Amnestea

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Please Come for tea and Cake! this Sunday 19th June 2016 2.00–5.00pm  
Raise some money for Amnesty International's human rights work.

Merlin’s Lair, 
Capel Iwan, 
Newcastle Emlyn 
SA38 9LS                   

Everyone welcome - Croeso i  Pawb

*Relax to Live Music by L’Attitude  *Bookstall  *Plant Sale *Jewellery Sale 
Come whatever the weather, always a lovely event, friendly and hospitable.

Amnesty is non-political and does not accept money from Government, however the Government will double any money we raise (from the International Aid Budget).

We are raising money for an Amnesty project in Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone where Amnesty is working to help local communities to organise themselves to stop child marriage (girls as young as 10 forced to marry old men) and FGM, 

32 years anniversary of the battle of Orgreave

On this day in 1984, the battle of Orgreave took place when striking miners faced off against thousands of police under the jurisdiction of Margaret Thatcher as they attempted to blockade the Orgreave coking plant. The police showed the lengths they would go to break the strike with violent attacks, mass arrests and deliberate but fortunately unsuccessful attempts to fabricate evidence and frame miners. The insult was added to by the BBC reversing footage of miners defending themselves from police attacks to try and make out that the police were attacked first. 
It was one of the most brutal attacks by the state on its own citizens of the last 20th Century.It saw the police  going berserk under state orders, repeatedly  attacking  individuals  wherever they sought refuge,  as they fled into a nearby Wheatfield and into the community of Orgreave, where the police  carried on their pursuit through the streets. A scene of ugliness, fear and menace, as  all concepts of Law and order that  the constabulary  were supposed to withhold abandoned all its basic principles.
 At the end  the day  over 100 people were arrested, for no crime whatever, with many  more being injured along with  the Miners leader Arthur Scargill. Following Orgreave, the police  conducted a deliberate  and co-ordinated  attempt to frame arrested miners  for one of the most serious events  on the statute book - the offence of Riot. No police officer has ever been prosecuted or even disciplined for their role in the terrible events that occurred.

 The  miners strike of 1984 was one of the longest and most brutal in British labour history. A community fighting for jobs and survival was wholly denigrated and depicted as violent by the majority of the media. 32 years later  many still seek some form of justice.Today all the victims  of this bloody confrontation,are simply asking for an apology for the actions taken out against them. We should never forget, today the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign (OTJC) are calling on supporters to join them in a march and rally for truth and justice  at 5pm at The Old Bridge, Orgreave Lane, Sheffield S13 9NE. Supporters are encouraged to commemorate the day when 95 miners were arrested and wrongfully charged and many others were violently assaulted and wounded by a police force charging on horseback and wielding truncheons.
The huge demand for a public inquiry  since  the Hillborough  verdict  should help  to expose the real truth of what happened on that day, achieve justice and make it easier for both the mining community and the police to move on

For  further details of the Orgreave Peace and Justice Campaign

I refer you to this excellent site

http://otjc.org.uk/

An earlier post on the 30th anniversary of the Miners Strike can be found here

http://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/30th-anniversary-of-miners-strike-their.html

The following is a pamphlet by a striking anarchist miner :-

https://libcom.org/history/tell-us-lies-about-miners-dave-douglass

The horrible threat of fascism must be thwarted.

                                     
                                            Thomas Mair, fascist murderer.

