In a world fraught with merciless disparity
Embroiled in suffering despair and grief,
One could embrace the madness, concede defeat
Or follow rippling streams of hope glimmering,
That help in ways unseen, as thoughts keep navigating
To go to places beyond fear and desperation,
Where winds no longer deliver agitation.
As long nights still carve deep impressions
Tirelessly we try seek forms of abandonement,
Criss-crossing frantically, obstacles of existence
When all the skies are deeply overcast,
We continue to scatter ourselves among
New arrangements of the dream.
Amidst the pangs of sombre desolation
And the sporadic moments of insufferable solitude,
An infinitesmal light emerges
It's celestial infusions engaging with,
And uplifting doleful spirit
Engulfing it in a crimson cocoon.
As the sorrow laden clouds release their trembling tears
And the sun transfigures the stony sky;
Springs new heart beats and awakens
Its vibrant petals emanating with smell of regeneration;
The solace seeking spirits in succession triumph
And tethered souls are steered by tranquil serenity.
As the swallows head north through the cumulous clouds
And the suns waning rays dwindle into darkness,
Bickering bafoons and charismatic clowns with spurious smiles
Sprout their myopic pernicious poison,
To the oblivious masses and the credulous sheep
Slapping the face of humanity,
In a power-driven crestridden wave.
Revolutionary seedlings shoot through fertile virgin soil
Inducing the spawn of tomorrows cornerstone,
Bearing sweet fruit of the assemblance of unity
To nourish lifes voracious mortal chain,
Consciousness and attitude of this time
Guiding unruly glissanding ideals,
Wanting to come of age and avert the dystopian nightmare
The Specials one of the most seminal, electrifying, influential and important bands of all time,have just released their first album of new music in 20 years. Entitled Encore, the February 1st, 2019 release alsomarks the return of original lead vocalist Terry
Hall, who entered the studio with the band for the first time since
1981’s classic “Ghost Town”. Founding members Lynval Golding and Horace
Panter are also back, with drummer Kenrick Rowe and Ocean Colour Scene
guitarist Steve Cradock rounding out the lineup.
Hall, Golding, and Panter produced the 10-track effort alongside touring
keyboardist Nikolaj Torp Larsen. While eight of the songs are
originals, two are covers: an opening rendition of The Equals’ “Black
Skinned Blue-Eyed Boys” and a take on The Valentines’ “Blam Blam Fever” addressing gun violence.
The Specials’ comeback album arrives in a Britain riven by political crisis, racial tension and the rise of the far-right. The situation resembles the turbulent times of the Coventry band’s prime years in the late 1970s and early 1980s, back when they were one of the few multi-racial groups on the circuit, promoters of a powerful anti-racist message.
The Specials, who were true innovators in their field, began the British
ska revival, combining the highly danceable ska and rocksteady beat with
punk’s energy and attitude, whilst taking on a more focused and
informed political and social stance than their predecessors and peers.
Originally formed in Coventry in 1977 as the Coventry Automatics by Jerry Dammers (songwriter and keyboardist),
Terry Hall (vocals), Lynval Golding (guitar and vocals), Neville Staples
(vocals and percussion), Roddy Radiation (guitar), Sir Horace Gentleman
(bass), and John Bradbury (drums). Initially an opening slot for the
Clash stirred up interest with the major labels, but Dammers opted to
start his own 2-Tone label, named for its multiracial agenda and after
the two-tone tonic suits favoured by the like-minded mods of the 1960s.
The Dammers-designed logos, based in pop art with black and white
checks, gave the label an instantly identifiable look. Dammers’ eye for
detail and authenticity also led to the band adopting period rude-boy
outfits (porkpie hats, tonic and mohair suits, and loafers).
The Specials debuted with the ‘Gangsters’ single, which reached the
UK Top 10 in 1979. Soon after, hordes of bands and fans followed in the
same tradition and the movement reached full swing. Over the next
several months, 2-Tone enjoyed hits by similar-sounding bands such as
Madness, the (English) Beat, and the Selecter. Late in 1979, the band
released its landmark debut album, The Specials, produced by Elvis
Costello. They followed with several 2-Tone package tours and a live EP,
‘Too Much Too Young’. The title track, a pro-contraception song, was
banned by the BBC but reached the No.1 spot in the UK. 1980 saw two
further Top 10 hits with ‘Rat Race’& ‘Stereotype’.
The Specials released their follow up album, More Specials, with a
new neo-lounge persona, bookended by nostalgia nugget, ‘Enjoy Yourself
(It’s Later Than You Think)’. The group’s defining moment came during
the long hot summer of 1981, courtesy of the eerily evocative ‘Ghost
Town’, issued amid race-related unemployment riots in Brixton and
Liverpool. The song spent a total of ten weeks in the UK Top 40 and
three at No.1. By the end of the year the song had won over critics to
be named “Single of the Year” in Melody Maker, NME and Sounds.
Following the release of 1979’s The Specials and 1980’s More Specials, and the recording of “Ghost Town,” Hall left the band ,which continued for one more album, In the Studio,
under the Special AKA moniker. Between 1996 and 2001, reunited versions
of the group, sans Hall released three covers albums (Today’s Specials, Skinhead Girl and Conquering Ruler), plus 1998’s Guilty ’til Proved Innocent!, which featured new songs by original and new members of the band.
Sadly the new release will arrive without founding member Jerry Dammers, but after
their original bust up, which was so bitter, it was clear that he would
never play with them again, steadfastly refusing to participate in any Specials reunions. After the original Specials split up, he
carried on as the Special AKA, and dedicated himself to running the
British arm of Artists against Apartheid, writing the iconic song Free
Nelson Mandela. He has.steadfastly refused to participate in any Specials reunions but has continued releasing remarkable music with his wildy adventurous project the Spatial AKA Orchestra.Neither does it it feature Roddy
Radiation and Neville Staple, who both left the reunited group in recent
years to carry on releasing their own engaging music. Drummer John Bradbury died in 2015.
