One of the main reasons that people don't like Oxfam and Channel 4's ( who are currently promoting Sodastream via their programme ' The Jump' ) association with this company is the fact that Palestine Solidarity activists across the globe are currently boycotting it, because it is produced in an illegal Israeli settlement, on stolen Palestinian land. This is why Oxfam, a charity I volunteer for,must disassociate itself from their current ambassador Scarlet Johannson, who has recently also been seen promoting this soft drinks firm, who despite valid criticism has continued her support in a display of casual disregard to the core issues at stake. I respect Oxfams recent statement in response to the bad publicity to one of their ambassadors seemingly endorsing a product that for many is complicit in profits made from occupation and apartheid.
Oxfam and Channel 4 I believe should drop their association, they cannot be allowed to cosy up to this unethical company.
SodaStream is made in the Mishor Edomim industrial zone, that is part of the illegal Israeli settlement Ma'aleh Adumim, which cuts deeply into Palestine's West Bank, severing Palestinian towns and devastating their economy and daily lives, Sodastream's factorty is built on stolen land, on seperated Ramallah, Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Jericho.
The fact remains that daily, Palestinian workers in factories like this are underpaid, denied basic rights such as holiday or sick pay, denied the riht to organise into unions, and are left to fend for themselves if injured at work, and lets remember that the Israeli government encourages companies like this to locate within its illegal settlements by allowing less environmental and labor standards than those required in Israel., allowing a complete disregard for human rights and international law to continue.
I believe it is impossible to be an 'ambassador' or pretend to be a respectable Public broadcasting Company whilst at the same time through association promote what in my eyes is a human rights abuser. Businesses that operate from illegal settlements further the ongoing poverty of the Palestinian Communities, we should keep up the pressure on Oxfam and Channel 4, any one of value really, to dissasociate from a company that profits from the exploitation of Palestinain land, labour and resources. Sodastream tries to garner repectability, but under international law, operates illegally , exploiting the poor of this region, whilst promoting a dubious ecological agenda, and while it remains constitutes as a barrier to peace in this region.
There is nothing clean about SodaStreams product, parroting its message does not build bridges, it is time to let it's bubbles free.
Under Ceredigion sky,
the wind catches my breath,
her presence all around,
plants her smile on our lips,
takes us to places where we don't mind,
sighing, bursting, laughing, singing,
her voice lingers long in our hearts,
turns grey spaces, into colourful bloom,
wraps us up in warm swoon,
like a marvellous scent,
that runs inside and out,
takes away the darkness,
overcomes barriers and borders,
in every language, releases poet's tonque,
there is consolation in love's certainty,
deep, deep, deep, it's roots are strong,
I try my utmost, that she is not hurt,
share it's sap, for this fragile world to consume.
I remember when, reason got lost,
wild rivers, ran their ragged course,
on old mountains, the sky spat its blood,
veins of burnt silver burst,vapours released,
thick white smoke, waved it's dragons tail,
and the pretence of tomorrow, released a form of
satisfaction.
A line was drawn,
bunkerered down, in a dream of rest,
measured vision one by one,
navigated, transcended, forgot,
released abandonment,
from the weight of perception.
The night softly dissolved into flames,
and comforts ambience, lifted its finger,
wrapped up in a warm place, of numbed release,
consciously blinking, in stretched defiance,
he fell asleep, to quietly wait,
for mornings hungry breath, to wake,
and the return of summer,
bringing some new shards of hope.
People aren't 'playing the system' to even a fraction of the degree the media and politicians make out.
Scapegoating just paves the way for further cuts in support to people who need and deserve help - including pensioners, low waged workers and people who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own.
The government is currently using the right wing tabloids and media to lead an assault on the welfare system, in a deliberate attempt at misleading the public with this constant onslaught of propoganda.
In the above video from the T.U.C it tries to tackle some of the media and political myths about the benefit system, with the aid of a talking dog.
Oh and lets remember the words of H.L Mencken who once said ' The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed ( and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
The claim by (now suspended) UKIP coucillor David Silvetor that the recent flooding in Britain was caused by Gay marriage, has been met with confustion and more than a touch of anger. But most people hacve just subjected this party to severe mockery and all the disdain that they deserve.
Here is Nicholas Peggs spoof BBC Radio 4 UKIP shipping forecast. A wonderful comedic response.
At the moment, we have a government made up of public school educated millionaires, presiding over the dismantling of the welfare state. These are the real scroungers in our midsts. A healthy media would tell us about them, but they stay silent, carrying on this governments vile agends.
People are daily suffering, the consequences of an economic crisis, caused by the governments friends, and they expect us to accept it, as they try to lay the blame on the marginalised and the powerless, at the same time demanding a wage rise.
It seems there is rule for them, and stuff the rest of us. Yes, the biggest scroungers in this country comprises of an unelected Tory Government, and their allies, claiming every last penny from the taxpayers.
Cruel headlines from the right wing media, daily create false narratives, luckily we have our own media now, and we can answer back.
This is a war that Cameron and his cronies should not be allowed to win, for all our sakes and all of our tomorrows.
Very sad to hear of the Death of Roger Lloyd- Pack, Only Fools and Horses, Vicar of Dibley and the Old Guys star, a fine actor and contributor to moments of comical genius, who has died at his London home, after suffering from pancreatic cancer.
He was also a tireless committed socialist, dedicated follower of peace and social justice, a supporter of Left Unity, a recently formed 'radical party of the left, and gave unstinting support to various radical causes and movements such as Stop the War Coalition and the People's Assembly, as well as being a vocal supporter for Palestinian rights.
