Remembering Dame Rebecca West (21 December 1892 – 15 March 1983)

 

Rebecca West was one of the major literary figures of the 20th century, known for her lifelong commitment to feminist issues. The youngest of three daughters, West was born Cicely Fairfield  on  this  day 1892 in Ireland.Her father, Charles Fairfield, was a lieutenant in the British army, a convicted gold and silver thief, and a highly-regarded Conservative journalist who, despite being a feature writer for the Melbourne Argus and having a brief stint as chief leader-writer of the Glasgow Herald. never made much of his literary abilities  West’s mother Isabel had, according to West, all of the makings of a concert pianist, but never  pursued  a  professional  career. Both parents, however, encouraged West’s interests in art, politics, and debate.

Following West’s father’s death the family moved to Edinburgh, where she attended George Watson’s Ladies College. After leaving school in 1907 due to contracting tuberculosis, West moved to London looking to begin a career as an actress and adopted the professional name Rebecca West – borrowing the name from Ibsen’s strong-minded  feminist heroine in Rosmersholm.

West was a passionate suffragist, a socialist and fiercely intelligent and her long career as a writer began when she was barely out of her teens.but her move to London was a turning point. She joined the Freewoman Circle, a group of suffragists who published a feminist journal, and then discovered the Fabian Society and the socialist newspaper The Clarion. For both publications she wrote articles and reviews, attracting immediate attention with her incisive prose. 

One of her admirers was the Fabian H. G. Wells, a novelist twenty-six years older than she was, and they embarked on an intense affair. But in 1914, one year into the relationship, the arrival of a son Anthony Panther West. (The unusual choice of middle name, Panther, was the pet name Wells had for West.) heralded the end of their unmitigated happiness. 

Wells was unwilling to acknowledge his illegitimate son and banished West to the countryside. Resenting this treatment, West waited for the end of the war and then rented a flat of her own in London. Her independence brought some measure of contentment, but the relationship remained fraught with disagreements.Their romantic relationship ended after a decade, but in  spite  of  this  Wells and West remained friends until his death in 1946.

Wests  relationship with both father and son were stormy.Her son resented her absences from him during his childhood, yet never blamed his father for even more prolonged absences. He rather idolized his father, and grew up to be a talented writer.In 1955, Anthony West wrote Heritage,thinly veiled autobiographical novel about a son torn between two hugely famous parents. and portrayed his mother in a very unflattering light West threatened legal action against any publishing house that bought the novel and subsequently it wasn’t published until after West’s death.

Among her other lovers were Charlie Chaplin and Lord Beaverbrook, a newspaper tycoon. As a witty and beautiful woman, men were drawn to her wherever she went on her far-flung travels.

As a young socialist and feminist, West lived, worked and took action through her writing. With a fertile imagination, mischievous wit and some self-indulgent verbosity, West's articles for feminist weeklies attacked, with savage refinement, the repression of suffragists by politicians and police, especially the barbaric force-feeding of suffragist prisoners on hunger strike. 

West defended trade unions, especially their efforts to organise women workers, and also argued for the need for the suffragist movement to link the demand for the vote w

West quickly won a reputation for witty and cutting journalism, and became aligned with socialist and feminist movements. She went on to write for The New Republic, New Statesman and Daily Telegraph and would be affiliated with feminist and socialist causes throughout her life. 

In 1918 West published her first novel, The Return of the Soldier  followed  by T"he Judge" (1922) reflected her ability to address pressing social issues, from the effeT"he Judge"cts of shell shock on soldiers to the circumstances of single mothers and feminist militancy. However "The Judge"   did not please all  her readers, and the trials of writing it, combined with the negative reviews it received, brought her to the brink of a nervous breakdown. 

Her subsequent novels, all considered extremely fine yet undervalued by critics, included Harriet Hume (1929), The Thinking Reed (1936), The Fountain Overflows (1957), and The Birds Fall Down (1966).Though she was prolific in her journalistic writing, fiction, for most of her life, cost her a great deal of pain and effort. 

Rebecca West is  is  now considered one of the great minds of the twentieth century. She looked at the human condition with the dispassionate eye of a journalist and the heart of a feminist. For example, from a 1928 speech to the Fabian Society:  “There is one common condition for the lot of women in Western civilization and all other civilizations that we know about for certain, and that is, woman as a sex is disliked and persecuted, while as an individual she is liked, loved, and even, with reasonable luck, sometimes worshipped.”  

She was an ardent feminist as she puts it below, 

“I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat, or a prostitute”)  but also a spirited and independent thinker. She was not afraid to attack or mock the suffragist movement when necessary, but she was also one of its most vivid voices. (She once made fun of one of the feminists from the New Freewoman “who was always jumping up and asking us to be kind to illegitimate children, as if we all made a habit of seeking out illegitimate children and insulting them!”)  

Her fierce feminist inquiries were original and inflammatory; she was not content with slogans and bromides, and went deeper than other politically progressive women of her time, and in fact, our time. She wrote, for instance, a provocative attack on women, herself included, for devoting too much of their energy to love and relationships in the New Republic, denouncing them for “keeping themselves apart from the high purposes of life for an emotion that, schemed and planned for, was no better than the made excitement of drunkenness.”

In 1930, when she was thirty-seven years old, West married a banker named Henry Andrews.

