Marking 50 years since democratically elected Socialist President of Chile Salvador Allende was overthrown by a CIA backed fascist military coup

On September 11, 2001 the USA experienced a great tragedy,I join people all over the world in remembering the lives lost on that day, and the hundreds of thousands more killed in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the other wars that followed.

Today though I also remember another 9/11, when on this day 50 years ago, on 9/11/1973, the socialist president of Chile Salvador Allende was overthrown by a CIA backed fascist military coup  led by General Augusto Pinochet, which established one of the most brutal regimes of the second half of the 20th century that ushered in decades of darkness, leading  to years of repression, torture, forced disappearance, false imprisonment, fear, death and for many Chileans exile.

Democracy would not return for 17 years with the Chilean people having to endure years of autocratic military rule. In Chile, which marked the 50th anniversary of the coup on Sunday, the events remain deeply divisive and continue to shape modern politics.

In 1970 Salvador Allende  democratically won 36.6% of the vote and established his Popular Unity government in power much to the alarm of the United States government who feared his leftist government would slide into one party rule like Fidel Castro's Cuba. 

Allende's political platform was populist and he promised the nationalization of many sectors of the Chilean economy and the distribution of wealth to the country's poor. These plans, however, were not accepted in Washington, which saw Chile as the new “red menace”, a cancer to be eradicated and in a way to make it an example to anyone who dared to follow in its footsteps.

During the thousand days that his government lasted: Copper was nationalised; agrarian reform was deepened; hundreds of thousands of homes were built; many industries and services were nationalised, and programmes were developed to improve health, education and welfare. Culture flourished for the working people. For the first time, the Chilean people felt involved in the transformation of their country. These reforms inevitably challenged the power of the upper classes. The Chilean hierarchical society could not tolerate the irruption of ‘the bottom’ nor could the US’s Nixon administration.

The involvement of the CIA was also proved by documents and files decrypted that confirm what we already knew: the coup had its legitimation from  President Nixon and the National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger, the future Nobel Peace Prize.winner.

In the grips of Cold War fears of communism, the U.S. government had been working since the early 1960s to shape Chilean politics, culminating with "a massive covert effort to 'bring down'" Allende's government, as President Richard Nixon and his cabinet put it, according to "The Pinochet File."  Published in 2013, the book by National Security Archive senior analyst Peter Kornbluh thoroughly summarizes 30 years of declassified documents that expose the role the U.S. played in usurping Allende and supporting Pinochet. 

 “We want to do everything we can to hurt (Allende) and bring him down,” then-U.S. Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird said during a National Security Council meeting in 1970, according to one of the documents cited in "The Pinochet File."

About the U.S. role in the coup, former Secretary of State Colin Powell said in 2003: "It is not a part of American history that we are proud of."

In the early hours of the day of the coup, Allende learned from an aide that the navy had taken control of Chile’s major ports. Fearing the worst, and accompanied by a handful of bodyguards and his personal doctor, Danilo Bartulín, the president rushed to the presidential palace. At first, he thought the navy was acting on its own, and that the army, led by the recently appointed commander-in-chief, Pinochet, would defend the constitutional government.

Arriving downtown, he was reassured to see that the gendarmerie, the famed Carabineros, were defending the palace.  As cabinet members and others began arriving at the palace, the president tried to contact Pinochet. Failing to do so, he feared the insurgents had taken the commander-in-chief prisoner. Meanwhile, Minister of Defense Orlando Letelier, a lawyer who would be assassinated by agents of Pinochet’s junta three years later in Washington, DC, was arrested by the putschists.

At 8:20 AM, it became clear that Pinochet had betrayed the president and was leading the coup. Suddenly, the Carabineros changed sides and joined the insurgents, and the light Mowag tanks that were guarding the palace turned 180 degrees and left the Plaza de la Constitución. The government was isolated and cornered. The president and 60 of his supporters, including bodyguards, some cabinet members, and medical personnel, were on their own. Allende put on a helmet and moved from room to room, holding an AK-47 that Fidel Castro had given him for his birthday. .

At 9:15 AM, Vice-Admiral Patricio Carvajal, one of the putsch leaders, called the president and told him that if he did not resign, fighter jets would bomb the palace. Allende refused to surrender, and at 9:37 AM gave his last radio address, which would become known as the “Great Avenues Speech.” Toward the end of it, he said: “Workers of my country, I have faith in Chile and its destiny. Other men will overcome this dark and bitter moment when treason seeks to prevail. Go forward knowing that, sooner rather than later, the great avenues will open again where free men will walk to build a better society.

Long live Chile! Long live the people! Long live the workers!  These are my last words, and I am certain that my sacrifice will not be in vain, I am certain that, at the very least, it will be a moral lesson that will punish felony, cowardice, and treason."

Within a few hours, the military had seized control of the government, and Allende and many of his ministers were left dead  in the presidential palace as the military unleashed a wave of brutal repression against the population and  the people's movements.

 

Here are  Salvador Allende chilling final words to the world, broadcast ,live on the radio at 9:10 am on September 11, 1973, in the midst of the ultimately successful US-sponsored coup d'etat against the democratically-elected government. Barricaded inside La Moneda, the presidential palace, President Allende gave his life defending Chilean democracy .

He fatally shot himself when it became clear that he stood no chance.To many, Allende became a leftist icon, but others blame him for political failures that led to the coup. 

Pinochet assumed the presidency two days later, outlawing leftist parties and announcing that there would be no more elections. Addressing the nation, Pinochet said that the military was acting "solely out of patriotism, to save the country from the chaos that was caused by the Marxist government of Salvador Allende."  He would rule Chile for 17 bloody years.

The military and secret police began rounding up thousands of  people loyal to President Allende.Many disappeared into army-run, CIA-supported torture centers, never to be heard from again. Pinochet converted the national football stadium into a detention facility like Guantanamo Bay.

Over 20,000 people are established to have been killed during Pinochet's reign  of terror. and 60,000 tortured,  hundreds of Allendes supporters alone were gunned down in Santiago Soccer stadium,In response, the Nixon administration committed more money, more training, more torture equipment.

Chile's economy was turned into a plantation for the 1%, as inequality and poverty skyrocketed under the imposed Milton Friedman-style economic model. The Pinochet regime, sold off nearly two-thirds of Chile’s key copper industry nationalized under Allende and his predecessor, privatized sections of banking, the telephone company, metalworks and other companies placed under state control by Allende, returned factories and land taken by workers to private owners, privatized water, pensions, healthcare, education, transportation, utilities, and other sectors. Taxes and regulations were cut to the bone to turn the country into a playground for the emerging transnational corporations and the local oligarchy. 

The most disturbing and well-remembered tactic of the dictatorship wasn’t what it did in the open, but what it did in secret. The Pinochet dictatorship practiced a form of kidnapping, torture, and murder that has come to be known as “disappearing” so-called because while everyone knew that the missing persons had been taken by the government and were almost certainly being tortured, the government maintained complete silence about their absence and treated them like any other person who had gone missing. Throughout the 1970s, military governments across Latin America used this technique to inspire fear and crush left-wing oppositions.

Disappearance meant that the families and political comrades of the missing faced closed doors and bureaucratic walls when they tried to get any information: there was no way to request a visit, because the government maintained that the disappeared weren’t in detention. They couldn’t seek proof that their loved ones were alive, because the government said it had no way to know that. They couldn’t even get official acknowledgements of their deaths, because the government wouldn’t admit that they had died. 

Roughly three thousand people were disappeared by the dictatorship between 1973 and 1980. This meant lives cut short, funerals without bodies, and parents left not knowing if their children were dead or alive. 

The 1973 coup and resulting dictatorship led to thousands of Chileans going into exile all around the world. Britain, under an international agreement, was one of the countries that welcomed Chilean political activists who fled into exile. Many settled permanently in this country,

British people were profoundly moved by Chilean events and their solidarity strengthened resistance to the Chilean dictatorship. Founded in late 1973, the Chile Solidarity Campaign (CSC) coordinated events and marches, raised money, ran boycott campaigns and increased public awareness.  

Today in Chile  these events are still marked  with anger, people taking to the streets and displaying it, Chileans still having to deal  with the devastating legacy of life  under a fascist regime.As with previous anniversaries of the coup,violence erupted yesterday and  Chile is bracing for more violence on Monday.

Today on  this tragic anniversary, it is time to remember again, a time in our history that still holds daily reverence to most Chileans lives,and for much of Latin America, and for the  many democratic reformers and carriers of solidarity's message worldwide.

