It's strange
each day the same as the last
millions dying of hunger
profiteers counting their cash,
daily people getting exploited
man made crisis and refugees denied
racism and homelessness on the rise
the grains that still fall, full of doubts and fears.
It's strange
there is no end in sight
ecosystems on the precipice of extinction
sea levels rising, the planet in peril,
the shimmering light of tomorrow dissapears
dark hands of fate, twist the knive
trouble keeps brewing, spreading strife
no matter what we do, we are betrayed.
It's strange
tears of humanity lingering long
releasing sadness, breaking hearts
remember though, this pain we must share,
but moving round in circles
can be done with little fuss
a solution surely can be retrieved
beyond us, no more anguished memories.
It's strange
how love still tears us apart
as we weep to remember
what it once contained,
some people two faced
only interested in self and position
no radiance have these people
they are stagnant and void.
It's strange
how life can weigh heavy
are we not all at times afflicted
let us share the wealth of our affliction,
salvage some hope, tear down the chains
messages of human kindness, instead of greed
in this odd little world, we can search for a new reality
let's all try and continue until the day we die.
April 15 will always remain one of the most sombre days in English
football. On this day in 1989, 96 Liverpool went to a
game of football and tragically never came back. The terrrible events of that day
at Hillsborough remain as heartbreaking now as they were 30 years ago. Liverpool will fall silent today for a minute today, traffic will stop in the Mersey tunnels, ferries will sound their horns and the town hall bells will toll 96 times, to mark the anniversary of the disaster at 3.06 today the time the FA Cup semi-final with Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough, was halted, that touched so many lives and changed the face of English football forever. . Images of the victims printed on banners, along with the words Never
Forgotten, have been put on display at the front of St George's Hall in
the city. From Monday morning, 96 lanterns with lit candles will also be
displayed on the steps of the hall, where members of the public will be
able to pay their respects and leave tributes. Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson, who will lay a wreath on behalf of
the people of the city, said: "The 96 have never been forgotten and even
though this city is divided by our footballing allegiances, we have
been united in supporting the families and Hillsborough survivors for
the past 30 years, and will continue to do so. "St George's Hall is our city's gathering place, whether to
celebrate or commemorate, and I can think of no better venue to host a
temporary memorial."The banners adorned with the images of the 96 will be especially
powerful, and the lanterns will serve as a reminder that this city will
never forget them." A memorial service is due to be held at Liverpool Cathedral at 2.45pm. The Kop at Anfield will be open between 1pm and 4pm for anyone who would like to sit for a period of reflection. Liverpool FC paid tribute to the 96 during their 2-0 victory against Chelsea on Sunday, holding banners and flying flags in commemoration. Other clubs and players, including former Liverpool forward Michael Owen, also paid tribute to those who died on social media. Plans for a public commemoration event on the steps of St
George's Hall were cancelled after a jury failed to reach a verdict in
the trial of match commander David Duckenfield, who is charged with the
gross negligence manslaughter. The Crown Prosecution Service has said it will seek a retrial, which
Duckenfield is expected to oppose, at a hearing scheduled for 24 June. The jury reached a a majority verdict to convict Graham Mackrell,
Sheffield Wednesday’s then secretary and safety officer, of failing to
take reasonable care of Liverpool supporters’ safety, by allocating only
seven turnstiles for 10,100 people with tickets to stand on the
Leppings Lane terrace at Hillsborough. The offence, under the 1974 Health and Safety at Work Act, is
punishable by a fine. Mackrell, who sought in his defence to blame Liverpool supporters for the dangerous congestion that developed at the turnstiles, will be sentenced on 13 May. Of the 96 people who died, 37 were teenagers, most still at school, many
attending their first ever away football match supporting Liverpool.
Seven of the dead were girls and women, including one mother, Inger
Shah, whose children Becky and Daniel were teenagers at the time.
Twenty-five were fathers; altogether, 58 people lost a parent in the
disaster. FormerChelsea star Pat Nevin was quick to remind,
more than 96 lives were irreparably damaged on that day. Many survivors
still struggle to come to terms with the mental and physical wounds of
the incident. It's so horrible to think of going to a match and not returning, never mind it
being covered up and being blamed for the tragedy as well. From the onset survivors of Hillsborough spoke of how they
were intimidated and threatened by police and left feeling traumatised,
accused of wasting police time because they did not like their
evidence, because it did not fit into their versions of the event. The Police, the Conservative Government of the time, the Stadium
management and the press, all colluded to keep us from what
actually happened at the tragedy that was Hillsborough, they were lied
about, especially by the police, the scum newspaper, the dead were vilified and labelled, and demonised. Thatcher's Conservative Government created a culture of impunity,
who needed a partisan police force, because they wanted to protect their
own self interests
Remember too, that 164 police officers lied, 14 of whom were awarded
millions of pounds of compensation between them, the Hillsborough
familres have not recieved a penny. Also since this terrible occasion
some Police Officers were even promoted to senior positions. The propaganda pumped out in the first two years after the disaster
coloured public opinion. The Scum newspapers ‘The Truth’ headline,
falsely pointing the finger at Liverpool fans, set the tone. The
coroner’s dismissive verdict was an official endorsement of the lies.
