Palestinian Land Day:The Scent of Longing.

30th March, is the day when Palestinians commemorate Land Day, marking  over 50 years of Palestinian land confiscation and dispossession, Since Israel occupied the West Bank 50,0000 homes and structures have been demolished to make way for over half a million Israelis to settle in Occupied Palestinian Territories. These settlements have been condemned by the United Nations in 2016 as 'a fragrant violation of international law.' Yet they continue to grow. My local Amnesty International Group, have been giving out leaflets  today asking people to sign a letter to the Foreign Secretary asking that the UK bans the sale of Israeli settlement products in UK markets and stops companies in the UK from operating in settlements or trading in settlement goods.
March 30 has been a day of resistance of Palestinians worldwide since 1976 when Israeli forces carried out a lethal and brutal military attack on unarmed Palestinians who were peacefully protesting against Israeli Apartheid land grab policies , their expropriation of 2,000 hectares of land surrounding Palestinian villages in the Galilee. Six Palestinians were killed and more than 100 were injured when Israeli forces crushed the protests. Every year since, Palestinian communities in Israel and the occupied territories have gathered to commemorate these events,remember those fallen, highlight Israels ongoing seizure of Palestinian land, and to reaffirm their connection to the land and their struggle for justice, standing united against oppression .
Palestinians are planning a massive demonstration beginning today through to May 15, the anniversary of the Nabka -"the catastrophe when more than 750,000 people were driven from their homes to make way for the creation of Israel. Israeli officials have threatened to respond with lethal force.Today many people across the globe will stand in solidarity with Palestinian resistance to Israel's ongoing land expropriation, colonisation, occupation and apartheid. Four decades after the first Land Day demonstrations, Israel continues its theft of Palestinian land. Israel continues to expand its illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, forcing Palestinians from their land.Still killing people, six confirmed so far today, many more injured, peaceful marchers met with snipers and a newly developed form of tear gas, simply for defending their land.
As a supporter of the Palestinian struggle for freedom I will continue to join other people of conscience in supporting the global led Boycott, Divestment and sanction (BDS)  campaign, intensifying our collective efforts to hold Israel accountable for its crimes against the Palestinian people.Respecting today the Palestinians inside Israel, the Israeli-Occupied Territories of the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza, and those in exile, who mark Land Day and view it as an assertion of the Palestinians' right to return to their homeland.

This day has inspired me to pen the following poem.

The Scent of Longing

In a land of occupation
Blood flows, as do tears.
But from the earth
Liberation grows,
In the dream of clouds
Confiscated land returned,
The scent of longing
Carried forward,
From ancient olive trees
Hangs the gift of self determination,
Despite great dispossession
Nourishment released to hearts,
To proud Palestinians
who still cling steadfast to their land
Where every name has its own poetry,
Walking with dignity in their eyes
From the rivers to the sea,
With quest for freedom ongoing
This place where passion never fades.

Buffy Sainte-Marie - The War Racket

Buff Sainte Marie - The War Racket , A Song about the people making big money from the guns and bullets killing and maiming people in Syria, Yemen, Venezuela, Turkey, the US of A etc etc. A powerful indictment of  the military industrial complex, a message that the world needs to hear right now.
After a career in music spanning 50 plus years, the 77 year old singer songwriter is still using her voice for change. Respect.

Animation by Kurt Swinghammer

Buffy Sainte - Marie- The War Racket

Ooo you're slick – you investors in hate
You Saddams and you Bushes; you Bin Ladens and snakes
You billionaire bullies; you're a globalized curse
You put war on the masses while you clean out the purse

and that's how it's done war after war
You old feudal parasites just sacrifice the poor
You've got the cutting edge weapons but your scam's still the same
as it's been since the Romans: it's the patriot game
It's the war racket

You twisters of language; you creeps of disguise
Your disinformation; like worms in your eyes
You privileged bankers; you gambler thieves
You profit on war; there's less money in peace

That's how it's done time after time
Country after country, crime after crime
You pretend it's religion and there's no one to blame
for the dead and impoverished in your little patriot game
Honey, that's the war racket

