Monday 14 May 2012

LETTER FROM PALESTINIAN HUNGER STRIKER TO HIS DAUGHTER


SAMIDOUN - Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
http://samidoun.ca/2012/05/letter-from-thaer-halahleh-to-his-daughter-lamar-on-75th-day-of-hunger-strike/

A letter from Thaer Halahleh, on day 75 of hunger strike against his detention without charge, to his two-year-old daughter Lamar, who he has never seen.

Translated by Jalal Najjar

"My Beloved Lamar, forgive me because the occupation took me away from you, and took away from me the pleasure of witnessing my first child that I have always prayed God to see, to kiss, to be happy with. It is not your fault, this is our destiny as Palestinian people to have our lives and the lives of our children taken away from us, to be apart from each other and to have a miserable life, nothing is complete in our lives because of this unjust occupation that is lurking on every corner of our lives turning it into eeriness, a continuous pursuit and torture. Despite that I was deprived from holding you and hearing your voice, from watching you grow up and move around in the house and in your be, and that I was deprived of my role as a human and a father with my daughter your existence has given me all the power and the hope, and when I saw your picture with your mother in the sit-in-tent, you were so calm staring in wonder at people, as if you were looking for your father, looking at my pictures that are hung inside the tent asking in silence why is my father not coming back, I felt that you are with me, in my sentiment and inside my mind, as if you are part of my heartbeats, steadfast and the blood that flows in my veins, opening all door for me spreading clear skies around me, and unleashing your free childish voice after this long silence".

" Lamar my love: I know that you are not to be blamed and that you don't yet understand why your father is going through this battle of the hunger strike for the 5th day, but when you grow up you will understand that the battle of freedom is the battle of going back to you, so that I can never be taken away from you again or to be deprived of your smile or seeing you, so that the occupier will never kidnap me again from you".
" When you grow up you will understand how injustice was brought upon your father and upon thousands of Palestinians whom the occupation has put in prisons and jail cells, shattering their lives and future for no guilt but their pursuit of freedom, dignity and independence, you will know that your father did not tolerate injustice and submission, that he will never accept insult and compromise, and that he is going through a hunger strike to protest against the Jewish state that wants to turn us into humiliated slaves without any rights or patriotic dignity."

"My beloved Lamar keep your head up always and be proud of your father, and thank everyone who supported me, who supported the prisoners in their struggle, and don't be afraid god is with us always, and god never lets people who have faith and patience, we are righteous, and right will always prevail against injustice and wrong doers".

"Lamar my love: that day will come, and I will make it up to you for everything, and tell you the whole story, and your days that will follow will be more beautiful, so let your days pass now and wear your prettiest clothes, run, and then run again in the gardens of your long life, go forward and forward, nothing is behind you but the past, and this is your voice I hear all the time as a melody of freedom".



Why the Palestinians decided to start the hunger strike.


In Solidarity with Palestinian Political Prisoners and Detainess in Israeli Jails, please sign the following petition, I really think it is an important cause , and I'd like to encourage you to add your name.
Best wishes
Heddwch/peace.
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/in-solidarity-with-palestinian-political-prisoners/?utm_medium=email&utm_source+system&utm_campaigns=S2Bto%2BFriend

Sunday 13 May 2012

Datblygu - Can i Gymru

Spoke to David Rupert yesterday, in fine form, we did a bit of reminising, he seemed overjoyed with the news of me becomming grandad..... we talked about how some things never change, he was in good spirits, roaring with laughter, he told me of certain things happening, though he swore me to secrecy......ideas were floated and walks were planned...... he's coming back to Aberteifi for visit...  he swears that coke is quite a nice drink too, especially when the sun is out and once again told me he was not a poet, m'mmm nice that we can sometimes gently disagree..... we exchanged mutual respect , our iechyd dda's both of us looking forward to emerging possibilities and catching up. His voice still  had me in stitches, shame our credit was low,   today marks the occasion of the first session he did for the late great John Peel..... back in May, 1987, seems like only yesterday, we could have talked about that show for years..... so in honour of his music thought I'd post one of his great songs, a reason that John Peel once remarked ' if you don't understand it, more the reason to learn Welsh'. This year also marks 30 years since his bands first inauguration, so here's to Dave and the next 30 years or so.......