However “Vote For Me”, the first new Specials single released earlier this year fortunately addresses the same social
and political issues which were prevalent when the band formed in the
late ‘70s, in which Hall bemoans the state of the political class.
Specials biographer Paul "Willo" Williams posted an exclusive, glowing preview of Encore, which he states picks up "where More Specials left off" (so there will be bits of rock, pop, and soul with your 2 Tone); and if "'Ghost Town' was the anthem of 1981, then Encore is
the snapshot of the world today,-and on a global scale."
'B.L.M.' ( an acronym for Black Lives Matter) finds Lynval Golding telling the story of his own father arriving in the UK on the Windrush to help rebuild a war-torn Britain, and his own experience of racism in the UK and America.
Track 3 Vote For Me bemoans politicians 'drunk on money and power' with an atmospheric arrangement that draws comprisons to Ghost Town.
Terry Hall is open and confessional on the topic of mental health and his own life time battle with bi-polar disorder on the gently spoken ' The life And Times (Of A Man Called Depression) Showing such bravery in addressing this issue.
Saffiyah Khan, the anti-racist activist pictured in a celebrated news photograph confronting an English Defence League demonstrator in 2017, delivers a spoken-word feminist reworking of Prince Buster’s misogynist reggae song “Ten Commandments of Man”. Embarrrassed By You is as ska reggae eant with Goding and Hall, covering kife crime, hoodies, moped gangs and misguided youth spilling on our streets.
“The Lunatics Have Taken Over the Asylum” adds an enjoyable Latin flavour to a song by Specials spin-off group Fun Boy Three, it's message ever so relevant to the world that we are living in right now., as they were back in the day. Breaking Point has a dark feel, combined with swirling keyboards. Lines like ' Social Media is a trend that'll send us all around the bend' gives you the theme of Hall's lyrics, in a world gone wrong.
The record ends with the glorious optimistic We Sell Hope for me a highight, a truly memerising haunting track, that is certainly made for these times, truly uplifting ' Looked all around the world, could be a beautiful place.' ' do what you need to do without making the world suffer,'
Needless to
say, expectations had been running high for this release (fans have been
clamoring for new material ever since the first few reunion tours, which
started back in 2008!). Even without the genius of Dammers on board, one wonders what the record would have sounded like with his involvement, and minus a few other members, some people are questioning its authenticity, but I personally am glad it's out there and welcome the defiant angry message and glorius music contained within.The Specials will take to the road in the UK and abroad throughout 2019 in support of the new album.The CD edition of Encore also includes a live album called The Best of The Specials Live.
If we vote for you, do you promise
To be upright, decent and honest
To have our best interest at heart
You understand why we don't believe you
You're way too easy to see through
Not the best places to start
There are no rocks at Rockaway beach
And all that glitters isn't gold
You're all so drunk on money and power
Inside your Ivory tower
Teaching us not to be smart
Making laws that serve to protect you
But we will never forget that
You tore our families apart
There are no rocks at Rockaway beach
And all that glitters isn't gold
So if we vote for you, do you promise
To be upright, decent and honest
And take away all of the fear
You sit and wait for us to elect you
But all we'll do is reject you
Your politics bore us to tears
There are no rocks at Rockaway beach
And all that glitters isn't gold
The Specials featuring Saffiyah Khan "Ten Commandments "
Sad to hear that Jeremy Hardy ,the much-loved British comedian and activist, died far to young earlier today after a long battle with cancer aged 57. He is survived by his wife, filmmaker and photographer Katie Barlow, and his daughter Betty who were with him when he died.
"Friends and family of comedian Jeremy Hardy are immensely sad to
announce that Jeremy died of cancer, early on Friday 1st February," said
his publicist Amanda Emery in a statement. "He was with his wife and his daughter
as he died. He retained to the end the principles that guided his life;
trying to make the world more humane, and to be wonderfully funny.He retained to the end the committed principles that guided his life; trying to make the world more humane, and to be wonderfully funny. He will be enormously missed by so many, who were inspired by him and who laughed with him. A fitting memorial will take place, details to be announced soon."
Born in Farborough, Hampshire, in 1961, he started his career as a
stand-up comedian and won the coveted Perrier Award in 1988 and best
live act at the ITV Comedy Awards in 1991.
His TV debut came in 1986 when he starred in Now - Something Else appearing alongside Rory Bremner. The impressionist posted that Hardy was "unfussy, unshowy, principled,
self-deprecating," and "funnier than the lot of us put
together"
He
went on to play Corporal Perkins in an episode of Blackadder Goes Forth
in 1989 Having studied history and politics at the University of
Southampton, the life-long socialist wrote at length about social
politics for publications including The Guardian and ES Magazine.
Hardy built a reputation for weaving socialist politics into his comedy
acts, balancing outrage at the state of the world and the United Kingdom
with a compassion for ordinary people. Away from stand-up, Hardy was known for his social justice campaigning and guest appearances on BBC Two's Mock the Week and BBC Radio 4's The News Quiz and I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue. He was also an author and actor.
Like many of his '80s contemporaries, Hardy was an overtly political
comic who railed against the
perceived injustices of the Conservative governments of Margaret
Thatcher and John Major.
When he started off in comedy he said that he originally
hadn't intended to be a "political" comic, but that the atmosphere of
Margaret Thatcher's Britain made it inevitable.
"I'd always been a sort of leftist, liberal social democrat, but the
country in the 80s was so right-wing that I thought I'd become part of
some beleaguered minority of ultra-leftists," he told friend and fellow
comedian Jack Dee on the BBC show Chain Reaction.
He was also fiercely opposed to the Iraq War begun by the labour government of Tony Blair.He was ubiquitous on demonstrations against war, austerity, racism and in support of striking workers.
