Sir Richard Branson's Venezualan PR Stunt

 

On February 15th British billionaire entrepreneur and fat cat owner of the Virgin media Group Sir Richard Branson  announced plans for a “Venezuela Aid Live” concert to be held on February 22 in the Colombian border city of Cucuta and also to be live-streamed on the Internet, to  ostensibly raise money for “humanitarian aid” for Venezuelans. But far from being apolitical, in Branson’s own words, the concert is taking aim at what he calls the “Maduro regime” and was apparently organised at the suggestion of the self-appointed “president” Juan Guaidó himself  and opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, coinciding  with them calling for a so-called “humanitarian corridor” to open across the border on February 23, one month after their failed coup attempt.

 
What Branson has effectively annonced is a  cynical propaganda spectacle on the Colombia-Venezuela border this Friday in the form of a concert for regime change. The vulgarity  of the entire event should be highly disturbing to anyone who supports international law. The goal of Guaidó is to overthrow a legally recognised government and as such, staging a concert such as this is nothing short of a geopolitical provocation disguised as a joyous charity event.
Major relief organizations – the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the Catholic aid group Caritas – have so far been reluctant to cooperate with the so-called “humanitarian” food and supply efforts of both US AID and the Lima Group, warning against using food as a political pawn.The politicisation of aid is among the most disingenuous things that one could do. UN spokesman Stephen Dujarric told reporters last week, referring to the crisis in Venezuela, that humanitarian action must be independent of political or military objectives.
Sir Branson’s concert is just his own egoistic PR campaign, many  have mocked the call to donate from a man who is worth billions, saying  that if he really cared at all about the plight of the Venezuelan people  he  could easily pony-up the $100 million himself from petty cash, and  pointing out that he could  help the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela by using his power and influence to get the USA to lift sanctions, which have inflicted so much pain on the country making people suffer  while they continue to plan interventions.
 Even Venezuelan economists who oppose Maduro acknowledge it is SANCTIONS that ruin the Venezuelan economy. freely admitting that it’s the sanctions that have crippled their economy. Trump's Economic Sanctions have cost Venezuela about $6bn since August 2017. https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/14073:  For these – and  so many other reasons, any coordination with the US government in respect of ‘humanitarian aid’ to Venezuela is at bestdeeply misguided.
Thinking about it where's the Live Aid style event for the people of Gaza or Yemen. There is  a growing movement to ignore the live-streamed event on the Internet, refusing to participate in Sir Richard Branson’s (and Juan Guaido’s and Leopoldo Lopez’s ) PR stunt.
Barely missing  a beat  on Monday the government of Venezuela’s president Nicolas Maduro has responded by  announcing  that it will hold its own huge concert to rival one being organised by Branson's on Saturday and Sunday on Venezuela’s side of the border, Rodriguez did not announce the artists who are expected to perform, saying only that the concert would be massive.“People from all over the world want to take part in this message of love, solidarity and denunciation against the aggression that they’re trying against the Venezuelan people,” Rodriguez said.

The government of Venezauela routinely complains of US interference.Maduro has opposed aid being sent in saying its a trick , blasting it as a ploy to topple the government, instead demanding that Washington lift the economic sanctions imposed on Caracas that could .leading to a military invasion that will be used to enslave the people of Venezuela.

Stepping up the standoff, Rodriguez also promised to deliver 20,000 boxes of government-subsidized food to the poor in the Colombian border city of Cucuta, where tons of aid from the United States is now sitting earmarked for struggling Venezuelans.

Maduro is vowing not to let the U.S. aid enter Venezuela, and he announced on state television Monday evening that his government would import 300 tons of aid from Russia that he said will arrive soon. He said Venezuela paid for the Russian goods and isn’t a country of beggars, lashing out at President Donald Trump for thinking he can force in unwanted assistance.

“They want to enslave us,” Maduro said. “That’s the truth.”

Demonstrations have been planned around the world on February 23 to couter this war propoganda blitz against  Venezuela.
U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton has already admitted what U.S. intervention is really about: “It will make a big difference to the United States economically if we could have American oil companies invest in and produce the oil capabilities in Venezuela.” Just like Iraq, this is another U.S, intervention for oil.
Over 200 organizations and thousands of individuals from across the world have endorsed the call for actions on February 23. Read the call and add your name or organization as an endorser at NoWarOnVenezuela.org

