Wilfred Owen was tragically killed 100 years ago to the day - just seven days before peace was declared in 1918.The
centenary of the death of First World War poet Wilfred Owen has been
marked at his graveside with the sound of a bugle he took from the
battlefield.
The instrument, taken from a dead German soldier,
was played in public for the first time at the ceremony in
Ors, northern France, today..
Elizabeth Owen, widow of his nephew Peter, attended the “moving”
ceremony in Ors communal cemetery today, following a dawn visit to
the site of the soldier’s death along the Sambre-Oise canal.
French locals and members of the Wilfred Owen Association gathered to
hear The Last Post played on a bugle Owen took from a dead German
soldier during the First World War. Some of Owen’s poetry, focused on the brutal reality of war, was also recited. His final letter home was read and wreaths were laid in his memory in
a service Fiona MacDonald of the Wilfred Owen Association, described as really
moving.
“There is just something really special about being here and hearing Owen’s bugle played for the first time in public.”
The bugle taken from the battlefield by Wilfred Owen, held by Grace Freeman from the Wilfred Owen Association
Musician Heather Madeira Ni said she was grateful to have the
opportunity to play the instrument, which had never been sounded in
public before, on such a historic occasion.
She said: “The bugle is such a piece of history and a great chance
for me to get to know Owen and his poetry. It’s such an important part
of British history.
“The more I learn about Wilfred Owen, the more grateful I am to have this opportunity.”
The
Oswestry-born soldier was killed on November 4 1918 during the battle
to cross the Sambre-Oise canal at Ors, just seven days before peace was declared,
He wrote about the bugle, referring to having got some “loot”, in a letter to his brother in 1917.
Born
in Oswestry in 1893, Owen lived in Shrewsbury for much of his life and a
blue plaque marks the site of his former home at 69 Monkmoor Road.
A
life-size bronze statue of the poet was unveiled in Oswestry's Cae Glas
Park two weeks ago, while numerous events are planned across Shropshire
over the coming weeks to celebrate Owen's life.A specially commissioned Wilfred Owen poetry bench will be unveiled at Shrewsbury Library on Monday.
Of all the poets to die in the first World War, the fate of Wilfred Owen
may have been the most cruel, if only for his family. He survived until
the last week, but was “killed while giving a hand with some duckboards” [wooden
walkways] near Cambrai, northern Trance. The news took exactly a week to travel home to Shrewsbury when his parents heard of William’s death on the 11th of November, that most significant of days, heightening the tragedy of his loss all the more.
Back in 1914, the then 21-year-old
Owen had been in no hurry to fight. He enlisted late the following year
and only in mid-1916 reached the front.The horrors of the western front soon confronted him. On April 1, 1917, near the town of St. Quentin, Owen led his platoon
through an artillery barrage to the German trenches, only to discover
when they arrived that the enemy had already withdrawn. Severely shaken
and disoriented by the bombardment, Owen was soon blown into
the air by a shell, landing on what remained of a dead comrade. He also
spent days trapped in a trench, surrounded by corpses, and returned to his base camp confused and stammering. A
doctor diagnosed shell-shock, a new term used to describe the physical
and/or psychological damage suffered by soldiers in combat. Though his
commanding officer was skeptical, Owen was sent to a French hospital and
subsequently returned to Britain, where he was checked into the
Craiglockhart War Hospital for Neurasthenic Officers near Edinburgh .
He had been writing for some time at this point and what he saw of the
war convinced him that this was no glorious conflict but one of sheer
terror for those unlucky enough to experience it. His writings were
hard-hitting, telling the reader exactly how a soldier lived and died in
this most brutal of environments. His most famous poems included
‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ and ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’.
During a lengthy convalescence, he met fellow war poet Siegfried Sassoon,
the most influential friend of his short life. Under Sassoon’s
guidance, he would write his best verse, which was bitterly critical of
war, with none of the patriotic fervour of earlier front-line poets.If Sassoon had had his way, Owen
would never have returned to the trenches. The former once threatened to
“stab [him] in the leg” if he tried. But in the summer of 1918, Owen
went back to war without telling him. In early October, he helped storm
enemy positions at Joncourt, earning a Military Cross for his courage:
something he had craved – paradoxically – as justification for the
poetry. He didn’t live to receive the honour.
Despite Wilfred Owen‘s
prodigious writing, only five poems were ever published in his lifetime
– probably because of his strong anti-war sentiment, which would not
have been in line with British policy at the time.A promise made by Sassoon while in Edinburgh was fulfilled as an edited
collection of his poignant war poems was published postumously in 1920, thus
establishing the name of William Owen among the country’s greatest
poets.
Events are planned around the world on November 11, to mark Armistice Day – 100 years after the end of the First World War.
Dulce et Decorum Est - Wilfred Owen
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs,
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of gas-shells dropping softly behind.
Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime.—
Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,—
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori. But I Was looking at the permanent Stars - Wilfred Owen
Bugles sang, saddening the evening air,
And bugles answered, sorrowful to hear.
Voices of boys were by the river-side.
Sleep mothered them; and left the twilight sad.
The shadow of the morrow weighed on men.
Voices of old despondency resigned,
Bowed by the shadow of the morrow, slept.
( ) dying tone
Of receding voices that will not return.
The wailing of the high far-travelling shells
And the deep cursing of the provoking ( )
The monstrous anger of our taciturn guns.
The majesty of the insults of their mouths.
The Shot at Dawn Memorial is a British Monument at the National Memorial
Arboretum near Alrewas, in Staffordshire, UK. It memorialises the 306
British and Commonwealth soldiers executed after courts-martial for
cowardice or desertion during World War 1. Never in the field of human conflict has so little been gained for the death of so many.
As the 100 year anniversary of the carnage of World War One approaches lets remember the 306 soldiers this 11th November who were brutally shot at dawn by Britain for cowardice
or desertion. For years they were blighted with shame. stigmatised and condemned and history tried to forget them. Their names were never remembered on memorials and family’s often hid
the truth, forced to live with a blemish on their good names for years, the shame was too much off a burden when in reality so many had died with
honour.
General Haig, or Butcher Haig as he was known, when questioned declared that all men accused of cowardice and desertion were examined by a medical officer and that no soldier was sentenced to death if there was any suspicion of him suffering shell shock. As so often, he lied.
Haig not only signed all the death warrants but when questioned later on this issue lied repeatedly.The general's stubborn and ignorant belief was that anyone suffering shell hock was malingering. In fact in Butcher Haig's mid shell shock and malingering were the same thing.
Most off those sentenced were only after a short trial lasting no more than twenty minutes, at which they were denied legal representation and the right of appeal.
These executions occurred throughout the war, beginning with Pte Thomas Highgate on 9 September and ending with Ptes Louis Harris and Ernest Jackson on 7 November 1918, less than a week before the Armistice. For most of these young men, cowardice
was far from the truth, it was the traumas of war, break downs amidst
the unspeakable horrors they endured in the trenches, facing machine guns, exploding shells, barbed wire, bayonets, noise, and what would have amounted to a hell on earth. They were sick, cold, hungry, tired ,terrified, in fear and often alone. They saw their
friends bombed, gassed and cut to pieces in spectacular numbers and they
were reduced to trembling wrecks by relentless shellfire and the
imminence of their own demise. Today, it is recognised that several of them were underage when they volunteered and many had lied about their ages to fight for King and Country and many of them were actually suffering from a condition we now would have no problem in diagnosing
as post traumatic stress disorder, or shell-shock, as it was known in
1916.