West continued to take a keen interest in politics and was a supporter of the Popular Front governm ent in Spain during the Spanish Civil War. She joined with Emma Goldman, Sybil Thorndyke, Fenner Brockway and C. E. M. Joad to establish the Committee to Aid Homeless Spanish Women and Children. ith the needs of working women.  West also took o

Her new husband had spent his childhood in Germany and been interned there during World War I. Spurred by his stories, West observed Hitler’s growing influence in Europe with deep apprehension and a reporter’s interest that led to much of her most interesting non-fiction,  that left an indelible mark, especially  Black Lamb and Grey Falcon (1941), a monumental work on Balkan history and culture, and in  1946 she reported on the trial for treason of William Joyce (“Lord Haw-Haw”) for The New Yorker magazine. Published as The Meaning of Treason , it examined not only the traitor’s role in modern society but also the roles of the intellectual and the scientist. Later she published a similar collection, The New Meaning of Treason (1964). Her brilliant reports on the Nürnberg trials were collected in A Train of Powder (1955)

 Bonnie Kime Scott has pointed out: "Rebecca West has gradually gained recognition as a perceptive and independent interpreter of literature...

West's accounts of literature and culture are typically grounded in philosophical paradigms and cultural diagnoses that invite critical study today. She found pervasive examples of Manichaeism, and j

After the Second World War West became more conservative in her political views and wrote for the Daily Telegraph and the New Yorker. 

West's decline from socialist to conservative anticommunist is one of the more tragically wasteful of such falls. She flirts with Lord Beaverbrook, millionaire capitalist and media mogul. She votes Labour in 1945 but can't sleep because of the Communist bogey, supposedly revealed in Soviet infiltration of the National Council for Civil Liberties, the Times (which she describes as "a Communist Party organ") and "most of the BBC". whilst Admiral Rickover sends her details of each new US nuclear submarine deployed to fight the "red menace". 

Some of her work was extremely anti-communist and some critics, including Arthur Schlesinger  and J. B. Priestley, accused of her being in sympathy with McCarthyism - a charge she denied. 

West finds solace in "law and order", taking furious exception to spies for their treason against the state. She also finds solace in the monarchy; it's off to Buck Palace with a new hat and facial in a rented Daimler in 1949 to interview Princess Elizabeth about her wedding, and again in 1959 to be knighted with feudal baubles.

In the latter decades of her life, sadly though still  untiring and determined as ever, West continued to write about events all over the world her socialist fire had  well  and truly been  extinguished and became increasingly frail and lost eyesight in her last years. 

Rebecca West died on 15th March 1983 at 48 Kingston House North, South Kensington at  the age of 90...a Dame of the British Empire  still bemoaning the fraught relationship with her son on her deathbed She was buried at Brookwood Cemetery, near Woking. Rebecca 

Despite  her her  flaws  and  many  contradictions ,Known for her elegant fiction, and forceful personal style, West should also be known as a unorthodox  thinker and daring  social critic. that made her one of the most fascinating and controversial voices of the 20th century.

The Life and Work of Saint Maria Skobtsova

 

20 Dec 1891 poet and activist Maria Skobtsova, aka Mother Maria of Paris, was born in Riga, the capital city of Latvia. At that time Latvia was part of the Russian empire, and Pilenko grew up in Anapa, a town in southern Russia on the shore of the Black Sea. Her family was relatively wealthy and belonged to society's upper class. Her father directed a botanical garden and school, and for a time he served as the mayor of Anapa. Her mother was a descendant of the last governor of the Bastille prison in Paris, which fell at the start of the French Revolution (1789–99; a rebellion resulting in the overthrow of the monarchy and the rise of a democratic government)

The home Pilenko's parents provided was a devout Eastern Orthodox one. Eastern Orthodox Christianity believes in the complete authority of the Bible, the Christian holy text, and that Jesus's teachings were preserved in them without error.

She was given the name Elizaveta Pilenko. Her father died when she was a teenager, and she embraced atheism.After her father's death in 1906, her mother took the family to St. Petersburg, the political and cultural center of Russia at the time. The untimely death of Pilenko's father affected her deeply, and for a while she questioned her belief in God.

The early twentieth century was a time of great political unrest in Russia. During her years in St. Petersburg, Pilenko was drawn into radical and revolutionary circles. She was attracted to goals such as the overthrow of the repressive monarchy and the desire to help lift the crushing poverty of many Russians. Even as a teenager she longed to do something great with her life, in the service of others.

In 1910 she married a revolutionary poet named Dimitri Kuzmin-Karaviev. Pilenko soon gave birth to a daughter, Gaiana, but the marriage proved short-lived and the couple divorced in 1913. 

During this period Pilenko began to rethink her uncertainty about God and was drawn back to Christianity and gradually came to accept the truths of the Faith. She moved. now with her daughter, Gaiana.to the south of Russia where her religious devotion increased.

At the end of the Russian Revolution, she took part in the All-Russian Soviet Congress, as a delegate of the Social Revolutionary Party. She wrote about the experience in dire terms, including being dismissed by Trotsky’s lieutenant who told her  'Your role is played out. Go where you belong, into history’s garbage can!”d her “

 On her way home, she was nearly executed several times, and that experience seals her dissatisfaction with revolutionary politics. She wrote, “My loyalty was not to any imagined government as such, but to those whose need of justice was greatest: the people. Red or white [the two sides in the revolution] my position is the same—I will act for justice and for the relief of suffering. I will try to love my neighbor.”  

In 1918, after the Bolshevik Revolution, she was elected deputy mayor of Anapa in Southern Russia. When the anti-communist White Army took control of Anapa, the mayor fled and she became mayor of the town. The White Army put her on trial for being a Bolshevik. However, the judge was a former teacher of hers, Daniel Skobtsov, and she was acquitted. Soon the two fell in love and were married.  Soon, the political tide was turning again. In order to avoid danger, Elizaveta, Daniel, Gaiana, and Elizaveta's mother Sophia fled the country. Finally they arrived in Paris in 1923. Soon Elizaveta was dedicating herself to theological studies and social work.  

In 1926, her daughter Anastasia dies of influenza, which prompted the end of her marriage. But Maria ended up working with the poorest of the poor in Central Paris. Rather than letting her successive tragedies destroy her, she felt she saw “a new road before me and a new meaning in life, to be for all, for all who need maternal care, assistance or protection.”

