Ludlow Massacre

On this day April 20th, 1914, the National Guard and Colorado Fuel & Iron Company guards carry out the Ludlow massacre.

It happened  after months of intermittent violence between the striking miners and the mine detectives employed by the J.D. Rockefeller owned Colorado Fuel & Iron Company.

Miners were generally paid according to tonnage of coal produced, while so-called "dead work", such as shoring up unstable roofs, was often unpaid. Between 1884 and 1912, mining accidents claimed the lives of more than 1,700 Coloradans In 1913 alone, 104 men would die in Colorado’s mines, and 6 in the mine workings on the surface, in accidents that widowed 51 and left 108 children fatherless. Colliers had little opportunity to air their grievances. Many colliers resided in company towns, in which all land, real estate, and amenities were owned by the mine operator, and which were expressly designed to inculcate loyalty and squelch dissent.

Frustrated by working conditions which they felt were unsafe and unjust, colliers increasingly turned to unionism. Nationwide, organized mines boasted 40 percent fewer fatalities than nonunion mines. Colorado miners had repeatedly attempted to unionize since the state's first strike in 1883. The Western Federation of Miners organized primarily hard rock miners in the gold and silver camps during the 1890s. Beginning in 1900, the UMWA began organizing coal miners in the western states, including southern Colorado. The UMWA decided to focus on the CF&I because of the company's harsh management tactics under the conservative and distant Rockefellers and other investorsors. To break or prevent strikes, the coal companies hired strike breakers, mainly from Mexico and southern and eastern Europe. CF&I's management mixed immigrants of different nationalities in the mines, a practice which discouraged communication that might lead to organization.

Despite attempts to suppress union activity, secret organizing by the UMWA continued in the years leading up to 1913. Eventually, the union presented a list of seven demands on behalf of the miners:

1. Recognition of the union as bargaining agent
2. An increase in tonnage rates (equivalent to a 10% wage increase)
3. Enforcement of the eight-hour work day law
4. Payment for "dead work" (laying track, timbering, handling impurities, etc.)
5. Weight-checkmen elected by the workers (to keep company weightmen honest)
6. The right to use any store, and choose their boarding houses and doctors
7. Strict enforcement of Colorado's laws (such as mine safety rules, abolition of scrip), and an end to the company guard system

The major coal companies rejected the demands and in September 1913, the UMWA called a strike. Those who went on strike were promptly evicted from their company homes, and they moved to tent villages prepared by the UMWA. The tents were built on wood platforms and furnished with cast iron stoves on land leased by the union in preparation for a strike.

When leasing the sites, the union had strategically selected locations near the mouths of canyons that led to the coal camps, for the purpose of monitoring traffic and harassing replacement workers.

 Confrontations between striking miners and working miners, referred to as "scabs" by the union, sometimes resulted in deaths. The company hired the Baldwin–Felts Detective Agency to protect the new workers and harass the strikers.

Baldwin–Felts had a reputation for aggressive strike breaking. Agents shone searchlights on the tent villages at night and fired bullets into the tents at random, occasionally killing and maiming people. They used an improvised armoured car, mounted with a machine gun the union called the "Death Special" to patrol the camp's perimeters. The steel-covered car was built in the CF&I plant in Pueblo, Colorado from the chassis of a large touring sedan. Frequent sniperr attacks on the tent colonies drove the miners to dig pits beneath the tents where they and their families could be better protected.

As strike-related violence mounted, Colorado governor Elias M. Ammons called in the Colorado National Guard on October 28. At first, the Guard's appearance calmed the situation, but the sympathies of Guard leaders lay with company management. Guard Adjutant-General John Chase, who had served during the violent Cripple Creek strike 10 years earlier, imposed a harsh regime. On March 10, 1914, the body of a replacement worker was found on the railroad tracks near Forbes, Colorado. The National Guard said that the man had been murdered by the strikers. In retaliation, Chase ordered the Forbes tent colony destroyed. The attack was launched while the inhabitants were attending a funeral of infants who had died a few days earlier. The attack was witnessed by photographer Lou Dold, whose images of the destruction appear often in accounts of the strike.

The strikers persevered until the spring of 1914. By then, the state had run out of money to maintain the Guard, and was forced to recall them. The governor and the mining companies, fearing a breakdown in order, left two Guard units in southern Colorado and allowed the coal companies to finance a residual militia consisting largely of CF&I camp guards in National Guard uniforms.

On the morning of April 20, the day after Easter was celebrated by the many Greek immigrants at Ludlow, three Guardsmen appeared at the camp ordering the release of a man they claimed was being held against his will. This request prompted the camp leader, Louis Tikas, to meet with a local militia commander at the train station in Ludlow village, a half mile (0.8 km) from the colony. While this meeting was progressing, two companies of militia installed a machine gun on a ridge near the camp and took a position along a rail route about half a mile south of Ludlow. Anticipating trouble, Tikas ran back to the camp. The miners, fearing for the safety of their families, set out to flank the militia positions. A gunfight soon broke out.

The fighting raged for the entire day. The militia was reinforced by non-uniformed mine guards later in the afternoon. At dusk, a passing freight train stopped on the tracks in front of the Guards' machine gun placements, allowing many of the miners and their families to escape to an outcrop of hills to the east called the "Black Hills." By 7:00 p.m., the camp was in flames, and the militia descended on it and began to search and loot the camp. Louis Tikas had remained in the camp the entire day and was still there when the fire started. Tikas and two other men were captured by the militia. Tikas and Lt.Karl Linderfelt, commander of one of two Guard companies, had confronted each other several times in the previous months. While two militiamen held Tikas, Linderfelt broke a rifle butt over his head. Tikas and the other two captured miners were later found shot dead. Tikas had been shot in the back. Their bodies lay along the Colorado and Southern Railway tracks for three days in full view of passing trains. The militia officers refused to allow them to be moved until a local of a railway union demanded the bodies be taken away for burial.

During the battle, four women and eleven children had been hiding in a pit beneath one tent, where they were trapped when the tent above them was set on fire. Two of the women and all of the children suffocated. These deaths became a rallying cry for the UMWA, who called the incident the "Ludlow Massacre."

In addition to the fire victims, Louis Tikas and the other men who were shot to death, three company guards and one militiaman were killed in the day's fighting.