In the year 2000 a simple statue called ' Shot at Dawn' was created byAndy De Comyn, it is
modelled on Private Herbert Burden of the 1st Batallion Northumberland
fusiliers. At 17, Private Herbert Burden was legally too young to be facing the
German guns in the trenches of the Western front. However, his age did
not save the teenager from facing a deadly volley of bullets at Ypres on the
morning of 21 July 1915 – fired by his own comrades.An absence away from battle of little more than 48 hours saw Private
Herbert Burden brought before a Field General Court Martial, pleading
for his very life. But in complete disregard for his age was made an example of and paid the ultimate price.
His image stands, blindfolded and strapped to a wooden execution post, eternally awaiting the order to fire. Behind the statue are 340 other posts, each labelled with the
names of those who suffered the same fate of being shot at dawn arranged in the form of a Greek theatre around the statue,
symbolising the tragedy that those events signify. The location of the
memorial in the most easterly point of the Arboteum means that this is
the first place to be touched by the dawn light.
He was one of 306 young British soldiers who met this cruel fate,
including 15 of my own fellow Welsh countrymen, induced by the horrors
of this so called Great War. Private William Jones, of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, was one of these who had volunteered
for the army in 1915 while still a teenager. Assigned to the front line
he was serving as a stretcher-bearer when he went missing on 15 June
1917. He had helped a wounded comrade to an aid post near their
trenches, but then disappeared. He made his way across the Channel and home, but was then persuaded
by his mother to hand himself in at the local police station in Neath.
However, he was shown no leniency and was another of the 306 British soldiers
who were futiley executed during the First World War.
I remember too how the late Keir Hardie the M.P for
Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare raised his opposition to this cruel war. What
is also forgotten is around 200,000 miners in the South Wales valleys
that went on strike at the height of the First World War. Not everyone
signed up to the jingoistic version of patriotism that continues to be
spread. It is estimated that there were 20,000 Conscientious Objectors – admittedly a very small number as compared
to the around 5 million men who joined the military, most of whom were
conscripts. Objectors were a diverse group, but what is clear though is that they displayed
remarkable conviction and courage, both as individuals and collectively.
There were between 700-900 conscientious objectors here in Wales during
this period, and it was no soft option. It meant tribunals, imprisonment and
hard labor. Conchies as they were known were faced with humiliation, called
cowards and shirkers. By 1916 Home Office intelligence reports revealed
the extent of anti-war, revolutionary opposition in South Wales was
large.
After the 75 year secrecy Act was lifted, members of the Shot at Dawn
Organisation started campaigning for a pardon for those that had been essentially murdered in cold blood.Many now believe these men were executed to frighten other men into doing what they were told, intimidating them back into the trenches or scaring them into going over the top during an attack. Making an example of the executed men was a way of keeping others in line.
In 2006 all 306 men eventually received a posthumous
pardon, after a long campaign by their descendents. The shot at dawn campaign never asked for a blanket pardon, as claimed by many.
They only asked for pardons for under aged soldiers, those suffering
mental illness, and in cases of doubtful or illegal Courts Martial. Some names subsequently went onto being inscribed upon war memorials
alongside the names of the men who died fighting. The living relatives of those executed at long last at least gained some relief by the pardons.
Lets remember them all not as cowards or traitors, but as
victims of a terrible shameful injustice that was clearly done and acknowledge that all these men were victims of
war, who were not given the chance to survive, tragically executed by their own comrades, often for little more than
being frightened, confused young men. All of them heroes far braver than I could ever be. Shot for the sake of example. Victims picked out and convicted as a lesson to others. All of the pardoned men deserve to be mentioned and their stories told, here is a list of their names. let us never forget them, always remember.
Pte Abigail J H;
Pte Adamson J S;
Labourer Ahmed M M;
Pte Ainley G;
Sgt
Alexander W;
Pte Allsop A E;
Pte Anderson J A;
Pte Anderson W;
Pte
Ansted A T;
Pte Archibald J;
Pte Arnold F S; L
Sgt Ashton H; L
Cpl
Atkinson A;
Pte Auger F;
Pte Baker W;
Pte Ball J;
Pte Barker W;
Pte
Barnes J E;
Rfn Barratt F M;
Pte Bateman F;
Pte Bateman J;
Pte Beaumont E
A;
Sapper Beeby E;
Dvr Bell J;
Rfn Bellamy W;
Pte Benham W;
Pte Bennett
J;
Pte Black P;
Pte Bladen F C H;
Pte Blakemore D J;
Pte Bolton E;
Pte
Botfield A;
Pte Bowerman W;
Pte Brennan J;
Pte Briggs A;
Pte Briggs J
Pte Brigham T
Pte Britton C
Pte Broadrick F
Pte Brown A
Pte Brown A
Pte Bryant E
Pte Burden H F
Pte Burrell W H
Pte Burton R
Pte Butcher F C
Pte Byers J
Pte Byrne S\Monaghan M
Pte Cairnie W
Pte Cameron J
Pte Card E A
Pte Carey J
Pte Carr J
Pte Carter H G
Pte Carter H
Pte Cassidy J
Pte Chase H
Rfn Cheeseman F W
Pte Clarke H A
Pte Clarke W
Pte Collins G
Pte Comte G
Pte Crampton J
Pte Crimmins H
Pte Crozier J
Pte Cummings T
Pte Cunnington S
Pte Cuthbert J
Pte Cutemore G
Pte Dalande H
Pte Davis R M
Pte Davis T
Pte Degasse A C
Pte DeLargey E
Pte DeLisle L
Pte Dennis J J
Pte Depper C
Pte Docherty J
Pte Docherty T
Rfn Donovan T
Rfn Donovan T
Pte Dossett W
Pte Downey P
Pte Downing T
Sub Lt Dyett E (RNVR)
Pte Earl W
Pte Earp A G
Pte Elford L
Pte Evans A
Pte Eveleigh A
Pte Everill G
Pte Fairburn E
Pte Farr H
Pte Fatoma A
Pte Fellows E
Pte Ferguson J
Pte Flynn H
