Hail Rebecca

The Rebecca riots  took place between 1839 and 1843, in the rural parts of Wales, here where I live in West Wales. Throughout Pembrokeshire, Cardiganshire and Carmarthenshire protests against the payment of tolls to use on the roads. 

On the 13th of May 1839, the first of the Rebecca riots took place at Efailwen near St Clears. The leader of the group of rioters was Thomas Rees (Twm Carnabwth) and he and the others dressed in women's clothes to march on Eifailwen tollgate. Apparently, the attack was unsuccessful because the men returned on 6 June, when they again destroyed the turnpike and this time burnt the tollhouse.

In the early 19th century many of the main roads in Wales were owned and operated by Turnpike Trusts. These trusts were supposed to maintain and even improve the condition of the roads and bridges through charging tolls to use them. In reality however, many of these trusts were operated by English businessmen whose main interest was in extracting as much money as they could from the locals. 

The farming community had suffered badly through poor harvests in the years preceding the protests and tolls were one of the biggest expense a local farmer faced. The charges levied to do even the simplest of things, such as taking animals and crops to market and bringing fertilisers back for the fields, threatened their livelihood and very existence.  The people finally decided enough was enough and took the law into their own hands; gangs were formed to destroy the tollgates.
During these protests, men disguised as women with blackened faces attacked the tollgates calling themselves "Rebecca and her daughter," probably referring to a passage from the Bible where Rebecca ( my sisters name incidentally) talks of the need to "possess the gates of those who hate them."
The tollgates were seen as symbols of oppression, and became the focus of discontent.But the protests weren’t purely about the tolls. For rural communities, mired in poverty, the gates were a symbol of gross inequality. Rents and church tithes were spiralling out of control, while the centuries-old Poor Law had paved the way for workhouses.The protesters also hated paying high taxes to the church and resented local magistrates that did nothing to help them. 

This movement sweeped my local countryside, a popular uprising off the oppressed peasantry. By day the countryside seemed quiet, but at night fantastically disguised horsemen careered along highways and through narrow lanes on their their rebellious quests.They developed uncanny skill in evading the police and the infantry, and although their mounts were unweildy farm horses they also succeeded in outwitting the dragoons, after all the rioters knew their territory much better and could spread false information about when they would strike next, often leading troops on a wild goose chase. 

Many of the protests tended to follow a ritual, whereby a ringleader (‘Rebecca’) would stumble towards a gate like a blind, elderly woman. The ‘daughters’ would then clear the path with an almighty racket. A local newspaper recalled the scene after a riot at Llandeilo: “pickaxes, hatchets, crowbars, and saws were set in operation and the gate was entirely demolished.'

They ceased as suddenly as they started, and for three and a half years my countryside was quiet and undisturbed. Then in the winter of 1842, they broke out again with greater violence, and this time continued throughout the following year.

On 19 Jun 1843 a crowd of around 4,500 Rebecca" rioters with blackened faces and dressed as women gathered and attacked the Carmarthen workhouse in Wales, and set about destroying it. It took the arrival of a unit of the British army to disperse them Other major tollgates destroyed included those at  Llanelli, Pontardulais, and Llangyfelach, and at the small village of Hendy near Swansea, a young woman named Sarah Williams, the tollhouse keeper was killed.

After months of disorder, the government concluded that the turnpike trusts should be merged and the hated  tolls reduced. Because of this it  took away many of the  major grievances of the protesters , and by 1845 my corner of West Wales was quiet again.

An inspiring uprising that had justice and reason on their side  and is still remembered  as one of the most  striking protest movements in modern Welsh history. That still strikes the imagination in our hearts, minds and deeds.

Further reading :- The Rebecca Riots- David Williams, University of Wales Press, 1986.

 

It be Friday the 13th

at least the sun is shining over here.

Civil disobedience

( a few thoughts that just drifted by)

Beyond voting,
And the convenience store of conscience,
We can slip outside the gates, 
With no room for control,
Disobey the rules, 
Follow another  path,
Sometimes things need to be bent,
For something else to to be put in place,
In compliance  we can be left  without grace,
With civil disobedience, we can break free,
Shake of their chains of obedience,
Do do not be afraid to stand apart.