The Ludlow Massacre became a rallying cry for union organizers and labor activists for years afterwards. It would be decades before the rights the Ludlow strikers fought for, such as the right to join an independent union, an eight-hour workday, and child labor laws — were enshrined in law with the passing of the National Labour Relations and Wagner acts as part of FDR’s New Deal. These strong protections for unions paved the way for the longest period of prosperity in American history, the Long Boom of the post-WWII economy.

Though it has been mostly forgotten by the history books, the Ludlow Massacre inspired historians like  Howard Zinn and Georg McGovern to write about it.  Zinn described the Ludlow Massacre as "the culminating act of perhaps the most violent struggle between corporate power and laboring men in American history". Musicians like Woody Guthrie among other wrote songs about Ludlow.

Today the Ludlow Monument, stands at the site of what was the Ludlow colony. It is now officially a national historic landmark, commemorating “a pivotal event in American history,” when workers and their families fought and died so that they did not have to surrender their rights and freedom at the job site. May they rest in power.

Lest we forget. Unions learnt from Ludlow, fought back strong, and were able to forge and implement new forms of welfare support and working class power. Over the years with stricter labour laws and increased enforcement of them curtailed the right of employees and gave strength to those in unions.  So that business  leaders are denied repeating the abuses of old. Long may this be so.

 

Woody Guthrie -  Ludlow Massacre

  

Couple on park bench or thousands marching against austerity?

There was a massive demo in London over the weekend. Thousands took to the streets in other cities too. All largely ignored by the mainstream media including the BBC, who did however take time to provide us with  the story of two young Royals jetting half way round the world to be photographed sitting on a bench.  This was the actual news - Royals sitting on a bench.  A bench that had apparently been sat on by another royal bum many years previously.
150,000 people ignored who had traveled from all over the UK to protest against austerity, Tory misrule and a sick system,  ordinary proud people who had gathered to denounce public sector cuts, the treatment of the disabled and the vulnerable through welfare cuts and the privatisation of the N.H.S.  
I know which story I was most interested in hearing about, much more significant and relevent than a thousand words  about royalty. Guess I'm just biased.  Sad to see the BBC along with Murdoch's sky news missing this huge discontent in British society for something so trivial.
I guess it will take more than marching to divert the media's gaze.
In other news, Jamaica plans to end Queen's rule as Head of State, who knows hopefully it will be our turn next.  

Journey's without maps ( a poem)

 
Life is a voyage of discovery and transformation
Containing equal measures of ugliness and beauty,
Prisms of moveability and change
Balancing acts between holding on and letting go,
Riding on waves of wonder and transition
Surging high above or deep below,
Navigating times eternal cycles
The pulse of the morning and the light of evening stars,
Moments slow - then last forever
On journeys without maps, where roads turn into rivers,
Divisions forcefields continue to be unbroken
Love's reasoning uninterrupted constantly flows,
As no cages or fences remain to lock us in.

Remembering Vittorio Arrigoni (4/2/75 -15/4/11) - Stay human

Today I remember the life of Vittorio Arrigoni  a renowned Italian human rights/ peace activist, who served as a volunteer for the International Solidarity Movement, who worked closely with the fishermen and farmers of the occupied Gaza strip. Who for ten years worked for the recognition of Palestinian rights under Israeli occupation.
During the Israeli offensive against the Gaza strip in 2008-09 he acted as a human shield while working with the Palestinian Red Crescent humanitarian organisation. He was also abroad the 2008 Free Gaza Movement Vessel and was imprisoned in Israel several times. He also worked as a freelance  journalist for the Italian daily IL Manifesto and for his own blog Guerilla radio. His daily dispatches written between bombing raids and patchy internet access ended with the plea - "Stay human." which became the motto of anti-israeli peace protests in his native Italy. His authoritative and deeply moving eyewitness accounts were published in 2010 under the title Gaza - Stay human.
On April 14  2011 he was kidnapped and the next day brutally murdered by militants in Gaza, which caused international outcry and was unanimously condemned by both Hamas and the Palestinian National authority. A senseless, shocking mindless act.
Known for his infectious smile, and deep humility and the tattoo he bore  on his arm of the word resistance written in arabic. Along with his dedicated support of the Palestinians, who embodies many of the qualities that draw people to Palestine - his immense bravery - against the odds - when confronting incredible violence and his unwavering determination to stay human and loving in the face of inhumanity towards the very end. He remains a hero to the Palestinian people and many others across the globe.

Cassetteboy vs The Snoopers' Charter

Currently going viral, new one from Cassetteboy.
If your not worried about the Investigation Powers Bill ( aka the snoopers charter) you obviously don't know enough about it.
The Investigators Poers Bill will make us less safe and less free. It will force communication companies  like Sky, BT, Google and facebook to collect and hand over details and record everything you do online. All  of this will be logged abd analysed and used to build an intimate picture of your life, as a means of keeping us under control. 
It is a dangerous piece of legislation, which is also a human rights issue, who knows  how your data could be used if the information they hold on you got into the wrong hands, the Governments hands already pretty dangerous. At the end of the day it could needlesly violate your rights.
Visit  https://www.privacyinternational.org and join the campaign against the Governments sinister new snooper charter.

Hope is in the air

    France

As spring awakens, tens of thousands of people have recently occupied the streets of major European capitals. People taking to the streets to protest against their governments and call for the resignation of their political leaders.
In Reykjavik, Iceland mass protests bought down their Prime Minister in wake of the Panama papers and in London similar demonstrations have taken place demanding that dodgy Dave Cameron resigns. While in France a burgeoning movement of anger has emerged  known as uit Debout ( up all night ) that has swept the country people's assemblies have been organised and city squares have been occupied inspiring the world. And in Athens, Greece refugees have marched to demand open borders and respect for their human rights and dignity.
We are witnessing a resurgence of mass protests, an unprecedented escalation in large scale citizen protests, movements building for a better future, trying their best to achieve social change. People not usually interested in politics interested in this spirit of change. People connecting and joining the dots, demanding another way, it seems like an impossible spirit to kill. Diverse in their goals but unified by their people power but all motivated by a strong desire for change.
The long history of social movements that have the ability to transform our lives is a notable one, that seek to end the rule of money so that people and planet come before profits. With the impact of austerity hitting us all hard, causing economic hardship and unfairness the inevitable results are these waves of rebellion. 
The mainstream media seems intent on ignoring these mass protests,  but the spirit is growing and spreading, hope is alive and in the air, people now boiling  with rage  but with the desire  to construct something  brand new, from the  bottom up, whilst despising a system  made  by the elite for the elite, a system that everybody is beginning to realize is broken and cannot be fixed.
As our leaders continue to treat us as dirt, want us to remain broken, together we will rise and in solidarity we will find our strength. With resistance, triumph and compassion I have a strong belief that our futures can be changed for the better, forwards we move, our roads are clear. All these things give me hope as I write. One of lives lessons is always moving on.
These movements have no limit, no borders and belong to all who wish to be part of it. 
This spring  hope is well and truly in the air.
As  the late singer  Phil Ochs once said  "In such ugly times the only true protest is beauty."
I will end with the following poem by Emily Dickinson :-