Pte Foulkes T
Pte Fowles S
Pte Fox J
L/Cpl Fox J S V
Pte Frafra A
Pte Fraser E
Pte Fryer J
Pte Gawler R
Pte Gibson D
Pte Giles P
Sgt Gleadow G E
L/Cpl Goggins P
Pte Gore F C
Pte Graham J
Pte Haddock A J
Dvr Hamilton T G
Pte Hamilton/Blanchard A
Pte Hanna G
Rfn Harding F
Pte Harris E W
Pte Harris L
Pte Harris T
Pte Harris/Bevistein A
Pte Hart B
Pte Hartells H H
Dvr Hasemore J W
Pte Hawkins T
L/Cpl Hawthorne F
Pte Hendricks H
Pte Higgins J
Pte Higgins J M
Pte Highgate T J
Pte Hodgetts O W
L/Cpl Holland J
Pte Holmes A
Pte Holt E
Pte Hope R
Pte Hope T
Pte Hopkins T
Pte Horler E
Pte Hughes F
L/Cpl Hughes G E
Pte Hughes J
Pte Hunt W
Pte Hunter G
Pte Hunter W
Rfn Hyde J J
Pte Ingham A
Rfn Irish/Lee G
L/Cpl Irvine W J
Cpl Ives F
Pte Jackson E
Pte Jeffries A L
Pte Jennings J
Pte Johnson F/Charlton J
Pte Jones J T
Pte Jones R M
Pte Jones W
Gunner Jones/Fox W
Pte Kerr H H
Pte Kershaw J
Pte King J
Pte Kirk E
Pte Kirman C H
Pte Knight H J
Pte LaLancette J
Pte LaLiberte C
Dvr Lamb A
Cpl Latham G
Pte Lawrence E A
Cpl Lewis C
Pte Lewis G
Pte Lewis J
Pte Ling W N
Pte Loader F
Pte Lodge H E J
Pte Longshaw A
Pte Lowton G H
Pte MacDonald H
L/Cpl MacDonald J
Pte Mackness E
Sapper Malyon F
L/Cpl Mamprusi A
Pte Martin H
Pte Mayers J
Rfn McBride S
Pte McClair H/Rowland
Pte McColl C F
Rfn McCracken J E
Pte McCubbin B
Pte McFarlane J
Pte McGeehan B
Pte McQuade J
Pte Michael J S
Pte Milburn J B
Pte Milligan C M
Pte Mills G
Pte Mitchell A
Pte Mitchell L
Pte Moles T L
Pte Molyneaux J
L/Cpl Moon W A
Pte Morris H
Dvr Mullany J
Pte Murphy H T
Pte Murphy A
Pte Murphy P
Pte Murphy W
Pte Murray R
Pte Neave W
Pte Nelson W B
Pte Nicholson C B
Pte Nisbet J
Pte O'Connell B
Pte O'Neill F
Pte O'Neill A
Pte Palmer H
Rfn Parker A E
Pte Parry A
Pte Pattison R G
Pte Penn M
Pte Perry E
Pte Phillips L R
Pte Phillips W T H
Pte Pitts A
2nd. Lt Poole E S
Pte Poole H
Cpl Povey G H
Pte Randle W H
Cpl Reid J
Pte Reid I
Pte Reynolds E J
Pte Richmond M R
Pte Rickman A
Pte Rigby T H B
Pte Roberts J W
Pte Roberts W W
Sgt Robins J J
Pte Robinson A H
Pte Robinson J
Pte Robinson W
Pte Roe G E
Pte Rogers J
Drummer Rose F
Pte Sabongida S
Pte Salter H
L/Cpl Sands P
Pte Scholes W
Pte Scotton W
Pte Seymour J
Pte Sheffield F
Pte Simmonds W H
Pte Sims R W
Pte Siniski D
Pte Skilton C W F
Pte Slade F W
Pte Sloane J
Pte Smith J C
Rfn Smith J
Pte Smith W
Pte Smith W
Pte Smythe A
Dvr Spencer J
Pte Spencer V M
Pte Spry W T
Pte Stead F
Pte Steadman J B
Pte Stevenson D
Pte Stevenson R
Pte Stewart S
L/Sgt Stones J W
Pte Swain J
Dvr Swaine J W
Trooper Sweeney J J
Pte Tanner E
Pte Taylor J
Pte Taylor J
Pte Taysum N H
Rfn Templeton J
Pte Thomas J
Pte Thompson A D
Pte Thompson W L
Pte Tite R T
Pte Tongue J
Pte Troughton A
Pte Turner F
Pte Turpie W J
Sgt Wall J T
L/Sgt Walton W
Pte Ward G
Pte Ward T
Pte Watkins G
Pte Watts T W
Pte Watts W
Pte Webb H J
Pte Welsh C
Pte Westwood A H
Pte Wild A
Pte Williams H
Pte Wilson J H
Cpl Wilton J
Pte Wishard J
Rfn Woodhouse J
Pte Worsley E
Pte Wright F
Pte Wycherley W
Rfn Yeoman W
Pte Young E
Pte Young R.
Where two names appear, the first refers to the name used by the soldier
to register for service and the second is their real name. Researchers
at the Shot at Dawn campaign discovered the true identities of those
soldiers.
I will continue to support all those that strive to ensure that a radical anti-war message remains fully embedded in our hearts, without disrespecting others that fell.
In the words of Harry Patch the last WW1 veteran in Europe (1989 -2006)
' War is organised murder and nothing else. Politicians who took us to war should have been given the guns and told to settle their differences themselves instead of organising nothing better than legalised murder.'
The following touching documentary released before the men were pardoned investigates the tragic stories of the 306
British & Commonwealth soldiers shot for acts of cowardice and
desertion during World War One.
Bolsonaro denies he's a fascist
Compares himself to Winston Churchill
Brazil looks truly fucked now
It's simply so bloody incredible
Man the world continues to go to shit
RIP rainforests, RIP our climate even more
W'ere all going in one specific direction
Unless we learn to fight right back
By being stupid, does not absolve the voters of blame
History is really worthless if we repeat it
Some like torture, censorship, political persecution
Fuck everyone who thinks punching a Nazi makes you as bad as them
Fuck everyone who pulls the"both sides" narrative
Fuck everyone who identifies as a centrist
Lets keep hoping, lets not give in
We need mercy not relentless purgatory
Against continual inhumanity gaining strength
Maybe his cruel policies will blow up in his face.
As October night ends
open your windows
spread knowledge of justice
love of free existence.
Occupy your heart
invite the spirit of insurrection
stir together
solidarity, imagination
The past is gone
change is effervessing
we are goin to a future
that has never been seen
There is magic in the air
as old orders die, leaves fly
together we rise, shadows
dancing among the flames
Truth grows from roots and branches
offering promise of new beginnings
an army of believers gathering
faith confirmed, preparing for emerging possibility
Certainties shake as orthodoxies are removed
dreamers sitting on the threshold of another world
in leaps and bounds we spread our message
we declare our freedom as paradigm shifts.
From the hedges we untangle
out in the open we emerge,
where we gather some critics curse
but we carry on beyond the dry tear of fear
wave goodbye to the margins
bloom, and move forwards
push onwards, accelerate
because the whole world is watching now.
Today marks Halloween, Samhain, All Hallows, All Saints or Winters
Eve,The Festival of the Dead. There are several explanations for its
origin, one being the Roman festival of the dead 'Parentalia', but
another origin, not necessarily exclusive from the Roman one, is from
the ancient Celtic old day of Samhein (sa-wain). and most of the
traditions that we celebrate on Halloween have its origins in
Celtic/Gaelic Culture.
