As we clap to celebrate 72nd anniversary of the NHS lets not forget those that seek to dismantle it.

Nye Bevans legacy came into the world 72 years ago this morning, when he opened Park Hospital in Manchester at a time of rationing and shortages, when we were nearly bankrupt, a jewel  that the war generation left us with, a proud legacy, for us to all to continue to share.For the first-time doctors, nurses, opticians, dentists and pharmacists all worked under one organisation, free at the point of use. A healthcare service which is available to everyone for free is what separates us from the US. It offered for the first time a free healthcare system for all, and has since  played a vital role in caring for all aspects of our nations health. It has been the envy of the world ever since. My own father served it well for nigh on 40 years. Remember we paid for it, so it is owned by us, it is our precious commodity, it must survive, we must tear the vultures hands from it.
It wouldn’t be possible to run a 7-day NHS, caring for millions of people day-in-day-out without the hard work and dedication of its staff. Despite all the adversity that’s thrown at them: poor pay, bursary cuts, hospital parking fines and staff shortages to name a few; they continue to become stronger and relentlessly deliver fantastic healthcare to the nation. Recent events  have  highlighted the strength, professionalism , dedication and bravery of our healthcare staff. It is truly inspiring to see how amazing the staff handled the recent pandemic and it was a testament to every healthcare worker  throughout the UK. They are a credit to our nation and we couldn’t be more proud. The NHS is a shining example of how a caring society can create   good and safe care based on social solidarity. making such a great contribution towards social and health equality.Over the last few months the NHS has stepped up in ways never seen before, to work out how to deliver services differently following lockdown, recruit tens of thousands more staff, returners and volunteers and even build hospitals to respond to the Covid-19 global pandemic.

Consequently every week of the pandemic, we have seen our communities showing their love and appreciation for the NHS and carers by turning out week after week to clap for the NHS during the difficult weeks of lockdown, the NHS 72^nd anniversary therefore is the ideal opportunity to say thank again.
Everybody across the country is being encouraged to come together on the birthday of the NHS, Sunday July 5, to thank not only NHS staff but all key workers, good neighbours and all those helping others through the coronavirus pandemic.
The NHS has been working with the newly founded /Together coalition to build a national moment to thank everyone who has helped them – and one that aims to reinforce the social connections we will need to get through the next stage of the crisis.
In a joint letter published (Wednesday June 10) dozens of individuals and groups have voiced their support for making Sunday July 5 a day to bring people together to connect with neighbours and their  communities, to say thank you to all those who are helping us through the Covid-19 crisis. It is hoped that the applause, which is planned for 5pm, will become an annual tradition.

NHS chief executive Sir Simon Stevens said he hopes the public will use the anniversary as an opportunity to “say a heartfelt thank you” to hospital staff.
Sir Simon said “This year has been the most challenging in NHS history, with staff displaying extraordinary dedication, skill and compassion to care for the 100,000 patients with Covid-19 who needed specialist hospital treatment and many others besides.
“During this testing time our nurses, doctors, physios, pharmacists and countless more colleagues were sustained by the support of the public, not least through the weekly applause for key workers.
“No health service, not even the NHS, could have coped alone with this coronavirus pandemic.”
Chief executive for NHS Wales Dr Andrew Goodall said Clap for Carers was “very much embraced” in Wales, and he is “delighted” to support it.

As we say thank you, it is important that the human toll of Covid-19 is not forgotten or lost. Therefore, the anniversary is also an opportunity to remember and reflect on their lives of those we have lost to this devastating virus; a chance for the nation to come together and pay our respects.

Immediately after the clapping, people will be encouraged to stay outside to show their thanks/appreciation to their neighbours or get in touch with someone who is lonely, isolated or shielding, to let them know they are supported..
Despite all this the Tory's still seek to dismantle it,  keen to exploit the renewed crisis to break up the NHS to their ‘friends’ and ‘cronies’ in the private sector, Privatisation, outsourcing and fragmentation of the NHS have all  contributed to the deadly PPE scandal and the inability to adequately respond to the pandemic. Two weeks ago, the government tried to prematurely terminate the contracts of student nurses who opted to work for NHS for six months and provide assistance during the pandemic. It was only after a massive public outcry, and a petition of more than 182,000 people, that the government agreed to honour the contracts. They were forced into a similar U-turn over waiving Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) for NHS workers from overseas, but reports show that non-EU workers are still being forced to pay.
In a speech on Tuesday promising a “New Deal,” Johnson pledged just £1.5 billion for hospital maintenance and construction—less than one quarter of the £6.5 billion maintenance backlog faced by UK hospitals. Now the NHS is to be plunged into a worse catastrophe than ever before by Johnson’s premature ending of the lockdown and drive to reopen the economy.The opening of factories, schools, and beaches, has already led to a surge in infections in towns and cities throughout the UK, including London, that has already necessitated a local lockdown in Leicester.A second phase of the pandemic will have devastating consequences,
 We should not forget Nye Bevan's words who said ' It will last as long as their are folk with enough faith to fight for it. We  cannot reach the day again where people make a profit out of our sickness. On its birthday we should also join the call for the government to build on the huge public support shown for the NHS during the pandemic by giving health workers across the UK an early substantial pay rise  for their continuing commitment. especially during the coronavirus crisis in 2020, which has seen NHS and Social Care workers  called upon to work on the frontline to keep us safe. They have often had to work without proper resources and PPE, within an already failing system. Many have been forced to sacrifice their lives. In the UK we have now reached the frightening number of excess deaths linked to coronavirus of 64,000 (up to 28 May 2020), the second-highest death toll in the world.
The NHS deserves better, we all deserve better. For those who love the NHS we have to stand up and be counted and keep demanding a.fully funded NHS that meets the needs of all. If we fail to do this all our clapping will just be a hollow gesture, we can't applaud away NHS cuts, we owe it our lives. And if the Tory government cared about the NHS, they wouldn't have run it down for tens years, and  the horrible sight of Boris Johnson clapping outside No10 was like seeing a man applauding the dog he has been kicking to death.The NHS is supposed to meet the needs of everyone, free at the point of use, if Johnson's government really wanted to celebrate its birthday they would end the pivatisation  that is killing this ethos. Happy 72nd birthday NHS our national treasure, thanks to everyone who devotes their livelihood to keeping us safe and healthy, we will keep fighting for you.