Hope is the thing with feathers


" Hope  is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without words-
And never stops -at all -

And sweetest - in the gale - is heard -
And sore must be the storm - 
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm -

I've heard it in the chillest land -
And on the strangest sea -
Yet - never - in Extremity,
It asked a crumb - of me.

   Great Britain

Tory leader continues to treat us as idiots.

Tory leader  who looks like a train continues to treat us as idiots, as he tries desperately to react to the public's disgust at his and others tax avoidance and evasion. He has announced that HMRC will be working with the National Crime Agency to lead a wold class task force to investigate allegations of tax dodging and money laundering bought to light by the leak of 11 million  files by a Panama Law firm.
But Cameron in charge does not exactly inspire much confidence - a man who has made a career out of advising people on how to  dodge tax who once publicly stated that the whole concept of tax was ' legalised extortion.' 
And so the story keeps on running, since he has not drawn  a line under the story, we all now know  how much money he has been  making, profits made  and how supposedly bloody transparent he is. Now that we have started we will continue to keep asking much needed questions.  Each day he looks more and  more at unease , the case of Dave a man who looks like a train continuing to treat us all as idiots. We should keep pointing out to him  how big money has continually corrupted and tainted British politics. This is a man who has had the audacity to cut the benefits of disabled people  who cannot dress or look after themselves , while the tax payer continues to  pays him around 53 k a year to help him and his wife (Samantha worth in her own right £29 million ) to dress and look after themselves. David Cameron cannot keep  on treating us as idiots, with added lies and expect the people to continue to trust him. His ethics and morality have now been called into question and it is clear that he is not passing the test as he continues to  be evasive and defensive and his obvious unwillingness to be straight to the public that he supposedly serves . because of this his credibility now lies in shatters as his policies continue to lead to direct cuts in services and benefits that are hurting millions of people right now  in Britain. No wonder that Dennis Skinner had the tenacity to call him ' Dodgy Dave" and did not to withdraw the remark and then subsequently got kicked out for speaking the truth. Thank Dennis.
Yes dodgy Dave by name and nature  I hope that he will continually be given the shunt and shown all the derision that he deserves. Even he admits he could have handled this affair much better, it just shows yet again how his government is run for the privileged few and not for the majority of the population.

Dennis Skinner on dodgy Dave
 

Let us hope that this sorry affair will lead to new rules being put in place , that lead to more openness and transparency that enables the British public to know more about the dubious nature of our leaders business dealings.
Old research also reveals that wealth does not trickle down - it just floods offshore :-- http://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/jul/21/offshore-wealth-global-economy-tax-havens/
In response to his gaffes a large scale public call for a general election in 2016 is now going viral. British patience has finally reached  its limit. 
It also comes as no surprise to learn that as our Tory Government destroys  our steel industry, that  Margaret Thatcher a political hero  of Cameron's who herself contributed  to the destruction of the coal industry and society as a whole, also benefited from not paying no tax. It has been revealed that her own children will continue  to avoid millions in inheritance tax since  their mothers house in Belgravia, London, was registered  to an offshore trust yet still taxpayers had to fork out for the cost of her funeral  three years ago this month. Has it not always been the case up to now  of one rule for some and a completely different one for the rest of us less fortunate. Sadly tax avoiders  usually need to be pushed before they can change their attitudes.
In the meantime  when Cameron's election leaflet pops through our doors in the next few days printed by a German printing company you can send it back to the following address and the Conservative Party will get the 'bill for the postage.

Join the peoples Assembly on Saturday 16th April.
Time to rise up and revolt.

http://www.thepeoplesassembly.org.uk/hhje

Cannabis - Time to change the law.

In light of Howard Marks's passing this great advocate for the legislation of cannabis, is it not time to change the law. It is a fact that 45% of us here in Britain have tried it, and a majority of 47% currently support its legislation. As seen in the Independent newspaper on Saturday.
Is it not time that the UK reformed its cannabis policy speak out about its continual prohibition and offer direct comparisons how UK citizens are treated unfairly compared to our equals in Spain,  Uruguay, Canada, Jamaica, and a growing number of US states. 
At the moment Cannabis consumption, possession and supply are currently illegal under current UK legislation. Possessing or cultivating any form of cannabis  without a home office licence, anywhere in the UK is prohibitive. I personally believe the law to be an arse, surely now is the time for change. The war on drugs costly, stupid and counter-productive.
Up to £900 million could be raised annually through  the taxation of the regulated cannabis market, which demonstrates a  potential  revenue that at the very least deserves further investigation, it could be such a good thing as our economy because it certainly needs all the help it needs.
This combined with  much evidence  in the safety and efficiency of cannabis  for medical relief, that helps  people enormously suffering  from Alzheimers, cancer, chronic pain, Chrones disease and multiple sclerosis.
We should rage  against its continual suppression, the criminalisation of people, simply because of their use of it. The country is awash with booze that personally has not served me too well, at least with  the use of cannabis I have been at least able to feel some benefits, especially in relation to ongoing depression issues.
It would be a step in the right direction because at the moment  so many creative people stuck in prison for no reason, apart from  being caught in possession of an innocent herb, at the at the end of the day our current  drug policies have made things even more bad, since  more dangerous drugs are available on the market than weed unregulated that makes a mockery of our current drug laws.
I would add that I personally believe that cannabis has the capability to heal the world, which makes it an  incredible commodity.
Many people still using it for pleasure, as part of an essential lifestyle decision, prohibition has not curbed its use one iota , in fact I would argue that in a sense it has made it more popular  which makes it more appealing in the sense of a 'forbidden fruit' especially to youth. 
Legalise, regulate it and tax it now , let society as a whole profit from its use instead of criminal gangs.  The benefits of marijuana as effective treatment alternatives are plain to see, not only to individuals but to society as a whole.
It would ultimately would contribute to reduced crime and the protection of our civil liberties. It is so necessary and the only way forward , I hope that Mr Howard Marks as he moves skywards would agree with my words. Who the hell are the legislators who can tell me or you what I  or you can or cannot do with our own minds and bodies. 

