The NHS was the supreme achievement of the post-war welfare state ,subsequently becoming one of Britain's best loved institutions, and the one most likely to keep you alive. It is currently in crisis . Yet far from being accidental, this crisis has been deliberately designed by the Tories to accelerate NHS privatisation, forcing hospitals to
compete against low-cost private companies to provide services. Since
the Conservatives took power, the percentage of the NHS budget going to
private healthcare providers has doubled – £1.5 billion of which went to
companies with direct financial links to Tory MPs. Please support John Pilger's latest film that unearths the hidden agenda:
My last film, The Coming War on China, was only
completed because of the generosity and solidarity of the hundreds of
people whose names appear in the end-credits. For me, watching those
names roll is one of the proudest moments of the film.
Initially, I
was reluctant to crowd-fund and said so in the preamble on the
crowd-funding site; I believed most people needed the money in their
pockets and it was up to me and my colleagues at Dartmouth Films to
convince likely institutions or rich donors with a conscience (yes, they
exist) to impart their loose change.
But when one of the major
funders of the film suddenly pulled out, it looked like the film and its
editing would grind to a halt.
The crowd-funders came to our
rescue: people who gave a fiver or what they could afford (and often
couldn’t afford). What struck me was the entirely gracious way people
offered to help. They weren’t giving charity, they said; they were
delighted, even honoured, to be partners in the making and success of a
film they considered important.
Today, I am again making an appeal for support – this time for a film whose urgency touches all our lives, literally.
It’s
about the NHS, the last bastion of a truly people’s institution without
which so many of us would stumble and fall and perhaps not survive.
The film is certainly a tribute to the NHS; but, above all, it’s a warning.
Under
our noses, often secretly and deceptively, our National Health Service
is being undermined and sold off: piece by precious piece to the likes
of Richard Branson and the giant American health insurance companies
that are at the root of the misery that is American healthcare.
The
privatisation of the NHS has been mostly insidious – by “stealth”, as
one of Mrs. Thatcher’s cohorts once advised. But since 2010, the
“reforms” have speeded up. It’s got to the point that if we don’t act
now, we’ll wake up one day to an unrecognizable health service that is
no longer ours.
As with my previous films, this film will be in
cinemas and on network TV, bringing a vital public message, and warning,
to a mass audience
With this urgency in mind, please support this
work – again, with whatever you can afford. Your name will appear with
special honour as the credits roll. Thank you.
John Pilger
05 September 2019
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Have just managed to get hold of the latest album by the Last Poets. Formed in 1968,they are wideely heralded as the godfathers of hip hop alongside the likes of
Gil Scott-Heron. Their brand of politically charged
poetry has inspired some of the biggest names such as al music released by African American
musicians including Marvin Gaye, Funkadelic, Curtis Mayfield and Quincy Jones, and they eventually inspired hip hop giants like Dead Prez, Common,Public Enemy and Kanye West. Transcending Toxic Times features original The Last Poets
Poets members Abiodun Oyewole and Umar Bin Hassan alongside longtime
percussionist Baba Donn Babatunde and cclaimed bassist/producer Jamaaladeen
Tacuma. Other poets on the album include Ursula Rucker, Wadud Ahmad, and
Malik B (a founding member of The Roots).
50 years ago, Abiodun Oyewole was mourning the deaths of Malcolm X and
Martin Luther King among many others lost in the struggle of the time. Looking to
speak truth and challenge the thinking of both the oppressors and the
oppressed, he formed The Last
Poets. Soon after the group's inception, Oyewole met Umar Bin Hassan at
a black arts event in Ohio, and Umar made the trip to New York to join
them. Baba Donn Babatunde showed up later, adding percussion to their
poetry.They were young men living in the black ghettos of Akron, Ohio,
Detroit, Michigan, Jamaica Queens and The Bronx – all desperately
seeking a different life to that of their parents, who in their eyes
were too subdued, too damaged by racial oppression.
Inspired by the music of John Coltrane, the glamour of the
Temptations and the politics of black pride, they started performing on
street corners in Harlem where they immediately gained a following.The Last Poets got their name from revolutionary South Africn poet,
Keorapetese Kgositsile poem that states that ‘’this is the last age of
poems, and essays, guns, and rifles will take the place of poems and
essays, therefore we are the last of poems of this age.’’ Ever since,
The Last Poets, led by Jalal Mansur Nuriddin, who died last year, have lived up to
that name and line. Starting with their debut self-titled album in 1970, ‘This Is Madness’ in 1971, and
‘Chastisment’ in 1972. The latter fully introduced The Last Poets’ mix
of jazz and poetry, doing away with the minimalist percussion of earlier
albums. The Last Poets enjoyed a huge resurgence in popularity from the
early 1990s onwards, appearing alongside the Beastie Boys and A Tribe
Called Quest on the 1994 Lollapolooza tour and collaborated with Common
on the Kanye West produced track ‘The Corner’ which was nominated at the
Grammy Awards in 2006 for Best Rap Performance.
The three men have persevered through decades of personal and
political challenges, while still adhering to the higher principles of
love, respect, and kindness to all humankind , they have long been a force to reckon with, known as
conscious, enduring and politically potent poetry messengers, becomming
mouthpieces for a socially downtrodden and unheard people.The huge impact made by
The Last Poets’ words and music is still strongly felt until today.They are one of the more captivating spoken word Hip-Hop groups we’ll ever hear.
