Angela Davis is known internationally for her ongoing resistance to all forms of oppression, supporting the movements of social justice in the. U.S and abroad.Her messages from the past still hold much power and relevance, especially in relation to events that have happened in our recent past
excerpt from the black power mixtape
"I mean that's why when someone asks me about violence.... I just find it incredible. Because what it means is that the person asking that question has no idea what people have gone through... what black people have experienced in this country since the time the first black person was kidnapped from the shores of Africa." "Something is wrong.... Maybe the real criminals in this society are not the people who populate the prisons... but those who have stolen the wealth of the world from the people... and everytime a Black child dies ....we should indict them for murder because they're the ones who killed that black child."
" No potential victim of the fascist terror should be without the knowledge that the greatest menace to racism and fascism is unity!"
Pictures speak a 1,000 words, but as I write more than 180 Palestinian children have been kidnapped by Israeli occupation forces in the past 45 days. While international law states that child imprisonment should be used as a last resort, the Israeli occupation forces view it as a matter of routine. Recently draconian laws have been used with greater frequency against children, including Administrative Detention orders which allow for detention without published evidence. Under military orders in force in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, any Palestinian over the ageof 16 is considered an adult, while inside Israel the age of an adult is 18. Moreover, a Palestinian child over 14 years are tried as adults in an Israeli military court, and are put into prisons with adults. These are direct violations of international law. When children are arrested they are usually taken to adult military detention centres and interrogation centres. There are no specialist juvenille facilities, courts or personnel within the Israeli system apart from Telmond prison. Children held in Israels prisons are beaten, tortured, placed in solitary confinement, and made to stand in cages outside in the cold. This is a systematic, institutionalised and co-ordinated attempt by Israels Government and Army to make their presence felt, as humiliation daily continues, taking the occupation to an extreme and absurd level, that will undoubtedly have a significant impact on their future development as individuals. It is obvious to me that some people in this world have no shame at all. These are more reasons why I keep on posting about issues that I feel should concern the world. This is not how a normal state acts, and by refusing to sanction this rogue state for its abuses,Western governments themselves become complicit in these crimes against children.
One way or another, the Home office and Theresa May wants police surveillance off everyones web and mobile records and the banning of unpleasant opinions. The anti-terrorism and security bill will oblige internet service providers (ISPs) to retain information linking IP ( Internet Protocol) addresses to individual uses. It will result in the police getting more powers to force internet firms to hand over details linked to IP addresses in order to help identify criminal suspects online. The fact is that the fear of terrorism and extremist activities, now makes everyone of us a suspect. Way before the internet we have lived with fear and suspicion it is part of our human nature, but with the internet age it seems it is now time for all of us to be treated like children, who cannot be trusted to act responsibly based on what we here. Facebook itself has also started behaving like a worried nanny, it seems you cannot hang bout there under an identity that your friends know or trust, it seems that if we do not comply , we will be silenced, and turfed out. Extremity is a state of mind, that cannot be erased or killed, however hard people try, it can however be pushed further underground where its danger can still be spread. Voices silenced will only foster more division, paranoia under the orders of what I personally see as a dangerous out of control extremist organisation the Conservative Party.If this does not bother you, then carry on, you might be comfortable that 'Big Brother' is watching you, but I ask you who is watching Big Brother. Could someone tell the government and the opposition, because they don't seem to have been kicking up much of a fuss, that the George Orwell's book 1984 was a warning not an instruction manual. " Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human liberty. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves" - William Pitt the Younger.
" We dance to reclaim our brilliant ability to dissapear in something bigger, something safe, a space without a critic or a judge or an analyst. The beat is a love that never dissapoints, and like all loves it demands 100% surrender. It has power to seduce moves we could only dream. It grabs us by the belly, turns us inside out and leaves us abruptly begging for more. The beat is bad, wicked, sick, whatever the word is now. Dance to fall in love with the spirit in all things."
Well we would if we turned up in this state. Who knows he might not be under the influence, he could just be a swivel eyed loon., like most of the hypocritical, corrupt elite that none voted for, that surround him. At the end of the day, whatever he does in private is up to him, but when he is busy tearing our country apart and the faces of suffering are being caught up in a near end cycle of misery, due to him and his friends. This mans actions should be accounted for and forever questioned, people take drugs everyday but do not come up with policies as bad as his, whatever he's on, he's still an arse.In light of the Governments failing drug policy, George Osborne's bizzare appearance at Prime Ministers Question time, begs the question what planet are some of these M.Ps on, its certainly not ours. Personally think the whole ruddy cabinet should be sacked.
Uncle Bill...it's time for a Thanksgiving Prayer again. His message still continues to spin with vitriolic spin, delivered to America, still as relevant as ever, still a dark elegy for our times, 28 years after William Burroughs first delivered it. Here he thanks America for its violence, racism, oppression and homophobia. A nation that still today cannot seem to mind its own business. Thank goodness that there are still those outside, that seek to make this world a place better.
Tony Blair, the man who was hugely responsible for killing, injuring and displacing, thousands of Iraqi children ( among his many crimes) has been recognised for his humanitarian work by the worlds foremost childrens charity, Save the Children.
