Monday 19 June 2017

Refugee Week 19-25 June 2017


Refugee Week takes place every year across the world in the week around World Refugee Day on the 20 June. In the UK, Refugee Week is a nationwide programme of arts, cultural and educational events that celebrate the  positive contribution of refugees and rich diversity that they bring to the UK, and encourages a better understanding between communities.
Refugee Week started in 1998 as a direct reaction to hostility in the media and society in general towards refugees and asylum seekers, to try and look  beyond the stereotypical ‘refugee’ label and work  to counter this negative climate, defending the importance of sanctuary and the benefits it can bring to both refugees and host communities.
Fearmongers talk up the threat of terrorism, but most of the people risking their lives to get to Europe are fleeing the horrors of war in Syria; the brutality of insurgent groups in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Somalia; or the repression of the Eritrean or Iranian governments. Demagogues thunder that asylum seekers just want to steal jobs or bleed the welfare system dry, but almost everyone acknowledges that the EU needs labor migration, and study after study shows that immigration brings net benefits to societies over the long-term.
The aims of Refugee Week are:
1. To encourage a diverse range of events to be held throughout the UK, which facilitate positive encounters between refugees and the general public in order to encourage greater understanding and overcome hostility.
2.To showcase the talent and expertise that refugees bring with them to the UK.
To explore new and creative ways of addressing the relevant issues and reach beyond the refugee sector.
3.To provide information which educates and raises awareness of the reality of refugee experiences
The ultimate aim is to create better understanding between different communities and to encourage successful integration, enabling refugees to live in safety and continue making a valuable contribution.
Refugees are a real, current and terrible problem that we have in our world and possibly one that will get worse as war continues to devastate and uproot people, for instance since the conflict in Syria began more than six years ago, over 4.8m Syrians have fled from their country because of violence, conflict, and a complete collapse of Syria’s economy and infrastructure. Then there are those who have to leaven low lying islands of the world as a consequence of climate change, and  people fleeing for their lives as a consequence of famine, violation of human rights, physical, political or religious persecution.
Many refugees and asylum seekers face severe difficulties once they arrive in the UK. Unable to work or support themselves, many struggle for basics such as food and shelter. Some of the key issues they encounter are the possibility of detention, living in destitution and contending with negative stereotypes.Most of those who are granted asylum are given leave to remain for only five years, making it difficult for them to make decisions about their future, including finding work and making definite plans for their life in the UK while it remains unsafe for them to return to the country they escaped from. As fellow humans we have a responsibility to respond to their specific needs in times of crisis. Many of these asylum seekers come to us as a last resort, having exhausted all alternatives, with nowhere else to turn. We should also remember  all those suffering abuse in detention centres and those facing repatriation despite the dangers that they face.
Refugee Week is an umbrella festival, with events held by a wide range of arts, voluntary, faith and refugee community organisations, schools, student groups and more. Past events have included arts festivals, exhibitions, film screenings, theatre and dance performances, concerts, football tournaments and public talks, as well as creative and educational activities in schools.
Through Refugee Week  the aim is  to provide an important opportunity for asylum seekers and refugees to be seen, listened to and valued. We must continue to offer our love , solidarity, tolerance, warm welcome and friendship  to refugees who daily have to struggle, many of whom left feeling traumatised and marginalised. Refugees are ordinary people to whom extraordinary and often very horrible things have happened. Refugee Week is an opportunity to celebrate that.

Find out more about Refugee Week here :-

http://refugeeweek.org.uk/refugee-week-2017/





Sunday 18 June 2017

For Grenfell Tower: a poem


It is nearly summertime, but it's increasingly getting very bitter.
Theresa May not capable of shaping society for the better
Getting daily free food and accommodation and so much more,
Just adds insult to injury to  those already feeling  sour
Victims of Grenfell Tower fire, without food,  no roof over head
Feeling abandoned a community mourns for their dead. .

The Queen,  managed to walk the streets, for some this was noble
Had at least made the effort to leave her palace of gold,
After many poorer people had died in  raging inferno
Maybe she found time to witness the cracks of division,
The feelings of despair and rage as the Prime Minister hid
Streams of rage currently growing stronger until she is rid.

There are almost 20,000  Ghost homes sitting empty in London.
Many left on the streets feeling the heavy weight of burden,
And the Crown Jewels value means nothing at all to those lost
Nor the CEO's receiving  millions  as a reward  for cutting costs
While fire resistant cladding is 24 pounds per square metre
Money still keeps getting wasted on those that don't deserve it.

As a  people's need for justice grows bigger and bigger
And the scent  of anger keeps blowing through our streets,
We are connected by faultlines of separation and inequality
Certain lives are still considered more important than others,
As smoke drifts, lets not forget the crimes of greed and selfishness
remember the victims, harmed by the crime of recklessness.