The Last Poets - When the Revolution Comes
The inauguration of Donald Trump as US President in 2016 inspired Hassan
and Oyewole to resurrect the group to create a brand new record, ‘Understand What Black Is’, that was modern
and edgy, and deeply relevant and reflective of our times. Now comesTranscending Toxic Times which according to band members, is “not
poetry set to music, nor is it music made for poets. This is a seamless
transfiguration of the groove, the words, and the essential human
elements that live between the notes and the words.” Moreover, the album
is “a broad work of human emotion: anger, scorn, frustration,
challenge, beauty, sorrow, love,"
This record blends poetry, jazz, Hip-Hop, and Soul, intertwining the groove of Black culture with The Last Poets
powerful words and cadence. The spoken word is rhythmic, melodic at times,but politically charged throughout, and as with previous efforts,
there are also socio-cultural messages that comment on the conditions
of African American lived experience, the basslines and the groove are irresistible, intoxicating and the message is
unavoidable, as they continue to press their nation for truth
and equality, The Last Poets' standpoint is as important today as it ever was, and this album could not come at better time, in the recent past
our society has witnessed many horrific events from War and Man Made
Natural Disasters to Citizen turning against Citizen it is clear things
have not changed much since 1968. The Last Poets words are as relevant
today as they were then and even more so and reflective of the times we live in now..
To highlight the new album , members the Last Poets released a single "For the Millions."
Initially published as a tribute to the Million Man March back in 1995. Oyewole's commanding voice
details the African-American experience from the Trans-Atlantic Slave
Trade to a present-day celebration of our resilience and the continuing
quest for freedom. "Even when we have nothing to say / We are the sounds
/ That put color and spice in the day," he booms over Babatunde's
percussion.
A glance at the album's tracklist reveals that 50 years after their
inception, The Last Poets remain steadfast in their mission of shining a
light on the issues of truth and equality. ‘’Rain Of Terror’’ is a truth sermon
come to life in the form of reggae and drums. Starting a poem with the
word ‘’America is a terrorist’’ and then riffing on everyone from Jack
Johnson, Trayvon Martin, the Black Panthers, and the government approved
groups that killed those individuals and groups. The title track “Toxic Times” is a politically charged poem, where
Oyewole calls attention to the current political climate in the United
States, issues of police brutality against people of color, the
consequences of climate change, and gender inequality. To these issues,
Hassan points out that we must “learn to be humane, use power and not
become vain,” and ultimately, “understand what love is…and make it a
fact!” This record is truly essential listening so thank you the Last Poets for continuing to make music that truly matters, for the mind, body and soul, challenging the listener to wake up.
The Last Poets Transcending Toxic Times tracklist:
1. We Are The Last Poets
2. For The Millions
3. A.M. Project
4. Heartbeat
5. If We Only Knew
6. Young Love
7. Black Rage
8. Soul Reflection
9. Don't Know What I'd Do
10. Personal Things
11. Love
12. JuJu JIMI
13. Rain Of Terror
14. Toxic Times
“Sabra and Shatila Massacre” (1982-83), by pioneering Iraqi artist Dia al-Azzawi
Over three bloody days from September 16 through to 18, 1982, up to 3,500 Palestinian defenceless refugees in Shatila camp and Sabra neighborhood in Beirut, Lebanon were slaughtered at the hands of Phalangist militiamen, encircled, trained and supported by Israeli occupation forces who had besieged West Beirut for 88 days before launching a full-scale occupation-day period, members of the Lebanese Christian militias, with the support of Israeli troops, killed mostly women, children and the elderly living in the camp complex. Exactly how many were actually killed remains unknown as the real number is hard to determine because bodies were buried quickly in mass graves or never found and many men were marched out of the camp and “disappeared.” Israel actually supplied the bulldozers to bury the dead and later tanks entered the camps and ran over the whole area, destroying houses and clearing any signs of crime.
Shortly before the massacres, the Palestinian Liberation Organisation was evacuated from Lebanon as a result of an agreement reached after the Israeli invasion of the country. That meant the residents of Sabra and Shatila no longer had protection, despite promises made to them by Philip Habib, an envoy for then US President Ronald Reagan, that their security would be guaranteed.
The massacre was presented as retaliation for the assassination of newly elected Lebanese president Bachir Germavel, the leader of the Lebanese Kataeb Party. It was wrongly assumed that Palestinians militants had carried out the assassination. The incident would cause outrage and condemnation across the world.Sadly the Sabra and Shatila crimes were not the first crimes against the Palestinian people and would not be the last.
Over three decades later, the massacre at the Sabra and Shatila camps is remembered as one of the most notorious chapters in modern Middle Eastern history. Today, not a single person (Israeli or Lebanese) has been charged with involvement in the crime. The amnesty law that came into affect after Lebanon’s Civil Wars ended in 1991 let many of those involved in the massacre off the hook, including those who now form one of Lebanon’s ruling political parties, the Kata’eb. The forces who led the massacre were under the direct leadership of Elie Hobeika, intelligence chief of the Lebanese Forces. .
The Kahan Commission, later set up in 1983 in response to widespread international pressure, concluded that that Israeli leaders were “indirectly responsible” for the killings and that Ariel Sharon, then the defense minister and later prime minister, bore “personal responsibility” for failing to prevent the massacre Ariel Sharon, bore personally responsible, among others, for the massacre. Elie Hobeika later became a long-serving Member of the Lebanese Parliament as well as serving in many minsterial roles. Despite the findings of the Kahan Commission, Ariel Sharon held many influential ministerial roles in the Israeli government, serving in fact as Prime Minister from 2001 to 2006. Thus were the engineers of one of the bloodiest and most appalling massacres in contemporary history rewarded.
It is quite simply one of the greatest human tragedies that we should never simply forget.
Israel continues to abuse Palestinian rights without consequence. Settler attacks on Palestinian property, lands, and persons have terrorised thousands and killed almost entire families.Palestinian complaints filed against settlers go unindicted by Israel. In fact, the Israeli military serves the settlers by allowing the attackers to simply walk away". When they do take action, Israeli soldiers are more likely to support the settlers, often allowing them to continue attacking Palestinians rather than shielding innocent civilians.