How could this organisation make such a monstrous error, but their chief executive is known to be a Blair underling. This so called Middle East Peace Envoy, has already been named 'Philanthropist of the year'!! by GQ magazine, while lining his greedy pockets, a friend and someone who has been criticised for a range of shadey dealings with autocrats and dictators.
This is a man known throughout Iraq and Afghanistan for the trauma that he has caused. To offer him such an accolade and reward is sickening. Tony Blair because of his support for the 2003 invasion is guilty of infanticide, the subsequent perhaps one and a half million deaths in a country where half the population were children.
This man should not be lauded, should not be applauded, for he has offered the world no apology, he should be shamed, many would like to see his arrest for being what he represents, nothing but a war criminal, the causer of so much pain and division.
Many of the charities own staff have since complained that the presentation of this award has discredited and misappropriated and betrayed Save the Childrens founding principles and values.It is worth noting that Save the children recently appointed Samantha Cameron, wife of Dave, as their 'Ambassador for Syria, and their chief executive Justin Forsyth was special envoy to Blair for three years, perhaps it's just a case of us not actually being in it all together.
I am truly outraged that Save the Children, is being seen as contributors to the impunity, whitewashing and rehabilitation of this hollow man. An organisation that represents and serves the interests of children should not be complicit in whitewashing the innocents killed.I can see no justification in this reward, his reputation for many remains rotten to the core.
Please join me is supporting this campaign to get this reward removed from a warmongerer and profiteer of death who has long poisoned the well of public trust.
The anger and outrage in Ferguson, Missouri and in solidarity protests around the "U.S" are not just about Michael Brown. This is a long, bloody history of political violence, against typically, people of color, and/or oppressed classes in general. To speak of the real history here, is to talk about, first of all, a nation that founded itself on indigeneous genocide, stolen land and broken treaties. It is to talk about a militarised police state that got its hands as bands of mercenaries hired to track down runaway slaves (literally called the "slave patrol") or hired thugs brought in to bash the heads of striking workers. Not much has changed in these years - for many, if not most, indigeneous and people of color. "Black Reality and White Denial" are going strong in America, the home of the KKK. White supremacy is a system of power that is active today as any time in this culture's history. While activists must do everything they can do to dismantle personal and institutional racism' Solidarity with the people of Ferguson. Read these guidelines for how people with privilege can ally and show solidarity with people of color on the frontlines of resistance to racism. http://www.deepgreenresistance.org/en/what-we-do/deep-green-resistance-white-ally-guidelines
In 2002 Shaker was taken, blindfolded and shackled to Guantanamo Bay, to Guantanamo Bay, and is now the only British resident there. Here's the official campaign video for the Stand with Shaker, calling for the immediate release of Guantanamo# of Shaker Aamer the last British resident still held.
Features 'A song for Shaker Aamer ' written by Andy Worthington and performed by his band the Four feathers. His continual incarcernation is a scandal and an embarrassment. The failure of the British Government to challenge this illegal incarcentation is shameful and damaging. Shaker is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after over 12 years of torture. It is time to bring him home.
Vittoria Arrigoni was an Italian born reporter and pro-Palestinian activist who lived and reported in Gaza until his death in 2011. The film Stay Human records intellectuals, authors, activists as they read Arrigoni's account of Israel's Operation Cast Lead in 2008-2009, which left 1,200 civilians dead. Arrgoni fulfilled one of the most important duties of a bystander in a time of war: he bore witness. The readers who bring his words to life in this unique 'reading movie' include Hwaida Arraf, Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein and Mairead Maguire. Watch the trailer and the whole film here :- https://stayhuman.tv/
Today, marks 40 years since the Birmingham pub bombings and the wrongful arrest of the Birmingham six. 40 years later Paddy Hill is still seeking justice of the 21 who lost their lives, the 182 injured and the families of all those affected. We remember the death of innocents, but also the death of justice, where people are gaoled, not because they are guilty, but because the police needed a conviction, . Victims left dehumanised, spending their lives, seeking some form of justice.
Good film from the People's NHS. We must save the NHS from the corporations and the vultures in power . As Private health firms are on course to win more than £9bn of NHS contracts to look after patients as a result of the coalitions ramping up of competition in the health service.Private contractors ares damaging our beloved NHS and simply wasting money, as they cherry pick the most profitable treatments.We urgently need to protect the NHS's services, we must keep faith, in only 3 years the Tory's and their friends have given us cuts, queues and chaos, only ramping up I guess what New Labour began, lest we forget. If it carries down on this road to privatisation, it will cease to exist as we know it.The NHS cannot be sold. It belongs to us all.
We have no time to waste this is an emergency.
Today I offer a poem in rememberance of Joe Hill, on the anniversary of the murder by the state of this itinerant worker, labour activist, revolutionary union martyr and singer songwriter of the Industrial Workers of the world, who gave rise to the labour motto ' An injury to one is an injury to all.'
Born Joel Haggland in Sweden, he came to the U.S.A on 1902. Active in the Labour movement throughout his live, in January 1914, he was arrested in Salt Lake City and accused of murder. He died proclaiming his innocence. From his conviction to his death he became an icon for workers everywhere, and his subsequent execution sent echoes around the world. For many his spirit and his legacy lives on.
This is a short account of his later framing and execution: https://libcom.org/history/1915-the-murder-of-joe-hill.
