of benefits for the disabled while doing less than nothing about corporate tax avoidance and cutting taxes for the wealthiest. Vowing to ram through disability cuts despite a stark warning from his very own human rights watchdog.
The Secretary of State appears to be denying the existence of the 2012 Welfare Reform Act, which he personally helped deliver at the time, boasting that it was the biggest shake up of the welfare state in 60 years. Ian Duncan Smith an odious man, who does not care about the real suffering his policies will cause. No doubt about it, if these cuts actually happen the daily struggle for survival will get a lot worse, for those who genuinely need a helping hand  in the present time. But here we are faced with Tory policy that could not give a toss about starving the people, the vulnerable that it should be protecting, showing the deep contempt the Conservatives have for peoples lives, hitting the hardest hit and the most disaffected people in the land as they continue their intent of pushing on with their mad ideological crusade to cleanse Britain of the poor and punish for our unfair situations, whilst rewarding the wealthy.
Makes yesterday's post 'All is Not Lost' seem most inappropriate.
Thousands of people, up and down the country are now wrought with worry, what a shameful country we live in. 



Thursday, 10 March 2016

All is not Lost


(An exercise in surrealism
for George.)

Each morning I cross a bridge,
pass new spaces to be discovered,
feet remaining firmly on the ground,
belonging as they do,
to the earth.

try not to look back,
history's pages carry too much weight,
reminiscences of disappointment,
memories of death,
that slipped by casually,
ever so suddenly.

I take things easy nowadays, 
especially the stairs,
but still drink thirstily,
a craving that never subsides.
helps keeps me growing, 
on flights of reality,
wings of transition. 

I have found safety,
places to hideaway,
conceal feelings, lose control,
escape to dreamtime,
play the fool on the hill,
in waiting rooms where I rest,
rainbows arrive to deliver treasure.

As the ink runs dry,
tomorrow never knows,
coming tides of golden slumber,
fill my waking eyes,
and Prometheus walks,
does the rounds,
marks out eternity, 
releases fire and knowledge,
furnishes life with bearable segments.

' All you need is ears',
someone once said,
to lift the spirit, 
allow sighs to decipher,
and if the glass is still half-empty.
fill it up again, each drop sustains,
delicious to taste, quenches tongue,
helps deal with stuff, 
that are difficult to understand,
partially drunk, the world sways,
glimpses of reason, echoing unbound,
take a sip, find some comfort,
realise that all is not lost.








Monday, 7 March 2016

Sir John Trevor ( 1637 -20/5/1717 ) - One of the last speakers of the House of Commons to be expelled.



On 7th March 1695, Sir John Trevor ( from the Brynkinalt estate near Chirk in Denbighshire, North Wales) was  the last speaker of the House of Commons to be expelled, for taking a bribe of 1000 guineas, . ( £1.6 million in 2009.) before Michael Martin in 2009
He remained the only speaker to be forced out of office until Michael Martin resigned in 2009.
A Welshman ,his occupation was as a judge. He first acquired a seat at Castle Rising, which he bought for £60 , his  involvement there was short lived  and there is no evidence that he ever visited the Borough. He was a Tory, known as the Cavalier politician, anti-catholic and  known for giving strong support to the Monarchy and quickly climbed the political ladder, described as ' a bold and dexterous man ' ( who knew the  most effective ways of recommending himself to every government.)  He finally represented his own region, where he was born, Denbighshire in 1681.
It is interesting to note that Sir Trevor was severely cross eyed, which often caused confusion as to which MP had "Caught the Speakers eye" and led to many speaking out of turn.
He was dismissed as speaker in 1695 after being found guilty ' high crime and misdimeanour.'
Sir Trevor's implication in charges of corruption may have bought his career in the Commons to an abrupt end,  but it did not prevent his survival in public  office.  He retained the mastership of the rolls with its salary of £4,000  p.a until his death. In June 1702 he was appointed a Privy Councillor and from 1703 was restored to the Welsh  Offices. When he died he remained a man of considerable wealth, he is reported  to have left a fortune of £60,000.
And centuries may have passed but many people believe that  the UK Government is still to a large extent run by a few big entities, an old boys network serving themelves , laws and  regulations still being created and administered by those who have been paid or lobbied the best. Not exactly a strong model for creating a more harmonious  society. 7 years on from the expenses scandal  politics still seems to be tainted still perceived to be riddled with corruption. Greedy MPs are about to get another bumper pay rise of almost a grand this year. In line with a 1.3% increase from next April - just nine months after receiving a backdated bonus of £74,000, up from £67,060.  The House of Commons  still considered  to be a rich man's play and pastime.
The next time your local MP lectures to you about prudent financial responsibility, try not to choke on your supermarket brand cornflakes.
A moral ditch still in desperate need of reform, only a radical initiative I believe will convince us that Westminster has really changed. 