One of his greatest political passions was Palestine. For most comedians, especially those who regularly appeared on BBC panel shows, the
topic was too sensitive to broach. Of course, the main reason for this
is that few take the effort to do their homework, let alone travel to
the region to see the situation first hand.
In 2002, at the peak of
the Second Intifada, which had then been
raging for two years, Hardy took up an offer by his friend Leila Sansour
- chief executive of the Open Bethlehem NGO, to be the subject of a
film in which he travelled to the West Bank as part of the International
Solidarity Movement to be a human shield.
The result was
the very moving, and very funny documentary, Jeremy Hardy Vs The Israeli Army.
which saw the comedian facing down Israeli gunfire and eventually become trapped along with six other British activists in Bethlehem as the town was placed under siege by the Israelis.
Palestine activist Leila Sansour had wanted to bring a "recognised name"
- someone famous - to the West Bank to see the occupation for
themselves, and to bring the solidarity movement to a wider audience.
The only person willing to do it was Jeremy Hardy.
"I could see she had a strange faith in the power of minor celebrity," says Hardy in the film's introduction.
He remained a committed activist in solidarity with Palestinians, raising money for Palestinian causes including the Palestine Trauma Centre and Medical Aid for Palestinians.
He
campaigned against the Israeli military's use of checkpoints, forcing
patients to transfer between ambulances on either side of often
arbitrarily-placed barriers.
"People die because they don't reach the hospital in time," he told The New Arab.
"People also miss appointments all the time because of getting held up
at the checkpoints, for example for not having the right paperwork.
"It
just highlights the brutality of the occupation in the way it just
makes ordinary everyday life, things that we take for granted,
impossible."
In one of his last visits to the West Bank, a trip organised by Medical Aid for Palestinians
(MAP) along with fellow British comedian Imran Yusuf, he highlighted the
ongoing plight of the people of occupied Hebron and the attempts by
Israeli settlers to gain full control of the centre of the city.
“They want them to leave," he tells the camera. "They want
Palestinians to leave. They want the businesses to close, they want
people to stop coming here to shop. They want the economy to collapse.
And then take all of it, take all of the land, basically."
There’s been no crop failure here, there’s been no natural disaster - people have just been crushed by being occupied.”
With a few exceptions - such as his close friend Mark Steel - there
will be no mainstream voices left in the ever-shrinking pool of
"actually well-informed satire" after Hardy's passing, let alone those
who can speak and ridicule with authority about Syria or Palestine or
war and capitalism.
Tributes this morning were led by Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. Who said on twitter
" Jeremy Hardy was a dear, lifelong friend. He always gave his all for everyone else and the campaigns for social justice."
Fellow comedians and activists also took to Twitter to remember their friend.
Jack Dee, who worked with Hardy on Channel 4 sketch show Jack and
Jeremy's Real Lives and I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue, tweeted that Hardy
was "ground-breakingly brilliant, off the register funny, compassionate
and caring".
Fellow comedian David Baddiel called his death simply "a great loss to comedy".
Deputy Labour leader John McDonnell praised Hardy for "courageously supporting campaigns for social justice".
Journalist Owen Jones added: "Utterly devastated to hear of Jeremy
Hardy's death. He was such a wonderful guy, hilarious, full of humanity
and heart, committed to fighting for a world without injustice. Just a
lovely bloke."
Until 2001, Hardy wrote a column for the Guardian newspaper in which he regularly expressed his support for the Socialist Alliance .His radical views did not always go down well, however, and he was
once booed by members of the audience on Radio Four's Just A Minute for
ranting about the Royal Family when asked to talk about "parasites".
In 2004, Burnley Council cancelled one of his shows after he said
members and supporters of the British National Party should "be shot" on
an episode of his Speaks to the Nation programme.
Hardy’s political history and identity is neatly captured by two recent
tweets. The comedian’s own last message on his official account – sent
at 2.40am on 8 January – attacked Tony Blair’s latest intervention in
the Brexit debate, warning that the former premier risked precipitating
hard Brexit and a right-wing Tory government.
Hardy was twice married, to American actress and comedian Kit
Hollerbach, who appeared alongside him in radio sitcoms and with whom he
adopted a daughter, Elizabeth, in 1990. A memorial to Mr Hardy is set to be announced.
Sadly he never lived to see the end of the occupation of Palestine or the
kind of people he thought should run the country actually taking power
in Britain. Though his death was untimely, Jeremy remained philisophical on matters of mortality and the apparent pointlessness of life:
"Why don’t they just accept that life is sad and cheer up? After all, it’s not forever."
Rest in Power to such a good man and one of the few genuinely funny and radical comedians who chose to use his comedy to change the world, rather than to fill stadiums.
Since 15 January, the situation in Venezuela has escalated dramatically
when the opposition-controlled National Assembly declared that Maduro
had usurped power. Opposition leader Juan Guaido proclaimed himself
interim president on 23 January. The United States and other countries
swiftly recognised him as the country's leader. This US-Venezuelan gambit is the latest attempt by the Washington
“swamp” to fully re-enter its historical role in Latin America as
congenital genocidals.
You have to ask yourself , why would the US and UK governments, states where millions rely on food banks, care about starving Venezuelans when they have proven they don't care about people starving in their own countries. They care because Venezuala has the largest oil reserves on the planet, and would take this time to take the opportunity of grabbing it for themselves. This together with the Bank of England refusing to return £900 million in gold bullion smacks at another attempt at regime change.
Currently President Trump faces his own crisis situation at home, with his
cave-in over the shutdown that has led to government workers, 700,000 of them,
facing day after day without pay. What better way to divert attention from the
domestic crisis than a military intervention in Venezuela. Of course, there’s more to this than that, as
the USA has always regarded Latin America as its backyard and regularly
intervenes in the region- the military coup against Allende in Chile, the
invasion of Grenada and Panama, the support for every murderous military
dictatorship from Somoza in Nicaragua to the overthrow of Juan Bosch in the
Dominican Republic to enthusiastic support for the bloody regime of Videla in
Argentina.
