Under the glowing sun
my garden is quilted
by memories of angels
who drifted far away,
but below a painted sky
bluebells dance,and earth vibrates
releasing her shouldering power
growing stronger as afternoon passes
shaking the waking steam of thought
chaos bubbles into order.
Embracing the magic of springtime
arms outstretched, inner peace is released,
in reflective moments of tranquility
surrender to natures beauty,
enchantment bringing happiness
I light a jazz cigarette, feel at ease,
in calmness, forget the worries of the world
in this peaceful space, nourishment sipped.
"Die Religion ist das Opium des Vokes" "Dir Religion ist das Opium des Vokes" "Dir Religion ist das Opiun des Volkes"
Happy birthday Karl Marx, shame about the millions, who died in your name, however lets allow some of your thoughts, to grow, beyond sectarianism, you who believed that religion was the opium of the people, meaning that it was imposed upon the ordinary person in order to control him. Who personally believed in no such thing as God or Gods. Born into a middle class jewish family came to believe that religion was basically used to suppress people, with a complete negation of reasoning. Who wanted a society based on reality, on truths, a society where the individual took responsibility and did not leave everything to a belief system or a supreme being. Personally speaking, it feels like in a lot of cases religion can make you a puppet, I believe in science, but sometimes when feeling irrational the supernatural, I do though carry a political faith. And a drug that can keep people happy in the short term, has the potential of appeal, any numbness of pleasure in this world, that gives immediate pleasure, that is a quick fix, a short cut to immediate pleasure, can it all be roundly condemned? Consequences can be quick, but in the long term consciences can deaden. Some say the internet and facefuck does this every day. Hey ho. One day soon we might have a chance to overthrow the capitalist system too, before it's to late. Power to the people, create your own illusion. Do it yourself.
The following is an extract from Karl Marx's introduction to the critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right, first published in 1844.
" For Germany, the criticism of religion has been completed, and the critisism of religion is the prequisite of all critisism.
The profane existence of error is compromised as soon as its heavenly oratio pro aris et focis (" speech for the altars and hearths," i.e, for God and country) has been refuted. Man, who has found only the reflection of hiimself in the fantastic reality of heaven, where he sought a superman, will no longer feel disposed to find the mere appearance of himself, the non-man, where he seeks and must seek his true reality.
The foundation of irreligious criticism is : Man makes religion , religion dos not make man. Religion is, indeed, the self-consciousness and self-esteem of man who has either not yet won through to himself, or has already lost himself again. But man is no abstract being squatting outside the world. Man is the world of man - state, society. This state and this society produce religion, which is an inverted consciousness of the world, because thet are an inverted world. Religion is the general theory of this world, its encyclopaedic compendium, its logic in popular form, its spiritual point d'honneur, its enthusiasm, its moral sanction, its solemn complement, and its universal basis of consolation and justification. It is the fantastic realization of the human essence since the human essence has not acquired any true reality. The struggle against religion is therefore, indirectly the struggle against that world whose spiritual aroma is religion. Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.
The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their conditions is to call on them to give up a conditon that requires illusions. The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo.
Criticism has plucjed the imaginary flowers on the chain not in order that man shall continue to bear that chain without fantasy or consolation, but so that he shall throw off the chain and pluck the living flower. The criticism of religion disillisions man, so that he will think, act, and fashion his reality like a man who has discarded his illusions and regained his senses, so that he will move around himself as his own true Sun. Religion is only the illusory Sun which revolves around man as long as he does not revolve around himself.
It is therefore, the task of history, once the other-world of truth has vanished, to establish the truth of this world. It is the immediate task of philosophy, which is in the service of history, to unmask self-estrangement in its unholy forms once the holy form of human self-estrangement has been unmasked. Thus the critisism of Heaven tirns into the criticism of Earth, the criticism of religion into the criticism of law, and the criticism of theology into the criticism of politics."
They teach us to be subservient and respectful
To obey their rules, which they change whenever they choose,
Treat us with hatred and derision, humiliation and disrespect
Destroying communities, continuing to insult and neglect.
They teach us about pain and desperation,
Tell us everything's alright when it isn't,
Turning a blind eye for their own means
That we've been conditioned not to notice.
They teach us, about broken promises, desolation
Ghost like towns, where hope and love has gone,
Levels of greed everywhere, forces of negation
As we stumble and fall, all they offer is rejection.
