There is silence in the streets, long nights of uncertainty
There is power in music, collective threads of solidarity,
Vibrations non-conforming, searching for different realities
Where laborious thoughts keep on gathering,
There are joyful rivers and flowing streams
There is our shared humanity, among days of disbelief,
In Gaza people daily facing unrelentless suffering
Waiting for the darkness to be overcome,
There is despair woven into the landscape of life
Where countries are scarred by war and division,
The lonely and forgotten ensnared by disease
There are so many things we fail to see,
In this world, there is pain so great and terrible
Paths laden with discomfort and so much fear,
There are times when no reason arrives at all
Weary now, timid with all that we collectively face,
There are those that reach beyond this bleakness
Beyond the shattered hopes, gloomy hours in isolation,
There is still beauty, new dawns approaching
The continuing intermingling of minds persistence,
Where our love can heal, holding on to mutual beliefs
Where the affliction of existential life can cease.
“We cannot forget migrants, we cannot forget undocumented workers, we
cannot forget prisoners in prisons.” Dr Michael J Ryan, Executive
Director, WHO Health Emergencies Programme on why we mustn’t forget the
vulnerable and excluded when tackling Coronavirus.
Doctors of the
World is committed to helping these groups. That’s why they've
launched their Coronoavirus Global Solidarity Fund. This emergency fund
will help keep their services for the most vulnerable running through, and
beyond, the current crisis. Please, if you can, do give today .
We’re all worried and a little scared.
Coronavirus
is making us all feel nervous, agitated and worried. It is an
unprecedented time in our recent history and we need to come together to
overcome this terrifying pandemic.
This is all putting a great
strain on healthcare around the world. We know from experience that when
this happens it is often the most vulnerable groups of people that are
hit hardest.
Doctors of the World, are working with their
colleagues and partners to do all they can to mitigate the impact of this
global pandemic.
As you can imagine, this costs money. That’s why they are asking us to give to their Coronoavirus Global Solidarity Fund. They will use this money to continue to provide our services and help those most in need.
Some of this will help them continue our ‘business as usual’ work and some will be for new projects that arise from the emergency.
They have already translated advice for patients in 20 languages.
These were produced in partnership with the Red Cross, Migrant Help and
Clear Voice at no charge to patients. As guidance changes, we will
update these.
As Dr Ryan ends by saying:
‘We’re in this together, and I hope we can finish this together’
Please, if you can, give generously now. Together we can help those who need us most.
With confirmed cases crossing 200,000 and more than 8,000 people already
dead, the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak seems to have launched a war
against humanity.
The worst affected countries are mainland China, with 3,237 deaths, out
of 80,894 cases, of whom 69,601 have been cured. Italy follows with
2,503 deaths, 31,506 cases, Iran 1,135 deaths, around 17,000 cases,
Spain 558 deaths and 13,716 cases and France with 175 deaths and 7,730
cases. Turkey, Bangladesh, Moldova and Burkina Faso have all reported
their first deaths.
The pandemic has resulted in countries imposing travel restrictions and
shutting down major events, shops and schools. But this is not the time
to panic.
History has proved that through sincere, firm and coordinated actions,
the world community can surmount any challenge. The deadly virus can
certainly be beaten back by solidarity within communities and within
nations.
Robust, bold and effective containment and control measures initiated by
most countries are already raising hopes that the tough times could be
overcome.
Governments in Europe, Asia and North America have rolled out strong
measures to put the brakes on the ferocious spread of the pandemic.
Now is the time for each one of us to respond to the worldwide
coronavirus crisis by being in solidarity with others, across countries and continents especially with
those who are most vulnerable and most at risk in order to fight COVID 19,
We live in an interwoven, interconnected world where an injury to one is
truly an injury to all. We must confront the coronavirus with
solidarity and fight for a society where the health of all is more
important than profits for a few.
A pandemic makes the slogan of solidarity literal: an injury to one is an injury
to all. We become isolated, that makes us all vulnerable.
We can protect ourselves and others by changing our behaviour, asking governments to act, and donating.