' We sang in Welsh with all the US/English influences because it had to be done. I didn't like the fact that Welsh music, was seen to be male voice choirs, folk music and all the cliches. I suppose that I wanted to modernise Welsh language culture. Welsh is a language with unlimited potential but I didn't appreciate a lot that was being manipulated in it. I tried to change things. Hundreds of people saw the point so I'm glad I bothered.' - David Rupert Edwards

CAN I GYMRU
(geriau David R.Edwards/ Rhiannon Matthews

Gradd da yn y Gymraeg
Ar y Volvo bathodyn Tafod y Ddraig
Hoff o fynychu pwyllgorau blinedig
Am ddyfodol yr iaith yn enwedig,
Meistrioli iaith lleifrifol fel hobi
Platiau dwyiethog i helpu y gyrru
Agwedd cwbl addas
Ar gyfer cynllun cartre
Syth mas o set 'Dinas'.
Wastod yn mynd i Lydaw
Beth yn mynd i Ffrainc,
Wastod yn mynd i Wlad y Basg
Byth yn mynd i Sbaen.
Fin nos yn mynychu bwytai
Wedi dydd ar y prosessydd geiriau,
Mewn swydd sy'n talu'r morgais
I'ch gwyneb person cwbl cwrtais,
O'r ysgol feithrin i Brifysgol Cymru
Tocyn oes ar y tren grefi,
Byddai'n well da fi fod yn jynci
Na bod mor wyrdd a phoster Plaid Cymru.
Darnau gosod yr Wyl Gerdd Dant
A holl broblemau'r ddau o blant,
Gweri telyn Llinos Wyn,
A phroblem acne Llwarch Glyn,
Heb anghofio codi stwr
Am straen angeuol job y gwr-
Mae'n gorfod gweithio un tan tri
Yn gynhyrchydd BBC,
Llosgwch eich tafodau
Ar eich panedau piwritanaidd,
Collwch eich dynoliaeth
Mewn economeg academaidd.
Ewch cyfeillion sy'n enwogion
Gyd o'r Seri Rhyddion,
Trafodwch tapiau corau meibion
A'r eitemau sydd ar 'Hel Straeon'
Rhifau cynulleidfa'r oedfa
A pha liw lenni'r lolfa,
Tiwtoriad preifat i helpu'r plant
Neuadd Dewi Sant,
Digon o wyliau i gynnal lliw haul
Digon wrth Brydeinig i swnio fel Sig Heil (x2)
Meistroli iaith lleifrifol fel hobi
Dweud fod Cymru'n cael ei orthrymu,
Cawsoch radd da yn y Cymraeg (x4)
Ar y Volvo bathodyn Tafod Y Ddraig
Gradd da yn y Cymraeg (x3)
Cymraeg (x6)
Gradd da yn y Gymraeg
Ar y Volvo.

A good degree in Welsh
On the Volvo a Tafod Y Ddraig sticker,
Fond of attending tiresome committee meetings
About the future of the language in particular,
Mastering a minority language as a hobby
Bilingual plates to help the driving,
A perfectly appropriate attitude
For a home plan straight out of the 'Dinas' st.
Always going to Brittany,
Never going to France,
Always going to the Basque country
Never going to Spain.
At night going to restaurants
After a day on the word processor,
in a job that pays your mortgage
To your face a perfectly courteous person
From nursery scholl to the University of Wales
A lifetime ticket on the gravy train,
I would rather be a junkie
Than be as green as a Plaid Cymru poster.
The set texts of the Cerdd Dant Festival
And all the problems of the two children,
Llinos Wyn's harp lessons
And Llwyarch Clyn's acne problem.
Not forgetting to raise a fuss
About the deadly strain of the husband's job,
He has to work from one to three
As a BBC producer.
Burn your tongues
On your puritanical cups of tea
Lose your humanity
in academic economics.
Name your friends who are famous
All of them freemasons,
Discuss male voice choir tapes
And the items that are on 'Hel Straeon'
The numbers in the congregation
And what colour should the lounge curtains be,
Private tutors to help the children,
St. David's Hall.
Enough holidays to maintain a suntan.
Anti British enough to sound like Sieg Heil (x2)
Mastering a minority language as a hobby
Saying that Wales is being oppressed,
Even thouh your cars have Tafod Y Ddraig stickers
You had a good degree in Welsh (x4)
On the Volvo a Tafod Y Ddraig sticker,
Good degree in Welsh (x3)
Welsh (x6)
Good degree in Welsh
On the Volvo.

Oh another thing an exhibition Datblygyu Trideg
celebrating the music of one of Wale's most popular and influental 
bands is currently on view at The Waffle Coffee Shop
                                            63 
                                            Clive Road 
                                            Cardiff.
Link to their facebook page here http://www.facebook.com/Datblygu30    

Link to Babylon Wales blog and article about exhibitionhttp://babylonwales.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/datblygu-trideg.html

Excellent blog here, devoted to all things Datblygu here http://www.datblygu.com/

an earlier
post by me is here.
http://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/david-r-edwards-y-teimlad-feeling.html

Friday 11 May 2012

Jean Binta Breeze (b.1959) - REALITY

Reality
dis is a reality
ah time we tek a stack a die reality,
                                              reality,
                                                 reality,
dis is a reality

