The scandal of food waste

Food waste  is morally unacceptable when their are people starving. In a year a supermarket like Tesco's admits  that 28,000 tons of food to waste was generated in its stores and distribution centres in just 6 months. And this just the tip of the iceburg when added to what other supermarkets throw out. How many could this have fed?  A great deal of this food  is still perfectly edible, for ***** sake!
If we did not live  in a profit obsessed capitalist society this simply would not happen. "We make less money if people got some  of our food for free " is the main argument why food is being wasted.But Capitalist companies that cannot make a profit on a commodity, would rather scrap it it than give it away, and allow the poor to eat, because there would be no profit in this. 
Then again if we did not live  in a capitalist society, poverty would not be such a problem either. We must stop these scandulous levels of foodwaste, 50% of edible and healthy food is routinely wasted, and serves as a symbol  of what is so wrong in our society.
Rather than wasting millions of pounds worth  of food  that is still usable, why not make supermarkets donate their leftover  produce that are still safe to eat to food banks.
Encourage existing customers to donate towards a delivery service to needy people in their area on the delivery run.
Is it not time to end this supermarket waste scandal

So please consider signing the following petition

or  just  simply take away for free what they do not want

http://secure.38degrees.org.uk/food-banks

Right my posts are going to be getting rather quieter from this day on, as I'm going on a short break. I might post a few things while away, and on my return, not sure how often , I will  post in the future, I will have a little think. All the best heddwch/peace.

Cosmos

A million years  ago, perhaps more,
another universe was possibly known,
floating above the earths crust,
deep, deep in space,
stoned us, kept us in our place,
with lightning strikes, instead of weapons,
it hits the earth with empirical devotion,
from the cosmos, arrived transcendental,
in spirals of space time continuam,
before the beginnings of blind faith,
and the tears of evolution.

BBC guilty of broadcasting pro-Israeli propaganda.

Not the first time either, this is meant to be a news  organisation without an agenda.  In a ruling  the BBC''s editorial committe agreed with complainants that an online BBC article  about Gazas tunnels http:///bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-28430298 breached the organisations accuracy guidelines,  but Eadot Hechts  propaganda  piece ( minus the word 'independent' in  his biographical note ) remains on the BBC website..
Also this week, the World Service programme Business matters http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02r6snd  is running a programme every day from Israel and the Occupied territories, which again  contains much innacuracy. Israel did not pull out of Gaza in 2005, Israel  remains the occupying power in Gaza and is recongnised  as such by the UN and international governments. Hamas did  not  take over Gaza it was elected to govern. Israel did not close down its borders with Gaza because Hamas  'is committed  to its destruction' but as part of its policy of occupation. etc etc
The Palestinian people are under occupation, or in exile, millions living as refugees. A programme like this does not make any sense unless these basic facts are  explained.  The BBC cannot keep making programmes about Gaza where Israel lies are presented as fact by a BBC presenters.
There are no comparable articles commissioned by the BBC from  Palestinian or Pro Palestinian commentators, in which they are given  carte blanche to set out their point of view. This a privilege afforded by the BBC  only to Israels spokespeople  and until now these  spokespeople have taken full advantage of this freedom across the BBC output, whether broadcast or online.
Israels propaganda time and time again is given prominence on the BBC whose news programmes reach 81% of  the UK audience
It is hoped that two ECU rulings  will go some way  to pushing back these privileges and introducing something that resembles professional journalism  in the BBC's coverage of Israels ongoing occupation of the Palestinian people.

Please dont be silent. Make your voice heard. Please  make an official complaint to the BBC everytime you see a whiff of bias.  It's our service, they need to be challenged.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/complain-online/

Link to article that bought this matter to my attention :-

http://bit.ly/1BaeJss

Hetty Bower over 90 years a campaigner for peace and justice

The remarkable inspirational Hetty Bower  died on the 20th May 2013 at the age of 108. From the First World War to the day she  died she was a tireless campaigner for peace and justice, who was still marching and joining demonstrations well into her second century.

For Hetty the myth of ‘our brave boys’ going off to fight the enemy was quickly dispelled when she saw disabled and limbless servicemen returning during World War I.  She had met people who were committed to not killing and seen how badly conscientious objectors were treated in 1918.  She became and remained a pacifist. 

In  a lifetime of campaigns she was involved in the General Strike campaign in the 1920s, she could recall the "battle of Cable Street" in 1936 when fascists were stopped from marching through east London.  During the Second World War, During the war, with two young daughters to care for, she volunteered to help at the offices of the Czech Refugee Trust Fund and subsequently ended up running a Czech Refugee Hostel in North London for Trade Unionists, Socialists, Communists, Jews and anyone else they could get out of Czechoslovakia during that period. She was also a founding member of the Campaign For Nuclear Disarmament, and a veteran of many other progressive causes, joining the anti-war protests over Iraq. An activist to the very end. 

She said: "I have lived for a very long time and I have a very good memory. I've lived through two world wars and I have spent most of my adult life working for peace on our planet. I don't think human beings are civilised while we still waste time and money killing each other, when we should be sitting at a table discussing how to improve the lives of ordinary people."

