Homeless in the World's largest Prison

These photographs were published on Wednesday by the Shehab News Agency, and  show a homeless palestinian family forced to live in a bus stop in the besiged  Gaza strip.
Ths bus stop at Saraya junction in Gaza city is what the family has from the weather - the world outside offers them none.
According to a recent study, 80% of the 2 million inhabitants of the coastal enclave beseiged by the occupier Egypt and Israel , live in poverty and 65%  in extreme poverty, with little access to the most basic serices.
 As over 80%  population depend on aid , the cuts to aid ( which have already been reduced before because of lack of funds )  by the Unied States will only worsen the situation. The U.S  announced on Jan 16 to cut 67 million Us dollars from 125 million dollars that it had planned to provide to the UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency in Gaza. The blockade has pushed Gaza's population into frther poverty as unemplyment rates hit 45%. The illegal blockade has been in place for over a decade , devastating Gaza's economy , causing widespread destruction and left most people cut off from the outside world. 
The humanitarian needs are enormouse. People struggle to access clean water, food, medical education and to rebild their homes. The blockade  prevents  most of them  from leaving Gaza or trading with the  outside world and restricts vital  reconstruction material from entering.
Over 60% of Palestinian residents in Gaza are living in food insecurity as  many rely on foreign food aid, according to international organizations and United Nations agencies.The Crisis has delibertely been made in the beseiged Gaza by its beseigers and their enablers in the so called 'international community'.
The UN Security Council held a cosultative session on Wednesday to discuss the deteriorting situation in the Gaza Strip following warnings of a possible collapse of basic  services in the Palestinian war-torn enclave, amid calls for urgent intervention to end the suffering of the Palestinians there.

Photos@ShehabAgency

Source

https://english.palinfo.com/articles/2018/01/29/Gaza-deserves-to-live

After Dresden (13/2/45 - 15/2/45).

From 13 – 15 February 1945, RAF and US Air Force planes dropped around 2,400 tons of explosives and 1,500 tons of incendiary bombs on the German city of Dresden. The 805 British and about 500 American bombers inflicted destruction on an unimaginable scale on the virtually-undefended, refugee-crammed city’s old town and inner suburbs.

The hundreds of thousands of high explosive and incendiary bombs caused a firestorm that trapped and incinerated tens of thousands of German civilians. Some German sources put the human cost at 100,000 lives.

The air strike was designed to bring a conclusive end to the Second World War, but the humanitarian catastrophe that resulted from the attack has continued to bring up ethical  questions that are debated to this day.

The bombing of Dresden is sometimes given as an example of modern ‘total war’, meaning that the normal rules of war were not followed. Targets in total war are not only military, but civilian and the types of weapons used are not restricted.The fact that refugees fleeing the Soviet advance from the east caused the population to swell means that the amount of casualties from the bombing is unknown. Estimates put the number anywhere between 25,000 up to 135,000.

During the war American author Kurt Vonnegut was held in Dresden alongside 159 other US soldiers. The soldiers were kept in a meat locker during the bombing, its thick walls protecting them from the fires and blasts. The horrors Vonnegut witnessed in the aftermath of the bombings inspired him to write the 1969 anti-war novel ‘Slaughterhouse-Five’.

The late historian American Howard Zinn, who was himself a pilot in the Second World War, cited the bombing of Dresden, along with that of Tokyo, Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Hanoi, as an example of questionable ethics in wars which target civilian casualties with aerial bombs. Here's a poem I've written:

After Dresden

Evil falls from all sides
Spits its deadly poison,
In Dresden everyone felt
Horror unimaginable,
No one left alive could escape
As people burned in flames,
Left a mark that forever stained
Releasing years of mental turmoil,
Burning phosphorus still today falls
From, Gaza, Iraq to Syria,
Civilian casualties lost forever
Vanished under cruel clouds of ideology
Skin and bone melting and disintergrating,
Rising today as spectral ghosts.

