J Robert Oppenheimer "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds,"

 

  

The July 21, 2023 theatrical release of the film Oppenheimer focuses on the life of prominent American nuclear physicist,J. Robert Oppenheimer, and should help to remind us of how badly the development of modern weapons has played out for individuals and for all of humanity.

Partially based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography, American Prometheus, written by Kai Bird and the late Martin Sherwin, the pacy blockbuster film from director Christopher Nolan starring Cillian Murphy  tells the story of the rise and fall of  the young J. Robert Oppenheimer,when he was  recruited by the U.S. government during World War II to direct the construction and testing of the world’s first atomic bomb.

The Manhattan Project, set up in 1942, was guided by fear that if the US and its allies didn't make them first, Hitler's Nazi scientists would.

Oppenheimer is the first film to properly tackle the scientist and his legacy, The film explores Oppenheimer’s moral quandary over his role in creating the most destructive weapon ever made, with the blockbuster film  currently hitting theaters, millions will learn more about nuclear weapons development. But the film won’t show you how the Trinity test ushered in an era of nuclear testing where the U.S. government knowingly exposed tens of thousands of  people to toxic materials and radiation.and  nuclear disarmament campaigners fear its power to persuade people of the existential threat posed by nuclear arms may be diminished by its focus on scientific achievement.

“The overall impact of the film is unbalanced – people leave the theatre thinking how exciting a process it was, not thinking ‘God, this was a terrible weapon of mass destruction and look what’s happened today’,” said Carol Turner, a co-chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament’s London branch.

 

 

Born to a affluent Jewish family in New York in 1906, it became apparent at an early age that Oppenheimer’s academic ability outstripped those of his peers and he entered Harvard University aged 18 where he graduated after just three years summa cum laude (with highest praise).

However, he struggled with his mental health. During his time at college, he expressed suicidal thoughts. Of his time studying physics at Harvard, Oppenheimer f said: "My feeling about myself was always one of extreme discontent." and, while pursuing a graduate degree at Cambridge University, deliberately left an apple, poisoned with laboratory chemicals, on his tutor’s desk.

By the outbreak of World War II, though, Oppenheimer had transformed himself into a respected professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and had already made numerous, significant contributions to science.

During his time at Berkeley, he fell in love with Jean Tatlock (played by Florence Pugh in Oppenheimer), the daughter of a Berkeley literature professor and a student at Stanford University School of Medicine. She was a member of the Communist Party, which later became an issue in his security clearance  (Oppenheimer himself during  his student years had seen him drawn to the left as Germany's fascist regime saw friends and relatives oppressed and forced to flee.)

They broke up in 1939 and, a year later, he married Katherine (”Kitty”) Puening with whom he had two children.

During their marriage, Oppenheimer rekindled his relationship with Tatlock and the two had an affair. She later committed suicide in 1944.

Oppenheimer was appointed by General Leslie Groves, the project's military leader, to head up Site Y - a secret weapons research facility, 210 miles south of Los Alamos, New Mexico, on the plains of the Alamogordo Bombing Range, known as the Jornada del Muerto.

 J. Robert Oppenheimer chose the name "Trinity" for the test site, inspired by the poetry of John Donne. but little did he know that the fallout from these tests was devastating — and the United States has failed to reckon with the consequences. 

When the bomb was finally secretly detonated at 5.30 a.m, on July 16, 1945, atop a steel tower, an intense light flash and sudden wave of heat was followed by a great burst of sound echoing in the valley. A ball of fire tore up into the sky and then surrounded by a giant mushroom  cloud stretching some 40,00 feet across. With a power equivalent to around 21,000 tons, the bomb completely obliterated the steel tower on which it rested, destroying everything in its vicinity and melting huge swathes of sand into sea-green glass. The Nuclear Age had begun,,
Less than a month later, the United States would drop a nearly identical weapon on the city of Nagasaki in Japan. The bomb, named Fat Man, fell three days after Americans dropped a uranium bomb called Little Boy, on Hiroshima. Both weapons immediately killed tens of thousands of Japanese people and forced Japan's surrender on August 14, bring an abrupt end to the war.
Many of the scientists who witnessed the Trinity blast quickly realised the "foul and awesome" power they had set free. Mr Oppenheimer said a Hindu scripture ran through his mind at the sight of the explosion: "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."

The verse in question is from the Hindu scripture Bhagavad Gita. Chapter 11, Verse 32, in which the deity Krishna reveals his divine form to the warrior Arjuna. Witnessing the terrifying sight of Krishna's cosmic form, Arjuna is overwhelmed with awe and fear. 

Oppenheimer, who was well-versed in various philosophical and religious texts, including the Bhagavad Gita, reportedly recited this verse upon witnessing the first successful detonation of an atomic bomb during the Trinity test. The quote has since become closely associated with Oppenheimer and his reflections on the destructive power of the atomic bomb. 

In the context of Oppenheimer's statement, he was expressing a profound sense of the magnitude and implications of the scientific achievement he had helped bring to fruition. The immense destruction unleashed by the atomic bomb made Oppenheimer acutely aware of the devastating potential of nuclear weapons. His use  of the quote from the Bhagavad Gita reflects his introspection on the consequences of his work and the moral responsibility that came with

Kenneth T. Bainbridge, the test director at the time , was less poetic than Oppenheimer. "Now we are all sons of bitches," he said.

 Oppenheimer was changed by the atomic bomb, believing it made the prospect of future conflict "unendurable".

"It has led us up those last few steps to the mountain pass; and beyond there is a different country," he said in 1946, later signalling his opposition to his government's plan to develop even bigger nuclear weapons. Oppenheimer was ignored and held in deep suspicion,

The Trinity test exposed the communities in the areas downwind from the blast to dangerous levels of radiation and fallout. In the following decades, the "Downwinders" from the Tularosa Basin who were not even informed about the test have faced long-term health consequences including cancers, even across generations. Like the Hibakusha,a term widely used in Japan, that translates as ' explosion effected/Surrvivor of the Light' and global victims of nuclear tests, the Downwinders have raised their voices to fight for a better future.
The thousands living  downwind from  the Trinity Blast were knowingly exposed to extremely high levels of radioactive fallout . Many New Mexicans living in the vicinity of the Trinity test were ranchers, Native Americans, Hispanic settlers who lived a rural and substinence lifestyle. Unbeknownst to them their land, their water and their food was severely contaminated to radioactive fallout. The effects of this exposure are still evident 78 years later in the physical, economic and mental hardships of survivors and their families. Downwinders developed certain types of cancers at rates that far exceed the general population. In many case, entire families have developed cancer at rates that far exceeded the general population. Many downwinders were also forced into debt and poverty from costly health treatments, none of which were compensated by the federal government.

During the immediate postwar years, Oppenheimer, widely lauded as “the father of the atomic bomb,” attained extraordinary power for a scientist within U.S. government ranks, including as chair of the General Advisory Committee of the new Atomic Energy Commission (AEC).  But Oppenheimer was changed by the atomic bomb, believing it made the prospect of future conflict "unendurable".

"It has led us up those last few steps to the mountain pass; and beyond there is a different country," he said in 1946, later signalling his opposition to his government's plan to develop even bigger nuclear weapons.Oppenheimer was ignored and held in deep suspicion.

In the fall of 1945, during a meeting at the White House with Truman, Oppenheimer said: “Mr. President, I feel I have blood on my hands.” Incensed, Truman later told Assistant Secretary of State Dean Acheson that Oppenheimer had become “a crybaby” and that he didn’t want “to see that son of a bitch in this office ever again.”  Oppenheimer was also disturbed by the emerging nuclear arms race and, like many atomic scientists, championed the international control of atomic energy. Indeed, in late 1949, the entire General Advisory Committee of the AEC came out in opposition to the U.S. development of the H-bomb―although the president, ignoring this recommendation, approved developing the new weapon and adding it to the rapidly growing U.S. nuclear arsenal.