Some backgroud to the current cisis in Venezuela is needed ,during the early 2000s, when oil prices were high, socialist
President Hugo Chávez used oil profits to reduce inequality and poverty,
building over two million homes and capping the price of basic goods
such as flour, cooking oil and toiletries.When oil prices dropped
in 2014, the government suddenly had to make lots of cutbacks. This led
many people to begin buying goods on the black market, causing
inflation to rise and unemployment, which is set to rise above
44% by 2020. There are now chronic food
shortages. This has brought forth protests around the country, protests that were
answered with severe repression by the regime, which responded violently to strikes
and demonstrations, and reported cases of human rights abuses.There is currently a very real social crisis in Venezuela. This crisis which is very complicated manifests itself
in real hunger, shortage of basic household commodities, medicine and mass migration
to Colombia, and the US.
Now the old bourgeoisie, organised around Guaido and his
party, is attempting to overthrow the Maduro regime of the state bourgeoisie,
with the backing of the USA. The Americans are eying up the rich resources of
Venezuela, not just oil but other raw materials, diamonds,
gold, natural gas, gold, bauxite, iron ore, and hydroelectric power.
Neither Maduro nor Guaido have an answer to the severe economic and humanitarian crisis hitting
Venezuela. The masses there have to begin to organise against both these wings
of the ruling class. This will be a difficult task but is one worth engaging with and seeking to understand..We should remind ourselves for now though that the Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, who I do not view uncritically is the twice democratically elected legitimate president of the country. He was sworn
in after being elected by the popular vote, on January 10, 2019, and is
legally entitled to serve a six-year term as president. Juan Guaidó is
the head of the legitimately elected National Assembly. He is an
Opposition leader, though he has declared himself “interim president of
Venezuela”. This situation is complex and fraught with possibility of
further political and social breakdown, and requires skilful and
good-faith diplomacy. Cynical political chicanery and bluster from outside forces are unwarranted at this moment in time.
Currently the Venezualan military aims to protect its privileged position and stand with rhe Maduro system. While Maduro aims to hold onto power it is at same time going to be very difficult for him to solve the Veneuala's economic crisis. He has it must be said lost confidence among huge swathes of the population. Yet for now holds the backing of the military and the majority of the populace. .
In the meantime President Maduro, has called
opposition leader Juan Guaido a US "puppet" and accused Washington
of attempting to organise a coup in Venezuela and declared his intent
to cut off diplomatic ties.
Addressing Donald Trump in English
to demand that Washington keep its “hands off” the country, after the
US imposed sanctions on its state oil company in recognition of Juan
Guaido as president.
“Donald Trump, do not get involved with Venezuela! Hands off Venezuela! Donald Trump, hands off Venezuela!” Maduro said, blaming Washington for the political conflict that is causing tremors in the country.
Maduro’s words came shortly after US imposed sanctions on the country’s state-owned oil company PDVSA in order to “help prevent the further diversion“ of assets by the country’s government. Venezuela’s president called Washington’s actions an attempt “to steal” the company, and promised to take countermeasures “to protect the interests of Venezuela.”
The US, imposing leaders, as it did earlier in the 20th century, is another
phase of its gunboat diplomacy that has been seen time and time again and they ought to keep their
bloody hands off. They and their European counterparts in France, Britain and Germany should not interfere, and stay
at home to solve their own chronic political and economic crises. This is a time for negotiation and compromise not a winner takes all showdown that could lead to civil war costing many lives. A peaceful solution is what is urgently needed, however .the planet is dividing into distinct blocks in a period of post economic collapse, each one with their own spurious agendas, whether it be China, Russia and Iran or the USA, UK and other western nations and Israel on the other. We are living in truly dangerous times.
In connection with all this I would urge people here in the UK to get their MP's to sign the following EDM (Early Day Motion) 2022 https://edm.parliament.uk/early-day-motion/52512/outside-interference-in-venezuela
Outside influence in Venezuela
' That this House express its opposition to outside interference in
Venezuela, whether from the US or elsewhere; believes that the future
governance of Venezuela is a matter for Venezuelans alone to determine;
rejects the US President Donald Trump's approach to regime change, which
violates international law; express its disappointment at the UK
Government's decision to fall in behind the US Administration's actions
towards Venezuela; and urges the Government to constructively engage
with the existing Government of Venezuela and other political forces to
support a dialogue and a negotiated peaceful settlement that can
overcome the crisis in Venezuela.
Throughout human history, as our species has faced the frightening terrorising fact that we do not know who we are, or where we are going in this ocean of chaos,it has been the authorities - the political, the religious, the educational authorities - who attempted to comfort us by giving us order, rules regulations, informing and forming our minds to view their reality. To think for yourself you must question authority and learn how to put yourself in a state of vulnerable open-mindedness, chaotic confused vulnerability to inform yourself ".