For many victims of the dictatorship has proven elusive. Many people  are still demanding truth and justice, and will not rest until they have found out was has happened to their loved ones, who were arrested, and went missing, never to return.

Barak Obama declared on Margaret Thatcher's death that she was "one of greatest champions of freedom and liberty." This is the same bit of poison that told her friend Pinochet that, she was " very much aware that it was you that brought  democracy to Chile, you set up a constitution  suitable for democracy."
Throughout Pinochets regime of terror he was supplied by UK Defence Manufacturers, the military junta that took power  bombed the presidential palace  using British Hawker Hunter aircraft. Margaret Thatcher personally after coming into power lifted the arms embargo on his regime. Whilst Thatcher fawned over him, Pinochet carried on killing critics, and any form of opposition, among them the revered Chilean singer Victor Jara, who was arrested by the military and tortured at Estadio Chile, in front of thousands of onlookers, who was subsequently shot as he defied the taunting soldiers by singing, his body left bloodied, his bones and his hands broken and battered full of bullet holes.

                                             Victor Jara

In Florida in June,2016 a jury  found a former Chilean army officer liable for the murder of folk singer and activist Víctor Jara in 1973. Jara was tortured and shot more than 40 times in the days after the U.S.-backed coup, who after his death became a symbol of Chile's struggle against Pinochet's regime.. The verdict against Pedro Pablo Barrientos Nuñez marked what The Guardian newspaper called "one of the biggest and most significant legal human rights victories against a foreign war criminal in a US courtroom."https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/27/victor-jara-pedro-pablo-barrientos-nunez-killing-chile

Speaking on the steps of the Florida courthouse, Jara’s widow Joan Jara Turner said at  the time, "What we were trying to do for more than 40 years, for Víctor, has today come true." Since then in a form of justice eight retired Chilean military officers have been sentenced to 15 years in prison for Victor's murder.This hero of the people whose life and music has been celebrated ever since.

Though the dictatorship ended in 1990, Pinochet and his allies remained largely shielded from prosecution for their crimes due to legal protections and the Chilean constitution they had drafted. While some of them faced prosecution later in life, many of them escaped it, including Pinochet himself. Pinochet would always be thankful to Thatcher, visiting her on an annual pilgrimage to London. Pinochet eventually died in 2006,  while under  house arrest, with many millions of pounds laundered in banks, but had  managed to avoid going on trial and thus avoiding justice..

General Pinochet  and Margaret Thatcher

 

                                             General Pinochet the murderous fascist dictator

Fifty years after Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship came to power, Chile’s government has now admitted guilt for the disappearance, and presumed deaths, of over two thousand individuals at the hands of the Chilean military and associated paramilitary groups. The government has also committed to searching for and identifying those whose fates remain officially unknown, numbering over a thousand.  This move marks a major shift for the government, which until now has either ignored the fate of the disappeared or treated them like events from a tragic  and hopefully forgotten  past. Acknowledging the disappeared will go some way toward bringing these victims and their families some closure and justice.  But the initiative isn’t without its detractors,  major sectors of the Chilean military and Chilean society in general oppose this move and continue to extol Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship. The controversy over the government’s admission of guilt highlights the divisions that still rend the country, and which have presented serious challenges for progressive president Gabriel Boric since he took office, there are still those that think the Pinochet regime was justified, and that the violation of human rights though regrettable were  inevitable and  leaders like Pinochet could somehow be be justified. .

Pinochet is still seen by somel today, as a savior who oversaw a period of relative economic prosperity.  A survey conducted by pollster Cerc-Mori in May found that 36 percent of people believe the general "liberated Chile from Marxism," the highest figure measured in 28 years of polling.  However, when it comes to people born after the coup, 60 percent disapprove of Pinochet, according to a survey by pollster Activa Research.

For  many his legacy is one of state terrorism, and rampant disregard for human rights, he caused a whole society to become fearful, their daily lives one of terror. We must not forget, the dead and the missing, nor the human rights activists who shone a light on this dark regime.

Fifty years later, Chile is still trying to find its post-coup identity and shape a new political system amid ongoing debate over a new constitution. But Allende and Pinochet cast long shadows.

The coup anniversary comes as the country is led by Boric, a 37-year-old leftist who regularly pays homage to Allende. He came to power after a wave of social protests in 2019 which led to a referendum in which 80 percent voted to replace the Pinochet-era constitution widely blamed for Chile's deep economic inequity. 

However, more than 61 percent of voters last year went on to reject a constitutional draft which would have made Chile one of the most progressive countries in Latin America.  And in May, the far-right Republican Party led by conservative lawyer Jose Antonio Kast  a Pinochet apologist won 23 of 51 seats on the council that will write a new one.  In the days leading up to the anniversary, Kast's party, and other right-wing groups, refused to sign a commitment to "defend democracy from authoritarian threats" put forward by Boric.

But the fact that Chile is finally admitting to its participation in disappearing leftist activists is a testament to the efforts of those whose loved ones were killed by the dictatorship, and to the efforts of the socialist government of Gabriel Boric. The activists who have pushed for the government to make this move recognize it as merely the beginning of a long process of reconciliation for the government’s crimes. 

They commend the government for the “political will” it took to take this step, but also note that it’s too late for many, after all, it’s been almost fifty years since some of their loved ones and comrades were taken, tortured, and killed, and the government is only now acknowledging that it happened.

It is also worth noting that no US presidential apology, has ever been made for what was unleashed on the workers, students and ordinary people of Chile on this day. So today as America  remembers  their own  9/11 lets not forget the other injustice that they helped cause.In Chile, the US murdered tens of thousands and impoverished millions. This wasn't America's first foray in international terrorism, nor would it be the last.

My only hope now is that we continue to express true sorrow, whilst collectively recognising the terrible legacy of these two  9/11's. Let us chart a more just and peaceful path forward. Lets hope the forces of truth and reconciliation long continue to be fostered and that  all victims are  rightfully remembered.

Hedd Wyn a'r Eisteddfod y Gadair Ddu / Hedd Wyn and the Eisteddfod of the Black Chair

In September 1917, the Welsh National Eisteddfod was held at Birkenhead Park, on the Wirral, only the third time it had been held outside the Principality.  A huge crowd, including the Prime Minister David Lloyd George himself a Welsh language speaker, had gathered to take part in this annual celebration of Welsh culture and language. 

The highlight of the festival was to take place on 6 September when the name of the winning poem along with its author, would be announced to the expectant audience. This was normally followed by the 'chairing of the bard' ceremony when the winning poet would make his way through the crowd to take his seat in the bardic chair, a beautiful, wooden chair especially carved for each Eisteddfod. 

At the 1917 festival, it was announced that the winning poem was  named as Yr Arwr (The Hero),  The Archdruid, the Reverend Evan Rees,known by the bardic name Dyfed, announced the victor’s creativity and originality. Twice he called for the poet who had submitted under the pseudonym “Fleur-de-Lys,” and twice no one answered. When on the third time no one answered the call of victory, the Archdruid solemnly announced that the winner was Hedd Wyn and that Hedd Wyn had died in Europe only weeks before.'YnArwr (The Hero)' and that the winning author had written under the pseudonym Fleur de Lys.  The tradition was for trumpets to sound a fanfare to invite the winner to make themselves known.

Three times they sounded; three times the Archdruid called out the nom de plume of the winning bard but when no one came forward, he then solemnly announced to the silenced audience that the winning poet, Ellis Humphrey Evans better known by his bardic name of Hedd Wyn, had been killed in action six weeks earlier. 

Welsh language  pacifist  poet Hedd Wyn,(Welsh for Blessed Peace) was born in Trawsfynydd, Meirionydd, on January 13th, 1887. the oldest of 11 children born to parents Mary and Evan Evans. He left school at 14 to work on his parent's farm Yr Ysgwrn.. He spent most of his life there, apart from a short period working in South Wales.

He began writing Welsh-language poetry aged just 11, mastering the hardest form of Welsh poetry (the cynghanedd)  and his talent for poetry became increasingly known and he took part in competitions and local eisteddfodau. He won his first chair (Cadair y Bardd) in Bala, at the age of 20 in 1907. He won his first prize in a local literary competition at the age of twelve, before winning his first chair(Cadair y Bardd) in Bala, at the age of 20 in 1907..

