March of the Mad Hares .

Well spring is well and tuly in the air, time when certain senses awake, the season too of our 'mad march hares'..... boxing, prancing, dancing, having it large. The female of this species is superfecund at the moment, so the males get a bit frustrated, and tend to bounce around the female erratically, its  the ritual of fertility,   and of course desire is in the air, but  for the lady, when she stands on her hind legs - no means no. To us humans they can seem to look crazy, demented. No madder than your average human being though.

Witnessed by those that walk the veil. Long have they been seen as mysterious and sacred to us, for some messengers of the underworld, they come and go as they please.And long have they been invested with mystical property, I for one find them enchanting.The hare in mythology crops up, time and again across the globe.
It is perceived to be solitude and remote.They're mostly silent. seen as the last light fades from the day. and enjoy the darkness.Active at night, a symbol of the intuitive, and fickleness of the moon, an unpredictable creature. It is seen as sacred to the White Goddess/mother earth.

The constellation Lepus was named for the latin word for hare. It's located below the constellation Orion,which was named for the hunter in Greek mythology.Orion has often been depicted  pursuing Lepus with his hunting dogs Canis Minor and Canis  Major.

The hare was originally linked to the ancient Germanic Goddess Oestara (oestrous cycle) or Eostore (Easter) who was said to rule over spring and the dawn. Oestara, who brought on spring late one year as she was nursing a dying bird back to life by changing it into a hare. Thereafter the hare was revered as a magical shapeshifter.

Celtic myths often told of shapeshifting hares. The great warrior, Oisin was said to have wounded a hare in the leg while out hunting ne day. The hare fled into the undergrowth and Oisin followed only to find a woman inside with a cut to her leg.

The hare was also regarded as the solitary keeper of ancient places .with ability to guide spiritual transmigration upon death. Wherever hares roam the Sidge are close by.

In Saxon times there was a cult of the hare and then christianity came along and suppressed this cult and the hare totemic values were  replaced with the safer images of the easter bunny and the easter egg.

Hares that were seen to be acting oddly were also thought to be shape-shifting witches or 'were-hares.'
It was also said that if one crossed your path, it was seen as a warning of imminent danger. Sailors apparently , thought of them as unlucky, but for others a hare's foot was seen as a symbol of luck, but I wouldnt recommend hunting them for any purpose, long may we have them around.
Can dissapear quite quickly, here one minute, gone the next. Swift and nimble, at full speed can get up to 40 miles per hour.They tend to come out around dusk, graze and play all night, and go to bed about dawn. Because of their shyness, don't like to attract to much attention, but if you catch a glance a beautiful sight to behold. They live in a small depression in the ground called a 'form' above the earth, and will often be found in open fields.
 Who knows  could be at a tea party somewhere or if you look out this week, you might  be lucky enough to see one or two , leaping over the moon.

Leaping Hare - Ian MacCulloch
http://www.hayrackgallery.co.uk/catalogue/default.php?product_Artist_ID=26

' The common sort of people suppose that hares are one year male and one year female. . . .
yet hunters object that there be some which are only females and no more, but no male that is not also a female, and so they make him an hermaphrodite.' -

- Edward Topsell , History of Four-footed Beasts 1607.




March of the Mad Hares represents the art of Professor Ralph Skelton, done in the printmaking process called, intagilo. His animal images represent the individual cages in which humans hide and the surreal landscapes that exist within each individual.

Link to Hare Preservtion Trust.
http://www.hare-preservation-trust.co.uk/

Protect threatened Hares Petition.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/protect-threatened-hares-in-the-uk/

No Way Through

Imagine if London was controlled by the military and you had to go through specific checkpoints to go to school, go to work, visit your friends, or got to hospital.
This award winning seven minute video, brings the shocking reality of Palestinian life in the West Bank uncomfortably close to home.