In these circumstances, figures with considerably less ambivalence about nuclear weapons took action to purge Oppenheimer from power. In December 1953, shortly after becoming chair of the AEC, Lewis Strauss, a fervent champion of a U.S. nuclear buildup, ordered Oppenheimer’s security clearance suspended. Anxious to counter implications of disloyalty, Oppenheimer appealed the decision and, in subsequent hearings before the AEC’s Personnel Security Board, faced grueling questioning not only about his criticism of nuclear weapons, but about his relationships decades before with individuals who had been Communist Party members.These hearings were skewed and manipulated in McCarthyite fashion.

Ultimately, the AEC ruled that Oppenheimer was a security risk, an official determination that added to his public humiliation, completed his removal from government service, and delivered a shattering blow to his meteoric career. He died of lung cancer in 1967 with none of the power he once yielded. But while extremely harmful professionally and personally, the hearings were not Oppenheimer’s greatest tragedy.

The greatest tragedy was despite his remarkable gifts as a physicist and as a human being was the building of a weapon that could  potentially lead to the destruction of humankind and destroy virtually  all life on earth. We we are all part of Oppenheimer’s tragedy. Oppenheimer’s life does not influence us. It haunts us.

The poet Ai (2010) wrote in what she called “The Testimony of J. Robert Oppenheimer: A Fiction”:

            my soul, a wound that will not heal…./We strip away the tattered fabric/of the universe….we become our own transcendent annihilation

Since the Trinity Test 78 years ago, at least eight countries have detonated over 2,000 nuclear weapons at more than 60 locations around the globe,according to data released by https://www.armscontrol.org/

all with the potential to destroy virtually  all life on earth.

More than half of these tests have been conducted by the United States, most have have taken place on colonized land and the lands of indigenous and minority people, never close to those who made the decisions to conduct them

People living in the vicinity of these tests exposed to radioactive fallout are part of the under acknowledged ;collateral damage' of our nuclear industry. The history of nuclear testing also exposes the oppressive and racist nature of relying on nuclear weapons for “security”.
Radiation from nuclear tests harms children more than it does adults. Infants and young girls run the highest risk of cancer across their lifetime after exposure and teenage girls will suffer almost double rates of cancer compared to boys.

Terrifyingly, in recent years, thanks to a sharp increase in international conflict, the potential for nuclear war has dramatically revived. All nine nuclear powers (Russia, the United States, China, Britain, France, Israel, India, Pakistan, and North Korea) are currently engaged in upgrading their nuclear arsenals with new production facilities and new, improved nuclear weapons. 

During 2022, these governments poured nearly $83 billion into this nuclear buildup. Public threats to initiate nuclear war, including those by Donald Trump, Kim Jong Un, and Vladimir Putin, have become more common.

The hands of the Doomsday Clock of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, established in 1946, now stand at 100 seconds to midnight―the most dangerous setting in its history.

Not surprisingly, the nuclear powers display little interest in further action for nuclear arms control and disarmament. The two nations possessing some 90 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons―Russia (with the most) and the United States (not far behind)―have pulled out of nearly all such agreements with one another.

Although the U.S. government has proposed extending the New Start Treaty (which limits the number of strategic nuclear weapons) with Russia, Putin reportedly responded this June that Russia would not engage in any nuclear disarmament talks with the West, commenting: “We possess more weaponry of such sort than the NATO countries. They know that and are always trying to persuade us to start negotiations on reduction. Nuts to them . . . as our people say.” 

The Chinese government―whose nuclear arsenal, while growing substantially, still ranks a distant third in numbers―has stated that it sees no reason for China to engage in any nuclear arms control talks. 

To head off a looming nuclear catastrophe, non-nuclear nations have been championing the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).https://www.icrc.org/en/document/2017-treaty-prohibition-nuclear-weapons Adopted by an overwhelming vote of nations at a UN conference in July 2017, the TPNW bans developing, testing, producing, acquiring, possessing, stockpiling, and threatening to use nuclear weapons.

The treaty went into force in January 2021 and.though opposed by all the nuclear powers. it has thus far been signed by 92 nations and ratified by 68 of them. Brazil and Indonesia are likely to ratify it in the near future. Polls have found that the TPNW has substantial support in numerous countries, including the United States and other NATO nations.  There does remain some hope, then, that the nuclear tragedy that engulfed Robert Oppenheimer and has long threatened the survival of world civilization can still be averted.

We do well to remain haunted by Oppenheimer's story but also to learn from him that, while the capacity to create instruments of planetary destruction will remain with us, our best hope for survival of our species lies in abolishing them. We should make Oppenheimer’s legacy to us the recognition that our only form of what has been called “nuclear ethics” is abolition.

The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) has put together an Oppenheimer: myths vs facts explainer. It covers topics such as the legacy of nuclear testing on New Mexico residents, the myth that nuclear weapons ended World War Two, or that nuclear weapons keep us safe today. https://www.icanw.org/oppenheimer_facts_myths_nuclear_weapons?link_id=2&can_id=dc3a87c4b00455c28953a76b1b992301&source=email-going-to-see-oppenheimer-know-the-facts-about-nuclear-weapons&email_referrer=email_1995355&email_subject=going-to-see-oppenheimer-know-the-facts-about-nuclear-weapons  

ICAN also has an Oppenheimer Action Kit to help campaigners talk about nuclear disarmament. It includes social media graphics, talking points, and a draft letter to your local newspaper.https://www.icanw.org/oppenheimer_action_kit?link_id=3&can_id=dc3a87c4b00455c28953a76b1b992301&source=email-going-to-see-oppenheimer-know-the-facts-about-nuclear-weapons&email_referrer=email_1995355&email_subject=going-to-see-oppenheimer-know-the-facts-about-nuclear-weapons

The Death of Sarah Good : The Salem Witch Trials

Sarah Good ( an appropriated image as as the earliest daguerreotype was not introduced until 1839.)

Between February 1692 and May 1693 in current day Massachusetts,in Colonial America. more than 200 people were accused of witchcraft.  This period of witch trials later came to be known as the Salem witch trials, named after the town of Salem and Salem Village (present-day Danvers).  By the time this  event was over  141 suspects, both men and women, were tried as witches. Nineteen were executed by hanging. One was pressed to death by heavy stones. The town had become so afraid of something that was not to blame, that innocent lives were taken, creating a spread of blame, along with a chaotic panic.and climate of fear and hysteria..The Salem Witch Trials would become one of the most tragic events in Colonial America. 

Salem Village was known for its divided population with many internal disputes about property lines, grazing rights, and church privileges. After a series of short-term ministers, Samuel Parris became the first ordained minister of Salem Village in 1689. He was not successful in solving conflicts in the village; rather he contributed to the dissonance by making well-known church members suffer public penance due to their small mistakes. This only created more division among the people. According to Historian Marion Starkey, serious conflict was inevitable in this tense environment (1949). 

In February 1692, Reverend Parris’ daughter Elizabeth, age 9, and niece, Abigail Williams, age 11, started having “fits”. They would shriek, make weird sounds, crawl under furniture, and convulse into strange positions. These “fits” were considered to be supernatural in origin, and members of the community were accused of consorting with the devil and afflicting the young children through witchcraft (Lawson 1692).

With the seeds of paranoia planted, more accusations arose, and more people were arrested. By the end of the month of May, a total of 62 individuals were in custody

On June 2, 1962, the Court of Oyer and Terminer (to hear and decide) was established to handle the large number of people in jail for witchcraft. These trials relied heavily on spectral evidence, or testimony based on dreams or apparitions seen by the afflicted. The “touch test” was also used to determine guilt or innocence. The accused witch was told to touch a victim having a fit, and if the victim stopped having a fit, the accused was believed to have afflicted the victim 

Other evidence included confessions made by accused witches, and testimony by a guilty witch who pointed out others as witches.In the Puritan colony of Massachusetts Bay, fear of witches was rampant. 