This was the first of the six chairs he would go on to win. He won chairs at Llanuwchllyn in 1913, Pwllheli in 1913, Llanuwchllyn in 1915 and Pontardawe in 1915.

Ellis Humphrey Evans was given the bardic name of Hedd Wyn by a throne of Ffestiniog poets in 1910. He chose to keep the name by submitting further poems in later Eisteddfodau.His poetry drew heavily on the influences of the Romantic era, including themes of nature and spirituality,

In 1915 he wrote his first poem for the National Eisteddfod of Wales—Eryri, an ode to Snowdon. The following year he took second place at the Aberystwyth National Eisteddfod with Ystrad Fflur, an awdl written in honour of Strata Florida, the medieval Cistercian abbey ruins in Ceredigion.

With the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the mood of Hedd Wyn's poetic work changed to discuss the nightmare of the war. He wrote poems in memory of friends who died fighting in Europe, 

One of his most powerful  poems that I have  found translated  is “Y Rhyfel” (War), which I post below.

Y Rhyfell /War-  Hedd Wyn (Translated by Gillian Clarke)

Gwae fi fy myw mewn oes mor ddreng,

A Duw ar drai ar orwel pell;

O'i ôl mae dyn, yn deyrn a gwreng,

Yn codi ei awdurdod hell.

Pan deimlodd fyned ymaith Dduw

Cyfododd gledd i ladd ei frawd;

Mae swn yr ymladd ar ein clyw,

A'i gysgod ar fythynnod tlawd.

Mae'r hen delynau genid gynt,

Ynghrog ar gangau'r helyg draw,

A gwaedd y bechgyn lond y gwynt,

A'u gwaed yn gymysg efo'r glaw

Bitter to live in times like these.
While God declines beyond the seas;
Instead, man, king or peasantry,
Raises his gross authority.

When he thinks God has gone away
Man takes up his sword to slay
His brother; we can hear death's roar.
It shadows the hovels of the poor.

Like the old songs they left behind,
We hung our harps in the willows again.
Ballads of boys blow on the wind,
Their blood is mingled with the rain.

As a Christian pacifist Ellis  at first did not enlist when war broke out, believing he could never kill anyone.Throughout the 19th century, the Welsh predominantly adopted pacifism as a leading philosophy due to the prominence of the Nonconformist movement. According to Alan Llwyd the Welsh chapels were, understandably, much opposed to war. There was also a strong peace movement in Wales, and politicians such as the pacifist Henry Richard, the ‘Apostle of Peace,’ were held in high esteem by the Welsh people. (Llwyd, Out of the Fire of Hell xv).

Whether pacifism pervaded the Welsh people, prominent Welsh people included it in the narrative defining Welshness. Nonconformist ministers advocated for peace and moderation; subsequently,

Wales and  opposition to universal military service remained strong. The governing Liberal Party opposed the idea, as did large sections of the Labour Party and some Conservatives. 

Even after war  had broke  out in August 1914, the Cabinet unanimously dismissed Winston Churchill's proposal for 'compulsory [military] service'.

However, the high casualty rates on the Western Front and the falling number of voluntary recruits for the'issue of conscription went  to the top of the political agenda. After the formation of a coalition government under Asquith in May 1915, the Conservative Party and the Liberal minister David Lloyd George orchestrated a powerful media campaign in favour of universal military service. 

In January and May 1916, Military Service Acts were passed by Parliament, ensuring that all those eligible to serve 'king and country' were now forced to report for duty. 

At the outbreak of the First World War Lloyd George who was already an influential and popular politician before the First World War. A proud Welshman, he had opposed the Second Boer War partially because of the appearance of the British Empire inflicting defeat on a smaller country.  

At the time of the start of the war he held the position of Chancellor of the Exchequer. There was some debate in the weeks leading to war over whether Lloyd George would support military intervention or no but eventually decided to back the declaration of war on Germany..

He continued in his position as Chancellor until 1915 and the Shell Crisis in Britain. The British Expeditionary Force in France had failed in their recent Battle of Aubers Ridge and its commander General Sir John French let it be known that he blamed faulty artillery shells and the inability of factories back in Britain to keep the army supplied.

The resulting scandal brought about the collapse of the Liberal government, at the time lead by Herbert Asquith, and cost Lord Kitchener much of his power and prestige. It would also eventually cost General Sir John French his job. Asquith maintained control as Prime Minister but only within a coalition government that now included Lloyd George as the Minister for Munitions, charged with bringing armament production to acceptable levels.

Following the death of Lord Kitchener, Lloyd George expanded his own power base by rising to take the position of Secretary of State for War and in June 1916.reached out to his countrymen, even convincing  some of  the traditionally pacifistic Nonconformist ministers that war against Germany was the moral duty of all Britons. His people responded passionately enough that Lloyd George celebrated the fact that “the martial spirit has been slumbering for centuries, but only slumbering ...The great warlike spirit that maintained independence of these mountains for centuries woke up once more”

Given the loss of life brought about in Wales due to the First World War, it is easy to see why the perception of Lloyd George would sour after the war’s conclusion..

Despitere inevitably told that they had to send one of their sons to join the British Army. Hedd Wyn enlisted rather than having to see his younger brother Robert sent to war. Like 280,000 other Welshmen he was conscripted to fight in the first world war and in 1916 he was forced.to join the Royal Welch Fusiliers .

In March 1917, he was allowed to return briefly to Trawsfynydd to help with the ploughing and planting at the family farm, Yr Ysgwrn. While he was at home, he began work on a new poem, Yr Arwr (The Hero)   inspired by Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “Prometheus Unbound.  which was to be his submission for the forthcoming eisteddfod. The work on the farm took longer than expected and Ellis overstayed his leave of absence, leading to an abrupt departure as the military police arrived to return him to his post. In the confusion, the uncompleted poem was left behind

pres Salient and there in the mud of the trenches he completed the ode.  Bearing the pseudonym Fleur de Lys he posted his work back to Wales on July 15, 1917.

On July 31, Hedd Wyn went over the top with his regiment in a major offensive to capture Pilckem Ridge in what would become known as the Battle of Passchendaele (or the Third Battle of  Ypres). 

Men were falling on all sides,  amongst them Hedd Wyn who was hit by a shell and mortally wounded.

He was one of 9,300 British troops who were slaughtered in the first three days of the Battle of Passchendaele.Soon after being wounded he was carried to a first-aid post and still conscious he asked the doctor "Do you think I will live?" although he had little chance of surviving. Hedd Wyn died at around 11am 

During the fighting in Ypres, over 500,000 men lost their lives. Hedd Wyn was one of 310,000 allies to die alongside 260,000 Germans during some of the bloodiest battles of the First World War, which was known as the Great War.

Only six weeks later, on 6 September 1917,he National Eisteddfod of Wales took place in Birkenhead Park, Liverpool. An abbreviated occasion due to the war, it lasted three days instead of the traditional seven. David Lloyd George, by then Prime Minister, attended the eisteddfod as he had for many years. Evans’s mentor, Silyn Roberts, attended the eisteddfod and later depicted the scene that followed the bews of Hedd Wynn's death, stating that “The wave of emotion that swept over the vast throng is undescribable and can never be forgotten. The bards enfolded the chair in a great black shroud” 

By all accounts, Lloyd George himself, whose push for conscription had led to Evans’s participation in  the war and his subsequent death, sat there in the assembly also overcome with emotion. Because of the  black sheet that the druids draped over the empty bardic chair, the event became known as the  to as "Eisteddfod y Gadair Ddu" ("The Eisteddfod of the Black Chair"). 

The shockwaves at the time were palpable. “No words can adequately describe the wave of emotion that swept over the vast audience when Wyn’s bardic chair was draped with the symbols of mourning,"  the Cambrian News and Merionethshire Standard newspaper reported at the time.

The  Black Chair which  had been expertly carved  by Belgian refugee Eugeen Vanfleteren, was brought by train and then horse and cart to his parents farm, Yr Ysgwrn, on a hillside above the village of Trawsfynydd in the Prysor Valley,, the whole village turned out in mourning. The stone farm cottage, which dates back to the early 16th century, quickly became a place of pilgrimage, where visitors were warmly received by the poet’s family and descendants. 

