World Health Day 2020 : ‘Support nurses and midwives’ as they fight Covid-19

April 7th  marks the occasion of the 70^th anniversary of the observance of World Health Day. The special awareness day was established in 1948 by the first World Health Assembly (WHA). The WHA is the governing body over the World Health Organization (WHO), the sponsor of World Health Day.
 As a part of its foundation, WHO created a definition of health that hasn’t needed to be altered since:

"Health is a a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” 

The organization’s team, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, has worked to advance health through the last 70-plus years. More than 7,000 work for the World Health Organization across 150 countries.

Typically, the WHO “organizes international, regional, and local events” for World Health Day devoted to a selected theme.This year’s World Health Day theme couldn’t be more apt as it is dedicated to honour the fundamental role nurses and midwives play in the health system, across the globe. However, given the current Coronavirus pandemic, the day is likely to be observed primarily, if not exclusively, via digital media, but amid this world pandemic with incalculable consequences for humankind, the invaluable contribution these roles play is as apparent as ever, after all without them there would be no COVID-19 response.
 The WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic on March 11, 2020. By issuing prompt action with COVID-19, WHO spurred nations to develop intense action plans to help contain the novel coronavirus. As the coronavirus continues to spread across 200+ countries and territories, with more than a million cases diagnosed and significant loss of life, the ability to respond by limiting transmission, keeping vulnerable populations safe, and maintaining a functional health system will determine the speed of recovery in each country. Unfortunately,most countries are ill-equipped   to respond to a pandemic of this scale. Part of this can be attributed to shortages and limitations of the nursing workforce.
As the pandemic sweeps the globe nurses are on the front lines of the response and are going above and beyond to keep health systems functional.Physically and mentally exhausted, nurses are working around the clock to provide care, putting themselves and their families at risk of infection. And they’re doing so in a setting where personal protective equipment  supplies are dwindling.
Even before the crisis, the global nursing workforce was not growing fast enough to meet universal health coverage targets and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. Although the global shortage of nurses slightly decreased from 6.6 million in 2016 to 5.9 million in 2018, almost 90% of the deficit is in low- and lower-middle-income countries.  Here the number of trained nurses is barely keeping pace with population growth. Health emergencies exacerbate these imbalances and put further stress on the existing health workforce.  Nurses are frequently  the first and highest-level provider for primary care. They are essential to expanding delivery of health services to remote populations.Evidence shows that nurses are also instrumental in improving health sector productivity. and patient outcomes, and they are less expensive to train and deploy than other professional health workers. Investing in the nursing workforce presents a triple return on health, economic growth, and gender equity.
The global health organisation, along with its partners, will make a series of recommendations to strengthen the nursing and midwifery workforce worldwide.
According to the WHO, a strengthened workforce of nurses and midwives is significant to ensure that everyone gets the healthcare they need and for countries to achieve their “national and global targets related to universal health coverage, maternal and child health, infectious and non-communicable diseases including mental health, emergency preparedness and response, patient safety and the delivery of integrated, people-centered care, amongst others”.
World Health Day comes this year at a time when the entire globe is struggling to contain the spread of novel coronavirus. Prioritizing and protecting the health care workforce is critical now — not only because their own lives are at risk, but also because patients rely on them to continue providing care. As the coronavirus continues to spread in the weeks and months ahead the world is at risk of exhausting our nurses at a time when we need them most. It's incredibly important for us to honor and show gratitude towards all of the people working at the hospitals, that have to continued to go to work when a lot of people around the world are staying at home and they’re putting themselves at risk every single day to go into the hospitals and be around people that have the Coronavirus. They’re also working incredibly long hours. I imagine their stress levels are through the roof. It's so important  for us to celebrate these people that are doing things that I can’t imagine during this time. The Covid -19 pandemic has bought to plain sight the burden these care givers carry as they work so hard to ensure the rest of us enjoy good health and has exposed the fragile health system that we have been  previously been taking for granted.
A lot of us feel helpless at this present time. We feel helpless for our own health. We may feel more helpless than ever being in our homes and isolated from one another. What we can do is turn our attention away from the daily superficial things that we may be used to doing and reflect on what’s most important to us and how we can contribute to society.So today let's celebrate the nurses, midwives and all health workers who are heroically on the COVID-19 frontline, take a moment to thank them and show them your appreciation. for keeping us healthy.They are your neighbors, friends, and family. The majority of frontline health workers are women. Without them, there would be no health services for millions of families worldwide.They are the backbone of effective health systems and often come from the very communities they serve. Let’s remember that now more than ever, we must play our part, too, and do all within our power to keep critical healthcare workers safe. This  is not only the right thing to do, we owe it to them today and everyday.

In This Tilted World

Before lockdown often seeked forms of isolation
Beyond the hiss and roar of civilization.
I'd sit by windows open, watch the shadows creep
As the moon sailed in and out of clouds,
And as the night grew ever deeper
Would listen to the hooting of owls,
I'd lie and wonder, find peace among the darkness
Instead of feeling locked up, thinking there was no way out.

I'd wait for a lover to call, with a key of their own
To deliver the taste and milk of human kindness,
After times sometimes got filled with hopelessness
Would arrive and fill my heart with gladness,
Leading me from despair to hope
As the skies gleamed and the trees swayed,
Penetrating my senses with smiles so radiant
Whispering secrets, releasing calming scent.

Sometimes cool or intense as fire
Solving problems, as incense dispersed,
Outside on the streets,voices heard dearly
Tempered by the Sun's warm embrace;
Now the air is thick with quietness
The whole world seems to be in mourning,
But they say there's a God somewhere
Beyond the silence, I can almost hear her laughing.

Tony Benn (3/4/25 - 14/3/14) - Will and Testament

Tony Benn spoke out  about the greedy among us, the multinationals, against wars for profit. A champion of the abolition of the monarchy who supported any strike that was going. he stood shoulder to shoulder with us all. with unfaltering belief and abiding determination,  with his voice clearly saying that the powerful should always be held to account.
 He was one of the most important figures on the socialist left in Britain and there was hardly  ever been an important working class gathering that did not tried to secure Benn as a speaker. And whenever possible he would speak.
He was for decades the most independent-minded, powerful and passionate voice at Westminster, and the man whose crusading zeal led to the new law which allowed him to renounce his own peerage and return to the House of Commons.He utterly ignored his own personal prospects in order to get his message across.
Tony was an inspiration to a whole generation of socialists and activists  whose radical vision of a better, fairer society continues to inspire today.He was a rare breed indeed, who offered genuine ideas, based on unwavering principles and convictions. A man of great honesty and integrity. The world remains poorer without his warm spirit.
We must continue his deeds, set about building a genuine alternative to capitalism. On the torch of his belief in a better world and his determination , there lies a world where politics is not the language of brute force.
With his articulated voice Tony Benn delivered a vision of the possible, a tireless fighter for peace, justice and equality his legacy remains as strong as ever.

"There is in every human heart from the beginning of time there have been two flames burning, the flame of anger against injustice and the flame of hope that you can build a better world. And those two flames are burning in our hearts today, in the hearts and minds of millions of people. " - Tony Benn

Dare to be a Daniel, was the title chosen by Tony Benn for his early memoir, the first lines of the following poem are from an old salvation Army hymn that had been sung to him by his parents. I try to keep faith, dare to be different. 