After the girls were accused of being witches, fingers began to be pointed at everyone in the town, everyone was ready to accuse their neighbour or friend, in order to take the focus away from themselves.

In January 1693, the new Superior Court of Judicature convened, and those who had been accused of witchcraft, but not yet tried, went on trial. The series of trials and executions finally ended in May 1693.  The Salem witch trials are an infamous case of mass hysteria; they are an example of the consequences of religious extremism, false allegations, and lapses in the due legal processes. These trials had a lasting effect on people’s attitude towards separation of state and church, as historian George Lincoln Burr said, “the Salem witchcraft was the rock on which the theocracy shattered” (1914:197). The Salem witch trials left a lesson for the future, a caution for the outcome of unbridled religious fanaticism and over enthusiasm about the supernatural.

Sarah Good was one of the first to be accused of witchcraft by young girls in Salem.Sarah She  was born Sarah Solart in Wenham, Massachusetts Bay Colony to John and Elizabeth Solart. Her father was prosperous, but she and her sisters never received their inheritance when he died in 1672. Sarah first married Daniel Poole, a laborer and who died in 1682. She then married William Good. The debt that she had after Daniel Poole died became the responsibility of William Good. Because they could not handle the debt, the Goods were "reduced to begging work, food, and shelter from their neighbors" and by 1692 were homeless. She was of lower economic status and an easy target for the young women who were accusing others of witchcraft. Due to her husband’s inability to provide she was reliant on neighbors and others to make ends meet. This also caused her much stress which she most likely took out on her husband, who for whatever reason, could not provide enough for his family.

Rumors of Sarah Good practicing witchcraft began to circulate when her husband began to complain to neighbors about her behavior towards him. He said that she “her bad carriage to him” which led to her neighbors accusing her of challenging Puritan values. 

Reverend Samuel Parris had also become angry with his lack of payment and began preaching that Satan was among those in the congregation. These sermons along with his slave Tituba and the fits of rage that would come from his own household would begin to create the initial hysteria. 

 Witchcraft Accusation At this time it was common to use spectral evidence to make claims.Spectral Evidence, if allowed into a court proceeding, is near impossible for the accuser to refute because it can change on a whim. 

Good was accused of witchcraft on March 6, 1692, when Abigail Williams and Elizabeth Parris, related to the Reverend Samuel Parris, claimed to be bewitched under her hand. The young girls asserted they had been bitten, pinched, and otherwise abused.

They would have fits in which their bodies would appear to involuntarily convulse, their eyes rolling into the back of their heads and their mouths hanging open. When the Rev. Samuel Parris asked “Who torments you?” the girls eventually shouted out the names of three townspeople: Tituba, Sarah Osborne, and Sarah Good.

Her accusation came around the same time as Rebecca Nurse who was viewed by most townspeople in Salem as an upstanding citizen. If Mrs. Nurse was able to become a target due to the spectral evidence allowed in the courtroom, then Sarah Good would be a much easier target. 

On March 1, 1692, Sarah Good faced examination with two other accused witches, Sarah Osburne and Tituba. Sarah Good pleaded, "I am falsely accused," but then Tituba named her a witch.  Other villagers, including her husband, testified against her, and she was put in jail.

On March 24, Ann Putnam accused Sarah's five year old daughter, Dorcas, of witchcraft. When put on trial, the young child confessed that she and her mother were witches. She showed a red spot on her finger, most likely a flea bite, claiming it was a snake her mother had given her.  Dorcas was then put in jail and chained to a wall.

On March 25, 1692, Sarah Good appeared before the court to be tried for witchcraft. She was accused of rejecting the puritanical expectations of self-control and discipline when she chose to torment and scorn children instead of leading them towards salvation.  When she was brought in the accusers would begin rocking back and forth and eventually throw themselves in a fit of rage. This spectral evidence was believed to be a demonic influence that Sarah Good was using to control them which was proof of her witchcraft. 

During her trial, one of the accusers threw herself into a fit of rage, and upon being “released” from Good’s spell she claimed that Sarah Good had attacked her with a knife and that it broke while Good was trying to stab her. She even produced a piece of the broken knife.  The crowd gasped, but then a young man stood up and told the court the piece had broken off his own knife the day prior and the accuser had witnessed it. He even was able to produce the knife that broke which matched the piece the accuser produced. 

One would think this would be proof of the lies and the accuser’s testimony would be dismissed. However, Judge William Stoughton only saw what he wanted to see and simply scolded the girl for exaggerating what he believed to be the truth.  Both Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne denied the accusations that were put against them. However, Reverend Samuel Parris’ slave Tituba delivered a devastating blow to both Good and Osborne’s testimony when she admitted to being the “Devil’s servant”.

Tituba stated that a tall man dressed all in black came to them, demanding they sign their names in a great book. Although initially refusing, Tituba said, she eventually wrote her name, after Good and Osborne forced her to. There were six other names in the book as well but were not visible to her.

She also said that Good had ordered her cat to attack Elizabeth Hubbard, causing the scratches and bite marks on the girl’s body. She spoke of seeing Good with black and yellow birds surrounding her, and that Good had also sent these animals to harm the girls.  When the girls began to have another fit, Tituba claimed she could see a yellow bird in Good’s right hand. The young accusers agreed.

When Good was allowed the chance to defend herself in front of the twelve jurors in the Salem Village meeting house, she argued her innocence, proclaiming Tituba and Osborne as the real witches. In the end, however, Good was convicted of witchcraft and sentenced to death. 

There was no evidence other than the claims of the afflicted girls but she was still found guilty.and sentenced to death by hanging  but pregnant at the time her execution was pushed back until the birth of her child. Good’s infant died in prison shortly after its birth and local officials brought Good to the execution site at Proctor’s Ledge on July 19, along with Rebecca Nurse, Susannah Martin, Elizabeth Howe, and Sarah Wildes. 

 Before the hanging, the other women prayed and asked God to forgive the accused but Sarah Goode showed no sign of forgiveness.

According to an article in The New England Magazine, as Sarah Good stood on the platform with the other women, Reverend Nicolas Noyes called Good a witch and urged her to confess. Good replied:  “You are a liar. I am no more a witch than you are a wizard, and if you take away my life God will give you blood to drink!” 

The five women were hanged and most likely buried near the execution site because convicted witches were not allowed to be buried in consecrated ground.  

Twenty-five years later, in 1717, Reverend Noyes suffered an internal hemorrhage and died choking on his own blood. 

In 1710 William Good successfully sued the Great and General Court for health and mental damages done to Sarah and Dorcas, ultimately receiving thirty pounds sterling, one of the largest sums granted to the families of the witchcraft victims.

The demise of Rebecca Nurse, Susannah Martin, Elizabeth Howe, Sarah Good, and Sarah Wildes July 19, 1692

.

In 1992, the Salem Witch Trials Memorial was built in Salem,at the site of the execution, commemorating the lives that were lost.and a marker was established for Sarah Good. 

The Salem Witch Trials Memorial was dedicated on August 5, 1992 by Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel for the tercentenary of the Salem Witch Trials. James Cutler and Maggie Smith designed the memorial with as three-sided granite wall with benches displaying the names and execution dates of each of the victims.The stonework on the ground by the entrance to the memorial is inscribed with the victims’ pleas of innocence that are interrupted mid-sentence by the wall to symbolize the indifference to oppression that existed in 1692. These restorative actions could never be enough to rectify the appalling injustice met by Sarah Good and the other victims but were a step in the right direction,

The Salem Witch Trial victims deserve our respect for their suffering at the hands of a church-driven community drunk with power. They were tortured, coerced, and their families destroyed by a court system that decided guilt or innocence on spectral evidence and hearsay.They were innocent people that refused to conform to the Puritan way and paid for it with their lives.

