Some wise words from the late British novelist, poet, playwright, librettist, biographer and short story writer, Doris Lessing.
“Ideally, what should be said to every child, repeatedly, throughout
his or her school life is something like this: ‘You are in the process
of being indoctrinated. We have not yet
evolved a system of education that is not a system of indoctrination. We
are sorry, but it is the best we can do. What you are being taught here
is an amalgam of current prejudice and the choices of this particular
culture. The slightest look at history will show how impermanent these
must be. You are being taught by people who have been able to
accommodate themselves to a regime of thought laid down by their
predecessors. It is a self-perpetuating system. Those of you who are
more robust and individual than others will be encouraged to leave and
find ways of educating yourself — educating your own judgements. Those
that stay must remember, always, and all the time, that they are being
moulded and patterned to fit into the narrow and particular needs of
this particular society.”
Doris Lessing - extract from, The Golden Notebook, 1962
' " the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live,
mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time
the one's who never yawn or say a commonplace thing but burn, burn,
burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across
the stars in the middle you see the blue center light pop and everything
goes Awww!' - Jack Kerouac.
Today is
the anniversary of visionary, iconclastic writer and poet,Jack Kerouac being born.
The shaman of the Beat Generation arrived today as Jean-Louis Lebris de Kerouac to a French-Canadian
family in the factory town of Lowell, Massachusettsus USA. Variously called
the Beat Generations apostle, poet, hero, laureate, saint? Through his
own life story he created a work of fiction .Soared so high, that in
the end unfortunately found his own human skin, then found himself out
of his depth in bottled delusion, where the burning ship had become his
own.
Kerouac learned to speak French at home before he learned English at
school. Reportedly he did not learn English until he was six years old . His father Leo Kerouac owned his own print shop, Spotlight Print, in
downtown Lowell, and his mother Gabrielle Kerouac, known to her children as Memere,
was a homemaker. Kerouac later described the family’s home life: “My
father comes home from his printing shop and undoes his tie and removes his1920s vest, and sits himself down at hamburger and boiled potatoes
and bread and butter, and with the kiddies and the good wife.”
Jack Kerouac endured a childhood tragedy in the summer of 1926, when
his beloved older brother Gerard died of rheumatic fever at the age of
9. Drowning in grief, the Kerouac family embraced their Catholic faith
more deeply. Kerouac’s writing is full of vivid memories of attending
church as a child: “From the open door of the church warm and golden
light swarmed out on the snow. The sound of the organ and singing could
be heard.”
Jack would earn a football scholarship to Columbia University, and planned
to work in insurance after finishing school, according to the Beat
Museum,http://www.kerouac.com/ which goes into detail about Kerouac’s rise to literary and
cultural stardom. But his life only took a more hectic turn once he
arrived in New York City, and he quickly clashed with his football
coach. Jack dropped out of school, joined the Merchant Marines and then
fell in with New York’s literary crowd. Around this time, Kerouac took several
cross-country road trips with friend Neal Cassady that would later
inspire his seminal work, “On the Road.”
In his life, he had been part of a culture and people, who
burned like meteors. Jack Kerouac was the Beat Generations very own
mythologiser, he and his band of brothers helped redeem a bit of
America's soul. His legacy, like that of the Beat Culture, still alive,
still relevant, still taking root.
This influential poet and writer who originated the term “beatific” as a the
defining term for the group of artists and writers of the Beat
Generation, who along with his friends, GregoryCorso, William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferllinghetti, Gary Snyder etc, paved a way for a whole host of dreamers searching for risk, some
form of adventure. Colouring our worlds with their crazy visions, their
minds in revolt, searching for future's possibilities. Hand in hand with
rebellion, against the conventions of the times.
Jack Kerouac in
his eighteen books and many others under Jack's influence were to me
important epiphanies on my own path of self discovery. He taught me
about "Spontaneous prose." - writing without revising....... He called
this " a spontaneous bop prosody." which is a bit like a jazz musician
taking an improvised solo, and he took it as far as he could go, with no
editing and no pause of breath. Sometimes what is left, has no meaning, a
void, but often their is a glimmer, that spells hope, that can become
endless, can run off the page, infinite but still accessible.