The dead, their fellow supporters who tried to save them and the
bereaved were dehumanised, demonised and dismissed with the complicity of the
state, .the Police, the Conservative Government of the time, the Stadium
management and the press, all of whom colluded to keep us from what
actually happened at the tragedy that was Hillsborough.
Kevin McKenzie editor of the Scum at the time , sanctimonious git supremeo, sanctioned
the making up of 'quotes' he then repeated the same lies time
and time and again, a pathetic , wretched individual who only made half apologies in order to further his own self interests. Shame , shame, shame. Because of this, The S*n, as it is
referred to in Liverpool, became an instant target. 30 years on and the
paper remains unwelcome in the city, the effect of which has led to big
supermarkets and small newsagents all over no longer stocking it.
Remembrance is thus not only conducted as a vigil for the lives lost,
nor the want for it to be rubber stamped in the history books. It is an
inherently political act and one which seeks to build solidarity with
campaigns fought on similar lines elsewhere. Margaret Aspinall, the chair of the Hillsborough Family Support Group,
whose son James, 18, was one of the 96 people killed, said the 30th
anniversary would be overshadowed by the ongoing legal proceedings. She
said: “We lost our loved ones at a football match, then for 30 years
we’ve lived in the past. It has taken a huge toll on all the families.
There are children born since, even grandchildren, and all they have
ever known is Hillsborough.” Is crucial that there is accountability and transparency in public life.
At a time when members of the Government flippantly spread
misinformation and lies because it suits their political viewpoint, the
search for the truth is more important than ever. 30 years on it is only natural for people to pursue justice. On this raw emotional day the memory of the 96 will not be forgotten. My thoughts remain with the survivors and those affected by the tragedy as the city of Liverpool comes together to mark this sad occasion.
Rachel Carson died on this day in 1964, having revolutionised science and culture.
She was born on May 27, 1907, the youngest of three children. Raised
in a rustic farmhouse just outside the Allegheny River town of
Springdale, Penn, USA, she had ample opportunity to experience the natural
world. She credited her mother with instilling in her the lasting love
of nature that flows through her writing like a rising tide.
She read biology at Pennsylvania College for Women and carried out graduate work at The John Hopkins University.. She then taught at the University of Maryland and at John Hopkins. She was a marine biologist and subsequent editor-in-chief of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and a pioneer of the conservation movement in the 1960s. She wrote the classic template for the ecological movement with " The Silent Spring " in it she delivered a bracing and alarming
story of how pesticides and other toxic chemicals were poisoning the
Earth. Carson's terrifying yet inspirational message instantly became a call-to-action for anyone who picked it up.
Silent Spring, which drew its name from the prospect of a poisoned world in which no birds sing opened up a ferocious debate and found herself the target of
vicious attacks. But she stood her ground. "Man's attitude toward
nature," she said, "is today critically important simply because we have
acquired a fateful power to alter and destroy nature. Rachel Carson's Silent Spring is credited with waking the world up to the threat we humans pose to our environment, and ignited an environment movement that continues to spark change today.
The book captured the attention of President John F. Kennedy and was
pivotal in the banning of the commonly used pesticide DDT
(dichlorodiphenyl-trichloroethane) in 1972. It led to a grassroots
movement questioning the safety of pesticide use and public calls for
greater governmental control of the industry.
Even now, both the book and the author herself remain icons of how a
single individual can change the course of a nation’s history.
Carson’s legacy still looms large. As for whether her concerns were
“hysterical and alarmist” as her detractors have consistently claimed,
or a sobering warning about the impact of human ingenuity, there can be
little question that the past 50 years or so have vindicated her. She taught us that no matter how desperate things seem, it’s not too late.
While "Silent Spring" is Carson's most famous book, she published
several other books, in 1929 as a 22-year-old summer researcher with the Marine Biological
Laboratory. She also worked for the Bureau of Fisheries, and conducted research at its station in Woods Hole. In 1949,
Carson became the first woman to go to sea on its research vessel, the Albatross III.
Her trilogy of books, “Under the Sea Wind,(1941)” “The Sea Around Us,(1951)" and
“The Edge of the Sea (1955)” were all influenced by her first summer in Woods
Hole and her many years working at the Bureau of Fisheries. Carson
gained knowledge about the ocean and environment during her years spent there.
The Sea Around Us has been described as
one of the most successful books written about the natural world, it
is a poetic narrative about the life history of the oceans.
Carson’s legacy still looms large. As for whether her concerns were
“hysterical and alarmist” as her detractors have consistently claimed,
or a sobering warning about the impact of human ingenuity, there can be
little question that the past 50 years or so have vindicated her. She taught us that no matter how desperate things seem, it’s not too late.
I conclude with a brief extract from The Sea around us.
'FOR the sea as a whole,the alternation of day and night, the passage of the seasons, the procession of the years, are lost in its vastness, obliterated in its own changeless eternity. But the surface waters are different. The face of the sea is always changing. Crossed by colors, lights, and moving shadows, sparkling in the sun, mysterious in the twilight, its aspects and its moods vary hour by hour. The surface waters move with the tides, stir to the breath of winds, and rise and fall to the endless, hurrying forms of the waves. Most of all, they change with the advance of the seasons. Spring moves overthe temperate lands of our Northern Hemisphere in a tide of new life, of pushing green shoots and unfolding buds, all its mysteries and meanings symbolised in the northward migration of the birds, the awakening of sluggish amphibian life as the chorus of frogs rises again from the wetlands, the different sound of the wind which stirs the young leaves where a month ago it rattled the bare branches. These things we associate with the land, and it is easy to suppose that at sea there could be no such feeling of advancing spring. But the signs are there, and seen with understanding eye, they bring the same magical sense of awakening.'