Today, the ornately carved bardic throne can be seen at Yr Ysgwrn as well as many other artefacts from the poet’s short life  Yr Ysgwrn is not an ordinary Welsh farmhouse. In 1917, it and Hedd Wyn became a powerful  and lasting symbol of a lost generation of young lives  senselessly slaughtered  and the bereavement of communities following the enormous losses of the First World War on the killing fields of Europe 

People have visited the house to pay tribute and see the Black Chair ever since.Hedd Wyn’s nephew, Gerald Williams, continued to farm Yr Ysgwrn, always keeping the door open to a steady stream of visitors who made the pilgrimage to the poet’s home. As he reached his mid-80s, Gerald began to think about the farm’s legacy. In 2012 he sold it to Eryri (Snowdonia National Park), with conditions attached: it should remain open to visitors, and it should feel like a home, and not a museum. 

 After careful restoration, Yr Ysgwrn re-opened as a visitor centre.The Bardic chair that Wyn was never able to claim in 1917 remains there as a poignant reminder of the generation of young men from Wales lost in the war. To find out more about Yr Ysgwrn visit https://www.yrysgwrn.com/home 

Aberystwyth’s National Library of Wales hosts the original manuscript of the ode ‘Yr Arwr’,Hedd Wyn’s final draft of the poem which won him the chair at the 1917 Birkenhead Eisteddfod. The collection also includes a number of personal notes and items and notes of the bard. 

Hedd Wyn's   poem  Yr Arwr ("The Hero"), is still considered his greatest work. The ode is structured in four parts and presents two principal characters, Merch y Drycinoedd ("Daughter of the Tempests") and the Arwr. There has been much disagreement in the past regarding the meaning of the ode. It can be said with certainty that Hedd Wyn, like his favourite poet Shelley, longed for a perfect humanity and a perfect world during the chaos of war.

Merch y Drycinoedd has been perceived as a symbol of love, the beauty of nature, and creativity; and Yr Arwr as a symbol of goodness, fairness, freedom, and justice. It is wished that through his sacrifice, and his union with Merch y Drycinoedd at the end of the ode, a better age will come.

While the poem ends hopefully, the hope is found when the “Hero” rescues his beloved and brings her to an otherworldly land of summer and joy. Peace seems not to dwell in this world; rather, it exists only in imagination and hopefully in the afterlife.

Hedd Wyn  as well as all the young men slain in the First World War, came to be associated with the “Hero” and his tragic life redeemed only in death. The poem and a translation can  be found here https://www.liverpool-welsh.co.uk/images/HeddWyn.pdf 

The first page of Hedd Wyn's poem Yr Arwr (The Hero) in his own handwriting. 

Buried initially on the battlefield (out of necessity Hedd Wyn's  body was subsequently moved to Artillery Wood cemetery, Boeinghe, near Ypres, Flanders following the armistice.Visitors can also pay their respects to him and all Welsh people involved in World War One at the Welsh National Memorial Park near Langemarck, Here, a red dragon looks out in the direction of Passchendaele. 

In 1918 the decision was made that Ellis' poems should gave a wider audience, and they were published in a collection called "Cerdi'r Budail" (Shepherd's Songs). The money raised by the sale of the book paid for the  bronze statue by L.S. Merrifield of Hedd Wyn was unveiled by his mother in 1923 in his home village of Trawsfynydd. A plaque on the statue bears the words that Hedd Wyn had written in memory of a friend, Tommy Morris, who died earlier in the war..

He is portrayed not as a soldier but as the shepherd they knew. The cross which  marked his grave at Boesinghe is now displayed at his former school, which was renamed "Ysgol Hedd Wyn" in his honour, and there is a memorial plaque at St George's Church at Ypres which has become a place of pilgrimage for Welsh men and women.

A memorable, Welsh-language film based on Hedd Wyn's life  has also helped bring his story and verse to a wider audience and was produced in 1992. Shot on location in the Prysor Valley. The film was written by the  Alan Llwyd, who has also written biographical works on the poet, and directed by Paul Turner, starring Huw Garmon in the title role and Judith Humphreys as his lover, Jini Owen.

This compelling and moving drama was the first British film to be nominated at the Academy Awards for a Best Foreign Language Film in 1993 and was the first Welsh film to be nominated for Best Foreign Language Film, in 1993, at the Oscars. The film (Hedd Wyn), is available to watch for free on the BFI Player https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-hedd-wyn-1992-online  

In August 2014, the Welsh Memorial Park was opened at Pilckem Ridge in Ypres, Belgium. The memorial is located near where Hedd Wyn was killed during the war in 1917.

In commemoration of his death 100 years ago in 2017, a new Bardic chair was created and presented by the Welsh Government at a special ceremony in Birkenhead Park. A memorial was also unveiled there,

The 2017 opera 2117/Hedd Wyn, with music by Stephen McNeff and libretto by Gruff Rhys, was inspired by the life of Hedd Wyn; set in the year 2117, it imagines a group of schoolchildren in a post-apocalyptic Trawsfynydd learning about the life and work of the poet. It was recorded by Ty Cerdd Records and released in 2022

This poet/Bardd continues to represent a lost generation that could have further enriched our literature and national life had they been spared. I will end this post with the following poem by Hedd Wynn, translated by Alan Llwyd..

Y Blotyn Du

Nid oes gennym hawl ar y sêr,
Na'r lleuad hiraethus chwaith,
Na'r cwmwl o aur a ymylch
Yng nghanol y glesni maith.

Nid oes gennym hawl ar ddim byd
Ond ar yr hen ddaear wyw;
A honno syn anhrefn i gyd
Yng nghanol gogoniant Duw.

The Black Spot

We have no claim to the stars
Nor the sad-faced cloud that immerses
Itself in celestial light.

We only have the right to exist
On earth in its vast devastation,
And it's only man' strife that destroys
The glory of God's creation.

The Poet's Grave in France reads Hedd Wyn Chief Bardd

Statue of Hedd Wyn , Trawsfynnyd

70 years of the European Convention on Human Rights

Today marks the 70th anniversary of the landmark ;treaty the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) – more formally, the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms – coming into effect, a milestone that highlights the enduring importance of safeguarding human rights across Europe, even as ongoing challenges keep putting its principles to the test.  Members of the European Council ratified the European Convention on Human Rights on 4 November 1950, but it only came into effect on 3 September 1953, so exactly 70 years ago today,. 

The Convention’s principal authors were a Frenchman, a Belgian and a Scot: Pierre-Henri Teitgen, Fernand Dehousse and David Maxwell Fyfe (later Lord Chancellor Kilmuir).

The ECHR was a remarkable achievement. Like its better known cousin, the EU, it has become a foundation stone of post-war peace and stability in Europe. We should heap praise on the ECHR, not least for the way it protects those most at risk in our society.

The ECHR is an international human rights treaty between the 47 states that are members of the Council of Europe (CoE) - not to be confused with the European Union. It is the role of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasburg to make sure that the Convention is respected.

The court is responsible for monitoring respect for the human rights of 800 million Europeans within the 47 Council of Europe member states that have ratified the convention. At present, 47 judges – who are elected for a non-renewable term every nine years by the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe – sit at the court. They are totally independent and can not engage in any activity that would hinder their impartiality. Since the court was established, most cases have been lodged by individuals.

The CoE was founded after World War II to protect human rights and the rule of law, and to promote democracy. The ECHR guarantees specific rights and is a framework people can invoke, should their rights and freedoms be compromised. The UK’s history with the Council of Europe is longer than its relationship with the European Union, as it joined the CoE 24 years before it joined the EU. 

While the UK’s membership of the CoE is unaffected by Brexit, senior cabinet ministers have stated that they would be prepared to pull the UK out of the ECHR in order to press ahead with their Rwanda policy, which would see people seeking asylum moved to the east African country, where their asylum claim would be assessed.  

The UK’s own Human Rights Act reflects the rights included in the ECHR, including rights to freedom from torture, to a fair trial and to respect for family and private life, to name a few.  Legislation moving through parliament 

Before the incorporation of the Convention, individuals in the United Kingdom could only complain of unlawful interference with their Convention rights by lodging a petition with the European Commission of Human Rights in Strasbourg. That all changed on 2 October 2000 when the Human Rights Act 1998 came into force, allowing UK citizens to sue public bodies for breaches of their Convention rights in domestic courts. 

Ever since, it has protected the basic human rights of every single person in the UK.

Governments signed up to the ECHR have made a legal commitment to abide by certain standards of behaviour and to protect the basic rights and freedoms of people. It is a treaty to protect the rule of law and promote democracy in European countries. 