Do you know what sorrow is? A pool of blood where resentment clouded in hate devoured hope.It's been a horrible week, where we've seen the consequences of bigoted hatred.
It's looking increasingly apparent that Thomas Mair (the Killer of Jo Cox MP) was a far-right extremist with links to various fascist groups.The media are trying to put his actions down to his mental health, ignoring his political beliefs, despite Mair saying "death to traitors, freedom for Britain" in court this morning it points out that the attack was not some random act of violence, but a politically motivated targeted attack on someone who had spoken out in support of the people pictured in Nigel Farages recent ' Breaking Point' poster. Believe it or not, there are millions of people with mental health issues who don't go around committing politically-motivated acts of terror. An individual fired up by those who propogate. hate and division who deliberately set out from his home armed with a firearm and long knife, to commit a politically motivated murder. According to a US civil rights group, he bought a handbook from an American-based Neo-Nazi group with instructions on how to build a homemade gun in 1999.
Sick white supremacist ideology has driven many to do this is the past (David Copeland, Anders Breivik, Zack Davies) and if the far-right aren't prevented from spreading their poisonous message, many more will probably follow.
By not calling Mair's actions terrorism , the media has been inconsistent and has helped fuel Muslims communities that they are treated differently.Remember that this kind of thinking emerges and spreads in our own communities,sometimes amongst people we know. It's important to recognise this threat and to know who these people are so that we never have to experience the worst consequences of fascist extremism.Those that seek to spread blood on our streets for their own hateful agendas. Certain politicians  are responsible for stirring up the toxic debate on immigration in which the dreadful murder of Jo Cox took place combined  with those who have deliberately whipped up racism and anti-migrant feelings.  .
I have no hidden political agenda, I just have a dreadful  fear of the rise of fascism in a political atmosphere that was febrile and fetid long before Jo Cox’s death and is still being spread.
The lessons of history is that we must all unite to oppose fascism wherever it lurks, we must  stand firm against this vile ideology of hate, defeat it and make a better life for all .Remember that an injury to one is an injury to all., so as we remember Jo Cox we must stand together in solidarity with all victims of fascist violence. Never should this disgusting ideology be given acceptance of any kind.
We must continue push back any growth by the  forces of fascism as has been done repeatedly in the past.

Inner Terrestrials - White Nightmare

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTE8y7z3-aw&feature=youtu.be

Well this is a story about the war,
This is the futures to unfurl.
And this is about the fate of millions,
Under attack by evil's minions.

This song is about the fascist threat,
And a history full of regret.
And this is a tale of countless dead,
Because of the lies on which we're fed.

A white nightmare
A white nightmare
A white nightmare
The great white nightmare

You know we're taught to believe in our sovereign rulers,
Just one of the lies on which we're nurtured.
Patriotism, blind faith in the state,
Relate to xenophobia and race hate.

The innocents died when the war flags flew
Are scared human beings, no different from you
In god and mercy's name, they'll have to be cleansed,
The commies, the subverts, the gypsy, the jew.

A white nightmare
A white nightmare
A white nightmare
The great white nightmare

You know they're still there fighting for a new world order,
Built on fear and children slaughtered.
And i can't think what they hope to gain,
When the rivers turn to blood, and joy turns into pain.

With a crooked pride in germanic roots,
Swastikas, shaved head, steel toe capped boots.
They're warped ideal is a nazi nation,
Born of loss and bleak frustration.

A white nightmare
A white nightmare
A white nightmare
The great white nightmare

Have they forgotten the lesson of the past?
With their misplaced pride and their aryan path.
Can the rotten see that inside their heads,
Hatred grows and hatred spreads.

Before you realised in had begun,
The world is under threat from nazi scum.
So on your feet now, do us right,
It's time to spread the love, and block out all the lies.

A white nightmare
A white nightmare
A white nightmare
The great white nightmare

You know i look around and i don't see mugs,
Who'll take this xxxx from fascist thugs.
We need one heart, one soul, one nation,
To save us all from annihilation.
We suffered from too many wars,
We must never break under their laws.
We've been hurt enough, we'll take no more,
We must defeat the fascist core.

