Music: A Vehicle for Social Change

Music has long been a vehicle for social change. An integral part of human nature, music has the potential to connect and unite people. Music can bring people together in safe and inclusive communities, and musicians can lend their voices on behalf of the voiceless. Artists as diverse as Billie Holiday, Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Gil Scot Heron,Aretha Franklin, Fela Kuti, Robert Wyatt,  Lowkey, David Roviks, Youssour N’Dour, Jerry Dammers,  P J Harvey, Le Trio Joubran, M.I.A, the Clash. and Roy Bailey ( who I posted about yesterday) have all used their access to audiences to speak out on social injustices around them.
Their creativity has inspired people to think differently about the world,and the combination of the right lyrics, rhythm and instruments can build a group identity, stir strong emotions, engage audiences and with a level of influence and reach in society to convene and  amass people to take action.Some have even risked their careers to stand up for what they believe in. From the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights movement to Black Lives Matter, musicians have heralded major political movements that have helped change the world with their art.The civil rights movement had a number of borrowed songs from civil war era spirituals that both motivated and unified its audiences. A classic examples being 'This Little Light of Mine.' A more literal example in its lyrical content would be Sam Cooke's '  A Change is Gonna Come ' along with others who wrote anti-war and protest songs that gave a voice to the dissenters.
The great Fela Kuti used his music as a weapon to be wielded against tyranny, with much potency, singing against tyranny and social injustice, and through his music took sides with the downtrodden.
Jerry Dammers while in  the Special AKA  recorded the anthemic ' Free Nelson Mandela 'which established itself as a worldwide anthem for the growing demand of the jailed African National Congress leader to be be released by the apartheid South African authorities. Not someone either to shy away from making political statements Patti Smith  has used her music to as a means of political activism, condemning war and human rights abuses. On a more uplifting note, her song 'People have the Power' is a powerful reminder to not sit passively but rather work to create the world we want to live in. Recently the uprisings collectively known as the Arab Spring saw music take on on a major role in galvanising the masses and stoking public anger.In the UK, musicians continue to speak out about injustice, Stormzy's electrifying takedown at the Brits awards recently of Theresa May and her lack of support for Grenfell.
Music is a form of artistic expression that uses  a universal language that we can all understand, that as well as breaking down barriers, borders, transcending nationality or religion, it  can also educate. As a cultural right  it can also help to promote human rights, whether they be civil, political,economic or social.
K’naan, the Somalian rapper behind the World Cup theme song “Wavin’ Flag,” has not only released music raising awareness of the violent Civil War in Somalia, but also performed at humanitarian benefit concerts, both in America and abroad, and has recently returned to his war-torn homeland to do even more good.
Le Trio Joubran – the Palestinian masters of the oud through their mesmerizing music, have been hey honouring the struggles and oppression of indigenous peoples not only in the Middle East but around the world and especially affirm that their music should be a part of the struggle of the Palestinian people for recognition and liberation.
Music can  be used to provoke and  empower people to become bold enough to fight against forces much greater than themselves.Music can have a huge influence on what we think and how we view the world, especially now that it is so easily accessible and transferable via social networking and Youtube. Unlike so many great promoters of peace, social justice and equality, many musicians are blessed with the fact that millions of people already are listening to their songs. With that much influence, it only seems logical that they would choose to write about something worthwhile.
The ongoing censorship of some musicians is evidence of the power of  music to affect social change and the real threat that oppressive regimes feel when artists speak out. Some musicians have been met by state sanctioned violence and even murder. Pussy Riot's Punk Prayer saw them arrested and sent to remote gulag-like prison authorities, and creative expression through music can still be met with jail time in many places in the world.The band Young Fathers was recently censored for supporting Palestinian rights. But more  than an attack on self-expression, censorship and persecution are attacks on the power of music to connect and create communities.
Musicians Without Borders works with musicians around the world to build nonviolent, inclusive communities. And stands with musicians around the world for human rights and social justice— through music. It is a global network organization that uses music for peacebuilding and social change. Using music as a tool to build connections, foster empathy and shape communities. Studies have shown that music is a powerful tool that can influence behavior, shape culture and strengthen social bonds. Musicians Without Borders uses music as a means to address the needs of societies divided and affected by conflict.
Since 1999, Musicians without Borders has been using the power of music for peace-building, connecting people, empowering musicians as social activists, and training local youth as change-makers. Long-term commitment allows the participants the time to develop skills and talents, process grief and loss, and build bridges of reconciliation in societies divided by recent or ongoing conflict.
On May 4, 1999, Laura Hassler conducted a memorial concert in her hometown in the Netherlands. At the height of the Kosova War, Laura had decided to extend the traditional Dutch remembrance of the second world war to those suffering and dying in the wars raging in Europe at that very moment. The performers dedicated their program of traditional Balkan songs– lullabies, love songs, songs of hope and mourning– to ordinary people everywhere, longing for the same things yet always caught between the firing lines.
Moved by the concert’s message, the musicians began talking about using the connecting power of music not only to express the tragedy of war, but also to do something about it. That summer, they visited Kosovo refugees in the Netherlands, singing and playing songs people knew and loved, making music with the children, providing musicians who had lost their instruments with replacements.
A few months later, the group was in Sarajevo, Bosnia, performing and running music workshops with children in a refugee camp. In January 2000, they registered as a charitable foundation, under the name Musicians Without Borders. Laura coordinated a small office, gradually reaching out to peace and human rights organizations and building a network of musicians, while raising funds and support for a new, innovative approach to peace building through music.
Where war has raged, people need everything to return to life: food, water, shelter, clothing, medicine. But more than anything, people need hope. To reconcile, people need empathy. To heal, people need connection and community. Music creates empathy, builds connection, can convey important messages and ideals that people can truly listen  to, that gives hope  allowing people to come together and  become  powerful forces for change. The  music of change is blowing through all Continents.