I love Badgers, so I'd rather their was a cull of Tories

The new Conservative Government will apparently continue their cull of badgers, regardless of complaints from the public. One thing, the Conservatives have proved time and time and again is their arrogant indifference and callous disregard to our wildlife, let alone, people. The savage immorality of them, must be stopped. As they plan to waste an obscene amount of money on this senseless cull, whilst at the same time  planning £12 billion of new welfare cuts. It is simply ridiculous logic.
The Defra Press office has confirmed  that Lord Gardiner has been  appointed as their Lords minister for DEFRA,  former Deputy Chief Executive  of the Countryside Alliance,http://markavery.info/2015/05/18/really/  yes this says,  clearly where their heart really lies.  However hard you look, you will never find a trace of compassion under their skin.
I would  urge you all, to send a little message, surely our countryside would be better served by lovely badgers, than, the roaming virus of Tory destruction.
I say save the badgers, cull all Tories

Ian Curtis (15/1/56 -18/5/80) - Gone but not forgotten T

Today marks the tragic anniversary of the suicide of  Ian Curtis,  the  mercurial,  singer and lyricist  of the band Joy Division.after struggling with depression and epilepsy throughout his life. A lot of my formative years were   spent listening to his songs, and in a roundabout way,  introduced me to the work of such  fascinating literary writers like William Burroughs and  J G Ballard. Words meant a lot to him as they do to me. 

He left behind  at the young age of 23, a wife and daughter  and for many the whiff of sadness, but also left a musical legacy of much genius and musical depth.that  continues to illiuminate.

I still dig out his records, and find them the opposite to the labels put on them, like depressing and bleak, I genuinely find them uplifting. His poetic magnificence and majesty of his lyrics matched by his compelling stage presence as front man of Joy Division reveasaled his one of talent.

Here are a few of my favourites songs of his. His absence still  resonates with many, gone but not forgotten. Love, love does not need  to tear us apart . 

"Reality is only a term, based on values and well worn principles, whereas the dream goes on forever."

'Existence is.. well.. what does it matter? I exist on the best terms I can. The past is now part of my future. The present is well out of hand.” --Ian Curtis:

 Joy Division - Transmission (1978)

Radio, live transmission.
Radio, live transmission.

Listen  to the silence, let it ring on.
Eyes, dark grey lenses frightened of the sun.
We would have a  fine time living in the night.
Left to blind destruction,
Waiting for  our sight.

And we would go on as  though  nothing was wrong
And  hide from these days we remained all alone.
Staying in the same place, just staying out the time.
Touching from a distance,
Further all the time.

Dance, dance, dance, dance, dance, to the radio.
Dance, dance, dance, dance, dance, to the radio.
Dance, dance, dance, dance, dance, to the radio.
Dance,dance. dance, dance, dance, to the radio.

Well I could call out when the going gets tough.
The things that we've learnt are no longer enough.
No language that we've  learnt are no longer enough.
No language, just sound, that's all we need know, to synchronise
love to the beat of the show.

And we could dance

Dance, dance, dance, dance, dance, to the radio.
Dance, dance, dance, dance, dance to the radio.
Dance, dance, dance, dance, dance to the radio.
Dance, dance, dance, dance, dance to the radio.

New Dawn fades (1979)

A change of speed, a change of style.
A change of scene ,with no regrets,
A chance  to watch,  admire the distance,
Still occupied, though you forget.
Different colours, different shades,
Over each mistakes were made.
I took the blame.
Directionless so plain to see,
A loaded gun won't set  you free.
So you say.

We'll share a drink and step outside,
An angry voice and one who cried,
Well give you everything and more,
The strains too much, can't take much more.
Oh, I've walked on water, run through fire,
Can't seem to feel it anymore.
It was me, waiting for me,
Hoping for something more.
Me, seeing me this time, hoping for something else.

Shadowplay (1979)

To the centre of the city, where all roads meet, waiting for you,
To the depths  of the ocean when all hopes sank, searching for you,
I was moving through the silence without motion, waiting for you,
In a room with a window in the corner I found truth.

In the shadowplay, acting out your own death, knowing no more,
As the assassins all grouped in four lines, dancing on the floor,
And with  the cold steel, odour on their bodies made a move to connect,
But I could only stare in disbelief as the crowds all left.

I did everything, everything I wanted to,
I bet them use you for their own ends,
To the centre of the city in the night, waiting for you,
To the centre  of the city in the night, waiting for you.

Love will tear us apart (1980)

When routines bites hard,
and ambitions are low,
And resentments rides high,
But emotions won't grow
And were changing our ways, taking different roads.

Then love, love  will tear us apart again,
Love, love will tear us apart again.

Why is the bedroom so cold?
You've turned away on your side.
Is my timing that flawed?
Our respect runs so dry.
Yet there's still this appeal that we've kept through our lives.

But love, love will tear us apart again,
Love, love will tear  us apart again.

You cry out in your sleep,
All my feelings exposed.
And there's a taste in my mouth,
As desperation takes hold.
Just that something so good just can't function no more.

But  love, love will tear us apart again
Love, love, will tear us apart again.
Love, love, will tear us apart again,.
Love, love , will tear us apart again.

Gardening is the most theraputic and defiant act you can do - Ron Finley ( renegade gardener and food activist)

" Gardening is the most theraputic and defiant act you can do. Especially in the inner city. I want us to become ecolutionaries, renegades, gangster gardeners. People need to realise how powerful the transformation of soil can be. Everything you experience in life happens in the garden. You learn patience, you learn systems, you learn biology,you learn sex and you learn the thing we call death may not actually be death. It may just be an energy transfer. That's what composting is."