On my
bookshelf at home Kerouacs influence groans on my bookcases, his own
works, sharing spaces with others , that were touched by his
inspiration. I a very grateful to a friend called Charlotte who recently added more to my personal collection.
There is something about his tragic, magic life that
still resonates, hums, there will always be new connections, outhouses
where seeds will forever drift. New poets will emerge, to
experience, among the whole wide world, words will dance, impulsively
between time, forever and forever. Enthusiasm will be shared, thoughts will be exchanged, and
for some the personal will always be political.Passion will ignite.
Jack had a wild spirit, but such a dazzling voice, who through his writing revealed him as a believer in humanity, a dreamer, a doer and an explorer
of metaphysical depth. He was however also a recluse, socially awkward, a
drug abuser, an alcoholic and a man who became so overwhelmed with his
own fame it ultimately destroyed him. Still yearning for his mother, but lost in a catholic
guilt, that had always consumed him. Stuck in a sad exile,this mystical
breath had grown tired , what was once beautiful had begun to drift
towards bitterness.
Jack was not immortal, though for me his words are, and he left this planet
on October 21 1969, 47 years, related to alcoholism According to the San Francisco
Chronicle, Kerouac “was known to consume 17 shots of Johnny Walker Red
per hour, washed down with Colt malt liquor.” and because of this his search for inner lamentation was cut
tragically far to short.
There are two types of people in this world; those
that ‘get’ Kerouac, and those that do not. I am in the first category,
of course, so happy birthday Jack, your impact
continues to be felt , your satori breath released , and your legacy today is stronger today than ever ... om switchin on....
tomorrow's dawns chorus echoes,anesthesising the sky.... sentences
littered with wild perception, language as a spell that leaves
us forever hooked. In human existence our contradictions will
abound, freeze framed, on the road to nowhere. Kicks joy darkness.blessed be you in golden eternity., and as Jack said "Practice kindness all day to everybody and you will realize you're already in heaven now."
William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, 1953
Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, Kerouac,
Greeenwich Village, 1957.
Jack Kerouac on the Steve Allen show 1959.
Jack Keroauc: I'm sick of myself, I'm not a courageous man
a rare interview of Jack in French with English subtitles to a Canadian Television show where he explains how he came up with the name that described the literary movement of his generation.
There
are numerous pages and books devoted to Kerouac and the Beats , if you
look you will find what your looking for, the searching is part of the
journey In the meantime I offer you some of his poetry
POOR SOTTISH KEROUAC
Poor sottish Kerouac with his thumb in his eye
Getting interested in literature again
Through a mote of dust just flew by
How should I know that the dead were born?
Does Master cry?
The weeds Ophelia wound with
and Chatterton measured in the moon
are the weeds of Goethe, Wang Wei,
and the Golden Courtesans
Imagining recommending a prefecture
for a man in the madhouse
rain
Sleep well, my angel
Make some eggs
The house in the moor
The house is a monument
In the moor of the grave
Whatever that means
The white dove descended in disguise?
WOMAN
A woman is beautiful
but
you have to swing
and swing and swing
and swing like
a hankerchief in the
wind
149th Chorus
I keep falling in love
with my mother
I dont want to hurt her
=Of all people to hurt
Every time I see her
she's grown older
But her uniform always
amazes me
For its Dutch simplicity
And the Doll she is.