Dare to be a Daniel,
Dare to stand alone,
Dare to have a purpose firm,
And dare to let it know.

Dare to stand with the voiceless,
the occupied daily denied,
stand shoulder to shoulder,
with  devoted  words of meaning,
committed breaths carrying no fear.

Seed the earth with love,
persistent grains of freedoms cry,
move forward with language of hope,
in blazing movements of united flow.

Seek out the hallmarks of truth and justice,
drink from the vessels of life,
keep faith as our changeless songs hum out,
in fearless cry, together we right their wrongs.

On the breeze, our voices lift,
for tomorrows bright sun to shine again,
leave footprints by rivers' wave of friendliness,
in flows of solidarity and stealth.

No Sympathy for Boris Johnson

I’m seeing a lot of sympathetic ‘he’s only human!’ ‘he’s doing the best he can!’ ‘aww he’s clapping for the NHS, he’s good at heart’ type posts for our Prime Minister 'Bojo the Clown ' Johnson so I’ve compiled a list of reminders why you should NOT feel sorry for Johnson (or any Tory for that matter) at this time of national crisis :
 
1, He received early warnings from the World Health Organisation of the severity of COVID-19 and the need for immediate social distancing/lockdown measures and ignored them, instead telling us to wash our hands to the tune of ‘happy birthday’. Lives will be lost due to his inaction.

2. His slow actions in implementing a lockdown have set us weeks behind other European countries; countries where doctors are now forced to supply respirators only to those most likely to survive as they simply don’t have the resources to treat everyone. Our NHS is pushed to its limit now, weeks before our case numbers are due to hit peak. He has slowed our progress and risked the collapse of the NHS when we need it most.

3, He scoffed at the mention of ‘closing pubs’ and ‘employing police to the streets’ DAYS before implementing these procedures. Wondering why people didn’t take the sudden lockdown seriously?

4. Lockdown and forced closures occurred after St Patrick’s day - many went out to celebrate regardless of the virus panic because Johnson failed to force closures of public spaces in time.

5. He told people to ‘stop going the pub’ before forcing pubs/bars/restaurants/cafes to close, meaning businesses couldn’t claim on their insurance. Your favourite local independents probably won’t survive this.

6. He brazenly ignored expert advise to brag about shaking hands (?) with patients - this sent mixed messages to the public and gave the ‘it’s just a bad cold!’ crew validation. Why practice social distancing if the PM isn’t going to?

7. The Tory party has a track record for drastically cutting NHS funding, leaving it on the brink of collapse. Tories stood outside no.10 last night and clapped for the NHS - Tories also clapped the day they voted against giving NHS workers a pay rise.

8. The workers his party deemed ‘unskilled’ are now deemed ‘key workers’, risking infection daily to keep the country afloat for - in almost all cases - no extra pay.

9. His refusal to protect construction workers’ wages is leading to overcrowded building sites, risking infection for workers and their families - this is NOT essential work.

10. That £350 million promised to the NHS by Brexit campaigners - the face of which was Boris himself - where is it???

11. Jeremy Corbyn produced redacted documents indicating that the Tories were essentially selling the NHS - Johnson did not deny this.

12. He made fun of Corbyn’s ‘magic money tree’ claiming funds to help house the homeless and improve the NHS simply didn’t exist. By Thursday, all homeless in the country are expected to be housed and 80% of wages paid to support businesses through the pandemic.

13. They stood by and watched as billionaire scumbag Richard Branson successfully sued the NHS.

14. He lied about parking fees for NHS staff being necessary - it took a GLOBAL PANDEMIC to get them free parking.

15. He reduced public transport operations before offering wage subsidies and forcing closures, leading to dangerously overcrowded buses and trains.

16. Remember the NHS nurses and doctors sobbing on your timelines, begging that you don’t vote for the Tories and their cuts? We’re paying for failing them with our lives and theirs.

17. He callously went for the herd immunity strategy to ‘protect the economy’, with the elderly and sick paying the price. Johnson knew he was experimenting with lives, telling us that ‘many more families are going to lose loved ones before their time’. Many of these lost lives would have been preventable.

18. When Johnson developed a cough and fever he got  a test for the new coronavirus. Most other Britons wont be offered one.
His government  is now under fire for failing to keep its promise to increase the amount of testing being done for COVID- 19.  Wednesday  was the  biggest day to day rise yet in deaths among the virus, to 2,352.
The death total in Wales is now 98 with an increase of 29 in the last 24 hours. The UK governments target for 10,000 tests a day was again missed with 9,793. tests performed. 4,234  of those were positive. It is now more than clear, that  Johnson will be remembered for his handling of  Covid-19.

As the coronavirus crisis carries on, people dying every day. While we mourn who has passed, please keep strong and try and stay safe, stay at home to stop coronavirus from spreading.
And remember that  thanking Johnson for his present leadership is like thanking a thief for returning your empty purse after stealing all the money out of it. Coronavirus wasn’t preventable but the rapid spread of it and the criminal underfunding of the NHS was. Remember to hold him accountable when this is all over.

To all NHS workers and care workers. Thank you

30th anniversary of Anti - Poll Tax Riots .