Link to Ron Finley's blog :-
http://ronfinley.com/

Now Zen

Listen to the soft rain fall,
catch hope in hand,
when the streams of the world,
keep on passing by,
in the hours of dreaming,
breathe and inhale.

Follow the snails path,
and the trail of birds,
shifting sands, long winding roads,
beyond implosions that explode,
in satori breathe,
mind is empty and free.

In the presence of moments stillness,
we can be shores of touch and belief,
elements drifting, particles shining,
following  immediacies destination,
towards rivers long, journeys unknown,
spirits of the age, keep on turning,
in the ebb and flow of  life.

67th anniversary of the Nakba

Today marks the 67th anniversary of the Nakba. The catastrophe that caused 750,000 Palestinians, to  leave the land which they were the rightful owners of.
It marks 67 years of injustice and oppression of the Palestinian. 67 years of land theft and bloodshed  that have been  met by global political silence, time and time again.
It saw over 531 villages being cleared,  with massacres that led  to 15,000 Palestinians being killed at the hands  of Zionist para military groups like Hazanika, Ergun and the Stern Gang. Systematically removing the Palestinians from their land. An ethnic cleansing that continues to this day.
One of the worst incidents occurred at Deir Yassin on April 8th 1948, where  105 people were slaughtured, more than half of them women and children. Link to earlier post on Dier Yassin http://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/dier-yassin-remembered.html
Israel to this day has tried to erase all signs of the Nakba, it is a history that it does not the world to share or see. A state that at the end of the day was built on the ruins of someone else's land. So this is why  for many today is not seen as the birth of Israel, but a day of mourning and tragedy. 
I will continue to side with the Palestinian who dares to dream of the day of return, when they can open  the locked doors of their stolen houses, are welcomed home, recognised and encouraged by a world that acknowledges the injustice that has been inflicted upon them.




Today there are over 5 million registered Palestinian refugees, who are still waiting for justice. This fight continues as the Palestinian keep searching for a way to return home, to take back what is rightfully theirs.
So today we will see the Palestinian people renew their demands for return, to their cities, villages and lands that they were forced to leave in 1948. Many Palestinians still carry the keys to the homes they or their ancestors were displaced from all those years ago, a haunting memory of their existence.
Despite their suffering and Israels  blockade  of the West Bank and the Gaza strip they will not stop their demand for their right of return and for having Jerusalem as their capital.
I like  increasingly many others in the international community hope and dream  that their freedom is restored again, their existence  is recognised, and justice is served, despite the fact that Palestinians land continues to be stripped into pieces. From the rivers to the sea, Palestine will be free. Despite all the Palestinians will remain rooted to their land.

Listen here  to Remi Kanazi's powerful poem -  Nakba

Save the Human Rights Act

The Conservatives are currently planning to strip away our  Human Rights, they must not be able to carry out their plans.Over 107,000  people have signed the following  petition in less than 24 hours. Please sign and share as far and wide as possible. Everybody needs to sign this. It is so important, share with groups, friends,  family.
Human rights  are in place to stop corrupt Governments.
The Human Rights Act  covers everyone  living in the UK, based  on the European Convention of Human Rights, that the Labour Party introduced  in 1998 and  has repeatedly let ordinary people - hold the state to account.  It is here to protect us all, and has enabled people for example to go to court to object against the bedroom tax. The policies have been created for no reason than to protect us as human beings. Without it any one of us could be wrongly accused of a crime, the government will be allowed to breach our privacy, and anyone could fall victim to careless decisions made by authorities. What happens to innocent until proven guilty and dignity in dying?
I guess, we really are living  in dangerous times, with the Torys planning now a series of attacks on our fundamental rights. I still  cannot quite believe how these so called  human beings devoid  of any empathy and compassion, could ever get elected.
Leaves me  still with a bitter taste in mouth, and a weariness of  people, who I guess, voted in their power, but that I guess is another story.
Can you not see your rights and freedoms being eroded? Gradually being removed piece by piece. Please wake up before they are gone.
Remember Cameron along with other right wingers  tries to distract us by claiming that Strasbourg's Court is meddling in British affairs and eroding our sovereingty and our ability to govern ourselves. Absolute ***** but that is their mindset . They at the end of the day want to overturn recognised principles of human decency that we should all be proud of.
How could anyone in their right mind oppose any of the following. ( Well Tory's , but not exactly carved with compassion)



Right to life
Freedom from torture and inhuman or degrading treatment
Right to liberty and security
Freedom from slavery and forced  labour
Right to a fair trial
No punishment if you have not broken law
Respect for your private and family life 
Freedom of thought, belief and religion
Freedom of expression
Freedom of assembly and association
The right to marry and start a family


We must not allow the Conservatives to steal away our precious human rights. The human rights act is ours, scrapping it will take away the rights of everyone, and it is the most vulnerable that will suffer most. We must do everything in our power to save it.



Please sign and share the following :-


http://www.change.org/p/david-cameron-mp-we-call-on-the-government-and-the-prime-minister-to-provide-a-national-referendum-on-the-planned-abolition-of-the-human-rights-act/

United we must stand

But they left the bankers, with their obscene bonuses, to be protected at all costs, and their friends in big business. The message it seems is that whether  you are unemployed, disabled,  or simply on a low wage, your poverty and misery are your own fault. We are all targets now. United we must stand.

Israeli illegal settlements, what you need to know in 60 seconds.