The doll-like way
she stands
Bowlegged in my dreams,
Waiting to serve me
And I am only an Apache
Smoking Hashi
In old Cabashy
By the Lamp
2111th Chorus
The wheel of the quivering meat
conception
Turns in the Void expelling human beings,
Pigs, turtles, frogs, insects, nits,
Mice, Lice, Lizards, rats, roan
Racing horses, poxy bucolic pig tics,
Horrible unnameable lice of vultures
Murderous attacking dog-armies
Of Africa, Rhinos roaming in the jungle
Vast boars and huge gigantic bull
Elephants, rams, eagles, condors,
Pones and Porcupines and Pills-
All the endless conception of living
beings
Gnashing everywhere in Consciousness
Throughout the ten directions of space
Occupying all the quarters in and out,
From supermicroscopic no-bug
To huge Galaxy Lightyear Bowell
Illuminating the sky of one mind
AND THEN THEY GOT HIM
The Oil of the Olive
Bittersweet taffies
Bittersweet cabbage
Cabbage soup made right
A hunk a grass
In a big barrel
Stunk but Good
163rd Chorus
Left the Tombs to go
and look at the
Millions of cut glass-
-a guy clocking them,
as you look you swallow,
you get so fat
you can't leave the building
-stand straight,
don't tip over, breathe
in such a way yr fatness
deflates, go back to
the Tombs,
ride the elevator-
he tips over again'
gazes on the Lights,
eats them, is clocked,
gets so fat
he can leave elevator,
has to stand straight
and breathe out the fat -
-hurry back to the Tombs
242nd Chorus
The sound in your mind
is the first sound
that you could sing
If you were singing
at a cash register
with nothing on yr mind-
But when that grim reper
comes to lay you
look out my lady
He will steal all you got
while you dingle with the dangle
and having robbed you
Vanish
Which will be your best reward,
T'were better to get rid o
John O'Twill, then sit a mortying
In this Half Eternity with nobody
To save the old man being hanged
In my closet for nothing
And everybody watches
When the act is done-
Stop the murder and the suicide!
All's well!
I am the Guard
Though my mind Is not like yours Slightly in tatters I still try to be a friend Here you can share my thoughts As the world spins round Making us dizzy As life rotates I will be what I am And you will too Carried by peaceful currents Unafraid, if you wish.
The Tories are taken us through the biggest cuts to welfare for 100
years, another vicious assault on people on benefits.Cuts to ESA Employment Support Allowance will see payments for many new claimants reduced by
around £30 a week, despite the Department for Work and Pensions
admitting those affected will have been found unable to work following a
Work Capability Assessment.
The changes, which come into force for new claims from April 2017,
affect those placed in the Work Related Activity Group of ESA and will
see payments reduced to the equivalent of Jobseeker’s Allowance.The Tory's claim that these cuts are a in a bid to encourage those living with a disability to find
employment, reducing the allowance to £73.10 a week, that of standard
job seeker’s allowance.But it is just another example of their conscious cruelty, which is deliberate and purposeful aimed to hurt many deeply.
Another attack on those already who are the hardest hit, disabled
people,the poor, the sick,the marginalised, and vulnerable.It really saddens me that those outside the comfort blanket of society, stuck in the quaqmire of insecurity are treated like pawns in a game of chess, sacrificed and abandoned so easily.These cuts will not help motivate people towards work,if
anything it will push certain people, already in difficult circumstances, faced with mental health problems further away from work and make it harder for
them to manage their condition and drive us all into deeper poverty, putting lives at risk, which does not offer even a morsel of hope to those that most deserve it.
On top of this Theresa May has plans to restrict access to disability benefits known as Personal Independent Payments.The courts recently ruled that people who find it difficult to leave the
house because of mental illness should be awarded the higher rate of
PIP. Rather than adhering to the rulings of two tribunals, the
Government announced that they would rewrite the law, hence denying benefits
for more than 160,000 people with mental illness.Paul Farmer, chief executive of Mind,
said: “People who find it difficult to leave the house because of
anxiety, panic attacks, and other mental health problems are as
restricted in their independence as many people with physical mobility
problems, and face just as many higher costs in their daily lives as
other disabled people do.
This all comes after the government has
repeatedly stated the government is committed to building a country
that works for everyone, but the truth of the matter is they simply could not give a damn.