Now more than ever , we need one another.
We must build on the trust, relationships and power we have built over years to support our communities at this time of unprecedented strain and stress.
While we may have to distance ourselves , we can increase our social solidarity, and our commitment to work together for the common good, sharing the concept of mutual aid.
In the midst of a frayed world
The hurried breaths of life,
Times of distrust and confusion
General malaise and disruption,
The sap is rising, new life returns
As buds awaken from winter's sleep,
Spring embraces, weaves its great design
Like a shawl, that offers protection,
From darkness we greet the light
Blossoms emerge from slumber,
And eggs dyed red as the womb
Are offered as gifts.
We hail the green goddess
Salute nature's renewal,
The spring equinox we celebrate
Planting desires, scattering seeds,
Time of rebirth and days of hope
To refresh us with new beginnings,
Of spirit and wonder.
The earth stands afresh
Hares leap, Ostara walks, *
Flowers bloom, the sun kisses
Moistens and refreshes,
As we praise the day
And bless the night,
Honor and express
Sustain one another.
( Ostara or Eostre , was the Goddess of Dawn (Saxon) who was responsible for bringing spring each year.)
Feet become restless
In chaos and confusion,
With minds plagued by avarice
Heedless of humanity.
As parliament pends closure
And maroons the barren land,
Immoral forces sweep the nation
As old and infirm suffer the sting.
In desperation and despair
When guidance is pivotal,
A yellow 2 legged centipede
Crawls with frivolous complacency.
Social distancing becomes the new order
Songs of light arrive to comfort,
Beyond the vortex of feverous fire
the crying of the living, the solemnity of the dead.
It has become customary of me to pay tribute to the passing of Rachel Aliene Corrie,
a courageous 23 year old American Peace activist and humanitarian from Olympia, Washington who was
crushed to death by an Israeli military, caterpiller D 912 bulldozer in
2003, while undertaking non-violent direct action trying to protect the
home of innocent Palestinian homes from demolition in Rafah in the Gaza strip. whilst serving with the ISM - International Solidarity Movement.
Rachel had come to Gaza during part of her senior college assignement that connected her home of Olympia with Rafah, Rachel had engaged with other International Solidarity Movement activists in efforts to prevent continued demolition of Palestinian homes in operations that the Israeli military claimed were aimed at eliminating weapons smuggling tunnels. She was horrified at the destruction she witnessed. Homes were destroyed and people detained and killed on a daily basis. Rachel recorded what she observed and felt in letters and emails to her family. In one email she wrote, "Now the Israeli army has actually dug up the road to Gaza, and both of the major checkpoints are closed. This means that Palestinians who want to go and register for their next quarter at university can't. People can't get to their jobs and those who are trapped on the other side can't get home, and internationals who have a meeting tomorrow in the West Bank, wont make it."
In another email she wrote, "Just feel sick to my stomach a lot from being doted on all the time, very sweetly, by people who are facing doom... Honestly a lot of the time the sheer kindness of the people here, coupled with the overwhelming evidence off the willful destruction of their lives, makes it seem unreal to me."
On 16 March 2003 in the Gaza Strip's southern city of Rafah, Corrie stood before an Israeli bulldozer whilst wearing a bright orange fluoresent jacket and using a megphone in hopes of stopping it from demolishing the home of a local Palestinian family.
Corrie believed that her foreign features and blonde hair would deter the bulldozer, but she was wrong. She was crushed to death when the bulldozer driver ran over her repeatedly, according to witnesses.
The people of Gaza received news of her murder with grief and horror, describing her as a "martyr "and staging a massive funeral for the American activist. Since then the name Rachel Corrie has become synonymous with the Palestinian cause, an icon of global solidarity withe the people of Palestine. Her name was chosen as the name for an Irish aid ship that set out to Gaza in 2010, while her story has been told in several documentary films portraying Palestinian suffering.
So today day I reflect upon Rachel's brave stand in Gaza and her courage to resist, and all those who continue to live and
struggle there. And all those passionate change makers across the globe
who each day act with conscience and work tirelessly to try and make a
difference.