Goodbye Mr Nice aka Howard Marks ( 13/8/45 - 10/4/16)

Sad to hear that Howard Marks - A.K.A Mr Nice - has  passed away of  inoperable  cancer at the age of 70. The father of four  was born in Kenfig Hill, Wales in 1945  and went on to study at Oxford University at Balliol college where he took nuclear  physics, and later got  post graduate  qualifications in philosopy  he was also a fluent Welsh speaker and practicing Bhuddist.
As a drug smuggler he found infamy however, asnd was sentenced  to 25 years inprisonment , realeased on parole in 1995 for good behaviour.
In his 1996 autobiography Mr Nice he wrote with humour and unashamed bravado  about his life and the sheer scale of his daily deeds and escapades involving a whole  host of characters ranging from the C.I.A. M.I.6.  the P.L..O. the I.R.A to the mafia.
Mr Nice was one  of 43 aliases  he used  which struck  a chord in the public imagination.

A man I was fortunate to meet, at a speaking tour and remember rushing up to him at Hay -on - wye  one year in order for him to sign some king size rizlas of mine, and amiable friendly bloke I could not   hope to have encountered. Mischeivious twiknling eyes and warm handshake
On his release he became a notable campaigner  for the legislation of cannabis and toured a comedy show, a man regarded as a true  modern day folk hero, counter cultural  icon and loveable rogue. A  life spent indulging in all things good, friendship, laughter music and of course drugs.
A man of very few regrets he will be remembered with fondness. He certainly lived quite a life.
Reflecting  on his crimes he said " Smuggling cannabis was a wonderful way of living -  perpetual  culture shock, absurd amounts of money,  and the comforing knowledge of getting so  many people stoned."
Still passionate about the issue he stood for Parliament on four seperate occassions on the single issue of the legislation of cannabis.
He had completed eight cycles of chemotherapy  and had initially responded well, but alas his condition finally succumbed. He died  surrounded by loving family members at his Bridgend  home  in the early hours of Sunday.
One of his last acts was to set up  the Mr Nice foundation, to ensure causes dear to him continue to get support. It is still outrageous that after his death  the innocent little drug that is cannabis is still illegal, and that the war on drugs is still not succeeding. Let us hope that in the coming years, legislation is finally achieved,  that it becomes controlled and sanitised .
Howard Marks, Mr Nice, R.I.P keep on rolling deep. Hashes to ashes. 
Stoned immaculate. Do not go gentle into that good night.

Zounds - Subvert

Some musical respite, dedicated to all those whistleblowers that keep on exposing illegal and unethical acts. And to those currently  blocking Whitehall, because Cameron must go. Good luck to all those that hit back against a not fit for purpose government. Songs of freedom will continue to roar, signifying the soul of solidarity.  Standing strong, spouting subversion, spreading salvation supplements. Blistering  blossoms of the heart, releasing compassion and realization, sweeping away the veils of injustice, absorbing  and reflecting the  mirror of our souls. Often silenced swept under carpets, a mass that refuses to be kept hidden, with wild abandon, keeps awakening.

Time for David Cameron to go.

I would like to say that this is unbelievable, but at the end of the day they are all the same lying bastards. Since the beginning of the week we now know much more about David Cameron's financial affairs, after pressure he has now reluctantly admitted to owning a stake in an offshore business owned by his late father, as named in the recent Panama leak.
Currently bleating on about how it was all above board - oh the poor thing apparently paid his tax on it, and sold his stake for a measly £30,000  before taking office. Just a matter of loose change for somebody  prepared to rob of others far more deserving than he could ever be.
Thankfully not a lot of people agree with his bluster at the moment, after  lying and deceiving the British public for years, his lies over profiting from tax avoidance just a tip of the iceberg, many people now simply have had enough and are now currently calling for his resignation, but this man has no respect, so it is not very unlikely he will do the decent thing, so  perhaps he will need an extra shove or two.
This man's credibility now lies in complete  shatters, lets hope we follow Iceland's example and show him the doorstep , but we are  witnessing a British Prime Minister  who would not understand  truth, if it gave him a severe kick in the head, a morally corrupt individual, but I would remind you  that this is what Tory's seem to be to me most of the time. So a case of business as usual then.
Iceland though proudly would not put up with their crooked Prime Minister so neither should we, so I will be supporting the call today for this liar and hypocrite  to resign, a man who has benefitted from offshore tax havens while over the years has lectured us about how morally wrong it is. He is currently trending across social media and this time it does not involve farm animals,  I wonder what his dad would say, oh hang on probably  something like this " Hey kid, set up an offshore company, avoid your taxes and sing the Panamanian National Anthem." hey he might decided to do the decent thing,  even then though he will probably try to blame someone else,   " Oi Jeremy Corbyn, it was your bloody  fault." I can hear him fecklessly saying.
Yes we're all in it together,  but how the hell have we ever put our trust in someone  whose entire lifestyle has been paid for, from fee paying education, university, even his first forays into work, paid for by his fathers wealth gained from offshore trusts. I will return to an old catchphrase yes the mind truly boggles.   
What is incredible as well is that MPs have already snubbed a 190,000 strong petition calling for no confidence in him  because his policies have been causing such  devastation to the poorest in society for the past  five years, at end of day displays their arrogance too. 
Like the worlds rich and powerful  though, he plays by a different set of rules. At the end of the day it's plain to see that  he is a money driven lying sanctimonious piece of  **** what other  qualities would we expect , well done to all those who voted him into power , but an excuse  I can find, in the fact that he lied to get in and thus manipulated the public, oh eck the list  goes on an on, good luck to those who get rid of him,  for many taxpayers faith in the system is already tested, and  no longer actually have any faith left in their leader, surely now it is time for Cameron to go. Fingers crossed. It would be truly wonderful 3 years after Margaret Thatcher's death that he is finally hoisted by his own greedy damaging petard.

Another world is possible. ( a poem)

( A poem that arrived earlier as I drifted between cynicism and pessimism.)

