Datblygu a favourite band of mine , seminal Welsh post-punk legends, have just released their latest album. It is called Porwr Trallford ( Tribulation Browser) A continuing journey of the magical force that is Pat Morgan and David Rupert Edwards, delivering again a smouldering sound of truth. Dave like a lot of us has unfortunatley has over the years had to battle and endure mental illness, but despite it all, with this record, he keeps delivering a poetical depth of beauty and raw honesty. I confess now that I personally know Dave,and over the years and so have witnessed his strength, his friendship and love, that has carried and lifted me, kept me afloat in my own periods of darkness. But at the end of the day, if you want hear some truth. switch off the mainstream news, seek out this record full of lyrical beauty, of musical depth, and emotion, carried in the medium of the Welsh ,a message that will also enable you to fall in love with this rich language. When the lights continue to go on and off, here is a light that delivers truth and soul. So if your into christmas, I can think of nothing better to send than this wonderful record, that truly deserves a much wider audience, with messages of hope, taking in Jack Kerouac, Richard Burton, broken britain, alcohol ,lust, life and loss, a passionate voice from here in West Wales, a clear ember from the soul, that will leave you blinded with beauty as the world's dark shadows drift. All in the beautiful medium of the Welsh language. This is truly a beautiful gift of a much needed poetical genius. So diolch yn fawr, thank you very much Pat and Dave, I continue to love your journey and gift immensely, I will end with a quote from Mr Edwards - "there's no need to analyse, feelings so pure." Seek this record out I guarantee it will not offer you any disappointment. I for one will continue to love Datblygu's music ureservedly. a band that almost stopped me going completely insane.
Some musical respite among the darkness. Full of cold at moment, but I keep looking, and at the end of the day another world is possible, we should not allow fear to rob us of this potential. Politicians are leading us currently in the wrong direction, they can be averted though by building on the struggle for a different kind of world. Lets not be puppets attached to their strings, seek new possibilities, keep on longing for a more beautiful world, abandon their shackles, their greed and need for war, overcome their barriers, yes truly another world is possible. All the best heddwch/peace
On this day December 4, 1969, Chicago Black Panther Party Chairman, revolutionary and activist was assasinated by the Chicago Ploice Department in collusion with the F.B.I.
Just 21 years old Hampton was a dynamic young activist and one of the founders of the Chicago Rainbow Coalition, that sought to unite the Black Panthers, and the American Indian Movement in one common struggle.
Fred Allen Hampton was born. on the 30th of August 1948 in Summit ,Illinois to Francis and Iberia Hampton two factory workers who had migrated north as part of the Great Migration of Black Americans out of the south.Fred Hampton was key in forming links between the Panthers and working-class people of all races.
Hampton grew up with an older brother and sister. His family was friendly with the family of Emmett Till before Till's 1955 murder. Hampton's family moved to Maywood, another Chicago suburb when Hampton was 10. Hampton attended Irving Elementary School and Proviso East High School. In high school, he led the school's Interracial Committee. He also protested the school only nominating white girls to run for homecoming queen, which resulted in the inclusion of Black girls.
After graduating with honors from Proviso East High School, Hampton studied pre-law at Triton Junior College. He also attended Crane Junior College (later Malcolm X College) and the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle.
Hampton became involved in the civil rights movement, and led the Youth Council of the NAACP's West Suburban chapter, growing membership to more than 500. He advocated for a community pool in his hometown of Maywood, which led to an arrest for "mob action."
In November 1968, Hampton helped found the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party. From his base in Chicago, he served as chairman of this local chapter. Though Hampton was just 20, he became a respected leader in the Party, aided by his talent for public speaking and experience in community organising,
Many saw him as the next possible Martin Luther King or the next Malcolm X, or perhaps the next great leader of Black Americans. He combined a huge personality with a brilliant, critical mind and became a charismatic educator and speaker. His public statements on capitalism, racism, politics, Marxism and socialism were peppered with slang and profanity that refused to bow to the rules of the system. He sought to unite people through socialism, against the capitalist system, fighting against racism and discrimination through practice and deeds, seeking to find solutions that would improve poor and working peoples lives, through struggle, without getting bogged down in watered down reformity.
He sought to do this through observation and practice. Such interracial working class organizing and open criticism of the capitalist economic system made him dangerous. It was one thing to organize along racial lines. It was another to try to unite the white, Black and Hispanic workers together in working class solidarity! A dangerous message then, still is today I guess.
Fred Hampton was a dedicated revolutionary who studied theory and carried this through into everyday action. Throughout 1969, he maintained a demanding speaking schedule; he organised weekly rallies in support of BPP members in jail or on trial.