The dehumanisation of Palestinians by Israel continues and the Israeli military itself continues to commit war crimes with impunity, as evidenced by Israel's repeated attacks on the tiny besieged Gaza Strip over the past decade, which have killed thousands of innocent Palestinians with disproportionate and indiscriminate force. Today there are more than 400,000 Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon, most barred from owning property and earing decent wages. They make up part of the nearly 5 million Palestinians refugees living in the West Bank, Gaza and throughout the Middle East, descendants of the 750,000 displaced after the establishment of the Israeli State.
Israel's years of dispossession and half-century of military rule still ongoing and is supported by unconditional American military aid and diplomatic backing. International bodies like the UN Security Council have repeatedly made note of Israel's human rights violations. Injustices continue to this day through land confiscations, home demolitions, mass imprisonment, collective displacement, racist discrimination, assassination and killing.
The conscience of the world was terribly wounded on this day and we cannot, should not and will not ever forget or forgive.With sorrow and with struggle, we must remember Sabra and Shatila and pledge to continue to work for justice.The international community is obliged to remedy its moral responsibility to the victims of the massacre by working to end Israel's occupation and other abuses of Palestinian rights.For the Palestinians, the tragedy of Sabra and Shatila remains a powerful reminder of their endless cycle of displacement.
I conclude this post with the following powerful, moving poem from the pen of the late great Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish.https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/mahmoud-darwish-poet-of-resistance.html
Sabra and Shatila byMahmoud Darwish
Sabra — a sleeping girl
The men left
War slept for two short nights,
Beirut obeyed and became the capital…
A long night
Observing the dreams in Sabra,
Sabra is sleeping.
Sabra — the remains of a dead body
She bid farewell to her horsemen and time
And surrendered to sleep out of tiredness.. and the Arabs who threw her behind them.
Sabra — and what the soldiers Departing from Galilee forgot
She doesn’t buy and sell anything but her silence
To buy flowers to put on her braided hair.
Sabra — sings her lost half, between the sea and the last war:
Why do you go?
And leave your wives in the middle of a hard night?
Why do you go?
And hang your night
Over the camp and the national anthem?
Sabra — covering her naked breasts with a farewell song
Counts her palms and gets it wrong
While she can’t find the arm:
How many times will you travel?
And for how long?
And for what dream?
If you return one day
for which exile shall you return,
which exile brought you back?
Sabra — tearing open her chest:
How many times
does the flower bloom?
How many times
will the revolution travel?
Sabra — afraid of the night. Puts it on her knees
covers it with her eyes’ mascara. Cries to distract it:
They left without saying
anything about their return
Withered and tended
from the rose’s flame!
Returned without returning
to the beginning of their journey
Age is like children
running away from a kiss.
No, I do not have an exile
To say: I have a home
God, oh time ..!
Sabra — sleeps. And the fascist’s knife wakes up
Sabra calls who she calls
All of this night is for me, and night is salt
the fascist cuts her breasts — the night reduced —
he then dances around his knife and licks it. Singing an ode to a victory of the cedars,
And erases
Quietly .. Her flesh from her bones
and spreads her organs over the table
and the fascist continues dancing and laughs for the tilted eyes
and goes crazy for joy, Sabra is no longer a body:
He rides her as his instincts suggest, and his will manifests.
And steals a ring from her flesh and blood and goes back to his mirror
And be — Sea
And be — Land
And be — Clouds
And be — Blood
And be — Night
And be — Killing
And be — Saturday
and she be — Sabra.
Sabra — the intersection of two streets on a body
Sabra, the descent of a Spirit down a Stone
And Sabra — is no one
Sabra — is the identity of our time, forever.
International Democracy Day is observed on 15 September every year to
raise awareness among people about democracy. This day provides an
opportunity to review the democracy of the state in the world. The United Nations created the day to celebrate the system of
values democracy promotes, giving citizens the power to make decisions
regarding all aspects of their lives.The UN’s specific goal for
International Democracy Day is to promote government’s role in
maintaining open democracy among all member nations of the UN Charter.
From democracy’s birth in ancient Greece thousands of years ago through
trial and error up to today, most of the world’s nations choose
democracy over all other forms of government. More fundamentally, democracy is supposed to let people speak their minds and shape their own and their children’s futures.
Democracy is a theory of government where the law reflects the will of
the majority as determined by direct vote or elected representatives.
Typically, the legitimacy of a democracy begins with the adoption of a
constitution, which establishes the fundamental rules, principles,
duties, and powers of the government and some set of rights for
individuals against those of the government. The enumeration of rights
attempts to protect individuals from the whims of a democratic majority,
a concept developed as republicanism during the overthrow of
monarchism.
Across the world, though people are increasingly losing faith in the electoral system. According to the Economist
Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index, less than 5% of the world’s
population lives in a ‘full democracy’. The most recent report records
the worst decline in global democracy in years, with freedom of
expression, in particular, facing new challenges from both state and
non-state actors.
What is surprising is that Australia and New Zealand are the only "full democracies" in the
entire Asia-Pacific region, while the United States is among those that
couldn't find its way into the top category.
There are also eight
countries (Algeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Timor-Leste, Ethiopia,
North Korea, Laos, Nepal and Sri Lanka) whose full titles include the
word "democratic", but the EIU says not one of these countries is
actually fully democratic.Democracy in Europe has ‘declined more than any other region,’ signalling a ‘democratic malaise,’ the Index found.
To rank the countries the EIU gives a
score out of 10 for a number of categories, such as political
participation and the functioning of government, then classifies each
country as either full democracy, flawed democracy, hybrid regime or
authoritarian.https://www.eiu.com/topic/democracy-index
Winston Churchill famously called democracy "the worst system of government, except for all the others that have been tried.' Many others argue the case that democracy is flawed , philosophically, morally, and empirically. Democracy is controlled by the few and corporate elites. For decades these interests have steered public opinion with unscrupulous methods, aided by a media controlled by them.