In 1932, with Daniel Skobtov's permission, an ecclesiastical divorce was granted and she took monastic vows.something she did only with the assurance that she would not have to live in a monastery, secluded from the world.  In religion she took the name Maria. Mother Maria made a rented house in Paris her "convent". It was a place with an open door for refugees, the needy and the lonely. It also soon became a center for intellectual and theological discussion. In Mother Maria these two elements—service to the poor and theology—went hand-in-hand.  She was also known to visit Russian émigrés in mental hospitals

.Her refuge became so successful, that she had to find larger quarters.  A home at 77 Rue Lourmel in the 15 th arrondissement was rented that allowed her to feed over a hundred a day and offer lodging if needed.  Most of her days started by going to Les Halles, the old  food market in central Paris.  She would beg for food or buy as cheaply as she could whatever provisions needed.  She became a regular sight at Les Halles, where merchants often were willing to give her their leftover overripe fruits and vegetables. Many were taken back by her appearance in religious garb, as she was seen smoking cigars and cigarettes while strolling along. 

In 1939, Metropolitan Evlogy sent Fr. Dimitry Klepinin to serve Mother Maria’s community. Fr. Dimitry proved to be a partner, committed even unto death, in the community’s work among the poor.

Her writings attest deeply to how her radical Socialist-Revolutionary ideals stuck with her. She gave up the idle hope that human revolution could achieve anything on its own terms, but she never gave up hope that all things could and would be achieved through Christ. Indeed, in her essays, she excoriates both capitalism and communism by name for their mutilation and violent enslavement of the human person, and ends up advocating something that looks very much like distributism: 

In fact, mankind has enough experience of the two opposing systems of coercion and violence. The old coercion of the capitalist regime, which destroys the right to life and leaves one only with the right to labour, has recently begun to deprive people of that right as well. Forced crisis, forced unemployment, forced labour, joyless and with no inner justification—enough of all that. But try going to the opposite system. It turns out to be the system of communist enforcement: the same joyless labour under the rod, well-organised slavery, violence, hunger—enough of that, too. It is clear to everybody that we must seek a path to free, purposeful and expedient labour, that we must take the earth as a sort of garden that it is incumbent upon us to cultivate. Who doubts that? 

Her leftist bent extends to her personal ethics as well as to her social ones. She is highly critical of the tendency she saw within the Church to withdraw into one’s own shell of piety, to take only the vertical beam of the Cross descending from God to the individual man, and to leave behind the horizontal beam which embraces the other men and women around him as well. For Mother Maria, not only the crass and obvious impiety of greed, but also the much more subtle and insidious impiety of a philanthropy that is only seen as an occasion for the improvement of one’s own virtue or an exercise for the good of one’s own soul, is a form of selfishness which runs contrary to the Gospel. She writes: 

A person should have a more attentive attitude to his brother’s flesh than to his own. Christian love teaches us to give our brother not only material but also spiritual gifts. We must give him our last shirt and our last crust of bread. Here personal charity is as necessary and justified as the broadest social work. In this sense there is no doubt that the Christian is called to social work. He is called to organise a better life for the workers, to provide for the old, to build hospitals, care for children, fight against exploitation, injustice, want, lawlessness. In principle the value is exactly the same, whether he acts on an individual or a social level; what matters is that his social work be based on love for his neighbour and not have any latent career or material purposes. 

The social element of Christianity is, indeed, for her so inseparable from the core of Orthodox spirituality and the Gospel message She dedicated her life to easing the pain and suffering of hundreds in Paris plagued with  hunger, racism, homelessness, mental illness, addictions and saving countless Jews during the Nazi occupation of Paris.

She expanded her ministry to setting up a school for children of émigrés, a house for single men and a rural house was turned into a sanitorium for TB patients.  She then scoured the mental hospitals of France and rescued many who were confined because of language difficulties rather than mental illness and set up a house for them too.  Despite all of the good she was doing, she ruffled the feathers of two priests who were sent to work with her, who left because she put charity and hospitality above religious piety.

The last phase of Mother Maria's life began when the German Nazis conquered and occupied France during World War II. While it would have been possible for her to flee France as the Germans were advancing toward Paris, she refused to leave. "If the Germans take Paris, I shall stay here with my old women. Where else could I send them?" 

 As Nazi persecution of Jews in France increased, the Orthodox community’s work expanded to include protection and care of the most helpless and. Maria turned most of her attention to helping save Jews from what she feared would be expulsion or deportation to the concentration camps in Germany and Poland. She worked with the French Resistance in helping Jews escape by secret routes south of Paris into unoccupied territory.

 Early in 1942 the Nazis began their registration of Jews. Jews began to knock on the door of the house of hospitality asking if the chaplain, Father Dimitri Klepinine, would issue fake baptismal certificates to save their lives. With the support of Mother Maria, Father Dmitri issued the fake documents, convinced that Christ would do the same. When the order came from Berlin that the yellow star must be worn by all Jews, many French Christians felt that this was not their concern since it was not a Christian problem. Mother Maria replied, " "There is no such thing as a Christian problem. Don't you realize that the battle is being waged against Christianity? If we were true Christians we would all wear the Star. The age of confessors has arrived." 

 In July, 1942, mass arrests of Jews began to take place--12,884 were arrested of whom 6,900 were children. They were held prisoner in a sports stadium called Velodrome d’Hiver, where food and water became scarce just a kilometer from Mother Maria's house, before they were sent to Auschwitz. With her monastic robe gaining her entrance, she spent three days at the sports stadium distributing food and clothing and even managing to smuggle out some children by bribing garbage collectors to hide them in trash cans. Her house of hospitality was literally bursting at the seams with people, many of them Jews. 