‘What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?’ by Frederick Douglass

July 4 is a federal holiday in the US, observed to celebrate the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and freedom from British rule. For this reason, July 4 is also commonly known as Independence Day. The Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776, and has become an important date in the calendar for patriotic Americans who honour the birth, and  history and values of the United States.

Dear people of USA as you celebrate 'your' 4th July, 'independence' and supposed liberties and freedom. Please do not forget that the USA was built on genocide, theft of land, deceit, slavery and white supremacy.These are undeniable truths for anyone who accurately knows its history.Your 4th of  July is a hypocricy not only to yourselves but to millions around the world.Your government supports and aids the ongoing genocide of Palestinians.

The USA still occupies and takes away the freedoms and Independence of many countries whilst killing their people in the name of 'fake wars', and continues to be  complicit in ongoing atrocities across the world, whilst  incarcenating innocent people in your torture camp, Guantanamo Bay - the list goes on.
Whilst some of you celebrate this mockery please also remember the following quote.

' Native Americans perhaps have least to to celebrate after centuries of extermination, persecution, denial, and isolation in poverty on reservations.' - S Lendmen

As a result their cultures are willfully denigrated. Their legacy includes betrayal, treaties made and broken, lands stolen . rights denied, and themselves criminally ignored to this day. For them, justice delayed was never gotten, giving them no reason to celebrate, nor America's growing impoverished millions on their own and out of luck in an increasingly uncaring society, focused solely on serving privilege, not on popular needs.
So many others are also denied, persecuted, vilified and gravely harmed in today's America, from Latino immigrants to Muslims, because of their faith and ethnicity it gives Washington convenient enemies to incite fear to wage wars for power, profit, and plunder at a time America's only enemies are manufactured, not real.

                                                   Frederick Douglas

 Frederick Douglas  (1817-1895) was one of the best known and most influential African American leaders of the 1800s. He was born a slave in Maryland but managed to escape to the North in 1838.
He traveled to Massachusetts and settled in New Bedford, working as a laborer to support himself. In 1841, he attended a convention of the Massachusetts Antislavery Society and quickly came to the attention of its members, eventually becoming a leading figure in the New England antislavery movement.
In 1845, Douglass published his autobiography, "The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: an American Slave." With the revelation that he was an escaped slave, Douglass became fearful of possible re-enslavement and fled to Great Britain and stayed there for two years, giving lectures in support of the antislavery movement in America. With the assistance of English Quakers, Douglass raised enough money to buy his own his freedom and in 1847 he returned to America as a free man.
He settled in Rochester, New York, where he published The North Star, an abolitionist newspaper. He directed the local underground railroad which smuggled escaped
On July, 5, 1852,  the leading citizens of Rochester asked Douglass to give a speech as part of their Fourth of July celebrations. Douglass accepted their invitation.
In his speech, however, Douglass delivered a scathing attack on the hypocrisy of a nation celebrating freedom and independence with speeches, parades and platitudes, while, within its borders, nearly four million humans were being kept as slaves. With biting oratory, in what became known as 'What to the Slave is 4th of July' speech he told his audience,  