Got the world's greatest power and you team up with thugs
Make a fortune on weapons, destruction and drugs
But your flags & boots & uniforms start to all look the same
when both sides are killing in the patriot game: it's the war racket

And that's how it's done, and you've got our sons
in the crosshairs of horror at the end of a gun
and your national anthems start to all smell the same
when all sides are dying in the patriot game
It's the war racket

And war is never, ever holy
It's just a greedy men's dream
And you two-faced crusaders: both sides are obscene
War's not made by God: War's made by men
who misdirect our attention while you thieves do your thing

And that's how it's done
About every 30 years
The rich fill their coffers
The poor fill with tears
The young fill the coffins
The old hang a wreath
The politicians get photographed with their names underneath

It's the War Racket
It's the patriot game
It's the war racket

Writer: Buffy Sainte Marie, from the album:Medicine Wheel

Stop the Cardiff Arms Fair / Na i Ffair Arfau Caerdydd

Demonstration today Tuesday 27th of March from 8am – 5pm outside Motorpoint Arena, Mary Ann St. Cardiff, CF10 2EQ

Stop Arming Turkey - Stop Arming israel - Stop Arming Saudi Arabia - STOP the CARDIFF ARMS FAIR

What will be Happening throughout the day:

MASS CHOIR alternating with a NOISE DEMO and ACOUSTIC MUSIC

FOOD NOT BOMBS serving tea/coffee and food

COMMUNICATION BLOCKADE – Details below

Bring BANNERS, PLACARDS, POTS & PANS, WHISTLES – BRING YOURSELVES. STOP THE ARMS FAIR CARDIFF Supported by Campaign Against the Arms Trade UK

Make today count – if you can’t make it to Cardiff please get involved in the Communications Blockade.

As Turkey’s assault on the Kurdish people continues, Saudi Arabia’s war on the people of Yemen worsens and we continue to arm Israel, we really need to make our opposition to the arms trade felt.

The Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff needs to know that this ARMS FAIR (disguised by the name DPRTE) is not wanted in Cardiff or anywhere else. The event, proudly advertised on their website as ‘The Defence Procurement Event of The Year’, has BAE Systems as one of its main exhibitors, the worlds 3rd largest arms producer, the same company who supplies Saudi Arabia with all the weapons it needs to bomb the defenceless country of Yemen.An already impoverished country Yemenis now in the throes of a humanitiarian crisis as a result of these attacks using British made armaments, as shown in this video. youtube.com/watch?v=duMj19QYW5o

Let’s overwhelm them with phone calls, emails, Twitter and Instagram messages telling them this. Keep it polite, just state clearly your opposition to the event. You can also leave a message on their FB page.

Box Office: 029 2022 4488 (Opens 9:30 – 17:30)
Complaints: 02920 234 500
Press Team: 029 2023 4551
Hospitality: 029 2023 4555
E-mail: gabrielle.gifford@livenation.co.uk
E-mail: motorpointarenacardiff.sales@livenation.co.uk
Instagram: Mortorpointarenacardiff
Twitter: @MotorpointDiff

Any one who uses FaceBook or Twitter please share / tweet the event link below:

https://www.facebook.com/events/482045962209828/

We need to protest against such an event being held in Wales and show our opposition to the arms trade.

In a small town by a river

(dedicated to Morvenna)

In a small town by a river
There are many factors that guide,
Sometimes there is such a feeling of sadness
So deep it hurts to breathe,
When life slips to madness
And puts you on your knees,
But Laughter gives strength
Togetherness releases resilience,
Friendship provides comfort
Those who help give hope,
To people seeking independence
Fearlessness offers resistance,
Those who look on and do nothing
Have not much value to reach for,
Normal to some is such a silent place
To me this such a saddening thing,
I wish the world would question
Possibilities can be obtained,
Littering the earth with kindness
Proving that humanity exists.

