Inspiring music video from the Gaza strip which allows us to see this place from a different perspective. In this place where electricity flows for just eight hours each day, in this open prison where 1.8 million Palestinians are now contained. Many young Gazan musicians and singers are starved of permanent performance spaces,but despite bombardment, explosions, rockets, violence, struggle, terror, borders, all these restrictions, increasingly many are now using the internet ,when that is they can access it ,to display their talents and share their messages of hope, peace and freedom to the world. Awesome. May they keep on singing.
Director Yousef Nateel Art Supervisor
Abd Alrahman Alsabbah Director of photography Hussien Jaber Camera Cast Hussien Jaber Khalid Tuaima Youssif Almashharawi Camera Assistant Marwan Alsawaf Mohammed Nateel Khalil Nateel Drone Rushdi Alsarraj Editing Yousef Nateel Color Correction & Grading Mahmoud Abu Zayda Music arrangement Mohammed Salem Music Supervision Alaa Shublaq Mohammed Albaz Mixing and Mastering Ali Aljojo Recorded at Mashael Studio Oud Player Mussa Abu ZanounaReem AnbarGuitaristMohammed AlbazAya Mghamis Cajon DrumSaid Fadel Performers by order Khaled Abu Ramadan Ameer Abu Mualiq - CAMP’S SON Mahmoud Salman - INTIFADA Iyad Zorob - RIOTS Mohammed Lafi - RIOTS Zina Abu Al Ouf Abd El Monem Awad AKA FAWDA Mahmoud Almughrabi – Almughrabi Mohammed Alaidi – Handala Sari Ibrahim Ayman Mghamis – Abu Joury Hadeel Fawzi Mohammed Albaz General Supervisor & Coordinator Ayman Mghamis aka Abu Joury Special Thanks Montaser Alsabe Hazem Alabyad Hussein Owda Anas Alnajjar Mohammed Almadhoun Fares Anbar Special Thanks To Marna House Hotel Produced by Riksteatern logo Funded by Postkodlotteriet logo
On June 27th, 1905, The Industrial Workers of the World , also known as
the wobblies was founded at a twelve day Convention in Chicago.In the belief that industrial unionism, could it come into being, would tend to be revolutionary.The wobbly
motto is ' An injury to all is an injury to all.'
They were noted for their use of poetry and song to promote their
radical ideas, publicise strikes and other protests and generally
present the case that still holds up today,
that there can be no solution to industrial warfare, no end
to injustice and want, until the profit system itself is
abolished.In striving to unite labor as a class in one big union. The
IWW also seeks to build the structure of a new and better
social order within the shell of the old system which fails
to provide for the needs of all.Combined with a commitment to workers solidarity which they have a rich history off, along with their militant tactics.
Their work was designed to provoke thought,
and was deliberately immediate in its message, in order to get it across
to as many people as possible. In the present moment progressives- and in fact, all people of good will- need to reassert and embrace the political, social and economic case for, “An injury to one is an injury to all.” We need to explicitly and loudly embrace a movement across the divides
of race, religion, ethnicity, gender and sexual identity against hate
and greed.
The wobblies are still going strong , still organising, still resisting.In these divided times,of economic despair, they continue to be a strong radical voice that stands defiantly, on
behalf of the people, following an old tradition of solidarity that does
not seperate along lines of nationality, race or gender, speaking too
to the unemployed, the sick, and the marginalised spreading messages
of hope among the carnage that is currently being unveiled.
I happen to be a member, an organisation that I believe does not condemn the actions of its membership, that listens and understands.
One of Woody Guthrie's greatest protest songs,is Deportees.It details the tragic event of January 28, 1948 and the crash of a U.S Immigration Service plane near Los Gatos Canyon, 20 miles (32 km) west of California, carrying undocumented
immigrants who were being deported from California to Mexico. During World War II there was a shortage of farm workers in California
so the federal government set up the braceros program which allowed
Mexican immigrants to legally come to California and relieve the
shortage. A common trick of the time was to bring the low-paid workers over the
border from Mexico with contracts that were intentionally flawed (in
English) so that they would have no legal force.Following a season of
backbreaking work in California's orchards and fruit fields, the braceros would at times be rounded up as illegals because of the invalid contracts and deported without being paid at all. Once their contracts were up, they were, in a sense, taken back to the border.The Mexican workers were fine to be used as cheap labour and then simply cast aside when they were not needed anymore.After the war, the California growers liked the cheap labor so
much that they encouraged (bribed) congress to keep it in place. It
wasn't ended until 1964.
Subsequently all 32 people on board this plane
were killed. But while news accounts listed the names of the four people
in the flight crew, the 28 undocumented victims were just listed as
Mexican deportees.
This upset folk musician Woody and inspired by what he considered the racist mistreatment of the passengers before and after the accident, (who were buried in a mass grave and not given individual
gravestones, just marked by a single plaque, which read only : “28 Mexican Citizens
Who Died In An Airplane Accident Near Coalinga California On Jan. 28,
1948 R.I.P.”) to explode into anger and write a poem entitled "Plane Wreck at Los Gatos." It wasn't until nearly 10 years later that a Martin Hoffman , a teacher put the words to music.Becoming known the world over as "Deportee".Woody humanised the dead migrants as only he could.To Guthrie, they are not merely deportees: They have names (Juan, Rosalita, Jesus, Maria) and families.
Tim Z. Hernandez, a California poet and author, was also offended. In
late 2010, while researching archives for his novel “Mañana Means
Heaven,” he came across the headline “100 Prisoners See An Airplane Fall
From the Sky.” A story about the crash, and it changed the
course of his career. He grew up in the farming communities of the San
Joaquin Valley, and he connected with Guthrie’s poem because it echoed
his own feelings of injustice for the 28 Mexican men and women who were
left unnamed. As he continued to read about the incident, Hernandez realized that this
plane crash and the crash mentioned in Guthrie’s song were one and the
same.But instead of simply lamenting the loss, Hernandez embarked on a nearly two-year quest for the long-forgotten names.Teaming up with the Diocese of Fresno to track down the workers' names,
their family members and their stories. While the diocese's church
register had partial, misspelled names, the writer and diocese officials
pulled death certificates for all the workers and reconstructed their
full names. With the help of Carlos Rascon, Director of Cemeteries for the Diocese
of Fresno, he obtained lists from the Fresno Hall of Records, the Deparment of Labour and St.
John’s Cathedral, where the original funeral mass was held. The lists
matched, and the two worked to adjust misspellings of the names. Hernandez also decided to write “All They Will Call You,” a book about the
tragedy to try to bring attention to those who were forgotten which hopefully will come out next year.