Learn more at: Musicians Without Borders
 
https://www.musicianswithoutborders.org/

https://en-gb.facebook.com/MusicianswithoutBorders/


Musicians Without Borders : War Divides Music Connects

Patti Smith - People Have The Power

Carry The Earth ( featuring Roger Waters) - Le Trio Joubran

Fela kuti - Sorrow, Tears and Blood

Aretha Franklin - A Change Is Gonna Come 

"Music is above the law. Music can get through the cracks and infiltrate places where other things just can go" - Peter Wallenberg

Roy Bailey Radical Socialist Folk Singer , R.I.P (20 October 1935 – 20 November 2018)

Sad to hear of the passing of this legendary folk singer at the age of 83. The following message was posted on Roy Bailey’s website yesterday:

"Many of you will know that Roy has struggled with heart failure for over 30 years. Sadly today his condition finally claimed him. His last few days were peaceful and filled with love, family and friends whilst being cared for by the amazing folk at St. Luke’s hospice in Sheffield.
 Professor Roy Bailey – a husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle, friend, singer, academic and humanitarian – 1935 – 2018. "

http://roybailey.net/


Turning to music while serving in the British military in 1954, Bailey helped to form a folk club while attending Leicester University. Initially inspired by the industrial folk songs of Pete Seeger and the Weavers, he increasingly veered toward political topics. He studied Marxism at Leicester University and had his convictions strengthened by three socialist students he met at Further Education College in Southend. With the encouragement of Ewan MacColl, he became the musical voice of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Bailey's first career break came when he was invited to replace Martin Carthy in Leon Rosselson's band, the Three City Four. Planning to begin teaching in a London college, he quickly changed his career direction and agreed to join the band. He left the group in the late '60s after accepting a position as lecturer of sociology at Bradford University. In 1972, he transferred to Sheffield University, where he headed the sociology department until 1989.His first solo album  one of many was released in 1971. and for   nearly 50 years he  sung in folk clubs, concerts and festivals the length and breadth of England, Scotland and Wales and from Sydney to Vancouver, from Cape Town to Stockholm. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts in 1989.
 He contributed vocals toChumbawamba's 2008 album The Boy Bands have Won, on the track "Word Bomber", a song about the London suicide attacks in 2005. He also joined the band on stage to sing the song, on their farewell Leeds show in October 2012.
His career has been hailed as representing “the very soul of folk’s working class ideals… a triumphal homage to the grass roots folk scene as a radical alternative to the mainstream music industry.” (Colin Irwin, MOJO)
He has been described in the Guardian newspaper as being the possessor of one of the finest voices in the folk world and has a large, widespread and very loyal following worldwide.
 In 2003, Roy together with Tony Benn were awarded ‘Best Live Act’ at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, for their hugely successful programme ‘Writing on the Wall’named after Benn’s book on a history of British radical dissent. Tony Benn cited Roy as ‘the greatest socialist folk singer of his generation’. In the 2000 Honours List, Roy received the MBE for services to folk music. On the 23rd August 2006, he returned the MBE in protest at the UK government’s foreign policy with regard to Lebanon and Palestine and issued this statement:
 : 
As a life-long supporter of the Labour Party I am so appalled at the government’s foreign policy that I have decided to return the MBE I was awarded for “services to folk music.” I can think of no better way, lawfully, to express my horror and opposition to our failure to call for an immediate ceasefire in the Lebanon and to our complicity with the USA’s policy of supporting Israel’s actions in Palestine.Tony Blair’s support for these policies is for me a betrayal of all I took the labour party to stand for. The death and destruction on all sides and the chaos in both Iraq and Afghanistan is the result of such decisions. The parliamentary party and the constituency parties, by remaining supportive of these policies, are discredited as far as I am concerned.
I am not so foolish as to expect any government to be able to deliver all its manifesto promises. I understand and accept that compromises have to be made. However, when it comes to waging an illegal war in Iraq, the killing of innocent people in Afghanistan, Iraq and now, the Lebanon, I can no longer accept as an “Honour” a recommendation supported by the prime minister, that I be awarded the MBE.
Tony Blair insists his decisions are in support of democracy. We cannot bomb people into accepting democracy any more than we could slaughter people into accepting Christianity.I understand many people within the folk music community have applauded such awards as a welcomed recognition folk music makes to our common culture. I trust they will understand my reasons for now rejecting and returning that award.