In the later parts of the Republic, Plato suggests that democracy is
one of the later stages in the decline of the ideal state. One which is
so bad that people ultimately cry out for a dictator to save them from
it. This idea was big for Plato, democracy would lead to tyrants.
Aristotle, for his part, listed democracy as the failed version of rule by the multitudes. “Timocracy”,
rule by the propertied class or even just a more constitutional form of
republican government was the ideal kind of rule by the many, in his
mind. He would have seen Athens as an ever-decaying city, moving away
from its original timocratic constitution as laid out by Solon.
The
idea that democracy is fundamentally flawed even had sponsors in later,
more liberal, thinkers. Voltaire, who supported all of the liberal
freedoms of speech and religion, told Catharine the Great of Russia
that, “Almost nothing great has ever been done in the world
except by the genius and firmness of a single man combating the
prejudices of the multitude”In the uncritical
history of representative democracy, it’s never mentioned that democracy
in ancient Greece meant citizens, not career politicians, taking it in
turns to debate and take decisions (as long as you were a man and not a
slave).
Democratic governments are supposed to be accountable, and officials and politicians
answerable for their decisions and actions. This is meant to reduce the
opportunity for corruption. Democracy also is meant to subject governments to the
rule of law, which means the law treats everyone, including the
government, equally. But democracy and freedom certainly do not work together, if you happen to be are starving and hunry or your human rights are being violated.
An unrestricted democracy means that the majority decides over the
minority. This leaves the minority relatively powerless, and the smaller
it is, the less power it wields. Which means that the smallest minority
of all, the individual, is effectively depending on his agreement with the
majority.
To account for this problem, mature democracies have developed a set
of checks and balances in an attempt to make sure that it doesn’t
happen; chief among these is the separation of the powers of the State.
But this actually makes a system less democratic, since it interferes
with the principle of “people’s power.” The end result being the complete alienation of many people. Essentially democracy does not create unity but only serves to foster division.
The UK is a representative democracy that very occasionally holds
referendums. Although referendums have been reserved for constitutional
issues, it is not the case that constitutional issues are always decided
by referendums. Instead they often tend to be used by governments to
put to rest major internal debates over constitutional issues. David Cameron
promised to hold a referendum on EU membership in order to silence internal debates within the Conservative
party, and we are probably about to take the huge step of leaving the EU that a majority of the population no longer want. The end result being the subversion of democracy that is Brexit, which has divided the country as never before, and which might result in the break up of the UK.
Whichever party is in government, the prime minister has the power to
appoint over 100 MPs into well-paid ministerial positions. This creates a
climate in which the vast majority of MPs do what the prime minister
wants because they want a job. Representational democracy has a special vulnerability to lobbying, in which special interest groups spend extremely well-paid people after our elected representativ to persuade, threaten, barter or bribe them into delivering legislation, government funding, or other favors for their group. Because elected officials frequently come from industries, business sectors, religions and the upper class, they thus have many vested interests beyond the will of the people when they take office.
On top of this many believe elections bring little change, that politicians are corrupt, uncaring and out of touch. Boris Johnson unelected Prime Minister is currently taking the complete piss, It should not be forgotten that only about 160,000 Conservative party members, 0.35 per cent of the 45.8m national electorate, got to vote for him. As a result we have a very angry divided nation, and our version of democracy is facing a test like none since we faced the threat of the Nazis. Never before, except perhaps 1930's Germany, has a country been so badly served by a government.
Fundamentally are so called democracy is currently not working. No single party can
claim support from more than about a third of the adult population.
One-party government is therefore a recipe for endless political
confrontation, with its own polarising dialectic. At this present time trust in Parliament is at an all time low. Only one in 10 people in the UK think the Westminster Parliament "works well and is fit for the 21st century," according to a ComRes poll published today. The poll commissioned by the Sunday Express also shows that just 14% think Parliament is "sufficiently representative of the nation's views," and just 125 feel Parliament "can be trusted to do the right thing for country"
In France, the Gilets Jaunes have been demonstrating for seven months
against a government indifferent to inequality and deaf to their voices.
In Britain, the Extinction Rebellion (XR) has already altered the way
we talk about the climate: no longer ‘change’ but an ’emergency’.
But street movements cannot govern and protest alone cannot change the
basic model of a capitalist economy governed by an allegedly
‘representative’ democracy.
This fundamental structure, how we govern and indeed our whole way of
living together, needs to change.
We need a new system where the few govern the many, the already privileged, the rich the corporate. Radical change must become the new order of the day, that would create a more harmonious society where all people are fairly treated and equally valued. We should demand this with all our might.It's time for power to be truly given to the people, and humanity to devise some new modes to overcome democracies present flaws and repairing Britains current damaged model. .
I will leave you with the following. an anonymous poem published in the Northern Star, a Chartist newspaper, in 1840.
“Hurrah for the masses,
The lawyers are asses,
Their gammon and spinach is stale!
The law is illegal,
The Commons are regal,
And the judges are going to Jail!”
Tonight’s full Harvest Moon is a rare combination of a partial lunar eclipse and a supermoon, as the moon's path has brought it closer to the Earth, making it appear bigger and brighter than normal.
It's the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox, which usually provides extra moonlight for farmers to finish their harvests, hence it's name.
Other names include Barley Moon , Corn Moon, Autumn Moon, and Falling Leaves Moon.
Corn dollies were made at Harvest time from the last sheaf of corn cut. The making of corn dollies goes back many thousands of years. It was a Pagan custom and evolved from the beliefs of the corn growing people who believed in the Corn Spirit.
The Corn Spirit was supposed to live or be reborn in the plaited straw ornament or corn doll and was kept until the following spring to ensure a good harvest. The corn dolly often had a place of honour at the harvest banquet table.
