Edgar Degas - Dancer adjusting her shoulder strap 1900
The journey of life can be very uncertain and unpredictable - it can leave us frightened and vulnerable. Life is very precious indeed, and at the end of the day we need health and wellness to enjoy our lives to the fullest. I arrived at my partners the other day, who has been unable to walk or get out of bed for last 6 months or so because of treatment for cancer, but she has gradually been getting stronger, and has never given up hope, which has been an invaluable gift for me as well. I hear her music all the time nowadays.
As I've said, she's been getting a bit more mobile, aided by her trusted zimmer frame, but increasingly, casts it aside. She has always liked dancing, has missed not going out to musical soirees for a bit of a shuffle and a groove, so imagine my surprise when I glanced her through her kitchen window, and could hear the sound of the Peatbog Faeries blasting from the stereo, their she was in what was an uplifting moving experience, dancing unaided, reminding me that despite the odds she still sparkles and shines her light in abundance. She did not do this for long, but it was a joy to behold, and each day now walking has slowly got more easier, more natural, but still a long way to go.
Everyday now she will practice a little unaided dance for ten minutes or so , that will be movement enough I hope to sustain her and remind herself that there is always hope on the horizon. Bucket loads of it. I have witnessed it in her laughter and smiles. Our bond gets stronger too, which is not a bad thing, I will end with a quote by Albert Einsten :-
" We dance for laughter, we dance for tears,
we dance for madness,we dance for fears,
we dance for hopes, we dance for screams,
we are the dancers, we create the dreams."
Monday 29 February 2016
Saturday 27 February 2016
No to Trident
By the way by renewing Trident at the end of the day will be militarily pointless. it will not deter terrorist attacks or nuclear blackmailers, but will simply make it harder for Britain to encourage Nuclear disarmament around the globe.
The majority of the British public of Britain do not want the Trident Nuclear missile system. It is time to comply with our obligation under international law to accomplish the total elimination of our nuclear arsenal.
So solidarity with everyone marching against Trident today, As someone once said " If they can find money to kill someone, they can find money to help people." It is the will of humanity that will secure their destruction.
Thursday 25 February 2016
Cameron is a loser
( unedited poem , just arrived in library)
The N.H.S is a peoples pride
but man in expensive saville row suit
would rather pour scorn and snide
should be ashamed of his policies
not how the other half dress,
because most of us are currently
caught up in his toxic mess
a Tory elitist of swaggering arrogance
scurrilous profiteer, robber of our heritage
many of us don't sing God Save the Queen
because as the Sex Pistols sang, she aint no human being
so Cameron time to put aside your pointless jibes
stop releasing to the nation your negative vibes
as you pander to corporate lobbyists and big business
cutting peoples benefits while suffering from illness
a voice for his friends and the filthy rich
time for us to ignore you, give you the switch
you stopped listening a long time ago
left us with no room to grow
cuts for carers, the poor and vulnerable
your a viper in disguise, so very dishonourable..
Wednesday 24 February 2016
Balancing Acts
Sadness fills the world,
Tales of people escaping hatred and despair,
Persecuted, banished and exiled,
By dominating forces of injustice,
Looking, seeking, searching,
Now for freedoms scent,
A future, that gives welcome,
That allows doorways to be left open,
The colours of spring to return,
To embrace waves of existence,
A sense of balance to be restored.
No place for condemnation, fear or shame,
For those who have escaped oppression, death
Allow dignity to be retained,
in places they now proudly call home.
Lets not forget those who did not make it,
Fellow human beings like you and me,
Travellers and companions in time,
Bodies left broken, tired and exhausted,
After attempting perilous journeys,
Pathways of danger and confusion,
Blocked by illusionary borders,
Full of barbed wire and razor fences,
Where freedom comes at such a cost,
Hopes and dreams lay crushed,
On these voyages of necessity,
Lets offer kindness, and hospitality,
Balancing acts delivering landscapes of hope.
Monday 22 February 2016
Tell your MP:Don't cut ESA
Losing £30 a week will not be an insentive for getting people into work. The things holding people back are not willpower or willingness, it's bodies, minds, and employers who don't want to employ disabled people and help them make adjustments needed. DWP and Maximus incidentally have been actively sacking their own staff.
For most of us placed in the Work Related Activity Group of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) Group, we are are only still claiming due to ongoing mental health problems. There are as many as a quarter of a million of us currently in this group.These proposals are frightening and alarming to most of us, since already. we find it difficult to heat our homes and eat, but the unrelenting savagery of this Government I guess does not come as too much of a surprise.
Should the Government not be concerned on fixing our broken system, rather than effectively blaming ill and disabled people by cutting the existing support and safety nets available to us. A cruel cut that will hit those hardest hit already. Despite having been found not well enough to work, we as a group of people are being threatened left, right and center. For many of us, our lives already a constant struggle for survival.
The House of Lords has already voted against cuts to support for people who face massive barriers to work, often because of our ill health and disability. Now its time to tell our MPs to hold fast and stand against this cut. Our MPs have the chance to vote against cut to ESA next week. Make sure your own MP is on the right side of the vote, that does not push sick and disabled people further from work but closer to poverty.Many thanks.
https://speakout.38degrees.org.uk/campaigns/tell-MPs-dont-cut-esa?utm_medium=twitter
Saturday 20 February 2016
Vi Subversa ( Frances Sokolov Sanson 20/6/35 - 19/2/16;) - Poet of Subversion R.I.P
Sad to hear that Frances Sokolov better known by her stage name Vi Subversa, died yesterday passing away peacefully after a short illness , aged 80.