- Timothy Leary. The definition of "authority" is the power to make orders or make decisions ; the power or right to durect or control" someone or something" https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/authority To question authority is to call into question the power or right of that authority to direct or control people or events. Questioning authority asks "Why do I have to do what you tell me I should do? Why can't I do as I plase instead of as you instruct me to?" The human world is in ruins. It does not seem to be getting any better, with the rise of division, sexism, religious extremism, racism, forces of fascism, xenophobia, homophobia and general intolerance.Then we have the mess that is Brexit, which was supposed to give us an element of control but in effect has left us all powerless, fighting amongst ourselves. The sooner we can withdraw from it all the better. Timothy Leary was right when he urged young people to "drop out " in 1966. His message all the more profoundly true today, in the awful times we live in. Life in modern society seems to offer us no future. The modern world has failed on all levels. Capitalism and industrialism that is fuelling catastrophic climate change cannot be reformed for the benefit of mankind. Have you ever wondered how a sickening atrocity like the Holocaust could happen. People being blindly compliant and obedient with unadulterated evil. The mantra "think for yourself and question authority" speaks a universal simple truth, which is that society isn't right, and we have to trust our own hearts and minds at end of the day, no matter what anyone tells us to do. It's not easy to stand up for something when it seems everyone else is sitting quietly in blind complacency, and turning ther heads away. But it's up to all of us to continue to question authority, when the needs be, because if we don't, who else will? No species can evolve new features or behaviours if there is no change in their environment and similarly society cannot become more equal and just unless every aspect of it is questioned. Societal progress can only be achieved by those willing to seek out what is wrong and challenge it without swaying to power nor denying reason. People worldwide are beginning to question their leaders in government and wonder if they are to blame for the mess the world finds itself in. Standing up against injustice. Ultimately the questioning of authority is not only a good thing, it is a necessary thing. It is the ever so precious backbone of freedom, that is essential to all. Cherish the right to protest . Cherish the right to be different. Cherish the right to question authority. Or as our Governments carry out policies that ae grotesquely cruel and immoral, just simply relax and keep your heads down and move along with your normal consensus lives, because after all your Government will continue to take care of you, and keep listening to the authoritarians and everything will be fine.
Today marks Holocaust Memorial Day, on the anniversary of the liberation
of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz Birkenau,the largest Nazi death camp in occupied Poland. where 1.6 million
men, women children were killed in the holocaust.
The day aims to remind people of the crimes and loss of life and encourage remembrance in a world scarred by genocide and prevent it ever being forgotten.
Alongside the six million Jewish victims of Nazi persecution, hundreds
of thousands of others were targeted by Hitler's regime - including
trade unionists, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transpeople, (LGBT) gypsies,
disabled people and the mentally ill, and others attacked for their
race or simply being different. At Belsen, Chelmno, Revensbrul to name a few more among hundreds where the inhumanity of man to man was endorseded by the Nazi regime.
The theme of this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day is ‘Torn from Home’ and
encourages people to reflect on how the enforced loss of a safe place
to call ‘home’ is part of the trauma faced by anyone experiencing
persecution and genocide. ‘Home’ usually means a place of safety,
comfort and security. On Holocaust Memorial Day 2019 we will reflect on
what happens when individuals, families and communities are driven out
of, or wrenched from their homes, because of persecution or the threat
of genocide, alongside the continuing difficulties survivors face as
they try to find and build new homes when the genocide is over.
Shockingly more than 2.6 million British people think that the Holocaust is a myth a poll has found. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/holocaust-memorial-day-poll-uk-jews-murdered-nazi-germany-hope-not-hate-a8746741.html?fbclid=IwAR0IWwpY3BB_EMp9pRlMMDZzmM1GvcjQxDVAqoec7hlNbLu7jjemZkcCLuc
HMDT chief executive Olivia Marks-Woldman said: "The Holocaust
threatened the fabric of civilisation and has implications for us all.
Such widespread ignorance and even denial is shocking.
"Without a basic understanding of this recent history, we are in
danger of failing to learn where a lack of respect for difference and
hostility to others can ultimately lead.
"With a rise in reported hate crime in the UK and ongoing
international conflicts with a risk of genocide, our world can feel
fragile and vulnerable. We cannot be complacent."
Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust,
said: "We know that education is vital in the fight against ignorance
and hate.
"Whatever the statistics, one person questioning the truth of the
Holocaust is one too many and so it is up to us to redouble our efforts
to ensure future generations know that it did happen and become
witnesses to one of the darkest episodes in our history."
HMD is for
everyone. Each year across the UK, thousands of people come together to
learn more about the past and take action to create a safer future. We
know they learn more, empathise more and do more.Together we bear
witness for those who endured genocide, and honour the survivors and
all those whose lives were changed beyond recognition.
It is important that we do not forget, but if we look at history this
is not the only time that genocide has occurred, and history repeats.
Humanity continues to turn against itself.Yesterday for instance was Australia day or for many others Invasion
Day, when people remembered the terrible wrongs and crimes against the
aboriginal people, then there is Colombus Day on the 8th of October,
you see the list is endless.
Somehow human beings around the world are capable of so much hate, we
should work together to prevent this. Remember those who have resisted,
shown bravery and courage. We should remember them all.
Sadly we seem to forget from past pain and experience. There is still so much to lean, we should stand united against genocide wherever it occurs. We should never forget where hatred and bigotry can lead. There can never be anytime for passivity, and we must stand strong against dark forces of intolerance, bigotry and division that create them. .
Some other places and people that the world sometimes forgets.
Cambodia,
Darfur,
Siebrenica,
Karabakh,
Bosnia,
Liberia,
Sudan,
Holodonor,
Armenia, the ethnic cleansing of indigeneous Palestinians,
The Indigeneous Peoples of America,
Checknya,
Congo,
India
and the genocide of slavery
and on and on and on.
We are all human, and we should never forget, where hate and division is fostered we should
strive for equality , peace and justice for the whole of mankind.
First They Came - Pastor Martin Niemoller
First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the Trade Unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade Unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left To speak out for me.
( a poem released last night at local monthly poetry meet the Cellar Bards)
Strolling down the supermarkets aisles
my wavering willpower in temptations path
special offers buy one, get one free
rows of ready meals, beer and crisps
on spur of moment, shopping list changes
as I walk on by must try to stay focussed
find some sustainable coffee, organic chocolate
candles and bubble bath that ease the mind
to help distract from capitalists obsessions
with greed and unmitigated power.
Advertisements release hunger
suppress the inner need for control
misconcieving and wetting appetite
subliminally like others forget to think
act like a sheep and buy another drink
a trick that makes me angry
when environmental degradation
and human rights abuse continue to grow
stuck among endless rows of plastic
processed food, that looks and tastes like shit.