Another world is possible.

As they sell our dreams down the river,
For tiny crocks of silver and gold,
Remember another world is possible,
Waiting patiently for you right now,
A brand new system, another way,
With precision will repair the faultlines,
Wash away the corporate stains,
Rid us of  greedy capitalist contamination,
Beyond Panama, the rich will no longer gain,
Across the globe reconciliation coming,
To strengthen paths, release equity on earth.
The tears of the needy and oppressed replaced,
Injustice crushed, victims again to smile,
Carefully we can mend and rearrange,
Planting seeds of opportunity and hope, 
Piece by piece push things back together,
Replace the current walls of division,
Love across nations forever reborn,
Where no one waits for a return to war,
Another world is possible, 
Unstoppable and unavoidable,
A fairy tale of precious attainability,
To be reached and seized right now.

..

Palestinian Children's Day

Today marks Palestinian Children's Day as called for by the late PLO chairman Yasser Arafat 11 years ago.
Not actually a day of celebration however but serves to mark the horrific treatment of Palestinian children by the occupying Israeli authorities. Daily children detained, by Israel forces isolated, threatened and terrorised, forced to admit to crimes that they never did. Many left traumatised, from which some never actually recover. 
In 1989 a UN Convention was made on the tights of the child. It stipulated that  children have the right to the best possible health, clean water and the right to play. "Children should not  be arrested, detained, imprisoned only as a last resort for the shortest time possible. They must be treated  with respect and care and kept in contact with their family." it read.
In 1990 Israel signed this convention, making it responsible  to guarantee these rights to Palestinian children in the occupied territories. Sadly since then this  UN Childrens rights declaration has been constantly violated and the  the rights of the child not recognised.
Children  under the age of 18 make up almost 2 million of  a total 4.29 million Palestinian population in the West Bank and the Gaza strip.
Israel currently holds around 6,900 Palestinians as political  prisoners, among them include  470 children. Most of the cases involving children, involve stone throwing, a minor action when one considers  that when these incidents do occur, it is against one of  the most powerful armies in the world, committing violent incursions into towns and villages. The crime of stone throwing could lead to an eventual prison sentence of twenty years imprisonment.
Also because of grinding poverty, and lack of education many children  forced to work on the street, as vendors or porters in busy towns. Economic stress on families means children are increasingly forced to work to earn extra income , often absent or dropping out of school as a result. Schooling and education badly effected remaining often incomplete or interrupted. In addition after recent conflicts many hospitals and clinics were destroyed thus depriving children of their right to health.
While children should enjoy the highest forms of protection according to human rights, international law and regulation, even in times of war or armed conflict - Israel  continues to violate the rights of Palestinian children everyday. Observance of Children's day in Palestine helps attract  international attention to the problems faced  by children currently living under occupation.  The vulnerabilty  of the Palestinian child is unfortunately. more acute than ever, continuing to face poverty, violence, and threats to basic rights . In Gaza , the main source of drinking water continues to be safe, as a result childrens health is put at risk.
This sad reality all  denies the Palestinian child the joy of living an innocent childhood .  The Palestinian child lives a life unlike any other child, symbolising the life of suffering under occupation, that  destroys their dreams as well as their well- being,  let us hope that in the future conditions of freedom and dignity are restored, that give opportunities to grow, in a healthy normal way in what has up to the present day been  denied to them, let's hope rain down.

Gaza fishing zone officially extended.

The decision to extend the fishing zone of some parts of the Gaza coast, to 9 nautical miles instead of  6, has to be welcomed, but does not go far enough. This all took effect early on Sunday morning, the Palestinian Civil  administration have announced.
As part of Israels illegal  blockade  of the coastal enclave since 2005, Palestinian fishermen have been required to  work  within a limited 'designated fishing zone " often having to endure Israeli forces  opening fire, when posing no threat whatsoever, just doing their job in  order to secure a living. Since December 2015, Israeli occupation forces have killed one fisherman, injured 17 and arrested 63,  confiscated 19 fishing boats and destroying  fishing equipment on 12 ocassions, harassed by Israeli  gunboats,  often fishermen have been taken to Israeli  ports blindfolded and handcuffed and questioned under aggressive interrogation techniques. The Israeli navy frequently targets fishing boats in Gaza's territorial waters, even while on shore , on n Saturday Israeli naval boats fired several ive rounds and shells on Palestinian fishing boats, near the Rafah shore.
 All this has had long term impact on the Gazan fishermans ability to feed their families. Because up to now most of the fish was at least  nine miles at sea , it has been a daily struggle to make a living with 90% relying on International Aid.
Around 4,000 fishermen work in Gaza more than half of them who live below the poverty line.  For any chance of their livelihood  being protected their must be an immediate end to the blockade and restrictions that prevent civilians like this providing for their families. This would mean further loosening the restrictions to 20 miles  as laid down by the Oslo peace accords of the 1990's. The restrictions still too narrow to provide for the people of the impoverished Gaza strip. Hopefully now the fishing zone has been expanded it should now result in a bigger catch in these deeper waters, where fish are more abundant.
More than 200 fishing boats headed out from Gazas port on Sunday night  catching  on average 8 kilograms (17 bs) each, including red mullet, grouper, sea bream and some small rays.

   

...

NHS - Nye Bevan speaks about the National Health Service

Not too keen on  on politicians round here, very sceptical of most of them, but every so often I am reminded of one or two that sound a bit like human beings.
Nye Bevan  was one of the most important ministers of the post-war Labour Government and the chief architect of the NHS. He was born on 15 November 1897 in Tredegar in Wales. His father was a miner from  a poor working class family in which Bevan  gained first hand experiences of the problems  of poverty and disease. He was a rebel with many causes but is remembered mostly as the architect of the National Health Service which he bought to Parliament while he was Minister for Health in 1948.
He remembered how I he had witnessed families with dreaded sickness  who could not afford to pay doctors bills. In his home town of Tredegar  there existed a working mens medical aid society which was to serve him inspiration. He envigaged an NHS with comprehensive provision was on patient need, not wealth. Never one to back off from a fight , he bullied and cajoled , reasoned and argued until  Health care free at the point of delivery was to become a right instead of a luxury. The NHS would  come to be regarded as one of the best and comprehensive healthcare systems in the world, a jewel in the Crown for the Post Second World War Labour Government.  
And despite some faults Nye Bevan hated the bloody Tories with a passion, and helped make the biggest improvements to the quality of life for the average British person on living memory, so I respect him for this.
We should continue to defend the NHS with all our might, keep resisting the Tories agenda pushing some of us into semi starvation , both physically and socially as they keep  punishing the most vulnerable and hardest hit revealing themselves to be the bullies that they are.
I am reminded that my quality of life owes more to a deadman than a whole Tory Government ever could. So thank you Nye Bevan/
Respect to the junior doctors angry with the government for trying to fuck them over as the Tory's try to sell of the NHS piece by piece into eventual total ownership.

