A member of the Royal family maybe visiting Israel in an official capacity later this year, on the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, according to British media reports.Though members of the royal family have travelled to Israel in the past on personal visits,an official visit of this kind would be a historic first, and would mean breaking decades of precedent in which invitations to visit have been previously rejected.
President Reuven Rivlin extended the invitation at a meeting with British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson in Jerusalem last week, citing the importance of the Balfour centenary. According to Whitehall sources, such a visit could take place this year, the Independent reported.http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/palestinian-campaign-israel-royal-visit-israel-netanyahu-israel-prince-charles-a7620251.html
The invitation comes on the 100 years anniversary of the Balfour Declaration.On November 2, 1917, the then British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour
wrote a letter in what is now known as the Balfour Declaration in what is considered to be the first political recognition of the Zionist aims by a foreign government. This cursed 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, inevitably bought about a
promise that marked the beginning of confiscation of the Palestinians homeland and
displacement of its people. I personally believe it is time not for Royal visits but a moment that my
rulers apologise about this historical injustice which Britain
committed
against the Palestinian people.
UK Foreign Secretary Lord Arthur Balfour
Palestinians believe the Balfour Declaration marked the beginning of a
series of moves by the British government in Palestine, which
facilitated Jewish migration in Palestine, which initiated a campaign of
ethnic cleansing in Palestine in 1947-8, which led to the displacement
of some 750,000 Palestinians.The population of Palestinian refugees today currently stands at 6,000,000 and
their issue is considered the longest standing in the world. A statement by the London based Balfour Apology campaign (BAC) http://balfourcampaign.com/recently said that :-
"
The royal family visit to Israel is seen by the campaign
and Palestinians under occupation and in the diaspora as ‘unhelpful’.
Such visit will only encourage Israel to continue its human rights
violations against Palestinians and provide free publicity to cover
Israel’s ongoing settler colonialism, occupation and apartheid
policies.”
.
Surely it is now time for the Royal family and the British Government to simply 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 have had to
endured ever since, and keep up pressure on the state of Israel as they keep continuing to breaking international law and finally apologise for distributing land when they had absolutely no right to do so in the first place and redress the historical injustice that Britain committed against the Palestinian people .This surely would be a sensible approach to reconciliation and the road to peace.
Here is a petition you could sign if you wish, cheers :- UK must apologise for the Balfour Declaration and lead peace efforts in Palestine:- https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/184398
Today is the 20th annual International Day of Action for Rivers!
For two decades, communities all over the world have gathered to defend,
protect and celebrate their rivers as sources of life and renewal. It’s
an amazing moment of global solidarity, for an event to join, discover this interactive global action map.
Each year, this event reminds us that we’re not alone in the struggle
for our freshwater. We share a common purpose with sisters and brothers
all over the planet who are fighting for their rights and their rivers. It is a day to educate one another about the threat facing our rivers, and learn about how to protect them. Here's a little poem I wrote for the rivers.
For the Rivers
From their source, delivers hope
helps release joy instead of sorrow;
into the sea allows freedom to grow gives us hope for a brighter future,
currents moving more precious than gold
forever running, constantly turning,
rippling inspiration, reaching horizons of
another tide
the rivers trace generations of memory,
constant treasures full of magic
veins of life that help sustain the planet,
we must conserve these flowing waters
help them replenish our mother earth.
Some wise words from the late British novelist, poet, playwright, librettist, biographer and short story writer, Doris Lessing.
“Ideally, what should be said to every child, repeatedly, throughout
his or her school life is something like this: ‘You are in the process
of being indoctrinated. We have not yet
evolved a system of education that is not a system of indoctrination. We
are sorry, but it is the best we can do. What you are being taught here
is an amalgam of current prejudice and the choices of this particular
culture. The slightest look at history will show how impermanent these
must be. You are being taught by people who have been able to
accommodate themselves to a regime of thought laid down by their
predecessors. It is a self-perpetuating system. Those of you who are
more robust and individual than others will be encouraged to leave and
find ways of educating yourself — educating your own judgements. Those
that stay must remember, always, and all the time, that they are being
moulded and patterned to fit into the narrow and particular needs of
this particular society.”
Doris Lessing - extract from, The Golden Notebook, 1962
' " the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live,
mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time
the one's who never yawn or say a commonplace thing but burn, burn,
burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across
the stars in the middle you see the blue center light pop and everything
goes Awww!' - Jack Kerouac.
Today is
the anniversary of visionary, iconclastic writer and poet,Jack Kerouac being born.
The shaman of the Beat Generation arrived today as Jean-Louis Lebris de Kerouac to a French-Canadian
family in the factory town of Lowell, Massachusettsus USA. Variously called
the Beat Generations apostle, poet, hero, laureate, saint? Through his
own life story he created a work of fiction .Soared so high, that in
the end unfortunately found his own human skin, then found himself out
of his depth in bottled delusion, where the burning ship had become his
own.
Kerouac learned to speak French at home before he learned English at
school. Reportedly he did not learn English until he was six years old . His father Leo Kerouac owned his own print shop, Spotlight Print, in
downtown Lowell, and his mother Gabrielle Kerouac, known to her children as Memere,
was a homemaker. Kerouac later described the family’s home life: “My
father comes home from his printing shop and undoes his tie and removes his1920s vest, and sits himself down at hamburger and boiled potatoes
and bread and butter, and with the kiddies and the good wife.”
Jack Kerouac endured a childhood tragedy in the summer of 1926, when
his beloved older brother Gerard died of rheumatic fever at the age of
9. Drowning in grief, the Kerouac family embraced their Catholic faith
more deeply. Kerouac’s writing is full of vivid memories of attending
church as a child: “From the open door of the church warm and golden
light swarmed out on the snow. The sound of the organ and singing could
be heard.”
Jack would earn a football scholarship to Columbia University, and planned
to work in insurance after finishing school, according to the Beat
Museum,http://www.kerouac.com/ which goes into detail about Kerouac’s rise to literary and
cultural stardom. But his life only took a more hectic turn once he
arrived in New York City, and he quickly clashed with his football
coach. Jack dropped out of school, joined the Merchant Marines and then
fell in with New York’s literary crowd. Around this time, Kerouac took several
cross-country road trips with friend Neal Cassady that would later
inspire his seminal work, “On the Road.”
In his life, he had been part of a culture and people, who
burned like meteors. Jack Kerouac was the Beat Generations very own
mythologiser, he and his band of brothers helped redeem a bit of
America's soul. His legacy, like that of the Beat Culture, still alive,
still relevant, still taking root.
This influential poet and writer who originated the term “beatific” as a the
defining term for the group of artists and writers of the Beat
Generation, who along with his friends, GregoryCorso, William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferllinghetti, Gary Snyder etc, paved a way for a whole host of dreamers searching for risk, some
form of adventure. Colouring our worlds with their crazy visions, their
minds in revolt, searching for future's possibilities. Hand in hand with
rebellion, against the conventions of the times.