The Tories once again showing their complete and utter contempt for the poor, the
disabled and the vulnerable. During the Budget Chancellor Hammond still managed to press ahead with tax cuts on corporate profits, capital gains and inherited wealth. At least Jeremy Corbyn had the tenacity to respond with a very
powerful speech after Hammond delivered his cruel budget and raised
concerns that are affecting millions of people across Britain. He talked about the effects Tory austerity is having on the poor,
the disabled and the vulnerable. He talked about the effects welfare
cuts will have on the disabled and working families. He talked about the
crisis that is crippling the NHS. He talked about the Tories’ new ‘rape
clause’ which has been imposed on Child Benefit. He talked about the
effects Tory cuts are having on public services. He talked about
underpaid and overworked public sector workers. He talked about
inequality. He talked about zero hours contracts and low pay. He talked
about the social care crisis. He talked about tax cuts for large
corporations and the rich, while the self-employed get a National
Insurance hike. He talked about wage poverty and soaring utility bills
and inflation. He talked about the housing shortage and homelessness. He
talked about the lack of support for mental health sufferers. He talked
about cuts to Bereavement Benefit and how widowed parents will
struggle. He talked about the effect Housing Benefit cuts will have on
young people aged 18 to 21. He talked about women’s rights and the
effects Tory austerity is having on women and mothers. And he talked
about the pressures that are affecting ordinary people across the
country.
While he was doing this, the Tories just sat there laughing, jeering and heckling like the evil so and so's they are, as they keep causing misery to millions of peoples lives. This is certainly no laughing matter.They truly are a nasty lot. FFS sake enough is enough. In the meantime if you could sign the following petition, it would be much appreciated. Cheers.
Treat people with mental health issues fairly under PIP
There are times of trouble and stress
Just look at the state of the world,
It really is in one hell of a mess
Humanity repeatedly smashing itself into pieces,
Tension drowning us in sombre melancholy
Discordant notes dispensing division
Crushing hope and ambition,
As beauty and strength fades away.
Spring returns calling at your door
Bringing the flowers to bloom once more,
Can help put back a smile on your face
This game of survival, this seasons annual race,
Allows us stop a while, let our minds reflect
As friendship arrives again, never to tired,
Without hesitation we can set course on new
destination
Experimenting with home made cures and lotions,
Recording, adapting new dimensions of meaning
Mind awakened can carry on, not yet broken.
Everyone has the right to music, both as a mechanism of expression
and enjoyment. Freemuse, a Copenhagen-based international organization,
established March 3rd as Music Freedom Day, in order to
advocate for musicians’ right to freedom of expression; to carry out
their craft without fear of oppression, imprisonment, or censorship.
Between 2007, when Music Freedom Day was launched, and 2014, more than
100 partners and collaborators in 36 countries have joined the annual
event. The combination of campaigns such as Music Freedom Day, silent
diplomacy, and political developments has helped foster the release of
artists around the world.
Founded in 1998, Freemuse documents infringements on the rights of
musicians around the world. Since 2011 Freemuse has broadened its scope
to include projects advocating freedom of all artistic expressions and
initiated the global network Artsfex for the protection of artistic
freedom. Freemuse collaborates with associates around the world to
incorporate their research in nations’ Universal Periodic Reviews to the United Nations Human Rights Council.
The right to freedom of expression is articulated in international
agreements on human rights. Article 19, of both the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and articles 27 and 15 of the UDHR
and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights
(ICESCR) respectively, convey one’s right to music. These articles
include the right to freedom of opinion and expression via any media, as
well as the freedom to participate in cultural life and enjoy the arts.
These pieces of international law dictate musicians’ freedom to express
themselves through their art, as well as the right of all people to
experience music without fear or negative repercussions.
Despite its explicit protection in international law, the right to
music remains in jeopardy today. In every region of the world,
musicians are subject to persecution, censorship, and other threats to
their personal safety and freedom. The statistics for 2015
noted 469 violations in over 70 different nations, approximately twice
the number of cases from 2014. Censorship accounted for nearly half of
these infringements, followed by prosecution, oppression, and
imprisonment. Freemuse breaks censorship down into four distinct
categories: political, religious, corporate, and censorship against
women. While the historical majority of violations are grounded in
politics, there was a significant rise in religiously motivated attacks
on musical freedom in 2015.