They teach us, about abandonment and disillusion
Hatred and division seeping daily through our lives,
Barbarism and racism swallowing up hearts and mind
Time to depart this darkness, these tides that bind.
They teach us, how to question, rippling waves bursting through
With different rays of possibility,for the many not the few,
Springing back with resilience,bringing a splash of hope
In our country sinking in the mire, with faith we can delope.
The above image of the hoisting of the Red Flag over the Reichstag 2 May 1945, has come to represent the total victory of Soviet Russia however the red flag was actually first raised on the Reichstag on April 30 as the Red Army and the Nazis were still fighting for control of the building . Erected in 1894, the Reichstag's architecture was magnificent for it's time. The building contributed much to German history and was considered by the Red Army the symbol of their enemy, and the heart of Nazi Germany
On May 2, two days after Hitler had killed himself and the same day that General Helmuth Weidling, the last remaining commander of the Nazi forces defending the German capital, ordered ' the immediate cessation of resistance, and thus surrendering the city to the Red Army, Yevgeny Khalder a 28 year old -photojournalist and Red Army naval officer (1917 -1997) was ready to record the symbolic image of Germany's capitulation after days of intnense fighting.
The above photograph was actually staged for propaganda purposes, but nonetheless became an iconic symbol of the Soviet Union's triumphant victory over Nazi Germany.Next to Joe Rosenthal's photo of raising the flag on Iwo Jima, Khaldei's photo, is perhaps the most famous of Worf War 11, But unlike Rosenthal's his was both staged and doctored. Noting the publicity the Iwo Jima photos had recieved , Soviet officials, ordered Khaldei to fly from Moscow to Berlin in order to take a similar photo that would symbolise the Soviet victory over Germany. Khaldei carried with him a large flag, sewn from three tablecloths for this very purpose, by his uncle. When Khaldei arrived in Berlin he had considered a number of settings for the photo, including the Brabdenburg Gate and Temelhof Airport but he decided on the Reichstag, even though Soviet soldiers had already succeeded in raising a flag over the building. He met a young comrade in the burnt out parlament building and persuaded him to pose on the roof with the flag, Two other Red Army soldiers joined them to recreate the scene above..
Before the photo's first publication in Ogoniok, a Russian magazine, Khaldei realised that one of the three Soviet soldiers on the roof was wearing two watches, one on each wrist, a clear sign of looting which did not fit into the heroic image of the Red army. He scratched the second watch from the negative. Dark billowing clouds of smoke were added also to a later version of the photograph for more dramatic effect.
Another picture of the same scene
German magazine Der Spiegel wrote, "Khaldei saw himself as a propagandist for a just cause, the war against Hitler and the German invaders of his homeland," When asked about the manipulation, Khaldei responded, " It is a good photograph and historically significant. Next question please."
In the years before his death in October 1997, he liked to say: "I forgive the Germans, but I cannot forget."His father and three of his four sisters were murdered by the Germans. As a war photographer from Red Square to the Bhudapst Ghetto, to Yalta and the Nuremberg trials Khaldei chronicled many of the world's most important events with an artist's eye and a journalist's timing. However after the war Khaldei became the victim of anti-Semitism in Stalin's totalitarian dictatorship and struggled to remain employed., but somehow he continued to photograph, now working as a freelance photographer for Soviet newspapers and focused on capturing the scenes of everyday life, In 1959, he got a job again at the newspaper Pravda where he worked until he was forced to retire in 1970. His wartime photographs were later collected in a 93 page book ( Ot Murmanska do Berlina / From Murmansk to Berlin) published in 1984.
Happy May Day/ Beltane. As humanity continues to move in a very funny direction, here is a message of hope and positivity, a retelling of the traditional folk tale Tam Lyn, by the poet Benjamin Zephaniah who cleverly rewrote the tale for a project called the Imagined Village, with a superb backing of electro-reggae from Transglobal Underground, plus a a haunting accompanying
melody from Eliza Carthy. All in all,a pretty good way to start the
month. Solidarity and love.