Jack Kerouac in
his eighteen books and many others under Jack's influence were to me
important epiphanies on my own path of self discovery. He taught me
about "Spontaneous prose." - writing without revising....... He called
this " a spontaneous bop prosody." which is a bit like a jazz musician
taking an improvised solo, and he took it as far as he could go, with no
editing and no pause of breath. Sometimes what is left, has no meaning, a
void, but often their is a glimmer, that spells hope, that can become
endless, can run off the page, infinite but still accessible.
On my
bookshelf at home Kerouacs influence groans on my bookcases, his own
works, sharing spaces with others , that were touched by his
inspiration. I a very grateful to a friend called Charlotte who recently added more to my personal collection.
There is something about his tragic, magic life that
still resonates, hums, there will always be new connections, outhouses
where seeds will forever drift. New poets will emerge, to
experience, among the whole wide world, words will dance, impulsively
between time, forever and forever. Enthusiasm will be shared, thoughts will be exchanged, and
for some the personal will always be political.Passion will ignite.
Jack had a wild spirit, but such a dazzling voice, who through his writing revealed him as a believer in humanity, a dreamer, a doer and an explorer
of metaphysical depth. He was however also a recluse, socially awkward, a
drug abuser, an alcoholic and a man who became so overwhelmed with his
own fame it ultimately destroyed him. Still yearning for his mother, but lost in a catholic
guilt, that had always consumed him. Stuck in a sad exile,this mystical
breath had grown tired , what was once beautiful had begun to drift
towards bitterness.
Jack was not immortal, though for me his words are, and he left this planet
on October 21 1969, 47 years, related to alcoholism According to the San Francisco
Chronicle, Kerouac “was known to consume 17 shots of Johnny Walker Red
per hour, washed down with Colt malt liquor.” and because of this his search for inner lamentation was cut
tragically far to short.
There are two types of people in this world; those
that ‘get’ Kerouac, and those that do not. I am in the first category,
of course, so happy birthday Jack, your impact
continues to be felt , your satori breath released , and your legacy today is stronger today than ever ... om switchin on....
tomorrow's dawns chorus echoes,anesthesising the sky.... sentences
littered with wild perception, language as a spell that leaves
us forever hooked. In human existence our contradictions will
abound, freeze framed, on the road to nowhere. Kicks joy darkness.blessed be you in golden eternity., and as Jack said "Practice kindness all day to everybody and you will realize you're already in heaven now."
William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, 1953
Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, Kerouac,
Greeenwich Village, 1957.
Jack Kerouac on the Steve Allen show 1959.
Jack Keroauc: I'm sick of myself, I'm not a courageous man
a rare interview of Jack in French with English subtitles to a Canadian Television show where he explains how he came up with the name that described the literary movement of his generation.
There
are numerous pages and books devoted to Kerouac and the Beats , if you
look you will find what your looking for, the searching is part of the
journey In the meantime I offer you some of his poetry
POOR SOTTISH KEROUAC
Poor sottish Kerouac with his thumb in his eye
Getting interested in literature again
Through a mote of dust just flew by
How should I know that the dead were born?
Does Master cry?
The weeds Ophelia wound with
and Chatterton measured in the moon
are the weeds of Goethe, Wang Wei,
and the Golden Courtesans
Imagining recommending a prefecture
for a man in the madhouse
rain
Sleep well, my angel
Make some eggs
The house in the moor
The house is a monument
In the moor of the grave
Whatever that means
The white dove descended in disguise?
WOMAN
A woman is beautiful
but
you have to swing
and swing and swing
and swing like
a hankerchief in the
wind
149th Chorus
I keep falling in love
with my mother
I dont want to hurt her
=Of all people to hurt
Every time I see her
she's grown older
But her uniform always
amazes me
For its Dutch simplicity
And the Doll she is.
The doll-like way
she stands
Bowlegged in my dreams,
Waiting to serve me
And I am only an Apache
Smoking Hashi
In old Cabashy
By the Lamp
2111th Chorus
The wheel of the quivering meat
conception
Turns in the Void expelling human beings,
Pigs, turtles, frogs, insects, nits,
Mice, Lice, Lizards, rats, roan
Racing horses, poxy bucolic pig tics,
Horrible unnameable lice of vultures
Murderous attacking dog-armies
Of Africa, Rhinos roaming in the jungle
Vast boars and huge gigantic bull
Elephants, rams, eagles, condors,
Pones and Porcupines and Pills-
All the endless conception of living
beings
Gnashing everywhere in Consciousness
Throughout the ten directions of space
Occupying all the quarters in and out,
From supermicroscopic no-bug
To huge Galaxy Lightyear Bowell
Illuminating the sky of one mind
AND THEN THEY GOT HIM
The Oil of the Olive
Bittersweet taffies
Bittersweet cabbage
Cabbage soup made right
A hunk a grass
In a big barrel
Stunk but Good
163rd Chorus
Left the Tombs to go
and look at the
Millions of cut glass-
-a guy clocking them,
as you look you swallow,
you get so fat
you can't leave the building
-stand straight,
don't tip over, breathe
in such a way yr fatness
deflates, go back to
the Tombs,
ride the elevator-
he tips over again'
gazes on the Lights,
eats them, is clocked,
gets so fat
he can leave elevator,
has to stand straight
and breathe out the fat -
-hurry back to the Tombs
242nd Chorus
The sound in your mind
is the first sound
that you could sing
If you were singing
at a cash register
with nothing on yr mind-
But when that grim reper
comes to lay you
look out my lady
He will steal all you got
while you dingle with the dangle
and having robbed you
Vanish
Which will be your best reward,
T'were better to get rid o
John O'Twill, then sit a mortying
In this Half Eternity with nobody
To save the old man being hanged
In my closet for nothing
And everybody watches
When the act is done-
Stop the murder and the suicide!
All's well!
I am the Guard
Though my mind Is not like yours Slightly in tatters I still try to be a friend Here you can share my thoughts As the world spins round Making us dizzy As life rotates I will be what I am And you will too Carried by peaceful currents Unafraid, if you wish.
The Tories are taken us through the biggest cuts to welfare for 100
years, another vicious assault on people on benefits.Cuts to ESA Employment Support Allowance will see payments for many new claimants reduced by
around £30 a week, despite the Department for Work and Pensions
admitting those affected will have been found unable to work following a
Work Capability Assessment.
The changes, which come into force for new claims from April 2017,
affect those placed in the Work Related Activity Group of ESA and will
see payments reduced to the equivalent of Jobseeker’s Allowance.The Tory's claim that these cuts are a in a bid to encourage those living with a disability to find
employment, reducing the allowance to £73.10 a week, that of standard
job seeker’s allowance.But it is just another example of their conscious cruelty, which is deliberate and purposeful aimed to hurt many deeply.