Music Freedom Day (MFD) is a powerful, united manifestation to support
persecuted, prosecuted and imprisoned musicians, many of whose only
crime has been that they have spoken up against authorities and insisted
on the right to express themselves through their music. Worldwide,
musicians’ and composers’ rights to freedom of expression are violated,
but the strong support for Music Freedom Day every year demonstrates the
will to continue the advocacy and defense for the universal rights to
compose, perform and participate in musical activities.
Today March 3rd 2017 MFD makes a special focus on women performers and
female musicians. In some countries women are not allowed to sing or
play instruments and have been threatened, assaulted, persecuted and
even killed. Additionally women face especially difficult conditions in
many countries as performers and are often subject to discrimination,
sexual objectification and unfair industry conditions.In celebration
and protection of women’s voices, artists from Afghanistan to Sweden
stand in solidarity with women musicians who are censored, attacked,
persecuted, imprisoned or even killed simply for making music.
Join the global event here: Music Freedom Day 2017
Music can be a very powerful tool, it should not be a crime, it is also a human right.
Harri Webb was one of Wales's most popular poets, known for his
wit and erudition , for his historical perspective and awareness of
contemporary realities, and in Wales he enjoyed the status of People's
Poet. Born in Swansea, spent much of his life as a
librarian, in Mountain Ash and Merthyr Tydfil. In the 1970's he took
part in the BBC Wales programme, Poems and Pints. Though he was an individualist, his political slant was one of Welsh Republican Socialism. After a long period of illness he moved to St. David's Nursing Home in St.Helen's Road, Swansea. It was here that he died in his sleep on the morning of 31 December 1994.
The Red, White and Green reprinted from Harri Webb / Collected Poems Gomer, 1995.
On the first day of March we remember
St.David the pride of our land,
Who taught us the stern path of duty
And for freedom and truth made a stand.
So here's to the sons of Saint David,
Those youngsters so loyal and keen
Who'll haul down the red, white and blue, lads,
And hoist up the red, white and green.
In the dark gloomy days of December
We mourn for Llywellyn with pride
Who fell in defence of his country
With eighteen brave men by his side.
So here's to the sons of LLywellyn,
The heirs of that valiant eighteen
Who'll haul down the red, white and blue, lads,
And hoist up the red, white and green.
In the warm, golden days of September,
Great Owain Glyndwr took the field,
For fiften long years did he struggle
And never the dragon did yield.
So here's to the son of Great Owain,
Who'll show the proud Sais what we mean
When we haul down the red, white and blue, lads,
And hoist up the red, white and green.
There are many more names to remember
And some that will never be known
Who were loyal to Wales and the gwerin
And defied all the might of the throne.
So here's to the sons of the gwerin
Who care not for the prince or for queen,
Who'll haul down the red, white and blue, lads,
And hoist up the red, white and green!
By the way, I love Wales
But avoid the nationalism
I prefer the mystical, deep streams
Let no man be a slave - heddwch/Peace
Israeli Apartheid Week, (now in its 13th year) is an annual
international series of events held in 200 cities and campuses across across
the globe over the next two months.IAW 2017 also marks 100 years of Palestinian resistance against settler-colonialism, since the inception of the Balfour Declaration. It hopes to educate people about the nature of Israel. Demanding full equality for Arab citizens of Israel and
an end to what is known as the occupation and the dismantling of the
apartheid wall, with the protection of Palestinians, and their right to
return to their homes and properties as stipulated in U.N resolution
194. It will be launched in London next
Tuesday.There will be exciting discussions, concerts, panels, film screenings
and creative actions to raise awareness about Israel’s illegal
settler-colonial project, military occupation and apartheid system over
the Palestinian people, and to build support for the growing BDS
movement for Palestinian rights.Check out the program, or build and register your own, and attend:
http://apartheidweek.org
Calling the Israeli regime as one of apartheid is not rhetoric, nor is
it an exaggeration or a propaganda tool. This is the reality in modern
day Palestine, where the Israeli regime is based on discrimination,
through laws,practices and most aspects of life and the policies instituted by the Israeli government against the Palestinian people meets the UN definition of Apartheid. This apartheid regime
is not only imposed on the people in Palestine, but also on millions of
Palestinian refugees denied their right to return to their homes and lands.