The Full Harvest Moon is connected to the themes of abundance, gratitude and the celebration of the end of a journey.The Celts would use it to mark the time before Samhain/ Calan Gaeaf ( Halloween) with crop collecting followed by large parties and drinking. It's a good day to embrace and enjoy the magic .❤️
Harvest Moon
Harvest moon iridescently comforting
captures the evenings drifting thought
time and time she has called
whether calm or unstable
intoxicated and wild
her shadows have passed through us
searched us out, softened lunacy
while stars twinkle in the sky
sheep fall asleep and politicians lie
shining brightly clears cobwebs from minds.
under her influence and placebo pulse
enables us to dance with the universe
to swing away the blues, to forget about the past
beyond the veritable ugliness of the world
allows distant galaxies to sing out
empowering hearts, eyes of doubt
her light overcomes the darkness
as we wait for the changing tides
in eternity lingers, a creation of beauty
enjoying the sense of mystery
encloses all around, releases synergy.
Highly influential and iconic Austin based artist Daniel Johnston,whose fans included some of music’s top names and whose influences were
in the realm of outsider and lo-fi sound, has died at the age of 58 has died of a heart attack at 58.according to The Austin Chronicle, who confirmed the news with his former manager.
Johnston who was born in Sacramento on January 22, 1961 and grew up in West Virginia, to Mable and Bill Johnston, who were fundamental Christians who belong to the Church of Christ.He and his family soon moved to
New Cumberland, West Virginia, where his father, an engineer and World
War II fighter pilot, landed a job with Quaker State, but it
was in Austin where he developed a cult following by handing out
cassette tapes on the street, and even
appeared on MTV in 1985, but it wasn’t until the early ’90s, when
Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain started appearing in a T-shirt bearing the cover of Johnston’s “Hi, How Are You?” album that Johnston’s fame took off.
However, it was short lived, as Johnston was soon hospitalized for mental health issues. Johnston struggled with mental illnesses throughout his life, and was diagnosed at various points with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder
and spent time in psychiatric institutions.
Johnston a huge Beatles fan, a primary musical influence, released 17 albums over a period of 30 years that though fragile, delicate, possess a surprising durability. Through sheer dint of his irrepressible
enthusiasm and charmingly simple songcraft and despite dealing with
manic-depression, Johnston became one of the most lauded and popular
outsider musicians of the 20th century and was subsequently revered by artists like Kurt Cobain,
Tom Waits, the Flaming Lips, Sonic Youth, Jad Fair and Yo La Tengo, many of whom
who covered his lo-fi songs that encompassed significant whimsy and great
angst.
Called everything from an eccentric genius to a
childlike loner, Johnston made his bones and his reputation for
oblique, yet touching lyrics, yelping vocals and oddly contagious
melodies with a handful of homemade cassettes, such as "More Songs of
Pain," "Yip/Jump Music," and "Hi, How Are You".
In 2005, Jeff Feuerzeig made a
Sundance-award-winning documentary titled The Devil and Daniel Johnston that focused on Johnston's bipolar disorder and how it led to demonic self-possession and detailed the musician’s experience with his mental health issues.
Starting In 1988, and into the early '90s
during the recording of his first studio produced albums, Johnston's
mental health suffered, and he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. While
heading to a small music festival in Austin in 1990, he suffered a
psychotic episode while his plane was in mid-flight , he actually
removed the key from the ignition leaving the plane's pilot, his dad, to
crash-land the plane. After this episode, Johnston was involuntarily
committed to a mental hospital.
For all his
troubles, however, Johnston maintained a level of artistic excellence
and a signature, fuzzy sound, one that, by 1994 found him releasing
albums such as "Fun" on a major label, Atlantic Records, beating out
Elektra only because potential label mates Metallica were devil
worshipers in his eyes.
Johnston eventually headed back to smaller,
independent labels like Tim/Kerr and Jagjaguwar, better suited to
release his intimate, non-commercial sounds. Yet, Johnston still
maintained a rep as a lo-fi overlord, even releasing a "duets" album of
sorts in 2004, the double-disc "The Late Great Daniel Johnston:
Discovered Covered" where Beck, TV on the Radio, and Death Cab for Cutie
made the most of his scattered songwriting.
In 2017 Johnston
played his last major shows in 2017 backed by musicians who have been
inspired by him throughout the years, such as Wilco's Jeff Tweedy, Built to Spill, Modern Baseball and
The Districts. In a New York Times profile, he denied believing that it
would be his swan song. "Why would it be?" Johnston asked.
As
the Times put it then, "the idea of him quitting the road isn't
unreasonable. He has battled manic depression and schizophrenia most of
his adult life, and in recent years endured multiple physical ailments,
including diabetes, a kidney infection and hydrocephalus, a condition in
which fluid on his brain caused him to frequently lose his balance. In
the last year, his mental health also worsened. ... Mr. Johnston's
psychiatric treatment has required extended stays at inpatient
facilities, and although he now lives with some degree of independence,
he requires considerable assistance."
Although
he had moved closer to Houston, Johnston though was still a revered enough figure in
Austin, in 1993, he painted an iconic mural outside of a now-closed
record shop of his “Jeremiah The Innocent” frog (from the cover of his
1983 album Hi, How Are You) that became a landmark and the city would designate an annual "Hi, How Are You? Day" in
his honor on his birthday.
The singer released his final album, Space Ducks: Soundtrack in 2012, and a biopic titled, Hi, How Are You Daniel Johnston, starring Johnston as himself was released in 2015. As well as being a prodigious singer-songwriter, Johnston was also an artist
and comic book-writer, with his drawing of a happy frog from the cover
of his 1983 album, Hi, How Are You, the subject of countless
T-shirts and murals. In 2006, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New
York featured Johnston’s work in a major exhibition.