Thirty years ago today, on  31st March 1990  people took to the streets of London and fought  back against Margaret Thatchers'  hated  and controversial  ideological driven 'Community Charge', which was first  introduced in Scotland in 1989, and the following year  the flat rate tax was then introduced in England and Wales in 1990, leading to a massive backlash, and widely condemned at the time by social campaigners as it meant the rich now paid the same rate of tax as the poor. The main objections were the fact that the same amount was paid by everyone, regardless of their ability to pay, and that liability was determined by being on the electoral roll. Thus it was dubbed the 'Poll Tax'. Thatcher was famously stubborn,  and refused to reconsider.
She should have, because ,the introduction of the poll tax was widely unpopular from the outset, and increased when tax rates set by many local councils turned out to be much higher than initially predicted resulting in Thatcher's increased unpopularity. Local groups opposed to the tax , known  as Anti-Poll Tax Unions sprung up across Britain, encouraging non payment, organising protests, and resisting bailiffs. But I remember the Labour Party at the time  shamefully announcing at their 1988 conference that they would not support those who refused to pay.
However despite of this failure a number of groups were created by activists on the left to support the non-payment of the tax and assist those who experienced legal troubles as a result of non-payment. The most important of these groups was the All Britain Anti-Poll Tax Federation (ABAPTF), organised by Militant, which used the local trade unions to help build a campaign of non-payment. The Socialist Workers Party, the other major far left organisation in Britain at the time, had a much more ambivalent attitude towards non-payment and the ABAPTF, which allowed Militant to become the dominant group campaigning against the Poll Tax. Outside of the Trotskyist far left, several anarchist groups also supported non-payment, especially the Anarchist Communist Federation who produced a pamphlet called Beating the Poll Tax (ACF 1990). People were encouraged not to stump up the money under the slogan "Can Pay, Won't Pay."
On this day, over 250,000 people sweeped into London, for many people it was not a case of wanting to demonstrate, it was a case of having too. There was no choice, this cruel tax would have seriously impacted on peoples lives.Most people on the day of this demonstration, arrived unaligned - ordinary people, families, pensioners, the unemployed, students, black  and white, all united as one to fight against this immoral tax.
The overriding opinion of the time,is that what started as a peaceful protest, with an almost carnival feel to it against an illegal tax was quickly turned into a bloody battle  by uniformed thugs acting under Thatcher's orders, with aided and abetted by agent provocateurs.Police shut an over-full Trafalgar Square at 2.30pm and blocked off either end of Whitehall, leading to a mass sit-in near the entrance to Downing Street.  After requests to move along were ignored, they began to arrest demonstrators.
 At 4pm, the use of  charged mounted police aggravated the situation, leading to many peaceful bystanders  with heads streaming with blood. A very frightening experience. as mounted police began to push marchers out to the corners of the square, skirmishes began. Police vans were struck and officers were pelted with building materials, while a fire broke out at the adjacent South African embassy.
 Later, police pushed demonstrators out of Trafalgar Square, sending some towards Soho and away from their transport near the river.  Some marchers, angered by police tactics, overturned and set cars alight, and smashed a number of shop windows.some looting began, and small groups began skirmishing with police, such was the anger and rage unleashed. I for one will never condemn the anger unleashed on this day in 1990, it is the inevitable  result of what happens when you push people to far..
By the end of the day, 339 people were arrested (mainly for public order offences) and 86 people were injured. Out of 2,198 police officers on duty, 374 of them had been injured, with 58 requiring hospital treatment. Materially, there were around 250 reports of property damage as well,  the cost of which was later estimated at £400,000.
To this day many people  lay the responsibility of the violence that happened on this day, firmly on the shoulders of Thatcher and her government. Despite the demonisation of the protesters in the mass media,  people still refused to pay, the campaign  flourished, culminating in millions of people's non payment, bailiffs  were resisted, courts unable to cope because of opposition and active resistance as more and more people said "can't pay, won't pay"
It would see the Poll Tax  becoming uncollectable  and unviable and eventually being destroyed, the tax was abolished in 1993 some £2bn in arrears.Thatcher’s popularity was at an all time low, the poll ratings of the Tories were dire and sections of the Tory Party – representing the interests of the ruling class – decided she had to go along with her “flagship” policy. It was Thatcher’s refusal to back down over the poll tax that ultimately brought her downfall..
Thatcher resigned in November 1990 and on 21 March the poll tax was abolished , and Thatcher's  successor John Major announcing its replacement by the  more progressive council tax, which at least took some account into peoples ability to pay, which  is  still in operation to this day. In her own memoirs she cited the abandonment of the poll tax as “one of the greatest victories for these people [the working class – especially anti-poll tax campaigners] ever conceded by a Conservative government.”
Many years  later, the same simmering resentment towards the Conservative Government still exists. It seems that the tories have still not learnt from  their past mistakes,with  the introduction of  , universal credit and other horrors. The resistance to the  Poll Tax is  a reminder to all people who say it is impossible to fight back and that with clear. purpose and united mobilisation, it is possible to  defeat the forces of reaction
.

Poll Tax Riot 1990

Thatcher Poll Tax Riots 1990

44th anniversary of Land Day

Today, 30th March, is Land Day in Palestine and is marked by Palestinians wherever they live. Land Day is held on the anniversary of March 30, 1978,when Palestinian villages and cities across the country witnessed mass demonstrations against the states plans to expropriate 2,000 hectares of land in and around the Arab villages of Araba and Sakhnin as a part of a plan to "Judaise the Galilee".Israel's Galilee region. In coordination with the military, some 4,000 police officers were  dispatched  to quell the unrest.As demonstrators blocked roads and shouted slogans such as "these villages belongs to us, not to Israel", they were met with live ammunition from the Israeli army killing six protesters - Khayr Muhammad Yasin, Raja Hussein Abu Riya, Khader And Khalila, Khadija Juhayna, Muhammad Yusuf Taha and Rafat Zuhairi, leaving over one hundred injured by state security forces,  after simply calling for equality and recognition, and  their right of return.
The Day of the land - or Land Day marked the first mass mobilization of Palestinians within Israel against internal colonialism and land theft. It also signalled the failure of Israel to subjugate Palestinians who remained in their towns and villages, after around 700,000 of them were either expelled or forced to flee battles or massacres committed by Zionist armed groups in 1948.It's commemoration is a reaffirmation that the Palestinians who remained in the area on which Israel was declared in 1948, are an inseperable part of the Palestinian people and their struggle.
This important day in Palestinian history commemorates the Palestinians sense of belonging to a people, to a cause and a country, to stand united against racial oppression and rules of apartheid,and the discriminatory practices of the Israeli government, giving continual potency to the Palestinians cause , its quest for justice and Palestinian rights, and its resistance to injustice,who never cease to fight for their land while holding passionately to their history and identity. It is the right of return, recognised in the United Nations Resolution 194, that drives Palestinians to continue with the commemoration of Land Day - regardless of their geographical location.
The day is commemorated  annually by Palestinians in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem and further afield in refugee camps and among the Palestinian diaspora worldwide, with demonstrations, marches and by planting olive and fruit trees. Land Day is typically met with violent Israeli repression.
Land Day continues to be poignantly relevant as Israel continues to confiscate land, expand their colonies, and continue to build their illegal settlements in flagrant violation of all international conventions, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention and international humanitarian law. There are currently more than 65 Israeli laws that discriminate against Palestinian Arab citizens in Israel, and Palestinian residents of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The recent approval of Israel’s Nation State Law came to cement this apartheid and the second-class status of Palestinians.
But 2020, for the first year since 1976, Palestinians will not be holding a Land Day commemorative march, due to the fear of further spreading the coronavirus COVID-19 in the crowded Palestinian Occupied Territories.
Every year, Palestinian citizens of Israel, and Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza and abroad, commemorate Land Day with marches and remembrance. Land Day 2020 coincides with the two year anniversary of the launch of the weekly Great March of Return demonstrations in Gaza.
Through these demonstrations, Palestinians have been demanding their right to return to the land that is now known as Israel, as well as an end to the 13 year blockade imposed on Gaza by Israel and Egypt.
The Palestinian refugees in Gaza  hoped through the weekly non-violent protests to regain access to land, now in Israel, from which their ancestors were forced to flee during the country’s creation in 1948. Instead, the protesters were shot with live ammunition, killing hundreds and maiming tens of thousands. This went on weekly for nearly two years, with no repercussions for the Israeli soldiers who repeatedly shot non-violent Palestinian demonstrators.
According to Gaza medical officials, 215 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli soldiers firing from the other side of the border during the protests, with another 8,000 suffering gunshot wounds. In the past few months, the weekly protests have been smaller.
In 2019 U.N. Human Rights Council investigators said Israeli forces may have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity, with children and paramedics among the fatalities.
The total area of historical Palestine is 27, 000 square kilometres, 85% of which is under Israeli military control. Therefore only 15% of the ancestral land is available for indigenous Palestinians to cultivate their land. The Palestinian people continue to risk violence and even death in their struggle for freedom, justice and equality. The UK solidarity movement must do everything we can to amplify the Palestinian people's call for an end to the siege of Gaza and the implementation of the right of return, as enshrined in international law.
So far, nine out of the 97 coronavirus cases confirmed in the Palestinian territories have been confirmed in the Gaza Strip. Gaza’s hospitals, which were overwhelmed during the protests by gunshot wounds and amputations, are now gearing up for the challenge of containing the coronavirus in the coastal enclave of two million Palestinians, many living in refugee camps.
 Amid the pandemic, people around the world  are using social media to honour Land Day. With much of the world now in lockdown, for most Palestinian people this experience is nothing new. Before the coronavirus outbreak spread around the world, a UN report identified that “over two million Palestinians – around 40 per cent of the population” face:
"conflict and violence, displacement, and denial of access to livelihoods, among other threats; entrenched levels of food insecurity… [and] inadequate access to essential services for the most vulnerable households "
The UN estimated that around “three-quarters” of those people live in Gaza. Israel’s blockade of this area and violence against its inhabitants has already “devastated public infrastructure” and “disrupted and overwhelmed basic services”. On 23 March, B’Tselem warned:
"The spread of COVID-19 in the Gaza Strip will be a massive disaster, resulting entirely from the unique conditions created by more than a decade of Israeli blockade: a failing healthcare system, extreme poverty, dependence on humanitarian aid, dysfunctional infrastructure and harsh living conditions that compromise public health – even before exposure to the new virus – combine with overcrowding to form a nightmare scenario. " 