"Fellow citizens, pardon me, and allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here today? What have I or those I represent to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? And am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits, and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?
Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions. Then would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful. For who is there so cold that a nation's sympathy could not warm him? Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? Who so stolid and selfish that would not give his voice to swell the hallelujahs of a nation's jubilee, when the chains of servitude had been torn from his limbs? I am not that man. In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak, and the "lame man leap as an hart."
But such is not the state of the case. I say it with a sad sense of disparity between us. I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you this day rejoice are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence bequeathed by your fathers is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak today? If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. And let me warn you, that it is dangerous to copy the example of a nation (Babylon) whose crimes, towering up to heaven, were thrown down by the breath of the Almighty, burying that nation in irrecoverable ruin.
Fellow citizens, above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions, whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are today rendered more intolerable by the jubilant shouts that reach them. If I do forget, if I do not remember those bleeding children of sorrow this day, "may my right hand forget her cunning, and may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth!"
To forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs and to chime in with the popular theme would be treason most scandalous and shocking, and would make me a reproach before God and the world.
My subject, then, fellow citizens, is "American Slavery." I shall see this day and its popular characteristics from the slave's point of view. Standing here, identified with the American bondman, making his wrongs mine, I do not hesitate to declare, with all my soul, that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this Fourth of July.
Whether we turn to the declarations of the past, or to the professions of the present, the conduct of the nation seems equally hideous and revolting. America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future. Standing with God and the crushed and bleeding slave on this occasion, I will, in the name of humanity, which is outraged, in the name of liberty, which is fettered, in the name of the Constitution and the Bible, which are disregarded and trampled upon, dare to call in question and to denounce, with all the emphasis I can command, everything that serves to perpetuate slavery -- the great sin and shame of America! "I will not equivocate - I will not excuse." I will use the severest language I can command, and yet not one word shall escape me that any man, whose judgment is not blinded by prejudice, or who is not at heart a slave-holder, shall not confess to be right and just.
But I fancy I hear some of my audience say it is just in this circumstance that you and your brother Abolitionists fail to make a favorable impression on the public mind. Would you argue more and denounce less, would you persuade more and rebuke less, your cause would be much more likely to succeed. But, I submit, where all is plain there is nothing to be argued. What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? On what branch of the subject do the people of this country need light? Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man? That point is conceded already. Nobody doubts it. The slave-holders themselves acknowledge it in the enactment of laws for their government. They acknowledge it when they punish disobedience on the part of the slave. There are seventy-two crimes in the State of Virginia, which, if committed by a black man (no matter how ignorant he be), subject him to the punishment of death; while only two of these same crimes will subject a white man to like punishment.
What is this but the acknowledgment that the slave is a moral, intellectual, and responsible being? The manhood of the slave is conceded. It is admitted in the fact that Southern statute books are covered with enactments, forbidding, under severe fines and penalties, the teaching of the slave to read and write. When you can point to any such laws in reference to the beasts of the field, then I may consent to argue the manhood of the slave. When the dogs in your streets, when the fowls of the air, when the cattle on your hills, when the fish of the sea, and the reptiles that crawl, shall be unable to distinguish the slave from a brute, then I will argue with you that the slave is a man!
For the present it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. Is it not astonishing that, while we are plowing, planting, and reaping, using all kinds of mechanical tools, erecting houses, constructing bridges, building ships, working in metals of brass, iron, copper, silver, and gold; that while we are reading, writing, and ciphering, acting as clerks, merchants, and secretaries, having among us lawyers, doctors, ministers, poets, authors, editors, orators, and teachers; that we are engaged in all the enterprises common to other men -- digging gold in California, capturing the whale in the Pacific, feeding sheep and cattle on the hillside, living, moving, acting, thinking, planning, living in families as husbands, wives, and children, and above all, confessing and worshipping the Christian God, and looking hopefully for life and immortality beyond the grave -- we are called upon to prove that we are men?
Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty? That he is the rightful owner of his own body? You have already declared it. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? Is that a question for republicans? Is it to be settled by the rules of logic and argumentation, as a matter beset with great difficulty, involving a doubtful application of the principle of justice, hard to understand? How should I look today in the presence of Americans, dividing and subdividing a discourse, to show that men have a natural right to freedom, speaking of it relatively and positively, negatively and affirmatively? To do so would be to make myself ridiculous, and to offer an insult to your understanding. There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven who does not know that slavery is wrong for him.
What! Am I to argue that it is wrong to make men brutes, to rob them of their liberty, to work them without wages, to keep them ignorant of their relations to their fellow men, to beat them with sticks, to flay their flesh with the lash, to load their limbs with irons, to hunt them with dogs, to sell them at auction, to sunder their families, to knock out their teeth, to burn their flesh, to starve them into obedience and submission to their masters? Must I argue that a system thus marked with blood and stained with pollution is wrong? No - I will not. I have better employment for my time and strength than such arguments would imply.
What, then, remains to be argued? Is it that slavery is not divine; that God did not establish it; that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? There is blasphemy in the thought. That which is inhuman cannot be divine. Who can reason on such a proposition? They that can, may - I cannot. The time for such argument is past.
At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. Oh! had I the ability, and could I reach the nation's ear, I would today pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be denounced.
What to the American slave is your Fourth of July? I answer, a day that reveals to him more than all other days of the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mock; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are to him mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy - a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation of the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of these United States at this very hour.
Go search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the Old World, travel through South America, search out every abuse and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival."

Frederick Douglass - July 5, 1852

 He delivered “The Slaveholders’ Rebellion” a decade later, on July 4, 1862, during the Civil War. Douglass denounced the ways supporters of enslavement twisted the Declaration of Independence to support their beliefs. He noted the deadly impact on not just the primary targets—the enslaved—but other marginalized people as well:

"Instead of treating it, as it was intended to be treated, as a full and comprehensive declaration of the equal and sacred rights of mankind, our contemptible Negro-hating and slaveholding critics have endeavored to turn it into absurdity by treating it as a declaration of the equality of man in his physical proportions and mental endowments. This gross and scandalous perversion of the true intents of meaning of the declaration did not long stand alone. It was soon followed by the heartless dogma, that the rights declared in that instrument did not apply to any but White men. The slave power at last succeeded, in getting this doctrine proclaimed from the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States. It was there decided that “all men” only means some men, and those White men. And all this in face of the fact, that White people only form one fifth of the whole human family—and that some who pass for White are nearly as Black as your humble speaker. While all this was going on, lawyers, priests and politicians were at work upon national prejudice against the colored man. They raised the cry and put it into the mouth of the ignorant, and vulgar and narrow minded, that “this is the White man’s country,” and other cries which readily catch the ear of the crowd. This popular method of dealing with an oppressed people has, while crushing the Blacks, corrupted and demoralized the Whites…. Slavery, that was before the Missouri Compromise couchant, on its knees, asking meekly to be let alone within its own limits to die, became in a few years after rampant, throttling free speech, fighting friendly Indians, annexing Texas, warring with Mexico, kindling with malicious hand the fires of war and bloodshed on the virgin soil of Kansas, and finally threatening to pull down the pillars of the Republic, if you Northern men should dare vote in accordance with your constitutional and political convictions. "
On this day lets reflect on the lives of people who built this land of the free, while still fighting for their own freedom, let it be an opportunity to reflect on the complicated origins of this country. This is the date on which a very imperfect people commenced the journey to form a more perfect union based on the truth that all human beings are created equal. However, from the moment Europeans set foot on this hemisphere, the ideal of freedom for all has not materialized. The historical reality is that people of color have had their freedoms eroded in a litany of ways including slavery, Jim Crow laws, lynching, segregation, evictions, and mass incarceration.

For many, the Fourth of July remains a hollow statement, a shallow symbol of a freedom that is only a mirage for many. It remains a festivity with no substance, a celebration with no soul.Nonetheless, the ideal remains. Hope can be found in the Black Lives Matter Movement that progress toward the ideal is possible. The Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of George Floyd's death finally gave millions of Americans renewed language to discuss the messy reality of a nation that remains in the grips of structural racism, white supremacy and a racial caste system that continues to ensure that Black babies, from birth to death, lead a life  of greater risk and less prosperity than White ones.