Also with the solidarity and help from the folk and grassroots community was able to amass enough money for a new headstone to mark their memory. Like Woody Guthrie before him he knew that immigrants were more than just labels like “illegal” or “deportee,” they were human beings that deserved to be treated with respect and dignity.The victims were honored in September 2013 by more than 600 people who had gathered at Holy Cross Cemetery in Fresno for an elaborate memorial service and the
unveiling of a large headstone that lists each victim.Renditions of "Deportee" were performed at the memorial.
Their names read thus :-
Miguel Negroros Alvarez
Francisco Llamas Duram
Santiago Garcia Elizondo
Rosalio Padilla Estrada
Tomasa Avena De Garcia
Bernabe Lopez Garcia
Salvador Sandoval Hernandez
Severo Medina Lara
Elias Trujillo Macias
Jose Rodriguez Macias
Tomas Padilla Marquez
Luis Lopez Medina
Manuel Calderon Merino
Luis Cuevas Miranda
Martin Razo Navarro
Ygnacio Perez Navarro
Roman Ochoa Ochoa
Ramon Ramirez Paredes
Apolonio Ramirez Placencia
Guadalupe Laura Ramirez
Alberto Carlos Raygoza
Guadalupe Hernandez Rodriguez
Maria Santana Rodriguez
Juan Valenzuela Ruiz
Wencealado Ruiz
Jose Valdivia Sanchez
Jesus Meza Santos
Baldomero Marcas Torres
Others aboard the flight:
Francis “Frank” Atkinson, Long Beach, pilot
Marion Harlow Ewing, Balboa, co-pilot
Lillian “Bobbie” Atkinson (married to Frank), Long Beach, stewardess
Frank E. Chaffin, Berkeley, immigration guard
It is the power of a song that has kept this tragedy of this incident alive, long after all the participants and witnesses have died.After stealing Mexican and Native American land for years, despite this history of injustice a certain
politician now wants to build even more walls of oppression. This song continues to reminds us that the immigration problem isn't new, but has a long history. Woody's song, and the wide variety of musicians who have covered the song over the years reflects the sense of loss inspired by the story, and serves to remind us of the many immigrants who have
worked, suffered, been deported and continue to do so.Mexican farm workers, both legal and
illegal, still being used in great numbers. Many of them commute between
Mexico and California annually as work comes and goes. Woody's words can still move us, raising attention of the many neglected, disadvantaged, downtrodden people who are effected by American Governmental policies in our present times.
I am currently delighted however that every morning I wake up I get to read about the fantastic anti Trump demos taking place across the U.S and the amazing people that still manage to find the courage to stand up and speak out for a world where security is based on cooperation and community. And a world where all people are able to reach their full human potential and are treated with respect. No human is illegal. Love trumps hate and so does human dignity.
Here is a link to Tim Z Hernandez own website that offers much more additional information to the event that inspired Woody Guthrie's poem and song :- https://timzhernandez.com/
Deportees
Words; Woody Guthrie
Music; Marty Hoffman
The crops are all in and the peaches are rott'ning,
The oranges piled in their creosote dumps;
They're flying 'em back to the Mexican border
To pay all their money to wade back again
Goodbye to my Juan, goodbye, Rosalita,
Adios mis amigos, Jesus y Maria;
You won't have your names when you ride the big airplane,
All they will call you will be "deportees"
My father's own father, he waded that river,
They took all the money he made in his life;
My brothers and sisters come working the fruit trees,
And they rode the truck till they took down and died.
Some of us are illegal, and some are not wanted,
Our work contract's out and we have to move on;
Six hundred miles to that Mexican border,
They chase us like outlaws, like rustlers, like thieves.
We died in your hills, we died in your deserts,
We died in your valleys and died on your plains.
We died 'neath your trees and we died in your bushes,
Both sides of the river, we died just the same.
The sky plane caught fire over Los Gatos Canyon,
A fireball of lightning, and shook all our hills,
Who are all these friends, all scattered like dry leaves?
The radio says, "They are just deportees"
Is this the best way we can grow our big orchards?
Is this the best way we can grow our good fruit?
To fall like dry leaves to rot on my topsoil
And be called by no name except "deportees"?
Here are some of my favourite versions of this song.
Pete Seeger - Deportee
Christy Moore - Deportee
Ani di Franco and Ry Cooder - Deportee
Outernational with Tom Morello and Cuentame - Deportee with moving video that highlights the continuing struggle of migrants and deportees cross this great nation.
the
moon above me so calm, still and tranquil, shedding beams of light among flickering candles of the stars, clearing away cobwebs from my
head so far away and distant perhaps,
but in this moment within my grasp I feel her awesome power, when I fall asleep in surrender later between dream and awakening, she will cling on and wait continue to release her strength. .
In the spring of 2003, ex-corporate executive and political scientist Lawrence W. Britt published an essay in Free Inquiry magazine entitled “Fascism Anyone?”
In his work, Britt examined the traits of the two governments that
formed the original historical model for fascism, Nazi Germany and
Fascist Italy, and five other proto fascist regimes that imitated that
model, Franco’s Spain, Salazar’s Portugal, Papadopoulos’s Greece,
Pinochet’s Chile, and Suharto’s Indonesia. He identified 14
characteristics that were common to all of them.
These traits have since been widely accepted as the 14 defining characteristics of fascism.
Nearly three generations removed from the horrors of Nazi Germany,
all of these regimes may have been overthrown, but fascism’s principles can
still be found in many nations. History tends to repeat itself because
many leaders and nations fail to learn from history, or they draw the
wrong conclusions. Surely we are living in frightening times when a individual like Donald Trump with his extremist views, can sway enough voters to allow him to get into his position of power and authority, whose tactics aren’t unlike those of the fascists who came before him. It goes something like this:-
First, they isolate and attack marginalized people with little
political power, like Muslims and undocumented workers. Later, they
graduate to other opponents of their dangerous right-wing
populism. Finally, they play the victim and deny adamantly that they’ve
done anything wrong.Trump's campaign’s overt demagoguery, vicious misogyny, racism, violent speech, and complete disregard for truth and values of human decency combined with his macho cult of personality have released plausible shouts of fascism from every corner.
The following then considers, in fourteen points, the things which may happen to a culture when it is heading towards a fascistic regime, that can potentially threaten our civil
liberties.As Donald Trump becomes President of the USA by rattling the cages of
racial anxiety,with his incendiary rhetoric it still serves as a
powerful warning and wake up call,.