A versatile character actor who was at home with both comedy and drama, his expressive face and comical timing will be missed.
My thoughts go out to his family and friends. So long Trigger. R.I.P
My Name is Rodney - Classic scene from Only fools and horses.
Trigger and Ghandi
Trigger gets wrong Idea
Roger Lloyd- Pack speaking about why he would be at Anti-War Mass Assembly tback in 2011, to mark 10th anniversary of Afghanistan War and the war on terror.
Today I remember the murder in 1919 of the Jewish agitator, internationalist and theoritician, Rosa Luxemburg who was killed by right wing troops opossed to the revolutionary movement that swept through Germany in the wake of the First World War. A leader of the radical wing of the German Social Democratic Party (SPD), since 1899,she became an important figure in the world socialist movement, and became involved in the international organisation of workers, she broke with the SPD however after it supported the imperialist drive towards war, she believed in the build up to the First World War that ' workers blood should not be shed in defence of the captalist system' Because of her socialist agitation during this terrible war , she was imprisoned for it's duration, but after Germany's defeat she was released, and with her friend Karl Liebnecht, forming the Spartacus league, and she assumed the leadership of the radical independent socialists. Her will and her desire was to see an end to all exploitation and oppression.
She herself took part in revolutionary events , recognising the need of a revolutionary party, which could unite and give a lead in a revolutionary situation, seeing socialism as a movement of the proletarian masses that should emphasise unity and equality rather than highlight the oppression of any particular group, with an undogmatic committment to an unfinished notion of freedom that still appeals to many people today.
In November 1918 after four years of war, German society crumbled both at the front at home, and a revolutionary fervour swept the land, the working class took to the streets in a series of strikes and the navy mutinied., though critical with some demands of the revolutionary movement, Rosa threw in her lot with her comrades, believing that she could not simply wait on the sidelines. Subsequently on January 15, she and some of her her comrades were arrested, including Karl Liebnecht, Rosa was shot and dumped in the Landweher canal, Berlin.
Famously on the evening of her murder almost certainly knowing that her fate was sealed she wrote.
'"The leadership has failed. Even so, the leadership can and muust be recreated from the masses and out of the masses. The masses are the decisive element, they are the rock on which the final victory of the revolution will be built... Order reigns in Berlin! You stupid henchmen! Your 'order' is built on sand. Tomorrow the revolution will already 'raise itself with a rattle' and announce with fanfare, to your terror: I was, I am , I shall be!"
Today her ideas can be pressed into many meanings. There is a feminist Rosa, an anarchist Rosa, then there is a red Rosa, but she remains an icon inthe truest sense of the word.Here is poem written by Bertolt Brecht in 1920 about Rosa.
About the drowned girl - Bertolt Brecht
As she drowned, she swam downwards and was borne,
From the smaller streams to the larger rivers,
In wonder the opal of the heavens shone,
As if wishing to placate the body that was hers.
Catching hold of her were the seaweed , the algae,
Slowly she became heavy as downwards she went,
Cool fish swam around her legs, freely,
Animals and plants weight to her body lent.
Dark light smoke in the evenings the heavens grew,
But early in the morning the stars dangled, there was light,
So that for her, there remained too,
Morning and evening, day and night.
Her cold body rotted in the waters there,
Slowly, step by step, god too forgot,
First her face, then her hands, and finally her hair
She became carrion of which the rivers have a lot.
Last night Channel 4, broadcast again their programme Benefits Street in what appeared to me, to be blatant tory propoganda and poverty porn. The programme focuses on the lives of hard-up families on James Turner Street, in Winston Green, Birmingham, but so sensational is its approach the only thing that Channel 4 seems to be concerned about is their lazy attempt at boosting its ratings, Channel 4 after all is a 'public service broadcaster' but has not got the luxury of the BBC's license fee, so instead relies on advertising, and cheap programmes like this. A programme condemned by many organisations for being damaging and grossly unbalanced, whose only true intention is to demonise the poor. It seems to be suggesting that all benefit claimants are like the poor people of Benefit Street, stigmatising and hunting down the most negative examples in an attempt to stir up some controversy, or carry on the tory's agenda of trying to lay the countries economic problems on the poorest and most vulnerable in society.
I guess the programme has fulfilled Channel 4's intentions, divide and rule, target audience achieved, as the tories continue reducing millions of people to abject penury while their friends, much better off, cheers them on, and the bankers still wave their wads of cash at us and laugh. As M.Ps spend £250,000 of taxpayers money on portraits of themselves, in the real world, the governments cruel welfare cuts, have led to people taking their own lives, and the fact is that tax fraud and error outweigh welfare claims by some 20 billion pounds!
I confess I only watched the first programme in it's entirety, because after the first 20 minutes of the latest installment I just couldn't bare to continue, and was forced to switch it off, there was something cartoon like, about its lazy pigeonholing, and its editing, leaving us with images and lazy stereotypes straight out of central casting from any mainstream right wing media outlet.
Meanwhile the government has suffered a major defeat on Michael Meacher M.Ps motion to establish an enquiry into the impact of welfare reforms on the incidence of poverty. One of only a handful of M.Ps with a little conscience. So perhaps the tide is beginning to turn.
Programmes like Benefits Street, which I usually manage to avoid are designed to stir up hatred and divide communities between the rich and poor, and more dangerously, the 'deserving' and the the 'undeserving' poor. Designed to set sections of society which face the same problems, upon each other.
