Some Praise for Dewi Sant / St David

 

It's become a bit of a tradition to mark the occasion of St David's Day/ Dydd Gŵyl Dewi, which celebrates my nations patron saint, who died on this day back in 601. The day is marked by parades, concerts and the wearing of one or both of Wales’s national emblems, the daffodil and leek.
The ancient tradition of eating and wearing leeks on St David’s Day supposedly goes back to the 6th century. It is said that St David told  Welsh warriors to wear leeks in their helmets in battle against the despised Saxons to differentiate themselves from their enemies,  and that the leeks won them victory. This is pure legend of course, but soon the association between leeks and war was firmly cemented in the Welsh mind. In the 14th century Welsh archers adopted green and white for their uniform in honour of the leek. And to this day the Royal Welch Fusiliers uphold the tradition of eating raw leeks on 1 March.
St David’s status as a modern national icon is a good example of how easily myth can trump historical evidence (or rather the lack of it). He lived and died fifteen hundred years ago, during a period of Welsh history often referred to as ‘the Age of the Saints’. The fifth and sixth centuries saw an intense bout of religious activity in Wales as holy men like David preached the word of God, founded churches and, if the monkish historians of the Middle Ages are to be believed, performed all manner of miracles.
Yet we have very little reliable information about who David was, what he did, or even when exactly he lived. It seems likely that his fame stemmed from the establishment of a monastery in modern-day Pembrokeshire in the late sixth century – a settlement which we know today as the cathedral-city of St Davids. However the earliest direct references to him are found in manuscripts dating from the eighth century, almost 200 years after his death, so it is difficult to be sure about much else.
Luckily the Welsh have never been inclined to let a lack of evidence get in the way of a good story. While little is known  about his life, much of the traditional tales about St David are based on Buchedd Dewi (Life of David), which was written by the scholar Rhigyfarch at the end of the 11th Century.
 Rhygyfarch's life of Saint David is regarded by many scholars as suspect because it contains many implausible events and because he had a stake in enhancing Saint David's history so as to support the prestige of the Welsh church and its independence from Canterbury, the center of the English church (still Catholic at the time). According to David Hugh Farmer in The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, Rhygyfarch's history of Saint David "should be treated as propaganda, which may, however, contain some elements of true tradition." So most of what we know about Saint David is really legend; and none the less inspiring for it.
Saint David's existence at least does not seem to be in doubt; it is attested to in written records from earlier dates. He was born in the 6th century in or around South Cardigan and North Pembrokeshire in what is now southwest Wales, the exact year of his birth is unknown, with estimates ranging from 462 to 515 AD.  Born into local royalty, his mother was Saint Non, daughter of a Celtic chieftain, a  woman of great beauty and virtue.Saint David's father was a prince called Sant, son of the King of Cardigan But David wasn't the child of a love-filled marriage. He was concieved after his father either seduced or raped Non, who went on to become a nun.
David's greatness was prophesied, both in the Christian and pagan worlds. Merlin, the great mage at the court of King Arthur, foretold his coming. St Patrick, patron saint of Ireland, who at that time lived near St Davids, or Mynyw as it was then known, is said to have wanted to found a monastery nearby, but was told by an angel that the place was reserved for another who would appear in due course. St Patrick’s disappointment was soothed by a vision which showed him that his true vocation lay in Ireland. St Davids father, was also warned by an angel that he would find three treasures by the River Teifi in Cardiganshire, which should be set aside for his son; a stag, a salmon and a swarm of bees. These seemingly strange gifts each had a great significance. The stag, said to eat snakes, represents Christianity's conquering Satan (the serpent); the fish represents Saint David's abstinence from liquor; and the bees represent his wisdom and spirituality.
Even from his birth strange things have been said about David. It is said he was born in a wild thunderstorm, the birthing process was said to have been so intense and fraught that his mothers fingers left marks as she grasped a rock. As David was born a bolt of lightning from heaven is said to have struck the rock, splitting it in two and at the moment of birth a spring of pure water gushed out of the ground. A blind old man who held David at the baptism. had his sight restored by applying this remarkable water to his eyes. This is one of the colourful stories about the childhood of Dewi Sant.
Non named her son Dewidd, though local Dyfed pronunciation meant he was commonly called Dewi. David is an Anglicised variation of the name derived from the Latin Davidus.
Brought up by his mother in Henfeynyw near Aberaeron, David is said to have been baptised at nearby Porthclais by St Elvis of Munster. It is said that a blind monk, Movi, was cured after drops of water splashed into his eyes as he held David.
David was educated at a monastery, usually taken to be Whitland in Carmarthenshire, under St Paulinus of Wales. He is said to have cured his tutor of blindness by making the sign of the cross. Seeing  David as blessed, Paulinus sent him off as a missionary to convert the pagan people of Britain.Having chosen life as a missionary monk, David travelled to France, Ireland, and the Middle East to learn and to proselytize.He went from place to place helping the poor, and teaching men to live as he did. David is known for converting his countrymen to Christianity.
It is said  that once when David  was preaching at a large outdoor gathering, in Llanddewi Brefi people complained they couldn’t hear or see him  until a white dove landed on David’s shoulder, and as it did, the ground on which he stood rose up to form a hill, making it possible for everyone to see and hear him , both near and far off, where a church now stands. The dove became his emblem often appearing in his portraits and on stained-glass windows depicting him. Doves are considered pure due to their typical role as a messenger or a symbol of the Holy Spirit.
There are many other stories about the man, no one can actually tell if any of them are actually true or not but create a nice tale to tell nevertheless. It is also said that he once rose a youth from death, and milestones during his life were marked by the appearance of springs of water.
In 550 AD, St David was named the Archbishop of Wales at the Synod of Brefi church council and stayed in the settlement of Mynyw and set up a large monastery. David was a bit of a disciplinarian and hard task masker, but the monks in this monastery  obeyed him and lived a simple life, drinking water and eating only herbs and bread. Dewi became known as Dewi Dyrfwr (David the water drinker) as meat and beer were forbidden. Although the monks farmed the surrounding land, David insisted that they did not use animals to carry their tools, they were to carry them.Also none of the monks were allowed any personal possessions and they spent evenings praying, reading and writing.
Eventually became so unpopular with his monks for the life of austerity he made them live, that they tried to poison him.David was informed about this by St Scuthyn, who as legend says, presumably in the absence of a ferry or a Ryanair flight, travelled from Ireland on the back of a sea-monster for the purpose.
He frequently visited other places in South Wales, and churches were afterwards built in  many of these villages in memory of him.  A legend says that Dewi  once went to Jerusalem with two companions, St Teilo https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2016/02/st-teilos-day-dydd-sadwrn-teilo.html?m=1 and St Padarn. The three left Wales together "with one mind, one joy, and one sorrow." When after a hard journey they arrived at Jerusalem they were received with joy and hospitality, and the Patriarch of Jerusalem gave Dewi, before he returned to Wakes, a remarkable bell which " shone with miracles," a staff, and a coat woven with gold.
 Dewi's last recorded words appeared in a Sunday sermon. Rhygyfarch, himself the son of a later Bishop of St David's, records the words as "Be joyful, and keep your faith and your creed. Do the little things that you have seen me do and heard about. I will walk the path that our fathers have trod before us."
Dewi is said to have lived for over 100 years, some say, hold your breathe, to the age of 142 or 147 (his clean living ways, sure must have helped him) and died on Tuesday 1 March 589, in the week after his final sermon. He was buried in the grounds of his monastery, which was said to have been "filled with angels as Christ received his soul".
 Mynyw is now known as St David’s, the UK’s smallest city (,near the southwestern tip of Pembrokeshire.) in his honour. The monastery has since become the magnificent St David’s Cathedral and was a prestigious site of pilgrimage in the middle ages and is still a site of immense interest to this day. It is said by some that two pilgrimages to St Davids are equal to one pilgrimage to the Vatican in Rome. His shrine  became so famous that three English monarchs - William 1, Henry 11 and Edward 1 are said to have made pilgramages to it. 