1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.
2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.
3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.
4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread
domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.
5. Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.
6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.
7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.
8. Religion and Government are Intertwined - Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.
9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.
10. Labor Power is Suppressed - Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.
11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.
12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.
13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.
14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.
( thank you Glen Johnson for the lines no 14 and 15)
Over the years, habits can change
but we must continue to have desire,
to express and be free
to be true to one's self,
seeking change for others
stopping humanities foolishness,
with rebel hearts allow the meek
to inherit the earth,resist their orders,
the jungle of superiority
and privilege, we will overthrow,
beyond voices of consensus
all obstacles will simply be removed,
our hearts in abundance carry freedoms torch
even when there seems to be a glitch in the matrix
and everything seems to be getting worse
we will keep pushing in another direction
with an inner craving full of resilience
to hard to be torn apart as they try to stop us
divide us into a million pieces
our rebel hearts will keep on resisting
beyond life's negations keep on beating.
Dear world, there is much darkness
but you at least contain many glories,
things for us to reach out and share
wine, music and beautiful words,
the hurrying, bursting veins of hope
carried in starlight away from misty clouds,
the caressing of hands, companionship and laughter
that can cancel out this age of grief and sorrow,
can help light a path through the dark,
and though everything feels stormy now
these days of confusion, history standing ashamed,
you still allow us to wear compassion on our lips,
thank you then earth, keep allowing us to look ahead
in the unity of consciousness, our weeping will cease;
beyond frustration, we can reverse the process and befriend.
Following news of Donald Trump's election, did not think the world could get any darker, I have woken to the very sad news that legendary visionary Canadian singer, songwriter, poet and artist Leonard
Cohen has died at the age of 82. The news was announced on his Facebook
page late last night, it reads
it reads: ‘It is with profound sorrow we report that legendary poet, songwriter and artist, Leonard Cohen has passed away.‘We have lost one of music’s most revered and prolific visionaries.’In a statement to Rolling Stone,
his son Adam, said: ‘My father passed away peacefully at his home in
Los Angeles with the knowledge that he had completed what he felt was
one of his greatest records.‘He was writing up until his last moments with his unique brand of humor.’
That last song he had written was in reference to Cohen’s
long-time muse Marianne Ihlen, who died earlier this year. It was
revealed after her death that Cohen had written her a last letter two days before she died, telling her:
" Well Marianne it's come to this time when we
are really so old and our bodies are falling apart and I think I will
follow you very soon. Know that I am so close behind you that if you
stretch out your hand, I think you can reach mine. And you know that
I've always loved you for your beauty and your wisdom, but I don't need
to say anything more about that because you know all about that. But
now, I just want to wish you a very good journey. Goodbye old friend.
Endless love, see you down the road."
Born into a Jewish family in Montreal, Canada 1934 and raised
in an affluent English-speaking neighborhood of the city, Cohen read
Spanish poet Federico García Lorca as a teenager, learned to play guitar
from a flamenco musician and formed a country band called the Buckskin
Boys.
He attended McGill
University when his poetry book, "Let Us Compare Mythologies," was
published in 1956 to critical acclaim. It was followed by "The Spice-Box
of Earth" in 1961. His first novel, "The Favourite Game," came out in
1963.He published several more poetry collections while living on the
Greek island of Hydra in the 1960s and began to get wide notice with his
experimental novel "Beautiful Losers" in 1966..All have been a a profound influence for me over the years.
Disillusioned with his meager income from writing poetry ,
Cohen turned to songwriting and landed an audition in 1967 with John
Hammond, the producer who had discovered Dylan. Hammond signed him to
Columbia Records, which would remain Cohen's label for five decades. His first album,
"Songs of Leonard Cohen," came out in 1968.Cohen’s songs over sixty decades blended seemingly conflicting impulses:
spirituality verging on the divine, images of redemption and sexual desire combined a wicked sense of humor,carried with such deep passion, which enabled him to release such powerful emotional depth, with great understanding of the human condition.No other artist’s poetry and music felt or sounded or touched in quite the way that his work did.
Cohen toured widely but also sought solace in meditation, far from the public eye.. For part of the 1990's he lived in a Zen Bhuddist monastery in the San Gabriel Mountains hust outside Los Angeles. Just weeks ago he released another superb album You Want it Darker, an album continuing to shouw us his genius, his creative gift, not afraid to touch on the subject of death, seemingly sensing it was not too far way.reflecting at length on his own mortality. And now this light has passed, a man who just seemed to keep going, but like all of us was taken away, gripped by the jaws of death. The world has lost another icon, a voice of inimitable force, a tower of strength.Of all the singer-songwiters of his era labelled as poets, Cohen perhaps was the only one who truly bridged the divide.
Cohen who never married is survived by his daughter Lorca and his son Adam. So long Leonard Cohen. R.I.P
There's crack in everything that's how the light gets in
( Thank you Leonard Cohen.) There's a crack in everything that's how the light gets in, through empty gestures of times exhaust that vent bitterness on tonque, scars trace the nights laughter sailing on ripped tides at dusk, allow resurfacing days shadow to ignite fizzing and nudging, in the process of awakening, through depths of minds endeavor moods of restless toil, voyages of troubled sleep deep in mood innate. The magic of the moon, in the dark shines bright, waiting for dawns page to turn, golden tickets of imagination, in the ever present of eternity, to purify and illuminate, because there's a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in.
Good morning/bore da
are we all still dreaming,
as the foul stench of fascism
lingers
and all round we feel so much pain,
dark shadows move among
the morning light
but dreams of every man and woman can not be
usurped,
in the act of simply believing
we can move all obstacles in our way,
we can still pull tomorrow down
keep rattling kaleidoscopes of change,
our thoughts are currently bruised
but together with love and persistance ,
we can
grow stronger, singing songs of love
beyond the confusion, with deep yearning,
messages of faith and hope we can
spread
with hard work we can change the locks,
here and there is life's true ideal
that can keep happiness alive,
the chains used to contain us
will no longer be required,
the air still smells of freedom
keeping hope alive.