Roy Bailey

Roy Bailey,was a legend of the British folk scene. who performed his last ever concert last month, from his love of traditional songs and the stories they tell, on to developing a unique repertoire of songs of dissent and hope, spending decades using his music to explore issues including poverty, war and inequality, political repression, and continually championing the underdog, fighting against social injustices and political repression. Singing songs of ordinary people that  touched and resonated with many people, a man who always stuck to his principles.
His  dedicated social conscience always underpinned all his work and he remained committed to his life-long principles of equality, liberty, justice and internationalism.Like Roy, I strongly believe that folk music can be a “powerful vehicle for contemporary social criticism”. He is responsible for inspiring many young protest singers of today, a legacy that will continue. Am fortunate to have seen him perform and I will long treasure his recordings. His voice of protest has never been needed more than in the days we live in right now.A wonderful inspiring man. Rest in Power Roy Bailey.
He is survived  by his wife Val, his daughter Kit,son David, and brother, Ron.

Palaces of Gold - Roy Bailey

Calling Joe Hill - Roy Bailey

Bread and Roses - Roy Bailey

Palestine - Roy Bailey

Flying high , Flying Free - Roy Bailey

Meet Harry Leslie Smith, The World's Oldest Rebel.

Deep respect to this noble gentleman, author and Labour Party activist who has been an inspiration to all who seek a fairer and better world. Currently very ill in a Canadian hospital after a fall.
Harry Leslie Smith  95 is a great British stalwart. A survivor of the Great Depression, a Second World War veteran, a lifelong Labour supporter and a proud Yorkshire man, Harry's life has straddled two centuries. As a young man, he witnessed a country in crisis with no healthcare, no relief for the poor, and a huge economic gulf between the North and South. After the war he saw the refugee crisis at the end of the conflict with his own eyes. Driven to act, he's spent the rest of his life meeting with and advocating on  behalf of refugees in Canada and around the world. As well as this  he has been a tireless campaigner against poverty.
From the deprivation of 1930s Barnsley and the terror of war to the creation of our welfare state, Harry has experienced how a great civilisation can rise from the rubble. But at the end of his life, he fears how easily it is being eroded. His book 'Harry’s Last Stand' is a lyrical, searing modern invective that shows what the past can teach us, and how the future is ours for the taking.
 “Harry is not in a good way,” the 95-year-old’s son John wrote on his father’s Twitter account.
“Harry is in A & E and not in a good way,” the post read. “He asked me to inform you in case things don’t work out. I will keep you posted.”
Earlier this afternoon Leslie Smith told his Twitter followers that he was on his way to hospital.
“Bugger of a day, had a fall and now I am in hospital. It’s nothing, just low blood pressure, but signing off for the next few hours.”
On Saturday, Leslie Smith appeared in video by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees speaking on the refugees he saw in Europe at the close of the second world war.
Crying, he said: “There was a stream of hundreds of thousands of refugees coming south. I can still still see them, absolutely pitiful, starving.
“It doesn’t matter what the colour of your skin is, or what your education was, or whatever your job was before you came here, you are now Canadian.”
As well as travelling the world advocating for rights of refugees, Leslie Smith has also been a tireless critic of the Tories and austerity, and has  campaigned relentlessly for the NHS in an attempt to keep it in public hands..
His latest book, Don’t Let My Past Become Your Future, serves as a stark warning as to what life could be like without a publicly funded NHS, which is free at the point of use.
We owe this great man so much. Lets continue to keep him in our thoughts and prayers, we could do with many more people like Harry
For more  updates see Harry's twitter feed https://twitter.com/Harryslaststand