Samhein, which means November in Irish, was the end of summer and the
harvest season in the Celtic calender. It was the last great feast held
outdoors before the cold months to come. The last night of October also
marked the ancient Celts New Years Eve. Marking the end of the summer
and the beginning of Winter.
The Celts believed that on Samhein, the veil between the living and the
dead was dropped for one day, and the spirits of the living could
intermingle with the spirits of the dead.The ancient Celts divided their year into two seasons: the light and the dark,
at Beltane on 1st May and Samhain on November 1. Many believe that Samhain was the
more important festival, marking the beginning of a new cycle / new year,and the most magical time of this festival was November Eve, the night of
31st October, better known today as Halloween..
Samhain, means November in the Celtic Culture, the literal translation being‘summer’s end.’ It is the Gateway to
winter, a time when the veils between the realms of the living and the
afterlife were said to be especially thin, marking a time for reflection
to honor the worlds of the seen and unseen. In the country year, Samhain marked the first day of winter, when the
herders led the cattle and sheep down from their summer pastures to the
shelter of the stables, .in order to determine how many animals could be adequately fed through
the winter. Those not able to be cared for were butchered, which would
help to feed the family during the dark days ahead. It is partially due
to this practice that Samhain is sometimes referred to as the ‘blood
harvest.’
With the rise of Christianity, Samhain was changed to Hallowmas, or All
Saints’ Day, to celebrate the saints in heaven, and so the night before
became popularly known as Halloween. The 2nd November became All Souls
Day, when prayers were to be offered to the souls of the departed.
Throughout the centuries, pagan and Christian beliefs and celebrations
have intertwined
Over the years we have ended up with the modern commercialised,
corporate version that is now known as halloween far from its original roots when children dress up in Ghoulish costumes and go out trick and
treating in what was developed in America in the late 19th and early
20th century replacing what in reality is such a sacred day The old ways are still with us despite the grip of large corporations, the real reason and respect for this occasion has never been lost.Samhein and its
energy has never fully died out and still burns bright. Samhain fires have continued to light up the countryside down the ages., In some areas, ashes from these bonfires were sprinkled on surrounding fields. The day is also about remembrance and contemplation. Our ancestors, the blessed dead, are more accessible, more approachable during the time of the dying of the land. A day to commune with the dead and a celebration of the eternal cycle of reincarnation to honor our ancestors and remember our deceased loved ones.
Some in revelry and fun today will be dressing up as witches in pointy hats, perhaps forgetting this days roots. and all those who have been tortured or killed as suspected witches during the centuries of the Burning Times in Europe, in Salem, and elsewhere across the globe.Witches have a long history of being associated with this time of year, primarily because of ritual gatherings at Samhain, the cauldron used as a symbol of the witchs' control over life and death.
It is worth noting that the word witchcraft has good
and bad meanings in different cultures around the world. A general
definition of witchcraft is the changing of everyday events using supernatural or magical forces. Witches, in folklore, and throughout history can be seen as considered outsiders of the human
collective. Found in hidden enclaves (covens), or in
isolation from society, they straddle the gap between the civil and the
wild, the human and the element, and it is they who provoke, attack,
agitate, heal and enliven the social order.They have existed in all
inhabited continents of the world and across the majority of human
societies.
Originating in the Mesopotamian myths of Inanna, in the Hindu stories of
Kali, and in the Greek tales of Hecate, the legacy of the witch
stretches back thousands of years. These goddesses had the ability to
give life and to take it away, and they were worshipped for it. There once was a time when wise women were honored. They were often the keepers of knowledge about folk healing, and they were often spiritual leaders. Paganism – living in sync with nature and observing rituals associated with the seasons – was the prevailing tradition.
The witch however has long been a symbol of fear not because she can harness
forces that transcend this mortal coil, but because she embodies a
powerful femininity free from male influence or ownership. Indeed
throughout history the figure of the witch has both challenged and
reflected patriarchal narratives about female power.
Then in Medieval Times, when monotheistic religions gained greater prominence, thereby
consolidating belief around an omnipotent male deity, women were cast
more frequently as “other,” and as villains. They were women who raised suspicion by amassing too much land, wealth,
or influence. They were mothers, sisters, and daughters who were in the
wrong place at the wrong time. And they were punished for it.Women who
had gained some form of social power was subjected to patriarchal tests
to see whether her heart was pure. For her to be proven to be pure, she
had to lose her will to live. Should she fail the test, by maintaining
her struggle to survive, she was shown to be of impure heart. This
meant that she was condemned to die for her sins.One particular test was
the dunking of witches. If they floated they were guilty of witchcraft,
if they sank they were innocent but would have usually drowned anyway.
guilty or dead was the choice given
During the “witch craze,” women’s power became associated with darkness and death, and folk healers were misconstrued and condemned as worshippers of Satan. Well-organized campaigns of tortures like burning, dunking, and the application of thumb screws enforced the suppression of what was by then called heresy. For three centuries of
early modern European history, diverse societies were consumed by a panic
over alleged witches in their midst between the 14th and 17th
centuries, especially in Central Europe. This was a time when many believed in the supernatural and misfortune
was thought to be the work of the Devil or his servants. here was a
widespread belief in Europe that a strong nation was one that had a
uniform religious faith. By consorting with the Devil, "witches" were
committing treason and were punishable by courts enforcing
anti-witchcraft statutes.
The witches, of course, were nothing
like the stereotype of the carbuncled hags shrieking incantations around
a cauldron full of devilish potions. They were ordinary people who were
often the convenient scapegoats for anything from a death in the
village to the failure of crops. Individuals would often have been
branded a witch simply after falling out with a neighbour.
Protestant
evangelists targeted all magic, claiming that witches were
deluded by the devil. The Catholic Church responded in kind. Each side
blamed the other for colluding with Satan. This quickly escalated,
leading to a number of the most brutal witch hunts in history ,(known as
The Burning Times) resulted in false accusations of heresy and trials
and led to massive torture and burnings at the stake, and executions of
tens of thousands of victims, about three-quarters of whom were women. Many question whether the widespread violence against women and the
neglect of our environment today can be traced back to those times.
Some
have claimed that as many as nine million people were killed in the
name of “witch hunts.” However, there’s a lot of discussion about the
accuracy of that number, and some scholars have
estimated it to be significantly lower, possibly as few as 200,000. Still a significantly huge number nevertheless. Hundreds of
thousands of women, men and children died due to mass fear, propaganda,
politics, and institutions run amok. The Burning Times may actually be viewed
as mass hysteria. Plagues, droughts and other natural disasters
during these times were often attributed to witchcraft which further
fuelled the fear of witches. Witchcraft came to be viewed upon as an
unpardonable offence which resulted in capital punishment. Many an
innocent woman were condemned due to it. In the past, its often been pointed out that
the European witch hunts targeted women — after all, these poor country
girls were simply the victims of the misogynistic societies of their
times. However, what is often overlooked is that although overall about
80% of the accused were female, in some areas, more men than women were
persecuted as witches.
