40 years after the American Indian Movement surrenders at Wounded Knee: Leonard Peltier's injustice continues.

                                 participants of 1973, Wounded Knee occupation.

On this day - 8 May - 1973, the American Indian Movement's  (AIM) occupation of Wounded Knee, South Dakota ended with the surrender of some 120 Native American and Lakota activists.
Initially provoked by the corruption of the Government's approved tribal governance , their goal too was to protest injustices against their tribes, and the many violations of various treaty's with the United States  government and current abuses and repression against their people. In the 2 years prior to the confrontation more than 60 Indians at the Pine Ridge reservation had been killed, without anyone having been bought to justice for their crimes. The occupation began on February 27 lasting for 71 days and was symbolically located at  Wounded Knee which was the site of a US government massacre of 300 Lakota in 1880. In addition to its historical significance , Wounded  Knee was one of the poorest communities in the United States and shared with the other Pine Ridge settlements some of the country's lowest rates of life expectancy.
The actions of AIM acclaimed by many Native Americans. The 200 activists from AIM soon faced a federal government force including Marhalls, the FBI  and the Nebraska National Guard who responded to the occupation with a full scale military style assault. In the resulting melee two fedral agents were shot along with two brave warriors - Buddy Lamont and Frank Clearwater - died during the siege, where over 200,000 rounds of ammunition were fired at the protestors. Also 2 federal agents had been shot during the standoff. This use  of military force by the federal government later ruled to be unlawful..

After AIM's eventual surrender Leonard Peltier, a member of the Lakota Ogkla Sioux was arrested and charged  with the murder of the two FBI agents on the  flimsiest off evidence. Leonard Peltier is now one of American society's  longest serving political prisonersi, considered to be the Native American peoples  own Nelson Mandela, who though admitting to being there at the time, to help protect his community from continuing violence, has always proclaimed his innocence of actually shooting anyone.
Still in jail today despite the protests and claims of AIM and human rights groups, including Amnesty International. His prosecution and conviction  is felt by many to have driven only  by his participation  in the American Indian Movement. He has continued to be a victim of the racism and corruption embedded in the US criminal justice system. But Leonard Peltier is not simply a victim, he is also a fighter, writer, activist, grandfather, Nobel Peace Prize nominess, and was the Presidential candidate for the Peace and Freedom Party in 2004 whose spirit refuses to be beaten. Leonard his friends family and comrades have fought over the years for real justice to be done. In the years since his conviction, millions upon millions of people around the world have come  to learn of his case, agree that he is innocent and demand his freedom. 
With failing health I hope he is given his freedom soon, and the injustice that continues to be metered out finally ends. 40 years later despite serious concerns about the fairness of the proceedings leading to his conviction is time that President Obama grants him clemancy on humanitarian grounds and in the interests of justice.

http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info 

                                       
                                           Leonard Peltier

Congratulations to Monster Raving Loony Party in Wales, but alarmed about UKIP's rise.

Following yesterday's Welsh Assembly elections I would like to congratulate the Monster Raving Loony Party for winning more than two National Front numpties in the South Wales East region.
But very worried about increased vote for UKIP, these dangerous draconian, anti-immigrstion, anti-foreigners, Little Englander party whose vote is up by 11.5% here in Wales. Resulting in their first Senedd seats. There are  8 of the bastards now. Including former Tory's Neil Hamilton, a liar and cheat, a man so dodgy that even the Tories kicked him out of their party and Mark Reckless. Then you've got the racist Graham Bennett, recently embroiled in a race row, when he blamed Cardiff's rubbish problem on Eastern European immigrants. And five bloody more in various shades of dubiousness The ugly whiff ot racism combined with the stench of xenophobia never far from UKIP's doors.  Votes from disgruntled Tories or just from people who have been fooled. How can anyone though  be fooled by their anti-Europe, anti-refugee, anti-immigrant shit. Mark my words they will  to shit on any form of democracy that lies in their path. Is their a risk that their policies of blame and division will now become normalised here in Wales. We can't allow this to happen.
I think the people of Wales should hang their heads in shame or at least wake up.