Justice has never been served for her, along with many others who have been killed under the Israeli occupation. In 2005 Corrie's parents filed a civil lawsuit against the state of Israel, for a symbolic one U.S dollar in damages, to make the point that the case was about justice for their daughter and the Palestinian cause, she had been defending. Charging Israel with not conducting a full and credible investigation into the case and with responsibility for her death. In August 2012, an Israeli court rejected their suit.
Her death they said was a " regrettable accident " for which the state of Israel was not responsible. According to Judge Oded Gershon of Haifa Court she had " put herself in a dangerous situation " whilst dressed in a bright orange and acting as a human shield, jacket when she was crushed to death. Israel to all intents and purpose declared itself not guilty of her murder. giving its stamp of approval to the flawed and illegal practices of the Israeli military. the verdict failed to hold Israel's military accountable for its continuing violation of human rights.
The home Rachel died trying to protect was razed to the ground, along with hundreds of others. and today Israel still acts with impunity, There is still no justice when their courts show such contempt for justice's meaning. There is no justice either , when the Gaza strip remains a sealed open prison, there is no justice when countless Palestinian families are made homeless, their houses destroyed. Where is the justice for them or their friends after the uneccessary death of their loved ones.
Remember that what is happening in Palestine is no inexplicable cycle
of violence where each side is as bad as one another.It is no more
than an equal cycle of violence than that seen in apartheid South Africa. Being against this injustice is not anti-Jewish, as is standing up to the British Government's injustices is seen as being anti- British.
Rachel Corrie understood these links and connections and would have
known about an active Israeli peace movement, and of the hundreds of
Israeli soldiers who refuse to serve in the occupied territories, many
of whom have been jailed for their stance. Israel has invaded
Palestinian land in breach of international law. Rachel died while
attempting to prevent a demolition of a home, a common practice that the Israeli army, uses as a collective punishment that has left more than 12,000
Palestinians homeless since the beginning of the second uprising in
September 2000. A practice that violates International Law, including
the Fourth Geneva Convention.
So here's to the memory and bravery of Rachel Corrie a true American hero,who courageously died whilst living her dreams, staying human and showing her solidarity with her beloved friends, the Palestinians. who continues to inspire activism and compassion across the globe, her spirit lives on, challenging us to get out of our comfort zones and act with our convictions.
Rachel's death was tragic, but brought the world's attention to the suffering and death of thousands of Palestinians. At least 6,500 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli occupation since 2000, so the international community must carry on fighting for their justice too, as well as that of Rachel's, the situation sadly in the West Bank and Gaza, still no different today.
The world must not stay silent, while the struggle continues against the demolition and occupation of Palestinian homes and lands, restrictions of movement, detentions, arrest, collective punishment, the siege of Gaza and the aggressive military attacks that continue on a daily basis. Here is a link to the Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice set up in her memory. I for one will not forget her , alongside the Palestinians and by supporters of the Palestinian struggle around the world, as she continues to remind us to be kind, generous anf, strong even in the most difficult of circumstances.
I'd Rather Be Dancing (Rachel Corrie's Song ) - Jim Page
The words of following song are based on actual letters Rachel wrote home to her parents, before she died.
Genesis Breyer P-Orridge (born Neil Andrew Megson; 22 February 1950) the pioneering and boundary shifting English singer-songwriter, musician, poet, performance artist, occultist, disciple of William S. Byrroughs,transgressive counter-cultural icon and a pioneer of radical performance has died aged 70. after battling leukemia for 2½ years, the Dais Records label announced.
The label shared a statement from P-Orridge’s daughters Careese, and Genesse on their parent who identified as third gender, they wrote:
Dear friends, family and loving supporters, It is with very heavy hearts that we announce thee passing of our
beloved father, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge
S/he had been battling
leukemia for two and a half years and dropped he/r body early this
morning, Saturday March 14th, 2020.
S/he will be laid to rest with h/er
other half, Jaqueline “Lady Jaye” Breyer who left us in 2007, where they
will be re-united.
Thank you for your love and support and for
respecting our privacy as we are grieving.