A white nightmare
A white nightmare
A white nightmare
The great white nightmare

Thoughts on the death of Jo Cox M.P

I am deeply saddened by the tragic news of Jo Cox Labour MP's senseless horrific murder in her constituency in Birstal the North of England yesterday. My thoughts go out to her family and friends at this difficult time.
It appears to have been a right-wing politically fuelled hate attack, the alleged killer named as a local man named Thomas Mair, 53 is said to have shouted Britain First, a reference to a far right fascist paramilitary organisation of that name as he launched his attack. Piece by piece, a picture is emerging of a quiet, troubled man with a history of connections to far-right groups.Mair did have far-right affiliations, so this horrific attack can legitimately be called an act of terror, driven by an ideology of hate that grows from the fertile swamps of white supremacy and xenophobia, such as Nigel Farage’s new “breaking point” advert against the EU and refugees.
In my opinion we have far more to fear from nationalists than from immigrants. The latter often simply want a better life while the former tend towards reactionary xenophobia authoritarian thought and blaming others for their own failings.Their brains are almost devoid of empathy circuits and lack the capacity to feel genuine compassion. They therefore find it easy to dehumanize the "other" and treat their fellow human beings little different than used furniture. They place a high value on authoritarianism and care very little for fairness. At its very core, authoritarianism is a denial of the Golden Rule. They believe that any compromise represents complete capitulation. Their minds are sick having been poisoned by a steady diet of hate. Instead of making a better argument to counter yours, they try to silence you. in this tragic case sadly.forever.
Killing the messenger won't silence what she stood for, I am hoping that if anything, Jo's death would not have been in vain. She was a committed Bremainer and activist and on all accounts she was a wonderful, compassionate lady, mother of two , pro-equality MP who had made several superb speeches in Parliament, brilliant on immigration migrant issues. A rare kind of MP in days like these.. Her murder could well be a game changer for undecideds and those already considering Brexit. 
Cox, 41, was raised in Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire. Her mother Jean was a school secretary and her father Gordon worked in a toothpaste and hairspray factory in Leeds, the Yorkshire Post reported.
A mother of two, she was married to Brendan Cox, an activist and campaigner who was formerly a senior executive at Save the Children and was the adviser on international development to Gordon Brown when he served as prime minister. Jo Cox had studied at  Cambridge University before becoming head of global policy for the international aid organization Oxfam. She was the first in her family to graduate from university.Jo was co-chair of the Friends of Syria All Party Parliamentary Group and an active member of parliamentary groups working on issues involving Pakistan, Kashmir and Yorkshire’s regional economy. She was working toward trying to find a solution to Syria’s years-long civil war. Frequently speaking out about issues that concerned her like Palestine.
In a statement on Thursday following her death her husband said: "Jo believed in a better world and she fought for it every day of her life with an energy, and a zest for life that would exhaust most people.She would have wanted two things above all else to happen now, one that our precious children are bathed in love and two, that we all unite to fight against the hatred that killed her. Hate doesn't have a creed, race or religion, it is poisonous."
Could the news this week get any sadder. From the numbed people of Orlando to the numbed people of Britain, we must continue to send our love, our support, our compassion and our solidarity in our grief and determination to overcome fear, ignorance and hate. It is also worth noting that mental illness seldom functions as a reason in and of itself, especially if the label is applied so selectively. Lessons need to be drawn from what is happening.
The dark  forces of isolation, fear, false bravado, and, above all, just plain cowardice must nor be allowed to win.
Rest in Peace Jo Cox.

In the clearness

The night was black as a raven's wing,
The sky felt tragic and undone,
Slicing through the power of reason,
The world  seemed split in two,
Like a heart when the love affair has ended
Too much darkness and hatred
Time now to turn untangle,
Find in contemplation,
The edges of the world,
where loves spirit never fades.

A point of focus to remind us,
To join  together as one in hope,
Clinging on, taking time.
Booking further reservations,
To look, seek and find,
Destroy the bad, the good to make,
To recount yesterday,
Extinquish desolation,
Igniting desire and emotion.

Peace comes quietly
But surge in spirit is clearly felt,
Carried on the healing balm of day
Delivering the bright bliss,
Of tomorrow's resurrection,
Fold up your calendars,
They will not be needed,
When our dreams become the future,
Walking beside us - unafraid..

Solidarity with Orlando

ISIS is above all a mentality, a result of an international system of fascism. Of course ISIS’s mentality is against a certain way of life – the explicit targeting of an LGBT venue by an individual inspired by their twisted ideology is illustrative of bigoted hate and fascism,. We must not be afraid to call out on its roots, when every day people are murdered as a result of this.
No false flags here, this was a deliberate attack on LGBT people in an LGBT venue. It was a homophobic terrorist attack. Omar Mateen  hated queer people and deliberately picked a club because it was full of people he regarded as deviants and committed a mass shooting. He was just another typical right-wing, homophobic, religious nut, sharing the same DNA with most of the Trump voter base. ISIS and Trump are two expressions of the same violent hate; this country, the United States, made this killer. It has been making killers like him since the Mayflower. The worst mass shooting in US history, if we can conveniently forget countless massacres perpetrated against First Nations peoples like the US Calvary’s massacre of 150 Lakota at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota in 1890.