35 years since the death of Bobby Sands ( 9/3/54 - 5/5/81)

As people go to polling booths today to vote in assembly elections, thought  i'd remember a man who also took part in the political process subsequently becoming  a Member of Parliament.
Today marks the 35th anniversary of the death of Robert  Gerard "Bobby " Sands  who died after being on  hunger strike for 66 days in the Long Kesh  Maze Prison in Northern Ireland  to protest against British treatment of IRA prisoners.  He was 27, emaciated weighing a mere 95 pounds his fillings having fallen out, his organs shut down and the whites of his eyes turned orange from toxins released.
Over the next few months, 9 other republican prisoners followed him, the culmination of a 5 year struggle in the prisons of Northern Ireland demanding jail reforms and the return of special category status allowing them to be treated as prisoners of war , allowing them the privileges of POW's as specified in the Geneva Convention.
Margaret Thatcher the British  Prime Minister at the time decided that no concessions be made to the prisoners, and with cold and calculated cruelty she and her government allowed them to die.
Bobby Sands had been bought to the republican struggle through personal experience after being intimidated out of his job as an apprentice car builder  by fellow workers. and after his family were intimidated out of their home in Rathcoole, a predominantly loyalist area of North Belfast, growing up under the cloud of nationalist and loyalist divisions, Catholics like Bobby were  reduced to second class citizens while the Protestant majority were granted privileges in jobs, education and services.
In 1971 the British introduced internment - allowing its forces to arrest anyone they saw fit and hold them indefinitely without charge. In 1972 the year he joined the IRA he was picked up by the police beaten up and tortured after some handguns were found in a house he was staying in and was sentenced to 5 years in Long kesh, he was rearrested in 1976 and in a juryless trial was sentenced to 14 years  for possession of a gun found in a car he shared with 5 other people
Developing his political ideas he was to  become a leader and inspiration to the prisoners.He pushed hard for prison reforms confronting the authorities, and for his outspoken ways was often given solitary confinement sentences He was also a prolific writer , who wrote numerous poems . His name will always be remembered, his sacrifice never forgotten. Today his smiling face is known the world over and his fight for freedom  remains an inspiration wherever people rise up against  injustice. Following his death Nelson Mandela led a hunger strike by prisoners on Robben Island to improve their own conditions.Palestinian prisoners have increasingly  used the same tactics too to bring attention to their plight. The hunger strikers who died over thirty years ago still continue to provide inspiration to political prisoners everywhere.
Many years later it is perhaps difficult to fully appreciate the sacrifices made by Sands and his comrades, which even if you disagree with the aims for which they gave their lives remains a monumental testament to the power of the human spirit.
It should be noted that their fight won huge support in Ireland, North and South and around the world One month before his death Bobby Sands was elected to Parliament in a rebuke to the British Government from the people of Northern Ireland having won 30,492 votes, ten thousand more than Thatcher in her London Constituency of Finchley and with a majority twice as large. I remember  Thatcher's ( British PM at the time)  callous refusal to reach any compromise - " crime is crime, it is not political." she said,  which only served to reinvigorate the republican cause at the time. It is estimated that over 100,000 people attended Bobby's funeral.and  an international outpouring of grief and anti British demonstrations were to take place. Protests were held in Paris, Milan, Ghent , Australia and Greece. In a ripple effect that was felt across the world.
And although Thatcher claimed victory , her government conceded the hunger strikers demands soon after the protest ended and even she, the main adversary of Sands and his comrades was moved to say years later " It was possible to admire the courage of Sands and the other hunger strikers who died."
In political terms , the 1981 hunger strike marked a sea change in irish republicanism and in the history of the Northern Ireland conflict, the scale of the mass campaign in support of the prisoners it helped turned the republican struggle increasingly towards a political, rather than a purely military focus , away from viole, decommissioning  and towards ceasefire  which would be crucial in laying the ground for the peace process which would have once seemed inconceivable, that has continued to prosper because peace and justice is what the people want and need.
Bobby Sands stature keeps growing, and his poetry and songs still resound, let us remember him, let us never forget.
He said before he died " our revenge will be the laughter of our children." - a phrase that says all that we need to know about him and looks beyond the bloodshed to true peace.