His organisation provided breakfasts for poor school children and a free medical clinic for those that needed it. Hampton himself also taught political education classes. He also managed to persuade two of Chicago's most powerful street gangs to stop fighting one another. His attempt at unification of different peoples struggles bought him to the attention of J.Edgar Hover and the F.B.I. From the 1950s until the 1970s, the FBI’s Counterintelligence Program (COINTELPRO) had already been targeting leaders of activist organizations like Fred Hampton. The program served to undermine, infiltrate, and spread misinformation (often through extrajudicial means) about political groups and the activists who belonged to them. COINTELPRO targeted civil rights leaders such as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as well as radical groups like the Black Panther Party, the American Indian Movement among others. As Hampton’s influence in the Black Panthers grew, the FBI began to focus on his activities, opening a file on him in 1967.
The FBI enlisted a man named William O'Neal to infiltrate and sabotage the Black Panthers Party. O'Neal, who had been previously arrested for car theft and impersonating a federal officer, agreed to the task because the federal agency promised to drop the felony charges against him. O’Neal quickly gained access to Hampton by becoming both his bodyguard and a security director in Hampton’s Black Panther Party chapter.
During an early morning police raid,on December 4, 1969, he and fellow Black Panther Mark Clark were assassinated in a hail of bullets by the FBI and Chicago police. Hampton who was only 21.had been asleep when first hit, and, as he lay prone on the floor, was shot twice at point-blank range in the head. His body was then dragged into the doorway in a pool of blood.
The police opened fire on the remaining bedroom, hitting several Panthers repeatedly. The survivors were beaten, dragged into the street, and arrested on a charge of the attempted murder of the police officers who had carried out the raid, and aggravated assault. Many in the Chicago African American community were outraged over the raid and what they saw as the unnecessary deaths of Hampton and Clark.in what was seen as a serious attempt to undermine the Black Panthers powerful message, his death was an act of police brutality. His death was government-sanctioned murder. His death was an assassination. His death was an execution. 5,000 people attended Hampton’s funeral where Reverends Ralph Abernathy and Jesse Jackson eulogized the slain activist.
It is tempting to look back at the raid as a singular example of law enforcement run amok; a violent and inexcusable governmental reaction to the political climate of the time. And yet, so much of what happened in the aftermath is familiar to anyone who has studied systematic police violence ever since. today..
The official investigation into the shootings was a farce, and it was left up to the survivors and the BPP to pursue a civil case against the SPU and the FBI. Finally, in 1983, it was acknowledged that there “had in fact been an active governmental conspiracy to deny Hampton, Clark and the BPP plaintiffs their civil rights”.
Damages of $1.85m were awarded to the survivors and the families of the deceased.
In 1990, and later in 2004, the Chicago City Council passed resolutions commemorating December 4 as Fred Hampton Day.
The saying most often associated with Fred Hampton is: “You can kill a revolutionary, but you cannot kill a revolution. You can jail a liberation fighter, but you cannot jail liberation.”
Fred Hampton Jnr was born a few months after his father’s murder. He, too, is active in the African-American revolutionary movement and has spent almost nine years in jail on politically-related charges..
While he met a tragic and untimely end, it is important to remember that he was killed for his ideas, because those ideas carried so much weight and . they still do. Although many years have since gone since his passing, the peoples love for this man remains strong. His powerful message remains strong. People still fighting discrimination and ongoing racism.Fred Hampton is a hero in the struggle for Black liberation, revolution and socialism. He should be remembered and his example should be followed by all progressive and revolutionary people.In 2004 the Chicago City Council passed a resolution commemorating December 4 as Fred Hampton Day.
In the courtroom at a 1969 trial for a trumped up robbery charge, only months before he was killed, the 21 year old gave an amazing speech defending himself and all Black people, while at the same time calling on all working people to unite in revolutionary solidarity. There is no better way to end this article than with his words, passionately explaining the beliefs that he died for.
" We got to face some facts. That the masses are poor, that the masses belong to what you call the lower classes, and I talk about the masses, I'm talking about the white masses, I'm talking about the black masses, and the brown masses, and the yellow masses.
We've got to face the fact that some people say you fight fire best with fire, but we say you put fire out best with water. We say you don't fight racism with racism. We're going to fight racism with solidarity.
We say don't fight capitalism with no black capitalism, you fight capitalism with socialism. "
Fred Hampton - Political Prisoner
Although many years have since gone since his passing, the peoples love for this man remains strong. His powerful message remains strong. People still fighting discrimination and ongoing racism. In 2004 the Chicago City Council passed a resolution commemorating December 4 as Fred Hampton Day.