Dyfed-Powys Police have said they are investigating criminal damage to the Cofiwch Dryweryn memorial which has stood as a political symbol on the A487 just outside the village of Llanrhytsted , on the way to Aberystwyth commemorating the drowning of a village near Bala. Stones from the upper half of the wall appear to have been knocked from the structure, destroying the top half of the message. Officers are aware that the memorial has been repeatedly damaged with
graffiti over the last few months and that this is causing significant
distress both locally and nationally. The wall has also been targeted numerous times in the past, including in 2008
when the words were altered to "Anghofiwch Dryweryn" (Forget Tryweryn). Officers are currently at the scene gathering evidence. Inspector
Chris Fraser is leading the response and has said: “I understand the
strength of feeling about the Cofiwch Dryweryn memorial, and that
repeated damage to it has caused significant upset in the community. “I want to give reassurance that we are taking this matter seriously,
and will carry out a full investigation in to this mindless damage. “I’d also like to appeal for anyone with information about the criminal damage to come forward and speak to us by calling 101.” If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or speech impaired text the
non-emergency number on 07811 311 908. Quote reference 55 of April 13. Assembly Member for Ceredigion, Elin Jones, tweeted that the
vandalism was "a disgraceful affront to our history," and asked "what is the solution" to protect
the wall. Delyth Jewell AM added " Shameful. There is something distinctly barbaric about the fct that vandls smashed through the word Remember, A nation is made up of its memories, good and bad. Any attempt to erase that is an attack on far more than just a wall of stones."
There have been calls for a permanent Tryweryn monument as well as calls on the Welsh Government to take steps to safeguard the Tryweryn mural.
Cofiwch Dryweryn has been painted on the wall since the early 1960s
in a reference to the Welsh village near Bala that was flooded to
provide water for Liverpool. The ‘Cofiwch Dryweryn’ slogan was originally painted by the academic
Meic Stephens, who died last year at the age of 79, and Rodric Evans.
Actor Rhys ap Hywel is also known to have re-painted the wall as a schoolboy. This year on the 21st October marks the 54th anniversary of the opening
of the controversial resevoir in the Tryweryn valley to supply drinking
water to the residents of the city of Liverpool, it will be marking a
day of grave injustice. The battle began in 1955 when the City of Liverpool were seeking a
new water supply. In the summer of that year Liverpool'sWater Committe
announced its intention to drown the valley of Dolaneg, where the shrine
of Ann Griffiths, the Welsh saint and hymn writer, stands. This of
course, provoked uproar. Magnaminously Liverpool bowed to Welsh demands and said they would
flood the Tryweryn valley instead. This proved to be a carefully planned
scheme to hoodwink the Welsh into thinking they were dictating where a
resevoir could be built. In 1956, a private members bill was put before parliament seeking permission. The bill was bought forth by Liverpool City Council,
which allowed them to by-pass the usual criteria for planning
permission to the relevant landowners in the area. It would involve
disrupting railway lines and road links, and at the heart of it, the
flooding of the village of Capel Celyn. This was one of the last bastions of
Welsh speaking settlements, which had its own school, the site of Wales
first Sunday school, post office, a chapel, cemetery and a number of
farms and homesteads, it was a community in every sense of the word. Feelings were naturally instantly aroused to fever pitch as the
notion of the English drowning out the Welsh, made the symbolism of the
creation of the resevoir even more potent. But to members of Liverpool
council, the farms that they were drowning were no more than convenient
stretches of land along a remote valley floor that could be put to a
more convenient and productive use to supply its own citizens with
water, but to many was just an arrogant misuse of power, a flooding used
primarily as a way of boosting profits.
Capel Celyn It would be fiercely opposed, such was the passion aroused, on
November 21, 1956, the people who had supposedly given Liverpool
permission - in fact the entire community of Capel Celyn including their
children, marched with banners through the streets of Liverpool
protesting against the plan. It would also see a number of individuals
being compelled to take direct action against the plan, between 1962
and 1963 there were attempts to sabotage the building of the resevoir,
in acts of desperation, since previous passive demonstrations had
failed. On Saturday September 22nd 1962, two men were arrested
attempting to destroy the site, and then on February 10th 1963 an
explosion took place at the site. It remains to this day, the greatest
symbol of the struggle of the Welsh language, a way of life destroyed on
the whims of a Conservative Government without consultation by Welsh
authorities, its people, or the support from Welsh M.Ps, who were to
wage an 8 year battle against it. Opposition to the scheme received the
backing of the vast majority of the Welsh people, with the backing of
trade unionists, and cultural and religious groups. Control over its own water became and has remained an inflammatory
issue here in Wales. The political parties were to be united in their
opposition to the scheme because it was considered such an affront to
the people of Wales, because such valuable resources were being stolen
away from the country. The agricultural value of the land was rich
compared to some land that could have been considered. A feeling of
great sadness because a community was being shattered and families who
had lived in the area for generations were being forced to lose their
homes.
