Victory at Standing Rock: Permit denied for Dakota Access Piipeline.

 

The US Army Corps of Engineers have announced  today they will no longer allow the Dakota Access Pipeline to cross under  lake Oshe near the Standing Rock reservation in North Dakota, marking a huge victory for Native Americans and protesters who had long opposed the construction.
They say they are going to reroute it. The pipeline was intended to pass through North Dakota's Lake Oahe, which is a burial site sacred to the Standing Rock Sioux. The tribe voiced concerns the pipeline would threaten the community’s drinking water and would also damage sites of sacred significance and threaten water sources and cultural sites.
Military veterans joined activists, who call themselves water protectors, at Standing Rock this week, with more than 3,500 pledging to join the demonstration.In a statement, Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault II said the tribe welcomed the decision, but he also sounded a note of caution saying he hoped the incoming Donald Trump administration would "respect this decision and understand the complex process that led us to this point." Archambault II went on :"When it comes to infrastructure development in Indian Country and with respect to treaty lands, we must strive to work together to reach decisions that reflect the multifaceted considerations of tribes. Treaties are paramount law and must be respected, and we welcome dialogue on how to continue to honor that moving forward. We are not opposed to energy independence, economic development, or national security concerns but we must ensure that these decisions are made with the considerations of our Indigenous peoples."
I am glad that the water protectors were able to divert the path of the pipeline. I feel saddened though that it took so long after months of violence and brutality by the state to get a basic easement off land that the oil companies had no legal right to be on in the first place. Some 26 activists were injured in a November 20 confrontation when police fired water cannon in below-freezing temperatures. Rubber bullets and tear gas were also reportedly used against the water protectors on site.Around 564 people were arrested during the protests, according to the Morton County Sheriff's Department for simply trying to peacefully defend this sacred land from  pillage.
I hope they stay true to their word.The people I fear will have to remain ever vigilant until all traces of the pipeline are removed. The World is still watching.Some good news for the time being, a huge victory for the thousands of demonstrators across the country who flocked to North Dakota in protest, standing firm  against corporations willful  destruction of our planet, and for the many concerned individuals across the world who have been in solidarity trying to raise awareness about this ongoing fight. People before profit.

Frank Zappa ( 21/12/40 - 4/12/93) - Social Commentator

 