The future will look back in anger and deep everlasting shame
Until there is justice and those responsible are apportioned blame,
This tragedy will not be forgotten and nothing  will ever be enough
For those that are daily caught up by the effects and anxiety of poverty,
Revealing the wealth disparity that crawls through our days
Let the healing begin, time now to abandon division.

Saturday 17 June 2017

Roy Bailey - Palace of Gold


In response to the Grenfell Tower fire, here is a song called "Palaces of Gold" written by Leon Rosselson,  which was actually written  about the Aberfan disaster of 1966, in which a school full of children and teachers was engulfed by the collapse of a spoil tip, killing 144 and devastating the village.
But the Grenfell Tower  disaster, like Aberfan  before it, will long live now  in the collective memory; let us hope that we can all continue to learn from these tragedies, so that something similar never happens again, and that the living conditions of all,  are improved in the future.
In both cases public anger was equally valid and necessary, after all Aberfan should not have happened, as neither should have Grenfell, especially  after years of negligence had been pointed out, equally representative of the failure and duty of care of those apparently in charge of us. Natural waves of anger always helps and  sustains  both  campaigners and victims as they are forced to wade through  layers of bureaucracy and  red tape that are discovered in the aftermath of tragic events  like these mentioned. This is what makes us human in the wake of so much darkness. Lets continue to mourn the dead, but fight like hell for the living.

Amnestea 2017: With the Great Get Together Inspired by Joe Cox MP



AMNEST RHYNGWLADOL GRWP ABERTEIFI A GOGLEDD PENFRO

CARDIGAN AND NORTH PEMBS. AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL GROUP’S ANNUAL
AMNESTEA
 
      

Cardigan and North Pembrokeshire Amnesty International Group are asking people to drink tea and eat cake for human rights at our annual AMNESTEA event on Sunday, 18th June from 2.00 to 5.00pm at Merlin's Lair, Capel Iwan SA38 9LS.
This year it is on the weekend of the GREAT GET TOGETHER, when tens of thousands of get-togethers will be held in memory of Jo Cox, the MP who was murdered last year outside her constituency office. Her widower, Brendan, wants the event to reflect her “dynamism and joy at life and to highlight the issues she cared about so deeply – from the plight of innocent civilians in Syria to the despair caused by loneliness and social isolation in the UK.
Come along and relax to live music by L'Attitude, enjoy the garden, look for plants on the plant stall, peruse the bookstall and jewellery stall, see the outdoor model railway and hit some balls on the (very) mini golf range. Indoors if wet, outdoors if dry, everyone welcome, parking next door at Beacon Stoves. Always a wonderful time, the weather is supposed to be good this year.
Everyone welcome - Croeso i pawb!


All proceeds to Amnesty International's work for human rights

Friday 16 June 2017

Akala blames Grenfell Tower Fire on Neo-Liberal Capitalism


Akala interview on the Grenfell Tower Fire. A disaster because of Capitalism. Austerity is a matter of  life and death that leads to tragic events like this.
At least 30 people have died police  have revealed. At least 70 people , including children and entire families have been reported missing following the devastating fire. An investigation led by a senior detective from Scotland Yard's homicide and major crime command is under way with calls for "corporate manslaughter" arrests to be made.
The political dimension to the Grenfell Tower catastrophe became apparent on Wednesday as the government came under scrutiny over a failure to commission a review of fire safety regulations following a past inquest, which had raised questions about existing rules, spending cuts and mismanagement may also have contributed to the deadly fire, it has been claimed while Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn questioned whether cuts to local funding contributed to the tragedy.
“If you deny local authorities the funding they need then there is a price paid by a lack of safety facilities across the country. I think there needs to be some very searching questions as quickly as possible in the aftermath of the fire,” he told LBC Radio on Wednesday. 
Residents who witnessed the blaze as it began spoke of how cladding, added to the building in a recent ‘refurbishment’, appeared to be highly flammable, “catching up like a matchstick” according to one. Another observer referred to the “shoddy plastic things” on the exterior of the tower that “set up alight”. Reports suggest this cladding was added to appease luxury property developers.
.*The tale of Grenfell Tower is a tale of two Kensingtons. It is the story of how scores of people were left to perish in what is being described as a block riddled with fire and safety problems and disrepair, just meters away from some of the wealthiest streets in the country. ” * [HuffPost]
We cannot reasonably give in to pleas not to ‘politicise’ what occurred, for it was nothing if not fundamentally ‘political’. For example, residents of the property had repeatedly told the local council, controlled by Tories , that living conditions inside the building were ‘dangerous’ and that it was not up to standard as far as fire safety was concerned, but of course being poor people and people of colour their suspicions were simply not listened to. It has led to massive public anger at the landlords, the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO), who were warned repeatedly by tenants that Grenfell Tower was an accident waiting to happen. The Grenfell Action Group raised concerns about the fact that there was only one entrance and exit to the building complex, and in the event of a fire the fire brigade “could only gain access to the entrance to the building by climbing four flights of narrow stairs.” More than this, they also complained that “the fire escape exit on the walkway level” had been sealed. Grenfell will be seen to represent the inequality that is sweeping through our country at this moment in time. There is growing anger, people are demanding answers. Prime Minister Theresa May has been criticised for not showing enough humanity or compassion.
Theresa May's decision to carry out a public inquiry into the Grenfell tragedy ensures that the government has control over any uncomfortable revelations about the negligence and poor planning of the Grenfell estate by the Tory-run Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea.
By choosing a PUBLIC INQUIRY the government protects itself as well as those who should be held accountable. It also blocks any possibility of an INQUEST from taking place: the necessary process that would unearth the true causes of the fire for the public interest.
Prevent the government from whitewashing the truth and from keeping the UK's planning and regulation laws in the dark ages any longer. Stand with the residents of Grenfell as well as the residents of the UK's 4,000 other tower blocks and make sure this does not happen again.