Michael. S. Harper ( 18/4/38 -7/5/16) R.I.P - Here where Coltrane Is.

Sad to hear that Michael S Harper acclaimed poet and writer has passed away, known for his innovative use of jazz rhythms , cultural references and personal narrative has passed away.For Harper history and mythology were related. The mythology of white supremacy for instance. 
As an adolescent he was forced into awareness of racism in America. His familt moved from New York to Los Angeles where African Americans were the target of racial violence.
During high school he began experimenting with creative writing. He later attended  the famous Iowa workshop at the University of Iowa in Iowa city. As the only African American student in the poetry and fiction workshop classes, he endured misunderstanding and prejudice. However these experiences motivated him to confirm  the dualism instead in being an African American writer. He refused exclusive containment in either the African American or in the American category. Rather he affirmed his identity in both groups.
Harper's writing manipulated old European and  American myths to create new ones. His first poetry collection was called ' Dear John, Dear Coltrane (1970) for Harper, John Coltrane who he knew personally is both the man and his jazz. Harper included the music of poetry to affirm and articulate suffering in black life and culture, to gain from it and survive it, drawing attention in his work to the many injustices faced by African Americans in the course of his country's history.
Michael S. Harper  was the Poet Laureate of Rhode Island from 1988 to 1993, and was and will be continued to be regarded as a significant powerful voice in contemporary poetry.
The following poem is from his 1971 collection ' history is your heartbeat,' combining philosophical and social concepts and cultural references that is uniquely representative of the Civil Rights movement, mentioning Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and of course John Coltrane, out of this painful and tragic legacy he makes song.

Michael S Harper R.I.P

Here where Coltrane is 

Soul and race
are private dominions,
memories are modal
songs, a tenor blossoming,
which would paint suffering
a clear colo
r but is not in
this Victorian house
without oil in zero-degree
weather and a forty-mile-an-hour wind;
it is all a wet-knit family:
a love supreme

Oak leaves pile up on a walkway
and steps, catholic as apples
in a special mist of clear white
children who love my children.
I play 'Alabama'
on a warped record player
skipping the scratches
on your faces over the fibrous
conical hairs of plastic
under the wooden floors.

Dreaming on a train from New York
to Philly, you hand out six
notes which become an anthem
to our memories of you:
oak, birch, maple,
apple, cocoa, rubber.
For this reason Martin is dead;
for this reason Malcolm is dead;
for this reason Coltrane is dead
in the eyes of my first son are the browns
of these men and their music.

In the Circle, we are all equal.

                                           Image by Jane Ray

In the Circle, we are all equal.
There is no one  in front of you and there's  nobody behind you.
No one is above you, no one is below you.
The circle is Sacred  because it is designed to create Unity.

- Lakota Wisdom

Sadly some still gets golden parachutes,
Influence is daily up for sale, 
The rich get richer, leading to inequality,
Government policies still dividing all,
The earth in the 21st Century,
Still not a common treasury.  
Life is full of double standards;
The dark side of capitalism,
Our mainstream media fails to expose
There's something rotten at the core
The poor and the weak ridiculed
Who all  deserve dignity, respect,
Time to take down the barriers
For collective welfare, 

The system must fall,
Fill the world with beauty.
For everything and everyone to share.
In rich diversity, we are all still human
In the circle we can all be equal again.

In the garden of love

 ( for the mighty furbster, Jane for her birthday )


The moon is now in pisces,
This is a water sign,
Now is a good time to sow,
A sprinkling of jazz,
Positive vibrations.
Side by side
As clouds float past,
And the west wind blows,
Singing of dreaming and waking,
The smell of the earth rises. 

Planting bulbs,
Our memories will be forever stored,
Tucked in corners,
Mingling in the future,
Together will always run.
Peace by piece,
Our love will grow,
Following Pan's footprints,
Fireflies casting glow.

