Palestinian Prisoners Day

Today marks Palestinian Prisoners Day, a day when the Palestinian people and supporters of justice and liberation for Palestine all over the world express  their support to Palestinian political prisoners of freedom.
In Palestine, political imprisonment is a central feature of Israeli Apartheid with over 20% of Palestinians facing imprisonment in their lifetime.
According to the Commission for Prisoners and Ex-Prisoner Affairs ;-
,http://www.addameer.org/news/joint-monthly-report-609-palestinians-arrested-during-month-march-2018  roughly 6,500 Palestinians are currently lanquishing in Israeli prisons and detention centers, including 350 children, 62 women (8 of whom are female child prisoners), 500 administrative detainees held without charge or trial. 1,800 prisoners who require medical care (700 of whom suffer from serious and chronic conditions), 6 parliamentarians, and 18 journalists. The youngest being a 12-year-old girl. All are treated with the same callousness regardless of age or gender, and UNICEF has said that Israel’s treatment of child detainees is in violation of international law and the Rights of the Child.
Since Israeli began its military occupation of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip in 1967, more than 800,000 Palestinians have been abducted and imprisoned by Israel.  This figure represents 20% of the total Palestinian population and 40% of the Palestinian male population. It also includes 10,000 women imprisoned since 1967 and more than 200 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons as a result of torture and lack of medical care. Furthermore, 8,000 Palestinian children have been arrested since 2000.
Under international law and conventions, including the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War (the Third Geneva Convention), the Fourth Geneva Convention and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1966, Israel is legally bound to exercise its powers for the benefit of the occupied area and its people.
Palestinian Prisoner Day was founded to remind the world of the thousands of Palestinian political prisoners imprisoned in Israeli prisons or detention centers without charge or trial for extensive periods of time. The number of Palestinian detainess increases as Israeli occupying forces continue to wage campaigns of arbitrary arrests and detentions against thousands of Palestinian prisoners. Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails continue to be subject to wide-ranging violations of their rights
and dignity.
 The numbers of Palestinian women detained has also increased,. Investigations have revealed that prisoners are regularly subject to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, including poor detention conditions, in violation of Israel's obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law.
Out of the total number of detainees, 48 had spent more than 20 successive years in prison, 25 spent more than 25 years and 12 having spent more than 30 years.
The longest serving are Kareem Younis and Maher Younis, who have been in detention for 35 years, and Nael Barhoutti, who served 24 years in Israeli prisons and released during one of the prisoner exchange deals  but was later re-arrested to continue his previous life sentence and an additional 18 years.
These are some of the  reasons that I support Palestine  Prisoner Day  and continue  to support the international communities efforts to ensure the immediate and effective measures to ensure that Israel releases all unlawfully detaned prisoners, and ensures that conditions of arrest are consistent with international human rights and humanitarian law.

Take action 


http://samidoun.net/2012/04/palestinian-prisoners-day-take-action-to-call-for-freedom-for-palestinian-prisoners/


https://www.palestinecampaign.org/campaigns/childprisoners/

LOWKEY - McDONALD TRUMP

Lowkey fearless rapper with a purpose returns, and hits back at Donald Trump.

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Official Video for Lowkey - McDonald Trump

Produced by Nutty P Mixed by Guy Buss

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.....

May must resign

A message from a friend. Please share

May I request that you rally together all MP's that opposed the insane bombing in Syria on the night of the 13th/14th April 2018, ie  SNP, Greens,and other voices of reason and logic etc, so that on Monday 16th April 2918, when the UK Parliament meets. a motion is presented, or if that is not possible a series of individual calls, for the Prime Minister and her Cabinet to resign.

A constitutional protocol or agreement was established  in response to the UK Parliament being deceived by Blair, using false intelligence, regarding weapons of mass destruction, into declaring a catastrophic war on Iraq. The agreement being that all Prime Minister's relinquish sole right to their previously held ability to use substantial armed force against another sovereign state without having to consult the UK Parliament first.

This agreement was not only broken by Prime Minister May and her Cabinet, when they ordered the UK military to take part in the attack on Syria without first consulting parliament. They also repeated a version of Blairs deception, by ignoring a basic civilized  rule of justice and failing to wait for any substantiated evidence to be collected, nothing analysed, before making inflammatory accusations regarding the alleged chemical attack in Douma. As such they acted as no more than a lynch mob when ordering air strikes that clearly risked a potential catastrophic confrontation with Russian forces, which the Russians had explicitly warned they would not tolerate.

As such May and her  Cabinet should be forced to resign, as they have perverted the constitution and are a clear risk to both the national security of the UK as well as the welfare and safety of its citizens.That the UK Government has chosen to bypass Parliament in this instance is simply not acceptable and makes a mockery of our so called democracy and the international rules of law which on an exceptional basis, allows to take measures in order to alleviate overwhelming humanitarian suffering. Why single out Syria, there are many other countries one could mention where thousands of people are routinely murdered.

The hypocrisy is amazing. Theresa May and  her toxic co must go.

No to bombing Syria

Currently the warmongerers are gathering, planning to bomb Syria, after a recent chemical attack,  Theresa May has put RAF bombers on standby to start airs strikes in Syria. Donald Trump has vowed to take action .The stakes are obviously extremely high, but opinion polls suggest public opinion is firmly against military action. Only 22% of respondents in a YouGov Poll said they would support airstrikes on Syria. More bombing would prolong the agony of the Syrian people and risk causing a catastrophic war with Russia.
I can understand the ongoing tragedy of the situation in Syria, and people who argue that non-intervention has a price as well as intervention, and that letting people get away with the use of chemial weapons will only encourage them to do it again. But the argument which takes us from those statements  to 'we must bomb Syrian military forces or fatalities' is seriously lacking in logic and reason, and simply attacking anyone who questions this and being a supporter of Russia is just nonsense. The gassing of civilians, if confirmed, must not go unpunished. But while retaliation may briefly relieve western guilt over the Syrian tragedy and boost Mr Trump’s self-image, it cannot be a substitute for a peaceful solution.
The conflict in Syria has a deep and complex history. An estimated 100,000 Syrian people have lost their lives, and nearly 2 million have been forced to leave their country, torn apart by civil war and competing global and regional powers. We know that innocent people, often women and children pay for war and aggression and there is  no end in sight. A US military strike will not end the violence. We must not forget that the UK and the USA has been bombing other countries for over a decade, the cost being massive regional instability, terrible loss of millions of innocent lives. Doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results meets Albert Einsteins definition of madness. More likely, it will trigger a massive regional conflict, and  will destroy the infrastructure the Syrian people desperately need to stabilize and rebuild their country.
Dropping more bombs on this devastated country will only add to the nightmare already in existence. Military action action against Assad will  not make the situation better for the people of Syria, it will most probably make a perilous situation much worse.  We should do whatever is possible to urge our Government from leading us into another dangerous war. Air strikes in Syria could risk devastating consequences. War is an act of terrorism too, only on a bigger budget. Do we stoke and inflame an ongoing tragedy? There is a very real danger that the Middle East could face the catastrophe of a regional war, and that Trump, backed by May, could fan the flames. Where is their concern for the welfare of civilians when we see Israeli snipers targetting unarmed Palestinian civilians in Gaza?  Do we really need more blood on our hands? Not in my name.
Stop the illegal war demo has been called by the Stop the War coalition today at 5 PM Downing Street, there will also be protests across the country over the weekend and another demonstration called for Parliament Square Monday 5.30 pm.