https://www.change.org/p/uk-parliament-this-government-must-carry-out-an-inquest-into-the-grenfell-tragedy-not-a-public-inquiry

My thoughts are with the victims this awful disaster. Donate to the crowdfunder to help the  families of the Grenfell tower tragedy. Justice now, rehouse the survivors, prosecute those responsible.

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/familiesofgrenfelltower

Donate now to the London Fire Relief Fund



Thursday 15 June 2017

Send the Sun a message.



The Sun newspaper, which by the way is an insult  to journalism are offering to post free copies of their scum tabloid though your letterbox. All under the guise of free listings of games for the European Football Championship. Most considerate  post workers will refuse to send it as a mark of respect for all the damage and pain it has already unleashed. It is and always has been a disgraceful paper, releasing  daily a tissue of lies. Divisive daily torrents of hate. There commentary on the recent Grenfell tower fire  disaster has been pretty dodgy, fulfilling their role for the establishment with  innappropriate reportage of a tragedy which many people are viewing as a serious crime, who never ask questions about the disgusting disregard for the lives and safety of ordinary people.And lets not forget what they wrote about  Hillsborough. “The Truth.Some fans picked pockets of victims,Some fans urinated on the brave cops
Some fans beat up PC giving kiss of life.” 
just four days after their loved ones had died, four days after they had narrowly escaped death themselves, Liverpool supporters were confronted with those headlines. People actually believed those headlines. Lets not forget when 96 people had their lives crushed out of them. 
They simply have a disgraceful  hidden agenda to every story. Daily releasing a pious debasing rhetoric that is simply offensive and unacceptable to the order of the Murdoch empire, that controls the flow of media to almost half the planet. Releasing abuse to benefit claimants, refugees, the disabled, transphobic, homophobic, islamophobic, that never shows any tolerance, decency or fairness, with a dirty right wing bias. It  truly is  gutter press of  the lowest common denominator which offers no value at all to society. The Scum for a long time for  me has been simply unforgiveable. There is no excuse for buying or reading The Sun. None whatsoever. The rag is like a swamp that needs draining. Fortunately I know enough people that do not want this paper, even for free. .

Let's send them a message.


If you receive a free copy of The Sun through your letter box please take the time wrap it in paper.
Masking tape the ends and to send it freepost to.....

Head Office Postal Address
News UK & Ireland Ltd...
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
United Kingdom


Don't bother paying for the postage. They can take care of that shit at the other end.

Please share

Tuesday 13 June 2017

There's a squatter in the house


There's a dangerous squatter in the house
With a lust for power, playing with our lives,
In league with dark forces, even dodgier friends
Hope will try to stop her, driving us round the bends,
Spreading insecurity, contradictory  policy
Getting into bed with DUP monstrosity,
She's like a bad joke wearing thin
Really irritating getting under skin,
Who  said the naughtiest thing she'd ever done
Through fields of wheat as a child she once run,
Would be endearing if she had not spread  misery
Pushed so  many  of us into grinding poverty,
This profiteer of capital and shares for personal gain
As she tears up her manifesto, she really has no shame,
Soon we'll feel a warm glow when she's gone
As time keeps the pressure on her to jog on,
Her policies of instability creating to much pessimism
At least we can  thank her for bringing back socialism.

https://iamnotasilentpoet.wordpress.com/2017/06/13/squatter-in-the-house-by-dave-rendle/