Not sure, how, that in the years I've been writing this blog, I have not touched on the work of the late Frank Vincent Zappa, I have been an admirer of his work for a while, having numerous records, dvds by him. Anyway on this day in 1993 this musician and iconclast, who rode to fame in the late 1960s as leader of the eccentric Mothers of Invention and kept on breaking the musical rules, died in Los Angeles, CA of prostate cancer aged 53.
In his 33-year musical career, Zappa proved to be one of the most prolific musician-composers of his era, releasing over 60 albums during his lifetime, almost all of which consisted of original compositions.His work was a frothy stew of '50s doo-wop, rhythm 'n' blues,straight edged rock serious experimental jazz,free-form improvisation, sound experiments, musical virtuosity, and avant-garde classical strains, often heaped high with perverse, often scatological, lyrics.In albums with such far-out titles as "Freak Out," "Lumpy Gravy," "Burnt Weeny Sandwich" and "Weasels Ripped My Flesh," and "Sheik Yerbouti," Over the years, Zappa, whose albums were never huge sellers, sustained a cult following and was admired by legions of  fans worldwide that  ensured the marketability of a seemingly endless stream of eclectic recordings.Best remembered for the mark he made on the experimental rock counter-culture of the late 1960s, his influence extended into the worlds of jazz, classical and electronic music, and his love of experimentation was present in all of them.
His anarchic demeanor, and occasionally juvenile antics, accusations of misogyny were counterbalanced by an increasingly strong sense of social commitment, an individual  who shirked rampant commercialism and embraced nonconformity.In addition to being one of the most prolific and versatile composers of the rock idiom of his time,an incredible artist who produced an insane body of work Zappa he was also an astute and outspoken social and political commentator., a acerbic, prolific agent provocateur beyond categorisation. His music dealing with weighty subjects commenting on societal norms, politics and religion that still resonate in todays social and political climate.
An atheist, who grew up in a religious Catholic household. He said that by the time he was 18, he had “escaped the bondage of being a devout believer.” But the rebellion against religion started long before that. He said,"[My parents] tried to make me go to Catholic school, too. I lasted a very short time. When the penguin came after me with a ruler, I was out of there."He certainly did not have kind words to say about religion, especially the Abrahamic traditions. Just look at some of his  song titles: “The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing,” “Jesus Thinks You’re a Jerk,” “Heavenly Bank Account,” “Dumb All Over.” Zappa’s disgust of religion was rooted in the belief that religion is anti-intellectual, that it promotes ignorance. He said about the story of Adam and Eve,
"What was it that Adam ate that he wasn’t supposed to eat? . . . it was the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The subtle message? “Get smart and I’ll fuck you over–sayeth the Lord.” God is the Smartest–and he doesn’t want any competition.^"
He was especially critical of religious leaders who he viewed as hypocritical, preaching one thing and practicing another, those who became wealthy off the donations of their followers, and those who use religion to influence political change.Zappa described himself as a Practical Conservative, meaning he wanted small government and lower taxes. He said he understood that there were certain large services that only the federal government could provide, like national defense and large infrastructure projects, but that these services should be administered with the most efficiency and at the lowest price possible. He advocated for elimination of income taxes and a greatly reduced role for the federal government.
He was especially critical of the Reagan administration for, among other things, what he saw as its pandering to the Christian right. he was a libertarian in many ways.Zappa was skeptical of authority and indoctrination, and was critical of the mainstream media.He was also fierce defender of free speech and waged a public battle against the Parents Music Resource Center and its proposed ratings system, he testified before a congressional committee in 1985, voicing his opposition to legislation that would require labeling of music to warn parents of explicit content. In his prepared statement, about how such regulations are a threat to the First Amendment, Zappa said, " The establishment of a rating system, voluntary or otherwise, opens the door to an endless parade of Moral Quality Control Programs based on “Things Certain Christians Don’t Like.” What if the next bunch of Washington Wives demands a large yellow “J” on all material written or performed by Jews, in order to save helpless children from exposure to concealed Zionist doctrine?^"
Zappa clearly wanted government out of all business except that which only government can provide, and he was willing to attack both political parties when he thought the freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights were threatened. But his faith in the political machine wasn’t exactly resolute. As Zappa put it,"Government is the Entertainment division of the military-industrial complex"
In 1986, Frank Zappa engaged in a fiery debate about dirty lyrics and censorship based on religious morality in this classic clip from CNN’s “Crossfire.”Debating with John Lofton, conservative columnist for the Washington Times, Zappa noted that:The biggest threat to America today is not communism. It’s moving America toward a fascist theocracy. Everything that’s happened under the Reagan Administration is steering us right down that pipe.
Asked later in the interview to give “one example of a fascist theocracy” by co-host Tom Braden, Zappa replied: When you have a government that prefers a certain moral code derived from a certain religion, and that moral code turns into legislation to suit one certain religious point of view, and if that code happens to be very very right wing, almost toward Attila the Hun…
Lofton responded: “Well then you are an anarchist. Every form of civil government is based on some kind of morality Frank,” but Zappa set him straight, curtly remarking: “Morality in terms of behavior, not in terms of theology! You can watch the exchange, below,

Zappa defines Fascist theocracy
 

 For more of this stuff, I recommend checking out Thorsten Shutte’s new documentary, Eat that Question: Frank Zappa in his own words, an intimate encounter with the iconoclastic composer and musician  with rare archival footage revealing a provocative 20th-century musical genius and fierce public intellectual whose worldview resonates into the present day and beyond.Frank Zappa’s diverse work throughout his career as a musician and activist all combine to form an image of Zappa as a confirmed iconoclast who used his talents as composer, guitarist, entertainer, band leader, and social commentator to skew the status quo, illuminate hypocrisy, and slaughter sacred cows. The legacy of Frank Zappa will long be remembered.However for a nonconformist composer, so vehemently opposed to commercialization, it is kind of ironic though that Zappa’s image is now preserved in brand-name aspic by the strenuously protective Zappa Family Trust.