There is a petition people can sign about the programme, if any visitors to this site, could add their name, it would be much appreciated. Together we must stop this war on the poor and disadvantaged.
From Sa-Ra-Ga Machan (1981)
Footage from La Societe du spectacle (Society of the Spectacle) 1973 film by Situationist Guy Debord on his own 1967 book of the same name.
The Situationist International (SI) was a restricted group of international revolutionaries founded in 1957, and which had its peak in its influence on the unprecedented general wildcat strikes of May 1968 in France.
With their ideas rooted in anti-authorianism Marxism and the 20th century European artistic avant in particularly Dada and Surrealism, they advocated experiences of life being alternative to those admitted by the capitalist order, for the fulfillment of human primitive desires and the pursuing of a superior pasional quality. For this purpose they suggested and experimented with the construction of situations, namely the setting up of environments for the fulfilment of such desires.
Using methods drawn from the arts, they developed a series of experimental fields of study for the construction of such situations, like unitary urbanism and psychogeography.
They fought against the main obstacle on the fulfilment of such superior passional living, identified by them in advanced capitalism. Their theoretical work peaked on the highly influential book ' The Society of the Spectacle ' by Guy Debord. Debord argued in 1967 that spectacular features like mass media and advertising have a central role in advanced capitalist society, which is to show a fake reality in order to mask the real capitalist degradation of human life. To overthrow such a system, the Situationist International supported the May '68 revolts, and asked the workers to occupy the factories and to run them with direct democracy through workers councils composed by instantly revocable delegates.
After publishing in the last issue of the magazine an analysis of the May 1968 revolts, and the strategies that will be needed to be adopted in future revolutions, the SI was diisolved in 1972.
' The spectacle is the nightmare of imprisoned modern society which ultimately expresses nothing more than its desire to sleep. The spectacle is the guardian of sleep.'
'Like lost children we live our unfinished adventures.'
' The spectacle is not a collection of images, but a social relation among people mediated by images.'
Sad to hear the news this morning that Poet and activist Amiri Bakara had sadly died yesterday aged 79. Here is a link to an earlier post of mine I wrote earlier in the year that now serves as a kind of requiem.http://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/amiri-bakara-leroi-jones-b71034.html
R.I.P to this great man. I believe his legacy to be one of aching beauty..
The Dead Lecturer
The end of man is his beauty
And silence
which proves/ but
a referent
to my disorder.
Your world shakes
cities die
beneath your shape.
The single shadow
at noon
like a live tree
whose leaves
are like clouds.
Weightless soul
at whose love faith moves
as a dark and
withered day.
They speak of singing who
have never heard song, of living
wghose deaths are legends
for their kind.
A scream
gathered in wet fingers,
at the top of its stalk.
- They have passed
and gone
whom you thot your lovers
In this perfect quiet, my friend,
their shapes
are not unlike
rights
Mark Duggan was demonised by the police and the facts of his killing ignored. It seems now that the marginalised live in a parallel, unjust universe. Yesterday the Mark Duggan inquest decided officers who shot Duggan dead in Tottenham in August 2011, acted lawfully. The jury voted by 8-2 that although Duggan was unarmed and did not present an immediate or real threat to the police - the police were right to kill him. Ultimately if the Duggan family had, had proper legal representation, a European Court ruling, would have lead to the proper verdicts of unlawful killing. The Duggan family now join a long list of others, seeking justice for unexplained deaths in police custody.
I would like to remind you there have been more than 333 suspicious deaths in police custody since 1998 and zero officers have been convicted. Where is the justice in this.
We seem to live in a country where a police officer can and will discharge their weapons, and avoid any form of recompense. Mark Duggans family and friends will continue to demand justice, and to seek , answers to the questions raised by this case and highlight the cover up that many believe has happened.
Remember too, that what has happened to Mark Duggan could happen to anyone of us.
Marks family are calling for a peaceful vigil on Saturday, 2pm outside Tottenham Police Station.
No Justice , No Peace: A Poem for Mark Duggan
I thought that all life was innocent, but for some, this is not the case, if you happen to be, from the wrong part of town, justice will be abandoned, and deaths dominion, will deliver to you, a life sentence.
I can understand, the undertows, of rage and disbelief, after bullets leave another, young man dead, and a mothers pain, when her tears are washed away.
I percieve, recognise the passion and intensity, unleashed,after unwarrented, bloodshed spills on our streets, where certain hands that pull triggers, are simply protected, and that if you put your hands up, authority might not want to see, and why, when there is no justice, there can be no peace.
The following video reminds us why we struggle to rid Palestine of the Israeli occupatuion. 'Wala' in this context is like the word 'boy' used by slave-owners when addressing their slaves. The poem is from a poetry collection called 'My Voice Sought The Wind' by the exiled Palestinian American poet and human rights activist Susan Abulhawa. It speaks for the thousands of Palestinians, whose lives and livelihoods have been stolen or destroyed by Israel, as they in turn become a source of cheap labor that lines up before the sun, in long demeaning queues to work in Israel, where they are often exploited and mistreated. It also speaks for the oppressed within Palestine.
Abulhawa sees the BDS movement, according to a 2012 profile 'as one of the most effective ways to promote Palestinian rights and achieve justice against Israels ongoing ethnic cleansing."
2014 has been named ' Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian people.' The international community must now press on to demand statehood for the Palestinian people, and allow them their freedom.
