Today marks National Read a Book Day, designated for taking a little time out, dusting of that book you've been meaning to read for ages, and diving right in. Personally I love a good book, everyday is read a book day. but sometimes life gets to distracting, especially now that I'm addicted to the bloody internet.
Research has shown though that reading can have several health and social benefits. frequent readers tend to have lower stress levels than non-readers. (though that is not flipping true in my case). Well read people though tend to be more empathetic and aware of societal ills and differences, and reading is said to be good at improving critical thinking. (Which has assisted me, a lot because I can be an argumentative so and so.)
However harsh and dark the world can be at times, books can provide insights, at the same time freeing minds to engage with contradictory consciousness, without a predetermined end, reading books can be an incredibly enriching experiences, teaching us, moving us, taking us into worlds of the unknown and adventure, they also have the capacity to enrich us, heal us and change our lives forever.
Incidentally the Japanese word tsundoku refers to the act of piling up books without reading them. Have we not all been guilty from one time or other of buying multiple books and letting them pile up without ever getting around to reading them, I do it all the time. A way you could mark National Read a Book Day, is if you have a pile of books that you know your not going to get around to looking at, simply give them away to your friends, or take them to your local charity shop so others can appreciate them and have a good read too.
Reading is not just about pleasure, books have the power to touch us profoundly, to open our eyes to injustices, and sometimes even act as a catalyst for social change. If you simply have not the time today,to pick up a fine book and read, keep looking at the breathing living world all around you, and for goodness' sake keep on questioning.
Here are 10 books I'd recommend you read that have helped shape my own world;-
1. The Ragged Trousered Pilanthropist - Robert Tressell
2. Homage to Catatonia - George Orwell
3. News from Nowhere and other writings - William Morris
4. Towards Democracy - Edward Carpenter
5. The Book of Disquiet - Fernando Pessoa
6. The Dispossessed - Ursula K. Le Guin
7.Leaves of Grass - Walt Whitman
8. Mother Jones Speaks. edited by Philip Foner
9. Thus were there faces ;Selected Stories - Silvina Ocampa
Now that the IHRA definition is accepted, after ignoring direct appeals from Palestinan civic society to do so, caving in to pressure from the right of the party, after being amplified by smears from the right wing press, do not think for one moment the attacks now on Corbyn and Labour will stop.
The reaction of the establishment media and pro-Israel groups also shows how pointless the exercise was. "Oh he's adopted it but added a statement about free speech, which means he's really an antisemite." What a bloody merry go round, what a charade.
At the end of the day any form of racism stinks and Israel's apartheid Nation State Law is a very rotten one. Palestinian lives still matter too. The Tories and their lapdogs are not on the right side of history, the people who continue to stand against injustice are though. Sadly a party that starts abandoning its principles, renouncing free speech, which will silence justified criticism of Israel, subsequently playing right into the hands of its enemies, that it should be attacking, is going to fail, and it is the interests of the poor and the vulnerable in our society that will be hurt the most. A party that can lead the fight for ongoing struggles for justice, freedom and equality, organising against all oppression and racism, for the many not the few, is one however that can offer again a ray of hope.
Lana Del Rey's cancellation on Saturday of her performance at Israel's Meteor Festival has elicited many and varied responses with pressure now being applied on other musicians on social media to refrain from playing at the festival in Kibbutz Lehavot Habashan at the end of the week on land that is inaccessible to millions of Palestinians.
Already up to 15 international bands have joined her, and cancelled.their reversal marks a setback for Israel, which aims to prevent politics from infiltrating the arts.The campaign for Boycott, Divestment. Sanctions movement (BDS) urges businesses,artists and universities to sever ties with Israel. It says it is a nonviolent way to promote the Palestinian cause, signifying a meaningful contribution to the Palestinians struggle for freedom, justice and equality. There is a long history of artists either cancelling performances in Israel or publicly joining the cultural boycott, vowing not to play music, accept awards, or attend events in the country until the colonial oppression and human rights abuses of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza comes to and end and continue to respect the Palestinians non-violent picket line.