Poem can also be found here :

https://iamnotasilentpoet.wordpress.com/2018/02/13/after-dresden-13-2-45-13-2-18-by-dave-rendle/

Free Ahed Tamimi

Palestininian  protest icon Ahed Tamimi , who I have written about previously, is back in a military court today today , facing 10 years in prison,  an individual  that for many symbolizes the Palestinians' David vs Goliath struggle against military occupation, high profile  entertainers, scholars, and civil rights icons  have just recently signed a just released letter in support of her and other Palestinian children imprisoned by Israel.On behalf of those  who should be able to live out their childhood without  the unrelenting encroachment of illegal Israeli settlements,  occupation and military courts where they face 99%  prosecution rates.
The signatories include prominent actors Danny Glover, Rosario Dawson, Grey's Anatomy star Jesse Williams and the Practice's LisaGay Hamilton, musicians including  Vic Mensa, Talib Kweli and Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello, civil rights leaders Patrisse Cullors and Alicia Garza ( xo-founders of Black Lives Matter), Angela Davis, Michelle Alexander, political commenttors Marc Lamont-Hill and Angela Rye, and Seattle Seahawks defensive lineman and super bowl champion Michael Bennett.

http://www.dreamdefenders.org/freeahed

There are also  daily Teitterstorms  organised by the Facebook page Free the Tamimi Women,  https://www.facebook.com/FreeTamimiWomen/ which one could support.  I believe we should all support those who dare to stand up to repression. Take action stand up for Ahed now.
Tell Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to release her without delay.

https://www.amnesty.org.uk/actions/urgent-release-palestinian-teen-activist-ahed-tamimi?utm_source=TWITTER&utm_medium=social&utm_content=20180213080300&utm_campaign=Amnesty&post_ID=1337993916

You can also add your name to this open letter targetting all World leaders

https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/free_ahed/

Noam Chomsky, explains the standard technique of privatisation:

Noam Chomsky , world reknowned political analyst explainsthe standard technigue of privatisation.

"That's the standard technique of privatisation, defund, make sure things don't work, people get angry, you hand it over to private capital."

Currently the NHS is being given away and the  cost of rail travel soars, part of a meticulously planned ideological assault on the fabric of British society under Tory rule. who want to defund, demoralise , then privatise.The end result being that the wealth of our nation is left in the hands of a few , this is not a good thing. Lets not mistake it, the government is focussed on privatising public sector entities, managing them with a view not to revive them, but to prepare a case for their privatisation. Policies designed to extract wealth from the poor and weak at the bottom and transfer it to the already fat cats at the top of the rotten heap.
Lets hope there is a return soon to days when people mattered more than profits. If this makes you angry reshare  and continue to fight against it, we must take back control of all our essential services..

Noam Chomsky on Privatisation

For now.

Before we make progress
Take some time to breathe,
Offer no explanation
Keep searching for what your looking for,
Imagination beyond caged confinement
Allow your pens to release defiance.
.
During the toughest of times , band together
With songs of immediacy and strength .
Humanity's conscience arriving in one breath
We are the future, we have always been,
Already committed, carry on assignement
Find resilience, some reallignement.

Possibilities appear, accellerate towards us
At the rivers edge, leave behind your chains,
Westward, seaward, deep and far
Follow rising tides, keep clinging on
The power we have is what we can share
Onwards we blaze, side by side.

Be creative, innovative and autonomous
Do not be controlled, afraid , do what they tell you,
The difference from yesterday, is now we  have no fear
Our expectations necessary,  survival depends on not getting stranded,
Somethings in the air, and there's no going back
Be an example, active force for change.

Never be limited, in ability to make earth better place
Together strong, we can rearrange,
Doors keep opening, no longer shut in face
The world is ours for the taking
Glimmers of hope, carried with purest faith
Power given back to the people.
           