Another attack on those already who are the hardest hit, disabled
people,the poor, the sick,the marginalised, and vulnerable.It really saddens me that those outside the comfort blanket of society, stuck in the quaqmire of insecurity are treated like pawns in a game of chess, sacrificed and abandoned so easily.These cuts will not help motivate people towards work,if
anything it will push certain people, already in difficult circumstances, faced with mental health problems further away from work and make it harder for
them to manage their condition and drive us all into deeper poverty, putting lives at risk, which does not offer even a morsel of hope to those that most deserve it.
On top of this Theresa May has plans to restrict access to disability benefits known as Personal Independent Payments.The courts recently ruled that people who find it difficult to leave the
house because of mental illness should be awarded the higher rate of
PIP. Rather than adhering to the rulings of two tribunals, the
Government announced that they would rewrite the law, hence denying benefits
for more than 160,000 people with mental illness.Paul Farmer, chief executive of Mind,
said: “People who find it difficult to leave the house because of
anxiety, panic attacks, and other mental health problems are as
restricted in their independence as many people with physical mobility
problems, and face just as many higher costs in their daily lives as
other disabled people do.
This all comes after the government has
repeatedly stated the government is committed to building a country
that works for everyone, but the truth of the matter is they simply could not give a damn.
The Tories once again showing their complete and utter contempt for the poor, the
disabled and the vulnerable. During the Budget Chancellor Hammond still managed to press ahead with tax cuts on corporate profits, capital gains and inherited wealth. At least Jeremy Corbyn had the tenacity to respond with a very
powerful speech after Hammond delivered his cruel budget and raised
concerns that are affecting millions of people across Britain. He talked about the effects Tory austerity is having on the poor,
the disabled and the vulnerable. He talked about the effects welfare
cuts will have on the disabled and working families. He talked about the
crisis that is crippling the NHS. He talked about the Tories’ new ‘rape
clause’ which has been imposed on Child Benefit. He talked about the
effects Tory cuts are having on public services. He talked about
underpaid and overworked public sector workers. He talked about
inequality. He talked about zero hours contracts and low pay. He talked
about the social care crisis. He talked about tax cuts for large
corporations and the rich, while the self-employed get a National
Insurance hike. He talked about wage poverty and soaring utility bills
and inflation. He talked about the housing shortage and homelessness. He
talked about the lack of support for mental health sufferers. He talked
about cuts to Bereavement Benefit and how widowed parents will
struggle. He talked about the effect Housing Benefit cuts will have on
young people aged 18 to 21. He talked about women’s rights and the
effects Tory austerity is having on women and mothers. And he talked
about the pressures that are affecting ordinary people across the
country.
While he was doing this, the Tories just sat there laughing, jeering and heckling like the evil so and so's they are, as they keep causing misery to millions of peoples lives. This is certainly no laughing matter.They truly are a nasty lot. FFS sake enough is enough. In the meantime if you could sign the following petition, it would be much appreciated. Cheers.
Treat people with mental health issues fairly under PIP
There are times of trouble and stress
Just look at the state of the world,
It really is in one hell of a mess
Humanity repeatedly smashing itself into pieces,
Tension drowning us in sombre melancholy
Discordant notes dispensing division
Crushing hope and ambition,
As beauty and strength fades away.
Spring returns calling at your door
Bringing the flowers to bloom once more,
Can help put back a smile on your face
This game of survival, this seasons annual race,
Allows us stop a while, let our minds reflect
As friendship arrives again, never to tired,
Without hesitation we can set course on new
destination
Experimenting with home made cures and lotions,
Recording, adapting new dimensions of meaning
Mind awakened can carry on, not yet broken.
Everyone has the right to music, both as a mechanism of expression
and enjoyment. Freemuse, a Copenhagen-based international organization,
established March 3rd as Music Freedom Day, in order to
advocate for musicians’ right to freedom of expression; to carry out
their craft without fear of oppression, imprisonment, or censorship.
Between 2007, when Music Freedom Day was launched, and 2014, more than
100 partners and collaborators in 36 countries have joined the annual
event. The combination of campaigns such as Music Freedom Day, silent
diplomacy, and political developments has helped foster the release of
artists around the world.
Founded in 1998, Freemuse documents infringements on the rights of
musicians around the world. Since 2011 Freemuse has broadened its scope
to include projects advocating freedom of all artistic expressions and
initiated the global network Artsfex for the protection of artistic
freedom. Freemuse collaborates with associates around the world to
incorporate their research in nations’ Universal Periodic Reviews to the United Nations Human Rights Council.
The right to freedom of expression is articulated in international
agreements on human rights. Article 19, of both the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and articles 27 and 15 of the UDHR
and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights
(ICESCR) respectively, convey one’s right to music. These articles
include the right to freedom of opinion and expression via any media, as
well as the freedom to participate in cultural life and enjoy the arts.
These pieces of international law dictate musicians’ freedom to express
themselves through their art, as well as the right of all people to
experience music without fear or negative repercussions.
Despite its explicit protection in international law, the right to
music remains in jeopardy today. In every region of the world,
musicians are subject to persecution, censorship, and other threats to
their personal safety and freedom. The statistics for 2015
noted 469 violations in over 70 different nations, approximately twice
the number of cases from 2014. Censorship accounted for nearly half of
these infringements, followed by prosecution, oppression, and
imprisonment. Freemuse breaks censorship down into four distinct
categories: political, religious, corporate, and censorship against
women. While the historical majority of violations are grounded in
politics, there was a significant rise in religiously motivated attacks
on musical freedom in 2015.
Music Freedom Day (MFD) is a powerful, united manifestation to support
persecuted, prosecuted and imprisoned musicians, many of whose only
crime has been that they have spoken up against authorities and insisted
on the right to express themselves through their music. Worldwide,
musicians’ and composers’ rights to freedom of expression are violated,
but the strong support for Music Freedom Day every year demonstrates the
will to continue the advocacy and defense for the universal rights to
compose, perform and participate in musical activities.
Today March 3rd 2017 MFD makes a special focus on women performers and
female musicians. In some countries women are not allowed to sing or
play instruments and have been threatened, assaulted, persecuted and
even killed. Additionally women face especially difficult conditions in
many countries as performers and are often subject to discrimination,
sexual objectification and unfair industry conditions.In celebration
and protection of women’s voices, artists from Afghanistan to Sweden
stand in solidarity with women musicians who are censored, attacked,
persecuted, imprisoned or even killed simply for making music.
Join the global event here: Music Freedom Day 2017
Music can be a very powerful tool, it should not be a crime, it is also a human right.