Joe Hill ( 7/19/1879 -19/11/15) - Last Will

Joe Hill was executed by a state of Utah firing squad on November 19, 1915  at dawn framed for a murder that many believe he did not commit.An innocent man condemned to death for his passion. Many historians have come to recognise it as one of the worst travesties of Justice in American history. After a trial that was riddled with biased rulings and suppression of important defence evidence and other violations of judicial procedure, which was characteristic of many cases involving labour radicals.
Born Joel Emmauel Hägglund on Oct. 7, 1879, the future labor "troubadour of discontent" grew up the fourth of six surviving children in a devoutly religious Lutheran family in Gävle, Sweden, where his father, Olaf, worked as a railroad conductor. Both his parents enjoyed music and often led the family in song. As a young man, Hill composed songs about members of his family, attended concerts at the workers' association hall in Gävle and played piano in a local café.
In 1887, Hill's father died from an occupational injury and the children were forced to quit school to support themselves. The 9-year-old Hill worked in a rope factory and later as a fireman on a steam-powered crane. Stricken with skin and joint tuberculosis in 1900, Hill moved to Stockholm in search of a cure and worked odd jobs while receiving radiation treatment and enduring a series of disfiguring operations on his face and neck. Two years later, Hill's mother, Margareta Katarina Hägglund, died after also undergoing a series of operations to cure a persistent back ailment. With her death, the six surviving Hägglund children sold the family home and ventured out on their own. Four of them settled elsewhere in Sweden, but the future Joe Hill and his younger brother, Paul, emigrated to the United States in 1902, where he changed his name to Joseph Hillstrom.
After several years as an itinerant worker - a 'hobo' working at a wide variety of back-breaking jobs, trying to make his way in this new country. In 1905 he joined the IWW (The International Workers of the World) becomming a well known and successful organiser .As a writer, a man of wit and insight, he knew how to craft songs that informed, inspired and inflamed. He followed a template for songwriting that was used from the American Revolution to Woody Guthrie to the Southern Civil Rights Movement, taking well-know tunes and writing new words that made the songs leap to life in a new and changing world. Soon  his humorous and biting political songs like "The Preacher and the Slave" were being sung on political lines across the country. His songs, appearing in the IWW's "Little Red Song Book," addressed the experience of vitually every major IWW group, from immigrant factory workers to homeless migratory workers to railway shopcraft workers.
In 1911, he was in Tijuana, Mexico, part of an army of several hundred wandering hoboes and radicals who sought to overthrow the Mexican dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz, seize Baja California, emancipate the working class and declare industrial freedom. (The invasion lasted six months before internal dissension and a large detachment of better-trained Mexican troops drove the last 100 rebels back across the border.) In 1912, Hill apparently was active in a "Free Speech" coalition of Wobblies, socialists, single taxers, suffragists in San Diego that protested a police decision to close the downtown area to street meetings. He also put in an appearance at a railroad construction crew strike in British Columbia, writing several songs before returning to San Pedro, where he lent musical support to a strike of Italian dockworkers.
The San Pedro dockworkers' strike led to Hill's first recorded encounter with the police, who arrested him in June 1913 and held him for 30 days on a charge of vagrancy because, he said later, he was "a little too active to suit the chief of the burg" during the strike. On Jan. 10, 1914, Hill knocked on the door of a Salt Lake City doctor at 11:30 p.m. asking to be treated for a gunshot wound he said was inflicted by an angry husband who had accused Hill of insulting his wife. Earlier that evening, in another part of town, a grocer and his son had been killed. One of the assailants was wounded in the chest by the younger victim before he died. Hill's injury therefore tied him to the incident. The uncertain testimony of two eyewitnesses and the lack of any corroboration of Hill's alibi convinced a local jury of Hill's guilt, even though neither witness was able to identify Hill conclusively and the gun used in the murders was never recovered.
The campaign to exonerate Hill began two months before the trial and continued up to and even beyond his execution by firing squad on Nov. 19, 1915. His supporters included the socially prominent daughter of a former Mormon church president, labor radicals, activists and sympathizers including AFL President Samuel Gompers, the Swedish minister to the United States and even President Woodrow Wilson. The Utah Supreme Court, however, refused to overturn the verdict and the Utah Board of Pardons refused to commute Hill's sentence. The board declared its willingness to hear testimony from the woman's husband in a closed session, but Hill refused to identify his alleged assailant, insisting that to do so would harm the reputation of the lady.
From his jail cell on  November 18, 1915, Joe Hill wrote his last will, which has since become a prized piece of poetry in the heritage of the American Labour Movement. That same day, he sent a telegram to fellow IWW member Bill Haywood telling him “Don’t waste time mourning – Organize!” a line that became a slogan of the U.S. labour movement.The state wanted to silence Joe Hill, in defiance, he goaded his executioners with his last words . 'Fire -go and fire! Hill died as he lived a true rebel.
After a brief service in Salt Lake City, Hill's body was sent to Chicago, where 30,000 mourners heard Hill's "Rebel Girl" sung for the first time, listened to hours of speeches and then walked behind his casket to Graceland Cemetery, where the body was cremated and the ashes mailed to IWW locals in every state but Utah as well as to supporters in every inhabited continent on the globe. According to one of Hill's Wobbly-songwriter colleagues, Ralph Chaplin (who wrote the words to "Solidarity Forever," among other songs), all the envelopes were opened on May 1, 1916, and their contents scattered to the winds, in accordance with Hill's last wishes, expressed in  the poem that follows. Hill became, and he has remained, the best-known IWW martyr and labor folk hero, more famous now in death than in life Hill is also a revered figure in his native Sweden where he has been commemorated on postage stamps and where his childhood home is reverantly preserved as a museum, he has appeared in fiction, poetry and plays and has inspired several works of art. Most notably in linocut posters hand produced by Wobbly artist, poet and editor Carlos Cortez.