Life's rather bitter at the moment for many in my country at the moment, in the aftermath of a Tory election,  but this is nothing compared to the daily  harassment and displacement  faced by those who live in Palestine. Where the color of shame is daily spread. One of the major barriers to the Palestinians freedom is the existence and continuing growth of illegal Israeli colonies on land long recognised by the United Nations as belonging to Palestine. The new Netanyahu government is planning to extend it's support for these illegal constructions, that will  undoubtedly further inflame soaring tensions. Seen by many as a form of ethnic cleansing as the Israeli government seeks to replace Arab Palestinian populations in their own territories with Jewish Israelis. Settlers who have been accused again and again of inflicting violence on the existing inhabitants of the land they choose to build on.
You may have  heard about these Israeli Illegal settlements or even seen many images of this. But do you really know anything about how settlements effect Palestinian lives. Well in 60 seconds you will.
Friends of Al-qsa is  a British non-profit NGO company to defend the rights of Palestinians and to protect the sacred al-asqa- Sanctuary.

Viral Garden sign

                             
                                Garden centres owner  viral sign

' The only bad reaction I've had were  two Tory couples and a couple of people from UKIP,' he added ' I don't really care about the repurcussions, I don't earn a fortune and this might be the death of my business, but so be it. Sometimes you have to stand up and say what you believe in.'

Read more on this story here :-

http://gu.com/p/489b8/fb


MAY HIS BUSINESS FLOURISH , AND  LET HIS ROOTS BE HARDY

R.I.P, don't mourn, organise.

Never in my wildest imaginations, did I expect to wake up to this massive Tory majority. We will now face a more vicious government over the next 5 years than before.
We must now do our nest to alienate them and thwart all their attempts to beat us down.We do not mourn , we organise, show them no respect. Our numbers at the end of the day are much bigger than theirs,so in solidarity we gather our strength, show our mighty resistance.

Intermission Time :- A Coarse and offensive post, but I love it, no apologies.

Time to vote ! I'm not apathetic, but I am still angry

So the Pantomine is coming towards it's end. I personally  think most of the political parties seen on parade seem distinquishible  only by the color of their ties and their forked tongues.
We should note that not all who decide not to vote tomorrow are apathetic, most remain angry  and disillusioned. For many voting for the same old same every 5 years no longer seems to have any relevance. Remember Governments are only ever just in office,Capital remains in ultimate power. Austerity and welfare cuts, will continue.
Apparently it's going to be to close to call, but for the many who choose not to vote or spoil it, are taking a very conscious act, sending a clear message, that they are not happy with the system. The choice for many remains difficult. We certainly need change, but will this actually occur, at the end of the day , you have to ask yourself what does the Government do to help you. Will they continue to allow people to die, cause wars, sponsor greed, and in your name because you chose to vote for them.
If people decide to vote, I sincerely I hope they vote for some kind of change, for those that stand up against austerity, that I noticed  in the last term, not hearing  many politicians loudly speaking out against, until now, so I don't find them that trustable,  As for Russel Brand, perhaps  he should have asked Ed Milliband when  will the Labour Party  bring Tony Blair et alle to the courts for their war crimes. Until  then  they have no standing in any moral decent society, did he urge him to scrap Trident, save us £100 billion which could be spent on things we actually need.. But  I guess anything is better than the current incumbents, who left in power will carry on with their wrecking campaign.The 12 billion cuts they are planning to the welfare bill will be nothing less than a death warrant for tens of thousands of vulnerable people.People being penalised , simply for being poor. In the winter of 2012/13 when heating costs rose dramatically, there were over 31,00 excess winter deaths. Harold Shipman's murderous rampage never matched any of these figures.Angry I'm bloody livid. So if nothing use your vote against them, and any complicit so and so who you think might prop them up.
I have a certain respect for the Green Party, and here in Wales at least their seem to be some good souls in Plaid Cymru, who seem to have an open inclusive agenda, but are not likely to sweep the boards, and not likely to form the next  government.
But that old maxim 'if the government changed anything they would probably make it illegal' pops back in my weary head. At the end of the day the Government will seriously impact in our lives.Call me a dreamer, but wouldn't it be nice, if we tried a few years without one, and see how we got on. Anyway if you choose to excerise your right to vote, and I do not condemn you if you do,I would urge you  vote for those who speak of social justice, against austerity,against intolerance, xenophobia, for people who put people before profit, for fairness in our society.
But do not forget either, people thinking outside their box, already fighting, a cruel,unjust system,who will carry on shouting, speaking out, day by day, week in, week out, year in year out.
Perhaps we don't just need a regime, we need to build a brand new system.
Anyway I will be wishing you a good day,we all count, we all matter,  may the force continue to be with you.

Remember all Tories are the same.