Please pinch me, I seem to have woken to a nightmare. I am currently feeling shell-shocked along with many others across the globe with
the news of Republican candidate Donald Trump’s ascension to the White House. It seems inconceivable that a
man with such extreme and unpleasant views could ever be elected
President.But the fact is , he bloody has, I dread to think about what this means for the US and the
rest of the world. I truly feel sick in the stomach. From the start of his campaign this sorry excuse for a man has relentlessly
released a barrage of hate and abuse. In a country the size of the USA the fact
that they could not find a worthier candidate to counter him makes my
mind truly reel. Donald Trump's victory exposes how decrepit the U.S. political system
has become after decades of two-party oligarchical rule. This is a man
with ties to the racist far right, a pathological narcissist, xenophobic, authoritarian, climate-science-denying, misogynistic, who only entered
the race intending to boost his media brand, and who horrifies and
disgusts not just millions of working people, but a majority of the
American ruling class. This one-time leader of the racist birther movement entered the race calling Mexicans racists and repeatedly refused to condemn white supremacists, and issued policy proposals that seemed unbound by the limits of basic human decency.Trump promised to “bomb the shit” out of Middle Eastern countries, kill terrorist’s innocent families, do “a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding,” and suggested that dipping bullets in pig's blood may be sound counter terrorism policy.He has also promised to build a wall between the USA and Mexico, who
has threatened to expel millions of people, wants Muslims to be banned
from entering the US. Lewd and openly provocative an alleged sexual predator and molester who has bragged about women letting him kiss and grab them because he is famous."When you're a star they let you do it," Trump said. "You can do anything." "Grab them by the p----. You can do anything." Unforgiveable and shocking, he has also managed to upset the LGBT community who are no doubt quaking with fear at this moment in time. Despite all of this he still managed to win the election for President of the United States. What a damning testimony for the world's so called greatest democracy.We are truly now entering a time of great fear and uncertainty, there has simply been an abject failure of progressives both here and abroad to
understand this, let alone counter it. And when right-wing demagogues
tap this pulsing vein of resentment.His victory will have a profound effect on all of us. Further
empowering and strengthening the forces of the far right with his
anti-immigrant policies. Deeply troubling times with echoes of the
1930's.
Europe’s far-right party leaders are currently cheering Trump’s win, including
Britain’s Nigel Farage, the outgoing leader of the UK Independence
Party, and France’s Marine Le Pen, who sent Trump a congratulatory tweet
early Wednesday, adding a pat on the back for the “free” American
people.
Le Pen’s father and founder of the National Front, Jean-Marie Le Pen,
took to Twitter to say “long live President Trump!” and claim Trump
as part of a worldwide populist wave.“The American people want Donald Trump to be the people’s president.
Today the United States, tomorrow France. Bravo!” Le Pen wrote.Far-right leaders in Holland, Belgium, Russia, the Czech Republic,
Italy and Serbia, among other places, have also voiced support for
Trump. The hard-right Greek party, Golden Dawn, went so far as to make a
pro-Trump video starring neo-Nazis. How the hell did Donald Trump become President of the USA with his blatant bigotry and disrespect towards women, minorities, and immigrants, get in to this position of power, this is a sentiment that many of us are currently expressing as we wake to this nightmare.We are simply living in terrifying times.This deeply upsetting news effects us all. Donald Trump's election should be of concern for all who care about injustice.We should feel our anger, mourn, pray, and then do everything we can to
fight hate and oppression. We must stand strong and united all over the
world.Fear might have won for the moment but we should never give up hope, after all for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.We must build and strengthen the forces of resistance to this odious horrible man.
( Here's a poem for Donald Trump that I dropped down the pan
crumpled wet and soggy, maybe I shouldn't have saved it,
the original resting place captured the true essence of the man.)
Storm clouds billowing now across a frightened sky
Voice of hate and division spreads discordant cry,
The well of hope seems to have dried
As arrogant voice rises making people blind.
Fractured freedom try's to hold it's breath
In times of sadness between life and death,
As walls are proposed to keep people out
Waves of tears grow among seas of doubt.
If Trump triumphs and closes all the doors
Lets fear for his country as kindness gets lost,
As divisions get wider, faultlines grow bigger
Waiting in the darkness, unreason cruelly sniggers.
Hate-mongers and right wing bigots dancing now
In the land of liberty, the home of the brave,
Is this the beginning or the end, as intolerance consumes
Is it not the time to mend existing cracks and wounds?
Lets pray for America, lets pray they are not too blind,
Lets pray for sanity, lets pray for human kind,
Lets pray for the world, lets pray for peace,
Lets pray that one day blinkered thought will cease.
On 7 November 1910 the South Wales Miners’ Federation called a strike of all 12,000 men working in the Cambrian
Combine’s pits in the Tonypandy area. They had walked out over mining magnet D.A Thomas's
decision to sack the whole workforce at the Ely Pit in Penycraig,
Rhondda. It had initially begun when miners had protested at the
rate for working in a difficult seam. Which meant a seam 18 inches high
with a couple of inches of water under their backs. They demanded better pay and working conditions. The miners found that Leonard Llewellyn, manager of
Llwynypia’s Glamorgan Colliery, was using blacklegs to keep the pumps
working. After one
striker had been killed, a miner called Samuel Rhys and mass pickets had
failed to stop police from scab herding,( they had bused in scab
workers from Cardiff to keep the colliery running,) few expected what came next, but tensions already
high erupted, and an uprising ensured, which is now known as the
Tonypandy riots.
Strikers attacked shops in the town which had put families on a
credit blacklists not allowing them to buy enough food, thus aiding
the bosses. Blackleg trains were stoned and halted. It would continue unabated for almost two days and would involve violent clashes between
striking miners and the Glamorgan Constabulary, reinforced by both the
Bristol and Metropolitan police forces.
The anti socialist Winston Churchill, then the Home Secretary ordered the troops in to confront the striking Welsh miners at Tonypandy who justifiably saw this as a defense of the coal owners, Churchill getting the army involved with the sole intention of protecting the bosses interests alone, instead of those of the miners and their families. It is said that he commented: “If the Welsh are striking over hunger, we must fill their bellies with lead.”. Though there are no actual verified written records of him saying it, though his actions (sending troops to quell the strike) it fueled the deep resentment and legend, making it a powerful symbol of his perceived harshness against striking workers.
The question of whether troops fired on striking miners remains controversial to this day, as there appears to be no documentation, but they were certainly there and played a support role to the police and as a result there was deep anger at the troops being present at all.
Although no authentic record exists of casualties, as many of the miners would have refused treatment in fear of being prosecuted for their part in the riots, nearly 80 policemen and over 500 other people were injured, One miner, Samuel Rhys, died of head injuries that were said to have been inflicted by a policeman's baton, but the verdict of the coroner's jury was cautious: "We agree that Samuel Rhys died from injuries he received on 8 November caused by some blunt instrument. The evidence is not sufficiently clear to us how he received those injuries." Thirteen striking miners from Gilfach Goch were arrested and prosecuted for their part in the unrest. The troops would remain in the Rhondda until October 1911.