Caresse & Genesse P-Orridge
#s/heisher/forever
P-Orridge was born in Victoria Park, Manchester on February 22 1950,, as Neil Andrew Megson and grew up
in Essex. As a teenager, he attended Solihull School in Warwickshire,
where he was interested in occultism, avant-garde art, radical politics and underground music.After being hospitalised aged 17 following a blackout they decided their
life should be dedicated to art. They began to conduct ‘happenings’
designed to spark an “artistic revolution”. Such works were
controversial – their Hull University magazine Worm, which published anything submitted without editorial interference, was banned for obscenity by the Student Union.
S/he
left the University of Hull to join the Transmedia Explorations commune in London, leading lights of the counter-culture scene since 1967, leaving the
commune after three months to found the controversial avant-garde art and
improvisation music collective COUM Transmissions with artist Cosi Fanni Tutti, inspired by the subversive prankery of thee dadaists and the situationists. COUM Transmissions founded its own counter-culture commune of artists
and thinkers called the Ho-Ho Funhouse in a dockside warehouse and moved
towards more theatrical performance art, such as purposefully turning
up to play as gig with no instruments, or encouraging audiences to boo
them offstage.Their 1976 exhibition at London’s Institute of Present-day Arts, titled
Prostitution, scandalised the art world, and prompted Conservative MP
Nicholas Fairbairn to denounce the group as “the wreckers of
civilization”
It was during this time that s/he also began a friendship and correspondence with Beat writer William Burrroughs that wuld last until the authors death in 1997. Soon afterwardsr Genesis and Tutti branched out to form Throbbing
Gristle in 1975 with Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson. The band was named after Yorkshire slang for an erect penis.They released "United " b/w " "Zyclon B Zombie," their first single, on their own Industrial Records label"
Releasing their debut album
The Second Annual Report in 1977. Crude, uncompromising and deliberately malicious, it was not always an easy listen, – based all-around a number of variations of the music
Slug Bait and Maggot Loss of life, which in depth sadistic functions of
violence and murder. Only 785 copies were being pressed, but the album was a critical
affect on the industrial movement, a a lot more antagonistic cousin of
punk. As a member of this seminal
band, P.Orridge contributed shock tactics and performance art with
subversive, hybrid aesthetics, thus helping to define the nascent
industrial genre as an adventurous and edgy one. The
hugely influential group traded in harsh, grating confrontational music, white noise, primitive, based samples, drum loops and spoken word poetry and disturbing visuals, that often featured nudity, self- mutilation and images of Concentration Camps were active from 1975 to 1981 and again from 2004 to 2010. Their third album, 1979's 20 Jazz Funk Greats is considered to be one of the most influential industrial albums of all time. A vast array of alternative acts, from My Bloody Valentine,;Killing Joke to Nine Inch Nails and Aphex Twin and Ministry remain firmly in its debt.
The band collapsed in 1981 due to personal issues and P-Orridge went
on to found the experimental “video group who does music” Psychic TV
with Alternative TV’s Alex Fergusson. They embraced video art,
psychedelia, electronica and punk. Delving further into P-Orridge’s
interest in the occult, and fetishism they also utilised magical sigils, Tibetan
instruments made of human thigh bones, and explored the teachings of
LaVeyan Satainism; they hoped reclaim television as a form of eso terrorist” magick rather than a tool of establishment
indoctrination, and
scored a minimal hit with Godstar, a tribute to late Rolling Stone
guitarist Brian Jones.
Psychic TV made their debut in 1982 at a four-day multimedia event in
London and Manchester called the Final Academy, which featured artists
including William S Burroughs and Brion Gysin.
The band’s output was prolific – releasing much more than 100 albums,
and entering the Guinness Reserve of World Data after issuing 14 dwell
records in the room of 18 months. From 1988 onwards they became under the influence of acid house.