Remember this week, as  the pantomine of democracy approaches, that all Tory's are the same. Whatever  period in time,  they leave us with a diabolical legacy, but at the same time still managing to convince   people that they have been doing a decent job.
Aided and abetted by their friends  in the Daily Mail, the Telegraph, the Express and the Scum. Rags  that keep carry on pumping out the same disingeneous and divisive rubbish about the supposed recovery we are all apparently experiencing. Plus the BBC misleading people into parroting Tory narratives and soundbites.
We should not forget the Tory's  ruthless, toxic and unjust policies. Their constant assaults  on the N.H.S, the Royal Mail, people on welfare, the disadvantaged, the poor, which includes poorly paid workers, then we've got people using foodbanks, pensioners with slashed fuel allowances, the hated bedroom  tax, rising homelessness, dodgy benefit assessments, all while giving their  friends the millionaires tax breaks and MPs 11% pay rises. The list goes on and on, they are truly a nasty vicious bunch of people.
We have to get rid of them by any means necessary,  because the devil comes in many shapes and sizes, and I believe it is truly at home in the Conservative Party, a demonic party, if there ever was one. They should not be given an inch.
But remember they come in all shapes and sizes, their are red ones too, we've seen the Lib Dems true mettle, Walking  hand in hand with them for the last 5 years.  Then we have so called red tory's so I would urge people against voting for Tory's in disguise.
We should not even consider voting for anyone who will simply prop them up, this is not a serious option that anyone in their right mind should  consider.
We simply cannot afford another 5 years of this rubbish, this false war of austerity.
So say  no to the Tory's and to any scum that will prop them up. Anyone who does their bidding must be strongly opposed.
I will end by saying that at the end of the day I believe  that a system that undemocraticaly elects  Governments like this, has to go as well, it needs to be replaced with something more accountable to peoples needs, based on ideas of social justice, fairness, mutual aid and sustainability. But until that day arrives kick out the tories and any bedfellows propping them up. Their time is up.

Newtown Neurotics - Kick out the Tories

Privilege Versus Poverty

(A Poem for a Royal Birth)

So a Princess is born,
the silver spoons are near
for her to be fed,
with all the vestiges of power,
that she could ever possibly eat,
while media overdrive in frenzy,
gather outside, a life of privilege awaits.

Meanwhile,
the poorest among us,
born in chains
our voices go unanswered.
and in refugee camps across the world,
children choked in shadows of rubble and dust,
their future already denied,
they are seemingly invisible.

Innocent children killed by drones,
the press ignores their story,
and people consigned to poverty and misery,
by tory austerity and welfare reform,
are expected to fawn, 
whilst queing at foodbanks ,
running on empty.

Daily the benefit claimants, pensioners,
the underpaid workers, are told to go to hell.
Royal sprog does not have to worry though,
in the 21st century it seems, we're still born unequal,
will be looked after by nannies, sent to public school,
look forward to a lifetime of pampering and privilege,
and his grannies had a bloody pay rise too.

It's weird shit, is it not?
Guess there will be more vomit to come.
Until the future, gives reasons to celebrate,
when all  divisions are  finally abandoned,
a generation from now, all of us born absolutely free,
beyond the bullshit, the flim flam and the glitter,
this day is coming, it wont be long,

when the peasants finally revolting,
stand outside the palaces gilded gates,
wave goodbye, to the monarchy,
once and for bloody all,
singing, Viva Republic,
hallelujah, hallelujah.

All born equal?

As the BBC continues  its sychopantic fawning. Here's a really positive way to respond to the Royal Baby news. Donate to the Child Poverty Action Group.
Here's a link :-
http://www.cpag.org.uk
Remember any other family living this kind of life  at taxpayers expenses would be hounded  by the  press  as benefit scroungers. No bunting for me, but I might have to go and find a sick bag.
If this event  releases  anything, it serves us all as a reminder of the appalling   inequality that still exists in our country, which is  at the core of  existence of monarchy.
Amid growing austerity,  these ocassions should remind  us too, that in 2015 modern Britain the aristocracy still own more than one third of the country continue to hold onto disproportionate power.  This baby will have  every need  pandered too, servents to make sure it goes for nothing, while others are born into poverty, whose  mums cannot  afford food or heating.
The sad fact remains, the gloss of inherited privilege, still shines,  I look forward to the day when, we are all born equal. Should not every new baby born, be headline news.

May Day Greetings ; Sarah Teasdale (8/8/1884 - 19/1/33) May Day

A delicate fabric of bird song,
Floats in  the air,
The smell of wet wild earth
Is everywhere.

Red small leaves of the maple
Are clenched like a hand,
Like girls at their first communion
The pear tree stand.

Oh I must pass nothing by
Without loving it much,
The raindrop try with my lips,
The grass with my touch;

For how can I be sure
I shall see again
The world on the first of May
shining after the rain?

(  as the light returns,and the days lengthen and summer begins its journey upon the earth, it's renewal time,   reach out, and find what you seek, thoughts go out to all who need strength in the coming weeks or months. Life doesn't get any easier for some )

Happy International Workers day, comrades and friends.

Beauty in Everyday Gaza

The news about Gaza tends to conjure up images of destruction, decimated buildings and human suffering. But theirs a beautiful side to the area that is often ignored and artist Lara Aburamadan, wants to show it off.
Where their is much hardship and suffering, Gaza remains a place of beauty, survival, and endurance.
Despite the horrors of Israels constant wars and  occupation.

These little piggies

Simples, but their mates in the Tory press, won't tell you this. A toxic lot, money minded machine men, selfish grasping simpletons, born with some essential part of the soul missing.
Hey i'm far from perfect, but will never be a bloody tory, or remotely tory-lite.
As the piggies cry, wee, wee, wee, try to sell  us their believe, and try to make us follow their roads of self destruction, avenues paved with capitalism's delusion, contained with self-fullfillment, Revolt against their messages. But please be careful, don't allow them into your home.