St David’s Day has been celebrated in Wales on 1st March since the 12th Century when David was made a saint by Pope Callixtus II, at the height of the Welsh resistance to the Normans. You will find churches and chapels dedicated to him in south-west England and Brittany, as well as Wales. His influence also reached Ireland, where the Irish embrace his beliefs about caring for the natural world.
The nickname ‘Taffy’ for a Welshman links back to St David as the original and ultimate Welshman – the term dates to the 17th century and derives from ‘Dafydd’, the Welsh for David.William Shakespeare name-dropped St David in Henry V. When Fluellen’s English colleague, Pistol, insults the humble leek on St David’s Day, Fluellen insists he eat the national emblem as punishment: “If you can mock a leek, you can eat a leek” (Act V, Scene I).
Whatever the true story of Dewi Sant is , there is no doubt that he was indeed a figure of much historical and spiritual significance that still carries with him much importance to the people of Wales today,  a cheerful and celebratory day as my country comes together in honour of their patron saint to celebrate Welsh history, culture, and identity with pride.
In 2000 the National Assembly for Wales voted unanimously to make St David’s Day on the 1st March a bank holiday., but  the idea was rejected by Westminster, surprise, surprise. Nevertheless, St David’s position as the patron saint of Wales has only grown stronger since then, with parades and concerts now a staple part of the festivities each year.
This time of the year also serves to remind me that the miracle of spring is just around the corner, unlike David however I will be having a few pints of cwrw/ beer. The day  might  bring  some rain to the land of my mothers, but don't let that stop you from putting on your leeks and daffodils and singing the praises of good old Dewi Sant.  Dydd Gŵyl Dewi hapus i bawb /Happy Saint David’s Day to you all. Heddwch/ Peace

Links to a few earlier St David's Day/  Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Posts

Gillian Clarke - Miracle on St David's David's Day 

 https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2013/03/gillian-clarke-8637-miracle-on-st.html

The Praise of St David's Day Showing the reason why the Welch -men Honour the Leeke on this Day 

https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-praise-of-st-davids-day-showing.html

Evan James (Ieuan ap Iago) An Ivorite song to be sung to the tune of Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau

https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2014/03/evan-james-ieuan-ap-iago-1809-2091878.html

Harri Webb -  The Red , White and Green

https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2017/03/harri-webb-7920-311294-red-white-and.html

The Welsh Language - Alan Llwyd

https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-welsh-language-alan-llwyd-b1948.html

Myriads of Consciousness

(The following inspired by a friends  prompt  could one fit RAGBAG into a piece of writing to bring along to the February Session  of the Cellar Bards )

Myriads of Consciousness

My divergent thoughts are akin to a rag bag
frequently refuelled at dawn,
in spare moments, on vaults of eternity
spinning words, from waves of optimism,
infusing a melange of fermenting emotions
as waters levels rise above the equilibrium,
on a hill remembering those that came before
on pathways of navigation, measuring time,
under the influence of drum beats symphony
flavoured by tobacco, grass and rum,
searching for reasons, visions once lost
finding gravity, in moment's of flight,
rediscovering the joyful solitude of one
magic in music, oceans of sounds,
the moon gliding through the night sky
dancing pulsating stars, casting their light,
the memory bank of inner imagination
avalanches of alchemical surrender,
unlocking the doors of perception
secrets once locked away, now shared,
lessons from history, the illusion of choice
insurrectionary choruses with non-passive voice ,
tibetan charms, the belief in reincarnation
beautiful goddesses, on a mission,
mind drifts, towards sinuous horizon
the petals outside calling, springtime returning,
on the threshold of the land of dreaming
beyond borders, tremulous echos resonate.

DWP condemned for destroying reports into people who committed suicide after welfare benefits stopped.

The DWP has admitted shredding reports on around 50 people who killed themselves following social security payments being withdrawn, promoting accusations of a “cover-up.” by some families who lost loved ones.
Officials at the DWP claim they shredded reports into suicides linked to benefit payments ,
made before 2015,  being stopped, citing data protection laws.
However the data watchdog has rubbished the claims, insisting that there was no legal requirement to destroy the documents by a specific date. They added that a “public interest” exemption could have been used.
One benefit recipient, Tim Salter, who had been left partially-sighted following a previous suicide attempt and who was experiencing mental health issues, was found ‘fit for work’ and his welfare payments were severely cut, just nine months before his death in 2013.
The admission from the UK government department comes following a Freedom of Information (FOI) request made by the BBC. It revealed that at least 49 internal reviews carried out by 2015 had been shredded.

The harsh changes to the welfare system, introduced by the then-Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith between 2010 and 2016, were widely criticized following concerns they were linked to suicides among claimants.

Stephen Timms, chairman of the Commons work and pensions committee, threatened ministers with an inquiry if he does not receive clarity on what improvements can be made.
Mr Timms said he was "sympathetic" to those who feared an internal cover-up, and speculated that the department was attempting to keep "hush-hush" any links between the deaths and decisions to stop benefits or deem the claimants fit to work.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the DWP should be looking to learn from past mistakes rather than disposing of evidence.
"I think families should be entitled to see these reports," said the Labour MP.
"The law does not specify five years or six years, and I think this kind of information should be held for longer.
"In any case, there's no reason why they should be destroyed. They should be kept and progress on implementing improvements monitored."
Mr Timms said one of the early things his committee will look at when it meets for the first time in this parliament is to agree on a letter calling for "clarification and improvements" from welfare ministers.
If the response is not deemed satisfactory an inquiry will be considered, he confirmed.
He told the BBC: "I think all of this raises very troubling questions for the department.
"For a long time they refused to address them at all. Now they're starting to address them but in a very secretive and unsatisfactory way.
"I think for a long time they were very reluctant to accept that what they were doing had contributed to these deaths at all.
"I think they are now being forced to own up to the fact. That is happening, but they're doing it very reluctantly and very slowly and trying to keep the thing as hush-hush as possible, and it's not good enough."
The news comes after  Labour’s Debbie Abrahams fought back tears in the Commons on Monday as she read out more than 20 names of people who died after experiencing difficulties with the benefits system.
 