The idea for the creation of the ECHR was proposed in the early 1940s while the Second World War was still raging across Europe. It was developed to ensure that governments would never again be allowed to dehumanise and abuse people’s rights with impunity, and to help fulfil the promise of ‘never again’. 

In May 1948 after the war had ended, the ‘Congress of Europe’ was held in The Hague, a gathering of over 750 delegates which included leaders from civil society groups, academia, business and religious groups, trade unions, and leading politicians from across Europe such as Winston Churchill, François Mitterand and Konrad Adenauer.  In his speech to the Congress, Churchill stated: 

  “In the centre of our movement stands the idea of a Charter of Human Rights, guarded by freedom and sustained by law.”  

 Winston Churchill, (The Hague, 7th May 1948)

The European Convention on Human Rights  guarantees a range of political rights and freedoms of the individual against interference by the State and protects  the basic human rights of every single person in the UK, and the rights we are all familiar with come from it..

Now, the ECHR is under threat.  Senior Government ministers are on record saying they want the UK out of the Convention, all so they can push forward plans that breach human rights. We cannot allow this to happen. 

The controversial Rwanda deportation plan put in place by the Conservatives continues to be blocked on all sides of the political strata, including from within the Conservative Party itself. This has led to potential threats from senior members of the Conservative Party to campaign to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (“ECHR”) at the next election. 

The Home Secretary Suella Braverman is among  those thought to support leaving the ECHR are home secretary Suella Braverman who  stated back in March of this year, that the European Court of Human Rights (“ECtHR”) was ‘sometimes at odds with British values’. 

This is an unsurprising response given that the first planned deportation flight to Rwanda was dramatically blocked at the last minute by the ECtHR, who granted an urgent interim measure indicating to the UK Government that the applicant (an Iraqi national) should not be removed to Rwanda until three weeks after the delivery of the final domestic decision in his ongoing judicial review proceedings. 

Whether the ECHR is truly ‘at odds with British Values’ is debatable. Recent data from King’s College London  https://www.kcl.ac.uk/policy-institute/assets/uk-attitudes-to-immigration-1018742pub01-115.pdf shows that the UK public are the most accepting of immigration, of 17 countries represented in the survey, ahead of Germany, the United States and Brazil to name a few.  The survey highlights that the UK is among the most likely of those nations to think that immigration strengthens cultural diversity, and among those least likely to believe that immigration increases unemployment or the risk of terrorism. 

We need to make sure the Government – and all political parties – commit to keeping the UK in the  European Convention on Human Rights. If the UK government pulled  out of the ECHR, we would lose our protection from human rights abuses and we would not be able to hold them to account.  All of us would lose out.

Above everything, threats to leave the ECHR appear to be a last-ditch attempt by the Conservatives ahead of a general election next year to be seen to be defending UK borders, rather than actually reflecting UK values on immigration.

The ECHR continues to play a significant role in the protection of justice in this country, and it is crucial that progress made in human rights law is not undone as we approach the next general election.

However politicians are trying to divide us by scapegoating sections of society, like refugees and asylum seekers,

Exiting the  European Convention on Human Rights, would have far-reaching consequences affecting every citizen of the UK, including disabled individuals, the elderly, women, LGBTQ+ individuals, minorities, and vulnerable groups. Additionally, workers’ rights, freedom of expression and press, as well as privacy and surveillance, would all be influenced. in an attempt to weaken our rights.

The government has also  recently passed a series of draconian new laws that will have a chilling effect on peaceful protest and restrict free speech,  It’s not just our right to protest that’s at risk. All our human rights and freedoms are under threat. 

One thing the government and Tory backbenchers in favour of leaving the ECHR are conspicuously silent about is that most cases brought to the ECHR are cases about human rights violations committed by states against their own​ citizens. Only two countries have ever left the treaty: Greece when it abolished democracy and imposed a junta in 1969 - Athens later rejoined when military rule ended in 1974 - while Russia was expelled following its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.  

Human rights  are in place to stop corrupt Governments like the one we have at the moment, and the European Convention on Human Rights  brings home fundamental, universal rights we all have as human beings, and allows us to challenge authorities if they violate them.and acts as a safety net  for all of us, working quietly to ensure our rights are respected, and a crucial means of defence for the most vulnerable. 

It should be no surprise, that those who seek to undermine support for the ECHR have started not by criticising the Convention but rather by attacking the legal profession in general and human rights lawyers in particular. Just as with Brexit, they recognise that the pathway to leaving the ECHR lies through polarising and dividing public opinion.

Human rights protections  must not weakened or abandoned. They should be strengthened. We must  not be divided. Either everyone has human rights, or no one does.. We all want to live in a society where everyone is treated with dignity and respect The ECHR is a step towards that vision. On its 70th birthday, let’s celebrate the ECHR and fight to keep the UK in it, and to  pledge never to let this or any other government to  take our fundamental  human rights and freedoms. away from us.

Footprints

Another year has passed 

My weary legs carry me forward.

Continuing to walk without pause

The paths of justice and freedom 

In a world plagued by woes

Striving for an assemblance of mercy

In troubled disturbed waters 

Where human lives have become a statistic

Measured by hearts cold as stone

Where truth  becomes laden with lies

The air reeks of persecution and betrayal

With borders that deny humanity and compassion

My mission remains boundless. 

My ideology unchanged

My hope unwavering 

My dream unfaltering..

Thomas Chatterton : Hero and Martyr of the Romantics (20 November 1752 – 24 August 1770)

Henry Wallis's painting 'The Death of Chatterton,

Thomas Chatterton was an English poet and a brilliant forger of medieval poetry who tragically died of poisoning from self-administered arsenic, aged just seventeen years and nine months old, on this day August 24 1770.

Chatterton was born at Bristol,on November 20 1752. His father, the sexton of St Mary Redcliffe, a musician, a poet, and a numismatist, who had dabbled in the occult had died four months previously.  Thomas was raised by his mother, grandmother and older sister. But he was close to his uncle, who had taken over his late father’s role as sexton, and he encouraged his precocious nephew in his academic and literary pursuits, as well as giving him the run of the church.

Inspired by illuminated music folios discarded by his father, the young Thomas taught himself to read and spent hours poring over old books, scraps of manuscripts and minuments (title deeds) hidden in his father’s wooden chest.

Chatterton's love for reading was nurtured by his sister, who related that he did not like reading small books. Instead, he was drawn to the illuminated capitals of an old musical folio and the black-letter Bible. Chatterton was a wayward child, uninterested in the games of other children, and thought to be educationally backward. When asked what device he would like painted on a bowl that was to be his, he replied, "Paint me an angel, with wings, and a trumpet, to trumpet my name over the world."

Despite his eccentricities, Chatterton's capacity for learning was recognized by his mother at age 6, and by age 8, he was so eager for books that he would read and write all day long if undisturbed. By the age of 11, he had already become a contributor to Felix Farley's 'Bristol Journal.' His confirmation inspired him to write religious poems published in the paper.

The destruction of a cross in the churchyard of St Mary Redcliffe by a churchwarden in 1763 left a deep impression on Chatterton. He sent a satire on the parish vandal to the local journal on 7 January 1764, demonstrating his strong sense of veneration for the church. Chatterton also had a little attic that he had converted into his study. There, surrounded by books, cherished parchments, loot purloined from the muniment room of St Mary Redcliffe, and drawing materials, the child lived in thought with his 15th-century heroes and heroines.

Chatterton's childhood was full of mystery and wonder, which would go on to shape his literary output in later life. His love for the past, his interest in the occult, and his sense of veneration for the church all contributed to his unique perspective on life.

Best known by his contemporaries for his series of Thomas Rowley poems, purportedly the work of a forgotten Medieval monk but in reality written by Chatterton himself on 15^th century parchment.

Chatterton's adoption of Rowley is believed to have been driven, in part, by his desire to reconstitute the lost father figure in fantasy. 

Having been raised by two women,his mother Sarah and his sister Mary, Chatterton's masculine identity was held back. To compensate for the lack of a paternal presence, Chatterton unconsciously created two interweaving family romances, each with its own scenario.

The first of these family romances was the romance of Rowley, whom he created as a father-like figure with a wealthy patron, William Canynge. Chatterton imagined himself as a talented poet who could earn fame and wealth through his work and thus rescue his mother from poverty. The second family romance was his romance of "Jack and the Beanstalk," which is said to have been a means of resolving his feelings of powerlessness and oppression. Chatterton's adoption of the Rowley persona is notable for the extent to which he immersed himself in the character and he went to great lengths to create a detailed backstory for him, complete with a jargon that he called "Rowleian."