Long-standing Labour MP Paul Flynn dies aged 84

The long-standing Labour MP Paul Flynn has  died aged 84,his local association has announced The association said on Twitter: “It’s with great sadness that we let you know that our MP, Paul Flynn, has died today.the party has announced. “Paul is a hero to many of us in the Newport Labour family and we mourn for his family’s loss. We would ask that the privacy of Paul’s family is respected at this difficult time.”
Mr Flynn was born in Cardiff and educated at St Illtyd's College and University College, Cardiff, becoming a chemist in the steel industry until 1983. A fluent Welsh speaker, he was a member of the Newport Borough Council (1972–81) and Gwent County Council (1974–82). He was elected to the House of Commons for Newport West at the 1987 general election, and remained its MP ever since, being re-elected at the 2015 general election.
Paul Flynn joined the front bench under Neil Kinnock in 1988 when he became a spokesman on health and social security and for social security in 1989. He resigned from the front bench in 1990. He has been a member of the Transport Select Committee (1990-97), the Welsh Affairs Select Committee (1997-98), the Environmental Audit Select Committee (2003-05), and the Public Administration Select Committee since 2005. He had been Chairman of the Broadcasting Council for Wales, and member of the South Wales Docks Board and the Council of University College, Cardiff.
He had long  been considered an  outspoken maverick and fearless campaigner on a wide-range of issues,Mr Flynn's was not a career of high office but instead of long-fought causes including benefits, animal  welfare, devolution, and  was a long-standing opponent of nuclear power in the United Kingdom  and in particular the new  Hinckley Point C nuclear power station across the Bristol Channel from his constituency. He was on the left of the party, he was also a fierce critic of the so-called "war on terror"  and a consistent opponent of the Iraq war and Western military interventionism, one  of his interventions in recent years was to reeatedly read in parliament as an anti-war intervention the names of each new soldier who had falen in Afghanistan to focus MPs minds that their lies meant people died. He was  also a principled republican who in 1996 tabled a bill to abolish the monarchy via a referendum. The MP, who suffered from rheumatoid arthritis, was also noted as a strong and loud advocate of legalising cannabis and drug reform, once saying "Cannabis is the oldest medicine in the world. It has been trialled and tested by tens of millions of people over 5,000 years. If there were any problems with natural cannabis that would have been apparent a long time ago. " In  2017 he called for users to come to Parliament to break the law.
He also defended labour leader Jeremy Corbyn during the 2016 coup attempt and in spite of health issues, served in two shadow ministerial posts – Shadow Welsh Secretary and Shadow Leader of the House – to fill gaps left by those resigning to try to force Jeremy Corbyn’s resignation.
The Labour leader, said Flynn would be “greatly missed”. He tweeted: “I’m very sad at the passing of my good friend Paul Flynn. He had such love for Newport, knowledge of radical South Wales history and a dry wit..“He was an independent thinker who was a credit to the Labour Party. He will be greatly missed."
 First Minister of Wales and Welsh Labour leader Mark Drakeford described Mr Flynn as a “giant of the Welsh Labour movement”.He added: “Today’s news will be a source of great sadness to all those who knew him.“He was one of the most effective communicators of his generation – inside the House of Commons and outside. But it was Paul’s willingness to speak up for causes beyond the political mainstream which marked him out as a politician of real courage and integrity.”
 The Welsh secretary, Alun Cairns, tweeted: “Very sorry to hear of Paul Flynn’s passing. My thoughts & prayers are with his family. “He was an exceptional constituency MP & it was a privilege to work with him taking the Wales Bill through Parliament when he was Shadow SoS for Wales. We always had a warm & friendly relationship”.
Mr Flynn  announced in October that he intended to stand down as an MP due to health reasons, telling the Press Association he would “wait for a convenient time to go” and had “loved every minute” of his time in Westminster.He said at the time: “It’s been a great, wonderful, rich experience. I lasted 31 years.”
On all accounts  a kind principled man, who stood by his principles, who did not betray them like the new self indulgent Blair appreciation party, he was worth a million of them. He fought for the soul of the Labour Party against the Blairites as documented in his book 'Dragons led by Poodles '.He was  well respected across the political divide with his wonderful turn of phrase, witty comments and incisive mind, an example rarely seen  who will be missed. Whatever you think of his politics, his passing is sad news. He is survived by his wife Samantha and his two children.

