R.S Thomas ( 29/3/13 -25/9/00) - On the Threshold of Liberty

                               
                                Rene Magritte


Been away a week, amongst  Hay-on -Wye's corporate tents, time for  annual reflections, time for trusty old notebooks to disappear.
Reflections  may come, and go, but every year I read some R.S. Thomas, so this year with it being the centenary of his birth it adds a little poignancy. So last week as I immersed myself in Welsh landscapes. I also searched out Mr Thomas's deeper imaginings, where his passion for art is overlooked, far away from Iago Prytherch, his  resonance still littered with profound suffusion, little proclamations of committment, that continually assist.
So today I honour yesterdays's serial obsessive, who unlike google at least followed some kind of ethical code, whose flowers  still bloom in hope's potent wind. On the bridge of possibility.

What it means is:
            you must accede
to the invention. Flesh,
trees, dwellings, the grain
                        in the wood
are vulnerable and not
             to be shot at;
only the sky is
           target.
                    Challenged
the inventor would claim
             all he wants is
  for it to go off.
                        So move
the paintings to one side
             in  the humanist's
gallery; open a window.
Let the gun point its muzzle,
at the idea that there are limits.       

Reprinted from
Ingrowing Thoughts- R.S .Thomas
Poetry Wales Press, 1985.          

Looking (after Hay)

Yesterday,
went missing for hours,
drifted in and out of shops,
with scraps of paper,
names of elusive books,
written down, to look for lost pleasures,
to fill in the blanks, left at home.
I Walked with open mind,
followed random navigation,
echoes reverberating with voluptuous tranquility,
it began to rain, saw poets,making a run for it,
turning on their heels, running on plains of sensation,
I continued searching, leaned on  latticed bookcases,
deciphering experimental  exit signs,
of no return.

Palestinian Children killed by Israeli forces since 2000 : 1,397

 

That was quicker than expected, quick schedule here, lest we forget.
An Israel government report released on May 19th claims Israelis occupation forces did not kill 12 year old Muhammad Al-Durra and that he may not be dead at all. Credible human rights organisations disagree.
Jamal a-Durra, Muhammads father responded ' Israel says my son is n't dead. Can you imagine how this feels for a father who has lost his child.They have all the technology tools in the world. He's not dead? Then bring him to me.
Muhammad is just one of nearly 1,400 children who have been killed since 2000 as a result of the military occupation and settler presence in the West Bak, Gaza strip, and East JJerusalem.
Read a full report by the IMEU here.
http://www.dci-palestine.org/content/child-fatalities

Paul Eldridge (5/5/1888 - 26/7/82) - Pessimism

Paul Eldrige, writer, author, teacher.

                                                               
Despite the bullshit,  despite it  all,
we still  answer back.......  off on holiday,
will possibly be back!

 " PESSIMISM is the philosophy of proportion and perspective. Wisdom., which is quite distinct from mere intelligence, is steeped in pessimism. The major prophets of the age, Jesus and Bhudda and Confucious were pessimists. They understood the tragedy of man, sad they went forth to heal him, each in his own way.
The pessimist does not seek needles in stacks of hay, and does  not seek needles in stacks of hay, and does not feel disillusioned because  they are  unfindable. The hopes he entertains are not too sanquine, and remain within the framework of the ultumate reality.
He knows that the proverb" no rose without its thorn" is trite only because of its eternal justfication. Therefore, beauty he cherishes with that exquisite tenderness  mingled with sorrow which characterises a last kiss, a dying dawn, the overtones of a cherished  melody."

The air is full of delicious scents

                
The sweet smell of freedom, follows us round,
gives real satisfaction, as it spreads and is found,
a hot day when light winds bring rhyme, music and sound,
apple blossom, tea just opened, coffee just ground.

Newly split wood in a copse, the smell of a gardeners leafy bonfire,
sinsimillia's pungency drifting in the air, lifting us higher,
petrol, creasote on wooden fences, the warm touch of lovers,
freshly mowed grass, scented inspiration, raining down in showers.

The smell of sea, clear and salty, drawing you close,
freshly baked bread rising, in the hedgerow a rambling rose,
strawberries and ice cream, the underside of turf,
passion awakening senses under cloudbursts surf.

The scent of memory, of absence, reigniting chains of familiarity,
pages turned from old dusty books, alchemical confectionary,
the vapours released in the steams of making love,
the fragrance of rebellion and disobedience, all of the above.

Yes, the air is full of portent avenues, filled with delicious intent,
that allow us to climb, inhale and roar, before arriving at next ascent,
the perfumes of radiance, sailing on white clouds in the breeze,
bouquets filled with essences, elixirs guaranteed to please.