As Thomas Chatterton's literary ambition grew, so did his need for financial support. In search of a patron, he first turned to the antiquarians of Bristol, who were eager to use his Rowley transcripts for their own work. However, they were not willing to pay him enough, and so he set his sights on the wealthier and more influential figure of Horace Walpole. Chatterton sent samples of Rowley's poetry and a manuscript on the rise of painting in England to Walpole, hoping to impress him enough to secure his patronage.

Walpole, intrigued by the possibility of discovering lost works of medieval literature, initially expressed interest in publishing Chatterton's pieces. But when he discovered that Chatterton was only 16 years old and that the authenticity of the Rowley pieces was in question, he turned his back on the young poet, dismissing him with scorn.

Yet Chatterton was not cowed: he went on to publish more than fifty works across literary, political and historical journals under an array of pseudonyms and is alleged to have written a poem attacking Walpole (later persuaded from sending it by his sister Mary). ‘Walpole!’, it begins, ‘I thought not I should ever see/So mean a Heart as thine has proved to be.’ ‘Say, didst thou ne’er indulge in such Deceit?/Who wrote Otranto?’ These ‘Lines to Walpole’ were probably a forgery by Chatterton’s biographer John Dix but they certainly shed light on the poet’s clash with Walpole.

All this is should be noted because  Walpole himself  was highly sensitive to questions over authenticity having himself fallen foul of critics over his Gothic novel The Castle of Otranto (1764) where he had been accused of plagiarism.

The revelation led to Walpole being condemned as ‘false’ and ‘preposterous’ by the poet and clergyman John Langhorne on account of  deceit. The whole affair is curious when Walpole’s extensive antiquarian credentials are taken into account. Perhaps Walpole was ashamed that Chatterton held a mirror up to his own literary forgeries.

Chatterton's search for a patron was not just a matter of financial need, but also a quest for validation and recognition. He yearned for someone to appreciate his talent and to help him achieve the literary success that he believed he deserved. Unfortunately, his attempts to win the support of the literary establishment were met with skepticism and rejection, leaving him feeling disillusioned and alone.

After being rejected by Horace Walpole, Thomas Chatterton's creativity took a hit. However, he soon bounced back and turned his attention towards periodical literature and politics. He started writing for London periodicals like the 'Town and Country Magazine', where he adopted the pseudonym Junius. Junius was a popular letter writer of that time who was known for his strong opinions and controversial writings. Chatterton, in his Junius persona, targeted the Duke of Grafton, the Earl of Bute, and the Princess of Wales.

However, Chatterton's political writings were not without consequences. His attacks on the government and monarchy were seen as treasonous, and he was accused of seditious libel. In 1770, he was arrested for writing a letter that accused the Lord Mayor of London of being corrupt. Although he was eventually released, the incident left a lasting impression on him.

Despite the risks, Chatterton continued to write politically charged pieces. His writing not only reflected his own beliefs but also mirrored the sentiments of the common people who were fed up with the corrupt government and the aristocracy. His writings became a voice for the voiceless and inspired others to speak out against injustice.

Chatterton's political writings were a testament to his courage, wit, and passion for justice. He used his pen to expose the corruption and hypocrisy of those in power and gave a voice to the common people. Although his writing was controversial and led to legal troubles, his legacy lives on as a writer who was unafraid to speak truth to power.

 On the evening of  24 August 1770, Chatterton locked himself  in his room in his Brook Street attic and drunk a dose of arsenic mixed to water after tearing into fragments whatever literary remains were at hand. A few days earlier, while walking in St Pancras Churchyard, Chatterton had fallen into a newly dug grave, which prompted his walking companion to joke that he was happy in assisting at the resurrection of genius. Chatterton, however, replied that he had been at war with the grave for some time, hinting at his troubled mental state.

His body was discovered on the 25th of August. The coroner's ruling, a suicidal death as a result of insanity.He may  also have been suffering from a venereal disease.

 

'Since we can die but once, what matters it,
If rope or garter, poison, pistol, sword,
Slow-wasting sickness, or the sudden burst
Of valve arterial in the noble parts,
Curtail the miseries of human life?
Though varied is the cause, the effect's the same:
All to one common dissolution tends.' -  Thomas Chatterton

 

Thomas Chatterton was buried in a mass paupers grave at London’s Shoelane Workhouse Cemetery. It sadly no longer exists.Chatterton's  untimely death was a tragic end to a brilliant career that promised great things, as as he had shown exceptional talent at an early age and was regarded as a prodigy. His writings showed exceptional talent and revealed his deep knowledge of English literature and history. Chatterton was a master of deception, having created a literary hoax that deceived many scholars of his time. His works, which often imitated the style of medieval poetry, were remarkable for their depth and richness. He was a true genius who died before his time, leaving behind a legacy that continues to inspire writers and readers today. Chatterton was a seminal figure and precocious and original literary talent, whose been honoured by the powers of  his  literary invention by invoking their reimaginings of his life and legacy.

The Rowley poems were published in 1777 and the 'Rowley controversy' '  continued until the end of the century, By then most people were convinced that the poems were the brilliant creations of Thomas Chatterton.

Seen as a symbol of society's neglect of the artist he was elevated to the status of hero and martyr by the Romantics and the life of this ‘marvelous boy’, as Chatterton came to be known, would subsequently touch some of the most eminent English poets – Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Wordsworth, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron, Sir Walter Scott and Dante Gabriel Rossetti – several of whom came to regard him as a muse who mythologized him in their own poetry. 

In popular culture Chatterton's genius and his death are commemorated by Shelley in Adonais (though its main emphasis is the commemoration of Keats), by Wordsworth in "Resolution and Independence", by Coleridge in "A Monody on the Death of Chatterton," by Dante Gabriel Rossetti in "Five English Poets," and in John Keats's sonnet "To Chatterton".  Keats also inscribed Endymion "to the memory of Thomas Chatterton". French singer Serge Gainsbourg wrote a song, Chatterton:

 

 Chatterton suicidé Hannibal suicidé [...] Quant à moi Ça ne va plus très bien

 

 

and Peter Ackroyd's 1987 novel Chatterton was an acclaimed literary re-telling of the poet's story, giving emphasis to the philosophical and spiritual implications of forgery.

Henry Wallis's painting 'The Death of Chatterton,' now displayed at the Tate Britain in London, is the most famous image of the poet in the 19th century. Two smaller versions of the painting are held by the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and the Yale Center for British Art.

The painting  alludes to the idea of the artist as a martyr of society through the Christ-like pose and the torn sheets of poetry on the floor. The pale light of dawn shines through the casement window, illuminating the poet's serene features and livid flesh. The harsh lighting, vibrant colours and lifeless hand and arm increase the emotional impact of the scene. A phial of poison on the floor indicates the method of suicide. Following the Pre-Raphaelite credo of truth to nature, Wallis has attempted to recreate the same attic room in Gray's Inn where Chatterton had killed himself. The model for the figure was the novelist George Meredith (1828-1909), then aged about 28.  

The British Library holds a collection of "Chattertoniana," which includes works by Chatterton, newspaper cuttings, articles dealing with the Rowley controversy, and other items relating to the poet's life and legacy.

In 1886, architect Herbert Horne and Oscar Wilde unsuccessfully attempted to have a plaque erected at Colston's School, Bristol. Wilde, who lectured on Chatterton at this time, suggested the inscription: "To the Memory of Thomas Chatterton, One of England's Greatest Poets, and Sometime pupil at this school."

In 1928, a plaque in memory of Chatterton was mounted on 39, Brooke Street, Holborn, bearing the inscription below. The plaque subsequently has been transferred to a modern office building on the same site.

In a House on this Site

Thomas Chatterton,

died 

24 August 1770.

Tho end this post here are the final words from Thomas Chatterton:

Farewell, Bristolia's dingy piles of brick,
Lovers of mammon, worshippers of trick!
Ye spurned the boy who gave you antique lays,
And paid for learning with your empty praise.
Farewell, ye guzzling aldermanic fools,
By nature fitted for corruption's tools!
I go to where celestial anthems swell;
But you, when you depart, will sink to hell.
Farewell, my mother!—cease, my anguished soul,
Nor let distraction's billows o'er me roll!
Have mercy, Heaven! when here I cease to live,
And this last act of wretchedness forgive.