When on Thursday, October 21st, 1965, the Lord Mayor of Liverpool
came to open Tryweryn dam ( built at a cost of £20 million) where every
house and tree had dissapeared, to be met by a vast crowd of
protesters, in 19 October 2005 Liverpool City Council finally issued an
apology, but many thought it was just a worthless political gesture
that had arrived far too late. The tragic lessons of Tryweryn and it's reverberations are still felt to this day. The place names like bells still ring out- Hafod Fadog, Y Ganedd Lyd, Cae Fado, Y Gelli, Pen Y Bryn Mawr, Gwerndelw, Tyncerrig, Maesydail. These
bells now ring underwater and are heard by no one. An evocative image,
forever stitched in time, which remembers the bells of Cantre'r Gwaelod
and the loss associated with inundation. It would also feed the flames
of a resurgent nationalism, re-igniting the imagination, peoples
identity and defence of the language? Y iath, and would pave the way for
devolution, and the strengthening and protection of the Welsh Language
alongside the growth of Cymdeithas Y Iaith /The Welsh Language Society.
There is now a memorial on the side of the lake and a memorial
garden and the grave stones from Capel Cemetry have been moved here. At the end of the day it was not just a stretch of land that was
flooded against the people of Wales's will, but a whole community of
people, a culture and a language because of colonial arrogance and
misuse of power. Tryweryn remains as a byword for shame and a grave
injustice. Years later it would inspire the Manic Street Preachers to
ask " Where are we going"?" in their song " Ready for Drowning, " and
the following much anthologised poem by R.S Thomas. A tragic story that we must continue to share. Reminding us of our
history and our land, and how it has been exploited to serve the
interests of others.
R.S Thomas - Resevoirs There are places in Wales I don't go: Resevoirs that are the subconscious Of a people, troubled far dwon with gravestones, chapels, villages even: The serenity of their expression Revolts me, it is a pose for strangers, a watercolour's appeal To the mass, instead of the poem's Harsher conditions. There are the hills Too; gardens under the scum Of the forests, and the smashed faces Of the farms with the stone trickle Of their tears down the hills' side. Where can I go, then, from the smell Of decay, from the putrefying of a dead Nation? I have walked the shore For an hour and seen the English Scavenging among the remains Of our culture, covering the sand Like the tide and, with the roughness Of the tide, elbowing our language Into the grave that we have dug for it.
Campaigners are currently fundraising to rebuild the Cofiwch Dryweryn mural. A GoFundMe page
was set up by Elfed Wyn Jones, one of those who had repainted the mural erlier this year with members of Aberystwyth's Cymdeithas y Iaith after it was defaced with the word "Elvis" It had raised almost £2000 in a few hours. Following yesterday’s vandalism Elfed Wyn Jones said “I’ve had enough of the Welsh Government being supine and unwilling
to protect this mural. They jumped at the chance to save that Banksy in
Port Talbot." “This Mural is an important landmark in Welsh history which
symbolized the hurt and pain that the drowning of the village of
Tryweryn caused in the 1960s,” the fundraising page says. “After the mural was desecrated numerous times in the last few years,
we want to make sure it’s secure and protected for future generations. “Please donate to our cause!” The message of 'Cofiwch Dryweryn' is such an important one to Welsh people, and it should never be forgotten, a poignant symbol of when overwhelming voices were ignored by Westminster. Huw Jones - Dwr ( inspired by Tryweryn)
In dramatic scenes Australian Wikileaks founder, whistleblower and international journalist Julian Assange was arrested on Thursday morning at the Ecuadorian embassy after the Lenin Moreno administration removed his political asylum. Previously Assange had diplomatic asylum and had lived at the embassy since 2012, eventually gaining Ecuadorian citizenship after efforts by Sweden to have him extradited on allegations of sexual
assault. Assange has vigorously denied the charges, insisting they were
part of a plot by political enemies to silence him. We should however be forever mindful though of those who have sought some form of justice, when they feel they have been wronged despite the fame or infamy of those that they happen to accuse.
Assange originally.sought refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London fearing not
extradition to Sweden but to the US over his role as founder and public
face of Wikileaks. Rafael Correa, Ecuador’s former president, has since called Moreno a “traitor”: RT affiliate Ruptly captured his arrest as several UK police officers dragged him out of the embassy into a police van. In the video,
Julian Assange can be heard screaming, “The UK must resist this attempt
by the Trump administration” as he was hauled into the van.
Shortly after, the U.S. government confirmed that Assange has
been charged with computer hacking crimes for trying to illegally access
"secret" materials on a U.S. government computer. The charge is
officially listed as "conspiracy to commit computer intrusion."
The
indictment accuses Assange of trying to access the secret material
"with reason to believe that such information so obtained could be used
to the injury of the United States and the advantage of any foreign
nation."
The charges are aimed at the theft of information rather than the publication of material.
Those
materials included thousands of US military and diplomatic files
exposing controversial US military actions in Iraq and Afghanistan.Those
actions included evidence of torture, a video of a US Army helicopter
attack that killed two journalists in Baghdad in 2007, and the large
numbers of civilian deaths that resulted from US combat action.