 Eat that Question: Frank Zappa in his own words, Official trailer 2016

Frank Zappa - Absolutely Free
 

Daily Mail hypocrisy

The rag known as the Daily Mail's hypocrisy continues to hold no bounds. On the same day that it tried to stoke up anti-immigrant and anti-refugee feeling on its front page, alongside it ran a tribute to  86-year-old actor Andrew Sachs, who has sadly died in a care home last week,after having battled with dementia for the past four years alongside the image of his best known character; Manuel, an European migrant hotel worker who is subjected to daily verbal and physical abuse, whose accent and level of English is perpetually mocked, and who is restricted to the low-paid service sector? Of course the Mail is paying tribute.
You could call it ironic or just bloody plain insensitive because Andrew was born in Berlin, Germany, and as a Jew had to flee the country to escape the Nazis - the same Nazis that the Daily Mail at the time enthusiastically supported.Let’s not forget remember that the Mail opposed Jewish refugees coming to Britain in the 1930s. It was ‘an outrage’ they said.

Although the rag does acknowledge Sachs’ relatives background in an obituary to the actor on web page ten, the entrance web page goes a incredibly lengthy way to illustrate the way that this tawdry rag has run a program of dehumanising migrants of any kind as much as possible, stoking up fear about migrants to Britain from Europe and then havinge the gall to pay tribute to Andrew Sachs, a migrant from Europe.

While this odious little paper continues to spew poisonous bile into the  atmosphere,  I do think it needs to be publicly vilified and refuted at every opportunity.Let's think about the people of today who are forced to flee oppressive régimes and let's not be like the Daily Mail.

My deepest condolences to Andrew Sachs and his family.

Defend The Sacred ( A Poem for Standing Rock.)

"The Indians knew that life was equated with the earth and its resources, that America was a paradise, and they could not comprehend why the intruders from the East were determined to destroy all that was Indian as well as America itself." - Dee Brown, author of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee; April 1970.

On the heels of increasingly severe human rights violations against the water protectors of Standing Rock, the Army Corps of Engineers released a statement that on Dec. 5 that they plan to shut down the Oceti Sakowin camp — the primary camp where water protectors and allies have been resisting the completion of the Dakota Access Pipeline for months now.

Gov. Jack Dalrymple of North Dakota has stood in agreement with the plan by ordering the water protectors to evacuate the camp.The water protectors have been standing strong in the face of police assaultswith  rubber bulets, concussion grenades, tear gas, and water cannons in freezing temperatures, and the risks are threatening to become worse.
As a result, the camp has issued an emergency call for others to stand in solidarity on Dec 4. 

Defend The Sacred ( A Poem for Standing Rock.)

Water if life, oil is poison
one is a creator, one is a destroyer,
under angry sky proud people stand
defending ancestral burial ground,
in a battle for survival  treated so shamefully
pleading for sanity in a state of distress,
daily faced with disrespect and intimidation
rubber bullets, intruders threatening,
invaders returning, stealing and encroaching
in a thirst for profit, means of fairness hidden.

Let us  pray for all the tribes of Standing Rock 
deprived of joy and laughter, a means of survival,
grant safe keeping, peace, love and many blessings
respect the water protectors for courage and brave heart,
release them from oppression, free from corruption
offer peace, love and many blessings,
worldwide unity as they battle to save our planet
people before needless, senseless profit,
souls drenched, not from water, but tears
grant power to the people, united so strong.

