Transitory ( a poem for Lou Reed 2/3/42 - 27/10/13 R.I.P)

White light, white heat
And another voice flys,
Yesterday the wind twisted
And velvet dreams
Scattered over New York streets.

Volatile tonque defused
A bright intensity,
Blurred into time
The universe shifted
Its pale blue eyes.

The black angel's 

Death song sang.

Goodnight ladies

Waiting for its man.
The satellite of love,

Hanging 'round
Walking on the wild side.

There's a bit of magic in everything
And then some loss to even things out,
After drinking alchemy at 80 mph
Another poet sleeps, does  not compromise,
Slipping slowly away, falling into our memory
To lanquidly whisper, over all tomorrow's parties,
Painting crooked lines from drifting clouds

Laden with chords of rebel attitude.

                                                                                                                                           

Dylan Thomas (27/10/14 -9/11/53) - Poem in October /

Today, the late great Dylan Thomas would have turned 99. I have always been a great  admirer of his life and his unfailing commitment  to his craft, that continue to inspire. Today I thought I'd celebrate his birth, with  one  of his fine poems. Raise a glass and enjoy. We will be hearing a lot more about him next year, what with it being the centenary of this legends birth.

Poem in October

 It was my thirtieth year to heaven
Woke to my hearing from harbour and neighbours wood
     And the mussel pooled and the heron
               Priested shore
          the morning beckon
With water praying and call of seagull and rook
And the knock of sailing boats on the net webbed wall
        Myself to set foot
             That second
  In the still sleeping town and set forth

 My birthday began with the water-
Birds and the birds of the winged trees flying my name
    Above the farms and the white horses
                And I rose
       in rainy autumn
And walked abroad in a shower of all my days.
High tide and the heron dived when I took the road
      Over the border
          And the gates
  Of the town closed as the town awoke.


 A springful of larks in a rolling
Cloud and the roadside bushes brimming with whistling
   Blackbirds and the sun of October
            Summery
       On the hill's shoulder,
Here we found climates and sweet singers suddenly
Come in the morning where i wandered and listened
      To the rain wringing
           Wind blow cold
  In the wood faraway under me.

  Pale rain over the dwindling harbour
And over the sea the wet church the size of a snail
    With its horns through mist and the castle
              Brown as owls
        But all the gardens
Of spring and summer were blooming in the tall tales
beyond the border and under the lark full cloud.
         There could I marvel
              My birthday
 Away but the weather turned around.

It  turned away from the blithe country
And down the other air and the blue altered sky
     Streamed agan a wonder of summer
              With apples
         Pears and red currants
And I saw in the turning so clearly a child's
Forgotten mornings when he walked with his mother
          Through the parables
              Of sun light
  And the legends of the green chapels


  And the twice told fields of infancy
That his tears burned my cheeks and his heart moved in mine.
     These were the woods the river and the sea
               Where a boy
        In the listerning
Summertime of the dead whispered the truth of his joy
To the trees and the stones and the fish in the tide
       And the mystery
            Sang alive
   Still in the water and singingbirds.

   And there could I marvel my birthday
Away but the weather turned around. And the true
    Joy of the long dead child sang burning
               in the sun
        It was my thirtieth
Year to heaven stood there in the summer moon
Though the town below lay leaved with October blood.
          O may my hear's truth
              Still be sung
  On this high hill in a year's turning.

1945




  

Russell Brand talks revolution with Jeremy Paxman

I like this a lot, currently goin viral,
and here is a link to the article  that sparked the interview, We no longer have the luxury of tradition http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/10/russell-brand-on-revolution . I am the first to admit, that I have been more than mildly irritated by Mr Brand in the past, but am liking his drift into a more serious direction have always been partial to a bit of Zenarchy. Mr Brand came across as a man of principle,with what sounded to me like genuine anger, and was more than a match for Mr Paxman, which is always a pleasure to see. Hat's off to him, and power to the people. The old certainties are fading fast.

Storyville - Pussy Riot - A Punk Prayer/ Pussy Riot member moved to new Russian prison Colony.