Eventually,all this work led to the arrest of Mother Maria, Fr. Dimitry, and their associates. Mother Maria was sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp, while Fr. Dimitry was sent to Buchenwald. Throughout the harsh cruelty of the camps, she ministered to others with the same compassion and love as always.  Jacqueline Pery, who survived the holocaust and resided in the same building said “Maria was adored by all.”  She added that during her last few months she was so sick that she had to lie down between roll calls.  “her face revealed intense suffering, already  it bore the marks of death”.  “Despite all, she never complained.”

After great sufferings, they both perished, along with others from their community who followed/ Slse. She was taken to the gas chamber on 31 March 1945 on the eve of Pascha and as WWII was ending in Europe. It is believed that Mother Maria’s last act was to take the place of a Jewish woman who was being sent to death in the gas chambers, voluntarily dying in her place. Mother Maria was glorified as a saint by act of the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople on January 16, 2004.

We know little of the actual life of many of the saints of the Church. In most cases we rely on hagiographic forms that can often be reduced to caricatures. But with Saint Maria Skobtsova we have an embodied personality—an intellectual, a divorced woman, a political revolutionary, and towards the latter part of her life, a nun. She was a woman who could be frank, outspoken, strong willed and even sometimes, quarrelsome. She was a monastic who defied conventional norms, among other things, smoking in public! She was someone who was shaped by the events of the 20th century—two world wars, forced emigration from her Russian homeland, and abject poverty—and who would subsequently lead a life of prayer, but one in the world, dedicated to helping others.

The memory of Saint Maria Skobtsova is now honored with a memorial sign in the famous Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Cemetery near Paris, where mostly Russian emigrants are buried. The marble slab in her honor reads: “Holy Mother Maria Skobtsova (1891-1945). Nun, poet, artist, resistance fighter. Exterminated by Nazis in Ravensbrück camp. Place of burial unknown.” 

There is no tomb for  Saint Maria Skobtsova who went to hear death in a gas chamber in place of another prisoner. Her ashes were mixed with those of other prisoners. The memorial project was supported by the Russian embassy in France and the RCSC in Paris.In 1983 by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Mother Maria was posthumously awarded the order of the Great Patriotic War, 2nd Degree for her anti-fascist activities. 

Musical Highlights 2023

2023 has been a particularly cruel year,  a spiralling cost of living crisis,the  appalling suffering in Gaza and  the West Bank. as  well as our increasingly unhinged UK government, to name just a few factors. At times, the news cycle has been simply overwhelming. On top of this so many brilliant people taken from us.This  year we lost  Alan Rankine. Jeff Beck. Tina Turner, Tony Bennett, Gordon Lightfoot, Denny Laine.  Shane MacGowan .Kevin 'Geordie' Walker,  Benjamin  Zephaniah among some  we've  had  to  same  bye to.,..

To honor these musical inspirational legacies,let's continue listening to their incredible music and keeping their influence alive. Times ahead are going to be hard. As we ride these storms together lets be reminded of people like the individuals mentioned and of music’s ability to stir us, allowing us to forge further connections to ourselves and each other.

However you spend or celebrate this time of year, power to the music and the people that make it. Lets  try and support local music venues and appreciate their intrinsic value. Music and the places where it is performed can be balms that can brings us together as we face the challenges  ahead. Am  fortunate  to  have  wonderful  venue called  the Cellar Bar based  in  my  hometown,  which  is  always  a  pleasure  to  visit. .

In a year of reflection, music stretched and relocated in often unpredictable ways.Bandcamp an artist-focussed platform continues to allow us to support our favorite musicians and labels that enrich our lives and is a good place to discover new music In no particular order here are my musical highlights of the year that have really enjoyed and  lifted me.Here;s to better days ahead. Happy yule. Winter solstice. Heddwch/Peace :-  

1. LP by The Astronauts

2.Inside the Old Year Dying by  PJ Harvey, 

3.A Web of Braided Willow (The Folklore of the Wickerman) by Folklore Tapes

4.MAN, MYTH & MAGIC by SENDELICA

5.Deus Ex Machinations by Spurious Transients

6.Medicine  by  Goat

7.Gardener's Of The Earth by White Canyon & The 5th Dimension  

8.K by K Lihn 

9/A Trip To Bolgatanga by African Head Charge  

10. Waltz of the Weekend by Soft Hearted Scientists

11  Pil -  End of  World

12.Lankum - False Lankum

13. Gina  Birch - I  play  my  bass  loud

14 Almond and the Seahorse by Gruff Rhys

15 Various Artists Bob Stanley & Pete Wiggs Present: Incident At A Free Festival

16. Various Artists Cease & Resist - Sonic Subversion & Anarcho Punk In The UK 1979​-​86

17. Various Artists Longing for the Shadow: Ry​ū​k​ō​ka Recordings, 1921​-​1939

18.Various Artists Afro Psych: Journeys Into Psychedelic Africa 1972 - 1977

19.Arthur Russell - Picture  of Bunny Rabbit

20.The Rolling Stones - Hackney Diamonds

21.Smile - Skindred

22 Kristin Hersh Clear Pond Road

23 Jah  Wobble - A Brief history  of  now

24.NAÏA - LA SORCIÈRE DE ROCHEFORT-EN-TERRE

25/ FAE TRANSIT - SAM MCLOUGHLIN

26.Rasha Nahas - AMRAT

27 Various:.By the People, For the People - House of Afandi Records

         28/ Anohni and the Joh to Crnsons: My Back Was a Bridge for Youoss

29.The Endless Coloured Ways: The Songs of Nick Drake

30.The Iliminaughty - Kildren 

"They're Killing Off the Journalists of Gaza" - David Rovics

Part of Israel's strategy of destroying Gaza is to destroy the ability of the people of Gaza to tell their story, by explicitly targeting and assassinating journalists.