NHS - Nye Bevan speaks about the National Health Service

from Peoples History Museum , Manchester

Crabb must Go

If Stephen Crabb M.P  for Preseli Pembrokeshire and the now secretary of state of work and pensions,  has not done the right thing before 2nd April and resigned as Mencap patron, I will be catching the bus tomorrow to attend a demonstration, join people gathering to urge him that he resigns his post. After all Stephen Crabb is a man who has constantly voted in favor of  every cut to disability benefits, for the Bedroom Tax, and the Benefit Gap. Not much record of voting for fairness in any guise.
More than 10,000 people have already signed an online petition calling  on his role at Pembrokeshire Mencap. The petition says " 

You've recent vote in the House of Commons for disabled people to lose £30 per week of Employment Support Allowance shows that you have no compassion or understanding of the needs of the most vulnerable and disabled members of our society."

you can sign it here;

Please :-

http://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/stephen-crabb-resign-as-  

I personally find it incomprehensible how the good people voted for him in the first place, and that Mencap could consider a man with  suspect views on homosexuality,  who supported  CARE, Christian organisation called CARE, that claimed hoosexuality was a disorder that so called right thinking people like themselves could cure, and recently declared  also that he is now an expert off suffering, especially of those that are currenty  suffering from parkinsons, motor neurone disease and other delibitating illnesses who he now expects to be looking for work.
continues to personally endorse and represent damaging Tory policies that will keep hurting the hardest hit and the most vulnerable. Causing  further unnecessary pain and distress.
I can  see no reason that MENCAP should still want him as their representative. Currently taking some of his own constituents through the courts because of the bedroom tax. Never once rebelled against any of the vicious cuts that were delivered by his predecessor. Who likes to talk about his roots of  being bought up on a council estatem about his own hardships, but for some reason instead of reflecting on this, seems intent on carrying on implementing cruel benefit sanctions. MENCAP still apparently have still not listened to the many voices that have replied to them, because they are not comfortable with the charities connection with Mr Crabb, which leaves many thinking they should  look at their own priorities and motives.
Join Pembrokeshire Peoples Against Austerity tomorrow if you can outside Stephen Crabb's offices  in Haverfordwest , tomorrow in support of  the most vulnerable and those in need of most support. 

More details here :-

https://www.facebook.com/events/1037182496327308/  

...

Police Shooting of Jean Charles De Menezes was lawful rules ECHR - Marking the death of Justice.

Just over  10 years ago an innocent 27 year old  Brazilian electrician Jean Charles De Menezes  was  mistaken  for a suicide bomber and shot at close range 7 times  in the head while sitting on a bench at Stockwell Tube Station in London on his way to work .Two weeks earlier 52 people tragically lost their lives on July 21 in a wave of terrorist bombings on the London transport system. Jean Charles was not a terrorist though. No warnings were ever shouted and he subsequently died on the spot. Nobody would want  to deny  the police the right to shoot dead a sucide bomber if they genuinely thought  he was about to blow up innocent people, but on all accounts this is not what happened here. Due to failings of the Met police from Commander to officer on the the ground an innocent man was killed deliberately and unessessarily// 
But this  killing has now been ruled lawful according to the European Court for Human Rights , see further details here :- 
http://www.rt.com/uk/337730-de-menezes-court-ruling/ Todays ruling comes  as a major blow to his family who have endured a 10 year legal battle and a long fight to achieve justice http://www.justice4jean.org.
An innocent man abroad killed at the hands of the British State. Still no justice , and no one held for account, I personally feel this to be an utter disgrace.  Once again  the British police allowed to  be unaccountable, in the so called name of justice. We should not forget the memory of this innocent man, and the tragic disturbing circumstances  in how his life was lost.

Masks

( an old one not posted here before, rejigged)

Wearing seven masks at once,
( I am the onion)
seven secrets gently spun,
on wheels sealed,
holding on to the shore in ionspheres,
no need for tears, will be here once more,
to not give a shit, to not give a damn,
but to care all the same, and to remain questioning,
we cannot revive old factions,
or follow antique drums,
but with our traces we can reveal,
just remember to be kind,
peel the layers slowly.
truth lies naked
underneath the skin.

A history of silencing Israeli army whistleblowers – from 1948 until today

A history of silencing Israeli whistleblowers  , Jonathan Cook looks at  how the truth of  Israels past and present war crimes is surfacing, slowly  but surely, much to the dismay of Binyamin Netanayahu
and company who are threatening to ban army whistleblowers.

Link here :-

A history of silencing Israeli army whistleblowers – from 1948 until today – Redress Information & Analysis

A Precious Love.

( an Easter gift for Jane, the mighty furbster,  knowing that she is unable to eat chocolates at the moment, and that the only flowers I can afford at the moment would come from the hedgerows, a poem released from my heart.)

This love I know, I've watched grow,
A rare beauty in a world gone wrong,
An understanding beautiful pulse,
Of tenderness and great spirit,
In day brings hope and the night quiet peace,
Whose face sparkles in my dreams,
Manifesting her loveliness,
In every season stands splendid and proud,
A burst of  precious moments,
Creator of joy and happiness,
Light shines all around her presence,
Sweet like honey, this love I know,
I have tasted the wonder of her lips,
None other can I compare, 
In my mind will never fade nor wither,
When I close my eyes I know,
Here be an exquisite bloom.
That will never be unspoken of or forgotten.   