They also relate to materials released by former Army intelligence analyst Bradley
Manning, now known as Chelsea Manning, who was convicted in 2013 of leaking classified government and
military documents to WikiLeaks. She had worked as an intelligence
analyst in Iraq and was arrested in 2010.The US government alleges that
Assange tried to provide
direct assistance to Manning in her efforts to access some of documents
by cracking an encrypted password. Manning had part of the password, but
needed help unlocking the rest of it. The charges say she provided
copies of the Linux system to Assange, though in the documents made
public so far, it does not appear he was successful in decrypting the
rest.Manning
was jailed again last month for refusing to testify to a grand jury
investigating WikiLeaks. U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton ordered
Manning to jail for contempt of court in March after a brief hearing in
which Manning confirmed she had no intention of testifying. All the
while, Assange was
secluded in the Ecuador embassy.
Assange is currently being held at London police station where he
will await an appearance at the Westminster Magistrates’ Court, on May 2 t prison video link , in relation to the extradition WikiLeaks has consistently highlighted
that its founder and former editor Julian Assange has been arbitrarily
detained 8+ years without charge by the UK Govt (6+ years within the
Ecuador Embassy in London)
and 2 years house arrest.
Members of the legal team for Julian Assange have described the US
charges against him as an "unprecedented" threat to press freedom. His lawyer Jennifer Robinson said all journalists and media organisations are put at risk by the development.Another member of Assange's legal team, Barry Pollack, said he believes
the US charges could chill press freedom because of the criminalisation
of interactions between journalists and whistleblowers. ,
Academics and campaigners have condemned large chunks of the indictment
that they said went head-to-head with basic activities of journalism
protected by the first amendment of the US constitution. They said these
sections of the charges rang alarm bells that should reverberate around
the world.
Yochai Benkler, a Harvard law professor who wrote the first major legal study
of the legal implications of prosecuting WikiLeaks, said the charge
sheet contained some “very dangerous elements that pose significant risk
to national security reporting. Sections of the indictment are vastly
overbroad and could have a significant chilling effect – they ought to
be rejected.”
Carrie Decell, staff attorney with the Knight First Amendment Institute
at Columbia University, said the charges “risk having a chill on
journalism”. She added that the tone of the indictment and the public
release from the Department of Justice that went with it suggested that
the US government desired precisely that effect.
“Many of the allegations fall absolutely within the first amendment’s
protections of journalistic activity. That’s very troubling to us.”
The arrest marks a dramatic twist in the trajectory of Assange’s
career, an arc that has seen him hailed at times as a heroic free speech
advocate, a villain to others, who when he decided to uncover the mass secrets of global war crimes,
espionage and dirty corporate deals, had to fight his own instinct to
keep these secrets unexposed so as to protect himself. He knew that he
could spend his entire life in prison, and ironically a few weeks
ago through a leak people were alerted that the US was gearing up to
give Julian the final blow. A secret plan was hatched to have Julian
extradited - and his struggle terminated.
Now a European country, the United Kingdom, has given in to pressure from
Donald Trump, and has handed Julian over. This amounts to nothing less
than a coordinated crackdown on a journalist and activist: and this is
part of the authoritarian shift that is taking
place world-wide – from the US to Turkey, from Hungary to Brazil, and
now from Ecuador to the UK.
The brave actions of whistleblowers
strengthen transparency and democracy but Julian is now in custody for
breaching bail conditions imposed over a
warrant that was rescinded. Anyone else would be fined and released.
Except that Julian Assange’s persecution is all about challenging our
right to know about the crimes governments commit
in our name.
Assange has long said Wikileaks is a journalistic endeavor protected by freedom of the press laws. In 2017, a UK, tribunal recognised Wikileaks as a "media organisation." Wikileaks under his stewardship has become a thorn in the side for
governments, particularly Western governments, revealing the ugly truth
of crimes committed by US forces in Iraq, the West’s role in the
destabilization of Ukraine in 2014, the destruction of Libya etc.
If Assange is convicted or extradicted we will inch slowly away from being an open society, and the only people who will benefit are the ones who really have something to hide, and they are the ones we should be worrying about the most. Numerous people and organisations have since reacted with alarm on news of Assange's arrest.Here are a selection. NUJ reaction: Julian Assange arrest
Following UK police forcibly removing the WikiLeaks founder, Julian
Assange, from the Ecuadorian embassy in London and arresting him, Seamus
Dooley, NUJ assistant general secretary, said:
“The NUJ is shocked and concerned by the actions of the authorities
today in relation to Julian Assange. His lawyer has confirmed he has
been arrested not just for breach of bail conditions but also in
relation to a US extradition request. The UK should not be acting on
behalf of the Trump administration in this case. The NUJ recognises the
inherent link between and importance of leaked confidential documents
and journalism reporting in the public interest. It should be remembered
that in April 2010 WikiLeaks released Collateral Murder, a video
showing a 2007 US Apache helicopter attack upon individuals in Baghdad,
more than 23 people were killed including two Reuters journalists. The
manner in which Assange is treated will be of great significance to the
practice of journalism.”
said: “Whether or not you like Assange, the charge against him is a
serious press freedom threat and should be vigorously protested by all
those who care about the first amendment.”
And at Parliament Diane Abbott, Shadow Home Secretary spoke
eloquently about the importance of whistleblowers, the contributions of
WikiLeaks in revealing war crimes and that her side of the House would
be very concerned about a US extradition for Julian Assange. Ms Abbott heaped praise on the activist for exposing activities relating
to “illegal war, mass murder murder of civilians and corruption on a
grand scale”.