Voices Against Injustice maintains the Witch Trials Memorial, and more information about its history and design as well as guidelines for visiting are available on their website, voicesagainstinjustice.org.

Sarah Good later appeared in Arthur Miller’s 1953 play The Crucible as a poor beggar woman who is looked down upon by Salem society.

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The gravestone marker of Sarah Good.

Honouring the Life and Legacy of Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013)

 

On July 18, 1918, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, the great revolutionary leader.freedom fighter, political prisoner,and peacemaker . was born.He is one of the modern makers of South Africa whose legacy is still remembered as one of the greatest contributions to humankind and an inspiration to all those fighting for liberty across the globe.

Affectionately often referred to by his Xhosa clan name, Madiba, Nelson Mandela is remembered with deep respect within South Africa, where he is often described as the Father of the Nation. His 27 long years in prison for opposing apartheid and his presidency of the first multiracial government in South Africa, after free elections in 1994, are the striking and exceptional chapters of his long life.

Nelson Mandela was born into a royal family of Xhosa-speaking Thembu tribe in the South African village of Mvezo in the district of Qunu near Umtata, Transkei (now known as Eastern Cape). 

Nelson studied hard at school and later attended the University of Fort Hare, the South African Native College. He then moved to the city of Johannesburg to study law at the University of the Witwatersrand, before qualifying as a lawyer in 1942, aged 24.

South Africa is home to many different peoples and cultures – so much so that it’s been nicknamed the ‘rainbow nation’. But, sadly, at the time that Nelson Mandela was growing up, there was a huge racial divide in the country. White people ran the country, and they generally led privileged lives with good jobs, nice homes and access to good schools and healthcare. Most black people, however, worked in low-paid jobs, and lived in poor communities with poor facilities. They had far fewer rights, too – they weren’t even allowed to vote in elections!  Like many others, Nelson Mandela felt that everyone deserved to be treated the same, regardless of their skin colour. So, in 1944, he joined the African National Congress (ANC) – a political group that strived for equal rights for whites and blacks.

Nelson Mandela became an important figure in the ANC, and he helped set up and lead a section for young people called the ANC Youth League. He later travelled the country to gain support for non-violent protests against the National Party’s racist laws, too.  This activism made him very unpopular with the authorities, and Nelson was arrested for treason – the crime of betraying your country’s government – several times.

In 1948 the South African government introduced a system called ‘apartheid’, which furthered the country’s racial divide even more. Under new racist laws, black people and white people were cruelly forced to lead separate lives. They weren’t allowed to live in the same areas, share a table in a restaurant, attend the same schools or even sit together on a train or bus!  Apartheid  had a fearsome state apparatus to punish those who fought against it. Racist laws were created to enforce a racially separate and unequal social order. The Reservation of Separate Amenities Act, for instance, imposed segregation on all public facilities, including post offices, beaches, stadiums, parks, toilets, and cemeteries, and buses and trains as well.

The Defiance Campaign in 1952 was the first large-scale, multi-racial political mobilization against apartheid laws under a common leadership – by the African National Congress, South African Indian Congress, and the Coloured People’s Congress. More than 8,000 trained volunteers went to jail for 'defying unjust laws.’ Volunteers were jailed for failing to carry passes, violating curfew, and entering locations and public facilities designated for one race only.

In early 1953, the Government imposed stiff penalties for protesting against discriminatory laws, including heavy fines and prison sentences of up to five years. It then enacted the Public Safety Act, allowing for the declaration of a State of Emergency to override existing laws and oversight by courts. Although the Defiance Campaign did not achieve its goals, it demonstrated large-scale and growing opposition to apartheid. Furthermore, the use of non-violent civil disobedience was part of an important international tradition, from the passive resistance campaigns started by Gandhi in South Africa continuing to the independence movement in India two decades before, to sit-ins and other non-violent protests in the United States civil rights movement .Mandela was arrested in 1956 on treason charges, but was acquitted.

The ANC was banned by the government in 1960, following the Sharpeville massacre.After the banning of the ANC , Nelson Mandela argued for the setting up of a military wing within the ANC. In June 1961, the ANC executive considered his proposal on the use of violent tactics and agreed that those members who wished to involve themselves in Mandela's campaign would not be stopped from doing so by the ANC. This led to the formation of Umkhonto we Sizwe., the armed wing of the ANC, ( abbreviated as MK,  meaning "Spear of the Nation" ) believing that non-violent measures would not be successful, and was named its leader. Beginning on Dec. 16, 1961,  with Mandela as its commander in chief, they launched bombing attacks on government targets and made plans for guerilla warfare.

Mandela was forced underground adopting a number of disguises—sometimes a labourer, other times as a chauffeur. The press dubbed him ‘the Black Pimpernel’ because of his ability to evade police.”
Mandela was subsequently arrested on Aug. 5, 1962, and sentenced to five years in prison for inciting a workers’ strike in 1961. A year later, in July 1963, the government launched a raid on the Lilliesleaf farm in Rivonia, which had been used as an ANC hideout. It arrested 19 ANC leaders and discovered documents describing MK’s plans for attacks and guerilla warfare.
The government charged 11 ANC leaders, including Mandela, with crimes under the 1962 Sabotage Act. At the Rivonia Trial, Mandela chose not to take the witness stand, instead making a long statement from the dock on April 20, 1964. In it, he explained the history and motives on the ANC and MK, admitting to many of the charges against him and defending his use of violence.
He concluded, “ "I do not deny that I planned sabotage. I did not plan it in a spirit of recklessness nor because I have any love of violence. I planned it as a result of a calm and sober assessment of the political situation that had arisen after many years of tyranny, exploitation and oppression of my people by the whites. During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”
Mandela was found guilty on four charges of sabotage on June 11.His co-accused included: Walter Sisulu, Dennis Goldberg, Govan Mbeki, Raymond Mhlaba, Elias Mosoaledi, Andrew Mlangeni - all ANC officials and Ahmed Kathrada, the former leader of the South African Indian Congress. Lawyer for the defendants, Harold Hansen QC said: "These accused represent the struggle of their people for equal rights. Their views represent the struggle of the African people for the attainment of equal rights for all races in this country."
The following day, he and seven of his co-defendents were sentenced to life imprisonment avoiding the death sentence. Mandela and the other six non-white defendants were sent to the prison on Robben Island, a former leper colony located off the coast of Cape Town. Nelson Mandela and his comrades  were effectively jailed for  leading the liberation movement against apartheid , a system of white rule which they considered evil.,and for their stance on the human right to live in freedom and  end oppression to black South Africans..
On the notorious Robben Island, Mandela lived in a tiny cell, received meager rations and performed hard labor in a lime quarry.Mandela’s prisoner number was 46664, the prisoners were never referred to by their names, but rather by their numbers .In South Africa at the time It was forbidden to quote him or publish his photo, yet he and other jailed members of his banned African National Congress were able to smuggle out messages of guidance to the anti-apartheid movement.
Meanwhile  outside thousands died in the decades-long struggle against apartheid, which deprived the black majority of the vote, the right to choose where to live and other basic freedoms.
Yet Robben Island would became the crucible which transformed him,through his intelligence, charm and dignified defiance, Mandela eventually bent even the most brutal prison officials to his will, assumed leadership over his jailed comrades and became the master of his own prison. He would be come a symbol of hope.defiance and resistance not only in South Africa but across the world .