The MP said some died after “taking (his/her) own life after being found fit for work” or through illness after losing their benefits.
Leading a Commons debate on the death of people on social security benefits since 2014, Ms Abrahams told MPs: “These are people’s family members and we are failing them, we’re absolutely failing them. We mustn’t let this continue.”
She added: “This isn’t an exhaustive list but it shames us all, it shames the Government in terms of the inaction.
“I’ve raised this so many times over the last five years and there’s been no change whatsoever.”
 Ms Abrahams accused the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) of failing to have the right systems in place to learn from deaths linked to benefit issues, asking: “Do you not feel ashamed?” She also said: “It’s a scandal. These are British citizens who are dying as a result of policies implemented by this Government. “Everybody should be taking note.”
 Ms Abrahams said she has asked for a full independent inquiry and wants a response by the end of the week, noting: “This is too serious to be ignored.”
Earlier, the former shadow work and pensions secretary said: “Over three-quarters of claimants who appeal their assessment decision telling them that they are fit for work have the decision overturned. “And that’s because these are poorly people.”
She went on: “Peer-reviewed research published by the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health estimated that between 2010 and 2013 work capability assessment was independently associated with an additional 590 suicides, 280,000 cases of self-reported mental health problems and 725,000 additional anti-depressant scripts. “These assessments are not only not fit for purposes, they are actually doing harm.”
Ms Abrahams, before reading out the list, also referred in detail to three cases – including 57-year-old Errol Graham who died in 2018 weighing just 4.5 stone, eight months after his Employment and Support Allowance was stopped after he missed a work capability assessment.
She said: “His daughter-in-law Alison has been scathing telling me of the anger she and husband Lee feel. “She said that what was particularly shocking was how the QC acting on behalf of the Government during the inquest tried to intimidate not just the family but others as well, shouting at the police officer who found Errol’s body about what else he’d seen.
“In particular what offended them deeply was that … the police officer was asked had they found takeaway menus or any takeaway cartons. “It was quite clear at that inquest the DWP, … and the Government, was far from listening and trying to learn from this but they were seeking to blame, which is absolutely unforgivable.”
Ms Abrahams also highlighted the cases of Jodey Whiting, who took her own life after her disability benefits were stopped, and Liverpool resident Stephen Smith – with MPs hearing his “emaciated” body was “more reminiscent of someone from a concentration camp rather than 21st century Britain”.
The Commons heard he died of multiple organ failure after being found fit for work.

 The individual  cases are listed here exactly as they were described in the Commons by Labour MP Debbie Abrahams. Changes to phrasing have been made by Hansard which produces a written record of the Commons. 

Errol Graham died weighing just five stone in 2018 after his ESA was stopped 
Jodey Whiting took her own life in 2017, three days after last ESA payment
Stephen Smith died of multiple organ failure after being found fit for work 
Jimmy Ballentine took his own life in 2018 after being found fit for work 
Amy Nice took her own life in 2018 after being found fit for work 
Kevin Dooley took his own life in 2018 after losing ESA 
Brian Bailey died in July 2018, taking his own life after being found fit for work 
Elaine Morrall died in November 2017, taking her own life 
Daniella Obeng died in December 2017, again taking her own life 
Brian Sycamore died in September 2017, taking his own life after leaving a note blaming the DWP after failing his work capability assessment 
Mark Scholfield who died in July 2017, was a terminal cancer patient who did not receive any UC before he died in spite of his illness 
Chris Gold who died in October 2017, was found fit for work following a stroke and was facing foreclosure when he died because he could not work 
Lawrence Bond collapsed and died in the street in January 2017 after being found fit for work 
Julia Kelly died in 2015, taking her own life after losing ESA for a third time 
Ben McDonald took his own life in March 2015 after being found fit for work 
Chris Smith who died in 2015, had cancer and was found fit for work despite a terminal diagnosis 
Michael Connolly took his own life on his birthday in May 2014 after losing his ESA
David Clapson could not afford to power his fridge to store his insulin and died as a result in July 2014
George from Chesterfield died of a heart attack in May 2014, eight months after being found fit for work despite having had three previous heart attacks 
Robert Barlow died of cancer in April 2014 after losing his ESA 
David Barr died in September 2014, taking hiThere is a mass of anecdotal evidence out there that indicate vulnerable people are being put under intense economic and psychological pressure by the actions of the DWP and their 'Job-Centre' foot soldiers.s own life after losing ESA 
Trevor Drakard took his own life in 2014 
Shaun Pilkington died in January 2014 
Terry McGarvey died in February 2014

DWP minister Mr Tomlinson said failings would be looked at by a Serious Case Panel.
But despite inquiries by  outlets such as the Disability News Service, the DWP has repeatedly refused to release details of how this panel will work.
There is a mass of anecdotal evidence out there that indicate deeply vulnerable people are being put under intense economic and psychological pressure by the actions of the DWP and their 'Job-Centre' foot soldiers, .that sees individuals, who are desperately in need of support,  not punishment, being tipped over the edge, often after benefits were withdrawn, leaving them stressed and penniless.
In what should be a national scandal, real lives have been lost because people could not see a future beyond the mess of their welfare payments. Every one of their deaths could and should have been avoided. While we must grieve for those lives, the starkest examples of the psychological fall-out of austerity, we should not forget. so many more who are suffering day-in, day-out. It’s yet more evidence that the welfare benefits system is unfit for purpose.
Shamefully, instead of taking all this into consideration, the Tory government’s punitive approach, (alongside that of the DWP)  is not likely to cease any day soon. They will continue to fail  the most vulnerable  among us, withdrawing support from those who so need it most, leaving people out of pocket and unable to afford the basic essentials and putting many lives further at risk. We have a long time to go to claim we live in a compassionate society when we allow  people to endure this systematic cruelty.

 In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie.

Protesters Demand Julian Assange Be Freed

Hundreds of people including Roger Waters, co-founder of the Pink Floyd rock group,  designer Vivienne Westwood, and former Greek finance minister Yannis Varoufakis. marched through central London on Saturday demanding that jailed Wikileaks founder Julian Assange be released.
Fashion designer and activist Vivienne Westwood wore a neon green paper halo with the word "angel" written in black marker. Assange was "the angel of democracy," she explained.