Shopping can be a political act
what we choose to boycott, buy or consume
in the meantime will grab a notepad and pen
sip milk of human kindness that never ends
cancel out all walls of oppression
seek outsretched arms of affiliation
avoid goods stolen from Palestinian land
find free keys of love, for heart to rest
rekindle the gift of friendship
places to ditch superfluouos crap
Israel is expected to host the Eurovision Song Contest in May 2019,
following Netta Barzilai’s win at the 2018 edition. Israel is
shamelessly using Eurovision as part of its official Brand Israel
Strategy which presents “Israel’s prettier face” to whitewash and
distract attention from its war crimes against Palestinians.
Israel massacred 62 Palestinians in Gaza, including six children just two days after its 2018 Eurovision win. That same evening, Netta Barzilai performed a celebratory concert in Tel Aviv, hosted by the mayor, and said, “We have a reason to be happy.”
And Shortly after her win, Barzilai said she looked forward to
the world seeing “the Israeli carnival” when Jerusalem hosts the contest
next year. People will see “how wonderful we are, what a vibe we have.
Best people… the best place in the world.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called Barzilai “the best ambassador of Israel,” underlining his far-right government’s art-washing agenda.
Inspired by conscientious
artists who shunned Sun City in apartheid South Africa in the 1980s,
Palestinian artists and cultural organizations have called for
nonviolent pressure in the form of boycotts on Israel until it complies
with its obligations under international law.
Last year
alone Israel killed 290 Palestinians and injured more than 20,000,
including thousads shot with live sniper fire. Most of these fatalites
and injuries took place in the Gaza Strip, where Palestinians have been
demonstratng for the end of Israel's criminal siege and for the right to
return to the homes that they have been expelled from since 1947.
Israel effectively declared
itself an apartheid state by adopting the "Jewish Nation-State Law."
last year, Palestinian citizens are now constitutionally denied equal
rights, further enshrining racist discrimination aginst Palestinians
with Israeli
citizenship. Against this backdrop of escalating brutality and
entrenched apartheid. Israel is desperate for new ways to whitewash its
violations of Palestinian human rights.
Straight out of apartheid South Africa’s propaganda playbook,
Israel uses the arts to explicitly deflect growing condemnations of its
violations of Palestinian human rights. Israel is using Eurovision to
art-wash its egregious crimes against the Palestinian people..
Watched
by 186 million people last year Eurovision is a hugely popular
televised event. But already, hundreds of prominent artists including
former finalists and one winner, legendary artists, trade unions and
political parties. have supported the Palestinians call to boycott the
contest, if hosted by Israel regardless of its location.
In September, about 140 artists, including musicians, writers, actors,
directors, novelists, and poets, including six Israeli artists, signed a letter calling for the boycott
of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest
.https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/sep/07/boycott-eurovision-song-contest-hosted-by-israel
The letter demanded the song contest should be boycotted if it is “hosted by Israel
while it continues its grave, decades-old violations of Palestinian
human rights.”
“Until Palestinians can enjoy freedom, justice and equal rights, there
should be no business-as-usual with the state that is denying them their
basic rights," the letter said.
And tens of thousands of people have signed petitions urging broadcasters and participants to refuse to go.
The European Broadcasting Union has since written
to the Israeli prime minister requesting that "visitors to Israel be
allowed to travel anywhere without restrictions regardless of their
political opinions or sexual orientation, and that [Israeli public
broadcaster] Kan have complete freedom in editing the broadcast".
However, some have dubbed this a pointless demand
given that it is a request that concerns itself only with the contest,
and not on lifting the systematic repression placed upon Palestinians
and vocal supporters of their liberation all year round.
Even if Netanyahu agrees, the contest would be taking place in a country
that continues to colonise Palestinians through an illegal occupation,
regular house demolitions, discriminatory laws, and its deadly blockade.
How
can an event like the Eurovision Song Contest, despite its slogan of
“Dare to Dream,” not be deemed complicit with the subjugation of
Palestine by allowing Israel to play host?
This
year will be the fifty-second year of the occupation of Palestine,
and is unlikely to be the last. Let us do more than just dare to
dream of a free Palestine but work towards it and support it in
whatever way we can. The normalisation of Israeli Apartheid is part
of a broader structure of erasure and violence.. We must refuse to be
complicit. Until Palestine is free.
Join more than 35,000 people and sign the petition to boycott Eurovision hosted by Israel!
In Solidarity.
We, the undersigned residents of Europe and beyond, call on
members of the European Broadcasting Union -- our public broadcasters --
to withdraw from the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest hosted by Israel, to
avoid being complicit in Israel's ongoing violations of Palestinian
human rights. We support the many prominent artists, including former
contestants, who have endorsed the appeal of Palestinian artists and
journalists to turn their backs on Eurovision 2019. We urge songwriters and performers to boycott the 2019 contest
hosted by Israel just as they once boycotted the apartheid regime in
South Africa.
Celebrated beloved author, American
literary legend and visionary Ursula K. Le Guin who wrote science fiction, fantasy,
essays and poetry, who we lost a year ago today. A quote of hers is pemanently embedded
on this blog. Have written about her before, this is a vastly updated post based on previous ones. Her body of work encompasses novels, including the famous and beloved Earthsea
novels, a series of epic fantasy novels that set the blueprint for the genre. novellas, short stories, poetry, criticism and more (including
speculative anthropology). She published her first short story at
thirty-two, and while perhaps the chief characteristic of her early work
was, as she says, an "open romanticism," Le Guin's work gradually
became, again in her own words, "something harder, stronger, and more
complex." It also became the site of radical emancipatory visions,
courageous and profound reimaginings of the way life is, and a beautiful
yet clear-eyed utopianism. It became, in other words, extraordinary.
She was a giant of 20th century literature. On her shoulders stand not
just classics of genre fiction but everything from Salman Rushdie’s
postcolonial magical realism to JK Rowling’s Harry Potter
mega-franchise.
Le Guin used science fiction and fantasy not as a genre but a “method”.
Future societies, distant planets and magical realms provided “a safe,
sterile laboratory for trying out ideas”.