After almost one year on strike these brave miners who had to
endure so much hardship returned to work. Though their demands were not
met, the strike helped change the face of British Trade Unionism, still
inspiring workers fighting for better conditions today, giving rise in
South Wales to increased militancy, the growth of revolutionary
syndicalism in the workers struggle against their bosses. It would however leave bitter scars in the Rhondda, particularly as
the miners were forced to return to work after having to agree to a paltry sum
for the coal extracted, and because of Churchill's stance against the miners it would also also see thousands of miners blacklisted.
Because of this at the time it would see Churchill being despised by many in the South Wales Valleys, and until his dying days, reviled by many as " the man who sent in the troops" and is alleged to have said: "If the Welsh are striking over hunger, we must fill their bellies with lead." remains deeply unpopular to this day for the actions that he took, becoming a hate figure for generations of Welsh men and women.
A major factor in the dislike of Churchill's use of the military, was
not in any specific action undertaken by the troops, but the fact that
their presence prevented any strike action which might have ended the
strike early in the miners' favour.
The troops also ensured that trials of rioters, strikers and miner
leaders would take place and be successfully prosecuted in Pontypridd in
1911.
The defeat of the miners in 1911 was, in the eyes of the local
community, a direct consequence of state intervention without any
negotiation, and this action was seen as a direct result of Churchill's
actions.
In 2010, 99 years after the riots, a Welsh local council made objections to a street being named after Churchill in the Vale of Glamorgan because of his sending troops into the Rhondda. Jackie Griffin, clerk of Llanmaes council, stated he was
unable to support such an “inappropriate name change” due to the fact
that there is “still a strong feeling of animosity” towards Winston
Churchill in the community.
Sadly along with Margaret Thatcher he has now become an official saint of the right wing of the bourgeoisie. And now adding further insult to the injury he once caused we have to put up with Winston Churchill’s tawdry image on every £5 banknote, along
with his “blood, toil, tears and sweat” quote to a backdrop of
parliament .
He has replaced Elizabeth Fry, the progressively-minded social reformer and
Quaker known as the “angel of prisons”, who has been on the note since
2001.The image of Churchill on the new five pound note is seen as a deeply political act which also obscures and distorts the many other heinous acts that
he committed through the course of history, and simply extols a mouthpiece who advocated the crushing of strikes using military force here in Wales and other parts of the UK. His political philosophy alone is not one that I feel should make him worthy to be recognised in this way either, after all this was a man who was, inclined at all times to further the expansion
of Empire, which resulted in famines, territorial theft and mass suffering, which were
based on racist prejudices and a bigoted belief in the superiority of an
imagined Anglo-Saxon race.
Today the Churchill myth still prevails, and adding his face to the new bank
notes will only repress and distort history further. In reality,
Churchill was a warrior for the ruling class and a darling of British
imperialism; he was racist, sexist, eugenicist and virulently
anti-working class, endowed with an immense ego and a capacity for
callous destructiveness.
No number of five-pound notes can pay for his
crimes. Lets not rewrite him out of history though, we should continue to teach generation to come of the true values he represented. Along with many other Welsh people, I do not consider him a man worthy of being used in this way.
The role of Churchill played in the above dispute is outlined in the book 'The Tonypandy Riots 1910-1911 by Gwyn Evans and David Maddox.
Virginia Woolf is one of my favourite Women British writers of the the 20th century who published short stories novels, including, "Mrs. Dalloways", "To the Lighthouse", and "The Waves" "A Room of One's Own" which focused on women's history in writing.Recognized as one of the major figures of modern literature, Woolf is
highly regarded both for her innovative fiction techniques and
insightful contributions to literary criticism. In her short fiction,
she explored such themes as the elusive nature of storytelling and
character study, the nature of truth and reality, and the role of women
in society. Like her novels, these highly individualized, stylistic
works are noted for their subjective explorations and detailed poetic
narratives that capture ordinary experience while depicting the workings
and perceptions of the human mind.
Virginia Adeline Stephen was born on the 25th of January 1882 the third child of Leslie Stephen, a Victorian man of letters, and Julia Duckworth. The Stephen family lived at Hyde Park Gate in Kensington, a respectable English middle class neighborhood. While her brothers Thoby and Adrian were sent to Cambridge, Virginia was educated by private tutors and copiously read from her father’s vast library of literary classics.
She later resented the degradation of women in a patriarchal society, rebuking her own father for automatically sending her brothers to schools and university, while she was never offered a formal education.Woolf’s Victorian upbringing would later influence her decision to participate in the Bloomsbury circle, noted for their original ideas and unorthodox relationships.
Virginia’s mother died from rheumatic fever. Her unexpected and tragic death caused Virginia to have a mental breakdown at age 13. A second severe breakdown followed the death of her father, Leslie Stephen, in 1904. During this time, Virginia first attempted suicide and was institutionalized. According to nephew and biographer Quentin Bell, “All that summer she was mad.” The death of her close brother Thoby Stephen, from typhoid fever in November 1906 had a similar effect on Woolf, to such a degree that he would later be re-imagined as Jacob in her first experimental novel Jacob’s Room and later as Percival in The Waves. These were the first of her many mental collapses that would sporadically occur throughout her life, until her suicide in March 1941.
Virginia Woolf wrote the following essay "The Death of the Moth" before she drowned herself on the 28th of March 1941. In the essay she describes the circumstances revolving around a moth's death .In this powerful meditation she allows the reader to respect death and the power it has over us. She illustrates the
universal struggle between life and death, portraying the valiance of the fight.but at same time acknowledging it's futility.As she examines the struggle of a moth trying to achieve something impossible by going through a windowpane to reach the outdoors, Woolf sees the moth in a new light, a light that identifies the moth not as insignificent and in demand of pity, but a small creature of the world, a pure being that was afforded the gift of being "nothing but life."
The moths purpose is pure. The moth does not fear death, it fears losing the struggle. This is worse than death for the moth, and the moths ability to overcome the living fear of death is what draws Woolf to her and causes her not to pity, but to admire it for it's simple existence and the courage to dance upon the windowpane that brings his death.
An admirable essay and sentiment, but one that still fills my heart with fear and dread, not for me per say, but for those other gentle beings that I do not want to see departing anyday soon.It has however helped me understand a little more,about the eternal power that death has over us all, and although we may stop and stand still or pass away, life continues without us for everyone else.Virginia Woolf was more than just a women's writer she was a delicate observer of everyday life.