Coronavirus now affects us all. But in the midst of our personal chaos and confusion, the challenges we face seem easy in comparison to those facing people in Palestine. Not only has a US-based global tracker removed an entire country, but the horrific situation people in the occupied territories face trying to deal with the outbreak mean they need our solidarity now more than ever.  

This year, amidst the Covid-19 lockdown, for the first time ever Land Day will be  solemnly commemorated inside Palestinian homes. with gatherings everywhere in the world banned in order to combat the spread of coronavirus, the Palestinians decided that the best way to keep this memory alive is to raise the red, white, green and black Palestinian flag on rooftops and balconies of every Palestinian home. Palestinians are sadly used to lockdowns and curfews, which is perhaps why so many have taken it in their stride.  

Meanwhile, the Israeli regime is continuing to remove Palestinians from their land even exploiting the pandemic to do so. House demolitions in East Jerusalem continue, settlement building hasn't halted and there is even reported to be a spike in settler attacks on Palestinian properties in the West Bank. 
On this important day in the Palestinian struggle for liberation,their collective narrative - one that emphasises Palestinian resistance to Israeli colonisation and sumud (steadfastness), in solidarity I will continue to join other people of conscience in supporting the global led Boycott, Divestment and sanctions (BDS)  campaign, intensifying our collective efforts to hold Israel accountable for its crimes against the Palestinian people in violation of international law. 
In particular, I call on the EU and member states to recognise a Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and ban the importation of goods from illegal settlements, as well as warn European companies operating there to immediately cease their operations. Respecting today the Palestinians inside Israel, the Israeli-Occupied Territories of the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza, and those in exile, who mark Land Day and view it as an assertion of the Palestinians' right to return to their homeland. From the rivers  to the sea one day Palestine will be free. For now the struggle continues.

Here's Why Palestinians in Gaza have been marching for two years.

 To our Land - Mahmoud Darwish

To our land,
and it is the one near the word of god,
a ceiling of clouds
To our land,
and it is the one far from the adjectives of nouns,
the map of absence
To our land,
and it is the one tiny as a sesame seed,
a heavenly horizon ... and a hidden chasm
To our land
and it is the one poor as a grouses wings
holy books . . . and an identity wound
To our land,
and it is the one surrounded with torn hills,
the ambush of a new past
To our land, and it is a prize of war,
the freedom to die from longing and burning
and our land, in its bloodied night
is jewel that glimmers for the far upon the far
and illuminates whats outside it . . .
As for us , inside,
we suffocate more !

Translated by Fady Joudah

Walt Whitman (31/5/1819 -26/3/1892) - This is what you shall do.

Remembering Walt Whitman, American poet, essayist, journalist who died  on this day in 1892, with his timeless advice on living a vibrant and rewarding life. It''s an excerpt from the preface of the 1855 edition  to his verse collection Leaves of Grass. 
We are currently living in unsettling times, so thought I'd share a beautiful quote , that  contains a truth that remains undiminished since it was originally written..

" This is what you shall do; Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body."

Here's some earlier posts of mine on Walt :-

https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2017/05/happy-birthday-walt-whitman-legendary.html


https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2016/05/walt-whitman-3151819-263-92-poets-to.html?spref=pi