The case was injected with a dose of intrigue last week when the defence claimed US President Donald Trump had promised to pardon Assange if he denied Russia leaked emails of his 2016 election rival's campaign.
US intelligence agencies have concluded that Russian GRU military intelligence agencies hacked the servers of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in the runup to the November vote.
WikiLeaks then published the stolen emails. Assange has previously said that he received them from through his website's anonymous file sharing system and had no idea who obtained them first.
The DNC hack plays no role in the US case against Assange and Trump denied promising a pardon but the court said last week that the evidence  was admissable.
Waving placards declaring “Journalism is not a crime” and “The truth will set you free,” the protesters marched to Parliament Square, where speakers included Assange’s father, John Shipton.
Assange, 48, spent seven years holed up in Ecuador's London Embassy before being dragged out in April. Shipton has said his son’s health suffered during in that time and may not survive the prosecution.and fears that sending his son to the United States would be akin to a death sentence.
He said: “I look over the crowd and see many familiar faces in the crowd and the press supporting Julian and I thank you.
“I bring to you his affection, his nobility of purpose and his strength of character after nine years. I don’t really understand why Julian is in jail here.”
He described the imprisonment of the Wikileaks founder as “arbitrary detention.”

The US aims to prosecute Assange under the Espionage Act, accusing him of scheming with former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to hack a password for a classified government computer. WikiLeaks subsequently published thousands of classified documents related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Assange faces 18 charges from the US, including conspiracy to hack into government computers.
The hearing, scheduled for today, will consider only whether the charges are political in nature — not Assange’s guilt or innocence, If the court finds the charges are political, his extradition would not be permitted under the UK-US extradition treaty.If found guilty he could face a 175-year prison sentence.
A hero to many because  he has exposed abuses of power, yet Assange is cast by critics as a dangerous enemy of the state who has undermined Western security. He says the extradition is politically motivated by those embarrassed by his revelations. Assange argues he acted as a journalist and is therefore entitled to First Amendment protection. He also maintains the documents exposed wrongdoing and protected many people.

Civil liberties groups and journalism organizations, including Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders, have urged the U.S. to drop the charges, saying they set a chilling precedent for freedom of the press. Amnesty International issued the following statement about the Assange “The US government’s unrelenting pursuit of Julian Assange for having published disclosed documents that included possible war crimes committed by the US military is nothing short of a full-scale assault on the right to freedom of expression.” 

Assange is currently incarcerated in London’s high-security Belmarsh Prison, having previously spent seven years inside the Embassy of Ecuador. He holed up in the South American country’s U.K. diplomatic mission in 2012 to avoid being sent to Sweden to face questioning over rape and sexual assault allegations. That case has since been dropped.Assange was evicted from the embassy in April 2019 and arrested by British police for jumping bail seven years earlier.

Ahead of the protests, 76-year-old singer-songwriter Roger Waters accused “the powers that be” of trying to “kill” Assange ahead of his extradition hearing. Speaking on Friday, Waters dismissed the charges against Assange as “nonsense” and claimed he faced a “kangaroo court”.

“He has committed no crime, he published something, he’s a journalist, he did what journalists are supposed to do. There was no threat to national security,” Waters said.

“It looks as if the powers that be have every intention of submitting to the demands of the United States government to have him extradited to the US so they can lock him up until he is dead.”

In addition to speaking at the protest rally, Waters put out a video supporting Assange, and suggested Assange should not be held for a “minor bail infringement”.

Asked who he believed was behind Assange’s imprisonment, he said: “The ruling class, the powers that be… the corporate world, the rich people, the people who run everything, the people who tell (prime minister) Boris Johnson and (US President) Donald Trump what to do. Those people.
“I’m not suggesting there are men in hoods and secret societies but we all see what’s happening.”
Speaking to the press near Battersea Power Station in south London, Waters posed for photographs next to a version of the inflatable pig balloon that featured on the cover of Pink Floyd’s 1977 album Animals.
Waters previously called for the release of Assange during a rally outside the Home Office in central London in September, when he played his former band’s hit track Wish You Were Here from a makeshift stage. https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2019/09/pink-floyds-roger-waters-to-perform.html
Assange's lawyer, Éric Dupond-Moretti, said on Friday that he intended to ask French President Emmanuel Macron for political asylum in France.
Assange lived in France for three years and has a child living there,  France rejected a previous asylum request in 2015.
 The extradition hearings at Woolwich Crown Court will be held in two parts, with the second section not starting until May to allow both sides more time to gather evidence.

Earlier today, Mr Assange spoke initially to confirm his name and date of birth to the hearing.
Mr Assange nodded towards the press benches before taking his seat. The court's public gallery was full with supporters of Mr Assange, including his father John Shipton. who a day before claimed his son had been "harassed" by a prison cell search.
After a visit to the prison on Sunday, Mr Shipton criticised the "plague of malice" which he said "emanates from the Crown Prosecution Service" towards Assange.
Mr Shipton urged that his son be allowed bail, telling reporters: "For the life of me I can’t understand why Julian Assange is in jail having committed no crime, with family here that he can come and live with."
Greek economist Yanis Varoufakis said Assange was in a "very dark place" due to spending more than 20 hours a day in solitary confinement.

Mr Varoufakis called for the extradition to be stopped "in the interests of 300 years of modernity, 300 years of trying to establish human rights and civil liberties in the west and around the world".
Assange's lawyer, Éric Dupond-Moretti, tsaid on Friday that he intended to ask French President Emmanuel Macron for political asylum in France.Assange lived in France for three years and has a child living there. France rejected a previous asylum request in 2015.

More than 40 international legal experts have written to Prime Minister Boris Johnson demanding the "rule of law be upheld", claiming Mr Assange has not had proper access to his legal team.
The letter was handed in to 10 Downing Street on Saturday and also urged the British legal community to act "urgently" to secure the WikiLeak founder's release.
Former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, whom Assange was charged to have conspired with, was sent back to jail last May for refusing a second time  to comply with a grand jury investigating WikiLeaks and Assange. Many believe that Chelsea Manning and Julian Assange are both imprisoned and tortured for revealing the ugly truth about wars, empire, torture and political corruption. Hopefully soon justice will prevail. Here  is a link to Assange's Defence Opening Statement.  https://dontextraditeassange.com/JA_Defence_Opening.pdf