It is our duty to support our Black siblings in demanding an end to racist state violence, police brutality, and mass incarceration. We vigorously recommit ourselves to working in solidarity with Black racial justice movements to dismantle white supremacy and create a world where Black Lives Matter.

Danny Glover reads Frederick Douglas's  Fourth of July Speech

What to the Slave is the Fourth of July ? Descendants read Frederick Douglass' Speech

( Thanks to Jo)

Herman Hesse (2/7/1877 - 9/8/62) - The Poet

Hermann Hesse,German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. best-known works include Steppenwolf, Siddhartha, and The Glass Bead Game (also known as Magister Ludi), each of which explores an individual's search for authenticity, self knowledge and spirituality,  was born on 2 July 1877 in the Black Forest town of Calw in Württemberg, Germany

Both of Hesse's parents served in India at a mission under the auspices of the Basel Mission, a Protestant Christian missionary society.In 1891, his parents sent him to a Protestant monastery near Maulbronn, but he was unable to bear the Christian education and fled just a few months later. Hesse knew exactly what he wanted to become - "a poet or nothing at all."

 His journey to writing was in itself an odyssey. After trying out many different schools, he became so depressed at the age of 15 that he tried to take his own life. He finally ended up working in a workshop, then for a clock tower maker and in bookstores. His search for identity and the difficult process of discovering oneself were topics that Hesse addressed in his later novels. His stories were scattered with references to his own experiences, analyses of himself, and poetic avowals. Forever questioning he searched for a religious doctrine that  that was not militant or missionary, but open to other lifestyles.
After fleeing his home country of Germany and settling in Italian-speaking Switzerland he supported German refugees, including Thomas Mann and Bertolt Brecht, as they fled the Nazi regime. It was during the war that he wrote his last great work, "The Glass Bead Game," which won him the 1946 Nobel Prize for Literature..
He developed a moral distaste for the Western industrial capitalist civilisation which allowed, and indeed encouraged, abominations such as wars .He made the connection explicit when he declared the wretched state of the world was down to “two mental disorders: the megalomania of technology and the megalomania of nationalism”, adding that resistance to these two phenomena was today “the most important test and justification of the human spirit” He wrote to one reader: “I don’t believe in our politics, our way of thinking, believing, amusing ourselves; I don’t share a single one of the ideals of our age”.His work is infused with a sense of deep alienation from contemporary society and of yearning for another existence. He wrote to one reader: “I don’t believe in our politics, our way of thinking, believing, amusing ourselves; I don’t share a single one of the ideals of our age
In December 1961, Hermann Hesse fell ill with a flu from which he had difficulty recovering. He had been suffering from leukaemia for some time without knowing it; at the Bellinzona hospital he was treated with blood transfusions. Hesse died of a stroke in his sleep on the night of August 9, 1962, at at his home in Swiss Montagnola aged 85. His words continuing to inspire.humanity across the world.

Herman Hesse - The Poet

Only on me, the lonely one,
The unending stars of the night shine,
The stone fountain whispers its magic song,
To me alone, to me the lonely one
The colorful shadows of the wandering clouds
Move like dreams over the open countryside.
Neither house nor farmland,
Neither forest nor hunting privilege is given to me,
What is mine belongs to no one,
The plunging brook behind the veil of the woods,
The frightening sea,
The bird whir of children at play,
The weeping and singing, lonely in the evening, of a man secretly in love.
The temples of the gods are mine also, and mine
the aristocratic groves of the past.
And no less, the luminous
Vault of heaven in the future is my home:
Often in full flight of longing my soul storms upward,
To gaze on the future of blessed men,
Love, overcoming the law, love from people to people.
I find them all again, nobly transformed:
Farmer, king, tradesman, busy sailors,
Shepherd and gardener, all of them
Gratefully celebrate the festival of the future world.
Only the poet is missing,
The lonely one who looks on,
The bearer of human longing, the pale image
Of whom the future, the fulfillment of the world
Has no further need. Many garlands
Wilt on his grave,
But no one remembers him.

The World's Police - Leon Rosselson

Leon Rosselson is one of England's most respected songwriters who played a real part in the post-war revival of folk music in the UK. Best known for his politically-edged tune, "The World Turned Upside Down," that tells the story of the historic Digger Commune movement of 1649 in England. Dedicated to the ideal of a classless society, the Diggers settled on privatized land and held it in “the common good,” believing that all should share freely in the gifts of the earth.about the 17th century.
https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2019/09/gerrard-winstanley-19101609-10091676.html
Rosselson continues to reflect the state of modern Britain through his songs that are full of power, passion, anger and hard questions yet catchy and sometime laugh out loud funny. The Guardian called his tunes "fierce, funny, cynical, outraged, blasphemous, challenging and anarchic," Folk Roots described Rosselson as "a sharp observer, a wonderful wordsmith, a composer of originality and depth, but most of all, a superb integrator of words and music." Launching his career in the early '60s, as a member of folk revivalist group the Galliards, Rosselson attracted international attention when several of his songs were featured on the satirical television show, That Was the Week That Was. A major break in Rosselson's bid for success came when Billy Bragg's version of "The World Turned Upside Down" reached the British Top Ten in 1985. Two years later, Rosselson had a minor hit with his independantly-released single, "Ballad of a Spycatcher," recorded with accompaniment by Bragg and the Oyster Band.
He has performed in every conceivable venue around the country, from pub rooms in Wigan and Warrington to the Albert Hall and Festival Hall in London, and has toured the United States, Canada, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland and Australia. He has written songs for community theatre and children’s street theatre, songs for a stage production of They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? and a scripted shows about the nuclear threat called ‘No Cause for Alarm’. He has released twelve CDs of his songs and published two songbooks, Bringing the News from Nowhere and Turning Silence into Song. He has also had seventeen children’s books published; the first one, Rosa’s Singing Grandfather, published by Puffin, was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal in 1991. A stage show based on his children’s story The Greatest Drummer in the World was premiered at the Drill Hall in London in 2002 and subsequently went on a nationwide tour of theatres and schools.
From his 1979 LP If I knew who the enemy was, The World's Police has a wide interpretation, being on surface level about the forces of law and order, but in fact developing to show the use of authority as not merely oppressive but apocalyptic. By extension, the same authoritarian forces lead from boots to non-lethal weapons, to machine guns, bombs and ultimately nuclear holocaust.

