"All in this together:" Are benefits ever a lifestyle choice? by Dole Animators.

Following  yesterday's announcement that the the Red Cross are  going to try and help deal with the grinding poverty in this country, and the reality that millions are being forced  to choose between eating and heating, and Channel 5's latest so called documentary On Benefits and Proud, rehashing the usual crap about scroungers on benefits, glossing over  many peoples harsh realities, adding to the daily attacks by a right wing media , determined to spread propoganda on behalf of the government, I wonder where the programmes are that examine the electricity/gas companies holding our country for ransom, the stories of rising poverty that are overlooked. It is easy to find scapegoats, so called benefit scroungers being the target for a rabid media,  owned by millionaires, intent on serving the governments hand. It is so easy to blame the crisis of government and economy at the foot of the poor, who did  not cause the existing troubles of austerity in the fist place., a media that serves to  to stir up division, without answering any of the problems, while  the Bankers still unpunished, still getting rewarded, and MP's demand subsidies for food and alcohol in the House of Commons.  
The above film captures some of the real experiences people are facing today in the light of the UK governments recent changes in  the welfare system.
Dole animators is a group of benefit claimants based in the UK who have worked together to make this animated documentary.
You can find out more information about this project at:

http://doleanimators.wordpress.com/

100th anniversary of Senghenydd Mine Disaster

One hundred years ago at 6.00 a.m this morning 14 October 1913, a series of terrible explosions ripped through the Universal Coal Pit in the village of Senghennyd,  a town in the Aber Valley, four miles north west of the town of Caerphilly, in South Wales ( U.K).
The cause of the disaster was thought to have been a 'firedamp', when a spark ignites metane gas, and then explodes, this explosion sucks coal dust on the floor into the air and causes a huge explosion. In Senghennyd this spread even further underground of the mines, and was followed by 'afterdamp', where deadly poisonous gases  replaced the missing air and oxygen.
The result was 439 miners and 1 rescuer  being killed and it is now considered to be the worst mining accident in the U.K  and  the most serious in the terms of loss of life. The rescue operation lasted for 3 weeks, although by then the chance of finding anyone left alive had long faded. It would send shockwaves throughout the world, reminding people of the terrible cost of coal. Today hundreds of people have been attending a special memorial event to mark the occasion, with a memorial and a  walled garden opened,on which individual tiles will be laid with the name,age and addresses of all those who were killed in the Senghennyd disaster and a wall of rememberance, acting as a 'path of memory' to all other miners who have died in accidents across the mining community here in Wales.
 According the Carwyn Jones the Welsh first minister ' The Senghennyd tragedy has come to symbolise the dangers and sacrifices made by those who went undergroung in search of coal but never returned home. It is fitting that this should be the location for a memorial dedicated to all the miners that have died in mining disasters across our nations.'
On a personal note I can never forget the tales my own grandad told me, who himself was a miner in the valleys in the 1930's as was his father before him, and many of his relatives, who taught me never to forget the long list of tragedy, human grief and loss in our history, and the sorrow of communities like Senghennyd who have lost their loved ones.I never forget too, how some peoples lives are  expendable in the pursuit of profit.

Mourning of the Valley - Documentary telling the story of the 1913

Senghennyd Mining Disaster

F The Tories Freestyle

Not my usual musical cup of tea,
but respect, even though  they all seem to
be the same sides of the coin,
but in the meantime, this
works a treat.

World Mental Health day 2013: Time to End the Stigmatisation

Today marks World Mental Health Day, a day that provides campaigners to raise awareness of the importance of positive mental health and to challenge the stigma that people with mental health issues daily experience.
Sadly despite the efforts of many, the subject of mental illness remains a taboo subject, the fact is that many in your community suffer from a wide of different problems like clinical depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, ADHD, schizophrenia, and anxiety and others. In my community it is hardly ever talked about, many of us are left to face our problems in silence, we have to choose  between societies consensus ways of dealing with things, medication, psychotherapy, counselling etc etc, or simply learning to forget.
Personally I started this blog as a means of recovery, I'm getting there but still have a long way to go. I don't have clear answers, but I  now no longer bottle up  my feelings or emotions, I have learnt techniques to release them. I refuse to be labelled.
But I have also noticed how the press stokes up the fears and anxieties of mental illness, stigmatises people that should be getting some kind of support, in the midst of this the current tory government daily attacking the most vulnerable amongst us with their attacks on welfare claimants, cuts in services that are essential to peoples well beings.
What people with mental illness really need is support and understanding, to be accepted as we are  openly and warmly, not to be used, as scapegoats, to be hidden  and forgotten about. People who live with mental illness are among the most stigmatised groups in society. We are challenged doubly. On one hand with the struggle of our symptoms that result from our illnesses and then by the stereotypes and prejudice that results from peoples misconceptions about mental illness. Many people are robbed of opportunities that help define  a quality life,  jobs, safe housing, health care and affiliation with a diverse group of people, and are left feeling almost invisible and on our own.
Prejudice leads to discrimination and so on. The other day the Sun newspaper continued the sterotyping with a disgusting  headline, that further demonstrated the daily attacks that people with mental health issues suffer from. Everyone needs to experiences of 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness' without the resort to crude stereotypes and attacks  that do not help remove stigmatisation.
It is time that people change their attitudes and outlook, and for politicians to redress the balance.
Ramble over off to see G.P for an M.O.T.