Ursula K. Le Guin was born Ursula Kroeber in Berkeley California, on October 21, 1929.
Le Guin’s parents were anthropologists, their summer home “a
gathering place for scientists, writers, students and California
Indians”. Their interactions with Native Americans seem to have laid the
basis for much of her “Hainish cycle” of novels, which explore a
variety of planets through the culture shock of the ambassadors sent to
meet them.
One of the visitors was Robert Oppenheimer. Le Guin would later use Oppenheimer as the model for her protagonist in The Dispossessed.
Ursula had three older brothers,Karl, Theodore, and Clifton.The family had a large book collection, and the siblings all became interested in reading while they were young She might be best-known nowadays for the groundbreaking book ' The Left Hand of Darkness' a
science fiction novel published in 1969 set in the Hainish universe, Le
Guin often used science fiction to transgress normalised conceptions of
gender and sexuality.Not content to limit her incisive examinations of
society to fiction and allegory, Le Guin spoke and wrote frequently
about contemporary politics. She often described fantasy and fiction as a
tool for social change, a way of imagining the world not as it but as
it should be. Her criticisms in both fiction and beyond it , often
focused on social inequality and the unsustainability of capitalism .
Her novel ' The Dispossessed' was a thought experiment on how an
anarchist society would work. The novel begins with the journey of the
physicist Shevek from the planet Anarres, which was settled by
anarchists a century and a half previously, to the planet Urras, a
caricature of our own world in the 1970's.
In alternating chapters, it tells the story of Shevek's life on Anarres
and its discontents, leading up to his decision to leave, and his
adventures on Urras and how grotesque a society based on power and
profit seems in his eyes.
A truly mesmerising read, given us an idea of how a possible anarchist
society could function and, more importantly, the moral foundations of
such a society. Anarres is flawed and falls short of its ideas of
individual freedom, mutual aid and voluntary coperation, but is still
infinitely preferable to the money- hungry, power-hungry nation of
Urreas.
In short my sort of Utopia. It is a society without government, laws,
police, courts, corporations,.money, salaries, profit, organised
religion or private property. Its people speak an artificial language, a
kind of benign Orwellian Newspeak, which lacks words for concepts such
as 'debt or 'winner,'
“We have nothing but our freedom. We have nothing to give you but your
own freedom. We have no law but the single principle of mutual aid
between individuals. We have no government but the single principle of
free association. We have no states, no nations, no presidents, no
premiers, no chiefs, no generals, no bosses, no bankers, no landlords,
no wages, no charity, no police, no soldiers, no wars. Nor do we have
much else. We are sharers, not owners. We are not prosperous. None of us
is rich. None of us is powerful. If it is Anarres you want, it is the future you seek, then I tell you that you must come to it with epty hands. You must come to it alone, and naked, as the child comes into the world, into his future, without any past, without any property, wholly dependent on other people for his life. You canot take what you have not bee given, and you must give yourself. You cannot buy the Revolution. You cannot make the Revolution. You can only be the Revolution. It is in your spirit, or it is nowhere,"
―
Ursula K. Le Guin, The Dispossessed
Le Guin would write more than 20 novels, 100 short stories, seven essay
collections and more than a dozen books of poetry. Despite many of her
protaganists being men, she always considered herself a feminist, but
was always confident in questioning societal conditioning and how it
impacted the human perspective on gender and sexuality.
Le Guin used a 1986 speech to young women that
today sounds made for the #MeToo movement. She said, “In this barbaric
society, when women speak truly they speak subversively. They can’t help
it: if you’re underneath, if you’re kept down, you break out, you
subvert. We are volcanoes. When we women offer our experience as our
truth, as human truth, all the maps change. There are new mountains.
That’s what I want — to hear you erupting.”
In 2010 at the age of 81 she arrived in the digital age and started a blog
It included everything from moving reflections on her cat to wry
observations about coming to terms with her advancing age, " If I'm
ninety and believe I'm forty five, I'm headed for a very bad time trying
to get out of the bathtub."
Le Guin combined hostility to all oppression and war with extreme
scepticism towards collective action, tinged with both anarchism and
Taoism. Le Guin was closely aligned with anarchist politics. In the 1960s,
she was involved in activism, including opposition to the Vietnam War,
and began to identify with pacifism and anarchism. She immersed herself
in a broad range of writing, including work by Gandhi, Martin Luther
King and even Peter Kropotkin.
While her work often celebrates anarchism, Le Guin dodged labeling
herself as such in a 2016 interview, somewhat halfheartedly describing
herself as a "bourgeois housewife." Regardless of how she viewed her own
politics, she was certainly sympathetic toward anarchism as a set of
ideals and practices.
For her, freedom is a responsibility of the individual, not a
battle between classes. But if that makes her writings hardly a roadmap
to the revolution, as a reminder to look up to that horizon they are
irreplaceable.
Le Guin's appreciation for the natural world, her interest in
environmental issues, and her questioning of capitalist exploitation are
evident throughout her work. One can find in most of Le Guin’s fiction
and nonfiction hard-won wisdom about living a balanced life.
Published in 1975, "The New Atlantis" offers an early,
short-story-length warning about climate change. In a near future of
climatic and geological upheaval, a man on a bus announces to the
narrator, Belle, that a new continent is rising from the depths of the
sea. “Manhattan Island is now under 11 feet of water at low tide, and
there are oyster beds in Ghirardelli Square,” she confirms. The oceans
are rising due to polar melt, and Antarctica may soon be habitable,
because of greenhouse gases. Meanwhile, a polluted Portland, Oregon, has
no electric power in the wake of earthquakes.The story not only
presents a vision of environmental decline and authoritarian dystopia,
but it also offers a glimpse of utopia. Belle, Simon, and their
compatriots still have enough spirit to imagine a better day, when
humankind might exist in harmony with what rises up out of the
transformed ocean.
