Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (18/7/18 -5/12/13) Freedom fighter and man of the People R.I.P

It is with great sadness that I have heard the news that South Africa's first black President and anti-apartheid revolutionary icon has died at the age of 95. A freedom fighter of long inspiration, who stood for justice, freedom and solidarity, with his selfless struggle for human dignity, equality and freedom. A true man of the people, his life of courage and fighting back is a testement to us all.
Today we grieve but we should all, also  continue his struggle for a better world.We must carry on the fire of resistance, this should be the  everlasting legacy to this great man.
The fight continues.

' I dream of an Africa which is in peace with itself.'

'Any man or institution that tries to rob me of my dignity will lose.'

'I stand here before you not as a prophet, but as a humble servant of you, the people.'

'Where globalization means, as it often does that the rich and powerful now have new means to further enrich and empower themselves at the cost of the poor and weaker, we have a resposibility to protest in the name of universal freedom.'

'We know to well our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.'

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela

R.I.P

Flotillas from Gaza break Naval Blockade

On Saturday, November 30, some 250 Palestinian children launched minitature  boats along the Gaza coast  to raise awareness about the ongoing Israeli maritime seige of the 25-mile long coastal territory. The naval blockade has destroyed Gaza's fishing industry and fishing has become physically dangerous. Fishermen have reportedly been shot and arrested within the six mile nautical miles limit, where they are officially permitted to take their boats.
Also a Palestine Flotilla named 'Steadfastness and Justice' lauunched on Monday morning and managed to break the naval blockade imposed on the Gaza strip, reaching a distance of 6  nautical miles of Gaza's coast in an act of symbolic defiance. Israel forces threatened to prevent the flotilla from crossing the 6 nautical mile barrier.
The flotilla was composed of 20 boats carrying Palestinians and international activists from Sweden, the United States and Japan.
Before returning  back to the shores, the activists threw bottles containing  messages into the sea, which included calls for the international community to put more pressure on Israel to lift its strict seige on Gaza. The messages also included calls for the Israeli naval forces to stop their daily violations against the fishermen in Gaza.
Meanwhile the main pumping station in Gaza  is still not working, due to lack of fuel, so the people of Gaza  are currently without fuel and electricity. Also  lacking access to clean-drinking water and medicines,.
The siege of Gaza continues,  but it's people still search for means of getting a vestige of justice, equality, freedom of movement, and despite  their daily suffering their will is not yet broken.
I try to pass on the news, that unforunately  in my country the B.B.C deems not important enough to report.

Tennessee Williams (26/3/11 - 25/2/83) - Nobody sees anybody truly but all through the flaws of their own egos.

' Nobody sees anybody truly but all through  the flaws of their own  egos.That is the way we all see each other in life. Vaity, fear, desire, competition.... all such distortions within our own egos, condition  our vision of those in relation to us. Add to those distortions to our own egos the corresponding distortions in the egos of others and you see how cloudy the glass must become through which we look at each other. That's  how it is in all living relationships except when there is that rare ease  of two people who love intensely enough to burn through all the layers of opacity and see each other's naked hearts.' 

Stop the Prawer Plan: Day of Rage

On  the 24th of June, the Israeli Knesset approved the so-called Prawer Palan, which if implemented will  result in the destruction of more  than 35 unrecognised villages in  Al-Nagab  in the south of the Israeli state,   and the forced expulsion and confinement of more than 70,000 Palestinian Bedouins from their ancestral homelands in the desert.
The majority of these vilages pre-date the establishment of the Israeli state, yet Israel refuses to recognise them. As the inhabitants  are non-Jewish citizens, the state has chosen to treat them as 'illegal communities', denying them essential rights and services such as connection to the electric, water and transport networks, and refusing to provide medical, postal and educational services. Israel treats construction within these villages as illegal and regularly demolishes the homes of the residents. The Israelis have demolished the village of Al-Arakib more than fifty times.

Bedouin Village of Al-Arakib being razed to the ground

This plan is the largest Israeli land-grab since 1948. It epitomises  the true nature of Israels policy of expansion and containment. Despite opposition from Bedouin leaders,  and the International communitty's repeated calls to halt  the implementation of the Prawer Plan, Israel still seems intent on pushing it through.  The UN committe  on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has also condemned  the plan saying it will 'legalise the ongoing policy off home demolitions and forced displacement of the indigenous Bedouin communities.' Also, in 2012, the European Parliament passed a resolution calling on Israel to stop the Prawer plan and its policies of forced displacement and dispossesion.
We must all as human beings, say no to the Prawer Plan, we should also note that International corporations such as Caterpillar, Hyundai, Volvo and JCB are providing the equipment that Israel uses to carry out its demolitions in the Nageb area. I would urge people to join campaigns to boycott these companies and encourage investment bodies to remove their money from them.
On 30th November their will be major mobilizations across all of Palestine as part of the Day of Rage.
During the last 2 big mobilzations against the Prawer plan on the 15th of July and August the 1st, thousands of Palestinians went to the streets in opposition to the plan.
On Saturday the International community will also be keeping up the pressure, in acts of solidarity against this draconian piece of legislation, in protests across the globe , and in individual efforts of pushing our own governments into condemning Israels actions.
The Prawer plan should not be allowed to pass, otherwise it will become yet another chapter in Palestines long and tragic history. Opposing the Prawer Plan is to say no to etnic cleansing, displacement, and confinement in the 21st Century.