Free Chelsea Manning and all the other whistleblowers. A song by David Roviks. Chelsea Manning should have her draconian 35 year sentence commuted immediately to the 3 and a quarter years she has already spent behind bars. What further purpose is there in further punishing a brave person, who after all is said and done, helped to publicise deeply troubling incidents. Chelsea Manning is a courageous woman who deserves are respect for exposing the lies of U.S imperialism. We should not forget her.
Join Chelsea Manning's Irish supporters along with her family and friends in West Wales for two days of events celebrating Truth. All proceeds will go to the Private Manning Family Fund http://manningfamilyfund.org/, eaising money to support family members in Wales with the cost of prison visits to Chelsea in Kansas.
As Chelsea's American grandmother said:
if you can;t tell the truth, then don't bother speaking!
Chelsea told the truth and has paid with her liberty.
PROGRAMME
( may be subject to minor changes)
THE MANNING TRUTHFEST A Gathering for Chelsea (Bradley Manning
brought by Irish musicians, performers and other supporters to Manning's family in West Wales. Suppported by Irish Justice and peace group Afri http://www.afri.ie/
Friday 10 January, 7.30pm-11pm Irish music and performance night Shamrock Bar, The Square, Fishguard
With Irish musicians Joe Black, Robbie Sinnot, Brian Fleming, Ellen Cranitch, Imogen Gunner, RoJ Whelan & singer Sorcha Fox.
Donal O'Kelly will perform his award winning solo show Fionnuala
Entry by donation.
Saturday 11 January, 2pm-5pm Solidarity with Chelsea Manning from Ireland: Public Meeting & Live Irish Music The Picton Centre, Freemans Way, Haverfordwest
Introduction by Joe Murray and Donal O' Kelly
Harry Browne, journalist, lecturer & author
Nuala Kelly, formerly Director of ICPO ( Irish Commision for Prisoners Overseas)
Ciaron O'Reilly, former prisoner of the US (Manning WISE UP solidarity network).
Human Rights Lawyer Gareth Pierce (live or as a video address)
Chaired by Andy Storey of Afri.
Live music with Brian Fleming, Joe Black, Rovbbie Sinnot, RoJ Whelan, Ellen Cranitch, Imogen Gunner.
Entry by donation.
Saturday 11 January, 7.300m-11pm Irsih music and performance night (with bar and buffet) The Labour Club, Dew Street, Haverfordwest
Muscicians: Joe Black, Rovbbie Sinnot, Imogen Gunner, Wllen Cranitch, Brian Fleming
Sorcha Fox will perform her poetry piece with film Who Am Ireland?
Brian Fleming will perform his show Have Yis No Names to Go to?
The evening will end with an Irish music session.
Entry by ticket £5
Limited tickets - Booking essential.
Amiri Baraka, incendiary and emotive poet is at moment recovering from an unspecified illness.
Born in Newark, New Jersey, he went to Howard University, then. joined the U.S Air Force for 3 years, but was given a dishonourable discharge after accusations of communism.His early work was associated with Beat and Black Mountain poetics, however after murder of Malcolm X in 1968, Bakara left the predominantly white literary world of Greenwich Village for Harlem, where he founded the Black Arts Repetory Theatre and began an intense involvement in Black Nationalism.
In 1968, he took the Bantu-Muslim name Imanu Amiri Baraka, which means 'spiritual leader,' 'prince' and 'blessed one,' he also became the main theorist of the Black Aesthetic movement, which sought to replace white models of consciousness with African/American language and values.Later he embraced the philosophy of Marxism and became a supporter of third world liberation movement.He also supported the revolutionary overthrow of the capitalist system , for both black and white.
For Baraka, the ideal black artist was jazz saxophonist John Coltrane, and the rhythms and pulses of jazz and blues he has devoted and written articulately about in a career spanning over fifty years, winning many literary awards..
He has become respected for his pointed social criticism and fiery writing style, his voice incendiary, emotive, confrontational, He believes poetry should rattle readers, rather than serve as decoration.
The following poem proved to be a little confrontational, but he steadfastedly refused to refute any of it.
Somebody Blew up America
This controversy threatened to cloud the poems larger message.As journalist Jeremy Pearce explains " the poem announces the plight of the downtrodden through history, repeatedly asking 'who' is responsible for political oppression across the globe." I thank Amiri Bakara for rekindling the fire of politics in poetry.
The divisive politics of race and power continue to engage him. To Barak, the vital connection between art and politics couldn't be more clear, " There's a great flock of lies that have to be refuted, and only poetry can do that." His voice has been used to speak out against oppression and injustice,he presently believes that President Obama has failed on many foreign issues, Amiri's revolution has been fought with words,that I hope continue to be shared and not silenced, and shine a light, carry on his unflinching point of view who shares the worlds mirrors, both beauty and ugliness.
I for one wish him a speedy recovery.
Political Poem ( for Basil)
Luxury,then, is a way of
being ignorant, comfortably
An approach to the open market
of least information. Where theories
can thrive, under heavy tarpaulins
without being cracked by ideas.
( I have not seen the earth for years
and think now possibly " dirt" is
negative, positive, but clearly
social. I cannot plant a seed, cannot
recognize the root with clearer dent
than indifference. Though I eat
and shit as a natural man. (Getting up
from the desk to secure a turkey sandwich
and answer the phone: the poem undone
undone by my station, by my station,
and the bad words of Newark.) Raised up
to the breech, we seek to fill for this
crumbling century. The darkness of love,
in whose sweating memory all error is forced.