The pressure exerted by the BDS movement seems to be working, so a heartfelt thanks to all who have respected the boycott, their cancellation is a major blow and rejection of the Israeli governments efforts to use art and culture to whitewash and beautify its military occupation and apartheid system.
Forty years ago festival organisers, all over the world stood with South Africans struggling against apartheid, endorsing the BDS campaign against South Africa, now more than ever, we are morally obliged to stand with the oppressed Palestinian people.
The following powerful opening lines are from the social contract, the brilliant political treatise by Jean Jacques Rousseau, which the author and philosopher wrote in exile from his home, in Geneva , that went on to inspire the French Revolution.
In it he wrote that man is naturally good, but becomes corrupted by the pernicious influence of human society and institutions. He preached that mankind could be improved by returning to nature and living a natural life of peace with his neighbors and himself. Mankind must learn to break the chains that attach themselves to our lives. A beautiful idea that we should pay more than lip service to. We have to value the concepts of freedom, equality and community.Like Rousseau tree centuries ago, we in the 21st have to look for and identify the common good that will enable our society to revive democracy,solidarity and the art of living together. " MAN was born free, and he is everywhere in chains. Those who think themselves the masters of others are indeed greater than they. How did this transformation come about? I do not know. How can it be made legitimate? That question I believe I can answer. If I were to consider only force and the effects of force, I should say: 'So long as a people is constrained to obey, and obeys, it does well; but as soon as it can shake off the yoke, and shakes it off, it does better; for since it regains its freedom by the same right as that which removed it, a people is either justified in taking back its freedom, or there is no justifying those who took it away.' But the social order is a sacred right which serves as a basis for all other rights. And as it is not a natural right, it must be founded on covenants. The problem is to determine what those covenants are. "
I Look back and remember
when times were innocent,
life was much sweeter
in the morning the sun would rise
and in the evening would go down.
I'd have a smoke and get very high
as the moon glided through the sky,
happy days, humming with promise
the future seemed so exciting,
life was a compass, that followed no maps.
As time past, fell in love many times
rising like the wind, could do cartwheels for hours,
felt the wealth of kindness, releasing many smiles
ties bound with magical power
I danced merrily across the land.
And when injustice started to call
I would stand with my brothers and sisters,
in the summer,the spring and the autumn
on the cold edges of winter,
hoping hard times would pass.
Now 51, still on the edge of reason
but lovers and friends have gone,
that I can no longer dance with
as tides of inequity continue to grow
with social media, I release my chorus.
Still learning to live, let go and flourish
while mind and body getting tireder,
bones steadily getting brittler
my voice at least remains strong
one thing that is for sure, this life goes on.
Prime Minister Theresa May, as a representative of a political party that actively supported apartheid faced awkward questions on her record campaigning for Nelson Mandela's release in the 70's and 80's on Tuesday as she visited the cell on Robben Island where the former South African president was imprisoned for decades during the apartheid era.
In an extraordinary video clip released, Theresa May, interviewed by Channel 4s Michael Crick
just before she visited Mandela's cell,she was asked directly by Crick whether as a young Tory under Margaret Thatcher, whether she agreed with Thatcher's opinion that Mandela was a terrorist.
She was also asked repeatedly what she did to campaign for Mr Mandela's freedom.
May who is in South Africa as part o a three day trade mission to the continent responded:, without actually answering the questions with "What I will be feeling when I go to Robben Island is to recognise the immense statemanship of a man who spent so many years incarcenated and when he came out of that incarcernation had that breadth ofvision and thaat calm approach that has enabled South Africa to be built into the country that it is today,"
Asked if she went on any protests at the time, she said : I think you know full well that I didn't go on protests.
"But what is important is the work that the United Kingdom did to ensure that it was able to give support where the support was needed.
