This spirit moves me greatly.

(some spontaneity released earlier after visiting the above light in hospital, the reason I guess this blog exists. She has encouraged it throughout its journey, so these are some words to this guiding inspiration.)

I’m not frightened of the dark, but of the morning when my eyes awaken, the uncertainty of a loved ones paths , I ignore the critics of my poetical meanderings, who try to dim our illumination, I carry on, and every night I try to light a candle, a gift of communication, beating deep within my heart, for a love that has guided me gently, taught me how to be, showing me resilience that carries no fear, epitomising all the strength, magic and beauty that is contained in this bitter world, carried me with affection, through days of confusion, like a mountain of thought , her mind will forever be free and alive, this mighty force will never fade, this darling’s smile will be carried within me, for ever more, and if she had time now to read these words, her eyes would light up,because she will know how her great spirit moves me greatly and she knows how much I like to be moved, long before prayers have ever been intoned, she wont blame me for writing, in tough times these are keys to my self healing. For within I possess this inner resolve. I guess it displays the deep convictions that I try to share every day from my heart.

Bono, a man, receives a top prize in this years Glamour Magazine's Women of the Year !!

Bono the preening rock star has been named as a recipient of  a top prize in an award in this years Glamour Women of the year award despite being male.Apart from the fact he ain't female,what has he ever actually done.? Yes he has campaigned against poverty and recently launched a campaign called 'poverty is sexist' with a commitment to worldwide gender equality, but many actual women have been fighting poverty and sexism for years and years without any form  recognition. Personally I think this Irish muso (and ubiquitous humanitarian-activist-environmentalist so called social justice warrior) should have simply declined, but then again he is just another celebrity who can't resist the limelight.Why couldn't he simply go back to writing letters to God and his billionaire mates
I kind of side with women left feeling  disappointed that an awards scheme set out to recognise the achievements of women in a world where they are often overlooked, was being extended to men. After all there are hundreds and thousands of women who are far more worthy of this recognition,but the world has gone crazy, and I simply, despair.With only 3.7 billion women in the world I suppose Glamour magazine couldn't find any female worthy enough for that final place on the list.What about the many women fighting around the world for women's rights.so many women  working hard in her community to break down barriers, fighting domestic violence to inspire young girls to be independent and confident. Saudi women challenging repressive laws.  Egyptian poets offering a critique of repression.  South Americans challenging femicide. In the UK Maryam Namazie only challenges patriarchy every day. Abda Khan merely wrote a searing novel, 'Stained' about oppressive patriarchy, sexual violence and the use of 'honour' to silence women in Asian communities.Then there are the  women in politics regularly subjected to death threats and violence,women daily helping refugees struggling with their lives, women human rights defenders around the globe  acting as role models working to advance human rights for us all in the face of escalating risks, threats, and harassment. and courageous women like Nadia Murad and Lamiya Ashir Bashir, recently honored with top EU humanitarian award http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sakharovprize/en/home/the-prize.html. The list is simply endless.
At least Glamour magazine had the tenacity to recognise the accomplishments of some of them, who as women were all equally deserving including the five-time Olympic medal winner Simone Biles, the three founders of the Black Lives Matter movement and Nadia Murad, who was nominated for the Nobel peace prize after escaping enslavement by Isis.But their honor pales into insignificance because all the world is bloody talking about is Bono and this silly magazine that has now been reaped with all this oxygen of publicity, generated by their rather silly stunt.. 
Achievements in gender equality should be applauded and recognised but to give an award to a man  in a ceremony for women in my humble opinion is simply wrong and misguided,and is a mockery to all women across the globe and puts the clock back years.Surely even Bono himself can't fail to see the irony in all this, and  that by giving him an award at an event like this, even for trying to undo partriarchy undercuts the whole point of this award ceremony.Oh but the times are a changing. Really!!! Because after all another rich privileged white man really needs the recognition.,

Palestinians demand Britain Government must apologise for the Balfour Declaration

                                                        Lord Balfour
 
Palestinian activists have launched a campaign calling on the British government to apologise for the Balfour Declaration which pledged a homeland for the Jewish people in historic Palestine nearly a century ago as long as the rights of existing non-Jewish communities were not prejudiced.The Balfour Declaration was a letter from British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour to Lord Rothschild, head of the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland,  which had no basis of legal authority, where the indigenous Palestinians at the time of Balfour's letter amounted to 90% of the total population which paved the way for the occupation of their land.