P-Orridge was also a founding member in 1981 of Thee Temple ov Psychick
Youth ' anti-cult' TOPY gathered members of the industrial music
subculture, artists and occultists, into a loose network with the aim
of, in Genesis' words, "changing society through the magical
transformation of individuals". TOPY was dedicated to the occult, chaos
magic, and ultimately attacking British society, who existed to promote a system ov
functional, demystified magick, utilising both pagan and modern techniques..
With these projects, as well as their abundant visual arty, P- Orridge, applied the cut and paste techniques of William S.Burrough and the occult philosophies of Aleister Crowley to cultural work that aimed to corrupt and unsettle the habits of normative consensus society and brazenly confronting power and pushing the boundaries of acceptance wherever they could. “I am at war with the status quo of society and I am at war with those in control and power,” said Genesis in 1989. “I’m at war with hypocrisy and lies, I’m at war with the mass media.”
In 1992, Genesis’s dwelling in Brighton was raided by
Scotland Yard’s Obscene Publications Squad after a Channel 4 Dispatches programme claimed to have footage of
P-Orridge abusing children in sex-magic rites. The material was later found to be video performance artwork from
the early 1980s – partly funded by Channel 4 itself, and featuring no
children.programme.
Despite this the artist went into self-imposed exile in the US. Consistently pushing the boundaries of adventurous art, P.Orridge pioneered new ways of thinking around identity, gender and relationships and S/he met the performance artist Lady Jaye Breyer in the nineties.
Together the legendary couple moved to New York and began a lifelong
project of “pandrogeny”which was Genesis's attempt to virtually "become" Jaye via physical and spiritual transfiguration Breyer and P-Orridge underwent numerous cosmetic,
surgical, and medical treatments in order to approximate one another,
thus finally merging into a single pandrogynous being named Breyer
P-Orridge. “Pandrogeny as a concept is not about gender—it’s about the ending of all binary perception.It’s influenced by the allegory of the
path of no distinction—that all definitions, distinctions, values,
matters of what could be considered good, bad, delicious, or revolting
are all human-made. They’re not innate. That’s true of identity, which
includes gender.For for us it’s about erasing the need to even consider gender.”
This pandrogyny project was cut short when Breyer died of acute heart
arrhythmia in 2007, an especially painful loss at a time when P-Orridge
was beginning to receive highbrow acclaim,triggering a long cycle of
grief for h/er partner. Undergoing gender reassignment surgery in the mid-2000s and, according to a 2019 interview in the Los Angeles Times,
preferred gender-neutral pronouns in part because of “a desire to
include into conversations the voice of their longtime creative and
romantic partner Jacqueline ‘Lady Jaye’ Breyer.
S/he had been diagnosed with chronic myelomonocytic leukemia in 2017,a year after Psychic TV recorded their
final studio album. It was a diagnosis which s/he took on with the
spirit only a true avant-garde, occultist could. Speaking to The New York Times in 2018, P-Orridge had this to say about her philosophy on life:“When you’ve got a terminal illness, you think about what your legacy might be. My only answer is, we would hope that it would inspire
people to see that they can do a life totally as they would like it to
unfold. Live your life every day like a page in your book of life, and
make that page as interesting as you can. Whenever you have a choice,
say: Which is the better page in my book?”
TryMarie Losier’s documentary film The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye
was released in 2011,
and in 2016 the Rubin Museum of Art in New York
hosted Try to Altar Everything
an exhibition of P-Orridge’s paintings, sculptures and installations.
In 2018 s/he published Brion Gysin: His Name Was Master, a collection of
interviews and essays.
In 2003 P-Orridge had unveiled PTV3, a new band drawing on the legacy
of Psychic TV. They released four albums and several EPs between 2007
and 2016. In 2018 they performed at Heaven in London.
P-Orridge is survived by two daughters, Genesse and Caresse, from a first marriage, to Paula Brooking, which ended in divorce.
A daring authentic, uncompromising musical pioneer, cultural engineer, provocateur extraordinary, shapeshifting purveyor of the senses, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge is
arguably one of the most important icons of Alternative Culture of the
latter quarter of the 20th century and beyond who leaves a legacy of much richness, who remains a hugely influential figure on young musicians looking for new directions,a unique persona who has certainly inspired me, may s/he continue to find unconditional love as s/he travels into the infinite. Goodbye to this musical legend, there is beauty and there is ugliness, and angels and demons in every land we tread., Genesis will be missed deeply.