Oppose Trump and May's Plans for Escalation in Syria

http://stopwar.eaction.org.uk/lobby/SyriaEscalation

"So we are going to "war" are we? And how do we get out of this war once we have started it? Any plans anyone? What if there's a giganti srew up, whih wars do tend to usually produce? What happens then?" - Robert Fisk

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/theresa-may-syria-war-uk-chemical-weapons-attack-iran-iraq-thatcher-russia-a8300881.html

Fighting Times

People in society currently pecked into pieces
Politicians creating wastelands for generations,
Taking from the poor and giving it all to the rich
Division not progress their ultimate pitch,
Poisoning minds, creating wars of attrition
Continuing to blind us with fear and confusion,
With twisted morality, sullied emotion
Forces of capitalism, driving us in one direction,
Planned poverty,leaving victims in its wake
Homelessness growing that the government make,
Food banks growing in this age of austerity
People daily waking up to distorted reality,
In Grenfell tower people died, government indignation negligible
No deaths in a Salisbury cafe, government reaction incredible,
Their systematically treating us with derision
With conscious games that simply imprison,
Daily now the balancing acts of life hard to handle
People broken, beaten, continue to be strangled,
Held captive by forces of misery and mockery
Time, to take a stand, make demands that set us free;
Break the bonds that bind us, the walls that hide us
Plant seeds of rebellion, rise back in disgust,
Growing stronger, lifting voices high
So loud they will be unable to drown our cry.
Together we are capable of inducing chain reactions
Generating effects that take away maddening distractions,
Leaving the present behind, that is ever so profound
Keep fighting for our lives, until the next round.

Poem can also be found here:-

https://iamnotasilentpoet.wordpress.com/2018/04/12/fighting-times-by-dave-rendle/

Emiliano Zapata - Mexican Social Revolutionary (8/8/1879 - 10/4/1919)

Emiliano Zapata born on August 8, 1879, in Anencuila, Mexico, was a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution  of 1910 against the dictatorship  of Porfirio Diaz. He is considered to be one of the national heroes of Mexico. The son of a peasant of indigenous blood who trained and sold horses. At age seventeen  he was orphaned and was forced to raise his brothers and sisters.
He grew furious at the injustices suffered by his neighbors whose lives depended  upon the small pieces of  land they farmed. All the villagers lands were threatened, however by the corrupt government of Porfirio Diaz.
When a nearby hacienda owner stole land from the peasants. Zapata began battles to get the peasants land back to them.In 1897 he was arrested for taking part in a protest by the peasants, against the hacienda/plantations that had appropriated their lands and soon after was drafted into the army. He served six months, at which point he was discharged to a landowner to train horses in Mexico City.
Zapata became known as a man with a balanced judgement and humble values. He was partly influenced by an anarchist from Northern Mexico  named Ricardo Flores Magon. The influence on Magon on Zapata can be seen in the Zapatismo Plan de Ayala, but even more noticeably in the Zapatisto slogan 'Tierra y liberted' or 'land and liberty.' the title and maxim of Magon's most famous work. Zapata's introduction to anarchism came via a local schoolteacher by the name of Otilio Montana, who exposed Zapata to the works of Peter Kropotkin among others , while Zapata was at same time observing and beginning to participate in the struggles of the peasants in the land.
Zapata disliked the tyranny of a brutal central government that favoured the wealthy over the peasantry, an anarchist possibly, but Zapata was no Marxist, One famous attributed quote of his reads "One of the happiest days of my life was made when I made five or six hundred pesos from a crop of watermelons I raised all on my own,"
Zapata was, at his heart, a socialist who believed in fair access  to the means of production, which he believed would lead to prosperity for the community.Widely respected by his community, the village elected him to be their leader in 1909. By 1910, many of the common people were forced of their land . These injustices to his fellow Mexicans , forced Zapata to form a peasant army to fight for the rights and freedoms of the indigenous people. He joined fores with Francisco I. Madeiro however Zapata became disenchanted with Madero's lack of action toward land reform, as well as his lack of support for Zapata's 1911 Plan of Avala, which called for the return of lands to the indigenous peoples.
Zapata had a picturesque appearance,  big sombrero, with long  handlebar mustache, a pistol tucked into his belt, the quintessential Mexican Revolutionary, a  passionate man with strong ideals that he tried to put into practice.Personally incorruptible, he remained loyal through a decade of revolution to the cause of campesinos. In return the poor of Southern Mexico idolised him. When an old woman in an isolated village was asked what she thought of him, she answered, "us poor mountain Indians, go along hanging on tight to the tail of chief Zapata's horse."

After Victoriano Heurta overthrew Madero , Zapata joined forces with the legendary Pancho Villa, who was leading an army of Madero supporters in the North of the country.During the first weeks of 1910, Zapata continued to build his organization, training and equipping his men and consolidating his authority as their leader. The revolution took it bloody course with Villa fighting in the northern part of Mexico, while Zapata remained mainly south of Mexico City.

On 11 May  his peasant army began the Battle of Cuautla  and on  May 19, after a week of extremely fierce fighting with government troops, the Zapatistas took the town of Cuautla. Only forty-eight hours later, Francisco Madero and the Mexican government signed the Treaty of Crudad Juarez which ended the presidency of Porfirio Diaz and named Franisco Leon de la Barra, former ambassador to Washington , as interim president.

Madero was elected president in November 1911, and Zapata met with him again with no success.With help of a teacher  Otilio Montano, Zapata prepared the Plan of Avala, which  declared Madero incapable of fulfilling the plans of the revolution.They vowed to return stolen land to the people, by expropriating, with payment, a third of the area of the haciendas,those haciendas that refused to accept the plan would have their lands expropriated without compensation. The peasants rallied to Zapata's support.
With Zapata's Revolution an ongoing event, in 1913, General Vitoriano Heurta assassinated Madero who then took control of the country under a dictatorship. It there was anyone that Zapata   hated more than Diaz and Madero, it was Heurta, who had been responsible for many atrocities in southern Mexico while trying to end the rebellion. Zapata was not alone. In the north the legendary Pancho Villa, who has supported Madero, immediately took to the field against Heurta. He was joined by two newcomers to the Revolution, Venustiano Carranzo and Alvaro Obregon.
Together they made short work of Heurta, who resigned and fled in June of 1914 after repeated military losses to the "Big Four." Zapata did not recognise the authority that Carranza asserted as leader of the revolutionary movement, and continued his adherance to the Plan de Ayala. Zapata and Villa broke with Carranza, and Mexico descended into civil war. Zapata focussed his energies on rebuilding society in Morelos which he now controlled, instituting the land reforms of the Plan de Ayala. As Carranza consolidated his power and defeated Villa in 1915, Zapata initiated guerilla warfare against the Carrancistas, who in turn invaded Morelos, employing scorched earth tactics to oust the Zapatista rebels. Zapata once again retook Morelos in 1917, and held most of the state against Carranza's troops.
In this year Carranza's army defeated Villa though which left Zapata isolated. Carranza was elected president and threatened by Zapata's enormous popularity,  maliciously set about plants to get rid of Zapata once and for all. On April 10th, 1919 Zapata was led into a trap where 400 of his enemies lie in wait. Hidden snipers on surrounding rooftops opened fire, riddling him with bullets. His body was photographed and put on display so that there would be no doubt that he was dead to those that continued to support him, before being buried in Cuadutla. Zapata's assassination backfired on Carranza , who was forced to flee the capital the following year, with Zapata becoming the apostle of the revolution and a symbol of dispossessed peasants. Support among the people of Morelos grew and they continued to support the Zapatista forces, providing them with weapons, supplies and protection. To many Zapata still rides in the hills intent on finishing the job he began on November 28, 1911- the date of the Plan of Ayala..He also remains a symbol of freedom to the oppressed of the world. Zapata's influence  has endured , and continues to be one of the most inspirational figures of any social  justice movement, and his agrarian reform movement, remains important to many Mexicans today. where he is considered a folk hero and is revered as a revolutionary figure.celebrated for continuing his fight for land and liberty for the poor and oppressed
Zapata's motto; "It's better to die on your feet, than live on your knees," was a plea to dignity to ordinary citizens.Zapata’s influence has endured long after his death,  many of his generals and followers rose to power in 1920 and managed to institute many of the land reforms that Zapata had spent his life fighting for. Zapata remains a national hero and an icon of Mexican culture.