A true artist of much depth, who despite the personal demons that he battled, managed to release from the darkness, some of the most profoundly moving songs that I have encountered. He wasn't an “outsider” at all, just another precious human being who created brilliant music in-spite of his mental health issues, not because of them. So cheers Daniel Johnston, be at peace, hopefully your songs will continue to inspire people to rise above their limitations to create beauty, the world needs this pulse more than ever..
Daniel Johnston - Some things last a long time
Daniel Johnston - Don't let the Sun go down on your grievances
Daniel Johnston - True Love Will Find You In The End
Pioneering English revolutionary Gerrard Winstanley who was the founder of the Diggers, a visionary, land squatter , early communist pamphleteer., political and religious reformer, died on this day 1676. Regarding the earth ‘a common treasury’, Winstanley was the leader of the agrarian Civil War-era Diggers movement that established communities across England to cultivate waste and common land. His writings, as well as the Digger manifestos, advocated absolute human equality - and the emphasis on the common ownership of land and natural resources, as relevant today as when they were first written. Less concerned with individual scarcity than in sharing what little there was, and in increasing it for and by the community. The Diggers or True Levellers as they described themselves anticipated the conservationist and commune movements of the present day.
Born in Wigan, Lancashire on 10th or 19th October 19th 1609, he moved to London in 1630, where he became an apprentice in the cloth trade and became a freeman in 1637. In September 1640 he married Susan King and the couple moved to Walton-on-Thames. Influenced by the ideas of John Lilburne and the Levellers he commenced to see his own visions, from his earlier mystical writings he developed his own thought, that clearly displayed a revolutionary design, which led him to a form of communism. Although influenced by Christian thought, his movement was not just symbolic, it was a political one, using religion as a dialectical base, he boldly declared that it was the Diggers not the priests who observed true religion. By action and deed.
He denounced the domination of man by man, proclaiming the equality of women, basing their reason not just on God's but also Nature's Laws. The times that these activities were happening, were set at the backdrop of the English Civil War, and a time of great social unrest in England where old reasonings were being cast away, a time of revolution and change. He and the Diggers were part of a radical ferment that was sweeping the country at the time, a broad movement which had at its heart a radical template, a yearning for something new, a society based on harmony and happiness and a sense of community. Though Winstanley infused these ideas with a religious sensibility he also bought with it a reasoning grounded in living here on earth.
In 1649, the Parliamentarians had won the First English Civil War but failed to
negotiate a constitutional settlement with the defeated King Charles I.
When members of Parliament and the Grandees in the New Model Army were
faced with Charles’ perceived duplicity, they tried and executed him.
Government through the King’s Privy Council was replaced with a new
body called the Council of State, which due to fundamental disagreements
within a weakened Parliament was dominated by the Army. Many people
became active in politics, suggesting alternative forms of government to
replace the old order.
Royalists wished to place King Charles II on the throne; men
like Oliver Cromwell wished to govern with a plutocratic Parliament
voted in by an electorate based on property, similar to that which was
enfranchised before the civil war; a radical group of agitators called the Levellers,
influenced by the writings of John Lilburne, wanted parliamentary
government based on an electorate of every male head of a
household; Fifth Monarchy Men advocated a theocracy;but it consisted of small property owners who argued for
universal manhood suffrage. The Levellers in the army came nearest to
all of the radical groupings in winning their gains. But the Levellers
disowned the landless poor to avoid the accusation that they were
against private property. They ignored the issue of enclosures until
they realised that Cromwell was not going to implement their demands for
reform of the franchise. As small property owners, the Levellers were
actually scared of the revolt of the radical poor, unlike the Diggers.
Winstanley was the spokesman for a much wider layer in society. He
generalised from the struggle that was already taking place,
articulating a way forward for the dispossessed, giving it shape and
form. While the revolution benefited the wealthy capitalist, it made
things worse for the poor. However, the Diggers were more than just a
reaction to economic hardship. The execution of the king was a traumatic
act that cowed the nobility and thrilled the radicals, many of whom
expected wonderful things to happen. God was 'shaking the heavens and
the earth', throwing down the thrones of kings. The Diggers felt that
they had won the war and they were due their just rewards. Was it going
to be the few rich or the many poor who would control the common lands?
Winstanley had a worked out programme of how to achieve his new society,
based on a movement of the poor that was already taking place. This was
despite the fact that Winstanley claimed that his idea to dig the
commons was revealed to him in a vision from god!
Winstanley’s vision was as much religious as political; he was strongly
influenced by the mystical writings that were so popular among
seventeenth-century radicals, and he shared fully in the millenarian
excitement of the age. He used the Bible to
justify his actions, as did every other person in the 17th century.
Religion was central to the English Revolution. Radicals believed it was
not the king or priests who interpreted the Bible but the individual.
This doctrine meant that the word of god could be in each person, and
because any one person could be talking directly for god this led
directly to equality.
It did not concern Winstanley whether the Bible was true or not. He
used it to justify what he already believed in. For Winstanley the
biblical stories were, at best, allegories. Many of the religious ideas that Winstanley
expressed were not new. They had existed in society before and persisted
after Winstanley. What made him radically different was that he put
into practice what his religious theory preached. It was this synthesis
of theory and practice that created the revolutionary challenge that was
the Digger colonies.
On April 26 1649 Gerrard Winstanley and 14 others published a pamphlet[
in which they called themselves the “True Levellers” to distinguish
their ideas from those of the Levellers, and contained many of their key
demands, which they would repeat in other pamphlets. I reprint it here.
The True Leveller's Standard Advanced
'
The State of the Community opened, and presented to Sons of Men: A
Declaration to the Powers of England, and to all the Powers of the
world, showing the cause why the Coommon People of Engald have begun,
and gives Consent to dig up, manure and sow corn upon George Hill in
Surrey, by those that have subscribed and thousands more that gives
consent.
In the beginning of Time, the
great Creator, Reason, made the earth to be a Common Treaury, to
preserve Beasts, Birds, Fishes and Man, the Lord that was to govern this
Creation; for Man had Dominion given to him over the Beasts, Birds and
Fishes; but not one word was spoken in the beginning, that one branch
of mankind should rule over another.