Omar Mateen is not a foreign threat. Omar Mateen is America. Yet again, an astonishing act of violence that has us wondering what has become of this society, and why it tolerates such easy access to firearms, this shooting exposes so many of America's faultlines :- http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/commentisfree/2016/jun/12/orlando-shooting-reaction-us-gun-laws-islam-homophobia?CMP=share_btn_tw
When people are considered deviants and deserving of a murderous assault for their sexuality, a trait all of us in the community share, we cannot but come together in sadness and in mourning.Stand in solidarity with the LGBT community who struggles for existence on an everyday basis, solidarity with unjustly targeted Muslims, solidarity with the brave heroes, especially women, who fight against ISIS fascism in the Middle East and remember that in the Muslim world, the Rojava Revolution shines out as a beacon of hope against its own local version of that bigotry - ISIS. The armed forces of that Revolution - the People's Protection Units or YPG, have of course issued their own heartfelt statement in solidarity with the dead, wounded and mourning of Orlando.

We must resist those that seek to use this slaughter to demonise and and scapegoat the muslim community, most of them deplore terrorism as everyone else. We must always stand up to hate. Whatever its motivations. Informed by values of reason and empathy, love and kindness,we can stand up to hate and bigotry. No matter how bigoted a person is we will continue to survive, we will continue to resist, we will continue to live. Together in global solidarity we shall not live in fear. A time for us to unite and stand firm against homophobia, racism and Islamophobia.

" There is no simple monoliths solution to racism, to sexism, to homophobia. There is only the conscious focusing within each of my days, to move against them, wherever I come up against these particular manifestations of the same disease." 

 - Audre Lorde

Rabbis powerful speech to humanity at Muhammad Ali's funeral.

At a time when there is so much hatred and fearmongering directed against Islam and American Muslims by prominent politicians, it took Muhammad Ali’s funeral to bring  humanity together.The world's richest countries can and should do much more to help the worlds most vulnerable people together to remind us of our higher ideals, reminding us of our society’s problems with racial and religious prejudice, opening our eyes to  racial and religious universalism. Am currently still blown away by the powerful social justice speech from a respected Rabbi that has taken world leaders at the memorial service of Muhammad Ali by storm.
Longtime interfaith activist Rabbi Michael Lerner sparked uproarious applause and repeated standing ovations when he addressed mourners at Muhammad Ali’s funeral on Friday with a rousing call for social justice, denouncing the occupation of Palestine, the U.S. drone war, rampant Islamophobia and the mass incarceration of African Americans.  had a hard time loving themselves” and calling for an end to Islamophobia. .
Thousands of friends, family, celebrities, and political figures attended Ali’s traditional Muslim memorial service in Louisville, Kentucky, which spanned more than two days.
  “If Muhammad Ali were here today, I’m sure his message small battles – put your life energies and money into fundamental systemic transformation,” said Lerner, who is also a
political activist and editor of the Jewish magazine Tikkun. Lerner also said that what made Ali a hero was his courage to stand up to the “immoral” war in Vietnam by proclaiming himself a
conscientious objector. Lerner was an anti-war activist along with Ali, who refused to serve in the US army and was immediately stripped of his heavyweight title in 1967.
“Knowing he would lose his title, knowing he would face the racism of American society that would be heaped upon him forsaying no to the crazy war in Vietnam,” Ali said no to the war,
Lerner said. “He spoke truth to power – we must speak truth to power,” he added.
 Lerner’s eulogy, and the entire memorial service, had a strong interfaith message:
To honor Ali, he said:
"We will not tolerate politicians or anyone else putting down Muslims,"“Tell the one percent who own 80 percent of the wealth in this country that it’s time to share that wealth," he continued. "Tell the politicians who use violence worldwide and then preach nonviolence to the oppressed that it’s time for them to end their drone warfare and every other kind of warfare, to close our military bases around the world, to bring the troops home.”“Tell judges to let out of prison the many African Americans swept up by racist police and imprisoned by racist judges,” Lerner continued, raising his fist and pointing his fingers. “Tell the leaders of Turkey to stop killing the Kurds. Tell Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu that the way to get security for Israel is to stop the occupation of the West Bank and help create a Palestinian state."
“The way to get security is for the United States to become known as the most generous and caring country in the world, not the most powerful,” he said. “We could start with a global and domestic plan to once and for all end global and domestic poverty, homelessness, hunger, inadequate education, inadequate health care.”
He ended by affirming his “commitment to the well-being of all Muslims on this planet, as well as all people of all faiths and secular humanists.” Said Lerner:
"We Jews, as well as our non-Jewish allies in all religions and secular humanists, wish to pay honor to the Muslims of the world as they continue today the fast of Ramadan, and join with them in
mourning the loss and celebrating the life of Muhammad Ali, a great fighter for justice and peace."
A Beautiful tribute, talking Islamphobia, Vietnam, Palestine, and justice. Ali's legacy will be kept alive by those who dream of  justice, equality and freedom for all. Ali knew the secret of the butterfly was to transform itself, we too have a continuing part to play in transforming the world. Catalysts for change that keep standing up for the most vulnerable among us, holding the powers that be to account.

