May Day Greetings ; Sarah Teasdale (8/8/1884 - 19/1/33) May Day

A delicate fabric of bird song,
Floats in  the air,
The smell of wet wild earth
Is everywhere.

Red small leaves of the maple
Are clenched like a hand,
Like girls at their first communion
The pear tree stand.

Oh I must pass nothing by
Without loving it much,
The raindrop try with my lips,
The grass with my touch;

For how can I be sure
I shall see again
The world on the first of May
shining after the rain?

(  as the light returns,and the days lengthen and summer begins its journey upon the earth, it's renewal time,   reach out, and find what you seek, thoughts go out to all who need strength in the coming weeks or months. Life doesn't get any easier for some )

Happy International Workers day, comrades and friends.

Beauty in Everyday Gaza

The news about Gaza tends to conjure up images of destruction, decimated buildings and human suffering. But theirs a beautiful side to the area that is often ignored and artist Lara Aburamadan, wants to show it off.
Where their is much hardship and suffering, Gaza remains a place of beauty, survival, and endurance.
Despite the horrors of Israels constant wars and  occupation.

These little piggies

Simples, but their mates in the Tory press, won't tell you this. A toxic lot, money minded machine men, selfish grasping simpletons, born with some essential part of the soul missing.
Hey i'm far from perfect, but will never be a bloody tory, or remotely tory-lite.
As the piggies cry, wee, wee, wee, try to sell  us their believe, and try to make us follow their roads of self destruction, avenues paved with capitalism's delusion, contained with self-fullfillment, Revolt against their messages. But please be careful, don't allow them into your home.

The Labour Party calls on Tarzan

I'd be the first to admit , that  I think the Labour Party lost it's soul  years ago,  but this thought has been rekindled on hearing the news that they have called on Michael 'Tarzan' Heseltine, to help advise a Labour Government, on business policy.
Some people might say, fair enough, good old Heseltine,  he was one of the more level headed, responsible,so called compassionate Tory's. Sorry Labour Party,wake up, this is a multi miilionaire, whose roots, however wet he looks, run deep in the pockets of the Conservative party and big business.A political dinosaur, who I first encountered, when he was a swivel eyed loon, dressed up in military regalia, evicting harmless peace  protestors at Molesworth Peace Camp, later when left in political wilderness, still to be cheered on and on, as he strode on to platforms at  Tory |Party Conferences.Oh Yes, Mr Milliband,  seeking advice from a real man of the people, a man who  back in the day stood for all that the Labour Party supposedly did not stand for, former miners and steelworkers up and down the country must be thinking of this offer in disgust.  Tarzan let me remind you, or Lord Heseltine of Thelford ( oh  the nice bit, is his mum hails, from West Wales), was a deputy Prime Minister of a ruthless Tory Governmrnt that ruled for nearly two decades, while he was their  he supported their right to buy policy, with whatever way you look at it, his ideology and his approach is grounded in favour of Capitalist economics, that bring no benefit to the people. He for many simply represents a living embodiment and reminder of a cruel Tory Government that neither cared nor understood who governed.
Ah but the Labour Party, not of old, for a long time now,  turning ever so Tory Lite. Forget about Tarzan,  it's simple, how about an effective tax rate on high earners, jail the bankers, scrap trident, offer people real jobs, appropriate training, make sure the power of capital is broken, find a heart, do not allow the  deceitful whiff of big business and their friends, do your bidding. Sadly I guess, the Labour Party of today, no longer  looks and searches for bold radical alternatives and policies, that we all richly deserve.