Sham 69 - If The Kids Are United

Thousands of schoolchildren and young people  walked out of classes on Friday, skipping class as part of a global youth action over climate change, co-ordinated by the UK Youth Climate Coalition.  to save the planet amid growing anger at the failure of politicians to tackle the escalating ecological crisis.
Organisers said more than 10,000 young people in at least 60 towns and cities from the Scottish Highlands to Cornwall joined the strike, defying threats of detention to voice their frustration at the older generation’s inaction on the environmental impact of climate change.
Organisers also estimated around 3,000 schoolchildren and young people gathered in London, with 2,000 in Oxford, 1,000 each in Exeter and Leeds and several hundred in Brighton, Bristol, Sheffield and Glasgow.
In London, the protesters held banners and chanted as police and onlookers watched. They blocked the roads outside parliament chanting “Turn off your engines” at passing cars, and “We want the chance for change now” before mounted police moved them away.
 In Manchester, hundreds gathered outside the Central Library before marching to the Royal Northern College of Music with signs reading “Climate over capitalism” and chanting “Whose future? Our future.”
Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish student who started the Friday strike movement in August last year by striking outside the parliament in Stockholm, said that her message to the students striking in the UK was the same as to students striking everywhere. “They should not let anyone tell them not to do this, because it is our future and our choice,” she said. “And we have to continue like this, every day, or every week, or every month, just to continue putting pressure on people in power.”
The strikes first spread to Australia. By December last year thousands of students had joined them, mostly in Europe and North America, including in Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Japan, the US and Canada. Since the new year, they have spread even further to countries across Africa and South America, with strikes in Colombia, Uganda, Nigeria, Tanzania, Kenya and Mali. Now up to 70,000 school students are striking every week – in at least 270 different cities and towns, – under the tag #FridaysForFuture. The movement is being driven almost exclusively by teenage girls and young women, many of whom are rejecting the role of men who have been running the environmental movements in the past.
The young people taking part in Friday’s strike called on the government to declare a climate emergency, communicate the severity of the ecological crisis and change the curriculum to make the state of the environment an educational priority. The size of the Youth Strike 4 Climate is testament to the passion and awareness among young people that we need to fight for a future that simply doesn’t exist because we’ve been betrayed by the inaction of those in positions of power.
We should not forget that it is the capitalist system,  and the politicians who defend it  who are responsible for climate change and environmental degradation. We adults ought to realize that it is no longer for us to tell our kids what to do.We ought instead  take up the role of supporting them in their uprising, asking how we can help them in their struggle for survival. They are so inspiring us, at the moment. It is a result  our own inaction that  has led the world being in a state of crisis, that threatens our kids future, that they are currently making a stand. We have no right to judge them or to take the moral high ground. like Theresa May has been, after all they are showing us such a good example in their positivity and outlook who have the logic to recognise the current climate emergency. .
Sham 69 's terrace anthem above  still  relevant  after all these years, the Kids United will  never be divided and can still be a powerful force for change.

Sham 69 - If The Kids Are United

For once in my life I've got something to say,
I wanna say it now for now is today.
A love has been given so why not enjoy,
So let's all grab and let's all enjoy!

If the kids are united,
Then we'll never be divided.
If the kids are united,
Then we'll never be divided.

Just take a look around you,
What do you see?
Kids with feelings,
Like you and me.
Understand him, he'll understand you;
For you are him, and he is you.

If the kids are united,
Then we'll never be divided.
If the kids are united,
Then we'll never be divided.

If the kids are united,
Then we'll never be divided.
If the kids are united,
Then we'll never be divided.

I don't want to be rejected,
I don't want to be denied.
Then its not my misfortune,
That I've opened up your eyes.

Freedom is given,
Speak how you feel.
I have no freedom,
How do you feel?

They can lie to my face,
But not to my heart.
If we all stand together,
It will just be the start...

If the kids are united,
Then we'll never be divided.
If the kids are united,
Then we'll never be divided.

Tommy Robinson and his supporters show their true colours

Just when it might have been thought that Stephen Yaxley Lennon, who styles himself Tommy Robinson could not get any lower, he then outdoes himself with the support of his devoted followers.
He and his supporters tried to jam up the phone line to a Rape Crisis  centre for BAME people whose volunteers speak several languages, because he took offence to a poster not mentioning white people.
On on his Facebook page, which has more than a million followers  posted a picture of a leaflet produced by Rape Crisis Wycombe, Chiltern and South Bucks, urging black, Asian and minority ethnic women who have experienced sexual violence to come forward if they needed support. 
The leaflet also includes a contact mobile number where callers can speak to someone in Punjabi, Hindi or English.
 Alongside the photo of the leaflet, the post was captioned: "I guess it's ok to rape white women then??!?!?!"
Rape Crisis said since the post was shared on Facebook yesterday, the centre has received a "significant volume of abusive phone calls, messages and emails, many of which are of an overtly racist nature.
Some of Robinson's one million Facebook followers jumped on the post, calling the leaflet "horrendous", "discriminative" and "out of order". 
One commenter said: "That sums up what our country has become and what we need to stop."
Another added: "Think we ALL need to phone the numbers advertised & put in a racist complaint !!!"