And Leader of the Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn backed her words in Parliament with an unequivocal statement of support calling on the government to oppose the extradition of Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange to the US. The
Labour leader suggested that Assange – who faces charges of conspiring
to break into a classified government computer – could be sent to the US
for “exposing evidence of atrocities in Iraq and Afghanistan”.
The
extradition of Julian Assange to the US for exposing evidence of
atrocities in Iraq and Afghanistan should be opposed by the British
government.
Whistleblower Edward Snowden also called it “a dark moment for press freedom”.
Freedom of the press is under attack; first, it’s WikiLeaks, but overall this could set a precedent for journalists all over the world.We should not forget Assange for what WikiLeaks has exposed, and we must oppose the attempts to gag him. In the aftermath of his arrest, what
happens next could pose a serious threat on journalism and the future of free
speech in general.
Julian Assange, as was Chelsea Manning, as will be Edward Snowden if he
dares set foot outside Russia, is being punished for exposing the thin veil
of freedom, human rights and civil liberties.They lied about Iraq, they lied about Libya, they lied about Syria, and
they lie every day about the murky relationships between governments and
corporations.
So far, anopen letterto U.S.President
Donald Trump on behalf of Assange published by Defend WikiLeaks calling
to close the Grand Jury investigation and drop any charges planned
against any member of WikiLeaks hasreceived4,560 signatures of everyone from journalists, and academics, to activists in Assange’s defense.Please also consider signing the following petitions,
" Neither misery nor folly seems to me any part of the inevitable lot of man. And I am convinced that intelligence, patience, and eloquence can, sooner or lateer, lead the human race out of its self-imposed tortures provided it does not exterminate itself meanwhile. On the basis of this belief, I have had always a certain degree of optimism, although, as I have grown older, the optimism has grown more sober and the happy issue more distant. But I remain completely incapable of agreeing with those who accept fatalistically the view that man is born to trouble. The causes of unhappiness in the past and in the present are not difficult to ascertain. There have been poverty, pestilence, and famine, which were due to man's inadequate mastery of nature. There have been wars, oppressions and tortures which have been due to men's hostility to their fellow men. And there have been morbid miseries fostered by gloomy creeds, which have led men into profound inner discords that made all outward prosperity of no avail. All these are unnecessary. In regard to all of them, means are known by which they can be overcome. In the modern world, if communities are unhappy, it is because they choose to be so. Or, to speak more precisely, because they have ignorances, habits, beliefs, and passions, which are dearer to them than happiness or even life. I find many men in our dangerous age who seem to be in love with misery and death who grow angry when hopes are suggested to them."
Reprinted from Portraits from Memory 1958, pages 53-54
Time I think for us to wake up, as for our leaders
their simply taking the piss.
As the Israeli election takes place on April 9, 2019 the Palestnian people will mark the 71st year since since two extremist, underground, paramilitary groups, the Irgun (National
Military Organisation) and the Lehi (Fighters for the Freedom of Israel,
also known as the Stern Gang), both of which were aligned with the
right-wing Zionist movement; they have been described as “Jewish
terrorist” groups attacked in
the early hours of the morning Deir Yassin, a village at the western
entrance of Jerusalem containing 750 Palestinian residents. By the time
the villagers realized the intensity of the terrorist attack, hundreds
were already dead, the Zionist militia murdered over 250 - 360
Palestinian villagers in cold blood wounding many others. Many of the
bodies were tossed in the village well, and 159 captured women and
children were paraded through the Jewish sectors of Jerusalem.
Two days after the massacre, Jacques de
Reynier, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross delegation
in Palestine, visited Deir Yassin. In his personal memoirs, published
in 1950, he recalled seeing the bodies of over 200 dead men, women and
children: “[One body was] a woman who must have been eight months
pregnant, hit in the stomach, with powder burns on her dress indicating
she’d been shot point-blank.”
On 14
April, Assistant Inspector-General Richard Catling of the British
Palestine Police, conducted interviews with female survivors of the
massacre taking refuge in the nearby Palestinian town of Silwan. In a
subsequent report he concluded that there was “no doubt” that the Jewish
groups had committed numerous sexual atrocities against the villagers.
“Many
young schoolgirls were raped and later slaughtered. Old women were also
molested. One story is current concerning a case in which a young girl
was literally torn in two. Many infants were also butchered and killed. I
also saw one old woman who gave her age as one hundred and four who had
been severely beaten about the head with rifle butts.”
What happened in Deir Yassin prepared the ground for the ethnic
cleansing of 70% of the Palestinian people. The same ethnic cleansing
that occurred then is unfortunately going on today. In 1948 they used
direct massacres, but today they use airstrikes in Gaza and shoot
innocent young Palestinians in the West Bank. Yassin was not an isolated incident; such a heartbreaking tragedy was
flagrantly carried out in conjunction with “Plan Dalet.” Based on a
policy of ethnic cleansing and terror, “Plan Dalet” was implemented by
the Haganah to force Palestinians to flee their homes and to destroy
their villages with the deliberate intent of establishing the State of
Israel on Palestinian soil.