100 years of voting for (some) women

This week marks 100 years since (some) women won the vote. Let's reflect on the victories won. but remember politics still  doesn't work for everyone yet.
Today we maybe able to cast our votes,  lets not forget the bravery . tenacity and passion of those who used deeds as well as words to get their messages out. Some who made the ultimate sacrifice for their cause.
Those who succeeded in bringing  global attention to the suffragettes cause, triggering a fierce wave of feminist  resistance and activism to the feminist cause, with their place in history guaranteed in an almost mythic way. Lets mot forget their legacy to women today, remember their strength of feeling, of the acts of these brave women who militantly committed themselves so that women could be treated as full citizens economically and politically.
But the fight to make politics work for everyone goes on. Whilst supporting the concepts of equality and freedom. I believe the Suffragette movement unfotunately helped perpetuate the myth that making an 'X'  on a piece of paper  can affect real change. It leaves many with the idea that they can vote and assuage themselves of guilt for not participating in any further action with the conviction that they have done all they need to do.
In 2018, democracies dominant parties still represent the few, alligned with corporations, private financiers that exploit the resources of our nation,  not for us, but for the interests of the few, which they truly represent and uphold. Are we really free? Is not democracy a simple illusion. Struggles outside parliament still ruthlessly suppressed, criticized or simply ignored by the mainstream media.
Where is the democracy that sees communities being torn apart and stigmatised. The marginalised, the poor and disadvantaged singled out to pay for the shortfalls of the capitalist system, aided and abetted by nearly all the parties operating within the Parliamentary structure.
We still have a system where not all votes count. Big decisions are taken by unaccountable politicians and shady corporate  interests. Together lets reflect on the sacrifices our ancestors made,  the legacy of the Suffragetes lives on though in the hearts and minds of people who continue to daily practice deeds not words, who participate in direct action, constantly calling out for more radical change, lets  make sure we don't have to wait another 100 years for the democracy we want.

A glance outside.

Do you have trouble sleeping?
Are you a dissafected prole?
Do you carry on dreaming
Find some routes that do not keep you afraid?
Is your mind on fire, with unspoken thought?
On gentle breezes, can you find fantastical feeling?
Does your mind drift across oceans, react to understanding?
Do you watch silently, glancing now and then?
Can you hear the thundering noise of change in distance?
Can you make a difference, sustain your brothers and sisters?
Are you engrossed in a world of your own?
Living day by day, running free on wild emotion?
Away from the depths  of solitude's thought,
Rising aloft in the sun's rays, are you caught?
Follow transient patterns, for the mind to beseech?
Find dimensions of meaning, in birth, life and death?
Listen to the crackling of breaking twigs
Birds nesting on branches of liqoirice,
Can you hear them, can you see them?
Open your eyes and gaze at our beautiful world
Carry hope, to live, to open eyes?
Think about others struggling to survive
Through poverty sickness and destruction?
If you answered yes, at least you are alive
Remember there are many like us,
Together we are not alone
Each one of us an island,
Engulfed by individual feeling
Until we blaze like meteors in the deep blue sky.

Why does the NHS have to pay £70 to change a lightbulb? Because of outrageous outsourcing charges that puts profit before people.

For anyone wondering why our NHS does not have enough money and can't see whu subcontracting out to private companies is bad read this from one hospital manager. This is not a joke, a sick one though maybe. But this is why Hunt and his cronies are so in favour of privatisation of our beloved NHS, driven not only ideologically but also by corruption.A simple fact is that too often NHS buters have't got a clue if they are overpayig because private firms are doig all they can do to keep their prices secret.

"Two examples of what happens with Carillion sub-contracts in Hospitals which landed on my lap this week. Firstly, in one hospital the contractor for the lighting are the onlt peope allowed to change lightbulbs.(This is not the start of a joke) The cost charged to the hospital for changing the lightbulb was £70 . Seventy pounds to change a lightbulb! The cost of a lightbulb is no more than £5 and the time it takes is abot 5 minutes so if the employee is being paid £10 an hourthen the labour charge is 80p. That means the cost of this is £5.80. What is the other £4.20 being paid for, In another example thehandwash dspensers installed on wards are already sited by a contractor. Some wards may have  70 such dispensers as infection spread infection is very important. The only people in this case allowed to replenish this handwash are the contractors, It would take less than an hour to replenish every dispenser on a ward and the handwash costs around a pound so £10 and £70 for the sanitiser £80 in total. The contractor invoices £20 for the dispenser. That is a total of £1400 . Where does the £1330 go? These are hust two clear examples for people who belive outsourcing saves money."