Exposing Crimes Isn't A Crime :Free Julian Assange

 Next week, on February 24, a court in the U.K. will hold a hearing to determine whether to grant Trump’s request to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States for trial on 18 charges under the Espionage Act carrying up to 175 years in prison.
Assange’s alleged crimes date back to 2010, when the organization he founded, WikiLeaks, transmitted documents to media outlets including Le Monde, The Guardian and The New York Times. The documents, which were provided to WikiLeaks by whistleblower Chelsea Manning, included 250,000 US diplomatic cables and US army reports about military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and exposed cases of torture, abduction and disappearances.
 The publication of these documents by media outlets was clearly in the public interest, and not an act of espionage.  If the legal persecution of Assange continues, investigative journalism and press freedom will be the victims, since news organizations regularly rely on and publish classified information to serve the public interest.
Since his arrest Assange has been locked up in Belmarsh Prison in London and UN special rapporteur Nils Melzer reported that he has been deliberately exposed to inhuman and degrading treatment that could be described as psychological torture.
Former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray has said “he has all the symptoms of a torture victim, in terms of disorientation & difficulty in asserting their will & speaking coherently"
 Massimo Moratti of Amnesty International has publicly stated on their website that "Were Julian Assange to be extradicted or subjected to any other transfer to the USA, Britain would be in  breach of its obligations under international law."
Human Rights Watch published an article saying. "The only thing standing between an Assange prosecution and a major threat to global media freedom is Britain. It is urgent that it defend the principles at risk."
Assange's arrest and possible extradition to face charges related to an alleged conspiracy with Chelsea Manning to publish documents that exposed corruption and criminality by numerous private businesses, tyrant, and countries worldwide is ultimately  an attack on press freedom. The arrest sets a dangerous precedent that could extend to other media organizations. The NUJ has stated "US charges against Assange pose a huge threat, that could criminalise the critical work of investigative journalists and their ability to protect their sources."
Assange is now in grave danger. The Trump administration is pressing for his extradition to the US, where he will be indicted on fabricated charges and face a heavy jail term or even the death penalty. Assange’s only “crime” has been to expose to the world the war crimes and diplomatic intrigues of US imperialism.
Rather than being extradited to the U.S to be tried and imprisoned, he should be released and allowed to return to his home to Australia. With  renewed attacks on civil liberties  by Boris  Johnson and the Conservative Government looking increasingly likely, this fight is part of the same fight to ensure we are not silenced over Palestine and that anti-trade union laws do not become any stricter. Stopping the extradition of Assange is a fight for us all. 
The risk of an unfair trial is very real given the targeted public campaign against Assange undertaken by US officials at the highest levels. This has severely undermined his right to be presumed innocent. 
Join in calling on the UK government to respect the principles of freedom of expression and the defence of journalism, and to respect Assange's human rights. If we no longer know what out governments are doing and the criteria they are following if crimes are no longer being investigated, then it represents a grave danger to societal integrity. 
Please sign the following  urgent petition to the UK  government. Don't extradite Assange to the U,S.  demanding that Assange is released  and that he is ensured his safe passage home to Australia. https://www.codepink.org/assange?utm_campaign=assange_alert_feb20&utm_medium=email&utm_source=codepinkurging 
There is also a march from Australia House in London on 22 February. Find out more here. https://www.facebook.com/events/931609000567992/

Please Don't Buy The Sun

( Dedicated to Caroline Flack and the proud people of Liverpool)

They are destroyers of rationality
They are the myopic voice of unreason,
They lie and smear the dead
They spread hatred and division,
They plague our towns with ignorance
They embrace the politics of misfortune,
They harass ordinary members of the public
They need to hear our condemnation,
They are a shit rag, not a newspaper
They are an insult to journalism,
They are hard right and xenophobic
They are homophobic bigoted scum,
They are poisonous muck rakers
They are cowards, an aberration,
They release nothing of any real value
They simply litter our streets with distortion,
They cause pain and too much sadness
They are shameless and can't be forgiven,
They are heartless, immoral bastards
They provoke outrage and much disgust,
They deserve to be put out of business
So please don't buy the bloody Sun.

The lasting Legacy of Peter Kropotkin

"It is often said that Anarchists live in a world of dreams to come, and do not see the things which happen today. We do see them only too well, and in their true colors, and that is what makes us carry the hatchet into the forest of prejudice that besets us." - Anarchism It's Philosophy and Ideal (1898 ) - Peter Kropotkin

