This is just the beginning

Had hardly any sleep, but when UK prime minister Theresa May called a snap election five weeks ago, her decision was widely portrayed as a masterstroke. The Tories, it was almost universally agreed, would romp home with a huge majority and a sweeping mandate for more savage austerity and a “hard Brexit”. Labour would be wiped out for a generation, if not for good. The Corbyn “experiment” would be finished, and the right would either take back control of Labour or break away to form a new centrist party that crushed the rump of Corbynites in parliament.  The most powerful media in the country threw everything at it.
But out there across the country something important happened. People who had never voted before found hope, despite a frenzied right wing media, they made a difference.We must come together now to do whatever we can to stop a Tory/DUP "Thatcher-on-steroids" government. This is our moment. We can't afford to take any more of their flaky unstable sentiments, we must keep pushing for more political change, we have the tory's on the run,we must keep building the foundations for radical progressive change. Everything now is up for grabs, we must keep opposing ideological austerity,whatever happens next  though we keep fighting back this is not the end. We are living in highly unstable times, we must continue to keep up the pressure, we can still bring this government down, for the many not the few.
Politics in Britain is now in a state of flux, but the policies of a hard Brexit have been rejected, we can now change history, towards a more equal fairer society, we have nothing to lose, we must keep faith, pushing forwards. The conservatives vision of uncertainty and division can be stopped,the dawn has broken on a new kind of politics. Have a good day, lets continue to live in hope.

"There is no final victory, as there is no final defeat. There is just the same battle. To be fought, over and over again. So toughen up, bloody toughen up.” - Tony Benn.

cassette boy vs theresa may

The return of cassette boy, It's been just over a year since Cassetteboy — the comedy YouTuber known for remixing politicians' words to a musical backdrop — last posted a video on his channel. hope it's not to late, long have I  loved this artist's  inspiring cut ups.
Here are some previous examples of this wonderful craftsman's  work, just in case you think I'm leaping on a bandwagon :-

https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/cassetteboy-remix-news-2016-review.html

https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/cassetteboy-vs-snoopers-charter.html

https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/cassetteboy-vs-jeremy-hunt.html

https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/i-didnt-have-sexual-relations-with-that.html

https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/cassetteboy-camerons-conference-rap.html


For the sake of all our communities.....

VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH, PLEASE KICK HER OUT

We all deserve so much better.

Please Share

For the many not the few

In desperate times  people demand another way
Beyond the stealth  that devours our lives,
The cruel division of  current leaders creeds
Tory polices creating much worry and dismay,
Spreading poverty and indignity
Wanting us to beg and get down on our knees,
There are too many scars and cracks
Hidden away by a right wing media,
Time to abandon this transparent vision
Spare us all from fatuous condescension,
We can shed our tears, walk again with honour
Garlanded around us red roses of hope,
Build a future of kindness and fairness
After May has gone, sing celebratory song,
Living and defending  one another
For the many not the few.

https://iamnotasilentpoet.wordpress.com/2017/06/07/for-the-many-not-the-few-by-dave-rendle/

James Connolly : Working Class hero (5/6/1868 - 12/5/1916)