Lyrics: 

They're Killing Off the Journalists of Gaza

 

Samer Abudaqqa had his camera in his hand 

He was wearing his helmet and his vest

Like Shireen Abu-Akleh and so many others 

He was easily identified as a member of the press

They can call the killing indiscriminate

But this isn’t exactly true 

When they’re specifically targeting certain people

In order to silence the news 

 

They’re killing off the journalists of Gaza

Day after day after day after day 

Hoping they can hide their crimes this way 

 

Ola Atalla was slain last week 

Along with nine members of her family 

They were taking shelter in someone else’s home 

After fleeing Gaza City 

Ayat Khadoura died alongside

An unknown number thus far

Her only dream now was to be killed in one piece 

So they would know who we are 

 

Mohammed Abu Hatab with Palestine TV

Dead with his family of eleven

Mostawa El Sawaf was killed in another 

Along with his wife and two sons

Sari Monsour was killed in an airstrike 

On a refugee camp

Mohamed Abu Hasira along with 42 

Slaughtered with another familicidal stamp

 

They hope that if they kill the messengers 

They can stop the message getting out 

If they can smash all the cameras

Silence everyone trying to shout 

Out to the world that might listen

And see the horrors happening beneath the Palestinian skies

The slaughter that for now 

We can still see with our eyes

kkkkhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyU0vzzDz1Y

Bearing Winter

Among intense emotion

States of confusion,

Terror, loss and destruction 

Blowing wishes to the wind,

I try to disengage with the bullshit.

Release some rays of hope,

Where the bombs keep falling

As December stamps with fury,

People struggling to stay alive

Smiles turning into rivers of tears,

Premature babies encased in blood

After being rescued from under rubble,. 

In arms of their mothers found dead

Murdered by targeted explosions, 

While some falsely talk of peace

Holding daggers in hand,

In the shadows of night

Blurred moments of yesterday,

Paint a canvas of thoughts

Release ardent words of yearning,

Bringing colour and light

Into a greying twisted world,

As dreams keep faltering

Try to soften these days of  rage,

Reeling in the forces of love

Beyond these violent times,

Calling for a permanent Ceasefire

An end to fear, siege and occupation,

It's time to start anew, change the tide

Allowing amity to mend wounded souls.

Christmas Celebrations Cancelled in Bethlehem

 

Bethlehem's Lutheran Church decided its Christmas nativity scene would reflect the reality of children living and being born in Palestine today

Like so many, I feel no sense of anticipation about this Christmas. When someone asks if "I'm all set for Christmas ", I just shrug, amd struggle to see any joy thinking about the people of Palestine.where so many innocents are dead and the injured, the grieving and the traumatised, It's impossible to celebrate when there is a genocide taking place in Gaza

Christmas has been  canceled in Bethlehem  In solidarity with the suffering in Gaza due to the Israel-Hamas war, last week Christian leaders and municipal authorities in the West Bank city decided to cancel all public festivities. For the first time since modern celebrations began, the birthplace of Jesus will not decorate the Manger Square tree.where Jesus  was  born in solidarity with Palestinian suffering 

Jesus' birthplace has announced the usual decorations for the city will be taken down and the normal cheery celebrations wont go ahead, Not surprising given how many Christian Palestinians have died in present attacks on Gaza and West Bank, and the difficulty of worship without harassment from the IDF..There is no joy in genocide.

The move means there will be no huge tree put up or many decorative lights in Nativity Square - the exact spot Jesus was said to be born in. Father Francesco Patton of the Custody of the Holy Land church group said: "We will celebrate in sobriety. That means without the fanfare and without too many lights, in the most spiritual way and more (among) families than in the square."

Bethlehem is nextdoor to Jerusalem in the occupied West Bank that's seen devastating airstrikes and been battered in the Israeli-Hamas clashes in recent weeks just 30 miles away.

A spokesman for the Bethlehem municipality confirmed that the normal plans for Christmas have been completely scrapped ahead of December 25.  The spokesman said: “The reason is the general situation in Palestine; people are not really into any celebration, they are sad, angry and upset; our people in Gaza are being massacred and killed in cold blood." 

Due to the rich religious history, Christians from all around the world go on a pilgrimage to the  hallowed  town of  Bethlehem and the Church of the Nativity to celebrate the birth of Christ.Typically thronged by countless individuals from across the globe, the hallowed town of Bethlehem, revered as the birthplace of Jesus by Christians, will this year be veiled in sombreness. How can you celebrate Jesus while his birthplace Palestine, is under genocidal attacks?

The town of Bethlehem is significant to many people for different reasons.Today, approximately 60,000 people live in and around the broader Bethlehem area. The population is divided primarily between Muslims and Christians, the Christians being predominately Orthodox.

Under the control of the Palestinian National Authority since 1995, Bethlehem city has experienced chaotic growth and a constant flow of tourism.  th It is home to one of the most sacred Christian sites in the world. Built by Constantine the Great (circa 330 AD), the Church of the Nativity still stands over a cave believed to be the very spot where Jesus was born. The place of the manger is marked by a 14-pointed silver star, called the star of Bethlehem. 

The original Church of the Nativity structure was partially destroyed by the Samaritans in 529 A.D. and then rebuilt by the Byzantine Roman emperor Justinian. It is one of the oldest surviving Christian churches in existence today. It is also home to 25,000 Palestinians who live in the shadow of a massive concrete sep​a​ra​tion wall, that zig zags around Bethlehem, who cannot move freely, who struggle to maintain a livelihood, who cannot return to their ancestral villages.,

Israel began building the separation barrier. in parts concrete, with other stretches consisting of fencing,in 2002 during the Palestinian uprising, or intifada. Built mostly inside the West Bank, Israel says it is necessary to prevent attacks, but Palestinians label it an apartheid wall,  a symbol of their ongoing oppression, separating them from Jerusalem. The Palestinians consider the barrier illegal and call it an Israeli land grab, noting that it has engulfed large chunks of the West Bank onto the Israeli “side.”