   My will is easy to decide,
For there is nothing to divide.
My kin don’t need to fuss and moan -
“Moss does not cling to a rolling stone.”

My body? — Oh! — If I could choose,
I would to ashes it reduce,
And let the merry breezes blow
My dust to where some flowers grow.

Perhaps some fading flower then
Would come to life and bloom again.
This is my last and final will.
Good luck to all of you.
   Joe Hill

Steve Earle reads Joe Hill

 

The poem, "I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night," written by the British writer Alfred Hayes in 1925 and set to music in 1936 by Earl Robinson, has been performed and recorded by scores of musicians and translated into 15 languages; it is still sung by workers throughout the world,as an inspiration dor organizing labor and other community movements.In 1958 Paul Robeson performed a version at his Carnegie Hall concert. Ideas and songs can never die.


I dreamed I saw Joe Hill Last Night  - Paul Robeson

I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night,
Alive as you or me
Says I, "But Joe, you're ten years dead,"
"I never died," says he.
"I never died," says he.

"In Salt Lake, Joe," says I to him,
Him standing by my bed,
"They framed you on a murder charge,"
Says Joe, "But I ain't dead,"
Says Joe, "But I ain't dead."

"The copper bosses killed you, Joe,
They shot you, Joe," says I.
"Takes more than guns to kill a man,"
Says Joe, "I didn't die,"
Says Joe, "I didn't die."

And standing there as big as life
And smiling with his eyes
Says Joe, "What they forgot to kill
Went on to organize,
Went on to organize."

"Joe Hill ain't dead," he says to me,
"Joe Hill ain't never died.
Where working men are out on strike
Joe Hill is at their side,
Joe Hill is at their side."

From San Diego up to Maine,
In every mine and mill -
Where working men defend their rights
It's there you'll find Joe Hill.
It's there you'll find Joe Hill.

I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night,
Alive as you or me
Says I, "But Joe, you're ten years dead",
"I never died," says he.
"I never died," says he.

Patrick Duff live at the Cellar Bar, Cardigan/Aberteifi - A beautiful form of magic.