The Labour Party calls on Tarzan

I'd be the first to admit , that  I think the Labour Party lost it's soul  years ago,  but this thought has been rekindled on hearing the news that they have called on Michael 'Tarzan' Heseltine, to help advise a Labour Government, on business policy.
Some people might say, fair enough, good old Heseltine,  he was one of the more level headed, responsible,so called compassionate Tory's. Sorry Labour Party,wake up, this is a multi miilionaire, whose roots, however wet he looks, run deep in the pockets of the Conservative party and big business.A political dinosaur, who I first encountered, when he was a swivel eyed loon, dressed up in military regalia, evicting harmless peace  protestors at Molesworth Peace Camp, later when left in political wilderness, still to be cheered on and on, as he strode on to platforms at  Tory |Party Conferences.Oh Yes, Mr Milliband,  seeking advice from a real man of the people, a man who  back in the day stood for all that the Labour Party supposedly did not stand for, former miners and steelworkers up and down the country must be thinking of this offer in disgust.  Tarzan let me remind you, or Lord Heseltine of Thelford ( oh  the nice bit, is his mum hails, from West Wales), was a deputy Prime Minister of a ruthless Tory Governmrnt that ruled for nearly two decades, while he was their  he supported their right to buy policy, with whatever way you look at it, his ideology and his approach is grounded in favour of Capitalist economics, that bring no benefit to the people. He for many simply represents a living embodiment and reminder of a cruel Tory Government that neither cared nor understood who governed.
Ah but the Labour Party, not of old, for a long time now,  turning ever so Tory Lite. Forget about Tarzan,  it's simple, how about an effective tax rate on high earners, jail the bankers, scrap trident, offer people real jobs, appropriate training, make sure the power of capital is broken, find a heart, do not allow the  deceitful whiff of big business and their friends, do your bidding. Sadly I guess, the Labour Party of today, no longer  looks and searches for bold radical alternatives and policies, that we all richly deserve.

Remembering the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide

A hundred years ago today, amid the upheaval of World War 1, countless villages across the Ottoman Empire became killing fields as the desperate leadership of this region, having lost the Balkans and facing the prospect of losing its territories as well, saw an imagined threat at home.
Worried that the Christian Armenian population was planning to align with Russia, the then primary enemy of the Ottoman Turks, officials embarked on what historians have called the first genocide of the 20th Century.
Nearly 1.5 million Armenians were systematically killed,  becoming tragically part of one of the biggest atrociies of the Great War. Initially intellectuals and community leader were rounded up, one by one, then thousands were  instantly slaughtered, there were reports  of mass burnings, others  put in concentration camps,  to be tortured and gassed,  others left  to die of starvation, exhaustion and disease. Rape was frequently reported too. All this occurred between 1915-1923, to   further add to this misery, the great bulk of the Armenian population were forced from Armenia to Syria, where the vast majority were sent into the desert to die of thirst and hunger.
This  horrific moment in time has since with great shame been bitterly contested by Turkey, under President Erdogan the successor of the Ottoman Empire, who has consistently denied the word genocide, as an accurate term for what happened. Years later the issue of whether to these killings a genocide remain raw and emotional, both for the Armenians, who are descended from those killed, and the Turks, the heirs to the Ottomans. For both,  the question touches as much on national identity, as it does on historical facts.
Whilst at the same time for geopolitical reasons the U.S.A too, has never  labelled the atrocities committed by Turkey as genocide, being close  friends with Turkey, their allies in  the NATO alliance. It should be noted that Robert Dole in the Senate introduced a mild resolution commemorating 1990 as the 75th anniversary of the Armenian  genocide, at the time the Israeli government worked with the Turkish government to lobby against it. ( The resolution was subsequently defeated in the Senate) Obama himself, pledged in his  Presidential campaign to call it genocide, but two terms into to his Presidency , he remains silent.  The fact that Israel has been very strongly opposed to efforts being made to recognise the Armenian genocide, for me is really quite astonishing. Especially from a country founded  in the aftermath of its own genocide, holocaust. There are growing calls from within Israel for them to finally recognise this historical fact , and  not to be  in denial, which would be good, since  both peoples, the Armenians and the  Jewish people having suffered the same fate, the same terrible tragedies.  But at the end of the day the Turks are their allies, and you don't want to alienate allies, do you, because that's much too important. Israel thinks it's not their business, lets simply not talk about the Armenian holocaust, but any  conciliatory offerings, I am sure will be welcomed. Sadly , too, the British government will not recognise it. Despite , that  during the time of Lloyd George, in fact even Churchill  himself wrote "There  is no reasonable  doubt that this crime was planned and executed for  political purposes." He also used the phrases "Administrative  Holocaust" and  "clearance of race".
Yet countries  like Canada, Argentina, France, Greece and Russia, Poland and Switzerland where the survivors  of  the Armenian genocide and their descendents live have officially recognised the Armenian genocide, thus helping the process of healing.
I believe the voices of the people killed and those haunted should not be forgotten, we should mark their identity, and  the psychic wounds that have passed through generations.
Today the anniversary will be commemorated, the date the Ottomans rounded up groups of Armenians in 1915, as the first step in what many agree was a wider plan for annhiliation.
Armenians from Turkey and the diaspora are preparing to gather in Instanbul's central Taksim Square to honor the dead. A concert will feature both Armenian and Turkish musicians.
Years later Hitler would use this model of genocide for his own tools for a Holocaust. Hitler and Himmler, guided by the same evil,  were inspired  by the Ottoman Empires own methods of quiet extermination. Mass genocidal maniacs since  like Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot followed suit with their own reigns of terror and slaughter of millions.
We should recognise the sad fact that Turkeys lack of contrition leaves descendents struggling to reconcile loss and renewal. It is simply implausible that we should still question the reality of this appalling terrible injustice.
It is a moral necessity that we continue to condemn these massacres and ethnic cleansing of Armenians, that began on this day. To continue to deny this truth amounts to a criminal lie. We need to enshrine in our collective memory this crime against humanity, so as to ensure that it is understood, learnt and transmitted to future generations. We need to recognise the wounds  that have never been able to be healed.