Irish republican and socialist leader. James Connolly was born on June  5th 1868. For a man so linked to Irish history, Connolly was actually  born in Edinburgh, Scotland. The area he lived in was  nicknamed ' Little Ireland' and was one of the city's slum areas. He subsequently spoke with a Scottish accent throughout his life. His parents  were originally from County Monaghan and their life in Edinburgh was hard. He left school for working life at the age of 11, but became one of  the leading revolutionary theorists of his day.
James Connolly joined the British Military at age 14 to escape his extreme poverty. Seven years later at the age of 21, Connolly left military life and eventually settled in Dublin in 1896.
In 1903 Connolly emigrated to the United States,living for a brief period in Troy New York with a relative, and worked for an insurance firm as a salesman. But by 1905 he left Troy to persue his ideals of organizing a militant working class movement and soon joined the newly formed IWW ( Industrial Workers of the World ), as a member and full-time organizer.
A prolific writer of historical, cultural, political, economic, and social analysis, as well as a one man editor and publisher of his own books and newspaper, many people of opposing political beliefs within the Labor movement and the Left valued and praised Connolly's insightful views.
Connolly did not consider himself an Anarcho-Syndicalist, however in 1908 when a split in the IWW occured between the Marxist Daniel De Leon and the Anarcho-Syndicalists, Connolly sided with the Anarcho-Syndicalists.
Connolly hated sectarianism, which he considered one of the greatest obstacles preventing worker anti-capitalist unity. One of his writings that reflects this belief ;"The development of the fighting spirit is of more importance than the creation of the theoretically perfect organization. That indeed, the most theoretically perfect organization may, because of it's very perfection and vastness, be of the greatest possible danger to the revolutionary movement if it tends, or is used, to repress and curb the fighting spirit of comradeship in the rank and file.Connolly also was distrustful of centralized government, best reflected in his statement that ;
'Without the power of the industrial union behind it, democracy can only enter the state as the victim enters the gullet of the serpent.'
Connolly came back  to Ireland at the invitation of a small socialist group. Here he soon made his mark as a talented organiser, speaker and writer. It was James Connolly above all who was responsible for the alignment between working class organisations and the goal of irish independence.Connolly wrote brilliantly on the necessity of socialism to the cause of Irish independence, as well as all manners of topics relevant to the world socialist movement. He believed it was the working class who could shake the foundations of the British empire, for the benefit of all the oppressed of the world.
James Connoly addressed meetings in north Wales, after which the celebrated Welsh socialist and local  Independent Labour Party leader Silyn Roberts recalled :
"Gyda Larkib ym 1911 y cyfarum ag ef ac y dysfgais ei edmygud a'i garu. Un o drysorau gwerthfawrocaf fy llufrgell yw copi o'i gyfrol Labour in Irish history, a roddwyd i mi ganddo a Larkin i gofio am eu hymweliad a Chymru".
 "I met him with Larkin in 1911, and learnt to admire him and love him. One of the greatest treasures in my library is a copu of his volume Labour in Irish history, which he and Larkin gabe me as a momento of their visit to Wales", With James Larkin, he was centrally involved in  the Dublin lock-out of 1913, that paralyzed commerce and transport for many weeks. During the general strike Connolly organized the Irish Citizen Army amongst striking workers, in a self defense response to wide spread beatings of striking workers by the Irish police and British military. The Irish Citizen Army became the nucleus of the Dublin Division of the Army of the Republic during the 1916 Easter Rebellion against British rule of Ireland.
With the outbreak of war, Connolly became increasingly committed to formenting an insurrection against British rule in Ireland; he had gradually changed from labour organiser and agitator into military commandant and theorist. In mid-January 1916 he reached agreement with the Irish Republican Brotherhood Military Council to co-operate in an insurrection the following Easter. He joined the Council, and on the day before the Rising its members appointed him vice-president of the Irish Republic and Commandant-General, Dublin Division, Irish Army.
Connolly proved himself to be the most effective and inspirational of the rebel leaders during the insurrection. On Easter Monday, 24th April, he led the Headquarters Battalion from Liberty Hall to the General Post Office and commanded military operations there throughout the week – supervising the construction of defences, determining and adjusting strategy, summoning reinforcements and deciding on the disposition of his forces. That only nine volunteers in the post office garrison died during the fighting is testimony to his talents. He himself took constant risks with his own safety but even after being severely wounded on 27th April, he remained, as Patrick Pearse said, "still the guiding brain of our resistance".
At noon on Saturday 29th April Connolly supported the majority view of the leaders that they should surrender as he 'could not bear to see his brave boys burnt to death'. His expectation was that the Risin's organisers would  be shot and the rest set free. Under military escort, Connolly was carried to the Red Cross Hospital at Dublin Castle where hours later he signed Pearse's surrender order on behalf f the Irish Citizen Army. He was court-martialled there, propped up in his bed, on 9th May. At  his trial he read the following brief hand -written statement which said :
 “Believing that the British Government has no right in Ireland, never had any right in Ireland, and never can have any right in Ireland, the presence, in any one generation of Irishmen, of even a respectable minority, ready to die to affirm that truth, makes the Government forever a usurpation and a crime against human progress. I personally thank God that I have lived to see the day when thousands of Irishmen and boys, and hundreds of women and girls, were ready to affirm that truth, and to attest to it with their lives if need be.”
As spring was turning to summer, a city still coming to terms with the death and destruction of the Easter Rising was being forced to accept yet more blood-letting. Despite his severe wounds, on 12 May 1916 he was transported by military ambulance to Kilmainham Gaol, carried to a prison courtyard on a stretcher, tied to a chair and executed by the British military by firing squad to the outrage of many people in Ireland and across the world. It certainly significantly contributed to the mood of bitterness in Ireland. His body (along with those of the other rebels) was put in a mass grave without a coffin. The executions of the rebels deeply angered the majority of the Irish population, most of whom had shown no support during the rebellion. It was Connolly's execution, however, that caused the most controversy. Historians have pointed to the manner of execution of Connolly and similar rebels, along with their actions, as being factors that caused public awareness of their desires and goals and gathered support for the movements that they had died fighting for. It was the death of their leaders, and particularly of Connolly, that sparked the flame of Irish republicanism across this island, launched a mass rebellion, and ultimately led to the creation of an Irish republic. Of all the executions carried out during the 1916 Easter Rising, none raised as much public anger then or since as the execution of James Connolly
Though considered by many historians to be an " Irish Nationalist ", Connolly did not believe in ignoring class divisions in the name of nationalism. That Ireland could not be free until the working class of Ireland was free.
In the aftermath of his death Kerry journalist Liam MacGabhann penned The Poem of James Connolly in 1933. MacGabhann, who was born on Valentia Island in 1908, wrote the stirring piece from the view of a soldier in the firing party ordered to shoot Connolly.
In 1916 a Welsh regiment on its way to the Western Front was diverted to Ireland as backup for troops trying to crush the rebellion in Dublin. MacGabhann heard a story about a young soldier, a son of a Welsh miner, who was part of that regiment and was included in the firing squad for Connollys execution and felt utter guilt and shame because of it.
In the aftermath of the ghastly deed this unnamed Welsh solider  tracked down Connolly’s widow and children to ask for their forgiveness. as she later recalled, he told Lily:
" I am a miner. My father was a miner, and my grandfather was a miner -they were both very busy in the trade union. How can I go back home? They would know about James Connolly even if I didn't. I haven't been  home on leave. I can't go home. I'd let something slip, and they'd know I'd killed James Connolly.Oh,why was I chosen tokill a man like that?"
Lily replied : James Connolly has already forgiven you. He realised you were being forced, he realised you were only a working class boy".
MacGabhann took this anonymous Welsh soldier as the voice for his poem who reflects on his participation in the execution of Connolly with heavy regret.
 