Through the dusty ages
the earth creaks and moans,
dark shadows try to break people bones
the air is still , thick with mire,
daily each border, delivers human shame
parasites still create walls of oppression,
build bloodstained monuments that can't thwart hope
because the mighty human spirit carries resilience,
within us all, lay rivers of resistance.
Standing together we are strong
in our palms, another world glows,
with unity's strength
we set people free,
no tyrant's grip
can ever stop us,
we serve the weak and defenceless
protecting with dignity and defiance.
Today we remember
when Joe Hill was shot down,
his enduring dream survives
gives us strength,
shoulder to shoulder
solidarity lives,
an injury to one
is an injury to all.
In a landmark study of the coalition's tax and welfare policies 6 months before a general election, it has been revealed how money has been transferred from the poorest to the better off, apparently refuting the chancellor of exchequer's claims that the country has been 'all in it together.' According to independent research published today, and seen by the Observer Newspaper George Osborne has been engaged in a significant transfer of income from the least well off half of the population to the more affluent in the past four years. Those with the lowest incomes have been hit hardest. In an intervention that will come as a major blow to the government's claim to have shared out the burden of austerity equally, the report by economists at the London School of Economics and the institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex, finding that :-
1. Sweeping changes to benefits and income tax have had the effect of switching income from the poorer half of households to most of the richer half, with the poorest 5% in in the country in terms of income loosing nearly 3% of what they would have earned if Britain's tax and welfare system of May 2010 had been retained.
2. With the exception of the top 5% who lost 1% of their potential income. It is the better half of the country that has gained financially from the changes, with an increase of between 1.2% and 2% in their disposable income.
3. The top 1% in terms of income have also been small net gainers from the changes bought in by David Cameron's government since May 2010, which includes a cut in the top rate of income tax.
4. Two-earner households, and those with elderly family members, were the most favourably treated, as a result of direct tax changes and state pensions respectively.
5. Lone-parent families have done worse, losing much more through cuts in benefits and tax credits and higher council tax than they ever gained through higher income tax allowances. Families with children in general. and largefamilies in particular, also did much worse than the average.
6. A quarter of the lowest paid 10% have shouldered a particularly heavy burden, losing more than 5% of what would have been their income without the coalitions's reforms.
http://www.welfareweekly.com/ Not that any of the above surprises too much, this is what the tories and their friends do, look after the rich, lie to the people, persecute the sick, diabled and vulnerable. Surely they are not fit to represent the people of this country. It is is time to destroy this nasty coalition.
An American writer I admire, Henry Miller, is known for breaking existing literary forms, who sought to reestablish the freedom to live without the constraints and restraints of civilization.
His works often reflected hos own personal experiences, measured with a humanism that often shocked and outraged. Writing about all phases of his life, everything that happened to him struck him as being of equal and monumental importance.His total surrender to life without meaning has resonated with me for a while, and despite succumbing to what some people have referred to as 'existential despair' he never completely surrendered reason. He has become one of the worlds forbidden writers, forbidden because he dared to speak from his dark passionate heart, of some place beyond ideology , where the shadows of the soul know no time.The perception of Henry Miller as a writer and literary outlaw remains today.
The following paragraph was quoted in Normal O. Brown's Life against deathand he comments on Millers's text as follows:' Utopian speculations such as these of Henry Miller must come back into fashion. They are a way of affirming faith in the possibility of solving problems that seem at the moment insoluable. Today even the survival of humanity is a utopian hope.'
Here's to Henry Miller spiritual Anarchist.
' The cultural era is past. The new civilization, which my take centuries or a few thousand years to usher in, will not be another civilization - it will be the open stretch of realization which all the past civilizations have pointed to. The city, which was the birth place of civilization, such as we know it to be, will exist no more. There will be nuclei of course, but they will be mobile and fluid. The peoples of the earth will no longer be sent off from one another within states but will flow freely over the surface of the earth and intermingle. There will be no fixed constellations of human aggregates. Governments will give way to management, using the word in a broad sense. The politician will become as superannuated as the dodo bird. The machine will never be dominated, as some imagine; it will be scrapped, eventually, but not before men have understood the nature of the mystery which binds them to their creation. The worship, investigation and subjugation of the machine will give way to the larger one of power - and of possession. Man will be forced to realize that power must be kept open, fluid and free. His aim will be not to possess power but to radiate it.'
There's already a song about Ebola by high profile Francophone West African musicians. Why doesn't Mr Bob Geldof simply promote this song? Or even acknowledge its existence? 'Africa stop Ebola' features a number of international stars :- Tiken Jah Faloky, Amadou and Marian, Salif Keita, Ounu Sangare, Kandina Kora, Mory Kante, Sia Tolno, Barbara Kana and rappers Didire Awadi and Markus and Mokoke, so why another rehash of the grotesque ' Do they know its Christmas'. We should remember that this crisis is part of a long colonial disengagement, Geldof just compliant in glossing neo-liberal policies towards the continent with a humanitarian/ anti poverty sheen of respectivitety, gathering together in my humble opinion a worthless pile of toss, which ignores the richness of Africa's own musical voice that is already out there. The Ebola crisis is tragic and devastating, a crisis for humanity,the fight against it, is a fight well worth supporting but we should not ignore or erase the efforts of those that come fromAfrica while making it appear that western actions are what saved the poor diseased Africans once again. We should not either forget that the aid industry that has emerged from efforts like Band Aid, have themselves fuelled human rights abuses, and corruption across the African continent and missed the Ebola crisis in its entirety. Ebola is a pestilance but we must carry on treating sufferers and the people from country's effected with dignity and respect. Please share and support the above project , all profits of which go to Medecins Sans Frontiers/Doctors without borders http://www.msf.org.uk/
Torture is an everyday reality in Tibet yet survivor accounts are rare, used by China as a weapon against political dissent, since the Chinese forcefully took over Tibet in 1959.Harsh treatment is common at the prisons where diissidents are held, with prisoners routinely subjected to torture, beatings, and forms of abuse.