The song seems to have reached its coda when the verses drop out, and in one of the most unexpected developments of any Leon song, the post-apocalypse world is almost celebrated as one of perfect calm and peace. But Leon spins it around again; he's looking from the perspective of the authorities where peace is synonymous with order, and the theme of the song is launched anew. As with a lot of his songs, it has a timeless quality that still resonates with the times we live today.
The World's Police" features Leon alongside Roy Bailey https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2018/11/roy-bailey-radical-socialist-folk.html backed by Firoz Shapur on brass and piano, guest guitarist (and LP producer) Martin Carthy unhappily sitting out the session.

"There were arguments, I seem to remember, when we recorded this cheerful little number for If I Knew Who the Enemy Was. Martin Carthy thought that I'd over-arranged it. But there's no arguing over Fiz Shapur's fine octave leap on the French horn shortly before the end of the world."  -  LR (sleevenotes to Guess What They're Selling at the Happiness Counter, 1992)

“Musically, and in content and form, this is about as remote from the folk idiom as it’s possible to be. I’m not sure how I arrived at a melody which required a chord sequence of Edim/Fm/Cm/C sharp minor/G sharp/E. Not, for sure, from strumming the guitar. Could I then have made my first acquaintance with the Brecht-Eisler songs? This wasn’t, in my mind, a song just about the militarisation of society and the suppression of popular uprisings. It was intended to be broader than that – to depict a society based on an ideology of control, order, obedience, repression, domination of nature, deterrence, leading ultimately to the death of the planet.”  -  LR (sleevenotes to The World Turned Upside Down (CD box set), p27-28)

Source:- https://lrsc.weebly.com/  

Why leon Rosselson, is not a “household name” has long baffled me, not only has Leon been writing and singing for more than half a century, but he has remained faithful to a certain concept of political, social and economic justice. For those who share that faith, he will always be a household name

Visit his website at www.leonrosselson.co.uk

And here is a link to a recent  article written by him on the current Labour Party debacle :-

Beyond a Joke - Leon Rosselson


https://medium.com/@rosselson/beyond-a-joke-9296840293a2?source=social.fb 

http://www.leonrosselson.co.uk/
 

Oppose Israeli Government’s Annexation Threat in the Occupied West Bank

Demonstrators take part in a rally to  protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the West Bank, Jericho, June 22, 2020