Tam Lyn (retold)
Don't be scared
It was the first of May
A righteous holiday
This was when the workers they
Celebrate fertility
It was the first of May
She stepped into the club
Lookin' for the holy herb
And a magical dub
A virgin full of rhythm
Her passion shining bright
Her future in her hand
And she was holding it tight
So she found that holy herb
It was sweet Carribean
She burned that holy herb
In an organic chillum
And she moves to the bass
She retold to creation
They was time and space
For this heavenly maiden
It was the first of May
A righteous holiday
It was when the workers day
Celebrate fertility
It was the first of May
A righteous holiday
It was when the workers day
Celebrate fertility
He was a mover and a shaker
Who was prone to temptation
He stepped up in the angel
And made his objection
Saying "Woman was not made
to partake this herb"
He cursed and she was humble
And she called him absurd
Then she took him to a place
That was not very far
They connected at the waist
In the back of her car
Her innocence was gone
In just under an hour
He was forced to hang on
While she flashed her girl power
It was the first of May
A righteous holiday
It was when the workers day
Celebrate fertility
It was the first of May
A righteous holiday
It was when the workers day
Celebrate fertility
Love is impatient
It ignores tradition and convention
It is not bound by human constructs
Jurisprudence and the laws of men
Love reaches out and holds open-hearted
It demands attention
It is in a world of its own
Yet it connects worlds that will forever
Be set apart
Well I have a sweet hope of glory in my soul
Have a sweet hope of glory in my soul
Well I have a sweet hope of glory in my soul
Have a sweet hope of glory in my soul
Oh I know I have and I feel I have
A sweet hope of glory in my soul
Make love not war
This is how we do it
Make love not war
This is how we go
Make love not war
This is how we do it
Make love not war
This is how we flow
Make love not war
Our man had moved on
Said he was wild
Then our lady found
She was heavy with child
When she told her father
He said go seek him out
She found him six months later
Down town hangin' about
He said who's the daddy
She said you are the one
He said I am an alien
And quite soon I'll be gone
'Cos the land immigration
Want to get rid of me
There's no peace in my nation
I'm a war refugee
There's no peace in my nation
I'm a war refugee
There are people in uniform
Out to get me
There's no peace in my nation
There's nowhere I can hide
If you really do love me
Will you stay by my side?
I can groove on the dance floor
But my baby's quite clear
I don't know all the answers
But I'm trying to relate
Since I've been in exiled
I just don't know my fate
And a best-selling tabloid
Always reeling with hate
There's no peace in my nation
I'm a war refugee
I'm surrounded by war
But there's war inside me
"There's no peace in my nation
and I'm feeling downhearted
When the Beastie Boys get me
I'm told I'll be deported
S"So I need you to hold me tight
For tomorrow in court
And I need you fill yourself
with positive forces
'Cos I wanna be wich' yu
And I wanna live
So I need you to give me
All the love you can give"
So the next day in court
She held him really tightly
Just fifteen minutes before
He went in the dock
So the next day in court
She held him really tightly
Just fifteen minutes before
He went in the dock
And her positive thoughts
Made her touch the almighty
And our brother shivered
From his toes to his locks
He turned into a victim
He turned into a loser
He turned into a pimp
And a real mister mean
But she kept holding on
And when those demon were gone
He turned into himself
Just a cool human being.
And the judge said you can go now
The judge set our man free
He was free to be
Indefinitely
And the judge said you can go now
And our joyous refugee
Just said "Thank you, judge,
and now I plan to raise a family"
So he became a citizen
Our angel became a wife
And they had what modern folks would call
A pretty happy life
They met on the dance floor
On the first of May
And the baby that they had
Grew up to be a club DJ
It was the first of May
A righteous holiday
(Well I have a sweet hope of glory in my soul)
It was the first of May
A righteous holiday
This was when the workers they
Celebrate fertility
(Well I have a sweet hope of glory in my soul)
It was the first of May
A righteous holiday
This was when the workers they
Celebrate fertility
(For I know I have and I feel I have
a sweet hope of glory in my soul
Well I have a sweet hope of glory in my soul
Well I have a sweet hope of glory in my soul
For I know I have and I feel I have
a sweet hope of glory in my soul)
(Well I have a sweet hope of glory in my soul)
Make love not war
This is how we do it
(Well I have a sweet hope of glory in my soul)
Make love not war
this is how we go
(Well I know I have and I feel I have
A sweet hope of glory in my soul)
Make love not war
This is how we do it
Make love, not war,
This is how we go
Make love, not war
This is how we do it
Make love not war,
this is how we flow.