Those at Standing Rock remain steadfast and free
peacefully trying to erase enormous pain,
armed with the truth, waiting for justice to call
sorrow and sadness to dissipate, healing to return,
to escape the bonds, flee the enemy
to be at one with mother earth,
indigenous resistance we must celebrate
honor and protect their sacred fight,
let our warmth melt their fears
allow their magic to forever flow.

The above poem, can also be found here :-https://iamnotasilentpoet.wordpress.com/2016/12/02/defend-the-sacred-a-poem-for-standing-rock-by-dave-rendle/

Look ahead

 

Look ahead,beyond the chaos
our only hope is the children,.
make them see, make them care
show them a brighter vision,
where people no longer bludgeon each other
for a slice of bread or less.
Destroy apathy that does not give a toss
just keeps the status quo running at
                                   huge human cost,
a case of hope deferred, energy lost
when we should be keeping spirits high
by fighting for a nobler cause.
Try not to become defeated or foiled
reach out for freedom, peace,equality
keep looking for another way of possibility
or be doomed forever as prisoners of time.
Teach the children to listen
offer them the gift of understanding,
if fear is the only way
frighten them into caring.
When this task is undertaken
beyond the walls of illusion,
we can all become one
society re-moulded, re-cast,
for future generations to come.

https://iamnotasilentpoet.wordpress.com/2016/11/30/look-ahead-by-dave-rendle/

Paul Nuttall leader of UKIP, we should not be laughing.

 

We should not be laughing as it is announced that Paul Nuttall is now the new UKIP leader.Even though I have posted a rather silly picture of him. His views alone are pretty worrying, he is a sexist, racist, climate denier, who thinks immigrants are taking all our jobs, he wants to abolish the NHS, and come down hard on abortion, he has also called for a referendum for bringing back the death penalty and a repeal of the hunting ban, Nuttall is a leading advocate for banning the burqa,"The law should be clear - either you are allowed to express your religious beliefs at all times, or you accept that there are some occasions where these are restricted," he said last year."Face coverings should be banned in any public building. while Nuttall is in favour of removing the right of Muslims to wear what they please, he does not believe there should have been any restrictions on the right of Christians to express religious discrimination.In 2011, Peter and Hazelmary Bull were found to have acted unlawfully in refusing to allow a gay couple to stay in their hotel. Nuttall was not impressed with the ruling." This week has been a good week for the PC brigade," he wrote on his blog.
In the same post Nuttall went on to defend football pundits Andy Gray and Richard Keys after they were sacked for making sexist comments. In 2015, he faced criticism after joking that “perhaps we should throw (Scottish First Minister Nicola) in front of a hunt horse." in order to commemorate the day of celebration for the life of Suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst. For this he was branded as misogynistic and insensitive.In some respects he is an even more hard line right-winger than Nigel Farage.
The 39 year old new leader has been MEP for North West England since 2009 and has served as Ukip's chairman and deputy leader.He had previously stood for the Tories in 2002, and failed:Don't see him as some sort of comedic figure though,it's easy to make fun, but this doesn't seem to work, after all isn't that what they did with Donald Trump? While some of you are probably guffawing at him, I think his acceptance speech alone will ring alarm. We are witnessing a new dangerous strain of empowered Far-Right thinking politics, flourishing at the moment, Paul Nuttal is one of many, appealing in pro Brexit times to beleaguered, alienated working-class people. 
Mr Nuttall, who was born in Bootle, Mersyside, with working class roots, a former history lecturer who played football for Tranmere Rovers as a boy, has claimed that he is well placed to snatch working class voters from Labour to further his vision of making UKIP, the "voice of patriotic Britain." He has made clear his sights are on poaching votes from Labour, arguing that the party under Jeremy Corbyn was more interested in "dinner party" topics like climate change and fair trade than the interests of their working class voters, such as immigration and social mobility. "Ukip's future is bright but for it to be so, Ukip must unite. Today's result has ensured that it will." The politics of hope, decency and social justice are now under threat, we must forever be on our guard from the likes of Nuttall and his friends in UKIP with their brand of reactionary, divisive politics  that threatens the character and cohesion of our society. There is nothing patriotic in stoking up hatred and mistrust of our neighbours. UKIP should not be seen as a comedy party on the slide, they still pose a serious threat. You have been warned.

