I march to the beat of a different drum
Through life keep dreaming on.
Carrying poetry deep in my soul
Following music that I must share,
Standing alone though I try to blend in
Keep on dancing while I listen,
Speaking about the abandoned
To those that are willing to listen,
Beyond political grief, apolitical despair
Finding enough reasons to continue to care,
Beyond man made borders
Discovering gifts of imagination,
Finding principles to guide
Pondering about ways we could all be free,
Falling in holes along the way
Sipping from bottles of mindfulness,
Journeying on with decimating attitude
Unpredictable thought, keeps on beating,
Glittering and glimmering under sunbeams
As rhythms of the heart.keep on beating.
On 31st March 1990 people took to the streets of London and fought back against Margaret Thatchers' hated and controversial ideological driven 'Community Charge', which was first introduced in Scotland in 1989, and the following year the flat rate tax was then introduced in England and Wales in 1990, which forced people to pay a flat tax to fund local services irrespective of their wealth or income, leading to a massive backlash, and widely condemned at the time by social campaigners as it meant the rich now paid the same rate of tax as the poor. The main objections were the fact that the same amount was paid by everyone, regardless of their ability to pay, and that liability was determined by being on the electoral roll. Thus it was dubbed the 'Poll Tax'. Thatcher was famously stubborn, and refused to reconsider. She should have, because ,the introduction of the poll tax was widely unpopular from the outset, and increased when tax rates set by many local councils turned out to be much higher than initially predicted resulting in Thatcher's increased unpopularity. Local groups opposed to the tax , known as Anti-Poll Tax Unions sprung up across Britain, encouraging non payment, organising protests, and resisting bailiffs. But I remember the Labour Party at the time shamefully announcing at their 1988 conference that they would not support those who refused to pay. However despite of this failure a number of groups were created by activists on the left to support the non-payment of the tax and assist those who experienced legal troubles as a result of non-payment. The most important of these groups was the All Britain Anti-Poll Tax Federation (ABAPTF), organised by Militant, which used the local trade unions to help build a campaign of non-payment. The Socialist Workers Party, the other major far left organisation in Britain at the time, had a much more ambivalent attitude towards non-payment and the ABAPTF, which allowed Militant to become the dominant group campaigning against the Poll Tax. Outside of the Trotskyist far left, several anarchist groups also supported non-payment, especially the Anarchist Communist Federation who produced a pamphlet called Beating the Poll Tax (ACF 1990). People were encouraged not to stump up the money under the slogan "Can Pay, Won't Pay." On this day, over 250,000 people sweeped into London, for many people it was not a case of wanting to demonstrate, it was a case of having too. There was no choice, this cruel tax would have seriously impacted on peoples lives.Most people on the day of this demonstration, arrived unaligned - ordinary people, families, pensioners, the unemployed, students, black and white, all united as one to fight against this immoral tax. The overriding opinion of the time,is that what started as a peaceful protest, with an almost carnival feel to it against an illegal tax was quickly turned into a bloody battle by uniformed thugs acting under Thatcher's orders, with aided and abetted by agent provocateurs.Police shut an over-full Trafalgar Square at 2.30pm and blocked off either end of Whitehall, leading to a mass sit-in near the entrance to Downing Street. After requests to move along were ignored, they began to arrest demonstrators. At 4pm, the use of charged mounted police aggravated the situation, leading to many peaceful bystanders with heads streaming with blood. A very frightening experience. as mounted police began to push marchers out to the corners of the square, skirmishes began. Police vans were struck and officers were pelted with building materials, while a fire broke out at the adjacent South African embassy.
Later, police pushed demonstrators out of Trafalgar Square, sending some towards Soho and away from their transport near the river. Some marchers, angered by police tactics, overturned and set cars alight, and smashed a number of shop windows.some looting began, and small groups began skirmishing with police, such was the anger and rage unleashed. I for one will never condemn the anger unleashed on this day in 1990, it is the inevitable result of what happens when you push people to far.. By the end of the day, 339 people were arrested (mainly for public order offences) and 86 people were injured. Out of 2,198 police officers on duty, 374 of them had been injured, with 58 requiring hospital treatment. Materially, there were around 250 reports of property damage as well, the cost of which was later estimated at £400,000. To this day many people lay the responsibility of the violence that happened on this day, firmly on the shoulders of Thatcher and her government. Despite the demonisation of the protesters in the mass media, people still refused to pay, the campaign flourished, culminating in millions of people's non payment, bailiffs were resisted, courts unable to cope because of opposition and active resistance as more and more people said "can't pay, won't pay" It would see the Poll Tax becoming uncollectable and unviable and eventually being destroyed, the tax was abolished in 1993 some £2bn in arrears.Thatcher’s popularity was at an all time low, the poll ratings of the Tories were dire and sections of the Tory Party – representing the interests of the ruling class – decided she had to go along with her “flagship” policy. It was Thatcher’s refusal to back down over the poll tax that ultimately brought her downfall.. Thatcher resigned in November 1990 and on 21 March the poll tax was abolished , and Thatcher's successor John Major announcing its replacement by the more progressive council tax, which at least took some account into peoples ability to pay, which is still in operation to this day. In her own memoirs she cited the abandonment of the poll tax as “one of the greatest victories for these people [the working class – especially anti-poll tax campaigners] ever conceded by a Conservative government.” Many years later, the same simmering resentment towards the Conservative Government still exists. It seems that the tories have still not learnt from their past mistakes,with the introduction of , universal credit and other horrors. The resistance to the Poll Tax is a reminder to all people who say it is impossible to fight back and that with clear. purpose and united mobilisation, it is possible to defeat the forces of reaction .
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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."