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Davey Jones (30/12/45 - 29/02/12) R.I.P

Bit late with this one. Found out yesterday Mr Jones had passed away from a heart attack. He always struck me as forever young. With his good looks and British charm, this Manchester born singer/actor starred in the seminal series The Monkees. Between 1966 and 1970 the Monkees released 9 records. I've got a few on vinyl, very crackly , that's how often I've dug them out.
I used to watch their zany, knockabout antics a lot in their T.V show the monkees, when I was younger. They should put them back on the box. As for their head trip movie Head , wow...... well worth checking out. Far out.
For me Davey Jones was always the groovy one. Hey hey......always monkeying around...... Mr Jones R.I.P. I'm still a believer.

As reported in the Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/feb/29/davy-jones-monkees-dies-66?newsfeed=true

The Monkees - Last Train to Clarkesville.

The Monkees - I'm a believer

The Monkees - Steppin Stone

The Monkees - Porpoise Song ( from HEAD)

You Can't Evict an idea.

So after over 4 months protestors have been removed and evicted from outside St Pauls Cathedral.

The right wing press would like us to think, that this the end of the story, dissent has been overcome, the people will simply dissapear.
A coordinated attempt to suppress a movement that has delivered a clear consise message, that the system t is corrupt, and the people were  sick and tired of it . The occupy movement here in Britan and across the globe has raised public awareness of corporate greed and the need for economic accountability. The message of a  need for social fairness  and the redistribution of wealth has been clearly delivered, loud and clear.
This symbol of opposition to what is now seen by many as runaway capitalist greed has been shut down, for now at least, but evicting ideas is not exactly the best way to express the powers of a political democracy.
When people come together and question the system, authorities tremble at the solidarity shown..Especially at a time when the government suffers a surge in public unpopularity.  Lets also not overlook the fact that RBS chief executive Stepen Hester's million pound bonus and it's eventual with it's eventual withdrawal, along with  his predescessor, Mr Goodwins knighthood all played out against the background of occupy.| Especially at a time when the government suffers from a surge in public unpopularity.
Protests against corporate greed and social inequality will continue, the people of the occupy movement, like wild seeds will keep spreading. By springtime, these seeds will continue to grow, spreading like it did before, moving forwards, getting stronger and stronger. 
However much they try, you simply can't kill or evict an idea, especially  when the message happens to be a populist one.

Occupy London Eviction: Tents Being Removed From St Paul's Cathedral.

Charlie Chaplin ( b16/4/1889 - 25/12/77) - Citizen of the World

Charlie Chaplin in the news recently because M.I.5  failed to determine where the silent film star was born,  does it really matter? He himself in his autobiography said 'he was born on 16th April 1889, at eight o'clock at night, in East Lane, Walworth, London but was also a self proclaimed 'citizen of the world' who did not pledge his allegiance to any specific Country or cause. The fact that nobody knows for certain where he was born certainly adds to his mystique.
He subsequently became the most well-known actor of the early 2oth century, becomming an iconic figure in his Little Tramp costume, which consisted of baggy pants, bamboo cane, bowler hat, and oversized shoes. His acting credits numbered 87 , starting of in 1914 in Making a Living  and ending with Countess from Hong Kong in 1967. His many classic films include  The tramp, (1915) The Kid (1916) A Days pleasure (1919)  The Idle Class (1920) and The Gold Rush (1925).
It is known that had socialist ideas, informed by being bought up in extreme poverty, his younger days were spent living in workhouses, and he numbered many left wing friends as his friends and acquaintances. He generally held his tongue, but after the 1930' with the film City Lights (1931)

City Lights - intro monument

 and Modern Times (1936)  which was seen by many as an overt attack on the capitalist system,  his films began carrying messages with explicit political statements, with the characters he played often taking sides with the downtrodden working class.

Chaplin's critique of Industrialization
first segmet in Modern Times.

Clip from Modern Times.



Chaplins father had died of drink by the time he was 10, and his mother unable to bear the poverty she endured,  suffered from bouts of insanity, deep experiences that never left him. He himself was an voracious reader on economic theory and philosophical treatise.A strong humanitarian he was disturbed by the rise of nationalism and the social effects of the Depression, of unemployment and of automation, and hatred of the mechanisation of the world and even devised his own Economic Solution, based on a more equitable not just of wealth but of work.
His classic film The Great Dictator (1940) saw him taking on the nazis. Here he pitted his celebrity and humour against Hitlers own celebrity and evil. He played a dual role as a jewish barber who has lost his memory in a plane accident in the First World War, and spends time in hospital before being discharged into an anti-semitic country that he does not understand, and Hynkel (Hitler) the dictator leader of Ptomainia, whose armies are the forces of the Double Cross, and will do anything along the lines to increase his possibilitis for supreme power. It ends with Chaplin in his own words giving us a message full of humanitarianism, with a sense of great hope.