Harri Webb was one of Wales's most popular poets, known for his
wit and erudition , for his historical perspective and awareness of
contemporary realities, and in Wales he enjoyed the status of People's
Poet. Born in Swansea, spent much of his life as a
librarian, in Mountain Ash and Merthyr Tydfil. In the 1970's he took
part in the BBC Wales programme, Poems and Pints. Though he was an individualist, his political slant was one of Welsh Republican Socialism. After a long period of illness he moved to St. David's Nursing Home in St.Helen's Road, Swansea. It was here that he died in his sleep on the morning of 31 December 1994.
The Red, White and Green reprinted from Harri Webb / Collected Poems Gomer, 1995.
On the first day of March we remember
St.David the pride of our land,
Who taught us the stern path of duty
And for freedom and truth made a stand.
So here's to the sons of Saint David,
Those youngsters so loyal and keen
Who'll haul down the red, white and blue, lads,
And hoist up the red, white and green.
In the dark gloomy days of December
We mourn for Llywellyn with pride
Who fell in defence of his country
With eighteen brave men by his side.
So here's to the sons of LLywellyn,
The heirs of that valiant eighteen
Who'll haul down the red, white and blue, lads,
And hoist up the red, white and green.
In the warm, golden days of September,
Great Owain Glyndwr took the field,
For fiften long years did he struggle
And never the dragon did yield.
So here's to the son of Great Owain,
Who'll show the proud Sais what we mean
When we haul down the red, white and blue, lads,
And hoist up the red, white and green.
There are many more names to remember
And some that will never be known
Who were loyal to Wales and the gwerin
And defied all the might of the throne.
So here's to the sons of the gwerin
Who care not for the prince or for queen,
Who'll haul down the red, white and blue, lads,
And hoist up the red, white and green!
By the way, I love Wales
But avoid the nationalism
I prefer the mystical, deep streams
Let no man be a slave - heddwch/Peace
Israeli Apartheid Week, (now in its 13th year) is an annual
international series of events held in 200 cities and campuses across across
the globe over the next two months.IAW 2017 also marks 100 years of Palestinian resistance against settler-colonialism, since the inception of the Balfour Declaration. It hopes to educate people about the nature of Israel. Demanding full equality for Arab citizens of Israel and
an end to what is known as the occupation and the dismantling of the
apartheid wall, with the protection of Palestinians, and their right to
return to their homes and properties as stipulated in U.N resolution
194. It will be launched in London next
Tuesday.There will be exciting discussions, concerts, panels, film screenings
and creative actions to raise awareness about Israel’s illegal
settler-colonial project, military occupation and apartheid system over
the Palestinian people, and to build support for the growing BDS
movement for Palestinian rights.Check out the program, or build and register your own, and attend:
http://apartheidweek.org
Calling the Israeli regime as one of apartheid is not rhetoric, nor is
it an exaggeration or a propaganda tool. This is the reality in modern
day Palestine, where the Israeli regime is based on discrimination,
through laws,practices and most aspects of life and the policies instituted by the Israeli government against the Palestinian people meets the UN definition of Apartheid. This apartheid regime
is not only imposed on the people in Palestine, but also on millions of
Palestinian refugees denied their right to return to their homes and lands.
In effect, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory constitute
one territorial unit under full Israeli control. As of 2015, of the
total population of people that live in Israel and the Occupied
Palestinian Territory, around 6.6 million are Jewish Israelis and about
6.4 million are Palestinians.Under Israeli law, and in practice, Jewish Israelis and Palestinians
are treated differently in almost every aspect of life including freedom
of movement, family, housing, education, employment and other basic
human rights. Dozens of Israeli laws and policies institutionalise this
prevailing system of racial discrimination and domination.
The occupation Wall is also another element of the wider system of severe restrictions
on the freedom of movement imposed by the Israeli authorities on
Palestinian residents of the West Bank. There are over 600 closure
obstacles blocking Palestinian movement within the West Bank. In
addition, the system of roads is segregated: travel on hundreds of
kilometres in the West Bank is restricted or prohibited outright for
Palestinians, whereby Israelis are able to travel about freely. About
one third of the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, is
completely prohibited to Palestinians without a special permit issued by
the Israeli military.
These severe restrictions violate not only the right to freedom of
movement,they also effectively prevent Palestinian residents from
exercising a wide range of fundamental human rights because of their identity, including their right
to work, to health, to education and to an adequate standard of living.
Farmers are stopped from assessing their fields and thus from exercising
their right to sustain their livelihood. Many Palestinians are also
prevented from seeking work outside their locality. Children are
prevented from accessing schools and students face restrictions in
choosing their university of choice. Patients are prevented from
assessing hospitals, blocking them from exercising their right to the
highest sustainable standard of health. Israel has in effect created a
system of seperation in the West Bank which fits the textbook definition
of apartheid. Segregation is also carried out by implementing separate legal regimes for
Jewish Israelis and Palestinians living in the same area. For example,
Jewish Israeli settlers living in the illegal Israeli settlements in the
occupied West Bank are governed by Israeli civil law, while
Palestinians also living in the occupied West Bank are governed by
Israeli military law.All this combined with murder, torture, unlawful imprisonment and other severe
deprivation of physical liberty, especially of Palestinians living in
Gaza, and the ongoing persecution of Palestinians because of their opposition to Apartheid.
As awareness across the world of all of this continues to increase campaigns to boycott, divest and sanction this
regime provide a very effective and natural response. The world
witnessed a similar response transpire and bare fruit in the case of
South Africa, and there are very good reasons to believe that it will do
the same in the case of Palestine.
“One has to keep telling the Palestinian story in as many ways as
possible, as insistently as possible, and in as compelling a way as
possible, to keep attention to it, because there is always the fear that
it might just disappear.” ( Edward Said, 2003).
When the dawn tumbles towards us Is the glass half empty or half full? Frightened of the daily news People grow fierce, poets keep vigil, Reciting incantations stitched with diversity Hungry eyes stop us from falling, Yearning for something different Continue building something new, We are all related, all carrying different stories Dreamers and risk takers passing through, Holding together various points of view Twisting and contorting like free birds, In our various struggles try to renew a new sense of human possibility
'Songs connect, collect and bring together. Even when not being sung they are attendant assembly-points.
The words of songs are different from the words that make prose. In
prose, words are independent agents; in songs, they are first and
foremost the intimate sounds of their mother tongue. They signify what
they signify, and at the same time they address or flow toward all the
words that exist in that language.
Songs are like rivers: each follows its own course, yet all flow to
the sea, from which everything came. The fact that in many languages the
place where a river enters the sea is called the river’s mouth
emphasizes the comparison. The waters that flow out of a river’s mouth
have come from an immense elsewhere. And something similar happens with
what comes out of the mouth of a song.
John Berger - 'Confabulations’
John Berger - About Song and Laughter
Sukhdev Sandhu introduces a rare radio-minded feature by the late celebrated
critic, novelist and thinker John Berger.