Went to see Patrick Duff play last night, in the Cellar Bar, Cardigan, ably supported by  fine local musician called Joe Couzens. Formerly the lead singer in the cult alternative rock band Strangelove, who I'd last seen whilst tripping  of my box at Glastonbury in  1992, fond memories bought back vividly. He has since forged a career as a singer songwriter who after a turbulent history marred by addictions , without doubt, now puts his life and soul into his music.
He was  here to launch his new record Leaving My Father's House, a  rather disappointing turnout with only a smattering of people, but this did not dampen the gig, it kinda helped because Patrick delivered a passionate performance in what was one of the most intimate gigs I've experienced  for a while. Engaging and charismatic he regaled us with many a tale, funny too with an eye for detail, commenting on how lovely the venues slate floor was.
He truly captivated with everyone listening to every sound and word. Delicate crafted songs of real depth folksy, poppy, psychedelic, spiritual and whimsical, full of heartbreak and emotion combined with graceful melodies, sprinkling each and every song with magic. I'm pretty straight but he certainly captured my heart, as he bought us an intense magical moving experience, utilising pulsing drone atmospherics, experimental sounds to heighten our senses. A beautiful singing voice, expressive, soulful and hauntingly mesmerising , timeless and of pure quality. I would consider him to be a poet. He also capably span wonderful tales of rich imagination, telling us a lovely story about spending time in a Bhuddist retreat, meditating in silence for days, and another one about a tryst he once had on Brighton beach. The audience really appreciated him, he'd sure get a warm welcome if he returned.
He finished the night with a masterly cover version of the Doors  'The End ' that he made his own,pure quality. Spoke to him after gig, utterly charming, and devoid of  any pretense and ego, an inspiring bloke of immense talent.
As for his new record I'd strongly recommend it, and his back catalogue well worth checking out too, all truly memorable.
Please support your local music venues, they do so much to  enliven and enrich our communities. The Cellar Bar is always worth visiting, for performances like this one,and the superb atmosphere, the guy who runs the place, Steve, quite a character too. A really friendly warm welcome is guaranteed to all who enter it's door.

https://www.facebook.com/PatrickDuffArtist

https://en-gb.facebook.com/thecellarbarcardigan/

Patrick Duff sings the jaw droppingly beautiful Maria in session

Whispering True Words.

Kindness can't be beaten
and the water within us sings
lets words be spoken, released on tonque
makes new spaces, for us to hang out and spin
where eyes have seen oppression
where hearts have ridden waves of pain
time travels, wants our voices to be heard
stories to be shared freely with the world
with inks running with honesty
tries to show people what we have seen.

Across the Universe the Beatles once sang
currently  people finding it hard to breathe
so gather round, and help these pulses flow
to turn again, to become sparks in the afterglow
a dazzle in the rain, singular defiant voices rising
songs across the land, blazing with truth
creating and destroying, tearing up old  rules
feeding new ideas, needed for survival
allowing the weight of the world
to come  tumbling, crushing down.

Remember, all the beauty of this earth
follow sources of diversity, all the ways of life
caught and captured on the winds to refresh
beyond the closed systems, against intolerance
truth is simple, glides carefully from one heart to another
can nourish us as we wait, for iniquities to pass
with a rich tapestry of dreams within us
searching beyond interwoven balls of worry
allowing all to keep pushing, soaring, roaring
waiting patiently for something to change.

Whispering true words, of simplicity
with individual choruses of surfacing reason
against hopelessness, despair, and fear
the lies and discourse that taint and smear
pendulums of justice infusing memories with shame
putting obstacles in the way, pointing fingers of blame
words carve a path to the futures corridor
bringing fresh hope, for all voices to explore
wading through days of stumbling confusion
the past is pinned down, reaches for conclusion.

Palestine Underground

 Palestine Underground  is a 25 minute documentary released by Boiler Room yesterday that  documents the flourishing underground music scene in Occupied Palestinian Territory, the West Bank, one of the most conflicted regions on earth.
Undeterred by political restrictions, building bridges through a shared sound and identity.
The  film takes place primarily in Ramallah, the de facto capital of the West Bank region, and opens with a scene of local DJ and producer Oddz  sneaking over the wall from Ramallah to play Anna Loulou in Jaffa, one of Israel's few nightclubs, which is described as a place where "everyone is welcome." Well, except Israeli soldiers. One of the few techno DJs in Palestine, Oddz, regularly defies the apartheid wall and checkpoints to play in Palestinian-owned venues in Israel, risking three months imprisonment if caught.. .

From there it cuts between interviews with members of the Jazar Crew, a Palestinian DIY music and art collective that provides a safe-space dance floor for Palestinian youth.With their revolutionary parties around the region, they have built bridges between the Palestinian underground scenes in Haifa, Ramallah and beyond, whose first party happened to take place on the the night of Egypt's Arab Spring in 2011, and Sama', Palestine’s first techno DJ. She's credited with introducing Detroit and Berlin techno sounds to Palestine.