 

Rape Crisis has informed the police of the torrent of abuse they have received and slammed the post for "disrupting much-needed service provision for victims and survivors of sexual violence and abuse of all ethnicities and backgrounds". 
In a statement, the charity said: "Rape Crisis (Wycombe, Chiltern and South Bucks) recognises that some groups of women who have survived sexual violence and abuse can face additional barriers to accessing services, including related to language and to the fear and/or past or current experience of racism and racial discrimination.
"As part of its commitment to accessibility and inclusion, it therefore offers a specialist service for black, Asian and minority ethnic women aimed at overcoming some of these barriers.
"An image of a leaflet advertising this specialist BAME service was recently posted on social media with a misleading caption.
"Since then, Rape Crisis (Wycombe, Chiltern and South Bucks) has received a significant volume of abusive phone calls, messages and emails, many of which are of an overtly racist nature, and the police have been informed.
"These activities have disrupted much-needed service provision for victims and survivors of sexual violence and abuse of all ethnicities and backgrounds.
"Rape Crisis England & Wales supports Rape Crisis (Wycombe, Chiltern and South Bucks) and all its member Rape Crisis Centres in the provision of fully inclusive, accessible services, including specialist work with specific groups of under-served, minoritised or marginalised victims and survivors."
Robinson  has since been slammed for wilfully encouraging abuse of the charity.
Antony Sheehan wrote: "Congratulations on jamming the lines of a centre designed to help women who have suffered a brutal life changing experience. Hope you’re all proud of yourselves".
Barbara Treen wrote: "The organisation is presumably trying to reach out to a group of women who have experienced sexual assault but are known to not normally seek support."
Robinson has not removed the  post from his facebook account. He and his supporters sought to take it upon themelves to try and destroy a helpline to help rape victims. What kind of profound ignorance and violent irrational hatred drives a man and hus supporters  to attempt to prevent  a  raped woman  from trying  to find and seek help, because of the colour of her skin. What vile disgusting despicable cowards they all are each and everyone of them. As if these women do not have enough to contend with. How can Robinson still manage to garner  support or any form of respect is simply beyond my comprehension . 

Read more here :- http://zelo-street.blogspot.com/2019/02/tommy-robinson-rape-crisis-
helpline.html

https://zelo-street.blogspot.com/2019/02/tommy-robinson-and-rape-crisis-cops.html

Love is Liberation.

                                                    Love is Liberation a four letter word

                                                    Found In the pulse of everyday,
                                                    For rich and poor to ever seek
                                                    Let it reveal it's wild contagion,
                                                    A soothing plaque to heal world
                                                    Touching the void of emptiness,
                                                    Freeing minds and captive souls
                                                    Stretches to infinity, travels on waves,
                                                    In patterns of endless recurrence
                                                    More than enough to go round,
                                                    Filling the air with dizziness
                                                    An essence that cannot be caged,
                                                    We can all be free within it's grasp
                                                    Casting warm shadows on our lives,
                                                    A taste of freedom we can embrace
                                                    Running relentlessly through veins,
                                                    Generating kindness, shows no fear
                                                    Sharing the gift of understanding,
                                                    Opening eyes to magical emotion
                                                    Can unshackle hearts from tears.
                                         
                                                 

I Have the Right

I have the right to my own opinions
to state what I believe to be the truth,
I believe in freedom of thought
I believe in freedom of speech,
I have the right to be free from bondage
to be free from chains and mental slavery,
to choose what I want to be, where I need to go
because this is my right to be me.

I have the right to speak out
this is my choice, this is my conscience,
this is my right to freedom of expression
this right allows me to speak out against oppression,
a right that embraces the immortal declaration
a right that recognises the concept that all men born equal,
everyone has the right to life and liberty
to breathe in, breathe out, scream and shout.

I have the right to dignity and pride
the security of peace and protection, 
that allows me to love, laugh and cry
to be treated kindly, not like a fool,
remember when justice is forgotten 
and certain paths trample down opposition,  
keep on fighting for human rights with no inhibition
decency and justice, and all that has been given.