In 1994, a guerrilla group calling itself the Zapatista Army of National Liberation launched a peasant uprising in the southern state of Chiapas  fighting for the political rights for Mexico's native Indian population,the the Zapatistas take their name from Emiliano Zapata  Their most famous voice is Subcommander Marcos. The struggle continues.

Peoples history of the Mexican  Revolution ' La Revolucion  Mexicano 

70th anniversary of Dier Yassin massacre

Today  the Palestnian people mark the 70th year of Dier Yassin .An Arab village cleared out in 1948 by Jewish forces in a heatbreaking massacre just weeks before Israel was formed.The village  lay outside of the area assigned by the United Nations to the 'Jewish State'. It had a peaceful reputation, the Deir Yassin villagers had signed a non aggression pact with the leaders of the adjacent Jewish Quarter, Giv'at Shaul and had even refused military personnel from the Arab Liberation Army from using the village as a base.
But it was located on high ground in the corridor between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Deir Yassin was slated for ocupation under Plan Dalet and the mainstream Jewish defense force, the Haganah, authorized the irregular terrorist frces of the Irgun and the Stern Gang to perfrm the takeover.
Early in the morning Commanders of the Irgun (headed by Menachim Begin) and the Stern Gang attacked Deir Yassin a village with about 750 Palestinian residents. By the time  the villagers realized the intensity of the terrorist attack, hundreds were already dead, the Zionist militia  murdered over 250 Palestinian villagers, men, women, children and the elderly, in cold blood wounding  many others. 53 orphaned children were literally dumped along the wall of the Old City, where they were found by Miss Hind Husseini and brought behind the American Colony Hotel to her home, which was to become the Dar El-Tifi El- Arabi orphanage.
 The Deir Yassin massacre outraged many Jews at the time. The day after the massacre, Albert Einstein wrote a letter of protest to Ben Gurion. Six months later, Einstein and Hannah Arendt and many others were signatories to a letter to the New York Times, denouncing Menachem Begin, and warning Americans not to support him.  “It is inconceivable that those who oppose fascism through out the world, if correctly informed as to Mr. Begin’s political record and perspectives, could add their names and support to the movement he represents”, they said in the letter.
A year later the settlement  Kafar Shaul was founded on this site. In the 1980's the remains of Dier Yassin were bulldozed to make room for new settlements. The streets of these new neighbourhoods were  shamefully named after members of the Irgun family.Also today, a psychiatric hospital occupies the center of what was Deir Yassin village, restricting access to its fortified stone homes standing defiantly against the grid of generic Israeli settlement buildings constructed on stolen land.
For Palestinians and their supporters, the massacre is a symbol. It is remembered as the pivotal onset of the 1948 Nabka; Deir Yassin is the "other shoe that fell," sparking over 750,000 to flee from their homes out of a fear that they too would be massacred. What happened in Deir Yassin prepared the ground for the ethnic cleansing of 70% of the Palestinian people. The same ethnic cleansing that occurred then is still going on today. In 1948 they used direct massacres, but today they use airstrikes  and shoot innocent young Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.This stain in history marks more thany anywhere else the Palestinian sense of dispossession.
Seventy years later the Deir Yassin massacre still remains an important reminder of Israel’s systematic measures of displacement, destruction, dispossession, and dehumanization.In keeping with Simon Wiesenthal's observation that "Hope lives when people remember," the suffering of the Jews has been rightly acknowledged and memorialised. But there are few memorials for Palestinians who died in 1948 and since. Their history, in which the massacre at Deir Yassin is a very significant event, but has been largely buried and forgotten. And yet, like the descendants of the victims in Armenia (1915-17), in the Soviet Union (1929-53), in Nazi Germany (1933-45), in China (1949-52, 1957-60, and 1966-76), and in Cambodia (1975-79), the descendants of Palestinians want the world to remember what they suffered, what they lost and why they died. The calculated efforts by Israel to completely erase the history, narrative and physical presence of the Palestinian people will not be simply ignored or forgotten. It also serves to ask ourselves the question what  turns a victim into an abuser,a bully that keeps blaming its victims? And over the years we've been taught many things, that invasion was not invasion, occupation was not occupation, apartheid was not apartheid,ethnic cleansing was not ethnic cleansing,and that land theft was not land theft and Palestine was not Palestine.
And Seven decades later , Palestinians continue to be killed with apparent impunity, as ongoing events in the Gaza Strip demonstrate, and modern day Palestinians in occupied  East Jerusalem and the West Bank continue to face widespread illegal settlement expansion and home demolitions, but  the Palestinian peoples collective voice can still be heard from the refugee camps of Lebanon, Jordan and Syria, to the towns of the West Bank and Gaza, to the ghettos inside the Israeli green line. This determination and resilience has earned them respect and support of an increasing number of people around the world. Despite the humiliation and pain of their  occupation, you can't kill their  indomitable spirit and struggle.

Phil Monsour , featuring Rafeef Ziadh - The Ghosts of  Dier Yassin

Swirling Dream

( Following poem dedicated to Kurt Cobain, (20/2/67 - 5/4/94) among others lost, who on April 8, 1994, was found dead in his home in Seattle, his death was ruled a suicide by a self- inflicted shotgun wound to is head)

Swirling Dream

Sometimes the air around gets lost
Rain hits cheeks, drenching with sadness,
Fill lungs with nicotine, cans of poison
Go searching for Oblivion,
Waiting in the dark for sustenance
Some hi ho silver lining,
In transcendent state of mind
Gardens become blankets,
The only dragon that flies here
Is powered by love and light,
The deeper I wander, get closer to Nirvana
Subconscious particles of mind get clearer,
As the evening hangs still, among the silence
The whisper of leaves, scents that hypnotize,
I touch the moon and stars with my fingertips
In the distance hear the sound of angels calling,
Life's flickering candle rekindles, reawakens
On the threshold of dream, night turns to dawn.