Ex-political prisoners are closely monitored by Chinese authorities, their families often under threat if they speak out and escape into exile overseas is increasingly difficult.When Tibetans do share information they are risking everything.
Hear from torture testimonies read by the actors Dominic West, Alan Rickman, Juliet Stevenson and David Threlfall. As many as 133 Tibetans have also set themselves ablaze in self-immolation protests calling for Tibetan freedom, opposing Beijing's rule and calling for the return of their exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama. As others have also resisted their actions represent the wishes and aspirations of countless Tibetans living under repressive Chinese rule. You can also read about recent incidents and learn how you can join the campaign to stop torture in Tibet. Please share the testimonies widely, lets show the Chinese that the world is watching, and continue to help global Tibetan groups who campaign to secure the release of courageous individuals who symbolise the enduring resistance of Tibetans inside Tibet.
Of course a real comparison would be measured by how the soviets regularly pulverised West Berlin from the air and occasionally launch massively destructive ground attacks destroying Berlins basic infrastructure, and preventing all flights landing, and refusing to talk to whatever government the population elected. And refusing to allow most goods into the city. It is a good thing that Israel is the only democracy in the region, means anything other than the best equipped army running the show. Remember too, that the Berlin wall was 96 miles long, while the Palestinian wall is significantly larger stretching out over 400 miles. Anyway yesterday Palestinian youth destroyed a hole in Israels security wall with the Palestinian territories as a symbolic gesture to mark 25 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Like the Berlin Wall previously it snakes through Palestinian land, isolating people from their land, extended family and friends, and one day soon, this oppressive apartheid wall will one day fall. too Despite all obstacles the Palestinian peoples determination to be free remains as strong as ever. Their thirst for freedom grows, the walls that surround them, do not protect, but cruelly divide, they don't prevent a peoples existence, but only serve to incite resistance.
90% of victims of war are civilians , lest we forget to move forward from bloodshed and work for peace. If as much money was put into this objective as there is nto killing and its misery it would benefit the whole world. Those who benefit the most financially are those with investments in the war machine and land/resource grabbing. Today I feel reinforces the ideal of patriotism and militarism, in stark contrast to the original ' Armistice day' when the nations of the world hoped to be united in peace. The horrors and misery of World War 1 still need remembering, but not in a way that reinforces an ugly military agenda. Today politicians stand praying for peace while preparing for war...their hypocrisy abounds. The grisly facts and horrors of war in all our histories is worth more than all the false red poppy illusions that are being seen today. Sadly the red poppy today has been hijacked by arms companies, look how last week Lockheed Martin, the World's biggest arms company sponsored the Poppy Rocks Ball., and Thales joined Boris Johnson in a Big Red poppy Billboard at Westminster. Today I remember all those sadly lost, in two World Wars but also those that everyday risk their lives to build peace and prevent conflict, and time turn to one another as friends, united in our goals working together, so that the future potential of conflict could be resolved to the extent that all the current spending on arms and the war machine was no longer necessary.
When we talk of Israels protective edge operation in Gaza, we should not forget over 2130 humans bombed to death, the over 500 children or the 89 families exterminated. We speak of the living, and this is their life. Tens of thousands of refugees will be finding shelter from the cold, wind and the rain,in bombed United Nations schools and the remains of their destroyed homes. And Gaza remains beseiged, the biggest ghetto in the world awaiting the next round of oppression, knowing that any form of resistance will be labelled terrorist. Boycott Israel.
'Behind every mask there is more than just flesh. Beneath this mask there is an idea..and ideas are bulletproof.'
-Alan Moore -'V for vendetta'
Solidarity with all those marching tonight, may you ignite the world with passion. Gorgeous moon tonight also, don't forget to look up as it lights the way. Together we can all dismantle the masters house
Still can't upload photos or video in libraries, but that is the least of our problems. At the moment in time we have a corrupt authoritarian government thrashing everything decent about this country, flogging of our public services, cutting our beloved welfare state- all of which we have paid for, killing 1000's through their cruel draconian policies, founded on social Darwinism and eugenics by stealth, and what are the nation and media babbling on about? How much Millibland gave a woman who was begging, and how he looked while doing it, the same as he usually does. Tories, labour, the bloody liberals, where is the difference. There whole damn country seems to be heading back to the workhouse times. A man immoral bunch that make me ashamed and angry to say the least Tens of thousands of desperate jobseekers will be forced to cancel Christmas too, due to benefit sanctions, job centres develop a scrooge like mentality at this time of the year, about 59,000 job seekers were sanctioned in December 2013. Gradually all are support and sustenance is being kicked away. Bah.