In the 1980s, exiled ANC leader Oliver Tambo, Mandela’s former law partner, led an international movement to free Mandela. Many countries imposed sanctions on South Africa for its apartheid policies. Conservative Prime minister Margaret Thatcher, who Mandela thankfully outlived, denounced Mandela’s ANC as a “typical terrorist organization”.
David Cameron a later Conservative leader and PM  himself accepted an all expenses paid trip to South Africa while Nelson Mandela was still in prison  while he was a researcher for the Conservative Research Department , which was funded by an firm that lobbied against the imposition of sanctions against the regime. I remember to when I was at college Conservative  party members, who would proudly flaunt there ' Hang Nelson Mandela' badges. When the Tory's were displaying which side of human rights they were on, the future labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn was at the time a prominent anti apartheid activist ,a  staunch opponent of the Apartheid regime and who was out on the streets marching and prepared to get arrested for the end of apartheid in South Africa and calling for the release of Nelson Mandela.
I along with many others at the time joined the anti apartheid movement, pressuring our Governments for his release, and for the end of apartheid, calling for sanctions against what for many of us saw at the time was a fascist state.The apartheid government, was denounced globally for its campaign of beatings, assassinations and other violent attacks on opponents and its oppressive treatment of its people. United Nations resolutions began to call for the release of "Nelson Mandela and all other political prisoners." By the mid-1980s South Africa was becoming increasingly isolated, with the UN supporting sporting and cultural sanctions and many western companies spurred to withdraw from the country by the efforts of anti-apartheid campaigners.

In 1980 a new campaign for Mandela’s release was initiated inside South Africa by the Sunday Post newspaper. In the 1980s Mandela received an avalanche of honours from all over the world, especially in Britain. In 1981 Glasgow City Council was the first of nine British local authorities to make Mandela a freeman of their city. Streets, gardens and buildings were named in Mandela’s honour. Over 20,000 mayors from cities on every continent signed a declaration calling for his release. And how can I forget the seminal song "Free Nelson Mandela" which was released in 1984 by the Coventry band the Special AKA, which became a focal rallying call.

Free Nelson Mandela - Special AKA

In 1985, President PW Botha offered to release him, who had been moved to Pollsmoor Prison in Cape Town, on the condition that he renounced violence. Mandela  defiantly refused, saying, “Prisoners cannot enter into contracts. Only free men can negotiate.”
The Anti Apartheid Movement launched the ‘Nelson Mandela: Freedom at 70’ campaign at a concert in Wembley Stadium in 1988. Rock stars played to a capacity audience and the concert was broadcast by the BBC to over 60 countries.
Though not entirely without controversy.In Britain, members of the ruling Conservative Party proposed a motion in parliament criticising the BBC for carrying an event that “gave publicity to a movement that encourages the African National Congress in its terrorist activities”.  Next day 25 freedom marchers set off from Glasgow for London, where they arrived on the eve of Mandela’s birthday. A quarter of a million people gathered in Hyde Park to hear Bishop Desmond Tutu call for Mandela’s release. On 18 July a special service was held in St James’s Piccadilly and thousands of cards were delivered to South Africa House. On Feb. 12, 1990, Nelson Mandela was released after 27 years in prison.
He was named president of the ANC. In April he came to London, where he was welcomed at a second Wembley concert. He thanked the people of Britain and said the support he had received from the Anti-Apartheid Movement was ‘a source of real inspiration’.
Mandela had become an icon of the freedom struggle. His release unleashed a wave of support for the ANC and heralded the beginning of the negotiations which led to a free and democratic South Africa.and in 1993  he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The following year, the ANC emerged victorious in South Africa’s first democratic elections with universal suffrage. Mandela was named the first President of post apartheid South Africa.
He used his position to stand with other oppressed people speaking out  on behalf of the Palestinian people  expressing his  support for a two state solution, while being adamant that Israel must leave the West Bank, Gaza and Syria’s Golan Heights.Speaking at the International Solidarity Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People event in Pretoria in 1997, Mandela declaimed: “We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.. Yes, all of us need to do more in supporting the struggle of the people of Palestine for self-determination.”

In 1999, he toured the Middle East, visiting Palestine. In Gaza he closely identified the South African struggle for freedom and liberation with the Palestinian struggle: “The histories of our two peoples, Palestinian and South African, correspond in such painful and poignant ways, that I intensely feel myself being at home amongst compatriots … The long-standing fraternal bonds between our two liberation movements are now translating into the relations between two governments.” It is worth pointing out that during apartheid era South Africa, Israel regularly traded arms and security information with the regime.

In the last few years, a consensus has emerged among international, Palestinian, and Israeli human rights groups, as well as UN experts, heads of some states, parliamentarians, and diplomats worldwide that Israel is perpetrating the crime of apartheid against the Palestinian people.

It is also awful to contemplate but if  Nelson Mandela was alive today and was a member of Keir Starmer’s Labour Party, he’d probably be expelled for his views on Israel/Palestine. His antiracism would not conform to what Martin Forde KC identified as Labour’s (racist) hierarchy of racism!
Nelson Mandela  also criticised US President George W Bush over Iraq, saying the sole reason for a possible US-led attack would be to gain control of Iraqi oil. The US stance on Iraq is "arrogant" and would cause "a holocaust", he said at the time. He also said UK Prime Minister Tony Blair - who supported Washington over Iraq - was in fact the "US foreign minister",He accused both the US and UK governments of undermining the United Nations. "Why does the United States behave so arrogantly?" Mr Mandela asked. "Their friend Israel has got weapons of mass destruction but because it's their ally they won't ask the United Nations to get rid of them." He also said war "would be devastating not just to Iraq but also to the whole of the Middle East and to other countries of the world". . "They just want the oil," Mr Mandela went on. "We must expose this as much as possible."
Nelson Mandela not only used his voice to protest against injustices at home, but attacked injustices across the world too.
In  2002  Mandela reiterated his opposition to acts of terror, and reminded readers of how appalled he had been by the barbarism of the 9/11 attacks, but argued that those responsible for bringing down the Twin Towers must be “apprehended and brought to trial without inflicting suffering on innocent people”.
On December 5, 2013, the world was shocked and saddened by the transition of Tata Madiba Rolihlahla Mandela at the age of 95. Although Madiba had been ill for many months and his condition required round-the-clock medical attention, his passing was nonetheless a great loss to the people of South Africa, the African continent,  and indeed to the world.
Mandela was eulogized by people throughout the world. Inside South Africa an extended period of mourning was declared and the former African National Congress (ANC) leader and first president of a non-racial South African state was given a state funeral.
Memorial services were held throughout South Africa. Millions poured into streets and stadiums around the country to sing the praises of their leader who had spent twenty seven years in prison for his believe that the African people should be liberated from national oppression and economic exploitation.

A  true revolutionary never dies, for anyone who risks his own life for the oppressed and the poor, will live as long as there are hopeless people in this world. A man who was willing to die for his cause, who spent 27 years in jail for his beliefs and refused to leave until better conditions for his country were met. He made his enemies respect him because of his bravery and loyalty, and didn’t prosecute the same people who abused him when he had the power to do so. Instead, he forgave them. 

Though his status was larger than life he lived humbly as a citizen in the country he loved. His example taught us the importance of forgiveness and the true meaning of representing the people with honor and loyalty. He showed us that one person’s actions can have an extraordinary effect on this world, and our world today surely needs more like Mandela!
Nelson Mandela's spirit could never die, and his light will never fade.his name has become synonymous with social justice, bequeathed to everything from housing estates to student unions bars. His sacrifice, courage and philosophy will be an example for anyone who wants to impact the world in a positive way.

Nelson Mandela Day which is marked every year on July 18th the day of Mandela's birthday not only celebrates Nelson Mandela’s life and legacy, but it is also a global call to action for people to recognize their ability to have a positive effect on others around them. It marks Nelson Mandela’s lifelong commitment to social justice,promoting human rights, international democracy, reconciliation, and  contribution to peace through his active involvement in resolving conflicts. 

This day also encourages individuals and communities worldwide to engage in acts of service and make a positive impact in their societies, fostering a spirit of activism, solidarity, and collective responsibility.