Iconic Palestinian singer Rim Banna dies at 51 after battle with cancer (8 /12/66-24/3/18)

Yesterday the iconic Palestinian singer, composer, lyricist, activist Rim Banna sadly lost her long battle to breast cancer at the age of 51 in her home town of Nazareth.
Born in Nazareth, where she graduated from Nazareth Baptist School she was the daughter of Palestinian poet Zoheira Sabbagh and lived with her three children, Banna studied singing and conducting at the High Institute for Music in Moscow one of the worlds most challenging conservatory environments.After the release of two live records and six more years of formal study, she graduated from the institute in 1991. Tjat same year she married Ukrainian musician and former classmate Leonid Alexeianko, with whom she relocated to Nazareth. Upon the couples return to Banna's native region, she released a collection pf Palestinian children's songs that were on the edge of dissapearance.  The Dream (1993) served to preserve and re-popularize the nearly forgotten repetoire. Banna continued to seek out Palestine texts and set them to traditionally influenced music, becoming a cultural icon among the Palestinians. Having achieved stardowm in the region she became notworthy on an international level with her appearance on the 2003, various artists release Lullabies from the Axis of Evil. The record featured female singers from a variety of nations (deemed  enemies of freedom by George W. Bush) singing traditional lillabies alongside English language stars in the hope of introducing their music and culture to Western peoples. Her follow up The Mirrors of My Soul caught the attention of audiences the world over. Her population and reputation as a cultural advocate and political agitator continued to floursh. Banna performed the world over wirh patriotic music that called for an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Often hailed as 'the voice of Palestine,' Banna was also a messenger of revolution. Riding the waves of the Arab Spring. She set ancient and modern poems to music that is equally timeless. With a beautiful inspiring voice, enchanting performances and the sheer intensity of her interpretative gifts, she magnified and recast the politics of every verse, singing for love, humanity, childhood and homeland, with passion sang with the ecstatic spirit of freedom, shining a light of freedom where it has tet to shone upon. During the span of her musical career Banna released 10 albums most of which echoed words for the Palestinian cause.She would often appear wearing traditionally embroidered gowns and a keffiyeh scarf a symbol of Palestinian resistance and independence over her shoulders. Thee Palestinian Ministry of Culture honoured her prolific musical and artistic legacy by naming her Cultural Personality of the year in 2016.
The 51 year old had first discovered she was suffering from cancer in 2009. Her initial treatment had reigned her victorious over the disease, but it soon returned. Even then the singer still continued to sing passionately with such bravery. She always referred to her brutal battle against her illness as a battle against occupation. "just like Israel occupying our lands, cancer wants to occupy my body, and just like we resist occupation , I resisted my illness," she said in one of her latest videos.
Last week , her family issued a statement to highlight her deterorating medical condition, telling her fans that she was recieving treatment in one of the hospitals in Nazareth.
"She is continuing to resist... she will even announce new plans and reveal details of an upcoming musical tour," the statement read. and three weeks befored she passed away, she said goodbye, in her own way :" Life is beautiful and death is like history, a fake episode." Her mother wrote on her Facebook page:"My white gazelle departed. She took off the dress of sickness, and she left. But she left behind her bright smile which dissipates the scourge of seperation."
Bannab was laid to rest, in her hometown of Nazareth, on Saturday evening, hundreds of mourners gathered to pay their respect and chanted some of her songs during the funeral.
Rim Banna, Rest in power and peace. You left the world with a strong legacy for the Palestinians and the world to cherish. Free Palestine.

Like an innocent flower fighting darkness

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/like-an-innocent-flower-fighting-darkness_b_7884588.html

Rim Banna - A Time to cry

Rim Banna - Fly Love

Rim Banna - Sarah : In memory of Palestinian children killed by Israel

As Palestinian teenage activist Ahed Tamimi agrees to 8-month plea deal time to end illegal detention