England's most famous case were the Pendle Witches from Lancashire who were
convicted of murdering 17 people in 1612. Their prosecutors argued they
had sold their souls to the Devil in return for being able to lame or
kill anyone they pleased. The trial was meticulously documented and
appeared the following year in book form. Enormous crowds flocked to
Lancaster Gaol to watch 10 "witches" - eight women and two men - die on
the gallows.
In Scotland, where nearly 4,000 people died during a frenetic period of
witch trials between 1590 and 1662, one of the popular types of evidence
used against suspects was the Devil's Mark. When his followers made
their pact with him, the Devil supposedly left his mark, usually an
insensitive spot, upon him or her.
Witch hunting was old by the time Great Britain erupted into the
Civil Wars of 1639-1651, but this existential clash between royalists
and parliamentarians amid a swirling miasma of sectarianism and
suspicion, resulted in a fresh flowering of superstitious barbarity.
Behind the frontlines of the conflict in the puritan stronghold of East
Anglia, Matthew Hopkins, the self-proclaimed Witchfinder General, and
his colleague John Stearne dispatched an estimated 300 people to the
gallows between 1644 and 1647 for their alleged covenant with the devil.It was the largest outbreak of witch hunting in English
history, a unique product of fear, war, and the breakdown of civil
society.
In 1692, -1693 there were the cataclysmic events of
Salem, Massaschusets the belief in witches was so commonplace that
anything out of the ordinary, from odd weather to a cow’s milk going
sour, was explained away as “witchcraft.” In the Puritan colony of
Massachusetts Bay, fear of witches was rampant. In 1692, a group of
young girls accused three women of working with the devil. The
accusations soon multiplied, as those who stood accused would only be
saved from hanging if they admitted guilt and provided the names of
others who conjured the devil alongside them.Soon paranoia gripped, as people suddenly perceived
something so incredibly innocent to be the "devils work." After the
girls were accused of being witches, fingers began to be pointed at
everyone in the town, everyone was ready to accuse their neighbour or
friend, in order to take the focus away from themselves. By the time
this event was over 141
suspects, both men and women, were tried as witches. Nineteen were executed by hanging. One was pressed to death by heavy stones.
The town had become so afraid of something that was not to blame, that
innocent lives were taken, creating a spread of blame, along with a
chaotic panic.
After these tumultuous events European belief in
witches seemed to spontaneously disappear. The Age of Enlightenment,
with its emphasis on reason and logic, was
beginning in Europe and natural causes began to replace the Devil as the
reason behind much of society's ills. By 1736, the Witchcraft Acts in England and Scotland had both been repealed. The same happened on the continent
But what never died out completely, however, was the demonization of those
considered "other," and it is a grim grim
paradox of 21st-century life that persecution against people accused of
sorcery is very much still with us. It resurfaced, along with witch hunting, in
postcolonial Africa, as a response to the
process of modernization after independence.
The last witch trial in Britain took place in 1944, when Helen Duban
was jailed
for claiming to have conjured up the spirit of a dead sailor from the
HMS Barham – the sinking of the ship by the Germans was classified
information, and the authorities were worried that she might also reveal
details of the D-Day landing plans. She was released after nine months,
and lived to see the repeal of the Witchcraft Act in 1951.
Even today, we see witch
hunts breaking out in different parts of the world among cultures most
fearful of change. In recent years, there has been a spate of attacks
against people
accused of witchcraft in Africa, the Pacific and Latin America, and even
among immigrant communities in the United States and Western Europe.
Researchers with United Nations refugee and human rights agencies have
estimated the murders of supposed witches as numbering in the thousands
each year, while beatings and banishments could run into the millions.https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NEWSEVENTS/Pages/Witches21stCentury.aspx
For all the surface rationality and modernity of lives everywhere, fear
of witches is still widespread, a reminder that ancient superstitions
are durable and widespread. Much like xenophobia (fear of foreigners), Wiccaphobia ( fear of witches or fear of witchcraft) is triggerred especially by the fear of the unknown. What the mind cannot perceive or what it deems as unusual, it fears. The root cause of fear of witches may also be prejudice and stereotypes. In short: witches represent everything that is threatening. Many popular
childhood stories have often reinforced beliefs that witches are bad.
Today, there are many Churches that continue to teach its members that
witches are evil.
Today’s accused “witches” are almost all women, many of them the more
outspoken, independent and prosperous women in their communities.
Whether victims of simple sexist domination or scapegoats for the old
ways in a modernizing society plagued with economic injustice, often
they stand for a former way of life, a life more in harmony with nature.
Their murder is thus a crime against women and nature, as well as a
horrific violation of human rights and religious freedom generally.
Witch hunts lie at the dark heart of Western culture, so much so that
they've become synonymous with any kind of vicious, dogged and
irrational persecution, takeMcCarthyism in the 1940's for example when a similar paranoia and hysteria emerged, with federal employees being dragged
before loyalty boards on murky charges, their names often cleared only
to be charged again and again. Eventually 8,000 employees were forced to
resign. At least seven committed suicide. Then the House
Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) began investigating communist
activity in Hollywood in what critics considered an outrageous
infringement of First Amendment rights, labeling the hearings a “witch
hunt.” hounding politicians, academics, celebrities, and other public figures
while chasing vague rumors of Communist sympathizers. As in Salem, these
persecutions moved some to accuse others as evidence of their
innocence.
Later we would see the ritual child abuse
panics of the 1980s.
No wonder the history of the original European witch hunts of the late 16th and early 17th centuries has become politicized.
The inauguration of
the US president, Donald Trump, provoked women’s protest marches around
the world, with some banners reading: “Hex the Patriarchy”, “Witches for
Black Lives”, and “We are the daughters of the witches you didn’t burn,
and we are pissed off.”And recently an event even took place in October in Brooklyn, New York, to hex supreme
court justice, Brett Kavanaugh. The meeting was sold out and the
protest made headlines across the world. It is no surprise that, at a time when women’s rights are under
increasing pressure in some areas of Western society, that the witch
should be used as a feminist symbol of power, both in language and in
the claimed reality of witchcraft.
Then the the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements led Woody Allen to invoke the spectre of Salem,
but with men as accused witches, saying: “You also don’t want it to
lead to a witch-hunt atmosphere, a Salem atmosphere, where every guy in
an office who winks at a woman is suddenly having to call a lawyer to
defend himself.” In these cases, men are positioning themselves and
their peers in the role of witches, but in this scenario the witch is an
innocent, a victim.
Donald Trump feels persecuted. The most powerful man in the world
is always complaining that he’s being treated unfairly. He
has whined that no politician in history had ever received worse treatment,
and tweeted that there was a witch hunt out to get him.In 2018 alone, Trump has tweeted the term witch hunt 112 times. Now, Trump is pretty bad at being president, but he’s an even worse
historian. There are plenty of witch hunts in history that are
much bigger than anything Trump has yet encountered. A witch hunt involves persecution as well as prosecution, and Trump is not being persecuted.We should remind him that the Muslim ban is a witch hunt. The perrecution and demonisation of refugees is a witch hunt. And so is calling Mexican immigrants “rapists.”