Friends continue legacy of Gaza sand sculptor killed during Land Day protest

Israeli troops have shot dead seven Palestinian protesters and wounded at least 200 along the Israeli/Gaza  border Gaza medical offficials have said , since last Friday's Land Day demonstrations  raising the death toll to 27 in the week long disturbances.
Last Fridays demonstration was the second in as many weeks planned, a week long sit-in dubbed the Great March of Return.
Its main message is to call for the right to return for Palestinian refugees who were driven from their homes in the territories taken over by Israel during the 1948 war, known to Arabs as the Nabka.
Israel has since drawn sharp criticism internationally for its open-fire orders along the border, including its warnings that those approaching or trying to damage its fences would be targeted. While the world watched they used excessive force, against peaceful protesters firing live ammunition , tear gas and rubber coated steel bullets.
Palestinian Gaza based artist, Mohammed Abu Amir, 19, pictured above, was one of those killed. He was  killed a day after sculpting the words " I will return" on Gaza Beach.
Mohammed was the second member of his family to be killed by Israel. His brother Ehab, 21, was killed in 2008, during a clash east of Gaza City.
Mohammed once said, " Be optimistic, set a goal and plan for your life and make your personality open to others, then you can live happily," will now be able to continue to address the young generation through his work, but they will live on as posts on his facebook account for those who want to recall his sculptures, and though his friends who continue his legacy.

http://mondoweiss.net/2018/04/friends-continue-sculptor/

Theresa May and the Conservative Party's Toxic Politics of division that are aided by the media

Theresa May is against so much, just look at her voting record, and what she has done since she became Prime Minister. She is Anti-NHS, Anti-working class, Anti-free school meals,Anti-pensioners,,Anti-students,Anti-homeless people,Anti welfare.Anti- Trade Unions,Anti- Laws to promote equality and Human Rights, Anti - those that seek asylum, Anti- tackling tax evasion
Anti-wildlife, Anti- environment Anti- world peace,Anti- legal aid, Anti- a fairer society, Anti- helping people in financial need, Anti-social housing.Anti- secure tenancies for life, Anti - an unbiased media. The list is endless.
Despite this the media give her an easy ride, while she continues to deliver her toxic policies of division. Capitalism's dedicated servant,  driven by vanity and her thirst for power, who joined up with Northern Ireland's, Democratic Unionist Party in a desperate attempt to cling on to her party's majority in Parliament. As unemployment, homelessness, despair continues to rise, this vicar's daughter shamelessly carries on , leaving the marginalised  adrift ,paying her game of divide and rule, with her plans for Universal Credit, people on welfare payments who are already facing the most gruelling of times, face an even harder one. Her plans will also effect millions of people actually in work too. It's a mess of her own making, one of conscious cruelty.
Tory cuts too mean that spending on local government services in England  has fallen by 33 billion in the past 5 years, and it is the most deprived areas that have been the hardest hit, some facing an overall drop of 20 percent or more in spending. Crippling councils and public services. As a result many local authorities are struggling to provide support for vulnerable children and families, Also as a result of  Tory policies, some 3 million children in Britain risk going hungry in the school holidays when they don't have school dinners, and  austerity has led to around 120,000 deaths.Tory policies really do cost lives, as they callously  keep ignoring the needs of the poor, the disabled and mentally ill. Lest us forget her chaotic approach to Brexit..
This is the world that Theresa May and her party have built. Do do we simply allow them to stagger on, with their wreckage, savaging the NHS, ignoring the homeless, holding down public sector pay, scapegoating Muslims , migrants and attacking disabled people,and recently putting the finger of blame on the Russians for a poison incident, despite having no  proof whatsoever, except in her closed mind, who should have seeked more evidence before placing the Kremlin in the frame. And then there is the case of her party pocketing millions from regimes that back extremism, Saudi Arabia for example, and at same time a small  group of millionaires continue to  bankroll her, for their own interests..
Yet the  mainstream media  generally casually ignores all this,and simply carries on with their rolling attacks of anything that  alternative voices say, for instance that of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn  who gets daily criticized  for anything he says or does, because of their owners own agendas. One of the worst perpetrators in all of this is the rag that goes by the tile 'Daily Mail', a so called newspaper that stood with Hitler and Oswald Mosely's fascists, a paper that only threes years ago ran a cartoon comparing refugees to vermin, that under the editorship of Paul Dacre declares that Corbyn is worse than the BNP. Surely even the most unaware among us, should  begin to question this ongoing narrative.
With news that right wing papers have been secretly recording Jews at religious events to 'prove' their antisemitism, it seems that anything resembling informal,impartial debate has been abandoned.Hence me letting of steam here,. Remember large sections of the billionaire  owned media have spent decades orchestrating  hatred and lies against all sorts of people, muslims, feminists,  the Irish,, LGBT  people, the unemployed, single mums, trade unionists,  immigrants of all stripes (including Jews)  and many more besides.And now we are supposed to believe that they have suddenly a solemn reverence to Jewish people. Antisemtism still needs to be stamped on, wherever it lies, inside the Labor Party and outside, but now seems to be being stirred up simply to attack Jeremy Corbyn, a man who has spent his whole life fighting racism in all its forms.
Billionaire newspaper owners like Lord Rothermore, Rupert Murdoch and the Barclay brothers,living in tax exile, have their own vested interests, and are desperate to keep Theresa May and the Conservatives in power, to allow themselves to keep protecting the status quo and the establishment,which they are part of, now openly displaying their right wing political bias, using their press to frame peoples perceptions and outlooks.
Despite this it has at least led to an explosion of independent media recently. Outlets like the Canary, Another Angry Voice, Evolve politics etc have at least sprung up  to provide a counter narrative to the established media. Independent voices that truly fight for our corner, instead of relaying propaganda on behalf of May and her mates. Sadly though it is is the right wing press, particularly the tabloids, that have the widest reach and so have the biggest impact on our political landscape, imaginations and conversations
Hopefully people nowadays with the onset of social media can see through  all this, and recognise for themselves, the need to continue to question this ongoing narrative, realise that their own futures do not look bright with May still in power, and to read beyond the spin in the daily press.May's government is in paralysis and beyond incompetence. This  is a toxic party, toxic government, but increasingly looking fragile, but still protected by their media. For the  many not the few, enough is enough,  its time, for them  to go. Hopefully they will be severely punished in the upcoming spring local elections. There you are rant over.

Martin Luther King (15/1/29 -4/4/68) His Prophetic Last speech : I been to the mountaintop

This is the last speech given  by Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr, delivered on April 3, 1968 to a crowded church, in Memphis Tennessee. King spoke of the injustice he felt for the city's sanatoriam workers who were on strike protesting low pay and poor working conditions.
Amid the call for African-Americans to boycott businesses that mistreated workers , he delivered a sermon, without notes, that focused on his life and disavowed any concern that he might be killed for his role in the fight for civil rights.
'Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about tat now,' the Rev. Mr King said that evening. 'I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you, But I want you to know tonight, that we as people , will get to the promised land,!'
Now known as ' I've been to the Mountaintop,' the sermon was called King's ' ,most apocalyptic' y King scholar James Washington.
He was assassinated in Memphis, Tennesee the next day, today April 4, 1968. If you listen to the words, it's almost as if he was predicting his own death,  powerfully prophetic.His strong voice still speaking out and touching us.in this age of Trump and rising Bigotry we need voices like King's more than ever. A man who refused to dilute his ideas, with integrity and passion for the causes of equality, justice and freedom, long may we celebrate his brave voice and his powerful legacy.