Undone by the logic of any specific death. (Old gentlemen
who still follow fires, tho are quieter
and less punctual. It is a polite truth
we are left with. Who are you? What are you
saying? Something to be dealt with, as easily.
The noxious games of reason, saying, " No, No,
you cannot feel, " like my dead lecturer
lamenting thru gipsies fast
1964
The New World
The sun is folding, cars stall and rise
beyond the window. The workmen leave
the street to the bums and painters' wives
pushing their babies home. Those who realize
how fitful and indecent consciousness is
stare solemnly out on the emptying street.
The mourners and soft singers. The liars,
and seekers after ridiculous righteousness. All
my doubles, and friends, whose mistakes cannot
be duplicated by machines, and this is all of our
arrogance. Being broke or broken, dribbling
at the eyes. Wasted lyricists, and men
who have seen their dreams come true, only seconds
after they knew those dreams to be horrible conceits
and plastic fantasies of gesture and extension,
shoulders, hair and tonques distributing misinformation
about the nature of understanding. No one is that simple
or priggish, to be alone out of spite and grown strong
in its practice, mystics in two-pants suits. Our style,
and discipline, controlling the method of knowledge,
Beatniks, like Bohemians, go calmly out of style. And boys
are dying in Mexico, who did not get the word.
The lateness of their fabrication: mark their holes
with filthy needles. The lust of the world. This will not
be news. The simple damning lust.
float flat magic in low changing
evenings. Shiver your hands
in dance. Empty all of me for
knowing, and will the danger
of identification,
Let me sit and go blind in my dreaming
and be that dream in purpose and device.
A fantasy of defeat, a strong strong man
older, but no wiser than the defect of love
1969 Ka' Ba
A closed window looks down
on a dirty courtyard, and black people
call across or scream across or walk across
defying physics in the stream of their will
Our world is full of sound
Our world is more lovely than anyone's
tho we suffer, and kill each other
and sometimes fail to walk in the air
We are beautiful people
with african imaginations
full of masks and dances and swelling chants
with african eyes, and noses, and arms,
though we sprawl in gray chains in a place
full of winters, when what we want is sun.
We have been captured,
brothers. And we labor
to make our getaway, into
the ancient image, into a new
correspondence with ourselves
and our black family. We need magic
now we need the spells, to raise up
return, destroy, and create. What will be
It's that time of the year again, as always, there are lessons to be learnt, isn't this always the case, but this does not mean we have to take it all, or put up with government crap. Anyway here's to the future, to friendship, the shadows of freedoms treasure, the petals of tomorrow, breaking down the powers that we did not choose. Stay irresponsible, alive, not kneeling in submission, follow unity's dance, take back authority, reconfigure, remain heard, refuse to negotiate when your impossible dreams are not allowed. Don't forget to sing out Blwyddyn Newydd Dda/ Happy New Year. Onwards and upwards. Heddwch/peace Free Palestine.
There are lies, damn lies and then tory lies, the above list just the of the iceberg really,all their actions have done is fuel division, swelling social anger. The Tory's main purpose seems to be moving public money into private pockets, shattering any remnants of hope and carving up the country, as people drift into poverty and our living standards plummet.Nobody voted for their austerity package,this party that seems to toss accountability or transparancey, aside, that have been caught out trying to delete old speeches and promises from the internet.
Also 350,000 people are now regularly forced to access food banks, their is increased hospitalization because malnutrition rates have nearly doubled under the tory's. Doctors have written to the BMJ (British Medical Journal) calling food poverty a national emergency. Causing harm is their devotion, causing pain is their game of sport, still lining the pockets of their rich friends, while attacking the marginalised and the poor. And next year the Conservative Party will daft proposed new laws to curb the impact of European human rights legislation in Britain. I can only imagine what other nastiness they have in store for us.
Still in it all together, I don't bloody think so, just another tory lie.....Happy new fear
David Roviks is a singer/songwriter and author who I greatly admire, who spends much of his life on tour. Spreading his messages and songs of social significance. Roviks has made all of his recorded music freely available and endorses the free distribution of his work by all non-profit means to promote his work and spread his political messages. A social activist who speaks out against websites or programmes like i tunes that charge money for downloading his songs. A supporter of the occupy movements, and many other causes clamouring for a better world. Enjoy.
This clip is from the 1957 British comedy film A King in New York, directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin in his last leading role, presents a satirical view of certain aspects if United States politics and society. The film was produced in Europe after Chaplin's exile from the US in 1952, It did not open in the United States until 1967,
The young boys name is Michael Chaplin, son of Charlie Chaplin.
It's that time of year again, when we sing about peace and good will,when our impulse is to give, share and support others, feelings of solidarity and mutual aid, find their form in the midwinter festival that in this part of the world, is now known as Christmas.
Today, as the tentacles of the capitalist market reach into every part of our lives, those feelings are commodified, we are encouraged to pay for the convenience of expressing our feelings for our fellow beings through gift giving. We fret about our purchases, are they good enough? Will the person like them?
But, as well as this, people across the world think of those who have less and donate food, clothes, toys and money.
It is worth remembering that these acts of solidarity are part of our nature, that the impulse towards mutual aid is not just a once in a year anomoly, that it was a deciding factor in our evolution and is something we need to nurture if the human race is to survive the coming centuries.
As Kropotkin wrote in Mutual Aid, a factor of evolution.
I will be quiet for next few days, as library closing until the new year, a little post, on boxing day, perhaps, and then quite probably not until the new year, so in the meantime...thanks to all who've supported the blog....