Theresa May says her faith in God, gives her confidence, and she is doing the right thing !

 

Theresa May yesterday announced in the Sunday Times that her faith in God, gives her confidence, she is doing the right thing, saying her moral sense of right and wrong is helping her work out what is best for Britain claiming “There is something in terms of faith, I am a practising member of the Church of England and so forth, that lies behind what I do.”
The daughter of a vicar went on: “If you know you are doing the right thing, you have the confidence, the energy to go and deliver that right message.”But she confessed “in this job you don’t get much time to sleep” and admitted that she was “very conscious” of the enormity of Brexit saying ‘it’s a moment of change” and “a hugely challenging time.”
Isn't this the sort of clap-trap Tony Blair used to say, offering pontifications about his so called divine right. Whilst God  was engaged, kept busy did he/she also tell  her it's OK to drop nuclear bombs on people too, whilst she carries on staunchly defending  selling arms to human rights abusers. From what I remember, from studying scripture did not  Christ help feed those that were oppressed, homeless and starving, taught us to love thy neighbour? 
So not sure whose been guiding her, because even though i'm a bit of a skeptic not sure if this friend of hers would have told told her to keep continuing with austerity, homelessness and foodbanks, and screwing the sick and disabled on a daily basis? Or that  successive Tory MP's should carry on with the same objective.It could just  be a case of simple delusion, or the sayings of just another Tory hypocrite, who I remember previously saying " We, the Conservatives will put ourselves at the service of normal working people. We will strive to make Britain a country that works for everyone, regardless of who they are and where they're from." 

In these testing, difficult,turbulent times for Britains poor and vulnerable, her patter does not seem to me to reflect a Christian message that many cling on to and revere,a message that to my simple understanding promoted tolerance, understanding and acceptance of of others, none of which I feel is reflected by the people that surround her as they continue to release ideological policies of conscious cruelty  across the land. So God if your actually listening please tell Theresa that her austerity policies are in breach of international human rights, that because of her, peoples spirits are at an all time low, remind her about the feeding of  the hungry, kindness, compassion, I at least apologise for using your name in vain.

As dreams fade and lights dim

.

( for Leonard Cohen and others I Love)

As dreams fade and lights dim
sinews of imagination
split and cut the sky;
on every waking morning
allows  love to hear the fire of breath,
absorbing waking moments
a man in fedora hat carries on singing,
unchanged in memory,grants assistance
reflection echoed across eternal oceans,
offers tangible thread of reassurance
on the road to somewhere else,
still able to purify heart
enabling light to cast its shadow,
as we all hang on as best as possible
salvaging  what we can, delicately balancing,
keeping on loving while we are still able.

Fidel Castro Cuban Revolutionary who defied America dies aged 90.

What a year it's been, and it's not over yet, Fidel Castro, the Cuban revolutionary leader who built a communist state on the doorstep of the United States and for five decades defied U.S. efforts to topple him, died on Friday, sged 90.