Palestinian teenager Ahed Tamimi, who was videotaped slapping and kicking an Israeli soldier at her family's West Bank home, will serve eight months in prison, following a plea deal her defense attorney reached with military prosecutors on Wednesday evening.
Behind closed doors at Ofer miltary court in the West Bank, military prosecutors agreed to drop eight of 12 charges against the 17 year old, and  will have to pay a fine of 5,000 shekels 9about $1,430) who has been in military detention since December, who was 16 at the rime of her arrest. She will be given credit for time served leaving with five months on her sentence.
A statement from the Israel Defense Forces said Tamimi pleaded guilty to four charges of "criminal acts where she disrupted an IDF soldier and carried out incitement."
For the Palestinians she remains a hero after the December 15 incident outside her families home of Nabi Saleh was streamed live on facebook by her mother and it went viral. She has been called the Rosa Parks of Palestine .For years she and her family had stood up to the Israeli occupation.The soldiers had been deployed during a weekly Palestinian village against Israeli policy on settlements in the West Bank, one of the most heated issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It also followed the shooting in the head with a rubber bullet her cousin 15 year old Mohammed Tamimi, which left  him with serious injuries and the village with much anger and resentment.
"No justice under occupation!" Tamimi, handcuffed and shackled out to reporters at the court on Wednesday. Many have been afraid that she would have to serve many years in prison, who while at the same time do not think she should serve any time at all, view this result as a form of victory. Believing that if it had not been for the international outcry and support Ahed  received, she would probably have been sentenced to three, five, even ten years. Since Ahed's arrest there has been  non-stop protesting, people writing letters, signing petitions across the globe.
While Ahed's plea bargaining is seen as a positve step, there is still a long way to go. Each year Israel, arrests and detains around 700 Palestinian children. They are denied access to a parent or lawyer during interrogation, held in solitary confinement, and physically abused.
As in most arrests of Palestinian children, Ahed's arrest took place in the middle of the night. Despite being a minor, she was denied bail and was held throughout trial. Israel remains the only country in the world with a juvenille military court system. Palestinan child detainess of Israel are often blindfolded and forced to sign confessions in a language they don't read. Yesterdays sentence is seen as yet another alarming example of the Israeli authorities contempt for their obligations to protect the basic rights of Palestinians living under their occupation, especially children. A sentence that has been condemned by Amnesty International.
Ahed's father says about the prison sentence imposed on his daughter and that of his wife. Our first charge is that we are Palestinian, and the rest is just filling in the gaps." There is no justice under occupation. I would urge you take action to help end its illegal detention policies and preactices that violate international law : https://www.waronwant.org/israel-must-end-its-illegal-detention-policies

Anna Campbell :Death of a freedom fighter

 It was with sadness, that many were greeted at the weekend by the news that 26 year old  Anna Campbell from Lewes, East Sussex, had been was killed by a Turkish air strike on the 15th March in Afrin alongside 100 volunteers with the all-female Kurdish protection  unit, the YPG in Syria.
A qualified plumber in the UK, she first travelled to Syria in May 2017 to help the Kurds, who were battling the Islamic State group.
A prominent human rights activist in Britain, she had been been heavily involved  in the Empty Cages Collective a project aimed at building a movement in England, Scorland and Wales to resist the prison industrial complex and organise a prison free world. Through grassroots organising, advocacy and direct action she and her allies challenged the prison system which puts prisoners at risk of dangerous environmental conditions, as well as impacting on surrounding communities and ecosystems by their construction and operation.Well known in Brighton and Bristol anti-fascist, animal rights , environmental protection, anarchist and feminist circles, Anna was an individual who was  known for her passionate idealism, and her commitment to fighting for the causes of liberation.
Until recently, she had no connection to the Kurds, yet  was deeply moved, family and friends have said, by the fight to defend an autonomous, mostly kurdish region in northern Syria, known as Rojava, whose leaders advocate a secular, democratic and egalitarian politics, with equal rights for women.
" She was somebody who saw the injustices of the world and plight of the weak and vulnerable and disempowered, and she also saw the idealism, the amazing utopian vision of Rojava, and she found those two elements irrestible ! her father Dirk Campbell, said in an interview."She wanted to prevent this being stamped out, which Turkey and Syria are trying to do."
Anna who was given the nom-de-guerre Helin Qerecox, sheer heroism was demonstrated by her insistence on taking part in the Afrin resistance despite the great danger she faced in fighting against NATO's second-biggest army. Eight British fighters have now died fighting in the Rojava revolution though Anna was the first woman.
On Sunday, the city of Afrin was confirmed to be occupied by the Turkish Armed Forces and its Free Syrian Army affiliates. Launched on January 20th, the so-called "Operation Olive Branch" has been subject to criticism from the United Nations, the European Parliament, members of the UK parliament and various humanitarian agencies. Footage taken over the course of the opration shows looting, extrajudicial killings , with estimates of the civilian death toll ranging from 300-500 civilians.
The Kurdish community keeps reminding us that Turkey's invasion of Afrin is illegal and has no basis in international law. Their attack on the convoy which killed Anna constitutes a war crime and they call on progressive fores here in the UK to keep pressuring the UK Government to take firm action against Turkey. The UK Government though is clearly more concerned with selling weapons to Turkey than protecting Kurdish communities. Let's remind ourselves that in May 2017, Theresa May negotiated a £100m deal to help Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan  develop fighter hets and improve trade relations.Also between July and September 2016, the UK sold Turkey £26m worth of armoured plate, body armou, as well as £8.5m worth of aircraft, helicopters and drones, and almost £4m worth of licenses for missiles, bombs and 'counter-measures'
UK companies like Thales, British Aerospace, and Rolls Royce are all raking in profits from arming the Turkish regime, despite it's war crimes, alongside the British Government and Theresa May they have blood on their hands.
Anna's act of bravery will not be forgotten by the Kurdish community, by her friends, family and comrades and all who fight for a better world , in defense of freedom with the firm conviction that her sacrifice will not be in vain. Anna is still with us, the fight goes on. Long live the Rojava revolution.