She added ;"What is important was the support that the UK government was giving at the time. Often support behind the scenes, but in other ways too, to ensure that we saw the result that we did in relation to the ending of Apartheid."https://www.channel4.com/news/
At this point it is important to remember ,as many of us know, she did absolutely nothing to protest against apartheid, she didn't boycott South African goods, she didn't challenge Thatcher and other Tories calling Mandela a terrorist.To those of us who did protest and boycott ,who thought it was nothing less than our dutry to take part in collective action against South Africa, the sight and sound of her visiting Robben Island for a photo opportunity was simply nauseating.
To the Tory Party Nelson Mandela was a terrorist not a freedom fighter. Lets not forget that former Tory PM David Cameron himself was a member of a group of young conservatives that produced a poster saying " Hang Nelson Mandela and all the ANC Terrorists they are butchers"
Cameron also worked in the Tory Policy Unit at Central Office and even went on an anti-sanctions act-finding mission to South Africa with a pro-apartheid lobby firm sponsored by PW Botha.. I simply forget when the whole Tory switch occurred, to accepting Mandela as a decent human being , all I remember is that Maggie Thatcher was the first British Prime Minister for quarter of a century to invite an Apartheid head of state to Britain, and that we became a country that sponsored oppressors against those who fought or freedom and civil rights.
This in stark contrast to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, of course, who appears in the following now famous picture taken at the time,being escorted away by police with an anti-apartheid sign around his neck who principally fough consistently against the evils of apartheid South Africa and for the freedom of Nelson Mandela and his fellow comrades and freedom fighters incarcernated at the same time.
Anyway, during her visit to Robben Island , Mrs May was handed a key to open the cell of the man who went on to become South African president
She was given details about the cell as she stood inside, including what was used as a toilet.
She signed the guestbook, writing."It has been a privilege to visit in this year, the 100th anniversary of the birth of Nelson Mandela.
"His legacy lives on in the hopes and dreams of young people here in South Africa andaround the world."
That I can at least agree with, and one of the most important qualities we should also remember about Nelson Mandela and his supporters in South Africa and beyond was their willingness to question the status quo when others turned a blind eye to massive human rights violations.
Theresa May ,what will be her legacy, one as a hypocrite who continues to avert her gaze to the persecution of minorities , incipient genocide and ethnic cleansing around the globe, and the current apartheid policies of Israel. We should all continue to be asking her pertinent questions, and keep holding her to account.
It is sad, when anyone passes, and many believe no one should speak ill of the dead. But on hearing the news that longtime US Senator John McCain, the Republican from Arizona has died at the age of 81 after a long battle with brain cancer, all I am currently reading about him by the mainstream media is him being described as a war. hero, whilst being canonised at the same time. So as a result,thought it was necessary to add a few words.
Is this not the same man who before being captured in Vietnam as part of the U.S military machine was bombing innocent women and children, making him a front-line participant in one of the greatest war crimes in history, the savage American onslaught on Vietnam, in an attempt to terrorise the population into surrender.
The overriding feature of McCain's career, was his hawkishness on foreign policy. He supported war after war, intervention after intervention always promoting the use of force as the primary feature of American foreign policy. First elected to the House of Representatives in 1982, he backed the US invasion of Grenada in 1983 and the Reagan administration policy of supporting fascist forces in Central America, including death squads in El Salvador and Guatemala and the contra terrorists at war with Nicaragua.
Who then along with the entire U.S political and military establishment, supported the wholesale bombing of Iraq's water purification plants during the first Gulf War. In what amounted to planned genocide. Documents released in 2000 revealed that the U.S, had studied in detail all aspects of Iraq's water system, had planned a strategy for preventing Iraq from reconstructing that system
( via sanctions) and knew in advance that this could lead to increased incidences, if not epidemics of disease. Indeed it did, with more than half a million Iraqi children dead as a result, one of the greatest war crimes in history, carried out by the next generation of U.S. pilots who followed John McCain and with his full throated support. He also backed the later invasion of Afghanistan and called for the bombing of Iran and supported the Saudi invasion of Yemen.
When anti-war protestors stormed a Senate hearing whereformer US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was speaking, McCain ordered that they be scorted out of the hall by police and condemned the activists as "low-life scum".