Berger talks about the songs in his life and about Charlie Chaplin's
radical power. Featuring Katya Berger and the music of Woody Guthrie,
Cesaria Evora and Yasmin Hamdam among others. Producer: Tim Dee.
Gunnar
Ekelöf , was a Swedish poet, a socialist, born in Stockholm. His first collection Late Arrival on Earth, 1932, established
his reputation as Swedens most outstanding modern poet. His work draws
attention to the immediacy of life rather than to the presence of the
past.He was influenced by the French poets Baudelaire and Rimbaud. His collection Sent på jorden (Late Arrival
on Earth), 1932, introduced surrealism into Swedish poetry. He often used an 'invisible hinge; between opposites, acknowledging the immediate counterpart of his statements. After his death in 1968 in Sigtuna, his ashes were scattered in the tiver Sardis, near the cult of Artemis.He remains a true alchemist of words.
Everyone is a World
Everyone is a world, peopled
by blind beings in dark commotion
against the self the king who rules them.
In every soul thousands of souls are trapped,
in every world thousands of worlds are hidden
by blind beings in dark commotion
against the self the King who rules them.
In every soul thousands of souls are trapped,
in every world thousands of worlds are hidden
and these blind, these underworlds
are real and living, though incomplete,
as true as I am real. And we kings
and princes of the thousand possibilities in us
are ourselves servants trapped
in some greater creature, whose self and being
we grasp as little as our own superior
his superior. Our own feelings have taken
the color of their love and death.
As when a mighty steamship passes
far out, under the horizon, lying
in the evening glitter - And we don't know about it
until the swell reaches us on the shore,
first one, then another, and then many
which strike and bloom until everything has become
as before, - Yet everything is different.
So we shades are troubled by a strange unease
When something tells us that others have gone ahead,
That some of the possibilities have been released.
On this date in 1934, Feminist,Poet. Civil rights activist. Anti-war activist. Gay rights activist.poet Audre Lorde was born of Caribbean parents in Harlem. In her own words, she was: "Black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet."and was also a factory worker, social worker, X-ray technician, librarian, civil rights activist, communist and more
Audre Lorde dedicated both her life and her creative talent to confronting and addressing the injustices of racism, sexism, and homophobia. Her poetry, and “indeed all of her writing,” according to contributor Joan Martin in Black Women Writers (1950-1980): A Critical Evaluation, “rings with passion, sincerity, perception, and depth of feeling.” Concerned with modern society’s tendency to categorize groups of people, Lorde fought the marginalization of such categories as “lesbian” and “black woman,” thereby empowering her readers to react to the prejudice in their own lives.
Starting to write at an early age, Lorde was first published in Seventeen magazine while in high school.As society progressed with the anti-war, feminist and civil rights movements, Audre moved from themes of love to more political and personal matters. In the 1960s, she graduated from Columbia University and began to participate in the feminist, LGBT+ and civil rights movement of the time, where she contested the class discrimination and racism existing in the feminist movement, which was generally focused around the experiences of white women.
Lorde identified the wide and varied experiences of women in matters of class, race, age, sex and even health, which is often referred to today as "intersectionality", noting that “there is no thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives”. She used her platform as a writer to spread ideas and experiences about the intersecting oppressions faced by many people. Her poetry developed an angry aura as she became more involved in activism but developed into an emotionally-supportive outlet and connected her to the world of politics with well-known figures like Langston Hughes. Lorde shaped the Black Arts Movment with her powerful writings on racism, sexism, homophobia and police violence.
Author of the controversial essay "The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House." In 1980 she co-founded (with Barbara Smith and Cherrie Moraga) a feminist publishing company called "Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press," the first publisher for women of color in the United States.
After battling with cancer for more than a decade, Lorde died in St. Croix, Virgin Islands, at the age of 58 in 1992 after battling with cancer for more than a decade.She was cremated and her ashes scattered at sea. Throughout her battle, she found inspiration through her struggle as she documented in the 1980 special edition issue of the Cancer Journals. Her story included a feminist analysis of her experience with the disease and mastectomy. Before passing away, Audre changed her name to Gambda Adisa which means “Warrior” or “she who makes her meaning known.” Her writings have become increasingly influential since her death.
" There is no such thing as a single issue struggle because we do not live single issue lives " - Audre Lorde
“Poetry is not only a dream and vision; it is the skeleton architecture of our lives. It lays the foundations for a future of change, a bridge across our fears of what has never been before.”- Audre Lorde
Litany for Survival - Audre Lorde
'For those of us who live at the shoreline
standing upon the constant edges of decision
crucial and alone
for those of us who cannot indulge
the passing dreams of choice
who love in doorways coming and going
in the hours between dawns
looking inward and outward
at once before and after
seeking a now that can breed
futures
like bread in our children's mouths
so their dreams will not reflect
the death of ours:
For those of us
who were imprinted with fear
like a faint line in the center of our foreheads
learning to be afraid with our mother's milk
for by this weapon
this illusion of some safety to be found
the heavy-footed hoped to silence us
For all of us
this instant and this triumph
We were never meant to survive.
And when the sun rises we are afraid
it might not remain
when the sun sets we are afraid
it might not rise in the morning
when our stomachs are full we are afraid
of indigestion
when our stomachs are empty we are afraid
we may never eat again
when we are loved we are afraid
love will vanish
when we are alone we are afraid
love will never return
and when we speak we are afraid
our words will not be heard
nor welcomed
but when we are silent
we are still afraid
So it is better to speak
remembering
we were never meant to survive
Audre Lorde - Love Poem
Speak earth and bless me with what is richest
make sky flow honey out of my hips
rigis mountains
spread over a valley
carved out by the mouth of rain.
And I knew when I entered her I was
high wind in her forests hollow
fingers whispering sound
honey flowed
from the split cup
impaled on a lance of tongues
on the tips of her breasts on her navel
and my breath
howling into her entrances
through lungs of pain.
Greedy as herring-gulls
or a child
I swing out over the earth
over and over
again.
This great song is based on actual events, that took place over forty years ago. On 17th February 1976, Operation Julie was launched at a meeting in Brecon, involving a number of chief constables and senior drug squad officers. It eventually resulted in the break-up of one of the largest LSD manufacturing operations in the world. And thus started the rather sad war on drugs, that in my humble opinion can never ever be won.
The subsequent drug raid in 1977 on an LSD factory in West Wales discovered 6 million tabs and the largest stash of illegal drugs ever found. A force of over 800 police officers were involved. A total of 120 people were arrested and tablets with a street value of £100 million was found By the time the busts happened , they were allegedly suppling 90 percent of all LSD in Britain and 60 percent of all LSD around the world. though these figures might have exaggerated/ Small villages like Carno, Llandewi Brefi and Tregaron suddenly found themselves under the worlds spotlight.