100th anniversary of the Easter Rising

This Easter marks the 100th anniversary of the 1916 Easter rising in Dublin against British imperialist rule. It actually began on 24 April 1916 and lasted  for six short but bloody days, resulting in the deaths of over 300 civilian  casualties, but is marked a month early to symbolically connect it with Easter.
This  uprising marks one of the most defining moments of the struggle for Irish independence, which began with reading of the proclamation Poblach na h -Eireann  byPatrick Pearce, a radical document that called for the establishment of a republic, which  ' represented of the whole people of Ireland  and elected by the suffrages of all her men and women." and "the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland."
It occured at the height of the First World War, rebel leaders feeling the need to rise the people up, while England was at it;s weakest point.  At the time this did not arouse much sympathy because many Irish men, were already fighting  and dying  on foreign lands, for their current King and country. Nevetheless many rallied to the cause, the insugents numbering to over 1,200 men and women.Barricades across the capital city of Dublin sprung up with rebels taking over strategic landmarks.
Over the course of the rising the British deployed over 16,000 troops to brutally suppress it, but the rebels bravely resisted, but it would lead  to about 450 civilan casualties being killed and over 2,000 wounded. The rebels headguartees at the GPO would be blasted into surrender,which Patrick Pearce ordered on the 29th of April.

          
                                 GPO headquarters in ruins after failed uprising

One of the self styled commaders in chief of the rebel forces was James Connolly, a revolutionary socialist actually born in Scotland, who not only dedicated himself to the cause of Irish liberation but alsoto that of international socialism, active also within the radical syndicalist union known as the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). On the 12th ofMay he would be satin a chair and shot by firing squad along with  other leaders of the uprising, numbering  16 in all , which included Patrick Pearce. He was to weak to stand on his own because his body was too battered from wounds received in the uprising. 

Pictured :- James Connolly
 

It should be noted that at the time the rising had little support from the Irish people, no popular mandate, but because of its brutal suppresion and the martyrdom of its leaders it sparked the flame of Irish republicanism, that would launch a mass rebellion that would lead to the creation of an Irish republic. The rising subsequentlly struck a blow  against the idea of empire and imperialism, beginning a path repeated  across the British Empire as the 20th century progressed, as Edward Said  noted " a model of 20th century wars of liberation." Connolly is now rightly celebrated as one of the fathers of the Irish nation that we see now.
After the rising over 3,000 peopke were arrested many with no actual connection with the uprising and over 1,800 imprisoned. This would also start a wave of support that would lead to independence.
Many were to be interned in Frongech Prison Camp here in Gwynedd, Wales, near Bala, which would aid the rebles cause further because collectively they found solidarity, in what has become known as the university of revolution, seeds of further rebellion were sown, in the hearts and minds of some who had not previously considered this path.
In 1920, after the failed uprising Britain would sign a disputed treaty creating two governments- one in Belfast with jurisdiction  over 6 counties and the other in Dublin which  had authority over the others. It was not until 1949 that the state of Ireland explicitly became a republic, an independent nation.
The 1916 rising remains  a seminal event of 20th centurty history and  is celebrated because it gave rise to a birth of a nation. It still holds great significance because it has continued to be both a source of pride, division and controversy across this Island ever since, as some believe there is still unfinished business. 
This Easter Sunday will herald synchronised wreath laying ceremonies at strategic points across Dublin and the Republic of Ireland in what will be an unashamed celebration of the birth of the Irish republic, one hopefully of unity instead of division. A moment of a people's pride.

Happy Easter: Remembering a Revolutionary Jesus

What would Jesus be up to nowadays, though many claim he is still with us, this unemployed son of two asylum seekers. Maybe he would be born in todays world as a refugee, or in an occupied nation, or in a slum or in a war zone , a life on benefits,  due to sickness or disability.
I like to think that if  he did wander on this earth he would show solidarity with the poor and oppressed, the most vulnerable, being the righteous man that he was said to be.
I am not personally of the christan faith  but respect some historical facts, the evidence that points to Jesus as one of the self proclaimed messiahs fighting to end Roman occupation and for an egalitarian society in which division between rich and poor had been erased. His revolutionary message. This is what made him a marked man and  led to his crucifiction and his followers subsequently being persecuted. I think  his ideas seem to be the complete opposite of some of his followers today, who use his name, certain right wing politicians.
Did not many of the earlier christians practice a form of communism. As Acts of Apostles says " The believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need."  And this from the gospels " he had filled the hungry with good things and sent the richaway with empty hands." Did  he not preach fairness, his revolutionary ideas stirring some  to follow him  and others to hate him. Does not the Bible reveal too, a focus on social justice and the poor and point to a way that economic life should be organised around the needs of societies weakest and most vulnerable members. He challenged  the attitudes of a society  that  looked down on the marginalised - the sick, the poor, the needy, social outcasts and challenged the structures that kept them  in their marginalised place. He did not simply ignore those who suffer on the margins of our societies. He talked about a God of compassion - one that would open up his kingdom to those locked out.
In this present time many of his followers are urging Stephen Crabb the current secretary of state for work and pensions, and current Conservative MP, for Preseli Pembrokeshire here in Wales to scrap  brutal cuts. In a letter which suggests they are incompatible with  his Christian faith.
Catholic  think tank Ekklesia have written  to him saying  his departments cuts have gone to far.  Urging him to reverse the  policies of his predecessor and to work to the principles of Christian justice . 
You can read the full contents of the letter here , well worth a read :-

http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/sites/ekklesia.co.uk/files/stephen_crabb_open_letter.pdf


happy eostore, heddwch/peace.

William Morris (24/3/1854 -3/10/1896) - No Master / All for the Cause

William Morris was an English textile designer, artist, writer and revolutionary socialist and political agitator associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts movement born on this day in 1854.
His aim was not only to create beautiful things but also a beautiful  society. He became an important figure in the emergence of socialism in Britain, founding the Socialist League in 1884, active in promoting its cause  through  his writing and lecturing on street corners. Throughout  his life  he continued  to identify  with the revolutionary left. He was heartened  by the Labour  movements break with liberalism,  but he warned, perhaps more clearly than anyone else at the time  of the dangers of reformism. Right up to his death in  1896 he was agitating and arguing  for a socialist movement that  would change the world  by open revolt. He also embraced radical ideas  of sexual freedom and libertarianism. There is a strong libertarian temper in his writings and being a close friend of Peter Kropotkin ( eminent anarchist at the time) was well aware of the anarchist case against government and political authority. 
 In 1885 he bought out his Chants for Socialism which the following two  poems are drawn from. In his novel News from Nowhere (1890) he recorded his own idiosyncratic vision after the abolition of classes. In it he envisages a society of equality and freedom. Such a vision - a rational grounded utopia , apparently so distant to us - is precisely what is needed for us today. 
An interesting  passionate and varied life, he hated the age he lived, its commerce, its poverty, its industry, but most of all he hated its individualistic, selfish system of values. At the end of his life  he explained.