Demonstration Against Drones : Aberporth

My local UAV testing site  has recently been in the news again , Welsh airfield at the centre of Britains drone revolution http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/06/welsh-airfield-drones where the Guardian seemed to be rehashing the propoganda machine of Mr Ray Mann, owner of Parc Aberporth in West Wales, a flight testing sight for UAVs. Most of Mr Mann's comments were subsequently rehashed in my local paper the Tivy Side,http://www.tivysideadvertiser.co.uk/.
Despite this their are still genuine local concerns about what is happening up the road from me.  The constant noise of the watchkeeper 'drones' or or unarmed aerial vehicles' being flown around Aberporth continue. This constant buzzing- often for hours on end, is a constant reminder of how Wales is still being used for possible 'remote killing' activities.
The Israeli military and Israeli company Elbit systems have also been linked to the watchkeeper drones tested here, which have been used to target civilians in Gaza. As well as local concerns about their links with military use, their have also been ones of safety, with a number of drones crashing over the years.
These are some of the reasons I will be going to support the following demonstation.

DEMONSTRATION

Against Drones

Aberprth MOD Base, main gate
Saturday 18th May , 12 Noon

Bring things to decorate the gate

Drones have killed innocent people in the last decade.

Organised by Cardigan Quakers

For More information
Contact markfranchi@hotmail.co.uk 07905956324
or ruthburtton@tiscali.co.uk
01239 811139

I also support the following initiative,
click picture to enlarge, more details here.
http://www.bepj.org.uk/

65th Anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba

Today, May 15th marks 65 years since the Nakba (day of Catastrophe) the dispossession, forced exile and ethnic cleansing of 750,000 Palestinians from their land before and during the creation of the State of Israel.
Sixty five years later, Palestinians still face an ongoing  Nakba as Israel continues to deny the right of return of displaced Palestinians and to illegally colonize Palestinian lands. Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have now lived under a brutal Israeli military occupation for nearly 46 years in the aftermath of the 1967 war, and Palestines in Israel  live under apartheid where more than 50 laws enshrine their status as second-class citizens based on their ethnic and religious identity.
More details here:-

 http://adalah.org/eng/Israeli-Discriminatory-Law-Database

Zochrot:-  http://zochrot.org/en

 an organisation which aims to promote awareness of the Nakba in Israel, has put together an activity creating a large scale map of the Palestinian villages destroyed by Israel. Participants are given cards that represent each of the villages destroyed, which are then returned to their correct location on a map. Participants can personalise their cards or decorate the map using chalk, coloured stones,stickers, ribbons etc. You can find more information here:- http://zochrot.org/en/content/were-map

Destruction of Palestinian homes

Palestinians protest near Ofra prison of the Occupation demanding freedom for Palestinian prisoners.
May 15 - 2012

Even the word 'Nakba' was banned by the Israeli Minister of Education in 2009, and was removed from school textbooks. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanayah said at the time that the word was tantamount to spreading propoganda against Israel. But the word Nakba is the term that about a fifth of Israel's population, the Palestinians use to describe this day.
This is the Palestines history, it is essential we should be allowed to talked about. It is it not wrong to question, when other regimes oppress, we question them too, we have a duty to critisize and condemn, when fundamental freedoms and rights are violated. Any state that acts aggressively is open to criticism. All human beings are entitled to human rights.
Today refugees are still waiting to have their homes and lands returned to them, after all these years, of living in camps, being displaced. Under daily occupation they are forced to daily endure the humiliation, demonisations, metered out to them Today illegal settlers and settlements still removing people from their homes, with seperation walls, humiliation and discrimination.Today the Palestinians world is still being stolen, as occupiers daily steal all that they possess, the tears of yesterday forge today's resistance.Israel to this day have refused to recognise the Palestinians right of return as expressed in the UN General Resolution 194, Article 11,
Information here:-.
http://www.al-awda.org/facts.html

This is why I do not forget them and why many others like Stephen Hawkings last week are responding to the Palestinians calls for Boycott and disinvestment, questioning Israels continuing suffocation and elimination of the Palestinians society and culture.The Palestinians struggle for self determination has become one of the great international moral issues of our time.   That is why it is important not to forget, and to realise too that Israels current policies make sure that for many Palestinians that the Nakba is still a living experience.
Many Palestinians still have a key on a chain around their necks. These are the keys to homes in Palestine which they were forced to abandon in 1948, 1987, or at any time since.
This is a narration without an end, untill opression is vanished, human rights restored, Gaza and the West Bank reunited, after  65 years of forced exile, return is their destiny.

A Tribute to the Depopulated Villages

and towns in the Nakba

A very IMPORTANT Map showing the massive destruction of Palestinian villages and Cities

http://www.palestineremembered.com/Acre/Maps/Story1261.html