Watched the above Monday evening, Sundance award-winning documentary which tells the compelling story of how a group of young, feminist punk rokers known as Pussy Riot have captured the world' attention by protesting against Putin's Russia. Through first-hand interviews with band members their fsmilies and the defense team, and exclusive footage of the trial, it highlights the forces that transformed these women from playful political activists to modern-day icons.
In early 2012 , members of the collective donned their colourful trademark balaclavas and paricipated in a 40-second 'punk prayer protest' on the altar of Moscow's cathedral. Once arrested, Nadia, Masha and Katia  were accused of religious hatred in a trial  that triggered protests and arrests in Russia and caused uproar around the world. The film reveals the personal motivesand courage of the women behind the balaclava and exposes the state of Russian justice through the courts final verdict.

Meanwhile it has been reported by Russian media  that Nadehda Tolokonnikova, who is serving a two-year sentence for her part in the anti-kremlin stunt, has been moved to another prison, but the defence has no information on her current whereabouts. Her lawyer told the RAPSI news agency on Monday, " Nadya is no longer in the prison colony. Investigative procedures were planned for today. I arrived, and the investigator told me that Tolokonnikova was not there; I was in shock. He was told that she had been transferred, but where to, we don't know," Khrunova  said.

It is believed she is being transported to the Penal Colony in Nizhny Tagil, in the Sverlovsk Territory, not Siberia but still almost 1800 KM from her familylawyers and supporters. Tolokonnikova  was hospitalised on October 1 after staging a nine-day hunger strike in protest against prison conditions. Last month  Tolokonikova, 23 published a letter that described in graphic detail the brutal conditions inside prison colony IK-14 in Mordovia, where she had been serving since after the end of her trial in August last year. She alleged prisoners work up to 17 hours a day for six or seven days a week, are deprived of toilet access and washing facilities, and are subject to regular beatings. http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/sep/23/pussy-riot-hunger-strike-nadezhda-tolokonnikova.
Her jailed fellow Pussy Riot member, Maria Alekhina has withdran her early release plea in solidarity with her bandmate.
Let us  remember that the members of Pussy Riot were punished  by a draconian authority, purely on politically motivated grounds. Their right to free speech curtailed, and they remain prisoners of conscience.
Hopefully they will remain brave and strong and are not simply forgotten, and the world continues to demand their absolute freedom.

FREE PUSSY RIOT

Time and Remains: Reflection on the Palestinian Landscape - James Morris

A quick word about the exhibition " Time and Remains: Reflection on the Palestinian Landscape" by James Morris which is on at the Aberystwyth Arts Centre until 2nd November. I would encourage everybody to see it, especially those who do not know much about the recent history of Palestine. It is a very interesting, instructive and fascinating account.

http://www.aberystwythartscentre.co.uk/exhibitions/time-and-remains

In Time and Remains
the photographer James Morris brings together two distict stories observed within  the landsape of Israel/Palestine. The first documents the traces of the now historical Palestinian presence in much of  the Israel landscape and references the destruction and expulsions of the 1948 war that brought about the state of Israel entitled That Still Remains. The second documentsWhen the time comes the physical manifestations of conquest, occupation, settlement and control in the contemporary landscape of the West Bank. Together they are witness to both a cause and a consequence of this on-going conflict.
The work is the result  of 6  visits  to Israel and the West Bank that James Morris visited  beteen 2011 and 2012.

In the first story many of the pictures are taken on or very close to the original location of a Palestinian village or town. Many scenes defy, in what there is left to see, the history of the place. In others it is more obvious.
It also confronts the Israeli foundation myth that Palestine was a land without people, for a people without land, by documenting the sacttered remains from across the country of the now historic Palestinian presence in much of Israel's landscape.