The Poem of James Connolly -  Liam MacGabhann 

The man was all shot through that came today
 Into the barrack square;
 A soldier I – I am not proud to say
 We killed him there;
 They brought him from the prison hospital;
 To see him in that chair
 I thought his smile would far more quickly call
 A man to prayer.
 Maybe we cannot understand this thing
 That makes these rebels die;
 And yet all things love freedom – and the Spring
 Clear in the sky;
 I think I would not do this deed again
 For all that I hold by;
 Gaze down my rifle at his breast – but then
 A soldier I.
 They say that he was kindly – different too,
 Apart from all the rest;
 A lover of the poor; and all shot through,
 His wounds ill drest,
 He came before us, faced us like a man,
 He knew a deeper pain
 Than blows or bullets – ere the world began;
 Died he in vain?
 Ready – present; And he just smiling – God!
 I felt my rifle shake
 His wounds were opened out and round that chair
 Was one red lake;
 I swear his lips said ‘Fire!’ when all was still
 Before my rifle spat
 That cursed lead – and I was picked to kill
 A man like that!

Today, James Connolly is regarded as one of Ireland's greatest heroes. He was a revolutionary socialist and militant unionist who dedicated his life not just to the cause of Irish liberation, but also to international socialism. He inspired not only the republican and socialist tradition in Ireland but anti-colonial & anti-imperialist movements around the world. In the history of the international working class movement we should remember James Connolly as a hero and martyr who acted on his beliefs.
Today, a statue of James Connolly stands in pride of place at the centre of Dublin. A brass engraving of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic also sits at pride of place in the window of the General Post Office headquarters, where Connolly made his stand for the liberty of his nation and the working class during four fateful days in April 1916. .
I will end with  this final quote from him :-
"A revolution will only be achieved when the ordinary people of the world, us, the working class, get up off our knees and take back what is rightfully ours."