On October 30th, 2014 the UK Parliament will host a debate on the country's drug policy. To ensure your MP represents you at the debate and works to support evidence-based drug laws in the country. visit here:-
Blog unable to upload photos or videos at moment in time, I hope it's temporary, any suggestions please?Also missing a dear friend, but that's another story. Meanwhile between 13 and 26th October a joint police Operation called 'mos maiorum' takes place in nearly all European countries to identify, imprison and finally deport illegallised migrants. Thousands of people will be subject to so called ' racial profiles ' and will be harassed and criminalised upon those criteria.
The following site tries to document the actions that are part of 'mos maiorum' and to make these effects visible to everyone.
Please contribute to document public police checkpoints or identify checks throughout the European union.
Hundreds of police officers attack Occupy Democracy participants because they don't want them to sit on tarpaulins. This was after Occupy Democracy broke away from the TUC march on Saturday and headed to Parliament Square for an open Assembly, wardens had asked protestors to leave under an old by law, then sent the police in, and then their was a total overreaction, on behalf of the police and a standoff lasted till yesterday. What was witnessed was a scene that had reminiscences of Hong Kong, less freedom seen in Parliament Square. The protestors sound system was confiscated and tents and sleeping bags were not allowed into the camp. The massive overpolicing and attempshut down this democratic forum is truly shocking and outrageous. The protestors plan to occupy the square for the next week. Viva freedom.
George Orwell on the police ;-
" I have no love for the idealized 'worker' as he appears in the bourgeois mind, but when I see an actual flesh and blood worker in conflict with his natural enemy, the policeman, I do not have to ak myself which side I'm on."
Tory welfare minister Lord Freud apparently thinks disabled people should be paid less than the minimum wage. And where is the opposition to these remarks, Millibland just keeps on shuffling and smiling, he needs to wake up... did he read any of his dads books for gods' sake... somewhere he must have some guts. Lord Freud the same heartless individual who said ' The poor should take more risks as they have the least to lose.' Lord Fraud every time he opens his gob, a shallowness emerges that says much about his character and very much about the nasty party that he represents. People holding these views should not be in government, they are reckless and damaging, but their they are pontificating about realities that they know nothing about. He has no previous experience of the welfare system Baron Fraud, but who asked him first to provide a review of these services, Mr Tony Bliar under New Labour. You couldn't make these things up. My mind boggles. Oh blundering Mr Fraud has since apologised, but he's done that before as well, over previous gaffes of his own making, time he got another job, same applies to the rest of his cohorts in government who are equally complicit in their appalling attitudes to the poor and disabled.
Charlie Chaplin's inspirational final speech in "The Great Dictator "
On 15 October 1940 Charlie Chaplin's first talkie The Great Dictator debuted in New York (while the US was still formally at peace with Nazi Germany)
The physical resemblance between the Tramp and another famous man with a
little black mustache was not lost on Chaplin. In his first all-talking
picture, he plays both a Jewish barber and his double, Adenoid Hynkel,
the absolute ruler of Tomainia. As Hynkel and his henchmen Herring and
Garbitsch engineer the persecution of Jews and the invasion of
neighboring Osterlich, the amnesiac barber may be the only person
innocent enough to stop them. Throughout the anti-fascist film Chaplin powerfully
exploits the deflating power of parody, while in the finale he abandons
both character and comedy to deliver one of the most inspirational speeches in recorded history with an impassioned plea to the audience for human
tolerance, encouraging us in opposing all forms of oppression,Many years later, the world still needs to stand still and listen and stand against the forces of fascism.An earlier tribute of mine to this great man can be found here :-
I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be an emperor. That’s not my business.
I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone
if possible- jewish, Gentile, black men, white…
We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want
to live by each others’ happiness, not by each other’s misery. We
don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room
for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone.
The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way.
Greed has poisoned men’s souls; has barricaded the world with hate;
has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed
speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance
has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical; our cleverness,
hard and unkind.
We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery ,we need
humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness.
Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost. The
aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very
nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in man; cries out
for universal brotherhood; for the unity of us all.
Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world,
millions of despairing men, women, and little children, victims of a
system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people.
To those who can hear me, I say “Do not despair.”
The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the
bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men
will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people
will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never
perish.
Soldiers! Don’t give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you and
enslave you; who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to
think and what to feel! Who drill you, diet you, treat you like cattle,
use you as cannon fodder!
Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men—machine men with
machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are not
cattle! You are men! You have a love of humanity in your hearts! You
don’t hate!
Only the unloved hate; the unloved and the unnatural.
Soldiers! Don’t fight for slavery! Fight for liberty!
In the seventeenth chapter of St. Luke, it’s written “the kingdom of
God is within man”, not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In
you! You, the people, have the power, the power to create machines,
the power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make
this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure.
Then in the name of democracy, let us use that power.
Let us all unite.
Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a
chance to work, that will give youth a future and old age a security.
By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they
lie! They do not fulfill their promise. They never will!
Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people!
Now let us fight to fulfill that promise! Let us fight to free the
world! To do away with national barriers! To do away with greed, with
hate and intolerance!
Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness.