Take Action for Gaza :End the Siege

Over the weekend we heard devastating  news of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Gaza,
According to Deputy Health Minister Youssef Abulreesh, the two cases are  Palestinian men who returned from Pakistan through Gaza's Rafah on Thursday, March 21 and were placed under quarantine. On Saturday, March 22 their tests were confirmed positive for COVID-19. The two are now in a field hospital in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. More than 1,210 people haven placed in quarantine in hospitals, hotels and schools. 
The Gaza strip is the largest open air prison in the world. It's Palestinian population, many of whom are refugees expelled from  their homes during the creation of Israel in 1948. Israel has carried out three major military assaults (in 2009-09. 2012 and 2014) against Gaza, unleashing the force  of the regions most powerful army and sole nuclear power, on one of the most densely populated and poorly defended refugee areas in the world. In the 2014 attack 2,251 Palestinians were killed, among them 1,462 civilians and 551 children.
Gaza's two million residents most with claims to return to their homes, supported by international law are being asked to practice social distancing. This is impossible and the virus would spread like wildfire. Hamas has shut down restaurants, reception halls and Friday prayers at mosques, and any Palestinian returning from abroad are either being quarantined or are self-isolating. Though people have been ordered to only leave their homes to buy food, there is high risk that the virus will spread very rapidly in the densely populated enclaves and refugee camps of Gaza. Israel have responded to the confirmed cases by closing its borders  with Palestine (including the West Bank) completely.
The blockade has caused grinding poverty resulting in more than two-thirds of Gazan families being dependent on aid. Due to fuel shortages and damaged electrical infrastructure, there are power shortages  for up to 16 hours per day in most areas of Gaza. 70 percent of households in Gaza receive running water for only 6 to 8 hours every two to four days. Over 90 percent of the water extracted  from the Gaza aquifer is unsafe for human consumption, while needed filtration equipment cannot be imported to Gaza.Nearly 90 million litres of untreated or partially treated sewage is dumped into the sea off Gaza every day, while equipment needed to build new or maintain existing treatment facilities are banned from entering Gaza. As a result of  the blockade the economy,  education, medical care, agricultural and fishing industries have worsened, in some cases in near collapse. 
Gaza's wealth is largely unreachable s a direct result of Israel's occupation and blockade. Most agricultural land is located in places declared closed military areas. Access to traditional   fishing grounds is restricted by the Israeli Navy. Development of their natural gas reserves is forbidden by the Israeli government. All of this while the movement of people into and out of Gaza is severely restricted and both the import of goods and the export of products from Gaza is strictly limited. 
Israel has supplied Gaza with only a few hundred COVID-19 tests for its almost 2 million people. Gaza only has 65 life-saving ventilators (19 of which are already in use) and most of the equipment used in hospitals is in very poor condition and there are not enough adequate quarantine facilities to deal with the virus. It's a catastrophe in the making. Health officials warn that containment and treatment under the Israeli blockade will be impossible. This is truly a nightmare situation. Israel will not be able to deflect the blame if this nightmare scenario turns into a reality , that it created and made no effort to prevent. In the shadow of the global pandemic, these conditions in Gaza are a recipe for a disaster. Yet they are not the result of some unfortunate accident, but are are a result from deliberate Israeli state policy, consciously designed and maintained to achieve Gaza's, oppression, isolation and disintegration.
It is difficult to identify a date when the siege on Gaza began. The population of Gaza swelled in the aftermath of the Nakba, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forced from their homes in 1948 and ended up in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and beyond. In 1967, Israeli forces invaded the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, the Golan Heights and the Sinai Peninsula, marking the beginning of the military and civilian occupation of Gaza. Palestinians have been subject to military rule since 1967, while Israelis who settled there were provided the protections of civil law. Following the first Intifada in 1987 Israel tightened its external and internal control and by 1994 it had established a fortified external control zone around Gaza through fencing, walls and militarized zones and imposed strict limitations on entry and exit, thus beginning a policy of isolating Gaza.
This crisis has been building since Israel's life-threatening blockade began 13 years ago, after the capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit by Hamas fighters, but it is clear that the siege has been in effect for decades:. 
Gaza is a  segregated, debilitated and subjugated colony of Israel. The occupation writ large is reminiscent of apartheid South Africa, the medinas of French colonies, the indigenous reservations across North America and other colonial regimes. Gaza represents an extreme form of settler colonialism—the conversion of a Bantustan into an open-air prison. Israel manufactures humanitarian crisis through its siege to create permanent isolation and deprivation, which is supported by the international community through its political inaction and its supplying of humanitarian aid in spite of the Israeli government’s legal obligations.
Critics of Israeli policy have long expressed a concern that the occupation relies on collective punishment, which is prohibited by international law. De-development and the siege, however, represent a kind of collective torture, forcing Palestinians to cope and endure in conditions that, while met by resilience, no group should be forced to endure. This torture takes the form of a frontal attack on the physical and mental health of Palestinians, a denial of the basic requirements of medical care, sustenance, community and mental health through infrastructures of dispossession.
Due to the Israeli siege, the healthcare system in Gaza is totally unprepared to deal with this pandemic. Palestinians in Gaza are living in crisis even without the Coronavirus, and the almost inevitable outbreak of the virus is essentially another nail in the coffin from the Israeli state. It is absolutely crucial that the Israeli siege on Gaza comes to an immediate end, and the 2 million people trapped on the Gaza Strip are finally allowed access to reliable electricity and medical aid. As long as Israel maintains the siege Palestinians will remain prisoners in their own land.  Palestinians like all people in the  the world, want to live in freedom. The pandemic's arrival threatens to make Gaza even more unlivable under Israeli siege. 
In this most moment when people in more privileged countries can just slightly relate to a life in confinement, separated from loved ones, uncertain about basic needs and worrying about their collective future, it is imperative to think of the inhabitants of Gaza who have suffered much worse for decades, and are at the risk of a far more devastating blow now that this terrifying pandemic has reached their shores. Please take action by writing to the Foreign Office. It's imperative for the UK to use its diplomatic power to insist the inhumane siege in Gaza ends immediately, and for Palestinians to have access to the healthcare they need.

https://palestinecampaign.eaction.online/endthesiege

There is silence in the streets.

There is silence in the streets, long nights of uncertainty
There is power in music, collective threads of solidarity,
Vibrations non-conforming, searching for different realities
Where laborious thoughts keep on gathering,
There are joyful rivers  and  flowing streams
There is our shared humanity, among days of disbelief,
In Gaza  people daily facing unrelentless suffering
Waiting for the darkness to  be  overcome,
There is despair woven into the landscape of life
Where countries are scarred by war and division,
The lonely and forgotten ensnared by disease
There are so many things we fail to see,
In this world, there is pain so great and terrible
Paths laden  with discomfort and so much fear,
There are times when no reason arrives at all
Weary now, timid with all that we collectively face,
There are those that reach beyond this bleakness
Beyond the shattered hopes, gloomy hours in isolation,
There is still beauty, new dawns approaching
The continuing intermingling of minds persistence,
Where our love can heal, holding on to mutual beliefs
Where the affliction  of  existential life can cease.

Coronoavirus Global Solidarity

“We cannot forget migrants, we cannot forget undocumented workers, we cannot forget prisoners in prisons.” Dr Michael J Ryan, Executive Director, WHO Health Emergencies Programme on why we mustn’t forget the vulnerable and excluded when tackling Coronavirus.

Doctors of the World is committed to helping these groups. That’s why they've launched their Coronoavirus Global Solidarity Fund. This emergency fund will help keep their  services for the most vulnerable running through, and beyond, the current crisis. Please, if you can, do give today .

We’re all worried and a little scared.

Coronavirus is making us all feel nervous, agitated and worried. It is an unprecedented time in our recent history and we need to come together to overcome this terrifying pandemic.

This is all putting a great strain on healthcare around the world. We know from experience that when this happens it is often the most vulnerable groups of people that are hit hardest.

 Doctors of the World, are working with their colleagues and partners to do all they  can to mitigate the impact of this global pandemic.

As you can imagine, this costs money. That’s why they are asking us to give to their Coronoavirus Global Solidarity Fund. They will use this money to continue to provide our services and help those most in need.

Some of this will help them continue our ‘business as usual’ work and some will be for new projects that arise from the emergency.

They  have already translated advice for patients in 20 languages. These were produced in partnership with the Red Cross, Migrant Help and Clear Voice at no charge to patients. As guidance changes, we will update these.

As Dr Ryan ends by saying:

‘We’re in this together, and I hope we can finish this together’

Please, if you can, give generously now. Together we can help those who need us most.

With confirmed cases crossing 200,000 and more than 8,000 people already dead, the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak seems to have launched a war against humanity.

The worst affected countries are mainland China, with 3,237 deaths, out of 80,894 cases, of whom 69,601 have been cured. Italy follows with 2,503 deaths, 31,506 cases, Iran 1,135 deaths, around 17,000 cases, Spain 558 deaths and 13,716 cases and France with 175 deaths and 7,730 cases. Turkey, Bangladesh, Moldova and Burkina Faso have all reported their first deaths.

The pandemic has resulted in countries imposing travel restrictions and shutting down major events, shops and schools. But this is not the time to panic.

History has proved that through sincere, firm and coordinated actions, the world community can surmount any challenge. The deadly virus can certainly be beaten back by solidarity within communities and within nations.