In effect, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory constitute
one territorial unit under full Israeli control. As of 2015, of the
total population of people that live in Israel and the Occupied
Palestinian Territory, around 6.6 million are Jewish Israelis and about
6.4 million are Palestinians.Under Israeli law, and in practice, Jewish Israelis and Palestinians
are treated differently in almost every aspect of life including freedom
of movement, family, housing, education, employment and other basic
human rights. Dozens of Israeli laws and policies institutionalise this
prevailing system of racial discrimination and domination.
The occupation Wall is also another element of the wider system of severe restrictions
on the freedom of movement imposed by the Israeli authorities on
Palestinian residents of the West Bank. There are over 600 closure
obstacles blocking Palestinian movement within the West Bank. In
addition, the system of roads is segregated: travel on hundreds of
kilometres in the West Bank is restricted or prohibited outright for
Palestinians, whereby Israelis are able to travel about freely. About
one third of the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, is
completely prohibited to Palestinians without a special permit issued by
the Israeli military.
These severe restrictions violate not only the right to freedom of
movement,they also effectively prevent Palestinian residents from
exercising a wide range of fundamental human rights because of their identity, including their right
to work, to health, to education and to an adequate standard of living.
Farmers are stopped from assessing their fields and thus from exercising
their right to sustain their livelihood. Many Palestinians are also
prevented from seeking work outside their locality. Children are
prevented from accessing schools and students face restrictions in
choosing their university of choice. Patients are prevented from
assessing hospitals, blocking them from exercising their right to the
highest sustainable standard of health. Israel has in effect created a
system of seperation in the West Bank which fits the textbook definition
of apartheid. Segregation is also carried out by implementing separate legal regimes for
Jewish Israelis and Palestinians living in the same area. For example,
Jewish Israeli settlers living in the illegal Israeli settlements in the
occupied West Bank are governed by Israeli civil law, while
Palestinians also living in the occupied West Bank are governed by
Israeli military law.All this combined with murder, torture, unlawful imprisonment and other severe
deprivation of physical liberty, especially of Palestinians living in
Gaza, and the ongoing persecution of Palestinians because of their opposition to Apartheid.
As awareness across the world of all of this continues to increase campaigns to boycott, divest and sanction this
regime provide a very effective and natural response. The world
witnessed a similar response transpire and bare fruit in the case of
South Africa, and there are very good reasons to believe that it will do
the same in the case of Palestine.
“One has to keep telling the Palestinian story in as many ways as
possible, as insistently as possible, and in as compelling a way as
possible, to keep attention to it, because there is always the fear that
it might just disappear.” ( Edward Said, 2003).
When the dawn tumbles towards us Is the glass half empty or half full? Frightened of the daily news People grow fierce, poets keep vigil, Reciting incantations stitched with diversity Hungry eyes stop us from falling, Yearning for something different Continue building something new, We are all related, all carrying different stories Dreamers and risk takers passing through, Holding together various points of view Twisting and contorting like free birds, In our various struggles try to renew a new sense of human possibility
'Songs connect, collect and bring together. Even when not being sung they are attendant assembly-points.
The words of songs are different from the words that make prose. In
prose, words are independent agents; in songs, they are first and
foremost the intimate sounds of their mother tongue. They signify what
they signify, and at the same time they address or flow toward all the
words that exist in that language.
Songs are like rivers: each follows its own course, yet all flow to
the sea, from which everything came. The fact that in many languages the
place where a river enters the sea is called the river’s mouth
emphasizes the comparison. The waters that flow out of a river’s mouth
have come from an immense elsewhere. And something similar happens with
what comes out of the mouth of a song.
John Berger - 'Confabulations’
John Berger - About Song and Laughter
Sukhdev Sandhu introduces a rare radio-minded feature by the late celebrated
critic, novelist and thinker John Berger.
Berger talks about the songs in his life and about Charlie Chaplin's
radical power. Featuring Katya Berger and the music of Woody Guthrie,
Cesaria Evora and Yasmin Hamdam among others. Producer: Tim Dee.