A hugely important figure in the music and counter-cultural movement often called Anarcho Punk. An inspirational voice who leaves a strong legacy for all that listened to her. Brilliant poet, singer , writer, anarchist activist and front person for the legendary Poison Girls, anarchist feminist band that between 1977 and 1989 were a potent force in the international peace movement. They were one of the first Punk musicians to feature feminism in their music.
Her first public performance was at the Body Show at Sussex University in 1975. Then in 1979 at the age of 44, she released her first single with the Poison Girls.
Frances was much more, than a musician, she was a pioneer who broke through society's taboos and restrictions. A true independent spirit with highly politicised lyrics,subversive from the outset, with anti-establishment attitude exploring issues of gender and sexuality, alienation, her voice was one of unbridled raw emotion, of hope and rage, that had the authentic ring of experience, in a husky smoke stained voice akin to Marianne Faithfull with a passionate edge. Making effective and clever points with intelligence rather than sloganeering. unafraid to tell us with gutso what she is thinking. with deft touches of humour.
Subversa was born of East German Jewish parents, spending two years in Israel in the late 1950's working in a ceramic pottery. She had two children Pete Fender and Gern Stone who both became members of Punk bands themselves.
I was fortunate to see the Poison Girls play live at the 1985 Glastonbury festival, cracking.
Her words have lit pathways among the shadows of the world, releasing tides of resistance, to help shape and make the world a better place. Messages of powerful expression, that long will inspire.
Vi Subversa Rest in Power
Poison Girls - Real Women
A hugely important figure in the music and counter-cultural movement often called Anarcho Punk. An inspirational voice who leaves a strong legacy for all that listened to her. Brilliant poet, singer , writer, anarchist activist and front person for the legendary Poison Girls, anarchist feminist band that between 1977 and 1989 were a potent force in the international peace movement. They were one of the first Punk musicians to feature feminism in their music.
Her first public performance was at the Body Show at Sussex University in 1975. Then in 1979 at the age of 44, she released her first single with the Poison Girls.
Frances was much more, than a musician, she was a pioneer who broke through society's taboos and restrictions. A true independent spirit with highly politicised lyrics,subversive from the outset, with anti-establishment attitude exploring issues of gender and sexuality, alienation, her voice was one of unbridled raw emotion, of hope and rage, that had the authentic ring of experience, in a husky smoke stained voice akin to Marianne Faithfull with a passionate edge. Making effective and clever points with intelligence rather than sloganeering. unafraid to tell us with gutso what she is thinking. with deft touches of humour.
Subversa was born of East German Jewish parents, spending two years in Israel in the late 1950's working in a ceramic pottery. She had two children Pete Fender and Gern Stone who both became members of Punk bands themselves.
I was fortunate to see the Poison Girls play live at the 1985 Glastonbury festival, cracking.
Her words have lit pathways among the shadows of the world, releasing tides of resistance, to help shape and make the world a better place. Messages of powerful expression, that long will inspire.
Vi Subversa Rest in Power
Poison Girls - Real Women
Statement - from Wargasm (my first introduction to the world of Vi Subursa)back in 1982
'
Poison Girls - desperate days
Poison Girls - Price of Grain
Friday 19 February 2016
NUS No platform policy getting absurd.
I remember the day when "No Platform " was reserved for violent fascists, denying them public speaking opportunities. But now it seems it is being used to silence debate.
Currently there are some in the NUS ( National Union of students) who are opposing a plan to invite Nick Lowles director of the anti-campaigning group Hope Not Hate, to speak on an anti-racist platform because they claim he is islamophobic. His organisation I have supported because of its campaigns to counter racism and fascism, who has actually worked to challenge anti-muslim hatred and bias directed at them.
This comes after a NUS LGBT officer called Fran Cowling accused Peter Tatchell - who has stood up for the LGBT community for the past 30 years,a hero of mine since his battle for bermondsey in the 1980's, risking his life and sustaining injuries, being mocked by rhe press, subjected to homophobic abuse by his political opponents, and arrested by the police as he fought for equality and free speech - of being racist and transphobic .
Simply absurd and mindblowing.
Two individuals who have stood yes against Islamist extremism, but equally against anti-muslim prejudice. For unity and solidarity. against all hate. It seems that anyone making the case for free speech or expressing an opinion nowadays contrary to those of others is subject to an intense, widespread and vitriolic attacks. Anybody who diagrees with them is blocked. They are branded racists, transphobes, bigots and sexists. in what seems like a witch hunt of McCarthyite dimension, aided by a virtual mob on facebook or twitter ready to back them up.
When freedom of speech is systematically threatened like this, I think we have a bit of a problem.
At the end of the day think the NUS should concentrate on opposing those Tory vermin currently in power, who are destroing everything fair and decent here in the UK and taking aim at real spreaders of hatred and fascist threat, organisations like the English Defence Leaque, Britain First and Pegida. We should not misuse the discourse of free speech.
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