Remembering the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide

A hundred years ago today, amid the upheaval of World War 1, countless villages across the Ottoman Empire became killing fields as the desperate leadership of this region, having lost the Balkans and facing the prospect of losing its territories as well, saw an imagined threat at home.
Worried that the Christian Armenian population was planning to align with Russia, the then primary enemy of the Ottoman Turks, officials embarked on what historians have called the first genocide of the 20th Century.
Nearly 1.5 million Armenians were systematically killed,  becoming tragically part of one of the biggest atrociies of the Great War. Initially intellectuals and community leader were rounded up, one by one, then thousands were  instantly slaughtered, there were reports  of mass burnings, others  put in concentration camps,  to be tortured and gassed,  others left  to die of starvation, exhaustion and disease. Rape was frequently reported too. All this occurred between 1915-1923, to   further add to this misery, the great bulk of the Armenian population were forced from Armenia to Syria, where the vast majority were sent into the desert to die of thirst and hunger.
This  horrific moment in time has since with great shame been bitterly contested by Turkey, under President Erdogan the successor of the Ottoman Empire, who has consistently denied the word genocide, as an accurate term for what happened. Years later the issue of whether to these killings a genocide remain raw and emotional, both for the Armenians, who are descended from those killed, and the Turks, the heirs to the Ottomans. For both,  the question touches as much on national identity, as it does on historical facts.
Whilst at the same time for geopolitical reasons the U.S.A too, has never  labelled the atrocities committed by Turkey as genocide, being close  friends with Turkey, their allies in  the NATO alliance. It should be noted that Robert Dole in the Senate introduced a mild resolution commemorating 1990 as the 75th anniversary of the Armenian  genocide, at the time the Israeli government worked with the Turkish government to lobby against it. ( The resolution was subsequently defeated in the Senate) Obama himself, pledged in his  Presidential campaign to call it genocide, but two terms into to his Presidency , he remains silent.  The fact that Israel has been very strongly opposed to efforts being made to recognise the Armenian genocide, for me is really quite astonishing. Especially from a country founded  in the aftermath of its own genocide, holocaust. There are growing calls from within Israel for them to finally recognise this historical fact , and  not to be  in denial, which would be good, since  both peoples, the Armenians and the  Jewish people having suffered the same fate, the same terrible tragedies.  But at the end of the day the Turks are their allies, and you don't want to alienate allies, do you, because that's much too important. Israel thinks it's not their business, lets simply not talk about the Armenian holocaust, but any  conciliatory offerings, I am sure will be welcomed. Sadly , too, the British government will not recognise it. Despite , that  during the time of Lloyd George, in fact even Churchill  himself wrote "There  is no reasonable  doubt that this crime was planned and executed for  political purposes." He also used the phrases "Administrative  Holocaust" and  "clearance of race".
Yet countries  like Canada, Argentina, France, Greece and Russia, Poland and Switzerland where the survivors  of  the Armenian genocide and their descendents live have officially recognised the Armenian genocide, thus helping the process of healing.
I believe the voices of the people killed and those haunted should not be forgotten, we should mark their identity, and  the psychic wounds that have passed through generations.
Today the anniversary will be commemorated, the date the Ottomans rounded up groups of Armenians in 1915, as the first step in what many agree was a wider plan for annhiliation.
Armenians from Turkey and the diaspora are preparing to gather in Instanbul's central Taksim Square to honor the dead. A concert will feature both Armenian and Turkish musicians.
Years later Hitler would use this model of genocide for his own tools for a Holocaust. Hitler and Himmler, guided by the same evil,  were inspired  by the Ottoman Empires own methods of quiet extermination. Mass genocidal maniacs since  like Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot followed suit with their own reigns of terror and slaughter of millions.
We should recognise the sad fact that Turkeys lack of contrition leaves descendents struggling to reconcile loss and renewal. It is simply implausible that we should still question the reality of this appalling terrible injustice.
It is a moral necessity that we continue to condemn these massacres and ethnic cleansing of Armenians, that began on this day. To continue to deny this truth amounts to a criminal lie. We need to enshrine in our collective memory this crime against humanity, so as to ensure that it is understood, learnt and transmitted to future generations. We need to recognise the wounds  that have never been able to be healed.

Armenian refugee children 1915

Please consider signing the following Armenian Genocide petition

http://www.genocide1915.info/petition/sign/

No time for music

There is no time for music today,  
realities tears flow, that cannot be denied,
remembering children, mothers,
who were taken, and dragged away,
words to be silenced forever,
the scattering of bones.

The Armenians memory, still suffering,
choking, in bitter frustrated rage,
echoes still screaming out over the age,
the sorrow and the sadness,
continuing to burn today,
as people  seek recognition,
some form of reconciliation. 


thanks to Mr P James and Mr chomsky ........

Hazel Jane Dickens (1/6/35 -22/4/11) - The Rebel Girl

On the fourth anniversary of her death, lets remember Hazel Jane Dickens, bluegrass singer, songwriter, double bassist and guitarist. Singer of pro-union and feminist songs, a clarion vocal advocate for coal miners, working people and the downtrodden.
Below she sings Joe Hill's outstanding song about Elizabeth Gurly Flynn, the original rebel girl, feminist, wobbly (Industrial Workers of the World) and activist.
Hazel Jane Dickens was born June 1st 1935, in Montcalm, West Virginia, U.S.A. One of 11 children, she grew up in a family whose survival depended on the coal industry. Her father was a Baptist preacher and a forceful singer, who hauled timber to feed the household. Her brothers were miners and one of her sisters cleaned the house for a supervisor at the mines.
A reluctant feminist role model, Hazel said she was originally scared to write about issues like sexism and the oppression of women.
Her music was characterised  by a high lonesome, singing style. If you like old time, country and bluegrass music, and  a dose of left wing politics, you will probably like Hazel Dicken's work. Cultural blogger John Pietaro noted that " Dickens didn't just sing the anthems of labour, she lived them and her place  on many a picket line,staring down gunfire and goon squads, embedded her to the cause."

Hazel Dickens - Rebel Girll

Hazel Dickens - Fire in the Soul

Hazel Dickens - Old and in the way

Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard -  Working Girl Blues

Sanctuary

(Poem inspired by my garden)

The earth at play again,
whispers monologues of devotion,
among paths of nature, freedoms creation,
strong in faith, firm in love.

Vapour trials, in the sky above,
create residues of escape,
swallows sweep  through time , 
descend  across the landscape.

The smouldering garden slumbers,
waking slowly, to be re-moulded, re-cast,
as the day turns soft and still,
mind wanders, rests in observation,
watching wildflowers colour, 
weaving through the grass.

Plants offer protection,
to bright insects, 
dancing in the cool shade,
bluebells shimmering,
bursting with life,
as afternoon, again is made.

Ceridwen's breathe calls again,
swirling and whirling, among healing herbs,
scenting the air with magic,
while the cauldron stirs,
releasing seeds of  enchantment,
vibrant pulsations, to catch the heart and soul