In the garden of love,
Wildness rules,
With all our strength,
We will nurture,
Take care,
Give all that is needed.

40 years after the American Indian Movement surrenders at Wounded Knee: Leonard Peltier's injustice continues.

                                 participants of 1973, Wounded Knee occupation.

On this day - 8 May - 1973, the American Indian Movement's  (AIM) occupation of Wounded Knee, South Dakota ended with the surrender of some 120 Native American and Lakota activists.
Initially provoked by the corruption of the Government's approved tribal governance , their goal too was to protest injustices against their tribes, and the many violations of various treaty's with the United States  government and current abuses and repression against their people. In the 2 years prior to the confrontation more than 60 Indians at the Pine Ridge reservation had been killed, without anyone having been bought to justice for their crimes. The occupation began on February 27 lasting for 71 days and was symbolically located at  Wounded Knee which was the site of a US government massacre of 300 Lakota in 1880. In addition to its historical significance , Wounded  Knee was one of the poorest communities in the United States and shared with the other Pine Ridge settlements some of the country's lowest rates of life expectancy.
The actions of AIM acclaimed by many Native Americans. The 200 activists from AIM soon faced a federal government force including Marhalls, the FBI  and the Nebraska National Guard who responded to the occupation with a full scale military style assault. In the resulting melee two fedral agents were shot along with two brave warriors - Buddy Lamont and Frank Clearwater - died during the siege, where over 200,000 rounds of ammunition were fired at the protestors. Also 2 federal agents had been shot during the standoff. This use  of military force by the federal government later ruled to be unlawful..

After AIM's eventual surrender Leonard Peltier, a member of the Lakota Ogkla Sioux was arrested and charged  with the murder of the two FBI agents on the  flimsiest off evidence. Leonard Peltier is now one of American society's  longest serving political prisonersi, considered to be the Native American peoples  own Nelson Mandela, who though admitting to being there at the time, to help protect his community from continuing violence, has always proclaimed his innocence of actually shooting anyone.
Still in jail today despite the protests and claims of AIM and human rights groups, including Amnesty International. His prosecution and conviction  is felt by many to have driven only  by his participation  in the American Indian Movement. He has continued to be a victim of the racism and corruption embedded in the US criminal justice system. But Leonard Peltier is not simply a victim, he is also a fighter, writer, activist, grandfather, Nobel Peace Prize nominess, and was the Presidential candidate for the Peace and Freedom Party in 2004 whose spirit refuses to be beaten. Leonard his friends family and comrades have fought over the years for real justice to be done. In the years since his conviction, millions upon millions of people around the world have come  to learn of his case, agree that he is innocent and demand his freedom. 
With failing health I hope he is given his freedom soon, and the injustice that continues to be metered out finally ends. 40 years later despite serious concerns about the fairness of the proceedings leading to his conviction is time that President Obama grants him clemancy on humanitarian grounds and in the interests of justice.

http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info 

                                       
                                           Leonard Peltier

Congratulations to Monster Raving Loony Party in Wales, but alarmed about UKIP's rise.

Following yesterday's Welsh Assembly elections I would like to congratulate the Monster Raving Loony Party for winning more than two National Front numpties in the South Wales East region.
But very worried about increased vote for UKIP, these dangerous draconian, anti-immigrstion, anti-foreigners, Little Englander party whose vote is up by 11.5% here in Wales. Resulting in their first Senedd seats. There are  8 of the bastards now. Including former Tory's Neil Hamilton, a liar and cheat, a man so dodgy that even the Tories kicked him out of their party and Mark Reckless. Then you've got the racist Graham Bennett, recently embroiled in a race row, when he blamed Cardiff's rubbish problem on Eastern European immigrants. And five bloody more in various shades of dubiousness The ugly whiff ot racism combined with the stench of xenophobia never far from UKIP's doors.  Votes from disgruntled Tories or just from people who have been fooled. How can anyone though  be fooled by their anti-Europe, anti-refugee, anti-immigrant shit. Mark my words they will  to shit on any form of democracy that lies in their path. Is their a risk that their policies of blame and division will now become normalised here in Wales. We can't allow this to happen.
I think the people of Wales should hang their heads in shame or at least wake up.