We are ALL connected.
The coronavirus is spreading across the world. It has reached pandemic proportions and we are facing.a global health crisis. It's a tough time for all of us.
From the United States to Italy, Iran to South Korea, the epidemic is getting worse. sending countries into economic meltdown as markets whipsaw and panic buying leading to food shortages. .
Governments have issued new rounds of travel bans. Institutions, schools and public places facing shutdown.
At the same time some politicians are using the crisis for political gain, but the virus itself, has no politics, does not discriminate and sees no borders.
Trustworthy health advice has never been more vital. It could be the difference between life and death.
It is important to remember that there is currently no specific treatment for coronavirus.
Antibiotics do not help, as they do not work against viruses;.
Please note, each infected person will start being infectious after 12 to 24 hrs, showing symptoms after 5 to 12 days. They will infect on average 2.6 other people
The public has a crucial role in containing the virus. and here are some basic things we can do to meet our fears and diminish our anxiety:
Ignore conspiracy theories and peddlers of misinformation, it's so easy to feel scared and alone at times like this, that's why we need to ground ourselves in our collective strength and grow strong by caring for each other.
Practice social distancing, work from home, people should avoid gathering in public places,and participate in gatherings virtually instead.
Stay at home as much as possible.
Cancel non essential appointments
Wash your hands often for at least 20 seconds.
Don’t touch your face.
Elbow bump, touch your heart, or gently bow instead of hugging or shaking hands.
Disinfect around you and buy what we need (just what we need).
Protect your immune system with plenty of fruits and vegetables and get caught up on sleep.
If you are sick and experiencing symptoms (coughing, fever, and shortness of breath, please stay home so that you do not get others sick.
Perhaps the most important message the coronavirus offers is that
the natural world is conspiring to save us from ourselves, to slow our materialistic greed and reign in our aggressive, self-centered, short-term, and xenophobic tendencies.”
It feels strange and hard to refrain from social engagements when we
are feeling anxious and the need to connect. But right now the best way
we can support each other is by keeping each other healthy.
Think about
how we can support each other and our neighbors
while not being together in person.
Reach out to one another by phone,
email, text message, facebook etc.
While many of us are decreasing our
physical contact, we need one another more right now, not less.
Be kind to those who are working, who are doing the jobs that care for life.
Notice them, thank
them, help calm their anxieties.
Keep in mind that during times of
crisis, those who are most vulnerable, the poor, the elderly, women and children .
Making sure older neighbours have enough food, shops are doing home deliveries, community organisation are checking in with people they know are struggling.
Please do not panic, Spread the love.
We will get through this together.
Here is a link to the latest information on the Novel Coronavirus from Public Health Wales
Filthy Torys telling us to wash our hands with soap
Words of advice from those that offer no bloody hope,
Daily releasing immorality and stains so impure
With toxic, rotten, cruel, conscious ideology,
Sordid,vicious, ill-inclined, carrying the stench of evil
Creating division, iniquity, infecting the land,
Places where no one is left with room to dream
Voices are denied, discounted, so easily excused ,
Where music has been stilled, no joy to be found
As people search for crumbs, some healing air,
Trapped and controlled by usurpers who rule by stealth
Who could not give a fuck about the nations health,
Wherever they roam or walk just give offence
The simple fact is we can't trust the Conservatives,
As they continue to destroy essential services
Abandon care for many people in need,
Led by a bumbling narcissistic circus clown
How can we trust them on coronovirus,
Whose double standards put us all in jeapordy
Continuing to release unfurling tragedy.
Celebrated on March 8 every year, International Women's Day is a day dedicated to honoring the achievements of women throughout
history and all across the globe, and is typically a day for women from
all different backgrounds and cultures to band together to fight for
gender parity and women's rights.
This year, International Women's Day occurs on a Sunday and will be celebrated with the special 2020 theme, #EachforEqual, celebrating "Generation Equality” and the continued fight for equal rights for women.