Robust, bold and effective containment and control measures initiated by most countries are already raising hopes that the tough times could be overcome.

Governments in Europe, Asia and North America have rolled out strong measures to put the brakes on the ferocious spread of the pandemic.

Now is the time for each one of us to respond to the worldwide coronavirus crisis by being in solidarity with others, across countries and continents  especially with those who are most vulnerable and most at risk  in order to fight COVID 19,

We live in an interwoven, interconnected world where an injury to one is truly an injury to all. We must confront the coronavirus with solidarity and fight for a society where the health of all is more important than profits for a few.

A pandemic  makes the slogan of solidarity literal: an injury to one is an injury to all. We become isolated, that makes us all vulnerable.

 We can protect ourselves and others by changing our behaviour, asking governments to act, and donating.

Now more than ever , we need one another.

We must build on the trust, relationships and power we have built  over years to support our communities at this time of unprecedented strain and stress.

While we may have to distance ourselves , we can increase our social solidarity, and our commitment to work together for the common  good, sharing the concept of mutual aid.

Also consider joining the online World against  racism rally  showing solidarity with the fight against racism. https://www.facebook.com/events/525590474784471/

These are scary times, I wish you and your loved ones well.

Please stay safe, stay strong, we will come through this.

Spring's Promise

A poem in celebration of the spring equinox

In the midst of  a frayed world
The hurried breaths of life,
Times of distrust and confusion
General malaise and  disruption,
The sap is rising, new life returns
As buds awaken from winter's sleep,
Spring embraces, weaves its great design
Like a shawl, that offers protection,
From darkness we greet the light
Blossoms emerge from slumber,
And eggs dyed red as the womb
Are offered as gifts.

We hail the green goddess
Salute nature's renewal,
The spring equinox we celebrate
Planting desires, scattering seeds,
Time of rebirth and days of hope
To refresh us with new beginnings,
Of spirit and wonder.
The earth stands afresh
Hares leap, Ostara walks,            *
Flowers bloom, the sun kisses
Moistens and refreshes,
As we praise the day
And bless the night,
Honor and express
Sustain one another. 

( Ostara or Eostre , was the Goddess of Dawn (Saxon) who was responsible for bringing spring each year.)    


Tom Waits - You Can Never Hold Back Spring

New World Disorder

Feet become restless
In chaos and confusion,
With minds plagued by avarice
Heedless of humanity.

As parliament pends closure
And maroons the barren land,
Immoral forces sweep the nation
As old and infirm suffer the sting.

In desperation and despair
When guidance is  pivotal,
A yellow 2 legged centipede
Crawls with frivolous complacency.

Social distancing becomes the new order
Songs of light arrive to comfort,
Beyond the vortex of feverous fire
the crying of the living, the solemnity of the dead.

Remembering Rachel Corrie, still not forgotten ( 10/4/79 - 16/3/03 )

It has become customary  of me to pay tribute to the passing of  Rachel Aliene Corrie, 
a courageous  23 year old American Peace activist and humanitarian  from Olympia, Washington who was crushed to death by an Israeli military, caterpiller D 912 bulldozer in 2003, while undertaking non-violent direct action trying to protect the home of  innocent  Palestinian  homes from demolition in Rafah in the Gaza strip. whilst serving with the ISM - International Solidarity Movement.
Rachel had come to Gaza during part of her senior college assignement that connected her home of Olympia with Rafah, Rachel  had engaged with other International Solidarity Movement activists in efforts to prevent continued demolition of Palestinian homes in operations that the Israeli military claimed were aimed at eliminating weapons smuggling tunnels.
 She was horrified at the destruction she witnessed. Homes were destroyed and people detained and killed on a daily basis. Rachel recorded what she observed and felt in letters and emails to her family. In one email she wrote, "Now the Israeli army has actually dug up the road to Gaza, and both of the major checkpoints are closed. This means that Palestinians who want to go and register for their next quarter at university can't. People can't get to their jobs and those who are trapped on the other side can't get home, and internationals who have a meeting tomorrow in the West Bank, wont make it."
In another email she wrote, "Just feel sick to my stomach a lot from being doted on all the time, very sweetly, by people who are facing doom... Honestly a lot of the time the sheer kindness of the people here, coupled with the overwhelming evidence off the willful destruction of their lives, makes it seem unreal to me."

On 16 March 2003 in the Gaza Strip's southern city of Rafah, Corrie stood  before an Israeli bulldozer whilst wearing a bright orange fluoresent jacket and using a megphone in hopes of stopping it from  demolishing the home of a local Palestinian  family.

Corrie believed that her foreign features and blonde hair would deter the bulldozer, but she was wrong. She was crushed to death when the bulldozer driver ran over her repeatedly, according to witnesses.

The people of Gaza received news of her murder with grief and horror, describing her as a "martyr "and staging a massive funeral for the American activist. Since then the name Rachel Corrie has become synonymous with the Palestinian cause, an icon of global solidarity withe the people of Palestine. Her name was chosen as the name for an Irish aid ship that set out to Gaza in 2010, while her story has been told in several documentary films  portraying Palestinian suffering. 
So today day I reflect upon Rachel's brave stand in Gaza and her courage to resist, and all  those who continue to live and struggle there. And all those passionate change makers across the globe who each day act with conscience and work tirelessly to try and make a difference.
Justice has never been served for her, along with many others who have been killed under the Israeli occupation. In 2005 Corrie's parents filed a civil lawsuit against the state of Israel, for a symbolic one U.S dollar in damages, to make the point that the case was about justice for their daughter and the Palestinian cause, she had been defending. Charging Israel with not conducting a full and credible investigation into the case and with responsibility for her death.  In August 2012, an Israeli court rejected their suit.
Her death they said was a " regrettable accident " for which the state of Israel was not responsible. According to Judge Oded Gershon of Haifa Court she had " put herself in a dangerous situation " whilst dressed in a bright orange and acting as a human shield, jacket when she was crushed to death. Israel to all intents and purpose declared itself not guilty of her murder. giving its stamp of approval to the flawed and illegal practices of the Israeli military. the verdict  failed to hold Israel's military accountable for its continuing violation  of human rights. 
The home Rachel died trying to protect was razed to the ground, along with hundreds of others.  and today Israel still acts with impunity, There is still no justice when their courts show such contempt for justice's meaning. There is no justice either , when the Gaza strip remains a sealed open prison, there is no justice when countless Palestinian families  are made homeless, their houses destroyed. Where is the justice for them or their friends after the uneccessary death of their loved ones.
Remember that what is happening in Palestine is no inexplicable cycle of violence where each side is as bad as one another.It is no more than an equal  cycle of violence than that seen in apartheid South Africa. Being against this injustice is not anti-Jewish, as is standing up to the British Government's injustices is seen as being anti- British.
Rachel Corrie understood these links and connections and would have known about an active Israeli peace movement, and of the hundreds  of Israeli soldiers who refuse to serve in the occupied territories, many of whom have been jailed for their stance. Israel has invaded Palestinian land in breach of international law. Rachel died while attempting to prevent a demolition of a home, a common practice that the  Israeli army, uses as a collective punishment that has left more than 12,000 Palestinians homeless since the beginning of the second uprising in September 2000. A practice that violates International Law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention.
So here's to the memory and bravery of Rachel Corrie  a true American hero,who courageously died whilst living her dreams, staying human and showing her solidarity with her beloved friends, the Palestinians. who continues to inspire activism and compassion across the globe, her  spirit lives on, challenging us to get out of our comfort zones and act with our convictions.
Rachel's death was tragic, but  brought the world's attention to the suffering and death of thousands of Palestinians. At least 6,500 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli occupation since 2000, so the international community must carry on fighting for their justice too, as well as that of Rachel's, the situation sadly in the West Bank and Gaza, still no different today.
The world must not stay silent, while the struggle continues against the demolition and occupation of Palestinian homes and lands, restrictions of movement, detentions, arrest, collective punishment, the siege of Gaza and the aggressive military attacks that continue  on a daily basis. Here is a link to the Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice set up in her memory. I for one will not forget  her , alongside the Palestinians  and by supporters of the Palestinian struggle around the world, as she  continues to remind us to be kind, generous anf, strong even in the most difficult of circumstances. 