At a launch event at the House of Parliament last Tuesday, Palestinian groups and their supporters blamed the plight of the Palestinian people on the legacy of the pledge and wider British colonialism in the region.If the petition reaches 100,000 signatures, the British parliament will have to consider debating the subject.
Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Jenny Tonge hosted the launch at the House of Lords last Tuesday, where the plight of the Palestinian people was blamed on the legacy of the Balfour Declaration and wider British colonialism in the region.The activists, backed by the Palestinian diplomatic mission in the UK, intend to push the British government in the run-up to the document’s centennial in November 2017.
Today actually marks the 99th anniversary of the cursed Balfour promise or Balfour Declaration, by means of which those who had no ownership (Britain) permitted those who had no right to establish a national homeland on an established country Palestine. Lord Balfour bought about a promise that marked  the confiscation of the Palestinians homeland with displacement of its people. I personally believe it is time that my rulers  apologise  about this historical injustice which Britain committed against the Palestinian people.
The nakba/catastrophe of 1948, when over 750,000 Palestinians were expelled was set in motion by imperialist agreements in World War 1 to carve up the Middle East in their own interests.The Palestinian conflict does not begin in 1948 but in 1917, with this  declaration. It is necessary that we go back to this crucial watershed in the history of the Middle East and the roots of the continuing betrayal of the Palestinian people.As a result Palestinians were evicted from their ancestral  homeland to be expelled to refugee camps, to live in exile across the globe, to this present day.The continuing seperation of the people of the West Bank and the open prison that is Gaza. And ever since Palestinians have endured ongoing violation of their basic human rights.Now, over 11 million Palestinians continue to suffer from Britain’s colonial legacy in Palestine. 
Because of the broken promise, Britain can be given the blame for setting the stage for the conflict that exists today.As we  approaching the 100th anniversary of this grave injustice, in the current moment the continuing gravity of the situation in Palestine cannot be overstated.Britain must accept its  full responsibility in  creating a situation  which has left a legacy of deceit, injustice and oppression.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas also called on the UK to apologize for the Balfour Declaration while in New York last week :- “We ask Great Britain, as we approach 100 years since this infamous declaration, to draw the necessary lessons and to bear its historic, legal, political, material and moral responsibility for the consequences of this declaration, including an apology to the Palestinian people for the catastrophes, misery and injustice this declaration created and to act to rectify these disasters and remedy its consequences, including by the recognition of the state of Palestine,” Abbas told UN delegates.
I  acknowledge that Balfour was not unique in history in giving what he did not own to those that were not entitled to it. It is time for the  British Government to apologise for the Balfour declaration, as this historic betrayal is still being felt and British politicians and companies continue to support the forces of colonisation..It is the least that they can do, but giving the fact that they have recently rejected another gross injustice, when agents of the state ran amok at Orgreave in the 1984 miners strike, I feel it sadly to be a bit of a long shot.But I like many others across the globe together with the Palestinian people will not give up hope. It is surely  time for the British Government to say sorry for what has bought untold misery through nearly a century of conflict, ethnic cleansing, ongoing human rights abuse, brutal occupation and apartheid.It has a responsibility and duty and  to redress the pain and suffering of individual Palestinians that has  endured ever since.

Will you join me at Standing Rock

Yesterday I checked in at Standing Rock Indian Reservation in solidarity with the Water Protectors.
"The Morton County Sheriff's Department has been using Facebook check-ins to find out who is at Standing Rock in order to target them in attempts to disrupt the prayer camps.Hundreds of Native American protectors have gathered at the site since April to protest peacefully against  the Dakota  Access pipeline’s construction on land they claim is tribal under the 1851 treaty of Fort Laramie https://ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=42.The people of Standing Rock, often called Sioux, warn that a potential oil spill into the river would threaten the water, land, health and sacred lands of their reservation.Their fight is also against a system of domination that has been imposed on the original nations.Members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe ,say it threatens the environment and will destroy Native American burial sites, prayer sites and artifacts.The Standing Rock Sioux reservation straddles the border between North Dakota and South Dakota, and the projected path of the pipeline is near the reservation's northeast corner.
Assertions that the local sheriff's department is using the Facebook check-in feature to identify and target protesters began to circulate the social media site, as have calls to check virtually in at Standing Rock to complicate these suspected efforts. SO Water Protecters are calling on EVERYONE to check-in at Standing Rock,  to overwhelm and confuse them.It isn't actually clear whether the call actually originated with the people at the  North Dakota protest but it is a powerful tool of expressing solidarity nevertheless, helping the protestors see that the world has not forgotten their plight, or their fight to defend their land.
This is concrete action that can protect people putting their bodies and well-beings on the line that we can do without leaving our homes.Over 1 million facebook users have already answered the call, in a spirit of defiance and solidarity in a  mass check-in  organized to prevent local law enforcement from tracking protesters on social media.Standing together with  hearts and minds protesting against corporate enterprises that have deceived this country and stolen peoples freedom in exchange of profits and materialistic want. The most ubiquitous of these virtual calls to action asserts that the "Water Protestors" are imploring people to simply say they're at Standing Rock, even if they're not.
 If you're sharing your location at Standing Stock (which you should be doing)
1) make it public
2) make the clarification post separate, and so that only your friends can see it
3) don't clarify on your check in, message friends who say "stay safe!" to let them know what's up -- the stay safe posts are more convincing / confusing for p*lice
4) copy paste to share clarification messages (like this one) because making it public blows our cover
5) say "Standing Stock" in clarification posts so that when they filter out / search those terms, your post is visible to the right people"
Will you join me in Standing Rock?" supporting the courageous peaceful resistance led by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to protect their land and water and become inspired by this community-led struggle, and by the potential for joint action that this widespread solidarity has demonstrated.

