Suicide in the Trenches - Siegfreid Lorraine Sassoon ( 8//9/1886- 1/9/67)

Following my recent post on Armed Forces Day, a poem by Siegfried Sassoon.
The trenches of  the First World War were a vast area of darkness and danger, dank and miserable conditions, often infested  with rats who ate the flesh of the dead. The stench  of unwashed humanity, all squashed together, combined with the smell of rotting flesh, and overflowing latrines, and the lingering smell of death and battle on accounts must have been unbearable.
Siegfried Sassoon witnessed  all this and came to see and understand the futility of conflict. In the following poem, the line ' No one spoke of him again.' illustrates how many soldiers found dead  in the trenches at the time were simply forgotten. All this suffering, erased, because death which occurred in such vast numbers  simply merged into one.  Over 16 million deaths and 20 million wounded in what is considered to be among the deadliest of
conflicts in human history.
We should not forget the 306 British and Commonwealth soldiers who were shot  on the orders of the military top brass, many suffering from shell shock, and what is now known as Post Traumatic Stress. Charged with desertion after  becoming dazed and confused, young disturbed, traumatised teenagers some of them , who had simply volunteered for duty.
Many other soldiers during the First World War were driven to suicide, or left with  mental exhaustion, depression and shell shock because of this war.
It has taken time, but the stigma of mental health issues  caused by conflict are  very real indeed. In the end  no glory in war, only sadness, this is how I choose to remember. This why humanity too, should  not forget the barbarity and futility  that the world has ever known.

Suicide in the Trenches

I knew a simple soldier boy
Who grinned at life  in empty joy.
Slept  soundly through the lonesome dark.
And whistled early with  the lark.

In winter trenches, cowed and glum,.
With crumps and lice and lack of rum,
He put a bullet through his brain.
No one spoke of him again.

You smug-faced crowds with  kindling eye
Who cheer  when soldier lads march by.
Sneak home and pray you'll never know
The hell where youth  and laughter go.

Happy Birthday N.H.S

The N.H.S turns 66 today - happy birthday  and lets make sure it is not the last. This is our N.H.S. Everyone rich or poor, woman or child can use it. or any part of it. There are no charges except for a few special items.We love it, we pay for it, and we will certainly fight for it. We must not allow the Tories to dismantle it, and strongly say no to any attempt at privatisation. There is still plenty of money to go round, it's just the case of it being in the wrong hands.
It has endured  so long in our hearts and minds because of its  founder, the late great Nye Bevan  who said ' Illness is neither an indulgence for which people have to pay, nor an offence, for which they should be penalised, but a misfortune, the cost of which should be shared by the community'
So while I'm at it, I will raise a glass to Nye Bevan's honour too, here's to the next 66 years.

The British National Health Service 1948

The night is long faced.

The night is long faced
accustomed as it is to misfortune
every night the Palestinian
under occupation, since 1948
tries to sleep in its shadow.

It's people killed everyday
children left as  orphans,
daily it is hit, in the face
and in the guts,
again and again
until this process
starts to feel normal.

This is the taste of occupation
people learning  to live  in fear everyday,
knowing that any minute, their front door
could be kicked down, trying to stay human,
trying desperately to stay sane
knowing that  their children, mothers and fathers,
may never return home again.

The  children are seen as terrorists,
for simply using slingshots against tanks
and fierce looking  men with machine guns
the media  likes to portray them as perpetrators
its people as the enemy,
while turning the bully 
into a victim. 

In the mornings, seeds of bitterness spread
as grim days stretch out this peoples agony,
and the longing for their liberation
and though Palestine does not exist on the map
it exists  in the hearts of millions around the world.

Like the night, they have learnt
that with warm buds of thirst,
freedom is existence, and survival is resistance 
and that  one day, from the rivers to the sea ,
with hope on their sides, they will be free.

Glenda Jackson's speech about Iain Duncan Smith and the DWP

Glenda Jackson 30 June 2014

Every word the truth. Why can't Millibland be more like this. Perhaps he has no real life experience, does not  know lots of vulnerable people, or those daily under the receiving end of  the Conservatives bullying approach.
We need more people like Glenda Jackson, voices of truth speaking against  smiling tyrants of the oppressed in this country, whilst so called representatives twidding with their mobile phones, collect their cash, show no real interest at all, showing us that they have no bloody compassion at all.