Best wishes.
solidarity
Another world is not impossible, it is inevitable,
heddwch/peace.
' Throw your dreams,
into space like a kite,
and you do not know ,
what it will bring back,
a new life,
a new friend,
a new love,
a new country'
- Anais Nin
Sunrise at Newgrange
Sunset at Stonehenge, and the veil is drawn
gliding under shifting skies,
following earths trembling hum
the thunder of life's mutation
imagination awakens,, loses wings
impatient and a little crazy
lets words escape, beyond control,
into spaces unafraid of weight.
The dance of transformation
hooks and catches, follows whirling path,
flowing in winds sowing filter
navigates uncharted space,
without borders restrictive figuration
turns nothing into edges everlasting pulse,
remember loved ones, those gone far to soon.
do not forget to engage, deeply with your own soul
And in the blessed morning
as time comes round again,
opens up its brilliant rays
reconstructs our roots,
supplements our need
releases again the delicate
seeds of dream,
slipping chrysalis's of survival
deep into futures hungry realm,
As I type, over 5,000 people have been evacuated from flood-damagesd homes in northen Gaza, in what today the United Nations is calling a 'disaster area.'
Large swathes of Gaza are now delugeed under water, as far as the eyes can see, Under occupation, the severe weather conditions have left its Palestinian citizens almost paralyzed. Their will is strong, but the people still need our support Because of the illegal occupaton by Israel, their basic infrastructure, has been seriously effected for years, that have curbed it's citizens to basic goods, fuel and building supplies.
After one of the longest blockades in human history, the people of Gaza, desperately need our help. Take a moment and reflect, following floods and freezing temperatures, the situation in Gaza is now catasthropic.
Please join me in calling for David Cameron to end this unsupportable and immoral blockade of
Gaza. Israels's blockade on Gaza must be ended permanently, thus ending the uneecessary of it's people.
As UNWRA state:-
" Any normal community would struggle to recover from this disaster. But a community that has been subjected to one of the longest blockades in human history, whose public health system has been destroyed and where the risk of disease was already rife, must be freed from these man made constraints to deal with the impact of a natural calamity such as this. And of course it the most vulnerable, the women and children, the elderly who will pay the highest price of failure to end the blockade."
Supporters of international whistleblower Chelsea (formerly) Bradley Manning, have been gathering in London to celebrate her 26th birthday and to demand her immediate release. The U.S soldier was sentenced to 35 years for leaking thousands of documents to Wikileaks exposing US and other governments' war crimes and corruption.International protests are also being held to demand her release.
Thank's to Chelsea's whistleblowing the public now know about the collateral murder of a U.S helicopter killing innocent Iraqi civilians, the covers up of rape in Iraq and Afghanistan, the extent of drone strikes, U.S dirty tricks across the globe, the thousand of civilian casualties that were not acknowledged publicly, the fact that most Guatanamo detainees were innocent, their spying on us all, etc etc..
People are invited to support a petiton by Amnesty International demanding her immediate release https://www.amnesty.org/en/appeals-for-action/chelseamanning and another petition by the Private Manning Support Network demanding President Obama's pardon http://www.privatemanning.org/pardonpetition Her sentence is harsher than that of convicted murderers, and rapists, because she wanted to speak some truth, and now the U.S want to make a scapegoat of her, to discourage other whistleblowers, of taking the brave descion yo expose crimes, and surveillance of us all. It is urgent that we increase the pressure in our calls for her immediate release. Sharing the truth should not be a crime.
On her fourth birthday behind bars, I do hope the world remembers her, because her brave actions have set an example to us all.
' There is not a flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.'
-Howard Zinn
Happy Birthday Chelsea Manning
Free Her now
Meanwhile.a date for the diary, an event of solidarity, in the place where Chelsea was raised, who also has Irish roots as well, where these two communities will not forget Chelsea Mannings's courage and integrity.
'Emma Goldman was deemed controversial in her own lifetime, with Teddy Rossevelt calling her a "madwoman.. mental.... as well as a moral pervert." In her life she was certainly not one who bowed down to convention or compromise. Her ideas were all about the right to stay alive in ones senses, to live in a world that celebrated this. She certainly lived her life with a fierce intensity, with her unthwarted desire for freedom and all it's possibilities. Her creed was one of individualism and essentially libertarianism and spent her life consumed by its spirit of revolt. A Russian Jewish immigrant at the age of 17, she moved by her own efforts from seamstress in a clothing factory to become an internationally known radical lecturer, writer and friend of the oppressed. She was many things I guess, a feminist, a writer of vision, incredible public speaker but was first and foremost an anarchist. Her writing and ideas covered a variety of issues, including athiesm, freedom of speech, capitalism, free love and women's suffrage. From the 1890s and for years thereafter, America reverberated with the sound of her name.
She was jailed for inciting riots, advocating birth control, and is their at nearly every turn point in America's 20th Century history.Some have argued that it was her passion that was her undoin, her unwavering commitment to her ideals..... but it was because she loved the world and had so much thirst for it that she gave back 100 percent. Oh there a Welsh connection too, because in June 1925 she married a coal miner from Carmarthenshire named James Cotton in order to obtain British citizenship, In Wales too, she found people who shared her vision and her calls for social justice. Many years after her death she remains an iconic figure to many. Her most fundamental message was the paradoxical command to be yourself and be your own commander-in-chief. The possibilities and expectations of her words still commanding hope.
If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution'.