Castro had been in poor health since an intestinal ailment nearly killed him in 2006 and he formally ceded power to his younger brother Raul Castro two years later.It was Raul Castro who announced his brother died on Friday evening:-"The commander in chief of the Cuban revolution died at 22:29 hours this evening," the president announced on national television just after midnight Friday (0500 GMT Saturday)."In compliance with Comrade Fidel's expressed will, his remains will be cremated early in the morning" on Saturday, said Raul Castro, who took power after his elder brother Fidel was hospitalized in 2006.
The government on Saturday decreed nine days of mourning.
From November 26 to December 4, "public activities and shows will cease, the national flag will fly at half mast on public buildings and military installations," a statement from the state executive said.
Castro's ashes will be buried in the southeastern city of Santiago on December 4 after a four-day procession through the country, it added. Santiago was the scene of Castro's ill-fated first revolution attempt in 1953.
The bearded Fidel Castro took power in a 1959 revolution and ruled Cuba for 49 years with a mix of charisma and iron will, creating a one-party state and becoming a central figure in the Cold War.
He was demonized by the United States and its allies but  admired by many around the world, especially socialist revolutionaries in Latin America and Africa.
Transforming Cuba from a playground for rich Americans into a symbol of resistance to Washington, Castro outlasted nine U.S. presidents in power.He fended off a CIA-backed invasion at the Bay of Pigs in 1961 as well as countless assassination attempts.His alliance with Moscow helped trigger the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, which resulted in a 13-day showdown with the United States that brought the world the closest it has been to nuclear war.
Wearing green military fatigues and chomping on cigars for many of his years in power, Castro was famous for long, fist-pounding speeches filled with blistering rhetoric, often aimed at the United States.In Cuba he got rid of capitalism and won support for bringing schools and hospitals to the poor. But he also created legions of enemies and critics, concentrated among Cuban exiles in Miami who fled his rule and saw him as a ruthless tyrant.
In the end it was not the efforts of Washington and Cuban exiles nor the collapse of Soviet communism that ended his rule. Instead, illness forced him to cede power to his younger brother Raul Castro, provisionally in 2006 and definitively in 2008. Raul since taking over has introduced market-style economic reforms and agreeing with the United States in December 2014 to re-establish diplomatic ties and end decades of hostility.
 Fidel Castro  himself offered only lukewarm support for the deal, raising questions about whether he approved of ending hostilities with his longtime enemy.He lived to witness the visit of U.S. President Barack Obama to Cuba earlier this year, the first trip by a U.S. president to the island since 1928.
Castro did not meet Obama, and days later wrote a scathing column condemning the U.S. president's "honey-coated" words and reminding Cubans of the many U.S. efforts to overthrow and weaken the Communist government.
In his final years, Fidel Castro no longer held leadership posts. He wrote newspaper commentaries on world affairs and occasionally met with foreign leaders but he lived in semi-seclusion.
His death - which would once have thrown a question mark over Cuba's future - seems unlikely to trigger a crisis as Raul Castro, 85, is firmly ensconced in power.
Still, the passing of the man known to most Cubans as "El Comandante" - the commander - or simply "Fidel" leaves a huge void in the country he dominated for so long. It also underlines the generational change in Cuba's communist leadership.