. The Death of the Moth - Virginia Woolf
"Moths that fly by day are not properly to be called moths;
they do not excite that pleasant sense of dark autumn nights and
ivy-blossom which the commonest yellow-underwing asleep in the
shadow of the curtain never fails to rouse in us. They are hybrid
creatures, neither gay like butterflies nor sombre like their own
species. Nevertheless the present specimen, with his narrow
hay-coloured wings, fringed with a tassel of the same colour,
seemed to be content with life. It was a pleasant morning,
mid-September, mild, benignant, yet with a keener breath than
that of the summer months. The plough was already scoring the
field opposite the window, and where the share had been, the
earth was pressed flat and gleamed with moisture. Such vigour
came rolling in from the fields and the down beyond that it was
difficult to keep the eyes strictly turned upon the book. The
rooks too were keeping one of their annual festivities; soaring
round the tree tops until it looked as if a vast net with
thousands of black knots in it had been cast up into the air;
which, after a few moments sank slowly down upon the trees until
every twig seemed to have a knot at the end of it. Then,
suddenly, the net would be thrown into the air again in a wider
circle this time, with the utmost clamour and vociferation, as
though to be thrown into the air and settle slowly down upon the
tree tops were a tremendously exciting experience.
The same energy which inspired the rooks, the ploughmen, the
horses, and even, it seemed, the lean bare-backed downs, sent the
moth fluttering from side to side of his square of the
window-pane. One could not help watching him. One was, indeed,
conscious of a queer feeling of pity for him. The possibilities
of pleasure seemed that morning so enormous and so various that
to have only a moth's part in life, and a day moth's at that,
appeared a hard fate, and his zest in enjoying his meagre
opportunities to the full, pathetic. He flew vigorously to one
corner of his compartment, and, after waiting there a second,
flew across to the other. What remained for him but to fly to a
third corner and then to a fourth? That was all he could do, in
spite of the size of the downs, the width of the sky, the far-off
smoke of houses, and the romantic voice, now and then, of a
steamer out at sea. What he could do he did. Watching him, it
seemed as if a fibre, very thin but pure, of the enormous energy
of the world had been thrust into his frail and diminutive body.
As often as he crossed the pane, I could fancy that a thread of
vital light became visible. He was little or nothing but
life.
Yet, because he was so small, and so simple a form of the
energy that was rolling in at the open window and driving its way
through so many narrow and intricate corridors in my own brain
and in those of other human beings, there was something
marvellous as well as pathetic about him. It was as if someone
had taken a tiny bead of pure life and decking it as lightly as
possible with down and feathers, had set it dancing and
zig-zagging to show us the true nature of life. Thus displayed
one could not get over the strangeness of it. One is apt to
forget all about life, seeing it humped and bossed and garnished
and cumbered so that it has to move with the greatest
circumspection and dignity. Again, the thought of all that life
might have been had he been born in any other shape caused one to
view his simple activities with a kind of pity.
After a time, tired by his dancing apparently, he settled on
the window ledge in the sun, and, the queer spectacle being at an
end, I forgot about him. Then, looking up, my eye was caught by
him. He was trying to resume his dancing, but seemed either so
stiff or so awkward that he could only flutter to the bottom of
the window-pane; and when he tried to fly across it he failed.
Being intent on other matters I watched these futile attempts for
a time without thinking, unconsciously waiting for him to resume
his flight, as one waits for a machine, that has stopped
momentarily, to start again without considering the reason of its
failure. After perhaps a seventh attempt he slipped from the
wooden ledge and fell, fluttering his wings, on to his back on
the window sill. The helplessness of his attitude roused me. It
flashed upon me that he was in difficulties; he could no longer
raise himself; his legs struggled vainly. But, as I stretched out
a pencil, meaning to help him to right himself, it came over me
that the failure and awkwardness were the approach of death. I
laid the pencil down again.
The legs agitated themselves once more. I looked as if for the
enemy against which he struggled. I looked out of doors. What had
happened there? Presumably it was midday, and work in the fields
had stopped. Stillness and quiet had replaced the previous
animation. The birds had taken themselves off to feed in the
brooks. The horses stood still. Yet the power was there all the
same, massed outside indifferent, impersonal, not attending to
anything in particular. Somehow it was opposed to the little
hay-coloured moth. It was useless to try to do anything. One
could only watch the extraordinary efforts made by those tiny
legs against an oncoming doom which could, had it chosen, have
submerged an entire city, not merely a city, but masses of human
beings; nothing, I knew, had any chance against death.
Nevertheless after a pause of exhaustion the legs fluttered
again. It was superb this last protest, and so frantic that he
succeeded at last in righting himself. One's sympathies, of
course, were all on the side of life. Also, when there was nobody
to care or to know, this gigantic effort on the part of an
insignificant little moth, against a power of such magnitude, to
retain what no one else valued or desired to keep, moved one
strangely. Again, somehow, one saw life, a pure bead. I lifted
the pencil again, useless though I knew it to be. But even as I
did so, the unmistakable tokens of death showed themselves. The
body relaxed, and instantly grew stiff. The struggle was over.
The insignificant little creature now knew death. As I looked at
the dead moth, this minute wayside triumph of so great a force
over so mean an antagonist filled me with wonder. Just as life
had been strange a few minutes before, so death was now as
strange. The moth having righted himself now lay most decently
and uncomplainingly composed. O yes, he seemed to say, death is
stronger than I am."
Remember, Remember,the Fifth of November Guy Fawkes and his co-conspirators, religious fundamentalists of their age who on this day tried to carry out their deadly plot, because of passionate indignation a message that still chimes with us us today. Political corruption, in parliament and backrooms woven with thickets of greed, however I've never been to keen on bombs currently I'm planting bulbs for springtime, to allow freedoms petals to explode and inspire waiting for winds of change to blow, energies to invoke, that can help reveal truth's essence beyond ignorant and irrational threads. Down here below among bedrock of tears we can still make those above tremble, planting seeds of dissent and rebellion putting right to wrongs, with the strength of conviction, against the arrogance of those who cling on to political power like nature we can grow wild and defiant, with deliberation, courage, and fortitude if we keep pushing, their days in control might crumble, our powers of earthly plot, still carry much strength.
(some spontaneity released earlier after visiting the above light in hospital, the reason I guess this blog exists. She has encouraged it throughout its journey, so these are some words to this guiding inspiration.)