It is 8 meters high - twice the height of the Berlin Wall - with armed watchtowers and a “buffer zone” 30-100 meters wide for electric fences, trenches, cameras, sensors, and military patrol. Aside from dominating the landscape, the barrier separates Bethlehem from much of the land owned by its people, and, crucially, it also severs it from  from its urban twin city Jerusalem (5 miles from city centre to city centre)  The structure, has been ruled illegal by the UN's International Court of Justice.

Since 7 October, Israeli bombings targeted three churches in Gaza, including the Orthodox Saint Porphyrius church in Gaza city, one of the oldest churches in the world. The bombing killed 18 Palestinians who were taking refuge in the church. Israeli forces have also bombed 31 mosques in the Gaza Strip. 

Amidst the tumultuous conflict, the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem has undertaken momentous transformations in its traditional holiday festivities. Pastor Munther Isaac courageously declared the cancellation of merry celebrations, opting instead for fervent prayers. "In light of the heart-wrenching genocide unfolding in Gaza, where innocent children are ruthlessly massacred, it is inconceivable to partake in merriment," he emphasised.  Uniting with unwavering solidarity, the West Bank church erected a poignant display. A heap of debris, symbolising the desolation in Gaza, stands adjacent to a humble sapling within the sacred walls. Swathed in a Palestinian kuffiyeh, the infant Jesus serenely rests upon the ruins, evoking profound imagery of children salvaged from utter devastation.  

Tis the season of Nativity scenes. But here’s a question to consider:Would Joseph and Mary even have been able to reach Bethlehem if they were making that same journey today?  How would that carpenter and his pregnant wife have circumnavigated the Kafka­esque network of Israeli settlements, roadblocks and closed military zones in the occupied West Bank? Would Mary have had to experience labor or childbirth at a checkpoint?

The ongoing Israeli assault on Gaza has killed over 16,200 Palestinians  in 65 days of genocide including including over 7000 children and has displaced more than three-quarters of the region's 2.3 million inhabitants, leaving them bereft of secure havens according to Gaza's ministry of health. An unknown number of Palestinians are still missing under the rubble as the israeli regime intensifies yet another atrocious assault on Khan Younisat, 

This comes as Israel intensifies its assault on Gaza's south, where the Israeli military has committed what is being called a massacre in Khan Younis, hitting a school sheltering displaced people and killing at least 30 people. 

Israeli tanks have also besieged the Kamal Adwan hospital, one of the last functioning hospitals in the north of the besieged Palestinian territory. The assault on Khan Younis, southern Gaza's main city, suggest a new and bloody phase of Israel's war. Israel had previously ordered civilians in the northern part of the Gaza Strip to flee to the south of the territory but is now committing large scale attacks on them there.

Christmas is the last thing on the minds of the nearly two million forcibly displaced Palestinians in their homeland, Homes reduced to rubble and entire families wiped-out in their sleep, at dinner or prayers, at United Nations (UN) shelters or major hospitals in north, central and southern Gaza, over 1.9 million have more to think about at the start of the traditional Advent of the Christmas season. 

Millions of Palestinian children left to mourn for martyred parents, relatives or friends are growing up in constant fear of not seeing tomorrow, or the next minute, and can’t even think of playing with toys in a land where they get shot and killed while playing football.  Palestinians lucky-enough to have had loved ones released from Israeli prisons cannot celebrate having them home for the holidays this year, lest they be rearrested and jailed again indefinitely.

Instead of planning for Christmas, Palestinians are praying for peace through a ceasefire that will allow them to count their losses and pay deserving tribute to their lost loved ones, before the year ends.

My heart and soul continues to ache for the people of Palestine. The impact of occupation daily bringing it's heavy burden.

All I want  for Christmas is a permanent ceasefire. But that’s only the beginning  Palestinians will never be safe while Apartheid Israel exists  The Occupation of Palestine must end and all peoples, regardless of ethnicity or religion, must have the same rights and responsibilities. There is nothing calm, nothing bright about  genocide  or  apartheid,History though  teaches us that injustice cannot last long especially when so many people join the struggle.Lets.draw inspiration from the people of Bethlehem, and of Palestine as  they  face ongoing  oppression who remain unified and steadfast in their struggle.Sending solidarity and love to the like minded, and may 2024 bring us closer to peace with justice.

International Human Rights Day: Dignity and equality for all

Seventy-five years ago today, in 1948, following the traumatic events of World War II, in  which many atrocities had taken place during the war including mass killings, atomic bombings, torture cases and genocides. In a bid to never repeat such “barbarous acts which […] outraged the conscience of mankind”,48 countries  of the newly -formed United Nations agreed that  the world must do more to protect the rights and freedoms of all people and declared a set of universal principles that reflected the basic needs of all human beings.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a day also  now known as Human Rights Day outlines 30 rights and freedoms that belong to everyone on this planet, that nobody can take away from us. These rights unite us all and remind us of the one thing we share in common: our humanity.A day for attending to global justice, equality, and a reminder of the fundamental values that underpin a just society.

Today it seems unimaginable that the world could ever have existed in a time where human rights were not the foundation of the social contract. The Declaration set out, for the first time in history, those fundamental human rights that Governments all over the world undertook to respect, protect and promote.

And ever since that auspicious day it has stood as the first major stride forward in ensuring that the rights of every human across the globe are protected. From the most basic human needs such as food, shelter, and water, all the way up to access to free and uncensored information, such has been the goals and ambitions laid out that day.