A Jesuit-educated lawyer, Fidel Castro led the revolution that ousted U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista on Jan 1, 1959. Aged 32, he quickly took control of Cuba and sought to transform it into an egalitarian society.His government improved the living conditions of the very poor, achieved health and literacy levels on a par with rich countries and rid Cuba of a powerful Mafia presence.
But he also tolerated little dissent, jailed opponents, seized private businesses and monopolized the media.Castro's opponents labeled him a dictator and hundreds of thousands fled the island.Many settled in Florida, influencing U.S. policy toward Cuba and plotting Castro's demise. Some even trained in the Florida swamps for the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion. But they could never dislodge him.
We should not forget  others who did not agree with him , dissidents, seen as usurpers of the Revolution,  imprisoned  without trial in the dungeons of Cabana Fortress and subjected to inhuman treatment and sometimes killed.Political activists some to the left of Castro imprisoned.Nor should we forget the injustice inflicted on homosexuals during his rule in the 60's and 70's,like other Cubans, including some priests, considered “ideological deviants,” homosexuals in the 1960s were sent to labour camps for re-education and rehabilitation. Discrimination continued in the 1970s, with gays, in particular gay artists and writers, disgraced, marginalised,  in some cases who were driven into exile.Later Castro would regret this that he himself did not pay enough attention to the plight of gays during an era of sabotage, armed attacks and assassination plots against him. Yes, there were moments of great injustice – great injustice,” Castro said.“I am trying to narrow my responsibility in all of this, because of course personally I have no such prejudice” against homosexuals, he said,
"If someone is responsible, it's me," In the 1960s and 70s, many homosexuals in Cuba were fired, imprisoned or sent to "re-education camps". In 1979, homosexuality was decriminalised and, more recently, there have been efforts to legalise same-sex unions.The situation has since thankfully  improved greatly for gays and lesbians in Cuba, where Castro’s niece Mariela – the daughter of President Raul Castro – heads the National Sex Education Centre and has been campaigning for years for greater rights for gays and transsexuals.
Despite this for generations of Latin American  people Castro  has been applauded for his socialist policies and for thumbing his nose at the United States from its doorstep just 90 miles (145 km) from Florida.Castro claimed he survived or evaded hundreds of assassination attempts, including some conjured up by the CIA.In 1962, the United States imposed a damaging trade embargo that Castro blamed for most of Cuba's ills, using it to his advantage to rally patriotic fury.
Over the years, he expanded his influence by sending Cuban troops into far-away wars, including 350,000 to fight in Africa. They provided critical support to a left-wing government in Angola and contributed to the independence of Namibia in a war that helped end apartheid in South Africa.
He also won friends by sending tens of thousands of Cuban doctors abroad to treat the poor and bringing young people from developing countries to train them as physicians Fidel  was  also a staunch advocate of the Palestinian quest for freedom and independence. The PLO and Cuba were natural allies, as both championed what their leaders saw as a struggle against imperial and colonial powers.Indeed, Castro conflated Cuba's "strife to fight imperialism" with the Palestinian quest for independence from Israel's occupation.Palestine has now lost one its oldest and closest friends and few leaders, with the exception of the late South African leader Nelson Mandela, gave such vocal and unstinting support to the Palestinian people and their decades-long struggle for justice.
Born on Aug 13, 1926 in Biran in eastern Cuba, Castro was the son of a Spanish immigrant who became a wealthy landowner.Angry at social conditions and Batista's dictatorship, Fidel Castro launched his revolution on Jul 26, 1953, with a failed assault on the Moncada barracks in the eastern city of Santiago."History will absolve me," he declared during his trial for the attack.He was sentenced to 15 years in prison but was released in 1955 after a pardon that would come back to haunt Batista.
Castro went into exile in Mexico and prepared a small rebel army to fight Batista. It included Argentine revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara, who became his comrade-in-arms.
In December 1956, Castro and a rag-tag band of 81 followers sailed to Cuba aboard a badly overloaded yacht called "Granma".Only 12, including him, his brother and Guevara, escaped a government ambush when they landed in eastern Cuba.Taking refuge in the rugged Sierra Maestra mountains, they built a guerrilla force of several thousand fighters who, along with urban rebel groups, defeated Batista's military in just over two years.
Early in his rule, at the height of the Cold War, Castro allied Cuba to the Soviet Union, which protected the Caribbean island and was its principal benefactor for three decades.The alliance brought in $4 billion worth of aid annually, including everything from oil to guns, but also provoked the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis when the United States discovered Soviet missiles on the island.Convinced that the United States was about to invade Cuba, Castro urged the Soviets to launch a nuclear attack.Thankfully cooler heads prevailed. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and U.S. President John F. Kennedy agreed the Soviets would withdraw the missiles in return for a U.S. promise never to invade Cuba. The United States also secretly agreed to remove its nuclear missiles from Turkey.
When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, an isolated Cuba fell into a deep economic crisis that lasted for years and was known as the "special period". Food, transport and basics such as soap were scarce and energy shortages led to frequent and long blackouts.
Castro undertook a series of tentative economic reforms to get through the crisis, including opening up to foreign tourism.The economy improved when Venezuela's socialist leader Hugo Chavez, who looked up to Castro as a hero, came to the rescue with cheap oil. Aid from communist-run China also helped, but an economic downturn in Venezuela since Chavez's death in 2013 have raised fears it will scale back its support for Cuba.Plagued by chronic economic problems, Cuba's population of 11 million has endured years of hardship, although not the deep poverty, violent crime and government neglect of many other developing countries.
For most Cubans, Fidel Castro has been the ubiquitous figure of their entire life.Many still love him and share his faith in a communist future, and even some who abandoned their political belief still view him with respect.Solidarity with the people of Cuba in their time of mourning.
Goodbye Commandante flawed and authoritarian as he may have been, Castro stood up to the world's biggest bully for almost six decades,  and certainly leaves his mark on history.Charismatic, outspoken, defiant who did try to  devote his life, his knowledge and his struggle not only to the Cuban people but to all the people of the world.Fidel's commitment to internationalism leaves a lasting legacy around the World.Fidel Castro is beloved by the free people of Africa, Asia and South America because he always stood with them against the tyranny of Empire.While Britain and America were supplying arms to help Africa's apartheid regimes, Cuba was busy sending its men to fight them.Under Castro, Cuba had the best literacy rate in the world because it spent five times as much on education than war - the opposite of what America does. In fact, Cuba achieves the same health care system outcomes as the United States at only 5% the cost.Lest we forget, Cuba was the biggest single provider of healthcare workers to the Ebola crisis in West Africa, more than all richer nations. Cuba has sent more doctors throughout the world to minister to the poor than even the World Health Organization despite Cuba's small size and meager resources.
From Cubas support fighting Apartheid in South Africa, to training doctors from Latin America and its international medical brigades caring for the victims of earthquakes from Pakistan to Haiti, Cuba's model has shown that another world is possible. Condolences to the family and friends of Fidel Castro in their time of mourning. The best tribute we can now make is to continue the struggle to end the immoral and unjust blockade of Cuba and for the return of the illegally occupied land at Guantanamo Bay. R,I,P