The massacre took place against the backdrop of the bitter conflict that
preceded the end of the British Mandate in Palestine. Just months
before, in November 1947, the UN had proposed the division of Palestine
into an Arab state and a Jewish state, with Jerusalem administrated
independently of either side by an international body. The Arabs
rejected the UN proposal and the conflict became even more intense.
The village lay outside of the area assigned by the United Nations to
the 'Jewish State'. It had a peaceful reputation, the Deir Yassin
villagers had signed a non aggression pact with the leaders of the
adjacent Jewish Quarter, Giv'at Shaul and had even refused military
personnel from the Arab Liberation Army from using the village as a
base.An Israeli psychiatric hospital now lies on the ruins of Deir
Yassin, the remainder of which was bulldozed in the 1980s to make way
for new settlements and incorporated as a neighbourhood of
Jerusalem. These streets shamefully carry the names of the
Irgun militiamen who carried out the massacre.A year later the
settlement Kafar Shaul was founded on this site. In the 1980's the
remains of Dier Yassin wwere bulldozed to make room for new settlements.
The streets of these new neighbourhoods were named after members of the
Irgun family.For Palestinians and their supporters, the massacre is a symbol. that
marks their deep sense of dispossession.News of the indiscriminate killings sparked terror among Palestinians,
causing many to flee from their towns and villages in the face of Jewish
advances.It is remembered as the
pivotal onset of the 1948 Nabka. Deir Yassin is the "other shoe that
fell," sparking over 750,000 to flee from their homes, 80 percent of the
population at that time, from their homes so that Israel, a colonialist
settler state, could be created on their land.Over two million
scattered in a far-flung diaspora today, in what remains at the heart of
the Israel/Palestine conflict.
The massacre at Deir Yassin is what many historians and commentators have described as a relentless effort to destroy Palestine as a nation, acting as a reminder of the inhumanity and
brutality at the heart of the ongoing occupation and refugee crisis.in what many historians and commentators have described as a relentless effort to destroy Palestine as a nation. Seventy one years it still remains an
important reminder of Israel’s systematic measures of displacement,
destruction, dispossession, and dehumanization.In keeping with Simon
Wiesenthal's observation that "Hope lives when people remember," the
suffering of the Jews has been rightly acknowledged and memorialised.
But there are few memorials for Palestinians who died in 1948 and since.
Their history, in which the massacre at Deir Yassin is a very
significant event, has been largely buried and forgotten. And yet, like
the descendants of the victims in Armenia (1915-17), in the Soviet Union
(1929-53), in Nazi Germany (1933-45), in China (1949-52, 1957-60, and
1966-76), and in Cambodia (1975-79), the descendants of Palestinians
want the world to remember what they suffered, what they lost and why
they died. The calculated efforts by Israel to completely erase the
history, narrative and physical presence of the Palestinian people will
not be simply ignored or forgotten. It also serves to ask ourselves the
question what turns a victim into an abuser,a bully that keeps blaming
its victims? And over the years we've been taught many things, that
invasion was not invasion, occupation was not occupation, apartheid was
not apartheid,ethnic cleansing was not ethnic cleansing,and that land
theft was not land theft and Palestine was not Palestine.
But many years later the Palestinian peoples collective voice can still
be heard from the refugee camps of Lebanon, Jordan and Syria, to the
towns of the West Bank and Gaza, to the ghettos inside the Israeli green
line. This determination and resilience has earned them respect and
support of an increasing number of people around the world. Despite the
humiliation and pain of their occupation, you can't kill their
indomitable spirit and struggle.
Phil Monsour featuring Rafeef Ziadah - Ghosts of Deir Yassin
The writing on the hands are the names of the original villages in Palestine that these people were ethnically cleansed
Ghosts of Deir Yassin
They pretend that it’s forgotten
But somewhere small flowers grow
On the weathered stones of destroyed homes
Somewhere the light’s still in the window
You see that we are rising our day is surely coming
No longer in the shadows
Of the ghosts of Deir Yassin
They change the names on the signs
But it’s in our hearts these words are written
Of the children who don’t know their homes
They will walk the streets from which they are forbidden
You see that we are rising our day is surely coming
No longer in the shadows
Of the ghosts of Deir Yassin
Six years after Margaret Thtacher's death Grantham’s most infamous daughter many of us are still unable to forgive her for the devastation she
wrought to our communities, the damage she caused to our industries,
our whole way of life. She fought against the miners, not giving a hoot,
or an inch of compromise, then put her sights on our welfare state,
whilst leaving an entire generation to be thrown on the scrapheap.
Her whole twisted ideology was to try and tear up the post 1945
consensus and privatise our public services, sell of our nationalised
industries, whilst smashing up Trade Union rights, embarking on a
systematic path of of destruction. Carving up the land, shifting the
balance of social economic wealth between the rich and poor, very much
detrimental to the latter.