“We don’t have an equal world at the moment and women are angry and
concerned about the future,” said UN Women Executive Director Phumzile
Mlambo-Ngcuka in a statement.
“It's an impatience that runs deep, and it has been brewing for
years…..Though we are radically impatient, we are not giving up and we
are hopeful.”
International Women’s Day is a time for reflection of how far women
have come, advocacy for what is still needed, and action to continue
breaking down barriers. With over a century of history, IWD is a growing
movement centered around unity and strength.
International Women’s Day has a rich history dating back 108 years, at the beginning of the 20th Century women across Europe and America
were finding their voice. That wanted and demanded decent jobs, better
pay, and the right to vote or hold public offices, for their
emancipation. It was out of this air of dissatisfaction that
International Women's Day was born.
At the beginning of the 20th Century women across Europe and America were finding their voice. That wanted and demanded decent jobs, better pay, and the right to vote or hold public offices, for their emancipation. It was out of this air of dissatisfaction that International Women's Day was born.
In 1909, the United States labour movement and the push for women’s
suffrage were both gaining steam. Russian refugee, labor organiser, and
journalist Theresa Malkiel
served on the women’s committee of the Socialist Party of America.
Envisioning a more active role for women within the movement, she
declared February 23, 1909 “National Woman’s Day.” New York socialists celebrated with a meeting of about 2,000 people in Manhattan. “The very first observation of our national Woman’s Day,” recalled activist Meta L,Stern
three years later, “proved so successful that Woman’s Day became
generally accepted as an annual Socialist holiday.” Along with May Day,
she explained, the day stood “for new hopes and new ideals; the
abolition of wage slavery and sex slavery; the coming of a freer, better
and happier manhood and womanhood.”In 1910 at the Second International, a world wide socialist congress, German Socialist Clara Zetkin https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2015/07/happy-birthday-clara-zetkin-571857.html proclaimed International Women's day to commemorate the US demonstrators ( garment workers who had marched and picketed demanding improved working conditions and a 8 hour day) whose ranks were broken up by the police, and honour working women the world over. Originally
called National Woman’s Day, the monumental annual celebration spread
across the world (officially celebrated in 1911), but it was Russia who unknowingly set the March 8 trend andhelped spark a revolution. When tens
of thousands of women converged in Petrograd, Russia to mark the
holiday—as well as demand an end to World War I and protest food
shortages—the demonstrations turned into a massive strike. Within hours, 100,000 workers, including men, walked out on their jobs to join the demonstrators. The movement grew to as many as 150,000 striking workers within a few
days. Eventually, even the Russian army joined the marchers,
withdrawing their support from the Tsar Nicholas. It was the beginning
of the Russian Revolution. After World War II, the holiday picked up steam, and lost many of its
associations with socialism and radical politics. As the women’s
liberation movement swept around the world in the 1970s, the United
Nations designated 1975 International Women's Year and celebrated the holiday for the first time. Two years later in 1977, designated March 8 International Women’s Day, and, in 1996, began to adopt an annual
theme for every year. The first theme was "Celebrating the past,
Planning for the Future." This year’s theme #EachforEqual is meant to be a shared goal throughout 2020.
"We
can actively choose to challenge stereotypes, fight bias, broaden
perceptions, improve situations, and celebrate women's achievements,"
states the organization's site. "Collectively, each one of us can help create a gender equal world. Let's all be #EachforEqual."
The
IWD 2020 campaign theme draws on the notion of "collective
individualism," which refers to the idea that every individual is a part
of a whole, and that an individual's actions, behaviors, and mindsets
can all have an impact on larger society. IWD is a national holiday
in 27 countries like Russia, Afghanistan, and Laos; in some countries,
like Nepal and China, it’s a national holiday for women only.