Despite widespread condemnation from Palestinians, US-Arab allies and numerous foreign governments. Israel is expected on July 1 to annex  huge swathes of Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank  under a plan agreed by Netanyahu and his rival turned ally Benny Gantz, the head of  the Blue and White party.
The plan comes as part of US President Donald Trump’s so-called “Deal of the Century” which was announced on Jan. 28. It refers to Jerusalem as “Israel’s undivided capital” and recognizes Israeli sovereignty over large parts of the West Bank, and calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state in the form of an archipelago connected by bridges and tunnels. Palestinian officials say that under the US plan, Israel will annex 30%-40% of the West Bank, including all of East Jerusalem.occupied territory.
These dangerous proposals, represent a serious attack on decades of international law and successive United Nations resolutions, and further undermine the rights of the Palestinian people and the prospects of peace in the Middle East.The plan will force Palestinians to live in isolated enclaves surrounded by Israeli military checkpoints, walls and segregated Jewish settlements built  on Palestinian land, and will have a devastating impact on the lives of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children, women and men, whose voices were not even consulted. The Israeli government has already made it clear that Palestinians in the West Bank who will be annexed to Israel will not receive citizenship nor residence rights, and the most likely outcomes will  see further unequal distribution of land and water resources on behalf of illegal Israeli settlements, more state violence, and fragmented Palestinian enclaves under complete Israeli control
As the world is focused on the response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Israeli government is rushing to implement these plans ahead of the US presidential elections in November.
Even a smaller scale annexation would mark an immense blow against the democratic and national ambitions of millions of Palestinians, and particularly against the idea of a Palestinian state existing alongside Israel, and thus would mark a significant turning point in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This threat has already drawn protests and sharp opposition on both sides of the national divide and internationally. This includes thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank and thousands of Jews and Palestinians in Israel who have protested against the plan.
The demands of the Palestinian people for an end to occupation and the system of segregation, an end to discrimination and the right to full equality, and the exercising of self-determination through the establishment of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders remain unchanged. These legitimate demands will not be diminished by unilateral moves taken by Israel in violation of international law, and we must reiterates our solidarity with the Palestinian non-violent opposition whose freedom, dignity and human rights are threatened by this current proposal and Israel's previous actions. Since 1967, tens of thousands of Palestinian properties have been demolished and whole communities forcibly displaced to make way for illegal settlements. Natural resources have been diverted and appropriated to settlements which flourish while Palestinians communities face systematic and institutionalised human rights violations, and lets not forget that under every shade of Israeli rule, Palestinians have only ever been exiled refugees,  occupied subjects, or second-class citizens. There is nothing that another bill can tell us that decades of laws and policies haven’t already. And there is no need to wait for Israelis to admit their regime is apartheid to prove that Palestinians were right all along.
Israel's plan to annex any area of the West Bank including the Jordan Valley must be condemned.We must recognise East Jerusalem and the Syrian Golan Heights as illegally annexed under international law and continue to condemn Israel's 53-year occupation of the West Bank and its 13-year blockade of Gaza. Adding our voice to the growing denunciation of Israel's flagrant disregard of international law, the Geneva Convention and resolutions agreed upon by the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council. Standing  with those countries, civil society and human rights organizations, and people of conscience who call for Israel to immediately end their plans for annexation.
Annexation, will formalise Israel's strategic and persistent efforts to create "facts on the ground" and will be the death knell for a viable Palestinian state. For decades, a two-state solution which acknowledges the rights and security of both Palestinians and Israelis as equal neighbours has been upheld by the United Nations and the international community. If Israel continues with its plans, as articulated, realisation of a two-state solution will be rendered impossible. This will cause irreversible damage to the fulfillment of the inalienable right of Palestinians to self-determination, as guaranteed in Article 1 of the Charter of the United Nations, and will hinder efforts for them to create a flourishing Palestinian state.
Disturbing historical parallels have also been drawn between Palestinians and the Bantu people of South Africa. Ten territories were designated as quasi-autonomous states for the black African population during the mid to late 20th century and kept under control of the white supremacist state.  The “Steal of the Century” is intended to bring about a similar fate for Palestinians.
With the looming threat of annexation, there’s been a general escalation in attacks by Israeli state forces and by colonial settlers on Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The killing of Eyad al-Hallaq, a 32-year-old Palestinian with autism, on May 30 in occupied East Jerusalem by Israeli “Border Police” soldiers was a graphic example of the brutality of the Israeli occupation in a territory which was already officially annexed to Israel immediately after the 1967 war of occupation.
The small but important protests following that killing involved Palestinians and Israelis and drew inspiration from the BLM rebellion in the US, with some using the slogan “Palestinian Lives Matter”. Israeli Jewish activists of Ethiopian origin drew a comparison between the case and the racist police brutality endured by Israeli Ethiopians, which sparked a series of stormy protests, most recently in July 2019. In response to the killing of al-Hallaq, the Israeli establishment, including Netanyahu, shed some crocodile tears, realizing the potential for a stronger backlash.
Yet, despite Netanyahu’s concern with a potential investigation in The Hague, it is clear that any annexation move will trigger a sharp backlash against the Israeli occupation and the Israeli regime in general over the next period. The plan is quite simply a further attempt to legitimize the illegitimate: Israel’s existing policies of forcible expulsion of the indigenous Palestinian population, home demolitions and evictions, and already unprecedented levels of state-sanctioned settler violence against Palestinians. Annexation means Israel’s illegal, immoral, and racist 19th Century campaign of colonization, genocide, ethnic cleansing, and apartheid become officially formalized – in violation of all international law.  
Virtually everyone opposes this, but the question is whether anyone will do anything about it. Europe and others have the power to make Israel think twice, but they need to hear a massive demand for action from citizens first. Let's give it to them! .
Demand action for Palestine now, plase sign the following petitions:-
,
https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/no_more_palestine_61/

https://www.change.org/p/israeli-ambassador-to-oslo-stop-israeli-west-bank-annexation-sign-the-petition?source_location=topic_page

Quick Facts : Israel Annexation of Occupied Land & International Law

https://imeu.org/article/quick-facts-israeli-annexation-of-occupied-land-international-law

Ocean of Tears

Lulling us into false contentment the light jades
Across an undulating mirror lightning plays,
Eternally in motion lit by silver blades
Turbulent foam flecked over restless waves,
Gathering souls in an endless quest
To clasp the bravest in it's watery breast,
Ever governed by the moon
Its tidal swell catching those too soon,
Young, strong, weak and old
Pulled relentlessly into the cold,
Trapped forever in perpetual gloom
Dragging the helpless to their doom,
Hearts and souls set forever free
Drowning among salty hold.
Unfathomed are the waters deep and blue
The ocean creating such hullabaloo;
Seeking amusement in lunar slavery
So eager to catch the sleepy unwary.

National Windrush Day

Today marks National Windrush Day, the 72nd anniversary of the SS Empire Windrush arriving at Tilbury Docks in Essex carrying the first Caribbean migrants. It marked a seminal moment in Britain’s history and has come to stand for the rich diversity of this nation.
Many of those who left sunnier climes were ex-servicemen who fought with the UK in the Second World War and had answered the British Government's call to help rebuild post war damaged Britain  Their hard work and skills would help bolster the economy, fill labour shortages and help establish our National Health Service.Their descendants have continued to enrich social, economic, political and religious life. It is estimated that around 500,000 people living in the UK are part of the Windrush Generation, who arrived between 1948 and 1971.
Windrush Day was established as a celebration to honour the enormous contribution those who made that journey, and others who followed from elsewhere - have made to Britain. Many encountered overt racism, discrimination, and rejection. The climate of Britain was not ready to embrace anyone who was different. "The Other" This was the era of "Sorry no coloured, No Irish, or dogs" The harrowing stories of being spat at, excluded from the mainstream, not accepted, not wanted, laughed at physically and emotionally abused. The stories told are horrific.Yet,  despite all this they persevered. Many were granted the right to settle in the UK by the British Nationality Act 1948. Those legal rights meant that those migrated neither needed, nor were given documents upon entry to the UK.
The annual event was established in 2018 in the wake the Windrush scandal when many of those invited to Britain suddenly found themselves on the wrong side of immigration laws that, unbeknown to them, had changed around them.
We should not forget the infamous words uttered by Theresa May, who as home secretary in 2012 said  “The aim is to create, here in Britain, a really hostile environment for illegal immigrants.”
Under  racist immigration  polices introduced by Theresa May then and in  2014, many of the children of the Windrush migrants found themselves hounded by the government. Further changes to already racist immigration laws in 2012 and 2014 meant migrants could be forced to prove they have the right to be here.
This "hostile" immigration policy devised by Theresa May during her time as Home Secretary has been  regarded as "almost like Nazi Germany" by some ministers.