I’m not frightened of the dark, but of the morning when my eyes awaken, the uncertainty of a loved ones paths , I ignore the critics of my poetical meanderings, who try to dim our illumination, I carry on, and every night I try to light a candle, a gift of communication, beating deep within my heart, for a love that has guided me gently, taught me how to be, showing me resilience that carries no fear, epitomising all the strength, magic and beauty that is contained in this bitter world, carried me with affection, through days of confusion, like a mountain of thought , her mind will forever be free and alive, this mighty force will never fade, this darling’s smile will be carried within me, for ever more, and if she had time now to read these words, her eyes would light up,because she will know how her great spirit moves me greatly and she knows how much I like to be moved, long before prayers have ever been intoned, she wont blame me for writing, in tough times these are keys to my self healing. For within I possess this inner resolve. I guess it displays the deep convictions that I try to share every day from my heart.
Bono the preening rock star has been named as a recipient of a top prize in an award in this years Glamour Women of the year award despite being male.Apart from the fact he ain't female,what has he ever actually done.? Yes he has campaigned against poverty and recently launched a campaign called 'poverty is sexist' with a commitment to worldwide gender equality, but many actual women have been fighting poverty and sexism for years and years without any form recognition. Personally I think this Irish muso (and ubiquitous humanitarian-activist-environmentalist so called social justice warrior) should have simply declined, but then again he is just another celebrity who can't resist the limelight.Why couldn't he simply go back to writing letters to God and his billionaire mates
I kind of side with women left feeling disappointed that an awards scheme set out to recognise the
achievements of women in a world where they are often overlooked, was
being extended to men. After all there are hundreds and thousands of women who are far more worthy of this recognition,but the world has gone crazy, and I simply, despair.With only 3.7 billion women in the world I suppose Glamour magazine
couldn't find any female worthy enough for that final place on the list.What about the many women fighting around the world for women's
rights.so many women working hard in her community to break down barriers, fighting
domestic violence to inspire young girls to be independent and
confident. Saudi women challenging repressive laws. Egyptian poets
offering a critique of repression. South Americans challenging
femicide. In the UK Maryam Namazie only challenges patriarchy every day.
Abda Khan merely wrote a searing novel, 'Stained' about oppressive
patriarchy, sexual violence and the use of 'honour' to silence women in
Asian communities.Then there are the women in politics regularly subjected to death threats and violence,women daily helping refugees struggling with their lives, women human rights defenders around the globe acting as role models working to advance human rights for us all in the face of escalating risks, threats, and harassment. and courageous women like Nadia Murad and Lamiya Ashir Bashir, recently honored with top EU humanitarian award http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sakharovprize/en/home/the-prize.html. The list is simply endless. At least Glamour magazine had the tenacity to recognise the accomplishments of some of them, who as women were all equally deserving including the five-time Olympic medal winner Simone Biles, the three
founders of the Black Lives Matter movement and Nadia Murad, who was
nominated for the Nobel peace prize after escaping enslavement by Isis.But their honor pales into insignificance because all the world is bloody talking about is Bono and this silly magazine that has now been reaped with all this oxygen of publicity, generated by their rather silly stunt.. Achievements in gender equality should be applauded and recognised but to give an award to a man in a ceremony for women in my humble opinion is simply wrong and misguided,and is a mockery to all women across the globe and puts the clock back years.Surely even Bono himself can't fail to see the irony in all this, and that by giving him an award at an event like this, even for trying to undo partriarchy undercuts the whole point of this award ceremony.Oh but the times are a changing. Really!!! Because after all another rich privileged white man really needs the recognition.,
Palestinian activists have launched a campaign calling on the British government to apologise for the Balfour Declaration which pledged a homeland for the Jewish people in historic Palestine nearly a century ago as long as the rights of existing non-Jewish communities were not prejudiced.The Balfour Declaration was a letter from British Foreign Secretary
Arthur James Balfour to Lord Rothschild, head of the Zionist Federation
of Great Britain and Ireland, which had no basis of legal authority, where the indigenous
Palestinians at the time of Balfour's letter amounted to 90% of the total population which paved the way for the occupation of their land.
At a launch event at the House of Parliament last Tuesday,
Palestinian groups and their supporters blamed the plight of the
Palestinian people on the legacy of the pledge and wider British
colonialism in the region.If the petition reaches 100,000 signatures, the British parliament will have to consider debating the subject.
Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Jenny Tonge hosted the launch at the
House of Lords last Tuesday, where the plight of the Palestinian people
was blamed on the legacy of the Balfour Declaration and wider British
colonialism in the region.The activists, backed by the
Palestinian diplomatic mission in the UK, intend to push the British
government in the run-up to the document’s centennial in November 2017.
Today actually marks the 99th anniversary of the cursed Balfour promise or
Balfour Declaration, by means of which those who had no ownership
(Britain) permitted those who had no right to establish a national
homeland on an established country Palestine. Lord Balfour bought about a
promise that marked the confiscation of the Palestinians homeland with
displacement of its people. I personally believe it is time that my rulers apologise about this historical injustice which Britain committed
against the Palestinian people. The nakba/catastrophe of 1948, when over 750,000
Palestinians were expelled was set in motion by imperialist agreements
in World War 1 to carve up the Middle East in their own interests.The Palestinian conflict does not
begin in 1948 but in 1917, with this declaration. It is necessary that
we go back to this crucial watershed in the history of the Middle East
and the roots of the continuing betrayal of the Palestinian people.As a
result Palestinians were evicted from their ancestral homeland to be
expelled to refugee camps, to live in exile across the globe, to this
present day.The continuing seperation of the people of the West Bank
and the open prison that is Gaza. And ever since Palestinians have endured ongoing violation of their basic human rights.Now, over 11 million Palestinians continue to suffer from Britain’s
colonial legacy in Palestine.
Because of the broken promise,
Britain can be given the blame for setting the stage for the conflict
that exists today.As we approaching the 100th anniversary of this
grave injustice, in the current moment the continuing gravity of the
situation in Palestine cannot be overstated.Britain must accept
its full responsibility in creating a situation which has left a legacy of deceit, injustice and oppression.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas also called on the UK
to apologize for the Balfour Declaration while in New York last week :- “We
ask Great Britain, as we approach 100 years since this infamous
declaration, to draw the necessary lessons and to bear its historic,
legal, political, material and moral responsibility for the consequences
of this declaration, including an apology to the Palestinian people for
the catastrophes, misery and injustice this declaration created and to
act to rectify these disasters and remedy its consequences, including by
the recognition of the state of Palestine,” Abbas told UN delegates.