 

- Thomas Chatterton , 24 August 1770

Remembering Joe Strummer legendary heart and political soul of punk ( August 21, 1952— December 22, 2002)

Today I remember again  Joe Strummer this legendary heart and political soul of punk, staunch anti-racist, anti-fascist and anti-imperialist whose rebel spirit and righteous anger has still not faded, his songs still resonate, with immediacy and warning after all, " the ice age is coming, the sun is zooming in, meltdown expected, the wheat is growing thin."

John Graham Mellor was born August 21, 1952 in Ankara, Turkey where his father who worked in the  British diplomatic service was stationed., His family moved around from continent to continent, living in Cyprus, Cairo, East Germany, and Mexico City, all before he went to boarding school in England at age 8. While on break from boarding school, he spent time in Iran and parts of Africa visiting his parents.  As a result, his upbringing of living in and visiting different parts of the world helped him develop his diversity in music and shape his world perspective that would help influence his musical career.

He developed a love of music. listening to records by Little Richard, the Beach Boys and Woody Guthrie.He would even go by the nickname "Woody" for a few years

The  suicide of his brother affected Strummer, as did having to identify his body after it had lain undiscovered for three days. Strummer said, "David was a year older than me. Funnily enough, you know, he was a Nazi. He was a member of the National Front. He was into the occult and he used to have these deaths-heads and cross-bones all over everything. He didn't like to talk to anybody, and I think suicide was the only way out for him. What else could he have done[

 After finishing his time at City of London Freemen's School in 1970, Strummer moved on to the Central School of Art and Design in London, where he briefly considered becoming a professional cartoonist and completed a one-year foundation course. During this time, he shared a flat in Palmers Green with friends Clive Timperley and Tymon Dogg.

In 1973, Strummer moved to Newport, South Wales. his friend Richard Frame spoke with Wales Online about his experiences living in South Wales:  “He was in art college in London and he was going out with a girl there,” “They split up and she went to Cardiff art college. He followed her down and she told him she wasn’t interested.” 

Planning on hitchhiking back to London from Cardiff, his first thumbed lift took him to Newport. “He decided to call in to see a student that he had been in college within London called Forbes,” added Frame. “They went up to the Newport College of Art student union and there was a band playing. Liking what he saw, Joe decamped to Newport.”  

“He thought this was as good a place to stay for a while, so he brought his stuff down from London, which included the guitar which he had bought some months previously from a shop in Charing Cross Road in London.”  

“He’d come down from the leafy suburbs of the south of England and he suddenly found himself in this industrial South Wales town, which was completely alien to anything he’d experienced before, but he loved it.”

 He did not study at Newport College of Art, but met up with college musicians at the students' union in Stow Hill and became the vocalist for Flaming Youth, before renaming the band the Vultures. During this time, he also worked as a gravedigger in St Woolos Cemetery. 

In 1974, the band he was involved in  fell apart and Strummer moved back to London, where he met up again with Dogg. He was a street performer for a while and then decided to form another band with his roommates called the 101ers, named after the address of their squat at 101 Walterton Road in Maida Vale.The band played many gigs in London pubs, performing covers of popular American R&B and blues songs. 

In 1975, he stopped calling himself Woody Mellor and adopted the stage name Joe Strummer, subsequently insisting that his friends call him by that name. The surname "Strummer" apparently referred to his role as rhythm guitarist in a self-deprecating way. 

Strummer was the lead singer of the 101ers and began to write original songs for the group. One song he wrote was inspired by the Slits' drummer Palmolive, who was his girlfriend at the time. The group liked the song "Keys to Your Heart", which they picked as their first single. His first gigs.prior to The Clash, were for Chileans exiled in London by the military coup of General Pinochet.

On April 3, 1976, the then-unknown Sex Pistols opened for Joe’s band, the 101ers at a venue called the Nashville Rooms in London, and Strummer was impressed by them. Strummer agreed to leave the 101ers and join Jones, bassist Paul Simonon, drummer Terry Chimes and guitarist Keith Levene. The band was named The Clash by Simonon and made their debut on 4 July 1976, opening for The Sex Pistols at the Black Swan (also known as the Mucky Duck, now known as the Boardwalk..

The Clash  becoming one of the most memorable and influential bands in the original  British punk rock scene. On 25 January 1977, the band signed with CBS Records as a three-piece after Levene was fired from the band and Chimes quit. Topper Headon later became the band’s full-time drummer. 

They recorded their first self-titled album in just a matter weeks and released it afterward. The Clash’s first single “White Riot” garnered critical acclaim in the UK, but it was the third single “Complete Control” (that featured reggae artist Lee “Scratch” Perry) that climbed slightly higher on the UK chart (at #28). 

The Clash released “Complete Control” as a response to their label who released the second single “Remote Control” without the band’s permission, which infuriated them.  As The Clash was soaring in the UK punk scene, so was their reputation for several criminal misdemeanors. They committed petty crimes that ranged from stealing pillowcases from their hotel room to shooting racing pigeons. Despite these offenses, it even more bolstered the band’s “bad boy” image as many early punk rock bands had. However, The Clash was also actively tackling social and political matters as demonstrated by their 1978 single “(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais.” which powerfully relates to the haves and the have-nots and asks listeners to get out of their comfort zones.

While they were recording their next album, CBS Records requested the band to modify their sound into a “cleaner” one in order to appeal to American audiences. For this, The Clash worked with former Blue Oyster Cult’s Sandy Pearlman to produce their second album Give ‘Em Enough Rope which The Clash released in 1978. While the expected American breakthrough didn’t happen (it only landed at #128 on the Billboard 200), Give ‘Em Enough Rope was another homeland success, almost topping the UK album charts (at #2). The album was supported mostly by the single “Tommy Gun,” which rose to #19 on the UK singles chart. The Clash toured extensively in their country, and also had their first American tour in early 1979, which was largely a success.

Breakthrough success in the US From their earlier influences and their American tour (whose supporting acts included R&B luminaries such as Bo Didley and and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins), they largely influenced The Clash’s shift of style when they recorded their third album London Calling in late 1979. The album exhibited several genres including ska, reggae and old school rock and roll to add to their already existing punk rock offering.  The result was a tremendous success not only in the UK (where the album reached #9) but also (and finally) in the United States. London Calling peaked at #27 on the Billboard 200, and its title track reached #11 on the UK singles chart and #30 on the US dance chart. 

The next single from London Calling “Train in Vain (Stand by Me)” fared even better when it peaked at #23 on the Hot 100, making it the Clash’s first entry into the US Hot 100.  Part of London Calling‘s success was its relative affordability. It was a double album, although The Clash insisted that copies should be sold for a single album price.

 The Clash did another US tour, which also became very successful. The band also toured much of the UK and Europe. It was also during that time that they filmed their documentary film Rude Boy, and the single “Bankrobber” which would appear on their compilation album Black Market Clash. It went to #12 on the UK album charts.

In 1980, The Clash released the triple album Sandinista! in late 1980; and as expected of the band, it was released at a lower price. It went gold in the in the UK and silver in the US. 

The Clash was a band unlike any other, fusing together a variety of musical genres like reggae, rockabilly, dub, and R&B without missing a beat.and their influence on the music industry is immeasurable. 

It was Strummer’s politically charged lyrics that helped bring punk to the masses. Calling out social injustices and giving a voice to the struggles of the working class, his lyrics struck a chord with legions of fans and the press alike, with Rolling Stone calling The Clash “the greatest rock & roll band in the world.”

Despite their fame and success, within the band things were not looking good. In fact, they were on the brink of disintegrating. Headon was fired because of his escalating drug addiction, and Crimes was reinstated as the band’s drummer. However, he was soon fired too, and was replaced by Pete Howard (ex-Cold Fish). Strummer and Simonon also sacked Jones for his diminishing interest in the band (Jones later would form his own band Big Audio Dynamite after his departure). The Clash hired two guitarists and together the newly-revamped group released what could be their last album Cut The Crap in 1985. It met with critical and commercial failure that even Strummer and Simonon decided to disown it. In early 1986, the two men decided to permanently severe the group.

Joe Strummer though despite this is often said to have changed people’s lives as a result of not only fronting The Clash but also writing most of their lyrics. He continued to write and perform progressive, politically-charged songs with his last band, The Mescaleros, from 1999 until his death.

A humanist and environmentalist. his  empathy for the plight of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers in his last three albums,all with The Mescaleros was plain to see, as was his advocacy for multiculturalism and racial and ethnic tolerance. 