He was also a dedicated supporter of Israel and was quick to U.S President Donald Trump's decision to move the U.S embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. (This despite their noted personal disagreements.)
"I have long believed that Jerusalem is the true capital of Israel," he wrote in a statement on his website after the announcement.https://www.mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2017/12/mccain-on-president-trump-s-decision-to-recognize-jerusalem-as-capital-of-israel
The support extended to Irael's numerous offensives against Palestinian including the 2014 bombardment of Gaza, which killed more than 2,20 residents of the besieged territory, the vast majority of them civilians.
Then in his own backyard while he was defense Secretary,showed his contempt for the indigenous people of America whom he had previously supported when he inserted language into a defense bill which opened up land sacred to the Apache of Arizona to mining,this act of utter betrayal shows the ruthlessness of his spirit and his rather contradictory nature.
A hero, yes, it seems to many, and other places have shown him in a more kinder light, and we should honor the dead, but neither should we forget those lost in Vietnam, Iraq, and countless wars the world over, that he and his government helped displace, injure or kill. Surely all their lives matter too. R.I.P. Lets all continue to try and keep working towards a world without war.
Stephen William "Billy Bragg" is an English singer-songwriter and left wing political activist. his music blends elements of folk music, punk-rock, soul and protest songs, with lyrics that mostly span political or romantic themes. His music is heavily centered on bringing about change in our society.
Born in Barking, East London to a working class family. He was interested in music and poetry from an early age, and after a series of dead-end jobs and a brief stint in the army, which ended , when he realised they really did want him to kill people. he took to a serious pursuit of music.When 1979 bought the election of Margaret Thatcher's right wing government, Bragg began his long career as bard of the left.
Finding inspiration in the righteous of punk rock and the socially conscious folk tradition of Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan. For most of the eighties Bragg bashed out songs alone on his electric guitar. While his lyrics were bitingly intelligent and clever, they were also warm and humane, filled with detail and wit. Even though his lyrics were carefully considered, Bragg never neglected to write melodies that were strong and memorable.
The following is his own version of the Socialist anthem The Internationale, that dates back to 1871 written as a poem in French in the immediate aftermath of the brutal crushing of the Paris Commune by revolutionary socialist, Eugene Pottier, and since sung and honoured by various Labour parties, anarchists, socialists, Trotskistes, Leninists,Communists and other very stirred folk.Translated into hundreds of languages across the globe, with billions of covers on youtube alone, it has been hailed as the most dangerous song on the planet, a rousing song.of continuing universal struggle, the call to the final battle which Bragg rewrote after a request from the late great Pete Seeger, after Bragg had complained that the traditional lyrics were somewhat dated,thus modernizing the song, so that the language became less
archaic and more reflective of current left-wing politics,as a means keeping the powerful song relevant. It can know be found in the revolutionary Industrial Workers of the World's famed Little Red Songbook, that contains songs that continue to fan the flames of discontent..
Whether you like Bragg's music or not, there is a message at this song's core that is worth remembering. As bleak times lie ahead and dark forces of the extreme far right are on the rise again. however down- hearted you may feel right now, remember the international ideal unites the human race.