https://internationalistcommune.com/letter-to-helin/

https://iww.org.uk/news/anna-campbell-rest-in-power-fellow-worker/

https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2018/03/defending-afrin.html

Supremacy- Le Trio Joubran & Roger Waters

Former Pink Floyd front man, released the following  vocal protest to US President last week in regards to Donald Trump's controversial decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.In what is seen by many to be a major set back in the middle east  peace process.
The status of Jerusalem is one of the thorniest issues in a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, as it is claimed by both sides as its  capital, Israel seizing East Jerusalem from Jordan in the Six Day War which the Palestinians see as their  their future state.
To fan the Palestinians flames even further, Trump announced that this move will take place on May 14 to coincide with Israel's celebration of it's 70th anniversary, a day that also marks what the Palestinians call Nabkka Day or "Day of Catastrophe"  which in 1948 saw the mass deportation of a million Palestinians from their homes, and the razing to the ground of hundreds of their villages.
Accompanied by Nazareth based  Palestinian oud group Le Trio Joubran , Roger Waters recites the verses from the great Palestinian national poet of resistance Mahmoud Darwish's
https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/mahmoud-darwish-poet-of-resistance.html " the Penultimate speech of the 'Red Indian' to the white man,"
In a statement Roger Waters wrote,"On the surface it narrates the last speech of the Native American to The White Man, but it also speaks to Darwish's beloved Palestine and it's indigenous people, in fact it's relevant to all victims of settler colonialism everywhere,"
Le Trio Joubran added , "We have been touring the world with our ouds for the past 15 years, taking with is, from city to city, a bit of Palestine. We honor the struggles of indigenous people across the globe, and through our art, affirm that the relationship between people, culture and their homeland survives history."

SUPREMACY - A Response to Trump - #JerusalemCapitalOfPalestine

 Music - Trio Joubran

Voice - Roger Waters Poem - Mahmoud Darwish

Translation - Dr. Fady Joudah & Roger Waters

Video Director - Adnan Joubran

Music Producer - Renaud Letang Recorded at Abbey Road Studios & Studio Ferber Label - RANDANA Management - Karim Ghattas

 http://www.letriojoubran.com

 https://www.instagram.com/triojoubran/

 https://www.facebook.com/letriojoubran/

Poem - The Penultimate speech of the 'Red Indian' to the white man

A long time must go by 

Before our present becomes history 

Just like us 

We will face the long march 

But first 

We will defend the trees we wear 

We will defend the bell of the night and the hanging moon over our huts
We will defend the leaping deer