35 years since the death of Bobby Sands ( 9/3/54 - 5/5/81)

As people go to polling booths today to vote in assembly elections, thought  i'd remember a man who also took part in the political process subsequently becoming  a Member of Parliament.
Today marks the 35th anniversary of the death of Robert  Gerard "Bobby " Sands  who died after being on  hunger strike for 66 days in the Long Kesh  Maze Prison in Northern Ireland  to protest against British treatment of IRA prisoners.  He was 27, emaciated weighing a mere 95 pounds his fillings having fallen out, his organs shut down and the whites of his eyes turned orange from toxins released.
Over the next few months, 9 other republican prisoners followed him, the culmination of a 5 year struggle in the prisons of Northern Ireland demanding jail reforms and the return of special category status allowing them to be treated as prisoners of war , allowing them the privileges of POW's as specified in the Geneva Convention.
Margaret Thatcher the British  Prime Minister at the time decided that no concessions be made to the prisoners, and with cold and calculated cruelty she and her government allowed them to die.
Bobby Sands had been bought to the republican struggle through personal experience after being intimidated out of his job as an apprentice car builder  by fellow workers. and after his family were intimidated out of their home in Rathcoole, a predominantly loyalist area of North Belfast, growing up under the cloud of nationalist and loyalist divisions, Catholics like Bobby were  reduced to second class citizens while the Protestant majority were granted privileges in jobs, education and services.
In 1971 the British introduced internment - allowing its forces to arrest anyone they saw fit and hold them indefinitely without charge. In 1972 the year he joined the IRA he was picked up by the police beaten up and tortured after some handguns were found in a house he was staying in and was sentenced to 5 years in Long kesh, he was rearrested in 1976 and in a juryless trial was sentenced to 14 years  for possession of a gun found in a car he shared with 5 other people
Developing his political ideas he was to  become a leader and inspiration to the prisoners.He pushed hard for prison reforms confronting the authorities, and for his outspoken ways was often given solitary confinement sentences He was also a prolific writer , who wrote numerous poems . His name will always be remembered, his sacrifice never forgotten. Today his smiling face is known the world over and his fight for freedom  remains an inspiration wherever people rise up against  injustice. Following his death Nelson Mandela led a hunger strike by prisoners on Robben Island to improve their own conditions.Palestinian prisoners have increasingly  used the same tactics too to bring attention to their plight. The hunger strikers who died over thirty years ago still continue to provide inspiration to political prisoners everywhere.
Many years later it is perhaps difficult to fully appreciate the sacrifices made by Sands and his comrades, which even if you disagree with the aims for which they gave their lives remains a monumental testament to the power of the human spirit.
It should be noted that their fight won huge support in Ireland, North and South and around the world One month before his death Bobby Sands was elected to Parliament in a rebuke to the British Government from the people of Northern Ireland having won 30,492 votes, ten thousand more than Thatcher in her London Constituency of Finchley and with a majority twice as large. I remember  Thatcher's ( British PM at the time)  callous refusal to reach any compromise - " crime is crime, it is not political." she said,  which only served to reinvigorate the republican cause at the time. It is estimated that over 100,000 people attended Bobby's funeral.and  an international outpouring of grief and anti British demonstrations were to take place. Protests were held in Paris, Milan, Ghent , Australia and Greece. In a ripple effect that was felt across the world.
And although Thatcher claimed victory , her government conceded the hunger strikers demands soon after the protest ended and even she, the main adversary of Sands and his comrades was moved to say years later " It was possible to admire the courage of Sands and the other hunger strikers who died."
In political terms , the 1981 hunger strike marked a sea change in irish republicanism and in the history of the Northern Ireland conflict, the scale of the mass campaign in support of the prisoners it helped turned the republican struggle increasingly towards a political, rather than a purely military focus , away from viole, decommissioning  and towards ceasefire  which would be crucial in laying the ground for the peace process which would have once seemed inconceivable, that has continued to prosper because peace and justice is what the people want and need.
Bobby Sands stature keeps growing, and his poetry and songs still resound, let us remember him, let us never forget.
He said before he died " our revenge will be the laughter of our children." - a phrase that says all that we need to know about him and looks beyond the bloodshed to true peace.