https://rachelcorriefoundation.org/

I'd Rather Be Dancing (Rachel Corrie's Song ) -  Jim Page

The words of following song are based on actual letters Rachel wrote home to her parents, before she died.

. Genesis P-Orridge, 1950 – 2020: Uncompromising Artistic Provocateur

Genesis Breyer P-Orridge (born Neil Andrew Megson; 22 February 1950) the pioneering and boundary shifting English singer-songwriter, musician, poet, performance artist, occultist,  disciple of William S. Byrroughs, transgressive counter-cultural icon and a pioneer of radical performance has died aged 70. after  battling leukemia for 2½ years, the Dais Records label announced.
The label shared a statement from P-Orridge’s daughters Careese, and Genesse on their parent who identified as third gender, they wrote:

Dear friends, family and loving supporters, It is with very heavy hearts that we announce thee passing of our beloved father, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge
S/he had been battling leukemia for two and a half years and dropped he/r body early this morning, Saturday March 14th, 2020.
S/he will be laid to rest with h/er other half, Jaqueline “Lady Jaye” Breyer who left us in 2007, where they will be re-united.
Thank you for your love and support and for respecting our privacy as we are grieving.

Caresse & Genesse P-Orridge

#s/heisher/forever

P-Orridge was born in Victoria Park, Manchester on February 22 1950,, as Neil Andrew Megson and grew up in Essex. As a teenager, he attended Solihull School in Warwickshire, where he was interested in occultism, avant-garde art, radical politics and underground music.After being hospitalised aged 17 following a blackout they decided their life should be dedicated to art. They began to conduct ‘happenings’ designed to spark an “artistic revolution”. Such works were controversial – their Hull University magazine Worm, which published anything submitted without editorial interference, was banned for obscenity by the Student Union.
S/he left the University of Hull to join the Transmedia Explorations commune in London, leading lights of the counter-culture scene since 1967, leaving the commune after three months to found the controversial avant-garde art and improvisation music collective COUM Transmissions  with artist Cosi Fanni Tutti, inspired by the subversive prankery of thee dadaists and the situationists. COUM Transmissions founded its own counter-culture commune of artists and thinkers called the Ho-Ho Funhouse in a dockside warehouse and moved towards more theatrical performance art, such as purposefully turning up to play as gig with no instruments, or encouraging audiences to boo them offstage.Their 1976 exhibition at London’s Institute of Present-day Arts, titled Prostitution, scandalised the art world, and prompted Conservative MP Nicholas Fairbairn to denounce the group as “the wreckers of civilization”
It was during this time that s/he also began a friendship and correspondence with Beat writer William Burrroughs that wuld last until the authors death in 1997. Soon afterwardsr Genesis and Tutti branched out to form Throbbing Gristle in 1975 with Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson. The band was named after Yorkshire slang for an erect penis.They released "United "  b/w " "Zyclon B Zombie," their first single, on their own Industrial Records label"

Releasing their debut album The Second Annual Report in 1977. Crude, uncompromising and deliberately malicious, it was not always an easy listen, – based all-around a number of variations of the music Slug Bait and Maggot Loss of life, which in depth sadistic functions of violence and murder. Only 785 copies were being pressed, but the album was a critical affect on the industrial movement, a a lot more antagonistic cousin of punk. As a member of this seminal band, P.Orridge  contributed shock tactics and performance art with subversive, hybrid aesthetics, thus helping to define the nascent industrial genre as an adventurous and edgy one. The hugely influential group traded in harsh, grating confrontational music, white noise, primitive, based samples,  drum loops and spoken word poetry and disturbing visuals,  that often featured nudity, self- mutilation  and images of Concentration Camps were active from 1975 to 1981 and again from 2004 to 2010. Their third album, 1979's 20 Jazz Funk Greats is considered to be one of the most influential industrial albums of all time. A vast array of alternative acts, from My Bloody Valentine,;Killing Joke to Nine Inch Nails and Aphex Twin  and Ministry remain firmly in its debt.
The band collapsed in 1981 due to personal issues and P-Orridge went on to found the experimental “video group who does music” Psychic TV with Alternative TV’s Alex Fergusson. They embraced video art, psychedelia, electronica and punk. Delving further into P-Orridge’s interest in the occult, and fetishism they also utilised magical sigils, Tibetan instruments made of human thigh bones, and explored the teachings of LaVeyan Satainism; they hoped reclaim television as a form of eso terrorist” magick rather than a tool of establishment indoctrination, and scored a minimal hit with Godstar, a tribute to late Rolling Stone guitarist Brian Jones.

Psychic TV made their debut in 1982 at a four-day multimedia event in London and Manchester called the Final Academy, which featured artists including  William S Burroughs and Brion Gysin.
The band’s output was prolific – releasing much more than 100 albums, and entering the Guinness Reserve of World Data after issuing 14 dwell records in the room of 18 months. From 1988 onwards they became under the influence of acid house.
 P-Orridge was also a founding member  in 1981 of Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth  ' anti-cult'  TOPY gathered members of the industrial music subculture, artists and occultists, into a loose network with the aim of, in Genesis' words, "changing society through the magical transformation of individuals". TOPY was dedicated to the occult, chaos magic, and ultimately attacking British society,  who existed to promote a system ov functional, demystified magick, utilising both pagan and modern techniques..