Is it any wonder that ore than half of NHS hospitals are now in deficit and in potential of going bust, as the government continues to starve the NHS of the reources it so desperately needs. If you wanted to find ways to bleed the NHS dry I couldn't think of more better examples than this. How is it that a private compay can flecce the NHS to this extent and still manage to sguander billions of pounds ?. I thought inefficency was a public sector failng, rght? If you can support the emergency NHS demo on Saturday 3 February. Remember too that not only in England has the NHS been cut to the bone bcause if Tory cutbacks and the inefficiency and creepng effects of prvatisation ilustrated above, funding here in Wales has been cut too. We are all n this together. People not proft.

The mind boggles :Esther McVey revealed as Samaritan's advisor.

Controversial Government Minister Esther McVey,  a pampered posh girl  who bummed around in her dads company before launching a less than sucessful television career, an individual disliked by many across Mersyside and the country because of  her controversial stint as Minister for Disabled people, and for being a key advocate in launching the hated ' Bedroom Tax', which resulted in many vulnerable people losing their homes, has been revealed to be an advisor to the charity The Samaritans. Between 2012 and 2013, as minister for disabled people and later employment minister McVey was famed for defending the indefensible saying it was "right " that people were having to use food banks and claiming that benefit sanctions "teach " jobseekers to take looking for work seriously, going  as far as comparing unemployed people to naughty schoolchildren being punished by a teacher, despite the death and destitition that sanctions have since caused.
This is more than mere soundbites. From giving misleading information about bedroom tax's impact on disabled people to her decision to close the Independent Living Fund, McVey appeared to relish removing disability support, with campaigners accusing her of distorting the facts  in order to help make that a reality.
.https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/mcvey-uses-misleading-dla-stats-to-stoke-up-antagonism/
Even worse, she was central in helping the rightwing press stoke up suspicion towards disabled people on benefits, most platantly as David Cameron's government began to abolish disability living allowance (DLA) and replace it with personal independence payments (PIP). long has McVey made it her mission to punish the most vulnerable in our society. That PIP is now wrongly withdrawing benefits from severely ill and disabled people, with 65% of decisions overturned on appeal
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/record-numbers-disabled-people-win-11171811
makes this all the more sickening.
The people of Wirral West though wisely rejected her in 2015, when whe was Minister for Work after her government failed to act on zero hours contracts, and after making life imeasurably harder for people with disabilities, and overseeing cuts to family income that will see see child poverty grow over 400,000 over the next few years.
In fact McVey has made so many decisions which have had appalling impacts on the most vulnerable in our society there's no room to list them all here, but a good summary can be found here from the Disability News Service ;  https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/backlash-over-terrible-insult-of-mcveys-dwp-appointment/ All this has made her one of the most despised of Tory MPs. Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell has described her as a "Stain on humanity".Petitions have been set up calling for her to be sacked. https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/sack-esther-mcvey
So it is truly shocking to hear that when asked on twitter the official Samaritan's twitter account revealed McVey to be a member of its advisory board.
https://twitter.com/samaritans/status/958042602292604928
The charity's website also shows her to be one of 12 members of the board
.https://www.samaritans.org/about-us/our-organisation/structure-and-governance/our-trustees/our-advisory-board
The Samaritans does some amazing work in very difficult circumstances, which have been made far worse by the decisions of the Tory government. So it  truly is not surprising, that news of McVey's role for the charity has been greeted with shock and anger by many, considering her past record in dealing with vulnerable people and bringing misery to millions of benefit claimants. One twitter user commented " So vulnerable people may telephone Samaritans helpline talking about ending their life due to DWP sanctions and you have the minister/Sec of State responsible for the sanctions on your board?! It would be the ultimate irony that peoples sucidal thoughts were driven by one of the Samaritan's own advisors.
It's time the Samaritans have a rethink, because allowing McVey to act as an advisor in this way is a terrible tnsult to every sick and disabled person across the land,  because her department and the government she represents are guilty of causing distress and emotional pain, because of the impact of welfare reforms that has impacted on thousands of disabled people and those of us in mental distress, If the Samaritans have any decency,  and want to maintain their repuation, they should dissassociate themselves from McVey immediately.