Soldiers, in the name of democracy, let us all unite!
Ok I would be the first to admit that I don't always like what emerges out of the house of commons, but as a result of tireless campaigning, yesterday finally resulted in the historic occasion which resulted in the UK Parliament voting to recognise the state of Palestine. This follows the Swedish Parliaments decision to do the same. Wonderful news. It saw as many as 274 voting for the motion to 12 against in a momentous event that gave me much joy, when usually the only thing that emerges from these dusty corners are dark shadows.
Surely it is a big thanks to all who for years have marched, demonstrated for the rights of the Palestinian people and is also a sign of times in the fact that British Parliament seems to have noticed and reflected what it's people really feel in the wake of Israels recent onlslaught in Gaza, that left over 2,000 Palestinians dead, and that people are now wide awake to its continuing illegal military occupation and recognise that Israel is losing the battle for public opinion and is part of a growing international trend that demands justice for the Palestinians. The time is now right for the Palestinians to have the state that it deserves.
This symbolic vote will mean absolutely nothing if further action is not taken, to bring the Palestinians dream of statehood into reality. International pressure must continue to be mounted until oppression is ended and the maxim from the 'rivers to the sea' is finally achieved.
This poem is copyleft.
You're free to distribute it and diffuse it,
re-write it and abuse it,
and use it.
For your own ends,
and with your own ending.
This is an open source poem
entering the public domain.
Here's the source code,
add a little salt and pepper if you like,
share it out amongst your friends.
Because I didn't write this poem
I moulded it,
picked the lines out of a skip as I was walking on over here
took used up fragments of leftover ideas,
and put them to use.
Think about it -
I can't tell you anything new.
In all these millennia of human existence
there certainly can only be a few ideas to be thought through.
So we treat them like rare commodities?
Plunder artistic reserves for new ideas buried deep beneath the permafrost,
suffocate them with patent protection
and junk the rest?
Or do we re-use them and recycle them?
Pile our public spaces high with shared ideas beyond anyone's imagining.
So I steal a verse here and a line there
a riff there and a rhyme there
pass it on around the circle,
roll it up
add a joke
here have a toke
does it get you high?
This poem is indebted to Gil Scott Heron. Abbie Hoffman, Jim Thomas
and Sarah Jones
This poem is indebted to all the words I've read and the voices I've known
This poem is a community of intellect, your and mine
This poem is ripped off line after line after line
Because intellectual property is theft
and piracy is our only defence against the thought police.
The revolution
will be plagiarised!
The revolution will not happen if ideas are corporatised
So steal this poem
and use it
For your own ends
and with your own ending.
Apple one of the the major success stories of the dot-com era is often accused of treating its own workers poorly and is no stranger to controvery.
According to recent Pocket Gamer report Apple has pulled 'Sweatshop' a satirical game designed to raise awareness about the inequities of forced labour, from its APP store, because it was 'uncomfortable selling a game based around the running of a sweatshop. Though it apparently has no such qualms about selling a sweat shop produced phone. The technology giant whose own Foxconn facility is routinely plaqued by suicides, riots and human rights allegations, has cited clothing factory managers as routinely 'blocking fire escapes,' 'employing child labour' as reasons why the game was unsuitable for sale, according to Simon Parkin, head of games at liitlecloud, which created the game to highlight the human cost of fashion.
There is nothing ethical about apple, remember that they pay contract workers so little in China that they have been committing suicide, while their founder Jeff Bezos sits on a personal fortune of 427 billion, and Apple itself recently announced a $13.5 billion profit for the first quarter of 2014, while its warehouse workers suffer low pay and unfair working conditions, combined with a long term practice of using underpaid student labour and underpaying its own share of British corporate tax. Long too, has it had a history of allegations concerning human rights and labour rights abuses and lets not forget . Where things have improved recently for Apple is within its public relations department, but scratch under the surface it is still very sensitive to any outside criticism. Apple's reputation still not squeaky clean, their thirst for maximum profit still seems to be their major concern and is still in many peoples eyes a less than honest company. Apple also happens to be one of the most aggressive patent lawsuit filers in the world, that agressively pursues litigation and excessive claims against its competitors. In effect a bully.Apples' dismal record on human rights has long been questioned and is probably worse than we know about such is this companies insistence on secrecy, besides treating humanity with disrespect, Apple documents show that suppliers to the company also disrespect the environment, their suppliers routinely discharging toxic waste into our communities, without regard to the effect the waste has on residents, wildlife or the planet, its commitment to ethical values continues to be very dubious. Scratch under the surface, Apple not as nice and shiny as they try to make out.
'Loukanikos' a ginger mongrel internationally known as the 'Riot Dog' has sadly passed away at the age of 10, His name translates into English as 'sausage'. This valiant much loved stray dogs health was adversely affected by police asphyxiating gas and from being kicked on numerous occasions by the police. Forcing him to retire from active protest 2 years ago. More than just a dog, he was a protector and a beloved comrade facing down riot Police daily as demonstrators took to the streets of Greece against the police murder of Alexandros Grigoropoulos, a 15 year old Greek student who was gunned down in cold blood in the center of Athens, and later against austerity measures, he was usually to be found at the thick of all the action in front of the crowds, charging and yelping alongside protestors when they confronted police on the streets of Athens.So legendary was this noble creature that he had a bar named after him in Madrid, and. In 2011 Time magazine listed Loukanikos as one of its personalities of the year.