"The study of history and the love and practice of art forced me into a hatred of  the civilisation which, if things were to stop as they are  would turn history into inconsequent nonsense, and make art a collection  of the curiosities of the past."  

His words still have powerful resonance in our own turbulent times.

No Master  

Saith man to man, We've heard and known
  That we no master need
To live upon this earth, our own,
  In fair and  mainly deed,
The grief of slaves long passed away
  For us hath forged the chain,
Till now  each worker's patient day
  Builds up the House of Pain.

And we, shall we too, crouch and quall.
  Ashamed, afraid of strife,
And lest our lives untimely fail
  Embrace the Death in Life?
Nay, cry aloud, and have no fear,
  We few against the world;
Awake, arise! the hope we bear
  Against the curse is hurled.

It grows and grows - are we the same,
  The feeble hand,  the few?
Or, what are these with  eyes aflame,
  and hands to deal and do?
This is the lost  that bears the word,
  NO MASTER HIGH OR LOW-
A lightning flame, a shearing sword,
  A storm to overthrow.

All For The Cause

Hear a word, a word in season, for the day is drawing
      nigh,
When  the Cause shall call upon us, some to live, and some
       to die!

He that dies shall not die lonely, many an one hath gone
      before;
He that lives shall bear no burden  heavier than the life they
      bore.

Nothing ancient in their story, w'en but yesterday they bled,
Youngest they of earth's beloved, last of the valiant dead.

E'en the tidings we are telling was the tale they had to tell,
E'en the hope that our hearts cherish, was the hope for
      which they fell.

In the grave where tyrants thrust them, lies their labour
     and  their pain,
But undying from their sorrow springeth up the hope again.

Mourn not  therefore, nor lament it, that the world outlives
        their life;
Voice and vision yet they give us, making among our hands
        for strife.

Some had name, and fame, and humour,  learn'd they were,
       and wise and strong;
Some were nameless, poor, unletterred, weak in all but grief
        and wrong.

Named and nameless, all live in us; ne and all they had
      us yet
Every pain to count for nothing every sorrow to forget.

Hearken how they cry, "O happy, happy ye were
      born
In the sad slow night's departing, is the rising of the morn.

"Fair the crown the Cause hath for you, well to die or well
      to live
Through the battle, through the tangle, peace to gain or
      peace to give."

Ah, it may be! Oft mescemeth, in the days that yet shall be,
When no slave of gold abideth 'twist the breadth of sea to
       sea,

Oft, when men and maids are merry, ere the sunlight leaves
        the earth,
And they bless the day, beloved, all too short for all their
       mirth,

Some pause awhile and ponder on the bitter days of
       old,
Ere the toil of strife and battle overththrew the curse of gold;

Then 'twist lips  of loved and lover solemn thoughts of us
      shall rise;
We who were once fools and dreamers, then shall  be the leave and wise.

There amidst the world new-builded shall our earthly deeds
       abide.
Through our names be all forgotten, and the tale of how we
      died.

Life or death then, who shall heed it, what we gain or what
        we lose?
Fair flies life amid the struggle, and the Cause for each shall
        choose.

Hear a word, a word in season, for the day is drawing nigh,
When the Cause hall call upon  us, some to live, and some
        to die!

Solidarity with disability protesters being silenced now.

Solidarity with disability cut protesters  at the House of Commons earlier.  The BBC and ITV were been told to stop filming  because it might encourage campaigners to stage similar stunts. So above here's a photo. Not that we are used to viewing anything contentious on our mainstream  news media. Business as usual. Strange that the BBC saw fit to try and report it though  because when an anti-austerity protest was attended by over 50,000 people recently, they decided not to report it and bury the news.
Following yesterdays post, it is worth noting that welfare cuts have already killed more people by their own government in the UK  than terrorists have killed in Europe. The deaths will continue. Sad to report of anyone under attack, these facts  might not prove popular, but I believe that the sickest and most vulnerable deserve to have headlines of their own as well. 
Yes terrorists are evil , but we should forget that out own Governments in order to govern, has been allowed to get away with murder, punishment and spite, directed against the most vulnerable. 
My heart goes out to all victims. May they all get the justice they deserve. 
Campaigners voices continually must be heard.

Brussels blast.

Sad to hear  that at least  26 have died and many injured after blasts erupted in Brussels airport this morning. This comes  after last weeks arrest of main suspect in the deadly Paris attacks, Salah Abdeslam.
This attack part of a nihilistic movement that many are calling fascist in nature. Carried out by those with a warped negative view of humanity. Seeking not justice, but apocalypse and destruction.  Seeking it seems  to spread ethnic hatred against one another,  trying to create deeper divisions over an ever fractured continent.
We must truly stand in solidarity, literally, side  by side, with the victims, in unity with all  forces who  fight the ideology of ISIS on whatever front. We must repel  this death cult, keep searching for answers,  these  forces of fascism can not be allowed to win. Condemn this indiscriminate use of violence as a way of achieving their ends. Acknowledge that many of the victims  of these atrocities are ordinary working class people, from  diverse backgrounds, and that this is indefensible. We must also extend our full solidarity to any who face possible racist attack, as a result of some sort of backlash. We must not allow civil liberties to  be lost in exchange for a false sense of security and justice.
 This  latest incident is horrible and very sad, so  lets hope that we can break the cycle rather than allow this to become the new normal.  Sadly though  the enemy is to be found within every country. We must not  forget that bombs do not discriminate,  daily bombs fall in Ankara, Turkey, in many other places too, too numerable to mention, all  human lives lost, matter too. The flag filters of tragedy does not just come to European countries.  Somehow we are France, and Belgium, but sometimes forget to be  Nigeria, Palestine, Lebanon, Ivory Coast, Burkino Faso, etc etc. All life is equal, all life matters.
We must not turn the blame, and the hatred  and use it on  refugees , fleeing the same evil, plus our own bombs, (in their own country's) this is their suffering too and is not just happening today, but everyday. 
My heart goes out to the family and friends of the dead and wounded. Let us pray for all humanity, the world is in chaos. 

Remember both  of those below want to eliminate  the grey zone