The theme for Nelson Mandela Day for 2023 is: 'It's in your hands", and is aiming to raise awareness of how food is impacted by climate change and calling on people taking part to plant trees and food in their communities and.emphasises the relevance of Mandela's legacy in addressing contemporary issues. 

Nelson Mandela  believed in equality. He opposed racism. He fought injustice. He withstood. He endured. He united. He lived. He lead.Always believe in equality. Always believe in justice. Always believe in freedom. Always believe in peace. On Mandela Day and every day, be inspired by Nelson Mandela to build a better world for all!

Today on  Mandela Day.remember that rhe government’s anti-boycott bill, currently going through parliament, would have prevented acts of solidarity with Mandela and the South African struggle against apartheid including the right of public bodies to boycott apartheid goods. Tell your MP to oppose the anti-boycott bill now https://palestinecampaign.eaction.online/signEDM1415

Remembering Radical priest John Ball

John Ball Colchester born radical priest was hanged, drawn, and quartered on this St. Swithin’s Day in 1381 in St Alban's, England in the presence of the 14-year-old king whom he had very nearly deposed.Ball was well known for advocating social equality and preaching in English instead of Latin and has since become a symbol of resistance to injustice and oppression.

Whilst John Ball’s actions are well documented, there remains some mystery about the details of his personal life as this wasn’t recorded at the time, and what is recorded of his adult life comes from hostile sources emanating from the established religious and political social order.

John Ball, was born in Peldon around 1330, and trained in the priesthood at St. Mary’s Benedictine Abbey in York, which had a connection to St. John’s Abbey in Colchester. He returned to Colchester around the year 1360 and was one of the priests at St James Church on East Hill  and afforded the protection of the King (Edward III).

This protection was short-lived however, as it was revoked when the King found that he was touring the country preaching against the practices of the church. The King’s disapproval did little to dissuade Ball who was fast becoming a powerful public speaker and a favourite of the downtrodden peasant class. 

He is said to have gained considerable fame as a roving preacher without a parish or any link to the established order by expounding the doctrines of John Wycliffe, and especially by his insistence on social equality. He delivered radical sermons in many places. His utterances  however brought him into conflict with the Bishop of London Simon Sudbury (later Archbishop of Canterbury). and he was thrown in prison on several occasions. He also appears to have been excommunicated; owing to which,  In 1366, an edict forbade his would-be flock from hearing his seditious theology demanding clerical poverty and (so complained the Archbishop of Canterbury) “putting about scandals concerning our own person, and those of other prelates and clergy.” These measures, however, did not moderate his opinions, nor diminish his popularity.

He took to speaking to parishioners in churchyards after the official services: in English, the "common tongue", not the Latin of the clergy, a radical political move. Ball was "using the bible against the church", very threatening to the status quo. Ball’s sermons, railed against the corruption of the ecclesiastical establishment, the staggering inequalities in 14th-century society, and the brutal excesses of the upper classes against the powerless and impoverished.

Essentially, by 1381 Ball had decided that all forms of lordship had to end, including both church and lay society. The strict hierarchy of medieval England which such views challenged relied upon lordship by ownership of land, and was seen as a divine imitation of the orders of angels and saints in heaven. Opposing the system, therefore, was not merely treasonous but heretical. 

There was a reason that Ball’s illicit sermons could command such attention, and ordering him to shut up was mere whistling past the graveyard.Thirty-five years after the Black Death had killed over a third of the population of Europe, there weren’t enough people to work on the land.

And under the system of serfdom every man woman and child in England was forced by both law and circumstance to work for a local lord. They were tied to their land and paid rent through hard work and harvests. The system did not consider the needs of the individual, and the success or failure of the harvest would dictate whether or not people had enough to eat. 

Recognising this opportunity, workers organised to demand higher wages and better working conditions.But the government of the time, comprised mainly of landowning bishops and lords, unsurprisingly passed a law to limit wage rises, as well as introducing a poll tax to pay for a war. As a result ravaged by war and plague and heavy-handed wage suppression, England’s seething 99% broke into rebellion in June 1381.https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2016/06/wat-tyler-and-peasants-revolt-of-1381.html

John Ball was a popular figure around the outbreak of the uprising, and soon presented as one of the leading figures of the revolt. He was already known for his preaching against the existing secular and ecclesiastical hierarchies, and by 1381 his preaching was an integral part of the rebels’ ideology—at least according to the main earliest sources—and in critical scholarship it is sometimes labelled ‘millenarian,’ ‘apocalyptic,’ or ‘eschatological’ in the sense that he and his supporters envisaged imminent and dramatic social and political upheaval. 

While we inevitably have to speculate about some of the details, a general outline of Ball’s teaching can be given. Ball was understood to have believed that the summer of 1381 was the appointed time for the rebels to enact the divine plan to bring about their liberty through the violent transformation of England with particular reference to the eschatological parable of the Wheat and Tares in Matthew 13:24–30, 36–43. For Ball, the problem that needed rectifying was that the ecclesiastical and political elites were maintaining their wealth through, and at the expense of, the peasants and lower orders. He taught that the majority of the elites needed to be removed or eliminated and a new (or revived) order put in its place, with Ball as the leader of the church in England.

Ball was said to have looked to Adam and Eve to critique the invention of serfdom, justify the upheaval of the hierarchies of his time, and to point to an imminent future with fairer representation and redistribution of power and resources. He seems to have stressed the labour involved in the making of the bread of the Eucharist and tied it in with ideas about imminent liberation and freedom. This anticipated future was modelled on the earliest church, a time when all things would be held in common (Acts of the Apostles 2:44–45; 4:32–35). 

It is likely that Ball believed in expectations about an ideal Christian king who should or would bring peace, justice, and a chastened church to England. There is some evidence that Ball and the rebels of 1381 thought that the youthful Richard II fitted this role. These ideas are not as elaborate or extensive as other medieval apocalyptic or millenarian schema but, collectively, there is enough evidence to suggest that Ball should be seen as a popular figure who used inherited apocalyptic and millenarian ideas. it seems he expected the imminent transformation of the social and political order in England, with himself as the head ecclesiastical authority.

The exact details of Ball’s involvement in the riots that formed the Peasant’s Revolt in 1381 depend on which sources are consulted. Some believe he was rescued from Maidstone Prison by Wat Tyler’s men as their revolt spread across Essex and Kent. Others believe Ball would have been held in the Royal Prison which was not stormed by Tyler until a few months later. There is however concrete evidence of a open-air sermon delivered by Ball when the rebels arrived in Blackheath on 12th June 1381, where he spoke some of his most famous words:  

"When Adam delved and Eve span, Who was then the gentleman? From the beginning all men by nature were created alike, and our bondage or servitude came in by the unjust oppression of naughty men. For if God would have had any bondmen from the beginning, he would have appointed who should be bond, and who free. And therefore I exhort you to consider that now the time is come, appointed to us by God, in which ye may (if ye will) cast off the yoke of bondage, and recover liberty."  

We should understand this sentiment in its fourteenth-century context as involving a new hierarchy which would serve the interests of peasants and labourers. Ball and other rebels believed that this new England would involve holding the resources of the land in common which, in practical terms, likely included full access to game in woods, fields, and waters. 

The rebels came breathtakingly close to accomplishing  their aims. For a few days that pregnant June the rebels controlled London, even putting to death the Archbishop of Canterbury and mounting his head on London Bridge — and Ball the “mad priest” stood in leadership alongside Wat Tyler and Jack Straw. By appearances, Wat Tyler and John Ball and the rest were within an ace of overturning England’s feudal hierarchy.

The unfortunate and tragic end of the peasants revolt was marked first by the cruel murder of Wat Tyler. This was soon followed, despite his attempts to flee, by the execution of Ball after a swift trial in St. Albans. Ball’s striving for social equality and reforms in Western Christianity. were seen as a major threat to the establishment,

He was hung drawn and quartered in the presence of the king himself. In recognition of his influence and as a message to the peasants, after the rebellion died down Ball’s head was put on a pike and displayed on London Bridge.Feared by the elites, upon his execution his body parts were subsequently displayed in 4 different locations around England as a means of scaring off other revolters.