And the
reason is this, every man, Male and Female, is a perfect creature of
himself; and the same Spirit that made the Globe dwells in man to govern
the Globe; so that the flesh of man being subject to Reason, his Maker,
hath him to be his Teacher and Ruler within himself, therefore needs
not to run abroad after any Teacher and Ruler within himself, therefore
needs not to run abroad after any Teacher and Ruler without him, for he
needs not that any man should teach him , for the same Anoynting that
ruled in the Son of Man, teacheth him all things.
But
since human flesh (that king of Beasts? began to delight himself in the
object of Creation, more than in the Spirit and Reason and
Righteosness... Covetousness, did set up one man to teach and rule over
another; and thereby the Spirit was killed, and man was brought into
bondage and became a greater Slave to much of his own kind, than the
Beasts of the field were to him.
And hereupon
the Earth (which was made to be a Common Treasury for relief for all,
both \beasts and Men) was hedged in to the Inclosures by the teachers
and rulers, and the others were made Servants and Slaves; And that Earth
that is within this Creation made a Common Store-House for all, is
bought and sold, and kept in the hands of a few, whereby the great
Creator is mightily dishonoured, as if he were a respector of persons,
delighting in the comfortable livelihood of some, and rejoicing in the
miserable povertie and straits of others. From the beginning it was not
so.'
Once they put their idea into
practice and started to cultivate common land, both opponents and
supporters began to call them “Diggers”. The Diggers’ beliefs were
informed by Winstanley’s writings which envisioned an ecological
interrelationship between humans and nature, acknowledging the inherent
connections between people and their surroundings. Winstanley declared
that “true freedom lies where a man receives his nourishment and
preservation, and that is in the use of the earth”
On April 1 1649 he and his comrades took to digging and manuring land on St George's Hill, and later at Cobham in Surrey, in order to encourage the people to dig and plough up the commons, parks and other untilled lands, to break down the pales of the enclosures that existed at the time. Their struggle was essentially against private property in land, civil law and tyranny in matters of government. As Winstanley expressed it, ‘To dig up George Hill . . . we may work
in righteousness and lay the foundations of making the earth a common
treasury for all, both rich and poor. . . . Not enclosing any part into a
particular hand, but all as one man, working together, and feeding
together; . . . not one lording over another, but all looking upon each
other, as equals’. Moreover, ‘every single man, male and female’ should
have equal access to what is a ‘common store-house for all’.
What Winstanley envisaged was a movement from private to communal
ownership. At first the two systems would co-exist, but increasingly,
with the withdrawal of hired labour, the privately owned estates would
cease to be viable and the communal system would prevail. As he
explained,
No man can be rich, but he must be rich either by his own labours, or
by the labours of other men helping him. If a man have no help from his
neighbour, he shall never gather an estate of hundreds and thousands a
year. If other men help him to work, then are those riches . . . the
fruit of other men’s labours as well as his own.
Winstanley knew very well that ‘all rich men live at ease, feeding
and clothing themselves by the labours of other men, not by their own;
which is their shame, not their nobility’. And when the rich give
charity, as if this justified oppression and exploitation, ‘they give
away other men’s labours, not their own’. Without the labour of others,
the rich would have to work the land themselves and it would become
impossible for them to continue to maintain their large estates. In such
circumstances, he argued, the rich would join the poor in the communal
cultivation of the land. The result would be the end of private
property, buying and selling, alienated labour, and the political
authority which helped produce and reproduce all three.
A famous rhyme written at around the same time still has much potency, you can here it below as sung by the band Chumbamwamba
The Diggers Song
You noble Diggers all, stand up now, stand up now,
You noble Diggers all, stand up now,
The wast land to maintain, seeing Cavaliers by name
Your digging does maintain, and persons all defame
Stand up now, stand up now.
Your houses they pull down, stand up now, stand up now,
Your houses they pull down, stand up now.
Your houses they pull down to fright your men in town,
But the gentry must come down, and the poor shall wear the crown.
Stand up now, Diggers all.
With spades and hoes and plowes, stand up now, stand up now,
With spades and hoes and plowes stand up now,
Your freedom to uphold, seeing Cavaliers are bold
To kill you if they could, and rights from you to hold.
Stand up now, Diggers all.
Theire self-will is theire law, stand up now, stand up now
Theire self-will is theire law, stand up now.
Since tyranny came in they count it now no sin
To make a gaole a gin, to serve poor men therein.
Stand up now, Diggers all.
The gentrye are all round, stand up now, stand up now,
The gentrye are all round, stand up now.
The gentrye are all round, on each side they are found,
Theire wisdom's so profound, to cheat us of our ground.
Stand up now, stand up now.
The lawyers they conjoyne, stand up now, stand up now,
The lawyers they conjoyne, stand up now,
To arrest you they advise, such fury they devise,
The devill in them lies, and hath blinded both their eyes.
Stand up now, stand up now.
The clergy they come in, stand up now, stand up now,
The clergy they come in, stand up now.
The clergy they come in, and say it is a sin
That we should now begin, our freedom for to win.
Stand up now, Diggers all.
The tithe they yet will have, stand up now,stand up now,
The tithes they yet will have, stand up now.
The tithes they yet will have, and lawyers their fees crave,
And this they say is brave, to make the poor their slave.
Stand up now, Diggers all.
'Gainst lawyers and gainst Priests, stand up now,stand up now,
'Gainst lawyers and gainst Priests stand up now.
For tyrants they are both even flatt against their oath,
To grant us they are loath free meat and drink and cloth.
Stand up now, Diggers all.
The club is all their law, stand up now, stand up now,
The club is all their law, stand up now.
The club is all their law to keep men in awe,
Buth they no vision saw to maintain such a law.
