The Battle of the Beanfield took place over several hours , 30 years ago today on the afternoom of Saturday 1 June 1985. When Wiltshire police prevented a vehicle convoy of several hundred New Age Travelers, known as the 'Convoy' and referred to as the ' Peace Convoy' by the media, from setting up at the 11th Stonehenge Free Festival in Wiltshire, England. It resulted in innocent people, women and children being violently beaten up in their own homes, after 12 years of gathering in the same place of celebration, by the combined forces of the state, who armed with shields and batons ran savagely amok. There was carnage and mayham as the marginalised and dispossessed were brutally targeted by a police forces under the auspices of Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Government, were allowed to get seriously out of control, trying to suppress a peoples thirst for freedom, this quasi military force carried out serious abuses of their power with an unrelenting frenzied brutality following similar attacks in the year on the miners. A horrible time, like today, when people who live on societies edges are attacked simply for being different. Women and their babies were left showered with glass after the police had smashed up their vehicles. It would leave over 116 travelers hospitalised. and 420 of their number arrested ( few arrested were ever prosecuted) as their homes were systematically looted, smashed and burnt with their possessions stolen.. A dark day for British justice and civil liberties. 30 years later people still suffering the consequences , and bearing the scars of this dark passage in history. But the stones remain.
This month marks the anniversary of the World's first socialist working class uprising.On March 18 1877, the people of Paris rose up against a despised and detested government and proclaimed the city independent, belonging to itself. The workers of Paris, joined by mutinous National Guardsmen, seized the city and set about reorganising society in their own interests based on workers' councils. They could not hold out, however, when more troops retook the city and massacred 30,000 workers in bloody revenge.
It is said to be one of the first examples of working people taking power.
It is an event that has become significant to revolutionary socialists, anarchists as well as Marxists. But for many Anarchists,even the existance even a proletarian one was intolerable For Karl Marx however it was to act as a confirmation of his ideas. Here from a performance of Marx in Soho by Howard Zinn, Marx describes the Paris Commune and shows how Socialism could really work.
There are many valuable lessons that we can learn today.
On short break this week, to recharge my batteries, I have been reminded of the pioneering visionary writings of Edward Carpenter, the English socialist and radical philosopher poet, after attending an event called Land of Promise in Hay-on -Wye, which explored through words and music, Britain's radical utopian tradition.This rich legacy of hope which was the dominant strand of political thought for five centuries, which sadly in the past 40 years we have stopped asking the question.
I have written before of this great man, an early champion of homosexuality, animal rights, ecology, womens' suffrage, recycling, prison reform, and sexual freedom, opposing imperialism and war, s simpler, more sustainable way of living. A man so ahead of his time, who throughout his life campaigned and wrote on a whole range of social concerns, he is a huge inspiration ( who incidentally also happens to share a birthday with me).
Influenced by the work of John Ruskin, Carpenter began to develop ideas about a utopian future that took the form of a primitive communism, that still resonates strongly today.He sought a personal liberation of brotherhood and emancipation, a life of liberty and love,a world free of class struggles,ways of life he embraced himself,ideals that we should all be proud of,
The following is an extract from one of my favourite books Towards Democracy which has served me well over the years, acting as a kind of personal bible. Nearly every word contained within its covers, glistens with beautiful reasoning. I would urge anyone to seek out this vivid book, and carry on hungrily building upon the seeds that are contained within. How come though, are still seeking?
' As I walked restless and desperate through the gloomy city. And I saw the eager unresting to and fro - as of ghosts in some sulphorous Hades - And saw the crowds of tall chimneys going up, and the pall of smoke, covering the sun, covering the earth, lying heavy against the very ground - And saw the ghastly half-roofless smoke -blackened house and the black river flowing below, - As I saw these, and as I saw again far away the capitalist quarter. With its villa references and its high-walled gardens and its well-appointed carriages, and its face turned away from the waggling poverty which made it rich, - As I saw and remembered the drawing room airs and affectations and its wheezy wheezy pursy Church going and its gas reeking heavy-furnish rooms and its scent bottles and its other abominations- half consious - knowing not clearly - the shape of the evil - on the grasp of some heavy nightmare. Then out the crowd descending towards me came a ragged little boy, Came - from the background of dirt disengaging itself - an innocent wistful child - faces begrimed like the rest but strangely pale, and pensive before its time. And in an instant ( it was as if a trumpet had been blown in that place ) I saw it clearly, the lie I saw and the truth, the false dream and the awakening. For the smoke-blackened walls and the hills and the tall chimneys, and the dreary habitations of the poor, and the drearier inhabitations of the rich, crumbled and conveyed themselves as if by magic; And instead, in the blackened vista of that face, I see the joy of free life open under the sun : The green sun - delighting earth and rolling sea I saw - The free sufficing life - sweet comradeship, few needs and common pleasures - the readings endless burdens all and aside, Not as a sentimental vision, but as a fact and a necessity existing, I saw In the background vista of that face. Stronger than all the combinations of Capital, wiser than all the committees representative of Labor, the simple need and hunger of the human heart. Nothing more is needed. All the books of political economy ever written, all the proved impossibilities, are of account. The smoke-blackened walls and tall chimneys duly crumble and convey themselves away: The falsehood of a gorged and satiated society curls and shrivels like a withered leaf, Before the forces which lie dormant in the pale and wistful face of a little child. 1896
Once upon a time a man was left drifting flowing in fields of dolemite after dark shadows had called with cruel fists that left him beaten and broken.