Here is a link to a previous post that includes some of his fine poetry

http://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/bobby-sands9354-5581-rhythm-of-time.html

a small eulogy from my own pen :-

For Bobby

He died in springtime,
When flowers were waking,
But his passion born of love and anger,
Remained undimmed, his will unbroken,
On the side of justice and right,
The most profound human hunger of all,
Through pain and struggle he rode on,
Kept up the fight, let the world be his witness,
Let truth shine it's light, for his cause to be seen,
Strength and courage carried this poets bones,
No fear, only defiance was to be seen in his eyes,
And  now today his spirit still lives on, 
As the ugliness of injustice continues to roam.  

The Haymarket Square Riot.

Today in history May 4, 1886, the Haymarket Square Riot took place. A day after police had killed four striking workers,injuring several others protestors. This was a time of violent repression by the police. The demonstrators were calling for greater power and economic security, standing against capitalism, calling for an eight hour day and to protest about the increased brutality of the police. 
At the May 4th meeting  a number of radical and anarchist speakers addressed a crowd of over 3,000 people. The meeting  was peaceful but the mood became  more confrontational when the police tried to disperse the crowd. As  scuffles broke out, someone who has never been positively identified threw a bomb at police lines.. (some have since claimed was an agent provocateur in the pay of the authorities to try and stoke up division.) The bomb landed and exploded unleashing shrapnel. One officer was killed and several were wounded. The police responded by drawing their weapons and firing into the panicked crowd.  Seven  policemen  were killed, most likely from police bullets fired in the chaos, not from the bomb itself. Four  civilians were also killed and more than hundred persons injured.

The aftermath created  widespread hysteria, further repression and a national wave of xenophobia, as hundreds of foreign born radicals and labor leaders were rounded up in Chicago and elsewhere in what  is seen as the first great political witch hunt and frame up trial, used as an excuse to  crack gown on  the entire labor movement. A grand jury eventually indicted 31 suspected  labor radicals in connection with the bombing, and eight anarchist leaders form the revolutionary syndicalist tradition were convicted of instigating violence and conspiring to commit murder. in a controversial trial, despite lack of evidence and no connection to the actual bomb. Judge G Gary imposed the death sentence on seven of the men, and the eighth was sentenced to 15 years in prison.In what is seen as a racist show trial,   which like all kangaroo courts was a travesty of justice. Many of the accused not even present when the incident took place.
These men have become known as the Haymarket Martyrs, Albert Spies, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fischer and George Engel who were  tried and convicted and executed  for their political beliefs, not for their actions  on May 3th, who still occupy an honored history of the class struggle in the United States and internationally whose sacrifice is remembered every year on May 1st International Workers Day, whose deaths sparked protests around the world. Six hundred thousand working people turned out for their funeral.
When one of the accused Albert Spies mounted the gallows and a noose was placed around his neck he shouted out. " There will be a time when our silence will be more powerful, than the voices you strangle today."
Rather than suppressing labor and radical movements the events of 1886 and the execution of the Chicago Anarchists,  actually mobilised and galvanised a new generation of radicals and revolutionaries. Emma Goldman a young immigrant at the time later pointed to the Haymarket affair as her political birth. Lucy Parsons widow of Albert Parsons , called up on the poor to direct their anger at those responsible - the rich. In 1938 , fifty-two years after the Haymarket riot , workdays in the United States were legally made eight hours by the Fair Labor Standards Act. It is up to us to keep the memory of the  Haymarket martyrs alive. to learn the lessons of their struggle so that they did not die in vain, acting as enduring symbols of labors struggles for justice.