A Different Drum

I march to the beat of a different drum
Through life keep dreaming on.
Carrying poetry deep in my soul
Following music that I must share,
Standing alone though I try to blend in
Keep on dancing while I listen,
Speaking about the abandoned
To those that are willing to listen,
Beyond political grief, apolitical despair
Finding enough reasons to continue to care,
Beyond man made borders
Discovering gifts of imagination,
Finding principles to guide
Pondering about ways we could all be free,
Falling in holes along the way
Sipping from bottles of mindfulness,
Journeying on with decimating attitude
Unpredictable thought, keeps on beating,
Glittering and glimmering under sunbeams
As rhythms of the heart.keep on beating.

Anniversary of Poll Tax Riots that led to Margaret Thatcher's downfall

On  31st March 1990 people took to the streets of London and fought  back against Margaret Thatchers'  hated  and controversial  ideological driven 'Community Charge', which was first  introduced in Scotland in 1989, and the following year  the flat rate tax was then introduced in England and Wales in 1990, which forced people to pay a flat tax to fund local services irrespective of their wealth or income, leading to a massive backlash, and widely condemned at the time by social campaigners as it meant the rich now paid the same rate of tax as the poor. The main objections were the fact that the same amount was paid by everyone, regardless of their ability to pay, and that liability was determined by being on the electoral roll. Thus it was dubbed the 'Poll Tax'. Thatcher was famously stubborn,  and refused to reconsider.
She should have, because ,the introduction of the poll tax was widely unpopular from the outset, and increased when tax rates set by many local councils turned out to be much higher than initially predicted resulting in Thatcher's increased unpopularity. Local groups opposed to the tax , known  as Anti-Poll Tax Unions sprung up across Britain, encouraging non payment, organising protests, and resisting bailiffs. But I remember the Labour Party at the time  shamefully announcing at their 1988 conference that they would not support those who refused to pay.
However despite of this failure a number of groups were created by activists on the left to support the non-payment of the tax and assist those who experienced legal troubles as a result of non-payment. The most important of these groups was the All Britain Anti-Poll Tax Federation (ABAPTF), organised by Militant, which used the local trade unions to help build a campaign of non-payment. The Socialist Workers Party, the other major far left organisation in Britain at the time, had a much more ambivalent attitude towards non-payment and the ABAPTF, which allowed Militant to become the dominant group campaigning against the Poll Tax. Outside of the Trotskyist far left, several anarchist groups also supported non-payment, especially the Anarchist Communist Federation who produced a pamphlet called Beating the Poll Tax (ACF 1990). People were encouraged not to stump up the money under the slogan "Can Pay, Won't Pay."
On this day, over 250,000 people sweeped into London, for many people it was not a case of wanting to demonstrate, it was a case of having too. There was no choice, this cruel tax would have seriously impacted on peoples lives.Most people on the day of this demonstration, arrived unaligned - ordinary people, families, pensioners, the unemployed, students, black  and white, all united as one to fight against this immoral tax.
The overriding opinion of the time,is that what started as a peaceful protest, with an almost carnival feel to it against an illegal tax was quickly turned into a bloody battle  by uniformed thugs acting under Thatcher's orders, with aided and abetted by agent provocateurs.Police shut an over-full Trafalgar Square at 2.30pm and blocked off either end of Whitehall, leading to a mass sit-in near the entrance to Downing Street.  After requests to move along were ignored, they began to arrest demonstrators.
 At 4pm, the use of  charged mounted police aggravated the situation, leading to many peaceful bystanders  with heads streaming with blood. A very frightening experience. as mounted police began to push marchers out to the corners of the square, skirmishes began. Police vans were struck and officers were pelted with building materials, while a fire broke out at the adjacent South African embassy.

Later, police pushed demonstrators out of Trafalgar Square, sending some towards Soho and away from their transport near the river.  Some marchers, angered by police tactics, overturned and set cars alight, and smashed a number of shop windows.some looting began, and small groups began skirmishing with police, such was the anger and rage unleashed. I for one will never condemn the anger unleashed on this day in 1990, it is the inevitable  result of what happens when you push people to far..
By the end of the day, 339 people were arrested (mainly for public order offences) and 86 people were injured. Out of 2,198 police officers on duty, 374 of them had been injured, with 58 requiring hospital treatment. Materially, there were around 250 reports of property damage as well,  the cost of which was later estimated at £400,000.
To this day many people  lay the responsibility of the violence that happened on this day, firmly on the shoulders of Thatcher and her government. Despite the demonisation of the protesters in the mass media,  people still refused to pay, the campaign  flourished, culminating in millions of people's non payment, bailiffs  were resisted, courts unable to cope because of opposition and active resistance as more and more people said "can't pay, won't pay"
It would see the Poll Tax  becoming uncollectable  and unviable and eventually being destroyed, the tax was abolished in 1993 some £2bn in arrears.Thatcher’s popularity was at an all time low, the poll ratings of the Tories were dire and sections of the Tory Party – representing the interests of the ruling class – decided she had to go along with her “flagship” policy. It was Thatcher’s refusal to back down over the poll tax that ultimately brought her downfall..
Thatcher resigned in November 1990 and on 21 March the poll tax was abolished , and Thatcher's  successor John Major announcing its replacement by the  more progressive council tax, which at least took some account into peoples ability to pay, which  is  still in operation to this day. In her own memoirs she cited the abandonment of the poll tax as “one of the greatest victories for these people [the working class – especially anti-poll tax campaigners] ever conceded by a Conservative government.”
Many years  later, the same simmering resentment towards the Conservative Government still exists. It seems that the tories have still not learnt from  their past mistakes,with  the introduction of  , universal credit and other horrors. The resistance to the  Poll Tax is  a reminder to all people who say it is impossible to fight back and that with clear. purpose and united mobilisation, it is possible to  defeat the forces of reaction
.

Poll Tax Riot 1990

Thatcher Poll Tax Riots 1990

Palestinian Land Day:The Scent of Longing.