I acknowledge that Balfour was not unique in history in giving what
he did not own to those that were not entitled to it. It is time for the
British Government to apologise for the Balfour declaration, as this
historic betrayal is still being felt and British politicians and
companies continue to support the forces of colonisation..It is the least that they can do, but giving the fact that they have recently rejected another gross injustice, when agents of the state ran amok at Orgreave in the 1984 miners strike, I feel it sadly to be a bit of a long shot.But I like many others across the globe together with the Palestinian people will not give up hope. It is surely time for the British Government to say sorry for what has bought untold misery through nearly a
century of conflict, ethnic cleansing, ongoing human rights abuse,
brutal occupation and apartheid.It has a responsibility and duty and to redress the pain and suffering of individual Palestinians that has endured ever since.
Yesterday I checked in at Standing Rock Indian Reservation in solidarity with the Water Protectors.
"The Morton County Sheriff's Department has been using Facebook
check-ins to find out who is at Standing Rock in order to target them in
attempts to disrupt the prayer camps.Hundreds of Native American protectors have gathered at the site since
April to protest peacefully against the Dakota Access pipeline’s construction on land they claim is
tribal under the 1851 treaty of Fort Laramie https://ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=42.The people of Standing Rock, often called Sioux, warn that a potential
oil spill into the river would threaten the water, land, health and sacred lands of
their reservation.Their fight is also against a system of domination that has been imposed on the
original nations.Members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe
,say it threatens the environment and will destroy Native American
burial sites, prayer sites and artifacts.The
Standing Rock Sioux reservation straddles the border between North
Dakota and South Dakota, and the projected path of the pipeline is near
the reservation's northeast corner.
Assertions that the local sheriff's department is using the Facebook
check-in feature to identify and target protesters began to
circulate the social media site, as have calls to check virtually in at Standing
Rock to complicate these suspected efforts. SO Water Protecters are calling
on EVERYONE to check-in at Standing Rock, to overwhelm and confuse
them.It isn't actually clear whether the call actually originated with the people at the North Dakota protest but it is a powerful tool of expressing solidarity nevertheless, helping the protestors see that the world has not forgotten their plight, or their fight to defend their land.
This is concrete action that can protect people putting their
bodies and well-beings on the line that we can do without leaving our
homes.Over 1 million facebook users have already answered the call, in a spirit of defiance and solidarity in a mass check-in organized to prevent local law enforcement from tracking protesters on social media.Standing together with hearts and minds protesting against corporate enterprises that have deceived this country and stolen peoples freedom in exchange of profits and materialistic want. The most ubiquitous of these
virtual calls to action asserts that the "Water Protestors" are
imploring people to simply say they're at Standing Rock, even if they're
not.
If you're sharing your location at Standing Stock (which you should be doing)
1) make it public
2) make the clarification post separate, and so that only your friends can see it
3) don't clarify on your check in, message friends who say "stay safe!"
to let them know what's up -- the stay safe posts are more convincing /
confusing for p*lice
4) copy paste to share clarification messages (like this one) because making it public blows our cover
5) say "Standing Stock" in clarification posts so that when they filter
out / search those terms, your post is visible to the right people"
Will you join me in Standing Rock?" supporting the courageous peaceful resistance led by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to protect their land and water and become inspired by this community-led struggle, and by the potential
for joint action that this widespread solidarity has demonstrated.
Though darkness treads this day of ours
today is one of celebrating light,
time to remember the paths of ancestors
forever casting their eternal beams,
goddesses returning, resurrecting feeling
whispering enchantment, releasing power,
as the veil of life gets thinner and dimmer
time to welcome old spirits that walk among us,
that enable us to dance and sing again
beyond this realm allows us to be blessed,
as leaves turn golden, and fall to nourish the land
under trees branches we can all nobly stand,
mother earth reaching out offering protection
absorbing our longings, accepting our wrongs,
in the vortex of time, keeps on shining bright
guiding us as we follow ancient paths of wisdom,
slipping through time, surrounded by love
allowing truth and justice to be the natural law.
( when the barrier between the worlds is whisper-thin and when magic, old
magic, sings its heady and sweet song to anyone who cares to hear it. ~Carolyn MacCullough, Once a Witch)
Diwali is
one of the biggest and auspicious festivals celebrated by Hindus all
around the globe. The festival of lights signifies peace and joy, the
victory of good over evil, and light over darkness every day. It is one
of the most symbolic Hindu festivals,
and all the communities in the country celebrate it with much pomp.
During this festival, people clean their homes, decorate every corner
with lights, lamps, diyas, flowers, rangoli, and candles.
Diwali is observed on the 15th day of the Kartik month as per the Hindu Lunar calendar.
According to Hindu mythology, the Prince of Ayodhya, Lord Rama, returned
home with his wife Mata Sita and brother Lakshmana on the auspicious
occasion Diwali,They came back to Ayodhya after spending 14 years in exile and
defeating the King of Lanka, Ravana. People of Ayodhya had celebrated
their return with great enthusiasm by lighting rows of lamps and diyas.
The tradition has continued till date and is celebrated as the festivall of Diwali,
.Diwali is the festival of lights which signifies the victory of good
over evil and the eradication of dark shadows, negativity, and doubts
from our lives. It is a celebration of prosperity in which people give
gifts to their loved ones. The festival also sends the message of
illuminating our inner selves with clarity and positivity.
To All of My Friends celebrating the Hindu Festival of Diwali, may the
Festival of Light provide you with good health, peace and prosperity in
the coming year
For Diwali
Diwali, festival of lights a day of rich awakenings, time for firecrackers to ignite for children to play with friends, joyous, jubilant, carried with delight the sweet smell of fragrance abounds, colors of rich diversity fill the air candles flickering, people gathering. wishing for understanding.
Prayers released for happiness for laughter and smiles to glow, for good to triumph over bad time to love, time to share, to wish friends hope and goodwill allowing soaring spirits to wander, paying respect to different gods the spirit of Diwali alive and well, allowing light to lead us all as celebration lifts spirits, and true charity brings joy peace and merriment to those that need it most.
One in three refugees is Palestinian. With millions of displaced
Palestinians around the world, hundreds of thousands are refugees in
their own country....living packed into refugee camps after being
ethnically cleansed by Israeli forces from their villages just miles
away.
In her first on-the-ground report from Palestine, Abby Martin gives a
first-hand look into two of the most attacked refugee camps in the West
Bank: Balata and Aida camps.Thank you Abby.