Ball would also subsequently be vilified by historians, poets, and theologians of the ruling class in a smear campaign that lasted 400 years, before his reputation became rehabilitated and adopted by many different popular movements throughout the years.

Ball has since been an inspirational figure for countless generations of English radicals. He appears, for instance as a character in an anonymous 1593 play called The Life and Death of Jack Straw and would have been familiar to Gerrard Winstanleyhttps://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2019/09/gerrard-winstanley-19101609-10091676.html  and the other radicals of the 17th century English Revolution who took up his call for an England where all things were held in common.

In 1888 William Morris https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-continuing-relevance-of-visionary.html  published his novel A Dream of John Ball, in which a time-traveller updates Ball on the end of feudalism and subsequent rise of industrial capitalism. The radical priest realises that his hopes for a free and egalitarian future have yet to be realised, five hundred years after his death.

In 1999, an article in Green Anarchist declared that Ball’s message was:

“not of moderation, not of putting limited demands for financial improvement, but of the revolutionary desire for authenticity and true human community that underlay them, of the courage to fight for ourselves and our visions”. 

Thankfully the name of John Ball has not been forgotten, as we release our own demands for reform and social justice many centuries later.

In 2015 a marker was unveiled commemorating the peasants’ rebellion, it was done on this anniversary of John Ball’s execution — and with a summons to equality he issued that has never yet been answered :. 

"Things cannot go on well in England nor ever will until everything shall be in common. When there shall be neither Vassal nor Lord and all distinctions levelled. !  

There’s a great folk song by Sidney Carter written in 1981 on the 300th anniversary of the Peasant’s Revolt all about John Ball. Here's a wonderful rousing version by  The Young ‘Uns.

Boycott the Sun!

The Sun newspaper  has been accused of failing to meet “basic journalistic standards” over its reporting of allegations against BBC presenter Huw Edwards.

Huw Edwards’ wife, Vicky Flind, identified him as the presenter at the heart of an extraordinary media storm on Wednesday (13 July). She said the events of recent days had worsened his “serious mental health issues”, and he had been hospitalised as a result.  It began when Billionaire mogul Rupert Murdoch’s paper ran a front page interview with a mother of a 20-year-old, on 7 July, who said their child provided explicit images to a “household name” at the BBC in exchange for money. She said their child used the money to fund a drug addiction. 

The story has taken a number of twists since. In a statement issued through a lawyer, the young person at the centre of the story described their parents’ claims as “rubbish” and insisted there was “no truth” to the stories. Crucially, the young person said they had made a statement to this effect to The Sun before it published its story, which failed to make it into the paper.

The Metropolitan Police has assessed that no crime has taken place. While The Sun has defended its reporting, which included subsequent, but less salacious, allegations from other sources, it has now said it doesn’t plan to report further claims.

Right so: Edwards did nothing illegal. The Sun and the BBC itself have worked to meld unrelated stories together into a full scale character assassination, and a man who did nothing illegal is now in hospital as a result of the ensuing emotional stress.

The Sun, Keir Starmer’s favourite newspaper, has spewed lies and hate for decades and  represent everything that’s wrong with the British tabloid industry

In 1986, the actor Jeremy Brett was admitted to a mental unit after a breakdown following the death of his wife. The Sun ran a cover story which stated ‘TV SHERLOCK IN NUT HOUSE’

Jeremy deserved his dignity. 

In 1988, The Sun and its sister News of the World harassed David Scarboro, who was the first actor to play Mark Fowler in EastEnders  He sadly died that same year aged 20 

They printed lies about Hillsborough, demonised striking workers. paid 16 year olds to pose topless, never pays Tax. fixes elections with lies, championed Brexit,  allowed rent a gob Katie Hopkins to use as a national platform to call for refugees to be machine-gunned at sea.and  hounded Caroline Flack to her death.

It's hard to believe  it has survived the horrific lies they told about the Hillsborough tragedy.The Liverpool boycott of The Sun newspaper has been ongoing since its reporting of the Hillsborough Disaster in 1989. The publication was found to have lied about LFC fans behaviour during and after the event to horrific effect and placed blame onto the victims of the tragedy. As a result of the fatal crush, 97 people died and 766 were injured. 

The Sun said fans had urinated on police officers, picked pockets of other victims and beat up people trying to give CPR. Since then, the boycott of The Sun has held firm in Liverpool, with a blanket ban on selling the publication in newsagents, providing it in libraries, or keeping it on coffee tables in local councils and institutions.  

However 34 years later the Scum  for that is what it  really should be called. is still peddling lies and with a disgraceful  hidden agenda to every story. Daily releasing a pious debasing rhetoric that is simply offensive and unacceptable to the order of the Murdoch empire, that controls the flow of media to almost half the planet.

Releasing abuse to benefit claimants, refugees, the disabled, transphobic, homophobic, islamophobic, that never shows any tolerance, decency or fairness, with a dirty right wing bias. 

Please stop buying this piece of shit, even for burning. Don’t read the Sun, Don't click its website, its fantasy football, it's  Twitter. None of it. Fuck them.Unless we say enough is enough they will continue Boycott The Sun.

The Sun and its journalists should also have to endure an inquisition by Lord Brian Leveson. If ever we needed proof that regulation of the British Press (and indeed TV) is clearly not fit for purpose, this is it.

Here's an earlier poem :

https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2020/02/please-dont-buy-sun.html

Wings Are Optional

Some people live such comfortable lives

Sober and clean, following straight paths,

Not feeling sadness or pangs of regret

Left broken by the depths of the world.

Never get mad at the state of things

Yet with pointing fingers shame,

Fail to understand others rational

The variable blemishes contained in life.

Or under the shimmering skies

Fight the war between self and mind.

Seek taste of oblivion to ease the pain

Never get lost, fall down or feel alone.

Leave damning words of condemnation

Sterile voices of coldness and unreason, 

Dimming the screams of imperfection 

Crafting perfect versions of themselves.

Others with more riotous hearts 

Refuse to surrender to blind judgement,

Find affirmation among dormant summers

In sunny rain, wait for magic to heal.

Taking thirsty gulps of whatever they need

In struggles of self preservation,

Keep searching for some inner bliss

Sip liquid courage with no remorse.

Allow creative juices to soak within 

Find a way of holding on to dreams,

With whisky kisses, finding respite

Allow clouds gaze to turn into sunshine.

In the blur of time, not quite broken

Among thunderstorms and breezy light,

Taking yesterday's sky into the unknown

From deep waters, feel lifted, buoyant even.

Talking to themselves without a care

Uninhibited, with senses euphoric

Singing to the stars and universe

Dancing with the moonlight,

Taking on board the flaws and cracks

Keep walking with well learned humility,

Not on a quest of mastering perfection 

But still in tune with other wisdoms.

Stagger forward with perseverance

Away from barriers and walls created,

Keeping strong beyond recognition

Releasing signals unquenchable.   

Word of the Day: Scab

On 5 Jul 1777 the word 'scab', a  highly derogatory and fighting  term to  describe a'strikebreaker', was used in print for the first time. One of the most important words in the working-class vocabulary! 

The term is actually derived from the Old English sceabb and the Old Norse skabb (both meaning “scab, itch”), the word “scab” had become an insult by the late 1500s, having adopted a secondary definition that meant “a lowlife“.  

With an increasing number of strikes, and therefore replacement workers, during the second half of the 18th century in England, the word “scab” was put into use as a derogatory term for strikebreakers, as noted in Bonner & Middleton’s Bristol Journal in 1777: 

 The Conflict [between labor and capital] would not been [sic] so sharp had not there been so many dirty Scabs; no Doubt but timely Notice will be taken of them.'