With these projects, as well as their abundant  visual arty, P- Orridge, applied the cut and paste techniques of William S.Burrough and the occult philosophies of Aleister Crowley to cultural  work that aimed to corrupt and unsettle the habits of normative consensus society and brazenly confronting power and pushing the boundaries of acceptance wherever they could. “I am at war with the status quo of society and I am at war with those in control and power,” said Genesis in 1989. “I’m at war with hypocrisy and lies, I’m at war with the mass media.”
In  1992, Genesis’s dwelling in Brighton was raided by Scotland Yard’s Obscene Publications Squad after a  Channel 4 Dispatches programme claimed to have footage of P-Orridge abusing children in sex-magic rites. The  material was later found to be video performance artwork from the early 1980s – partly funded by Channel 4 itself, and featuring no children.programme.
Despite this the artist went into self-imposed exile in the US. Consistently pushing the boundaries of adventurous art, P.Orridge pioneered new ways of thinking around identity, gender and relationships and S/he met the performance artist Lady Jaye Breyer in the nineties. Together the legendary couple moved to New York and began a lifelong project of “pandrogeny”which  was Genesis's attempt to virtually "become" Jaye via physical and spiritual transfiguration Breyer and P-Orridge underwent numerous cosmetic, surgical, and medical treatments in order to approximate one another, thus finally merging into a single pandrogynous being named Breyer P-Orridge. “Pandrogeny as a concept is not about gender—it’s about the ending of all binary perception.It’s influenced by the allegory of the path of no distinction—that all definitions, distinctions, values, matters of what could be considered good, bad, delicious, or revolting are all human-made. They’re not innate. That’s true of identity, which includes gender.For for us it’s about erasing the need to even consider gender.”
This pandrogyny project was cut short when Breyer died of acute heart arrhythmia in 2007, an especially painful loss at a time when P-Orridge was beginning to receive highbrow acclaim,triggering a long cycle of grief  for h/er partner. Undergoing gender reassignment surgery in the mid-2000s and, according to a 2019 interview in the Los Angeles Times, preferred gender-neutral pronouns in part because of “a desire to include into conversations the voice of their longtime creative and romantic partner Jacqueline ‘Lady Jaye’ Breyer.
S/he had been diagnosed with chronic myelomonocytic leukemia in 2017,a year after Psychic TV recorded their final studio album. It was a diagnosis which s/he took on with the spirit only a true avant-garde, occultist could. Speaking to The New York Times in 2018, P-Orridge had this to say about her philosophy on life:“When you’ve got a terminal illness, you think about what your
legacy might be. My only answer is, we would hope that it would inspire people to see that they can do a life totally as they would like it to unfold. Live your life every day like a page in your book of life, and make that page as interesting as you can. Whenever you have a choice, say: Which is the better page in my book?”
TryMarie Losier’s documentary film The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye was released in 2011,

 and in 2016 the Rubin Museum of Art in New York hosted Try to Altar Everything an exhibition of P-Orridge’s paintings, sculptures and installations. In 2018 s/he published Brion Gysin: His Name Was Master, a collection of interviews and essays.
In 2003 P-Orridge had unveiled PTV3, a new band drawing on the legacy of Psychic TV. They released four albums and several EPs between 2007 and 2016. In 2018 they performed at Heaven in London.
P-Orridge is survived by two daughters, Genesse and Caresse, from a first marriage, to Paula Brooking, which ended in divorce.
A  daring authentic, uncompromising musical  pioneer, cultural engineer,  provocateur extraordinary, shapeshifting purveyor of the senses, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge is arguably one of the most important icons of Alternative Culture of the latter quarter of the 20th century and beyond who leaves a legacy of much richness, who remains a hugely influential figure on young musicians looking for new directions,a unique persona who has certainly inspired me,  may  s/he continue to find unconditional love as s/he travels into the infinite. Goodbye to this musical legend, there is beauty and there is ugliness, and angels and demons in every land we tread., Genesis will be missed deeply.

Throbbing Gristle - Almost a kiss

Throbbing Gristle - What a Day

Throbbing Gristle - Dream Machine

Psychic TV - Infinite Beat

Psychic TV - Pagan Day

Psychic TV - The Alienist

Psychic TV - Just Drifting (for Caresse)

Some basic things we can do to meet our fears and diminish our anxiety over Coronavirus.

We are ALL connected. The coronavirus is spreading across the world. It has reached pandemic proportions and we are facing.a global health crisis. It's a tough time for all of us.

From the United States to Italy, Iran to South Korea,  the epidemic is getting worse. sending countries into economic meltdown as markets whipsaw and panic buying leading to food shortages. .

Governments have issued new rounds of travel bans. Institutions, schools  and public places facing shutdown.

At the same time some politicians are using the crisis for political gain, but the virus itself, has no politics, does not discriminate and sees no borders.

Trustworthy health advice has never been  more vital. It could be the difference between life and death.

It is important to remember that there is currently no specific treatment for coronavirus.

Antibiotics do not help, as they do not work against viruses;.

Please note, each infected person will start being infectious after 12 to 24 hrs, showing symptoms after  5 to 12 days. They will infect  on average 2.6 other people

The public has a crucial role in containing the virus. and here are  some basic things we can do to meet our fears and diminish our anxiety:

Ignore conspiracy theories and peddlers of misinformation,  it's  so easy to feel scared and alone at times like this, that's why we need to ground ourselves in our collective strength and grow strong by caring for each other.

Practice social distancing, work from home,  people should avoid gathering in public places,and participate in gatherings virtually instead.

Stay at home as much as possible.

Cancel non essential appointments

Wash your hands often for at least 20 seconds.

Don’t touch your face.

Elbow bump, touch your heart, or gently bow instead of hugging or shaking hands.

Disinfect around you and buy what we need (just what we need).

Protect your immune system with plenty of fruits and vegetables and get caught up on sleep.

If you are sick and experiencing symptoms (coughing, fever, and shortness of breath, please stay home so that you do not get others sick.

Perhaps the most important message the coronavirus offers is that the natural world is conspiring to save us from ourselves, to slow our materialistic greed and reign in our aggressive, self-centered, short-term, and xenophobic tendencies.”

It feels strange and hard to refrain from social engagements when we are feeling anxious and the need to connect. But right now the best way we can support each other is by keeping each other healthy.

Think about how we can support each other and our neighbors while not being together in person.

Reach out to one another by phone, email, text message, facebook etc.

While many of us are decreasing our physical contact, we need one another more right now, not less.

Be kind to those who are working, who are doing the jobs  that care for life.

Notice them, thank them, help calm their anxieties.

Keep in mind that during times of crisis, those who are most vulnerable, the poor, the elderly, women and children .

Making sure older neighbours have enough food, shops are doing home deliveries, community organisation are checking in with people they know are struggling.

Please do not  panic, Spread the love.

We will get through this together.

Here is a link to  the latest information on the Novel Coronavirus from Public Health Wales

https://phw.nhs.wales/topics/latest-information-on-novel-coronavirus-covid-19/

Tory Hand Wash Out

Filthy Torys telling us to wash our hands with soap
Words of advice from those that offer no bloody hope,
Daily releasing immorality and stains so impure
With toxic, rotten, cruel, conscious ideology,
Sordid,vicious, ill-inclined, carrying the stench of evil
Creating  division, iniquity, infecting the land,
Places where no one is left with room to dream
Voices are denied, discounted, so easily excused ,
Where music has been stilled, no joy to be found
As people search for crumbs, some healing air,
Trapped and controlled  by usurpers who rule by stealth
Who could not give a fuck about the nations health,
Wherever they roam or walk just give offence
The simple fact is we can't trust the Conservatives,
As they continue to destroy essential services
Abandon care for many people in need,
Led by a bumbling narcissistic circus clown
How can we  trust them on coronovirus,
Whose double standards put us all in jeapordy
Continuing to release unfurling tragedy.