13th February 1921, marks the funeral  of  zoologist, evolutionary theorist, revolutionary and,Anarchist Philosopher Peter Alexeivich  Kropotkin  (Пётр Алексе́евич Кропо́ткин) which took  place at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.
Kropotkin was born on 9  December 1842 into an aristocratic Russian family, and received a privileged education,as a member of the Russian ruling class but  became recognised as a brilliant student. At he age of 15,he entered  the Corps of Pages in St Petersburg, an elite Court institution attached to the imperial household.  In 1862 he was promoted to the army and utilising the privilege that members of the Corps could choose  their regiment, he decided to reject the career expected of him by his family and instead joined a Siberian Cossack regiment in the recently annexed Amur district.In Siberia he saw the horrors of the Tsarist penal system and witnessed  the poverty and injustice, caused by it, and became frustrated by the central  bureaucracy and  local corruption in St Petersburg.
Around this time, he also became aware of anarchist ideas there, when the exiled poet Mikhail Mikhailov gave him a copy of Proudhon's System of Economic Contradictions to read. In 1871, he renounced his aristocratic heritage in 1871,abandoning material success and would spend  his life in the Spirit of Revolt that is the title of one of his famous essays, he became convinced that the government was unable as well as unwilling to make meaningful change in the lives of peasants and workers. Kropotkin turned toward anarchism to find a viable path to social change. He believed that capitalism and authoritarianism creates artificial scarcity, which leads to privilege and inequality.
He worked with the Jura workers’ federation in Switzerland, smuggled forbidden radical literature back to Russia, and joined a workers’ circle in Russia, his political activities earned him a sentence in a St. Petersburg prison, which ended in a spectacular and risky escape in June 1876. Prison in Switzerland and France reinforced his views on repressive authority and helped forge his belief in the need for non-violent, humane, and less centralized forms of government. His 1877 plea for decent treatment in prisons, which he called “universities of crime,” was decades ahead of its time.
Like many an exile, after extensive travel across Europe, he ended up in England 1886 in the midst of radical debate across Western Europe. He moved between London, the south coast of England, and Switzerland, endlessly torn between debate in the city and clean country air for his prisonruined health. When not creating revolutionary theory, he wrote copiously, undertook technical translations, and contributed the definitive treatise on Anarchism for the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica.
He continued his writing on science in numerous journals at this time as well as contributing to the anarchist press. An expanded second English-language edition of Modern Science and Anarchism appeared in December 1912, published to mark Kropotkin’s 70^th birthday by the group around Freedom. Age had not diminished his hopes or activity, and he still stressed that the task of anarchists was “to aid the people to display in full its creative powers for working out new institutions, leading to free Anarchist-Communism” against the “two enemies” of Capital and the State.Through his many writings he attempted to put anarchism on a scientific basis, and pointed out the economical and social value of the human being, and the failure of Capitalism to reach this objective.He saw human co-operation as ultimately being driven not by government, but by groups of individuals, working together, in order to make the world a better place. He combined the qualities of a scientist and moralist with those of a revolutionary organiser and propogandist. He lived completely by his words and deeds, and was also known for his kindliness and towering intellect.
Kropotkin was a man of his time, a man of 19th-century science, philosophy, who was one of the great naturalists of his day, a sensibility that developed in him in congruence not only with his cientific interests but through lived experience,.In his book Mutual Aid  contended on the basis of his own naturalist research in Siberia that cooperation was as much a part of animal and human behavior as conflict. He was also in the forefront of challenging the prevailing Darwinian principle that evolution was strictly about competition and the survival of the nastiest.
Given Kropotkin’s belief that brutality, unbending repression, and inhumanity were the inevitable products of a centralized state, it is no coincidence that he was most impressed with commune -based democracy in Switzerland and with the self-help and cooperative movements in England.With the advent of the Russian Revolution, Kropotkin approved of soviets as giving the masses a voice but was appalled to see them subordinated to the direction of the Party. Like most anarchists, he held that replacing one autocracy with another, monarchy or republic, solves nothing, and that progress and justice for the working people can grow only from local power, cooperation, and equality.  Returning to Russia after the 1917 Revolution, he was honored by the new government, who desiring to legitimize Bolshevik authority with the reputation of a universally respected anarchist, Lenin maintained cordial relations with Kropotkin; Bolshevik propagandists took advantage of this to publicize the lie that Kropotkin was more or less in favor of the Bolshevik program. In fact, Kropotkin opposed their authoritarian program, as he made clear in a series of statements and protests. Far from endorsing Lenin’s seizure of state power, Kropotkin is quoted as saying “Revolutionaries have had ideals. Lenin has none. He is a madman, an immolator, wishful of burning, and slaughter, and sacrificing.”
Kropotkin died of pneumonia on February 8,1921 in the city of Dimitrov in Russia. In the 1920s Roger N. Baldwin summed up Kropotkin this way.
“Kropotkin is referred to by scores of people who knew him in all walks of life as “the noblest man” they ever knew. Oscar Wilde called him one of the two really happy men he had ever met…In the anarchist movement he was held in the deepest affection by thousands–“notre Pierre” the French workers called him. Never assuming position of leadership, he nevertheless led by the moral force of his personality and the breadth of his intellect. He combined in extraordinary measure high qualities of character with a fine mind and passionate social feeling. His life made a deep impression on a great range of classes–the whole scientific world, the Russian revolutionary movement, the radical movements of all schools, and in the literary world which cared little or nothing for science or revolution.”
Kropotkin’s funeral, on February 13, 1921, was arguably the last anarchist demonstration in Russia against Bolshevik tyranny, until the fall of the Soviet Union with thousands in attendance with the tacit approval of Lenin himself,making this funeral ceremony into a demonstration of unmistakable significance.Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman and many other prominent anarchists from abroad participated. They managed to exert enough pressure on the Bolshevik authorities to compel them to release seven anarchist prisoners for the day; the Bolsheviks claimed they that would have released more but the others supposedly refused to leave prison. Victor Serge recounts how Aaron Baron, one of the anarchists who was temporarily released, addressed the mourners from Kropotkin’s graveside before vanishing forever into the jaws of the Soviet carceral system.
When Kropotkin died, a few weeks before the Kronstadt rebellion, the repression of anarchists in Russia had not been completed yet.but in the course of the same year, this movement  was to be smothered by the Bolshevik  party, its leaders arrested, killed, on the run or deported.
Being the foremost opponents of tyranny, the anarchists were among the first victims of Soviet prisons and firing squads. Emma Goldman, Alexander Berkman, and many others tried to warn the world of the horrors of Lenin and Stalin, but most people only learned about the gulag archipelago much later from Aleksandr Solzenhitsyn.
Deportation befell Grigori Maximov (1893-1950) who had represented the Russian Confederation of Anarcho-Syndicalists at Kropotkins burial. Maximov arranged for a photo report of the ceremony that started at the home of the deceased in the village of Dmitrov and ended at the graveyard of the Novodevičy monastery, with an in-state and procession in Moscow in between. The photo report was meant to become a memorial album (Berlin 1922) to 'make humanity acquainted with the work of Kropotkin'.
In the video footage above, the film shows the procession from Kropotkin’s home  to his final burial place. in one of the country’s great monasteries. The subtitles name the Anarchist great and good attending the funeral, including Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman. There were also delegates from the Ukrainian Federation of Anarchists, exiled Anarchists from America, whose banner, in English, can be seen, and even some Mensheviks and, I think, Socialist-Revolutionaries. It was a truly mass meeting, perhaps the most touching moment of the documentary is at 7:40, which has footage of anarchist political prisoners temporarily released in order to attend  the funeral. A number of them never had another free day in their lives.
Kropotkin's  message that mutual aid and social cohesion should be encouraged over massive social inequity and the exaltation of the individual over society is as relevant to the central debates of our time as it was to the debates of his time. His legacy lives on, in the actions of the many who have been inspired by him and in his many writings, all of which are freely available online, a rich source of ideas for libertarians today.
Kropotkin, Emma Goldman summarised, “gave up his title and wealth for the cause of humanity. He did more: since becoming an anarchist he had forgone a brilliant scientific career to be better able to devote himself to the development and interpretation of anarchist philosophy. He became the most outstanding exponent of anarchist-communism, its clearest thinker and theoretician. He was recognised by friend and foe as one of the greatest minds and most unique personalities of the nineteenth century.”
 
Further Reading :-

Peter Kropotkin : From Prince to Rebel" (1996) by George Woodcock and Ivan Avakumovic, Black Rose Books, 1996

Cahm, Caroline. 1989. Kropotkin and the Rise of Revolutionary Anarchism 1871-1886. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 

 See also Emma Goldman's Death And Funeral Of Peter Kropotkin

Doctors of the World : Helping people in need at home and abroad

 