To this, he added green politics, raging against the corporate destruction of the environment. In "Johnny Appleseed" (2001), he wrote: "If you're after getting the honey, hey then you don't go killing all the bees… there ain't no berries on the trees." 

He inspired thousands to learn about power structures in society  Two Strummer songs stand out in particular to me.. One is "Spanish Bombs" (1979), which was primarily about the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939: "The freedom fighters died upon the hill. They sang the red flag. They wore the black one… The hillsides ring with ‘Free the people’."  

This helped educate many about the democratically elected Republican government’s struggle against Francisco Franco’s fascist military coup, recounting how socialists, communists, republicans and anarchists fought together for freedom, liberty and equality. 

The other is "Washington Bullets" about the anti-democratic effects of American imperialism in Central and South America, from the 1959 Cuban Revolution to Pinochet’s 1973 military coup in Chile and the Nicaraguan Sandinistas' overthrowing of the Somoza dictatorship in 1979.

In it, Strummer sings: "As every cell in Chile will tell. The cries of the tortured men. Remember Allende… When they had a revolution in Nicaragua. There was no interference from America. The people fought the leader. And up he flew. Without any Washington bullets, what else could he do?" 

In an age before the internet, ,me included many sought out information in their local libraries about these seismic world events.

Washington Bullets - The Clash

Strummer's lyrics still able to make us think, that help challenge our views of society. He also taught us, that punk is not a uniform, it's an idea, a passionate grassroots idea to create change, standing up for what you believe, about being open minded, at the end of the day we are all individuals. you've gotta do what's right for you,  follow your own heart, your own true spirit.

Strummer was a family man. His children, Jazz and Lola, both girls came from his long-term girlfriend Gaby Salter. After Strummer and Salter split up, Strummer began a relationship with Lucinda Tait in 1993 and were later married. Tait had a daughter from a past relationship named Eliza, and the four of them moved to a farmhouse in Somerset England 

Joe Strummer sadly died suddenly on December 22,2002 at his home in Somerset  after walking his dogs the victim of an undiagnosed congenital heart defect. He was only 50.

As a member of The Clash Strummer was a punk-rock pioneer with a fondness for reggae, who changed peoples lives forever.They were a force that would shape how politics and music fit together, transforming this new, angry punk sound into something with purpose. Through his songwriting Strummer consistently critiqued capitalism, advocated racial justice and opposed imperialism. He showed young people there are alternatives to the complacency, opportunism, and political ambivalence that dominate popular culture.

On top of this, The Clash always brought social issues to light, including support for the African, Jamaican and West Indian immigrant communities who struggled for unity and integration in London at the time.

As a musician, Strummer redefined music and reaffirmed the principles of committed and intelligent opposition. He seemed to be involved in so many different movements and supported so many causes before they were fashionable. The Clash were at the forefront of the Rock against Racism movement founded in the seventies to combat the rise of the far-right National Front.  The Clash always brought social issues to light, including support for the African, Jamaican and West Indian immigrant communities who struggled for unity and integration in London at the time. 

Never afraid of controversy, Strummer pushed the Clash to support publicly the H-Block protests in Northern Ireland, which began in 1976 when the British took away the political status of IRA “prisoners.” 

But co-founding one of the most important bands of the past 50 years has, understandably, overshadowed the full breadth of Strummer’s musical interests. His career outside the Clash included forays into rockabilly, folk-rock, African music and Spanish Civil War songs.

Released nearly 16 years after his death, Joe Strummer 001 a 32 track compilation of remastered rarities and previously unreleased tracks, stands as a testament to his vision for open borders and open hearts. This collection gives a sense of the scope of Strummer’s career, and the passion with which he pursued it. Over the years, and through various musical incarnations, he never sounded less than joyful about what he was doing. He’s ready to rumble on opener “Letsgetabitrockin,” from the 101ers, which barrels along on a tumult of guitars and a lean rhythm. Later, Strummer pushes the beat a little on a more subdued acoustic demo from 1975 of the same song, as if he’s imagining the churning full-band arrangement to come. He sings with exhilaration over a booming mix of drums and guitar on “Love Kills,” the title track from the 1986 biopic Sid and Nancy; takes on a tone of wonderment as he threads his voice through hand drums and African chanting on “Sandpaper Blues”; and lets loose with scruffy, melodic abandon on the taut “Coma Girl,” from Streetcore, his posthumous 2003 release with the Mescaleros. Even on an aching “Redemption Song” with Johnny Cash, from Cash’s 2003 Unearthed boxed set, Strummer strikes a balance between worldweary and triumphant.
Strummer and Jimmy Cliff, the ska and reggae legend, are a natural pairing on “Over the Border,” from Cliff’s 2003 album Fantastic Plastic People. And Strummer builds on the Clash’s “Spanish Bombs” with jittery banjo and a vaguely Iberian tint on “15th Brigade”—his take on “Viva la Quince Brigada,” sung by Spanish Republicans in their fight against the fascists during the Spanish Civil War.
The second half of 001 is given over to demos and previously unreleased tracks, many of which are illuminating. “Czechoslovak Song/Where Is England” from 1983 rides a slow, heavy dub rhythm that bears only a vague resemblance to the song it morphed into: the Clash’s synth-laced single “This Is England.” 

The boxed set version of 001 also includes a more fully formed demo of “This Is England” from 1984, with gruff vocals and without the synths. The grungy blues “Crying on 23rd” and the countrified “2 Bullets,” soaked in pedal steel guitar, are outtakes from Sid and Nancy, and both feature Strummer’s former Clash bandmate Mick Jones on bass. 
As fun as the older stuff is, one of the latter-day unreleased tracks is a standout. Strummer recorded “London Is Burning” in 2002 with the Mescaleros, then reworked it into “Burnin’ Streets” for Streetcore. The version here is faster, punchier and more evocative: “London is burning / Don’t tell the queen,” he sings to set the scene. It would have been one of the best songs on Streetcore; instead, it’s an unexpected gem tucked away toward the bottom of the tracklist .

It’s a reminder of just how good Strummer could be, and makes you wonder what more he would have done had a congenital heart defect not felled him at 50. The consolation is knowing how much more material remains to be heard, and hoping there are more songs in the archives that are as good as the ones here.
He performed for the last time on November 15, 2002 at a benefit for striking London firefighters. For someone who used his music to galvanize and promote progressive action, this final performance was most fitting.

Joe Strummer was an iconic musician whose music and lyrics continue to resonate with audiences today. His advocacy for political change and artistic collaborations helped shape the punk rock genre, and his influence is still felt today. Though he may be gone, Joe Strummer’s spirit lives on through his music and the many lives he touched.

Strummer's lasting legacy is that music is still used to oppose right-wing ideologies and political parties and to promote an agenda of social justice and equality. Strummer’s music remains an enduring legacy of radicalism, defiance, and resistance. 

Thank you Commandante Joe, gone but not forgotten. Still carrying the keys  to people's hearts and music that continues to inspire..Joe’s music still remains vital: thought-provoking, boundary-pushing, genre-fusing, in ways that most artists could only wish to match and  Joe’s work still sounds just as relevant today as when it was first released.

Link to Joe Strummer Foundation

http://joestrummerfoundation.org

" People can change anything they want to and that means everything in the world "

- Joe Strummer


Joe Strummer  and Johnny Cash- Redemption Song

The Clash - Clampdown

The Clash - Clash City Rockers

The Clash -  Tommy Gun

Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros - Johnny Appleseed

Joe Strummer - White man in Hammersmith Palis ( Glastonbury 2009 )

Joe Strummer and the mescaleros - London is Burning

Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros -  Bhindi Bagee

The Clash - I fought the law

The Clash - Police and Thieves

The Clash- White Riot

The Clash - Know your rights

Summer Storm

Deep the wind growled

As heavy rain fell,

Strong. free and gusty

Ferociously running wild,

Mother Natures breath

Soaring intensely,.

We heard her bellow

Releasing powerful energy,

While trees swayed.

And branches croaked,

Magic pouring down

Whirling and twisting,

Mercurial power roared on

Mischievously disturbing sleep,

Dancing through the night 

Not wishing to be tamed,

Shaking up the neighbourhood

With shimmering embrace,

Rvers became swollen

Clouds tossed across sky,

Then as morning arrived

Swiftly flowed on inexhaustibly,

After leaving her mark

Traces of elemental force,

Cyclic storm will  rage on

Consistent like time.