Chaplins final speach in the Great Dictator

However  despite his pro-war effors, he uncritically supported the war effort, especially the Soviet Front, he was targetted by J Edgar Hoovers F.B.I who apparently saw him  as a dangerous radical and subversive, and put it about that he was a communist.
His 1947 film Monsier Verdour saw him showing mass murder and the abuse of workers in an attempt to increase business profits. He was not afraid and for the times was quite daring.  Though he atttended Communist Party meetings, he never actually admitted actual membership of the party. He was a principled man however because at the height of the McCarthy witchhunts he never betrayed any of his friends who he knew were, and continued to support and defend them, as they were forced to testify before the House of Un-American Activities Committe ( HUAC), the tide of his popularity was turning against him mainly due to the propoganda aimed at him at the time. It is possible that his independent wealth saved him, being part owner of the United Artist Movie studio, and he himself never got an invitation to testify, the witchhunters possibly afraid of the damage a brilliant comedian like Chaplin could inflict.

HUAC in action

Humanitarian, Yes . Communist??

After this he was effectively hounded out of the U.S.A, by political persecution and paranoia, being accused of 'moral depravity', he was known for his fondness of women, and had numerous affairs. His imprints were removed from the Hollywood walk of fame, such were the authorities disdain for him and were subsequently lost to the mists of time. Because  of being pilloried by the right-wing press and reactionary institutions like the American legion and all the subsequent propoganda unleashed against him he began to lose favour with the American public. Ironically in 1952 saw the release of Limelight , which could be seen as a semi-autobiographical story concerning a story about a once famous comedian who has lost his ability to command his audience, basing his performance on Frank Tinney (1877-1940) an American Black film comedian and the Spanish clown Marceline (1873 - 1927) for me personally a film of great pathos.

Charlie Chaplin in Limelight

In 1952, the United States Attorney General told him that his re-entry to the U.S would be challenged on charges of turpitude and political unreliabilty. He had never actually attained American citizenship, in the first place, he'd actually refused it, so he destoyed all his American possesions and escaped to Europe.
In 1957 he starred in The king of New York where he was the first film-maker to dare to expose, through satire and ridicule, the paranoia and political intolerance which overtook the United States in the Cold War period. It would be another 16 years until it was actually screened in America, such was its daring. He starred as the deposed king of  Estovia who flees to America where he is tormented by a McCarthy style investigation.

Exiled, he settled at the Manir de Bar in Corsier Svr Vevey, Switzerland where he was to spend the rest of his days. He did return once more to the U.S.A in 1972. As well as acting, and being a father to many children his versatility  extended to writing, composing music and sports. He was also a self-taught violinist and celloist which he played left handed.He died in his sleep on Christmas day 1977, in his home in Switzerland.
His legacy lives on, as much for his  great intellectual vision, but as  a brilliant comic who has bought me much laughter over the years with the combination of his acrobatic agility and his ability to express through the medium of film, great depths of emotion and feeling. A little man, but big in my eyes.

" Like everyone else I am what I am: an individual,
unique and different,
with a lineal history of ancestral promptings
and urgings; a history of dreams,
desires, and of special experiences,
all of which I am the sum total."
- Charlie Chaplin

People have the power.