Here is a link to a previous post that includes some of his fine poetry

http://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/bobby-sands9354-5581-rhythm-of-time.html

a small eulogy from my own pen :-

For Bobby

He died in springtime,
When flowers were waking,
But his passion born of love and anger,
Remained undimmed, his will unbroken,
On the side of justice and right,
The most profound human hunger of all,
Through pain and struggle he rode on,
Kept up the fight, let the world be his witness,
Let truth shine it's light, for his cause to be seen,
Strength and courage carried this poets bones,
No fear, only defiance was to be seen in his eyes,
And  now today his spirit still lives on, 
As the ugliness of injustice continues to roam.  

The Haymarket Square Riot.

Today in history May 4, 1886, the Haymarket Square Riot took place. A day after police had killed four striking workers,injuring several others protestors. This was a time of violent repression by the police. The demonstrators were calling for greater power and economic security, standing against capitalism, calling for an eight hour day and to protest about the increased brutality of the police. 
At the May 4th meeting  a number of radical and anarchist speakers addressed a crowd of over 3,000 people. The meeting  was peaceful but the mood became  more confrontational when the police tried to disperse the crowd. As  scuffles broke out, someone who has never been positively identified threw a bomb at police lines.. (some have since claimed was an agent provocateur in the pay of the authorities to try and stoke up division.) The bomb landed and exploded unleashing shrapnel. One officer was killed and several were wounded. The police responded by drawing their weapons and firing into the panicked crowd.  Seven  policemen  were killed, most likely from police bullets fired in the chaos, not from the bomb itself. Four  civilians were also killed and more than hundred persons injured.

The aftermath created  widespread hysteria, further repression and a national wave of xenophobia, as hundreds of foreign born radicals and labor leaders were rounded up in Chicago and elsewhere in what  is seen as the first great political witch hunt and frame up trial, used as an excuse to  crack gown on  the entire labor movement. A grand jury eventually indicted 31 suspected  labor radicals in connection with the bombing, and eight anarchist leaders form the revolutionary syndicalist tradition were convicted of instigating violence and conspiring to commit murder. in a controversial trial, despite lack of evidence and no connection to the actual bomb. Judge G Gary imposed the death sentence on seven of the men, and the eighth was sentenced to 15 years in prison.In what is seen as a racist show trial,   which like all kangaroo courts was a travesty of justice. Many of the accused not even present when the incident took place.
These men have become known as the Haymarket Martyrs, Albert Spies, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fischer and George Engel who were  tried and convicted and executed  for their political beliefs, not for their actions  on May 3th, who still occupy an honored history of the class struggle in the United States and internationally whose sacrifice is remembered every year on May 1st International Workers Day, whose deaths sparked protests around the world. Six hundred thousand working people turned out for their funeral.
When one of the accused Albert Spies mounted the gallows and a noose was placed around his neck he shouted out. " There will be a time when our silence will be more powerful, than the voices you strangle today."
Rather than suppressing labor and radical movements the events of 1886 and the execution of the Chicago Anarchists,  actually mobilised and galvanised a new generation of radicals and revolutionaries. Emma Goldman a young immigrant at the time later pointed to the Haymarket affair as her political birth. Lucy Parsons widow of Albert Parsons , called up on the poor to direct their anger at those responsible - the rich. In 1938 , fifty-two years after the Haymarket riot , workdays in the United States were legally made eight hours by the Fair Labor Standards Act. It is up to us to keep the memory of the  Haymarket martyrs alive. to learn the lessons of their struggle so that they did not die in vain, acting as enduring symbols of labors struggles for justice.