William S. Burroughs - A Thanksgiving Prayer

Music video by William S. Burroughs performing A Thanksgiving Prayer. (C) 1990 The Island Def Jam Music Group

Here we have a short film of William  Burroughs, best known as the author of a body of controversial and experimental literature,  reading his poem  “Thanksgiving Prayer.”  shot by Gus Van Sant, best known as the director of films like Good Will Hunting, My Own Private Idaho, and Drugstore Cowboy, the last of which includes a memorable appearance by Burroughs himself,in which he played played a defrocked priest addicted to heroin.
The above video captures Burroughs reading his poem  “Thanksgiving Prayer.”
Burroughs, a lifelong critic of America, fills his prayer with bitterly sarcastic “thanks” for things like violence, racism, oppression and homophobia.Thirty years after William S. Burroughs wrote it sadly it’s never been more relevant. It's like a floodlight beaming down on everything askew in the good ol' US of A in the present time..

For John Dillinger
In hope he is still alive
"Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 1986"

In hope he is still alive
Thanks for the wild turkey and the Passenger Pigeons, destined to be shit out through wholesome American guts
thanks for a Continent to despoil and poison
thanks for Indians to provide a modicum of challenge and danger
thanks for vast herds of bison to kill and skin, leaving the carcass to rot
thanks for bounties on wolves and coyotes
thanks for the American Dream to vulgarize and falsify until the bare lies shine through
thanks for the KKK, for nigger-killing lawmen feeling their notches, for decent church-going women with their mean, pinched, bitter, evil faces
thanks for Kill a Queer for Christ stickers
thanks for laboratory AIDS
thanks for Prohibition and the War Against Drugs
thanks for a country where nobody is allowed to mind his own business
thanks for a nation of finks—yes,
thanks for all the memories all right, lets see your arms you always were a headache and you always were a bore
thanks for the last and greatest betrayal of the last and greatest of human dreams.


- WSB

Happy Thanksgiving.