Although many people had lived and worked in Britain for most of their lives, law changes required them to have official documents to have access to healthcare.

Some people who had lost their official documents or were unable to provide them were sent to immigration detention centres. At least 83 people were wrongfully deported.

The scandal led to the resignation of then-Home Secretary Amber Rudd, and prompted a wider debate about British immigration and deportation policy.The Government  was forced to apologise and give compensation to those whose lives were affected. Despite the scheme being launched two years ago, only 5% of the many people who have submitted claims have been paid compensation.
This country owes a huge debt to the Windrush generation. The injustices that the Windrush generation and their families have faced have not gone away, as they struggle to secure their status and access the compensation they deserve. The Home Office must stop furthering the pain of victims of the Windrush scandal. If the Government were sincere in their apology, it’s time for the hostile environment to come to an end and they compensate victims fairly.Please sign the following petitions

:-  https://www.change.org/p/uk-govt-fix-the-windrush-compensation-scheme-now/psf/promote_or_share

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/windrush-never-again

https://act.globaljustice.org.uk/home-office-stop-hostile-environment-all-immigrants?utm_medium=email&utm_source=mailchimp_2006WIN&utm_campaign=Migration_campaign# 

No matter who you are or where you are, there are lots of ways to mark Windrush Day, even in lockdown, by watching, reading and educating yourself through informative and accessible events taking place online. Many places  began  their days of celebration with the ‘Windrush song’ – ‘London is the Place for Me’ by Lord Kitchener – at 10.27am – in reference to 1,027 passengers aboard the Windrush when it docked at Tilbury.

This year, the NHS in particular is leading the charge in Windrush celebration, marking the contribution of staff from more than 200 nationalities who have played a critical part in the shaping of the health service, and remain a crucial part of its workforce today.
Here's  some other ways you can get involved this year:
The Black Cultural Archives will be celebrating the heroes of the Windrush Generation with live poetry.Between 7pm and 8pm, they will be live on their Instagram page in partnership with youth charity Poetic Unity.
Residents living in Lambeth, London, are being invited to sing Desmond Dekker's song ‘You Can Get It If You Really Want’ on their door steps on June 22 as a socially distanced way to mark the day with others.
A Windrush art and activity pack is also available for locals, and has been created by a Brixton-based artist, Carolyne Hill.
Even if you don't live in the area, you can always sing the song in your home as a sign of support.

There is also an online screening of the documentary “Daughter of the Windrush” from Blackburne house, working with the Museum of Liverpool – which examines stories told by daughters and granddaughters of Liverpool’s Windrush Generation.
 Another Black Cultural Archives (BCA) collaboration, ‘Fresh Off the Boat’ is a series of eight radio plays produced by Decolonising the Archives that explore Windrush legacies by drawing from the BCA collections. The plays will be released over eight days from Monday June 22. Find out more here. 
The poetry Society will also be sharing poems by poets throughout the day. https://twitter.com/poetrysociety
And events will also being taking place across Wales to honour the Windrush generation and their contribution to Welsh life https://gov.wales/windrush-generation-honoured-through-welsh-celebrations
Lets show our gratitude and respect to the people of Windrush, who did nothing wrong and  did not deserve the treatment experienced. Their legacy lives on.

World Refugee Day 2020

Credit ;Deveron Projects , Illustrated  by Jacques Coetzer

World Refugee Day is held every year on June 20 to raise awareness about the plight of refugees around the world. It is held to show solidarity with those who have been displaced and to honor their resilience and determination to keep their families safe. The day is also marked to draw the public’s attention to the millions of refugees and Internally displaced persons worldwide who have been forced to flee their homes due to war, climate disaster, political instability conflict and persecution.
World Refugee Day came into being in 2000 when the United Nations General Assembly in Resolution 55/76 decided on December 4, 2000 that June 20 would be marked as World Refugee Day. The 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol help protect them.
This year the theme for World Refugee Day 2020 is Step With Refugees. As per the UN, in a world where violence forces thousands of families to flee for their lives each day, the time is now to show that the global public stands with refugees.
Statistics from Amnesty International  show that many refugees who have fled conflict, persecution, hostile environment  or disease remain in volatile conditions.  Millions of Syrian refugees live in dire conditions on the border with Turkey – millions more refugees live in overstretched camps and face daily exploitation in Lebanon, Libya, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Greek islands. Even refugees who sought a better life and made the extremely dangerous journey to Europe face open hostility and daily injustices. Refugees stranded in camps and at borders have been challenged more than ever before with the toughest of living conditions and a hostile reception at international borders.
Nothing can be more heartbreaking than having to flee the place you have been born and brought up in, 70 million people are currently displaced from their homes on account of persecution, conflict, violence or human rights violations, of these, approximately 25 million are refugees, over half of whom are children under the age of 18, having being forced to  leave their home country and  take perilous journeys to cross international and national boundaries in search of safety elsewhere. A far larger number of people are displaced within their own country (internally displaced) or displaced for reasons which go beyond persecution and conflict, including drought, hunger, environmental disasters and the effects of climate change. In this context, World Refugee Day takes on ever-greater importance as a point in the year to remember, learn more about and explore ways of addressing the situation of refugees and other forcibly displaced persons.
Don't forget either  that many refugees find themselves living in camps until they are resettled, some of which are so dangerous and not well-equipped for long term living. Refugees also don't have a say in which country they are ultimately relocated to, and the bureaucratic process involved in finding their new home can take years. Refugees stranded in camps and at borders have been challenged more than ever before with the toughest of living conditions and a hostile reception at international borders.The persecution of refugees continues, whipped up by forces of racism spreading fear and misinformation. As continuing tragedy unfolds, some of the countries most able to help are shutting their gates to people seeking asylum. Borders are closing, push backs are increasing, and hostility is rising. Avenues for legitimate escape are fading away.
Since the beginnings of civilization, we have treated refugees as deserving of our protection. Whatever our differences, we have to recognise our fundamental human obligation to shelter those fleeing from war and persecution. It is time to stop hiding behind misleading words. Richer nations must acknowledge refugees for the victims they are, fleeing from wars they were unable to prevent or stop. History has shown that doing the right thing for victims of war and persecution engenders goodwill and prosperity for generations. And it fosters stability in the long run.
Today and tomorrow we must continue to stand up for refugees. We must and play our part in continuing to challenge the injustices and inequalities that fuel and helps further exacerbate this ongoing crisis, and promote a better understanding of why people seek sanctuary. It is vital more than ever that we  ensure that people seeking refugee protection  remain visible and heard and are welcomed. The world needs to renew its commitment now to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its principles that made us strong. To offer safe harbor, both in our own countries and in the epicentres of the crises, and to help refugees restore their lives, and allow their voices to remain visible and heard, build  bridges not more obstacles or borders.