Despite being one of the richest countries in the world, the United Kingdom faces extremely high levels of homelessness, much more than it should face. Almost one in 50 Londoners are now homeless. A crisis that has regretfully been building for years,
Whether a person is experiencing street homelessness or is living in temporary shelters, squats, or insecure accommodation, homelessness has a deep impact on physical and mental health.
Homelessness can bee synonymous with loneliness and isolation. Often experiencing homelessness means facing a breakdown of personal and social relationships, and struggling to connect with a social network that can  provide support.
Loneliness has serious negative implications for the health and wellbeing of individuals. Many feel invisible. On top of that people who sleep rough often experience a high level of stigma, physical and verbal abuse. Many people experiencing homelessness will not see a doctor for long periods of time, due to difficulties in registering with a GP, travel distance from the clinic, and fear of stigma. Last year it was found that vulnerable people without a fixed address are being turned away from GP surgeries despite NHS guidelines that say they should receive treatment.
 Doctors of the World, is an independent humanitarian  movement working at home and abroad to empower excluded people to access healthcare. Their  volunteer doctors and nurses provide a first medical assessment, prescribe medicines, dress wounds, and provide advice. Their caseworkers help patients register with a GP, supporting them in building up their trust to access healthcare. They also strive to give a voice to the most marginalised, reporting on violence , injustice and unmet health needs wherever they find them, and campaign to ensure everyone can access the healthcare they need.
Durga Sivasathiaseelan, GP and coordinator, of Doctors of the World's; mobile clinic which opened on 16th October 2019  and runs on a weekly basis and visit predetermined spots across the city where rough sleepers and homeless people can attend. said: “It is incredibly hard for people experiencing homelessness and sleeping rough to access healthcare. And when diseases go untreated, they can worsen dramatically and affect people’s long-term health.
“This is particularly true for those who are experiencing street homelessness or live in unstable accommodation, where their lives can be chaotic, making it more challenging to address health needs.
“Accessing healthcare becomes less of a priority when you are worried about where you are going to sleep and if it will be safe and warm.
“The mobile nature of this clinic will allow us to reach the most vulnerable people in the City in a way that is flexible to their needs.”
Doctors of the World's  London Clinic is at the heart of what they do in the UK.Volunteer doctors, nurses and caseworker provide essential care and support to children, women, and men who have fled conflict and discrimination, or escaped torture, exploitation, and poverty. Many of them now live under the radar, in unstable accommodation, and struggle to survive, often homeless and living below the poverty line.
Helping people in need at home and abroad is central to Doctor's of the World's  ethos. As part of the Médecins du Monde international network, they strive to provide care to the most vulnerable, not only in emergencies abroad but also on our doorstep.They can count on over 3,000 volunteers working in 80 countries around the world,  focusing on conflict and emergencies, harm reduction, maternal and child’s health, and migrants.They work both long and short term, through emergency programmes, support to local healthcare systems, witnessing and advocacy.
The origins of MdM lay with the Médecins Sans Frontières .During the Vietnam War, the future founding members of MdM were approached with the idea of aiding Vietnamese refugees fleeing by ship on the South China Sea. The majority of the Médecins Sans Frontières were against aiding the Vietnamese refugees. However, Kouchner, along with volunteer doctors, journalists, and others organized a hospital boat, L'Île de lumière, to provide medical care and to report the refugees' suffering.
MdM was founded as Bernard Kouchner and 14 others doctors split from the group he previously founded,Médecins Sans Frontières  (MSF, or Doctors Without Borders). It has been reported Kouchner felt that MSF was giving up its founding principle of témoignage ("witnessing"), which refers to aid workers making the atrocities they observe known to the public.
They've since provided essential healthcare to Syrian refugees in the Middle East., and has also worked extensively with refugees in France and Greece, running both static and mobile clinics providing mental health support to refugees, migrants and  strengthening the local healthcare system.
Since opening in 1998, Doctor's of the World have directly helped almost 20,000 people in the UK. Health is a human right.  The enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social conditions. The right to health for all people means that everyone should have access to the health services they need, when and where they need them. Doctors of the World depends on generous donations from individuals who believe no one should suffer or die because they cannot access the health services they need. Please consider supporting people who need healthcare.
£32 could pay for prescriptions for two patients
£49 could pay for a week of travel expenses for a volunteer
£160 could contribute towards the training and recruitment of their medical volunteers
£280 could help toward the running costs and medical supplies for their clinic

Donate online: www.doctorsoftheworld.org.uk/BMJ

Donate by phone: 020 7167 5789

Dawood al-Marhoon to spend another birthday on death row in Saudi Arabia

Today is Dawood al-Marhoon’s  25th birthday. It’s his sixth on death row in Saudi Arabia.  Dawood  was just a 17 year old boy when he was arrested for allegedly participating in an anti-government protest. He was tortured and forced to sign a blank document that would later contain his ‘confession’. Ultimately Dawood was sentenced to death by beheading. He could be executed at any moment, without prior notification.
As a teenager, Dawood was sociable and popular. He loved playing football and computer games. He excelled in his studies, and dreamed of pursuing his love for technology and computers by studying a degree in engineering. Thousands of young Saudis took to the streets demanding reform across the Kingdom in Arab Spring protests from February 2011, – Dawood was allegedly one of them.
He was questioned by Saudi police and asked to “spy” on protesters. After he refused, Saudi security forces arrested him from the Dammam Central Hospital, where he was undergoing treatment for an eye injury sustained in a traffic accident. Saudi forces surrounded the hospital and arrested him as he prepared for surgery.
Dawood was transferred to a juvenile offenders’ facility, where he was held incommunicado for nearly two weeks. During this time, he was tortured and abused. While still a child, he was beaten and kicking, trampled, and verbally abused. At least one interrogation session lasted for 18 hours.
The Saudi authorities tortured him for weeks and refused to allow him to communicate with anyone on the outside world. For two weeks, Dawood’s family had no idea where Saudi authorities were holding him, and he was prevented from speaking to a lawyer.
The investigators made him sign a blank document that would later contain his confession to the crime of attending anti-government protests, and association with fellow young protester Ali Mohammed Al-Nimr..
He was held for one year and four months before being transferred to the General Department of Investigations headquarters in Dammam. All access to legal counsel was denied during this period.
On 21 October 2014, after a total of seven hearings he was sentenced to death by beheading by Saudi Arabia’s widely criticized Specialized Criminal Court (SCC).
Throughout his time in detention and during his trial, Saudi authorities prevented Dawood from speaking with a lawyer. Reprieve understands that the Public Prosecution requested death by crucifixion.
The decision was appealed but the lawyers were not informed of any further trial proceedings. On 29 September 2015, the SCC confirmed the death sentence of death by beheading against Dawood.
In late September 2015, the Saudi authorities transferred Dawood from Dammam prison to Riyadh’s Al-Hayir prison, where he is being kept in solitary confinement with other people facing execution. Secrecy surrounding Saudi’s execution practices prevents the family or the prisoner from receiving prior notification of when the execution will be carried out, so Dawood could now be executed at any time.
The human rights crisis in Saudi Arabia is getting worse despite promises of reform. In 2019, there was a total of  184 executions in the Kingdom. There has been an exponential rise in executions in the kingdom since 2015.  

Saudi Arabia systematically discriminates against its minority citizens and to whomever is deemed a threat to the regime. Of those who are targeted by the Saudi police are political activists, Shia, women’s rights activists, and critics of the monarchy. More recently, 37 people were executed for allegedly spying for Iran and participating in anti-government demonstrations in the year 2019, 
including at least three who were children at the time of their alleged offences, just like Dawood

It is important to condemn the alarming escalation in the use of the death penalty in Saudi Arabia, and the unjust actions practiced, which clearly violate international fair trial standards, to extract confessions from their prisoners. The Saudi government must immediately release Dawood and provide him compensation for his unjust imprisonment, as well as release all prisoners on death row arrested and charged on spurious political charges. Dawood's situation is urgent.Many others, too numerous to be named, have also been sentenced to death on ambiguous charges and following unfair trials. The reality is, more and more violations of the right to life will occur without action.  Let's not forget them .
Saudi Arabia continues to use the death penalty as a tool of repression for non-violent and political activities, with children among the many executed. This systematic and flagrant disregard for basic human rights and respect for the rule of law must be addressed by the international community.Global pressure must be applied to convince Saudi Arabia to uphold international human rights standards, and place a moratorium on any further death sentences and executions. Such actions , as both Reprieve and Amnesty International /have noted, are a brazen violation of international human rights law. https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/death-penalty/
Take action here :- https://act.reprieve.org.uk/page/content/saudiexecutions

Melvin B. Tolson - A Song For Myself (February 6, 1898 – August 29, 1966)