The breadth and imagination of her work earned her six Neebulas, seven Hugos and SFWA'S Grand Master, along with the PEN/Malamud and many other awards.
Author and Marxist China Mieville observed that Le Guin had a
"slow-burning fury at injustices" and" a very sharp and unremitting
diagnosis of things in the social world."
This slow burning fury was on display in 2014 when Le Guin was awarded
the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters by the
National Book Foundation.This is one of literature's most prestigious honors, recognizing
individuals who have made an exceptional impact on the United States'
literary heritage. http://www.nationalbook.org/amerletters_2014_uleguin.html#.Wmfeh6hl_IU
Her speech quickly went viral and was turned
into memes on social media:
“Books
aren’t just commodities,” she said in that speech. “The profit motive is
often in conflict with the aims of art. We live in capitalism, its
power seems inescapable—but then, so did the divine right of kings. Any
human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and
change often begin in art. Very often in our art, the art of words."
The National Book Award speech wasn't the first or last time Le Guin
used her voice and position to challenge those in power. She refused to
support sci-fi/fantasy anthologies that only published male authors.
After the 2016 election, she wrote about the despair and frustration
felt by so many in that moment. She defended Standing Rock protesters,
comparing that struggle to the civil rights struggle in Selma, Alabama.
As we braced ourselves for the beginning of the Trump presidency, Le
Guin wrote, "I know what I want. I want to live with courage, with
compassion, in patience, in peace." And she did.
The story that sums up her philosophy borrows a thought experiment
from Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Henry James. The Ones Who Walk Away From
Omelas imagines a society peaceful, happy, equal and free — except for
one child, condemned to perpetual torment as the price of Utopia.
For some, not even Utopia justifies that oppression. “They walk ahead
into the darkness, and they do not come back. The place they go towards
is a place even less imaginable to most of us than the city of
happiness. I cannot describe it at all. It is possible that it does not
exist. But they seem to know where they are going.”
Like the people at the end of this story the people who make the revolution will decide
that a better world is possible and set out to find it. Her legacy is clear, it's for us, as
writers and readers, to think deeply, work with love and discipline, and
to have the courage to believe in the transformative power of fiction,
and of imagining other realities, free of capitalism another world can be possible. She was simply brilliant: as a writer, as a thinker, and as a human being. She is greaty missed. Thank you Ursula K. Le Guin
How It Seems To Me - Ursula K. Le Guin
In the vast abyss before time, self
is not, and soul commingles
with mist, and rock, and light. In time,
soul brings the misty self to be.
Then slow time hardens self to stone
while ever lightening the soul,
till soul can loose its hold of self
and both are free and can return
to vastness and dissolve in light,
the long light after time.
Civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King is honored with a holiday in his memory today. Martin Luther King Day is commemorated on the third
Monday in January each year. This year’s official holiday is Monday,
Jan. 21, a week after King’s actual birthday on Jan. 15.
King
was born Jan. 15, 1929 in Atlanta. He rose to national prominence when
he led the boycott of the Montgomery’s transit system after Rosa Parks,
an African-American, was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a
city bus. King later helped form the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference and went on to lead protests throughout the South and, in
1963, was a central figure in the March on Washington. King was killed by an assassin on April 4, 1968 in Memphis.
MLK Day is a federal holiday, though it was not made official until 18 years after his assassination.
Efforts
to honor King with a federal holiday began just months after his April
4, 1968 death. Those efforts failed, as did a 1979 vote by Congress that
came after King's widow, Coretta Scott King, spoke out in favor of the
day. Momentum for the holiday grew in 1980 when entertainer Stevie
Wonder released "Happy Birthday" in King's honor, leading to a petition
calling for MLK Day and, in 1983, House passage of a holiday bill.
Though Martin Luther King Day is an American holiday, the man himself was thoroughly international. His political thoughts traverses all borders.Like so many strugglers in the long fight against racism, King appreciated that it was, at it's heart a global project.
Many years later despite some victory's and gains, the march for
equality is unfinished, and for some his dream is unrealised, take for instance the case of the Palestinians who are daily imprisoned.
We cannot let go of Dr King's dream, because, surely it is everybody's
dream, we must continuously try to change the world, remember those in
the U.S.A fighting for jobs and freedom, a land still lanquishing to
find itself, while perpetrating injustice, discrimination and
inequality. A country that imprisons more of their citizens than any
other country in the world. African Americans in particular, though they
are 12% of the population, make up 38% of the state prison population,
despite their crimes being no different from their white and hispanic
counterparts.
Sadly King's legacy is gravely dishonoured every day that Donald Trump sits in the Oval Office, but in the Trump era. However Dr King's words can still be be both sobering and inspring, his words are a
timeless representation of the struggles that disenfranchised people face..Lets continue to honor him and continue to live his legacy
through our actions. In the face of cruelty and injustice, speak out, and speak up, for surely history will
judge us all for our silence. we can still find the courage to stand up and say enough.
“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor … it must be demanded by the oppressed!” King determined. Reminding us that “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in the moments
of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at during times of
challenge and controversy,” He also warned us that “We must learn to live together as brothers, or we will perish together as fools,”
Here is an old poem of mine in his honour
Strength to Love
Martin Luther King had a dream
That still today stirs our conscience,
He rejected violence to oppose racial injustice
Spread a message of peace, love and understanding,
His only weapons were his words and faith
As he marched in protest with his fellow man,
A force for good, but radical with intention
Pursued civil disobedience was not afraid
of confrontation,
We are all born equal under skin
This noble struggle never stops within,
The causes of poverty must still be eradicated
There is so much more room for change,
As fresh iniquities call, lets keep hope alive
Standing firm let our voices ring out,
Keep sharing deeds of deep principle
In the name of pride and in the name of love,
We are all still citizens of the world
As Martin Luther carries on reminding,
“Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever.
The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself.”
We must continue to resist and overcome,
One day soon, all our dreams will be realised.