International Day of action for Ahed Tamimi to mark the occasion of her 17th birthday

16 year old Palestinian girl Ahed Tamimi born under occupation https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/free-ahed-al-tamimi-and-palestinian.html  who has been called the Rosa Parks of Palestine, on December 19, 2017  was taken in the dead of night by Israeli soldiers. She was arrested after a video that her mother, Narimam, took went viral, showing an alteration with soldiers trying to eter their house. The incident took place on the same day that Ahed's cousin, 15 year old Mohammad Taimi, was hit in the head at close range by a rubber bullet fired by an Israeli soldier, His family told Amnesty International  that he required surgery that involved the removal of part of his left skull.
Ahed is a high school student preparing for college. As a young girl , Ahed rose to headlines for her bravery to confront the Israeli soldiers who enter her village on a regular basis.The Tamimis are well known in their village of Nabih Salleh,( which is 20 kilometres from Ramallah) for their weekly nonviolent protests against Israeli occupation and apartheid. This village is also famous for women's leadership in resistance to their occupation.Since 2009, the residents, from children to the aged, have marched every Friday from the entrance of their village to a military barrier.They are protesting against attacks from settlers. from the nearby village of Halamish against the settlments continuing expansion on privately owned Palestinian  land, and against the settler's take-over of the village spring. The Israeli army has countered these marches, which are often accompanied by protestors throwing stones against the highly armed fores of occupation, who carry ter gas, rubber coated steel bullets, and also live ammunition.
Now Ahed is currently facing up to 14 years in prison. Israel refuses to release Ahed pending trial."The court said that because she is so dangerous there is no possibility of bail," said her lawyer,
Gaby Lasky. Dangerous because she refused to accept the suffering and repression by the Israeli State. Court proceedings  against her will begin on Janury 31, the day of her 17th birthday. Rather than celebrating  with family and friends, eating cake. She will sleep that night in a  cold prison cell  of 1x2 metres, with no windows, comfort or proper bedding. She has been placed with Israeli adults rather than fellow Palestinians and children, specifically so that she will be all the more abused, harassed and frightened by those around her, who wish her great harm. Lets show some love for this brave girl. We cannot let the spotlight fade.
The continued visbility of her case puts pressure on the Israeli authorities to ensure a fair trial, without such visibility the chances of a fair trial are virtually nil.The military court she will be facing though is not a court of justice in the regular sense, but an organ of the occupation, in which both the judge and the prosecution will be wearing the same uniform , and are part of the same system, whereby the defense is not.
 Ahed's case also sheds light on the hundreds of other Palestinian children held in Israeli detention centres in direct violation of international law.She is one of 350 children currently imprisoned by Israel. Israel remains the only country that prosecutes children in military courts. Ill-treatment of Palestinian child detainess is widespread, systematic and institionalzed throughout the Israel military detention system. Three out of four Palestinian children experience some form of physical violence following arrest. Children like Ahed do not receive fair trial guarantees, such as having an attorney present during interrogation, and are prosecuted in Israeli military courts that have a 99 percent conviction rate.
Keep up the pressure and offer some solidarity, write her  a letter- Ahed Tamimi,  Ha Sharon Prison, Ben Yehuda, PO Box 740 330 Israel. Join the global call to action and events taking place around the world to mark Ahed's 17th birthday on 31January while she is held behind Israeli bars. Around the world, actions and demonstrations have highlighted Ahed's courage and commitment and that of of thousands of fellow Palestinian strugglers. 26-30 January was announced as global days of action for Ahed'd freedom and people of the world to highlight Ahed's birthday in order to demand her release. Also if you have not joined over one million people asking for her freedom, please add your name to the following petitions, lend your voice against this injustice. Share and tell your friends.

" We demand the release of Ahed and all Palestinian children wrongly held in military prisons.

The international community must put an end to the detention  and ill-treatment of children in these prisons. Enough is enough.

To Ahed and all the children in Israeli military jails. We stand by your side, and are holding ou in our hearts. We will not give up until you are free. You are not alone."

https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/free_ahed_global_loc/

https://www.amnesty.org/en/get-involved/take-action/release-16-year-old-palestinian-activist-ahed-tamimi/

Schedule of International Events: Take action to free Ahed Tamimi ann all Palestinian prisoners.

http://samidoun.net/2018/01/schedule-of-international-events-take-action-to-free-ahed-tamimi-and-all-palestinian-prisoners/

" We should extend our struggles to one another in order to end all the world's injustices. "
- Ahed Tamimi