I swear allegiance to the Welsh people

Thanks to https://republic.org.ukc for this one

No matter who is elected to the National Assembly for Wales this Thursday, they won't be pledging allegiance to you or to Wales, but to the Queen.
Regular visitors here will already know that I don't believe in a hereditary monarchy, so yes I have a problem with this, I do have my own ways of swearing though.
It's one of the greatest  ironies of  our political system that are democratically elected representatives are currently forced to swear  allegiance to an unelected monarch, and not their constituents.

Frankly it's an insult  to democracy, and to all those who decide to take part!

After campaigning to be elected, if successful , they will then be forced to pledge allegiance to the Queen.

" I do solemnly, sincerely and truly declare and affirm that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, Her Heirs and Successors, according to Law. "

" Y wyf i, yn datgan ac yn cardernhau yn ddifrifol ac yn ddidwyll, y gwasanathaf yr Ail, ei hefeddion o'i holynwyr, yn unol air gyfraith. "

If your Assembly Member refuses to take the oath they'll be banned from proceedings, won't be paid any salary, and after two months they'll no longer be a Member of the Assembly.
Should they simply not be able to make a broader pledge to their constituents and the people of Wales  generally
If you agree call on the National Assembly for a New Oath for Wales.
Sign the following petition calling for a Welsh oath of allegiance to the Welsh people - NOT to the Queen.:-

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/welsh-assembly-a-new-oath-of-allegiance-to-the-people-not-the-queen

Against the darkness

(The people of Gaza currently have to endure a life under occupation, while also having to cope with only 3 hours of electricity a day. The following poem is dedicated to their daily resistance. 

Darkness surrounds the lives
of the people of Gaza,
but the echo of dignity sizzles and sustains
under times heavy burden,
the struggling flame of resilience never fades.

The sorrow of existence
now well tended,
comfort found huddled in ruins
under starry sky's,
where shadows meet endurance
to ignite, hearts, mind and blood.

Among the cracks and dust
strains of hope refuse to die,
pavements littered with citrus scent
allow imprisoned people to remain free,
and with touch and words
in this hard place, pride is shared,
freedoms light still growing strong.

The hourglass delivers comfort
against the darkness, light shines,
people find ways to survive
that allows thoughts to persist,
laughter and kindness to rise
in togetherness, dignity stands proud,
against the darkness of oppression,
currents of resistance never fade.

The Origins of May Day: International Workers Day

What are the Origins of May Day - Rosa Luxemburg ( 5/3/1871 - 15/1/19)