The Declaration proclaims a simple, yet powerful idea :

 "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights,"  "They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."

These rights are the birthright of all people: it does not matter, what country we live in and even who we are. Because we are human, we have these rights; and Governments are bound to protect them. They are not a reward for good behaviour, nor they are optional or the privilege of a few- they are inalienable  entitlements of all people, at all times- regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. And because they are universal, they are also matters of legitimate concern; and  standing  up for them is a responsibility that binds us all.

It is the most translated document in the world, available in more than 500 languages.  When the General Assembly adopted the Declaration, with 48 states in favor and eight abstentions, it was proclaimed as a "common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations", towards which individuals and societies should "strive by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance".

Although the Declaration .https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights with its broad range of political, civil, social, cultural and economic rights is not a binding document, it inspired more than 60 human rights instruments which together constitute an international standard of human rights. It has helped shape human rights all over the world.

Today the general consent of all United Nations Member States on the basic Human Rights laid down in the Declaration makes it even stronger and emphasizes the relevance of Human Rights in our daily lives.The High Commissioner for Human Rights, as the main United Nations rights official, plays a major role in coordinating efforts for the yearly observation of Human Rights Day.

Human Rights Day reminds us that there is much to be done  and around the world to protect those who cannot voice or respond to perpetrated discrimination and violence caused by governments, vigilantes, and individual actors. In many instances, those who seek to divide people for subjective means and for totalitarian reasons do so around the globe without fear of retribution. Violence, or the threat of violence, perpetrated because of differences in a host of physical and demographic contrasts and dissimilarities is a blight on our collective humanity now and a danger for our human future.

Human Rights are the basic rights and freedoms that belong to every person in the world, from birth until death. They apply regardless of where you are from, what you believe or how you choose to live your life No matter who you are or where you are from, everyone is entitled to the fundamental rights and freedoms set out in the Declaration. These human rights don’t change based on race, religion, sex, gender or nationality. 

Every one of us has the right to life and liberty. Every one of us has the right to live with freedom from fear. They should never be taken away, these basic rights are based on values such as dignity, fairness, equality, respect and independence. Human rights are not just abstract concepts, they are defined and protected by law.The  theme for  Human  Rights  Day  this  year  is Dignity, Freedom and Justice for all,

This powerful theme emphasises the three fundamental pillars of human rights, highlighting their interconnectedness and the importance of achieving them for all individuals.  

The specific ways Human Rights Day is celebrated may vary from place to place, depending on local context and resources. However, the core purpose remains the same: to raise awareness about human rights, promote their protection, and inspire action to create a world where everyone enjoys freedom, equality, and justice.

But in a stark reflection of reality,The Universal Day of Human Rights comes this year when human rights violations persist around the world, and violence and conflict remain a reality for millions of people. Suffering and inhumane conditions continue in occupied Palestinian territories, Ukraine, Sudan, Afghanistan, and many regions across the globe. 

The situation in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) is continuously deteriorating, and the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the rules international human rights law derived from it and international humanitarian law are violated. As the death toll continues to mount in Gaza, we  must  continues to call for a permanent  cease-fire.

2023 also marks 75 years since al-Nakba. 75 years on from their expulsion, the suffering and displacement of Palestinian refugees are ongoing realities. Today, when Palestinians are remembering the ongoing Nakba that in 1948 uprooted more than 750,000 from their homelands, eradicated more than 650 villages, and killed thousands, lets are pay homage to those who have harnessed the power of the UDHR during unimaginable struggles for liberation, equality and independence. To those who have spoken up against violations of rights and disrupted historical injustices. 

Today for the Palestinians, there is no peace, security or justice. There is limited access to basic necessities, and there is no safe place for a child. For the 6 million Palestinian Refugees around the World, and their descendents, Nakba isn’t over - it never ended. 

Lets echo the sentiment of Secretary-General António Guterres, who on Thursday invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter - a rare diplomatic step in influencing the international community to prevent further escalation of ‘utter, deepening horror’, by demanding an end to this crisis. 

“I reiterate my appeal for a humanitarian ceasefire to be declared. This is urgent. The civilian population must be spared from greater harm.” 

As members of the international community, we all have a role to play in calling on our leaders to act now. On this global day of empowerment intended for all of humanity, it is clear that our work is now more critical than ever. Human Rights Day must be a call for action – to continue fighting for dignity and equality for all and demand the end of armed conflict and suffering of innocent civilians and children around the world.

Rest in Power Benjamin Zephaniah (15 April 1958 – 7 December 2023)

 

Heartbreaking  news."An unequal spread of justice will damage the people and cause pain. Give justice and equality to all."   Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal  Zephaniah the beloved. trailblazing dub poet, vegan anarchist. cultural revolutionary, public intellectual and inspiration to so many. has died age 65 today after being diagnosed with a brain tumour eight weeks ago.  💔. 

A statement shared on his social media profiles reads: “It is with great sadness and regret that we announce the death of our beloved Husband. Son, and Brother in the early hours of this morning (7 December). Benjamin was diagnosed with a brain tumour eight weeks ago.”

The post continued: “Benjamin’s wife was by his side throughout and was with him when he passed. We shared him with the world and we know many will be shocked and saddened by this new. Benjamin was a true pioneer and innovator, he gave the world so much.” 

 “Through an amazing career, including a huge body of poems, literature, music, television, radio, Benjamin leaves us with a joyful and fantastic legacy,” the statement concluded. 

My heart is truly  heavy  with his  loss. I  was fortunate  to  meet  him on  three occasions.  a  man  of  gentleness  and  deep integrity. If there were more people with the integrity of Benjamin Zephaniah, the world would be a much better place.His poetry influenced me enormously, especially his pro-Palestinian, anti-monarchy, radical stance..