30th March, is the day when Palestinians commemorate Land Day, marking  over 50 years of Palestinian land confiscation and dispossession, Since Israel occupied the West Bank 50,0000 homes and structures have been demolished to make way for over half a million Israelis to settle in Occupied Palestinian Territories. These settlements have been condemned by the United Nations in 2016 as 'a fragrant violation of international law.' Yet they continue to grow. My local Amnesty International Group, have been giving out leaflets  today asking people to sign a letter to the Foreign Secretary asking that the UK bans the sale of Israeli settlement products in UK markets and stops companies in the UK from operating in settlements or trading in settlement goods.
March 30 has been a day of resistance of Palestinians worldwide since 1976 when Israeli forces carried out a lethal and brutal military attack on unarmed Palestinians who were peacefully protesting against Israeli Apartheid land grab policies , their expropriation of 2,000 hectares of land surrounding Palestinian villages in the Galilee. Six Palestinians were killed and more than 100 were injured when Israeli forces crushed the protests. Every year since, Palestinian communities in Israel and the occupied territories have gathered to commemorate these events,remember those fallen, highlight Israels ongoing seizure of Palestinian land, and to reaffirm their connection to the land and their struggle for justice, standing united against oppression .
Palestinians are planning a massive demonstration beginning today through to May 15, the anniversary of the Nabka -"the catastrophe when more than 750,000 people were driven from their homes to make way for the creation of Israel. Israeli officials have threatened to respond with lethal force.Today many people across the globe will stand in solidarity with Palestinian resistance to Israel's ongoing land expropriation, colonisation, occupation and apartheid. Four decades after the first Land Day demonstrations, Israel continues its theft of Palestinian land. Israel continues to expand its illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, forcing Palestinians from their land.Still killing people, six confirmed so far today, many more injured, peaceful marchers met with snipers and a newly developed form of tear gas, simply for defending their land.
As a supporter of the Palestinian struggle for freedom I will continue to join other people of conscience in supporting the global led Boycott, Divestment and sanction (BDS)  campaign, intensifying our collective efforts to hold Israel accountable for its crimes against the Palestinian people.Respecting today the Palestinians inside Israel, the Israeli-Occupied Territories of the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza, and those in exile, who mark Land Day and view it as an assertion of the Palestinians' right to return to their homeland.

This day has inspired me to pen the following poem.

The Scent of Longing

In a land of occupation
Blood flows, as do tears.
But from the earth
Liberation grows,
In the dream of clouds
Confiscated land returned,
The scent of longing
Carried forward,
From ancient olive trees
Hangs the gift of self determination,
Despite great dispossession
Nourishment released to hearts,
To proud Palestinians
who still cling steadfast to their land
Where every name has its own poetry,
Walking with dignity in their eyes
From the rivers to the sea,
With quest for freedom ongoing
This place where passion never fades.

Buffy Sainte-Marie - The War Racket

Buff Sainte Marie - The War Racket , A Song about the people making big money from the guns and bullets killing and maiming people in Syria, Yemen, Venezuela, Turkey, the US of A etc etc. A powerful indictment of  the military industrial complex, a message that the world needs to hear right now.
After a career in music spanning 50 plus years, the 77 year old singer songwriter is still using her voice for change. Respect.

Animation by Kurt Swinghammer

Buffy Sainte - Marie- The War Racket

Ooo you're slick – you investors in hate
You Saddams and you Bushes; you Bin Ladens and snakes
You billionaire bullies; you're a globalized curse
You put war on the masses while you clean out the purse

and that's how it's done war after war
You old feudal parasites just sacrifice the poor
You've got the cutting edge weapons but your scam's still the same
as it's been since the Romans: it's the patriot game
It's the war racket

You twisters of language; you creeps of disguise
Your disinformation; like worms in your eyes
You privileged bankers; you gambler thieves
You profit on war; there's less money in peace

That's how it's done time after time
Country after country, crime after crime
You pretend it's religion and there's no one to blame
for the dead and impoverished in your little patriot game
Honey, that's the war racket

Got the world's greatest power and you team up with thugs
Make a fortune on weapons, destruction and drugs
But your flags & boots & uniforms start to all look the same
when both sides are killing in the patriot game: it's the war racket

And that's how it's done, and you've got our sons
in the crosshairs of horror at the end of a gun
and your national anthems start to all smell the same
when all sides are dying in the patriot game
It's the war racket

And war is never, ever holy
It's just a greedy men's dream
And you two-faced crusaders: both sides are obscene
War's not made by God: War's made by men
who misdirect our attention while you thieves do your thing

And that's how it's done
About every 30 years
The rich fill their coffers
The poor fill with tears
The young fill the coffins
The old hang a wreath
The politicians get photographed with their names underneath

It's the War Racket
It's the patriot game
It's the war racket

Writer: Buffy Sainte Marie, from the album:Medicine Wheel

Stop the Cardiff Arms Fair / Na i Ffair Arfau Caerdydd

Demonstration today Tuesday 27th of March from 8am – 5pm outside Motorpoint Arena, Mary Ann St. Cardiff, CF10 2EQ

Stop Arming Turkey - Stop Arming israel - Stop Arming Saudi Arabia - STOP the CARDIFF ARMS FAIR

What will be Happening throughout the day:

MASS CHOIR alternating with a NOISE DEMO and ACOUSTIC MUSIC

FOOD NOT BOMBS serving tea/coffee and food

COMMUNICATION BLOCKADE – Details below

Bring BANNERS, PLACARDS, POTS & PANS, WHISTLES – BRING YOURSELVES. STOP THE ARMS FAIR CARDIFF Supported by Campaign Against the Arms Trade UK

Make today count – if you can’t make it to Cardiff please get involved in the Communications Blockade.

As Turkey’s assault on the Kurdish people continues, Saudi Arabia’s war on the people of Yemen worsens and we continue to arm Israel, we really need to make our opposition to the arms trade felt.

The Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff needs to know that this ARMS FAIR (disguised by the name DPRTE) is not wanted in Cardiff or anywhere else. The event, proudly advertised on their website as ‘The Defence Procurement Event of The Year’, has BAE Systems as one of its main exhibitors, the worlds 3rd largest arms producer, the same company who supplies Saudi Arabia with all the weapons it needs to bomb the defenceless country of Yemen.An already impoverished country Yemenis now in the throes of a humanitiarian crisis as a result of these attacks using British made armaments, as shown in this video. youtube.com/watch?v=duMj19QYW5o

Let’s overwhelm them with phone calls, emails, Twitter and Instagram messages telling them this. Keep it polite, just state clearly your opposition to the event. You can also leave a message on their FB page.

Box Office: 029 2022 4488 (Opens 9:30 – 17:30)
Complaints: 02920 234 500
Press Team: 029 2023 4551
Hospitality: 029 2023 4555
E-mail: gabrielle.gifford@livenation.co.uk
E-mail: motorpointarenacardiff.sales@livenation.co.uk
Instagram: Mortorpointarenacardiff
Twitter: @MotorpointDiff

Any one who uses FaceBook or Twitter please share / tweet the event link below:

https://www.facebook.com/events/482045962209828/

We need to protest against such an event being held in Wales and show our opposition to the arms trade.

In a small town by a river

(dedicated to Morvenna)

In a small town by a river
There are many factors that guide,
Sometimes there is such a feeling of sadness
So deep it hurts to breathe,
When life slips to madness
And puts you on your knees,
But Laughter gives strength
Togetherness releases resilience,
Friendship provides comfort
Those who help give hope,
To people seeking independence
Fearlessness offers resistance,
Those who look on and do nothing
Have not much value to reach for,
Normal to some is such a silent place
To me this such a saddening thing,
I wish the world would question
Possibilities can be obtained,
Littering the earth with kindness
Proving that humanity exists.