Protest does work, whether by demonstrating, letter writing  or sending e.mails. Power can be achieved by sitting in an armchair and by the click of the mouse , through social media perhaps,  or by taking to the streets, participating in community action, resisting,  direct action or  by any means at ones disposal.
This week we have seen Tesco shift their policy in relation to workfare, which now means that those working 25 hours a week at one of its stores will earn around £175 compared with £55 if they had stayed on benefits. This reversal was only achieved because people shouted  out their opposition. If people had stayed silenced we would not now be in a position of  seriously undermining this Tory led Coalitions job scheme. Superdrug electronic retailer Maplins & Mind (Mental Health Charity) have all announced that they have pulled out of the scheme completely, after Waterstones and Sainsbury's also quit. Small victories can be achievable when  people work together.
When people stand together in solidarity, change can occur, if people keep pushing  decisions can be overturned. But there is never a time for complaceny, especially when we live in  a time of much urgency. Where decisions sometimes need to be overturned in a matter of immediacy.
The N.H.S bill is still being attempted to be pushed through by the Tory's even  though it is clearly in dissaray. But the government's Higher Education White Paper has now been shelved. If the people had not got angry  would Mr Stephen Hester  have an extra £1 million in his pocket, would Mr  Fred Godwin still be called a Sir. Would Murdoch's scurrious activies gone unfestered.
Meanwhile people are standing in solidarity with their neighbours, the Greeks offer us a glimpse of a society that will not be silenced. The Occupy Movement also has been a wonderful breath of fresh air, clamouring too for political change. Seeds of new ideas are flowering everywhere like flames. People connecting, saying no to austerity everywhere , in  these  tumultuous times  people are  standing up.
Anything is possible.... I guess, the air is alive and crackling, people globally looking for and demanding new explanations, answers. Subsequently we have seen oppressive leaders toppled, regime change, millions saying no to war, a rising tide against the old orders.Outside the box of corporate realms and governmental consensus, people are finding their voice, their strength, finding their power.
Still a long way to go, and  so much more to achieve, but  it is together we will achieve  real change ( not in the 'we are in it together' of Mr Cameron's lies and old school ties, because clearly we  are not, but their is a definite realisation that the future is one where the concentrated measures of wealth are not in the hands of an elite few. I believe together, as individuals or in groups we can bring about  real change, whether it be for human rights,  economic and social justice , working for a culture of peace , equality and freedom, in the words of John Lennon ' some people call me a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.'  Reality sandwiches, taste bitter sometimes, but one things for certain, the People have the power and by acting together in movements of solidarity , this power will grow.

Patti Smith - People have the Power.

I was dreaming in my dreaming
of an aspect bright and fair
and my sleeping it was broken
but my dream it lingered near

in the form of shining valleys
where the pure air recognised
and my senses newly opened
I awakened to the cry

that the people have the power
to redeem the work of fools
upon the meek the graces shower
it's decreed the people rule

The people have the power
The People have the power
The people have the power
The people have the power

Vengeful aspects become suspect
and bending low as if to hear
and the armies ceased advancing
because the people had their ear

and the shepherds and the soldiers
lay beneath the stars
exchanging visions
and laying arms
to waste in the dust

in the form of shining valleys
where the pure air recognised
and my senses newly opened
exchanging visions
and laying arms
to waste in the dust

in the form of shining valleys
where the pure air recognised
and mysenses newly opened
I awakened to the cry

Refrain

Where there were deserts  
I saw fountains
like the cream  the waters rise
and we strolled there together
with none to laugh or criticise
and the leopard and the lamb
lay together truly bound
I was hoping in my hoping
to recall what I had found
I was dreaming in my dreaming
god knows a pure view
as I surrender to my sleeping
I commit my dream to you

Refrain

The power to dream to rule
to wrestle the world from fools
it's decreed the people rule
its decreed the people rule
LISTEN
I believe everything we dream
can come to pass through our union
we can turn the world around
we can turn the earth's revolution
we have the power.
People  have the power . . .