IWD is a day to celebrate the social, political and other acheivements of women. A day to recognise the oppression that still flourishes, caused by both capitalism and patriarchy. An unfortunate and undeniable reality for the majority of women today.The fight for womens rights might looks a little different today, but our sisters are still facing discrimination and injustices across the globe. In recent times, issues of women's political influence and economic equality have been joined by broader struggles against, racism, war, violence, environmental destruction, and other forms of oppression for peace and social justice and is now often spread into a whole week of activities. Time to celebrate the gains women have made and to keep on calling for the changes that are still very much needed. Women are still not equally represented in business or politics, girls facing sexual objectification from an early age, girls told to shrink themselves make themselves smaller. Women still forced to flee domestic abuse, others facing honour killing, a practice that allows family members to murder women for dishonouring their families, by refusing arranged marriages, removing their faith or for simply dressing in ways considered inappropriate. I also note that the basic needs of most Palestinian women are daily being violated by Israels's ongoing occupation and siege. The siege in Gaza a contributing factor in one fifth of maternal deaths in Gaza. Yet contrary to Orientalist misrepresentation, women have been at the heart of liberation struggles in the Middle East and North Africa. At the moment in the region of Turkey and Kurdistan women are being politicised in a long struggle against theocratic totalitarianism, inspiring us in their fight for emancipation and freedom. So today as I observe International Womens Day, I stand up for all women still trapped by injustices, still suffering from abuse, at the end of the day I believe the women's struggle is a struggle for the freedom of all people, recuperating the fair value of people over things. I recognise the practice and theory of mutual support that women have laid, that are the foundations of social change that we must keep building. Women who recognised the tactical necessity of standing and working together, lest they be destroyed individually, women who put to shame the ridiculous notion of a 'women's place. Their struggle is ours too. I acknowledge all those who have been persecuted, jailed, tortured, simply for being a woman. Especially those who are among the most vulnerable in this present moment of time - the refugees. Let us also celebrate the powerful women who've fought dictatorship, risked their lives to fight climate change and led mass movements for justice across the world, we cannot let their contributions go unnoticed today and every day. Solidarity with the women of Kobane, Mexico, Afganistan, Gaza, women of the world, to my sisters nearer home and to all the comrades who are still fiercely opting to break every chain. Despite strides made by the international women’s rights movement –
and union campaigns for women’s rights – over many years, protests will
be staged across the world today against injustice, abuse,
discrimination, violence and harassment targeted at women and girls.,calling for
gender equality, an end to gender-based violence and occupational
segregation, If you do one thing this international Women's Day, can you please push the following petition that will help drive real change to make our society safer and better for girls and women, everyday of the year. Change.org/OurStreetsNowIWD
Heddwch/Peace. Solidarity forever
" Violence against women is perhaps the most shameful human rights violation, and it is perhaps, the most pervasive. It knows no boundaries of geography, culture or wealth. As long as it continues, we cannot claim to be making real progress, towards equality, development and peace." - Gen Secretary of the UN - Koffi Annan oh and as Emma Goldman pointed out :- " The most violent element in society is ignorance."
Here is a link to the Socialist Roots of International Women's Day
Muna Abdulahi is a Spoken Word Poet based in Minneapolis MN.
In her work, she explores many themes of belonging and
identity, particularly in the context of migration and nationality.
As a
writer/poet, Muna pushes herself to tell the stories that are erased,
silenced, devalued, or buried, the stories that are difficult, the
stories that bring together communities, youth, and discussions.
In her poem Explaining Depression to a Refugee she delivers a powerful important message of the refugee experience, covering diaspora, depression and doctors, that gives voice to the voiceless.
Abdulahi expresses the
confusion her mother, a former Somalian refugee, displays as she is
unable to fathom her daughter being diagnosed with depression.
She
explains the stigmatisation the Somali culture places on mental health
as her “native tongue doesn’t speak of it to its existence.”
After a brutal war, one that caused many to see their loved ones
murdered before their eyes for simply belonging to the wrong clan.
Fearing for their lives, people fled on foot and paid smugglers for
entry to foreign lands.
Somali refugees are forced to
grapple with the cultural and economic battles common to many who are
forced to abandon their lives and seek refuge thousands of miles away
from home.
But in spite of that shared pain, in the Somali community, goes largely unaddressed