Iconic Palestinian singer Rim Banna dies at 51 after battle with cancer (8 /12/66-24/3/18)

Yesterday the iconic Palestinian singer, composer, lyricist, activist Rim Banna sadly lost her long battle to breast cancer at the age of 51 in her home town of Nazareth.
Born in Nazareth, where she graduated from Nazareth Baptist School she was the daughter of Palestinian poet Zoheira Sabbagh and lived with her three children, Banna studied singing and conducting at the High Institute for Music in Moscow one of the worlds most challenging conservatory environments.After the release of two live records and six more years of formal study, she graduated from the institute in 1991. Tjat same year she married Ukrainian musician and former classmate Leonid Alexeianko, with whom she relocated to Nazareth. Upon the couples return to Banna's native region, she released a collection pf Palestinian children's songs that were on the edge of dissapearance.  The Dream (1993) served to preserve and re-popularize the nearly forgotten repetoire. Banna continued to seek out Palestine texts and set them to traditionally influenced music, becoming a cultural icon among the Palestinians. Having achieved stardowm in the region she became notworthy on an international level with her appearance on the 2003, various artists release Lullabies from the Axis of Evil. The record featured female singers from a variety of nations (deemed  enemies of freedom by George W. Bush) singing traditional lillabies alongside English language stars in the hope of introducing their music and culture to Western peoples. Her follow up The Mirrors of My Soul caught the attention of audiences the world over. Her population and reputation as a cultural advocate and political agitator continued to floursh. Banna performed the world over wirh patriotic music that called for an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Often hailed as 'the voice of Palestine,' Banna was also a messenger of revolution. Riding the waves of the Arab Spring. She set ancient and modern poems to music that is equally timeless. With a beautiful inspiring voice, enchanting performances and the sheer intensity of her interpretative gifts, she magnified and recast the politics of every verse, singing for love, humanity, childhood and homeland, with passion sang with the ecstatic spirit of freedom, shining a light of freedom where it has tet to shone upon. During the span of her musical career Banna released 10 albums most of which echoed words for the Palestinian cause.She would often appear wearing traditionally embroidered gowns and a keffiyeh scarf a symbol of Palestinian resistance and independence over her shoulders. Thee Palestinian Ministry of Culture honoured her prolific musical and artistic legacy by naming her Cultural Personality of the year in 2016.
The 51 year old had first discovered she was suffering from cancer in 2009. Her initial treatment had reigned her victorious over the disease, but it soon returned. Even then the singer still continued to sing passionately with such bravery. She always referred to her brutal battle against her illness as a battle against occupation. "just like Israel occupying our lands, cancer wants to occupy my body, and just like we resist occupation , I resisted my illness," she said in one of her latest videos.
Last week , her family issued a statement to highlight her deterorating medical condition, telling her fans that she was recieving treatment in one of the hospitals in Nazareth.
"She is continuing to resist... she will even announce new plans and reveal details of an upcoming musical tour," the statement read. and three weeks befored she passed away, she said goodbye, in her own way :" Life is beautiful and death is like history, a fake episode." Her mother wrote on her Facebook page:"My white gazelle departed. She took off the dress of sickness, and she left. But she left behind her bright smile which dissipates the scourge of seperation."
Bannab was laid to rest, in her hometown of Nazareth, on Saturday evening, hundreds of mourners gathered to pay their respect and chanted some of her songs during the funeral.
Rim Banna, Rest in power and peace. You left the world with a strong legacy for the Palestinians and the world to cherish. Free Palestine.

Like an innocent flower fighting darkness

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/like-an-innocent-flower-fighting-darkness_b_7884588.html

Rim Banna - A Time to cry

Rim Banna - Fly Love

Rim Banna - Sarah : In memory of Palestinian children killed by Israel

As Palestinian teenage activist Ahed Tamimi agrees to 8-month plea deal time to end illegal detention

Palestinian teenager Ahed Tamimi, who was videotaped slapping and kicking an Israeli soldier at her family's West Bank home, will serve eight months in prison, following a plea deal her defense attorney reached with military prosecutors on Wednesday evening.
Behind closed doors at Ofer miltary court in the West Bank, military prosecutors agreed to drop eight of 12 charges against the 17 year old, and  will have to pay a fine of 5,000 shekels 9about $1,430) who has been in military detention since December, who was 16 at the rime of her arrest. She will be given credit for time served leaving with five months on her sentence.
A statement from the Israel Defense Forces said Tamimi pleaded guilty to four charges of "criminal acts where she disrupted an IDF soldier and carried out incitement."
For the Palestinians she remains a hero after the December 15 incident outside her families home of Nabi Saleh was streamed live on facebook by her mother and it went viral. She has been called the Rosa Parks of Palestine .For years she and her family had stood up to the Israeli occupation.The soldiers had been deployed during a weekly Palestinian village against Israeli policy on settlements in the West Bank, one of the most heated issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It also followed the shooting in the head with a rubber bullet her cousin 15 year old Mohammed Tamimi, which left  him with serious injuries and the village with much anger and resentment.
"No justice under occupation!" Tamimi, handcuffed and shackled out to reporters at the court on Wednesday. Many have been afraid that she would have to serve many years in prison, who while at the same time do not think she should serve any time at all, view this result as a form of victory. Believing that if it had not been for the international outcry and support Ahed  received, she would probably have been sentenced to three, five, even ten years. Since Ahed's arrest there has been  non-stop protesting, people writing letters, signing petitions across the globe.
While Ahed's plea bargaining is seen as a positve step, there is still a long way to go. Each year Israel, arrests and detains around 700 Palestinian children. They are denied access to a parent or lawyer during interrogation, held in solitary confinement, and physically abused.
As in most arrests of Palestinian children, Ahed's arrest took place in the middle of the night. Despite being a minor, she was denied bail and was held throughout trial. Israel remains the only country in the world with a juvenille military court system. Palestinan child detainess of Israel are often blindfolded and forced to sign confessions in a language they don't read. Yesterdays sentence is seen as yet another alarming example of the Israeli authorities contempt for their obligations to protect the basic rights of Palestinians living under their occupation, especially children. A sentence that has been condemned by Amnesty International.
Ahed's father says about the prison sentence imposed on his daughter and that of his wife. Our first charge is that we are Palestinian, and the rest is just filling in the gaps." There is no justice under occupation. I would urge you take action to help end its illegal detention policies and preactices that violate international law : https://www.waronwant.org/israel-must-end-its-illegal-detention-policies