They say the problem of the nation
is overpopulation
and the unemployment stages
and the cutbacks in the wages
are results of that situation
while the brains of their technicians
are building new moon stations
war weapons increase
while young babies decease
from an illness widely known
as malnutrition

The votersreturn to the polls
con-trolled by a man in a rolls
who has set up his loyal henchman
to become a politician
to thrill poor people's souls

Then come new laws on sanitation
designed to cut down on pollution
but the big man's factory
dumps its waste into the sea
and the food we can eat is full of radiation

We read of wars in present history
aimed at saving our democracy
each man has a vote
now the taxes cut his throat
and dreams rot while
egos fight for supremacy
The power of the intellect of man
is being controlled by the gluttonous ones
who decorate their babel towers
with the brains they have devoured
in their quest for human destruction

Reality
dis is a reality
ah time we tek a stack a de reality,
                                             reality,
dis is a reality . . .

Reprinted from:-
Grandchildren of Álbion
New Departures, 1992

One of my favourite poetry anthologies,
still fresh and full of zest 20 years later
beg, borrow , steal, contains over 40 poets
in a book that continues to inspire,
contemporary but beyond the mainstream
.... superbly illustrated , including work by
many great poets, including :-
 John Cooper Clarke,
Attilla the Stockbroker,
 Linton  Kweisi Johnson,
Carol AnneDuffy,
 Benjamin Zepahaniah,
John Agard,
Ben Okri.... and many more
edited by the great Michael Horovitz ......

Thursday 10 May 2012

WISE UP for Bradley Manning - Three weeks in Wales - Genny Bove

Wise up for Bradley Manning is a loose network of groups and individuals in Wales, Ireland and England (WISE) taking action for Bradley Manning, the young US military intel. analyst with Welsh roots who has been held foralmost two years without trial accused of blowing the whistle on war crimes and revealing other truths the US would have preferred to keep buried. Bradley Manning has been tortured and denied his constitutional rights. President Obama, Commander-in-Chief of the military, has already said he broke the law and has therefore irrevocably prejudiced the upcoming court martial as well as breaking - not for the first time - his election promise to protect whistleblowers.
We call for all charges against Bradley Manning to be dropped and for his immediate release. Blowing the whistle on war crimes is not a crime!
When we heard that Tim Price's new play the Radicalisation of Bradley Manning was to be performed by National Theatre Wales in Pembrokeshire, Cardiff and Flintshire during April, starting with Tasker Millward, the school Bradley attended as a teenager in Haverfordwest, it seemed an ideal opportunity to organise a series of solidarity actions and events to coincide with these performances. Our aim was to raise awareness of, share infomation about and generate support for Bradley across Wales.

Pembrokeshire


The play premiered in Haverfordwest on 12th April, with a press conference the day before attended by ex-SAS soldier and Veteran for Peace Ben Griffin. We went along as a group on the first night to watch this insightful, powerful and moving piece of Theatre, handing out flyers after this and almost every other performance of the play in all three locations. That morning, there was a Bradley Manning stall at Cardigan Pwllhai local produce market and a street presence in Haverfordwest where I met Bradley Manning's uncle. Members of Bradley's family attended all three nights of the play in Haverfordwest including Bradle'y's mum on the Saturday, as far as we know, all responded favourably.
On Friday 13th April, there was an event for Bradley Manning at the local Picton community centre in Haverfordwest, the interactive exhibition including a mock up of the 6' X 12' cell at Quantico where Bradley was held in solitary confinement. Ben Griffin was joined by Catholic Worker and ex-prisoner of the US Ciarion O Reilly to speak on 'War in the 21st century', Ben from the point of view of an ex SAS soldier turned peace activist and Ciaron from the point of view of a lifelong anti-war activist. The exhibition was left in place for those attending a Transition supper at the same venue that evening. Vicky Moller hosted further talks by Ben and Ciarion on Saturday on Saturday 14th near Newport.

