Free Amina

Last night watching Newsnight it was bought to my attention that their were doubts to Amima's identity. The pictures of her on her blog were of another woman named Jenina Leic. The fact is her blog existed before any pictures were put up. Perhaps it is an elaborate hoax, or a case of government disinformation, an attempt to drown out dissident voices.The reason that the story cannot be verified is the Syrian regime has closed off the country to foreign journalists. Censorship in this country is still very real however....
Given the relentless oppression of Syrian citizens, it could be the case that 'Amima' simply used a pseudonym..... a common practice to protect identities amongst activists.... The fact is at least 11,000 Syrians are currently being detained, and hundreds of people have dissapeared, and the freedom that some in the West take for granted is not available in Syria. Over 1,000 peaceful demonstrators have been shot dead in Syria and internet blackouts and violent repression continues.
Amina whoever she /he is has become a symbol of this oppression, and the Syrian people are still suffering and experiencing from this oppression and abuse, as I write.

FREE AMINA ABDALLA ARRAF

Amina Abdalla Arraf is a blogger who holds dual Syrian and U.S citizenship.
She also happens to be a lesbian who has shared her frank views on Syrian hypocricy, politics and on her sexuality. She has openly critisised President Bashar Assad's autocratic rules. She is behind a courageous and inspiring blog called 'A gay Girl in Damascus', which includes a mixture of erotic prose and updates about Syria's uprising, including her participation in anti-regime protests. She is not only gay, but is an anti-zionist, pro palestinian sympathiser to boot. A brave dissident in these changing times. with an internationalist outlook.
Her family claim that she was last seen on Monday being bundled into a car by 3 men in their 20s in civilian clothes in Damascus, the capital of Syria, where homosexuality is still illegal.It is probable that the regime has sought to silence her because her blog has become increasingly popular after capturing the imagination of the Syrian opposition as the protest movement struggled in the face of the government crackdown. Supporters have taken to facebook and Twitter to draw attention to Amina's unlawfil seizure.
The day before she was detained , Miss Arraf wrote :-

'I am complex, I am many things; I am an Arab, I am Syrian, I am a woman, I am queer, I am Muslim, I am binational, I am tall, I am too thin; my sect is Sunni, my clan is Omari, my tribe is Qurash, my city is Damascus. I am also a Virginian. I was born on the afternoon in a hospital in sight of where Woodrow Wilson entered the world, where streets are named for country stars.'
One of the last poems she posted was called 'Bird songs' which I reproduce below.

BIRD SONGS

The bird flies free
knowing no boundaries
Borders mean nothing
when you have wings

My heart and my soul
long to follow and soar
out over mountains
and deserts and seas

I have no wings
and earth presses in
wrapped in a sheet
Forever to lie

weighed down by dirtclods
Never to feel
wind on my wings
sun on my back

The Blogging community seem to be rallying around her ,
so below are some links, to the facebook group set up to support her, to Aavaz's online campaign and a link to her own blog.

The continued censorship and imprisonment of bloggers by countries like Syria, China, Iran etc, I believe to be totally unacceptable and must be opposed.Amina is one of thosands of nameless detainess, all over the world, over 10,000, she is  a beacon  amongst many others.
We must support her and all other friends of freedom.

https://www.facebook.com/FreeAminaArraf

http://damascusgaygirl.blogspot.com/

http://www.avaaz.org/en/free_amina_arraf/?rc=fb&pv=14

Gaza Reels יומני עזה

Chorus of anger at IDF border killings.

Link to article here
Chorus of anger at IDF border killings / World / Home - Morning Star

Fire in the stubble - Samuel Taylor Coleridge (21/10/1772 - 25/7/1834)

The pre-eminence of truth over falsehood, even when occasioned by that truth, is as a gentle fountain breathing from forth its air - let into the snow piled over and around it, which it turns into its own substance, and flows with greater murmur; and though it be again arrested, still it is but for a time; - it awaits only the change of the wind, to awake and roll onwards its ever increasing stream
...
  ... But falsehood is fire in the stubble; - it likewise turns all the light stuff around it into its own substance for a moment, one crackling blazing moment, - and then dies; and all its converts are scattered in the wind, without place or evidence of their existence, as view less as the wind which scatters them.

FROM:-
Table Talk
1812

But sometimes perhaps like the old romancers, things can  get re-remembered, the pursuit of truth is a chimera. Some also say that all men are born liars
When one person says something, often is the case, that you will find an opposite point of view. Today, I have arrived in pessimist harbour, I absolve myself though of any responsibility..

Hay ( Y Gelli) Reflections.

The Wye Valley

tempests hurled at night,
stars collided, with satellites.
We followed words, broken thoughts
pages half-spun, where cross-currents of
discourse floated, and barometric register floated..
Walked through jerky visual fields
mountain breeze cooled, truth was near
homespun philosophy of heartache and tear.
Where some of us wander, we wander still
belonging to no one, effective enough to be invisible,.
time overtakes us all, elapses into  moments as orison unfolds
balancing acts, hands stretched out, edged on by memory
conjurers in quick succession, weave their magic.
To Abergavenny,in search of currents, threads
a poets footprints, led us there
ghosts of elecricity, whispered in the air
drifting, transforming with raw energy
as echoe reverberated, and nothing lay naked
abstract motion ,danced drunkenly in the foreground
followed waking streams, where chaos bubbled into order
passionate nature ,ran its course
lists were meaningless as moments pursued.,
Ferociously walking, relearning iaith
we translated everything into ourselves,
there are traditions, that carry the truth of seasons
at the end of the day our tongues released
secrets shared beyond the borders.

The survival of anglo-welsh - Peter Finch

The Dylan Thomas characteristic - an observers guide

1. Appropriation of the poems of others. Parts or wholes.   No significent gains, no transformation of status or wealth. Small beer, this occasional failing.

2. Imitation of dogs in pubs.

3. Petty localized thefts of no apparent significance.

4. The inevitable and horrible desire to please. An overcoming of smiles, small voiced thank-yous. An accumulation of kindnesses for future use.

5. Misplaced coarseness.

6. Wordy, complex landscape through haze, the image and the arm the same. Some kind of absolute hold on the vague.

7. Incontinence in pubs.

8. Small success with women. Unsubstantiated claims. A fear of demons and an uncertainty over power.

10. Ultimately a walking through the land without reference to it. A being it. A living through it and in it with no need at all for names.

Reprinted from Poetry Wales
Volume 13 No. 3
1977.

Right I'm off for a bit, for some rewiring amd maintenence, off to the town of books Hay-on-Wye if truth be told. Herbal highs packed, now off searching for some inspiration. Will follow freedom and see where that gets me,will be back soon.......in about a week I guess,  my business will carry on being of no importance I hope, so I go away to travel within, avoid all oppressive thoughts - there will be nothing further to add until then, unles I find a portal somewhere on my journey.
Good health all,
remove all borders
heddwch/peace.