Be Careful of drunken words

           
                                                                 (Thanks Kim)

Be careful of  drunken words  that are let loose
in particular after drinking large quantities of wine
they will create and reel in havoc
as they tear themselves into pieces
leave a trial of distraction
coming and going in haze of hesitation.

Be careful of drunken words
that cannot walk in straight lines
words  that break through taboos
words if breathalysed could be charged
and then imprisoned
words  that may never be found again
because they have been put in solitary confinement.

Be careful of drunken words
let loose with abandonment
wide eyed and legless
sprawled on the pavement outside
staggering without pause
staining the paths of conformity
refusing to be silent.

Be careful of drunken words
in the streets hawking messages of sorrow,
weeping, keeping faith with blurred sensitivity
rippling with defiance, straining to be heard
spitting against the gates, frightening the sober
                                                 voices away.
be careful of drunken words.

Armed Forces Day 2014

Today  28 June 2014, marks Armed Forces Day,  staged annually for the past  5 years  to pay tribute to UK Armed Forces personnel, past and present. Today 100 years after the assassination of Franz Ferdinand and the start of the Great war, and 70 years  from the D-Day Landings, this years event  comes with an even bigger  shadow.
In this age is  there really cause  in celebrating conflict, in an event of militaristic might, should we not be raising awareness of the destructiveness of war, and spend more time promoting peace .Why not call the day reconciliation day.
Recently the event has been criticised by Wrexham Peace and Justice Group, who were 'horrified'  to find a picture  of a toddler dressed in military uniform, being used to  advertise the event. They said ' We  strongly object to the targeting of children by the military' also saying ' we contend that it is irresponsible and unacceptable for Wrexham Council  to be presenting the militarised warfare  in the content of family entertainment.'
War is  not family entertainment, but the first casualty of war is truth. Today we should remember too people  like Chelsea Manning  who had the  courage to tell us the truth about war, and its collateral damage.
We should   remember the Great War, remember it not as a 'war to end all war' or a 'victory for democractic', but as a military disaster and a human  catastrophe. We should use this day to remember that war is driven by big powers and their vested interests around the globe, and remember the billions killed in war, the innocents across the globe,  left maimed and wounded,  mark the courage of those involved, but  acknowledge  the absolute  devastation and misery caused,and the harsh realities of actual life in the military, far from the rosy pictures painted. The brutal reality, is  that  for many, having been used by the military are  left  with mental health issues, and simply abandoned
To move forward  we should support  all those  traumatised and displaced by war, and seek ways to avoid conflict, and ways to promote international cooperation instead,focus on some positive steps to promote harmony in a badly trouble world, say no to the military complex that profits out of misery, pointing out the  horrible consequences of war.

Happy Birthday Emma Goldman (27/6/1869 - 14/5/40)

'IF I CAN'T DANCE, I DON'T WANT TO BE PART OF THE REVOLUTION.'

Happy Birthday Emma Goldman, tireless agitator and speaker. In 1910 alone, she gave 120 talks  in 27 cities in 25 states  in the United States to 25,000 people Jailed  in 1917, and described by authorities as 'one  of the most dangerous women in America,' she was deported  to Russia in 1919,  campaigned  against the Bolsheviks in the 1920's, subsequently joined the Spanish  Revolution 1936 -39, backing the Spanish anarchists, as they tried to restructure society with one hand, while battling fascist, Stalinist threats  lined up against them on the other.
Today Emma Goldman  is warmly remembered for the anarcho-feminist, anti-militarist, and internationalist contributions she made  to the social revolutionary struggles in life.
Incidentally the Industrial Workers of the World, also known as the Wobblies, was founded  on this day June 27th 1905. So cheers and solidarity to them too.

Two earlier posts about Emma Goldman

http://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/emma-goldman-2761869-14540-anarchism.html

http://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/emma-goldman-2761869-14540-if-i-cant.html