Israeli Apartheid Week: Call it as it is

This week is Israeli Apartheid week
Calling the Israeli regime as one of apartheid is not rhetoric, nor is it an exaggeration or a propaganda tool. This is the reality in modern day Palestine, where the Israeli regime is based on discrimination, through laws,practices and most aspects of life. This apartheid regime is not only imposed on the people in Palestine, but also on millions of Palestinian refugees denied their right to return home because they are the wrong religion.
As awareness across the world continues to increase regarding the Israeli Apartheid regime in Palestine, each effort in this aspect would help accelerate the conclusion of this shameful page in history. And as this awareness rises, campaigns to boycott, divest and sanction this regime provide a very effective and natural response. The world witnessed a similar response transpire and bear fruit in the case of South Africa, and there are very good reasons to believe that it will do the same in the case of Palestine.
Palestinians are also being regularly and illegally barred from reaching the Dead Sea Beaches in the occupied |West Bank according to a Supreme Court Petiton filed by Israel's leading civil rights organisation, The Association  of Civil Rights (ACRA) The Israel military is using the Ha'avera checkpoint on Route 90, the only open access route in the occupied West Bank for travel to the Dead Sea, to turn back Palestinians, mostly on weekends and on Jewish holidays. Also Israeli policies on Palestinian residency have also arbitrarily denied thousands of Palestinians the ability to live in and travel to and from the West Bank and Gaza, and according to Sarah Leah Whitsun  the director at  Human Rights Watch  " Israel has never put forth any concrete security rationale for blanket policies that have made life a nightmare for Palestinians whom it considers unlawful residents in their own homes. The current policies leave families divided and people trapped on the wrong side of the border in Gaza and the West Bank. Israel should revise these policies, and allow requests for families to re-unite, so that Palestinian can live with their families where they want.http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/02/05/israel-end-restrictions-palestinian-residency
Israel Apartheid Week, ( this year will be its eighth) is an annual international series of events held in cities and campuses across across the globe. It hopes to educate people about the nature of Israel. They demand full equality for Arab citizens of Israel ( who already have it), an end to what is known as the occupation and the dismantling of the apartheid wall, with the protection of Palestinians, and their right to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in U.N resolution 194. Also the Russell Tribunal on Palestine held in Cape Town 2011 which used International Law as its basis found Israel guilty of the crime of apartheid and the persecution of the Palestinians, http://www.russelltribunalonpalestine.com/en/.
The Wall is but one element of the wider system of severe restrictions on the freedom of movement imposed by the Israeli authorities on Palestinian residents of the West Bank. There are over 600 closure obstacles blocking Palestinian movement within the West Bank. In addition, the system of roads is segregated: travel on hundreds of kilometres in the West Bank is restricted or prohibited outright for Palestinians, whereby Israelis are able to travel about freely. About one third of the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, is completely prohibited to Palestinians without a special permit issued by the Israeli military.
These severe restrictions violate not only the right to freedom of movement. They also effectively prevent Palestinian residents from excercising a wide reange of other human rights, including their right to work, to health, to education and to an adequate standard of living. Farmers are stopped from assessing their fields and thus from exersising their right to sustain their livelihood. Many Palestinians are also prevented from seeking work outside their locality. Children are prevented from accessing schools and students face restrictions in choosing their university of choice. Patiients are prevented from assessing hospitals, blocking them from exercising their right to the highest sustainablr standard of health , and so on.
Yesterday amazingly it was announced that the Israeli Ministry of Public Diplomacy would dispatch 'envoys' around the world in an attempt to undermine plans for Israeli Apartheid week and in effect legitimise Israel's actions, as they have done time and time again.
However  Former Attorney General of Israel Avi Zer-Aviv http://www.shalomlife.com/news/5170/israeli-apartheid-fact-or-fiction/ says
"Despite its best intentions, Israel has created a system of seperation in the West Bank which fits the textbook definition of apartheid. According to Michael Ben-Yair, Attorney General of Israel throughout the nineties, "in effect, we established an apartheid regime in the Occupied Territories immediately following their capture. That oppressive regime exists to this day." He is not alone in asserting this perspective. Many notable Israelis like Meron Benvenisti, Akiva Elder, and Shulamit Aloni, to mention a few, agree that Israeli style apartheid is a reality."

At this moment in time, around the world a new internationalism is being formed. People are standing in solidarity with each other in struggle. Standing together for democracy, equality, human rights and economic justice. After 63 years of struggle, is it not the Palestinians time,  as they resolve to continue their struggle against Colonisation, occupation and apartheid, an inspiration to movements struggling for freedom , justice and equality around the world.
Palestine I hope, too  will soon be free. 
Israeli Apartheid Week in Europe is 
February 20 -March 10
http://apartheidweek.org/about

No one is free until everyone is free!
TEAR DOWN THIS WALL NOW