No to Prawer Plan

Stop Prawer Plan Protest in the Negev - Protest and chanting

 

 

 

 

Some useful Links:-

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/prawershallnotpass

+972: http://972mag.com/tag/prawer-plan/

From the Independent: http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/06/28/a-snapshot-of-the-lives-of-the-bedouin-tribe-of%E2%80%9Cal-araqib%E2%80%9D/

Harvey Milk (22/5/22/30 -27/11/78) - Give them hope.

' I know you cannot live on hope alone, but without it, life is not worth living ' - Harvey Milk

Former San Francisco  city supervisor and gay political icon Harvey Milk was assasinated 35 years ago today. Milk was the first openly gay man to hold political office in California. A popular mayor from 1977, until  he was shot dead by a former policeman and city supervisor Dan White.
After White was convicted of a much lesser  charge than murder, an enraged populace erupted in what is known as the 'White Night Riot'.
In his short time in office , Milk was able to erase some of the invisible boundaries of who could serve in office. Today I remember  him, and all others , who opened doors, that hopefully will never be closed again.
The following speech still resonates today, his dreams of a better tomorrow, with the hope for equality and a world without hate still resonates today. These were to be among  his final words, shortly after delivering it, Milk was assasinated.

Harvey Milk - Give them hope

Harvey Milk had feared  assasination, and these were the words that he released posthumously in anticipation of his tragic death.

 

 

 

 

 

SCRAP THE WCA

Another issue close to my heart.
7,000 more signatures are needed to make 100,000,
please sign and share

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/43154

Jehan Mayoux (25/11/04 - 14/7/75) - Question & Answer / Question reponse

 

Jehan Mayoux was a French Surrealist poet, teacher, pacifist, ant-militarist and libertarian. The son of anarchists, he joined theSurrealists at the end of the 1920's, and first came in contact  with Andre Breton and Paul Eluard in 1933, after sending them a surrealist game, which was published  in  Le Surrealisme au Service de la Revolution  ( Surrealism in the service of the revolution). He became a teacher and inspector of primary education. A Trade Unionist, he  engaged with the activities of the Popular Front, and was  the secretary of the Committe of the Popular Front in 1935. Called up at the start of the Second World War, he went AWOL,  refusing to heed the call of the mobilisation order, but was caught and imprisoned. He somehow managed to escape, but was recaptured again by the Germans and sent to  concentration campo in the Ukraine for 5 years. After his liberation in 1945, he returned to teaching, whilst continuing to engage in libertarian activity, and to be politically engaged, becoming involved with  the magazine  le Libertaire. After signing the Manifeste des 121 (The Manifesto of the 121) on September 21st 1921, which called on the French Government to recognise the Algerian War as a legitimate struggle for Independence, denouncing the use of torture by the French army, and for conscientious objectors to the conflict to be respected by the authorities, he was suspended from  being an Education Inspector from 1960 until 1965. He eventually retired in 1967, after which he participated in the May 1968 movement, but became dissapointed and dissillusioned  by the attitude of the unions. He was to become a friend of the Surrealist poet Benjamin Peret.
He died in 1975, leaving behind many beautiful poetical works.

Question & Answer:

When I am prison door
I offend with dynamite

When I am rabbit
I write with squid ink
When I am anvil
I will wash my clothes in the river

Or this series of images depicting the beloved:
more spiritual than the tide
wiser than hastily suicide
more naked than the foam
more discreet than the bark of thunder
quieter than Paris
gayer than a grain of salt
lighter than a knife.

Question-reponse:

Quand je serais porte de prison
je pecherai a la dynamite

Quand je serai lapin de garenne
j'ecrival avec de f'encre de seiche

Quand je senai enclume
je laveral mon linge a la riviere

ou cette suite d'images decrivant la femme aimee:
plus spirituelle que la maree
plus sage que la hate des sicides
plus  nue que le mousse
plus discrete que l'ecorce du tonnerre
plus silencieuse que Paris
plus gaie qu'un grain de sel
plus legere qu'un couteau.

Further Reading :-

Morning Star -Surrealism, Marxism, Anarchism, Situationism, Utopia;
-Michael Lowe , 2010