Intrerestingly today it is male politicians
like Donald Trump – and countless others – who still use 'witch' or
generally cry 'witch hunt' as a term of
vilification against women, just as their predecessors so often led
them. During the 2016 presidential election
campaign, Hillary Clinton was repeatedly defined as a witch
by Trump supporters: Clinton was “the wicked witch of the Left”,
pictured with green skin, pointy hat, and riding a broomstick; her
opponents claimed she smelt of sulphur.
Aligning her with such stereotypical representations of witchcraft
evidenced the power plays at the root of such blatant and public
misogyny.
Men are still walking around afraid of women and their power. Hate crimes, sex
crimes, domestic violence, glass ceilings, all are testimony to this legacy of fear. The
real witches who live among us are still angry at having to live under
patriarchal control, and the measures taken against her are no less
real than the past, and raw patriarchal society still seeks to destroy
her.
So today on Samhein, as the more consumerist tradition of Halloween takes place, along with the stereotypical images, remember the deeper messages of the day, remember the
dead , our loved ones gone before us, honour our sisters, the witches, and all of the other lives who were lost in "the Burning
Times " and celebrate their courage, and be mindful for those who still
face persecution for their beliefs.
Men are still walking around afraid of women and their power. Hate crimes, sex
crimes, domestic violence, all are testimony to this legacy of fear. The
real witches who live among us are still angry at having to live under
patriarchal control, and the measures taken against her are no less
real than the past, and raw patriarchal society still seeks to destroy
her. Our deepest power is to learn and grow and talk about our fears out loud, so that we do not repeat the tragedies of the past, make a conscious effort not to repeat the evil of history, not to repeat the evil of fear.
The air is full of the whispers of our ancestors, loved ones passed, and we remember them holding them close to our hearts. What is remembered lives. Good Samhain to you and yours.
In February 1917, in the midst of bloody
war, Russia was still an autocratic monarchy: nine months later, it
became the first socialist state in world history. How did this
unimaginable transformation take place? How was a ravaged and backward
country, swept up in a desperately unpopular war, rocked by not one but
two revolutions? Historians have debated the revolution
for over a hundred years, its portents and possibilities: the mass of
literature can be daunting. But most of us now know and accept what came next: the Revolution’s nightmare offspring –
Stalinist terror and the 20 million dead. No one contests the
catastrophe, but there are those, who look back to the events of 1917 and are still haunted by the
thought that “it might have been otherwise. It might have been
different”.
Sergei Eisenstein’s powerful testement to his genius, artistry, and ambition, his amazing dramatisation October — the director’s third feature, after Strike and Battleship Potemkin
— was commissioned by the Soviet government to honour the tenth
anniversary of the Russian Revolution. Eisenstein had nearly unlimited
resources placed at his disposal, including the run of Leningrad’s
Winter Palace for several months. His startling re-creation of the
events of 1917 is both a sweeping historical epic of vast scale and a
magnificent monument to his fascination with intellectual montage — the
juxtaposition of two disparate images to convey an idea or concept not
inherent in either image alone. The film’s most celebrated examples of
the technique include a baroque figure of Christ reduced, through a
series of successive images, to a primitive idol, and Kerensky, head of
the pre-Revolutionary provisional government, compared to a preening
mechanical peacock. Such metaphorical experiments met with official
disapproval; the authorities complained that October was
unintelligible to the masses, and Eisenstein was attacked, for neither
the first time nor the last, for “formalism." He was also required to
re-edit the work to remove references to Trotsky, who had recently been
purged by Stalin. October remains an immensely rich experience.
The film was originally released in 1928 as Oktoberin the Soviet Union, and later internationally as Ten Ten Days Shook The World borrowing from John Reed's well known classic account of the Revolution. In documentary style, events in Petrograd are re-enacted from the end of the monarchy in February of 1917 to the end of the provisional government and the decrees of peace and of land in November of that year. Lenin returns in April. In July, counter revolutionaries put down a spontaneous revolt, and Lenin's arrest is ordered. By late October, the Bolsheviks are ready to strike : ten days will shake the world. While the Mensheviks vaciliate an advance guard infiltrates the palace.Antatov Oveyenko leads the attack and declares the proclamation dissolving the provisional government. You can watch this epic masterpiece of world film history below which is rousing, shocking and stunningly visualised.
(This week marks the 2 year anniversary of a makeshift camp known as the Jungle in Calais, France in 2016. being demolished and people evicted, yet the the problem and tragedy nevertheless still sadly ongoing.)
Still the language of spin repeating
Still angry choruses releasing,
Still distraught tears raining down
Still lines of division, continue pressing,
Still refugees seek shelter, from fear to freedom
Still forced to flee, poverty and war,
Still abandoning man made tragedies
Still escaping darkness, hope undimmed,
Still not welcome, still told to disappear
Still building walls to keep them out,
Still made illegal, repression continues
Still in desperate search of need,
Still is the night, still is the air
Still logic flies on paths of departure,
Still the beyondness of unknowing
Still the tides keep on flowing,
Still travelling, unravelling threads
Still seeking hands of kindness
Still hoping for depth of understanding
Still offering the hand of friendship,
Still human imagining tomorrow
Still hoping the world will change,
Still determined, carry on unbroken
Still many mountains to climb,
Still got the future, still got time
Still on the verge of hope,
Still words of truth flying high
Still inspiration calls from mind's eye,
Still displaced, but still surviving
Still the gift of dignity, keeps on calling.
"A las Barricadas" sung in turkish by the musical collective "Bandista".
"A las Barricadas" ("To the Barricades") was the anthem of the spanish
anarchists during the Spanish revolution and soon became an
internationalist anarchist song. The original "A las Barricadas" is sung
to the tune of "Whirlwinds of Danger" (based on the song "Varsovonia) which was composed in 1883, by the Polish poet Warclaw Swiercicki , when he was locked up in prison in Warsaw, at a time when the Polish labour movement was engaged in hard fought struggles. The song was based on a popular Polish theme, and was sung for the first time at the workers; demonstration on March 2, 1885 in Warsaw and popularised and versioned throughout Europe for the solidarity of the labor movement.
With the name.Triumphal March and subtitle "A las barricadas!", the score was published in November 1922, in the supplement of the magazine Tierra y Liberttad in Barcelona written by Valeriano Orobón Fernández a Spanish anarcho-syndicalist activist, speaker and author. In Spain,
and in exile in France and Germany, who laboured to prepare the anarcho- syndicalist CNT (Confederación Nacional del Trabajo
— "National Confederation of Labor")
which was the largest Labour union and main anarchist
organisation in Spain, and a major force opposing Francisco Franco's
military coup against the Spanish Republic from 1936–1939
for the revolutionary battles to come. He sadly died of Tuberculosis
just weeks before the Spanish Revolution erupted on the 19th July 1936.
A
rousing moving anthem, inspiring the working class to answer the call
to arms and fight the fascist threat to our essential freedoms. It certainly sends a chill down my spine.
Despite the revolution in Spain being ultimately defeated, it still
provides a glimpse of what could have been and anyone who believes that a
better world is possible, should reflect on the inspiring examples and
hard lessons of the Spanish Revolution.