http://www.time-to-change.org.uk/

Philip Chevron (17/6/57 - 13/10/13) R.I.P Faithfully Departed

Just heard that guitarist with one of my favourite bands the Pogues, Philip  Chevron, died yesterday aged 56 after a long battle with cancer.  He regarded his fate with great stoicism - he told the Irish Daily Mail earlier this year " I am gay, Irish,Catholic, alcoholic pogue who is about to die from cancer - and don't think I don't know it."
He had first performed with the Irish punk band the Radiators from Space, before he joined the Pogues, contributing  to some of their more memorable albums, in addition to playing the banjo and mandolin, he added magic to their legendary performances, who I was fortunate to see back in the day. A punk heart with a penchant for the work of Betolt Brecht and Kurt Weill.
Later  he became almost like the bands unofficial spokesperson.
My thoughts are with is friends and family.

The Pogues - A Thousand Ships are sailing

The Radiators from Space - Faithfully Departed



Philip Chevron and Spider Stacy

Deaths per thousand at european borders : Welcome to Fortress Europe.

It is now estimated that over 300 people will have died when a ship full of migrants sunk off  the Italian island of Lampedusa.Since then on Monday, 13 refugees drowned off the coast of Scicily while attempting to swim to shore.http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24380247 These people have  joined the thousands of people who have already died thanks to the racist policies of Fortress Europe. Policies  have been designed to make it almost impossible to legally reach Europe and consequently as a result of this people are forced to take desperate risks.
One of the first divers to reach the wreck reported that " There were bodies everywhere, trapped inside the wreck, but also on top  of it and around the boat. I saw at least 100 corpses. But what struck me most was that some of them were locked in an embrace - they were hugging each other as they exhaled their last breath. Nobody wants to die alone. I still can't get the sight out of my head. I can't think of anything else."
The map above shows graphically the scale of deaths on the borders of Fortress Europe - this latest disaster off Lampedusa was of a scale that it was reported on. But as shown again and again there is a constant death toll of small groups and individuals that are not judged to be even worth reporting on.
Europe cannot go on sealing its borders and pretend this is not happening. Movement of people is inevitable due to social conflicts, repression, despaired poverty or natural disasters, there will be further asylum seekers and further tragedies, as  people try to escape persecution.
I believe that Europe must act together and dismantle its barricades to avoid further tragedies. These deaths are not isolated incidents, they are symptomatic of policies that no longer see the humanity of those fleeing their homeland.  For most refugees they are  denied access to the asylum system and are treated like criminals.By making legal immigration and asylum nearly impossible these policies will  lead to further tragedy.Border militarisation, asylum laws, detention policies, deportations and carrier sanctions etc etc. that lead to the  tragic death of migrants and refugees must continually be questioned. Senselessly increasing military  patrols near the coast of North Africa is simply not a solution, and while condolences are always  good to hear, there must be a better way, and the continued detention of vulnerable desperate people must be avoided, and the laws of immigration should not be punitive.  However much European governments try, it is impossible in this global world to shut its doors, we are living in the age of migration, fact, we must look for solutions not more punishment.
The survivors of Lampedusa are now crammed into a refugee centre  on the tiny island, with many forced to sleep in the open.

 

 

Palestinians plant flower beds with spent tear canisters

 

 

 

In the middle of the desert landscape of the West Bank, a small village has become an oasis of Palestinian resistance against the Israeli occupation. It's residents have planted flowers in hundreds of spent Israeli tear gas grenades, to honor those killed during their weekly protests against the seperation barrier in an act of peaceful resistance.This garden is located in the village of Bilin, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, the defacto capital of the proposed Palestinian state.
It serves to commemorate too Bassen Abu Ramah, a protest leader who was killed in 2009, when a tear gas grenade struck him in the chest during a demonstration.
This beautiful garden , acts as a counter marker, against the cruelty of the seperation wall, that divides neighbour from  neighbour, and symbolises directly their complex situation
In the most difficult of circumstances, some how hope, manages to flower.