Amber Rudd has finally bowed down to the inevitable and was forced to resign yesterday after 200 MP's signed letter accusing her of making up immigration policy on the hoof. About time too.She was responsible for misleading the government over targets for the deportation of illegal immigrants. Rudd had claimed to a parliamentary committee that her department did not impose targets, but the Guardian newspaper reported on Sunday, that in a private letter to Theresa May in 2017, she had informed the Prime Minister that she intended to boost deportations by 10%.
Rudd's departure deals a further blow to the embattled Prime Minister's leadership, after a misjudged election last year aimed at "strengthening her hand" in Brexit negotiations backfired spectacularly when her Conservative party lost its parliamentary majority.
Theresa May may run but she can't hide. Rudd has shielded her from the Windrush scandal for too long. It's time now for the Prime Minister to take responsibility and consider stepping aside too,let's not forget that it is she that has been the leader that's presided over legislation that's discriminated against a whole group of people who came from the Commonwealth, who suffered racism when they first came over, and then had to relive the trauma all over again because of Theresa May.
Her apologies and excuses are hollow and shallow, and have come too late from the author of cruel and vindictive policy.During the past six years she has been responsible for the deportation of thousands of people. It was she who created draconian immigration rules. In 2013, May oversaw the whipping up of a climate of increasing state and media racism, typified by government sponsored vans featuring anti immigrant 'Go home'! adverts. Introducing the Immigration Act 2014, she boasted of how living in Britain would now' become tougher for illegal immigrants.' Most of the Act had nothing to do will illegal immigration but this did not prevent her using the word 'illegal' every time she said 'immigrant' and 'hardworking' every time she said 'taxpayer''
She was responsible for whipping up a climate of fear, the 2014 act that was draconian enough was swiftly followed by the 2016 Act, which was more of the same, but even harsher. Her apologies for the treatment of Windrush citizens and her assurances no one would be deported would have carried more weight if she had ackowledged her role in the shameful episode and past measures, that have caused so much damage. that she has not shown remorse for, or any regret. It was May who was determined to create what she termed a " hostile environment" for illegal immigrants which had such miserable consequences for the Windrush generation which has since mortified the country.
From the suffering caused by Home Office policies , under Rudd, and Theresa May that has caused such tragedy. From the Windrush generation to the women who've been on hunger strike in Yarl's Wood detention centre, and to anyone threatened by the racist 'go home' vans, these policies have spread misery across the country.What is clear and certain that the government under May will continue to wreck the lives of refugees, asylum seekers, low- paid workers and their families.
Rudd may have gone, but the real architect of these hostile policies remains in Downing Street and the blame for recent scandal remains firmly under her feet, which does not make her own position tenable. From bad to rotten now we have Sajid Javid a hard nosed Tory banker who bought into the Thatcherite philosophy that poor people deserve what they get - nothing, ,whose responses to the Grenfell Tower tragedy were simply appalling, who only a few weeks ago called a democratic grassroots movement " neo fascist" now traking over a Home Office which has inflicted inhumane treatment on British citizens, denied them medical treatment, imprisoned and deported them, who so far has done nothing to suggest that he plans to change immigration policy in any substantial from what happened under his predecessor.
And with Parliament set to debate a petition this week on the amnesty for " anyone who was a minor that arrived in Britain between 1948 to 1971." which would include the Windrush generation, May looks sure to face more difficult questions over her government's handling of the scandal. https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/petitions-committee/news-parliament-2017/windrush-amnesty-debate-17-19/
Many are now calling for Theresa May to quit too,shadow minister Dawn Butler said "Our Prime Minister Theresa May now has no human shield, it is time for her to follow suit and step down. Labour MP Rosena Allin- Khan added "Rudderless and without direction. Theresa May needs to do the right thing and step down!" .The clock is currently ticking for her , it's time for her to go, at the heart of this Tory Government is its incompetence, vindictiveness and intolerance, and callousness which has damaged the UK's standing and reputation across the world.
The Syrian war, as we all know too well, has been one of the bloodiest of the 21st century. It has bred the biggest refugee crisis since World War II, and the ever climbing death toll, sees no signs of abating. Despite this Syrian artists have managed to render their pain, and create art and to bear witness with artistic memory to this nation torn apart, conveying their hope and despair for the world to see.
The above picture depicting a Statue of Liberty-like structure,rising from the ruins of Syria has recently been doing the rounds of the internet. The image in question is from a work by Syrian Artist, Tammam Azzam, and is actually a digital composition in
which different parts of bombed out buildings are assembled together to
resemble French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi’s statue.The artist has been in the spotlight previously for addressing the Syrian tragedy through his work ( when he photoshoped in 2013 Klimt’s
“The Kiss” atop a war-ravaged building from Syria). It is one of many pieces created by the artist over the course of this long running conflict.