Thee scond narrative  looks at the contemporary landscape of the West Bank;  in the light of persistent failures to achieve any lasting resolution to the conflict, in a place where Israeli settlers and Palestinians  appear to exist in parallel worlds.

http://jamesmorris.info/portfolio/time-remains-reflections-palestinian-landscape/

Free the Arctic 30

It has been 30 days since Russian agents stormed the Arctic Sunrise and arrested all 30 people on board. It has been 30 days of injustice but pressure is mounting.
This weel, 11 Nobel Peace prize winners, including Desmond Tutu and BettyWilliams  wrote to President Putin to aksk him to ensure that Piracy charges against the Artic 30 are dropped. In a personal phone call, German chachellor Angela Merkel expressed her concern over the imprisonment of the30 and hoped the case would be resolved soon.
The U.K, foreign minister William Hague has spoken to his Russian counterpart the the Prime Minister David Cameron said in Parliament this week that he's asking for daily updated on their situation.
They join a growing list of senior politicians including from Brazil. the U.S and the Netherlands, who have spoken publicly aboutthe Artic 30.
The 30 men and women were brave enough to confront the oil industry in one of the last untouched places on earth, protesting new oil and gas development in  the Penchora sea. Seized at gunpoint by the Russian coast guard on September 18, now they are being silenced and intimidated on trumped up charges of piracy.It is impiortant to emphasise that the ship was involved in a peaceful and non-violent protest.

Please join me in keeping up the pressure.
Send letter to Russian Embassy to free these activists and stop the repression of peaceful protest.

-http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/climate-change/arctic-impacts/free-our-activists/

Inequality: how wealth is distributed in the UK

 New polling by ineguality briefing suggests that most people perceive the distributon of wealth in the UK to be far more equal than it actually is, in fact, for more more tha 30 years the gap between the richest and the rest has widened - and the trend shows no sign of slowing, as this oorganisation makes clear.

REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL Pt 1

Pressure mounts on President Obama's failure to close Guantanamo Bay Prison.

Today is Blog Action Day, which today marks the issue of human rights.Where to start human rights effects us all, daily global injustices, a whole myriad of issues. Unfortunately the list of human rights abuses is endless. I have written recently about the plight of the Palestinians, refugees and asylum seekers, today I thought I'd change tack a little and remind the world of the plight of  Guantanamo Bay.
Leading human rights groups have accused President Barak Obama of not following through on a commitment to shut down the prison at Guantanamo Bay, more than four months have passed since he delivered his May 23, 2013, apeech at the National Defense University, in which he committed the United States to the goal of closing the Guantanamo prison, following a broken promise of five years earlier but, since then the population of Guantanamo has only been reduced by only two detainess, noving only from 166 to 164. Of these detainess, 84 were cleared for tranfer by national security officials more than four years ago.
The U.S.A claim to be a champion of human rights cannot survive whilst this prison remains open.11 years since the first prisoners were first tranferred to the prison camp and the world is still living with this insult to justice. It is now time for Obama to give good on his promise.
Guantanamo has come to symbolise the shocking human rights violations associated with the so called 'war on terror, including arbitrary detention, secret detention, torture and other ill-treatment, together with  renditions and unfair trials.
It has also recently been revealed  that the U.S secretly used a variety of tactics to break the will and resolve of Guantanamo Bay hunger strikers, with  Shaker Aamer, the last former British resident, after nearly 18 years behind bars, held without charge or conviction of any charge, being particularly targeted, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/12/us-military-stormed-hunger-striker-cell .
The fact remains that human rights concerns in Guantanamo Bay remain an unfinished story, where people have been abandoned by the principles of jutice that America, so often proudly boasts about. It  is now time, and right for the U.S Government to  close its book on  this prison, ends its  use of unlawful detention, and  close Guantanamo for good , and meets its human rights obligations.
Though this issue no longer attracts global headlines, it is an issue that refuses to go away, and cannot be simply sidelined and swept awy. The fact remains that many still languish  inside Guantanamo, abandoned by the principles of justice that America so often proudly boasts about.
The following video gives testimony from five detainess, in this animated film revealing the daily brutality of life inside Guantanamo prison, where prisoners are kept indefinitely without charge or trial by the country that claims to be the beacon of civilization for the rest of the world. WARNING: Contains disturbing images.



Here is a link to an organisation called Reprive that  campaigns  to deliver justice and save lives in Guantanamo Bay.

http://www.reprieve.org.uk/

and here is a link to an Amnesty International page about the subject.

http://www.amnesty.org.uk/content.asp?CategoryID=10226

"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