He'd daily pay a visit to a bottle his new warm and beloved friend that left him confined to his cage where he would sleep through raging storms creating his own inner salvation.
Tremble under blazing suns
tossing and turning twisting and churning mulling things over through the days and nights, shivering in summer steaming in winter.
Following paths shaped with disorder where God never called, unhinged by confusion
and too much drink.
one day something changed he grasped for something fresh tingling with reparation he began to persist started again to smell freedoms taste.
With practice, he learnt to play again go once more outside into the world to follow again, the delicate steps of breathing to dance again with the wild glow of tomorrow to try and shake of the residues of sorrow.
inhaling now, the sweet blossoms of the morning, in trust again, with the whirling vastness of life
May the 25th is African Liberation Day. African Liberation Day was founded in 1958 when Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana convened the First Conference of Independent States held in Accra, Ghana and attended by 8 Independent African Sates. Kwame Nkrumah
April 15 was declared African Freedom Day. Between 1958 and 1963, 17 countries in Africa won their Independence. On May 25th 1963, thirty-one African Head of State convened a summit meeting to found the Organisation of African Unity (OAV). They remamed African Freedom Day to 'African Liberation Day' and changed its date to May 25th. To mark each year onward and the progress of the Liberation Movements and to symbolize, the determination of the people of Africa to free themselves from 500 years of the most brutal suffering known to humanity, the rape of Africa and the subsequent slave trade, which cost Africa in excess of 100,000,000 of her children, the masses of African People singurlarly, seperately, individually, in small disconnected groupings had said, 'enough' to years of foreign domination, colonisation and exploitation. Not a day for merrymaking , but for one of sober reflection. It continues to contribute to the struggle to raise the level of political awareness and organisation in African communities worldwide.It hs also been a source of information about the struggles for liberation and development. Many organisations use an outline of the map of Africa, as a feature to symbolise the day. Pan-African colors , which are widely used for the day, come in different sets of three colors, the green, gold and red colors used in the red flag of Ghana, and the red, black and green colors adopted by the American based Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA), For more information on African Liberation Day visit the African Liberation Day website https://africanliberationday.net/
The Spanish Civil War, that dark passage of history remains a period that the Spanish people still show great reluctance to talk about, as memories still cling in the minds of survivors who lost loved ones due to fascist atrocities.
Today on the 25th May 1938, Italian fascist bombers with the full blessing of Fascist General Franco of Spain, launched an attack on Alicante which is remembered as one of the deadliest aerial missions of the Spanish Civil War.
After the Aragon Offensve, Franco wanted to eliminate the Republican maritime commerce and destroy th Republican morale and he authorized the Italian Aviazone and the German Legion Condo to undertake indiscriminate bombings of the cities, Valencia, Barcelona, Alicante, Granollers , other Spanish towns and cities were also bombed.
25 May 1938, was a busy day in Alicante, one of the last cities still loyal to the Republican Government, the busy market bristling with activity and life, when more than 90 high explosive bombs were dropped from the sky on the central market at 11.am in the morning. It emerged as one of the first deliberate ,cowardly, unprovoked attack against civilians during the Spanish Civil War. Te anti-aircraft artillery in the city were obsolete and the air-larm system of the city did not work,
In the aftermath of thee bombings there were between 275 and 393 civilian deaths, manly women and children, with a 1,000 left wounded. Which was as many as those killed in Geurnica. 6 days later the city of Granoller was bombed too , leading to a death toll estimated too betwee 100 and 224 as not all missing adfter the aaack were ever found. The bombings provoked protests in London.
For many millions of tourists who visit Spain every year, the war, and the injustices that sprung from it are still largely unknown. I for one will try to remember it's legacy and the evils of fascism.
For 75 years there was nothing to mark this terrible injustice, to remember what was done in the name of fascism .However in May 2013 anti-fascists were allowed to lay down a fitting tribute in the facade of the new market. This was subsequently vandalised, such is the extent that some still do not want the past to be remembered.
The message on the plaque reads " In homage to the citizens vilely murdered. For them , for the young people of yesterday, for those that did not make it, for the young people of today and tomorrow."
Huge congratulations to friends in Ireland, for winning equal LGBT marriage yesterday! Still a long way to go until we wipe out bigotry and prejudice based on gender and sexuality of this planet. But we won't stop fighting.**** the bigots, spread the love .
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.
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.
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/p02r6sndis 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.
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.
Ina 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."
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
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. 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."
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
' 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
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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