Andy Irvine - Where is our James Connolly

50th Anniversary of Israeli Occupation of Palestinian Land

June 5th marks the 50th anniversary of the 1967 war between Israel and neighboring Arab States of Egypt, Jordan and Syria. In what was known as the Six Day War, Israel captured the Egyptian Sinai Peninsular, the Syrian Golan Heights, and the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Except for the Sinai, Israel still controls all of those territories. In fact, the Israeli military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza is the longest in modern times.
After this  War it marked the beginning of the ongoing oppression, misery and denial of human and political rights that is the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. Israel’s bold territorial gains in 1967 have never been recognised by the Palestinians or the vast majority of the international community.
The first use of the term 'territories occupied' was in the United Nations Security Council Resolution 242, adopted unanimously by the UN Security Council in November, 1967. The International Court of Justice the UN General Assembly and the UN Secuity Council regard Israel as the 'Occupying Power.'  Even Israel's own High Court of Justice has ruled many times that the Palestinian  territories are under occupation.In a ruling in 2005 the Court stated that 'Judea and Samaria' ( West Bank) and the Gaza area are ' held by the State of Israel in belligerent occupation,' However, the Israeli government alone persists in calling the lands 'disputed territories.'
 Israelis and Palestinians now live a reality where, under a single regime, one group is privileged while the other is deprived of its basic human rights. For 50 years, Israel has administered a pervasive system of control over Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), while denying them their right to self-determination and controlling virtually all aspects of their life without giving them any say. For half a century now, Palestinian life has not been determined by Palestinians, rather their fate has been characterized by  apartheid which has been carried out by the illegitimate government in Tel Aviv. Israel's continuing violations include stolen indigenous land, established military checkpoints; racial profiling; mass incarceration; torture of children; jailing of children, some as young as 5 years old; separation of families; tear gassing, bombing of civilian targets by "israeli" war planes, environmental destruction; withholding water and electricity; unjustified restrictions of movement, the continual development of illegal settlements, along with accompanying discriminatory practices against Palestinians, in violation of international law. The list goes on and on and on.
Israeli authorities have since 1967 facilitated the transfer of its civilians to the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. In 1967, Israel established two settlements in the West Bank: Kfar Etzion and East Talpiot; by 2017, Israel had established 237 settlements there, housing approximately 580,000 settlers. Israel applies Israeli civil law to settlers, affording them legal protections, rights, and benefits that are not extended to Palestinians living in the same territory who are subjected to Israeli military law. Israel provides settlers with infrastructure, services, and subsidies that it denies to Palestinians, creating and sustaining a separate and unequal system of law, rules, and services.
Israeli authorities have expropriated thousands of acres of Palestinian land for settlements and their supporting infrastructure. Discriminatory burdens, including making it nearly impossible for Palestinians to obtain building permits in East Jerusalem and in the 60 percent of the West Bank under exclusive Israeli control (Area C), have effectively forced Palestinians to leave their homes or to build at the risk of seeing their “unauthorized” structures bulldozed. For decades, Israeli authorities have demolished homes on the grounds that they lacked permits, even though the law of occupation prohibits destruction of property except for military necessity, or punitively as collective punishment against families of Palestinians suspected of attacking Israelis.