Benjamin Zephaniah  one of the UK’s most renowned poets, novelists, playwrights and activists  was born was born in Handsworth, Birmingham on 15 April 1958. The son of Barbadian and Jamaican parents, his dyslexia meant he left school at  the  age  of  14 unable to read or write. This never held him back from his love of poetry and by his mid-teens, he was already well known for his poetry within the local community.

Zephaniah moved to London in his 20s, where he published his first poetry collection ‘Pen Rhythm’ in 1980. Over his life, he went on to publish 14 poetry collections, among  them The Dread Affair: Collected Poems, Rasta Time in Palestine, Too Black, Too Strong and We Are Britain! alongside five novels, a non-fiction biography of Mona Baptiste, five children’s books, seven plays,and in 2018, he released his autobiography The Life And Rhymes of Benjamin Zephaniah. His poetry was hugely influenced by the music and poetry of Jamaica and what he previously called "street politics".

Alongside his writing work, Zephaniah has recorded extensive music, including seven studio albums. He also acted, most notably as recurring character Jeremiah Jesus in the BBC series ‘Peaky Blinders’. 

Zephaniah broke boundaries with his work,and throughout his life, Zephaniah used his poetic voice for the good of society. He has campaigned extensively for antiracism, animal rights, against homophobia  colonialism.and injustice. And as s a writer, activist he always stood steadfast with the Palestinian people.who had previously expressed his wish to see Palestine’s liberation in his lifetime.Solidarity  was at  the core of  all of  his  work. 

Within Benjamin Zephaniah’s commitment and conviction to social justice came  his refusal of the OBE three years ago.due to its reverence of the British Empire and its cruel history of slavery and racism.  explaining: “Benjamin Zephaniah OBE – no way Mr Blair, no way Mrs Queen. I am profoundly anti-empire.”  

Outside of writing, Zephaniah released seven albums, with his final LP, Revolutionary Minds, arriving in 2017.essential listening for the times we live in, a solid piece of creativity that drives on home messages of hope, liberation, economic and political corruption rampant racism, fascist patriarchy in this world of struggle and desperation. 

His poetry, books and plays have captivated hearts and minds, fuelling imaginations and winning him a legion of fans all over the world.His poems packed a powerful punch for social justice, but always so gently and humorously delivered, they never preached.

Nelson Mandela also requested that he host his Two Nations Concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall in 1996. Notably, he collaborated with The Wailers in 1982 on the album Rasta, which marked the group’s first release since the death of Bob Marley.

His voice was one of reason and hope when Britain looked to sink below the abyss, as it is now. A unique  and inspired voice for peace, a real  genuine radical  who  will  truly be  missed. An icon whose impact and  legacy will  resonate forever.What a fabulous role model he was in so many ways and all round bloody brilliant person who  freed so  many  with  the power of his  pen. Zeph was a hero on  many levels, loved so dearly by so many of us. Brilliant, blazing, beautiful with  such a glorious mind.  How brutally unfair. He should have had years more. We'll miss you bother. 

"If you didn't have troublemakers, most women wouldn't have the right to vote, a black person wouldn't be talking to a white person & I'd be back in slavery. We need troublemakers to challenge the establishment. I want to be one of those people" 

Rest in Power Benjamin Zephaniah

 

The British Poem  - Benjamin Zephaniah

 

Take some Picts, Celts and Silures

And let them settle,
Then overrun them with Roman conquerors.

Remove the Romans after approximately 400 years
Add lots of Norman French to some
Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Vikings, then stir vigorously.

Mix some hot Chileans, cool Jamaicans, Dominicans,
Trinidadians and Bajans with some Ethiopians, Chinese,
Vietnamese and Sudanese.

Then take a blend of Somalians, Sri Lankans, Nigerians
And Pakistanis,
Combine with some Guyanese
And turn up the heat.

Sprinkle some fresh Indians, Malaysians, Bosnians,
Iraqis and Bangladeshis together with some
Afghans, Spanish, Turkish, Kurdish, Japanese
And Palestinians
Then add to the melting pot.

Leave the ingredients to simmer.

As they mix and blend allow their languages to flourish
Binding them together with English.

Allow time to be cool.

Add some unity, understanding, and respect for the future,
Serve with justice
And enjoy.

Note: All the ingredients are equally important. Treating one ingredient better than another will leave a bitter unpleasant taste.

Warning: An unequal spread of justice will damage the people and cause pain. Give justice and equality to all.

We Refugees - Benjamin  Zephaniah

I come from a musical place
Where they shoot me for my song
And my brother has been tortured
By my brother in my land.

I come from a beautiful place
Where they hate my shade of skin
They don't like the way I pray
And they ban free poetry.

I come from a beautiful place
Where girls cannot go to school
There you are told what to believe
And even young boys must grow beards.

I come from a great old forest
I think it is now a field
And the people I once knew
Are not there now.

We can all be refugees
Nobody is safe,
All it takes is a mad leader
Or no rain to bring forth food,
We can all be refugees
We can all be told to go,
We can be hated by someone
For being someone.

I come from a beautiful place
Where the valley floods each year
And each year the hurricane tells us
That we must keep moving on.

I come from an ancient place
All my family were born there
And I would like to go there
But I really want to live.

I come from a sunny, sandy place
Where tourists go to darken skin
And dealers like to sell guns there
I just can't tell you what's the price.

I am told I have no country now
I am told I am a lie
I am told that modern history books
May forget my name.

We can all be refugees
Sometimes it only takes a day,
Sometimes it only takes a handshake
Or a paper that is signed.
We all came from refugees
Nobody simply just appeared,
Nobody's here without a struggle,
And why should we live in fear
Of the weather or the troubles? 

We all came from somewhere

Revolutionary Minds -  Benjamin Zephaniah

Palestine - Benjamin Zephaniah