..

Sunday, 6 March 2016

Lucy Parsons ( 1853? - 7/3/1942) - More dangerous than a thousand rioters.

Lucy Eldine Gonzales was born to parents of Native American, Black American and Mexican ancestry near Waco, Texas. It is possible her parents were slaves, but this remains unverified.
She married a white man man called Albert Parsons , who had become a radical republican after serving as a Confederate soldier. She would go on to become a leading figure in American Anarchism and the radical Labour Movement.
In 1875 she and her husband were forced to flee to Chicago, due to intolerant reactions to their interacial marriage. Together they would fight for African American voting rights, and against KKK terror, condemning racist attacks and killings. Getting involved also in  radical labour organising, they fought for the rights of political prisoners, women, people of color, and homeless people, advocating a syndicalist theory of society. She did all this while working as a dressmaker.
She began writing for the radical newspapers The Socialist and The Alarm. The Chicago Police Department describing her 'as more dangerous than a thousand rioters.' On the topic of the growth of homeless people  begging for food on the streets of Chicago, the Chicago  trubune said ' When a tramp asks you for bread , put strychnine or arsenic on it and he will trouble you no more, and trouble wuill keep out of your neighbourhood.' In response to this depravity, Lucy wrote one of her most famous articles  called - ' To Trams, the Unemplyed, the Disinherited, and Miserable.'  Parsons became deeply involved in support of an eight hour workday, and during a demonstration in support of this at Haymarket Square on Tuesday May 4th 1886, an unknown person threw a bomb, subsequent police violence enabled a riot to take place. After the incident  eight Anarchists were arrested on trumped up charges, including Albert. Lucy Parsons at the time did all she could to get justice for her husband and his fellow accused, since no evidence could be found to connect them to the bombing. Fighting tirelessly for them all, travelling across the United States, speaking out, rallying support, raising money. Alas in vain with  four out of the eight being  executed by hanging on November 11th 1887.
After her husbands death , Lucy came into her own as one of the leading radicals of the day. she continued to spread her anarchist message, and became known for her powerful oratory. In 1905 she participated in the founding of the International Workers of the World,  she believed in their committment  to direct action, which she believed  would inspire a strong working class movement. She continued to work with various Labour groups, while raising two children that she had had with Albert. Finding time to organise demonstrations, talking to crowds of workers, for the unemployed, homeless and hungry delivering power passionate speeches against police brutality, judicial murder. Getting involved in the International Labour Defence, fighting for Sacco and Vancetti, Tom Mooney, Scottbro Nine, 9 young African Americans who had become symbols of criminal injustice at the time, and for Women's emancipation,  for free birth control, advocating for organisation of sex workers,and the struggle and rights of the poor and disenfranchised. Preaching justice for the poor by way of revolution. Her radical beliefs prompted the police to arrest her many times but  believing in freedom of speech, she  would spend the rest of her life, fighting the forces that seeked to eliminate her voice.
Continuing to remain active into her eighties, she died in a suspicious house fire on  7/3/42, aged 89. It seems she was viewed as a threat to the political order in death, as well as in life,  it was revealed that her ashes barely being cold, the Chicago Police force seized  her entire personal library, in all it's 3,000 volumes,  on sex, socialism and anarchy and turned it over the F.B.I. Most of it would never be seen again, an attempt to whitewash and write her out of history as they tried to rob her of the work of her life.
 Fortunately some of her writings survived, as do her ideas,  fighting strongly for what she believed in, defying both racial and gender discrimination, at the forefronts of movements and battles for social justice, her entire life. She challenged the racist and sexist sentiment in a time when even Radical Americans, believed a woman's place was in the home.  The legacy of her fight for workers rights, freedom of speech, the African-American, is still a strong influential one. Her voice still resounding against all kinds  of oppression and the forces of capitalism long after her death. 
 She is buried  near her husband in Waldheim Cemetery (now Forest Home Cemetery), Forest Park, Illinois.

Saturday, 5 March 2016

Clean for the Queen - No thanks!