As one contemporary source explained in 1792;

 “What is a scab? He is to his trade what a traitor is to his country…. He first sells the journeymen, and is himself afterwards sold in his turn by the masters, till at last he is despised by both and deserted by all.” 

By 1806, the word was in  common use alongside other favorites including “blackleg,”and “ratfink.”  Blackleg may not be perfectly interchangeable with scab, though; some sources say that a scab is generally an outsider to the company hired specifically for strikebreaking, where a blackleg is a worker who predates the strike and chooses not to participate.  The etymology is pretty unclear on this one. One theory suggests that the insult might relate to rooks, birds with black legs. Rooks were distinctly disliked in some parts of the world. Other theories suggest that it references miners with pant-legs rolled up, showing coal dust or oil as evidence of work. Like scab, blackleg is also associated with disease. In modern times, it’s more commonly used to indicate a specific disease common to cows and sheep than it is organized labor or strikebreakers. It has also, at times, been associated with cheaters and gamblers.

Ratfinks has fallen in and out of use a few times, both used specifically for strikebreakers and more generally. The general insult is for tattle-tales or untrustworthy people. That as a synonym for strikebreakers makes sense then, based on the view of strikebreakers at the time. The rat part seems natural, and again associates strikebreakers with symbols of disease. It also has a tenuous link to birds, like blacklegs, in that “fink” might be based on the German word for “finch”. That would make both halves of the word reminiscent of phrases like “ratted out” or “sing like a canary”, which also refer to giving up allies to authorities for punishment.  The fear of informants wasn’t paranoia either; anti-union groups like the Pinkertons did genuinely send in spies to undermine labor organizations. This is the basis of another etymological theory for the word, which is that a linguistic shift turned “pink”, as a reference to the Pinkertons, into ‘fink’. After the labor movement settled, use of the word “ratfink” fell out of style until the 1960s, where it became more generalized in use again.

Whenever workers refuse to work in order to gain concessions, it is called a strike. Strikes were an important part of the early labor movement, which agitated for safer working conditions, better pay, and more reasonable hours. These early strikes were often brutally put down, and workers had a choice between going back to work and starving. Labor unions attempted to help with this by organizing workers, who paid dues that could be used to support them during a strike. A single scab could greatly weaken the cause of the union.

In response to more organized labor, companies started to recruit people who were willing to break the strike. These people might be existing employees or outside contractors.Also throughout the 19th century, scabs in the U.S. were frequently recruited from new immigrant and other economically challenged communities, and often had no idea they would be breaking a strike until they crossed the picket line. Regardless, scabs were  reviled, looked down upon and treated with disdain.It is common for striking workers picketing a workplace to chant the word ‘scab’ at other workers who cross the picket line.

By crossing the picket line of strikers marching and holding signs for better working conditions, the strike breaker hurts the cause of the workers. For this reason, the term “scab” started to become widespread, as this was someone who behaved dishonorably in 18th century culture. Retaliation against such workers could sometimes be brutal and can result in them  being shunned or assaulted. 

A classic example from United Kingdom industrial history is that of the miners from Nottinghamshire, who during the 1984-1985 miners' strike did not support strike action by fellow mineworkers in other parts of the country. Those who supported the strike claimed that this was because they enjoyed more favorable mining conditions and, thus, better wages and were used as pawns in Margaret Thatcher's bitter war against the organised working class of the UK. When the strike was over members of  the scab Union of Democratic Mineworkers (UDM) settled in for the long period of prosperity and security promised them by a grateful establishment. Their  UDM leader Roy Lynk was awarded an OBE for ‘services to trade unionism’ but  after paving the way for mass pit closures and privatisation, he and Nottinghamshire’s former strike-breakers. to their fury, they too were betrayed as Nottinghamshire’s pits were closed in contrast to the promises lavished upon them during the strike.

Trade Unionists also use the epithet “scab” to refer to workers who are willing to accept terms that union workers have rejected and interfere with the strike action.The term is also used to refer to workers who cave too easily to concessions offered by a company. Labor activists believe that striking is an effective tool, and that if the workers band together, they can achieve their goals. Workers who agree to partial concessions weaken the cause of the whole, as do people who work through the strike. Sometimes, striking workers are surprised when the temporary workers hired to replace them up becoming permanent.

When a strike is in progress, people who support it should refrain from crossing the picket line. Workers typically form a band in front of the company they work for to inform people that a strike is going on, and why. By crossing the picket line, scabs and consumers indicate that they are not concerned about the rights of the workers, and they weaken the case of the strikers. 

It is simply an iron law of working-class life that you never betray your fellow worker during a legitimate and official strike. You never cross a picket line and take the side of the boss. You never scab on your colleagues. It's such a crappy thing to do and simply goes against  the principles of solidarity and unity.

One of the greatest weapons that workers and oppressed people possess is  their unity. It is only by coming together in solidarity. it is only through closing ranks against the common enemy, that any victory has ever been won by the masses of people. Working-class solidarity is present in every picket, every union action, every strike and any time workers take a stand against the bosses. If workers go on strike, only a scab or a boss will cross the picket line, while all workers who feel solidarity with each other refuse. 

Workers formed trade unions and continue to organize into unions today out of the knowledge that only through banding together in solidarity can even the slightest improvement be gained in working conditions, wages, job security, and so forth.

We should have no sympathy for a scab. A “replacement worker” (to use the sanitized terminology) is helping the boss to break a strike. If the strike fails, the majority of striking workers will lose the pay they lost during the strike, face cuts, and endure victimization and potential permanent replacement by the scab workers. The “individual” right of the scab is in direct opposition to the individual right of the striker to survive. If scabs are allowed to scab with impunity we will live in a world with no workers’ rights and no unions – a bosses’ paradise where workers live under the boot of management. Never cross a picket line, the stain of being a scab lasts forever.

With an upsurge of union struggle today.With thousands on strike across the country, the power of our unions comes from the fact that all profit comes from workers. Stopping scabs is a key way to use that power.  

Far better than being a scab is to standing in solidarity with all of those who are fighting back against attacks from the state whether it be the striking postal workers, rail workers, nurses, unemployed people who are having their benefits cut, people fighting against repossessions, asylum seekers and immigrants in their daily battle against racist immigration laws and fighting deportations, black and young people in their fight against police harassment, the Palestinian resistance against occupation. I personally believe that in this moment. when Palestinians are suffering  increasing brutality from an Israeli government determined to reify ethno-supremacy and maintain their  system of apartheid .to cross the BDS picket line is to ne a scab.

The final word belongs to the American writer, journalist and socialist Jack London (1876-1916) who expertly summed up in his 1915 poem what a scab was and why you should never be one.By any definition, a scab is not someone you really want to associate with.:

Ode To A Scab - Jack London 1876 -1916 

After God had finished the rattlesnake, the toad, and the vampire, He had some awful substance left with which He made a scab. A scab is a two-legged animal with a corkscrew soul, a waterlogged brain, and a combination backbone made of jelly and glue. Where others have hearts, he carries a tumor of rotten principles. 

When a scab comes down the street, men turn their backs and angels weep in heaven, and the devil shuts the gates of hell to keep him out. No man has a right to scab as long as there is a pool of water deep enough to drown his body in, or a rope long enough to hang his carcass with. Judas Iscariot was a gentleman compared with a scab. For betraying his Master, he had character enough to hang himself. A scab hasn't.

Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage. Judas Iscariot sold his savior for thirty pieces of silver. Benedict Arnold sold his country for a promise of a commission in the British Army. The scab sells his birthright, country, his wife, his children and his fellowmen for an unfulfilled promise from his employer.

Esau was a traitor to himself; Judas was a traitor to his God; Benedict Arnold was a traitor to his country; a scab is a traitor to his God, his country, his family and his class."