Poet and educator Melvin Beaunoris who inspired generations of students to stand up for equal rights and dignity. was born in Missouri on 6 February 1898. one of four children of Reverend Alonzo Tolson, a Methodist minister, and Lera (Hurt) Tolson, a seamstress of African-Creek ancestry. Alonzo Tolson was also of mixed race, the son of an enslaved woman and her white master. He served at various churches in the Missouri and Iowa area until settling longer in Kansas City. Reverend Tolson studied throughout his life to add to the limited education he had first received, even taking Latin, Greek and Hebrew by correspondence courses. Both parents emphasized education for their children.
In 1924 he began teaching at the historically black Wiley College in Marshall, Texas. His students included James Farmer, founder of the Congress of Racial Equality, and Heman Sweatt, who challenged the segregated University of Texas Law School. He encouraged his students not only to be well-rounded people but to also to stand up for their rights.
 He not only taught at Wiley College, he coached the junior varsity football team, directed the theater club, cofounded the black intercollegiate Southern Association of Dramatic Speech and Arts, and organized the Wiley Forensic Society, which was the Wiley College debating club. The debating club earned national acclaim by winning and breaking the color barrier very successfully. A dedicated mentor, Tolson coached Wiley's debate team through an impressive ten-year winning streak, from 1929 to 1939. Tolson wrote all of the speeches and the team memorized the speeches and used them. Tolson became such a master debater, that he would write the rebuttals for his opponents opposing arguments before the debate. In 1935, they defeated the national champions from the University of Southern California. Under Jim Crow segregation, African Americans did not often meet elite white schools in competition, so the team's success symbolized progress and equality. The film The Great Debaters depicted this David-and-Goliath story with Tolson portrayed by Denzel Washington.
After interviewing significant artists of the Harlem Renaissance for his Master’s thesis, Tolson was inspired to write poetry exploring the African American urban experience. His poetry began appearing in  African/ American newspapers  in the 1930s. In 1939 he published his first significant poem Dark Symphony; celebrating the accomplishments of the African race throughout history,while detailing the challenges they continued to face. it would win  a national poetry contest sponsored by the American Negro Exposition. The poem was later published in Atlantic Monthly; the poem also got the attention of an editor who published his first collection of verse, Rendezvous with America, in 1944.
 In 1947, Tolson was accused of having been active in organizing farm laborers and tenant farmers during the late 1930s (though the nature of his activities is unclear) and of having radical leftist associations, but after maintaining a successful teaching and coaching career at Wiley, Tolson accepted a position at Langston University .in Langston, Oklahoma. During that same year, he was appointed the Poet Laureate of Liberia, which inspired his second poetry book. Published in 1953, Libretto for the Republic of Liberia, honored the centennial of Liberia’s founding. Tolson's greatest achievement, Liberia had been founded in 1822 as part of a long-running and controversial debate about whether to establish an African homeland for former slaves.  By the time Tolson came to write his poem, however, the question he faced was rather different. What symbolic and cultural meaning did Liberia's founding now have for blacks here and across the world? In seeking an answer, reflecting on the history of slavery and writing while the memory of World War II and of the evil of European fascism was still fresh, Tolson came to major conclusions about the shape of Western civilization through the prism's of his dense, allusive poem.
In addition to his professional work, Tolson served two consecutive terms as Mayor of Langston, in Langston, Oklahoma from 1954 to 1960. Tolson’s final poetry book, Harlem Gallery, published in 1965, helped establish him as a widely recognized modernist poet, his masterpiece chronicles, as he put it, black Americans' "New World odyssey, / from chattel to Esquire!
President Lyndon Johnson invited Tolson to the White House in 1965 to present his latest poetry, a crowning achievement in his long and remarkable career. Tolson died the following year in Dallas on Augusr  29 after undergoing surgery for cancer, having left a legacy to be proud of.
The Library of Congress holds the papers of Melvin B. Tolson, which include correspondence, drafts of writings, speeches, research notes, and materials relating to Tolson's literary career, the Harlem Renaissance, and other aspects of African American art, literature, and culture.
After Tolson's death, Langston University in Oklahoma began an archive of African American culture and literature that bore his name. Today, that collection has grown into the Melvin B. Tolson Black Heritage Center. The Center houses over 7,000 volumes related to African American newspapers and periodicals. With increasing interest in Tolson and his literary period, in 1999 the University of Virginia published a collection of his poetry entitled Harlem Gallery and Other Poems of Melvin B. Tolson, edited by Raymond Nelson.
In the  following poem "A Song for Myself," the narrator discusses the human soul. Those who are bad men cannot escape the afterlife. In death, there is truth. If the person is a bad person in life and has a bad soul, they will be condemned in the afterlife. The narrator hopes he has a good enough soul to have a good afterlife.

A Song For Myself -  Melvin B. Tolson


I judge
My soul
Eagle
Nor mole:
A man
Is what
He saves
From rot.

The corn
Will fat
A hog
Or rat:
Are these
Dry bones
A hut's
Or throne's?

Who filled
The moat
Twixt sheep
And goat?
Let Death,
The twin
of Life,
Slip in?

Prophets
Arise,
Mask-hid,
Unwise,
Divide
The earth
By class
and birth.

Caesars
Without,
The People
Shall rout;
Caesars
Within,
Crush flat
As tin.

Who makes
A noose
Envies
The goose.
Who digs
A pit
Dices
For it.

Shall tears
Be shed
For those
Whose bread
Is thieved
Headlong?
Tears right
No wrong.

Prophets
Shall teach
The meek
To reach.
Leave not
To God
The boot
And rod.

The straight
Lines curve?
Failure
Of nerve?
Blind-spots
Assail?
Times have
Their Braille.

If hue
Of skin
Trademark
A sin,
Blame not
The make
For God's
Mistake.

Since flesh
And bone
Turn dust
And stone,
With life
So brief,
Why add
To grief?

I sift
The chaff
From wheat
and laugh.
No curse
Can stop
The tick
Of clock.
Those who
Wall in
Themselves
And grin
Commit
Incest
And spawn
A pest.

What's writ
In vice
Is writ
In ice.
The truth
Is not
Of fruits
That rot.

A sponge,
The mind
Soaks in
The kind
Of stuff
That fate's
Milieu
Dictates.

Jesus,
Mozart,
Shakespeare,
Descartes,
Lenin,
Chladni,
Have lodged
With me.

I snatch
From hooks
The meat
Of books.
I seek
Frontiers,
Not worlds
On biers.

The snake
Entoils
The pig
With coils.
The pig's
Skewed wail
Does not
Prevail.

Old men
Grow worse
With prayer
Or curse:
Their staffs
Thwack youth
Starved thin
For truth.

Today
The Few
Yield poets
Their due;
Tomorrow
The Mass
Judgment
Shall pass.

I harbor
One fear
If death
Crouch near:
Does my
Creed span
The Gulf
Of Man?

And when
I go
In calm
Or blow
From mice
And men,
Selah!
What . . . then?