                                 Pictured above Michael Gove looking far too jolly and bright

Around the country purple billboards formatted in the style of those annoying keep calm carry on posters have emerged urging people of the land to spruce up their streets, vacuum up their villages, for the benefit of the Queens 90th birthday celebrations in April.  While communities across the country are suffering from long term deprivation, due to government cuts to local services , austerity and gentrification  this new campaign backed  by Country Life and Keep Britain Tidy expects  people to do hours of unpaid work, get down on our hands and knees and scrub  for a woman born into incredible wealth and opulence who has probably never picked up a piece of rubbish in her life, at a time when official  funding for the parasitical royal family has risen 38% to a staggering £ 42.8 million. Austerity sure is tough for some. Quite simply the most patronising campaign I have heard of for a long time, that simply treats us commoners like peasants, serfs and minions.
At first I thought it was some internet viral joke, but the story  actually turned out to be true. Ever since, always eager to brown-nose to the royals, Tory politicians have been  quick to don hi-viz waistcoats and  have a pose, like Mr Gove pictured, the sight of him alone  just makes me want   to go outside and kick over a wheelie bin. Cameron is said to have lent his support too. As have retailers like Costa, McDonalds and Greggs, producers and generators themselves of a hell of a lot of rubbish.
The clean up actually began yesterday  after it has been reported that some local authorities,have cut the money they spend on street cleaning  by an average of 16%  in real  times since 2010 and by more than 80% in some districts. I remember also that the Queen herself as reported by the Guardian in 2012 did not even pay her own cleaning staff the living wage, the princely sum of £6.67 per hour, at a time when the living wage was calculated to be £.8.55:-
.http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/nov/14/queen-cleaners-living-wage, which does suggest a rather contemptuous to her own employees, God bless her.
I guess it was  not her idea, this time, all a tad  embarrassing though, but while this  is in our thoughts  here's another suggestion , how about,  instead  of cleaning up for the Queen we clear up our democracy instead, ridding ourselves of its hereditary and unelected positions once and for all. 
I do not  like seeing litter lying abandoned and already like to keep things tidy, will clean for the environment, and for the community  but not for the Queen I won't, as a republican I can not stoop down in deference, however I would be more than happy to lend a hand  clearing out Buckingham Palace and help end this symbol of privilege once and for all. 
Queen for the Queen - No Thanks ! 



Thursday, 3 March 2016

On World Book Day : Books still have the Power to change the World.


Today marks World Book Day, in an increasingly digitalised age, books I  believe still have the power to change the world. Like many people, I guess, I still get trapped by the allure of the internet, a tool, that I use most days, but as I write this piece, in my trusted library am surrounded by books, and when not here, at home or wherever I happen to be, I still  like to stick my head in a book, turn some pages, that continue to challenge and inspire. A thirst and taste first harnessed by my mum, and subsequently the local library.
Despite the tragedies and terrors of the world  books can still restore some kind of hope, can provide a form of sustenance to people in similar circumstances across the globe,  a vast flow of communication that have served to remind us of our shared humanity's vast diverse cultural heritage. Precious trickles, like water that allow us to grow. Books still have the capacity to change and challenge the worlds problems and provide people with the means to educate themselves, and like love itself words of course have no borders.
Personally books are a form of addiction for me, one that I am glad that I have succumbed too, much better for my health than certain substances that are also readily available. I buy most of mine nowadays from charity shops and the few small inependent booksellers that remain,  places so worth supporting, wonderful spaces, balms for the imagination.
At home I am lucky, I still have plenty to choose from, to hold my fascination, dusty old tomes, dangerous, magical, subversive, that cement ideas of mine together. Surrealists, dreamers, dissenters, outsiders, rebels,magicians, poets, experimental fragrances that always take me somewhere special. Thought provoking fuels that offer me equally comfort, confirmation and validation.
World Book Day is a time to celebrate everything book and reading related that enable us to engage in making another world possible. To enjoy and celebrate the power that different stories, tales and narratives have, to allow us to see the world through other peoples eyes, new perspectives that can help us find paths to build a better world to live in. Because books allow us to live creatively, think on our own terms, to travel portals with no need of passports.
The day hopes to bring people together through a love of books, to encourage people, especially children to read books, it also seeks to promote peace, tolerance and understanding and respect among each other for other cultures and traditions. 
So today this post is my way of celebrating the power of books. Sadly though their will always be those that seek to control what we read, because books retain the  power to move, transform and enrich individuals lives, open us up to change,and to help reshape significantly the world that we live in and make a difference.
Sadly my local library is currently under threat because my local council is planning to downsize it by 75%, and relocate it to a place that parents of young children , the disabled and others  will have no access to,  with no thought of the future, even though current landlord has offered this temple a rent free guarantee for the next  five years. It  simply does not make sense. The council is simply succumbing to our Governments monstrous cultural vandalism and savage cost cutting, that  is taking place across the land, it is not to late to save it, so please sign the following petition, and would urge anyone reading on World Book Day to fight to save any library under threat in your own community.:-
https://www.change.org/p/ceredigion-county-council-keep-cardigan-library-open-4d60e2d8-890e-4276-8c04-f5aeb8ceafcb
In the background now  the sound of children singing, enjoying the power of books, actively encouraged by our friendly librarian.
Books I hope will long have the capacity to mould, and sustain us.
I will end with some quotes, the first  from Heinrich Heine ( 1797-1857) German essayist and romantic poet :-