Rosa Luxemburg

' The happy idea of using a proletarian holiday celebration as a means to attain the eight-hour day was first born in Australia. The workers there decided in 1856 to organise a day of complete stoppage together with meetings and entertainment as a demonstration in favour of the eight-hour day. The day of this celebration was to be April 21. At first, the Australian workers intended this only for the year 1856. But this first celebration had such a strong effect on the proletarian masses of Australia, enlivening them and leading to new agitation, that it was decided to repeat the celebration every year.
In fact, what could give the workers greater courage and faith in their own strength than a mass work stoppage which they had decided themselves? What could give more courage to the eternal slaves of the factories and the workshops than the mustering of their own troops? Thus, the idea of a proletarian celebration was quickly accepted and, from Australia, began to spread to other countries until finally it had conquered the whole proletarian world.
The first to follow the example of the Australian workers were the Americans. In 1886 they decided that May 1 should be the day of universal work stoppage. On this day 200,000 of them left their work and demanded  the eight-hour day. Later, police and legal harassment prevented the workers for many years from repeating this (size) demonstration. However in 1888 they renewed their decision and decided that the next celebration would be May1, 1890.
In the meanwhile, the workers' movement in Europe had grown strong and animated. The most powerful expression of this movement occurred at the International Workers' Congress in 1889. At this Congress, attended by four hundred delegates, it was decided that the eight-hour day must be the first demand. Whereupon the delegate of the French unions, the worker Lavigne from Bordeaux, moved that this demand be expressed in all countries through a universal work stoppage. The delegate of the American workers called attention to the decision of his comrades to strike on May 1, 1890, and the Congress decided on this date for the universal proletarian celebration.
In this case, as thirty years before in Australia, the workers really thought only of a one-time demonstration. The Congress decided that the workers of all lands would demonstrate together for the eight-hour day on May 1, 1890. No one spoke of a repetition of the holiday for the next years. Naturally no one could predict the lightning-like way in which this idea would succeed and how quickly it would be adopted by the working classes. However, it was enough to celebrate the May Day simply one time in order that everyone understand and feel that May Day must be a yearly and continuing institution.
The first of May demanded the introduction of the eight-hour day. But even after this goal was reached, May Day was not given up. As long as the struggle of the workers' against the bourgeoisie and the ruling classes continues, as long as all demands are not met, May Day will be the yearly expression of these demands. And , when better days dawn, when the working class of the world has won its deliverance then too humanity will probably celebrate May Day in honour of the bitter struggles and the many sufferings of the past.'

1894

So today May Day, the 1st of May is now recognised all over the world as International Workers Day. It is a day for the working class to down tools and take to the streets in protest against capitalism and wage slavery. We should not  forget Chigago , Haymarket either,  where on May 4, 1886, demands for an eight hour working week became particularly intense. Where a demonstration largely staged by a group of anarchists, caused a crowd of some 1,500 people to gather. When policemen tried to disperse the meeting, a bomb exploded and the police opened fire on the crowd. More than 100 people were injured. Eight leading Chicago anarchists were subsequently arrested, and charged with the bombing, despite no evidence of their involvement, five were sentenced to be hanged, two were given life sentences and the last was sentenced to 15 years in prison. The trial is now known by legal historians as one of the worst miscarriages of American history.

 In 1889 the congress of the Second International Workingman's association adopted a resolution to take up the fight for the 8 hour working day and to make 1st of May a worldwide day of protests in memory of the Haymarket martyrs, as they had become known.
The first British May Demonstration was held in the 1890's and in London alone, attracted 300,000 protestors in Hyde Park, and has continued to this day. Since then,  May Day has become established as an annual event to commemorate all the workers who have died in the struggle against those who exploit them. A celebration of international struggles and our solidarity. Many today will remember the 400 plus who have died in the recent Bangladesh building collapse.With these acts of solidarity we also lay down the foundations of a future world.  In Britain we even have a Bank holiday now close to the day, that the Tories have considered scrapping because of it's association, which thankfully has failed.
Today also marks a neo-pagan festival,Beltane, the Celtic festival of Summer's beginning a time to dance under a Maypole, a time of cleansing and renewal,drink and be merry, follow Jack in the Green, the mystical Green Man of legend.
I see no reason why not to celebrate all of the above.
Happy May Day
Heddwch/peace

A Garland for May Day

1895, Walter Crane 

Remember the dead,
fight for the living. 