Palestine Underground follows a week in the life of these artists and friends, culminating in June 2018, when Boiler Room  hosted its first ever party in Ramallah. Live streamed to an international audience of 260+ million, the daytime outdoor party hosted by Jazar Crew and friends showcased an underground music scene peacefully reacting against one of the toughest political feuds in history.
The Palestinian artists are blossoming in their creativity despite enforced constraints from the Israeli government, and although their movements are restricted and there is a midnight curfew, enforced by the Palestinian authority, the Palestinian music scene refuses to dwindle, as seen in the film's interviewees, who are brimming with musical passion and freedom of expression. By defying spatial and social restrictions imposed on these artists, they provide hope and inspiration to their audiences.Despite the hardship of living in a war-torn nation, Palestinian youth have found a way to create a sense of normalcy.
Living in what he calls a “stagnant” political situation, the "godfather of underground hip hop scene in Ramallah," Muqata’a sees his music as a "disruption" to the status quo. Which is dire—Israel has for decades pursued a policy of building Jewish settlements in Palestine, including the West Bank and Gaza. Music is therefore a "therapy for the Palestinian identity crisis," a way of peacefully rebelling against a regime that they see as pursuing the systematic erasure their culture.
“We resist in our music, together we are the revolution,” an interviewee says.
‘Palestine Underground’ offers a fresh and different insight into the lives of a minority of young Palestinians and subverts the Western media narrative surrounding Palestine. Produced by Boiler Room's Anais Bremond and directed by BBC and Channel 4 documentary filmmaker Jess Kelly, Palestine Underround " connects the dots  between club culture and cinema to stretch the boundaries of what a film experience can be", recording a musical subculture that is little known in the West. There's also a succinct historical explanation early on in the film, so anyone not well-versed in the region's complicated past won't feel lost.

A part of Contemporary Scenes - uncovering underground collectives, artists and subcultures from across the world. https://contemporaryscenes.boilerroom...

Subscribe to Boiler Room's YT channel: http://blrrm.tv/YT

Aung San Suu Kyi stripped of Amnesty International's highest honour over 'shameful betrayal '

Amnesty International has withdrawn its most prestigious human rights award from Aung San Suu Kyi, following what it described as a “shameful betrayal” of the values she once stood for.
It is the latest in a series of accolades to be withdrawn from Aung San Suu Kyi, including the US Holocaust Museum’s Elie Weisel award and Freedom of the City awards, which were revoked by Edinburgh, Oxford, Glasgow and Newcastle. Canada revoked her honorary citizenship last month.  Calls to revoke Suu Kyi’s 1991 Nobel Peace Prize have so far been rebuffed by the committee that oversees it.
 Aung San Suu Kyi received the ambassador of conscience award in 2009, while under house arrest, for her role in championing peace and democracy,after spearheading the opposition movement to the feared military junta..She was described as “a symbol of hope, courage and the undying defence of human rights” by Irene Khan, Amnesty International’s then secretary general.
On 11 November, Amnesty's General Secretary General Kumi Naidoo wrote to  inform her the organisation is revoking the award. Half way through her term in office and eight years after her release from house arrest, Naidoo expressed the organisations disappointment that she had not used her political and moral authority to safeguard human rights, justice or  equality in Myanmar, citing her apparent indifference to atrocities committed by the Myanmar military and increasing intolerance to freedom of expression. Saying in the letter that her ambassador title could no longer be justified.
“Our expectation was that you would continue to use your moral authority to speak out against injustice wherever you saw it, not least within Myanmar itself,” Naidoo wrote in the letter.
Today the Myamar authorities and citizens leapt to her defence calling the move 'childish.' But institutions that once showered Suu Kyi with titles are rapidly distancing themselves from a leader they argue is doing little in the face of the ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya  muslim minority. Suu Kyi has also  been widely accused of being apathetic or complicit in the plight.
More than 700,000 Rohingya people remain in Bangladesh, having fled a brutal military crackdown that began in August 2017. UN investigators said that during the campaign, Myanmar’s military carried out killings and gang rapes and arson with “genocidal intent”, and called for the commander-in-chief and five generals to be prosecuted for the gravest crimes under international law.
Yanghee Lee, the UN special investigator on human rights in Myanmar, said she believed Aung San Suu Kyi was in “total denial” about accusations of violence.
 “Without acknowledgement of the horrific crimes against the community, it is hard to see how the government can take steps to protect them from future atrocities,” said Naidoo.
Amnesty International added that Aung San Suu Kyi’s administration had stirred up hatred against Rohingya by labelling them “terrorists”, obstructed international investigations into abuses, and failed to repeal repressive laws used to silence critics. ''Her government has sgielded the secrity forces from accontability, stirred up racial hatred and denied the scale of the atrocities.
In September, Aung San Suu Kyi defended the imprisonment of two Reuters journalists who were given seven-year jail terms after investigating the massacre of Rohingya Muslims in Rahkine state. The sentences were widely condemned by international governments, human rights groups and the UN as a miscarriage of justice and a symbol of the major regression of freedom of expression in Myanmar. She is yet to comment on Amnesty’s decision herself but has in the past arrogantly  shrugged off questions about withdrawn awards.