I have the right to pledge no allegiance
to any country, or any bloody flag,
my struggle embedded in the rich earth 
the poetry I release from my breath,
as the shadows wait for the tides to turn
will blister through cement walls,
remembering complacency invites an impasse
what unites us is greater than what separates. 

https://iamnotasilentpoet.wordpress.com/2019/02/12/i-have-the-right-by-dave-rendle/?fbclid=IwAR1l8N1Afu9xl6Mvkdb8MjeMvHM1c0U5rEokYM41cRi37KqahuFnROA-S5s

Bring all utilities into public ownership

As hard pressed families are choosing between heating and eating and news arrives  of energy bills set to rise once more there is growing support  for bringing all utilities into public ownership, and   thanks at least to Labour's manifesto pledges, it's now on the political agenda like never before.
Speaking at a Labour Party event on 10 February last year, Jeremy Corbyn reaffirmed Labour’s 2017 manifesto pledge “to bring energy, rail, water, and mail into public ownership and to put democratic management at the heart of how those industries are run”.
“By taking our public services back into public hands”, he said, “we will not only put a stop to rip-off monopoly pricing, we will put our shared values and collective goals at the heart of how those public services are run”. He promised “a society which puts its most valuable resources, the creations of our collective endeavour, in the hands of everyone who is part of that society”. He argued that the energy industry must be remodelled to abate carbon emissions, and declared that “in public hands, under democratic control, workforces and their unions will be the managers of this change, not its casualties.
“The growth of green energy and green tech offers huge opportunities for job creation. Our publicly owned energy system will ensure a smooth transition and protect workers and communities, seizing those opportunities for the many, not the few...
“The next Labour Government will guarantee that all energy workers are offered retraining, a new job on equivalent terms and conditions, covered by collective agreements and fully supported in their housing and income needs through transition”.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4 the same day, shadow chancellor John McDonnell refuted claims that the nationalisations would be unaffordable. He said that shareholders in privatised utilities, which include pension funds, could be given newly-issued government bonds in return for their shares.
A survey by YouGov around the time of the 2017 election showed that these policies are popular. It showed an 84% to 5% majority for the NHS being in the public sector; a 65% to 21% majority for Royal Mail; a 60% to 25% majority for rail; 53% to 31% for energy; 59% to 25% for water; and 81% to 6% for schools. The case for public ownership, and against outsourcing to private contractors, has been strengthened since then by the Carillion scandal.
Corbyn and McDonnell are right to put public ownership back on the agenda. After Margaret Thatcher came to power in 1979 one  by one, our public utilities, described by Harold Macmillan as the family silver, were sold of  piece by piece among the first were British Telecom, then British Airways and British Steel. The water firms followed along with the energy companies and, finally, in the dog days of John Major, British Rail.
Privatisation, was supposed to give us a stake in the British economy, reduce prices and improve services. Its actual track record has been abysmal with disastrous consequences with  prices soring and standards falling. Just look at the ludicrously over-priced and over-complicated railway system, which we have been left with as the result of privatisation  in the '90's.
Britain’s family silver is now mainly owned by overseas firms and investment groups  who are able to make huge profits from exploiting a captive market.A system was created allowing an elite few to reap extortionate profits via a monopoly service. Executives running these firms could not  believe their luck as they were give free reign  to fleece and rip of people on a massive scale.
The profits of the Big 6 energy companies in the last few years  has been astronomical, their increase in profits particularly galling due to the price rises imposed by the energy companies on consumers.
The Big Six claim that the high prices consumers face are not due to their profiteering, but due to factors beyond their control, such as fossil fuel prices, which they have to pass on. Ofgem have suggested that there is clearly a gas wholesale driver, but that on top of this, the Big Six are not adjusting prices as they should. Overall, the Big Six are making very large profits, profits which have increased substantially over recent years. These profits are a sign of a broken system. It’s one thing to increase profits, dividends and executive pay from providing a good service, but it’s another to do the same while whilst the people of Britain starve and die of cold, because they cannot afford to keep themselves warm and  unjustifiable level of profit are being made and they continue to shower their shareholders with vast amounts of money. This rip off  game has gone on long enough, it should not be allowed to continue.The public deserves better.  It's a national failure and a disgrace.
The UK public is paying through the nose for the provision of services and products  previouly owned by them. These resources  belong to everybody. They should be a common treasury and a human right, not a stock market commodity or a source of profit, we can all benefit from a fairer, not for profit, pricing structure to everybody. All utilities are necessary for the functioning of our society and the preservation of life. To allow life and death decisions to be made based on profit concerns is a violation of human rights.The capital that these industries generate can work for the benefit of us all not just the few and privileged. It is more than time that we renationalise all privatised utilities and services, with compensation paid only on the basis of proven need. Utilities are a public good that should be owned by the public for the people  not profit.