Israel has also arbitrarily excluded hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from its population registry, restricting their ability to live in and travel from the West Bank and Gaza. Israeli authorities have justified these actions by citing general security concerns, but they have not conducted individual screenings or claimed that those excluded posed a threat themselves. Israel also revoked the residency of over 130,000 Palestinians in the West Bank and 14,565 in East Jerusalem since 1967, largely on the basis that they had been away too long.
Although Israel has no permanent military presence within Gaza, it retains control over all border crossings except Rafah Crossing, which is under Egyptian control. The crossing is not suited for transporting goods and enables movement of people only; Egypt refuses to open it most of the time. Israel also controls Gaza’s sea and air space, and forbids Palestinians to build an airport or seaport. Consequently, Israel has virtually complete control of all movement of people and goods in and out of Gaza, administering this in consideration of Israeli interests.
Any entry into Gaza or exit from it – whether to Israel, the West Bank or third countries via Israel – requires receiving a permit from Israeli authorities. Israel has used its control over the crossings to impose a blockade on Gaza for almost nine years, since June 2007. It prohibits residents from leaving Gaza other than in exceptional circumstances.
For the last 25 years, Israel has tightened restrictions on the movement of people and goods to and from the Gaza Strip in ways that far exceed any conceivable requirement of Israeli security. These restrictions affect nearly every aspect of everyday life, separating families, restricting access to medical care and educational and economic opportunities, and perpetuating unemployment and poverty. As of last year, Gaza’s GDP was 23 percent lower than in 1994. Seventy percent of Gaza’s 1.9 million people rely on humanitarian assistance.
Israel also has imposed onerous restrictions on freedom of movement in the West Bank, enforced at checkpoints within the West Bank and at its borders with Israel. Israel’s separation barrier, ostensibly solely built for security, in fact slices through the West Bank significantly more than it runs along the Green Line separating the West Bank from Israel, contrary to international humanitarian law, as confirmed by the International Court of Justice in July 2004.
Israeli authorities have also incarcerated hundreds of thousands of Palestinians since 1967, the majority after trials in military courts, which have a near-100 percent conviction rate. In addition, on average, hundreds every year have been placed in administrative detention based on secret evidence without charge or trial. Some were detained or imprisoned for engaging in nonviolent activism. Israel also jails West Bank and Gaza Palestinian detainees inside Israel, creating onerous restrictions on family visits and violating international law requiring that they be held within the occupied territory. Many detainees, including children, face harsh conditions and mistreatment.
Palestinians right to resist this occupation is  supported by a series of UN General Assembly resolutions beginning with UNGA 1154 of 1960 and other international organisations including the World Court. These demand an end to colonialism generally and recognise the right of all colonised peoples to resist foreign domination by any means necessary including armed struggle.
However armed struggle is not the choice of many Palestinians in the front line of todays resistance movement. Instead they are choosing non-violent actions and public demonstrations which are often met by brut force. The Palestinians are also reaching out for international support through increasingly effective and widespread digital communications. Palestinian Civil Society Calls for Boycott , Divestment and Sanctions against Israel Until it Complies with International Law and Universal Principles of Human Rights:- https://bdsmovement.net/
This year also marks; 69 years since the Nakba (catastrophe) 1948 https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/the-palestinian-nakba-time-to-remember.html and and 100 years this November since the Balfour Declaration  which set the stage for the Zionist movement to illegally colonize Palestine.https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/no-to-balfour-royal-visit-to-israel.html
Following all these tragic anniversaries let's hope  2017 be a turning point long overdue for all those working for justice in Palestine..There has also been a long been a vocal Israeli community which says the occupation harms Israel’s claim to legitimate statehood, and damages the chances of reaching peace with Palestinians.On the 50th anniversary milestone, more than ever are beginning to question whether the struggle to control occupied Palestinian territory is worth it.
Israel must “cloak itself in sorrow also over what has happened to Israel since that terrible summer of 1967, the summer in which it won a war and lost nearly everything,” wrote Gideon Levy, a columnist in the Haaretz newspaper, in April. “Strong, armed and rich as it never was in 1967. Corrupt and rotten as only an occupying country can be.”
After decades of failure to rein in abuses associated with the occupation, the international community should take more active measures to hold Israeli and Palestinian authorities to their obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law. The majority of Palestinians have never known life without occupation. They don't know the taste of freedom. We must keep the candle alight for them, we must keep on calling international government to act on  their moral principles and to make Israel accountable under international law for everything it does.

Sources :-

http://icahd.org/faqs-home-demolitions/

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20160610-49-facts-about-israels-occupation-of-the-west-bank-and-gaza-strip/

https://www.adalah.org/en/content/view/7771

https://www.middleeastobserver.org/2017/06/04/occupationis-palestinians-launch-campaign-on-50th-year-of-israeli-occupation/

https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/middle-east-and-north-africa/israel-and-occupied-palestinian-territories/

https://www.palestinecampaign.org/

Universal Prayer for Peace - Anonymous

In light of events in London last night, and equally tragic events across the world, I offer a few simple words.There is much food for reflection here in a world of  violence, and disunity.

A Prayer for Peace

Lead us from death to life, from
  falsehood to truth:
Lead us from despair to hope, from
  fear to trust:
Lead us from hate to love, from war to
  peace:
Let peace fill our hearts, our world'
 our universe:
Peace, peace, peace.

Jeremy Corbyn’s Money Tree

They say there is no money, what about millionaire tax breaks and tax cuts. Money to waste on  Jubilee celebrations.For the restoration of Buckingham Palace. For Trump's totally premature gold-carriage, state visit. For MPs to have a 10% pay increase. For Trident. For MPs allowances and a heavily subsidised bar at the House of Commons. etc etc
Here is Jeremy Corbyn’s Money Tree. It delivers fruit for the many, not the few.
Simply Brilliant – possibly the Best graphic of the Election.
Reblogged from here :- https://think-left.org/2017/06/01/jeremy-corbyns-money-tree/