A brother who fought the oppressor, who attacked the suppressor, people continue his fight, discrimination has not ended, nor has the struggle. the dream of freedom is kept alive, some people pay the price, when they try to fight back, you can kill a revolutionary, but you cant kill the revolution. the spirit, lives on. I am a revolutionary - Fred Hampton
Yesterday in a mad rush for war, we saw reason crushed, after a peacemakers son, ** made the case for air-strikes in Syria, saw the house of commons applauding, exploiting issues of terror for political gain, deciding to send hawks of war, instead of peaceful wings of doves. Men and women in London, once again drawing maps, to serve their own interests, instead of yours and mine, actions that can't be unmade, allowing the odour of death, to be cast upon foreign land. Not in our names people cry, they dont support this government, and are not sympathetic to terrorists, simply don't want more bad news, in the coming months after December, will continue to work for peace's endurance, for friendly shadows to be shared among us all.
David Cameron recently said that those who oppose bombing in Syria as terrorist sympathisers, he has since refused to apologise. Power has simply gone to the head of this Typical Eton bully boy, he shows utter contempt for many people in Britain who simply do not want the bloodshed of innocents to be shed. It seems that he is incapable of listening to those that do not share his illogical point of view. He is clearly a laughing stock, worrying though with such a dangerous level of power. It makes him out as contemptible and desperate as he makes this awful slur on those trying to deliver peace. We should not be enslaved by this horrible hypocrite, we should carry on being human, and working for peace, if they ignore us later as I fear M.Ps will, we must strive to beat them with a more reasoned response. In this present time his marks unhelpful and deeply offensive. Follow people of principle instead of those who continue to unleash their arrogance and wilful disdain for others opinion. Does he not realize or has he just turned blind, started listening to outside agendas, that the bombing of innocents is what most reasonable people would consider to be acts of terrorism. Scapegoating people is not a way to win an argument, it is simply name calling of the worst order, he should be treated with all the contempt that he deserves. Please tell me what is so wrong about standing up for the values of peace and justice? What about the terror Mr Cameron that you have unleashed on the poor, homeless, diadvantaged here in Great Britain?
Today is the 11th anniversary of one of my favourite singer songwriters death. On the eve of a possible drawn out war, remember to keep love in your hearts. Blessed are the peacemakers.
I wanted to start December with a happy optimistic post, but as the UK prepares to exercise its historic role on the people of Syria, and warmongerering M.Ps join in to push us into committing itself to airstrikes here's this post instead. The conflict in Syria is already 4 years old, the revolutionary Kurds have been fighting against Isis all this time have been ignored time and time again, as they make their stand in places like Kobane and Rojava on the Turkish border. If we want to take sides, if any at all, why are we not backing the PKK, who want a future that is not dictated by either fundamentalists or imperialists, or anonymous who are taking on Isils propoganda wing. Furthermore in the past two months alone Israels armed forces and armed civilians have killed 108 Palestinians, the vast majority simply executed, and also over 2,000 Palestinians have been arrested, at least 350 of them being children. No emergency debates about this in our great Houses of Parliament. Politicians however like to start wars, and are quite prepared to ignore chaos and misery elsewhere, perhaps it serves their warped objectives. While I understand that the brutality of Isil and Assad must be stopped, I feel we must try and find peaceful solutions that challenge too the UK/NATO imperialist policy of supporting Turkey/Saudi Arabia etc etc.that will not mean the loss of innocent lives, allowing us to enter into another drawn out grubby little war, that will have terrible consequences, that will probably act as a recruitment call to Isis's death cult, they do not care who is killed, what terror is wrought, it will just serve their twisted purpose. Lets stop their supply of arms yes, by stopping all arms and munition sales to the region, and cut of their supply of money by stopping Turkey and surrounding states bringing them oil.This is how we can truly help the Syrian people, after all it they that we are supposed to be helping. It is these people in the region that truly matter, if we are to deliver them from the evils of both Assad and Isis. Oh yes their a lot of oil in this region, oil of course means profit, that's why Cameron perhaps forgets about Erdogen's violent suppressions, Israels illegal occupation of the Golan heights on the Syrian border. The whiff of hypocrisy abounds. Do we simply forget the tragedies of Iraq, Serbia, Afghanistan, Libya. Does history has to repeat itself, I don't think Cameron's call is a considered one at all, as for terrorism it will certainly increase the likelihood of it coming here to Britain. I do not see how it can possibly have any positive contribution to our national security. Lets not forget how Cameron was in a similar rush to lead us to war in Syria in 2013, that time on the side of ISIS or whatever they were called then. Thousands have taken to the streets in recent days voicing their objections, clearly saying no to the imminent threat of war, but the peoples wishes are wilfully ignored by Cameron and his allies, surprise, surprise. We have no money for welfare, but suddenly have more than ample for another deadly war, but Cameron and his allies do not seem to give a damn, as they continue to press forward with their deadly plans, that will only serve to endanger Syrian civilians, already in a perilous situation.. Who in their right minds can support Cameron's plans, propping up a multinational imperialist agenda. leading us into a probable unwinnable war Said it before, I guess (but the world does this to me unfortunately) my mind truly boggles at the moment, it truly does. heddwch/peace. Black Sabbath - War Pigs