And the clay of our pots

And the eagle feathers in the wings of our final songs 

But soon you will erect your world on our remains 

You will pave over the sacred places 

To open a road to the satellite moon 

This is the age of industry 

The age of coal

 Fossils to fuel your thirst for fine wine 

There are the dead and the settlements 

The dead and the bulldozers 

The dead and the hospitals 

There are radar screens to capture the dead 

Who die more than once in this life 

To capture the dead who walk after death 

The dead who breed the beast of civilisation 

The dead who die to carry the earth 

After the relics are gone 

Where, oh white master, are you taking my people... and yours?

سَيَمضي زَمانٌ طَويلٌ لِيُصْبحَ حاضِرُنا ماضياً مثُلَنا ..
 سنَمْضي إِلى حَتْفِنا , أَوَّلاً , سنُدفعُ عن شَجَرٍ نَرْتَديه ...
 وَعَنْ جَرَسِ اللَّيلِ , عَنْ قَمَر , فَوْقَ أَكْواخنا نَشتْهيه
وَعَنْ طَيْشِ غزلانِنا سَنُدافعُ , عن طِينِ فَخْارِنا سَنُدافِعُ

 وَعَن ريشنا في جَناحِ الأَغاني الأَخيرةِ , عمَّا قَليل تُقِمونَ عَالَمَكُمْ فَوْقَ عَالَمِنا: مِنْ مَقابِرِنا تَفْتَحونَ الطَّريق
.
إِلى الْقَمَرِ الاصطناعيِّ , هذا زَمانُ الصِّناعاتِ هذا زَمانُ المَعادِنِ , مِنْ قِطْعَةِ الفَحْمِ تَبْزُغُ شَمْبانيا الأقْوِياءْ

 هُنالِكَ مَوْتى وَمُسْتوطَناتٌ , وَمَوْتى وبولدوزراتٌ , وَمَوْتى وَمُسْتَشْفَياتٌ , وَمَوْتى وَشَاشاتُ رادار تَرْصُدُ مَوتى
 
 يَموتون أَكْثَرَ مِنْ مَرَةٍ في الْحياة , وَ تَرْصُدُ مَوتى
يَعيشونَ بَعْدَ الْمَماتِ , وَمَوْتى يُرَبُّونَ وَحْشَ الْحضاراتِ مَوْت
 وَمَوْتى يَموتونَ كَيْ يَحْمِلوا الأَرْضَ فَوْقَ الرُّفات

إلى أَيْنَ يَا سَيِّد البِيض , تأَخُذُ شَعْبي ,..
 وَشَعْبَك؟

Courage to Resist for Rachel Corrie (April 10, 1979 – March 16, 2003)

Today is the 16th anniversary of the murder of Rachel Alleyene Corrie an American member of the International Solidarity Movement who was murdered by  Israeli Defense Force bulldozers while bravely non violently acting as a human shield against the demolition of Palestinian homes. But her memory is still  alive in the hearts of Gaza  and the Palestinian people still struggling for freedom, and her spirit lives on reminding us to get out of our comfort zones and to act with our convictions. Inspiring us that we can be kind, brave, generous, beautiful, strong  even in the most difficult circumstances. Years later  though sadly Palestinians  are  still being killed and injured as they demand the right to return to lands that have been stolen from them.

Courage to Resist 

Rachel Corrie witnessed the oppression
So she bravely stood with the Palestinian
Shoulder to shoulder in a land of occupation

Her breath full of peace, no room for compliance

With firm belief in heart she stood in front of force
In act of defiant non violent resistance
To try to prevent destructive demolition

Of peoples homes and olive groves 

The world witnessed as she was crushed

By a Israeli bulldozer, and left like a rag doll 

Years later her message of solidarity still strong
Her spirit remains free. moving and inspiring
Because oppressors can never kill a thought
Defiance will always rise, wherever there is injustice
In the town of Rafah their gentle sister is not forgotten 

Her deep passion, courage and conviction honoured

We must continue her brave struggle for freedom

As the skys are still weeping, tears still raining down.

https://rachelcorriefoundation.org/

Stop and Scrap Universal Credit.