The following is the original song as Pottier wrote it
The Internationale Original Verses
Debout, les damnés de la terre / Arise, damned of the earth
Debout, les forçats de la faim / Arise, prisoners of hunger
La raison tonne en son cratère, / Reason thunders in its volcano
C’est l’éruption de la fin / This is the eruption of the end
Du passé faisons table rase, / Lets make a clean slate of the past
Foule esclave, debout, debout, / Enslaved masses, arise, arise
Le monde va changer de base / The world is is going to change its foundation
Nous ne sommes rien, soyons tout / We are nothing, we will be all
Chorus:
C’est la lutte finale / This is the final struggle
Groupons-nous, et demain, / Group together, and tomorrow
L’Internationale, / The Internationale
Sera le genre humain. / Will be the human race
Il n’est pas de sauveurs suprêmes, / There are no supreme saviors
Ni Dieu, ni César, ni tribun, / Neither God, nor Caesar, nor tribune
Producteurs sauvons-nous nous-mêmes / Producers, let us save ourselves
Décrétons le salut commun / Decree the common salvation
Pour que le voleur rende gorge, / So that the thief expires
Pour tirer l’esprit du cachot, / To free the spirit from its cell
Soufflons nous-mêmes notre forge, / Let us fan the forge ourselves
Battons le fer tant qu’il est chaud / Strike while the iron’s hot
Chorus
L’État comprime et la loi triche, / The State oppresses and the law cheats
L’impôt saigne le malheureux; / Tax bleeds the unfortunate
Nul devoir ne s’impose au riche, / No duty is imposed on the rich
Le droit du pauvre est un mot creux. / The right of the poor is an empty phrase
C’est assez languir en tutelle, / Enough languishing in custody
L’égalité veut d’autres lois: / Equality wants other laws
«Pas de droits sans devoirs, dit-elle, / No rights without duties she says
Égaux, pas de devoirs sans droits!» / Equally, no duties without rights
Chorus
Hideux dans leur apothéose, / Hideous in their apotheosis
Les rois de la mine et du rail, / The kings of the mine and the rail
Ont-ils jamais fait autre chose, / Have they ever done anything
Que dévaliser le travail? / Than steal work?
Dans les coffres-forts de la bande, / Inside the strong-boxes of the gangs
Ce qu’il a créé s’est fondu. / What work has created is melted
En décrétant qu’on le lui rende, / By ordering that they give it back
Le peuple ne veut que son dû. / The people only want their due
Chorus
Les Rois nous saoulaient de fumées, / The kings made us drunk with fumes
Paix entre nous, guerre aux tyrans / Peace among us, war to the tyrants
Appliquons la grève aux armées, / Let the armies go on strike
Crosse en l’air et rompons les rangs / Stocks in the air, and break ranks
S’ils s’obstinent, ces cannibales, / If these cannibals insist
A faire de nous des héros, / On making heroes of us
Ils sauront bientôt que nos balles / They will know soon enough that our bullets
Sont pour nos propres généraux. / Are for our own generals
Chorus
Ouvriers, Paysans, nous sommes / Workers, peasants, we are
Le grand parti des travailleurs; / The great party of laborers
La terre n’appartient qu’aux hommes, / The earth belongs only to men
L’oisif ira loger ailleurs. / The idle will go reside elsewhere
Combien de nos chairs se repaissent / How much of our flesh have they consumed
Mais si les corbeaux, les vautours, / But if these ravens, these vultures
Un de ces matins disparaissent, / Disappear one of these days
Le soleil brillera toujours / The sun will shine forever
Chorus
Here's Billy Bragg's version performing it with Cor Gobaith at Aberystwyth Arts Centre on 14 June 2009
And here is a version that he originally released back in 1990
The Internationale - Billy Bragg's updated version.
Stand up all victims of oppression
For the tyrants fear your might
Don't cling so hard to your possessions
For you have nothing if you have no rights
Let racist ignorance be ended
For respect makes the empires fall
Freedom is merely privilege extended
Unless enjoyed by one and all
Chorus
So come brothers and sisters
For the struggle carries on
The internationale
Unites the world in song
So comrades come rally
For this is the time and place
The international ideal
Unites the human race
Let no one build walls to divide us
Walls of hatred nor walls of stone
Come greet the dawn and stand beside us
We'll live together or we'll die alone
In our world poisoned by exploitation
Those who have taken now they must give
And end the vanity of nations
We've but one earth on which to live
And so begins the final drama
In the streets and in the fields
We stand unbowed before their armor
We defy their guns and shields
When we fight provoked by their aggression
Let us be inspired by like and love
For though they offer us concessions
Change will not come from above
Songwriter: Stephen William Bragg; music; Pierre De Geyter
At the end of last year Bragg, the protest singers’ released a new mini
album ‘Bridges Not Walls’.