Avoid head trash

The world is currently,  being destroyed by psychopaths, dont keep calm, go out and make change. But be careful do not be a garbage can  for anything that does not fuel your intellect, stimulate your imagination and help connect with others. Refuse to carry other peoples head trash. When conflict arises , face it with who you are, whilst being open to other perspectives.
Respect your intellect and heart felt passions. Give respect to others by not taking what they are responsible for, if you do not, it can infect you with a mind virus of cynicism or defeat and you wont even know it.
But without action very little will be done, be persistent ,and  try and be consistent, I realise though that under present conditions of capitalist domination it is easy to switch to negative thought patterns, that can lead to cynical resignation, that can become an obstacle in itself. So find others that you can connect with, share your ideas, that help one another build together,  help create a new world, a better one. Avoid cutting yourself from this possibility no matter what the circumstances. The secret is to to begin, there is no room for compromise. Laugh together, avoid disconnection, avoid futility and fruitlessness, focus on struggle and change. Resignation is death. Revolt is life. Avoid head trash.
It's obviously not as easy as it sounds, I've been on anti-depressants for last ten years, but recently been avoiding them, reconnecting  taking a chance, my inner scream still carries an anguished enthusiasm for changing the world. I guess it takes time, chemicals can help, can lead to a life though of numbness, especially in the absence of community or solidarity, alienation can lead to all sorts of malaise, if you really want to change, there are ways to achieve it,  don't trust me though I'm no shrink or doctor, I know that it is not always possible to prevent unhelpful thoughts from occurring, these words  just some gathered food for thought, just remember to look after yourself, and if your strong enough you can  look out for and help others.

What Zionism has meant for Palestinians

 There is currently a lot of discussion in the public realm in the UK about anti-semitism (anti-jewish racism), As Israel lobby groups ( among others) try to equate the two.
For some being critical of Israel is now seen as  the same thing as being anti-jewish or rasict. Personally I will always oppose beyond the pale and vile racism wherever it tries to lay it's hat. An abhorrent stain that has no place in modern society and should always be condemned and given zero tolerance.
I am not a member of the Labour Party  but like many others I have been talking to feel that the crisis of anti-semitism in the Labour party has been deliberately created by the media,  whilst co-ordinated by the right wing element of the party and the Zionist lobby.
The prospect of a pro Palestinian like Jeremy Corbyn as elected leader has triggered a dirty tricks operation worthy of a CIA effort to destabilise a South America  country, all aided by a compliant media, serving to stir things up and foster division, running on hysterical soundbites to smear instead of encouraging unity.The Daily Mail being chief among them, with a terrible history of their own when it comes to this issue. Is is wrong to simply criticize a country that illegally treats and oppresses the Palestinian people on a daily basis.
Anti-semitism tragically exists  and must continually be exposed and fought against, in the same way as other forms of racism by all concerned with fighting racism and fascism.
I should also point out that Anti-semitism and anti-zionism are not the same. Zionism is a political ideology which has always been contested within jewish life since it first emerged in 1897. In my  humble  opinion it is entirely legitimate for non-jews as well as jews to xpress opinions about it. Remember not all jews are zionists and not all zionists are jews.
As an anti racist and an anti fascist I do not think it is helpful to discredit those who simply make legitimate criticism of Israeli policy. I will continue to support anyone who seeks to promote peace with justice.
What is being forgotten about though and utterly marginalised is the Palestinian narrative. Should we forget the fact that for the Palestinian people, Zionism is an ideology that denied their very existence and has continued to justify their ethnic cleansing from their home and lands.
We should be seeking some balance, not get whipped up by hysteria, by forces serving to feed their own dubious agendas. We should continue to fight racism, fascism  with all our might whilst exploring and understanding all narratives.

Here is a link to an interesting article I discovered earlier. Heddwch/peace.

http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20160429-what-zionism-has-meant-for-palestinians/ 

Cassetteboy vs Jeremy Hunt

Another Labor of love from Cassetteboy.  Jeremy Hunt should stop telling us how reckless and dangerous the Junior Doctors' strikes are, because trained medical  professionals  clearly feel his policies are far more reckless and dangerous.
Jeremy Hunt can keep saying that it is in the best interests of the NHS, but the actions of him and his government speak far louder than his lies. Time for him to drop the ego and listen to the heart of the NHS - the doctors.
Luckily the junior doctors are standing together, taking part in the first all-out strike in the history of the NHS,  it's up to us to support them, as they continue to defend and save a publicly funded , publicly owned, our beloved  N.H.S.