Anna Campbell :Death of a freedom fighter

 It was with sadness, that many were greeted at the weekend by the news that 26 year old  Anna Campbell from Lewes, East Sussex, had been was killed by a Turkish air strike on the 15th March in Afrin alongside 100 volunteers with the all-female Kurdish protection  unit, the YPG in Syria.
A qualified plumber in the UK, she first travelled to Syria in May 2017 to help the Kurds, who were battling the Islamic State group.
A prominent human rights activist in Britain, she had been been heavily involved  in the Empty Cages Collective a project aimed at building a movement in England, Scorland and Wales to resist the prison industrial complex and organise a prison free world. Through grassroots organising, advocacy and direct action she and her allies challenged the prison system which puts prisoners at risk of dangerous environmental conditions, as well as impacting on surrounding communities and ecosystems by their construction and operation.Well known in Brighton and Bristol anti-fascist, animal rights , environmental protection, anarchist and feminist circles, Anna was an individual who was  known for her passionate idealism, and her commitment to fighting for the causes of liberation.
Until recently, she had no connection to the Kurds, yet  was deeply moved, family and friends have said, by the fight to defend an autonomous, mostly kurdish region in northern Syria, known as Rojava, whose leaders advocate a secular, democratic and egalitarian politics, with equal rights for women.
" She was somebody who saw the injustices of the world and plight of the weak and vulnerable and disempowered, and she also saw the idealism, the amazing utopian vision of Rojava, and she found those two elements irrestible ! her father Dirk Campbell, said in an interview."She wanted to prevent this being stamped out, which Turkey and Syria are trying to do."
Anna who was given the nom-de-guerre Helin Qerecox, sheer heroism was demonstrated by her insistence on taking part in the Afrin resistance despite the great danger she faced in fighting against NATO's second-biggest army. Eight British fighters have now died fighting in the Rojava revolution though Anna was the first woman.
On Sunday, the city of Afrin was confirmed to be occupied by the Turkish Armed Forces and its Free Syrian Army affiliates. Launched on January 20th, the so-called "Operation Olive Branch" has been subject to criticism from the United Nations, the European Parliament, members of the UK parliament and various humanitarian agencies. Footage taken over the course of the opration shows looting, extrajudicial killings , with estimates of the civilian death toll ranging from 300-500 civilians.
The Kurdish community keeps reminding us that Turkey's invasion of Afrin is illegal and has no basis in international law. Their attack on the convoy which killed Anna constitutes a war crime and they call on progressive fores here in the UK to keep pressuring the UK Government to take firm action against Turkey. The UK Government though is clearly more concerned with selling weapons to Turkey than protecting Kurdish communities. Let's remind ourselves that in May 2017, Theresa May negotiated a £100m deal to help Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan  develop fighter hets and improve trade relations.Also between July and September 2016, the UK sold Turkey £26m worth of armoured plate, body armou, as well as £8.5m worth of aircraft, helicopters and drones, and almost £4m worth of licenses for missiles, bombs and 'counter-measures'
UK companies like Thales, British Aerospace, and Rolls Royce are all raking in profits from arming the Turkish regime, despite it's war crimes, alongside the British Government and Theresa May they have blood on their hands.
Anna's act of bravery will not be forgotten by the Kurdish community, by her friends, family and comrades and all who fight for a better world , in defense of freedom with the firm conviction that her sacrifice will not be in vain. Anna is still with us, the fight goes on. Long live the Rojava revolution.

https://internationalistcommune.com/letter-to-helin/

https://iww.org.uk/news/anna-campbell-rest-in-power-fellow-worker/

https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2018/03/defending-afrin.html

Supremacy- Le Trio Joubran & Roger Waters

Former Pink Floyd front man, released the following  vocal protest to US President last week in regards to Donald Trump's controversial decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.In what is seen by many to be a major set back in the middle east  peace process.
The status of Jerusalem is one of the thorniest issues in a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, as it is claimed by both sides as its  capital, Israel seizing East Jerusalem from Jordan in the Six Day War which the Palestinians see as their  their future state.
To fan the Palestinians flames even further, Trump announced that this move will take place on May 14 to coincide with Israel's celebration of it's 70th anniversary, a day that also marks what the Palestinians call Nabkka Day or "Day of Catastrophe"  which in 1948 saw the mass deportation of a million Palestinians from their homes, and the razing to the ground of hundreds of their villages.
Accompanied by Nazareth based  Palestinian oud group Le Trio Joubran , Roger Waters recites the verses from the great Palestinian national poet of resistance Mahmoud Darwish's
https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/mahmoud-darwish-poet-of-resistance.html " the Penultimate speech of the 'Red Indian' to the white man,"
In a statement Roger Waters wrote,"On the surface it narrates the last speech of the Native American to The White Man, but it also speaks to Darwish's beloved Palestine and it's indigenous people, in fact it's relevant to all victims of settler colonialism everywhere,"
Le Trio Joubran added , "We have been touring the world with our ouds for the past 15 years, taking with is, from city to city, a bit of Palestine. We honor the struggles of indigenous people across the globe, and through our art, affirm that the relationship between people, culture and their homeland survives history."

SUPREMACY - A Response to Trump - #JerusalemCapitalOfPalestine

 Music - Trio Joubran

Voice - Roger Waters Poem - Mahmoud Darwish

Translation - Dr. Fady Joudah & Roger Waters

Video Director - Adnan Joubran

Music Producer - Renaud Letang Recorded at Abbey Road Studios & Studio Ferber Label - RANDANA Management - Karim Ghattas

 http://www.letriojoubran.com

 https://www.instagram.com/triojoubran/

 https://www.facebook.com/letriojoubran/

Poem - The Penultimate speech of the 'Red Indian' to the white man

A long time must go by 

Before our present becomes history 

Just like us 

We will face the long march 

But first 

We will defend the trees we wear 

We will defend the bell of the night and the hanging moon over our huts
We will defend the leaping deer

And the clay of our pots

And the eagle feathers in the wings of our final songs 

But soon you will erect your world on our remains 

You will pave over the sacred places 

To open a road to the satellite moon 

This is the age of industry 

The age of coal

 Fossils to fuel your thirst for fine wine 

There are the dead and the settlements 

The dead and the bulldozers 

The dead and the hospitals 

There are radar screens to capture the dead 

Who die more than once in this life 

To capture the dead who walk after death 

The dead who breed the beast of civilisation 

The dead who die to carry the earth 

After the relics are gone 

Where, oh white master, are you taking my people... and yours?

سَيَمضي زَمانٌ طَويلٌ لِيُصْبحَ حاضِرُنا ماضياً مثُلَنا ..
 سنَمْضي إِلى حَتْفِنا , أَوَّلاً , سنُدفعُ عن شَجَرٍ نَرْتَديه ...
 وَعَنْ جَرَسِ اللَّيلِ , عَنْ قَمَر , فَوْقَ أَكْواخنا نَشتْهيه
وَعَنْ طَيْشِ غزلانِنا سَنُدافعُ , عن طِينِ فَخْارِنا سَنُدافِعُ

 وَعَن ريشنا في جَناحِ الأَغاني الأَخيرةِ , عمَّا قَليل تُقِمونَ عَالَمَكُمْ فَوْقَ عَالَمِنا: مِنْ مَقابِرِنا تَفْتَحونَ الطَّريق
.
إِلى الْقَمَرِ الاصطناعيِّ , هذا زَمانُ الصِّناعاتِ هذا زَمانُ المَعادِنِ , مِنْ قِطْعَةِ الفَحْمِ تَبْزُغُ شَمْبانيا الأقْوِياءْ

 هُنالِكَ مَوْتى وَمُسْتوطَناتٌ , وَمَوْتى وبولدوزراتٌ , وَمَوْتى وَمُسْتَشْفَياتٌ , وَمَوْتى وَشَاشاتُ رادار تَرْصُدُ مَوتى
 
 يَموتون أَكْثَرَ مِنْ مَرَةٍ في الْحياة , وَ تَرْصُدُ مَوتى
يَعيشونَ بَعْدَ الْمَماتِ , وَمَوْتى يُرَبُّونَ وَحْشَ الْحضاراتِ مَوْت
 وَمَوْتى يَموتونَ كَيْ يَحْمِلوا الأَرْضَ فَوْقَ الرُّفات

إلى أَيْنَ يَا سَيِّد البِيض , تأَخُذُ شَعْبي ,..
 وَشَعْبَك؟