Galvanised by the political turmol facing us presently, the rie of Trump, Climate change , Brexit, the monstrous forces of nationalism, racism and untruth..
Bridges Not Walls’ features all of the singles he had released over
the summer plus two other gems that stand shoulder to shoulder with
every song Billy has written in his 30 year career on the frontline. Always engaged, never predictable, Billy Bragg continues to fight the good fight.
‘Bridges Not Walls’ track listing
1. The Sleep Of Reason
2. King Tide And The Sunny Day Flood
3. Why We Build The Wall
4. Saffiyah Smiles
5. Not Everything That Counts Can Be Counted
6. Full English Brexit
" People kill and are killed because they cling too tightly to their own beliefs and ideologies, When we believe that ours is the only faith that contains the truth, violence and suffering will surely be the result. When you act with compassion and non-violence, when you act on the basis of nonduality, you have to be very strong. To no longer act out of anger, you don't punish or blame. Compassion grows constantly inside of you and you can succeed in your fight against injustice, Other human beings are not our enemies. Our enemy is not the other person. Our enemy is the violence, ignorance, and injustice in us and the other person. When we are armed with compassion and understanding, we fight not against other people, but against the tendency to invade , to dominate , and to exploit. To develop understanding, you have to practice looking at all living beings with the eyes of compassion. When you understand, you cannot help but love. And when you love,you naturally act in a way that can relieve the suffering of people. Understanding and Love are not two separate things, but only one."
- Bhuddist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh
We are currently living in tumultuous times, because of this, there is a tremendous amount of suffering going on, that is releasing and generating endless amounts of fear,anger and hatred, that is breaking many a heart in two.
Our real enemy is not man, or other human beings, it lies in our ignorance and discrimination that drives our fears. It is not wrong to feel anger, but many of us have simply forgotten to take care of it, and arm ourselves with the energy of compassion or understanding, that has the enormous capacity to heal the world,
Sometimes watching the BBC news, I have to awake myself up from the utter pointless of it all. Fawning reports about the Royal family, minus their excesses, combined with its lack of impartiality on reporting on Gaza.and the West Bank that often sees it valuing Israeli lives above those of Palestinians. That often then fails to reflect the imbalance between what it terms "the two sides" Israel and the Palestinians. I am not a member of the Labour Party but I also see a daily clear and consistent bias against it's leader Jeremy Corbyn, laced with a vitriolic right wing wing rhetoric, carefully edited into incoherent sound bites, though the BBC will claim otherwise. In light of this, it's worth pointing out that Margaret Hodge's daughter, Lizzie Watson is actually Deputy Editor of BBC News, which might explain a complete lack of impartiality when it comes to the recent Corbyn /Hodge row. This is surely a clear conflict of interest.
For further info on how the BBC is packed to the rafters with right wing elements, and those with vested elements, see the following from Marcus Moore who has worked with the BBC for over 30 years, really is rather interesting reading https://imgur.com/a/NhGqZUy. Whether right or left , their most obvious political bias is one that keeps concentrating on the Westminster bubble that often forgets the rest of us.This combined with them reporting Government policies as facts, that sees ministers barely challenged .All journalism is biased to a degree but the BBC no longer seems to represents all the British people, only serving the vested interests of those who are already doing alright. So if we don't complain about this bias and inaccuracy, nothing will ever change.
A lot of people are not very familiar with doing online complaints to the BBC,but it really is quite simple, and can be quite effective. They have a duty to reply to complaints to protect their so called independence If you ever wish to want to make a complaint, click on the following link, it's so important that we continue to to hold them to account. http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/#anchor
You will be given some simple instructions, and after reading and you are completely satisfied with your response, you can then submit your complaint. Some time later usually within a few hours , you will receive an automated acknowledgement, and in due course, this could be a few days, weeks or even months, depending on the subject matter. you will then receive a reply. All this keeps the BBC busy, and allows us the opportunity to hold the BBC to account and stops us all from being taken for granted.