What happened in Spain has
since been repeated. Currently in Kobane, countless comrades have
fallen to defend this city against the fascists, just like the countless
comrades who gave their lives to defend the revolution in Catalonia and
Spain. The spirit of revolutionary Barcelona lives on in Kobane, the Rojava and the Kurdish struggle. Carried on the wind, for many solidarity gives strength, and in every city, every town, the cause of freedom will never be conquered . No pasaran
The photo in the Bandista video is from 18 March 1871 in Paris, France where attempts to
remove cannons from Montmartre provoked resistance and the erection of
barricades by Parisians that soon transformed the autonomous Paris
Commune.
Spanish lyrics
Negras tormentas agitan los aires
nubes oscuras nos impiden ver.
Aunque nos espere el dolor y la muerte
contra el enemigo nos llama el deber.
El bien más preciado es la libertad
hay que defenderla con fe y valor.
Alza la bandera revolucionaria
que del triunfo sin cesar nos lleva en pos.
Alza la bandera revolucionaria
que del triunfo sin cesar nos lleva en pos.
Negras tormentas agitan los aires
nubes oscuras nos impiden ver.
Aunque nos espere el dolor y la muerte
contra el enemigo nos llama el deber.
El bien más preciado es la libertad
hay que defenderla con fe y valor.
Alza la bandera revolucionaria
que del triunfo sin cesar nos lleva en pos.
Alza la bandera revolucionaria
que del triunfo sin cesar nos lleva en pos.
En pie el pueblo obrero, a la batalla
hay que derrocar a la reacción.
¡A las barricadas! ¡A las barricadas!
por el triunfo de la Confederación.
¡A las barricadas! ¡A las barricadas!
por el triunfo de la Confederación.
Black storms shake the air
Dark clouds blind us
Although pain and death [may] await us
Duty calls us against the enemy
The most precious good is freedom
It must be defended with faith and courage
Raise the revolutionary flag
Which carries us ceaselessly towards triumph
Raise the revolutionary flag
Which carries us ceaselessly towards triumph
Black storms shake the air
Dark clouds blind us
Although pain and death [may] await us
Duty calls us against the enemy
The most precious good is freedom
It must be defended with faith and courage
Raise the revolutionary flag
Which carries us ceaselessly towards triumph
Raise the revolutionary flag
Which carries us ceaselessly towards triumph
Get up, working people, to the battle
[We] have to topple the reaction
To the Barricades! To the Barricades!
For the triumph of the Confederation
To the Barricades! To the Barricades!
For the triumph of the Confederation
Turkish lyrics:
Haydi barikata, haydi barikata!
Ekmek, adalet ve özgürlük için (x3)
Yek, dü, se, car!
Kara fırtınalar sarsıyor göğü,
Kara bulutlar kör eder gözleri.
Ölüm ve acı beklese de bizleri,
Onları yenmek için yürümeliyiz.
Ve en değerli varlığımız özgürlük,
Cesaret ve inançla savunmalıyız.
Haydi barikata, haydi barikata!
Ekmek, adalet ve özgürlük için (x2)
Kalplerimizde, kardeşlerimizle,
Tüm dünyada büyüyor direniş.
Haydi barikata, haydi barikata!
Ekmek, adalet ve özgürlük için (x2)
Kalplerimizde, kardeşlerimizle,
Tüm dünyada büyüyor direniş.
Haydi barikata, haydi barikata!
Ekmek, adalet ve özgürlük için (x6)
At 9.15am on the morning of this day in 1966 the small Welsh mining
community of Aberfan was changed forever, and torn apart, when thousands of tons of
waste from a coal tip poured down a hillside and engulfed a school and
several homes, killing 144 people – 116 of them children.
The pupils at Pantglas Junior School between the ages of seven and 10 were sitting down to their last
lesson before half term, having returned to their
classrooms after morning assembly.Within minutes, more than a hundred of them
were dead - buried alive by an avalanche of coal waste that swept
through their village.
Waste material from the nearby Merthyr Vale
colliery – known as ‘spoil’ – had been deposited on the slopes of
Mynydd Merthyr, a broad ridge of high ground above the village
containing numerous underground springs, for around 50 years.Unusually heavy rain had caused the waterlogged spoil to come loose and
run down the hillside at increasing speed. In a matter of seconds, over
40,000 cubic metres of slurry smashed into the side of the school,
filling classrooms with a wall of mud and rocks as deep as 10 metres in
places.
Hundreds of villagers rushed to the scene, some mothers frantically
clawing at the mud and waste with their bare hands in a desperate
attempt to find any survivors. Miners from local collieries arrived in
their droves to help dig through the rubble, but no survivor was
recovered after 11am.
By the following day, 2,000 emergency service workers and volunteers
were involved in the rescue operation, of whom many had worked
continuously for over 24 hours; despite this, it was nearly a week
before all the bodies were recovered.
Many believed at the time that with nationalisation the uncaring,
exploitative attitudes of the private mine owners had been got rid off. Not only did the
NCB act like a private corporation, despite the enormity of the
disaster, the chairman of the NCB Lord Robens in total arrogance chose to go ahead with his
investiture as Chancellor of the University of Surrey rather than
travel to Aberfan, and when he finally reached the site, he denied that anything could have
been done to prevent the disaster. He told the press "natural unknown
springs" had brought down the tip.
Shamefully Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson refused Robens' resignation.
As this horror was felt around the world, ( people from all over world contributed £1.75 million
to the disaster fund – an extraordinary amount of money in the 1960s), it became even more poignant
as news emerged of previous warnings and previous slides that had been
brushed aside. The National Coal Board (NCB) had been repeatedly been
warned to move the slag heaps to a safer location, because they were
also close to natural underwater springs. Did the NCB have the decency to
acknowledge their
blame, to bow their head in shame, like hell no, but we were to learn
sadly far too late that the NCB was ostensibly a capitalist organisation
more concerned with profit than lives. The Davies tribunal by the government at
the time at least recognised that :-
" Blame for the disaster rests upon the National Coal
Board. The legal liabilities of the National Coal Board to pay
compensation for the personal injury ( fatal or otherwise) and damage
to property is incontestable and uncontested."
Unbelievably, the Charity Commission opposed the plan for a flat rate of
compensation to the bereaved families, instead suggesting that for
payment to be made, parents should have to prove that they had been
‘close’ to their dead children, and were thus ‘likely to be suffering
mentally’.
Meanwhile, Aberfan villagers lived in fear that tip no.4 and tip no.5
situated above tip no.7 might start to slide as well. The NCB
refused to pay to remove them, and the Labour government wouldn’t make
it pay. Instead the money was taken from the disaster fund – an act
later described as unquestionably unlawful by charity law experts.
‘Like the Hillsborough victims,’ said Felicity Evans on Radio 4, ‘the
people of Aberfan were let down by the very institutions that owed them
a duty of care, and just like at Hillsborough those institutions sought
to obstruct the search for truth and the solace it might provide.’
And, as with Hillsborough, justice was a long time coming. More than
three decades later the Charity Commission apologised, and a Labour
Government eventually paid back to the Disaster Fund the money taken from it in
1966 by the NCB.