And incidentally the production of LSD in the area would not have been successful if it had not had received the tacit approval of the locals. Lyn Ebenezer, author of Operation Julie: The World's greatest LSD Bust, who was working as a freelance journalist in the area at the time, recalled:"Cardiganshire was at the time the counter-cultural capital. The likes of the Rolling Stones, John Lennon and Jimi Hendrix had all made pilgrimages to the area , so perhaps its no surprise that it became the centre of LSD production. But we didn't have a clue what was going on with these strange groups who'd moved in.To be honest, if anyone seemed more likely to be drug dealers it was the police acting as hippies, as the actual dealers were all educated professional people who stood their round and blended in really well into the community. The dealers and the police would all be drinking in the pub together, getting up to all sorts of daft capers, so when the raids finally came we all had one hell of a shock."
In a mission which sometimes bordered on the comical, undercover police officers, spent most of 1976 in the wilds of Wales disguised as hippies.
Among a series of episodes that you could not make up, om one occasion they were left listening to Radio Cymru for an entire day, while sheep gnawed through the bugging devices they had planted in the home of Tregaron home of one of the ringleaders Richard Kemp, a chemist and his partner a respected Doctor called Christine Bott.
Down the road in Llandewi Brefi another group of male officers garnered unwelcome attention when were suspected of being a gay cult. This necessitated the introduction of female officers, including Sgt Julie Taylor, after whom the operation would eventually take its name, and who was immortalised in the above song by the Clash ' Julies Been Working for the Drug Squad.
Operation Julie ushered in a new era of policing that remains the blueprint for cross-force operations to this day. It also arguably represented the final death throes of the 1960's counterculture, shattering the idealism with which many had once viewed the drugs scene and marked the start of a harsher, more brutal era for the narcotics underworld.
The traditional view of the dealers, who were eventually given on March 1978 lengthy draconian jail sentences.is that they were idealists on a mission, believing the mind bending drug could transform human consciousness and help in changing the world for the better rather than in it for making a fast buck. After all psychedelics are known for allowing you to think for yourself, and to circumvent violent, institutional and authoritarian power structures, no wonder the powers that be wanted to put a stop to the distribution of them. .
Every time I hear the song by the Clash now I am also reminded of my dear departed friend Chas who was born in 1977 and was bought up in a pub frequented in the history pages of this story in Llandewi Brefi. Supposedly there is still a a huge stash of LSD tabs hidden somewhere, it would be far out if it was discovered and redistributed to the masses, I for one have not seen or tasted any for years,.
The Clash - Julie been working for the drug squad
" it's lucy in the sky and all kinds of apple pie
she giggles at the screen 'cos it looks so green
there's carpets on the pavements
and feathers in her eye
but sooner or later, her new friends will realise
that Julie's been working for the drug squad
well it seemed like a dream, too good to be true
stash it in the bank while the tablets grow high
in their millions
and everybodys's high ( hi, man)
but there's someone looking down
from that mountainside
'cos julies's been working for the drug squad
and it' ten years for you
nineteen for you
and you can get out in twenty -five
that is if you're still alive
an' there came the night of the greatest ever raid
they arrested every drug that had ever been made
they took eighty-two laws
through eighty-two doors
and they didn't halt the pull
till the cells were all full
'cos Julie was working for the drug squad
they put him in a cell, they said you wait here
you've got the time to count all of your hair
you've got fifteen years
a mighty long time
you could have been a physicist
but now your name is on the mailbag list
Julie's been working for the drug squad
Radiohead are a band I have long admired,because of their awesome inspiring music along with their social conscience,I have all their records and a poster in spare bedroom,their third album, “OK Computer” (1997), elevated the band to almost godlike status among my peers, and since then their work has been marked by an experimental streak and intelligence of spirit that has set them apart from the mainstream, and they have long been recognised as being consistently among the most vociferous proponents for a variety of causes. Radiohead’s lead vocalist, Thom Yorke, maybe best known for his
environmentalist work, but is also a very strong supporter of human rights
and anti-war causes. He has been involved in Amnesty International causes
as well as the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND).
So I was shocked and disturbed and extremely disappointed recently to have discovered that they have reportedly signed on to give a performance
this summer in Israel. The show will come at Park Hayarkon in Tel Aviv
on July 19 and may have some political spin, as many bands have
boycotted playing in Israel in protest of the country’s occupation of Palestinian land. I would have expected more from as astute progressive politically aware band.
I have recently discovered though that Radiohead have long had a strong connection with Israel, the first place where their iconic single
Creep became a hit was Israel, and their first gig abroad was in the
Roxanne club in Tel Aviv.Guitarist Johnny Greenwood is also married to celebrated
Israeli artist named Sharona Katan and he recently released ‘Junun’, a
collaborative album with Israeli composer/singer Shye Ben Tzur and he also has a house in Nahariya .
What I'd like to say to say to Radiohead is that that we need to be breaking down walls, not
propping them up. Israel has a long history of marginalisation
persecution, imprisonment
and assassination of indigenous Palestinian artists. While they plan to
play on
an Israeli stage, Palestinian artists languish in Israel's prisons,
where they are subjected to systemic abuse and torture.Art is not separate from politics,
even when basically each artist who has broken the cultural picket line
to appear in Israel has made this claim. Look at any oppressive regime
in human history and you see that art has always been part of each
regime's publicimage.
For Israel, high profile foreign artists appearing in supposedly
'liberal' Tel Aviv (originally established as a segregated colony for
Zionist Jews only) is part of its strategies to polish its public image
abroad. Radiohead has in the past made gigs to
benefit for example Amnesty International. Now it plans to perform in
what would be a benefit show in behalf of Apartheid, ethnic cleansing
and brutal occupation.
We must help to awaken their consciences, which seem at the moment to have fallen asleep.We must continue to speak out
loudly and clearly about Israel's disgusting treatment of Palestinians,
One activist group called Artists For Palestine UK has already called on fans to boycott the show:
"Tel
Aviv's hipster vibe is a bubble on the surface of a very deep security
state that drove out half the indigenous Palestinian population in 1948
and has no intention of letting their descendants back in," they wrote.
"If you go to Tel Aviv, your presence will be used by the Israeli
authorities to reassure their citizens that all's right with the world
and nobody really cares that the Palestinians are suffering… Please
don't go."
For more than 70 years now Israel has been ethnically cleansing Palestine. with the denial of basic rights to millions of human beings combined with illegal land theft. In the eyes of international law.Apartheid is defined as "a policy or system of segregation or
discrimination on grounds of race. Or segregation on grounds other than
race. Israel both segregates and discriminates by law on the basis of religion. It is therefor by definition an "apartheid state". So playing in Israel would be akin to playing Sun City in the days of apartheid South Africa. I really hope that Radiohead respect the call for boycott and like other respected artists do not cross the Palestinian picket line. Many others after pressure from fans have been forced to have a change of heart.
In the meantime please consider signing the following petition by Jewish Voices for Peace, Radiohead Don't Play Apartheid Israel , it might make them to reconsider and come out of this with a bit of integrity.