 Tell Big Banks to Stop Dakota Access Pipeline

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/597/965/180/bankexit-tell-big-banks-to-stop-dakota-access-pipeline/#updated

Warrior Communique from # NODAPL

Bright Blessings ( a poem for Samhain)

Though darkness treads this day of ours
today is one of celebrating light,
time to remember the paths of ancestors
forever casting their eternal beams,
goddesses returning, resurrecting feeling
whispering enchantment, releasing power,
as the veil of  life gets thinner and dimmer
time to welcome old spirits that walk among us,
that enable us to dance and sing again
beyond this realm allows us to be blessed,
as leaves turn golden, and fall to nourish the land
under trees branches we can all nobly stand,
mother earth reaching out offering protection
absorbing our longings, accepting our wrongs,
in the vortex of time, keeps on shining bright
guiding us as we follow ancient paths of wisdom,
slipping through time, surrounded by love
allowing truth and justice to be the natural law.

( when the barrier between the worlds is whisper-thin and when magic, old magic, sings its heady and sweet song to anyone who cares to hear it.
~Carolyn MacCullough, Once a Witch)

For Diwali

 

Diwali  is one of the biggest and auspicious festivals celebrated by Hindus all around the globe. The festival of lights signifies peace and joy, the victory of good over evil, and light over darkness every day. It is one of the most symbolic Hindu festivals, and all the communities in the country celebrate it with much pomp. During this festival, people clean their homes, decorate every corner with lights, lamps, diyas, flowers, rangoli, and candles.

Diwali is observed on the 15th day of the Kartik month as per the Hindu Lunar calendar.

 According to Hindu mythology, the Prince of Ayodhya, Lord Rama, returned home with his wife Mata Sita and brother Lakshmana on the auspicious occasion Diwali,They came back to Ayodhya after spending 14 years in exile and defeating the King of Lanka, Ravana. People of Ayodhya had celebrated their return with great enthusiasm by lighting rows of lamps and diyas. The tradition has continued till date and is celebrated as the festivall of Diwali,

.Diwali is the festival of lights which signifies the victory of good over evil and the eradication of dark shadows, negativity, and doubts from our lives. It is a celebration of prosperity in which people give gifts to their loved ones. The festival also sends the message of illuminating our inner selves with clarity and positivity.

To All of My Friends celebrating the Hindu Festival of Diwali, may the Festival of Light provide you with good health, peace and prosperity in the coming year 

For Diwali

Diwali, festival of lights
a day of rich awakenings,
time for firecrackers to ignite
for children  to play with friends,
joyous, jubilant, carried with delight
the sweet smell of fragrance abounds,
colors of rich diversity fill the air
candles flickering, people gathering.
wishing  for understanding.

Prayers released for happiness
for laughter and smiles to glow,
for good to triumph over bad
time to love, time to share, 
to wish friends hope and goodwill
allowing soaring spirits to wander,
paying respect to different gods
the spirit of Diwali alive and well,
allowing light to lead us all
as celebration lifts spirits,
and true charity brings
joy peace and merriment
to those that need it most.

The Empire Files: Inside Palestine’s Refugee Camps

 
One in three refugees is Palestinian. With millions of displaced Palestinians around the world, hundreds of thousands are refugees in their own country....living packed into refugee camps after being ethnically cleansed by Israeli forces from their villages just miles away.
In her first on-the-ground report from Palestine, Abby Martin gives a first-hand look into two of the most attacked refugee camps in the West Bank: Balata and Aida camps.Thank you Abby.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmuTmpLY35O3csvhyA6vrkg