Currently Theresa May's toxic Tory government is pressing ahead and rolling  out Universal Credit, at a time when many claimants  are descending into debt, relying on food banks, getting into rent arrears and in many cases getting evicted from their homes because of in-built problems with UC. People with disabilities will be among the hardest hit of these cruel welfare reforms.
UC replaces five benefits - child tax credit, housing benefit, income support, income based jobseekers allowance, income related employment and support allowance and working tax credit. Seven million households will be affected, including one million low paid part-time workers. For the first time ever people actually in work could face being sanctioned, having their benefits stopped if they are unable to prove to the job centre that there searching for better paid work or more hours, in a completely illogical measure by our current government.
The government is imposing UC, despite losing a parliamentary vote on its extension to millions more people. On October 18, Parliament voted by 299 votes to zeros to temporarily halt the introduction of UC. Opposition  parties in Parliament led by Labour, passed a motion calling for the government to pause the rollout of UC. The vote was allowed as part of an Opposition Day Debate.
In the face  of mounting anger in the population, Theresa May's crisis ridden government instructed its ministers and MPs to abstain. This was due to their fear of a rebellion by at least 12 Tories as well as MP's from its governing partner, the DUP, who were prepared to back Labour. The government responded to the vote by declaring it was not binding, and with no regard to the mounting anger will continue to roll out UC regardless.
The entire process is riddled  with problems. Despite having been dreamt up a decade ago and built up since 2010 at the moment, hardly any part of the programme is functioning as it was supposed to. So far UC has been plagued by delays and administrative errors.The Department of Work and Pensions looks to many to be wholly unfit for purpose. Independent analysis has shown that the cuts hidden within UC  will result in three million families losing up to £2,600 per year each.The Charity Child Poverty Action estimates that this will push a million more children into poverty by 2022. And this only if everything  goes as planned.
UC is supposed to be an attempt to make the Benefits system better, but things like housing benefit are all chucked in with everything else, one single payment going to the 'head' of the household, This could put women in abusive relations in a very bad place. All the money for childcare, which once would have gone to her, is liable instead to go to the abusive partner. Financially this will mean that it will be harder for her to be independent and harder for her to leave. Applying to the government for benefits to be paid straight to her would simply alert the abusive partner to her attempts to escape his control. And this is currently happening in the name of 'simplicity.' This is just one example of the flawed nature of UC.
For now the waiting time has been cut from six weeks to five and from next month, housing benefit claimants will continue to receive support for two weeks after making their first claim for UC. It will also be possible to get a 100% advance on the benefit, with a year to pay it back, instead of being allowed only a 50% advance and being given just six months to return the loan.
But lets be honest  nobody seems to know what's going on anymore. Claimants across the country will find their payments being arbitrally cut month in, month out, with no explanation. Random debts  are imposed and retrieved with minimum information. Already as it is claimants, living on a shoestring, this process I fear will make things far worse.The Conservatives claim UC is designed to help help people into work by ensuring they are better off working than the unemployed  but whatever they say the number of families who are in work but still living below the poverty line is continuing to rise. As a result, inequality increases too, with the poorest among us being left behind.All because of their policies.
This is all why on  Saturday 16th May 2018 I will be supporting Ceredigion Disability People Against the Cuts (DPAC) who will be meeting  it, outside the Guildhall, Cardigan 11.a.m, to raise awareness of the impact it will have on our community when it hits us in September. We will have petitions to be signed and latest information on the roll out and how it will affect individuals claiming benefits, in and out of work.
Personally do not believe it can be fixed, or modified it needs to be stopped and scrapped completely. It is crucial that we carry on campaigning against its implementation to defend those on the receiving end of brutal cuts and to push for the complete abolition of these policies that will hurt those who are already the most disadvantaged in our society who are merely being treated as collateral damage and will as a result of UC will be pushed even further into the depths of poverty. We must continue to resist these devastating policies, an end to this cruel austerity measure and give support to all those that currently need it. Remember no one is immune to becoming ill or losing their jobs.