Screaming sky releases steaming tears
as old memories return to caress,
I am lost under the heavy weight of absence
nostalgic for a beautiful scent,
a power that moves me greatly
I continue to crave her presence,
a kindness that I can no longer touch
but keeps calling me through dreams,
offering protection and so much hope
somewhere else now, I guess,
but returns though to touch me deeply
to hold me and comfort my tired old soul
Time is precious, but we can and we must continue to # ShowTheLove for all that we want to protect. Please take a minute to watch this stunning film fromThe Climate Coalition. This is a love song like you've never heard before. Watch, and share. Sharing a short film may not feel like much, but this small act makes a
huge difference. together we can protect the life we love from climate change. A
unique collaboration with Ridley Scott Associates, our powerful short
film features a specially written poem by award winning writer Anthony
Anaxagorou and is brought to life by Charles Dance, Miranda Richardson,
David Gyasi and Jason Isaacs. With a specially produced soundtrack by
Elbow, including choral arrangement by Phil Mitchell and vocals from the
Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Choir. With love in our hearts lets hope we all start to appreciate this planet of ours and its beautiful nature.
Big ups Ken Loach. BAFTA award for outstanding British film. True Hero.
Fantastic acceptance speech! It needs to be watched again and again ...big respect to him. His film that has helped expose our Governments conscious state sponsored cruelty and absolute betrayal of people in need.
Scooping the prize, the veteran filmmaker criticised the “callous
brutality” of the current Government and its attitude towards “the most
vulnerable and the poorest people.” Not done there, Loach also brought
up the government’s approach to the Syrian crisis, claiming the Tories’
disgraceful cruelty” now “extends to keeping out refugee children”.
Drawing hearty applause from the crowd, Loach also talked about the
power of film - “they can entertain, they can terrify, they can take us
to worlds of the imagination, they can make us laugh, and they can tell
us about the world we live in” – and then issued a stern warning that
worse times are to come: “in that world it’s getting darker, as we know,
and in the struggle that’s coming between the rich and the powerful,
the wealth and the privilege, and the big corporations, and the
politicians who speak to them.”
Ironically Ken Loach's speech and Bafta win for I, Daniel Blake were completely
ignored by BBC News, despite the programme following the ceremony in the
schedule.The BBC is a disgrace ,a propaganda machine for the Establishment that we suckers, are still forced to pay for.
While the eyes of the world are on Donald Trump we should not forget that the Conservatives, under the direction of Theresa May carry on with their ideolological destruction of our society , and simply carry on
regardless, with their mission of punishing the poor and those
most vulnerable, we need to continue to stand up like Ken Loach and loudly say enough is enough.
From award-winning director Phil Grabsky comes this fresh new look at
arguably the world’s favourite artist – through his own words.Whose life and work I have long admired.
This new film tells his moving story, crafted from over 2,500 letters and
featuring his most loved works of art,narrated by Henry Goodman, I, Claude Monet reveals
a new insight into the man who not only painted the picture that gave
birth to impressionism but who was perhaps the most influential and
successful painter of the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Claude Monet
(November 14, 1840 – December 5, 1926) was a founder of French
impressionist painting, and the most consistent and prolific
practitioner of the movement's philosophy of expressing one's
perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein-air landscape
painting. The term Impressionism is derived from the title of his
painting Impression, Sunrise.
After his devoted companion and first wife Camille Doncieux died he went to live with Ernest and Alice Hoschede and their six children. He grew closer to Alice, and the two eventually became
romantically involved. Ernest spent much of his time in Paris, and he
and Alice never divorced. Monet and Alice moved with their respective
children in 1883 to Giverny, a place that would serve as a source of
great inspiration for the artist and prove to be his final home. After
Ernest's death, Monet and Alice married in 1892.
In
1911, Monet became depressed again after after the death yet again of another beloved companion in this case Alice. Then in
1912, he developed cataracts in his right eye. This crushing news led to a bout of depression, and thoughts of suicide tell me about it,
that kept him from painting but ,Monet found at least solace in his garden and purpose in his
work and managed to at least somehow to overcome his grief. Over the next decade,
Monet worked on an unprecedented scale creating canvases roughly six and a half
feet high and 14 feet wide. In 1916, he built a new studio to house the
epic images of his water lilies,
and, in 1918, to honor the Armistice of the First World War, he
promised the paintings as a gift to the nation. He painted more than 40
panels for his Grandes Decorations, and, in the spring of 1925, he
selected 22 of them to be installed in two oval rooms in Musee de
l'Orangerie in Paris. He imagined the effect as being surrounded by the
natural beauty of his water garden soothing the nerves and calming the spirit.
Claude
Monet died of cancer on December 3, 1926, at the age of
86. He left instructions for a simple funeral, and the only tribute on
his coffin was a sheaf of wheat. He had created his own legacy in
painting the "restful sight of those still waters" that preserved the
experience of his long and productive life, spent pursuing the fleeting
impressions of nature through the testament of his brush.
Monet left a vast body of work to be admired and cherished.
Discover who Claude Monet really
was, in this in this revealing new biography that is in cinemas across the UK from February 21st.
"What I saw, What I heard..." is the title of an evening with Mark Williams MP on
Friday, 17th February at 7.30. - 9.30pm
in
Small World Theatre, Cardigan,
when he will be reflecting on his recent visit as part of a Parliamentary delegation to the West Bank in Israel.
He met with the British Consul, the UN and many NGOs and unofficial
organisations, saw illegal (under international law) Israeli settlements
and the separation barrier ("the Wall") and the impact of forced
evictions on Palestinian communities. He visited a refugee camp, and saw
trials of Palestinian minors at the Military Court in Ofer.
His visit made him look at things differently...
Kate Sherringer of West Wales Friends of Palestine (WWFP) who also
visited recently and saw the kindergarten canopy in Rummanah paid for by
WWFP will also say a few words. So PLEASE go along and spread the word -
the evening is open to everyone, and there will be refreshments and
time for discussion.
The evening is being hosted by Cardigan and North Pembs. Amnesty International Group.
Brendan Francis Behan was an Irish poet, short story
writer, novelist, and playwright who wrote in both English and Irish. who was born on the Second of February 1923 who became one of the most successful Irish dramatists of the
20th century and remains a firm literary favourite of mine.
He also happened to be a committed Irish Republican. He was born in
inner city Dublin into an educated working class family. At the age of
thirteen, he left school to become a house painter, like his father Stephen Behan, who had
been active in the Irish War of Independence,who read classic literature to
the children at bedtime from diverse sources such as Zola, Galsworthy
and Maupassant; while his mother Kathleen took them on literary tours of
the city.This meant he was steeped in literature and patriotic
ballads from a young age.