He was on the couch sleeping when suddenly his heart stopped. A leftist newspaper Avgi, says the dog has been buried in the shade of a tree in the city centre. This courageous four legged revolutionary who led many a fight for justice will bark no more.
Rest in Power.
Louakinikos in action
Once a time in Athens - The Legend of the Riot Dog
" There is little evidence that workfare increases the likelihood of finding work.... workfare is least effective in getting people into jobs in weak labour markets where unemployment is high." This week their is a week of action against it, workfare profits the rich by providing free labour, whilst hurting the poor by taking away welfare rights if people refuse to work. The government is misleadingly calling it now 'Help to work' but it is business as usual, it is draconian, exploitative, unjust and wrong, many charities are now refusing to have anything to do with it because :-.
1. There is no evidence that workfare schemes lead to employment.
2. You're five times more likely to be sanctioned than get a job on a government work programme.
3. Workfare is undermining voluntary and charitable values.
4.Forced Labour is illegal.
5. Workfare is not just for the long-term unemployed.
6.Courts have repeatedly ruled against workfare schemes.
7. Workfare is heading for collapse but we need to push for it.
Facts reblogged from here, where you will find more information.:-
and its too late for Cable and Clegg to start sounding off now, they have backed the Tories throughout, we all know now what their party stands for, everything the Tories have done has been done with liberal democrat support. Milliband as for him apparently shifting his party to the left, come on, same as Blair,who created a version of the social democrats mark 2, under the guise of New Labour, where is their pulse, where is their opposition, their anger, their fiery direction.As for the Tories, unreformed unapologetic Thatcherites and UKIP more of the same. I feel political scepticism is more than justified, most people I encounter feel alienated from the lot of them, and do not understand the need to rush out to vote for them. Its not that people are disengaged with politics as a whole, I think people just feel let down by the so called democratic systems and norms that does nothing for them in return.Regarding most careesrist politicians as fraudsters and liars, a self serving elite, who carry on wining and dining, fostering division, with empty gestures, carving and making scapegoats out of sections of the community, as austerity grippens, is it any wonder that people increasingly feel abandoned, and left with not much hope, pessimistic and more than a little dissillusioned. Many people feel nauseated with the lot of them and simply cannot be bothereed with their message.
To change this country for the better, me thinks, the only hope for us, is to start thinking outside of the box, but people are still demonstrating, occupying, resisting with direct action, it is not a question of people simply apathetic, people are wide awake, change is happening NOW. Anger,does not reflect disengagement, and as we see, people are able to express their political dissatisfactions in so many different ways in our modern world. But the status quo carries on regardless, carries on not listening, as no confidence in their empty hollow words continues to grow.
But out of their fading embers, hopefully a fairer, system can be built, personally for me one that proactively is used to combat oppression, exploitation and repression, surely another world is not impossible.
Tuira Kayapo is an indigeneous Elder Mama warrior who showed the world what happens when Women take charge of their power. She walked into the 1989 Altamira Gathering in Brazil against the destruction of Dams in the Zingu, in her war paint, naked and carrying a large machete. She then walked up to the President of Brazil's Light holding Company Petrobras and running the blade of her machette three times over his cheeks, proclaimed his act on her people and on the entire Amazon as an act of war. She then stated in Kayopa :-
" You are a liar - We do not need electricity. Electricity is not going to give us our food. We need our rivers to flow freely, our future depends on it. We need our jungles for hunting and gathering. We do not need your dam."
Everyone stood in absolute awe at her audacity, especially the President of Petrobras who looked quite afraid .. yet what I see in her is a true example of WHAT Mamas are capable of in their full Power...
We have ALL become tired of this mess the world is in... It is time to reclaim our truth. Don't play with our good hearts and intentions. I am grateful for women like Chief Kayapo, who was bold enough to say no to colonialist exploitation. Bravely demanding respect, to allow her and her people to live as they want and choose, expressing the feelings of her entire nation.
Over the past couple of months we have witnessed drone strikes in at least seven countries - Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Palestine, Yemen, Egypt and Iraq and Syria probably on the list soon. Devastatingly killing innocents it is now is clear that our political leaders are using these
lethal forces rather than look for diplomatic or political situations.
Join me tomorrow, kites not drones at Poppit Sands near St Dogmaels, Cardigan, West Wales, in a symbolic, 'Stop the drones' demonstration supported by Drone Network Cymru/Wales and CND Cymru/Wales. We need to build a world where children can play and fly their kites safely, instead of spending their lives in fear.
Please take a look at the following link:-
Moazzam Begg a native born British citizen, family man of Pakistani descent, spent three years incarcenated in the most notorious detention centre created, Guantanamo Bay without being charged with any crime.
Arrested in Pakistan in 2002 he was transferred to Bangram Air Force Base in Afghanistan, where he suffered torture and witnessed U.S interrogators beat an innocents taxi driver to death, he would spend the next three years in very tortuous uncomfortable conditions.
Throughout this time, Begg , now 45 was repeatedly, deprived of legal rights, but after public outcry was returned to Britain in 2005. Despite the indignation and suffering he encountered, he did not lose his humility or dignity.