Another haunting picture of his shows a Syrian building floating on balloons out of the smoking hole in the side of the Twin Towers on 9/11.
One other shows a hand grenade made of brightly coloured flowers which Azzam captioned "Syrian Spring "
Tammam Azzam
Born in Damascus, Syria in 1980, Tammam Azzam received his artistic
training from the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Damascus with a
concentration in oil painting. Alongside a successful career as a
painter in Syria, Azzam was a prolific graphic designer. Forced to flee from his home and studio in Damascus at the start of the
Syrian civil war in 2011, Tammam Azzam left behind his painting
materials and reputation as one of Syria’s key artists. Restless in his
exile, Azzam could only watch the developments of the conflict stream
through his Twitter feed, increasing in number and devastation every
day. Anguished in his powerlessness, he could no longer withstand the
despair such destruction caused him. As a substitute for paintbrush and
canvas, Azzam adapted to a new medium: digital art in which to express himself and his sadness with the events that were unfolding in his homeland of Syria.
Henri Matisse, The Dance (1910)
The artist who is
not affiliated with or embedded in any opposition group, moved to Dubai where he spent the next four years. Here in a solo
exhibition held in November 2012 in Ayyam Gallery Dubai (Al Quoz),
digital artworks representing a location the Syrian Uprising has
affected were overlaid with the text, ‘In the revolution’, followed by
the name of the area that witnessed the revolution. Other examples took
the form of fractured and wounded maps of my country, stop signs covered
with bullet holes, bleeding apples, fallen chess pawns and puzzle
pieces, and symbols of peace reconfigured into targets, all symbolizing
the violence and suffering the Syrians are facing.
Azzam who is still an active Twitter user, takes advantage of his
international fame to share updates of the conflict, but he mainly
spreads messages of peace. The artist tweeted an article about the statue of Liberty image to clarify his position and the misleading associations that have been attached to it.
He said pro-Assad and regime loyalists were
sharing the picture and lying about its origins saying: “From a Syrian
artist to America, using his own destroyed home in Aleppo.”
He
said the work was done by a photomontage on the computer and not a real
statue. The Syrian artist explained: “The Statue of Liberty in New
York does not represent US politics and I used it only as the symbol of
freedom.” “The piece at the time was
carrying a message of optimism despite all of the destruction in Syria,”
he added “but that was a long time ago.”
Azzam said he doesn’t respond to people who were using his picture in a context that he had not intended. “I’m
an artist, and I’m busy with all my art work, and have no time to
respond to anyone, I draw people and their worries, and not about
politics,” he said.
Recently, he has returned to painting with Storeys, a series of monumental works on canvas, that show the magnitude of the devastation in Syria. The artist studied photographs from several Syrian cities, including Douma and Aleppo, on which to base the paintings, excavating the horrors of war and the ongoing humanitarian crisis, depicting scenes of massive neighbourhood devastation in which whole buildings are bombed or leveled..
Azzam is realistic about the impact of his artwork in the conflict. In
an interview he once said “I believe that art can’t save the country.
Bullets are more powerful than art, now. But I believe at the same time
that all kinds of culture, art or writing, cinema or photographs, can
rebuild something in the future.” Again through Twitter, he often
considers the power of political and protest art in a world where anyone
who has access to the internet is equal in their freedom to express
their discontent. This form of art will continue to define the conflict
in Syria and elsewhere in the world, as for the first time in history,
any protestor has the voice to address the global audience. Despite the
undeniable problems associated with aestheticizing protest by presenting
it as art, nothing can prevent the rise of artists like Tammam Azzam
and the place they are claiming for themselves in the violent and
complex dimension of conflict.
Whether made digitally or photoshopped his work remain powerful pieces of art, and through his eyes,as he sees it expresses a need for unity and the fact that human suffering is the same whatever part of this planet we are on. He remains an arresting visual chronicler of what remains when an entire people’s way of life is upended, possibly for generations to come, using the means available to him, to show the world what is going on in his country and reinforce that “empathy should not be limited to the first world”.My heart personally goes out to all those currently suffering the devastating impact of war.
Azzam currently lives and works in Deimenhorst, Germany and has contributed to large scale international exhibitions across the world.