Cardiff|

Solidarity events and actions in Cardiff ran for nine days during which time Guy Smallman's photo exhibition Afghanistan 10 years on occupied prominent space on the 2nd floor of Cardiff Central library, along with a Bradley Manning infomation stall. On the evening of 16th April, there was a lecture organised by WCIA at Cardiff University with ex-UK ambassaador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray who spoke about his experience of whistleblowing. Guy Smallman gave a small introductary speech, explaining his connection with Bradley Manning through the massacre at Granai, an Afthan illage that was bombed bu the US in 2009 killing many civilians. Guy visited the village soon afterwards and took photos, while Bradlet is reported to have leaked the cockpit video from the bombers, still being decrypted by Wikileaks.
On Wednesday 18th, we set up our quiz board and info stall at Chapter Arts in Canton. It was still school holidays, so we had a lot ofchildren passing through. People wrote letters of solidarity to Bradley, others tried their hand at the quiz, took flyers and stickers and stopped to talk. Other days we were busy putting up posters and distributing flyers, spending time in the library at the exhibition and making links with Cardiff activists.
During the day on Saturday 21st, two of us attended the CAAT regional meeting in Cardiff where we had a stall for Bradley Manning. That evening, the Red and Black Umbrella squatted social centre hosted a big-screen viweing of the live streamed play followed by a discussin. On sSunday afternoon, we were out on the streets with a multiple banner hang out at a major road junction by the entrance to Bute Park and in front of Cardiff Castle. The Royal Horticultural Show in the park meant there was a constant stream of people walking past the banners. There was a comedy night planned for Sunday evening. Good venue and a shame more people didn't turn up, but we enjoyed great music from Jack Omer including his Song for Bradley.
Bradley Manning was back in court in the US on Tuesday 24th April. We organised a day of action with a Free Food, Free Bradley Manning! stall with Food Not Bombs Cardiff, followed by a banner hang to dry out our wet banners and a screening of Jim Spione's Oscar nominated short film Incident in New Baghdad in the evening. The film considers the infamous 'Collateral Murder' incident, footage of which Bradley Manning is accused of leaking, from thepoint of view of Ethan McCord, a US soldier present at the scene who rescued two injured children and who has gone on to speak out against US wars. This event was organised with UNA Cardiff & District and CND Cymru, and was sponsored by the University of Cardiff Centre for Applied Ethics.

North east Wales
On Friday 27th April eight whistleblowers, along with friends and supporters, met in Denbigh to discuss whistleblowing issues from the personal to the global. Several of those present have very recently blown the whistle and are suffering the consequences. With wwhistleblowing at all levels, the rhetoric is protection, the reality persecution.
The last event of the tour took place on Sunday 29th April, with a gig for Beadley Manning at the new cultural centre in Wrecsam: Saith Seren. The evening featured an eclectic mix of music, poetry and prose in English and Welsh. Performers included Lawrence Huxham, local folk band Offa, Vic Button, Frank Bowman and Hazel Ogden, along with poets Les Barker, Sion Aled Owen, Aled Evans and Lindi Carter. Bridie Przibram and Lindi read extracts from Bradley Manning 'in his own words'. Lawrence, Les, Lindi and Sion Aled performed specially composed pieces for Bradley, while Ian Chesterman of Offa added a final verse for Bradley to the Peter, Paul and Mary song ' If I were free'. All the performances were relevant and thought=provoking and came together in a fitting finale to a tour dedicated to this brave young man at the mercy of the US for daring to tell the truth.

For more infomation and to get involved. please go to
Wise Up for Bradley Manning
http://wiseupforbradleymanning.wordpress.com/

International Solidarity network
http://www.bradleymanning.org/

For 2earlier post about Bradley Manning
from teifidancer go here
http://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/solidarity-with-bradley-manning.html

and here

http://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/bradley-manning-forgotten-man_11.html


Sunday 6 May 2012

Rebecca West (21/12/1892 -15/03/83) - Only part of us is sane.


"Only part of us is sane: only part of us loves pleasure and the longer day of happiness, wants to live to our nineties and die in peace, in a house that we built, that shall shelter those who come after us. The other half of us is nearly mad. It prefers the disagreeable to the agreeable, loves pain and its darker night despair,and wants to die in a catastrophe that will set life back to its beginnings and leave nothing of our house save its blackened foundations. Our bright natures fight in us with this yeastly darkness, and neither part is commonly quite victorious, for we are divided against ourselves and will not let either part be destroyed. This fight can be observed constantly in our personal lives. There is nothing rarer than a man who can be trusted never to throw away happiness, however eagerly he sometimes grasps it. In history we are frequently interested in our own doom. Sometimes we search for peace, sometimes we make an effort to find convenient frontiers and a proper fulfilment for racial destinies; but sometimes we insist on war, sometimes we stamp into the dust the only foundations on which we can support our national lives. We ignore this suicidal strain in history because we are constantly bad artists when we paint ourselves."

Reprinted from:
Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, 1942

Thursday 3 May 2012

Lost and found

yesterday was feeling lost
but found some dope stashed in  flower pot
then came a knocking on the door
first a politican
then a couple wearing religious smiles
instant gratification did not arrive.

But as I inhaled deep
the sun came out
I went for a walk by the river side
a difficult day
suddenly came alive.

Stepping eastwards
criss-crossed ancient paths
turnd mobile phone off
connections were silenced
became invisible in nature
followed shadows and transformative bursts.

Today. I'll try and crack the codes
follow purpose, in steady progress
where vagaries are left behind
and disingneous links that tangle and blind
follow ideas that are already formed
the continium that seeks no control.

Under a watery sky
reality stretches
time dissects,
blind possibilities
scatter like seeds
and incoherant thoughts become
ever clear.