If Brendan Behan’s interest in literature came from his
father, then his political beliefs were injected by his mother. She
remained politically active all her life, and was a personal friend of
the famed Irish republican Michael Collins, hero of Ireland’s 1919-1921 war of independence against Britain,who was assassinated. Brendan Behan wrote the following wonderful lament
to Collins: “The Laughing Boy,” at the age of thirteen.
The laughing boy - Brendan Behan
T'was on an August morning, all in the dawning hours,
I went to take the warming air, all in the Mouth of Flowers,
And there I saw a maiden, and mournful was her cry,
'Ah what will mend my broken heart, I've lost my Laughing Boy.
So strong, so wild, and brave he was, I'll mourn his loss too sore,
When thinking that I'll hear the laugh or springing step no more.
Ah, curse the times and sad the loss my heart to crucify,
That an Irish son with a rebel gun shot down my Laughing Boy.
Oh had he died by Pearse's side or in the GPO,
Killed by an English bullet from the rifle of the foe,
Or forcibly fed with Ashe lay dead in the dungeons of Mountjoy,
I'd have cried with pride for the way he died, my own dear Laughing Boy.
My princely love, can ageless love do more than tell to you,
Go raibh mile maith agat for all you tried to do,
For all you did, and would have done, my enemies to destroy,
I'll mourn your name and praise your fame, forever, my Laughing Boy.'
Behan's uncle Peadar Kearney wrote the Irish national anthem A Soldier’s Song. His brother, Dominic Behan, was also a renowned songwriter most famous for the song The Patriot Game,
while another sibling, Brian Behan, was a prominent radical political
activist and public speaker, actor, author and playwright. ’.
In
1937, the family moved to a new local authority housing scheme in
Crumlin, Dublin. Here he became a member of Fianna Eireann, the youth
wing of the IRA at the age of 14 and published his first poems and prose in the
organization's magazine Fianna: the Voice of Young Ireland.He eventually joined the IRA at sixteen
In 1939 he
was arrested in Liverpool with a suitcase full of explosives after an unauthorised mission to blow up the docks. He was sentenced to three years in Borstal
Prison (Kent) and did not return to Ireland until 1941. In 1942, he was
tried for the attempted murder of two gardai while at a commemoration ceremony for Wolfe Tone, the father of Irish
Republicanism and sentenced to
fourteen years in prison. He was sent to Mountjoy Prison and later to the Curragh
Internment Camp. He was released in 1946 as part of a general amnesty
of republican prisoners. His
prison experiences were central to his future writing career. He wrote about these years in his autobiographical novel 'Borstal Boy'. and “Confessions of an Irish Rebel.” Aside from a short prison sentence that he
received in 1947 for his part in trying to break a fellow republican out
from a Manchester jail, he effectively left the IRA, though he remained
great friends with the future Chief-Of-Staff Cathal Goulding.
While in
Mountjoy Prison he wrote his first play, The Landlady, and also began to
write short stories and other prose. Some of this work was published in
The Bell, the leading Irish literary magazine of the time. He also
learned Irish in prison and, after his release in 1946, he spent some
time in the Gaeltacht areas of Galway and Kerry, where he started
writing poetry in Irish. By the early 1950s he was earning a living as a
writer for radio and newspapers and had gained a reputation as
something of a character on the streets and in literary circles in
Dublin known for his sharp wit and his gift as a raconteur.
His major breakthrough came in 1954 when his play The Quare
Fellow, which was based on his experiences in jail, Set in an Irish prison in the 1950s on the day before and the morning of an execution, The Quare Fellow uses music, wit and a keen observation of human behaviour to explore the question of capital punishment. the play ran for six months in the Pike Theatre, Dublin. This was
followed by a run at the Theatre Royal, Stafford East, in a production by Joan Littlewood, before moving to the West End, before a trumph on Broadway bought international fame to the author. In 1957, his
Irish language play, An Giall (The Hostage) opened in the Damer Theatre
and his autobiographical novel, The Borstal Boy, was published. He was
now established as one of the leading Irish writers of his generation.
He
found fame difficult to deal with however. He had long been a heavy drinker
(describing himself, on one occasion, as "a drinker with a writing
problem",) and became known for his drinking as much as for his undoubted literary talents ,this combination
resulted in a series of notoriously drunken public appearances, both on
stage and television. Behan got notorious publicity after appearing drunk on Malcolm
Muggeridge’s Panorama programme on the BBC in 1956. Most of what he said
was incoherent, other than a crude remarking about needing “to take a
leak”
.Behan was obviously drunk too when he went on Edward R Morrow’s television
show Small World on November 8, 1959. He was yanked off the show at the
halfway point. He tended to attract attention anywhere he went. On arriving in Spain,
he was asked what he would most like to see in the country. “Franco’s
funeral,” he replied. Making a spectacle added to his notoriety, because it was what people
had come to expect. “One drink is too many for me,” Behan once lamented, “and a thousand notenough.” and "I only drink on two occasions-when I’m thirsty and when I’m not “.
He was diagnosed with diabetes in the 1960's and his favourite drink of
sherry and champagne certainly did not aid him, his health consequently suffered terribly, with diabetic comas and seizures occurring
with frightening regularity aggravated by his alcoholism. He found it difficult to write. When the
Guinness company commissioned him to write a slogan for them, he sat
around for months, drank all the free beer they sent him, and came up
with the slogan 'Guinness makes you drunk'.While his faculties may have dimmed a little, and towards the end became the caricature
of the drunken Irishman, publicans flinging him out of their premises, his intellect,wit and passion always managed to shine through.and he remained an Irish Republican and a socialist.
He died in the Meath Hospital, Dublin 1964 aged only 41, his last words were ' Thank you Sister, and may all your sons be bishops'. He was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery where he received a Republican
funeral.The IRA, which Behan had once invited to 'shoot him in absentia',
accorded him an honour guard, although they waited until the officials
from the State funeral had left before firing the traditional farewell
salute over his grave. En route to the graveyard, thousands lined the streets.
His wife the painter Beatrice french-Salkeld, his most stabilising influence gave birth to their only child, a
daughter, later the same year. His gravestone features the inscription 'Breándan Ó Beacháin File Fiáin Fearúil Feadánach' which roughly translates as 'Brendan Behan, wild, manly poet and piper'.
His legacy remains
one of tolerance and respect for the humanity in others, and of caring
and concern for the plight of those who are victims of history, not its
makers. As he once said, 'I have a total irreverence for anything
connected with society except that which makes the roads safer, the beer
stronger, the food cheaper and the old men and old women warmer in the
winter and happier in the summer' and 'They took away our land, our language and our religion, but they could never harness our tongues.'
.His wit and humor still shines through in the books that he wrote and his stories about the human condition still engage and fortunately the oeuvre Behan managed to produce will be around for years to come. Cheers Brendan Behan.
Brendan Behan sings his brother Dominic's song ; The Auld Triangle