Armenian refugee children 1915

Please consider signing the following Armenian Genocide petition

http://www.genocide1915.info/petition/sign/

No time for music

There is no time for music today,  
realities tears flow, that cannot be denied,
remembering children, mothers,
who were taken, and dragged away,
words to be silenced forever,
the scattering of bones.

The Armenians memory, still suffering,
choking, in bitter frustrated rage,
echoes still screaming out over the age,
the sorrow and the sadness,
continuing to burn today,
as people  seek recognition,
some form of reconciliation. 


thanks to Mr P James and Mr chomsky ........

Hazel Jane Dickens (1/6/35 -22/4/11) - The Rebel Girl

On the fourth anniversary of her death, lets remember Hazel Jane Dickens, bluegrass singer, songwriter, double bassist and guitarist. Singer of pro-union and feminist songs, a clarion vocal advocate for coal miners, working people and the downtrodden.
Below she sings Joe Hill's outstanding song about Elizabeth Gurly Flynn, the original rebel girl, feminist, wobbly (Industrial Workers of the World) and activist.
Hazel Jane Dickens was born June 1st 1935, in Montcalm, West Virginia, U.S.A. One of 11 children, she grew up in a family whose survival depended on the coal industry. Her father was a Baptist preacher and a forceful singer, who hauled timber to feed the household. Her brothers were miners and one of her sisters cleaned the house for a supervisor at the mines.
A reluctant feminist role model, Hazel said she was originally scared to write about issues like sexism and the oppression of women.
Her music was characterised  by a high lonesome, singing style. If you like old time, country and bluegrass music, and  a dose of left wing politics, you will probably like Hazel Dicken's work. Cultural blogger John Pietaro noted that " Dickens didn't just sing the anthems of labour, she lived them and her place  on many a picket line,staring down gunfire and goon squads, embedded her to the cause."

Hazel Dickens - Rebel Girll

Hazel Dickens - Fire in the Soul

Hazel Dickens - Old and in the way

Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard -  Working Girl Blues

Sanctuary

(Poem inspired by my garden)

The earth at play again,
whispers monologues of devotion,
among paths of nature, freedoms creation,
strong in faith, firm in love.

Vapour trials, in the sky above,
create residues of escape,
swallows sweep  through time , 
descend  across the landscape.

The smouldering garden slumbers,
waking slowly, to be re-moulded, re-cast,
as the day turns soft and still,
mind wanders, rests in observation,
watching wildflowers colour, 
weaving through the grass.

Plants offer protection,
to bright insects, 
dancing in the cool shade,
bluebells shimmering,
bursting with life,
as afternoon, again is made.

Ceridwen's breathe calls again,
swirling and whirling, among healing herbs,
scenting the air with magic,
while the cauldron stirs,
releasing seeds of  enchantment,
vibrant pulsations, to catch the heart and soul

The shame of Fortress Europe

This week we have  seen  the tragic loss of 400 peoples lives , dying in an attempt to reach Italy from Libya, after boat capsized.  The boat was carrying about 500 people in total, according  to some of the  150 survivors who were rescued.  Italian coastguards intercepted 42 boats on April 12 and 13, carrying 6,500 people attempting  to make the crossing to Europe.
Human beings seeking a new way of life, many driven by desperation, fleeing persecution, violence, the torture, or the threat of,  fleeing from regions where human rights abuses are rife, inncents simply seeking a future. As many as 700 people have now been lost at sea this year alone. Human beings with dreams and fears in pursuit of some happiness.
Europes response has been shameful, inadequate, inhumane, and quite simply pathetic.We are after all talking about what is an injustice.
The European Union and its member states, under the guise of its Fortress Europe policies has been complicit  in these tragedies to occur, again and again,  leading to innocent   people needlesly and shamefully dying on Europe's doorstep. A result  of inhuman policies still in place today  that deny access to the asylum system for refugees.
These  deaths are not isolated incidents but the direct consequence  of tightening our immigration policies and controls. In the face  of civil war, conflict, global politics and social unrest, Europes  response has been at the end of the day disgusting, with the use of  practices and  policies that turn a blind eye to the root causes of migration.
I do not feel we will find answers in building the walls of fortress Europe higher, what is needed is the provision of more  safe and legal channels for people to access protection. For human beings to be treated  with respect and dignity. The decision  to close doors and build fences, means that men, women and children are forced to risk their lives and take a desperate journey across the sea. The boats will not simply stop. Ignoring the situation, will not make it go away. This is Fortress Europes daily shame.

McDonalds :- Now Serving Homeless Spikes

McDonalds  has come under fire after metal 'anti-homeless spikes' were installed outside one of its Leeds branches. Simply inhumane and shows a complete disregard for homeless people who struggle every day.
Homelessness is one of the worst  injustices within our society, having a place  to live  should be a right not a privilege. These spikes show a complete disregard and lack of respect for homeless people.
McDonalds claim they were there to tackle anti-social behaviour,  not target the homeless, saying  they welcome all customers through their doors.
Well they have since been hit by a 70,000 strong petition still growing. By the way I would not reccommened you eating their  food, it is definitely not good for your health. As disgusting to taste too, like their actions.