Today we remember the people of Aberfan, their collective loss, a community that is still profoundly affected by this disaster. Sadly there is very little to remind visitors of this tragic
disaster, just an abstract memorial garden in the village and the childrens
section in the graveyard. The sores and wounds of this gross injustice, one that should never have happened,
are forever stored in the collective feelings of the people of Wales.
Lest we forget, the lessons of Aberfan, that still hold a profound relevance
today. They touch on issues of public accountability, responsibility,
competence and transparency.
Aberfan was a man-made disaster. This is a fact that often needs
underlining. There was
nothing “natural” about it, nothing freakish about the geology of
Aberfan, nothing uniquely unforeseeable about the deadly slide. It
happened because of a mix of negligence, arrogance and incompetence for
which no individual was punished or even held to account.
Leon Rosselson wrote the following song ‘Palaces of Gold’ in response to news of the disaster at Aberfan. It appeared on his 1968 album A Laugh, a Song, and a Hand-Grenade:
If the sons of company directors, And judges’ private daughters, Had to got to school in a slum school, Dumped by some joker in a damp back alley, Had to herd into classrooms cramped with worry, With a view onto slagheaps and stagnant pools, Had to file through corridors grey with age, And play in a crackpot concrete cage.
Buttons would be pressed, Rules would be broken. Strings would be pulled And magic words spoken. Invisible fingers would mould Palaces of gold.
If prime ministers and advertising executives, Royal personages and bank managers’ wives Had to live out their lives in dank rooms, Blinded by smoke and the foul air of sewers. Rot on the walls and rats in the cellars, In rows of dumb houses like mouldering tombs. Had to bring up their children and watch them grow.
In a wasteland of dead streets where nothing will grow.
I’m not suggesting any kind of a plot, Everyone knows there’s not, But you unborn millions might like to be warned That if you don’t want to be buried alive by slagheaps, Pit-falls and damp walls and rat-traps and dead streets, Arrange to be democratically born The son of a company director Or a judge’s fine and private daughter.
I end this post with a poem I wrote a few years ago
Cofiwch Aberfan/ Remember Aberfan
On October 21 1966 a ticking timebomb of slurry left a community scarred angels laughter forever lost
buried deep in the wounds of history
my nation mourns with anger
bitterness and shame
after the spoils of injustice
drowned a community in coal left generations in ruin
A Palestinian rights organisation 7amleh - The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media have released a new report entitled " Mapping Segregation -Google Maps and the Human Rights of Palestinians showing how Google Maps is putting the lives of Palestinians in danger by "contradicting Google's responsibilities under international human rights frameworks" and perpetuating a narriative that "serves the interests of the Israeli government". In particular, it focuses on Google Maps' representation of
geography and political boundaries in Israel and the occupied
territories, including Google's use of conditions and roadmap.
In its report, 7amleh, which describes itself as a "non-profit organisation aimed at enabling the Palestinian and Arab civil society to effectively utilise the tools of digital advocacy through professional capacity building, defending digital rights and building influential digital media campaigns", has shown how what seems to be a simple leaning towards Israeli bias actually has a huge impact on Palestinians.
The report looked at four main aspects in which Google is complicit in erasing Palestine from the map: the erasure of Palestinian villages under Google Maps, the legal implications of Google's actions, the way route planning can put Palestinian lives in danger and the implication of the terminology Google uses.
There is a clear discrepancy of the visibility of Palestinian villages and Israeli villages on Google Maps, according to 7amleh. Palestinian villages in the Naqab/Negev desert are made nearly invisible, unless they are being searched for by someone who already knows exactly where the village is, according to the report.
"Google Maps does not contain the search term" Palestine "and rarely
contains the names of Palestinian areas not recognized by Israel, while
containing names and locating illegal Israeli settlements without any
problems. The maps also neglect to express hundreds of roadblocks,
permanent flight points and air traffic controls, and as Israel has done
on the West Bank, violates the Palestinian right to free movement.
Consequently, the Google Maps routes are for Israeli and illegal Israeli
settlers and may be dangerous to Palestinians. "
Other examples the report highlighted is the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, following US President Donald Trump's controversial decree and the erasure of Palestinian cities from maps. Palestine is called on Google Maps in accordance with the resolution of the UN General Assembly in November 2012 and that, on the basis of Resolution 181 from the United Nations General Assembly.Google Maps contains all "unidentified" Palestinian villages in
the first layer on their maps and gives the same degree of detail when
representing Palestinian villages in area C.
In accordance with Article 49 in the Fourth Geneva Convention and
Article 55 of the Hague Regulations, Google Maps must refer to and
distinguish illegal Israeli settlements within the West Bank.It is important to clearly refer to areas A, B and C on the West
Bank on Google Maps and to map all movement restrictions and restricted
streets. The State of Palestine was recognised by 136 of the 193 member United Nations General Assembly( UNGA) in 2012, but has never been labelled as such on Google Maps. Israel is not only identified as a country, but Jerusalem, which was granted international status in UNGA resolution 181 and remains a final status issue, is marked as its capital. While a West Bank label does exist, Israeli settlements, there appear as if they are located inside Israel. Meanwhile Palestinian villages unrecognised by Israel, both in the occupied territories and within the Green Line are either misrepresented or entirely left out, while the names and locations of Israeli settlements are clearly noticeable. Even relatively small Jewish Israeli communities appear on the map, but Palestinian villages are only visible when extremely, almost intentionally, zoomed in on.
Unlike other cities or villages, Bedouin communities in the Negev, which existed before Israel was established, are marked by their tribal designation, rather than the actual names of their villages. Considering that these villages are under the constant threat of demolition by Israeli authorities, their misrepresentation or omission from the map becomes "a method of enforcing the eradication of unrecognisd Palestinian villages," the report argues.
The report concludes that in addition to biased mapping, 7amleh says Google prioritizes Israeli
citizens when offering routes. The map ignores the segregated road
system in Israel-Palestine and the resulting movement restrictions, such
as checkpoints and road blocks, that affect Palestinians. For example,
to navigate from Bethlehem to Ramallah, all routes suggested by Google
Maps require crossing from the West Bank to Jerusalem, and then back to
the occupied territories. This is only possible for people with Israeli
IDs or foreign passports. It is illegal for Palestinians to access
Israeli-only roads, which usually connect settlements, and the
consequences of doing so may include arrest, delays, detention and
confiscation of cars. Combined with Google Map's refusal to display internationally recognised borders, Palestinian villages and cities, this endangers the lives of the Palestinians and approves the Israeli state story that contradicts international law.
Google should take care over this issue, in such a politically sensitive region and correct their mistakes, people see maps as a lot more than just a collection of data points, furthermore this is putting lives at risk. As technology advances, online maps are crucial for instant and easy route planning. For Palestinians, however, using Google Maps could get them killed.
Ultimately, Google is one of the largest sharks for people to acquire information. They know this and they are using their power irresponsibly.Google's unofficial motto is 'don't be evil' - but Google at this moment in time is complicit in the Israeli government's erasure of Palestine.