Being kind, she was just a sower of destruction, not an ounce of
compassion within her, a creator of mass unemployment too, a fosterer of
division with her cruel policies. A liar too, about Hillsborough, who
also bombed retreating ships.While systematically eroding the notion of a
welfare state that cares for people from cradle to grave, Thatcher
boosted the coercive power of the state. This was most obvious in the
Miners’ Strike, during which she characterised the miners as ‘the enemy
within’ and sanctioned massive police brutality against pit communities,
and an approach to Northern Ireland which demonised resistance to the
British imperialist state and bolstered discrimination against
Catholics. She also let Republican prisoners starve to death in northern Ireland’s
jails,
Thatcher left behind a record of cruelty and ruthlessness not only in
Britain but also in such far-flung places as El Salvador, Grenada,
Argentina, South Africa. In these places and more
she unleashed British military power against peoples fighting for
justice and dignity, or she backed the violence of the U.S. government
in doing the same. Thatcher forged a close political and military
alliance with the U.S. under presidents Reagan and Bush Sr, and while she shafting all and sundry she still managed to be friends with
right wing dictators like Pinochet and P.W Botha.
I can never forgive
her. She remains one of the most divisive figures to have emerged, responsible froo creating misery ad suffering to millions, while selling of what belonged to the people.
She is still hated and always will be, despite her pulse stopping, her
awful legacy lives on, in the toxicity that is carried on by Theresa May's rotten tory party, still here spreading the same stinking
doctrine. The scars and pain she caused remain as the rich get richer and the poor, poorer.
The witch might be dead, but the stench of Thatcherism still
unfortunately, fills the air, her dark legacy still daily spread, her political heirs are trying to extend the damage she did in ways she only dreamed of with the same destructive policies impacting on the lives of millions of working class and poor people.It is surely time I think, that we bury her awful
legacy, once and for all.
Hubert Humphrey once said
that “the moral test of government is how that government treats those
who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight
of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the
sick, the needy and the handicapped.”
This beautiful book arrived in the post this morning, which is dedicated to to YPJ volunteer Anna Campbell who was killed during the assault on Afrin by Turkish forces in March last year. It is also in memory of other international volunteers who have been killed fighting alongside the YPG.
In
April 2017, Anna Campbell made the journey to Rojava the Kurdish region of Syria, to join the
Kurdish struggle against fascism. She was inspired by the revolution
because of the politics of direct democracy, feminism and
environmentalism and fought with the YPJ (Women’s Protection Units), Women’s liberation, direct democracy and the environment are central to the Kurdish movement and echoed Anna’s own politics. Eleven months
later in March 2018, she was killed alongside Sara Merdin and Serhilden
by Turkish Forces while defending Afrin, resisting the illegal invasion by the Turkish state which has cost hundreds of innocent lives. Their bodies were never
recovered. Here is a link to a post I wrote at the time of her death. https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2018/03/anna-campbell-death-of-freedom-fighter.html A year later, several hundred people protested and blocked roads Bristol in her memory and in solidarity with the progressive revolution in Rojava, northern Syria.
To commemorate the first year after Anna, Sara and Serhilden’s deaths, IMMORTAL: Mourning, Martyrs & Murals: an anthology, is a powerful collection of
prose, poetry, photos and art that is both a moving tribute to Anna and a
message that speaks to anyone suffering from the grief of losing a
friend or family member too early. Throughout the demo, the chant “Anna is with us. We fight on” rang
through the crowd. And this sentiment is echoed throughout the book. One
of the first pieces in the book states: But we are here because we are determined to
make sure that her legacy is one of taking action. It is not enough to
believe in an ideal. Everyone is responsible for taking action. You have
to build the world you want to live in and fight to defend it.
It concludes: The fire within her that moved her to go and fight has
now been lit within all of us and while it burns she will live on with
it.
The Following originally published by Freedom News.
Anna’s
loved ones have collaborated on this project as a counter-move to the
pervading media narrative. The book battles with the emotions and
experiences of those trying to move forward through grief in the midst
of media hysteria and political turmoil. It explores the anger, pain,
and guilt faced by those left behind; and scrutinises the meaning of
comradeship, friendship, and family.
Whilst instigated by comrades
of Anna’s, this book includes texts and images relating to Haukur
Hilmarsson. Haukur, an Icelandic revolutionary, was killed in Afrin just
one month before Anna in February 2018. Opening the book out to
contributions relating to Haukur intends to illustrate the connections
beyond family and friendship found through the shared experience of
traumatic bereavement; it’s about mutuality and commonality found in the
threads of everyday struggle.
We will never forget those who struggled until
the last moment to defend people, their land and their ideas
The publication was printed by Calverts Printers Cooperative, meaning
each book is of a high quality and made from ethically sourced
materials. Being a cooperative, the workers are paid a fair wage for
their labour.
Buy IMMORTAL: Mourning, Martyrs & Murals: an anthologyhere.
Preview the project here.
They still need to make a lot of money back to cover their costs, so please support this important book and help keep the fire of Anna Campbell alive, who ignited in us an inspiration for a better world for generations to come. We may be worlds apart, but its our responsibility to keep fighting for human rights. The struggle continues! Support the Kurdistan Solidarity Campaign.
Spent the morning revisiting the work of Arthur Russell inspired me to write the following words.
World of echo
It should not be a crime to be sad
eternities music at least releases a smile,
deep but unbroken, love returns
moving round in everlasting circles,
catching our revolving reflections.
Melancholia always has a place
flickering in the day with grace,
making noises of sustainment
generating light to break the pain,
before escape becomes infinite.
Alpha is past, Omega is future
lovers breeze continues to serenade,
garnered from a myriad of stars
to kiss and awaken sources within,
a world of echo will keep on calling.