Here's a link to the petition
sign and share.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/952/690/366/remove-anti-homeless-spikes-outside-mcdonalds-on-briggate-and-everywhere-in-leeds/

Eduardo Galeona ( 3/09/40 - 12/4/15) R.I.P Poet laureate of the anti globalisation movement

Sadly another truthsayer has gone, Eduardo Galeona,  poet laureatte of the anti-globalisation movement, a Uruguayan writer, poet, anti-capitalist, radical author and journalist of much depth. A committed  socialist, whose historical works condemned European and US  colonialist exploitation of Latin America over 5 centuries, which made him a revered figure among leftists. He died aged 74 after a battle with lung cancer.
Weaving tapestries of society obscured by historians, his books ( he was a productive writer of over 30 books) presented alternative histories that gave equal weight to the suffering of the downtrodden, as to the grand achievements of better known historical figures.

Born in 1940, he turned his writing , and indeed his life, into a powerful manifesto against injustice and exploitation. As he himself put it, Galeano wrote for “the hungry, the sleepless, the rebels, the wretched of this earth.”  

Nowhere is this commitment more clear than in his masterpiece, “Open Veins of Latin America.”  Ever since it was published in 1971, the book has never stopped selling — and has indeed been immortalized as a Latin American monument. 

 Even today, it’s a required text in many social science courses around the world, including in universities.  Written furiously in just 12 weeks, while military dictatorships took control of Brazil, Chile and Argentina ,“Open Veins in Latin America” denounces the systemic exploitation Latin America has historically been subject to. 

 In a style that was at the same time polemical irascible and accessible, Galeano exposed the hidden brutalities of colonialism and corporate globalization,– as well as the unsung beauties of the humble, the vernacular, the quotidian across Latin America. 

 “No computer could count the crimes that the pop culture business commits each day against the human rainbow and the human right to identity. But its devastating progress is mind-boggling. Time is emptied of history, and space no longer acknowledges the astonishing diversity of its parts. Through the mass media the owners of the world inform us all of our obligation to look at ourselves in a single mirror. " 

“Whoever doesn’t have, isn’t. He who has no car or doesn’t wear designer shoes or imported perfume is only pretending to exist. Importer economy, impostor culture: we are all obliged to take the consumer’s cruise across the swirling waters of the market. Most of the passengers are swept overboard, but thanks to foreign debt the fares of those who make it are billed to us all. Loans allow the consuming minority to load themselves up with useless new things, and before everyone’s eyes the media transform into genuine needs the artificial demands the North of the world ceaselessly invents and successfully projects onto the South.”  

Galeano was one of earliest writers to popularize an understanding of the structural relation between great affluence and accumulation in some parts of the globe and amongst a small stratum of society within every country, and the suffering and deprivation suffered in the vast “backyard” of this narrow but tremendous privilege:  “

To turn infamies into feats, the memory of the North is divorced from the memory of the South, accumulation is detached from despoliation, opulence has nothing to do with plunder. Broken memory leads us to believe that wealth is innocent of poverty.”

He was forced  to flee from Uruguay  to neighboring Argentina in 1973, after he was briefly imprisoned by the  recently  installed  military dictatorship, which banned his book Open Veins. He was blacklisted by death squads in Argentina following a military coup and tried to  kill him but  he  fled to  Spain.and  survived.

Persecuted for his journalistic provocations, Galeano spoke truth to power and inspired readers to stand up to the fascist terror and militarism that had gripped so many Latin American countries for decades.  An indefatigable risk-taker and provocateur, Galeano served as editor of important journals like Crisis, which he had co-founded and which focused much of its substantial intellectual energy on critiquing abuses of power in Uruguay and elsewhere in Latin America. 

"We have a memory cut in pieces"  he once told Democracy Now. "And  I write trying to recover our real memory, the memory of humankind, what I call the human rainbow, which is much more colourful and beautiful than the other one, the other rainbow. But the human rainbow has been mutilated by machismo, racism, militarism, and a lot of other isms,who have been  terribly killing our greatness,  our possible greatness, our possible beauty." 

The following is one of his  fine poems. R.I.P

The right to dream of a better world ( El derecha a sonar)

The right to dream is a poem written and read by Eduardo Galeona.
In  1948, and again  in 1976, the United Nations  proclaimed long lists of  human rights, but most of the worlds people still enjoy only the rights to see, hear and remain silent.
Suppose we excercise the  never  proclaimed right to dream? Lets set our sights above  the abominations of today, to divine another possible world

Edward Galeano - Interview ; Living without fear.

Transitory

I follow the start of the rising tide,
sit and wait for shifting frontiers, 
to reset empty agenda, to seek change,
as people decide for whom to vote, 
if they take part in the process at all.

The politicians' luck is running out,
on a point of  flickering departure,
hopefully smiles  will be seen again,
on every turn of the corner,
if hollow policies, can be exposed,
we can all be left to our own devices.

We  have learnt how to stand still,
how to run, how to leap,
though we are closely watched,
we have strength in numbers,
to change the status quo,
but beware of paths of complacency,
the jackals are outside the door,
waiting patiently still to devour us all.