Devoid of Virtue

£900,000 to paint Boris Johnsons personal plane
While many don't have enough for food for table,
Engulfed in despair and utter desolation
Trying to keep lives afloat on troubled waters,
Our Prime minister it seems has money to burn
Foolish man, with overrated sense of self- importance,
Brimming with selfishness that must be reviled
Who believes aid to poor countries should be denied,
As he swaggers and blusters across the land
Making mockery, releasing arrogance of power,
This money could be spent on free school vouchers
Or a years salary for 36 newly qualified nurses,
Instead of a revolting lurid vanity project
Many feeling this folly truly obscene,
As our country faces really grim future
This red white and blue paint job, taking the piss,
A vacuous leaders wasteful distraction
Sycophantic pillock in need of gratification,
While the tears of Grenfell continue to fall
Where's the recovery cash, for all the survivors,
Can you see them, hear their cries
Beyond this Tory clots tactless makeover.

Sean Taylor - Herd Immunity

 Sean Taylor is a fantastic London-based singer and songwriter who deserves wider acclaim.
This , alongside "This Is England" is Sean Taylor putting into words his total frustration with what has become of the UK in the last few years. And he speaks for so many of us.

This track specifically challenges the Johnson led UK government over their appalling, self praising handling of a pandemic that has caused so many thousands of unnecessary deaths.
It's tough in its condemnation, harsh in its criticism, but needed to be said. And I applaud his fearless approach.

Stay alert
Die quietly
Don't complain

All hail Boris the butcher

Welcome to our ‘Little England’ nightmare
Incompetence, arrogance, negligence and cruelty
Is the twisted heart of government
If you repeat a lie often enough
You can write it on the side of a bus
They knew this pandemic was coming months ago
But as the storm gathered pace
The UK declined European assistance
The government chose Brexit over breathing
As other countries closed large events and gatherings
Boris bragged about shaking hands with Coronavirus patients
Coughing with 80,000 Rugby fans
Followed by Cheltenham festival
Where a quarter of a million people spread the virus
Every action has been taken with reluctance, incompetence and delay
Too slow to close the schools, too slow close public places
Too late with tracing and testing
We have gone against advice from the world health organisation
We have taken a completely different response to every other country
They say it is too early to ask
Why we have one of the highest death rates

The victims are always the most vulnerable;
Coronavirus in care homes spread like wildfire
The sick and the poor hammered again
Stay alert means stay home if you are rich
But die at work if you are poor
The lowest paid jobs have the highest death rates;
Those who never stopped working;
The construction workers, the cabbies, security guards, transport workers, doctors, teachers, nurses, carers delivery drivers and supermarket staff
Workers from every country
Who are vilified by racists as ‘unskilled migrants’
Now as we are fighting for our lives
Exploited migrants become key workers
If you can applaud the NHS why do you keep voting Tory?
Remember when they cheered a pay freeze for nurses?

Angela Merkel is scientist and Jacinda Ardern a compassionate leader
We have our very own killer clown
Putting the blame on the individual
Makes the government not responsible
All that bragging got the clown infected
Taking it on the chin turned to ‘Let’s all pray for Boris’
We will never know the truth about his illness
Except it is his get out of jail free card
Read the Sun exclusive about an Old Etonian’s scary ordeal
He should try being poor
Our deaths are reported like scorecard of government success
An abstract figure fed through a prism of lies
Our criminal government aided and abetted by a complicit media
Fawning over daily graphs and colourful slideshows
It is a dark time when phone tapping Piers Morgan
Is the only mainstream journalist challenging the government

They say ‘Protect our borders’ when they demonise migrants
But when it comes to Coronavirus we have open door policy.
Everybody is welcome particularly those infected
Forget about fighting on the beaches
Who needs quarantine and testing
When we have that stiff upper lip
Herd immunity is far right eugenics
In Dominic Cummings’s words ‘let old people die’
Like the Bullingdon club trashed restaurants
Now they are wiping out care homes
Do you feel proud?
When Boris calls black people ‘piccaninnies with watermelon smiles ‘
When Boris calls homosexuals ‘tank top bum boys’
When Boris calls Muslim women ‘letterbox bank robbers’
When Boris steals the racist thunder
From Nigel Farage and Tommy Robinson

Written by Sean Taylor

Produced by Mark Hallman 

Video by Shaun Dey@ Reel News

Buy @https://seantaylorsongs.bandcamp.com/track/herd-immunity

Homepage https://www.seantaylorsongs.com/home