https://www.amnestyusa.org/press-releases/aung-san-suu-kyi-stripped-of-amnestys-highest-honor/

https://www.amnestyusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Letter-from-Kumi-Naidoo-to-Aung-San-Suu-Kyi-EMBARGOED-13-Nov.pdf

Time to strip her off her Nobel Peace Prize too. Please sign the following petition.

https://www.change.org/p/take-back-aung-san-suu-kyi-s-nobel-peace-prize

The Universal Credit Crisis: Panaroma

I'd urge you to watch BBC Panorama's The Universal Credit Crisis , especially  if you’re a Tory that’s hellbent on forcing through Universal Credit. Some revelations will shock people outside of their normal political bubble. Hard to watch and upsetting. A complicated system leaving the vulnerable behind, mission accomplished as far as the government is concerned. These decisions will come back and hant them and  cost them more votes than they think.
Universal Credit combines six benefits, including housing benefit, into one monthly payment.

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Housing benefit now goes directly to the claimant, but the Local Government Association is calling for it to be paid directly to landlords – as it was under the old system.
The programme finds people owe two and a half times more than on existing benefits. Universal Credit claimants are forced to sell their possessions in order to survive. Universal Credit was introduced in 2013 and continues to cause hardship, debt and food bank use across Britain - while the Tories and DWP remain in denial.
As the government's controversial new benefits system, universal credit, is rolled out, Panorama is with families as they struggle with their claims. The programme follows one council as it deals with mounting rent arrears and tenants in crisis. The government has responded to criticism of the new system by announcing more funding, but is it too little too late?
I don’t think there’s any question  that it is, food bank use has already  gone up 13% due to problems with universal credit. And the top reason for people using food banks has been delays and problems with getting benefits. lets be honest  nobody seems to know what's going on anymore. Claimants across the country are finding their payments being arbitrally cut month in, month out, with no explanation. Random debts  are imposed and retrieved with minimum information. Already as it is claimants, living on a shoestring, this process I fear will make things far worse.The Conservatives claim UC is designed to help help people into work by ensuring they are better off working than the unemployed  but whatever they say the number of families who are in work but still living below the poverty line is continuing to rise. As a result, inequality increases too, with the poorest among us being left behind. All because of their policies.
The programme reveals that in Flintshire in North Wales, one of the first areas in the UK to receive the new system, the amount of rent owed to the council by people on Universal Credit is £1,424 in average – or six times the amount owed by those on the existing system.
The local authority says evictions in the county are up by 55% compared to the same time last year, and it has spent an extra £270,000 on advice staff to cope with the increasing numbers of people needing help. The figures were based on Freedom of Information responses from around 130 councils that manage social housing.
The programme really scraped the surface on the design faults within this policy, many things are changed as an after thought because the policy wasn't properly thought through and the administration is so bad as is the training which means that those that should be helping have not got a clue  about the constant changes and are misinforming claimants causing further chaos with long waits on the phone which campaigners call the 'Vivaldi Line.'
Currently too.Esther McVey and her department  are trying to make charities and private contractors that work with the DWP sign gagging orders preventing them from criticising McVey or damaging her reputation, but Universal Credit is a disgrace especially as we are one of the richest countries in the world.It is simply a recipe for disaster that is only fit for the waste basket.The government is coming under very serious pressure because of universal credit, and I hope this programme adds to it even more.
If you missed the programme, here it is.

Earlier post on Universal Credit here  https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-real-impact-of-universal-credit.html

In Memorium : Lest We Forget

In fields of horror
the poppy flower now grows,
as superficial patriotic threads spread
profiteers fill their bellies on the dead,
bereft of life, cruel futility flows
cities of blood built, destruction grows,
fresh graves tended, full of nameless corpses
peaceful branches torn, children left as orphans,
salted tears soak the earth on the edge of memory
in every sense of direction, the screaming roars,
on fields of slaughter, visceral anathema shed
but the white bird of peace flies, lest we forget,
fluttering on the winds, it's seed will always blossom
showering the world with gentleness,
high above the ruins, reason grows strong
choruses sing in unity, embracing humanity,
touching, stirring beyond the futility of it all
an enduring battle of survival, to make us secure,
away from indiscriminate killing, the slaughter of war
primal forces degenerating, a new age is born,
lessons learnt, history provides the ammunition
with hope we can turn swords into plowshares.

Above poem can also be found here:-  https://iamnotasilentpoet.wordpress.com/2018/11/10/in-memorium-lest-we-forget-by-dave-rendle/