The above quote was widely attributed to Emma Goldman, but was the invention of anarchist printer Jack Frager for a small batch of Goldman T.shirts he printed in 1973. However in her memoirs,from the early 1950;s. 'Living My Life Goldman remembers being censured for dancing and states:-
"At the dances I was one of the most untiring and gayest. One evening a cousin of Sasha, a young boy, took me aside. With a grave face, as if he was about to announce the death of a dear comrade, he whispered to me that it did not behoove an agitator to dance. Certainly not with such reckless abandon, anyway. It was undignified for one who was on the way to become a force in the anarchist movement. My frivolity would only hurt the cause.
I grew furious at the impudent interference of the boy. I told him to mind his own business. I was tired of having the Cause constantly thrown into my face. I did not believe that a Cause which stood for a beautiful ideal, for anarchism, for release and freedom from convention and prejudice, should demand the denial of life and joy. I insisted that our Cause could not expect me to become a nun and that the movement would not be turned into a cloister. If it meant, that I did not want it.
'I want freedom, the right to self-expression, everybody's right to beautiful, radiant things.' Anarchism meant that to me, and I would live it in spite of the whole world - prisons, persecutions, everything. Yes, even in spite of the condemnation of my own closest comrades I would live my beautiful ideal."
Emma Goldman 1911, from p56 of her autobiography, Living My life
The story has since been passed around and condensed in the folk process as simply
the slogan 'If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your
revolution'. And although, one the one hand, a fake quote, it''s since had a lot of positive results–it’s been a rallying cry for feminists, a rallying cry for anarchists, an inspiration to many. me included, and I don't feel undermines Emma Goldman's rich legacy or her charisma, and actually makes more people aware of her actions and deeds.
Remembered as a passionate political activist.writer and thinker during the beginning of
the 20th century and known for her free-thinking and rebellious
anarchist and communist beliefs. Her writings include discussions on
free love, marriage, free speech, atheism, prisons, homosexuality, and
capitalism, among other topics.
Goldman continues to command respect for her outstanding contribution to the history of radical working class struggle. As she once declared, “Everyone is an anarchist who loves liberty and hates oppression;” amen to that.
Lucia Sanchez Saornil was a Spanish poet, painter, anarchist and feminist icon. Her early highly erotic paens to female beauty, were written under the male pseudonym of Luciano de San-Saor, at a time when homosexuality was criminalised . She fought against the fascists in the Spanish Civil War. She is know best remembered for being one of the founders of Mujeres Libres, a group of working class politically active women who struggled against patriarchy. They tried to create an autonomous female community to empower women to realize their individual potential within the larger anarcho-syndicalist movement.
She was also a leading light in the avant garde literary movent of this era.
She was also active in the CNT in Madrid ( The National Confederation of Labour).
Though openly lesbian, after the failure of the Spanish Revolution, she spent her later life in a rather clandenstine existence, exiling herself to France,but would return secretly to Spain on occasions, to Madrid and to Valencia.
She died of cancer in Valencia in 1970.
The Song of Mujeres Libres
Fists upraised. women of Iberia
towards horizons filled with light
paths afire
feet on the ground
face to the blue sky.
Affirming the promises of life
we defy tradition
Let us mold the warm clay
pf a new world born of suffering.
Let the past crumble into oblivion!
What is yesterday worth to us!
We want to write anew
the word WOMAN
Fists upraised, women of the world
towards horizons filled with light
on paths afire
onward, onward
toward the light.
'While I'm still alive, I'm not going to to shy away from anyone, I'm going to demand action.'
' This is what I most hope for: land and justice... we will live on our ancestral land, we will not give up.'
- Ambrosio Vilhalva
Guarani leader and film star Ambrosio Vilhalva was found dead in his hut on December the first, at the entrance to his community, known as Guyra Roka, in Brazils Gross o Do Sul State,he was reportedly stabbed multiple times. For years he campaigned for his tribes right to live on their ancestral land, travelling extensively internationally to speak about his tribe's plight, and to the Brazilian government to live up to its legal obligations and protecting Guarani land.He fought hard afainst the suger growers in the region, and consequently had had a number of death threats, because he was seen as one of the main leaders of the Guarani peoples campaigns. According to the Brazil-based indigeneous rights group CIMI, 319 Guarani-Kaiowa Indians were slain from 2003 -2012. More than half of all 558 Indians killed in the entire country during the same period, mostly killed in disputes over land with farmers and ranchers encroaching on their land . Lies, theft and murder,continue sadly to be part of the sickness of civilisation that the world's media ignores. Another senseless death, please help carry forward Ambrosio's struggle and message.
South African President Jacob Zuma had called on people to celebrate the life of Mr Mandela, who died last week aged 95, but I am sure a selfie with beaming smiles was not appropriate behaviour for world leaders on such an occasion.
Their supposed to be acting in accordance with their status, but here we get their true, worth, much worse than a bunch of giggling teenagers, because in youth one does not always understand the rules of engagement.
Snapping selfies at such a solemn occasion is the ultimate sign of disrespect, it more than sums up what kind of people they really are. Behaviour that is simply beyond contempt. It is now official they have no class or shame.
A Pictures speaks louder than a thousand words.
Whilst President Obama and our world leaders, attend Nelson Mandela's memorial service, speaking and praising Mandela as one of the last great liberators of the 20th Century, urging the world to carry on his legacy in fighting inequality, poverty and discrimination. Let us today remember that today the world observes the 65th International Human Rights Day, commemorating the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) by the United Nations General Assembly.
" All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards another in a spirit of brotherhoood."