" Where they burn books, so too will they in the end burn human beings. "

" You cannot open a book without learning something. " - Confucius

" A book must be  the axe for the frozen sea within us." - Franz Kafka

" Hungry man , reach for the book, it is a weapon." - Bertolt Brecht 






Wednesday, 2 March 2016

No one deserves to be teargassed, looking for shelter



Poetic response to events that have recently taken place in Calais and on the Greek/Macedonian border. Published on I am not a silent Poet Blog :-
https://iamnotasilentpoet.wordpress.com/2016/03/01/no-one-deserves-to-be-teargassed-looking-for-shelter-by-dave-rendle/  
Their pain is our shame.


No one deserves to be teargassed,
looking for shelter,
treated like savages, given no respect,
hope destroyed left in tatters,
reason left beyond recognition,
tears now drown the soil,
that once sustained them,
that acted as a bridge,
between life and death,
laughter and solace now lost,
as politicians seem not to care,
whether peoples dreams survive,
air now heavy in bullshit and tyranny,
my heart bleeds too,
as I witness this hell from afar,
innocent beings punished and forsaken,
memories already haunted, cloaked in grief.
 

Tuesday, 1 March 2016

The Praise of St David's Day Showing the reason why the Welch-men Honour the leeke on this day


Today as has become traditional I mark St David's Day/ Dydd Dewi Sant. Saint David is the patron saint of Wales. This day was chosen to  commemorate St David's death on this day around 589 AD. It has been celebrated as a national day within Wales since the 18th century.
The Praise of St David's Day is reprinted from They look at Wales (1941) from an early black-letter broadside  in the British Museum library. It refers to the original Trojan  of the  Welsh  people. According to Geoffrey of Monmouth in the twelfth century, Brutus of Troy conquered Britain and fathered  the British people. Disputed by English scholars in the nineteenth century, this view of history remained gospel for patriotic Welshmen 'till the eighteenth century.


Who list to reade the deeds
   by valiant Welch-men done,
Shall find them worthy men of Armes,
  as breathes beneath the sunne;
They are of valiant hearts,
  of nature kind and  meeke,
An  honour on St David's Day;
   it is to wear a leeke.

The Welch most ancient is
   of this famous land,
Who were the first that conquered  it,
  by force and warlike hand.
From Troy stout Brute did come,
 this kingdome for  to seeke;
Which was possessed by savage men,
 then honoured be the Leeke.

He having won the same,
  and  put them to the sword :
Of Brute did Britaine first take name,
 as Chronicles record
The Welch true Brittaines are,
  whose swords in blood did reeke,
Of Pagan men being heathenish,
  then honoured by the Leeke.

And know if you would know,
  why they the Leeked do weare;
In honour of St David's day,
  it plainly shall appeare.
Upon St David's day,
  And first of March that weeke,
The Welch-men with their foes did joyne,
  then honoured by the Leeke.

And being in the field,
  their valour they did try;
Where thousands on both sides  being slaine,
  within their bloods did lye.
And they not knowing how
  their friends from foe to seeke;
Into a Gardem they did go,
  where each one pulld a Leeke :

And wore it in his hat,
  their Countrymen to know ;
And  then most valiantly they did
  o'ercome their warlike foe.
Then were noe colours knowne,
  or any feathers eeke;
The feathers first  originall,
  it was the Welch-mans Leeke.

And ever since that time,
  the Leek they use to weare,
In honour of St David's day,
  They doe that Trophy beare.
A Reverend Bishop was
  St David mild and meeke,
And 'tis an honour that same day,
  for them to wear a Leeke.


All the best on this day, heddwch/peace
happy St David's day/ Dydd Dewi Sant.