He went on to become a prominent human rights activist, writing books, advocating on behalf of other prisoners of conscience, whilst campaigning against the so called war on terror, and working with survivors of abuse and mistreatment across the globe.
But constantly he was harassed and intimidated, marked out because he was probably seen as one of Britains most prominent muslims. Well known to muslims and non-muslims alike as a representative of justice, truth and human rights in the face of oppression , and injustice.
Last December at Heathrow his passport was confiscated, and told it was not in the public interest to retain it, then later he was arrested for having allegedly travelled to Syria to assist Syrian rebels in terrorist activities, but had not visited this land since December 2012 and this was to assist in humanitarian relief and support.It seems that he may have become a victim of the government again, because of his continuing outspoken criticism of the British governments conduct during the War on terror. The arrest of one of the Wests most prominent Muslim critics certainly raised alarms with many. Using dubious charges against dissidents has been a hallmark post 9/11. Though these tactics are routinely condemned, they still continue to be implemented, showing us the crude corrosive measures our governments use, which ultimately undermine the foundations of western freedoms.
After 4 months in Belmarsh, Londons Central Criminal Court acquitted him yesterday of all charges, prosecutors saying " there is no longer a realistic prospect of conviction in this case.'" "The more this continues, the more it's going to alienate people." Begg said about his case. Campaigners are now concerned that the governments new hardened line as spelled out at their recent party conference will result in greater harassment and victimisation.
So it comes that an innocent man, has been freed for the second time in his life. Lets hope his voice can now be used again to speak out against injustice and to contribute to our understanding of each other , and that the world knows now what was always crystal clear -that this is an innocent man.
I am overjoyed by his release but outraged by the imprisonment itself.
Gareth Peirce Beggs solicitor said : "Moazzam Begg is a good and brave man. He is a rare individual who will talk to everyone and listen to everyone, even to those he profoundly disagrees. He has spent the near decade since he was released from the the torture of Bagram and Guantanamo in attempting to wake the world up to injustice and to comprhehend its causes and effects. His intelligent voice of reason and intelligence is desperately needed now. We are relieved he is free again."
Long may it be so.
Here is a link to CagePrisoners the human rights group founded by Moazzam Begg
Applause please for Cassette Boy , with another fantastic satirical mashup.
Cassette Boy has made him speak the truth for once. Seriously though Dave thanks for legalising parody videos.
Here's the cellar bards and friends reading out their poems on the theme of change in Cardigan West Wales UK at 4pm Saturday September 27th 2014 on the Quay on the banks of the Teifi. Oh and a rare look at teifidancer out in the wild.
' The human race is the only one that knows it must die and it knows this only through its experience. A child bought up alone and transported to a desert island would have no more idea of death than a cat or a plant .' - Voltaire
It is with sadness that I have heard of the passing of poet, playwright, doctor and novelist Dannie Abse at the age of 91.
Born and bought up in Cardiff, he drew on his career as a doctor, his Welsh roots and his proud jewish inheritance to establish himself as one of Britains most popular poets. Many of his themes were international in outlook, combining elements of loss, love, the passing of time, his rich medical understanding and its moral implications. This gave him a compassion for the suffering of the world. His awareness and humanity gave him a conscious awareness.
The brother of Labour M.P Leo Abse, much of his life was spent in loving devotion with his wife, Joan who tragically died in a car accident in 2005, and like many of us he struggled to deal with his grief, but managed to write elonquently a lovely collection called the 'the Presence' which won the Welsh book of the year award in 2008.
His two autobiographies 'Ash on a Young Man's sleeve' and 'Poet in the Family' are now rightly considered to be classics. I recognised his account of his medical training through my own fathers who was to become a G.P. Alongside a deep understanding of the world, ran an overwhelming sense of humour, awash with an experience of thought.. Like Dannie Abse I also undersood some of his themes of exile, he moving from Cardiff to London and personally me having at a very young age moved from Cardiff to here in West Wales.
There is a richness at the heart of his work that I will forever cherish, which I also know will continue to endure.I have been fortunate to hear him read on a few memorable occassions.
He died surrounded by his family after a short illness. The Welsh nation and the world has lost a truly great poet of real conviction.
Dannie Abse R.I.P
from Anniversary
' What happens to a flame blown out?
What persists? Only the view,
never my my magified hand in yours.'
Yesterday I was one of thousands of poets around the world who participated in 100-Thousands Poets for Change day. I took part in a reading organised by my local live literature group, the cellar bards, in conjunction with our local community bookshop, Leafed Through in an event that took place between 4 pm and 5pm, at Prince Charles Quay here in Cardigan, West Wales.In an inspiring event we gathered to celebrate and promote peace and sustainability and call for much needed serious social environmental and political change with poems written on postcards. It was good to be involved in something so positive, with hundreds of cities representing and over 100 countries signed up to the 100 TPC global initiative.More details here :- http://100TPC.org
The poem I read is included below.
Specks of hope
With this pen
no walls are drawn,
unity's breath spins
cancels out division,
solidarity's comfort lifts
and a strong flame burns,
showering the earth with reason
releasing leaves of hope,
gently painting the sky
in rivers of language,
opposing injustice
in whirling devotion,
planting smiles on an ugly world
spreading seeds of peace.