"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in a world they've been  given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's not a dare - Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing." 

- Muhammad Ali 

Solidarity with the Burghfield Blockade

I sends congratulations to Trident Ploughshares and all those who have participated in the very successful blockade of AWE Burghfield this week. This is the site near Aldermaston which works on the development and production of Britain's nuclear warheads. The protest aims to raise awareness of the forthcoming parliamentary decision on replacing the Trident nuclear weapons system.
The new warhead factory at AWE Burghfield will cost the taxpayer almost £2 billion. Parliament has yet to vote on replacing Trident.
Campaigners have blockaded one of the gates, day and night, since Monday, stopping all traffic to and from the site in the process.
 Former Labour Euro-MP for Leeds Michael McGowan says
“At a time when people in our city are depending on foodbanks, it is just abhorrent that we should consider spending such astronomical sums on a weapon that we could never use. Nuclear weapons are not just immoral but totally outdated and it’s time that we got in line with most countries in the world and disarmed.”
During the day the blockaders have been joined by many supporters from across the country and internationally.Activists from France, Belgium, Germany and Finland as well as Scotland, Wales and England are continuing to block the gates to the construction site at AWE Burghfield in Berkshire. No work has gone on there since the action started on Monday morning. But the same group of people have been staying overnight to maintain the blockade. Now they need to leave! More people are needed at the site to take their place. Are you free this weekend and can get to AWE Burghfield, West Berkshire?

Love and support to all seeking to stop wars and bombing innocents.

If you can lend a hand please contact Angie on 07456 588943 or email admin@tridentploughshares.org

Please pass this on to anyone you think might be interested in joining the protesters.

Click here for more information on the blockade, which continues throughout the month.

Click here to see The Guardian's coverage of the protest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-h6fCNVEqI

Europe:- Should we stay or should we go?.

 
The EU is far from perfect, but there’s so much at stake in this referendum. Lots of our rights at work and many people’s jobs are dependent on the European Union, and leaving could even mean lower wages.
I have huge sympathy with the anti-capitalist  argument for leaving the EU, the EU like Westminster serving the vested interests of the rich representing the hegenomy of old, and we now have the opportunity to break it but am not sure about getting into bed with the xenophobes and racists either, like Farage and his dodgy crew and if we leave David Cameron will get rid of the human rights act, he's already tried. I don't want to give these other dark forces any credence.
On the one hand , remain to defeat the hard right, preserve rights enshrined in the EU and fight to reform the EU. On the other hand , leave to strike a blow to fortress Europe, and stand apart from a neoliberal alliance and organise on the basis of true workers' internationalism across and beyond Europe . I recognise that the EU is a rather undemocratic organisation, a flawed institution in serious need of reform , it was responsible for forcing austerity on the people of Greece and Spain, but has also been an influence in restraining our own far right Government from its worst excessess, which is why those from the looniest fringes of the right want us to leave. 
I acknowledge that thanks to the EU it does help protect workers rights, Maternity leave, health and safety legislation, holidays, regular breaks, things I don't trust the UK to keep up with. Certainly not under Cameron. Leaving the EU would put all that at risk. Would you trust the Tories to protect those rights if they didn’t have to? Ideally we shouldn't perhaps be at the mercy of the EU or the UK government.
At the end of the day none of this is the world I want, I don't want any borders and want freedom of movement, internationalism not based on national sentiment or interests. But I have to  admit I'm pretty foxed by it all so still pretty undecided.When you get down to the nitty gritty, there's many unanswered questions by Brexit. Leaving would be one hell of a jump into the darkness. We have to think long and hard about the future,and  not be seduced by the politics of fear. Yes  I don't have any concrete answers, hopefully though  have offered you  some food for thought.
Perhaps when it comes down to it, I will just draw a smiley face on the voting slip. At the end of the day the rich and powerful always seem to get what they want.

Hope is a thing with feathers - Emily Dickinson (10/12/1830 - 15/5/1886)

.Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.