I concur , but today also marks the 12th year British national Shaker Aamer will have spent in a prison cell without being told why. He is still not free, and he is far from alone. From Aamer's fellow detainess at Guantanamo, free expression activists across the globe , in Russian , the U.S.A, China, Iran, Israel, etc etc, all arbitrally detained prisoners need the advocacy of global citizens dedicated to impartial justice and universal rights.
The history of injustice has many parallels in the United States, take a look at the case of Leonard Peltier, an American Indian activist who has been in prison for 36 years, wrongfully convicted say many. His case full of holes and irregularities, part of Americas enduring history of colonialism of the Native communities in the United States. Evidence of his innocence has continued to mount, leading organisations such as Amnesty International, as well as notable individuals such as Nobel peace prize winner Desmond Tutu, continue to declare him a political prisoner and call for his release.http://www.leonardpeltier.net/
Leonard Peltier
Poverty, exclusion, and deprivation still spread in equal measures across the globe, the dream of human rights for all unfortunately still more of a dream than an actual reality. The press is still not free in many countries, and dissenters are silenced, too often permanently. People face unfair trials in at least 54 countries, and freedom of restriction is still restricted in at least 77 , as well as the use of torture and abuse in at least 81. There are still millions of people in slavery, more than 1 billion without access to clean water.
Then we have Israel, whose persistent human rights violations would not be possible without the complicity or support of the international community. Because of Israel's systematic discrimination, occupation and colonization, the Palestinian people have faced increased violations to their right of life, their right to housing and property, their right not to be subjected to torture to torture, their right to return.
It seems we still have a long long way to go in terms of global human rights, but we should not give up, we should keep on pushing our own individual governments, if we are strong enough to achieve this, encouraging others to do the same. We should not give up, all our history is based on change, as a result of people having pushed hard enough for it.
Without human rights for all, there can be no justice, without justice there can be no peace. The assertion that "another world is possible," is now an absolute necessity.
Denis Goldberg is a South African social campaigner. Golberg was a technical officer in the armed wing of the African National Congress, Umkhonto we Sizwe and was sentenced in 1964 at the end of the famous Rivonia Trial to four tems of imprisonment.
Goldberg draws parallels between apartheid South Africa and Israel and highlights the importance of Boycott, Divestment and Sanction.
The struggle continues.
Free Palestine.
' The histories of our two peoples, Palestinian and South Africa correspond in such a painful and poignant ways, that I intensley feel myself being at home among compatriots.'
Short film by an advertising company about how they snare kids with their Army recruitment video games. Targeting children for war service is a relic of the past that should go away. We should not allow the military to target minors with recruitment, they should not be allowed to market to children, but it does. It is simply wrong.
Those recruited at 16 have faced double the risk of fatality of adult recruits throughout the conflict in Afghanistan.
It is with great sadness that I have heard the news that South Africa's first black President and anti-apartheid revolutionary icon has died at the age of 95. A freedom fighter of long inspiration, who stood for justice, freedom and solidarity, with his selfless struggle for human dignity, equality and freedom. A true man of the people, his life of courage and fighting back is a testement to us all.
Today we grieve but we should all, also continue his struggle for a better world.We must carry on the fire of resistance, this should be the everlasting legacy to this great man.
The fight continues.
' I dream of an Africa which is in peace with itself.'
'Any man or institution that tries to rob me of my dignity will lose.'
'I stand here before you not as a prophet, but as a humble servant of you, the people.'
'Where globalization means, as it often does that the rich and powerful now have new means to further enrich and empower themselves at the cost of the poor and weaker, we have a resposibility to protest in the name of universal freedom.'
'We know to well our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.'
On Saturday, November 30, some 250 Palestinian children launched minitature boats along the Gaza coast to raise awareness about the ongoing Israeli maritime seige of the 25-mile long coastal territory. The naval blockade has destroyed Gaza's fishing industry and fishing has become physically dangerous. Fishermen have reportedly been shot and arrested within the six mile nautical miles limit, where they are officially permitted to take their boats.
Also a Palestine Flotilla named 'Steadfastness and Justice' lauunched on Monday morning and managed to break the naval blockade imposed on the Gaza strip, reaching a distance of 6 nautical miles of Gaza's coast in an act of symbolic defiance. Israel forces threatened to prevent the flotilla from crossing the 6 nautical mile barrier.
The flotilla was composed of 20 boats carrying Palestinians and international activists from Sweden, the United States and Japan.
Before returning back to the shores, the activists threw bottles containing messages into the sea, which included calls for the international community to put more pressure on Israel to lift its strict seige on Gaza. The messages also included calls for the Israeli naval forces to stop their daily violations against the fishermen in Gaza.
Meanwhile the main pumping station in Gaza is still not working, due to lack of fuel, so the people of Gaza are currently without fuel and electricity. Also lacking access to clean-drinking water and medicines,.
The siege of Gaza continues, but it's people still search for means of getting a vestige of justice, equality, freedom of movement, and despite their daily suffering their will is not yet broken.
I try to pass on the news, that unforunately in my country the B.B.C deems not important enough to report.
' Nobody sees anybody truly but all through the flaws of their own egos.That is the way we all see each other in life. Vaity, fear, desire, competition.... all such distortions within our own egos, condition our vision of those in relation to us. Add to those distortions to our own egos the corresponding distortions in the egos of others and you see how cloudy the glass must become through which we look at each other. That's how it is in all living relationships except when there is that rare ease of two people who love intensely enough to burn through all the layers of opacity and see each other's naked hearts.'