Stand up now, Diggers all.
The Cavaleers are foes, stand up now, stand up now,
The Cavaleers are foes, stand up now;
The Cavaleers are foes, themselves they do disclose
By verses not in prose to please the singing boyes.
Stand up now, Diggers all.
To conquer them by love, come in now, come in now,
To conquer them by love, come in now;
To conquer them by love, as it does you behove,
For he is King above, noe power is like to love,
Glory heere, Diggers all.
Powerful stuff, but at the time the diggers were seen as mad extremists and were brutally dealt with. It quickly
became clear that the Diggers represented something new; they were not
squatting in the hope that local landowners would take pity on them and
allow them to stay; rather, they were challenging the very idea of land
ownership.
The attack on the Diggers included an economic boycott, harassment,
violent assaults by hired thugs, and legal actions. It was all organised
by local landowners. They even employed a clergyman, whose sole purpose
was ‘to preach down the Diggers’. The men of property were determined
to prevent the Diggers establishing themselves on the commons and the
example this would set. When the Diggers moved their activities to
Cobham Heath in August 1649, the opposition intensified, continuing what
had gone before, but now burning dwellings and furniture, and hiring
thugs to chase the Diggers from the area.
In 1651, after the defeat of the communes, Winstanley produced a utopian blueprint entitled Law of Freedom.
His previous writings were a savage criticism of existing society and a
direct appeal to ordinary people to take action. This later pamphlet
was a detailed plan for a future society. While during 1649 and 1650 he
appealed to Cromwell and the army merely not to interfere with the
communes, in 1651 he directly addressed Cromwell, asking him to create
the new society. The experience of the communes and the violence of the
landlords had led Winstanley to abandon pacifism.
Though they were short lived and as a movement they were unsuccessful, their various manifestos and pamphlets continue to hold much resonance, inspiring people to search out new ways of living, feeding our dreams. Gerrard Winstanley and the Diggers were prepared to put their beliefs into action, and since that time many political movements have come to recognise the Diggers as pioneers of their own beliefs, their hostility to rule of law and strong governments still resonates with much appeal. Their ideas can be seen in modern movements that put people first and not the thirst for profit, echoed in environmental groups and the occupy movements and others seeking social justice. His message too, rings loud and clear at the moment with the present governments austerity measures, leaving many people vulneravble, and facing the prospect of losing their homes, and their attacks and criminalisation of the squatting movement. Little is known of Winstanley's later life, he died in a place called Cobham, pm the 10th of September 1676 but his contribution to our countries radical spirit looms large and his vision, for all its limitations,continues to inspire, making sure his legacy will surely live on.
As with the Levellers, Winstanley and the Surrey Diggers struck a
blow at the halls of wealth and power of 17th century English society.
Their efforts and their philosophy were not wasted on later generations
seeking the same spirit of liberty and freedom in a more democratic
social structure and s have since been celebrated as precursors of land squatting and
communalism. Winstanley's memory, and that of his fellow Diggers, has in recent years also
been invoked by freeganists, squatters, guerrilla gardeners, allotment
campaigners, social entrepreneurs, greens and peace campaigners; and
both Marxists, anarchists and libertarians have laid claim to him as a significant
precursor. In 1995 The Land is Ours activists set up camp at the disused Wisley airfield in
Surrey and briefly invaded the fairways of St George’s Hill golf course.
Four years later, on the three-hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary of the
start of the Digger experiment, activists marched to St George’s Hill –
now an exclusive housing estate – and set up their tents, yurt and
compost toilets on North Surrey Water Company land near the summit. The
occupation lasted for just under a fortnight, when the site was
abandoned before a possession order could be put into effect. Other land
occupations soon followed. TLIO’s activities and their thoughtful
publicity material helped draw attention both to pressing land-access
issues, and to the continuing relevance of the Diggers’ example for
modern activists. In 2011, an annual
festival began in Wigan to celebrate the Diggers. The memory of Winstanley and the Diggers will no doubt be kept alive,so that
future generations of activists will be reminded of the example and
relevance of their seventeenth-century predecessors. The following song written by Leon Rosselson, The World Turned Upside Down, powefully resonates today, it opens with the
words ‘In 1649 …’ and still feel like it was ripped from the headlines. Billy Bragg later popularised it further, but personally much prefer the following version by the inimitable Dick Gaughan.
Dick Gaughan - The World Turned Upside Down..
In sixteen forty-nine to St. George's Hill
A ragged band they called the Diggers came to show the people's will
They defied the landlords, they defied the laws
They were the dispossesed reclaiming what was theirs
'We come in peace,' they said, 'to dig and sow'
'We come to work the land in common and to make the wasteground grow'
'This Earth divided, we will make whole'
'So it can be a common treasury for all'
'The sin of property we do disdain'
'No one has any right to buy or sell the earth for private gain'
'By theft and murder they took the land'
'Now everywhere the walls spring up at their command'
'They make the laws to chain us well'
'The clergy dazzle us with heaven or they damn us into hell'
'We will not worship the god the serve'
'The god of greed who feeds the rich whilst pepole starve'
'We work, we eat together, we take up swords'
'We will not bow to the masters or pay rent to the lords'
'We are free people though we are poor'
You Diggers all stand up for glory, stand up
'Action is the life of all, and if thou dost not act, thou dost nothing' - Gerrard Winstanley
Further Reading:
The World Turned Upside Down; Radical Ideas During the English Revolution - Christopher Hill, Penguin
Gerrard Winstanley and the Republic of heaven - David Boulton Dales Historical Monographs 1999
Gerard Winstanley The Diggers life and legacy - John Gurney
Their is also in my opinion a rather fine film , Winstanley that came out in 1975 , made by Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollow, that is very good for historical accuracy, that deals with Winstanley's life and that of the Diggers. It has recently been reissued in D.V.D by the British Film Institute.
